stick figure saturday: poop!

i just learned about this fun thing that ericka over at alabaster cow does, called stick figure saturday. i love stick figures. i used to make them all the time at work, ehem....i mean...at....home.

none of those people read this blog so what do i care. i made them of people climbing palm trees,drowning in the deep end (while the slacker out there snoozed), and pooping in the pool. which seems to be a common trend in my life. the "poop" part, not the "in the pool" part. well. you'll see.

so this was my house at 1 am. and again at 3 am. oh, and again at 5 am. last night.

baby screaming. dog hacking. daddy sleeping. mommy....WIDE.AWAKE. this morning, daddy asked mommy, did you get up last night? he commonly asks me this. like "wow, i slept so well last night, nothing could have POSSIBLY happened!" but, my dear, lots happened last night. the new dog hocked up a lung. your baby cut another tooth. the old dog wiggled his way up to my face, at which point he decided to rip one. uh huh. i know, that is so gross. but IT HAPPENED! i mean, i can't hide the truth. so when daddy wakes up and asks mommy did she wake up, i want to give him the "devil-is-coming-out-of-my-face" face. instead, i give him a grumpy, "grrrrYES!"

then, i get out of bed, change baby's diaper (poop. lots of it.), then go to the laundry room to toss her diaper in the pail, when i smell...well.....more poop. and not "sweet baby ate carrots and peaches" poop. more like, "rescue dog ate death" poop.

yep. i was right. all over my living room floor. twice. and one was more puddly than poopy. and guess what daddy says to mommy. "man that sucks. you gonna clean it up?" to which i respond, "your turn!" and he runs out of the room gagging. saying "i just can't".

in his defense, he offered to do anything i wanted and take me out for breakfast. but then he just made breakfast. which was really good. whatever. i still had to pick up runny poop. and now i have to clean up from breakfast.

it's my bag baby, yaaaaah

cali over at ramblings from caliland is hosting a blog hop today and i just HAD to join in. i LOVE blog hops. but even more, i LURVE my diaper bag. and that's what this one is about. what is in your bag.

first things first. the bag. joel bought it for me for my birthday last year, without even being told! he is amazing. he even picked it out himself! he knows me so well because, like i said, i LUUUUURVE it.

it is a vera bradley bag and has lots and lots of pockets to hide fun little things. which i really understood when i started taking things out.....

here are (most of) bella's things. this pic is missing wipes, because the container floats around and i don't know where it is. starting from the upper left corner and working clockwise, some diapers, extra headbands, my nursing cover (bebe au lait), teethers (because she is cutting teeth like a maniac), happy baby organic puffs and happy baby organic melts (they keep the girl entertained for EVER), some cutie flip flops, clippers, (generic) tylenol, sippy cup (from grandma), cal baby bug lotion, cal baby calendula cream, a bottle with cold water in it (which she loves on a hot day), leg warmers (so she can crawl anywhere), some natures best all natural sunscreen, and a hat for sunny days. she usually has some sunglasses in there too, but hers are MIA for the moment. probably in the car. and there is also usually a cal baby sunscreen stick in the side pocket....i guess i have some things to find.

next up, my stuff. it pales in comparison. but i'm pretty low maintenance (compared to my very high maintenance baby).

so simple in fact, i couldn't get it to load to my photo editor. boo. anyway, here's my stuff: key to my car, pool bands, keys to joel's car/house/mailbox, bag holder, glasses case, wallet, mentha organics lip tint, my droid, and some pens. not quite as fun as bella's stuff, i have to admit. and why don't i get snacks?

seeing it all spread out, i don't really know how it all fits........

what's in YOUR bag?

::steps onto soapbox::

ehem. is this thing on? yes? ok.

when i was in college, i had to write a speech about something that motivates change. i picked puppy mills and adopting/rescuing, rather than going to a pet store and supporting the abusive way that many disreputable breeders handle their "business".

before i go much farther, i'm not saying that buying a dog from a breeder is bad. when done correctly, all parties involved are happy-including the momma dog. which is what is the most important thing, you see.

responsible breeders only breed their momma's a couple of times. they take care of all HER health issues (vaccinations, check ups, recovery time) and make certain that she lives a comfortable life. she is part of the family. and when she is done doing her duties, she is STILL part of the family. loved and cared for.

bad breeders keep their girls in cages, over breed them, DON'T care for the health, and when she is washed up, they dump her at a shelter, or on the side of the road. because she is useless now. i'm not going to get too far into it here. but if you really want to know how bad it can get, google image search "puppy mills" and you'll see what i mean.

this is something i am passionate about. so yesterday, when we saw some pictures from a local shelter of several sweet dogs who were about to be euthanized, i had no choice. i had to act. i hopped in the car, drove almost 2 hours and arrived at spalding animal control in griffin, ga.

bella and i walked up and down the 3 rows of kennels with dogs in them. these dogs looked so sad, and wanted so badly for you to just love them. there were several puppies (which of course bella LOVED), but puppies get adopted quickly, and as i was informed by the animal control officer, people come weekly to take the pups to no kill shelters. so i went to the front and said, "give me a list of the ones closest to death's door".

they gave me a list of 5. the officer showed me those dogs. "this one's mean", well....i can't have a mean dog with a baby. "this one has severe skin allergies. it's a cheap fix, but you have to put a treatment on her every day". i barely take a shower myself everyday. i don't know that i could handle that. "this one is skittish" ::read-not good with kids::

then we get down to the last 2. faith and hoss. hoss was a big hound, and he had the sweetest face. but he was almost 100 pounds. he sat there looking at me. i put my hand in his cage and he leaned his head down and nuzzled my fingers. i loved him. i cried. he was too big for our apartment, and with bella toddling around, it may not be a good mix. it broke my heart.

but faith, well, faith was smaller. smaller than duke. at a year old, she should be almost full grown (and her paws confirm that suspicion). she had ticks around her ears and was itching a lot, but those are easily fixable problems. we took her outside and she walked right beside us, sat when we stopped, licked the bella's feet.

i left to get some cash, and when i came back in i sang, "i gotta have faith!"

of course, faith isn't her real name. that's just the name they gave her at the shelter. we gave her lola. because, whatever lola wants, lola gets.

this is my little lola luftnagle (i like disney channel. so what. don't judge me, monkey.)

lovely lola was a little shy at first. but once we got her home, and gave her 3, yes 3 baths, she started to open up a little bit. this morning, after a good nights sleep and a full belly, she even started playing with duke. she is a sweet baby. she lays at our feet, follows us around, sits beside the baby. she is gentle and quiet. she has a family and we couldn't love her more.

lola was set to be put down today.

"no voice, no choice. rescue a shelter dog!"

before i kick the bucket....

the idea is to have 100 things that you want to do before you die. i can't think of 100, and really, i hate reading that much, so i would HATE to make you read that much. so i'll narrow it down to 20.

1. live overseas (england, italy and germany are my top 3 picks)

2. go on a week long canoe trip down a river. any river. preferably a planned one, and not alone.

3. visit all 50 states

4. give birth to a couple more babies, preferably with no "help"

5. do NYC on new years

6. go on a cruise

7. visit australia

8. travel all over europe

9. back pack the appalacians

10. watch my kid(s) play sports/instruments/parts in plays/with their friends

11. go on a mission trip

12. adopt/foster a couple of kids

13. be married for the rest of my life, to the same man (i know this sounds like it should be a given. but in this day and age, it's not.)

14. get a masters degree in something sport science/kinesiology related

15. do a dolphin adventure

16. compete in a triathlon

17. compete in the north shore swim series

18. sail around the keys

19. run a summer camp or at least run the swim program at one

20. live in/visit the pacific northwest

that's all i got for now. i might add a few to the list later.

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.

making my kid friends.

remember when bella met her BFF? it was a match made in heaven (or, hawaii, technically). except that bella kept trying to rip lia's face off. still. they loved each other.

this weekend, for the 4th, our friends came home to savannah. we are only about 2 1/2 hours west of there, so we JUMPED at the chance to visit!

this time, bella got to meet the whole family. ariyah played with bella, and kept asking her, "are you ok, bella?" and asking me what she could play with. i met ariyah right after she was born. and i instantly fell in love with her. over the next few months, i watched her begin to get personality. when everyone was done laughing at a joke, she would start to giggle. she would roll her eyes with the panache of a well seasoned 16 year old (at the ripe old age of 4 months). she did everything early, and i was as proud of her as i would be my own child! when she got a little older and could talk, i would walk in the door and she would say "hey jushy. where's joel?" i would tell her and she would say, "where's duke?". if joel would walk in the door, she would say, "go away, joel!". that's my girl.

jasmine, the middle baby, loved bella too. she would come over to me and say, "bella. bella. bella." and point at her. yes jas, that IS bella! then she would go hug her. we never got to know jas very well, because we all moved away after she was born, but now i see her sweet personality. she is sensitive, and when her little sister cries, so does she. she loves to snuggle. and she wants people to know what she is trying to say.

i don't know what kind of deal my friends made, because after these two, they were blessed with a 3rd little girl. bella's bff. natalia. this girl is intense. when she wants something, you know it. when they first met, bella would grab her face, her feet, her bib. this time when we put them together, lia could actually escape bella's attempts to eat her face. except, bella would chase her down and grab her diaper and make her sit back down.

it must be that whole first child thing. bella will be a bossy girl. just like her momma.

so we did what every mom friends do that have babies close to the same age. we put em in the tub! and they loved it for about 3 minutes. until bella got soap in her eyes and screamed.

they splashed and squealed. they were babies. in a tub. it doesn't get much cuter than that.

except when they have their jammies on.

hopefully, one day we will be stationed with our friends again and we can watch our kids grow up together.

---------------------------------

we did other stuff in savannah too. whenever i think of georgia, this is what i see

streets lined with giant old trees and spanish moss.

usually it's a dirt road. and big old houses. of course, i *know* all of georgia isn't this way. sleepy little towns, steeped in history and class. georgia peaches, who taalk liiike thiiis, whith that southern drawl. who call it "jaaaw-ja" and say y'aaaall.

i think i'm in the wrong era. but for a couple of days, that's where i was. walking down the cobblestone streets, with a nice tall glass of sweet tea.

now, back to reality. diapers all over the floor, waiting to be stuffed, and dirty dishes in the sink.

shame is the theme, i guess

eclipse: overshadow:

be greater in significance than.

no, that isn't the review of the movie. but it could be.

i'll start by saying that i am NOT a twi-hard. i refused to read any of the books for quite some time, mostly because teenage girls irritate me, and i therefore avoid anything that they get giddy over. enter, teenage "vampire" (c'mon, we all know that vampires do NOT sparkle, the sun blows them up and THEY HAVE FANGS!!!!) and werewolf. exit......me and my interest.

i only read it after being asked for the billionth time if i named bella after the character.

after reading the series, i seriously considered changing her name.

i watched twilight, and thought that it could quite possibly be the WORST movie i had ever seen. but dakota fanning was in the second and i think she is precious, so i watched the second one (while i was in labor, mind you) and thought it was a minor step above. i just can't get over how dramatic the characters are, while at the same time being TERRIBLE actors (but EXCELLENT at staring).

so why did i keep reading the series? because once i start something, i just can't stop! i'm not a quitter.

so i read the third book. and i actually ::gulp:: LIKED it! i know. i can't believe i just said that. i was slowly being won over. i still couldn't believe how anyone liked edward. c'mon! he sneaks into her BEDROOM at night to watch her sleep! can you say, staaaaalker!!!! but i was warming up to the bella character. don't get me wrong, i still think she is a bit fragile, and not in a "china doll, precious" way, but more of a "makes bad decisions and can't stand on her own two feet, stupid" kind of way. she irritates me.

BUT the book was written better, had a better plot and was a little more....vampire/werewolf title worthy. as in, there was actually some fighting and avenging going on.

i was a little ashamed to admit that i actually looked forward to seeing the third movie (even more so to admit that i watched the first two). but i was. so i went with a few friends last night to see it.

i liked it. i really liked it. ::hangs head in shame:: the cgi was believable (for once), the acting was a little better, there were some pretty good fight scenes (even though, i never knew vampires heads could break off like a glass vase. and if that's the case, why not just throw rocks at them?), and it was pretty entertaining listening to all the tweens/teen swoon when jacob first came on the screen.

i wouldn't so much call myself a fan. i still think bella is lame, and i hope MY bella is the exact opposite of her. but i'm opening up my mind. and actually looking forward to the next one.