IN SICKNESS AND IN FOOD.

Ah, to feel almost human again. Yesterday was the first time I had left the house (besides my quick trip to Urgent Care) and worn clothes/makeup in over a week. I was so excited to leave the house! Even though we only ventured to the grocery store, I wanted to wear my prom dress and curl my hair! Being trapped at home that long isn't fun.This sickness barged into our house like a freight train and knocked us all down, me twice. We have gone through 5 boxes of tissues and a copious amount of over the counter meds. I however didn't really get to take part in the med intake since im with child and all, which is probably why it lasted twice as long for me! The coughing fits were the worst for me. Being knocked up you tend to lose some um..bladder control so when I would cough I would have to do an oh so lovely crotch grab to avoid peeing myself. When I was in the thick of this sickness the coughing was also giving me contractions so naturally when I would cough I wanted to grab my stomach. If I grabbed my stomach I couldn't do the crotch grab which would result in me peeing myself. Pretty I know. If this is too much for you, get over it. It happens. Then the sinus headache was in full swing so I would want to grab my head...which again...well you get the drift. It was like trying to pat your head, rub your tummy and do a little dance at the same time while drunk... (because I was so dizzy) just not always possible!

*Side note, Urgent Care is a big fat JOKE. I have only gone one other time in life and I hope to never go again. That is 2 hours of my life I will never get back. Besides, its impossible to cough and crotch grab in a waiting room without looking like a freak. The dr asked me how far along I was. I said 28 weeks. His english wasn't all that great, no biggie. But then in his thick accent he said "ahhh so you drue in Sreptember din?" Um no dude, try June. Your a doctor.... pregnancy is roughly 40 weeks. Im 28....40-28 is 12. 12 weeks is 3 months, and since it's March, 3 months from now is June. I wasn't expecting world class service at Urgent Care but simple math would have been nice. It reminded me of the time Aaron and I were playing the Battle of the Sexes card game when I was pregnant with Kaelyn. The question was- How long is pregnancy? A.) 25 weeks B.) 40 weeks C.) 72 weeks. Aaron answered C. He will deny this until the day he dies but he picked that answer and since I was hormonal I wanted to cry at the simple thought of being knocked up that long. Men.*

I knew we were sick, no question about it. When my lovely sister stopped by one of the days to bring me some Pho ,which I am convinced saved my life....I realized it was probably obvious from outer space that we were under the weather. When I opened the door she jumped back. JUMPED BACK!!!! I thought her eyes were going to pop out of her head! She dropped the soup and ran. When I closed the door I was half laughing and said Aaron, did you see how she jumped back like I was a freak or something??? He said well....your hair is kinda wild right now. I took one look in the mirror and quickly realized why she almost shit her pants when she looked at me.

The only upside to being sick was the quality time I got to spend with Kaelyn. She isn't much of a cuddle bug so I took full advantage when she was sick! We watched movies...correction movie. Toy Story 3, think we watched it a dozen times within a few days. I also got to experience some new parenting firsts during this time. Fever delusions..... Kaelyn has had fevers before but this time when they would spike she would get down right delusional. It was the strangest thing. Shortly after she would break into a sweat and come back to earth. I hope this was the worst we will see in 2012 on the sickness front. Then again, it's only March.

While I have your attention I wanted to share some tasty recipes with ya...... Just a few. I know just reading about our recent sickness may not want you to go right into food talk but I am feeling better and down to chow!

Not to toot my own horn but I make some banana bread that is kinda down right A-mazing. I found a recipe online and have tweaked it over time enough that I can call it my own.  Here's what you need-

*3.5-4.5 RIPE mashed bananas. If they are small use 4.5, large 3.5. This isn't a must. If you don't want to waste the other half of banana put it in too.
*1 cup sugar
*2 cups flour
*1 egg
*1 tsp baking soda
*1/2 tsp salt
*1/4 cup softened butter
* 1 glob of yogurt, yes glob. I never measure but if I had to guess id say it's anywhere between 1/4 to 1/2 cup. You can use any flavor you like. This last time (for the loaves pictured below) I used Strawberry Vanilla. In the past I have also used plain, strawberry banana and some pineapple mango mix.
*Pinch or two of brown sugar

Cream together softened butter and sugar. Add in egg and mix in mashed bananas and yogurt. Stir in flour, salt, and baking soda. At this point I sometimes add a TINY amount of vanilla extract but it's not a must.
Pour into a lightly greased loaf pan and sprinkle that pinch of brown sugar over the top. You really don't need much of the brown sugar. I only use this to give it a little sweet crunch on the top. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about an hour. Let sit in the pan for about 10 minutes after removing from oven, then transfer to plate or cooling rack. *TIP- this bread is best if you wrap after its cooled down and don't eat until next day. It seems to be more moist the second day. (Ugh moist is my all time most hated word, but I have no other way to describe the bread so I must use it.) In the end you should end up with something like the picture below!

YUMO!!!!!

Next up, Cheesy Olive Bread. Thanks to the Pioneer woman. http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/olive_cheese_br/
I made this last night. I have no taste buds right now but Aaron said it was really good. You MUST love olives in order to like this one though. It has a very strong olive flavor. If olives aren't your thing find another cheesy bread. I pretty much stuck to the recipe but added a tiny but of grated garlic and did a mixture of cheddar and hot pepper cheese because thats all I had in the fridge. I think next time I make it I will be sure to have working taste buds so I can actually know that it was good. :)

Chicken Tortilla Soup- This was GREAT! I did a few things different. Didn't add the cornmeal or tortillas. Just used chips. The great thing about this recipe is you can pretty much add any veggie you have on hand. Clean out yo fridge ladies! Thats what I love most about soups.
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/01/chicken-tortilla-soup/

Chicken Enchiladas- I usually make a sour cream type enchilada but baby wanted red sauce one day so this is what I tried. Of course I did a few things different. Anytime something calls for sour cream I swap it out for plain yogurt instead. You can't tell the difference...we can't anyway and its much healthier. I also only used 1/2 the amount of the condensed chicken soup and just used a bit more yogurt in its place. Didn't have any olives so we skipped that as well. They turned out pretty good.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/angelas-awesome-enchiladas/detail.aspx

Our wonderful neighbor also brought me some amazing avocado salsa a few weeks ago for no reason other than she is great! She also tossed in a bag of Juanitas chips. I sat there like a chunky prego and ate it until i was almost sick. It's THAT good. Also it's something about those chips...they keep me eating until I physically can't take another bite. If you haven't tried them you must, they put Tostitos to shame! Once I snag that recipe I will be sure and share!

Happy Spring people!!!!

Go the F*** to sleep!

 Sleep. It's overrated.

Whoever made up that saying needs a punch in the face.

If Kaelyn won't sleep then no one's sleepin in our house! That's my saying. I thought once she was past the infancy stage sleep would get better. She had me fooled for a long time and was doing great with sleep. Sure we had some adjustments to overcome when we first moved into our house. She has never been one to cry when you try and put her down for bed or naps. She always went to sleep right away. Our only hurdle has been keeping her asleep the entire night. She liked to wake up around 2am. Well, things have been a lot different around here the last few weeks. My new saying now, thanks to the book is- Go the F*** to Sleep!

http://youtu.be/3MkOieIdhY0

(If you haven't heard of this book it's great! The link under it is for a You Tube video of a grandma reading this book to her grandbaby. I have shared this video before. There are a lot of videos of people reading this book. Samuel L Jackson has one too.... but since he narrates well, pretty much everything I figured I would give a shout out to this Grandma instead.)

It all started with the naps. She just didn't feel like taking them. She would be quiet in her room for awhile so I didn't see any harm in her not sleeping. Then at about dinner time her crazy side would come out because she was exhausted! There was no reasoning with her. Some days she would nap, others she wouldn't. That doesn't work for me. I need a schedule! One day I even climbed in her crib to see if laying with her would help. Yes, 6 month pregnant 5ft tall me climbed in her crib. As if getting in wasn't hard enough I hadn't really planned my exit strategy. For a minute I really thought I would be stuck in there until Aaron came home from work. We still had her in her crib because..well...were lazy I guess. She had never tried to climb out of it and once we were pregnant with the nameless one we knew Kaelyn would be moving rooms and getting a new bed so we just decided to keep her in the crib until we got her new room ready. (Which is still not ready) Sometime within the last few weeks she has found her athletic side and managed to find a way to pole vault out of her crib without making a sound. I would hear her throw all her animals on the ground but never heard her climb out until she was knocking on her bedroom door to come out of her room. Awesome. Aaron took the rail off the crib. Problem solved right? Oh no, the problems were just starting!

At first she thought it was cool that she could just climb into bed on her own. She was grabbing all her books and playing around. Once it was time for bed we laid her down, read a book and closed the door. SCREAMING started within seconds. Not just any screams, serious screams. I am certain she wrote letters to the Linda Blair fan club and learned how to channel the noises that girl made in the Exorcist.  (Regan was a name I liked for the nameless one but now that I know that's the name of the girl in the movie it's officially not an option!) She didn't have the green puke but had green snot so it was close. Screaming isn't even the correct word for the noises she was making, I have never heard her make sounds like this. She would beat her head on the door and if you tried to go in her room she would push on the door to keep you out. We tried letting her cry it out but once the self abuse beings with the head banging on the door you have to intervene. She thought she broke her bed and that's why the rail was off. The only way she would sleep was if one of us would lay on the floor in her room until she passed out. This only works for a few days because sleeping on the floor when you are pregnant is simply awful. After a few nights of this, trying everything and no progress Aaron put the rail back on the crib to show Kaelyn she didn't really break her bed. Problem solved. Nope. We heard some noises in there but nothing major, no big thuds. We figured that it was just her tossing out her stuffed animals. Aaron and I were watching some TV on the couch when I saw her little face peeking around the corner from the kitchen! It's official, she is a cross between an Olympian and MacGyver.

She acted terrified of the bed now. Saying she was scared of it. Wouldn't even let us put her into it. Was she having nightmares???  Maybe letting her snuggle with Aaron while she was half asleep and he was watching the Walking Dead the other night was a bad idea... I was starting to think we would have to be those parents that co-slept with their kids until they were 10. Um no...we don't co sleep in this house. She is almost 3 she can sleep in her own room. Sure, she comes into our room when she wakes up early in the morning and we aren't ready to get up or if there is a wind storm and we are paranoid a tree will land on her room. (If you think we are crazy for that one just come peek at our backyard. You will understand.) But there will be no sleeping in our bed every night, or us sleeping on your floor. Go the F*** to sleep! I was feeling tortured, I knew that some of the reason she has been acting out more lately was because she was tired. Now the exhaustion had hit me and you just can't throw tantrums like a 2 year old. I would think about how awful it is going to be when new baby comes if she still isn't sleeping. I tried to tell her she would feel better if she just got some sleep. However, trying to explain that to a toddler doesn't really work. So last night we made an attempt with the crib again. No luck. We decided to lay her in the guest room (her soon to be new room) with a few books. She was out within 10 minutes. I didn't know if I wanted to do a happy dance or cry. Weeks of issues changed in 10 minutes!

She slept for 11 hours straight. She went the f*** to sleep!

Moms- Have you had sleeping issues out of nowhere with your kids? If so PLEASE help me with any tips that worked for you! Thanks. :) Cross your fingers that night #2 goes just as easy!

The Middle Mom

I was reading something recently and it asked.... What kind of mother are you? It got me thinking.

There are mothers out there that seem to handle all tough situations with such poise. They never seem to get flustered and I was convinced that they had some kind of magic fairy dust that they sprinkled over their children so that they listen after being told once. You never see them raise a voice or look like they have been defeated by their kids. They never ask for help or advice.Spank is the worst S word in their home. It seems they are the perfect mom. They don't ever look sloppy wearing sweats or  look as if they haven't showered in days. They don't overdress either. They have the casual mom attire down pat, consider them the stepford mother. Always looking refreshed and ready to tackle to day. I am not this kind of mother.

There are mothers out there that scream at their children in public to a point that it makes you feel awful for their kids. They spank in public. They watch their children dump the bag of popcorn on the floor at Target and walk away pretending that they didn't see anything while they yell to their kids "I am so sick of you I am about to just leave ya'll here. Oh ill give you something to cry about! Stay in the damn cart, I am about to beat you!!" Actually saw that one at Target recently.It is the short version of what Kaelyn and I witnessed but I will spare you all the details. This mom in particular had cracks of all kinds showing. Cleavage crack, butt crack you name it. Heck, maybe she was on crack I don't know. She really could have used some of the magic fairy dust that the perfect moms use. Thankfully I am not this kind of mother either.

Then there's the rest of us. I call us the Middle Moms.

I am a middle mom. I don't always have a chance to shower before going into public. Sometimes I wear yoga pants which I must say, are not sweats. Close though. I may not be able to get my child to behave perfectly all the time. I have somewhat of a foul mouth at times and even though I do my best to not say things in front of my daughter words have slipped out. Has she repeated some of them before? Yes. Did I laugh even though I know I shouldn't? Yes. I mean how can you not laugh when your two year old has skid marks in her big girl panties and you say "Oh Kaelyn you pooped in your Minnie's." And in her best two year old angelic voice she replies with "Oh no Mama, I shit in my Minnie's!!" I know it's not right but it was hysterical. I don't have magic fairy dust and I don't want it. I like being a middle mom. I like that I am not perfect and that I make mistakes when raising my child. By that I mean - giving them sweet baby food for the first time they eat solids rather than vegetables kind of mistakes. Not letting them ride with no seat belt on. Just had to clarify that one so nobody would call CPS on me. Some days I am on top of all things mom related. Others not so much. I have skipped bath time before when I know she really needed one so she could go to bed a little earlier and I could have some quiet time and a glass of wine. You know what THATS OK!

Actually I really don't think those perfect moms even exist. They may seem to have it all together on the surface but I bet they lock themselves in a closet every so often when they have hit the breaking point. They just do it when others aren't around. After all, imperfections in the perfect parent can't have any witnesses. Rule #1 for the seemingly perfect mom. Shoot maybe the magic fairy dust they sprinkle on their kids has multiple uses, I don't know. I know that some kids are just easier than others. I get that, but what fun would life be if you didn't have some imperfections in it?

Parenting is one of the biggest challenges I have ever faced. It's not a challenge in the sense that I am scared of it. I am lucky to be able to have children and am so incredibly grateful to face such challenges. I must tell Kaelyn that I love her a million times a day. Ok, so maybe not a million but I tell her constantly and if I could get it out a million times a day, every day, I would. I like that I learn so much each day from being a parent. I learn some things from my own kid, from experience and from my other middle moms. I am not afraid to ask for advice or help when needed and I will gladly do the same in return if asked. You have to just relax, take breath and laugh when they do things like shit in their Minnie's.. Find the humor in the frustrating situations if possible. Sure, you may see the humor after you shed a few tears but I assure you there is some sort of funny in most things related to parenting.

Mama needs a cocktail & the 15 minute fiasco.

There are two things wrong with the title of this post. One being that this Mama can't have a cocktail and won't be able to for some time. Second is the fiasco I encountered probably didn't even last for a full 15 minutes.

I really woke up on the good side of the bed yesterday.Got up early and was feeling great! Allergies or something of that sort have been attacking me lately and I hardly felt any symptoms this morning. Kaelyn was in a great mood and we got some good snuggle time in during the morning cartoons. I cleaned house, ordered Kaelyn some big girl bedding and made a few phone calls that reduced some bills in our house. In 30 minutes I had already made some changes that are going to save us about $70 a month and I still had a few more calls to make. This was all tackled by 9am. I really felt like a superstar. It was going to be a beautiful day out and I was going to soak it all in!!!

 Boy was I ever wrong.

If you remember from a few posts back when I mentioned that there are times that 10 or 15 minutes can ruin an entire day when you are a parent? Well I figured that I met my monthly quota with the whole Trader Joe's and dentist episodes we had. Now that I think about it those things happened in February and now it's March so I get to rack up the "Mama's goin crazy" points all over again.
I went to turn on the lights in the kitchen. Even though it is sunny out we don't get loads of natural light in the house. The lights turned on, then both went out right away. Drats. I then realized our new dining room light wasn't working either. Hmmmmmm..... I know it's not a big deal but I tend to get worked up over the little things like this. I rented for years and only had a few issues. Ants, a furnace and some plumbing. Not bad for 8 years of renting. We have only been homeowners for a year and a half and have had all kinds of silly stuff happen. Sparking outlets the first month we were here. It was shortly after we put up our Christmas lights and even though the electrician told us the lights had nothing to do with it  I still like to blame Aaron's alter ego, Clark Griswold for that one! Our appliances have pretty much all gone out resulting in us having to buy new ones which probably could have got Kaelyn a few months of tuition at Charles Wright. Leaky sink, the list goes on. We are pretty much the second owners of this house and it was built in 74 so I think the place was saving all this goodness for us. (Aaron has since came home and lights are working again.) Back to why mama's going crazy.

No, no. no the lights going out isn't what almost made me break. It was my kid of course! We had baby Una today, who is always a peach. Seriously. This little one is either sleeping, cooing or eating. She has only fussed a few times which is nothing for a baby. I had to get our neighbors son Manny from the bus stop in the afternoon. I had a plan, I was going to wear Kaelyn down early so she would nap and be up in time to head out. When she was napping I would feed Una for the last time before her dad picked her up because I knew I wouldn't have time after. How could this go wrong? I had a plan!!!

I had to wake Kaelyn up because she was sleeping longer than normal. She woke up and instantly went into that manic im not awake and I don't know whats going on mode. You know, the one where they just cry and nothing can calm them down. It usually only lasts for a few minutes until she is fully awake but it's a new thing for her so we are still getting used to that. Note to self....wake her up earlier next time. I had been dying to get outside because it was so pretty out. It was finally time to venture out. Time 2:40pm.

Kaelyn is all dressed. Shes got her shades on and her sweet Tom's that her awesome cousin/pal Phoebe has given her on loan. I get Una into Kaelyn's stroller. Key word: Kaelyn's stroller. Kaelyn FREAKS out. Crying, screaming, snot running out of her nose. " GET BABY UNA OUT MAMA, I WANNA SIT!!!!" I tried to ride this tantrum out for a minute hoping it would pass. Nada. I put Kaelyn on top of the stroller thinking she would find it cool. Fail. She LOVES Manny so I try to bribe her. "We are going to get Manny honey, if you walk like a big girl you can have an otter pop when we get home." Kaelyn has a thing for otter pops and I am not sure why. She rarely gets them. Surely this bribe would work. Her reply "No walk mama!!" Time is slowly running out since we have to be at the bus stop around 2:50. I have no other option, I have to put my toddler who is fully capable of walking and normally loves to do so in the stroller and carry sweet baby Una while pushing Miss Prissy Pants. The trick was getting Kaelyn into the damn thing while holding an infant.

Imagine if you will me holding an infant. Easy right? Now I am squatting down with the infant and letting my toddler scale my body and cling to me like a monkey while I get her in the stroller. Stop here.... factor in that I am 6 months pregnant and there is a point during pregnancy when you squat down and it just isn't as easy to get up. That moment decided to show up. That was also the moment that I got puked on and I had no free arms to try and stop it! Bianca and Aaron, if you happen to read this just know I would NEVER drop your baby. My child would go first, shes older and could handle the fall! I had stitches by the time I was her age and I lived. I get Kaelyn settled and were off. I get to the end of the street and some neighbors I have yet to meet were outside. They stopped me and of course had to address the screaming they heard. They also looked rather confused that I was holding an infant while my walking kid was in the stroller. Yeah, join the club. I feel terrible because they seemed very sweet but I was running late and had to get to the bus. I can't even remember their names and they told me twice! That's when I heard the bus coming.

I (as kindly as possible) excuse myself and being to haul ass to the bus because I still wasn't close enough for Manny to see me. I just have to go around two corners. Easy. Until I realize I had the stroller that doesn't have pivoting wheels. Crap. Should have bought the jogger with wheels that pivot, it would have been worth if for this moment alone. Trying to turn a corner while running, holding and infant and being pregnant is virtually impossible. By running I mean fast walking to most people. I hear the kids getting off the bus. I am shouting "Manny I'll be right there!!!!!" I finally get around the corner and Manny sees me. Were all good. I felt terrible. There was one time when I was about his age that I came home from school and nobody was home. I was supposed to get off at a friends that day but there was some confusion and I didn't. I just sat on the stoop at our apartment until my mom came home and I asked her for my own house key. She always said she would never forget my face when she pulled up. Poor little Manny had the same face. We start the stroll back home and Manny was kind enough to push the stroller for me even though he can't really see over the top of it. I feel like the biggest tard because it really isn't that difficult of a task. The bus stop isn't far away and I should be able to handle a short walk. Guess not.

I don't know what was hurting worse, my back or my brain. Aaron comes home and begins to fix the lights. I decide to take a minute and sit. That's when Kaelyn craps her diaper. Get distracted for a bit and then order dinner since I would probably burn the house down if I tried to cook at this point. We eat, all is good. Kaelyn is wearing her Minnie's (big girl undies) and Aaron goes to take a shower. I decide to try and sit again. At that exact moment Kaelyn pees in her Minnie's. I clean her up and as I am cleaning up the little puddle she left me I hear the garage door open. Hmmmm Aaron is in the shower who would be opening the garage door? I peek into Kaelyn's playroom and when she sees me she tries hiding the garage door opener. Caught!!!FYI when kids reach her age they begin hoarding. They have secret stashes all over the house and as a parent you can only hope that no food makes it into these hiding spots! She has only done this once before and the dog happened to be in the garage that time. I was doing dishes, looked out the window and saw Prince staring at me like WTF mom, who tried to set me free? Our dog is defiantly not one you let just roam around the neighborhood. Good thing he doesn't run! Needless to say bedtime came early for everyone in our house last night!

Even though I am only 2 feet taller than my 2 year old I am still in charge. Sadly, yesterdays score was Kaelyn-1 Mama -0. If I was able to have a little vodka or wine I probably could have raised my score to a .5 and felt a little less defeated. When it was finally just Aaron and I on the couch and I was telling him about the days events he said "Babe, you should really try not to pick Kaelyn up as much since you are pregnant." Oh Aaron, bless your heart. That really wasn't the way I responded to that statement but I knew he meant well.

Randomness

Kleenex Cool Touch tissues are one of the best creations ever. EVER.

Getting poop on your hands (not yours) and not noticing it right away is rather unfortunate. Not to mention GROSS!

Snow in March...stop freaking out people, it happens.

Aaron and I have been watching The Voice. Christina needs to get her ta-ta's in check. I can hardly pay attention to anything else that goes on during the show because I am just waiting for a major wardrobe malfunction!

Black Bear Yogurt is not only fantastic, they have a drive-thru window! Double fantastic!!

Allergies have consumed me. I sneeze every few minutes..which means.....If I am not careful I am peeing my pants thanks to pregnancy. Maybe I should make myself a sticker chart like Kaelyn's for potty training and reward myself with gummy bears when I have a dry day.

Kaelyn may have said a bad bad word the other day. I still can't be sure. When I asked her what she said (which is a dumb thing to do because then you are getting them to say the word again) She just looked at me and said "Ooooh nothing Mama!" then laughed. I am pretty sharp when it comes to understanding toddler lingo but hope she was saying something else!

Potty training has been a huge FAIL in our home. I recently started a sticker chart which Kaelyn has no interest in. Now when I ask if she wants to go potty she says no. I then tell her she can have a sticker if she does and she replies with what sounds like "I no wanna stinkin potty mommy" I know she is really saying I don't want a sticker and potty mama but it REALLY doesn't sound that way!

Had a dr appt. Everything is good with baby Tahoe...I am down 12lbs compared to this time during my pregnancy with Kaelyn! Oh and people, our babies name really isn't going to be Tahoe...no need to worry! I thought it was pretty obvious that it's a fake name since we don't have one! :)

Why is our dog the biggest mess maker in our house? He is a pet. Pets are supposed to be fun most of the time. This beast creates a lot of daily clean up around here.

The show My Strange Addiction has to be fake...I mean really.... A grown man wearing footie PJ's and sucking on a bink while laying in a crib is just ridiculous. Not to  mention the man that is in a physical relationship with his car. I could go on, I only watch the previews but that's enough for me!

The news is really getting to me recently. This morning I learned that there are too many crazy wackos in the world. The political mumbo jumbo is all anyone talks about. Apparently it is illegal to get a fish drunk in Ohio or for anyone in Columbus to buy Corn Flakes on a Sunday. In Vermont women must obtain written permission from their husbands to wear false teeth, and in Oklahoma people who make "ugly faces" at dogs may be fined and/or jailed.


I hope everyone is off to a great week! Tomorrow is going to be a BEAUTIFUL day. Be sure to get outside if you can! I'm sure we can all use the vitamin D!

A TALE OF TEETH, A NAME AND LACK OF MOTIVATION.

I am quickly learning that this 5am hour is prime time for my blogging. Right now, sitting on the computer is the only thing keeping me away from the fridge! Sure I could go and eat, im pregnant. If I did I wouldn't consider that my breakfast and I would repeat it all over again once Kaelyn got up and acted as if it was the first thing I have had all day. I will stand strong. Computer it is!

My mom once told me that nothing will compare to having your first child. Meaning...none of the other children you have will compare to the first. For a hot second I thought she was telling me "don't worry honey, I like you better than your younger sister." Something that anyone with a sibling wants to hear from their parent. You win the most liked contest! That was not her point, and now that we are gearing up for #2, the nameless one I am starting to see her point. Of course I am excited to be a mom again, ecstatic actually. It's just that well...all I can think to say is- been there, done that.

Case in point- The nameless one...My child will be here in 3 months and still has no name. Well the family calls her "Baby Tahoe" which I am quite sure doesn't need to be an inside joke to just my family. We were in Lake Tahoe this past September, baby will be here in June. Anyone with half a brain can figure that out! I don't want to be in the delivery room, pushing and yelling come on baby Tahoe!!We need a name!  Kaelyn's name was picked out the day I peed on the stick. Seriously. Although, her name was picked because we liked it I will give credit where it is due, Aaron picked the name.And if we wanted to break it down and make her feel special when she asked why we picked that name we could easily tell her well... KAE is your mama's middle name, the LYN in your first name is for your god mama Heather's middle name, and even though she spells it LYNN we figured she wouldn't mind if we changed it a bit. RAE is for your Auntie Ky's middle name.Yes folks, I have 2 sisters and all of our middle names rhyme. Mae, Kae, Rae. I will be more than happy if we just come up with something to name Tahoe, other than Tahoe!  This name thing alone makes me understand what my mom was telling me years ago.

When you are pregnant the first time around it's all you can think about. How will the room look? How many times can I wash and re-fold all of the baby clothes and place them in the dresser just right only to take them out a month later when I get another nesting urge and repeat the process again, possibly numerous times. Having all the outfits for his/her first major occasions picked out. Meeting family, first trip to Target, the next upcoming holiday after the birth. You daydream about taking them for walks in your new travel system that hopefully some family member bought you because those can be spendy! (thanks Dad) What will their first word be? I think you get the picture here... It's all you can think about, you drive your non parent friends crazy by talking about it all the time and you don't care!

(Hang on...Toddler awakening..what the heck it's only 5:15! To be continued, hopefully sooner than later................. Departure 5:15am. Return 7:30am. Apparently, after a little snuggling to get the tears to stop she tells me shes crying because she "fawted." Her exact sentence was "Mommy I cry cause I pooped, I fawted, I tooted a nugget and I want daddy." Oh well. Duty calls.)

Her waking up in the middle of me trying to get some "me time" is a prime example as to why I have done almost nothing to prep or plan for this new baby. I thought I was smart by getting up at odd hours. Trust me, they know! They know it and they wait for the right moment to snatch you away from taking 5 minutes for yourself. It's a dirty little game really but that is an entirely different topic.

I have a friend who has a kid Kaelyn's age and she is also pregnant. Our due dates are very close, about a week apart I think. We will call this friend "Alexis" I really don't think she would care if I revealed her true identity, but since i'm not sure she gets a fake name. Now Alexis has almost everything all planned out, correction- not planned out, done! She could give birth right now and be good to go. I am sure if you ask her that she will say there is no way she is all set to go but if you ask me she could have 3 kids from now until ours is here and still be more prepared than I am! Clothes are hung in the babys room, there actually is a ROOM for the baby with real baby furniture in it. Craft projects are either done or at least planned for when they will be done. She posts these cute pictures with her son holding a poster that says how many weeks the baby is and how big baby should be. They have a name! Need I say more??? I have sorted all of Kaelyn's old clothes along with ones my kind friends have given us into bins and labeled them. That is it! We still have to turn our guest room into Kaelyn's new room before little Tahoe can even think of having her own space. I started using Alexis as my timeline for when I should get things done, determine how many weeks along I am since I seem to forget and for just simple inspiration to get with the program! With Kaelyn I was glued to the What To Expect When Expecting book. I knew what fruit she looked like every week according to that book. Aaron and I would sit and read it together. Now I wait for Alexis to post a picture of her adorable son with all the info I need to keep me on track with what our baby should be that week! If she lived in this state I am sure she would be knocking at my door so she could start my baby intervention and get me going. Shoot, I need one.

Maybe it is this way because we are having another girl? Maybe I am the only one that thinks this way and all you other parents are going to think I am a horrible person. I really don't know! How can I be so excited yet have no motivation to get things done. I have a baby book full of pictures and journal entries my mom used to write for me, my sister doesn't have that. My mom saved old outfits I used to wear, the hair from my first major haircut. Maybe she is saving that for her retirement to cash in. Shoot, red hair is like gold right! Ha! The only thing I know she saved from the both of us, besides school work, is our teeth. Yes, our teeth. I get a baby book, journals, clothes and hair. My sister gets teeth! Our teeth used to reside in a blue and white shot glass on the shot glass wall at my parents house. It was always very funny to see who grabbed that one to use as a shot glass. The family knew that one wasn't up for grabs but we would never tell company, they needed to find out on their own.

So even though I am suffering from lack of motivation this time around, and there is a good chance I will have nothing ready by June. My mom was right. I know for a fact that even though most of Kaelyn's first year was somewhat blurry due to sleep deprivation there are parts of that time in my life I could never forget and that is part of why nothing will ever compare to it. I was a new mother, a new wife with a husband in a different country for the first year of her life. It was just us. I took some time off of work when she was about 7 months old and we went to stay with family in Colorado. Planned on staying for 10 days, stayed for a month and a half. That memory of being with my grandparents and family for so long will always be in my top 10!

I get that there will be new memories once Tahoe is here but most moms, and I know this will be me, run the risk of forgetting which kid did what down the road when you are trying to relive certain memories to embarrass them. Which is why one should always try and document such events but in reality, you may not have time.I just hope Kaelyn and Tahoe know they are loved with every fiber of my being. Even if one ends up with all the important things saved and the other one only gets her old teeth.

From love notes to Tums....the story of us.

I don't know what has happened to me these past few days. I have been bitten by the blogging bug I guess. I am seriously thinking that this is the only thing keeping me sane from the hours of 7am-whenever my husband comes home o'clock. By not working my adult interaction has gone from a moderate amount to almost zilch. So in addition to last nights post about marriage I figure I should explain how I came to be Mrs. Pingul.

This is no romantic love story folks, so you can put your tissues away.

Most of you that read this know Aaron and I so this post may really only apply to the few of you reading this that I don't know all too well. (If there is actually anyone I don't really know reading this thank you for taking time out of your day to listen to me ramble!) When people ask me how I came to be with my husband (this mainly happened at work when I was working with couples I was registering) I would start by saying we have known each other since we were in high school. So many people would then say "ahhhh, that's sweet...high school sweethearts?" Umm no, not at all actually. Sure we knew each other in school but we never looked at each other twice. I mean I can tell you for sure that I didn't and I am pretty sure that if he did back then he would have told me by now seeing that we are married and all. Since he hasn't I think it's safe to say there was no connection there whatsoever. I'm sure he thought I was some stuck up Cheerleader snot, that is if he even thought anything at all, which im pretty sure he didn't. It wasn't until after we started dating that my younger sister confessed that she used to AOL chat with him back in the day! Remember AOL chatting?!?! hahaha I got a kick out of that one! I can only remember us hanging out once or twice during school and that was because his BFF was my BF at the time. Mikey B and I drove his sparkly blue caddy, with daytons I believe, over to the Pingul's house which was the place to be for his group. Now I am going to back up for a second. Im sure some of you are thinking sparkly blue caddy with daytons???? Was she dating a thug? No, I wasn't. Mikey B was a nice boy, i'm not sure why he drove that kind of car but we used to get some looks when we would pull up to the "bad side" of the Tacoma Mall (near the food court) and people would see two 5ft tall pasty white teenagers exit the vehicle.

So what have you gathered so far? We defiantly weren't high school sweethearts. In fact, after high school up until a few months before we dating which was a span of nearly 5 years,  I only ran into him once and that was at the Steilacoom Fire Dept. He had gotten married after high school which I won't talk about too much because quite honestly it's none of my business. I didn't really know him then, sure I knew him and I know his ex. Like I said last night shes a great gal. We just weren't part of the same circle of people so we never saw one another.

Right before Aaron and I crossed paths he was single and I had just gotten out of a relationship. I had other boyfriends before but this one really did a number on me emotionally. (Thank you to all my great friends that were there for me during that time!) So he and I were both in the same frame of mind, which was LEAVE ME THE EFF ALONE. We would hang out in a group and watch football at Earl Strausbaughs house. That was it. Then one day, and I will always remember this, Aaron was laying on the living room floor watching football and in that moment I looked at him differently. All of the sudden I just wanted to hug him. We had known each other for years and like mentioned before, never though of each other in that way and im not sure what made it change but it did. However, I knew that hugging would be out of the question because like me, he had the huge sign on his head that said LEAVE ME THE EFF ALONE. Some time later a group of us were out at the Ale House, a local bar. One of my girlfriends said "Hey, you guys should date." Again, another moment I will always remember.... We were sitting in a booth, Aaron was directly across from me. I even remember what he was wearing, a blue O'Neil T-shirt that had white writing with a grey thermal underneath it. Ok, ok go ahead call me a freak for remembering those things I am just weird that way. I still remember what my first high school crush was wearing when he showed up to Campus Life one Monday night. You may consider it strange, I call it a gift. Haha, a past gift that is, since I can't even remember what day of the week it is nowadays. So anyway, there we were in that booth, and when our friend mentioned that we should date...here we go folks....Aaron and I bursted into laughter!! Full on hysterics. We were both still  bitter bunnies about the opposite sex at that point and nobody was going to take that away from us! It wasn't long after that we decided to become a "fake" couple when we were in public. Not that people were throwing themselves at us or anything. We just couldn't take any chances, you know, in case people didn't see the giant signs on our heads that said STAY THE...well you get the picture. Little by little I started looking at him the way I did the day I wanted to hug him..but I sure as heck was never gonna let him know! I had an awful day one day and we were all at a friends house. I may have had one STRRRONNNGGG adult beverage without eating the entire day and it knocked me on my butt. Aaron being the kind man that he is drove my car home and offered to walk himself home from my house. At this time we only lived a few blocks from each other but it was POURING rain that night. Most of the night may have been a tad fuzzy for me and my classy self but I remember that he dropped me off and walked home in the downpour.

Slowly, the giant sign I had on my head was coming down...we were chatting on MySpace one evening talking about worthless crap. In fact, I think we were talking about what we ate for dinner. Top Ramen or Mac N Cheese if I remember correctly. I don't know what came over me but out of nowhere I invited him over to help me decorate my Christmas tree! I think i used the excuse that I was too short to hang some of the decorations. This being true, I did have 2 guy roommates at the time and they were more than capable of reaching the things I couldn't but I didn't care. He was at my house in like 5 minutes. I don't even know if we actually hung any decorations but we started watching a movie with some of my roommates. American Gangster. We were sitting on the couch next to each other and I got the urge to hug him again. This time I didn't care if he still had his sign up on his head, I was somewhat confident that he was starting to like me.So throughout the movie I would gradually scoot closer, making sure my hand was readily available in case he wanted to hold it and I got NOTHING!! NADA!!! He was frozen in place on the sofa and he wasn't going anywhere. Eventually, (this movie was long) he was relaxing and right when I thought he was going to hold my hand...my giant, 10ft, reason for inviting him over Christmas Tree started to fall over!!! There was no stopping this beast of a tree! Crap! No hand holding for me all my efforts were ruined..... we had a mess to clean up.

Fast forward a few weeks, or maybe days I can't recall.....The day after we had our first "date" which really wasn't much of a date (we just got a pizza to go) I was at work and some flowers were delivered for me. Now I had NO IDEA who would be sending me flowers. I figured it was a mistake. I open the card and there it was.... Just because-From Aaron. That sealed the deal for me and from that point on our LEAVE ME ALONE signs were down for good and we were inseparable. He was leaving me surprise love notes or cd's in my car while I would be at work and it felt so great to have someone be so kind to me, and to have EVERYONE i know tell me how nice of a guy he is. I remember a co-worker of mine saying "Kenny, don't you mess this up, I think he is the one for you." If this would have happened to me at an earlier time in my life I would have never appreciated it the way I did then. He would have been "too nice" and I somehow would have ruined it. I knew he was the real deal, and I was finally ready for that.

The rest is history......We moved in together, had a baby, got married, spent the first year of our marriage in different countries, bought a house when he came home and here we are now getting ready for kid #2, who still has no name by the way. Not that long ago I was at work and having terrible heartburn from this pregnancy and called home to whine to Aaron about it. 20 minutes later he showed up with some Tums. I thanked him and he said "Eh, I figured there was a time when I would do this for you so I thought I probably should!" Hahaha we go from flowers and love notes to Tums!  I find it kind of funny how someone you never thought of in "that way" ends up being your husband.

I promise to cool it on the posts about my marriage for awhile....I just figure ya'll should know a little bit about me/us so that you will understand my sarcasm and take on things that happen in our lives!