A Blog for Shortpants

Apparently, my like of interest in my blog is driving a wedge between shortpants and I. So, this is for you shortpants.

You may, or may not know who shortpants is, but she really wants to read about what's going on in my life. I guess speaking to each other several times a day, I fail to let her know anything of interest.

So it has been nearly a year. I am lacking internet access at home, hence the forgotten Blog. Things are nearly the same. Dani has been involved with the Unicorn Theatre, some day soon I will add pics. She is starting Soccer this Week, and Tim is her coach.

Holden still doesn't sleep, and he still likes to hit. But he is still REALLY CUTE too. He is talking a lot, and he loves Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog (as does Dani) and Cars (pixar).

I am still playing my guitar and singing, and have added some mandolin to the mix.

There you have it! I am now going to add any pics of me or my kids that happen to be on the computer at work. So here they are.

6 months gone... 28 to go.

On December 31, 2007 (new years eve.) I had to go to instacare. I wasn't feeling well, and of course I felt awful on a day that my doctor's office was not open. (Isn't that how it always goes?)

Anywho, I hadn't been to the doctor, for me (usually just the kids), since my 6 wk check up after I had Holden. So, I had to step on the scale, as a person often does when seeing a doctor. Boy was I surprised! I guess I had been in some serious denial. I knew I had gotten heavy, especially after seeing some pics of christmas, but EEEEEE GADS!!!!!!!

After seeing my weight at it's ultimate high, I was shocked into action. It has now been 6 months since I decided to change my life, and I am happy to report that I have lost 32 lbs. It wasn't easy, but it wasn't awful. I am not quite ready for the full body shots, but I think you can tell, even in my face. Now if only I can get the cute hair back, from the first photo!

I have 28 more to go. I don't know if I can do it in the next 6 months, but I sure would like to. I am hoping for at least 15, though!!!

mmmm........cake!

So, I don't really have anything really interesting to blog about, but I do have some cute pics to share. For Dani's 5th birthday, I decided to try making fondant and decorating her cake with it. This was my first time with fondant, but it turned out Great! Dani and I had a lot of fun making it, and it was soooooooo cute. We decided to make her cake a birthday present.

Dani is really into Webkinz (stuffed animals, Internet game), so she had a Webkinz theme party with her cousins Brynnley and Conner. One of her Webkinz, a white terrier, has a bow on it's head that is pink with white polka dots. So, Dani wanted her cake to be pink with white polka dots. We then put a small figure of her white terrier on the cake. Anyway, it was a lot of fun, and we got some cool pics.

Oh, we gave Dani a guitar for her birthday, and she had her first lesson on Monday the 9th. She

is doing well. It is pretty exciting.

Double Booked

This last year, I have really gotten back into music. I've written three new songs this year, which isn't much, but I hadn't written in 5 + years, so it's been great. I have been playing a lot of solo acoustic shows locally, mostly in coffee shops. Anyway, there is this one place (Citrus & Sage)that I hadn't played, that seemed to be really popular. I tried calling them for a few months, and finally just went in to talk to them at the end of April. He put me down for May 30th, and I was really excited.

The problem was, that it was a 3 hour set! The longest solo show I've ever played is two hours, so I had to add an hour of material. That is around 12-15 songs. I didn't want to play too many covers (other peoples songs) so, I had to find all of the songs I've ever written, and fix them, and write new ones. It was a lot of work.

The next big problem was finding time to practice. Holden will NOT let me practice, and if he's sleeping, I can't sing or play very loud at all. And if you've heard me, you know I've got some loud pipes. So, I didn't get any real practice in until May 29.

May 30th came, and I was really excited, becauseI had worked pretty hard, and waited a while to play there. Also, A lot of people said they were coming, which doesn't really mean much in Logan (flaky) but still, it was exciting.

I went home and got everything ready. I had a sitter for the kids. I fed them, bathed them, and got Holden to bed early. Then I got all my stuff packed, and waited for Timmy to get home from Rock Springs, so we could be there to set up by 6:30.

Tim finally showed at 6:15, got dressed quickly, and we were there by 6:40.

..............Well, apparently we didn't get there quick enough. ANOTHER BAND WAS SETTING UP! I was sooooooooooooo mad! I went in to see what was up, and she didn't know. I wasn't on the big calender on the wall. She gave me "Steve's" number and told me to call him. This is the guy that wrote me in his book.

I called "Steve" and he apologized and said he was really embarrassed for being so unprofessional. I was in his book, but not on the calendar, so they thought it was an open night, so they gave it to his coworkers boyfriends sons band. (what a mouthful).

The worst part, is if I had got there first and set up before that band, they would be the ones going home angry! It really SUCKED!

Head Bangers Ball

So, I know that all of my blogs are about Holden, but he is just full of good material! Yes, Holden has once again become a problem child. I thought his poor sleeping was a struggle, but this one takes the cake....(mmmmmmmmm...cake).

Holden has, how shall I put this, "anger management" issues. He has a serious temper. It used to be kinda funny, because he was so tiny to be so angry. It is officially not funny. He has started banging his head on things over and over and over, when he is angry. Not just when he is angry. When he doesn't get his way. And it isn't soft banging, it is like someone is holding the back of his hair and banging his head for him. I don't know how he does it so hard!

A girl I work with looked it up, and told me not to worry to much. It isn't that out of the ordinary, and he is too small to do very much damage. Apparently it is soothing for him. I am supposed to ignore him. Or distract him BEFORE he starts. This is ridiculously impossible. There is no way I believe he can't do damage! He has a giant bruise and broken capilaries all over his fore head! It is soooooooo sad!

I put him on my bed once, so he could have at it, but it was too soft. This really made him angry and he searched for something harder to hit his head on.

Okay, so I get that I was REALLY crazy once. Is this my punishment for what I put my mother through!? Cuz at least I was a teenager. He is too young to be this CRAZY!
If anyone has any ideas, please let me know, cuz I am all out of them.

Absence of husband, Absence of bottle

When I say, "absence of bottle," popular to contrary belief, I do not mean vodka. As hard as it is having Tim gone ALL of the time, I have not turned to drinking!



As you all know, Tim works A LOT. As most of you know, he works out of town A LOT. This is rough, because I miss him of course, but I also struggle taking the kids to work with me all of the time, and then coming home to take care of them some more, while cooking and cleaning, and all of that fun stuff. Well, I have finally found a reason to be thankful for his absence!



As some of you know, (man I sure can sound redundant) Holden has "issues" with sleeping. His main issue being, LACK OF sleeping. Tim and I had been going crazy for some time,until we finally broke down, and allowed Holden to have a bottle of water at bed time, ....and nap time. Basically, any time he needed sleep. This worked great in getting him to sleep. It, however, does not keep him asleep. The combination of getting up every three hours to give him more water, changing his wet jammers, and washing three pairs of jammers a day; has made me come to the conclusion that the bottle MUST go!



Now, Tim and I have struggled with this daunting task in the past, but the all night scream fests, just aren't conducive to Tim's early hours, and long work days. So, this week, I decided to take advantage of Tims' absence, and let the scream fest begin.



The bad news, is Holden and I have been exhausted these past few days. The good news is, IT WORKED. After a couple nights of screaming, Holden can now fall asleep without it. And I am also happy to report, he can stay asleep too!

Good Morning Little School Girl

In the recent past, this time of year has always been "Back to School" Season. Even though it has been a few years since I was in school, I still feel that "back to school" vibe, now and again. Today, the vibe has changed FOREVER! My little girl had her first day of school!
Granted, it is only preschool, but it is really strange. I feel so OLD! I can't believe she has grown up so quickly. It was so fun to see her lay out her school clothes, and wear her back pack around the house all morning.
I thought I was ready. Preshcool, no big deal, right? Wrong! Dropping her off was sooooooooooo hard! I have been a stay at home mom her entire life thus far. The only day care she has ever been to, is a couple of hours at the Sports Academy Kids Klub (the gym). Now, and for the next 20 or more years, this time of year will be "Back to School" for my kids. I am sooooo OLD!
Now, although it was sad, (and a little life altering!) This has been a fantastic day. Dani loves school. She is so independent, and honestly, she is ready to break away and become the person she is going to be. I hope what I have taught her thus far will stick, because from now on, she will be learning from outside influences. She is such a neat little person, and this is going to make her even greater.
I also didn't mind the 3 hours alone (Holden went to Grandmas!) I got Holden's nursery painted! FINALLY! He won't be a baby much longer!