letter to my husband.

dear joel.

i love being your wife. i really do. we have fun, we have adventures, we work well together. we fit. i love you, you love me.

now. that said, we need to talk.

your ABU pants have about 30 pockets in them. your blouse? somewhere in the ballpark of 15. i try to get everything out of them, your wallet, your keys, your phone, all the loose change, your papers that have been meticulously folded in the shape of little footballs, the 2 pens in your back pocket, the pen in your front pocket, the pencil and sharpie in your right breast pocket. i thought i got it all. but i missed that little mini pen in your LEFT breast pocket. curse that blouse, with it's special pen holder. i mean, heaven forbid you put all your pens in the same pocket.

because now, i have ink all over my favorite shirt. all over my big plushy beach towel built for 2. all over my unmentionables. all. over. my . DRYER. so when i threw the NEXT load of laundry in the dryer, they got all inky too. and what was that load full of? diapers. that's right my sweet husband. those fluffy little poop catchers that go on your baby's booty.

i'm not saying it's your fault. no. not at all. i just need a little heads up if you want to play scavenger hunt with your writing utensils. maybe just a number. "honey, there will be 10 pens in my pockets today, and one will be in a super secret place!" just a couple of clues, or maybe some hints worked into the other pens.

or even better, we don't HAVE to play games. you could just empty all of your pockets before you plop your pants into the hamper. i really wouldn't mind sitting the next game out.

i love games. i do. but let's table this one, for now. maybe revisit it.......well.....i don't ever want to play it again, if you don't mind. my clothes will thanks you.

smoochies.

me.

i'm tired. but what else is new

we have had drama this morning. all before the ripe old hour of 10. lots and lots of drama. i don't even want to get into it, because it's embarrassing. to my dog. not me. let's just say, he is hurtin'.

and my coffee is cold. again.

so i am taking my comp day today. what's that you say? i don't get a comp day? well in paradise, i get what i want. when i want it.

so here. my momma has started blogging, and while most people would cringe at the thought, i am loving it. because my momma is a great writer. and she has a different perspective on things. like how awesome my kid is.

i get what i want AND i get to hear about how awesome my kid is. AND you get to meet a new cool blogger.

so here is my momma. go check her out. she calls herself yaya. and so does bella. it's real cute.

ONHD: what did he do this time?

it's no secret that i have been away, on and off, for 2 weeks.

i didn't leave my husband here to starve to death. i made lots of food for him that could be reheated before we left for NC. and when i came back, made sure the fridge was stocked with healthy options for him (also in hopes that, when i came back, there would be some healthy options for me).

this morning, i get up, go to the fridge, looking (foolishly) for my standard yogurt and granola, and a banana for the baby. when i open the cabinet i find this

exasperated, hungry and pre-coffee, i huff. and i huff again. because now i have to eat my 3 month old honey flax flakes, that i thought i'd like, but didn't really because they tasted TOO MUCH like flax.

he says, "what?" in that, get over it already tone, that drives me nuts first thing in the morning (remember, no coffee).

i say, "where is all the good food?? you know, with like one ingredient. preferably something that hasn't been processed to death and now resembles flavored astronaut dust."

he says, "that stuff is good."

to which we begin the great and ongoing debate about how there are chemicals and toxins and garbage in all this processed food, with words like "whole grains" and "organic" thrown in for good measure. blah, blah, blah.

::interjecting:: i have been called a food nazi. i claim this title with pride. bella eats the least amount of processed food as possible (i make 99.9% of it), doesn't eat sugar, and doesn't drink juice. i make every possible attempt to not buy food with high fructose corn syrup, or more than 3 ingredients for that matter. the more organic the better. i do eat out, and i don't always make the best choices, but at least the food i bring into my home will be nutritious and delicious.

moving on.

joel hops on the computer and starts reading to me about enriched white flour and the "health benefits". then he follows up with, "what are you "sources" that say that whole grain is better for you?"

oh......no.....he.....didn't.

see my husband will argue, just for the sake of arguing. he could be wrong (and he usually is), but he will argue you into the ground until you are CONVINCED he is right. and he doesn't discriminate when it comes to the "who" part of the argument. he will argue with anyone. even the baby.

it. drives. me. mad.

what drives me even more mad?? is that he also left THIS for me.

oh. no. he. DIDN'T.

ohyeshedid. grrrrrrrrrrr.

*disclaimer-my husband is generally a fine fella. who likes to push buttons. i apologize to any and all people who have been the victim of this abuse. i love him dearly, but have no control over his behaviors.

and this post has been brought to you by "oh no he didn't tuesday" from live and love...out loud*

reduce, reuse, regroup....that's not it....

i have no inspiration. no motivation. there are no exciting monday meme's. well. there is mcfatty monday, but i am too embarrassed by my mcfattiness to claim it and flaunt it on the interwebs.

i have to admit. i have been off my game lately. i missed stick figure saturday AGAIN! and was a day late to my own WINEsday wednesday. and when i have written without a prompt, it's been....lame.

the thing is, i have a lot to say. A LOT. i have started 5 posts today. and then they get all long and verbose. they ramble on about one thing or the other, and when i read it all i can think is BOOOOOOORING. and i'm not trying to lose followers.

i am off. i need to regroup. i need to get back on my schedule, back to my routine. we have been scattered for 2 weeks. we all have some recovering to do.

i think a tall one of these is in order

and by tall, i mean venti. and by venti, i mean 2.

making excuses for why i've been away

i know, i know. i have been a bit of a lame-wad the past week. or so. but the truth is, we were movin and shakin and couldn't get connected. do you know what it's like to NOT be able to connect to the internet for an entire week? seriously. i started having withdrawals. seriously.

but now that i DO have the internet (while, mind you, STILL travelling), i thought it might be nice to stop by and update a little on what we have been doing.

first things first, we headed to charlotte, nc to throw my little sister a surprise 21st birthday party!

we did a wine tasting, complete with all the pairings. mmmm. she was thoroughly surprised and had no clue that the baby would be there. that was the biggest surprise of all!

we captured a 4 generations picture while we were there too.

i swear, we didn't plan to all look like citrus fruits. it just happened. and it is fitting that b would be the grapefruit in the middle.

this was day one of our increasingly hectic week. day 2, bella met a new friend (the first of several this week). we headed north of charlotte to meet up with an old friend of mine who's little man is just a few weeks younger than bella. leah , from the molyneaux family, and i got our little munchkins together and spent the better part of 3 hours reminiscing and catching up. we have known each other since elementary school, but haven't been in touch in years.

figures that we BOTH have adorable kids.

day 3, we headed out to mint hill, to visit bella's nana and family. she met her great grandpa for the first time! she had a blast playing with her cousin rachel, and was not shy about showing her some love....

she's a lover.....what can i say. she kissed just about everybody this weekend, and while it is hilarious and adorable when she does it to adults, it's a little scary when she starts kissing her fellow babies. as you can see.....

we ate, we played, we laughed, we played some more. and after all that excitement, bella was pooped.

she needed a little help getting to the car....kept stumbling around. i think someone was slipping her martini's under the table or something.

moving on.

day 4, bella meets ANOTHER friend.

braydon is the grandson of my mom's best friend (of the past 19 years). the nephew of a friend i consider family. the son of her older brother. you see where i'm going with this? the kid's like family. we called it b and b weekend, in honor of the 2 finally meeting. my mom has big plans for these 2. most of which she has not informed me of. let's just say, she is as relentless as grandma's can be. it's all kind of disgusting really. but oh so cute. bella kissed him too. i'll use that as blackmail when she's older.

after all this excitement, we were all in need of a vacation. which is why we are now in orlando for a week, staying with my mom. nothing but r&r for the next 4 days, mixed in with a little pool hopping. we live a good life, i must say.

well, except for when bella gets cranky.

good to see some things never change....

i had to come back for WINEsday!!

we have been drinking wine all week. if you haven't noticed, i haven't been around much. now you know why.....

for this weeks WINEsday, i am reviewing a beer. i know. that's not the topic! it's supposed to be WINEsday not BEERsday. well, this isn't your typical beer. it looks like a wine. and kind of tastes like a wine. and you know what they say- if it looks like a duck, and it talks like a duck, then it must be wine. something like that. i don't know. i drank the whole bottle.

lindeman's framboise. framboise is pronounced fram-bwa. just so you sound like you know what you are talking about. which you will in .25 seconds.....

framboise is a belgian beer that is fermented with rasberries. long before hops were common in most beers, fruits and vegetables were used. the acidity of the beer mixes well with the rasberries and makes a light, fizzy drink.

the first time i tried this was in a bar in hawaii, and it was served with a chocolate stout. it was like chocolate covered rasberries and alcohol with a little fizz. to. die. for.

this time we just ate lots of chocolate. and that was yummy too.

i have only ever found it in a trader joe's, in the beer aisle. even if you aren't a beer fan, you will love this drink. it is a little on the pricey side at almost $11 a bottle. it is a red color when poured with a pink head, so it is a fun drink for showers and parties.

enjoy!

trying to work on this mess. please bear with me. and don't judge too harshly. i never claimed to be good with anything computer related. i was just pretending......

why i'll never have the house of my dreams

i think i have been setting myself up for disappointment.

let me explain. in hawaii, rent for the size apartment we owned was around $1,600 (i won't tell you how much our mortgage was, for fear that you may fall. over. and. die!). that's for a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom 700 sq. ft. apartment, that was more compact than our car!

so when we moved to georgia, the first thing that flashed through my mind was how huge of a house we could live in. i started looking up housing, searching for 4 or 5 bedroom houses, with the most beautiful kitchens and backyards (did i mention our backyard was 100 sq ft? when you have to measure in sq. ft., you know it's small). 3 car garages, all brick. nice, pretty houses. for us to have lots of nice pretty babies in. where we would have to buy lots of baby gates, for all of the cascading staircases we would have to keep our babies from tumbling down.

ok, so there aren't a plethora of homes like that around her for rent. and most of those don't accept dogs. but, i did find SEVERAL beautiful homes that were well within our budget.

and this was all day one.

needless to say, i get ahead of myself. i was planning our baby's first birthday bash in the backyard of our 3,000 sq. ft. home. and i had JUST found out i was pregnant.

joel decides to tell me now about his job. which is "highly deployable", so he thinks it would be a good idea to live in an apartment, you know, so when he leaves, i don't have to do yard work and maintenance with a baby. or i can up and go stay with my mom if i want. plus, we can save soooooo much money, and we won't always be able to live in an apartment, so why not do it now, while we can....blah, blah, blah. why does my husband have to be so darn practical? and such a debbie downer.

the big beautiful house of my dreams, is out of my dreams.

we sign a lease in an apartment. it's nice. not too small, perfect for a small family. and it has 2 pools.

fast forward a year. no deployment (with the exception of 45 days to haiti). and i am looking at rental websites again. those big beautiful houses. with their yards, and their garages. curse you. because "a deployment is looming". in the next month or two. or 6. or 12........and gosh, it's just so darn cheap! oh and now we have 2 dogs. and landlords hate dogs.

so i will wait. one day, my house will come.

stick figure saturday: i want my mommy!!!

it's that time again! my new favorite post theme. stick figure saturday! i literally look forward to this now (even though it's only been one week....whatever, i take the small things).

and right in time, too, because i feel like my creativity well has been tapped. this week, i have been worn down. you might have noticed (if you stop by on a regular basis). my baby got old. then i sobbed. then wednesday came, and was wonky and weird, and drove me insane. and then i was MIA thursday and friday. i'm kind of having a hard time remembering thursday, but i think i did something fun. or maybe not.

but i came back for saturday, because i like stick figures. they make me feel like a kid. and that is fitting. because i want my mommy.

that's me. in the fetal position. rocking back and forth. while my dog relieves herself on the carpet for the billiontieth time and the baby puts random bugs/turds/questionable things in her mouth.

i kind of feel crazy. motherhood has become that to me. i ask questions to my 7 month old, that usually require an answer. i talk out loud. to no one. i increasingly feel like a hermit. and like i wrote about the other day, i do the same things, over and over, expecting different results.

and what is the one thing that is guaranteed to cure what ails you? no, not a whole bottle of wine. YOUR MOMMY! well, my mommy. but you can't have her.

my mommy makes everything better. she lets me be me. and she watches my munchkin so i can eat/sleep/go potty/stare aimlessly at the wall. so i am counting down to the next time my mom can take over.

wonky wednesday. wait, is it wednesday? it is? ok. good.

why does my seedless watermelon have seeds? and why is it soggy? i haven't had watermelon in a long time, but i don't remember it being soggy.

while we're talking about ridiculous things, why do i ask my 7 month old, "what's wrong?". and i think i legitimately expect her to answer. i mean, she is in the living room playing, i'm cooking dinner. she starts to fuss. i say, "what's wrong, baby?" and keep cooking, waiting, in vain, for a response. she whines a little more, and i repeat, with a little more emphasis, "what is wrong?".

and why don't grocery store baggers know how to put my stuff in my reusable bags? you see that big silver one? the one with the giant words on the side, "FREEZER BAG". and you see all that cold stuff on the belt, grouped so conveniently together? yeah? then why did you put those in a plastic bag? and why do i even BRING my bags, if you are just going to pack my stuff in a plastic bag, and THEN in my bag?

one more thing. why, little miss lola, do i take you outside and let you poo, only to find 20 minutes later, that you have left me another present? in the hallway.

that is all. the oil in the gulf must be seeping in to the water supply around here. maybe i should change my filter........

what? did you just call me CRazY!? ::insert googly eyes::

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Albert Einstein

well, mr. einstein, call me crazy then.

i clean my house, every (other) day, expecting it to stay clean. i do my dishes (whenever i feel like it) expecting that they stay clean/don't load up in the sink again. i vacuum the floor (once a week? i don't know i can't remember.) and expect that the next time i do it, i don't overload the canister with dog fur. (can you see the downward spiral of disaster about to come?)

call my husband crazy, too.

he comes in the door and leaves a trail behind him of his uniform (which consists of WAY too many pieces, might i add), stretching from the front door to the shower and expects the next morning to see it washed and hung up, waiting for him.

baby? she must be a little nuts as well.

because she keeps pulling herself up on the coffee table, and then can't get back down. so she "walks" in circles around it. i guess expecting that it will eventually lead her back to the ground? and she keeps putting bugs in her mouth. maybe thinking that one day they will turn in to her yummy puffs? there's no tellin' what's going on in that kids head. she is really crazy.

and the dog? don't even get me started.

he scratches at the door, expecting that his lazy mommy and daddy will actually get up and take him out for a walk. he barks at the squirrels outside, thinking he can catch them if he could just get through that window. and for some strange reason, he thinks that if he stares at her long enough, the baby will go away.

see, over in the nelson house? we're all a little kooky. if you come visit, you might walk away a little kooky too. which is why i love wine. in large quantities.

thanks for sticking around for my big bunch of loony.

how i spent my summer vacation. the final installment

day 3. remember how i said that the final day couldn't get worse? uh huh. and i promised i would eat my words. because i am really hungry. OBVIOUSLY.

we wake up, and after sleeping on cots AND a thermarest, i actually got a wonderful nights sleep. i woke up to the birds chirping and slept in until 8:30!! that never happens. i never get to sleep in at home, so the fact that i got to sleep in and then get up and drink coffee while the baby continued to sleep, meant that this was going to be the best day ever.

we decided to pack up before it got hot so that we could sit around and relax afterwards. we start folding chairs, and tarps, when the ants start biting. i got 6 on one foot, 4 on the other, 4 on my chest, and on my tush. fire ants in georgia are, in a word, ruthless (monday night, my foot was swollen so much, that i couldn't bend my ankle).

by the time we're packed, it's about 10:30 and we just decide it's time to go. we enjoyed our trip, but i think we were all ready to get outta dodge and get to our a/c and showers we didn't have to wear shoes in to, especially since now i can't put my shoes on.

last time joel and i camped on this lake, we wandered into augusta and found a shane's bbq. this was our plan today, too. after packing the cars, we would head into town for lunch before making our way back home. we were the last to leave and rather than take more time taking a shower, joel decided to go jump in the lake to cool off. he came back, toweled off outside of the car and then got in.

we get all the way to shane's and......well......here's where it gets dicey. we pull into the parking lot, and start looking for joel's shirt and wallet. our car is, like, a mess, so it's frustrating trying to find anything in there, but he KNOWS for a fact that his wallet and shirt were on his seat when he got in the car.

yes, they were in his seat when he grabbed his towel. he opened the door, then put his wallet in his shirt. then put his shirt on the roof. then toweled off. then.......crap.................

remember when joel put the camera on top of the car? and i drove around for 40 minutes with it up there, wondering where the camera went? and then i found it wedged in between the roof and the roof rack? well, this isn't like that time. this time, the shirt and the wallet were NOT stuck between the roof and the roof rack. or anywhere else in or on our car, for that matter.

we turned around and flew back towards the site in silence. i knew the minute either of us started talking, it wasn't going to be pretty. we get back to the campground and both get out and scour the site. when we don't find it there, we drive slowly down the road sweeping back and forth, hoping to see a dirt colored shirt, or a more dirt colored wallet. about halfway down the small road leading to the campground, i see his shirt in the grass!! i pull over and joel leaps out of the car. he pops back up in the window a few seconds later, showing me the shirt, holding it up by the shoulders. now, i could care less about this stupid shirt, which is why the grin on his face makes me want to slap him. there is no wallet. just his ugly, brown t-shirt. so he climbs back in and we keep going.

at this point, i assume the wallet has been picked up, and someone is having a good time at the corner store buying $4 fuzzy navels. but we keep looking anyway.

about 1/2 a mile down the road, i think i see it and slam on the brakes and swerve off the road. joel gets out again, sprinting down the road. i watch in the rear view mirror as he bends over, picks the thing up, and then hangs his head and drops his shoulders. all i can think is that it's NOT actually his wallet.

he turns around and holds it up and informs me that it IS, in fact, his wallet, but there are no cards in it. we walk up and down the street, assuming someone took the cards and threw the empty wallet out the window.

but then, from the side of the road, we see the stack of cards, splayed out through the grass.

we gather up the cards, and get back in the car.

surprisingly, on the way home, we talked about how much fun the weekend was. yes, despite the rain, the wind, ant bites, more rain and lost wallet, we actually had a really good time. on the way home, we "debriefed" about how we could make the next trip better. um, how about we check the weather, spray for bugs and not put valuable things on the roof? or, better idea, how bout we go to a holiday inn. yeah. that sounds good to me.

how i spent my summer vacation. part 2.

our first day of camping ended with all of us and all of our things being soaked. we all went to bed around 1 am, to the sounds of rain pelting the tent.

because the baby's pack n play got soaked as well, she ended up sleeping on a mat on the floor. with me. which means i got about one solid hour of sleep. because at 2:30, she started crawling around the tent. and didn't go back to sleep until 4. when my bladder decided it needed to be relieved. then, our dog puked in the tent. and then got OUT of the tent and disappeared. so i finally went to sleep at about 5:30am. when the sun came up.

and boy did it. saturday was a BEAUTIFUL day. we got up and started dragging all of our stuff out into the sunshine. we got in the kayaks and canoes, blew up all the floats, and got to relaxing. it looked like this day may actually shape up to be pretty nice.

at about 3, we decided to head into augusta, so joel could turn in one of his papers, which he would need the internet for. and guess what? starbucks just started offering free wi-fi. yep. that's our excuse. it definitely wasn't because we packed instant coffee that joel brought back from haiti that tasted like dirt. or that starbucks is notoriously cold. or the plethora of yummy goodness that comes out of there magic blender. it was because he needed to submit a paper. and only starbucks could help us out with this task.

we start to head back after our short (3 hour) excursion to "submit joel's paper", and we see the clouds start to get dark. right over where our campground is. oh heck. here we go again.

we pull up just in time for the wind to start. this time, we got smart. we brought all the chairs into a tent, lined the fronts of the tents with coolers and bricks (where the crap were those bricks yesterday!?), and rolled all the stuff we wanted to keep dry into the middle of the tents. we took everything down that could blow away, and then we climbed into the tents and sealed them up tight.

and the rain came.

fortunately this time, it let up after about an hour, and stopped completely after another 30 minutes or so. the boys were able to actually start a fire, and we busted all the food back out.

while our tent held up like a champ, and stayed relatively dry, my dad's tent on the other hand, didn't make it out so well. all that stuff we spent the entire day drying? soaked again. sleeping bags, sheets, clothes. even their cots had puddles on them.

note to self: if a company specializes in tents, they probably make a pretty good one. if they specialize in, oh, say......jeeps, well, their camping stuff is probably alright. in ideal conditions. monsoon rains and high winds? not ideal. you get what i'm trying to say? moving on.

dad decided that the holiday inn was more his camping style and they hightailed it out of there after our hot dog and baked beans dinner. which worked in my favor. i am not above sleeping on a wet cot.

after a good nights sleep, and somewhat dryer conditions, the final day has GOT to be better. really it can NOT get worse.

stay tuned as i eat. my. words.

how i spent my summer vacation. part 1.

i know i said my life wasn't that interesting. and i really meant it. i wake up, have coffee and breakfast (usually greek pomegranate yogurt with granola on top) , play with the baby, do some chores (maybe), eat lunch, play, eat dinner.....you get it. i play and eat. it's rough. i promise.

but it seems that i catch up on the weekend. this weekend, we went camping. we packed the car to the gills, strapped on the canoe and kayaks, and hit the road for some old fashioned summer fun.

once we got to out site, we realized how incredibly awesome it was!

THAT is where our site was. uhhh huh. we had our own little peninsula. beach all around, water all around. red ants all around. wait. i'm getting ahead of myself.......

day 1-set up camp. hit the water.

we set the kids up with a ride, and they get to it. for the next few hours, we paddled and swam and generally just relaxed. because that's what you DO on a camping trip.

even the dogs got in on the fun. poor duke didn't want to get left, so he was hauling butt to get out there. good thing he had a life jacket.

this day could NOT get better.

which would prove to be a true statement.

in the words of jo dee messina......

bring. on. the. rain.

it rained. and it rained. and it rained some more. before i get too much further, let me interject with a little nugget of wisdom. setting up a shelter DURING a thunderstorm? not an easy task. when camping, one should set this up BEFORE the rain comes. setting up a shelter in the rain is NOT, i repeat, NOT relaxing. or awesome.

but taking pictures of other people setting up a shelter is a ton of fun.

so, it's 6:30 pm. we're out on the water, lighting is striking. the words "should we go in?" get brought up. we meander back and about the time we get all the boats on shore, the wind starts and one of our tents blow completely on its side, and the others are practically horizontal. so we all start running around, trying to secure anything and everything that isn't already nailed down.

for some reason, maybe because we thought the storm would pass quickly, no one thought to put things in the tents, or cover things up. so when the rain started, it should be no surprise that everything got soaked. all the chairs, benches, food.

the forecast was 95 with a 30% chance of rain. 30%!!! this was not "30%, scattered showers" rain. this was torrential downpour, monsoon rain! (ok, i am exaggerating. a little) and it continued to rain for the next 6 hours.

most people would be discouraged by this. not us.

stay tuned for part 2. because, this HAS to be the worst of it. right?

speechless.......

there are no words......

(except the ones in captions. really, did you think i would TRULY not have anything to add?)

putting the ME in momMe

cute, ain't she?

that devilish little smile. she is a little devil, that is for sure.

8:30am, i hear her squawking over the monitor. usually i hear her rolling around a little then start crying. but not this particular morning. this particular morning, it sounds more like she's fake crying.

like "waaaa" ::looks around to see if anyone is coming to get her:: ""waaaaaaa" ::looks around again. still no one?:: "WAAAAA!!!"

but never a real cry. just like she is yelling, "hey mom! get in here and see what i just learned!"

so i go in, and see her.....doing this. and grinning ear to ear. like the little stinker she is.

i hate to admit it but, while i am overwhelmingly proud of my little munchkin, i am also terrified of her new confidence in her ability to pull herself up. and now shimmy across the furniture. this means a lot. it means she is growing up (way too fast) and it means more bumps and bruises. it means more frustrated wails when she gets "stuck" half way up on the couch. it means more baby proofing. and it means less autonomy for me.

yep. i said it. i am a selfish mommy who would like a little freedom. it's a sad fact of reality that balancing the tables between "mommy" and the person i used to be is almost a full time job in and of itself. before i got pregnant with that little lady, all i wanted was to be a mommy. i had many hats i wore-wife, daughter, friend, athlete, swimmer, teacher. but the one i wanted more than any of those (except maybe the wife-daughter-friend trifecta), was mommy. and this was compounded by the fact that i couldn't be a mommy right away, and even more so when i saw all the people around me having babies.

and i LOVE my new job. i don't even want to call it a job, because it makes me so happy, and no job is as rewarding or beautiful or magical as being a mommy has been.

but now, since bella has found this new "dangerous" activity of scaling the couch, and, her favorite, the glider ottoman, which often sends her sailing across the floor as i leap up to catch her, i find myself having fewer and fewer moments truly to myself.

honestly, there are ways to solve this problem. put her in the pack-n-play, put her in her excersaucer, but about 10 minutes in to either of those activities, she finds herself unable to go anywhere, and she starts screaming. i don't know about you, but the sound of a screaming baby kind of puts me on edge. the kid does NOT like to be confined. i don't blame her. like my husband so aptly pointed out, "you wouldn't like it if you were tied up and stuck in a fence either." he was actually referring to our old dog daisy who was an escape artist, but it is still fitting.

i am not complaining. really, i'm not. i am the first one to encourage her to keep going, and grab the next rung higher on the motor skills ladder. but i definitely think i underestimated how much that would cost me.

::insert ooey gooey mommy feeling, that makes you go awwww.....::

i wouldn't change a thing. i just have to get a little more creative.