Mommy Brain

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.

Well.. it was a long weekend.. but it was a good weekend… Daddy had both Thursday and Friday off… so we filled them up with lots of fun things to do.

Thursday was pretty much sleeping in, hanging out around the house, and eating… I didn’t cook this year.. I left the big job up to Bel Air… I’m saving myself for New Year’s Eve. It wasn’t bad at all.. the food was well worth the money.. not to mention the stress of cooking, then cleaning up after every dish that I would have used to cook. It was a quiet evening. Grandma T. came over for dinner. We had a good evening. The girls ate turkey like there was no tomorrow, but didn’t really like the mashed potatoes or stuffing… Oh well… can’t win them all

The next morning, we got up early, ran to Starbucks and got coffee, and some muffins for the girls. I got the gingerbread mocha, and Oh. My. Goodness… I’m addicted now. I’m not much of a coffee drinker, but this stuff has got me hooked. Anyway, we got our breakfast, and went on to Old Sacramento. We were going to get in line for the Santa Train. We had hoped that being Black Friday, most people would be busy shopping rather than waiting for the train. We were there early enough to be number one in line. It was pretty cool. The girls ate their muffin and drank their water while I and daddy enjoyed our coffee. The box office opened at 1020, I got our tickets.. which were free because we were members… and we got in the boarding line… We decided to check out the dining car this time, rather than the passenger car.. It was actually very nice! There was a lot of room for us to move about.

Not even 5 mins after the train started on the track, Santa came into our car and started visiting with all of the children. We were curious to see what the girls would do.. and soon enough, we found out. It was hilarious. Alexandra was sitting next to me, and Victoria next to Daddy. I got up to let Santa sit next to Alexandra and get a picture of them… as soon as he sat down, Alexandra scrambled across the table to Daddy and Victoria. I was just laughing… Poor Santa.. He probably expected it though. So many little kids on the train.. I wonder how many he actually was able to talk to about what they wanted for Christmas. We had a good time, and the girls absolutely loved the train ride.

After the train, we took off to The Children’s Place to look for the girls’ Christmas Dresses. We found some really cute skirts, but couldn’t find one sweater that we really liked… That started a whole new battle. Once we got out of there, we came home, fed the girls some lunch and put them down for a nap.

Saturday, we went to visit with Daddy’s grandpa, and uncle. It was their first time seeing the girls, and it was a lot of fun! Sunday was just a quiet day at home. Of course, Daddy wasn’t all too excited about having to go back to work on Monday. He had 4 straight days at home with the girls, and now it was time to get ready to return to the normal schedule. It was a great weekend though… and soon we’ll have the Christmas & New Year Holiday.

I’ve posted before about Kristen, author of Motherhood Uncensored, and her awesome way of looking at the day to day events associated with being a mom. One of her earlier posts just had me laughing. She wrote about her daughter playing video games at 3 years of age. Her daughter was just captivated by a game she got in the mail for her hand held game system. I laugh because I can totally relate to her situation. 

A & V have started to show extreme interest in a few electronic gadgets. They love playing SSX Tricky on the XBox. I can’t even figure that game out… and they can score thousands of points on that thing. I’ve written before about them being able to totally work the iPhone by themselves. They know how to get to their bookmarked videos on YouTube, and can find their Dora, WonderPets and Little Einsteins movies I purchased from iTunes. They’ve also started popping  virtual “bubble wrap” on the laptop. Oh, and they love to instant message with Daddy too..

What’s great is, when they do these things, I can get some time to work on cleaning something, or cooking, or just sit and watch them. I totally understand what she was talking about!

You know what else I think? I also think that no matter what anyone else says, these kids are geniuses. I don’t care who says video games are bad for kids. It’s not like I let them play Doom, or something… They’re learning hand-eye coordination. They’re also learning how to think ahead, and they’re building their memory skills! I’ll take any help I can get there!

It was a bright sun shiny day… or so I thought… I woke up on Monday, November 19th, 2007. The sun was shining outside, but the weather person on Good Day Sacramento was telling me that the clouds and rain were going to be here some where around 9am. Great… Just what I need. I’m going to be in line at that time…. with the girls… who will hopefully be GOOD for me and SIT in their STROLLER…. oh, did I mention this line was for PHANTOM OF THE OPERA TICKETS???? Yes, The Phantom of the Opera is coming to Sacramento!!! Tickets went on sale bright and “early” at 10am. I had been planning

Tickets for the Phantom of the Opera, Sacramento show went on sale on the 19th of November at 10am. We were in line at 9am. It was cool, windy, and getting cloudier by the minute. The girls were actually sitting in their jogging stroller, wearing their little hats and scarves that I crocheted for them, bundled up in their Disney Princess blankets. Of course, their little boxes of animal graham crackers didn’t hurt the situation much either… Once they gobbled those up, I was at the ready with some fruit strips from Trader Joe’s.

We were 7th in line. Not too bad considering we were there an hour before the box office opened up. I was ready to go, with my print outs of the seating chart, dates and times we were wanting to go, ordered by preference, and the list of how many tickets were still available. I was not going to show up unprepared. Oh, and speaking of prepared, we also had about 3 books each, 2 stuffed animals, and loads of snacks and water… The girls were very happy.. and happy girls= happy mommy.

10 o’clock rang in with the bells from the Cathedral’s tower, and we opened the doors to the box office. They had 4 windows open. I was just praying the line over at the Convention Center Box office, or all the people on the phone, or online wouldn’t scoop up all the good seats! By the time it was my turn, the girls were ready to go home. I was able to get them to stay calm while I bought my tickets, but once we were out of there… all bets were off. They were all ready to go home! I really didn’t blame them. I was totally amazed that they lasted that long. Needless to say, they got a special treat on the way home. We went to Jamba Juice. MMMmmmm Jamba Juice!

So, my hubby finally taught me about the wonderful world of podcasts. I never had an iPod, so I’m still learning how these things work. Once I got my iPhone, and got the hang of searching iTunes, I was iHooked. I couldn’t put down the iMouse and walk away from my iTunes. Ok ,Ok enough of the iStuff… anyway…

I subscribed to a bunch of Photoshop Podcasts, and a couple of parenting ones. The one that has me absolutely hooked is Motherhood Uncensored. It’s hosted by a mom named Kristen Chase, and it’s a no nonsense podcast about what it’s really like being a woman, wife, and mom! She holds nothing back, and I absolutely love it. She doesn’t just talk about the wine and roses parts of being a mom, and I really think that’s how it should be. She often has very informative guests on her show, and I’ve actually gotten a lot of great ideas from them!

I’ve started listening to her podcast while I’m at the gym. It’s so much more enjoyable than listening to the same 30 songs over and over again. I never know what to expect, and I never regret listening. Listening to the podcast actually passes the time faster for me than my music, which I think is funny. Kirsten took a break for a couple of weeks, and I was worried something had happened to her. I found out this morning that she had been sick, and had really thought about keeping her podcast going. Thankfully, she is continuing with it. It’s been shortened to 30 minutes rather than 60 minutes, but it’s still just as much fun. If you’d like to catch it LIVE… check out her Blog or go to BlogTalkRadio for the podcast from 9-9:30pm Wednesdays!

Kirsten also has a few other blogs, one of which is a lot of fun, called Mominatrix, and another that is full of great information about the must haves for mom and baby, called Cool Mom Picks. I know there’s a few more but, these are the ones I can remember right now… the ones I like to follow most closely… I’ll probably be mentioning more and more about them here now, as things come up… You should definitely check them out!! I guarantee you’ll get hooked too!

We took our annual trip up to Apple Hill on Saturday! It was such a blast! We have a great time every year, but this year we actually got to drive around and watch the girls explore too. We planned on going to a couple of places because of the events they had marked on the calender… The first one was the Mother Lode Orchards. It was marked as their Family Fun weekend, with cider tasting, kids crafts, and more. We got there, and they really didn’t have anything going on. It was a really small place, and they didn’t have much out in way of samples. It was a little disappointing. We noticed a lot of people that arrived at the same time as us also left at the same time.

From there we drove around and stopped at some of the smaller orchards and wineries. We did stop at Bolster’s Hilltop Ranch & Winery. We liked that place last year. They had quite a few wines and other items to taste. They have a pretty neat craft section. Lots of good things for sale there. We Checked out Boa Vista Orchards as well. They were one of the larger orchards that we stopped at. They had lots of good food, and a lot of vendors there that day! You could get anything from Christmas ornaments to back support items, to sterling silver jewelry! The food seemed to be very popular! They had tri tip sandwiches, corn dogs, and a grille where we got a grilled cheese sandwich and fries for the girls. It was a pretty hoppin’ place!

One thing we haven’t ever really done was check out the major wineries in the area. This year, we had the opportunity to check out Stone’s Throw Winery. There was a group of people there when we arrived, and they were walking away with bottles! We walked up to the counter, and they had all of their champagnes & wines lined up on the counter. Meemaw, Peepaw, and I tried just about all of them. They were all so good. It was so difficult to decide which one to buy. I love love love White Zinfandel, and theirs was so good, but I can buy White Zin at the store any time. Their Merlot was really good too… First thing we thought was “Prime Rib”. LOL… But that’s another one we can get any time. Their Raspberry Champagne was very good, and that was one of the prime candidates. We ended up buying their Apple Wine! It was so good! It had a crisp apple flavor that wasn’t too sweet, and wasn’t too tart. It was very good, and seasonal! It’s not something I can just happen across at the grocery store… so I had to pick that one! I figure it’ll go perfect with the baby back ribs Daddy’s going to cook for my birthday this year!!! Their prices were very reasonable! I’m so glad we stopped there this time. I think we’re going to make it one of the must see’s for next time we’re up there! If you’re looking for a great winery to stop at, look for this sign!

We went back around to High Hill Ranch. It’s the one place we always must stop. This year was no different. We made this our final stop. This year they had a whole bunch of craft vendors there! It was so neat seeing all the things for sale… We actually ended up buying the girls their Christmas Ornaments there this year… A new vendor this year.. They have their names on them too!!! I’m so excited! We also bought a neat little sushi maker. I’m more than positive it will be used A LOT! It’s so easy to use.. I can’t wait to use it! I’m pretty sure we’ll have a sushi party on New Year’s!

All in all, it was a wonderful day. The girls had fun, we had fun, and we ate apple pie and drank apple cider. I can’t wait to go again next year!!!

Update: I received an email from the Adams Family today!

Hi Monica,

Thanks for the kind words about our winery. We are glad to hear you enjoyed your visit. We try to make it as family friendly as we can. Hope to see you next year. We hope to have a couple of new releases by then.

Cheers,
The Adams Family

PS:
The woman you talked to is Lynn, she is our tasting room manager and I will give her your positive feedback.

Thanks for checking my site out!!! We will definitely be back!!!

I was going through some pictures and found a few from Halloween morning. As with every morning, we were up watching CW 31’s Good Day Sacramento, and they mentioned that Mark S. Allen was out at the IKEA in West Sacramento handing out candy to children in costume. Well, the girls wanted to go get some candy.. We had to get to the gym before it was too late so we got ready and took off really fast. The girls looked so cute in their costumes… I called my parents since they only live about 5 mins away from there. They were at Walmart, and dad just happened to have his camera! WOOT!

We showed up and there was a decent line… Lots of kids in costume just waiting for their 5 seconds of fame on the TV. We missed most of the TV spots, but Cody Stark was there giving away candy while we all waited. He’s a very nice guy. The girls weren’t too sure about his Elvis Wig… but once he gave them some candy, they loved him.

Later on, Nick Toma came out to say “Hi” to everyone. He came by to talk to us, and we were lucky enough to get a picture with him too. He’s also a very sweet guy. He thought the girls were very cute…. and gave them some more candy… The girls loved him too.. LOL..

It was a lot of fun.. and the girls did eventually get their 5 seconds of fame. More like 3 seconds, but it was all worth it! They left with their pumpkins half full of candy!

Photos by Ana Maria Photo