An Update on The Update and I HATE Cleaning...

This is crap. Our move has once again been delayed. The bathroom to the house we are moving into is now in need of repairs. We were supposed to move in on Friday but now it's going to be next Monday or even longer. We were given an extension to stay in our apartment until Monday (since that is where our stuff is stored right now and we are STILL at the in-laws).

However, we may not actually be able to live in our house on Monday if all the repairs do not get done. We can move everything in this weekend but we won't know until Monday if we can actually live there. We were told that we may need to get a hotel room for a few days. This is not happening.

I guess we will stay with the in-laws AGAIN. We've been here for 2 weeks so what's a few more days? My SANITY that's what! I actually think I'm going crazy from all the cleaning that I feel pressured to do while here. I love the MIL but she is a clean freak/perfectionist as the hubs says (um, sorry). I AM NOT. I am sooo tired from cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, picking up toys immediately after my kids play with them only for them to get them back out five seconds later for me to repeat the process all over again the entire day because no one wants toys all in the floor except me. I usually clean up toys once at night after everyone has gone to bed.

I want to go home and get settled in our new house. I want to be able to relax after dinner instead of doing the dishes. I want to let clothes, dishes, and toys pile up everywhere because that is who I am. I want to walk around naked if I please. I want to be alone with my husband for five minutes. I want to get some work done before the Internet forgets who I am. I just want to get moved into the f---ing house before I go crazy! ( I don't really ever say cuss words but it just sounded good in that sentence ) OK.

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I know I'm slacking Update

Being at the in-laws for the past 2 weeks has made it hard for me to get any work (and play) done online. Having to share one computer with the entire family plus regular daily visitors does not make it any better. So there's my excuse for my lack of blogging & work as of late and for not returning many emails and for not commenting much.

We will be back home on Wednesday but as soon as we get home we have to move into our house. We should be all done by Friday evening.

Tomorrow our baby will be 2 years old. He will be spending his birthday at the hospital for an Upper GI. I just hope he cooperates and everything goes well then we can go do something fun for him after it's all over. We had his party last weekend and he had so much fun. I will share the photos when I get an extra minute.

Oh, I almost forgot. Go check out our first top toddler mom blogger over at the toddler blog.

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Self-Censoring is No Fun!

Sometimes I wish my blog was anonymous. Disclosing information would be so much more satisfying and writing would be easier. But since this blog is connected to and is a feature of one of my websites ( ContestForMoms.com) I feel like I must censor myself. This blog address was given out to friends and family early on and it is readily available for anyone to see if my real name is typed in almost any search engine. This is scary sometimes. You just never know who is reading your blog ( I know my younger sister & husband does and that's ok), and I seriously would never want to hurt anyone's feelings on purpose but at the same time it would be nice to vent every once in a while without fear of hurting anyone. I try and respect my family's & my husband's family's privacy as much as possible and I will try to continue to do so.

Writing like this doesn't always give me a chance to be myself. For the most part, it makes me look like I live a normal semi-cookie cutter life. However, I can assure you that is not the case. My life is far from perfect. So I guess I'm trying to find a balance. Does anyone else feel like this?

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Father's Day 2006 Was Spent...

Doing this...



and doing this...



Happy Father's Day to Daddys in our lives...

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A WTF Friday!

I was reading J's Mommy's post about Men and I just had to post something the hubs said last night.

Me: I'm starving!

The Hubs: I believe You are just horny!

WTF? What is wrong with men?

Got any you want to share?

*Edited to add: Now realizing it is soo close to Father's Day, I probably should have posted something a little more appropriate. I'll try before Sunday. :)

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Please Help Save The Internet

To all the mom/mommy/momma and daddy bloggers out there. The Internet is in trouble and it needs our help. Congress is pushing a law that would abandon the Internet's first amendment and get rid of a principle called Network Neutrality. If this law passes, the telecom companies will take over the Internet. This law will affect you. Click here to read how it will affect you. It will affect your blog and your websites and your online businesses. The telecom companies will choose what sites customers go to based on who pays the most. The Internet will become like television. Do you want this? Do you want to have a blog that no one reads because they can't access it? Do you want to have your online business shut down? I know I don't want this to happen.

Please go to SaveTheInternet.com and do what you can to make sure this law does not get passed. Sign the petition, put up a banner, and send a letter to your senator.

go to savetheinternet.com and support network neutrality. This threat is REAL. A few months ago I thought the threat was not real and said this would never happen. But it is happening. This past Monday the House rejected the Net Neutrality legislation so it's important to act now.

Please share this post with everyone you know and pass this message on.

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It's Just One of Those Days...

I woke up at 6am this morning to a crying toddler. This same toddler didn't go to bed last night until after 11pm and he didn't even take a nap yesterday. He's teething and he has stomach problems.

The teething just started up again but the stomach problems have been ongoing since around 12 months. Um, right around the time breastfeeding stopped and real food began. The teething I know how to deal with but the constant puking I do not.

My toddler has been to 2 different pediatricians and each of them say something different. We've tried what we were told to do but it doesn't seem to work consistently. We do know that some foods are off limits and we do know that he can only eat small amounts at a time but we don't know what is causing it.

In May, he was scheduled for an Upper GI test but since it seemed like he was getting better I canceled it to save him from the trauma of the test. Now he is actually going to have to go through with the test. Atleast I think that is the name of the test. All I know is that he can't eat the night before and he has to drink stuff and be held down so , in my opinion, that is traumatizing enough!

Anyway, right now I smell like puke and I wish I could go back to sleep for atleast an hour but that's just not possible. I guess I'll drink a few cups of coffee and be ready for the rest of the day.

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Calling All Toddler Mommies!

We have a new feature at our Everything Toddler Blog. Each week we will highlight a mom who has a toddler and has a blog. I may mention the top mommy here each week as well...if I remember. I promise I will try but sometimes life does get in the way...

If you know of any moms with toddlers, feel free to go on over to the site and leave a comment and we will check them out! Feel free to nominate yourself too if you are looking for some extra traffic to your site!

BTW, I just reviewed the BusyBodyBook over there too. It's an awesome organizer for us super busy moms!

Okay, enough promotion for the day...

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Leaving on a Jet Plane...

Actually I'm leaving in a car and I'm going to the in-laws for another week of sun, pools, and partying ( um, a birthday party for our soon to be 2 year old son). Anyway, I was thinking of that song and for some reason the hubs and I sing that song when we get ready to travel...sometimes...

Everyone knows this song, right? "Leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again...". I sing the version from the movie Armageddon because it cracks me up.

Ok, so can you tell I really love my in-laws? I really really do. I love the entire family and we get along great. My MIL totally loves, adores, and spoils (if a child can be spoiled) our two boys. I couldn't have asked for a better grandmother (ma-maw to us southerner/hillbillys) for my kids. She is amazing to them and they feel the same about her.

The hubs and I decided to take another break and spend another week with the in-laws since we found out today that our move in to our new home will be delayed until the end of the month. This place is a mess with boxes everywhere and we don't have to be stuck here since the hubs summer class is online and we can both work from home.

We also decided to go ahead and have our son's 2nd birthday party next saturday while we are there since his actual birthday will be during the days we are moving and it would just be too difficult to have a party during that time.

It's hard to believe that my little baby boy will be 2 years old. Time really does fly when you are having fun...ah, it really flies when you have kids.

I realized after reading this entry that I have rambled but it's getting published as an entry anyway...

*I'd also like to give an update about the digital camera favor entry. Thanks everyone! I got a new camera. I'm having a little buyer's remorse from the price but I'll be okay. Now I just have to figure out how to use the darn camera.

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Anyone Got Any Moving Tips?

We’ve been living in university housing for 1 ½ years while the hubs went ( and continues to go) to grad school. We are finally moving out and into an older 3 bedroom home in a few weeks. Our new home is located in the center of this small town and university less than one mile from where we currently are. We live in the middle of a national forest so seeing a stray deer is not uncommon in this small town. I figured I'd throw that in there to give all of you out there an idea on what kind of town we live in. I do have to admit, however, that it is beautiful and a perfect place to raise kids despite it's shortcomings.

Anyway, the hubs will finish up school in December and will hopefully get a full time job at the university soon after while working on his PHD so we will be here for a while.

It seems like we have moved a lot in the past few years and I know it has to be confusing for our children. I’m just glad we have found a nice place to live and I’m glad it’s not an apartment. We will finally have privacy again, our own yard, our own laundry room (yay for clean clothes without needing 100 quarters) and lots of space. Plus I will be able to decorate and paint any way I want to.

However, I dread the actual moving because we will probably not have anyone to help us out and we can’t afford to hire a moving company. As I said above, we are moving less than a mile away but it’s still going to be hard with two kids in tow.

I have already taken everything off the walls and have started boxing lots of stuff up. We are going to try and get everything boxed up before the move so we won’t be so rushed and unorganized. There are so many things I need to get done plus I also have to plan my son’s 2nd birthday party. So if you have noticed I haven’t been around as much then you know why… I should be back to normal by July…and I might actually get caught up by September.

Any tips on helping moving day go more smoothly?

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A Blog Favor about Digital Cameras

Ok, so I mentioned on my "back from vacation" blog post that my camera was pretty much destroyed by water on vacation. I got too close to the water while taking a picture and a wave splashed my camera. The flash is dead and there is a big water spot in the lens. Otherwise it works perfect if you want to call that perfect. I know, I should have not gotten that close to the water with my camera but I wanted some cute photos of my son.

Anyway, I'm asking all of you out there in the blogosphere to help me out. I am shopping for a new digital camera and I need to know which one to buy. I've been looking at them for a week now at several digital camera review sites but havent found enough sample photos to make my decision. So I am turning to all of you.

Here is what I need. I need for each of you to tell me what kind of digital camera you use and send me in the direction to where I can view a few samples photos that you took with that digital camera so I can see what is out there. My price range is between $100-$300 (It's possible that I may be able to go a tiny bit higher than this) right now. If you own a DSLR then don't bother sending me a link to your photos because I cant afford one of those right now. LOL.

Below is a sample of a photo from my damaged digital camera. See the water spot? And I dont have a flash. I'm sure this camera can be repaired but it would probably cost alot so I'm better off buying a new digital camera.

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The All-Day-Clingy-Cryer-Fit-Taker Toddler

My son is 23 months old but we are already experiencing the "terrible twos" and it all started around 19 months.

My toddler is clingy.

My toddler cries OFTEN throughout the day.

My toddler "takes fits" or "throws fits" or "has temper tantrums" or whatever it's called that toddlers do when they start screaming and crying and you dont understand what they are trying to say and when you try to calm them down or redirect them or even play with them they decide to throw their head backwards and slam it on the floor repeatedly.

PLEASE TELL ME I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO EXPERIENCES THIS ON A DAILY BASIS.

My other son did not do this at the toddler age so I wasn't expecting this. He was so easy to take care of and he loved to just play. Why can't my 23 month old be more like his older brother and just take it easy on me?

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Santa at the Beach!

One evening while we were on vacation we saw Santa Claus. As we were sitting at a table in a seafood restaurant, my husband nudged me and pointed to our 5 year old son and said, “Look”.

I turned around and looked at my son and his eyes were HUGE and he had the biggest smile on his face. I was completely confused until the hubs says, “oh no!” and we look and see a man that looks just like Santa Claus and he’s wearing RED.

The hubs whispers to me and says our son thinks that is Santa Claus. So here we are thinking that we are about to get into an embarrassing situation. Then before we could get to our son he jumps up from the table and runs over to this Santa -Claus -looking -man and gives him a hug. Our son is beaming and has this huge smile as the hubs and I are just staring and the man ( um, Santa Claus) says, “It’s ok. I am Santa Claus”.

So we take a picture and he hands us his business card that has a picture of him in his official Santa suit and it says Santa Claus. It had his information and an email address. The rest is in French so I have no idea what it says. He also asked us to send this picture below that we took of him and our son via email.

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