Mommy Brain

This Christmas morning will be forever ingrained into my memory as one of the best Christmases ever! We woke up around 720am, and came downstairs to Auntie C, Uncle B, Aunt B, Uncle K, Meemaw & Peepaw all waiting for the girls.. Gma T came just a short bit later. The girls were still sawing logs. It was so funny. We finally woke them up around 8am, once everyone was here and ready… We got Victoria up first, and then she wanted to wake her sister up, so we put her in sister’s crib. She started rubbing her sister’s hair and cheek, I was just so in awe of how gentle she was when she woke her up. It was so sweet.

Once Alexandra was up, we changed them, and brought them down the stairs. Everyone was waiting for them. We had covered their Kitchen with a blanket so they could “unwrap it” easily. It was funny when they saw this huge thing in their playroom and everyone standing around it. They walked down the stairs, and walked up to it slowly and just kinda stared for a moment. Then Alexandra thought she’d peek around the back side of it to see what it was. we stopped her and told her and Victoria to come around the front and pull the blanket off. They did, and boy did their eyes light up when they saw what it was. They immediately started playing with everything in there. They inspected all of the cubbys and cabinets. They didn’t seem to want to leave their kitchen! Little did they know what was still in store for them!

We finally talked them into going into the Christmas Tree/Present room. We told them that they had a huge pile of presents to open up, and they ran. They opened up box after box. There was wrapping paper everywhere when we were all done, despite attempts to keep all the gift wrap in garbage bags as the gifts were opened…

After all was said and done, they got their kitchen, a Hoover Vacuum Cleaner, a Mr. Clean Play Cleaning set, and a shopping cart. They each got a Kid Tough Digital Camera, UCSB hoodie sweatshirts, and a princess doll from Disney, one Ariel and one Cinderella. They also got the Disney Princess Tea Cart Set, a couple of outfits, and some bath towel sets. Another popular toy they got a couple each of is the Mushabelly Mushkins.. They seriously made out like bandits. Spoiled little girls… and they are sooooo worth it!

All they did the rest of the day was run around and play with absolutely everything for a few minutes at a time. I think they each took close to 100 photos with their cameras, and spread out play food everywhere in the house. They served “coffee and tea” to everyone at least 3 times with their cart, and finally just wanted to crash among their toys. They were so darn cute!

This year was the first year they really “got” Christmas as far as Santa and presents go. I can’t wait to teach them a little more about the religious background to Christmas next year.

Wow! It’s already Christmas Eve… and even Christmas Eve is almost over! It’s 11:25pm… and I’m not even sleeping… Do you think Santa will bring me my presents? LOL

It’s been such a crazy day. We woke up fairly early today. Daddy took the girls downstairs and made breakfast, while I took off to the store. I needed to find the girls some tights to wear with their dresses. I stopped at Kohls, and couldn’t find anything there. The place looked like it had been ran through a few times over. I figured I’d head out to Target to see if I could fund anything there. I was on the phone with my mom (yes i was using a hands free!) and told her what I was looking for. It just so happened that my dad and sister were out at the mall.. those crazy cats… They found the tights out there for me! PHEW! I didn’t have to brave Target! Just driving into the parking lot scared me… It was PACKED! So, I headed on home… no, wait.. I had to stop at the grocery store. Bel Air was hopping! I grabbed a few things that we needed for today, and a few things for tomorrow, and then, finally, went home.

I got home, and the girls were running around. They were just so cute running up and giving me hugs. I felt like I won a medal or something. Daddy had been cleaning up the house, getting it ready for all of our visitors over the next few days. There was so much to do, and not enough time to do it. We had to get everything done before 2pm. Basically the schedule was, up at 730, clean till noon. Make the girls’ lunch at noon, get them in bed asap. Let them nap till 2ish… Wake them up, change them and run to Church for the Christmas Eve service, run back to the grocery store, then home for dinner with Grandma T. Santa was scheduled to show up sometime between 730 and 8pm, and then it was time to get the girls in bed and put their Christmas Present together and bring the rest of the gifts out and put them under the tree.

Well, we got it all done! Santa was actually a big hit this year! Alexandra seemed to be a little afraid at first, but as the time with Santa went on, she seemed to really like him. Then, when he went to leave, she actually started crying. It was so cute!

Here I sit, at 1230am on the play room floor. Daddy is wrapping some last minute presents, Auntie C & Uncle B are asleep upstairs, Auntie B & Uncle K are in the living room watching the Simpsons Movie, or asleep on the couch.. not sure which, since I’m not allowed in that room…. But, I’m falling asleep.. I think I’ll sign off for now… I’ll write more tomorrow! There’s going to be so much to tell about the girls opening their presents!!!

Merry Christmas EVERYONE!!!

This is going to be a sort of a two part entry.. I’m going to start with what a great time the girls had, and go on to my experience.. just because I think it should be talked about…

So, tonight we went on the first ever Polar Express Train in Sacramento! The girls have been so excited about going on this train. They’ve seen the movie a handful of times already and they knew a little bit about it. They love trains, and are beginning to actually “get” the whole Santa, and gifts, etc thing…. so they’re getting more and more excited about Christmas. We got to the station, and they had it all decorated up. There were the guys there singing Christmas Carols that were also on the Santa train that we took the day after Thanksgiving. They had a “store” where you could purchase all kinds of “Polar Express” merchandise from sweatshirts to gift sets of movie, book and jingle bell. They had some cute things, but a size 4T sweatshirt for $29.99 was quite steep for me, especially since an adult XL was the same price. I noticed they had the single jingle bells for sale for $5 a piece, and I had thought about buying one, but I didn’t want to take the chance on the girls losing it, so we decided to wait until after the ride.

At about 4:20, they were going to start boarding the train, so we all got in line, bubbling with excitement. Then we noticed the line getting longer and longer in front of us. Apparently, everyone else decided to just have one or two people wait in line for everyone in their 10 person party… but oh well. We got down to our gate, and hopped on the train. We were able to find a couple of benches near each other for meemaw and peepaw to sit right across from the 4 of us.

The train moved slowly out of the station, and almost as soon as we passed the Tower Bridge, the Hot Chocolate song started, and 2 dancers came out and were tap dancing down the aisle. The girls got a kick out of that. Heck, I did too.. That was a skinny aisle! Nothing like the movie LOL. As soon as they were done, they brought the carts of Hot Chocolate, and let me tell you, it was the best Hot Chocolate I’ve ever had. It was really really chocolate! The girls LOVED their Hot Chocolate too! They’ve only ever had it one time before that and it was not as good. They then brought out chocolate chip cookies for everyone which was pretty cool.

After the cookies and Hot Chocolate, they played a narration of the story over the speakers, and one of the “chefs” went up and down the aisle with the book, showing the pictures to the kids. He came by a few times and the girls saw the pictures and got excited when they remembered the movie. Just as they ended the story, we pulled up to Baths, or should I say, the “North Pole”. They had Santa in his sleigh, and the HUGE bag of presents in the back of the sleigh. He got up, and waved to everyone, and at this point, all of the children were noses to the windows waving at Santa, who was showing everyone his “Nice & Naughty” List. I can’t remember if I saw my name on it or not.. but I’m pretty sure it’d be under the Naughty list before it’d be on the Nice list… LOL…

Baths is where they move the engine to the “back” of the train to pull us back to the station. When the engine passed by the platform, Santa magically disappeared! The girls were worried and asked where Santa went. We tried to tell them that he was already giving out presents to all the good boys and girls, but they quickly told us the reindeer and the big bag were still there.. Ehhh.. too smart.. new excuse evading us… LOL .. Oh well. It wasn’t more than a couple of minutes and the train was on the way back to the station. The door at the end of the car opened, and we heard Santa come in! He asked the kids if they believed, and held up a bell stating that it was the first gift of Christmas. He then came by and handed one out to every child on the train. The girls were so excited, and they didn’t even freak out.. much.. Man, I’m scared to see what happens on Christmas Eve, when Santa comes to visit them in their own home! Their first Christmas, they were oblivious, and all smiles. Their second Christmas, they were scared out of their minds, and wanted nothing to do with Santa. Now we’ll see how it goes for their third Christmas.

Not too long after Santa came through, we were back at the train station. The girls had huge smiles, from ear to ear. They couldn’t stop shaking their jingle bells and telling everyone “I believe! Oh! I hear it!” It was just too darn cute. I’m so glad they really truly enjoyed it! It makes it worth every bit of trouble… read on .. and you’ll find out what that is all about..

So, I mention trouble. So, we invited meemaw and peepaw to come on the train with us. We knew peepaw would bring his camera.. and we were very excited to see what kind of pictures he could capture of the girls having a good time. Well, he has a DSLR, and a nice flash setup. It’s not a little handheld camera like most people have, thus the reason we get such awesome photos of the girls all the time. Anyway, he was snapping pictures left and right of all the cool displays, the girls coloring, and the guys singing! All the fun things I’d love to have as memories for the girls in my scrapbooking. Not more than 10mins after we arrived, someone came up to my dad asking him who he was with, why he was taking photos, and telling him he wasn’t allowed to sell photos taken here, etc, etc. He told her that he was there with his family, taking pictures for us, etc etc. Ok, easy to understand, he had a larger than normal camera set up. He could easily be mistaken for a newspaper reporter or something.. Not too long after that, one more person came up to him and gave him the same reprimand. Ok, maybe he didn’t know the other lady already asked him those questions. No problem, dad just told him the same thing that he told the previous person. We all got in line to board the train. The girls were getting more and more excited, as were all of us adults!

We find out gate.. gate 3.. and get ready for an adventure. Little did we know.. our adventure was quickly going down hill. As we all got on the train, yet another guy stopped my dad. All I heard was “Sir, I see that you have some pretty high tech equipment there. Who are you taking pictures for?” All I could think was LEAVE US ALONE! Sure enough, my dad finally came on board with us, and was frustrated. The guy had given him a hard time about being a professional photographer, and telling him he can’t sell his pictures, etc.. He was there with his family people! We figured we’d let it go, and just get on with the trip.. we hadn’t even left the station yet and we had a whole hour of fun ahead of us.. or so we thought.. OH.. did I mention we hadn’t left the station yet? One more lady came up to my dad. She had to have talked to the guy that stopped him at the train. She says to him that she understands he’s a freelance photographer, and she tells him that he shouldn’t take too many pictures, because the flash, as large as it is, would be too intrusive to the rest of the people on board the train, and then she reiterates that photos taken at the event can not be sold… Ok.. I was about done.. Leave us alone. He’s taking pictures of HIS family… He’s not here to sell anything, and for goodness sakes.. his flash may be large, but there’s a filter on it that subdues it for close up shots. His flash wasn’t even as bright as some of the flashes that people were using on their tiny little hand held cameras.. I mean seriously people.. He knows what he’s doing. He’s taken photos, really great photos for longer than I’ve been alive.. and that’s a long time.. UGH!

Ok, so we finally leave the station, the guy that’s sitting in front of my dad turns around and says that they’re ridiculous.. It’s an event we paid good money for, and if they don’t want people taking pictures, they should have stated that before we bought our tickets… He even commented on how surprised he was that dad’s flash wasn’t that bright. He said that the flash on his little Sony camera was brighter.. needless to say, I told my dad that if they had any issues with him taking pictures of his family, that I’d deal with them.. I had hoped and prayed that after 4 people saying something, that it would be done and over.. I mean, it was beyond ridiculous. The moment was ruined for me, and my dad was just all in a fix about whether or not he should take certain pictures.. I told him to take the pictures he wanted to! The other cameras were going off all around us, why should he be the only one that can’t take a picture?

We had a mostly quiet trip down the line, and when we stopped at the “North Pole” we thought all was going to be well. Wrong again. Just before Santa came on the train, one more guy came to my dad and told him that he couldn’t take photos facing forward, because it would “interfere with his video” that he was taking. He also worked for the Polar Express Event. At this point, I was downright pissed off.. My dad, trying to be accomodating, held back at taking photos, until I noticed this guy trying to wave at my dad to let him know it was “ok by him” for dad to take pics… So, we didn’t get any good pictures of Santa coming into our car, or explaining about the first gift of Christmas, etc. We were lucky to get get the pics of Santa handing the girls their Jingle Bells.. I can not explain how mad I was. This was not the first train, and this would not be the last train. Why the heck did they have to video tape this ride, let alone OUR CAR? Why the heck did we (my dad) have to be singled out when everyone on the train had a stinkin’ camera? I was so upset, that this trip was truly ruined for me. Thank goodness the girls are only 2 and were completely oblivious to all this crap. If it wasn’t for their smiles and excitement every time I heard them ring that bell and yell “I CAN HEAR IT!” I’d have thought this was a complete waste. But instead, I’m glad that no matter what we went through, they still had the magic of Christmas with them.

So, on Monday morning right when they opened, I called the office and filed a complaint. It was a long complaint as I explained absolutely everything that happened, and how I felt. I spoke with a very sweet lady, who even told me she thought this whole situation was quite ridiculous (I use that word a lot. I like it, can you tell?) I was assured I’d receive a phone call from a manager. As of closing on Monday, I haven’t heard anything… so, now, I wait.

Update: as of Thursday 12/13, I still have yet to receive a phone call back. I’ve called every day, only to be told that the manager is not in. I’ve left several messages. I’m still fuming, and now I feel like they really don’t care. What wonderful customer service they have. NOT! I will update again as soon as I hear something back.

Update: I finally received a phone call on the late afternoon of 12/13. Basically, all I got was “You’re the only complaint we’ve received”, and “I’ll talk to the crew and make sure they understand to be more considerate to the guests”… I got the feeling that they weren’t really going to do anything, and they didn’t even offer any type of  compensation, or a formal apology to my dad. All she could say was that the “manner in which my dad was taking photos, was that of a professional photographer.” I asked her how that was the manner of a professional, all he was doing was taking pictures of  various things around the station… the decorations, the girls coloring, the guys singing… how is that professional manner??? I saw everyone taking pictures of all these things.. The only difference is that they had a small hand held camera, and Dad didn’t… GAAH! It still makes me so upset… I told the lady I wanted an explanation… she promises I’ll get one, but here it is, Tuesday, and Sunday was the last day of the event. I’ll never hear anything…

who thinks this is the most ridiculous rule in the world?

Ok… let me give you background, and then I’ll give you the rule… Maybe it’s just me? Maybe I’m not the only one.. but.. here goes.

I belong to two meetup groups here in town, and I try to go to as many of their meetups as I possibly can. Anyway, today, they both joined up at The Bounce Spot for a massive playdate. The last time we met up there, we all brought snacks for the kids, since we had all pretty much planned on being there for lunch too. We had everything from fruits and veggies to cookies and cupcakes. It was a great time.. Well, this time, I got up to the counter to pay for the girls, and some lady comes out from the back and immediately stops me and says “You can’t bring those in here.” I look at her and tell her that I know I have to put the food in the party room, and can’t take it into the play area. She very matter of factly tell me that I can’t bring cupcakes in period. I just didn’t get it… Why, if last time we were ok, this time cupcakes were not… She then tells me that cupcakes “represent” a birthday party, and thus are not allowed in there unless we had a paid party going on. How the heck do cupcakes represent a birthday party. They didn’t have candles on them. so I asked.. “What if I had brought fruit or cookies?” Those apparently are ok. It’s just cakes and cupcakes that are prohibited. So, i guess had my cupcakes not had any frosting on them I could’ve passed them as muffins and I would’ve been fine? I don’t know. It was frustrating. So here I was.. I brought snacks.. really I did… but I had to leave them in the car.. I let everyone know that when we left, I’d be more than happy to share my “contraband” with them out in the parking lot. I mean, seriously.. If it wasn’t for our meetup groups there today.. that place would’ve been so empty… and that place was so packed. UGH.. it was just frustrating. It really turned me off today… I was so ready to get the girls memberships, and they did this.. I know small beans.. but the way they were snotty about it really turned me off.

I guess my rant is over… kinda..

12/7/07~> God Bless all of our Veterans, especially those who were at Pearl Harbor on this day 66 years ago.

Ok.. I have no idea where the girls picked this one up, and I may just be hallucinating from my two days of less than an hour of sleep… but it is so cute. Every time I ask them something today, they’ll reply with “Yes, ma’am” or “No, ma’am”… It’s kind of freaking me out a little.

I’m trying to think of where they could have heard it… We ventured out to the grocery store today…  That was about all I thought I could handle today… and I think I was right. The girls are eating lunch and will be taking a nap soon… Thank goodness… Now hopefully, they’ll sleep so I can too.

So, this past weekend was a little rough. I felt so badly. SIL and her hubby came over to spend the weekend with us, but most of the weekend I was sick, and then the girls were sick.

Last night was just the worst. Alexandra had such a stuffy nose that she’d wake up every hour-ish and just cry out “I got boogers!”. So out of bed and into her room I went hand full of tissue… but she wouldn’t blow her nose. She would only wipe her nose, and it was driving me nuts. Finally around 4am, I took her out of bed, and down the hall to the guest room. I talked her into trying to blow her nose, and when she couldn’t do that, I pulled out the nose syringe… which we all lovingly here call the “boogie sucker”.

We took about 10 mins of sucking those boogies out of her nose… I really felt like it wouldn’t stop! Poor little girl was full of stuff! No wonder she couldn’t breathe! When I finally got to a point where almost nothing was coming out, I had her try to blow her nose again… and sure enough.. she was able to get some more out. UGH! I gave her a half dose of benadryl to hopefully keep her nose dry so I could try to get some sleep… She went back to bed, and so did I. No sooner had I laid down, than Daddy’s alarms started going off so he could get up for work. I just wanted to cry.

I think exhaustion finally kicked in because the next thing I knew he was getting ready to go downstairs, and it was nearly 7am. Oh, and did I mention that Victoria was wide awake and trying to wake up Alexandra? I was really thinking of letting Alexandra get some more sleep, but she woke up with a smile. Well, I guess I was up.. and some green tea was an order.

We started off with breakfast, and rather than go anywhere, we all pretty much vegged out on the couch most of today. This morning was spent reading lots of books, and watching Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas.. We cuddled under blankets, and drank lots of water. We even played a couple of games on the computer. As soon as lunch time hit, we were ready and hungry. We ate chicken nuggets, edamame, and rice, drank more water, and prepared for another bout with the “boogie sucker”.

We went upstairs, and I changed the girls and got them ready for nap. Of course, this all entailed a round of nose blowing, fighting over how we’re going to get the snot out of them.  I was trying to get as much out of Alexandra as I could, and one go at it, Alexandra said “Mommy, my brain.” I just stopped.. I had to laugh.. I explained to her that I was not getting her brain. I was getting boogers out of her nose so it wouldn’t get into her ears or throat and make her even more sick. She still didn’t like it, but she stopped fighting so much so I could finish up..

Nap was short and not so sweet. Of course Alexandra woke up only to need more booger sucking. Oh when will the madness end? Hopefully tonight they’ll be able to sleep better and maybe I can get some sleep too…

So, tonight has been a good movie night for me. I’ve finally been able to sit and watch Pirates of the Carribbean… YES.. the one starring Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightly. I know, I know.. These movies have been out for years… I just never got the chance to sit down and actually watch them. Well, now that all of the tv shows are on reruns, there’s nothing to watch on tv. As much as I’m angry that I can’t see my CSI anymore… it’s the perfect time to watch all the movies I own, that I have yet to see.

Anyway. It was hilarious. We started the first one late as it was, and then I was on the fence.. I really wanted to go to sleep, but I knew I had the second one just sitting there, and ready to be watched. So, I put it in the DVD player.. Next thing I knew, the movie was over at 2am. Wow.. so much for sleeping off this headache I’ve had for two days now. But… the options were pretty easy to choose from. Now.. I’m just waiting till Tuesday when they release At World’s End … Till then… I’ll be saving my popcorn.