My Baby

My Baby has started using the potty.  When she wakes up in the morning and after naptime she even says "Pa-pa?" which turns me into an entirely different human being.  No, really.  I shriek "Potty!?  Yes!  Hurry!  Go! Go!"  They are no complete sentences involved in my attempt to rush her to the potty.  : )

The other day our potty experience went something like this:  I had her naked on the potty, I heard a tinkle sound, stopped reading Duck Goes Potty (which I rented from the library and LOVE!), stood up and rejoiced over her yellow puddle in the potty.  We clapped, we danced, we rejoiced.  "Sesame, we have to go put a new diaper on now, so stand right there while Momma moves..."

Just as I said this a warm, tingling sensation crept over my foot.
It was wet.
I looked down, and to my utter horror, realized I was being peed upon.
By my daughter.
Who had just peed in the potty.

 "AH!"  I shouted, "Sit!  Potty!  Hurry!  Go! Go!  Stop!  Potty!"  She sat, she peed, we rejoiced.  "Now, Sesame, we're going to read this book, and try and potty more."  I thought I was so smart.  We waited, no more pee.  We flushed the potty and regrouped to head upstairs.  I realized I left my coffee on the floor in the bathroom, so I turned, grabbed the cup and heard a wee vocie squeak out, "Oh No."

I rounded the corner to see Sesame peeing on the carpet.

"STOP!  SIT! POTTY! NOW!  RUN!"

And run she did.

She was like Forrest Gump.  'Run Sesame, Run!' and I was Jenny, cheering her on in some gibberish Mom tone.  But while she ran, she also peed.  I praised the Lord we had a can of Spot Shot.  She made it to the potty, peed two dribbles, proudly proclaimed "All Done!" opened the cabinet under the sink, pulled out a diaper and said "Diaper, Momma."

New...

Hair.

: )

No Time...

But it has to be said.

I may or may not have swapped cars with my Momma today when I dropped Sesame off.
She may or may not have told me the batteries to the key fob were dying.
I may or may not have then gone grocery shopping.
I may or may not have then accidentally turned the panic alarm on whilst trying to unlock the car.
I may or may not have opened the door with then key because I couldn't get the alarm to stop.
I may or may not have then quieted the alarm, and promptly started the car.
I may or may not have shut the door.
I may or may not have, somehow, unbeknownst to me, miraculous locked myself out of the car.
While it was running.
While I had a full cart of groceries.
With the music blaring loud from inside because I may or may not have been hard-core jamming in the car to my tunes, seeing as I had not baby to worry about leaving deaf.
I may or may not have had to call my Mom like a 16-year-old new driver and say "I locked the keys in the car" and also text my husband: "Your insanely brilliant wife just locked the keys in the car.  While it was running.  Bonus."
I may or may not have had a good laugh.
I may or may not have had my faith in humanity restored because THREE people stopped to ask if I needed help.  One even asked if I wanted a bottle of water.  "No thanks," I said, "I have a gallon of milk and a 2 liter of Diet Dr. Pepper if I get thirsty."
I may or may not have also STILL been in the clothes I worked out in this morning, to my utmost, stinky horror.
I may or may not still be laughing about this.  : )

The Post Where I Upload Video For The First Time.

So I figured out how to get video off my phone and onto the computer.  Downside - no video from yesterday.  Video from a couple weeks ago will have to suffice.  : )  Sorry the quality isn't the best - it's from my cell phone !  : )

Library

::Warning - long, serious, non-picture post ahead::

We are library lovers.  It's true.  While our library is quite quaint and tiny, we love ever inch of it.  Sesame even requests, "Lie-Bee" when we haven't visited in awhile.  The library I grew up attending is not ours, but it's still close.  And it happens to share a parking lot with a park.  Park + Library + Coffee Shop IN the library = happy baby and happy Momma.  : ) 


So, today, since the sun is shining, it's only 83 degrees and I can actually breathe the air outside, aka low humidity in these parts, we made a trip to the park.  Sesame was elated.  Climbing the stairs, squealing and demanding assistance on the slide.  In her defense, the slide is pretty huge.  Also, the last time I made her go alone, she snorted a bug, choked slightly and then almost fell off at the end of the slide.  I think she might be scarred.  Anyway, we had a grand time!  : )  If I could get the video off my phone, it would be plunked right here.


After about 20 minutes or so, it dawned on her, 'the library is right there and we haven't been'  She she began with her "Lie-Bee!  Momma, Lie-Bee," to which I promptly scooped her up, and skipped inside.  Sesame navigated to the back of kids section - where all the toys are.  There were two other mothers, and a father, with their children there when we arrived.  One mother was on the floor with her ~3 year old son and ~18 m. old daughter.  The father was sitting on a mini couch, knees up to his glasses, scanning a notebook while his munchkin of 3 flipped the pages of a Clifford book.  The other mother was sitting at a table near the edge of the rug, reading a paperback book of some sort.  Her four children ranged from ages 18 mos - 8 years.  The two middle children being around 3 & 6, and decked out in the Superman and princess costumes.  The oldest boy seemed to be caring for the children as he frequently wrangle the youngest back from the shelves of books to the play area. Sesame jumped right in, playing with the other children, now and then looking to see where I was. 


The father and first mother left shortly after we arrived, and another family walked in.  The two girls who looked to be 4 & 5 (I found out they were actually 3 &4 - just very tall) with beautiful, dark curly hair.  I sat next to the newest mother and asked about her girls.  She had a gorgeous Persian accent.  Her daughters had Persian sounding names as well.  She commented on Sesame's agility (she may or may not have been attempting to climb the puppet stand...which I did stop!) and vocabulary.  I commented on her daughters behavior as well.  It was clear we both demanded good behavior from our girls.  


She was so interesting.  We talked about girl's hair - I picked up some tips on how to tame Einstein-Kramer's wafro - I asked how she met her husband - she said college, but he was American - I asked where she was from originally - she said Iran - She asked me if I was Romanian - I said no, but I actually get that alot! - I found out she was in school at IUPUI - I told her my degree was from there -  Then, all of a sudden, the Momma reading her paperback book barked out, "Bobby!  Just ignore them, they're being rude!  Stay away from them!"  We both looked up and saw that barking mother was talking about my new friend's daughters.  


Who were across the room.  
Not even really playing with barking Mom's kids.  


One of Friend's girls came over to her mother.  I almost burst into tears.  It was extremely obvious what was happening.  


I just looked at Friend, stunned.  She said to her daughter, "It's okay sweetheart," hugging her close, "Why don't you two look at the puppets?"  "I'm so sorry," I said.  "It happens.  People just look at their faces and make a decision that quickly about who we are."  I wanted to hug this woman.  I wanted to tell her I was shocked.  I can't even being to imagine what those girls are going to face, what their mother will face.  What did she saw to them when they got in the car?  Did she address what happened?  How do I address this situation?  What am I going to tell Sesame when this happens, and she is aware that it's happening around her?


I do know that I will tell her all people are "...fearfully and wonderfully made..." (Psalm 139:14) by God and we are called by Him to "...love one another, as I have loved you..." (John 13:34) and treat others better than ourselves.  I know I will tell her that God, in His Word, talks about loving everyone in John, in Romans, in Ephesians, in Galatians, in 1 Peter and most of all in 1 John. I know I will open up the Bible and tell her God does not want the behavior of the Barking Mom from us, he calls us to more than that.


In the end, I exchanged email addresses with Friend.  We talked about getting the girls together to play. She asked, when she found out I did photography, if I could do photos of her girls, so she could send them home.  I said, yes, of course, please, I'd love to.  Just like that, in fact.  :)  I really hope she does reply to my email.


As we left the library, I kept turning the scene over and over in my mind.  Was I being judgmental of the Barking Mom?  Did I miss something?  Were the girls bothering her children?  Then, I stopped.  The moment was over.  I handled it as best I could at the time.  Now, it was time to start praying.  For Friend, for Barking Mom, for Friend's daughters, for Sesame and for me.  "Sesame," I said, "Let's say a blessing."


And we did.  Right there.  In the library parking lot.

Wet.

There are two kinds of wet in our household.

The kind filled with happiness

and joy;

shouting and running a muck

in the backyard with an exuberant black lab

named Homer.

Then there's the kind of wet filled with

surprise.

Perhaps an expletive of "Holy Crum Why Am I Wet?!"

I would say

shock

gasp

scream

and, again,

surprise

best surmise this kind of wet.

You know, the kind of wet that occurs when you go to

fill the bath tub,

for Sesame's bath,

only to find out the shower head knob was left in 

the on position.

So much for only wearing one shirt a day.

: )

Home.

This was our house when we moved in:

It needed a bit of of love to say the least.  We had grand dreams as newlyweds moving in.  The dining room would be filled with fabulous new dining sets.  Sigh.  How I love dark wood.  It just makes me smile. While we had our hopes set high on un-mauve counter-tops, new sinks and brilliant paint colors, the re-modeling has slowed   stopped  halted  never really started.  We made it as far as repainting the master from this:

(Yes, your eyes are working correctly.  That's mauve, navy and pink sponge paint you see.  All made complete with a resplendent hunter green, navy and mauve column border.  Oh baby, oh baby.)

to this:

Which, I must say, is a vast improvement.  I suppose grand-master-painter-David did change the outside from this:

to this:

Which makes me happy every time I drive into my driveway!  : )  If I were a realtor (which I never could be..they sell things...which is not a skill of mine!) I would say "Now, this house has great curb appeal!"


Did that read as awkward as it typed?  Just curious.


Moving on.


Recently I have been inspired.  I have seriously been feeling convicted about A) the amount of "stuff" we have and B) the way our house doesn't even remotely reflect our taste/us as a family.  Aside from the talking toys.  Those definitely reflect Sesame.


So I have been psycho-purging lady lately.  Our closet has been cleaned out 3 times, I've started getting rid of, wait for it, books, and; there are currently paint samples painted on walls in three areas of our house. 


It's time people.  It's time for the dreams to become a reality.  : )  I can't wait!  :  )  While I may not have new counter tops or toilets by the end of this, there will be new curtains.  Yay.