The kids had a good Halloween, we took them to a festival at my mom's church. Nathan was a pirate (I made his costume), Ellaina was Little Red Riding Hood, and Brenna was the kitten Marie from the Aristocats. I haven't gotten the pics off of my camera yet, I only have like, two of each kid because the batteries died promptly after. But I'll post as soon as I get them.
We dropped the kids off at our parents' houses, and Steve and I got ready and went to a party at our friend Joey's house. I was Tank Girl (from the movie "Tank Girl") and Steve was Arthur Dent from Hitchhiker's Guide. We stayed there until about 5AM, went home, slept until noon, then got ready to go to two weddings. We had to take Brenna with us, but she was very well behaved. We went to Sarah and Josh Forgie's ceremony and part of the reception, and then we went to Kaplan and Gabrielle Ward's reception (the last part). I'm so happy for both couples, congrats!
Needless to say, we're exhausted, and I'm not looking forward to this week (I miss Steve working from home haha), and Steve doesn't want to go to work (his job is extremely boring to him because he works at a much faster pace than everyone else, and he has a lot of spare time, but he's not supposed to do "non-work" related things...though he's found a way around that haha), but I'm looking forward to Tuesday night when we have our Election Day party! (not that I'm really into politics, I just wanted an excuse to throw a party!)
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
We Have Now Entered The Terrible Twos!
Literally, like 3 days ago, Ellaina, who has been an absolute angel up until this point, has decided that it's time to enter the phase all parents dread: the terrible twos. She has been way more emotional that usual, freaking out over things like not getting the right color vitamin, or not drinking from the right cup. But that's not the worst part: my little princess of personal hygiene now refuses to take a bath.
She used to LOVE baths. She would live in the tub if I let her. But two days ago, I told her "It's time to take a bath!" and she looked at me and said "No, no anee-mor-baf!". I asked her if she wanted a bubble bath, and she responded "No, anee-mor-bubble-baf!" and crossed her arms and furrowed her brow, which I have to admit, is quite funny. I had to take a bath as well, so I started running the water and tried to convince her to join me, but she refused and proceeded to freak out for about half an hour. I went ahead and took my bath, hoping that she might change her mind, but she kept yelling at me to "git out! git out mama!", so I had to have Steve close the door and she kicked it and screamed until I was finished. When I got out of the bathroom, she was a blotchy, snotty, wet mess (she gets blotchy red spots on her face when she cries hard). I asked her if she wanted a bath, and she said "yes" in a small voice. I started to run some more water, and she started in again "NO! NO ANEE-MOR-BAF!" and ran away. I gave up. I finished getting ready and let her pitch her fit because when a child gets to that point, you can't rationalize with them and you have to let them work it out on their own until they calm down. At one point, she had taken her pull-up off and I tried to get her to put on another one, but she wouldn't have it, and for about 5 minutes, pitched a fit naked in the hallway, yelling "no anee-mor-baf! no anee-mor-pullpit!" (which is how she says "pull-up", "pullpit"). Finally she calmed down and got dressed, so I decided to let the issue lie until the next day.
Yesterday, same thing. She didn't pitch a tantrum, but she refused to take a bath. Well today, she's getting one whether she likes it or not! haha I'll not have stinky, sticky kids running around. I hate that I have to force her to take one, but I'm not going to let her run around filthy. I'm just waiting for a good opportunity to do it. Wish me luck! :-)
She used to LOVE baths. She would live in the tub if I let her. But two days ago, I told her "It's time to take a bath!" and she looked at me and said "No, no anee-mor-baf!". I asked her if she wanted a bubble bath, and she responded "No, anee-mor-bubble-baf!" and crossed her arms and furrowed her brow, which I have to admit, is quite funny. I had to take a bath as well, so I started running the water and tried to convince her to join me, but she refused and proceeded to freak out for about half an hour. I went ahead and took my bath, hoping that she might change her mind, but she kept yelling at me to "git out! git out mama!", so I had to have Steve close the door and she kicked it and screamed until I was finished. When I got out of the bathroom, she was a blotchy, snotty, wet mess (she gets blotchy red spots on her face when she cries hard). I asked her if she wanted a bath, and she said "yes" in a small voice. I started to run some more water, and she started in again "NO! NO ANEE-MOR-BAF!" and ran away. I gave up. I finished getting ready and let her pitch her fit because when a child gets to that point, you can't rationalize with them and you have to let them work it out on their own until they calm down. At one point, she had taken her pull-up off and I tried to get her to put on another one, but she wouldn't have it, and for about 5 minutes, pitched a fit naked in the hallway, yelling "no anee-mor-baf! no anee-mor-pullpit!" (which is how she says "pull-up", "pullpit"). Finally she calmed down and got dressed, so I decided to let the issue lie until the next day.
Yesterday, same thing. She didn't pitch a tantrum, but she refused to take a bath. Well today, she's getting one whether she likes it or not! haha I'll not have stinky, sticky kids running around. I hate that I have to force her to take one, but I'm not going to let her run around filthy. I'm just waiting for a good opportunity to do it. Wish me luck! :-)
Friday, July 25, 2008
Ash's Photos of the Day
I took this in Cave In Rock, IL. It's the Ohio River flooding into the park, as you can see, the trees and play equipment are under a few feet of water.
This was made by my friend, Christina (www.myspace.com/countrymamadesigns). Her work is excellent, if you add her, tell her Ashley sent you!
(from left to right: Nathan, Ellaina, Steve, Me, Brenna, Jakers, and Nate and Elle hugging)
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Ash's Photos of the Day
I took this one in Cherokee, NC, it's my reflection in a stream full of awesome river rocks!
This is a pic of the type of Great Dane I'd like to have when we get a house with a yard. The color is called harlequin. I love Great Danes, they're so sweet and they're HUGE!
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Ash's photo of the day
I'm going to start posting 2 photos of the day. The first one will be one that I took or am in. The second will be one I like that I happened to see sometime. So here you go, enjoy!
I took this in Old Shawneetown, IL
Damn, that's a sexy Joker! ;-)
I took this in Old Shawneetown, IL
Damn, that's a sexy Joker! ;-)
Theater group coming to life, still unemployed
So Steve has been applying all over the place for a new job. He's had a couple of hits, but still nothing yet. This was the worst time to get laid-off, jobs are scarce. But we'll keep praying that he'll find something soon! :-)
In other news, my new theater group that I started is having it's first performance! For information, go to the website http://gvegastheater.webs.com
I'm going to be directing one of the shows. I'm so excited, I think this will really kick off by the end of the year. Between me and Denny (my friend that I asked to partner with me), we know EVERYBODY and if we don't, then one of them does. The internet has to be one of the greatest marketing tools, I have stuff posted on all types of forums. I think it's a good time, too, I think that Greenville has needed something like this for a long time, and since we're non-profit, all of our shows are absolutely free. We accept donations, to cover costs, and anything we have left over, we donate to charity, so we're not in this for the money. And with the economy like it is, it's forcing people to cut certain luxuries out of their budgets, and I think this will give people something to do that won't cut into their budget. The group's very much "community driven", meaning that it's all about taking and giving to the community. We perform in various local venues, print free ads in our programs, use music from local artists and bands for soundtracks and pre-show entertainment. This town needs a better since of community and defiantly needs some culture! We give an experience that is different from your typical theater, whether it's performing an original, locally written one-act to attempting various acting projects (like 3/24, the first project we're doing), or simply performing in a different space that sets an ambiance (once, I performed the female lead of "Equus" in a horse stable on a set I helped build). It forces not just the actors to get creative, it forces the audience to get creative as well. This town is just the right size for launching something like this, not too big, and not too small.
But we're not just showing people what we can do, we're showing them how far we can take it. Like for example, the first project we are doing is called a 3/24 (read three-twenty-four) project. It's 3 10min short plays from conception to breakdown in a 24 hour period. Three writers get together the night before (say, 9PM), choose one of three random titles and has 12 hours to write a 10 minute play. Then three directors randomly choose one of the three scripts, without knowing what the scripts are. Then they have 12 hours to audition, rehearse, set up, perform, and break down the set and leave the performance space by 9PM. It's not as bad as it sounds, really, it's a lot of fun. But I think that choosing this type of performance as our first is a very ballsy move, since there's a huge chance that we could bomb it. What if a script doesn't get done in time? What if not enough people audition? What if you can't get the programs printed in time? What if no one shows up? lol It's challenges like the mentioned that we are trying to prepare for and avoid, but if faced with one, we'll be forced to work around it. Plus it's a chance to get REALLY creative, since you don't have a lot of time to work on it. It pushes the writers, directors, and actors to a whole new level that many don't even realize they have. I get more and more excited about it the more I think about it. I've had a lot of ideas for things in the past, but for one reason or another, didn't act on those. Now I've hit the point of no return with this one, and it feels excellent. I've mentioned the name, thrown it out there to so many people, and have confirmed dates, times, and venues, and now I couldn't quit if I wanted to. I feel like (aside from raising my kids), I'm being productive, giving back...
and I have an excuse to leave the house more often. ;-)
In other news, my new theater group that I started is having it's first performance! For information, go to the website http://gvegastheater.webs.com
I'm going to be directing one of the shows. I'm so excited, I think this will really kick off by the end of the year. Between me and Denny (my friend that I asked to partner with me), we know EVERYBODY and if we don't, then one of them does. The internet has to be one of the greatest marketing tools, I have stuff posted on all types of forums. I think it's a good time, too, I think that Greenville has needed something like this for a long time, and since we're non-profit, all of our shows are absolutely free. We accept donations, to cover costs, and anything we have left over, we donate to charity, so we're not in this for the money. And with the economy like it is, it's forcing people to cut certain luxuries out of their budgets, and I think this will give people something to do that won't cut into their budget. The group's very much "community driven", meaning that it's all about taking and giving to the community. We perform in various local venues, print free ads in our programs, use music from local artists and bands for soundtracks and pre-show entertainment. This town needs a better since of community and defiantly needs some culture! We give an experience that is different from your typical theater, whether it's performing an original, locally written one-act to attempting various acting projects (like 3/24, the first project we're doing), or simply performing in a different space that sets an ambiance (once, I performed the female lead of "Equus" in a horse stable on a set I helped build). It forces not just the actors to get creative, it forces the audience to get creative as well. This town is just the right size for launching something like this, not too big, and not too small.
But we're not just showing people what we can do, we're showing them how far we can take it. Like for example, the first project we are doing is called a 3/24 (read three-twenty-four) project. It's 3 10min short plays from conception to breakdown in a 24 hour period. Three writers get together the night before (say, 9PM), choose one of three random titles and has 12 hours to write a 10 minute play. Then three directors randomly choose one of the three scripts, without knowing what the scripts are. Then they have 12 hours to audition, rehearse, set up, perform, and break down the set and leave the performance space by 9PM. It's not as bad as it sounds, really, it's a lot of fun. But I think that choosing this type of performance as our first is a very ballsy move, since there's a huge chance that we could bomb it. What if a script doesn't get done in time? What if not enough people audition? What if you can't get the programs printed in time? What if no one shows up? lol It's challenges like the mentioned that we are trying to prepare for and avoid, but if faced with one, we'll be forced to work around it. Plus it's a chance to get REALLY creative, since you don't have a lot of time to work on it. It pushes the writers, directors, and actors to a whole new level that many don't even realize they have. I get more and more excited about it the more I think about it. I've had a lot of ideas for things in the past, but for one reason or another, didn't act on those. Now I've hit the point of no return with this one, and it feels excellent. I've mentioned the name, thrown it out there to so many people, and have confirmed dates, times, and venues, and now I couldn't quit if I wanted to. I feel like (aside from raising my kids), I'm being productive, giving back...
and I have an excuse to leave the house more often. ;-)
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Relocation???
So over the weekend, Steve went to Palo Alto, CA for a job interview with a company called VMWare. He said he thinks that he did well in the interview, but we won't know anything for a week. We hope to hear back by Friday, but it could be as late as next week. This sucks, I HATE waiting! If I'm going to have to uproot my family and move across the country away from my family and friends, I'd like to know pretty soon! lol I have mixed feelings about the possibility of moving. I've always wanted to move out there, but I'll be away from my mom and my friends. I'm really close to my mom, and so is Ellaina. Nathan understands that if we went to CA then he wouldn't get to see his grandparents, and he said he's cool with it. Brenna's too young to have an opinion lol. But Ellaina can't really understand the concept of not being able to just go to Nana's house whenever we feel like it. Thinking about it makes me sad. :-(
But on a better note, if we do move, I'm going to do our house up NICE! I've been watching tons of design shows for ideas, and if we moved, we'd sell the majority of our stuff and use the money to get new things, like IKEA stuff, it's not too expensive and it looks cool. I want to actually spend the time to decorate every room and make it feel like home. I mean, if I'm going to be away from everyone, I'd at least like a nice house! :-)
In other news: Brenna has begun to eat solids. She's had applesauce and carrots (not at the same time haha), and she loves both! After a few days I'll introduce her to something else, I have peas, sweet potatoes, and pears, but I'm not sure what's next. :-) She loves the stuff, though, that little piggy would eat the whole jar if I let her!
Well, here's to waiting!
But on a better note, if we do move, I'm going to do our house up NICE! I've been watching tons of design shows for ideas, and if we moved, we'd sell the majority of our stuff and use the money to get new things, like IKEA stuff, it's not too expensive and it looks cool. I want to actually spend the time to decorate every room and make it feel like home. I mean, if I'm going to be away from everyone, I'd at least like a nice house! :-)
In other news: Brenna has begun to eat solids. She's had applesauce and carrots (not at the same time haha), and she loves both! After a few days I'll introduce her to something else, I have peas, sweet potatoes, and pears, but I'm not sure what's next. :-) She loves the stuff, though, that little piggy would eat the whole jar if I let her!
Well, here's to waiting!
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Updates and do they make baby dental floss?
Okay, I haven't written here in a long time, but I don't even know if anyone reads this haha. I've been a bit slack, what with my MySpace addiction and my new found love for cheesy time-management type online games where you are a person working as a server or a hotel manager or fashion designer and the like. I get bored after the kids are in bed, what can I say? I thought I'd start with updates on the kids:
Brenna:
She will be 5 months old Saturday. She's getting so big! We missed the very first time she rolled over a few weeks ago, we were all sitting down to dinner, and we usually put Brenna in her bouncy chair or lay her on a blanket on the floor next to one of us while we eat. Well this particular evening we had her on the blanket, and we were waiting for Nathan to spit out a sentence (he repeats himself mid sentence constantly, for example "Once....Once....a long time ago.....Once a long time ago, at mah-mah and pa-pa's....once, at mah-mah and pa-pa's house.." you get the picture), when we heard Brenna let out this annoyed little grunt. Steve looked over and saw her on her tummy, grunting and trying to crawl. He said "Oh look, her first roll over, and we missed it!" haha So I said "No we didn't, if we didn't see it, it didn't happen" and flipped her back over to see her do it again. She immediatly flipped back over and I said "Aww, look, honey, she just rolled over!" We had a good laugh. Now the thing won't stop flipping over, it's an Olympic event to change a diaper now! She can push herself a good 3 inches now on the floor, which is funny to watch, because she gets frustrated and lets out these really funny cries and grunts like she's pissed, but she has a huge smile on her face. She has also been getting into fights with this thing that is attached to her foot that's keeping her from easily putting it into her mouth (that would be your leg, sweetie!), and she fusses at it all the time. She has been laughing alot too, not just little giggles here and there, full on belly laughs (I guess my rendition of the Gummy Bear song is a bit humorous lol).
Ellaina:
Still smart as a friggin' whip. She's been a bit jealous of the baby, but I've been getting her to help me with things, like she HAS to help put the bottle together (we have those Dr. Brown's ones with that weird contraption in the middle and she puts that and the top on), and she loves to put powder on the baby when we change her diaper. I put Brenna down for a nap the other day, and Ellaina got two of her baby dolls (she has like, 5 of them, she got them from different people for her birthday lol) and she layed them on the floor and said "Shh, mama, baby sleep". After I threw up a little from her being so damn cute, I gave her a blanket and wrapped one of the babies up and said "There you go", and she grabbed a towel and wrapped the other one up and said "There go". She also loves to feed them their fake bottles and she gets me to put a diaper on her stuffed cat, Meow-Meow, so she can push him in her toy stroller. She's also great at telling her older brother and the cat "No" and "stoppit". She tells the cat to "gitdown" when he jumps on the table, and when I tell Nathan "No", she says "No, Sathan (that's how she says it, though sometimes it sounds like Satan haha), stoppit". :-)
Nathan:
Still the same ol' Nate. Though since he's been hanging out with his biological mother and his other half sister, he's gotten this attitude, like he doesn't have to listen to us, me especially. *sigh* Being a step-mother is hard, especially when your step-son loves his mother, but you secretly know how horrible of a person she is, and how much threatening we had to do to get her to pay child support and even see him on a regular basis. His other half-sister is mean to him, and then in turn, he's mean to Ellaina. I don't really know what to do about the situation, because there's no talking to this woman, she just does whatever and lets others raise her kids (her daughter lives with her grandparents...right next door to where her mother lives. WTF?) But ANYWAYS lol, we had an awkward moment tonight, I was giving Nate and Elle a bath after playing outside, and when I went to wash between his legs, he popped a little woody (nooo! haha), and it happened again when I was drying him off. I didn't even get near it, I washed his leg and it happened! It wouldn't be so bad except lately he's been telling me "Ashwee, my penis is pointing up and it's supposed to be pointing down!" (thanks to the mother in law for teaching him the word "penis" at age 2 lol) I just keep saying "That happens, ask Daddy about it", and then Steve gets giggly, because how do you tell a 4 year old about erections? lol It can't be done, and I don't want to get that parent/teacher note about my son telling his classmates in K4 about erections haha.
So that's about it for now. I'll think of more later. :-)
Brenna:
She will be 5 months old Saturday. She's getting so big! We missed the very first time she rolled over a few weeks ago, we were all sitting down to dinner, and we usually put Brenna in her bouncy chair or lay her on a blanket on the floor next to one of us while we eat. Well this particular evening we had her on the blanket, and we were waiting for Nathan to spit out a sentence (he repeats himself mid sentence constantly, for example "Once....Once....a long time ago.....Once a long time ago, at mah-mah and pa-pa's....once, at mah-mah and pa-pa's house.." you get the picture), when we heard Brenna let out this annoyed little grunt. Steve looked over and saw her on her tummy, grunting and trying to crawl. He said "Oh look, her first roll over, and we missed it!" haha So I said "No we didn't, if we didn't see it, it didn't happen" and flipped her back over to see her do it again. She immediatly flipped back over and I said "Aww, look, honey, she just rolled over!" We had a good laugh. Now the thing won't stop flipping over, it's an Olympic event to change a diaper now! She can push herself a good 3 inches now on the floor, which is funny to watch, because she gets frustrated and lets out these really funny cries and grunts like she's pissed, but she has a huge smile on her face. She has also been getting into fights with this thing that is attached to her foot that's keeping her from easily putting it into her mouth (that would be your leg, sweetie!), and she fusses at it all the time. She has been laughing alot too, not just little giggles here and there, full on belly laughs (I guess my rendition of the Gummy Bear song is a bit humorous lol).
Ellaina:
Still smart as a friggin' whip. She's been a bit jealous of the baby, but I've been getting her to help me with things, like she HAS to help put the bottle together (we have those Dr. Brown's ones with that weird contraption in the middle and she puts that and the top on), and she loves to put powder on the baby when we change her diaper. I put Brenna down for a nap the other day, and Ellaina got two of her baby dolls (she has like, 5 of them, she got them from different people for her birthday lol) and she layed them on the floor and said "Shh, mama, baby sleep". After I threw up a little from her being so damn cute, I gave her a blanket and wrapped one of the babies up and said "There you go", and she grabbed a towel and wrapped the other one up and said "There go". She also loves to feed them their fake bottles and she gets me to put a diaper on her stuffed cat, Meow-Meow, so she can push him in her toy stroller. She's also great at telling her older brother and the cat "No" and "stoppit". She tells the cat to "gitdown" when he jumps on the table, and when I tell Nathan "No", she says "No, Sathan (that's how she says it, though sometimes it sounds like Satan haha), stoppit". :-)
Nathan:
Still the same ol' Nate. Though since he's been hanging out with his biological mother and his other half sister, he's gotten this attitude, like he doesn't have to listen to us, me especially. *sigh* Being a step-mother is hard, especially when your step-son loves his mother, but you secretly know how horrible of a person she is, and how much threatening we had to do to get her to pay child support and even see him on a regular basis. His other half-sister is mean to him, and then in turn, he's mean to Ellaina. I don't really know what to do about the situation, because there's no talking to this woman, she just does whatever and lets others raise her kids (her daughter lives with her grandparents...right next door to where her mother lives. WTF?) But ANYWAYS lol, we had an awkward moment tonight, I was giving Nate and Elle a bath after playing outside, and when I went to wash between his legs, he popped a little woody (nooo! haha), and it happened again when I was drying him off. I didn't even get near it, I washed his leg and it happened! It wouldn't be so bad except lately he's been telling me "Ashwee, my penis is pointing up and it's supposed to be pointing down!" (thanks to the mother in law for teaching him the word "penis" at age 2 lol) I just keep saying "That happens, ask Daddy about it", and then Steve gets giggly, because how do you tell a 4 year old about erections? lol It can't be done, and I don't want to get that parent/teacher note about my son telling his classmates in K4 about erections haha.
So that's about it for now. I'll think of more later. :-)
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
And tomorrow he will be four...
My stepson Nathan turns four tomorrow. We had a party for him Saturday which was fun. But even though he's not technically four until tomorrow, he's been acting that way for about six months now haha. He's in this weird transition from being a "baby" to being a "big boy" and I have to remember to pick and choose my battles. And my, did we have one tonight!
I monitor what my kids watch. I'm not a prude, I mean, they mostly watch Disney and Pixar movies and educational shows or Nick Jr. and the like, but I'm not above letting them watch a select episode or two of something like Futurama (the ones without a lot of sexual references and the like). No harm done. But I'll admit that he had seen a couple of episodes of Family Guy unintentionally, like if the TV was on when I left the room for a potty break or whatnot. Of course, I changed it when I realized what he was watching, because while I think Family Guy is hilarious, it does tend to rip the envelope into tiny pieces at times, so of course, my kids don't watch it.
Tonight, I sat down to watch a little TV before the kids went to bed, since I had watched the same two Blue's Clues tapes that my daughter LOVES literally most of the day. I turned it to TBS and it was at a commercial, so I left it on. I should explain that our remote is toast and that we change the channels the old fashioned way. I sat down to see what was on, and I had just put the baby to sleep. Family Guy came on, so I put the baby down in her "cocoon" on the couch (a little bed I fashioned out of Steve's grandmother's quilt and pillows), and got up to change the channel. As I was getting up, Nathan said "I'm gonna tell Grandma and Grandpa tomorrow that I got to watch Family Guy a little today" (Steve's parents), and I said "No, you don't have to tell them that, I'm turning the TV off because you're not allowed to watch adult cartoons." The second the tube flashed off, the whining started: "But I waaaaaannnnnnnnaaaawaaaaattttccchhhiiiiiittttt!". So I calmly told him "Stop whining, you know you can't watch it, get back to your coloring", which was followed by louder whining. I said "Nathan, if you wake the baby up, you're going to bed early" (this was 30 minutes before bedtime anyways), and he proceeded to scream louder, of course, and woke the baby. So I said "Okay, Brenna's awake now, you're going to bed" and was exposed to more screaming. I grabbed his puppy that he sleeps with and walked to the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs. He followed, but screamed all the way. I was starting to lose my temper, so I tossed the puppy up the stairs and told him to go to bed. He cried and whined and I followed, but then Ellaina started following me, thinking it was bedtime. I called Steve to get him to stop Ellaina, and as I looked up at the top of the stairs where Nathan was, the world turned to slow motion: Jakers, our cat, was sitting in the doorway of the kids' room. Nathan was standing in front of him. I knew what he was going to do before he even did it. I started to dart up the stairs saying "Noooooooo!" like in those slow motion scenes in action movies and he lifted his leg, brought it all the way back, and kicked Jakers, full bore, in the face. I immediately saw red. I have had problems with Nathan being mean to the cat before, but nothing like this. I got to the top of the stairs, and there may be those of you out there that are against spanking, but I felt it was necessary in this case. Once, when I was about 5, I was mad at my mom about something and I hit my cat out of anger, and she tore my butt up, but I never hit the cat again. I actually went to her crying and apologized, and the cat just looked at me like "Um, yeah" and walked off. haha So he got his butt popped a couple of times (I didn't beat the child haha), and of course, he was making a dramatic scene. Steve looked up and wanted to know what was going on to cause such a strong reaction and I told him that he had kicked Jakers in the face. Nathan went into his room, and I looked for the cat. He was huddled in the corner of my room, shaking. I checked him, he was alright, thank goodness, and I went to Nate's room and said "Don't you ever hurt Jakers again, now go to bed."
Of course, when I went downstairs, he yelled and whined from upstairs. I gave Ellaina her bath and got her ready for bed. We went upstairs and she picked out a couple of books to look at in bed, and I put her in her crib. Nathan sat up and said "Ashley, I'm this much mad at you" and held out his arms. Well, I have to admit, I channeled my inner 4 year old and said "Yeah? Well, I'm this much mad at you too" and held my arms out (you'd be surprised at how well you handle yourself around an angry child haha). Then I told him that he should not have kicked the cat, and then he asked for juice. I said "You don't get juice tonight because you hurt the kitty" and he yelled that it wasn't fair. I said goodnight to Ellaina, and as I was leaving, I said "Nathan, I still love you even though you are mad at me" and he started wailing and said "I don't want to be your friend no more!" I said "Fine, I still love you, goodnight" and went downstairs.
I explained to Steve what exactly happened and he understood. I was a nervous wreck, and had to take a smoke break to calm myself down. I heard Nathan yelling from his room, so when I was finished, I ninja-ed up there and stood in the doorway. I calmly said "Nathan, what is it?" and he started to cry and said "I still want to be your friend". I smiled and sat on the edge of his bed. I said "I'm sorry that I lost my temper like I did, but it really upset me that you hurt Jakers. You should never do that to him, no matter how mad you get at me, okay?" and he said between sniffles "Okay" and I asked him if he was sorry and he bawled again and said "Yeeeessss, I'm sorry!", so I hugged him and said "I'm sorry too, and I'm not mad at you. I still love you." and he said "I love you too!" and we made up. :-) I tucked him in, kissed his head, and went to Ellaina, who was standing up in her crib wanting another book that was on the floor. As I went to get it for her, he fussed at me and said "You shouldn't have thrown Puppy, he's just a baby and he could get hurt" and I smiled and said "You're right. I'm sorry I threw puppy. I won't do it again" and he started to fuss at me again, so I said "Now Nathan, I said I was sorry. You can't still fuss at me, I'm not fussing at you about Jakers" and he said "Okay" and I said goodnight, and went downstairs where I had to rock the baby for an hour and a half. *whew*
I think that's the biggest fight we've ever gotten in haha. I think I handled it alright though, sure, I lost my temper a few times, but who wouldn't? All I know is that I have one stubborn, obstinate, and opinionated 4 year old on my hands. :-) I'm glad that all is well now.
Until the next time he kicks the cat...haha.
I monitor what my kids watch. I'm not a prude, I mean, they mostly watch Disney and Pixar movies and educational shows or Nick Jr. and the like, but I'm not above letting them watch a select episode or two of something like Futurama (the ones without a lot of sexual references and the like). No harm done. But I'll admit that he had seen a couple of episodes of Family Guy unintentionally, like if the TV was on when I left the room for a potty break or whatnot. Of course, I changed it when I realized what he was watching, because while I think Family Guy is hilarious, it does tend to rip the envelope into tiny pieces at times, so of course, my kids don't watch it.
Tonight, I sat down to watch a little TV before the kids went to bed, since I had watched the same two Blue's Clues tapes that my daughter LOVES literally most of the day. I turned it to TBS and it was at a commercial, so I left it on. I should explain that our remote is toast and that we change the channels the old fashioned way. I sat down to see what was on, and I had just put the baby to sleep. Family Guy came on, so I put the baby down in her "cocoon" on the couch (a little bed I fashioned out of Steve's grandmother's quilt and pillows), and got up to change the channel. As I was getting up, Nathan said "I'm gonna tell Grandma and Grandpa tomorrow that I got to watch Family Guy a little today" (Steve's parents), and I said "No, you don't have to tell them that, I'm turning the TV off because you're not allowed to watch adult cartoons." The second the tube flashed off, the whining started: "But I waaaaaannnnnnnnaaaawaaaaattttccchhhiiiiiittttt!". So I calmly told him "Stop whining, you know you can't watch it, get back to your coloring", which was followed by louder whining. I said "Nathan, if you wake the baby up, you're going to bed early" (this was 30 minutes before bedtime anyways), and he proceeded to scream louder, of course, and woke the baby. So I said "Okay, Brenna's awake now, you're going to bed" and was exposed to more screaming. I grabbed his puppy that he sleeps with and walked to the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs. He followed, but screamed all the way. I was starting to lose my temper, so I tossed the puppy up the stairs and told him to go to bed. He cried and whined and I followed, but then Ellaina started following me, thinking it was bedtime. I called Steve to get him to stop Ellaina, and as I looked up at the top of the stairs where Nathan was, the world turned to slow motion: Jakers, our cat, was sitting in the doorway of the kids' room. Nathan was standing in front of him. I knew what he was going to do before he even did it. I started to dart up the stairs saying "Noooooooo!" like in those slow motion scenes in action movies and he lifted his leg, brought it all the way back, and kicked Jakers, full bore, in the face. I immediately saw red. I have had problems with Nathan being mean to the cat before, but nothing like this. I got to the top of the stairs, and there may be those of you out there that are against spanking, but I felt it was necessary in this case. Once, when I was about 5, I was mad at my mom about something and I hit my cat out of anger, and she tore my butt up, but I never hit the cat again. I actually went to her crying and apologized, and the cat just looked at me like "Um, yeah" and walked off. haha So he got his butt popped a couple of times (I didn't beat the child haha), and of course, he was making a dramatic scene. Steve looked up and wanted to know what was going on to cause such a strong reaction and I told him that he had kicked Jakers in the face. Nathan went into his room, and I looked for the cat. He was huddled in the corner of my room, shaking. I checked him, he was alright, thank goodness, and I went to Nate's room and said "Don't you ever hurt Jakers again, now go to bed."
Of course, when I went downstairs, he yelled and whined from upstairs. I gave Ellaina her bath and got her ready for bed. We went upstairs and she picked out a couple of books to look at in bed, and I put her in her crib. Nathan sat up and said "Ashley, I'm this much mad at you" and held out his arms. Well, I have to admit, I channeled my inner 4 year old and said "Yeah? Well, I'm this much mad at you too" and held my arms out (you'd be surprised at how well you handle yourself around an angry child haha). Then I told him that he should not have kicked the cat, and then he asked for juice. I said "You don't get juice tonight because you hurt the kitty" and he yelled that it wasn't fair. I said goodnight to Ellaina, and as I was leaving, I said "Nathan, I still love you even though you are mad at me" and he started wailing and said "I don't want to be your friend no more!" I said "Fine, I still love you, goodnight" and went downstairs.
I explained to Steve what exactly happened and he understood. I was a nervous wreck, and had to take a smoke break to calm myself down. I heard Nathan yelling from his room, so when I was finished, I ninja-ed up there and stood in the doorway. I calmly said "Nathan, what is it?" and he started to cry and said "I still want to be your friend". I smiled and sat on the edge of his bed. I said "I'm sorry that I lost my temper like I did, but it really upset me that you hurt Jakers. You should never do that to him, no matter how mad you get at me, okay?" and he said between sniffles "Okay" and I asked him if he was sorry and he bawled again and said "Yeeeessss, I'm sorry!", so I hugged him and said "I'm sorry too, and I'm not mad at you. I still love you." and he said "I love you too!" and we made up. :-) I tucked him in, kissed his head, and went to Ellaina, who was standing up in her crib wanting another book that was on the floor. As I went to get it for her, he fussed at me and said "You shouldn't have thrown Puppy, he's just a baby and he could get hurt" and I smiled and said "You're right. I'm sorry I threw puppy. I won't do it again" and he started to fuss at me again, so I said "Now Nathan, I said I was sorry. You can't still fuss at me, I'm not fussing at you about Jakers" and he said "Okay" and I said goodnight, and went downstairs where I had to rock the baby for an hour and a half. *whew*
I think that's the biggest fight we've ever gotten in haha. I think I handled it alright though, sure, I lost my temper a few times, but who wouldn't? All I know is that I have one stubborn, obstinate, and opinionated 4 year old on my hands. :-) I'm glad that all is well now.
Until the next time he kicks the cat...haha.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Gonngitabaff?
Ellaina has started this cute new thing recently. See, the other day, she had pooped in her pull up while she was asleep I guess, and when I went to get her out of her crib that morning, she was a little dirty lol. So I said "Aw, you pooped. You wanna get a bath?" (she LOVES baths by the way!), and she said "Yay, gonngitabaff!", which is Ellaina speak for, of course, "gonna get a bath". She just shoves the words together to make one big one lol.
So yesterday morning, I went to get her out of her crib, and she looked up and said "Mama, I pooped. I gonngitabaff?", so I replied "Okay, you can get a bath", but when I checked her pull up, it was just wet. I laughed and said "You didn't poop, you just wanted a bath", and she smiled that little devilish grin she has, and says "Yay, I gonngitabaff!". So she tricked me, but hey, the girl has great hygiene.
We cut to this morning. I went to get her, and she said "Mama, I pooped, I gonngitabaff?". So I said "Let me check", and of course, just wet. So I laughed and said "You're tricking me just to get morning baths" and she just grinned. I didn't get to give her one this morning because I had to run some errands for my mother, but good thing because when I got home, I made the kids PBJ sandwiches and lo and behold, she came up covered in PBJ and said "Mama, eww, I gonngitabaff?" :-)
I have the cleanest two year old in the world! haha
So yesterday morning, I went to get her out of her crib, and she looked up and said "Mama, I pooped. I gonngitabaff?", so I replied "Okay, you can get a bath", but when I checked her pull up, it was just wet. I laughed and said "You didn't poop, you just wanted a bath", and she smiled that little devilish grin she has, and says "Yay, I gonngitabaff!". So she tricked me, but hey, the girl has great hygiene.
We cut to this morning. I went to get her, and she said "Mama, I pooped, I gonngitabaff?". So I said "Let me check", and of course, just wet. So I laughed and said "You're tricking me just to get morning baths" and she just grinned. I didn't get to give her one this morning because I had to run some errands for my mother, but good thing because when I got home, I made the kids PBJ sandwiches and lo and behold, she came up covered in PBJ and said "Mama, eww, I gonngitabaff?" :-)
I have the cleanest two year old in the world! haha
Monday, May 12, 2008
Mother's Day
I had a pretty good mother's day. I got to sleep in, didn't have to change any poopie diapers, and when Steve told Ellaina to tell me Happy Mother's Day, she said "Happy day, mama!". :-) Adorable!
Steve hand picked me some roses and irises from his mom's garden and I have them in a huge vase beside my computer. My mom got me a keychain and a bookmark. Nathan and Steve's mom made me a card. My dad took Steve, myself, the girls, and my mom out to dinner (for those who don't know, my parents divorced when I was three, but they're still friends). The girls were well behaved, Brenna fussed to let us know that she wanted her dinner too (she ate a ribeye...just kidding haha), and Ellaina decided to try to finger paint the wall with her sweet potato, saying "Look, mama, painting!" :-) She likes to think outside of the box haha.
Now I have to look forward to changing all of those dirty diapers I missed on Father's Day!
Steve hand picked me some roses and irises from his mom's garden and I have them in a huge vase beside my computer. My mom got me a keychain and a bookmark. Nathan and Steve's mom made me a card. My dad took Steve, myself, the girls, and my mom out to dinner (for those who don't know, my parents divorced when I was three, but they're still friends). The girls were well behaved, Brenna fussed to let us know that she wanted her dinner too (she ate a ribeye...just kidding haha), and Ellaina decided to try to finger paint the wall with her sweet potato, saying "Look, mama, painting!" :-) She likes to think outside of the box haha.
Now I have to look forward to changing all of those dirty diapers I missed on Father's Day!
Sunday, May 11, 2008
In the begining
I'm new to blogspot, but not new to blogging. I have a MySpace account that I'm totally addicted to, but I spend so much time tweaking my profile and answering messages that I forget to blog every now and then. And also, since my profile is set to private, only my friends list gets to read my blogs. I thought I'd try this avenue to get some of my blogs read by others, since most of my friends have been too busy to read my ranting and tales from spending the majority of my time with a 4 year old, a 2 year old, and a 4 month old (ie my children).
I'll start with a little back story on my life, to get everyone up to speed. May 26th will mark the one year anniversary of my marriage to my awesome husband and love of my life, Steven. We met in fall of 1999, when I was a sophomore in high school, and he was a senior. We began dating in April 2000, and stayed together until 2002. We split, went our separate ways, but never lost the love that we had for each other (it's a long and weird story). During this time, he married and had a son, and I had a daughter. In 2006, we finally started talking again (he had divorced his wife and I had split from my dead end relationship with a man who was cheating on me with Jim Beam and Budwiser), and we got back together. He proposed to me on New Year's eve going into 2007, and we married in May. We had our beautiful daughter, Brenna, in Jan. of this year.
So here we are. Nathan is about to turn 4 on the 21st, Ellaina turned 2 in Feb., and Brenna is almost 4 months old. Life is busy, to say the least. I'd love to see how much money I would have if I got a dollar for every diaper changed, every cup of juice made, and every time I've watched Aristocats and Blue's Clues on DVD. I'm sure it would be a lot. :-)
Nathan is my husband's son. His mother hardly sees him, which breaks my heart, because I have to see his sad little face when he starts to miss her. He's a great kid, though, he has a very advanced vocabulary for an almost 4 year old, and he tends to act a little big for his britches. We've had some behavior problems, mostly due to a mother in law that won't listen to a word we say, but that's getting a little better everyday. He gets quite a few time outs in a day's time, but at least he actually goes into the time outs now! haha He's a great kid, though, and has an infinity for making up knock knock jokes, most of which go "Knock knock! -Who's there?- Uh....apple. -Apple who?- Uh...apple, working on a fish tank!" Seriously folks, he has a million of these, all of them ending up with random objects working on fish tanks. Who knows what goes on in the mind of a preschooler... I recently taught him the one that goes "banana, banana who?" and ends with "orange you glad I didn't say banana again?", but he'll encore with an ad libbed fish tank special a la Nathan. It's a trip, really. :-)
Ellaina is my 2 year old daughter. Her father works in Yellowstone National Park (where we met in 2004 when I went out there to work retail as well), so she sees him like once a year. So of course, Steven is her "daddy", because she sees him on a daily basis. And personally, that's the way it'll stay until she's old enough to comprehend that Dave (ex) is her biological father, but ultimately, Steve will always be her "daddy". She's an amazing girl, so so smart. On Christmas day, I bought her some magnetic letters and a marker board so she could start learning her alphabet. Now remember that at the time, she was 22 months old. She started out sticking the letters to the board, and then suddenly, out of nowhere, she picks one up, shows it to me and says "A". Of course, it was the letter A. Amazed, I said "Yes, very good". I thought "Hey, wow, she knows a letter, cool." But it didn't stop there. She picked up another one and said "R", and another and said "D". She showed me that she already knew how to read about 10 letters. It just got better and better after that, and by her 2nd birthday, she could read all 26 letters, and recognize numbers 1-11. I can't think of a moment where I was more proud than that. She's the brightest thing I've ever met, and loves to reenact movie scenes now. Her favorites are Aristocats and Finding Nemo. She is constantly making me laugh. Maybe she'll grow up to be an actress and buy me a house somewhere...you never know. ;-)
Brenna is almost 4 months old and a great baby. She never cries, unless she's hungry, tired, or wet. She can lift her head while on her tummy, and already smiles, laughs, and "talks" to you. She's started sleeping through the night, which is awesome because I was starting to get a little loopy there for a while from sleep deprivation. I feel very blessed to have such great kids.
I also have a cat, Jakers, who is by far, a whackjob. He's a great cat, very affectionate towards me, but every night, around 11PM or so, switches to "LSD cat-mode" and runs around like a maniac, swatting and freaking out and attacking you at random. It's never a dull moment around that animal. He also loves to go "fishing", which consists of him knocking the thin plastic piece off the back of the top of the aquarium and sticking his paw in the water and waiting for our brim, Everett, to swim by. I'm gonna laugh when that fish bites the crap out of one of his fuzzy little fingers.
So there you have it. A little background on the whole gang. Stay tuned for future updates and just random rantings, which I tend to give out from time to time. Enjoy!
I'll start with a little back story on my life, to get everyone up to speed. May 26th will mark the one year anniversary of my marriage to my awesome husband and love of my life, Steven. We met in fall of 1999, when I was a sophomore in high school, and he was a senior. We began dating in April 2000, and stayed together until 2002. We split, went our separate ways, but never lost the love that we had for each other (it's a long and weird story). During this time, he married and had a son, and I had a daughter. In 2006, we finally started talking again (he had divorced his wife and I had split from my dead end relationship with a man who was cheating on me with Jim Beam and Budwiser), and we got back together. He proposed to me on New Year's eve going into 2007, and we married in May. We had our beautiful daughter, Brenna, in Jan. of this year.
So here we are. Nathan is about to turn 4 on the 21st, Ellaina turned 2 in Feb., and Brenna is almost 4 months old. Life is busy, to say the least. I'd love to see how much money I would have if I got a dollar for every diaper changed, every cup of juice made, and every time I've watched Aristocats and Blue's Clues on DVD. I'm sure it would be a lot. :-)
Nathan is my husband's son. His mother hardly sees him, which breaks my heart, because I have to see his sad little face when he starts to miss her. He's a great kid, though, he has a very advanced vocabulary for an almost 4 year old, and he tends to act a little big for his britches. We've had some behavior problems, mostly due to a mother in law that won't listen to a word we say, but that's getting a little better everyday. He gets quite a few time outs in a day's time, but at least he actually goes into the time outs now! haha He's a great kid, though, and has an infinity for making up knock knock jokes, most of which go "Knock knock! -Who's there?- Uh....apple. -Apple who?- Uh...apple, working on a fish tank!" Seriously folks, he has a million of these, all of them ending up with random objects working on fish tanks. Who knows what goes on in the mind of a preschooler... I recently taught him the one that goes "banana, banana who?" and ends with "orange you glad I didn't say banana again?", but he'll encore with an ad libbed fish tank special a la Nathan. It's a trip, really. :-)
Ellaina is my 2 year old daughter. Her father works in Yellowstone National Park (where we met in 2004 when I went out there to work retail as well), so she sees him like once a year. So of course, Steven is her "daddy", because she sees him on a daily basis. And personally, that's the way it'll stay until she's old enough to comprehend that Dave (ex) is her biological father, but ultimately, Steve will always be her "daddy". She's an amazing girl, so so smart. On Christmas day, I bought her some magnetic letters and a marker board so she could start learning her alphabet. Now remember that at the time, she was 22 months old. She started out sticking the letters to the board, and then suddenly, out of nowhere, she picks one up, shows it to me and says "A". Of course, it was the letter A. Amazed, I said "Yes, very good". I thought "Hey, wow, she knows a letter, cool." But it didn't stop there. She picked up another one and said "R", and another and said "D". She showed me that she already knew how to read about 10 letters. It just got better and better after that, and by her 2nd birthday, she could read all 26 letters, and recognize numbers 1-11. I can't think of a moment where I was more proud than that. She's the brightest thing I've ever met, and loves to reenact movie scenes now. Her favorites are Aristocats and Finding Nemo. She is constantly making me laugh. Maybe she'll grow up to be an actress and buy me a house somewhere...you never know. ;-)
Brenna is almost 4 months old and a great baby. She never cries, unless she's hungry, tired, or wet. She can lift her head while on her tummy, and already smiles, laughs, and "talks" to you. She's started sleeping through the night, which is awesome because I was starting to get a little loopy there for a while from sleep deprivation. I feel very blessed to have such great kids.
I also have a cat, Jakers, who is by far, a whackjob. He's a great cat, very affectionate towards me, but every night, around 11PM or so, switches to "LSD cat-mode" and runs around like a maniac, swatting and freaking out and attacking you at random. It's never a dull moment around that animal. He also loves to go "fishing", which consists of him knocking the thin plastic piece off the back of the top of the aquarium and sticking his paw in the water and waiting for our brim, Everett, to swim by. I'm gonna laugh when that fish bites the crap out of one of his fuzzy little fingers.
So there you have it. A little background on the whole gang. Stay tuned for future updates and just random rantings, which I tend to give out from time to time. Enjoy!
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