It's not you, it's me.

My mother-in-law thinks I don't trust her.  I keep trying to explain that it's not her, it's me. 

You see I think I'm a freak of nature.  I have trouble lettng my daughter spend the night with my in-laws.  If it were up to me, Bean would never sleep away from home.  In fact, I get so antsy when she does spend the night that I can't sleep and I rush to pick her up the next day.  I would rather Bean stay at home with me every night.  And it has absolutely nothing to do with my trust in them. 

Our daughter spends the majority of her time with other people.  Both Hubz and I work fulltime and Bean stays with family during the day.  When you sit down and figure up the amount of time that I see her, it's pretty slim.  I am more than thankful that she is able to stay with family members instead of having to go to day care but I wished more than anything that I could stay home with her.  I wished I was there every day, all day to be the one to tell her "feet don't go in the toilet" or "please put your pants back on", or be there to kiss away every "boo boo".  But that's just not our reality.

So since I get the smallest amount of her time, when there is time to spend, I only want to spend it with her.  I hate to be away from her.  It still gets to me every single morning that I have to drop her off, even though I know and love the nannies that Bean stays with and she knows and loves them, too.  I know she is loved and looked after.  It has nothing to do with that.  I just wish that I could be the one that she shares her days with.
And her nights. 

Tagging along...

Mighty M from The Mighty M Family (Happy Belated Birthday BTW) tagged me in this meme.  I've never done one of these before so bare with me.

1. Name someone with the same birthday as you:

Tammy R. who is one of my oldest friends.  Tammy and I have known each other since first grade.  She and I were not only born on the same day, but also the same hospital in The Big City and wound up living in the same small town.  We always called each other "My Sister". 

2. Where was your first kiss?

Well...if you count cousins then my cousin Ricky slapped one on me when I was six and he was five. Yep, early starter.

3. Have you ever seriously vandalized someone else's property?

Ummm...I remember we toilet papered Amy M.'s house one Halloween.  We were all still in elementary school and it was Tracey T.'s birthday and my very first sleepover.  Don't worry.  Amy M. was with us so it wasn't that scandalous. 

4. Have you ever hit someone of the opposite sex?

Which time?  Oh wait...only jokingly, of course. 

5. Have you ever sung in front of a large number of people?

We had Christmas pageants in elementary school.  God love our parents.

6. What's the first thing you notice about your preferred sex?

Height.   And eyes.  And hands..  Oh crap!  I already messed up.

7. What really turns you off?

If someone can't speak properly when I know they've been to school...

8. What do you order at Starbucks?

Caramel Machhiato grande.

9. What is your biggest mistake?

Not listening to my gut instincts.  Every time I've gone against it, I've regretted it.  Big time.

10. Have you ever hurt yourself on purpose?

I don't think so.  All the times I hurt myself on accident doesn't really leave much time to do it on purpose.

11. Say something totally random about yourself.

I'm going through a phase now of "I just don't care".

12. Has anyone ever said you looked like a celebrity?

Pam Tillis.  Sadly, the person that told me that was a victim of #4, above.

 

13. Do you still watch kiddie movies or TV shows?  

I absolutely love to watch The Goonies.

14. Did you have braces?

Nope.  Needed it, went to the consult, but couldn't afford it so we didn't do it.  Later on, when my wisdom teeth started coming in, those teeth pushed my others together and kinda fixed almost everything themselves.  If I would have had braces, my wisdom teeth would have messed up all the work they would have done.

15. Are you comfortable with your height?

Yeah, I don't mind being short.  It only bothers me when I want something off the top shelf in stores.  I'm only 5'2", 5'3" on a good day.

16. What is the most romantic thing someone of the preferred sex has done for you?

Married me even after they got to know me.  *snort*

 

17. When do you know it's love?

Isn't this a Van Halen song?

18. Do you speak any other languages?

I can understand some French cause that's what I took in school.  I know how to say "my name is..." and "I don't know."  I figure that's all I'll need if I ever get to go to France.

19. Have you ever been to tanning salon?

Yes.

20. Have you ever ridden in a limo?

Yes, on my wedding day to the Hubz.  

21. What's something that really annoys you?

Whistling.  If you can do it right, I like it.  But most of you can't.  I'm just sayin'.

22. What's something you really like?

Muscadines.

23. Can you dance?

How drunk are you gonna get me?

24. Have you ever been rushed by an ambulance into the emergency room?

No, Thank God.

 

I'm supposed to tag 5 other bloggers but I won't at this time cause I'm afraid everyone is very busy with Thanksgiving.  But beware for the next time!!!  Bawahhhhhh!

The Lipstick Incident

One morning last week, I woke up and checked on Bean.  She was still sleeping so I tucked her in nice and warm and then went to hop in the shower.  I left our bathroom door open a little bit so I could hear her if she woke up while I was showering.  She normally sleeps through and doesn't waddle into the bathroom until I'm out of the shower and getting ready.

When I stepped out of the shower, I noticed that the bathroom door was open wider and when I turned around to say "Good Morning" to Bean, this is what I saw.

 

 

Bean had decided she wanted to do her make-up and thought using half a tube of Estee Lauder lipstick was the best way to get that "perfect face".  Well, most of it did wind up on her face but I know she also snacked on some of it, too.

*I apologize for the fuzziness of the pictures.  I took them with my iPhone.  That phone used to take really great pics but now seems to have fallen off some.

The view from my office window...

This is what I see when I look out my office window in the fall.  I love to see this tree change colors every year. 

Wordless Wednesday - Hairbows

Operation Bye-Bye Ba-Ba.

Okay, I'll confess.  I'm a horrible mom and I should be fined or something.  Why?  Well, Bean is 22 months old and still addicted to her bottle, a/k/a her "Ba-Ba".  Bottles!  Bottles!  Bottles!  I am so sick of washing these danged bottles. 

Bean doesn't just drink out of her Ba-Bas.  They are her security item, her best friend.  She can't go to sleep without one.  She doesn't even seem to be able to go a day without one.  She will beg for one and when I cave in and give her one, she'll pop it into her mouth and walk away as happy as a clam.  She'll just walk around with it dangling out of her mouth.  No drinking, just companionship.

Why couldn't it have been a stuffed animal?  A soft, sweet blanket?  Even a pacifier?  Pacifiers are more acceptable for little kids to hang onto.  I know I get looks when we go out in public and other moms see Bean using a bottle.  I know what y'all are thinking.  I can read it on your face.  "Bad mom!  Bad mom!  Bad mom!"  Blah, blah, blah-da-di blah!  Listen, she's my kid.  I'll ruin her if I want to.

When she starts begging and whining and crying and...driving me crazy for a Ba-Ba, I can usually stand my ground for about 2 minutes and then, well, then I just think "she's so little, she needs her friend".  And over to the cabinet I go to get a clean Ba-Ba and put a smile back on my child's face.  Evidently, when I gave birth to her, they removed my spine cause I have no backbone when it comes to this fight.

But I came up with a wonderful, amazing, completely uber-fantastic plan on getting my child away from the horrible, evil Ba-Ba!  I've been telling her all weekend that if she wants Santa to leave her any presents at Christmas then she has to give him all her Ba-Bas.  Isn't it great that I can make Santa the bad guy?  Thanks, Santa!

Now I realized yesterday that Bean probably still has no idea who Santa is, what presents are, or what a Christmas is.  So that might be the fatal flaw in my plan.  It might all fall through.  But I figure I have a month and a half almost now to hype it all up and get her ready for the turnover. 

Please pray that this works.  Please pray cause frankly, I'm tired of getting those looks from y'all.

Happy 22 Months!

Bean was 22 months old yesterday!  She celebrated by partying with her cousin, The Only Boy, at his 5 year birthday party.  A good time was had by all, little and big kids.  Even with lots o' runny noses.

I guess it might be time to start planning another birthday party.  Any suggestions or ideas for a 2nd birthday party?