... When No One Else is Watching

Best Intentions

Before I became a mother I always figured I knew exactly how I was going to raise my children. I knew what they would be allowed to do and what they wouldn't, I knew I would never allow certain behaviors, and I would not ever be steam rolled into letting my children do those said things. Well, what did I know? This whole motherhood thing completely turns your thoughts upside down and makes you appreciate anyone who has raised a decent human being. When you don't have children it is so easy to say how you will raise your future children but doing everything you intend is a whole different ballgame. With that said, the following picture illustrates about six different things I said I would never let my child do. Let's go over them, shall we?

1. Eating away from the kitchen table.
2. Watching television while eating.
3. Watching television because mommy was using it as a babysitter while trying to get some things accomplished.
4. SITTING ON THE COFFEE TABLE!!! (She got up there while I had my back turned, the little one moves fast now that she has control of her limbs!)

Okay, so that is only four things, but the point is now proven. This parenting thing is so much more a slippery slope than I thought! On a side note, notice how the size of Mickey's head is larger than my daughter's head. That is another mistake I made, I allowed the hubby to buy a television that makes Mickey look life-size!

You Can't Say The Kid's Not Friendly

Avery has a new way of saying hello,,, and goodbye for that matter. When we went to her gym class this morning we were a bit late due to the madness that is IKEA (note to self: don't plan on having normal traffic when you have to drive by IKEA on their OPENING DAY!) Since we were the last people to enter the class many people looked up and said, "Hi Avery!" Her response? She said HI!!!! very loudly then proceeded to blow kisses and wave to everyone. Be on the lookout for her in the 2025 Miss USA pageant,,, she's a shoe-in

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Note to Self

A hardwood table is not a piece of furniture to have in your living room when your tot starts walking. She has slammed into this table about seventeen times in the last three days and I'm sure she must have a whopper of a headache. I'm going out to buy a large ottoman-table tomorrow,,, I can't take hearing the crack of her head on that wood one more time. And I'm sure she's quite over it too.

A New Happy List

I haven't done a list of things that make me happy in a while and I feel like rectifying the situation. Here goes.

• The new TV show 'Notes From the Underbelly'. It makes me laugh due to the fact I had many of the thoughts these women do when I was pregnant. And it's a bit raunchy,,, I'll just put it out there, I like that they haven't made this show all cutesy and have still left room for the jokes about how women are women and talk about things we shouldn't with our girlfriends because let's face it ladies, we are so much worse than men when it comes to things we shouldn't be talking about (but we do it anyway.) It's kind of like Sex and the City (a show of which I own all of the episodes) for the mommy crowd.
• A clean kitchen. I don't know why but lately if the kitchen isn't clean before I go to bed I wake up in a terrible mood, probably because I know I have to clean anything that wasn't cleaned up the night before. When I was single it didn't matter as much but now I love knowing the kitchen is clean. And it should be,,, because we have a pretty kitchen.
• Our yard. We have spent an exhaustive year trying to get our yard up to par. When we bought our home the only location that was landscaped was the front yard, and it wasn't done well. In the past year we have built a rock wall in the backyard to bring the yard up to a level point so it wouldn't be a huge slope, re-did the rock wall in the front yard, installed sprinklers, layed sod, bought a huge amount of trees along with a load of bushes and now it is almost to the point where we can consider it done. We still have a few things to do, but the yard is usable and that's a huge plus. Not a huge plus? The bill,,, you don't even want to know how much all of this cost,,, you would cry.
• A traffic report which happened on a local station where the reporter ends the report with, 'we give thanks for this beautiful day, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.' I heard about it while driving Avery to Little Gym and laughed all the way there. Only in Utah. If you want to hear it for yourself you can go on over to Dooce, who obviously thought it was funny as well and was able to find an audio link. Funny stuff!
• My daughter is walking. Most people would not think of this as something that would give them overwhelming joy, but I definitely do. She's going to be 17 months on the 20th and I'll be honest and say I was starting to get concerned, even though I found out recently that Rob didn't walk until he was eighteen and a half months old. She's now toddling around the house (with a lot of stumbles and falls) and I love seeing how proud of herself she is. I'm babyproofing everything in my home, but she's proud of herself and I'll babyproof the entire planet if I get to see that smile of hers everyday.
• I am now a dress size smaller! I've really done well with the weight loss thing and have now lost a total of 17 pounds. I was trying on some clothes today and was able to go into a size smaller in my pants,,, a huge victory. If you could have seen the happy dance I did in the dressing room it would have made your day,,, really, it would have.
• Mother's Day. A day for mothers! Who ever thought this one up is a genius in my book! Not only is it a day to celebrate she who is mom, but we get gifts too! The hubby did very well this year and got me the fine china I had been eyeing. Never let it be said that he doesn't listen! Okay, he doesn't listen to everything,,, because I talk A LOT, but this time the man had his ears on. Thanks husband!
• Coffee. My daughter has been getting up really early. Enough said.

Obviously, many other things can be listed, but time is limited and a child wants my constant attention. And that makes me happier than anything else.

Here Comes Reality!

Yes, I'm back from vacation,,, and it was a great vacation! But the one thing that always hurts a bit when you get back from a few days of R&R is the reality that is your life. It's so hard to get back into the swing of things and get your life back on track.

The one thing that wasn't great about our vacation was the fact I was away from Avery. This was the first time I have ever been away from her for more than four hours and to say I went through withdrawals is an understatement. I tried to behave myself and only call twice a day, although I will confess to calling to check in four times the first day. As luck would have it, the girl was wonderful for my mother and sister and only had one little breakdown. When we got back into town and entered our house, I peeked around the corner to see her in the family room and her reaction to my re-entry into her life was not what I expected. I expected laughter and smiles and unbridled excitement. What did I get? A look that seemed a bit perplexed, a look that said, "what are you doing here? I just got used to the fact you weren't coming home." I am pleased to say the look didn't last long and I finally got the laughter, smiles and uncontainable thrill I had been hoping for. Those moments made the moments I spent missing her completely worth it!

As I stated earlier, the vacation was wonderful and it was nice to be able to have conversations and enjoy a glass of wine without the girl screaming in the background. I have much more to talk about in regards to my vacation but like I said in the first paragraph, it's difficult getting back to real life and I have about a hundred things that need to be done in this house still. So, reality calls and I will post about my vacation later on,,, dishes are calling.

Here is my current favorite picture of the girl,,, how could I not miss that face?