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October 31, 2005

Enjoying what might be the last nice day of the year

Posted by me at 10:07 PM | Comments (0)

October 29, 2005

These Little People went to market...

Posted by me at 9:54 PM | Comments (0)

Is there such a thing as G-rated S&M?

Domestic bliss looks like this: Me, on my knees and elbows on the floor, holding Katie on her feet in front of me while she pulls my hair out of it's ponytail. Jamie climbs up on my back and starts riding me like a pony. Jamie blows raspberries at Katie, Katie giggles and yanks out more hair.

It was like a picture of bliss.

Posted by me at 4:17 PM | Comments (0)

You can tell she's the second kid by the toys she gets

My kids were born backwards.

I don't mean breech, although Jamie wanted to give that a try. I mean the kid who put nothing in her mouth as a baby and toddler should have been born second, so when the older kid was playing with choking hazards I wouldn't have to pay much attention. I couldn't get Jamie to put teething equipment in her mouth so she could soothe herself. She wouldn't even feed herself food until she was almost a year old, and I tried everything, including Twizzlers!

Katie, on the other hand, will put anything in her mouth. She'd teeth on a frozen flagpole if we had one. She's already put food into her own mouth, and I think has figured out how to repeat that purposefully.

I have two problems with this. First, it's icky. I don't want her putting dirty stuff in her mouth, and I don't want her slobbering and spitting up all over everything. Toys that made it through Jamie's babyhood in mint condition have become repulsively smeared with curds and whey. Second, I've become very lax in what I let Jamie play with. She has a huge change collection. I recklessly buy toys rated for kids over 3, if I think she can grasp their concepts and it's a safety rating thing. Jamie's pretty good at cleaning up her crap, but she's not paranoid about all the little pieces that Katie wants to shove into her gaping craw.

On top of the small pieces issue, I've become generally more lax about parenting, thank god. I was a little over the top as a first-time mom (is this news to anyone?) My toy selection rules have been reduced to: if it occupies her, isn't likely to cause her to bleed, and is either edible or would be difficult to swallow whole, she can have it.

Yesterday's list alone contained:

• A Nestle Chocolate Chip Bag. The giant Sam's size bag. I did zip it shut so she couldn't pull it over her head.


• The wisk attachment to the KitchenAid.


• A sheet of twist ties. These went straight into her mouth.


• A truck from my dad's childhood. Sharp metal edges, pinch factors, loose pieces and all metal construction. I'm not even sure it's safe for my husband, much less my babies.


• Poker chips.

It'll be a miracle if she makes it to 10.

Posted by me at 10:12 AM | Comments (0)

October 28, 2005

I'm like a housewife in the 50's

I'm going to a Tupperware Party tonight! I'm excited, not because I need more food storage options, (Or more of anything, at this point. I haven't seen half my stuff in long enough to think that maybe I should donate it all and start over wherever we end up!) but because this will be a night out with other women, no kids, and possibly wine. Please, let there be wine! Or beer. Or anything except tequila and whiskey.

I'm not really much of a drinker, although every now and then I like to get a bit liquored up. I rarely feel the urge to have a drink just for the heck of it, although I must admit I've wanted a beer enough in the last couple months that I've considered drinking the sad, old Coors Light that's been cluttering the fridge since before we moved up here. I miss my monthly Drunko group in Texas, though, since that was always a good excuse to have a couple beers, smoke a bit and try to talk about something other than our husbands and kids. I haven't had a drink since before we moved up here.

I sure hope I don't have one drink and fall asleep.

Posted by me at 4:48 PM | Comments (0)

It's a good thing she's cute...

Katie barfed on my mouth today. My lightning reflexes saved me from a mouth full of apple, kiwi and mango, which is a good thing, 'cause I don't like mango.

Posted by me at 3:21 PM | Comments (0)

October 27, 2005

Tidbits

As we were leaving our Mom's Club meeting today, Jamie asked where we were going next. I told her home, and she said, "That's not feasibile!"

Posted by me at 2:53 PM | Comments (0)

Ice, ice baby

This is actually from this morning when we left the house about 9:30.

Posted by me at 2:49 PM | Comments (0)

October 26, 2005

The not knowing is what kills me

Rex has gone ahead and asked his company what our options are as far as relocating back to Texas. We've given them a list of our "demands" - Houston is our first choice, then Austin (a long shot), then Dallas, we'd like to go ASAP, but it doesn't have to be this week, and that we still need to sell our damn house if we don't go back to Houston. Rex told them he needed at least a yes or no by November 1, even if they didn't have all the details worked out.

Rex thought they might get back to him sooner. Why he told me that when he knows I get all excited about "maybe" and "could be" is beyond me. I've been dying for news since he had that meeting, and we have yet to hear anything. I'm at the I have enough diapers for a month, but they're on sale, do I buy more phase, and I hate being in limbo. I almost think I would rather hear a no than not know one way or the other.

Scratch that. It's cold outside. I'd rather have some hope.

Posted by me at 9:30 PM | Comments (0)

What the HELL is this thing?

Posted by me at 9:27 PM | Comments (0)

October 25, 2005

Much like the ostrich, the wild child buries her head when angered

Posted by me at 9:34 PM | Comments (0)

Maybe tomorrow she'll sing about the spleen

While I was making dinner tonight, Jamie was running around the table singsonging "Large intestine, large intestine!" over and over.

I imagine she learned the words from her book about farts (I'm not sure you should even ask), but she hasn't read that book in a couple days. I don't remember a single instance of me discussing any organs with her, gastrointestinal or otherwise.

I really can't begin to understand the workings of her mind, especially since my brain is currently non-functional.

Posted by me at 9:15 PM | Comments (0)

October 24, 2005

Some days I miss it more than others

Posted by me at 9:19 PM | Comments (0)

October 23, 2005

Just sit right back and you'll here a tale..

Rex has always had trouble remembering the words to typical kids songs. When Jamie was a baby, he sang Christmas carols to her in the middle of the night to soothe her back to sleep. He came up with the oddest things for "Hush little baby...", although he could keep that song going forever. I think he might have branched into TV theme songs.

Katie prefers that he hum the theme to Star Wars.

Lately, he's brought back a couple of old favorites, namely Gilligan's Island and TheBrady Bunch. Katie's still not buying it, but Jamie is in love. She particularly loves the version of The Brady Bunch that's about her and Katie.

Tonight, before bed, She started singing Gilligan's Island all by herself. She started in the middle, but from there to the end she was dead on, except for the "Professorman Maryann, here on Gilligan's Isle!"

Posted by me at 9:59 PM | Comments (0)

These people never feed me!

Posted by me at 9:37 PM | Comments (0)

October 22, 2005

What can I say? We have a thing for the fez around here

The top one is Jamie, the bottom is Katie. They're on either side of 5 months.

Posted by me at 8:57 PM | Comments (0)

October 21, 2005

She doesn't just love me, she *really* loves me!

Jamie will easily tell me that she loves me, if I ask. I don't have to tell her what to say, I just have to ask her to "Tell me." She almost never offers those loving words to me, and sometimes it stings a bit when she offers those words to her dad without prompting, although I know she loves me.

But today. Today she offered those words without a request. And she did one better, adding a word to the phrase that I've never used with her. Today, she climbed up on the couch, scooched right up beside me, looked up and said, "I really love you."

Posted by me at 8:28 PM | Comments (0)

I can hear Mr. Salt singing, "You're a big kid now" in my head

Posted by me at 8:26 PM | Comments (0)

October 20, 2005

Taking names and kicking ass

Posted by me at 9:26 PM | Comments (0)

This post is all about poop

There are a few things about parenting that are truly disgusting. Booger picking, diapers, potty training, drool and puke, to name a few. A lot of them become so commonplace that you forget how gross they really are. Diapers are no big deal after a while. Booger removal beomes an art form. Even sitting on the floor next to the toilet wiping my child's ass is losing it's nasty factor.

Up until this point, I think the worst thing I've had to deal with was pulling a turd that was stuck half up Jamie's ass out for her. I grasped it with a wipe, but it wasn't enough to keep from feeling it's shape and texture. I imagine you get the point.

The other day, I found a hair in Katie's diaper. This in itself isn't unusual, since we have 3 cats and their damn fur gets into everything. But this hair wouldn't wipe off. I grasped it, along with the slimey poop that was coating it, with a wipe. It didn't pull off. I tugged. It tugged back. This hair was stuck inside. I finally got a good grasp on the offending hiney hair and started drawing it out. This wasn't a cat hair. It was a long, curly, shoulder length refugee from MY head.

I'm still skeeved out just thinking of it.

Posted by me at 9:11 PM | Comments (0)

October 18, 2005

Hay is for horses

When my Dad and Jamie go out on their morning excursions, they often go visit the horses. Sometimes they have something to feed them, or they just go to say hi.

The horses are in two pastures. The fat, gain-weight-breathing horses are in a acrappy pasture, trying to lose weight and failing miserably. The old, skinny horses are in the better pasture, and they're gaining weight, but not quite fast enough. My dad stuck a trash can of feed and two pans out in their pasture, so we can feed them up a little for winter. Thhey set this up over a weekend, and he let me know that it was out there so we could help out and have something nice to do outside. He told me all I have to do is open the fence, and Jamie takes care of the rest.

It's the cutest thing. I open the fence. Jamie walks into the pasture, checks each of the pans and dumps the water out if necessary. Then she walks over to me at the trash can, and I hand her a scoop of feed. She loads one pan up, and comes back for the second scoop. After she brings the scoop back to me, she starts calling for the horses.

It's neat to see her doing these little chores. She enjoys doing it, and she's so confident and grown up. I don't really know how to describe it.

She laid down on top of me today, and I marveled again that I grew this *person* in my own body.

Posted by me at 9:38 PM | Comments (0)

I must have had an affair with Gene Simmons

Posted by me at 9:23 PM | Comments (0)

October 17, 2005

I'm in trouble

While we were standing in front of shelves of Tide at Target Jamie said "cold water." It took me just a minute to notice that she was standing in front of the bottles of Tide for cold water.

Can she read, or does she just watch too much tv? Either way, I'm fucked!

Posted by me at 9:40 PM | Comments (0)

All we are saying, is give peas a chance

Posted by me at 9:36 PM | Comments (0)

October 16, 2005

Who's crying now?

Rex made the mistake of commenting that we were having a nice, peaceful evening. Both kids were down without a fight, we have nothing to do but jack off until Desperate Houswives comes on, and no crisis to avert. Less than a minute later, Katie started crying.

We've started letting her cry it out when she wakes up after we've put her to bed. Often, we let her cry to fall asleep at night, and even for naps when I can't get her to fall asleep any other way, and she's obviously cranky and needs something I can't seem to give her.

It breaks my heart every time.

I can't stand to hear my babies cry. Now that Jamie is older and can make some choices about what to cry about, I don't mind her crying so much. It's more annoying than anything. But when she was a baby, it used to tear me up. I'm only slightly better with Katie. I can let Katie cry for a couple minutes while I go to the bathroom, or to keep from burning dinner, although I don't like doing it. I understand that it won't hurt her. But at night, or for naps, I *can* fix it. I often don't have anything that's really more pressing. It's very hard to let the logical part of my mind that says she needs to learn to soothe herself and fall asleep on her own to overrule my heart.

Posted by me at 8:15 PM | Comments (0)

We had one nice day...

Posted by me at 8:13 PM | Comments (0)

October 14, 2005

Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny!

Posted by me at 9:30 PM | Comments (0)

Teeny, tiny nipples

Tonight Jamie decorated her shirt at dinner. In an effort to keep her from smearing taco juice across the rest of the house, I took her shirt off, and left her topless since PJ time was a mere 30 minutes away.

As I stood in the bathroom flossing for my adoring audience, Jamie started plucking at her nipple and repeating, over and over, "I have a teeny, tiny nipple."

Posted by me at 9:15 PM | Comments (0)

October 13, 2005

Frozen Twinkies are more filling

I read something a while back that said stress makes women eat foods like chocolate and comfort junk. I can't remember much more than that, but that was the gist.

I noticed in the weeks after I read it that every time I put Jamie down for a nap after a stressful morning, I walked straight towards the junk food stores. Ice cream, M&M's, chocolate milk, whatever I could find.

Tonight, the calming crap of choice was M&M's. After listening to the demons of hell releasing themselves from my daughter through her vocal cords, I needed a little endorphin releasing chocolate wrapped in a candy shell.

Posted by me at 9:39 PM | Comments (0)

Boob Juice

Posted by me at 9:24 PM | Comments (0)

October 12, 2005

I haven't seen the sun in days...

and it just reminds me of what's coming.

Posted by me at 9:56 PM | Comments (0)

October 11, 2005

Living in the moment

I caught a glimpse of what motherhood should be about tonight. I was putting my older daughter to bed, and for a couple minutes, a couple precious minutes, I was in the moment. We were laughing and singing and kissing, and I wasn't worrying about the things I had to do when I left her room, or hurrying so I wouldn't miss something on TV, or rushing because my younger baby was screaming in the other room.

I need to get back to those couple minutes. There's no reason for me to always be trying to get to the next moment, as though the current one isn't good enough.

Posted by me at 8:44 PM | Comments (0)

Monkey Love

Posted by me at 8:43 PM | Comments (0)

October 10, 2005

She can sit!

Posted by me at 8:45 PM | Comments (0)

October 9, 2005

M&M Overload

Rex and I actually got to go on a date last night. Sure, we split a quick meal at Chick-fil-A and then ran off to the theater, but it was a meal and movie without kids nonetheless.

The movie was $9.25 each. EACH. Apparently, it's been a while since we've been to the movies, cause that was significantly more than we remembered from our last "date" before Katie was born. Video on Demand is almost reason enough to move back to Texas, at least you only have to pay once for each movie. I HATE paying more for the snacks at the theater, and ever since I was a kid, my family has been sneaking in large bags of candy from a nearby drugstore. It's been a problem for me in recent years, since I don't carry the giant duffel of a purse that my mother always did. Now that I've finally caved in and started lugging a diaper bag, I can carry in my giant bag of M&M's and even a drink!

Unfortunately, I should never be left in a room with a giant bag of M&M's. I can't stop eating them, even when I'm full. I ate so many, I was pretty sure I wouldn't want any more for days, if not longer. My tongue was sensitive from rolling them around in my mouth. I'm surprised I'm not producing chocolate milk.

And today, I made it until this afternoon before I started hunting down the rest of last night's stash.

My name is Becky, and I have a problem.

Posted by me at 10:24 PM | Comments (0)

It's all a blur...

Posted by me at 9:36 PM | Comments (0)

October 7, 2005

In honor of dooce

Jamie was around nine and a half months when I took this. Emptying the feminine items out of this cabinet became a daily ritual while I took mt shower. Hey, it kept her busy!

Posted by me at 9:26 AM | Comments (0)

October 6, 2005

A warm snow

We were walking around near a construction site today, and little styrofoam pellets were falling from the sky. It really looked like a light snow. The pellets were even landing on the cars and street and "sticking".

It won't be so pretty when I'm trying to clean the little bits of styrofoam out of the carseat, stroller our clothes...

One poor worker was tasked with cleaning the styrofoam up off the street. Even though it was still falling from the sky, that guy with a shop-vac was dutifully sucking up little drifts along the curbs.

As we were walking along in this little winter wonderland, wearing t-shirts and jeans, I remembered this morning's news. Fifteen inches of snow in Utah! Blizzard conditions!

I'll take styrofoam any day.

Posted by me at 7:58 PM | Comments (0)

Are you lookin' at me?

Posted by me at 7:55 PM | Comments (0)

October 5, 2005

Cat Cross Stitch

Posted by me at 9:38 PM | Comments (0)

Tidbits

Why is it in every picture I see of Tom Cruise kissing Katie Holmes, Katie is at a 45 degree angle? Is Tom trying to show that he's buff enough to hold her up, or is he just trying to get her lips down to his level?

Posted by me at 9:20 PM | Comments (0)

October 4, 2005

Today...

really wasn't such a bad day. But somehow by the end of it, it feels like I've been put through the wringer.

Lately, it seems like every day has been one of those days.

Posted by me at 8:04 PM | Comments (0)

Still life is so much more peaceful than real life

Posted by me at 8:03 PM | Comments (0)

October 3, 2005

Voyeur Mommy

I bought one of these

yesterday. Well, one just like it, anyway. I saw them at Sam's a while back, and almost bought it then, so we could see what it is that Jamie does at night that makes so much noise. And so I could see when she was jumping off her bed at naptime :)

I hooked it up last night, and then Rex and I couldn't get to the tv fast enough to see what she was doing. For about 30 minutes, we sat and watched our daughter mostly stare at the camera, until it appeared she had fallen asleep.

And this is what we call an evening of fun in the Spell household.

Posted by me at 9:14 PM | Comments (0)

Peek-A-Bug!

Posted by me at 8:59 PM | Comments (0)

October 2, 2005

A moment in the sun

Posted by me at 8:59 PM | Comments (0)

Flowers for Mama

Whenever my father gets up with my daughter, they go out and do "chores" in the morning. I put chores in quotes, because Jamie's just having fun while my dad gets things done and teaches her about nature. They've planted a garden or two, lots of flowers, pick deadheads (one of Jamie's favorites) or check on the horses. I love that Jamie learns about growing things and such, and my dad loves getting to spend time with his grandaughter when she's at her best.

Every time they come in the house, Jamie brings me something. A leaf, a flower, or even a blade of grass. My dad teaches her the name of the plant, if he knows it, and she teaches it to me. It's cute, although I'm never sure how long I have to keep a dead leaf so as not to offend her :)

Even better than getting to learn the names of all these plants was learning that picking something for Mama is all Jamie's idea. Aparently, every time they go out, she asks to pick something for me. As tough as she can be to live with day to day, it's very uplifting to know that she thinks about me in a nice way when I'm not around.

Posted by me at 8:50 PM | Comments (0)

October 1, 2005

I love me some Sonic

As if the shakes and the burgers and the ohmygodBLT's aren't enough, you sit in your car, order and eat. This is the first one I've seen where you can sit inside, and you still get to order on a little phone at your table, and the carhops bring your food to you.

Posted by me at 10:20 PM | Comments (0)