Teaholic not quite anonymous

So get this, my dad is coming to visit for a week starting tomorrow!! Isn't that cool?

That's all for now. More on the farm later.

Maddy had such a great time at the Fall Festival today at our local farm. She loved the hay ride, all the slides, the trains, the apple cider and apples and kettle corn! She enjoyed looking at all the farm animals and picking out her pumpkin at the end.

I have to say, I was really impressed with the place!! The hay ride was just fabulous and I was surprised at how long and extensive it was. I'm thinking about going back this week with my dad.

Now, we didn't get home until 12:50 and then had a quick lunch and down for nap. She didn't nap very long though, darn it!

Ok, well, off to change out the laundry.

Well, Maddy woke up today with a horrible runny nose and itchy eyes. I did too, but mine cleared up within an hour. Hers didn't! Darn Hay Fever! So all day she's been runny and itchy. Fortunately, it's running clear and I'm pretty sure it's just allergies although a dose of benadryl didn't really seem to help. I'm hoping she wakes up better tomorrow.

So we wound up skipping her class AGAIN today. Well, first we were going to be late since Dad didn't make it to the house until 10 minutes before class. Then Maddy was too runny to expose to other kids.

I went to my class though and three of my pots were finished! I'm quite pleased with two but don't like the 3rd that much. Of course, that's the one that Matt wants to take to work with him that I told him I won't let him since it's not what I wanted it to look like.

It took me an hour and five minutes to get to class tonight. I kid you not. It was horrible. I think I'm going to try a different route next time!
Ok, off to hang out and then go to bed soon. I'm tired tonight and we stayed up too late last night.

Tea of the day: Rainforest Mate, Organic Earl Grey

Yes, Maddy did NOT take a nap today. I know some kids just don't, but she loves her sleep. But I put her down at 1 and until 2 she just talked and played. So finally, I went in to get her. I wondered if it was the tylanol cold I gave her before she laid down, but I don't think it was. She's had it before but still fallen asleep fine. Then I figured it's because she's so stuffed up she can't suck her thumb. Poor kid. She had a good afternoon though, considering what rough sleep she had last night and this afternoon. She had a blast playing with grandpa this morning!!! I even brought out the paints. Whoo whoo, that's always an undertaking. I want to get her an easel soon.

Anyway, needless to say it was a pretty busy yet uneventful day. We hung out at home all day because I want to kick this cold (yes, cold... there was a kid she was around this weekend who had a runny nose so I'm wondering if that's where she got it from) in the butt!

Ok, off to hang out with the fam. Goodnight!

Tea of the day: Wild Orchard Green tea

So Maddy's cold has quickly spread to both Matt and I. Poor Grandpa is in for it next. There's simply no way around it. He'll probably get it just in time to get back on the plane and see Grandma! This is one doozy of a cold, too. It hits you like a ton of bricks. Not feeling too bad this morning though. Maddy seems ok, better than yesterday.

She and I took a nap at the same time yesterday and I have to say it was just heavenly. She was up at 5:15 that morning after sleeping all night. I was up for a couple hours with insomnia and I took a benadryl so the 5:15 was not the most welcome time by me. But she did sleep through the night!

So we've just been hanging out around the house. Maddy's enjoyed playing toys, coloring and having fun with grandpa. I've appreciated having the help when I don't feel the best either. We did go grocery shopping and to Arby's for lunch yesterday. She enjoyed her vanilla shake the best, but did eat some, too. She's tough to make eat as it is, now add on the cold and it's virtually impossible.

Ok, off to let Matt get into the shower. Have a good weekend all!

I've been inundated with this video and I'm assuming you have, too. But just in case you haven't, I thought I'd post it here. It's too cute not to listen to. I put the lyrics below.

The Mom Song"

Get up now
Get up now
Get up out of bed
Wash your face
Brush your teeth
Comb your sleepyhead
Here's your clothes and your shoes
Hear the words I said
Get up now! Get up and make your bed
Are you hot? Are you cold?
Are you wearing that?
Where's your books and your lunch and your homework at?
Grab your coat and gloves and your scarf and hat
Don't forget! You gotta feed the cat
Eat your breakfast, the experts tell us it's the most important meal of all
Take your vitamins so you will grow up one day to be big and tall
Please remember the orthodontist will be seeing you at 3 today
Don't forget your piano lesson is this afternoon so you must play
Don't shovel
Chew slowly
But hurry
The bus is here
Be careful
Come back here
Did you wash behind your ears?
Play outside, don't play rough, will you just play fair?
Be polite, make a friend, don't forget to share
Work it out, wait your turn, never take a dare
Get along! Don't make me come down there
Clean your room, fold your clothes, put your stuff away
Make your bed, do it now, do we have all day?
Were you born in a barn? Would you like some hay?
Can you even hear a word I say?
Answer the phone! Get off the phone!
Don't sit so close, turn it down, no texting at the table
No more computer time tonight!
Your iPod's my iPod if you don't listen up
Where are you going and with whom and what time do you think you're coming home?
Saying thank you, please, excuse me makes you welcome everywhere you roam
You'll appreciate my wisdom someday when you're older and you're grown
Can't wait till you have a couple little children of your own
You'll thank me for the counsel I gave you so willingly
But right now I thank you not to roll your eyes at me
Close your mouth when you chew, would appreciate
Take a bite maybe two of the stuff you hate
Use your fork, do not burp or I'll set you straight
Eat the food I put upon your plate
Get an A, get the door, don't get smart with me
Get a grip, get in here, I'll count to three
Get a job, get a life, get a PHD
Get a dose of,
"I don't care who started it!
You're grounded until you're 36"
Get your story straight and tell the truth for once, for heaven's sake
And if all your friends jumped off a cliff would you jump, too?
If I've said it once, I've said at least a thousand times before
That you're too old to act this way
It must be your father's DNA
Look at me when I am talking
Stand up straighter when you walk
A place for everything and everything must be in place
Stop crying or I'll give you something real to cry about
Oh!
Brush your teeth, wash your face, put your PJs on
Get in bed, get up here, say a prayer with mom
Don't forget, I love you
And tomorrow we will do this all again because a mom's work never ends
You don't need the reason why
Because, because, because, because
I said so, I said so, I said so, I said so
I'm the mom, the mom, the mom, the mom, the mom!!
Ta da!!!

When I first started teaching I used to drink a travel mug of two Lipton orange pekoe tea bags every day. I had them around and found tea easier to make than coffee, so I went with it. Before that year, I would switch between tea and coffee quite regularly. But, after starting that routine, I stuck with it over the next five years and drank one travel mug with two tea bags every morning.

Well, once I finished up those Lipton orange pekoe teas I never really went back to Lipton again. Don't get me wrong, at a diner I'll still get tea and most likely it's Lipton orange pekoe and I love it. But, for the most part, I'll stick with Bigelow or Twinnings at the grocery store and buy other more unique teas from etailers.

Yesterday, however, while at Target I found a box of Lipton White Tea with Mango and Peach flavor. They've been taking their cue from Tea Forte and Mighty Leaf and combined the Tea Forte cone bag with the silk Mighty Leaf tea bag idea. Of course, it all comes down to flavor and it is a really nice white tea blend. Very nice. I may try others of these if I can find more unique flavors. What I don't like is that they aren't individually packaged.

I was able to get Maddy to drink 3/4 cup of mint herbal tea today. I was really glad because she held the mug herself right under her nose most of the time even when she wasn't drinking it. I know, for me, that steam and hot liquid really loosens up the stuffiness in my head and congestion in my chest. So I hope that helped a bit. Plus, it was mint, her favorite!

Ok, just had to add about the Lipton.

Tea of the day: Lipton White Tea with Island Mango and Peach Flavor

Well, Matt and my dad are off to the airport. Maddy is still asleep and I'm making a cup of tea. I think we all had a very nice time. Maddy really warmed up to Grandpa this trip. She snuggled him and sat in his lap. She gave him hugs and kisses. She even ran up to him wanting to be held. I know she really enjoyed her time with Grandpa. We did a ton of hanging out this trip because Maddy is sick. I didn't want to really take her anywhere where she could expose her germs to others or get new germs while her immune system is down. But hanging out is fun, too. There's not a whole lot of go, go, go! It really gives time for people to just 'be'. Of course, towards the end of the week Maddy was going a bit stircrazy, but well. Her cold is still in her nose a bit but has now traveled to her chest. So I'm hoping it will work it's way out over the next day or two. My cold is much better and Matt's cold is, too. Here's hoping Grandpa doesn't get it!

We did a few productive things over the week dad was here. We attached the china cabinet to the wall and moved one of our gates so it locks in front of the the stairwell. Maddy loves having free reign of the entire house now. The dining room was always off limits because of the cabinet. Now she can roam wherever she pleases. Of course, our deck door is off the dining room so she now knocks at the back door wanting to go outside. I had to move some stuff around, but for the most part, the dining room was pretty much child proof. We did take the leaf out of the table and moved out two chairs so that gives her a bit of play space and I brought back up her table and chairs.

While cleaning out my china cabinet (what a tedious task) for them to move off the buffet I remembered that I didn't have the coffee pot to my china set and told Matt that one day I'll need to buy that, just so I have the set. Now, the last time we used our good china was at least two Thankgivings ago, so it's not like it sees every day use. But, well, Matt said, "Honey, we've been married for six years. So this project started six years ago. If you want the coffee pot, just buy it!" So I did! Grandpa helped hand me all the china and tea set pieces to put back in which saved on at least a little time.

Our new grass out front is really coming up nicely! I've gone to watering the backyard every 2-3 days instead of every morning for 20 minutes. It doesn't need it anymore. I'll be thrilled since we won't have to cut it as often! The front new grass still needs to be watered daily though. Grandpa helped water, too.

We played a lot of Wii sports after Maddy was down for a nap or bed this week. It was pretty fun.

Matt has off today, but I don't know what, if any plans we have going on. I think I'd like to get out a bit during her nap, but we'll see how that comes around. I've been thinking about buying a few things.

Ok, off to get my tea that should be done by now.

Tea of the day: Mighty Leaf Orange Deluce
WO of the day: 30 minutes elliptical

I always hated this saying. This is something Kohls does so often. If you buy $25 worth of items you get 5% off. If you spend $50 worth of items you get 10% off. Well, sure I may be saving more percentage-wise but I'm STILL spending more money! The best way to save money is simply not to spend it.

That said, we spent some money today. :) I've been thinking about getting a good set of knives for a while now. But just haven't had the ambition. Well, we received a 20% off coupon for Bed Bath and Beyond a couple of days ago and after looking online I decided to go with a set of Henckels. They aren't the BEST of the best in the line of Henckels, but they are really nice. Matt used them today to skin and chop up a chicken. I threw an apple in the air and caught as it landed on the blade of my knife it made it half way down the apple. Holy cow those are sharp! Plus we saved a bit of money on them, too.

Matt and I also purchased a steam upright carpet cleaner today at Best Buy. Originally it was $300 in the store but Matt found it online at Best Buy's site for $239 on sale. They honored the online price. Plus, we had a 10% off coupon so that brought us down to $216. So that was a pretty decent savings of 28.5% off overall.

I also canceled my china coffee pot order and I will also buy that at Bed Bath and Beyond since they sell it for less and I can use another 20% off coupon. So I'll be saving $40 on that (including shipping) over what I would have spent the other place. Not too bad!

I've also been looking at new vacuum cleaners, but well, I'd like to steam clean and then keep up on our carpet with our current vacuum cleaner and see how that works first. If the floor starts to look grungy quickly I'll know I need a new one.

Tea of the day: Mighty Leaf Orange Deluce and Green Jasmine

What is UP with this WEATHER??? I am fed up with summer. Hello!?! It's October 9th and it's supposed to be 90 today! That's crazy! It did allow me to hang out two loads of laundry and Matt and I to play in the front yard a bit. Of course, it also allowed me to get two mosquito bites, darn it!!

Maddy and I skipped her class AGAIN today. She still has a cough and is congested in her chest. The more she runs the more congested she gets....soo.... we stayed home. :( I think I'll take her shopping this afternoon just to get her out of the house. Poor kid is going to start growing roots we've been home so much! All in due time, I don't want her getting worse.

Holly, here's my three pots I brought home last week. The one on the right is the one I don't like. The glaze didn't turn out on the lip of the pot and cover very well. But oh well, it's all about the making of them that I like the best! (Click on the picture to see a larger version.)

Random Maddy stuff... no particular order. I know I haven't posted a lot of this lately.

She's trying to do summersaults without her hands. I don't know why. I think she got it from the intro to sesame street. All I know is that she's going to kill herself. On that note she's starting to climb as well on anything and everything. Now she's climbed before, but now she's a real dare devil. And also on that note, she wants to climb the slide without being spotted. Now, I normally stand behind her with an arm on her back, but not holding her. I mean, she is a bit clumsy. But now, if I look over the deck and am preoccupied she'll run to the slide and try to get up it as fast as I can before I can get to her. If I try to spot her I hear, "Nooo, nooo!" My little independent one.

Her vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. Every day I hear so many new words coming out of her mouth (most of them are good, really). She's labeling a ton of things and responding verbally to actions around her. It's fun to watch.

She's totally turned into a girlie girl. She loves lipgloss and powder (I'll sneak some on her while I'm putting on makeup), playing dress up and notices jewelry I wear. She'll brush her hair and my hair and when I ask her how it looks she'll look at me for five or six seconds at a time and says, "Cute".

Her latest favorite things: Bouncing balls, playing chalk, jumping in hopscotch, doing summersaults, riding in her wagon, terrifying bugs, boas, weeding the grass (I kid you not), brushing her teeth in front of the mirror, Elmo, her brainy baby Animal book, singing the Alphabet song and number song, dancing, playing hide under the blanket on mommy, being chased and tickled (she is NOT her mother's daughter), Italian lemon ice, mini M&Ms (she's discovered the joys of chocolate), mint herbal tea, water and last but certainly not least, meeting daddy at the front door after work.

Whew, no wonder she's tired, huh? (This is how I found her today in the living room about 10 minutes before nap.)

Yesterday was quite a day. After eating something that disagreed with her stomach Maddy threw up in her crib twice. Of course, I had changed the linens the first time so I had two sets to wash. Then, she didn't want to nap anymore which was fine. But then last night after helping get her ready for bed I left for coffee night to get a call from Matt saying Maddy refuses to lay in her crib. Matt assumed she was scared to lay down because of what happened in the afternoon. So he said he'd let her cry for a 3 minutes (to wear herself out), go back up and rock her again and lay her down. Then I get a second call that she climbed/fell out of her crib. I mean, she can't just FALL out. It's on the lowest setting and goes up to her upper chest. So she must have thrown a leg over to get out and then fallen the rest of the way. Because after taking stairs three at at a time she was knocking at the other side of the door! Anyway, he was finally able to get her to sleep without me having to come home. GO DADDY! But if she climbs/falls out once more we will need to get her into a toddler bed ASAP not to mention better childproof her room. There's still a bookcase with Matt's professional books in her room and other things I don't want her getting into. We're always in there with her when she's on the top floor, so normally we don't have to worry about it.

Then she woke up at 5:15 and cried every time I wanted to lay her down until 6. No, I don't think she's sick since she's been playing and running around, acting like her normal self. I just think now she wants to be rocked! Well, we need to break this habit, ASAP cause I will not stay up at night with a perfectly healthy kid rocking her just because she wants to be. Maybe that sounds mean, but I want and need my sleep, too. So 5 minutes of rocking and that's it. Back to the crib she goes.

Well, we have playgroup this AM! I'm already late but I'm waiting on Maddy. Have a great weekend!

Tea of the day: Mighty Leaf Rainforest Mate, Celestial Seasons Gingerbread Herbal tea with a bit of splenda.
WO: 30 minute of elliptical

Today will be busy for us. But that's ok. We're going to work on making Maddy's room a bit safer for her. Then we may (or may not) turn her crib into a toddler bed. We'll see how that part goes. She went to bed last night without any fuss and only five minutes of rocking. She did the same thing for her nap. So that was good!

Thursday Maddy and I went to see her first 'movie'. We went to a local theater and saw Nick Jr. at the movies. They give her a Nick Jr. magazine, coloring pages and show three episodes of a Noggin program. They played Wonder Pets on Thursday and she loved it. Next week is Dora which I think we may go to as well. Although, Dora drives me a bit crazy so sitting through three episodes may just kill me. Wonder Pets were cute and I also hadn't seen any of the episodes which is a miracle of miracles. I think I've seen almost all kid programs now.

Speaking of, Maddy sang the Backyardigan tune to the music yesterday and danced the dance they do at the beginning of the show. I was pretty impressed. Now, she didn't sing the words, but she knew the song and was perfectly on tune! She doesn't even watch that show that much, either. She's also taken to singing her lullaby as well. It's the one I made up for her one night while rocking her when she was maybe 4 days old. I've been singing it ever since. Now she starts it randomly around the house singing it. It's cute.

We had a playdate with Nate yesterday. It was a lot of fun. Maddy enjoyed herself although I think it's weird for her to be around a loud boy. She was a bit standoffish, coming to hug me when he screetched and yelled (he was excited to have company). She absolutely loved his little drum set and she did a great job playing it! She always ended with the cymbal. It was pretty neat.

Ok, well, off to get the kitchen cleaned up. Matt let me sleep in today since I slept poorly last night which drove me crazy since Maddy slept straight through 11.5 hours. I wanted to sleep too!

Tea of the day: Organic Blac
WO of the day: Not much today!

Well, we converted Maddy's crib to a toddler bed today. Then we went out and bought a bed rail and a ton of child-proofing things to go in her room. We're still trying to get her to sleep in it, but really, this is partially our own fault. We were running around until 6:30 tonight and we did a rush job getting her to bed. So she was still pretty spun up and not ready to sleep. Add in the new bed, and well, there was no way she was going to sleep for me then. So, we brought her back downstairs while we snuggled and watched an Oswald. Then back up to bed we went. Matt is now up rocking her. I hate to rock her a ton, (since I finally incorporated the 5 minute rule and it was working) but I want to give her the comfort it takes to sleep in a 'new bed'.

The bed rail covers most of the side of her crib, er, bed, except about 18 inches at the foot. That's enough room to crawl out if she wants to and she's done it now a few times getting in and out. So, I'm comfortable that she won't go over the side but will go to the foot of the bed to come out. None-the-less, even a fall over the side (which I don't think will happen) won't be as far as from the crib rail!

I'm hoping she doesn't crawl out tonight as the room isn't totally child-proof yet. I still want to cover up the outlets (with full outlet covers that cover the wires that are plugged in as well as the covers) and not just the plugs. I did put door knob safeguards on the closet and bathroom doors tonight. I also want to move the bookcase to the living room and then attach it to the wall. It will make for nice storage down here for her toys/books/etc. Plus, now that the gate isn't cutting through the main floor and we moved the wine rack to the basement we now have room for it. I could probably move quite a bit of her toys upstairs if I can get that bookcase down here.

Ah well, that's all for another day. We just didn't fit it all in tonight. The rest can get done tomorrow.

Here's hoping she goes to sleep soon and stays asleep!! If not, it's my turn to rock her next. She'll pass out sooner or later. I hope this transition goes smoothly. I would have loved to have kept her in her crib longer....but well... if she falls out, that just won't happen.

After a few false starts, Maddy fell asleep and slept all night! She called for us this morning and when I came in she took it as her cue to climb out of bed. So she waited for us to get there (mind you I jumped out of bed and ran in).

Church this morning. We haven't been in OVER a month. SHEESH.

Maddy slept in until 7:30 this morning and slept all night and I did, too. I am so excited for that! She seems to have gone to bed without any fuss over her new bed. She's also gotten over her bathtub thing, too. She was freaked out about taking a bath for about 3 weeks.. Dunno what that was all about, but she refused to sit down and started to cry as soon as we got her anywhere near it. I made sure it wasn't too hot or too cold before I put her in. But that's seems to have passed.

This morning we went to church. It's been so long since we've been there. I felt bad since I didn't leave Matt much time to get ready since it took me so long. The getting ready wasn't even all that bad, just the picking out clothes was the hard part. I never really dress up anymore so it's kind of like having new clothes--finding ones that go together for the weather and fit right (which I'm pleased to say are getting more and more). Then I pick out jewelry and makeup to go with... Then finally I shower and put it all together! Not to mention this morning I blew my hair dry as well and I never ever do that--looked nice though! I love my hair after I blow dry it. I was antsy while Matt was getting ready though. I had a cup of coffee this morning and it just about killed me. I was ready to jump out of my skin!

Maddy was a perfect angel in church. She sat next to me for a long time and just kind of watched what was going on. Then she snacked on pretzels some. Then she sat in my lap and watched. And by that point, church was over! She looked so cute today for church. I love dressing her up although she complained about the dress as soon as I put it on her. She tried to pull it off over her head. I put on an Elmo to keep her mind off it while we waited for Daddy to get ready (sorry again, Daddy, that I didn't leave you much time). When we walked into the fellowship hall on the way into church, there were about 10 people in there. Well, they all stopped and looked at Maddy and smiled. I'm telling ya, she looked darn cute! Well, Maddy gave them the shy eyes and cast down her eyes through a smile. One of the Ladies said, "Yep, everybody is looking at you! You're just soooo cute!!" And well, she was. :)

On that note, I did cut her bangs in the bathtub tonight the same way I did last time, so let's just hope I didn't screw 'em up!!! They were still a bit wet when she went to bed. But she was good at letting me do it. She watched the entire time.

On the way home we picked up some chicken nuggets for her from McD's. She loved 'em of course. She must have ate at least 4 (and for her that's a lot) in the car ride home. Hey, she was happy and I know she was getting hungry (church ends at noon) so it worked out nicely.

Yesterday one of the four gate anchors to the foyer came undone so Matt and Maddy ran out to Lowes to buy a new anchor for the wall. They also stopped at Giant for a couple groceries and at Arby's for dinner. While they were gone I was able to sort through all of Maddy's drawers and organize her clothing while moving around winter and summer stuff. I took a whole bin downstairs to put away! Sheesh. She wore them all pretty well though. I hate when I find stuff in the bottom of a drawer she's never worn! Now her drawers are organized for fall and I can see bottom. We also put the filing cabinet in the closet since we couldn't put drawer locks on them. Close enough! We put outlet covers on the three outlets that have things plugged in. Only the night light is the one thing that's uncovered. I cleaned out a white bin some of things she shouldn't get into if she gets up in the middle of the night. Now all we have left is the bookcase and that will be tomorrow night.

We all took a nice long walk in the crisp fall weather and that was it for the night! Tonight Matt and I will have a fire on the deck, that will be really nice!

Tea of the day: NO TEA! I had coffee and since then haven't had much time for anything else. Maybe I'll make a cup now.
WO of the day: Brisk walk

Well, it's been a really nice day so far, here. I did some shopping at Target. Maddy was great all the way through the store. I bought myself three pair of really cute shoes for cheap. I'm excited for them. Other than that, just a lot of misc. purchases we needed. I also bought a birthday gift for Maddy's friend, Annabelle. I'm excited for her birthday party! It's a Halloween one and I'm sure all the kids will be so cute.

Then we went to Maddy's class for the first time in three weeks! She had a lot of fun. We came home, I tried to get food into her but all she'd eat was peanut butter. Ah well, she at least had a multigrain waffle for breakfast. Then she went down for a good nap! She's still sleeping! Thank goodness.

She's been getting up at least once per night though and it's starting to kill me. She's not up for all that long, maybe 20 minutes but then I'm wide awake after she goes back to bed and I lay there for another 30 minutes if not more. So I'm up for a good hour at night when she wakes up. Plus, she was getting up early for a while there (today was 7:45 though so I'm not complaining).

Yesterday I moved a bookcase out of Maddy's room and adjusted some of the toys, moving them around, too. We still need to attach the bookcase to the living room wall but Matt worked late last night so that didn't happen. Hopefully tonight so I can start stocking it. I'm still not sure how we're going to stock it though--what will go inside. Do I want to store her books there when where they are now works just fine? Do I want to buy bins and put toys in there? How about our books that we took out, where do they go? Do we still want them all? Anyway, we'll need to work through how best to use that.

Ok, well, I better go get the mail before she's up from her nap. Have a nice day everyone!

Tea of the day: Mighty Leaf Orange Deluce
WO of the day: Didn't get one in today. :( Maybe Maddy and I will power walk later.

Well, I won't be around much between now and next week. I'm off for the weekend with some girlfriends to the beach. I still haven't even started packing and have other household things to do today before I start packing. We leave bright and early tomorrow morning! Matt's taken off tomorrow so he'll be home all weekend with Maddy.

Matt's folks are coming down for company though. I'm glad about that. It can be a long weekend with a 2 year old all alone! Speaking of, we had to get out of the house yesterday and went to Frying Pan Farm. She had a blast as always. Then we went back to Target to take some things back and I wound up buying three more pairs of shoes at Payless. I just bought three pair the day before! Really, I'm not a shoe gal. But they had such cute ones out and it's BOGO right now that well, I went with it.

Maddy has not been sleeping through the night every night now. It's killing me. She wakes up between 2-3. I'm awake until at least 4. So my 6 am workouts aren't happening.

I'm back to my tea collecting it seems. All the tea brands have holiday tea out this season so I bought Bigelow Pumpkin spice and Gingerbread Snappish. I also bouht Celestial Seasons Gingerbread Spice and Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride. The sugar cookie leaves a lot to be desired. The CS Gingerbread is pretty good. I haven't tried the Bigelow yet. So I'm trying the Pumpkin Spice today!

Ok, off to feed myself and the kiddo. Then off to packing.

Tea of the day:Pumpkin Spice tea
WO of the day: Packing!

Well, I'm back from my weekend trip. It was a ton of fun, relaxing and shopping! We got there about 1 and we hung out until dinner. After dinner and dessert out, we took a walk on the boardwalk and down to the water. I forgot my sandals and was wearing my new shoes, so I had to walk back to the beach house barefoot. YUCK! As soon as I got home I washed my feet. So gross.

On Saturday a few of us spent the morning at a coffee shop (I was having tea) checking out the internet. Then that afternoon we all went outlet shopping. I bought a cute fall knee length flowered corduroy skirt for myself and a ton of shirts for Matt for work. Saturday night was a lot of hanging out.

Sunday we hit the strip and I did a lot of jewelry shopping. I always have fun with that! We didn't wind up getting home until 7:45 or so due to some Redskin traffic, but I was so glad to get home and see Maddy and Matt!

I feel so lucky to have such a great group of girlfriends who I can hang out with. I had such a wonderful time!! I also feel so lucky to have a husband who sends me away willingly and also does such a great job taking care of the house and kid. I never worry when he's in charge. He even washed the living room carpet and attached the bookcase to the wall. Of course, Grandma and Grandpa were here to give a helping hand as well.

Today, Maddy and I went to the Burke Fall Festival with Annabelle and Nate. She had quite a great time. I've uploaded a lot of pictures of the festival today. So check 'em out if you want to!

Off to hang out with Matt.

Oh, one interesting thing... The person who is running for representative for our district came by today. He asked if there were any concerns I had and I told him that honestly, things are really good around here. I mentioned that I already know who I'm going to vote for. He asked if he had my support. I said, "Well, no, actually I'm voting for Chuck because he seems to care.... blah, blah..." But anyway, it's interesting to actually talk directly to a politician face to face.

Tea of the day: Mighty Leaf Orange Deluce

Yesterday morning Matt left the house to find a surprise on our front door step! We had a Halloween goody bag with lots of fun stuff inside. It came with a little poem about 'passing it on to two other people'. So I set it all up yesterday and I'm just waiting for the photo copies of the papers to pass it on tomorrow to two other neighbors. Maddy enjoyed going through the goody bag and it was really cute to set up two new plastic pumpkin candy pots with various assortments of halloween stuff inside.

Speaking of Halloween. Maddy and I may have a fun Halloween party to go to tomorrow with one of my mom's groups. We're supposed to bring a Halloween snack but I was lazy and if we go I will bring store bought Halloween cookies instead. I did buy a Halloween themed cake mix and frosting container, but I will bake that for my playgroup I'm hosting on Monday instead. On Friday we have a Halloween birthday party in the afternoon for Maddy's friend Annabelle who will turn two. That will be fun although I'll need to get Maddy down for a really early nap and then we'll still be late since her nap starts at 1 normally and the party starts at 1 as well. She's not totally missing her nap!

I was able to bring home three more pots last night that I made on the wheel...except... I forgot them! So I waited until 10:30 this morning to go get them. Traffic was still horrible, but I guess there was a huge accident before 9 am and the lanes were closed down for almost 45 minutes so the traffic I hit wasn't as bad as it could have been. I still tried to wait for as long as I could for rush hour to be over. They look nice though and they were still in the room.

Yesterday, Maddy had her watch me grow class as well. She's really great at singing the songs and loves to run around and play. It surprises me how quickly those 45 minutes go. We also stopped at Target before hand for some necessary items. Of course, I forgot some more of the stuff, so I wound up going to Walmart after my class last night and then out to the grocery store today! I think I finally have it all together now.

It's grey and rainy here today. I probably should be doing more during her nap than just sitting here. But well, I'm tired. I'd take a nap too, but I can never guarantee how long she'll be down to sleep. And sometimes some sleep is worse than not enough sleep. So I've stayed up instead, had a nice cup of tea, caught up on email and the like.

Tea of the day: I had coffee two days in a row first thing in the morning, but now I'm having Bigelow Gingersnappish herbal tea.

She may look cute here, but that little girl knows what she's doing!! (New PJs, by the way.) Last night was a very rough bedtime. Things have been getting harder and harder with her waking up in the middle of the night and not wanting to go to bed. She used to be such an easy sleeper--put her to bed easy and she slept all night. Well, not so much anymore. In between bouts of having to go up last night I got on Amazon and bought Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child that has been recommended by many a mom friend. I'm hoping it will bring some relief! I must say, after she was finally asleep (9:30!!) I went to bed as well. I was exhausted. I want my nights back!

That said, I am going to the mall today. There is a Halloween party that is for Maddy this AM through one of my moms groups...but well, it's going to be quite crowded so I'm skipping it. She'll get to get dressed up tomorrow as it is. I'll make sure I take lots of pictures if she'll let me!

Ok, off to get ready. Have a good day all and hopefully soon a GOOD NIGHTS SLEEP!

Tea of the day: Bigelow Pumpkin spice

After starting our bedtime routine at 6:45 Maddy was asleep by 8:15. Yes, it still took us an hour and 30 minutes to get her to sleep, but at least we didn't have the fight on our hands we had last night. 20 minutes of that was watching Oswald when she started to freak out about bed. We were able to get a pretty good bedtime snack into her at that time as well. Now we just need to cut back on the amount of time it takes for bath, dressed, snack and bed. At least we had some resemblance of a relaxing night this evening!

Off to bed. I have a derm. appointment at 7 am!

Well, as a follow up to my last blog. Maddy did sleep through the night last night... until 6:30 this morning. I was even able to give her a kiss goodnight before I went to my Dermatology appointment. That also went well! As always, they saw me right on time (7 am.) and since the meds are working (YIPPEE!) I don't need to go back until February and I also have refills on all the meds. I mentioned how one of the medications was $60 and while I found that steep, at least it works and I don't need to pay the entire $180 without insurance. I thought my doctor was going to have a heart attack right then and there (mentally reviewing my CPR in my head..while he freaked out). He could not believe it was that much and that's highway robbery! So he ran out and came back in with a $30 off coupon for me! And it's reusable on refills for $20 off. Yeah! But he said, "You should call them and get your first $30 back!! SIXTY DOLLARS that is ridiculous!" He did thank me for mentioning it though, since it's easy for them to forget how much some medications are. He also offered to put me on a topical that has a generic. I told him I'd like to stick with what I'm on since it's working and I haven't had any nasty side effects.

This morning was pretty slow around here. Maddy and I did a lot of coloring, playing with Playdoh and trying on her Halloween costume for a party this afternoon. I fed her at 11:30 and put her down for a nap early at 12 so we'd be able to go. Well, she woke up in a really foul mood, so I called the mom and asked if she would excuse us from going and maybe we could host a playgroup for her an Annabelle on Monday instead. So that's what we're doing! I host two playgroups on Monday now. One in the morning and one in the afternoon. Hey, at least I only have to clean once. :) We'll give Annabelle her present then.

This afternoon was more of the same, hanging out and playing. We had soup, sandwiches and salads for dinner. It's been a while since we've had something so simple but with the rain, tomato soup just sounded fabulous. I especially love the Trader Joe Tomato and red pepper soup! Beats canned any day!

Tonight seems to have gone as easy as last night at bedtime. It's a really long bedtime routine and we spend too much time rocking her. But at least there's no hysterical crying and we're not up the stairs 4 times during the early evening.

(Maddy got into some peanut butter while I wasn't looking!)

Tea of the day: 2 cups bigelow pumpkin spice, 1 cup teavana coconut aloha, 1 cup Lipton white tea with Mango and Peach

Well, after a two false starts Maddy was asleep by 8:15 last night. The same cannot be said for tonight, however. She has been in the process of going to bed for almost an hour. She's not tired. She just simply isn't. She's squirmy and trying to chit chat. It's not like she became tired and then OVER tired. That didn't happen. We started bath at 6:30 and bed was at 7:30....so... it's been an hour. Matt is with her now.

Maddy did get up twice last night as well. She fell asleep pretty well both times. The last time it was 5 am and I did NOT think she was going to go back to sleep. Fortunately, she did put herself back to sleep until 7. Matt let me sleep in today (Thanks Hon!) and I slept until 8:30.

After a nice breakfast, we all got ready and headed out to the mall. I wanted to take back two makeup items I just purchased at MAC since neither one really work for me (darn it, I liked 'em, too). Then I went to meet Maddy and Matt at Arby's since Maddy loves the roast beef and really, it's pretty good for her, too! So I'm fine with that kind of fast food. When I made it there, they weren't there!

Then I realized where they were. Sephora. I tried to call Matt. No answer. I started walking down there and I found them on the way back. I asked where he had been (since he was going to park closer to Arby's he shouldn't have come from that way) and he could not conceal his look. (If you know Matt, you know the one.) Yep, he had purchased a Sephora Gift Certificate for me. It's really sweet of him, but honestly, he shouldn't have! I just did an online purchase the night before which he did know about. So I will wait to see what I receive from my Secret Santa. I do a Secret Santa through a group of women who love makeup as much as I do. But the list is forming in my head. :)

After Matt and Maddy ate at Arby's we headed home and put Maddy down for a nap. I sat down with a piece of paper and a pen and started to go through some recipes for some really nice dishes that I've seen posted at another board I belong to and decided I wanted to try some of them. Now I have my grocery list done and I'm ready to try new things this week.

I spent a lot of time after Maddy's nap sorting through the books in my downstairs bookcase and then rearranging books between our two bookcases so they make the most sense. I have all of Maddy's paper books (as compared to board books) on the bookcase now along with a few other things in the living room. I moved some of Matt's work books to the family room. I'm feeling good that it got done. Matt took Maddy to the park while I worked on books. I have a FULL laundry basket of books I will give away to the Salvation Army. SHEESH. At least someone else can get some use out of them.

I hadn't eaten at Arby's because I was craving a gyro so I ordered in one of those for lunch/dinner. It was delicious! Now I'm still stuffed.

Well, I think she's FINALLY down (8:38) and Matt and I are going to have a fire in the chimnea on the deck. It's a great night for one.

Tea of the day: Celestial Seasons Gingerbread (herbal)

Well, it's finally starting to feel like fall around here. The air is crisp and the leaves are falling from the trees. It's about time! We spent the day doing fun Halloween things around here this morning. I made Halloween cupcakes for playgroup tomorrow. We gutted three pumpkins and carved the big one. I baked pumpkin seeds! I LOVE pumpkin seeds. I tried them with cooking spray this year instead of butter and they turned out really nice. I like them better than with butter where they still stay a little bit greasy.

During Maddy's nap I ran out to Walmart to pick up my prescriptions (with my $30 off coupon) and did some other shopping while I was there. I guess the word some would be an understatement. I did buy a new fall coat for myself since my other light coat wore out. Of course we bought the old proverbial diapers, laundry detergent, etc...

While I was there I decided to turn my little playgroup into a bit of a Halloween party. So I bought a few goody bags and misc. stuff to give away. I'll also serve Pumpkin Spice Tea, apple cider and have apples with caramel dip.

After I got home we all jumped back in the car and went grocery shopping. I made a very LONG list yesterday because I am trying some new meals this week. I'm so glad I had Matt home to go with me.

It was a busy night! We made jambalaya tonight from a recipe we received from a friend. It is REALLY good, but man, there's a lot of cutting and prepping involved. After dinner it was time for Maddy to go to bed. Well, we were running a bit late... so we started bedtime at 7 and skipped bath.

SHE JUST FELL ASLEEP NOW AND IT'S 9:00 (and that was with a little bit of Benedryl involved, too). A friend of mine mentioned that maybe Maddy was ready to give up her naps now and that's why we're having the night time issues. I think that she definitely could have a point. But I think I'm going to cut her nap to only an hour (it's been as long as she wants up to know, normally 2 hours) and also pull it back a 1/2 hour from 1:00-12:30. So she'd sleep from 12:30-1:30. Hopefully that will help with her sleeping at night. I mean, she did not at all act sleepy tonight. She was bored while we were rocking her. She was very patient with it, but after a while we decided to do a Mr. Rodgers since sleep was not apparently coming that easily. Again, she wasn't being naughty or anything, just acting quite bored with the whole situation and not at all tired.

Of course, this one hour switch up would happen during the week the Matt is busiest at work. Ah well, we'll get through it.

Tomorrow AM I need to do some quick cleaning before playgroup and I'm pretty tired. It's time to head off to bed, I think. Maddy was up quite a bit last night.

Tea of the day: Pumpkin Spice Tea

Yes, it's that topic again. I realize you are only will be interested in this if you 1. Are currently a parent. 2. Are grandparents of said child. 3. Are a REALLY good friend of mine.

Oh wait, that's my total blog audience anyway! ;)

So, last night was atrocious. It took us two hours for her to fall asleep from bath at 7 to finally being asleep at 9. Then she woke up at 1:30 and was awake until 4. Needless to say, I was tired, she was tired and Matt was tired. We all got up at 7:30 today. Matt graciously let me get a quick shower so I could just wake up and not be dead on my feet even though he had to be at work at 9. Matt brought a cup of coffee up to me and by the time I made it downstairs he had wet jetted the kitchen! I immediately prepped for playgroup (cleaned and got snack together). After playgroup started I had another two cups of tea. Maddy was clingy and not very active in playgroup but after the last few nights of sleep she's had, it's to be expected. She wasn't crabby though, so it wasn't bad.

After lunch I laid her down and let her cry it out at 12:30.... Oooooh Lord. She got out of bed, pounded on the door, cried, slammed her piano keys, threw toys...basically threw a royal fit. When I heard a huge thump I ran up to make sure she was ok. She was so I quickly just put her in her bed and turned around and walked out. Within another set of crying she was out. I hated the idea though. I didn't know if she was sleeping on the floor? In bed? In the rocking chair?? After 45 minutes she woke up and started crying. So I ran up and was relieved to see her in her bed and I brought her downstairs declaring nap 'over'. I know she wanted to rock and be snuggled in her rocking chair but we snuggled on the couch while we played and watched TV. I don't want her to associate needing to snuggle with sleep!!

This evening actually went surprisingly well so far. I know Matt was dreading it. He was home early enough give her a bath and help with bedtime. I was especially thankful for that since he thought he would need to work late tonight. We laid her down and after 4 minutes of crying/yelling (from her bed) she was quiet. About six minutes in she was crying again so we went up and gave her a quick hug/kiss goodnight and laid her back down. I feel horrible running out of the room leaving a crying kid behind. But after less than 2 minutes she was quiet and we haven't heard from her since. So.... I think it's working?! I can say it's definitely better than it was at nap.

Now, this won't be a cake walk. She's going to wake up at 1 and want snuggles and we're going to need to do it all over again. And I think that will be harder since it's the middle of the night and who DOESN'T want snuggles then?! I think I should still go to bed early tonight.

Tea of the day: 3 cups of pumpkin spice black tea... and when that didn't help my headache I took two advil. :)

I apologize for all the grammatical errors in the above post when I first posted it. I'm sure you'll still find two or three, but call it sleepy errors, ok?

Well, last night didn't go all that bad. We were still up with her 3 times, but only for 10 minutes each. She only had to cry it out once, the other two times she went back to sleep on her own without help. She still asks for more 'rock, rock!' as we get up out of the chair, but we tell her that, "No, it's time to go to sleep." She seems to be accepting it fairly well and I'm glad she stays in her bed!

I can't tell you how nice it was to get some time to sit down between her going to bed and us going to bed! It was really nice to relax a little bit. Sleeping wasn't all that bad either!

My pumpkin seeds went over well yesterday. Store bought seeds and homemade seeds are just totally different. I am addicted to them, but I've put some aside that I can snack on and put the rest away. They are very fatty, after all.

Today Maddy and I were heading off to class but I forgot my car had a flat tire! Actually, one of my mom's group friends told me yesterday but I completely forgot about it. So we were half way there and we turned around and came home. It looks more low than anything else. After we got home, we just stayed outside and walked to the park and played for a long time.

It was so nice that there weren't any cat tails floating around for her to be obsessed about. She went on all the playground equipment and did NOT want to go home at 12. But it was time for lunch and I had to drag her out of the park. She chowed down on mac and cheese and now she's down for a nap.

I am waiting for UPS to get here! My package from Sephora is coming today and honestly, I haven't bought anything from them in so long. Although now my Gift Certificate is burning a hole in my pocket.

Well, I have class tonight. I will take Matt's car since mine will most likely be in the shop. Matt advised me to go straight there and take the shop's shuttle home, but I reminded him that Maddy needed a car seat so that wouldn't work. So now instead, he and I will most likely need to take the car up tonight after changing to the spare. I guess I could be doing that now. I was glad I had enough air to drive home on from going half way to class. Another tire looks low, too.

Alrighty, I'm outta here. Stuff to do while she's sleeping and the darn lawnmower guys are here today so they tend to wake her up.

Tea of the day: 2 cups of new teaology tea for me to try. Both were delicious. A nice gift from MC!

Well, we are keeping busy today since Daddy won't be home before Maddy's bedtime. We were all up at 6:30, ready to go and out the door to deliver the car to the shop to get my tire fixed (windshield wipers replaced and brake fluid flushed/filled, oil changed). Then we dropped Matt off at work and stopped in for a bit to pick up my cupcake holder. Maddy and I then went off to the farm for a bit then back home. I loaded up the car with all the books I'm giving to the thrift store and we went there, to the post office and then Arby's for lunch. Unfortunately, Maddy fell asleep on the way home so now she doesn't want to nap. Speaking of. She's crying, gotta go!

Maddy had SUCH a blast tonight! I was so impressed with how fast she catches on to what she's supposed to do. She put up with getting into her turtleneck and outfit. I didn't use the ODU socks since her shoes were a teensy bit tight and she was wearing tights anyway to keep her warm. But the weather was fabulous--very mild! It was in the mid-sixties at least! So she didn't need a coat at all. I taped her pompoms to her megaphone so there would only be one thing to handle. Even at that rate, I had the camera, her megaphone/candy collector and a walmart bag to put the extra candy in. Speaking of extra candy, man, people were THROWING candy at her. They'd hold out her bowl and I'd tell her to take one and they'd say, "Oh, she can have more than one, here, have MORE! MORE!" I know she's cute and all... but man, she (nor I) do not need the candy. But it was sweet.

She really did well saying Trick-or-treat and thank you. She said bye at almost every house. She would get up the stairs with my help (she's still not all that great on stairs) and run to the door to knock on it. She loves to knock on doors! We only did our court and then after that she helped me pass out candy for a little while before we came inside, watched an Elmo, ate a snack and went to bed.

She passed right out! Then again, she only got a 25 minute nap today in the car and wouldn't nap after that.

So, instead I packed her up and we headed out to the bank to deposit a check. Then after that deposit, we went over to Bed Bath and Beyond and bought a Dyson 17 Animal Vacuum Cleaner. I'm sure Maddy hated to see it go into the cart since she hates vacuums, but well.. So we brought it home, I emptied out the box and vacuumed the living room. I can't believe the amount of junk I picked up in this thing. I am in shock. I just vacuumed Monday and I had a good inch and a half of junk I picked up!

So it was an eventful day of: Dropping off the car, visiting Matt's work, going to the farm, the thrift store, the post office, out to lunch, the bank, to bed bath and beyond and trick-or-treating! I have to say, it went really fast and Maddy was worn out enough to fall asleep in 3 minutes flat.

Speaking of, I may just do the same.

Oh! I forgot to mention! She even understands the hierarchy of candy, too. The first house we went to she received a small bag of candy including a dum dum. Well, she wanted to open her candy then and there so I let her have the dum dum. Well, two houses later she received a hershey miniature. (Mind you, she's never had hershey's only M&Ms on occasion.) Well, she DITCHED the dum dum and tried to dive into the Hersheys!! LOL! What can I say, she knows good candy when she sees it!!

Caffeine of the day: Coffee with a packet of Land-o-lakes mint hot chocolate and a shot of whole milk. YUM. What a great mint mocha!