SOCK CRAZE AND SMOKE HAZE. THE HOLIDAYS ARE UPON US!

Christmas time- LOVE IT! I think it's no secret that our family loves loves loves this time of year! Kaelyn has been going around the house singing Jingle Bells. However, she doesn't know the words so she sings "Jingy balls, jingy balls, Santas on his way!" She is so proud of herself that I don't have the heart to correct her just yet. Plus, it provides a great laugh! The day after Thanksgiving is the day we usually get our tree and decorate. It was raining cats and dogs so we decided to skip the tree. Aaron was going to put up the lights and I would decorate the inside. A nice relaxing day.

I woke up super early (not on purpose) and decided to head to Fred Meyer to see what all the 1/2 price sock hype on Black Friday was about. Ladies were getting crazy over socks like it was the last time socks would EVER be sold! I'm all for a good deal but sheesh people RELAX! Everyone was going nuts so I tried cracking a joke to the lady next to me. Nothing. I know she heard me but she was in such a sock trance she wouldn't break that for anything!I grabbed two packs for Kaelyn and said screw it for the rest of my family. I snagged a few more items and came home. I had strict instructions from Sir Griswold to be home by first light so he could start on the lights.

I get out the decorations and think how nice it would be to start a fire since it was so gloomy out. I have started many fires in my day but never one in our fireplace. I gather some wood, I saw like 5 spiders and tried not to freak out! I start my fire and walked off to get Kaelyn dressed for the day feeling mighty proud of myself for my fire starting skills. I walk back down the hall and there is smoke EVERYWHERE!!! The smoke alarms start going off, Kaelyn is screaming, and Prince is freaking out! Leah was laying on the floor (in another room) and Prince kinda tripped over her during his freak out. Now everyone is crying and I run outside shouting Aaron's name. He is up on the roof, in the POURING rain and I am just yelling about smoke in the house. He comes in and sees the mass meltdown going on with the girls, Prince flipping out and the smoke alarms going off with the faint sound of Christmas music playing in the background. He fixes the issue in 2.5 seconds.

I forgot to open the flue. Whoops.

Every door and window in the house was open trying to air it out. My cozy Christmas decorating environment was now ruined by smoke and cold air coming in! I was finally able to decorate and Aaron was outside hanging lights all day in the pouring rain!

In other news everyone seems to be doing great. We have all been kinda sick for about a month but finally think we've kicked it. Kaelyn is still loving school. She had her first accident the other week. She went all out and pooped in her Minnie's! Seriously? It's all or nothing with that kid! I asked her why she did it and she just said "It's ok Mom __________ just cleaned it up!" Her poor teacher!I was mortified. Shit happens. Literally.

There was a baby shower here for my BFF a little over a week ago and we somehow crammed 30 something ladies in my living room! It was crowded! After the shower all the husbands and kids came over to finish off the food and watch some soccer. 4 days later we hosted Thanksgiving. It wasn't the entire Pingul pack but there was at least 20.Everyone brought something and my Father-in-law made an awesome turkey! Everything was delicious. I was so amazed that with all these people in our house over the four days other than a little cranberry sauce on the playroom floor, there were no major spills on our white, or what should be white carpet. Well  that was until late on Thanksgiving night when Aaron's red wine glass leaped off where it was sitting and went all over our light colored couch, Aaron and my sister! I don't know how, but we got it all out!




The best picture i could get. You can't even see all of the lights!




This is totally Aaron. He would add more lights if our breaker box could handle it!



The Great Fall of 2012

Halloween was kind of a bust for the Pinguls this year. For some reason Kaelyn decided she was terrified of her costume. She was a cupcake. Not sure what is so scary about that! She would cry whenever I tried to get her to put it on. I decided to ignore that and try again later.We head to Fred Meyer for some candy and she starts freaking out when she sees the Halloween masks on a rack. I tried to tell her they were fake and went to show her by slapping one of the masks. I must have put a tad too much force behind my slap because I knocked them all over!!! Pig faces, ghouls, goblins, the creepy scream face...knocked em all off the rack!! What!!! Well now she was totally freaked out and as we rounded the corner to grab the candy there was a 5ft tall monster in the aisle that just sent her over the edge! I got the candy and some pumpkin ice cream I had been eyeing and got outta there!

Later in the day I was making a soup to bring over to the Halloween potluck we have with some people in the Grandview West "hood." Leah was screaming so loud that I couldn't concentrate on what I was making. Since it was the first time I had made this soup I was trying my best to pay attention to the recipe but the constant screaming was making my eyes start to twitch and my underarms sweat. We finally get Kaelyn excited enough to put her costume on and we head over to the neighbors. We are all enjoying multiple soups and adult beverages before heading out. I was so happy Kaelyn was excited to trick or treat. The first house we went to was one of our awesome neighbors Bron. Well his name is Ron but Kaelyn calls him Bron. He gave all the kids candy and then after he gave Kaelyn her candy he also gave her her own special glow stick. Score! I thought it was going to be such an awesome night for Kaelyn. We hit up another house and as she is going down the driveway Aaron notices her rain boots were on the wrong feet. Kaelyn goes to the next house and a man with a mask was giving out candy. Shockingly she wasn't scared. Well she turns around to head down the somewhat steep driveway, slips and hits her head on the concrete! My back was to her but I could hear her head hitting the ground. She instantly had a huge Goose egg on her head and was of course crying her eyes out. After we checked her out for a minute she said she wanted to keep going. At that point someone handed me one of Leah's little sock boot things she was wearing that had fallen off into a mud puddle. Great, one kid whacks her head on the ground and my other one is barefoot in the cold. Trick or treat fun was O-V-E-R.

We came home and iced Kaelyns head. This was our first kid injury as parents and I know that there will be more as they grow but I did learn something last night..... Aaron is for sure the softy when it comes to his girls! Of course I felt awful for Kaelyn when she fell but I had Leah strapped to my chest so Aaron was the one checking her out and carrying her home, etc. I looked at her when we were at the house and she seemed ok. Aaron may have acted like she lost a limb for a few minutes. (im not making fun of him, it was just really cute!) He gave her a sucker and when she was done she asked for more. Before Aaron could answer I told him to not let her have anymore candy. She asked him again and he just looked up at me and said "You need to ask Mommy baby." Way to make me the bad cop Aaron! The joys of having girls, totally wrapped around dad's finger!


The cupcake. Explain to me what's so scary about this?!

                                            


Putting Ice on the boo-boo.




Not liking the ice on her head :( Poor girl.



Your Body Is a Wonderland

If you can't handle reading about what happens to your body after having a baby, STOP HERE!!!

However, if you are down for loads of TMI as well as me totally embarrassing myself, read on my friends!

Well. Looking back at my body in it's glory days I was pretty satisfied. I have always been petite with a lil junk in the trunk. Toss in two kids in a few years and I hardly recognize myself! Now this isn't some pity me party or anything I am just honestly amazed at how much your body changes after having kids. For those of you that understand where I can coming from know that what once was considered a nice rack, aka boobies, turned into feeding machines(for some, sadly not me) and then into useless skin bags. They will remain in useless skin bag status until you cash in a chunk of your 401k and puff those babies up a bit. You have extra skin in places you really wish you didn't. I now totally understand what a muffin top is and I'm starting to get the concept of mom jeans....they hide all your "icky bits." Some peoples feet change sizes. The nice hair you had during your pregnancy begins to fall out in clumps every time you touch it and you have raccoon eyes no matter how much concealer you use.

I do have a few friends that I'm pretty convinced are freaks of nature and lose the baby weight overnight...I have no comments about you and your freaky ways! Moving on.....

I think by far the worst part of the aftermath from having children would be.......... the leakage. Yup, a little pee when ya sneeze, cough or laugh really hard at something. I used to find it funny when people would laugh so hard they would pee themselves...until it happened to me. Ok, so I still laugh but it's really a pain in the arse! This issue is the whole reason behind this post....

The other day I decided that I am going to tackle this muffin top once and for all. I don't have time to go to a gym, nor a desire so I needed to do things at home. I found a little workout I can do throughout the day when I have time to get me started. And when I say little I mean LITTLE. It starts off with 50 jumping jacks. Shoot. I got this, you do jumping jacks in grade school. I get to 10 and all the sudden I feel a leak. WHAT! I tried to power through but it was pretty much impossible. I moved on with the mini muffin removal workout and was totally winded after doing three things. I tried to resume my jumping jacks at the very end. Once again, no bueno. What did I learn from workout #1???? I either need to wear depends or avoid anything that involves jumping!

What is the craziest thing that has happened to you since having children?!?! Please share so I am not the only one letting it all "hang" out there! :)

Can I take you home?

I saw a lady dressed like Laura Ingalls from Little House On The Prairie walking down my street this afternoon and I was able to get my NO SOLICITING PLEASE sign out just in time. Leah was snoozin and if you have read my past blogs you know..... You NEVER wake the ba-bay! She never rang our door bell so I assume she saw my sign, or the dog. Maybe it was the stench from the poo diapers on the porch, i really don't know...i'm just glad she didn't ring the bell.

 I really don't have much to report, just the same ol ish, different day! The biggest change in our lives is that I went back to work a few weeks ago. It's only two nights a week but I am loving it! Lakewood is still the same.....full of creepies. I was ringing up a man the other night and he had these glasses on that made his eyeballs HUGE. I asked him if he would like a bag for his purchase or if he wanted to take it home the way it was. He paused, looked at me and said.... Can I take you home instead? You are so pretty and you are shorter than me, which never happens. (I'm 5ft, he was maybe an inch taller.) I tried to laugh it off and while keeping his serious stare with those large eyes he said, im serious, you are so pretty. Just having a baby I am down for flattery wherever I can get it but I have to draw the line somewhere.... move on creepy man. Move on.

Kaelyn still loves school. I love that she loves school but I don't love that she is at the age of repeating everything!!! Whenever she cries or whines we say things like Kaelyn stop crying, you aren't a baby you are a big girl! Well, last week she came home from school talking about how her Pastor is a baby because he has a boo boo on his knee and he cries like a baby. Even though I laughed I really hope she didn't tell him that!

Leah is still too small to really have many crazy stories to share. She did kinda puke in my mouth the other day when I was giving her a kiss but I am trying to forget about that!

My mom had a birthday last week and my sister and I were able to take her to dinner. It was such a nice evening. We went to this cute french bistro and I was feeling like such a chic adult out on the town. Ok, so what if it was downtown Steilacoom. I was downtown somewhere! The chef came out and said happy birthday to my mom in French, asked if we liked our meal and went on to the next table. My Mom, Sister and I go to make a toast..... My sister says happy bday in Spanish and my mom said it in German, what did I say?????? I hope you live a lot of years biaaatch. WHAT!!!! Even though we all laughed until we almost had tears in our eyes I couldn't believe that came out of my mouth....to my mother! I had never felt so uneducated in my life! Complete word vomit. I am generally good with words and everyone else was able to say something in another language and all I could muster up was live a lot of years biaaatch. Total fail, funny...but a fail no less! I decided to call it a night when we went into the pub after dinner and the karaoke chick showed up 5 minutes later wearing a blue wig, glitter boy shorts and a cupcake bra/pasty concoction.

Never a dull moment!

CELEBRITIES ARE MY FRIENDS.... NO REALLY THEY ARE.

I never understood people's obsession with famous people. The way people would cry at concerts screaming "I LOVE YOU JUSTIN" was beyond me. Or when watching talk shows I was confused at how people could say "Oprah, watching your show changed my life! You saved me!" I felt this way until I was stuck at home full time with 2 kids and the TV became a lifeline for me. Ok, so not really a lifeline (we do plenty of other non TV activities but I am home more since having Leah)  I found that I started looking forward to certain shows during the day. I usually have the TV on for background noise simply so I can hear other adult voices during the day. One can only handle so much toddler talk. I need to make sure I maintain my adult conversation skills because nothing bothers me more than parents that constantly use the baby talk voice!

I realized I was starting to cross over into the I love celebrities phase when I started talking about Ellen DeGeneres as if she was my friend. I love Ellen, she makes me laugh every single time I watch her show, she is a super kind lady and I really do look forward to her coming on in the afternoons. I still haven't figured out if it's just her humor I like or if it's because that means Aaron will be home from work soon! Yes! Another adult in the house!!! Anyways, I noticed I was becoming creepy when I would say things to Aaron like "Ellen gave so and so a pair of underwear today and they wore them, It was hysterical!" And if you don't watch her show you don't know they deal with the Ellen undies. It wasn't just that I was talking about her show, it's that I said something about her show almost daily and I would say it as if Ellen was an old home girl from high school or something.

I knew it was time for a change when I found myself watching Honey Boo-Boo. If you haven't watch this show, don't! Your jaw will drop to the floor at how low reality TV has gone.

However, because I couldn't resist (even though I told you not to watch it) Here is a clip of Here Comes Honey Boo-Boo for your viewing pleasure.....If ya don't know, now ya know!

After watching an episode of this show I went and got my old job back! Tonight is my first night. Hopefully I will get enough adult interaction that I will stop talking about Ellen like she is my BFF.

"Ping"idential Debates 2012

In lieu of the Presidential Debates last night Mr. and Mrs. Pingul had a little debate of their own. No, I am not going to talk about Obama or Romney. I really don't like politics. I do however enjoy a good debate. So last night Aaron and I were watching the debate and I was doing some things around the house at the same time. Leah was having her usual evening fit making it hard to hear the TV. Aaron, who was doing nothing wrong said he was going to go into the bedroom and watch it there. Being difficult I told him I didn't want him to because I had been home all day with the girls and Mom's maybe you will agree with me here- I don't care that he was watching TV and I was doing things around the house. I just NEEDED another adult around in the same room and if he went into the bedroom it would be as if he was on another planet, in my mind anyways.

 I gave Leah a bath, dressed her and as I am about to get Kaelyn ready for hers he says HE wants to do it. I know he meant well and he always helps, he really is a super duper dad but I knew that he really wanted to watch the debate so I told him not to worry and I would give Kaelyn her bath. I'm sure he thought that was code word for I know I said I would do it but I really mean I want you to do it and I will be mad at you later for not picking up on my secret wife language.So there we stood in the hallway going back and forth over who would bathe her. "No, I insist let me. No really it's ok i'll do it. I don't care, I will just give her a bath." yadayadayada. We are both stubborn and could stay there until the sun went down going back and forth over who would give the kid a bath! :) So Aaron ends up doing it. I sit down on the couch with Leah and a few minutes later I hear Aaron say something........

WAIT FOR IT..........

Kaelyn shat in the tub!!!!!!!!!!! Hahahahaha I am pretty sure that was the first time that has EVER happened.

Ya win some, ya lose some babe. :)

Purse Smurse

What's in your purse? Having two small kids I hardly use a purse but sometimes it's much easier to carry a one instead of the giant diaper bag... Even though it usually backfires against me when I venture out with the kids and don't have the giant supply bag. As I was paying for groceries today I caught a glimpse of the contents of my purse and it made me laugh. I bet I would win that purse game people play!

Here is what I found-

-A wallet of course! Although I am known to forget to have it in my purse from time to time.

- An array of feminine products which is kind of funny since I have pretty much been pregnant for 20 years. ( At least it feels that way.) However, pads come in handy for random things. I remember when my dad cut his hand on a chainsaw and we didn't have any large band aids...in a house of 3 ladies we bandaged that up with a maxi pad! They also work well for decorating a friends truck. (Sorry Earl!)

-Nasty lip glosses and chap sticks that have gunk caked around the cap because my purse is always a mess.

- An unopened can of some iced Kahlua boozed coffee beverage someone gave me to try and I forgot it was in there! Oopsie :)

-A pair of underwear in a plastic bag. Not mine, Kaelyn's it's a dead giveaway since they are Minnie Mouse!

-A few diapers of random sizes.

-Coupons of course!

-Chunks of gum that have fallen out of the package that also have nasty gunk on them like the lip gloss does!

-A ticket to a Tacoma Rainiers game from this summer.

-A handcuff key (Really long story and not what you think!)

-A pair of barbie sized handcuffs. Again, not what you think!

-Clips, bobby pins and hair ties galore!


I can never keep a tidy purse and have purse envy towards all of you that can!

What's in your purse?
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Dental Dilemma

Yup, that really happened.

The appointment was over, the visit went great and while we were in the waiting room scheduling the next visit....BAM! She pukes all over me and herself. They told me it was probably the fluoride but this is Kaelyn were talking about here, I know her game. It was some sort of payback. I just know it.

50 SHADES OF CRAY CRAY

People are allowed to have a bad day every so often. Sometimes it's one big thing, other times it can be several little things over a period of time and cause you to need a time out. In my case it was a few little things that caused me to go 50 shades of cray cray...aka the day I went a little bat chit crazy.

First off I have mentioned before that being a full time stay at home mom is wonderful but it really isn't for me. Being in your home all day everyday is enough to make me a frequent flier to crazy town. Now toss is a few small kids, a giant dog and not leaving your house for almost 2 weeks....you've got yourself a recipe for disaster every so often. At least in my house.....

I should have documented this days events as they were happening because now, a few weeks later i'm a bit fuzzy on all the details. I guess it's better to not remember when you lose your chit!

I woke up like any normal day. Everyone needing something from me at once and me just wanting a cup of coffee. Hello elf helpers, where are you?!? Before I knew it it was 11:30am, I was still in sweats yet to have coffee or eat anything. I was trying to focus on Kaelyn's potty training that day which means I was threatening her life and to not allow her to go to pre-school if she didn't listen. I think at one point I threatened to lock her in the bathroom all day long. Ok, so I really didn't say those exact words......just something very similar! Kaelyn must have peed and half pooped in at least 8 pairs of undies by that afternoon. By half poo I mean she was trying so hard to hold it in she was probably prairie doggin it until she couldn't hold it any longer causing her to poo just little. Not much but just enough to cause some damage. Well I had a sinus cold and it took awhile for me to catch on that she was doing this every five minutes, so by the end of the day she had a nice rash on her bum. Hey Kaelyn.....Another great reason to go in the toilet kid! She gets a rash and I get to scrub poo undies and add it to my already mountainous pile of laundry. Awesome. Leah seemed to be crying all day and Prince was dealing with some awful allergies and was chewing on his legs and back all day, oh and he REEEEKED like nasty dog and had just been bathed 5 days prior. At one point I remember trying to start dinner then having to help Kaelyn clean up her skid marked Minnie's. She is screaming because her bum is sore, at the same time Leah is screaming bloody murder and I can hear Prince chewing and scratching like crazy. I still hadn't had a shower or sat down once that day. It was 3:30. I think that's when I lost my friggin mind.....

Aaron comes home from work and here I am in the kitchen, still in my jammies cooking dinner. I look at him and start cryelling.... (made up word for cry and yelling which results in your face kinda resembling John Mayer when he sings.) So anyway, I'm cryelling to Aaron while shaking a magic fairy wand in my hand.... Aka- a wooden spoon covered in spaghetti sauce making me look like a serial killer walking around with a bloody weapon. Things got real bad when I told him I want to kill the dog. Yes I said it, im not proud of it but it happened. Moving on..... Aaron told me to stop dinner and go have some "me time" somewhere. After much debate he forced me to shower and kicked me out of the house. I was able to escape to a friends house and we went out to dinner. Bless her heart for listening to all my babble that day!

I have never felt like that in my entire life. Every time I heard the dog scratch/chew himself I could feel my heart start to race. Listening to Leah cry, Kaelyn being stubborn and the dog all at once would make me start to sweat. Maybe it was my first stay at home Mommy panic attack.

Oh and I was PMSing for the first time in like 2 years.....

What did I learn from all this??? If you go bat chit cray cray your husband kicks you out and gives you a free pass for an evening to yourself!



SOME OH SO LOVELY JOHN MAYER GUITAR FACE PICTURES SINCE I WASN'T ABLE TO CAPTURE ONE OF HOW AWESOME I PROBABLY LOOKED WHEN I WAS CRYELLIN.



HOW I WAS FEELING AND HOW MY EYES PROBABLY LOOKED THAT DAY!

Leah's $75 Bedroom Makeover!

Just uploaded a ton of pictures to the computer and found the ones from when we decorated Leah's room. It used to be Kaelyn's room (which we never decorated after we moved into the house. Whoops.) The walls were a beige and I think I tried 6 different green samples before picking a color called soothing aloe. I find it somewhat funny I picked that color because Leah is always tense and not easily soothed :)

Some BEFORE pictures.




I bought this bird piggy bank at a Vintage shop in Olympia. I loved it and knew it had to be a part of Leah's room!

 




Kaelyn helping Aaron put the crib together!

 




Random frames from around the house and Goodwill that I painted.

 




The frames after a coat of paint. I used scrapbook paper and stickers to decorate the insides.

 


The crib, bedding, curtains and glider came from our niece Chloie's room. The picture was an old one we had from Ikea. The pom bundle isn't finished, just had to hang it to get it off the floor and haven't had the motivation (or time) to complete it.....story of my life!

 



The dresser was Aaron's grandpa's I believe. I wanted it painted white but Aaron had spent so much time refinishing it a few years ago we decided to keep it the way it was.

 



Add caption

  So that's pretty much it! The $75 went towards paint, new trim and the flower pillow on the glider. (A few dollars were also used on scrapbook paper and stickers for the wall collage.) Still need a few things...rug, etc. I think it turned out just great for hardly any money!

Who knows if Leah even likes it. She hasn't spent any time in her room yet. Getting ready to have her sleep in the crib any day now! ;)

Drive By Nuggeting

Summer is almost over, where has all the time gone? Kaelyn is hopefully starting school in a few weeks. I can't believe it!!! I use the word "hopefully" because she still shits in her Minnie's and that's a no-no at Pre-skoo. She just turned 3 last week and boy does it show! Not only does she talk back and ask "why" after anything we say, now she thinks its super cute to run from me when I want her to come inside. This makes me double mad- I'm not sure the term double mad is proper english but who gives. Anyway, like I was sayin it makes me double mad because I am out of shape in a double big way! Maybe she's secretly helping me out by running off and allowing me to burn a few extra calories! We decided to skip a birthday party this year and just had a BBQ with family and neighbors which essentially I guess that's a party. We had a great time. One of our great neighbors makes a mean margarita and I learned why there is the saying "One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor." I never drink tequila. In fact I think drinking Ron's Rita's was the first time I ever had a real margarita. I don't even know what he puts in those things but they are dangerously delicious! I vowed to never drink them again.....until his wife showed up to book club with a pitcher of them a few days later. However I stopped after one!! On top of being a little terror Kaelyn is still super awesome! She makes me laugh everyday and I just love watching her grow!

Leah is a whole 10.5lbs now! She is getting so big so fast! Her colic is starting to fade and shes finally doing better with her daddy. She is cooing and smiling all the time. I LOVE LOVE  LOVE it!  Aaron had his first outing alone with her last week. I had to pick up my Grandpa from the airport at the same time we were supposed to be at a wedding reception so Aaron and I split up, I took Kaelyn to the airport while he and Leah went to the reception. Everything went great! Well except for the fact that Aaron was pegged in the chest with a random chicken mcnugget while driving! Hahaha, I laugh whenever I try and picture him driving blasting his country jams then BAM! Chicken nugget to the chest. hahahaha. Oh I wish wish wish I was there to be a witness, that doesn't just happen to ya everyday!

So in all, life is good and we are happy as clams in the Pingul household!

Maternity Jeans In A Bar... Oh Life!

Leah slept from 11pm to 6:30 this morning. Too good to be true, right? I get out of bed to make her a bottle and immediately step in dog puke. Yep, it was too good to be true! I couldn't clean up the puke right away because Leah needed to eat and if she didn't she would start screaming and wake up Kaelyn. I had to feed Leah and stare at the pile of puke for a good 20 minutes before I could finally clean it up. Where's my little elf helpers when I need them? Probably swiggin the Vodka to avoid doing any chores.

I decided to make my first trip out in public with both kids alone. After the puke clean up I figured the day can only go up. We all survived and the girls did GREAT!

A little update on the kiddos-

KAELYN-
I am happy to announce that she has been sleeping through the night ALONE in her bed! For any other parents dealing with kids and sleeping issues I have no advice! We went against all the things you should do. Aaron would have to go into her bed and sleep with her every night for a few months. I have no idea why she started sleeping on her own but I won't complain!

She really loves being the big sister! She always wants to help, sometimes too much. She kisses her every morning and loves to feed her. I am so happy the transition was easier than we expected it to be.

We were recently in the grocery store and while checking out, Kaelyn, (who was in the shopping cart) started talking to a little girl in line behind us. All the sudden I hear the little girl say "Daddy, why does that girl have her shirt up over her head?" I turn to look at Kaelyn grabbing her chest and she's shouting "Look at my boobies! I pumpa da boobies to feed baby sista! Hahahahaha Look at my boobies!" I look at the other girls dad and blurt out Sorry, I just had a baby and boobs are the talk of the town in our house right now. What? Did I really just say that. Crap. Total word vomit. He just looked at me and didn't say anything.I avoided all further eye contact until our transaction was done. Forget using coupons. I need to get us out of here! Meanwhile Kaelyn is still shouting about boobies.

I love that kid.

LEAH-
Well, she may look just like Kaelyn but boy are they different!!! She is somewhat of a screamer. She loves to be held and she isn't too fond of Aaron yet. She sleeps great at night (which is wonderful!) I love all the little sounds she makes. Even though it takes me 4 hours to go to three places I just love this little ladybug!

Not much to report on the baby front since all she does is eat, sleep, poop and scream. :)

On a side note, I went to a bar recently for a bit of adult time with some ladies. I was wearing maternity pants. Mainly because I was seeing a movie before that and wanted to wear comfy pants and those things are down right COMFORTABLE! Shoot, anything with an elastic waist is comfy but I figured yoga pants wouldn't fly at the movies. I mean this was one of my first outings sans kids since I had given birth. I had to at least wear jeans!We were seeing Magic Mike so I guess wearing clothes in general was optional. However, point being...... I felt like an adult for a few seconds until I realized I was wearing those pants and I was immediately reminded that I should probably get home to my girls and change into another pair of "comfy" pants with an elastic waist. Oh life......

THE BURLINGTON BLOWOUT

I forgot how challenging it could be to venture out in public with a newborn. Note to self- WAAAAYYY easier to just stay home all day everyday until they are 13! Kaelyn was with my MIL so I decided to run a few errands. Post Office, Burlington, Target and a stop by my BFF's new house. Easy peasy. Well ya'll should know by now whenever I think something is going to be "easy" it ends up being a total disaster!

The post office went just fine. Off the Burlington. Just had to exchange something for a new size and I would be on my way. Super simple. Well the cashier was slower than molasses- problem #1.  Leah was starting to wake up- problem #2. While I am waiting for the cashier to return the item so I could go grab the new one I hear a rather loud rumble from Leah's tummy. Great. I left the diaper bag in the car because we were just running in and out. We head out into the store really quick to just grab what we needed. Leah starts to cry. I take her out of the carseat and check the back of her diaper. All clean! Just must have been gas. PHEW! I am holding her against my chest when a start to feel wet a few minutes later. I look at her front and notice its soaked. Oh dear, the blowout came up the front instead of the back! I didn't know how bad it was so I just decided to buy another outfit while we were there and change her in the car so we could continue with our day. I chose not to bring my "Im travelling to Europe sized diaper bag" while we were out that day. I just packed a few things. HUGE MISTAKE. We get to the car and as I begin to undress her I realize this is a much bigger problem than I thought. Poo was up to her chest, in her belly button and seemed to stain her skin a nice shade of yellow.After a few attempts to wipe it up I run out of wipes. Crap. Literally. Why did I not bring the costco pack of wipes? Why!!!I have no choice but to go back home and give her a bath. I don't even dress her, just put a new diaper on and strapped her in the carseat and covered her up with blankets. Go home and give bath. Time to feed again. Oh baby just ate. Time to pump now. AHHHHHHH! An hour later we are back out on the road headed for Target when I realize I am almost out of gas. Seriously!!! I just want to run some freakin errands! Any new mom knows (esp breastfeeding moms) that you only have a 2-3 hour window with newborns before you have to stop everything you are doing for feeding time. So small things like having to stop for gas can easily take 10 minutes away from that window! We finally make it to Heathers at about 2:30. (I originally told her we planned on being there at 11:30) I HATE being late. Hate it. Luckily it was moving day for them so it wasn't a big deal.

It took us 6 hours to go 4 places that day. 6 HOURS! Funny how someone so tiny runs the show in the Pingul house these days. I learned my lesson. I will always bring the big bag, pack extra wipes and remember to bring it in the store with me! We had two huge blowouts in one week. One of which resulted in Aaron and I cutting off her clothes it was so bad. I hope this means we can have a blowout break for a bit! :)

Thanks for reading about my kids poo diaper disasters. Hope you weren't eating breakfast!

Labor with Leah

Dear Jehovah's coming to my door,

 When I answer and you hear a newborn screaming along with my huge dog barking and I tell you I'm sorry but  it's not a good time you should listen. However you didn't listen and continued to talk while my dog barked. When he ran at the door and my toddler peed herself right in front of you (while the baby was still screaming) and I again said now is not a good time, I am not interested you should really get the hint. Again you didn't and that is why I had to shut the door in your face.

Sincerely,

Annoyed Mother

Sorry that's my rant for the day. I had just gotten Leah relaxed and asleep when they decided to show up. Im usually pretty considerate when people come to my door but don't try and mess with Mama Bear when she is trying to take care of her kiddos. It has already taken me over an hour to try and put away one basket of laundry. You think I have time to chat about joining your religion? Newsflash-I don't.  Nothing against the Jehovah's or anything I just need to get back to cleaning up pee, poop and find the time to change out of my PJ sweatpants into my daytime sweats. Don't be jealous of my wardrobe right now.

On to the actual post im trying to write.

LABOR WITH LEAH

Well I was hoping to have some awesome labor story to share with you but sadly I don't have one. It's pretty much like I sneezed and she was born. Ok so not really, it just felt that way compared to Kaelyn. On Friday evening (June 1st) I was having contractions. Nothing new. The dog was starting to act really strange. Kept coming up and resting his head on  my belly. A few hours later the contractions were getting worse. I called the midwife and she said I could probably stay at home a bit longer since I had such a long labor with Kaelyn. Not long after I talked with her I felt it was time to go. FYI a Jeep + bumpy hill + contractions = nothing I ever want to do again. I think I even said no more kids as we kept hitting all the pot holes! Get checked into the hospital and they inform me I am already dilated to an 8 should just get ready to have her. UMMMMMM HELL NO- I NEED AN EPIDURAL. They weren't sure if I would have time for one but ended up getting it right before I couldn't. PHEW! This pregnancy and labor was totally opposite of Kaelyn's.

Weight gain-
K- over 50 lbs. Yes, your eyes aren't mistaken that says 50! I had the worst cankles. ever.
L- not even 20lbs. Cankle free baby!

Sickness-
K-Almost daily
L- Hardly ever

Labor-
K-1 day late.18 hours. Pushing for a solid 3 hours dripping sweat, my entire body was sore before I even pushed her out.
L- 2 weeks early.Not really sure it was so fast. Just a few hours and only pushed a couple of times. Never broke a sweat.

Baby stats-
K- 11:37am 7.9lbs 21.5inches
L- 12:52am 6.8lbs 19.5inches

Recovery-
K-Awful. So many stitches I had to sleep on the couch for a week and felt like a semi truck and crashed into my lady parts.
L- So much easier! No crashing semi truck this time. More like a  razor scooter which is much more manageable!

The two things both labors had in common? The Mariners game was on and Aaron was watching it and my midwife had "stretched" me earlier in the day. Pretty darn painful but it has sent me into labor the same day twice now so I am a believer that it works!

I had a lot of family and my BFF in and out with Kaelyn and with Leah it was just Aaron and I. As much as I loved sharing that experience with family and friends I must admit it was really nice just having it be the two of us there this time around. The only issues I had this time was the smell of my deodorant driving me nuts! I wore a different kind and the smell was annoying me so bad I almost wanted to shower before I had the baby. Also my IV was placed in a bad spot and I couldn't bend my wrist which got pretty bothersome really fast!

Since Leah was born at 1am we got the rest of the night and until 11am the next day to just have it be us with no visitors. It was nice. I wish I would have slept! The nurses said we had the quietest baby on the floor that night. If only it would have lasted! We had a few visits from family and some nice woman came in and blessed Leah for us. Nobody did this with Kaelyn. I wonder if it was because Aaron and I weren't married when she was born. *tisk-tisk-tisk*

The biggest fiasco was Prince the dog freaking out that we had abandoned him and getting uncontrollable diarrhea all over the living room carpet while we were gone. Not even 48 hours after Aaron had finished shampooing them! I guess the rhea continued for him the next day all over the garage. Aaron had to leave the hospital, come home and re shampoo it all before I would even consider coming back home!

We are so blessed to have another perfectly healthy baby girl. Kaelyn loves to give her kisses and has turned out to be quite the helper. We were kind of concerned at first because when she came to visit us in the hospital she took one look at her sister and went into the corner and started spitting on her shoes! I thought we were doomed for sure but am happy to report she had a change of heart!

If you think you are saved from reading about my trials and tribulations of attempting to breastfeed you guessed wrong! That is such a long story I think it deserves it's own post. Mucho props to the other titty slaves out there trying to breastfeed their babies. It takes a whole new level of dedication. Well it does for me since apparently my boobs hate me.

In between contractions Kaelyn wanted to kiss baby "sista re-rah!"

The best family picture we could get. This was before Kaelyn was excited sista was here!

  Aaron and Kaelyn sharing stories with Leah.
                                                 

    A proud big sissy. FINALLY!

<3 Our teeny tiny Leah Grace Pingul <3

Random Snippets From The Creepy Prego

Can't sleep. Need to give birth. Since neither of those are happening at this very moment I will share some random thoughts.

* Aaron asked me if I was the little girl from Signs the other day because I had water glasses all over the house. I think he has a point because right now I can think of at least 4 that are floating about. Man I hate it when he is right!

*Really clean things make me happy. Too bad it only lasts for about 2.5 seconds in our house.

*When you are trying to reason with your toddler and tell them something and they either don't do as you asked or they flat out say "No tanks Mama, I no wanna." and you give them that WTF face think twice. After doing that a few times they pick up on it and add that same facial expression in when they say no to whatever it is you are asking.

*Nothing against moms with Minivans. I have friends that drive them. However, I NEVER EVER thought I would understand why people get them. Now that I am trying to fit 2 car seats into my seemingly large SUV I am starting to get the appeal. Automatic sliding doors, space, your kid being able to hop down from their car seat without face planting into the back of the passenger seat in the process. I bought my car when I was 21 and car seats weren't exactly something that ever crossed my mind then! And while I don't think that I will cross over into the world of vanhood I may at times find myself slightly envious of those of ya that have them!

*I think I have said this before but I don't care.Pregnant people should automatically get a discount on toilet paper while pregnant. It's like a senior citizen discount. We have put in our time and we deserve it! No wonder Costco's #1 selling item is the TP, all of us pregos have to stock up!

*Costco pub mix, ice cold rootbeer, fro yo and cereal are not something that should be consumed close together. I learned this tonight. Ugh, I think I am going to be sick just reading that!

*Don't wait until 5 seconds before you give birth to start working on the nursery. I am down to one of the very last projects and didn't have one thing I needed to complete it and I am certain that is why I can't sleep tonight! I work well under pressure but this is just torture!

*Men need to understand that there is no reasoning with their wife or baby mama when it comes to nesting towards the end of pregnancy. If 4am is when you want to scrub floors, so be it! If you ask us to relax we may go crazy on you. Just sayin.

*Children hear EVERYTHING you say! Even when you are frustrated with your stubborn dog and say something like "stupid dog" quietly under your breath they hear you! They also choose to repeat such phrases at the worst times. Like calling some random Grandma in the waiting room or the midwife (who I have never met before, she was filling in for mine at my last appt) a stupid dog after they kindly asked her what her name was. Yeah, how do you come back from that?! Oh, sorry...it's not you, we just yell things like that at our dog and she somehow picked up on it. Imagine that!

*When I was pregnant with Kaelyn I was HUGE. By HUGE I mean I weighed 30+ pounds more at the end of that pregnancy compared to this one. A few weeks before I was due I was in Metropolitan Market, not sure what I was buying probably ice cream sammies. The checker was a nice lady she had rang me up numerous times before. She has a VERY loud voice and she looked at me and said "GIRL! What you got twins in there? Shoot, bet you can't wait to have them babies!" I told her there was just one, left and I actually think I cried. Now I know that she was just trying to make conversation but when you are hormonal there isn't much rational thinking. After that I would never go into her checkout line again. Fast forward a few years to my bday last week. Aaron and I stopped into Metro after our lovely dinner since we never go there anymore and just happened to be in the area. We get in line to check out and I hear the voice!! Ahh! This time she said "When are you due?" I said a little less than 3 weeks. I don't remember exactly what she said but it was something like "You look great, is this your first baby?!" In my head I wanted to say no B remember me, you called me a fatty years ago!?! Instead I said "No- We have an almost 3 year old girl as well." Her response you ask???? "Well my name is Roxanne and when that baby comes you be sure to tell your other girl that I said shes the best big sister in the whole world!"  Major points Roxanne, major points. Good thing Kaelyn wasn't with us or she probably would have used that time to spit out one of the fabulous phrases she's been into lately like "stupid dog." Or "what's wrong wit you maaan!"

* I don't really care how creepy this sounds but I could watch my kid sleep all night. She is just so cute and since it is one of the only times she isn't talking I can just stare at her and be amazed at how perfect she is. Aaron and I are so lucky to be blessed with a healthy kid that has a pretty entertaining personality to boot! It's easy to get frustrated throughout the day and forget how lucky I really am to be a mom. Even though some days I don't feel lucky until the house is finally quiet and everyone is sleeping!

Happy Friday folks!!! Maybe next week we will be a family of 4 + 1 fur child! :)

Color Me Bad And Other Gibberish

Our life is about to change so much in the next few weeks and since everything is going to be about the new baby for a bit I decided to give a little Kaelyn update since it will probably be the last one with her being an only child.

Advice-Never leave children unattended with crayons. Any parents of children about to be of coloring age need to know this! Kaelyn and I went to visit our friends Sarah and Reese last week, and when we got there I saw some crayons laying out. I don't know why but for some reason out of all the toys the crayons stuck out to me. I should have listened to my gut. It's like when you see a toy or any object on the floor at some point during the day and you think..eh I should probably pick that up. Well ya don't and then later at the moment where you need to maneuver with absolute silence down the hallway to not wake your child up you kick or trip over that toy, wake your kid up and want to hit yourself for not picking it up when you had the chance. Yeah, it's a lot like that! Sarah and I were in one room talking and the girls were playing in another and I hear a noise that sounds like rubbing on a wall. Again I ignore it. I figured it was them moving toys around or something. I hear it again so we decide to go check. We walk into the room and see our two sweet angels coloring all over the walls with crayons!! It was on the wall, the floor and Reeses little fabric chair! Did I mention they JUST bought this house and painted all the walls! Seeing how neither of our kids have done this before I wasn't sure who the instigator of color time was, but naturally I want to blame Kaelyn because I didn't listen to my gut earlier and now the crayons were getting their payback on me. That night when we got home Kaelyn was playing outside and I later found her with her sidewalk chalk coloring on our house and giggling.She better be the next Bob Ross.

I've recently decided that it is imperative that you either have a basement/2nd story or booze when you have small children running around. You can take your pick on which one. The noise level drastically increases in your home around the age of 2.5 and when you live in a single story house you really have nowhere to hide. I know they are only young once but sometimes you just need somewhere to put all that noise, or hide from it. People that don't have kids always get your kids the loudest toys possible and they always want to play with them at the worst times. You must remember who these gift givers were...paybacks are a B-word and they will get theirs one day! p.s. you know who you are!

Kaelyn is doing much better with potty training! About time! We still have a long road ahead but she finally gets it. When shes done she yells "Yeah boy! Or Yeah kids! I go potty in toweet I go to pree-skoo" throws her fist up in the air and screams! She caught on to the whole reward program of potty training and will pee, say shes done so she can get her treat only to go again 5 minutes later so she can have another. I'm determined to outsmart her with this so sometimes I use a timer and make her sit there until the buzzer goes off. :)

For Mother's day my wonderful husband got me a prenatal massage. My lovely sister in law who works at Gene Juarez was also able to squeeze me in for a mini facial and private shower. The whole shower thing didn't make sense to me at first but OH MY! I was able to take a 15 minute spa shower with no interruptions..NONE! Words cannot describe how nice it was to just stand there without a care in the world. Sadly, after about 5 minutes I found myself watching the clock realizing that 15 minutes alone sure feels like 5 hours in mommy time and I didn't know what to do. Im used to someone barging in on me or having to run out every time I hear an odd noise or the dog barking. I felt like a new person after my spa day. It's amazing how relaxed you get, even the walk to my car in the parking lot at the Tacoma Mall seemed peaceful to me....I realized a few days after this that in the 3 months that I haven't been working other than the quick trips alone to the grocery store every so often, I have only been away from Kaelyn for about 12 hours total. Aaron is sometimes gone longer than that in one work day! Kinda crazy when you think about it.

She is getting more and more excited about her baby sister Re-Rah (Leah) coming. She kisses my tummy every morning and talks to her all the time.Tells her she better like chicken nuggets and tons of other gibberish. She even helped the midwife listen to the heartbeat at my last appt which is great because she used to cry every time we went there.

Kaelyn says her prayers every night....she thanks all the usual suspects such as family and the dog. Somehow chocolate milk has wormed it's way into her prayers and so without fail, every night she ends her prayer with -and thank you chocolate milk, amen.

I love the age Kaelyn is at right now. I know I usually write about all of the crazy things she does but she is really a fantastic little human and I am so proud to be her mommy. A few weeks ago my grandma who I call Grandee suffered a heart attack. (she is doing better now) After I got off the phone with my mom I was in our bedroom crying and Kaelyn walked in. I tried to hide the tears but she saw me and said "You ok Mommy? You really sad?" I asked her for a hug and in her sweetest voice she said "Ok Mommy, stop crying first, I hug you" This is something I tell her when she isn't listening and ends up in time out. She gets upset, cries and after we have our little chat I say to her "Now stop crying and give me a hug." As sad as I was I still had to chuckle. After that my little girl sat there on the floor and hugged me as I cried for a few minutes and I will never, ever forget that moment. She seemed like such a grown up, and I felt like the tiny kid.

Time to go. Kaelyn just came up to me with a nickel and a coupon and said "Mommy I got a coupon and found the monies." I think we are going to take that as a sign and venture out to get some decor for little Leah's room! She knows me so well! :)

POOPIN, PREGNANCY & PILLS

Some days I feel like no matter what I do the world is against me. Today was one of those days- I will share more of that in a bit. We have been trying to tackle some major hurdles in the Pingul household the past few weeks on the sleep and potty training front. I would like to think we have made some progress, in fact I know we have but I am ready to curl up in a ball and go hide in a closet until baby Tahoe's arrival. I know we are 99.9% sure her name is going to be Leah but I still find myself calling her Tahoe or just "the baby." Poor kid is gonna have some identity issues if her mother doesn't ever call her by the same name!

SLEEPING-

Well the few of you that read this know sleeping is a major issue for us. Kaelyn has always gone to bed easily it was just keeping her asleep that was the problem. She has been in her new room for awhile now and the bedtime routine just kept getting worse. She would go to bed, wake up 2 hours later and would REFUSE to go back to sleep. I researched online until my eyes were about bleed on ways to get your kid to sleep through the night. We had tried a lot of the methods suggested by the big shots but nothing was working. Every night it was getting worse until she started not even going to sleep unless one of us was there. Now i'm sure if we stayed awake all night for a week straight we could break her of this but lets be real here... I am about to pop a baby out of my lady parts in a little over a month and Aaron works A LOT so we are down-right-tired! The poor guy is already averaging about 4 hours of sleep a night on a good day so I can't keep him awake with a screaming toddler all night. We are doing the best we can with the situation we are in, and sometimes as a parent that's all you can do.

So one day I asked on Facebook what my friends tried with their kids. My google searches weren't helping so I figured reaching out to my friends with kids was the next option. A lot of people suggested Melatonin. I had read up on that beforehand and everything said DON'T give it to small kids so I was a little leary. Eventually I figured what the heck, my friends kids took it and are still normal so i'll give it a try. I headed to Marlene's and some kind woman offered to help me. When I told her I was looking for Melatonin for my toddler she looked at me like I just asked her where she keeps her secret stash of crystal meth. After a kind lecture about what Melatonin will do to my childs brain she suggested that I try these Valerian/Passion Flower drops. I thanked her for her help but she stayed there until she saw me take the bottle as if she was trying to make sure I didn't just go for the Melatonin. (I still left with a bottle of Melatonin in case these herbal drops were crap.) The bottle said things like Eclectic Kids!! SUPER TASTY! It had a picture of a clown hugging a happy kid. I should have known this was all wrong just based off the bottle. The drops are probably hands down one of the worst things I have tasted. Ever. I tried giving them to Kaelyn a few times but she wasn't down with the taste either. Then one night she channeled her crazy side and was totally manic all night. Climbing on her dresser, throwing things around her room, banging on the door, hitting the walls. Honestly it scared me a little because she didn't even seem awake when she was doing this. It was like some little gremlin had taken over her body and was lashing out. I called the Dr the next morning -anyone who knows me knows this means I am at my breaking point because I am not the kind of parent that takes their kid to the dr unless it's a MUST. I felt this was reason enough. Nobody wants a gremlin for a child. He ok'd the melatonin (thank goodness!!) to the woman at Marlene's- shame on you for freaking me out about it in the first place!  We crush up a pill and mix it with some applesauce. Result- see picture below.

She goes to sleep on her own. She still wakes up at night but is MUCH calmer and goes back to sleep easier.No more gremlin monster! If she still has issues after a few weeks the Dr wants us to come back because she may have some sort of sleep disorder. Fun.

POTTY TRAINING-

Pfffffft-I need to take a deep breath before I even talk about this! I know I am a good parent but this potty training business has made me question my abilities. It makes me wanna grab a bottle of Pinot Grigio and head for the hills until she is a teenager. I don't know why she flat out won't go. We have tried lots of methods with this as well and no such luck. Stubborn kid. A friend of mine sent me a link to a blog about a potty training boot camp you can do in one day. This was the one thing I haven't tried. I had most of what was needed to have the boot camp and rain was in the forecast the following week so I thought I would give it a go. Well on Monday Kaelyn just decided it was time to tell us she had to go potty and started using the toilet. Now by using the toilet I mean she tells us she has to go, sits on the toilet-nothing. Says shes done then pees in her "pannies" 5 minutes later. After doing that a few times she will finally catch it in time to make it in the potty. Hey-MAJOR progress for us. The whole time she says, "I go potty Mama, I go to Pre-skoo now!" I am so proud of her but running to the bathroom 50 million times a day (when she only goes 1 out of every 5 trips or so)and being 34 weeks prego having to pee constantly yourself isn't fun. I am POOPED. No pun intended. Now all of her dolls have to go potty on the toilet. Which is probably why she decided to have a party with the baby powder the other day.That or she watched the movie Blow without us knowing and thought this was the kind of powder Johnny Depp fancied. Either way, it was a mess. If you missed the pictures here ya go-

It was one of those moments where all you can do is laugh. She was alone for MAYBE a few minutes while I was on the phone in another room. 

Back to why some days are against me, today being one of them. I was babysitting today and was going to have our neighbors son for a bit in the afternoon since it was a half day. Here was my plan- Feed Una and get her sleeping. Feed Kaelyn lunch early and get her down for a nap. Get crazy barking dog in garage and meet the person walking Manny to our house in the street so our dog wouldn't bark and wake the kids. He would come in and we would hang out until Kaelyn was up from her nap. Easy right? Yep, it is. For anyone other than me.

Here's what really happened- Fed Una but she wouldn't sleep. No biggie she is a good baby anyways so she was just hanging out. I started having contractions so Kaelyn's lunch was a bit late. I laid her down but she wouldn't sleep. She was crying in her room for a few minutes when I noticed Una was just starting to fall asleep. I look out the window and see Manny coming down the street, at that moment Kaelyn runs out of her room screaming she has to go potty. I get her in the bathroom and as im pulling down her pull-ups she diarrhea's ALL OVER the floor and steps in it! I knew she snuck extra fruit at breakfast and this was proof of it! I manage to clean it up faster than I can blink and get her back into bed before Manny comes. ( I was determined to get Kaelyn to nap because Aaron is going to be gone until 1030 tonight and I didn't want to deal with a non napper all day alone.) Prince starts barking anyway and Una wakes up. I get some TV on for Manny but can tell he is bored and itching to get Kaelyn up since she wasn't really sleeping anyways. He looked at me and with all the seriousness in his 6 year old face he says "You know, I didn't come over today to just sit on your couch and be quiet." After a good laugh I figured the day had won the battle against me and we got Kaelyn up. They played and she eventually got to go next door for awhile. THANK you to my wonderful neighbors. Ya'll wore her out and she was asleep within 30 seconds of her head hitting the pillow tonight! My mother also must have taken pity on me today because she came over and cooked me dinner. I don't know why some of the easiest things to do are just down right impossible for me these days!

I need to have this baby already.

Morning Shmorning

I remember a time way back....back before the husband, children, and dog that I used to actually be woken up by some handy gadget folks like to call an alarm clock. Better yet, on days that I wasn't working I was able to wake up on my own time. Distant memories now. The routine was as follows-
*Wake up.
*Make coffee.
*Shower, get ready, and head to work.
*You could even use the bathroom in peace! This could all be done in about 45 minutes.

Now if we have something to do in the morning I need hours to complete the routine. I am usually woken up around 3:30 due to Aaron's lovely work schedule, and if I do fall back asleep by 6:30 Kaelyn or the dog can be found inches from my face telling me to get up or licking me (the dog, not Kaelyn!) indicating that they have to pee. Kaelyn always says "Good morning Mama, I wake up." Naturally if there was a day we had to be somewhere early it would be the ONE day that Kaelyn and I actually sleep in. Now the routine goes a little something like this-

*Get woken up by either child- fur or human.
***CUDDLE TIME with Kaelyn ***this is the best part of the morning for me!
*Get up and let dog out. Yell at dog for barking at the birds because it's too early to be barking.
*Try and make coffee but get distracted because someone needs to watch cartoons.
*Start coffee
*Begin breakfast. Kaelyn is a picky eater but usually will tell me ahead of time what's on the menu for breakfast. Chuggos and milk (Cheerios and milk) or Green juice, Spubby's, and butter toast (Odwalla, strawberries and peanut butter toast) are her usual go-to's.
*Serve breakfast.
*Try and jump in the shower, listening carefully for any unusual noises. Should you hear anything the shower must me stopped and you run out to find that someone decided to lick the milk out of the cereal bowl like a dog, made a mess and is devastated over a little spilt milk. Even worse is when you think you hear something and you come out to see your child sitting there being an angel just playing with toys or watching cartoons.
*Clean up mess.  (thankfully this isn't a daily thing at breakfast.)
*Back to shower, wash hair for the second time because you can't remember if you already have. Better yet, don't wash your hair because you think you already did and then wonder why your locks look so greasy after you finish getting ready. (don't tell me im the only one that has done this.)
*Get out of shower and find that your child has decided to put on your make up or has gotten into the Q-tips and tampons throwing them all over the place like confetti on New Year's Eve.
*Someones pooped. Change it.
*Call Daddy. Kaelyn always wants to call her daddy in the morning. I don't care how much of a rush we are in to be somewhere I will ALWAYS let her call her daddy if she asks.
*Get dressed. For some reason you can never manage to get dressed alone. Getting dressed and  using the toilet alone were officially tossed out the window long ago. There is always a little person staring at you asking what you are doing. "Are you poopin Mama? You tootin a nugget?" Trying not to laugh I say "No K, just pee. Ok Mama, go pee."
*Get children dressed. This usually requires some chasing up and down the hall because of course everything is a game when you are a toddler. Getting dressed is the easy part, doing the hair is the struggle. I happen to be hair challenged. I can manage a ponytail but that is about it. She HATES having her hair done which is why I give her the gummy bears on the days I can't handle the struggle and cries of hair time.
*Start to dry my hair. I have A LOT of hair so I have to do it in shifts or I overheat!
*Stop hair because I am getting hot, do a bit of make-up. Get one eye done and remember I forgot to feed the dog.
*Go feed dog.
*Get back to the makeup or the hair and the little munchkin wants to watch a different cartoon.
*Please the toddler with a new show so I can continue to get ready.
*Finally finish the makeup or blow drying session.
*Dog needs to go outside again since he just ate. Let him out.
*Peek into the playroom and notice that someone has already messed up their ponytail that took you 5 minutes and 6 gummy bears to complete. Hair re-do.
*Brush teeth which is usually about the time I remember I haven't ate breakfast.
*Pack a bag. Juice, snacks, and other kid essentials.
*Look at clock and realize it's time to go.
*Put on shoes, coats, get dog in the garage, do a once over glance at the house making sure you have everything. Sometimes I see my coffee (that I needed so bad) still sitting on the counter.... full.
*Get into the car.
*Look at clock as you drive off and wonder how 15 minutes have passed since you last looked at the clock right before you left the house.
*Look in the back to make sure you actually put your kid in the car seat and didn't leave her in the driveway! For some reason that is a fear of mine and I have no idea why!

What??? Were late? Imagine that....

We aren't late that often because being tardy for the party is a HUGE pet peeve of mine.However it has happened on occasion.

I was thinking about all this early this morning when I was having cuddle time with Kaelyn watching Clifford the Dog. I am so excited that she is about to have a baby sister but I also got sad thinking that very shortly we won't have our cuddle time together every morning like we do now. Which then got me thinking I will soon have to get two kids ready in the morning! I need to get a better handle on my morning routine ASAP. Or just make sure my kids are always dressed super cute so people won't notice their mom is unshowered and only has mascara on one eye. :)

Thrifty treasures and a name for Tahoe!

Been hitting the consignment shops at thrift stores the past week and.....

Look at all my goodies!

1 entire 6 piece crib bedding set, Kids rocking chair (only $3 bucks, by far my best score! Since I saw one just like it for $40) Bird picture, Pink basket, 1 pair of shoes, 5 shirts. 3 sweaters, 1 vest, 2 pairs of shorts, 2 dresses, and 2 pairs of jammies. Some of these things still had new tags on them!! All of this was about $50 bucks!

The crib bedding wasn't exactly what I wanted. The one I LOVED was going to cost me over $200 bucks for everything. I saw this one at the consignment shop and just traded Kaelyns crib set for it. It didn't cost me a penny and its in almost new condition! We went all out when we had K and since this isn't my first time at the rodeo I am much more laid back with not having to have EVERYTHING perfect this time around. I had all these grand plans for the babies room but last week I decided that I am done. We are going to toss a coat of paint on the walls and call it good. I don't even care if the furniture in the room doesn't match. Moving and redoing Kaelyn's room wore me out! We have actually had to spend more money on Kaelyn when it comes to prepping for baby #2. Kinda funny!

Shout out to Aaron....I started feeling crappy yesterday afternoon and he came home after working 12 hours (plus an hour commute home thanks to traffic) and told me to go lay down. I came out about an hour later and he had cleaned up the house, fed Kaelyn, did the dishes and was giving her a bath! He's a good man. ;)

Oh and in other news I think we may have a name for "baby Tahoe"........ Leah Grace Pingul.

P.S. I re-read yesterdays post and I kinda sound like a serious boozer since over half of my stories involved beer or wine... I assure you I am not! Yes I enjoy a glass or two (when I am not prego) but the party usually ends there. Those are just the funnier stories to share! Reading about how wonderful my child was all day isn't going to provide much laughter and isn't that what all this parenting crap is about?!!? Sharing your not so grand  moments so other people can relate and not feel like they are the only ones! :)

Gotta roll, Kaelyn thought it would be real cool to sip and spit out an entire sippy cup of juice on the playroom carpet while I took ten minutes to write this. CONSTANT SUPERVISION!

Rocket launcher poops and other memories.

I was reading an article on MSN today(Link below). Made me laugh and make a trip down memory lane as a parent reflecting on some oh so stellar moments. Or not.
http://onpoint.msn.com/story?ocid=hpslide

When Kaelyn was first born I remember trying to breastfeed. This was a huge struggle for me. I wasn't producing enough milk and quickly found out she was crying all the time because I was literally starving her! One time I had her on the boob and things were actually going good but I was STARVING! So hungry that I couldn't possibly focus on anything else for another second unless it involved food. I didn't dare move because I wasn't about to ruin one of the few successful boobie sessions I had with her. I saw a package of Walker shortbread cookies on the end table and stretched my tiny arms to grab them. I inhaled a few of the yummy cookies while Kaelyn was quietly nursing... ahhh quick slice of heaven. Then I looked down and saw cookie crumbs all over her face and in her eyes! Drats those cookies are crumbly little suckers! When I say in her eyes I don't mean on her eyelids while they were closed, I mean crumbs IN her eyes!  A few days later I was walking into Kaelyns room while holding her and whacked her head on the door frame. I remember apologizing to her, swearing that banging her head and the cookie incident would be the only mistakes I would ever make when it came to my little angel. Ha.. I must have been high on the pain killers that day. Oh wait that's right, someone stole all my painkillers from me right after I had my child. Yes, you are reading that correctly..someone who was in my house jacked pain meds from a woman who just shoved a baby out of their vagina days before. As Stephanie Tanner would say "how rude!"

One of our first trips out was to the Kidz Kaboodle consignment store. As mentioned in previous blogs Target was her first outing, duh! This store was close to home and I figured I could manage this trip easily. Shopped for a little while and things were going great! I set her car seat down next to the Jeep because my hands were full...car seat, shopping bags, diaper bag etc. I opened the door to the car with some force and it hit the bar of her car seat which caused her car seat to roll over into the next parking spot! Thank goodness she was buckled in! I looked up and saw a few people just staring at me probably thinking who's this rookie? I clicked her into the base and hauled butt outta there, tires screeching im sure! I needed to get home before someone called CPS. I was sweating, she slept the entire time.

When Aaron was overseas I really didn't have anyone to help with the parenting. Sure we had a great team of friends and family around us but there wasn't anyone there with me when she wouldn't go to bed at night for weeks on end or to share the midnight feedings with. (hats off single parents of the world!) Sometimes I would just have to lay her in the crib and go sit outside and drink a glass of wine, forcing myself not to go back inside until the glass was empty. Some days I had a 2 glass rule. Our old house was so tiny even if you were outside you would hear her crying so I eventually got smart and would turn some music on for a buffer. I may not remember many details of the early days as a mom but I remember sitting outside drinking that wine, feeling so tired and lonely yet so incredibly thankful for everything I had.

Attention people with no kids or PBK (people before kids).. Ever see a woman carrying the largest diaper bag you have ever seen? Thinking there is NO WAY anyone needs that much stuff?? This story is for you. On one of our many trips to Target Kaelyn had her first HUGE blowout in a shopping cart. I mean crap up the back and out of her neck type of blowout. All over the shopping cart. I heard other moms speak of such events but this was a first for me. The smell so awful you swear it can't be your kid. We had just entered Target and we were OUT of diapers and formula so I had to get the essentials. Had to. I couldn't just go home and drop her off with her dad since he was thousands of miles away. Since we were just running inside for a quick trip I didn't bring the "im travelling to Europe on a month long vacation bag." I shoved a few wipes and a diaper in my purse and called it good. You can imagine my shock when my child decided to have a mini volcanic eruption out of her teeny tiny tush. I grabbed an outfit off the rack, paid for it and headed to the ladies room. I ran out of the wipes I brought quickly since I only had a few and her entire body was covered in this mess. I had to resort to paper towels. She was screaming bloody murder of course. The smell in the bathroom was so rank even I was gagging. After the best cleanup I could manage we ventured back out and the poor teenage looking guy was waiting outside to clean the bathrooms. I quickly avoided any eye contact with that poor soul and ran off to complete my shopping. Diapers, check. Formula, check. Wine, double check!

When Kaelyn was 7 months old we ventured to Colorado by ourselves. I was nervous to travel alone with a baby. I prepped as much as I could. Luckily between family and friends already in Colorado I didn't have to travel with much baby gear. They already had everything there. HUGE help. We check in and got through security which isn't fun with an infant. I did what any normal parent would do and drugged my child with Tylenol before the flight. Truth is she was teething...kinda. I tried to make her a bottle but did you know that it is nearly impossible to find warm water anywhere! I had to beg the Starbucks lady to fill her bottle up for me! We get on the plane and she wouldn't relax. Shes not screaming but she won't stay still and I was starting to sweat. I had been holding her for a long time and I just needed a minute to free my arms. I was trying to set up her DVD player which is impossible to do squeezed into a plane and doing everything with one hand since I was holding her. I dropped her DVD down the side of my seat ( I was the window seat in the back of the plane) and since I am borderline child sized, my arms couldn't reach it. The nice lady next to me couldn't get to it either. After a awhile of me trying she offered to hold Kaelyn while I crawled under the seat to get it. She assured me she wasn't some freak. I did something I never thought I would do....Let a stranger hold my baby! I mean we were on a plane, it's not like she could run off with my kid. Turns out she lived in the Tacoma area and we had some mutual friends.
                   

Real friends catch your child's rocket launcher shit. For real. Altitude can get to some people. For Kaelyn after we got to Colorado she wouldn't poop. It got really awful for her about a week after we got there when we decided to go spend a few nights at my friend Bri's house. We tried warm apple juice, baths and tummy wraps. Nothing was working so she went to the store for some supplies. Chinese food, wine and suppositories. I had never used them before but we read the instructions carefully. The box said Works in minutes. MINUTES. We laid her down on a towel, gave her the suppository and before we could even blink shit was literally flying out of her behind! Minutes?? Crap. Try seconds! Bri being the good sport that she is was right there by my side the entire time. We had our hands up like a shield blocking any potential strays. That girl will always have a special place in my heart for what went down that day!

We were at a birthday party for a friends daughter. Kaelyn was recently walking. I try not to be a "helicopter parent" as our neighbor calls it but there was a time when you had to watch Kaelyn every second. This was during that time. They are walking but not great, they are also into everything! We were all singing Happy Birthday and I took my eyes off Kaelyn for one second to watch Mia blow out her candles. Aaron and I turned around and see Kaelyn pouring an entire can of beer down the front of her jammies! Thankfully it was missing her mouth even though I am sure that was her goal but she was drenched in Budweiser. Needless to say, we didn't let her drive home that night. :)

One hot summer day I ventured to the island with a friend of mine and our kids. We walked to the store with the kids and got a bag of chips and a six pack of beer. You can bet money we enjoyed a beer on our walk home from the store, kids in tow, using the stroller cup holders for our mommy juice. If you have never been to the island than you really just can't understand how it is out there. It's totally normal.

Kaelyn hates having her hair brushed. HATES IT. So I learned that I can do her hair in the time it takes her to eat 3 gummy bears. On the days I can't handle anymore crying she gets the gummy bears so I can brush her hair without a fight. Even if it is only 8am.

I have let her hang out in a pee diaper longer than one should  because I am so sick of the fact she has no interest in potty training I hope that running around with a 5lb diaper makes her so unhappy she will cave and start using the toilet.

I know these aren't the most awful tales of parenting and if you think they are you have some whacked out theory on what really goes down when you have kids. (In MY opinion) There is always someone out there with a story that will top yours and make you laugh because you thought hitting your child's head on the door frame or getting cookie crumbs in their eyes was the lowest you would ever go. Just today I was visiting with a friend and she told me how shes had to pull over on the freeway and hang her kids bum out of the car and let him poop on the side of road because he is recently potty trained and when ya gotta go, ya gotta go! Don't worry friend I won't mention your name in case you wanna kill me for sharing that! I just found it incredibly funny! There may not be much glamour in this stage of my life but it sure is fun and interesting!! I wouldn't change a thing!