The sun is shining

We're going to have bad days here and there, I know that. But the bad days just need to, well, not be so bad, darn it! Things are okay. Things are better. Promises aren't being broken, which is the major reason I was so upset. Hailey's still getting to go to the Lake next weekend. I'll forget the name calling in time. Everything's fine. Moving on.

So big things have been happening in these parts. Well big in my book anyway.

My husband finally admitted he is getting excited about moving. I think having to peel off his mud caked clothes and shoes on the front porch for God and all the Mexican's living next door to see really did it. He's very excited about having a garage now. And here I thought telling him he could have all his hunting/fishing/golf stuff at HOME instead of stored in his parents garage would do it! All I had to do was start making him undress outdoors! LOL

Hailey isn't that weirded out by the packing, which is something I was worried about. A couple nights ago I started packing up the books in her bedroom (the ones we don't read every night) and she did run in her bedroom and say "Hey, those are mine!" but once I explained that we had to pack them away so we can move them to the new house, she was fine. We've decided on keeping her around for most, if not all, of the day while we're moving. That way she can see all of our stuff leaving the old place and being moved into the new. I'm sure there will be plenty of comments from the inlaws (who aren't helping us move, by the way) about how we need to just send Hailey to the sitter's but I know my daughter and I really think it's best for her to see what's happening first hand.

My mom's new job is going amazingly well. I feel like God really answered our prayers with this one. The people in this law office are absolutely amazing. The lawyers are incredible. The things they have done for my mother are just above and beyond that of a normal employer. Things like giving her a huge check just because they didn't have to pay two months of Cobra insurance for her. You'd think they'd just be thankful they didn't have to pay for it and leave it at that. Instead they give the money they would have used to pay for the insurance directly to her. Just to have. We are so incredibly thankful for everything God is giving her right now. She really deserves it. And just to add to her happiness I bought her a new vacuum last week. She loaned hers to her boyfriend over a year ago and unfortunately he never gave it back. She's been borrowing mine. When I bought my new (ABSOLUTELY AWESOME) new vacuum I was going to give her our old one...until D took it down to the Lake and used it to clean up the nastiness at the cabin. Now that one is banished to the cabin (as we threw the old one there away) and my mom has a nice new one. All is right in cleaning land!

D and I have realized that we are going to have to share the cabin. Which is totally fine, except for the fact that we're the only ones that have been cleaning that place and fixing it up! Well aside from his dad, who has really been doing a lot as well which we are very thankful for. But now that the place is cleaner and has newer couches and a TV, all the relatives are wanting to go down there. Like D's brother and my sister in law. And now D's cousin that hasn't been in years will be taking her new husband there a week after the wedding. Which is totally fine! We just need to get over the fact that it's not just our cabin. And that people don't care that we're the only ones that have done any work, they're still going to reap the benefits. And we've realized that we just need to move to the Lake ourselves! We're hoping D can get a job down there after he graduates. The Lake is a place where I've always just felt at ease. I love the atmosphere, I love the lifestyle. I want a boat and a waverunner way more than I want a house. I just need to be away from the city, I'm tired of all the congestion and how there are people everywhere you go. I love being down at the Lake and waking up to the sound of boats going by and waverunners zooming all over the place. (Sort of off topic but waverunners remind me of nats. They follow huge boats around riding their wake...I'd think this would be really annoying for the boat owners! It's so fun though!) If it can't be there then I want to live in another tiny little town. I'm talking no grocery store tiny like one of my favorite little blufftop towns near here. Where you're driving along and come upon a heard of chickens just standing in the street. I crave that slower paced, less stressed, more quiet life.

Changing subjects completely...I'm going to talk about work now. I can't go into all the details but I have to say working for a public school system vs. for a big corporation is very interesting. We're dealing with tax le.vys and bud.get cuts and board meetings and it's just all very (oddly enough) exciting. It gets your blood boiling, you start to feel so passionate about your feelings on the issues! This morning we all met at the office about 15 minutes early (and I was NOT the last one here, I am happy to announce! **pats myself on back**) and rode over to the boa.rd meeting together. Apparently we made quite the impact all showing up as a united front like that, our whole office. My boss and our secretary (who replaced me when I took this job--and who is now losing her job because of the budget cuts) both spoke and we stood up with them to show our support. We were in the very front row so when we stood up it looked very intimidating. We could just feel the teachers behind us staring and we could hear them whispering. It's amazing how much in denial they are of simple mathematics. We're dealing with a bud.get crisis, we're cutting something like 82 positions across the dist.rict, everybody is losing 2 days of work w/out pay...and the teachers think we should go ahead with the salary sch.edule and essentially give everyone raises (although as the teachers put it, it is NOT a raise...it's a contractual obligation, a part of their benefits package--although it's not in any of their contracts or benefit info!) The whole idea of taking away jobs and days and then giving everyone a raise is just ludicrous. And what really bites my ass is the fact that the teachers claim to be so much about the students, reminding everybody that this is really about the students here, but then they are so money hungry! And they give sob stories about how so many of them are already at a hardship, having to work 2 and 3 jobs to make ends meet, and PLEASE don't make this harder on us than it already is! BOOHOO. The average teacher in our district makes almost $50,000 a year. For 9 months work. Some of our accountants make less than that and they work 12 months! And as far as having to work 2 and 3 jobs to make ends meet...I would LOVE to see them live on my salary or that of our secretaries. They make twice what we do and are able to be off in the summer. It's just a mess and while both sides have valid points I think it just says something how the people that are supposedly so "for the students" still want their raise so bad, while those of us that are being directly impacted by the cuts by ways such as losing staff, so our individual workloads will go up, we'll be losing 2 days of work w/ no pay, etc. are all for NOT getting raises. How about we keep the staff that are losing their jobs so the district can actually run/work properly and everybody stay at the same rate of pay...an efficiently run district is what the students need. Not a teacher who makes $1000 more per year.

So I got off on a rant there. I feel very good about being involved in this and it makes me happy to hear that we made a big impact on everyone this morning (in a good way). The superin.tendent is very happy with what went on. Hopefully a good decision will be made and this will all be over soon!

A plus about having to get here so early this morning...now I get off at 3:43! Yay!

I've really gotten into reading again. I've finished The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella...hard to get into at first but ultimately a GREAT book! One of my favorites of hers so far! I've now moved on to Can You Keep a Secret...another one of hers. So far it's pretty good...now the only problem is I haven't had time to read lately! I've got many more books on my "to read" list and can't wait to get all settled in our new place and have time to read again!

Tomorrow night we've got a rehearsal and dinner for our friend's wedding that is going on Saturday. We've made the decision to take Hailey to the rehearsal and dinner, against my inlaws judgement, and we're very excited about going. Another reason for me to get semi dressed up...I got a new dark grey knit skirt (the kind w/ the foldover top like I LOVE) at Old Navy last night for the occassion. I'll probably just wear it with a pink tank top and some flip flops unless I can find some sandals tonight. For the wedding Saturday I found a HUGE bargain at Kohl's, a dress on sale for $7. I'm going to attempt to curl my hair which means I need to buy either some curlers or a curling iron. I've been wanting those for ages anyway. I got Hailey the cutest little dress at Penneys on sale for $15 and she picked out some little gold braided flip flops that I'm going to squeeze her fat little feet into. Hopefully the day goes smoothly with minimal meltdowns on her part.

My sister came over last night after a LONG time of not seeing each other. We went to Old Navy, got sandwiches at Quizno's (not to self: Hailey does NOT like toasted subs), ran by Penneys and just hung out. We decided we really need to make an effort to do it more often and we've planned a date with just the two of us to go to this new seafood place we both want to try.

Hailey has yet again grown up overnight. The other day at the sitters she was going a puzzle with the sitter's middle son who is 2 months older than her. He asked her what a puzzle piece was. Hailey said "I THINK it's a crab. I THINK." The sitter said she laughed so hard, and that Hailey sounded just like a little adult. She also told the sitter all about the tye dyed shirt she made at the festival I took her to last weekend. The sitter had read about it on our family blog but hadn't mentioned it to Hailey at all. Hailey brought it up all on her own and told her all about how she made this shirt with circles and colored it yellow and blue and pink and then Mommy washed it. She said she made it at the big park. Little things like that make me realize that I have a kid now. She's not a little baby anymore, as much as I still feel like I have a baby. I have a kid now. A true little kid.

My husband got a lesson Tuesday night (before Hailey went to bed and we fought, of course) on just how much of a kid Hailey is now. And how he really needs to watch his mouth. We were on the way to the park after having DQ ice cream. He started hassling me about doing "the deed" with him that night. I kept telling him I just do NOT feel like it, it was not a good night, I was exhausted, blah blah blah on and on and finally I told him to not talk about things like that in front of Hailey anymore. He started in again hassling me until Hailey finally had enough and she yelled at him "DADDY SHE'S NOT IN THE MOOD!" He was so embarrassed and I just laughed and laughed. The look of shock on his face was priceless. Of course she had no idea exactly what we were talking about but you'd better bet that got him to shut up!!! Thanks Hailey!

And now I'd better get to work. Sometime this weekend I should have some pictures to upload! Hope everyone is having a great week!

Huge sigh of relief

This weekend went AMAZINGLY well. I cannot begin to describe the effect it has had on me. I am thanking God over and over again that everything worked out the way it did and praying that things will continue and I won't have to go back to that "place" anymore where I'm just absolutely miserable and feeling like hiding in a hole somewhere.

Thursday night my husband and I finally talked. After 9 years. He FINALLY had a discussion with me and actually LISTENED to what I was saying. The basis of that being that we need him. I need him. I need the family I've always dreamed of. I can't be let down anymore because I just can't take it after all these years of being let down left and right. And Hailey needs her dad. Not an occasional playmate. At the end of the conversation I asked my husband "So what are your plans for tomorrow night?" fully expecting him to say "I'm playing golf with A" or something to that effect. But right away he said "Spending time with you guys." I was so anxious all day Friday. Would he blow us off, using the excuse that he just HAS to practice or HAS to do something else? After work I rushed home and Hailey and I played outside to keep us busy until he got home. It was past time for him to get home and I called...he was still working. Okay, I started to get a little nervous. He didn't seem to be in the greatest of moods. I called 3 times before he was finally on his way home. He got home, took a shower and then told us he was NOT going to the park because his allergies were going crazy. Ok, no problem. I cooked a big yummy dinner (chicken w/ italian dressing glaze, mashed potatoes and gravy and green beans) and then we headed out and picked up my mom and treated ourselves to some DQ. We all went to Walmart together after that and my husband did not gripe once, he was so patient. We bought a life jacket for Hailey and three new pillows for the cabin at the Lake (since I had to throw some of his parents' away that were MILDEWED, EW!!). The night went surprisingly well!

D had also promised to go with Hailey and I to the annual carnival in a little town near here where my family is from. I've gone every year for as long as I can remember, since I was a little girl. It's really special to me! He went with me a few times over the years and hates it. But after explaining to him how important it is to me, he agreed to go. I made him promise not to gripe while we were there and not to say "I told you so" when we left if it really did suck. We got there on time, about 11:30 am, and guess what...we had fun! Aside from Hailey getting incredibly cranky, it was a really good time. Hailey rode her first carnival rides ever, and all by herself even! I was so proud, but it was so shocking...my baby is growing up!! We started with the carousel which she surprisingly did not want to ride...she LOVES the one in the mall...I made her ride it and she had a great time and loosened up. Then she wanted to ride the cars. They go in a circle on a track. I buckled her in the one she picked and explained that I had to go stand outside the gate with Daddy and she was going to ride the car by herself. When the ride started going the look on her face was priceless. It was a mixture of shock, surprise and seriousness. She really thought she was driving that car. She turned that steering wheel like crazy and kept looking back at the boy in the car behind her like he was just riding her WAY too close LOL it was so stinking cute! After that she rode the boats...the same type of ride but they go over little hills as they go around. She loved that as well. I'll try to add a video to this later of her riding them. She played the duck game and won a big blow up hammer and then I got to eat a pulled pork sandwich while Hailey munched on a bag of chips. She was pretty cranky at that point. D went and got me a peach dumpling, yum, and then he rode the big slide with Hailey...she rode the little train herself and then we left which of course Hailey was not happy about. She slept all the way back to town. When we got home we loaded up the car, I called and cancelled on my friend--the graduation party I was supposed to go to...I did not feel bad cancelling, this friend has let me down so many times I can't count--we loaded up the car and headed to the Lake! Hailey was so excited, she couldn't even sleep. We met our friends A, K and their baby boy L who were going with us. When we drove up to the cabin Hailey saw the Lake and said "Oh my GOD!" it was too cute. She LOVED seeing the boats go by and she even got right in the water! I was shocked! Sunday my father in law came down to install a new bathroom vanity and sink and our friends left (which I was actually really happy about...I just wanted time with my family) and we swam more and then fished off the dock. Hailey caught her first fish ever all by herself!! She cast, caught and reeled in this fish with no help from us and she was so proud of herself. Again, the look on her face was just priceless. She cast the line and reeled it back in numerous times w/ no result. It's fun for her. But D went and dug up some fishing worms and found a few tiny hooks...he was bound and determined to have her catch a fish. She plopped the hook down in the water and when that little bluegill latched on she was so surprised but she held tight to the rod and just watched in shock as the fish swam like crazy pulling out the line. I told her to reel it in and she started reeling and reeling and when she lifted the fish out of the water she was just so surprised. She couldn't believe she actually caught a fish. She even held it in her hands!!!! Til it flopped and she said "Mommy it spiked me!" and then she wouldn't touch anymore LOL She caught a few more, I got pictures of the 3rd one (I didn't have the camera for the first one!!). She wanted to keep fishing but it was time to load up the car and go. She hadn't had a nap all day and was VERY cranky. She fell asleep in the car before we even got out of the driveway and she slept all the way home, waking up at one point when she yelled in her sleep "DOWN! DOWN!" and then groggily asked me "Where'd Molly go?" (my father in law's yellow lab that she'd been playing with at the Lake--he does dog trials and stuff w/ her and Hailey LOVES to help him boss her around!) I told her Molly went home with Papa and she went back to sleep.

We ended the evening by playing some Mario Kart on the Wii. It was an absolutely amazing weekend. Much needed...I didn't even care that we were so busy. My mom said this morning when she called "I bet you feel like you didn't even get a weekend" and I told her that surprisingly, that isn't the case. I feel like I had a GREAT fun-filled weekend, and that I'm very happy to be home this week and start to pack and get Hailey to bed early and just have a normal week before another busy, fun-filled weekend! And we're already planning to go back to the Lake a few weekends from now, this time without our friends and hopefully with the boat which Hailey will LOVE!

This was a big weekend of firsts for Hailey...first carnival and carnival rides, first time at the Lake, first fun trip with D and I and she caught her first fish!!

It's amazing how much some good, quality family time does for my mood. I feel on top of the world. Even lunch in 30 minutes is making me happy...and packing tonight and doing laundry, I'm happy about that. All because I have my husband back and feel like I have a family again. My family is my world, it always has been...my family now includes my husband and his family and hopefully now my husband realizes that...and hopefully now I can have the little family I've dreamed about my whole life.

Birthday make up

Our friend A has been watching Hailey all this week while our sitter is on maternity leave. Yesterday his girlfriend had off work and was home with their little baby boy. I felt really bad about making him come all the way to our town (30 minutes from where they live) to watch Hailey when he could be home with his little family, so on the way home for lunch I called my boss and asked for the rest of the day off. He said it was fine, and A seemed really thankful when I told him what I'd done. I took Hailey back to work with me for an hour or so so I could finish up the work I needed to finish. She was so good! She colored me some pictures with my highlighters and used my date stamp a bunch. My coworker brought her a handful of brightly colored paper and Hailey thought that was oh so cool. She colored me lady bugs on all of them. :) The others with kids here at work have "work artwork" from their kids hanging up...now I finally do too!! I was able to get all of my work done and Hailey thought my job was really interesting. She LOVED the check sealer. I explained to her that it was going to be really loud and not to be scared. When I turned it on her face lit up and she pointed and said "I like that!!! I like that Mommy!" She thought the postage machine was pretty cool too and even wanted to help me get the checks out of the bin at the end and stack them neatly! For an hour I had a little shadow following me around everywhere. I am so so so thankful that I work in a place that is so kid friendly. At the hell hole where I used to work I couldn't even take Hailey past the lobby!!!! Let alone have her come to work with me for a while! AMAZING. God really did bless me with this job.

(Speaking of the hell hole, guess what I found out yesterday! ANOTHER one of my coworkers was shoved out the door! They made her so miserable after I left and finally Friday they pushed her to tears--and she is a very professional woman--so she just left! And my position is still open as well!! HAHA!! Serves them right...)

After I was done with my work I asked Hailey if she wanted pizza or salad for lunch. She said "ME WANT SALAD!!!" She's like the salad monster LOL So I took her to Ruby Tuesday's which is just a block down the road from where I work. I asked for a booth next to the salad bar. We got a nice corner booth. Having lunch just the two of us was so nice. We sat next to each other, she cuddled me a bit, and she even let me get up and get her salad myself without demanding to go with me and "help" me. She did say pretty loudly while I was at the salad bar "Get me some grapes! I WANT GRAPES! MOMMY, GRAPES!!" but when I put her plate of food in front of her she sat quietly and ate while I went to get my food--well she did yell once "Mommy, you getting grapes too???" LOL but other than that she was great. She ate almost all her food! She had her usual eggs, ham, peas, carrots, lettuce and cheese w/ a little bit of ranch dressing and she ate two helpings of grapes! It made me feel really good that she ate so well because this week has not been a good eating week for her w/ A watching her. She hasn't really wanted to eat much and she'd have stuff like poptarts and whatnot when I wasn't there. After we'd had enough to eat we went to Toys R Us which is right across the road! I was totally making up for her birthday that didn't go as I'd planned. I've felt bad for that ever since that day. So we went and walked around Toys R Us...she pulled one of those ball popper things everywhere calling it her lawn mower or her vacuum. I found some neat toys for her for her birthday--a flat screen Light Brite that was only $9.99 and she picked out a huge 120 piece set of fake food that is really really neat that was only $15.99. She won't even remember it by the time she opens it at her big family birthday party on the 24th! I also found out they carry the line of Loving Family doll house toys there! I was shocked! I assumed they didn't since they don't online. I got her the office set and the parents' bedroom set. My mother in law will pay me back for those and give them to her for her bday. I also bought Hailey THIS little puppy.
She LOOOVES it. The first one we bought didn't bark so after her nap we had to take it back. She told the guy at the customer service desk "It don't work, gotta get a new one" and she took off to find her a new puppy. We took it out to make sure it worked before we left the store and she was happy as pie when it did. She carried the puppy across the parking lot saying "Gotta carry it so it won't get runned over by cars." She even slept with the puppy last night (minus the pink cord which I just untied and took off for the night). We went home and she took a nap while I did a couple blog posts on the family blog FINALLY. All in all it was a great afternoon! Totally made up for her birthday afternoon I think!

Wednesday already!!

Good things about last night:

~I got the laundry on the couch folded and put away, so I can lay on my couch again

~My bathroom cupboard is filled with clean towels

~The mountain of laundry in my kitchen is slowly dwindling because I've been doing laundry all weekend!

~Clean rugs in the bathroom

~A clean kitchen countertop, thanks to my mom who helped me out for the night

~Yummy spaghetti for dinner, again thanks to my mom (She loves it, I provide the food and she cooks it! Works out great!)

~CLEAN dining table! We were able to eat at the table for the first time in months! D kept Hailey busy while dinner was cooking so she didn't feel the need to graze and then sitting at the table she ate a ton!

~Much nicer to walk into a house w/ a neat and tidy dining room since it's the first thing you see

~Hailey WANTED to go to bed last night, she told me she was tired...thank goodness because I was exhausted!

~I got my sling in the mail last night! Only problem with it is because I'm so tiny when I try to sinch it up the padding needs to go through the rings but won't...it warns about this one the website, says it will loosen up over time. I need to watch the tutorials again, I feel like I must be doing something wrong...the rings keep twisting together a bit, if that makes any sense. LOVED the back of the "invoice" I got that was taped to the front of the package...a little kid had scribbled all over it in orange marker, it was too cute!! I'll take a picture tonight to put on here. Made me feel good about buying the sling.

~Even though D refused to run by the store and get more spag. sauce since he just walked in the door and I'd been home for an hour and had been cleaning and was exhausted w/ this cold...I didn't lose my cool. I got in the car, went to HellMart, got it myself, came home and acted pleasantly towards everybody. No need for that to ruin the night. Turned out to be a really good night because of how I reacted to that situation. See, I really am trying here!

~My mom painted my nails, and Hailey's nails too. And her own. All the same color. We match! LOL I love it though. Something about having nicely painted nails, makes me feel that much more put together even though I look like hell from this cold! LOL

~Not having to worry about what to wear the next day since most of our clothes are clean!

~I rearranged the clothes in Hailey's dresser. Now as long as I don't wash any more of her dirty clothes, everything fits! :)

~As I was rearranging Hailey's dresser she ran into her bedroom, shook her hands and said "OH MY GOSH MOMMY! Olga's shoes, slgkhaglkdjadf, so funny!!" It was the cutest/funniest thing ever. My mom was wearing a set of slippers but she was wearing one red one and one blue one. That's it. Apparently to an almost 2 year old, this is HIL-ARIOUS!

~Hailey watched American Idol with us and clapped really hard after each guy was done singing and instructed us to clap. (Some of the guys are pretty good this time! Can't wait to see the girls tonight!)

~Something good about this morning...Hailey was in a great mood when I got her up, I got to work only 3 minutes late and my mom brought me juice (cranberry, apple, rasberry) and some cherry donuts to work! YUM!

Busy weekend!

We had a very busy weekend this weekend! Friday night was spent at my mom's. I cooked dinner, Hailey played...after dinner I relaxed on the couch and watched What Not to Wear.

Saturday we got up, cleaned ourselves up and straightened up the house a little bit and then went to lunch with my stepmom and little sister. That was so much fun! We haven't done that EVER. Seriously. I know this divorce has been really hard on all of us...we've gone through some really tough times since my step mom moved out with my grandma going insane and threatening everybody, my dad trying to kill himself, my sister being so stressed she's moving out etc. BUT...things are starting to finally come together. My stepmom is much happier, I can tell the difference in her just by looking at her! She's finally able to be her own person and do what she wants to do when she wants to do it. Going out to lunch, just us girls, was so nice...I hope we can have many more times like that in the future. After lunch we drove all around town trying to find a place for my little sister and stepmom to live. This town is over-run by college kids...finding a good rental in a quiet/nice area that doesn't cost an arm and a leg and isn't teeny tiny is really hard to find around here. We got lucky when we found our place! After that Hailey and I headed over to my dad's. My dad is also doing great, despite his mounting health problems. His liver isn't functioning as well as it should and the one kidney he has left is showing signs of failing...but he's in good spirits and trying to make the best out of things lately which is a huge change from just a month ago. My brother moved back here from another state a couple weeks ago (he's going to be 24 next month) and brought his little brother along with him (he's 20). They're living with my dad and it's really brightened my dad's spirits. Saturday evening we got to see my brother for the first time since Hailey was 5 months old. Hailey went right to him! She's really shy with people she's not around a whole lot and takes a while to warm up to people. She hates my husband's dad and freaks out when he even comes in the door. I have no idea why. She tolerates D's mom. She's always taken a while to warm up to my dad. But for some reason Saturday night she went right to my dad and sat on his lap and watched Spongebob for a while which made him incredibly happy. He went from seeming like he didn't feel good to getting up and cooking us all dinner and visiting with everybody like nothing was wrong. Hailey sat on my brother's lap for a long time and kept leaning over to steal looks at S, my brother's little brother. At our wedding my brother M was the only person that could get Hailey to settle down and go to sleep (she was only 3 months old). He stayed with us in the women's building while we got ready to take care of Hailey. It was so sweet. I don't know what it is...but she still loves him to pieces. He has two little boys of his own, ages 3 and 5 that his ex has full custody of...he is so good with little kids though. He was doting on her all night. My dad had a full house with me, Hailey, my 2 brothers, my brother's brother, my littlest brother's friend K (who's always around and is basically like another little brother), my little sister and my cousin. We all ate dinner and visited and had a great time.

Sunday started off with a little family turmoil but ended up okay. Hailey started off the day showing us how incredibly cute and funny she is. She went to put a bowl of dry cereal in the sink. I told D she was going to dump it all over the floor, I just knew it. Sure enough the bowl tipped backwards and the cereal scattered all over the kitchen floor. I wish I had what happened next on film. It was priceless. Hailey's jaw dropped as she looked down at the cereal and she said "OH MY GOD!!" I couldn't believe what I'd just heard. Did she really just say that? Then she said "OH MY GOD MOMMY!!" I hope I remember that moment forever. It was the most adorable thing ever. I got up and went in there. She said "Mommy I make a mess! Help me clean up??" and started frantically scooping up the cereal. I stood her up facing me and kissed her on the nose and told her she was the cutest thing ever and I loved her. I told her to put the cereal on the rug and we'd shake it off outside to feed the birds, which she thought was really neat. That started the morning off great. Then my inlaws called and invited us over for the Super Bowl. I told D we just couldn't go. It was too last minute. I'd kept Hailey out late both Fri. and Sat. night and said I was keeping her home Sunday. She wanted to be home! He told his parents we'd come and we fought about it a little. He told me that I had to call them and tell them we weren't coming and I refused...they are HIS parents, he needs to grow some balls and deal with them himself...I'm tired of being the bad guy!! I was so mad. He just didn't get why Hailey couldn't go...he doesn't understand how much sleep a toddler needs and how she was already so worn out from running around all weekend to see family. My family had made our plans the previous week. His parents can't do that. They ALWAYS call last minute and expect us to drop what we're doing and do what they want. It's always been like that. When Hailey had been home from the hospital a couple days even, and I was struggling with being a new mom and freaking out about breastfeeding right and crying and just having a really rough time, they'd call at 8:00 at night and say they were almost at our house to see Hailey...no warning, nothing. So instead of being able to get into a routine and try to deal with things, we had to sit there until 10:30 at night or whenever they'd decide it was time to go. Hailey would sleep the whole time they were there too, so by the time they left she'd wake up and I could've gotten 2 or 3 good hours of sleep...and they NEVER have understood why we tell them no. Just like on Hailey's first 4th of July when it was boiling hot outside and I could tell something wasn't right with her. She was gagging and throwing up a lot but they insisted she was fine and took her outside and passed her around from one sweaty person to another. I fumed inside until I finally went and grabbed her and said we were leaving. The next morning she went into the hospital for a few days with an extremely high fever and she was refusing to eat and had a bad rash etc. They just don't get it! Yesterday after much "discussion," a phonecall to my mom where I cried that I was ready for a divorce, D blowing up at my mom when she came over for something really small and stupid and then us all making amends...D decided he wanted to invite his friend and his girlfriend and their 3 week old little boy down instead. It's NOT that I didn't want to go to his parent's house. I would LOVE for them to invite us over sometime or call and ask to keep Hailey for a few hours or even a day...but they NEVER do this...they never call to watch her at ALL...and when they call for us to come over it's so last minute we've always made other plans already or it just doesn't fit into our schedule. I'm so sick of it! So anyway D called his dad without any prompting from me and told him we'd decided to keep Hailey home instead and were having A and his family over. His dad said "OK bye" and hung up on him. These people are so immature it's ridiculous. We didn't let it bother us. We hurried up and cleaned up the house, me working on the bathroom, D the kitchen and my mom helped pick up the living room so D could vacuum. I cleaned the kitchen floor. That is one thing I LOVE LOVE LOVE about having company...I get a clean house!!! My mom, Hailey and I ran by Walmart to load up on snacks. I even bought a 6 pack of beer and told myself I deserved one after the day I'd had...but of course since we just don't drink I ended up not having one and D only drank 2. We had a nice peaceful evening visiting with our friends, stuffing ourselves on wings, pizza rolls, cheese dip etc. and holding a baby and a toddler! Hailey loves A and had a lot of fun playing with him all evening. I didn't hold baby L a whole lot because I've been sick with a cold and although the only symptom I have left is a clogged right ear I just couldn't bear the thought of this itty bitty cute baby getting a cold. I pray to God there were no germs lurking about...they knew that we had been sick and still brought him though which I was quite surprised at. I think his mom is pretty relaxed since she's been taking care of her 2 nieces forever. Hailey was having so much fun I couldn't bear to make her go to sleep w/ them there so she didn't get to bed until 10:30 but she went right to sleep then. We had a great night and Hailey woke up in a great mood this morning. While I was drying my face I heard a little voice say "Mommy?" I opened the door and turned the corner and there she was, standing at her bedroom door with the light on. She said "I wake up!" Morning couldn't have gone better...great moods, got out of the house on time and I even got to work on time! Well, 1 minute late but come on. That's on time. What a great start to the week...hopefully it's a sign of the great week we're going to have!!!

I have another physical therapy appt. after work today and for the first time I didn't shave my legs. Last time I did and got bad razor burn so this time I just said screw it. My PT told me last time she doesn't shave in the winter so I don't need to worry about it! I still feel weird about going with hairy legs though...

TGIF

Today has been better! Hailey slept OK last night...finally. She actually slept fairly soundly (I think, unless I was just too stinking tired to hear her) from about midnight til 5:15 this morning. She was in a MUCH better mood this morning, chasing the kitty around the dining table and helping me get dressed...she was actually fun this morning! :) And it's FRIDAY, thank God. For a short week, this week lasted FOREVER!


My kitty had her first ever dental today (she's almost 9!) and did great. Hailey thought it was very neat that kitty got to ride in the car with us this morning! At first when kitty was meowing really loud she told her "It's okay Z, it's okay. I know, it's okay" it was so sweet! Halfway to school she changed to "Z, be quiet! BE QUIET!" LOL She's too funny...

Hunting for the roly polies that have been invading our living room for some odd reason...2 peas in a pod! :o)

Okay

Things are okay. My dad is doing much better. At first he tried to lie and say he didn't try to kill himself, but then he called all of us and apologized and admitted what he did. We're glad he's still here. Hopefully things will get better for him from here on out.

We went to St. Louis yesterday for Christmas at the grandparents'. It went really well. Cousin W only got one present just like Hailey. Although he tried to open everybody's, including Hailey's. D had to actually yell at him to get him to stop opening Hailey's. Hailey had a good time. My mother in law played Wii tennis against D's grandma...and we were all shocked when his 80+ year old grandma totally rocked at the Wii! She beat everybody she played in tennis! It was so cute, she was so excited. She's been really down lately, saying she's in pain and stuff even though she's not really...hopefully this visit was just what she needed to make her feel better. Hailey showed off, counting to ten AND singing the ABC song for them. D's grandpa is very intellectual and he is beyond delighted at Hailey's smarts. She may not be the most physical little kid, but she sure shines in other areas.

At the grandparents' Hailey and W were hiding behind a chair at the dining table. We started smelling a smell and that's how W poops...he hides behind chairs. So we thought it was him. I asked Hailey, "Hailey did you poop?" She said "No, W pooped!" They both went to have their diapers changed. D opened her diaper and said "Hailey, YOU pooped! Pooey!!" Hailey said "Pooey W!" Even though the evidence was right there, in his empty and her full diaper, she was STILL trying to blame it on him!!

Here's Hailey and W looking out the front window at the Grandparents'...W is only 11 months older than Hailey and over a head taller than her! So cute...

Friday night my new brother in law, my sister, Hailey and I went to the mall to do a little shoe shopping for Hailey. I had her foot measured at the Kids Foot Locker and felt absolutely HORRIBLE. She needed to be in a size 6. Her shoes are a size 4. I felt like the worse mother ever. Then I couldn't find any decent tennis shoes in her size since it's right after Christmas and everything's gone. I ended up having to buy a pair of 40$ Nike's...but they are so cute, and she LOVES them. When I tried them on her in the store she wouldn't let me take them off. She said "Get back in the stroller, okay bye!" so we paid for the empty box and left. :o)

Here is our tree Christmas Eve night after Santa came:

Here is Hailey's ornament from last year, the little stuffed pig she picked out:

Here's Hailey's ornament from this year that I talked about in the last post:

Today my sister, brother in law and I went to Red Lobster while Hailey napped at my mom's and D played golf. We stuffed ourselves on crab legs, pasta, lobster artichoke dip and more...it was SO good! After that we went to pick up their wedding pics from the photographer. I always make my sister drive my car since I HATE driving. We were going along on a road that's pretty narrow and we came to a part that had crumbled away a bit in the icky winter weather...she accidently went off the road and POP went my back tire. 45 minutes later after a little help from the nice guy that owned the house we parked in front of, we had the lug nuts off and my car jacked up. The tire wouldn't come off. My dad came to the rescue and got the tire off. I think it made him feel important to come to our rescue like that :o) We had to drive to HellMart on the donut and 2.5 hrs + 3 new tires and an oil change later, we were headed back home. I wasn't mad at my sister at all. I needed new tires anyway, and it pushed me into getting my oil changed(my car needed it badly!). It was a bummer that we had to waste so many hours of the day, but oh well. Not the end of the world!

Now Hailey is freaking out because they just got home with pizza...she's pulling on my pantleg saying "Mommy get me pizza!!!" You'd think she gets pizza all the time by the way she yelled "PIZZA HERE!" when D walked in the door holding the boxes.

The shower went GREAT! Only 2 people didn't come, and one of them sent a gift with another person that did come. The decorations turned out great, the mini heart cakes (while hideous looking--seriously, I should SO do this for a living) tasted awesome. The games were actually really fun--we played the one where you use TP to make wedding dresses in small groups, and the one where you read off a list of items people have in their purses and the person w/ the most things wins. People actually enjoyed the games. My sister got a lot of really great stuff too! It really couldn't have gone better. My only complaints are that we didn't get a picture of my sister and I together and we didn't get a picture of my nephew that was here(he's a month younger than Hailey, and she called him Big Boy all day hehe). I am so incredibly happy with how things turned out.

To eat we had the yummy ugly cakes I made (red velvet w/ cream cheese icing, my sis's fav), white chocolate covered strawberries and dark chocolate covered oreos courtesy of my wonderful mother, and chex mix (at my sister's request). Very simple and everyone loved it!

Hailey is passed out on my lap after all the excitement. She fell asleep at 5:30! I'm debating on going ahead and putting her to bed??

My dad caused a little crisis last night at my sister's house...she called me at 12:30 crying, so she ended up coming over and staying the night. The day started off really unfortunate but we did everything we could to cheer her up. It worked, and got her mind off things and she had a great time.

Another good thing that I forgot to mention yesterday...we got our other loan check in the mail yesterday! Things really are going great right now. Finally!

Thank God!!!!!!!

We just found out we got the loan! We should have the money mid-month! We're going to be able to pay everything off, I'm not going to have to worry about money anymore! I am so unbelievably excited. Although I don't think it's fully sunk in yet. It will when we get the money! I can finally go stock up on groceries and I might even be able to buy Hailey a couple things for Christmas! It's a good day. I think I'd jump up and down if I wasn't so darn tired!

Awesome day

So today started off kind of crappy...my computer at work starting doing all kinds of funky things, and we had to call the IT guy out to fix it. Luckily, the guy they sent is my age, has things in common with my husband, and very easy to talk to. You'd never think it by looking at him...he's pretty easy on the eyes, dressed very nice...just not the kind of guy you'd think would be really down to earth. So anyway, I had someone to talk to all morning and keep me from getting incredibly bored at work! Turns out he knows my husband through college. Neat huh...small world. Then tonight after I finally took my cat to the vet to get her shots caught up and all that, I met up with Walgreen's girl and her son at this local play place for kids. Her sister came into town with her 3 year old son, and we all ate pizza, played and just had a blast! I'm very proud of myself, I've definately come out of my shell the last 5 years or so to the point where now I can just talk to random people without feeling shy or self conscious! Sometimes I do still feel a bit dumb when I'm talking to people, but I feel like I've known this girl forever, it's weird. She's my age too I found out, so that's neat. We have a lot in common. We had so much fun tonight, we're definately going to go there again and we made plans with Walgreen's girl to meet up with them again next week. I'm glad I took the initiative and gave her a call yesterday! Then we got home and I gave Hailey a bath. We had fun playing, and then we rocked and read books. I've realized something the past couple days...while Hailey may not be as agile as some other kids these days(she can climb and run, but she can't jump or slide on bigger slides and stuff yet) she is DEFINATELY a really fast learner. It literally takes about 10 seconds to teach her a new word, which includes how to say it and have her understand the meaning. I'm not joking, it's crazy. She knows hundreds of words now, speaks full sentences, it's just nuts! Tonight as we were reading one of her books she was asking "Where the star go?" and then she'd point and say "There it is!" It just amazes me, she's so little but yet she can talk like crazy. Then she was asking for a book called Busy Bugs. Usually she would just say "bug book" or something to that effect...not tonight...tonight it was "Busy Bugs mommy, read Busy Bugs!" And after we read it once..."read again!" Then as we were reading yet another book, she kept pointing at Mickey Mouse and saying "Mickey Mouse! Mickey Mouse! There he is! Mickey Mouse!" Where on earth did she learn that? We don't have anything Mickey except this one book, which to my knowledge we read for the first time tonight. Maybe they read about him at the sitters?? I have no idea, but I was shocked. She's growing up so fast...

Well it turns out I'm not going to Vegas to my sister's wedding after all. They found an affordable package that includes photography, so they really have no reason to spend that extra money on my ticket out there. The rest of the family is driving up 4 days before the wedding, but not only will we not all fit in one car, Hailey would NOT do well in the car that long. Could you imagine, a 17 month old in the car for like 10 hrs straight? That's just crazy. At least it would be for Hailey. She cannot sit still that long. So anyway, I'm a bit bummed...I won't be there to see my sister get married, and I'm missing out on another trip. But it's ok, at least I don't have to stress about FLYING!!

Ok I'll end this post w/ a story about a little boy I met at this play place we went to. He was the most adorable little thing. He walked up to me and sat down across from us. He was really pale, freckles, crazy big red curls...seriously he could have been straight out of a story book...so incredibly sweet. He tells me the kid in the green shirt said he would be his best friend, but now he says he's not. And he said he really wants to be his best friend, so that makes him really sad. I felt so bad for him! I told him "I'm sorry sweety." I asked him how old he was and he held up 4 little fingers, and I asked him what his name was and he said "Sammy"...I told him that I like that name and told him my name and Hailey's name. He sat there looking sad, and said "I just really want him to be my best friend"...seriously I wanted to just pick him up and give him a big ol hug and go make that other boy be his best friend, I mean this kid was so sweet and cute and innocent...I just wanted to make it all better for him. I have no idea who his parents were, I didn't see anybody around...and I have no idea where he ran off to, he just kind of disappeared. I just thought it was so sweet that he came up and told me that. I must look really friendly.

Maybe boppies aren't such a bad thing after all...

The wierdest thing happened today after I picked Hailey up for daycare. I went to Walgreen's to pick up my prescription. I had parked the car before I realized what I was doing, but then decided the drive through takes too long anyways. So I walk up to the prescription counter holding Hailey(who is covered in dirt by the way--she loves digging in dirt, what can I say--and she has her boppy(pacifier)in her mouth as always) and stand behind a girl that's getting her prescription. Her little boy is sitting in the cart, a boppy in his mouth as well. So of course Hailey starts staring him down like "what in the world are you doing with my boppy in your mouth??" and this little boy just reaches out and tries to grab hers like it's his. We kind of laughed and his mom made the comment that Hailey still has the "baby" one (the green softer one) Her son had the one for older babies that's blue and harder. I told her she just won't use the harder ones and she said her son wouldn't for the longest time either. So the little boy waves at Hailey and they head off to the front of the store to leave. I get my prescription and make my way to the front of the store and end up meeting up with her again. I asked her how old her son is--20 months, 3 months older than Hailey--and we talk a bit. We made our way outside, but we stood there talking outside for at least 15 to 20 minutes! It turns out she just moved into town not too long ago and has no mommy friends here. We have quite a bit in common, it's odd...her boyfriend went back to school as well, but he takes night classes so he can still work full time so she's able to stay home with their son. She was a very nice person, very put together and so easy to talk to. We talked about everything, jobs, having more kids, what parts of town we live in etc. Even her son and Hailey seemed to get along, they were handing stuff back and forth to each other the whole time. While we were talking I noticed she'd say something about letting me go but then we'd start talking again...I could tell she didn't really want to just say bye and leave it at that, and honestly I didn't either. I was thinking wow here we bumped into each other so randomly and we're talking like we've known each other forever and we've got so much in common and have kids about the same age...it would be such a shame to just leave it at that and never see each other again. Finally I got up the nerve and just said "So I've never done this before, but would you want to exchange numbers and maybe get together sometime and let the kids play?" She got all excited and said "Yea that'd be great!" and she even started talking about taking them to this local play place that's newer in town and actually right by my house. How cool is that? I've been thinking lately how I really wish I had some mommy friends...I mean I have my friend S but she's so busy with her family I rarely ever see her. It would be so neat to have somebody with a kid about Hailey's age that I could just hang out and talk with. But I have no way of meeting people. Around here you generally don't just meet someone at the park or play area in the mall. Even going to church you don't meet people here...they're all so huge, people just keep to themselves and their little groups. So anyway we'll see what happens. I'm not sure if I should call her in a couple days, or wait to see if she calls me...but what if she's waiting to see if I'll call her so she never calls me? Jeez this is oddly like dating isn't it? Who knew making friends would be so difficult as an adult...there's an email address on the card she gave me, maybe I should just try to email her? Any advice from anybody??? I'm so excited!!

Yummy peepa mommy!

My mother in law asked me to go with her and her parents(in town to see Baby W) out to eat last night. Not one to pass up free food, I said we’d go(and D’s grandparents are really sweet). They chose a certain pizza place that we love, even though my mother in law has only been there once—with Hailey and I—and the grandparents have never been there. Usually when we go, it’s just Hailey and I. We have our little routine, and it always works out great. Last night it didn’t go quite so well. They wanted to choose a table, and sat down. The highchair they’d gotten Hailey was broken, so I went to get a new one while carrying Hailey. I’m used to this, I usually go alone, remember? His grandpa followed me and took the highchair from me even though I obviously had everything under control…I was carrying Hailey on my right hip as usual, and the highchair w/ my left hand, no problem. So he took it from me. I politely told him thanks. So we’re sitting at the table. Finally I ask if we’re going to go order or not. You have to understand, D’s grandma is even worse than my mother in law. The poor woman is just not bright at ALL. She had no idea that there could ever be a pizza place where you are not waited on. And this is not because of her age, believe me. My mother in law had been there before w/ me, but acted the same way as her mom…horrified that they had to get up and actually go to the counter and order. So we get up there and for once I stand up for myself…I told them if it was okay with them, I was going to order a pizza for us, half what D likes and half what Hailey and I like. They asked(although my mother in law had already asked me once on the phone 30 minutes ago) what I get on our pizza…I explained, so they’d understand why they wouldn’t want to share with us(I get funky stuff like artichoke hearts and mushrooms and onions, stuff they would never eat). They order their pizza, and I put in our full usual order including a salad w/ no sprouts for me, a bowl of shredded cheddar cheese for Hailey and milk and soda. I also ordered sodas for them, as they hadn’t even thought about ordering drinks. We go to get our soda, and once again they start grabbing stuff from me. I like order, organization…I like to be in control of what’s going on with myself and Hailey…I know I may seem like I’m being ridiculous, but all this “help” I was getting from them was not only unwanted but it was stressing me out because it was totally throwing out all order in our routine, and our stuff was spread out between 3 other people instead of being nicely contained where I knew where everything was. Maybe this is my OCD coming out, but I just needed them to back off and let me take care of us myself. I went and got our plates and silverware, and explained to them they would need to get their own as the 4 plates I picked up were just enough for Hailey and I between the pizza and salad etc. They refused to use the towel napkins this place has…one of the “unique” things about this place…because that was “gross” and why use those when they have disposable napkins available? We finally get to the table and they begin griping about having to do all this work themselves. I ignored them as best I could. Then when I went to pick up my salad, they were like “You ordered a SALAD?!?!” Then as I was feeding bites of it to Hailey they had to discuss in length the fact that my 16 month old daughter actually eats and likes salad and how weird it is for an adult to like salad let alone a 16 month old…this is what I’m talking about, this is why I hate eating with his family. We have nothing in common when it comes to food. They don’t need or like vegetables and they always talk about how weird I am because I do…and they act like I put on this huge act just to be different and get attention! Ok if I don’t have some sort of veggie w/ every meal I feel disgusting, I’m sorry…it’s how I was raised, we’ve always eaten healthy food! At least this time my father in law and nephew weren’t there, so I didn’t have to put up with my father in law trying to shove chocolate cookies and pudding down my daughter’s throat the whole meal, knowing I don’t allow those things on a weekday(really hardly at all, she’s lucky to ever get anything sweet besides an animal cracker or a bit of ice cream). My nephew always sits there eating like a bird, refusing to eat anything except sweets and soda…and he’s 2 and ½ and they let him…and they think it’s ridiculous that Hailey’s not just like him, because he’s “normal”...can you tell how annoyed I am??? So, back to last night...after the salad was gone, they had to discuss in great lengths the fact that Hailey was eating SO MUCH, when all she’d had was some of my salad, a bowl of cheddar cheese and a jar of carrot/apple/mango baby food that she fed to herself(sneaky way to get her to eat carrots, and of course they were SHOCKED at how she could actually feed herself—imagine, a kid feeding themselves, WOW!!) They act like I overfeed her. Then they griped about how long the pizza was taking(ok it had been 25 minutes and the clock was set to 30 minutes, hello be patient) and they exclaimed very loudly that pizza hut NEVER takes that long(seriously? Pizza Hut takes an hour!) I tried to change the subject by explaining that they make their own dough and everything, and pointing out the “dough tunnel” and stairs, where the little kids can stand and the workers will throw balls of dough through the tunnel over the glass to them to play with. They did not grasp the concept. I tried for 5 minutes to explain it to the grandma…the grandpa had given up trying to understand…my mother in law didn’t care anything about what I was saying…finally I gave up and changed the subject again. Finally the pizza came, and Hailey chowed down. But they’d messed up our routine so much, that she was really antsy and not focused, so she grabbed my plate and promptly told me I was “all done!” and then wanted to jump on my lap while yelling at the people behind us. She NEVER acts like that there. So I got firm with her, something that by the looks my inlaws gave me I take it they didn’t like…all I did was look her in the eyes, hold her arms firmly, and tell her to settle down NOW and I stood her next to my chair and ignored her cutesy pleading “Mom-MEE!” They looked at me like I was the most horrible mother EVER(they don’t reprimand my nephew, ever…they tell him very sweetly not to do something, and then let him do it anyway) and you know what, she settled down and wanted to sit down in her chair. Hm, think I know my own kid, thanks. By the end of the meal my mother in law had warped back into one of her “moods” where she acts like she hates me and they rushed off. I don’t know if it’s the new baby making them all act freaky or what, but my in-laws are driving me INSANE these past couple days. My mother in law is now trying to tell me when I can go to the hospital and when I can’t…even though my sister in law told me to come by tonight with Hailey and take more pictures for her, apparently my mother in law has it in her head I am not allowed to be there unless they are as well?? God forbid, I spend 15 more minutes with the baby than they get to. Even though they were there all freaking day yesterday and I didn’t even go by because they wanted to see Hailey and take us out to eat, which I gave in to even though my sister in law had begged me to come keep her company each day she was there! I’m just sick of how controlling they are, sick of how they act like I’m a freaking weirdo and after 8 years of being with D still making me feel like an outsider…I’m tired of them flaunting how much they help my brother and sister in law, rubbing it in to make me feel like crap. I’m tired of my mother in law voicing her opinion about us about Hailey, all while acting like she doesn’t even care if she gets to see her or anything, while flaunting how much she LOVES my nephew. I’m just tired of it all, and they’re driving me to the point where I’m just going to not try anymore. It’s starting to feel oddly familiar…it feels like it did when D and I moved in together, and then when I was pregnant, and right after I had Hailey. These people will never be happy with anything we do, will continue to try to control our lives while showing as minimal interest as necessary in our daughter, and continue to try and make it seem like it’s our fault they never get to see her etc. etc. I could go on and on. It’ll never end. This post is really jumbled I know, but I just have all these thoughts and feelings in my head that I can’t get sorted out.

Ok now that that’s out… everything else is going great. It’s Friday, YAY!! I’m hanging out with my mom tonight. Tomorrow if it’s nice, we plan on going swimming. Sunday my sister is riding down to my grandma’s with Hailey and I, to meet the family for dinner. Monday I have off work, thank GOD(I’ve been so busy but so bored here lately!). The weather is still beautiful out, Hailey really enjoyed the ride home last night, with both front windows open blowing the cool breeze on her while she relaxed in her car seat. Things are still great with D and I, and he’s falling totally in love with Hailey all over again, just like I knew he would when he started spending more time with her. It’s killing him now that school’s back in session, he misses her so much…to the point where he’s calling me and making me put her on the phone, and even getting up EARLY to see her on his 1 day to sleep in!!! Things are just perfect, and I feel so positive about life…no matter what’s happened lately, it hasn’t gotten me down. It’s a great feeling!!

Balloon Festival Saturday

This morning I woke up at 9:00 and went into Hailey's room. She was laying in her crib with her feet propped up on her bumper. Such a good girl, letting mommy sleep in! We got up and she got some yogurt out of the fridge. I told her to come into the dining room and I pulled out her chair. She yelled at me "NO! Wee woom!" and looked at me very sternly. I was so shocked...I asked her "You mean the living room?" and she said "um huh!" like she always does instead of "yes"...so we went into the living room and she patted the floor next to her and instructed me to "sit down"...little Miss Bossy!

This evening we went to the Balloon Festival. Hailey loved it! They haven't done one here in town since I was a little girl, and it was really neat this time because unlike in years past you could walk right up to the balloons! Very neat...



She found a great little dirt mound and plopped her butt right down, then instructed me to "sit!"





And here's Hailey's new school bag! We officially retired the diaper bag! She's very excited. You should have seen her pulling this thing all over Penneys! We also got her very first training pants today...the ones that are like real underwear but have the thick center in case they have an accident. The rash I mentioned previously is still hanging on, although not as bad as it was...this way she'll be able to run around the house without a diaper but she won't be able to pee or poop on the floor since the training pants have nice thick centers.

This morning's post...

I don’t have any extra time today, but I had to update on a few important things/good things that have happened.

First of all, yesterday was an awesome day. Work went great. The day started off with another department asking me to help them at this huge meeting this afternoon. Technically I’m not the “spare” person anymore, but they said they trust me and the trust isn’t there w/ this other person, so they wanted me. I was very flattered, and said yes immediately. I’m very excited about helping at the meeting. Not only do I get to get out of the office today at 2:30, but I should get in a couple hours overtime not being here! And it will be just us three women doing the meeting, which will be for at least 65 new employees. I’m going to have to help check them out in the end, and of course I woke up with a full blown head cold this morning, where I couldn’t even talk…and I’m going to have to talk to probably 20 people individually tonight at this meeting. But I’ve been drinking tons of hot tea and taking Advil, and I feel much better now. I’m determined to go to this meeting and do well!! The rest of the day yesterday was good as well. Towards the end of the day the head of our building came and asked me to help out yet another department today. I have to hurry and get my huge mound of work done this morning so I can help them out before I leave for the meeting. Apparently the new receptionist isn’t quite pulling her weight yet. She’s so nice, but they said they miss me :o) Talk about making me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!! So I’ll be doing my job, then her job, then helping at this meeting. Busy, fun day!

Then last night I got home to not 1 but 2 checks in our mailbox. Our usual check from D’s grandparents, in payment for him getting a full scholarship to school…we rely on that check so much it’s ridiculous, just to get by. I knew it would be there. But the other check was a very good surprise. We get a renewal bonus for renewing our lease with our rental agency. It’s normally 100$ a person, but this year since we’re married I thought they’d jip us since only one of us has to sign the lease now, and give us 1 check. Well they gave us 1 check, but for 200$!!! I was so excited. That means we can pay our bills this month, yay!! It came at the perfect time, this payck was short…anyway…

So to keep my good day rolling…last night my husband came home for a quick meal before rushing off to work. I was exhausted, my throat hurt, I was trying to wrangle Hailey down to change her diaper to get her ready for bed, it was almost 9:00…and my husband says to me out of nowhere. “You’re a trooper, you know that??” I told him thanks, that I’m really trying. He said “There’s this country song out now, that talks about being strong and handling a lot or something like that, and it always makes me think of you.” How sweet is that? It really touched me, for him to say that. Here all this time I didn’t think he appreciated everything that I do…I thought he took it all for granted. Just that one little comment from him meant the world to me. And as if that wasn’t enough…D got no sleep last night, he has a major sore throat too. I could hear him rustling around as my alarm was going off this morning, which is odd because he’s never awake that early. I thought oh jeez, he’s going to be a huge grump today. I snoozed the alarm and laid back down. 10 minutes later D is lighting shaking my shoulder, saying “Waky waky Mr. Lion” in my ear. You know, like the lemurs say to the lion on Madagascar. We’ve had to watch that movie a lot lately… So that was a nice way to wake up this morning.

I think I’ve figured out what this rash is that Hailey has on her upper/inner legs and very lower belly. She’s been using these diapers for a while now, so I know it’s not that. Well it appeared right when she finished with her antibiotics for Strep. It’s a yeast rash, a common side effect of antibiotics in babies/toddlers. Not like a yeast infection like a woman gets…it’s nowhere near her little “hooha” as we call it. But it’s not responding to any diaper rash cream we use, not even our old favorite Beaudreaux’s. So I found an article on BabyCenter that says not to call the dr, but to try OTC Monistat cream first, and if it doesn’t get better in 3 days, THEN call the dr. So while I’m at the meeting tonight my mom’s going to go pick up Hailey and get her some cream. Hopefully it’ll work. I’m not too concerned, because I mean it’s not hurting her, and she’s not scratching at it. But I know it does irritate her some, because she doesn’t want to wear a diaper anymore…and of course nobody wants their kid to have a rash. So hopefully the cream will take care of it.

My grandma and I re-scheduled our visit again. I really want to see them, I feel really bad, but she understands my need to spend as much time with D before school starts back up on the 27th, and by some miracle his tournament this weekend was cancelled. He’s going to the Lake with a couple friends from school, one that just got back in town from Mexico(the country, not the city) Friday and Saturday, but then Sunday he’s going to be home. That’s the day I was supposed to go see my grandparents again…but my grandma is busy Saturday. So we’re going to do it next weekend, and that means I get a free day to spend with just Hailey and myself Saturday, and then a day with D on Sunday! Good weekend…

**UPDATE**
It's now about an hour and a half til we leave for this meeting and I'm started to get nervous! My voice hasn't gotten any better since this morning, so I'm feeling all self conscious about that, and I mean come on there's going to be upwards of 64 people there!!