Wheew, My Sister's Keeper!

Okay, last blog of the day. I haven't posted in weeks so I had a lot to say. My Sisters Keeper...seriously broke my heart!

Crazy ending and probably not the most uplifting book for a women with two wee daughters, 2 years and 8 months, but I loved it. It was so beautiful and painful at the same time and I had a very hard time pulling myself away from my baby girls cribs after I finished reading. I just watched them sleep forever.

Great read!

Blink and You'll Miss It!

So, Addison has been two for an entire month, Baylor Jane is pulling up and looking way more interested in walking than crawling and I am feeling my life as a mother speed past me in one huge breeze. It is TOO FAST and I don't know how to slow things down.

Believe me, I work very hard to save every moment. Its the little things like Addison squealing at her new booster seat "ohh, I love it...it is so comfortable! Adorable mommy, it is simply adorable!" What two year old says that?

Probably most, but to me it seems like mine is too grown up. Baylor Jane kills me too. She is more than likely my last baby and I am not encouraging any need to grown up. She wants more solid food and keeps stealing Addison's sippy cup. Why!

My real question is "If I am having such a hard time now, what the hell will I do when Baylor Jane is a high school senior and Addison is a college freshman". Please lord grant me the strength to endure what will probably end up with a Very Brady double wedding.

I thought the midnight feedings were tough.

Photos Galore!

A wonderful friend from back in the day just took the most amazing photos of my family. I am so proud of Ry, the bird and the bear! I just love sharing these awesome shots and I HIGHLY recommed Nicole Stover Photography to all families. She was a blast and did such an outstanding job! Thanks Nicole!

My Sisters Keeper Update

This book is breaking my heart and I am now back to my rountine chest check. I go into the girls room every night and put my hand on their chests. I just feel better knowing they are breathing and they are so stinking perfect when they sleep. I am very blessed and I thank God every day for our beautiful gifts.

I am certainly getting gut checks from this novel and I keep sobbing while reading it. I hope I finish soon, I'm not sure I can handle the emotional exhaustion. I only get pockets of time at night to read and I am already worn out. My husband thinks I am crazy!

My Sisters Keeper

I started reading My Sisters Keeper. I've wanted to read it for a very long time and I finally started it. I'm pretty sure I am my own worst enemy because I am three chapters in and I am already crying. Not so smart to read a book with a narrative p.o.v.'s that is a mother at the point in her life when she discovers her 2 year old has cancer. Downer.

I really think it is well written so far, I'm just bummed.

Getting to Know Me...

I snagged this from TurtleParade. Thought it was fun and I don't feel like grading..Enjoy.

1. Who was your first prom date? Jeff K. His mom arranged flowers so my corsage was beautiful (all full size red roses). He borrowed his brothers sports car so it would match my dress and he was super sweet. He is married and has three adorable girls. I saw them at Meijer last year and he is still such a good ole' nice guy. Great daddy too.
2. Do you still talk to your first love? Yes, he just flipped from The Office to ESPN and I yelled him to turn it back.
3. What was your first alcoholic drink? Screwdriver at my friend Shannons house New Years Eve 1995. Her older brothers friends told me I would lose all of my awards and I would loose my position as class president because I was drinking. I remember crying and then having to get up and go to basketball practice. TurtleParades dad was one of my coaches and he looked as pissed to be at practice on New Years day as I was.
4. What was your first job? babysitting, then The Soda Fountain
5. What was your first car? 1985 Chevey Nova...fondly refferred to by all four teen drivers in my family as the SuperNova (I also called her my little avon lady).
6. Who was the first person to text you today? No texts right now....long story but phones are shut off. Im going insane!
7. Who was the first person you thought of this morning? First People...my Addison and Baylor Jane.
8. Who was your first grade teacher? Ms. Spittler
9. Where did you go on your first flight in a plane? Florida, I was 24. Is that lame or what?
10. Who was your first best friend and do you still talk? Shannon, not too often. Mostly on Facebook. Grew apart after high school.
11. Where was your first sleepover? I think my old and dear friend Hollies, I think.
12. Who was the first person you talked to today? My husband...and he is a grumpalumpagus in the mornings...geesh.
13. Whose wedding were you in for the first time? Hollie's
14. What was the first thing you did this morning? I ate a bowl of Cheerios
15. What was the first concert you went to? The Monkee's reunion tour. I was around 6
16. First tattoo? A strawberry on my back above my right hip. My grandpa always called me his strawberry shortcake. It was for him. I also have a Celtic trinity knot for my other grandpa. I want to get another Celtic knot on my wrist. My sisters and I have trinity knot necklaces our mom got us and my sister Amanda already has her wrist tattooed with it. AJ and I are next...
17. First piercing? ears, I was about a year...I think?
18. First foreign country you went to? Canada and that is it. I need to travel more.
19. First movie you remember seeing? The Dark Crystal
20. What state (province) did you first live in? Ohio
21. Who was your first room mate? Not counting my sister Amanda, Emily at BGSU
22. When was your first detention? I never had one, pretty lucky.
23. When was your first kiss? 7th grade, it was weird and I didn't really kiss anyone again for a few more years. I hope my girls are as prude as I was in high school and I pray that they aren't as wild as I was in college. Maybe it was all the high school suppression?
24. What is one thing you would learn, given the chance? How to dance, I am not graceful at all and I wish I could carry myself with the strength and grace of a dancer. Plus, it just seems like a great way to stay in shape.
25. Who will be the next person to post this? Not sure, I don't really think anyone reads my blog...if anyone ever does thanks!

two-two

when my little my brother was young he called his pacifier his "two-two". He always had one in his mouth and one in his hand, thus "two-two" was born. For some reason my parents were "two-two "pushers and Addison has been hooked since about 13 months. She is hooked something fierce and she learned to call it her two-two ( we call it dos -dos for code sometimes...it makes up feel sneaky and international)

Addison is very big for her age and looks a bit older than almost two (Halloween birthday...I don't want her to grow up!) and it really bothers me that she needs her pacifier as much as she does. She freaks for it and gets very upset when she can not have one. We really want her to quit.

Well we decided to try taking it away yesterday. UGGG, it was like a crack addict coming down cold turkey. She was up every 2 hours screaming, punching, kicking and squealing for her two-two. She was pretty cranky all day today (as were we) and we are trying it again tonight. I have a gut feeling this night will be worse, I think we might just have to give in and let her decided when she is done using a "baby" toy.

I really DO NOT like the terrible twos...I'm pretty sure I might have a mental breakdown!

Changes...

So, lost of stuff has been going down the last few months in our house and we are going through a ton of changes starting soon. When I look at where my life was 3 years ago, how simple and free, I can't believe it. I wouldn't change it for the world, but its just a much different life. I also realized that when Addison was 7 months I got pregnant with Baylor, Baylor is 7 months in three weeks...not gonna happen!

I guess when I think about the speed of life it just gets faster and faster the older you get. I hold my Baylor Jane close and I think that Addison was this size a little over a year ago (well not really this size...a smaller version). They grow so fast and I just hurt to think about blinking and missing something.That is quite possible because Addison is very ,very fast!

I'm not sure I have a point to this post, but I desperately wish I could hold on to the moments with my girls just long enough to remember them. Boo and yay life all at the same time!

Crawling...

We have "up on our knees" and "moving back and forth" for Baylor Jane. We also have rolling EVERYWHERE. I am fearful...this meant crawling was a couple of weeks away for Addison. I am not really sure I am ready for two mobile little ones in my house. The plus side is I may actually get rid of this stupid baby weight... or have a mental breakdown.

PS
Addison continues to say "are you kidding me?" when we ask her to do things she is not excited to do. Almost 2 or almost 13? Seriously!

Updates...

Addison 22 months, Baylor 6 months.

Addison-Time -out is working, sort of. There is a dire need to discipline her because she might break her neck. She may also be preparing for a career in the circus..."Ta da" and "look at me" come out of her mouth a bit more than I can handle.

Baylor-sits up unassisted and says da da in a very deep and raspy voice. I am afraid I may be raising Kathleen Turner or a very pretty/tiny 65 year old man. I am also very aware that she is more than certainly my last baby and these are the last days I will be cuddling a chubby little bear. I am also not sure what I will do when I have Addison running crazy and Baylor crawling. I am struggling with getting rid of the baby weight...this might be the answer. I barely sit down now...all hell is going to break loose in a few months.

I feel like I am going to wake up and I'll be watching them walk down the aisle...not ready for that at all.

That's A LOTTO Cash...

I faithfuly check PostSecret every Sunday night. I'm an addict.

This weeks posts made me think of the list R and I made a few years ago for "when" we win the lotto. Its pretty detailed.

We have it all planned out. We would not tell and play it off like we got an inheritance or won a small amount and then did a lot of good investing. Of course we would share with our families, but pretty much we wouldn't do much but pay off debt, up grade our cars take the honeymoon we never had and build a house in a neighborhood that is super nice; but not too fancy. What I find funny about all of our dreams and our little list...we really never buy tickets. We have played the lotto three times in the last three years.

It's just fun to dream I guess.

I just wonder, what would you do with the money if you won the Mega Millions?

18 or 8?

An 18 year old boy in my 3rd block stood up today in the middle of a power point, took off his shirt, danced a bit, twirled his shirt in the air and then quietly sat back down and put his shirt on. Two things happened:

1. he simply smiled and said he never turns down a dare
2. I wasn't mad or shocked...that is the 2nd time a student has done that in my class.

I'm a little concerned about the second one.

My Brother Cracks Me Up!

My brother has a job in advertising/media design where he works crazy long hours sometimes and apparently has a bit of down time too. He creates hilarious profile pictures for Facebook and has become a photoshop jedi knight. Often they are of my daughters, but this is probably my favorite.

Seriously, Senior boys?

First day of school, this semester I'm teaching Honors English 11 and Composition and Literature of Sports; both upper level courses. I like my students so far and I have a lot of my old students. One "fantastic" student in particular, Cory, amuses me daily. Today he did not let me down.

I was finishing an apple after lunch and as Cory walked into the room I threw my apple core into the garbage. Cory ran across the room, screamed "No!...why would you throw that away!" He then pulled the core out, ate it all and then smiled with pride.

Apparently the weirdo loves to eat apple cores.

I'm not sure which disturbed me more:
1. He ate an apple core
2. He ate an apple core pulled from the garbage
3. He ate and apple cores pulled from the garbage after it had been eaten by me.
4. I laughed and I wasn't really shocked.

Banal was one of our vocab words this week...that got giggles every block too. God, I love high school!

Why Blog...

After posting my blog URL as my Facebook status my little brother politely replied with "tell you what. Ill read your blogs if I can send you zip locked bags of my farts in the mail and you open then up and inhale. Deal?". My brother is pretty funny and likes to mess with me, yet it sort of bothered me.

He's a turd.

So Simple, So Sweet

I wish I could still get this excited about things. Addison is watching the giraffe walk across the park at the zoo, simply walking. She equally enjoys the hippo when it poops. She mentions it often at home.

The sounds she makes and her giggle make it even better. These two little girls are what make me get out of bed in the morning, I'm pretty sure they are what make me feel like I'm taking crazy pills too:)

"The Road" Less Traveled

So, school starts in a few days and I have to hustle and catch up on my summer reading. I desperately need to re-read a few things for my honors kids summer reading. I am re-reading Cormac McCarthy's The Road...it definitely changes when you re-read it. I think I like it even more the 2nd time around. It's a great one and the film version looks pretty promising.

I also needed to skim through Jeanette Walls The Glass Castle...that turned into a full re-read too. It has to be one of my favorite books. I don't usually have enough time to read for school and pleasure and it is pretty nice when my reading load becomes a "kill two birds" situation.

Worlds Strongest Baby

My crafty brother snuck a few pictures of Baylor Jane in her diaper; with a little free time the funniest picture was created. Too cute.

My "Little" Girl?

Baylor Jane is 20 lbs and five months this week! I love fat babies and my two daughters did not let me down. She is so fun to cuddle and kiss and I just want to eat up her cheeks.

This is my favorite picture of the week (2nd baby and I still take them like crazy...I've heard you take less of the 2nd child than the first born, not buying it)

God I Love The Bear.

5 Random Things...

I'm a copycat for sure, but this just seemed too fun.

1. When I was nine my dad won a contest on the radio that allowed me to be a clown in the Ringling Brothers Circus at the Toledo Sports Arena. It was petrifying. I was a "Mexican Clown" in a horribly racist sombrero and maracas and we were supposed to run around shoot guns in the air. Horrible.

2. My husband and I watched 2 seasons of 24 in 2 days. It was over Christmas break and we kept trying to stop, but we were so hooked.

3. My junior year of college I went on a blind date with a guy from NYC who bragged that he once went on a date with Natalie Portman. He told me the details about his entire date, it had not gone as well as he had planned. He also happened to be easily 6 inches shorter than me. At the end of the date he tried to kiss me and insisted that he could be Tom Cruise and I would be his Nicole Kidman. Never the less, I did not answer his call for a second date.

4. I absolutely LOVE the grilled cheese sandwiches at Toledo Hospital. I ate at least one a day each time I had a baby. My husband had to go to the hospital with chest pains and while we waited hours for his test results I ran over to the cafeteria. (He was fine, I'm not a horrible wife) They are just so good.

5. I am beginning to like the Disney Channel more than any other channel. I find myself watching it when there are no children in sight. Its pathetic I know, but it grows on you. I never dreamed I would laugh at Hanna Montana...pathetic.