Resolutions

Okay, blogosphere, I want to hear your plans for the new year. I plan to eat more healthfully, trade Katie in for a baby that sleeps, and put Maddy on Prozac. Just kidding about the last two, although I have wondered aloud if it's too late to take Katie back. She's been a mess after being sick for a whole MONTH. (Two back to back colds and a stomach virus.) Last night was officially "let her cry and get back on track" night, which basically means if she pops up too early, I just ignore the noise. I'm fine if she wants a bottle around five or six am since she tends to need an extra long night to be a happy baby (I'm talking a 13 to 14 hour night), but if she is not ill or having a bad dream I refuse to get up at midnight, 3am, etc. She's fifteen months old, people. This is ridiculous. Last night it was her 3am wake-up call. It lasted until almost 5am. She is quite tenacious, I'll say that for her. And being her mother, I could tell it started with an "excuse me, I'm awake, service please" grumble that escalated into flat-out ticked off screaming because no one was at her beck and call the way I was for the last month because of illness. Once she stopped trying to wake the neighbors, she slept, popped up for that early bottle at 6:30 then back down until around 9. And woke up so sweet and happy that you never would have known that she and the shrieking devil from 3am were the same child. (Speaking of devil, she texted my brother "666" while she was playing with my phone once. It totally freaked him out. I, however, was not so surprised.) Anyway, let me know what your plan for 2009 is and I'll be filling in more details on mine when I am a bit more well rested. I leave you with this picture. This is my hope and prayer for my baby and myself tonight.

Seven Quick Takes (Vol. 5)

1. My mother doesn't trust the internet. I don't mean she doesn't fall for the "You've won the lottery in France" emails. I mean we found an awesome deal at Amazon.com on something she'd already bought and she refused to return the gift bought in a store and order from Amazon. To the tune of saving around $35. She just can't believe that it's the exact same product and it's that much cheaper.


2. You remember how I posted that my children don't ever do real sign language? Well, I tried and tried to teach the baby the sign for "more" because when she's in the high chair and wants something else to eat she tends to point and scream at me like I'm deaf. I tried this for literally weeks and then gave up. I haven't even attempted to show her that sign again in forever. Lately, she's been trying to say lots of words, even trying to say "more" when I prompt her. My mother visited today and I asked Katie to say "more" to show off her blossoming speech skills and she SIGNED it. And consistently signed and tried to say it the rest of Mama's visit. That little rat.

3. My three year old told me yesterday that she didn't like me. I'm obviously doing my job as a mother. She also apologized at bedtime and said, "I'm sorry I said I didn't like you, Mommy. Sometimes little girls don't like their mommies." Wow. I didn't think she'd make that discovery until at least the preteen years.

4. My one year old has ANOTHER cold. She hadn't even had any totally snot-free days since her last cold that came right before Thanksgiving. I think maybe God giggled when He made her and threw in a couple of slug genes just for fun. She is the single-most mucous producing child I have ever seen. Not the constant clear drippage of an allergic child, but you let her get a cold and her body's only defense seems to be as much snot as her little nose can crank out. Not even a nice little fever to help fight it off, just snot, snot, and more snot.

5. I kind of wish we could get cat. I know the girls would love something furry in the house to love on. I'm not quite ready for a dog, but cats are low maintenance enough that I think I could handle one of those. On the down side, my husband would probably have to move out or his eyes would be permanently swollen shut, hideously bloodshot (stuck with a hot poker bloodshot), and he would start having trouble breathing. When you weigh it all out, it's just not quite worth it.

6. I so need to wrap presents. No, not one is actually wrapped. And no, they're not even all bought.

7. Would it be bad if I toted up all the little people in my house (little people toys, not actual midgets) and just hid them in the basement and brought them all out on my baby's second birthday as part of her gifts? My oldest is pretty much done with them, and the little one isn't really into them yet and I'm so tired of organizing them into their little sets. Okay I rarely do it, but it's such an exercise in futility that I'd like to not even see them for a few months.

See the other quick takes at http://conversiondiary.com/.

Seven Quick Takes (Vol. 4)

And away we go!
1. I drank whiskey last night. I'm not a complete teetotaler. I will have a drink once a year or so, but last night was purely for medicinal reasons. I have bronchitis and a friend of my mother's sent me some whiskey to try and quiet my cough. It was somewhat effective, but I couldn't help but wonder, when I got that slightly loopy feeling, what's the lure of this stuff? Why do some people like to go out and drink and get all crazy? I didn't even get the giggles. I always just feel like I need a nap. I would so not be fun drunk. I actually had someone tell me once that since I tend to be fairly happy sober, I would probably be a lousy drunk. I agree.

2. My house is dirty. Let me clarify: dirty-er than usual. I have had bronchitis for a week, both the kids have had colds, and the oldest has had some sort of weird potty training regression that almost made me lose my mind. If my energy levels ever return to normal, I have got some serious cleaning to do just to get us back up to plain old dirty, instead of almost unliveable conditions.

3. You know the buttons that come with clothes so that you have a spare button should you lose one? I have carelessly tossed these buttons, still in their tiny ziplock bags, in the top drawer in Maddy's room since her birth. She recently discovered them, has started calling them her "treasure" and will honestly have a stroke if I dare to mess with them or deny her access to them for any reason. I mean literally a jumping up and down, freaking out, fit. She has already had a time out in her bed today purely because of the fit she threw when she thought I was going to take them away.

4. My one year old licked the glass door at a McDonalds play area tonight. Ew. I could only see her from behind while she was watching her Nanny purchase a SECOND happy meal because they dared to give my three year old a boy toy instead of a purple pony unicorn. I should have had the baby lick a petri dish after just to see what would culture out.

5. Poor Britney. That's one screwed up girl. That's all I've got to say about that.

6. My pastor's wife posted on Facebook for everyone to fill her in on their favorite song. The ONLY song that jumped into my head was "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix a Lot. I shuffled through a few Christian songs in my head and then decided I was just trying to think of a way to suck up. Honestly, "Baby Got Back"? I haven't even heard that song in forever. But I really do love it.

7. My husband has finally succumbed to the billions of germs floating around in our house. Pray for me.
Sorry, almost forgot to add the link. Here's everyone else's quick takes: http://conversiondiary.com.