Ariana is now in charge.
20 Feb 2010 2 Comments
in children, everything but the kitchen sink, parenting, photography Tags: Ariana, parenting, Terry
Yep, my two-year old is now going to take care of us. She already tells us what she will and will not do, so why not have her just do everything? It’s preparation for the care she’ll give us when we are senile and drooling older.
Bedtime was her first task.
She had Terry lay down in her bed and gave him a kiss.
Then she covered him with her blanket.
She kindly gave him her Pooh Bear.
Then, she said “kiss!”
After kissing him, said “Night night, Daddy! Outside, Mommy!”
Then she took my hand and began to lead me out of the room.
I’m so proud of this man.
He puts up with a lot.
Happy Saturday!
fork -n- eggs
18 Feb 2010 12 Comments
in children, photography, writer's workshop Tags: Ariana
Open your picture folders…find a random “February” picture from a past year and tell a story.
This is Ariana (duh). She’s 13ish months old here, since it was February 2009. At this point in her life, she was not picky about food. She tried everything she was offered. She even offered to eat things we tried to keep her away from, like Terry’s socks and my prenatal vitamin container (NOT the vitamins themselves).
She’s eating eggs. This is her first time really using a fork. It’s an adult fork, no less. She could never be seen eating with a (gasp) BABY fork!
She had a little problem keeping the fork the right way up. Terry was helping her, so I’m not surprised.
(kidding)
Maybe she’s holding it the right way and the rest of us are wrong. Okay, maybe that’s a reach. But only a little.
She got it figured out now. She devoured those eggs! I didn’t even have to put cheese on them to bribe her to finish them up.
She makes her mama proud. Especially this picture with her mouth hanging open while she’s chewing.
If you’re just stopping by, leave a comment and I’ll be sure to get back to you :)
This post brought to you by the letter E, the number 13 and Mama Kat’s workshop. Oh and me, because I wrote it and took the pictures.
coffee is heavenly, laundry not so much
09 Feb 2010 1 Comment
in children, family, parenting Tags: Ariana, Harper, parenting
The girls forgot how to sleep this morning. Ariana got up around 6 and talked to her stuffed animals for about 30 minutes while Terry and I dozed as best as we could. Then she got tired of that and started to whine, then climbed in bed with me and proceeded to kick me for 15 minutes.
Lovely.
Terry, being the kind and intelligent husband he is, let me doze a little longer since Harper was still asleep and because he knew I’d be a sour puss (not a soup puss, which I originally typed- that’s funnier, but I am not a cat, nor am I cooking in chowder).
Harper managed to sleep in another 30 minutes and then I got up and became super mom.
Folding clothes with lightning fast speed! Vacuuming the floor while feeding the kids! Leaping over-stuffed laundry baskets in a single bound (okay, step. I was too tired to bound).
Alright, maybe I’m not as amazing as I am setting myself up to be, but I think I’m at least doing well- it’s only 10:30 am and I’ve already cleaned the entire bedroom, folded all the blankets, cleaned the floor, done a load of laundry and had one cup of coffee. I’ll take what little awesomeness I can offer myself.
10 Things I Never Knew Until I Became a Mom
04 Feb 2010 16 Comments
in children, family, parenting Tags: Ariana, Harper, motherhood, parenting
10. There are no days off. Ever.
No all-night parties that lead to sleeping in until 11 am. No sick days. No giving the child back to the real parents like you do when babysitting. Sigh.
9. Everything is dangerous. Even Kleenex.
Seriously. My daughter got hold of a box of tissues when we weren’t looking, promptly emptied the almost-brand-new box and ate half of them. Let me tell you, I made my husband change diapers for a week after that. Poor guy never saw it coming. Literally.
8. Every single person likes to offer unwanted advice. Even if you turn into a spazzing maniac, pulling your hair out and repeatedly yell “The voices! Make the voices stop!”
The best ones are the non-parents. Just offer me parenting advice. I’ll bop you in the nose. Hard.
7. There are a LOT of hours in the day.
And your children expect you to be at their beck and call during every single one of them. Even if they are sleeping.
6. Poopy diapers are easier and less gross to clean than a potty chair.
Ew. Just ew.
5. Sleeping like a baby actually refers to parents. The phrase should be “sleeping like a baby’s mom/dad”.
It’s true. Just ask the parents of a baby who has kept it’s parents up for 80 straight hours and they finally get to crash for 30 minutes. Their baby isn’t sleeping like a baby, they are.
4. There are 10,938,495 crumbs/ pieces of fuzz on the carpet at any given time.
And your child will find and eat it. Even if you vacuum 5000 times a day.
3. Everything is ridiculously dirty.
Have you looked at your shower grout recently? Behind the TV? Underneath the dining room table? It’s filthy, dusty and your child will put their hands in it and then insert their hand in their mouth. Yummy.
2. Baby wipes can be used for everything.
Cleaning the car’s dashboard, the kitchen counters, juice stains on the floor, everything. I will never doubt you again, wipes.
1. I have never loved as fully or as fiercely.
These girls are so sweet, so loving, so adorable and I love them to pieces. And then some.
I got this writing prompt from
Terry has decided he wants to own a ranch.
30 Jan 2010 Leave a Comment
in family, parenting Tags: Ariana, Terry
I mean, it’s an obsession. He knows the prices of chickens, cows, goats, coops, acre-age, fencing, you name it, he’s researched it. I have never seen a man so elated with the prospect of getting up extra-early every day to tend to cattle, etc. I should probably mention here that said-man grumbles and complains when his darling daughters cause him to rise before 6:30 every day. Just sayin’.
I think that he is being overly ambitious, especially given that we have $0 and no experience with farming or the like. I’ve never milked a cow or collected chicken eggs, I’ve never had to move hay bales or build a fence… and I can guarantee Terry hasn’t either. So who exactly is going to take care of the chicks when they are born? Who is going to herd the cattle?
Psh, not me.
And I’m certainly not taking care of poop.
Speaking of poop, Ariana is in full melt-down mode today. Okay, the poop transition was meant to be a transition from animal poop to children’s diapers, not in anyway indicating that I think my daughter is poopy or anything like that. You know what I meant. And if you didn’t, well, you should have.
Anyway. She has spent the entire day saying no to everything we ask or say, whether it’s food (me: “Do you want a banana?” A: “No.” me: “An apple?” A: “No.” me: “A pancake?” A: “No. Cookie?” me: “No.”), talking about her toys (me: “Stop taking Harper’s toys away” A: “No.” me: “Don’t make me tell you again to stop.” A: “No.” me: “Do you want to go in time-out?” A: “No.” me: “Then you need to behave.” A: “No.”), or, well, anything.
I can deal with lotsa parenting stuff, but a sassy, cranky, I’m-going-to-act-like-you-are-hanging-me-by-my-toenails-when-we’re-in-Walmart kind of a child drives me up the wall. I probably should get down from here and take care of things.
I went to the store and I bought… apple-pears!
29 Jan 2010 1 Comment
in children, food Tags: Ariana, Harper, TV
Last night as we shopped at one of our favorite stores, I ran across the most remarkable fruit: an apple-pear! I’ve never heard of such a thing, so of course, I bought six of them. The description said something about them having the crunch of an apple mixed with the sweetness of a pear.
I think that apple-pears are going to be the perfect substitute in one of my favorite side dishes: fresh tortillas with monterey jack cheese and pear slices. I’m going to make them tonight along with chicken enchiladas and I’m already hungry for dinner!
Yesterday, I went to the store to pick up a new stock-pot for my mother-in-law’s birthday present and while I did end up buying the stock-pot, I also bought a chair for Ariana, two giant muffin pans for me and an asparagus steamer for Terry.
Poor Harper got gypped, so I, being the fair and loving mama that I am, will have to buy her something when I go out today. I won’t mention that I love buying things for my family, so any excuse is a good one.
Terry is watching BSG again today, I think he said it’s season 4. When he buys all the seasons, I’ll actually watch it, but I hate jumping in when it’s not the beginning of the series.
Ariana is currently pretending to saw my leg off with a wooden knife, so I suppose that is my signal to stop rambling on such a boring post.
If you’re reading this and would like to give me some ideas of things you’d enjoy reading in the future, I’d appreciate it. If you’d rather email me, as many of you do, that is fine too! Have a good Friday!
maybe we should teach her a new word. and gesture.
28 Jan 2010 Leave a Comment
in children, family, parenting Tags: Ariana
Ariana is extremely smart. I’m not saying this in the I’m-her-mama-and-I-know-that-my-baby-is-the-next-einstein kind of way, I’m saying this in the really-I-swear-she-does-more-than-pick-her-nose-and-scream-in-public kind of way.
She tries to repeat every word you say to her and can form short sentences (“I want cookies”, “I love you, mommy. Pie?”, “Harper sleeping”, etc.) and she seems to gain more knowledge every day. She also has an incredible understanding of, well, everything. If you tell her to clean up, for example, she sings “Clean up! Clean up!” and puts all of her toys away. She is a smart cookie.
However.
She was taught one word that she will. not. stop. saying. And gesturing about.
Are you ready?
Boobies. Complete with an extremely inappropriate grabbing gesture. Courtesy of Terry’s friend’s fiancé.
Now this may not seem like THAT big of a deal, and it may seem funny (which it really is), but the amusement wears off when we take Harper’s shirt off and Ariana yells “boobies!” and tries to grab them. Or when she yells it at a woman with a low-cut shirt in public.
Yes, I think we need to teach her a replacement word. Something less embarrassing, like dinky (meaning something small, not… well, never mind).
hello kitty persona
27 Jan 2010 Leave a Comment
in everything but the kitchen sink Tags: Ariana, Harper, hello kitty
**If you’ve ended up on this page, welcome to the most-viewed post on my blog, thanks to my Hello Kitty photo!**
Imagine my delight when I opened my Firefox browser this morning and was offered to “change my persona”! I was thrilled at the prospect of becoming a new person and was in the middle of deciding who I would become as I clicked the install button. Apparently, you do not become a new person. Filled with disappointment and a little anger, I browsed the themes that I could use to decorate my browser with. And then I saw it.
The Hello Kitty Persona.
It’s pink. It has Hello Kitty in a raincoat standing under an umbrella.
I clicked. Quickly.
Now, whenever I glance up to go to one of my bookmarked buttons, Hello Kitty stares at me in all her mouthless wonder and makes me happy.
Oh, the small things in life.
Ariana is wearing the outfit she wore for her birthday extravaganza at my Mom’s and keeps telling us, “My bert-day! Pe-sant? Cookies?” which translates to “It’s my birthday! Presents? Cake?” She spent part of the morning in the bedroom playing while Terry cleaned and I took care of Harper… she stood at the foot of her bed and said “cart?” and proceeded to try to push the bed around, to no avail.
I’m feeling better today, if you define better as “slightly less sick and 1000 times more achy, but able to eat cheerios for breakfast.” Now I’m lounging on the couch watching Ariana play with fake eggplant and broccoli… she’s getting upset that they are not behaving and yelling “EIEIO! Cow!” at them. That should definitely help a lot.
is she really old enough for a toddler bed?
26 Jan 2010 1 Comment
in children, family Tags: Ariana, parenting, Terry, toddlers
Terry put together Ariana’s toddler bed today (as you can see from the last post), with Ri’s help, of course. It took about an hour, plus the time it took him to take the head and foot boards apart and reassemble them because the stupid directions left a part out.
After we (I was taking pictures the whole time, so obviously I was part of the process, right?) got the bed together, Terry and I spent about 3 hours rearranging the room. We discussed all the possible hazards in the room and moved the bed here, there, out into the kitchen to reconsider, back in, back, forth… it was awful.
We ended up (much to Terry’s dismay) putting the bed back where Ariana’s pack-n-play was before… I of course decided this after Terry moved the heavy bookshelf and every other piece of furniture in the bedroom somewhere else.
After we got everything in place, we talked about baby/toddler-proofing the room. Oh, you should have seen us… we spent those 3 hours walking through the bedroom saying “can she get into this? what about this? what happens if she climbs up the bookcase and swings from the curtain?” as if we would put her in the bedroom and go to the store.
After all of this, Terry and I ate our diet dinner, which was 1 cup of carrots, 1 cup of green beans, chicken, an apple and 1 cup of vanilla ice cream. Blech! I had been hungry before the dinner, but I was struggling to get through the apple and ice cream. 10 minutes after dinner was over, I was craving popcorn, so I brewed a pot of coffee and drank the whole thing in about 15 minutes. Mmm.
Ariana whined for 5 minutes in her bed, then fell asleep. If it’s possible, she looks even cuter in a toddler bed!
