somethings gotta give

Dan is currently sitting in the car with it running in our driveway. It is a last ditch effort to get Charlotte to stop crying and go to bed. Both girls have had a minor cold that showed up last night and caused Charlotte to only have two 45 minute naps and Maddie to not nap at all today. Charlotte is over tired right now big time and woke up crying about 45 minutes after we put her to bed which was around 7:30. She basically didn't stop crying for 2 hours.....until Dan took her to the car to go for a ride where she promptly fell asleep without him even leaving the driveway!!

This is by far the worst it has been with Charlotte at least with regards to her going to bed. She normally goes to sleep very easily. I am really overwhelmed right now. It's really hard not to second guess yourself when your baby is so upset and crying and crying. Is she sick, like really sick? Can she breathe? (we sucked her nose out numerous times, and did a steam shower and have the vicks vaporizer going) Is her tummy upset, does she have gas? Is she hungry....we just fed her, but maybe she's hungry some more. Is she hot, is she cold is there something else wrong that we haven't thought of??? She is tired. That's all. But it's SO stressful getting to the right answer....even when it was our first guess 3 hours ago.

Charlotte is now in her room asleep......still in her car seat. It's safe for the car right?? Why wouldn't it be safe to sleep in. I'm beat, I need to go to sleep. It's probably going to be a bumpy night. Wish us luck!!!

Lights on the Neuse

Maddie and I just got back from some special alone time. Dan and I alternate taking Maddie on outings to spend special time together....usually involving sweets of some kind lol!! Tonight I took her to Lights on the Neuse which is a huge Christmas lights display spread out over a local farm with over one million lights. I had low expectations because we went to a similar place last year and it wasn't very good. But let me tell you, this place was fantastic!! We got there and went to say hello to Santa.....Maddie was not such a fan this year, but we said hello and merry Christmas to him. Then we went over and got on the tractor pulled hayride. There were light displays everywhere, snow men, candy canes, stockings, snowflakes, reindeer, wreaths, ginger bread men, farm animals, and there were random abandoned tobacco barns covered in lights, and that was all before we even got to the woods. The hayride went through about 1 mile of woods with lights over head, and displays on all sides, and get this......snow machines overhead that were making real snow!! There was music piped through speakers on the hayride, and it seemed that the tractor triggered the lights to turn on which is a nice way to conserve energy. Maddie's favorites were the barn that was erected from lights and the farm animals, and the duck pond made of lights with all the duckies. My favorite was the house front made entirely of lights that was two stories high and so, so bright. I'm serious; this was the coolest thing I have seen in a long time. The only negative thing that I can say is that it was freezing.....seriously; it was 32 degrees out, and so very cold! I think that Maddie was warm enough because when we got to the car and I took her jacket off her body was warm, but I can guarantee that her feet were cold and her hands probably were too even with thick mittens on. I did not dress warm enough and was SO cold I was kinda wishing it would end halfway through, and the hayride was a lot longer than I had expected.....45 minutes is a long time when your hands are blocks of ice!! lol After the hayride we went to the sweet shoppe that had fresh popped caramel corn, hot cocoa and homemade candies and treats and Maddie picked out some chocolate covered pretzels.....I really picked them out for her, but she didn't seem to mind (and I didn't even have one!). The girl loves her some chocolate. All in all it was a really nice outing. I wish now that I had brought my camera, but while on the hayride when I was trying to hold Maddie on my lap and alternate putting my hands between my legs for warmth, my camera would have been in the way! It was so cold!!! My feet are still a little cold and I'm wrapped up in a blanket in my nice warm house. I think I need some tea to warm me up. Merry Christmas!

P.S. Just in case anyone is curious, the Neuse is a local river that runs through our town and surrounding towns.....thus the name Lights on the Neuse. It's a curious name.

This is a picture from their website.

Wagon riding

When I asked for a wagon for Maddie's Christmas last year I could just imagine my two girls sitting in their little seats enjoying a ride together. Although I don't know that we knew for sure that Charlotte was going to be a girl at that point.....but I was always sure!! Anyway...I liked the idea of this wagon because in my mind it would bring my kids together even if they weren't all that into each other. You pretty much have to spend time with one another while stuck in a wagon sitting mere feet from one another. And so far my visions have come true. We didn't go far, just down the street to a neighbors house to borrow a ladder, but both girls got bundled up and thoroughly enjoyed the ride. I wasn't sure if it would work for Charlotte because her legs don't reach the bottom, but with the seat belt fastened it kept her in her seat. Maddie even gave pushing a try....and discovered that it's not nearly as easy as pulling. Poor Charlotte was a little skeptical about the whole thing, but loved he attention from her sister.

I am really tired this morning.....I stayed up too late last night editing Dan's last english paper and my brain is not forming fluid thought, which makes it hard to write anything interesting. I'm just glad that school is over for the semester.....it will be nice to have a break from the constant homework(I know it's not my homework, but it affects me for sure!), and I'm sure that Dan will enjoy more relaxing and getting to bed earlier!

Maddie's book review

One of Maddie's favorite books right now is Bear Feels Sick by Karma Wilson. I got it for her this fall when it seemed that we were all constantly sick. Curiously enough, it's winter time and we haven't had so much as a sniffle for quite a while. Knock on wood. Seriously, knocking on computer desk, knocking on hard wood floors, knocking on DVD cabinet.....knocking!! But, Bear Feels Sick is a really cute book with great illustrations that talks about being sick. It's repetitive which is always a crowd pleaser and it talks about taking care of our friends which is something I'm always trying to teach Maddie.....I don't want her to be the mean kid that nobody wants to be friends with! lol Currently we read Bear Feels Sick every night before bed, and even after I read it Maddie will say "Bear feels sick, Bear feels good," and want me to read it again....and in all honesty, I love this book so much that I do read it again!!

I just found out that there are more Bear books! We'll have to check our what Bear likes to do when he isn't feeling sick! Oh, and thank you Amazon for the use of your pictures. Hopefully that isn't a copyright infringement or anything, cause that would be a lawsuit that I couldn't afford!

A blog about nothing at all

Last night was a better night. Apparently Charlotte woke up around 11:45 when Dan was just about falling asleep, but he got up and fed her a bottle and she didn't make another peep until 5:00ish when he was getting ready for work. He then just rolled her over and gave her the paci and she went back to sleep until 7:30. Have I mentioned lately how much I adore my husband? I feel better this morning and subsequently don't want to sell Charlotte anymore. Sleep can fix so many things!

I was looking for stocking stuffers at Wal Mart the other day, and ran across the huge bin of $5.00 movies......oh, who am I kidding, I love that bin!! Anyway, I just thought I would put it out there that there are some awesome DVDs happening in the $5.00 bin right now. At least at my Wal Mart, yours may have different inventory so don't come after me if you only find the normal First Wives Club and Bruce Lee kinda garbage. But while I was digging through looking for something for a certain man in my life, I found at least 6 DVDs that I would like for myself. Too bad Christmas isn't about buying gifts for yourself!! lol I'd be all set if it was. Ha-ha-ha.

Speaking of $5.00, I got a note in Maddie's lunch box yesterday from another mother trying to organize the pooling of money together to get Maddie's preschool teacher a "together gift" as she put it. Each kid would bring in $5.00 and one parent would collect it and get Ms. Pam a gift certificate for a manicure or a massage....something special just for her. (not my words) Anyway....it bugs me. Is this kinda thing what happens once kids get into school? Not only do we not have $5.00....I mean theres 5 bucks in the bank, but I don't have cash on me, but I already got Maddie's preschool teacher a gift. I got her a Chris Tomlin CD that I thought she would like. I don't know what really bugs me about this, but it all just rubs me the wrong way. I'm gonna give the $5.00 (Dan gave me cash) just to not be labeled as the difficult parent or to have that awkwardness where Maddie's name isn't on the card and thus it's made clear that we didn't contribute, but I don't like it.

It was in the mid 70's yesterday and humid!! It was sticky and gross and I got sweaty just going to the store. What is going on with the weather? Where is my fabulous jacket and mittens wearing weather? We had to put the AC on for a bit just to cool the house down cause it was 77 degrees inside and both the girls were sweaty and had red cheeks. My goodness. It's the middle of December. This weather better get gone soon, because I can't handle summerish temperatures for Christmas! I had enough of that while I lived in California!!

I'm really unhappy with Dan's company at the moment. Every other year they have closed down and given their employees Christmas eve and Christmas day off. They project their goals for the end of year and if they feel they will be met (which they always have) then everyone gets to spend those days with their families instead of making insulin. Well, apparently this year they are not 100% sure (mostly sure, but not 100%) that their goals will be made so they are staying open Christmas eve day.....which Dan has scheduled to work. It sucks, and I would rather have him home. The kicker for me though is that they are closing down at 6:00pm on Christmas eve which means that the night crew gets Christmas eve off, and since Christmas day is off too, the night crew doesn't have to come back to work until the 26th at 6:30pm.....which means that they get 2 paid days off. Dan gets 30 minutes off, and the night crew gets 2 days?!? It really irritates me that Novo is so inconsistent, and it seems that Dan is always getting the short end of the stick when it comes to holidays. I guess thats just what happens when the Monday through Friday corporate jerks make the rules that affect the shift scheduled folks. You can guarantee that the dudes who are making this decision to stay open on Christmas eve won't actually be there working on Christmas eve. They will be with their families.....which is where all of the employees should be. Especially Dan!! lol

I'll get over it, but it just adds coal to my already burning fire of dislike for Novo. Well, I better get going. I have some felt to cut out. Can you say art project this weekend? Have a good Thursday.....you may see me back here before the day is through, but I'm trying to be optimistic that my day is going to be great!! Dan is coming home early today just because, so it WILL be great!!

Just one of them days

It's been one of those days. Maybe I'm the only one who's felt like this, but I doubt it. I would like to give Charlotte away.....maybe sell her, although I think that someone unable to resist her charm and adorable cheeks would buy her and within a couple hours be trying to return her for their money back. Yeah, my day has been like that. I don't know what her deal is, but no one but Maddie got any sleep last night. And she has been C-R-A-N-K-Y all day today and not napping. I just don't get this kid. I can't seem to read her. We have a very vague semblance of a schedule, but she is always throwing things outta whack. And there are quite a few variables that could be bothering her, but I have no idea which one is the culprit, so do I stop everything? Here's the list.....at least what I can think of:

teething
squash
prunes (we have added a dollop of prunes in her veggies because she was straining while pooping)
apple juice (she has had about 3 ounces watered down for the past few days)
poop (she has been pooping almost daily since the prunes and apple juice and it's been messy!
the diet (I've been eating LOTS of tomatoes, onions and bell peppers on the diet and a lot less calories than before)

I think that's it. But something is going on, and it's causing her to be abnormally cranky which if you can imagine her really cranky instead of her normal fussy.....it's bad. And she hasn't been sleeping well at night......waking up a lot, not going back to sleep. I don't know what to change. Today I am not going to give her apple juice, and I think I may skip the solids this evening. But then I'm afraid that she is going to get stopped up and strain to poop again. Bleh. I am over this. When is she going to outgrow this?

So, my day hasn't been good. Maybe it will get better. I had to post some adorable pictures of Charlotte so that I would remember why I love her and try not to take her behavior personally or let it drive me insane. Please pray for me. There are some people walking by outside and I just may offer them a good deal!!

Super banana treat

Today was a bit of a rough day. I think that my girls may be coming down with something, and their moods were sour. After Maddie's nap I decided to do a fun snack to try and brighten the day. I called it the super banana treat and Maddie seemed to like that.....oh, and the chocolate. The girl LOVES her some chocolate. I know it kinda looks like poop, but it's a banana with peanut butter spread along the top and then chocolate chips. Maddie would put the chocolate chips on and then sneak them off and eat them! lol It looked so delicious, I really really wished that I could have some, but alas the diet prohibited it. I was a good girl though and didn't have any!! Maddie enjoyed it, so give it a try sometime.

Sneaking chocolate chips

Charlotte didn't get any, but she had a front row seat to watch the process