Hi Aunt Kathy!

This post is for Aunt Kathy. She collects elephants and loves elephants so I have to post a pic of Ryan on the elephant for her. She also is an avid blog reader! She also has left me several nice messages that I have been too lazy to return (or too busy with Ryan?) and sent us a nice anniversary card. I'm sorry for being such a slacker niece!

Look What Was in My Can of Peanuts!

Look what crawled out of my can of peanuts! A curious little boy!

Tonight was Ryan's lucky night. Mommy was so tired that he got to watch 3 episodes of Curious George. Ryan is so warm and delicious, and I am so chilly that I almost hated to put him in bed.

Somehow I have managed to read the newest Stephanie Plum novel Lean Mean Thirteen and finish all of Ryan's costume except the sash in the past 24 hours. Plus we had a big public meeting today at work that I had to bake cookies for. I was bummed about the meeting - because of it I couldn't take time off to see the fire truck. Teri Ann got the Johnston Fire Dept to send over 3 firemen and a big fire truck to day care this morning. All of the kids got to climb up in the truck. I guess Ryan climbed up, got scared, and started crying. I am thinking this is what will happen at the farm this weekend. He will probably love watching the combine, but not want to get up in it. I am pretty impressed with Teri Ann though. The kids have been studying community helpers for the past two weeks, and last week she had someone from the Coast Guard come over in uniform and give a presentation. Ryan got a certificate saying he had completed Preschool Water Safety Training. I though that was pretty funny considering he still chugs bathwater on a regular basis.

I have to go to the shrink in the morning for my checkup. It is pretty lame. They ask you a series of really basic questions like are you sleeping? eating? feeling sad? looking forward to things? ok? - here's your prescription - see you in 4 months. I don't know how they can tell anything by your answers. It takes less than 10 minutes.

Uh-Oh

I just finished sewing the crotch in Ryan's pirate pants --- and one of the legs is inside out!!!
Crap. Off to find my seam ripper.

Average Saturday

Not much new to report. It's just an average Saturday for me. This morning Ryan and I vacuumed and then hit Target and the grocery store, and we've spent the rest of the day alternately playing and sitting in time-out. AAAH! He's lucky he's cute. You can't even tell I vacuumed this morning! Now when you say, "Ryan do you need a time out?" in your gruffest voice, he says "Yeah." and walks over to the wall. Once today he was so out of control, I asked him if he needed to go to bed. He said yes, so he sat in there for a while.

I make him sound worse than he is. He is good 90% of the time. He is hilarious. He repeats everything you say now but sometimes get things mixed up. He still thinks any kind of fruit is an apple, and tomatoes too.

I did start working on his pirate outfit during nap time. I have most of the pieces cut out. I still have to cut out the sleeves and then sew everything together. Maybe I will take Ryan out for supper tonite - I'm really hungry for salad or Chinese..... I did discover that I cant eat rice-a-roni. We had it for lunch, and my blood sugar was higher afterward than it has been in 4 years!

Where is Ryan?

Where is Ryan? Hiding in the neighbor's wiegela bushes of course! I lost him for a few minutes this weekend. He had crawled in the bushes looking for kitties.

Ryan continues to be his crazy self. He wants to walk around the block all the time, and if there are any kids outside on the block he has to go see them. He is going to become the neighborhood pest! He is still testing me all the time. I have started to crack down in the past week. After 5 time outs during one meal, I have almost broken him of getting out of his chair during supper. He is also talking a mile a minute in sentences, spends about 45 minutes a night in the bathtub, and we spend about an hour a night reading books. I'm exhausted.

Isn't it Gorgeous?

Happy 9th Anniversary today to me and Todd. Todd out did himself and got me the new Autumn Leaves Crop in Style bag from Archivers!!! And even more impressive, he found Archivers all by himself. He is not known for his sense of direction. I think I am going to use it as a purse so I can use it every single day. I have been salivating over it, but was too cheap to buy it, so he got it for me. It's so beautiful I had to take a picture.

We celebrated Monday. I took the afternoon off so we could have lunch and go to a movie. On the positive side, we enjoyed each other's company (after we agreed not to discuss the bar). On the negative side, we ate lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings and the ribs tasted like beef jerkey, and we saw the worst movie ever. By the time we made it to the mall, the only option available was Eastern Promises, a Russian mob movie. We like the Sopranos, so we figured what the heck. It was horrible. We almost walked out after the first 15 minutes. It was incredibly violent and incredibly boooooooring. It also featured an exceptionally bloody emergency c-section, which neither of us handled too well. And the much-touted male full-frontal nudity amounted to a naked man getting the crap beat out of him while his parts dangled in the breeze and blood dripped down his butt crack. Ugh. Back on the positive side, after the movie we went shopping for Ryan's birthday presents, which was fun.

Other than that, nothing much is new. I am drowning in greenhouse gas business at work. I have been so busy that I haven't even had time to talk to Diane since Friday!!! October is going to be crazy at work and home, which is amazing because I never have anything to do on the weekend. I have two birthday cakes to decorate, a trip to the farm, our first trick-or-treating, a trip to the pumpkin patch, a weddding, and I am in charge of the Halloween party at work. I am also sewing Ryan's costume. He is going to be a pirate. I even got him a fake parrot to sew on his shoulder!

I saw on dmmoms.com that there is going to be kids consignment sale at the Fairgrounds next weekend. Check it out:

http://www.take2.com/take2/Shop?Dsp=200010&PCR=1:31:311

I think if you sign up for their newsletter you can get early shopper passes.

Nice Weekend

My parents came down for a visit this weekend, which was very nice. We had a lot of fun with Ryan, although he had his moments. Friday night we had BLT's for supper, ran to Target and read lots and lots of books. Saturday we went to the craft show at the Fairgrounds and had a picnic at the Grey's Lake playground. Ryan didn't eat a bit of his lunch, but went down the tall slide lots of times. The picnic ended abruptly when Ryan took off towards the water. I yelled for his to stop, but he didn't listen. I finally caught the back of his shirt, knocking him down. We immediately went home because he was naughty. That afternoon my dad put up our new medicine cabinet - so WE FINALLY HAVE A LIGHT THAT WORKS in the bathroom. Poker ladies - no more peeing in the dark.

This morning we went to HyVee and Ryan actually ate part of a pancake. But then he ran the length of an aisle with me chasing him...... AAAH!

I have been attempting to crop this afternoon while Ryan sleeps, but I'm just not into it. I have been quite frazzled, so maybe I will just kick back.

Ryan: A Self-Portrait

Martha Stewart Eat Your Heart Out - Part 2

I am Martha - hear me ROAR! I won the chili/soup contest at work. I beat 11 other soups. Hee-hee. This is my 3rd victory. My name is mud around the office.

Chug-a Chug-a Choo-Choo!

Happy Week

The Bride and the "Wedding Coordinator".

Dancing Daddies - Chip and Todd with Caelin and Chaelinn Barbour.

This past week was much better. There were excellent test results for all, and the wedding went off without a hitch. You can get much better than finding out two of your favorite people just have lumps of dead tissue instead of cancer!


I was surprised to find out that Wedding Coordinators get corsages, get to have their picture taken with the bride, get to sit at the head table, and give toasts! It was a nice surprise. And of course, since I helped pick out all three kinds of cake I had to taste them again...


Sunday I drove to Chicago for a Climate Registry meeting on Monday. I picked Mom up in Iowa City, and she shopped while I was at the meeting. I got to go to IKEA but it seemed like a letdown, and I only spent $7. Let me tell you, driving to Chicago and back with no cruise control really SUCKS!


Today I have been trying to recover from Chicago. Todd gave Ryan a haircut tonight, which means I was in charge of holding him down. Now I need to peruse the Fisher Price web site for a birthday gift for Ryan. He destroyed my catalog.

Don't Forget

Don't forget to watch Britney at the VMA's tonight. I assume it will be like watching a train wreck. That crazy ho should have her kids taken away from her.

Crappy Week

Overall, it was a crappy week. I did get some croppin' done on Monday until Ryan got back from Oskaloosa, so that was nice. Ryan had a good time, but got worn out with Grandma and Grandpa and has been off his sleeping schedule and crabby all week. It also didn't help that the new kid at daycare screamed all thru nap time everyday. Ryan is also still cutting molars so that leads to extra crabbiness.

Yesterday I took him to a baby shower. He wasn't bad, but he ran around the hallway the entire time. I just can't get him to sit. If I would have made him, he would have screamed and disrupted everything. At lease he was quitely rambunctious. I always worry that people are judging me though.

Today he has been a very good boy. Since it is so nice I took him to Ashby Park this morning and ran him around so he will have a good, long nap. He was cute - he ran over to the wading pool and starting taking his shoes off before he realized the water was gone. He ran all over the pool testing it out saying "All Gone!" Of course he wasn't satisfied with the toddler equipment either. He had to climb all over the equipment for ages 5 - 12 and climb up the big ladder and go down the long spiral slide all by himself.

There are multiple reasons it was a crappy week - Ryan crabby, air conditioner broke, sump pump clogged, Todd sick, bar doing miserably etc, but the worst was that our good friend Brian aka Gilk almost died last Monday at his bachelor party. He had a blood infection, fever of 103, and a blood pressure so low that it couldn't be measured. Luckily Burke got him to the hospital on Monday afternoon (even though he had been sick since Saturday and none of the other bachelor partiers, including my husband, took him to the doctor even though they could tell he was sick). He was in the ICU for 5 days and it was very scary. Especially since he and Diane are getting married next Saturday! I saw him yesterday though and he looked and acted like himself. They are still waiting for some test results, but he may be able to get out on Tuesday. They still don't know what caused the infection. I was so worried about him and Diane. And, my mom is having some test results next week, so that has me worried too. One of the benefits to a crabby toddler is that he likes to be rocked, and rocking has settled my nerves.

Let's hope for a good week this week - good test results for all, cooler weather, and seeing Diane and a healthy Brian get married on Saturday!

Martha Stewart Eat Your Heart Out!

The inner-4H'er in me prevailed, and I was able to whip out my valances. I am Martha - hear me roar! I even managed to thread the machine and bobbin in record time. I wouldn't enter them in any sewing contests, but they will work, and they gave the dining room the little "umph" it needed. Okay, so may be I'm the one that needed the "umph". I have been itching to put in hardwood flooring and repaint the dining room, but sadly no $$$. So, I think if I wash the walls again (thanks for the jello stains Ryan) and shampoo the carpet, I can control the itch.

Now that the curtains are done, I am hoping to do some croppin'. Ryan is staying overnight with Grandpa and Grandma so I can have some time to myself, and Todd is camping out with AZX for the Brians' bachelor party. It is also the perfect time to crop, since all that stuff is upstairs where the window air conditioner is. Our central air is on the fritz. It works for a few hours at a time, but then the pipe freezes up, so we have turned it off for now.

Ooh - I forgot to tell you - these curtains are even better because the fabric was only $1 a yard. I bought it off the clearance rack months ago. I also got a pattern to make Ryan's Halloween costume. It should cost me less than $5 to make.

AAAAAAH!

I am attempting to make some valances for my dining room windows without using a pattern. It is not going well. Apparently I am incapable of cutting 6 pieces of fabric to the same size.
I may have to abandon ship.

This and a trip to the grocery store is all I have to do this weekend. Todd is working and going to the 2 Brians' bachelor weekend.

Blogger Has Video!

Since you can upload video to Blogger now, here is a video of my spinning baby from last year. You've got to watch the whole thing - he gets really fast at the end. And no, I did not speed this up. It is in real time.

Too Cute!!

Is this not the cutest thing ever? It is the "smore" that Ryan made at school (daycare). They are doing a unit on camping, so Teri Ann had them make smores out of cardboard, cotton balls, and brown tissue paper. It looks just like the real thing!

Ryan is doing well, but is cranky, cranky, cranky. He is cutting his 2-yr-old molars which caused him to have a 101.4 fever for three days. He is still obsessed with the doo-doos, but is also obsessed with coloring and sidewalk chalk. We have to follow a certain procedure when drawing. First, I have to draw him a choo-choo, then a kitty or as he says, "titty", then a fishy, next a bug, a happy face for Daddy, and a happy face for Mommy. Then Ryan scribbles all over them and we repeat. And repeat. And repeat. This all has to be done together as Ryan seems to have lost his ability to play by himself. He also wants to be rocked to sleep again, which I don't particulary mind! He is also living on pudding and not much else. He also begs for gookies (cookies). I let him have some juice when he was sick so now he keeps asking for duice.

When Rachel and the boys were over I picked my first big red tomato. Ryan yelled Apple! and bit the end out of it. Then he promptly spit it out!

Phooey!!

Crap. I accidentally deleted my pictures from the State Fair and from Ryan's playdate with Anthony and Chase last night. Crap. Crap. Crap.

Ryan and I are going to my parents' tomorrow afternoon for the weekend for my parents' 40th anniversary. I am really looking forward to it, but just once I would like a little help traveling with a toddler. By the time I get laundry done, the car packed, work on Friday, then drive up there, I am usually exhausted and just crash.

The playdate last night went well. Ryan and Anthony actually played together and acted like they liked each other. We are making progress! Chase was sweet as always, and I always have a good time with Rachel. We like to commiserate about the workload of motherhood. I also managed to pawn off an eggplant and some tomatoes on her!

Our trip to the State Fair on Monday was hot, hot, hot. I worked in the Discovery Garden from 12 - 4 and roasted. I forgot to take a hat and Ryan broke my sunglasses so I tried to stand in the shade. We did have a good time looking at animals and going to the new Knapp building before my shift. But the thing that Ryan was most impressed with was all the golf carts zipping about.

Weigh Loss Woes

I am really stuggling. After reaching a loss of 42 pounds in March, the weight is creeping back on. It is very upsetting to me. Basically, I slacked off and quit being vigilant about what I was eating and how much I was exercising. Then last month I started binging again at night. Oy.
Two weeks ago, I rededicated myself and have starting writing down what I eat, drinking more water, and being more careful. I am starting to get back on track. I have also been to my support group two weeks in a row and have even trekked upstairs to the nurse to get weighed. Now, if I can just start exercising again. I guess if you are like me, you have to be vigilant every single day. How frustrating.

I am also frustrated with Ryan. I have been very careful to (hopefully) teach him good eating habits, but now he doesn't eat anything except a granola bar in the morning, a few little snacks, and a few bites of yogurt for supper. Maybe it's just a phase ... he is very muscular though. I just don't want him to get diabetic like me and most of my family.

The good news is that I still have very tight control over my diabetes. I am down to two pills a day, and hopefully at my next appoinment they will lower the dosage. I would just like to know what it is like to not to obsess about my weight fifty times a day or associate my weight with my self-worth.

Onward and upward! We are going to the Fair tomorrow, so that should be a challenge.