Yes, I'm Still Alive

So if you’re still with me, raise your hands! Anyone? Anyone? Hmmm, I’m not really surprised. You gave up and I don’t blame you.

I kind of fell off the face of the planet there for a good couple of weeks, or so it felt. I know I haven’t written in a long time and it’s not because nothing’s been happening, or that I haven’t had a lot of ideas. Time, people, it’s ALL ABOUT TIME! Or rather, me not having enough of it. Or so it seems, anyway.

We truly have been very busy lately. When Hubster’s folks were here, we really were busy and enjoying a great visit and after they left we really kicked into high gear as far as just a lot of stuff going on. It’s kind of break neck speed right now on a bunch of things and I’m really looking forward to Mouse’s school break at the end of them month so I can catch my breath and have absolutely NOTHING going on. (at least not yet).

So what have you missed? Here is the abbreviated version of what I could have been posting about but didn’t have the time to:

Baboo has started taking her diaper off at nap time, especially if it’s dirty. This results in a huge, smelly mess and usually involves laundry and a bath. Despite repeated efforts to get her to tell us when she has to go or wants a change, she just tells that that she “got poop ewery-where!”. Uh, yeah, we noticed. My in-laws really loved this (not). In fact, it reminded them that their SON did the same thing when he was a baby. Ew.

Baboo is turning 2 – 2!!! This weekend. Her birthday is the same day as Becprint’s H, believe it or not. And I knew that was going to happen when I was pregnant with Baboo too. Weird. Anyway, my BABY is going to be 2! How did that happen? I’m still in shock. So I’ve been busy getting ready for her birthday party which involves having a few friends over for pizza, cake and play time. We’ve always had a party for our kids, even when they were just babies and we didn’t have any friends with kids. It was just us grownups one year when Mouse turned 1, but we had a good time anyway. It’s not about presents or anything like that, it’s letting our kids know that birthdays are special and that they are worth the effort to get people together to help them celebrate.

Baboo is very excited about her party and loves to tell everyone she meets, strangers or no, that it’s “MY BIR-DAY PAWTY. MINE. ME”. Repeatedly.

I decided to make a carousel cake, which I figured would be pretty simple or at least I’d find easy instructions on the ‘net. BWAHAHAHAHAHA. Yeah, right. Have I mentioned I’ve never decorated a cake before? Hmmm. Might be important. So I looked up a few sites, got some ideas and figured I’d wing it. Thankfully, my mother in law has done a lot of cakes and was able to help me out with the cookies and design and I think we’ll be good to go. I’m excited about it and hope it’s special but a bit nervous that it will be a blob with some horse shaped cookies on the top. Anything could happen I guess.

And I should mention that it is VERY dangerous for me to have peanut M&Ms in the house. VERY. I have discovered that I really love these things and can eat them by the bucket. I don’t like regular M&Ms very much (though, there’s rarely anything chocolate that I’ll refuse, so if that’s all that’s around, I’ll choke them down. Ahem). I have them for the cake, I hope they make it to the weekend.

Or maybe I could have told you that I just got some results back from some blood tests and it shows that my cholesterol is a bit high. The bad cholesterol, that is. The rest is fine. However, my HMO has decided to dig their heels in about the test and are refusing to cover it. Without this test, I wouldn’t know that it was high and could be at risk for heart problems down the road, but APPARENTLY, it wasn’t medically necessary. Yeah, bite me. So I’m attempting to fight it and hoping I don’t get screwed.

And, so now, I’m supposed to be dieting more seriously, and generally, I have been (peanut M&Ms aside). My few members from my old playgroup back in Eastcoastville have formed an email “gang” and are working to support each other in getting healthy. A bunch have already done very well and I’m full of good ideas and inspiration and plain ole real knowledge, but struggle with it myself. I’ve acknowledged that I eat when I’m tired and stressed, so that’s pretty much ALL THE TIME and have learned a lot about myself that I’m still trying to work to sort out. I’m making progress, but it’s slow. Having almost daily contact with my now distant friends, is good and bad. Good because it feels like we’re all still together and bad because well, I can’t just walk down the street and see them. I miss them dearly.

But, I’m exercising more, eating better and have lost a few of the 15 lbs I need to lose. The same 15 lbs I lost LAST YEAR and am losing again. I’m hoping that I’m going to make it stick this time. I’m taking my vitamins and burping fish oil all in the best interests of my heart. I hope it appreciates my efforts.

And I could tell you about trying to find a birthday gift for Baboo. We have a house full of toys and stuff and do not need one more thing to be honest. And also I’m feeling cheap. And she’s only 2. I wanted to keep to the carousel theme, but it was very hard, so I didn’t. And as I’m standing in Toys R Us yesterday, mulling over ideas, I realize that I have NO FREAKING CLUE what my kids are into. How did that happen? I spend hours in a day with them and yet, I feel sometimes like I don’t know them. Very guilt inducing.


And lord knows I don’t need any more guilt.

I’m currently on a fund raising committee at Mouse’s school and we’re nearing our big event. I’m starting to freak out even though I am NOT the chair of the committee. I’ve been making phone calls and talking to strangers and now I have a house full of “stuff” that’s been donated. I really hate fundraising but know it’s important to the school so I’m doing it. I think I’m doing ok, but am worried that it’s not enough. I woke up this morning at the butt crack of dawn and freaked out a bit because I’ve lost a week in my head and thought the event was next week. It was of little reprieve to look at my calendar and realize it is the following week. We still have so much to do and I’m dreading it and want it over all at the same time.

And I presented an idea to the school for a class quilt to auction off at the fundraiser and everyone loved it. And now, I’m roped into helping to make it and I know nothing about quilting other than what I’ve absorbed from my Mum who is a quilt making fanatic. I feel like quilt imposter.

The weather was B-E-A-utiful this weekend and it inspired me to figure out what to do with my gardens, or lack thereof. I’ve decided to work on the front garden this year and do the herb garden at the back but that we’ll likely put off the veggie garden until next year, as all of this stuff costs money. I have a million ideas and I think it’s going to look really nice, but money… Bleh.

Oh yeah, and we need a new roof. But you know, blood from a stone and all that, so it’s going to have to wait until next year. Insert frantic saving plan here.

I did FINALLY get our taxes filed. That’s good. Right? Right?

Yesterday I escaped for coffee with a friend and we spent 2.5 hours sitting in Starbucks talking non-stop about anything and everything. It was fabulous and quite possibly the shortest 2.5 hours I’ve had in ages. To make up for my sloth-ness, I did a bunch of other errands, but boy, it was so nice to just sit and have an adult conversation without being interrupted with questions about snacks and poop and toys. We’ve already made plans to go it again – SOON.

I could also tell you that this past week we had a large brown rabbit hanging out on our back lawn for a few days, and it caused quite a stir and a lot of questions about where the rabbit was. Like 700 times a day “Mommy, where bunny is?” He has since disappeared, which is kind of good because we thought it might be a problem as he/she (?) seemed to go under the back deck. Let’s hope it’s gone and not um, reproducing copiously.

It has come to my attention via the news that we are entering tornado season here in Midwestville, aka Tornado Alley. That’s freaking me out a bit. And so this morning, I added to my already obscenely long grocery list a number of emergency items – bottled water, canned goods etc and researched what to do on the ‘net. It’s helped me to relax a bit, but I still need to figure out a better plan. And then practice it with the kids as I’m praying that we’ll never have to use it.

I’ll also tell you that I’m considering potty training Baboo during spring break. She will go and does ask to, but I think I’d like to encourage it a bit more. Mouse was potty trained without my help by 18 months and even by 2 we’d stopped using diapers at night time. I’m not expecting that level from Baboo as she’s just a different kid, but I do think she might be ready. It might backfire, but I’m hoping that it will take off.

So, that’s all I can think of for now without my brain exploding. Several phone calls and to do list items were sacrificed in order to assemble this somewhat crappy post. I hope you appreciate my effort. You don’t? Oh, well. Ha. But now it’s Baboo’s nap time and Mouse is at a friend’s house this afternoon and I have an afternoon in which to cram 100 things that MUST be done and I really should get to it.

I will say, I’m feeling much better having written. I’ve missed it more than I realized I did.

Post note: Just as I’m reviewing this, I hear through the monitor (recently resurrected to hear the tell-tale sound of a diaper being ripped open) a cough, choke and the distinct cry that follows throw up. Sigh. Baboo is fine. She just drank too much water and then threw it all up. Which means, I had to change the sheets. Again. For the 4th time this week. I HATE changing crib sheets. So now it appears that a few extra loads of laundry are now on my list. Sigh.