Holiday weekend recap

Long time no blog eh? Well, I can honestly say things have been crazy at Casa del Five. I feel like I am drowning in an endless sea of laundry and diapers. Now that Tinkerbell is on some baby food I have even less time for myself. I really thought that less nursing time would mean more time for me...it just mans more time feeding her as we learn a new routine.

Anyway....back to T-day. My grandma flew in from Cali for the holiday this year. It's always nice to see family and friends here in the Lone Star State, an especially around Thanksgiving. We went shopping on Wednesday. I had not been to a mall in ages. I bought a new nursing bra, spent about 20 minutes trying to nurse TB in the Motherhood dressing room, ate my "I'm trying to eat healthy" lunch full of veggies and lean beef while my family looked irritated having to wait for me after scarfing down their burgers quickly, and that was it. I didn't get to try on jeans or buy new panties like I really wanted to do. I kept saying "I need to go to Victoria's" and my family grumbled every time. Hey....come on. I really enjoy walking in there and saying "I would like this in a 34 D please" after all those years of sheepishly looking for training bras in the small boobies drawer. And besides...how am I going to keep those home fires burning wearing last year's Motherhood maternity thongs. Somethings gotta give. Shopping was a bust!

That night I started cooking some side items for the next day's feast. My contributions this year were gingersnap streusel sweet potatoes and a Reeses peanut butter cup cheesecake. I have never cooked anything for a holiday before. Unfortunately, I got a 2nd degree burn putting the cheesecake in the oven. I wasn't wearing a mit and my hand hit the heating element. You may be saying "ouch" about now, but I honestly didn't feel a thing for about 10 minutes. Now it looks pretty raunchy. It was a lot of work for only 2 things. I guess that's how gourmet goes. Here is a pic of the cheesecake. Yes, that really is my cheesecake and not something from the net. It was delicious, but the potatoes were my favorite!

Thursday was great. Unbelievable food, and great company. Pair all that with a cozy fire to sit by and champagne, and that is a great holiday.

With threatening weather looming late Thursday night, we decided to postpone our trip to see the Duke's family until Christmas. I was relieved. The thought of taking the two girls up there for less than 24 hours was awful. I had been dreading it since July when Tinkerbell was born. Then we woke up to sunny skies, above freezing temps and clear radar Friday morning....GRRRRR. This was all happening at 9 AM, but my darling husband didn't decide it was ok to go until around 11. So at 11 we showered, packed, loaded up the car, dropped off the pooches and doggy Disneyland (aka Nana and Papa's), ate some mean leftover sweet potatoes and around 1:30 headed up north to where the wind comes sweeping down the plains. The girls slept most of the way...what a relief!

Thanksgiving at my in-laws is just weird. The food is weird, and the people are not at all like my people. My people are loud, obnoxious, and will tell you if you have something in your teeth....to your face. Oh and you can drink around them. That helps. The other side is much different. I wouldn't say they are entirely all that quiet, but it is much quieter than in my home. They have strange senses of humor that I don't understand, nor find funny. One year while watching our wedding video my FIL said "Here's the part where the priest gets to get drunk" at the end of Communion. I about came unglued. How can you make fun of a tradition you don't understand??? The Duke's grandmother asked everyone to say something they are thankful for and the only one to mention anything was him. Isn't that was T-day is about? What message are we sending our children if we roll our eyes at the very heart and soul of the holiday. Oh wait, football was on and somehow THAT makes it ok. And did I mention the food is weird? They served T-day turkey....COLD! EWE!

The girls slept like garbage that night, as did I and we came home happily the next day...getting snowed on through Wichita Falls. I got home in time to rest up for the next day. After many years, I finally sang at church so my grandmother could hear me. She had never heard me before and she was actually impressed! She loved it so much and that made me so happy!

All in all the weekend wasn't so bad I guess, and I hate to complain but I'm just tired of traveling around the holidays. We ALWAYS do the traveling. They never come out here and honestly....I'm tired of it. I want a holiday in my jammies, and I think that after all I have done in the past two years....maybe somehow I deserve it???

I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm a princess mom!

After a really stressful day with the girls, I was sitting on the living room floor just griping to the dear Duke about how I never get anything done, and how I feel so worn out all the time, my house is a mess, etc etc. I happened to glance up on the kitchen table and saw this:

You can't really tell by looking, but they are Disney Princess shoes in Sunshine's size....a 5. They were actually the smallest size they make and she picked them out on her own. She ran right up to them and grabbed them, so naturally Nana just HAD to buy them for her. If the shoe fits....

She was so exited to show her daddy the shoes when he got home that she took the box to him and made him put the shoes on her feet, and tie them.

On this particularly stressful day, all I could do when I saw these shoes sitting on the table (after she had gone to bed) was just smile. Then I started belly laughing. The Duke, curious as to what he was missing asked why I was laughing. I just said..."I have little princess...and it's so wonderful!" He started smiling as well. Then we both laughed at the pink princess shoes, both knowing that we have many years of pink princess shoes left to go...and it's a great feeling!

Did you know???

Facts about sleep deprivation from the National Sleep Research Project in Australia

• After five nights of partial sleep deprivation, three drinks will have the same effect on your body as six would when you've slept enough.
• Feeling tired can feel normal after a short time. Those deliberately deprived of sleep for research initially noticed greatly the effects on their alertness, mood and physical performance, but the awareness dropped off after the first few days.
• Exposure to noise at night can suppress immune function even if the sleeper doesn’t wake. Unfamiliar noise, and noise during the first and last two hours of sleep, has the greatest disruptive effect on the sleep cycle.
• The record for the longest period without sleep is 18 days, 21 hours, 40 minutes during a rocking chair marathon. The record holder reported hallucinations, paranoia, blurred vision, slurred speech and memory and concentration lapses.
• A new baby typically results in 400-750 hours lost sleep for parents in the first year
• One of the best predictors of insomnia later in life is the development of bad habits from having sleep disturbed by young children.
• Seventeen hours of sustained wakefulness leads to a decrease in performance equivalent to a blood alcohol-level of 0.05%.
• The NRMA estimates fatigue is involved in one in 6 fatal road accidents.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving

Your Pilgrim Name Is

Damaris Abbott

What's" Your Pilgrim Name?

My kitchen window...and yours???

I've been tagged by MB over at Terrapin Station!!!

What does my kitchen window look like?
So, since she asked nicely....and because I know you all want to see my dirty windows....


Here it is:



















When it comes to decorating, I am going through a "less is more" phase. Maybe because less clutter means less stress.

Anyway in my window is:

1. 1 surprisingly hearty plant left over from the birth of our first daughter, Sunshine (notice the "it's a girl" thingies still in place). I am plagued by an black thumb. Every plant or flower I have ever owned has died a tragic death, including former window resident, Nigel...RIP. But not this plant. The sweet church lady who gave it to us told me to water when it looks droopy and that's all the maintenance it will ever need. So, lone droopy plant is still around. I'm not proud, just surprised.

2. Sun catcher. MIL gave this to me. I have no real attachment other than the fact that the sun comes in that window for a brief moment in the morning and it looks pretty and we have no other place to put it where the children won't hurt it.

3. Paper towels:. A must have for any house with children. 3 children = 30 times the mess!

4. Dial antibacterial soap. 3 children....need I explain?

5. Drama's chameleon. The Duke found this outside last week and captured it for the DK. He loves all things creepy and crawly right now. In fact, at one point last week most of my Tupperware was tied up housing spiders or "spider food". Now that he has this guy, he has let all of the other creatures go. He doesn't normally reside here, but thought he would like some bright light today. He lives in Drama's room...which like any other 8 year old boy's room is dark and dingy. I fear for my life in there.

6. Citrus Magic air freshener. Mom picked this up for me after my complaining that the cats leave horrific smells in the litter box, but it seems that spraying a bunch of air freshener around babies just isn't safe. Let me add that there in no magic in this stuff. Cat poop + citrus magic just smells citrus cat poop. Gross!

7. Random soothie paci...freshly sterilized. I sterilized a bunch of Sunshine's pacis. She doesn't take this kind, but I am hoping that one day Tinkerbell will take ANY paci, so I keep a few extras of different types around. The Duke says I should give up on that battle and just make a boob impression for her. Hmmmmm. Do they do that?

I tag the newly pregnant Dana (congrats!!!) , Lt. Dawn (who actually goes longer than me without updating her blog) , and best friend from high school and new mommy blogger, Tara.