I'm here

Work is really kicking my tail this week, so I'm keeping this brief (yeah I know, probably shouldn't blog while I'm at work anyway!) Actually, I think it's going to be like this for the next month or so and I'm not excited about it. I'm working on some pretty high profile projects, which keeps things interesting, but I'm STRESSED! ( I can always tell when I'm getting stressed bc my left eye starts to twitch...it started this morning).

Good weekend. Colin's 1st bday party on Saturday (our friend's Brian & Deirdre's little boy). Mer & I went to church on Sunday and she did well in Sunday school, but again refused to go to the nursery during 'big church'. I just can't inflict a kicking and screaming girl upon the poor folks in the nursery even though she'd probably be fine 30 seconds after I left. We ended up leaving before the service was even over since she was being so squirmy and uncooperative. Then when we got home we had a 'beach day' in the backyard since it was so nice outside. We got out the sprinkler for Meredith to run through, sat in the lounge chairs and even got a little sun! Lots of fun for Mer and she slept very well too!

Ok, my spreadsheet is calling my name....adios for now

Pullen Park is cool

I haven't been to Pullen Park in years until today, and I've never been with a small child ever. It is just plain cool. Meredith and I went to Sunday School and church today (not quite as successful as last week since she would NOT stay in the nursery during the service) and then we met Chris at Pullen Park for a Bojangles picnic and lots of fun playing! The playground isn't quite as great as some of the other local parks, but the other amenities totally makeup for that. We rode the carousel and Meredith wasn't digging getting on a horse, so we rode in the bench seat section, but she still thought it was pretty awesome and I think she'll be ready for the horse next time (that thing really moves, I even got a little dizzy!) Then she did the boats, which she liked at first then got a little apprehensive about toward the end, and then we all rode the train and she loved that too. The slides were the favorite part of the playground and she was nice and worn out by the time we left, fell asleep in the car and took a nice long nap this afternoon. Anyhoo, we'll definitely be back :)

We had some friends over to watch the UNC/VT game yesterday, which was lots of fun (except for the outcome of the game!). Meredith was really excited about having a friend to play with, but it seems that Emma has outgrown playing with 2 year olds since we saw her last and poor Meredith was sad a lot of the time that Emma was ignoring her. I felt really bad for her, but you can't make kids play together and I suppose that 6 year old isn't really all that interested in a 2 year old. They did ok toward the end of the evening, but it took a long time and hearing lots of 'she keeps pushing me' etc (Meredith literally wanted to touch her all the time because she thought Emma was so cool), and Emma would run away from Meredith and so on and so on. Still a great time, but it's hard to see your baby feeling left out :(

On another note, today's adult Sunday School had an immigration lawyer come and talk about how difficult it is to gain legal status in this country. I knew it was difficult, but this really opened my eyes to how hard it really is and why there are so many illegal people here and how upstanding families are just torn apart because local law enforcement can now act as immigration officials, deporting people right and left....so much for family values. There was a lot more to it, but that is my soapbox for now...point is that immigration law really needs to be revamped, big time.

A few pics

The computer magically turned back on again, so I uploaded some pics while I could last night.







Thoughtfully sitting on the singing potty












This would appear to be a celebratory dance, but oh no, this is just how potty training is going in our house!

Having a tea party is her most favorite thing right now!



















Ready for Sunday School

?!?!

So, I'm cooking dinner tonight (pulled chicken bbq sandwiches that turned out quite well despite all else) and Meredith comes up to me, holding her pink stuffed horse and says 'mommy, my horse is wet'. Yep, it was wet....along with the other 2 stuffed animals that were immersed in toilet water. She dragged a sopping wet stuffed animal accross the carpet into the kitchen and it only took one wiff of the bleachy smelling water to know what happened (guess that's better than another possible smell). Ok, off to start with the next battle..bedtime.

Long Weekend

Chris was gone to Nags Head for a very long weekend (Weds-Sun) on a golf trip with the guys (The 10th annual Mosquito Bite Golf tournament). I thought I was big and bad and would have no problems by myself with Meredith (since I usually do most everything for her anyway). I even had the grand idea that I should take Friday off and spend the day with my girl. I must say that I thought several times that I should have just taken her to daycare and worked instead. Don't get me wrong, I love my girl, but she broke me this weekend. She has gotten so mouthy and sassy, specifically with me, and you just can't reason with the child. I know she's 2 and you can't really reason with 2 year olds, but the answer to everything seems to be a sassy 'NO', followed by the screaming and running away from me and being downright ugly. Ugh, I was really ready for Chris to get home and at least distract her a little. So, Sunday afternoon I passed her off and escaped to Target and when I got home, they were both asleep at 5 pm! Translation: she should NOT have been asleep so late in the afternoon, which led to her not falling asleep until after 10pm last night! I think we had to put her back in bed at least 6 times last night. Oddly enough, I was ready to go off to work this morning. I truly don't know how stay at home mom's don't go totally nuts!!

The weekend wasn't a total loss. We had some small successes like a little action in the potty, fun play at the park with a few of the other 'golf widows' and kiddos, playing very nicely with the daugher of a friend of the family, being a good girl in Sunday School, Children's visit and doing well in the nursery during church. The overall theme here is that she is great when she is with anyone other than her mother. Why is it that the one that gives the most gets the least in return?

My computer is really acting up lately, so pictures are few and far between right now. It just decides to turn off and you can't turn it back on and then magically a few days later it just comes back on. One more thing on the long list of frustrating things in my life!

Chris & Ryan

Thought I'd post this sweet picture of Chris holding Ryan (Randy's baby girl) last week. He said it was amazing how tiny she was and she's almost 2 months old! I think she weighs now what Meredith weighed at birth, so she is pretty tiny! I held her when she was only a few days old and could hardly believe how tiny she was (around 6 lbs). Guess that's what happens when you have an 8.5 lb baby! Meredith just skipped the newborn size all together!

Who needs a clean house?

Meredith has been home since Monday and my house looks like a tornado hit it! I have to admit it was nice to have a clean house while she was gone, but it's better to have my baby home :) Chris drove to Tennessee to get her on Sunday and drove back on Monday. I had a baby shower, lunches and a wedding to go to, so he went solo. I definitely had major mommy anxiety while they were on the road and was thrilled to see them pull into the driveway on Monday afternoon. It was a nice break, but it was too long for my girl to be away.

This week has been hectic at work. The week of a holiday always seems to be more work that normal weeks, plus my partner has been out sick most of the week, leaving to manage several big projects and meetings alone...thanks. I'm so happy tomorrow is Friday!

I picked Meredith up today from daycare and she told me that 'Gracie has a booboo', so I asked if she had anything to do with that booboo and yes, she did. Gracie was trying to take a toy from Meredith, so Meredith scratched her across the face....it wasn't pretty. I really thought we had crossed this bridge and were done with this agression, but I guess not. I feel like it's probably partially my fault since she's had such an inconsistent schedule all summer and she hasn't had to share anything at all (and her father lets her get away with anything!). I'm hoping that as she gets back into her normal routine, she will drop this bully thing again. We talked a lot about it, but I'm not sure how much of that sinks in with a 2 year old. I keep trying to think about how I'd feel if it was the other way around and she came home with a scratch across her face from another kid and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't like it too much, but I guess these things happen when kids play...ugh. She really is a good girl, I promise!

On another note, we had a great success the other day when Meredith did a #2 in the potty!! Then about 15 minutes later, she went and peed in her Dora chair....one step forward, two steps back.