Charisa Darling

Archive for September 2008

Monday, September 29, 2008

I'm usually okay with being the man of the house, but last time Justin was out of town, I got a little spooked. Daisy pushed me over the edge with her fun game of "bark like crazy while looking into the dark dining room". Over the weekend we had a meeting with the House Alarm Guy and they will be installing my Piece of Mind system this week.

Another neighbor has taken his home security system into his own hands by installing a security camera on the outside of his house.

For those keeping tabs, we now have:

1. Cigar Man

2. Nocturnal Man

3. Camera Man

Just one more reason why we're loving our neighborhood so much.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Our neighbor is nocturnal. He cuts his grass at night. Last night he fired up the mower as we were putting Vance down, a little after 8:00. And this happens every week, usually on Sunday night. Last week he started a new landscaping project at night too. Weird.

Pet peeve of the day: Big towel bars in powder rooms. Hand towels are the only towels needed in powder rooms! Not full sized towels! The placement of the big towel bar in our powder room is ridiculous. Is messing with the only wall that I can hang a picture. There's a small towel ring by the sink, but I guess that wasn't good enough for the original owners or the builder for that matter. Will have to see if there is touch up paint in the basement so I take it down and cover the holes.

Am guessing I'm going to have to make curtains for the kitchen windows. I can't find what I want and I don't want to pay a fortune for something custom. I've never made curtains. I can sew a straight line and can use clip rings to hang them. I'm a little scared. Any beginner tips would be appreciated!

Off to Little Gym!

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

My big little girl

While at the park today I noticed the writing on the side of Vaughn's car seat. Two numbers jumped out at me, a 2 and a 0.

No. Can't be.

The car seat is only good for up to 20 pounds. I weighed her today. 20 pounds. She can't sit up in shopping carts yet and when she's in the Baby Bjorn her legs lose blood circulation. Propping her up in the cart won't work, she'll just fall forward. Not really sure what I'm going to do now. Need suggestions!

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Toofs

Vaughnie has teeth now. The second one pushed through last night.

Thursday, no puke day

I woke Vance up earlier than usual, made him eat more at breakfast, and gave him the Dramamine earlier. Thank God, it was a vomit-free ride to school. So tired of washing pukey clothes and car seat covers. It was a good day.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Tuesday

Justin made it back to the States and will be home in a few hours. Good timing, because I was getting ready to put the kids on eBay for a really good price.

Vance threw up again on the way to school today. (Maybe he didn't eat enough breakfast and maybe I need to give him the Dramamine earlier. I don't know.) And we got stuck in bridge traffic for a good 30 minutes. Unfortunately, things happened in that order. He got sick, then we got stuck in traffic. The smell didn't seem to bother Vance because he kept yelling for me to roll up the windows. I always have plastic grocery sacks for him to yak into (yak sacks), but he has aiming and opening problems. After I cleaned him up, changed his clothes, and dropped him off at school, I went to Target and bought a big round piece of Tupperware for him. I figure he can stick his head down inside and I can throw a lid on it. Still totally disgusting, but I'd rather have vomit packaged neatly in a container, than in a leaky bag, on Vance, or elsewhere in the car. That being said, this afternoon was spent cleaning the car AGAIN and washing car seat covers.

I had a dream last night that Halloween had past and I forgot to put out our Halloween decorations. Clearly a Mommy nightmare and proof that I need to get out more.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

I just heard from Justin, who is at the Louvre. He says it's sunny and 65. So not fair that I'm at home, in a thunderstorm, with 2 kiddos. One of which is scared of rain, the other doesn't even know what rain is, but is quickly learning what an aspirator is all about. She's very snotty right now and I'll be honest, I'm not very good at using the bulbous tool.

Oh well, moving on. The picture above is a project Vance and I did. Our crayon bowl was full of old, broken crayons. (I actually had these crayons in high school). We peeled them and put them in muffin tins. 275 degrees for 10 minutes and you have multi-colored big crayons. If I do this again, I'll double or triple up on the muffin liners. The wax soaked through the liner and into the bottom of my muffin tin. No good at all. But the end result is pretty and Vance was excited to see the crayons melt.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

A fence, A tune-up, A puke-free ride

3 Bosnian men arrived early on Wednesday morning and this is the fruit of their labor.

Vance took this picture. He's been taking a lot of pictures lately, only asking permission half of the time. It's funny when I download pictures and I see the ones that he took without me knowing.

Daisy loves her new fence and we love not having to walk her every single time that she needs to go potty. She was very smiley yesterday while roaming on her own, sniffing each and every blade of grass. That's impressive for Daisy because smiley is not her usual demeanor. She's more of a cranky teenager, but we've talked about that before.

It makes our tiny yard seem tinier, but we love the fence. You can see the corner of Cigar Guy's house, it's the one on the left side of the picture.

Anyone interested in the playset in the picture? Vance has outgrown it.

Vaughn had her 4 month tune-up on Tuesday. She's tipping the charts at 19 pounds, which falls in the 99th percentile and 25.5 inches long, which is in the 87th percentile. I have forgotten the head circumference. She still hasn't totally figured out eating from a spoon, so when that happens, we'll start on veggies.

Today was a vomit-free day for Vance. (Clarification: He's been getting car sick on the drive to school, which is 45 minutes away from home, for those who don't know.) Not sure if it was the spell that Grandma put on him or the Dramamine that his doctor said was safe for him to have, but he felt good the entire drive.

Summing things up:

Love the fence. Hate the price.

Love Vaughnie and her chubby baby rolls. Hate how heavy she is in her carseat. (30 lbs.)(My arms and back are sore)

Love Vance. Hate when he vomits in my car.

Off to work on more Stuff for my neglected Etsy shop.

And, by the way, SPNT was in reference to Super Preferred Non-Tabacco.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Fence Day!

Daisy's outings will no longer need to be chaperoned. It's Fence Day, Mo Fo's! We've waited over 2 months, but it's finally here! Woo Hoo! And because our backyard is 4 ping pong tables big, installation will only take one day! I'll post pictures tonight!

Friday, September 05, 2008

SPNT

Last Thursday beat me up.

To a pulp.

And when I was Done, had thrown in the towel, Daisy threw up. Twice. On the white carpet.

There. Sharing does make you feel better!

.....

For life insurance purposes, we had physicals done about a month ago. I received my results yesterday. Basically, I'm falling apart. I have borderline high cholesterol, low glucose, and something else that I can't remember now that's low. I'm a little freaked out. I know I need to exercise more, but I eat well and am not overweight by any means. I also know that genes play a big part on it, so I can go ahead and push the blame right on over to my parents. I'll be finding a doctor today and scheduling physicals. (Justin hasn't received his results yet, but he needs a physical too.) On an uplifting note, I was accepted under the "Super Preferred Non-Tobacco" rating for my life insurance, which is the best rating they give. Super Preferred Non- Tobacco. Rolls right off the tongue. While I'm pretty sure that Justin will receive the same rating, I'll be rubbing this in his face until he gets his results.

Up for today: School for Vance. 4 month check up for Vaughnie, who seems to have caught the cold that everyone seems to be getting over now. Esta bien.

Double Standards

Copied this from Perez yesterday. Thought it was interesting.

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Warning: Proud Mommy Post

Vance has always loved art. Ever since he could hold a crayon he's been drawing. Until now, his drawings have always been scribbles, random lines and shapes. This is the first drawing that actually resembles something.

He watched a program that showed bugs under a magnifying glass, then drew this. What's that? You can't tell? The bottom drawing, the light blue one, is a roly poly with all its little legs.

I kept his very first painting and I'll keep this one too.

4 months today

Vaughn is 4 months today. Because I don't even know where her baby book is, I'm recording info here so I can remember it later.

Vaughnie...

has been sleeping through the night since she was 2 months old.

has been eating cereal and apple sauce since 2.5 months old.

always wakes up happy - smiling and talking.

rolls over from her back to her tummy.

sleeps on her tummy since she's been able to roll.

loves her big brother - always has a smile for him.

makes lots of sounds.

has a bottom tooth that's almost pushed through.

spits up a lot. Always wears a bib. Just like Vance when he was a baby.

loves her Bugs that hang from her car seat.

tries to hold her bottle, but ends up pushing it out of her mouth.

is very cuddly.

ticklish under her chin, on top of her shoulders and on her thighs.

weighs 18 lbs.

And is crying now. Must run...

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Weekend Update!

Weekend in Bullets

Cold germies have infiltrated our system and we're all suffering. Vance is staying home from school today.
We bought Vance Candy Land and Memory - two of my favorite childhood games.
We lunched at the Boathouse, took a paddle boat ride, and toured the Wash U campus.
Did a little shopping for myself. Feel much better.
Vaughnie's bottom tooth is close to breaking through her gums. She's been a little cranky.
Went to the pool to close out the season.
Celebrated my dad's birthday and my parent's anniversary with the family.

Was a good Labor Day weekend. We have a friend coming this weekend, another Wisconsinite, so we'll be getting ready for that and next week is supposed to be Fence Week. Looking forward to just opening the door and letting Daisy out on her own.