Wall E

I'm thinking about taking Hailey to see WALL E this weekend if we have the time or energy after all the packing we have to do. It's rated G. She's only been to one movie theater movie, and she did really well except for the last 20 minutes...Surf's Up was not her fav. movie ever apparently because she got bored and played in front of our seats for a little bit. I'm afraid we'll get there and she won't like the movie this time and want to leave. Well, I'm afraid she'll want to leave after her popcorn is gone anyway...the girl will sit still for popcorn any day!

The things you can get for a dollar these days...

Has anyone ever heard of Redbox? This is something new around here. I just discovered it Monday during a shopping trip to Walmart. It's a vending machine where you can rent DVD's for $1 a night. I knew Hailey would be home the next day as well since she still had a fever so I let her pick out a DVD to rent. It only took a minute to do, it was so easy! And I'm loving that it's only $1...that way if she doesn't like the movie, who cares! I'm only out a buck! She rented some computer animated Farm Kids movie that night and sort of liked it. She actually watched the whole thing. Last night to get her out of the house I took her to the Dollar Tree (she loves that store...and I found the cutest little kid's craft aprons there, and they're machine washable and everything...for $1!! I love that store too!) and then to Walmart to return her farm movie and check out another one to watch that night. She wanted that Snow Buddies movie or whatever it's called, but they didn't have it in the machine. Bummer :( So we got Mr. Magorium instead and she didn't like it. Another bummer! :( I'm going to take it back on the way home tonight. I thought it was okay, sort of weird the way it ended though.

I went to the Redbox website this morning and put in my email address. They sent me a promo code for a free rental!! I'm really excited about this and hope it does well enough for Walmart to keep it. (Apparently there's one at every Walmart in town and at the HyVee grocery store also!) Friday night on our way out of town to the Lake we're going to stop and rent a couple movies. It'll only be 4$ to keep two movies for the weekend! Awesome!

Surf's Up!

One of the local movie theaters is having free Spring matinées at 10 and 11 every Saturday and Sunday in March and April! They even have a 15 minute intermission at every show. I'm so excited, unless something happens I'm going to take Hailey to her first ever movie tomorrow! They're showing Surf's Up which she's never seen. And if she doesn't like it and wants to leave, I didn't pay anything so it won't matter! YAY!!

Ick (and Cars are for girls too!)

Ugh, I'm sick of stomach issues. I'm quite sure they've flared up because of all the stress in my life right now. D and I hadn't been getting along, my stepmom and dad are still in the middle of a messy divorce--that's brought all kinds of lovely issues to our lives--work hasn't been the greatest and I'm also trying to deal w/ my health issues and going to physical therapy twice a week which makes me not get home til late those nights. Yesterday the problems between D and I came to a head at lunch time and it was pretty obvious that my stress has been, if not actually causing the stomach issues, at least irritating them to some degree. Luckily we worked things out (I hope it sticks), had my mom come watch Hailey for the evening and went on a much needed date night to celebrate Valentine's Day a little early. We went out to eat and I was STARVING after not eating much for the past few days (and actually I hadn't eaten anything for lunch yesterday at all because of the issues between D and I) so even though I didn't completely pig out, I probably didn't make the best choices as far as the type of food I ate. I had about 2/3 of a salad--hard on my stomach, but I LOOOOVE salad!--two mozzarella sticks, 5 fried shrimp, a few fries, a few bites of cole slaw and a little parfait thing w/ crushed oreos, chocolate mousse and whipped cream. SO GOOD. I'm paying for it today though. I woke up this morning feeling sick and snoozed the alarm for 20 minutes before I felt like I could get out of bed without throwing up. I got to work 10 minutes late and I've been running to the bathroom off and on all morning. Lovely. I've also got some lovely indigestion to go along with it. I haven't had these problems since I worked at my last job. It's amazing what stress can do to your body.

We did have a great date night though. We talked while we ate and then ran over to the mall to get Jelly Bellies for me and a book for him, although he didn't end up buying one. We bought my mom a small Valentine's Day present (comfy fuzzy socks and some choc. covered almonds) and D got Hailey a little present from him--she's OBSESSED with the movie Cars lately...we've watched it at least once a day for the past month--a Lightening McQueen car, Doc Hudson and my favorite, Guido and Luigi! Guido even has a removable wig of hair--from the race scene, the red/white/green fro! Too cute! We had a really good time. Hopefully we can continue like this and start building our relationship back up again.

Hailey's sitter got Hailey the Mater car and gave it to her this morning...she immediately hugged it to her chest and instructed everyone not to touch it. She LOVES Mater. I'm sure she's not going to let that thing out of her site now! It may even replace her Cars blanket as her new "lovie!" :o)

#5

The newest Potter movie comes out today. Ordinarily I would have run out on my lunch hour to buy it, but people have been strongly hinting that it's going to be a birthday gift...so I'm trying really hard to wait 8 more days! All this Potter talk has really gotten me in the mood though, to watch all the movies again! I haven't seen them in ages, except for the newest one in theaters. But seeing as how I rarely ever get time to watch movies and my husband never wants to watch Potter since we've seen them all before, I haven't been able to!

Today my husband called and said he was going to the next town over where he goes to school to hang out with his buddies. It's finals week and after doing pretty poorly this morning on a final he has been studying really hard for, he just needed to get away and have some fun. I assumed they'd be doing something manly, like playing the Wii for extended periods of time. Then my husband called me back and wanted to know if the new Potter movie comes out today. I told him yes and not to buy it until he calls my mom first since I thought she was buying it for me for my birthday. He then wanted to know how many movies there were out so far(5 total)...he said he could only find 3. I explained The Chamber of Secrets is the only one we have on VHS...he was looking for DVDs. Anyway imagine my surprise when I found out he wasn't going to play the Wii...they were going to have a little Potter viewing party and watch them all one after the other!

First of all, I think this is incredibly cute. 3 grown men, getting together on a rainy(and snowy and cold) afternoon, to watch the Harry Potter series...3 tough guys, that usually sit around and drink beer while watching football or playing sports or war games on the Wii...

Second of all, come on! I'm so freaking jealous! And a teeny bit irritated. Why, WHY does he have to get in the mood to watch Potter when he's not with me?? And here I sit, bored as HELL at work w/ my lovely sinus headache...still wishing I had time to watch Potter.

Two things I know...
1. My husband really is adorable. I love him to pieces. He's so silly!
2. Jealousy is a bad attribute of mine. I'm totally jealous of his free time. And totally jealous of his friends for stealing my Potter time.

15 weeks

Hailey had her 15 month well-check today. She’s 21 lbs 11 oz. and 30 inches long. She did really good showing Dr. P how she can name her body parts. She pointed to her toes and said “toes” and did the same with her knees, nose and eyes. He was very impressed. He asked if she was stringing 2 or more words together, and I told him yes she will say things like "all done" or "my mommy" or "I see outside" or "a car." He said she’s perfect. She had to get 2 shots(the D-tap and the Prevnar shots), which she was not happy about (I wasn’t happy that she had to get them either)…she cried so hard, and I almost burst into tears. She was ok when we got home, just a little low-energy, and she went to bed at 7:30 which is about an hour or so early for her. This morning I woke her up at 6:40 and after she told me "thank you" for giving her her boppies(pacifiers) she started crying like something was hurting her. I gave her some more Motrin and called my mom. She's done with summer school for the year, so she's got 3 wks off and could come over and watch Hailey. She fell back asleep in my lap until my mom got there at 7:30, and then she cried for me when I was trying to hand her over. It broke my heart. She was crying "mommy, mommy" and grabbing onto me. :o( Having to be a working mom is just not fair. But I told her Shrek was in the DVD player and she said "Shek" and brightened up a little. I asked her if she wanted to watch Shrek or Curious Buddies and she mumbled something that sounded like "Curious" so I put that in and she was feeling ok enough by the time I left to wave bye to me. I called a little while ago and my mom says she seems to be feeling ok. I hope the fever and aches go away sooner than they said they probably would (3 to 7 days). Makes me feel even worse about going on our anniversary trip this weekend.

In other news, since Hailey went to bed so early last night I got to watch Beauty and the Geek which I hate to admit I love. Hopefully I'll remember it's on every week and be able to catch it.

Did I already post that my mom and I went to see the new Harry Potter movie this past Saturday? Well anyway, it was awesome. Very good battle scenes and the fireworks were really neat. Professor Umbridge didn't look like what I'd pictured, but I still thought she was portrayed pretty well! I've heard you can't re-read the book before you go see it, so I didn't, and I really loved it. I think that's the mistake I've always made in the past, since the 2nd movie, I've re-read the book before going to the movie and it just ruins it. You know they're going to change some stuff around and leave some things you think are crucial out, so you really have to just look at the movies separately from the books. Speaking of books...the last book comes out this weekend!!! I don't know how I'm going to not hear who dies before I get to read it...my mom is supposed to get one for me since I'll be out of town, but I don't know how I'm going to avoid the media reports since everybody else will see it before me. And I don't know how I'm going to read it because I can hardly get through a book these days because after I put Hailey to bed I've got chores to do and I'm exhausted. I guess I'll just have to put off all the chores til I finish it!!

Attached at the hip

Hailey was attached to my hip this weekend even more so than usual. She wouldn't play, she wanted to waller all over me, and anywhere we went I had to carry her. She doesn't want anybody else but me. My mom took us to Olive Garden today for soup, salad and breadsticks and Hailey insisted on sitting on my lap the whole time. That's not like her! I don't know what's up, I don't know if she's just loving me more and more every day or what...she just hugs on me all day. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining! I love her to pieces. She's my little buddy. But I do feel bad for D. She hasn't wanted much to do with him lately. I guess she's probably just going through another phase. I had to have him take over rocking her to sleep tonight though. She wanted me to keep rocking her, and after 30 minutes or so I tried to lay her down. Usually, no problem, she rolls over and goes to sleep. On nights like tonight, she will never lay down and go to sleep for me. I lay her down and she stands up and cries for me to hold her. So on nights like this, the best thing to do is to hand her off to D. She cries for me for about 30 seconds, then she settles into her daddy and he gets her to sleep no problem. Which is good because I am SO STINKING TIRED. I had to get up with her both days this weekend since D had golf at the butt crack of dawn(he was so not happy about that). Yesterday I took my shower and all that while she was sleeping(the red mark on my forehead is still there by the way) so today I thought YES, I'll finally get a nap while she's napping! She went down about 10:15 or so...I got to sleep about 10:30...and darned if she didn't wake up at 10:45. She was exhausted, but for some reason she woke up crying really bad and wouldn't go back to sleep. So she wallered all over me on the couch for a while til she got hungry for lunch. My mom was going to watch her for a while so I could take a nap, but stupid me I thought no it's too late now I might as well just go about my day. So we went to the mall and I took a shirt back to Penneys that was too big. Before we left the house I had a mini-meltdown. I remember now why I wore the clothes I did before I got pregnant. Why I did wear more "mature" clothing...I can't find anything anywhere here in my size!! It is so frustrating, it brings me to tears. I found so many cute things this weekend that DON'T COME IN MY SIZE. I ended up wearing my white cargo pants and an XS green guy's T-shirt. Talk about frumpy. And then I promptly sat on some chocolate at Olive Garden so it looked like I doodied in my pants. I had to go by my mom's house and change into her black stretch pants...which are a medium so they bagged off my butt, so like always I looked like I dumped in my pants. But damn was I comfortable. And I found the cutest tshirt in the juniors section that has pink flowers all over it...it's pleated up at the top, and I tried it on and what does my mom say? "That looks like a maternity top"...I bought it anyway...hell at least it'll camoflauge my big belly. I've been so bloated lately, I seriously look about 18 wks pregnant. Do I care? Nope. It's funny, I've had 2 people at my new job ask me if I'm pregnant. I thought it was hilarious.

Back to my meltdown. I don't know what the hell to do about clothes. I have none. Nothing that fits or looks decent anyway. I did get a couple shirts this weekend, but that's not a whole wardrobe. Where the hell am I supposed to get clothes?? Everything I can find in the misses sections only goes down to a Small or a 4. If I had money right now I'd go to the Gap. But I don't even know if they'd have anything I like right now. Last summer I got a couple pairs of capris there that I LOVED, I wore them all the time...and now they're way too big for me. It's so depressing! I pulled out this Tshirt from the Gap that I wore last summer that I absolutely LOVED, and OH MY GOD it was huge. How could I have shrank that much? I don't feel that much smaller than I was then...it's really depressing me that I have no clothes, and I just don't know what to do...

I am noting, in case I didn't before, that Hailey loves blowing bubbles and brings them to me all the time asking "bubble?"... and tonight, I left the top unscrewed on her Gazillions of Bubbles, so she dumped it on the living room floor. And those are the expensive bubbles darn it. And how in the world do you clean bubbles off carpet? It just keeps foaming and foaming and foaming.

Today in Penney's Hailey insisted on walking everywhere, and stepping on any spot on the floor while saying "bug!" She STILL loves bugs, and she loves stepping on anything remotely bug-looking. That's my girl.

This post is pretty random and unorganized. I'm so tired. D is done rocking Hailey now, apparently she went to sleep wonderfully for him, thank God. So now that I can make noise in the household again, I'm going to get ready for bed. Yes there is still shredded cheese on the floor from her dinner, and bottles that need to be rinsed waiting in the sink, and clothes to be put away. I don't give a crap. I'm going to bed. Hopefully I won't be so tired tomorrow. I've got a busy day ahead of me.

By the way, we watched Ice Age 2, The Meltdown last night...pretty funny and cute! Better than the first one I think...

Apparently Guavas are yucky... and a cheesy mom moment

In case anybody sees the new Yoplait flavors that just came out, Guava and Passion Fruit...and in case you're feeling adventerous and think "hmm, I think I'll try those..." If you've never had a Guava, I really don't recommend trying the yogurt. I've never had a real Guava. They look really yummy. Apparently I don't like Guava.

Not a bad weekend, got a lot of crap put away/thrown away Saturday because 1. I was still looking for this huge check we'd lost and NEED to pay rent this week and 2. I think I got hit with the Spring cleaning bug. House looks semi nice for once. Went to the movie with my sister Saturday night after eating at this Chinese place we used to love. The food is not that great anymore unfortunately so that sucked. And my sister is in this funk lately...she goes through these moody phases...so she's not really fun to be around right now, so that kind of sucked. But the movie(Blades of Glory) was pretty funny. If you like that rediculous mindless humor that is "Will Ferrel"...which I do.--"I wanna cut off your skin and wear it to my birthday"(HAHAHA)--Then she stayed the night that night, and that turned out to be no fun at ALL. She refuses to turn her cell to vibrate. She insists she has to leave it on ring at all times. This means I got woken up literally every 30 minutes, the WHOLE NIGHT...I am not joking. H slept until 10:30 Sunday...I could have majorly caught up on some sleep! But NO...my sister's damn phone kept going off. And then she had set the alarm for 8:00...WHY??? I asked her, and she said "well what time do you get up with H?" HELLO! I said "whatever time she wakes up!" So she said "ok"....and reset her alarm for 9:00!!!!!!!! WTF?!?! I was pretty upset. Her alarm went off at 9:00 and she got up and went home to get ready because apparently we were supposed to go to dinner at my grandma's that day, which the whole family had failed to tell me until late Saturday night(I am ALWAYS the last to know everything, it drives me insane...from now on if I don't know about it in advance, I am most likely not going...but this was my grandma, so of course I went). And of course once my sister left, I couldn't get back to sleep...so I laid in bed til H woke up at 10:30. I found her trying to climb her bumper pad...guess it's time to move her crib down to the very bottom notch. Anyway, I could bitch about some other things from yesterday, but I'm not going to. It was a pretty good weekend. I'm missing my husband like crazy, and he's really missing us. We've had great conversations this whole golf season...usually I end up getting frustrated with him on the phone while he's gone because he wants to say hi bye and get off the phone. He's been actually talking to me and we haven't fought about getting off the phone a single time. It's been great. And I just miss him so bad. I want him home.

I had a dream last night that I had finally finished the huge mountain of laundry I have to do...WOW what a great feeling! Then I woke up and there it was, piled high next to the bathroom at the end of our bed...crap...just a dream.

As I mentioned above, I had been looking for this check for days...tearing the house apart, and it was NOWHERE. Not in the car, not at my mom's, not in my mom's car. It was gone, for good, I just knew it. My mom kept saying she'd help me look, she'd help me look, don't worry it's there somewhere...I worried all week, and all weekend, I just knew it was gone. She FINALLY came over last night to look. I told her it's nowhere, I've checked everywhere there is to check. And she goes in my dining room and picks up a big envelope, looks inside and finds a stack of mail. OH YEAH...I shoved it all in there so I wouldn't lose any of it. 30 seconds people. That's all it took her to find this check. I had been looking ALL WEEK. 30 seconds...awesome mommy skillz. And while on this topic, I should mention how we got a Red Lobster gift card for Christmas from the in-laws. And I promptly lost it. Of course. Looked everywhere, for so long...told the in-laws I'd lost it and I was so sorry. Mother-in-law comes over. Walks in H's room. "Oh what's this??" as she picks a little red and green box up off H's shelf of stuffed animals. Again...not even 30 seconds. This is one mommy skill I cannot wait to aquire. I asked D last night how many years he thought it would be, and he said he thought 5 years of practice should do it...God I hope so, that's gonna be awesome...

H is talking like crazy all of a sudden. She loves all things nature lately, so of course she's saying "dird"(bird), "dush"(bush), "tee"(tree), "cat." And she says "ball" and "moa"(more) and "ite"(bite) among other things. She's such a good baby, so happy(most of the time!). She absolutely LOVES to go places. Go go go, she always wants to be on the go. She loves to sit at the back sliding glass door leaning up against the screen yelling at the birds(her new favorite...and I put sunflower seeds in the back yard to attract them). She's happy as pie if I let her run around in nothing but a diaper and leave the door open so she can get some fresh air. She loves her family, she loves her friends...she loves shopping(as any girl would), and she loves Walmart! Her new favorite foods are goldfish crackers(imagine her sitting in the cart at Walmart, 5 goldfish shoved in her mouth, orange drool running down her chin, with her hand in the bag grabbing her next mouthfull)...and strawberries, she LOVES strawberries. I think she's going to turn into a basket of fruit...she eats so many bananas and cups of all-natural applesauce a day! I just cannot believe she's almost one, and I'm packing away her winter clothes, that she'll never ever wear again...and she's been such a wonderful happy easy baby...and now she's growing up, turning into a toddler.

And she's been so snuggly lately, and I eat it up every time she crawls into my lap. I know the moments of cuddling her like a little baby are going to come to an end before I know it. She's getting so big!! She's growing up too fast. Finally, FINALLY, I'm having one of those cheesy moments where I'm sitting there looking at her little pink winter hat with the pom pom on top and crying, thinking that this year went by way, way too fast.

YEAH for me, I GOT IT!!

YAY, I got a new job!! The guy called me today as I was leaving work and told me he had good and bad news. They hired somebody for the position I interviewed for, that was the bad news. The good news is the person they hired was their bookkeeper, so that position was open now, and he wanted to know if I wanted it. He said they were really impressed with me, and wanted to offer me the job at 12.17 an hour. That's over a dollar more than I get paid now, AWESOME! Just for doing a bookkeeping/receptionist job. I'm so freaking excited, and still in shock. I've worked where I do for 7 years...I started there in highschool. I worked part time at Dillard's a couple years over the holidays, but I've never switched companies like this...it's really exciting and scary at the same time! But I'm mostly excited, and I feel really good about myself. I really thought I wasn't going to get it, and even though I didn't get the one I interviewed for I could care less, it's still a job w/ the school system and it's still in that same office w/ those great people! I get awesome benefits, more pay, nice people/atmosphere...it's going to be great!!

Now it's almost 1am and I'm SO tired...we went w/ the guys to see The Hills Have Eyes 2 tonight. I know I'm NUTS now...WHY did I want to see that movie?? I saw the first one, but I must have been insane to think this one wouldn't be gorrier and scarier. And I'm scared to death to be alone at night when D's out of town, it was just stupid to see that movie. And I have nobody to stay w/ me! Dan's trying to get his friend A to come stay w/ me. He's a nice guy. But I doubt he will. My mom has H for the night, I'm finishing up D's laundry and then we're going to crawl in bed and hopefully I'll be able to sleep in tomorrow. I'm so tired after running around so much this week trying to get those letters of rec. etc. SOOOOOOOO TIRED.

WANTED

As I'm driving to work this morning my cell phone rings, and it's my friend M...the one that works at that other company where I had that interview...the one I haven't heard from in ages until I got an email from her last week telling me they bought a house and are in the midst of huge renovations so she's been super busy...anyway she tells me that the lady in charge of hiring at the company she works at just came and asked her if I'd possibly still be interested in working there. She said she just wanted to give me a heads up that they may possibly call me. I'm not counting on it, but I thought that was pretty neat that they asked about me. They wouldn't give her any more details, so I don't know if the person w/ the degree that they hired for that position quit, or wasn't good like the last person they hired and they fired them, or if it's another position entirely or what...but after this company I'm at now making me feel so worthless it feels good to have the school system calling me non-stop and even calling my mom to track me down to get an interview, and now this other company may be interested again! I'm really hoping for the school system job though, ins. is way better there and I think I'd end up with a bigger payck from there. Plus it would just be awesome to work for the school system. Construction accounting would be cool, but a challenge for sure. I think I would like Payroll better. Anyway enough about work crap...

Last night went ok. Dad, stepmom and brother left about a quarter til 8:00. D came home, ate, went to work...I put H to bed around 10:00 after ripping up a bunch of cc offers we got in the mail and letting her throw the paper all over. When D got home he put away the shampooer and vacuum and emptied the day's bottles etc...I really don't know what's gotten into him but I like it. He asked me very gently what the mess in the living room was all about. Since when does he care about messes?? But I admit, this mess was bad, little rips of paper everywhere mixed in w/ toys. I laughed and told him I really tried to pick it up but every handful I put in the plastic bag to throw away, she pulled back out...so I thought it was a lost cause and gave up and let her play. I went to get ready for bed and would you believe he picked up all the paper and took out the trash?? We watched Leno--his fav. and Letterman--my fav.(flipping back and forth) in bed(Paula Abdul was on Letterman, she is getting weirder and weirder as the years go on)...we're loving the TV my mom gave to us for the bedroom(which actually it was my TV to start with, I got it for xmas one year when I still lived at home and then left it there when I moved for my mom to use!)...anyway we both agreed that it's been really nice since he's been home from his trip. We haven't bickered hardly at all except for a tiny bit on Friday night when he was grumpy because I wouldn't decide where to eat(somehow no matter who I'm with or where we're at, that task always lands on MY shoulders and I hate it!!) I am not looking forward to him being gone every weekend for a month :o(

Ate lunch with sis today, more low key than last time, a tiny bit of giggling but mostly we were both tired and wanted naps and we talked about movies. I want to see The Hills Have Eyes 2, even thought it looks incredibly fake and unbelieveable...I saw the first one when I was pregnant with D and his friend TJ...they jumped in their seats and I just sat there! I HATE scary movies, HATE horror flicks, but I liked that movie. I'm weird, I know. I was very interested in the fact that they were deformed from radiation and living all alone like that or something, I don't know. Anyway the 2nd movie the people look like monsters, not believeable at all, but I still want to see it. And that Blades of Glory movie, gotta love Will Ferril!! I never get to go see movies at the theater anymore since Miss H can't go. My sister goes all the time. She just saw that one about that old lady with all the dolls, can't think of the title...but I cannot believe she went to see it, we are both insanely scared of those porceline dolls like that AND clowns, and there's BOTH in that movie!! She's nuts. She said there's another scary movie coming out in April about some sort of bugs that live in people's skin...it sounded interesting. And one called Knocked Up or something like that that looked funny. It's about time some good movies came out.

Someone smells like poo in my dept., YUCK...

Well, of COURSE, the lady I work with came and told me this morning that her granddaughter that is 2 days older than Miss H took 2 steps yesterday. Big ol SIGH. WHEN will H start walking?? It seems like everybody else is walking. She's been so advanced all her short life so far but not on this. I'm not worried about it except EVERYBODY keeps asking me, "Is she walking yet, is she walking yet??" and then acting like it's bad that she isn't. At first my mom told me "none of the babies at school her age are walking yet either, don't worry!" and then she told me last week "Well, actually, after I told you that they all started walking"....NICE! And then I thought well Baby A hasn't taken steps yet either. And then I got that news this morning. Not only is Baby A talking way more actual words than Miss H, she's now walking. H cruises the furniture, she can even stand on her own when she feels like it. She doesn't seem lazy, she zooms everywhere all the time, the girl never sits still. She's eating like crazy and sleeping ALL NIGHT(as in she doesn't cry in her sleep for her pacifier anymore now...I used to have to get up maybe 2 times a night to pop her pacifier back in her mouth and then go right back to bed) now, maybe she's going through a growth spurt and doesn't have the time/energy to learn to walk and learn more actual words right now? She's been repeating sounds lately, like this morning she was saying "pass" and pointing at her pacifier or "buh" for bug etc. I know I shouldn't worry, but I can't help it. By her age I was both walking AND talking, and I had a brace on my legs til I was 9 months old even. And I was even talking short sentences, like "more milk" etc. And I feel bad, I can't help but think to myself that maybe it's because the kids in D's family walked and talked later, and blaming these "slow" genes on his side of the family. After all my nephew(his brother's son) didn't learn to walk well til he was about 18 months and STILL can't talk well enough for us to understand him and he's 2. Which there is nothing wrong with, I'm just saying that's later than the kids in my family do things. Hell my nephews/neice were potty trained by age 1! I cannot imagine H being potty trained in less than a month. Right now she still just wants to chew on the toilet lid and throw things in the pot. I feel like maybe I don't work with her enough...but I do constantly. I play with her instead of doing chores or cooking, and I talk to her constantly, naming objects, telling her what I'm doing. Some nights I do more than others, I admit...but I work 40 hrs a week and don't get home til 6:00 usually, and only get maybe 6 hrs of sleep a night if that. I'm tired. Last night I let her play with the paper shreds for a good 20 minutes while I sat on my butt and checked blogs and my email. And then I felt horrible. And her daycare is great, she used to be a 3rd grade teacher and does circle time w/ them and all that. But she also teaches them sign language which D and I had decided we were NOT going to do because we are those people that believe it hurts more than it helps. Nothing against anybody that believes the opposite. And honestly when I think about it, none of the kids that go there talk well. Her son is 3 and I understand a lot of what he says but he doesn't talk "well"...her 1 year old doesn't say any words that I know of except maybe dada, but he generally doesn't babble like H. Her niece that's now 2 doesn't talk AT ALL. Maybe it's just the kids in their family talk later. But I can't help but think maybe if I could be a SAHM she would already be talking and walking. I hate the fact that I can't stay home with her. I never wanted to be a working mom. Even when I was little bitty I dreamed of being a SAHM. One of these days, hopefully...maybe I'll be able to do it right with our next baby...

Better get back to work. Fun day committee meeting in B's office at 3:00, YIPPEE!! (note sarcasm)