Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Wordless Wednesday - Party Girl


*I promise to have more birthday party pictures soon.  I have some to upload and I am waiting on some to be emailed.  Bean had a great time and still thinks it's her birthday.  

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Snow Day 2010

Back on January 8th, we had our snow day.  I've been referring to it as Snow Jam '10.  Yes, this much snow shut down the state.  Well, maybe not shut down completely but it should have.  I got to stay home from work.  Too bad Hubz didn't cause his truck got to meet a tree.  Thankfully he's okay and the truck can be fixed.

Bean and I decided to go outside and play in what little snow we had.

 
If you look closely you can see three sets of footprints in the snow.  Hubz', Bean's and a bird's.  (Danged *** bird!)

 
Back to the cute one...
 
 
 

Look, a reverse snow angel!

 
What do y'all expect?  We're from the South!  We don't get many snow-angel making opportunities.  Sometimes we get confused.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

The Make-Up Artist

Word to the wise - Don't ever let Giggles do your make-up. (I swear she's not a drinker!)





Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Babies and Bullets.

This is a hard post to write.  I want to start off by saying that I don’t need anyone to tell me all the bad things that could have happened, how my parenting skills are lacking, or how you would have done it so much better.  I am, however, completely open to honest opinions, heartfelt thoughts, and sage advice.  If you have any of those things to offer me, please, please post them.  But if you only have harsh criticism, please save it.  There is nothing you can say to me that I haven’t already said to myself and there is no way you can make me feel any worse than I do.  Having said all of that, here is my story.

Today I took my child to her pediatrician for her two-year checkup.  In each exam room, they have a window seat where the parent sits.  This is a long seat so there is ample room for me to put my purse, diaper bag, coat, whatever down and have enough room to sit.  I was sitting on this bench seat and Bean was sitting right next to me.  In fact, she was sitting so close to me that she was almost sitting on me.  You couldn’t have glided a piece of paper between the two of us if you tried.  That’s how close we were.  My purse was on the other side of Bean, leaning up against the window sill. 

I have various things in my purse like most women do - wallet, brush, makeup, change purse, a couple of small toys, some snacks, keys, calender, all the general stuff.  This morning I had decided not to take in the diaper bag so I threw in a diaper and some wipes on top of everything else. 

Now I also carry something in my purse that not a lot of other women do.  I carry a gun.  Yes, I’m one of “those” people.  I have a concealed weapon permit and I am allowed by my state to carry a gun with me.  I have never taken a firearm safety class but I grew up with guns around the home so I know a thing or two about them.  My father always had guns.  I grew up seeing my dad target practice.  I’ve even seen my dad shoot a few unwelcome snakes here and there.  I was always told to never touch any of my dad’s guns and I never did.  My husband also grew up around guns and knows a great deal about them and how to handle them. 

Normally Bean doesn’t get anywhere near my purse.  I’m very mindful of what I carry in there and make sure that it isn’t available to her at any time in case she gets curious.  But this morning I was reminded just how fast something can happen and I am now reevaluating my outlook on the whole gun-carrying issue.

Like I said earlier...Bean was sitting almost on top of me.  I was sitting there looking up at the doctor and answering and asking questions.  Bean reached for the wipes.  She loves to take one out and pretend to blow her nose or wipe her hands.  I saw this out of the corner of my eye.  She grabbed the wipes and the purse slumped towards us.  I thought she was reaching to put the wipes back on top of my purse and the next thing I see is the butt of the handle of my gun in my child’s hand.  She had not reached to put the wipes back.  She had just reached and grabbed the first thing her little hand found.  I’m still amazed that she was able to reach it because usually it is on the bottom of my purse buried under everything else.  But nevertheless seeing the handle of a gun in your toddler’s hand is a moment that will literally stop your heart. 

I believe that the doctor saw what had happened but she did not say a word to me.  She could have if she wanted.  It would have given me the chance to explain I’m not a horrible parent, that I take great care in keeping weapons from my child, that I’m not a bad person, that this is the first time that it had ever happened.  But it only takes one time, doesn’t it?  It only takes a split second for your whole life to change.  I honestly do not know how this whole thing happened but it did and she could have laid into me right then and there and I would have deserved everything she could have come up with.  She could have given me statistics and explained the perils of children and guns.  She could have read me the riot act on gun ownership. She could have called DFACS and snatched Bean up right away.  She could have but she didn’t.  So now I am left dwelling on what could have happened.  And trust me, that’s just what I’ve been doing.

Guns have never really interested me.  Seeing my dad use them and knowing that they weren’t toys and weren’t to be touched was enough for me.  I never had any inclination to take them down and try them out for myself.  I have a very healthy respect for guns...and bullets.  I am not a gun-hater either.  I believe if you can properly care for your gun and the safety of it, then by all means, carry it with you.  Guns don’t bother me.

What does bother me is curiosity.  Curiosity has gotten way more than the cat killed over the years.  Bean is one of the most curious kids I’ve ever seen.  And she is very smart.  She loves to act like Mommy and Daddy and Nano.  She is a little parrot, restating the things we say and re-acting the things we do.  Just because I was never curious about my father’s guns doesn’t mean that she won’t be.  I can’t bank on the idea that her brain will work the way mine and my husband’s did and just automatically know not to ever play with the guns in our home.  I can’t.  I can't expect her to know not to pick up a gun that she sees in my purse.  I can't expect that from her at an age where she doesn't understand that she can't go running free once we take her out of her carseat or that she shouldn't play with power outlets.  I have to think the worst.  I have to prepare for the worst.  I have to put myself in the shoes of a parent that has lost a child to a senseless tragedy.  Until I can guarantee myself 100% that Bean will never go near my gun, it has to go someplace that I know for sure she can’t get to.

My husband won’t be happy about this because he likes to think Bean and I are safer with my gun near us.  But what if I hadn’t been as close to her as I was this morning?  What if I wasn’t right there to shove it back down in my purse and take it away?  I don’t want to think about it but I have to.  And trust me, it’s all I have been thinking about.  I cried on my way to work thinking about it.  Yes, I want us to be safe but the safest I can personally make us is to not have it around her because it only takes a second.  That’s a second I’d rather spend being silly with my daughter, making her laugh, holding her tight and keeping her safe...my way.

Two year checkup

I took Bean in today for her 2 year check up.  We've had better visits.

She is 33 inches tall but still only weighs 21 pounds.  I promise we've been feeding her.

But she also has really low iron in her blood.  They are still saying "borderline" anemic but I have to take her back in two months to be rechecked and we have to switch vitamins.  I guess I have some reading up on anemia to do.

The worst for Bean was the finger stick for the hemoglobin test.  At first, the nurse couldn't get much blood to flow.  But then the floodgate opened and it wouldn't stop bleeding.  She bled for almost 10 minutes and cried the whole time.  That wasn't the worst for me but I'll write about that later.

Wordless Wednesday - Green Marker

 

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Decorating the Cake

We aren't having her official party until this coming weekend so I thought it would be a fun idea to make a small birthday cake and let Bean decorate it herself.  That way we would still be celebrating on her real birthday and it would be a nice "Mommy and Me" activity.

I baked and iced the cake.  Can't you tell that I'm not a professional?

 

I bought some pink icing to go around the top of the cake, some candy letters, sprinkles and of course, a candle.  I put the pink icing around the top of the cake.  This part was actually pretty easy to do.

 
Here's the birthday girl and assistant cake decorator!


This was the end of my decorating portion.  I let Bean blow out her candle.  The kid was fast.  She hasn't had much experience blowing out candles but she sure knew what to do.

*I've retouched the picture to remove her real name.  That's why the icing looks a little wonky right there.

 

I set Bean loose on her decorating.  I opened the sprinkles and showed her how to sprinkle it all around the top of the cake.  She held out her hand and said with great confidence "I hab it."  Then...

the sprinkle mound appeared...

 

She looked up at me and smiled really big.  She was very proud of herself.  She decided the cake needed a few more candy letters.



Then we had to do a taste test.

Yep, tastes good so far!

Oh wait, we forgot to put the candle back on.  "I do it!"


Right about here looks good...
[Evidently depth perception is something that comes along later on.]

The finished product!!!!!


Hope you've enjoyed today's installment of "In the Kitchen with Bean"!


Friday, January 15, 2010

Happy 2nd Beanday!

Today is Bean's 2nd Birthday!  It's hard to believe but she is two.  I tried to hold her today like I used to hold her when she was a baby.  That lasted for about 2 minutes.

Here are some pictures of Bean and her two favorite things in the world, her nannies!

Happy Birthday to my favorite thing in the world!  Mommy and Daddy love you very much.

 
 

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Update on Operation Bye Bye Ba-Ba

I wanted to give you an update on my brilliant brainchild of a plan I lovingly referred to as Operation Bye-Bye Ba-Ba.



Operation Bye-Bye Ba-Ba went down in flames!

Yep, it failed.  It was my big Christmas fail.  Not only did it not work, it produced two crying, sniveling participants - Bean and me.

All December I told Bean that Santa would bring her presents in exchange for her giving him her Ba-Bas.  Some days she would falsely lead me into believing she was on board for such a plan.  She would say “uh huh” whenever I would ask her if she was going to leave all of her bottles for Santa to take to other little boys and girls who needed them.  “Uh huh, Mommy”. 

“Uh huh” indeed!

She was leading me on!  Can you believe I got outsmarted by a 23 month-old.  Okay, if you can, keep it to yourselves, okay?  I can’t believe it.  I fell for her assurances hook, line and sinker. 

Christmas evening comes and it is time for bed.  She asked for her Ba-Ba and we ignored it for awhile by not saying anything.  Then she reached Def Con 2.  Whining, fake crying, clinging to my legs.  I tried to explain to her that Santa took all of her Ba-Bas and left her all of these wonderful presents.  I asked her if she wasn’t excited about all of her presents.  “No, Mommy!”

[Sidebar - can I just say that this is a phrase I am already tired of?  She needs new material.]

We then move up to Def Con 3 - standing in the kitchen pointing up to the cabinet that has been the home of the Ba-Bas and saying “Ba-Ba” over and over.  I open the cabinet to show her that there are no more Ba-Bas living in there and we reach Def Con 4. 

“BA BA!!!  BA BA!!! BA BA!!!”  Over and over and over.  This is spiced up with the limp-body syndrome, kicking, screaming, crying.  It was a heartbreaking show.

I filled up a sippy cup, scooped up the Bean in my arms, and took her to Mommy and Daddy’s bed and we layed down.  I thought she will surely cry herself to sleep for maybe ten minutes and then the worst will be behind us.

Def Con 5.

She cried, wailed, begged, pleaded for over 45 minutes.  The tears !  The snot!  (I did the same for about 40 minutes.) 

I just kept telling myself that this was the right thing to do.  That this would be the worst night and then she would handle it all better the next day.  But I also kept telling myself that this was the last vestige of her babyhood.  Gone were the onesies, gone were the pacis, gone was the formula.  Gone, gone, gone.   My baby isn’t a baby anymore.  And while I know it to be true, it is a sad fact.  While I am grateful beyond words that my daughter is healthy and growing and meeting her milestones, I miss my precious little baby that needed me for everything.  This incarnation of my sweet little bundle of joy tells me “no” more often than any other word and some days makes us beg for her kisses.  This incarnation has attitude! 

So we both layed there and cried but neither of us ever reached the sweet bliss of sleep.  That is not until Daddy came in the bedroom door with a sacred Ba-Ba and saved the day for Bean.  He caved!  Hubz couldn’t take both his girls crying any more.  He wanted peace and quiet to return to his kingdom and he got it.  He will now tell anyone that asks that he could care less if she is five and still has her Ba-Ba. 

He will have to be battled before Operation Bye-Bye Ba-Ba version 2.0 begins.  But I will say that I am grateful for him for bringing back the peace that night and I’m glad it wasn’t me who caved first.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Wordless Wednesday - Make yourself comfortable

 
 

*And before I get any emails about not buckling her in...we don't let her ride this way.  She wiggled herself around like this and Hubz was standing right there.  After these pictures were taken, we let her get down and walk around.  If we are both there with the cart, one of us is always right in front of her and she is buckled in.  If we are solo, she is buckled in.  We have some friends who learned this the hard way and we don't forget it.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Planning a party

The time has come to start planning Bean's 2nd birthday party.  (Excuse me wipe the tears from my eyes.)  Okay, let's continue.

I don't want to have a big huge bash like I did last year.  I just want to keep it simple.  But I doubt that will happen.  Well, it will have to happen on some levels cause Mommy is broke.  It's nice paying for all your Christmas presents with cash and not charging everything on credit.  But then, after Christmas, you realize the inevitable...you're flat broke!  So the Bean's Birthday will have to be downsized somewhat.

I wanted to have a Sock Monkey party.  I love, love, love sock monkeys.  My Aunt Grace made me one when I was little and I loved him.  I would like to say his name was Marty but his name actually changed a lot over the years of play but we will just stick with Marty the Monkey for now.  Marty is still around someplace.  I need to find him and introduce him to Bean, I guess.  But I just thought having everything decorated in Sock Monkey stuff would be cute.  I mean, just look at all this stuff.

*Picture is courtesy of Olio Designs' Etsy shop.

 
*Picture courtesy of Paper Heart Press' Etsy shop.

 
*Photo courtesy of Clineff's Confections Etsy shop.


But when I asked Bean if she liked the sock monkeys, she just said "No Mommy".  What?  Listen, let me be honest here.  I tried to bribe the monkey's way in.  I used candy, crayons, change for the piggy bank.  The monkey couldn't get his foot in the door.  So I will put away the sock monkey theme for another year when bribery will be better appreciated.  The Sock Monkey will have his day and his party, too!

So I was back at step one.  No theme, no direction, nada.  Then one day while one vacation, Bean brought me the television remote control and said to me "Elmo".  Once I located Sesame Street on the tv, Bean stood there and kept yelling "Abby", "Abby", "Abby".

O. M. G.!!!  The Bean is an Abby Cadabby fan!!!!  Woot woot!

Can I just tell you all that there is no greater joy than realizing your baby girl is a girlie girl.  Yep, she is in love with the pink, purple, periwinkle fairy fluff known as Abby Cadabby!  I am one proud momma.  I mean, just look at this...how can you not fall in "lurv" with this beacon of cuteness?

*Picture is the property of http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Abby_Cadabby.

So now I have a direction, a focus, a money-spending trap!  I am going to have to reign myself in and not go completely crazy decorating everything that will stand still with iridescent pink or periwinkle tulle.  I don't want to overdo it.  I don't want to scare off the Bean with an influx of fairy finery.  I have to talk myself down.  I can't lose my mind here. 

ABBY CADABBY, people!!!  ABBY FREAKIN' CADABBY!!!!

I've bred a future Pinkie!

Oh, my blood pressure! 

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Wordless Wednesday - Our version of Where's Waldo

Where's Bean?


Still not sure?

 
It's getting clearer...


I think we've found her!

 
**And I have to give thanks to this very nice dad that jumped onto the tracks when the train stalled out and helped our little riders enjoy the rest of their trip back to the station.


Only 2 more days...

Can I just tell you all how happy I am that there are only two more days left of college football?! 

Only two more bowl games left - somebody tonight and then Texas vs. Alabama tomorrow. 

I can't wait to Friday.  I'm gonna have a End of College Football party.

Don't get me wrong, I am a Georgia Bulldogs fan.  And I'll throw it out there cause I think their mascot is second to UGA - "Go Ducks!"  But I could give a rat's patootie who wins a game against some horny toads, frogs, whatever. 



Hubz feels it is his manly duty to watch every single bowl game there is cause evidently he's secretly hoping for a job as a sports analyst.  All I can say to that is "yeah, just show me the money buddy".  

It's almost over.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Happy New Year

I wanted to take a minute and stop and wish you all a Happy New Year.  Yeah, I get it that I am wishing you this on the 5th day of the New Year.  Better late than never, peeps.

I haven't been blogging much. I guess my week off of work started it, then we went into an internet drought, and then I started feeling puny. 

I had tried to tell myself that I wanted to start including a picture with every blog post I wrote.  This is after I told myself I was going to stop taking all my pictures with my iPhone camera and go back to using our digital one.  You see, transferring the pictures to my computer is so much easier from my phone than the digital camera.  This is something I had forgotten...until today.  So I have some new pictures but I keep forgetting to transfer them.  I do apologize. 

So for the heck of it, I am going to add a random picture I find.  This could be a picture from my phone, from my computer or from the internets.  Wonder which one it will be.

Drum roll please.........


Yum!!!  Yum!!! Yummy!!!  (Yeah, I'm one of THOSE chicks.)

Oh okay!!!  Calm down.  I'll post a picture that is more relevant to my blog.  Here ya go:


There!  You all happy now?

Anyways...Happy New Year!!!!