Kayla . . The Early Years

I've really been racking my brain to remember all the funny details of Kayla's life that I want to document. I've come up with a few more.

When Kayla was a little over a year old, we were living in an apartment while we waited for our new home to finish being built. Kayla had such fun there. She would sit is the one cabinet constantly.

She would walk around with a bowl on her head.

She would drag all the laundry out of the laundry hamper and just laugh and laugh . . .

and she'd run around in her hooded towel with it completely covering her face!

She's such a funny little kid!

Today on our way to camp, Kayla told me that I should let all the camp kids come to my work for a tour. She doesn't quite understand that an office full of tax accountants isn't exactly exciting. I guess one of the parents of one of the kids at camp is a judge so the kids got to go to the courthouse for a tour and it was "so cool". I hate to break it to her . . . but the only remotely interesting thing in my office is the candy jar.

We're Changing Directions Here . .

On my way to work this morning, it occurred to me that I've done an AWFUL job at documenting things about Kayla that I want to remember. Sure . . I have the photo albums and preschool art . . but I'm talking about the day-to-day stuff she does that I want to remember. So, I've decided to use this blog as my journal to remember all those "funnies".

Let's start with a few of the old memories I have. Kayla use to refer to nail polish as toelash. Guess she just combine "painting toes" with "nail polish". She's come to me and say, "Momma, I need some toelash." What's even funnier is she had me saying it too. I must have made a fool of myself on more than one occasion.

Sheeting - This is Kayla's term for holding her blankie (which is a 300 thread count pillow case) up to her nose. Apparently this is how toddlers and young children get "high". My mom about busted a gut the first time she heard Kayla say that. I specifically remember being in the parking lot of Walgreens getting ready to get out of the car and Kayla said, "Hold on. Let me get one more 'sheet'."

Of course, we can't forget Kayla's Starbuck's obsession when she was around 4-5 years old. She HAD to go to Starbuck's for chocolate milk. It might of had something to do with my coffee addiction.

One of my favorite memories of Kayla is the first time she cursed. I know . . bad mommy . . . but it really was hilarious. We were in the parking lot at Albertson's and I was trying to get her in the car. In the process, I dropped my keys and then proceeded to drop a whole bag of groceries. Well, without thinking, I yelled, "Oh shit". Trying to cover my tracks, I quickly said, "Oh . . er.. . I mean shoot. Oh, shoot!" Later that evening Kayla was playing in the living room and I believe she dropped something she was playing with. All of a sudden, I hear my precious 3-year old yell, "Oh shit". I quickly went to her and explained that that was a bad word and she should never use it again to which she replied so innocently, "So . . that's only a 'mommy' word?" My reply? "Yes Kayla. That's only a 'mommy' word.

And today (and what inspired me to start journaling these things) Kayla was in the back seat on the way to camp counting how many peace signs she was wearing. Kayla is currently obsessed with anything with a peace sign on it. She can spot them a mile away. Currently, I would guess that she no fewer than 10 shirts with some form of peace sign on them AND a pair of sandals with peace sign metal embellishments on them. It's so cute to watch her develop her own style (even though I secretly want her to get all her clothes at Gymboree until she's 20).

That's all for today. I plan to update this blog as I remember more things. I look forward to being able to look back one day and smile about all the silly and crazy things she does.

Could anything else go wrong??

Seriously.

Ok . . let me just get the Weight Watcher thing out of the way. This week was NOT good. My mom was here so I ate out a lot more than I should have. Gained a pound. Of course, I'm in that period before the period so some of that could be water. I'm going to be VERY good this week and get back on track.

Mom was here all last week and we had a nice time. We did a lot of shopping (as usual) and ate some of my Mom's good home-cooking. I do not enjoy cooking. In fact, I bought a hand towel this week that said "I have a kitchen because it came with the house". That about sums it up right there. Poor Larry!

So . . on to the crap that went wrong. There's the ongoing saga of Larry's van. He's been trying to fix the problem himself but he bit off more than he could chew. We are now $400 in and the problem is still there. I finally convinced him that it would be smart to take it to the shop and have them diagnose the problem. THEN . . if it's something he can fix he can do the work. Much better than just throwing money at an unknown problem.

Of course, the icing on top came on Saturday night. The underground drain decided to get clogged . . and back up all over the hallway. It was a M-E-S-S! After spending over $50 at Lowe's trying to find the right tool to clear the clog . . . we ended up having to go to Home Depot the next morning to get the "big guns" (i.e. commercial grade rooter). That solved the problem. In the midst of all the chaos, Larry tells me to turn on the washer so he can see if the water clears. What he didn't tell me is he never put the drain hose back in the pipe in the wall so water went all over the laundry room. Lovely. I seriously wanted to shoot myself.

And on top of ALL this . . . we had to fork over another $800 for Larry's dental work this week . . . another $125 for Spring Break for Kayla . . . and yet another God knows how much to pay our tax bill!! Oh . . and of course . . . we just bought 1700 square feet of flooring for the house.

Can you hear the echo in our checking account?? I told Larry that we are going to trim the fat in April and May to catch up from all this craziness. We've done more than our share to stimulate the economy. Now someone else can take a turn.

But . . today is a new day. This week WILL be better!

I'm in such a weird place right now . . .

I wish I could explain it better . . . but I just can't find the right words. I'm just all jacked up right now. I seem to go from feeling ok one moment . . . to feeling anxiety the next . . . to wanting to cry the next. I wish I could get some sort of control over this. It certainly doesn't help that I've been in constant pain from these darn kidney stones FOREVER! By the way, you ever seen one of those rocks??

Those things freakin' things hurt!!

On the Weight Watcher front . . the weirdest thing happened. So . . I weighed in on Monday and was down about 1/2 pound. Nothing to write home about . . but a loss none the less. Tuesday and Wednesday were not exactly my best WW days . . . and I went over a bit on my daily allotment. No worries . . . I still had my weekly allotment of 35 flex points so I dipped into that. All I can say is THANK THE LORD ABOVE for WW popsicles. They got me through my munchy phase without totally killing my points. Anyway, this morning I get up thinking, "I better just weigh myself now and assess the damage." I normally NEVER weigh but once a week but this morning . . . the weight loss gods spoke and I felt compelled. And . . . . .

I LOST ANOTHER POUND!!!

Now . . how the heck did that happen? Eat like a pig for two days and LOSE weight? I don't know how that worked out . . but I'll take it.

Mom is flying in on Saturday to stay with us for a week. I'm super excited as is Kayla. It's going to be big fun. Of course, it would have been even better if she had been here during Spring Break . . . but that's a LONG story.

My name is Jennifer . . . and I am a CONTROL FREAK!

I've had a day of self-assessment and that's the conclusion I reached. I just can't stand it when I'm not in control of things. I want EVERYTHING to go the way I want it to go and I tend to become a bit of a bitch when it doesn't.

I blame my MOM!

Seriously, the woman catered to my every desire . . . . and turned me into spoiled brat. And, unfortunately, I think I tend to do the same thing with Kayla.

So . . . . what should I do with this little tidbit of discovery?

Well . . since I don't particularly MIND being spoiled . . . I'm going to allow my Mom to continue spoiling me (and now Kayla as well). As for Kayla, I think she's ok with the whole being spoiled thing so I think it would be unfair to rip it away at this point.

Alright . . . problem solved.

On to my Weight Watcher journey . . . . I've done OK today . . . not GREAT . . . just OK. At this point, I only have about 4 points left for the day and I haven't even eaten dinner. Maybe I'll make water steak! What is water steak you ask?? Well . . . apparently this was my pretend food of choice as a child. The recipe is pretty simple. You pour a glass of water . . . and pretend it's steak. Yeah . . . I know . . . my parents should have pursued some therapy for me as a child. Anyway, I'm quite sure that water steak has ZERO points so . . . I'm think I'll have seconds too!

I just got back from the grocery store which is quite an adventure when you're on Weight Watchers. Fortunately, I found a lot of low point snacks to keep me from falling off track. I weigh in on Monday and I'm hoping to exceed the 10 pound mark. Some days it's a real challenge to stay on track. This week was particularly hard . . . you know . . . that period before your period. I was almost ready to eat my toothbrush. But I survived and am hoping it pays off.

Oh . . . one more random tidbit . . . . after I left the store . . I went to the gas station to fill up. First of all . . . I must have found the SLOWEST gas pump ever made. Seriously, I could have filled the car up quicker with an eye dropper. Well, it's freezing freaking cold here today so I decided I'd start the pump . . and hop back in my car while it filled up. Apparently, at some point, it filled up . . and the lock on the handle didn't let up so fuel was spewing out of my tank. However, I couldn't see it pouring out in my rear view mirror so some guy came running up to my car to tell. Well me . . . being the dunce I am . . . started the car so I could roll down the window and see what he needed. The look on his face was priceless. I think he had to go buy some new underwear!! Anyway, I jumped out of the car and shut everything off. I think about a gallon or two of gas ended up on the ground.

Sometimes I seriously wonder about myself! Gotta go . . . the water steak is burning!

Did you check out my profile pic??

This is one of my favorite pics of Kayla. Just to make it easy on you, I've added it here:

She was not quite 2 and we were headed to the neighborhood pool for a quick swim. I laugh everytime I see that photo. Look at those chubby little thighs!!

Anyway . . . on the Weight Watcher front . . . I'm doing FABULOUS this week. Haven't even used any of my flex points. That's pretty good considering I went from 22 to 21 points this week for my daily allotment. Of course, I'm still tweaking my daily selections to avoid the little fiber problem. What use is it being thin if you walk around gassing up the place all the time??

The new flooring is on it's way so I'm sure I'll be posting pics as Larry gets busy installing it. I am SO ready to be done with this carpet. Next time, I won't be a cheap skate when we're building and just have them put wood in from the start.

More later!

Oops . . . .

Who'd have thunk a grilled chicken ceaser salad, fruit cup, and 1/2 bread stick would be 10 1/2 weight watcher points?? Looks like I'll be eating grass for dinner because I have practically no points left for the day.

If you're considering joining Weight Watchers . . . let me just warn you in advance. Low point foods often have a whole lot of fiber. Need I say more??? Seriously, I've had enough gas in my system to end the energy crisis. Gas-X is my new best friend.




On to more pleasant topics . . . . tomorrow I get to see my friend, Leslie, who just moved to Oklahoma few months ago. She lives in Edmond and is making the trek to T-Town with her husband (who is speaking at TU about something) so we're going to catch up and let the kiddos play at Chick Fil A. Leslie and I both talk a mile a minute so we should be able to catch up in NO time.

Of course, we HAVE to go to swim class first because tomorrow is ribbon night and Kayla will be none too happy if she misses that. She also enjoys getting to see her old FCC friends - Sarah, Mia and Maddi - each week.

Oh . . . and I think we've decided we're going to Nashville for vacation this year. Actually, I think my mom and stepdad are going to meet us there . . . and hopefully my niece and nephew, Amanda and Alex, can meet us up there since they are only a few hours away. I'm super excited to see . . . .





GRACELAND!!!!!

And . . . I plan to do a lot of celebrity stalking while I'm there too!

More later!!