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Today felt like one big slush of a day. I only just now, at 10:45 PM got to take the shower I so desperately wanted to take all day. From the minute I opened my eyes (after a restless night from both girls) until 9:30 when Morella finally dropped off to sleep I was on the go. Morella has been sleeping like a total nut job — going to bed super late and so it can make for a sobby, crabby girl. This morning I swear she spent a good portion of just crying over every little thing, fighting with her sister…I did have to laugh at one point. She had come into tell me Neeners was on her bed, or wanted a particular puppy (which Morella had shown no interest in until Neeners picked it up) and was throwing a massive tantrum in the living room. I watched as she threw herself onto the pink bean bag chair no less than 13 times and wailing about the injustices of a little sister.

I did get her out of the house for a little one on one time at the local library for a toddler yoga class. She loved it. She loved that it was a class for movement, and that her friend Bree was there to goof around with. It did seem to temper her mood for a while. When we got back I put Neeners down for a nap and let her watch some TV while I got in about 10-15 minutes of me time — though I wasn’t allowed to leave the living room without her following me asking me what I was doing, won’t I come back and sit next to her, etc. I was pretty upset when Athena woke up after 40 minutes. Too short. Too short indeed for everyone involved. If she had sleep at least 2 hours, I could have gotten Morella down for a much needed nap too. But she was up, and the next time they napped was in the car on the way to pick up our new Mazda 5.

We left a trail of food crumbs at the dealership, and I am sure they were all a little confused as to why we weren’t excited about getting a new car. Though I am pretty sure they were excited to see us go after Athena screamed at the top of her lungs for the fun of it for about 5-10 minutes, after they had chased each other around the cars in the showroom for the previous hour. I was so ready to go and just be home and have them in bed so I could just … stop.

I felt a little bad for our language instructor as he arrived to a disaster of a living room. I am fairly certain he had to navigate a path to reasonably free spot on the couch, with minimal clearing. Oh well, he had little kids once, and has grandkids so I am sure he’s seen worse. It was good session — we finished going through the alphabet and so I can say with a little bit of confidence that I can know read the hocak language and sound words out by myself with some level of accuracy. It will take a lot of practice, but you know when we first started I had no idea how to even read or pronounce words correctly. I have started to make little labels to put around the house, and refreshed the dry erase board with good things to say and incorporate into our daily life.

I made chili for dinner but we didn’t eat it. Instead Morella said she was hungry on the way home driving with daddy in the new car (btw, she now calls Tim – Dad – when she is calling for him). When we got home she ate one fry and drank some chocolate milk and that was that. I had a baked potato and a bacon cheeseburger…this on top of having a big mac last night to curb hunger shopping. I know, I know, you don’t gain all that weight in two days but .. ugh! I have my first fancy (I think) holiday party on Friday to go. You know what — I’ll overdress anyway. Anything that says “cocktails” in the invitation obviously means wear that vintage looking dress you wore to Ben and Kelly’s wedding. How many times am I going to have the opportunity to wear it?

Lastly, I have been thinking of this perfume that my Mom wore when I was a little girl. I remember loving it, and the bottle had a little pig on it. I think it was on the stopper. My Mom has never been rich, so it couldn’t have been too expensive — does anyone know what I am talking about? I would love to get a bottle if it is still made.

As I am sure most people feel from Thanksgiving to New Year’s, but it’s true! I need a game plan. I need to sit down and figure out all the things I want the kids to do, what I want to do, what I am going to bake, when I am going to make ornaments, when are we going to see the Christmas Tree at the Capitol, go for a drive to all the light up houses, etc.

Today the girls took some mega naps. They were so mighty, in fact, that I took a two hour nap myself. This morning started off okay. I was inspired to go take the girls in the double stroller for playtime at the library to meet up with another Mom from the play group. It took some convincing to get the girls dressed — for some reason all Morella wants to do these days is stay home, inside. I understand that after a summer and fall of being outdoors constantly, however — winter is coming. Winter means endless colds, snow, ice, freezing temperatures, and being stuck inside. We *have* to get out while we can, and today was nice — being around 40-45 when we left and returned.

At the library we were doing fine for an hour, until two other Mom’s and three (1-3 in age) boys showed up. So far before that it was just the my girls and one other girl – age 2, and a wee infant. All of a sudden Morella came up to be bawling and saying she wanted to go home. I asked her what was wrong and she said she wanted to go to her bed. I asked her why and she just kept repeating it. Of course I should have known she had gotten hurt, she always wants to go to her bed when she is hurt. But instead I took her to the bathroom to go potty since she downed a whole cup of soymilk, and then took her to Walgreens to get some candy canes for the Christmas tree. She was actually okay by then. We went home, and Neeners was a zombie — almost asleep but not quite.

On the way home Morella says “That boy was naughty.”
“What boy?” I asked, starting to suspect.
“That boy at the library. He was naughty.”
“How was he naughty?” I asked.
“He hit me,” she replied.
“Oh Morella! That is why you wanted to go home. You have to tell me if anyone ever hurts you. It isn’t okay to hit, and I would have talked to his Mommy about it.”

Sigh.

Anyway. My friend Lowen walked over for lunch and I made a chicken melt (canned chicken, chopped tomatoes from our summer garden, and shredded cheddar cheese with mayo – the olive oil one) and canned soup. I really needed to go grocery shopping. But she had brought over some pumpkin cake, so it was all good. The girls went down for naps, we chatted a bit more and then she went home with a box of extra ornaments I had gotten on clearance last year because I knew we were getting a bigger tree this year – turns out I didn’t them. This is her first year having a tree as an adult, so it’s nice to know that I am contributing to a part of future traditions.

So yeah, the girls napped. Got up around 4:30 and 5:00 and we had easy mac for dinner while I uncovered the kitchen from the massive mess it accumulates over the weekend. Tim got home, he ate left over lunch and we all played. Even though Neeners slept four hours and got up at 5 — by 7:30 she was complaining about going to bed. I put her down and voila! Asleep. Morella however, would be another story. One that I didn’t have to worry about because I hightailed it outta here as soon as Neeners was asleep to go to Target and HyVee. At Target I got baby shower presents for this weekend, a new winter jacket for Morella (20% off Circo clothing item coupon in today’s mail), two turtle necks, a thomas the engine battery powered train for Neeners (xmas), deodorant, some glade melting oil thingies, and infant acetaminophen. It took FOREVER! I hate shopping off registries … and so I did get some things that weren’t on it because … well I hate shopping off registries. I did get the gift receipt just in case they hate my thoughtful gift.

After that was HyVee, which I was only going to get Morella’s milk and then hit the cheaper Woodman’s grocery store on the way home for the rest, but I was tired but then and just barreled through with things I knew we needed like: lots of fruit, shade grown, organic people friends coffee, various meats, pasta, and an assortment of milks. I use lactose free, Tim like’s Skim, Morella has her 8th Continent Vanilla Soy, and I also got whole milk for strawberry milk (my attempt to mainstream her into normal milk). OH yeah and I got a lactose free egg nogg.

On the way out I shamed a trashily dressed woman sitting in the Caribou coffee part next to the front door yapping on her cell phone. You see when I entered the store a very old woman with a cart full of groceries sat down on one of those motorized chairs. When I left, she was still there. I commented “You are still waiting?” She nodded wearily. I said “For who?” and she replied “My daughter.” I paused, shook my head and said “Maybe she needs another phone call.” The old woman raised her hand and waved me off. As I was leaving I looked back and saw trashily dressed woman jump to her feet and start pushing the woman’s cart out to the parking lot.

Whoops. I guess all it took was a Thanksgiving holiday in parts of rural Wisconsin with dial up internet connection to make me fail…or was it because I wanted to fail. Because I am a big loser? Probably both, but…I can still work on trying to post every day as my holiday gift to both you and me.

Thanksgiving was great. The food was awesome, it was relaxed and nice to hang with Tim’s family and nieces and nephew. There was an exciting announcement on another baby arrival — dude that means there will be FOUR babies born in less than a year – talk about a population explosion. By Christmas next year, the grandparents will have 9 grandchildren aged six an under, with a two year gap between the six and the four (Morella) year old…if that gives you an idea of the babyage that we are talking about here.

Morella and her cousin Zeland, who have a birthday a day apart had mini present opening parties. Morella made out like a Princess Bandit. Seriously. I can’t believe all the different kind of princess stuff they have out there, and the awesome thing is that she loved every single thing that she got. She enjoyed opening gifts (like a little old lady) and appreciating the finer touches like a pink bows and shiny paper. Even though she didn’t get a party, I think she had a wonderful time. She isn’t going to get a party until she is old enough to invite a few of her favorite friends, which probably isn’t going to be until school. Family parties don’t really count.

We came back late Friday night, picked up the dog, put the kids to bed and then crashed ourselves. Saturday Tim went car shopping, and later that afternoon we all went to a dealership and bought a car — a Mazda 5. We needed another car because the snow is imminent and Tim’s bike path turns into a snowmobile path as soon as the white stuff hits it. At first we were just going to get a small commuter car, but then I started to think about it – we need a bigger car for for Chistmas traveling and giving my brother a ride, we need a car to replace the Scion when it breaks down (hopefully not for years and years) and we needed a car that would fit the girl’s carseats (britax marathons), and we got a great price – $17,419.85 total, for a brand new, manual car. We pick it up on Tuesday. And actually this is going to be my car – as Tim is going to use the Scion to drive to work.

So that was a nice big expense — but we held off for six months. On the way home we stopped at Toys R Us to get Morella a Christmas gift (that is only sold in specialty shops and Toys R Us – Calico Cozy Critters Milky Mouse family set (plus the twin babies, sold separately).

After we got home, I dropped the family off and went to Ace Hardware to use a 50% off coupon, and my $5 rewards before it expired and I ended up getting us a new Christmas tree. It’s a tall 7 1/2 footer, but narrow. The last one we had was 12 years old and looked like a drowned Christmas tree. I would sort of like to recycle it in someway — but Tim says we should just get rid of it. Sigh. Now I just have to clean up this house so I can start to decorate – I have a bunch of new stuff collected from clearance last year, and garage sales that I am looking forwarding to using. I already took down the rest of the fall stuff and put it a way yesterday.

Oh man — Morella just said for the first time “I hate Neeners!” Is this discipline worthy? It sure seems like it. What would you do?

Three years ago one of my most fervent wishes as an adult came true – I became a mother. My daughter was born at 2:28 AM after a long day of inducement, labor and delivery, squalling like a brisk winter breeze. She was laid on my chest I smelled the iron tang of blood and felt a squirming, tiny little bundle of muscle, bone and soft skin. I looked at her and saw that she had the tiniest of dimples on her left check and a head full of blond hair, and I held her close to my chest and breathed a sigh of relief that it was done. Except, you know it wasn’t because I had a retained placenta, and with no pain medication the initial attempts to unretain it were the most excruciating minutes of my life – worse than when I broke my back. So my sweet little bundle was sent off with the nurses under the watchful eye of her new father while I was whisked away for a procedure. Morella spent the first hours of her life getting to know her Daddy -a bond that has only strengthened as the years go by.

Morella is everything I ever dreamed a sweet child could be and more…so much more, especially as she gains mastery of communication and understanding of the world around her. It’s awe inspiring to be a part of what shapes her formative years, to help guide her, watch over her and help her to become the amazing woman I know she will one day be. She is a sensitive, gentle, cautious soul. She watches and considers before she jumps (very different from her little sister in this respect). She is a chatterbox and will talk your ear off. She loves to show off her various skills when she is comfortable with you. She loves to dance, make jokes, yell at Falkor for being stinky, watch TV/movies, princesses, dress up, play outside, role play, have tea parties, explore, sort, drink 8th continent vanilla soy milk, pink, paint, say no neeners, read books, mouse friends, go for walks, swing, frosting, and music.

She is scared of the furnace, and loves sound machines. She wants to always know what you are doing and where you are going. She has named dances: dragon dance, princess dance, go crazy dance, — in fact we have now gotten at least three separate comments on how she should take dance lessons. I guess she is three now, the gate way age to everything.

She answers every question with “I know…” (even when she doesn’t), which is a step from “no”

She is 37 inches tall and 26 pounds and informed me this afternoon that the Doctors were bad because they made her leg hurt. She is small and slender and perfectly healthy.

All in all, I think she had a great day. She and her sister got bean bag chairs, she got a remote control puppy, a deck of princess cards, stickers, a snow angel dress up costume, pink carnations with baby’s breath, a headband and tiara – and the creme de la creme — a minicake decorated with Cinderella and her mouse friend figurines (including a girl mouse in a PINK dress!!!!) that I found at HyVee at the last minute. To say this girl was heaven upon laying eyes on her cake is an understatement. She was even more pleased to learn that Neeners could absolutely not play with her mouse friends because they were too small. To be honest, I am pretty sure Neeners has passed the stage of putting anything unfoodlike in her mouth, but you just never know. Better safe than sorry — in regards of choking and angry older sisters over the handling of their most precious toys.

Well, it’s bedtime. It was a long day and tomorrow I have to bake a couple pies, make some dip, pack, wrap a gift or two for the birthday cousin, drop the dog off…ugh. There is a lot to do.

Happy Birthday Morella!

Three years ago at this very time I was in an incredible amount of pain. I complained that the stupid epidural wasn’t working and no one would believe me. Of course 20 months later, I was vindicated when the anesthesiologist told me that epidurals wouldn’t work for me because of my back injury 10 years ago…so ha!

Three years ago it was Thanksgiving Day and I was being induced for a little girl who already took after her parents in that they are always late for everything – 11 days overdue. Sure, those first six months were hell, but it was all worth it.

Tomorrow morning Morella and Neeners have joint well checks, then as a reward for enduring it, she’ll get to come back and open presents.

This morning I got up with the girls and watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang while everyone tried to recover from last night — meaning mostly the girls and their late night. Morella didn’t go to sleep until around 11. It was ridiculous. I had no idea that babysitters were so much fun. I took a shower, made some scones, emptied garbage, and changed the sheets and pillow cases on the bed before heading over to Laima’s for a brunch. It was quite pleasant because Laima made a super delicious eggs Benedict and roasted potatoes with Mimosas, scones, cranberry coffee cake and short bread cookies were brought by myself, Cecci, Lowen and Hilary. We visited for a couple of hours before I had to break it up so I could come back and get the girls ready for a birthday party across the street, go shopping in the basement for a gift and wrap it.

I came back and Tim told me that Neeners had just gone down at 1:00 (despite several attempts by me earlier where she went to sleep but woke up as soon as I put her in the crib) and Morella followed suit at 1:30. The party started at 2, but we didn’t see any cars. Eventually I just wrapped the gift and took it over myself and learned that the party had been canceled due to illness. I stayed for a little bit, had some cake and admired the boys gifts. I came home, Tim left for Best Buy to buy a came after raking the yard one last time for the year and rested, putzed on the internet and wrote in my journal.

Neeners and Morella woke up and we had leftover venison stew for dinner, played some kinetic xbox, painted and then Neeners wanted to go to bed. After that it was another huge trial to get Morella to go to bed. That girl just doesn’t want to sleep. Instead she just wants to be crabby all day. SIL Sarah called and we agreed that brownies with frosting, candles and singing would be enough for the kids on Thanksgiving to recognize their birthday. After all, we are going to do something for Morella Tuesday for her actual birthday so it’s all good. She only really cares about the song, candles and frosting anyway.

I finished the day by studying some hochunk and watching The Walking Dead (and yes, entered for the third time for a chance to win a shambling walk on role — how cool would that be? For the record I also tried multiple times to win a role on Stargate SG1, but never won…obviously). I think Tim is taking the car tomorrow so I will have to wait until Monday night to go and buy Morella’s big birthday present — she is getting a bean bag, and one extra so Neeners won’t steal hers.

Busy day, and I’m tired yet again. Sorry for another short one…I’ll fill in the spaces tomorrow.

–Went to the bank to open an account for my Dad’s estate this morning
–Followed that by a grocery shopping trip sans kids at Cubs Foods
–Had our family photo take at a mini photo session with Zelora Images
–Naptime
–Went out with an old friend and his fiance for dinner at Alchemy followed by drinks at the Malt House, complete with a babysitter whom the kids love. Great night for everyone!
–The Communists came, it’s official – 15 1/2 months post partum…so in total, now 3 periods in the span of 47 months — isn’t too shabby.

I had a pretty awesome evening with my friend lowen. I made a venison crackpot roast dinner with biscuits for the family and headed off to pick up lowen to go to the holiday art fair at the overture center. It wasn’t that busy, we had lots of chocolate and toffee samples, got some super garlicky dip mix, and a super adorable hat for neeners that she won’t be able to pull off. After that we went ti Ian’s pizza for dinner and then to michaelaneglos (I can’t spell that after trying several times) for dessert and decaf.

Now I am home, one kid is in bed and sleeping and the other is fighting it. I am going to go to bed soon…I am tired!

I have kind of a tummy ache tonight so I am going to hit the hay soon. Tim is out having a drink with someone he met at the Pass conference last week and will be late. Last night he crashed at bed time, and tomorrow I have the girls for his gaming thing, so that will be three days in a row. Never fear, faithful readers, I have a line up of my own this weekend starting with a Holiday Art Fair on Friday night, dinner out with Tim and another couple Saturday night (complete with baby sitter) and hopefully brunch with some lady friends on Sunday late morning. I haven’t had such a booking of me only time in awhile!

Morella in motion

The proper Princess

Making Daddy his birthday card. It started with Neeners (doesn’t it always?) and soon both of them were “Washing their hair with paint”

Tim’s birthday cake that Morella and I made.