The Last Box

Today as the temperature dropped I took advantage of some nap time to organize clothes.  As I have mentioned before I am blessed to have been given lots of hand me down clothes for all my children.  I suspect that over the years I have saved at least a thousand dollars on clothing, shoes, toys for the kids.  This has been such a blessing and I have happily passed some of the clothing and items along to others and will happily,( NO JOYFULLY,) pass everything along when we are finally done having more children.  Over the years I have gotten the clothing from various people and still get some clothing for Mae from my wonderful sister Krista, the neighbor, and a friend in the ward.  Unfortunately my Max supplier has dried up and today I unpacked the last box of clothes for him to wear.  There is plenty of clothing to last me for the next year, unless he has an absolutely insane growth spurt.  I feel lucky to have this problem with Max instead of Mae.  I have zero need to dress Max in cute outfit and so am just fine sending him out in Walmart jeans and free t-shirts, (I am hoping this will last til jr. high/ high school.)  So there is no worry about a sudden hit to my bank account.  Mostly I am just documenting a new era for us, and I want to take the time to thank all those who have given me clothing over the years.  (I would provide a list but people are funny about having their names on a public blog. )  I should totally send out thank you cards again. 

Shoes

I can't do shoes.  Yesterday I had the opportunity to be all by myself for a little over an hour and I chose to go shoe shopping; which I saw as an inevitable chore.  I realize that this may cause some to question my sanity and gender, but I just can't do shoes.  Here's the problem.  Shoes are expensive.  I would say that 99% of the time if I don't spend at least 50 bucks on a pair of shoes, they are crap and hurt my feet.  (Every once in awhile I get a great deal on sale, but I otherwise stand by this statement on cost vs. quality.)  Since I am forced to spend so much money on an item of clothing I don't do it very often and wear the pair almost every day until they die a year later.  I don't like how much difference there is in comfort and how you can't return shoes if they hurt your feet.  I feel like it is such an expensive gamble to make on something that you can't properly evaluate.  Then there is my deep dark secret that makes shoes totally miserable for me.  My feet have a hard time staying dry.  Yep, I typed it out for the world to see, but only so all can understand my pain.  I can't do the sock less thing so ballet slippers and loafers are totally out for me. I also cannot do boots.  I have an abnormal foot size to calf width ratio that does not allow for me to zip up boots.   While others bemoan the tediousness of having to shop for swimsuits and jeans; I hate shoe shopping.

Big Head

First off Happy Birthday Dad.  Secondly, I took Spike to the doctor for his 15 month checkup and the Apocalypse must be coming because I made it out of Bentonville Pediatrics in under an hour.  Spikey's doing good by all medical accounts.  He is 25% for height, 50% for weight and a whopping 95% for head size.  Tee Hee Hee no wonder that kid can't walk.  He can't balance that giant melon on those teeny little feet.  So maybe it's time to admit that it isn't Gymboree but my kids insanely huge heads.  I have already shown examples of how messy an eater Spike is, but I am not sure this has been sufficiently emphasized.  Seriously 75% of his meals end in bath.  This kid smears his food.  When it is time to extract him from the high chair he freaks out and tries to get in as much last min mess as possible.  If you go to wipe his hands then they dive back for more goop.  If you wipe the tray he just smears it again with what's on his hands.  It is a lose/lose situation that has resulted in me just taking him directly to the kitchen sink and using the little hose attachment.  He is almost used to that now.

Heavy Lids

So I have been a fairly crabby mood for the last few years days and I think I might have figured out what the specific problem is this time.  Although I have been sleeping fairly well, my eye lids have been killing me.  Like no sleep for days/sleeping in contacts, kind of killing me.  This has made me feel tired even though I am not really tired.  I suspect that the change in the weather is to blame and it might actually be allergy related.  Do any of you suffer from this?  Then of course the question is what to do about it.  Don't really have the money to go to the doctor, so just deal with it I guess.  It is nice to know what is wrong though.  I have been so grumpy that I have been hesitant to post on the blog.  I have saved a very long list of things that must go, but it is getting so long and it just makes me surly to specifically type out my gripes.  Hopefully this explains my lack of non child posts.  So for happy thoughts....I bought a new table runner on clearance at Target this week for a few bucks.  It has birds on it and I am a sucker for birds.  Today I found Mae coloring on it.

 I just want to publicly thank my mom for setting such a good example for her daughter.  No matter what I broke/lost/damaged my mom never lost it with me or made me feel bad.  She loves stuff but at the same time doesn't care about stuff at all.  I can hear her voice in my head, "Well you can't take it with you."  This powerfully loving example has helped me to calm down today and hug Mae a little more.  Thanks again mom.

Twelve

Oh snap I have made it to size 12.  I have lost another three inches off my waist and have dropped another 5 pounds for a grand total of 30 since January.  I can't believe how good I look.  Slipping into some old jeans a few weeks ago I found a 20$ in the pocket and felt doubly rewarded.  I didn't feel any guilt the next day as I went to Target and got some 25 pound weights.  I love my arms, but there is still some fat on them.  In a way I find it more motivating to lose the fat off my arms so that I can better see all the rockin muscle.  My abs are still a problem.  I dislike crunches and honestly find any excuse to not do them.  I also never realized how addicted to Diet Coke I am.  Every weight loss article on the planet says stop drinking soda if you want to lose the belly.  Grrr....  I feel good about going into the holiday baking season ahead of the game.  Now the one flip side about all this weight loss is that if I drop below a size twelve I will have no clothes, now everyone says reward yourself with new clothes.  Well first off all I like my size 12 dresses, and second, I have no money.  So that does sit in the back of my mind as a dilemma. 

Bubbles

Rainy days for Mae means hats, sunglasses and (non seen here,) sandals with socks. 

My cutie pie bubbles is three today.  What a doll.  If I didn't have a testimony of the divinity of gender before I had Mae; I do now.  That girl is a girl!  She loves dresses, make-up, dolls, and Minnie Mouse.  She can spot Hello Kitty merchandise from 20 feet away and will accost strangers wearing it.  Mae loves to color and will drift in and out of the dining room, where I have set up her coloring stuff, throughout the day.  Her speech has progressed thanks to her dedicated speech therapist whom she saw twice a week for an hour a visit.  She is now just barely below age level.  Now that she is 3 she will get therapy through the district for an hour a week to work on articulation.  She will also get a half hour of physical therapy and a half hour of developmental therapy.

Thanks Grandma for the outfit!  As you can see it is already a favorite.

 Mae has started really playing with friends who come over and she adores playing with Max.  While she is a bit rough with Spike she does like him.  Last week Jeff had taken the day off of work so I left Spike with him while I went to the gym.  Picking Mae up from the daycare there, she started screaming thinking that I had forgotten to get Spikey also.  She has some bad habits; besides sitting in the "W" position, (which has made her pigeon toed, and needing physical therapy,) she also calls Jeff Jeff instead of dad.  She hadn't napped in months, but she really needs it, and she still won't say "I LOVE YOU," she only says, "Too!"  Miss Mae takes a purse with her everywhere now.  It usually contains her toy cell phone, some hair accessories, and a toy or two.   She took two purses with her to Walmart last week.  We all adore Miss Mae and look forward to watching and helping her this next year.

Party Time

This is her with her hair done.

I have found that the key to kiddie decorating is balloons.

Every girl should get a birthday sash.  Not sure we will get that off of her.



The play castle has been downstairs for awhile so everyone was happy to see it again.

Kitty stuff from grandma

Mae and friend with the dream castle.



I like how this shot caught her friend in the castle.

I decided last min that Mae should have a party.  By the time Max was three he had already had two parties so it was time for our little girl to celebrate.  We invited three of her friends and grabbed a bunch of favors and decorations from Walmart.  I learned a thing or two from Max's early parties and kept the who thing simple.  No activities other then presents and cake.  We brought up the Barbie Dream Castle and a play castle and just let the girls have fun.  It was only an hour and everyone enjoyed themselves.  Mae got a great haul from both grandmas and from her friends.