Yesterday evening, as I was bringing Cordy in from the car, I noticed four young teens in street clothes (2 boys, 2 girls) walking out from the brush near the back of our house. Two were carrying pizza boxes (looked empty based on the way one boy was throwing his around), and two were carrying shotguns.

OK, maybe they were fancy BB guns (our BB guns in the 80’s never looked this real), but they were long and looked like shotguns to me. The teens walked down the length of our property to the street, and then walked down the street, guns propped on their shoulders, not saying anything to each other.

Did we move into the Wild West and not know it?

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Be sure to check out Mommy’s Must Haves today to read about the new love in my life.

…at least not for a very long time.

– Go to the post office on a busy Friday with just me and a toddler who wants to wreck havoc. The worst was when she would lean back while I held her, straining my back and making my arm go numb.

– Eat Halloween candy even though I know high sugar foods make me sick right now. It was so tempting, and yet it made me feel so awful. Luckily, a few pickles made everything better. (I swear this pregnancy is all about the pickles.)

– Take a tired and cranky toddler to the grocery by myself.

– Sort and then throw away the metric ton of junk mail about all of the local candidates send us every damn day. And I’m not talking one or two negative ads in the mail – more like 5-10 pieces a day, half of them from the other party, even though neither of us are registered for that political party. Same goes for the recorded phone calls. Stop calling us already – our votes are already safe with the Board of Elections, waiting to be lovingly hand counted on Election Day.

– Attempt to call our old health insurance to question a bill I received from a procedure done in April and was now charged way too much for, only to be repeatedly told, “But you’re no longer insured with us now.” Yes, but in April I was. However, when you’re no longer insured by them, they can make up some “well, that was an exception to your 20% rule” and you’re stuck with the bill, no matter how many times you try to question them about it.

– Take the same tired and cranky toddler, who chose to skip her nap for the day, to an evening party at a friend’s house, where there is an old-style wood burning stove in the kitchen, with no gate around it. Let’s just say that the new theme of the party became “keep the child from burning herself” and everyone played.

Yeah, you can say we’ve had a busy week here. Thankfully, there have been some good moments to balance out the rough ones, too. Like Cordy’s newest favorite game:

Cordy: Mommy! Mommy!
Me: Yes, Cordy?
Cordy: Mommy! Mommy!
Me: Cordy?
Cordy: Mommy! Mommy!
Me: What?!?
Cordy: Hi! (laughs and runs away)

It’s cute, although it does have potential to be annoying very soon. But hopefully not for a few more weeks.

Last night I rushed out of work early in order to be home for trick or treating. Aaron planned to pass out candy, and I wanted to take Cordy door to door. However, everyone else in the city was apparently thinking the same thing, so getting home took a little effort due to massive traffic jams.

The weather also wasn’t very good – cold and rainy. But thankfully the rain stopped right before trick or treat began. As I walked in the door of our house, I was greeted with our little brown and white cow:

I’m very happy with the costume choice. Not only is it adorable on her, but she also didn’t mind wearing it.

I gave Cordy her pumpkin candy container, and we set off to try trick or treating. Last year I took her out in costume in her stroller, mostly to meet some neighbors and show off her cute Tinkerbell costume. This year, though, we were a little more serious. She walked the entire time, and she insisted on holding on to her pumpkin. “Itza pun-kin!” could be heard every 10 steps as we walked down the sidewalk.

The neighbors loved seeing her in costume. She was a little less sure of them, though. She didn’t quite understand why we were walking up to houses, standing at the door, but then not going in. And she didn’t understand why people kept wanting to put things in her pumpkin. Cordy would always look in her pumpkin afterwards as if to say, “What’s that doing in there?” Thankfully, she doesn’t know what candy looks like yet.

Manners weren’t very good, either. She would usually say hi to people, but saying “trick or treat” was impossible and “thank you” was tough. After someone got up in her face, she generally got nervous and responded with, “Bye!” and tried to pull me away.

Even though I told people not to give her much candy, since she’s not going to eat it anyway, they still heaped handfuls into her pumpkin. Which meant that after several houses, her pumpkin was much heavier than before. But she still insisted on carrying it.

We walked down our street and back up the other side, then hit a few more houses on the next street before she tired out. I brought her back to our house, and for the last hour of trick or treat she played in the living room and watched other kids come to the door. And, of course, when a boisterous group came up and loudly said, “Trick or treat,” Cordy finally responded with “Twik o Tweet!”

More pictures:

Showing Dora her loot.




Moo, moo, moO, MOO, Moo, moo, moooooo!




Wrestling with daddy before bed.

Yesterday I started taking a new class, much like the one I took in September, which is 4 days a week, and runs from 8am to 12:30pm for six weeks. Three of those days, I then must go straight to work, and work until 8pm, essentially missing Cordy’s entire day.

Today was day 2, Cordy has already caught on to what’s happening, and she’s none too happy about it. She realizes this means not seeing mommy all day, as well as being rushed in the morning to get dressed and get out the door (and oh, how she hates to be rushed in the morning!), and this routine change has brought out the hair-trigger tantrum monster.

I suppose I could be glad that at least I’m not the one dealing with her grumpy attitude, but truthfully it breaks my heart. Plus, being away from her entirely for three days a week is no fun for me, either. I never experienced anything like an anxiety attack before becoming a mother, but now there are times when I’m gripped with an illogical fear that while I’m away from her, something bad will happen to her. The logical, rational part of my brain always steps in and reminds me, You have no proof that anything bad will happen to her, silly. You’re being irrational, so stop it, but that doesn’t stop the occasional anxious thought from sneaking past the logic police now and then.

And so yesterday at my doctor’s visit, I found myself having another anxious moment. It was the day we were going to hear the heartbeat for the first time, and I had this sense of dread that baby #2 would have no heartbeat. It was a crazy thought, since I’ve been feeling OK and didn’t have any spotting, but that thought remained in the shadows behind other thoughts, casting a little darkness on all of them.

The visit started with all of the normal stuff: blood pressure (still low, so good), weight, etc. I was down 2 pounds from my last visit, which was more than I thought I’d weigh. This baby is being nicer to me, I guess. By this point with Cordy, I had already lost 10 pounds.

Then the doctor came in, and we chatted a little. I told her about the pain I was having at the back of my pelvis that basically feels like my pelvis is separating from my sacrum (base of the spinal column). We both agreed it was being caused by the sacroilial joints loosening (see? I did earn that A in anatomy class!). Apparently when you have a second child, your body just gives up faster, and I’m already experiencing sliding joints, resulting in sharp pains when I walk or sit. Unfortunately, the only treatment right now for this condition is Tylenol, a heating pad, rest, and not lifting too much. I laughed at the last suggestion, reminding my doctor, “You do realize I have a 32+ pound Amazon toddler, right?”

Finally it was time for the doppler. My doctor warned me, “This could take a bit to find, and there’s a chance we won’t find a heartbeat at all due to the baby still being so small.” I really needed to hear that heartbeat, just to know everything was OK.

As soon as she finished her sentence, the faint but steady thump-thump-thump was heard. We listened for nearly a minute, and I gave a big sigh and smiled. Not only does this baby have a heartbeat, it also willingly let us listen in.

When I was 11 weeks pregnant with Cordy, my doctor tried to find the heartbeat and had a lot of trouble finding it. And as soon as we did hear it for a brief 2-3 seconds, it disappeared. She found it again, only to once again have it disappear. Cordy refused to be poked, and hid under my pubic bone to avoid the doppler.

That personality trait stuck with her, too. Every visit, she squirmed and tried to escape the doppler at all costs. Once, at 24 weeks, she managed to pull back towards my spine so far that my doctor couldn’t find the heartbeat (and panic set in), only to moments later have the doppler kicked forcefully off my stomach by a determined foot that didn’t appreciate its presence. I never thought personality could be set so early on, but Cordy still has that stubborn determination today.

But unlike Cordy, baby #2 has no problem letting us listen in on his/her world. I now have some hope that this child might be a little more…laid back. Not so strong-willed. Willing to go with the flow. Zen. Oh, to have a zen baby! Maybe it could teach me how to be less anxious?

And if you have a moment, be sure to pop over to visit Mom-101 and give her some support. Unlike me, she has a valid reason for some anxiety right now, and my thoughts are with her.

The Toys R Us Big Book was released today, with lots of toys for kids to drool over and beg their parents for. It was also today that every Toys R Us was releasing its only shipment of TMX Elmo dolls to the public, along with presales for the Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii.

After a little thought, I decided to try to get a TMX Elmo. Does Cordy like Elmo? Not really. Do I like Elmo? No way. But seeing the crazy prices on eBay for this little annoying doll made me think that if I could find one, just one, I could sell it on eBay and use the profit for Christmas this year. Yeah, call me greedy and evil and a horrible person. But Christmas gifts always stretch our budget to the breaking point (because we have so many people we have to buy for, and yes, I do try to make homemade gifts as much as possible), and reselling one Elmo doll would easily cover several gifts.

Aaron and I arrived at the Toys R Us at the opening this morning, and I was a little surprised to see the line around the store. I mean, yeah, I figured all the gamers would be out for the Playstation 3 and Wii presales, but certainly that line can’t also be people wanting TMX Elmo, right?

We waited in line, listening to others talk about what they were there to buy. Soon it was clear Elmo was also a highly wanted item. Two older women in front of us were both looking for Elmo for their grandkids. A thought crossed my mind that if I did get a ticket to buy Elmo, which meant I was eligible to buy two of them, I’d let someone else in the crowd have my second one if they couldn’t get a ticket.

However, the line starting moving very quickly, and soon it was apparent that there were no more tickets left for anything. There were supposed to be 81 Elmos at that store, and while the line was long, I didn’t see how they were gone so fast. We decided to go inside and look around anyway.

While in the store, I got to hear people complaining to the manager, and talking to others on cell phones. Apparently some people stood in line for a long time, then at the last minute brought every other member of their family into the line with them so they could each get a ticket for the Elmo. One lady who walked past me was saying that the people in front of her demanded 4 tickets for Elmo (since it was one ticket per person), a ticket for each parent, and a ticket for each of their two young children just because they were there, and they planned to purchase all 8 they were eligible for. Soon it was obvious that most of the people who got Elmo dolls were not interested in keeping them – most would be showing up on eBay sometime in the next week.

A store employee said the line actually started yesterday at 5pm, and got longer through the night. Again, I could understand waiting in line for a PS3, because gamer teens can be obsessive when a new system comes out, but an Elmo doll that laughs and vibrates? I was willing to try to get one today, but I didn’t want it so bad that I was going to wait overnight in the freezing cold. The manager was being yelled at left and right by people who said the distribution wasn’t fair, and it was obvious that many of these people were getting several Elmo dolls to resell.

I was reminded of the hysterical craze over Cabbage Patch Kids the first year they came out. With no eBay back then, most of the people wanting them actually wanted them for their kids. I got one for Christmas that year, thanks to my grandmother going to Children’s Palace early the day after Thanksgiving, standing in a tightly packed swarm of moms, dads, and grandmothers, and being lucky enough to catch and hang onto one of the boxes they were throwing down from the upper stock shelves. My grandmother was offered hundreds of dollars to give up her prize as she left the store, but she knew I wanted one, and she wasn’t giving it up.

Those people were fighting to bring happiness to their kid, instead of fighting over who was going to make a fortune reselling them. (Although I’m sure there were resellers even back in the early 80’s, just not the numbers you see today.) So thinking back, I did feel a little guilty wanting to buy one just to sell it on eBay. But at the same time I wasn’t being greedy, like some people there – I wanted one to resell, not several. Am I just as greedy as them for wanting one that I didn’t plan to keep? The $60 in profit would go a long way for Christmas gifts, which was my original intention in doing this.

However, it wasn’t meant to be, and I’m fine with that. There were people who were far more determined to get one (or several) than me, and that’s OK. We left the store empty-handed, although we did get the chance to look at a few items we might like to get Cordy for Christmas. And unlike my grandmother, I didn’t have to nearly get in a fist fight for a chance at the hot toy for Christmas.