Tuesday, January 15, 2008

First Barbie Bites the Dust

So my daughter received her first Barbie Doll for her birthday the other day. I remember really, really wanting a Barbie car when I was a little kid -- well, my 3 year old daughter received a Barbie and a sporty purple convertible from Aunt Cindy.

I'm afraid that Barbie won't be driving the car all that much. She was the victim of a freak chewing accident. I got home from dropping the kids at school and I had (still have) a ton of work to do. I grabbed a greenie bone for my dog -- you know, so she'll have nice breath -- and then turned my attention to my billing software. I heard Ruby chewing on her bone. About 5 minutes later a I turned to give her a pat and saw a bunch of tan plastic all over the floor. Barbie's leg was in Ruby's mouth and both of her arms were already gone.
I think 3 is too young for a Barbie anyway.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Christmas and Birthdays are over and the dog is house-trained (sort of)




Quite a bit of time has passed since my last post. I've been super busy and just didn't feel like writing anything down at the end of the day.
Since I last posted, we gained a four-legged friend, my son turned 5, we celebrated Christmas and my daughter's 3rd birthday.
My daughter will officially be 3 tomorrow.

Let's start with the first thing... our four-legged friend, Ruby. Ruby is named after the character from Ruby and Max -- but she is not as much of a biotch. My brothers approve of the name because it happens to be their favorite programming language. I'll just let them believe that she is named after that:) The first week we had Ruby the Rocket, she was a dream dog. We rescued her, so we have no idea what type of dog she is or how old she is. They estimate she is between 8 months and 2 years old. She has some terrier in her. When it started raining around here, she started peeing in the house. I had just finished with potty-training my daughter about 3 months previous, so I was a bit dismayed to have to be scrubbing carpets and washing bedding all day long. I think we have things fixed up again and she only pees inside if my husband gets her too excited and then picks her up -- must have some cocker spaniel in there somewhere.

A few weeks after we got Ruby, my son turned 5 . We had a really fun party for him, but I won't bore you with those details. I just want to say that 5 is a truly magical age. And I don't mean that in any sarcastic way. It seems like the day my son turned 5, he turned into a completely different boy. Gone is the difficult son who fought with his sister at every turn. Gone is the boy who cried everytime he scraped his knee or got water in his eyes. He gets his own snacks, he buckles sis into her booster seat, he even helps me wash the windows. I loved him before and thought he was awesome, but now my mind is blown almost every day by how mature and caring he is becoming. Don't get me wrong, folks, he is still a boy. He still runs around like a monkey and if we are in a store, he can't keep his hands off anything, but he is becoming such a unique person and I love that. 5 is the best... so far.

Three year old girls, on the other hand, I can do without. Starting about a month ago, my daughter started in with the terrible twos (and she'll be three tomorrow). She is not someone you want to be around. I have to hang out with her because I'm her mom, but stay away if you aren't related. Everything is so dramatic and if you tell her no or correct her about something... even in the most loving way... the waterworks turn on. She's sharp as a tack, but a little juvenile:)

We celebrated her birthday today at Chuck E. Cheese. It was a co-birthday with her cousin who will be turning 4 shortly. She also has a cousin who turns 3 on Monday and one who turns 6 on Tuesday. It's a busy month for my family. I highly recommend the co-birthday thing from an economic standpoint:) We don't have to do the party thing again and the parents of the kids make out because we split the bill.

We survived the holidays, with a very full house. I am a freak when it comes to stuff being everywhere, but I didn't go too crazy while we had 8 people sleeping in our little house for 3 nights. I did find myself pulling out the vacuum at inappropriate moments, but that's as far as I went. I didn't go around lifting people's glasses and sliding coasters underneath.

I hope you all had a happy December and a wonderful New Year. I feel optimistic that this is going to be a great year.