Wednesday Catch Up

Hmm...what have we been doing lately?

We've had a pretty busy summer being outside. Now anyone who knows me also knows that I don't like being outside. I think the outdoors is extremely overrated and I'd rather be doing just about anything at all in a temperature controlled indoor environment. Well, my daughter does not agree with my philosophy of "if it isn't done inside it's not worth doing." This means every day I end up outside.

We go to some kind of park every day. Maybe one day it's Weed Park, the next day Fuller, and the next day the Discovery Park. Aria will normally find at least one slightly older little girl who will play with her and she can follow around. Aria latches onto girls who are around 4-7 years old and blond. Maybe a red head once in awhile. For some reason those are the girls she wants to follow around. I am thankful for little girls who think Aria is cute and is perfectly happy to help her go down the slide or to swing with her. It also means I can sit down for a minute and not have to hover like a mama bear.

Our current schedule goes like this:
8am-9am: Wake up, eat breakfast, take a walk in the stroller or go to the park for about two hours.
11am-1pm: Eat lunch, color, play with legos. Go wake up daddy.
1pm-3pm: Play with daddy, then take a nap.
4pm-6pm: Wake up, have a snack. Play outside or at a park until dinner. Watch Wiggles while mommy makes dinner.
7:30pm-8:30pm: Eat dinner with daddy, then go to sleep.
Somewhere at random times baths will be had as well as diaper changes and other such fun stuff.

One bit of good news for me! Aria doesn't seem to be as sensitive to wipes anymore. I used to only be able to use the Member's Mark wipes as everything else gave her a rash. No more! I have been able to use something else and after careful testing have determined other wipes safe! This is so great!

Aria is also becoming a picky eater as well as eating less. She has decided that regular milk isn't good enough anymore and in order for her to have her 18 oz a day I have to make sure it is flavored and that it is cold. If it is not cold she also will not drink it. She has decided she doesnt' want things that she normally loves including peanut butter and carrots. She would be perfectly happy to eat apples and goldfish all day long. Unfortunately for her, she does not get this option. If I leave a bowl of cut up fruits in the living room she will snack on that all day. At least I know she is getting her fruit. She also has decided that bacon is the best thing ever. It is looking like every day is Bacon, fruit salad, goldfishes day.

About me:
Well, my hair needs cut again. I just hate it touching my neck.
I have completely stopped standing on the scale and checking my weight. I am already happier. I have decided that size 14 isn't too horrible after all.
I have also decided that if something is worth making, it is worth wrapping in foil and baking it the easiest way possible. My husband approves of this method wholeheartedly.
I have seen the Star Trek movie twice and would see it again in an instant. I was never a big Star Trek fan before, but now I am obsessed. I went to the movie to see Simon Pegg and came out with a huge crush on Zachary Quinto.
Every day I admire my yard. I take care of my yard better than I take care of anything now. I mow every Monday, which is more than I can say for my laundry.
Apologize is still my favorite song, but it is being edged out by You Found Me.

Sorry no pics this time. Not because I don't have any, but just because I am too lazy.

Friday Fence is Up!

Low and behold, the fence is finally done! This makes me all kinds of excited. Okay, so it isn't completely complete. There is a gate to be put up in the front, but for the most part, the important stuff is all done. There were quite a bit of problems on the way, such as even after we got those trees cut down, the stumps made it impossible to sink a hole there and so the posts have some creative spacing. It looks good, though, and even our gate's hinges are all pretty.

I bought a manual lawnmower at Menards. My thoughts were that if I was going to mow the lawn myself, our other lawnmower was broken, and I can barely start a lawnmower, then I would get a manual. It actually works pretty good. I mean, I don't expect it to be a walk in the park, unless that park is very bumpy and full of sticks. However, I would have more trouble with a pushmower and so it's all good. I don't have to worry about gas or oil or grass shooting at my legs and cutting them. Nor do I have to worry about bent or dull blades or grass bunching up in the catcher. An old man walking down the sidewalk saw me using it and said, "I haven't seen one of those in years. I learned to cut grass with one of those." His grandpa had one, hee hee.

I went to yard sales with Mom and Aria today here in town. We got some good deals. I got Aria a cute little trike for $2. I got her some books, about 5 outfits, and I got her a fisher price play camera and a weebles RV. Mom got some Megablocks to keep at her house and some cute clothes for Gannon in size 12 months. We ate at KFC and stopped when the baby started getting cranky. Tomorrow I plan to go with Misty, but we'll be taking the stroller because there should be quite a bit of walking going on. All in all, not a bad day. Today a lot was accomplished.

Friday-Yard Wasteland

So the privacy fence building continues. We had Freer and Sons come to take out those meddlesome trees. These are the pics of the wasteland that my yard is right now.

I still have time that I can get a lot of the brush and make it for spring cleaning. We got a lot of crap out of our house and picked up this morning. Three old mattresses, computer cases, a monitor, Chris's couch, and various other crap that was just laying around. The amazing thing to me is that Rod didn't even know we had this stuff. For instance, I was cleaning out empty boxes from the bedroom and Rod goes, "Where did you find those?" The bedroom. They've been there all year. He didn't even notice them. I couldn't miss them, they were there every day. They aren't now! I got rid of the fooseball table that was in the attic and other crap that the people who lived here before us left. It is amazing though what other people will take from there. Like, they took all of our computer cases, the broke vacuum, both dead batteries I put out, and the car haired, disgusting cat thing I threw out. All of these things were picked up by people roaming the alley.



Aria discovered that woodchips are interesting. I am surprised she didn't want to play in the stuff. I would want to play in it, but she didn't. Rod has a friend that is supposed to come and pick up the fence and a bunch of the wood. I dunno why he wants the fence, but whatever floats his boat.

Just look at the wasteland that is my yard. It is very flammable right now. I have so much cleanup left to do and not a whole lot of time to do it. It makes it especially difficult since I have to watch Aria while I look out at the yard thinking, "I could be cleaning that up."

So, it's progress. Now there is nothing standing in the way of getting the rest of the fence up. I am even going to save some of the wood chips because I have the idea of putting in a small, burning bush that doesn't have to be trimmed and then putting wood chips around it. They cost a lot if you buy them and I have tons for free!

Random stuff:

*Aria is beginning to like a couple stuffed animals. She hugs the white bear that my mom gave her for Valentine's Day, and she likes this beanie baby zebra that Mary gave her. All other stuffed animals suck, lol.

*Aria can now point to her nose if you ask her too. We are teaching her ears next.

*Aria now points to things in books for you to name them. She can't point yet if you name it though.

*We bought Aria a potty. At first she cried when I put her on it, but now she sits on it with her pants on if you ask her to. This is the first step in potty training! She is uncomfortable when she has a poop diaper and grabs her diaper. Today she tried to wipe herself with her sock, so I am thinking she is getting ready.

*I bought Sims2 Seasons and it is everything I thought it would be. It's so fun! My favorite things about it so far is when lightning strikes something and sets it on fire and when the penguin comes around in the winter. I also like raking the leaves and burning them. Seasons is great!

Ten Years!

Well, I have made it to my tenth wedding anniversary. We had originally wanted to do so much more for this big milestone, but we had no money in which to do it. However, what we did do was pretty fun so it all worked out.

Friday was our actual anniversary and so we spent the after noon in the park feeding the ducks and geese. Aria loves birds. She loves them so much-again, another way that she is the opposite of me. She points out the birds in our lawn too, and every bird she sees is a 'duck'. It was a really nice day and so feeding the birds was fun. We stayed until it was time to put the baby girl for a nap.

Rod found out that Biaggi's has a gluten free menu after doing a search for restaurants. We were so excited about that! He made a reservation and I got Aria and I all dressed up for Biaggi's. It would be Aria's first fancy restaurant trip.

Aria did pretty good. The whole place was loud with talking and so I didn't worry about her being loud. She was afraid of the guys at the table next to us and so we had to scoot her over. She also got tired of sitting in her chair after awhile and so lots of effort was made to entertain her. She stuffed herself with bread, fed me bread, and tried to feed her daddy bread. I know she's too young to understand that daddy can't eat bread, but she was super offended when he wouldn't eat it. She just gives you a look like, "You must eat it! I am offering it to you so eat it now!"

Then we went to coldstone because I had an awesome coupon. We had dark chocolate ice cream with cherries. It was hella great. Aria helped me to eat mine because she has a dessert compartment too.

Then on Saturday we went to a gamecon in the Quads. It was the first one I had been to in years. We played D&D 4.0 and I was completely lost. I never played it before and I was at a table of ppl who play it all the time. I felt like such a gamer beginner. I'm all, "What does this spell do? Where do I look for this? What does this mean? Can I do this?" I swear it was like I never played a game before in my life and I've been playing for ten years! Rod and I both won a raffle and so we went home with $100 worth of games for free. None of which I will probably play.

Mary played with the baby girl all day. She sent us a pic of Aria with a bucket on her head. She had fun. I am glad. I want Aria to have a good relationship with her grandmas. Mom has been extra crazy lately. I can't help but think that she skipped a pill or a shot or something. She sent me an anniversary card saying she was 'concerned', which is typical Mom. Just the random craziness has lasted about two weeks straight and I am hoping for an end in sight.

We got Mary's old screen door. They bought a new one and called to ask if I wanted it. I said YES! GIMME! So she said that there was something wrong with the bottom and I reminded her that my screen door is tied to the railing with a bungee cord. I don't care! I want!

It hailed today. How fucked up is that. I swear every neighbor went to look out their windows and we were all, "What the hell? Why is it hailing? It's freakin' April."

Other randomness:

*I get $6 to spend on myself because Rod spent $6 on himself.

*We have to cut down two stupid trees in order to get the privacy fence up because there are carpenter ants eating away at one and the other one is nearly dead too. That is going to cost us $400. Rod is gonna use his bonus on it when he gets it so that we can afford it. There must be some higher power that doesn't want me to have my privacy fence. I shake my fist in the air and shout, "Damn you! I WILL have my privacy fence!"

*I was actually sleepy today. That must mean my medicine is getting out of my system. I liked actually having energy.

*Sims2 Seasons is soooooo fun!

Tuesday Dinner

It was tree cutting down time the last few days of the privacy fence project. First Rod had to cut down one tree and then went to work. Today I put all of the branches and logs of that tree into a pile by the house and out of the workspace. This took me around an hour, but I got my exercise for the day because some of those limbs were pretty heavy. I did this while Aria was napping.

Then Aria and I went to dinner with Nancy, Jeanne, Misty, and Kathy. We went to a Mexican place I have never been to before. Ari was so good there and I discovered that she has a dessert compartment too. She was completely full of her chips and salsa and was just playing with the stuff until I got dessert. Then she was all over that dessert like she wasn't just full. Yep, dessert compartment just like me.

Saturday Work

I am thinking that mom is going to need a break from watching Aria for awhile because as Aria gets older Mom can't handle her. I don't mean that she can't chase her, I mean that she can't handle just normal toddler stuff. For one, Mom makes Aria very agitated. All she does is stare at her. I've told Mom, "You know, it's okay to talk to her." I have to tell Mom that she can read to her or play with her. Interact with her in some sort. Mom does not do this. In fact, all she really does is sit and look at the girl.

Another thing that Rod mentioned is that Mom is full of extremes. When she isn't going, "Oh, sweetie don't do that." She's yelling, "Knock it off!" Rod said that my mom was doing that with everything. If Aria fell down one minute Mom would be, "Oh, sweetie" and in ten minutes she'd be like, "Get up! You are fine!" Rod then asked me how it was that I turned out so good. Well, again, I think it has a lot to do with that we were at our grandparents every day. As I remember it, mom never really talked to us or did anything with us either.

We are also discovering that Mom doesn't let Aria take her naps. Rod said that he had to tell my mom to go outside just so that Aria could take a nap. Every time Aria made a peep Mom wanted to race up the stairs and get her. Aria ended up taking only a half hour nap because Mom would literally perch on the stairs and listen for her. Rod said that now he understands why when he gets home from work he'll put Aria down for a nap and she'll go right to sleep at, like 4pm. My mom is not letting her nap.

So I need to give Mom a long break and only have her see Aria when I am there. She just does not know what to do with kids. Now that Aria isn't a baby anymore and is actually moving and interacting, she has no clue. Mom doesn't do things like talk to her. She doesn't offer to read to her. She doesn't do anything at all. It's really kind of disappointing, but not surprising.

More posts are put up on the privacy fence. It's Easter and there's no babysitter so I doubt if anything will get done today. Tomorrow should be better since I will be home with Aria. I will call Grandpa today to see if he can come down and help since Rod won't have any help.

Friday Privacy Fence Day One

Day one involved going to Menards a total of three times to get the following:

1.Another post hole digger

2. Shovel

3. 2x4's

This is because you never have all that you need in order to get the job done. Grandpa's post hole digger is on its last legs and we didn't even own a shovel. The 2x4's are to help hold up the posts while they set in concrete.

Day one also involved lots of 'discussion' I say discussion when it is just Rod and Chris arguing about how to go about doing something. They can't do anything at all without arguing about it. They can't play board games, video games. I doubt they can cook dinner together without arguing over just how long to cook something. The 'discussions' we as indecisive as them. At one point the post hole was dug too deep and it was some big ordeal whether to...? a) put more dirt in to fill up the hole a little bit b) leave it cuz it is good enough or c) put concrete in the bottom and try to fill it in that way. As they were arguing about the post I picked it up, kicked in some dirt, put it back in and said, "There! It's done! Get the concrete, we don't have to discuss it anymore!" Cuz, seriously, it would have taken them a full hour to decide whether to kick dirt in the hole or not. There was a similar argument over how exactly to level the posts to one another. Should they a) eye it, b) use a level and board...This is why in the hours that they did it, they only set up five posts.

I took out the patio blocks and used the dirt to fill in the holes. I don't know what I will do with those patio blocks yet, but I know I didn't like them where they were. We will have lots of concrete left and so I may just build a sidewalk with what we have left over and lead it out to my car. I may even build onto the patio, depending on how much concrete we'll have left.

Aria discovered dirt and leaves today. She also played in water. She got very messy but had a very good time. In fact, she didn't want to go inside at all, and every time someone had to come inside for something she would try to bolt out the door in order to go outside again. She is going to be a total outside child, so the exact opposite of me.

So tomorrow the plan is to take out the other neighbor's fence and put up the panels on the posts. Mom will be watching Aria while this happens.

Thursday Complaints

Today I woke up sick, which only set the tone for my entire day. I finally caught the virus that Aria has. I was expecting to. After all, I can't have a sick toddler feed me and poop on me without getting it, right? Well, I don't feel nauseous or have diarrhea, but my stomach sure hurts and I have no energy for anything at all. We'll call that complaint number one.

Aria was not a happy girl all day. That's fine, she's sick. Problem with that is that I am sick too and she only wanted me. She screamed at her daddy and wanted to sit with me, which hurt my stomach. Therefore she was very unhappy. She also didn't eat much at all today.

Rod wasn't feeling great, but he was up because the old man next door was supposed to take out his fence today. The old man never showed up. This is not surprising to me. It's disgusting, but not surprising. I have never met a single person who has ever showed up to do something when they were supposed to, especially if it has to do with yard work.

My mom called and I had her come over because I thought that if she was over she could watch Aria and I could nap. Well, mom came over and first of all she had on makeup. It was hideous clown makeup. Blue eyeshadow up to her eyebrows. Blush in circles on her cheeks. It hurt to look at her, but I didn't say anything. I didn't have to. Aria saw her and started crying and didn't stop crying until mom washed her face of her makeup.

I went upstairs and took a two hour nap. That was the most enjoyable part of my whole day. After my nap I was weak from hunger. I ate nothing all day but one glass of tea. I went downstairs and Rod brought down Aria from her third nap.

Now, here's another complaint. Before I went up for a nap Aria was crying because she had diarrhea in her diaper. I asked Rod to change her. After all, I was sick or else I'd just do it myself. He got the diaper and wipes and then asked Aria to come over. She wouldn't come over and so what did Rod do? He kept watching TV. Aria kept crying. Finally I was like, "Why haven't you changed her diaper?" His excuse? She didn't come to him. I wanted to smack him. Instead I told him to just get her then and change her. She's crying. The goal is to make her not cry, not prolong it because she doesn't come to you or else you'll wait forever. This scene happened exactly twice today.

Then when I came downstairs again, we got Aria some applesauce. Rod was upstairs napping this time. We gave Aria some applesauce and she started to tip the little cup. Mom yells at her, "Don't tip it!" Now this scared her and she started crying and naturally tipped it and some went to the floor. I told mom not to yell at her. She never hears yelling and it doesn't do any good. Mom then proceeded to tell me that if I didn't yell at her then she would just dump food all over all the time. First of all, she wasn't doing it on purpose and secondly, she's one. She'd feeding herself with her own spoon and her own little cup. Does my mom expect her to be super neat? The applesauce hadn't even hit the ground when mom yelled. This scene also happened exactly twice. The second time when mom told me I should be yelling at my one year old I told her that "It worked really well for us, didn't it? One thing I do remember as a kid is that we didn't pay attention to you yelling at us. Why would I expect it to work for my daughter when it didn't work for me?" Mom didn't like that very much.

So after the whole applesauce fiasco, Aria had another diarrhea diaper. I asked mom to change it because, well, again I'm sick and I"m laying on the couch. Mom lays Aria on the blanket on the floor and changes her diaper. She then lets the diaper leak on the floor. Now, the diaper is leaking and I tell her that it is. She throws it away and I tell her to wash her hands. She does and when she comes back she has no wash cloth, nothing. Evidentally she was just going to leave the diarrhea mess on my floor but applesauce is horrible! I cleaned up the diarrhea with the baby wipes and then called mom on it. She was like, "I was going to do it." I told her that she was yelling at Aria before the applesauce even touched the floor but she let diarrhea just drip all over.

So that was my day.

Wednesday Accomplishments

So today we cleaned up the yard in preparation of Menard's delivering our fence stuff tomorrow. The old man is gonna help us by taking out his part of the fence and then helping us with the trees on the one side. We cleaned out the brush and the other treasures that had been left there by the people who lived there before us: aka, a tire, a brake pad, some other car parts. Chris joked that if we kept going we may find a whole new car. I made sure to make lots of snarky comments loudly in the yard as I cleaned up cigarette butts. Cuz, seriously, what kind of people throw cigarette butts over the fence into someone's yard? Asshole stupid people, that's who.



We also went down to grandpa's to get the post hole digger. While we were there Aria ran around on the grass in her bare feet! That was a new experience for her. She didn't want to go very far from me, though. She's totally clingy to me now. I realize that it is this age, and a lot of times it's cute. I'm all, "Aww, I'm her favorite!" and I will enjoy it until she switches and suddenly daddy is the favorite.



I also looked in the playhouse to see if there was anything there salvagable. I found the Jaymar toy piano. I remember that piano and I am not sure, but I think we got it for Christmas some year. I must have been around 5-7. Anyway, I looked up the piano online and the company went out of business in 1990. On ebay that piano is being bid on for $119.




I asked grandpa if I could take it home with me and he said I could have anything in that playhouse that I wanted. Well, the rest of the stuff was metal and now rusted and not worth anything at all. The piano is in good shape, though and all the keys still work! Now that's a quality toy right there.

It's really faded, but it cleaned up decently. A bit of varnish would make it look nice again. Aria likes pounding on it a lot. It is loud and clangy. It is also just perfect for her size. It's awesome that I get to find toys that I used to have and Aria can now play with them. This is why people should never throw toys away.

Grandpa also cut us some wood for the sandbox so I have my sandbox makings in the truck bed right now! It will even have little pieces to nail on the edges to sit on. I remember as a kid I didn't want to sit in the sand and get sand on my legs and pants. If you sat on the edges, though, it would hurt my bony little butt. Therefore the sitting area I thought was especially important. Everyone keeps thinking that sandboxes are so much more complicated than they are. They are all talking edging and painting and pretreated. It's a freaking sandbox. I expect half the sand to be thrown out of it, that's what kids do. I expect bugs to get in it, it's what bugs do. I even expect a neighbor cat to think it's a litter box once in awhile. That's what cats do. I have no idea why everyone thinks a sandbox has to be this huge, complicated thing. There was a sandbox at Virginia Grove park-just four planks of wood nailed together. It was awesome! That's what I want-simple and awesome.

I am loving the privacy fence going up. It is going to be so great. A play area for Aria, and when Vick and Todd come down we can have Lady in the yard without worrying about her running away. There is no downside to this fence. I won't let Rod put it off either. I want it too badly. I told him that I will withhold sex if I don't get my fence. I was making comments like, "You know what would really turn me on and get me hot?.....A privacy fence."

Ari still has a bit of diarrhea and she only ate a rice cake, half a banana, half a string cheese, and a couple pieces of cubed ham today. At least what she did eat was good stuff. Oh, she did have a few bites of my cereal. She's certainly losing some weight cuz of this sickness because she isn't so heavy. I noticed it in her legs too. At least I know that I don't have to worry if she loses weight cuz she is always a big eater otherwise. Luckily she has been drinking well now. She had her milk and two sippies of juice.

She also has diaper rash now. That must mean it is time for her 18 month appointment. It seems like every time she has to go to the doctor, Aria has diaper rash. The doc must think that she has diaper rash all the time. It's entirely coincidental, I assure you.

Tuesday Toys

Mom wanted to go to Iowa City today because she wanted to buy Gannon some stuff. To hear mom say it, she was saying that Vickie was getting mad because Aria got a pretty new Easter dress and Gannon didn't get anything and so Mom eleviated her conscience by going to Iowa City. For me it was just another excuse to go somewhere.

Aria went with us and the first thing we did was get sidetracked because of the construction and ended up driving to North Liberty and then turning around. Mom kept saying, "You can turn here." No, mom, I can't make a U-turn on the interstate. It's against the law. So she'd say it again. "You can turn around here." No, mom, see the big sign that says no U-turn? Well, it was just five miles off course. We then went into the mall and the kid's place to play.

Aria had a good time playing with the little kids there. Most of them were just a bit bigger than her and there were a few just a bit littler. She was so excited. Then we went to the Old Country Buffet to eat before we rented one of those car stroller things for her to ride around in. She loved that thing. Mom bought Gannon some clothes, but we had to go to 4 stores to do it. No one had anything cute for boys that were under 12 months. All the boys clothes were 12m and up. It was annoying. Of course there were plenty of stuff for girls. I bought Aria a cute pair of sunglasses because they were only $3.50 and they looked so cute on her. I think she liked looking through the blue lenses. She kept them on a long time while riding in the car stroller. She was holding my smoothie, with her shades in her hair. She was really cruisin'. Then we let Aria play again with the other kids in the play area. She wore herself out and slept the whole way home.

Aria is still kinda sick today. After I gave her tylenol she ate spaghetti, but I think her tummy upset her. She drank juice and had a bit of diarrhea this morning. I think she caught the virus that had been going around the daycare when Carly was over. She had long naps and she's watching Wiggles happily now so it's all good.

Monday Milestones

Let's talk a moment about milestones. I am not talking my little girl's either. I am talking about mine. There are certain points in time in which you don't feel like you are a mommy. Then suddenly something happens that you would have never ever done childless and you pause. I have had a few of those lately. I can now call myself officially a mother.

I have let my child put sticky food in my mouth, and I was not grossed out by this. I guess having her snot on me, slobber on me, and puke on me so much prepares one for all bodily fluids that will be upon you in the future. I had a squishy, sticky piece of cereal thrust into my mouth. I ate it and smiled like a mom should.

I carried a little girl and fifty other things at once. Now, two years ago I was the person who only carried a wallet because if you need more than that then you have too much stuff. I never had a purse, a backpack, nothing. Today I carried Aria, a diaper bag, sippy cup, extra food, phone, wallet, and insurance cards.

But here is the big one today. Unaware of the cause of the mess that was in my tiny daughter's bed, I lifted a blanket and smelled the mess with my nose. It was vomit. Yes, I touched my nose to sick toddler vomit. This is it, I am now officially a mom.

Aria had her hearing test today. Her hearing is normal. She hears everything normal. At this point they can't tell if she can hear better in one ear over another, but if she does have a better ear, at least one of them is perfectly normal. This means that her speech delay is not caused by her hearing. In a way, I am disappointed because I wanted it to be something easily fixed. I wanted something that tubes or cleaning, or anitibiotics would fix. No, instead I have to go to her 18 month appointment and see if they recommend speech therapy. The good news is that everyone says it looks like she's trying. She talks and talks and talks insistently, but she doesn't actually say anything when she does talk. She has no real words, just babble. Well, I keep hearing that 1 out of 5 kids end up with a delay in speech, so maybe Aria is just one of those kids that will need some help. I dunno yet. We'll see at the 18 month appointment to see if the doc thinks she's reaching her milestones. The girl can eat with utensils, run all over the yard, dance, clap, and put the circles in the circle part of the shape sorter without help, but she sure isn't going to talk.

Friday Playdate

Today Heidi and I were going out to dinner since we always try to do something on pay weeks. Anyway, Heidi was babysitting a little girl that was 18 months old and even though she didn't have to pick her up until later, Heidi picked up Carly earlier and the girls played.

When Aria saw Carly she did her excited squatting thing she does. When Aria gets really enthused she squats like she is going to poop and then extends her hands out. She even clenches and grunts. This is how you know Aria is super excited about something. Carly and Aria got along great. Aria was even trying to feed her with a fork at China Garden when we went out to eat. That was also super funny. Both girls were trying to feed me too. That was amusing.

So then we went to Walmart to pick up a few things and I got Heidi to babysit Aria for Saturday since Rod has to work. It will be the first time Heidi has Aria by herself. Heidi is good with kids so I am only worried about if Aria naps or not. With Ari, it's always about the napping. She doesn't just nap anywhere at all.



So, in all, not bad. Both girls threw food on the floor of the restaurant, but I gave them a good tip to make up for that. Both girls had to be changed at Walmart and if one was unhappy in the carseat the other one had to complain too.



In all, I am in a pretty good mood because Aria doesn't get to play with other kids much and I enjoyed seeing how happy she was with another little girl her age. I am also glad she didn't hit or pull hair or pinch. In fact, she tried to hug and kiss her a few times. It was very sweet.





Gratutious crazy pic today is: Crazy hair! This is what Aria's hair looks like after you take the ponytail out. She also had chocolate.

Thursday Experiment

Well, I have another rash, again. I believe that it is from the Purex that I used before because it was on sale instead of getting my usual $12 HE Cheer. There are some clothing I have not worn lately and I believe that it was washed with the purex last. That is the explanation I have for why I wore this certain blue long sleeved shirt and only my arms have broken out. It's always my arms and it's always in about the same area.

So, to combat the rash I have an experiment. Now, it is good to moisturize by really laying the lotion on thick and then putting on gloves or socks all night. I decided to go with this and throw on the anti-itch cream really thick and then wrap my arms with an ace bandage for hours. Therefore if the anti-itch didn't work, at least I couldn't scratch myself all the time.

So how did that work? Pretty good, actually. I slabbed on the cream and at first it burned because I had scratched myself to injury. Then I wrapped the ace bandages around each arm. At first it was itchy and then after awhile it stopped. The only place it really hurt was where it was too tight on the inside of my elbow and I was bending my elbows. IT kept my arms from rubbing against anything and it kept me from scratching. I took the bandages off now and rinsed my arms of the caked on, dried anti-itch cream. The rash isn't red right now and some of the bumps aren't as prominent. Right now only my elbows really itch. I am going to slab on the Desitin next and rewrap my arms for bed. I figure if Desitin can cure diaper rash within two days it can work on my rash too. The wrapping of the arms will help me to sleep tonight without itching all night in bed.

More progress tomorrow.

Thursday Money Day

Well, most of our tax money is gone now and I don't feel that sad about it. Usually you end up buying just nothing and you wonder where the money went. Instead, we got things that were pretty important like new glasses, a truck registration, and an oil change. We also bought our privacy fence stuff! It will be delivered the next week that Rod has off and then we will be doing a whole privacy fence week project.

I am excited about this privacy fence. I've wanted one for a really long time and every time Rod says to wait then I give him more and more reasons why this privacy fence is important. Not the entire thing will be privacy though, just the sides. The front will be a 4 foot fence so that we will be able to see the vehicles and save us some money. Rod is also getting a removable post thing so that he can remove a part of the fence in case we need to drive vehicles down into the yard.

Aria's cold is getting better. You don't have to wipe her runny nose every few minutes anymore. I took her outside to play until she starting coughing, then I brought her back in. That's another reason to get this privacy fence-when she's outside playing I won't have to block her from running out in the alley.

I just ordered some Wiggles DVD's because I am getting tired of watching the same ones over and over. I was quoting everything as they were saying it and so I decided it was time to watch something different. The new Wiggles DVD's are more for me than Aria because she doesn't care if she watches the same thing over and over. It's me that cares.

My sims2 love has been renewed again in my need to make cool houses. I got my Jill Smith into the secret society and now I'm all about the secret society. I went thru a period where I was all about the Greek houses.

I've found one way to keep Aria from wanting to pound on the keyboard. The solution is to pull up a playlist of the Wiggles on youtube and then put the headphones on her ears. She loves this. She loves this so much that she comes over to you with the headphones so that you'll put them on her ears.

What to do with the rest of the tax money:

1. Put some in savings

2. Pay off some doctor and dentist bills.

3. Try not to spend the rest of it. (That's the hard part!)

Sunday is a Funday!

We got our taxes back just in time for us to not be seriously poor. I was wondering how I was going to pay for diapers, it was so bad. Well, we will have enough to get our privacy fence, Rod to get some glasses, pay for our phones, and have some left over. Probably to pay doctor and dentist bills with. It will be nice to have some money to play catch up with even if the privacy fence is considered my 'fun stuff'.

Aria has her first real cold. Before she's just kind of sneezed a few times. Now she has a real cold with coughing and a runny nose. Poor little girl is miserable and doesn't want to eat much. I wipe her nose every hour or so. She also wants to sit in your lap all the time. Rod said she took three naps today.

Rod isn't working this week, so I am picking up some hours at work. I am working 4-9 on Monday and on Friday because that's when my department manager needs someone extra. The schedule was really screwed up as it was and for the next two weeks we basically have to rework the whole thing. If this did not happen then we would have entire shifts where no one was in meat at all. Crazy, I tell you. Anyway, I will get an extra big paycheck then of about 2 days and that means that it will help us a little bit, if for nothing else than to get us more groceries.

If you were at my house this week, this is the breakfast you would have eaten. I made chocolate pancakes. Then I put peanut butter on them and then chocolate syrup. They were very tasty. I also made cinnamon pancakes, and I would have made chocolate chip pancakes if I hadn't taken the chocolate chips upstairs and ate them out of the package while playing Sims 2.

Aria found her stroller by the table and pet carriers and pulled it out so that she could first push it around the kitchen and then sit in it. I gave her some yogurt for breakfast and she wanted to eat it in her stroller. Both times I gave her yogurt she went to her stroller to eat it. Too bad that she uses her rocking chair as a stepstool and her stroller as a chair.

Aria also now will try to step down the steps if you hold her hand. Once she reaches the windowsill or something else she can reach she wants to try to do it herself. Otherwise she wants to hold onto your hands as she goes down. Going down the stairs is just about her favorite thing to do right now. Second only to going up the stairs.

Things to do:

1. Get privacy fence permit and materials.

2. Enlist people's help to put it up.

3. Get Rod's registration renewed.

4. Buy cat food.

5. Dance with the devil in the pale moonlight.

6. Find out just how Doritos can get even CHEESIER!

7. Go to work more and therefore complain more.

8. I know there is more I just can't remember.

A lazy Thursday

Today I didn't do a whole hell of a lot. Now, that may seem like every day, but today I went even beyond that. I didn't do any laundry and I just barely did dishes. I picked up a little bit at the end of the day and I sat on the floor all day playing with my baby girl.

Aria is really kissing now! She's not just putting her face up to yours, she's making a real kissy face. Only her kissy face looks like fish lips. She makes the sound and everything. She still goes right for your lips. She doesn't want to kiss you on the cheek or the forehead. She wants to kiss you right on the lips. She's such a silly girl. I got about 3 or 4 kisses from her today. She also sat on my lap a lot and played with the finger puppets that she got for Christmas. Now, a few months ago she didn't care about those things at all. However, a new love of putting absolutely everything on her hands has triggered her love of the finger puppets. She only likes the giraffe and zebra ones though. Fuck the lion!

She also crawls into her stroller and puts her sippy cup inside my snowboot. I walk around all day looking for her sippy cup and there it is-in the snowboot! She even stacks sippy cups on top of each other in the snowboot.

Let me tell you how hard it is to get ahold of an audiologist. I have mentioned it before, but since Aria isn't talking it was recommended that we give her a hearing test. Well, the Mississippi Bend does it for the younger kids, I guess, so that was the number I was referred. I called a total of 3 times, leaving a message once. No answer on three separate days. I guess they either don't ever work or they don't hear their calls. (snicker snicker)

So I looked up places here in Muscatine and I called the Audiologists Consultants. the first time I called no one was in. It's like Audiologists never work! I called again today and finally got a person. They told me that they don't do children that young and so they referred me to the Mississippi Bend again. I told them that I already called there and so they referred me to someone else. That person actually works and answers their phone, but they were booked up for a month. Lotta people who can't hear. Aria's appointment is in April. No big deal. I really doubt shes' going to dramatically change in a month considering she's been babbling the same stuff for 6 months now.

I am rocking with the cooking! Today we had pineapple pork chops, creamed peas, and jello. A few days ago we had apple and onion stuffed pork chops and green beans with bacon. While we were getting our new phones I asked Rod where he wanted to eat. He answered, "Honestly, at home." So the ladies there said that I must be a good cook and Rod goes, "Yeah, she is." I was so happy and proud.

But, yes, we got new phones. It was time up for our contract and Rod needed a new phone so we both went in to get them. The money to pay for it is just added onto our bill for next month. No biggie. Rod got the updated version of the phone that he already has and I got a purple phone...with GPS! My purple phone rocks. We kept Rod's old one for Aria to play with. So far she doesn't know my phone exists.

Tuesday itches

Today Rod and I got our new phones, which is always super fun. This time I got myself a flat, purple one because the way that I pick out which phone I like is the same way I pick cars-if they are pretty or not. That's because most phones and cars have all of the features that I want and so it doesn't really make any difference which one I get. This one has GPS so if I want to I can subscribe to it and never get lost!

My phone we gave back to them so that it can be donated. Rod's old phone we kept so that Aria can play with it. She can't dial out anymore and there is nothing really on there and so she can hit buttons to her delight if she wants to. Naturally she wants Mama's pretty purple phone.

Rod was hungry and I asked him where he wanted to eat today. He said honestly, he wanted to eat at home. That means that my food is better than restaurants. Go me! I am a real cook now!

I think I've got bed bugs. I combatted the bed bugs by cleaning all of the sheets and blankets in hot water and then drying them twice. Then I cleaned the bed and sprayed around the room with that 12 month killer stuff. I was getting bit and it was leaving huge, itchy, red, swollen bites on my legs that are annoying. Rod, naturally, was never bit once. If we have anything at all, any kind of infestation I am the only one who is ever bit. Fleas? I'm the only one bit. Chiggers- biting me. Ticks? they only get me. Ants, anything at all-they come after me. I wish I was a little less tasty.

So I was reading up about bed bugs and it says that sanitation makes no difference and that you can pick them up anywhere. Thanks...good to know. I find it amusing that the house is actually the cleanest it has ever been and it is within the last few years that we have bug problems. It's stinking crazy. Here's to not being bitten any longer.

Thursday Food Day

I went a little insane with the groceries, but we really needed the food. I had cleaned out all of my freezer so that there was nothing left but a Dole fruit chiller and three ice packs. I had no milk, no juice, and Aria hates our water as much as I do. We were out of meat except for one 1lb roll of 93% lean.



But...now I have food again since I got paid this week! Yay! I spent way a lot on food but I had to do some major restocking. I also had to buy Pampers since they were out of Luv's in Aria's size and other things like that which made my bill even higher. I bought a lot of produce and a lot of meat too.



Today Aria and I went outside to play. It was nice out for once and I thought she'd really enjoy it. She did. She ran all over the yard like it was the best thing in the world. She picked up sticks and tried to step up the tiny hump of a hill to our cars. I put her slide outside and she played on the slide. We played with the ball. I also cleaned the litter out of my yard. My stupid neighbors, who I wish would all die, threw a whole lot of cigarette butts in my yard over the winter. Seriously, these people should rot. Please please please I need a privacy fence.



Rod watched us play outside but he was too lazy to put on some clothes and come outside as well. It would cut into his Mythbuster watching time. Therefore he missed out. Mama is just that much cooler than daddy!

She's getting better about letting me do her hair now. She doesn't try to get away, she just whines until I am done and then she is fine.

Dinner today: Check steak grilled with red wine, worchestershire sauce, and rosemary. We also had tomatoes baked with oil, mozzerella cheese and basil. It was all very tasty. Both were Rachel Ray recipes. I like all of the spices and different tastes that she has in her cooking. Nothing is plain with her and I like that. I need about 50 more cookbooks.

Wednesday Declutter

It is so much easier to get rid of things that aren't your own. If it is something of Rod's or my mom's then I am all about just tossing it away. However, if it is my own I am like, "Oh, I wonder where this went" or "I may need this later" or "I should put this somewhere". Then I put the item on the couch or a table and I don't look at it again for another six months.

That's why I need someone to go through my house and to just toss away worthless things. I am getting better. If I don't remember who gave something to me then I toss it. I got rid of a bunch of pans I didn't know existed beneath my stove today and I got rid of my burnt pans. I threw them away and I never looked back!

Unfortunately, I am not at all like this with my Toys. I want to keep my toys forever. My toys give me happy memories even though most of them are in the attic. I even tell myself "Someday Aria may want them" but Aria won't understand the importance of the old pound puppies or strawberry shortcake or even fully understand the majesty of the first My Little Ponies! That is tragic, in my opinion.

I discovered that Diet Pepsi tastes 110% better if it has chocolate ice cream in it.

So let's talk 50 years of Barbie. Is anyone as excited about this as me? Okay, probably not. For some reason I am all giddy about it. Barbie is 50 and that is just awesome. The doll has always been a favorite of mine even though I don't obsessively buy them. I like to visit the toy aisles. I always call it, "Let's see what Barbie is doing this season." Then I go down the aisle and I'm all, "Oh, Barbie has new rooms, and she got herself more pets, and she's in a new movie." I talk about Barbie as if she were real, cuz I am crazy like that. She may as well be just like whenever you see one of the Muppets on a show you always think of them as a separate entity and not a marionette puppet on a bunch of strings. I suppose it is just that I have a very vivid imagination.

Barbie's website has a cool little game where you can do her hair. You can crimp it and change its color and cut it. It is actually pretty fun. A good time waster for anyone who likes time wasters and want to do a doll's hair. I know I am a fan of this.

Tuesday Spring Cleaning

Inspired by How Clean is Your House, I decided that it would be fun to do some spring cleaning. I figured that if I helped my mom out then she would help me and we would get more done with the two of us. It was a good plan.

So today I packed up Aria and a box of my cleaning stuff and headed to my mom's. The first project was the kitchen. We cleaned the counter and under the microwave. We cleaned the fridge, even on top of it. We discovered new dishes all over the place, and we cleaned the stove and bar.

We ate tuna helper and bologna sandwiches and Aria chased the kitties around. She didn't actually get close enough to touch either of them, but she was very loud and I think that made the big, fat kitties nervous.

Our next room was the bathroom and that was something to be desired. Mom has a really difficult time getting rid of anything-such as expired makeup and medicine. There were tiny lipsticks in there that I remember her having when I was a kid. There were also old razors and razor blades in the medicine cabinet. I threw away vitamins from 1993.

But the real fun came when I cleaned out the pink cabinet that is above her dryer. That thing had years of dust caked upon it. I ended up tossing absolutely everything that was in it, and not without a fight. My mom wanted to keep generic vaporub from a decade ago. My mom wanted to keep laxatives from 2003. The best one of all, though, was the vasoline I found. I had to look at it several times because I honestly could not believe the expiration date: 1979. The vasoline was as old as I was. It looked exactly the same too, which is really freaky.

Now mom's bathroom is cleaner than it has been in years and there's no expired medicines. I couldn't get her to clean out hardly anything else though. That's okay cuz Aria was starting to get cranky. She needed a nap.

So today I accomplished something and Friday Mom is coming over so that we can do my house. That should also be super interesting. I don't have expired medicine from 30 years ago in my cabinets, but I have other treasures.

Cups make great gloves!

Monday Fun!

The weekend was the usual work crap. It is a lot better now that my assistant is on a remodel and we have someone else filling in for him. We like her tons better and she doesn't do stupid ordering. Things are really easy right now. I enjoy it. I've had her as a manager before in Toys and I liked her then too. She's one of my favorites.

We are teaching Aria to put her diaper in the trash. It's very cute. The only problem with that is that she likes to put other things in the trash too. I had to fish out a sippy, an oven mitt, a toy, towels, and other funthings out of the trash.

I love the flylady website! Today I did the 27 things one. I went through my house and I threw away exactly 27 things. I feel better about it already.

Aria has discovered that pulling things off shelves is a great deal of fun! Cleaning up after her takes longer and is more annoying. Luckily, Rod has gotten better. He actually put his dishes in the sink and he picked up after Aria yesterday so I didn't have to. It was very helpful and surprising.

Our gratutitous Aria pic today is of her and her favorite toys: My oven mitts.

Wednesday Fun

Okay, so maybe not that much fun. I haven't been doing a whole lot all week. Rod has been off work and the joy that comes from that is that I have been able to have a nap whenever I wanted every day. That is soooo nice! I just say i am tired, I go to sleep, and I wake up whenever I want. It rocks. It kinda makes me wish he was off work all the time, but then we'd be homeless.

Let's do a rundown of the week so far:

Saturday-The meat truck at work didn't come in the morning so we had empty shelves with people asking stupid questions like, "Are you sure there's none in the back?" Lady, if the shelf is this empty do you honestly think we have anything in the back? The truck did finally come at 4 pm and I had to downstack the meat pallets by myself.

Sunday-The chicken case started smoking and then sparking right before I had to get off work. Thrills.

Monday- Went to the inlaws to have lunch. Put Aria in pigtails. Aria chased around the dogs, played on the beanbag and was all around cute like Aria's should be.

Tuesday- Grocery shopping day. Also went to JC Penney's where mom bought Aria some cute outfits. I spent $35 on groceries total.

Wednesday- A whole lotta nothing.

I'm on my laptop and so I don't have a lot of pics saved here. I do have some old ones, taken around May or April of last year. Here's one of those cute pics of Aria getting kisses from her grandma. She's so big now that she hardly resembles a little baby girl and is certainly getting to be a toddler.

Today I went shopping. Thursday

Today I took Aria to walmart to try to find Rod some more birthday presents. Everything I was looking for him was gone. There was, like, nothing worth getting. I am really not all surprised because I know how our walmart works. It was still disappointing, though.


Aria, however, was bored and looked tired when she was in the cart, but the moment I took her ou of the cart she perked up! She walked around and was babbling to everyone. I followed her around awhile. She had a good time just running around the store for a bit. Then we were standing with the people greeters and Aria bent her forehead down to get a kiss from Joyce. I told Joyce that is how she says she wants a kiss. So Joyce gave her a little kiss. Aria was being such a sweetie to people.


Grandpa came down and wanted his hair cut. I trimmed up what is left of his hair and then he stayed and chatted awhile. Aria was afraid of him at first, but I lured her over to him using a book. Pretty soon she was sitting in grandpa's lap like so.




She was getting tired so she just sat on grandpa's lap while he rocked her. Then he'd tickle her belly, she'd giggle and then put his hand back on her belly so he'd tickle her some more. That girl loves to be tickled.

I put Aria in pigtails today! I have been waiting FOREVER for her hair to be long enough for pigtails. She got a tangle in her hair and I figured if her hair is long enough to tangle then it is long enough for ponytails! I got those tiny little rubber bands at the store then. She was not happy that her mama was messing with her head. She did not even like it when I was just combing the hair upwards. I won the battle, though, and the result is cute pigtails! Rod even thought they were the cutest ever and when he saw them he had to laugh.
I finally broke the plateau! I got on the scale and weighed 169.5. I could just not get under 170, but I finally did! Whoo hoo! Going to the Y is actually doing me some good.

Monday-Valentine's Day Edition

There are a few things I really enjoy about working on Valentine's Day. One of those things is watching the seasonal aisle as the procrastinator's frantically search for a present for their significant other when all of the good stuff is gone. There's just something amusing and satisfying watching some guy sweat at an empty flower case or grumble because all of the clearance jewelry is gone. "Where's all your Valentine's Day stuff!" The people who didn't wait until the last minute bought it all.

Then there are the people who wait until the last minute thinking that we are going to put it all on sale the day of Valentine's Day. Now, from a business standpoint, that's ridiculous. Why mark it down to half price when you know there's going to be plenty of procrastinators that need to buy something the day of and have to get it at full price or else they'll be in big trouble when they get home.


The third thing I like about working Valentine's Day is that after 5pm the store is just full of single people shopping. They have nothing better to do on the day that screams of love. You look around, one person per cart, no one saying anything to each other. No Valentine's Day stuff in their cart. They also shop very very slow because, as mentioned, they have nothing better to do. You can also tell single guys more than you can single women because of what they have in their carts: frozen pizzas, beer, cans of soup, a DVD or game, bag of cookies. You see that and you know this guy is home alone not doing much.


Well, it's President's Day now which means nothing to me except that the banks are closed if I need them for anything. That and I won't get any mail. I don't really care to get mail most of the time cuz all I get is junk mail and the Post. If I am expecting a package or netflix, then that's exciting!

Here is Aria putting on one of my oven mitts. She loves oven mitts. She likes to put one on each hand and run around the house with them. I put one on and I ask her if she is going to help me cook. She takes them out of the drawer and then puts them back in repeatedly. Oven mitts are the best.

Thursday means teeth drilling day

I had my dentist appointment again. He filed down some teeth that were bugging me and replaced my fillings with silver ones since my fillings weren't sealing. Then I got more teeth fixed. I should be done now and the doc said that if I have any more problems with my teeth hurting to just call and they'd give them a good polish.

I also asked about my front teeth and the doc is going to give me and estimate on braces. Wearing braces when I am thirty, I suppose there are worst things-like walking around with the teeth I have now. I am so over the kind of vanity that people have about braces.

Aria was such a good girl yesterday while I went with mom to her eye appointment. She got her eyes dilated so I drove her home because we all know how much it hurts when your eyes are dilated. Luckily she doesn't need a prescription change. We then went to Pamida which will probably be for the last time. The place is closing finally. It was nearly empty when we went in and they were taking down shelves. We got a windshield wiper blade and some snacks. The last purchase at Pamida. We also let baby girl run around. She had a good time just running around all over.

At the eye appointment the waiting room was filled with old people. There had to be a half dozen old people there. There was no one in the waiting room except me and Aria that was under 60. Just white hair and wrinkles as far as the eye could see. One good thing about old people is that they love babies! They kept saying stuff like, "She knows I'm a grandma" when Aria would walk up to them. There were megablocks there and that kept Aria interested so I didn't have to chase her all over the place.

Monday Walks

Today Aria and I went outside. Now, she hasn't been outside much in her short, little life. Therefore the yard was brand new territory for her. Especially since now it wasn't covered in that cold, white stuff and is now covered in wet, cold stuff and it is brown.

She had a good time walking up and down the yard. That's what she did for a good fifteen minutes or so-just take the same path up and down the yard. She didn't want to touch anything or pick up anything. She didn't want to climb anything; just walk up and down the yard. It was very funny.

We did start a walk down the alley in which I had to keep her from going into other people's yards. She stomped some snow and all was well until she fell and scraped her little hand on the gravel. It was bleeding some and she was crying so we went home. I washed her wound and put a bandaid on it which was immediately pulled off. No big deal, she was nearly done bleeding anyway. The rest of the bandaid box ended up on the floor.

So I can't wait until warmer weather so that I can let Aria walk around freely more. I really wish I had a privacy fence, then I could get all sorts of playskool climbing stuff for her to play in. That stuff is expensive, I know, so I will have to look at yard sales and stuff for that.

I also can't wait for yardsale season again. I will go on Friday mornings instead of Saturday. It will rock. It may be something mom and I can do. I may also actually learn the streets where I live. How sad is it that I have lived in this town for 10 years and I have no clue where half of the stuff is.

Here's my stinker outside. Shewas walking along well and didn't fall that much. I was pretty happy about that.

I love how curly her hair is just after a bath.

Other things of note:

I am totally addicted to Bingo Luau in Pogo games. I have been playing for hours every day. This is crazy because I was the kid who hated bingo in school. I mean it. I used to hate participating in those games in elementary so much that when I actually did get a bingo I wouldn't say anything. That's right, I did nothing. I was too shy to speak out and too shy to even call out bingo and win a candy bar. Same with the game Heads Up 7up. I would purposefully put my finger down myself just so that I wouldn't get picked. I did all sorts of things to avoid participating in anything.

Friday Fun Day!

Today I had a good day with my little girl. It didn't start off great. We had bathtime, which is always fun, and we had tasty oatmeal and cereal, which is always good too. However, it was our 15 month appointment and that meant shots.

Aria did not like having to hold still while she got a physical. She also did not like getting her measles shot. The only thing she did like was playing with another 15 month old boy in the waiting room. She saw that boy, walked right up to him, got in his face and went, "AAAHH!" She's so friendly. The little boy was shy, but that did not deter Aria!

Well, Aria is 29 inches and weighs 25 lbs. That puts her in her normal range. She's consistent with her own growth pattern. The doc did tell us to give her more water and less juice. Other than that he was happy with what we were doing for her. He was happy with her food and everything else.

The only concern that I have is that Aria is still not talking. She doesn't consistently say anything. In fact, she isn't even really saying what she has proven to say in the past. By this time she should be saying more words than Dada and Mama, and so we are going to get her a hearing test to see if maybe she can't hear very well. We know she can hear somewhat, but maybe she isn't getting certain sounds or something. Maybe to her all we are saying is babbling noises. I don't know why we never thought of it that way before. Grandpa can't hear unless you yell at him and Dad was deaf in one ear. Evidentally Rod's dad didn't hear well either. She is right on target with everything except the speaking. She just continues to babble incoherently.

We also got the autism checklist and after reading down it, Aria certainly is not autistic!

Well, after getting home, Aria and I played a lot. She's been crying for attention lately so I spent the day playing with her and it was fun. I let her bang on my laptop while I took pics. I also chased her around the house and tickled her and tossed her around like a silly girl. We played with her toys while I had a movie on netflix going. We shared soup for dinner and watched Wiggles. We played a game where I honk everytime she squeezes my nose and I'd point and say, "Nose" and she'd put her nose on my finger.

The absolute cutest thing she did today was she was sitting on my lap while we were watching Wiggles and I had my hand down on her little leg. She grabbed my hand and put it on her knee and then she put her hand on top of mine. It was so sweet. She also gave me kisses today!

She also went to bed really easy today. I think it was because we had sufficient downtime and so she wasn't all hyper and overtired for bed. Also, her nap ended at 3:30 today and so I put her to bed a little early.

Gratutitous Aria pics from today!

I know, it's fuzzy, but I love her expression in this one. Oh, and while at the docs we discovered that tooth number 11 has broken thru!

This is my current favorite pic of her because you not only get to see her bright eyes and smile, but also how long her hair is getting. It also is curly when it is wet, which is adorable. She doesn't get that from me. My hair is stick straight.

Have I mentioned that Aria isn't a fan of stuffed animals? She likes this duck that quacks when you push it, and that's about all. I think she's a duck fan cuz she likes to point at ducks in books and she likes her rubber ducks in her bath as well as the quacking duck. Anyway, every time I put this bear in the chair she would immediately throw it off. Here she is pre-bearthrowing.

Other things of note:

*It is very irritating to have to drink uncold things and only chew with one side of my mouth until next week when I have my dentist appointment.

*The dentist appointments seem to go on forever.

*I can't wait for warmer weather because Aria really needs to do some running around like a little fool outside.

*Rod has a week off in February and one in March because the plant is shutting down. That means lazy family weeks where lots of movies will be watched.

Today I....had my teeth hurt!

Today I got three cavities filled. That is all okay. The only problem is that when I was eating dinner, I bit down on broccoli and damn did it hurt! It was like one of my fillings either came out or was chipped or something. Well, right now I can only eat on one side of my mouth. It doesn't hurt to brush them or anything else, and they don't look bad. However, something happened because now I can't chew on that side without that shot of pain and I was fine up until dinner. Here is the messed up thing: My actual cavities didn't hurt like this did!

But, I am going to get two more cavities filled next Thursday, so I can wait until then. Yes, I have horrendously bad teeth. I've always had horrendously bad teeth. Sometimes I feel like I should just get dentures now and be done with it.

My poor baby girl is having teeth problems too. Now, when they say that the molars are the worst, I believe them! She just cries and cries and doesn't want anything hard in her mouth. Tylenol isn't helping all that much. She also has a diaper rash from taking a nap with a poop diaper. Therefore she's all kinds of itchy and not happy. Poor little thing. She was crying for about a half hour when it was time to go to bed so I let her have more juice and I rechanged her diaper and put desitin on her. She seemed happy after that so maybe now she will be able to sleep.

Rod may be getting the week of his birthday off work and so we will have a lazy week. It will consist of watching lots of movies. I also plan to get a few naps out of Rod as well.

Wednesday- She Pooped on Me!

Yes, yes, Aria pooped on me. Now, not in the way that you were thinking. I didn't actually get any poop upon me. No, this is much more funny. Aria was by the coffee table and I was sitting on the floor. We were playing and watching Wiggles. Suddenly, Aria walks over to me and sits on my bent leg. She then commences to clenching her fists, and her face getting all red. That is when I realized...she was pooping! She came all the way over to me so that she could sit on my leg and then make herself poop. When she was done she got back up again and went away.

Rod thought that was hilarious. I thought it was something that he would probably do as a kid and that it was definitely his genes shining through there. I guess that mommies are great.... to poop on!!!

Rod and I went to the Y today for the first time. Well, it was my first time, not his. We also took Aria into the daycare center. Now, I was all kinds of emotional taking her into the daycare. I had a hard time leaving, I started tearing up. Now, this was pathetic because we were only going to be gone an hour! I am going to be the mom who cries on her daughter's first day of school, I know it.

We went on the treadmill. I watched The Wiggles. Yes, I watched the Wiggles while walking on the treadmill. There was nothing else on except some court thing and the Today Show. Rod watched some thing on the History Channel, but I didn't want to fall asleep on a moving treadmill. Anyway, I burned about 80 calories today, which means I can eat a whole Jello pudding cup! Yippee!

When we went back to get Aria she was the only baby there because it was close to closing time. She cried when she saw us. Now, babies are supposed to cry when their parents leave, not when they see them. She was following this one girl around-she must have decided she liked her. The daycare ladies said that she cried a little bit, but mostly was playing. That's good. She will get to play with some other kids a few times a week and Rod and I can be on the treadmills. I will have to write Aria's name on her sippies for her for daycare.

We tried the gluten free pancakes today for Rod. He said that they tasted a lot like french toast and that they were pretty good. His pancakes were actually easier to cook and flip over than the other ones. His pancakes were all pretty. Mine and Ari's looked pretty sad.

Is that a sports bra Aria has around her neck? Why yes, yes it is. This is her new favorite thing to do. She finds one of my bras in the laundry basket and then puts it over her neck and runs around the house in it. I tell her that she doesn't have to worry about wearing one of those for years, but she doesn't listen. She puts her dad's underwear on her head too.

Wednesday is gluten free!

I was correct in assuming I would find gluten free objects at Hy-Vee. However, they are twice as expensive as the wheat stuff. They are also much more complicated. In order to have flour that acts like wheat flour one would have to buy four packages of different $5 wheats like Tapioca, Potato, Brown Rice, and then mix them all together in a certain fashion. that would make that bit of flour cost $25. I wont' even mention the gum you need to get in order to make the baking stuff stick together.

I bought one flour because I thought I would start off light. I also bought some Brown Rice spaghetti, which also cost me around $5. Our grocery bill is going to be bigger than ever before! I bought pancake mix that was gluten free for Rod. He is going to be the only one eating it too cuz it is too expensive to share!

But, in doing so I won major brownie points as a wife for Rod was telling his friends at work how I went to the trouble to look for gluten free stuff for him so he could eat tastiness. I will have to have a breadmaker to make my own breads too. I know I could roll it out myself, but we all know I am too lazy for that kind of thing.

I just hand Aria a bowl of something and a spoon and she pretty much feeds herself now. She's not the neatest, but she gets the majority of food into her mouth. She still wants everything that is on my plate though.

Here is a video of my 4 month old nephew, Gannon, trying to walk to Aria. Vickie is holding him up, but he is taking steps towards Aria. The little stinker can't even roll over both ways, but he wants to walk. He can't even crawl, but he wants to walk.

Other things of note:

*Strawberry grain bars are not as good as the blueberry ones.

*The weather is tricking me. It looks sunny and nice, but it is really frickin' cold!

*I can get How Clean is your House on netflix. Wee! That may inspire me to clean, like, once.

Monday's Written on Tuesday

Yesterday I went to the dentist and got my chipped tooth fixed. It probably looks better now than it has in years. It is so weird to put my tongue on my tooth and not feel a cavity or a hole there. I also don't have to be paranoid about eating anything. I have to go back on Thursday and get some cavities filled.

Speaking of teeth, the tooth that has been giving Aria pains has now finally burst to the surface. Her tenth tooth has now made it! It is making her cranky and she's been wanting to eat all the time. Aria never wants teething toys. She only wants to eat. She also sleeps a lot when she is teething. It seems, though, like once the teeth break thru then they are constantly teething. My daughter has been teething since she was 5 months old pretty much nonstop. Sometimes it isn't as bad as other times.

I'm getting stuck in that funk where all the things that I normally like to do just bores me and I don't want to do anything but sleep. Every once in awhile I get like that where I am all, "I don't want to watch a movie....or read....or visit my boards....or do anything but sleep." I just have to push on and force myself to do the things I normally like so that I can get out of the funk.

It's grocery shopping day and I have money. That means I can get all sorts of food without worrying about the price. This is a good thing because I need to restock. I am also going to visit Hy Vee's health section because I need to look for gluten free stuff for Rod.

Catch up Day Sunday

So Today I went to work and I swore that it felt like a holiday. The ground beef was just flying off the shelf. I spent a half hour doing nothing but putting ground beef on the shelves then I did some pork and the ground beef was all gone again! I ended up going to lunch late and busting my butt to fill things. I was so glad when it was time to go home.

Well, last week I didn't write a blog because I was at my sister's house. Here are some pics from that.

Here is Aria with her 4 month old cousin, Gannon. Look how big Gannon is next to his 14 month cousin! That always impresses me. They wear the same size diapers.

You will drink this bottle now!

This is one of my most favorite pics because Aria looks like it is very serious that he drink that bottle! We thought it was pretty cute that Aria picked up the bottle and was wanting to feed him. She'd put the bottle in his mouth, then take it out, then put it in, and take it out.

This is a very cute pic of Aria with my sister. It was so sweet because Ari hugged my sis while we were down there. She is hugging and kissing more, which is adorable. I love that she is such a sweetie.

While in Kansas Vik and I got impromptu haircuts at Mastercuts. We also visited the town that is just a giant trailer park, and the many thrift stores that we love. I got my trenchcoat at goodwill! I was really thrilled about that because last winter my trenchcoat's sleeve ripped and the liner ripped, and the pockets ripped. I was very upset. Now I have a new trench.

I would say that some of the most fun I had on vacation was sitting on the couch with a laptop in my lap watching TV and laughing at silly things with Vik. Good times.

I have ordered a couple gluten-free cookbooks for Rod's wheat sensitivity. He ate pizza today and now is spending most of the night in the bathroom.

A couple extra things:
*I realized today how awesome my life is that I have never had any guys in my life who have ever given a crap about the superbowl.

*It is time to get a new mattress.

Friday Edition

So I am all nervous because even though I looked three or four times on the board and my name wasn't there, I keep thinking that somehow when I don't go into work that I will be in trouble and will be a no call no show or something. But, I looked and so did other people I was with and they didn't see my name either. I'm just all paranoid because having the weekend off at this time is just too good to be true.

You know what I love to make? cherry hot chocolate in my cocomotion machine. I just make hot chocolate with extra milk and syrup. then I open a bottle of marachino cherries and pour the juice right in it. Then it tastes like a tasty chocolate covered cherry. Boy do I love chocolate covered cherries. This cocomotion thing was worth the $7 I paid for it on clearance. I am using it a lot this year.

Made spicy oven roasted chicken with red potatoes and celery for dinner today. Rod has been saying that I am a real cook now with spices and everything. He even brags to work what he gets to eat for dinner. It makes me feel good because he used to tell people that I burned water and now he says I make some things better than anyone else. Makes me all happy.

Aria is really loving the yogurt. It is also something she can semi-eat herself. It is just thick enough to not immediately fall off her spoon before it gets to her mouth. That doesn't stop her from just dumping it on the floor and rubbing her spoon in it, however.

Luckily I am always around with a bottle of Resolve and a sponge.

Today, since Rod did not go to the Y with me I went on Netflix and I did this 15 minute dance tempo workout. It was supposed to cater to 'Busy women with no time to exercise." I take that to mean, "People like Jac who can only stand to exercise for 15 minutes." I put the baby up for a nap, made a big glass of ovaltine, and 15 minute dance tempo'd!

There are two things that I realized while doing this exercise video. The first one is that I can't dance. I have no rhythm at all. I dance like a white girl. While the girls in the video are all gracefully shaking their hips and doing the steps, I'm tripping over my own feet. I'm so stiff and I have no fluidity. It's really kinda sad. This is why I don't dance seriously. I know I am not at all good.

The second thing that I realized is that 15 minutes of exercise makes me really sweaty. I was hot and done by then. I also downed that entire glass of ovaltine. I remember one thing about high school physical education and that was even though you had one water fountain in the gym you never had much opportunity to actually use it. I remember being dehydrated almost all the time. I drink A LOT! Probably just another reason I hated high school PE.

After my exercise routine I took a shower and then I ate a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I was feeling pretty good about myself and then I went to Culver's, had a butterburger, and ruined everything.

The video above is a video of me chasing Aria around the house. Notice that she is very horror movielike in that she always turns around to see if I am still chasing her and then she falls over. She always takes the same path. Ignore my redundant cries of "I'm gonna get you!" to instead concentrate on her grin and her laugh. Babies love being chased.

Things of note:

1. Culver's Butterburger has 31 grams of fat! Argh!

2. It pays to have more than one checking account.

3. Of the Wiggles, I like Greg better than Sam. I'm sorry, but I do.

4. Brownies are about one egg away from just being cake.