Girlymama

G1 and I are playing "babies" with her baby dolls (giving them bottles, burping them, changing diapers) in the living room.  G3 is painting at the dining room table.

G3: "Mama, where's my baby brother?"
Me: "What, Babe?"
G3: "Where's my baby brother?"
Me: looking up "What??"
G3: "Where's my baby brother?"
Me: "Where's your baby brother?"
G3: "Yeah."
Me: "Babe, you don't have a baby brother."
G3: "Oh." goes back to painting for a moment "Where's my baby sister?"
Me: "Right here. [G1] is your baby sister."
G3: very disappointed "Oh."

pause

E: "I think I'd like a baby brother. Not a baby sister."

HIlarious. But yet another reminder that I am not currently reproducing. Can everyone – including my own children - puh-leeze stop with the baby talk?!? Good grief. Just because I haven't gestated in 22 months does not mean I am 'due' for another. I am quite enjoying this break, thank you very much! And, kudos to Husband, who is very supportive of this!

I'm trying it again. I did South Beach a few months ago and loved it. Lost about 5 pound. Back to pre-baby form (well, sort of).  But, with the last few months being what they were, I am now dreading a bathing suit. 

sidebar: I always struggle with the whole dieting thing. I really, honestly need to lose a few pounds. But I don't always feel like I can talk about it.  Why? Because I'm skinny. Not Paris-Hilton/Olsen-twin skinny, but skinny. Actually, nowadays, after having two kids in 18 months, I've graduated to 'slender.'  I danced for years, exercise pretty regularly and have good genes.  But – this is what many people don't understand – when you weigh 120 pounds, five pounds is a lot! It is noticeable!! Only other really slim people seem to understand this and not make me feel like I have an eating disorder if I say I need to lose weight while buying size 4 pants.

But I digress.

I really like the South Beach plan. As far as diets go, its do-able.  I like that I can eat as much as I want of certain things (like veggies) so my problem is not that I'm hungry, but that I want chocolate. ummmm chocolate. Anyway, today is day one. 

So far its not too bad, but it is only 3pm.  Maybe ask me tomorrow at church when I'm coveting the Munchkins or Monday night when I'm serving the girls chicken nuggets & fries for dinner and I'm sitting down to yet another salad with tuna.

Well, we woke up this morning (after quite a lot of rain) and found water on the floor of the utility room. Super! It was just a bit and we think we’ve figured out what it is.  Our gutters are FULL – of leaves, not water. So we need to clean those out. And while Husband used Dry-Loc in waterproofing the walls of the crawlspace, he did not use it in the utility room. So we think that the combo if these two, along with several inches of rain, led to water. 

The good news is that nothing was damaged except a bag of charcoal that got wet and we now have our next project picked out for us.  The other good news is that the crawl space stayed pretty dry – no puddles in the dirt – so the waterproofing we (well, Husband) have done so far seems to be working.  Why people build a house with a DIRT floor anywhere is beyond me. Is it for cost? How much more could it possibly cost to put a cement floor down?  Certainly less than it would to put one down after the house is already built!

Sidebar: While Husband was poking around down there, I was peeking in and saw several very large spiders. How large, you ask? Husband – Mr. That-Is-NOT-A-Big-Bug-Stop-Freaking-Out – said, “Wow. There are some really big spiders down here!”  This confirms my resolve to never set a foot in that crawl space. Even if I was starving – or dieting – and there was a freah, hot pepperoni pizza sitting in the middle of the crawl space, I will wait until Husband came home and send him in. I am not going in. No way.

Well, Darling Husband is gone for a few days again. We'll see him less than one day in the next 3 weeks.  So I'm a single parent for awhile now.

I really don't mind when he travels. Things are cleaner. Cooking is less, laundry is less. I can do South Beach without smartaleck remarks like, "Where's the carbs?"  I can sleep without the occasional elbow in the face or snoring. Its a nice break, frankly.

What gets to me is the single parenting. It is really hard to be the sole disciplinatian for an extended period of time. Its wearing to have to do all the kid stuff, all the time with no breaks. The tv is on much more when the H is gone.

I cannot talk about this with my mom, though. Whenever I do, I feel like a jerk.  My mom is a widow. I can hardly complain about H being gone a week when her husband is gone forever. Its a good reminder.

Well, I already have a blog. It has been a huge hit with my family (aunts, grandparents), averaging about 200 hits a day. Really great — I just love how the blog allows me to keep a ton of people updated about our lives without massive amounts of time and energy, two things that are in short supply around here!! But – due to the fact that my grandmother is reading everything, I really feel like I'd like another place to journal that is a bit more anonymous. So here I am! Enjoy!

While I appreciate God's magnificant creation and the beautiful woodsy setting of our home, I have had it up to here with the bugs.

Most of you know that I am not a fan of bugs. I actually hate bugs. I realize this is an irrational fear. As my husband frequently points out, I am much bigger than they are. But this does not matter.  When I see one, my first instinct is to shout "HELP!!!" and keep a close eye on it (while being as far away as possible) until my husband comes in to kill it. (And, saying, "Oh, its not that big!")

However, in the last few days, I have killed two crickets and this big old bug in G3's room. And about a zillion ants.  These were very tramatic — esp the crickets, which were big and able to jump.  They really freaked me out. Particurally the part where the cricket was crawling around without his back legs. EWWWWW  I will not even mention the slugs and snails and worms and spiders I have been finding in the garden.

PLUS – on Monday I found a tick crawling on G1's neck and Husband found one on his leg.  (This is H's third tick this month.) What are we supposed to do about that?

I have had quite enough nature for now, thank you very much. And I am a little worried about what visitors I will have when Husband is on his next business trip….