Kids will be... monsters

Shawn was working on his car at a friend's house for the better part of the day today so I didn't really do much. Normally I would've been going out of my mind trying to find something to do but I just kind of hung around the house all day. My mom came over later in the evening on her way back from the boyfriend's house. Can you believe she went there with her camera and didn't take a single picture of his dogs? Shame, shame. He has a few hunting dogs and they all sound adorable but no pictures for me to see for myself. ;) I never thought my mom would be in a relationship with a hunter but as far as I can tell, he's one of the good ones. He's not one of those idiots who is out to destroy every animal he can just for sport. He wants to preserve the animals that he hunts and wants them to have places they can go that they won't be hunted. He also doesn't hunt bambi, which for me is a big plus in his favor. Sounds like he's more into pheasants and animals that he can hunt with the dogs. I'm not sure if that includes turkeys or not. I'll be sure to grill him on it eventually. ;) They don't talk about it much being as we're not... into that.

Later in the evening, after Shawn got home, I began to quickly lose my patience with Jasmine. Most days, I'm the one that can handle most of her attitude without getting too bent out of shape. For whatever reason, I'd just had enough tonight. Since just about the day she turned 3 (six months ago), she has had this attitude about her. It's literally like living with a teenager. She slams doors when she's pissed about something, talks back and in general acts like a brat. This isn't all the time but it's when she's not getting her way. We rarely give into her and try to stay as consistent as possible but it doesn't seem to be improving much. I think tonight I'd just had enough. My husband walks in the door and while he's in the bathroom, she throws a fit about something and slams her door. I hadn't been spanking her for quite some time as it didn't seem to be making a difference in how she acted. Tonight I'd just had it and she got a spanking. (she slammed her door and then began throwing toys at the door) Please don't comment or email me if you think I'm abusing my child by smacking her on the butt. I don't want to hear it. She climbed onto the couch and started crying. (she was sitting with me) When her daddy (who recently she's been pronouncing Dad-T... probably because I've made so many comments about how cute it is when she says it that way) came out of the bathroom, she said to me that she was going to tell daddy on me and I would get in trouble for hurting her feelings. Daddy told her she was in trouble and that mommy wouldn't be getting in trouble. She cried some more. She mouthed off a few more times, and a few more times got told to knock it off, the crying continued. Thankfully, she's not normally a crier as that aggravates me way more than the attitude. My husband sort of took over from that point forward with her. I think it was around the time that I said I just want to get in the car, drive away and keep going. After I had an hour or so, I was better. Not normal, but better. The rest of the night she was quick to cry over just about anything. I just know this is going to get ten times worse right after this baby is born. I think I'm getting frustrated that she doesn't seem to be getting past this. I don't think we're doing anything wrong. Maybe she's just a little more headstrong that some kids her age. We never let her get away with the mouthing off or the attitude so you would think eventually, she would try another tactic. Then again, she's recently learned that sweet manipulation works wonders. When she wanted Shawn to come play with her dollhouse the other day, she first said very sweetly please and then she kissed his forehead and told him she loved him. She laid it on so thick that no one could've said no. Today when she was asking me for something she said please, please mommy with sugar on top and smiled innocently. I'll take that over screaming at me any day. It was really funny when we were in bed and she asked Shawn for something and he asked her what the magic word was. She paused and said Abracadabra.

You hurt yourself HOW?

I mentioned yesterday that I had an OB appointment today. The appointment went fine, every thing's normal, blah, blah, blah. It was before the appointment that things went south. My husband was in charge of getting me up. When ever I know I have an appointment and that the alarm isn't set, I get paranoid that the person designated to wake me, will be late. Ok, so this is usually my husband's job if the alarm doesn't take care of it and I can't recall a time he has ever been late enough that he made me late for an appointment. At any rate, I tend to wake up about a half hour before I need to and toss and turn trying to sleep till he comes in to get me. When he came in, I had been awake for a while but my bed is so warm and comfy, I just stayed there till I was forced to get up. For whatever dumbass reason, when I went to get out of bed, I got up as if I wasn't pregnant. Just hopped out of bed like it was a typical morning. And was met with some of the worst pain I've ever felt. I think I very badly pulled a muscle on the right side of my abdomen. It was the kind of pain that leaves you feeling sick. By the time I got to the OB's office, it was dulling so I didn't make a big deal of it but made sure to say several times that I thought I pulled a muscle. (and let me tell you, I felt like a huge ass saying that I pulled a muscle just getting out of bed) On the way home, it was still hurting but not as unbearable as it had been. Two hours after the pain began, it was gone. So when it was after ten tonight, I didn't think it would come back. I had plans, things to do, things to clean, etc. I decided to quickly put together the baby's bed since I was just waiting on the washer to finish it's cycle. The bed is actually a co-sleeper that sits next to our bed. It basically pops open, locks in place and you pull the side down. When I started putting it together, I didn't have the directions. It became obvious that I wasn't going to figure out how to get the side down on my own so after some searching I came up with the directions. All I did was reach down with my hand to release one of the sides of the sleeper. It's something I could've done with my foot but it was easier on my pelvic bones to reach down. I didn't come back up from the floor for a solid ten minutes. The pain was suddenly back. I must have used that same muscle that I'd hurt earlier in the day. Thankfully, it only took about an hour to feel normal again. I still finished that damned bed though. I come from stubborn people. It's in my veins. ;) Husband grounded me after that however. The dishes and kitchen cleaning will have to wait till at least tomorrow. Even then I'm under strict hubby orders to go slowly since he won't be here to help me if I end up on my ass for a few hours again. (he's taking his car to a friend's house to work on it) I'm sure I'll be able to work the dishwasher though. I'll just refrain from picking up anything heavy, at least till he gets home. ;)

The Plastic Wars

I think I may have to ban my husband from the mall for a while. It's gotten to the point that he's started assaulting the mannequin's. His side of the story is that he was walking along, minding his own business, when she attacked him but I'm not buying it. All I know is when it was all said and done, she was missing an arm. His claim is that she threw it at him in retaliation for all the times he's said degrading things about the other mannequin's. *sigh* Afterwards, they had words. Yes, I said it. He turned to her and said 'wtf did I do to you?' I had to drag him from the scene for fear that she would soon lose her leg as well. Macy's will never look the same. ;) On our way home I warned him 'You know this is going on the blog.' His reply? 'She started it damnit.'

Eviction notice

This is for pregnant women to their unborn child. I thought it was funny and at this point, fitting. Found on a pregnancy website. (go figure)

I am issuing 30 day notice for EVICTION. Tenant will have 30 days in which he can either gather his belongings and promptly vacate the premises, or wait until the final day. After which, he will be physically removed from the property.
He's being evicted due to breech of contract and destruction of property. Expansions only to the FRONT of the house, within reasonable limits, were discussed. Not only have these limits been exceeded, but additions to the back of the house were also made!
Remodeling and gutting of the home was never approved, nor was changing the initial layout and base structure. And due to property damage, there are now leaks in both the upper AND lower levels of the home. On top of which, the landlord has received numerous complaints about nightly disturbances.
After 30 days from this day that he doesn’t comply with the notice will result in immediate and forceful removal at my discretion.

I've never been so grateful to see the end of a day

My child woke up entirely too early this morning. I pawned her off on my husband and went back to sleep. When I woke up, several hours later, she hadn't taken a nap. She had spent those hours in her room, playing with her dollhouse. Apparently, when I woke up, it kicked her into some kind of pixie stick, cracked out state. Lack of sleep for my child is not good for us, the parents. It was a l-o-n-g 'effin day with that girl. She was bouncing off the walls, none stop. She wouldn't listen to anything we said or anything we asked her to do. And the only time her mouth stopped moving was the few minutes of peace we had when she passed out in the car on our way to the grocery store. I swear, getting her socks and shoes on before leaving was like trying to tie down Taz from the Looney Toons. I eventually said that if she didn't let me put her socks on, I would go without her and leave her at home with daddy. (it was obvious his nerves were wearing thin, even to her... daddy wasn't pleased at being used as a threat... but it worked) I shit you not, the second she woke up, she was right back to acting crazy. We decided in the car just to stop and get something to eat and while we were waiting for our little buzzer to go off, she was trying to lick my face, bite my fingers and stick her hand down my shirt. Pretty much all at the same time. *sigh* Mommy was actually extremely tolerant today, lucky child. If nothing else, for a while, I had a hard time stopping laughing to protect myself from her onslaught. Once we were sitting down, one of the managers (a male) came to talk to us. My daughter *huge sigh* got out of the booth and spanked his ass... twice. My god, I'm glad we know the guy's niece or it would've been even more embarrassing than it was. I don't think she sat still during the entire meal. I could see the veins in my husband's head throbbing from across the table. Jasmine, smartly, avoided that side of the booth. It didn't get any better when we got into Walmart. Thankfully, she stopped spanking people's butts. (she had also spanked a female managers butt while we were there but it wasn't as embarrassing because we're friends with her and she LOVES my daughter) We looked like those parents that have absolutely no control over their child. My husband was getting extremely frustrated and finally I said, just let her run the damned aisles, maybe it will wear her out. (please, please let it wear her out) It wasn't busy or I probably wouldn't have allowed it to that extent. It didn't wear her out. We got home and it was more of the same. Not listening, running through the house, tormenting the animals, more of the not listening. When she passed out (and it was definitely passing out... there was no falling asleep to it) while husband and I were watching Traitor, I actually said to him 'Thank god it's over.'

I eventually got photoshop to work late last night. It took uninstalling most of my larger programs but at least it's working. I didn't need any of the other stuff that was on there and had probably only used it once or twice in the three years I've had the computer. I spent a good two hours on it just playing with all the features it has. Not going to be able to do that tonight however. I have an OB appointment in the morning so I can't stay up too much later. I hate going to the doctor every single week. I don't look forward to not sleeping when this kid is born but at the same time, I'm ready for this to be over with. I feel a little bad saying that considering this is quite possibly my last pregnancy. (husband doesn't want anymore and I'm not sure I want to go through this again but if a whoops happened some day, I wouldn't be upset) I should enjoy every little foot trapped in between my rib cage because I may not get to feel it again. But, it hurts like hell and I just want my body back to myself. I'm REALLY going to regret saying this when I'm on two hours of sleep and have a baby that won't stop crying and a toddler who wants my constant attention, on top of a house that's a mess because when I'm not dealing with the two of them, I'll be sleeping. And then there's trying to feed myself and my husband. Psh, not going to happen. I'm sure the first few months I'll survive off of air and the occasional piece of food that some how ends up in my mouth. Crap this is going to suck. ;) (I'm 38 weeks for those who are unaware)

They say its your birthday

One of my birthday presents is seriously frustrating me. My husband bought me Photoshop. For whatever reason, any time I go to change a photo at ALL, the program freezes up and won't do anything. I have to end the program all together. I'm not sure what the issue is but I want to bang my head against a bed of nails. I've been wanting this program for years and then to have it in my possession and on my computer but not have it work... yeah I'm frustrated. I haven't let on to my husband that I'm having issues. I don't want to upset him that my present isn't cooperating. He also made me a photo album of pictures from the time we first got together, to now. Some of the pictures I don't remember ever even seeing before. It's also enforced the fact that I want to lose this baby weight as fast as possible. My pre-baby body and my post-baby body... yeah need to get back on my pilates. What I'm looking forward to more than the pilates however, is Dance Dance Revolution. My mom got it for me for Christmas. I've been asking for this game for years now. My brother seems to think it's a ridiculous game but I call it motivation. I don't like to be beaten by a video game, even if that video game requires me to bust a move. ;) I'm thinking of trying to find a game pad that doesn't work so that Jasmine doesn't try to steal mine while I'm playing the game. Shawn seems to think that my pilates mat will keep her occupied but the kid is really smart and I don't think it will take her much time to figure out that they're way different. The arrows on the DDR pad should be a pretty quick giveaway.

Why do my cats follow me around the house meowing even though they have food and water? They've also gotten tons of attention throughout the day. Yet they still meow.

My birthday started off with a trip to the mall. I received $70 worth of gift cards to Gloria Jeans (my family has come to terms with my addiction apparently... haha) so I thought I'd get myself a coffee without the guilt of spending $5 on a drink. While at the mall, I wanted to stop in to Sephora as I also have a gift card there. We didn't stay long. I want to buy some lip gloss or stain but it was crowded and my husband quickly became.. annoyed. An obviously well off woman practically walked through us while we were there.... several times. I could've understood once but she did it over and over again. It was as if we didn't exist, we were air. For once, it didn't bother me. I was looking at make-up, I could've cared less what she was doing. My husband however, threatened to put a make-up pencil through the woman's eye if we stayed much longer so I made a quick retreat to the Disney store, where there are few sharp objects. ;) Afterwards we went to see Marley and Me. I had read the book and knew that the end would be sad but had forgotten to warn my poor husband. I knew without looking at him that the tears had started when he pulled his Bears hat down a little further on his face. Poor man. As soon as it was over, he said to me, 'Could you have picked a sadder movie??' Even though I was aware of how it would turn out, I was nearly sobbing towards the end. Wow, they really knew how to bring out the tears. You could hear half the theatre sniffling. Which, of course, being the inappropriate person that I am, caused me to laugh a little... during a silent part in the movie that was extremely sad. And I wonder why it's so hard to get people to go places with me. ;) An example, (and I know I blogged about this at the time but it's been a while) of one of my... moments. We were out to dinner, Shawn, Jasmine and myself. I had noticed the middle aged couple sitting next to us as soon as they sat down. Eventually I had to ask.
Me : "Excuse me, I have to ask, are you guys newly married?"
Woman : "No, we're engaged to be married in three weeks"
Me : "I had a feeling you were either newly married or having an elaborate affair, otherwise I would've had to ask what you secret is to stay married so long and still have 'that' look."
My husband turned so red you would've thought he was going to catch fire. The woman, however, seemed flattered that they were so obvious about the newness of their love. I'm sure, at the very least, it gave them a fun story to tell people at the wedding. haha Back to the movie, Jasmine noticed I had been crying and kept asking why I was sad. She even tried to wipe away any tears she could find and then kept poking my nose to get me to smile. After a while, she figured out what was happening in the movie, buried her face in my lap and cried as well but was quiet about it and it was short lived. The kid can be so sweet when she wants to be.

Christmas and Ice

Soooo, my husband got into a car accident today. With a parked car. He's fine, our awesomely white trash truck is fine but the lady's van is trashed. We had a relatively nasty ice storm this morning and before leaving the house, my husband neglected to watch the news. He was on his buddy's road when he hit the van. Ironic considering he was going over there to work on said awesomely white trash truck. I think Shawn may have some soreness tomorrow but will overall be fine. And obviously, the lady that owns the van is fine and was in her house during the crash but was super pissed considering the van is five weeks old. Oh yeah, our insurance is going up.

Christmas was good. Jasmine didn't open all her presents before we left for my mom's. Once she opened up her dollhouse, it was all over. She didn't care about any other presents. We had her open them when we got home later. By the time we got to my mom's, she was ready to open more and tore into them like you'd expect a child to do, not all dainty like she has been. Me and my husband bought the (almost) exact same thing for each other. I bought him a Bears shirt and a Bears cup that goes in the freezer. He bought me the EXACT same shirt, only Packers and a freezer cup, Packers. And we opened them at the same time. It was pretty funny. And the night I bought his present for him, I told him after Christmas I was going to buy the same thing for myself. Guess I don't need to now. I also bought him a remote controlled car and without telling him, bought one (a much cheaper version) for Jasmine and they had fun driving them all over my living room. I got my mom a pencil drawing of a dog she owned a few years ago. We had him for less than a year when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. I wasn't sure she would ever own another dog after he died. I was worried about how it would turn out since it was being done online but I think it turned out great. All modifications were ones that I had asked them to do.

This is the picture they based the sketch off of.

And this is the end result.

http://www5.mydavinci.com/Pesonalized-Art/HandDrawn/DaVinci-Sketch.html

I'll post more about Christmas later. For now, I'm going to lay down. Tomorrow we'll probably go see Marley and Me for my birthday. I want to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, however, I don't think Jasmine will sit through it and I've heard it's rather long. Marley and Me should keep her attention for the length of the movie.