Checkout lines

I have always been amazed by people who shop at busy stores and expect faster than prompt service at the checkout stands. I mean, you know it's a busy store, wouldn't you expect a short wait?

There are 'those people'. You know who they are. They never quite verbally complain about having to wait in line. They're the ones standing behind you in line. Directly behind you. They are the ones who you'd step on if you took a half inch step backwards. Because, somehow standing that close makes the line move faster.

Don't do that, it's just not nice.

Oh, but then there are those 'other people' standing in line behind you. You know them too! They not only stand far too close, they actually crowd their way up to the belt and start loading their stuff up. Even before you've even had a chance to unload your own goods.

Didn't your mother tell you it's not nice to push someone? Back off!

Noone likes to wait, but is getting all huffy really a good answer? It only makes you look like a jerk and the time go by even slower! So, take a deep breath and pretend your on a beach somewhere. Before you know it, you'll be out the door.

Things that go bump in the night

Horribly cliche, I know. I promise not to get overly strange on you. I'll stick with telling my simple little story from last night.

Here goes.

About 2:30am I wake up to a noise that sounded like someone dropped a metal pipe on pavement. It woke me from a pretty heavy sleep, so I brushed off and rolled over to go back to sleep. Sometimes I'll be dreaming and wake up, thinking I've heard something. If I really hear something or not will remain unknown.

These sounds I hear on occasion are usually outside. Josh never hears them, but will humor me and go check things out. The last time I heard something was before we moved. I heard noises like someone had opened our car door and a few minutes later shut it. Josh went and looked, it was nothing.

Last night when I heard this noise I just rolled over, not opening my eyes. Trying to ignore it and go right back to sleep, it was working. At first. Next thing I know Josh says, "Did you hear that?". When I told him yes he starts looking out our bedroom windows, then on to search the rest of the house. It's not a noise that could have come from the main floor of the house, but it's possible that it might have come from the basement.

He heads down there to check it out, armed with a 1 inch dowel rod that's just about as tall as he is. He also made sure I had my cell phone on me, that freaked me out a bit. Until he said that, I was ok with us both hearing this noise! After what seems like forever he comes back upstairs and proclaims that all is clear. All the windows are intact, etc.

This is the first time that we've done a check in the middle of the night and I didn't ask him to check on Zander. Josh went in to make sure he was ok just as soon as the basement was found to be all clear. Zander was still sound asleep.

After that Josh wanted to go out with the aforementioned weapon, plus a flashlight, to check our cars over. He had me stand at the front door with my cell phone. Again he found nothing. He came back in and we made the attempt to go back to sleep. This time it didn't work out so much. Needless to say we were both a little flipped out.

Upon inspection this morning, we still can't figure out where the noise came from. A little spooky, yes. But we'll survive. All I asked of Josh was that a little while before going to work this morning, I didn't want to be home alone in the dark after all that.

Go ahead, call me a wussie. I can take it. I know it's true.

Nutritionist

I've started to post about this several times but words have not come. So, here I go again, this time I will make it work.

When I first started this blog I wrote some about starting to eat helthy and also excercising on a more regular basis. Well, eating healthier has been easier than the excercise part. I thought it would be the other way around, but that's a whole other subject.

Anyway, we have been eating healthier and I have been planning our menu and grocery lists rather anal like. The result? An ever increasing interest in nutrition and weight loss. Josh has lost about 30 pounds since the beginning of all this and I've lost about 15! (yay!)

So, this sudden interest in nutrition had me looking up different online programs to gain certification as a Nutritionist. I've been "researching" different options for about a month now. What does it all come down to? A distance education program in Dietetics from a college right here in Colorado.

The plan is to start taking online classes as a full time student in the fall. But before that can happen I hafta jump through all the hoops to get there (applying to the college, financial aid, etc). Three years, then an internship before I have a piece of paper in Dietitics. I have a whole range of feelings and emotions on going back to school. Nervous. Excited. Scared outa my mind. I've never been the "smart one". That is not going to stop me. Not this time. I can do this.

It's already the start of a great day!

When I got Zander up this morning (Ok, so I really should say out of his room. He was already awake and had been playing for a few minutes.) he ran at me from across the room. I got a big hug around the legs, it was nice!

Yesterday he was such a grump that being greeted with a hug like that was really nice!

Today seems to be one of those silly days

When the baby moves in his sleep and I think, "please don't wake up, please don't wake up, please don't wake up".

I hate days like this.

They just don't seem "right".

Anyone out there know what I mean?

Where do you scratch your lottery ticket?

That is, if you even purchase lottery tickets in the first place, where do you scratch it? We don't buy lottery tickets. But, if we did I can tell you where I would not scratch it. I wouldn't scratch the ticket while walking. I really wouldn't scratch the ticket while looking down and walking. I really, really would not scratch the ticket while looking down and walking across the street.

Now, I'm no jeenyus. But when I walk across the street I pay attention to my surroundings.

Things that people do in daily life never fail to amaze me. Good luck to the woman scratching her lottery ticket while walking across the busy street!

5 months and rice cereal

Tonight just breastfeeding ceased to be the exclusive diet by MiKael. After wanting to nurse every hour and a half all afternoon/evening he didn't want to go to bed. The boy was still hungry and I didn't have anything left to give him.

Now, we've given him cereal in the past thinking he was ready for it. There were days where he'd have cereal and days where he wouldn't. Then for the last little while he's not had any.

I'd like to say that I was armed and ready for this, but I was not. The "bad" thing is that Josh is working tonight. You know, it's one of those evenings where he was going in "for a couple of hours". That was 5 hours ago.

So, an hour after bedtime I got Zander out of bed. I loaded the boys up and went to the store to purchase a small box of rice cereal. I'm kicking myself a little bit about it. Ok, kicking myself alot over it. I've been meaning to make a batch of cereal up for the lil buger, all this week I've been meaning to.

I think I'll go ahead and make a batch of cereal up tomorrow and save the storebought stuff for "emergencies". The few times he's had cereal he's shown a major preference to the stuff I make anyway. This will be good. :)

Oh yes, MiKael turned 5 months today.

Date Night!!

Josh just asked me out for Friday night! Of course, we'll be taking the kids but they'll be asleep most of the time. We are gonna grab dinner and take it with us to the drive-in! I'm sure that MiKael will fall asleep and be out nearly the entire time we are there (Zander slept the whole time when he tagged along at MiKaels age, cross your fingers!).

This particular drive in has 2 screens, which play 3 movies back to back. You can go for 1 movie, or 2, or all 3 for the low price of $9/adult (just $2 for kids 6-12). It's gonna be great! We will see Over the Hedge (which Zander will stay up for, after that he gets to go to sleep!), RV and then (this one is for Josh) M I III. (I just might fall asleep somewhere during that one). It'll be a long night, but it'll be good!

I'm excited!

Say please, ya whiner!

I've so stinkin felt like saying this to Zander these days! Reciently he's become fond of being a whiner. I can't stand it, really can't stand it. So, here I am telling you about a recent frustration and funny as well.

Yesterday I made a joke to a friend that this week is probably going to feel like toddler boot camp. I'm putting a stop to the whines! If Zander whines in any way he's being sent to his room. He knows the drill, he can come out when he's done being a whiner (or thowing a fit for that matter, but thus far we're just dealing with the big whine).

Now at meal times I usually just give Zander his food, alot of the times he'll say "please" as I'm walking over (pleeee) and "thank you" (gank you) when it's on his tray. Not last night. He refused to say anything. Not a problem. What was a problem was when it came time for dessert.

For dessert? Jellybeans.

We were all done eating so I grabbed the jellybeans and started to divide them up and pass em out. Suddenly I hear it. WHINE. You know what I mean, this screach that is worse than a dying cow. I look at Zander and his face is fully scrunched and he's making the noise, all the while extending his hand like he's grabbing for the sweet yummy.

This my friends, is not going to happen.

We tell Zander because of his whine, he can't have any jelly beans til he says "please". After hearing this he whines louder. Wrong response. We tell him a second time, whine continues. Wrong response. One last chance to say please. We tell him a third time (also tagging on that if he whines again he'll be going straight to bed). WHINE like that lovely dying cow.

Bedtime. And no jelly beans.

Which brings us to this morning. Breakfast time. I ask Zander if he's hungry and he happily jabbers something undistinguishable and runs for the kitchen. Normally he runs to his chair. Notice I said normally? This morning he ran straight for the countertop where I had the jelly beans last night. You can guess what happens next, right?

"Pleeee, pleeee, pleee!"

He's not only saying please, but he's also signing it! Do you think it's possible that he had dreams of dancing jelly beans? Dancing jelly beans that were telling him to "say please!"?? And if so, would that be just a dream, or a nightmare?

There were 3 jellybeans sitting on the counter still. I let him have them, one at a time. He said please for every single one of them. Voluntarily.

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Man oh man, has it ever been a crazy week! About this time last week the motor started going out on MiKaels swing. And suddenly I notice how dependent I have become on that stupid swing! Don't get me wrong, MiKael is in the swing for a little while in the morning and a little while in the afternoon, he's not there all day or anything. But. The issue seemed to be unless he had time in his swing, he just wasn't happy all day long. Today things are shifting back to normal and I'm actually getting things done around the house. For the first time in a week. Literally.

Has the swing been fixed? No. New parts ordered? Nope. Old crappy swing dug out of the garage and cleand up? Yep! I hate this swing with a passion, so did MiKael at first. He sat in it and screamed. Then Josh had the novel idea of taking the cover thing off his broken swing and putting it on the junky swing. It worked! MiKael is happy once again. Gail is productive again! Woohoo!

Oh, and for the first time in a week...the laundry is done, the dishes are done, and hte living room is picked up. All at the same time. I feel almost back to normal! Now the pending question...

What will happen next?

Naptime Crisis

Ok, I've mentioned Buddy in the past but for those of you who don't know, Buddy is the name of Zanders GloWorm. Buddy is much loved. He accompanies Zander to bed at night and also when it comes time for afternoon nap.

Zander knows that when he's done eating lunch it's time to go find Buddy, he runs to his room and the great search begins. "Buuiieeeeeeeeeeeee...Bouieeeeeeeeeee" That's mostly what it sounds like. The longer he holds on to the "eeeeeeee" sound, the higher pitched Buddys name gets. When we do finally find Buddy (he's usually still in bed or at the foot of the bed) it's off to beddie-bye.

Like any other two year old Zander has his short little routine for taking his nap. It's pretty short, but it's always the same. He's gotta have his big pillow, his travel pillow, and of course, Buddy. He will also sit up in bed waiting for me to cover him up and kiss him on his forhead. After that, I exit the room, shutting the door behind me. And that is naptime as we now know it.

Zander either gets up to play or goes right to sleep, falling asleep later on the floor. For now, this is how we are dealing with naptime. Some days he naps and others, not so much. Right now we are going with this method of napping until Zander is a bit older. It's taken alot of stress away from me, but that's a whole other post.

This afternoon Zander had been in his room "napping" for about a half hour when he starts to cry. Sometimes he'll fuss/cry for all of 10 seconds then decides he's fine and goes back to his play. Unless I can tell something is wrong I leave him be for the duration of naptime. Today I heard him start to cry, but it was "one of those" cries, something was up.

When I went to check on Zander and make sure everything was good I found the door to be blocked by something. At first it concerns me because I think it's HIM crying behind the door to his room. Now, I'm not wanting to push the door open if he's layin there in front of it, I don't want to squish him!

But then I see something move out of the corner of my eye. Zander isn't behind the door, some of his toys are. So, I push the door open to find Zander kneeling down in front of MiKaels crib (which has been setup in Zanders room, but so far we have not put Mikael in it). Now, I'll also take this opportunity to tell ya that Zander has been throwing his toys in the crib every now and then. We don't always give them back to him when he does this. They come out of "jail" when we think they should. That being said, can you guess what happened?

Yup, you guess it!

Buddy had ventured into the crib! This was very traumatic for Zander. The look on Z's face was priceless. He was upset and crying! He had reached through the slats of the crib to free Buddy, but there was one problem. Buddy has a big booty. Buddy was stuck. Zander coulnd't free his sleepytime friend! He was close to being in a state of panic.

Mommy to the rescue!

As soon as Buddy found his freedom I handed him back over to Zander, I can't explain the look he had on his face then. This whole thing was so stinkin hilarious!! Z hugs Buddy like he's found his best friend (but also like that best friend was stupid for running away) and both come over to me for a quick snuggle before gettin tucked back into bed.

I thought for sure that Zander would go right to sleep this time, he was certainly tired enough! But not more than 5 minutes later I hear that same traumatized cry again.

This time I find Zander sitting up in the corner of his bed (this time I think he really was beginning ot panic, poor thing!). Buddy is nowhere in sight. Zander has a fire engine bed that sits in the corner of his room, but it doesn't fit flush in the corner. Buddy had pulled some elusive maneuvers. This time Buddy ventured behind Zanders bed, into the corner!

Mommy to the rescue again, sort of. After two rescue efforts I picked up Zander and his sleepytime "friend" and took them both into my bedroom. I got in some snuggle time with my little big boy until he fell asleep. He slept for a good 2 hours before waking up in the big king sized bed.

Tonight when Zander went to bed he was holding on TIGHT to Buddy. I don't think he'll be venturing off again anytime soon.

At least not today. :-P