Happy 4 months, Elise!

Elise turned 4 months on Sunday, so to celebrate, I put her in a pretty dress and took some pics. She is growing up so fast and is such a happy little girl. She goes for her 4 month check-up today so we get to find out how much she weighs now!

Monday's musing: do you have an accent?

Have you ever been suddenly made aware that you have a strong accent? I think of this from time-to-time. I always think I sound "normal" (whatever that means, right?) but then I will hear myself on tape and think, "OMG, I have THE worst Wisconsin/Minnesota accent"! Like, my accent is bad. If you've ever seen the movies, New in Town or Drop Dead Gorgeous, that is what I sound like. And my accent is worse than say, my sister's. Which is weird. I was in Cancun, Mexico, on a tourist bus when someone a few seats back said, "you must be from Wisconsin, right?" and I looked at him with huge eyes and said, "how do you KNOW?" and he said, "oh, the accent gives it away -- it's a very pleasant one though!" (So much for traveling incognito, right? Guess I could never hide in Mexico if I tried.)

Another situation where it was been brought to my attention? One time, PC (pre-children), I was out with friends and we were in this bar (our town has the record for most bars in a city square, but I digress), and these guys were in town because there is a military base nearby so they were from the South and they could NOT stop laughing at us, and particularly me! They had me say all these words and they said we say them all "wrong" -- LOL, like bag. Bag to me is pronounced "bag" (rhymes with "hag") but apparently people say "bahg" or something which boggles my mind! And the word, car, is pronounced "car" but they said you're supposed to say, "cah" -- say what? There's an "r" on the end. We really draw out our vowels here, I guess. Oh, another one is "roof" which I pronounce the "Os" as having the same sound as "took" but other people say "rewf", as in the same "o" sound as "move".

One thing I actually catch myself saying is, "Oh, I knooooow" and I know that is the most "Minnesota" thing that I do.

I don't know if this rambling is even making sense but anyhow! I will try and upload some video sometime -- I think I have some shorter clips.

Where are you from and do you have an accent? Tell me stories.

50?

That's how many followers I now have. Thank you, loyal and faithful friends. :) I appreciate all the feedback -- thanks for putting up with my craziness. ♥ Have a great weekend!

P.S., 30 isn't so bad. It's just one of those things that was hard for me to process at first, you know? Saying goodbye to the twenties and knowing that I'll never be "20-something" again.

I am an old hag.

Yep, the big 3-0 for me today. I am surprised I'm feeling depressed over it, but it's like the realization has set in that my 20s are over. I hate thinking about getting older because it means someday I will have to leave this world and my wonderful kids in it. Ugh...............

Wordless Wednesday

Thank you, everyone!

I really do need to get over the mommy guilt thing when I do stuff for myself. There's the life before kids, and then there's the life that started on August 25, 2007, when Andrew was born. That's THE life I am living and loving and it's so strange how life changes and evolves but now I could never go back. Anyhow, because I work full-time, I do feel that I should be with my children the rest of the time so I think that plays into my guilt. I need to work on that a little, so thanks for making me feel normal! I'm glad I'm not alone.

Mommy guilt.

How do you deal with it? Yesterday, Elise was napping so I decided it'd be a good time to run to the mall and find something with my $50 gift card (for Christmas, from my mom). The entire time I was gone, I just worried about her and wondered if she was awake, if she was wondering where I was, etc. I have a really hard time relaxing (and I was only gone for a total of an hour, including driving time, but it felt like an eternity). I kept wishing I had just brought her with! Andrew is okay when I'm gone because he was having fun playing in the back yard. Then, as I'm walking around the mall, I feel like I should have a shirt on that says, "I'm a mom and that's why I look like this"! Does anyone else ever think that? I have lost all my pregnancy weight plus 1 extra pound, but I am not as toned as I was 5 years ago and I always feel like people will think "ew" if they see me, yet if I have the kids with, at least they think "oh, she's a mom".

To make matters worse, I was shopping for shorts and couldn't find anyting I liked. Why does "the trend" these days have to be those ripped up shorts? I don't want to walk around looking like a dog attacked me more than I want to look like a frumpy mom (who turns 30 on Friday, by the way! Yikes!). I like cute shorts that are not "mom shorts" and not "slutty teen shorts", but something in between -- short, but not too short. I gave up on shorts yesterday, and instead found a pretty blouse and crop pants for work (dressier, non-everyday wear). I have recently found a love for dressy tops made from material that doesn't have to be ironed! They were both originally $30 and on sale for $17, so I still have some left on my gift card for next time. I'm keeping an eye out for some cute shorts but may have to wait until the mall opens a store for moms looking for cute, normal, non-momish clothing.

A question for the readers . . .

Who are you and what do you like about my blog?
Are you a lurker?
How often do you stop by?
What types of posts are your favorite?
Is there anything you'd like to see in the future?

I'm just trying to get some ideas. I hope my blog isn't boring, but the only way to know is to get feedback. :)

Thanks!

How do you organize your receipts?

The reason I ask is because I recently went through mine and I had some in there from 2006. Yeah. It's been a few years since I cleaned the box out (the last time was about a year ago and I think I threw receipts from 2003 - 2005). Some of these receipts were so old that the ink had faded off! Yes! And there were grocery store receipts in there (like I'm going to return my vegetables I bought in '07?)!

My system isn't really too impressive, but I save all receipts in a shoe box in my closet and when I need to take something back, I just fish it out of there. Well, I should back up. FIRST, I put my receipts in my wooden organizer in kitchen (it has 4 spots so I put my receipts in one, check stubs in another, and miscellaneous takes up the other two). I eventually file the check stubs in the filing cabinet downstairs (oh yes people, I have every single check stub ever received since I started working my very first job in 1997! I can't throw them out because I'm almost proud of them, all organized and separated by place of employment in chronological order, might I add).

Anyway, I decided enough was enough. I went through my box of receipts and filled a whole plastic bag with receipts. I kept some old ones for big things (the stove and refrigerator) -- I'm not really sure why because it's not like they're under warranty anymore!? I now only have receipts going back to fall of 2009 and my box can start over again.

Yes, I am and have always been a packrat.

I took a pic of the bag of receipts I'm throwing out but Photobucket was being a royal bitch yesterday so I couldn't get it uploaded. I will get it up on my blog soon because I know you're all dying in suspense!

Okay, so here is 4 years' worth of receipts that I threw out. Yep, that's a full Target bag!


Also, my husband put the garbage out yesterday afternoon despite the fact that garbage had already been picked up (he never knows what day it is but has an approximation of about 2 days in either direction). Today it's raining so now I have wet garbage in front of my house. Awesome.

Overheard in my house today . . .

"You can't go all Jungle Book like that to the park!"

Yes, I was home on my morning feeding break and Andrew was all about going to the park. The only problem was that he was completely naked. I told him that if he got dressed, Daddy would take them both to the park after I went back to work. Hopefully little Mowgli isn't in his birthday suit on the slide right now!

Also,

I'm loving the Gaga CD. I jam in my car on the way to and from (and to and from) work!

A stay-at-home dad's perspective on children's shows!

We don't have our t.v. on very often, maybe an hour or two a day total (often in the evenings to watch the news; sometimes we catch a little Judy so we can laugh at the idiots). When we do turn it on for Andrew, we only let him watch PBS Kids. Why? Because I think a lot of the cartoons (Cartoon Network shows and Spongebob-type crap) are stupid and pointless and they don't really teach anything. It's like slapstick stupid crack for kids! Also, we don't have cable. We just have an antenna on our roof to pick up the local hi-def channels (you should try it, really -- we get two CBS staions, two NBC stations, two ABC stations, Fox, three (!!!) PBS stations, and the weird churchy channel which I program out of the scanner).

This morning, the husband and I were discussing the shows on PBS and DH likes all of them except Dinosaur Train (I agree -- it's kind-of annoying and the shows seem redundant). DH went on to say that he likes Super Why, Curious George, Clifford, Arthur, and Martha Speaks (this one is his most favorite). So yeah, pretty much all of them. :) At least my husband is learning while at home with the kids!

What are your favorite programs for kids?

Blogger is finally working again!

Wow! I was trying to post for almost 24 hours. Anyway, here is a new pic of Elise and me. I wanted one with her brother, but he was in a crabby mood (needed a nap).




Being back at work has been all right for me. I was expecting it to be so much worse being away from two children, but maybe it was better since I've done it before.

The bottles were hit and miss -- she'd take it one day, then not the next, so I am back to going home twice a day to nurse her myself (same arrangement I had with Andrew) and that is going marvelously. I get to bond with her (and Andrew) during the day and while I'm only home for 15 minutes at a time, it makes my day seem so much better!

Elise is officially a thumb sucker! She found it a week ago Saturday and now she automatically rolls onto her left side when she's on the floor. Thumb in, baby happy. :) It works really well for naptime when I'm at work because Daddy can just put her in her crib and she doesn't cry at all -- she just looks for the thumb. When I'm around, she must know, because she does still like to be swaddled/shushed/swayed to sleep, so that's nice for both of us. It's amazing how two babies can be parented the same and turn out so differently -- Andrew was a major comfort sucker, but Elise only wants to eat when she's hungry. I can't really think of many times where she fell asleep on the breast, except in the beginning.

Wordless Wednesday!