No white Christmas two years in a row, but I'm definitely not complaining

Christmas was absolutely wonderful this year. Audrey was obviously more aware of what was going on, which made it even better. She was still overwhelmed, though, especially at Mom's, where she had a pile of presents that was higher than her head. Not to mention two hyperactive cousins:)



Something tells me that Katie likes the Hello Kitty boots we gave her.

On Christmas Eve, we spent the day with just the three of us. We went to the candlelight service at our church, which was beautiful. However, they didn't have childcare, and our preacher did a full-length sermon, which I didn't expect. As we left, David said, "Thank God for childcare" and I had to agree! She was squirming all over the place, except when there was music. She fell and busted her lip during the service, but she didn't make a sound. Nada. She was bleeding, and I asked David to get some toilet paper for the blood. So, I have to give her major props for that.

When the church was filled with nothing but candlelight and music, I felt an incredible peace settle over me. I'm so glad we went. We took these after the service.





Christmas Day was at my mom's. Thankfully, we did it later in the day, so Audrey could have a full-length nap. I know she would have melted down if she hadn't gotten one. She got so many presents that I can't even remember them all, but she especially loved a Mickey Mouse ride-on train (from my brother and family) that makes all kinds of music and loud noise. Hey, I can take the noise if it makes her happy. Most of the time.

We spent the day after Christmas with David's parents, and Audrey got tons of gifts there, too. She got a dollhouse with lots of accessories, and I love that it doesn't have batteries. I like that she'll have to use her imagination to play with it. Although, I have to say, David and I are having fun with it, too.



I got lots of great things, too, but...wait for it...David's parents gave me a Keurig coffee maker! Wow. I was totally shocked. I've been going back and forth about wanting one, especially with the cost of K cups. But David gave me a filter where I could also use regular coffee, which I didn't even know was possible. Absolutely awesome, and I love it! Now I need suggestions as to the tastiest K cups. Hint, hint.

I got David a helicopter that's controlled by an iPad or iPod Touch. I thought he'd like it, but I had no idea how MUCH he'd like it. That calls for an entirely different post, since this one's getting lengthy already.

A merry, merry Christmas, for sure.

Surprise, surprise!

I've gotten some amazing gifts in the last couple of weeks. For my birthday, I got a Nook Color! It's great, and I can't wait to read some of the children's books to Audrey. They really "come alive" with the pictures. Of course, I'm enjoying it myself, too;) When I have pain in my hands, it's hard to manage holding up a book to read in bed, especially a hardback, so the Nook is perfect.

I also received 30 tulips from David (have I written about that?) and a beautiful sterling silver necklace with Audrey's name and birthstone. I'll post a pic of that later, after my resident photographer takes a good picture of it. It's surprisingly hard to take a good picture of jewelry.

And I can't believe I'm even typing this, but I got a bracelet from Tiffany. It still hasn't sunk in, really. I have an aunt and uncle who live in Santa Fe, and they always send us generous gifts. However, I was not expecting something like that. They usually send me some beautiful jewelry, but this was amazing!

All the gifts for our family came in one box, and David unpacked it. I was in the other room, and I thought I saw a glimpse of that signature blue box. But I didn't believe it. Then David said he couldn't wait for me to open my gift, so I became cautiously optimistic.

As a mother should, I stifled my curiosity and focused on Audrey's gifts, even taking the time to read her card aloud. She loves cards, by the way, and this one had music, so it was a hit. Audrey got a beautiful tree ornament from New Mexico and a Barnes & Noble gift card. Awesome.

Then David brought in the blue box. With amazing self-control, I actually read and admired my card before opening it. But when I opened the box, I freaked out. Look how beautiful it is!



You can't really tell from the picture, but the pendant (I'm not sure what you call it) says Tiffany, New York, Fifth Avenue over and over. I'm not embarrassed to say that I performed an impromptu "I just got a bracelet from Tiffany" dance. I'm only thankful that no one caught it on video.

They also sent me a B&N gift card, which was really above and beyond after the bracelet. When I called my aunt yesterday to thank her, she said, "That's what aunties and uncles are for. We figured every girl deserves a piece of jewelry from Tiffany."

I couldn't have said it better myself:)

Rare occurrence

On Sunday night, we got together with my mom's side of the family for Christmas. We haven't done that in at least 3 years, which is crazy since we used to do something for Christmas and Easter every year.

If my grandparents were alive, they'd be upset at how little we see each other, but it's really hard with everyone's schedule. Both my cousins work crazy hours (Sonya's a retail manager and Russell works at BMW, which is open 24/7).

I was glad Mom and Aunt Barbara didn't do the whole Christmas dinner spread, because that's a lot of cooking, and I know Mom will be doing it on Christmas Day anyway. They had barbecue, since it was easy, and Mom made pot roast for me since I can't have pork. Which is fine with me, by the way. After Dr. Petan told me about all the parasites in pork and chicken...well, let's just say I'm not sad that I can't eat those particular foods.

It was fun, although things got a little tense when my cousin Russell brought gifts for all the kids. We had determined beforehand that we weren't doing that, since we only decided last Wednesday night that we were getting together. That didn't leave a lot of time for shopping, obviously. I was relieved, though, because I have trouble coming up with gift ideas for their birthdays, much less Christmas! Not to mention the money issue, of course. So my cousin Sonya got really annoyed, but there was no scene, thank goodness. We're klassy like that:)

Russell said, "I know I'm going to piss off the adults tonight, since I brought presents when we agreed not to." I told him I wasn't mad. It was a win-win situation. Audrey got two new dresses and leggings and I didn't have to buy anything. Is that awful of me?

The kids had a great time.



And ever since I put a bow on Audrey's head as I was opening a birthday gift, she does it herself now, very enthusiastically, I might add.



Fun times for all.

"Tis the season...

...for birthdays. There's an onslaught of celebrations in my family. It starts in October with Mom and Katie, skates through November very easily with just Gracie's and one of my friends from high school, but December? Wow. Let's see. First there's my first cousin's, Sonya. Then comes Audrey's, closely followed by Owen's, and then mine rounds out the year. My ex-SIL's was after mine, but we don't have to worry about that anymore:) All these are before Christmas, mind you.

When I was pregnant, I was a little concerned that Audrey would be born on someone else's birthday. She was due on Owen's birthday, and part of me thought it would be kind of cool to have them share a birthday. In the end, though, I'm glad she has her own day. Honestly, I was just terrified that she would be born on ex-SIL's birthday...oh, the horror.

So here are some pics from our fun times. For some reason, Mom wouldn't let me take any pics of her on her birthday, so I'll just post one from the next weekend.



Then Katie's.



Yeah, she was pretty excited about the Talking Woody doll, but it scared the snot out of Audrey. She also got a beanbag, which Audrey seemed to enjoy.



And then The Three Musketeers at Gracie's party.



And no, I don't know what's going on with the expression on Katie's face.

Audrey enjoyed one of Gracie's gifts, too, even though I couldn't get her to smile.



Whew. The first wave is over, and my friend's 40th birthday card is in the mail. I'm preparing for the second wave now.

I'm back!

Oh blog, how I've missed you! I've been itching to write, but life has gotten in the way. My health has been bad, very bad; thank God that David's been home to take up the slack with Audrey. My Google account also changed somehow, and I suddenly needed a new email account and password. David set all that up for me, but I never remembered to ask him for the user ID and password. Well, I did, but I always remembered when David wasn't here. Darn fibrofog!

We just got back from the beach, which was kind of a fail. We went with my family, and there was a lot of tension because of circumstances back at home, and my nieces fought so much they made me crazy. I actually cursed in front of them one day. Don't worry, I apologized profusely for it. But my word, they fight about EVERYTHING.

So we came home early. David has a lot to do here at home, working on his Masters class and getting his room ready at school. He has to go back on Tuesday (shudder).

We only went on the beach two days, but I guess that's more than some people get, so I'm trying not to be bitter. Audrey was usually the brightest part of everyone's day, so I'm thankful for that. Love that little girl.

Easter rocked!

Easter was great this year. Gracie and Katie's mom allowed them to stay with my brother and parents, even though it was her weekend. The girls wanted to go to church, and her family didn't have anything planned, so it worked out. I wanted to get the three girls together in a good pic with their Easter dresses, but it wasn't happening. Oh well, we managed to get some good shots.



I'm glad we got a decent one of the three of us, since those are few and far between. And then we have the rest of the family...



I have a better one of them, where Mom is not ducking under a leaf, but I'm too lazy to download it right now. Actually, I'm sick, so that's my excuse. Note the green camouflage cast on Gracie's arm from the trampoline debacle. She'd planned on getting a blue one, but she got this one to annoy her mother, who wanted something more feminine. Tee hee.

We went to church with my parents, which was a huge deal for Mom because we don't usually go to that church. I haven't been there with any regularity since I was about 16 or so. Needless to say, it made Mom's day that she was able to show off her youngest granddaughter. Audrey did pretty well in the nursery, remarkably, since she usually cries when left with strangers. She did end up sitting in the same lady's lap the entire time, bless her heart.

After church, and picture time, we went to my aunt's for lunch. Katie and I hid eggs for Gracie and Audrey, which was kind of strange since Gracie's older than Katie. Then Katie got really irritable when Gracie helped Audrey find eggs, since it really wasn't a competition. Sigh. As if a 16-month-old could find eggs in a huge yard with so many flowers and plants it looks like a formal garden. Yeah, their yard is outrageous.

The most amazing (and frustrating) thing about this day was that Audrey did not take a nap. ALL DAY. Now, there have been some days lately when she's only taken one, but she's never gone a whole day without a nap. At least she didn't get upset or irritable. She acted as if she'd had two long naps and was in a great mood.



And I can't believe I haven't blogged about Audrey's first haircut. Isn't she adorable? I'll have to write about that later; it was interesting, to say the least. She doesn't look like a baby anymore, though:(

Girls' Night

This past weekend was utter madness. It was like one of those times when you got really drunk and woke up the next morning, asking things like, "How did that popcorn get on the garage floor?"

Matt was out of town on Friday and Saturday, so I decided that we'd have a girls' night...just Mom, my nieces, and (possibly) my SIL. And of course, Audrey. I was looking forward to it. I imagined us painting each other's toenails, watching a movie, and snuggling in bed.

And parts of it were fun. Or at least I think they were. Here's a picture of everyone on the swing:


That's Elizabeth on the left, Mom, Audrey, and Nichole. Actually, you know what I had to say to get those smiles? I think it was something like, "Pretend like you're happy."

But seriously, there were some good times. Here's Elizabeth reading to Audrey:


And yes, Audrey does have her hand stuck down her pants, like a guy relaxing on the couch after a big meal. At least that's what I've seen in movies.

But it was fun, under the circumstances. A neighbor of Mom's (for 42 years) passed away last Wednesday, and her funeral was on Saturday. And Noah and crazy SIL, who have been trying to reconcile, broke up on Friday. More on that later, maybe.

All I can say is, I'm still exhausted. I feel like I could sleep for three days. And I hope our next girls' night goes much better.

And the "I couldn't care less" award goes to...

my family.

I fell again yesterday. I'm okay (don't panic, now), but it felt as if I'd dislocated my kneecap (patella?) for a few minutes. Hey, at least I didn't get a concussion this time, right?

The fall isn't really the point of this post, though. The point is that, when it happened, all of my immediate family were sitting in my den. You would think someone might come to my aid, right? Yeah, that's what NORMAL people might do. Here's a brief synopsis of what happened:

The family was over to go swimming yesterday. Everyone was in the foulest of moods, even my mom, who would usually have a smile plastered on her face even if she was sitting in a briar patch.

Here are Mom and Michael later at the pool, where you would think the Vitamin D would improve their dispositions. But you would be wrong. Case in point:



Anyway, I open the front door to go outside with my niece to get her flip-flops. Our dog, T, chose this time to come barreling in the front door, almost knocking me over. Whatever, I'm used to that.

The problem is, he was on one of these leashes:


http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml08/08387.jpg

which are really fabulous. Except, have you ever been burned on the legs by one of those as your dog goes running past? That thin part of the leash will sting like your grandma just took a switch to your legs. And yes, I would know.

In order to avert the burn on the backs of my legs, I quickly moved out of the way and slammed my knee into the door. Big mistake, since the burn would've been much better than the knee pain. I fell to the floor, writhing in pain. And y'all, I'm not a dramatic person. I'm the type that says, "Go ahead, I'm all right", if I get hurt.

Do you know what my family did? NOTHING. Audrey had woken up during my unfortunate accident, and they played with her. Matt came to my aid immediately, of course, but COME ON!

I lay there for about 10 minutes, trying to ascertain if I had dislocated my kneecap (if that's possible) or what. So, Noah had to go out the front door in the meantime, and he just stepped over me like I was a pile of crap on the floor. Seriously. He never even asked if I was okay. Then, someone threw him the truck keys, OVER MY BODY. What in the heck is going on here?

If any one of them had fallen, I would have been at their side in an instant! Good grief. I think even strangers would've paid more attention to me than they did. My mom finally came to see if she could get me some ice. Too little, too late, Mom, but thanks a lot.

And sorry, Noah, that my body was in your way when you were trying to get out the door. I could have sworn I heard you huff when you had to step over me. The nerve.

Grrrrr. My family has taken the leap from merely dysfunctional to seriously disturbed.

Re-homing our dog

This is our dog, T:



This picture was taken on the day Matt and I got engaged, in February of 2006. As you can probably tell, I love T. I really do. I complain about him constantly, get mad at him daily, and sometimes want to physically harm him (relax, I don't).

But we're going to have to re-home him. I've been dealing with T's shedding for about 4 years now, and it is BAD. Let's just say that, even if we vacuumed every day, his hair would be EVERYWHERE. When my nieces, Elizabeth and Nichole, come over and play on the floor, as kids do, they are covered with dog hair. From head to toe.

Elizabeth, who's spent the night with us several times, is allergic to T. She has to take Benadryl every time she comes over, which zonks her out. That can be a good thing, if she's having one of her hyper days:) But seriously, there are times she can't even remember what we did when she spent the night, and that's not like her. Once, and I kid you not, we were standing in the Bi-lo parking lot waiting for Matt to load groceries in the car, and she fell asleep while standing. I've never, ever seen someone do that before.

But it's not because of Elizabeth that we need to re-home T, because unfortunately, she nor her sister get to come here as often as we would like. There are lots of reasons why we have to do this:

1) When I think of this beautiful little girl,

crawling around our house covered in black hair, I cringe inside. Literally, I feel my insides shrinking up with disgust.

2. T's bark could raise the dead. He sounds like a Great Dane or Rottweiler when he barks, but he's actually quite small and wouldn't hurt a flea. Lick it to death, maybe. We've tried training him not to bark, yes, we've watched Cesar on TV show us how easy it is, but it only stops his barking maybe 3/4 of the time. And we have to be right there beside him in order to quiet him. And his bark scares the $hit out of Audrey.

3. I'm allergic to T. Before Audrey came, it really wasn't a problem, since the allergist told us to keep him out of our bedroom and I'd be okay. We've also trained him to stay out of the nursery, which shows he's a smart dog. But here's the deal; when Audrey starts crawling, she's going to be covered in the aforementioned dog hair. Then when I pick her up, I'm going to get it all over me. Which is going to be a serious problem.

We've thought of many different options, from putting him outside to taking him to training, but I won't go into detail here because this post is already too long. But I'd like to say, to all the people who keep trying to make me feel guilty about re-homing him, YOU ARE WELCOME TO TAKE HIM HOME WITH YOU. LIKE TODAY, RIGHT NOW. I'M SITTING HERE WAITING.

I am sick, sick, sick of having to defend our choice. Tired of it. I love that dog, and this is going to hurt me, and it's definitely going to hurt Matt, since he had him way before I knew him. It's easy to sit around and judge us for doing what we need to do, but not so easy when others (family or friends) could easily take him into their homes, as we've pleaded with them to do, and they won't, or can't. SO STOP JUDGING ME.

And if I hear one more person say, "A little dog hair won't hurt a baby", I will probably starting screaming and not stop for, like, hours. So if you'll help us out, take him. If not, shutty.

That is all.

Perfect Sunday

Yesterday was just awesome. We didn't do anything special, but it was great to spend time together as a family, OUTSIDE OF THE HOUSE. Yes, I've felt a little bit cooped up since December when Audrey was born. It's hard to take her out of the house by myself because of my fibromyalgia (FMS). It makes it nearly impossible for me to tote her around in her infant carrier, since the weight is too much of a strain on my back and neck. But she's getting so big now that we can put her in the Peg (I can't tell you how much I love this stroller), so I'll be able to take her out by myself more.

We all went out yesterday, though, to run some errands. Matt was insisting that I buy a bikini to wear on our beach vacation, but I've been kind of resisting it until recently. My old bikinis just do not fit anymore, mostly because of my huge boobs. Yeah, they're ridiculous.

Also, I haven't been interested in showing off that much of this postpartum bod yet. Still have the linea nigra, even if it's faded a good bit. But after losing just about the rest of my pregnancy weight, due to the sinus infection/concussion/migraine/vomiting debacle of May 2010, I've decided to do it. Why the heck not? I mean, I could be 20 pounds heavier next summer, and then I would've missed my window of bikini wear-dom (yes, I know that's not a word. I'm a former English teacher, people).

So I bought one at the mall, but I didn't have a chance to try it on because the store was closing. It was 6:00, and disgruntled employees were giving us "eat $hit and die" looks. Nobody really cared, obviously, since there were about 8 or 9 people in line at the time.

::side note:: I heard one of the employees say, very loudly, "I need a blunt object" as he was staring down all the late shoppers. It took me a minute to understand that he wanted to do us bodily harm. Wow.

Anyway, when I tried on the bikini at home, it looked pretty darn good. Except for the fact that, since I had to get a large size to accommodate my giant bazongas, it was way too big around. Boo. I'm hoping that MIL (mother-in-law) will be able to fix it today. If anyone had told me I'd be sporting a bikini 6 months after having a baby, I would've laughed in their face. Because I gained 44 lbs during pregnancy. That's right. So, although I wouldn't suggest my "diet", it did work.

So the day was fun, and I feel that Matt and I reconnected. It's hard when you have a baby to stay close; you really have to work at it. Even though we had Audrey with us, she behaved perfectly and we were able to just be silly and act stupid. Yay for a well-behaved baby, at least for one day!

Update on children's book

You might be wondering, what ever happened to that children's book Emily said she wrote? If you have no clue what I'm talking about, here's the original post.

Now, I can honestly say that I did write one, and it wasn't just an illusion brought on by my concussion:) The day after I wrote it, I polished it up, added in some words that were missing, and voila! I can't believe how easy it was.

That's not to say it's good, because I'm not sure. I think it is, but I'm a little biased. The only thing I truly care about is that Audrey ABSOLUTELY LOVES IT. Every time I read it to her, she giggles and laughs and acts like it's the best thing she's ever heard. So, maybe I'll try to get it published (probably will at least try), maybe not, but now I can share this book with Audrey again one day and explain to her how she and her daddy inspired it. How I've been trying to write some fiction worth reading for a while now, and after a walk with her and Matt through the yard, I was able to do it in one day. It makes me happy.

I think I just wrote a children's book...

Yeah, I know. Weird. I've wanted to write one for a long time, ever since my nieces were born. After reading some of their books, I thought, I can do that. And I actually tried writing one about Beth, but I never finished it. I think I have the rough draft of it around here somewhere. It just never quite came together.

But this morning, I had a fabulous idea. It came to me after walking through the yard with Matt and Audrey yesterday. I'm not going to tell you the subject because you'll just steal it; I know you people;)

Here's a hint:

http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/JPEG%27S/Plant%20Web%20Images/DandelionSeedhead.jpg

Intrigued? I would be. It's still a rough draft and not finished, but I'm excited. I could have it bound and printed for Audrey. It's something I could leave behind, you know? Which has suddenly become very important for me, to leave something, a legacy of some kind.

Well, the babe needs to be soothed to sleep, so gotta go. More on the book later, I promise.

So proud!

Watched my niece compete last night in a district-wide math competition, and I am so flipping happy for her. She's a genius, of course (no bias here). Oh, you don't know her yet, that's right. Well, get acquainted, since she'll be mentioned A LOT.

Beth is nine years old and I love her to pieces. I'm especially proud of her competing because I was always so horrible at math. And I totally blame most of my previous math teachers (you know who you are).

She was soooo nervous and it affected her performance, but she was wonderful. Hey, public speaking is the #1 fear, right? Even before death? Yeah, I get it.

You go, girl!