The Uncleaners Strike Again

My focus this week is on getting the play room unpacked, organized and cleaned up. As with all other rooms, I can only work on it for about 10 minutes at a time, but it's already going more quickly than I expected.

So, a little while ago, I went in and cleaned for a while as the kids played. I made a good dent in all the "stuff" that was littering the floor and felt quite proud of myself. I then came downstairs to take a break and left the kids upstairs. Lila, apparently, needed to vent some frustration.

I headed back upstairs a few minutes later and she met me at the top with: "I made a mess." [scowl scowl scowl] She then stomped off into my room, announced that she wanted to be alone, and shut the door. I explained to her that she could be alone, but not in my room and directed her toward her own bedroom. I then went to investigate the mess she claimed to have made.

Well, she wasn't kidding... She had totally trashed the play room. It looked worse than before I started! I calmly extracted her from her room and told her that she'd need to help me clean up the mess she'd made before she got to be alone. She put up surprisingly little resistance and we got the room back in order in about 10 minutes.

It's a wonder I get anything done around here!

This plant was mean to me. (stinging, itching, redness, bumps) Anyone know what it is?



UPDATE: It's a Stinging Nettle.

This post took me all day to finish.

I'm not the type to want to rush time, but I do wish that Fall would arrive. I think that Summer should only last one month - July - and an extra month should be added to both Spring and Fall. I love the cooler weather of Fall and the holidays and the decorating possibilities. Mostly, I love the cooler weather.

I wonder if we'll take any vacations this year. We had talked about taking the kids on a Disney cruise at the end of summer, but the end of summer is fast approaching and we haven't made any plans. Maybe that's how we'll celebrate after we finally sell the Forsythe house. I'd also love to hit the mountains of North Carolina again. We did that a couple of years ago and it was so beautiful!

I've been feeling a bit discouraged lately and I wonder how much of it is because I haven't taken much time to be alone. I am recharged by being by myself - preferably in a public place. I like to be surrounded by people, but not be expected to talk to any of them. I'll let you figure out what that means about me. I just get tired of people needing things from me by the end of the week. Ya' know?

Unpacking, Cleaning, and Naughtiness

I really don't mind unpacking. I definitely prefer it over packing. It's fun to pull things out and decide where to put them. It's like taking the paint off a canvas you've already painted and then putting it on a new canvas in a different way. Unfortunately, I've been spending so much time unpacking and organizing that everyday sorts of chores have fallen terribly behind.

There are mountains of laundry in three different rooms and the toys are starting to spread across the floor like a nasty rash. Today, Doug had to ask me if I could put away the clean clothes that have been sitting in the laundry room for a week because he was having to come downstairs naked after his bath to find clean underwear. And I think I put Eli's last clean outfit on him this morning. [sigh] Laundry is a disease.

And then there are thing things that happen because I have two small children. I spent approximately 7 minutes upstairs earlier, putting away clothes and toys that had migrated to my bedroom. I left the kids downstairs. Bad idea. I should have known by the way they were both laughing that something was up. When I came back down, they had scattered the food from both cat bowls all over the floor and made a big mess with the water from their drinking fountain. I was too shocked to be angry. Eli I would expect that from, but Lila knows better!

Yesterday's Title Confused People

We've been getting involved in the Gateway South campus over the past couple of weeks and it's so exciting! I find it ever so much easier to feel comfortable and connected in a smaller setting. And being in a theater (junior high auditorium) with music that is far too loud felt like the Gateway of old. There was a tangible sense of comaraderie among the volunteers as people started tearing down and packing up after the service. I'm really looking forward to becoming a part of this little family.

Oh, goodness, I did something stupid yesterday. I left my coffee mug where Eli could reach it. Thankfully, the coffee in it was cold by the time he found it, but the carpet still suffered. As soon as I heard the sound of the mug scraping across the coaster, I started jumping up and diving toward him, but Eli still managed to spill a lovely arc of coffee across the floor. [sigh] Good thing the carpet is already light brown.

I wonder if I'll be able to go to BSF this year. Lila is still young enough to be in the kids class, which I am very happy about. She learned so much the year that she was in it! Eli, however, is still too young, so I'll need to find some sort of child care for him. I suppose I'd better start looking now because I think classes start at the beginning of September...

South Phone Birthday

I wonder... now that I live in South Austin, how long will it take before I start to think that tie-dye is cool? That's one particular trend that I've never been fond of, but it's all over the place down here. Instead of taco stands on the side of the road, there are tie-dye stands. Okay, so really there are both, but I still find it odd. I wonder if anyone's ever tie-dyed a wedding dress...

My family members will be happy to note that I've started making phone calls more often! I am part of the 5% of women who hate to talk on the phone and I receive no end of grief over how infrequently I talk to some people. Occasionally, however, I tap into some vein of desire to stay connected to those I love and I resolve to actually speak to them. As of a couple of weeks ago, I made a list of six people (or sets of people) and I call one of them every day.

Lila's 4th birthday is coming up in one month and for once I'm not stressed over planning her party. That's because she pretty much planned it herself and all I have to do is implement it. Sweet! The only thing she doesn't know is what she's getting as a gift. She keeps saying she wants a teddy bear, but we're not too hot on that idea. The girl has stuffed animals coming out her ears. We have other ideas...

Update from Tuesday

I'm typing this update from the library. I had to call Doug at work and have him look up the nearest branch and give me directions. We will have Internet access again on Thursday, but for now I'm afraid to try and find any new places because I don't want to get lost. I hadn't realized how dependent I had become on the Internet for finding information and directions! No Internet and no TV means I've been doing a lot more reading though, which has been nice.

I read an Agatha Christie play (called The Unexpected Guest) that was adapted to a novel. It was a pretty easy read, so I finished in about 24 hours. Now I'm re-reading Dracula.

The kids are doing pretty well with all the chaos. They got to bed really late for a few nights, but we finally got them to bed on time last night. In fact, they had trouble going to sleep because they'd already gotten used to staying up later. Lila is having a bit of adjustment difficulty that's displaying itself in disobedience. Nothing shocking. Kids don't have many ways to cope with the things that are bothering them.

Eli doesn't care what house he's in as long as he's got people to play with and a place to sleep. Right now he's staring at all the other kids here at the library, transfixed. Actually, I should be going because we are all getting hungry. (and lila keeps trying to slip her little fingers in to touch my mouse and keyboard.)

Update I Typed on Sunday

We've been in the new house for two days now and we're all exhausted. I've hardly done any manual labor myself. My fatigue comes from still being half-sick and – well, I'm always at least a little tired, aren't I? Doug, on the other hand, has worked himself like a mule for two days and he's at it again as I type this.

Things look about as good as they can with boxes all over the place. I have the family room as put together as I can and that's where the kids and I have been hanging out. We have all our utilities going except for the gas, which means no cooking and no hot water. I just took a cold shower, which was... invigorating. We've been doing a lot of eating out, which would be great if the food were FREE. The gas should be hooked up tomorrow though. I will go find our nearest HEB and we should be cooking real meals again by dinnertime.

To add to the insanity of last week, I developed an extremely painful ear infection just as the flu finally started going away. For one day, it felt like someone was sticking an ice pick in my right ear. Now it's just clogged and ringing with only occasional, minor pain. I have felt like total wimp during this move because I can't even unpack a box without getting winded. I guess that's what happens when you are sick in bed for a week.

Long Overdue

It has been far too long since I updated this blog. I've been spending more time on other sites and I really must put a stop to that! Things have been completely insane around here.

Doug is in Japan right now on a business trip. He's been gone for just under a week and won't be back until Thursday. Our whole stinkin' family fell apart after he left, but I'll go into that more later. He's working hard at his new job with IDT, but finding it somewhat stressful. He's responsible for creating the roadmap for a whole new product line and that's not easy! He's been fairly stressed over all this buying and selling of houses too. We've already closed on the new house, we close on our current house July 6th, and we will all be glad once the Forsythe house is gone and done with too.

Lila is just getting over strep throat, but is nearly back to normal. She's having a bit of a tough time adjusting to all these changes, but she's a resilient girl and will be back to herself within a few months, I expect. She had her last gymnastics class today and handled it rather well. She's already talking about finding a new gymnastics school and a new teacher near our new house. The girl LOVES gymnastics. She also loves little tiny women (named Cinderella and Belle) and Pet Society on Facebook. I finally had to create my own pet on Doug's login because I got tired of sharing with her!

Eli is doing something new every day. He is SO close to walking. He just got his fifth tooth this week (my theory: it was the cause of the ear infection that he also had). He's starting to say a few words. His version of Mommy: Ama (AH-mah). It's way too cute! He also meows at the cats and says Lila, all done, night-night, and probably a few other things, but he refuses to repeat them for me. He's still got the biggest smile in the world and he still makes that awful raptor/predatory bird noise when he's angry or frustrated. He loves to put one toy inside another and has been very helpful with packing and putting things in drawers. In fact, there is one drawer that we've learned to check anytime something goes missing.

I would say that I've been great, but that wouldn't really be true. A couple of weeks ago, I had a nasty bladder infection that had me in bed with a high fever for two or three days. This week, I got the flu for the first time I can remember. Headache, fever, cough, sore throat, chills, sweats, body aches, you name it. I was completely incapacitated for four days, but I'm starting to recover now. I still sound terrible, but I feel well enough to take care of my kids again. Many thanks to Grammie and Papa Joe for coming up and helping while we were all puny. When I have NOT been laid up in bed with a fever, I have been trying to prepare for our move to the new house, which takes place... in four days!!!

So, to put it all together, Doug left for his business trip, and the next day I started coughing and Eli came down with a fever. Enter the flu and Eli's ear infection. The day after that, Lila developed a fever. That would be the strep. Ack! Crazy!

I know this wasn't the most eloquent post, but I'm still really not feeling well, so it's the best I can do for now.

Sad Pet News

We found out yesterday that our sweet little hedgehog, Hurley, is not going to be with us much longer. He has cancer, probably in several places. The vet sent us home with steroids to help him feel better for a while and then he will either pass on his own or we will have to put him to sleep. We are all very sad because we love our little prickle-puss...


Puffa-puffa, stick-stick, Hurley! XOXOXOXO

Frustrated

Do you ever have a day that just makes you want to cry? Yeah, I'm having one. There's not any one major bad thing that's happened. It's more the accumulative effect of 100 little things that have gone wrong (or just not gone the way i expected).

No one has come to look at our house for nearly two weeks. I'm sick of cleaning it every time we want to go somewhere, just in case a realtor does call. Eli only took a 30 minute nap this morning. Lila said she didn't want to bring her snack and drink out of the car and then decided she was thirsty (and later hungry) almost as soon as we got to the playground. Lila wanted to sit on the bench beside me, rather than playing. I couldn't put Eli on the ground because there were ants. Lila wanted to be pushed on the swings while I was in the middle of giving Eli his snack. Eli spilled water all over himself. Eli fell over my legs and scraped his face on the sidewalk. Lila didn't want to leave the park. I hadn't been dressed for two hours before I had a mysterious substance crusted onto the shoulder of my shirt. Eli fell asleep in the car, just before we made it home to eat lunch. Lila refused to eat because I cut her sandwich into triangles the 'wrong way'. Lila decided she wanted to eat her lunch AFTER quiet time. Lila decided she wanted to eat her lunch BEFORE quiet time. Lila threw a fit when I put her in quiet time. Lila wanted me to bring her books into quiet time, but refused to ask politely. Lila made so much noise with her fit that she woke Eli up from his nap after only 15 minutes or so. Lila finally asked politely for her books, then got angry because I brought her the WRONG Bible. Eli wouldn't go back to sleep (or couldn't because of the continued fit throwing). Lila threw toys against the wall. Lila wouldn't stay in the room. Lila threw more toys. Lila threw books. Eli made a giant mess of me, himself, the high chair, and the table as he ate lunch. I discovered a small hole in one of the two pair of short pants that fit me. The house is still a mess, so we can't go anywhere this afternoon until I get it cleaned up. I'm not going to get any sort of break from the kids because I took away Lila's daily video when she was throwing her fit. I went to tell Lila that her quiet time was over and found that she'd thrown all her toys and books in the floor as well as pulling all the sheets, blankets, and pillows off the bed and throwing them in the floor (then she passsed out on top of the pile, which i have to admit is cute).

What I should be doing right now is waking Lila up so that she doesn't have trouble going to sleep at bedtime, but I decided to type out this post first. I needed to vent and I needed a few more minutes of peace before I wake her up and deal with the drama that is sure to follow. (after all, her lunch is now cold and she doesn't get to watch a video. no good can come of that.)

[sigh]

Have you ever seen a sheep give birth to a cat before?

Pesks

The kids and I just got home from the library. While we were there, Lila was wearing her princess shoes and complaining that they hurt her feet. Once we got in the car, I said to her, "Good. Now you can take those pesky shoes off!"

Her reply: "Why are there pesks all over them?"

Good question, Lila! I don't know.

So Over It

Okay, I cannot believe that it's been two weeks since I posted anything to this blog. Hmm... it's also been about two weeks since our house went on the market. A coincidence? I think not.

I am so over this House-Showing business. I love having a clean house. And it's much easier to keep a house clean than to get it that way. That part is fine. It's the fact that we can't leave the house without it being spotless that I hate, and let me tell you why. My children have radar. They know when I'm trying to clean the house so we can leave and that's when they lose their minds.

It's not just any old cleaning that does this to them. If we have no plans to go anywhere, Eli will play with his toys and let me do house work. But if it's the cleaning that takes place before leaving the house, he has to follow me around and scream bloody murder the whole time. This makes Lila and I both irritable, which leads to confrontations between us and it all goes downhill from there.

Anyone want to put me out of my misery and buy our house? :)

On the Market

As you can see from the modest sign in our front yard, the house is officially on the market. It went on the MLS Saturday and we just had our first people come and view it this afternoon. I was expecting to have to disappear whenever people came, but this realtor insisted that I did not have to leave. I was going to do so anyway, but he called from in front of the house (instead of before they left to come here) and said, "I'm here!"

I'm thinking it's really best for everyone that we not be home for future visitors though. It was just strange. They were being quiet, probably so that we couldn't hear their comments (though they seemed to be speaking another language anyway), and only stayed about five minutes. If I were not here, I would know nothing of this and just be curious. Instead, I'm convinced that the guy hated the house and am obsessing over why. I do NOT need anything new to obsess over!

I was thinking this would be fun - having people come to look at the house. Now I'm thinking it's going to make me crazy until the place sells. Not because I'm worried that it won't sell, but because I'm going to be wondering what it was about my house that each person didn't like. I'm just a little bit of a perfectionist, you know.

Too much.

I am so mentally exhausted that I really don't know what I'm going to say here, but I know I need to give everyone some kind of update! On top of everything that's going on with getting the houses ready to sell, Eli got sick this week. He had a high fever on Monday and Tuesday and spent most of his time laying on one of us or sleeping. His fever went away on Wednesday, but he developed a cough. This morning, I noticed he was wheezing.

I had put off taking him to the doctor because I knew they'd just say he had some virus and there was nothing they could do about it. When the wheezing popped up, that was my signal that it was time to go in just to be sure. So I called and tried to make an appointment for this afternoon, but when they heard that he was wheezing, they wanted me to bring him in immediately. Meanwhile, we were trying to have preschool.

Thankfully, the mommy friend who was here to help with Eli during school volunteered to stay home with her daughter and Lila while we went to the doctor. As expected, they couldn't find anything specific wrong with him and said it's probably a virus. They did hear the wheezing, however, and we did a nebulizer treatment there in the office. That was... exciting.

A few months ago, Eli was sick and needed a few nebulizer treatments, so we rented a machine and it all went fine. He seemed to find the experience relaxing and didn't mind it at all. This time, I had to pin his arms to his sides and hold the mask on his face while he screamed like he was being abused - for 15 minutes!!! Even more exciting, they sent us home with our very own nebulizer and we have to repeat this experience every 4-6 hours for three days.

Yipee. Hooray. And we're still trying to get our house in tip-top shape for showing to prospective buyers. Wow. Neat. And we could have people coming to see it as soon as Sunday. Fantastic. I'm exctatic. And did I mention that I need to go grocery shopping and make a separate trip to the pet store for cat food? -- Oops. I just fainted from excitement...

Brief Update

It's a busy weekend around here. Actually, it's a busy time in general. We decided on a house in South Austin that we all love and are set to close on May 29. That means we are now focused on trying to get our two current houses ready to go on the market. I've been scrubbing our living room from top to bottom for two days. I'm decluttering as I go and the room looks fantastic! I need to remember how much I love this simple, minimalist look when we start decorating the new place. Speaking of the new place, here's a photo!

For a quick Eli update: He's finally crawling! And his top front teeth are juuust about to break through. The downside to this is that he's doing a lot of biting and chewing on things... like, while he's nursing. And he thinks it's quite funny when I yelp in pain and surprise. Little imp!

Okay, back to the living room now...

New Trick

Eli has a new skill! No longer does he flop onto his belly and roll around until he's tired of it, then begin to cry in frustration! Now he very deliberately gets on all fours, lowers himself to his belly, rolls around until he's tired of it, and then pushes himself back into a sitting position (while making so many grunting noises that he sounds like he's in labor)! Hooray!

This morning, we even found him sitting up in bed. I guess it's time to lower that mattress!

He has also started napping for a total of three hours per day, rather than one hour per day. Hot diggity dog! I don't know why, but I'm SO not going to question it! And if the poor child doesn't manage to pop out those top front teeth soon, we may all go insane from the pain of teething. And I'm sure he'll find chewing to be a more satisfying experience once he has teeth on the top and the bottom.

Speaking of naps, why does my body wait until two minutes before Lila's Quiet Time is over before deciding it needs one...?

San Antonio and a New Job

We spent this past weekend (Thursday to Sunday) in San Antonio and had LOTS of fun! As you can see from this photo, our biggest adventure was a trip to Sea World. I have always wanted to go myself and there was no question about whether Lila would love it. Animals and water - what more could she ask for? Well... princesses, maybe... Nonetheless, we had a blast!

We saw shows (watching Shamu and the other killer whales gave me goosebumps!) and rode rides and Lila even got to play in the little kiddie water park. All three of us have pink faces and poor Lila has burned shoulders because the one thing we forgot to bring was sunscreen. Oops! I figured Eli was young enough that he'd be oblivious to the animal shows, but he was just as transfixed as Lila (though he had no idea what he was seeing). He even laughed at the sea lions!

And now we are entering real life again. Today is Doug's first day at IDT! I spoke with him earlier and got the update on his day so far. It's not that exciting, really. He's been filling out paperwork and doing all sorts of other first-day-of-work things. Here's the part that is exciting: After spending 12 years in Cube Land, he has his own office! Woo Hoo!

Easter Weekend

We had a fun Easter weekend here at the Peeler house. On Saturday morning, we went out and looked at a few houses with our realtor. We found out that the one we were most interested in, the one that looked to be nearly perfect, had just gone under contract and was no longer an option. I was SO disappointed! We looked at another one that just wasn't very exciting and smelled vaguely of natural gas.

Then we looked at one that is just amazing! We aren't completely settled on it yet because we need to see what else is out there, but we definitely like it. It's large and has a great yard and amazing curb appeal. The inside is quirky, but in a good way. I don't expect us to find anything we like better, but you just never know...

On Sunday, we started the day off wonderfully - Doug let me have a solid hour to clean the house with no interruptions. Unheard of! It was a beautiful experience. Truly.

We went to church after lunch where Eli took a tumble off a low step and got severe rug burn on his nose. It even bled a tiny bit! That day, it was just very red and we made lots of Rudolph jokes. Sadly, it has looked worse every day since then. The whole end of his nose is now a big dark scab. Add to that the slight shiner that he has from being "accidentally" kicked in the face by Lila and he looks like he's been in the boxing ring! Eli the Bruiser. I'll have to take a photo for posterity.

Oh, and speaking of photos, this one was taken during the egg hunt in our backyard...

If it's not one thing...

Well, I finally got my email inbox under control and today I managed to get through my whole daily cleaning routine... but I haven't touched my blog in a week. [sigh] Oh well!

I'm currently typing this post (obviously), playing Internet Backgammon, and waiting for Doug to finish his Quiet Time so that we can watch last night's episode of LOST. My head feels better than it has in days, thanks to acupuncture, and I'm feeling surprisingly perky given the trouble that the kids have given me/us today. I guess it's just been an all-around good day (notwithstanding the grumpy children)!

I have felt generally more at-ease since Doug accepted a new job. It's still not 100% official, so I'm not sure if I'm allowed to give the name of the company yet... Seeing some return to the familiar in our future has been good for my mental state. I genuinely love adventure in life, but it's routine that gives me a sense of security. That, and knowing that God is ultimately in control and I don't have to be!

Well, Doug appears to be ready to watch LOST, so I'm off...

Oh my...

The things coming out of my child's mouth just keep getting better and better. Just a few minutes ago, I was trying to steer Lila toward getting in the bath and she told me she was... I don't now - something that involved the word 'practicing'. I said, "Practicing, eh? Well, what you need to be doing is taking your clothes off, going potty, and getting in the bathtub." Her response:

"Let me tell you what's wrong. I'm riding my tricycle." Here, she holds up a fist and then sticks out her thumb. "I'm not taking off my clothes." She sticks out her index finger. "I'm not going potty." She sticks out her middle finger. "I'm not getting in the bathtub."

It was so funny (but mildly inappropriate) that I nearly fainted, trying to keep the laughter in. I told her that she could have five more minutes and then she would be doing all those things, then ran off into the bathroom so that I could laugh!

Oh dear.

This photo, by the way, is of a picture taken of ME when I was a small child. Seemed appropriate to go along with the story though.

And speaking of things coming out of my children's mouths... Eli has started saying words! So far he says 'all done' (ah-dah!), 'Lila' (lala), and 'night-night' (nuh-nuh). Too. Freakin'. Cute.

Dinner

The kids and I just finished up our dinner: vegan chili, cornbread, and corn. I didn't buy vegan chili on purpose and it's really not very good. I also did not think about the fact that I was making cornbread AND corn. Oh well. I can only pay attention to so many things at one time.

Anyway, about halfway through the meal, Lila turned to me and told me she was taking bites of corn and cornbread together, "because they taste similar." Her own words. I just blinked at her a few times and then said, "okay".

Later, I was holding Eli and he had his sippy cup. He reached forward and started banging it on the table. I leaned him back and told him 'no'. Lila demonstrated that he could smack his hand on the table. I said, "Yes, hands are fine, but hard objects are not okay." Lila replied, "Yeah, and soft objects are good too."

"Soft objects"? Seriously, where did this kid come from?!? Is she 3 or 30?

Massive McDonald's Misadventure

Do you ever have days when you make a mistake or a poor choice at every turn? Well, that has been my day. It's like the worst-played game of Operation ever! And I won't even bother about the first few hours. I'll just start with mid-morning, when we left the house to go to the gym.

I have, as has been stated before, an addiction to Dr. Pepper. On the way to the gym, I was contemplating how I might satisfy that addiction with the remaining $3 in my weekly lunch budget. Definitely not enough to buy lunch for both Lila and myself (or even just for myself), but enough to buy a Dr. Pepper somewhere. My first thought is that maybe they have Dr. Pepper in the soda machines at the gym (who thought that was a good idea, anyway?). If so, that would be an easy fix.

If not, then I could just stop by a fast food place on the way home and pick one up. Of course, it would be difficult to get a Dr. Pepper for myself and tell Lila that she can't have anything... Well, one step at a time. We got to the gym and I quickly ascertained that there was no Dr. Pepper in the vending machine - only Coke products. Bah humbug! So I took the kids on back to the Kids' Club.

I dropped off the munchkins, with a heavy dose of drama from the 3-year-old, who absolutely refused to eat the string cheese I brought for her (she suddenly didn't like string cheese) until we got to the gym where they do not allow food in the Kids' Club. [sigh] Yes, feeling the need for a D.P. fix, all right. I worked out, sweated a lot, and went back to pick up the kids.

I started chatting with one of the girls who works in there - I'll call her Erialc - who mentioned that McDonalds is currently selling any size drink for $1. Ooh! And the large drink cups have a coupon code on them for a free Redbox rental. Even better! The plan is now firm in my mind. I will get a large Dr. Pepper for myself, some 99 cent thing for Lila, and then pick up a free movie from Redbox (to be watched after the kids go to bed). Perfect!

There was a McDonald's right there in the same parking lot as the gym, so that's where we went. I got in line for the drive-through and the phone rang. I answered, chatted for a few minutes (long line), and then hung up. Since I had been on the phone, I was slightly unfocused when I got to the speaker to order. For reasons known only to the mischievous little elves inside my head, I panicked when the guy asked me what I wanted.

I ended up ordering a large Quarter Pounder with Cheese meal and a Kids' Meal for Lila. No no, Angela! Stop! . . . Too late. I'd already pulled forward. Doodie! Okay, not the worst thing I've ever done. I think we'll survive. So I payed and took my food and drinks and pulled forward. There is a Redbox at this McDonald's, but there was already a person using it and I really wanted out of that busy parking lot.

No problem. There are two more Redboxes right by our house. One at another McDonald's and one just across the street at a Walgreen's. I'll just go to the Walgreen's (it's less annoying to get to). As I was driving home, I started munching on the french fries because I was quite hungry. Now, I've never been a fan of McDonald's fries because I think they are too thin and hard. I've had some that could have been used as weapons. I've learned to tolerate them, however, particularly when I'm hungry.

A few bites in, I realized that these fries had been sitting in the warmer for a while. That means they were slightly overcooked and quite over-salted. Ugh. Not good. Oh well, I ate one or two more (the over-salting, while pickling my mouth, was also making me crave more and more of the wretched things) and then reached for my nice, large Dr. Pepper.

That was the nastiest Dr. Pepper mix I have ever tasted! Ick! It was more like medicine than soda. I was already 2/3 of the way home at that point, so there was no going back to ask for something different. I considered stopping at the McDonald's by my house and asking them to exchange it, but that seemed... uncool, I guess. Either I would be deceiving them (by omitting the valuable detail of where the original soda was purchased) or they would refuse my request.

[double sigh] I thought maybe it would taste better once it watered down a bit. I consoled myself with the thought that my burger, at least, would be good. There's not much that can go wrong there and I do like Quarter Pounders with Cheese. I went on to Walgreen's and pulled up to the Rexbox. After looking through most of the movie choices, and not being overly impressed with any of them, I spotted the Tinkerbell movie.

Lila has recently fallen in love with Tinkerbell, though I don't know why or how. She has never seen all of Peter Pan (and hadn't seen any of it at all until very recently) and she didn't even know this new movie existed. Anyway, I saw the movie and thought it would be a nice surprise for Lila, who has been sad and out-of-sorts all day (due, naturally, to doug's absence).

I chose the movie and waited for the coupon code to come up. First, the machine wanted me to swipe my credit card and I figured it needed that to find my account before I could use the coupon. So I went through all the prompts... and then it charged me and vended the movie without ever asking for a code! Wha-huh?!? Upon closer inspection, I discovered that this coupon code is only good at Redbox machines that are located at McDonald's locations. Well, doodie again!

Whatever. By this point I just wanted to get home and eat my lunch before Eli fell asleep in the car or got too fussy. I showed the movie to Lila, who was properly excited, and then we went home. After going through the needlessly protracted process of getting all of us and all of our stuff into the house, we sat down to eat. At last!

I opened my burger box and discovered that I had forgotten to ask for NO ONIONS. Curse it all! I'm allergic to onions! Aaaaaagh! Fine! I'll eat the stupid burger with the stupid onions and the stupid overcooked fries and the stupid nasty Dr. Pepper! It was all nasty and left a gross taste in my mouth that I only managed to get rid of with coffee. And all I wanted was a nice Dr. Pepper!

I could go on, but I think that's really quite enough...

Freshwater Pearl Bracelet Giveaway

My Good Cents is giving away a freshwater pearl bracelet with a heart charm. This is all about raising awareness of women's heart health.

Lila Tales

Lila and I just did a fun little St. Patrick's Day activity: handprint rainbows. Honestly, I'm not sure what makes that a St. Patrick's Day craft, except that we talked about St. Patrick before and during the activity. At any rate, it was fun. I decided to put some music on while we worked and Lila requested The Wiggles. I agreed that The Wiggles would be a good choice, and so we painted and listened.

This CD has the Wiggly version of 'Music Box Dancer' on it. When that track came on, Lila said, "This is a very quiet song and a lovely song to go to sleep."

Indeed. Lovely. :)

We also put messages to Daddy/Doug on our rainbow paintings. He left for his trip to Taiwan this morning and Lila was quite sad. My message was: We miss you, Daddy! Lila's message was: Don't be sad! Now, is that a message for Daddy or for herself...?

Oh, and this photo is one I took of Lila last night during her post-bath insanity. Something strange happens to that girl when she's in the bathtub and she always comes out a little crazy! Clean... but crazy.

Why not?

Do you ever feel like a kid who wants to do something just to see what will happen? Just because you can...?

I took Cordy into the shower with me earlier today. I was getting ready to go in and she was standing behind me, talking. I responded, we conversed, and we decided that she should shower with me. Apparently, she was having that 'not-so-fresh feeling'.

Now, to be fair, she and I do speak different languages. So it's possible that what she was asking for and what I was agreeing to do were actually two different things. I'm pretty sure she was asking for a shower though.

Anyway, once I had the water ready, I went and found her. I called, she came, I picked her up, and we went into the shower. Doug thought I was kidding, so imagine his surprise when he turned around and saw what was going on! (we have a shower stall with glass doors.) He took a few photos, but they are NSFW (or NSFBlog, in this case), so you'll have to settle for this family photo.

Amazingly, Cordy did not freak out! I held her and she just chilled and let me give her scratches. I didn't let the water spray directly onto her, but let it hit my body and then run down onto her. And she did get a fine mist to the face, which she didn't seem to notice. Overall, I was very surprised. I expected to end the adventure with my flesh torn to ribbons!

Now, I didn't want anyone to get jealous, so I stuck Charlie in the bath with Lila this evening. He was less receptive. I think his feet were in the water for .75 seconds before he went flying. Lila, of course, thought it was hilarious. Charlie sat in the playroom and groomed himself for a long time. I tried talking to him once or twice, but he just yelled at me every time. Oh well...

Giveaway

maybe i should create a new label for giveaways, since i keep posting about them...

the latest one i found and want to share is the '3 Sweet Peas Jewelry Giveaway'. they make personalized hand-stamped jewelry and it's all very cute.

check it out here: http://www.the-giveaway.com/2009/03/3-sweet-peas-jewelry-giveaway.html

Giveaway for CUTE Shoes

Check out this website for a giveaway for some extremely cute baby/kids' shoes: http://www.the-giveaway.com/2009/03/classic-tale-giveaway.html#comment-form

The store, A Classic Tale, has some other great stuff too! Check it out!

Yummy Cold

Yesterday was a wonderful winter day. The first that we've had, in fact. There have been cold days this winter, but none that were cold and wet and could chill you to the bone. Too bad it waited until March to get here!

The preschool girls (along with a bunch of other young homeschoolers) took a class on Invertebrates at the Austin Nature and Science Center yesterday morning. Lila really enjoyed the class and Eli and I enjoyed hanging out with the other moms. The only drawback to the whole thing was the long walk between the car and the center. In the cold rain. With a stroller and a slow-walking 3-year-old. Twice. And me with no umbrella or jacket (my own fault, i know).

I managed to keep Eli fairly dry while we were walking through the rain, but his feet did get damp. By the time we got home, his feet and ankles were like fat little popsicles (not that he cared). I changed him into dry socks and pants, but the silly boy kept pulling his socks off. I told him that his feet were never going to warm up if he kept pulling his socks off and chewing on them, but he just didn't listen! Boys...

At the Library, earlier today...

I'm typing this at the Austin Public Library and I have a headache. The reason that I am able to sit and type out a blog post at the library is that Eli is not here with me. Just Lila. Eli does not allow us to enjoy trips to the library because he thinks it's boring. Thankfully, Doug came home right around the time I was thinking of loading us up to com here. We decided on a gender split. The men went to the home store to get supplies for fixing up the old house and the women came to the library for new books.

The reason I have a headache is... pollen, I suppose. Spring has sprung in Austin, which means it's the time of year when I have frequent dull headaches and don't sleep well because I'm having so many vivid and bizarre dreams. I do love some things about spring though. Like how all the plants and trees suddenly have little green leaves on them or beautiful purple or pink blossoms. It's happening so early this year that we didn't have a chance to prune in our yard!

Doug spent a few hours at the old house yesterday, cleaning and doing yard work. The kids and I stopped by there after lunch, to say hello and take a peek. Doug had told me what a mess the place was after our tenants moved out, but I wanted to see it for myself. I kind of wish I hadn't because what I saw just made me angry! I don't think those guys cleaned anything, the entire time they lived there. It is repulsively dirty, things are broken, and there is an infestation of Evil Beasts in the kitchen.

Mmm... I think I'd better stop talking about it because I'm getting upset again...

Random

I just overheard the following coming from one of Lila's school friends while playing make-believe outside:

"We miss our daughter. [fake crying] She died like Darth Vader. [more fake crying]"

Other fantastic things said by 3-year-olds today:

Lila: "I love you, Mother."
Me: "I love you, too, Daughter."
Lila: "You are my most special Valentine ever."

...and...

Lila: "All my little kitties are called Meshacks."

I love 3-year-olds.

Another Giveaway

I found a giveaway for a $150 shopping spree at kidscoats.com. They have the cutest boutique coats and jackets for boys and girls (many more for the girls than the boys, of course)!

Go to Extraordinary Mothers for more information and to enter!

Doug Update

I figure it's about time for me to give an update on Doug and his job transition. In case you missed it, he left Dell in December, after nearly 12 years. He'd been contemplating a job change for some time when Dell announced that they were offering a very generous Voluntary Separation Package. What's that? You'll pay me to go and do something that I'd already been considering doing for free. Okay!

So he left Dell and entered the world of Lots of Free Time. The first month that he was off was like a big vacation. Par-tay! After Christmas, we started to grate on each other's nerves pretty severely. We've settled into a good routine now, though, and are both enjoying the rare opportunity. Doug disappears in the morning to some location with wireless Internet access, while the kids and I do school or go to the gym. He might or might not be around for lunch, depending on his schedule. Then he comes home and the afternoons are either spent together as a family or I flee the children for a little while. Nice.

During this time, we've still had the part-time Community Leader job at Gateway that we used to share. Since Doug has had so much more time and motivation, he's taken it over completely. I'm pretty sure he's doing a better job at it than I ever did, but I'm choosing not to notice. We've also had income from the renters in our old house, but they, theoretically, moved out at the end of February and we are thinking it might be time to sell that house anyway. It has, as expected, increased in value quite a bit in the past 1.5 years.

Now, the things that are on the horizon... there are a lot, but nothing is firm, so I'm going to be vague. There are a couple of in-town positions that Doug is considering, as well as one that is out-of-town. He's also been working on proposals for several contract jobs with various companies and is looking into a job doing financial planning for people. I really don't know what the end result of all this will be. Could be that he'll take a full-time position right away. Or he might do contract work for a year or so, until a full-time position that really sounds interesting comes along. Or he might do some combination of jobs.

Initially, I was freaked out by the uncertainty of contract work, but then I realized that I trust Doug and, more importantly, I trust God. So now I'm not worried. Just waiting to see what comes next in our adventure.

Coffee

I don't remember whether I've mentioned this before or not, but I recently gave myself over to a coffee habit. I now drink a double cup of coffee every morning after breakfast. I read somewhere that a moderate amount of coffee was actually good for your heart, which seemed like a sufficient excuse to start drinking it. I've always had a somewhat romanticized view of coffee-drinking, probably because all my grandparents did/do it. Of course, half of them also smoked and I didn't have any sort of inclination to take up a cigarette habit...

Anyway, I like coffee. And now I drink coffee. This week, I determined that I only want my coffee to taste like coffee. I bought some cinnamon and something-or-other flavored blend, mostly because it was the only non-decaf blend that was on sale at the grocery store. (in case you didn't know, i'm obsessed with buying things on sale. i won't go into that now though. it is an obsession that deserves a post all its own.)

So I brewed a serving of this flavored coffee and decided after the first sip that I didn't like it and would be making another trip to the store as soon as possible. I waited a few minutes and then went ahead and took a second sip, just in case it improved after the initial shock. Nope. I pushed the cup over to Doug and went back to my water. With every flavored coffee I've ever tasted, the flavoring just tasted like chemicals to me. No different with this one. So, from now on, I will be getting only coffee flavored coffee.

My favorite is very dark French Roast and I drink it, not completely black, but with only 1/4 tsp each of sugar and creamer. I guess I like my coffee to wake me up by reaching out of the cup and slapping me. What I also find fascinating is the effect that my coffee habit has had on my night time cravings. I usually start craving caffeine at night, particularly when I haven't had a soda with dinner. Pre-coffee, this craving was always for Dr. Pepper. Now it's a craving for coffee.

Don't get me wrong, I still love me some D.P., but what I crave at night is coffee. It only took me giving in to that craving one time to realize that coffee has a lot more caffeine than soda, however. I drank a cup at 9:30 p.m. and didn't get to sleep until 1 a.m. Oops. Now, when I start to crave caffeine at night, I just go to bed. If I stay awake, then I'll keep wandering blindly into the kitchen and snacking. (we don't keep soda in the house anymore.)

Mother

Since Lila was a baby, she has called me Mommy. I couldn't see her calling me that forever, but it's the name I decided to start with. Sometime in the past year, she started alternating between Mommy and Mom. That is totally fine with me. I kind of like being called Mom. In fact, with both kids, whenever we'd talk for them, we'd have them referring to us as Mom and Dad. It just happened that way. I think that Lila's adoption of Mom came from hearing us talk for Eli and having him refer to me that way.

The odd thing is that, sometime in the past week, she has started calling me Mother. I have no idea where she came up with that and I find it unexpectedly disconcerting to be referred to in such a way. Especially by my 3-year-old. Picture this: Yesterday, as we were getting into the car at the gym, Lila turned to me and said,

"What are subways like, Mother?"

How random is that?!? I quickly recovered from my confusion (and the urge to laugh) and answered her question. For once, she was satisfied with my answer and just went on with her business as though it were perfectly normal for us to have had such a conversation. Strange child.

Kids are Awesome

The best thing that Lila asked all day: "Does God have a wand?"

Now that I've probably lost half my readers...

Yes, I am finally sitting down to type out a real post. I can't believe how long it's been since I did this! The problem, I think, is an increase in emails to read and the introduction of other distractions into my life. I'm thinking of making blogging a part of my morning routine. Wake up - Wii Body Test - Breakfast - Coffee - Blog. The only problem with that plan is that the creative part of my brain typically does not wake up until sometime after lunch. We'll see how it goes.

And now I'm sitting here, staring at the screen because I don't know what to write. . . . Oh! I could tell you about Lila's new gymnastics class! She finished up her swim classes in mid-January and I was planning to get her started in gymnastics at the beginning of February. However, due to my extreme procrastinator tendencies, it didn't happen until last week.

At any rate, she is now taking a weekly gymnastics class and loving it! I have some photos from her first class that I'll post soon. (don't expect too much - they were taken through a window) She looks super cute in her little leotard, with her hair in a ponytail. I was afraid she'd get into the first class and not want to do anything, but she jumped right in (literally)! They've spent the first two weeks working on "cartwheels" and yesterday they even got to walk across the balance beam! So fun!

Rain-X Car Care Kit Giveaway

Check out Meghan's Mindless Mutterings and enter to with a Rain-X Car Care Kit!

Giveaway

Check out this RC Airplane giveaway:
http://mommosttraveled.com/flying-model-aircraft-with-children/

Looks way fun!

This website has a bunch of cool stuff too: https://www.modelaircraft.org

9 Months Old

Eli was nine months old yesterday and we went to the pediatrician for a check-up. She wants us to take him to a specialist to be evaluated for a possible speech delay, but I'm really not worried about it. I mean, we'll take him and have him evaluated, but I'm just not worried. And here are his latest stats...

Weight: 18 lbs 13 oz (20th %ile)
Height: 26.5 in (4th %ile)
Head Circumference: 46 cm (70th %ile)

Movie Review

I went out for a late-night movie last night and saw, appropriately enough, 'Friday the 13th'. My review in four words: Don't waste your time. Rating: F-

I mean, I wasn't expecting anything amazing. This is Friday the 13th, Part 73, after all. But there was nothing remotely original about the plot. Several hedonistic young people go out into the woods and die horrible bloody deaths. Just like Parts 1 through 72. The sex was borderline pornographic. The language was foul. The horrible bloody deaths were... horrible and bloody. (that, at least, i expected.) The only redeeming quality was Jared Padaleki whom I have a soft spot for. He was also the only non-idiot in the movie.

All the Tens

Lila just said something so random and funny that it almost made me cry. Doug and I were discussing a weekly park day on Friday and I mentioned that it starts at 10:30 or 11 a.m. when Lila piped in with,

"Yeah! It starts at 11, and then it's 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and all the 10s get tornge."

I... umm... what?!?

It was all I could do to look her in the eye, with a straight face, and try to clarify this statement. She did, in fact, say 'tornge', though I have no idea what that means.

Confused

I'm sitting in the living room right now, listening to Eli cry. He woke up about 15 minutes ago and is refusing to go back to sleep. I'm guessing that I'll wait about four more minutes and then try feeding him. Hopefully that will settle him down and he'll sleep. I'm glad I decided to stay up late tonight because if I had gone to bed at the same time as Doug, then I would have been awakened after only 30 minutes of sleep. That is far more painful than not getting to go to sleep in the first place.

I'm feeling rather confused this evening over a big decision that I just had to make. I started reading a book recently called 'Just Courage' by Gary Haugen (i think that's the author's name - the book is in the room with my sleeping husband). [pause while i follow through on plans to feed baby and put him back to bed. seems to have been a success.] Anyway, this book is about following God's call to fight against injustice in the world.

I chose this book to read almost at random, but it has turned out to be quite challenging. In fact, it's the first thing I've read in a long time that challenged me to the point of making me uncomfortable. It started me really thinking about how comfortable I am in my little 'Christian cul-de-sac' and got me thinking about mission trips more seriously than I have before. Just after this seed was planted in my heart, I heard about a mission trip that my brother-in-law, Keith, is leading to Uganda in May.

Well, Eli has woken back up and started crying again, so I'll make this the short version. First I was excited about it and willing to do whatever I needed to make the trip work. I talked to Doug and he was generally on board. I got more details and it looked a little more daunting, but after some discussions it seemed like it still might be a good fit. I prayed and thought about the decision a lot and was feeling pretty confident that this was the direction God was leading.

I got Doug's input on the idea again and then suddenly (though not because of anything he said, i don't think) started getting very upset at the thought of leaving my kids - especially the baby - for so long (the trip is 2.5 weeks). I then went through a brief but intense internal battle where I felt like God was leading clearly in one direction, but my emotions were trying to take me in another. After more prayer and wrestling, and a couple of helpful conversations with other moms, I started to have some peace and excitement over the idea again.

And now it has basically fallen through due to logistical difficulties. If I had an extra month to research and plan before I made a final decision, then I might be able to do it, but there's just not enough time. So, what was that all about? Was it a test of willingness? I am happy to say that, though there was some resistance, God did find a heart that is willing to follow wherever He leads. Was this preparation for another, upcoming opportunity?

It is confusing for obvious reasons and leaves me feeling slightly insecure because I feel like I fought this major spiritual battle against my flesh and overcame it by the power of God... but for nothing. Now I know that's not true because nothing is for nothing. But I can't see clearly what it was for. Hmm... I think I'm starting to talk in circles now. And Eli is still crying, so I'd better go. Just thought I'd take the time to finally post something real. :)

I keep thinking of all these wonderful things that I'd like to post about, but I've been buried under a mountain of email for a week. I'm mostly posting this photo to let you all know that I'm still here. Don't give up on me! :oI~

even princesses have to pick their nose sometimes...

...but do they have to do it with gloves on? in the middle of a birthday party? while people are taking photos?

Very Mysterious

Lila totally freaked me out the other day. We were on our way out the door, headed to Double Dave's for peproni rolls. Doug had already taken Eli out to the car, I was gathering some last-minute item from the kitchen, and Lila was getting a jacket from her room.

Then Lila says, "Mom!" -- (she calls me 'mom' now) -- "I found something mysterious! Behind my closet."

I was, first, amused by the fact that she was using the word 'mysterious' and, second, intrigued by what she might have found in her closet. Doug had taken a piece of furniture out of there to fix it, so there was no telling what might have been under it. Anyway, I come into the kids' room and Lila is standing a few feet from the closet, sort of leaned forward and staring into it.

"Mom... Do you see it? [she's pointing into the back of the closet]... It's very mysterious... Look..."

This is the point at which I started getting a little freaked out because I didn't see anything. Was there some insect that she saw, but I didn't? I was looking very closely where she was pointing as she continued.

"Do you see it?... It's teeny tiny... It's a little tiny baby guinea pig!"

Oh. All this was about an imaginary animal. Whew! I thought one of us was crazy! Well... arguably, we both are. What inspired this sudden mysterious discovery in the closet, I don't know, but the guinea pig joined us at dinner and has "shown up" now and again since then. We found out later in the evening that it's a BLUE guinea pig.

I'm glad we have someone to keep us on our toes.

Sooo Tired

We have been going non-stop all day long and I am so tired. [see photo] We had school all morning, lunch at Chick-fil-A, a marathon photo session at the mall, then dinner at Chuy's. Now Eli is crying in bed, Lila just got out of the bath, Doug is sick, and I think I might fall over. All that being said, I don't have time for a full update, but I wanted to post something.

A New Clarity

Something amazing happened to me at the gym today. I was laboring away on the elliptical machine and people-watching when I suddenly saw the people I'd been looking at. And what I saw amazed me! They were beautiful. All of them! They were youthful, wrinkled, overweight, lean and toned, energetic, careworn... and breathtaking.

True, there were still a handful of people that I had a hard time finding the beauty in. I was making assumptions about their character based on characteristics they shared with people I'd known in my past. The woman whose posture told me that she was emotionally withdrawn, even from those closest to her. The man whose eyes told me that he was a talker, the constant flow of words a habit developed over a lifetime to keep at bay the questions and thoughts that were lurking in moments of silence. The young lady whose apparent conviction that everyone was watching her bespoke a heart that had not yet learned to put others before itself.

But I forced myself to put aside those judgements and keep looking until I saw the beauty underneath. And it was there, in every person I saw.

Directly in front of me, there was a mother and daughter working out together on a pair of stationary bikes. The daughter was wearing a diamond engagement ring, which I gathered, based on the way she flashed it for her mother, was a recent addition. I was caught off guard by how their beauties were reflected, not only in their own faces, but in each other's face as well. Beauty multiplied by being near a loved one.

How long will this clarity last? How soon will I absentmindedly slip those lenses back on and start looking at people through the filter of my own past and biases again? Well, truth be told, it's happened already. (i'm remembering my thoughts as i watched someone approaching the door of my neighbor's house.)

I will pray most earnestly, however, that I may see the people around me as God does more and more often, until it is a part of who I am.

There are moments in my day -- when my daughter says something that takes me by surprise and makes me laugh; when I pick up my son and he buries his head in my neck -- which leave me certain that I am the most wealthy woman I know.

3 going on 30

My daughter said to me, a little while ago, "I need to understand myself so I can figure out how to go to sleep at night without back pats."

Wow. I knew she was a lot like me, but that's just unnerving!

By the way, this photo is not very impressive as a small image, but if you click on it to enlarge, it's quite cute. This is when the girls were 'ice skating' around the living room. Actually, this was taken right after Lila discovered that the bags would fly off if she kicked her feet!

Kids

I love this photo of Eli. He is sitting in the floor, watching the preschool girls 'skate' around the living room with paper bags on their feet. We frequently do things during school that make him question what kind of nuthouse-- er... family he's been born into. You should have seen the way he looked at us when we were flapping around in circles and making turkey noises!

I've come up with a few of analogies for what it is like to walk with/behind a 3-year-old. Maybe they aren't all this way, but mine is.

First, when you are walking behind one and want to get around them. It's like being stuck behind someone who's driving 10 mph below the speed limit and swerving in and out of their lane. Every time you think about passing them, they swerve right into your path.

Second, when walking with one... anywhere. They are like a drunk snail. Again, with the slowness and swerving. Don't even get me started on how easily they get side-tracked by everything in sight!

Third, when you, for example, are at a fast-food restaurant and you get up to grab more napkins and when you turn around to come back to the table they have started to follow you and are drunkenly weaving their way toward you, directly in your path. OR they've come up behind you quietly and you turn around and step on them/knock them over. This one is a video game analogy. If you've ever played a game where you are the main character and you have a secondary character who follows you around and is good for virtually nothing - this is the 3-year-old. The secondary character who follows you like they are attached with a bungee cord and only manage to wander into your path so that you are back to the first analogy.

There are definitely times when these tendencies are maddening, but overall, I find them highly amusing!

potty talk

Lila and I were just having a discussion about going potty. I was telling her how great it is that she's just been going potty when she needs to lately. She used to tell us she needed to go or just stand around doing the potty dance until we asked her. For the past few days, however, she's been going in there and taking care of business all by herself.

Anyway, she was sitting on the potty seat that goes on the big potty and she was talking about how one of her school friends can sit on the big potty all by herself. Lila recently discovered that she can also do this, which I pointed out to her. I said she could use the big potty or the potty seat, whichever she wants. She then said...

"Big potty... Potty seat... Big potty... Potty seat... Big potty... Potty seat... So many chances!" [i believe she meant 'choices']

Too funny!

P.S. - I do realize this is not a photo of Lila. It's actually a picture of Eli, sitting in the floor at Grammie and Papa Joe's, watching 'Wall-E'. And speaking of Eli...

He has decided to out-do his sister by beginning communications even earlier than she did. If you don't remember, Lila started speaking at 8 months of age. (Her first words were, "Hi Lila!") Well, Eli has started at 7.5 months, BUT... He must also do things a little differently because he is his own man, after all. He has learned to do the ASL sign for 'all done'.

We weren't sure, at first, that he was actually signing, but over the past 24 hours it has become quite apparent that he knows exactly what he's doing. He's signed 'all done' at least twice at the end of a meal, once when the doctor and I were holding his head still so she could look in his ears, and again just a little while ago when I was invading his personal space with lots of kisses on the cheeks. So cute!

The way he does it is exceptionally funny and adorable, so I'll be trying to get it on camera in the next day or two. We'll see if he cooperates. :)

Kiddies and Kitties

While we were in Houston, someone had the idea to take all the granddaughters to the movies one day. After some discussion, we realized that it would not work due to attention spans, energy levels, and competing naptimes. Instead, we popped some popcorn and everyone (except me - i escaped for a little while) settled in to watch 'Wall-E' at home. This photo shows Hope, Cole, Kuncle Keith, Olivia, and Lila. Oh, and Papa Joe's left shoulder.

I took Charlie to the vet this afternoon to check out his runny eyes. They said he's got pink eye, picked up who-knows-where, and gave me some ointment to put in it twice daily. What's more interesting, to me at least, is that Charlie is much more relaxed at the vet when Cordy is not there with him.

I always take them together because it's more convenient to make one trip rather than two. And Charlie usually hunkers down on the exam table, hides his head in my armpit, and growls while Cordy explores the room, rolls around on the floor, and generally flirts with anything that breathes. This time he didn't hide his head or growl and even tolerated having his eyes messed with.

When they spent the night at the clinic a couple of weeks ago, the staff tried putting the two of them in the same cage overnight and they freaked out on each other! Cordy got all hissy and spitty and Charlie was hiding in a corner, trying to escape her wrath. They had to put them back in separate suites to calm everyone down. I guess I'll start taking them in separately in the future.

Kick! Kick! Kick!

I'm kicking myself (very hard) in the tush right now. When we were in Houston, we saw an ad for the Wii Fit for only $90 at Target. That is an amazing deal! We were going to stop on the way home from church to try and pick one up. For some reason, I was feeling hesitant on the purchase, so I suggested that we wait. By this evening, I had decided that it really was a good idea (especially since we have gift money to use), but it's too late!

I called five different Target stores in our area and all are sold out. Maybe we would not have been able to get one even by the time we left church yesterday because they are THAT popular this year, but now we'll never know. And I would feel a lot better about missing out even though we got there as soon as we could than I do about missing out because I hesitated! Oh well. Let it go, Angela. Let it go...

We had a great Christmas in Houston with the Peelers and took about 150 photos, most of which you will probably never see. (much like i never got around to posting pictures from halloween.) The one you see here is Eli playing with Lila's favorite gift - a stuffed dog that she named Sparky. Eli's favorite gift, hands down, is his 'jump jump'. Maybe I'll finally take the time to post a little video on here so that you can see him in action. It's hilarious!

Difficulties of Life

Lila just started crying and said that Charlie had scratched her. Since I know that his aggression is rarely unprovoked, I asked her why he scratched her. That's a little more diplomatic than asking what she did to him. Anyway, she said, "I was trying to be kind to him, but I couldn't. I just wanted to be rude." Just to clarify, I asked her if that meant she was being rude to him and she said yes.

She tried to be kind but couldn't because she wanted to be rude.

That, my Love, is what we call 'battling the sin nature'. And it never ends.

The Day's Adventures

Lila and I had a fun little date today. We went to a free screening of Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas at the Alamo Drafthouse (South Lamar)! They even had a live jug band play before the show. Lila's favorite part of the experience was getting to eat (she ordered a corn dog and ate only the corn, not the dog). Her least favorite part was the dark theater. It really wasn't that dark, but I think it was the pre-show anxiety about just how dark it would be that she didn't like.

I also put a big nasty scratch on our mini-van while we were out. I'm usually overly cautious about the boundaries of my vehicle because I just don't have a good sense of them. This time I thought I had room and it turned out I didn't. I scraped the back driver's side against the corner of a dumpster! Ugh. And then I got us into such a tight spot in this miniature parking lot that I couldn't get out!

I was seriously wondering if I'd have to just sit there until someone came and left in one of the cars I was stuck between, when I was saved by a homeless man. There was a guy who seemed to live in that parking lot, right by the dumpsters, and he helped me maneuver my way out. I was so thankful because he really rescued me! I gave him the leftover half of my pizza from the movie and then picked up some cash to give him while we were shopping.

I always wish I could do more though... like bring him home with me and give him a fresh start... I think maybe I have a dream for our future of starting some sort of home/program for homeless, to help those who really want to change and get their life back. Anyway, I digress. Doug is sitting just a few feet away, reading books to Lila, and it's hard to concentrate.

My head and neck hurt and I feel kind of ill. I'm going to do 10 minutes of yoga and see how I feel afterward. If I feel better, then you'll see another post from me this evening. If not...