Can't believe the weekend is over already.

I no longer look forward to the weekends like I used to. The girls are still young to be involved in activities all the time but I am not to old to still be involved in activities and I can never say no. I did manage to get a few things done around the house which is always nice. I am most happy with winning several rounds with the laundry... 5 loads a day!! CRAZY! Finally made it to Church this weekend, it was really nice to be able to go. My calendar is already booked into the new year with many events so any weekend that there can be some normalcy is most welcomed. Tomorrow its back to the grind, playing soldier Mon-Fri till the end of the month. Up at the crack of dawn, 45 min commute, work 7 hours, 45 minutes home, then put on my mom hat all night to then fall into bed... then repeat. O, forgot, insert at least TWO venti white chocolate mochas with an extra shot with soy!!! Talked to Shawn today who told me he is coming home a day early... whoo hoo, only 9 days to go then!! I think I can, I think I can! I think I will be having him watch the girls while I go get a mani, pedi and a massage... wow thats sounds great, brilliant idea if I do say so myself! O, I almost forgot the most exciting thing happened on Friday night... J rolled over!! It was so exciting! So here is to another busy weekend behind me and a busy week ahead of me, but only a few more days till the love of my life is home and I can run into his arms!

Early day from work.

Got released from work a little today... I find pleasure in the small things! Came home had some re-heated Taco Bell!! Decided to sit and relax for a few so I down loaded some pictures from a session I did with my sister and her cat "Pounce" as well as my graduation pictures. Still on cloud nine with the whole graduating thing!! So enjoy the pictures from the session and my graduation!!

Not enough hours in the day.

Things have been busy, busy, which is nothing new in this house hold. Shawn's in Californina doing some Army training, he has only been gone a week and I miss him terribly already. We have been seperated so many times before but I think the kids in the equation this time makes things a little harder than I had planned. Nothing I can't handle I am a pretty tough cookie, just see it being a really long, tiring year. They say parenthood is filled with so many moments... thats is so true. I think its just a little backwards for us... we went from not kids to 2 kids over night. I have over 20 plus years of child rearing experience in my back pocket but I dont think there is truely enough to cover parenting. I practically raised my younger brother and sister my parents left me home babysitting & cooking dinner at the age of 10 since they worked so much. I did baby sitting on the weekends, working in a nursery, taught Sunday school and summer Bible camps, assisted my mom with her daycare she ran from home, helped in her preschool classes.... all that has helped prepare me and arm me with tools to be a great parent for the kids that are in our home and that will in the future be in our home. At the end of the day though I am mentally and physically exhausted, almost incapacitated at times, more so without Shawn here. My sister has moved in as a full time Nanny but even with her help I can not escape the almost automatic shut down that hits me at the end of the day. I have been pumping myself FULL of coffee and false motivation thus far... it will be like a science experiement to see how that works out for me over this next year. Ofcourse it doesnt help that on top of parenting I am going to school full time (which by the way I graduated last Friday with my BA in Criminal Justice... I still have not come down off that high yet... what an amazing feeling... on to the Masters) I am crazy enough to have decided to pursure TWO, yes count it TWO Masters degrees. One at first but later moving to TWO at the same time. I will have my head examined when I can fit it into my calendar schedule. I have several projects in the works as well which as they unfold I will share with you all... I cant wait they are pretty amazing! Then there is Uncle Sam, I actually worked for him today and will be Mon-Fri till the end of the month. I honestly wonder how single parents do it and gladly will kiss the ground they walk on they have to be among the most amazing humans ever to walk this earth... kuddos.
So now that I have rambled and not truely shared what we have been up to with everyone... basically the day in and day out just trying to make it through that at this time. I am signing off to attempt to get 4-5 hours of sleep before "J" wakes me up and then if I am lucky possibly 3 more hours till I wake to start my day with Uncle Sam for 8 hours and then off to Chemistry class for an insane 4 hours straight (which should be illegal by the way) then home to push the reset button with a few appointments and such thrown into Friday for a little varity. This next year will be a huge test for me... I think I can, I think I can...

Weekend at home!

I can not really remember the last time I got to stay in my house for a whole day... today was that day (I am marking it on the calendar) With my sister moving in recently house cleaning has fallen behind because we were so busy playing the furniture tetris game. Furniture is complete but there are several misc. things here and there from the moving of bedrooms. So, I spent the whole day doing laundry until I thought I would throw up (I dont like doing laundry) and I went around trying to find a new place for all the misc. stuff laying around. As I type this, I am thinking how weird that my life has come to this, deffinatly not what I had planned... its the small things that excite me now. Ever since going from no kids to 2 kids almost over night I operate MUCH differently, at times I feel like a robot. Same routine every day... more for the kids and not me but still. I considered today calling my parents and saying thanks for making me do chores when I was younger because it seems like thats all I do now and I am so conditioned for them its like breathing. Since Shawn and I have been together I have struggled to do a load of laundry from start to finish, I can throw clothes in the washer and dryer like no bodys business but folding and putting away is whole nother story... I completed 8 loads of laundry today from hamper to hanger/drawers... AMAZING! I didnt even bat an eyelash at it. I have never really liked doing the dishes either, even with the invention of a dishwasher but now I find myself emptying and loading that bad boy several times a day with no problem... I still dont like it but hey the dishes are not going to do themselves... darn it.  Now that the day has come to an end and I can sit and relax, I look at todays accomplishments as really huge, like a corporation merging with another corporation... this is the real deal here, I have evolved into official mommy status. Its rewarding at times, SUPER TIRING, very trying at times (grounded 8 year old playing tantrum, testing my patience games today) but as long as I can lay down on my comfy sofa at the end of the night and feel at ease like I do now I suppose its all worth it. Tomorrow is only a few hours away, holding its own little surprises and I intend to soak up every one of them as I have today.

Busy, busy, busy...

Things have been super busy here. My sister moved in this last week to be our live in nanny for the next year. Yes, a live in nanny, 2 kids is NO JOKE. We go from having no kids and nights of amazing 8 hours of sleep to.... an 8 year old who never stops talking, is always pushing/testing her boundaries, and always keeps us laughing PLUS a 4 month old who eats, poops and seems to rarely sleep which means we rarely sleep. The 2 weeks that Shawn was recently gone and I did the kid thing solo by the end I didnt even know my name or what year it was, I was seriously on auto pilot and didnt even feel human. With Shawn home this past week he has stepped in to take over the kid department in an attempt for me to relaxe but as sweet as it is, its just not realistic. I just now have un-inturrupted time to do laundry, cook, clean, go to school and repeat. I did manage the other night to take a bath, drink a glass of wine and read a book... sadly it only really lasted 20 min cause I couldnt keep my eyes open any longer. I am a very independant person and always up for a challenge but if I was wiped out after 2 weeks I had to be realistic with myself, there was no way I could make it a year without the end result being me locked in a padded room. So, we talked it over and offered my sister the live in nanny position... best decision ever! She has been such a big help and I am glad I admitted right away there was no way I could do this alone.

This brings me to the busy, busy, busy part last week was jam packed with appointments for the girls, Shawn, and me going to school. Even with 3 adults in the house and sharing the responsibility... I still feel like I live in my truck some times being a taxi driver. On top of that we have been playing tetris in the house. My sister took "J's" room so all that furniture was moved into our room and some into "A's" room then ofcourse we had to move my sisters in. We got a new bed, we down sized from king to queen for more room in our bedroom epecially since we now have a crib in there. "J" has grown out of the craddle and is now sleeping in the crib. As I blog I have 2 box spring mattresses in my hallway that need to make it out to the garage... the garage that still needs to be organized. All this before Shawn leaves in a week. I have to say I am doubtful but hopeful in getting it all done. He will be gone for the whole month of September, the same month that I am actually playing Army for 3 weeks Mon-Fri butt crack of dawn till late in the day. Just have to make it through September then things look up for a short while in October. Shawn will be home for the first half of October in which time we are planning a surprise trip to Disneyland for "A" (ok, and for me too :-)) as well as a trip to Vegas with "A" to see Shawn off. Then starts the 365 day count down (well 6 months then he gets 2 weeks of leave in which time we are meeting him in England to visit my extended family that lives there. An 8 year old and a baby on a 14 hour flight should be interesting... good thing the live in nanny is coming with us!) I am trying to look forward to the fun times but at the same time trying to take it one day at a time.

Side, totally of subject note, I hope everyone is fully aware that Christmas is only 117 days away. I started Christmas shopping about 3 weeks ago and officially am 25% done! I know, I know crazy right? Not really, every year I aim to try to be done by Thanksgiving, this year is no different but starting sooner than usually because we have so many things going on and my calendar is starting to bust at the seems. I will be gone part of Oct thru Nov for some Army training, "A" was upset about this cause I am missing Halloween but when I said "do you want me to miss Halloween or Christmas?" she didn't skip a beat with answering back "miss Halloween" shes totally our kid, very sensible!

This week is going to fly by, jam packed with more appointments and the task of trying to get the house back in order before Shawn leaves... it may be a while before I get on to blog again...

Back to reality...

So Vegas was a blast and I am so sad it came to an end Sunday night. We visited several amazing restaurants were I gorged myself with wonderful seafood... my favorite! We saw "O" Cirque show which was "Outstanding" and then we saw Phantom of the Opera which was a dream come true for me... absolutely perfect performance!! We visited Freemont street, Palms Playboy club, and of course on the way out of town we made a pit stop at the outlet malls. (I have officially been to 3 different Coach outlets in 3 different states just this year... I know I have a serious problem) We enjoyed our adult time, even if we did spend most of the time talking about the kids, but by Sunday we were ready to get home to the girls and the pets. We walked through the door and crept up on "A" which was pretty funny, she was excited to see us. My sister had the girls and had made us dinner (mac n cheese). It was 10pm by the time we managed to get into bed, after driving home and then being bombarded with everyday house & kids stuff, we sunk into bed. We barely had enough energy to kiss each other goodnight.

The dog slept with us (which he does off and on sometimes) he was so excited to see us when we got home that I fell for the big eyes when we were climbing into bed and I begged Shawn to let him sleep with us. Well I later ate those words. At 11:30 Fo (the dog) threw up on the comforter on the bed, so there we were at 11:30 at night cleaning up dog vomit and changing the bed sheets. I fall back into bed and 20 minutes later "J" woke up screaming for her bottle. I stumble out of bed and lay the changing pad we have for her on the bed to change her diaper. I failed to have the new diaper ready and waiting so when I pulled the old one off she proceeded to pee. She has become very wiggly lately and was basically taking a pee bath it was all the way up to her neck, I had to give her a wipe bath.  When I finally sat down to feed her I was thinking to myself this is like a really bad dream and I was hoping I would wake up. Then around midnight my little brother who lives in WA calls me and says "are you going to be home in 3 hours cause I will be at your house" wait, what? He had mentioned to me a week ago he was thinking about coming to visit but I never heard a word more, nor did I know he had even departed WA. I told him sure I would be up, I woke up about an hour later from a text from him, telling me he was tired and stopping to sleep for a bit.... I was seriously getting frustrated, was I not meant to sleep at all? Seriously the worst night ever. My brother ended up showing up at 6am at which point I had to make up a bed and tidy the hall bath for him. We currently have a king size bed and its about 500 feet off the ground and I have been complaining since "J" came to live with us that we need a new bed, a queen which is smaller and to set it up at normal height. I have back problems thanks to Uncle Sam so the getting in and out of a bed 500 feet off the ground 10 times a night does not make me a happy camper. So, we spent our first day home mattress shopping. I am now looking around the house thinking I should have been cleaning it all day and not out shopping. We have foster visits tomorrow and my house never truly made it to clean status before the vacation, so now I am pretty far behind. I did manage to get 4 loads of laundry done and we cleaned up and re arranged "A's" room so I cant complain to much. This week will be filled with appointments for the girls and a strict schedule of tackling the every growing to do list and honey do list. Wish us luck.

Will post some Vegas pictures tomorrow, its 9pm and I better attempt this bed thing in a different light tonight. Night all.

What a day.

Sleep... who needs that? Well I do, I am one of those girls who needs at least 8 hours to be working at my full potential. I am learning however to operate with less... not that I really have a choice, when baby calls I move. Today J had her 4 month Dr. appointment and it went really well! She is 9 lbs and 14 oz the Dr said this is probably what her birth weight would have been if she had not been premature. Then they were so kind as to give her 4 shots today. Shawn and I have numbered her levels of crying and she officially peaked at a level 8 today and even turned purple she was soooooo upset. Last time she got shots she slept through the day almost, today she has dozed on and off with some whimpering/crying in between. No temp so thats always good. Laundry, cleaning, emails, phone calls, more emails and phone calls and that pretty much sums up my day. I have recently learned a really great parental trick... I bought J a stuffed animal, the dog Lady from Lady and the Tramp (Disney of course) its perfect for resting her bottle on. She can drink about half and in that time I can do a few things then come back to burp her then back to to do list while she finishes the rest. Its amazing genius!

A got her self grounded again tonight. We have had a couple good days then bam out of no where as usual. I ran out to mow the lawn because it looked like it was going to rain, when I was almost done A yelled my name and was holding my iphone out the back door. Shawn and I have talked to her more times than I can count about doing this same exact thing. She has never answered a phone in her life (except one time when she shouldn't have at my dad's) anyway I have explained to her that phones these days have caller ID and said caller ID will tell you when you have missed a call thus I do not need an 8 year old running with my expensive phone to find me when it rings or yelling my name loudly like the house is on fire for me to come to her to only tell me my phone was ringing. As soon as I looked at her holding my phone out the door and I simply said "grounded" she was pretty upset. I told her the next time she does it grounded again then maybe she will finally get it. I told her that my phone is not a toy and not cheap so if something happens to it, it will take  a years worth of her allowance to pay for it. In typical 8 year old fashion she was more focused on doing the math to figure the money out than the grounded part sinking in, well it will next time, I have no doubt there will be a next time. I told her to tuck her self in for the night... she used a zinger phrase, I told her good night I love you and she said "I don't feel like you love me" I replied with were not having that conversation... her goal was to get me to come talk to her and reassure her and coddle her... not happening. I thought about it later and I should have said I am sorry you feel that way, I will next time, again there will be a next time she is full of zinger lines... some times she pulls me in but I am really working on it. Kids these days. LOL!!

Well I have packing to do for VEGAS in the morning, holler! I am so excited for an adult weekend! Take care see you back her after we get back!