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

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

May 2007


  • why?????

    Current mood:frustrated
    Why do they make toys so freakin' hard to get out of the box?  I bought Maddie a little tykes bubble buddy which is basically a battery operated dinosour that has a handle and when you pull the handle his mouth opens up and he blows bubbles.  Anyway, not only was the dinosour zip tied to the box in multiple places, he also had a twisty wire around his neck that I had to take the box apart to un-twist, and he was screwed to the bottom of the box with not one but 2 screws.  The bottle of bubbles was also zip tied to the box in 2 different places.  I seriously don't understand.  Why do toys have to be secured like that especially when there aren't any small pieces involved.....I'm sure that it has something to do with safety, but logically it is less safe to have all of those items attached to the toy once you get home.  More parts for a baby to choke on.  It seriously took me 15 minutes to get the toy out of the box, and another 10 minutes to get the batteries into it.  Sheesh.  Hopefully she likes it!  I can't wait for her to get up from her nap so I can try it out!


  • Rough night and rodents

    Current mood:tired
    I don't know what was going on last night, but Maddie DID NOT want to sleep.  It really was an all day thing....she took a 35 minute morning nap and a 25 minute afternoon nap, which was soo not enough sleep for her.  We put her to bed a little early at 6:30 and she was up again at 9:00 crying a lot.  We brought her into bed with us, but she just thrashed around and cried in her sleep off and on.  I was thinking that maybe she wasn't feeling well, but I can't see any other teeth coming through so I don't think it was from teething.  I did give her carrots yesterday, and not pureed ones.....I steamed whole baby carrots and cut them up into bite sized pieces.....maybe the pieces are harder to digest?  I have no idea, but this morning I am a tired Mama!!  Hopefully we will not have an encore performance tonight!
    On a creepier note, the mice are back.  We haven't found any inside the house because Dan filled all the holes under our house with foam, so hopefully they will stay outside, but last night we opened the front door and I noticed something on our screen.....I thought that it was just a large moth but when Dan turned on the proch light we saw that it was a mouse!  It had crawled up our screen door and was perched on the ledge of the t-bar.  Gross!  Dan had to flick at it through the screen repeatedly to get it to fall off and scurry away.  It totally freaked me out.  I HATE rodents....they give me the heebe geebes.  I know that we live out in the country, and I know that field mice live around us, but why do they have to come to our house?  They have plenty to eat out in the wild.  I am gonna have Dan set some traps up in the places that they used to get into last year just to be safe.  I really hope that we can make it through the season without any mice in our house.  If not.....we're moving to the city!  lol.


  • inevitable boo boos

    Current mood:chipper
    We've reached a stage where boo boos are starting to happen.  I wish that I could protect Maddie from getting hurt, but I honestly feel that part of a baby's development and learning about the world include boo boos.  So I am straddling the fence on this one......I try my best to catch her from falling but I choose not to constantly hover over her.  This morning she pulled on the strap on my camera which sent the camera falling over the edge of the coffee table and right onto her face.  The wail that came from my poor baby's mouth was seriously pitiful!  I felt so aweful.....I scooped her up and gave her some cuddling and after a minute or two she was fine, but it really does pull at the heart strings when she cries like that.  As she is learning to get around the house by scooting and showing more interest in pulling herself up to a standing position there are tumbles, bumping of her head, face plants into the ground and pulling things on top of her.  So far nothing has been serious and I hope it stays that way, but everyday I watch her on the hard wood floors propped up on her side balancing between flopping onto her stomach or knocking her head on the floor and it makes me want to jump up and remove her from the situation she is in.  Most of the time I restrain myself because it is all a learning process and I want her to feel like she can be independent if she wants to be, but man, it's hard to watch sometimes.  I know that we'll get past this stage eventually and then enter into the scary world of walking and the boo boos that come with that, I just hope we make it there all in one piece!







  • Mad mama with a minivan

    Current mood:content
    We have officially taken the plundge into suburbia.  We bought a 2006 Ford minivan!  I have never been totally anti minivan, but generally felt that they were weird looking and unnecessary for my life.  Now that we have a child and 2 dogs going anywhere all together is impossible unless we don't bring any belongings with us.  We have basically run out of room and with the rising cost of gasoline Dan's truck has become ridiculous to operate.  So I am now a mad mama with a minivan and so far I am loving it.  I still think they are weird looking, but it doesn't feel like a minivan while driving it and it is super nice.  We got leather interior and although we weren't looking for one that had a DVD player this one does have one.....so that should be interesting.
    We still need to sell Dan's truck which should be easy because it is a REALLY nice truck.....I actually cried at the thought of getting rid of it.  So, if you know anyone who would be interested in a 2003 Dodge Ram 1500 Quad Cab pick up truck lemme know.
    Cheers to minivans!


  • Maddie update

    Current mood:happy
    I think that it's time for a Maddie update......so here goes!  My darling girl is 8 months old.  I honestly can not believe how fast time has flown by.  Everyone tells you that it does, but until you actually live through it you really have no idea.  It's pretty amazing being able to watch life happen from the very second that it starts and see every little change that occurs.  I saw Maddie take her first breath, I saw her first smile and laugh, I saw the first time she raised her arms up for me to pick her up.  I am so blessed that I get to watch this being live and learn.  I am so blessed that I am afforded the opportunity to stay home with her so that I get to be the one who is there for everything and not some day care worker.  I couldn't have asked for a better life and I am so thankful that my husband sees the benefits of me staying home and works hard to make it possible!  Kudos to Dan.
    We are right on the verge of crawling but not quite there yet.  Maddie gets up on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth and then promptly does a face plant onto the ground.  Most of the time she doesn't mind her face hitting the floor, but when she is tired she does wail......that seems to be the case with anything when she is tired.  She does know how to scoot backwards and gets around that way pretty effectively.  She has scooted backwards from the middle of our living room past the coffee table, through the couch and rocking chair, around the back of the couch and down the hallway!!  It was really funny to watch her navigate through that maze!  She has gotten stuck under the couch and coffee table a few times and even gets into the book shelf in her room.....I had to change the books around so the baby friendly ones were on the bottom shelf and the ones she could rip apart were higher up.  I'm excited by the idea of her crawling but I'm in no hurry because once she can get around effectively I know she will never stop.....that and I'm gonna have to clean the floors a lot more often cause I can not have her crawling around on dirty floors!
    The world of food has really opened up in the last few weeks.  I am still making baby food but it is all a lot thicker and chunkier.  We've branched out to a lot of new foods including pears, peaches, corn,  spinach, prunes, avocado and barley cereal.  Maddie is also able to feed herself finger foods like graham crackers, flavored puffs and little pieces of bread.  It's really cool watching her feed herself and it seems like it happened overnight.  One day she couldn't pick the food up and get it into her mouth and the next day she was using her pincer grasp and popping food right in.  Her enthusiasm for food is pretty cool too….she will eat anything that I give her and now she even lunges to try and get at our food.  We have been working on the transition from bottle to sippy cup and although Maddie hated the sippy cup at first and threw it, she now enjoys it and in the next few weeks I am going to attempt to get rid of the bottles all together.
    We are teething again!  Maddie is getting her two front teeth on the top.  I almost missed the fact entirely because her behavior never really changed.  I was on the floor playing with her and held her up above me and randomly looked into her mouth and saw swollen gums.  The left one has already broken the surface and the right one is well on it's way.  The last teething go around was pretty hairy…..Maddie was in pain and cranky, she was waking up at night a lot, but this time it has been really easy.  It will be interesting to see what she looks like with a mouth full of teeth and I imagine that she will look like a silly bunny rabbit……but I am thankful that she is getting her two front teeth rather than her eye teeth at this point…..I'll take a bunny rabbit over a vampire any day!  Lol.
    Life has gotten so much easier.  I was just talking to Dan about this the other day.  It seems like once we hit the 7 month mark everything began to settle.  Maddie takes 2 naps a day each for 1 and a half hours and she sleeps in her crib for both of them.  We put her down to sleep while she is still awake and she just goes to sleep.  At night we do the same thing…..we put her to bed at 7:00, she usually wakes up between 10:00 and 11:00 to eat and then sleeps until around 7:30 in the morning.  She is a happy content little girl and hardly ever cries.  She has this fantastic belly laugh that shakes her whole body and it's seriously contagious!  Life is pretty scripted as far as her daily schedule goes, but we are able to get out of the house and run errands or go to the park and I feel like I know her well enough to anticipate what she can and can not handle with schedule variations.  She is also a lot easier in the fact that I am able to distract her with things when she does get fussy.  Before when she was really little by the end of the day she would be falling apart and NOTHING would make her happy…..now if she is getting tired I can give her something new like a toilet paper roll and she will be distracted with that for a while, or I encourage her to scoot herself around the floor and I "chase" after her on my knees.  Maddie is a joy to be around and I find myself missing her while she is napping and anxious for her to wake up.  I don't mind that she still wakes up at 10:00 at night to eat because I get to snuggle with her in bed for a little while, and every morning when I get up and see her smiley excited face it energizes me for my day.  I now know why people entertain the idea of having another baby once their first closes is on the first year.  We don't have any plans to add to our family just yet, but about 3 weeks ago I went from, "There is no way that I am ever having another baby," to "I could see myself having another one," which is pretty huge for me!  My sister in law once said that right after you have a baby the mention of having another one is like a curse word…..totally out of the question.  But I think that with time you start to see the fruits of your labor and amnesia starts to set in and the idea isn't so bad.  However…..when Maddie has a rough day and is driving me bonkers…..I am reminded that for now, one is enough!  Lol.
    Anyway……life is good.  I am really happy and feel very settled.  My daughter is the apple of my eye and is thriving.  What more could a girl want?


  • Na-na is thy name and other random things

    Current mood:blah
    My daughter says Mama.....well, actually she says Nana but she means Mama and she knows it means me.  I am super excited about this.  I don't know if I can count it as her first word yet becase she isn't saying the word correctly, but it is an amazing feeling knowing that she is calling for me when she says Nana.  She doesn't say it when I am right in front of her, but when she wakes up from her nap and I don't go in right away to get her up, she eventually starts chattering Nana-Nana-Nana.  And last night when she woke up around 11:00 and Dan went in to settle her back down she was saying Nana-Nana.  When I leave the room that she is in for a minute to grab something or use the restroom she sometimes says Nana-Nana-Nana until I come back and then she gives me a huge smile.  It is fantastic that she can verbalize when she wants me.....it's one less thing that I have to guess about.  I imagine that every new word she learns is going to feel this great because it's one more thing that she can express instead of getting frusterated.  She says Dadadada too and has for about a month now, and Dan thinks that she knows that means Daddy, but I'm not quite so sure.  She doesn't use it in any kind of context that would mean Daddy, but if he wants to believe it, I will let him.  I'm trying to get her to say doodo instead of Dada for Daddy because I think it would hilarious if she called him Doodo......Dan doesn't think it's funny!  lol.
    In other news, our fridge is broken and it sucks big time.  It has now been about 48 hours since the fridge stopped being cold and all of our food is in a big plastic bin with ice.  Dan bought a part yesterday that he thought would fix it, but it did not.  He figured out what part he really needed to fix it last night but when he called around today no one had it in stock so it has been ordered but will not be in until after 12:00 tomorrow afternoon.  So, we will continue to have all of our food on ice and our fridge will continue to be in the middle of our kitchen and I am hoping and praying that we won't have to throw out a bunch of perfectly good food.  The tragic part is that we just went grocery shopping and added a bunch of stuff to our fridge.  Bleh.
    My house is a disaster!  We tried cleaning on Monday and got lot's of stuff done, but getting ready to go camping this weekend has pretty much destroyed our house.  We have camping stuff everywhere, groceries for camping all over the kitchen because what is the sense of putting everything away just to get it back out again on Thursday to pack.  We have the fridge in the middle of the kitchen and stuff all over our counters.  It really seems too overwhelming to try and do anything about it.  I cleaned up the baby's room and folded and put her laundry away and I've picked up her toys, but it doesn't seem to be enough to make me feel any better about the disaster area that is our house.  I usually use Dan's days off to pick up and clean, but with a work meeting that he had yesterday and the fridge mess, I just haven't had the baby coverage I need, or the time to do so.  I hate having this messy of a house, and since we will be gone all weekend nothing is going to get done on Dan's next days off.  Oh bother.  I'll figure something out.....I just wish a Merry Maid would show up at my door!  Haha.
    I didn't mention this in my last blog, but on the same day that we constructed the compost bin, we also got gutters for our house.  We had called and ordered them a couple weeks ago but the company said that they were running a couple weeks behind and Monday afternoon they just showed up on our doorstep and said they were there to put up our gutters.  We are super excited about gutters although I'm not really sure why.  I mean I know that not having gutters is a problem with the ground in our back yard and we had a waterfall in the front of our house by the front door and I'm happy that those issues will be taken care of, but I'm not quite sure why getting gutters makes me giddy.  I think it's mostly because Dan is really excited to have them, so it makes me excited.  It's not like I got a new pair of shoes or some jewlery.......but it does make me happy for some reason.  Yeah gutters!
    Okay, I think that is it for now.  Here's a picture of my darling girl for the road. 



  • The Schultz Family Farm

    Current mood:content
    The Schultz family is going organic.  Well kinda.  We decided that we are going to start composting.....the goal is to make an organic garden but since it is almost summer the garden is going to have to wait until next spring.  Buuuutttt, we are going to start the compost process now so that we have some killer soil waiting for planting next spring.  I've wanted to compost for a while but always thought it would be too hard......I saw my sister in laws compost this past weekend and it looked super easy, so thank you to Angela who spurred us on to greatness!
    Our compost bin was created today.  Dan got a bunch of wood palletts from his work and we screwed them together and created a door and he also got a heavy duty tarp like material from work that we made a cover out of so that the compost doesn't get soaked in the rain, or dried out from the sun.  The only thing we had to actually buy was the hindge to attach the door to the frame.  I am super excited to get started and really proud of the fine craftsmanship that went into our compost bin.  I'll let ya know how things progress.  Wish us luck!
    The Schultz Family Farm





  • Zoo Day

    We went to the North Carolina Zoo this past Wednesday.  It was freaking hot (record highs) but it was a lot of fun.  The baby didn't get to see much because.....well, she's 7 and a half months, but the animals are hard to see because of all the land there.  She did see an ostrich, meercats and a gorilla.  That was pretty cool.  I don't think she was all that interested in the zoo, but she liked hanging out with her cousin Hailey and Naomi and all the Grandma's.  Dan and I enjoyed spending time with the fam and I had fun squirting people with the spray bottle I brought.  All in all a lovely day.  Here are some pictures:










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