SNOW!!!

I am a kid at heart and I LOVE snow!!! So when I woke up this morning and knew there was a chance of snow today I was so excited! This being said I went along with what the weatherman said and got my errands out of the way since he said the snow would not start until 11 am. So after the bus came this morning off I went to Khols to get nylons (gag...I hate wearing them, but we have a formal tomorrow night). When I went into the store the sky was cloudy, but no white stuff, thirty minutes later I am leaving and the roads were white! Now I am a southern girl. I am not used to snow and when it does happen I am at home and don't have to worry about driving in the stuff. Not to mention that usually when it snows it takes awhile for it to stick to the roads. Oh no, not today. I am so thankful that I made it home in one piece. I did fishtail a few times and had a scary turn, but in the end I made it and my car is still in one piece (good thing, because I did not really want a new car for Christmas). Now that I am home and warm in front of the fire I will enjoy all of the snow falling from the sky. I have the fireplace on and am thinking that some hot cocoa is in my future. The only thing I am not looking forward to is getting John at the bus stop. School is being let out two hours early today due to the snow. Unfortunately I still have to walk up the bus stop. Normally I would drive up in the cold, but I am not getting back in my car today. So I will put on the snow boots in a few hours and get Mary all dolled up in her snow suit (boy am I glad I went ahead an bought that thing) and together we will walk (probably very slowly) in the snow. I think I may even bring John's boots along so he is ready.

So the rest of the day I will enjoy the beautiful snow. I know people hate snow, but I still love it and I still feel like a kid when it happens.

HOLY TWO YEAR OLDS!

That screaming you hear is coming from my house. Don't worry no one is hurt or in trouble, it is just my daughter throwing a fit because life is not going her way. This has been my life lately. Last night it was because she wanted to eat dinner on the floor in front of the TV and mommy said no (this was the best tantrum so far). Today it was because I walked upstairs without her (yep, that is all it took). In the grocery store it was because she wanted the cart with the steering wheel. Seeing a trend. She is even beginning to perfect her fits! They have gone from a fussing fit to a downright on the floor screaming (and I mean blood curdling) while throwing whatever she has in her hands. Someday I will videotape her so that I can share it with her someday when she has her own sweet little two year old.
My poor husband is coming home today and will be greeted by not only a two year old who is giving the phrase "Terrible Twos" a whole new meaning, but a wife who is DONE!! This whole single parent thing is for the birds and heck, I am married! Yes, I know that when I married a guy in the Army I knew he would be gone a lot, but this if getting RIDICULOUS!!! I can't remember the last time my husband was home for more then 2 weeks. He keeps on telling me that she can't be that bad and that she is such a biscuit. Well, he is going to be home for a full week and I plan on giving him a taste of his "Biscuit". Mommy has earned a few hours to herself. Actually I have earned more then a few hours, heck I have earned months!
I am hoping this two year stage goes by quickly. I may need happy pills by the end of it. She is cute for sure and it is a good thing. My mother keeps on telling me that she is just like I was at that age. Thanks Mom for wishing that I would have a child just like me someday. I really could have done without that wish, but I have a feeling I will be wishing for the same thing.

You mean I have to shower everyday!

As I was taking a shower today I realized how much life has changed for me in the past few years. Before I had my son I would have been mortified to leave the house without makeup on let alone to not take a shower. Taking a shower, drying my hair and putting on makeup were normal. Then I had my son. Showers and getting dressed were rushed during naps. I did shower everyday and makeup was applied, but my hair was never carefully styled and gone were the days of being able to change outfits ten times because you felt fat in one (once I had kids this just happened in every outfit, so I just stopped trying). It became the norm. Then I had another child. Well, this is where it changes. Yes, I shower everyday, but I don't necessarily wash my hair. I really do try to do it daily, but sometimes I just shower to rinse off. Oh, and if I do wash my hair and don't plan on going anywhere I don't dry it anymore. I tell myself that it is better for my hair. Makeup, well that is something that only gets put on when I am going out for the day. Gone are the days of putting on makeup just to go to the grocery store. You don't need makeup to grocery shop. Plus, who am I trying to impress? I already have a husband! There are weeks like last week that I am lucky if I put on makeup one day out of five. It just isn't necessary. Oh and shaving ones legs...forget it!!! I remember when I was just married I would have been mortified for my husband to feel my legs if I hadn't shaved them. Baby those days are GONE!
Someday I will become human again, but until then I am a mother of two. One off to school in the morning and the other who likes to throw things in the toilet if I try to shower when she is awake. I will briefly venture into human territory this weekend on my short trip to a wedding in New Orleans minus kids, but it will be for one brief day. I would say getting ready will be peaceful without interruption, but I will have my husband with me and he is after all my third child.

Red Wine and Sippy Cups

I am considering the perks of downing a bottle of wine tonight. It has been one of those days. I love my daughter, but this two year old bit is getting OLD! It is a good thing she is cute because there were times I might have packaged her up today (not seriously, so don't report me) and fedex'd her to Nana! This was day three without her normal three hour nap. She at least took one today, but only for an hour. She has also refused to eat anything that is not in the shape of a fish or multicolored with chocolate in the middle (meaning M&M's). So on top of being over tired and just plain 2 she has low blood sugar which makes for a grump (which I understand since I get this way too, but not voluntarily). So tonight maybe the apple juice will be replaced with a good Cabernet and Mommy might sit on the couch with a good movie drinking wine out of the sippy cup. Who knows after today her binky might be good too:) Doesn't that make a great mental picture?

You Have Got to be Kidding!

About the time that the movers were moving us into our house I contracted Hand Foot and Mouth disease from my sweet little girl. This was about a month ago now. After a week of painful blisters on my hands and feet and inside my mouth I thought that I was good. Well, little does the online info on this illness tell you that a few weeks later your hands and then feet would start to peel! Yuck, as if the initial onslaught of this thing wasn't enough it had lingering effects! So my peeling just ended a few days ago. I thought I was good. No more peeling hands and feet and then it hit today....the best part of it all...PEELING NAILS!!! Yep, you heard me right, one of my nails is peeling up from the base. It is just gross. I started to notice that the area above the cuticle was getting really light and then a little while ago I noticed what I thought was my cuticle, but to only find out that it was peeling upwards and that it was my nail. Thank goodness there seems to be new nail underneath, but come on this is getting ridiculous! I am freaking out that my nails are going to fall off and that my toenails are next! I just paid almost 50.00 bucks for a pedi last week. I don't want it to peel off from the nail. I am hoping that it will be a one nail event since none of my other nails seem to be discoloring. Hoping and praying! The thought of the whole thing just has me weirded out. Luckily Mary Cate never had any of this peeling business. Good thing, I can't imagine dealing with a toddler whose nails are peeling off. I am hoping that this is the last hoorah for this thing and it will finally GO AWAY! Luckily I haven't been contagious in weeks, but I just want to forget about this experience. It is seriously one of the yuckiest and worst illnesses I have had. So here is to hoping that I keep my nails (and toenails)!

Just Haven't Had Much

Okay, so I am apparently the world's worst blogger. It is just that I haven't had anything lately. Life has been busy though with getting the house together and birthday parties. The house looks great and is about 97 percent put together. The only room we really have left is the fourth bedroom, but that is Doug's room and I am not touching it with a ten foot pole. He has went ahead and hung the deer head and the fish on the wall already. We are in dispute about the bed size to put in there though. We have a twin bed that is in the room put together right now (no sheets or anything else on it though), but Doug wants to put a queen bed in there. The room is 10x11, which to me is NOT big enough for a queen size bed and a desk. I told him that we have a full bed in our son's room and that when we have guests they can stay in his room and we will put him downstairs. He is just not happy with that option. He wants to have a "nice" room for guests. I just want to know when we started to run a hotel. It doesn't make any sense to me to have a room just for guests when we need it for other stuff. If we had a five bedroom house we would have a guest room, but we don't. I am pretty sure I will win this one in the end. Plus, our guests will want TV and cable and the spare room doesn't have it and our son's room does.
We threw a double birthday party for the kids last weekend. I few weeks early for our son, but I am SO happy that we went ahead and got it out of the way. I love to entertain. I love to cook for others and to welcome people into my home, but it is tiring. I can't imagine doing it again in a couple of weeks. Plus, it get expensive to throw a birthday party. Logic tells you that it should be cheaper to have it at home then to out source it, but it isn't! You don't have the initial sticker shock that you would at a bouncy place, but in the end I am pretty sure we spent more. Next year we will out source. The kids had a blast and it was great to see all of our friends. Now if I could just convince myself to clean out all of the excess food out of the refrigerator.
Now on to the weekend, the last one before school starts. I cannot believe my baby boy is starting kindergarten, but I am ready. I love him so much but he thrives in school and mommy needs a break. I love seeing his smiling face when I pick him up from school. I cannot wait to see him learn to read and write. We meed his teacher tomorrow and hopefully the teacher in me will stay away and I won't be too critical. It will be hard, but I can do it.

At Last

Well, we are all settled into our new home and I LOVE it!!!! It is nice and big and only a few years old so it even has that new smell to it, which is something you don't usually get in Army housing. The move was not without its glitches. The movers in El Paso were HORRIBLE! My poor husband was left to deal with them on his own as the kids and I frolicked on the beach in Amelia Island, FL (so sad for him). I am pretty sure he is blacklisted from moving companies in El Paso, but they were late and unreliable. What can you do other then complain? Then I rushed up here with a feverish child in tow because I thought I had to meet the movers here. WRONG! It took them over a week to make it to VA from El Paso! How is this possible??? So I had my sick child, my mother and my antsy child all with me for over a week. Although we did make a detour through Hickory, NC along the way and my mother found a new dining room set so we detoured my husband through Atlanta to pick up a UHaul and to bring her old set with him. So score for me since I was in DESPERATE need of a nice table. We also bought a new couch before the movers got here since sitting on the floor is NOT fun.
The day the moving truck pulled up to my new house was the day my mother was leaving, which defeated the point of her being up her for a week. She was supposed to help with the move. Oh well, luckily my sister stepped in to save the day and took my kids that day. In the end everything got here in good shape. We only had a few minor things break, which is a change from the norm. I have told my husband I don't plan to move for awhile and that he better find a way to make that happen. We will see though, you just never know.
I am slowly getting to know the area and learning that I REALLY hate traffic. It is horrible at ALL hours of the day here. I am just going to have to learn alternate routes, because sitting still on the interstate is not my idea of fun. I can't wait to really get out and see the sights around here. I love the fact that I have so much right at my fingertips.
I registered John for kindergarten this past week. School unfortunately doesn't start until September. Flah! I am very ready for full day kindergarten. Don't get me wrong I love my son, but we will all be happier with a break. Plus, he loves school and needs the outlet to get rid of his energy. I started the school shopping today, which felt really good.
So onto my new life in a new city and actually having friends and family around.