A Quick Laugh

Our child was the first child born and spent a lot of her early years as the only. This means she naturally gravitates towards the adults in the room. Always.  

At summer camp, she becomes besties with the counselors. When at a party with children, she can be found with the adults. Most of the stories we have involve teachers, not classmates. In class, she likes to sit away from her classmates. 

It is who she is.

Now for a story....

Weeks ago, we attended a meeting on a potential upcoming class trip opportunity to Italy. This is a chance to hang with other kids their own age in a different country. Alice asked if we all went, if she could room with us. We stopped to ask her math teacher (a trip chaperone) if the kids had to room with other kids or if she could room with us. She said it depends on what we wanted. I mentioned Alice needed to learn how to hang with other people her age and not room with her parents. Alice gave me a look, the math teacher laughed.

Fast forward to this weekend when she was talking about school drama. 

Her "Oh, and thanks to YOU, now I have to sit next to so-and-so in Math class because my teacher thinks I (in air quotes) 'need to socialize with kids my age'! I used to sit alone!! It was wonderful!! And now it's ruined!"

I laughed until I cried.

This season of life with Alice has been one of my favorites. Our conversations are hysterical. Always.

Until next time.....

Yay Day!

 There are two things that contribute to this story.

1. Alice is ready for a dog. She has been BEGGING for a new dog for MONTHS. Every time she sees a dog or hears the word dog or passes the dog aisle at any store. She. Wants. A. Dog.

2. Surgery recovery means no "intimate" situations allowed until cleared by the doctor which is usually at the six weeks mark. My Beloved being the funny man that he is counted six weeks on our kitchen calendar and wrote "Yay Day!" It should be noted this is a calendar that Alice has never paid attention to a day in her entire life.

Now to the story.

A few nights ago, Alice comes running in to our room all excited.

Alice "MOM! Why did you write Yay Day on National Adopt a Shelter Pet day!?? Does that mean we're getting a dog?!?"

And I immediately start laughing and say, "Daddy, Alice wants to know why you wrote Yay Day on National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day?!"

This is his doing, let him handle it.

Him...."I wrote that because that's the date Momma is supposed to be completely healed and can get back to her normal routine."

Me "Yes, that's the day I can move my weighted blanket all on my own." (I'm not supposed to lift anything over 10 lbs.)

Her disappointment was palpable. 

The date has a paw print on it, for crying out loud.

The next day we're in the car when Alice announces from the back seat, "I told Mrs. Ashby about 'Yay Day'."

Lovely.....just lovely.

Me "What exactly did you tell her?"

Alice, to me "I told her you wrote that on the calendar."

Me "No! DADDY wrote that!"

Him "I'm not sure that matters at this point."

Me "Did you tell her what kind of surgery I had?!"

Her "No, she didn't ask."

I have read ZERO parenting books but I am confident this kind of situation isn't in there.

And I know what you're thinking, "I know what you will be doing that day!!" 

NOPE!!!! My post op check is at an undisclosed later date so Yay Date will not happen on National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day. We will also not be adopting a shelter pet on National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day either. 

So, boom! 

Until next time.....

A ready heart

CAUTION: This is the end of Father Christmas. Keep the small eyes away.

For years, Alice has been asking about Santa. She does this at the most inopportune times usually following the other fictional characters we've slowly unmasked. I wrote about it here.

My response is always the same, "do you really want to know or do you want to sit with it?"

Her response is always, "I'll sit with it."

We know her head knows what her heart isn't ready for.

This year, her heart was ready. 

After we got home from Christmas at my mom's something was said and I asked, "who do you think Santa is?"

She said, "I think you and Dada are Santa." 

The ONLY question she had was if Santa was ever real. We talked about where the idea of Santa came from and she was content with that.

We talked about all her previous gifts and how Uncle Travis, Nana, Aunt Tami and now Aunt Meghan get to stay up and set everything up. We laughed because Daddy's job is to make sure Alice gets to sleep so he is always truly surprised on Christmas morning.

Alice "so when I asked Santa for a Barbie house...."
Me "Santa got the Barbie house she knew would fold up and fit in your messy room."
Her "fair."

She also asked if we kept her letters to Santa and I honestly don't know where they would be if I did. I do have this year's though because it was super last minute and quite cute.

We also discussed the elf. This year I did a few extra things since I knew it would probably be the last year. Her sweet Music teacher made tiny cookie sheet cookies that I left out like Meyers baked for her. She took it to school for lunch and when she told her friends where it came from, her friend Isabella quickly told her friend Alex not to say anything. Bless her heart. 

I also let her know next year, she can move them. 

"Slay." she says. 

"But nothing involving any kind of food!!" - me, clearly seeing the ideas forming.

"Oh man...." 

It was a calm discussion where we laughed and shared the backstage memories. She knows to hold the magic for the younger kids and what a huge responsibility it is because kids deserve the magic of Christmas. Period.

The best part? Because we waited for her heart to listen to her head - no one cried. 

Letting her carry the magic a bit longer until she was ready to let it go didn't hurt her or us.

Christmas next year will be a new kind of magic SHE will get to create. 

And won't that be something!

Until next time....

The 10th Year

Happy birthday, Alice!

Today you are 10!

You have had another huge year.

You joined Taekwondo! I was worried you were going to hate it but you don't. And let me tell you, it has helped you with your confidence so much! 

You mastered your first Starr test! This was huge because you were TERRIFIED. But this silly test doesn't define you and you did great.

You cried on your last day of 3rd grade because change is hard and you are totally a mini-me.

You got to go to summer camp again and tried out Fine Arts camp.

You started 4th grade!

You joined the school's choir and will get to sing at Christmas on Main. 

You ran for Class President. Nicholas won but you handled the loss well. He assigned you the Secretary of Health position which translates to lunch clean up. You are less than thrilled with this title. This is how that conversation went...

You, huffy and scandalized, "MOM! Guess what job Nicholas gave me!"
Me "what?"
You, highly dramatic and extremely offended, "TRASH! He gave me TRASH!"

And I laughed because your delivery is always perfection.

Show them who THE BEST Secretary of Health is, little bitty!! You. Show. Them.

Watching you develop a group of friends has been precious. You spend a lot of time on Facebook Messenger playing games and visiting with them.

We text now. It's hilarious.

You got your ears pierced! You were terrified but committed. And now you have some sparkly hearts in your ears. I didn't realize how grown up they would make you look. I am still adjusting. 

This has also been a year of a lot of change. 

We lost Atticus and that was devastating. He was your very first furry friend and the house still feels empty. 

There has been some changes at home and we've asked you to adjust to a lot. We've had construction and people in and out for months. Right now our home feels really unsettled and not quite ours, but you have handled it well and have been really helpful. We know this is heavy. We've had lots of talks about who is here to support any big feelings you are feeling. 

We know there will be more changes coming and we're attempting to prepare you for those. The thought of growing up is distasteful and you prefer to live in denial. I get it, kid. I get it. 

As you start this next year, I want you to know:
1. You are so unbelievably loved.
2. There is nothing you can do to change that.
3. Your village is large and loud and committed. 

4. We are always proud of you.

Madam Secretary, we wish you the BEST YEAR YET.

We love you so very much,

MommyDaddy (this isn't a typo)

The head, the heart and Santa

Alice's head is telling her all the things her heart doesn't want to hear. 

We knew this was coming. We understood that by fostering this kind of childhood 'magic' we would one day have to answer for it. We made no plans - we decided to handle it when it was time as the questions came up. 

That was foolishness. Let this be a warning to all new parents - RIP the heads off all mythical, magical beings at the same time. Just completely break their heart at one time instead of a slow, continuous break the span of 4 years. 

She's a trisky child and asks these heavy, life-shattering questions when we're compromised and our brains are tired so we answer without thought to deceive preserve the magic of belief.

And she KNOWS. I know she knows but the asking is part of our penance.  

First it was the Fairy. One day over the summer while I was working, she walks into my office and asks "Mom, are fairies real?" Me, distracted, responded with "no." Her "then what about my fairy door!??" Me after a long pause....."okay, I can't think about how to answer this right now, let's revisit it later." 

Then it was the Easter Bunny. Late one night something was being talked about and then she stared us down and asked if the Easter Bunny was real. I took a breath and told the truth. We argued about where the Easter presents came from. She said, "okay, the Easter Bunny isn't real" and we thought we were done. A few days later she said "I wonder what the Easter Bunny is going to bring me this year!" I told her we talked about this and there was no Easter Bunny. To which she responded with "yeah, I know. But he's still going to bring me something." We go over this every Easter even if I've let her pick out what goes in her own Easter basket.

Months later we were playing on the floor of her room when her Dada states "that's because the Tooth Fairy isn't real." My eyebrows jumped to my hairline and Alice's jaw dropped down to her chest. Him "was that not one we went over already?" This was exceptionally entertaining because we got to go over all the times her 'Tooth Fairy' forgot. 

She usually follows up these kinds of chats with "what about Santa!?" and I look at her with all the gentleness I can muster and say "do you want the truth or do you want to sit with it a bit longer?" and she says with devastating seriousness "I want to sit with it" so we move on.

I think her head is getting louder than her heart and all this growing up is unsettling to her. 

The other night while I was taking a shower she wanders into the bathroom with all the Santa questions. 

"Mom, is Santa real?"

Me "do you want to truth?"

Her "no."

After some quiet thinking, "if he's not real, then how does the elf move?"

Me, from the shower "what does your head tell you?"

Her, after a pause "that someone else in the house moves it."

Another pause, "mom, what if kids at school talk about Santa?"

Me "it's probably not going to be what you want to hear."

I peek around the shower curtain and say "when we do finally talk about Santa and it's what you fear it to be, we can still keep the magic for Kayden and Sawyer. We can always make magic." 

By this time I'm crying, obviously. 

Then she circles back to "so, how does the elf move if there is no Santa?"

Me, at the point of enough...."I'm not sure I want to answer that while I'm shaving my legs in the shower. Maybe you should go ask your Dad."

She didn't because it's usually me she wants to trigger into a sobbing mess. 

We'll talk about it again, of this I am SURE.

And my heart tells me she will adjust because the magic will change and SHE will get to move the elf. And I guarantee her elf will do A LOT more than our elf did. 

For now, we'll let her ask the questions she already knows the answers to because holding on to every ounce of her childhood seems to be what she NEEDS right now. She'll accept it eventually but for now, we're going let her heart hold on. 

One day it will come up and I will ask her "do you want the truth or do you want to sit on it for a bit more?" and she will say she wants the truth even though she's known it all along. 

Spoiler alert - I will sob then too. 

Until next time.....

Into the Wild

Well, I decided to attempt to do something fun for Spring Break and that's how most hot mess stories start. 

Bless it be. 

I chose the zoo. I thought, it's outside and you can only buy tickets online at certain time slots which must mean they are limiting how many they sold. Foolish, foolish me. I thought this was a safe choice. 

We have not done anything in a large crowd in a year and instead of easing in to it - we joined 8 million other people in Hermann Park. This is what happens when the weather is gorgeous and we're not in a pandemic. Only we're in a pandemic but no one wants to be in one anymore so we're pretending like we're not and EVERY ONE was there. Together. Outside. To-ge-ther.

Me = Freak. Mode. 

Our tickets were for 2pm-3pm. This means you have to enter the Zoo at that time. No sooner, no later. We arrive with almost half an hour to spare only with 8 million people, there is no parking. None. Zero. Zilch. 

We circle the entire area once and only once because by the time we make it back to the entrance of Hermann Park - they've closed the road to traffic due to no parking options. 

This is 1:45ish now. 

I'm immediately defeated because that's my automatic Go To response for such stuff. 

I happen to know mom is on her way to work so I call her to check on the Light Rail by her hospital. We end up meeting her at work and she offers to drop us off at the zoo. Bless her. She is the best. 

I am still in defeated freak mode. They're not going to let us in. All will be lost. I've ruined Spring Break.

We get out on the side of the road on Fannin and scamper through the park. We arrive at the zoo at 3:08. My Beloved asks if we can still get and they say yes. All is saved! 

And then we enter the park full of people wearing masks and standing way to close to each other. I spent the entire 3 hours saying "don't touch that. here's some hand sanitizer." Freak. Mode. 

The Houston Zoo is doing the best they can to keep us respectfully apart. They are limiting the number of people in the building exhibits so we did have to wait in line to see the bugs but they had lines drawn because humans are dumb and we can't tell 6 feet apart unless we're shown. We also stopped to eat a quick snack INSIDE. It was a weird time of day so there was only one other family inside which means we could stay on opposite sides of the place which feels safer. This was the first time we have eaten inside a restaurant in over year. It has been such a strange time.

We have not been to the zoo since the Kindergarten Field Trip that was also very much worth blogging about and a lot has changed. I feel like the Zoo has done a fantastic job with their renovations. It was an absolutely beautiful day and we got to see a lot of animals. 

You get to walk under this guy now which is both totally awesome and a little intimidating because he looked like he was trying really hard to find his way out. 

At the end of the day we had to figure out how to get back to our car. This meant we got to have a Light Rail adventure. We walked back through Hermann Park and caught the rail in the medical center. This might have been Alice's favorite part. It only cost us $3.25 and will probably be the only way we go to the zoo ever again. We will park at the park and ride and ride it in. Or just ride it for the three hours the ticket is good for and see all of Downtown Houston. 

Alice had fun seeing the animals. We had an adventure. The weather was lovely. We made memories. We survived. 

And we will never attempt this during Spring Break again. 

Until next time..... here's some cute animals - 

To Kill a Betta Fish

In Memory of Blueberry Christie

Yesterday we had to Google "how to humanely euthanize a fish."

In case you were wondering how we were spending the new year - that's where we're at.

Our Betta Blueberry has been sick for a while. We moved him to a larger tank and he did good for a few days and then he spent all his time laying on the rocks. We thought that meant he was close to death so we were going to let nature take its course. We had hard talks with Alice who seemed to think his inevitable demise would mean she could get a hamster. That led to more talks about how we were not going to get her a hamster.

We were sure he was close to death. 

Only this went on for WEEKS. 

We tried adding a friend, we tried adding medicine. We did everything the internet suggested to make him better. And yet he was still doing nothing but laying on the rocks. His color was good! He was just not moving around other than to take a quick breath. 

But yesterday he took a turn for the worse and we just couldn't let him suffer. 

So we had to search how to humanely kill our child's birthday present. 

This kind of stuff isn't in any of the parenting books. I'm going to write a parenting book with all this extra crazy stuff you don't know you need to know. 

My Beloved and I discussed options. Should we proceed with Operation RIPBB while Alice was at school or wait until she got home? I felt like this is a life lesson she needed to be present for so we waited. 

My Beloved ran out for the item we needed and when Alice got home, we let her process what was going to happen. 

And then we killed our fish in a drinking glass in our kitchen. We tell ourselves it was a peaceful way to go but really, who knows?! 

This wasn't really on our plan for Dry January however, it didn't lead to us drinking so there's that. 

Blueberry Christie has been laid to rest in an unmarked grave in our backyard and we have plans to add more fish this weekend. We will pick a more friendly option this time. 

This is the second traumatic pet experience we have had this year but that story is for another day.

A day we're not a house in mourning. 

Until next time....

Growing Pains

This summer Alice has been attending a kids program at the church she where she attended Mother's Day Out.

She goes about every other week and they get to do all kinds of fun things.

The group is extremely diversified in regards to age and I am pretty confident Alice is one of the youngest and since she doesn't go every week, I think it has been a bit harder to 'get friends'. 

She has come home a few times saying the other kids won't play with her. She is naturally drawn to older kids since that's usually who she is around and preteenish girls don't want to play with a little girl.

And this makes our girl sad.

Which makes this momma heartbroken.

We talk about how we're not meant to be friends with everyone and sometimes older kids don't really want to be around little ones. 

We talk about how it is okay to play on our own as well and not to let anyone get you too down.

She was a little more vocal about issues before we took her this week, I offered to not make her go back but she seems insistent. She only has one week left after this week so she might tough it out.

The kids have a rest period at the end of the day and are allowed to bring in pillows and blankets if they want. Alice has been bringing her beloved Ki-ki with her.

Yesterday she asked me if she could take one of my blankets instead because one of the other girls told her her blanket was a baby blanket.

My heart broke. And then I got irrationally mad and wanted to hunt down a child and punch them in the throat. 

This is her beloved KIKI!! This is the same blanket she told me she plans to give to her kid like I gave her mine before bed the other night. (yeah - this caused ALL THE TEARS!!!!)

And now some dumb kid is making her feel silly for loving it.

I vocalized none of these thoughts and we found a less baby-ish blanket for her to take.

These are tough lessons. 

Tough lessons for her.

Tough lessons for us. 

We cannot fight all her battles.We should not fight all her battles.

She will have to learn and lean and grow and adapt all on her own out in the wild. 

She will come home with a broken heart, hurt feelings and scars.

And we will be there to help her pick up the pieces. To encourage. To guide. To support.

And I will try REALLY hard to not punch people in the throat. 

Growing up is hard. For kids and their adults.

****

She came home yesterday saying she would be taking her Kiki after all.

Me "even though it's a baby blanket?"
Her "It's not a baby blanket! It's a special Kiki Santa made just for me!!"

Ooops.

Me "maybe we shouldn't tell the other kids that - I wouldn't want them to be jealous."

Now I get to stress about when she finds out Santa is a just a big huge lie.......

Until next time......

Socially Spent

We have not done classroom birthday parties yet mainly because we felt she was too young and we had things going on. Plus, I'm no good with new people. I get all weird. I have gone her entire school career without learning any of the parent's names. I know this is probably horrible but the extent of our interactions is usually opening the door for each other on the way in or out. That's it! I know who belongs to which kid! Mostly. 

Now it's just awkward to ask, I've seen some of these women for 3+ years. 

However, we decided this year we would make more of an effort to socialize her so if she came home with an invite and wanted to go - we would try to make that happen. 

And the universe LAUGHED and she came home with three invites for this past weekend. 

And the kids have words now and spent the entire week talking about the parties like little gossipy teenagers. There was no way of getting around it.

Saturday we had a Halloween party with costumes and pumpkin painting. 

I am grown. I haven't dressed up in YEARS!!! But I didn't want to be the only one not in a costume so I borrowed some scrubs from my mom. I mean, if I'm going to be uncomfortable, I might as well dress comfortably. 

We show up at 3 with our pumpkin and the host (who is the ONLY other adult wearing a costume - more showed up later though) says she's not sure she's had anyone show up at 3 before - they usually show up much later! 

For clarification, the invitation listed the party at 3pm with no end time. And it didn't say it was 'starting at 3'. It said When: 3pm. I noticed the timeline for the event when we got there and things were scheduled until almost 6. Jesus, take the wheel.

Turns out it's an all-evening family event they throw every year. I was glad Alice got to go this year. She had a ball. She ran all over in her princess dress and cried huge tears when it was time to go. It was cold but she was happy. And she was finally able to see J's room because they've been talking about it all week and he wants her to see it. It's upstairs now and you have to take your shoes off.

Ummmm......pump your breaks, little girl! Wanting to rush off to see some boys room. She will give me all the grey hairs.  

On Sunday, she had back-to-back birthdays. 

We started with a little girl in her class and the invite said "costumes optional". Thinking ease, we went with Fancy Nancy because all that involves is a party dress and some accessories that are going to end up in my purse after a few minutes anyway. We arrive and not a single child is in a costume. Not even the birthday girl. Bless.

Alice is super awkward and these party helped me to realize that ALL kids are super awkward. This little girl is about as excited about socializing as I am. And all Alice wanted to do was play with her toys because they're all new to her! 

Alice doesn't understand the rules of a party. "It's time to play this game!" "No thank you, I don't want to." Yeah, that's not how this works, you have to play along, kid. And then tears. Always tears. 

As we were making our exit, the mom mentioned we could do play dates and dinner. She had my number on the caller ID so she could contact me. 

Y'all - this is like my worst nightmare. They have a really nice, calm house. I don't know how to behave in that kind of environment. And what happens when it's our turn to host?! I'm already sweating just thinking about it. 

Our next party was for a little boy. There was no guidance as to what to buy these kids so we got board games that would be appropriate for each child. 

We arrive to the party at Peter Piper Pizza and immediately realize the party is for a kid I've never even seen. Apparently, there are two boys in the class with the same name and while I was shopping for one, it was the other one I should have been shopping for. This was probably the most uncomfortable social encounter we have ever had. 

Although this does explain why the child I shopped for was in no hurry to leave the little girl's party before his. 

There were at least 3 other kids from Alice's class and I did eventually meet the boy's parents and figure out which child he was. 

Y'all. 

This was just all too much socializing. 

I had to write down names so I could remember what they were for when we run into each other at the Thankful Feast. 

And I think we might have hit our max on social engagements for the year. 

We're officially socially spent.

Real talk.

Until next time......

Pete and Repeat

I managed to make it to my 30's before I developed a cussing habit. Seriously. 30's. 

So it's really inconvenient that around the time I developed a nasty habit, I would be living with a human sponge. I even blogged about my fears back before she had words. 

Life was easier back then.

As words come up, we will tell her "that's not a very nice word to use" or "you should not say that." She knows which words are appropriate and which are not. 

She will come to find you wherever you are to let you know "they said 'shut up' on the TB!"
Responsible Adult: "Alice, don't say 'shut up'"
Child Too Smart for Her Own Good: "I didn't say it!! So-and-so said it!" *smiley face/blinky eyes, obviously this doesn't count because it's a direct quote. 

She will immediately let you know that you should not say 'dumb' or 'stupid'. She also fusses when you say 'die' or 'killed.'

She has been known to occasionally drop an unsavory word when frustrated. Or when she knows we're frustrated, she will say it preemptively. Just lovely. 

She will also mumble when dissatisfied with an answer.  
Reasonable Adult: "Excuse me?!"
Child Too Smart for Her Own Good: "Noting!"

I'm pretty sure it wasn't 'nothing'! 

She said "what the heck" the other day and I fussed. So she said. "Okay, okay. What in da world."

And now this week. 

A few days ago, I dropped something and said "shoot" (really! I promise! I would TOTALLY confess if that hadn't been the case!)
She immediately jumps in with "Mom, you shouldn't say 'sh&#!"
A Horrified me: "Alice! I did not say 'sh&#'! I said 'shoot'!! Do not say that!"
Alice: "Oh, okay."

And then yesterday I said "oh dang" and again, she immediately chimed in with "don't say 'damn'."
"ALICE!! I didn't say 'damn', I said 'dang'! DO NOT SAY THAT!!!!"
Alice: "Okay, okay! Caln down! Caln down!"

Y'all. We're not going to make it through the teenage years with the amount of sass this child ALREADY exudes. 

Her ability to figure loopholes is staggering. Her vocabulary knowledge is worrisome. 

While some of her words are still hard to understand, ALL of the bad ones come through 100% clear. 

I'm waiting on our call to come to the Principle's office. 

And honestly, we did this to ourselves. ;)

Until next time......

A Big Girl Room

She has been growing out of her toddler bed for a while now. It would probably work still if she didn't insist upon sleeping with 11 stuffed toys, her Elsa doll, a sippy cup of water, and a set of slippers. But nonetheless, her feet hang out of her baby bed. 

I was folding clothes on the bigger bed in her room and said, "when you're ready, you could move to this bed if you wanted to."

Her reply, "YAY!! I syeep in Aunt Tami's bed tonight!"

Hold up, kid!! I meant, like, in the future. Not like RIGHTNOW! 

But nope. I had said enough. This was happening. 

And that night, she slept in her big girl bed.

I got a little emotional. 

The next day I was trying to brainstorm how to rearrange her room to make it more accommodating. Moving furniture is how I cope. I moved the bed and planned on removing the glider in her room. 

This she would not agree to.

"That's mines rocker!!!!"

Instead she told me to remove the baby bed. 

This I did not handle well. 

I moved things around until it was obvious that the baby bed would have to go. Enter the feelings. ALL. OF. THEM.

Sadness that this is happening so soon. Didn't she just come home yesterday!?
Guilt that she will most likely be the only one to use it. 
Pride that she is growing. 
Sadness that she is growing so fast. 

Okay, mostly it was sadness. 

So when my Beloved got home, he took down a baby bed.

He got a little emotional too. That made me feel a bit better about him finding me ugly crying with her sheep the night before. 

So now she has a big girl room with no baby bed. 

But she's asked to be rocked for a few minutes every night since. So I guess there's still a little of the baby left. 

As emotional as I get that she's growing, we couldn't be more proud of her. But we wouldn't complain if she slowed down a bit either.....

Until next time....

Adventures in Gardening

I want to want to garden. We've discussed this before. I'm not sure when but I know we have. I love the idea of growing our own food, only I don't like outside. And I want it to be easy.

We have big garden plans for our backyard but there is still some work that needs to be done. A few weeks ago, my grandmother gifted Alice with a teeny tiny garden tool set in its own little 'purse'. She LOVES it. She also LOVES outside. 

So Dada got us a starter garden. The original garden has 1 squash plant, 1 zucchini plant, oregano, and lots of green onions. Alice was SO excited to get to play in the dirt (Lord, be with me.) 

Since then, we've added a container of chives, basil, and thyme. 

When we were out at the livestock show a few weeks ago, she planted three little sunflower seeds that never grew. So while she was at school I replaced them with new seeds. 

And that's our little container garden! 

After we planted our first plants I told my Beloved I was ready to go off the grid except for cable and wifi and indoor plumbing and electricity. He told me he wasn't sure I knew what that meant. I asked if there was an off-off-off the grid, like off-off-off broadway. An 'off-the-grid-light' if you will. He said 'no'. So we're staying plugged in for now. ;)

The morning after we planted our plants I asked my Beloved if we had a squash yet. He told me I might lose my gardening privileges. 

Since I planted my own plants I figured I could make my own bug repellent for said plants. I found a recipe on pinterest and bought a spray bottle and went to work! It was SUPER easy to make! I ran out to spray the garden only the spray bottle wouldn't work. My blood pressure started rising. 

I came in and found a different bottle and trotted back outside. This one didn't work either so I threw it at a tree. Don't worry - this tantrum was done while Alice was in school so she was none the wiser. 

Last week the weather people kept insisting we were going to have horrible, horrible windy rain and I was so very nervous our new plants would drown or be blown away! I moved them to the porch only to have no bad weather. So I put them back in the sun. 

We left for the weekend and when we checked on the plants when we got home, we noticed something had been in the sunflowers. We figured it was a squirrel and now that Atticus was home that wouldn't be a problem. We had one little green flower! ALICE WAS SO EXCITED!!!

This morning my Beloved walked out to check and came back saying we now had 3! YAY!! 

I watched the squirrel all morning. He ran around the tree and even climbed all over the seesaw. I yelled for Atticus to come scare it off. The dog runs into the living room looking around like 'where is the dropped food?'. I tell him to go outside - the squirrel is sitting on the seesaw - he steps out the door, smells the air, and then scratches to get back in. 

Stupid dog.

A few minutes go by and the squirrel is back! I yell for Atticus again only now he knows it's not food related so he's pretending not to hear me. This drives me BANANAS!! 

I open the door and yell at the stupid creature myself.

(Side rant - I dream of a day when the beings in my house that are smaller than me will listen without fail. What a glorious, glorious day that will be!)

We run to the store and after we get back, I head out to check on our sunflower sprouts!

ONLY THEY'RE NOT THERE!!!! 

Stupid, stupid, stupid squirrel. 

I'm ranting and raving and yelling at all the furry animals within earshot. I'm yelling at the dog to get the squirrel and he's like, 'where is The Man?' 

Seriously. Shouldn't his instincts be better than that?! U need to send him off to some dog survival school so he relearns how to be a dog! 

So now I'm googling squirrel deterrents on the Internet. I've planted new seeds, relocated the plant, and now everything is covered in cayenne pepper. EVERYTHING! 

TAKE THAT, CRITTER!!! 

Here's hoping this works. 

This garden is no good for my blood pressure. 

;)

Until next time.....

Good, Better, Best

Some Good

After being completely deflated when the college discontinued the program I was in, I took the summer to hang with Alice. During that time I did some research and we looked around and concluded that there are still lots of jobs in Medical Transcription. So I started to look in to other options in regards to training. I found an online program through CareerStep that trained you not only on the transcription part, but also on the editing part. Most transcriptions are being done by computers now, however, someone has to edit what the machine gets wrong. At the end of the training, I will be trained in both. 

So I enrolled. It's all online and work at your own pace. I started in September when Alice went back to school and I am already halfway through. The first half was mostly review from the classes I had already taken. Now I've started the transcription part. It isn't too hard. It's just A LOT. I have a gazillion audio files to get through and I feel like I am making zero progress. I'm working on it while Alice is at school so I have not dedicated the amount of time I should be dedicating to it. (Like right now when I should be doing school but instead I'm blogging. I'm pretending it's warming up my fingers.) My goal is to find more time on the weekends to get through a few. I would LOVE to be finished by the summer. My goal date keeps getting pushed around as I better understand what work needs to be done. This goal date isn't any earlier than what it would be if I was continuing classes at the college so I'm trying to be okay with it. 

There is a light at the end of the tunnel - I just can't see it yet. Hopefully I'll see it soon. 

Feeling and Looking Better

We are still doing our diet/exercise program. I'm down 15lbs. I am elated. My Beloved is down more and looks fantastic. While at my check-in appointment with my new Hematologist, he noticed I had lost quite a bit of weight since my last visit. He asked what we were doing and what my goal weight was. I told him I don't really have a goal weight - I just don't want people asking when I'm due anymore. He has an app that figures what your target weight should be and I am apparently 5lbs away from being considered in the 'normal' weight range for my body. BOOYAA!!! I haven't weighed in at "normal" for years! He went on saying that it's a range - 155 could be the top, 140 was still considered normal so I could get down lower. I told him it didn't matter - "you had me at normal." 

We look better, we feel better, and we're dedicated to keeping up with it. Thanks to Pinterest, we have tried lots of diet recipes that have really been tasty! So that's helped. I still give Alice something else or at least the non-diet version of what we're having. She gets regular noodles and white rice, lucky kid. 

The Best Most Recent Example of How We are STILL Unqualified Parents

When Alice gets overly exhausted, it is almost impossible to get her to go to bed. She sobs for hours in protest. HOURS! On January 1st, she was so unbearable, we finally put her on a mat on our floor next to our bed. She finally went to sleep. The next day while my Beloved was picking the mat up Alice came in, looked at it with incredulity, and said, "wus that?" Dada replied, "it's where you slept last night." 

Alice - "nuh uh! I syeep in my own bed!"

Child.

This past Sunday, she had another bedtime meltdown. This time, Dada offered to lay on the floor next to her bed until she fell asleep. He does this occasionally when Alice is inconsolable. We have a pack-n-play mattress that slides out from under her baby bed and he lays down until she falls asleep and I wake him up to come to bed. Only Alice decided to lay on the floor with him. 

She FINALLY fell asleep on the floor. The last time we tried to move her from the floor to her bed and that was the wrong decision. Wrong, wrong, wrong. So we looked at her and said she could sleep on the floor.  

At almost 4am, I awake to her crying. I get up, switch the hall light on, open her door, and can't see her. I can hear her crying, "Momma, I stuck! My head!" only she is nowhere to be found. 

Somehow the child had managed to get under her baby bed. Lord, have mercy.

I call for Daniel and proceed to lift the bed. 

My poor groggy husband comes running around the corner to me lifting the baby bed and the groggy child emerging from under it. "What the heck?!" Yep - 'what the heck' about sums it up. 

We get her back to bed and everything settled. 

And the dog who was barking like a maniac last week because the wind blew - slept through his kid crying for help. Didn't even leave his bed when His Man jumped out of his. Stupid dog. 

So that's what's going on here. Maybe when I'm done transcribing my fingers off, I'll have more time to blog. We'll see!

Until next time......

Alice Goes Potty

For Christmas, instead of Santa bringing her diapers - he brought her panties. She was unimpressed. Her 'scary' fairy, Nixie, also brought her panties. I did not have the camera ready for the Santa reaction, however, Aunt Tami was prepared for the second panty find.

Classic. 

You might wonder why the fictitious characters were the ones to bring her panties. Because her parents didn't want any of that blame! No ma'am! Let her be angry at them! We're no dummies! 

We started potty training the Monday after Christmas with the goal of starting 2016 diaper free.




The first day went about as well as we thought it would.

In nothing but a shirt and a diaper, we put her on the potty every 15-30 minutes. Nothing. 

And then she went on the floor. She did not like that! It only happened twice. Then she started going when we put her on the potty.

Day two was better! She seemed to be getting it.....mostly. There was only one accident. 

Day three we had no accidents! 

She remembered every time to tell us when she needed to go.

We spent New Years eve and day at Nana's. This was going to be a big test because we were going to be away from home and around lots of distracting people. So we packed lots of clothes, expecting lots of accidents. She only had one! That was it! 

She started back to school this week and so far, so good. She told her bff, Chloe that she's a big girl now so she wears panties. And every time she goes - she HAS to tell EVERYONE in the vicinity that she just "pee-peed in da potty!" Bless. 

She had to use the potty at Daddy's school this weekend. She handled that like a pro.

Now with the glitches. 

She only goes when she thinks she's ready to go which could be ALL DAY. It's currently 1:50 pm - she still hasn't gone all day. She's been drinking - but not going. And if she doesn't think she needs to go - besides it being a huge meltdown and possible physical fight - sitting her on the potty is useless. The child will sit there for hours and not go. Her commitment game is strong. This is completely contradictory of how her Daddy operates. I am thankful she has my bladder.

Pooping. She still isn't a big fan of pooping in the potty. She has pooped in her pants twice. When we can tell that's what she is about to do, we put her on the potty and she doesn't do it. She'll hold it until her tummy hurts. I don't know how to fix this. The first time, it wasn't a big deal. However, she did it over the weekend and we were not impressed. 

The biggest potty battle we face is washing her hands. Seriously. It's not hard. It doesn't hurt. But Little Miss Drama has a huge scene every time we tell her to wash her hands. This is also completely contradictory of how her Daddy operates. 

For the few mishaps, she is doing really good. She sleeps in pull-ups mainly because we have them and she's been really good at letting us know when she has to go.  I was in the shower last week and she went all by herself. It made me proud and a little sad. We removed the changing table from the top of her dresser. Now it's just a dresser. It kind of makes me wish we had started earlier. But mostly not.

She's turning in to such a big girl and there is nothing I can do to slow it down. This isn't bad! It's just bittersweet. 

This is her singing on the potty. She sings or reads - it's adorable. 

But we're biased. Mostly we think everything she does is adorable. Mostly.


So we started 2016 diaper free! And we have only had to throw away one pair of pretty panties. We know there will still be some learning and we will have some accidents, but we're pretty proud of how well she's doing. (And I totally understand that by typing these words - I am jinxing everything. You would think I would know better by now. Yeesh.) 

While she does her business, we leave her alone mostly. And sometimes when we come back - we find her like this....

Our silly Little Bitty.

Until next time.....