Taking Stock at 29 Months. 6-17-14

Here's what's happening at 29 months:

• I'm so impaired that I had to count out 29 months on my fingers. 
• This is our big news...

I made my camera worse instead of better, but you get the idea.

Chatting with the Birds. 6-15-14

Catching up with photos from back in January. Boop likes going back through videos, and she was excited to see photos from the beach. The talking birds scared Boop a bit. Not so much that she didn't want to see him, just enough that we had to carry her.

Returning Home, Part II. 6-11-14

The day before I was due to come back to the house, I got a call from my friend. She wouldn’t be able to bring me back to my house for a few days because she had a family emergency. With that, I decided to just try another way to get back home. Flying home was out—our tiny, hometown airport would mean more time and money for the ticket. Plus, I would have Winnie, making it hard to manage dog and baby through the various stopping points and further adding to the price. Renting a one-way car from my aunts would be an option, but it would be half the price to rent one at the state line. So, Mom accompanied us the 2 hours to get the rental. When I got the car, I began shifting boxes and bags and car seat from Mom’s car to the rental as Mom tried to distract Winnie and Boop. I was really nervous about driving with Boop mid-day, especially for 3 more hours.

I'mma Livin' Inna Box! I'mma Livin' Inna Cardboard Box!

Thankfully, the trip was smooth. I didn’t have to stop to get gas, and Boop ate and slept for the rest of the trip. Uneventful. As soon as I pulled into the driveway, though, I realized I had a problem: I left my keys in my Mom’s car. I had left a spare key at the office, but driving over there, I confirmed my worst suspicions: my spare key was to my old lock. With that, I had to break into my house with the help of my neighbor and just need to fix the window now. Mom mailed me my keys, and I got some good exercise walking back and forth to daycare and work for a couple days.

BTW, very classy work. Whoever you are who called in a code infraction for one of my neighbors, resulted in an official notice for me. Which was probably what you intended, anyway. 20 days to repair my gutters. Yep, and I’ve only been trying to get them done for a few months. Fortunately, the inspector was nice enough. She said that I could just take the gutters down if I wanted to. 

"Elbow #1" 6-9-14

My Budding Young Photographer

This is Boop's first photo of me. I'm clearly dressed to the nines in my house cleaning clothes; I guess she was going for me in my natural state. Although at first glance, you might think this is her "Up the Nose" period, she was clearly going for my elbow, as she's a little obsessed with elbows these days. She proudly proclaimed "ELBOW!" when she reviewed the photo.
Even looking at this post, she was inspired to grab my arm and announce, "That's Mommy's elbow!" 

Try, Try Again. 6-5-14

Another belated birthday greeting, from Miss Boop... Goodness gracious! 

Spring Cleaning. 6-4-14

It’s still officially spring. I have a couple of weeks left. I’m trying to get caught up from all of the months of office work. My house is showing the wear. The winter was rough. I thought a metal roof would be such a good investment, but it sure has done a number to my gutters. So, I need to figure out what to do.

Boop likes to help me clean. That’s great in spirit. However, as you would expect with a toddler, she has a way of creating new jobs for me to do. For example, she had the spray bottle of vinegar to clean the stainless steel fridge. She actually did a decent job for the one or two areas for the first few squirts, but I would look away and look back to find huge streaks and the fridge and paper towels dripping with vinegar. The kitchen reeked of it for a few days. Could be worse. But honestly, the best thing about the activity is that it keeps Boop occupied. Could be worse. Much, much worse. I’ve gotten distracted by doing something so many times when suddenly my Mommy Alarm goes off, and I look around to see what she’s gotten into. Apparently, a toddler daddy in South Korea was not so lucky. He presented his passport to leave a foreign country, only to find that his child had drawn in ink all over the passport photo page, making it useless. I’d say Boop hiding my credit cards (she LOVES credit cards) and keys rank pretty high up there. I just pulled out the couch to find a treasure trove—Winnie had hid our socks there, and Boop had hid credit cards, business cards, award cards—all those little cards just perfect for toddler-sized hands.

I am always watching those hoarding shows for inspiration, hoping that Boop and I don’t end up that way. And in my cleaning, I came across this. But I’m hearing that Neil is not going to tour for a long, long time. So, these will be few and far between, unfortunately. 

Crazy Trip Home. 6-1-14

I made a trip home for the holiday with the worst luck. The trip didn’t get off to a good start. I thought I had everything sorted before I left—but alas, no. When a friend came to pick me up, I kept hearing water running. It was on the wrong side of the house from everything that I thought it could be. I even had a couple of rattling pipes. So, my friend, who was nice enough to drive us home, advised I turn off the main line water; so she had to wait while I ran in to do it. Then, an hour into the trip, I started looking. Wiggles DVDs: check. DVD player: check. Plug the DVD player in the cigarette lighter… Oh no. I forgot the cord. We saw a Target, got turned around and finally got in there. I ran in. No, I really don’t want to buy a $70 DVD player when we already have 4. The guy at Target told me Radioshack was 2 doors down; so we went in there. Mind you, Boop has no shoes, and I’m carrying 38 lb. baby and DVD player in a mad dash through Target and mall. Fortunately, they were able to test the cords in the DVD player because it took us some time to figure out the right one, even though several seemed to fit. Feeling exhausted, yet? That was just the first hour of the trip. Fortunately, my friend is a very patient person.

All I’ve heard the past couple of weeks from Boop was Uncle B this and Uncle B that. So when we finally made it, I had one very happy little girl who got to see Aunt D and Uncle B—and one very happy Winnie who quickly established her spot on Uncle B’s lap. I got to hang out with a friend from college—hadn’t seen her little ones since they were babies who are in middle school now. And see my middle school friend, her husband, and one of my 2^nd mothers, and have some very good fried chicken, for a change. Boop was ‘on’ at the dinner house—talking and singing, but she had conked out when I went to see my friend from college. That at least gave us a bit of time to talk.