Saturday, September 1, 2007

September 2007


  • Trial by fire.....warning:blog containing poop

    Current mood:cranky
    My poor darling daughter is getting in 4 molars!  When is the insanity of teething ever going to end?  I thought it would get better eventually but it has gotten significantly worse as each tooth rears it's ugly head!  Maddie is pooping fire.  Not literally, but it might as well be.  I guess the acid level in her saliva gets much higher when cutting teeth and molars are really difficult to cut.  The result is that she swallows all of this acid/fire saliva and then poops it out eventually, which results in the skin on her bum looking like it has caught on fire.  I can not keep up with it.  She is pooping like 6-7 times a day, but it's just little bits and mostly liquid and it is destroying her bum.  She now screams bloody murder when she needs her diaper changed and I don't blame her in the slightest.  Her poor little bum looks like raw hamburger meat and it's starting to bleed.  I've been letting her run around without a diaper for short periods of time for the past couple of days and just clean up the peeps when she makes it on the floor, but today she did a big messy diarreha all over her play area and that put an end to the pants free-ness.  I tried using a "cloth diaper" today and I think that it lets more air circulate to her bum, but I have to change her like every 30 minutes or so.  When I say "cloth diaper" I mean I am using one of those burp rags that look like cloth diapers and safety pinning the sides so that it will stay on.  It is totally impratical to do anything but stay at home while she is wearing one of these makeshift cloth diapers because they absorb like nothing and need to be changed OFTEN.....so we are house bound.  She has a normal diaper on tonight while she sleeps and about a gallon of Desitin extra strength night time formula on her bum, and hopefully it will look better tomorrow.  I'm going to continue to cloth diaper tomorrow so that air gets to the bum, but she isn't free to poop on my floors, and if I can't get in under control a little better I am going to take her to the Dr. and get this burn victim cream that our friend Gary told us about that we can use to heal her poor hanburger meat bum.  I feel so horrible for Maddie.....not only is she dealing with teething, but her tummy is all in an uproar because of the acid, and her butt looks like it has caught fire and I know that it is ridiculously painful!  Please keep us in your thoughts!  She has been in a foul mood (totally understandable) and I really want her bum to heal and for these teeth to just break through already!


  • The birthday party extravaganza

    Current mood:tired
    The big birthday party extravanza was this weekend and it went beautifully!  We had a few less people than we were expecting, but 13 adults and 6 kids is plenty.  I still can't get over how in this day and age with as much technology as we have, that people still don't take a minute to RSVP and let us know that they aren't coming......telephone, email, myspace comment, fax, text message, courier pidgeon.  Amazing. 
    All in all it was a wonderful day and we have a lot of left overs....mmmm.......tortellini salad and sandwiches!  Maddie had a good time playing with the other kids, she hated the fantastic birthday hat that I got her, LOVED gorging herself on cake and didn't really know what to make of the present opening.  She got a lot of wonderful gifts, and I now have no idea where to put it all.  I finally got organized with what we had pre-birthday and had a spot for everything, but now with more toys, I really don't know where I am going to put them all.  What a spoiled little monkey!  lol....I'm kidding.....kinda! 
    It was really nice that most of Dan's family was able to make it, although I wish they could have stayed longer, but everyone lives so far away.  boo.  My mom flew in last Thursday and was here for the birthday party and she flew home today.  I liked having her here, and the 5 day visit was a good amount of time.....not long enough to drive me crazy!  lol.  It's funny though, my mom wears this plumeria perfume from Hawaii and EVERYTHING in my house still smells like it, including my daughter.  I kinda like it!  It feels like she is still here even when she isn't.....I don't think the perfume will stick around long what with poopie diapers and dogs, but it was nice to have it lingering for today!
    I am super exhausted because I got like 2 hours of sleep last night.....couldn't tell ya why!  Attack of the lame sleeping problems!  Hopefully tonight will be a different story and I will slumber like a hibernating bear!  I have a new photo slide show on my page in honor of Maddie's birthday tomorrow.  Check it out and see how much my baby has changed over this year!
    We don't have much planned for the real birthday tomorrow, mostly just hanging out as a family, but Dan is taking Maddie on a date in the afternoon for lunch and maybe ice cream!  He is going to get dressed up, and I'm gonna pick out a cute dress for Maddie and they are going to spend some special Daddy/Maddie time.  We may have cake again tomorrow evening since we have a LOT of left over from the party this past weekend!  Fun fun.  Pictures are below!  Enjoy.

     eating her lunch

     Maddie's own little cake to devour!
     Aunt Hannah and Uncle Kellen
     opening presents
     she got a spoon and fork set.....she is trying to eat the spoon through the package!  lol
     the bows seemed to be more exciting than the actual present!

     I think it's cute how little kids congregate for present opening!
     she did NOT like this hat!
Posted by geetabean at 11:15 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

August 2007


  • A mother’s love

    Current mood:sad
    I was rocking Maddie to sleep last night and she was wrapped around me with her head on my chest and I felt so overwhelmed with love for her I thought my heart was going to explode.  There aren't enough words to explain what I feel for my baby girl.  It's a love that is immeasurable.  Sitting there rocking her my thoughts drifted off to my own mother.  I haven't thought about her in a really long time.....really since I was still pregnant.  If I have this much love for my almost 1 year old how must she have felt for me?  How impossible it must have felt to give up a 4 year old.  I put myself in the situation (in my mind) and tried to fathom giving Maddie up right now after just a year.  This baby that I carried in my belly for 9 months, this perfect baby that I went through the worst pain I have ever endured to bring into this world, my child who I have watched grow and learn to talk and walk and who melts my heart on a daily basis....Maddie.  There's just no way!  There is no way that I can even imagine giving her away. 
    For most of my life I have thought of my mother from the perspective of a child, she abandoned me, she didn't want me, she was irresponsible.....I wanted to punnish her somehow.  Maybe by being a success (in comparrison to her) I would show her!!  Not that she would ever see me as an adult, but I felt inside of me.....I'm better, I made good choices, I didn't get pregnant at 14, I didn't go from home to home staying on people's couches, I didn't put my kid in foster care, I didn't have to give a child up for adoption......I'm better.....I'm a sucess.  I remember my 15th birthday, I mentally had a celebration because I had passed her.....I wasn't irresponsible, I hadn't gotten myself pregnant, I was better than her!
    How different the view is on this side of motherhood.  I still feel like she acted irresponsibly in her life, but really who doesn't?  Her consequenses were just a lot more severe than the ones I lived through for my bad choices in life.  I can't imagine being a child (14) and finding out there is a baby on the way.  How much easier would it have been for her to have an abortion?  Her life would have continued on the same as it was, but instead of taking the easy way out, she chose to carry me in her belly, and go through labor and do her damndest to keep me.  How scary life must have been with an infant and no place to live.  Imagine a 14 year old trying to juggle a baby and employment with no husband, no home, no support.  It must have been so hard.....harder than anything I have been though.  I can imagine how empty she must have felt during the times that I was in foster care, missing her baby but maybe also feeling the smallest bit of relief way down deep inside because it was just too hard trying to keep me.  And the ultimate decision to give me up for adoption......I wonder how much she cried coming to that decision?  How do you say goodbye to a child that you have raised for 4 years?  How do you tell her that you aren't going to see her again?  How do you explain that?  How?  How does your life not end?  Having a baby of my own and understanding the love a mother has for her child, I can see the sacrafice that my own mother made.  I can see how painful that must have been for her......just thinking about it has me sobbing.  After last night, I feel like I see my mother in a whole new light.  That I have let go all of the resentment that I had been carrying for all of these years.  Because no matter how much hurt I may have felt, I know that it pales in comparrison to what she had to go through giving me away. 
    I'm so grateful that I don't have to deal with a situation like that....with a decision like that.  I am so blessed that I get to stay home every day with my daughter and watch her grown up.  I get to teach her and learn from her and every morning I get to see her smiling face and I get to kiss her chubby cheeks all throughout the day.  I am so blessed!


  • Big-ness

    Current mood:excited
    This is a big weekend for me!  Dan is getting off work early today and loading up the car and heading out to Charlotte to visit his parents.  The big-ness is that he is taking Maddie with him, and I am staying home.  Thats right folks.....for the first time in over a year I have an entire weekend to myself!  I have mixed emotions about this event, I am over the moon with excietment about sleeping in and lying around and reading and taking a bath and paitning my toes and going to bed late without any regrets the next morning, but I am also a little bit sad and nervous about not seeing Maddie all weekend!  Even when we have a terrible day, I still love hugging and kissing and snuggling my baby and I don't know how it is going to feel for the first time ever not to do that for 48 hours.  I really think that I am going to miss her to death!  I'll miss Dan too by the way, but I'm used to being apart from him for periods of time.....not Maddie!  I'm going try my best not to think about missing her, and really enjoy my time off!  I don't know when I will have an opportunity to have alone time again and I want to enjoy it to the best of my ability!  So, if you call my house or cell phone this weekend and I don't answer, it's probably because I am soaking in the tub, or better yet taking a nice long nap!  Enjoy your weekend......I know I will!


  • A day in the life

    Current mood:awake
    It's been a little while since I have blogged.  Life as usual has been busy.  Maddie is dealing with a bit of a cold.....or at least some kind of illness, she has a runny nose and has been coughing a bit but she also has the runs (sorry if that was TMI) and a little bit of a fever.  I'm not quite sure what the matter is, but she has been a little irritable and clingy and that makes blogging time, or any other personal time pretty nonexistant.
    She is walking up a strom.  She does not crawl anymore.  Such a big girl.  I can't believe how fast she has mastered walking.  She still falls a lot, but her balance is so much better and she can handle the differences in floors better.....like the change from carpet to hard wood and back again.  She isn't really getting into things much more than she was when she was crawling which makes me happy, but that seems to be a big question that people ask now that she is a walker.  I have been letting her walk a lot more when we go to the store and she has learned the game of run away from Mama which most of the time I enjoy, but it does get old when I am in a hurry!  She walk/runs away from me and I chase/walk after her saying Mama's gonna get you, and she squeals with laughter until I scoop her up and spin her around......and then we do it all over again!  Fun game, I highly reccomend it!
    We have boo boos a plenty with a walkin' gal.  Yesterday Maddie was playing with a bowl that she got out of the cabinet herself and fell down and somehow managed to bit her tounge......there was SO much blood it really freaked Dan and I out.  She has two little teeth sized puncture holes in her tounge now and although it seems to be healing just fine, it was a huge scare and made me really sad that I couldn't protect her from that.  It also worries me of what the boo boos are to come.  I have a feeling it just gets worse, (I've been told MANY stories that include my darling husband and bloody limbs) and that I am in store for some big scares in the lifetime of my children.
    We have become a multi-lingual family.  Maddie is doing so great at sign language which forces Dan and I to continue learning new words that we can teach her.  She has about 10-15 signs now.  She knows book, juice, milk, ball, light, eat, cracker, paci, dog and we worked on rain today because we had a huge rain storm.  It is truly amazing how fast babies pick sign language up, and how wonderful it is that we can communicate with her.  She can let us know when she is interested in something, and that opens so many doors for us to teach her new signs, and talk with her about what her interests are.  I am so glad that we decided to go the sign language route.....we were a little skeptical about it, but my sister in law Angela helped to convince of how useful it is, so thank you to her!!!  Plus it is absolutely adorable to watch Maddie use her little hands to communicate!  Can you think of anything cuter?  I didn't think so!  lol.
    I am super excited because we have discovered the LIBRARY!!  I have never really lived in one place long enough to take advantage of the public library, but a friend of ours reccomended the Smithfield library and I must say that it is a really good one!  They have story time for kids 2 and under every Friday that we are going to start attending regularly and they have a HUGE kids section that has little table and chairs, and a club house and they even have board books that you can check out for the very little ones.  They have other programs for older kids everyday of the week, but I didn't really look into those since we aren't in that age catergory yet, but that is fantastic for when Maddie gets older.  I am an avid reader and used to buy my books off half.com used and cheap, but now I can just check them out cause the library has a new release section with great selection and I don't have to spend any money on books now.  I am currently on my third novel this week.  Hooray for the library!
    Maddie's birthday is sneaking up on us.  September 12th!  I can't believe that we have almost made it to a year.  Time has gone by so quickly.  We are planning on having a birthday party at our house on Sept. 8th which is the Saturday before the big day.  I am excited to have friends and family over, but also a little nervous because we have never had that many people over before.  And I'm only talking like 20 people.  To me though, that is a lot!  We are going to have to do some serious cleaning up!!  And there is going to be a lot of food preparation.  My mom will be flying in for the birthday so at least I will have help with Maddie watching, and food prep, and my MIL is in charge of the cake and will hopefully bring a fantastic Costco cake which is my favorite......err......I mean Maddie's favorite!  lol.  It should be a good time, and I am really looking forward to having everyone that we love the most all together at our house to celebrate my baby's first birthday.  *wipes tear away* I really can't believe that she is going to be a year old.  Time goes by too quickly.  She has become such a big girl.  It really makes me realize that I need to cherish each and everyday and try and savor every little thing, cause tomorrow she will be different.
    I guess that's it for now.  I always have things that I want to blog about during the day, but by the time I get a free minute usually after Maddie goes to bed, I don't have the energy.  Oh, we did get new home phones which we are jazzed about!!  We even have a new outgoing message which is too cute, so give us a call to hear it and tell us something nice about your day!
    Ciao


  • Best Buddies

    Current mood:grateful
    Maddie and Henry have become the best of buddies.  When Henry is in the house, him and Maddie are stuck together like glue.  I have no idea what the attraction is for either of them, but they seriously enjoy hanging out together.  They will go into the laundry room and I'll check in on them and they are just sitting there, Maddie talking to Henry and pointing things out to him in the room, and Henry just sitting there being a good sport.  Their most favorite thing to do is sit under our dining room table.  They don't really do anything, but they can sit under there together for huge periods of time.  Maddie will sit next ot Henry, then stand up next to Henry, then walk over to one of the chairs and bang on it, and then walk back over to Henry and sit back next to him.  I had always hoped that my baby would have a good relationship with our dogs, and so far so good.  It is so cute and endearing to watch them together.  I was a little worried about Tyson because for about 2 months he was not behaving very well around Maddie, he would sometimes growl at her, and anytime she got near he would bolt to another room.....I seriously thought we were going to have to get rid of him, but in the last couple of weeks he has made a total turn around.  He lets Maddie basically sit on him if she wants.....he is still a little skittish and doesn't like fast movements, but I honestly think that he has accepted her as part of the pack....either that or he has learned that pretty much anywhere Maddie goes there is bound to be a trail of food that follows, and if he's lucky he can snatch up any leftovers!.  I am so happy that Maddie and any future children will get to grow up with such awesome dogs.  They won't have that fear of dogs that children who aren't brought up with them have, and I really like that until Maddie has a sibbling, she has a built in playmate with Henry!
    Playing under the table:


    Playing in the laundry room:


    Tyson eyeing up some dropped raisins:


  • My daughter is the BEST!

    Current mood:chipper
    I can't believe what a difference a few weeks can make. Maddie is such a big girl. Not only is she walking....pretty much all the time now, but she is also talking more, and learning sign language! She can say Mama and Dada, good, no, oh no, dog and she can almost say Henry (one of our dogs) She knows how to sign "more" and "all done" and there are a few more signs on their way. It's so crazy to see how much she has learned in the past couple of weeks.....she is growing up so fast! We took her to Blockbuster the other day and she walked around the whole store laughing. I'm not quite sure what was so funny, but she just laughs.....all the time! It's also amazing to see what she is able to understand. I'll ask her where Mama's feet are and she will look down at my feet and then reach down and grab them. If you ask her where her ball is, or her bus, she scans the room and walks over to get it. I read somewhere that babies can understand a lot more than we give them credit for, and it's really true. She may not be able to express exactly what she wants yet, or be able to answer me back, but she totally knows what is up. It's funny with the sign language....now that she knows how to tell me all done, she signs it all the time. I lay her down to change her diaper (which she pretty much hates) and she signs all done over and over. Dan was playing with her on our bed the other day and she got bored and signed all done. She is such a genius! lol. She is also a social butterfly. She loves EVERYONE especially kids and she will find the only kid in a restaurant or store and wave at them, and if she is walking, she will approach them to say hi. I'm sure that everyone who has kids think that theirs is the best, but I really feel like mine is.....the best in the whole world. How did we ever get so lucky? Below is a video I took of her laughing. I was coughing and for whatever reason it cracked her up. Such a funny girl. Enjoy!

    Check out this video: Laugh a minute



  • Maddie’s new furniture

    Current mood:happy
    We got a pair of little kid chairs from Dan's grandmother almost a year ago.  They are at least 23 years old and have numerous layers of paint on them.....we know because we have been stripping and sanding them for the past couple days.  I finally got them primed and soon I will be painting them and sometime in the near future, they will be done and hopefully my daughter will enjoy having chairs just her size.  To go along with the chairs, Dan has been working on making a little table.  Maddie has been helping.....well, rather getting in the way and messing around with tools, but it has been a fun family project to work on and I am so excited to get both the chairs and the table done cause I know they are going to be super cute and I can just imagine Maddie coloring, or playing play-doh at her special table!  I'll post pics once the project is complete so you can ooh and ahh over our craftsmanship!






  • Here comes trouble

    Current mood:content
    Maddie has turned into an explorer recently.  She has discovered kitchen cabinets, Mama's purse and pretty much every other nook and cranny of our house.  For the most part I don't mnd that she is getting into things although from minute to minute there are a number of messes that I get to discover and clean up.  I chalk it up to her learning about the world around her and discovering what all is in our house and what she can and can not play with.  There aren't really very many off limit things but I wonder sometimes if letting her get into whatever she wants to (within limit....there are always things that she can't touch or play with.....knives for example) is going to cause problem in the future like if we go to someone else's house and they have more no touch items.  I guess these types of decisions are part of parenting.  Trying to do what is best for your little one and hoping that they will turn out okay because of, or sometimes in spite of your parenting.  Here are some fun pics of Maddie's adventures.


    Yes, that is a tampon.








  • Baby steps

    Current mood:ecstatic
    It is a magical time in the Schultz residence.  We have a toddling little girl among us.  Yep, thats right, Maddie is walking.  She has been taking one or two steps for a little while now, but yesterday she started toddling around the house.  Of course she falls a LOT, and still crawls because at this point it is faster, but she is walking.  We even got it on video yesterday!  I'm really excited that our big girl is able to get around on her legs because in so many ways it makes life a little easier.  When we take her to the pool, often times she crawls into the water and is quickly in deeper than she should be, and the park will be a lot more fun with a child that can walk around.  Dan and I made a bet about when she was going to walk, and neither of us won because we thought it would be a little later than 10 and a half months.  It really is so hard to believe that time has flown by so quickly and we now have a upwardly mobile child.  It seems like only yesterday that we brought her home from the hospital and had a little budnle who would just lie on her back.  Such a big growing baby!  In 6 weeks or so, she is going to be a whole year old and we get to have her very first birthday party.  So much fun.  I think that we are really going to enjoy having a toddler around the house!
Posted by geetabean at 11:18 AM 0 comments

Sunday, July 1, 2007

July 2007


  • Toes

    Current mood:pissed off
    I'm not good at having toes.  Last year when I was preggo I hit my baby toe while getting out of the car and nearly lost my toe nail.  Then a couple weeks later I hit the same toe again on a coffee table leg.  It hurt like hell.  Today I was wrestling with a new bathroom rug and the bathroom door and managed to hit my middle toe with the door right under the toenail, and now it is bleeding and throbbing.  I am really clumsy with my feet and my poor toes always pay the price.  I wonder if others have such difficulties with their toes?  Maybe if I didn't have any toes I'd be in better shape.  I could hobble around on my stump feet and stop hurting myself.  Or maybe I'd just continue to stub my stumps.  Who knows.  Hopefully I won't lose my toenail, cause that grosses me out.  I just need to learn to have toes better.

  • Daddy time

    Current mood:grateful
    I haven't blogged in a long time and tonight I have some free time before bed......thus my blog-o-thon.  Bare with me.
    I really enjoy watching Dan interact with Maddie.  Life is starting to be less about Mama and Maddie is really loving her rough and tumble Daddy.  The two of them play together with toys, they wrestle on the floor, play hide and go seek (the crawling version with Dan on his knees as well) and there are hundreds of moments where I am in another room and I hear the roar of Dan's voice and peals of laughter coming from my darling daughter.  I always knew that Dan would make a good father, but he blows me away everyday.  He is kind and generous and thoughful and is always thinking about his family.  The way that he is with Maddie is the dad that I always wished that I had.  I look forward to watching their relationship grow, to see the bond between them deepen and to see our family thrive.




  • She has hair!!

    Current mood:cheerful
    Granted it's not very much....yet.  But my little baldy is getting some big girl hair.  I have no idea what it's going to look like, but as of now it is all growing in evenly, and I have a feeling that it is going to be light just like her daddy's hair when he was little.  It's actually a little strange for me to see her with hair cause I am so used to her being bald.  And it's really funny when I get her up in the morning or from a nap and she has bead head.....all it takes to tame it at this point is a little swip of my hand with some saliva on it.  I've tried to get it into a mohawk but it's still too short......but man, once it's long enough she is gonna be sporting a mowhawk!!  The only styling that I can do right now is getting it to stand straight up.....which is pretty darn cute!  My baby is growing up.


  • Raleigh Kids Exchange

    Current mood:happy
    Yes, boys and girls, last weekend was the semi anual Raleigh Kids Exchange.  For those of you who don't remember what that is: It's a HUGE consignment sale held at the Raleigh fair grounds where they have everything that you could ever imagine kid related for kiddos from utero through teenage years.  I have to say that it is my most favorite part of living near Raleigh.....at least twice a year!  lol. 
    Dan let me go hog wild and I wound up getting all of the clothes that Maddie will need for this fall and winter and a whole bunch of toys for her birthday and the next 6 months or so.....and they are developmentally appropriate.....hooray, she won't have to play with rattles anymore.  So, for those who care to see the tally here we go:
    10 Jammies
    15 long sleeve shirts
    11 pairs of pants
    3 dresses
    3 sweaters
    3 long sleeved shirts
    5 velour/ terry hooded track suits
    3 pairs of overall pants with tops
    5 pant outfits with tops
    1 poncho
    1 heavy winter jacket
    1 light weight windbreaker
    1 pooh halloween costume
    3 pairs of shoes
    2 winter hats
    1 pair of winter mittens
    25 pairs of socks

    And the numerous toys shown below.  My grand total for all of that loot was just under $280.00.  If I bought all of that brand new (Dan would kill me) it would have been WAY more expensive.  Woot woot to me and my bargain hunting.  I think next year I am going to be a volunteer for a one or more of the days and then I can shop a day earlier than I normally do with my friend's consigner pass. 




  • Home Sweet Home

    Current mood:tired
    I may have another blog with the same title as this one, but it's true and necessary so there will just have to be more than one.  We are finally home from the big Maui adventure.  I don't think I have time to delve into the entire trip right now, but all the gory details will come as will pictures eventually.
    I have never been happier to be in my house in Smithfield, North Carolina.  Whatever my prior opinions of this town may have been, or what they will more than likely return to, I LOVE Smithfield.....I LOVE my house!  I am physically and emotionally drained and me and the little one are sick to boot....there's no place like home.  Our flight from California to NC on Saturday got canceled due to mechanical problems (thank God they didn't board us on a plane with issues) which meant we had to stay in Cali for an extra day which was not a pleasant surprise.  We barely made our flight on Sunday because the security check was so outrageous.....we got held up because my small bottles of baby shampoo and lotion which were in a zip lock bag and less than 2 oz. were not taken out of the diaper bag prior to going through the security check.  We waited an waited while the chick behind the viewer hollered over and over again for a manager to come over and look through our bag and no one responded to her.....so we waited an waited, and finally I opened my big mouth and yelled to the guy that the viewer chick was trying to get to come over and that guy reprimanded me but sent over a manager type person who unzipped the diaper bag, pulled out the zip lock bag with the mini baby toiletries and told us that next time they needed to be put through security seperately.  Thanks.  All that for a simple reminder from TSA.  We high tailed it to our gate and they were making an announcement calling our names telling us we had 4 minutes until the plane left the gate.  Yoikes.  After all that, they gave us seats that weren't next to each other since we were on a different flight than the one we had originally booked and for those of you who have flown with infants, it is necessary to sit next to your spouse in this type of situation.  We found a nice guy to trade with us and we gave him a drink voucher that Delta gave us for his trouble.....but jeez.
    Anyway, we arrived in Charlotte at 6:30 pm.  Got picked up by Dan's dad and went back to my in-laws house.....Maddie cried nearly the entire way home.  We weren't sure if we were going to spend the night there or not, but Dan had to work the next day because we were supposed to be back in town on Saturday and not Sunday, and Monday he was scheduled to go back to work.  The baby was a mess having taken only a 1 hour nap the entire day and having gotten up at 6:30 in the morning to catch our flight, I was exhausted and feeling horrible (sick) so my mother in law put the baby to bed, and I crawled into bed with my clothes on around 9:00.  At 10:00, I was woken up by Dan who said the baby only slept 30 minutes and he had loaded the van and we were going home.  Which is a 3 hour drive from my in-laws house.....if you do the math, that would put us at home around 1:00 in the morning.  Yeah.  Fun.  Maddie slept almost the entire way home which was such a blessing because I don't know if I would have been able to deal with another crying car ride, we got home around 1:30, got the baby to bed, got some necessary luggage inside, I watered my wilting plants, and we crawled into bed at 2:45 am.  Oh, and I forgot to mention that we had turned the air conditioner to off while we were gone and when we arrived home the house was 90 degrees inside.  Holy Cow......it was so hot!  It took a few hours to get it cooled down and we too cold showers before bed and went to bed in a hot house!
    Again, thank God, Maddie slept beautifully and didn't wake up until almost 8:00, and then was back down at 8:40, and we all slept in until 11:30 and then Dan got up and went to work.  Poor guy!  Although it hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows for me.  I am still sick, and Maddie has not fully adjusted to the time change, and is SUPER clingy and has been crying more than normal and pretty much refuses to eat any solids.  She is still sick as well, and I called her pedi today and they said that a cold and all of the travel/time change stuff could be why she isn't eating well and to give it a day or two and if it doens't get better to bring her in.  Uhhhh......deep breath.  She did okay with dinner tonight and hopefully by tomorrow she will be mostly back to her old schedule and her appetite will reappear.
    Our trip was fun but stressful, and we have decided two things.  1. We are not traveling again for a very very long time.  We have to go back to Cali for Christmas because it's been 2 years and it's my fami;y's turn to have us, but after that I don't think I wanna fly again for at least a year.  2. If we ever go on a big vacation again that involves tropical or touristy locations we are not going to bring our children with us.  They ( as of right now we only have the one, but someday there will be more) will be shipped off to whichever grandparents want them, and Dan and I will vacation without them......at least until they are a lot older.  It is REALLY hard to vacation with an infant or toddler and it was not as much of a vacation as we had hoped it would be because you can't take an infant snorkeling, parasailing, swimming in the ocean for hours at a time.....or pretty much anywhere for hours at a time when they needs naps, and feeding etc.  Or maybe next time we will just bring a nanny/friend whose sole purpose is to tend to the baby while Dan and I frolick around in paradise.
    But I must say that Maddie was overall a very good girl and sprouted 2 new teeth, (she now has 6) learned how to stand up on her own without holding onto anything, can squat and bend over to pick things up without holding on to anything, can walk around furniture holding on, and she says the words "NO" and "Oh No".  At first we thought she didn't actually know the word no, and was just saying it, but more and more she has been using it in the appropriate context like when I put her in her high chair and she says "no", and when my mom asked her if she wanted up and she said "no", and when I take something away from her and she says.....yeah, you guessed it, "no."  Silly baby.   Okay, time for bed for this sickie.  Here are a few pictures to hold you over until I get another minute free from the baby who seems to be attached to my leg.  Enjoy!
    The view from our lanai

    Hula baby

    Sunset

    Beauty

    Family

  • Aloooooha

    Current mood:relaxed
    Maui is beautiful.....wish you were here!! We arrived on Thursday safe and sound and have been enjoying the beautiful weather and and gorgeous scenery. It was a little windy the last 2 days, but today is wind free and fantastic. There is nothing quite as beautiful as the Hawaiian sea.....the deep water is a sapphire and the shallow water is different shades of aqua. The water is warm, clear and gentle. Dan and I took Maddie in the ocean for the first time yesterday in a baby raft and she LOVED it!! She was laughing and flapping her arms around and kicking like crazy. She also loved the salt water.....she would put her fingers in the water and then lick them to taste the salt. Silly baby! The time change has been a little killer, but I think that she is finally adjusting, and she has been taking wonderful naps because she is getting really worn out from all of activities. Today we are going to Kihei to walk around the open market and visit our favorite spots from our honeymoon, and this afternoon we are gonna go to Lahaina to see the banyan tree and walk around there, and tonight is my parents anniversary dinner at Kimo's. I am excited to eat there because it's tradition for my family and I love the food. I am also excited to give my parents their anniversary book. I really hope they like it......depending on how much they have to drink there very well may be tears! lol. I don't know what we are doing the next few days, but that's kind of the island style....relax, and go with the flow. We've done Maui before and experienced all of the tourist type things, so this trip is just about relaxing and enjoying time together in this beautiful locale. I don't have my USB cable to upload pictures but you can anticipate pictures when we get back to North Carolina.....and just to tease everyone a little bit, there are pictures of Maddie wearing a bikini top and grass skirt! Yeah, it will be worth checking back! Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend, cause we sure are! Aloha!

  • My love, hate relationship

    Current mood:tired
    I don't think that it is normal for a person who is tired to lie awake in bed for 2 and a half hours trying to fall asleep.  Maybe I'm worng, but it doesn't feel normal to me.  I seriously don't understand what is up with me and sleep.  I LOVE sleeping.  I could sleep all day.  But get me tired at the end of a long day with my teeth brushed in bed and I can't fall asleep.  There is a small chance that it's because I am crazy stressed out about our trip.....we leave tomorrow for Charlotte and our flight to California leaves on Monday and our flight to Hawaii is on Thursday.  I'm a wee bit anxious about it all, but I seem to always have problems sleeping, so I don't really know if I can blame it on our vacation.  Dan has suggest I go to a sleep clinic many times but I've always thought it was silly.  Maybe he's right?  I'm gonna try and read for a little bit and see if that helps any.  Wish me luck!

  • Mama's little helper

    Current mood:drained
    We've been cleaning the house a lot this past week because we are going on vacation for 2 weeks and it always sucks to come to a messy/dirty house.  Everything looks really good except for the clutter that we never seem to be able to get rid of, but oh well.  We are clutter people......I guess we need to learn to live with that.  Maddie wanted me to tell everyone that she has been helping with the cleaning too.  She unloaded the dishwasher (stood next to it while I unloaded the dishwasher) and she swept the floor (played with the broom)  Make sure to leave comments for her.....otherwise her feelings will be hurt. : )




  • The first of many

    Current mood:amused
    I got an itch yesterday to move furniture around in the livingroom.  I've moved 7 times in the last 6 years and haven't really stayed anywhere as long as I've stayed in our current house.  So, I'm used to changing scenery often and just started getting the itch to change things.  Dan had the last 2 days off and yesterday I convinced him to move all our furniture.  Let me just say he was less than thrilled at my idea!! 
    We got to work rearranging things and the baby kinda played around on the floor near us.  She snuck off into the kitchen which isn't a big deal cause usually she goes over and plays with her refrigerator magnets and there isn't much that she can get into trouble with in the kitchen.  Well, after about 15 minutes I realized that it was way too quiet so I went to check on her.  She wasn't at the fridge.  She wasn't under the kitchen table......and then I heard noise coming from the laundry room.  I got closer to the door and saw Maddie sitting in a pool of water completely soaked, splashing around in the dog's water bowl!!  I immediately started laughing which caused Dan to come find us and we all had a good chuckle.  I then grabbed a towel, carted Maddie off to her room to dry and change her, and Dan set about mopping up the floor.  I know that this is the first of many situations where our now mobile child is going to get into something she shouldn't and a mess is going to need to be cleaned up!  It was so freaking cute, how can you get upset in situations like this?
    Moral of the story.....don't take your eyes off of them, even for a second!  lol


Posted by geetabean at 11:23 AM 0 comments

Friday, June 1, 2007

June 2007


  • Food

    Current mood:tired
    What do you get when you take an infant who is exhausted from playing at the pool all afternoon and give her avocado, black beans and apricots to eat all by herself?

    This:

    Hopefully she will sleep well tonight!  lol

  • Standing Room Only

    Current mood:tired
    Our newest accomplishment is standing.  It seems like it too happened overnight.  One day she would grab at the coffee table and wasn't able to pull herself up, and the next day she could totally do it.  It seems to have happened right along with the crawling.  But now that she can stand on her own, that's all she wants to do.  All day long.  Standing standing standing.  I don't know what the average time is between babies learning to stand and walking, but it seems that it is going to happen quickly.  She is still a little wobbly when standing and trying to move around the coffee table, but she can do it!  Here are some fun pictures of Maddie standing.  I know it seems weird to post pics of standing, but it's new for the wee one.




  • Bath tub fun

    Current mood:happy
    It's been a couple months since Maddie graduated from the blow up ducky tub, or kitchen sink baths and she is now in the big girl bath tub.  It is SO much fun.  Every once in a while she does some cirque du soleil type manuver and ends up on her face in the water, or bonks her head on the side of the tub, but that's why Mama is always RIGHT THERE during bath time.  Most of the time her whoopsies don't bother her, although her newest thing is trying to crawl in the bath and trying to stand in the bath.....both scare me half to death.  I don't really know how to keep her from doing it all together, but I continue to tell her that she needs to sit on her bottom and help her get there.  The crawling isn't so bad, but I have to make sure there is very little water in the tub otherwise we could be in trouble.  lol.  I bought her those foamy alphabet and numbers that stick to the side of the tub and she likes to play with them.....well, chew on them is more accurate.  We also have a couple of wind up toys that have fins and swim through the water that she also likes to watch and chew on.  And she has been showing more and more interest in the drain plug and the overflow cover because both are chrome and reflective.  But I must say that her most favorite bath time item is the wash cloth.  She puts it in her mouth and sucks on it.  I tried for a while to keep her from doing that because more than likely she pees in the tub, but she throws a fit when I don't let her have the wash cloth, and I figured the pee is probably extremely diluted in all the water, so it probably isn't that bad.  Lemme know if I am totally wrong, and I'll figure something else out......maybe a loofa.  lol.  She is overall a very good girl and let's me clean her and wash her hair, and I just LOVE the smell of a clean baby.  Well, I think that's it. 






  • Growing

    Current mood:content
    My baby is growing up.  I can't believe how big she is, and when I say big, I mean BIG.  I don't know how much she weighs.....we will find out next Thursday at her 9 month check up, but man she is heavy.  It is getting hard to hold her with arm and do anything for an extended period of time because my arm just gives out!!  Hopefully she will be walking before she gets any heavier, cause I don't know how much longer I can carry her everywhere without regular visits to the chiropractor.  lol
    We officially have a crawler.  She has been scooting around for a while now and has been able to get where she needs to go that way, but sometime this week she really figured out how to move her hands forward and have her knees follow.  The world has really opened up for her.  The other day I had some ritz crackers and after I gave her one I put the package on the couch, well she dropped her cracker, crawled all the way across the living room, pulled herself up on the side of the couch and grabbed another cracker.  Silly baby.  It was actually really impressive.  Now that she has the ability to crawl to the dogs, she doesn't seem to want to leave them alone.  Thankfully neither Tyson nor Henry seem to mind and usually they are eager to have her near because it means that the possibility of stealing a snack from her is pretty much guarenteed......they don't really even have to steal, she gives them pretty freely.  So far she hasn't really tried to get into anything that she shouldn't, but I'm also pretty laxed in what I let her get into and there aren't very many "no touch" items in our house.  I find that it's easier that way for everyone......she doesn't get frusterated because she can't play with something, I don't get frusterated continually having to redirect her; because we all know that kids always seem to want exactly what they shouldn't have, and there is no frusteration over broken items.  Win win, at least for now.
    It seems like overnight she learned how to pull herself up to a standing position.  Just like with every other milestone that she has mastered ALL she wants to do anymore is pull herself up and stand.  She will pull herself up and stand next to her box of toys and then be totally bent in half reaching in to grab things.....it would be easier if she just sat down and got things from the box, but no, she must stand.  lol.  We also just recently lowered the mattress in her crib because she was sitting up inside and we were worried that she might figure out how to stand......well, she did, and now we have to lower it even further because I am afraid that she will topple out of it which would be horrible.  It was so funny though the first time I went in to get her up from a nap and she was just standing there smiling at me.  STANDING!!!  Holy cow.  She is getting so big.  She hasn't really learned how to take any steps yet, even when I hold onto her hands.....I kinda have to move her hands forward and to each side to get her body to naturally move forward so that she will move her leg and foot forward, but we work on it.  I've also helped her stand behind her hippo and I help her push it forward and walk.  I think that walking is going to be here before we know it.....as soon as she figures out that she can do it, and that it is faster and easier, I think she'll be off and walking.
    Summer is officially here and it has brought with it 98 degree heat and humidity.  bleh.  On the plus side, our air conditioning is working beautifully unlike last summer and we get to spend our afternoons at the country club pool.  We have been a handful of times already and Maddie loves it.  There are other little kids there, so she gets that exposure and is entertained by their antics, and she gets to splash around in the water and generally have a terrific time.  I get to get out of the house and the pool is distracting enough that even on the worst days, Maddie is an angel and we always have a good time.  I haven't been dunking her at all because honestly, I don't want to, but she will let me kind of dip her backwards and float on her back (with my arm under her of course) and have her head in the water.....I don't like having her ears under the water, so she only goes in up to the ears.....if that makes sense at all in writing!  lol.  But, she doesn't seem to mind water on her face at all and other kids splash her all the time and even when it's in the face, it doesn't bother her.  She is such a mellow kid, we are truly blessed.
    Anyway.....life is good.  I wish that it wasn't so gross out.....Dan tried to take Maddie to the park today and it was just way too hot to enjoy it.  But other than that, we are enjoying our summer so far.  We are leaving for California and Hawaii in 2 weeks.  I can't believe how fast time has gone by.....my family has been talking about this trip since before Dan and I were even dating, and now I'm married, live on the east coast and have a baby,  Weird.  I am super excited but also kind of dreading the trip, but that is another blog all together.  Hope everyone has a lovely weekend.





  • I am in a bad mood

    Current mood:infuriated
    BAAAD MOOD.
    I have been driving a Ford Taurus for 6 days now.  I left the minivan at the dealership last Thursday because part of our contract to buy it included a rip in the leather being repaired.  They couldn't fix it, so they were going to replace it, they were also getting us new floor mats and they were going to wash and detail the van.  The new seat cover was supposed to be in the next day on Friday, so they gave me a loner car.....the Taurus.
    The cover didn't come in on Friday, so they said it would be in on Monday and I would be able to get the van by late Monday afternoon.
    I called Monday and as of 3:30 it hadn't arrived yet, so they said it would be ready on Tuesday.
    I called them on Tuesday around 1:00 and the cover had not been replaced yet.  The dealership then called around 3:00 and said it would be ready to pick up at 6:00.....which doesn't work for me cause Maddie goes to bed at 7:00 and the dealership is 45 minutes away.....I decide to wait until today, Wednesday to pick the van up.
    Today I drive the 45 miutes to the dealership with Maddie crying most of the way there.  When I get there they give me my keys, and make me go get the van from the service area parking lot.  Lame.  When I get to the van (all the while carrying Maddie and the carseat) it is filthy dirty.  Not only has it not been cleaned, but the floormats are jammed in between the middle captains seats (not put where they are supposed to go) and as I walk around the van to get Maddie and the car seat situated, I notice scuff marks and scratches that weren't there before.  Crap crap crap.
    I bring the scratches and scuff marks to the attention of the service guy and he brings out the service manager who basically tells me that they never moved my vehicle to work on it (they did the work in the parking lot) they are not responsible for vehicles that are in their parking lot and someone dropped the ball on cleaning the van.  Okay.....they did move the van, cause when I picked it up it was in a different spot from where I left it, and the parking brake was set which I didn't do.  And they may not be responsible for vehicles parked in their lot but when the work being done is to the back of my van and they have to use the back to get the seat out to replace the cover it is not illogical to think that one or more of their guys could have stepped on the bumper, rubbed up against it with keys in their pockets or tools in their hands.  I wasn't expecting the service dept. to buy me a new van or anything, but they could have at least acknowledged the fact that their guys could have done the damage.  Their solution was to bring the van back tomorrow when their detailer guy would be there so he could buff out the scratches.  Nice of them, but I live 45 MINNUTES AWAY!
    So, I left after almost crying and almost yelling at them with nothing resolved and drove the 45 minutes back home with Maddie crying most of the way.  Lovely.
    I am now in less of a bad mood after venting, but there is this chick in one of my mommy groups that is driving me up the wall and causing my blood pressure to get a little elevated.  She is seriously retarded and makes me feel like I am talking to a 17 year old.  Her arguments are ridiculous and she can't seem to reply without using a very colorful vocabulary which to me shows a huge lack of intelligence and confidence.  50% of me finds her sad and pathetic, 35 % of me finds her ridiculous and childish and 15% of me wants to smack her upside the head and dump fire ants on her.  Maybe my mood isn't as good as I thought it was!  lol.  What happened to a good old fashioned deabte about something?  I state my opinion on something and get attacked and called a c*nt.  Why can't people state facts and opinions and leave out the garbage talk?  Oh well.....back to my group to open a can of whoop-ass.  I'm kidding.....kinda.  lol
    Till next time........don't trust a dealership

  • We have trees!!!

    Current mood:cheerful
    They finally arrived today to plant our trees.  Although they were missing 3 trees and 6 forsythia bushes, we still got 6 trees and 8 bushes planted and they will be coming back to plant the rest.  I am super excited.  They are bigger than we thought they were going to be, and although they are no where near full grown, they are tall and eventually will fill in.....someday we'll have shade on our property!  lol.  I'm really happy with how it has turned out so far.  They also tilled all the land behind our house that was previously covered in weeds and such and now we are gonna put grass seed down and cross our fingers that the grass will keep the crazy weeds out.  The only difficult thing is that they need to be watered 3 times a day for the next 2 weeks.  Fun.  We are gonna go and get some more hoses and a couple splitters so that we can run two to the front and two to the back to make it a little easier, but man.....that's a lot of watering!  Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

     Lying on the ground is a yoshino cherry tree
     The tractor thing pulling trees out of the back of the truck
     Red Maple
     Sweet Bay Magnolia
     This is a black tupelo
     TIlling the back, and the weeping willow.....hadn't been planted yet
     Sugar maple
     Planting 1 of 8 crepe myrtles

  • pitchfork happiness

    Current mood:excited
    Anyone who knew me when I was a single gal living in San Diego is going to find what is about to come outta my mouth....er, umm, fingers since I'm typing.....hard to believe.  But....I bought a pitchfork yesterday!!  I am so freakin' excited about my pitchfork I can hardly contain myself.  Can you believe it?  Me excited about a pitchfork.  Yeah.  Since we started our compost pile, I've been using a shovel to stir it up and it is some difficult work and kills my back, but with my new pitchfork it is WAY easier and lets air get to the core so much better.  Dan wants to take a picture of me with my new pitchfork, so once he does I'll be sure to post it so all can see!
    Speaking of my compost, we are making great strides.  We've added 2 bags of grass clippings recently and also bought some cheap manure compost to help give it a good kick start.  It's amazing how much kitchen waste we have and how quickly I can get a bucket full of green matter when I weed.  Yesterday when I stirred it I could totally tell that its working.....it is hard to pick out what any particular item is inside the compost which means that it is all working together and turning into black gold like it's supposed to.  Our friend Gary gave me a book called Lasagna Gardening and I am getting really excited about my garden plans.  The coolest part of Lasagna Gardening is that you don't have to till, dig, or weed.....it's planting veggies and stuff right into beds made of different composting layers.  We have so much going on this summer so I don't know if I am gonna be able to get anything started for a fall crop, but I am gonna keep working on as much compost as I can and maybe even make another bin so that we can have 2 working at the same time and do all the prep work I can to prepare for a spring crop.  Okay, thats probably more than you wanted to know.  lol. 
    TIll next time.  Three cheers for pitchforks!
Posted by geetabean at 11:28 AM 0 comments
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