Funny...and Sad

On our way home from McDonald's tonight Maya is holding one of her baby dolls. She's telling me about how she's a good mommy and the baby is sleeping. And then she tells me that the baby doesn't have a daddy. I said, "Oh really, why not?" Her answer...he died a couple of weeks ago. He was shot..by the government. LOL She said something else about Indians or something so I'm thinking that somehow this is related to Pocahontas maybe??? That or she's been watching some 10pm dramas when I'm not looking. She said she was going to look for a new daddy for her baby, but if she couldn't find one maybe the other one could come back. LOL

And then for the sad part....
After I put her down to bed I heard her calling out for something and then crying. She couldn't find her bear and thought she had lost him. I found him seconds later all wrapped up in her covers, kissed her goodnight again and then started down the stairs. I get halfway and I can hear her start crying again. I go back up and ask her what's wrong..."I miss Daddy too," she cried. :( She said she really missed him and was upset because she couldn't find the picture of us that she had in her room. So I found it, gave it to her and she hugged it to her chest. She kept crying and said she wished we could sell our house today so we can be with daddy. Double :( After I told her that she could sleep with the picture she gave the Daddy side a big kiss. :)

The kids have both done really well with Tom's absence but all of a sudden I think it hits her that he's not here. I'm so thankful that it's only the fact that he's working in another state as opposed to something much worse, but I think it may be starting to take a toll. On all of us.

Look alike!

This is something I've been meaning to post for sometime and its totally unimportant but I just HAVE to do it!

There was a cartoon called Jabberjaw on ABC back in 1976-1978 and now on the Boom channel, which my children just seem to love now. Anyhow, there's a girl on that show that looks just like Bethenny Frankel! I've tried to find comparable pictures but its hard because there aren't many from the cartoon but here's what I've come up with:





Whew, one more thing off my mental useless stuff to-do list!

Pooh Drama

Maya's classroom has a Winnie the Pooh doll that has a suitcase filled with all sort of things (clothes, toothbrush, books, bottle, hat, game, videos, etc.) I was so excited about this because I thought it would be so much fun to have him. The first time we got him was back in the fall and we took him with us to her soccer game and she danced with him, we wrote about it in his journal and took pictures...oh the fun! But afterwards, I didn't really care if Pooh ever came back.

Yesterday while Maya was at school I thought of Pooh and had a feeling. I just felt like he was going to be coming back to our house soon. And shock and surprise when I pick her up from school she has his rolling suitcase! So we bring Pooh home again, she goes through his updated suitcase, plays with him awhile and then we dressed him for bed. So today in all of my cleaning frenzy for the three showings of my house in 24 hours I think, well we have to take Pooh with us when we leave the house. We have to have some adventure to write about in his journal, right? Sigh...yes an adventure.

I took the kids to the mall. I knew Landon would fall asleep on the way there so I was hoping to get a little down time in the parking lot. And yes he did fall asleep, as did Maya. She's of course programmed to automatically wake up as soon as the van is put in park though. And then she wants to walk around the van. And just when I think she's finally sitting quietly with her Leapster and I open my book, I look in the mirror and she's hugging Landon's head. It would've been a sweet moment if it hadn't WOKE HIM UP!!! So now we have a crabby toddler, a cranky mom and a 4 year old who just wants to go in the mall. We go inside taking Pooh with us.

The mall visit was a success! We had lunch, we played at the play area, rode the little ride on things, had ice cream, visited the family rest room, all in all an enjoyable visit.




Until we get back in the car. After I've got the kids in their car seats and I'm unloading the stroller I hand Pooh to Maya. And then I realized, wasn't Pooh wearing a bib when we went in the mall? Yes, yes he was. And she knows she took it off but she doesn't know where. Maybe it's in the diaper bag? Nope, not there. So I did the unthinkable...I told her she would just have to tell her teacher she lost it. OMG! The world crumbled around her! We have to go back in the mall she cried!! Nope, not gonna do it. I just got you both in here, not dragging you back out to retrace our steps. After many tears I decided to call the mall and check with lost and found. I circled the parking lot and grabbed my "Family Parking" spot again in case I had to go back in. But alas, no, nothing had been turned in and we should call back later.

So I decided to put my "Nice Mommy" hat back on and call 411 to get numbers for the consignment stores in Medina. And boy oh boy how lucky was I to find one that had not one but two Pooh bibs to choose from. You see everything in Pooh's suitcase is Pooh related. And the bib he had was a Pooh and Piglet bib that tied in the back. So we drive there, I have to keep Landon awake* on the way because I have to take him inside. We get there, we choose the Tigger bib, pay the $1.05 and we're on our way.

Looking back it really wasn't that big of deal. I'm sure lots of other families have lost pieces of Pooh in the past. I guess it was her loud sobbing and crocodile tears that made it seem so much worse at the time. But the smile on her face when she knew it was all better...priceless. :)

*Keeping Landon awake became an issue when we got home because after only having a 30 min nap on the way to the mall I knew he needed more. It took him over an hour to fall asleep. Ugh!

Pooh at home chilling with his new friends. And Bitty Baby wearing the brand new bib. :)

2011....a year for change

I have several resolutions this year..which is funny because I've never really had one before. I guess I always thought it was just something to say and then break. :) This year there's going to be a lot of change for my family...moving to another state, Landon turns 2, Maya turns 5 and starts school...but mostly the move. No, I mean selling the house and being a single parent in the process.

I don't feel like I've had a lot of experience selling a house, I moved out of both that I've sold prior to actually selling them. But I certainly have never done it with two small children. Its going to be a miracle to keep the house in "show" state. I did manage to do several rooms with them around but then left the rest of the house unshowable. And so of course I got a call from the realtor that someone wanted to see it just days after Christmas. After a quick trip back to Ohio Tom and I had the house in good shape. Well....now we're home. And I don't think we were in the door for ten minutes before Landon threw a Christmas bulb at the fireplace. Yup, smashed glass everywhere. Stop unloading the car to clean that up, go back for another load only to discover Landon put a hand towel in the toilet. Seriously????

AND the only reason I was unloading the entire car was because I was on a mad hunt for Polly Pockets. Maya asked for them over and over and over and over and over on the way home and I couldn't find them ANYWHERE! I knew I had packed them but couldn't find them. Which threw my original plan out the window of only bringing the Christmas loot in one bag at a time so that I could put it away in an organized fashion. Clearly I couldn't search the bags in the garage because Landon was in fine form. I did find the Polly's eventually. In my computer bag...no idea what made me put them in there.

And now I sit in a quiet house pondering my resolutions. The obvious, sell the house and move to MI. The more meaningful...be a better friend. I'm HORRIBLE at keeping in touch with my closest friends. Sure there's email, facebook and an occasional IM, but I need to CALL them!! You know who you are...I'm really going to try and be better. #2 - another obvious, get an exercise routine started...lose weight. #3 - work on my patience with my children. Hopefully the bulb and towel events won't be daily to test this one out. And finally #4 - build my Homemade Gourmet business. I really do love these products and have so much fun selling them. It would be awesome to make even more money and pay off some bills. I could also add that I'll blog more too but we know how that one usually ends up! LOL

2011...please be an extra good year for me. ;)

Missing you already Franklin! XOXO

Peanut's First Visit to the Dentist

I've been putting off taking Maya to the dentist for a long time. It's pretty much just been the last year, but you see, I have a dentist phobia. I don't like them. I don't like the smell, the sounds, and a lot of times the people. It's not personal, I'm sure they're lovely people, I just hate going there. So the thought of taking Maya was a little frightening. I certainly couldn't have her go with me to my check up to see how things work...what would happen when she saw me tense with fear and cringing at everything?? That certainly wouldn't help her to not be afraid, would it? So I just went ahead and took her in blind. I did talk to her several times about what would happen and we read a book about it, but she was still nervous.

Yesterday on our way there she told me she was scared and wanted to know if it was a girl doctor. You see, that's very important to her. :) And thankfully we were seeing a female doctor. But she was very excited about picking out a new toothbrush! When we got there she LOVED the play area...pediatric dentists have awesome waiting rooms! But the mood changed once the dentist came out to meet her. It no longer mattered that she was a girl or that she would give her a new toothbrush. She was scared.


At first sitting in the chair was neat...not quite so scary, but then I think she started to look around at everything. And they did start off with picking out the toothbrush, I thought that would help but apparently a purple, sparkly Snow White toothbrush could not calm her.


And even though the dentist referred to it as a princess chair and talked about her princess teeth, she was getting more and more nervous.


And then all hell broke loose. She refused to lay her head back, even though they had a TV on the ceiling for her to watch! But I told the dentist to proceed. Yes, I'm a mean mom. And I held her down. Held her arms and legs while she screamed and thrashed through the entire cleaning. Thankfully there were no other kids in the waiting room because I'm sure they would've ran screaming out the door!


It wasn't fun for me, it wasn't fun for her and it wasn't fun for Landon sitting in the stroller next to her crying because his big sister was in distress. But we managed to finish.

If looks could kill!

But she did get over her hatred for the dentist long enough to pick out a prize from the super cool treasure chest! The dentist asked if this was how I expected it to go and I said "Yes." She acted like this for the last two years when the pediatrician tried to look in her ears!


To make things better I offered her one of two treats, Dunkin Donuts or ice cream.

She chose the Spider-man ice cream. Which she decided was actually Spider-girl.

And even though I'm sure she'll remember her experience for awhile she hasn't really talked about it. Only one mention today that she doesn't have to go back for 6 months! LOL

So, should I make the appointment for Landon now or wait a little bit???

The Guessing Game

Maya loves to play games. She really likes for you to close your eyes and guess what she has behind her back. Today we were playing that game and all was going well, and then the last one I have to guess she gives me this clue, "It neighs and has a corn on its head." Hmm...I was stumped. I really thought it must be two different toys, a horse and a corn cob. But nope, just one. A unicorn!! LOL I love that kid.

She remembers everything....

Today in the car Maya says she hears a jingling noise and asks what it is. I say, "Its in your movie." No, that's not the answer she wants. So I say, "I don't know what it is." First she says, "Will someone please tell me what that sound is??" And then she says, "You have to tell me Mommy, because you're the mother and you know everything." Hmm...I do recall saying that to her before, but seriously, no idea what the jingling sound is. LOL