Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Annika's Photography

My dad was a photographer.  He actually went to school for it and had a master's degree in photography.

Josh wanted to start his own photography business but he wasn't devoted to it enough to keep it going.  He does take amazing pictures when he's focused on it though.

Annika is our little photographer.  We're actually trying to decide what kind of kid-friendly camera we can get her for her birthday or Christmas this year (we have to balance that out with that we want to get her a bike too).

Here are Annika's recent pictures taken with my iPhone:

Water


This is the chair she sat in to get her haircut, she finished before me so I let her take pictures.  In the mirror you can see me getting my hair cut!

My reusable shopping bag collection 

A chair. 

Her ballet bag. 

The air vent. 

Me making something in the kitchen! 

My gym bag from work and the baby gate we use for Bo. 

She's very into "objects" now.  I think it's really good that she focuses right in on certain things!

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Random Stuff

~I seem to have no time to blog anymore!  The girls are keeping me busy in the evenings!

~Thursday we had a scare with the new house we're building!  Our loan processor e-mailed me (I still can't believe she e-mailed me and didn't call) saying that we didn't qualify for the loan program because of our income!!  I almost lost my mind.  I was in the car at a stop light (world's longest light, typically I do not play around on my phone in the car but I was waiting for her to e-mail me back) and I read the e-mail.  I was sobbing and had to pull myself together to drive to Josh's work where I meet him.  I called him on the way to tell him to call his boss to say that he'd be in a few minutes late.  We tried calling our loan processor and she wouldn't answer, she ALWAYS answers her phone.  Then she e-mails me again telling me we'll have to talk to the loan consultant about what program we can try since our income was too high.  So we called him and he was out of the office for a week!  No way were we going to wait a week.  We ended up talking to management, clarified that no, our income was within the guidelines of the program, they were adding wrong and by 7pm that evening I had everything fixed!  Pretty much, according the manager, the loan processor should have double checked her addition (seriously, I can't believe that this was all over simple, basic math!) and should have NEVER e-mailed us that we didn't qualify!  Our house is almost done, we were panicked!

So from 3:30pm-7pm I was furious that we had lost the house.  Today though we got our final approval!  It's been such a pain with paperwork because we borrowed the money for our deposit, then I paid it back, then I received money from an estate that was willed to me (actually my mother but I received it since she died), then they wanted proof of all of that crap!  Then they wanted to know why Josh withdraws large amounts of money from his bank account and why I have large cash deposits into mine (really?  did I need to explain that?) and why do we not have a joint account (I hate joint accounts, I had one with an ex, I refuse to do it again).  Just question after question for the past 3 months so today is a huge sigh of relief that the only thing I'll have to print out for them again is current bank statements in a few weeks!

~The house has walls!  I have no pictures because last time we went we took the girls in too.  Annika had to hold Josh's hand the whole time so she wouldn't touch anything bad and Annabel had a death grip on me because the contractor said "hi" to her!  I didn't even grab my camera as we walked in because Annabel was already having a fit crying and pulling on my shirt to hide her face!

~Speaking of Annabel is has become even more shy than before.  She used to LOVE our neighbor and her kids but Sunday she wouldn't go to her :(  Poor girl, she just clings to me and Josh.  I can't wait till she's old enough to do some sort of activity like Annika does with her ballet.  I may look into some toddler tumbling for her when she gets a little older, there's a school around here that starts them at 18 months.

~Annika is the opposite.  She just loves people but she has gotten into moods where I can tell that she is feeling a bad vibe from someone and refuses to have anything to do with them.  I swear her vocabulary doubles by the week and she speaks and understands like a little person.  It's so weird to call Josh during the day and have a conversation with her on the phone!  Although most conversations go like this:

Me: Hi, what are doing?

Annika: I watching a movie, the baby is crying, I want to go downstairs and get milk.

Josh (in the background): the baby is not crying, she's taking a nap.

Annika: The baby is not crying, she's taking a nap, I want milk momma.

Me: Okay, I love you, good-bye.

Annika: I love you, I need milk.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Tourist Time

There's a statute in Sarasota by where we live called Unconditional Surrender.  To read more about it click here.

While we were out on Friday we ate at a restaurant walking distance to the statue so like a tourist I made Josh and Annika pose with it. (I actually work walking distance to it too but never feel like going out that far during my lunch breaks.)


I took it with my phone so it's not the greatest picture, I cut the guy's head off!

After I took their picture a line of about 10 different groups of people showed up to take their pictures with the statue.

It's always weird to me to think that people come on vacation to the city that we live in!  Doesn't anyone else find that funny?  Sometimes I'll be on break from work walking around downtown and have tourists realize I'm local (I'm wearing a badge to get into my building so I guess they assume) and asked for directions almost everyday!

I guess we just take for granted what we have right in our own backyard!  I see so many posts on Facebook about freezing temperatures and we've had weather in the 70s all week and it's gorgeous!

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Annika's Photography

I still have to say that for a 3 year old Annika is pretty good with my iPhone camera.

Here are some of her recent pictures:

Annabel


Lego creature


More Legos


My laptop and Annabel's high chair


Annabel laughing


Me, I look tired, I am! And I have awful posture!


Our lamp above our dining room table.


The girls' bookshelf


Annika's new Crocs for the summer


Me sitting at our computer desk which we just threw away, I hated that thing!


Annabel again!


Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Things I Learned From Being a Dental Assistant

I haven't talked about it much on this blog but from 2003 till 2005 I worked for a dentist first as his main assistant and then as office manager.

There's a reason why I don't work for dentists anymore.  They are horrible jerks.  At least the ones that I've interned or worked for.

On my old blog I had a post about things I learned from working for a dentist and thought I'd move it over to this blog.


I'm not sure it's the same in every state but as a dental assistant I assisted the dentist with procedures, took x-rays, and worked in the front office.  Eventually we hired a different girl to be the assistant so I could take over the front office since everyone we were hiring sucked!

Anyway here are the things I learned:

~Some people have never brushed their teeth, ever. Seriously.

~People think since their parents have bad teeth they'll have bad teeth. False! My parents both had horrible teeth and I've only had 7 cavities my entire life and they were all on the grooves of my molars.

~Most dentist are know-it-all weirdos who have no knowledge of the "real world". The dentist I worked for didn't know what a hooker was, what it was like to not have money to own a car, or that strippers made good money but that they waste a lot of it on drugs and that's why they don't live in nice houses (typically).

~Hygienist (the girls that actual clean your teeth) mostly all act like princesses. All the ones I met did anyway. They are actually dental assistants that had the money to go to college for a full year after dental assistants school (which clearly I did not).

~Only floss the teeth you want to keep. A dentist I interned for said this to people. It makes you think...

~It takes tarter (the hard gross stuff that's on your teeth that you can't brush off) 24 hours to form. If you brush and floss your teeth correctly only one time within 24 you should be good.

~Flossing is not a painful form of torture. If you do it everyday it will stop hurting. Plus it's going to hurt a lot more when you're teeth fall out or when you get gum disease.  And yes you can reach the back of your mouth, just do it and stop whining!

~Dentist do not perform miracles. If you don't brush and floss and you're teeth are falling out of your head that's your fault.

~You know that stupid story your dentist is telling you when he's filling your tooth? The assistant as already heard the story 500 times in the past 3 months.  I'm surprised I didn't need to be medicated while I worked there.

~Crowns and bridges are expensive. It takes at least an hour for the dentist to prepare your tooth, an impression of your tooth gets sent to a lab, they pay a fee for it and then you come back in to get it cemented. Think of how much equipment and supplies were used and the staff that has to be available.

~People think dentistry is like buying a used car. So many people tried to negotiate fees.  While some fees can be negotiated remember you get what you paid for and don't make the person that is about to hold a drill in your mouth upset!

~If you have crooked teeth you will end up with issues. Get braces, I did and my TMJ pain and gum issues are gone. Sure I looked like a 15 year old for 3 years when I was in my 20s but it was so worth it.  Without braces I was looking at losing my bottom 4 front teeth because they were spaced apart strangely and my gums were a mess from it.

~You must get your wisdom teeth extracted. No, no, no I don't want to hear how you have room for them, you don't. Eventually the gums behind the wisdom teeth get infected and you need them out. Could be when you're 17, could be when you're 60. Trust me, it's easier on a person to get them out when you're 17 then when you're 60.

~Meth destroys your mouth. I saw a 20 year old girl that was hooked on meth and we had to extract her teeth "fragments" and give her dentures.

~People have horrible gag reflexes. I will never understand how a person gags from having a little mirror put in their mouth yet they are overweight (for some reason the really overweight men always had this issue the most). So food doesn't make you gag?

~You will not get cancer from the dental X-ray machine. It's a small amount of radiation. (Now I believe most dental x-rays are digital and I'm not even sure if those have radiation at all.)

~People wait until the problem is at it's worse. My favorite story of this:

A man walked in to the office and said he had an issue with a tooth. His upper front lip was swollen like a tennis ball!!!!! We took an x-ray and realized it was his front tooth that was infected. He said it had been hurting him for 6 years but he was scared!!! We gave him antibiotics for 2 days. He came back and was still swollen but to the size of a golf ball.The dentist couldn't get him numb because the infection was so bad. I had to assist so I had the suction tube right underneath and behind the tooth. The dentist used forceps to remove the tooth, it almost fell out on it's own. After it came out yellow and white pus came pouring out!! The smell was like death, even with my mask on. I handed the suction tube the the dentist and ran out of the room gagging!! The dentist said this guy could have filled a soda can with all the pus that drained/poured out of his mouth. So gross!!! And it could have been prevented if he came in 6 years ago.

~Everyone is scared of the dentist.  Going to a job every single day where people are terrified of you and your boss is not fun.

~The needle used for injections is one of the smallest gauges you can get. It does not hurt if you don't think about it. It is not huge.  I've actually injected my own mouth because I was weird like that and wanted to try.  Totally didn't hurt!

~If you have a small "silver" filling and nothing is wrong with it, leave it. Don't replace it just because you don't want the mercury in your system. The mercury level is low and won't hurt you if the filling is small.

~Silver fillings (I don't think anyone does these anymore, at the time I wrote this post they may have) last around 10 years while the pretty white composite/resin ones only last 5. I've already had to have all of mine replaced.

~Children should go to pediatric dentists. Normal dentists are mean and don't understand kids.  After the dentist was mean to a child I insisted on being allowed to do all cleanings on children's teeth or allowing them to either hold my hand and squeeze it when they wanted him to stop or even have them sit in my lap!!  Back then I was not into children at all but I would feel so bad for them!!

~Follow all post opt directions given to you after you get a tooth pulled. So many people don't and you will end up in soooo much pain!

~Don't try to sue a dentist for anything petty. He's probably friends with the lawyer and the lawyer won't waste his time on a case only worth $5,000.  We had a few patients try to sue and the lawyers they tried to hire were all our patients too.  Not happening!

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Blog Colors and Layout?

If you normally read my blog through Google Reader click through today and let me know what you think of the updated colors.

I felt like the red background was too harsh looking so I changed it to white.  I'm hoping this makes it easier to read.  I know I totally need to create a better header (maybe a drawing of my 2 little reds?).

What do you think?

13 months

Annabel is now 13 months!

What is going on in her world?

~As of yesterday she now has 5 teeth since tooth #5 just poked through!

~She's cruising around like crazy and will even "crawl" without using her hands with her body upright but she won't try to walk on her own.

~Annabel can walk if she holds onto my finger though.

~She's incredibly shy but eventually warms up to people.  During the warming up process she gets super flirty and it's adorable.


~This is our good eater, she's so much better than Annika at this age.  She will literaly eat everything and anything I put in front of her!  She loves bananas, oranges, homemade oatmeal bars, homemade oatmeal muffins (recipe coming soon since I actually created the recipe on my own!) eggs and lots of meat.  She's our little meat eater!

~Annabel will say "dada" sometimes and now is starting to say it to Josh.  She sometimes calls Annika "Anna" but that's about it for talking.  We're thinking her shyness is putting her behind on talking (Annika was a chatterbox at this age).

~Annabel is a wonderful sleeper at night clocking in anywhere from 12-14 hours!  She amazes me some weekend mornings with her sleep, so much that I have to go check on her to make sure she's alright!

~Occasionally we get a nap out of her and when we do it's a 2-3 hour mid-day nap.

~Her hair is so crazy that we have to either tie half of it back or make pigtails.  She cannot wear it down or it's in her face and just all over the place.

~Annabel likes to try to grab toys away from Annika and I think she really enjoys getting Annika upset :)

~She's 31 inches tall which is around the 95th percentile and 22 pounds which is around the 50th percentile.  She's only 6 inches shorter than Annika!  The doctor told us if she doesn't slow down in the next year she might pass Annika up in height when they're older since the girls appear to have different body shapes.

~Annabel likes to cuddle which we so aren't use to.  Annika has never liked to cuddle much.  I love having little baby hands holding on to me and smelling sweet baby hair by my face!

~Annabel is a biter!  Both Josh and I have gotten bitten by her recently.  Yelling at her doesn't do anything either, she laughs!  Luckily she only has 5 teeth so it doesn't hurt too bad.

~Overall Annabel is a happy, cheerful, sweet, shy girl!

Monday, January 21, 2013

Shopping at Kohls

I never understood what the big deal was about Kohls.  We have one within walking distance of us and Josh got their credit card but we've never really bought anything there.

Two weekends ago we discovered why people love that store so much.

We got a 30% off coupon in the mail if we use their charge card.  No big deal because we never spend more than we have because I always like to go straight home and pay it off (high interest rate freaks me out!).  I wanted to get a carpet cleaner so with a 30% off coupon it would be a good deal.

They didn't have the carpet cleaner I wanted in the store so I ordered it online with free shipping.  I bought this one and it was already on sale for $159.99.  I only paid $112!  I used to have a bit of a carpet cleaning addiction when we lived in our apartment and it's been a long 2 years without one!  I can't wait to use it, I'm probably going to be a mix of disgusted and totally excited when I see how dirty our carpets are (we only have carpets upstairs but I'm pretty sure Annika has peed on the floor in every single room!).

Then while we were in the store we decided to look around at the sales.  I got two tee shirts for $6.99 each and a long sleeved shirt for $6.99.  Josh got two t-shirts and a pair of jeans.

We moved over to the "home" section and bought 4 towels, 2 hand towels, 2 washcloths and a rug for our kitchen that were all either on sale or clearance.  We desperately needed towels since we realized we hadn't bought any new ones in over 4 years!!  They aren't warn out or anything, we just needed some nice new ones!

Total for everything we bought $90.  We had a savings of $150!

Then after all the stuff we bought in store, the carpet cleaner online and when I signed up for coupons through e-mail we received a total of $35 in Kohls cash to spend PLUS we can still use our 30% off coupons!  That's a crazy savings and it's crazy that we just have free money to spend.

Of course, we'll always have to time our shopping out right with this store but when we do we'll really get a deal!

Kohls did not pay me for my opinion or ask me to write this post.  I'm totally not cool enough for companies to approach me!  This entire post is 100% my own opinion and I just wanted to share the deals we got!

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Dentist and Doctor Visits

I took the day off Friday since I had scheduled Annika and Annabel's dentist and doctor appointments that day.

Annika has been going to the dentist since she was a year old every 6 months and typically the visits are spent with her in my lap leaning back into the dentist lap while screaming.  During her screaming the dentist does his exam.  They've told me that this is pretty typically but eventually kids get use the idea of the dentist and act just fine.  That's our point of going every 6 months.  Friday was Annabel's first visit.

For the week before the visit I sat Annika down each day to explain that the dentist (a man, I wanted to be sure she would be comfortable with a man sometimes she freaks with men and is fine with women) would ask her to look inside her mouth and that she would have to open wide so that he could count her teeth.  A few days before I started telling her that someone might brush her teeth too while we were there just to be sure they were very clean and pretty.

She showed she understood a few times during the week by telling me "I open my mouth wide like this (and then she'd open really wide) for the dentist".

When we got the dentist office she was already acting differently that usual.  She was calm and looking forward to showing the dentist her pretty teeth.  The assistant came in first and I had Annika sit in the dental chair.  The assistant asked if we thought she could handle a cleaning (they don't push cleanings until 4 or 5 years old) and I told her to try and we would see what would happen.  I have to say that the assistant was great!  She explained the little cup and showed her the paste to clean her teeth.  Annika said the chocolate paste tasted yucky so she got her some grape that she loved.  She showed her the suction and how to close her mouth on it so it would suck out her spit.  She loved that too!

The assistant flossed and cleaned her teeth without a fight at all!!  Annika was such a good girl!


The dentist came in and examined her and said that her teeth look great.

Then it was Annabel's turn.  She sat with Josh and he leaned her back into the dentist's lap so he could see her teeth.  She didn't give cry!  It was unbelievable how well behaved both girls were!  The dentist did the exam, checked out all 4 teeth she has and said that they looked great too.

Next up was the pediatrician for Annabel's 1 year check up and Annika's 3 year old check up (a few months late for her).

Annabel was 31 inches and 22 pounds.  Annika was 37 inches and 37 pounds (a little square the nurse joked!).

The doctor came in and Annika chated with him a bit.  She let him look her over, answered some of his questions and was really well behaved.

Annabel got her exam too, surprisly didn't cry at all and then got 3 quick vaccines (which she barely cried for at all).

The doctor gave us a wonderful compliment.  He told us that this was not a typical 1 and 3 year old exam.  He said that typically there are tears and he feels like he's in a wrestling match.  Most 3 year olds hide from him and take a few minutes to warm up while Annika started talking to him imediatly without any hesitation.

He also said that the girls both sleep through the night is amazing and that they have both been sleeping through the night for a long while is great.

He said the girls are sociable, well behaved and that we've done a wonderful job raising them.  Easy going and relaxed is the way to do it for us!  No reason to stress!  He told that he wishes other parents we more relaxed and easy going with their children.

Almost made me cry to have someone outside our friends and family give us such a great compliment!

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Sad Local Story

I usually don't post articles from the newspaper or any sort of news but this story is just so sad.

Read it here on my local newspaper's site.

I just can't imagine what was going through that man's head when he did that to his own daughter.  I also can't even begin to imagine how that mother is feeling today.

I've also been looking and reading stories on this for days now and kept thinking that the little girl and the father looked so familiar.  Yesterday I got my answer when the dance school that Annika goes to posted the story on their Facebook page.  The little girl must have taken dance classes the same day as Annika because that's why both her and her father looked so familiar.

Please say a pray for this family because I just can't even imagine the pain they are going through.

Friday, January 18, 2013

The Better Ballerina

She was better yesterday.  Thank goodness!

After many talks over the last week I had established with Annika that we would not be going back to ballet if she didn't:

A: Listen to the teacher
B: Follow directions
C: Wait her turn while in line to dance across the room
D: Stop running around like a crazy lunatic when the teacher asked her to

She did listen to the teacher.  I saw the teacher give her directions a few times and she listened.

She wanted her turn and actually did the correct dance move across the room.

She did run around the room like a crazy lunatic a few times but other girls were doing it too.  One of the girls that just turned 5 was actually horrible in class.  Her mother wouldn't know though because she was busy gossiping with two of the other mothers who ignore everyone else to talk to each other (one of the woman went to school with me so she only speaks to me if her friends aren't there but I've been ignoring her lately because she's a jerk!).

Here she is laying down while she should be standing.  I'd like to sometimes think of her as comic relief.  A new set of parents that had their daughter in the class for the first time thought she was  hilarious.



So all in all she was good in class.  I was proud of her.  Annika walked out of the room without her sticker that she gets at the end of class and I had to tell her to run back into the room to get her sticker.  She would have been so upset if she didn't get one especially since it had Olivia on it!  Plus for once she deserved it since she actually danced!

Afterwards, as promised (or bribed, shut up) I took her for frozen yogurt since I had a free coupon for one.  She was a happy girl.  I let her pick out all her own toppings and then I got a small cup for me and Annabel to share.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Get Up and Run

This year I decided to run more and blog more and use more pictures in my blog.  Yep, so here goes an attempt at all 3 goals!

We went running Monday for 2 miles and Wednesday for 3 miles with the double jogging stroller.  I average about a 12 minute mile with the double jogger.  If I use the single jogger with just Annabel I can do about 10 1/2 minute miles and when I'm all on my own (only on the weekends) I average between 9-9 1/2 minute miles!  So clearly that double jogger is killer and is probably helping me build up the endurance to run faster when I'm on my own!

So what do I wear when I run?  It's hot in Florida now (be jealous, I LOVE it) and around 75-80 degrees when I do an afternoon run with the girls.

Today I wore this:


I NEVER do self portraits like this with my phone.  Annika got behind me and kept going "look at my pig, look at him!!"  I feel like such a dork taking pictures of myself like this!  I almost got my good camera and tripod out to take a real picture!

I'm wearing a Champion brand dry fit top with a build in bra (it's from Target about 3 years ago, I actually can't buy Champion brand tops anymore because the XS is too big for my tiny chest!  They totally changed their sizes!).

My skirt is from runningskirts.com and I always get compliments on it.  I have a thing for chevron prints.  The skirt is very comfortable to run in, it doesn't ride up and it has built in briefs so I don't have to worry about what underwear to wear or not wear.

My shoes are pretty new, I got them in November:


They are my first pair of Sauconys.  I've always worn Asics for running but I kept getting black toenails from them!  I normally wear a 5 1/2 or 6 in shoes so in Asics I was wearing a 6 1/2.  When I got fitted for the Sauconys the guy at the store actually gave me 7s!  I've never worn a 7 but I haven't had a single black toenail since I got these!!

And here is were we run:


I love that there's just light traffic on the road we run on and lots and lots of sidewalk!  I'm going to miss this when we move.  We're moving to a total rural area so if I do run on the sidewalks available it could be a long time in between seeing cars (to me that is scary because I'm terrified of someone trying to grab me and no one witnessing it!).

I'm actually considering getting a treadmill.  I HATE running on treadmills because I like to go somewhere when I run, I don't like just staying in one place.  But I know that as the girls get older it's going to be harder to keep them in the stroller and harder to push them as they gain weight!  Annika is already too big to wear the shoulder straps on the stroller and wears them as a lap belt!

Wish us luck, we have ballet tonight!  Keeping my fingers crossed that she does better today than last week!

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

The House Update

Sunday we were very surprised to see this!


I'm pretty sure we're just going to be surprised each and every week at the progress!  We have a roof, framing inside the house and while we were there the bathtub for the girls' bathroom was being delivered, on a Sunday!  There were two guys working on our house and the house across the street, those guys seriously work 7 days a week!

Our neighbor's house is about 3 weeks ahead of us and they now have stucco on the outside, windows and a front door!  I peaked into a window and they also have drywall up.

We're getting so excited!  I already requested a week off of work for when we move in (hoping that our closing doesn't move at all but my work is usually flexible with days off so I could change it).  We ordered fans for the girls's rooms, our room and the living room this last weekend.  We also bought a carpet cleaner, new towels for our bathroom and a rug for the kitchen (just a small one for in front of the sink area).

This next week we need to get some curtains for the sliding glass door and a curtain rod (finding ones to cover a sliding glass door 95 inches across and 92 inches high is not easy!).  Then we just have a few small things here and there we need to buy before we close.  Once we close we have to buy the fridge, washer, dryer (everything else as far as appliances is there), garage door opener, and lawn equipment (like a mower and weed-eater since we've never needed either before!).

Can't wait to move!!

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Thank You Notes

Do people not write thank you notes anymore?  I swear in the last year we've been to a few parties or given gifts of some sort to children and have not even received a thank you e-mail or phone call.  Call me old fashioned but it's sort of rude, right?

Whenever the girls receive gifts for their birthdays, Christmas or any other holiday I make a quick list either as they are opening gifts or shortly after they've received them.  Then I hand write a thank you note from either Annika or Annabel.  The cards I have are usually blank and I glue a piece of Annika's artwork to the back of the blank card to make it more custom.  Once Annabel is better with a crayon I'll start doing the same for her.

My parents ALWAYS sat me down after receiving gifts and had me hand write thank you cards.  This is totally something I will be teaching the girls to do too.  I just think it's polite and it shows that they are thankful for what they've received.

Do you typically write thank you notes or have your children write them?  When you don't receive a thank you note what are your feelings?  What do you think when you do receive a thank you card?

Monday, January 14, 2013

The Nap Time Battle

On the weekends I look forward to a little quiet time with Josh (or sometimes without if he's out doing something) while the girls nap.  Lately Annika has decided that she's too big for naps which is fine since she will sit and quietly watch a movie for an hour or so.  Annabel will sometimes nap for 2-3 hours at a time and then sometimes she refuses to nap at all.

Saturday was a nap refusal day.  She had fallen asleep in the car on the 2 minute ride home from Kohls.  I carried her upstairs and laid her in her crib but she just kept crying.  And crying.  And crying some more.  I went to check on her after about 5 minutes and she was face down in the crib whining so I assumed that sleep was coming soon.  I was wrong.  After 20 minutes of crying I went to get her and she was giving me the most pitiful look in the entire world holding her little chubby arms up for me to pick her up.  I can't refuse her when she gives me that look and reaches for me!

I brought her downstairs and she played with Annika for about an hour which was great because it allowed me time to clean the kitchen floor which is what I wanted to do it in the first place while she napped.

Then I brought her in the dining room to eat a snack.

Half way through the snack I found her like this.


Stubborn girl wanted to nap on her own terms when she wanted to!

Friday, January 11, 2013

Random

~I haven't done a random post in a while, probably because Annabel whines almost constantly and I barely get a chance to just SIT while she's awake!

~I think Annabel is whining because she's getting more teeth.  Poor girl!

~Annabel is such a shy girl and she seems to be getting even shyer.  Yesterday at ballet she didn't even look at anyone without making her pouty face.  But she just LOVES Annika.  Her face lights up when she sees her.

~I'm really hoping Annika behaves in ballet next week.  That child NEEDS this class.  She loves going and seeing other kids.  I'm trying to decide what we'll do next year.  We will definitely be doing a trial class of whatever we decide on.  Josh is thinking a tumbling class would be better since she's so wild and crazy but there's also another dance school right down the street from where we're moving, which is surprising because there is NOTHING where we're moving!!

Here is the naughty ballerina hiding from me yesterday when it was time for bed.



~I need to start packing some of our things that we don't use everyday and that we can live without, like things hanging on the wall and picture frames.  I'm having nightmares thinking about packing with Annika and Annabel getting into everything at the last second!

~We were going to use movers for our move because we live in a 2 floor townhouse right now and since moving here we've bought an entire bedroom set we didn't have when we moved here.  So there's an extra bed (kind sized) and dresser that are both HEAVY.  I started reading reviews on local movers and freaked!  They lie about quotes, steal stuff, do drugs, show up drunk!  Nope, Josh has confirmed 2 guy friends from work, I'd like him to get at least 2 more in case some don't show.  I also need to ask our friend next door to watch the girls so they aren't getting into everything all day.

~Our closing is scheduled for the day after my 30th birthday.  How exciting is that?  I hope that everything gets done in time so we can close on the day they gave us!

~I need a vacation, like to a nice hotel on the beach.  First I need to flatten these baby belly abs though.  I hate the two bathing suits I bought last year and I need a more flattering one PLUS I need to work on my abs.  Not sure how I weight less than I did before I got pregnant with either of the girls but my abs are a mess!

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Naughty Ballerina

Uggghh...yes once again I'm back on a Thursday after ballet class to write about our naughty ballerina.

I'd like to say that Annika hasn't be listening to anyone or behaving at all lately.  Something about it turning 2013 has made her a little harder to handle.  I think it's part that she's totally 100% independent and that she thinks she can be independent at 3 years old with EVERYTHING.  You tell her to do something one way she stops, thinks about, thinks you're stupid for suggesting to do it that way and then does it her own way.

Another issue I have is the teacher.  Instead of working with Annika she totally and completely ignores her.  Except for today where I saw her tell Annika to stop doing what she was doing twice, the 2nd time seemed a bit harsh for a ballet school teacher and after I saw Annika misbehaving a 3rd time (she was throwing a bean bag at another girl's head!) I took her out of class and we went home.  I told Annika in order for her to attend class next week she needs to apologize to the teacher for being so bad.

Now there was another little girl in class who was WORSE than Annika! I think this is why the teacher finally spoke up and said something to her.  The other little girl clings to the teacher's helper (a 14 or 15 year old girl) and doesn't dance at all.  Today the little girl was clinging to the helper and throwing herself around on the floor not dancing at all.  Her mom took her out of the room twice to tell her to knock it off.

The teacher also seems to have some sort of issue with picking music for class.  She does a dance with the girls for about 2 minutes, stops to pick music for a minute, then they do another dance for 3 minutes and stop for 5 for her to pick out music.  Over and over!  I swear in the 45 minute class they dance for about 10 minutes.  That would be a complaint to the director of the studio though.  I heard a lot of the other mom's complaining in the hallway today about the lags in dancing.  They really barely dance at all in class.

So we're giving next week another try, only because I know the director will tell us to because I made the mistake of prepaying the entire year and she's pretty much already told me she won't give me a refund!  And we paid for the recital costume which I've heard that their recitals are a huge unorganized mess!  One mother was telling us that last year they just let her 3 year old walk off by herself backstage and they couldn't find her when she came to pick her up!!  Makes me think that I'll probably volunteer to help backstage so it doesn't happen to Annika!


BUT if she's this bad next week I'm done and that director is refunding me the rest of my money or I won't leave!  I want Annika to be in a class that dances, keeps her busy and that she ENJOYS! I think if she enjoyed the class she wouldn't act so badly!

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

When To Wax

I have a horrible confession.  I used to watch Teen Mom, like the very first ones, when they came out.  I was pregnant with Annika at the time and lazy so I would sit and eating my brownies and watch the show.

There's one mom that I've seen online recently that waxed her 3 year old's uni-brow.  I guess it's causing a huge "outrage".

I don't get it.  If Annika came to me at 3 telling me someone made fun of her because of the hair inbetween her eyebrows I would remove.  Crazy?  Maybe.  But let me tell you why I'd do it at any age for her and for Annabel.

When I was little I had huge, bushy eyebrows.  I had kids make fun of me for them from kindergarten until 8th grade when I finally plucked the crap out of them all on my own.  I had a horrible time letting them grow back in, re-plucking them, and generally making a mess of them until my 20s when I finally let them come back in and then I plucked only underneath and in the middle so it wasn't so difficult to maintain and so I didn't have thin weird looking eyebrows.  I still feel like they're a mess sometimes though.

That along with the dreaded mustache.  My mom finally allowed me to bleach mine around 8th grade, then I would wax it when I was in my early 20s and now I attempt to pluck hairs as I see them because my skin is too sensitive for waxing.

We are hairy people!  Annika has inherited the hairy gene, poor girl!  She has a little shadow of a mustache already, a slight uni-brow and way too much back hair for a little girl.  She also has lots of hair on her legs and arms already.  Josh and I have actually already talked about waxing the back of her neck and possibly her lower back because it's so bad!

Since I wasn't allowed to wax or do any hair removal when I desperately needed it I see nothing wrong with doing it, even if it is a child.  Maybe 3 is slightly too young but I have a feeling once Annika reaches an age where kids start noticing things like that we'll be waxing her too!  To me it's about keeping her self esteem up and making her feel comfortable with herself.  I don't feel like hair removal is an extreme thing (now wearing make-up or dyeing her hair is going to wait for a LONG time, like at least 16 or 17!).  I also want the removal to be done correctly (I don't want her trying to do it herself like I did and making a mess) and I've heard if you wax at a young age sometimes the hair stops coming back.

What is your opinion?  Would you wax your girl's uni-brow at 3 years old if you heard people making fun of it?  What about other body hair?

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Annabel's Stranger Danger Face


I just can't help but laugh at this face!  Clearly before I "saved" her from Josh's aunt I had to get a picture of her horrified little face!  She's just totally shy and not at all like Annika.  We could hand her off to anyone and she'd be fine.

Monday, January 7, 2013

Starting to Look Like a House!

It's amazing when one week you see this:


And then the next week you see this:



They tell us that next weekend we'll have framing done inside and we'll have a roof started!  It's amazing how right they were about how quickly things get rolling once they start!

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Last 4 Day Weekend!

Saturday:

We started our 4 day weekend with a trip to our new house to see the progress!


It was a really crappy weather day as you can see.  But we have the slab and blocks ready to go!  Today they were starting with the blocks so by next weekend it'll look like a house!!

Then I really can't remember what else we did on Saturday!

Oh, I made pigtails on Annabel which is a big deal, it took Annika 2 years to grow enough hair to make pigtails!




She's just the cutest thing EVER!!

I made 3 recipes this weekend from a new cookbook Josh got me for Christmas.  It's called Weelicious and I LOVE the recipes.  It's kid friendly recipes that adults will eat too, so pretty much it's for the whole family so you aren't cooking 4 different meals for everyone!

I made shrimp tacos which were a huge hit.  All 4 of us ate them!  It was Annabel's first time having shrimp!

Then I made some chicken nuggets which I plan on making a lot more.  I'm going to start freezing them and not buy the packaged ones anymore.  Josh, Annika and Annabel LOVED them (I'm still not too into eating chicken).

My favorite thing I made was Red Beet Cupcakes.  Annika hated them but she only had a bite.  Josh refused to try them.  My aunt and Annabel both loved them too.  There was no beet taste to them.  The point was to make "pretty" colored cupcakes without using anything artificial   They were perfect to me and sooo good!  I froze the leftovers so I can take one out a weekend for a treat for myself and Annabel to share.

Sunday:

I attempted to go for a run.  It was 43 outside and I was FREEZING.  I had capri dri-fit pants and a long sleeve Under Armor shirt and gloves!  It was just miserable.  I did 2 miles and came back home.  I needed something to cover my poor ears and long pants.  I refuse to run in anything cooler than 55 from now on!

We went to Home Depot to look around at future home projects!  We actually ran into our friend who is also our neighbor :)  She looked at paint colors with us and her kids.  Annika is insisting on pink with pink for her room (we want to do 2 colors and some sort of design with it) and we picked out some purples for Annabel's room.  I'm just not sure what we'll do.  I guess we'll have to wait till we move in to see what we feel like painting.

We played in the street for hours with tons of neighborhood kids.  It makes us hope that we can find a new group of friends when we move but so far when we've been driving through our new neighborhood we don't see a ton of kids (hopefully the 2 story/4 bedroom house next door will have some).  We  had so much fun tossing the football around and watching Annika play with a little boy that lives down the road that's her age.

We also discovered that Annabel LOVES footballs, they make her laugh like crazy!



I love this one of the two of us!


Me attempting to throw, I gave up after like 3 tries, plus our neighbor's 12 year old son was holding Annabel and she likes to try to claw at his eyes :)


Monday:

Our big huge NYE's plans, stay at home!!  I bought a bottle of wine to share with a neighbor.  Josh took her 2 kids to Target to buy some fireworks (just little ones that they did in the street).

We took the girls out for pizza at my favorite local place for lunch.  It was Annabel's first time having her own slice which Josh thought was crazy.  Well, she ate the entire piece!  I knew she would because Annika can eat a piece by herself too and they are HUGE pieces!




Annika has always been a fan of this pizza.  She woke Josh up at 9am (he sleeps late on his days off) so we could go get it, she kept telling him she needed pizza!




Our neighbor, her daughter (she's 14) and I went to our crazy neighbor's house and picked up all her cigarette butts that she keeps throwing in everyone's yards and put them all on her front doorstep in a huge pile.  We left her a note that says "To celebrate the the new year we thought we'd help you out and pick up all your cigarette butts for you.  Happy New Year!"  This is the same crazy woman that has a crush on Josh that we've all been avoiding.

We stayed up till midnight sitting around our fire pit table and then we all went to bed! We are so not party people anymore.

Tuesday:

I cleaned and organized our closets in our room and the girls' rooms to prepare for us moving.  We took down the Christmas tree (Annika is heartbroken, she wanted to keep it up forever I think!).

My aunt came over and we had pizza AGAIN.  I didn't even think that we just had it the day before until it was already at the house!

My aunt gave the girls their Christmas presents and they love them.  I'll have to take some pictures of them because it's hard to explain what everything is otherwise.

At some point in the long weekend we went for a walk!  I've totally lost track of the days because we were both off work for 4 days!

It's not easy to walk with a toddler, a 3 year old and a dog!


Annabel is such a cutie!


Tickling Annika on the slide.


Daddy and Annika playing!