ZOO!

Today we all woke up from a nap at lunchtime and were watching Animal Planet. Hailey started going nuts and stomping her feet and running around and growling and tweeting and meowing watching all the animals. D says "Hey let's go to the zoo"...so he checked the weather for good ol' St. Louie on the internet and we loaded up the cat and headed out, just like that. We got there mid-afternoon and it couldn't have been a more perfect day to go. Not very hot, overcast, perfect weather for the zoo! Hailey had a BLAST. This was her longest car ride so far, and she did wonderfully. Sleeping a little, talking to us, reading some books. And she LOVED the zoo. She loves animals! In the primate house she ran around "hi monkeys! hi monkeys!" and since it was about 6:00 by the time we got to that part, some of the monkeys were pretty tired and laying down, so she said "night night monkeys!" Every time we'd leave an animal cage she would say "bye!" We saw elephants nuzzling each other and she said "awwww"...she was just too cute all day. We went in the penguin house, which is kept at a very low temp for the birds and she said "cold!" the whole time we were in there. When we were looking at all the bears we came upon a pen with a little furry bear high up on the cliff...I told D not to bother stopping because she wouldn't notice it anyway, but boy was I wrong. She saw it right away, and pointed and exclaimed "monkey!" In her defense, it did look a bit like a monkey up there. She saw the huge tortoises and said "rock"...there was no convincing her, seeing as how they weren't moving. I think the place she loved the most was the reptile house. She got to see snakes for the first time, and she LOVED them! One was slithering all along the glass like it was trying to get out and she loved putting her hand right up next to it...she'd say "snake!" She got so excited at seeing one little snake that she started stomping and stomping like crazy, which is what she does when she steps on bugs. When she saw the anaconda she pointed at his head and said "eyes"...she's such an observant little girl! Hailey had a great first trip to the zoo.

After the zoo we stopped by D's grandparents' house since they live about 15 minutes away from the zoo. Hailey warmed up to their house very quickly and loved their huge front window that is low enough to the ground for her to walk up to and look out. She kept going over and putting her hands on the windowsil and saying "Outside! Cars outside!" And then she started asking for Cheerios because it was about dinner time, so she started carrying those back and forth to the windowsil while exclaiming "Cheeos!" His grandparents got such a kick out of her. She ate half their container of blueberries, which they thought was so neat. She would push her empty bowl across the table to his grandma and ask "more?" and she'd fill it back up and Hailey would said "Thank you!" Finally we had to cut her off, I think she would have eaten the whole container!

It's after midnight, we didn't get home til about 11:15 or so. Hailey went to sleep right away, she was so happy to see her crib. She was uncomfortable in her seat on the way home and woke up quite a few times crying. She's majorly teething right now running a temp. about 99.6 and drooling like crazy, but we figured the outing today would be a great distraction for her and boy were we right. Hopefully she'll sleep in tomorrow and get a good nights sleep. I can't wait to get the pictures from today developed!! Tomorrow I'll post some pics...

My baby knows our song!!

Ok I just had to share this with you all...I really need to be taking my shower, but oh well. Tonight I took Hailey on a walk, she rode in her little car buggy thing and saw some birds and yelled "bird!" and then saw some ducks and yelled "duck!" "bye bye duck!" and then saw these big rocks(boulders really) and touched them and I told her rock so she said "rock" over and over. Then we saw a baby bunny and she said "bunny!" So I was already pretty proud...rock and bunny are new words, so that's a total of 4 new words today including strawberry and butterfly. BUT, the exciting thing is...she is learning songs! I know they sing songs at the sitter's and do movements etc. to them, like when they do their circle time, but I didn't realize she was actually LEARNING the songs. "We went to the animal fair" has always been her favorite song, ALWAYS--I think I've posted about that before. Even as a newborn she loved it. Her whole life, if I sing that song she giggles and smiles...even when she's crying, she'll stop and giggle. Sometimes when she was littler and crying in the car I'd have to sing that song over and over and OVER to keep her laughing and not crying. And if I tried to throw a different song into the loop, she'd start crying again. I always loved that song as a kid...it was always my favorite too...so this is something very special for us. Here is how the song goes...our version anyway...

We went to the animal fair
The birds and the beasts were there
The big baboon, by the light of the moon!
Was combing his auburn hair.
The monkey he got drunk
He sat on the elephant's trunk
The elephant sneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezed!
And fell to his kneeeeeeeeeeeeeeees!
Annnnnnnd that was the end of the monk the monk the monk!

Her favorite part has always been the part where you say The elephant sneeeeeeeeeezed! etc. etc. until the very end. When you get to that part she giggles every time. So tonight after her bath she was being all wiggly and wanting to get up and play, but I needed to get her diaper on her because she WILL pee on the floor without one. So to stop her fussing I started singing the song, which I haven't sung in well over a week. And lo and behold, when I got to the part where I sang "He sat on the elephants trunk" she said "kneeeeeeeeeeeees!!" HOW CUTE IS THAT?????? I'm sorry but I am just so freaking amazed. She remembered how the song went, and knew what was coming up next, even though I hadn't sung it to her in over a week!!! So for the rest of the evening we sang together...she'd dance to the first part, then at the appropriate part she'd say "kneeeeeeeees!" and sometimes "kneeeeeeeeees! bump bump bump". I am just shocked, and so incredibly happy. She knows our favorite song. I cannot wait to tell the sitter tomorrow. She commented today when I picked her up on how she's amazed at how much of a chatterbox she is. She said she repeats things right and left there all day, like when the sitter is talking or when the older kids are talking. I told my mom how some people have mentioned how early Hailey talks(as in they don't believe me because they've never heard of ANY 14 month old talking so well and understanding so much...) and she said actually I talked even earlier/better than Hailey.

I guess I should be used to all these changes by now, but I just can't help it. Every single day she amazes me with what she learns. How can they change so quickly?? It's crazy!!

I'm a bit tired

As I was walking through the parking lot at work today a huge bug pegged me in the ear and then flew off. Does that happen to everyone? I’d just like to know…because bugs frequently just run into me out of nowhere, in broad daylight. It happens often. It’s odd.

I had weird dreams last night. I don’t think I slept well. I dreamt that while I was putting Hailey’s car seat in another car some girls all piled in, and while I was trying to get them out of the car(one was sitting in her car seat?) someone ran off with Hailey and turned her into a miniature poodle. I remember thinking in the dream “how on earth is she going to fit in her car seat now??” So my mom and I are walking around, me carrying my mini-poodle in my hands…and my uncle (the one that is a preacher, the one that married D and I) stole my car. And my mom said “if he doesn’t bring that back I’m going to be so pissed.” ?????

Go me

I got myself some new clothes this weekend. I figured I deserve it. I do work hard. Plus I got the promotion! Go me! Which means a raise. And an office. Don't mean to toot my own horn but...yea I rock.





Hailey told me she loves me tonight..."bub you, bub you!" How sweet is that? She's said it once before, months and months ago, but this was the first time she actually meant something when she said it. She also knows the #9 on the telephone, and will push it and say "nine!" My in-laws kept her overnight last night, since yesterday was hubby's birthday...this is only the 2nd time they've ever kept her. She survived, and had a good time...but she didn't sleep much at all and she didn't get much to eat so she was STARVING tonight at dinner. They just cannot get it through their heads that she is not their grandson, who goes to sleep on his own wonderfully and eats like a bird. For breakfast they didn't cut up her biscuit, so she didn't touch it...and for lunch they gave her a little piece of cheese and some Cheerios! That's it! Tonight at dinner she scarfed down a huge plate of breaded turkey, steamed peas and mandarine oranges and drank milk like there's no tomorrow, because all they would give her was freaking juice when I told them she only gets one juicebox a day of that Motts for Tots juice which is watered down. Their grandson drinks juice ALL DAY. By the time we got to her she was asking us for milk with BOTH hands, her little hands milking those imaginary udders like CRAZY...pitiful. She had a good time their, but I just don't feel like they listened to my instructions at all, even things that I stressed like DO NOT put her in the crib and let her fuss at night, we don't do that, we rock her no matter how restless she seems in our arms. She cried before she went to sleep. My baby cried herself to sleep, and that breaks my heart. I told his mom when we went to pick her up that even if she is restless going to sleep for us at night, and even if I have to look her in the face and tell her firmly "No Hailey, it's time to go Night Night"....she NEVER cries. His mom said "oh she doesn't?" and I said no, she doesn't. And she just kind of sat there. I was nice about it, don't get me wrong. I so wish it had worked out better. It would be so nice for her to be able to stay there once in a while. She was really excited to be there. When we were leaving and standing at the front door she was sitting on the living room floor playing and she waved quickly and said "bye!" without even glancing our way. It was so cute. It just obviously didn't go THAT well when I pick her up and she's not only exhausted but starving and really thirsty. SIGH...it felt so good to tuck her into her crib tonight. I feel so much more at peace having her home.

Getting on the computer was a bad choice

I had my interview today at 10:00 for the AP job...it only lasted like 15 minutes. My boss told me it was going to be kind of a weird interview because they already knew all my work experience and they're happy with the work I do now, so there wasn't much to talk about. They asked me a couple questions, and a few times my boss said some things that really made me think they already have their minds made up. It's between me and one other lady, and from what I hear from a couple people in the office, they're just interviewing this other lady with the thought that she can take my place after I move up to the AP job. But I'm still not getting my hopes up. Although my boss did tell me after I move up to the AP job they're going to fight with the big head honcho to get my current job moved up a grade to be on the same level as the AP job...he asked me if they did that would I still want to move to the AP job, and I told him yes, and he told me that he thought that was a good decision because if there are budget cuts my current job will be the first to go. So it pretty much sounds like I'm going to get the AP job...but again, not getting my hopes up. They had told the other accountants they wanted to have their decision made by the end of today. So hopefully I will hear something tomorrow! It'll be awesome if I do get it, because that would mean at least a dollar more in pay per hour! I'll be making about $3 more per hour than I was making at the hell hole! That will really help us out this next year...the bad thing is, I don't see how I'll be able to quit working once D gets out of school and gets a job. So it's starting to make me seriously reconsider starting to try for another baby in December, which breaks my heart. D thinks we should still go for it, but I hate going into that being so uncertain about his job situation. What if he can't find anything decent and I have to keep working? We can't afford $1100 a month in daycare. And what if we have to move in order for him to get another job? I'd have to find a new OB and all that right in the middle of my pregnancy. I just don't know...I know it's a long way off, but I'm a planner, and if things aren't planned out I get really stressed. So I'm going to be thinking a lot about all this and worrying, and I'll probably be pissed off and sad off and on because I know what we really should do and it's not what my heart wants... **SIGH**

I'm loving the way Hailey calls me "Mommy" now instead of mama. I love the way she says it "Mom-mee" SO sweet! She'll walk up and pat me and say "Mom-mee" like she just loves me more than anything. Melts my heart every time. And I'm having a hard time not thinking of her as my baby anymore. Like a little chubby baby. She's such a kid now, I mean she's not a baby at all anymore...she's going on 15 months old, and she's getting so big. Will I always call her my baby, even when she's 15, or 30? Is this how all those parents and grandparents out there feel who tell their kids and grandkids "You'll always be my baby!" I look at her Newborn size diaper that I saved and I am shocked...surely her butt never fit in that?? One butt cheek maybe, or maybe not...she does have a bubble butt after all...but of course it did at one time fit her, and it makes me so happy and so sad all at once to think about how much she has grown and changed. And I almost can't picture having a baby that tiny again...and I cannot imagine having a stomach that huge again!!

It's been a while...

Ok so I've been really busy lately and haven't had much time to post. Hailey's party went great, she did wonderfully...opened presents like a pro, visited with people, only said "mine" once. She took a 3 hr. nap that morning which was amazing because she hardly ever naps like that for me on the weekends! So she was in a great mood.

This past Friday evening a friend from South Dakota came over with her little girl. Well my little bully of a daughter picked on her all evening. It was a bit embarrasing. She was pushing her and hitting her and all we heard was "No! Mine!" non-stop. She even tried to bite her...it's odd because she's not normally like that. Saturday I cleaned and then my cousin, her husband and little girl(who's 2 in July) and my aunt and uncle came by for about an hour. They all live out of town so we never get to see them. Hailey did GREAT with my cousin's little girl. Let her play with her toys and everything. I'm thinking it's a younger kid thing...after all she is the youngest at the sitter's now, so I think anybody younger she gets really jealous of and possessive with her things. Sunday we took her swimming for the first time at my mom's pool, which she LOVED. The second we opened the gate she kicked her legs and got so excited. She was jumping in the pool and making me catch her over and over! No fear, it's crazy! So we'll definitely be doing that more often. We had a blast.

Hailey's still saying new words every day. I've started to lose track. I'm going to start making a list I think with the dates so I can keep track of what she says on what day. One of the cute things she's learned lately is "Jew" which means juice. She's always asking for her Jews when I pick her up from the sitter's, before we even leave the classroom. And her G-dos, which is how she says Cheerios now. And her "paci" is now her "boppy"...don't know where that came from, but she'll walk around the house saying "Bop-py!" in that sing songy voice you do when you're calling for your cat that has wandered off outside...and when she finds her boppy she gets all excited and has to show you, because she's so proud of herself. She also hates how I just pitch the dirty diapers in the direction of the kitchen. In the mornings when I'm rushed or the evenings when I'm tired I just wrap the diaper up and throw it, knowing either I or D will pick it up sometime soon and throw it away. Lately she'll go pick it up and bring it to me and say "uh oh." And tonight she put her diaper in the trash for the first time. Hm, let's see what else...oh we bought some Easy Ups because I can rarely get her to lay down for a diaper change anymore. We're still just "playing" with the potty, she loves to tell the pee pee bye bye and has peed on the floor standing right next to the potty but has yet to figure out how to get the pee pee in the potty. We've got plenty of time for that, she's still so young. We decorated her room with some new curtains and flower and bug decals, she LOVES it. It makes it look so much more homey. She helped my mom put up some of the decals on Father's Day while D and I went out to eat(Hailey was too tired to go after swimming) and my mom said she was the cutest thing, she'd peel off a decal and put her finger to her mouth and look around the room and say "ummmmm" trying to figure out where to stick it. I wish I could have seen it!

D's 25th birthday is this weekend. I feel bad but I haven't planned anything. But he might be playing in a tournament. Hard to believe we're halfway to 30 already. Time just flies by. Although most of my friends are in their 30's, and it feels really young to me.

I'm exhausted, I have been seriously sleep deprived for a few weeks now because I haven't gotten to sleep in. I need to go to bed. This post is jumpy and random, but that's about the best I can do right now. Oh yea, by the way...I have an interview for the AP job on Thursday morning with my boss and coworker(who would be my new boss) so I'm excited about that. Hopefully it'll go well and I'll get my promotion and be making more money. And if not, well I'll be quitting in a year hopefully anyway!

I should SO do this for a living...

Cuteness

Not a whole lot to tell today, except a few cute things about Hailey, as always. She painted me a fingerpainting today at the sitter's. Her first painting, how cute!! She says her best friend's name now too, we'll call him little C. I love that she gets to spend every week day with him! They're little buddies, it's too cute. Also, I finally got her to say Cheerios! Actually she pronounces it "Cheedos" but hey close enough! I can't believe how she learns new words every single day. It's nuts. One more cute thing she did today, was this evening I was putting together one of those wooden shoe shelf things(you know since we're trying to get this place organized and all) and I had just screwed in one whole side, when she came up to me and grabbed the screw driver and actually put the tip of it to a screw and was trying to screw it in! This might seem like no big deal to everybody, but this is huge to me. It's amazing to me what she comprehends and the things she does. She's so stinkin smart :o)

I got her a couple packs of picture flash cards at Walmart tonight for her bday, I think she'll like them...either that or rip them up and spread them all over the living room floor...I guess we'll see.

Off to eat cereal and finish laundry, I am EXHAUSTED...very good but very busy day at work! And this cold is still hanging on unfortunately...OH! By the way, after my ranting and raving post last night...our family friend planted her own damn flowers...I called her today to tell her I was doing it tonight, and she said she did it herself...she was very nice about it though, said she understood how busy I was. And then my dad and them didn't come over tonight either, they had a meeting to go to. All that stress for nothing, it worked out great! And my sister's boyfriend is just happy to hang out here tomorrow night, so we don't have to stress about that either! Life is good...

WHAT ABOUT ME???

I am so busy, stretched so thin, so worn out lately...well, that's always my life though isn't it? Always something going on, never enough time for everything, always tired and worn out...never a moments rest right? What about my whole "slowing down life" deal I was working on? Where'd that go? Hailey's birthday party is this Saturday, and my SIL's baby shower is this Sunday. Fun weekend right? YES! And I don't even mind having to unpack and clean my house all in the matter of a couple hours spread over a few week nights...no big deal! Having to go shopping for a gift for my SIL and make a cake while finishing up cleaning Friday night. Great! I don't mind! BUT...here's the but...the problem is, no one understands that I'm a human being with my own life, my own plans, my own FAMILY. I've got our family friend calling me every other day, insisting I have to plant her flowers THIS WEEK or they will outgrow their containers and die. I told her of all the stuff I have going on this week. Her response?? Well surely you can find time to do this for me, there's no reason you shouldn't be able to, it'll only take about 45 minutes to do. Every minute is precious to me. Not to mention the fact that she's not taking into account the time it takes for me to drive all the way out to her house(they live in the middle of nowhere) and back home again. She's not taking into account the fact that Hailey has to eat no later than 6:30 at night. And not to mention the fact that she bought these flowers and tilled up the ground without even asking me first if I had time this week. Which I obviously do not. I don't mind doing this for her normally...I do it every year. But when I tell her I'm busy with my own big plans, and she writes it off, well that just plain pisses me the fuck off. Excuse my language. I may be a potty mouth this post. SO...there's that issue. Then, my little brother calls tonight. Says they(him, my dad and stepmom) haven't seen Hailey FOREVER and wants to know when they can come over. This, I love(insert sarcasm HERE)...because I give them nights when I'm not busy, I give them those opportunities to come over and visit with her. A few times, they took the opportunity, but lately there's always an excuse...someone's sick(only later I find out oh no they just had allergies) or someone is depressed or blah blah blah...and then they call and make me feel bad that they don't get to see her. Like this week for instance. I told my dad Monday would be fine(before Hailey got sick)...he never called, they didn't even ask to come over, so I didn't bother calling to tell them she was sick. And now, 3 days before her party, they have my little brother call and try to guilt trip me. The thing that really ticks me off about this is, they know damn well about this party Saturday and how I'm having to bust my ass to prepare for it. But, they are Jehovah's witnesses...so, what do they do? Act like the party doesn't exist. So, why should I not have time for them when there IS NO PARTY??? Come on! I told my little brother MAYBE tomorrow night...which isn't true, I'm busy damnit! I was going to try and rush out to our family friend's house to plant her damn flowers, then rush home and get more crap done around here! So, there's that. Then, I ask my little brother if he's riding over to my house Saturday with my little sister and her boyfriend. He says he's not coming. I asked him why. He said "because we're Jehovah's Witnesses." I said to him "oh so you are now too?" I told him if he didn't want to come because he was a witness now too, then I would understand, but if dad and my stepmom are telling him he can't come and he really wants to, well then I'll be pissed. I asked to talk to my stepmom. I asked her if she told my older sister and brother about the party like I asked her to weeks ago. Because I called my grandma last night(who my stepmom was also supposed to tell--she talks to these people a LOT more than I do ok!) and she hadn't told my grandma...so I thought maybe she hadn't told my sis/bro...sure enough, she hadn't. And no she won't call them, because yet again, none of them are on speaking terms. Lord only knows why. Frankly, I don't give a shit. Anyway, I casually ask her if my little brother will be coming to the party. She says no, he won't be coming. I ask her why. She says "because, we don't celebrate birthdays." I told her fine, and I sounded very pissy, and I got off the phone. Surprisingly, they didn't call back. Sorry if you're a witness, but I think the whole not celebrating anything is complete and udder BULLSHIT. I respected it for a long time, but now they're pushing their stupid beliefs onto my grandma and little brother, and I'm just sick of it. Makes me proud to be a Baptist, hell it makes me want to go to church every Sunday and praise the Lord when I'm around them. After all, they flaunt their beliefs around me ALL THE TIME. But see, I'm a better person than that. So I'm pissed that my little brother's not coming. That really hurts. It's celebrating her first year of life, come on people! Ok...and now...I have a lady that D works with emailing me to have this Arbonne crap party, and she wants me to sell it because "It's only 29$ to get started!" Hello, do people not see me? Do I look like I use expensive facial products, or have tons of friends that would be able to afford that stuff? Sure I'd love to be able to afford it...but I can't. Leave me alone. I'm not selling it. I'm not having a party. I have no friends that would come to a party. Or buy the crap. So stop harrassing me for my time!! And the funny thing is, it's not like I have tons of friends or anything. I never see my friends but like once or twice a month!! Seriously!! I have too much damn family apparently. I love them all, but I get so tired of them pulling me in all directions. We never get family alone time, just the three of us, our little family, without somebody calling and bugging us or wanting to spend time with us. Oh and the last thing...which isn't bad, and I actually feel like I should accomodate this person...my sister's boyfriend turns 21 on Friday. And do you know what he wants to do? Ok this is a 21 year old guy, and he wants to hang out with D and I and Hailey. How can I tell him no? He's going back to Cali the 16th, then back to Iraq eventually...and he wants to spend his 21st birthday with US, of all the people he could choose to spend it with...his friends, his family...he chose us. I can't tell him no. So I told my sister to let me know what the plan is for Friday by tomorrow so I can plan when to make the cake for Hailey's party and all that. SIGH....there, there's my rant...

Now onto cuter things. A few Hailey stories, as always...

~Today the sitter put Hailey's shoes on so they could go outside, and then turned around to get something. When she turned back around Hailey was bent down digging the sitter's shoes out from under a shelf where she keeps them, and then she brought them to the sitter. She said she didn't even mention her shoes to Hailey or anything, she just went and got them and brought them to her all on her own! How stinking smart is she???
~I let Hailey watch me pee when I'm home with her. She's really learning about the whole process. She knows you pull down your pants, potty, wipe, put down the lid, say bye bye and flush. Well tonight I forgot to tell her I was going, and when she heard me peeing she ran into the bathroom and pried at my leg so she could see me pee. I was already done, but she saw it in the toilet and she said "pee pee." I'm telling you, she learns new words every day, I can't even keep up. She said it a few times "pee pee!" And then did the customary wave, bye bye, flush and then oh my she slammed the lid on her hand. I felt horrible. She cried for a minute but quit pretty quickly...she's a tough gal.
~A couple more new words that I noticed her saying really well tonight...we've been working on "nose" and "eyes"...I'll ask her where her nose is and she'll scrunch up her nose, etc...well tonight she was laying in bed with me and I asked her where her eyes are and she said "eyes" and pointed. Then I asked her nose and she said "nose" and scrunched her nose. It wasn't just a fluke, she repeated them when asked. So neat.
~Last but not least, my mom was playing with Hailey in her tent tonight and she put her finger to her mouth and said "shhh" to tell Hailey they had to be quiet. Would you believe Hailey actually did the same thing back??? She put her little finger to her lips and said "shhhh." She did it again a bunch of times for me later. It's so darn cute! And then she grabbed either side of my face and pulled me in so hard we kind of bonked heads and I got a big ol long slobbery kiss.

So there's the cuteness for the day. As far as the house cleaning is going, well it's going great. I got the whole dining room emptied out today, boxes stacked neatly in a corner of our bedroom, the floors vaccuumed, some clothes done and put away...all in all, a very productive night. And we even went out to eat at the mexican place I LOVED when I was pregnant. The last time I ate there was the time that put me into labor! And now, unfortunately, my non-preggo self doesn't find the food so tasty! Funny how that works. Wonder if I'll crave it with the next pregnancy...I guess we'll see, although I'll be afraid it'll send me into labor! HAHA!

Alright, hubby time and bed time :o)

As much as I hate it, I've gotta love this place...

I bitch about the town I live in...over-crowded, too expensive, rude-ass loud people. And then something happens that makes me think to myself "God, I love this town." There are 2 highschools here, the huge, more diverse one that I graduated from, and the one on the South side of town where all the rich kids or wanna be rich kids go (this is by where I live)...apparently kids these days have started up the old tradition of the "senior prank." We didn't do one my year, because the year before us had gotten in some serious trouble. Well, the people that participated did anyway. They actually defaced a bunch of school propery with white paint. Now there were what like 1000 kids or something in my graduating class, a bit fewer in the year before, and only a handfull of people got in trouble. But it was bad. They couldn't attend graduation, and had to do a bunch of community service and crap before they could get their diploma, among other things. Scared my class straight apparently. Not that I would be one to participate in a school prank anyway...that's just not how I roll. ANYWAY...I heard a story today that made me think "God I love this town." The administrators of the richy high school came to work today to find six sheep wandering the halls. Yes, sheep. I have no idea how on earth these kids got them in. How they transported them to the school, got them inside the building at 2:00 in the morning w/out setting off the alarms, how they weren't seen. But against all odds, it happened. How freaking funny is that? Now THAT'S a Senior Prank.

In other news, I now have this lovely head cold crap, because Hailey has been really into long slobbery kisses lately and as her mother how could I refuse? So as a lovely side effect, she's passed her ickiness onto moi. I feel like complete crap. SO tired...she woke up at 4:00 this morning, I have no idea why...3 nights in a row now she's woken up at night! D told me to just put her in our bed, which I didn't want to do but was so tired and cruddy feeling I did anyway, and she slept for a good 30 minutes before sitting up insisted she have a "baba" while doing the whole hand gesture like she's squeezing a cow's udder...which apparently is the lovely sign for "milk." D got up and made her a bottle, made her go with him(she's so attached to my hip lately!) and she sucked down the bottle and apparently went right back to sleep in her crib. He came back to bed empty handed, and I was amazed. My wonderful amazing husband. Unfortunately the fan in our bedroom somehow got turned off (did I lay my head on the remote on the nightstand when she was in bed with us??) which I didn't realize til my alarm was going off, and I can't sleep without that fan. SO no more sleep for me after about 4:20 this morning. Jeez I really take a long time to tell a simple story. I'm tired and I feel like crap...there, why is that so hard for me? I always feel the need to elaborate...

I bought a huge box of Huggies Supreme today...I never should have tried them.

Hailey said another 2 word sentence today at the sitters. "Push me." She was in the swing. And she was saying the word "down" tonight while hiking her fat little leg over the side of the grocery card. By the way, when I finally gave in and let her "down" she ran back and forth across the isle, first to the ham, then to the biscuits, then the ham, then the biscuits...choices choices, my oh my.

I'm feeling very accomplished today. Despite my feeling CRAPPY, I got my cat her prescription cat food at lunch and a new scratching post which is 2 months overdue(supposed to be for her birthday, which is 1 day after Hailey's)...and I also got the invites to Hailey's party this weekend filled out and addressed. Now I just have to mail them off tomorrow. Oh we also took the baby swing and the exersaucer over to my mom's tonight to store. D spent some time with us, which I love. It makes me feel married when he's home in the evenings like that. I love it! And he also emptied and refilled/ran the dishwasher today and took out the trash...and didn't make a mess of the house! Again, my wonderful husband. It's the little things that count.

Ok gotta go blog reading before I fall asleep right here.

A few more new developments

Hailey has learned a few other new things this weekend...in light of yet another cold with a horribly runny nose, she's learned to blow her nose. If it's getting too stuffy, she wrinkles up her nose and blows, and then wants me to wipe it. So all weekend we've been working on her coming to me and letting me have a tissue ready to her nose BEFORE she blows, and she's got the hang of it! I put a tissue to her nose and say "ok blow" and she does! She's also always grabbing tissues and trying to wipe her nose herself, or my nose, or her baby doll's nose. Very handy.

Another new thing, is spinning in circles. She spins like a top, her arms out wide waving up and down, like she's trying to make herself dizzy. I have no idea where she learned this, unless she's picked it up from how I pick her up and spin her, which she loves...anyway, it's cute.

Something else we've really noticed lately...she really has an imagination these days. Tonight she picked up my keys "Mine!", grabbed her baby doll, and started heading for the front door...she turned around and matter of factly said "bye!" and waved with the hand holding the keys. Like she was done visiting and was now going to leave and go home. It was adorable.

She also knows the word "eyes" now, and will point to her eyes when asked. When she pees, she grabs the crotch of her diaper and pulls at it, to let us know she's peed. Yesterday would you believe she actually asked me to take a bath? She walked into the bathroom "ba! ba!" which means bath...she'd already had one that morning, but she wanted another one. She was feeling so cruddy, I gave her another one...anything to cheer her up. Lately she's liking her baths because I've been taking the Johnson's shampoo and using some of it as bubble bath, and she loves playing with the bubbles.

Tonight as I was rocking her to sleep (pretty late, she was so tired but refused to settle down til about 9:45!) she kept tugging at my shoulders and pointing towards out bedroom. There was a time when I would have gladly just put her in our bed and let her go to sleep...but I've learned how great it is for her to be sleeping in her own bedroom, and how great it is not to be poked and prodded at night, and actually have room to spread out and be able to talk to D or read or be loud with my medicine bottles etc. without having to worry about waking her up. She fussed, but finally I got her to just toss and turn on my lap, and finally fall asleep enough to lay her down. Wish me luck that she stays asleep all night tonight. I HAVE to go to work tomorrow now that she's doing better...and I need some sleep. I'm waiting til D gets home, and then I'm heading to bed. I was already exhausted, and then I took a long walk with Hailey tonight to keep her occupied so I am really beat now.

A lot of this post is for my own benefit...I don't have the energy to go find a pen and write all this stuff down for her memory book, so I'll just print this off later...one more thing I want to remember...she's really into sitting on the couch now, or in her little yellow Elmo chair my mom got her for Christmas...or even better, in the recliner next to me. She'll actually sit and watch TV for a few minutes. She pats the chair and says either "sit!" or "up! uppie!"

I almost forgot...her new favorite thing to do is go in the bathroom, open the drawers, grab a couple things, shut the drawers and walk off. Today D and I were sitting in bed(where we were previously laying down with her cuddling, until she got out of bed and wandered off) and we can see the bathroom down the hall from our bedroom...she brought me a think of face cleaning wipes, a bottle of stool softeners, a bottle of Dristan nasal spray, some make up brushes, a tube of tooth paste...and then she took it all back and put it away. Why is this fun?? She's so funny.

Mine!

Hailey's been sick all weekend. Not that bad Saturday, except for the evening and then she woke up at night and we had to put her in bed with us (which means 6 inches on either side of the bed for us to sleep, me with my head on my nightstand...because she insists on sleeping with her head by me and her feet kicking D in the face). She was pretty pitiful all day yesterday, crying, fever, sleeping off and on then waking up crying. Last night she woke up at midnight and wanted to go to bed with us again. So I haven't gotten much sleep all weekend, and I feel bad for her that she's sick again. I took her to the dr. today, minor ear infections in both ears and that sore throat/cold/virus thing again. She's acting better now that we're home, just wandering around playing, snacking a bit(she hasn't been eating a fraction of what she normally does). Right now she's walking around saying "no no no!" because I told her I needed to change her poop poops because she's pooey. Even feeling bad, she's learned a couple new words...cold, and door. She knows the difference between hot and cold now. It used to be any temperature change was hot...now she knows what cold is too. Walking out of the pharmacy I accidently put my jar of tea on her leg and she yelled at me "ah! COLD!" It was cute. She has been throwing more tantrums this weekend, I'm assuming because she doesn't feel good. She threw such a big fit when I was trying to get things ready to leave for the dr. this morning that she made herself throw up a little. Goodness. And Saturday night when we were all in bed I tried to help her put her pacifier in her mouth and she yelled at me in the dark "MINE! MINE!" and jerked it away from me. So sassy. Last night in the middle of the night, D and I got TONS of kisses. She was very kissy yesterday. Long sloppy kisses :o) Today she's just being so good. I wish I was able to just stay home with her now, and be a SAHM. One of these days... Oh, something cute that happened this morning...she wandered off again (last night I found her in our bedroom going through my clean clothes and carrying my shirts around) and I found her in our bedroom climbing into the closet meowing like the cat. She was acting like the kitty...that's where she sleeps...she wasn't in there, so Hailey tried to climb in there. It was cute. As I'm typing this she just brought me her cheese and said "cheeeeese!"

I'm afraid I'm hooked on these Huggies Supremes. I've been using them on her most of the weekend. I love how they're shaped so they fit around her legs better and they're so stretchy and nice...

Spilled her coffee broke her shoelace...smeared the lipstick on her face...slammed the door and said I'm sorry I...

had a bad day again. Friday, that is. It started out a little off. I woke up an hour late, my alarm didn't go off. No biggie, still got to work on time. Had a million copies to make. Stupid contract time. 1200 contracts, 2 copies per contract...ok that's 2400 copies. 1200 schedule copies...1200 copies of some stupid memorandum on the back of the schedule...1200 copies of a letter, 1200 copies of some other stupid sheet. Not to mention the copies I had to redo because the folding machine screwed up a bunch at first, and the lady didn't know what she was doing. I made all the copies. ALL the copies. I'm not stupid. I know A to Z. They were all there. 4 different people folding. 3 different people stuffing, including me after I spent 3/4 of the day copying. One of the payroll girls comes out of their office bitching and muttering something like "stupid people always screw everything up..." I joked with her and said "gosh I hope it's not something I did!" She says "well, actually, I'm missing the whole last half of the alphabet on these contracts." No way. I told her they were all there, that I checked. She says well they aren't now. She was talking about me, right there in front of my face...I was the one she thought screwed it up. Stupid bitch. I'm getting sick of these women all of a sudden. Sick of them backstabbing, sick of how they don't like AP B and H, for WHAT reason I can't figure out, because the reasons they give seem so silly to me. I'm sick of them making fun of people that come into our office for help, or talking bad about them, or people that call on the phone. I'm sick of them not wanting to do their jobs, and not helping people that come in for help! My new job, the one that was so great, has a flaw after all. I'm thinking it's probably best if I do apply for the AP job, that way I won't be doing all their busy work for them that they don't want to do. I can sit in my office, do my work, be nice to everyone but not have to hear all the gossip...and H will be my boss, so that'll be cool. Not to say I'll for sure get the job, I might not. We'll have to see. But I tell you what, either way, I'm NOT going to feel bad about leaving after the other baby is born! It's no wonder our office has such a bad rep! Seriously, I work with a bunch of stuck up you know what's!! So sad...why are some women so catty like that?? Anyway, while stuffing contracts I came across an envelope of an old teacher that I thought was long gone...apparently not, she's retiring this year. I emailed her, and she emailed back and said if I could get off early her retirement reception is at 4:00 at my old highschool. So I got all my contracts stuffed and left an hour early from work, rushed over to pick up Hailey...and I got her in the car, and she starts CRYING. And crying, and crying. Not like throwing her "I don't want to get in the car!" or "I don't want to leave the sitters'!" fit...but like something was wrong. She cried all the way to the school. I get there, nobody's in the parking lot. All of a sudden I felt like it just didn't seem right. I went in anyway. The cop at her little station said very pissily "Can I help you with something??" More like she was saying "what the hell do you think you're doing in here??" I told her I was here for Mrs. S's retirement reception. She said "There isn't any reception going on." More like "ok now leave." I told her that Mrs. S had emailed me and said it was going on there at 4:00. She was getting very irritated with me. I asked her if the office staff would know. She said "They might, but you can't get in there." I told her that I work at the Business Office. She said "What, here??" I told her no, for the whole system. What happened next? She glances down quickly and sees my wedding ring. What the hell does she think, I'm some teen that got knocked up or something? What the frick? Security guy comes out of the office...security guy that I've met at my job...and he DOESN'T RECOGNIZE ME. Cop lady asks him about the reception. He's very rude as well. He doesn't know about any reception. He asks SD (who I sent crap too inner-office mail ALL.THE.TIME) and she's pissy as well! No reception. Talk about pissed. They they kind of walked on either side of me towards the door. Did I look like a freaking criminal? Seriously that school has gone WAY downhill since I graduated...doing all these upgrades, fancy shmancy shit and upping security (that apparently treats students and visitors like complete SHIT)...I got to my car and Hailey's crying again. I re-read the email I printed off. Yea it sounds like she meant that day. I started bawling. I hate it when people treat me like that. I get it a lot. I look really young, I know that. People don't treat teens very well. Esp. ones that have kids. You should have seen the looks and heard the treatment I got while I was pregnant, esp. before we were engaged so I didn't have a ring...esp. when I'd be out shopping with my mom. Women would literally give me horrible disgusted looks. I'm so tired of this crap. What on earth about me makes people think they can treat me like shit?? Why on earth do I deserve that?? Hailey won't stop crying. We're supposed to go to a family friend's house. I get halfway there, my gas light's been on all day, so I stop at the gas station. I thought surely if I got her out and held her, or got her a slushy she'd be fine. I held her outside, in the front seat, in the back seat, got her a slushy and a fruit punch, she didn't want either, she was still crying hysterically. I had to get gas, so I strapped her back in her car seat, her still crying, myself silently crying. I got some gas, while she's freaking out in the back seat. A stupid bitch on a cell phone drives right behind me while I'm trying to back out and honks at me really loud. I cried more. Finally, as I'm back on the country road, Hailey falls asleep. I called the family friend to tell her we're not coming. My phone died. I got home, tried to put Hailey in her crib and she woke up hysterical again. This went on for hours. My heart was breaking, something was obviously wrong but I couldn't figure it out. She didn't have a fever, I checked her all over for bites or cuts, I took her pony tail out, checked her private parts, checked her gums for new teeth, she wasn't pulling at her ears...I gave her Tylenol, that didn't help. Finally I came to the conclusion she must have a tummy ache because she was refusing all liquids which she never does. Esp. if it comes in a bright shiny package w/ a straw. I called my mom and cried to her. I needed help. She came over, Hailey clung to me, thrashing around on my lap. Finally she fell asleep on my chest, after about 3 1/2 hrs. of crying. I fell asleep...I was drained after the day I'd had. My mom let us sleep. I woke up about 30 minutes later and tried to lay Hailey on the floor on her blanket and pillow. She tossed and turned. I thought to myself OH no, she's going to wake up and start crying again...but she turned over and smiled at me. And then she got up on all fours, pointed at the cat and growled. My Hailey was back. Just like that. She was fine. She ate a tiny bit of soup, drank some water. She played. Went to bed again and hour and a half later and slept all night til 7:30 this morning when I woke up to her yelling "Mine! Mine!" She hasn't eating as much as usual today, compared to what she usually eats...a lot less...but she's doing ok. Drinking like normal, pooping and peeing, fighting her naps for me. She was in bed by about 9:30 tonight. I have no idea what happened. She has never EVER cried like that before. It broke my heart. I prayed to God to make whatever was hurting her feel better. I prayed she would be able to fall asleep so she didn't have to hurt anymore. I hope that never happens again.

So there was my shitty shitty Friday. Nice huh? Well at least I don't feel bad about leaving work anymore, so that whole dilemma is gone. No more feeling guilty over that. And I don't hate my job, or dread going in Monday, don't get me wrong. But I am finally realizing it's not quite the dream job I'd hoped. At least I know I only have another year and a half or so until I can leave there and stay home with my kiddos.

Hubby has been amazing lately. (speaking of hubby, I used to hate that word before I was married...it really irked me when people used it...hubby...blech...and now that I'm married, well, he's my hubby...) Anyway, he's continued to help around the house, continued to be very loving and supportive...the one highlight of my day Friday was that he met me for lunch and we had so much fun. Today he slept in til 11:00, and about 12:30 we started cleaning the house. My mom picked Hailey up at about 2:00 or so and took her to look at toys at Walmart. We rearranged the whole living room and threw so much crap away, vacuumed under everything, got rid of a lot of clutter...I cleaned the whole bathroom, even washing the rugs and shower curtain. It feels amazing. And hubby didn't bitch a single time! Not even when his parents came by to watch Hailey and we went to Walmart...and he HATES shopping...so today has been much better. Time with Hailey, my house a bit more clean/organized, an amazing wonderfully helpful loving husband, and I get to sleep in tomorrow!

Hailey's been waking up wet in the mornings...I think she'd sleep longer maybe if her diaper didn't leak. We've been putting her in the cheapo Target brand, just because they're cheap. Yea they're not as good as White Cloud. Walmart was out of those last time though. I bought another box today, but I also bought a package of Huggies Supreve Natural Fit to use on her at night. OH MY GOSH. Have you all used these? I am a Huggies Hater. My SIL was SO pro huggies with my nephew...she even bought the Huggies baby washes and everything...I was determined to do things differently...I was a Pampers user. Swaddlers all the way. Then Cruisers. Then we got poor, so I started using White Cloud which we really like. But seriously, have you used these Huggies Supreme?? Oh my...I pulled one out of the pack tonight and opened it up and it was like freaking underwear. Cutouts to fit the legs so the diaper doesn't bunch up between the legs and sag down almost to the knees...and stretchiness, oh my gosh the stretchiness! And soft! I am shocked. I thoroughly enjoyed putting this diaper on my daughter. And I felt good as I was rocking her to sleep, knowing she was in her soft comfy britches. If these hold her pee(which I've been told they should, that's why I bought them, at the recommendation of a friend who has tried EVERYTHING on her son to keep him from leaking at night...even maxi pads in his diaper!) I may have just been converted to a Huggies user. **GASP** But how can I afford it? I may have to find a way...my daughter deserves luxury britches.

http://www.huggieshappybaby.com/products/index.aspx?diapers

Good gosh it's already 10:30...