Runs in the family

What runs in my family?

Crazy, that's what.

Did you read the banter between my mother (Molly) and her sisters (Bridget and The Murder Hour) in the last post? Crazy.

And this photo of my brother* wearing Madeline's play tunnel like a dress on father's day. Crazy.


I am not the only one and it isn't my fault. I inherited it.

*I am linking to my brother's blog but since he graduated with a degree in English and creative writing he feels like his art should only be used for pay. Ok, I made that up. But that might be one explanation for his lack of posting. Or am I crazy? Hum.

mg

Operation Big Girl Bed

I am a worrier. I can worry about just about anything. I am also a pessimist. The combination of those two things are generally a very bad thing.

For example: I need a hair cut. For most people they would just call their salon, and set up the appointment. I, on the other hand, have been having the following internal conversation with myself.... for months.

Rational (not so crazy) Me: Maureen, you need a hair cut.
Worrier Me: Do you think other people think I need a hair cut?
Pessimist Me: No one has even noticed.
Rational Me: Ok now you two, the fact still remains that I need a hair cut.
Worrier Me: I agree that a hair cut would be nice, but do you have the time to get your hair cut?
Pessimist Me: Of course not. You never have enough time to do ANYTHING let alone get a hair cut.
Worrier Me: And can you afford to get a hair cut? You haven't taught a class in almost two months.
Pessimist Me: Even if you did get a hair cut there is a chance you might not like it and that is a waste.
Worrier Me: They are all going to laugh at me.
Rational Me: SHUT UP!

You think I'm crazy yet? I do.

But this post isn't suppose to be about me. It is about Madeline growing up and me thinking the apocalypse is coming.

Last week we said good bye to the crib and put Madeline into her very own big girl bed.


This crib was Kevin's as a baby and I slept in one almost identical to it as a baby. This crib has been good to us. Madeline started sleeping through the night at 8 weeks in this crib. She has only tried to climb out of it once and she is really very content. Worrier Me says, why mess with a good thing.

But now that #2 is on its way the choice was made to put the baby bed away. So last Wednesday, after one last night of sleep in her crib Madeline was sent to play at Maw Maw and Paw Paw's house and the big girl bed fairies went to work.


What did I expect? I expected to be chasing Madeline back to bed all night long. I expected to be up all night with a sad baby girl who just wanted her crib. I expected to be exhausted on Thursday because it had taken her half the night to fall asleep.


Instead Madeline slept through the night. Then took a 2 hour nap on Thursday, slept through the night again and took a 3 hour nap on Friday. Not a single problem. She even calls for us to get her out of bed still. That's right. She could get out of bed on her own and pull every book off her bookshelf and spread wet wipes to all four corners of her bedroom. Instead she calls to us to come get her out of bed.

Never before have Worried Me and Pessimist Me been more wrong.

mg

My loves

Things I love:


Kevin.
Madeline.

Mornings spent at the zoo with above loves.

mg

Because what the world needs is another post about Michael Jackson

If I hear Man in the Mirror one more time today, I might just chuck my radio out a window.

mg

break

So after many, many, (make that 8) days of posts I have taken a break. I am gearing up for a bridal shower at my house this weekend. YEA! So I am busy baking, and cooking, and cleaning and panicking. Ok, all but that last one.

I may or may not post in the next few days, but come next week I plan on kicking off round two of my blogofesttopia*! I know you can't wait. I know I can't.

Until then, know you are loved. And show me a little love, but leaving me a comment or two. (I get a lot of comments from my Mother and my Aunt B, which I love... but they are my family, they HAVE to love me...)

Until Monday!

* I think I should get that trademarked... don't you think?

mg

Kevin

To the best dad on this side of the block:

Although you are mowing the lawn right now we hope you have a wonderful father's day!


We also hope you take a shower.

Love, Your Girls

mg

Hair update

Ok, I hear you. I won't cut her hair. After my post about my hair conundrum, Madeline's hair has taken a turn for the better. I think it was the humidity, but her curls have returned in full force.

I know I will someday have to deal with cutting her hair. I just hope the curls stick around for a while. I don't want them to ever go away!

Couldn't you just eat her cheeks!?!

Her wild mop of hair! Loving it!

mg

year 4

Today is the day Kevin and I celebrate our four year wedding anniversary!



So far we've eaten breakfast, played with Madeline, eaten lunch, took an afternoon nap (all three of us) and now Ms. Bellie Boo is watching Sesame Street while Kev sucks an incredible amount of water out of our basement. (That is a post for another day...) This afternoon we are heading out into the steamy weather to run some errands.

Aside from the headaches Kev and I both have from last night's concert today has been a great day spent with the only person who gets me.

Kevin, I can't believe it has been 4 years... and what a crazy four years they have been. I love you. ~MoBert

*Blog-o-fest-topia Day 7. A whole week! Although it didn't auto post at 12am I hope you enjoyed it none the less...

mg

Neil Patrick Harris rocks

I am laughing out loud watching this right now.



Enjoy the hilarity.

Around the House, part 2

The blog-o-fest-topia continues! Day 6 people... blog on!

So I did this almost a year ago and with a new house I think it about time I did it again. (I must admit it was not my original idea last year. Just giving credit, where it is due.)

It took me years to love our last house. To get little places in our house that I love. There are a few that I have re-created here in the new house... but there are a few more that are new. Stuff that I had but wasn't displayed in a great way.



The new kitchen has display shelves on either side of the sink and this pig sits on one of those shelves. This little pig is one of my favorite items in the entire house. It is a water pitcher that I got has a wedding gift from my Aunt Kate (I think). It is very old and has cracks in the bottom so I can't use it, but it simply makes me happy. I think you'd be crazy not to love a white pig, with pink cheeks in a bow tie.

When I was a kid my Grandma Opal had this doll in her china cabinet. It was a very special honor to be allowed to hold it. To be honest it is totally not my style. She is wearing more lace then I would otherwise have in my home. BUT the memories that I have with my Granny and this doll are some of my favorites. It makes me smile all the time.

One of my favorite wedding photos and our Lego cake topper. I didn't mean to make an entire shelf our wedding shelf. Although now that I think of it there is a ton more wedding rick-rack that I could throw up here and then maybe you wouldn't see those pesky HD antenna cables in the background. And maybe some candles like a wedding shrine... what do you think? (I am totally kidding I am NOT one of those!) I do however love that photo and that cake topper.

Some day, I'll feel settled in our new house. Until then there are these little places that make me smile and I know I just have to create more of them!

We are off to the DMB concert tonight. Have you heard the new album? If you haven't you should. We are venturing out onto the lawn again although I said we never would. I guess that teaches me never say never... either that or get used to a substantially lighter wallet. Ticket prices are outrageous. I'll let you know how it goes and whether I swear off lawn seats once and for all.

mg

(almost) 23 weeks

To be fair this photo was taken on June 6th when I was only 21 weeks.

So I didn't do updates like these when I was expecting Madeline. It was a combination of not having any time (as a full time employee) and not really wanting photos of my perceived hugeness. This time however I want to make sure that everyone knows I am pregnant because I feel that otherwise people just assume I've been hittin' the cookies awfully hard.

So on the 6th, for the first time I felt like I looked like a pregnant woman. I know it was the clothes I was wearing, but I felt the need to document this moment in time. There are only three maybe four good photos of me pregnant with Madeline and at the time it didn't bother me. Now, I wish there were more. So I guess this baby belly will get a little more attention than my last.

Yesterday, Monday, I visited the doctor and there is nothing to report. My blood pressure is awesome according to the nurse and the Dr. says #2's heart rates sounds good. All is well in my belly I guess.

I still get the "how are you feeling" question though. I am just fine. My nausea has gone away and the heart burn/indigestion has taken it's place. I'll take that over feeling like I am on a boat 24/7 any day.

As for my mood, well:

My pregnancy hormones make me all moody. So watch out or I'll get all up in your face!

Totally a joke of course. Other than choking up every time I read Bunny My Honey I think I am doing just fine.

mg

Why Legos rule our world

It was five years ago today that Kevin proposed. What does that have to do with Legos you ask?

Everything.

Kevin and I met in high school. One night, being the nerdy and totally boring teenagers we were back then (and still kinda are), Kevin and I broke out the Legos at my parents house. Yes, we were 17 and playing with Legos. Yes, we are both totally cool with that. If only we are so lucky to have teenage children who play with Legos as a fun night in. Legos rock.

Anywho... after making cars and planes and space ships Kevin made me a Lego house. As he handed me the house he said something hopelessly romantic like, "maybe someday, I'll get you a real one, but for now, here's a house." That little house sat on a shelf in my bed room at my parent's for YEARS.

Fast forward 10 years (give or take a few) to Tuesday, June 15, 2004. I had been at the pool all day with the girls I was nannying at the time so right after dinner I hopped in the shower. Kevin said he would be down stairs in the family room watching the Cards game and that I should come down when I was done.

So with my hair up in a towel and my bathrobe on I walked down stairs. Nothing unusual down there except a HUGE box sitting on the coffee table. I asked about the box and Kevin said it was a present for me he had made that weekend. (I had been out of town.) So I opened the box and inside was a large Lego House. At least 10 times the size of the little one he had made me before. I am sure the look on my face was of pure confusion. I had no idea what was going onl.

So he got down in front of me and said, "I told you many years ago I'd get you a bigger house then the one I made you. I know we got this house (meaning our first actual home in which we were sitting in the basement) first, but I still wanted to make good on my promise."

At this point I am still clueless but I remember the little house he had made me years before and hadn't seen since before I moved from my parents house into our house. So I said, "I wonder what ever happened to that little house you made me?"

"You mean this one?" Kevin said as he pulled it from behind the couch I was sitting on. I was shocked and still totally clueless. That is until he opened the little window and I saw that he had propped my engagement ring up inside. One that I didn't know he had, nor had we discussed, but was exactly what I wanted.

To be honest, the rest is a little bit of a blur. I know he asked me to marry him and I know I said yes. Obviously. But what was said and in what order and all of that is a total blur. I do know that at some point I said, "I can't believe I just got engaged in my bathrobe" and Kevin laughed and said, "me either!"

So that explains our Lego cake topper and my June 2009 masthead. I love our story because I've never heard another one quite like it. There are lots of great engagement stories out there. (Which I would LOVE to hear if you want to post yours! Wink, wink! Just leave a comment on this post to let me know you are playing along...) I am just so glad that ours is so us: rich in history, a little sappy and totally quirky!

Thank you Kevin for the best stories to tell.

mg

Sunday motivation

With a new house comes new responsibility. With so much more responsibility we all have to pitch in and do our share. Madeline doesn't really like household chores but she is more than happy to be outside. So her main responsibility is the yard. Madeline takes great pride in her lawn.

Giving her mower a tune up.

If only she could find a way to get rid of all those weeds and dandelions. They are so pesky. She may have to get with Paw Paw to start on her own lawn "PLAN."

mg

A morning in the life

Eat only the cream cheese at breakfast. Crackers are just extra carbs anyway.

Look cute with a cream cheese mustache.


Demand to see photos after they are taken. (What did we do as children without the instant gratification of seeing photos seconds after they were taken? To think we had to wait days, sometimes weeks for photos to be developed in a LAB!)

Waddle upstairs for a diaper change.

Give mom "the look" hoping she will get that camera out of your face.

mg

My First...

BAKED CAKE!!


AND she baked it with her Daddy. Oh, how I love my husband. Especially when he makes chocolate cake. The cake was for my MIL's birthday (Happy Birthday Sue!) and it was delicious.

mg

blog-o-fest-topia*

*Is that how you spell that word I just made up?

I feel I have been slacking. And the fact that I am getting so little blog love (aka. comments, other than from my mother and my aunt) leads me to believe I need a change. So today I am mastering the art of post scheduling and writing posts for the next five days. Count them! FIVE! CINCO! FEM! CINQ! GO! (That is English, Spanish, Norwegian, French and Japanese. FYI... see this blog makes you smarter. A great reason to come back AND leave a comment.) It is a blog EVENT! My labels say so... see below.

So at midnight starting tonight there will be a new post a day for (at least) the next five days. I can't promise they will be thrilling, but they might just clear up acne or rid you of your chronic indigestion.

So enjoy. I posted the post below to start of this blog-o-fest-topia. Enjoy my littl girl playing Guitar Hero and rotting her brain one video game at a time.**

**I feel the need to let you all know that she doesn't play video games... but I did just catch her licking the TV remote control.

mg

Rockin' out

Leave it to Daddy and Uncle Elliot to teach Madeline the joys of Rock Band. (or was it Guitar Hero? I get them confused.)

She does look quite natural. She even has the partial leg lift thing going for her.

mg

the lightening ate my post

I wanted to post tonight. With photos and everything. I have a very cleaver post planned I assure you. But the weather has foiled me again. If only we could assure that the massive amounts of lightening wouldn't fry our fancy computer if our house is hit... I'm just not willing to risk it.

So until the weather passes, I blame the lightening for my lack of post AND for sapping me of my cleverness. I hope all you mid westerners enjoy the light show and stay safe.

mg

wouldn't you know

Tonight was the first night I have been home all week to do bedtime. Madeline went right down and we haven't heard a peep from her.

I guess I am to stay home at night for the next 16 years. Argh.

mg

Sleep over

With an emphasis on SLEEP.

I've been working one of my (many) part time jobs this week and all of my hours have been at night. This hasn't been a problem in the past but right now Madeline is going through a huge mommy kick. What does that mean? Well, I'm glad you asked. That means that she doesn't really want to be out of my sight NOR does she want anyone but ME to put her to bed. That is a problem seeing as I have been at work and Kevin has been charged with her bedtime.

Kevin has never had a problem putting her down before. He has put her down at least one night a week for the past 5 months without a problem. This week however, was different. Madeline cried for and hour and a half on Monday night. An hour on Tuesday. Only 15 minutes on Wednesday and then on Thursday we had the fit of all fits. You know the kind where Madeline cries so hard she vomits... twice. Madeline, who's bed time is between 7:30 ond 8:30, went to bed at 10:30! And she was asleep in our bed... not in her own.

Now we can't feel too bad about that. She is two years old and this is the FIRST time she has ever slept in our bed. (Not counting the one or two times I feel asleep nursing her in the first 6 weeks of her life.) But we don't want her in our bed none the less.

So in order to 1) break the cycle of screaming and 2) give Kevin an actual chance of sleeping (did I mention that my husband has to be at work at 6am and that he didn't get to sleep before 11pm any night this week?) Madeline had a sleep over at my parents last night. I am about to go get her and from what I've been told she slept like a champ.

What a stinker.

mg

Warm up

The weather is getting warmer and one of the biggest signs of summer for me is watermelon! Madeline and I have been eating off that gorgeous fruit for days and it still tastes awesome!

The pool is open, the weather is warming up (again) and my freckles are starting to show. Oh summer... how I love you.

Sorry I've been a bit scarce this week. I'll be back next week and hopefully I'll have something worthwhile to say.

mg

June 2009

New month. New masthead.

Our lego wedding cake topper. That's a story for later this month...

My day: Unplugged

So I hadn't intended on staying away from the blog all weekend, just an unplugged Friday. But this weekend was a crazy one, with an open house at the new house and me working (one of my many part time jobs) yesterday and then a birthday party for my MIL last night I just didn't have a spare moment. I hope you didn't miss me too much. You know I missed you. Honest I did.

So without further to do, I give you:
As proposed here.

Friday, May 29th: Unplugged.

So when Jodie first proposed this idea I thought she was crazy. Not that I let Maddy watch TV all day and of course I don't have a business to run or even a job to keep up with but I just didn't think a day unplugged would be as relaxing as she billed it to be. (See link above with her proposal.) And as much as I'd like to say I was wrong... that our day was as relaxing and rejuvenating as Jodie said it would be, it wasn't. I was exhausted (more so than normal) at the end of the day. And let me tell you why...

First thing in the morning I loaded Madeline into the car to meet some friends at the zoo.

Note her oh so happy face, (she is not a morning person, just like her momma!) milk in her left hand and breakfast waffle in her lap. We wasted no time getting out of the house so we could get to the zoo before 9am. (Between 8-9am a lot of the stuff you have to pay for at the zoo is free, ie the conservation carousel, the children's zoo and even the new sting ray exhibit.)

We took our first trip across the Hampton bridge. It was great, except no one in St. Louis seems to know how to use a round about.... this could be interesting.

When we got to the zoo we headed straight for the carousel.

Madeline rode a gorilla, until she decided the bear next to her would be a better choice.


We hung out with the giraffes.


Rode the train (again).


And had a banana (like a monkey) as a snack.


By this time we were pretty beat so we headed home and had lunch out on the deck.


Then I put Madeline down in her bed to take a nap. Until this point I had not missed my technology a bit. I was ok without a TV or computer... but as soon as she went down I panicked... see...


Ok, so I am being really dramatic here. My routine is that I put Madeline down and then I check my e-mails, blogs, etc. So what was I to do with two hours and no computer or Ellen?


Laundry. I didn't do ALL of this laundry during her nap, but I did fold about 1/2 of it... the other 1/2 had been done the night before by my lovely husband whom I adore.

So I tackled the play room.

Before

After

I didn't want to over do the photos, but there is another 1/2 to the playroom to the left of this angle that I also cleaned. Promise.
After Madeline woke up, the thought of letting her trash the room I had just cleaned made my skin curl so I devised a plan to get her out of the house. Our first trip to the POOL!!!!!

Since it is within walking distance (for me AND her!), and the weather was totally gorgeous I thought we'd just head on down.

There were no complaints from little miss either. That is until it was time to leave.

We came home, had a snack on the deck and then:

We weeded one of the gardens! I know, how thrilling! It was somewhat satisfying to be working in the garden. We have a lot of them at this house and I don't really have a green thumb.

After dinner and a visit from Granny and Poppy it was time for a bath and bed. The bath was eventful, but I don't have any photos of that. Let's just say it involved a disgusting deposit of something that shouldn't be found in a bathtub.... you're welcome.

After such a long day I decided to relax with a nice cold beer.

A Fitz's Root Beer of course.


Now let me say that it was a wonderful day. Both Madeline and I had a great time and I couldn't have asked for more fun packed into a day. I think all that fun is why I didn't get the relaxing benefits. If the day had been more low key, then I bet it would have been a lot more like Jodie proposed. Don't get me wrong, the day was not a bust and I would totally do it again, the exact same way! When we do this again, yes I said when, I think I will plan a more low key day.

Planning is the key word. I will plan more simple activities closer to home. Maybe an art project, or a trip to a local park and a picnic. That is for next time.

Thank you Jodie for this great idea! I can't wait to see what everyone else did for their day unplugged!

mg