My Acrobat

Shame on me for encouraging this but he was having so much fun.

Today, I was heading to the mall. I finally got to go shopping by myself without any kids, my husband's job got cancelled and when I woke up this morning there he was! So I left the kids at home with daddy and off I went.

As I was driving I was at a stoplight and decided to check all the cars that were turning in front of me to see what the drivers were doing. I think I saw maybe one man who was not on the phone. Isn't this crazy. Now I am guilty of chatting on the phone while driving but I have bluetooth so I am sort of excused. Right? I really wanted to tell you about this one lady I saw. She was drinking a cup of coffee, smoking a cigarette and talking on the phone, a handheld phone, no headset. Could you imagine that? I lie to you not. One other lady I saw was reading a book! Reading a book! I really want to know, what in the world could be so very important that you just couldn't put down a stupid book until you got to where you were going. I was so amazed you know what I did? I called my husband to tell him....HAHAHA

Some late night fun

The "Making of A Masterpiece"

Sorry about the lighting
So I visited my friend's latest blog entry and started feeling so badly about not giving my son paints at home to express his creativity, which I know he has.

I haven't bought him paints yet, but we have the next best thing, crayons. Although I had put them high up on the shelf after he went crazy with red and purple one day. Since then, they've been collecting dust.

So Carrie, even though it's not paint, I am sure Christopher wants to say Thank You for making mommy feel guilty.

Helping Out...I guess

I will explain since you probably cannot see it properly. When I had first picked her up I actually thought she had spit up and was playing with it and got it all in her hair but when I smelled it, it was so yummy. Sweet Pea to be exact. Amazing, these Gerber fragrances. My son got the baby lotion from my daughter's dresser. I am sure he was trying to lotion her skin but he put it all in her hair. Poor baby she doesn't know what is going on.

He has been talking up a storm over the past couple of days and sometimes it's very clear. He still jumbles his words. I asked him to do something a few days ago and this is what I got, "NO! I don't want to!". I know it may not seem like much but I have always felt he should have been speaking clearly quite some time ago. I no longer try not to compare him to other kids his age anymore, since I realize every child moves at his own pace.

No Drama Needed

A friend of mine actually got a hold of me on my birthday. We share the same birthdate just different year. I dated this guy before I was married and had to let him go since he was in the service and knowing myself I could not deal with deployment. Once is all it took. It was sort of early in the relationship and he had to leave for 6 months. During that time I made up my mind before things got more serious.

Anyway, so he sends me Happy Birthday wishes and asks how is the family and kids. I tell him all is well. You know how that goes. Then the online conversation went from that to this:

Him : when are you going to send me some photos of yourself
Me : What?
Him : Yes when?
Me : listen, I told you already I am a happily married and well kept woman
Him : so
Me : I should know that wouldn't mean anything to you.
Him : When are you coming out to see me?
Me : (The door slams shut and IM ended)

You know it got me so angry how some people don't respect other people's vows. I take mine very seriously and was not about to encourage this type of nonsense. How dare he try to disrespect my husband. He's lucky this was not a phone conversation because although I hardly resort to profanity I could have changed that in a second.

Ugh, what nerve!

Loving siblings

As rough as he is with her there is a softer side

Say Aahhhhhh!

I was watching my son today as he headed to the refrigerator to refill his bottle of water. I began to wonder, why can't toddlers just walk to where they're going. He was running just to get to the kitchen. He runs everywhere but I think it's just so cute. Also, he is finally finding his tongue and speaking more. You know what he told me today when I asked him to do something, "NO! I don't want to"

I totally forgot about this. A few days ago when I checked my e-mail, strangely enough there was message sent using PIX-FLIX Messaging service. This message was sent from my phone and I certainly did not do it. When I opened the message it was just the letter G. Now my son had gotten a hold of my phone sometime and it was obviously him who had done it since the husband wasn't home either. Now that cost me about $0.40. Just had to mention that. I think I will ask him to teach me how to do it. I've never used that feature in my phone and we all know that Motorolas aren't very user friendly. So how in the world did my son do this?

Oh wait, maybe he read the book!

Kiddie Pool Fun

There were so many photos but after looking through them and seeing my son's exposed privates in most, these were the safest ones.You would never believe how afraid he used to be of getting water in his face, now look at him

My sexy little girl

Bedtime Buddies Again

The famous playmat everyone fights to play on!

Notice his face!
(Also in defense of my son, he was not leaking.
He's been drooling whole day)

He's given up. Lala wins!!

Another try at errands today and I was somewhat successful. Made the run the Famous Footwear and after 20 minutes we were out the store with a new pair of larger sneakers for mommy. I must say I never believed it when people said their feet got bigger after childbirth well I am living proof. My sneakers are comfy, just what I need. So we'll see how that works out later when I head off to the gym aound 1 am.

I went to the Starbucks Drive thru to get my fix. I was in line, boxed in by many cars, 4 of which were ahead of me, when my son says, "Potty". I was stuck. He started pinching himself and saying that it hurts. I couldn't do a thing except ask him to hold it which luckily he did. We made it to the potty. He no longer wants to leave home with Pull-Ups. He longer wants to wear them period but he doesn't have that control yet when sleeping so it's a struggle.
My son gets up from his nap and says "potty". I take him to the bathroom, take off his pants and set him on the toilet. He had an erection and he grabbed his penis and said, "Booboo. Mama. It hurts" Yes ladies all the while your men have been telling you this, it is true for a 2 1/2 yr old has nothing to lie about!

Stuff

Today I drove to IB. Much to my surprise it was muggy even though our friend's house was close to the beach. My kids had a blast of a time and so did I. I took some photos with the phone but since I am so cheap I am not sure I want to send them to my e-mail and pay the $0.40 per picture message. I may change my mind in a few minutes. Well it turns out I cannot even add a picture even if I wanted to. Stupid blogger. Anyone else having problems.

It always amazed me the different types of relationships married couples have. When I tell some people of my husband's and I no arguing policy they look at me like I'm either nuts or lying. But it is true..

Today my friend's daughter did not nap her usual 3 hrs and she tells me not to mention it to her husband. Not that I would. Why would that even come up? Lo and behold when he gets home, her daughter was in a very crabby mood and the husband says, "what happen to sissy? Did she not nap?" The wife lies and says well she napped but only for 2 hours which was a total lie. She barely napped for 1 hour. What gives?

You know what her son who will be 3 in October says? "Daddy's so mean to you momma" How sad is that?

My husband is so easy going and laid back I think even if I wanted to start an argument I would fail. It's been over 3 yrs. He has never raised his voice nor a hand at me and he better not either.

Anyway, both kids played in the pool and guess what? Yep, the boy is sick. I wonder what his thing is with water and he loves it so much. He just got up crying and when I asked him if he wanted some medicine he said, "Yes" Such a willing party! So I doubt there will be any sleep for me tonight, AGAIN. I've been running on fumes whole day as lastnight I got 1 1/2 hours. I went to bed super early or late however you want to call it, at 5am, and Christopher got up at 6:30 am, crying and fussing. I tried to bring him in the bed and that failed again so I had to get up. This is really no fun.

Alyssa ate a lot today. She's so demanding sometimes. When we got home from our playdate she ate 3 - 6 oz jars of Stage 3 baby food and nursed for about 20 minutes. Luckily my friend gave it to me because I would have had to cook. I rarely buy the jar food for her anymore. That's pretty much my day. I am off to drink my cup of tea. Still no shower yet so I guess I have to do that too. Man I'm tired!

Aaaaahhhhh......what is going on?

Why is my son getting up so early. I can't take it! I tried to take him in the bed with me and he wanted to part of it. He stayed for a bit then started kicking and carrying on. I'm so tired and I really need a break. He went to bed so late too around 1 am and got up at 8am. I on the other hand went to bed a little after 5 this morning.

So he got a hold of a pen last night and drew on the wall.......

My artist's Bunny (hope you can see it)

I wonder what animal that is?

and on his tummy. I asked him, "Christopher, what is that on the wall? What did you draw?" Without hesitation he proudly said,"Bunny". So for the next few minutes we discussed this work of art. He showed me where the ears, nose, feet and head was. So he knew exactly what he drew. I know you can see it too. if you try hard enough.

No funny photo today just a few funny happenings

Today was a lazy day. I'll tell you how it went.

I usually don't take pain killers or any kind of drugs for that matter since I am still nursing Booda Girl but last night my back turned on me again and I gave in. I went to bed I think around 2:30am which is early for me. So I took the meds before bed and I had somewhat of a great sleep but then the boy got up super early. It must have been around 8am.

I was still groggy from the meds so I brought him in the bed with me and we slept some more. Somehow he managed to ease his way out of the bed and when I got up at about 10:37 he was gone.

I was scared knowing the trouble he could have gotten into. But it wasn't too bad. He only climbed on the kitchen counter, managed to get his Gymboree Super Bubble solution and spill it on the carpet. He also used one of his trucks as a ladder and got to the book shelf where he took down every single book. But that's pretty much all he did.

Alyssa got up a short while after but she got up tired. I fed her she crawled a bit then she went back to sleep, until 5:30 pm. Yes, she slept the day away. maybe she's depressed about her weight...Ha!

We've only used one Pull-Up on Christopher today and that was for him while he napped. No accidents either and he didn't poop for the day.

When Alyssa got up this evening, she and her brother played nicely for the most part. He likes to play in her room on her playmat with the lights. So I left them in there for a quick second only to return and find my girl with no shirt and Christopher with no underwear. If that wasn't disturbing enough he had an erection? (No photos) How strange is that? I dressed her and brought them out to play in the play area. Don't you know he pulled off her top again. He unsnapped the snaps and was pointing to her belly button and nipples and laughing. When I asked him what was so funny he pointed to her nipples againand said, "eyes".

She in turn grabbed his penis and he began to laugh. I don't know what to say about these kids but mine can't be the only ones who do this.

Anyway, we went nowhere today but it was a nice day nonetheless.

Ok I take that back. he just gave me a funny photo.

One year older and smelling sweeter than ever

Well since we didn't get to do what we wanted, my birthday will be celebrated next weekend. Grandpa and his woman friend will be coming down to our place to babysit while mom and dad go to dinner and act like teenagers. How fun! Now to share with you what I have received so far.

From my father-in-law, well it's really his woman, she is the one who orders these different things, I received a flower cake. Fear not, there will be more, lots more when we see them this weekend.
From the husband, a wonderful dinner ofcourse from my chef. I have no pictures to share because it was gone so quickly. I had 3 King Crab Claws and we had Fetuccini Alfredo tossed with shrimp and mushrooms.

Something I definitely DO NOT need but man it tastes good!

More of the usual

Please do not think I'm being ungrateful, it's just that I have a huge box filled with these things from Christmas that I have not even gotten to. It's all stashed away under Alyssa's crib. Might I also say this gift is probably more for him. If you know what I mean. Not that I don't like to smell good or anything. As a matter of fact, if you need to get your honey's heart rate up, run out tomorrow and buy Bath and Bodyworks Aromatherapy Jasmine Vanilla. Both our kids were conceived while I was wearing this. Not to mention us having some pretty wild nights and some thanks ought to go to that wonderful lotion.

My morning started of badly. If it wasn't bad enough that he had to work yesterday, he was also needed at work today. Why on a Sunday? He is teaching someone to operate the wonderful equipment. I guess I should share that with you also while I'm at it. There are 2 people who will be taking their Commercial driving test on Friday, so they both had the pleasure of spending the morning with my man. Now this is not his pump but it's very similar. His own is green and white.

42 meter Boom Pump

This morning Christopher gave me a late birthday present. He got up at 7 am. I brought him in the bed with me, something that I usually don't do except when he is sick or something but I was just so tired. Tired and hung over. Both kids co-operated last night and went to bed at the same time so mom and dad had some "us" time. If I didn't know better and I do, I would think that my husband was cheating on me with some woman who was showing him some pretty neat tricks. I guess it's a good thing that sex is getting better with age, right. Anyhoo on with the story..

He also told me to go shopping today and get something for me. Key word being "me". Now this was a tricky one. Tricky because there was a catch. He knew I wouldn't leave the girl so that was a given. I'd be taking her with me. No problem atleast it's usually not a problem. Christopher was supposed to stay home but when he saw me getting dressed he ran for his pants and shoes. So yes, you've guessed it me and the kids would be going shopping. I needed to get him some big boy underwear anyway and I really wanted him to chose it. So what the hell.

We made it to Famous Footwear. I needed some running shoes. Yes I'm back working hard at the gym and even though I have tons of sneakers they're not for running. So we're in the store and Christopher starts playing with this other little girl. He gets really excited and is jumping on and off the seat where people sit to try on the shoes. I'm telling him to stop and the girl's parents are trying to calm her down too. We both look at each other and just kind of shook our heads. We were helpless. Then he started chasing the girl up and down the aisles. They were both laughing uncontrollably. Then the girl's parents told her it was time to go and all hell broke loose. She started screaming and carrying on while her play buddy just stood watching her. "I don't want to go home. I don't want to go home." Man I tell you it was quite the scene. They picked her up kicking and screaming then out the door they went. By this time I had not found a pair of shoes and it was 6pm, closing time. So I left with nothing. The boy was so hyper I decided to take him home before heading over to Mervyns.

After the drop off I headed to Mervyns. Looking for some tops and whatever else I could find. Afterall this shopping spree was on the husband. I wanted to go the the mall but they close early on Sundays so Mervyns had to do. But it was not meant to be. I managed to pick up a tank top and I ended up grabbing 2 tops for Alyssa(which I should not have done) then I had to leave. She screamed and screamed. Even though I went in the dressing room and nursed her, the girl wanted no part of this shopping trip. So I paid for the 3 items and left. It was all a waste. Well I'll try some time this week.

Funny Photo Of the Day

Wanting Candy can make you do some stupid things!


He made it to the shelf with the "Fruit Leather", his healthy candy from Henry's but could not come down. Silly Boy. Notice the look on his face. He was SCREAMING!!!

Funny Photo of the day

Our son continues to amuse us!


I swear to you, no one put that cow on his butt! The husband just said, "hey, look at your son", and I did!

Sleeping Princess and a scare

I just took this a few minutes ago. So peaceful.

Anyway, I had to change my daughter's earrings from her pretty hoops(see last picture) to the plain ole' studs(1st picture). Actually the studs are my earrings but who cares.

I wonder why she's holding on to the rail?

Alyssa in her imported hoops

My brother had sent her these pretty hoops all the way from Trinidad and the first scare was about at the age of 4 1/2 months. I figured I'd let her get accustomed to the things and was very pleased that she never messed with them until one day she was screaming bloody murder in her crib. I ran in to find her little finger stuck in the hoop and all twisted. So out they came. Back to the studs. You'd think I had learned my lesson.

A few weeks ago I put the hoops back in and I watched her to see if she was playing with it. Days went by and nothing. Until earlier this week when I went to Toys R Us. I took her out the seat, placed her in the stroller and all was well. She was even smiling at me. My husband had called so I was just standing there talking to him when she started hacking up a storm. Just dry hacking. I opened her mouth just out of habit and she smiled again! Then the coughing started and you can guess what she brought up. That darn earring. So we're back to the studs.

Getting Old and other things

She got up there all my her self (Sorry about the mess)

I thought they say, whoever they is, that girls do less jumping and climbing than boys do. Well, I know Alyssa is a bit on the young side for me to start jumping to conclusions, but today she climbed. She can't even walk and she's climbing? If this is a sign of things to come I am so through. I barely made it through my son's crazy acrobatics when he was a little younger. Oh how many times I felt like my heart was about to leap out my chest and explode. The numerous amount of scares that he gave me and still does. I hope I can get through this thing.



Alyssa also had her own playtime without being pushed, hit or having toys grabbed from her. Maybe she planned it, but she got up from her nap earlier than her brother probably so that she could have some "me" time. I got some great pictures in our private photo shoot today but I won't bore you with them all. Instead I will share with you one of my favorites. She was just so happy today.

It's because you finally gave me a bath mama.

Well there you go.

You know something, my husband wanted to make all these plans to have his sister come babysit and us go out to dinner this weekend. I was puzzled as to why he wanted to do this all of a sudden, until today he mentioned that Saturday is my 31st birthday. Is this happening to anyone else? For the past few years I honestly don't even remember my own birthday until someone reminds me or I get a birthday card in the mail from my mom. What is going on with me? How sad is that? And what is worse, do you know what he asked me today? He asked me if I wanted a carpet shampooer for my birthday. If I wasn't so tired I may have punched him. Ha.....Why doesn't he just get me some pots and call it a day?

Playing in Peace

So while lala naps he had a ball. So much joy can come from these little cars.

Please don't laugh at my crusty knees..hehehe!

Looks like the freeway at 2:30 pm to me!

Here's our joke for the day

My brother sent this to me a couple days ago. You may have seen it before but it sure is funny!

Welcome to the 24th Annual Women Drivers of the Year Award

6th Place

5th Place

4th Place

Bronze Medalist

Silver Medalist

And the Grand Prize Winner is...

Ummm -- for those of you who don't get this last one, she is wearing her helmet backwards - strapped on and everything !!

More Mischief

Meljoy, you've blighted me! Just kidding. You mentioned the powder episode and guess what happened tonight. He said he wanted to use the potty and he closed the door. I stayed outside the door listening to any noises that would indicate trouble but there was none. He knew exactly what he went in there for because I didn't give him much time to get into anything yet when I opened the door, there he was emptying the powder in the toilet. So now my son has become deceptive.

You can't see it here, but that toilet had a lot of powder in there.

He only got a small amount on himself.

I look at this last picture and you know what that face says, "I didn't do it and I'm sticking to my story!" What am I going to do with this child?

Share...No, it's MINE

I was dreading this. As a matter of fact I was foolish enough to believe I had somehow escaped it. Alyssa is very active. She's not walking but she does pretty good with her army crawl. She chases her brother around and she is surprisingly quick too. Well we set up his train set as I thought he was old enough to appreciate the thing, well somewhat. I got more than I bargained for. He really loves the thing. He loves it so much that no one can touch it

I initially set it up in his room but after 1 night of over-excitement and refusing to go to sleep it had to be removed. So we set it up in the play area, next to the computer where mommy spends most of her spare time.....HA! So a couple of days ago, Alyssa was playing with her annoying Elmo play table and she heard the engine chug...chug....chugging along. Needless to say it immediately peeked her interest because she was over by the train quicker than I could blink. I kept a close eye on her as she sat upright watching the thing go around the tracks. I saw Christopher eyeing her closely. Who knows what was going on in that head!
Well Alyssa made the mistake of reaching for the train and before I could reach down to stop her, Christopher pushed her over while saying "NO NO NO.."

I scolded him and told him that we need to share. Well he hasn't grasped the whole sharing concept. It's been going on now for about 2 days, the pushing and grabbing. You should see the look on Alyssa's face. He's also started hiding all the toys, hers included. I have, however, taught him to trade and he does it occasionally. When he grabs his toys away from her he gives her some boring toy. She looks at it for a quick few seconds and throws on the floor. Oh if only she could talk I am sure she'd tell him a thing or two about that.

So that's what I've been dealing with and I'm up this morning thinking about ways to get past this stage without him hurting her or me losing my mind. He's just so rough because daddy plays that way with him. Sometimes he's too rough with me! He's gentle at all other times with Alyssa, just as long as it doesn't involve him sharing his toys especially that train.

Tonight it happened again. He grabbed the train from her, pushed her, and said, "NO. MINE. SHARE" How can those 3 words go together?

Bedtime Shots

Today we had a great day but now it's 10:23 pm and neither kids are in bed. I am watching them play in the kitchen as we speak. No one looks tired either. I think I may have messed up their naps today. Oh well.

She just loves trucks. Actually I don't think she has much of a choice

He knows his letters but prefers them in a line. Doesn't all kids??

Tomorrow may not be as good a day. Alyssa has her 9 month wellness appointment. I know it's late, bad mommy. More shots....and Christopher gets so upset too.

Here we go....

Thanks Ann! True for the most part but I doubt that I shock anybody!

Your Blogging Type is Unique and Avant Garde

You're a bit ... unusual. And so is your blog. You're impulsive, and you'll often post the first thing that pops in your head. Completely uncensored, you blog tends to shock... even though that's not your intent. You tend to change your blog often, experimenting with new designs and content.

What's Your Blogging Personality?

Geez this boy is quick

So as I've mentioned before I've been trying to get the boy to go #2 on the potty. Still unsuccessful! I left him in my bathroom on the toilet. He asked me to close the door so I gave him some privacy. It was also bath time so I went to his room to get his clothes. When I opened to door, I was greeted with the strong smell of nail polish. Yes, this is what I saw.

I ask you, how could I be mad at him? The nail polish was not on the bathroom counter within easy reach. It was in the medicine cabinet.

Thieving Old Man

So yesterday I ran a whole lot of errands. One of them happened to be hunting for a tunnel for my...oops......our son's room. I always say that! I figured Toys R Us would be my best bet so off I went. Now I only had the girl. Yes I left the boys together, alone. Well he should have been napping.

While in Toys R Us I decided to get the boy a new engine for his train set. He actually has 2. Now if I didn't know better I would think that some of the in-laws were competing for the boys affection. He got 2 train sets last Christmas, the Learning curve brand and the Brio brand with battery operated engine. Luckily they are compatible with each other so we can build a huge track, plus the cars connect. Now my father in law's woman friend got him the Brio train set. I am convinced it was a damaged clearance item because when we put the battery in the engine it didn't work. I had to bang the stupid thing on the counter to get it to finally work. Ok so I was looking for a new Thomas engine but when I saw the price, $20.00 well $19.99, I sort of changed my mind. I walked up and down the aisle looking for some generic brand battery operated engine that would work with either Brio or Learning Curve but guess what, there were none. Luckily for Christopher, I found a Brio 4 pack, 3 cars and 1 battery operated engine for the same price as the 1 Learning Curve Thomas. So you know what brand the boy got. Not that he cared. He just wanted a moving choo choo train.

On my way to the 1 cash register that was opened, I saw this old man. He had one of the Thomas sets I was considering. It had a Thomas engine(not baterry operated) and Henry or Gordon, some one of them. I waited as the cashier moved in slow motion and I watched this old man walk right out the store with this thing.

Once I paid and was walking to the car, I saw him sitting outside looking at his stolen goods, his prize. He didn't open it, but just stared at the sealed box. You know what I said to myself, it served them right for having me wait so long in line.

Can I share this....

Today we headed to the Quail Botanical Gardens with our friends and I managed to get some decent shots. I think they're pretty cool!

The Rosy Boa


I guess no one bothered to give him a name

Some kind of plant - I should have paid more attention

Poor Cottontail Bunny - He looks like how I felt, hot and tired!

Our Sunny Patch friend - Miss Spider

The Owl (I'd rather be sleeping)

The Eagle, I think

Some kind of cockroach :-)

Eek!....More cockroaches

Baby Girls

The day it all began. When daddy laid eyes on his princess.

What is it about baby girls? I am not saying that my husband loves our son any less but there is something different. Something different in his eyes when he looks at our daughter. If I didn't know any better I'd think he gets a bit teary eyed. But I've never seen him cry so maybe I'm wrong.

Daddy says I am the cutest thing he's ever seen

A few days ago we were talking about how she sleeps. You know those crazy positions that babies sleep. Like the one with their knees below them causing their behind to stick in the air. Pretty funny. Sometimes he tells me she looks so uncomfortable that he wants to move her. I have warned him against this.

I think I have a photo of Alyssa sleeping like that, I 'll check. He said his favorite thing to do before he leaves for work every morning is to check on her and watch her sleep. When he looks at her playing, there's so much love in his eyes I am almost jealous.

I am positive he had no clue he could love someone like this. It's just something so special.

It's just as exciting the 2nd time around

When Christopher started moving I was just as excited. Now look at my little chunkster!! We visited one of our happy places today, My Kids Clubhouse



Did you see those chubby legs move? Woo Hoo! Yay for Lala.

I also caught my son, the acrobat and clown in motion last night but I'll post that a bit later.

When a spoon just isn't enough...

These are always fun

I got this from Nadiah in Indonesia, one of my recent blog visitors. I'm not sure about this given the recent events this doesn't seem right! Maybe normally I am like this? Not sure. I think I'll have to retake this in a week or so. HA!

But I am feeling much better today. So everyone, thank you so much for your kind and supportive comments. Thank you Carrie for putting me on to this wonderful site where I started this craziness. I've met (online) & chatted with some pretty cool people.

You Are Grass Green

Down to earth and a bit of a hippie, you are very into nature and the outdoors. You accept the world and people as they are. You don't try to change things. You are also very comfortable with yourself, flaws and all. Optimistic about the future, you feel like life is always getting better.

What Color Green Are You?

How Odd, to me atleast

For quite some time, I have noticed an old white Chevy Blazer parked on the street where I live. I think it only drew attention because the windows were always down. Day and Night.

2 weeks ago I saw the driver of this vehicle drop the neighbor off. He never drove away though. He parked the car on the street and sat in it. I thought maybe he was waiting for someone but it wasn't so. When I left later that evening, hours later, this man was in the car with the newspapers propped up on the steering wheel, as if to suggest he was reading. I passed a bit closer to the truck this time only to find him asleep. Yes I am a bit nosey.

I made it my business to keep an eye on this for a few days and could not come to any conclusions. On one of my early morning/late night gym runs, I saw the man sleeping in the truck.

So after a few weeks I informed my husband of the strange goings-on of the neighbor. He was not in the least surprised but I was a bit concerned as they are our neighbors. Well it turns out, he saw this way before I did and didn't mention it as he claims it's nothing unusual.

Their home is a 3 bdrm/2 bath and I don't know how they manage because I have seen the large family. There are atleast 3 adult females, 2 of which have newborns, 2 adult males, 2 teenaged girls and 3 toddlers and 1 infant and this does not include the man in the truck.

My husband informed me that the man probably just goes in to take a bath. There was also a mattress in the garage which I am hoping no one has to sleep on. He has seen this before, he told me, and he said they probably just took turns with who gets to sleep inside.

Isn't that horrible? I didn't expect to see something like this in our neighborhood which is why I am more surprised.

I'm so grateful

Somehow it seems as though I am always complaining especially when I have bad days. Tonight I am exhausted. I feel like I've been going and going forever. All my energy is spent taking care of my kids and the husband ofcourse. I feel so drained. No time to take care of me and my health is going downhill. I wonder how long I can keep this up? I have become quite the actress in my home as my husband hardly ever knows how bad I am feeling. I don't want to upset him so I put on my I'm-doing-great face almost everyday. It's getting harder to keep up this facade.

I am not pleased with my weight, weight gain since having the kids even with regular visits to the gym. I'm still retaining water, my hair is falling out from one side(could be stress related who knows), I can't sleep, the sun has caused my skin to become blotchy especially on my face even though I have tried to avoid direct sunlight, my joints ache when it's humid and my back is a mess. I also have a pounding headache which is probably a result of a bad back. I'm the household meteorologist since I can tell when rain is coming according to the pain in my knees. Yet I am still grateful that I feel these things. More grateful ever since I stumbled across this.

I cannot remember which one of your blogs I clicked through to end up here but oh how small my complaints seem. I feel rotten for feeling as I do when there are more serious things that I could have been dealing with.

I hope the family doesn't mind me linking them. Maybe not since the blog is public.

I cried all the while, as I read through this family's ongoing journey. It just made be realize how incredibly fortunate I am.

Funny Photo of the Day

So I think my son is going to be a clown. What do you think?

It stinks.......

of curry in here. Well I kept up my end of the bargain. Well sort of. The meal was late yes but I made it right? That's all that matters. We're doomed with this smell for the next couple of days. Even my hair smells of curry. ACK!!!

Ok. Please be kind in the comments. It was rushed as I had a hungry crying baby and wildman to deal with. It was pretty crazy in here and I almost burned the potatoes. The husband already ate it so I know it tasted good. I got away with no side dish when I told him I was going to curry squash. He wasn't too excited about that. I tried to set it up similar to the online photo but I had no mint or spiffy looking greens so I used leaves from our spring mix. Ha...creative me.

I just remembered...

A short time ago, Tanyetta had asked, what was the nicest thing a stranger had ever done for you. Well today, I remembered. How could I forget, it involved $$$!!!

My eyeglasses and contact lens prescription had both expired. I mean way expired. I had not been able to make it to Lenscrafters because of the kids. I couldn't drag them with me and my husband spends more time at work than at home. Or so it seems. Anyway, so I finally made it there.

I was taken care of right away by Erik and this was a walk in appointment. He did all the pre-testing stuff and I was off to wait for Dr. Goldboss. Are they referred to as doctors? The optometrist.

When that was done with, and I had my prescription for both the Dr. tried to sell me some other brand which cost more than double my usual brand. No thank you. I was off to find some frames. Long time ago I would have been there for hours trying to decide but not anymore. I no longer have to look stylish for anyone.

I sat down at the table where he started his calculations. I walked in there with intentions of spending no more than $400 but after he started adding this, that and the other I knew I was screwed. His total for me? $590 something. I got an instant headache and I think he knew since I kept saying oh my gosh and was constantly rubbing my head. That was for the frames with featherwate single vision lenses(I didn't even bother to ask him how much transitions would cost), the eye tests and a years supply of my disposables(12)

He saw how I was stressing and asked me if I had AAA and I told him no. He said, never mind I'll just apply it. WHAT!!!! I could kiss this man. This was 30% off everything but the eye tests.

Oh I forgot to tell you that they price matched an online store price for the contacts so that alone took off $60.00.

Well when he was through with all my discounts, I should have paid about $416 but he didn't know his math and I only paid $383.22. What did he do? Well he couldn't figure out how to calculate the difference in prices for their contacts and my online price quote. Poor guy.

$49.95 per box - 4 boxes. (their price)
$34.95 per box - 4 boxes. (online price)

Okay Erik didn't know to multiply each by 4 and subtract the 2 totals. Was I supposed to say something? Nope, I played stupid and just handed him the money.

You won't believe what Erik did. He added up everything and subtracted $140.00 from my total which was the my online price quote. Yep that's what he did.

Bread heels ?

This past Saturday, while making 2 sandwiches for my husband to take to work, I realized we were short a slice! I was not about to run to the 24 hour Ralphs at 2 in the morning so what did I do? I substituted a regular slice for the heel. Is that so bad? Well apparently so, because that man brought back the sandwich with the heel and said he couldn't eat it.


The heel of the bread usually ends up in the trash since I am no big bread eater and never use it for the sandwiches. He's never told me not to but maybe it's one of those silent rules you know. What are you really supposed to do with it? Is it there strictly to keep the remaining loaf fresh? I think my mom used it to make bread crumbs or sometimes stuffing if I'm not mistaken. I need to know.

Ugh......

Chicken Curry - Fozrocket | Dreamstime.com

So I may have gotten myself in some trouble. Me and my big mouth promised to cook today. What's on the menu? Curried Chicken, curried potatoes and Basmati or Jasmin Rice with some undecided side dish. It's simple for me to make but knowing how these days have been going, I suspect that I may not be in the mood to make this well-loved meal for my husband. Another problem, anyone who has cooked this knows how strongley it smells. If we have any visitors they will know what was on the menu for atleast a few days after this meal has been cooked.

I must also remember to close all the closet and bedroom doors and open every dining and living room window and possibly the front door to avoid the smell from staying in too long.

What have I gotten myself into? My husband is so looking forward to this. I hope I don't disappoint him.

Today's Funny Scene - Spaghetti Girl

I sat her down, placed the bowl in front of her and went across the room for the camera. I was too late!

Don't make too much of a mess Lala!

What a great Spaghetti Party. That must be some good stuff!

Saturday Morning Waffles

The kids were up early (9 a.m.) this morning as they went to bed early last night. The husband had to leave early for work so sleeping in was out of the question. Kind of sucks because I went to bed late and still had to get up early. I hate getting up early. Must......get......Starbucks!

These kids looooove their waffles.

Transferring

I find this so odd with kids as I know mine isn't the only one who does it. It's before bedtime and he found a small stash of raisins on the kitchen counter. They are not only food they're toys. Many things can be done with raisins in this child's mind. His favorite, transferring! He also does this with water which is pretty disgusting. He has a few stacking cups. When he is drinking his water, he sips from his cup, spits it in the stacking cup, then drinks it. Can you say yuck.

Notice where they start off

By the way, I gave him a haircut the night before last. I'm not sure you can see it but he looks sharp with his hair this low. More grown up is what I mean, like a big boy. This time I didn't mess it up. I need to remember that I MUST always use Blade #3. Anything else spells disaster!

Are those bags under his eyes?

He's just allowed me to take another photo. It's becoming hard as he no longer wishes to have the flash popped up on the camera. So I am constantly struggling to keep him away from it while I take the picture.

Fun Brain Activities

No Cheating Please!

Read out loud the text inside the triangle below

Next, let's play with some words

What do you see?

Now, what do you see?

What do you see here?

What do you see?

ALZHEIMERS' EYE TEST

Count every "F" in the following text:

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE
SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTI
FIC STUDY COMBINED WITH
THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS...

(SEE BELOW)

HOW MANY ?

More Brain Stuff from Cambridge University.

O lny srmat poelpe can raed tihs. cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs psas it on


Here are the answers :

More than likely you said, "A bird in the bush," and........

if this IS what YOU said, then you failed to see

that the word THE is repeated twice!

Sorry, look again.


In black you can read the word GOOD, in white the word EVIL (inside each black letter is a white letter). It's all very physiological too, because it visualize the concept that good can't exist without evil (or the absence of good is evil ).



You may not see it at first, but the white spaces read the word optical, the blue landscape reads the word illusion. Look again! Can you see why this painting is called an optical illusion?


This one is quite tricky!

The word TEACH reflects as LEARN.


You probably read the word ME in brown, but.......when you look through ME you will see YOU!

Do you need to look again?


ALZHEIMERS' EYE TEST

HOW MANY ?



WRONG, THERE ARE 6 -- no joke.

READ IT AGAIN !

Really, go Back and Try to find the 6 F's

The brain cannot process "OF".

Incredible or what? Go back and look again!!

Anyone who counts all 6 "F's" on the first go is a genius.

Three is normal, four is quite rare.

Selfish Boy

I watched the kids play earlier today and even though I caught this, don't be mistaken, it went on for a very, very long time. I guess he did not like the song that was playing.




Yes, my little girl was very determined but so was her brother.

Pretty cloth for a pretty girl

Here are the pieces of material that will eventually become my little girl's dresses or tops or both. I've not decided yet. I think they're pretty for summer. She'll definitely be easy to locate that's for sure.

I love the bright colours

My son, the push-over

Who would have thought! Shouldn't it be the other way around?

Does this look like the face of a bully? It is. She's the local lunch crook, food crook for that matter.

Well she army crawled over to her brother and simply grabbed the waffle from him. I didn't get a shot of the way his face looked but he seemed puzzled!

I also need to remember to cut my fingernails, which aren't long at all. They are just sharp.

My nail did this

My husband continues to make me feel terrible and keeps telling me I almost gouged out my son's eyes. I know it's blurry but until I read this manual for the camera, I'm operating on guess work.

Our little Raiderette

Yes my dear, they will always be #1 to us, especially to daddy!

Daddy had taken the boy to the park this evening after his nap so Alyssa scooted straight to her brother's room where she played uninterrupted for quite some time.

Yes that's our team! Never mind they sucked last year, we're not budging!

My funny photo of the day

My little girl will eat anything. She's a very greedy baby. I've even given her lettuce and she'll munch it right down. I thought this was funny.

Project progress

Well I actually got some things done as I had planned. I succeeded in baking the 2 layered cake but I dare not post photos of that. It looked horrible (it was leaning slightly to one side) although I am sure it tastes great. I'll know tomorrow when the husband samples it. The top above was my experiment. The hemming looks crooked but it really isn't :-) It was scrap cloth that I used before I attempt the real thing with the intended material. Hopefully I'll get that done some time this week but I think I could take her outside in this and not worry about strange looks. I think my little girl will be the sexiest baby around in a strapless top!

My baby's in pain

My daughter is teething and it's been a rough day. I consider myself a very spoiled mommy in that I have my nights to myself and have had them since my kids turned 8 weeks old. Ofcourse there have been the occasional illness but pretty much the nights are mine.

Tonight it was not so. It's the first time she's cried like this. I couldn't nurse her because she constantly bit me, really hard, even though I knew this would comfort the poor thing. Christopher tried to help. He patted her head and said, "Okay, okay lala". I told him today that she has a booboo in her mouth and it hurts. I knew he would understand that. So I did all I could do. I bundled her up in her blankie(she doesn't sleep without one) and I held her, rocked her and sang to her. She was quiet as she sucked on her fingers and looked at me. It felt really good and I knew she felt okay too.

Isn't it amazing how mommy's touch and love can make a child feel better. I'm convinced that I have Super Powers. Christopher knows about it too. When he falls or hits his head or something, he immediately runs to me and says "booboo, hurts.....kiss it" and then I do, he says, "All better" and it's off to play some more. That's just one of the greatest feelings in the world.

So I held my baby girl until she relaxed a bit, then I placed her in her crib and all was better, atleast for now.

Another Seafood surprise

Today was a good day. Christopher was great this morning and I had no sick kids on my hands. Maybe they were just overly tired. Today was errands day and it took all in me to leave this place. I would only be taking the little girl. The boys could stay home to bond. So I have it all planned. First stop, the bank, then Ralphs, then off to Walmart, Jo-Ann's Fabrics then last would be Henry's.

Well it didn't quite go that way. I made it up to Walmart and time ran out. I spent way too much time at Ralphs but ended up getting lots of free BBQ sauce thanks to sale and double coupons. Well worth it! Instead of JOAnn's and Henry's I traded it for Target and Michael's.

I plan to bake a 2 layered cake this weekend with icing. Well within the next 2 days and I needed a set of icing tips and some coloring. Funny I chose to do this as I don't eat cake. My husband said he would try it if it's chocolate. She chocolate it is.

I also gave myself another project to complete next week. It will only take me about 30 minutes to complete it but I have to make it to JoAnn's first. Occasionally I get in the mood to sew. It's been a while but now I feel the urge coming on. This was the last outfit I made for the baby. How does it look? Please humour me. It a little busy but I think it's decent, plus the cloth was on clearance so I couldn't leave it in the store. Dress and matching knickers.

Anyway, when I got home, you should have seen the place. I always dread leaving the both of them home alone. I could not see the living room floor and the boy's bedroom was a disaster. My husband was layed out on the sofa with the air blasting. It was freezing! Unnecessarily cold. The boy was doing whatever he wanted which is why the place was such a mess.

So the husband then asks me, if I was hungry. Well I hadn't eaten anything for the whole day except for a cup of coffee this morning and a Mocha Frap. this evening so I was starving. Apparently he had planned another Seafood surprise. Can you tell that I love Seafood?King Crab legs. Oh yummy!! These things were so sweet! As I was eating the crab I started feeling guilty. Poor crab and here I am gobbling up her claws. I say "her" because my husband referred to the crab as "she". Not sure where he got that from.

All in all the day was good. I feel lousy but I have been feeling lousy since the birth of my daughter. Not emotionally just physically. Lots of aches and pains that never seem to go away and only get worse.
My son the acrobat. It was bedtime for both but he always "helps" me put his sister to bed. He has to give her goodnight kisses before we leave her room.Here she is right before we turned out the lights. Night night Lala, he says. She's such a happy baby.