Mock me if you must...

It's 5:30pm, already dark, and I just finally took a shower for the day. That sums up my life right now. I have been swamped with photo orders, editing, designing albums, and shooting. And to top it all off, we have all been sick for the last week and Amelia and I just can't seem to get over it. Why is Murphy's Law most rampant during the holiday rush? So annoying.

My post will be short (I'm allowing myself a 10 minute break while the girls eat chicken nuggets for dinner. Dan and I will likely eat cereal 'cause I just don't have time to cook these days.) Many of you know that I am still nursing Amelia. She is 14 months old and we are both still enjoying it. I remember back in the old days I used to see these women with toddlers yanking on their shirt begging to nurse. I was like, "Oh no, once that kid starts trying to help himself to the self-service bar, it's time to cut him off!" Well, guess what? I am that lady now! Amelia has started making her desire for "nummies" plainly evident by poking me in the boobs and saying, "UHuhhh" in a whiny and demanding voice. She only does it a couple times a day (I nurse her about 4 times a day) and I usually don't feed her then, just when she's going down for a nap or to bed. It's pretty obnoxious, yet funny at the same time. I had a client here a couple days ago and while we were looking at pictures on the computer, Amelia started jabbing me with her index finger and begging for "nummies." It was mildly embarrassing, but as I told Dan the other day, "I should be ashamed of myself, but I'm not."

Amelia is a much bigger snuggler than Lily ever was and I just love the closeness I feel with her when I'm nursing her. It's the few times that I get to sit quietly with her and just snuggle. She likes to pull gently on my hair, getting a strand and strumming it with her index finger. Or when she gets really tired she swirls her finger around in her hair. And she always has her woobie up by her face.

Warning: gratuitous boob shot ahead!
















Just 5 days old.

My snuggle bug at 9 months.

Snoozin' with hair in her hand and woobie snuggled close. October 2007

Having woobie joy! August 2007

Toting woobie around the dirty garage. It goes everywhere!

Now, just what is this woobie? My friend Brooks made it for me when Amelia was a baby. It's a small (about 18"x18") snuggle blanket with tabs of ribbon sewn around the edges. It has turned out to be a great friend! We joke that woobie is The Key to All Happiness.

Since you've seen a discreet picture of my boob, let me continue in the TMI (too much information) thread and tell you that my monthly visitor is back after a two year absence. With Lily, I started when she was six months old. I was still nursing plenty, so I just assumed it would be similar this time. Nope. It has been nice, but lately I've been getting paranoid that I might be pregnant because I've never heard of anyone going this long. To my great relief, I am indeed not pregnant. On Saturday morning I said to Dan, "I believe I'm menstruating" and Lily was like, "What does that mean?" Dan said, "it means Mama can get pregnant again." Lily got so excited and said, "Is she?!" Dan was like, "No, what I mean is that Mama's body is able to get pregnant again, but no, we're not planning on getting pregnant any time soon."

As glad as I am to not be pregnant, I totally forgot how annoying the monthly visitor (or Aunt Martha, if you will) is! I've been totally bloated and walking around with my jeans unbuttoned all day. That always makes one feel super attractive!

Now that you know all the intimate details of my life, I will likely not have time for another blog post for at least another week. So revel in this one all you can! (I just proofread this and had to laugh that I said this would be a short post. Yeah, I kinda exceeded my 10 minute limit!)

Star of the Week

Lily is the Star of the Week in her kindergarten class. She's been excited about it for a long time because it's the only time you get to bring show & tell. She brought her dog Babs yesterday. Babs has been Lily's favorite snuggle friend since she got her on her fourth birthday from Nana & Papa.

We made a poster for Lily to take to school that tells all about her. We were working on the book part and she said, "Mama, this is fun. We get to spend time together." Boy, was I chagrined that it's something that seems out of the ordinary.

Click to view larger.

Lily loves
Riding her bike
Playing with friends
Dancing
Going to the Library
Swimming
Snow
Dogs & Horses & Cats
Going to McDonald’s
Her sister Amelia
School & Reading
Singing with Mama
Biking with Daddy
Cheese Pizza
Milk
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Coloring & Drawing
Practicing her letters
Tea Parties
Going to the Park
Perler Beads
Chocolate M&M’s
Riding her Scooter
Babs & Snuggle Blankie

Lily’s Favorite Books
Up in Heaven by Emma Chichester Clark
Bad Dog Marley by John Grogan & Richard Cowdrey
Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen & Helen Oxenbury
Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton
Arthur books by Marc Brown
Books about horses
Scripture Stories

I'm so domestic

Working from home, I generally slack in the housekeeping department. There are always other demands that seem more urgent. But I want you to know that I mopped the kitchen floor last Wednesday. This is a major accomplishment for me. The two types of housework I hate the most are cleaning the shower and mopping floors. On Halloween I decided that I had been disgusted with the floor long enough, that I'd had enough of black feet after walking around the kitchen barefoot. It had been so long since I'd cleaned the floor that just mopping was not sufficient. I had to get down on my hands and knees, Cinderella style, and scrub for (gulp) over an hour to get the floor looking good.

What's your most dreaded house chore?

As if overtaken by some alter-ego, I also cooked today. I'm usually only good for about one meal a week, at best, otherwise it's cereal or burritos for dinner. After sending Dan on a late-night Walmart run last night to get poster board for Lily's Star of the Week poster, I called and asked him to pick up a roast. I cooked it in the crock-pot with potatoes, carrots, and onions and topped it with a mixture of 1-can cream of mushroom soup, 1-can cream of celery soup, and 1-can beef broth (or 2 bullion cubes dissolved in 1 3/4 cups water). I have to say that it was about the best roast I've ever made. Amelia wolfed it down and Lily even ate hers!

If you see a lady around town tomorrow wearing a big gold star, it's just me, gloating...

Stroke it!

I recently posted a California wedding on my photoblog. Becky asked if I wanted family to comment there, or just reserve it for clients. By all means, comment away. I need all the ego stroking I can get!

Today is a new day

'Scuse my crankiness yesterday. Dan and I went to the movies last night and it was just what I needed. To check out, mentally, and just enjoy some good laughs. We saw Dan in Real Life and it was hilarious! At one point I had tears running down my face I was laughing so hard. It's a must see! The poor guy had three daughters, two of them teenagers, and Dan and I had a glimpse of our future. If you think the drama's bad now, just give it another 6 or 7 years. Dan said the main reason he's not sure he wants to have another kid is because he's afraid it'll be a girl. Know any tricks to get a boy?

Bleh!

That's how I feel today. Still in a bad mood, or rather, in a bad mood again. Becky sent me a threatening email saying the pitchforks were getting wrestless for a new blog post, so I thought I could just get online and bit*@ and moan for a minute.

• Wasted the whole morning trying to download a video I took last night of Lily reading to her cousin Avelyn. Finally got it on my hard drive, but there was no sound. Kind of defeats the purpose of showing you how well Lily reads.
• So behind on editing.
• More behind on orders and wedding albums.
• Some hooey going down with one of my loved ones, bringing back bad memories of growing up in a home with pornography. The stuff is just sh*% and thinking that it only affects the offender and the spouse is just crap.
• Client still hasn't Paypal'ed me their sitting fee after cancelling on me four times (one of them just an hour before the shoot) then showing up 45 minutes late for their appointment after the sun had already set, afterwhich they pulled "oh my gosh, I'm out of checks!"
• Whiny kids.
• The U.S. Justice System sucks and is nowhere near having the best interests of children in mind.
• Wanna just send everyone away and lay in my bed all day.
  

Totally unproductive, shouldn't even be blogging, but there it is. I don't even have the energy to tell you all about Halloween, so you'll just have to be satisfied with a few pictures of the girls. Please comment if you want to add to the cranky party and B&M with me. No cheerfulness allowed.

2 Cuties