My Big Girl

Miss Priss finally got to the point where the 5 point harness on her car set no longer fits her. Well, it fits, but she's past the weight limit, so we're switching her to just the seatbelt (in the carseat, of course -- it's the seatbelt re-adjuster thingy). I was shocked to see what a big girl she looks like with just a seatbelt. If that makes me kind of sad in a bittersweet sort of way, I'm going to be a mess when she finally makes it to kindergarten!

Graduation Comparison

It’s been almost 10 years since I graduated from high school (in a small town). Here is the comparison between my graduate and my sister-in-law’s graduation that we attended yesterday.

Length:
Mine: 2 hours
SIL’s: Just under 2 hours

Number of Graduates:
Mine: 45 (yes, it still took 2 hours!)
SIL’s: over 1200

Number of Cliché, Idealistic, and (let’s face it) Crappy Valedictory Speeches:
Mine: 1 (given by yours truly)
SIL’s: None – their valedictorian was hilarious and gave a great speech

Number of Children I Had To Keep In Line During Graduation:
Mine: Um, none
SIL’s: 2. Two cranky kids who did not want to sit still. Baby Boo kept throwing her pacifier at the man in front of us, and Miss Priss kept asking for more snacks out of my purse (good thing I packed a lot).

We did get to skip out early after my SIL had walked across the stage and gotten her diploma (or her paper that said, “Congratulations, blah, blah, blah, here’s some quotes, blah, blah, blah, pick up your diploma beginning May 31st, blah, blah, blah). That way we avoided traffic and another hour of watching people slowly get up make their way to the front and walk across the stage and back to their seat.

And I think long straight hair is very “in” with the teenage crowd. Just a guess since practically every girl who graduated had long straight hair.

Wahoo!

I lost 2 pounds this week (and that's even with my parents being in town this weekend, so I haven't been watching my eating as well as I should have been). A little at a time. It's all going to go.

I started working on the blanket for my cousin's baby that I'm making. I hope she likes it. I've knitted one and a half squares of a 9 square blanket. Now I just need to learn how to crochet to put it all together in a nice finished looking way. So I'm off to search the internet to learn to crochet. I hope it's not that hard. LOL

Mommy Guilt

We all have it. We all wonder how we have already screwed up our kids. It's funny; my parents are in town, so we were talking with my cousin E this afternoon (she came over for a while). It's funny. My parents still worry about me (of course), but they have a lot of guilt over a lot of things.

This came up because Hubby and I have decided that Miss Priss will go to kindergarten when she is 6. Well, we've pretty much decided (we've been parents for less than 4 years, but we know that nothing is ever set in stone when it comes to parenting). She will go to pre-school next year 3 days a week, and then she'll go to the 5 day a week pre-k class for the year after she turns 5. Then she will go to kindergarten when she turns 6.

My parents immediately take this as "we shouldn't have put you in kindergarten when you were 5." Well, I have a June birthday, and there was never any problem with me being one of the absolute youngest in my class.

While my mom and I went to get dinner, we talked some more about it. I have so many things that I've done as a parent that I'm not proud of. I wonder if I criticize Miss Priss too much. Do I let Baby Boo get away with too much because she's the baby and "doesn't know any better?" My mom assures me that the fact that I worry about it means that I'm probably doing well.

Both my cousin and my parents told me that Hubby and I are doing great. The girls are happy and well-behaved (which kids are they looking at?). So maybe I shouldn't feel so guilty about all the things that I do wrong. I must be doing something right.

You know you grew up in tornado alley if....

I got this in an email and laughed and nodded through the entire thing. Those who live in tornado alley will totally understand.

You know you grew up in tornado alley if....
The first thing you do if you hear tornado sirens during the day is check your watch to see if it's noon.

You don't get worried unless the sky looks "green".

You use the word "tornado" as a verb.

You chuckle at all the facebook groups called "I survived the ___ tornado."

You might go indoors when there's a tornado, but you won't "seek shelter" for anything less than an F3.

You know what Doppler radar, Hook echo, wall cloud, and rain-wrapped all mean.

You've never exactly memorized the tornado precautions, but you've heard them enough times that you know them by heart anyway.

Watching the weather is entertaining. And red on the Doppler radar is exciting.

The phrase "Tornado on the ground, take your immediate tornado precautions" sends exciting shivers up your spine.

You've seen photos/videos of tornados and said, "Wow, that's a nice one!"

You can feel/smell tornado weather brewing a few hours before the storm actually begins.

There's an odd feeling as though you've misplaced something if you make it all the way to June without a tornado warning near you.

You think people that live in earthquake and/or hurricane prone areas are crazy.

You know what people are talking about when they mention the "May 3rd" tornado.

You watch the movie "Twister" just so you can point out all the inaccuracies in it.

You know your weathermen by their first names. i.e. Gary.

When you hear the tornado sirens go off, you go outside to watch the storm and take pictures.

Most of the tornado video footage comes from everyday people with camcorders instead of from actual news/weathermen.

You're sure there's a giant tornado magnet hidden somewhere in Moore. And that there are smaller ones distributed throughout trailer parks.

You know that the four seasons are actually: summer, late summer, winter (if you're lucky), and tornado.

You don't consider it windy until the windspeed is faster than 20mph.

You are highly entertained by people from outside tornado alley when there is a tornado watch. (Especially if you're the one who's visiting the other state.)

Your school has tornado drills. And you assumed that schools in every other state had them as well.

There's enough random stuff in your tornado shelter that you could live there for a year.

You stand under your carport or open your front door to watch hail and/or thunderstorms.

You know the difference between a basement, a cellar, and a storm shelter.

The weather is a completely acceptable subject for conversation, at any time, for any occasion.

Your local mall has "tornado shelter" signs posted.

It doesn't bother you the next day to find out that your area was under a tornado watch the night before and you had no idea. Unless, of course, it caused you to miss some interesting cloud formations.

Getting to "play" in the basement/cellar/storm shelter excites you or numbers among your favorite childhood memories.

You keep matches, candles, and candleholders in more than one place in your house.

Your town will never get hit by a tornado because you're between two rivers or because an old Indian legend says so.

You complain about severe weather reports that interrupt the TV show you're watching.

You can get together all your most important possessions in 2 minutes flat.

When tornado sirens woke you up in the middle of the night...you rolled over and went back to sleep.

You've ever tried to reassure someone by saying that "if anything forms it will only be a little tornado"...and couldn't understand why this didn't calm them down any.

It's normal for your area to be under a tornado watch for multiple days in a row.

You laughed at everything in this list, but you also respect a tornado's power. And you know that after it's over, clean-up and re-building has to begin.

I have all sorts of things.....

going on in my head. I just can't quite commit them to words yet. Nothing bad, mind you, but, what's the word? Deep, maybe. Deep thoughts. I will work it all out soon, and I have a couple of posts that are trying to work themselves out of my head. I promise I'll be back soon.

Reading

I’m on a reading spree this month. I’ve read 11 books this month. LOL So, as you can imagine I’m starting to run out of things to read. Anyone have a good suggestions of authors or books I might like?

Update

I lost 1.2 lbs last week which is, of course, much more consistent with what I was doing last year when I was losing weight. I think the 3 lbs was a fluke (probably brought on by my monthly visitor and all the water weight she brings with her). So, I am hoping to lost about that this week.

I’m doing pretty well. I’m still eating all the same food that I love, but I have just significantly cut back on portion sizes. It was hard for a few days, but now it’s easier. My stomach seems to get full faster.

Now I need to work on drinking more water. That’s the story of my life – I’ve never been good at drinking enough water (except when I’m pregnant, and even then it’s forced for the good of the baby), and I got some of the little things from Walmart to put in bottled water. But, of course, I left those at home.

I also got some 100 Calorie Oreo Bars. This helps satisfy my mid-afternoon craving for something sweet without buying a million calorie candy bar from the store downstairs. They’re not full fat oreos by any means, but they’ll suffice.

So, if I actually add more exercise into my time, I should be doing even better. I’m trying to lose 10 lbs before we go on vacation (and I’ve lost 4.2 already) in July. And my goal is not to gain in those 2 weeks (I can’t hope to lose, but no gain would be good). I think I’ll easily make my goal, and I realistically think I can keep from gaining. We eat out too much (well, we pick up from fast food places and take it home), but I’m getting much better about making choices when I eat out. Since I avoid caffeine, there are no choice for drinks that aren’t full of calories and sugar, so I usually get a lemonade and give that to the girls and get myself a caffeine free diet drink that I have on hand at home. I skip fries or chips and just get a sandwich or burger or a salad if they look appetizing (with very little dressing – have you seen how many calories those little packs of salad dressing have in them?!)

So, I’m hopeful that I’ll actually be losing weight again soon. And this time for good.

So, what will the results be?

I've been trying so hard again to lose weight. And last week I lost 3 pounds. Ahem, it was also "that time of the month," so I assume most of that was water weight. I weigh again on Sunday. I changed it to the end of the weekend to try and curb my weigh in before the weekend so you can splurge attitude. That isn't helping my weight loss.

So, I guess we'll see how I'm doing come Sunday. I don't have anything planned for this weekend, so I'll get bored and hopefully stay away from the snacking.

My 3rd Child

Who could resist that little face? And if you're wondering why I'm posting this, check here. :)

Now I need to go check out greetingflix.com because it looks like a really cool site. I needed an idea for Mother's Day. :)

Sisters

It’s funny how very different two children from the same parents can be. While they have their similarities, my girls are so unlike each other in so many ways. Miss Priss is shy, anxious, and introverted. Yet, she has a heart of gold and will pretty much do as she’s told (most days). Baby Boo is much more outgoing and easy-going. I don’t think she’ll be the super-outgoing belle of the ball type, but she’s definitely more outgoing than her sister. And she’s stubborn. Miss Priss is stubborn in her own way, but Baby Boo is openly defiant even at 16 months. She will be a handful for years to come.

We had a nice thunderstorm last night. I love thunderstorms (as long as there are no tornadoes). I love the rain and the wind and the lightning. I love it all. When the thunder started, Hubby and I thought it would be less than five minutes before Miss Priss joined us in our bed. As it turned out, 7 minutes later, there was a very close bolt of lightning that killed all the lights in our complex and the thunder was so loud that it made us jump. I immediately got out of bed and headed down the hall because there was no way that the girls slept through that. Hubby had a flashlight next to the bed and was right behind me (thankfully, too, since the girls had left a minefield of toys). We gave Miss Priss her little flashlight and told them to go back to sleep (the lights were already back on). Then we watched her play with the flashlight for a good 15 minutes before going to sleep. LOL

How Can I Punish Her?

Baby Boo has a new thing. When she's in trouble, she will try to give kisses. It's so adorable. How can I punish her when she's doing that? LOL If you want a Baby Boo kiss, all you have to do is tell her no. She's going to be a charmer. Her political career is taking off already. LOL Go for the cute distraction. I didn't think it was possible to have 2 daddy's girls, but they've both got him wrapped around their little fingers.

Now Miss Priss will be my doctor. LOL She's getting growing pains in her legs again (not surprising since she's also getting a little pudgy, so I know a growth spurt is coming). So, one night to distract her, I went into a detailed (well, for a 3 year old, it was detailed LOL) discussion of growth plates and that's why her legs hurt. There was even a drawing in a magna doodle of her leg and what hurts where. Then we had to watch Curious George ("the one where he hurts him's leg). That way we could see the x-ray that the doctor does in that episode and discuss bones some more. I need to brush up on my biology. And she's upset that her toy stethoscope doesn't actually allow her to hear her own heartbeat (again, thanks, Curious George). I told her that's because it's a toy and she can't get it into her ears far enough (on purpose no less). So, now she wants a "real" stethoscope so that she can hear her heartbeat.

Miss Priss Update

I’ve been working with Miss Priss on her social anxiety. And I’m seeing some improvement. I’ve noticed that she does best in places she’s familiar with (and the local playground counts as one of those). She was even standing up for herself and bossing a couple of older kids around at the playground yesterday. There were two other boys there. I’d guess their ages were around 4-5 and 6-7. Miss Priss was playing with a chain that hangs down from the bridge. She likes to bang it against the post because it makes a clanging sound that she says is a school bell. Well the younger boy came up and told her to stop because it was hurting his ears. Instead of nervously walking away, she stood her ground and gave him a nervous smile. That may not seem like much, but that is huge progress for her. Then she and the little boy were playing and running around and over the bridge and stuff while my mother-in-law was the troll under the bridge and would try and grab their feet. (Just to clarify, my mother-in-law is about as un-troll-like as they come). Miss Priss even scolded the two boys, the younger one for going up the slide (our rule is “you can only go down the slide”), and the older one for putting rocks down the spiraling slide. She told him that rocks don’t go on the slide. Only people.

She has also gotten a little more relaxed around strangers. She still won’t talk to cashiers who talk to her, but she’ll smile and sometimes wave when we leave. And for some reason, she always waves to the people at McDonald’s. LOL

So far, all I have done is told her how proud I am seeing her playing with children at the playground or whenever she smiles or waves or does something friendly (especially if it requires no prompting from me). She also will tell me if she is feeling “shy today.” Or she’ll tell me that she’s shy around people she doesn’t know. And she seems to really relax when I tell her that makes me nervous as well.

But she seems to be doing better, so I’m hoping that with time she’ll really start to open up a little more. Only time will tell.

I really like Nuva Ring

Besides not having to worry about that whole we’re having a baby scenario, the PMS is much less. That, of course, get a big jump for joy from more than just me. LOL

I’m trying to think of something fun to do this weekend. We might just stay home since I want to, ahem, clean out the girls’ closet. That would be quite an undertaking. I’m not sure I’m up to the challenge, but I need some more of the hand me downs for Baby Boo, so I have to find them. And I’m afraid they’ll manage to mess up my precariously stacked mess. So, I think that will be my weekend project. Wish me luck.

Of course, after paying my $24 library fine (no that’s not a typo – 25 cents a day times 7 books that I had out at the time times I don’t remember how many days works out to be $24), I have been reading up a storm. I have 8 books at home (5 of which are ready to go back) and 6 more on hold at the library. I’m going to try and make it by this afternoon to pick those up. Good thing I’m a fast reader. LOL

Anyone have any great books they’d like to recommend?

Ugh!

I'm almost 27 years old. Why am I still getting acne?! I think I was better off as a teenager! What happened to the acne help that is supposed to come with hormonal birth control? Huh? Not seeing it. I'm not rich. If I was, I would have the very best skin care products, but since I'm a Walmart brand kind of girl, I guess I'm getting what I pay for, right? LOL My skin has been so oily lately. Within the last month actually, so I'm thinking the birth control is causing the skin problems. However, it solves so many other problems, I'm willing to work around it.

Any magic cures you know about and would like to share? :D