Author Archives: Candy

What the WHAT?

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The weather here this year has been insane. I hear it has been insane ALL OVER THE PLACE, too. Last year we were in the middle of a crazy 12″ of snow blizzard right now. This year? 66° and sunny, every single day. The night time temps are still in the 30s/40s, just to remind us that it isn’t QUITE spring yet. Sinuses, however, are all IT’S SPRING, LET’S MAKE EVERYONE MISERABLE.

So, the ONLY snow we got was early January. Malinda and I ran into Sam’s Club to buy some party stuff for Kiera’s birthday party and when we walked out, it was FULL ON BLIZZARD CONDITIONS. Sideways blowing snow, TONS of it. Huge puffy flakes. There was just enough of this 2 hour snow to cover the ground and by the next morning there was nothing left. THAT was our Winter. Right there, one evening, for two hours. Winter over. The end. Here comes spring.

So anyway, since we have had such wonderful temperatures, Zoey has been able to play outside for extended amounts of time lately and she is LOVING it. The girl will wander the back yard for hours, as if she has never been out there. Pulling hand fulls of grass, playing with wood chips left over by a tree stump we had ground up last summer, going down the slide, playing with toys, chasing the dog. She loves the outdoors and is very Tom Boyish when it comes to that.

Kiera, however, is still not walking and I can’t let her outside. The backyard has rocks, dog poop, dirt, WOOD CHIPS.. All things she would LOVE to add to her list of Things I Will Eat. She stands at the window, watching Zoey play outside, yearning to be out there. Hurry up and walk kid and you can go out there!

What I’ve been up to – in pictures

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Our big cross country road trip was in November, holiday craziness was in December and my sweet baby girl turned one in January. So here I am, trying to catch up. Trying to get back into this blogging thing, for the bajillionth time.

Kiera turned 1 on January 19th. We had her party on the 14th. She is such a sweet baby girl. She has had 7 teeth for about 3 months now. She says “dada” mostly, SOMETIMES “mama” and her new word is “Buh!” which means BOOK! She loves books and doing anything that her big sister asks her to do (within reason, obviously) (and by asks I mean DEMANDS). Kiera is my big girl, she is currently 24lb 7oz and 30.5″ tall. Her weight and height are both in the 90th percentile and her head is ALMOST in the 90th. The doctor thinks she will be about 5’9″! Crazy.

Zoey is doing great. McBossyPants is her usual nickname, and attitude. She loves to order Kiera around because Kiera is still at the age where she actually does what big sis tells her to. I’ll be interested to see how things are a year from now ;) Zoey is talking up a storm, new words and phrases every day. She started using “I” and “Me” correctly. She is getting tall and skinny. I think she is around 30-32lbs currently. We just turned her car seat around to forward facing a week or so ago and she loves it. She can see everything now, kick Mommy’s seat and see what kind of treats Mommy and Daddy are (or were, I should say! Darn!) sneaking in the front seat. No more secret ice cream consumption!

I set out to learn to crochet, for the second time (Tried in 2010, it was an EPIC FAIL) around and this time it clicked! I’ve been crocheting since early to mid December and I’ve been having so much fun. I really, really love it and it feels great to have a hobby. I made a baby blanket for a dear friend, a baby blanket for my cousin, a baby blanket for a family friend and I’ve made Kiera a blankie for her crib and Zoey a blanket. I’m working on a blanket for myself and a cupcake scarf, currently.

This is the blanket I made for Zoey. It took FOREVER. Hours and hours and hours of work. Tiny stitches, LOTS of them. I finally finished it last night, after about a month of working on it off and on. I really love it and I hope Zoey does.

This is the blanket I made for Kiera. It’s a small “blankie” with lots of holes in it. Thinking safe for crib sleeping, here. It’s so soft and cuddley. The perfect size for my little monster. I make something bigger for her when she gets around Zoey’s age :)

The ONE thing I dread as a parent

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We all have that one thing we DREAD about raising kids. Or at least I think we do? Help me out here people. Surely there is SOMETHING that you absolutely dread about parenting, whether it be current or in the future. Mine? Dealing with mean kids and bullying. Finding the right balance between Defending Yourself and Killing People With Kindness is a fine line and to every person means something different.

We were having lunch with Paulina and Emma at a fast food chain that had an indoor play area. They had adequate seating inside the room where the play area was, so we were sitting at a bench, eating our lunch while the girls played. There was only two other adults in there and two little girls.

I was periodically walking over to check on Zoey and she was just having fun being a silly 2 year old. I heard the older girls getting acquainted, asking each other their ages and whatnot. I heard that one is 7 and one is almost 6. They began playing together, though the 7 year old was McBossyPants. I went back to sit down and finish eating and I hear one of the older girls, REALLY meanly yelling “GO AWAY! STOP FOLLOWING US! YOU’RE SO ANNOYING!” and I’m thinking, surely they aren’t talking to my TODDLER?

I went to check on them and sure enough they were yelling at her, over and over again in a REALLY mean way. Zoey was giggling because she thought it was a game. I told the girls that she was only 2 years old and she doesn’t know any better. I tried to deter Zoey from playing with them but she REALLY wanted to play with the big kids and was having so much fun. Oh to be naive again!

I stood there for a while, watching them play because I just didn’t trust those girls. Any kid that is going to be deliberately and downright MEAN to a toddler is obviously not to be trusted! They crawled up the platform steps and Zoey got up 2 steps behind them and I see the girl lean forward and yell “GO AWAY! STOP FOLLOWING US!” and kick Zoey in the head. Zoey said OW! really loudly and rubbed her head, but wanted to keep playing. THAT is when I drew the line and I told the girls not to touch her again and if she did I would go get her Mother. She got scared and apologized.

Ok here is the thing.. I WANTED so badly to kick that girl in the head, too. But I didn’t. You know why? Because a woman in her 20s kicking a 7 year old girl in the head would not go over well with, well, ANYONE. Just like a SEVEN YEAR OLD kicking a TWO YEAR OLD in the head doesn’t. If this were another 2 or 3 year old hitting my kid, I would not have been near as livid as I was. This wasn’t even a sibling fight either, which is a little more understandable too. This is a REALLY MEAN 7 year old little girl just being a total brat and sadly I am sure it is directly related to how she has been raised this far. Her Mother was sitting there playing games on her cell phone the entire time this was happening, not paying ANY attention. The other little girl was there with her Grandfather and he was reading a book.

If my kids EVER do something like this, regardless of the other kids age, EVER, they will be in some serious trouble. Teaching acceptance and tolerance is my number one goal with my children. It broke my heart that some little girl was just being down right mean for no reason at all. Zoey couldn’t even keep up with them because they were so fast, so she wasn’t bothering them physically or anything. I seriously had tears in my eyes because it upset me so much. I am home with my children all the time and they do not get socialization at day care so I was really excited to see Zoey wanting to be social with strangers. It was just a shame that it had to end up being a bratty girl. Thankfully Zoey thinks she just had a great old time and hopefully she didn’t take anything from the whole Kicking People In The Head.

I know she is going to have to learn about mean people and how to handle those situations but 2 years old seems so young to already be learning about it. Give her another year or two or FIFTEEN, PLEASE.

hax0red

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Guess what happens when you don’t login to your WordPress installation in 4 (yes, FOUR!) months? It gets hax0red by super elite people and then babies and cute puppies all over the world cry soul burning tears. How do I know this? From experience, of course!

*cue baby and puppy soul burning tearful cries*

Soooo.. I’m back up and running, obviously. I’m pulling my hair out and my eyes are bloodshot, OBVIOUSLY. Trying to get back into this blogging thing. Because remember how I wrote a lot about my first kid? Then the second was born and I did the stereotypical thing of NOT WRITING ABOUT HER. Bad mom, BAD. So the second kid is doing great.. She’s 9 months old now, crazy. I’ll write about them later though. Right now I want to talk about how my webhost is a total douche bag.

I went to login to WordPress and it wouldn’t work. I did “Forgot password” and waited. I got the email, telling me my username was “sex” and I could click the link to reset my password. WAIT, WHAT?! Sex?!??? I’m pretty darn sure that is NOT what my username was. I knew I had been targeted right then and there. I e-mailed my webhost, hoping they could help me revert what happened or give me some insight. This is the CLASSY and VERY MUCH NOT ENGLISH reply that I received:

Well, most common reason behind hacking site is unsecure ftp password or old website software script. If you would have kept unsecure password someone could easily get into your account and hack website. Apart from this any sort of malware that could have inserted into your website while connecting to ftp. Your best bet to stop it in future is that keep secure password, keep any software that you have installed onto your website. If you do have a backup you can restore it however you can order our restore from a backup feature from your customer manager it would cost $50 USD one time.

Sooo.. that was fun to read, no? I was pretty much on my own and with my amazingly smart husband beside me, keeping me calm and helping me through the process, we fixed it and got it back up and running. I pay hardly anything for my webhosting every month, so I can’t really complain. When it comes to webhosting and many other things in life, you really do get what you pay for.

Well, I’ll write about my kids later. For now I am going to bed because I just spent my entire evening trying to fix my broken WordPress installation. Stoopid.

Chinese People are funny

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My father in law called me today, on accident. He always calls my cell phone by accident when trying to reach my husband. This is our conversation:

Him: How baby doing? (Try to imagine a very thick Chinese accent)

Me: She’s great!

Him: Good! She no have hair huh? *chuckle chuckle* (Still imagining the Chinese accent?)

Me: Yeah *laugh* It’s growing in a lot more now though!

Him: Oooh *chuckle* She look better with hair, ya know (Are you laughing yet?)

The brutal honesty of their culture can either totally hurt your feelings or make you laugh hysterically. It never hurts my feelings because I just know how they are. The funnier part is that my husband already had this EXACT same conversation with him last time he talked to him, which wasn’t too long ago. So now we are wondering if they think she is going to grow up bald LOL!

By the way, I just wanted to point out that my husband was born and raised in the U.S. and (thankfully) didn’t inherit some of the more blatant aspects of the Chinese culture. Oh and I love my in-laws.. Just thought this was pretty hilarious!

Bad Mommy Alert!

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I am such a terrible blogger! and Mommy!! I feel SOOOOO guilty that I have not blogged at all about Kiera or her milestones. Life has been quite an adjustment with a 2 year old and an infant. It’s not bad or extremely difficult thanks to having a laid back toddler, but finding the time to write here is pretty much impossible.

Kiera is doing great. We started her on Prevacid about a month ago and it has helped her acid reflux tremendously. We have to open the capsules and dump the little granules into her mouth then quickly give her the bottle so she can drink it all down. It’s not that bad but sometimes it’ll gag her a little. I don’t know WHY my children have such weak gag reflexes (they’re BOTH pukers) but they do. Kiera is a little over a week away from turning 5 months old and the child is already taking 8oz bottles! I called my pediatrician yesterday and we are now introducing cereal into her diet. So far she has had a couple of tablespoons and seems to do pretty well with it. This girl is the definition of Chunky Monkey lol! She is getting really good at holding her head up. She LOATHES tummy time so we barely ever do it. She would much rather either be standing (with assistance, of course) or sitting up. Not a fan of laying down for long periods of time.

She is starting to love her Bumbo seat, which makes it easier for me to get things done or feed her the cereal. She is starting to laugh a lot, which I just love. She still loves seeing Zoey and she will laugh and smile at Gene or I, as long as we have an “Who can make the biggest ass out of ourselves” contest in front of her. She has Thunder Thighs and her general girth is… GIRTHY. But her little ankles and feet are so skinny. I know she has a neck but I have yet to find it. Her cheeks are too much for my heart. She is VERY high maintenance. She wants to be entertained during the day time and doesn’t want to be in one position for too long. She needs constant attention and it feels like I am CONSTANTLY feeding her. At night you feed her and lay her down wide awake at 8:30 and she goes to sleep on her own. She doesn’t get up until 8 or 9 AM. So even though she wears me out on most days, I can’t complain because HELLO SHE HAS SLEPT 12-14 HOURS AT NIGHT SINCE SHE WAS 8 WEEKS OLD! Her gums are all swollen, especially the canines and I am always seeing little white nubs/spots at the surface. She is drooling constantly, everywhere!

Zoey is great. Talking more and more every day. Starting to repeat a lot of things we say (Um, we better start watching ourselves!). She is such a big helper with Kiera. She gives her a paci when she cries, she helps feed her, she brings her toys and blankies. She takes her diapers to the trash can for me. She brings me clean diapers. She is just generally a GREAT big sister. While she is helpful with her and I know she loves her, she is also a very independent kid and usually just does her own thing. Plays and talks and plays and talks and plays. Movies and cartoons don’t really keep her attention for very long anymore like they used to. She’s too busy for that stuff! She is best friends with our dog, Emma.. She plays with her ALL THE LIVELONG DAY. Well, she DID.. She messed with Emma’s bad leg a couple of nights ago and Emma snapped at her. I think she either bit or scratched her eye. It’s been red for a couple of days.. So now I am keeping them separated when I am not in the room to supervise them. Emma was just defending herself the only way she knows how, she wasn’t being viscious and Zoey was just playing and despite me CONSTANTLY correcting the way she plays with her and teaching her to be gentle with the dog, it was bound to happen. I’d like to say she learned her lesson but this morning I caught her messing with Emma’s leg again. Gah!

Gene is well. Working and taking care of two kids and we have no time to breathe sometimes. But we love our girls and wouldn’t change a thing. I’m personally having some struggles. I think maybe either PPD or a birth control pill dosage that isn’t working for me.. Not sure. Right now I am trying to help myself with herbal supplements and other things before resorting to seeing a doctor and possibly getting on some real medication. Last week was a downright miserable week for me. I was in pain in so many ways. It was emotional, physical, mental. It was awful! I cried a lot, I lost my temper, I yelled, I cried more. I’m working on it. I’m working on myself.

Sooo… I’m really trying to keep up with this thing. I want to. I want to post about all of the fun we are going to have this summer. Pictures pictures pictures! I have not been very good about taking my camera out, due to the issues I’ve been struggling with lately.. but I am hoping things will lighten up and I can get back to myself and get my life back.

Half way through April already?

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We’re about half way through the month of April (my favorite month, by the way) and I haven’t even posted once. Can you tell I’ve been busy?

Let me remind you all why April is so insanely crazy in my family:

April 6 – Gene’s birthday
April 8 – Dad’s & cousin’s birthday
April 12 – Wedding Anniversary & Aunt’s birthday
April 13 – My birthday
April 14 – Zoey’s birthday

That’s a LOT of cake and birthday dinners in a two week span. Which also means after Zoey’s party on the 16th, we’re going to have to start a hardcore diet and exercise regimen. After I sit on the couch for an entire day and RELAX after all that has just happened. My goodness, what a busy time!

for Gene’s birthday on April 6th, we went out to dinner at Kona Ranch, a Hawaiian grill place in OKC. Yum yum, it’s one of my favorite places that we don’t go to very often! We went back to the house afterwards and had plain cheesecake (his favorite) and gifts! My sister and her boyfriend got Gene and I tickets to Warped Tour in Dallas this summer! She even worked it out with my Mom to stay with the girls for two nights. I’m so excited!

for my Dad’s birthday we had a cookout, that my Dad himself cooked. It was delicious! We had his favorite layered chocolate cake.

On April 12th, we went out to dinner for my birthday dinner a day early with my family because my Sister had to work on the 13th. We went to Mimi’s Cafe, my favorite restaurant! We went back to my Mom & Dad’s house for cake and presents. My sister made the cutest princess cake for me! My Mom & Dad so graciously got Gene and I a dual gift of a 64GB Wifi+3G iPad! My sister gave me the CUTEST purple rubber gloves to clean house with that have adorable cupcake fabric embelished, some adorable measuring spoons, a cute little japanese doll figure and a hilarious car air freshener. The 12th was also my wedding anniversary!

On April 13th, my actual birthday, my Mama brought me Sonic for lunch and hung out with me and the girls for a couple of hours. Hubby took me and the girls to a Chinese buffet for dinner and I was way too full to have any leftover birthday cake. I didn’t pick up toys (Hubby did) and I didn’t touch the dishes. We sat on the sofa in a food coma and then went to bed. It was a great day!

Today, April 14th, my beautiful little girl is turning 2! I can’t even believe it and I’ll have a whole post about that later. I gave both girls a bath this morning because with how busy we’ve been lately, we just haven’t had time to do it in the evenings. My Mom is bringing Zoey a Toy Story cake this evening and then we’re taking her out to dinner at Cici’s for pizza because it’s her favorite food ever. We’re going to come back to our house afterwards for cake and presents.

Tomorrow, the 15th, my husband is taking off work and we’re going to have a fun filled day with Zoey to celebrate her birthday as a family. Not sure what we’re going to do just yet.. but definitely something FUN! Saturday the 16th is Zoey’s birthday party. We’re having a Toy Story themed party at the park with cupcakes and pizza.

Sunday, the 17th.. a day of REST. We will sit around the house in a food and cake coma and wonder how we made it out of this week ALIVE!

Now, I gotta go.. The news just broke in saying that they expected a tornado outbreak in the county I live in over the next hour. They keep saying the biggest threat is to the east and I consider myself to the West.. but I am still scared to death nonetheless. I HATE tornadoes! I love thunderstorms but when they turn tornadic I tend to freak out. I also hate that I am home alone with the girls while my husband is at work. Wish me luck!