10 Facts About Chloe

1 - She's 100% a mommy's girl. She's my little shadow, my best friend. I love the way her face lights up when she sees me.

 

2 - She's such a caring, helpful little girl. Always bringing us our phones, the remotes, etc. That makes us sound lazy :p In reality, if I leave my phone anywhere that she can reach it, she brings it to me. Over and over.

 

3 - She's so polite - all about the pleases, thank yous and you're welcomes.

 

4 - She often asks to go to bed, so naturally she goes to bed without a fight.

 

5 - She's been in a toddler bed since December, and is doing great with it. Only two nights did she get up and play. Usually she doesn't move.

 

6 - She sweats a lot when she sleeps.

 

7 - Usually she'll wear anything, but when it's really cute 'I no yike it' she says.

 

8 - She sings like crazy. Jingle Bells, ABCs, Bingo, Old MacDonald, Row Your Boat, Wheels on the Bus, and so much more.

 

9 - She's still obsessed with the Bubble Guppies and Dora the Explorer.

 

10 - Her favorite toys are her dolls, closely followed by her Little People sets. I'm constantly finding her dolls tucked into her and Madi's beds. It's adorable.

5 FUN Things I Would Buy if I Won a Lot of Money

Never mind my student loans, my car loan, our credit cards, and our children's future educations. These are the fun things I would want to look into buying right away if I ever won a lot of money. 

1. Cupcakes. 

I was never a huge cupcake person. I even got a local (popular) baker to make Chloe's birthday cupcakes, but I didn't like them much. But then I won a $10 credit towards a new little bakery that opened that specializes in cupcakes. We bought some. I tried some. I went back the next day and bought more. Nanaimo, Rolo, Peanut Butter Cup, S'mores, Pumpkin Spice Latte, Red Velvet. Those are just some of the flavors we got. Our of the 10 cupcakes, I ate 6 and a half of them. In less than three days. They only lasted  three days because I ate the last one for breakfast yesterday. And I've been thinking about them constantly since. All I think about are cupcakes. There must be some kind of drug in these cupcakes. I'm addicted. I get the cupcake hype. I totally get it now. 

2. Updated Wardrobe. 

Ever since I had Chloe, I only want clothes for her. I've started to really notice lately how much I hate everything, and don't enjoy getting dressed much anymore. Also, I hate to admit it, but I'm finally starting to like the look of skinny jeans, and I want a pair. Maybe even in a random color. I know, weird for me. 

3. Furniture Upgrade. 

Well, honestly if I won a ton of money, I'd be buying or building a house first. But ignoring that, I'd love to makeover some parts of my apartment as it is. We upgraded our bedroom furniture this winter, but this time I'd love to makeover Madi's room. She just has a white toddler bed and Eric's old wooden dresser. I'd love to get her a single bed, with a matching furniture set. Maybe even go as far as to get bunk beds, to prepare for later when the girls are old enough to sleep on a top bunk and share a room. I'd love to get a new livingroom set and dining room table as well, but that's another story. 

4. Boxed Sets. 

Tv shows on DVD. I'm obsessed. I have collections I need to complete (Gossip Girl, Grey's Anatomy, One Tree Hill, etc) and new shows I wouldn't mind owning and watching. 

5. A Vacation.

I guess like most people I wouldn't mind taking a real vacation to somewhere nice if I won a lot of money. I've never been outside of Canada. I'd love to go somewhere warm, but I'd also love to visit the U.S., Italy, or anywhere really. 

Christmas is coming too. So I would also accept any of the above as gifts :p Or pots. We really need new pots and pans chez nous. Really. 

What's the first thing you'd want to do if you had a ton of money to blow? Bills and being reasonable with it doesn't count. 

5 for Five: Goals for the Week

I'm double posting today {gasp!} because I just couldn't pass this up.

Five Things to Do This Week

1. Recreate Chicken Crepes recipe from work, and blog about it later. 

2. Finish my DIY birthday decor project before Chloe's party. 

3. Make a full breakfast meal one day for the family - bacon and eggs included. 

4. Eat at least three salads! 

5. Read at least 10 pages in the book I'm reading: Finding Emma. 

*Note to self: Upon finding that link, there seems to be a sequel. Find that for the Kobo! 

And those are my five goals for the week. Wish me luck! 

15 Things I Will Miss About Summer

1. Seeing my girls in adorable dresses! 
2. Going for walks in sunny days during my lunch break.
3. Taking the girls to the park.
4. Hanging out outside at Mom's. 
5. The idea of sipping coffee outside on a beautiful morning. (I never seem to do it, but the though relaxes me!)
6. Iced coffees, cappuccinos, lemonades, etc. 
7. Eating ice cream doesn't make me cold. 
8. How great water can taste. 
9. Wearing flip flops. 
10. Just walking out the door instead of stopping for coats, hats, boots, gloves, a shovel, etc. 
11. Clothing at bedtime is optional for all - some nights it's just too hot to consider. 
12. The smell of baby sunblock (but I won't miss the greasy-feel of it all over my kids!0
13. Sunshine staying up past 8pm. 
14. Yard sales. I just love 'em. 
15. Stopping for frozen yogurt on a whim. 

I stole this idea from Smacksy.

10 Things I Really Hate About Parenting

Today's writing prompt (from Blog Everyday in May) was supposed to be "A Day in My Life", which I absolutely love. However, it is now almost 10am, and I'm at work without a single photo being taken today, so I'm going to postpone it until tomorrow, so I can remember to take some actual pictures. I was going to do tomorrow's prompt instead, but I think I'll skip it altogether. I can do that, right? I mean I'm still blogging? I miss blogging on the weekends anyway, so sue me.

Instead, I present to you,

1. Potty Training.

I'm putting it off to the max. (Did I just say 'the max'?) I can't comprehend how toddlers can be fully able to tell you when they need to 'go', although I know a lot can. And I cannot just let my toddlers run wild and naked, doing their business all over the place, although that does work for many. 

2. Nutrition. 

I hate stressing and worrying about if my kid is getting enough of this and that, or eating too much of this and that. 

3. Bottle Weaning. 

I need to get my almost 20 month old off the bottle. But our sleep schedule is so perfect right now. I don't want to mess with perfection, and she is not a sippy cup fan. 

4. Sippy Cup Weaning.

Our two year old relies on the sippy to go to sleep just as much as the younger one relies on her bottle. It's a sad, sad addiction. 

5. Bottle/Sippy In Bed Conundrum.

Both girls drink their milk in bed. Yep, it's bad because of tooth decay and choking and such. I want to switch them so they're drinking milk, then going to bed. With water, because I can't bear to pull the sippy cups away completely, although I know I should. 

6. Discipline.

I don't know which battles to pick, and with which girl. Since they're 8 months apart, I know I can't discipline Chloe for the same things as Madi. Some things Madi should just know better. Also, I think time outs work great for Madi, but Chloe is still too young. But at the same time, I think I let Chloe get away with more because she's my baby, while Madi is still new to me so the connection isn't as strong yet. 

7. The Step-Parent Connection.

This is a tough one to admit, but I'm sure it's not uncommon. Chloe is my biological child. I've known her for her entire life. Madi is kind of my step-child. I've known her since she was a year old (which is almost as long as I've known Chloe!), but I didn't raise her for her first two years. I spent minimal time with her. I wasn't in charge of decisions for her. We didn't have one-on-one time. We don't have that bond. Chloe fills me with so much happiness. I just want to hug and kiss her all the time. I don't feel that with Madi. At all. I love her, but I love her differently, and with a little less passion. That will change eventually, won't it?

8. The Mommy/Daddy Issue.

I'm Chloe's Mommy, and Eric is Mady's Daddy. Therefore, our home is a huge confusion of Mommy and Daddy. Both girls know who they're biological parents are. Eric doesn't care, and goes with the flow. It doesn't bother me what the kids calls us, since I'm under the impression that we're not breaking up so Chloe will grow up with two father figures and Madi with two mother figures. I'm not sure where the other parents stand on this issue, but I don't push Mommy and Daddy on the girls, one way or the other. When we pick Eric up from work, I tell the girls we are going to get Daddy. When I'm talking to Chloe specifically, I tell her to go say 'night night' to Eric. She still has started calling him Daddy from time to time, but she doesn't light up like when she sees her real Daddy. 

9. Vomit and Such.

I'm terrified of throwing up, as I've mentioned before, so puke is one of my least favorite things. I deal with it much better though when it's one of the kids because I can blame it on the randomness of their little stomachs or teething or something. When they're older, I hope I can still deal with it as well. 

10. Mommy Guilt.

We all have it. I try not to let it consume me, or worry about it much but I always feel guilty about something. Every time I think about when Chloe was in the hospital, I feel so guilty that I let her spend that first night in the hospital alone. How did I do that? How did I leave my baby sleeping alone in a hospital crib with only nurses checking in on her? I felt okay about it at the time, but I feel guilty about it now almost every day. I also feel guilty about trivial things, like when I don't spend enough time with her, don't teach her enough new things, don't read to her. Especially when I have a mean moment, and snap at her or raise my voice. Ugh, I feel guilty about it all just thinking about it.

What are some things that you hate about parenting? 

3 Things I've Been Neglecting

What happens when I walk into the room and boyfriend starts taking my picture with my own phone.

3 Things I've Been Neglecting

Crafting

All things crafting. Like when I decorated the letters of Chloe's name with Mod Podge and scrapbook paper. I started some for Madi before Christmas and haven't gotten too far with them. I miss crafting, but never want to do it when free time actually rolls around.

Reading

I used to be able to read a book in a week or so. I got an E-reader in October, hoping that it would get me back into reading. I've been reading the same book ever since. 50 Shades of Grey. I'm just not getting into it. Hopefully the next book I pick will pull me in a little more. 

Me

I don't relax. I don't remember how. I think I need to do the two things above, and re-figure this one out. 

3 Things I've Been Doing Too Much

iPhone

I play on it a little too much. I try to put it away at home if the girls want to play with me, but if they're immersed in tv or playing with each other, it's fair game. 

Cleaning

Nothing is ever clean enough, but sometimes I just need to let it go and relax. 

Being Bored

It's time to just start living, stop worrying. Just enjoy the moment. I really need to work on this.

What are your three things?

Ps: Not pregnant. High five?

5 Things I Wish I Made More Time For

Blogging - I wish I put more effort into blogging. Not as much for the numbers, but more because I'm missing out on documenting some great memories.

Reading - It usually takes me more than a month to read a book. Insert my new Kobo Touch, and I think I'll start reading more. Or maybe I never mentioned it... By the way, I bought myself a Kobo Touch for my birthday and I love it.

Scrapbooking - I love the way they look when they're completed, but it's such an expensive and time consuming hobby. It's especially hard for me at times because I'm such a perfectionist, but I really do want to put more effort into it. I did on page since Chloe was born. Just one.

Playing - I want to get out more with my daughter. Teach her new things and bring her to new places. I want to be less lazy so she (and I) can have more fun.

Relaxing - Anytime I relax, I'm almost never actually feeling relaxed. I always feel like I should be doing something. I suppose that's because everytime I relax I end up falling asleep. But I need to try harder to just relax.

What are some things you wish you made more time for?

I got this idea from Moments That Define Life, but didn't have the time to write about it until now. Go figure. But I thought it was a great prompt.

15 Things I Love About Being a Mom

Age 1

1 - The way you hug me when I drop you off at daycare, even though I know it's because you don't want me to leave you

2 - The excitement on your face when I pick you up at daycare

3 - How I look forward to picking you up at daycare so much everyday

4 - How happy you look when you manage to stand up without any help at all

5 - Watching you take that one, wobbly first step, over and over

6 - Watching you walk around with your walker like it's nothing

7 - Listening to you babble like you know exactly what you're saying

8 - Hearing you say 'tickle tickle' or 'uh oh'

9 - Playing ball with you. You're a good catcher and thrower

10 - Dressing you up in cute outfits. I'll love it even more when you start walking on your own

11 - Noticing little things you've picked up, like how to wipe a nose, and finally how to drink from a sippy cup

12 - How you hug your doll everytime I give her to you

13 - How you lay down on your pillow buddy for a few seconds when you notice it's there

14 - Daydreaming about all the fun things we can do when you're older and how much more fun holidays are going to be

15 - Watching you grow and celebrating every milestone with you

4 Reasons You Shouldn't Follow Me on Twitter (and Three Reasons You Should)

I'm usually pretty quick to jump on any kind of band wagon. Except maybe joining a band. That's one wagon I don't want on. So I hopped on Twitter pretty quickly, a long time ago on an old account. I didn't get it, but I didn't care. More and more, I'm starting to really get it, but I still can't master it. It's time to face it, I suck at Twitter.

Reasons Why You Don't Want to Follow Me on Twitter

1. I can be incredibly boring.

I tweet about lack of sleep, taking the city bus, slow computers, and other stuff you couldn't care less about. I'm that person you want to defriend on Facebook because they always update with what they're eating, when they're working and how long they showered for. Except even that would be more exciting than the stuff I tweet about.

You might not believe me, but I'm actually not one of those people on Facebook. Sometimes I'm even witty. But definitely not on Twitter.

I kid you not, at the time of this post, this was my latest tweet, and I wrote it long before I thought about writing this post.

If that doesn't prove my point, what does?

2. I can't take part on Twitter 'convos'.

Because I can never find a conversation to jump into. It's not that I don't want to. I mean, ask my boyfriend - I am a huge interupter!

3. I'm not consistant.

Sometimes I just disappear from Twitter for a few days. I forget about it all the time. If I do remember, I'm basically a one tweet a day kinda girl. I don't have enough interesting things to say to bore you more than once a day.

4. Sometimes I'm that annoying 'tv tweeter'.

You know, where I tweet while I watch a show about what's happening. I'm most guilty for doing this during Big Brother season, but that's just passed so you're safe for awhile. Even then, I think I made less than 10 Big Brother tweets all season anyway.

Reasons Why You Might Want to Follow Me

1. I post pictures directly from my cell.

So they don't usually get posted on the blog. You hear that? Never-been-seen-before boring photos of my child. How can you not want in on that? I've been on this twitter account for probably almost a year and I've already posted five photos. I promise to post more often if it'll reel you in.

2. I follow some funny people.

And sometimes I retweet them.



3. I almost never Tweet my blog posts.

I used to have it set up automatically, then I stopped. Now I don't remember to do it manually, and don't care a whole lot anyway. So you know I'm not a huge pile of self-advertising, just a huge pile pointless.

So, now it's your turn. How do you feel about Twitter?

20 Facts About My Life, Lately

1. It has now been three months that I haven't had a car. I hate hate hate it. I will never take a car for granted again. It's also been over a month since I sold the thing.

2. Chloe had her one year needles yesterday. She got pretty upset during, but stopped crying almost immediately and went back to being happy. She was pretty warm and cranky in the morning, by Tylenol seemed to fix her back up.

3. We're moving in less than two months. Boyfriend and I are getting our own place as soon as my current lease is up. I'm really hoping to find a decent-priced three bedroom apartment, but at best we'll probably just end up with a two bedroom. Hopefully it's bigger.

4. My birthday is almost here.

5. For the first time in my life, my budget doesn't look scary to me at all.

6. I love my job. I love it more when it's busy.

7. Chloe's had a cough and runny nose since last week. She must be used to me wiping her nose, because she got a hold of a piece of Kleenex yesterday, and started wiping her doll's nose with it.



8. I lost $40 in an ATM last week. Seriously. I requested $380, and it gave me $340. When I called the toll-free line, they said they may give me the money back if it checks out that I wasn't lying. I'll never trust an ATM in a convenience store again.

9. I've been pretty sad lately. The reasons, I don't want to get into. I just hope the circumstances change soon.

10. It's Friday afternoon, and I'm not looking forward to the weekend at all. I'd like to say 'what's wrong with me', but I already know.

What have you been up to lately?

20 Things You Probably Don't Know About Me

This blog is still fairly new, so I haven't written a whole lot about myself in here. Frankly, I'm kind of boring (or so I think) and it's a bit more interesting to write about Chloe. Especially because it's a great way to get all those little memories in writing. Today it's my turn, and I'm going to list 20 things you probably don't know about me if you're just starting to read my blog. Let's go.

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1. I have a younger brother and sister. They're twins.
2. I met boyfriend and his daughter the night before his daughter's first birthday.
3. When I drink coffee, it makes me get really hungry twice as fast then if I had done. 
4. My daughter was born on my ex step-father's birthday. 
5. I only have one friend who lives nearby, and she lives an hour away. 
6. I have just as many close guy friends as I do girl friends. 
7. I'd much rather drink and go to a wedding dance than drink and go to a bar.
8. I would have my walls completely covered in photos if it wouldn't be too smothering.
9. I don't like to eat almost every fruit, and many, many vegetables. 
10. I like all kinds of music, but country is my absolute favorite.
11. I love coloring, still have some old coloring books kicking around and bought some new crayons recently. 
12. I love logic puzzles, fill-it-in word puzzles, and sudoku puzzles. I'm ready for old age. 
13. I'm addicted to buying used kids clothes. 
14. I absolutely hate making food if it's just for me. 
15. How I Met Your Mother is my favorite show (among many others)
16. I recently lost all my photos on my computer, so I've been taking a million new ones to make up for it. 
17. Failbook.com is my go-to site when I'm extremely bored and have a computer to kill time on. 
18. I'm not a fan of cooking AT ALL, I usually let boyfriend do that every chance I get, but I love baking sometimes. 
19. If I had a bit more free time in the run of a day I'd love to start scrapbooking again.
20. I never realized how much I use Photoshop for blogging lately until I lost it with my computer. 

What are a few things I probably don't know about you? Comment below or write a post and leave me the link! 

8 Goals for a Better Life

Lately things have been... a little hard on me, and it's taken awhile to come to terms with all of it, but I'm getting there. I finally got up one day, had my morning coffee, turned on some music and didn't spend the whole day wanting to cry or crawl into a hole. It helped that Chloe finally seems to be over her teething spurt and is finally acting like a semi-happy baby, instead of the spawn of Satan like before. 

In the meantime I tried to brainstorms ways to make myself feel better, and just better my life overall. Now, these aren't huge, life-altering things in the slightest. How many people actually go through with the life altering things? Not very many, I'm guessing. So this is my simple list of things to make my life just a little better. Some, like the eating out one, are to save more money. Others are health, clutter and stress-related. I plan on adding to list as time goes on. 

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Goals for a Better Life

1. Limit Facebook time

2. Take one day off from coffee a week

3. Rid the apartment of all things we don't use

4. Never eat out more than once a week

5. Go for a walk 3 times a week

6. Start up an emergency cash fund, completely separate from current savings

7. Cut back on sugar

8. Put more effort into blogging

Those are just the things I want to start doing immediately. If you made a list of small goals to better your life, what would be at the top of your list?

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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