9 years ago today, I made the biggest move of my life.

9 years ago today, I moved from Oklahoma to California.

9 years ago today, hubby and I got caught in a snow blizzard outside Vega, Texas. (pop 880)

• We spent our only $50 in cash we had on a tow truck to pull us out of a snowbank.
• Every church was full when our U-Haul was rescued, so they opened up the Methodist church just for us.
• We watched the R-rated feature “The Postman” alongside the mayor of the town.
• The bank sign down the street read -2 degrees. That’s without wind chill.
• We spent the night on the floor of the church until the Interstate reopened the next day.

We sent the church a $50 check thanking them for their help along with a picture of us in front of Alcatraz. We never heard from the church again, but our check was cashed.

Hubs and I had only spent 12 days together before I moved to CA to be with him.

9 years ago today.

e

= 210 M & M’s.

= 15 rows x 7 potties per row x 2 m & m’s per potty.

= my son has eaten in 3 weeks of successful potty training.

I have no complaints, really, but that is a lot of chocolate! And loads of stickers to boot. Did you know stickers aren’t that cheap? Or maybe it’s just the ones that say “good job”, “way to go”, and “the potty rulz” that cost a pretty penny. Actually, I’ve never found one with potty verbiage, but wouldn’t that be a keen idea? Come on people, help us potty training, bribing mommies out, will ya?

So, as you can see, potty training is better than expected. Of course, it all can go to poop tomorrow, (whahh hahhahah), but in the past few weeks, I have been pleasantly surprised and quite proud of the little dude. I attended my first MOPS meeting of the year today, placed Rt in the nursery where he went potty all by himself TWICE in a 2 hour span. Now, I did have to bring in his little potty, instead of using the bigger “small potties”, but I figured carrying a port-a-potty around all morning was a small price to pay for urination success.

This next week, I’ll give him a choice between the little potty and the seat on top of the toilet. Maybe, I’ll break out the suckers that have begun to collect dust since Rt doesn’t care to poop in the potty for a measly ‘ol dum dum sucker. Once he actually goes on the big boy potty, I can go back to M & M’s as a short-term reward.

I would assume that pooping in the potty will just come with time. At this stage, he either goes in his diaper at naptime, (which just happened 2 minutes ago btw) or he leaves a log of a surprise in his big boy undies. “So far”, they just roll off into the toilet, but still. It’s not glamorous. My initial plan was to burn through the rest of my diaper stash and move Rt to pull-ups at naptime and nighttime, but if he is still going to poop in them at this stage, shouldn’t I save my cash and continue to buy diapers than overpriced pull-ups? Pondering…..

Next up for little ‘ol us is the BIG BOY BED baby! Coming to a bedroom near you this Saturday. We already have the bed, the sheets, the quilt, the whole kit and caboodle. This is such an exciting transition for Rt and for us, but it also comes with a wee little word that will change our lives forever: F R E E D O M for the little tyke.

Anywho, for those of you who have gone through this stage already, any words of advice, any “oh crap, we shouldn’t of done that” or “if you do anything, you MUST do this” to help us all get through this seamlessly? Or is that even possible? I heard it takes a week to really get adjusted (compared to potty training which takes a lifetime.)

I hope it takes about that much time, cause I’ve got 10 weeks till baby #2 is due.

e

It’s come down to this. I cannot sit in any chair for a long period of time without the help of this device. It happened with Rt, so I knew to expect it. Any type of coolness I had, is now deflated.

e

evidence I actually spend time on myself, well, my hair that is….

Due to my current pregnancy state, I don’t have to wash my hair everyday. Hell, I wasn’t washing my hair everyday before I got pregnant. I’d say every other day was about standard. Now that I am pregnant? TWICE A WEEK. AND, my hair looks quite good in between shampoos. This did not happen my first go around, so I welcome this new addition to pregnancy wonderments! This so works for me. I do the whole nine yards on my hair one day on the weekend, then once during the week. Totally doable for “rather be doing something else besides washing my hair” me.

When I was asked what I wanted for Christmas, I had to really think about it. I truly didn’t think anything “clothing related” was a good idea since it would only last for such a short period of time. (except for this lovely sweater hubs got me. I so needed it and it’s soo cute!) So, I asked for really cool haircare products. Reasons why? Cause if I am going to get to be as big as a house/small condo and THEN have a 2nd child and REALLY have no time for myself, the time I do have better be worth the effort. The tools I use to better myself/hair better damn work.

So, these are my latest gifts that have made pulling myself together a joy.

hairbrush - My hairdresser used this brush on me and I LOVED it! Plus, my hair looked good when I left, so I thought the brush might have something to do with it. It truly grips each hair on my head with ease. Score!

hairdryer - I already had a Hot Tools curling iron and since whoorl and lvgurl both had recommended this one, I added it to my list. Total keeper!

flat iron - Another recommendation from miss whoorl. I have just started using this and have enjoyed getting those last waves out of my hair after a blow dry. My first attempt with the iron was letting my entire head dry naturally, then attack the whole wavy ‘do to make it straight. It so worked! It took half a nap, but it worked.

So, my point is this, I put my money where my “few and far between” free time is. If I am going to spend the time making myself look purdy, then I need it to happen on the first go. And, I am quite satisfied.

Oh, and I am 28 weeks as of this weekend, which makes me 7 months along, which makes me in the 3rd trimester. To celebrate the occasion, I took my monthly belly shot.

Here he comes now say, Mony, Mony!

And, if you look real close, you can see my beautiful “clear as day” veins on my belly. Seems my fair-ass skin is even more transparent these days than normal. Rock on.

Up next, pictures of nursery in progress. Currently, we are finished with painting. Woo hoo!

e

I had my monthly OB appt. on Tuesday. Being a hair shy of 28 weeks, I have begun to encounter more than just your run-of-the-mill weight check/blood pressure check/heartbeat check/belly measurement check appointment.

Here comes the next level in gestation. You ready?

First up, a little thing called “let’s see if you can’t eat anything sugar for the next 12 weeks” test. We’ll call it the Glucose test for short.

Here’s the plan: Go over there to the other side of the hall with this slip of paper, sign in, wait to have your named called, say 15 minutes or so, turn in said slip of paper, drink this here “sprite” (filled with, I don’t know 50 grams of sugar?), sit down, wait ONE HOUR while the rest of the world passes you by in the blood taking department, Then, THEN we’ll draw 3 viles of blood and let you know sometime in the next week what we find. OK? Got that? Now on you go. Hope you had someone nice watching your kid, cause you were here a long ass time today. See you next week!

It truly wasn’t an awful experience. At least it was a so- called Sprite. Last time I did it with Rt, I had to drink some Orange Crush concoction. Not as tasty. So, since I decided to do my glucose test the day of my appointment, I couldn’t get my RHOGAM shot, like a good little Rh negative girl. Something about the results may come back screwy due to the shot being injected into my ass, blood stream etc.

Anywho, for those of you who don’t know what a RHOGAM shot is, I’ll explain. You see we all are a certain blood type. O, A, B and AB. (And if you don’t know what blood type you are, get with the program people! It could be important one day!) And with each blood type there is a positive or negative (presence or absence of the RhD antigen (who knows exactly what it is, but it’s important, follow?)

If you have had children and still have no idea what blood type you are or whether you are positive or negative, let me just tell you here, you are positive. I promise. 85% of all Caucasians are positive. Only 15%, including me, are negative.

So, since I am negative and we, at this time, don’t know what boy #2 is, I have to get a shot so, I don’t form antibodies against the red blood cells of boy #2. Once boy #2 is born, they will check his blood and determine if I need another shot (cause he’s a positive) or not (cause he is a negative, like me).

My grandmother, my father, and my son, Rt, are all A negative too. Clearly hereditary. Thanks dad.

So, next week I head back to the doctor, stop in and get a shot in the ass and call it a day till April. Problem solved…….for now.

All in all, the appointment was smooth sailing. My blood pressure is normal/down, I am measuring almost 28 cm in belly and my weight gain is almost exactly the same today as it was with Rt at this stage. It must have been a hell of a Christmas holiday, cause in these past 4 weeks, I gained 7 lbs. My jaw could have dropped to the floor, but my records show, I gained EXACTLY 7 lbs with Rt. Clearly, nothing is up to me or I had just as good of a holiday 3 years ago as I did this year.

e

While brushing my teeth in our bathroom the other night, hubs walked up behind me and placed his hands around my belly and held on tightly.

“It must be so hard to carry a BABY inside your body.”

With a toothbrush and toothpaste still in my mouth, I said,

“Ya, carrying a human inside you is FUUUUNKY and pretty F’d up.”

I then followed that statement after a spit with,

“At least it’s a gradual thing.”

**************

Rt and I spent some quality time on the couch one afternoon. We were talking about his undies and I pointed out the freckle on his butt cheek. I don’t think he had heard the word freckle yet, so he became quite interested what was on his butt.

He tried to turn around enough to see his cute little mark, but was having a hard time getting a good view. Instead of getting up off the couch and take him to the bathroom for an even better view, I moved on and began pointing to his belly button, then his nipples, etc.

After a few minutes of self discovery, Rt looked up at me, pointed to a spot on my face and said “nipple”.

“No, no Rt. That is not a nipple. The correct word is freckle, FRECKLE!”

*************

I asked Rt two weeks ago what we should call his baby brother and he said,

“kitty.”

I asked him last week what was in mommy’s belly and he said,

“a cow. a horse.”

Clearly, the child has no interest in his new sibling or he is going to be really surprised come April.

e

currently 27 weeks pregnant. here are the latest discoveries I have found with my body:

-not that I normally shaved my legs on a timely bases, but due to the slow growth of my leg-hair, I might be able to get away with shaving only on major holidays. total score for me and my razor.

-the weight in my boobs continues to amaze me. how heavy can one bosom get? or both for that matter. You think my push-up bra is overdoing it just a little? hey, I’ll take perky and overflowing any day.

-the skin tag on my neck that appeared within days of becoming pregnant is still holding steady. Can wait for that bugger to fall off come April. Could I be so lucky?

-the veins on my body have always been somewhat evident due to my see-threw skin, but this is getting ridiculous. You could find your way to the nearest Krispy Kreme by using my belly as a road map. Wait, our Krispy Kreme’s went out of business here, but you get the point…

-my bellybutton has chosen to stall halfway through popping out. only one side has graced myself with it’s presence. classic look. I think I am starting a new trend.

-my only ability to grab something off the floor is to bend down in the ballerina plea position. Bending over is not longer a comfortable option nor flattering to the one standing behind.

-the air inside my body that only shows itself in the middle of the night. I make my one/two trips to the potty and the first thing my body shares with me is air. I have officially lost control here.

I am sure there is more, but the memory has also become more of a hindrance throughout these past few weeks. I am sure it will get worse as we go. if I recall something, I’ll add it to the mix.

you have anything to add? anything no one told you about but couldn’t believe actually happened to you?

spill it. we’re all very open here.

e

Thanks glossyveneer for entertaining me, my stuffed nose and my blog this dreary afternoon.

1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before?
Start a blog. Write for public viewing.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Not that I am against resolutions, I just forget to make any. Seems to be working.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes, yes! My two local gal pals gave birth to their second children. (their first kids are Rt’s best friends) Both are girls and both are just DARLING.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Sadly, yes. My grandmother died quickly of cancer in October and her boyfriend of 20 years, Jerry, died in February after a routine surgery. Just 9 months apart from each other.

5. What countries did you visit?
Ha, is that a joke? I’ve been to Grand Cayman on my honeymoon and that’s it. Sad, but true.

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?
A baby.

7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
May 5th, my miscarriage. June 1st, my 5th anniversary. July 31st, found out we’re pregnant again!

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Surviving a miscarriage and becoming pregnant again.

9. What was your biggest failure?
I don’t think I actually failed at anything, luckily.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Only 2 sinus infections. So I say I made out rather well.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
My Mac. My 5th anniversary band. (It was an anniversary present, but it was my money, too)

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Hubs. He’s just that guy. He’s as sturdy as an ox, and my best friend.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Anyone who is more famous for being themselves, than their craft.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Target would be a good answer.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The thought of adding another child to our family.

16. What song will always remind you of 2007?
Some Gwen Stefani song that Rt sings along to in the car.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:? a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?
just as happy, um, bigger due to baby belly, and richer, I guess.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Enjoy the ride. Way better than I used to be.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Worry. Work in process!

20. How did you spend Christmas?
In Oklahoma with hubs, Rt and my entire family. It was perfect.

21. Did you fall in love in 2007?
Yes, my boys always keep me in love.

22. What was your favorite TV program?
Biggest Loser hands down.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
No, if anything, I dislike people less as I am now more at peace with myself.

24. What was the best book you read?
Um, Parents magazine? Pathetic, I know, but any “book” reading I did was in the bathtub.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Little Einsteins.

26. What did you want and get?
A kick ass hairdryer, hairbrush, and flat iron.

27. What did you want and not get?
A new video camera. It’s not like ours doesn’t work, just want a new one. Someday.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
August Rush. I didn’t see a whole lot of movies in the theater, but what I did see, this flick had everything. Amazing music, romance, drama plus a good amount of cheese. Delicious!

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 34. Hubs tried to make it back from San Diego early, as a surprise, in time to go out to dinner, but his earlier flight was delayed, so my mom and Rt and I went to Chevy’s. Luckily, two days later, hubs and I went out to dinner and to see a movie. Where did we go, what did we see? I have no idea. Still fun, though.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Besides having my loved ones still here, I was rather happy with how everything turned out.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
Jeans, pumas, and a colored t-shirt or sweater.

32. What kept you sane?
My blog, my girls, my hubs, my son.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
No celebrity did much in the inspirational department this year. I think they all are a bunch of phooie.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
Are we still trying to elect a president? I feel like we have been doing this since the beginning of time.

35. Who did you miss?
My family. Live too far away. Especially my brother.

36. Who was the best new person you met?
Gosh, there are too many blog gals out there to name just one, so I won’t

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007.
There are many things in life you have no control over. If you are centered enough and have some sort of faith, you can get through anything, eventually.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
I don’t have the brain capacity by #38 to come up with something deep. Oh well. So be it.

wait, my mama never mentioned anything of the kind. and if she did, I wasn’t listening.

I could just chalk this all up to being Monday. Since starting project potty on Friday, I haven’t made it out of the house much and when I did, my concern was for my son not to wet his pants. So, all of my pent up frustrations just might be from not getting enough “me” time. As I write this, I am beginning to believe it more and more.

Today started out rather well. Rt went successfully on the potty 3 times. Full pees, no piddles. It was rather seamless and quite enjoyable to see how proud he was of his new trick. “It’s working, It’s working” he would say about his penis. Love it!

Now, I do have to admit, cartoons were on ALL morning. But, my thoughts on this were, hey, the kid has enough to keep track of, an extra cartoon or two or twelve might be a nice laid-back approach to this major change in his life. Hell, it worked for me. I got to browse the internet in its entirety three times through. rockin.

Come lunchtime, things changed, my attitude changed, my hormones took over. Hubs came out of his office and began making his lunch. We both maneuvered the kitchen and caught up on the day. He wanted to know how Rt was holding up and I asked him what the latest was in his neck of the woods. Hubs best friend happens to be coming into town on Saturday. The current plan is to all meet at a mutual friend’s house for an early dinner with the kids, I bring Rt home for bed, and hubs stay behind and enjoy some “dude time” with the guys and then spend the night. Sleepover!

While that entire plan is way fine, I was feeling a little out of their loop. Great, I get to go home with the kid and spend my second Saturday in a row, alone. Truly, not a big deal, but I noted it none-the-less. (who me?) I’m more of the gal that wants to stay with the guys, knock back a couple of beers and shoot the shit, too. This whole mommy position really creates a wrench in the whole freedom thing. THEN, hubs springs on me that another plan has been put on the table, that the guys could go skiing half-day on Saturday, then all of us meet up for dinner, then I go home with Rt, as planned, once his bedtime rolled around. I so get it. It’s his friend, blah, blah blah, but I want to partake in the pecan pie, too!

Can you guess what my response was? I even hated having that response. Who wants to be the “wife who has a problem with the plan?” I don’t, but AGH! I want to be the one going skiing. I want to be the one who has friends who have more freedom than I do. I want to be the one who gets asked to do things and have to turn them down. THAT NEVER HAPPENS! I am lucky to have a group of gals I hang with that get together for dinners quite often, but they are either just as busy (moms) as I am, or even more tied down to other responsibilities, (like more kids!) And that is going to be ME, VERY SOON!

What happened? When did it happen? Was I not paying attention? Why is this new job I have, being a mother, so restrictive? And yes, it doesn’t have to be, I know. Hubs talks all the time about how much freedom I could really have if I just planned it. Who wants to plan what they’re doing on Saturday at 1p.m. on a Monday at noon? My entire day, hour, minute is scheduled already. Who wants to know that their weekend is booked with typical mommy duties on a Monday? If it so happened to turn out that way, well, at least I didn’t have all week to be bummed my Saturday was going to be a Tuesday.

This is not meant to be a rant. I am just dumbfounded that I can’t seem to plan enough freedom for myself. Not enough “me time”. And because of it, I get the short end of the stick. It’s all up to me. Everything is up to me!

Does this sound familiar to you? Do you ever feel pigeoned-holed in your new role as a mother?

For the sake of myself and my hubs, I do have dinner plans tonight with the gals. It isn’t a Saturday night full of fabulous food, many cocktails and a late night cab ride home, but it is a break with my girls. Too bad my cranberry and soda doesn’t have more of a kick. All in due time, I guess.

e

My child is in bed, supposedly sawing logs with his jammies and a pamper’s diaper on. All I can say is, phew!

It sure is nice that this kid sleeps, cause we can use all the breaks we can get from this potty training thing. People do say it’s the hardest part about parenting.

In all honesty, I had a hoot of a day. Probably one of my favorite days in a long time. There was something about it, the dynamic between the three of us today, that was just sweet. First of all, I got to sleep in, so whatever happened with project potty from 7-9am had nothing to do with me. Quite ideal.

I arose sometime in the 9 o’clock hour and walked past the hallway bathroom on my way to the kitchen. I took a double-take, cause there was my hubs. sitting on the potty. showing Rt how a boy pee pee’s.

He might have been doing more, but I was really afraid to ask. They were having such an intimate moment and all, I didn’t want to ruin it with questions. (can we talk about how tickled pink I was to witness this? I have never seen hubs use the restroom, EVER, until now, and sitting down no less!)

Once they both appeared in the kitchen, hubs told me Rt had had two accidents already. One was a small pee and the other was a major ass poop. To help Rt understand where the poop should go (yes, I totally know he won’t get the whole poop concept for quite sometime) hubs dumped his bits into the potty and they both flushed to mark the occasion.

Hubs and I were back and forth on our project potty game plan. Do we keep Rt’s undies on, or let him free-ball it? His one success of peeing on the little potty yesterday, happened to be when he was naked from the waist down. (hubs thought he was cold, so he had him in a long sleeved t-shirt, a sweatshirt and socks, with no pants. nice look, huh?)

So, we went with no undies for the most part, followed by a time or two with his underpants on. While butt-naked from the waist down, he held his pee for hours. We were getting closer and closer to the time of having to leave the house to head to a neighbors’ 2nd bday party and really needed to clothe him, but we knew once we put his undies on, followed by clothes, he would let it loose.

So, we kept telling him where the little potty was, (in the middle of the den), trying to leave him alone (cause he seemly had better success if we weren’t watching and waiting for his penis to do something) and left it up to him. All of a sudden, he went! Not much, but he went. Woo hoo! Party time! 2 M & M’s, 1 sticker on the potty chart (going towards a Little Einstein’s doll if he does it 5 more times) and a pee dance! woo hoo!!!

Then he goes again.

Then he goes again!

I guess he really wanted to earn that Annie, Little Einstein’s doll asap!

After our potty celebrations ended, we put his underwear on, followed by plastic pants (um, love these!) and a pair of sweats. Off we went to a couple hours of distraction with friends. Or so we thought. The kid was soaked from butt-cheek to butt-cheek by the time we got home. But, who would have known? The plastic pants held it all inside, no mess! Luckily, Rt didn’t care one bit about the wetness, (clearly distracted) and we had a nice break from the project potty.

Once home, we diapered him up, put him down for a nap and enjoyed more time off-duty. We woke him up at 5 something, (late nap due to late return from party) and jumped right back into potty time!

He went.

once.

twice,

three times an ANNIE!

Yes, the kid was on a mission. With chocolate bits smeared across his face, a glow in his cheeks, a proud glimmer in his eyes, Rt made it to 7 potties and was rewarded nicely.

I guess my “let’s get him a big toy for reaching the end of the chart row” worked. Too well. Now, what do I follow it up with? yikes! (I was not planning on buying the world to convince my kid to pee in the potty, but my goodness, people, the kid LOVES some kind of incentive. Ones that come with flavor and purpose work best. Run, do not walk to the store and stock up on yours, now!!)

Before bedtime, I did show him the bag of dum dum suckers I bought for when he does goes poop in the potty. I think these rewards might be working a little too well. He wanted to take his pj’s and diaper off and go poop, so I would open the sucker bag.

e