My Girls

How cute are these 2? Here they are helping me cook... or really just watching me cook. Brynlee isn't quite old enough and Mitzie has no thumbs so they aren't really much help at this point.




Brynlee's strange sleeping positions continue. I guess this is just a baby thing.



And well, Mitzie's sleeping positions are just as strange. She also enjoy's her daddy and me cuddle time.





Brynlee is just like one of the boys, enjoying the start of football season( don't ask about the sheet, it's a long story)



But she enjoys cuddling with her Mom just as much!



I love these two girls. And people thought my cat would get the boot once the baby came, hah!

Ok, so Maybe Not!

I've taken too many dance/exercise classes over the years to count... jazz, yoga, pilates, martial arts, step aerobics etc. For some reason, before the class starts I decide that I'm going to be amazing at these classes. Then the inevitable always happens, I suck.

I guess that is what being a beginner is all about, right? Still, it's always a let down when I find myself sucking because in my head I was going to be great! This was going to be my true natural talent.

I started my Hip Hop class last night, and this was no different. Safe to say I'm white. I think I figured because I like hip hop music, I'd be good at hip hop dancing. Isn't that the way it works? Guess not. Still, I had a blast, even if I looked very, very bad. There was a time I'd never even try this for fear of looking stupid, but I'm past that now. At least everyone else looked stupid right along with me.

When I walked in and saw a 40 something short white lady with a blond pony tail on top of her head claiming to be my teacher I almost died. I should know by now not to judge a book by it's cover. This lady can move! She does things with her body that still mystify me.

I was also surprised at how much of a work out I got. I'm sure the fact that I had a baby 4 months ago and am horribly out of shape has nothing to do with it...

Either way, I had a good time and can't wait until next Thursday night!

Balance

My life seems jam packed these days. I think about how much time I had pre baby and it's almost laughable. Now it seems like my days go like this:

work, work, work, eat, work, baby, baby, baby, sleep (repeat)

Whew! Safe to say I'm beat at the end of the day. I'm not sure how full time workers do this with more than one kid and keep their sanity.However just when I start to feel sorry for myself I start to think about how blessed I am.

I participate in a program where I'm supposed to write to a person going through chemo once a week. So far it's been quite rewarding. Yet recently with all that is going on I've been slacking on my writing. I write maybe once every 2 weeks... and days just keep zooming by.

I received an up date about my lady the other day. Her fiancée suddenly died! Oh boy, I felt horrible. Really horrible. This poor poor woman is going through this life threatening illness desperately trying to survive. Then, the person who has been there for her through all of it passes away.

And here I am not writing as often as I committed to because I'm busy and because I lose track of the days.

I can't disclose any info about her, but from what I've seen of her through her letter to me and from the program admin she is a truly amazing person. If anyone wanted to send some prayers her way I'm sure she would appreciate it. She is really hurting right now, and I have not been much help.

I have renewed my commitment to be diligent in my writing.

But this whole experience made me really start to think. I need to find some balance in my life. I feel like I'm spreading myself to thin, and something has got to give. I'm still pretty new to this whole raising kids thing, but there has to be a way to work and have kids and stay sane. Right? Moms out there ( in particular working Moms, no offense to you stay at home Moms..) how do you do it all? And still have time for you in the end?

I'm grateful for my child, and I'm grateful that I have the ability to work at a job that I enjoy usually (although recently it seems that my enjoyment of my job is going down, down, down...). I'm grateful that I have a home, even if it needs cleaning.

I just need to figure out how to juggle all these things without heavey medication! (no I have not resorted to medication yet, but I feel it's not far off) :)

Faith Restored

If last weekend's Costco trip made me start to lose my faith about people, this weekends trip to Ralph's was enough to restore it.

I want to Ralph's Saturday night at 8pm ish realizing we needed some essentials before Sunday. I didn't stop to get a cart because I didn't think I needed one. Well of coure I kept grabbing stuff and before you know it I'm juggling 8 things. I had them all stacked under my chin and ended up looking like Gus from Cinderella when he is trying to carry too many cheese squares.

Anyhow, I scurried to the register (because at this point my stack was getting quite heavy) and saw a huge line. Great. I guess I wasn't the only one out for a late night grocery run.

I got in line behind this older man with a cart full of stuff. The man looked and me and offered to get me a cart. I told him I was fine. So then he offered to share is shopping cart with me. He started clearing room in his cart for my stuff and everything. At this point, how could I say no?

Not only did he let me put my stuff in his cart, he let me go in front of him too. What a nice guy! Such a contrast to last weeks viewing of people pushing each other out of the way for Chex Mix.

I finally got my camera hooked up, so now I actually have some pictures!

Below is how Brynlee sleeps every night. Is this just a Brynlee thing or what? Do all babies do this? She has to put her arms up like field goal posts. Sometimes she sleeps with her legs sprawled all over too. That is a sleep sack she is in if you are wondering what the heck she is wearing. It's a blanket that she can't kick off. I love these things! It helps reduce SIDS too because she can't suffocate on it.




Have you ever seen such a beautiful sight? Look at all those books. Ah. Nothing greater than a nice stack full of un read books ready to be conquered! Thanks Mom! :)



My cat is so strange. Below is how she lays all the time. She looks like a dragon or something...




Again sleeping with the arms up. What a wierdo. Everytime Robbie sees her sleeping like this it cracks him up.



Lastly, with her Dad all dolled up in her pretty dress from Uncle Scott and Aunt Kaye. She sure looks cute if you ask me!

Attention Readers

I need some help here. I find myself constantly reading these dark twisted action packed books. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

I love a good James Patterson thriller as much as the next person. But I just finished reading "Mockingjay", the final book in the Hunger Games series and I'm so depressed.

Did I mention I finished that book 3 days ago?

Yeah. Not that it ended terribly, but to me it didn't end well enough and now I'm left with this sad empty feeling. So, I really need a break from these dark and dreary people killing each other books. I could use a nice girly book.

Anyone have any recommendations? I find myself constantly buying girly books and having them be crap. So I'm hesitant to throw $13 or so away on a book that will depress me even more with it's ho hum characters and sappy un realistic plot.

I'm open to suggestions!

Out the Window

I seem to have picked up a terrible habit recently. I'm starting to take more pride in Brynee's appearance than my own. I realize I rush through getting myself ready, half heartedly throwing some clothes together and depending on the day putting some make up on.

I sprint through my routine so I can pick out a cute outfit for her complete with matching hair bow and perhaps feet accessories depending on the weather. A cute outfit that she proceeds to get some sort of bodily fluid on in about 5 min flat. Jimmy tried to dress her the other day, hair bow and all. How many men do you know that take the time to pick out a hair bow for their baby? Anyway, I waited until he wasn't looking and fixed her bow (because of course it wasn’t at the right spot on her head and not on the right side.) and changed her outfit to a "better" one.

Hmm... Something is wrong with this picture.

I've found Brynlee seems to be a lot more fun to dress than I am these days. I'm still holding strong to that notion that I will not buy any new clothes until I'm back to my old size. Safe to say there are no new clothes in my closet. At this point I just prefer putting effort into dressing my child rather than myself.

While my worry over my appearance has gone out the window a bit, I'm not to the point where I sit in my pj's all day not showered and hair a complete mess. Not yet anyway. And it would be easy to do since I work from home and don't really see anyone but my baby and cat. I don’t think it matters to them too much what I’m wearing.

If I give into the temptation to not get dressed everyday I'm just one step closer to being one of those ladies who goes out in public in a mumu and curlers. I must resist!

Mob Mentality

I think I've seen Americans at their worst. Or close to their worst. I usually dread going shopping on Saturdays just because it's nuts. Now that I'm back to being a full time working woman, going in the middle of the day on a Tuesday is a luxury I no longer have.

So yesterday I trekked to Costco with Brynlee in tow. I met up with a couple of people there to get some shopping done. I think anyone who has been to Costco on a Saturday knows how ugly it can get.

It was ugly indeed. It seemed to get uglier as we made our way to the back of the store where the food was. And where the bite sized pieces of gold otherwise known as samples are handed out.

Either everyone who enters Costco hasn't eaten in 2 weeks or, we've got issues. I'm assuming the latter.

Grown adults pushing each other out of the way to get a bite of some sort of hummus dip to my left, two women fighting over the last rib sample to my right. An old man, literally ramming the lady in front of him with his cart to get a sample of an ice cream bar. Good grief.

What is wrong with us? Is this what we have come to as a society? I'm not one to make notes about people's physical state, but I'll just say that none of these people looked like they were going without meals. Quite the opposite in fact. It's like mob mentality was raging in Costco and it was all I could do to get out of there in once piece.

I felt like Rachel in the episode of Friends where they go to try to find Monica's wedding dress amongst a bunch of gown hungry bridezillas. Rachel ends up hiding in the middle of a clothing rack blowing a whistle....

There are people in third world countries who are lucky to get a "sample" size of food a day. And here we are physically hurting each other over some slices of goat cheese. Jeesh.

The way these people were acting I'm surprised they didn't grab Brynlee and throw her on a spicket to be enjoyed with BBQ sauce! I think it will be a loooong time before I go to Costco in the middle of a Saturday again.