I did some new scrapbook pages. I'm working on more. Just got overwhelmed with pictures.
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I did some new scrapbook pages. I'm working on more. Just got overwhelmed with pictures.
Hey, you! Yeah, the one driving down Rutledge yesterday at 4:00. You're a dumbass. I'm betting that the little-bitty-cardboard-box-which-was-obviously-empty-since-it-was-blowing-across-the-road-with-the-wind would do a lot less damage to your car than a head-on collision with my Durango. Stay in your lane!
Sincerely,
Just to clarify, Ally waking up the other night was an aberration. She has finally been sleeping through the night pretty regularly. Every once in a while she wakes up, but she usually has a reason. A week or two after Christmas we had a hell of a time getting her to actually go to sleep. She'd be up playing in her bed for hours after we read her stories. I think it was just all the change in schedule and excitement though, because it seems to be settling back to normal now. (Except naps. We'll see if that improves this weekend. She stayed awake through her naps last weekend. They just ended up being quiet time)
Anya, on the other hand, is a butt about sleeping. She was such a good sleeper as a baby. But as soon as she got mobile, she got over it. Her normal routine is to go to sleep around 7. She wakes up around 10:30 or so and again around 2-3. I used to nurse her back to sleep, but I was going insane. Soetimes she woke more often. Sleep-deprived Katie is not a fun person. I tried everything, and am currently working on a new plan. I think it's improving. I comfort her in her crib and only in her crib. She yells, I go in and she's standing at the rails waiting for me. She leans her head against me and after she has calmed a little, I lay her down and pat her back / sing to her / hold her hand / let her pull my hair / whatever works. Except picking her up. If she doesn't lay down, I start over. Monday night I thought we were doing great. She's started to make the connection. She was leaning against me and bent her knees to lay down before I even moved. I think the screaming fit she had while I was gone at dance the other night disrupted her. Anyway, last night at 10:40 she laid back down without a fight at all and was asleep almost instantly. I wasn't even out of bed for 2 minutes. At 3:10 she lay back down pretty fast and I left to pee and came back to checck on her. She was restless, so I patted her back a while. It took about a half hour for her to go back to sleep. Yes, it's still not great, but it's a BIG improvement. Then she woke up at 4:45 to eat and I woke her at 6:00 to get ready for day care. I'm not real thrilled with the 4:45 wake-up, but I'm willing to let it go for now.
So there. Much more information than you needed, but I'm encouraged. I hope this is actually a pattern of less awake time and not a fluke. Maybe someday I'll actually feel human again.
Hey, did I tell you we were starting a new dance class (well, it was tumbling, but Ally liked to call it dance)? Oh. Did I tell you we quit the last one? oh. Well, consider yourself told. Remember a long time ago, that very first dance class we signed up for and how the class dwindled away and we were left all by our lonesone? Yeah, that kinda happened to the second place we went also. During summer it was great. Then the teacher left and a new one came. Then we got another new one. She couldn't have been more than 16 years old and had no idea how to control the kids. Then, people started dropping out. Hannah (Ally's day care friend) showed up occasionally, but not regularly, because of some problems at home (I think her parents are getting divorced. I feel so sad for Hannah). Then it happened. Allly was the only one there one night. So I left and said I'd find another one. Ally wasn't real thrilled, but she never knows what day it is and forgot to ask about it anymore.
I talked to another mom from day care a long time ago and found out that Maggie was in a dance class. And actual dance class with tap shoes and leotards and everything. So I went to that one one night and checked it out. Ally hated it. She wanted to go back to her old dance class with Hannah. Maggie wasn't there that night. It was mostly older girls, and Ally wouldn't leave my side. I thought it looked like it might be too old for her, and just decided to put it on hold for a while and think about it after the holidays. Then, Sandy - Maggie's mom - called me and said she heard we went and that they would be going back in January. Hooray. I liked the idea of this place because it's like 4 minutes from the house. We have enough time to go home and eat before, so we don't always have to be going to McDonalds on dance night. Plus, she told me that another little girl from daycare was in the class too.
So last night we went. We got there early to get the shoes and leotarda nd all. her friends weren't there yet, and Ally still wasn't too happy. But then maggie got there. Ally didn't do much to start and didn't want to let go of me. But they got out maracas, and Ally loves them. She shook them for a while and forgot she wasn't supposed to be having fun. None of the other parents stay in the room for this class, so as soon as she started to forget me, I sneaked out. I sat in the adjoining room with 6 other moms and had adult conversation for a while. yes, it was mostly centered around the kids, but it was whining free! There is a camera in the dance rooms and i could watch to see if Ally was adjusting. Mostly she was, but I did see the teachers have to reign her in a couple times. Which just made me even more thankful that I didn't have to be in direct supervision. I hope this class works out.
As an added bonus, I traded phone numbers with the parents of Ally's friends and we're going to meet at the McDonalds playland on Sunday morning. Cool.
However, when we got home Anya was screaming. Rob said she noticed I was gone about 20 minutes in and crawled to the gate and cried. He took her on a tour of the house (He had to do this with Ally all the time. If I left, she didn't believe that I wasn't just hiding downstairs. He'd pick her up and carry her through the house showing her I wasn't in any of the rooms or closets. Then, she'd be satisfied and go on playing) but it didn't work. When he'd proven I wasn't there, it Pissed. Her. Off.She screamed and screamed. He couldn't calm her down. I'm not sure how hard he tried. He doesn't really know how to distract babies very well. He loses patience pretty easily. Anyway, she calmed down when I picked her up and nursed for a little while to settle down. Then she smiled and giggled and played the rest of the evening. She had the nerve to crawl off my lap across the couch to Rob and laugh at him, mere moments after stopping with the screaming.
She's going to have to learn, because there's not any place for her to play at the dance place. She can't go with us.
I'm dog-ass tired today. I might take a nap at lunch, if my husband doesn't object to me making him eat all by his lonesone. This is what I did last night:
8:15 Rob goes down to put Ally to bed.
9:00 Anya finally crashes upstairs with me.
9:22 I put Anya in her bed and return upstairs to curl up on the couch and wait for Rob to get tired and go to bed with me.
10:00 He wakes me up to go to bed
10:45 Anya wakes up. I lay her down and pat her a minute. She's still restless, so I sit in the rocking chair in case she gets right back up.
12:09 I wake up with a sore neck and go to bed.
1:12 Ally wakes up screaming. Says she needs some cough syrup. She doesn't. She settles for a drink of water.
2:24 Ally wakes up screaming. I threaten her that if I have to get up again, she WILL be sorry.
3:02 Anya wakes up screaming. Inconsolable. Screw the whole crying it out thing. I'm tired. So I pick her up and rock her. She still won't stop crying. WTF? Stupid kid. I have to walk around with her and bounce to settle her and it still takes forever. SO tired!
3:53 Back in bed
5:00 Alarm goes off
5:15 Get in shower. My god I'm tired
I got Anya's 8 month pictures. How did she get this big? She's starting to look less like Ally at that age. She's getting her own look. And her own attitude. She has decided that the train tracks Must. Not. remain on the table. plus, when she's happy, 90% of the time, she's blowing raspberries. She was fighting Rob while he was putting her in her seat the other day and he said "STOP IT!" She looked at him, said pblttt, and went on trying to get loose. The pictures are at 8 months old.
In case you're having trouble thinking of things to comment about on de-lurking week, I present you with this:
What's the first thing that comes to mind when you read these words?
bridge
cheese
outstanding
love
citizenship
final
carpenter
Ok, I'll give you my answers in the comments so as to not influence yours. (I used to play this game all the time in Psych 101 with my old roomate. We got some funny looks from the people around us)
Hey, everybody. There's a law that says you must comment during de-lurking week. At least once. More is better. Tell me who you are. Am I talking to myself (and the handful of people who do regularly comment)?
What do you mean it's not a law? Of course it is. Just take my word for it.
You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family.
I really wish that saying had no bearing on my life. Sadly it does. My sister is a fuck-up. I love her to bits, but she's really done quite a bit to mess up her life and in the process, the people around her. She's currently trying to straighten up, but she has a lot to make up for. She's been on drugs, in and out of jail, prison, and has burned quite a few bridges. People have really tried to help her out. My mom is currently raising her oldest children, my aunt her third. Christy only has custody of the forth kid. She lies and misrepresents things so much that I never even ask questions, because I'm not going to believe the answer, so why bother? I think she gave up long ago, and has decided that having no expectations is better than being disappointed. She hasn't yet admitted that she is responsible for any of the decisions she has made in her life. Everything is someone else's fault. Especially Mom's.
She came to visit for a little while this weekend and I didn't even know what to talk to her about. I wouldn't talk to her if she were just some person on the street, so what do I say to her when we are together? We really share no common interests. We share family, but mostly, I like them and she bitches about how they mistreat or misunderstand her. In some cases she's right. She is misunderstood and rarely gets the benefit of the doubt. Most of the time, it's because she's exhausted all of her second (fiftieth) chances. She is misunderstood, because no one can understand why anyone would make the crappy decisions she has made. I really don't want to withdraw form her completely, because of my nephew and nieces. If she ever gets her act together I will be overjoyed. I'm just not holding my breath. So how do I maintain a casual relationship with someone who lives her life at odds with everything that I believe is right? Everything she says makes me want to scream "But Christy, you used to have a brain! Why don't you want to use it?" Why live in the gutter?
(One time she asked me "Are you till breastfeeding? She had quit at around 2 months or so, I think. I told her that I couldn't afford to quit and buy formula even if I wanted to and I didn't want to anyway. She replied that she didn't have to pay for it. She got it free. THAT is why I can't afford to pay for it. People like her living without a job on purpose, expecting that other people will pay their way because we wouldn't want to see her child harmed for it. That kid shouldn't be used like that, and iIshouldn't have to pay for her shit just because she is on welfare. GRR. And she smokes. GRRRRRRR)
I don't know how to deal with her. Does she deserve anything form me because she's my sister? Do family ties entitle her to have a relationship with me? Somehow, I don't think so, but still, because she's my sister, I can't sever out relationship. I just suffer through the time we spend together waiting for it to be over. It really pisses me off that she's not the person I grew up with and loved so much.
Here's the rules. Write the first sentance of the first post of each month in 2006.
January 2006 - Ally only had 1 pair of wet panties from 7 am to 9 pm last night
February 2006 - So we finally got all the crap put away this weekend
March 2006 - Sleep has been decent the last couple days
April 2006 - Screw this 1 hour at a time crap
May 2006 - I made a new picture album
June 2006 - You know how all the old cartoons have someone step on a rake, and it comes back and smacks them in the face and everyone laughs - hahaha that's so stupid it's funny?
July 2006 - Ally: I'm not a big girl.
August 2006 - OK, we saw the ENT last night, and Surprise! Ally has an ear infection
September 2006 - The other day I was nursing Anya in her room (next to the bathroom).
October 2006 - Anya has found her toes
November 2006 - Halloween rehash - The haul: (listing of all the Halloween candy)
December 2006 - This was last week at Grandma Darra's house (I posted a picture below)
I'm not sure what all this says about me, but the January one kinda makes me mad. Ally was doing pretty well in January! She didn't get out of diapers until November. ARGGG!
So lazy. Oh well. Lots of stuff to talk about, so I'm going with bullet points.
I'm sure there are fve million other things, but that's it for now. Oh, except that I'm going to update youTube and Flickr soon. Check them out
I have a few nuggets of wisdon that I thought I'd share. I know, no one asked, but they've helped me, so I'm passing it on. Plus, I've done a lot of stupid things lately (like colliding mirrors with a parked truck) so I wanted to show off my amazing smartness.
I'm a huge slacker. When things get busiest, I post less, but there's more to talk about, so why is that? It's all backwards. oh well. Things went well with the traveling. The presents are unwrapped. The house is a shambles. We seem to have aquired a coffee table made for trains. Ok, so maybe it's not a coffee table, but it's currently sitting where our coffee table would be if we had one. The food is almost all eaten (except for the half of a ham that we stuck in the freezer, cause my God! we could have never eaten it all. And of course, except for the part of it that Anya scarfed down. That's right. She had chunks of ham for dinner this weekend. She loved it. She actually put down her crackers to get more ham. So weird). The new clothes are all washed. The tree will come down this weekend, I think.
Everyone had the same type of holidays I'm sure. Filled with friends, family and food. Ours wasn't much different. Ally liked her computer. It took her about 15 minutes to notice it was there in the room with her. She's not too observant. She's much better with the mouse than I had expected. Anya looked at all her toys. Played with a few, but always returned to her beloved ernie book. I don't know what it is about that thing, but she loves it. Whatever.
Anyway, I don't have a lot to say, but just wanted to say something anyway. Posting will probably be light for a bit, but I'll be back. See you soon.
Okay, Erin tagged me for a Christmas songs MeMe. It's supposed to be my 5 favorite Christmas songs, but I don't really listne to Christmas music much, so I'm going to change it up a bit.
My favorite songs:
Christmas songs that makes me ish the holidays were over:
All the songs from Rudolph and the Island of Misfit Toys. "Why am I such a Misfit?" Dude - it's because you want to be a dentist!
Christmas song that I hope I never have to sing again, but probably will in just about an hour and half, just because I love my daughter:
Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer
Christmas song that gets stuck in my head the instant I so much as think about it:
Frosty the Snowman (Thumpty-thump-thump Thumpety-thump-thump...)
Christmas song that I just can't ever sing the right words to:
Joy to the World! (my sister's dead, we barbequed her head!)
It's almost Christmas, so I won't tag anyone else, but feel free to share your favorites if you want. Or just your thoughts on Christmas music in general.
Beth's Mom asked a question over on Beth's blog that I wanted to answer. I started typing it all up in the comment box over there, and then I looked at it and thought "Oh my God, This is way too long for a comment. And anyway, it would make a good post for myself since I have nothing else to say, what with the overwhelming tiredness." So here it is.
How do other people divvy up the holiday celebrations between the two sets of relatives? Is it usually a big fight, or do your readers alternate amicably?
Do the grandparents care what is fair, or do they insist on seeing their little dears for every occasion regardless of what anyone else wants?
And how about your readers? Can they stand up to their respective families and do what they darn please?
I have 4 sets of parents. Rob's mom and Dad are divorced and remarried and ditto for mine. My dad has been married to Leann for a good 20 years or so, so she's family and so are her kids. No offense to Mom here, but her husband is a relative new-comer (at 10 years). I just didn't grow up with him. I was out of the house before they got married, so it's kind of hard to settle in real well, you know? Rob's parents have both been re-married forever too, so everyone pretty much gets along okay. They could deal with being in the same room together - and have - pretty easily. The problem is that there's just not a big enough room. Every year I host a BBQ and all sides of the family are invited and usually 30-40 people show up. It would get crazy to try to have that at the holidays indoors. So I rush around to see everyone, or I don't. This year it's a little of both.
I try to take everyone's plans into account and work them in somehow.
Dad and Leann always make it easy by picking a weekend day before Christmas to have their celebration. That was last Sunday. All the kids get to play togther while the guys watch football, mostly. Leann always has a great dinner set up and we hang out. She also usually has Christmas day dinner available to anyone who is free. I have never been free for it, though. (driving time = 55 minutes one way)
My mom always has a Christmas buffet. (mom's driving time = 40 minutes) Early in the morning, she sets up appetizers and grazing foods and people are invited to stop by at any time and visit. That's usually a pain in the ass for me, because it's not an actual gathering, so I'm not going to see the rest of the family at any certain time, so it's just me visiting Mom. And I'd rather do that while there aren't other various people randomly stopping by. We usually do a meet-up sometime or another around the holidays whenever convenient. This year, though, my grandma decided to have a Christmas party this Friday. She usually - hmm, I don't really know what she usually does. I think she goes to my uncle's then goes to my aunts the next day? Whatever. This year I can go there and have a party with my mom's side of the family and it doesn't clash with anyone else's plans. Ally loves going there and playing with all the cousins and so we're happy. Plus, they're having Casey's pizza. I love Casey's pizza. (grandma's driving time = 1.3 hours)
The bad thing is that we're going to Rob's mom's the next day. So we might end up driving after Grandma's Friday night. Yuck. It's a 2.5 hour trip form our house. It'll be much longer from there. But. It will be night and the kids will likely fall asleep and we won't have to load and unload the vehicle twice. Hell, maybe Anya will even sleep better in the car. Ha! We always try to spend Christams with his mom. She's got less family around and Rob always wants to let her know we love her by showing up. (Hi Darra, we love you) For many reasons, the holidays are a little hard for her, and she always makes the most effort to come see us and help out, so it only seems natural. This year, her husband has a new schedule and will have to work a little on Christmas eve, so we will be there on Saturday instead. If Rob's sister shows up (which is not certain right now. Circumstances are iffy) We'll just come home and spend Christmas Eve trying to get things cleaned up and put away from our travels, and spend Christmas at home. Otherwise, Darra might come back with us to be part of our holiday at home and Bill can meet us after work Christmas Eve or somehting. We don't really know. (driving time = 2.5 hours + 1.3 hours if we leave from grandma's)
Oh and Rob's grandparents actually live in the same town as Darra, so we'll see them if they are there. They might be in California (at Rob's aunt's house) though, so I'm not really sure. They usually go out there, but they are usually gone before now, and I haven't heard anything about it, so I'm not sure. (no driving. Yay)
Rob's dad doesn't have any set plans yet. He usually goes to his in-laws for Chirstmas and catches us whenever it's easiest for both of us. This year, Glinda is under-going chemo, so all bets are off. I hope she feels well enough to enjoy the holidays. (driving time = 1 hour if we go there. Usually they come to our house)
Most everyone is flexible and let us decide where we are going. Thank God, because it's hard to coordinate with everyone. I want to see everyone and all, but it really messes with the kids schedule to be travleing that much that often. Ally starts missing naps and it's hard to continue our food training (which is going great. Last night she tasted a bite of lasagne. Said she didn't like it. Chewed it up instead of spitting it out. So she didn't have to eat it and got a PB&J instead. Those are our rules - one bite and you can get something else if you don't like it. No arguments last night Finally) and accident-free (potty-related) days. Anya doesn't sleep as well during the day, which makes the night even worse and in someone else's house to boot. Just stressful. Worth it, but stressful anyway.
We do occasionally set our foot down and not see people when we need to. We don't always see Mom on Christmas Day when she celebrates, because we want to be home for the kids to play with their toys. I remember growing up and going to my dad's house after Christmas and being annoyed that I couldn't play with all the neat stuff I had just gotten. I want the day to be relaxing. Especially since the rest of the holiday isn't.
I turned on the pictures in the Chirstmas album. They are now available for your viewing pleasure. I've got most of my Christmas cards out by now. Although most of the sisters and brother sin the family aren't really settled anywhere permanently, so I have to ask various mothers/fathers for their current addresses, because it's just too much work to keep up with it myself. Those people don't have cards yet, but all the non-nomadic people in my life should by now.
BTW Roger, I'm about to check my email for your address, but if you read this before I find it, it would make it a lot easier if you just email it to me again, and I'm all about finding the easy way out. Except for bringing it to Grandma's, because I just believe that cards should be mailed for some reason.