I am still alive!

Hello blog readers! I haven’t disappeared from the face of the earth, I promise! I have just been extremely busy with this thing I called life.  Every time I went to write a blog post I was at a loss for words {which rarely happens!}.

The last few weeks all of my free time has spent consumed by this:

A combined party, a 30^th Anniversary Party for my parents and a 75^th Birthday Party for my grandfather.  The party was Saturday and it was a success! All of my hard work the last few weeks paid off. My life is back to normal {for now.}  I know my husband is happy to have his wife back and this week I will work on getting our house back in order. 

I promise a recap post of the party very soon. I am going to have to get pictures from others.  I was too busy being a hostess and I didn’t take a single picture.

Happy Monday everyone!

Saturday's Top Five Laughs: 10/8

I am sorry I haven't been as active on my blog this week.  It's been a crazy busy week at work and at home.  We are super bummed here in the A Household that the Phillies are out of the play offs.  Congrats to the Cards fans though (especially Julie!).  We have a busy day planned today, we're taking Cecilia to a local orchard for their annual Fall Fest.  Then we are heading down to Southern Delaware to Daniel's step father's house in Lewes for a little family get together.  It will probably be the last time we eat crabs for the season, as the crabbing season on the Chesapeake is winding down.  I promise more posts (and tweets!) next week.

Cecilia's Top Five Laughs from this week were:

1. On Sunday morning while getting Ci dressed I went to put socks on her.  She looked at me and said "I don't wear socks (except when she says socks, she drops the s so it sounds like "ock") I don't go bye, bye!" I told her we weren't going anywhere.  She still refused to put socks on. It was still chilly and I didn't want her walking around with bare feet.  Luckily she did have a pair of Dora slippers she got for Christmas last year that were too big for her then. She agreed to put them on, they just barely fit this year.  Once again Dora saves the day!

2.  On Tuesday at daycare Cecilia got in trouble at daycare for biting a little boy, B who is also her age.  This is Cecilia's first time biting at day care.  B has bit her at least ten times since about March.  I hope she's not getting into the biting stage now.  Anyway, when we got home from daycare we put Cecilia in time out and let her know it was from biting B.  After two minutes in time out was up I made her tell me she was sorry for biting B and that she wouldn't do it again.  When she got up, she ran and got her sock monkey, she brought the monkey over to me, touched his mouth to my leg and then said "No, bad monkey!" She ran over put the monkey in time out and said "Don't bite mommy, monkey! It's not nice...now you go in time out for 2 minutes! Then say sorry!"   I was able to snap a pic while she was putting the monkey in time out.

3. We are potty training Cecilia and it's not easy! I thought she'd be potty trained in no time, because my mom said I was super easy to potty train.  She is no longer wearing pull ups while at home, just underwear. This morning while I was getting her dressed she asked me to put her monkey diaper on her. Her monkey diaper is the Luvs diaper we used when she was at daycare. I guess she saw them in her changing table.  Sigh My girl will be going to college and still wanting to wear her monkey diaper!

4. Ci loves her stuffed animals. Every night when she goes to bed she does a roll call of her stuffed animals.  There's my Ellie, there's dolphin, there's ray (sting ray), there's teddy bear, there's piggy, etc.  Well on Sunday her Pop Pop Charley (instead of calling her grandparents by their last name, Ci started calling them Pop pop or Mom mom and then whatever their dog's name is, so my parents are Mom Mom and Pop Pop Cody, Daniel's dad and step mom are Pop Pop Charley and Mom mom Chloe and Daniel's step dad is Pop Pop Ernie, which is his real name or Pop Pop Sinsin, his dog's name is Sinamon) gave her another sock monkey and another elephant. So they have been added to the roll call.... one night the sock monkey wasn't in bed.  "Where's my Pop pop charley monkey?" I don't know I told her.. Then she said "Oh, he's in mommy and daddy room, he sleep with you tonight!" I thought that was so sweet she thought of others, even though the sock monkey was actually in her play room.

5.  When we pick Ci up from daycare she insists on puting all of the toys away.  She'll even try to take toys other kids are playing with and put them away.  It amazes me how she knows what bin toys go in.  Yesterday she must of been baking cookies, she had an oven mit on and was pretending to get something out of the oven.  She insisted on putting every little piece of kitchen toy away in the right spot.  (There had to be 15-20 things out). I love she loves putting her toys away at day care, she  needs to start putting them away at home!

Well, I am off to get Ci and myself ready for the pumpkin patch! Have a great weekend!

The debate that never ends

I came across a blog post last week that really put a sour taste in my mouth.  My first thought was to write a nasty comment on the blogger’s post, but then I stopped myself.  I knew I wouldn’t want anyone to do the same on blog, so I just left the blog.  Almost a week later and I am still bothered by the post, here’s just one quote from it:

 “I think it's a bit selfish to put a child in daycare if you don't have to, would you want to spend all day every day in daycare?”

My response to this quote? Yes, I could probably afford to stay at home with Cecilia.  However, on just my husband’s salary that would mean we’d have to move out of our 2500 square foot house on an acre lot and into a singlewide trailer in a trailer park.  It also means we’d only be able to afford one vehicle and we could forget about date nights and going on vacation ever again.  Instead I work and Cecilia goes to daycare from approximately 7:20 am until 4:40 pm every day.  Does this make a bad mom? I hope not!

She still has two parents who love her more than anything in the world.  She eats better at daycare then at home sometimes (this morning for breakfast she had homemade waffles with turkey bacon).  I trust her daycare provider just as much as I trust my mom. At two, Cecilia knows her ABC’s, she can count to 30, she can tell you her colors and shapes and she has a huge vocabulary.   Do I sometimes wish I didn’t have to work and that I could spend all day with her? All the time!  I also think it’s healthy that I am not with her 24/7, because when we do get our time together I appreciate it more. 

I have a ton of friends who are stay at home moms and I have several friends who are working moms.  I don’t think one is better than the other, but I think it’s time that we respect each other.  I have so much respect for stay at home moms.  They don’t get the break I get every week day. They probably work harder staying at home and taking care of their little ones then I do in an 8 hour work day.  I sit at a desk all day and punch numbers {I do more than that, but you get the point.}  Working moms have it hard to, we have to say good bye to our little ones every morning.  There’s the occasional tears, because they don’t want mommy to go to work, but then there’s other days they run off without even giving you a hug or kiss goodbye.  We put our children in someone else’s hands every day.   We aren’t there to kiss every scrape and bruise, we might miss their first step or first word, but regardless that doesn’t make us a bad parent.

What are your views on working moms verses stay at home moms?

Weigh In Wednesdays

I am starting a new weekly series on my blog called, Weigh In Wednesdays.  For months now I have been trying to get back on the weight loss train and well it just hasn’t happened.  I can’t seem to get myself motivated.  I am finally working out again, but I need to start eating right too. By the time I am 30 (in July 2013), I want to be at my goal weight (approximately 50 pounds less then what I am now).   I am no longer going to say hopefully I can do it, I know I can do it!

I have committed to run my first 5K with my boss and another coworker who happens to be one of my good friends. My boss is in amazing shape, she is in her 50’s and runs 5Ks several times a year.  My friend is also in good shape and unlike me she enjoys running.  Our 5K is a little more than a month away so I have to get my ass in gear and start training.

My goal is to train at least four times a week, whether it’s running outsider, on the treadmill at the gym or the treadmill at my parent’s house.  I want to do an accelerated Couch to 5K program.  I also plan to continue with my fitness classes.  Last night I took my first Zumba class and I have to say…I wasn’t impressed.  I didn’t get that great of a workout.  I feel like I get a better work out in my Insanity and Boot Camp classes.  I am not a quitter though, I am going to finish this session out of Zumba and if I don’t like it come the end of the month I will go back to Insanity.

Each Wednesday I plan on checking in here and letting my blog readers know my progress for the week and if I met my goals.

 My goals for this week:

·         Train for the 5K at least four days.

·         Track my calories on the My Fitness Pal app on my phone.

·         Drink 8-10 glasses of water.

If any other bloggers want to join in on Weigh In Wednesdays let me know.  Even if you only have ten pounds to lose I think having others encourage you helps. Maybe we can make a challenge of some sort and we will have prizes (maybe weekly if we get enough people involved) for the challenge winner.

2 on Tuesday: Favorite Childhood Toys

It's almost that time of year, time to start Christmas shopping {for the first time I ever, I have already started...usually I don't start until Black Friday}. This year I am so excited to shop for Cecilia.  Hopefully this year she will understand the concept of Santa Claus more and she'll be really excited about opening presents.

This week in 2 on Tuesday, Andrea asks


What were your two favorite childhood toys?


Cabbage Patch Dolls

I loved playing with my cabbage patch kids.  I had several of them, I believe my mom still has a few of mine upstairs in their attic. This year I plan on buying Cecilia her first Cabbage Patch Doll.  She love playing with her baby dolls so hopefully she will add this one to the collection.

Cricket Doll

Does anyone besides me remember Cricket? You put a cassette tape in her back and she sung songs and counted with you.  Looking back this doll was kinda creepy, but at four or five years old I loved her. She went everywhere with me.  I believe Cricket came out around the same time as the Chucky movies and whenever my cousin, Connie babysat me she made my parents take Cricket with them.

Honorable mentions are: Popples, My Little Pony, Care Bears, Lincoln Logs, I could go on and on..
You can link up for 2 on Tuesday by visiting Andrea at My Chihuahua Bites

Lots of Blog Love

Melissa over at The Mommyhood Chronicles awarded me with two blog awards earlier this week:

 

Thank you, Melissa! Melissa's blog is one of my favorites, be sure to stop by and say hi and enter her current giveaway. 

I would love to give this award to some of my other favorite blogs:

Fiddle Dee Dee
Mommy Musings
Jill's World
My Chihuahua Bites
Simply Me
The Queen's Kourt
The Young and The Relentless
Confessions of an Impulsive Addict
Happy Heart of Mine

Be sure to visit these fabulous bloggers!

I am also supposed to tell seven things about myself.

1. I love wine.  There's nothing better then a bottle glass of Cabernet or White Zin after a hard week of work.

2. I never have liked the taste or smell or coffee which is odd, because both of my parents are big coffee drinkers.

3.  I'm a big baker, I love making, cookies, cupcakes and brownies. With the holidays coming up, I will be doing a lot of baking.

4.  I have quite the potty mouth, when I am around my friends or when it's just Daniel and I let loose.  I am pretty good around Cecilia, but occasionally a curse word will slip out.  Thankfully she hasn't repeated anything yet.

5.  I love to read. My Kindle goes everywhere with me.

6.  I have never been a very artistic person, I can't draw or paint well at all. I hope Cecilia gets my mom's artistic kills, my mom is super crafty.

7.  I am working on a 30 before 30 list.  One of the things on that list is to run a 5K.  I signed up to run my first 5K the second weekend of November. I am scared! 

Thanks again Melissa for the awards!

Saturday's Top Five Laughs

I loved doing last week's Saturday's Top Five Laughs, I plan on doing it every Saturday.  It is where you put the funniest thing your kid(s) have done this week.

1.  On Sunday while watching the Ravens game over to my parents, (they won, yay!) Cecilia took the remote off the coffee table which was next to where my dad was sitting.  She handed it to him and said "I watch Dora & Boots, Pop pop." My dad laughed, but kindly let her know, "No, Cici we're watching football." She put one hand on her hip, the other hand on the remote and said "Nooooooooooooooooooooo, Pop pop I watch Dora & Boots!" This went on for about three minutes. It was hilarious, because my dad couldn't keep a straight face.  Every time her told her no he tried hard not to laugh.

2.  All week during her bath Cecilia is a dog.  She wants me to give her a bath like I give Cari, our dog.  She even got the doggy shampoo out of the cabinet and asked me to use it on her.  Don't worry I didn't, I pretended to use it, but still used her baby shampoo.  After her bath she'd crawl around the house pretending to be her doggy.  Thankfully she didn't eat anything out of Cari's dog dish!

3. On Wednesday night, Ci's Halloween costume came in from ETSY seller minnieschild.  I tried it on her just to make sure it fit and ever since she has tried to wear it to daycare every day and even today to my cousin's daughter's second birthday party (which was a Mickey Mouse theme).  It is going to be a long month if Cecilia is asking to wearing her Minnie Mouse costume every day.

4.  Like Hayley (Melissa's from The Mommyhood Chronicles daughter) Cecilia has learned that she can delay her bedtime. One night this week she played shy and didn't want to give my husband kiss before bed.  I put her to bed to tuck her in when she tells me, "I need to give daddy a kiss." She gets out of bed runs to the family room where was Daniel was and gives him a kiss, then she tells him she wants to watch football (he was watching baseball). We let her stay up another five minutes, but she eventually went to bed.

5.  My mom just told me of this last one.  I am sick today (I've been sick all week with a cold, but today it seems to have gotten worse..I just wanted to stay home and rest since I worked crazy hours with our aduit at work) so I didn't go to my cousin's daughter, Gracie's second birthday party.  I felt horrible for not going, but I would have felt worse if some else got this nasty cold. My mom took Cecilia.  When they left mom said Cecilia gave my aunt and cousin a hug and the next thing she knows she ran back inside and gave every single person at the party a hug, including my cousin's husband's family.  She does this at daycare every day, she has to give each of the daycare kids a hug bye as well as Miss Sally and Dawn (Miss Sally's daughter in law who helps out), but it surprised me she gave complete strangers a hug.

I hope everyone is having a great Saturday (and that no one else is stuck home sick like me!).  Be sure to root for the Phillies againest the Cardinals tonight! We want a repeat of 2008!!!

Here's Cecilia in her favorite Phillies shirt

Be sure to also check out Melissa over to The Mommyhood Chronicles Saturday's Top Five Laughs and enter her giveaway while you are there.