Let's add in another issue!

So, my darling daughter has decided she has another issue to make her that much more unique. Yesterday, in my opinion, it was a beautiful summer day, bordering on springlike weather. Sunny, but not humid, breezy, and just plain old pleasant. We had a few places to go, and Melly stopped dead in her tracks at the front door and wouldn't come outside. I asked her what was wrong, and she started screaming, "No Mommy, no outside. Hot! Too hot!!" I kind of looked at her oddly, and soothingly encouraged her to come outside because it was such a lovely day. (I really was calm at this point. I didn't break until later). So I finally pick up the crying child and bring her to the car. I open the car door, and you would have thought poison gas had come out in a cloud on her. She literally tried to climb up on top of my head screaming more that the car was too hot. Now, I'm kind of a pansy when it comes to getting into a hot car. I'm notorious for opening up the door, and turning on the AC inside before I get in. Seriously, the car was not that hot. It was barely warm in there. But, my Melly screamed her head off, and I managed to wrangle her into her seat regardless. I cranked the AC (even though it clearly was a window open type of day), and away we go. We get to story time and she starts screaming about leaving the car now. Again with her "too hot" thing. So I drag her out of the car (crying) and off to story time. We go to leave story time and.... you guessed it. We start the whole thing over again. This same story happened at Kohl's and Walmart too. By the end of Walmart, I've had it, I am ready to get home. When we get home, I pull the car right in front of the house, get her out of the seat (screaming), and start gathering the bags and tell her to go to the front door (as is our routine after coming home from shopping). Well, she clung to the seat of the car, refusing to move an inch while I brought in all the bags. The whole time I'm actually trying to reason with her, telling her how ridiculous she's being. As if I thought that would somehow work and she would say, "oh, I'm sorry Mommy. You're right, I am being ridiculous. I'll walk to the front door now". Obviously that didn't happen. I eventually went out to the car to pry her clingy hands off of the car to bring her into the "safety" of the cool house. If this is how she is now, man oh man is it going to be a very long summer!

Finding the love, even when it's hiding

Kids are a funny thing. Each one is as unique as a snowflake, yet we all read these books and articles that make it seem as if any child can become a cookie cutter "perfect" child as long as you follow the given techniques. And, perhaps there are some kids that can become what these "experts" say they can become with their foolproof method, but the reality is, I'm sorry to say, not easy and not so clear cut. I feel raising a kid is a process, and as much as they're learning, we're learning too. It takes a lot of time, perseverance, more patience than any one person could possibly have, and in most cases pure dumb luck to figure out what works. Anyone that will make you think otherwise is either lying, or completely oblivious. I have often times looked at the things I wouldn't mind changing about Melody, and kept a jealous eye on the other kids that don't have these issues (ie foot issues, eating habits, drama queen, OCD tendencies, etc), but those are the things that after I'm done pulling my hair out over, I love the most. Those issues as I call them, are what make up Melody. And I can guarantee you when she's all grown up, and we're sitting down drinking tea, I won't remember that event where she was well behaved, as much as I'll remember all the rolling around on the floor with her screaming as I'm trying to put on any other shoes besides the one pair of Dora sneakers. In my short time being a parent, I really think the trick is to love every part of your children. It's so easy to say, and even harder to do, but block out the looks the lady in the grocery store gives you as you feed your kid cookies at 9:00 in the morning to keep them happy while you shop, or the snide comments people say as you have your screeching kid in time out in the store because she bit you on the butt (oh yeah, I can't make this stuff up). Read the expert advice with a grain of salt, and pick and choose the parts that you think will work for your child.

With all of that said, remember all the times while we were pregnant when people would have the audacity to ask and say the most personal and often times rude things, and tell all of their horror stories, and comment on how we shouldn't color our hair, or eat this or that. We didn't like it, but we easily would walk away shaking our heads thinking that person was a nut job. But now that our kids are here, the same nut jobs that are spouting out all sorts of "well if it was my kid" nonsense, we walk away in tears believing their comment thinking we're the worst mother in the world. I think that comes from us trying with all of our might to be the best parent we can be, and if someone (even a nut job) thinks otherwise, we feel completely crushed. The truth is, we all are the best parent we can be. That's what being a parent is. You give all of yourself to your child, and anyone that thinks it would be different if they were in your shoes, obviously have never been in your shoes and their comments should pretty much just be kept to themselves.

I know it seems like a lot of ranting, but as Melly is in the ever lovely "terrible two's", these questionable motherhood issues often come up. It helps to get it out so if there are any other mothers have ever felt like a complete failure, we can all band together and know that there is no perfect child, no perfect parenting method, no sure fire way to get your kid to sit still, and no situation that is flawless.

I am the Lorax, I speak for the trees!

After reading Dr. Seuss' "The Lorax" about 5,259,973 times, Melly loves to say "I am the Lorax, I speak for the trees". OK, that's the translation. What you actually hear is "I Lowax, I speak trees!" As if that isn't cute enough, she will only say it while standing on a tree stump with both arms up in the air. We all went to the local ball field, where there are literally 6 (at least) ball fields and 1 really cool BMX track. We like to go and watch some baseball, and see if there are any bikes racing. Lucky for us, by one of the fields there is a section where they must have cut down a dozen trees, leaving their stumps just waiting for our little Lorax to come along. So as all the proud parents watch their little ones throw strikes and catch fly balls, our Melly is running around climbing on the tree stumps with arms up screaming like she's the Lorax.

Really digging my new toothbrush

I was raised to highly respect oral hygiene. Brushing teeth was never a choice in my house. Good healthy and clean teeth are a necessity, but my childhood dentist did not like electric toothbrushes. Perhaps it was because that was 25 years ago and they really weren't very good then, but he always said that any improper brushing techniques with a regular toothbrush would just be much worse with an electric and it would cause more damage. I have since had dentists tell me they really are better for cleaning the teeth and it would be wise for me to get one. So, I decided to get one. Not sure how I would take to it, I bought an Oral-B Dual Action battery operated toothbrush with changeable brush heads at Wal Mart for $3.50. That way if I really didn't care for it, no harm, no foul. Well, I have been walking around for the past few days feeling like I just left the dentist! I love this thing! It takes half the time to get my teeth twice as clean. We'll see what the dentist says at my next cleaning, but I am loving it! Everyone should buy one (unless I'm the only one in the world that hasn't had one of these for years already).

Uh-oh Mommy. Bunders comin!

We've had some bad storms this past week. I don't think I've seen weather like this in years. We actually lost power all of Saturday night, and all of Monday night because of the storms. So, what do you do with no power (and a 2 year old)? Watch the storm from the window. Melly was very excited to listen for the "bunder", and luckily she wasn't very afraid of it. She did ask (quite often) to put on a show, or for us to turn on the lights. We had to keep explaining that everything was broken, and the poor kid probably felt bad that Mommy & Daddy's house has all broken stuff in it!

Well this evening, we've had some clouds, but not really a storm. We went to go to the grocery store, and Melody stopped in the doorway of the house, and wouldn't go out of the door. She looked at me and said, "Uh-oh Mommy. Bunders comin!"

$20 for a night of Sex and the City

OK, everyone stop with the dirty minds! Last night was such a fun night! I anxiously awaited Rob's arrival home from work and flew out of the door for my girls night out. I know, kind of sad that it's on a Tuesday night, but we had to go for the bargains! I met Aimee for lunch at a little cafe that has some outdoor seating. We ate outside on the gorgeous, not too hot evening and ate a great meal while pretending we were in NYC at a little bistro. We then headed to the local and privately owned theater where we met up with other fellow Moms for a Tuesday ladies night viewing of Sex and the City. We got a drink at the concession stand and headed into the movie.

Dinner: $10.00

Movie ticket: $6.00

Beverage: $3.00

Ladies night for busy and exhausted Mom's for under $20.00.... priceless!

I may be the only one in the world that hasn't seen any of the episodes of Sex in the City. Even with that, it was one of the most enjoyable movies I have seen in a long time. The story line was really fantastic. They kept it rolling without any dry or dull spots, and without you realizing it was almost 3 hours worth of movie! I highly recommend seeing it, and with girlfriends if you can. I must admit, however, that it made me miss my girlfriends and all the fun times we used to have. I love where I am now, and would not want to go back to that, but I do have such happy memories that I will always cherish. I just wish that I could see them more on a regular basis.

Ummmm... that's not a belly button!

We spent the day at my sisters house for Father's Day. Rob met us there after driving back from Ohio from a gig. Great weather, great day, good family. My sister has 2 wiener dogs (Charlie and Harry) at her house. For some reason, Melly is afraid of them, and won't walk around the floor until they are both in their cage. I've seen this kid have a wrestling match with golden retrievers that are twice her size, but these little guys scare the pants off of her. Go figure. Well later in the day, my nephew was holding and playing with the dogs, and Melly got a little brave and got on the floor to play too. Harry (I think) was lying on his back getting his belly rubbed and loving every minute of it. Melly decides to get her pointer finger ready and head for the dogs "south of the border" region, as every one in the room yells, "NO!" Melly looking very shocked explains, "Get Harry's belly button". I'm sorry honey, that's not his belly button!

Happy Father's Day Daddy!

Rob has been away for a few days, and Melly has asked for him almost the whole time. Yesterday, while Aimee came over to visit us while we were watching Ashley, Melly said, "I want my Daddy". Don't worry Melly, he's on his way home and will be here this afternoon! So we wish everyone a Happy Father's Day. Melly would like to give this special one to her Daddy.

It's sad that this is our world

I watched Ashely all day yesterday (we had so much fun!). And driving home in the evening, we had one of the worst storms I had seen in quite a while. The thunder, lightning, with rain that was leaving giant lakes all over the roads, was kind of scary to be driving in. There were cars that were stranded in these lakes (temporarily, they probably went a way after the rain settled down a little bit). But all this was kind of scary none the less. As I'm driving down one road, I saw two teens, a boy and a girl probably around 18 or so. As I'm passing them very slowly to not drench them with water, even though they are already drenched, they gave me this pleading look asking to get a ride to wherever they were going. My initial reaction was to stop because it was awful to drive in that, I can't imagine walking in it. But immediately after that my heart skipped a beat and the thought of bringing these strangers into my car with my precious Melody in it, was not even an option. I kept going and watched the defeated looks of them in the rear view mirror. It breaks my heart that we live in that kind of a world, but we do. I could never imagine having one poor decision affecting the life of my daughter. Part of me (as I was ridden with guilt, even though I knew it was the right decision) kept saying that they were kids, how dangerous could they be. But we hear it in the news all the time about these things happening. Anyway, it just made me sad that I had to leave these 2 kids to suffer the rain, thunder and lightning while I had a car with room for them.

Happy Mothers Day

So I realize this is way late, but I'm just now going through all the pictures and video from May. Here is the sweetest thing that I can hopefully get one for all the Daddy's!

The many expressions of Melody

I always laugh when I download all of the pictures and send them to kodak gallery. There are many times when Rob has been playing with Melly, taking pictures without my knowledge. Hence the following many faces of Melody:

Serious face

Happy face

Lizard face

Funny face

My Melly

I went into her room this morning when she woke up. She was standing up in her crib and she reaches out to me. I go over to her, she puts both of her hands on my cheeks, looks me in the eye and says, "I love you Mommy!"

My heart almost burst!

Since when is a size 10 plus size?

I was watching a rerun of America's Top Model finale (I think that was the show), and it was a "groundbreaking finale" because the winner was the first plus size model to win the title, and she was a whopping size 10. Seriously? Before I go on, the woman was gorgeous, and I thought she was curvy, but I really didn't think they should be calling her plus size. Especially when that's my size too!!! And, seeing her next to the other extremely skinny girls, she did look much bigger, which makes me believe they were a size 0. That's not even a size! It's a lack of size!

I think I hate the playground

I did some work this morning at a friends house, and then took Melly to the playground because she was so well behaved, and it was such a nice day. (In the lower 80's as opposed to the scorching 90's.) I hate to say it, but I don't like bringing her there. It has nothing to do with the park, but this brave adventurous kid that loves to play, becomes this creature that I don't recognize at the playground. She won't climb a step, go down a slide, go near a swing, unless I'm doing it with her. Not that I mind playing with her, but lets face it. I'm a bit too big to go down the kiddy slides. I'm watching these little peanut sized kids run around like they own the place, and then Melly stands on the 2" step crying, asking me to help her climb down. Seriously, a 2 inch step! I find myself getting aggravated that she won't do this basic type of thing. For some reason, she's petrified to go up and down small steps, or to go down a slide. This is with me holding her hands too. She just asks to get picked up. It breaks my heart (and sometimes my back) to bring her there. Where is that line of encouraging them, versus pushing them, or coddling them? It's not as clear cut as I thought it would be. So for now, I will encourage and sometimes push her to try new things. Just not the playground!

Her father's daughter...

Last night we're eating dinner, and Melly notices a pea in her mashed potatoes and says, "Uh-oh, Daddy help get the bean out. I can't eat it". She ate the pea, just not while it was in her mashed potatoes. The one time I ever heard Rob scream like a girl (other than on stage) was when his chicken rolled into some sauce. I guess that gene has been passed along!

The sprinkler saga begins

Melody got this amazing sprinkler for her birthday. We don't have a pool set up, or any flat ground that we could put a pool up in the yard. So the sprinkler seems like a great compromise to beat the heat. This one is really cool too. It's a giant beach ball that has about 4 spots around it where water sprinkles out of the top. Depending on how much you turn on the hose will give you different forces of water sprinkling. So here is how it goes:

I tell Melly all about it and explain that water will be involved. She is all excited to try it. As I huff and puff to blow up the beach ball (did I mention it was giant??), finally we're ready to go. I get her in her swim diaper (my Melly going topless!), slather on the sunblock, finagle her into her water shoes (with socks) and off we go. I fill the ball with water, attach the hose, bring it to the best spot, turn it on, run through it like an idiot, and wait for Melody to follow. She gets one drop of water on her, starts screaming and won't go near it. So I'm sad because it was the first time in days I wasn't sweating my butt off, and I reluctantly turn off the sprinkler. Oh no my friends, the fun does not stop there! She now refuses to walk anywhere near the ball, and won't even put her precious feet on any grass that has any possibility of being wet. She stands there (still screaming) asking to be picked up.

So, I pick her up and start to bring her inside, completely defeated. But, she screams more and louder. She has now been in the yard and wants to play on her swingset. Let me remind everyone that it was 95+ outside, and I was sweating profusely! But, I felt bad because she had been cooped up in the house, so I figured we can swing and slide for a little bit. Only now, she doesn't want to go down the slide because there's a bug on it (I thought she loved bugs??), and she doesn't want to go on the swing unless she sits on my lap. It is way too hot to sit on my lap for this. So I do what any Mom would do. I bribe her to go in the house and sit in the AC of my bedroom with a video!

How can you say no???

We were in the mall today trying our very best to beat the heat, but even in the mall it was horrifically hot. So after the photo shoot we head over to the pet store so Melly can look at the puppies. There is the cutest Chihuahua puppy I have ever seen. So Melly looks at him and says, "So cute! Mommy take puppy home with Mommy, Daddy and Melody?"

I may not be able to say not to asking like that! Sorry Slim Kitty, but one of these days you're going to have company!

I'm 2.... cute that is!

Well, Melly's 2, has a clean bill of health from her 2 year check up, and has had her official photo shoot. She's still in the 95+ percentile for height (really tall) and 20th percentile for weight (really skinny).

This is typical Melly.... as if she's saying, "What... I didn't do it!"

No matter how big she gets, she still wants to hold Mommy's hand.

Couldn't you just eat her up???

This is so not me... how did this happen?

I went to the mall this morning to do some walking, and to get a few things that I needed. I get there before the stores open, walk around until they do, jump right in and get what I need without a wait or any people around. It's great. Melody tried her best to be good in the stroller, but she was getting a bit cranky towards the end and just wanted out. So I was a little frazzled as I was leaving the mall. I'm walking to the parking lot and I see a woman in a GIANT car parked next to me with all of her doors open, bags everywhere, and 2 kids in the stroller. I walk over to the car, put Melly in her seat, unload all of my bags, put the stroller in and hop in my car. I look and the woman had the back door open next to my car so I wait a minute until she closes it and walks around to the back of her car, then I start my car. She starts freaking out yelling at me "You could at least f-in wait until I'm done!" So I get a bit bent out of shape (I was frazzled) so I roll down my window and quite sarcastically say, "I didn't realize it was a crime to start a car in a parking lot". She gets all uppity and screams "You just pumped exhaust fumes all over my kids, you should have waited until we were done". I had assumed that all of her opening and closing of the doors while I was putting Melody into my car was her putting her children into her car, not keeping them in the stroller while she safely tucks away her bags of shoes. So, because of this, another side of me comes out and says, "Maybe next time you should actually put your kids in the car first and a little faster then". And I drive away. I was really worked up. I never get worked up. I'm the opposite... to a fault sometimes. This really came out of nowhere and really got to me. Obviously this was the other woman's issue. I think what hurt me the most was that this terrible woman would think that I would ever put a child in any harm. The even scarier part is that her kids are listening and watching every move she makes, and are learning all of her bad things. Maybe that's why it got to me so much. I was so worked up and I don't want Melody to ever learn to do what happened at the mall today. Well, except that there are just people in the world that you're better off just ignoring instead of rolling down your window to get them all uppity!

"Look Mommy, a spider!"

Driving around town today, I hear a sweet little voice in the back say, "Look Mommy, a spider!" She loves spiders and bugs, I do not! Wouldn't you know, there dangling (yes, I said dangling) over her car seat is a spider the size of a quarter. In my opinion, they cannot be trusted, and he was ready to pounce. Rob has often told me that I overreact about spiders and bugs, and that the more of a deal I make of it, the more scared Melly will be. I try and keep my wits about me, but he's a big spider and he looked hungry. Now here's the bad part. I cannot control my actions when I see a spider. I swear one of these days I'm going to get in an accident crying about the spider that was crawling around the car. Luckily, today was not that day. The spider managed to swing himself over to the side of the car, and I was able to pull safely into a parking lot. I grab my Linen's N Things coupon (only object other than a tissue I could easily grab) and I go crawling into the back seat to find the little bastard. Again, trying to not scare Melly, I calmly (I think) say, "Mommy's just trying to help the spider get out of the car and back to his family." That little bugger was one of those "jumpy" spiders that are highly aware of where you are and how to avoid you. So he sneaks away under the back seat. I can't find him. So now I'm driving back home, peeking into the back seat hoping I don't find him dangling anywhere. I can tell you now it will be at least a week until I can get into my car and not fear the creepy crawly that I KNOW is still lurking about... waiting...

The tale of the Bunky

While we were on vacation, one of Melody's videos had a monkey puppet that was dressed up like a bunny. Rob said it was a Bunny Monkey, and Melly started laughing calling it a Bunkey. She cracked herself up more than I've ever seen her laugh before. So of course all of us start laughing too. The rest of the trip, we were on the lookout for a Bunkey.

I talk to Megg on Thursday, and I tell her about the Bunkey story to let her know if she ever sees a monkey dressed up as a bunny, she should get it because Melly would love it. Megg being the most amazing person in the world (and I'm not just saying that because she reads this blog), makes a Bunkey in 2 days and gives it to Melody at her party. How cool is that! She found a monkey at Toys-R-Us, then goes to Build-A-Bear, buys a bunny skin (with puzzled looks from the employees) and takes it home. After getting past her moral dilemma of hacking away at the bunny skin, she goes all "Hannibal Lecter" on it and makes a bunny suit for the monkey!

WE LOVE MEGG!!

Now Melody gets to carry around her very own Bunkey and giggle about it all day long.

Mom Tip #4 The Handprint Kits

When you buy those cute little stepping stone hand print kits, please listen to these directions and not the ones in the package:

1. Take really, really old mixing bowl and fill with the amount of water specified on package

2. Dump only 3/4 of the dry cement mixture given directly into the bowl

3. Stir like CRAZY and immediately dump into the mold (forget about these so called lumps you are supposed to watch out for. It's cement. If you take more than 1 minute mixing it, the entire thing is a giant lump)

Now, here's what happened when you actually follow the directions on the package:

1. Used regular mixing bowl because it says with immediate washing the mixture will "come right out". Filled with specified water.

2. Slowly stirred in 3/4 of the cement mixture into the bowl. After 3/4 of the powder was in, the mixing stick that came with the package gets stuck in the giant lump of cement that has started to harden. I quickly added another tablespoon of water to the bowl to mix in. Stirring stick is stuck more than I thought and giant lump of cement goes flying out of the bowl onto me. I quickly run to the sink to wash me immediately, leaving the mixture to harden a little bit more. I dumped the mixture into the mold. The mixture is stuck in the bowl completely. I try and scrape the sides with the stirring stick as clumps drop into the mold in 4 inch chunks. I desperately try to flatten and smooth the cement into the mold while not using any bad words as Melly is standing next to me saying, "sorry Mommy, sorry Mommy".

3. Entire mold and bowl get thrown in the garbage, and Mommy takes out paints for Melly to do instead.

The Ipsy Ipsy Spider

Melly's new favorite song (with hand gestures... sort of):

The ipsy ipsy spider

Up spout

Rain out!

AGAIN!

Another foot miracle!

In preparing for the upcoming crazy hot months ahead, I'm trying to work Melody into any footwear that isn't socks and sneakers. She cries if her feet are not fully covered. I finally got her to walk around barefoot inside the house, but she's very hesitant to walk on the wood floors unless there's some good motivation. Mostly she stays on the few carpets we have and asks to be carried throughout the house (you can imagine how often that happens which is why she always has stinky sweaty feet from wearing socks and sneakers!)

Today, for the first time since they were purchased (about 2 months ago), I finally got her into her sandals. Granted she had socks on too, but all the prior attempts ended up in a screaming fit with her crying for "different shoes". She wore them the whole day, and actually liked them because they have lights in them. My plan is to keep putting the sandals on her with socks (so she'll look like an old man from the Bronx for a while), and then eventually taking the socks away. It may be a pipe dream, but I'll give it a try!

The Birthday Party

Watching the weather forecast for the week of her party, every day before, and every day after were a perfect 75* and sunny.... except Saturday. Not only was it predicted to rain, it was a severe thunderstorm warning with high winds and hail. YIKES! 30 people (1/2 of them kids) in my house at the same time while it pours.... oh no! The party gods were on our side, because although it looked threatening for some parts of the day, it didn't actually rain until about 15 minutes after the guests had left. The party was a huge success! Melody had so much fun running around outside playing with her cousins and friends. The balloons on the sticks in the yard were a big hit along with Melody's new swing set compliments of Mema & Papa! The food came out wonderful and I had very few leftovers and a lot of full bellies. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day for my little girl's 2nd birthday. Well, maybe if she had wanted a cute pretty princess party instead of a Thomas one, but my little tomboy will one day want to be girlie!

Unfortunately we took mostly video, and not many pictures so this is all I have for now. Once I get sent some more pictures I'll add them.

Here's Melly after she first woke up from her nap, all sweaty and excited that her friends were coming. Nice hair!

My side of the family singing Happy Birthday!

A cute picture

Just a really cute picture of me & Melly (and a cow).

Damn, I'm good.

I'm a humble person, and very rarely expect praise on things that I have done. With that said, I have to pat myself on the back for making my daughter the most awesome cake she could have wanted! It's her 2nd Birthday, and she wanted Thomas and Friends for her party. So, Mommy makes her a Thomas cake that's the whole Island of Sodor! (That's where Thomas lives for those that aren't lucky enough to watch the show over and over and over again).

Check these out and tell me I didn't rock this cake! (Can you tell I've been watching Ace of Cakes lately??)

A forgotten story...

We spend so much time teaching our little ones independence, to speak their mind and to experiment in different situations. And what happens as we teach them all of this? It bites us right in the rear!

While on vacation, Melody loved spending time in Nana's playroom, especially with Nana playing with her. Apparently Mommy's are not allowed in this particular club. It was getting close to bed time, so I went upstairs to play before bed (I swear I was going up there to play, not to stop the playing!). Melly must have known it was close to bed time, heard me coming and ran to the top of the stairs screaming as loud as she could, "NO! NO!! Mommy, back! (finger pointing down the stairs) BACK MOMMY!!! BACK!!!" Boy I felt loved after that one! If Nana hadn't been up there with her, I really would have wondered what that little girl could have possibly been doing to not want me up there so badly! Grampa, however, thought this was the funniest thing, and reminded me of it the rest of the week!