Happy Easter!!!!

Reluctantly, I purchased the Easter supplies requested of me. I figured I agreed to it, I am not going to back out of it, but next time, I am going to call her up and invite them over for filet minon and scotch.....

Anyway, as I irritatingly unloaded the crap from my car annoyed by the fact that I still have to put it together, the phone rang. It was her.

"I think we should do something nice for Don since he is coming over for free."

"I agree, however I just spent X$ on easter supplies today and I, in addition, had to buy stuff for my own kids for Sunday. I am already over budget so all I can afford is to maybe bake some cookies"

"Well, I already had him over for dinner so I thought you could get something for him"

"Like I said, I am over budget already"

"Okay, I guess"

Seriously?

This should be interesting. Mike got home and told me to cancel because he was so pissed off at the situation he wasn't sure he could be cordial.

Let the fun begin!!!

In an attempt to make friends with my neighbor, I have agreed to go over to her house Saturday for an Easter egg hunt and BBQ.

At least that is what she invited me over for when she yelled with her quiet voice across the street at me while I was sitting on my deck having drinks with Mike, and my closest friend I was just seeing for the first time in 5 years and his traveling partner.

She, herself, is the complete opposite of me. Which is fine. Except that she is all I have out here. And she has 2, 2 year old daughters. They will be all Harlee has nearby.

I grew up on a cul-de-sac full of kids.....My kids are growing up stranded, friendless, and bored.

Much unlike her, I waited until I was not busy to pick up the phone and call her to discuss..

I asked her what time - 3:00

I asked her what we could bring over for the BBQ - To which she paused for what seemed like 30 minutes and said "uuuuuuuummmmmmmm I think maybe not a BBQ"

I pretended to not be offended that I just got disinvited for half of the event of someone I really dont even know...

Much to my surprise, she called back the next day telling me that - hot dog Don would be bringing his hot dog cart to her house free of charge and giving us all free hot dogs.

Then she asked me if we should do a pinata. I am thinking WTF, but tell her sure.

Fast forward to yesterday when she called and asked me if I could bring the eggs for the hunt. Sure! and 3 bags of candy... Sure. and the pinata.............sure?.........and a bat.........sure??

So to recap: She invited me over, hot dog don is coming for free, and I am providing everything.

And I am still sitting here trying to figure out how all this happened.....

Recently, I cut off 8 inches of hair.

I was fairly certain Mike never even knew because I always wear my hair up when I am around the kids since hair pulling is not my idea of fun.

Last Saturday, Mike and I were invited to a 40th birthday party for one of his high school friends. If you know Mike at all, you know that he has good friends from high school still - and somehow manages to maintain these good friendships by seeing his friends or talking to his friends once a year. This being said I have not seen Marty, myself, since Brody's second birthday party. he is 3 1/2.

I decided to get all crazy and blow dry my newly cut normally curly hair stick straight.

Mike and I then proceed to leave the house with him never saying a word about it. I found this truly amazing for him to not notice the 8 inches missing from my head as well as the fact that it looked totally different. I finally asked him about it. He looked confused and then surprised.

And yet, upon arriving to Marty's house, the first thing he does is give me a hug and say "what happened to your hair?".

I am at a point in my weight loss where everything I currently own looks like a potato sack. I am proud of this, of course, except that everything I own currently looks like a potato sack.

Of course I saved all of my before I got married clothes because - for sure I was going to fit right back into them as soon as I had Brody.

I was invited on a girls overnight trip which I am ecstatic about because I have seriously not been out with just girls and no kids in years. For real. So, my new goal is to lose my last bit of weight in 2 weeks so that I can wear the before I got married clothes rather than the potato sacks.

This is going to be done by continuing my low carb diet and cutting out alcohol.

Alcohol: A way to wind down at the end of the day with my husband (outside) (away from the kids) after a long day of 4 kids driving me nuts.

this could be an interesting 2 weeks.

The doctor is in

Yesterday I received a phone call from my neighbor who started the conversation off by saying "Christy, I need some parenting advice".

I felt extremely proud despite the fact that 1 kid was outside in the dirt with no shoes, the 3 year old was carrying around some rusted railroad ties, the 3rd was "cleaning" her shower hating me for making her do it, and the 14 year old was sitting outside with his feet up drinking his 2nd Mountain Dew in 2 hours.

"What can I do for you?" I asked proudly.

Apparently her 2 years old twins are sick, but 1 of them has been vomiting all morning. I immediately felt at ease because unfortunately, I have become an expert in vomiting kids.

She says "Amy has thrown up 5 times already. What can I do?" She then proceeded to tell me the list of things she tried to feed Amy - Milk, yogurt, vegtables -

May I just say (and maybe it is just me) that I have never once thrown up and then thought wow! I would love a giant glass of milk right now!

I start panicking and trying to come up with a response where I can say Wow! Your crazy! Without saying "Wow! Your crazy"

So, being Dr. Christy as I am, I pull out my crazy magic tricks and suggest Pedialite and toast, and then tell her that dairy is probably the worst thing you can give her.

So about 10 minutes later I hike over to her house, and she is shaking nervous. So I gave her the 2 best pieces of advice I had for her.

1) If she is crying real tears, she is not dehydrated.

2) Although no one wants a puking child, everyone wants the extra time that their sleeping all day provides.

Wished her good luck and went back to my house to clean up the tiki torch oil off of Harlee who Mike and Jesse were watching.

The lesser of two evils

Confession: I have slept through the night 1 time in the past 2 years. This is due to insomnia and the fact that I have to go in to Harlee's room at least twice a night - move her crib to find the pacifier that she has lost and shove it back in her mouth.

Every time I do it, I want to kick my own ass for her having it at all and repeat over and over as I am laying in bed "trying" to "fall asleep" that this will be the last night.


Then there is daytime.

My kid has zero coping skills. It is pandemonium if she is not happy. This could be caused, for example because she is strapped to the shopping cart in a 5 point harness and she would rather nose dive out of the cart and knock her self unconscious or because Brody is playing with a hammer and won't give it to her. And it comes on suddenly, and LOUD, and doesn't end quickly. This is all nothing new, and it is all the reason I started her on the pacifier at 4 months (you know, the month they tell you to get rid of it by??).

So, here I am trying to figure out the lesser of the two evils?

Me trying to sleep at night and exist during the day with her screaming ways.

Or

Keep the pacifier until she is 18 and deal with the lack of sleep.