My Aura is Red

Your Aura is Red

You have a high level of emotion. This can mean passion, but it can also mean rage. Usually, you don't take these emotions out on others. You just use them as motivation - and it works! The purpose of your life: embracing all the wonders of the life, lots of travels, and tons of adventures Famous reds include: Madonna, Marilyn Monroe, Jennifer Lopez Careers for you to try: Dancer, Boxer, Surgeon

What Color Is Your Aura?

Ode to Diaper Rash

Ok, this is less than an ode to diaper rash, than a rant ABOUT diaper rash. Since D has been eating solid foods, he has been plagued with chronic diaper rashes - depending upon what he's recently eaten. For a long time we could not feed him any tomato products....no spaghetti sauce, tacos, pizza - nothing. Still to this day we really don't feed him tomato products.

BECAUSE, when we have fed him these foods - diaper rash. Not your typical rash of redness, no, that would be too easy for my son. Instead, the diaper rash he gets is blistery, bleeding and extremely painful diaper rash. In fact, D's very very first prescription was not antibiotics for an ear infection or cold, nope, it was for butt cream!! He had a diaper rash which became infected. GROSSS!!!

So, once again, I am dealing with bleeding diaper rash. We went to playgroup today and as we were leaving D stated that he had a poopy diaper. After a quick check, yes he did. I said "ok, let's go change your pants" With that, D had a major meltdown. I didn't know why. I dragged him kicking and screaming to the bathroom to change his diaper. When I say kicking and screaming, I mean it literally. He kicked and screamed like I was killing him. I still didn't know why. It wasn't until I took off his diaper that I saw the damage. UGH!! I didn't even bother with wipes - they sting. I just put on a clean diaper and took him home for a bath. The drive home had me review what he's recently eaten which could have caused this rash. There has been nothing new. No tomato products, nothing spicy, pretty much the same stuff he eats all the time. hmmmmm - frustrating to say the least.

He screamed and cried about a bath, he cried in the bath and cried when he got out of the bath. I can only imagine that this rash stings like crazy even in soothing warm water. I let him hang out on the couch to dry off completely before putting on a new diaper...including cream. To which D cries "no team (cream), NO TEAM!!"

It makes my heart hurt to know that my son is in pain. That just the very movement of walking creates pain - he walks like he's been riding a horse for days. The thought of having to put on a diaper OR worse having to wipe him down if he poops makes my stomach churn. Hopefully this rash goes away quickly and we have a few weeks of nice soft baby butt.

Death of a spouse

My best friend S emailed me today all sad and glum. Her brother died in September and this weekend she went up to visit her nephews (ages 10, 8) for a birthday. She was distraught to see that the house has very little remaining of her brother. Apparently her brother collected giraffes and most of them have been packed away. All of her brothers clothes have been packed away. There are still photo's of him in the house, but his wife no longer wears her wedding ring. And, apparently the wife has a boyfriend. It made S sad to think that this is happening. She feels that it's too soon.

It got me thinking and talking about this to other people. Never being in that situation, I have no idea what I'd be like or do if M died. Would I stay in this house? Would I stay in Washington or move back home? It's hard to say. M also didn't have a clue what he'd do. We both agree that it may be too soon to date - 4 months. We aren't sure about the other things. When is the appropriate time to remove clothing? When is the appropriate time to remove reminders of something that you can never have again? I don't think there is the "right" answer. There is only what you have in your heart, sole and mind. I would hope that whatever decision is made, I'm not judged on it too harshly.

What?!? Am I 12?!

I was talking to my mom today while hunting "the couv" for furnace filters...it wasn't a long conversation. However, during the conversation she stated that she had gone out last night and then asked where I had gone. Apparently, I've been gone a lot lately on weekend nights...which I have, but there have been parties necessary to attend. She was surprised that I stayed home all weekend long.

ANYWAYS, my mom then proceeds to say "I'm going to have to meet these friends of yours" in that tone only a Mother can get. (she's coming out in March) My only reply was "uh...er" DING - I know that there will be a Coffee Clutch during the week she'll be here, so I said "Yes, you'll meet some of my friends" and told her about the Coffee Clutch. She was happy to hear about it, but then realized that only some of my friends would be there. She pressed on with questions: Why only some of your friends? Why not host a coffee 'thing' at your house? Are you embarrassed to have your friends meet me? Or are you embarrassed about your friends? OMG!!! STOP!!!

What she fails to realize is that logistically it would almost be impossible for "all" of my friends to come over or meet her. PLUS, I'm not 12, my friends are just that, mine and there really isn't a reason for her to meet them all. She can learn about them through the stories I choose to tell her. There will be plenty of things for her to do when she visits....meeting all of my friends will be at the bottom of our "to do" list.

Invasion of the Little Einsteins

This is not as scary as Invasion of the Body Snatchers (for those old enough to remember the movie), this is worse!! My son's favorite all time TV show is Little Einsteins on Disney. We watch it everyday, sometimes multiple times per day because of On Demand cable.

Little Einsteins features four children — Leo, June, Quincy, and Annie — along with their intelligent and transformable space/air/water-craft, "Rocket". In each episode they embark on an adventure (or "mission") to solve some problem or help a new friend. These missions take them to far-flung locations including foreign countries and "extreme" environments such as Antarctica, underwater, or outer space. In some episodes, Rocket's nemesis "Big Jet" tries to steal something from them or beat them to a goal. The characters' respective talents and participation of the audience are required to surmount various obstacles to completing the mission. Each episode concludes with a "curtain call" crediting the team members, ancillary characters, and reviewing the featured art and music selections. (from Wikipedia)

My son has 2 Little Einsteins shirts to wear. Guess what he asks to wear EVERY SINGLE DAY? And there are days where he has a complete melt down because the shirts are dirty or I just cannot bear to see him wearing them again. Apparently, I'm not helping break the invasion because yesterday at the Disney store Little Einstein placemats and bowls were 50% off the sale price. I bought the placemat and 2 bowls. Plus, I bought a Rocket plush toy. I can't resist the look on his face when I showed them to him!!

However, that cuteness took a turn for the worse on the drive home from the mall. I hadn't exited the parking lot when my son asked if we could go home and watch Little Einsteins episode Jump for Joey. Here is the conversation (well his side of the conversation because I was in the front seat trying not to pull out my hair)
"Mommy?, mommy, mommy, mommy?"
"what D?" I ask
"I want to go home and watch Jump for Joey" "Jump for Joey, Mommy" "mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy" "Jump for Joey" "Want to watch Jump for Joey"
...repeat about 1 million times!! Seriously he repeated the above for at least 7-10 min. I thought that my head might spin all the way around and I would vomit pea soup. I needed an Einstein exorcist.

So, we got home and I turned on Jump for Joey. don't judge, you would have done it too

Mommy of the Year - NOT

Yes, today I win the Mommy of the Year award!! The day started out good. D slept in and wasn't cranky. That all changed at playgroup, but that's for another blog. I had to stop at the store after playgroup, so we got home a bit later than usual.

D was hungry, so I gave him a yogurt. He turned his nose to my suggestions of lunch - PB & J, grilled Cheese, jelly roll up. So I grabbed a small bag of chips and gave him those. Yep, his lunch consisted of yogurt and chips. All well.

After nap, D complained about being hungry, but it was getting close to dinner. I offered him a fruit cup. He ate it happily at the table. About an hour later, I fixed him dinner and then made dinner for ourselves. Matt sat at the table with D while he ate and I chatted with them. It was a Hallmark moment. Matt and I sat at the table to eat dinner, D was then coloring at the table with us. He dropped his yellow crayon on the floor and proceeded to scramble down to get it. I was looking under the table at this very moment to see D pick something off the floor and put it into his mouth. He came up smiling and chewing. WHAT?!? What did he just eat? Dog food? A chip from lunch? (no, the dogs had been in the house since lunch). Matt then spoke up, "oh, it must have been a piece of fruit from ealier."

EEEWWWWWWW!!! With 2 dogs I just naturally assume that they have hoovered the floor for me after every eating time. Apparently NOT. This piece of fruit was well beyond the 5 second rule!! We're talking possible 2 hour mark!

D just smiled at me with juice dribbling down his chin. So, for those of you who were planning on nominating me for Mommy of the Year, please note that my domestic skills are obviously lacking as I failed to notice that there was food on the floor.

The things I learn from American Idol

I just want to say that I am not an American Idol fan. I don't watch the show, maybe catch a minute or two here or there, but never an entire show. Last night I was "forced" to watch. At least when you watch with someone else, you can discuss what is happening, so I "suffered" through it.

However, I did learn some things from American Idol. First, even family memebers will throw you under the bus when it comes to putting you on national TV. Oh, the many many people who thought that they could sing and just couldn't hold a note if they were given a bucket to carry it in. AND, their family memebers (mom's especially) were out waiting for them actually HOPING that their child will make the audition. As a mom, I would never want to discourage my children from their dreams, but isn't there a time where you just have to sit them down and tell them the truth? Rather than putting them on national TV for them to humiliate themselves? There has to be that point.

The next thing I learned was that waxing is painful! (well, it looked painful) A man came to the audition dressed....well, sort of dressed....like Princess Leia when she's being held captive by Jaba (the little gold bikini). ANYWAYS, yes a man came dressed like that. He had mega chest hair and Paula was repulsed. She told him that if he got rid of the chest hair (he had a lot) that she'd listen to him sing. Idol then showed a clip of him getting his chest hair waxed. OMG!! The waxing person put one strip down and pulled, but nothing came up...not even the strip!! She lost her grip and the man screamed out in pain. UGH! I'm rethinking the whole waxing thing for my body.

Finally, the American Idol experience taught me a new word. Actressing. One of the contestants who had a decent voice, but didn't make it to the next round had a fit. So she said that she's going to pursue actressing instead. Hmmmmm. Geeesh, I know that it's been many years since I went to college (I have a theater minor), apparently there is a new word for the work I did. Good to know.

I'll be sure to use my actressing skills in the future.

Tornado in Vancouver WA

Yes, it happened and freak January tornado in Vancouver WA. Not only did a real one hit the west side of town (F1 and minor damage, no injuries), but one has also blown through this house and I'm NOT happy about it.

You may think that a 2.5yo can do the destruction I see in this house, but you'd be wrong. Matt has been gone (up at the crack of dawn and out the door, plus gone overnight last night) for most of the week, so I've cleaned this house from top to bottom - floors, toilets, sinks, counters, tables...etc. I had some pent up energy that needed to be channeled and cleaning was the solution. The house was almost perfect - just the minor things scattered here or there from use throughout the day, nothing major that a 5 min sweep wouldn't fix before bed. Matt waltzes into this house at 3pm today and the havoc and chaos I see is maddening. There is, again, work stuff stacked on my dining room table. Not only that, but the padding (shredded newspaper) from within the envelopes that the stuff came in is strewn about my floor!! He then proceeded to unstuff the new "manly" diaper bag he bought the other day and left all the paper in the TV room - along with the bag. Dinner dishes weren't put into the dishwasher, dinner wasn't even put away - I just completed this task. BTW - he's in bed already.

The kicker to my rant - he's going snowboarding all day tomorrow. He'll leave the house around 7am and probably not return until late afternoon. SO, it will be ME to clean up his mess. I'm beyond furious. He even commented when he got home today how nice the house looked and that I've been working really hard all week. DUUUHHHHH!!

Sorry for ranting on my blog, but it needed to be said. Sadly, Matt doesn't read my blog...just my friends. If you call me tomorrow morning and I sound edgy, you'll know what I've been doing....cleaning.

Things that go bump/crash in the night

Matt was out of town, so I hired a babysitter and I went out last night and met Catrina and her co-worker Cynthia for Margarita Thursday - although for me it was Long Island Ice-Tea Thursday. Well, it was obvious that the bartender liked us b/c he chatted and bantered with us all night - and the drinks were STRONG!! Holy Moly! I have no idea what time I went to bed, but it was definitely after 1am.

Suddenly out of a deep drink induced sleep BANG CRASH resonated from my bathroom. The cat does not sleep in my room with me (he likes to pester people at night), so I know for a fact it wasn't him. My 2 dogs hadn't even flinched - great guard dogs. Maybe I was dreaming that I heard a crash, obviously I did b/c my trusty guard dogs would have protected me rather than snore so loudly I was afraid an airplane was landing in my room. Yea, right. So now here is the dilemma, do I get up out of bed to investigate, or throw the covers over my head b/c we all know from when we were children that covers over the head protect us from everything!!!

I lay there in the dark trying not to breathe so I can hear any movement or further noises. However, with the two dogs snoring it's hard to tell what I hear. Plus, my heart is beating a million times per second and my breathing is more than labored. UGH!! It's getting the best of me, did I or did I dream that I heard a sound. I must investigate. Quickly, I mentally scan what I have near me to use as a weapon and the best I can come up with is a foot file for softer feet. That would do me no good. I flip on my light (hey I didn't think until now that my nightstand lamp would be a good weapon - DUH. File that in the brain under "weapons to be used against an intruder")and scan the room. The dogs lift their heads, squint at me and I can hear them say "turn off the gosh darned light!". Great dogs!!

I scan the room, ready for battle. Nothing. I get out of bed and turn on the light to the bathroom. Nothing seems amiss and we have glass shower doors, so I don't see anyone hiding in the shower. Huh, I must have dreamed the noise. So, I flip on the TV b/c there is no way I'm getting back to sleep any time soon. I know I was awake for more than an hour b/c I fell asleep during the 3rd half hour episode of a MASH marathon.

I woke in the morning exhausted and before David was up, so I took the opportunity to take a peaceful shower. I reach in and turn the shower on to warm up. Once it's been on for a bit, I open the other door to get in and see that the shower mirror we have hanging has fallen and thus the bottles of soap and shampoo have been scattered about the shower stall. OOOOHHHHH, so I'm not going crazy and there was no intruder last night. Just a mirror which interrupted my sleep....great!!

Oh, and thanks dogs for being great guard dogs and investigating the noise.

The toddler blues

David has had share of mood swings, but NOTHING like what's been happening lately!! OMG! Where did my sweet little boy go? Lately, his mood will shift with the wind. Perhaps its all the rain and he's tired of being cooped up inside or maybe it's his age.

On Tuesday, the morning started out terrific, he got dressed and was happy to head to MOM's Club. Through most of the morning he played well with other kids, he didn't try to take other kids toys or bully anyone. Toward the end, he started into the TPL (Toddler Property Law) mode. Once I pried the last toy from his hand, he melted down. HUGE tears, loud crying and sitting on the floor. I managed to get his coat on and moving toward the exit. It helped that his friend Jordan was also leaving with us. However, Jordan went the opposite way of the parking lot when he exited the building. You would have thought that Jordan had said good-bye for life with the way David carried on!! Again, crying, tears and having a fit - all b/c Jordan went a different way.

Today, was almost the same scenario. Great start to the day. Happy go lucky David. We headed off to Playgroup without incident. He played well with the kids and was really good. Until we had to leave. AGAIN, the drama! Crying, stomping his feet and an utter tantrum! He was upset that we were leaving, upset that Jordan put his shoes on, upset that Kaylen left before him, upset upset upset!! He cried all the way until I buckled him into his seat. It was a pleasant drive home until....he saw our subdivision. "NO HOME! NO HOME!" And the tears and tantrum ensued. He cried up until I put his grilled cheese onto the table. But, of course, Mommy burned the first one b/c I was too busy trying to calm him down!!

Hopefully this phase passes quickly and David returns to his sweet self.

Is it 5 O'clock somewhere?

Your style

Last night I met Catrina and Jenn at the mall. Catrina HATES to shop and Jenn was trying to help her spend the gift card she received. However, Jenn had an idea to try to change Catrina's style of clothing. It got me thinking about style and our own personal style.

Me? My style is whatever clothes look great on and are completely maintenance free. I don't like to iron, my clothes have to go from dryer to dresser to body. I have been wearing the same style of clothes for many years. My previous company never had a dress policy, so we could wear what we wanted...literally whatever we wanted. So, I opt for jeans and generally a V-neck top...I'm partial to my cleavage. Plus, I think the base of the neck/breast bone area is sexy. Because of my skin tone, dark colors look best on me, so I generally choose browns, blacks and reds. I'm not into frills and fringes for everyday clothing, I never found a reason for that - especially after having David.

You probably will not catch me in baby doll tops, button down shirts, and never pastel colors. I own 2 pairs of pants which are not jeans and 2 dresses saved only for the occasional wedding/funeral (basic black). I don't own any blouses or business suits.

Shoes on the other hand.....I have a very eclectic collection of shoes. I have everything from 4 inch heels to slip on tennis shoes. I prefer slip on shoes/clogs, but I have shoes for every circumstance. I'm glad that wearing heels with jeans came back in style b/c I love that I can wear all of my shoes with any of my clothes.

Clothing styles are what makes us feel comfortable, pretty, sexy, and somewhat define us. I'm easy going and laid back - like the clothes I wear.

Weekend with the Girls

Catrina, Traci and I have been planning a weekend away for months. It took much stealth planning and caniving between the 3 of us, but it paid off in the end. Many months ago, Traci announced on our Mom's board that her husband would be away last weekend - many people replied that they'd LOVE to go to Puyallup, including myself and Catrina. A month passed w/out mention, but I kept the dream alive and invited Catrina in on it. The Mom's group we were part of collapsed and I knew that everything was going to go on without a hitch. There was just 1 person we were concerned about, Misty. She too kept the dream alive, but Traci, being the awesome person she is, managed to thwart Misty's attempts to visit that same weekend.

I just want to preference, this has been the first girls weekend away for me since having David. When there were no children in the picture, I'd go visit friends every so often...not so since.

Catrina and I left Friday evening and made excellent time to Puyallup. Too good of time in fact b/c we had to stop at a bar to have some drinks before heading to Traci's. See we're not HUGE fans of her husband and he wasn't leaving the house until 8:30...we were in Puyallup at 7!! Catrina and I sat at the bar and chatted over drinks and food. We observed some weird people at the bar and commented on almost all of them. There was extremely tall moms group, the bitchy birthday planner friend and the single guy with 3 beers in front of him. It was fun. We arrived at Traci's and once she put the kids to bed, we pulled out the alcohol. Now you may say "there seems to be an alcohol theme" DUHHHHHHH - it's girls weekend!! We didn't get to bed until 1:30am! Let me state that Catrina and I had to share a blow up mattress on the floor of the office. Catrina is a cover hog.

Saturday was a slow start. We didn't leave the house until almost 11:30 and headed to a mall. Traci has a 10yo, so she was having a great time. We headed back to the house at 4 to get ready for our evening. Felt like college again, 3 girls trying to use the mirror, hairdryer and flat iron. Yes, there was another bathroom, but then we wouldn't have been able to talk, laugh and carry on.

The babysitter came over at 6:45 and we were out the door at 7. We headed to a bar called The Rock. It ROCKS!! They have jello shots in giant syringes and buckets of a rum drink...yes buckets. They look like children play buckets - the drinks even come with shovels. Only 2 buckets per person is allowed. I had 2.5 b/c Traci didn't finish her 2nd.

We got home around 12:30am and Catrina and I proceeded to pour ourselves another drink. Traci was talking with her babysitter friend. Around 1-1:30 the babysitter friend left and Traci said she had to go to bed. Huh? It's GIRLS WEEKEND...there is NO going to bed so early. Off she went. Catrina and I stayed up talking and drinking for another 3 hours. At 4:30'ish we headed to bed, but we didn't sleep right away. We talked and goofed around. I'm surprised we didn't wake up the whole house - 2 very drunk girls talking at night is probably loud. Felt like a slumber party! Again, Catrina is a cover hog. Both nights I ended up waking up shivering and prying the covers out of her hands!!

Sunday was rough. Again, a very late start to the day. I was up at 9:30 and praying that the sunlight I was seeing would just GO AWAY! It hurt me bad. We all did manage to get up and moving, but not until after lunch. We went to a great park where Traci thought that it would be good for Sam to get some energy out. There were hiking trails, but I didn't bring any shoes suited for hiking...who knew?! Poor Traci had the kids to deal with while Catrina and I walked around. We entertained Cassie for awhile, but she was being a whiny 10yo.

Catrina and I left around 4-5pm. It was a fantastic weekend. I would change nothing. It was exactly how I hoped it would be. I hope that my friends feel the same way.

Return to the gym

Today was the day I returned to the gym after 2 weeks away. UGH! It was painful. While I was excited to return to my daily routine, the punishment my body took makes me question my sanity. I jumped, jiggled and jogged my way through my class....ok, let's be frank....I may have jaunted, definitely jiggled and maybe walked my way through the class, but I made it through the class.

I'm not looking forward to the next few weeks/months. This is the time of year when EVERONE signs up for the gym. I will have to get to the gym early in order to get David into the daycare and to find a parking spot. I will have to elbow my way for a spot in the aerobics room and push mats away during yoga. Through it all, I will breathe deeply and rehearse the following "these people will be gone in March". Cuz as we all know, 90% of people drop out of their resolutions within the first 3 months.

I'm committed. Once I buttoned those smaller sized jeans, I knew that my hard work was paying off. 1 size smaller right now and hopefully in the next month, another size. My moms group is having a weight loss challenge. $10 buy in and the person to lose the largest percentage of weight in the next 8 weeks wins the pot!! $100!! That would go far for contributing to a new wardrobe.

So, I will pop the Advil, take the long hot baths and sweat my way through the oldies, but I'm committed and it will work!!

Happy New Year

Matt and I were all psyched to go out for NYE. We planned and talked about it all week. However, we didn't anticipate painting the entire lower level of our house - trim, doors and walls. We stayed up every night (Friday - Sunday) until after 1am painting. Plus taking care of David all day. Around 6pm Monday, it hit us...HARD. We were exhausted, but we didn't want to give up the fight. Geeesh, it's NYE for goodness sakes - only happens 1X per year - WE HAVE TO GO OUT!!

Well, that's what our brains said, but our bodies had other plans. So we compromised and decided that we'd see a movie first and then decide whether to hit a bar after. We went and saw National Treasure 2 (it was entertaining) and then just went to Applebee's for a drink and some munchies after. We were home by 11:45.

We rang in the new year standing over Davids crib and giving him kisses at midnight. Kinda sweet and special.

2008 will bring some changes to our family. A new baby will be here and the adjustment to that will be huge! We can't wait to be parents again.