Chloe is 11 months old

Chloe officially hit 11 months on the 25th. This is her last few weeks as a 'months' baby, because she'll be a year. Then for one whole month I can answer the age question with 'a year'. But once October 25th hits, she's 13 months and she's back to months again. By the time October 25th hits I'll also be a few days into age 25 myself. Oh the scariness of it all. 

I'm getting way off topic here. It's time for Chloe's 11 month update. Now, she lost her official 11 month photos with my laptop crash. She also lost every other picture she's had taken in her entire life, so these photos are super recent - so recent I had to upload them to boyfriend's computer. You know we're tight when I upload my photos to your computer, just sayin'. 

Weight: 17.6 lbs

Length: Time to measure.

Diapers: Size 3, and you'll be there for awhile.

Feeding: Back to being torture for all involved most of the time. You usually do great with your morning and night cereal (about 4tbsp each go), but your meals are rough. Usually I don't even try to feed you supper anymore, I just give you cereal at 6pm instead. You have a bottle when you nap, when you go to bed, and through the night but never any other time. You still love your baby treats, and love little pieces of bread. You love sucking on sippy cups, but not actually drinking the water. You also love yogurt. 

Sleep: You've been sleeping great lately. You sleep through the night a lot more often these days, because I now have a bottle waiting for you in your crib for you to just grab and drink when you wake up. It's worked many times. Sometimes you still cry for mommy, and I'll change you, kiss you tons and put you back down with your bottle. You usually go back down without a fight. You're great for sleeping in later if I keep you up later. You usually sleep between 10-13 hours from bedtime to morning. 

You've reduced yourself to one nap a day about halfway through August. For awhile you would just blab away in your bed through one of the naps, then sleep two hours for the other nap, but now I just put you in your bed once (unless you're super cranky) and you go almost right to sleep. I miss the two naps. 

Talking: You've figured out your first word. The first cute thing you started saying was 'uh oh' but I don't think that counts. Your first word is 'tickle'. You say it all the time. I guess that just goes to show how much mommy likes tickling you. 

Teeth: You popped I think 4 out at the end of July/beginning of August, then popped two more this past week. These past two must've been the worst, because I've never seen a baby so cranky for so long. Tylenol and Orajel are our best friends, but even that's not helping with the whine. We're going crazy, and hope it almost over with. 

Misc: You still hate the car. Maybe you hate being rear-facing but I can't help you there. You seem to love shopping, especially since we never do it anymore. You love being pushed in your stroller. We go for tons of walks lately. You stood yesterday (August 29) for about 5 seconds, after I pulled you up to your feet then wouldn't let you hold onto my hands. You weren't impressed. You love touching all electronics. You love climbing the back of the couch. You still absolutely love The Backyardigans and look at me with a huge smile every time the theme song comes on. You learned how to play ball in the past week. We can actually toss it back and forth quite easily. You also seem to love playing with this one car toy we have. Maybe a tomboy in the making. 

Life is Killing Me

Life is really trying to kick my ass lately. 

I don't know if I narrowly escaped death, and in return I get tons of bad luck. I don't know if it's a life lesson to teach me that material things don't matter. Whatever the case, I'm not sure how much more I can take. 

It all started with the flu in early July. I'm terrified of throwing up, and it only usually happens every few year. That was certainly put to test. Shortly after that, my car started smoking, broke down, is too broke to be fixed, and has been sitting lifeless in my parking lot ever since. 

I had come to term with the loss of my car, and things were looking up a bit as I started working up a nice chunk of savings to buy a new car. I was skimping on groceries, under paying my bills, and cutting corners everywhere I could. 

Fast forward to about two weeks ago. I got a letter in the mail from H&R Block saying my tax refund was less than what they originally paid me, and I had 10 days to pay them more than $500. There's a good way to slow down my savings. 

And just when I'd finally started coming to term with the loss of my car, and my car savings, my computer went and died last night. Completely dead. 

My ex, who knows a bit about computers, looked at it and it seems the hard drive is dead, and nothing can be recovered from it. Not only did I lose my computer, but I also lost all of Chloe's photos and videos from birth right up until yesterday. All that's left is what's on my camera memory card from the last few days. If you knew me at all, you would know that this is a huge tragedy to me. Obviously not as bad as death, or something bad happening to a loved one, but losing all those memories is at the top of the list of the worst things that could happen to me. 

To top it all off, due to some confusion on both our parts, I won't be using the babysitter I had lined up for Chloe starting October 1st. I'm starting fresh looking for childcare, and I only have a month to do so. 

Boyfriend has been absolutely amazing through all of this - letting me use his car, driving me around, letting me use his computer, entertaining me when I feel like my head is going to explode, helping with Chloe when she won't go back to sleep from 1-3am. He is the only reason I have any sanity left. 

So if I go a little crazy, which I'm sure I already have, that's why. 

And if I'm barely around any more when it comes to blogging, that's also why. 

* This is the place where I'd throw in a photo, but I don't have photos any more *

What I Love and Hate In a Blog

I'm sometimes guilty of following too many blogs, and thus not being able to keep up with them all. So many blogs are just that good. There are also so many blogs that turn me off. I might get a little hate for this, and some are super picky things, but here are a few things people do when blogging that turns me off of their blog:

• Captcha. They're getting harder to decipher, and after the third attempt in a row I'm tempted to unfollow. 
• Too many giveaways and reviews. I'd rather read a real blog about a real person, and not a bunch of products. Do it in moderation and I have no problem with it. Same goes if you're only ever doing linkups. 
• Kids only. If every.single.post that you write is only about your children without ever writing about you and your opinions, I get bored. I have a kid, I know how great they are but there still is life around them. 
• Too-Long paragraphs. Break it up. If it's too long, I start skimming, then I might lose sight of what the post is really about. Then I have nothing to comment. And I click away and go on with my day. 
• Too much happiness. If you're super happy, good for you. But if you're blog is nothing but sunshine and rainbows and you never write about one negative or bad thing that happens, then it just feels like you're a lie. I mean, sometimes your car breaks down or your kid gets sick. Complain, dammit. 

While I'm sure I could go on, I'd also like to dive a little bit into things I absolutely love in a blog:

• Realness. If you write about real life - the good and the bad, I'll love you for it. 
• Humor. If you can make me laugh, I'll never leave you. Even if you don't constantly make me laugh, as long as I can tell you have a great sense of humor, I'll still never leave you.
• Nice photos. Of cute babies and stuff. And a photo of you somewhere. If I can't find a photo of you, how can I be sure you exist?
• Blog design. If you're blog is super tidy and organized and pretty to look at, I'll look longer. No fancy blog design required. 
• Variety. If you're blog is full of random stuff, I will love you for it. 

Last but not least, here are 5 real blogs that I absolutely love, only 5 for now because I could probably go on forever. 

• Because Nice Matters
• A Mad Girls Love Song
• Wrangling Chaos
• Loves of Life
• From Match to Marriage

Now tell me - what do you love and hate in a blog, and what are some of your favorites to read?

Ps, want to vote for me in TopMommyBlogs? I'd love you forever. 

Hey It's Okay Tuesday

It's time for Hey It's Okay Tuesday. And that's more than okay with me. And that was lame to say, but that's also okay. Let's get this show on the road. 

Hey it's okay...

- To wish with every fiber of your being that your child would go back to taking two naps a day.

- To be annoyed that like 10 new people who've commented recently are 'no reply commenters'. I just want to respond to you, yo. 

- To know that you're not the type of person who can ever pull off 'yo'. 

- To be sad that you've watched all current seasons of Dexter in the past 7 months, and now have to watch the next season like normal people - each week after it airs, instead of almost nightly. 

- To want to send your daughter's first birthday party invitations out a month in advance, but it's 3 days past the month mark and you haven't even started making them. 

- To not want to do anything, anything at all today. It's my Monday. 

 

The Last Weekend of 'Summer'

The weekend was a fairly quiet one. Friday night I babysat my cousin's one-month old son overnight. It's been awhile (um, more than 10 months) since I've taken care of a newborn, but as far as newborn babies go, he was easy. He woke up three times between when I went to bed, and when I got up for the day, but he ate quick and went back to bed easily each time. I can't believe I had a newborn and 11 month old in my care overnight and somehow woke up feeling rested. 

My 2nd cousin, Christopher

Saturday was a special day. It was one of the few times that boyfriend and I both had no children for the day AND night. We used the time to go for a long, scenic drive and eventually ended up at his sister's place. We'd been planning on spending the night and having a few drinks, but I started feeling a little sick. Fever kind of sick. 

We tried to wait it out a bit, but in the end we drove the hour back home. By the time we went to bed I was feeling okay, and felt fine in the morning. I'm glad I wasn't sicker, but I wish it wouldn't have ruined our night out. Although I can't complain about lazing around in bed together watching stuff like America's Funniest Home Videos and getting a massage. Nope, can't complain at all. 

We got both our girls back on Sunday and took them downtown for a walk. They both seemed to enjoy it. The rest of the day seemed to speed by, and all of a sudden supper was done, boyfriend gave the girls a bath and I cleaned up. It felt so... family. 

It's a little sad that the summer is winding down, and in about a month free time together will be rare. That's what makes weekends like these so special. 

Upon glancing at this post once again it hit me that I should try to get in a photo myself every now and then. 

Tell me about your weekend. 

Silent Sunday: I Want to be this Mom

Summer Fun for the Kiddos

Me and Chloe stayed with my mom from Tuesday morning until Thursday night. My nephew, B., who is four, stayed with us the entire time too. Because we could, we packed the trip with as much fun as we could. Tuesday night we took the kids to the park, Wednesday we took them to a water park and Thursday we took them to the beach. 

There's not a lot I could say about the week, except that it was fun for everyone. I'll just let the pictures do the talking. 

Have you done any fun summer activities lately?

Sometimes Waking Up Isn't So Hard to Do

There are so many moms that don't have the freedom to stay home with their babies like I do. I live in Canada, and so I get a year of paid maternity leave. It is so amazing, and I know I'm so lucky because if I was on my own, I wouldn't even be able to take more than a few days off. My year is quickly coming to an end though. 

One of the perks of being home full-time right now, is that we don't usually have to  get up for a specific reason, and one of the (rare) perks of being home full-time with my baby girl is waking up before she does. 

It's happened (I would guess) less than five times since I've had her, but today is one of those days. It's so nice to be able to slowly wake up on my own. It's even better when she stays asleep long enough for me to get something done - whether that be a quick shower, coffee and blogging time, or a good breakfast time. 

Today, it's blogging time. 

And since I'm visiting at my mother's, me and baby girl are sharing a room so every so often I can glance over and see her all stretched out in her crib. 

And while I love this free time, I'm genuinely torn between wanting her to stay asleep a bit longer, and wanting her to wake up because morning snuggles, mixed with that smile she gives me when she first wakes up is the highlight of my day. 

The Act of Rotating Baby Toys

This winter while visiting my best friend A. and her husband (with 3.5 month old Chloe), we went to visit one of A's friends - a mother of three children. Now, I believe she is the mother of all mothers. Her children all seem so perfectly behaved every. single. time. that I see them, and they're adorable, too. 

One thing that she did that I absolutely loved had to do with the children's toys. She would take toys that they were growing tired of, and put them away. When she would take them back out weeks or months later, it was like a whole new toy and they wanted to play with it again. She did this all the time, rotating the toys a bit. 

Chloe & Madi (boyfriend's daughter) have a few too many toys

Once Chloe was old enough and showing interest in her toys, I tried to do this a little myself. It was a little hard, since she didn't have too many toys worth hiding, but I did manage to hide one toy. A Fisher Price picnic basket, that was a little advanced for her age - since all she wanted to do was suck on the handle instead of actually try putting the shaped in the holes. 

So I put it away a couple of months ago and just today brought it out for her to retry. 

Since it was just one toy, and she was getting a little tired and cranky, she didn't play with it super long, but definitely longer than had I thrown any old toy in front of her. I still call it a success. 

Now that we have a mixture of Chloe's toys and Madi's toys, I will someday soon sort through the whole bunch and hide a few things to bring out again later. Especially since Chloe will hopefully be getting a few new toys next month for her big ol' birthday. 

Do you rotate your children's toys? If so, how has it worked for you? 

* If you're interested in the picnic basket it's the Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Sweet Sounds Picnic. And might I suggest one other toy I love even more? Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Say Please Tea Set. Even I still enjoy and am not sick of the tea pot. I love that it makes a water pouring sound when you tip it over. 

* * Ps. I was not compensated or anything for this post, these are just toys I genuinely love that Chloe has. However, if you purchase the toys through my links I get a teeny tiny commission. 

Monday Blahs, all Week Long

The weekend was a decent one. We took the girls for a walk to the carnival, which wasn't a huge deal to them (since they're 11 and 19 months), but was a nice outing for us. We had lots of playtime, double baby bath time, and lots of crying fits. It was a decent weekend spent with my favorite people, but didn't leave me with any kind of happy feeling.

My head is still kind of in the same mind frame as I was in on Thursday. I've just got this lingering 'meh' feeling that I can't seem to shake. 

I know a lot of it has to do with the end of summer. I always hate the end of summer, although for the first time in my life I'm actually looking forward to slightly cooler weather. I'd rather a day where we can go to the park and be comfortable, not sweaty.

So the end of the summer is nearing, which makes me sad. On top of that, all the big things set to happen this summer have happened. My friend got married, I went to visit my best friends at a cottage for the weekend, friends from all over the country came to visit then went back to their homes, and boyfriend moved in at the beginning of the month. 

I always feel a little sad when everything I was looking forward to is done, especially when there's nothing at all exciting in the near future to look forward to. And that's where I am now. 

The only thing I have coming up is Chloe's birthday, and then I'm back to work the week after.

Back to work full-time for the first time since the beginning of September 2011. That's kind of huge, and with my current lack of car, it's just a lot of stress. 

Right now I have nothing to look forward to but stress, and it's getting to me. 

While I still have all those little great things to look forward to - like a few more weeks of freedom with my daughter, I'm just stuck in this 'meh' place, and I really want out. 

I want that good feeling again. 

Silent Sunday: Pretty Baby Outfits

Last Sunday I wrote about all the clothes Chloe has and how I want her to get some wear out of some of them before the summer is over, since so many of them have almost gone completely unworn. Here are four days worth of outfits, which is a win in my book, since most days were so hot that she ran around in a diaper a lot of the time anyway. 

The Annoying Orange Terrifies My Child

I love when some of my favorite bloggers post videos. It makes them seem so much more real. I tend to forget to post videos, even though I take a million of my little monster. It just always slips my mind. 

Today is a bit of an exception though. Today she was playing in her room happily, I could hear her toys making noises. All of a sudden she starts crying. Not just her whiny cry, but her scared cry. So I peek in and she's holding an Annoying Orange talking toy. 

Being the terribly parent that I am, I tried again later to make sure that was actually why she was crying. It was. Then (of course, terrible parent) I did it one more time to get it on video. Enjoy. 

Are there any toys that your child is terrified of?

Life Isn't Supposed to Be Perfect

Do you ever have those days, where really everything is going pretty great, but you have this nagging unhappy feeling because things just aren't perfect? 

Nothing significant has happened. You know you have it pretty good. But little, minor details are just bringing you down?

You know you're being stupid, so you try to ignore it. You listen to some music, drink your coffee, go on with your day. But it's always there in the back of your mind. 

You tell yourself you're crazy for even thinking about this feeling more than once, and especially for sitting down to write about it, yet you do. 

You think about it some more, and yep, you're just being an annoyance to yourself. 

Life really is great. Even the things you're thinking about are pretty good. You can barely even think about a bad thing in your life right now. 

Yet that nagging feeling just won't go away. 

You've been walking around feeling on top of the world for days now, and you're just not ready to give that up to go back to the ordinary feeling of regular old everyday life. 

You want perfection back. Great is great, but great is not perfection. Perfection is pretty hard to give up. 

Can I respond to YOUR comments? Don't be a no-reply commenter!

I believe I've complained about this on my previous blog, but never here, so let's address this again, shall we? 

Are you a 'no-reply commenter'? Maybe you don't know what that is. That is when you have your email address hidden from your blogger profile. Typically, when you comment on a blog, if the author (like me) gets their comments emailed to them, they can respond to you directly just by hitting 'reply' right in their email. If your email address is hidden, it looks more like this when they try to reply to you:

[ Photo 1 ]

And that makes me sad, because I can't write back to whatever awesome comment you left me, because it would just get lost in space. Or something. Basically, if you've been a follower of mine for awhile, and I've never written back to you then you are a no reply commenter. 

If you're interested, this is how you can change this. 

How to Let People Respond to Your Comments Via Email on Blogger

1. From your Blogger dashboard, go to the top right hand corner and click on your name to make a new box pop up (see photo 3). 

[ Photo 2 ]

2. Click on 'Blogger profile' as shown below. 

[ Photo 3 ]

After you click on 'Blogger profile', click on the orange 'Edit Profile' button in the top right corner (no photo shown). Your privacy settings will be the first things at the top. The first box is to share your profile, and the second check box is to show your email address.

3. Put a check mark in the box labeled 'Show my email address', as shown below.

4. When that's done DO NOT FORGET to scroll down and save your changes. 

When that is all said and done, I should be able to respond to your next comment. If you happen to be a no-reply commenter and change your settings, let me know so I can send you a response asap. There are a couple of you that I would love to be able to respond to more, and especially lately I've had a few new people comment and haven't been able to respond to them as well. 

Don't hate. Let me talk to you. 

Hey, It's Okay

I'm linking up with Amber for Hey It's Okay Tuesday. Because it's fun, and you should too.

Hey it's okay...

- To wonder why all my top referring URLs for this blog seem to be spam-type websites. 

- To have like 5 cups of water randomly placed around the apartment, and to drink from any of them when needed - aka when a coughing fit occurs. 

- To want to throw your boyfriend's iPhone out the window. He probably doesn't think that's okay. 

- To eat chocolate for breakfast sometimes.

- To put your daughter down for a nap at the same time everyday, even though she no longer naps and just plays in her bed. It's almost the same thing as a nap. 

- To complain on Facebook at 1am even though there's no one around to acknowledge it. It makes me feel better, okay?

- To never want to be a stay-at-home mom full-time. Ever. 

- To desperately want to cuddle a newborn baby, while not wanting one of your own. 

- To let the dishes soak in the sink long enough that you need to empty the water and re-fill it with warm water again. 

- To waste all your free time on blogger / facebook / twitter / pinterest and so on. 

Me and Chloe-the-blur

24 Amazing Things

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1. Coffee. Even better - coffee sitting out on a deck while it's still cool on a summer morning. 
2. The beach. Even better - at night with someone special. 
3. Your baby saying 'mama', or 'dada' if it applies. Even 'uh oh' is pretty cute. 
4. Finding an awesome new blog to read. Bonus points if it's one that makes you laugh. (MODG, anyone?)
5. Babies who wiggle and dance to music. 
6. Fresh bread. And perfectly crispy bacon, not necessarily together. 
7. When baby takes both naps without a fight during the day and goes to bed easily at night. 
8. Completing a craft you've been working on forever.
9. Taking a really great picture, and getting it printed, framed and hung on the wall. 
10. An unexpected friendly email.
11. Watching a movie with the perfect 'pick me up' happy ending, like Legally Blonde.
12. Completing and perfecting the decor in any room of the house.
13. A good game of cards with friends.
14. Putting together new furniture (I love it, I'm weird like that).
15. Waking up feeling well rested while the baby is still sleeping.
16. A shower after being outdoors all day.
17. Finishing a really good book. 
18. The perfect new haircut. 
19. Buying a ton of nice, used clothes for the price of one brand new outfit.
20. Discovering a catchy new song.
21. Random ice cream trips with best friends. 
22. Falling asleep in someone's arms. 
23. A really great power nap. 
24. A long, non-rushed shower. 

Only 24 things because that's my age. What are some of your amazing things?

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Silent Sunday: New Outfit

Not so silent... Chloe has way too many clothes. Especially summer clothes. Most of them she hasn't worn because they look too big. My goal for the rest of the summer is to get her to wear everything at least once, because some (like this outfit) fit better than they look when you hold them up. Here's day one of 'new outfit everyday'. 

Taking a break

Weekend Schmeekend

I've been told it's Saturday. Well, it sure doesn't feel like Saturday, but I just confirmed it with the calendar. Saturday. Weekend. 

It sure takes on a whole different meaning when you're a mom, and especially a stay-at-home mom (for now - back to work first thing in October). Weekends used to mean friends and parties and late nights and special occasions. Now there is not a thing different between my Saturday night and my Wednesday night. 

Oh wait, that's a lie. Wednesday was better, because Big Brother was on. But that's not the point. 

I've come such a long way from the uptight, completely stressed out mess that I was when I first had Chloe. I never thought I was much of a control freak, and in so many ways I'm not, but with Chloe I want to be. We strive on it. 

When she was a newborn, I was near killing myself always trying to sleep whenever I could, somehow fit in bottle washing and the occasional bite to eat. I was wearing myself down, in a bad way. When I moved into my own apartment it, and it was just me and Chloe things somehow got easier. I don't know how that's possible, but they did. 

Finally, we got into a decent night time routine and I found myself having a few minutes each night to wind down before bed. Soon enough it was an hour, two hours, and now I typically get 3-5 hours to myself after bedtime. 

I can finally relax, sometimes, but I'm still always trying to get things done. With just one baby, one boyfriend, and one part-time second child, I still can't seem to get ahead. 

There's always things I want to do, and at the end of the day, the only thing that gets done is the cleaning. I can't get myself to relax until the cleaning is done, and so everything I enjoy gets thrown on the back burner. And soon I'll be back to work full-time, and I don't know what will happen to me from there. I'm an just one huge mess of wannabe control freak. 

And that's why boyfriend is good for me. When he's around is the only time I will sit down, relax and just watch tv. No thinking, worrying, or cleaning. Just being. It's such a good thing. 

While this motherhood thing is quite amazing, and nothing makes me happier than seeing that little girl smile, sometimes (only sometimes) I mourn my old life. The one with the friends, the constant parties, the random shopping trips, the eating out, and doing nothing but relaxing after work. 

Time to put on my big girl pants and suck it up, because I'll never have that life back. Really, I'd never want to, but it's okay to daydream every now and then. 

This face makes me melt

The Less-Fun Baby Phases

I used to think my daughter was an 'easy' baby. Some days I still do. Feed her, play with her, get her to nap on time and life is good. It's just not that simple anymore. I'm leaning more towards her being a 'difficult' baby. This is in no way a complaint post, but more simply 'this is my girl'. 

For so many babies, a car ride is the equivalent of a sedative. For Chloe, she may take a short nap here and there, but has proved many times over the past couple of weeks that she can whine and cry for the majority of a 2-hour trip. 

If there was such a thing as an anorexic baby, that's what mine would be. She goes through very brief spurts where she'll eat amazingly, but the majority of the time I absolutely dread meal times. She'll eat a couple of bites of anything, then will go on to look anywhere but at the spoon, slap it, he annoyed if I try to feed her. Most baby food gets washed down the sink. I've been trying my hardest to let her try new things in hopes she'd eat them easier, and that worked for awhile, but then even things she likes (custard, creamed corn, pears) she'll barely eat. She's been like this her entire life. 

I've finally realized that she'll eat a lot more finger foods, but mostly just the baby puff treats. I've tried feeding her cut up meats, bread, toast, scrambled eggs and she'll eat little bits of that stuff, but doesn't seem nearly enough. This is especially rough since she's a small baby and we have public health tracking her weight. 

Annnnd, she's hit the stage where she hates getting her diaper changed and whines, kicks, and tried to rolls away. No fun for anyone. 

Besides those three issues, she's a pretty amazing baby. I always dread taking her places in case of a meltdown, but she's keeps surprising me over and over by being a complete flirt wherever we go, no matter how tired and cranky she should be. 

She won over the hearts of most of my friends recently when we were all together for a wedding just by babbling and smiling away almost the whole weekend. She can mimick the words 'uh oh' sometimes. She won't give kisses, but makes a mean kissy noise. She's just so much fun to play with and be around. Most of the time. 

What was your least favorite baby phase?  

What I've Been Watching -{ TV Edition }

I've been getting in a lot of tv time lately. Sometimes just as background noise while I play with the baby, or while I'm laying in bed, because it clears my head and gets me to sleep faster. Either way, I've been watching a few good things, and some not as good. 

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Til Death

The show is about Eddie and Joy, who have been married for 20ish years. Jeff and Steph are newly weds and move in next door. The first episode is about a pool table. Jeff wants a pool table, Eddie tells him exactly how that conversation with his wife will probably go, and it does. Eddie also teaches Jeff how to trick his new wife into letting him get the pool table. Mix in a little bit about the wives swapping info, and you've got comedy. 

When I first started watching this show, I was in love. And I was excited because there were 81 episodes on Netflix and I love a long show. Steph and Jeff (Finch from American Pie!) make the show. They, mixed with the main characters, Joy and Eddie, are hilarious. Then, one day I realized Jeff and Steph hadn't been in the past few episodes.  Then, there they were - almost as background characters in a couple of episodes. They weren't written out. They didn't move or die. They just disappeared without being mentioned. Had they been mentioned, maybe I would've dealt with this better, but no, they disappeared.

My second pet peeve about this show, is the lack on consistency with the actress(es) who play Joy and Eddie's daughter Ally. Four actresses. 

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That, teamed up with the fact that the last season is not-so-good, and episodes are crazy out of order, I'm just struggling to finish the series. (Read another similar opinion) Also, I can't stand the character Doug (Ally's boyfriend). At all. But the first few seasons are great!
- 4/5 stars, except season four is 1/5 stars -[Til Death on imdb]

Dexter

If you haven't heard of it, Dexter is a serial killer. But he only kills other killers, so in a way he's the good guy, or something. Either way, they make him out to be the good guy and you're always rooting for him. He's also works with the cops, which makes it more interesting. Each season is based upon one big serial killer that the department is trying to track down, but also has a bunch of little killers thrown in the midst. It gives some extra fun and mystery to every episode. Very easy to get addicted to. 

I'm only near the end of season five (no spoilers please!), so I haven't finished it yet, but I'm really enjoying it. I love that there's always one major plot line throughout the whole series, then a few smaller ones that last a couple of episodes. It always keeps you intrigued. While I'm loving it, I just wish the episodes were a bit shorter. It's a hard show to watch when I'm sleepy. 
- 4/5 stars. [Dexter on imdb]

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Degrassi: The Next Generation

If you're into the series but haven't watched this far yet, this may contain SPOILERS, so beware.

This season consists of Emma dating Peter, until Sean comes back and shakes things up. Manny is still dating Craig, but that gets a little shaken up as well. Ellie, Paige, Marco, etc are all off at college. Paige has some troubles. Ellie has a crush on her newspaper's editor. Insert lots of other drama with them, and everyone else and you've got typical Degrassi.

I've only recently watched season 6, because I just bought it. As usual in Degrassi, there's so much love and drama that the entire season just flies by. I wish I had all the seasons. I'm a bigger fan of the first half of the series (with Emma, Manny, JT, Toby, Ashley, Spinner, etc), as opposed to what's currently playing.
- 4/5 stars. [Degrassi on imdb]

What have you  been watching?