MBSM - April 23

I actually have two Best Shots today because I couldn't decide which one to use. I asked Jim to take some pictures of me playing with the kids. I hardly have any pictures of me with them since I am the picture taker in the family. So, here are my two favorite ones. Go over to Picture This to see others Best Shots for this week.

Fiona giving Mommy a kiss

Fiona likes to play with my necklace while she's nursing.

Mommy Brain

Yesterday, I had one of those Mommy Brain moments. But this wasn't just a little Mommy Brain moment, like walking into a room and forgetting what you were doing or going to Target for diapers and coming home with everything except diapers. No, this was a combination of many Mommy Brain moments in a short period of time that makes me wonder why I even leave the house sometimes.

My sister was in town this weekend for the MS 150 bike race. She is a massage therapist and was doing massages at the finish line downtown. I don't get to see her very often since we moved to Austin, so I decided to take the kids down there to hang out and have lunch with her. Jim wasn't feeling well, so he stayed home. I was dubious about handling both kids downtown in the large crowds of people, but I decided to go anyway. So, I drive down there and spend around 45 minutes looking for a place to park. I finally found a parking garage that wasn't too far away and parked the car. I put Fiona in the stroller and made Abhi hold on to the stroller so we wouldn't get separated. We walked the 2 blocks down to where my sister was set up and found her tent. We all went and ate some overpriced food and listened to some live music. She had to go back to work, so the kids and I left. I walked back to the parking garage and started looking for my car. I couldn't find my car. This is where it starts going downhill.

Jim called about that time to see when we were coming home. I told him that I couldn't find my car in the garage, but as soon as I found it we would be on our way. After wandering around the parking garage for a while, I decide to pull out my keys and use the panic button to see if the car was close enough to make the alarm go off.
My key were not in my purse. Oh shit. I then flashed back to when I was taking the kids out of the car and I put my keys on top of the car. Oh SHIT! I called Jim back and said "I think I have a problem. I can't find my car or my keys and I think I left the keys on top of my car." He asked where I was and I told him the closest intersection. He said he would come down there and find me. It is a really good thing I am not prone to panic, because I probably would have been panicking right about then.

I looked around the parking garage again and realized that I might not be in the right garage. So, I went back out to the street and started walking down a little further. I called Jim back and told him not to leave yet because I was in the wrong parking garage. Abhi was started to get tired of walking and Fiona was getting hungry, which was making this more stressful on all of us. It was also starting to rain a little. After checking two more garages, I finally found the right garage. I walked up to the area where I was parked and found my car....with the keys still sitting on top. What a relief! I called Jim back and told him that I found my car and keys and I was on my way home.

I was soooo lucky that my car wasn't stolen. I think if this had happened in Houston, my car would have been halfway to Mexico by the time I realized what happened.

Lesson Learned #1 - Do not put keys on top of the car when getting the kids out. (This is actually the second time I have left the keys on top of the car, but the first time was when I was dropping off the kids at Z's apartment. The car was in sight and I was only gone for 10 minutes)

Lesson Learned #2 - Make SURE you know which garage you are parked in downtown because they all look the same inside and out.

Thursday morning

I sent Abhi to Z's (babysitter) house in underwear today. Z has been telling me that when I am ready to start potty training to just put them on her and send lots of changes of clothes. Z will work on her during the day and I have to stay consistent when she's at home. I have been really lazy with potty training Abhi and have been getting pressure to do it from Z, my mom, my MIL, and pretty much anyone that knows she's not potty trained yet. But, she's only 2 and we are all just settling down and getting comfortable as a family of 4. She had shown an interest in the potty before Fiona was born and was actually doing really well. After Fiona was born it all fell apart. She lost interest and I was too busy with the baby and trying to recover. She's showing interest again and for the past couple of weeks I have been putting her on the potty when she first wakes up in the morning and if I can tell she's trying to poop. So, today I took the plunge and have decided to put Operation Potty Training into action. Any helpful advice for those that have BTDT would be greatly appreciated!

In other news, we are all slowly recovering from the nasty sickness. We are all coughing still and Abhi woke up at 2 am coughing non-stop, which of course woke up Fiona. I put Abhi in bed with Jim and went back to get Fiona to sleep. Abhi was coughing and crying for me while Jim tried to calm her down, so I handed off Fiona to Jim while I got Abhi back to sleep. Once she was asleep, I nursed Fiona to sleep and Jim slept the rest of the night on the couch. Blah, I can't wait for everyone to stop coughing so we can get a good night's sleep.

I will wrap this up with a cute video of Abhi dancing to the American Idol show. She's really gotten into music lately and loves to sing to us and dance.

Before and After

Tracey at Picture This had a great idea to have her readers post their photos before and after editing, so I thought I would do one. Here is the original picture.


Not that great right? Too bright and blurry, but the moment was so sweet I didn't want to delete the picture. After a little work on Picasa, I came up with this.

Much better! Let's see, first I cropped it and did the "I'm Feeling Lucky" adjustment. Then I added the soft focus, made it black and white, and then "Warmified" it. I think it turned out pretty good if I do say so myself!

Virginia Tech

I have been watching the coverage of the horrible tragedy that occurred at Virginia Tech yesterday, like the rest of the world. My heart goes out to all the students, faculty, and families of everyone there.

I was a student at Texas A&M when the bonfire fell and killed 12 students. I remember the shock, grief, and anger that we felt at the time over losing our classmates and friends. I will never forget that day...the sounds of the news helicopters flying over the campus...the eerie silence when they were using the listen devices to try to determine if anyone else was alive in the pile of logs...the candlelight vigil...signs posted across campus to call your family...the frantic calls to and from family members....all the memories have come flooding back from that time.

The events that happened at Virginia Tech and Texas A&M are not the same. One was the work of a disturbed individual and the other was a terrible accident. But I can relate somewhat to the feelings of shock, sadness, grief, and confusion that everyone at Virginia Tech are feeling.

MBSM - April 16

This week is a little different. Tracey over at Picture This posted today about a photo contest for CleanWell. Go over to Picture This to read all the details. Here is my entry...

Abhi playing by the river in October...


She loves playing in the dirt, but always comes and asks me to clean her hands afterward.

We are all still sick here, blah. We've moved on to nasty coughs and no one is getting much sleep. I am hoping for a better week!

Maybe she will skip crawling altogether...

Or, maybe not....

Do you like your kid's music?

Abhi has started taking an interest in listening to music. I am pretty picky with what I play for her because I don't want to be stuck listening to something that annoys the crap out of me over and over and over and over again. So, I thought I would share a few of my favorite CDs that Abhi likes too. These are ones that I will admit to listening to when she is not around, so that's gotta say something right?

1. Pete Seeger - Birds, Beasts, Bugs & Fishes Little & Big: Animal Folk Songs
I had this record (yes, as in played on an actual record player!) as a kid and it was my favorite. I couldn't remember the guy's name, but I searched around on iTunes until I found it. The songs are old fashioned and classic. Lots of banjo music and animal sound effects. It's pretty fun to listen to and I still remember a lot of the words. You get a lot of bang for your buck. It was $11.99 on iTunes and you get 28 songs!

2. Laurie Berkenr - Whaddaya Think of That?
This one has Abhi's most favorite song ever - We Are The Dinosaurs. This album and that song was what got Abhi interested in music after a playdate with one of her friends. I think they played that song about 20 times in a row and both of them stomped around and had a great time even after the parents ears were bleeding. I usually let Abhi listen to it 3 or 4 times before we have to move on to the other songs. All in all (if you don't listen to one song more than a couple times in a row) this album is very parent friendly.

3. Elizabeth Mitchell - You Are My Little Bird
A friend of mine gave me a copy of this album and I really liked it. She sings folky songs with her husband and daughters. There is even a Bob Marley cover on there! I have another album by her (You Are My Sunshine) but I like You Are My Little Bird better. Each album has a theme, so all the songs mention birds in some way.

That's all for now. I will let you know if I come across any other good ones!

MBSM - April 9

How was your Easter? Ours was filled with green snot, wet coughs, rain, and temperatures in the 40s. Needless to say, we didn't do much. I still got some pretty cute pictures of the girls playing together. So, here is my best shot for this week. To see others best shots, visit Tracey over at Picture This.


I took Abhi to the doctor this morning since she has a pretty nasty cough. She had RSV when she was 3 weeks old, so I am always concerned when she gets a cough. She was a complete angel at the doctor. She let them weigh and measure her, look in her ears, nose and throat, and listen to her heart and breathing. She answered most of the questions they asked. The last couple of times she has gone in for checkups, she cried, screamed, and refused to do anything, so this is a huge improvement.

So, the diagnosis was normal kid-virus-cold-no antibiotics needed. Pretty much a waste of the $40 co-pay, but I just wanted to make sure her lungs sounded clear. If she gets worse over the next couple of days, he asked me to call him, so we are keeping an eye on her. She is staying home with me today and as long as she isn't getting worse, she will go back to the babysitter tomorrow while I work. Fiona is sick too, but she just has a runny nose and no cough - yet. Abhi got a teddy bear and lots of stickers from the doctor and is currently chilling on the couch watching Happy Feet.

Blah!

It's official. Fiona and Abhi are both sick. It's not allergies, not teething (although Fiona did cut her 2nd bottom tooth), they are sick. This is the first time Fiona has been sick in her whole life. We are awash in green snot over here and I am starting to feel crappy too. It's raining and cold. What a great start to the weekend. Blah!

TGIF

I am so glad it is Friday, and a payday Friday at that. Our fridge and pantry are just about empty and I am looking forward to stocking up this afternoon. I used to look forward to the weekends because I could sleep in for a couple of days. Not anymore. Children, especially babies, don't understand the concept of "sleeping in." We get up around 6:30 every morning during the week, so they are programed to wake up that early every day. This week has been really hard on me in the sleep department. Fiona has a snotty nose, so she has been waking up every time she tries to suck her thumb and then can't breathe. Her nose clears up when she nurses, but about 30 minutes after I put her down, it is all clogged again and she wakes up crying. I don't think she is sick since she doesn't have any other symptoms, so I think it is either teeething or allergies. Abhi has been coughing in her sleep too, so I think it is probably allergies.

In other news, Fiona is still working on crawling. She can scoot backwards and do pushups, but she still hasn't figured out how to get her knees to do the work.

"Ooh, a ball! I want the ball! Maybe if I stretch I can reach it!"

"Ok, I need to move. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...."

"Oh, well. This is just as good and I can reach it."

What happens when you piss off a 2-year old?

I don't know what this little guy did to make Abhi mad, but I think he learned his lesson.

MBSM - April 2

We had a little family reunion this weekend at a park on the San Marcos river. We do this twice a year and it is always lots of fun. Abhi had a blast with all of her cousins. Fiona was a little overwhelmed and cried whenever someone new tried to hold her. Except my dad, who is a baby whisperer. He has 4 daughters, eight grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. Fiona cried when I first put her in his lap, but he soon distracted her and she was happily slobbering on his sunglasses, watch, and hat. I love having pictures of my kids with my dad. He's the best dad a girl could have and a fun Grandad to all the kids. So, here is my best shot for this week.

To see others best shots, visit Tracey over at Picture This.

Last week and weekend was a busy one, but this week looks like it will be a bit slower so hopefully I will have the time and energy to post more.