Yesterday

Yesterday at 7:45 #1 woke me up.  This is a perfectly normal time for her.  I got her out of her room, and brought her to the bed.  She saw Hod and sweetly said, "Daddy shcleeping! Bed, Huggles!"  I've always told her that I love to snuggle with her after she wakes up.  She calls them huggles, and I think it is the cutest thing ever!

A few minutes later #2 woke up.  I could hear her giggling and playing, so she soon joined our morning "huggle" fest.  I was feeling really good as #2 had slept through the night, and #1 had only woken up once.

The previous evening Hod's car wouldn't start so he had to get a ride home from work.  This meant we had to figure out how to get his car back to our house while it was still warm outside.  (Sometimes it just doesn't start in the cold.  It isn't the battery, and it doesn't happen every time.  As soon as it warms up the car is fine.)

I started a batch of laundry, and we ran to the store as a family so Hod could take my car to work (After he drove his car home on his lunch break.).  As we were checking out the cashier dropped a gallon of milk that splattered all over.  #2 got a cute splash on her face.  We all laughed as she looked confused about what had happened.  As the adults were laughing #1 joined in with her own little forced laugh.  She didn't get the joke, but she wanted to be included.  After all of the adults finished laughing she continued on, then became confused that we had stopped laughing.  Ha, kids are cute.

I took Hod to work, and drove home.  #2 started falling asleep on our drive.  She is so cute when she sleeps in the car.  She falls asleep with her arms on the edges of the car seat much like you would imagine an evil King sitting on his throne looking down on his subjects.

We got home, I unloaded the car, handed #1 the box of crackers we bought for her to carry, handed #2 the new sippy cups we bought her, and had to ballance a box of muffins between her head and my chin as I carried her into the house.  We got inside, and I walked into the kitchen to put things down.  I heard a splash splashing behind me.  #1 was splashing in a huge puddle on the floor.

How did that get there????

Turns out the drain leaving our apartment from the washing machine was frozen.  When the washer drained, the water had to go somewhere.  We ended up with water all over our kitchen floor, and a funky, not really square, but I don't know how else to describe it shaped wet carpet spot about 8x8 feet.  I grabbed a towel to try to mop it up, and quickly realized I didn't have enough towels to fix this, and then if I used all of my towels I couldn't wash them anyway.  So I called the office.

They said the would send someone right over.  I built a barricade to try to keep #1 confined and waited.

HA!  Using chairs to keep a 2 year old in one place?  Funny.

They sent people over, thawed out the drain, shop-vac-ed some of the water, and left us with a huge carpet drying fan.

We spent the day playing in the fan and getting wet on the carpet.  It was very cold, but the girls didn't seem to notice.

#2 learned how to climb up small rises when there is the promise of food to motivate her.  Take away the food and she is somehow incapable.  Silly girl.

Just an average day at our house!

Over PC

You know how being politically correct is all the rage?  People get offended over everything so you have to be so careful about what you say, whom you say it to, how you phrase it, what position the moon is in, and how late the train is from Nashville?

I'm over it.

Sometimes a girl just needs to have an opinion.  But you can't vent about anything.  Why?  Because people will find one part of what I'm venting about and think "Sure, A-Y is hard, but I wish I had Z so I'm going to be offended by what you say and take it as a personal attack, or at the very least think that you are insensitive."

Kids are being hard today?  Well, what about that couple who has been trying to get pregnant for years!  They would do anything to have kids driving them nuts.

Was your kid just diagnosed with something that is going to change everything about your life?  Too bad, because that family over there has a kid with 5 problems, and they would KILL to have only one problem to deal with.

Husband bipolar and that makes things really hard some days?  Well at least you have a husband!

Hubby has a to take medication that make him sleep late and then his job is having him work long shifts so you are basically a single mom every day of your life?  Well that woman lost her husband so you should just be grateful that you have a warm body in the bed next to you.  AND at least he has a job.  Because that guy down the street has been looking for work for such a long time.

Being unhappy because you splurged and went to Wendy's and they were out of baked potatoes and that is all you really wanted?  You are the devil because you had $2 to spend on food and that family just applied for food stamps because times are hard.

I'm over it.

Look, I know that I have basically healthy kids, an employed husband, and sometimes I have a few extra dollars at the end of the month.  I realize those are GREAT blessings.  Having just one of those things means that I am luckier than a lot of people, but having them all means my life must be perfect, right?

Wrong.

Some days are really hard.  But I can't say anything about it because all of my trials are linked to a blessing.  I am expected to be perfect and never think that my life has struggles because I have so much more than someone.

I'm not perfect!  And until I am, I need to be able to vent on hard days.  That doesn't mean I'm not grateful.  That doesn't mean I don't realize how great my life really is.  But it does mean that right now, in this moment, I am struggling.  You don't need to take every trial of mine as a slap in the face because you have it worse.

Why can't we have sympathy for someone who is having struggles?  Why does my trial have to be taken as a personal insult to you?  It has nothing to do with you, so stop being offended!  I realize that sounds incredibly selfish, but I have realized that I am never going to make everyone happy.

I'm a talker.  I need people.  But I can't talk to anyone because there is some part of my life that everyone wants.  To be less than perfectly happy with all of my life is a reason for someone else to be hurt.

I'm over being politically correct.  I still want to be nice, I still care for others, but if I have had a really hard day because my 2 year old is having her 4th complete meltdown in 3 hours because of who knows what, and we are working on getting her tested for sensory processing problems because she shouldn't be reacting the way she does, that means that this moment right now is hard.  It is not something that you need to be offended by because you are struggling with infertility.  It is not my responsibility to pretend to have a perfect life so I don't offend you a little.  Because you know what?  When you come to me complaining that your layover for your trip to France was super long and you got bored in the airport, part of me does think, "wow, I wish I could afford a trip like that," but that doesn't lessen the fact that it was hard for you.  Why am I making your problems all about me?  Am I really that selfish?

Stop taking it personally, and think about someone else.

(I realize that this entire post was about wanting people to think about me more and that is incredibly selfish, but I couldn't think of another way to get my point across.)

And, YES, I realize that my life is pretty awesome.

2013

I have my phone so it automatically backups all of my photos to Google.  On Christmas Google sent me this.  I just barely saw it, and thought it was so great!  Enjoy!  (And some day I will actually update this blog for real.)

(Also... I noticed it says my name.... I can't take that off.  Oh well.)