Truly ridiculous...

I don't usually write about non-family stuff on here that often, but here goes....

I consider myself a fairly intelligent person.  Hell, Georgia Tech let me earn two degrees from there so I can't be half bad, can I?  I am also not a true tree hugger in every sense of the phrase. I do my part by recycling, being cognizant of electricity/water use, etc.....but I'm also the first to admit I refuse to switch to cloth diapers or the more environmentally friendly disposable ones because let's be honest here - my time can currently be better spent in ways other than washing out and sanitizing cloth diapers or cleaning up the messes that the environmentally friendly diapers can't contain.

So what is it about the oil spill and BP not being able to get it under control that I don't understand?  

I don't even live there and this is just pissing me off more and more every day.  I mean, it seems to me that prior to drilling for oil a mile below the ocean surface that they should have had a plan in place in case something like this happened.  And from my limited knowledge of the situation I understand that there was a part that was supposed to kick in and turn it off - but that malfunctioned?!  Where's the redundancy?  Then I got even more mad when I saw a link yesterday and one Jerry forwarded to me today that shows freaking video feed of the oil just gushing right out into the ocean.  If they can get live video feed why can't the fix the stupid leak? 

I am sure there's a reason that it's taking this long.  Probably not a good reason, but a reason nonetheless.  And I'm also sure there's tons of science to be considered when attempting to fix this without causing even more damage to the environment.  BUT COME ON PEOPLE. 

Of course, Jerry's using this as the perfect excuse to lobby for a Tesla...

Sibling Rivalry

I knew it was coming but I guess I didn't anticipate it to rear its ugly head so soon!  The interactions between Anna and Carrie are truly hilarious for the most part.  I am always catching Carrie saying stuff to Anna that we've said to her.  For example the other day she was pitching a toddler fit to end all toddler fits, so Jerry calmly removed her from the family room and put her in her room and told her that when she's ready to listen she can come out....well, the other day I'm cooking dinner and the girls were playing in Anna's room and I hear "You aren't listening to me!" from Carrie, then the door shuts.  Five seconds of silence then "Are you ready to listen now?"  I thought I was going to pee in my pants....

All of these funnies seem to happen when I'm trying to cook dinner.  I suppose that's a function of me having to turn my back for 2.8 seconds to do something.  Last night Carrie and Anna were playing in the kitchen with stuff while I was cooking, and Carrie happened to have some paper and crayons and was sitting in the floor happily writing letters and drawing bugs.  Anna was playing with some books but decided Carrie's paper looked way more entertaining so she crawled over and started yanking up pages.  Carrie didn't take kindly to this at all - "ANNA!  Stop messing up my paper!!"  She'd get up and relocate herself and start coloring again, only to have Anna keep following her to various parts of the kitchen and continue to screw with her stack of papers.  Anna was laughing the entire time, and Carrie was very obviously getting pissed.  "ANNA!  STOP FOLLOWING ME AND LEAVE MY PAPER ALONE!" 

I didn't have the heart to tell her that she'd better get used to this cause she's got a life full of this coming, and it's only just begun. 

And am I a bad mommy for thinking this was hilarious?

Bittersweet....

I am having a tough time with the idea that Carrie and Anna are so "grown up"....keep in mind they are only 3 and 9 months, people!!  I don't know what I'm going to do when they actually do hit some major milestones like graduation, wedding, etc....ugh. 

Carrie had her spring pictures made at school and they are ADORABLE.  They are also proof positive that she is no longer a baby....she's definitely a little girl.  I already knew this - heck, you should hear some of the conversations we have.  They are a riot and she makes me laugh every single day.  And she has opinions on EVERYTHING.  I even got an eye roll the other day - she asked me what we were having for dinner and when I said pork tenderloin she definitely rolled her eyes at me.  I suppose the eye rolling thing is genetic cause I'm pretty sure I shot my mother more than my fair share growing up (although not about what she was making for dinner - sorry Mom, I had to!)

Then there's Anna.  Ugh.  I feel like every day when I get home she's grown more and more.  She pulls up on everything in sight and refuses to sit still other than to eat, and even that's hit and miss sometimes.  I really think she'll be walking before she's one.  She does the whole "Mamamamamama" and "Dadadadadada" thing although I highly doubt she knows what that means.  My goal with her was to at least make it to 6 months with just breastmilk and I've far surpassed that.  I really didn't think I'd be able to given that I'm working outside the house 5 days a week this time around instead of 3 days a week like I did with Carrie, but amazingly enough I've been able to keep up with my little piglet.  Jerry said one day to me "You're almost to a year then you can stop!"  That's going to be a sad day for me....yes I'll be glad to get some more sleep in the mornings since I get up at 5am to pump before going to work, and I won't have to lug the pump to work with me anymore, but still.....

I think it's just getting to me because I'm 99.9% positive that we're done with the babies thing.  When you are a teenager you think life moves at a snail's pace and you just live to get to the next milestone.  Then when you have kids you start looking for the pause button and it's nowhere to be found. 

And now I think I'll step away from the computer since I have tears in my eyes while sitting at my desk during lunch :)

Craziness

I haven't posted here in awhile, and it's largely due to all the nuttiness that has been our lives lately!  Just before my last post we had traveled to Atlanta for my mom's birthday.  We attempted to surprise her, but that didn't work out :)  She wasn't buying Ken's story of "but I need to get the AC in the van fixed so you need to work from home" story, so we caved and just told her the munchkins were coming for her birthday so she'd better work at home that Friday!! 

The next weekend was Carrie's 3rd birthday party.  Whew.  That was exhausting.  We had a great turn out, complete with plenty of kids and bounce house and tire swing madness.  I was seriously questioning why I even bothered with the bounce house since the kids seemed so excited about the tire swing.  However, as only 4 of them could fit on the tire swing at a time, the bounce house was tolerated until they could get their turn.  There are pics of the party on our Picasa site.  My grandparents even came down for the festivities, and I was so excited to show them the new house and have them there for Carrie's party. 

Anna's doing all kinds of things these days.  We've gone from sort of crawling around to "OH MY GOD I HAVE GOT TO GET FROM POINT A TO POINT B AS FAST AS POSSIBLE OR CARRIE'S GONNA LEAVE ME BEHIND."  She's pulling up on everything in sight and does not want to sit down at all, any time.  More than once she's gotten herself stuck underneath our main coffee table in the living room because she's trying to crawl on the boards underneath it and explore.  Jerry and I predict she'll definitely be walking before her first birthday, if not before.  Solid food continues to improve.  Bananas are always a favorite.  She'll tolerate carrots, but also really likes apples, broccoli & avocado. 

Carrie's in a baking class on the weekends with some of her friends from school and she seems to love it.  The woman that is doing it is also a teacher at her school.  I say she is a very brave woman to have these toddlers in her home to cook and paint.  Not sure I have the patience for that, but Carrie loves it.  And, double bonus - the parents get to drop the kids off and then head over to The Dispensary for a beer or two!  We're also going to sign Carrie up for a gymnastics class for the summer.  I was so excited to hear they had one where the kids go in the early evening instead of smack in the middle of the day, so I can actually enroll her and take her myself.  I can't wait to see how this goes :)  Stay tuned...

In Love (Again)

Yes, I'm in love again.  This time with our new nanny, Lizzy!  She's been with us two weeks and I'm once again in heaven :)  Not that there was anything wrong with Joan; not at all.  She was great with Anna....it was just the combo of dealing with both Anna and Carrie in the AM and PM that was going to be dicey.  She had a hard time carrying Anna in the car seat, and that was without trying to make sure Carrie didn't fling herself out into the street at the house or school.  Kayla and I both have been known to have to go darting across the yard, Anna in hand, behind Carrie who's decided it's a fun game to try to run away from whomever's watching her at the time.  NOT COOL.  But we are keeping Joan on our babysitter list for date nights and so forth, so we were able to end on amicable terms. 

Back to Lizzy - the name may sound familiar because she used to be Carrie's teacher.  As in on March 26th she was Carrie's teacher and on March 29th she became our nanny.  Yes, it provided for a tiny bit of drama at school, but everyone's over it now (I think!).  Lizzy made sure everyone there understood that it was her idea to approach us regarding a nanny position once she heard we were looking.  I personally think they were just sad to see her go, and who wouldn't be?  She's been an amazing teacher to Carrie this year, and now will be hanging out with Anna teaching her all kinds of things.  Yes, Jerry and I did stop to ponder the idea that "hey....if we hire Lizzy we're basically taking from one kid to provide for another."  We have full confidence in the other teachers in Carrie's class to carry on the quality care Carrie was getting in her class, not to mention Lizzy was already spending half the day in another classroom. 

I feel like we are getting settled back in and can mark the nanny thing off our list, hopefully for good!  Heck, Lizzy did a far superior job to me in packing the girls' things for our trip this past weekend than I ever could have.  The house looks amazing when I get home (I'm sure Lizzy gets frustrated when she comes the next morning and finds we've undone all her hard work!).  Both girls are happy as can be (or as happy as a three year old can be) And remember what I said when Kayla left that I doubted that we'd find another nanny that would text me during the day and send cute pictures of Anna?  Perhaps I spoke too soon:

Welcome to the family Lizzy!!

Bedtime conversations

Some of the best/funniest conversations we have with Carrie happen at bedtime.  Take last night for example.  Jerry was messing with me and telling Carrie that I had to go to "school" today....this was actually my driver improvement course for getting in that wreck (if I took the class the ticket was dismissed and no points).

Carrie:  You're going to school tomorrow Mommy?
Me:  Yep.
Carrie:  I want to go with you!
Me:  The school I'm going to isn't much fun, honey.  You'll have more fun staying here with Daddy & Anna.
Carrie:  It's not fun?  Don't you have any friends?

Another new thing she's doing at nighttime if I'm putting her to bed is running through all the usual procrastination tricks - one more story, gotta go potty, I need some water, etc.  By the time I finally get her tucked in and am just at the door and telling her Sweet Dreams, I hear a little voice say "Mommy, will you rock me like a baby?"  How can you say no to that?  So I go to her bed and sit on the edge, pick her up and rock her like a little baby for a few minutes.  Those are some of the best minutes of my day.

Mover and shaker

That would be Anna, who's now crawling a full two months before her sister ever even thought of crawling.  She's not full-on crawling, but is doing the military crawl, which has proven to be enough to send Carrie into fits of "MOMMY!!!!!  SHE'S STEALING MY TOYS!!!!!"  Sure, Carrie, like she's going to round up all your toys and you'll never see them again.  No, m'dear....that won't happen for at least a few more months.  Ah, the joys of sibling rivalry.  I never got to experience that - I was the only child so I didn't necessarily have to share my toys/books/etc with anyone else (at least until my cousin Brandy came along and we grew up so close to each other that we may as well have been sisters).  

It's so much fun to see Anna and Carrie interact with each other.  Anna just looks at Carrie like she hung the moon.  Carrie, not so much, but she does have her moments of just giving Anna kisses for no reason other than she loves her little sister.  And they really have started to play together, as much as a 7 month old can play with anyone.  I have no doubt that it will just get more and more interesting as the days go on!