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Last night I did a little retail therapy. Tim got his raise notice and I’ve been feeling so cooped up that I wanted to splurge a little. After Morella went to bed I headed out. I first stopped at Michaels and browsed the dollar bins. I got some ribbon, some fairy acrylic stamps that compliment the set I already have, a Gardener’s apron and four packages (8 each) of cupcake paper plates — for dollar each! Awesome.

At Target I tried on a maternity shirt, decided it looked dumpy and then quit looking at clothes. I have plenty of maternity clothes that I can wear, especially when it gets warmer — which is soon right? I just have to make it through April and then I am golden. I found Morella’s non skid socks and got one in every color. The sizing is 12-24 so I shouldn’t need to buy any more socks – and Crouton can wear them later on too. I don’t think I need to buy socks again for a long time, and truth be told this is the first time I had to do it. We were living off of the socks that friends gave us when Morella was born. I also got Morella blue shirt — it was on clearance for two bucks. You know she looks so good in blue, it really shows off her eyes.

I bought myself a new purse. One with straps long enough to wear across my shoulders. I can’t tell you how many times I have cursed my purse that never stays on shoulders and always falls when I am holding Morella and have to bend over…either to pick her or something else up. I almost got one with a flap but then remembered what a huge pain in the ass it is to open that flap with one hand. They didn’t have black…so I ended up getting orange! Wow. Orange. No seriously, I like orange so I’m okay with it — but to consciously by a color other than black is huge for me.

I also got a new hat (clearance).

No, the real splurge was a toy organizer with bins for Morella for $60. At first I got one with pastel colors but then an aisle later realized that there was one with primary colors in the boys aisle. I ditched the pastel one and got the one with primary colored bins. I can’t wait to put it together. I think it’s going to be in Morella’s room. She has plenty of space in there for it. My own extra special little splurge was one of those new age CD’s from the music section that you can push buttons and hear samples. I got the native american flute and guitar one – hey it was on sale and I felt like something a little new and yet familiar. Oh and then you know, I got witch hazel, tissues and tooth paste.

After I finished my decaf Mocha (from the starbucks at Target), I headed back and stopped at Woodman’s for a big grocery shopping trip. We needed big ticket things like olive oil, balsamic vinegar, teas, soda and milks. I bought Morella two of the vanilla soys for like a total of 5.50. That’s a lot of money for a gallon of milk! But you know what? It would be that price in Chicago for one half gallon. Thank goodness for Woodman’s.

Came home exhausted. That was a lot of walking and shopping, and it was 10:30 and I was TIRED! Morella’s nap yesterday lated a 1/2 an hour. Sheesh. I walked into the kitchen and almost walked out, never to return. It was a disaster. Floor was still dirty (but swept), dishes spilling out everywhere. Dinner still on plates and scattered about. Dish towels, wash clothes, bibs and a pair of duckie pajamas* scattered about the floor as well as various toys and papers. Tim put groceries away and I washed as many dishes as I could fit into one rack. I followed that up by cleaning the counter, mopping the floor, cleaning off the table and wiping down Morella’s slop chair. After that I needed to sit down and decompress and stayed on the internet far too long.

Thus, this morning I have a super snotty baby who is still sick but doesn’t have a fever (as of yet) and I am really, really tired. Times like this I am reminded that “me” time isn’t nearly as good as “not being tired.”

*A cute aside, the dish towels and wash clothes has been in the living room. It was only later last night that I realized Morella had brought them into the kitchen and tried to put them away in the drawer that they belong.

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One last thing! Morella has two new teeth. A top left molar, and a bottom tooth (next to one of the two that is in). My baby girl now has EIGHT teeth. Whoa. Soon she’ll be eating jerky.

IT’s been a battle but I think Morella is finally down for a nap. At 1.30PM. Sigh. I guess that 4.5 hour nap yesterday was too good to be true. I gave her some motrin about a 1/2 an hour ago — maybe it kicked in and that is the reason she finally went to sleep. She’s barely eating today. We skipped baby book. Sigh. At least we got dressed today.

Okay. Belly shot photo two days late, but better late than never right?

Awww…Morella is sick today. Lots of green snot shooting out her nose and teary watery eyes. We gave her some tylenol before her nap and she slept for a record breaking 4.5 hours!! I hope she is better for the last baby book session (next one starts in June!) but I’m not holding my breath. Poor ticka ticka.

We made a little progress on the disaster that is our house today. I managed to at least find the sink, counter and sweep the floor.

Morella and I went shopping this afternoon before the snow started. I needed to get her a new coat, and so we went to check out Savers. Wow, the new savers is nice. It’s so clean, big, spacious and the prices were great for the most part for kids clothes. I got Morella really nice green jacket for 3 bucks! I also got her a doll stroller ($2) that she LOVES and has been pushing around her stuffed animals all after noon. I found an older speak and say for $2 as well — it’s in great condition and Morella is close to figuring out to really use it. In addition to the awesome green jacket I got her: five pairs of pants, a red scottie dress/jumper with matching hat, a pink plaid jumper/dress, a yellow dress, two shirts, a hoodie and a fleece kitty sweater. This in addition to the three vintage dresses I got her yesterday at a consignment resale and jean jacket. I think she is almost set for the spring! I still need to find some more non skid socks. I know I could buy the puffy paint, but I really don’t want to the work. I guess Circo at Target as the non skid because babies R us nor Burlington had them. Bummer.

We also stopped at Borders and Morella bought me some lindor truffle eggs, and we got Tim a collected graphic novels: Civil War by marvel. I had a coupon for 40% off so it was totally worth it to get that book. I didn’t stay there too long because Morella has started to succumbing to fit throwing if she doesn’t get her way.

What else. Oh the neighbors across the street got a fancy new playset for the two kids living there. I’m talking the wood, yellow chain, green canopy playset that you see around with a big slide. So the Mom came over and asked us we wanted the plastic play set thing they had since their kids outgrew it. We decided sure, why not. It will be in the backyard and not such an eyesore …. and it’s free and something for Morella to play with back there that hopefully won’t hurt her. Plus, it seems like it will work as a play thing for both Crouton and Morella for a few years.

I need to go to bed. I have a tummy ache from the decaf black tea and sort of a headache brewing. Dinner totally sucked and I am getting really frustrated with Morella not eating anything, hating baths and being short fused.

Sigh. At least she likes the doll stroller…it’s so cute to see her push it around the house. She had a bit of a runny nose this evening — we are hoping that she doesn’t get what Tim had this past week. Ugh that would suck suck suck.

Crouton is kicking up a storm these days. My neighbor the other day asked me point blank TWICE if there was anything new going on with us. I finally said “uh we are expecting another baby August 1st…” and he said “I thought so! You can tell.”

Gah. You can tell. I suppose, it’s no secret anymore and it really won’t be the time it’s summer. Speaking of which today is supposed to be a belly shot today. I might have to do that tomorrow.

Friday Photos: Sliding

Photos courtesy of Shutter*Chick. Thanks Sara, I LOVE them! FYI Having your baby wear fleece pants while sliding makes them go a lot faster…you might want to be prepared.

Yesterday we went to the zoo for the first time this year with the other baby book toddlers. It was such a nice time! Sadly, the zoo closes at four instead of five so we decided to extend the outing by going to the playground outside the zoo. It was awesome to see the kids zooming around with their own little agendas.

Ok. Morella is well into a nap. There are a few more things I wanted to post about before she wakes up. I have gotten SO much done this morning it’s incredible. I feel almost like a super Mom, when in reality it’s probably like just an average day for most folks.

I was reading the “You know you are grown up…” in Redbook’s latest issue this morning and found myself agreeing with most of the blurbs. Now usually I think “Piffle — whoever wrote those didn’t try hard enough. But not this time!

You know you are a grown up when….

• …you have tumeric, coriander and saffron in your kitchen — and you’re not afraid to use them. (Except for the saffron … until Surefine makes it, I won’t have it.
• …you have successfully kicked one of these habits: smoking, biting your nails, running back to your old boy friend every time a new relationship goes south. (I have done two! – I quit biting my nails and smoking — the boyfriend thing is lame though. Who does that?)
• …you wouldn’t even think of blowing off your friend’s emotional crisis to watch American Idol finals. (Well, I don’t like AI, but I substituted a new episode of Battlestar … and was able to do it).
• …instead of waiting for a wedding or a job interview, you realize that “it’s Tuesday” is a special enough occasion to wear the pearls your grandmother gave you. (Or anything “special” … I now just go ahead and do it. This is a new thing in the last couple of years where I have just started to go ahead and USE the cool things I have accumulated).
• …you calculate how late you can stay out on a Saturday night based on how much you are willing to pay a babysitter. (Since we don’t currently have a babysitter, I weigh how tired i am going to be the following morning. Though I am sure in a few more years the babysitter will be more accurate).
• …you have at least one friend who has been married, divorced and married again (Chuck!)

Well I thought it was pretty interesting.

So yeah, super productive today. I finished and filed our taxes, paid the mortgage, cable and credit card, brought up diapers (further goals for today include actually putting them and other laundry away), drove Tim to work, and on the way back stopped at the grocery store to get some items.

I wast that person at the grocery store with the toddler wearing jammies and a dirty hoodie. How did that get dirty so fast?! I mean it was just washed the other day. Sheesh. Regardless, Morella was as charming as ever and in a great mood as we zoomed around getting her milk, and ingrediants for seven layer taco dip. All of which is still in the brown bags (I can’t find the green bags…they were by the door….) because I haven’t felt like putting them away yet. Obviously, there are a ton more things I can and do need to do today but you know, taxes, bill paying, grocery shopping, neighbor chatting (our neighbor’s dog has cancer on it’s tail into it’s torso…poor Sam), and creating a big post are all noteworthy things to do!

This afternoon, I am going to drop off an exersaucer to one of the women in baby book who has a 4.5 month old who is almost ready. I said she could borrow it because by the time Crouton needs it, that baby will have totally outgrown it. There is a big pint size resale going on today and tomorrow that I would like to go, and she expressed interest so after dropping that off she might come too. It doens’t start until 1:00 so there is plenty of time. Then at 4:30 we are meeting Tim and Oliver at the High Noon for a after work/hello spring drink. Since Tim is still kind of sick I don’t know how long he is going to last.

He stayed home yesterday and slept the entire day. He looked and sounded awful. He even had to skip his Thursday night gaming session! Now that IS sick. Thankfully, Morella gave me an easy day yesterday so it was managable.

Oh. She hates baths again. How is it that there are no other kids out there who HATE baths? Everyone I talk to says “oh no! Little Johnny loves his bath, it’s impossible to take him out of it!” Whereas my kid stands there howling the entire time and has to get washed down like a 5 minute car wash. I’m hoping that bath strike will go away when it gets warmer and playing with water is fun again — and not as icy when it can be done outside.

Lastly, tonight I am going over to Hilary’s with some other lady friends to decompress and relax. Ahhh…hence the taco dip. It’s like the non-alcoholic version of a good time. Right?

There. Bread bowls started and in the warm oven rising. Seriously, when recipes call for “a warm place,” what do they expect? There are no “warm” places in this house. They are all equally chilly. What did they do in the old days? I imagine that they let the bread rise by the stove. I also got the ham and pea soup started — it’s a crock pot recipe that calls for 4-5 hours on high. It will be done at six…a little later than I would like, but I had a little handicap running around the kitchen playing with ice she ganked from the freezer and then subsequently slipping on it. I also let her help me knead the dough, as well as measure, and then she just ended up licking sugar granules out of a measuring cup.

The sun is out! Well it was for a second. Now it’s just lighter outside. Too bad it’s cold and yucky. I might almost go for a walk. Morella sure seems like she could use it. This whiny stage is … uhhh uhhh uhhh uhhh uhhhh uhhhh uhhhh uhhh uhh uh u hhhuhhhuhuhhj!

For dinner tonight I am going to try and make bread bowls and split pea soup. I have a frozen chunk of ham I got from my StepMom Barb the last time I was at Dad’s. Commodity Ham. I’m not sure it will be good, but it’s not in a can and it’s with … uh commodity peas. Ha ha — come to think of it the bread is going to be commodity flour too. Well then.

It’s another rainy day, except this time it means it. Yesterday it was light rain and drizzle today it’s a steady stream of cats and dogs. Morella went down for a second nap at 9:00. What is up with her? Is it growing? I don’t understand the need for sleeping more right away. Is it the dark, over cast day? Yesterday she went down for a nap at 9.40 and slept until 12:30. — it was a good thing that we skipped baby book time if she needed that much sleep. She was also cranky, had several poopy diapers — I was glad when Tim came home from work to at least share my exasperation.

Today I got the “no clean socks” comment coupled with the “no undershirts” comment from the other day day means I have to do laundry. Boo. I started a load of whites now. Sometimes it’s just the starting of them that’s a pain in the butt. I wish my basement was finished then it wouldn’t be such a chore to take Morella down there to do it. But once it’s started it seems to be easier to do…anyway. I was reminding myself that this could be 60 years ago at the very least, and I wouldn’t have a washing machine. I would have to devote the whole freaking day to washing clothes. Now that would suck! It’s bad enough that I have to wash my own dishes. Ha ha.

I am working on a letter to my Mom because I felt like I haven’t talked to her in awhile. I could pick up the phone, I know. But I like doing those in addition to a letter because my Mom has a tendency to talk about her medical problems the entire time, and share the bad news of the neighborhood, how broke she is, and all the other depressing things going on. She hardly ever asks what I am doing or what we are up to and when she does she’ll interrupt me half way through it to tell me about the one or two pounds she gained or lost. Or she’ll stop listening (I can tell) and wait until I am done so that she can go back to whatever it is that she is thinking. At least with letters, I feel like she has to listen to what is going on here. And if we talk after she gets a letter then she asks better questions and doesn’t get bored right away. You know? It’s more like an equal conversation.

The downside to the letter writing, is that Morella keeps taking my letter pages and carrying them around the house. I can handle that, and I’m sure Mom won’t mind a few wrinkly pages. What Morella can’t handle though, is that I won’t give her my pen. She threw two five minute tantrums about it this morning alone!

So I think I am going to go and try and finish that letter before the mail or her nap ends. It’s too early for me to go back to sleep, and there is some still coffee in the pot that’s mine. It would be nice to sit on the couch next to the window and write. I often dream of it, and here is my chance. But first I needed to post. I didn’t even talk about my weekend — I guess I could just say it was good.

One of my contacts is all gummy. I know it’s not old because I just replaced them on Wednesday. I should probably clean it. I don’t feel so hot this morning. Breakfast isn’t sitting well with me. I had a bowl of cereal and then decided to try and tackle the leftover cake with ice cream. I got a few bites in before deciding it was too old and icky to finish but by then the damage had been set. I guess.

Tim is at Woodman’s right now with Morella picking up milk and getting supplies for her overnight stay at the grandparents. Tim and I are staying in a hotel tonight for a great price thanks to Tim’s mom. See…it’s like they PAYING us to take Morella. Ha ha. No seriously, she works at a the hotel and can get rooms cheap. So we go to Milwaukee, switch her off to to them at Tim’s sister’s so Morella can have a chance to play and stretch her legs with her cousins. Then Tim and I see the Watchmen, eat dinner and go to a benefit band show and the best part is really the sleeping in on Sunday. OH man that’s going to be nice.

I think they are home…I should go and fix my contact, get dressed and pack. I already have Morella mostly done and I’m sure ours isn’t hard to do. It’s just overnight. It’s difficult to get motivated when you are feeling that great though. You know? Stupid cake. It came back to get me.

I feel much better about things today. I emailed my doctor and she said she would have me back for another ultrasound during the 3rd trimester (a full two months away at least) to finish the spinal measurements. That said, I have thought about it and decided I would bring in the consent form to have a 3D ultrasound done before that — I see her next at the 23 week appointment. So hurray for another ultrasound and boo for it being so far away.

I watched baby Alex again today because the other baby sitter bailed. I wonder how long it is going to be before Alex’s Mom has to find real, reliable daycare. I wish I could do it for her, but really I feel better about just being a back up. Especially since this morning I was putting my pants on and when I lifted my right leg something happened with the dull ache I normally feel in my inner thighs that connect to my torso (aka crotch pain) that I couldn’t walk for a good 15 minutes! It was awful! I also had to host the play group today … thank goodness one other person showed up to make it worth the effort of hauling two cranky kids out and about, while barely being able to walk. I was glad when she picked her up so that I could take Morella to the park.

She liked the rocks, liked the slide, didn’t care for the swing but LOVED running around the wide open space. She had so much fun. Came home and had fried fish, green beans and baked potato for dinner with sherbet for dessert. She screamed for her 3 minute bath in which Tim scrubbed her down — I never thought she would be back into a bath hating phase again. And then was so irritable and tired that Tim put her to bed a 1/2 an hour early with no stories. She also went to bed yesterday at 7:00 after playing in park for an hour. Is being outside for an hour a day really sapping her energy that much?

I got a bunch of ho chunk language instruction stuff in the mail today complete with Cd and everything! Cool. I also got a printed article from an old acquaintance, and a thank you card so it was it sort of a mail bonanza.

Cute things Morella did today: feed the baby her bottle, gave the baby her pacifier, rocked her car seat when she was crying, hugged her several times and put her head on the babies chest with a huge contented smile, patted her head, pushed me on the on the swing, put green beans in her hair, played for 30 minutes taking wet wipes in and out of a bucket, got mad when the baby used her crib (all teary eyed and whiny), told me several important “drywler drywler” stories, and hung off the baby gate at the coffee house looking out at the customers like an imprisoned baby. Oh man do I love love love this bucket of kid.

Tim is working really late so that means I am up really late too. I made a cake tonight after doing the dishes and drying diapers. I had it while it was warm with some ice cream…oh so good.