Tornadoes and Cookouts... not the smartest mix

Wednesday was David's birthday and for weeks I had been planning a surprise cookout for him after work. I made an ice cream cake, had the fridge stocked with meat and dogs, and had a friend on his way from Atlanta to surprise him and spend the night. Only one thing unaccounted for... the weather. The night before I'm watching the 11 o'clock news and the weather forecast: SEVERE WEATHER 4-9pm. I was so sad! The friend headed up from Atlanta regardless and so I welcomed all crazy individuals who wanted to still come over in spite of the weather and I hoped it would just blow over.

It did not blow over. Biggest storm system since the 1970's and it claimed hundreds of lives including many right here in our own city. It stormed about 7 different tim

es during the day and David's loving friends drove over in between storms. He was VERY surprised. As am I in retrospect. The power went out as soon as guests started arriving and we ate by candlelight and enjoyed the sounds of rain and hail as more storms rolled through.

It was probably the stupidest thing anybody has ever done for his birthday, but also probably the greatest act of love. I still am amazed and touched that so many people

made it in the midst of tornadoes to ring in his 28th year.

Here is an image of the devastation just 8 miles down the road from our party:

Teeth

My sweet little girl began whining this weekend. She's had a short fuse and she seems to just run around the house and make a whining sound the whole time. Looked in her mouth and sure enough blossoming teeth all over. There is one spot where her gums are so swollen I can't stand to even look at them. Fever too, poor little girl. I'm trying to be patient and understanding and have turned to tylenol/motrin and homemade popsicles to give her some relief.

Blessed Easter

Had the honor of spending the day with friends who have taken us in as family. It was good not to be alone on such a special day. Enjoyed conversations, babies, cinnamon rolls, and sunshine.

My heart is also full for some friends dealing with an unexpected issue with their beloved child. I pray for peace, wisdom, and direction for this dear family.

Busy Saturday

Whew! I am worn out. We had a first birthday party for Riley Kate, a cookout with some friends, and I crashed prom. Now we're sitting on the couch eating cookies and watching The Cosby Show... the rest of my to do list will have to wait.

Frustrated

Nina K has started testing me again. It's been awhile since her last bout of deliberate disobedience to watch me react. I find it so frustrating. She has been obeying our "no touch"s since she was about 9 months old. So when I tell her no touch and she smiles at me and does it anyway I get so flustered! I know she wants to see my reaction, but I have to react, right? I can't let her learn that she can get away with it. But finding the appropriate negative consequence for a 1 year old stretching her wings sends me spinning.

Then this pesky fly is trying to further drive me to unsettledness as he buzzes in my ear and lands on my face. I put the baby in her bed for a rest and I sit down and here comes the cat at the window pawing and meowing, pawing and meowing. Looks like I need to spend some time in prayer and reflection! And maybe invest in a parenting book!

Thanks Biblegateway for making it so easy to search the Bible:

Ecclesiastes 7:8-9

⁸ The end of a matter is better than its beginning,
and patience is better than pride.
⁹ Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit,
for anger resides in the lap of fools.

Live Bunny Shoot

Yesterday Nina Kate got to pet her first bunny. My friend rented him for the day for 20 bucks and was thoughtful enough to invite us along for some pics. Who knew you could do such things?

Needless to say she was enamored with it. I had a hard time keeping her away while the other kids got their pictures taken.

She also enjoyed the giant Easter eggs.

She hung out with friends and made some new ones.

She even met an Easter bunny.

Publix

So I have been comparing my local grocery stores. Yesterday I decided to give the giant Publix a try. I enjoyed the free samples of piña and chicken, but I did not enjoy being so lost. I must have walked the full length of that publix 3 or 4 times. It wasn't set up anything like the small Publix down the street or the ones in FL for that matter.

Well, Nina Kate had thrown her sippy cup in the car and I forgot to find it before we went in. I always have her eat her lunch in the grocery cart so I needed to find her a drink to go with her banana, goldfish, and hard boiled egg. I know where to get liquids at both of my local Bi-los and Earthfare, but this Publix seemed to have no cheap refrigerated water bottles anywhere. The deli only carried lemon water and their soda machine didn't have a water button. So I walked all the way to the dairy side to get a personal organic milk bottle for her (which I've done at Bi-Lo, Target, and Earthfare). But of course this massive grocery had no personal sized milks except for like a liter of publix chocolate milk. Sigh. So I start searching for regular water bottles. Turns out there were 3 or 4 different drink aisles! I finally found the one with water and ripped open a pack of publix water bottles gave one to my daughter and put the rest in my cart and finally I'm ready to begin shopping.

An hour later I slip in my cheap Old Navy flipflops on a wet spot on the floor. I look to my daughter knowing she is probably to blame and to my shock she has her water upside down in her seat and it has soaked through her cloth shopping cart cover and is dripping, dripping, dripping, dripping all over the floor and all over my groceries under her! Including a few paper wrapped items that were now swelling with water like the fancy all natural wheat flour for her morning pancakes. There seems to be no way to stop the saturated seat cover from releasing the rest of its watery contents, so we just continue on and hope nobody else slips on the puddles we're leaving behind as we proceed through the meat department.

Over thirty minutes later, I have finally procured enough items and I head to the checkout. There were 2 lanes open and so I began to wait in line behind a few other full carts. There is a young guy manning the 10 items or less aisle which was completely empty and he took pity on me and coaxed me to check out in the fast lane. Well of course once he starts ringing up my items people with just a bottle of soda show up wanting to use the fast lane. I wanted to tell them it wasn't my idea, but I just unloaded my cart faster. I only used 2 coupons this trip and my bill was the same or less than my usual Bi-Lo trip and my cart was pretty full, so kudos to Publix there. A very kind old man pushed my cart out to my car and we discussed children and exchanged other pleasantries. I put Nina Kate in the car while he unloads the groceries and to my horror she only has one shoe on her foot. I look in the van, I look in the parking lot, I even look in the grocery bags in the trunk and nothing. I panic. I got these Crocs for 5 dollars and I wasn't about to spend 30 to replace them. And I really don't have any other shoes to substitute while I get them replaced. So I leave the ice cream melting in the sunny car and drag my one-shoed child back into Publix. Yet again we walk the giant store. No luck. Talk to a few people, leave my number, give up, and head home.

I am upset the whole time I'm driving. I know it's just a shoe, but I needed that shoe! One of the strange things about being a stay at home mom is there is nobody to vent things to. In a situation like this when I know I'm upset over something not that crucial to the world or heaven or even hell for that matter I usually just share my frustration with someone else and then almost instantly the swelling feeling inside subsides and I can let it go. So I call my sister... no answer. I call my husband... no answer. Blurg! I tried just telling Nina how I felt, but that didn't work.

Turns out the shoe was under the front seat. It had flown off when I had untangled her from the wet shopping cart cover and put her in her carseat. Now the question is will we go back to the giant Publix???

It's been a good week so far. I am constantly amazed at how quickly Nina Kate is learning. Somebody mentioned once that the first year they physically change daily and the second year they do so mentally. Today she learned what a skunk is and after me telling her once she correctly identified the skunk every time.

Last night we went to a Lookouts baseball game. I really enjoyed doing something out of the norm.

Neighborhood Egg Hunt

Nina Kate had her first Easter egg hunt today. It was a cold, soggy, windy day, but still very fun. I was shocked how well NK did. She bent right down picked up the blue egg and put it in the bag like I told her to. She got 3 eggs total, all a different color. Not bad for a 14 month old. Not to mention I scored a ring-pop inside the pink egg, which I might share with her. In retrospect I wish we had videoed the event because it was hard to get a good picture with her looking at the camera with so much excitement and she was absolutely adorable squatting down and picking up these colorful eggs. The last pic is her all muddy after a little fall in the soggy grass.

April 13, 2011 Sabotage

I spent all day cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. I think the nesting phase has started. Yesterday I cleaned out Nina Kate's closet, a task I had been avoiding which suddenly became pure excitement. Today I mopped the floors with vinegar and water (natural disinfectant that is hardwood friendly) for the first time since we moved into the house.

Going to go off on a quick tangent here. I think mopping is the hardest thing to do with a little one awake, because I can't get her to understand not to walk all over the wet floor. She ends up slipping and sliding and getting in the way of the mop.

Anyway, back to the main point. Like I said, I cleaned all day. I vacuumed, cleaned the counters, did the dishes, cleaned Nina's room, the guest bathroom, mopped, and well what was the first thing Nina Kate does???

You guessed it, make a mess! She pulled everything out of my bag and scattered it around like it was her job.

April 8, 2011 Boo, boo, boo...

Again I find myself catching up on posts I've wanted to make over the past few weeks.

Nina Kate loves to say the word "bow" referring to the hair-clips we use to keep her crazy hair out of her eyeballs. Every time she sees one she starts chanting "boo, boo, boo," and picks it up and tries to put it in her hair (which means she rubs it all over her head and then drops it behind her). Today (again we are pretending it's April 8th), I played along and we ended up with all the bows we could find in her bedroom in her hair. Little moments like these bring me such joy.

Poor Kitty

So ever since I've been a Mama I have no patience leftover for Oliver the cat. The minute he starts meowing at the door or walking in circles on my belly blocking my view of the laptop I become enraged. I remember before Nina was born I would let him sleep on me forever and I wouldn't get up because he looked so happy. Now I just use him as a distraction for Nina. When she is being clingy I tell her to go find the kitty and she chases him all around the house. Poor kitty!

+ teeth

Oh and did I mention she also got 2 new teeth?? She acted in pain one day and had a tooth the next!

Scratches and Scrapes

Nina Kate is becoming quite the little walker, but when she gets tired she starts falling all over the place like a drunkard. We had family portraits taken Sunday and I'm so glad it was last week because since Sunday she has fallen and scraped her chin on my wedding ring, cut herself in 3 places with her fingernails I'm assuming, and then yesterday she ran down the driveway towards Daddy and fell flat on her face scraping up her chin, lip, and nose. I am ever thankful we have been blessed with such health and safety that all there is to report is scrapes and scratches.

Aunt Barah

So the main reason there is such a gap in my blogging the past week is that we went to visit Aunt Barah and Uncle Dru in Indy. We had an amazing time. Some highlights for me were seeing Sarah's new house (which is absolutely perfect), going to a Pacers game (Nina loved all the action and got pretty slap happy before we finally put her down around 11pm), eating a giant iron skillet cookie (recipe given to me by a pregnant friend), walking in the woods, Nina learning the word "happy," playing with atvs, looking at the stars with my incredible husband, and playing pinochle by firelight.

The downside to this wonderful vacation was leaving. I instantly felt lonely come Tuesday when David went back to work and Sarah was nowhere to be found. Nina also misses her aunt and whenever the phone rings she says Barah? Barah? Barah?

I also want to Praise God for safe travels and the fact that we drove 8 hours home and managed to miss all the storms. It started pouring and lightening in Chatt about 20 minutes after we arrived safely to our house. Nina did wonderful and slept like an angel at all her naps and at night! I am so proud, and so thankful.

Pregnant Baby

Nina started walking pretty well last week and she continues to fall less and less and stand back up on her own more and more. However, I've noticed the past couple of days that when she walks she has her hands on her belly. After pondering a moment on this I realize that I frequently rest my hands on my ever growing baby bump and she is mimicking me. Oh no! I've taught my baby girl my pregnancy quirks!