Happy Eating Til You Wanna Puke Day

from me and mine to you and yours!

Since Thanksgiving technically kicks off the holiday season, I figured I'd take five minutes and reflect on what I am thankful for:

My Husband - even when he aggravates the holy hell out of me, he is still the best thing to come into my life. He loves me unconditionally, thinks I'm pretty, tolerates all my moods and quirks. I need to spend more time telling him how great he is instead of getting dwelling on what he does to piss me off. I love you more today than yesterday, Don. Thanks for healing all the holes in my heart.

My Shaggy - the child that made me a mother, the child that makes me proud. I can't believe it is almost time to drop kick you out the front door. You will always be my baby and I will always love you. You make me laugh and your sisters should thank you for raising a mother so they had the easy road! :D

My Dancing Drama Queen - the only expected (not to mention conceived in welock child since I'm a sinner and all) child and my first beautiful baby girl. You were everything I hoped for when I was pregnant and have grown into so much more as the time has flown by. Even though I'm seriously giving thought to deporting you until puberty is over, you always hold a special place in my heart as my first and most precious baby girl. Keep pirouetting through life and living up to all your dreams!

My Demon Spawn - you were the most unexpected gift I never thought I wanted. You have completed our families in a way that we didn't even realize they needed until you came along. Even though you will always be Daddy's girl, you have definitely taught me that motherhood isn't something that happens at birth but more so something that you have to earn. I love you, my pumpkin pie!

My Mom and Dad - you both showed me what family means and also what marriage means. You are the greatest parents any child could want. Thank you both for all the joy, the memories, the love, and most of all for being my parents for the last 36 years. (Remember when I was a teenager and thought you both sucked and you told me when I was a parent I'd think you were cool again? Yeah, you were right!)

My sister - thanks for always showing me up by being the "good child". Erin - what can I say to you...I'm thankful for you and all that it entails. I love you more than I ever tell you Owen.

Friends - there aren't many but for those that I am close to (yes, in case you are reading, this includes you Devil Boss) thanks for letting me be me and always being there if I needed an ear.

I've come to realize that as I get older, I get (A) sappier, (B) wiser, (C) introspective. A good friend just lost her mother and another found out his father has cancer and yet another is struggling watching her paren't age and it has made me realize, there isn't always a tomorrow and we must take the time to let those who matter know how important they are to us. So, thank you to all of you in the internetz/bloggerville who have touched my life.

Have a wonderful, safe, and satisfying Thanksgiving!

Abby and the Potty

Abby turned 2 in September. Right around that time, she decided that shit in her diaper wasn't pleasant. AT. ALL. We had to start watching her like a hawk because...well because toddler shit doesn't like to stay put in a diaper. It likes to roll onto the carpet and then get smashed in by toddler Flintstone feet. Quite frankly, Momma is sick of cleaning carpets.

We dragged the trusty potty into the living room and bought some schweeeeeeeet undies (or sandies in Abbyese) and decided this would be a good time to start potty training.

Lo and behold, she had some instant success as demonstrated in the picture. If you look real close, you can see the brown shark in the potty. Wow, I thought, this is going to be easy. Yeah, she fooled me. The potty eventually got retired for a couple of months and we started putting the diapers on backwards and gave a permanent place of residence to the steam vac. I started calling it Stan and it was like he was a part of our family he got used so much. (I'll be damned if the Demon Spawn didn't figure out pretty freaking quick how to remove those backwards diapers).

Fast forward to the last couple of weeks and we have been having renewed potty success. We still have to watch the Demon Spawn like a hawk because she loves to empty the potty and with those toddler Flintstone feet, she falls alot. That is something I totally don't get - I swear her feet are as wide as they are long..you'd think that would give her added stability. At any rate, the other night she peed in the potty, grabbed the cup out and started her mad dash to the bathroom to wish her tinkle good-bye.

I managed to stop her and asked her what she had...her response has me really worried about what she's doing with that potty when we aren't watching. She said it was juice. Hmmmm...thats a new kind of juice but I guess whatever floats her boat!

As an aside, potty training her reminds me of Shaggy way back in the day. When he finally shit on the toilet, he wouldn't let me flush it because his dad wasn't there. He sat in his bedroom window and waited for his dad to get back. When he saw him walking up the steps (we lived in a townhouse complex), he screamed out the window, "Dad, come watch my poop dance." Apparently my kids also have a bathroom fetish....