I Could Nibble On Her All Day...

Can you stand the cuteness?! I mean seriously!?! This little girl brings more joy and smiles to my life day after day. We took her 6 month/Christmas photos tonight. Yah, I know we are a little late..at least it was in December...that's not the point. Anyway, I could nibble on her all day and into the night. She is such a blessing and I am so lucky to be her mommy. I was told I would never have children of my own; that bit of news tore a hole in my gut. After Christian came into our family, I was good. Christian was my little boy and it didn't matter that I didn't give birth to him. I have to admit, there was a small part of me that was still numb because I would never get to experience the joys of pregnancy. (I use the term "joy" loosely now that I have experienced it all.) We soon learned that Christian had to be in our family before this beautiful little girl was to join us. I know I complain about the sleepless nights, the constant crying and now the horrible biting, but just look at that face...can life get any better?

The Not So Extreme Makeover: Our Edition Part 2

So with our little "makeover" in the house with all the kids' rooms, I was feeling left out. We decided to get new furniture for the living room and I can't believe the difference it made in the room. We also got a new dining room table awhile ago. The one we previously had was one Marcus had before we got married and it didn't match the kitchen and I always hated it. I don't have any before pictures of the kitchen, just after the new table. This is our "new" kitchen and family room.

Kitchen after we got the new table: (and I cleaned it really good. I redid the cabinets and cupboards, but I will spare you the pictures of that.)



Family room before the new couches and tables:



Family room after new couches and getting rid of other furniture and adding other fun stuff:





Jessi's new room is also done. I just need to find her after pictures. We have pictures on every computer and memory card in the house. How in the world do you organize digital pictures? It is kicking my butt. Emma's room is almost done and I will post pictures of that. Her room is the one I am most excited about. It is very girly and very cute. This whole project has been really fun, but I am sure Marcus is ready for it to be done. He has done 99.9% of the work and has done a great job. He deserves a treat.

Serial Killers, Kidnappers and Tamales...

With the Christmas shopping and having loads of birthday cash, I have been doing my fair share of shopping. I always have Emma and/or Christian with me. Most of those trips are cut WAY short by one or two small children having a melt down, needing to be fed, grabbing underwear and putting them on his head, or a diaper explosion. On the rare occasion that I get any shopping done, I usually only have Emma and I am carrying her while pushing her stroller with her car seat in it. Doing it this way is a struggle, and I need three extra arms, but it works. Every once in awhile Emma thinks she needs to be fed or have her diaper changed. (I know, selfish.) We find the nearest bathroom so I can do the above tasks quickly and be on our way again. Twice in the past week I have had two different women ask me if they wanted me to have them hold Emma while I went to the bathroom. Maybe to some this isn't a big deal; the ladies seem nice enough. But each time I have said, "No thanks. I am actually going to be feeding her" when in reality, I did have to use the restroom. Anyway, I don't know if I am making a big deal out of nothing, or if having a stranger ask to hold your baby while you aren't right there to supervise is out of the ordinary. I personally think @#$% no. You aren't even going to touch my baby, let alone hold her while I am behind a closed door. The two women who asked were older woman, so in their mind, I am sure they didn't see any harm. Am I being overly protective? Am I assuming bad things will happen when I have no reason to?

Another example of me being a paranoid freak was when Marcus decided to buy tamales from a man in a store parking lot. Home made tamales are amazing; we get them from our next door neighbor once in awhile and our employees make them sometimes too. Marcus loves them. He had no hesitation buying them from the dude selling them. I questioned the whole thing and told Marcus they were probably poisonous and we were going to die. He assured me they were fine; it's just some guy trying to make some extra money around the holidays. I am turning into my sister and I don't trust anyone. I watch too many shows about crime and murder and all the horrible awful things that can happen to innocent people that buy tamales from strangers in a parking lot. I told Marcus: "I am not being pessimist, I am being a realist."
"You are being a real ass" was Marcus' reply. Funny. He is a funny man. The tamales ended up being really good and so far we are both alive. (maybe it's a slow poison that takes awhile to show up...hey, you don't know.)

When I was pregnant, I was scared to even take the garbage out by myself because you hear of horrible things happening to pregnant women. I don't consider myself someone who lives in constant fear, but maybe I am also not as trusting as much as I should be. People are crazy. Watch the news...you will see what I mean. What happened to life being all rainbows and daisies? Now life is all about locked doors and trying to figure out how pee and do up your pants one handed because you didn't want a nice grandma holding your baby.

Pessimist. Realist. Real Ass. Call it what you want; at least I won't end up having to put the lotion on my skin lest I get the hose again.

November...Cliff's Notes Version

So I suck. The month of November has come and gone and I did one post. I figure since I don't talk to anyone anymore, (somehow Emma always knows when I get on the phone) I need to share the highlights of the month...quickly because I am exhausted.

Christian no longer has his "bup". It's all gone. We were going to do this big, extravagant going away party for it, but I ruined that. I was sitting on the couch one day and he came over next to me with his bup in his mouth and his slobber all over his shirt and down his chin. Some of the slobber dripped on my leg. I had it. I took his bup and chucked it across the room. Yes, I had a temper tantrum. I decided right then and there that we were done with the bups. The whole thing was much easier then we could have ever imagined. He went to bed without a fight and things were good. Then he decided to have a seizure the next morning. But he didn't ask for one. I think he finally realized that they were gone for good.

Emma is eating baby food and loving every minute of it. The only thing I have found that she doesn't like is peaches. We also found out that she is allergic to not only peanuts, but to formula as well. There are also certain diapers she can't wear and detergents and certain fabrics make her break out in a nasty rash. I really hope all these allergies and things are something she will grow out of. The day I stop breastfeeding, I am pigging out on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and Reese's peanut butter cups. She still is not sleeping through the night. I'm a horrible mother, I know. She fell off the couch....yah, horrible mother, I know. She is very active and doesn't ever hold still, even when she is sleeping. She is rolling everywhere and scoots to get where she wants to go. The day she starts to crawl, I will cry.

I celebrated my birthday this month. It seems like I get a birthday weekend or sometimes even week the way the schedules go the girls and my family. This year, Marcus sent me out a few days before my birthday with a friend to get a pedicure and then we went to lunch. It was SO nice to be out of the house with no kids and have adult conversation. (Talking with Marcus doesn't count....I said adult.) :) Then after that when I came home, he had 100 balloons in the sitting room that I had to pop. Some of the balloons had money, others had little notes from Marcus and the kids. I hate the sound of popping balloons....HATE IT. 100 balloons later, still hate it. I got lots of cute notes and lots of money to go shopping with. Then on my actual birthday, my parents came to town and we got a sitter for the two little ones (the girls were with their mom) and we went to dinner. I also got my Grey's season 3 dvds. (worse season ever, but have to add them to the collection.)

For Thanksgiving we went to Marcus' Aunt's house. It was good. We didn't have to worry about decorations or cleanup or any of the stress that comes with hosting Thanksgiving. It was nice.

Got all the Christmas decorations up and ready to start shopping for Christmas...tis the season to be jolly...or something.