Monday, December 31, 2007
Waking up to Mayhem
Ella is in a "big girl bed" now. We have been working with her for about two weeks now. Luckily, the transition from the crib to a bed was not very difficult. Her big sister K-Bugg, has been especially helpful with modeling bedtime procedures - complete with "snoring" sounds. Overall, I would say everything has been going great...until this morning.7:00 am I wake up to sounds coming from my bathroom. Okay. It sounds like Ella is up to something. "Five more minutes," I say to myself. "Ella? What are you doing in there?" Out she walks, with a razor in her hand. Nice! I jump out of bed to apprehend the object. She knows she has something she's not supposed to have, so she starts running. She runs straight to K-Bugg's room (K-Bugg spent the night with her grandma). I get the razor from her, only to find K-Bugg's room a disaster! Evidently, before Ella started rummaging through the items on my bathroom counter, she had a large time destroying her big sister's room. The Barbie house was empty - all furniture and contents on the floor. K-Bugg's new grocery cart and groceries - turned upside down. Art supplies - scattered, with shredded paper all over the floor. I clean up this mess, only to walk into the living room to find my glasses twisted into two pretzels. Two! My glasses had been snapped in half, with tiny little fingerprints smudged all over the lenses!
Needless to say, my morning was spent at the Optometrist's office looking for new frames. And I'm contemplating a visit to ADT to look into installing an alarm system on Ella's bedroom door! That's a joke, of course - but what other options do I have? I can put up a gate at her door, but it is only a matter of time when she realizes she can climb over it - just like her crib railing and my bathroom counters!
permalink | posted by NaeNae at 12:46 PM
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Toy Overload
Wow! I can't even begin to describe the mess my house is in right now. I have never seen so many toys (aside from strolling through the aisles of Toys R Us)! I prepared K-Bugg this year, with a talk about not asking for too much on her Christmas list. Her wish list was originally two pages long (one page, front and back). We discussed how it was impossible for Santa to bring her and all the boys and girls in the world everything they wanted. So I helped her narrow it down to five items - a digital camera, a Barbie laptop, a sticker book, a scrapbooking kit, and Squawkers - the talking (drive Mom and Dad crazy) toy parrot. My plan worked perfectly...for a moment. After it was all said and done with family gatherings (and not really done, because we still have Christmas with my SIL and nieces), she ended up with several Pet Shop "houses" and animals, a cash register, shopping cart, "play" groceries, a standing sing-a-long organ, a Bratz make-up doll, too many Barbies to count, journals, movies, CDs, two ePets, several stuffed animals, bath toys, a beauty set with make-up and nail kit, a puppet theater with numerous puppets, an outdoor playhouse, V-smile games, a new book bag, jewelry, new clothes and several gift cards. I know I am missing something, but you get the idea.
Have I mentioned Ella yet? Let's just say that we are all about equality in our family - so it is safe to say that she received just as much as K-Bugg! "Toy Overload" does not even chip away at the surface of my day today. It's pretty bad when you have so many toys, that you can't find one thing to play with because there are too many choices! Needless to say, we will be going back through all of the old toys (Round 2) to donate to charity - just to make room for the new stuff!
All in all, we had a wonderful and very blessed Christmas!
permalink | posted by NaeNae at 10:12 PM
Friday, December 21, 2007
The True Meaning of Christmas
NaeNae (to Kevin, who did a little Christmas shopping today): What did you buy me today?Kevin: What did you get me?
NaeNae: No, I asked you first!
Kevin: It's not what you get, but what you give!
NaeNae: Then, what will you GIVE me on Christmas morning?
K-Bugg: It's not about getting something, Mommy. We're a family (grabbing my hand and Kevin's) and that is like a present.
NaeNae: Really? What would you think if Santa didn't bring you presents on Christmas morning?
K-Bugg: That's okay...Maybe he will bring me something next year.
NaeNae: (sobbing like a baby) I love you, K-Bugg!
permalink | posted by NaeNae at 7:43 PM
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Summing things up...
Thanks to my sister Kelly, you are looking at our family photo. You might be wondering, "Where is the family portrait you had made back in November?" Don't ask! The photo shoot didn't go well, and the pictures stink (no fault of the photographers). My hair looked like it came out of the 70s with a "Charlie's Angels" look, and we couldn't seem to get one decent photo with everyone smiling "naturally" at the same time. Anyway, Kelly volunteered to take our picture for Christmas cards, since the others didn't turn out so well. I've actually decided to send out New Year's cards instead, so I still have time to procrastinate some more.
Now for summing things up...
* Ella moved into a "big girl bed" this weekend. She is a climber and figured out how to scale the crib. She is doing so well - probably because she watches everything Kellynn does and wants to be just like her. Kellynn has really helped out, too (modeling how to get into the bed and going straight to sleep).
* Kelly and I went Christmas shopping this past week. Prior to this, I had only purchased one gift. Now I am finished, minus a few small items.
* Kellynn and I spent most of today organizing her room. Since Christmas is coming up soon, we decided to make room for new things, and donate her old toys and books to kids who might not have any.
* I am reading a new book. It's called, "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyers. I know I'm a little behind since there are already three books in this series, but I've had a hard time getting into anything lately. I saw a post on another blog about the series, so I thought I'd pick it up. So far, I'm about half way, and love it.
permalink | posted by NaeNae at 9:04 PM
