That was fast!

I just came from getting my hair cut off!  Glad I was able to check that off my "before I'm 30" bucket list.  I just thought it would be a good thing to do. 

In other news, I have a potty trained little girl now.  And you know how long it took??  A little over 24 hours!!  She was a pro.  She got really attached to me because of the lavish praise and M&M rewards I would give her.  I am so proud of her. 

Put on your Sunday clothes

Something has Audrey all congested and has made me extremely dizzy.  I have been dizzy for hours now.   That can't be normal.  I don't ever remember being this dizzy for so long.

Since she doesn't feel well, I am letting her watch more TV than normal.  I actually try not to put the TV on at all for her, but do limit to just an hour if it does go on.  But she's sick and not wanting to play or anything, so on comes Wall-E.

It starts out playing "Put on Your Sunday Clothes" from the musical "Hello Dolly!".  I was in it twice in high school.  My church's production was better though and I did get a better part as well: Ermengarde.  It's been so long since I've acted.  I sort of miss it, but don't know if I could do it again.

Anyway, just some thoughts.

Audrey is getting a kitchen for Christmas from her Grammie and Gramps.  It came today.  She hasn't noticed the large box in the front room :)  Brent and I will put it together so she will see it Christmas morning.  That will be fun.

Lost

I keep on worrying about Audrey's speech development.  She talks a LOT, but I don't understand most of it.  I know it's bad to compare kids, but most kids her age you can carry on a coherent conversation.  Not so with my little girl.  The pediatrician said at her 2 year appointment not to worry unless she's not up to 50 words by 2 and a half.  She's got over twice that, so I guess I shouldn't worry.  After all, there aren't charts for adults are there?  No "typical" what a 25 year old woman should weigh, how tall, and how many words should be in her vocab?????

I guess this peaked yesterday when I lost Audrey for a little bit.  I have no idea how long, maybe it was only 5 minutes, but I thought she was lost.  My mom and I were at Penney's.  They had cranked up the heater so I got the car keys from my mom, since we were right by the door, to put my coat up.  In the minute I was gone, she had gotten away from my mom and decided it would be fun to play hide and seek.  She's been playing a lot with Brent and has learned to be really quiet when Daddy is looking for her.  When my mom found her, she laughed and ran the opposite direction.  Grandmomma gave Audrey quite the pop when she caught up with her.  It took mom forever to calm down, she was shaking so badly.  It freaked me out too, but somehow I was the one to keep calm.  Maybe it's because she felt so bad for losing track of her.  I told her that we do NOT play that game in public places.  Need to find my kid leash.

Nap, please?!

I hate it when Audrey sleeps in the car.  I don't care if it's 1 minute, she won't nap because of it.  Ugh.  I count on her nap.  Can you tell I am battling it today?!  I hear her on the monitor letting me know she's up. I put on headphones.  I figure she will eventually go to sleep.  I have a couple of projects I am working on and it's the only time of the day I get "me" time.  So sue me, I want to watch an episode of Dr Who in the near future!

I've been helping my mom remodel Peter's kitchen while he and his wife are on vacation with her parents this week.  We got quite a lot done, but it feels like it will never be done.  I got paint on my favorite pair of jeans.  *sigh*

So glad it's Friday.  Hope we can do something fun this weekend.  I just tried something different with those white bean blondies.  If they turned out good, I will let you know what I did in the next entry :)

Baptismal Birthday

Today is Audrey's 2nd baptismal birthday.  Here she is 2 years ago at a little over 5 months old:

Speaking of elephants...

Audrey's favorite movie right now is Dumbo.  I love it that she's getting in to the classics!  Disney is about to release the 70th anniversary edition of Dumbo.  I can't believe it's that old!

Her favorite part is "Pink Elephants on Parade" which is weird.  That always creeped me out as a kid.  But she "sings" along with it with her own lyrics and dances.

I used to sing her "Baby Mine" when she was an infant.  And yes, usually bawl during it.  Here are those lyrics, so beautiful:

Baby mine, don't you cry
Baby mine, dry your eyes
Rest your head close to my heart
Never to part, baby of mine
Little one when you play
Don't you mind what you say
Let those eyes sparkle and shine
Never a tear, baby of mine
If they knew sweet little you
They'd end up loving you too
All those same people who scold you
What they'd give just for
The right to hold you
From your head to your toes
You're not much, goodness knows
But you're so precious to me
Cute as can be, baby of mine

We'll take the rain!

Texas has been suffering.  Finally we are getting some rain!  When it hasn't in so long, it kicks up all sorts of thing's though.  None of us feel great.  I've started wanting to go to bed at 6 since Thursday.  Not a great feeling, but we need this rain and the cooler weather is fantastic so I will try not to complain.

Christmas is coming up!  I have almost all of my Christmas shopping done.  Just need to get one of my SIL's, MIL's, FIL's and my youngest BIL, not to mention all of Audrey's.  Audrey will be the most fun to shop for, so I am not worried about it.  FIL and BIL, DH gets to be in charge of and I am pretty sure what to get MIL.  I love that I do my shopping through the year.  I am usually always done by the end of October.  I am waiting on Audrey to see if her tastes changes.  So it might end up being later, so we'll see.

I have to make my list for the IL's.  I have so far thought of a cook book.  I thought of a bunch of books, so I may just ask for the cheapest Kindle and that's it.  Oh well, I still have time.

Audrey has been singing along to her shows more.  I have been hearing her saying more and more.  I attempted to trim her bangs yesterday by myself for the first time.  Trim fail.  Oh well, at least it grows!

Rough Afternoon

We finally got our pictures done for the HPPC directory today.  Talk about putting it off until the last moment!  Audrey ralphed right before and I am tired because I started my period today and there was a shadow in all the pictures making Brent look like he had a black eye.  So not our best pictures, but it's done.

Right after us was another young couple with a girl I pegged to be around Audrey's age probably a little older.  Then I asked and the mom said she was 22 months.  What??? And here she was having full conversations and this that and the other and here is my closer to 2 and a half year old babbling like some crazy old woman at a nursing home.  I wish I could eat a dang cookie.  It's kids like them that make me feel like I have got to be the worst mother in the world.  Like I've failed somewhere.

But then I had a friend post this on her facebook: http://blogs.babble.com/babys-first-year-blog/2011/09/19/10-disturbing-baby-fails/?pid=2209#slideshow
It is disturbing but part of me says, at least I'm not that bad!

In other news, it's less than 2 hours until the season premiere of Castle!!!!!!  YAY!!!!!!!!

Treasure Keepers

Starting yesterday, we all felt better.  Yay!

I went to Treasure Keepers, which is a Bible study for young moms.  I was really blessed by the teaching and there are some really wonderful ladies in there.  I am hoping to get really involved with that.  Well, as much as I can get being a one car family.

Audrey is cutting another 2 year molar.  It is the devil.  She woke up early, had a very short nap and was extremely cranky before bed.  She snuggles a lot and is screaming bloody murder the next second.  I made gluten, egg, milk, and soy free brownies and gave her one.  They are so yummy!

I have another holistic doctor appointment tomorrow morning.  I need to sit down and write down all the questions I have.  Then I have my first choir board meeting as robe chairman and choir practice, so it's going to be a long day.

Minivan Envy!

'Twas one of those days.  Let me first say that I am so incredibly thankful for Brent's job and it pays better than my full-time job I had.  But it's a double-edged sword, since he has to use the car.  It's a part-time medical courier position and he has to use our most fuel efficient vehicle.  I would suck it up and use the big chunky van, but the car seat does not fit in it well at all.  I can't get the seat belts tight enough, so it can tip over.  Most days, it's fine.  My parent's don't live far away, so my mom will pick us up and we will get an outing.  When it gets cooler, there will be nice opportunities for walks.  There's a nice park close and a shopping center is not too horribly far away.  But today my mom had thing's she needed to do, so I was stranded at home with a particularly cranky toddler.  So I got cranky right back.  Not one of my finer moments.

Lord, I want a minivan.  Preferably a Toyota Sienna or Honda Odyssey.  I find myself staring at shiny new minivans and drooling slightly.  I will definitely need one by the time baby #2 comes, because the Corolla can barely fit the car seat as it is.  Forget 2.  Hopefully things will start looking up for us soon, and it can be my 30th birthday present.  Is that too much to ask?!

At least I did apply to something like 8 jobs on behalf of Brent.  A few here (free rent is nice), a few in Colorado (yes, cooler weather would be AWESOME), a few in California (because that's where a ton of Japanese jobs are) and several in Houston (I imagine my MIL singing the full Hallelujah Chorus in her head if she finds out).  When he got back, we worked together to get his book published on Amazon Kindle.  It won't be on in 24 hours, so I will be sure to put a link up when it becomes available.  So it was a productive day, just got stir-crazy.

Hence, the minivan envy.

Last few days

Thought I would share my favorite site for thyroid help.  It's Mary Shomon's http://thyroid-info.com/.  So full of information and you can subscribe to a newsletter too.  I have found it extremely helpful.

Audrey woke up before 7 these last 2 days.  Today she was quite the crank and I didn't get much done.  Oh well, I am hoping she will finally get straightened out.

It all started when we went to a party Saturday night, but I mainly hung out with Audrey and our friend's 4 1/2 year old daughter.  I think they had a pretty good time.  I made this award-winning recipe of bread pudding with whiskey sauce.  It turned out so good.  Let me know if you want me to post it.  Love the fact that our pastor of young adults took 2 large helpings.  He said he was taking one to his wife.  I will have to ask her if she got hers :)  I think I'll be making that for my brother Reed's birthday.  I think he would really like it.

1st Plane Trip/1st Beach Trip!

My Dad took my mom, sister, Audrey and I to the beach yesterday and we got back today.  It was Audrey's first time in the plane and her first time to the sea.  She LOVED both!  We had such a good time :)

You Know You're the Mommy of a Toddler....

When you discover spaghetti sauce on the back of your shirt, you've been like that all day and you don't even care.

Your dreams include full episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

You might not remember what you did this morning, but you can sing along with all the lyrics to Wonderpets.

You start talking to other adults about needing to go poopie and wee-wee.

Two words: minivan envy.

I'll be adding to this I'm sure.

Free 2 year old!

Seriously.  What is up with my kid today?!  She has been screaming at my heels pretty much constantly since waking up this morning.  I guess more molars are coming in.  I am almost tempted to heed one of my mom's friend's advice and take some ice and work those boogers through!  Now she's being sweet, because I set her up with some lunch.  Of course, the chips are the first to go.  After this is nap time.  Thank you, dear Lord, for nap time!  My sanity has been tested today and I need that few hours of regrouping.

Now, mothering a toddler can really be stressful when you're normal, but let's add in thyroid issues.  Fun times.  It can make me feel like such a shoddy mother.  It's like my emotions are on steroids.  I can control them most of the time, but every time I can pretty much tell you I am screaming in my head.  I cry at little thing's.  I hate it.  Forgive me for using a double negative, but I am never not tired.  I get really down on myself.  I worry about Audrey.

I know it's typical 2 to scream and yell to get what she wants, but why oh why can't she use her words?  She is pretty good, but I am hard of hearing and usually don't catch what she says.  Not like Brent or my mother can.  Plus, she is learning Japanese.  But it just seems to me that every other kid her age has this expansive vocabulary and I know you're not supposed to, but it's hard not to compare.  I try to remind myself that Einstein didn't talk at all until 3, so that is not a measure of intelligence.  She is crazy smart.  She can figure out thing's for herself.  For crying out loud, she can understand and speak a little Japanese!

I sometimes think a mother's worse enemy can be other mothers.  Everyone wants to let the world know what their kid can do.  Like it's a competition.  Don't know where I was going with that, but just thought I would throw that out there.