too many things to do and not enough time

Everyday I am amazed at how quickly 4pm rolls around. I start each day with a long list of "to-do's" and everyday I only get about one or two things accomplished. I have been staring at this referral on my desk for Zach to get an EKG done for a month at least. He has to have it done before he goes to see the Pediatric Cardiologist next week, and now I find myself down to the wire again. I always proclaim that I am the QUEEN of procrastination. Just for once I would love to find the time and the motivation to get all of the things that I need to get done in one whole day. Then again, if I did what would I do tomorrow?

Another example are the Thank Yous for Brienna's baptism. I know there is a standard of how quickly to send these out, but I never seem to make that deadline. I guess better late then never right!?!?

I keep saying that I would love to start a scrapbook for the kids. Then I think of how little time I have in a day as it is. I suppose that this task will go on my list of things to do when the kids are in school full time...let's see that would only be another 2-4 years from now!

brienna's first dolly

Yesterday I went to Target to get a few things for the house. Zach was of course making deals with me that if he stayed with the cart and didn't pick up anything off the shelf would I PLEASE get him a new toy. I got the things that I needed, and Zach held up his end of the bargin so I bought him a new motorcyle toy. My rule for these rewards is it has to be less then $5, and when I am trying to get shopping done with a very active almost 4 year old I will spend the $5 to make my trip to the store that much easier. Anyway, we walked past the baby aisle on our way to the register, and Zach pointed out that Brienna was good and sat in her "seat cart" (what he calls them) with out crying so she should get her a toy too. So we picked out for her her very first doll!

As you can see she loves it very much. I will make sure to tell her when she gets older that her big brother convinced mommy to buy it for her for not crying in the store!

craft fair tasks

I signed myself up to do a craft fair and sell my stationery on May 16th. Most of my business is done on the internet so I do not have any "samples" to show people when they come up to the table. So, I have been putting together scrapbooks with samples of some of my more popular invitations. I have been doing this for a week or so, and I have 6 pages done. Yes only 6 pages...

I keep telling myself that I have plenty of time, but since I want to fill up to scrapbooks full. I had really better get moving. I am hoping that this puts my website out there just a little bit more, and brings in a little more extra money for the summer!

thank God that weekend is over...

It was a long weekend with the kids. Since it was so nice on Friday we decided to take the kids to the zoo. It was a beautiful, almost hot, 80 degrees. We mostly went to see the new dinosaur exhibit at Brookfield Zoo and it was SO COOL!

We had Rylee since Thursday night, and by Saturday she was ready to go back home to her mom's (again a.k.a. the house with no rules). She began to be very crabby/whiny and refused to eat any of her vegetables on Saturday and Sunday. This is an on going battle with her, and we used to kind of let it go. Now it has become extremely apparent that this girl eats nothing but crap with her mother, and now Gary is stuck being the bad cop trying to force her to do these things. It makes me sad for him that she is only 5 years old and already does not like coming over here. We thought her having a sister would change things a little, but she obviously does not like not being the center of attention. It is hard for me as a "Step-Mom" to deal with it because I don't know where to draw the line. I have a feeling that she is not going to like me much as she gets older. I have to be consistent because of Zach and Brienna. I would not want her to believe that she has special treatment over here, and then as the other two get older they feel left out or that they can act the same way. In all honesty, I worry a lot about what it is going to be like as Rylee gets older, and Brienna starts to look up to her. Rylee's mother has laid a horrible foundation for her as a female. Hopefully I will be wrong and she will bounce back from all of this, but only time will tell.

loving the lovey

Brienna has started realizing that she can grab things that are around her. A big step as she approaches 3 months old. She has had this giraffe lovey that Jamie had given her as a very early present when I found out I was pregnant with a girl. This morning when I came into her room to get her after she woke up she had pulled it from the corner closer to her head and was sucking on it. Since this morning she has not let it go, so for Jamie's benefit, here is a picture of Brienna loving the lovey that you gave her!

the baptism

This past Sunday was Brienna's baptism. It is strange when you spend that much time preparing for something and it goes by in a flash. It can make you feel a little disappointed when it is all over. It was a nice service. Of course I had to listen to the priest make several references to the "husband and wife" partaking on this journey together. Blah blah blah...I hate those little reminders that we are not yet married. After the service we went to the restaurant to celebrate with everyone. We had a lot of empty seats due to people that decided not to show up at the last minute, but the plus side of that was the cheaper bill. The wait staff brought in the wrong cake at first, and so we had to get that resolved. Overall, it was a good day other than the down pouring rain outside!

So now that this festivity is over, I don't have to plan any more parties until her first birthday!

over $2.00...seriously

I have mentioned before about the wonderful ex that Gary has. She really honestly thinks she has him fooled with the poor me act that she gives off. Everything she says she means the exact opposite. 8 days after there divorce was finalized she had a court order taking him back to court for more money that she thought he was hiding, and was trying to get him to pay her lawyers fees to do so. That was 6 months ago, and she tried to play it off as if it was her lawyers idea. She said that she was fine with the agreed upon amount. Now this past week she approaches him to tell her that they shorted her $2.00 in her weekly amount. She said she wasn't complaining but it was just inconvenient. She really felt the need to confront him about $2.00!!!!

the TV debate

As a mother of a very active preschooler, I am often confronted with my own inner demons about his TV addiction. Being that the weather here does not allow him outdoor activites all year round, I have spent the winter months trying to figure out what to do with him. Thank God for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday when he gets real education from his preschool teacher. However I am at a loss the rest of the time. We will do puzzles, play games, but his attention is most easily kept with the talking box. I think in the last two months he has watched Lightning McQueen 100 or so times and is still always mesmorized by it.

I feel as though I don't put my foot down enough and make him do real activites. However, with a newborn now it is easier for me when he is watching the boob tube and I can attend to Brienna or maybe even get a shower and a load of laundry done. Not to mention running the office in our basement for Gary and my stationery business. Still I know it is no excuse, but there are days that I think he actually learns something from Dora, Diego, or Mickey Mouse.

So my hat goes off to all you Moms who leave the TV off all day long and entertain your children with fun and games. I wish that I could say the same, but as of now I will raise my hand when asked how many people allow their children to watch more then an hour of TV every day....

easter shuffle

Of course everyone knows that yesterday was Easter. We had all the kids this weekend, and becuase of Gary's so called joint parenting agreement he had to have Rylee back to her mother by 10:30am. So we went to church, which is always a treat with the older ones, and then came home to find the Easter bunny had visited while we were gone. The kids were excited about their toys, but of course that excitement faded as soon as Rylee discovered she was on her way out the door to go back to the land were there are no rules.

Little background...Rylee is a terrific child and SUPER smart. However, this poor girl has seen her mother with 5 different guys in the past two years and has moved twice with her mom as well. No, and I mean no, child would be left unscathed by what she has been through in the last 24 months. So as a result Rylee is a bit of an emotional child. That emotion is typically displayed in boughts of extreme hyerness followed by extreme withdrawl and a lot of crying is typically involved. She does not enjoy spending as much time here as with her mom because we have rules. She has a normal bedtime, she has to eat real food which includes vegetables, and share her toys with her somewhat challenging step brother. I am sure that there will be more on this issue later....it is a very strong issue for me.

Anyway, after he took Rylee home we left for my Aunt's house to make an appearance. Since my mother and brother (who live across the street from each other...yes "Everybody Loves Raymond") did not want to leave the comfort of the street we then had to drive an hour back to see them. Zach had fun with all the kids, and of course was a master at the egg hunt.

my introduction

So I have been told that writing down your thoughts can be very theraputic, and here I am. There are many days in this crazy life of mine that I would love to rant, praise, brag, and complain. Of course most of the time I spend hours on the phone with my best friend Jamie who lives in Texas. That always makes me feel better, but somedays I just want to enjoy my conversations with her and not bombard her with silly rants and raves.

There are many things in my life that somedays are perfect, and other days just plain suck. I am 29, quickly approaching my 30th birthday at the end of June. HOLY CRAP where did the first 30 years of this life go, and how did I get here so fast. I am in a serious relationship with an amazing guy for the last 2 and a half years. We both met while we were married, and in the completely wrong relationships. So now we are in the right relationship but with two of the craziest exes anyone has every seen...don't worry there will definitely be more about them at a later date...you can count on it! Gary and I (Gary being the serious relationship) just had a baby in February. A beautiful baby girl named Brienna Noelle..

He has a daughter, Rylee (will be 5 in July) from his first marriage. I have a son, Zachary (will be 4 in July), from my first marriage. So this became one of those situations of yours, mine, and ours. Now I am trying to manage being a work at home mom of a Pre-Schooler and a newborn. I manage a small stationery hobby/internet business of mine as well as help run Gary's alarm company out of our basement.

That is some basic background on me. I have basically come here for "therapy" so always feel free to leave any comments on my postings. Some days even the most rational thoughts in my head don't make any sense. I am hoping this will be a place I can get out those thoughts in my head that I don't normally express out loud.