Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas!!

This morning I woke up to see that it had snowed just a little last night. Not enough to shovel, but enough to make the ground look pretty again (we had patches of grass yet mounds of snow, icky looking!)After getting to bed late and trying to get up early (and failing) I took Demand to gymnastics this morning, again there were some flurries but nothing to get excited about.

After class I had to brush off part of the car,but still nothing exciting. Then I heard the forecast. We could get anywhere from 1-8 inches! It all seemed to stop by the time we came home for lunch but it's definitely a heavy snow now. I'm enjoying the snow much more than I did last week. We left a day early for Christmas travels to try and beat "the big storm". We left Monday night and drove half way no problem. (Mr. Sloth has a different opinion seeing as he was the one driving from 7:30pm-11:30pm) We took our time in the morning. After the worst continental breakfast, Demand and I took a swim at the hotel pool. Now I enjoy swimming but swimming in a hotel pool that is surrounded only by glass during a snowstorm....that's a cold experience, and since I wouldn't have time to dry my hair before hitting the road again, I wasn't about to go all the way in to get warm. Demand had a blast though, and she was very good about getting out of the pool when we were done especially since we weren't in there very long.

It took twice as long to drive the final two hours of the trip than under normal weather conditions, but most of that was our own fault. We took a detour to get the food we wanted and ended up detouring for over an hour. Eh, it was an adventure.


Christmas itself was great. We ended up sitting in the front row at Christmas Eve Mass because the Church was almost full when we got there. I wasn't sure if it was reserved for the handicapped or not, but the way I saw it, no one in their right mind would kick a pregnant woman out of her seat on Christmas Eve. That's just bad taste!!
And get this, Demand fell asleep right as Mass started, and slept the entire time! While we wish she could have enjoyed the Mass more, it was for the best, she hadn't napped all day and we were headed to a party right after Mass that would go late.

Santa Claus of course dropped off gifts for Miss Demand. She was after all a good girl this year. The night before, we kept trying to bribe her into bed, telling her she'd have presents in the morning. Well she already saw a hundred gifts under the tree, (she assumed all of them had her name on them) why couldn't she just have them? Sure enough the first words out of her mouth the next morning were, "Presents?". In all honestly she's quite boring at this gift opening business. It took her over half an hour just to open her stocking. It then took her over an hour to open her gifts from Santa. Sometimes she would get bored trying to open them and just walk away.

There was about a two hour lull before the rest of the family came over to open gifts. We cleaned up the mess and put away most of the toys which didn't matter anyway since Demand had already went back to Grandma and Papas toys. When the rest of the family got there and we started to pass out gifts, Demand got overwhelmed. She truly has Mr. Sloth's personality. Surrounded by gifts and semi-familiar people Demand turned to me and asked, "Dora?". She wanted to watch TV. Mr. Sloth had her rest in the back room and watch TV while the rest of us open gifts. It wasn't until after dinner that we convinced her to open her last few gifts. And I do mean we had to convince her.

We stayed one more day before heading home. Demand seemed surprisingly ready to leave Grandma and Papas. She kept running around the house saying "Road trip! C'mon Momma lets go!" Her only concern was that the new gifts all come home as well.

The weather coming home was actually worse. We thought we'd hit ice the second half of the trip, but as it turns out we had very thick fog the first half of the trip which is really scary. Luckily though we were with a pack of cars most of the time and never had to worry if there was a car we didn't see in front of us or a car behind who didn't see US. When we got to the point where we expected ice we found it was the clearest roads and view we'd had all week! No ice, no fog, nothing. It was smooth sailing.

When we got home we Mr. Sloth unpacked the car right away and I headed to the store to pick up dinner. While I was gone Mr. Sloth unpacked everything. It was so nice. The last few trips I've been taking a trip from FLYlady and the first thing I do, before even taking my shoes off, is completely empty the suitcases and start a load of laundry. I literally walk in the door with dirty laundry in hand (we keep it separate as we go) and start a load of laundry. Half the time Demand isn't even out of the car yet! Well Mr. Sloth caught on to me doing this after the last few trips and loves it. We hate having half empty suitcases laying around for a week. And there's nothing worse than being in the middle of a shower only to realize you haven't unpacked your toiletries yet. Mr. Sloth did a great job unpacking. It was hard to tell with Demands new toys and gifts scattered all throughout the upstairs,but I truly noticed the next day when I realized my black boots were on the shelf in the closet and not in the suitcase. Impressive Mr. Sloth!!


Demand is down for an early nap today. I think she's fighting something. She hasn't been sleeping well and after noticing that she was super crabby at an earlier time than usual I decided to try for an early nap. She fell asleep in record time. Fantastic! Now if she can only stay asleep for a few more hours and get the rest she needs.

More Snow

Today is my morning off. There's a most gorgeous snow fall outside and I have very little planned. As soon as I remove myself from the couch I'm going to start making some fudge and truffles for Christmas. I may read if I have time later, but we'll see.

Mr. Sloth took Demand, first to the Fitness Center, and then to a make-up gymnastics class. She was so cute leaving in her purple sweat suit.

Yesterday, we had a sledding playdate here. Demand had so much fun. She hadn't been too eager to get in the snow before yesterday, but I knew her friend with all her bravery would help Demand get excited. I barely had to do much work. She walked up and down the hill on her own, even slid down on her bottom a few times saying, "Momma, I'm sliding!". She helped her friend build a fort for a while but mostly enjoyed being pulled around in the sled. We only went down the hill three or four times. Which is more than fine by me. Our sled acts as a shovel so by the time we get to the bottom, we're both covered in snow and I can barely muster up enough momentum to get up.

I should go and enjoy the wonders of cooking alone in my kitchen!

In For the Day

Demand and I had the great pleasure of staying indoors all day today. I started by sleeping in since I had no where to go. And by sleeping in I mean I didn't set my alarm but of course woke up at 7:01am. Fifteen minutes later Demand joined us in bed and fell right back to sleep. A nice change of pace for us. Eventually Demand slunk out of our bed and I was forced to follow her.

I decided that since we'd be home all day it was the perfect time to really work on potty training. I put her on the potty right away but she insisted she didn't have to go. One minute later she peed on the step stool while brushing her teeth. The day did not seem promising. Into her second pair of underwear she went before we headed to the kitchen to make Mr. Sloth some coffee. I stayed in my pajamas most of the morning, partly because I felt like it and partly because it's all I can really wear right now.

Mr. Sloth got off to a slow start as well, leaving for work around 8:40am. Shortly there after I convinced Demand to try sitting on the potty again. Remembering how she had peed while sipping water earlier, I thought I would give it a try. Sure enough 15 seconds after giving her a drink of water she peed on the potty!! She peed three times today, which I think is a record. She never wet her second pair of underwear, she was switched to a pull-up however in the late afternoon as an attempt to have her nap.

Our afternoon was special because I got to babysit a nine month old. It was only for two hours, but it was exciting enough for Demand and I. The first twenty minutes he just cried, which made me remember how draining children under the age of one are and what I was in store for soon enough. He warmed up for about forty-five minutes though, eating and watching Demand. Demand is so ready to be a big sister. She read him stories, played peek-a-boo, sat on the blanket with him, and ran "errands" for me when needed. With an hour left I actually got him to fall asleep which, if you recall, NEVER happened with Demand. Demand never slept without nursing until she was two years old. Now, this little guy would have *liked* to nurse, but I had nothing to offer and he wasn't interested.

He napped in Demands old travel crib which *Valentine* will be sleeping in soon enough. When I came downstairs and Demand found out the little guy was sleeping in her room she wanted to nap. (Yeah, right! Sure you do! )After he left she was still insisted on napping....in the travel crib. Now she grew out of that thing when she was 7 months old, so you can only imagine how ridiculous she looks in there now.

So Demand never napped which showed by the time Mr. Sloth came home. I managed to entertain her with snow for the third time today while I made dinner. As soon as she was done eating she was just *done*. I didn't get a chance to finish my fourth taco because Demand was crying for me upstairs (and she never cries for us by name). She was having problems getting her notebook to stand up like an easel, which of course is worthy of crying over. We've learned that a tell-tale sign that Demand is overtired is when she starts crying over coloring. Very bizarre.

Mr. Sloth went to the gym while I bathed Demand and put her to bed. She even seemed unusually interested in sleeping because she asked to be done with her bath and get clothes on. Midway through dressing her I realized that she wanted to sleep in the "green crib" (travel crib for babies). When she realized that wasn't an option, it was all over.

Demand is asleep now, and Mr. Sloth is still at the gym, and I have eaten my fair share of chocolate coated things for one day, but I still have a dirty kitchen. It's the last room to be cleaned today. I was able to clean upstairs during bath time which is awesome. Including putting fresh sheets on our bed and putting away all the clean laundry. I'd like to have the kitchen done before Mr. Sloth gets home but I feel I'm running out of time.

To wrap things up, here are some lessons for the day.

1) Snow indoors is natures best activity for toddlers. Any mess it makes is well worth it.

2) Drinking water can make you pee. (Didn't know that.)

3) And bathtub soap-paints are priceless since they entertain toddlers, encourage creativity, and wiping it off cleans your tub.

Fan-tastic!

The problems with snow

First things first. Butternut squash,ginger, carrot soup is the best soup on earth.

Now that I've cleared that up, let's move on.

When I last posted I had big plans for the afternoon. Well a good number of those plans were crushed. I attempted to seal the living room window but was met with a number of obstacles. I couldn't figure out why the tape wouldn't stick until I realized that the window was open a crack at the top causing a cold (-23 degree) draft and moisture to come in. I of course didn't discover this to be the problem until I completely lost my patience and was on the verge of tears.

Since I had completely trashed the living room trying to finish the window, I tried to make myself feel better by at least vacuuming. It was then I realized my vacuum wasn't vacuuming AT ALL. Fantastic!!! Grrrr! I took apart the vacuum to find not one, but two pens stuck in the hose along with about 9 inches of clog. Even after removing all that, the vacuum still doesn't work that well.

By the time Mr. Sloth came home I had cleaned up and found a less than stressful mood to present. I'd hate to be "that wife" who attacks her husband with problems from the second he walks in the door. That said, I did IM him while I was working on the window and said things like "I'm not dealing with this anymore, you'll have to do it", but Mr. Sloth knows I was just having crazy time.


So. Today. I've been trying to be the first one up in the morning but Demand has some sort of internal device in which she knows when I'm planning on getting up. She then wakes up 15-30 minutes prior. Yesterday she woke up early enough to come to bed with us so when I got up she jumped out of bed right behind me with a laundry list of needs, which in the morning always starts with "oatmeal". On any given day I would bet money that the first words out of her mouth will be "I want oatmeal".

Anyway, this morning she woke up at 6:45am exactly 15 minutes before my alarm was to go off. We let her cry hoping she'd go back to sleep. She did quite down. When I slunk past her bedroom at 7:07am she wasn't in the doorway so I bolted downstairs. I had a very brief period of time to myself before I heard her at the gate in her doorway. Today the first words out of her mouth were, "I big chocolate". Which, as most parents know, is not a stocking stuffer. I changed her diaper and clothes before we headed downstairs for, you guessed it, oatmeal.

Since she and I were both dressed and ready to go at 7:20 (ish) I thought I would try and head to 8am Mass. Mr. Sloth offered to watch her while I went. I bundled up, prayed I had enough gas, and slowly drove through the snowy roads to the Church only to remember that there is no 8am Mass on Wednesdays. I decided to do Mr. Sloth a favor and fill the car with gas but just as I neared our home I heard on the radio there was an accident right next to the gas station. Forget that, I'm heading home.

Mr. Sloth decided to work from home for the morning so I had to pack up Demand and head to gas station anyway. I made the mistake of taking a shortcut involving a hill and got stuck just behind the gas station. I had to back up and go around the block. All the pumps were taken so I parked behind the only car facing the right direction for me. The person was inside the store...for ten minutes. Finally I took my chances and moved to another pump.

After many prayers for patience, I was ready to hit the road. I barely had enough momentum to get through the intersection, but long story short, we made it to my appointment and back without incident, although we saw enough of them.

As soon as we got home Demand I started to make a candy house. It's as lovely as a you would expect a two year old to make, except I made it and let a two year old decorate it. You have to work fast with toddlers or they will (a) help in their own unique way or (b) get bored. I frosted an oatmeal box and covered it with graham crackers as quickly as possible. Then let her do as she wished. She was really excited about putting frosting, "snow" as she called it and M&Ms on it. Of course more frosting and candy went in her mouth than on the house but she did eat a good lunch afterwards so I don't care.

As soon as she lays down for her nap I have to finish planning class for CCD tonight and wrapped up a few household chores. If I get all my work done I can take Demand out to play in the snow after her nap. I'll get to use my new super warm snow gloves and hat.


But who are we kidding, I'll probably just nap the whole time.

Day in the Life

Today was the first day in a long time I was able to be the first one up. I managed to get to bed before 11pm last night which has been rather difficult to do these days. The extra sleep helped tremendously.

So I woke up and stumbled downstairs, straight to the fireplace and grabbed a blanket. It was at that point, standing barefoot and freezing in my living room I failed to remember *why* I wanted to get up first. "Ah, yes!", I thought. I wanted time to get ready and prepare for the day before Demand wakes up. I grabbed my Bible for some morning prayer. I decided that in the spirit of Christmas I would begin to read the book of Isaiah. After realizing there were more than 60 chapters in Isaiah, I moved to the book of Luke.

That done, I tried to decide what to do next. Putting on real clothes sounded like too much work, and besides the clothes I was wearing were remotely warm and I knew the clothes I had laid out the night before were sitting near the window in our room, brrr!

Which brings me to my next segment. I started to heat some water for tea, grabbed a banana that I would never get to finish, and sat down at the computer. It was then that I realized it was -2 outside, but felt like -23. That would explain the chill in the air. Nutcracker! That's cold!!!!

I finally decided to get dressed, but when I reached the top of the stairs. Demand was standing in her doorway, calm and quiet as could be waiting for someone to free her. She was in a delightful mood which was nice. We both went to wake up Mr. Sloth. I had the unfortunate task of not only waking him up, but waking him to tell him it was -23 degree wind chill and I needed the driveway shoveled so I could make my doctors appointment. He slunk back into the covered till I could only see one of his eyes staring back at me with an evil glare saying "I don't want to".

While Demand ate "cake-cakes" (Pancakes) and half of my banana. (See I told you I would never get to eat it), I warmed our clothes in the dryer and got dressed myself. Mr. Sloth had cleared the driveway, and wisely decided to work from home by the time we had to leave. The roads were yucky. They weren't wet, or slushy, they were frozen. You never knew what was safe to drive on. Scary.

The doctors appointment went well (and fast) and Demand and I stopped at Target to pick up a few things like hats and gloves that fit Mr. Sloth and I. Demand defined the words baby steps as we slowly moved across the indescribably cold parking lot. Man do I love places that have "Expectant Mothers and Parents with young children parking"...this Target did not.


So that was our morning. Demand is in her room *not* napping right now. She'll be in there until 3pm at least, unless she sleeps, which would be great. In that time I hope to finish cleaning the bathroom, switch the laundry, start dinner, and start sealing the windows for winter. Better late, than never, eh? When she wakes up I hope to vacuum, although my vacuum has been less than cooperative lately, and possibly make a candy house with Demand. All the while I need to be praying that Mr. Sloth can make enough money so that we can pay the mortgage next month. Don't be too concerned, it's just the way things work when you run your own business. Every month is a toss up!

I better get cracking. Perhaps I'll warm up a bit by scrubbing my shower. Hmmm, maybe I should just shower....

Miss Manners

A quick post about Demand.

95% of the time she is the most polite child you could ever imagine and Mr. Sloth and I can't take credit for any of it. For example when she gets adjusted at the chirpractors she gets a sticker. She knows where they are and how to get them, but she won't get one until she's told she can. Secondly, at the end of each of her gymnastics class the kids gets stamps on their hands and feet. She's always the first one to sit and be ready, yet always the last to get her stamps because other children aren't as patient. She's great about saying please, thank you, excuse me...with very little prompting.

Anyway, a few days ago I was sitting on the floor in her room reading books before naptime. She bent down in front of me, tilted her pigtailed head and asked, "Massage?". She then proceeded to massage my neck and shoulders. She's actually quite good at it too. You'd never know a two year old was giving you a massage. What service though, huh?

Well yesterday was full of rushing around and Demand had been in a mood the first half of the day, but surprised me at dinner. Because Mr. Sloth and I had CCD to teach, dinner was chili from freezer. Just thaw, warm, and serve. Demand sat down ready to eat and said, "Chili? Yummy!!" She shoveled spoonful after spoonful in her mouth and kept saying. "This is really good chili momma. Thank you momma."

She'll stay like this forever, right? Cute and polite?

Exhaustion and the Great Mr. Sloth

It is with great exhaustion that I write tonight. In fact, it's the second night in a row I've felt like this. Let me explain...

Monday evening I had some time to kill before people gathered to watch "Heroes". I found an article online that spoke of strong marriages and challenged it's readers to do something everyday for their spouse. Nothing I hadn't heard before, but it inspired me just the same. I was going to do something for Mr. Sloth!!

Things didn't work out like I had planned. By the time our late viewing of "Heroes" was over I was exhausted and on the verge of rather bad headache so I went to bed. I woke up at 3am to a horrible, horrible headache. I got up and took Tylenol (obviously not something I do often during pregnancy) and grabbed ice for my head. I was convinced it was a migraine triggered by the weather (we had gotten a few inches of snow that day). Weather migraines are the worst because there's nothing I can do about them. With that in mind I thought I would have the headache the entire next day. I hesitantly woke Mr. Sloth and asked him to massage my neck, half expecting him to half heartedly oblige, but with little to no effort before falling back asleep himself. To my surprise, without question he rolled over and managed to actually bring me enough relief that I could fall asleep again. I thanked him the next day, adding that I was in so much pain at the time I couldn't tell him he was actually helping me.

So instead doing something nice for Mr. Sloth he did something nice for me. I was still motivated to do something nice for him though.

Yesterday was super busy. Our day started with a slower than slow drive due to snow to gymnastics class. Then Demand and I headed to the fitness center so *I* could work out. I had a fantastic swim. It's so much better to swim when there are only two other people in the pool than when there are three people to a *lane* while a water exercise class is going on causing ocean like waves in the pool. I could have kept swimming but I figured baby needed a rest and Demand would want lunch eventually.

So after basically two work outs, I headed home for more work. Demand took a nap after lunch while I cleaned and got dinner ready. After dinner I got Demand bathed and ready for bed while Mr. Sloth had his turn for the gym, as soon as he got home I headed out the door to pick up gifts for the "adopt a family" we had. I shopped for two hours with Obscure and Sidekick. By the time we got home, it was 10pm and realized that I hadn't sat down all day. Quite literally. Mr. Sloth and I both fell into bed beyond exhausted. Now remember, I was still determined to do something nice for Mr. Sloth. I had tried really hard to have a clean kitchen for him when he got home, but it never completely happened. So I woke up at 3am again. Not with a headache. With severe leg cramps. Between the standing, swimming, walking, pregnancy, etc, my legs we're done. I would sit up, get the cramp to go away, only to have it re triggered due to the unique way a 7 month pregnant lady has to lay down. It went on for a long time. Finally Mr. Sloth heard my whimpers and asked what was wrong. As soon as he heard I was having leg cramps he jumped out of bed.

Mr. Sloth has told me many times of how he used to get severe leg cramps all the time growing up, really bad ones that would make him walk with a limp for days. So for the second night in a row Mr. Sloth went above and beyond for me when I had planned on doing it for him. He jumped up and massaged my leg until the cramps stopped completely. I would have been completely blown away by his charity, had I not known his empathy for leg cramps. I was no less grateful, but definitely more indebted to his recent acts of charity.

So, the moral of the story is that Mr. Sloth has to stop being so nice so I can be nice.

So that brings us to today. I still haven't really done anything for Mr. Sloth. I've been trying, but nothing seems to get completely done in the time I'm allotted every day. I did get the fridge completely cleaned out and wiped out though. I know it had been bother him, and after cleaning it out I think we might healthier people now too.
Part of the reason I couldn't get the kitchen clean today was that I had 15+ presents to wrap for the "adopt a family" while Demand was napping. When Demand wasn't napping she was "potty training" or as I like to call it pooping and peeing in underwear. But that's a whole 'nother adventure for a whole 'nother post.

Weekend Update

When I last left you Demand had gotten sick inexplicably and our Saturday plans were tentative. Saturday was also the Feast of St. Nicholas. We decided to start celebrating it this year. Friday at dinner (before she got sick) we told Demand to put her shoes out so St. Nick could come and leave her presents. With the chaos of her being sick I didn't think it would work, but Demand wasn't picky. Mr. Sloth slept in her room until 5am. I just happened to be wide awake around then so when she woke up at 5:30am I had problem taking over. She was apparently feeling better as upon seeing me she declared "I wake up!!! Let's have dinner!!" I wasn't convinced of her being better yet so I sat her on the couch to watch a show and rest while she ate dry cereal and watered down juice. Sure enough, NOW I was tired. I kept falling asleep and waking up to Demand singing or dancing. By 8am Demand wanted a real breakfast of oatmeal (her favorite). It was then that I decided it was Mr. Sloth's turn. It was afterall my morning off. I woke up Mr. Sloth so he could take over and then I finally showed Demand what St. Nick had brought. She said, "Oh, this is nice!". She cracks me up. So I went back to bed for an hour before we all got ready to go shopping. We lasted about five hours before heading home for the day, Demand did great the whole time.

Sunday was a different story. Apparently Demand wasn't better yet. She slept in until 9am and then we all rushed to make 10am Mass. We were in the Church about three minutes when she fell asleep. FELL ASLEEP!!!! She has slept all of one Mass in her life, her first one. When she was two weeks old we took her to Mass for the first time. It was at the Cathedral, packed with people and loud organ music. That was it. From then on she would always wake up and want to held, nursed, or shown things at Mass. Needless to say we were shocked. Mr. Sloth still stuck in her heavy coat held Demand (still all bundled up herself) the whole Mass. She didn't wake up until Communion. Crazy!!


We went home for a quick lunch before dropping Demand off at Grandmas. We were heading to the History Museum for a rare exhibit from the Vatican. When we picked up Demand her Grandma agreed she wasn't herself. She almost fell asleep in Grandmas arms too! She was just so lethargic all day, until all of a sudden, around 6pm she just "got better". You could just tell. She had energy, appetite...spunk. Very bizarre.

It's snowing now. Apparently we're to get 3-6 inches today which would be great. We have some snow right now; enough to make the roads slippery but not cover the grass. On our ever growing list of things we need is a sled. We're excited for Demand this year. She'll really be able to sled down our nice hill.

Big plans

When I woke up this morning I had high hopes for the day. Demand and I had no plans or commitments for the day, and the house was 80% clean. I thought I would get in comfy clothes (which are getting harder and harder to find these days) and Demand and I would just do activities all day.

Demand had other plans.

Boy was she in a mood today. Crabby, frustrated, resilient. Usually our mornings go pretty quickly but not today. After we ate breakfast and got dressed I asked if she wanted to draw lines. She likes to practice tracing straight lines and such. She had fun for about two minutes then got frustrated but didn't want help. Then she wanted to do a puzzle. Not just any puzzle, the United States floor puzzle made for ages 6+. We like her doing the puzzle but it does take some patience on our part. She can actually do the whole boarder with very little assistance and then we go over the states and such as we put the pieces in the middle. Nothing was going her way, and it showed.

Finally I decided it would be fun to make fudge. I found a great simple recipe that she could help with. She had fun making the fudge. She unwrapped all the chocolate pieces and counted them as we put them in the pot. Next she wanted to "wash dishes" in the sink. Which was fine it's a great activity to keep her attention for a while. Although she dumped a whole container of water on the floor and licked the chocolate spoons *after* she put them in the soapy water. (eww!)

Of course today was the day Mr. Sloth was late getting home for lunch. We fought her the whole time trying to get her to eat her lunch. She was very ready for a nap and it showed. The nap never happened by the way. After an hour and a half of telling her to get back in bed and/or changing a poopy diaper, I thought she might sleep in our bed with me. No. It didn't happen, but she was so kind as to head butt me and give me a headache.

By this time it was 3pm and my dream of a lovely Friday home with my daughter was over. I asked Mr. Sloth to come home with the car so I could get out of the house. Besides we were desperate for food. Apparently graces were abundant today because Mr. Sloth thought I would be ten times more stressed after seeing how Demand was acting, but I was mostly numb. The other day was much more stressful. We went to the post office and Aldi with little trouble. Target on the other hand.... I was so sick of her hearing "cheese stick" repeated over and over and over again. By the time we got home I was done with her, but she wasn't done with me.

Finally we ate dinner and then Mr. Sloth took to play in the fresh snow. I had time to myself until they were done. When they came in I helped get all the snow gear off and then wrapped Demand in a blanket and held her on my lap in front of the fire. Two minutes later she started vomiting all over me.

It was obviously time for a much needed bath followed by bedtime. She seemed fine during her bath and after, but Mr. Sloth said she had a fever when he came downstairs after putting her to sleep. Ugh. Please don't be sick!!

If she stays asleep, then I have a lovely evening planned fully of food and movies. Tomorrow I've volunteered to forfeit my morning off (unless she's vomiting, then I'm reclaiming my morning off) so we can all go Christmas shopping and get it done with for the season. And my morning shall start with Caribou Coffee!!

I can't wait, I can almost taste the warm decaf peppermint mocha now! Delicious!

Laugh or Cry

Yesterday was aweful. Just aweful. I had started to blog about it, but then I decided that it was over with and I didn't want to complain about it anymore. My day got better once we all went to the gym for some alone time. Mr. Sloth on the machines, Demand at the playground, and me in the pool. Once Demand was in bed for the night I had a nice warm bath with a cup of hot cocoa and spent the rest of the evening watching pointless television.

Today, I decided after Demand went down for her nap today that I would fight stress/bad mood with cleaning. I set the timer for 15 minutes and decided to nothing but attack the kitchen in that time. It's amazing how a clean kitchen can change your mood. (Thanks FLYlady!)

After my 15 minutes were up I had an 80% clean kitchen I then decided to make a fantastic snack of turkey crostinis (ask me about those later). It was a great idea!


So let me walk you through the last twenty minutes of my life. Demand wakes up crying while I'm on the phone. By the time I get off upstairs she's smiling sleepily at the gate. I notice the distinct smell of a dirty diaper but I am surprised since she went right before naptime.

Me: Do you need a new diaper?
D: Yeah, I big poopy.

So as I start to change her diaper she says,

D: I see chocolate.
M: You see chocolate?
D: Yeah, chocolate.
M: (hesitantly) Where?
D: Down there. (points to diaper)

Oh, boy. That could have been so much worse.

Since we'll be home until after dinner, and she had just pooped (twice) I decided to put her in big girl underwear. We get downstairs. I pop in her DVD (she only gets to watch a show if she sleeps) and sit on the couch (Demand is standing next to the couch). Within seconds I hear,

D: I'm all wet.
M: You're all wet?
D Yeah, all wet.

Sure enough she had peed. So I say,

M: Ok, stay here I'll get you new underwear (as I walk away I hear,)
D: And a towel!!

Snort! I'm glad to hear that she was concerned about the carpet. Mr. Sloth is aware of all this happening, and is very content being in his cold office right now. He'd much rather freeze than deal with bodily fluids. I can't say I agree. I hate being cold.

Alright, I have forty-five minutes until we have super healthy frozen pizza for dinner (note the sarcasm) and I have laundry to switch and more to fold, plus I should clean some more of the kitchen before Mr. Sloth gets home.

Our Thanksgiving

Ah. Thanksgiving.

Tuesday evening, I realized that Thanksgiving was in two days and I needed to get my act together. I did my first of four "last trips" to the grocery store for ingredients, finalized my menu, and started making a plan and time table for cooking/cleaning. I spent a lot of Wednesday cleaning and prepping. By the end of the day I had a decently clean house and all but one of my dishes made.

In fact, the stress didn't hit me until 1:30pm Thursday afternoon. About the time Demand protested her afternoon nap. (The first time in a long time) If she didn't sleep, fine, I wasn't going to fight that battle, but we did need her in her room for a minimal two hours just so we could get work done. Around the same time, Mr. Sloth was having some issues with the turkey which pushed back grilling time. (more on that later) and I kept realizing not only what I hadn't done yet, but I realized a lot of little things I hadn't thought of that needed to be done.

Around 3:30pm (a half hour to an hour before guests were to arrive) is when we really kicked into gear. I had to let Demand out of her room. That's when I discovered her most disgusting diaper. Half way through changing the diaper I decided the best place to put Demand was the bathtub. Perfect for everyone. She's staying clean and out of the way while being entertained. This allowed me to do my hair,makeup, get dressed and pick up the playroom. (Before I get concerned phone calls you can see Demand fully (and hear her at all times) from her playroom..actually, most of the upstairs.

Meanwhile Mr. Sloth was downstairs cleaning and managing the turkey. Everything came together, and we were ready before guests came. (It helped that they got lost and were later than expected)

Since all my dishes were done or waiting to be cooked through I just had to wait and follow my time table (which was a great idea by the way!) Mr. Sloth however kept hitting road blocks...a lot of them. From having a roasting rack too high so he couldn't close the lid, to having the wheel fall off the grill. One thing we really had going for us was that the kids were entertained up in the playroom and no one was really hungry. Around 6pm, after seeing pink juices from the Turkey, we decided to eat all the other dishes while the Turkey finished in the oven. Mmmmmmm, why don't I make this food all the time??? Sadly, after stuffing ourselves some of the guests had to leave, before the Turkey was ready. Mr. Sloth was frustrated.

But...

When it was done, it was the most fantastic turkey ever. No really. It was. Demand who chose to throw back sparkling grape juice rather than eat during dinner LOVED the turkey and kept coming back for more. In fact considering some of our guests had left, we made a big dent in that wonderful Turkey.

After a long day filled with fun with cousins and no nap, I actually saw Demand grab a blanket and climb onto the couch. You don't see that too often around here. The rest of our guests left and Mr. Sloth put Demand to bed. She was more than ready. She grabbed her new snowflake pajamas and brought them down to Mr. Sloth. How's that for a hint? I did some cleaning while she went down for the night and then Mr. Sloth took over. I would have helped more if baby Valentine wasn't staging a protest over the days events.

By 9pm the kitchen was clean, just in time for company again. Yep, we weren't done yet. It was time for our annual viewing of "A Muppet Christmas Carol" with friends. It's no surprise that when the movie ended at 11:30pm, I was more than done. And off to bed I went.

It's now 8:43am and Demand and Mr. Sloth are still sleeping. Eh, I guess the longer they sleep the longer the kitchen will stay clean.

I can eat pumpkin cheesecake for breakfast, right?

Jesus Cake!

With the Holidays approaching very quickly Demand has been learning a lot these days. The last two weeks at Bible Study she's learned about Thanksgiving, although when I asked her what we do on Thanksgiving she only says, "Cookie Pie". Hmmmm, I don't recall that being on the menu.

Speaking of which I am hosting Thanksgiving this year. Mr. Sloth is grilling the Turkey and in charge of the gravy. (He's rather excited) After other food is assigned (assuming Mr. Sloth calls his family members) I'll be in charge of various potatoes, stuffing, cranberries and bread. One super-bonus is that we have two ovens! Sidekick will of course NOT be using his oven that day and actually since his fridge is almost always empty we're thawing the turkey in there as well...assuming Mr. Sloth buys a turkey soon.


Apparently the day after Thanksgiving we're having another Thanksgiving with the same family, but honestly I'm confused. The day after THAT we have Friends Thanksgiving. This will be our third year to gather with friends and eat semi-traditional turkey-day food and pretend to be adults for once. Needless to say I'm going to be sick of turkey and fixings by the end of the weekend.

We're gradually teaching Demand about Christmas. She knows the Holy Family. She knows that Jesus' mother is Mary and Jesus' foster daddy is "Jophus"(Yes, Jophus.) Next I told her that Christmas is Jesus' birthday to which she promptly exclaimed. "CAKE!!". So up until yesterday if you asked her what Christmas was she would say "Jesus Cake!".Yesterday, I finally got her to respond with "Jesus' birthday". Although you can't blame her she associates birthdays with cake and presents. I think she'll be pleasantly surprised Christmas morning, even if there is no cake. (By the way I'm not opposed to doing birthday cakes for Jesus, but some people in the Sloth family thinks is silly.)

I briefly told Demand about Santa Claus to which she exclaimed, "PRESENTS!! I go Gramas house get presents". Nothing gets past her. Last night she saw her first Christmas lights. The garden store near us was all decked out and Demand thought it was fantastic. She's going to love the Christmas Season.

I've made pretty good progress with Christmas planning/shopping, thanks to my Holiday Control Journal. Demands things are all picked out and half of them have been bought. I found some super deals at Menards, including a doll house with all the furnishings for $24. One hiccup we've had with Christmas shopping is the 5 birthdays within three weeks in our family. That's not counting the birthday we forgot. We have birthdays on Nov. 23 & 25 and three, count em three birthdays in December. (four siblings, one niece) I honestly did avoid a December baby for this very reason. We can't afford it!!!

We know the holidays are going to come fast and as soon as Christmas is over it's countdown until baby comes. Yikes!

Our Weekend

Saturday was Mr. Sloth's morning off. He slept in and then went to the gym. He ended up calling me at 11am, wondering if we could go to lunch. Could we?? Of course! We decided to try the pizza buffet down the street. It was great, and again a fantastic solution for Demand she had a few bites of pizza, few bites of pasta, some broccoli, and some tomatoes. For only $7/person it's a great deal. I also managed to gorge myself on orange sierra mist, it was fantastic.

After filling up on unhealthy food we all needed a nap and then I was off to get groceries. I extremely surprised to find that my longer than usual grocery list still only cost me $40 at Aldi (have I mentioned I love that store?). Then again I had a few things to buy at Target that more than made up for the savings at Aldi.

For dinner, Mr. Sloth made homemade mac'n cheese. It was divine. How can you go wrong with pasta, cottage cheese, sharp cheddar, sour cream, bacon and panko bread crumbs though, right??

Sunday we went to the earlier Mass. Our parishes have wicked early, early, decent, mid-day Masses, we usually go tot he "decent" hour one, but yesterday needed to go to the "early" one. Demand knew her friend was going to be at this Mass so as soon as the closing song was over Demand started asking, "Where's M? Where's M???" Little did she know that Miss M knew very well where she was. Those two are a hoot to watch. While I gorged myself on Church doughnuts, Mr. Sloth brought Demand over to meet the visiting priest. He was from Africa and sitting alone, probably because people can rarely understand what the African priests are saying. Afterwards Mr. Sloth asked Demand if she met a priest, she said yes.Then he asked if he was nice, she said, "Yeah. Nice dress." (Snort!)

Our next stop was the Children's Museum seeing as it was Free 3rd Sunday. We were going with Demand's friend and her family. It was the busiest I'd ever seen the place and it really wore on my patience. Demand has fantastic patience. I was boiling on the inside. I understand children are children and will take things, cut in line, etc, but WHERE ARE THEIR BLOODY PARENTS!!??!

For dinner Mr. Sloth made burgers stuffed with bacon, cheese and other goodness. Demand loved them too even though she had already eaten a big dinner by the time they were doing. Then it was off to bed for Demand because she was starting to show signs of illness. Sure enough she woke up at 4:30am coughing and crying and apparently with a fever. I told Mr. Sloth weeks ago that I can't help her anymore when she wakes up in the middle of the night. She mostly just wants someone to lay on the floor next to her, but this pregnant lady can't lay on the floor anymore. So, Mr. Sloth is in charge of middle of the night adventures until Baby Valentine makes his/her appearance. I woke up around 7:30am and Demand was just standing at the gate in her doorway, obviously still sick. I asked her if she wanted to watch TV on the couch and she said, "Yeah, ok" so quietly. Poor thing! We spent the day trying to rest, but a sick Demand means lots of cuddles for me, so that's fun.

I've written enough, later I'll share some of my Christmas shopping joys! ;)

This week in pictures...

 

In this picture, Demand had managed to prop her blinds open so she could have light in her room during naptime. You can see her asleep on the floor (in pink) with her head in the sunlight. You can also see the blinds propped on the crib.

 

Demand decided she wanted to get in 1/2 her monkey costume from Halloween. You'll also notice she is wearing winter boots and is in fact pantless.

 

Here's another wonderful picture of our resident monkey!

Raising the Bar....er Grill

Remember how Mr. Sloth and I switch Saturday mornings off? You know, every other Saturday you have the morning to do whatever you want while the other watches Demand?

Well we've added another exciting twist to our weekends. Mr. Sloth is now in charge of dinner on Saturdays and Sundays. It works great for both of us since he's often frustrated about not getting to grill more (or even just experiment with cooking more) and I'm quite content cooking five days a week. So far it's worked out great. Mr. Sloth gets a little excited about experimenting and tends to spend the same amount of money on two dinners that I spend on all our weeks meals, but he's getting better as the weeks go by. I think he's really having fun with it and looks forward to the adventure every week. Plus, it's nice for me to not have to cook on the weekends. Our lunches are usually left overs, free for all, or we eat when we're out and about on a Saturday.

Our Saturday mornings off are still working out well. Although I believe Mr. Sloth is working the system a bit. Even though you get first dibs for house vs. car when it's your day off, he gently pushes to have the car on my morning off so he can go to the gym and drop Demand off at daycare (or in some cases he uber-cheats and takes Demand to his mother's.) This past Saturday was my day and everyone slept in until 9am which means they weren't even out of the house until 10am (not much of a morning). Luckily, I was in an organizing mood and after sending him to pick me up a fancy coffee, I just lounged around the house piddling with whatever fit my fancy. (Is piddling a word or just something my parents said??) I think I cleaned my desk, organized two linen closets, listened to MY music (not Veggie Tales) and planned some Christmas stuff in my Holiday Journal. It was nice...while it lasted. This Saturday I think Mr. Sloth's plans are the same as my weekend off...he sleeps in and then heads to the gym.

He's totally working the system.

Pain in the neck

This has been a very, very long week.

Monday was going great until 1pm when all of a sudden I got the spins; seriously dizzy, nauseous, and sweating.(And no I had not been drinking.) After talking to my doctor and realizing it wasn't serious enough to come in for I just had to push through. It was nap time, which I thought worked out well, but Demand had other plans. I've been napping with the door open so in case Demand breaks out of her room and I don't hear it on the monitor there's a chance I'll here in the hall/playroom or she'll even come in to find me. I thought I was being clever by leaving the gate in the doorway and closing the door. Demand opened the door, no problem. Met with the gate she decided to take police action and charge through the thing. All I heard was crash, "whoa", "mama?". By the time I got to her room (remember I had the spins) she had left the scene of the crime. I called for her downstairs, and a minute later a happy toddler in monkey footed pajamas came trouncing upstairs carrying a number 8 UNO card. (Why a number 8 UNO card? I don't know, it's a toddler thing.) Mr. Sloth ended up coming home to help me finish the day. He took Demand to the gym with him so I could rest and fight what Mr. Sloth believed was a sinus related issue. It ended up lasting over 8 hours, basically until I went to bed.

Tuesday I woke up with what I thought was a large crick in my neck. It got worse as the day went on and after Demand went to bed I realized I was in some serious pain. I couldn't sleep all night it was so bad, and woke up Wednesday with it again, only worse. Wednesday morning the pain that ran down the right side of my neck and spread halfway down my back was twice as bad as it was the day before. I'd never had upper back pain that hurt to walk, lower back, yes, upper back?? No. I had limited use of my left arm and no use do my right arm. Mr. Sloth had to do my hair for me (Thank goodness we decided that a Father of a daughter needed to know how to make a ponytail!) I was heading to the chiropractor anyway, thankfully. She definitely helped, and after some ice and a nice long nap I was starting to feel better. (It was a muscle spasm by the way, due to either time of year or fighting a virus) Demand even kissed my neck after she saw me with ice on it (Boo-boo? she asked)

I was felling normal enough by dinner to teach CCD. Thank goodness it was an easy night with only Confession and a test on the schedule. However, can I just say that after teaching seven 9th grade boys every week, I am definitely hoping for a baby girl! And here are a few questions, when do boys/men stop saying everything that comes to mind and what happens if they actually keep their feet on the floor for more than two seconds? Do they implode? Do their feet stick to the floor? I mean I don't want to force them to keep their feet on the floor if it's going to cause them physical harm. I just need answers. And of course just walking into Church for confession had at LEAST 4 of them tripping. Tripping on the floor, on the kneelers, on themselves. It blows my mind.

This morning I woke up feeling much better. I still couldn't do my own hair (and let's not talk about the last time I washed it) but I can now look both to my left and my right and I can even lay down and get up without wanting to scream.

I've managed to keep the house decently clean while physically incompasitated. I've kept up with laundry and basic straightening up. The only room to really suffer has been our kitchen. There are dishes that have been dirty for days but every day we manage to clean up enough to run and empty the dishwasher,which is better than nothing. Mr. Sloth has been fantastic, and if he is sick of helping his ill wife he's done a great job of faking it! Way to fake it Mr. Sloth!

I think I earned my weekend this week.

Fall pictures

I'm sure you want pictures by now. Mr. Sloth took these a few weeks ago during my morning off. He took her down the street to the giant nursery that was having a fall festival. Demand saw cows, horsies, pumpkins, lots of good stuff.

(New post after the pictures!)

Looking for Control (in more ways than one)

Yesterday was Sunday and after 10am Mass we decided to splurge and head to the buffet down the street from our house. It was a most wonderful decision. One of the best part was that we didn't have to pay for Demand but she ate more than she ever has at a restaurant since she could eat whatever she wanted and however much she wanted. And this pregnant lady wasn't shy either. In fact, only Mr. Sloth didn't pull his weight.

I had three waffles (note that each waffle was only 1/4 size) eggs, bacon, sausage, two helpings of hashbrowns, fruit, orange juice, some of Demands cake and french toast sticks....it was delicious. Mr. Sloth took Demand home while Obscure waited for 'the pregnant lady' to finish. I didn't even feel full...until I got home. Although maternity pants are fantastic for buffets, the body can only stretch so much. I mean my body is already at its brink and then I ask it to make room for five pounds of food. For the first time in my life I ate a big enough meal that I wasn't hungry for hours. It wasn't until 7pm that Mr. Sloth and I thought of eating again. Amazing!

Today I'm making a big push in the potty training department. I am most definitely the laziest potty training instructor ever, so if Demand ever uses a toilet regularly it will be a miracle. My timing is of course off since Demand has no interest in sitting on the potty today. I have her in big girl underwear to encourage her, but she seems resilient.

Another "Demand" development is that she learned to open doors yesterday. It happened during naptime. She was in her room, I was in our room,and Mr. Sloth was on the couch (luckily). He said he was laying there and she just came down, when he took her upstairs to change her diaper and found me asleep her realized I hadn't let her out. I knew it happen sometime, but it was nice while it lasted. Guess we'll be stocking up on safety doorknobs this week.

I've recently become re-obsessed with organizing and cleaning again. I think it's from "the Duggars" there's nothing like a family with 18 children and a perfectly clean home to inspire you! I've done some fantastic purging of closets and I've really cleaned up my desk or as I like to call it, my procrastination corner! Timing couldn't be better because I'm starting my "Holiday Control Journal". It's a Flylady method of getting organized for the Holidays. I did it last year and loved it. You spend most of November planning, budgeting, buying gifts, etc so that by December 1st you can enjoy the Holidays instead of stress about them. She also stresses that you/we keep the Holiday simple all around, keep gifts simple, decorations, baking, entertaining, etc. So if you're a stress ball during the holidays or if you have a tendency to spend too much but not realize it until January, I highly recommend using her "Holiday Control Journal".

A bit of a catch up...

I sit on a throne of lies!! I promised Part 3 (I believe I even wrote part of it) but then so much kept happening I never had time to catch up with everything. Ahhhhh!! Snowball!!

So I figured, as I sit here watching the election unravel (and wishing that I could drink right now) I thought I would at least update you a little bit.

So.

Demand was a monkey for Halloween. Since we started trick-or-treating early she was the only one in the neighborhood, so she didn't quite understand what was happening but she was ok with it. She only lasted forty-five minutes but ended up with a full bag of candy. She had been sick with a cold for two days and my mom had triple booked us for the day so she was already exhausted. She was more than willing to be done though, which was nice. She didn't even want to eat all of her candy because she was sick. She had most of a popcorn ball and a sucker and she was satisfied.

We've recently been pushing the potty training issue a little more. Sometimes she gets really determined to go to the bathroom just so she can get candy.

Otherwise our recent days consist of

Mornings: running errands like, heading to doctors/chiropractors appointments, gymnastics, Bible Study, heading to the gym etc.

Afternoons: me getting larger and fighting Demand to nap (although the two are not related, but both happen everyday)

So our days go by fast. In fact I'd like our schedule to be a little less packed. I haven't decided if Demand is going to take gymnastics next semester. With baby coming I might want one or two days when I don't have plans. Right now I think Fridays are my only free days, but if it's truly a free day we usually end up having a play date.
On the other hand it might be nice for Demand to have something where she still gets all the attention.

You are now somewhat caught up on the Sloths. Until next time...

It's coming....

Sorry, Part 3 is coming. Demand and Mr. Sloth were sick all of last week and I'm on the verge of getting my home in great working order.

Incidently. Did you know I had a desk? Me neither! It was under the pile of papers in the corner.

Lots to update you on though!! Pumpkins, monkeys....it's crazy here.

Part 2

Well I would have posted yesterday but, well, it was a horrible day. Demand woke up at 5am was crabby all day and only napped for an hour. I kept thinking it would get better but it didn't, and I thought maybe it wasn't that bad, but after an hour with her, Mr. Sloth agreed that she was "off".

Anyway, back to our vacation. So Sunday night we arrived without issue. As I said we walked in the door and had a nice homemade dinner and Demand took a bath in the giant bathtub, afterwhich we made her fort and she went to bed. The next morning had on thing on my mind. The pool! The first three days of our trip were mostly the same thing. Wake up, breakfast, the pool, lunch, nap, pool, dinner, bed. Before the trip Demand was afraid of the pool she loved it when she was one but for some reason she'd have nothing to do with it this spring/summer. You could tell she wanted to like it but it was too scary. I knew she'd love the pool once she had a chance to get used to it. I was right. Loaded up with her swim vest and floaties. I didn't push her, but I would try and bring her in and if she freaked out we'd get out. Finally she liked being in the water,but because it was so new for her she kept ending up horizontal barely keeping her face out of the water. By the end of the day she was able to sit on her own, spin, and show off that she could jump the last step into the pool. We spent all morning at the pool which was great because it ended up raining all afternoon and evening. We pushed through the rain and went to Downtown Disney to walk the shops and have dinner.

Tuesday started about the same, except around 7:30am, Demand came out of the room dragging all the pool stuff asking "Pool??" Back to the pool we went. Mr. Sloth met us down there then we headed up for lunch. Demand was NOT pleased to be leaving the pool so we headed back after getting about three bites of food into her. After dinner we headed back to Downtown Disney this time it was nice outside so we thought we could see more. Demand got to ride a train and a carousel, which I can only guess were the highlights of the trip for her.

Wednesday was more of the same, except when she came out of the room dragging the pool stuff I cringed. It was like 70 degrees outside, not warm enough to swim. I took one for the team and off to the pool we went. We went back to Downtown Disney for an afternoon dessert at Rainforest Cafe. We have a Rainforest Cafe here and we never go, but since we were on vacation I thought it might be special and Demand might like the animals, etc. She was scared out of her mind. I don't recall it being so loud and busy. We calmed her by telling her she was getting ice cream. I also ordered two smoothies. They came first, and let's just say, Demand knows her ice cream and the smoothies weren't cutting it. She gave me a look, like "What is this??? Blended fruit?? Get me ice cream woman!!"

She was not disappointed. The Sloths ordered the largest dessert on the menu. The Volcano. A stack of ice cream surrounded by a stack of brownies. We put the dish down in front of her. We recieved more than one "look" from passers by. You know the, "Why would you give that to a two year old?" look. It was for all of us of course and Demand loved it. At one point while eating, the spoon wasn't cutting it so she grabbed a handful of ice cream. Just then a "thunderstorm" struck in the rainforest. Demand sat there frozen in fear with ice cream still in her hand. It was so funny. It lasted over a minute which is how we were able to get a picture.

Ok, enough for now. I'll finish off the story later.

We're Back!!

This may be the first of a few posts to explain our trip to Florida. First off, I was pleased to discover how little I could pack for the three of us for a week long trip. Although our friends brought a few things for us since they were driving there and we were flying there. They picked up diapers for us and brought a bunch of dried goods and laundry soap, etc, which made things much easier. Mr. Sloth spent extra money so that we had decent flight times and no connecting flights, and I have to say it was well worth the price. Our flight down there left at 3pm on Sunday. That gave us plenty of time to go to Mass and finish any packing we had left. We even had an hour to spare, very rare in the Sloth traveling world.

I had spent much time planning and packing a special bag for Demand just in case flying was not her cup of tea. Murphy's Law was on our side and we still have "surprises" left from the trip that she hasn't seen yet. I left her with her new backpack for two minutes before we left and I noticed things were quiet. (parent alert sounded) Sure enough she had found the one pocket that I didn't tie shut and found suckers. She didn't know why they were there but she was happy to find them. So the sugar rush started a little earlier than I had hoped but I couldn't really complain. Demand was so excited to fly even though you could see in her eyes that she had no idea what to expect. Before we even got to the terminal she rode on an escalator and a train. How much more exciting can this trip be???

A few people have asked us if she was scared at takeoff and the answer is no. I don't think she understands the concept of what the plane was really doing. For all she knows it was a movie playing outside of the window. The excitement of having a big girl seat, new backpack full of goodies and Mommy letting her drink ginger ale, who has time to be scared??? Since we were on vacation I laxed the sugar-in-take rules a bit. It was her first time having a sucker and first time getting her own pop. She's had a few sips of clear pop at a restaurant but that's it. She also got Dora gummy snacks for the first time which I otherwise would not have bought. I was happy to find a well priced deli in the terminal to fill up on good food "pre-flight". While Demand and I split a banana, yogurt, ham, crackers, and cheese she stared in awe at the airplane awaiting her.

I wrapped a few gifts in her backpack to make things even more exciting. Her first gift was three Winnie the Pooh action figures I found at the Dollar Tree. She loved them and played with them for twenty minutes or so. Then she handed them to me and said, "New present?" Oh, boy!!

She actually lasted a while before we resorted to the DVD player, and we had a new Leapfrog Video as one of her presents. (also hidden now)

We arrived at our condo around 8:30pm-9pm at night (around 8pm our time) so Demand wasn't too exhausted. Our friends had dinner ready for us which is always nice after a long trip and Demand took a bath in the giant tub. Again, how much more exciting could a day get for a two year old???

Demand had a bedroom to herself and since a full bed was a bit big for her we took the other full mattress in the room and propped it between the end table and the bed so she couldn't fall out. It worked beautifully!

So that was our first day. I promise the rest of the trip is a shorter story but not less exciting.

Click the picture below to see all of our pictures from the trip.

2008-09-27 Orlando 2008

Zoom!!

Sunday night I decided to make Demand a paper chain to countdown to our trip to Orlando. I wasn't sure if she'd get the concept but I thought she might like the chain anyway. Well this morning she surprised me. When I brought out the paper chain she went on a breathless spiel about Sunday and planes, and "zoom" (complete with hand motions).

Guess she gets more than we realized. Then again, after breakfast when Mr. Sloth asked her where she was going on Sunday she refused to answer the question and walked out of the room.

Tonight I have to run to Target to pick up a few more things for the trip and then we're good to go. I have yet to pack of course, but gathering all the stuff is half the battle.

I told Mr. Sloth this afternoon that after getting Demand a backpack and filling it with cheap new toys and snacks I just know she's going to sleep the entire flight and not need any entertainment. I guess that's not a bad situation to be in though. Either way it should be an interesting experience all around.

This morning was busy for us. Demand had gymnastics this morning then we both went to the Gym so I could swim. She loves the play area there. Then we came home for lunch and she got to play with her bag of balls that I won at a silent auction this weekend. I put all 150 balls in her pop up tent. If the tent wants to be seriously fun we need two more bags of balls, but I suppose I should control myself and not buy two more bags of balls.

Poor girl is exhausted and hopefully will sleep during nap time today. Either way I'm taking a nap.

The Plot Thickens

Remember how I went on about how busy our September was? Well we decided to throw a trip to Orlando into the mix.

In all honesty it's not like this trip came out no where, it was tentatively planned a few months ago, but apparently I blocked it out of my mind and pretended it wouldn't happen. At the time we didn't know if and when our next paycheck would come so we definitely weren't planning a fancy vacation. "Valentine's" (that's baby's nickname) godmother invited us to join them in the opportunity to stay at a spa resort time share with them.

Even after we finally got a paycheck and wanted to go we still needed a birth certificate for Demand so she could fly otherwise we'd have to drive, which I know is possible but with time constraints and price of gas and hotel, flying is the best option. I thought it took 4-6 weeks to get a birth certificate, but much to my surprise I was able to get her birth certificate in one day. After that we had no more excuses. Mr. Sloth bought plane tickets this afternoon so I guess we're a go.

I'll be spending the next week figuring out how to pack for a flight with a two year old. I already told Demand that we were going on a plane way up in the sky. She looked excited and confused at the same time. I could actually see her brain trying to figure out how we were going to get way up in the sky.

Among finding neat trinkets and snacks for the trip I also have to find a maternity swimsuit for myself. Fun, fun! Luckily most of my maternity clothes are for warmer weather so I'm actually better off in Orlando than I am right here.

So I guess our September just got more interesting.

Huh?

So yesterday I was on the phone with mom at around 4:15/4:30 and we were both talking about how hot and muggy it was outside. Well Mr. Sloth came home at 5:15pm an announced how cold it was outside. Huh?? If Mr. Sloth thinks it's cold, it's cold. Sure enough it was cold. What happened???

After sleeping with the windows open last night I actually felt compelled to turn the fireplace on when I got up. It's 52 outside. Brrrr. You know we were getting kind of antsy for fall but now I'm not so sure. I'm not ready for cold yet, and I most definitely don't have clothes for the cold weather yet.

Ok, I get it, it's September 3rd, but let us remember September 1st when it was super hot outside.

Summer please come back!

First Day of School

Where I grew up, Labor Day wasn't the defining last day of summer with school starting the next day but here (and apparently most places) it is the case.

Anyway, today is the first day of school around here and Demand got to participate in her own way with her first day of Toddler Gymnastics. Since she's two it's a parent/child class I'm with her and helping her the whole time and we do everything together. Bells, parachutes, bubbles, balls, so much fun. Our warm up involved running which Demand was more than obliged to do. The children are allowed to explore the gym at anytime so there were times when Demand didn't want to say,sing a song, but wanted to go on the "bridge" (her name for the low balance beam with two railings) and that's ok.

The trick for the day was hanging on a bar but our giant of toddler had to use the taller bar while the rest used the lower bar. Again I had many surprised looks when people learned her age. People just assumed she was three because of her height, hair length and speech. Since it was the first class a lot of children were still shy but Demand had no problem yelling out the alphabet or colors. Both of which she knows thoroughly. It was actually pretty rare for her to be so relaxed at something fairly new.

So that is just the tip of the iceberg. Things really pick up in September around here. Next week not only do we have gymnastics but we start Bible Study on Thursdays and Demand will be starting the children's program there. Plus, Mr. Sloth and I start teaching CCD again on Wednesday nights. Throw in two weekly Chiropractor appointments, and "Baby" doctor appointments and we're a busy family.

With life getting busier I thought I should get back on my schedule again. I had written a really nice one and we were doing very well with but the first 15 weeks of pregnancy did not agree with that schedule. Now I have energy so I revamped the schedule to fit our current needs.

Speaking of energy. Saturday was my morning off. Mr. Sloth took Demand to a park and then remembered his brother was in town so he headed to his mom and dads house. Meanwhile I shampooed the carpet, completely scrubbed down Demand's high chair, got some laundry done, cleaned the powder room and got some other general cleaning done. Afterwards, Mr. Sloth and I both had the same idea that we should do this every Saturday instead of switching mornings. Demand loves going to Grandma's and Mr. Sloth of course gets off easy there when Grandmas whisks her away on a walk or heads downstairs to play with toys. And I love the opportunity to clean without being interrupted.

I could go on but I'll save it for my next post.

Playtime

No time to post these days, we're having too much fun!

Last week Mr. Sloth and I took Demand to the toddler park after dinner. The playground there is just her size so we don't have to help her do anything, she can just play on her own. Except for the swing of course, and that girl is a sucker for the swing.

Demand is also about to start toddler gymnastics in a week or so. We went to an open house and then a trial class first. Demand was completely freaked out at first, but we expected that. At the end I was dragging her out of the place. During that class she got to play with a parachute, catch bubbles, walk on a balance beam and hang on an uneven bar. Actually, other toddlers hung on the bar, Demand could touch the ground. That brings me to our next point. We find ourselves often revealing Demand's age upfront with strangers or new people because since she's so tall people guess her as a 3yrs+ (one guy even guessed 5 yrs old....what??) So if you think she's 3yrs or older she's acts really immature so we like to just let people know upfront that she's only two and newly two at that. It seems to help. After we reveal her age everyone seems to say... "She's really tall!". Yes, we know, we buy her pants.

Lastly on our whirlwind of fun we took Demand to the State Fair on Sunday the last time she was there she was only two months old and slept most of the time. We braved going on a cool gorgeous Sunday afternoon. I put my patient cap on before we left the house knowing we wouldn't be getting there quickly by any means after fighting traffic, and battling for a parking place. We had fun although I didn't really eat what I wanted to, I was looking for the perfect food and waited too long. Demand rode her first Carousel which she seemed to enjoy overall. At first she didnt' want to get on the horsie,but then found it enjoyable but asked for Daddy briefly. (Some days I think neither of them trust my judgment and there are times when she asks for Dadda as if to ask "Does Dad know you're doing this to me?") When they said "Here we go" Demand tried to jump off the thing but quickly enjoyed the up and down flow of things. As it slowed down I said, "All done" and she promptly leaped into my arm and said "Bye horsie". She was so excited to tell Mr. Sloth that she talked about it the whole walk back to him even though he couldn't hear a word of it.

The pictures below are from the park.




Demand insisted I ride the horse next to her.




Demand right before cracking her forehead on the very hard sea horse.






Demand is saying cheese in the picture. (Mr. Sloth did not consent to this picture)

Saturdays Off

Ok, I just posted new pictures below but I have to answer Niki's question from weeks ago. She wanted to know how we worked our Saturday mornings off. If it doesn't interest you, just skip down to the next post for pictures.

Every Saturday one of us gets the morning off. We alternate weeks. Basically you have until noon to do whatever you want to do...without Demand. You can sleep in, head out, whatever. Saturday is my day off so I might send them out of the house and just have the house to myself. Two weeks ago I just hung around the house and then got my haircut. Last week Mr. Sloth had the car and the house to himself. I think he read and caught up with sports and then ran to the brewing store to pick up supplies while Demand and I headed to the Farmer's Market with our friends. If it's your morning off you decide if you want the car or even the house to yourself.

We've been doing this for four months or so now and love it. It makes things more bearable. Before I would want time off on Saturdays and so would Mr. Sloth. I didn't think it was fair to make him watch her just because he wasn't working, but I didn't think I should have to work 6 days and him only 5. I actually got the idea from a book where the mom takes Saturday mornings off. I thought it only fair to have us alternate. It has really reduced the times I've heard Mr. Sloth complain about not having time for some project or reading, etc.

Anyway, that's what we do and we're loving it so far.

Long Awaited Photos

If anyone actually checks this anymore, here are some pictures from the last few weeks. Let's just blame the small child growing inside of me for the delay of posts, OK? Now that I'm in my second trimester I'm hoping I'll start having more energy and therefore be able to post more.

They are mostly pictures of Demand but there are a few others, including pictures of her playroom that I never posted. I think you can make the pictures bigger by clicking on them.



The cake from my finale class (of this course). I need a few month off before doing this again.



Flower lights in her playroom. By the way, 95% of everything in the room is from IKEA. If your wondering, assume it's from IKEA.



Toy storage




Sitting area of playroom.




The creative wall in Demand's playroom. Dress up mirrors, chalkboard with room to hang artwork above and below hanging containers for chalk and eraser, and flower lights. You can also see part of her activity rug in the middle of the room.



Demand's table and chairs in her playroom.




Demand drawing with washable markers on the front storm door. Something we often do on rainy days.





Demand painting the sidewalk with water on a hot day.





Demand and her friend (born three days apart) playing in a sandbox at the Zoo. This pictures is significant because Demand was previously afraid of sand.



Demand napping in her big girl bed. Sorry about the poor quality but it was obviously dim lighting in her room.




The Sloths on our 5th Wedding Anniversary. Demand and Mr. Sloth look much better than I do in this picture.



Thanks for checking in on us!! Wish you were here to have fun with us.

Catching Up

I'm sure I owe you some pictures, but one thing at a time. While Mr. Sloth and Demand are napping I'll fill you on our weekend.

Yep, Demand is napping. The first three days in her big girl bed she didn't nap at all, although bedtime was fantastic. She was so exhausted she fell asleep in about three minutes and was probably too exhausted to try and get out of bed. Yesterday was Mr. Sloth's morning off so by the time he came home I was ready for a break. I headed in for a nap and he put Demand down for nap. They did the usual read books with milk and then put her in her bed, but he laid on the floor in the room. He only had to put her back in her bed once before she fell asleep. Today I did the same but I had to put her back in twice. So this big girl bed is working out pretty well, and she's really proud of herself. Plus, since she can't open doors yet she can get out her bed and just play with toys in her room in the mornings until we feel like getting out of bed. None of us have complained about this system yet.

Friday, Obscure babysat for the second Friday in a row which was nice. Mr. Sloth and I made dinner over at Mr. and Mrs. Tiger's home. Mrs. Tiger did most of the cooking while I complained about my swollen hot feet. In case I havent' mentioned Mrs. Tiger and I went in together and every week from May-October (I think) we get a box of organic locally grown produce to split so we thought it would be fun to make a dinner every Friday with our new produce since a lot of veggies we'd never had before. (Kohlrabi, garlic scapes, torpedo onions...) Tiger made paninis with her most fabulous panini press. They had turkey, pesto, arugala, fontina and probably some other goodness on there. She also made a potato salad since we received some potatoes this week. I made zucchini French fries that I'd seen on "Every Day Italian". My word those were amazing. Mr. Sloth even loved them and he doesn't eat from the squash family. I'll have to make those next week as well, I'm sure Demand would love them. They are basically zucchini cut in the long strips like french fries then battered with egg and panko bread crumbs ( big flaky Japanese stlye bread crumbs) and then deep fried. They were so delicious.

Saturday, as I mentioned was Mr. Sloth's morning off. I felt bad in the beginning because Demand woke up at 3am and for some reason, I don't know if it's pregnancy or what, but getting up in the middle of the night makes me angry and nonsensical these day. Apparently I came back in the room and yelled at Mr. Sloth and spoke of platforms. It was then he knew it was his turn with Demand.

We were both exhausted in the morning. Mr. Sloth slept in a bit and then headed to a coffee shop to read while Demand and I did the Saturday morning thing. I hadn't 'hung around the house' in a while so I thought it was worth a shot. I took my time getting ready and then did some much needed cleaning. Later after all of us had napped pretty well we headed out to what we call the upscale mall. It was glorious. Just what this poor soul needed. Material hope. There's nothing like holding a fantastic $300 saute pan in your hands and saying "I will own you" to lift your spirits. Demand swiped my coffee-less coffee drink (aka milkshake) and got to play at two toy stores so she had a great time. And by the way, anyone who goes into Pottery Barn Kids and doesn't want to own everything is completely lacking in taste. I love that store. They had the most adorable play food made from felt. They even had a Chinese take out box with food and a Farmer's Market bag complete with produce. Soooo cute!

We picked up a rotisserie chicken for dinner which turned out to bed our best decision of the day. When we got home I quickly steamed some of our organic broccoli and tossed with butter and Parmesan while Demand and Mr. Sloth dug into the juicy bird. It was so yummy!! I think we have enough meat left over for tonight and we definitely have the veggies, I have green beans galore, beets, varieties of lettuce, you name it.

Today we went to Mass where I was hot and nauseous (rare for me) and realized I was wearing two different colored boots right before Mass started. I was ready to leave from the get-go. Demand was pretty good though considering she was a cranky pants right up until we walked in the Church doors. After Mass we all headed home for some quick cleaning and cooking before Mr. Sloth's parents and Aunt came over for brunch.

And that's where we are now. I had a little coffee at brunch so I'm not interested in sleeping, but I may crank out some brownies in a little bit. The kitchen is just too clean to not cook in.

Lord, Have Mercy!

**Note** This post is long. You might need some coffee.

I know, I know. My posts are few and far between these days but I do have a teeny bit of an excuse. And by teeny I mean the grape size baby growing inside me. With Demand I had exhaustion ONCE. ONE DAY. With "Valentine" it's 5-6 times a week. And this isn't "I'm a little sleepy" This is "I just took a fist full of sleeping pills with a glass of red wine" sleepy.

Last Saturday it hit me in the middle of Mr. Sloth and Obscure's birthday brunch and I had to take a nap. At 11am!! Some days I just have to sleep on the couch while Demand runs the place. Usually she just watches cartoons but the other day my "spidy-sense" kicked in and I knew she was no longer downstairs. I dashed upstairs only to meet her halfway. Later, Mr. Sloth said, "Huh. That must have been when she came up and tried to wake me."

I've just had nothing to give for weeks now. The house is just below par at best, but Mr. Sloth is making quite a nice housewife and mother these days.

Yesterday was a big day. We turned Demand's crib into a big girl bed. It was a step we had been dreading since we loved the luxury of having a caged bird but she made an escape attempt the night before and we decided it was time. Her crib is a "lifetime" crib. Which means it changed from a crib to a toddler bed, to a day bed (for small people) and later to a head/foot board of a full bed. We bought it with the intention that it would follow her as she grew up and we'd just buy a new crib with the next baby.


I didn't have time to convert the bed before nap time so we just put her mattress on the floor and hoped for the best fully expecting her to just get up and play. But we put one of the gates in the doorway just in case. I headed to bed for a much needed nap myself and although I had the monitor on I closed the door thinking "Mr. Sloth is here if something goes wrong." (are you following the foreshadowing?)

Forty minutes later I decided to check on her. I presumed she was sleeping since the monitor was quiet. I was wrong. She was sitting in the playroom playing with one of her new birthday toys. OK. I thought, Mr. Sloth must have let her out since the gate is out of the doorway. Then I noticed that the bathroom door was open and started to get suspicious. Before I solved the mystery my trusty senses told me that Demand needed a diaper change which she quickly agreed to. (I should have been suspicious about that as well.) I put her on the changing pad only to find that she had indeed "done some work down there" but was in fact missing her diaper. I repeatedly called down to Mr. Sloth but didn't get a response. I started Demands bathwater and dashed downstairs to retrieve Mr. Sloth. I didn't find him but I did find her diaper. So after some Nancy Drew Work we came to the conclusion that Mr. Sloth received his much desired computer and ran back to the office. He didn't tell me because he didn't want to wake me. Meanwhile I think he is home and Demand is breaking out of her cell. She must have gotten the gate open and headed downstairs where she removed her poopy diaper. (Note that her hands never touched the contents and the only mess I found was where she sat on the carpet) After removing her soiled diaper she sat on her potty chair (which didn't take a CSI detective to figure out.) I was actually really proud of her for that.After finding no parent or responsible guardian around she headed upstairs to play like any normal two year old would. This all took place in ten minutes.

Scary, huh? With the bathroom door open should have taken a bath herself or decided to cook something in the kitchen. *sigh* Tell me there are no Guardian Angels!!

After that ordeal I pressed on with my day as scheduled. I bought a bed rail from Ikea. (Great deal. $10 and it fit perfectly) It took all of ten minutes to convert the bed. Well, correction, if I didn't have pregnancy brain it would have taken ten minutes, it took me a half an hour, and keep in mind I had a toddler "helping" me as well.

Demand thought it was fantastic. As soon as I put the mattress in she started gathering all the toys and books she wanted in her bed. She was so exhausted at bedtime that she climbed in with dirty clothes, diaper and feet completely willingly. I convinced her some new attire and a wipe down might make her slumber more pleasant. After books and some milk I put her in bed...where she stayed and fell asleep. She must have read for a bit but fell asleep without getting out once. AND she woke up at 6:30am fell back asleep and when we in at 7:30am she was still in crib asleep again.

How fantastic is that??? Tonight she didn't want to go to bed but made not attempts to get out of her bed and fell asleep within minutes. I'm enjoying it while I can.