last night, the fam was in Sam’s club looking around and Ellie was getting a little punchy. 
Punchy = whiny, done with the whole thing, tired, finished, etc…

Luckily, the night before we had checked out “llama, llama, mad at mama” from the library, on a recommendation from a friend of mine. If you haven’t read the book, its all about llama llama shopping at the shop-o-rama with mama and how he gets slightly punchy too.

i simply asked her if she was like the little llama in the book and if his mama liked that. she settled down a bit, and we continued shopping.

a few aisles later, this gentleman stops us and says “i just have to say something. you hear all of these parents yelling at their children to behave and it doesn’t work. you simply referred to a book you read together and that diffused the situation perfectly. so, bravo”

what a guy…my new hero…and way to make a mom feel like she’s worth something.

i did not mention to this gentleman that this was in fact the first, and only time, that i can recall my daughter listening to me in public. i also failed to mention that i had most definitely raised my voice with my child before…and probably will again. no, i did not mention these things…i just let myself bask in the glory of having someone recognize that i’m trying…and for once it worked.

i do not know this gentleman…but if he ever happens to stumble upon this blog…i just want to say thank you, mr. random for making me feel awesome!~

She loves to be out in the snow to begin with, its no secret, but her eyes lit up when she opened the shovel for Christmas and knew it meant she could actually shovel with daddy…she was in heaven.

I’m sure it was the first of many days of her staying out until her little cheeks turn red and she’s chilled to the bone…but loving every minute of doing things just like her daddy.

Thanks Stan and Sandy for the great gift, its going to get a lot of use!

Now, I don’t really drink…but if i wasn’t nursing my son…i would probably be an alcoholic by now. I actually told Nathan today that i may have to nurse Evan forever just to prevent myself from becoming one.

Ellie wakes up this morning, stumbles out of her room into the computer room and says to me…”mommy, where’s daddy”. I reply “at work”…meltdown #1. Perhaps I needed to say that more gently? Maybe next time I’ll try “honey, he’s at work, but don’t worry…he still loves you although he leaves you here with me during the day.”

We’re watching morning cartoons, playing with babies..and mommy is rocking baby Evan to sleep…Ellie is dancing…has to go potty. I decide not to ask her to go, after all, I won’t be around everytime she has to go. I just wait. All of a sudden, she drops everything and runs to the bathroom. Starts screaming…wet her pants….meltdown #2.

Evan, not sleeping anymore, starting meltdown #1 of his own in the crib.

Left him there, trying to find sanity of my own.

Making lunch, occassionally checking in on Ellie who is standing in a clothes basket right in front of the television. I ask her to move back…and to sit, if anything, in the clothes basket. Meltdown #3.

Evan, still on meltdown #1, but its gone on long enough to qualify now as #2. Eventually he did fall asleep…like 20 minutes before I was going to feed him.

Thank goodness for having to work, for jobs, for sanity breaks, for day care providers who like my children.

Growing up, one of the things my family always had around Christmas time was Eggnog. Some years we even got all the stuff and made our own, and I grew up loving Eggnog. Since then I’ve started doing things like reading labels and have realized how much I shouldn’t really drink Eggnog, especially since my wife doesn’t enjoy it and I would be “stuck” drinking the entire carton. So lately I’ve settled for an Eggnog Shake from McDonalds. It’s not really the real thing, but it works.

We stopped at a McDonalds on the way home from Janette’s house after Christmas for my annual shake. It was about 10:00 AM so I figured it would be as quick to go in as to sit through the drive through, so we stopped and I went in while Janette and the kids waited in the car. When I got there there was one person waiting for their order and 6 employees standing around around behind the counter and by the drive through window. After waiting at a cash register for what seemed like a long time and being completely ignored by the lady behind it I finally asked, “Should I come around and help myself?” She looked at me like it was the strangest question she had ever heard and said, “He’ll be right back.” I’m not sure who “he” was but apparently she decided she would attempt to take an order. I asked if they still had Eggnog shakes, and she looked at another gal who said they did, so I asked for a small. Then she tried to wring it up (the other gal also told her it was a special shake). First she had a medium shake. Then while she was trying to remove it she got two medium shakes. Finally someone came over and showed her how to change things to one small shake and we got it paid for. Next she attempted to make the shake. First she had to ask someone what button was the “special” shake button. Then she had trouble figuring out that you have to have the cup all the way in the shake machine for it to work. Finally she got shake coming out and into the cup, but apparently she didn’t have the right size because it didn’t stop when it got to the top of the cup. I was beginning to wonder if I should have skipped the Eggnog shake this year. Finally some guy showed up that looked like a manager and took over for her and successfully finished making the shake.

Janette had a little quick shopping to do, so I stayed in the van with the kids and shared the Eggnog shake with Ellie. When I gave it to her she got a little bit and said, “Mmmm, it’s yummy! What is it?” I told her it was an Eggnog shake, and that it’s kind of like ice cream. I figured it was Christmas so it’s okay to have ice cream at 10:30 AM. She proceeded to tell me how much she likes Nogegg shakes and rave about how good it was. I’m not really sure if she likes eggnog, or if she just likes having ice cream before lunch. At one point she was trying to show me the egg she found on the cup, which would have been great if there actually was an egg on the cup.

Overall, it was a good eggnog experience and hopefully I’ve started Ellie on the tradition of loving a good eggnog.

i was checking out some new blogs today and found this one with a fun giveaway…

the apron looks just killer…who wouldn’t love cooking even more while wearing that, and the chocolates – lets just say if you haven’t had see’s candies, you are missing out…and the book – one of my top ten. 

Linking to it — hoping to win!

http://embracethechaos-lene.blogspot.com/2009/01/blogoversary-giveaway.html?showComment=1231108560000#c8263164513813998123