Why I Don't Work

Last Friday was my first day back at subbing. I started off wrong by going to a Grey's Anatomy premiere party at my friends house. I got home at 11:30 and was welcomed by a puddle of dog pee. I think he was mad at me, or Ryan, because I let him out twice at 4:30, so he shouldn't have needed to go. Anyway I was mad because I clean up Natalie's accidents, Drake's accidents and I was just tired! Then, I couldnt' fall asleep because I was nervous about subbing, I think it was 2:30am before I crashed.

Got up at 6 so I could shower, stop at Walgreens for some quck kid-free deal shopping. Everything was going fine until the doorbell rang at 6:35. That's never good. Drake was out running the neighborhood. I guess he dug out of the gate because he was mad at me for shoving his face in the pee the night before. There were about 30 kids at the bus stop, all high school I think...and Drake ran through them and they all split like the Red Sea and went SCREAMING. People started running out of their houses to see what was wrong. I tried to explain he is friendly and if they would call him he would come over and it would all be done. No one would help, and after about 5 minutes I left for work in tears.

Got my deals at Walgreens. Then I went to back out of my parking spot. When you do that in a minivan you are sort of on the other side of the road for a second while you pull forward and straighten out. Well someone pulls in and honk. They pull past me and keep honking. I thought ok I will roll my window down, thinking they knew me from the subdivision and wanted to say something about Drake. Instead at 6:50am I hear "Learn to stay on your side of the road you f'ing stupid b'tch!!!" Really? Who does that?

Get to work on time and go over the plans. Then during the annoucements they say the art teacher is absent and there is not a sub. Guess which class has art??? MINE. So I had to come up with an hour worth of plans to do that were not there for me. Later in the day, A FIRE DRILL. Seriously???

I really missed Natalie, but the actual part of work was ok. I just don't think I'm cut out for balancing my time like that, it was so stressful! Maybe if Ryan had not been out of town it would have been better.

However, this week I subbed on Thursday and Friday. No crises before or during or after work. But I do realize how much of a strain it is for me to work, be a mom, be a wife, be a maid...etc. There is no way I am cut out to work full time right now. I think I would have to learn how to let go of so many things. This week I was trying to keep up with work, home, friends, my 'job' on Tidewater Mommies, sewing for other people, packing lunch, laundry, cleaning. I was really overwhelemed until I realized that they days I work I have to put my SAHM duties on hold.

80's Skating Party

My friend Sondra rented out the rink for us for a 2 hour 80's skating party. Let me tell you it was RAD. Ha ha! Funny story...we were going in when the afternoon session was coming out. I hear, "Is that Mrs. Windle?". 2 kids from one of my classes and their parents came out!!! The dad made me take a picture. How embarrassing. But we had a great time. I am so lucky to have such great friends to celebrate with.

Happy Homecoming

Ryan has been gone since September 10th on a trip to Florida for work. He just came home today, yay! Natalie colored him a picture and we went to pick him up. She just rough played with him over and over. She would sign and say 'more Daddy'. It was cute when she saw him, she said "Daddy time".

Even though Ryan missed my birthday, he did well! He came home with a new ring! It's white gold and has 3 hearts- the middle one is amythst, which is Natalie's birthstone. Even better, he found a great deal ;-) which we all know makes me happy!

Melting Pot Dinner

Four of my friends from Tidewater Mommies all met up for Ladies Night dinner at the Melting Pot. You get the whole 4 course sha-bang for $25, which you all KNOW is right up my alley! It was delicious as always! We celebrated my birthday too. Here are a few pics of me with each of the girls! BTW, you can go with your hubby for Ladies Night and still get the good deal!

Heather

Jackie

Pam

Sondra

Natalie and Ashlyn at the Park

Natalie has a new friend named Ashlyn. We met up at the park and had a picnic dinner. The girls are really liking the merry-go-round.

Weekend Fun

We had a pretty good weekend here in the VA. On Saturday, Natalie and I went to a birthday BBQ for my friend Pam. Most of our friends and their kids were there. We had WAY too many great snacks and a lot of good laughs.



On Sunday we had church (gasp, no pictures today...Natalie was casual!) Then I had a meeting for my mommy group. I later met Julie and her girls up at Busch Gardens. We had to hurry out by 6 so we wouldn't be there when Howl-O-Scream started. The girls are not quite ready for that! They had one scary leaf guy on stilts that made Natalie cry on the way out.

Natalie is really hard to sleep since we took away the paci. She will talk/play in her crib for about 1-2 hours. Her naps have gone from 3 hours to 2. I'm half tempted to give it back to her! I won't...but it's so frustrating to know she used to sleep so well with it. She would fall asleep in less than 5 minutes. It's a horrid cycle. She stays up late, then wakes up early, then has a hard time taking a nap which makes it hard for her to go to bed! UGH.

Potty training is still going well. NO ACCIDENTS TODAY!

Week 1 update!

Well, one week of potty training down. Natalie earned 59 stickers, one for everytime she's gone! She's only done #2 on there two times, so we have some work to do there.

How do you know when your child is trained? We have worn underwear in the house, and cloth/vinyl pullups out of the house. How long do you 'practice' before you switch over? She's dry at nap and night too unless she pooped.

On another note, she yells "pee potty" in every store to see how fast I move! It's GREAT to run across the store and get only a FART. Tootin momma, tootin!

Monday Bunco

I went out to Bunco with my mommy friends on Monday. I even won $15 for the most buncos! It was so fun. We all had to wear a crazy hat. I wore my swap hat form girl scouts! I came in second place for the hats too. We get together once a month to play. Next month is crazy costumes!

Ready for Church

I always seem to get pictures on Sunday. We are usually up and ready for church and Natalie still looks cute (well, she's always cute, but I mean clean and hair still in pigtails neatly). Enjoy!

PT Day 4

I may be the only one excited about this, but we have some major updates on the potty training.

*On Friday she told the lady at the Y 'pee potty'. She went in the pull-up on the way there, but I'm impressed she actually told them.
*On Saturday she pooped in the potty!!!!!!
*Also on Saturday she went in the potty at the grocery store!!
*In 4 days, she has earned TWENTY FOUR stickers, meaning that is how many times she has GONE to the bathroom, not just tried.

She will even go first thing in the morning and has been dry in her diaper after naps. I have only put disposable diapers or pull-ups or cloth training pants on her, which means 4 days without washing diapers! YAY!!!

I am so proud of my little (BIG) girl!

Exhausting But Succeeding

Well Day 3 of potty training. We are having lots of success but MAN is it a lot of work! She is in training pants all day except naps, she is either in a diaper or pull-ups. I'm more concerned with getting #1 under control and she usually has the other issue during nap so no training pants then!

So far she went twice at home this morning. Then at the Y when I went to pick her up they were taking her potty and she had JUST gone in her pull-up, but I'm excited she even told them she had to go. Then she went twice at home, when she told me she had to go, yay!

She is stalling from her nap right now telling me Poo Potty but we went and she's not going. She knows I drop everything for that work.

I told her to lay down and I said "one,two, three" which usually comes before time out or a spanking. She said "four five six seven". I about fainted! It was very shocking.

Wish me luck to keep up with this potty training thing. It's been 3 days so I can't quit now!! Each day she goes a few more times than the day before.

Potty Update

Natalie woke up almost dry this morning and said Pee Potty. She would not go upstairs because there is no kid seat on the toilet. So we came down and she got on and did it! I am so excited. It's a small step I'm sure, but you gotta start somewhere!!!

Trigger Point Injections

I had my trigger point injections today. These are to relax the muscles in my back so they can regrown to attach better to my spine.

First, my appointment was at 1:50. I left the house at 12:45, and got there at 1:30. We always have to be 15 minutes early there. At 2:15 I ask how far behind they are. The lady says "Dr. XXXXX is always an hour behind". What the heck? Why schedule appointments and ask me to be early if he is so late?

Anyway I go back about 10 minutes later so it wasn't too bad. He first sprayed something FREEZING all over my back. Then he went on a tight muscle hunt. He took his thumb and pushed HARD on certain spots. Must be typical places people get these knot issues. Then he would stick the needle in and inject it then push some more. I quit counting around 10...Ryan found at least 12 spots on my back.

I am supposed to be sore for 2-3 days, then the relief will last 2-3 weeks. In 2 weeks, I get a second epidural so we will see if this leads anywhere.

OH, and I got more pills...I go to the pharmacy and pull my number, which was 877...they were on 844!!! So I sat for an hour, but at least it's free...!

Potty Signs

Natalie is showing potty signs again. She grabs her crotch when she wets the diaper and says poopy when she is dirty.
Tonight she said Poo Potty Poo Potty so Ryan took her in and she farted 2 times. And then she kept saying SKEEEEEZE (squeeze) and grunting. Nothing came out, but it was a good try and amusing!

Gross

Natalie puked. First time she's ever done that. And right after driving V-8 Spash. Orange and smelly for sure.

Does this always happen when Ryan has to work? There is always some kind of issue that seems to have that PERFECT timing...

Did I mention she waited until I put her in her bed for a nap? Needless to say I am doing an extra load of laundry right now!

18 Months Old

Natalie went for her appointment today and I was so proud of her! She got 2 shots and did not cry one single tear, or scream! I don't know where she gets that from, I STILL want to cry when I get shots!

She was 33 1/4 inches tall, which is 90th percentile, so she is a tall one. Her weight was 25 lbs 6 oz, which was only 50th percentile...not sure how because she eats like nobody's buisness! And her head was 18 1/2 inches which was 75th percentile.

Everything else was good! The ped says she speaks very clearly and understands a lot. She reccommended ditching the paci NOW, which is only for nap/bed...yikes! I asked about potty training and toddler bed and she said both at age 3...which seems late for the potty training at least...but she said since Natalie communicates and understands well it could be earlier (I know I was 22 months old and I was reading by age 3, so I could have read about potty training by then says my mom!)

Here are some pics I took to celebrate the day!

No News...

Is good news? Not really sure about that one. But it's been awhile since I wrote a blog so I thought I would update all my readers.

We had a good time Sunday at church. We met on the site where we are building a church (we usually meet at the YMCA). There were over 50 people who were baptized! Then they let all the kids come dig up some of the dirt with a shovel! It was really a neat experience.

We have no news on Ryan really. He has decided though to work in a health field in and eventually out of the military. He has 2 credits to his Assoicates for the AF, and 3 credits to an Associates degree at his online university. Next stop, bachelors!

I have been sewing a lot more, check out the other blog for pictures! I have gotten used to using a pattern and have been making a lot of things for friends. My next projects are a candy corn dress for Natalie and Maddie, with matching bows. I found cute candy corn charms on eBay to put in the bows. I'm also making a purse for my friend whose husband is currently deployed. And 2 more hooded dresses for Pam! At least I will have something to do while Ryan is busy studying!