Friday, April 24, 2009

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!







Monday, April 20, 2009

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, April 14, 2009

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.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

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, April 10, 2009

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, April 9, 2009

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, April 8, 2009

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, April 7, 2009

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, April 6, 2009

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, April 3, 2009

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.