The pros and cons of the public pool

We just got back from swimming and boy are my ladies tired. They are passed out. Gotta love that. But while we were at the pool, being splashed by obnoxious children I don't know or care to know, I couldn't help but wonder if going there was worth it.

So I must weigh the pros and cons.

Pro: Swimming is tiring, so when we get home both ladies pass out.

Con: Random bratty kids I don't know. They splash, rough house, jump in right next to me and throw stuff.

Pro: Water is cold and refreshing. Feels pretty good when its 100+ degrees outside.

Con: Water in wading pool is boiling hot. So I'm forced into big pool with previously mentioned brats.

Pro: My kids love the water.

Con: It takes forever to get everybody dressed, slathered in sunscreen and into the car. Last year, when it was just me and Alana, it was so quick. Now I have to wrangle Ava into a bathing suit and get her to hold still long enough to put sunscreen on her.

Pro: Ava looks like a fat little stuffed sausage in her bathing suit. So cute. Add her floppy sun hat and she's ready to sun herself on the beach.

Con: Some parents just drop their kids off there for the afternoon, so the lifeguards are just like underpaid babysitters. And they aren't paying attention.

Pro: Super cheap. It costs 25 cents per kid, and a dollar for me. That's $1.50 for a couple of hours killed in my long afternoon. Add that to the $1 ice cream cone I usually end up buying for Alana and I've gotten my money's worth.

Con: Did I mention the bratty kids? Cause they are the main reason for this list. Bratty, bratty kids.

Pro: Compared to lots of the moms who I see at the pool, I look pretty good in a bathing suit. Boost for my self-confidence.

Con: Teenagers. Especially teenage girls. They stand next to the pool, with their bikinis and no stretch marks (I hate them for that). Hehehe, don't splash me! You'll mess up my hair! I don't want to get wet! Can't a girl just stand next to a public pool with her hair done and a full face of make-up and stay completely dry? Silly boys!  ***I may hate to get my hair wet now, but as a teenager I would've been the first to do a cannonball right into that pool. Who goes to a pool and stands next to it in their bathing suit?

Despite my love/hate relationship with our city pool, I will continue to go there at least once a week for the rest of the summer. Who can blame me? Its 100 degrees outside!

At first glance

Its hard to tell exactly what Ava's eating.

But upon closer inspection, you will see that its just a Kit Kat. (Kind of looked a little bit like poop when I took the pic).

Now it kind of looks like I've never made a stupid pancake before in my life. It still tasted good though. Like warm gooey blueberries.

You might think Alana is a master of yoga. But actually she is just a beginner. I know its hard to tell since she does every pose with such ease.

That may look like a booger on Ava's face. But its actually blueberry pancake. Close enough.

It may look like Alana is growing out her nails. But they're actually fake. You can hardly tell, I know.

Cherry on top

Adding this award to my virtual mantle of awards. Thanks to JoJo at Newlywed Adventures!

The rules of this award are:

1. Thank the person who gave this award to you
2. Copy the award and put it on your blog.
3. List three things which you love about yourself.
4. Post a picture you love.
5. Tag five people you wish to pass this award on to.

Step #1 and #2: See above.

Step #3: Three things I love about myself. There's so many, I don't know how to narrow it down to three (haha).

1. I'm secretly a genius. Don't tell MENSA, they're always trying to recruit me.
2. I'm a pretty good cook. Lately I've been venturing into previously unchartered territory and making yeast breads. Cinnamon rolls, homemade breadsticks, pizza dough, you name it. I'm a little obsessed.
3. My fast metabolism. Due to my love of cooking and all things with carbs, this comes in pretty handy.

Step #4: Post a picture I love.

This one may be kind of cheating, since I have the same pic on the side of my blog, but this is one of my favorite pictures ever, for lots of reasons. Its me and Alana, when I'm about a million months (ok, like 8 1/2) pregnant with Ava. I found my belly useful in holding Alana, it was like a shelf. Also good for: holding bowls of ice cream, cereal, fruit, beverages, etc. I'm obsessed with this brick wall. Its an old building where I went to school and I'm in love with it. I've taken pictures here more than once. I also love that this picture was taken for FREE! by an amazing girl who was building up her portfolio, so she took my maternity pics for free! Thanks Rachel!

Step #5: Tag five people.

Mary at Serenity and Style

V at V Chronicles

Kathryn at This is my story

We hate you, Love us

Mama and the Dudes

Thank you and good luck!

Feeling kind of lazy

Blame the sudden onset of humidity. I'm just not that inspired today.

So as a result I bring you a re-post. Its something I wrote back in a simpler time, when I had one follower, my sister. But its one of my favorite posts.

So without further ado, I bring you I Heart Barbies!

Today I was over at someone's house and I noticed that her dog had chewed on a couple of her daughter's barbie dolls. The thighs had some teeth marks and the arms had little stubs where the hands used to be. It reminded me of all of my chewed up dolls and made me a little nostalgic for the days when I had my love affair with barbie dolls.

As far back as kindergarten I can remember playing with Barbies. I dressed as a Barbie for Halloween that year, even though the costume basically consisted of a plastic smock and a mask I wasn't allowed to wear. Instead my mom put makeup on me, probably blue eye shadow and pink lipstick, because that was Barbie's official makeup look of the 80's.

I tried to give Barbie a makeover once too, so I cut off her hair. I thought with the shape of her face and her high cheekbones she would look cute with a bob. She didn't. If you've ever experimented with the length of Barbie's hair then you know if you try and cut it short it sticks straight up and you can see all of the little places where they put the hair into her head. It's not attractive at all.

Nicole and I always played Barbies together. I remember always trying to convince her to let me play with whatever brand new doll she got for her birthday, even though at my birthday there was no way I was gonna let her play with my new Barbie. I used my newest Barbie for bartering when I tried to convince my sister to let me play with her doll. If she let me play with her brand spanking new doll with its permanently in high heels feet and still untangled hair then I would let her play with my "new" Barbie, even though it was 5 months old by that point. She usually gave in too. Never underestimate the bargaining skills of a bossy older sister.

We played Barbies together pretty much our whole childhood. Sometimes we would gather them up, get them all dressed up nice and do all of their hair. Barbie needed to look her best in case the one Ken doll that we had showed up. Sometimes when Ken would come visit Barbie they would lay together in the bed. Thats all they did. Just layed there. Pretty risque, I know.

We also liked to make Barbie go swimming in the bathtub. In case you didn't know, the faucet makes an excellent high dive and Barbie can do lots of awesome dives and flips off of it. She will even jump off of the shower head when she's feeling extra brave. When we got to the age where modesty was a factor when in the bathtub, we did the only logical thing to do. We put on bathing suits. We took baths with our Barbies diving off of the faucet while wearing our bathing suits. It's even more awesome than it sounds.

Other times Barbie enjoyed doing gymnastics. She is infinitely flexible, she can always do the splits, even without stretching. She performed countless floor routines of awkward cartwheels and flips and splits across our long dining room table. She was really quite talented.

Barbie always let me braid her hair, sometimes even a french braid if she was going for a fancier look. That's how I perfected my braiding technique and she never complained if I pulled her hair too tight. Barbie was always happy to entertain the dog, even if that meant it chewed off her arm. Some of my Barbie's were scarred for life where the dog had gnawed on their hands, leaving their permanently bent arm disfigured. She always took it like a champ though.

One year at Christmas time my mom told me and Nicole that we could open one of our presents if we guessed what it was. The only guess we could come up with was that it had to be a Barbie. The box was long and thin and pretty much flat, but we still insisted that it contained a Barbie. Is it a Barbie? Its gotta be a Barbie. Are you sure its not a Barbie? It wasn't a Barbie, it was a rack you hang on the wall and hang junk on. Definitely not as cool as a Barbie.

Barbie was a good friend. She never let me down, never talked about me behind my back and she always let me get the last word. She taught me lots of lessons, including never leave your toys laying around because the dog will chew them up, legs can never be properly reattached once they've come off, and blue eye shadow is always classy. She was my favorite toy for a long time and now I get to play with her again because of my ladies. Alana is just starting to appreciate Barbie and all of her girly characteristics, but for me its like I've been reunited with an old friend, and I didn't even realize how much I missed her.

Will somebody please call CPS for me?

Look my dirty knees! Its obvious nobody pays attention to me. And I'm in the nude, half crying, and all my mommy can do is say how cute I look when I make a "mad" face, and run and get her camera. The nerve of some people! Its appaling really. Cover up my boobies at least before you take a picture! What an outrage!

****Seriously people, I mop and vacuum everyday and her knees still get this dirty. She looks neglected. And you can't even see how dirty the tops of her feet are.

So far so good

I really really hate exercise. Yet so far I've stuck with my plan of exercising at least 30 minutes a day for 5 days a week.

For people without kids or people who can afford a gym membership this goal may not seem that large.

First of all, my kids both have anti-exercise detectors built in. Even if I try to exercise when one or both of them is asleep, I don't get more than 15 minutes in before someone (usually Ava) protests. And then climbs up my legs, cries, tries to sit on my chest while I'm doing crunches or just gets underfoot.

Second of all, there is only one place in Benson to go to exercise. And its way out of my price range. My price range is zero. I need exercise to be free.

My last resort has been to go for a run when David is home and can wrangle my ladies. Its really more of a speed walk that I end with a sprint, but it counts as cardio.

Its not even that I have that busy of a life. Most of my days are spent at home, with no schedule. Its just that my kids hate when I exercise. Unless its yoga, then Alana is all gung-ho. Namaste.

Despite everyone's efforts to kill my workout routine, I have prevailed. Combine that with my "diet", and I've been doing pretty good. By diet I mean I haven't eaten a whole pan of brownies by myself in like, two weeks. I made homemade cinnamon rolls and only allowed myself one per day, for two days. I made zucchini bread and took it to my dad's house to share. For me, that's monumental.

I normally eat a pretty balanced diet, I just have a major sweet tooth. Just cutting out all my extra calories from sweets and exercising about 30 minutes a day I already accomplished the initial small goal I set for myself. Five pounds, check.

I bought a new scale and didn't really believe it when I weighed myself. I weighed myself 2 weeks ago at someone else's house and weighed 130. On Saturday when I got out my scale I weighed 125. Sure enough when I weighed myself today on the first scale, I weigh 125. My scale is not a liar.

I'm 5'7", so I'm at a normal weight alreadyand have a healthy BMI. I just want my clothes to fit my waist a little better, but since I have such a boyish figure (not counting temporarily c-cup boobs from breastfeeding), a couple inches on my waist makes a difference. I blame my narrow hips.

Now my goal is more to get into better shape, so I don't feel like I'm dying when I do more than 5 minutes of cardio. Here's to long naps and cooperating children.

There is no such thing as natural beauty

That's why Ava makes sure to devote at least 5 minutes per day to her beauty routine. At her princess vanity. Cause when you feel beautiful on the outside you feel beautiful on the inside.

Father's Day and Semi-Annual Extra Paycheck Celebration

This year Father's Day happened to fall on a weekend where we actually had some spending money. Hooray for shopping!

Our original plan was to go shopping and see a movie Saturday, but Friday night our money was burning a hole in our pockets, so we decided to make a 7 pm trip to Sierra Vista. Once upon a time in our lives, pre-children, we were spontaneous people. We also liked to stay up late, and sleep in. Since with kids none of these things are completely possible, none of them are true anymore. So said 7 pm shopping excursion to a store that's 30 minutes away was probably a bad idea.

While we were at the store, I got a case of buyers remorse. I had a cart full of fun stuff, and between the toy department and the checkout counter, I put back all but 3 things. I ended up buying zero fun items. I got swimmer diapers (for Ava), dishsoap (yippee), and a blowdryer (to replace the cheapo one I bought to replace my dead blowdryer). Not exactly things I'm excited to get.

On Saturday I made up for it by actually buying some fun stuff at the mall and Target, but I still put more things back than I actually bought.

Part of our weekend celebration was a trip to see the highly anticipated movie (especially in our family) Toy Story 3. Alana wore her Toy Story Mania Ride Game shirt. She was hyped (so was I!).

Don't judge me, but I cried during a cartoon. I should've brought kleenex.

It was a seriously great movie. Over the years I've become so attached to these characters that I really genuinely like them. There was a point in time not so long ago when Alana made me watch Toy Story 2 everyday, multiple times a day. I never got sick of it. There are some movies that get annoying quickly, but Woody and Buzz are always endearing to me.

Then at the end *****spoiler alert***** when Andy has to decide what to do with his toys, and he ends up giving them to a well deserved little girl, I cried. He is describing all of his toys to her and then he gets to Woody and he doesn't want to give him up. Then when Woody and the gang watches him drive away, I was seriously sad and emotional. It was embarasssing, but I'm sure I'm not the only one with tears in my eyes (ahem, David).

Maybe I'm such a sap because part of the meaning of these movies is that everything changes with time, so we should enjoy them while we can. As a parent this is especially true, because just like Andy, my kids are going to grow up someday. They will outgrow their toys and clothes and move away to go to college and out into the "real" world. It makes me sad, but at the same time its inevitable so I'd better get used to it.

After getting all emotional over a cartoon with fictional characters, we finished up our day with Rubio's Shrimp Tacos, mmmmm. And some more shopping, where I managed to overcome the previous days cheapness and spend most of my money.

Then yesterday was Father's Day, which was a little bittersweet for David because his Tata is in the hospital in really serious condition. This makes me sad, so I can't even imagine how sad David is at this point. His grandparents are one of those couples that have been married forever and spend all of their time together, so when one of them dies, we all kind of think the other one won't last long because they'll be lost by themself.

Alana helped brighten up David's day by making him this awesome card.

She put a fork and knife stickers on it, cause she knows how much he likes those things. Then she drew a picture of his parents dog (the upside down heart shaped thing by the fork is a dog). Its a masterpiece really. She could get a job at Hallmark.

I tried to brighten up David's day by making him a breakfast meat extravaganza. Plus biscuits and hashbrowns. Then we had enchiladas, beans and rice for dinner at my dad's. Plus my potato salad. If I had known we were having enchiladas I would've made something a little more appropriate. Potato salad doesn't really mesh well with mexican food. But it had bacon in it so people ate it anyway.

So Happy Father's Day and Semi-Annual Exra Paycheck Celebration to David. We love you!

Can you tell he's a Cowboys and Yankees fan?

Fashion tips from Alana - Double Saturday Edition

Welcome to a double edition of fashion tips from Alana.

*Snowman pajama shorts should be considered a neutral, therefore they match with everything.
*Black mary-jane style shoes, whether they're yours or your mommy's, dress up any outfit.
*A Shrek head watch is the perfect accessory to go with wild hair and a Cinderella nightgown.
*Panties are always optional (I put her nightgown between her legs to hide the lack of undies).
*Toy Story Mania Ride Game shirt should be worn immediately after coming out of the laundry. Everyday if possible.

Happy Saturday everybody!

World's Youngest Interior Decorator

Alana has set about to make our house "pretty". And this is her plan. Put bows on all doorknobs and handles. According to her, all handles without a bow are "weird". It already looks better in here.

Steak one week, Bologna the next

Because of my lack of a "job", well just a job outside of my home, we live on a tight budget.

This only allows us to eat out at restaurants or go shopping every once in a blue moon. When we do go out to eat or go to the movies, we have to make sure to set aside extra money for it.

This was almost a foreign concept to David and I at first. Before we had kids we went to the movies at least once a week, sometimes twice. We had two incomes, and while they weren't giant, we had some money burning a hole in our pockets after every payday.

Every once in a while a payday will come along where the money isn't already spent on bills or boring stuff of that nature, like electricity. This is cause for celebration at our house.

So this weekend we get to go to Target! Yay for Target. And when we go to Target, we actually get to buy something besides diapers! Is it completely lame of me that I'm already dreaming of the fun stuff I want to buy?

And we get to go to the movies too! Sunday morning you can find us sitting around eating popcorn and watching Toy Story 3. Alana is hyped. She's already asking when we are going so she can make sure to wear her Toy Story Mania Ride Game shirt.

So our semi-annual extra paycheck celebration is about to kickoff and I'm so excited. Hopefully I don't get a case of cheapness when I go to buy some new shorts, then end up spending all my money on clothes and toys for my ladies, cause that's happened before!

Deja vu

I've got one more award to show off, given to me by Sweet Tea and a Soundtrack. Thanks!

The rules of this award are to pass it on to 10 other bloggers, but since I just gave out 15 awards yesterday, I'm gonna cheat and cut that in half. Nobody tell the blog police.

So I pass it on to:

Ashleigh at Little Girl, Big World

Jennifer at 3 men and a little lady

Stevie at Allow myself to introduce...myself

Diary of a chocoholic

The Girl Who Loves to Whine at I Know You Wish Your Life Was More Like Mine

Have fun!

I'd like to thank the academy

I got two more awards. Yay!

The first is the beautiful blog award from The Young Retiree.

According to the rules of this award, I must pass it on to seven other bloggers.

So my nominees are:

We're in for it!

The Story of Us

Emily's Last Word

Teresa at Monday Morning

Tookey at Living Life Twice

Stefani at Life is Beautiful

Life Blessons

My second award is The Versatile Blogger award from Shelley Ann at Painting the Memories. Thanks so much!

First part in the longwinded acceptance of this award: List seven things about myself.

1. I can never come up with anything good while writing lists about myself. Its always after.

2. I have a great husband. (Who told me to say that when I asked him what I should write on here).

3. I obsessively watched TGIF when I was a kid. Full House and Family Matters were the highlight of my week. I can name all of the characters from Full House as a result (the characters from Family Matters are a little fuzzy). Danny Tanner, DJ (Donna Jo) Tanner, Stephanie Tanner, Michelle Tanner, Uncle Jessie Katsopolis, Aunt Becky Katsopolis, Uncle Joey Gladstone, Kimmy Gibbler. Impressive, I know.

4. I don't know how to do a cartwheel. As a kid I was afraid that my arms wouldn't support my weight so I refused to even try.

5. When someone un-follows me I become obsessed with figuring out who it was so I can un-follow them back. No luck so far. So if you un-follow me and I figure out who you are, I will un-follow you back.

6. I passed on my insistence on picking out my own clothes to Alana. I once wore a red and green sweater vest with a yellow ballerina bunny sweater (gotta love the 80's). It just so happened that day was the day my teacher was taking pictures of us to make a Christmas gift picture frame to give to our parents. I am now immortalized forever in that outfit, surrounded by gold-painted macaroni.

7. I used to consider myself somewhat of a punk rocker-esque chick. I had my eyebrow, tongue and belly button all pierced. And I paired those with dorky shirts that said dumb stuff like Boys Lie or Don't Label Me. My favorite at the time was bright yellow and had a monkey doing a yoga pose. My drivers license picture features me, my eyebrow ring and my yellow monkey shirt. I have regretted a lot of fashion choices in my life but that one takes the cake (followed by first grade picture frame with other awesome outfit).

Second part of longwinded acceptance: Nominate 15 newly discovered blogs that I think are fantastic. Fifteen is sooo many. But I'll give it a shot. If I don't get to 15 its because I already used 7 on the first award.

Ashton at Journalistic Musings

Theresa at Always in Bluhm

Myra at Consistently Inconsistent

Annie at Adorkable Annie

Edkdolce

Mhel at Pens Pans and Puns

Lauren at The Dernier Cri

The Ditzy Diaries

I'm counting the first seven in my total of 15. Since these are supposed to be newly discovered blogs I've kind of run out. So here you go everyone. Congrats!

You shot me! You shot me in the leg!

Both of my ladies went to the Dr on Monday for check-ups. I didn't expect anything out of the ordinary, so I told Alana no one would hurt her.

They were both great and healthy.

Alana weighed 31 lbs and was 38 inches tall. My little chunker Ava was 18 lbs and 24 inches tall.

I hadn't realized beforehand that Alana needed two shots. I thought she was up to date. I was wrong.

As soon as the nurse said she needed two shots Alana was so mad. Me don't want shots!

I had to hold her down while they gave her one shot in each leg. My poor drama queen lady cried all the way out to the car, then finally calmed down after I gave her a sucker.

Now she insists that the Dr was nice, but dat nurse was mean. Coming from someone who cried when they weighed her, of course she's gonna cry when they give her shots.

Dream big

First thing Alana said to me this morning: Me want to go into the TV and meet Ni-Hao Kailan's grandpa Ye-Ye. Then me wanna meet Rintu and Tolley.

Sure, that could happen.

Sometimes you feel like a hoarder, sometimes you don't

I am an anti-hoarding advocate. I've never understood the emotional attachment to stuff.

Maybe because for a good part of my childhood grew up in a house where throwing away old junk was frowned upon. Not that anyone was a hoarder, but some people have unnatural attachments to old furniture.

Just because your grandma once owned a table doesn't mean that you should keep it till you die. I'm sure that when she bought that table 50 years ago she didn't intend for it to be sitting in someone's storage room because no one can bear to part with it.

I have no sentimental attachment to any of my furniture. The only thing I've owned longer than five years is the hope chest I got for 8th grade graduation. Everything else was bought since Alana was born. I know, I'm still paying for some of it.

I get rid of my clothes if they don't fit anymore. I don't save stuff in the hopes that it will fit me again someday. I do save maternity clothes, but that's because I'm cheap. Those things are expensive. I don't even have any of my prom or bridesmaid dresses anymore. I'm never gonna wear them again, what's the point?

I can't hardly even watch shows about hoarding. I want to throw up. I don't understand the compulsion to keep everything. Pizza boxes, old wine bottles, receipts, all of your old clothes, smelly old furniture. Throw it away. Get some new crap already.

But when it comes to baby clothes I'm a different person.

With Alana I kept everything. Blankets, clothes, bedding, shoes. I rationalized that if my next baby was a girl then I would already have most of the stuff I needed. When she was about 18 months I got rid of all of the blankets. Couldn't justify keeping those anymore. But I kept the clothes.

When I got pregnant with Ava, I went through these boxes of old clothes. Something funny had happened. I didn't really like them that much anymore. Sure, there were some things that I picked up and remembered how cute and small Alana once was. But for the most part, I wrinkled my nose and wondered what was I thinking.

After we found out that we were having a girl, David said Good, now we don't have to buy anything. But I was thinking more like Crap, now she will have to wear clothes that I don't really like that much. And I'm not exactly made of money these days, so how will I buy new ones.

I ended up getting rid of all of Alana's newborn clothes, except pajamas. Pajamas can be expensive, and who really cares if I thought they weren't as cute? She only wears them to sleep in anyway.

After Ava grew some and didn't wear these newborn clothes anymore, I didn't automatically get rid of them. I put them in a rubbermaid container in the storage room, just like I did with Alana's clothes. Then I got out Alana's old clothes for Ava to wear (the ones that made it through the first round of give-aways). I tried to put them on Ava, but they just didn't suit her personality. She is a bright, colorful spirit. The clothes were all blah. So Ava's wardrobe was reduced to mostly things that she was the original owner of.

This morning I decided to finish sorting through our baby clothes. Two of David's co-workers are having girls, which is a perfect way to get rid of some of the clothes piling up over here.

Alana's old clothes don't really tug at my heartstrings as much these days. She's not a baby anymore, she's 3 1/2. Her baby clothes are mostly gone, and her clothes now get stained before she outgrows them. The only thing I save of hers anymore is jeans and pajamas. No matter how picky I am, those two things don't matter to me that much. Pajamas are only worn at night, and jeans are pretty generic.

Then I got to Ava's clothes. My chest felt tight and my eyes started watering. They're so small! It wasn't even that long ago that she wore them! I just bought this shirt, and its not too small quite yet, but its long sleeves, so it too hot to wear. I can't get rid of this, I remember when she wore it! I love this dress!

Its especially hard for me to get rid of newborn clothes. They are so little and cute, and they remind me of the days when you first bring your baby home from the hospital. They are so tiny and fragile, and despite the stitches in your crotch that you have because of them, you are head over heels in love with them.

You spend your time just staring at them in awe of how special and perfect they are. To me, those memories include the tiny little onesies they wear for that first part of their life. When the label says up to 8 lbs, and its still too big for them. When they are swimming in their tiny pajamas. You can't even find their little feet in the bunch of fabric.

My favorite part of having a new baby is just looking at them. They will sleep through anything and everything so that makes them perfect for snuggling.

The first time I held Ava I immediately decided that I wanted to have a third baby. You forget how small they start out. By the time they are two they're so big and grown-up, its nice to have a little angel to hug while your two year old screams they want to watch Spongebob.

The logical part of me knows that my next baby could be a boy. But I'd love another girl. Either way, I'm gonna want and need to get some new clothes. That's why I packed up most of Ava's baby clothes to give away.

Now I'd better go, cause thinking about it makes me sad. There's still time to take the clothes out of the giveaway box!

I'll leave you with a picture of my babies.

Alana at one day old. (Above).

Me and Ava. She is looking at me like I'm crazy.

***Quick tip: If you are having a baby and want to look good in the pictures, do your hair and make-up. Otherwise you'll look back at yourself and think Yuck. That's why I didn't show you a picture of me with Alana, I look crappy.

Ten months

Ten months ago I had this little stinky lady. Its crazy to think that in two short months she will be one.

Time has flown by for me, but Ava has used her time productively, to develop some skills and interests that any baby would be jealous of.

She's mastered standing and pulling herself up onto stuff.

She can walk around the perimeter of the couch when she's holding on, and even go from couch to chair.

She loves to hear her own voice. The sound of baby screams echoes through our house.

Playing is her number one priority. She will speed crawl over to her basket of toys, pull herself up to stand on it, then find all the best toys.

Self-feeding is one of her many hobbies. Next up, using a spoon. That spoon better watch its back, cause Ava is coming for it.

She drinks from a straw and uses a sippy cup like she's been doing it all her life. She's kind of a show-off.

Loves baths, especially if someone else gets in with her. Who doesn't love taking a bath with their sister?

The pantry must remain closed at all times, or Ava will take everything out of it that's within her reach.

She a certified chub butt. At her doctors appt today she weighed 18 lbs, 10 oz. And she was 24 inches tall. As you can imagine, she looks great in a bikini.  

She's a hair, necklace and earring puller. Don't get too close or you will be her next victim. And she pulls headbands off of herself. I find myself in a battle of wills with a baby whenever I put a hat or headband on her, because she will pull it off, then I'll put it back on, over and over again till someone gives up. Usually me.

She's my number one,  pretty cute, bratty getting into stuff, chubtastic, two toothed, crazy haired, lovable squeezeable baby.

Death by exercise

Can't...blog. Possibly.....dying. Jillian Michaels........is...devil. Ears.....ringing. Quads.....burning. Face......red. Heart....racing. Breath....loud. Husband.......laughing at me. Avenge me blogworld. Avenge me.

Things old people say

As previously mentioned, we can't help but turn into our parents.

But we can control the things that we say. There are things that old people say that automatically make them sound old.

If you ever start your sentence with When I was your age, then young people will stop listening to you instantly.

When you say I used to walk 8 miles to school, uphill both ways, in the snow, no one really believes you. You are then labelled old, and for good measure you are now also crazy.

At my parents house they have a table older than me. It is sturdier than we give it credit for being. Yet whenever a child comes near it everyone over 25 says Don't lean on the ends of the table, they're only held on by pins. Call me crazy, but I don't think after three generations of abuse those table ends are coming off. Or maybe they're still there because of the caution taken by all the adults?

If a new song comes on the radio, and your response is not tapping your feet along with the beat and singing along, but saying All these songs sound the same these days. Kids these days have terrible taste in music. Just stop listening to pop music then. Listen to your fuddy-duddy old songs that the adults of your childhood looked down on.

When you go shopping, please refer to sandals as flip-flops or something of that nature. If you walk into the store asking Do you have any thongs for kids?, the sales clerk will look at you like you're speaking another language.

Nowadays, we only call womens underwear thongs, so if you say that, that's what people will think you're talking about. And they will picture little thong underwear for children. Maybe kids these days have too many visible panty lines and we need to do something about this immediately, but thongs for kids isn't the answer.

Anytime you say I remember when...insert stereotypical thing like kids didn't have cell phones, people had morals, people didn't watch so much tv, computers didn't exist (you get the picture). People are always evolving and our culture is always changing. Kids didn't have cell phones when I was in high school, and that was ten years ago. Now we're all texting and surfing the internet on our phones, and not listening to old people.

Most of the time if you talk about your medical problems, your grandchildren won't listen that closely. These new orthopedic shoes I got were so expensive. Stupid Medicare didn't pay for them. For me personally, I don't really want to hear a ton of detail about anyone's medical problems, so hearing about your cheese allergy isn't that compelling to me.

Last but not least, complaining about the price of things makes you seem old and cheap. Everything's just getting so expensive, I remember when a gallon of milk was 5 cents. Prices get higher. Thats just how it is. And milk will never again be 5 cents a gallon. Never.

Dear blogger,

Thanks but no thanks. I tried out the new design features, and I'm sorry to say I hate them all.

You aren't really offering anything new or innovative. There are no fonts that I'm just dying to have. The backgrounds are all kind of annoying. You keep putting my header off to the left, which is so annoying. I want it centered.

And to my number one issue, your margins. Why does everything have to be so squished together? I like a wide format. Without wide margins, the extra large pictures get cut off or look kind of stupid. My existing extra large pictures look out of place, and they overlap on the sidebar.

Its not that I didn't give you a chance, its just that I don't like you. As soon as I saw the option to switch back way down at the bottom of the screen, I took it.

I hope you don't take it too personally, but I hate you.

Thanks,

According to my ladies

I hate to be the one to break it to you ladies...

But men DO NOT change. They will not, they cannot and they don't really want to.

They are capable of evolving slightly, maybe growing up a little bit, but for the most part they will always be the same guy.

If a guy treats you like crap, verbally or physically abuses you or cheats on you, he probably always will.

If he is expecting a baby with someone else, you should just throw in the towel, cause there's probably not any hope for your relationship (I know this one from personal experience).

There are cases that prove this law wrong. Men are capable of growing up a little bit when their first child is born, but if this doesn't do the job, then nothing will. And if having a kid doesn't make them grow up, probably nothing ever will. (I am not advocating having a baby to make your guy grow up, babies put pressure on relationships that you didn't know existed).

I've been cheated on by all but 2 boys that I dated, and I married one of them. More than once I gave boys second chances, and they always went back to their old ways. They made me realize that what my dad told me my whole life was true, men are pigs. Even my dad and brothers are pigs. That's according to my dad. He is right.

The problem with finding a nice guy is this: They are few and far between because of this: Women don't always like nice guys. They like bad boys or guys that kind of treat them like crap sometimes. My youngest brother is a good example. He was born a pig. He is cocky and rebelious at times, and since kindergarten (literally, he was engaged on the first day of school) he has had a steady stream of girlfriends. His first real long term girlfriend put up with a lot, and I secretly hope for a reunion someday (I'm team Beth!).

Women almost don't know how to deal with guys who treat us nicely. We put them in the friend category. Its hard for them to break out of that once they're in it. I had David in the friend box for over a year before we started dating, now he's lucky enough to be my husband (yeah David, that's what I said, you know it). Now I have a husband who treats me right, doesn't cheat or abuse me, and shares my same views on life. And he's a good father, that's more important than anything. Even if he makes me be the disciplinarian. What a wuss.

He may be a little obsessed with the Cowboys, but you can't win em all. I can't change him. Even if I were to try, what would I change? Ok, maybe I wish he'd pick up his shoes every night when he goes to bed, but that's not really a dealbreaker.

Grouchy Thursday

Brought to you by: really long and exhausting Wednesday, which left me sleep deprived with a sore back and obliques. Yesterday's exhaustion has carried over into today, which makes me irritable. So now I will list the things that have annoyed me more than normal this week.

1. Dora the Explorer - With her high pitched voice and her Spanglish, this stupid show drives me crazy. Its so dumbed down and has way too many trolls for one show. And all of the songs are extra bad. And annoyingly catchy.

2. Dumb people - Nothing annoys me more at the bank than when I pull up to the drive-up ATM and there's some idiot standing at it, no car in sight. This ATM is made for people to drive up to, not park and then stand at! Walk around the corner to the regular one and get out of my way!

3. Walmart's produce section - I shouldn't have to make an extra trip to a second grocery store just to buy zucchini. Why does Safeway have plenty but you don't even have one? And I'm not going to do all my shopping at Safeway, cause I'm not rich, so I have no choice but to go to Walmart.

4. My new neighbor - Sorry the landlord told you it would be perfectly quiet back here, but its not. If you want 24/7 silence, don't share a wall with someone with two kids. Sorry if you have a mental illness (he seriously does, the landlord told me), but that doesn't mean you can knock on my door and ask me to stop pounding on the wall. No one was pounding on the wall, we were all in the living room. You are crazy and imagining things. And don't open the front door just cause you heard a kid say "come in". Who does that? If you are knocking on a stranger's door you don't just let yourself in. You wait for them to open the door. And don't count on complete silence. This is an old duplex. When you are in the bathroom at the same time as your neighbor, you can hear every drawer open, water turning on, toilet flushing, etc. If you want quiet, move. I've lived here for seven years and I'm not going anywhere.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, I feel much better. I'm ready to go swimming.

Exercise TV

We have cable, and included with our service is On Demand TV.

This means we can watch a selection of TV shows and movies from HBO whenever we want. Doesn't matter too much to me though, since we have DVR too. We pretty much have it all when it comes to our TV.

Included with On Demand service is one useful tool though. Exercise TV. Its like having 100 fitness DVDs at our fingertips. Whatever you feel like doing, they have. You can do 10, 20 or 30 minute sessions. You can do yoga, pilates, cardio or dance. You can tone your butt with Kim Kardashian if that's what floats your boat. Or learn the Thriller dance with some amateur Micheal Jackson wanna-bes.

Now I'm not the biggest fan of exercise. I actually hate it. But I also hate the 5 extra pounds I have. I've always been the skinny girl, and if I were to cross over into some other category I don't know what I'd do. Five pounds doesn't seem like a lot at first, but that's how it starts. I would rather control my size while I'm still at a healthy body weight and BMI than have to do extra diet and exercise in the future if I let it get out of control.

I know when I wean Ava I will lose a couple of pounds in the boobs, which will help. I miss my little A cups. And breastfeeding makes you so hungry. I have to eat every few hours or my stomach is growling. And if I were to try and diet and limit my calorie intake, it would affect my milk supply. I have to eat at least 2,000 calories a day or I starve my baby. As Ava eats more solid foods she needs me less, and as soon at she hits one I'm cutting her off. I'm reclaiming my boobs.

The whole eating 2,000 calories a day isn't really an issue for me. For the most part I eat really healthy. I barely ever eat red meat, I always eat whole wheat, I don't drink soda, I make sure to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. But I have a seemingly incurable condition. A massive sweet tooth, paired with almost complete lack of willpower. If I make a batch of cookies, I will eat most of them. If we have ice cream, I will eat it everyday.

This sweet tooth has been with me as long as I can remember. As a kid, I would eat frozen cool whip because it was the closest thing we had to ice cream. I would suck the chocolate off of Raisinettes, because I didn't like the raisin but I wanted to eat the chocolate. I would freeze chocolate milk and try to pass it off as ice cream. I don't recommend any of those. My one shoplifting incident in my life was a Snickers bar. Then my sister caught me eating it and I had to share to buy her silence. Wasn't worth it.

Its not that I think its a realistic goal to never eat sugar again. That's not even a possibility. But maybe I should consider not making any whole batches of cookies when I'm home alone all day. Or making a cake that I'm not going to take somewhere to share with other people. I love sugar too much to give it up entirely. But I also love being skinny. So sacrifices have to be made.

If this means I have to exercise, so be it. Its the price I have to pay to be skinny and not have to move up from my size 6 jeans, which I've been wearing since high school (not the actual same jeans, just the same size).

I have two days of exercise under my belt already. Now if I can keep from hurting my back again like I did yesterday, I should be okay. I just have to exercise (almost) everyday for the rest of my life. Maybe I'll relax a little when I'm pregnant again, since having a flat stomach isn't so much of an issue then.

As an added bonus, Alana loves to do yoga, and if you've ever seen a 3 year old do yoga then you know its almost the cutest thing you'll ever see in the world.

Cutest. Bunny. Ever.

This is where my blog is gonna take kind of a girly fawning over cute baby animals turn. Don't worry, it'll be back to normal in no time. I'm not usually the kind of person who goes all ga-ga over baby bunnies.

But for now, look at this bunny. I see it every night after dinner when I look out the kitchen window while I'm doing dishes.

I think its the cutest baby animal I've ever seen. It just hangs out back there, while its mom relaxes a couple feet away. The pictures don't do it justice either. Its way smaller and cuter than it looks.

It makes me wanna talk baby talk to it. Aren't you just the cutest wittle wabbit ever? Yes you are. You're just so cute and fuzzy-wuzzy and I just wanna give you little wabbit kisses. Yes I do. Who's the cutest bunny -wunny ever? Who is?

Then I imagine said rabbit would probably roll its little rabbit eyes at me and hop away. Crazy lady always staring at me while I'm trying to relax. Geez. Next thing I know you'll be taking pictures of me. Oh wait, you already did. What's next? You gonna take pictures of the baby quail too?

To which I would reply: As soon as I see some cute little fuzzy baby quail back here, I'm gonna take a picture of them. Cause baby quail are way cuter than bunnies with attitude. With their fuzzy little bodies and that thing sticking up off their head (what's that thing called?), they look like little walking cotton balls. Then you rabbits will just go back to being annoying little gray things that run in front of my car at night.

Lazy days of summer

Its officially HOT here in Arizona! Its been over 100 degrees the past few days, but at least its a dry heat.

We've been staying inside (like we ever really go outside anyway) and relaxing. That's what I plan on doing all summer. And fall. And winter. Also on the agenda: lots of swimming! We went yesterday and it officially tired Alana out. Something about the combo of hot sun and cold water makes kids tired. Me too.

Alana's other favorite summertime activities include:

Attending birthday parties.

And perfecting her hula-hooping skills!

Ava is enjoying her first summer by:

Organizing the pantry. (Don't judge me for all the Chef Boyardee crap, that's David's and I don't eat it).

Catching up on her summer reading. Which includes standing up to get into the entertainment center.

And organizining her mommy's closet.

Alana is all about the relaxing. But Ava, she is a little more studious. Needs to clean and stuff.

***Post edit- This is how I'm spending a good part of my summer days:

Eating some Breyer's Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream. Its delicious and refreshing and minty. Yum.

(This is not my actual ice cream cone).