This thing called a blog...

Funny thing about this blog.  I always assume people don't really read it.  Like it's just a personal diary in which I write things that happen or feelings that I have.  I do know that people do read it, maybe only a select few, but there are readers out there.  But funny things like this happen.  A friend of mine, who frequents the blog, came over to watch my kids for a couple of hours and said, "Now let me see this backyard and all the hard work you've put into it!"  I thought to myself, "I haven't see you in a while and the last time I saw you I KNOW I didn't brag about my backyard or complain about how hard I worked."  I played it off and acted like she knew about it...  But I still started telling her details about my free mulch and making an 'area' for Anna, etc.  She acted like she'd heard these things...  Then it hit me... She reads the blog.  Oh yeah, I'm an idiot.  The conversation with my friend and the thought process that occurred was very short.  I mean, it only probably was about 15 seconds when I finally realized that she always reads my blog and new every detail.  Doh.  I just forget that I have elected to put my life "out there" for everyone to read.

Fingers.

Several months ago, at an ultrasound while I was pregnant with Grey, I heard the technician say something like, "Oh, he has his fingers in his mouth."  I remember thinking to myself, "Just a coincidence.  Or maybe not?  Hopefully not!"  We caught Anna with her fingers in her mouth once during an ultrasound.  So I hoped she wouldn't be a finger sucker.  She turned out to be a plug-lover and all was well when I decided that I needed to take the plug away after she turned one.  Sort of.

A few weeks after Grey was born, I was amazed by how much and how well he slept...even all the way through the night!  Now, my definition of "through the night" is probably different than the norm.  I'm talking "sleeping though the night just as long as I want to sleep or want him to sleep."  When Grey was able to sleep for almost 12 hours straight at night at a month old, I was thinking, "Where did this child come from?! And how did I get so lucky?!"  I remember that it took Anna until she was almost 4 months old to sleep that long...if that.  People, I hardly ever get up during the night. But a while ago, I figured out the reason for his sleeping skills.  He sucks on his two first fingers.  At first I thought it was just him finding his hands or whatever, so I'd plug him and go on.  He'd end up spitting the plug out and getting those fingers back into his mouth.  I've tried and tried to pull his fingers out and stick the plug in, but it always had the same result.  Should I keep trying?  Should I give in and face the fact of many future meltdowns when I try to get him to stop sucking on his fingers?  I suppose taking Anna's plug away had it's time of frustration.  But at least I could take the plug away and out of her sight!  I can't cut off Grey's fingers!  I know there are other options to get him to stop.  We'll see how it all works out...  I haven't gotten a good picture of him sucking on his fingers yet since he looks at me like I'm an alien when I point the camera at him.  I'll try to get one soon. 

The best things in life...

...REALLY ARE FREE!  I've been trying to slowly transform our sad little back yard into something out of a magazine (ha! ..yeah right) for a few months.  It looks like there's only about 2 days work done back there, but when you have a VERY limited budget, things just don't happen as fast.  So we had some pretty dry and dead looking grass to start out with, and with a little water, it's green and has perked up.  There was not a shrub or tree anywhere, just grass growing right up to the foundation of the house.  Well, I take that back.  There WAS a tree back there and when we bought the house in December, there were no leaves on it, we thought because it was, well, December.  So when spring came around, still no leaves.  So we had NO shrubs, lots of poor quality grass, and one very dead tree.  Not really a space Anna was too thrilled about playing in.   Daddy cut the dead tree down and I bought a new one.  Once that is about 1/8th the size of the old one...but a tree no less.  I bought some edging, dug the trench and put that in, got some shrubs last week and planted those.  Then I needed some mulch.  I'm not such a big fan of mulch because it tends to float or blow away...even the expensive stuff doesn't stay where you put it normally.  But I needed some to make things look a little better and to cut down on the water usage.  Since I watch too much TV I saw a commercial once on one of those gardening shows about how they got FREE mulch from their local recycling center.  I called and sure enough, FREE mulch.  I went to see what it looked like and asked the best way to load it up.  I went today and took 7 huge storage bins and one big cardboard box and shoveled until they almost overflowed.  Heck, I'm gonna get lots if it's free!  Why not?  So after shoveling mulch into about the 5th bin, my spine felt like it was about to explode out of my back into several thousand pieces and spew spinal fluid all over my cute green shirt.  But, I kept going, filling up every container I had.  I brought it home (took 3 Advil) and spread it all in my new flowerbeds and then had enough left over for the front.  Do you know how much that would've costed me if I went to buy that stuff?  Man.  Free is nice.

Grab it!

Grey has been working on grabbing things.  He finally got a little control this last week and is able to really do it when he wants to.  

Bribery taken too far.

Me: "Anna will you quit peeling your green beans apart and just eat them?"

Anna: "But I wanna get the widdle green beans out da middle."

Me: (thinking to myself) "It wouldn't take you an HOUR to eat if you'd just EAT!"

Me: "Just finish eating your green beans please."

Anna:  "But what do I get for the green beans?"

Me: "What do you mean?"

Anna: "What do I get for eating da green beans?  Um, I get aaaahhhh... (her eyes looking to the ceiling for an answer) ...a popsicle?"

Me:  "No popsicle.  You just get a nice full tummy for eating your green beans."

Anna:  "Awwh man."

Anna: "But I can get a popsicle after I take a good nap!"

Me: "Maybe...(sigh)."

Seven Inches.

Seven inches isn't that much, but when you're talking about a haircut, you'd think it was a mile!  I was SO sick of my hair feeling and looking like straw that I needed a change.  So I asked my mom, renaissance woman as she is, to cut off my hair yesterday.  SOOO much better.  There was a nice pile of hair on the floor after that cut.  I feel like I've lost some weight!  And since my hair falls out like I'm on chemotherapy after I have a kid, there will be almost half as much to pick up, unwind from Grey's fingers, or pull out while I'm brushing it.  Yay!  It's still fairly long since it was almost to the small of my back.  I don't really know why I let it get so nasty before taking some action.

Why?

Why is it that every time you talk about how good things are, it comes back to bite you?  I was talking about how great my morning was so far, then BAM! ...the day hit.  And what a day it was; Full of needy, non-sleeping kids.  Grey slept for maybe an hour total the entire day...about 10-15 minutes at a time.  He normally sleeps 4-6 hours during the day.  Anna asked a ga-billions questions all day and I finally had to tell her to "turn her voice off".  She knows what that means.  So now everyone's in bed.  We have to get up extra early tomorrow for Grey's 4 month appointment and Anna's school.  We'll all go to the doctor together bright and early.  Wish me luck!

Hail to the Queen.

It's almost 9:00am and my kids are STILL not up.  Yep, both of them.  Grey sleeps like a rock at night.  I've been out of bed for a while now and have been expecting Anna to bounce into the living room, collapse on the couch, ask for some milk, then ask for some "shows".  But nothing so far.  Who died and made me queen this morning?  I should wake up early more often.  

For Deborah.

My generous friend, Deborah, gave me some stuff from her garden when she and her family moved off to Mississippi.  This was one thing she gave me.  A great pot with some really pretty ivy and other surprises growing in it.  I planted a purple fountain grass in it and put it on my front walkway.  It's very happy.  It has taken the ivy a little time to get used to the direct sun though, but still looks great.  Oh, and Happy Birthday Deb! 

Sage

 

 

 

Here are some finished photos from Sage's shoot.  And yes, those are HER eyes.  These aren't my favorites, but they aren't NOT my favorites.  Ha!  A little Homer Simpson for ya.  I touched up a total of 31 photos and I love them all!  Have fun choosing Sage!