Almost there

The guest room is almost done. It was never going to look like a 5 star hotel, but at least you can see the bed. Progress. Huge progress. You can open the door completely, it has significantly less boxes than it did before (note to self: take boxes that were thrown down the stairs out to garage cuz now the living room is messy), and it has been dusted and vacuumed. My procrastination = results. I just wish Ethan would realize that. Don't push me, let me do it when I'm ready. I really thought he would be impressed but he was just mad because a bunch of stuff ended up in the office. Oh, I don't know, why would all the books end up in the office? Gee, maybe because thats where all the bookcases are...3 of them to be exact. As a matter of fact, all the bookcases are in the office, except for a small one in Ryan's room. And I found a box of "important papers"...Ethan's term, not mine. At every house we have had some type of "important paper" pile or folder or box or something. I think these are all the papers from when we bought the Oceanside house. No idea, I just know they are important and I DO know they don't belong in the guest room.

The only stuff that ended up in the office that does not belong there is a huge pile of extra blankets, pillows, sheets, etc. Our linen closet is small. Its not even a closet, its a few cabinets built into the wall upstairs. I have smashed everything I can into it, so we usually used our guest room to store that kind of stuff. I use the term "store" loosely, what I really mean was when we washed a blanket or set of sheets we put a new one on, then once the other set came out of the dryer it got thrown into the guest room. Thats how we roll ladies and gentlemen. Now I've got lots of blankets, throw pillows, a pregnancy body pillow, another body pillow and some dog bed covers laying in a huge heep that seems to make Ethan cringe. And if he is reading this: Had you not taken the doors off the closet in the office maybe some of this would fit in there. Or maybe if you took your clothes of the top shelf of our closet, maybe they would fit there too. So, until you get any better ideas they will stay in the office and MAYBE I will find them...in my spare time :)

Oh, he took the doors off the closet to put our computer desk in there. I think he thinks it saves space...but really, we didn't need any space saving. The office is big enough to accomodate everything that should be in there. Now I am without an extra closet. We did that at the Oceanside house when space was an issue. Ryan's room used to be the office/craft room, while another room was Ethan's real estate office. So, all he had in there was real estate stuff and his laptop because it was a tax deduction. He would not allow any non-real estate related stuff in there. Once we had Ryan we had to move the computer into the real estate office, so our computer was on a desk in the closet, while Ethan's real estate stuff was still separate. My craft stuff got moved to the guest room. It worked out just fine, but for some reason, Ethan has developed a love for the desk in the closet... some things I cannot explain.

On to more interesting things. I found something to wear under my dress! I thank everyone for their suggestions. I should mention I have not actually tried it on under my dress since the dress is not done, and I just bought it Wednesday, but I was happy with it when I tried it on. And, it came from Walmart. I'm sorry Liz, you can stop reading if you want:) But, it was $12.99. It was not to be passed up. Plus, a few other things played a part in this decision as well. 1) Target - did not like what they had. I think the brand is Sarah Blankley or something. Maybe I just have too much fat for it to work, who knows, but I was super disappointed because I thought it was going to be the one, and was only $25. It seemed very flimsy. 2) Chicos-I don't have a store close by, but their website only listed them having real Spanx so there was no savings there. 3) We were counting on Ethan's free roundtrip ticket from Southwest and when I booked our trip they said it didn't work....do not get me started. We even tried to convert his Rapid Rewards to Freedom Rewards and lose some in the process, just to get any discount, but it didn't work. SO, $ has been an issue. 4) The shoe debacle - i have been searching everywhere, trying not to spend $100 on shoes i will most likely never wear again. I had talked myself and the bride out of dyeable shoes, but could find nothing in an ivory or champagne that would work. She said I needed a thick heel or wedge due to the terrain I'm going to be walking on. I searched high and low....it was a mission. Then I found shoes at the one bridal store in my town. It is a scary place....but by the time I was to special order them and dye them it was going to be $85! Then, miraculously when I went back 2 days later to take the leap and buy them I found a style I liked better, they had my size in stock and for some reason the dye was cheaper. Do not ask me how this happend. Maybe the lord had a hand in this, but all I know is I walked out of there for $55 total. Still more than the fabric from my dress...but let's not dwell on that.

So, things are looking up. I get to see my friend tomorrow and I haven't seen her since Ryan was 5 months old. She will have a bed to sleep on. Our DC trip is all taken care of, except the rental car. I found shoes! My hair is no longer a weird color. I found some pictures of Ethan and I from the early years, and all of our wedding cards. I stopped and looked at pictures of Ryan when he was a baby....a little tiny baby. I cannot believe that the little boy taking a nap in his room is the same little boy from those pictures. The boy who when I missed the ball he threw to me said "it ok mommy try again." When he walked into the guest room and saw how different it looked he said "good job mommy"...and then he clapped. Ok, I'm a bit teary eyed now. I love that little man so much and I need to stop calling him little because I'm pretty sure he no longer fits in his crib anymore. I was always told, keep them in there until they try and climb out which totally makes sense to me. But when I looked at him laying in there he looks gigantic!

Who is gonna clean the guest room?

A bit late, but that is my brother, sister and I on Mother's Day. We will be framing that for my mom since her birthday is tomorrow. We get no break from the holidays over here. Ignore my blondish/reddish hair because that has been taken care of. Apparently I am a brunette and my hair is now dark like my sister's...and brother's...and everyone else in the family! And yes, I am the oldest and the shortest.

Onto procrastination. Procrastination reigns over here. I have always thought I did my best work under pressure, especially in college. Why write a paper early? Come on, there are more important things to do like...watch TV. Hello. Actually, I spent a lot of time thinking about what I was going to write and ruminating about them, etc. so the paper writing process wasn't too bad. I happen to think you can do it like that or you can't--you are born that way. I was born with the ability to write a decent paper that did not sound like BS. As an English major with a focus in British Literature (very useful I must say) the ability to write papers quickly was helpful since if I wasn't watching TV I was reading...always reading. I love to read, but I had to read some crap back then. I did ok since I graduated with a decent GPA, enough to get me a special cord to wear at graduation. I think it was Dean's List or Honor Roll or something...I'm pretty sure I had a 3.0+ so I procrastination didn't hurt me too badly. And ofcourse I procrastinated with my lesson planning and grading when I was a teacher and all of my filing when I was a legal secretary but I never missed any deadlines so it kinda has become a part of my life.

Hence the guest room/junk room. When we moved back home the option of a 4th bedroom wasn't a necessity since all of our guests live about 10 min from us. The house we found to rent had the fourth bedroom and from the day we moved in it has been a disaster. I wanted to post a pic about a month ago to show you what I was going to have to accomplish in a month, but I forgot. Only believe me when I say the futon had stuff stacked on it almost to the ceiling. There are boxes everywhere. There is a large desk in there that was SUPPOSED to be a scrapbooking desk that is also piled high with stuff. Then about two weeks ago Ethan couldn't handle it, knowing we are having guests THIS WEEKEND he started cleaning. That is not acceptable because his cleaning means THROW EVERYTHING AWAY THAT IS BRANDI'S ESPECIALLY ANY WRAPPING PAPER OR BASKETS OR CHRISTMAS STUFF. So, that could not go on. I told him to find something else to do and let me deal with it aka STOP TOUCHING MY STUFF. Turns out he has a lot of stuff in there. For example, boxes of clothes that "will fit when I lose weight." Are you kidding me? Is he secretly a chick? Ok, he is gonna hate me for that. I finally managed to get rid of most of those clothes but some friend's of my parents had to have a fire for him to donate them. Then I realized alot of the boxes were books and after putting them in our empty bookcases in the office (go figure) there was a lot more room.

But still, it is no were habitable for my friend and her fiance. My friend the bride. Which also means my mom is supposed to have the dress close to finished for my friend to see when she is here. And I still do not have shoes. Do not get me started on the shoes. Anyway, I have less than a week to finish while managing a toddler.

And I found ants in the house yesterday. And my knee hurts and I have no idea why, but the stairs are really painful. And my allergies are bothing me, and so are Ryan's. And he slept 2 nights in a row, but then didn't again last night. And....you get the picture. Happy cleaning to me!

Dr. Spock is back

Yes, I am having to deal with my dad giving me parenting advice again. This time it was "what is wrong with Ryan watching 2 hrs of tv in a row?" Now, I fully accept that when I'm not there Ryan is probably watching cartoons. I appreciate that I can drop him off for a while and run errands, so I"m not gonna bitch about that--at least not really. And, normally, Ryan does not stand in front of the TV mesmerized. He runs around, plays with his car, etc. Usually when I leave him with my dad (usually not longer than an hour) they play outside and go for walks. It has gotten hotter in the last few days. It was 91 today and is supposed to be 100 tomorrow so they have been staying inside. In the beginning Ryan didn't ask for TV. He is content to play with his cars, but I think my dad thinks he NEEDS the tv. I'm not saying my dad has to turn the TV off, its his house--he just doesn't need to turn on Noggin or Disney. He is constantly asking Ryan "what do you want to watch" or "what's on next?" I know Tv makes things easier...I'm not saying I haven't thrown in a Baby Einstein dvd so I could unload the dishwasher, or just have 20 min of quiet. I am by no means perfect but there has to be a balance. I don't expect my dad to be teaching him algebra equations, just cut down on the TV.

And now, as soon as we go to Papa's house Ryan says "Papa wanna watch Diego"....and then its just constant TV. He still plays, but I've caught him with the blank TV stare a few times. Finally today I told my dad to change the channel. Ryan had been there for 2 hrs and Noggin had been on the whole time. My dad knows all about Wonder Pets now. Geez. I told him that Ryan gets to watch cartoons in the morning when I am trying to wake up and be halfway coherent, and then a short dvd before nap. That is more than enough. If he asks to watch a specific program then fine, turn it on, and then when its over turn it off. There is no need to continue watching more shows, especially Wonder Pets. I HATE WONDER PETS.

This little "discussion" came after my dad made a steretypical remark and I told him to watch what he said in front of Ryan because we weren't raising him LIKE THAT. And then two seconds later I make a comment that my dad can buy his own cheese because he was complaining my mom didn't buy any cheese and he says I'm sassy....well, yes, usually, but this time I really felt he was getting back at me for not backing down at the TV issue. Ug.

Some other things I don't understand and have seen lately: a lady smoking while walking his dog, a guy smoking while riding his bike = WTF?

Oh, and I finally saw MC Hammer at the gym last week and forgot to tell y'all. His hair bandana matched his shirt. Priceless.

Happy Mother's Day...I'm flying solo

Happy Mother's Day to all my great mommy friends out there. I feel like at some point or another I have taken parts of your fabulous mommi-ness and tried to work it into my life. So, thanks for being who you are and for being different than me, thanks for your advice, and most of all, thanks for listening/reading, especially on those days I am losing my mind. Its important to know I'm not alone.

As for the solo part, Ethan left for a conference in Tahoe about 20 min ago. I know, on Mother's Day. Who planned that? Well, I would be surprised if there were 10 female engineers but still, kind of a bummer. We did celebrate with my family yesterday, and Ethan spent some time with his sisters at his mom's house doing yard work for her.

I"m not looking for any sympathy because all the military wives LIVE this everyday when their husbands are deployed so its not even on the same scale. NOT. EVEN. CLOSE. But, as Ethan was packing I started to think about when the last time was that he was gone for a while and realized this is his first solo trip since Ryan was born. This really isn't about if I can handle it or not, because ofcourse I can. I do this everyday but it just caught me about how much closer we have grown and how much more I depend on him, even when he is not technically here at the house.

Before Ryan was born Ethan would go on hunting trips with his dad for about a week and I would really look forward to being alone in the house. I could watch what I wanted, eat what I wanted, etc. Then about half way through I would miss him terribly...I took several trips to Northern Cali alone before Ryan was born. Ethan couldn't get the time off so I would go up for long weekends for friend's birthdays or baby showers, etc. The last time Ethan left was when I was about 27 weeks pregnant. He went to Utah to help put a new roof on his grandma's house. I did not go because 1) Utah in the summer is HOT 2) i was fat and already hot in San Diego. I stayed home, went to work as usual, and ran the AC all night long. Ethan got the bill and freaked out but come on, I WAS HOT. My mom and sister came for the weekend and we did lots of shopping and started painting Ryan's room. That seems sooooo long ago.

The difference is that this is the first time just one of us will be home with Ryan while the other is gone. Technically, Ethan is only here for about an hour in the morning, but that is a huge help to me because I get to stay in bed a little longer while they eat breakfast. And at night, if i'm lucky, he is here for about an hour but he helps with bath and bed, and I believe Ryan really needs that connection time with his daddy. He loves him so much. I'm trying to plan a lot of stuff this week to keep us busy. My only issue is that Ryan has been testing boundaries these last few weeks and I'm losing my temper quite easily lately with the 2.5 yr old attitude. Knowing that I won't have a true break until 8:00 at night is a bit daunting...The bright side of this is that now that we live close to family I can always call for help. My mom already invited us over for dinner tonight and Ryan loves being over there. I made dinner plans with a friend for Tuesday so my sister is going to put Ryan to bed.

Ryan is taking a nap, and I'm realizing that I'm not only going to miss Ethan's help with the kiddo, but I'll miss our evenings together--even if its just having dinner and watching TV, or him playing Super Mario Galazy while I read. He's a good guy and I just like him around, thats all :)

On a happier note, my mom and I got pedicure this morning and it was lovely. I had a french lavender scrub = yum. I'm also looking into the Chicos and Target fake spanx and I'll let you know what I find out. I will be trekking over to Nordy's next weekend to try on the real ones. The closest Nordy's is about 45 min away so Ethan and I are gonna make a day of it and go to PF Changs for lunch.

**side note to the Ethan going to Utah story. he was so worried i was going to have the baby while he was gone and i kept telling him not to worry. then he got home...and the next day i had contractions and had to go to the hospital, LOL. but i told him, hey, at least i waited until you got home. they were able to stop them and nothing happened....apparently those were good meds cuz they kept him in there for 42 weeks!

My new found love for the Disney Channel

Its quiet over here, wanna know why? Handy Manny is on!!! I recently figured out that Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Handy Manny are on at 8:30/9. Perfect time for me to shower and get ready and keep Ryan occupied. Or, it is the perfect time for me to check e-mail, blog and then do 2 laps around the lake and go to the park. Can't shower before that, which means I still have to shower when he naps (which i consider wasting my free time, but whatever). Oh, and Ryan comes with me for the walk/park...don't think I'm leaving him home watching Disney alone!!! The only problem is I have to get the tv turned off before Winnie the Pooh starts or we are in trouble. I've been really trying to regulate his tv/dvd watching, and now we seem to be in a schedule he understands. He gets to watch some in the morning, then a short dvd (usually baby einstein) before nap. He understands lunch-dvd-nap. I love it!!! What I don't love his his night time sleep. I'm wracking my brain to figure out what it could be, and the only thing I can come up with is he still is trying to sleep with us from weeks ago when he was sick. But the "Davis" in me says he wouldn't be waking up if he wasn't over tired so I'm kinda stuck. Not sure if I'm $75 stuck yet since I'm gonna be spending $70 on Spankx. Priorities people, priorities. Sunday he took a 3 hr nap, yesterday it was 2.5 hrs and I woke him up because it was 3:00. I have the don't sleep past 3:00 nap rule. I'm also trying to figure out if its worth spending the $75 to talk to our sleep consultant again when in a few weeks we'll be sharing a condo with Ethan's family for a few days and Ryan will be sleeping with us....which means the process will probably need to start all over again. Then the DC trip is right after that and if he wakes up at night my mom won't be able to let him cry so I just might wait till all the weird stuff is over.

Ryan has been hilarious lately and I wanted to share a few. We were at the park, sitting under a gazebo with picnic tables/benches. He was sitting across from me and said "mommy where's the food?" I told him our food is at home. He asked me again, then said "but mommy there are tables." Apparently if you have a table you should have food. He is totally my kid.

Ryan: wanna watch a movie mommy
Me: No, u watched cartoons this morning already
Ryan: WANNA WATCH A MOVIE
Me: you can watch a movie after lunch, before nap
Ryan: WANT LUNCH MOMMY
It was 10:00am

Ryan is able to memorize people's cars. If he sees a Honda Pilot he says "there is Kristopher's mommy's car" and he is right every time :)

He is also obsessed with candy. I think this started around halloween...and we still have halloween candy. Every once in a while I'll let him have a piece if he asks nicely. And now he mimics me because when he asks he says "wanna piece of candy mommy just ONE piece" and when he says ONE he puts 1 finger up, and then says "and no crying."

Ryan asked for a cheest stick and we didn't have any. I know, what kind of mom am I? They are a food group unto themselves at this house. I told him we didn't have any and he said "mommy they have cheese at the store, go in the car to the store." Now, had he been asking for french fries I might have jumped in the car to get them...but for cheese, I could wait a few hrs.

We found some crayons in his art box and we were coloring together. He looked over and said "nice coloring mommy." He also likes to say "good job daddy" when they are playing.

I think I posted about how I was a rockstar mom when I figured out the electric toothbrush would be a hit. It is Super Mario because it was the only character they had that I thought he wold recognize. Ethan plays Super Mario on the Wii---alot. And now, every night before he brushes his teeth we all say in unison "Super Mario Galaxy." We are geeks.

Ok, Handy Manny will be over in a few minutes and I need to get to the TV before Pooh starts so we can head off for our morning walk/park. As for the spankx, I found one that goes up to the bra and attaches. I figure that will be the best since if you just get the underwear you are gonna end up with rolls somewhere else. This way I will be covered from boob to butt :)

Sucking in the fat

I knew that would get your attention. I need to know if any of my 4 readers have worn Spankx or Flexees or anything like that. Basically, anything kind of undergarment you have worn that sucked in the fat and worked...I'm interested. This is for my bridesmaid dress. Alas, I do not think the losing weight fairy is going to make it here in time and its time for my mom to start the dress. Plus, we want it to be finished at the end of May when the bride will be here for a quick visit.

I have heard fantastic things about Spankx and I know everyone wears them on the red carpet. But...I'm having a temperature issue. I don't want a lot of bulk. This is going to be Maryland in June--very humid and hot. Most likely around 85, outdoor wedding. You get my point. Most of the Spankx I have seen are one piece and I'm pretty sure they do not make the top big enough to fit the girls. Then I've seen some that look like bike shorts, but again, seems like a lot of added material when I'm already wearing a 2 layer dress (crepe and sheer which is like chiffon).

I've seen Flexees underwear that have tummy control. That might do, if it actually works. My other option is the corset strapless bra. That usually gives good tummy control. The one I tried on at the bridal store was nice, but it was once size too small. So, if I can find one in my size that might work, though I am hesitant to wear a strapless bra due to the size of the girls.

It really is more complicated than it needs to be. I need to lift the girls up and suck in the tummy fat. Suggestions...please.

BTW: no the sleeping situation is not any better, but thanks for asking :)