A Bad Night Before A Day

Last night I found myself in bed with a head racing around with a multitude of thoughts about nothing in particular. After thirty minutes or so of head reeling fun I decided to head back downstairs to sit and pray in the dark cool room alone before trying to drift back to sleep.

When I came back to bed my husband was sprawled out in a much needed deep sleep snoring louder than the lion's den at the SF zoo probably sounds at night. Sigh. I creep into my spot and lay there listening to sonic snoring for about 2 hours until the baby coughs. I go check on the baby and come back to find I have no blankets of any kind. Well, I know I've done that to him before so it's my turn. I lay down and try to find my inner silence.

Snore. SNORE. Snore. At 1:43 am I went to the spare bed in the baby's room to try to find solice. Snore. snore.snore. OMG I can still hear it. So I get up and shut our bedroom door and the baby's bedroom door. Which of course wakes up the baby. The last time I looked at the clock before she went to sleep it was 2:30 am. She played with stuffed animals, my buttons, the pillow cases, her toes and eventually fell asleep with her left foot laying on my forehead, calf across my face and left thigh practically in my mouth.

I actually fell asleep like that. She of course woke up at 6 am her normal "early" time. (Wake up here ranges from 6-7:40) and I realize I am still exhausted so I let her play a bit in the bed until she literally crawls on top of me, opens my mouth, puts her face to my face and yells "UUUUU PPPPTTTT".... I hear ya kid we're getting up.

After a short pit stop where I drop her off on sleeping daddy so I can go pee we tumble downstairs to get her breakfast. I make and egg. She throws it on the floor. I give her a cereal bar. She puts it on the seat next to her. I make toast...she eats 3 bites. I give up and give her a bigger than normal AM bottle and park her in front of Johnny in the Sprites while I quickly drink enough Pepsi to get me to almost conscience.

She skipped all the important naps in the morning. Wouldn't eat and took great joy in getting really close to me and screaming. Lovely day. When she finally goes down for a nap my girlfriend in WA reminds me I should take a nap too... somewhere between going pee and throwing away my soda can I get distracted by the dishes, overflowing kitchen counter and dirty floor. I clean instead.

Next thing I know I've auto piloted to the second nap which Daddy puts her down for and now I've got so much pepsi in me I can't sleep so I send the hubby out for the first adult meal of the day at 2 pm.

Nap bleeds into snack time, which rolls over into a cookie bribery to buy me 3 more minutes of quiet, and then some backyardigans while Daddy gets ready for work and her bath which by the way is the only time she was truly a pleasure to deal with all day. After that she hated her Pjs so I had to change them and then when Daddy left for work she cried on the floor for 11 minutes... not that I was counting.

Bedtime bottle seemed to take forever and she was in bed 15 minutes before normal. Crying again. So I sat outside the door and sang L-O-V-E until she calmed down and laid down. Her head...hit pillow... and it was quiet... almost instantly.

So do I sleep? No, now I've got my third wind. So instead I'll blog and talk on the phone. But you better bet I'll have a shower and be in bed by 10 tonight. Mommy needs a time out.

New Townhouse Upstairs- Master Bedroom

This is the master bedroom. One half (this one) is the office...
And the other half is a bedroom...
There is also a full wall closet in this room and a door to the attic which we use for storage is like a whole additional giant closet.

New Townhouse Upstairs- Layla's Room

Welcome to the babies room... This is our book basket. I think books are very important so we have them everywhere... in the car, in the toybox, by the bed, and on the shelves... Her Grandma Teri made that cute stool which we'll be using when we start standing to brush our teeth. (The room came with butterflies on it (by the way))

This is Layla's corner with her crib in it (the book basket is behind the crib and beyond that a wall length closet). The rocking chair is the one my mother rocked me in and now I rock Layla in it sometimes. The blanket my dad had custom made for her. And yes... she is free standing in the crib with no hands and I do feel old.
This is the spare bed. We managed to get it into Layla's room. Behind it hangs her first feet/hand prints and a cross we got at her baby dedication. It's pretty cute. These are the stuffies that I've let her keep for now... there are already too many.
The other corner houses her bookshelf, her piggy bank collection, and some pictures of her cousins. (plus toys and a hamper)
The wall with her dresser and changing table on it is covered with colorful frames (right now with no pictures in them) but which will soon house family pictures once I retake them with the right people in the right position to fit in the frame.

And that's Layla's room. It's strategically placed so that as soon as she can walk we'll move her to the big spare bed, get rid of the crib and changing table and she'll have room to play. Good thinking no?

The New Townhouse- Upstairs

So I'm finally getting around to blogging about the rest of the house. For two reasons, first off... it's finally done, and secondly... my cousin in Germany asked for pictures so I'm feeling a little motivated.

This is the view from upstairs at the top of our landing....




This is the top of the stairs. The door goes to Layla's room.

Then there is the door to our room on the opposite side...

There is also a master bathroom upstairs...this is the door... I don't think you need pictures of that.

To LaylaBug @ 11 Months Old

My Daring Little LoveBug,

May I start by saying Holy F**k you are 11 months old. (Don't use that word until you're at least 13 ok?) Anyhow... I can't believe you're 11 months old. This week I found myself planning your 1st Birthday Bash and booking a reservation at the local park and I felt OLD and like I had missed so much time. But the truth of the matter is that I have been blessed. I have missed hardly any time with you this first year of your life. Less than 3 months you spent days with Daddy and Auntie Mel and the rest of it I was here.

I see every funny face you make. I understand every word you say (well almost). I know what you want. I understand you. It's like you are a part of me walking around and yet you are so completely you...independent of me. It's something I could never find words to explain and yet it is so blatantly clear in my heart.

I got to see your first smile, your first roll over, your first scoot (on your back I might add) and now that you're older I got to hear your first words, first sentences, first 12 teeth (yes I said you already have 12 teeth). I got to see your first 2 free and purposeful steps today. I got to watch you walk from the kitchen counter to the oven as I yelled no and you got to learn what the word HOT really means. But, I got to be here to kiss away your little tears and give you a bite of my cupcake and ease the pain by making rasberries on your bare tummy.

You are fearless so I was not suprised when this evening the hot oven was merely something to tempt fate with. After all, within minutes of living here you figured out how to climb up stairs and within the first day you decided sliding down them on your belly was a great solution for getting down. That gives me a heart attack so we let you do that while Daddy supervises.

Face first, is also the way you get off the couch, down from people holding you, off beds and high chairs and over most objects. You will strech, bend, climb and tumble without so much as a whimper and I fear that you will someday outsport any extreme adventure boy who dares to double dog dare you. You just have to figure out how to stop walking along furniture and then Mommy is going to need to watch you like a hawk.

You're also exceptionally verbal. You know at least 25 words (which you can say) about 15 of which you say so clearly I don't have to translate for you. You have great joy in telling me and others what you want and need and express great frustration if they stop doing what you want. But, you also love to be curious so when things aren't going how you expect you just toddle off to the next adventure.

You talk to Nana on the phone every single day. Usually you talk to her in the morning while she drives to work. Thanks to Nana you know all about the cell phone and it is not uncommon for you to pick mine up and hand it to me and say "nana" until I dial her for you. You say "hi nana" and you weave tall tales of baby gibberish and just like that you are done and you will hand her back to me and wonder away.

You love music. You dance along with the TV, silly songs we sing, the car stereo and even to things that aren't really music like the windchimes outside or kids dribbling a basketball outside the door. You really like Jack's Big Music Show on Noggin and will tap your feet or clap along with the songs. You also like Johnny and the Sprites on Disney and you dance when the sprites fly around.

You're a random sort of girl. You love dolls and your Abbey Caddabby, but you also love cars and blocks. You are very into Cars both the toys and the movie. You vroom a lot and wave them back and forth. You could be quite the little grease monkey some day as you're currently trying to figure out how exactly your play walk ride car works. Then the next minute you are all about pink socks, hair prettys and pretending to play with a stuffed pink carebear.

You also love adult foods, you eat everything but green beans regardless of how spicy, or different it might be. You can eat a whole egg, 2 sausages and half a pancake on a Saturday morning breakfast plate at Perkos. You eat horseradish with bites of mommy's steaks. You like chinese and mexican food. You'll even eat spicy italian sausage without any complications.

You are really into getting applause right now so you'll make the sound of an elephant, doggy, or you'll dance, or sometimes you'll wave or play peek a boo. It's amazing to watch you interact with other people. You love to make others laugh. Mommy taught you to do the "wax on, wax off" from Karate Kid when people ask you if you are fast like a ninja. I also taught you to stick out your tongue and stick your fist in the air when someone asks you if you are a rock star. That's how I entertain myself during the day... watching you dance, blow like an elephant and stick out your tongue on command.

In fact there are very few things about you that aren't full of joy and peace. You take naps easily, you sleep through the night in your own bed, you only fuss when your diaper is stinky (although now that you say STHINKTHY (stinky) I don't even have to deal with that much), you love the bath and the pool, you love other little kids, you love the grandparents you see often and some of the ones you don't see often, you love the car, you love the house, you love playing in the lawn, you love the park, the grocery store, and even the stroller.

You know what you don't like? It's a shorter list. Let's see... Green beans, cats, men with fuzzy beards (sorry Godfather George's Dad), hitting your head when you fall, Keith Urban music videos, mean kids, and um... let's see... being held down or not allowed to do what you want. But, if we say no you always stop doing things... so even that you're good about.

You're such a good baby... and soon you won't be a baby any more. But, you'll always be my baby. Or as I call you now that you're talking and almost walking... my baby big girl. I love you to the moon and stars and back again baby girl... and then some.

Love,

Mommy

Happy Birthday Hubby

Things I love about my hubby on his birthday....

1. I love the way he can light up the room when he laughs.

2. I love the way my daughter yells at the baby gate for him to come home because he loves her so well.

3. I love the way he loves me when I'd much rather be an unlovable grump.

4. I love his competitive nature.

5. I love how honestly calm he can be.

6. I love how if I had to list everything I love about him I would have to pay for more blog space.

Happy birthday Big Daddy Jon!

A Dang Good Guy

This morning without prompting my husband decided to get up when the baby got up and let me sleep in. Downstairs I could hear the breakfast and morning giggles as I tried to slip back to sleep.

Turns out if you get up at 7 am for 10 months with your daughter you will not be able to sleep past 7:45 no matter how much you tease your husband about needing sleep.

My darn good husband kept her entertained while I tried the sleeping thing, while I leisurely checked my emails, while I took a long HOT shower (with the showerhead from hell) and even agreed to go with me to the party supply store and to get the baby a Halloween costume at the consignment baby store before all the good ones run out.

So now we have table clothes, plates and napkins, a tiara, a banner and even some favor bags. We also own a ladybug costume that just needs a set of antenna, some new baby brown cargo pants and a few baby tshirts. I feel much more caught up now that I'm actually working on things over a month out like I used to thanks to my husband being a dang good guy.

Upron Strings

I find it crammed into a shelf at the local Target and I don't even look at the price tag. It is pink and white gingham print with white ribbon ties and I am instantly transported back to the age of 5 when I put on the blue and white apron in Grandma Gerty's kitchen to help someone make something they could have made faster, easier and cleaner without me. Layla must have it.

At the check out counter I learn it was from the dollar bin. It cost more than the hand me down relic that I learned to cook in. But, it is priceless.

I pull it out of the bag sitting in my livingroom and show it to my daughter. In a few months I tell her, she will get to wear this apron and learn to stir things for Christmas cookies. She lurches it from my hand and spins it around in the air.

She doesn't understand. She probably won't understand until she is a grown woman one day and she passes a tiny apron in a store and instantly it is a priceless chance to duplicate a memory.

Post Bash Update

We went to dinner and shared a few laugh filled stories, then to bowl in wacky looking shoes while mocking each other, and when we were done their could have been stories to tell... but I'm not telling them...

Morning found us tired and happy. I spent my morning going to breakfast with the baby and family and letting the soon to be birthday boy sleep in. Then I ran an errand and vegged out watching the Food Network. I had a surprise visit with a sister in law who was dropping something off and the kids played awhile. I made a brocolli salad and the baby covered the kitchen floor with toys from her cabinet.

My house is covered with a thin layer of curly straws, wooden blocks, dirty socks and used towels. My tummy is full. Through the baby monitor I can hear Canon in D from the nursery where someone tired finally lost the battle against having a second nap today.

The boys are off having therapy. Shooting things, talking crap, talking non-crap... And I'm off to my personal solice... the kitchen... to discover a new part of me something that involves chipolte peppers I think...

Wow... Is it Friday already?

I feel like this week blew by in a blur. Charter had to come 5 times to fix the cable at our new townhouse but it appears to finally be working correctly and consistantly. All that waiting for Charter between baby meals, baby baths and baby mischief made for a wickedly tired week.

Tonight we'll be celebrating Jon's birthday with a group of friends. We're going out for steaks and possibly a couple games of pool and some beer. My daughter will be staying with Nana Lorrie so I can enjoy myself without worrying about bedtime and baths being missed.

It's the start of the 2nd birthday season around here. Cousin Faith's & my Godson Pheonix's birthdays just past and this week is Jon's and little cousin Marliegh turns the big 1-0! Then September holds a step-in-laws, my mother, Layla, Melissa, Collin, and of course Miss Layla with the first week of October being GodFather George, and Cousin Nevaeh's birthday as well. I think I'll invest in Hallmark soon.

Did I mention that my second anniversary is coming up too?? No, I think I skipped that. I'm thinking about a day at the beach with the hubby and the baby so we can take her to the sand/surf for the first time and we can get out of the house. I think we'll try for a mid-week trip depending on when Jon's days off are so that we don't have to fight the crowds in Monterey or Capitola. Or maybe we'll go to Santa Cruz....

Who's got a good travel recommendation??

Find Joy in the Little Things

I came that you may have and enjoy life and have it in abundance,until it overflows. - John 10:10

He will fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy. - Job 8:21

The New Livingroom & Downstairs

This is that same little window from the other side in the living room. The photos are Jon's siblings and their kids. The DVD and CD rack are behind the couch to deter the child from emptying them on the floor. The empty wall above the DVD rack is a space saved for Layla's 1 yr old pic.
This is the livingroom. The basket is Layla's toys which you can see she's already been into. The TV is on Jack's Big Music Show because I was doing this right after she woke up at 7 am. The pictures are Pirates of the Carribean prints we got in Disneyland last year...or the year before.
The "end table" is actually an antique sewing machine that's been in our family forever. (Look I did a load of whites...yay me!!)
This is the side of the stair well. The piano sits there and our wedding picture...oh and our cute kid is there. You can also see the entrance to the kitchen back behind Layla.

The New Kitchen & Dining Room

This is the kitchen, please excuse the lived in look, we actually live here.
This small bar window looks into the living room. The door to the left is a small half bathroom.
This is the Dining Room. The barstools on the right run along the kitchen counter. The door you're looking at goes to the back yard. Next to the high chair there are 2 doors (the garage and a pantry closet under the stairs)
This is my cookbook shelf now. Doesn't it look nice?

All moved in... pictures soon

I can’t find the baby’s toothbrush, the shower curtain sucks and the stairs are quite a workout on the arse but we’re all moved in.

It took several days, lots of boxes, a few good friends and about 300 trips up or down a stair case while panting and holding something covered with dust and slightly larger than my arm span but we’ve done it.
I must give incredible thanks to my husband who probably topped my 300 trips up the stairs and 30 trips in the car back and forth in a car filled with stuff three fold. Jon slaved in over 100 degree heat, mostly by himself for several days even when 2 of them involved getting up at 3 am and then moving stuff until at least 10 pm. I owe him.

We’re not all decorated, put away and cleaned up but I’m getting closer by the hour, baby permitting. We were blessed in that my mom was willing to take a no pay day at work to play Nana Distraction while we moved copious amounts of crap. She also unpacked, made beds and made jokes when I really wanted to scream (and even more that one time I went to the garage and actually screamed)

The babies room is adorable. Her crib fit in great with the spare bed and the little butterflies already on the wall. Once I get everything hung up in there I will post pictures.

Our room took a little more plugged in capacity, squeezing our bed, the office desk and the bookshelf into one space and suddenly sharing a closet but we managed smashingly and even have some extra floor.

I put my dresser in the hallway using it fill a strange void and to store my clothing was a handy alternative to bumping into it every day at the foot of the bed.
Downstairs the living room fit wonderfully into the space we had, we even got to the put the piano someplace were it looks nice. And as for the dining room, we might even ACTUALLY dine in there now that the table and high chair fit so nicely.
My kitchen was the first thing unpacked and yet it still feels not like my kitchen. Perhaps it’s because I haven’t fired up a burner yet and gotten my sauté on. But don’t you worry, more recipes will be up on FatGirlEats now that I can cook without worrying about where the baby is all the time.

Between the attic storage, the garage and the Harry Potter cupboard under the stairs we’ve got plently of storage with room to spare and even more impressive, room for my car in the garage. Yay Us!

And we did most of it with a smile on our faces. There is something to be said for that.

Old Post- Living Inbetween

I wrote this also, while we didn't have cable internet...

Day 1 before move actually was more like day 3 of moving. We got our keys early and by the night before our actual move the only things remaining in our house was our bedroom, the big items of furniture that required a moving truck and my family.

My daughter didn’t take it too well. Playing all day in a house with your toys in them that doesn’t look like the house you’ve always lived in and then going back to what should feel like home but doesn’t have anything in it but you’re mommy and a crib that look familiar was by far a stressful toddler event.

By Thursday she was clearly distraught, not sleeping well, not eating well and not digesting well. So Friday morning, the day of the big move we made a few trips with short naps in her crib between them and the first thing Daddy moved the next day was her bed. I did my best to set it up just like it had been at home and she drifted off to sleep without too much hassle.

The safety of knowing mommy, her toys and her food was downstairs instantly removing most of her concerns and replacing them with a morbid curiosity about the stair case, oven and garage door. Remarkably she can climb stairs already and we’ll start working on supervised down-stairs climbs now that we’re all moved in. Until the baby gate helps me to sleep at night (or to do dishes without having an anxiety attack)

Seems she comfortable with anywhere as long as that somewhere doesn’t involve living inbetween.

Why I Hate Charter w/ Update

So when I didn't have internet I wrote this...

I called around the 9th of August to make arrangements to move my cable service to our new house. Cable was set to be turned off on the 15th at one house and turned on that same day at the new house (with the cable phone service turned on the following Monday).

Imagine my surprise when on Wednesday I arrived home to find my cable service off. I decided I must have missed a bill or something and called the customer service number only to find that I was not past due but instead someone had made a typo during my phone request so the service had been disconnected at the street. Turning it back on would take a service order in 3-5 days so I just confirmed my appointment at the new place and decided to suck it up with no internet, cable, or telephone.

The 15th rolled around and we had the TV and computer all set up to wait for the Charter rep to arrive. 12-4 was my service window so at 4:30 I called to see where the rep was and was told he had to tried to call me he was running late and would be there in 55 minutes (random time?) I confirmed they had the right address and the right telephone number and resumed my role of waiting for the service rep.

At 5:45 I called again this time I was told the rep had tried to come twice and we weren’t home (we’d been there/3 of us since 11 am) and that I couldn’t get him to come back the same day so I spoke to a supervisor (in not a nice way) and explained to him that for a person to come to my place he would have HAD to drive past it to get back out and not only would we have seen him and stopped him but he couldn’t have missed the number on the house because it’s white on black so he HAD to be lying.

I was then told no more reps were working (after being told they work until 8 pm and not to worry about it the first time I called) and that a new service appointment was being set for me on Tuesday. (Two days after we wanted to watch a pay per view and almost a week after our internet service went off rendering me blogless, emailless and without the ability to job search)
I went a little crazy on the phone and better yet I hatched a plan.

Monday morning 8 am will find me standing outside the cable office locally waiting for the first supervisor I can find.

God have mercy on his soul.

** Update**

Turns out Charter didn't open until 8:30 but I was there when they did. I talked to the girl at the counter about why I wanted to speak to a manager (I could see the two managers watching us on a screen in an office which was funny) and when I was done she got me a manager pretty quickly.

While one manager talked to me (telling the whole story again from the notes I brought with me) the other one went to the dispatch area and I heard yelling start. Apparently it's not ok to lie to a customer. Go figure.

I was assured that between 3-5 pm on Monday not only would my phone service (for which I had an appointment) be set up but also my cable and internet. He got here at 4:45... I was almost ready to fume again. But this time I knew what I was going to do if he didn't show up. You see now I have the local direct number, the managers cell number, a $40 credit and free DVR for a month.

But, more importantly... now we have cable!

I only yelled a little

We have internet! Praise Jesus and pass the popcorn. I'll post the whole story tonight and some Laylabug pics but for now I'm going to go stare blankly at the TV.

Love Ya Bye!

No Internet No Worries

Just so everyone knows, our cable internet service was messed up by the company that takes care of it. Because of a typo and a bad service representative we've not had service for 5 days with another 2 days left before there MIGHT be service.

We are alive. We are moved. I will be posting lots of pre-written blogs soon.

As for now I'm borrowing internet service for 10 minutes to check my job related emails so I have to go.

Sorry and I'll be back soon!

Two Days & Counting

Today I'll be picking up the keys to the new place. No one can find the mailbox key so I can't forward our mail yet but other than that there haven't been any real hitches. My mom (Nana Lorrie) is coming Friday to help us move the big stuff (she's renting a trailer and bringing her husbands suburban). Until then, we'll be fixing a few things up, cleaning a little and moving some small stuff while the air conditioner is on to cool things down for Friday.

Layla is starting to get anxious. She doesn't know what all these piles of boxes mean and so she spends a lot of time crawling around looking at them trying to figure them out.

There will be a few days without a home phone number, so if you're trying to reach us call our cells.

There will also be a few days with minimal blogging due to having to move the desk.

Day 3- Anything but Packing

Today I would have been packing but my good friend has been down visiting from Washington for a month and this is her last week. She'll be leaving back towards Washington on Friday when we're moving everything we own. Layla is in love with her son and I think she will be heartbroken and I will understand because I will be heartbroken as well, it's been nice having a friend like this one so close to home for awhile. I'm not-so-secretly hoping she's planning on moving back home. But, she's probably not doing that soon so I'm keeping my hopes nice and luke warm.

So today instead of a day with my boxes and tape I drove to the town I grew up in, picked her up and brought her back to Turlock where we ate lunch, watched the kids play and talked about everything from "getting crazy with the cheez whiz" to highschool to both our latest family drama. She got to know my hubby better which was awesome and I got to tease my God son.

It was a great day.