What Motherhood has given me.

Everyone,

I was just reading a post over at Arwen/Elizabeth about the things that motherhood have given her. She got me thinking about what motherhood has given me. So here is a list.

1. Tough feet and the ability to step on small sharp toys. When it first started to happen, I would hop up and down and moan a little because ouch! Those things hurt! Now, I just look down to see what I stepped on and move it out of the walk way. Hopefully it didn't break.

2. The ability to watch the same episodes of tv over and over and over without complaining. There are only 2 shows I let Butterfly watch on tv. And I have seen all of them at least 3 times. Is it sad when I am excited when the commercials say that there is going to be a new episode?

3. The ability to read books out loud to Butterfly in the dark. She wakes up at an awful hour of 6am. It's not light out yet. I barely have enough energy to help her climb into bed with us and peer at the book she has thrown on my head. I don't even put on my glasses. I just start and she turns the pages. It's only because I have so many of them memorized. Want to hear "Go, Dogs. Go!" or perhaps "The Alphabet Book"? Because I can recite them at a moments notice.

4. The ability to negotiate. Butterfly has her own opinions. She is very very loud about them. She has been since probably day 3. This is when she would go from content to squalling in .002 seconds. It was especially hard in the middle of the night when she slept right next to my ear. The one nice thing about this is that she is just as easily calmed down. She can go from squalling to content in about .2 seconds. You just have to know just what to say and when to say it.

5. The ability to function on very little sleep. I don't know why we got a early bird and a night owl. Last night Butterfly did not fall asleep until close to 10pm, and was up again at 6am. I can't sleep while she is reciting Nemo in her bedroom. Juice is so not a morning person. He rolls over and does his best to hide under his pillow when she gets up so early. He says it's just because I am so much better at fighting the breakfast battle. I know it's really because he's cranky when he doesn't sleep in in the morning.

6. The ability to listen about other peoples kids and actually be interested. That's because I want my turn to brag about Butterfly. And I want the people I brag to to be a little interested in my amazing child. So I force myself to be interested in their child. And you know what? I actually do get interested in the other children. It makes me a better friend to their mom, and hopefully they are a little interested in my wonderful toddler. When she was a baby I could not wait to skip over their kid stories to inject one of my own. But now, I listen, wait my turn, and ask questions for more clarifications.

I guess what this all boils down to is patience. Juice has this endless fountain of patience. I do not. But motherhood is teaching this to me one hard little step at a time. From trying to get pregnant with Butterfly for 3 years, celebrating her baby-ness (the good and the bad, I was so happy to just have a baby!) and now enjoying the blossoming Independence of a 2 year old. I'm digging my well of patience slowly. Patience isn't bad, right?

Safire

I just spent 5000 dollars.

Everyone,



You heard me right. I just spent 5,000 dollars in one day. Yes, one day. Doing what, you may ask? Well, it's pretty big. No, it's not a new car. (It was my car money I spent, but I didn't spend it on the new car.) No, not a new boat or house or whatnot...we are far to practical for that. It's a new roof.



See, I started noticing small black streaks on our roof and thought, "Great. We are going to have to put a new roof on this house." So I started saving. And boy did I save! And boy did I watch our roof deteriorate. Soon those little black streaks were big black swathes and I could see some of the shingles starting to pull up. So I had someone come out and look at it in Feb. He agreed that it probably needed to be done, gave me a number and told me to call. I never did. I never got around to it.



But when we were at the county fair I signed up for a free roof estimate. They came, they saw, they confirmed what a shabby house we bought. There is extensive rotting in the attic, mold and mushrooms growing on our roof, and a few small holes in the caulk that you can see into our attic from outside. Great. There are also 3 layers of shingles up there. And since the drainage is poor, the water seeps under the first layer and swells the second and third layer. Which is buckling our roof. And you can see that from the ground.



After a lot of talking, looking at pictures, going over shingle samples and the dangers of hiring a bad contractor, we bit the bullet. I liked this company. I liked that they were professional and a family owned business. I like that they can take away our 3 useless roofs and put in a nice, new, 25 year warranty roof. I like that they have huge amounts of insurance for their workers and any damage they may do to the building. I liked the sale guy. He was willing to work with our budget and has already emailed me with a few color options (even though we spoke yesterday!).



Whoever buys our house will be getting a bargain. We have updated the following: power (it's called a heavy up), furnace (ours died Christmas week when I was pregnant with Butterfly. The repair guy called the company and they said they haven't made that model for over 30 years. Time for a new one!), doors and windows, new paint, and all new light fixtures. We've also had a new phone line put it. So the guts of the house will be redone. Now they can take care of the old outdated kitchen and baths. I'm almost done!



Safire

2 Naps?

Everyone,

Butterfly has a cold. It's a small cold. There is not snot everywhere. She sounds a little stuffy but is pretty happy most of the time. She fell asleep in the car this morning and stayed there for over an hour while I tossed balls for my dog and Babysitting place's dog in the front yard to keep an eye on her. (I am dog sitting for a week. Can I just say that I never ever want a German Shepard? They are pretty, but I love being able to pick up Soot when she is being bad.)

We took a trip to the mall to scout out some clothes for her. The weather has dropped to the mid-70s and while that's not cold, it is when you've been having mid-90s for 3 or 4 weeks. I put her in a pair of pants from last year that were a little too big. The length is just right. The waist...not so much. I took her to a few different places in the mall and found that her length is right around a 2T but she would be more comfortable in a 3T. So I will buy 3Ts this time around and she can have some growing room.

After a jaunt at the kiddy play area and some lunch, we came home. She peed on the potty again (yay! And a purple jelly bean today!) and is now up in her bedroom. I don't know if she's sleeping yet but it's very quiet up there. Poor thing...she must be sick!

On a side note, does anyone know how to get purple berry stains out of clothes? Babysitting Place has a huge tree that drops these little purple berries all over and their dog has jumped on me twice with purple stained paws. I am highly annoyed. I have also tried numerous stain removers, soaking, not soaking, hot water, warm water, color safe bleach, etc. Help!

Safire

A First!

Everyone,

Last night was a first for Butterfly. She actually went to the bathroom in the potty! Yay! Off and on she will ask to sit on the potty. (Probably because I have been bribing her with jelly beans to just sit on the potty.) She liked to be read to and I figured that she would eventually go if she was on there long enough. Well, last night she asked to sit on it, and went! Yay Butterfly!

Safire

Stuff

Everyone,

Here is a picture of the lions I talked about when we went to the county fair. Can you guess which one is mine and which is Butterfly's? Really? I think they look so similar! Good thing I keep mine in a drawer or we would be so confused all the time with two lions hanging around.

The other day I was making chicken salad for a bbq we went to at our friends house. They tell us that we are not allowed in the house unless we have this salad in tow. (Juice says not to worry because they have the bbq outside so it's an empty threat.) Well, it's an overnight salad to make. So the night before, we start cooking the chicken and boiling the pasta that goes in it. Pasta gets done but the chicken still has a ways to go. So I ask Juice to drain the pasta for me. He does and we go back to watching something. About 10 minutes later, I wonder if the chicken is burning. Then I think, "Nah, it's probably just the oil I'm cooking it in. I was rather free when pouring it into the baking pan." But then the smell started to get sour and I asked Juice if he smelled something burning. Why, yes he did! He goes to investigate and says oh no! I run into the kitchen to find my recipe scorched to unreadability. Apparently Juice walking out of the kitchen after dumping the noodles created enough wind to blow the recipe onto the hot burner.


Luckily my mom was home and she was able to email me a new recipe so I could finish the salad. Thanks Mom! You saved me from being banished outside during the bbq. :)

Safire

Conversation in the Car

Everyone,

Me: Look at that helicopter!

Juice: Where? Oh, yeah. It's just hanging there looking at the freeway. (We were on the freeway at the moment.)

Me: I wonder what kind it is. Is there an accident up ahead? Please don't let them close 495 before we get to the bridge!

Juice: No kidding.

Me: Oh, good. It's a military helicopter.

Juice: Are you sure? (craning his neck around to get a better look out the windshield)

Me: Yes, what commercial helicopter do you know that has 4 torpedoes strapped to the sides?

Juice: True.

Sometimes it's fun to live in DC!

Safire

County Fair

Everyone,

This year we went to the county fair. Everyone at my church was talking about how much fun it was and we had a coupon from Butterfly's reading road trip in the library for a free ice cream, a free drink, and a free ride. So off we went on free kid day. Can we say, free?! It was awesome to spend maybe 30 dollars there and do so much stuff!

First stop was the community center with a 2 big bounce houses, games and balls and goats wearing John Deer baseball caps. Butterfly would not get out of the bounce house. I had to go in and get her. She is running from me, shrieking at the top of lungs and laughing at the same time. I was not amused. Especially since everyone was waiting their turn and I could just not catch her. Finally, I bounced which knocked her to the floor and I was able to scoop her up for a time out in the stroller. I love that she was having so much fun but I hate that I had to go and get her.

After the bounce houses, we went to see the animals. We saw a whole lot of cows, some more cows, and even more cows. There are at least 5 barns full of cows. Beef cows, jersey cows, little calves, bulls, heifers, and more. I met one of the fair participates and his cow. Chuck was about 6 years old and the little heifer he had was Patches. He let Butterfly pet her and was so proud of Patches. It was too cute.

From there, we wandered around for bit, watched a little bit of the dog show and then off to the horse barn. I love the horse barn. There was only 1 barn with about 15 horses in it. We petted the horses, and I drank in the barn smell. Man I miss riding. We watched the therapeutic riding demonstration which Butterfly clapped through and yelled "Yay horsey! You did it!" They talked a lot about what they look for in a horse and how the riding improves the riders life. After, they let us come out and feed the horses carrots and Butterfly loved it. The rest of my party left, so I went ahead and got some french fries and decided to go home for a nap.

We walked past a guy shearing his sheep so I had to watch. ("Mommy those sheep are cold!") and we saw the geese. We enjoyed a few cookies from the 4-H bake sale, and looked at all the drawings and entries from the kids. There was also a bus that was doing free eye exams for kids 1-6 so I thought why not? Juice and I both wear glasses and I imagine Butterfly will at some point too. She was an angel through this. She walked right onto the bus, sat on the stool, looked right in the lights, and smiled and said thank you after. They were amazed that she was just 2 years old. My child is amazing. :) She also got a free stuffed animal from it. I must admit, I picked it out for her because they had a Simba! Just like the one I used to sleep with for years and years. I won't let her hold mine, but now she has one of her own. So cute!

Finally, an hour after I decided to leave, I got out. I took the free shuttle to the mall and then the bus home from there. Butterfly took a 2 and a half hour nap. She woke up just in time for Juice to come home to change to go back. We wandered through the animal barns looking for food and ended up eating at a church sponsored booth. Boy it was not good. If we had walked 20 feet farther we could have had kabobs or something but Juice was insisting that we eat right then.

We ran into a few friends from church and Butterfly rode on the pony rides. She is old enough that I probably don't have to walk next to her anymore. What a big girl she is getting to be! Oh, we also met the queen of the fair! Butterfly loved her tiara.

We walked over to the rides and ran into even more friends from church. (Big family outing for everyone!) We used her free ride coupon to ride the Ferris wheel. It was so much fun! She kept saying 'whee' and enjoying the height. We walked back to the animals and got her free ice cream and Juice and I shared her free lemonade. I also bought a big bag of kettle corn. My favorite!

We didn't get home until close to 10pm. She had to have a bath because she was covered in fair dirt and grime. She went right to sleep but was up at her normal 6am this morning. I hope that she'll nap for awhile today. I need one too!

Butterfly held a dollar for me and wouldn't give it back. She kept saying, "My dollar!" She even noticed George Washington's picture on the dollar and wanted to know who it was. When I told her, she burst out, "I love George Washington!" She gave the dollar a huge kiss and hug. SO FUNNY!

We had a blast at the fair and I would love to go back this year and really enjoy the animals again. But there's always next year. I can't wait!

Safire

Summer Business

Everyone,

This summer has been jam packed with outings, things to do, things to see, and more. It has been so fun to be a little more mobile than last summer, and to have Butterfly enjoy some more things.

We've been to the splash park, the museums, the pool, the park, scrap booking with JeuJeu and his family, the farmer's market, the post office, the park, the store, the art supply store, the park, the mall, Juice's work, the park. We go to the park a lot.

Although with this hot and steamy weather we've been getting, the park is not an option. This week, the temps rose to over 100 degrees, with at least 90% humidity. They set a new record at Regan National Airport for the hottest day ever. 103! With the heat index (is that the humidity or what?) it felt like around 115 degrees. Needless to say, we've been watching a lot of Finding Nemo in the house.

I'm hoping that the weather will break a little for our county fair that is going on next week. I plan on going to children's day because all kids under 12 get in free. Juice works across the street from the fair grounds and will join us there for dinner and rides. Maybe a better way would be rides then dinner.

My kid concerts are over, which I'm sad for. I don't know what to do with myself on Mondays now! I was going to go to the park with Vinny and his mom but she is pregnant and sick and well, I don't deal with that right now. Not with the whole miscarriage, infertility, you-don't-know-how-lucky-you-are-and-I-don't-want-to-hear-about-it-at-all-so-I-can-focus-on-yet-another-cycle feelings I'm having. I cry just thinking about it. (That could also be the hormones, man I hate these things!) Oh, I have started another blog to go through the infertility stuff but it is invite only. Please email me at safirecat at gmail dot com if you want an invite.

I am gearing up to also do a marathon cook with the lady I used to babysit for. We are going to make about 9 frozen meals that will hopefully be eatable. This is our first time doing this (for both of us!) so I'm not sure how it's supposed to go. But hopefully I will have 9 or eve 18 meals all frozen and put away for busy days.

I am also trying to add a little to our camping gear. I bought a dutch oven about a week ago and have been dying to use it! But Juice doesn't want me to use it on our front porch (we have no yard) so I have to find a table of some kind to set it on. Anyone have any ideas?

Cookbooks are my reading of choice right now. I have a frozen meal one, a dutch oven one, and a food storage one that I'm all trying to learn at once. Never mind that I don't even have one whit of food storage or idea on how this frozen meal thing is supposed to work or really, how to use a dutch oven. All I know is that these are things I want to know how to do eventually and I better do it sooner rather than later.

I feel like I have more to say, but can't figure out what. Oh well. Until next time!

Safire

6 Year Anniversary

Everyone,

This past Saturday was Juice and mine 6th wedding anniversary. We got a babysitter, went out to dinner at a local Indian food place (not sure what I had but it was good!) and off to the movies to see Harry Potter. It was okay, but a little disapointing. Yes I know the book is huge and who can fit all of that into the movie, but they left out some of the things that I felt were the best parts of the story!

So in honor of 6 years together, here are 6 things you may not know about our relationship:

1. We have known each other for 13 years, meeting at a stake dance when I was 14, he was 15.
2. We wrote each other pretty much every week while he was on his mission in Germany. Even though I hated him at the time. And even though he thought he was going to marry another girl.
3. On his mission, he carried around a picture of his family, his niece, his friends from college and me. Everything else he sent home.
4. He did not want to move to Maryland (or to the east at all) but I had to get out of Happy Valley!
5. We have a rule in our marriage: he (or she) who uses it the most gets to pick. Like the cable, we would not have cable if I wasn't the one who watched the most tv.
6. We hardly ever fight because of the above rule. Okay, we just really hardly ever fight.

Love you Juice!

Safire

Hey, that's where I'm from!

You're the United Kingdom!
You're a much weaker person than you used to be, but you still act like you did when everyone looked up to you. Despite this, you're probably a better person than you were when you had so much power over those around you. Though you do have a strange fascination with jewels and monarchs, which lets you play in castles, but also end up leading a sort of tabloid lifestyle. You really like the Beatles, even more than you like Oasis.
Take the http://bluepyramid.org/ia/cquiz.htm">Country Quizat the http://bluepyramid.org">Blue Pyramid