Baby kicks and toddler undies.

Guess what I am doing right now?  I'm watching my baby move around.  I can see the kicks and punches through my belly skin.  That's always pretty crazy to see.  I remember watching Amelie arms and legs drag across my belly skin when I was pregnant with her.  Not a surprise that she was very active in utero as well.  Even when she flipped from head down to breech, I felt it like a rubber band snapping.  

Anyways, I'm sick again.  She has a runny nose and was up for about 2 hours last night upset and crying.  I'm guessing her poor throat was as dry as mine and probably hurt.  

We took a trip to the co-op this morning to get some meds and a Neti Pot.  I irrigated my sinuses for the first time today and it was weird/great.  Amelie pushed around the mini kid card with the groceries and did pretty good.  She bashed it into the back of my legs a couple of times and almost knocked over a few displays, but she was helpful and had fun.  Sidenote: she was wearing undies at the store, went pee after we checked out, and got all the way home (even after a 2nd stop) before she peed her pants.  She got pretty upset about her accident, but made up for it by spreading out what should have been 1 poo into 3 different trips to the potty in about 10 minutes.  

Here she is finding a good spot to put the cheese.  

It was really hard to get a photo of her because she was moving so fast.

Here are a few mediocre picture of the painting that was done upstairs thus far.  Since I only take blog photos with my iPhone they don't always turn out fantastic.

I really really really really really hope we will be done with this project soon.  So bad.

Free Stuff!

Last night Tyler and I went to buy paint for the upstairs project.  We will be priming and painting this weekend...hooray!  (of course when I say we, I'm not referring to me.)  So on our way home we (and this time I mean me) spotted a chair with a FREE sign on it in someone's front yard along the parkway so we went around the block and came back for it.  We decided that we would take it home with us if it wasn't rickety and the seat was in good condition.  Well guess what,

I think it will be awesome upstairs in the nook with all that stuff I got from Homegoods last week.  It is in pretty good condition, we can tell it has been stored in someone's basement for a while because it looks brand new and there is dust that needs to be cleaned from the crevices.

Yesterday when I got out of the shower I found Amelie hiding under my comforter on my bed.  She was "secretly" putting on my chapstick, and what I mean by that is that she was smearing it all over her face and mouth and getting spit in the tube.  So I got it away from her and lifted her out of the bed, only to find a big pee puddle on the sheets.  Argh.  Then this morning she came and got me to show me that she had peed on the kitchen chair.  Bummer.  But, she does regularly leave me a nice morning poo in her potty to clean up, and has been pretty good about making it to the potty.  Last night Tyler told me that he took her up to the donut shop by our house in her undies and she used the bathroom when they got there, so that's another step forward.  She is even getting better about putting her undies on all by herself.

Although today she got them on backwards.

Her vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds every day and she keeps saying new things to me every day.  A couple of days ago I suggested we go change her diaper when she woke up, and she told me, "No way!."  Her new favorite word is "tomorrow."  So when we tell her no to something, she will reply, "Ok, more (fill in the blank) tomorrow."  She also likes to fart, and then look at me with a surprised face and say...."oh, phart."  I laugh.

We gotta get ready to go to open gym.  Then hopefully she will be work out enough to take an epic nap, because I have to work tonight for St. Patrick's day.  Gulp, should be interesting.

Some days I feel motivated, others lazy.

Today I feel a little of both. Amelie was up coughing all night (which I think most of was on purpose). I suspect she likes spending time with her dad and was drawing attention to herself so he would go in and sit with her. We both went in 3 times each last night, and 2 of the times I went in she told me to leave with a very kind, "mommy, out."

Anyways, I was tired this morning so I took a little nap on the couch after I started some laundry. (Don't tell Tyler.) I say little nap because it was pretty short. Ami brought her Care Bears sleeping bag out onto the couch to watch some Care Bears Movie in, but got bored all by herself on the couch, so she came over and elbowed her way into my spot. I was curled up and dreaming about babysitting my niece and nephew when I got and elbow to the face, one to the chest, and then she butt-faced me.

She is still learning to use the potty so I Iet her run around pant-less in the mornings (plus all her undies are in the wash), and butt-facing is when she tries to sit her bare butt really close to my face. It's gross. Otherwise potty training is going really well. If she starts to pee when she is wearing undies she usually stops and finishes in her potty, and if she is pant-less she will go right into the bathroom to pee (or poop).

Sometimes when I am in the bathroom perched on the edge of the bathtub wiping poo off her ass and cheering that she just took a dump in the toilet all on her own, I have a mini out of body experience and have to stop and laugh. Now, I would not think to change my life or where it has led me, but before July 13th, 2008 (the day I found out I was pregnant with Amelie), I never would have pictured myself in that scenario.

It's also interesting because I straddle two totally different worlds during the week and on the weekends. During the week I stay at home with Ami and go to the Zoo, or open gym, or to the park, or for a playdate somewhere. Then on the weekends I'm off to work at a bar, to intoxicate a bunch of grown adults, some of whom I'm sure have children, and some who I seriously hope never do. After 10 years of working in the bar industry (barf, I never thought I'd reach the point where I could say, "I've been doing fill in the blank for 10 years now" and it makes me feel way old) I have learned that bartending is quite similar to taking care of a child. These so-called grown ups come in for a few cocktails or beers and by the end of the night they are stumbling and falling down, talking incoherently, and sometimes throwing things, peeing their pants, or throwing up. Sound familiar moms? I have to speak to them like they are toddlers, scold them when they climb up onto things they shouldn't, and take coasters away when they start throwing them at people. So maybe those 2 worlds aren't so different after all. Maybe bartending actually prepared me to be a mom.

And now I'm rambling.

What I really wanted to do with this post is say that I went back to Homegoods last night to snatch up a few more deals. Here is what I got last night.

I got this smaller version of the same stool from earlier. It was clearanced at $15 but I didn't have enough hands for it during my first trip.




and this jewelry box was not on sale, and was $12.99. I just really like it. I know my fingers are going to swell up this summer and I will need a place to store my wedding ring on those hot humid bratwurst finger type of days.




I had a pillow and a piggy bank in the cart for a long time that were of similar styles to everything else I bought, but I used a little but of self control and put them back. The 2nd trip I also got a cheese knife, a wire colander so I can finally rinse my grains and legumes, and some organic Ginger Ale that I am pretty excited to try.

After my lazy morning nap, I felt a wee bit motivated so I cracked open the coconut I bought at the co-op on Sunday. It was my first experience with one, and I'm looking forward to eating it once I get all the "meat" off of the shell.

My coconut cracking tools.






Then while I was on the phone with my mom, I kept my hands busy roasting some Chickpeas in the oven. It was easy and they are really good. I poured a can of Chickpeas in a colander and rinsed them off, coated them with some olive oil, salt and pepper, and put them in the oven for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. Ami loves them. Then again, she just loves eating.








Since I was just talking about how well potty training was going, I thought I should mention, while I was posting this entry, Ami peed on the couch. I'm going to go clean it up now.