Feeding Frenzy

Debi's theme for this week's Baby Picture Sunday is Feeding Frenzy - and what a coincidence - we just happened to have one of those at our house Friday night. It was one of those..."ah, I have no idea what we're having for dinner" nights. Frequently, though, Timmy doesn't want to wait until the family dinner is ready. While I'm getting dinner ready, he's usually in his highchair with some cheerios. Since he was being particularly grunt happy, I threw him a club roll to nibble on as well (oh...and some Tang - watered down, of course.) For some reason, he was still screaming for more and frankly I've had enough of his passing on normal baby food in his quest for ultimate flavor so I went searching in the fridge and decided it was time...time for a pickle.

And then he noticed the camera...
He may look like he liked it, but after a few nibbles he was bored, so I went for the failsafe disgusting biter biscuit, which he loved...but soon demolished and was screaming for more.

I knew he was screaming for meat and I didn't have a great variety to offer. I was supposed to have gone food shopping earlier, but the torrential downpour had kept me indoors. I figured, heck, he's had a pickle - why not some salami? But then I felt guilty and threw some macaroni & mixed veggies on his tray (not that he touched them of course...the last week he's been spitting back his veggies - Katie was at least 1 1/2 before she started that crap.)

Since it was a night of firsts...why not some M&M's for dessert?

He had no time to smile because he was very busy sucking down those M&M's. So all in all, it was a great well-balanced dinner. Unfortunately, the only food that got completely eaten was the cookie and candy.

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F4-I've lost my mind

With just minutes to go before Friday is over, I'm joining in Candid Carrie's Foto Finish Fiesta. It may be because I've stayed up late all week tweeting and reading or it may be that I've lost my mind from fighting with Katie for the last week about her clothes, but I've lost my mind. I'm posting a picture of me in my bathing suit. Yes, I've done this before...but this is the REAL deal.

What I really want to know is why the heck couldn't I inherit my mom's legs? I will be forever jealous. So, I was thinking - maybe I should give up acccounting and become a swimsuit model...of course, I would be assured of remaining unemployed forever.

If you missed my first post about Vegas, you can check it out here. I'm excited to share the incredible shopping experience I had there (well, was witness to anyway), but I need to take a picture of the merchandise still.

Speaking of shopping - do you watch Big Love? If so, do you remember when Nicki was going crazy with all the online/catalogue purchases? Well...that's me. All for the girl that doesn't want to wear any clothes anymore. She has brought "It's scratching me!" to a whole new level. I am also convinced that it is NOT a sensory issue, but OCD. I can get her to finally wear something one day and she eventually loves it, but then it's AWFUL the next time she wears it. I'm cutting out tags left and right even though it scratches worse after it's cut out. (I am NOT cutting out the Hanna Andersson and Gymboree tags, hello resale???) But eventually when I somehow can get her mind off of the clothes and get her to move on - she's fine - until the next clothes change. I am so beaten down I've come to beg her to just wear her clothes to bed since she's currently comfy, but she insists on pj's and then it starts all over. Her floor is strewn with clean clothes she has put on and discarded. I.am.losing.my.mind!!!! But, she does look adorable in her new boots!!!

So tonight when I was putting her to sleep, I warned her that Grammi was coming over to babysit tomorrow and we had to clean up her room because Grammi does NOT like messy rooms. I told her some of the horror stories of when I had to clean up my room as a little girl to show her that I had it SO much worse and that she is big enough to help clean her room. Unfortunately, I don't think I convinced her, but she did love hearing about my messy room and kept asking me to tell her more.

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These Kids of Mine

Who could resist that face? His laughter is infectious. What a fun silly boy he is. He is expanding his vocabulary. In addition to da-da and maaa (only when upset), he greets us from his crib with a "hi". And well, the rest are all related to eating (his favorite hobby)..."mmm, yummy, it's good, more".

And Katie, my little dancing princess. She started dance at the Little Gym this summer and loves it so much that we are switching her schoolyear class there from gymnastics to dance. She'll still get 20 minutes of gymnastics in the class so it's a win-win situation. I catch her practicing her moves throughout the day and she has really been putting on some great shows for us lately. Her favorite part of class is the "free dance" portion - but I love that I can pick out her actually trying to practice the specific positions and moves that she is learning in class. We'll see where this takes us. For now, she's definately not ready for a real dance school and as an honest mommy I don't know that she ever will be. I'm not quite sure they could handle her spunk and it may get hard if the other kids start pointing out that she has the grace of a gorilla. If anything, it will be jazz or hip-hop for her. But she is having a ball right now and I couldn't be happier for her.

This has been a great summer for us. I love that I've been able to spend the entire summer home with my kids. I love the spontanaity it has allowed and all of the fun things we've been able to do. I'm starting to smell September, though. The cut grass smells different...it smells like soccer, football, and first days of school now. I've been getting a few recruiter calls and am being told the job market in the accounting industry is picking up again. I'm ready to go with some "resume" and "relaunching your career" books I've picked up from the library.

I'll always treasure this summer I had with the kids and just remembering all the fun activities, silly smiles, and dress-up/dance shows Makes My Monday. Be sure to stop by Twinfatuation to see who else is playing along or to sign in for yourself.

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The Wildlife of Vegas

If you follow my tweets or read some of my recent posts - you know that I got to travel to Vegas for the first time ever 2 weekends ago. My cousin Alaina was kind enough to get married there and gave me an excuse to extend my Atlantic City slot losing streak all the way into Nevada.

I should forewarn you that my title is not a typo and I did not mean the Wild Life. We're just not that cool...(but apparently my cousin Joey Mac-who hung with us just a little-is...ahem follow Chatterbox Rox on Facebook.) No, I wanted to share my experience with the actual wildlife. Never having been before, we just stayed at The Flamingo, the hotel that my cousin was getting married at (especially since I got comped). It was really nice, though. The pool was gorgeous and they actually do have animals there.

The pond is filled with koi...beautiful, but terribly fishy smelling. And then there were the flamingos - appropriate since it is the Flamingo hotel.

They were all trapped on a little island - but when we saw my aunt's hat, we did begin to worry that one managed to get free - and those skinny legs....she was even standing like a flamingo. But, the cigarette gave it away - we knew for sure it was my Aunt Renee (who happened to be my matron of honor...I try not to hold her disgusting smoking habit against her ;).

However, I REALLY laughed my ass off got scared when I heard about the lions. My mom has been to Vegas before and wanted to make sure we saw all the great sights and didn't waste all our money time away in the casino. She gave us an improptu rundown on all the important must-see sights of the different hotels. Unfortunately, this video of her telling us about the MGM isn't the original take...but after the intital description I just had to grab my camera and record her. I'm really not sure if she was still buzzed or just ridiculously tired...but the retake was just a little more long-winded than the original.

Holy crap, I love my mom and my aunt. I had the best time with them. I have to admit, I was a little nervous when my mom asked if she could stow away in our room. We all snore, but ironically I'm also the world's lightest sleeper and everything (except my snoring) wakes me, but my aunt was gracious enough to volunteer to share her bed with my mom every night and thank goodness - because our bunking together made the trip all the better. There's nothing like 3 nights of slumber parties when your mom brings an entire suitcase full of liquor. Oh, and I do have one more Vegas-themed post inspired by my mom to come...

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TWO for TWOS-Day - Cousins

I (heart) this picture!

They are growing so fast! They keep getting prettier and smarter and so darn grown up. Katie and Paige (my sister's daughter) have a special cousin bond that I just know Katie is on her way to having with Emma (Chris's brother's daughter). I love seeing the dynamic of Katie being the younger of the pair AND the older of the pair. (Would you believe I don't have a SINGLE recent/good picture of that duo? They are so difficult to get to stop and smile at the same time.)

Recently we got to visit Paige at the county 4-H fair. She is a member of the 4-H club and loves to learn about horses. She got to decorate a horse stall and ran ribbons to the horse ring for the winners of riding competitions for an entire day. We took this picture just minutes before my nephew Alex announced to Katie, in front of the pigs, that we eat them and they make yummy bacon and sausage from them. Ironically, that was just after this post - so Katie wasn't too shocked, but I can say that I got some horrified looks from the mothers of young children. Oh, and then the fun continued and Katie walked off and we had to have a "lost child" announcement over the loud speaker. And oh heck...this was supposed to be just a Two for Tuesday post, but while I'm at it here's some pics of the boys chowing down at the 4-H fair. We had nephews Alex, Teddy, and Henry with us for the weekend for a sleepover and to do some fun outtings for their belated birthday gifts. Henry ate 1 and a HALF barbeque chicken dinners and loved every bit. Alex gobbled his sandwich and Teddy made short work of his burger and then helped out by feeding Timmy.

If you want to join in the Two-some fun, visit Debi at Who Says 8 is Enough?

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Introducing Katie's Artwork

I needed help to interpret these.

(I came downstairs yesterday to find she had put all her new artwork up by herself.)

Apparently, it's very obvious...duh...

I do need to add though that this is a really big deal for Katie. One year ago she could barely color at all except scribbles, let alone "draw". Her past year in special needs pre-school (for Occupational Therapy and speech) has really helped (for OT anyway...)

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Better Late Than Never

I just got Timmy's 9 month update post up, but I backdated it to Monday (when he actually turned 9 months old).

Make sure you click here so you don't miss it....unless you don't enjoy seeing ridiculously cute baby pictures.

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I know I've been whiny lately, but...

My toe hurts so bad! I can't stand getting those snickering comments from people because I want painkiller...my husband being one of them. Hello - I'm only 5'1", that is a pretty big portion of my body (if you don't consider surface area of which I have more than most).

My poor broken toe hurts a LOT. And it's all my husband's fault. If he didn't clean my whole house while I was away, dumping all clutter from the rest of the house onto our bedroom floor for me to deal with, I would have had more space on my bedroom floor to throw my still packed suitcase and it wouldn't have felt the need to jump up and attack me (do suitcases get claustrophobic?)

Oh and what's this crap about the doctor not letting me have an appointment or painkiller until they actually get the X-Ray results? So, I actually have to wait 3 days to get any relief. Day 1 being the day I thought I could suffer silently, Day 2 being the day I had to wait for childcare to get my X-ray and Day 3 being the day that I hope to get results (although the X-ray tech already told me she's pretty sure at least one toe is broken). And yes, I have had 2 children (by C-section)...at the moment this hurts worse because I had drugs then. And the hardest thing is that I want to write all about my Vegas trip, but am in so much pain that I can only whine.

(Disclaimer: I am nursing - and I only want something to numb the pain at the end of the day after I have put Timmy to bed. See how stoic I am?)

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9 Months Old - Mr. Meatball

It's been another busy month for Timmy. His 8th tooth has appeared, we've had loads of daytrips, and he is more active than ever. He's standing up wherever he can grab hold of something and in the last few days has even started to cruise a bit. He loves to play Pat-a-Cake and Peek-a-Boo. Perhaps the biggest change has been that he's begun to use his voice again. He's a '"da-da" boy which I suppose is appropriate since he really is a daddy's boy. (Katie's first word was "ma".) I do get the occasional "ma" from Tim, but usually only in the midst of a cry. But he's most talkative during meals. He likes to eat and he likes to eat a lot. And he doesn't want babyfood; he wants big chunks of meat....chicken fingers, meatballs, hotdogs... He actually yells at us when we don't get it fast enough. The kids spent the day (and dinner) with my sister this week and when she brought him home she laughed about how much he had to say during dinnertime. I laughed and impersonated his "eh, Eh, EHHHH?" She told me, "oh yea, exactly, he was fine as soon as I gave him some meatballs though."

He is a little monkey and loves to try to shimmy up his gate bars.

The matching smile and ears don't hurt the resemblance either.I've mentioned before that Katie is quite sure of her future and plans to be a doctor. I think that Timmy has decided on dentistry.

We've had a few visits to Ocean City and Clementon Lake Park this past month. Timothy still loves being out and about.

And he has really developed a fondness for splashing in the water.

His Beavis and Butthead laugh has gotten more pronounced since he's more active and loves to laugh at us when he knows he's doing something he shouldn't be doing, particularly taking off down the upstairs hallway as soon as a door opens and going at full speed for the cat water and the dog food/water.

But most of the time he's just charming. He loves to try to make us smile and laugh back at him when he's being silly.

And I'm sure he can't wait for football season to really get underway since he loves playing catch with his sister.

He's been practicing his hollering and clapping this whole past month so he should fit right in with daddy.

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I really just don't have time for this!

Is this really happening?

There are only a few things in life that cause me to pass the brink of insanity. Ok, that's probably a lie - but I can't abide stupidity....particularly in the form of automated phone systems.

I usually file my unemployment claim on Sundays. I always do it online. This week, I'm a little late due to dealing with sickness and of course all the time I am spending looking for a new job. So, I go online to file as always and I'm told that I can't file again until 8/16. I know for a fact I haven't filed yet for the past 2 weeks.

Then I call the number to talk to someone - I am in luck - my SS# ends in an odd number so I can call on Wednesdays. I call 1-888-NOWAYYOUREGETTINGTHRU. (At least it felt like I had to type in that many numbers). One of the options is to get info on your claim. The automated system tells me that I can file a claim today for the last 2 weeks. Hallelujah! Take that stupid e-mail system. All I have to do is press "3" to be transferred (after listening to 15 minutes of propaganda). I press "3" and am told: "Sorry you can not be transferred at this time, to expediate your claim please call directly to the PAT sytem at 1-888-555-YOUAREASUCKER. So I do that. I get sent into the same exact system. BUT, after listening to the cheerful message for another 15 minutes I am then told that I can't be transferred at this time BUT, to expedite my claim I should call directly at 1-888-NOWAYYOUREGETTINGTHRU. Really. Both systems are just sending you back and forth.

I feel like they're just trying to keep me busy for the sake of being busy. I guess they don't realize that I do have children. I'm plenty busy.

Ok, off to the doctor now, for myself, so I can kick this sinus infection sometime before my Vegas Trip is over. And with that, I likely won't be back online until next week. Please send some good vibes my way for me to hit a jackpot so that I can quit dealing with this telephone filing sham.

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Poor Katie; Lucky me!

Katie woke up with croup today. Sad enough, but really bad because we were supposed to go to Sesame Place with 3 other families we are friends with. I felt so sad for her this morning because she was SO excited to go. In the last few days that we just hung around our house and she begged for something "really, really fun" to do, I played up this trip and how exciting it was going to be. Last night, we went on the Sesame Place website and I showed her pictures of every ride there. So, even though Timmy and I both already had colds, we were going to suck it up because Katie was stoked.

You know it's bad when even the most excited kid admits they should stay home. She came into me this morning coughing and crying that "She never had this bad cough before." (said that way because she often has some kind of a cough, but apparently she just has a short memory since she does have croup at least once or twice a year.) She so sadly told me that something was "really, really wrong". My heart was breaking. Luckily getting to eat three popsicles in a row took some of the sting of having to stay home all day away. I also promised we would go another day. Yay!

I have to admit...I was just a little relieved that she got sick this morning. I feel like crap, the baby feels like crap and then at 3am last night I remembered we were so supposed to pack lunches. Yea, I'm not feeling too upset that we had to stay home today.

Poor Katie will soon learn that this is the way of the world, at least if she has my luck. Yes, I'm getting my first real getaway on my own this Thursday-Sunday. I'm going to Vegas for my cousin's wedding by myself (with my aunt and mom). I've been looking forward to it for weeks, but now I'll likely have this darn cold the entire time AND if I'm really lucky, and I likely will be, I will have my "friend" with me for the entire trip...the one that makes it a pain in the ass to go swimming. Did I mention it's over 100 degrees there this weekend?

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I am officially a moron (and a sad one at that).

I really thought I had won!

I guess you can add me to the list of old ladies with bad eyesight that get taken advantage of by scratch-off tickets and sweepstakes.

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