tiffany's spot

The last few days I feel like I've got some energy back. Oh sure, going to bed at 11, waking up for an hour to listen to the baby cry at 3am and then getting up for the day somewhere between 5 and 6 will make a person tired, but it's not the bone deep exhaustion that comes from having a new baby. I know that I'm not supposed to be happy that my kids are quickly growing up and slowly needing me less, and I'm not really, but I have to admit that I don't really miss the 6 week old stage where the baby thinks that it's noon when it's really 4am. It takes a long time to start feeling like ones self again. As I write this, I also wonder if my sudden increase in feeling like myself again has to do with Ellie eating way more solids. We didn't really start her on any solid food until about a month ago, and it's only in the last few days where we've really let her eat like crazy. Today she had three solid little baby meals and a few cheerios in between t...

Tennyson is now on his 3rd or 4th night of no pull-ups and is doing just fine. It's like something just clicked. I am so excited to have a kid who needs no pull-ups or diapers. Yay!

I just put Tennyson to bed without a pullup for the first time ever. He hasn't peed the bed in probably five nights; not since I told him that yes , he could leave his room even before the night light turned orange if he had to pee. He's been dry ever since. Jordan is going to be mad.

Oh stuff. I feel like my head is full of stuff, but I just don't have a spot in there to pinpoint and start a decent blog post. There is stuff that doesn't translate well into print, stuff I can't really talk about, stuff I don't want to talk about, stuff I feel but can't write. Stuff, stuff, stuff. I'm not really a writer. I can mush and gush about the kids, yet the words don't really encapsulate what it is I'm feeling. My life with them is so much more than the one-dimensional stuff I write on here. Do you ever feel like you don't even know yourself? I do sometimes. I think that if I met me at a playgroup I might not even really recognize myself. See? More stuff I can't really explain. Whatever. Had a good weekend. We didn't do anything. There was no pressure. We hung out here with the kids, watched movies, made a mess, didn't clean up any of it. I did do some grocery shopping. It was a mess too. Thursday mornings with two kids is easie...

Just to update anyone who actually checked out my ticker - I finished it! I've lost the baby weight and another ten. Very excited. That actually puts me 20 pounds less than what I was before getting pregnant with Jordan. Those were some very naughty and tasty university years!

I'm watching Dr. Oz right now. I don't usually watch him these days, because I find him annoying. Today Oz and his fellow experts are talking about different body types, and how different body types gain weight in different parts of the body. From there, they talk about different foods that each body type should eat, and different exercises that people should do. They're flying through the different lists of foods, exercises, etc. They're getting into types of potatoes, types of oils, veggies, etc. that each group should eat and which they should avoid. This is one of the things I don't like about Oz. When he first became big, I jumped on the Oz craze, and bought the You on a Diet book. I read about half of it. I started to take notes (because trust me, notes are needed). He talks about hormones, he gives diagrams, he talks about all different kinds of oils, minerals, vitamins and supplements people should take. He talks about ingredient lists in food, and the thin...

I was looking through pictures today, and we took next to no pictures of Elliot's first Christmas. In our defense, we didn't take many pictures of Christmas at all, because my camera is on the fritz (it turns itself on and off at random, killing batteries really quickly), but still. It's her first Christmas. Tomorrow I'm going to dress her up all cute and plunk her down somewhere near the tree and take a few pictures of her. She's awfully sweet. She's a little crafty. For instance, when I hold her up in front of me to talk to and smile at her she grins happily and slowly and gently reaches her hands up to place them on my cheeks. Sweet right? Then she clutches fistfulls of skin in a baby death grip, before yanking our faces together and pushing her open mouth against my face. I actually think she's kissing. Sort of. Except for ridding me of some of my pesty cheek-skin, the whole thing is actually pretty affectionate. She doesn't suck, she just wiggles ...

One of my favorite Disney movies has always been Beauty and the Beast. As a girl I thought Belle such a strong-minded, feminist-type woman, who bucked the conventions of her time and wanted more out of her life than the typical roles laid out for the bun-baking, baby making women of her small town. She even turns down a marriage proposal from the most coveted man in the region. As a woman, I realize that Belle ended up running off into the bush and marrying the first man-beast she found there. Not sure if scrubbing pots and birthing dozens of offspring is somehow less provincial when done in a ramshackle, cursed castle. But I digress. This was Beast when Belle found him. Since the super hairy, ultra masculine character in this story never receives a name other than Beast, I shall continue to call him that without fear of offense. See how her heart swells with love for the man she knows she can change this beast into? What? You didn't know that the story was an allegory for every r...

Or maybe, as a friend and I discussed earlier, it may be easier to just leave him in diapers until he's interested in girls. Maybe then he'll decide it's a little uncouth to shit ones pants. Or maybe his girlfriend will oh-so-gently take him by the hand and tell him what to do. Either way, it would relieve me of the ultimate annoyance that potty training brings. I hate potty training. Wait, we don't say that word around here, let me rephrase. I have an intense dislike of potty training. I know, I'm a mommy of 5.5 years now and I should be at peace with all types of stuff that the young human body produces. It is not so. Tennyson threw up on the carpet in the basement last Thursday. I probably made more noise cleaning it up than he did producing it. I felt badly after, because he was all sad and apologetic and thought I was mad at him. How does one tell a three year old that no, you are not mad at him, you are mad at the situation . Can't be done. I told him t...

I was going to go over my last years resolutions and see how I had done. Turns out I made no resolutions. So I guess I passed then! This year, I'll make some. My grandma walked 1000 miles last year. I can run/walk that too! Last year I did 736.5 miles. There was one month I did 115, there were a few where I slacked. I'm going to run. And run and run and run. I'm signed up for the Mb Half Marathon. I have no idea how fast I should aim to do it, but I'm thinking that I'd like to do it in under 2.5 hours. If you're a half marathoner and have an opinion, be sure to let me know! I'll try not to kill any large birds on the highway, and to remember that no, they do not always move. I know it's all physical stuff right now, but that's what's on my mind these days, so there you have it.

So my ticker hit an all-time low. Unfortunately, it's a result of the infamous Stomach Flu Diet, and once I'm all re-hydrated it'll probably plump itself back up. Unless I never drink again.