Happy Birthday Baby!

My baby turns two years old today. Cue tears. I can't believe what a "kid" she's become, how many changes she's gone through in the past year. Last year she was walking, but now she's running, jumping, skipping, and doing sommersaults. And no more baby crib for her, now she's sleeping every night in her Big Girl Bedroom. A year ago her vocabulary consisted of hi, bye, doggy, and daddy. Now she's talking in short sentences and trying out all sorts of big words (butterfly, alligator, rainbow). She's about halfway through potty training, she knows how to avoid discipline when she's being naughty ("Sorry Mama"), and she helps with minor chores like dusting and loading the washing machine. She's such an amazing girl, best thing her Daddy and I ever did. Happy birthday baby girl, Mama loves you soooo much!

It's a Girl!

This past week we had an ultrasound to check out the new baby. And woo hoo! It's a girl! I really thought it was going to be a boy. We had a name all picked out, I was already calling her "him", so needless to say I was a bit surprised. So much for women's intuition. I can't wait to see Maggie with her little sister. I never had a sister, so this is a relationship that will be totally unfamiliar to me. I can't wait to meet her and see if she looks like Maggie, or if she's totally different. I was excited to meet Maggie too, but I was also so anxious and scared about becoming a mom for the first time that I don't think I really looked forward to her birth so much as I anticipated it, does that make sense? This time around I'm not scared, I'm not nervous, I'm just plain excited!

When Good Art Goes Bad

Yesterday Maggie and I brought out the art supplies so she could do a project. I sat next to her at the kitchen table and worked on updating my own project on the computer while she used her washable crayola paints to paint a masterpiece. I had been looking at the computer for about three minutes, turned my head to see how she was doing and check out what I saw...

Homemade Sausage - and It's Actually Good!

I can't believe I didn't post about this earlier, especially considering how hysterical all our "city" friends might find it. This year we bought a half a cow and a quarter of a pig to freeze in our basement. I kinda feel like I'm living in a Little House on the Prairie book, storing meat for the year like this. But just because I feel like I should be wearing an ankle length cotton skirt doesn't mean I'm not super excited about this cow and pig. The meat comes from a family members farm in Iowa and I can't tell you how reassuring it is to know exactly where your food is coming from. I mean seriously, have you ever seen that movie Fast Food Nation? Anyhoo...

So now that we have several pounds of unseasoned pork sausage hanging around the house I figured I had better figure out what to do with it. Turns out Alton Brown has an excellent recipe for pork breakfast sausage (which can be found here). I made it yesterday and tasted it this morning and holy crap - I can't believe I made homemade sausage that actually tastes like it's supposed to taste!

Terror in the Produce Aisle

You know how most grocery stores mist their produce every 15 minutes or so? Today Maggie and I were shopping and she was helping me put red peppers and other veggies in the cart. Just before the mister came on a recording of thunder played to warn customers that their sleeves were about to get drenched. Maggie heard the thunder and screamed at the top of her lungs. While I was explaining that the thunder was just pretend the lady buying parsley next to us was walking away laughing. Happy to brighten your day parsley-lady. I was laughing too.

What did you do today?

At the end of every day my husband and I ask each other two questions. How was your day, and What did you do today? That second question is always a difficult one for me to answer, in part because I probably did a million little things that don't seem worth mentioning and in part because my brain is fried from following a two year old around all day. Then I end up feeling kinda lazy and bewildered because, crap, what DID I do today?

So, to help myself to a sense of accomplishment today I thought I'd keep a list of all the little things that go into my common stay-at-home-mom day.

6:15am - Can't sleep, but can't get out of bed just yet. Turn on the TV to watch the news while I build up some motivation.
7:00am - Have to get up now if I want any shot at a shower before Maggie wakes up.
7:15am - Out of the shower and trying to get some plucking/moisturizing/nail filing done before I get interrupted in about ten minutes.
7:25am - Like clockwork, Maggie is awake. I'm still not dressed.
7:30am - Playing in "big girl room" while I get dressed.
7:45am - Carrying Maggie, two lovies, stuffed animal, book, baby doll, Maggie's clothes for the day and two dirty glasses downstairs - in one trip.
8:00am - Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on DVR, and keeping Maggie company while she sits on the potty. Success! Feeding two dogs and one fish, watering Maggie's seedlings, and letting out/in dogs to the backyard.
8:15am - Getting Maggie dressed.
8:30am - Making breakfast, first for Maggie, then a bagel for me while I check my email, make a grocery list, and make list of "to do" for the day.
9:00am - Cleaning the kitchen counters and stove, washing dishes, putting away random junk laying around the kitchen. Decide I'm going to try and make it to the grocery store early today.
9:15am - Breaking up minor tantrum by Maggie as she insists on one more Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Helping Maggie put a pull-up on, put her pants on, put her shoes and coat on. Dogs outside once more before we leave, then moving laundry and laying down puppy pad in laundry room so stupid f-ing Payton won't pee on the floor.
9:26am - Out the door to the store.
9:35am - Arrive at store and convince Maggie that she is a great helper, she follows me around the store helping to place our purchases in the cart.
10:30am - On our way home. Listening to chants of "Nemo! Nemo!" coming from the backseat.
10:40am - Home, unloading groceries. Pop in Nemo and removing pants/pull-up for more potty time. Cleaning up after Payton in the laundry room, letting dogs out/in. Decide to check email and look up info for the college savings account we're considering opening for Maggie.
10:45am - On the phone with the "Investment Specialist" to request more info regarding the 529 plan. Trying to get him off the phone because Nemo is doing something incredibly important and Maggie is screaming at me to look.
10:55am - Putting away groceries. Rearranging the fridge so things don't get lost, tossing expired food. Separating items that can go downstairs for Maggie's birthday party.
11:10am - On the phone with: my doctors office regarding appointment this week, our old vet to get dog's records transferred, our new vet to make shot appointments, and friend of Maggie's to invite her to Maggie's birthday party this weekend. Hugging Maggie cuz she's just so damn cute.
11:40am - Running to the potty, phew, no accident. Folding laundry on the floor next to the Potty Princess. Run upstairs to get more laundry and when I come down there pee pee in the potty! Whoop Whoop!
12:10pm - Making lunch, first Maggie, then me. Changing a load of laundry. Remembering that I have to pee. And eating lunch while I type up my list... so far.
1:00pm - Clean up lunch, research how to season unseasoned pork sausage for breakfast sausage, and ??? I'm forgetting something. (It's now 4:00 and my brain is slowly oozing out of my ears...)
1:30pm - Take Maggie upstairs to get ready for her nap. Let her play in her big-girl-room while I hang her growth stick on the wall. Then read stories to calm her down, cuddle for a few minutes, then examine her family pictures. Begin attempt number one - laying her down in her toddler bed, leaving the room and closing the door.
1:40pm - Attempt number two.
1:50pm - Attempt number three, and now taking Maggie to bed in her crib. In between attempts I strip our bed and put new sheets and duvet cover on.
2:00pm - After leaving Maggie in her crib to nap, I come downstairs and turn on the Jane Austen movie I've been trying to watch for two days, switch the loads of laundry, carry two bags of party supplies downstairs, and collect birthday presents and wrapping supplies. Fold another load of laundry.
2:30pm - Wrap birthday presents and hide them downstairs.
3:30pm - Make myself a snack and speed watch last weeks episode of Lost.
3:50pm - Update my "list".
4:10pm - Start reorganizing the pantry because I have no idea what is in there anymore (besides the three boxes of fruit snacks I bought today).
4:45pm - Run upstairs to get Maggie out of her crib after her nap, give her hugs and tickles. Bring her downstairs and try to decipher what snack/toy/whatever it is she is trying to tell me she needs. Give her fruit snacks. Feed the dogs.
4:55pm - Continue reorganizing the pantry.
5:15pm - Finished with the pantry, give Maggie the flashlight she is pointing to. Warn her that Stevie doesn't like the flashlight. Sit down to add more to the "list" and listen to Maggie laugh her ass off as she terrorizes the dog with the flashlight. Let Payton out/in. Take out the trash.
5:25pm - Sit down to fold another load of laundry. Feed the fish. Switch two more loads of laundry.
5:45pm - Return a phone call, take a call (woo hoo! no work tomorrow!), call friend about tomorrow's play date, call my mom and leave a message.
6:00pm - Put away tools used in Maggie's big girl room.
6:10pm - Answer returned call from my mom. Sit down and talk.
6:20pm - Jason is home. I'm exhausted. I ask him, "How was your day? What did you do?" Maggie comes up to me and announces, "Mama, eat!" meaning she wants her dinner now. Off to make dinner.... list project is done for the day.

Spooky...

This morning at 6:11am our house phone rang once, one really abnormally long ring, and when it finally stopping ringing no one was on the phone. Weird. I was just talking to my mom on the phone and she mentioned that they were all woken up early this morning when the fire alarms in their house started going off for no reason. "How early?" I asked. "About 6:15am," she said. Weird. Weird, weird, weird. Strange that these two odd events would happen at pretty much the exact same time. Their fire alarms are all battery operated, so it wasn't a power surge in the area or something like that. Is someone trying to tell us something? Maybe we should buy a Ouiji board today. What do you believe in?

I Take It Back

All that stuff I said in my previous post about Maggie being a big girl now? Yeah, I spoke too soon. Yesterday she pooped on the floor... and then tried to blame it on the dog.

I'm a Big Girl Now

As a teenager or young adult, every time you hear your parents or grandparents mutter, "They grow up way to fast," you roll your eyes and think, "Thank GOD for that!"

But then you have your own kids, and one day you're sitting at lunch at Red Robin your almost two year old daughter is giving you a huge hug between bites of chicken fingers and your husband is tearing up on the opposite side of the table. And you're sitting there thinking two things: I have the best family in the world, and my god, they grow up way too fast.

Maggie turns two next Sunday, and I find myself rather nostalgic. But now that she seems to be moving in a constant state of fast-forward I'm not only bombarded with memories of the cute (quiet) little bundle I brought home from the hospital, but also with a clairvoyant ability to see the future. She is almost done with diapers; soon she'll be buying her first thong (gross). Her hair is finally long enough to put in pigtails; soon she'll be dying it purple (over my dead body). She slept in her "big girl bed", aka toddler bed, for the first time last night; soon she'll be sleeping with the love of her life (because of course my child will wait until she's married to have sex).

I'm so proud of my little monkey, my little bean, my little Margarita. She slept peacefully all night in her toddler bed last night, woke up and insisted on wearing her minnie mouse panties, didn't argue with me when I told her she had to sit on the potty, actually peed in the potty, then let me put pigtails in her hair and pronounced herself "Pretty!" to daddy about forty times. So big. So amazing.

I've Been Waiting for This Day for Over Two Years

Yesterday was wretched. It snowed for about twenty-four hours straight and we all decided it was a very good day to stay indoors...and bake Valentine cookies. A mere moments into this endeavour I realized that this day, February 9th, was the day I've been waiting for for more than two years.

I asked Maggie if she would like to help me bake some cookies and she indicated that she would be happy to. So I got out all the ingredients and started reading her the recipe while she listened patiently. She helped me mix the dry ingredients, and then the wet. She listened intently while I explained why we scrape the bowl and when to add the dry to the wet. We were making sugar cookie cut-outs, and when everything was mixed together I gave her a disc of dough to put in the fridge but she said, "No Mama," and showed me that it really should go in the oven. Smarty-pants.

Later that afternoon, after the dough had chilled we took it out to roll. Maggie had her own little pink roller, and her own small chunk of dough. She rolled, and rolled, and rolled. She complained that the roller was "Dirty!" when I spread flour on it to prevent sticking. When we were ready to put some of the cookies in the oven I leaned over the recipe and said, "OK Maggie, looks like we have to put these in the oven for seven minutes." Every five minutes or so after that Maggie leaned over the recipe and shouted, "Mama, Mama! Seven minutes!"

I honestly can't believe how closely she was watching me and paying attention. Aside from the "Seven minutes!", she mimicked every time I turned my dough, every time I switched cookie cutters, it was pretty awesome.

So let me explain why I've been waiting for this day. Days like these are the days I think of most fondly from my childhood. Craft days, baking days, days when I was helping my Mama do something new and interesting. Since I found out I was having a girl I have dreamed of teaching her how to bake cookies. It's just one of those things I had always hoped to experience with my daughter, the same way I remember experiencing it with my Mom, full of love, patience and pride. One of the best days of my life.

This morning Maggie wanted to make cookies again and was a little ticked off when I told her we couldn't make cookies every day. She was consoled though when she got to eat one of the fruits of yesterday's labor... and by "eat" I really mean "suck off all the icing and throw the cookie away."

I Finally Broke Down...

... and purchased a DVD player for the car. We have a six hour car ride looming and the thought of trying to entertain the two year old was sooooo unappealing I just had to haul my butt to Best Buy today and hook her up with her very own mobile entertainment center. She got to pick out a new movie, and I got to pick out a nice 7-inch dual screen portable DVD player. I'm pretty psyched about it actually - she can watch on one of the screens, while I control the DVD on the other screen in the front seat. No twisting over the seat to fix DVDs or change DVDs or any of those such acrobatics. Knowing that my child will be mesmerized by 101 romping dalmatians for most of the trip has already helped me reach my happy place... a place where a big glass of wine and a butterscotch creme brulee await me after a nice, long, hot stone massage (this is of course an imaginary place). Now if only I can find a way to keep the damn terrier off of my lap during the trip (she sheds and sweats in the car, it's disgusting), my feeling of peace will be absolute.