For my mom's birthday...

It’s my mom’s birthday, and now it’s all about her,
And yet another year has gone by with such a blur.
It’s hard to stop and thank her for all she does for us,
I could fill the screen just starting to discuss.
She comes to our house, and watches our kids,
Makes the meals, and the sippy cups with lids,
She doles out the kisses, and hugs and advice,
She puts them before her and never thinks twice.
She washes all the bottles and the pump parts,
And that’s all before her day even starts.
Takes the kids on her errands, and then to crafts,
Her and Chloe share jokes and plenty of laughs.
She snuggles Jeremy day in and day out,
She loves those grandkids without a doubt.
She makes sure Jason and I get a dinner date,
Drops what she’s doing, “I’ll watch them, it can wait.”
She is selfless and caring and so full of love,
There so much more than I’ve mentioned above.
So I hope you hear what we’ve had to say,
We love you so much NaNa and Happy Birthday!

"Wait! I made chili on Tuesday!"

Ok, so it has been soooooo long since I blogged, but please see previous posts about renovating... No time to even breathe... Here's the quick and dirty:

But that's not what prompted my sudden desire to blog... It's my mom. She carries around this tiny little purse (if you can even call it that) that you can wear around your neck (why you'd want to?) but still, it's very small, like a wallet on a string. She leaves it EVERYWHERE. I think she's left it at our house alone like 3 times in the last 2 weeks.

So last night she called and asked me if I'd seen it, because she couldn't remember using it since Tuesday morning (last night was Wednesday night) and was looking for it. I told her I hadn't, probably scolded her for losing it, and reminded her to check online in case someone was like using her cards or anything.

So this morning, she comes over to watch the kids like every day, and I happen to still be home when Chloe woke up. Mom called me upstairs and told me that when she asked Chloe if she knew where Nana's purse was, that Chloe replied (in the 3rd person, she always does it) "Chloe threw it in the garbage!" and Mom replied, "You threw Nana's purse in the garbage?" and Chloe nodded, "In the garbage!"

So I was skeptical, and I asked, "The garbage upstairs or downstairs?" she said matter of factly, "Downstairs." and I pushed further, "In the kitchen or the bathroom?" and she finished, "Kitchen!"

Mom wanted to look in the garbage, but I had to leave for work, so it wasn't happening right then for sure... But let's discuss this garbage first.

So some of you may be able to relate to a new process with San Antonio garbage collection... They only pick up one wheeled can of trash, and one of recycling once a week for each. Our trash day happens to be Friday (tomorrow). Which is good and bad... Good that Tues/Wed garbage isn't gone, but bad in that a FULL WEEK'S worth of diapers and garbage and stinky food is all piled in bags in one big stinky, lid-covered-to-trap-in-the-stink, canister.

And then me and Jason realized, not only is it dirty diaper-tastic... but I made Chili on Tuesday, and we dumped the rest out... So a Chili Cheese Dirty Diaper fest!

So all day at work, me and Jason go back and forth that WE are not going to dig in garbage, and what if it's not even in there, and it's Mom's fault, and my co-workers say but it's our daughter therefore we have to do it. And it's back and forth.

I get home, it's raining, so as to make the garbage smell nice and muggy, and Mom knows that she must look in it... She got through only 2 bags when she gave up. No purse. We looked all over the house, in Chloe's toys, bags, both cars, EVERYWHERE.

She ate dinner at our house since she didn't have any money or a debit card or anything, and then made her way home, letting us know that after a final search, she may be back early in the morning for a final garbage dive before it's picked up...

She calls us about an hour later. Found the purse on her bed. Dirty chili diapers for nothing! And that, ladies and gentlemen is how my 2 year old pulled one over on her Nana!

Yep, that's my daughter...

So Chloe's "graduation" went well, she behaved as well as any 2 year old who is asked to sit for 30 minutes after she got her diploma would behave, and all was good.




We then had a playdate with Rowan (5 days older than Chloe) and her mom, Gina. We went to Barnes & Noble, played with the train table, drank Frappucinos (even Chloe when I wasn't paying attention, oops) and had a good time... Went to Gina's afterward to order pizzas and Jason picked up Jeremy and brought him and her husband Jonathan came home after work. It was just a wonderful afternoon, the girls were being so silly together and having a great time and playing with the tea set and outside, and wearing each other's shoes and having like tickling sessions... And then... Chloe got a little "over-excited" perhaps? And went to take a bite out of Rowan's leg... Luckily we stopped it, but it didn't seem too malicious or anything, just kind of like a "I'm-so-excited-now-I-have-to-bite-you" kinda thing... I mean I get it, I kinda want to bite Jason sometimes, but still UNACCEPTABLE.


So after we pull Chloe into Gina's laundry room to explain that when we bite, no one wants to have us over for tea, or to wear their shoes, or for tickle fights, she seemed ok, apologized to Rowan and her parents and we were packing up to leave. The girls came over to Jeremy's carrier while he was sleeping, and to give him kisses or so I thought...


Chloe went down to Jeremy's feet and took a big ole' bite on the big toe... And just as he started screaming bloody murder, she stood up and said proudly, "I bite the baby!"

I flipped out, like screamed at Chloe and said, "We need a meeting, NOW!" or some hysterical screaming version of that... And pulled we her back into the laundry room as she continued to say, "I bite the baby!"


I'll spare you the blow by blow of the car ride home where I thought she was showing remorse until we called my mom on speakerphone in the car and the 1st thing she shouted was "Nana, I bite the baby!" But yeah, literally THAT MORNING I had written the "Chloe's gotten so much better thanks to these magical books!" blog and then she takes a chunk out of her brother! Never fails.


The 1st stage of the construction is almost done on our house, but yesterday was definitely the most stressful... They were soldering steel inside and set the fire alarm off twice and my whole house was filled with smoke... It seems like any time we renovate, something is caught on fire...

"Graduation"

Chloe is "graduating" from Mother's Day Out today, they have a ceremony and everything... She "graduates" into the 2 year old class... Kinda ridiculous, but I guarantee I'll take a million pictures...

It's actually a pretty big deal in our house since she has come pretty close to not making it this far at all... She had a couple "incidents" this past year with some aggressive behavior, but thanks to these lovely books, we seem to be over that hump:

My favorite is the cover of the "No Biting" where the little girl is holding the little boys arm under hers so she can bite his finger... How appropriate!

My mom will be watching both kids when I go back to work, and Memorial Day week is also the first week Mother's Day Out is on break until the summer session starts, so she will have her hands full all 4 days! And of course Jason will too on Fridays by himself...

Some work on the exterior of our house starts today, which is exciting, although I'm sure the loud noises will totally disrupt Chloe's nap, and thus disrupt our whole day... And it seems like ever since we confirmed all the work we're doing, everything else has fallen apart... Last week my car wouldn't get out of park at the friggin' Costco gas station pump and I had to be towed, while all the other customers COULD NOT seem to grasp that they had to drive around me, even with my hazard lights on... Also, shout-out to Esme's boyfriend, Aaron, who talked me off the ledge when I called him, demanding to know why my car wouldn't get out of park!

Then we picked out floors this weekend, and lo and behold, I went to pay a medical bill for Jeremy's birth, and my magic health insurance card that works like a credit card was maxed out... And will not be replenished until January! So my mantra for 2009 will be "When it rains, it pours!"

And keep in mind I'm on unpaid leave right now, and taking an extra week just as we find this out was just perfect timing! :) Although just as I typed that, Jeremy smiled so big in his sleep, so it's all worth it for the extra time...

Well I have to get ready for Chloe's graduation, and I'm crossing my fingers she doesn't push any of the other kids off the stage! :)

Dog poop, babies, new stuff...

So I have had a pretty decent following on my MySpace blog (if I do say so myself), and lots of people have blogspot blogs or are starting them, so in an effort to wean myself from MySpace, I'm giving it a try... So subscribe to this one... I am one of those, need-validation-to-keep-up-with-it kinda people when it comes to blogging...

My most popular blogs are usually those that involve horrible things happening to me... My dog shitting on the walls, me vomiting in my own hand in public, and the like... So I'll try to keep that in mind, and only slip in the occasional happy-go-lucky blog...

If you're new to my style of blogs, I like to drop in a cuss word a couple times per paragraph, I love my kids, my husband and my mom, and am easily annoyed by all others. This is the first time to have a totally public blog, so it will be interesting... Who's going to read it? We'll see...

My husband, Jason, and I have a 2 year old and a 2 month old, and we're about to start major home renovations... What are we thinking? We're doing a full kitchen remodel and new flooring on our entire first floor and stairs... But if we survive it, it should be beautiful! But it will give lost of blog ammunition with a million contractors coming in and out of our house, so stay tuned!

So I've been home on maternity leave for 2 and a half months, and go back to work after memorial day... I originally planned to go back yesterday, but it just didn't happen... Too much to do, too cute of a little baby and toddler to look at...

I mean right?

So yeah, stay tuned, subscribe for email updates, and wish us luck on the roller coaster that is remodeling!