Weekend Review-True blood, yard sales, child on the go

Um- WHO Else watched the season finale of True Blood?  I died. I rewound the part at the end when Eric and Bill killed Nan and how Bill was like "We are NOT EFFING Puppy DOGS" and Eric was like .."[sigh] What A Bitch" It was amazing and I LOVED his delivery and tone and look. yum.
Sookie is dumb- she didn't choose hot Eric or Bill. I know Marian wants her to pick Alcide. I can now cancel my HBO until next season :)  Oh, and what about Entourage Series finale. They wrapped that show up with a little bow, huh?

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Yesterday, I turned around and discovered little Miss Anika was scaling the Shelf (it is bolted to a wall).   I got a quick picture before she fell.  After this, she tried using the trash can to pull herself up. That fell on her. 
Things are over for me. THis child wants to use everything to pull herself up and the bumps and bruises are starting. I want to say "NO. That is naughty" but I think I have to let this ship sail.

Friday, I took the morning off and took ANika to library time!! The library is a 2 minute walk from my work, so it worked out well. The Friday morning session was originally advertised for kids 0-3, but it said 1-3 when I got there. I decided to stay.  Miss B took the other kids she watches full time, so they were there too. My mom met me  after to take Anika for the rest of the day.   THey did a story time and Anika listened and watched all the kids.  Then there was an arts and craft which I had Anika just watch. Then they played. She loved the big leggos and loved watching all the kids. It started at 9:30 and went until 10:30. At one point Miss B asked if Anika had taken her nap yet. Um- what nap? I thought it was at 11 or so?  Anika and I had left home at 7:30 and I went to the gym and did a class. She was in gym day care while I took a class and showered...and she never slept there. Miss B said Anika usually has an hour nap by now. So, I was surprised A was so good at play time. But, as soon as we walked out of the library and started walking back to my work to meet my mom- she fell asleep in my arms!! She hasn't fallen asleep in my arms like that for months! She was tuckered out I guess and she lookes so sweet sleeping on me.  This is something I want to do with her every week. I want to request Friday mornings off. I am sad I miss out on this kind of stuff  while at work :((

She will sit for me...for about 30 seconds....

This little devil chewed her crib this weekend. Andrew found her standing in her crib chewing it. I have one of those things to put on the top so she cant chew, but I thought I had time to get it up!!  SO, we moved the mattress down to the lowest setting so she cant fall out!!

This weekend, the safety gate went up at the top of the stairs. Thanks Ashely for the recommendation. IT did take Andrew and I 45 minutes to do this. The distance between walls was a bit off so we were RIGHT between needing one extender or two. We ended up with one. SO this is screwed into the wall so when she tries to push it down, it shouldnt budge- lets hope!  Our other stairs have a door at the top so we will just get a door knob thing so she cant get the door open to the stairs. We also bolted her tall bookshelf in her room to her wall. I want her room to be a safe place for her to play, since she independently plays in there a lot.  

Our garden has pretty much stunk this year as far as veggies go. We got TONS Of tomatoes but not a ton of other things, but looks like the sunflowers came up! Yes, that is all weeds in the garden because Andrew gave up a while ago when nothing was coming up. I have made tomato salad with basil from my herb garden (Oh, the herbs did amazing), feta or mozzarella cheese , onions, avacado, balsamic, and EVOO MANY times in the past couple weeks. DELISH.

Saturday we went yard saleing.  It was a town wide yard sale about half hour from us.  You can just drive around to all the houses as you see them, or you can get a map of all the sales. I went to this sale with my friend, J, last year and I got Anika's swing, which was almost brand new for super cheap. I also got her really nice hiking back pack which we plan to use this fall....and some other cool stuff.  THis year, Andrew wanted to come. Of course Anika came too. Andrew, J, Anika and myself loaded into the truck. We got a late start because Andrew and I had to bring Anika to a post office to get her passport application sent off.  We tried going a few weeks ago, but I forgot her birth certificate! It was sitting on my desk at home and we didn't have time to go get it before the post office closed.  For children under 16, you have to go apply in person and both parents have to be present.  So, we did that and the pictures I had taken at walmart were not good, so we had to get more taken at the post office. No big deal though. We should have her passport in a couple weeks.

One of the first yard sales we went to was in a community center area.  There was a table selling those things I see everywhere with tags on them...like this.

The lady selling them had a baby in a stroller sitting behind the table with her. I picked one of these up (Anika was in my sling) and I asked what they were. She said they are just lovies and babies like the tags.  I looked at her baby and he was connected to oxygen with the things in his nose.  I walked over to where Andrew was and asked him for my money.  I told him I needed to go buy one of those rag things because the baby was sick. I picked one up and asked how much and she said $5!  WHAT?? for a little rag??  Ok- most things at these yard sales are like $1 or $2.  I bought it because of the sick baby. At this point J and Andrew were back in the truck, so I walked towards it and tears were streaming down my face as I held ANika.  I just thought, WOW- I am so lucky to have a healthy child...and the thought of a sick child just made my heart ache. I felt for that little boy. When I got in the truck, Andrew had no idea why I was crying because he is heartless..haha, but Jordan knew right away. Then she said "Wow Ash. In all the years I have known you (which is 15), I have only seen you cry a hand full of times and motherhood has turned you into a sensitive, caring person! " haha. Andrew wondered what she was talking about since he has seen me cry more times than he would like to remember.  Ugh. I wiped my tears and gave my babe a big hug before strapping her in her seat for the next stop. Oh, ya- that was interesting. Taking Anika in and out of her seat about 25 times to go to different sales! Luckily, ANdrew's truck has a big back seat so I had a lot of room to maneuver. By noon, I realized she had not napped yet!! So, I left her in her seat and we left a door open while we went to a couple sales (I was close to the car) and she fell asleep and stayed asleep for 2 hours, which I was surprised about.

Here is Anika with all her loot. We spent $25 on everything which includes her $5 rag...and a nice wooden memory game for $2. Each piece for Memory is wood with hand painted animals. That game is in the red bag in the picture. Jordan teaches at montessori school and told me to get a book that teaches positive discipline. It was only 25 cents, so I got it. I never read parenting books though...even though I have like 20. I skim them.  They don't keep my interest. hahaha. that sounds bad. Speaking of books, I finished Jennifer Weiner's new book last week. LOVED IT. IT is called "Then Came You" Read it. It is fiction. I have read every single one of her books. 
Another funny story. One house we stopped at was a nice house. Let me tell you something I learned about yard sales. The wealthier people sell NICE stuff for cheap. The lesser income people try to sell their nasty shit for too much money. One not so clean person tried selling Jordan a book for half the cover price which would have been $10 since it was hard cover!! LOL. Yard sale books go for 25 cents usually. $1 at most.
Ok, I am no expert but from the little yard sale'ing I have done, that is what I see.  Ok, so we were at a nice house. They had tons of nice stuff for good prices.  They had a boy about the age of 10 helping out. He had his Little money apron on and if I had a boy, I would have bought some boy stuff. They had some girl toys too, but much older. I did get the wooden memory game at that house though. So, the mom was organizing some stuff and the dad was sitting in a chair behind the tables. He started talking to Andrew about his truck and how nice it was, etc. Then we noticed he had the same one (but smaller version) sitting in his yard...and it was brand new.  Then Andrew picked up a book that was something about "The Art of Pleasing Your Husband"  and Andrew jokingly handed it to me and I Just laughed out loud and the dad saw and he laughed.  THe thing is- I KNEW THIS GUY. I had no idea how, but I knew him.  I thought maybe an old teacher, but I thought noo...his house is too nice to be a teacher.  (no offense to teachers and I dont even know why I thought that because I shouldn't judge. I know people with lots of money who live in very modest houses, so I really shouldn't judge). But, something in my head told me my memory of him was that he was creepy.  My friend J was buying tons of stuff at this yard sale so we were there a long time. His son was darling and trying to show me toys and he said Anika's sling was a very cute Pouch! haha.  So, It was on my mind of and on all day to whre I knew this guy from.

THEN, at 4 AM the next morning I woke from a deep sleep and I KNEW!  IT was a gyno I went to ONCE!!  I ran down to get my laptop and googled to make sure. I woke Andrew up to tell him. He said something gross about him knowing me too...from the inside out.   I went to him before I tried to get pregnant. I was looking for a doctor that was closer to home (my other ones are an hour away). He did an exam on me with him being the only one in the room.  In all my years of going to a gyno, that had never happened!! Also, I Know from a legal standpoint that most malpractice insurance policies require someone else to be in the room during an exam. So, I was confused and I just thought it was irresponsible of him to be so careless with liability issues. I mean- doctors these days need to be careful and this was the first time he saw me, so he didn't know me. He also didn't leave the room after for me to get changed. He just kind of turned around. I had a dress on I just pulled back down so I didn't really care...but again...I found it odd. He also made a comment about me seeming to have a lot of energy and if my husband could keep up with me and had as much energy. This was years ago, but I remember thinking it was in reference to sex....so ya. He asked me if I was going to have my baby there and I was like maybe. ha. AND, then I talked to another friend who went to him when she was pregnant and he told her she couldn't have a natural labor and he TWISTED her arm behind her back and said "Could you deal with this pain for hours and hours?"   She went somewhere else after that. BuT, I have another friend who recently went to him to have her baby and she LOVED him. SO, its all personal preference I guess.I just thought it was funny.

this photo is dark, but Anika loves riding on daddy's shoulders.  it does make me a bit nervous but ...I have to let go sometimes.  After  yard sale'ing we got J's boyfriend and went to Thai and sushi. I cant wait until Anika can eat the food off our plates!! 

On Sunday we went to brunch with ANdrew's brother, his wife and the twins. His brother told us something about how if it weren't for 9/11, none of us would be sitting there together. I asked what he meant and he said that the place he had worked pre 9.11 (in a different state) would not give out work visas after 9.11. He was in NZ, and through a friend he got a visa to come work at a place in NH. It was a change of plans for him and it was the place in NH he met my cousin (his wife now) and then because of Andrew's brother, I chose to go study in NZ instead of Australia.  And, then NO ONE tried to hook Andrew up with me, but I made that happen all on my own :) haha. In fact, his brother and my cousin weren't happy about that at first.

Anyway, we had a nice brunch. When we got home, I needed to do some errands and I had to force myself to leave Anika home with Andrew so they could have some of their own time. I like to bring her with me!! I went out on my own, but I missed my little buddy.  Andrew thinks that its easier to do errands without her...maybe it is, but its not as fun!!  I like her to be with me to talk to and to watch her soak everything in.

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Sunday night she slept like shit. She was up so much.  I don't know- I almost think its separation anxiety. It is a little early for that but it makes sense because as soon as I picked her up she stopped.  She wanted to be cuddled. She would eat if I tried, but that wasn't why she was awake.  For some reason, as tired as I was on Monday morning when I went into get her up for the day, I woke her up and looked at her and such a weird word came to mind- Perfection. I Looked at her and saw perfection. Every ounce of her looked perfect to me. It was weird- considering hours before, I thought she was a devil child keeping me up. Also, I can always find negative in most things and can be quite critical...so the word or feeling perfection just doesn't usually enter my mind. Speaking of my little angel haha- Last weekend at my mom's triathalon, we were on the beach getting ready to watch my niece do her swim portion and Anika PULLED my tank top down!  YES- violently. She was trying to get boob. A lady saw and commented "She knows what she wants. Mine did that to me too"   haha. I quickly got my udder cover out of the stroller and got to feeding her. She does get a little man handling with me these days, and I'm not sure what I think about that.

I had a few more stories, but this is too long as it is. I guess I shouldnt care since only a few of my readers seem to have followed me over here :(  
Let people know where I am!