Nana’s class had their end of the year field trip at It’s My Party and Kayla was invited too. It was great, a large indoor space filled wall to wall with inflatable games, obstacle courses and slides. Kayla never stopped from the moment we got there, she went from one thing to the next. She liked the obstacle course the most I think. None of the pictures came out, but I do have these 3 videos and then my camera battery died.
So this morning, I woke up to the sound of Kayla repeatedly saying, ” Uh Oh”, and Wes saying, ” Come see what your daughter did”. This was not particularly motivating me to stray from my warm unconsciousness, so I stayed in blissful slumber for a few more minutes knowing that whatever lurked just inside Kayla’s bedroom was not going to start my day off well. When I did muster enough courage to see what the fuss was all about, I wasn’t at all surprised, but mad just the same. She had done this before, just not on this large of a scale. She had squeezed every drop of diaper rash cream from a fairly new tube and painted not only herself, but also her furniture, toys, books, shoes and more. My loving husband was just the informer, he tattled then ran away, leaving me to clean the scene of the crime. Of course there was Kayla, who followed me everywhere I went and continued to repeat, ” Uh Oh and No No”.
So if you get the impression that the tone of this post is less than bubbly, you would be correct. “Don’t let it ruin your day”, easier said than done! It just set the tone for the rest of my day. I’ll get over it when I’m darn good and ready. Moving on…
So this diaper rash cream is not water soluble. I was able to clean it off the furniture well enough and some of the books. But she rubbed a massive amount into her hair and now her whole head is waterproof. If I ever need to recreate the Medusa look, I now know how to do it. Wes gave her a shower this morning where we used 4 different types of shampoo, multiple times, 2 types of conditioner and a bar of soap, which did nothing. I gave her a 2nd shower after lunch and used 3 rounds of Dawn dish soap. That helped somewhat but we will still need to do it a few more times. If anyone has any suggestion of how to get this out of her hair, please let me know.
So I know I can’t be mad forever about this, well because she’s just funny and knows when to say or do something to cute to make me forget about why I was mad in the first place. She started by flattering me, sneaking away with my banana nut muffins, but it was the way she was devouring them that made laugh. I think this was muffin #5.
So in conclusion. I love my Kayla, but she drive me crazy. Good thing I have a good colorist, I think I will need to pay him a visit soon.
Yeah, so I know I’m a horrible blogger. I have had a lot of stuff on my mind lately and just haven’t had the time or desire to sit here and write. So there ya go, that’s the truth. I’ll try to be more proactive this week and come up with some blog posts for you, but in the mean time, I’ll just leave you with pictures rather than words.
I took Kayla out to the park last week, and here are some shots.
Ok,I forgot how hot slides are in the summer!
She loved this tunnel. You can tell by the psycho expression on her face.
This photo would give the impression that she was having fun, but she was actually not…
I don’t know how long she would have hung there, she was 2 inches from the ground, but would not let go.
See, here is that crazy tunnel look again.
I was loving this twisty slide. And see the cracks in the slide? Yeah, I lost all my back pocket buttons.
I can’t say that I’ve done much in the last 72 hours other than sleep and whine. Been fighting off a sinus infection for about a week now, but it finally got the best of me on Thursday and has just started to let up in the last 2 hours or so. I don’t know if I’m prone to them because of allergies or what, but it seems like I get them an awful lot. You’d think that I’d learn how to deal with it by now, but the problem is that over the counter medications only work the first couple times, then my body develops and immunity or something and it’s time to find something else. I’m at the point now that I’ve about tried everything. Oh, and does anyone else find it interesting that you have to show your I.D. to purchase cold medicine now?
Wes was the man this weekend, taking care of not only me, but a sick Kayla as well. He did a nice job of keeping her out of my hair while I was in my drug induced coma.
I do have this one little trick that always makes me feel better. I fill a hot water bottle, ( with hot water of couse), and lay it over my face. It does a great job at releaving the sinus pressure. So heads up to all you fellow sinus sufferes. And I’m open to any tips, meds or suggestions to get over this quickly.
So today, I may have done the meanest thing I’ve ever done to Kayla. No, I didn’t beat her with a wire coat hanger, but by the tantrum she is throwing right now, our neighbors might think I did.I’ll just start from the beginning. I’m just not a big fan of the pacifier ( noonie as Kayla calls it). I don’t like when kids are walking around with them constantly in their mouth. Don’t hate, every mom has the right to choose their own position on this issue. She’s always had one, but we only gave it to her for sleeping and on the rare occasion that she was sick and whiny. Well since she has become more independent these last few months, she has been pushing the issue by hiding them and getting them whenever she wants. Now that she is 2, I personally feel like it needs to go, but was trying not to go cold turkey, for my own sanity more than anything. Well, the terrible twos have definitetly set in and everything is a battle, from eating, to sleeping, you name it and it’s more difficult than it was a few short months ago. “No”, is her new favorite word and she’s also picked up this habit of slapping me when I correct her, which is really embarassing in public.
So fast forward to today. I lost count of how many times I took the noonie away from her today and put it away, only for her to go get it over and over again. So I warned her for the last time, and she went back to get it. So, we took a little walk to the kitchen drawer and the noonie had an unfortunate accident.
The look on her face was shock. She didn’t cry about it. And I gave it back to her, she put it back in her mouth, but something just wasn’t right. But when it was time for her to take a nap, she had a meltdown in her room for about a half hour. All’s quiet now, so she must have cried herself to sleep. I don’t really feel bad about it honestly. She’ll be fine in a few days, she probably won’t even remember. I just thought I’d share one of my many imperfect mom moments. I read this book a while back that cracked me up called, ” Dirty Little Secrets From Otherwise Perfect Moms“ It’s a collection of quotes or rather anonymous confessions from moms. Stuff like, ” I bit my daughters finger while trying to steal a bite of her cookie”, or, “I signed my son up for Karate because the instructor was hot.” There is another book from the same two authors called, ” I Was a Really Good Mom Before I Had Kids“.
So is anyone brave enough to share one of their mommy moments? If you don’t have kids, tell me the worst thing your mom did to you.
Last night I played with something new, Phyllo Dough. I was attempting to make these Chicken wraps with cranberry sauce. It’s yet another recipe on my list I’ve been wanting to try. It wasn’t necessarily a flop, it came out like it was supposed to. It was just one of those dishes that looks better than it tastes. basically you pound a chicken breast thin, top it with cranberry sauce and a pat of butter and wrap it in Phyllo, like a pot sticker, and bake it. To me, it was very bland. Maybe it would have been better is I’d marinated the chicken or used more than salt and black pepper. Maybe even some stuffing in there would have been good too. I’ll probably never know, because I’ll probably never make it again.
I wasn’t giving up there though. Since my entire kitchen was upside down already and I had had phyllo left over, I made Baklava. I didn’t use this recipe, I just kind of winged it. Sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and walnuts. It was pretty good, even though I’ve never really been a fan of baklava. But there isn’t much more than you can do with phyllo dough. It was more fun making it anyway. I always enjoy the baking more than anything. It’s very therapeutic. When life gives you phyllo, make Baklava.
Have you ever been going along, minding your own business, when suddenly, out of no where you get a craving for something totally off the wall. I’m not talking pickles and ice cream here people, so don’t even go there. Kayla and I were driving around this morning, doing our weekly grocery shopping. On our way to the fruit stand, when Bam! It hit me….Okra and Tomatoes. I like Okra and tomatoes, but it’s not something I eat or make very often, so it was just odd to suddenly be struck by the thought of it.
I didn’t get the ingredients at the fruit stand , but I’m not going to say I cheated either. This is one of those dishes that eluded me for a very long time. I think maybe I was just over-thinking it. I’d tried fresh ingredients, spices, cans and all sorts of techniques. But when I simplified it, I found what I was looking for. So here it is, take it or leave it.
1 Package of frozen okra ( I like the chopped, not the whole)
1 Can of Stewed tomatoes
That’s it, seriously! Cook the Okra down on med-high heat with a little olive oil if your not using non stick. Cook them till their tender and not slimy, then add the can of tomatoes and let that hang out for a minute. Add a little salt to taste and voila. And it was so nice to satisfy the need for some real southern comfort food in about 15 minutes.
I leave for tennis in less than an hour and I still haven’t fully recovered from yesterday. Holly took me to the Hooper Road trails for a little mountain biking. I was expecting a nice leisurely ride with some pretty scenery and nature. That is not what I got. I should have known something was up when Holly fretted about me not having a helmet. I thought, what’s the big deal, I can ride a bike. Someone was nice enough to lend me one and man was I glad they did. I never thought I was afraid of heights, but when you are staring down a hill with a sharp turn and a tree in front of it, I had a new found respect of heights (and tree roots). Because, well there are 2 ways down the hill, on the bike or under it. I only fell off the bike 3 times, which is amazing to me and probably everyone else in the woods listening to me whine and cry. I am really sore today in places where I fell, like my knee and my butt. Also my hands are killing me. I feel like I got in a slap fight with a brick wall. I really hope I can grip my tennis racket tonight. Will I go back again? Yes, and hopefully some of the fear will have subsided. We’ll take it one trip at a time.