I was watching The View Tuesday; I love their Hot Topics segment. One of the topics was about a young girl that played basketball, she was the only girl on the boy’s team and some people were having a problem with it. The discussion turned into boys playing with girl’s toys and vice versa. One of the co-hosts made the statement that she didn’t want her son playing with dolls. I taught preschool and Kindergarten until my husband re-joined the military. I had fathers that would actually scold their sons for playing in the Dramatic Play area of the classroom, holding a baby doll, or pretend cooking. I would explain that it meant nothing, they were developing skills that would be useful to them their entire lives and they were just playing.
Monkey enjoys all types of toys. She dresses up in princess dresses, builds with wooden blocks, plays with her babies, and digs in the dirt with shovels. She likes to explore, she likes to do art, and she even likes bugs. She takes ballet and tap and she really enjoys that, but if at some point she wants to take Karate or play sports, hubby and I will be happy to let her try. We want our children to be well rounded and we want to give them the opportunities to help achieve that.
Playthings
May 31, 2008 at 4:13 am (Family)
Eating “Dog Bones”
May 19, 2008 at 2:44 am (Monkey)
So, I was having a hankering for BBQ and potato salad, so we went to Famous Dave’s. We had never eaten there before, but decided to try it and satisfy my craving. Being from Alabama, I am used to pulled pork and wet BBQ, but they don’t have that here. Instead I had the Georgia chopped pork sandwich with fries and a side of potato salad, I know, I know, too much starch, but hey, it was SOOOOO incredibly good! Monkey ordered chicken fingers and hubby had the rib platter. While Hubby was eating Monkey decided she’d like to try a rib, so he gave her one, and she picked the bone clean. We ordered her a rib of her own, and she cleaned it, I mean she ate every last bite of meat off that thing, at one point we thought she might bite the bone itself. She kept referring to them as dog bones, which we this thought was kind of cute. Her daddy is very happy that Monkey is a meat lover much like him!
First Official OB Visit
May 13, 2008 at 1:59 am (Pregnancy)
I had my first OB visit today. My hubby and I went to the hospital and sat in room with other pregnant women and their husbands. I had a TB test, filled out my chart, listened to the nurse talk about pregnancy, nutrition, fitness, and all the prenatal visits to come. A woman from WIC came and talked about the program and then someone from Labor and Delivery came and talked to us. It was really rather boring, but necessary. When we were done with that I had to go to the lab and have six tubes of blood drawn and give a urine sample. After that it was to the pharmacy to pick up prenatal vitamins and B6 supplements for nausea. I have an appointment in two weeks with the doctor and will have my first ultrasound.
When were all done my Hubby and I went out to lunch, alone. We love taking our Monkey places with us, but every once in a while it’s nice to go by ourselves.
I dropped Hubby off at work and brought Monkey home. She wanted to go swimming, so she changed into her swim suit and out she went to splash in her pool. It was sort of windy, but she had fun splashing around with her duck and goggles. When we came in she decided to swim in the bath tub-goggles and all!
Good-Bye
May 8, 2008 at 10:40 pm (Army Wife, Family, Monkey)
Today has been a very sad day for Monkey and me. Our neighbors left today to go to their next duty station. I knew that it would be hard. The wives that live in my housing are almost like sisters, we are all very close, we suffered through a fifteen month deployment together, you can’t not get close to people when you are all going through a very tough situation. Our kids play together beautifully and we all feel like they are all our kids. I have been explaining to Monkey that they would be moving, she would say that they were not. Today, I told her they were getting ready to go and that she needed to say goodbye. She hugged everyone and cried “I don’t want them to go bye-bye.” She crawled in the car with them and tried to buckle a seat belt in an attempt to go with them. We all hugged, cried, took pictures, said our good-byes, all vowing to keep in touch, and at some point down the line get together one more time. When they drove away my Monkey with tear filled eyes waved her little hand and whimpered “Good-bye friends.” With that, she turned to me and quietly said “Mommy, I want to go in the house.” I brought her in and she went to her room and sat quietly on her bed, which is her way of dealing with things. I guess this is just another part of Army life that really sucks. I’m grateful for the time that we had with them and they will be missed.
Music
May 8, 2008 at 4:05 am (Monkey)
I am a huge music fan, I listen to everything except rap. My Monkey has inherited that from me and I’m glad. I love music from the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s. I think the greatest song ever recorded is ” Every Rose has it’s Thorn” by Poison. I love hairbands. I know they are not popular today, but I can’t help myself. My iTunes is filled with hairbands and Southern Rock, since I’m from Alabama. Lynard Skynard is on the top of Southern Rock list. My best friend and I have seen the remaining members in concert and it was awesome. I had to give her a crash course in their music though because she had never listened to anything they sang. I found that really sad since everybody knows “Sweet Home Alabama” if not more. Anyway, tonight we went to Target and I bought Def Leppards Greatest Hits. We got in the car to come home and I put it in the CD player. From her seat in the back Monkey lifted her hands and yelled “Free Bird. Skynard!” I am so proud! My hubby, not so much, since he likes neither hairbands or Skynard. I just do not understand!
New Crafty Things
May 5, 2008 at 11:24 pm (Crafts)
On Saturday I received the two packages I ordered from two of my favorite websites, www.addictedtorubberstamps.com and www.addictedtoscrapbooking.com. I visit these sites all the time looking for new stamps and scrap booking stuff. Anyway, I ordered the Penny Black Party Animal Stamp to make a 1st birthday card for our friends little boy. It is even more adorable in person that it was on the website. I also ordered Basic Colours Dual Tip Markers, they are perfect for outlining and coloring the stamps or outline the stamp and then coloring in the picture once it’s stamped on the card stock. So, I outlined the animals, stamped it on the paper, and colored it in. The card turned out so perfectly! I had also purchased papers from Kaiser Scrapbook Cabbage Patch, Sorbet, and Hideaway, fabric flowers from daisy d’s in Fresh, brads in shades of brown that came in the cutest little tin from heidi grace, and finally ribbon from Hot off the Press in Earth Palette. I couldn’t wait to put all of my new crafty finds to use! I’m still pretty new to the whole card making thing, but I have so much fun trying and looking for new things to use. I made the birthday card and then a card for my mom.
Feeling Used
May 2, 2008 at 12:01 am (Army Wife)
My next door neighbors are PCSing to Germany soon and yesterday and today I have been keeping their two year old daughter so that they could pack their suitcases and so the movers could pack up their household belongings. I have no problem at all keeping this little girl. She is at my house a lot, she and Monkey play beautifully together, and I love her like she is one of my own. That being said, today I am feeling a little used. Yesterday she was here from about 10 in the morning until after 5 and today she was here from 9 until after 5 again. I agreed to keep her, didn’t run the errands that I needed to run because I only have one car seat, and made Monkey miss two days of dance, because I wanted to help out my neighbor. So, tonight, when my neighbor picked her up, she told me that she, her husband, their little girl, and another neighbor were going out to dinner. I’m not trying to be petty, but hello, I’ve had her child for two days, all day, and they can’t invite us to dinner? This is not the first time that something like this happened with these people, and I just let it go and go because I don’t like confrontation. I try to be nice and help out people whenever I can because that’s really what it’s all about, but then I get walked on, and I’m really tired of it. I can vent about it, but I can’t tell the people that have hurt me that they’ve done so, even though I wish I could. So, anyway, thanks for listening.
Salad Dressing
May 1, 2008 at 12:49 am (Pregnancy)
My hubby came in late from work last night and rattled around in the kitchen doing who knows what for what seemed like forever. Finally he crawls into bed, I look at him and say “Did you eat salad?” “Yes, a couple of fork fulls out of the bowl in the fridge.” As nicely as I could I say to him “Could you please not breathe on me.” “Why?” He asks. “The salad dressing on your breath is making me nauseous.” He turns over and then I say “What I don’t get kissed goodnight?” To which my sweet hubby replies “You just said that my breath made you want to throw up all over me.”
**I’m pregnant and everything makes me nauseous!**
