Baby girls and laptop glare

Well, today was a little interesting. It's rare lately that I have work that keeps my interest so solidly. Ok, that's not that interesting. You're right. So...

I threw a baby shower this weekend for my sister-in-law. It was in Illinois at the great-grandparents house. She was coming into Chicago to take her Boards (Board Certification orals) and visiting the great-grandparents at the same time. So we took advantage and got as many family together as we could and planned her a baby shower. They live so far away that it's hard to see them very often and this new baby needed a shower. It was really great. It was great to see her and her little 7month basketball belly and it was great to see everyone that made the trip to see her for the shower.  She got a lot of really nice and super adorable gifts in addition to some that were sent directly to her from her amazon list and the cake was adorable and it all worked out really well. It made for a bit of a long weekend, but it was worth it and wonderful.

The cake

The spread

The cake and oreo cookie dessert with pacifier favors

It made today sort of difficult, since we did so much traveling and partying, having to get up for work the next day was a little bit ... torturous. It was really nice to be back in our own beds, but it would have been nice to have one more day to decompress. Oh well, and so it goes. There's not much else going on with us, we've made it through most of the wedding showers and baby showers and friends visiting and plans we've had and we're mostly in the clear for awhile. The weddings begin in May, then July, then September and hopefully we can do a whole lot of swimming in there as well.

Speaking of swimming, does anyone have a laptop screen glare thingy they'd recommend? I want to sit outside this summer while the girls swim and I need to be up on the deck with them in case I'm needed for rescuing or toy retrieval...and to tan myself of course. So I need to work outside, in the sun, which is very glarey. So I want to get something like this but I want one that will work at least well enough for me to get work done. The last couple summers I've been putting a beach towel over my head, which works..but it gets really really hot in there and I can't see the girls...so it's sort of...stupid. So..recs?

I gots nothing.

The hotspot was too spotty yesterday to post. And tonight I am just too tired to try. We went to Illinois to throw a baby shower for my sister-in-law, which was wonderful. But I'm tired, so tomorrow I'll come up with something wittier to post about. So later peeps.

So...hey.

Um. I don't have much tonight I guess. A few things happened today I suppose.

Today was Science Day at the 9yo's school. I had planned to drop over there around 1:30..and right when I was ready to go, I got an email that the school was on lockdown because of a shooting. Not as alarming as it sounds, they're very cautious and super protective of the kids, which I love. The shooting was at some local college apartments, where things tend to happen from time to time. Lockdown was less than an hour and I was able to get to Science Day after all. If I weren't so lazy, I'd put a picture here. She was re-exhibiting her Earthquakes research from an earlier earth sciences project. She didn't want to do a new experiment or project..because it was just 'too big' to do. Heh, I hear that.

We're prepping to entertain some family this weekend, so I may be unable to post tomorrow night, depending on how things go and where we are exactly. But I will try. I'm throwing a baby shower for my sister-in-law. Tonight we went around town picking up some last minute things. I found the most adorable Hawkeye dress at Target tonight. We went all the way across town to Von Maur to look for something, but they had nothing, not a single hawkeye thing. Target..came through. It's so adorable, I kind of want to buy it in a bunch of sizes so I can just send them periodically for the baby to wear all the time. I'll have to take a picture of it next time I'm there...I've already bagged it up for her so...yes, I'm lazy. Anyway, I'm excited for her baby, and her shower, and for the people that are driving quite a ways to come to it. It's fun, and exciting and I hope it goes well.

We took the girls for a SURPRISE tonight after all our shopping and dinner. Took them to Orange Leaf for the first time. They liked it, but they weren't as excited as maybe I thought they'd be. The 9yo had a pain in her leg, so I think that was really distracting her, and the 4yo..is particular about things. She really just wanted the toppings, which was fine, but they were touching the yogurt she didn't love, so I helped her eat some of that. The pineapple froyo is so good, I could eat a whole bowl, and the toppings bar is really a test of my willpower. So..many..good...things.

I should be able to post again on Sunday, if I can't tomorrow. I will try though of course.

I am Random. Weak. Tired.

I've wondered this morning if mommybloggers have friends. Are they real people that can get along with other people? Do they have a 'type' of friend like the rest of us? I'm just curious. Mostly because I think I'd really love to be friends with Linda (www.sundrymourning.com) and Amy (www.amalah.com). Of course, they live on east and west coasts and I'm smack in the middle, so it'll never ever happen. But. I'm curious. Mostly I wonder if a real friendship with them comes with all the same snark in their writing. Because that would be a requirement for me, I require the snark.

I am Weak. Every morning, after the kid or kids are in school I make hot cider. And..even though I've already had breakfast...I have donuts with the hot cider. Too many donuts. It is NOT a surprise I cannot drop ten pounds. Even though I run most week nights on the treadmill, I eat whatever I run off earlier in the day. It's sad and weak. I need a personal trainer and chef and nutritionist and to win the lottery to pay all those people.

I am Tired. Last night I played Horde mode on GoW3 for the first time in probably three weeks. Man I missed it. Both of my brothers came to play and another friend as well, it's great with at least 4. We quit at 11:15 or so, so we wouldn't be losing too much sleep. It was great fun and I hope to do it again next wednesday night. Usually I'd play on the weekend, but this weekend we'll be busy with baby showers and whatnot. Anyway. I'm still kinda tired today. I wasn't up any later than any other night, but I think the excitement and frenzy of the game makes me wired. I had a slight headache today too, but that might be unrelated. I'll have to retest next week when the additional factors are gone. I think part of me is also tired from worrying about the 4yo and whether she really was fighting a cold and won the fight, or if she was maybe catching something else and what does she mean when she says her throat hurts (it looks fine and she only does it seemingly when I'm asking her to do something she'd rather not). She's super playful again and no more puke for a couple days now. I think we're in the clear, but I still worry. Which keeps me awake..and makes me tired.

Things I Love, or Like

See, I'm not just a negative nelly. I like stuff...look at all this stuff I like.

• The word DYSFUNCTIONAL. Sure, you don't want to hear it when someone talks about you, or your family, or your job, but it's a neat word. So anti-...so complex and yet not. And so fun to say. 
• Green Mountain Hot Apple Cider K-Cups. Seriously, help me, I'm addicted.
• Gears of War 3: Horde mode. I'm playing tonight.
• Diet Dr. Pepper
• Berry Pomegranate Mio (water flavoring)
• Babies...that are not mine that I can cuddle and hand back when they get loud.
• Cheesecake
• The stories the 4yo makes up, sometimes just to trick or rile her sister. Last night she convinced her that we were going to Target for pretzels. We were so not, but the 9yo was fully suckered. She's a pistol, that preschooler.
• Baby showers and wedding showers. I just went to the nicest shower for a friend and it was so lovely and touching. Can't wait to go to that wedding.
• Weddings. I love the celebration of love, and the dressing up, and the party afterwards.
• Aruba
• Maui
• The Mall of America in Bloomington, MN. I love it because I love to shop and now also because my girls love going there on spring break to shop a little and play a lot.
• Words with Friends
• I LOVE that the 9yo loves to read and write and that she does both really well. She writes stories all the time and she's discovering all kinds of great books at the school library and our local city library. I rediscovered the library with both girls and it's been really great. We go nearly every Saturday and swap out books. 
• Troubleshooting. A lot of what I do at work involves troubleshooting. Digging into the code to see what's happening where and why X is happening and why isn't Y happening and fixing whatever needs to be fixed. I love it. I think it's because I can start, research, poke, fix and accomplish something with each task. It's nice. 
• LISTS! I LOVE LISTS! 

Stuff I don't like.

Or maybe Stuff That Bugs Me would be a better title. I dunno. I want to make a list, so I am.

• Not knowing what's wrong when a kid gets sick
• inconsistent weather (I know, I know..move to [insert somewhere always hot here])
• really bad kid shows like Barney, Tuff Puppy, I just cannot sit through that crap
• not showering. I don't shower Tues/Thurs mornings because I can't fit it in with all the school junk, I shower after my evening workout. But when I also don't shower on Monday...wow. I don't like it.
• when I accidentally change the channel and end up overwriting something I was recording. Oops, hope I can catch the rest of you later Candace Tells All
• The judges decisions on The Voice right now
• when the iPad crashes, which is ALL THE TIME
• when my brain knows what to do but my hands can't figure out how
• feeling like I'm never going to catch up on sleep
• not playing GoW3: Horde for two weeks, I'm having withdrawal symptoms
• my inability to NOT EAT JUNK
• my inability to motivate myself to work out more
• running. I do it and I like it some of the time, but it's soooo dull.
• my inability to cook
• my inability (and I really don't want to do this) to get up early to accomplish more during the day, it seems like it'd be awesome but I love my sleep
• my dogs snorting and wrestling at 7am
• dog #1 eating her poop
• dog #2 eating everything else
• The fact that everyone everywhere isn't listening and doing what I say. I guess the fact that I'm not the boss of everyone.

For the record, there are many many more things I don't like, but I'm not going to be that honest here. Ha.

Tomorrow..perhaps a list of things I love :) I've run out of pre-thunk ideas, so I'm making things up as I go now.

So. Tired.

Wow. So I took a sick day today because I knew I couldn't function on the little sleep I got. So the kid and I hung out on the couch today. I tried to nap, but every time I would doze off she'd start talking to me.

Can I have more juice?

What's on tv next?

She went to bed fine, but around 9pm we heard odd coughing and then whining. That was the puke. So cleanup, cuddling on the couch and then we all headed to bed at 11ish. Then she whined off and on every hour or so until 3am. So I'm asleep, listening...then whine, check on her, back to bed...wait, whine, repeat. Oy. So at 3am I brought her down to the couch. Set up sleeping spots on the couch and slept until 430 when she threw up again. This little tummy of hers cannot handle any amount of snot. None. Vomit every time. Slept off and on until 645 when the husband headed to work, and the napped until 730 when I got the other one up for school. Somehow the toddler slept through all the school prep and we went to sleep until 1030. The rest of the day was fine, and I just put her to bed....and heard the dreaded coughing again. Ugh, so we'll see how tonight goes.

Update: She threw up again last night at 9:30ish..but then slept all the way through, so I think we're on the way out. She went to preschool today and I'm working again.

Aw crap

Toddler vomit thwarted my plans for posting last night. So I've screwed up my attempt at NaBloPoMo. I will keep at it with a post today. Sorry.

What is wrong with...

Ok. So the 9yo came down after her shower tonight and asked me if there's really a boy that goes around on Friday the 13th killing people. I was...surprised. I said no, it's just a movie, don't worry about it, it's not real. She says a girl in her class saw the movie and told her about it. She's pretty concerned about it, but I think I convinced her to go to sleep and think about other things. I can only hope she won't wake up freaked out about what her classmate said.

What parent lets their 8/9yo watch Friday the 13th!? I have never seen it, because I know what kind of movie it is and I don't want to see that. I'm not a fan of horror movies and I doubt my kids will be either. They frighten easily. But ok, it's not my business what you let your kids watch..but is it too much to ask that you counsel your child NOT to scare the other kids at school, maybe you say this was a special thing, watching this movie, and something we don't need to talk about with everyone else. I know that's asking a lot of a child, to keep something to themselves, but it can be done.

Am I wrong? Are 8/9 year olds watching these movies now? Am I delusional thinking parents can do better?  I don't believe in telling anyone how to parent, because we all have our own methods and our children are all different and respond in different ways to different things...but come on. Is it not a generally good idea not to let young children watch horror movies? Hmmph. I'm not pleased.

Video Games

How about a post about my video game obsession?  Do you know how often I get onto XBOX Live and start a game like Halo or Black Ops or Gears (of War 3) and hear...YOU'RE A GIRL? It's absurd. I'm a girl...woman to be exact..and I LOVE me some xbox FPS. I also really enjoy the lego games. All of them. I think the first batman was my favorite but I like playing all of them. Right now my obsession is Gears of War 3. Horde mode. I cannot get enough horde. I have stayed up until 2am trying to beat wave 50 and succeeded...and also stayed up until 2am trying and failing. I play with my youngest brother, which is part of why I love it. He lives far enough away I don't get to see or talk to him in person that often, so this is a really excellent way for us to catch up, make fun of other players, and have a great time.

As I've discovered, I also play video games to release some aggression. Well the FPS games anyway. Horde specifically. It's fun to chase the badguys around and shoot 'em up and it's a great way to ... get my feelings out... about things going on in my life that aren't as awesome as maybe they could be.  Anyway. It's fun. You should try it.

School stuff

Whew. Tonight was a bit of a marathon. Tonight was Sophie's school musical program. She's been working on it for awhile now and tonight was the night. We got to also check out the school's new Concert Hall which was really nice and had comfy chairs. In years past we've had to sit in the elementary school gym on bleachers...not so comfy. The musical was "A Kid's Life" and it was really cute. She had a great time and Lexi enjoyed watching it. Grandpa came too (the girlfriend is out of town or I'm sure she would have been there, too). The best part is that this school knows what it's doing. Everything about it is run smoothly including the musical programs. They're always on a Thursday night, so there's very little reason for any student not to be able to make it. And they're short. Thirty to forty-five minutes at most. It's pretty awesome. I'll have videos to post tomorrow, it's too late tonight to convert and wait..so, tomorrow.

Theme song: A Kid's Life


Let The Games Begin


Ghost Story

Jump Rope Rock

So we went to McDonald's immediately after the husband got home from work so we could eat and then off to the program and then we headed to DQ afterwards for some 'hey, good job' ice cream.

I didn't have any.

I'm back to tracking my calories. I clearly have no self control.

No Video Games

So because of the recent headaches I've stopped playing xbox. I'm trying to give my brain a break, if its the games/TV/late nights...I wanted to eliminate all those things to test my theory. It took a few days for the headache to really fully go away. It's gone now. I'm really hopeful that it was just a migraine trying to eat my brain and that it wasn't related to anything really. I miss my video games.

It's been a week. Thank GOD for Words With Friends and DrawSomething.

I don't have much news. Tonight was church night (Awana) for the 9yo, which she loves. So I don't have to run (yay) and I feel like the night is mine. Without video games..I'm at a loss. So it's been words with friends and I've started reading Bossypants by Tina Fey.  So far, so good, but I've been interrupted so much I hope I'm not missing anything hilarious. The 4yo came with me to take the other to church, cuz daddy was golfing. Then we came home to swing a bit before it got dark and cold outside. She loves to swing so much. I soooo much want her to learn to pump and swing herself soon. I love pushing her, but it's super boring. What?  I'm sorry, its boring just pushing a kid on a swing. I could be DOING things during that. Reading, WWF, writing this. Come on. Mama gots things to do.

Perhaps tomorrow something exciting will happen. Or I'll win my battle with eZPublish. Both highly unlikely.

Babysitters

I was having some trouble coming up with what to write about today. Yesterday evening wasn't that great and not much happened today, so...hmmm. This weekend we have friends coming to visit and we'll be headed out to dinner. My girls are really great, really well behaved, but I know that we're going to want to relax and take our time, and talk for awhile when we're out. And the girls will eventually get bored...and vocal about that boredom. So, we need a babysitter.

Awhile back I joined care.com ($35/month yikes) for a couple months, to find some local reputable babysitters. It turns out most of the sitters on there are college students or day care women. So we picked a couple and tried them out, and the girls loved them. Today I called the first one, and her phone is no longer her phone...so..I guess she's out. So I tried the second, and while luckily her phone is still her phone..she's unavailable for this weekend. So...I'll be calling grandpa later tonight, to see if he's available.

I'm always torn when I call my dad to babysit. I know he loves the girls and would do anything for them, but I also know he has his own life. And girlfriend. She's wonderful by the way, and awesome with the girls. But I feel like I'm using him when he babysits, I couldn't pay him, it'd take a wrestling match to get him to let anyone pay for dinner, let alone pay him to watch his precious grandchildren. And I feel like maybe they had better plans (that he wouldn't tell me about) that I'm preventing him from. Sigh. Anyway, I'll call, he'll say yes - even if he previously had other plans - and hopefully we'll be all set.

The other thing is that babysitters are EXPENSIVE. Most of them say anywhere from $7-$15 per hour. If I recall, I babysat A LOT in high school, and I made somewhere between $2 and $5 per hour, never more than that. And the $5/hour people..those were the "rich" people and you hoped they'd call you again. I'm not complaining really, well sort of...shouldn't I be glad to pay ANY amount for the care of my precious cherubs? Turns out not. So we limit the paid babysitter to a rare occasion and use the grandparents as much as possible otherwise. Another great reason for the in-laws to move to town..another grandparent set to rotate in :)

Perhaps tomorrow I'll have a better post idea. Or something dramatic will happen! Ooooo! Unlikely.

My five

(A really long time ago) @Chookooloonks tweeted this question: "5 best decisions of my adult life so far: go to law school, move to London, marry @marzjennings, adopt Alex, quit law. What are your 5 best?"

My five:

1. Getting married at 19 to my highschool sweetheart. Everyone always says it was young, but I don't see it that way. We were old enough legally, mature enough (mostly) and we had it planned out. So it worked for us, perhaps it wouldn't have for you, but it worked for us.

2. Having babies after being married for awhile (and stopping after two). Waiting to have kids until we'd been married at least 5 years was great. We were able to do a little traveling, have our own interests and time and do things on the fly, when we wanted, however we wanted. Kids throw a giant wrench into all that, which we knew, so we didn't want to jump into that too soon. I think we waited the perfect amount of time to have kids, and between our two kids (nearly 5 years).

3. Taking my current position which meant being able to work from home, doing work I really enjoy. It was a risk, what if it didn't work out, what if I was awful at working from home, what if my old job wouldn't take me back (they no longer exist)...so many what ifs. I'm glad I went for it, best career decision so far I think.

4. Savings. Saving in a 401k started early for both of us, saving with Edward Jones IRA accounts. Planning what we spend, and buy and do, so we can retire when we're ready and not when we can or have to.

5.  I don't know. I can't think of anything right now...I'm sure I will eventually. Right now though, all I can think of are all the things I'd like to do still, like the things on my life list and the organization things my house needs. some day.

I guess these would be my five SO FAR. I hope I make other great decisions in the future. Although, I think #1 and #2 will stay on whatever future lists I make.

Easter

Happy Easter everyone. Today turned out to be a pretty great day. The girls woke up and found their baskets and were thrilled about the dry erase boards and decorative foam stickers for those.  They had fun hunting for the plastic easter eggs that I hid filled with m&ms and then we kind of just hunt out for awhile. Got a text or two from my brothers and headed to lunch at dad's house (he and his girlfriend, whom I love, prepared everything). Pork chops were delicious. DELICIOUS. And steamed veggies were excellent, I started smelling broccoli and my mouth watered..so good. And then PIE that my brother brought. It was really fun, visiting, and the kids played with their cousin and we hung out, and some of us napped and we watched the Masters which turned out to be a bit more interesting than we thought it might be. The girls really really had fun running outside with my brother and brother in law and playing hide and seek. And it turns out that the 4yo is much more cunning and crafty than her 8 and 9yo cousin and sister :) She's a wily one, that's for sure.

My original hope for today was to go to church. Honestly, that's my hope for every Sunday, but it just doesn't seem to work or happen for us. We like to sleep in and catch up on sleep from the work week and getting up for church prevents that. Also, the 4yo in particular hasn't been a fan of Sunday school (nor is the husband really), so I've ended up taking the 9yo to Sunday school and the husband brings the 4yo later for big church, and both girls sit in there with us for that. It's an ok arrangement, but I do wish the 4yo would agree to Sunday school and the nursery so I could focus a little better during the sermon. I also really really do not want to be easter, christmas attendees, where we only show up for holidays when we think God is watching. I'm not that person. I believe EVERY day, not just holidays.

Honestly, I haven't been a huge fan of the Sunday school classes I've attended either. I think what I'm looking for may not exist. And I'm a little hesitant to find a new church or anything, because we like this church, we believe what they believe and we were married there, same pastor even. In fact, his daughter is whose shower I'll be attending next weekend...small world. I guess what I'd like from my Sunday school, and I'm probably not being fair here..is to come out of it with clues about how to get through the week. How do I respond to X and do I have to forgive X and what about forgetting X and I guess...real life situations that I struggle with every day. And maybe I just haven't attended enough, or the right class to find that. They do seem to offer more focused classes at Sunday evenings. Maybe I'll keep an eye out for something that fits me in that time slot. Look at that, sorta solved things a little myself.

My future fears about not attending church are for my girls. Not only their spiritual futures, but also for their personal futures. Will they meet the right man for themselves if they aren't regularly involved in a place filled with men that believe what they believe? I met my husband at church...so it's a match I'd sort of like for them to make as well.

Ok enough of that...I exhaust myself sometimes.

I woke up at 6 with a charlie horse in my calf as well. Holy mother of all that is holy...OW. I've sort of changed my running technique lately, to run more on the balls of my feet, it was feeling like less work and less impact than the heel toe stomp. Maybe my calves just aren't ready for that, but I am going to keep trying it. I really need to start doing longer runs so I can make sure I'm ready for my 5k in July.

You know what else is funny...or interesting. At the same that I hope people read my blog, and like what and how I write it, I also hope no one reads it, because its a great way to just blurt and ramble and get what I'm feeling out of me. Huh.