My genius baby can use a spoon

Today I gave Ella a yogurt and she kept trying to take the spoon away from me. I’m familiar with this game. She wants to play with the spoon, but she doesn’t realize that once I give it to her the food will stop entering her mouth, then she’s mad. So, I kept insisting on not giving it to her, but she just got madder and madder. I finally took her in the kitchen, put her in her highchair and let her have it. At least it wouldn’t be on the carpet.

Well, she actually dipped it in and fed herself! She’s made attempts before but this was the best I’d ever seen her do it. And granted it was all over her face and the highchair tray, but she was doing it. Yay! She’s learning to use utensils!

A trip to Fishers

We had another visit with Em, my sister, and her husband, Kevin, this weekend. Em and I bought Steve and Kevin Pacers tickets for their birthdays back in February and March and this weekend was the game. We realized later though that Steve would have to leave for a business trip the next day, meaning he and I would have to drive up seperately. Not a big deal, but when driving with a 1-year-old for 2 hours, having someone with you is much more preferable. If she fusses then the driver doesn’t have to worry about it. Oh well, I still wanted to go hang out with my sis. I don’t get down there much. Plus a few other friends were planning to come with their kids and I hardly ever get to see them.

So, then I have to think about packing … we’ll need the pack ‘n’ play, a gate for her stairs, maybe a portable highchair, toys, snacks, whole milk, clothes, jammies … and I start thinking what I really need is a babysitter. I imagine a carefree jaunt down to Fishers by myself and it’s starting to sound really good. I love having Ella with me, but man, I could use a break. I consider calling my mom. But no, Em doesn’t see Ella much, plus my other girlfriends will like seeing her.

The day does not go as planned. Normally she takes a morning and afternoon nap. We had company though — Steve’s sister and her daughters — and Ella doesn’t like to miss out. We really enjoyed their visit though. They stopped in on Friday night on their way home to W. Virginia after spending the girls’ spring break in Michigan.

So, no morning nap. I plan to just keep her up then until her afternoon nap around 2. It’s not working though. She gets cranky. So, I put her down at 1, and we’re so not ready to leave. First, I need to sit down. With packing and cleaning and taking care of Ella, I haven’t all morning. We finally are ready and I wake Ella around 2, hoping she’ll continue the nap in the car.

No such luck. So, only 1 hour of napping. Not good.

The rest of the night is not bad, but I was tired. Not necessarily sleepy tired, but I needed a break. So, when we get to Em’s and Ella’s half cranky from little sleep, half mad at being in a car, and half getting into everything in her house — wait there can’t be three halves can there? Anyway, it’s a tiring night.

Our friend Tonia and her little girl Emma were over for a couple hours. Emma, who’s 7, was so cute. And she was really, really sweet to Ella. She even read her a book. Our other friend and baby I was looking forward to seeing couldn’t make it. We played some guitar hero, then Em went to pick us all up some Indian food. It was delicious.

By the time we’re eating, I’m trying to put Ella down for second or third time. I’m getting a bit frustrated. Em reminds me how our other sister’s kids would NOT go to sleep at her house either. Until midnight. Crap! But finally, around 8:30, Ella put her thumb in her mouth and curled up with her blankie. She was ready. And she went to sleep. I know 8:30 doesn’t sound late, but that’s late for her, especially for a day with little sleep.

Emily and I just relaxed and watched some good bad television. I went to bed a little before midnight. And I was so happy when I hear Ella babbling at 8:30! It was such a good night’s sleep in Em’s comfy guest bed and Ella had slept later than ever. I sat up to see her standing in her pack n’ play smiling, reaching her arms up for me and I pull her in bed with me. We cuddle and lay there for another half hour. I forgive her for the really long day yesterday.

It’s a really nice morning just hanging out. And Ella seems fun and playful again, instead of exhausting – not sure if it was her or me. When Steve wakes up he shows me all the stuff he got for Ella at the Pacers game. A sippy cup, a cheerleading uniform and a t-shirt. It’s all so cute. And I love the thought of he and my brother-in-law being at the Pacers gift shop buying little girl clothes and a sippy cup.

Emily and I decide to take a jaunt to the Target to see if they have a patio set I’ve been eyeing. They don’t, but I buy a darling garden tote – I am planning on planting some vegetables afterall, a really cute folding chair for Ella, and a new outdoor rug. When we get home Ella is sleeping next to Steve – it’s such a good thing. She needs her naps. And Steve has to be gone for awhile, so I’m glad they’re having some QT.

We watch a hilarious episode of the Office and Steve and I take off. It was a good time visiting … maybe next time I’ll get a sitter though.

And now, I have a very important date with the Rock of Love finale … More on that later.

Sleepy pumpkin.

Aunt Emmy and Uncle Kevy love on Ella.

Overwhelmed by it all

Yesterday I worked a later shift in my company’s Fort Wayne office. It was really nice to sleep in until 7:30 and take my time with Ella in the morning. What stunk was that everywhere I looked in my house it seemed like there was a huge job that needed to be done. And now I’m back at my normal office, and guess what, same thing. Oy, this is the first time I’ve breathed today and I’ve been at work 5 hours.

Yesterday Ella woke up (once again, at 7:30, awesome) and I immediately took her down for breakfast. She’s usually hungry by the time she gets up. I get her all set up with a cereal bar broken in little pieces. By then the cats are both meowing. I feed the first one inside, easy. Next, I feed the other in the garage. This is the one that peed on the floor for an entire year straight and now spends a lot of time in the garage. He’s also the one who’s so anxious to eat he puts his head under the food making it spill everywhere. And yesterday there was a trail of ants leading up to his food. Great. And again, he’s the same one that will only eat the top layer of food, wasting much of the $40 per bag food he has to eat for life because of some kidney stones he got as a kitten. Somehow I’ve got to get the word out to couples. Don’t get pets if you’re going to have kids. It’s too much.

On the way out of the stinky, messy garage that badly needs organized, I pass through the laundry room. Although the clothes are not in there yet, I know my husband has a small mountain of dirty clothes he’s hiding in his closet — and he needs them clean for a business trip he’s going on THIS weekend. It’s Thursday, by the way. Usually, I’m very good about keeping up with laundry but because of a certain disagreement we’re having at home, I haven’t been washing too many clothes of my husband’s. You see, I told him that if he doesn’t put his dirty clothes in the laundry room by Saturday morning they’re not getting done. I don’t think that’s unfair. I would certainly drop my clothes off, even across town, if someone was going to launder, fold and put them away for me. It’s just too much for me to maneuver all his laundry, my laundry and Ella’s laundry down the stairs through 2 baby gates all while keeping a close eye on Ella, hence the rule. The rule that is now biting me on the butt.

Anyway, the rest of the house isn’t looking it’s best either I realize as the day progresses. Since Ella has come to love throwing her food on the floor, there are now mashed in food items all over our tiled floor. I need to get out the steam cleaner as soon as possible. In my bedroom, past the bed that’s unmade, because my husband sleeps later than me and thinks it’s ridiculous to make a bed when you will just mess it up again*, there are a pile of clothes that need put away. Some new, some old summer ones that need put away – but first I need to pack up all my winter sweaters to make room for these summer clothes. See how this is all working out? One thing needs done before I do the next?

Whew. Anyway, so that’s just my home life. At work we’re embarking on a really big project that is getting closer and closer and it’s also getting close to my busiest week of the month. My head’s been spinning all day.

Oh well. I just had to vent. Even though it’s Thursday being out of my normal office for a day made today seem like a Monday. So, the good news is the weekend’s almost here … Thank goodness.

* Before Steve reads all this and gets mad at me, I will say in his defense, he’s really helpful around the house with other things, such as dishes and watching Ella and a million other things I ask him to do daily. But seriously, take your laundry downstairs.

Good times — sister’s visit full of eating, shopping

What a fun weekend. Lots of time hanging out with my family, eating awesome meals, and a bunch of shopping. And the weather was nice. And did I mention the shopping?

My sister Emily, who lives in Fishers — about 1 and a half hours south — came for the whole weekend, from Friday night to Monday night this past weekend. The visit was for my other sister, Sara’s, birthday and happened to be over Emily’s spring break. Emily works for the school system as a social worker, so she gets those awesome school breaks the rest of us drool over.

Anyway, Em arrived Friday night. She’s the ultimate low-maintenance guest – she said “I’ll just pick up McDonald’s on the way!” God love her. I didn’t even plan out meals or grocery shop, figuring we would do it together the next day.

So, she arrived and after visiting a while we went over to Sara’s house – right down the street. We visited with her kids for awhile. London was so happy to see her aunt Emmy and Aunt Eri. After they went to bed, we had a few beers and hung out. It was really nice. It doesn’t happen that much. Usually when we’re all together the rest of the family is around so it’s cool for the three sisters to be together. We munched on some delicious salads Sara made us – later Sara would ask 50-60 times if we liked her “impromptu” salads. She and my dad both derive great pleasure from asking the same question over and over again, and if it involves something they did well, all the better.

After awhile Sara turned on the recent Oprah show on the missing identity case that happened a few years ago near Marion, Indiana. An amazing story. It’s basically about a group of Taylor University students who were in a terrible wreck and the identities of two of them were switched afterward – leading one family to think their daughter had died, but hadn’t, and the other family to take care of a daughter who wasn’t really theirs. Crazy. The families were so neat and handled it so well.

In the morning we just hung out at my house. Emily and I loaded up on coffee as we played with Ella during the morning. I made us some grilled cheese sandwiches and veggie soup. One of our favorite meals. We went grocery shopping after Ella’s morning nap, then returned to lay around for awhile before Sara’s birthday party at Rachel’s. Sara, my mom and London stopped by to visit afer seeing High School Musical on Ice.

The party that night was very fun. Rachel made a bunch of pasta that the kids loved and I picked up awesome salads from Casa’s. And we were all so happy the weather was finally nice. The kids got to play on the swing set and Grant’s big bouncy house he got for Easter.

Afterward, another night of hanging out having a few drinks followed — at my house this time. Am I in college again? Well, not quite. We only had the energy to watch bad realty television and stay up until about 12. By the way, I really don’t care to see Danny Bonaduce ever again. His latest reality show features desperate stage moms bringing their kids to him to help make them stars. That’s just wrong on so many levels.

Sunday, was basically another day of hanging out, coffee drinking, and … Rock of Love! Yes, apparently Rock of Love is on at 11 a.m. Sundays. We people with Tivo-like recording systems have no idea when shows are on anymore. I just check my recordings everyday and hope for the best.

So, we ate our (awesome) black bean quesadillas and watched Bret Micheals continue his noble quest for his “rock of love.” It was a good episode too. They brought different family members on to reveal more about the remaining girls. We about died when Daisy’s ex-boyfriend’s sister came on. She keeps trying to claim there’s no connection anymore with him. The episode really got good when they all sat down to watch a taped concert of Brett’s. Destiny danced around like a groupie in the front row hoping for a backstage pass. It was so weird. Did you catch that her family was there? And they were all sitting in a living room watching a taped show? Thankfully she got the boot at the end. And we were really on the edges of our seats when Daisy announced that she had something else to tell Brett. Yes! Another juicy story from Daisy’s past! But it was only to tell Brett that Destiny said she didn’t “love” Brett, like she did. Oh girls. How did they know you’d make such a good show?

Later Emily and I decided we really needed to do a test shopping run in Fort Wayne. We had a trip to the outlets in Fremont planned for Monday, but we couldn’t wait. So, we hit the mall for a couple of hours. Emily is so funny shopping. She has the most dramatic reactions. She saw a necklace and bracelet she wanted and said “I’m not sure I can live without this.”

That night we had another party at my mom’s. Lately it’s become kinda common for us to take our kids and go hang out at my mom’s house on a Sunday, and eat a fabulous meal my mom’s prepared. Sara calls this the “meal plan.” It’s just like those glorious days of college, before real responsibility sank it. We’d just wonder over to the cafeteria with our meal card in hand and choose from the many different food options. Now, it’s my mom’s house. And the meal is always awesome with lots of side dishes and fresh fruit and vegetables. Love you mom.

Afterward, my dad took me, Emily, my nephew Grant, my neice London and Ella for a ride in a wagon, pulling it with his 4-wheeler. He went very slow, but I still was really nervous having Ella with me. It was so nice out though and the land is so pretty behind my parents’ house.

The next day all of us girls went shopping – me, Em, Sara, my sister-in-law Rachel and my mom. It was really fun. We really stocked up on clothes for our kids and ourselves. Sara’s kids sure got a lot of jammies. We teased her a lot about buying Finn 9 pairs of pajamas. But she said, “Well, there are 7 days in a week, people.” I bought Ella some shoes that are to die for. And of course when I showed Emily each pair she said something like “Well, are these the cutest shoes you’ve ever seen in your life or what?” Love it!

We did have somewhat of an intervention when our mom picked up some sparkly/sequence looking little loafers. Sara said it looked like she should be at a bowling alley. I thought they looked like something Micheal Jackson would wear. Sorry mom.

We had an awesome lunch at Ruby Tuesday’s too. Their salad bar is so good. I teased Sara and pointed out that they had carrots. It’s the only thing she puts on her salads.

So we had a great, great time. We hope Em comes up every year for her spring break. She did mention that maybe when our kids our older they could come stay with her over their spring break. Sara really liked the idea. She said “We should do this every year Em, until of course, that year when we send all our kids down.”

How could I resist these shoes?