I'm up ridiculously late...

... by my own standards, as generally I'm sleep on the couch by 8:30...
so technically it's Wed, but let's just pretend it's Tuesday for the sake of 10, shall we.

1) Lil mini stayed with her aunt/uncle/cousins last week and when we picked her up I was a little disappointed for her that she's coming home to a house full of adults. (not making ANY hints here!!!) I think she laughed every second she was there as those 3 kiddos main goal was to teach her new things and to keep her rolling. They were wildly successful.

2) On the quest to get more veggies in this family, I've resorted to creative measures to say the least. Unfortunately the lil mini saw thru my attempts to pass off black bean burgers as real burgers. They were a no fly. She's such a meat eater and I think she got that from me.

3) Our Walmart is revamping itself, it took me nearly 20 minutes to find the bread.

4) I had forgotten my love of bookstores. I went to both Barnes and Noble and Books a million last week and both times the smell alone made me swoon in the doorway.

5) We're implementing "bye-bye paci" this week and so far on day 3 I think we've just about got it. Lil mini only cries for about 2 or 3 minutes before just going to sleep. Today she saw a little baby in the library with a pacifier and she reached for it and then looked at me like, "What gives?!?"

6) Going to attempt to use some flax seed I bought a week or so ago. I bought it b/c it sounds healthy, but I keep forgetting to put it in stuff. I'm thinking that I'll make some silver dollar pancakes and some pumpkin muffins. Regardless of how they turn out, I'll be eating them as I hate to waste food. (I'm still killing off the black bean burger debacle)

7) The tendinitis in my wrist is getting worse, but I'm not making a doc appt b/c my thought is that maybe it needs to get worse before it gets better. Ludicrous I know, but I hate going to the doc about a problem he's already seen me about. Waste of a copay.

8) I'm typing in the dark, and my knowledge of the keyboard is not as great as I thought it was.

9) Lil mini has a fondness of b words. Bubble, ball, boy, baby, she always pronounces with surprising clarity, then she gets on a rambling roll and looks at me like somethings wrong with my ears for not knowing exactly what she's saying.

10) Our printer is broken which has forced me to rekindle my relationship with Kinkos. It's bittersweet. I'm always a little in awe of all their printing capabilities and I it makes me miss working in an office where oversize printing was at my fingertips... and free. Boy they're making a killing.

Happy Tuesday *Wednesday* friends!

Love this commercial

Have you seen this Prius commercial? I love it. It makes me smile watching all those people wiggle around. Happy Friday all.

Momma Mishaps

This mommy-ing thing isn't always as easy as I hoped it would be. I've made mistakes... many mistakes, some I consider big, some tiny, but none beyond repair. The blessing of children is that they don't have anything to compare your parenting to. I'm listing a few mistakes somewhat as a confession and admission that I know the Mommy of the Year Award won't be stopping by here, but I'm trying. Not for pity just if some random mom out there is reading and thinking that she doesn't have it all together, all the time, then she'll know she's not alone. ;-)
Lil mini is spending the week with her aunt/uncle and cousins, so it gives me a great time to reflect and restrategize.

Diving in:

1) My biggest mistake realization to date: I began 'spank*ng' too soon. My little mini is quite sharp and she's also quite headstrong. After no and stop failed to get her attention, I implemented a hand or a leg tap. For a bit, it seemed to be working. She stopped trying to touch the oven. She stopped banging her head on the floor during a meltdown. And then I noticed that she started to raise her hand (as if to hit something) when she got frustrated. So to her I became a hypocrite saying "No, sweet girls don't hit" but tapping her hands a few minutes later. Well when talking to my sis in law (who is a phenomenal momma I might add) she suggested maybe it was just too soon. That although the lil mini is bright as can be, she's not making the connection of the taps as punishment for an action, but more so a way to react when upset. ::sigh:: strike 1 million for me. So I'm revamping our whole 'discipline at this stage but to what exactly I'm not sure. I'm thinking of cry-it-out crib time. A baby time out of sorts, I guess.

Let me say here that I am a huge believer of discipline. Spank*ngs, groundings, time to calm yourself down, whatever. I think each child requires different things. I respect how you want to raise your kids, but I birthed this one and my husband and I believe in laying down our laws with love how we see fit. May sound harsh, but I will not be one of those mothers who is running scared from her 2 year old.

2) Not such a huge mistake but still one to boot. I introduced lunchables. They were great for church when I just needed to have something b/c we wouldn't be making it home for lunch. Toss a lunchable in the bag and some mandarin oranges and milk and I was good to go. Until this became her meal of preference. I want to be that momma that cooks wholesome, organic well balanced meals at every given moment, but I'm not. I hit the mark perfectly on some days (one nite I commented to KJ that the little mini had eaten berries and yogurt for breakfast, pasta salad with veggies for lunch and fish and spinach for dinner and I was on top of my momma game), and on others I fail miserably giving in to just wanting her to eat something (please reference above mention of her stubbornness, girl's got a will like iron sometimes). To remedy I plan on incorporating some veggie only meals and my concept is that if she's hungry she'll eat. I'll have to let you know how that goes.

3) Not a biggie: Not getting rid of clothes when they are just too small. Unfortunately I am that momma that sometimes rolls up the lil mini's jeans to capri height just to get a few more wears. I know it's pitiful and she's got plenty of clothes, but pants are definitely a stickler b/c it seems like they get too short before she's actually outgrown them. There are a lot of skirts and dresses in our summer future.

4) Kind of big: I don't speak up when random people in Walmart touch her hands. I know the germs that are floating around there and I can't seem to bring myself to say "Could you please not do that". I know pep mean well and babies just bring joy all around, but in all fairness couldn't they just tickle her knee? My remedy is that I keep anti-bacterial hand wipes with me at all times and I just wipe her hands when we're in another aisle. Then she licks her hands and any package she can get a hold of in the back of the cart. (Work with me kiddo, not against me!!)

5) Biggie: Some days I'm so busy concentrating on trying to get her to "act right" that I don't reveal in her just as she is. I feel like some days I don't remember if I heard her laughing because I was concentrating on telling her not to take her shoe off and lick the bottom (which apparently she thinks is hilarious). This is one reason that I'm so glad that KJ is my partner in crime in this b/c he's great at enjoying the moment. So what if she's banging her head on the couch cushion, do you see how funny she looks doing it and how hard it makes her giggle.

6) Maybe a biggie, maybe not: I don't freak out when she picks food up off the floor and then eats it. I know, I know that sounds horribly gross, but when a box of Cheerios is dumped on the floor I'm more thankful than ever that we vacuum regularly and that we don't wear shoes in the house. I know that this is not a 'habit' that's good to start b/c in public it is ridiculously nasty... no buts my subconscious knows that we need to stop allowing this and just suck it up and throw the cheerios away... the whole $2.33 box.

I think that's about all. Shoot that might be enough for DHR to come running. ;-) Like I said, I don't have this figured out and we're making strides thru trial and error. Overall she's a great kiddo despite or because of our efforts so far. ;-)

Happy Tuesday friends!

The Best Way

to make a self-proclaimed "Keeper of Things" purge is to put her in a wayyyy too tiny apartment.
More later. ;-)

Happy Monday.