Tivo Malfunction

I'm trying not to be angry, but tonight Tivo has made me mad. Rather than recording American Idol, Tivo taped Scrubs. What some of you don't realize is that when you have Tivo, you create Season Passes for specific shows. Which means it records every episode that comes on. Well, yes, both Scrubs and American Idol were on my To Do list, and yes, they were both on at the same time. so, what does Tivo do to help you decide which it should record? You must rate your shows. So, automatically we thought, well, obviously we haven't rated American Idol, when we went to our "to do" list, it was number 1. Scrubs was #11. A real malfunction. It's okay though. As long as it doesn't happen again.

I went to the gym again today with the kids. I took my first Yoga class. I have always done yoga at home, but never at the gym. It was soooo hard! It was awesome, but my lower back is really feeling it right now. I also walked afterwards. Both of the kids were gems.

I have a Weight Watcher weigh-in tomorrow. I'm hoping to lose at least 2 lbs. cross your fingers! I leave you with some pictures. By the way, Sara, I'm not blogging again, until you do!! I'm sorry, sister, but I need an update! :-)

Silver Lining

Today was a different sort of day. I woke up, sicker than yesterday, but still got the kids fed and we went to the gym. They really loved going, which took a load off of my shoulders. While I was walking on the treadmill, at minute 26, (I wanted to walk hard for 30 minutes) the child care person came to get me to tell me Anna had pooped. Which isn't a big deal, I just hated the fact that I couldn't cool down. oh well. I should have shown Anna where the potty was before leaving her, but I'm not used to having a mostly potty trained child, so I forgot. I went back to my treadmill and every single one was taken. Silver Lining? Instead of walking, I worked my arms, did extensive stretching and learned from the trainer how to work my abdominals effectively on a fitness ball.

We came home, the kids ate really well and at 2pm I put them to bed. I was so incredibly tired and didn't feel well at all. Not too mention that Brian is in Kentucky for a job interview and won't be back until tomorrow. Silver lining? Brian's mom offered to come over. I stayed in my room for over 2 hours, sleeping and working on the newsletter. It was perfect.

Noah was showing some "toilet" distress. He is not potty trained, but lately has shown extreme interest in going potty, particulary when he poops. The other day, I bought him his own pull ups. (by the way, Target brand pull-ups are awesome and they are incredibly cheap, and cute!) Anyway, he looked very stressed and was walking around uncomfortably saying "potty, potty." so, I checked his diaper, to make sure it was clean, pulled his pants down and then removed his diaper. I sat him on the potty, which was already in the living room. He wouldn't sit on it, he just loves being naked, so he stood up and walked around. I literally ran into his bedroom (15 feet?) to get his pull up and during that "run" I thought "I wonder if he'll poop on the floor, if he did I bet I would blog about it." Sure enough. I heard it. Not hard poop hitting the floor, but loose poop dripping on the floor. He's been on an antibiotic for 6 days day and he always reacts with loose diapers. Anyway, there he stood, pooping on the kitchen floor. He hated it. Immediately he stepped in it and hated that even more. I didn't know what to do. I ran to get a dish towel, I wet it quickly and cleaned him up as best as possible. All I hear is Noah crying and Anna in the background saying "Noah pooped in the kitchen. That is so naughty. Noah, go in the naughty corner. Mama, did Noah poop in the kitchen? Is he so naughty?" Of course, I tried to explain accidents while cleaning the crap off of the floor, but I don't think my explanation was very effective. So, I cleaned it up with paper towels and lots of toilet flushes, kitchen cleaner and clorox bleach. And we took a very early bath. All this occurred in the middle of my dinner. Silver lining? It wasn't on the carpet.

That time of the month

That time of the month for me means time to layout the monthly Friends of Allie Newsletter! So, no blog tonight! I have to say that I kinda dreaded sitting down and doing the newsletter, but once I got started I got all fired up again! It makes me so proud to see what we have done and what we will do. I especially love seeing the list of returning captains. I feel like the current list we have is a list of substance. A list full of people with the same passion as myself, Tracey, Christy, Sara, Tracy, Penny, Lois, Jenn and Lara. (could there be anymore hyperlinks?) I can't wait to see what we do with 2006.

P.S. I'm now sick.

Mother of the Year

I started out the day with Noah waking up nice and early. Yes, they are still sick. Noah much more so than Anna. He woke up crying and screaming for Mommy, so I went into his room, this is at 8am, he looked so tired and felt so warm. We sat in our Lazy boy together and he fell back asleep. It was wonderful. One of those moments you love. You miss having your child sleep on you. I often wonder if I'll ever know when it will happen for the last time. I savor it each time it happens. I think with Noah, the last time was last June! I put Noah back to bed and then I did Yoga. I heard Anna waking up, nice and late, while doing Yoga. She, too, looked tired. I asked her what she wanted for breakfast and she said "kitty." The other day while grocery shopping, Anna spotted a box of Pop Tarts with Hello Kitty on the front. She loved it! (I had no idea she liked Hello Kitty.) I bought the box for her. Anna and Noah ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS eat their meals at the table in their booster seats, but for whatever reason, I said to Anna "do you want to eat in the chair?" She pointed at the kitchen chair and she said excitedly "that one?" I replied "No, this one" while pointing at the Lazy boy. You would never have believed her excitement! I thought, it's Saturday morning, it just Mommy and Anna, both Daddy and Noah are in bed, sick and sleeping, why not? She enjoyed it. I've attached pictures. Noah woke up while Anna was still eating pop tarts on the chair. I allowed him the same luxury. Both the kids, sitting on the furniture, eating pop tarts for breakfast. That's what I call Mother of the Year! Don't worry, they both followed up the tarts with a banana.

I took Noah's temp about 45 minutes after he woke up and it was 100.9. He's truly acting miserable. I can't wait for this illness to leave our house. He's been sleeping pretty good, he only wakes up 1 or 2 times per evening. It could be worse. Also, Daddy has an upper respitory infection, all of my babies are sick!
:-)

What is this stuff?

Sick kids picture taken last week. I can't remember why they are touching their noses!

Settling

It's a funny thing about life. If you refuse to settle for anything less than the best, that's what it will give you.

-W. Somerset Maugham

Years (and years) ago, I read a book titled "Something More," by Sarah Ban Breathnach. It's a book with a mulititude of different topics, all of which should help a person learn to know and love themselves. It's really a great book, although, looking back, I definitely feel I was too young to fully understand the complexity and importance of this book. However, in this book, there were two topics that stood out in my mind, one of which I am going to write about in this entry. (the other, perhaps another day.) This particular topic struck a cord with me at that time, because I felt I was living what she was writing about even at the age of 19, that I was doing something right. She wrote about settling. (for those that have the book, page 153.)

Many situations over the years have led me back to the idea of settling. Fortunately for me, I rarely feel I am settling. The idea of settling is this "we do not lose ourselves all at once, we lose ourselves day by day, we settle for loveless marriages, a dead-end job, and someone else's opinion of our gifts, dreams and what should make us happy. We settle for a passive, rather than a passionate life." The line "someone else's opinion of our gifts, dreams and what should make us happy" is a line that makes me think of so many women who are with a man for all of the wrong reasons.

Can you imagine a "relationship" where you settle for not doing things that you want to do, because it's easier than fighting your mate for it? For example, you don't cut your hair, because he likes it long, although you'd love to try out short hair, you know he would be mortified and would probably stop talking to you if you ever did that. What about a favorite TV show? Take American Idol, say you LOVE that show, but your mate refuses to watch it, so rather than going to a friends house and visiting family and watching it, you stay and miss out, the problem is that you're not staying because you'd rather spend time with your boyfriend, you stay because you don't want to fight. Can you imagine not spending time with your family because he doesn't want to? I can't.

Why do women stay with men who truly offer nothing to them at all? I know many woman have a fear of lonliless and it's that fear that makes them live a life unfilled. I'm not saying men fulfill women, but men, if you have found the right one, will help ignite a woman's soul. A woman with a supportive, loving man, will freely share her dreams and aspirations with her mate and he will listen and encourage. A woman with a man who only cares about himself, with no aspirations of his own, will laugh and snicker and make fun. Here is a quote in this book I read that explains settling so perfectly, "her lover appeared indifferent or insensitive to ideas and causes of deep importance to her, that her chosen family and friends weren't comfortable in his company and that he really did nothing to extend himself to them, even though he must have known how it would have pleased her. But she continued to hope-as we all do-that somehow he would change. After all, hadn't she?"

And she had changed. For someone who didn't care for her.

My question is this...at what point in our lives are we given that choice of paths to choose from? When I was 16, I started dating an 18 year old. We got along very well and had alot of the same interests. He was not a huge fan of my family, but that did not stop me from attending get togethers, etc. For whatever reason, and I really don't know why, I had always told myself that I would never stand for any boyfriend of mine to yell vulgarities at me. Well, one night, my boyfriend and I stood in my driveway arguing about something and he yelled "FUCK YOU" to my face. Without a second thought, I turned and walked away and went into my house, I didn't yell back, I just walked away. I could have reacted a million different ways. But it was at that moment that two things happened, one, he never spoke to me that way again. Two, I never expected anything less, not from myself, not from my boyfriends. I chose the path to stand up for myself and walk away. I didn't start crying, I didn't beg him to apologize, I did not scream back. I walked directly into a path that was right for my soul. Not into a path that would damage my soul.

I know I can thank my Mom for giving me my spirit, my knowledge of knowing that I am just as good as anybody else, if not better. (she still tells me I could be a celebrity! LOL!)
How do I do the same for my daughter? How do I make sure Anna lives a passionate life, not a passive life? How do I make sure her husband wants one thing, her happiness? I need to tell her she is good. She is beautiful, she is sacred. And to never settle for anything.

If the nose is a faucet

Anna's nose is a faucet, one that can not be turned off. This poor child has more snot inside her little body than the entire population of Indiana combined. I feel so bad for her. She is a fantastic nose blower, however, about 98% of the time, she blows her nose before the tissue hits her nose, but at least she's blowing her nose. (98% of the time, seriously translates into 30 times just today) Her nose is red and she loves vaseline on her face, she says "it feels good, mama" after applying the vaseline. When I put a tissue to her nose and she blows it, in between blows she says "this is so tricky." I have no idea why. Anna loves to watch me do puzzles on-line. (www.jigzone.com) I don't do them alot because they make me nauseous, but she frequently asks me to do it. Tonight, I did two puzzles for her, her eyes were watering so badly there was a tear almost to her mouth. Poor girl. Obviously the kids are still sick. They are both still running fevers and yes, I was up with Noah last night. Soon, the antibiotics will kick in.

American Idol is taking up too much of my time this week. I finally watched last night's Idol tonight, now I have to watch tonight's Idol tomorrow and then Thursday's Idol on Friday. This is craziness. I also have to watch the Figure skating competition from last night and I have to Tivo tomorrow night's competition-so much to do. Seriously, though....Idol three times a week is just too much for me. I look forward to it tapering down to 2 nights. Actually, I look forward to it ending. I LOVE Idol, don't get me wrong, but it's the only show I HAVE to watch every week and that bothers me. Which girl is your favorite? Mine is Katharine McPhee, she's been mine since the first time I saw her. I'm glad she's made it this far.

Accordingly to my WW meeting, my weight loss this week was 2.8 lbs. According to their records I have lost 9.8 lbs in 2 weeks. I found myself pretty bummed with this number seeing as how my personal weigh in in the mornings are quite different, but that's okay. 9.8 lbs is still good. I hope I see a much bigger difference once I start working out more!

Comments (entry #2 for today!)

You know, I feel bad that the other day I mentioned the one semi-negative comment on my blog, but I never mention all of the awesome comments on my blog. Thank you to everybody who write the most amazing comments. I really love and look forward to everyone's feedback. It means so much. One of my favorite comments was by my friend Penny, she was commenting on a blog entry that talked about a difficult day with the kids, this is what she wrote: "Loved what you said.. close your eyes and imagine your house with two teenagers. :) now open them and enjoy your preschooler and toddler :) "
It's brilliant. I honestly think of this quote multiple times a day. It puts everything into perspective. Thank you, Penny, and thank you everybody.

Not a leisurely day

We have been moving since the moment we woke up today. We took the kids to the doctor and they were both put on antibiotics. Noah has red ears and Anna has a red throat and they both have chest congestion, so hopefully we have relief in sight! I love the idea of returning to normal again, whatever normal is. They were also put on a cough medicine with codiene for nighttime. I can't imagine sleeping without getting out of bed for the whole night! Will it be tonight?! Tune in tomorrow to find out.

I've been wanting to join a gym. I needed two things in a gym: 1. cheap. 2. Good childcare area. There is a particular fitness center that Brian and I used to be members of that I love. It's new, incredibly clean and they have a very nice, clean and safe child care area; you have to be buzzed in in order to enter the childcare area. (not to mention free health assessments, a pool, towels, toiletries, private showers, a sauna, a hot tub and free classes.) But, it's expensive. I checked out another gym in the area and it was nice. The childcare area was bland with no safety. When I say safety, I mean, nobody can enter except parents. This particular one only had a half door, any stranger could reach over and unlock the door, if it was even locked in the first place. But, it's cheap. I decided to stop at the gym I'd love to join and check out their prices. I called almost 5 weeks ago to discuss pricing, but no one returned my call. So, I stopped in. I sat down with a women and she showed me their prices. For a one year membership it ran almost $20 more per month then the cheaper gym and the initiation fee was almost $140 more. wow. The woman said they sometimes run specials for the initiation fees, but during this time there was no special. Maybe in March. They just ran one about 1 month ago, $60 off. I mentioned to her that I called about 1 month prior and left a message for a Marie and she never returned my call and that perhaps had she called me back, I would have taken her up on the special offer. So, she offered me $60 off my initiation fee. Yes! But, it was still too difficult to justify the extra $240 for the year for membership fees. She then pointed out the Matinee membership, which means I can only come between the hours of 10-3. Which is when I wanted to come, that's why I want good childcare. The matinee membership is only $2 more per month than the other gym with the crappy childcare area! So...........I joined. I have to get physician approval to join because I have high blood pressure, but I know he'll approve me, so hopefully by Thursday, we will be able to go! I'm very excited. I'm excited to get in shape and I'm excited for the kids to be in a different place for an hour a day!

I had my Mommy's Group meeting tonight and I really loved it! It was very hard because there was such amazing food there and my weigh in is tomorrow! By the way, my first weigh in was last week and I lost seven pounds! HOORAY! I obviously won't have that same success tomorrow, but I'm hoping for 2-3 pounds. Weight Watchers is going really well.

There is my update. I'm on my laptop, typing and listening to music. Guess where the speakers are on my laptop? Underneath my forearms, muffling the sound. Somebody wasn't thinking when they designed this computer.

I should be folding laundry.

So, we finished our weekend of projects. Unfortunately, the rest of the house is in desperate need of attention, especially the laundry. While I have been washing the clothes, I have not been folding them, so I have lots to do.

I am taking the kids to the doctor tomorrow, they have an appointment at 11:30am. Anna's fever lingered around 102 when not on medication today. Hopefully we'll get an antibiotic for both of them. We'll see.

I'm not feeling well right now and I'm tired, so I I'm going to head to bed!
Enjoy the before and after pictures of Noah's closet!

BEFORE
done

Will there be peace tonight?

I would like to respond to some of the "feedback" I have received about my spanking entry. All I want to say is that I do not walk around with my hand flying around just trying to spank my children. It is a last resort. I take calm approaches (or try to), I always explain what they are doing wrong and why it's wrong and I even have them sit in a "naughty corner", but sometimes, I spank. I do not think for a second that I am teaching my child violence. What is interesting about anonymous comments, and I should say that I really do not mind them, but in this circumstance my mind wonders who this person really is. Is it someone who knows me, that reads my blogs and it was this particular entry that they particularly disagreed with and signing "anonymous" was their way of giving me their opinion? A family member? A friend? Someone who has seen me interact with my children? It's just interesting.

For the past too many nights Noah has not slept well at all. Which means, we do not sleep well at all. He will wake up and cry and cry and cry. He is still not feeling well, so I'm sure this is occuring because of the illness, but I can tell you that I am tired. And so is he. We definitely feel like we have a newborn again, which is so bothersome because we have worked so hard to have children that sleep well, in their beds, all through the night and here we are with a child who is waking up 10 times per night. Only one night this week has he not had a horrible night's sleep. So, perhaps it's time for a trip to the doctor. Anna is also still sick and she is running a fever, so hopefully we'll get in sometime soon! I just have to wonder before I head to bed tonight; will there be peace tonight?

We completed part 1 of our projects today, even with our eyes half closed and our bodies half energized. I had an opportunity to see a childhood friend that I haven't seen in over 2 years, so we went to see her tonight rather than doing part 2 of the project. We will do it tomorrow. The project was reorganizing the kids' closets. They are terrible!!! We finished Anna's this afternoon and we are very pleased with the outcome. Here are some before and after pictures. (don't judge me because of my closets before, I mean, they're closets, everyone throws crap into closets, right?!?! Doesn't everyone throw items on the top shelf praying that it won't come tumbling back to hit you on the head?)

BEFORE.

And after.

Anna hanging out in the closet

A cold saturday

On this frigid (5 degree) Saturday I completed a project that I have been wanting to do since August. You see, last August I painted my bathroom and I never really liked it. It just didn't turn out to be what I thought it would, it turned out ugly. So, I corrected the problem today. First I taped everything, then I primed the walls, took down the tape, let it dry, re-taped and then painted. I've attached before, during and after pictures. We also bought a new mirror. Brian helped with all of the hardware! The new color is called "pebble" and it's perfect. The pictures do not really do it justice. This weekend is going to be a big weekend for home improvements. Tomorrow we have another project up our sleeves! Enjoy these pictures! I'm sore!

BEFORE PICTURE. This took place just after someone ate too much mustard and threw up on my walls.

More vomit.

And more vomit.

Primed walls. Better already!
Primed.

Worker bee.

AFTER.
AFTER, with new mirror. (apparently the kids "fingered" the mirror before hanging, I couldn't tell until after downloading the pictures!)

Likey? I do!

Do you want a spanking?

Don't ever ask your child this question. If they are anything like my daughter, they will say "yes" and stick out their butt for you to spank it. My guess is that I'm not spanking hard enough. Yes, I spank. I never thought I would, but I do. My blog last night seemed to hit home with a lot of Moms. I appreciate everyone's comments. It's nice to know I'm not alone. Today was a much better day, however, it started out as one of the worst mornings of my life. First off, my little Noah woke up at 4:20am. I went to bed at 1am. (it's hard work having TWO Tivos!) Brian got up with him, normally you can just go in there and soothe him a bit and that is that, but not this time. They sat out in the dark living room until 4:50am, at that point I rescued Daddy. I sat with him and sang one of my favorite songs to him called "Butterfly." And then I laid him down in his crib and I was staring down at him and telling him how much I loved him and he said "BYE!" I was dismissed. I crawled back into bed and laid awake until 6:05am. My mind raced and I couldn't slow it down. I was awakened twice after finally falling asleep, once at 7:10am by Brian saying goodbye and then at 7:30am his alarm went off. (I think he was confused when he set it the night before.) Then Noah was up at 8am. I was none too pleased because I was so tired and I knew he was too. So, I brought him to bed with me and he pretty much said "screw that, I've got stuff do to." One thing Noah does that is really frustrating is he wakes Anna up by going into her room. He's really slick about it. He'll wait until the phone rings, or until I have to use the bathroom and slithers off, throws open the door into her room and exclaims "hi morning!" And then she cries. Today I thought I was safe. He was sitting in his chair very quietly watching Teletubbies for about 10 minutes without moving, so I snuck into my bathroom to take my medications and I heard him through the monitors "hi morning."
Then it was time to try to feed the children and Noah cried AND screamed the entire time. I'm not going to go into the details, but trust me, it was miserable. At the time of these shenanigans, I decided to call Noah's doctor's office. I spoke with the nurse and we discussed symptoms and we both agreed he has a nasty virus. Then it hit me after talking to Brian, he's got a sore throat, that is why he won't eat! So, I got out a cold container of berry yogurt and the poor, little, beautiful boy at every bite. It warmed my heart. After that, he was pretty okay! And, honestly, so was Anna! I decided I would try to give him ibuprofen or tylenol to try to help his mood and his throat and it really helped!

We went to the store (and bought tons of yogurt), the bank and to McDonald's, we came home and they both ate. They ate cheeseburgers, fries, peaches and cookies! It was wonderful. We played and then they napped!
Success!

My niece Amber came over to watch the kids. Brian and I went to dinner, we went to the mall, Target, Circuit City, Pier One, Old Navy and Lowe's. (I went to Pier One, Brian hates that store so he went to Old Navy.) It was great. The best part was that Anna was still sleeping when I left so there were no dramatic departures! THANK YOU AMBER! I was away for almost 4 hours. HALLELUJAH! :-)

Back to spanking. One of my friends called after reading my blog and said "are you sure you were writing about Anna? I think you meant to use my daughter's name." She said her daughter is going through the same thing. We talked in great length about why they are acting this way and what disciplinary action we take to change their behavior. We talked about how much guilt is associated with spanking and how society now seems to frown upon it. My friend's biggest concern is what if something she is doing makes her daughter have low self esteem when she gets older. Are the disciplinary actions she is taking today directly impacting how her daughter feels about herself in the future? What pressure! I think if we can continue to nurture our children and show them love, structure, patience (ha!), and praise that is what will give our children the confidence they need as older children and as adolescents. (I hope!) Obviously I don't know. I will someday find out. Until then, I will love, tell stories, play, praise and quite dutifully spank!

Stop. Breathe. Think.

I am a very frustrated Mom. Last night I slept for 8.5 hours. I woke up and did a full video of Yoga while the kids slept and they nap at the same time for 2 hours just about everyday. So, why do I feel I am losing my patience? I'm pretty sure it's not me. It's my children. Anna is going through a stage right now that I, to be honest, am not prepared for. She challenges everything I say and rule we set. And I'm tired of it. It's like she woke up one day and said "I'm independent, I'm old enough to make my own decisions, I only need them to do my laundry and drive me to Target. I'm 3 and damn proud of it. Aint nobody gonna stop me." I know this stage will be over soon, but it's only been 13 days, (seriously, 13 days) how much longer can I last?

Today was exceptionally difficult simply because my Noah is just not feeling well. When this child doesn't eat, he's sick. BUT THEN AGAIN... what if he's being naughty? I mean, when I serve him is big, glorious plate of food, 3 in one day, he practically throws the plate across the table and won't eat.
Being a Mom is more than cleaning after your child, nurturing your child and teaching your child...it's being psychic and having the ability to be on your toes every single moment of the day. I'm not psychic. So, I'll call the doctor tomorrow and say "Noah has had a cold, he's sleeping and napping fine, no fever, but he will not eat." I'll bring him in and I'll find out "it's just a virus." Does that mean he's just naughty? Am I secretly wishing for an ear infection because that's easier to explain than "he's just being a turd?" I don't know what I want. What I do know is that even though these days have been very hard and I can't wait to put them to bed, I do always love being a Mom. always. I am not lying. I am not wrong. I am quite clear on this issue. I love it. Sometimes the responsiblities are something I could pass up for an hour or two, or maybe even 3 days! but being a Mom, nope, I'll take it, through thick and through thin, through sickness and in health. I read something recently by a Mom saying "Personally, I think that woman who say they "love" being a mom all the time are full of crap. Who could possibly really enjoy being woken up out of a deep sleep in the middle night by a puking kid." I don't enjoy a puking kid waking me, but I LOVE that I am the one to bring comfort to this poor "puking kid."

Here's what I know. I KNOW that a person can handle any situation they are granted. My current situation is a 3 year old who is trying to figure out just how serious her parents are about not letting her set the rules in the house and a 2 year old who may or may not be sick and who may or may not be extremely naughty. All of the situations, I know I can get through. I once watched a Blue's Clues episode LONG before I had children, where Steve taught his audience how to deal with frustration. He said "stop, breathe and think."

I think I will try just that.

Rule breaker

I was on the phone with my sister during nap time today, when all of a sudden I heard Anna's door open. She walked out of her room like it was nobody's business. I almost think she forgot about the rule and that she was dreaming about something that made her out of sorts, because when I got very stern with her about it she became genuinely upset. When Anna gets really upset her whole mouth turns upside down and she tries so hard not to cry. We'll see if it happens again.

Noah is feeling much better. After my last blog we got Noah out of bed. We had given him Tylenol at 10pm and Kie syrup at 10:30pm. Around midnight I realized our doctor had prescribed something for the kids when they get colds to take at nighttime, it helps them sleep. So, Brian called the pharmicist to see if it could be mixed with Kie syrup and the pharmicist replied "well Kie syrup typically keeps kids awake." So, there you go. That's why he couldn't sleep. We were told to give him the nighttime medicine at 1am. It was really hard staying up, I was so tired. But Noah and I just snuggled on the couch watching Baby Galileo while I drifted in and out of sleep. I liked it. I laid him down awake at 1:15am and he feel asleep without a problem. He woke up 5 times after that, but who is counting? What matters is that he is feeling better and sleeping better!

Today is Valentine's day. We typically do not do much, but we kinda did today. I woke up this morning to a v-day card on the table from Brian. Anna, Noah and I ventured to Target this morning because Anna was promised more Sweet Streets if she would actually go #2 in the potty and she did last night for the firs time! What an accomplishment. We are very proud. We went to Target and had fun. We then had a playdate at Brian's Mom's house with their Aunt Michelle and cousin Megan, who live in Indianapolis. There, the kids exchanged v-day gifts and ate beautiful V-day cupcakes, made my Grandma! They looked wonderful! I didn't have one!
After Brian got home, we ate dinner and then we sat on our bed and the kids opened the scads of v-day cards they received through the family and little gifts from Brian and I. Brian also got me roses and Swedish Fish. (zero fat---very clever!) I got Brian a CD and some cherry Kit Kats. They are to die for, hurry and buy them while the stores still have them. They are a Valentines special!
Now I leave you with pictures. Thank you for reading my blog, I really appreciate it.

Anna with her new Sweet Streets.

My boy that I love.

Anna in her new digs. This outfit was a little gift to her for keeping her undies dry while we had dinner at Brian's parent's house. First time ever going out without a diaper.
Bethie holding a candle she got for her birthday from her niece Amber, who is seventeen. Isn't she the sweetest? She really is. On my actual Birthday she also gave me Yankee Candle votives. I love her, too.

Anna in her scivvies.
Busy on the phone with Amber.
Moi.

Some pictures for you

I had planned on adding a lot of pictures and blogging tonight, but Noah has other plans for me. Both the kids have the sniffles and Noah feel much worse during the nighttime. So, I think I need to focus on getting him to bed! It's 11:35pm and we put him to bed over 2 hours ago and he's woken up at least six times. Think we're in for a long night? We'll see! So, here are the pictures I have added so far. Hopefully I'll add more tomorrow night.

My friend Lynette and I had a babies on the same day. Anna was 5 weeks early and Carson was 1 week late! Talk about meant to be. It's one of my most favorite things, the fact the our babies share a birthday! Here are some pictures. The first was at about six weeks.

Anna left, Carson, right.

At almost 11 months old. Anna up, Carson down.

And Anna and Carson last week. Age 3.

Anna and Noah at a playdate. They were pretend sleeping.

A nice picture the kids let me take on my birthday!

Yep, this is my child.

She's just being naughty. There's my update! We have had a very challenging couple of days with Anna Helen Pletcher, lately. Extremely tiring. For the most part, she is fine. She's doing a great job potty training, but when she's bad...she's bad. Doesn't she know Mommy is grumpy because she wants a piece of pizza. sheez. Another good point is that she is sleeping in her bed like a dream. She has never gotten out of it unless we are in there with her. We are very proud.

In other news, I went back to my doctor today for a thyroid recheck. We talked alot about how tired I am and he asked me a series of questions and he has decided to increase my thyroid medication despite the fact that my levels did not drop! HOORAY! That is great news. It's even better news that he is increasing it again in 3 weeks. I'm very excited about this and very grateful that I have found such an understanding doctor. This should help with my fatigue and with weight loss. I need all the help I can get! It's hard to lose weight without a properly functioning thyroid, that's for sure! He says my tissues were rejecting most of the medication, it takes it fine at first, but then it stop accepting it.
Anyway, that is great news!

Excuse me, is this my child?

Do you ever have days where you child seems different? I speak of Anna today. We woke up just fine, very cheery and very excited about breakfast. We started to get dressed and I told her we were going to her friend, Carson's house to play! (Carson is my very good friend, Lynette's son...he and Anna were both born on 1.25.03!) Other children were going to be there and she was THRILLED!

It was a fantastic play date. At one point we had 8 children there, all 3 years old or younger and it could not have gone better. It was time to leave and everything was fine until we were almost home and Anna asked me to hand her something that I could not reach because, well, I was driving! I said "not right now, honey, Mommy is driving." And she cried so hard. Not typical for this child.

She proceeded to cry alot. It was definitely nap time, so we were getting ready for bed and she turned around quickly and ran right into the wall, hitting her little forehead. I then picked up the blanket she dropped, started to stand and step forward at the same time and ran my forehead into the same wall. (at that moment, I knew I would mention it in my blog!) She then hit her hand one something. All these injuries to add fuel to the fire. Anna is a great sleeper, she never fights it. Until today. She didn't just fight it, she just wanted to keep hugging and kissing me. It was very strange, like she was desperate for me not to leave her side. I finally talked her into sleeping by letting her sleep with her Sunshine Carebear. (funshine bear?) She slept about 2 hours. She woke up behaving the same way.

I had decided to attend my first Weight Watchers meeting tonight. So, Brian came home, we ate dinner, chatted a bit and I grabbed my coat and my purse and she yelled "I come with you." I explained that I was going to a meeting, but I would be right back and she said "hug and kiss." (which is very typical) However, I would hug and kiss her and normally she would turn around and busy herself with something else, but tonight as soon as we hugged and kissed she would want another and another and another and another. I find it to be very irritating that I was irritated with all of the hugs and kisses from my child, but I couldn't help it. So, I did the cold, awful (but correct!) thing and left. I swear on everything holy, that I could hear her screaming while in my van out side of the garage as I was pulling out. According to her father, she threw a horrible, terrible, outrageous tantrum for over 15 minutes. Not typical. Since Noah watches and mimicks everything Anna does, I'm sure he'll do the same tomorrow. how exciting.

Anyway, she continued this behavior after I got home and until she fell asleep, I would try to leave her bed and she would leap up and wrap her arms around my neck and kiss me 15 times asking me to stay, but I knew I couldn't stay. So, she fell asleep with her bedroom door slightly open. (it's usually closed)

I can never understand why a child changes their behavior. I suppose I'm supposed to think she was being naughty and that I should have punished her, but I couldn't. What if there was something more. An insecurity that she can't verbalize, or perhaps an intuition. Or was she so tired from playing so hard with her friends that she just couldn't function properly. Maybe she is getting sick.

One thing for sure is that I just wish she knew how hard it was to leave her room tonight. I easily could have laid in bed with her, while she held my hand and played with my hair. How easy that would have been.

Tomorrow is a new day.

It's my Birthday

One of the great things about having a birthday is you get to connect with so many people all in one day! Family, far and near. Friends, old and new. It's a day I always treasure and look forward to. It's a day that I can guarantee to anyone that I will cry, no matter what. I know there are other people who cry on their birthdays, as well, I know I am not alone. It's just funny. I figure that I cry every year because if one thing goes in such a way that I feel it should not, on this particular day, my birthday, that I, being already too sensitive, will turn it into a pitiful round of "why does this always happen to me." And it's bull crap. Honestly, I did something dumb today, real dumb. My driver's license expired today, since Brian stayed home from work I opted to renew it today without the kids by my side. Please, pick up a pen or pencil right now and write this down "I will never go to the BMV on my Birthday." I'll wait to continue until you're done writing........ Hurry, write it down. It was a zoo. A mad house. A girl in back of me, while waiting in line to find out how much longer I would be there, said something about feeling like she's been herded into a room filled with animals. (Now that I think about it, I think I'm insulted! LOL!) It was ridiculous. Here I am at 12 o'clock on MY day, and I'm sitting with 60 complete strangers. I was there for 90 minutes. Doesn't seem long, but it's long. I was hungry, so tired, had to pee and I wanted to home with my family. (you'd think they would put a public restroom into this place!) Anyway, my license is renewed. Oh, joy.

I celebrated my birthday tonight with Anna and Noah, Brian, my parents and my niece Amber and her boyfriend. It was wonderful! Brian ordered a cake from one of my favorite bakeries. It was a white cake with hazelnut buttercream frosting. YUM! We ate my FAVORITE pizza and that was fantastic, too. And never fear, but relating to my post last night about the Food Network, my problems have been solved. As I opened a gift from Brian, the gift wrap gave birth to a brand new baby Tivo!! We are so pleased to welcome this beautiful Tivo to our growing family! We look forward to many years filled with joy and happy memories with this beautiful creature!

I sit here typing my post, eating nachos and cheese for the last time. Tomorrow I embark on another Weight Watcher journey. Yes, I am rejoining Weight Watchers for the 23rd time. Just kidding, it's probably my 4th. (5th?) I am looking forward to this journey as I have a fantastic family support system who is already doing Weight Watchers and friends who are joining along with me! I'm quite excited. I have beeing downloading songs into my iPod Shuffle (courtesty of the LLS, thank you!) getting ready to start walking on my treadmill. I hope I have lots of positive feedback to share with all of my readers! If I don't, it's my own fault. (talk about accountability!)

Thank you to everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday, either by phone calls, or in person, or posts on the FOA board, or cards in the mail or e-cards, those are the reminders that make me so thankful for the people that surround me in life. If my 29th year is half as good as my 28th, then I can't wait until I turn 30!

I tried leaving a picture, but Blogspot is NOT cooperating and it's making me crazy! I'll try again tomorrow!

I love the Food Network!

Emeril Live. Food Network Challenge. $40 a Day. Behind the Bash. Everyday Italian. Paula's Home Cooking. Iron Chef America. Unwrapped. Sugar Rush. The Secret Life Of. Restaurant Makeover. Recipe for Success. And Oh, so many more! What other channel can offer so many fine TV shows? It's unbelievable! It's genious!

I've always wondered what was so alluring about The Food Network. Alot of people I know would spend hours watching it. I never understood it. I started watching the Food Network while watching TV before bed in my bedroom. I don't have TIVO on that TV so I would find myself flipping stations during commericals while watching Friends or Will and Grace. I always landed on the Food Network and I would find myself never turning back to the old reruns. I'm hooked. Completely and totally hooked. I love the chefs. I love the recipes. The pots and pans. The plates. The cookbooks. The way the crowd cheers when Emeril adds garlic and essence. When Emeril adds powdered sugar yelling "bam, bam, bam, BAM BAM!!" I'm so excited as I type this! (not kidding.) They even have shows filled with suspense, like Iron Chef America and the Food Network Challenge. Are they going to drop the candy sculpture that is 6 feet high, they have to carry it so far! One of the most recent challenges I saw was the Wedding Cake challenge. People literally traveled for hours and hours with the wedding cake in their cars and the judges noticed every flaw, so there was no room for error. I can harldy take the suspense! I need TIVO in my bedroom just to record my Food Network shows!

Now, I mentioned pots and pans. I sell pots and pans and I KNOW I have the best of the best in my kitchen, so why do I find myself wanting Emeril's red casserole with lid or the blue saute pan with lid on my stove? I want it sooo bad. Luckily, I looked online and they don't sell them, but they sell everything else!

Paula's Home Cooking is a new favorite of mine. She isn't afraid to cook with butter and oil! Nice and fattening. I've learned from the Food Network that Comfort Foods means incredibly fattening. Works for me!

What is super cool about this channel is you can go to www.foodnetwork.com and see what is playing at that moment with the recipes on-line ready for you to print or to put in your virtual recipe box. I have watched hours of this channel while I was sick! It's perfect TV.

Whoever came up with the Food Network is BRILLIANT! Thank you, Thank you! In the words of Emeril, I only have to say "oh, yeah, babe."

I almost forgot to mention that there is a great article about my brother, Dave, and his current role with the Army. It's a fantastic article, here is the link: http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/02/06/army.arabic.ap/index.html

TKO

TKO. No other way to describe it. I have been knocked out by a nasty, mean, awful virus. It's been a long, long time that I've been "out of service" for this long. Perhaps the last time was a c-section. I started getting sick on Thursday, then on Friday I felt so much worse, but by Saturday I felt beyond awful. I first woke up with a fever, my throat felt like I had swallowed razor blades and my body hurt so bad. It hurt to simply turn my head to the left or to the right. I had decided to go to the doctor. Because it was a Saturday, my only option was to go to something called "Fast Track" within the emergency room of the local hospital. It opened at 1pm. I had to take a shower, which was incredibly difficult to do, I almost didn't go to the doctor because I did not want to take a shower. I got to "fast track" at 1:20pm and I didn't get home until after 5pm. They had a computer failure and lost my name. I was so tired and uncomfortable and thirsty. Finally a nurse approached me and asked me if anyone had called me in yet. I told her no. And she took me back right away. They did a strept test that came back negative. I was diagnosed with a "viral syndrome." The good news was that the doctor gave me something to make my body stop hurting so bad and something that will help me sleep. It worked! It completely knocks me out!

I'm very lucky that I was able to rest as much as I did over the past few days. That is thanks to Brian for helping out so much. I am feeling better, which is good because I am flying solo with the kids tomorrow! So, I'm off to get more rest!

Sick Taxes

Editor's note: This blog entry was actually written and posted on Friday, 2/2. Blogspot.com has gone crazy.

My title combined two things at once. I'm sick. And I've been doing my taxes.

Yesterday morning I woke up feeling a little ill and by the time I went to bed I was worse and then this morning...forget about it! SICK SICK SICK. Sore throat, severe headache, ears hurting, stuffy nose and muscle aches. Luckily, Brian stayed home and helped tremondously with the kids. Also, one of my favorite pizza restaurants opened up in our town and they delivered, so we had that tonight! That made me feel better. Luckily the kids have been spared so far.

Then tonight, I decided it was time to do my taxes. Since I have a home based business I had tons of taxes to do. After four hours, I've decided to break until tomorrow! Hopefully I'll feel better! For the record, about 3 weeks ago I sat down and started my taxes on a program that Pampered Chef offers, it's really a fantastic program, but apparently I was hitting something incorrectly because any recording I did, about 2 hours worth, did not get recorded.

Oh well!I'm also getting so excited and energized about the 2006 Friends of Allie team! The goal this year is to hit $1 million! So exciting.

I know it's not much of an entry, but I'M TIRED! Time for bed!

"I LOVE MY DR. MILLER!"

Today we started out the day by going to our pediatrician's office for Anna and Noah's check ups. It went really well. In fact, I'd have to describe as fun! Here are their stats:
Anna 32 lbs 38 inches
Noah 35.5 lbs 37 inches
Anna loves our doctor. She was not scared at all, just happy. It was a great visit. We do have to go back in 1 or 2 weeks to get Anna caught up on 1 immunization. We thought we were up to date until the doctor realized she missed one dose of prevnar in her first year of life. We could have given her the shot today, but I promised a "happy" visit with no pain before the appointment, so the doctor agreed that we should wait. The name of this blog is an actual quote by Anna Helen Pletcher, herself on the way home. She didn't say it, she yelled it! Noah enjoyed the doctor as well, he laughed so hard at the doctor when he was moving his legs around. It was hilarious!!

So, to comment on some of the comments...we weren't actually trying to potty train Noah, he had just dirtied his diaper and we were just about to give them a bath, but we were in the middle of hanging Anna's butterflies, so we thought, well, let's just put on the Nemo underwear! (plus, I was dying to see his bootie in them!! It was cute!) And you know the outcome. We are actively trying to train Anna. It's much more difficult than I had ever imagined, but we are making progress. Dr. Miller says "it will happen, do not pressure her." So, I have to trust him.

On another note, today I attended Nick Tysen's visitation. I went with my friend's Lynette and Amanda. We were lucky enough to see our friend Kacy right away and we spent lots of time with her. We were in line for OVER ONE HOUR. This place had a huge line the entire time we were there. It was unbelievable. Nick was such a special, beautiful boy, that is for sure. Seeing pictures of Nick on the wall from the time he was born, to every year after until this past fall, was difficult to see. It proved that he was a child just like yours or mine. (have you ever thought about how lucky you are to have healthy children?) One particular picture affected me a great deal. It was a picture taken when he was three, you knew he was three because he had a big three sitting next to him. It reminded me of my 3 year old and how fragile life truly is. So many flowers filled this place and there was so much love. We were able to talk to Leslie, his Mom. I told her how honored I was to have met her son and her family and that every year we would walk in honor of the life he lived and the fight he fought. She said "please call me, I want to walk with you." She's an amazing woman, with quiet strength. I can't think enough about how fortunate I felt to be in this family's presence. It was so difficult being there and my heart aches so much for all of them. But I'm SO glad I met them, I feel my life is more fulfilled because there are people like the Tysen family and Kacy in my life.

I'm so honored to have met Nick, I mean that with all of my heart.
I wish you could have met him, too.

Onions

I've titled this blog onions because I have onions on my mind. I wish I didn't, oh Lord do I wish I didn't, but I do.
One of my favorite meals is at a restaurant called "Buffalo Wild Wings" and I like to get their nachos. So, I decided tonight to try and mimic that dish at home. I knew it had ground beef, chili beans, queso and onions in it, but that's about all I could figure. Well, Brian wasn't home yet so I started making the dinner with the ingredients that I had on hand. Ground beef (extra lean), taco seasoning, some queso, shredded cheese and yellow onions, oh and tostitos. I was certainly lacking. I browned my ground beef and my onions and as soon as Brian got home from work, I ran to the store. I let it simmer while I was gone. Typically, I would have just let it go and made do with what I had, since running to the store before dinner is something I try to avoid doing, but I really wanted to try to make this type of nachos. But what I really wanted was a red onion. I bought the red onion and black beans and queso, came home and finished the meal and it was pretty good. Not as good as the real deal, but not bad. The red onion was incredible. Perfect. It's interesting because I used to hate onions. Even now, I wouldn't eat a sauteed onion if you paid me and I don't like my burgers with onions on them, but I always try to add them to my recipes. I love red onion on salads, too. Anyway, onions can be so tasty while you're eating them, but the lengths you go through to get the taste and smell out of your mouth after you're done eating them is outrageous!! And my house REEKED of onions. I opened my windows, washed down the counters, took out the trash and lit a candle just to get rid of the onion smell. Even now, 5 hours after having dinner, all I smell is onions. But I'll never leave it out of the recipe!

Anna slept in her bed all night last night. She woke up at 8:45am and waited until 9am when I came and got her. She's a good girl. As of right now, Noah is expressing NO interest in sleeping in his own bed. He can't crawl onto Anna's bed, so he's pretty frustrated with it. Anna also received a package from her "Aunt Jenny" today. (Aunt Jenny is my very good friend and soul sister, Jennifer Helen...she'll get a blog entry dedicated to her very soon.) She received butterflies to hang from her ceiling in her bedroom. They're adorable and Anna loves them! (so do I!)

Anna and Noah have their 2 and 3 year old appointments tomorrow. Brian is taking off of work to go along. The last time we were at the doctor's office the doctor hurt Anna's ear. He was checking for an ear infection but couldn't see in due to ear wax so he was scraping her ear out. Well, she kept moving and it cut her. So, since November Anna has been saying "Dr. Miller hurt me." Should be interesting as we pull up to the doctor's office.

I leave you with some pictures of Noah, since I feel I have neglected him in my blog. We did put big boy underwear on him tonight for the first time ever. He peed in them within, hmmmm......3 minutes.

Oprah

I forgot to mention that the Oprah show I went to two weeks ago is airing today.
Breakfast with Oprah. Just an fyi!

Happy February!