check this brain teaser out

Yes it is in Japanese but the point is to remember the numbers and click on the circles in order from least to greatest!! See if you can beat my score of 24!

Brain Teaser

Life

Well things have been so crazy lately. I'm working 35 (give or take) hours a week and some days I don't get off until 6:00pm. So we don't get home on those nights until about 7, which means by the time we have supper and baths it's the kid's bedtime. Which doesn't leave anytime for fun. So I've been trying several different things the last few weeks. One thing I've done is put baby girl to sleep while J plays on the computer or in his room. Once she is asleep he and I have some one on one time-which I have really enjoyed. But my house is a total disaster. I told my husband we need a maid-because every extra minute I have I am cleaning and you can't even tell I've done anything. I just don't see how working moms get it ALL done!

It would be so much better if we lived closer to the area. I actually do get a lunch break and a few days a week I get off at 1 so if we lived closer I could run home and clean while the kids were at school. Oh well, hopefully soon our house will sell!

Shopping Spree!

I love shopping-especially since I have lost 48 pounds this past year-trying to lose 2 more by the 3rd so I can make it an even 50!! Anyway, this week I found some great sun dresses at JC Penney on the clearance rack for $9.99 and one for 14.99!! I was so excited. I figured I could wear them early spring and summer-two are black and white and I have a cute little short sleeve mid crop sweater that I can wear over it-so cute!! Anyway--here are some pictures, they are not good quality but you get the idea.

Biting

Well I read a blog post the other day on biting, the poster's daughter had been bit for the first time at daycare. I sent her a comment about how our son was in daycare a year before he got his first bite at 15 months-on his last day of daycare. And now that they are both in daycare and have been for the last month they haven't had any bites, nor have I heard anything about bitting going on. Well of course wouldn't you know my baby girl got bit THREE TIMES today!! Before the teacher could get to her the other child bit her three times! My poor baby girls arm was so red, luckily it did not break the skin. I know these things happen so I didn't get upset-but my poor baby has bruises on her arm now :(

Hopefully it won't happen again-but like I said these things do happen.

Weekend getaway

My husband and I went on a small weekend getaway last weekend. We stayed in a cabin at one of the state parks. We throughly enjoyed it although it was much too short. We fished and hung out in the cabin most of the time-after a few trips to town for groceries and such. It was great to get away for the weekend and just relax. I'm sure the kids would have loved it-although it would have been tough keeping baby girl away from the edge of the lake. So maybe next time we will take J, but baby girl will have to stay at home until she gets a little older.

Daycare Update!

The kids are doing GREAT!!! J is absolutely loving his new class!! He says the nap is a "little bit" long and not "so so so so so so long" like it was in his previous class. He is doing great with his work-although I wish he would write his own name on his paper. I told him he needed to and he said, "but Mommy, my teacher writes my name on my paper." He is doing well with discipline I think-I just thought to ask about it this week. She has envelopes and they have green, yellow and red papers in them. They start the day off on green if they get in trouble once it goes to yellow and then red-red is BAD!!! J was on yellow one day this week, because he left the room without asking. He was going to the bathroom.

Baby girl is doing well. They told me she wasn't eating her breakfast and I had to confess that I let the kids eat butter cookies on the way to school. So they fuss at me each morning and tell me not to even put her at the table because she won't eat. Well one day this week she did not have cookies on the way to school and still did not eat breakfast. So this morning she had cookies on the way to school!! HAHA. She is doing well taking a nap on her mat! That was a big surprise! I figured it'd take them forever to get her use to laying on the floor on a mat for naptime-but they said she went right to sleep the first day!!

So with the kids doing well mommy is doing well-most of the time. It is such a challenge going from a stay at home mom to a working mom!! On the days I work until 6pm we don't make it home until almost 7pm, then it's dinner and baths and that leaves little to no time for play and relaxing. So I am going to have to work on that. It isn't like I actually "cook" much anymore anyway-I usually just have hot dogs or macaroni and cheese on my late days-but I've got to find more time for play!!

Weight Loss Update

Well things were going well until I started my new job. Kinda hard to stick to Atkins when there is so much yummy candy in my office!! I have gained about 7 pounds in the last two months. My birthday is less than 30 days away and I'd really like to lose another 10 pounds. Of course most of that will be the weight I've gained back in the last 2 months but oh well. I did quit my gym membership-I found one closer to my office that is only $20 a month!! So I do plan on getting by there in the next month and joining it. But in the meantime I hope to get out on the track and do some walking and maybe work up to some running. I'd really like to get back into running-did a lot of running in high school and college and although I was never a fast runner I did enjoy it.

So my goals for the next month: stick to Atkins-which I plan to do until I get to my goal weight. Start walking and work up to a light jog!!! That is about it as far as food and diet go.

Day care update!!

On Monday both the kids moved up a room at daycare. J moved to the "3 year old" room and baby girl moved to toddler 1. J has hated going to school and even made up a song last week on the way to school one morning, "I don't want to go to school ever, ever, never, never. I don't want to go to school, no, no, no, no, no, no". Cute Cute! Well yesterday he started his new class with Mrs. Joyce. We had open house last Thursday night and he was able to meet his new teacher, see his new room, and even play with the toys for a bit. So when he got up MOnday morning he said, "mommy, I go to Mrs. Joyce's class today". He still said several times that he did not want to go to school but he wasn't too whiny about it. Well I saw him several times during the day and we'd wave at each other and I'd give him a kiss from time to time and he seemed to be doing well. Same for baby girl. I saw her a couple of times int he lunch room and she didn't cry or fuss when she saw me-she just kinda looked at me with this blank stare like "who are you and why are you looking at me?".

Anyway, yesterday I had to take baby girl to the doctor for her check up. So after my lunch break I went back to the school to get the kids. Got baby girl first because they were already up from nap and then went by J's room-they were just getting up. I got his stuff together and we began to leave. But in the hallway he said, "mommy, maybe I changed my mind, maybe I want to stay". WOW!!!! From not ever, ever, never, never wanting to go to school to wanting to stay!! What a turn around!! Give that Mrs. Joyce a raise!!! So I left him there while I took baby girl to the doctor.

Then this morning on the way to school he made up another song, "I want to go to school, now, now, now!". And usually in the mornings he closes his eyes as we approach the school and fusses when he first sees the school. But this morning he got excited when he saw the school and even said "yay my school".

Mommy is very happy!!

Me Time

Whenever I happen to get both kids asleep at the same time and/or find myself at home alone (which is extremely rare!!) I often am torn between what to do with that time. Should I clean the house-since it desperately needs to be cleaned. Do I use that time to nap-since I rarely get more than 3 hours of uninterrupted sleep myself. Or do I use that for "me" time-to scrapbook, play on the computer, learn to sew or to attempt to complete other various tasks?? so much to do and so little time!!!!

Baby Girl's First Birthday Party

Everything went great, we had a house full of friends and family. Baby girl had on her new outfit, matching bib and matching birthday hat! Just beautiful!! I wish I knew how to sew so I could make things like this for her to wear!! So beautiful. I had bought fabric to make her a pillow case dress-but at the last minute my sister suggested "Mrs. Joyce" could make her an outfit and a hat to match. Little did I know it was going to be so cute or I would have sent several yards of fabric!! The outfit was monogrammed with her name, the hat and bib were monogramed with her name and/or first birthday!!! So cute...


She loved her cake!! She tore into that thing-unlike her big brother. He cried when everyone started singing happy birthday to him on his first birthday-and would not have anything to do with the cake after that.

She got such nice things for her birthday. I want to thank everyone that was able to come and celebrate with us and help make this special day such a success!

Daycare update

Well after three weeks of coming to daycare-J still complains every morning about having to come to school. Once we arrive at school he doesn't cry anymore-which is so wonderful. When I picked him up one day this week he did tell me he had fun at school, so that was a HUGE improvement!! Baby girl is doing well but she is not eating lunch for some reason. I think it is because she is too busy watching the other babies.

So all in all is is going well. In a week they will both move up to the next class. J will be in 3 year old kindergarten and baby girl will move up to the toddler room which means she will be sleeping on a mat-that will be interesting!!

Daycare Update

Daycare dropoff has not gone too well this week. Although J has not cried when I dropped him off at daycare, he cries from the time he gets up in the morning until we get to school. The beggin, "Mommy don't take me to school" starts when I pick him up in the afternoons and ends when we get to school. It breaks my heart. I'd like to think he has fun once he gets to school, but I haven't really had a chance to watch him at play. When he sees me he starts crying so I have to sneak a peak every now in then but that doesn't really give me much of a chance to observe him. Baby girl is doing well although from time to time she does cry when I drop her off.

vacation

baby girl posing for mommy

J playing at the pool

J fell asleep at dinner one night

Me and Keith at Hammer head's-it was so HOT!!



We got back from Destin, Fl last night about 7pm. We had a great week, it was hot and tiring but we enjoyed it. My entire family came home sick. Keith and the kids have sinus infections, I'm taking the kids to the doctor today. Keith is taking my refill antibiotic from when I had a sinus infection last week (shame shame yes I know). I ended up with a stomach bug which I guess is how I ended up losing four pounds even though I ate a ton of junk and totally disregarded Atkins for over a week.

So I will be back on track-guess oreos for breakfast this morning was not a good start though.

I will get some picturs from vacation up as soon as I get a chance to unpack and get these kiddos well. Mommy is very tired - sick babies can do that to you.

Day four of daycare

Well from the time I picked up J from school yesterday he begged me not to take him back to school again. Said he didn't like school and wanted to stay home. He woke up this morning saying the same thing. We spent about two hours in the doctor's office this morning (for me-that is another story) and I finally had to tell him "We are not talking about it anymore-we are at the doctor's office let's just concentrate on that for now." And he did good the rest of the time and didn't mention it but a few more times. Then we pulled into the daycare parking lot and he wasn't happy. He didn't cry but said over and over he didn't want to go to school. We dropped his sister off first and then J had to go potty. So in the bathroom he teared up a bit and I reminded him he brought his "blue bear" to school with him today and he could hold "blue bear" during nap time. And reminded him we would get ice cream after school. Told him I'd come see him after nap time, told him not to cry because that makes mommy cry too. He choked back his tears really well-he sure wanted to cry though. We walked to his room and his teacher was waiting at the door and walked him to his nap mat. I"ll have to check later to see if he cried after I left. He really hates nap time-I would too it is 2 hours long-he rarely ever takes that long of a nap at home. So getting here right at nap time was not good-but couldn't be helped since we were stuck at the doctor's office for TWO HOURS!!!!

Anyway, only one more day to go and then we will be on vacation for a week...then we get to start ALL OVER again. UGH!!

Is this job really worth it???? hmmm...

Third Day Woes

Well things did not go so well this morning. From the time J woke up this morning he repeatedly said " I don't want to go to school". I tried to convince him he would have fun today because his class was going swimming. Although he hasn't been swimming in two years and doesn't like water in his face I thought the idea might make him feel better about coming to school. It didn't.

So we pull up in the parking lot, J immediately says, "I don't want to go to school, it's not fair!!". I have to make him get out of the car-I won't share the threat I made but it got him moving. We dropped baby girl off first-and she cried. I handled it well-just kept walking. But as soon as I got back in the hallway J was crying-he didnt want to go to school. I walked him to his room and again tried to convince him he'd have fun since they were swimming-but then his teacher explained that since he is not full potty trained he would not be allowed to go swimming in a "swim diaper". Well it didn't bother J too much since he didn't want to be there anyway. So I sat in a chair and put him in my lap-the entire time he is clinging to me for dear life. His teacher eventually had to pry him off of me. I left the room in tears and cried all the way to my office.

Broke my heart!

New Job

Well yesterday I started my new job at the daycare and the kids of course had their first day as well. Of course baby girl cried when I dropped her off and apparently she cried most of the day. They also had a hard time getting her to sleep-so that made her especially cranky on her first day. I went to check on little man after nap time-as soon as he saw me he teared up. Which of course broke my heart. We chatted for a few minutes and then I told him I needed to get back to work and he said "But mommy you already went to work". I was later told he cried a few other times and said he missed me. So the first day did not go well. My son has been at home with me the last two years and my baby has never been in daycare so I know it is going to be an adjustment for all of us, I just have to give it some time.

When we were headed home from daycare J and I had a cute conversation:
J: Mommy my teacher had a blue shirt on
ME: she did?
J: Yes but she didn't teach me anything
ME: she didn't??
J: No. But maybe tomorrow she will teach me how to do a cartwheel

Too cute!!!!

Late weigh in post

Well I did weigh in on Monday. Happy to report a negative one pound. Yes normally I would not be so happy about a one pound loss, but considering I have neglected my Atkins diet tremendously over the last 8-10 days I am ecstatic to have a loss and not a gain. I have got to buckle down though, only two more weeks until vacation. I would love to lose ten more pounds-but at this rate I don't think it'll happen. I made the mistake of going to the grocery store hungry the other day-bought Little Debbie brownies...shame shame.

Oops, that teething baby is crying...gotta run!

Second tooth-already

Well Sunday I noticed baby girl is getting another tooth-just two days after noticing her first tooth. It is also her top tooth so this explains why she has been sticking her tongue out a lot lately-guess feeling those teeth with her tongue. Also explains the many sleepless nights. Don't get me wrong my babies never sleep well but at least she has been sleeping until midnight or a bit later. The last week she has been waking up 4-5 times BEFORE midnight. Makes for some rough days and nights around here for mommy.

I've got plenty of Tylenol and Orajel on hand so hopefully that will get us through the next few weeks. I'm sure there are more to come though.

First tooth

Well while we were getting J's hair cut today I was tickling baby girl in my lap and noticed her first tooth barely peeking through her gums!! It is the top right tooth! I'll have to look back at J's baby book-I think that was his first to come through too. This explains why she was up five times last night before midnight!! So she will be getting a good dose of Tylenol for the next few nights and some night time oral gel!! She fights and squirms everytime I try to get a peek at the took so I doubt there will be any photos of it anytime soon.

Big boy haircut

Well after a weekend full of strangers asking if my beautiful son was a "boy or a girl" I decided it was time to get his hair cut. I still could not part with his long hair so I told her to keep it a little long but to give it a good trim and "lighten" it up a bit. Well I'm not happy with it. The bangs are way to short for my taste and I never really care for that "freshly cut" look on little boys bangs anyway. So for a few weeks I'll have to slick them to the side to avoid that fresh cut look. So here are some pictures of the before and after..
BEFORE



AFTER