English, please

 

I swear to you this just happened.   After enjoying her favorite nursery rhyme DVD in its entirety  she was still bouncing on her knees and clapping like she wanted more.   Since I’m busy in the kitchen with dinner  (and polka dot cake experimentation) I thought I would play the CD  again.   But in Spanish this time.  

She didn’t go for it.  As Old McDonald’s Farm was playing  (quack quack aqui y a quack quack alli….)  she went for the remote and sat there holding it and nodding no.   I asked her if she wanted me to change it back to English and she handed me the remote.  More like pushed it at me.

We know she can understand us now and it is completely thrilling to be able to communicate with her.   I’m sure she felt the same thing as the video re-started.   In English, this time.

Avocado Love

 

One of the very many things I love about this baby of ours is that she actually giggles with delight when she sees an avocado.  

We just sit here at lunch and eat them right out of the shell together.   DELICIOUS!!

She knows all the noises

 

We don’t have normal schedules.   We don’t have free time.   We aren’t ever “OFF”.   Even when we aren’t in the office we are always on call.   The phone is never far from us.   When the phone rings even Tessie stops and looks.  We are in the growth stage of running a small business that supports this family.   When we stop working, it stops producing.

While this is extremely limiting some times, it is extremely flexible other times and the trade off is worth it.   Even though Steve works very long hours, he is often home during the day and gets lots and lots of time to play with his peanut. 

This means that the baby has grown accustomed to our bizarre schedules and habits.    She is an extremely curious little girl and she pays attention to things..  so when she hears noises she looks, points, smiles, and says HI.  

These noises include:

• waking up to the sound of her Dad shoveling the driveway
• the sound of the carts moving as the truck is being unloaded
• the sound of the car door closing
• the sound of the keys hitting the tray
• the sound of the door closing
• the back door opening
• a Diesel truck pulling in to the driveway
• the phone ringing
• the sound of a text coming in
• the fax machine ringing.

We love having her with us and we are just constantly so amused by what she is learning and how she is showing us what we know.

Ciao!

Birthday Parties and Whatnot

 

We had a home show Saturday (shocker) so Tessie got to spend the WHOLE day with her Aunt, Uncle and 4 of her cousins… before they all piled in the cars to go to Grandma and Grandpas to see everyone else for E’s birthday party.     I know, we are the luckiest people ever to have family so willing to take our baby for hours and hours on end.     The party was pure chaos but it was fun to see everyone and we managed to pile all 10 cousins on the couch for a picture.   The confused one on the end is ours, of course.  You can just hear her inside voice “hey, wait, what?   what’s happening?  what’s going on?  is that the TV on??”

Sunday was her first St. Patrick’s Day and you know how I love to embrace the holidays… so we started the day with some green pancake for breakfast.   Here is our little tiny lucky charm!

That afternoon we drove down to Mankato to go to Birthday Party #2…  party hats and all.  We both think she had a blast.   She waved and said HI to everyone, she played like crazy and she didn’t object at all to her party hat.   In fact, her Dad finally was the one to take it off because it appeared to be digging in to her head.    Love these pics of her riding with her cousin in the wagon, and patiently waiting for her cake.   (she only had a few bites of my cupcake!)

Today was a daycare day.   It never fails.  She spends one day with a handful of 2 year olds and comes home with a trick.   I was feeding her and she acted like she wanted to grab the spoon so I gave it to her.  What do I care?   I was curious to see what she would do with it.   Imagine my surprise when it went straight into her mouth.   Over and over again like it was no big deal at all.   But she still handed it to me each time so I could reload it.   I couldn’t believe it!  Such a big girl!

That’s all for now.  

Ciao!

We’re all normal

 

Today I was able to scoot out of the house for a few hours to run errands on my own while Tessie stayed home and played with Auntie Pat.    As I was waiting in line a the grocery store a nice older lady and I were chatting about the tabloids and how after looking at the “beach bodies” on some of those people we feel pretty darn good about our bodies.  

I love days when Pat comes over because it gives me the freedom to hunker down in the office or run a few crazy errands without worrying about the baby’s schedule. Like all mothers, I am a slave to her schedule.   Eat. Play. Sleep….  over and over and over for months and months.    It is no wonder that I feel I am on a never ending treadmill.  Or like that character in Groundhog Day.   I am faced with the same tasks and the same challenges every day with curve balls thrown in all the time.   Days when I get tons of work done in the office I feel badly that I’ve ignored the baby too much.   Days when I play with the baby all day I feel badly that I’ve ignored the office too much.  Days that fly by in an instant make me feel  badly that I’ve ignored Steve too much.   Did I make dinner?  Is there food for breakfast?  Lunch?   Tessie?   Did I ever stop to think about what HAD to get done in the office today?   Did I do it?  Is there laundry clean?    As Steve gets busier with work I need to step up and take care of the housework he normally does.   We are lucky to have help in the office, but getting ready for her and managing her take,s time too.  So some days I drink lots of coffee and plow through stuff.  Other days I just give in and hope tomorrow is better.    Other days, like today,  I am feeling great that I got some of the errands done, but also frustrated that is afternoon and I haven’t started work yet.    I’m not alone, Steve is also frustrated I haven’t been in the office yet.  Baby girl is asleep, I’m overwhelmed, so I write a bit.   I can work after I’m done.

In the next 8 weeks we have 3 family birthdays,  Tessie’s first Easter, her Baptism, Her BIRTHDAY,  and 12 days of home shows. Oh, and swimming lessons.   Tessie and Daddy  are THIS close to being signed up for swimming lessons.   We are going to make every event for our baby as special as can be.  We are going to hope that the house stays reasonably put together.   We are going to do our best to have decent food in the house so we don’t just eat crap.  We are going to do our best to keep the office running smoothly, to keep our customers happy and to keep this business moving forward.  Last, but not least, we are going to try and remember that we are normal.  None of the frustrations we may have are unique.  Everybody, everywhere has something to deal with.   So just like the sweet older lady and I discussed today in the grocery check out lane, we are normal.

I’m back!

 

Goodness.  We were going great guns with blogging and pictures and all that fun and then WHAM.   Christmas was the MOST fun, then January started with 6 days out of 14 working a home show and farming out the baby and then the computer died…  so here I sit.    Desperate to catch up on recording the pure magic than having a baby really is.   Suffice to say, she is amazingly sweet and darn near perfect.

Crazy with a Capital “C”

January 10

Really, you wouldn’t believe me if I didn’t tell you it was true.  My days are crazy.  With a capital C.  Today is no exception.   Today was actually normal for me.

Baby slept like a champ last night, not waking up even one time so at least everyone here is rested.    She was up for the day at 7:15.  I fed her and we went downstairs to make breakfast.  Steve had plans to help my brother all day today so after we ate we went straight to the office to re-group and get paperwork done while Tessie crawled all over the place looking for mischief to get in to.  I wish I could say it was the first time I was in the office in my PJ’s very un showered and just a few sips into my first bit of coffee.  Alas, it was not. 

She had 2 solid naps today ( 1 ½ hours and 2 hours) and during each of those times I managed to get myself up and dressed,   prep for the show this weekend, follow up on some outstanding things, deal with emails, and file our federal payroll taxes.    I also had several conversations with Dad, and each sister about who can take my ticket to the Guthrie this weekend since I will be at a show.   It bugs me that I was so dumb about my schedule because I really want to go have that bit of fun but there is no way.     At this hour, the ticket may very well go unused.   Bummer.     I also convinced my sister Katie to take Tessie all day Sunday (not that hard) and started the list of things I need to do and pack to make that day as easy as possible.   Lastly, I went a few rounds with two groups of potential tenants.  One group – with no application in yet – is negotiating hard for free rent in February  (and I’m just desperate enough to get the place filled I was considering it).  The other group contains a felony (of course) , something mysterious and illegal from a few years back and a bad phone number from a landlord.   But the felony is old, he claims to have no idea on the mysterious item and I have a corrected number for the landlord.   They can move in in Feb and will pay full price.     Still…  neither scenario feels perfect at this point and I know perfect won’t happen but we were just burned so badly with the last tenants that I am gun shy.  So I weigh the lesser of 2 evils.     Then the phone rings and a new lady sounds EXCITED and she wants to be there in a few hours so we schedule it!! 

I am so busy working that when Tessie wakes up I can’t believe the time.  It’s 2:15 and I have a 3:00 interview for show help.   I haven’t eaten, my hair is crazy, and I have no makeup on.   And she is hungry.   So everything gets done except the me eating part.  Of course.   Tessie and I rush to Starbucks for our interview and I feel totally discombobulated for it. I just like it better if I am there and my coat is off and I am settled when the interviewee arrives.   I feel it gives me home court advantage or something.   During our chat  Tessie is flirting with people, then she starts yelling, not crying – just making as loud a noise as possible -  and I have to take her out of the very car seat I kept her in to make exiting easy.   I’m on the fence about the candidate, but as I start talking to her about availability for shadowing this weekend  (through Tessie’s noise) and I realize I have to go to that house showing.    I say goodbye to the candidate and then I am forced to make chit chat with the two men who want our table as I pack up and strap Tessie into her seat again.   Then we race to the property.  

I get there 5 minutes late and no one is there so I call her.  She sounds SURPRISED!!   Also, she sounded a bit flattered that I called.SO Weird.    “Where is the house??  Today?? Oooh”  and then her tone changed.   “Is this the house that needs a good credit score?  Yeah, we WON’T be coming to see it.”   Listen here crazypants.      She had exactly the same information when she blew off the appointment as when she set it.   I clearly need to start qualifying each showing with a list of questions.   Even when the coversation starts with “I saw the ad”  I have to ask, basically, if they read it.   Honestly.

So…  with a bit of time freed up and T already in the car we cruised to the office  supply store and the consignment store.  I scored some great pants to wear this weekend that look brand new and were only $12.00!!    I also picked up some fruit snacks at office max so I could eat something.   Tessie  groaned all the way home and I realized we are 30 minutes past nap.    Meanwhile, while we were driving we got another lead on the property and he “and his fiancé” will be there tonight at 7:30.   Fingers crossed.  

Now here it is.   5pm.  Baby is sleeping, I am eating cereal and blogging and waiting for my  office help to get here.  Dinner is cooking in the crock pot and Steve is still gone.    I need to pack Tessie for being away from home for 3 days, and I need to prep us for being in the black hole that is called a home show. (25 hours of show in 3 days).   Freezing rain in the forecast for tonight and it has already started.   I still need to make a grocery store run for the weekend to buy food for lunch and I have a recipe for energy bites I want to make to keep us going this weekend.   Final prep for dinner needs to be done too.   My goal is to be on the couch , head to toe in fleece and drinking wine at 8:30.   Wish me luck.

***

Update on January 14

The 8:30 fleece on the couch didn’t happen.  9:30 happened.  And there was no wine.   And even though I went to the store the deli was closed and I didn’t get the lunch meat I wanted.   The home show was both exhausting and very successful.    The potential renter showed up with his fiance and they loved the house and we are scheduled to sign a lease tomorrow.   Mikayla took my ticket to the Guthrie and our baby girl had a weekend of fun with family.   Bottom line… the crazy is our life and somehow as we make it through all the crazy, and see all kinds of success.

Ciao!