The Day Before Friday

Today was cold, rainy, gloomy, and blah. I had to be to work at 7:30am and that made it even more super-duper. I went to get my shaggy hair cut at noon. I stopped at Juano's and got a burrito. This was my first time there. Unfortunately, nothing is as good as Chipotle, but we in Fargo continue to try and find a suitable substitute. I enjoyed 2 major things about this Vegetarian Burrito, which will most likely make me return: 1) there was no extra charge for the guacamole 2) they had "refried" black beans.

Here's the "Before" Picture. I felt like a vampire with the dark hair and pale skin. Team: Kim.

Here's the "After" Picture (I switched photographers). You can't tell, but my hairstylist confirmed that my hair color was not the problem, but rather my light eyebrows. She penciled/darkened them for me and then I was back in business.

I would like to focus on less of why I was at the grocery store tonight (you will def hear about that tomorrow) and talk more about how much I absolutely LOVE this picture. How cute are they??

Here's the Driver from the front angle. She was just loving this!

And, fast-forward to the current moment in time. This is my husband's new 58" plasma tv.... to "match" it he has also purchased a bluray dvd player.... but you know what?? Somehow, someway with this bluray dvd player, I can live stream Netflix movies from my queue?? UM WHAT? This is going to seriously improve my movie return statistics.

So tomorrow is what we call around this house as "The Last Day of Work Before Vacation" I can't wait.

TGI Non-Humping Hump Day

So Baby Boomer slept in until 3am today! Thank you Baby Boomer. However, when I picked him up he was all wet. Let me take this opportunity to say that I do not like Huggies diapers. I regret cashing in that blasted $2.00 off coupon, and I regret buying 2 jumbo packs in order to get the $5 target gift certificate. Blah. I love Pampers, always have, always will and I love them even more because they keep all the nighttime pee in there so I don't have to change the diaper at 3am.... is this gross of me? Well, I don't care. Brynn had a bad morning. She cried so she lost her "Prize Bucket" surprise. So then she cried about that. So then she lost her Bon Jovi song in the car. So then she cried in the car when she realized I wasn't going to play even "just a little bit of Jon, Mommy! I need just a little bit." So then she cried because I had the radio on and wouldn't turn it off. And then she refused to get out of the car at daycare. And then she cried at daycare because she wanted to sit by her brother (but her brother was in a highchair eating).... OMG it didn't end.

My morning was meetings and meetings and meetings. I did however have a mid-morning brunch with a bit of FB action. (Thank you gas station across the street from work, and thank you co-worker for needing a salt-fix.)

Today was garbage day in the neighborhood. I've never realized that the trees on the East side of the street have leaves and the West side doesn't. (Must be because we live on the West syyyyeeeedddd!! Word.)

Mmmm! Supper! Bowls are much yummier than Gnocchi and Chicken. This is actually Boomer's 2nd meal. His first meal was Rice Cereal with Applesauce & Cherries. That ended in a crying fit.

Brynn quite enjoyed her supper tonight. And yes, she came home from dc with more greasy stuff on her face, and yes, it was still not wiped off her face at supper time. I've recently discovered Gnocchi and I have to say that it is a great family favorite. Boomy eats it plain, but I put butter and garlic salt on it for everybody else. Let me give a shout out to the Husband for holding up the cup of worms that had to watch Brynn eat her supper. (We have a backyard of very demanding worms.)

I'm not ready to talk about this picture yet.... Husband HAD to buy a TV and it HAD to be tonight.

So that's it! That's today. I'm being invited to watch a movie downstairs right now. I've just finished my classy juice glass of wine, and the kids are at least pretending to be sleeping. Yippee! (and I returned 'Duplicity' today even though it pained me to do so. I fell asleep before it was over and woke up during the credits.)

See you tomorrow.

Tuesday Schmoozeday

I had meetings galore at work today. The "team" I work on has hired 2 new "team members" and they live in Leon, Mexico and Mumbai, India. The lucky folks are in Fargo for training for approximately 1 week -- which meant I had to be on my best behavior today and attend meetings galore. So, here's what my morning looked like:

And then we took the new team members out to lunch. It may look healthy, but it's not. There are no vegetables, only colored noodles and lots and lots of cheese. With lots and lots of alfredo-y sauce. It really is one of the best meals I have EVER had -- I was totally going to go moderately healthy with the Butternut Squash soup and a side-salad, but one of the new team members asked what I would recommend so of course I was all "5 Cheese Tortellini"....so she decided to order that and then the pre-emptive food envy got the better of me and food-agression Kim won out. (sigh)

And this is what my afternoon looked like.

This is what my beauty looked like when I picked her up from Daycare. (this had just occurred and the provider was on her way to wipe her up and I stopped her and said "WAIT!! Let me take a picture first!" I can safely say that I got a strange look...)

As soon as we got home, Brynn ran outside to check on her worms. They were gone (Jeremy "replanted" them last night) and she started crying. I told her to find some more. By the way, this is my anticipated garden aka Huge Freakin' Weedy Dirt Patch. I might need some more plants, eh?

After Brynn located some more worms (they're hanging in the red cup), the sibs had some outside time. It didn't last long.... but this picture is so sweet. Let's just look at this for a bit longer.

Brando fell over and his head touched the grass. He doesn't like grass.

He doesn't like it when he's on his tummy either. What a baby!

After we convinced Brynn that she needed to eat her supper (and she shockingly ate it), I took her to the park. I took some pretty depressing shots of her before this one, but didn't post them. (They might appear on Sunday's Blooper Reel.) She was having issues because the girl with the aqua shorts and classy leg tattoo wasn't playing with her -- after that situation was remedied she was happy again.

My supper (eaten at approximately 9pm) consisted of left over white rice and a bowl of ice cream.

I'm also trying to watch "Duplicity" and I think I actually like this movie, so it's a pity that I'm not actually paying attention. However, I have quite surpassed my self-imposed Netflix return timeframe, so it must be sent back tomorrow.

Tuesday, Out.

A Day in Da Life: Monday

So, here we go:

Brando thinks that flashbulbs at 2:30 am are HILARIOUS. Blinding, but hilarious. He is not even close to sleeping through the night -- he woke up and chugged 7 oz of formula (we're now done nursing... that's another post). I also think that if he can CHUG 7 oz of food that he MUST be hungry -- right? So.. night feedings persist. After he chugged n' burped, I plopped him down in bed and documented the time. (OMG I was tired) (SIDENOTE: Upon waking this morning, Jeremy commented "Geez! Brandon slept through the night, huh?" Um, no he didn't. Please refer to the documentation, sucka.)
Helpful Hint: Not only is Wheaties a breakfast of champions -- so are furry puppy dogs! MMMMM. Good morning to Brando (again) at 6:30am. Please notice all the blankets are kicked off of him as he's been kickin' and dancing. This is how I know he's awake and in a good mood. We need to get a bumper sticker (crib sticker?) that says "When this crib's a'rockin' please come a knockin'")

Brynn was not so much of a chipper riser. She had a bit of a cold (or the same one she's had all Winter -- I can't be sure) AND a birthday party yesterday. That combination resulted in a very late afternoon nap... and a much delayed bedtime as a result. It took many bribes to get her out of bed this morning.

Here is the hellish hole, uh, cubicle that I work in EVERY work day. The "30" is leftover from my birthday -- while I HATE my job and my supervisor, I have very fantastic coworkers. They made me a "30" sign and brought me treats for my day.

I went to Lowe's on my lunch break and bought some plants for my much anticipated garden. They had a 2 for 1 plant sale that was ending today. I am a sucker for deadlines. Does this look like $25 worth of plants to you? Yes, I do think I am a sucker.

Ahh! Ahh! Dieticians -- Avert your eyes and look only at the cute baby toys! Cute toys! Yeah! Everybody else, that is what I ate for lunch. There are many reasons why, but the most important reason is that it was yummy.

Brynn discovered the joys and wonders of worms tonight. She kept trying to sneak them into the house in the cup, but we managed to convince her that the worms' parents would miss them if they didn't stay outside... in the cup... with dirt in it.

And here is my supper... that I ate at 9:3opm tonight.

I'd write more, but I am not going to for the following reasons:

1) I have had 1, or 2, or more glasses of wine. (Jeremy started pouring and he pours generously and hopes that the overserving will benefit his ulterior motives)

2) I have had a beotch of a time uploading pictures and it has throroughly peeved me. I ultimately had to upload them in reverse order and only 4 at a time. Is this really how it is supposed to be? I kept thinking "do it for the fans, kim! do it for the fans!"

So... there's Monday.

Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I Love Ya -- Tomorrow!

I am not excited about this "Days of the Week" Project -- however, I have been an obsessive stalker of everybody else's -- so I too shall contribute.

It shall start tomorrow... and we'll see how long I can last :)

BAM.

Nervous about Days in the Life...

Allright you ladies that are documenting your lives this week... I'm nervous. That's commitment! That's dedication! That's having a computer that actually reliably allows you to download pictures (hence the picture-less blog you currently know and love)... so, I don't know if I can do it.

I just don't know.

I'm thinking about it.

But, I do wish you could have seen a picture of me yesterday morning when I learned that the volcano in Iceland has grounded my boss in Veldhoven for an extra week. That was the best Monday news EVER.

So, I'm continuing to think.

Welcome, Pepper the Pig.

Over the course of this Winter, we have learned in this household that being parents of two children means that you have 2 of EVERYTHING. Two baths (unless Brynn acquiesces to bathing with the wildman), two dinners (we have not quite yet learned to eat in 1 shift yet), two bedtimes (currently works in Brynn's favor as wildman goes to sleep before her...usually), and most lovely of all TWO COLDS! Yes!! And lately, the newest doubling up -- two different trips to the doctor.

Today was Brynn's turn. (Wildman was in yesterday for some viral gunk and teething issues.) Let me preface this by saying I totally love our pediatrician. Like a lot. He enjoys when I ask questions so he can use big words -- which I find humorous -- so I always show up to all appointments with a very long list of random things that I have been thinking about since our last check-up. It's a total win-win for both of us.

(insert wavy "dudledoop" lines a la Wayne's World)

I was out for lunch today with some co-workers and my phone rang. "UH-OH" it was daycare. I knew this wasn't going to be good. It was dc's husband. "HI, uh, Kim? This is ____ _____, and Brynn fell and hurt her chin. There's a band-aid on it now, thought you should know, and uh, she might have to have a stitch put in it." Oh my. This was not Brynn's first bout with stitches, but I was not eager to have more put in.... (OMG I'm getting long-winded.) (Fast-forward).

The pediatrician was able to squeeze us in if we could get there in 45 minutes. We totally could.

I picked up Brynn. Her collar was full of blood, she had a band-aid on her chin, and she was getting her hair braided. Had there not been blood on the dress, I prolly would have cancelled the appt. She didn't look bad at all!

Oh well... dc husband said the cut was bad. The dc helper said the cut was bad. I didn't remove the bandaid.

We got to the pediatrician's office and the nurse had me remove Brynn's bandaid. I hoped for the worst as I didn't want my copay to go to waste (is this bad? I know it is. I'm sorry). I got the band-aid partly off, and we had a total winner. That was a HUGE gash. (my husband was slightly perturbed that I didn't get a picture of the pre-sutured gash).

My secret boyfriend, er my child's doctor, entered the room. Our options were this: She could have 2 stitches or he could superglue it shut. He had a very in-depth conversation with Brynn about her options (totally cute) and she decided that she wanted stitches. I called a time-out at this point and asked Dr. McDreamy what he would do if this were his daughter. "Well, my daughter is extremely hystrionic, so if this were her, we'd be at the ER so she could be administered general anesthesia because she wouldn't let anybody near her face." I laughed and then said "Okay, let's glue her, kay?" We again weighed the pros and cons of stitches vs. glue and went with the glue. Brynn shall thank me some day.

Dr. Smarty has a student doctor following him around like a puppy, so she (and I) got the play-by-play of everything he was doing. Here is a helpful hint for all of you: "When gluing a patient, it's helpful to put on a smaller size glove so that it fits very snugly. It will help prevent you from getting glued to your patient." I chimed in "Hey Brynn! That would be silly, wouldn't it? We'd have to take Dr. G home with us because he'd be stuck to you!" McSmarty promptly corrected me "Well, actually only 3-4 days." (sigh.. okay. Only 3-4 days.)

I told my husband about this (he is not "in the know" of my feelings for the Love Doctor) and he had to go and additionally correct me "Kim, only the glove would have been stuck to her face, and I'm sure they could just cut that off."

WHATEVS. Got it. He won't be coming home with us.

As we were leaving, the nurses in the hallway pulled Brynn over to the sticker wall and asked her which one she wanted. "Oh, I don't like stickers anymore." she said. The nurse then said "Oh, well ---- Do you like stuffed animals then? What would you like? A giraffe or a pig?" Um seriously?? The girl grabbed the pink pig and immediately named her Pepper. Pepper the Pig.

We came home and Pepper the Pig played with Pookie the Poodle and then they did some dancing to Bon Jovi. I made sure it was the tame, no-running kind of dancing. :)

She soon informed me that the only thing she could eat with her injured chin was "Meat and Mashed Potatoes." Mmmmhmmmm. "Brynn, do you mean meat and mashed potatoes, in addition to the licorice and oreos you just polished off?" "What momma?"

Baby Name Generator

So, no. I'm not pregnant, but I have a former classmate that is. She will not tell anybody the baby's name, for well-thought out, logical reasons. This makes me play guessing games. The guessing games led me to http://www.babynamegenie.com/baby-name-generator. At this site, you are able to put in your last name and it will tell you the "perfect" name for your offspring. To show you how stoooopid it is, here are my "perfect" names:

Israel Tobias
Hayden Trace
Patrick Dante
Kerry Jayden
Daniel Randall
Xavier Emmett
Presley Shayla
Gabriel Drew
Moriah Lucy
Isaiah Dennis
Dayton Darren
Dayton Wyatt
Victoria Lucia
Tucker Timothy
Diamond Antonia

Once it churned out "Diamond" I quit. What are your "perfect" names?