girlymama

out of the mouth of grace

Gracie: Mommy, can you take the baby out of your tummy now? I wants to play with her.
Me: Sorry! The baby will be in Mommy's tummy for a long time still.
Gracie: Why?
Me: Because it needs to grow and get lots bigger.
Gracie: No it doesn't! Babies are teeny-tiny, Mom!!

sleepover!

Ellie's sleepover:
Ellie had a GREAT time at her friend, Hannah's last night. She was a champ, giggling herself to sleep until she fell out of bed in the middle of the night with a loud "thump." Prompting Hannah's daddy to line the side of the bed with couch cushions, just in case. Now she is asking when she can go back. And for longer next time, please.

Gracie's sleepover:
Gracie and I had our own special evening, just the two of us. I can't remember the last time we had some time to ourselves like that. She's getting so much fun. She chit-chatted all through dinner about princesses and movies and toys and puppies and this and that.  We ended out time out with a trip to the new ice cream shop that opened up next to Trader Joe's. And the bite I had of Gracie's violently pink strawberry ice cream with sprinkles was very, very yum. Then we came home and watched a movie, had bathtime and she got to sleep in Mommy's bed. Boy was that a treat.
For her, I mean. I got to go to bed at 9pm, listen to her cough every 15 seconds all night and have Cinderella, Baby, two puppies, 3 blankeys, 2 books along with Grace join me last night. It was a tad crowded.  Especially since Grace likes to sleep sideways. (In her own bed, too.) And I got woken up at 2:39am because she had a booger.
But she had fun and didn't miss Ellie too much.

ellie sleeps over

Tonight, Ellie is sleeping over at a friend's house for the first time. (Sob!) I'm not really worried about her, since she has slept away from me at Grandma's loads of times.  She was super excited and had been bouncing around the house all day.

What I didn't count on was Gracie. She's really traumatized. At first I just thought she was jealous, but then I realized - she's never been without Ellie. She keeps saying, "We have to go get Ellie! I can't sleep without Ellie!" I can only think of one night last year when she was hospitalized overnight, that she did not have her sister with her. She's really upset.

Hopefully, a sleepover with Mommy will be enough to distract her. Although I've been told that I am not as much fun as Ellie. Humph.

arriving in the mail today

Was an ad from Piperlime. It said:

"Strut into fall with fabulous ankle boots.
Try them with your favorite skinny jeans,
a cute dress of even fun leggings."
Clearly the postal service is running behind, since this must have been mailed back in 1985 when I considered those things cool.

she told me

Me: Gracie, its time to get dressed so we can go to the library.
Grace: currently wearing her Cinderella ball gown Mom. I am a princess.
Me: I know you are, but you need to change for the library.
Grace: Princesses wear dresses. I am a princess. So I must wear my princess dress. Its my job.

***************
I have been spending  most of today trying to find babysitters. Since I apparently need one for the month of September.   Beyond going out of town for 4 days, which is serious kid coverage, I have a zillion other things this month and a husband who is traveling up a storm.  And almost all of my sitter needs are for things that are totally not fun. Things like Back to School Night and OB/GYN appointments. I hate having to pay a sitter for something un-fun.
I miss my free babysitters in-laws.
************
I'm getting desperate for ways to get my kids to go to bed earlier this week, since Husband is gone. Tomorrow, Ellie has her first ever sleepover. (sob!) But in the meantime, I went on the advise of a friend and got some books on tape for them to listen to in bed before they fall asleep.  My nights have been quite bad the last few days, so I'm nervous about being here on my own. We'll see how this goes.

links for you!

Musings of a Housewife is giving away an Eliza Grace tote bag! Go enter!

Rocks in My Dryer is giving away an Eliza Grace Minky Blanket!

i need food help!!

So I am finding it reeeeally hard to plan meals while I have no interest whatsoever in food of any sort. (This "morning" sickness is just getting worse. I'm living on cereal, toast and rice cakes.)
My poor family is really hurting for some actual food. When some dear friend takes pity on us and sends over a meal, my family chows down like they haven't eaten in a week. (Seriously - when a friend sent over a pork tenderloin, rice and carrots, Ellie ate 3 helpings. This is getting serious indeed.)

I need your help, Internets!

Send me a recipe or link to a recipe on your blog. I need ideas! I look at the grocery store ad and instead of planning my weekly menu as I usually do, I just get grossed out. Then I go shopping without a list and just buy whatever. (Me. Without a list. Can you imagine?) This is not leading to wholesome, edible meals.

I'll do my part. I've been craving this lately, so I'm going to give it a whirl tomorrow. This is a meal I grew up on - my mom made it all the time. Maybe that's why I'm craving it -- childhood comfort food.

 

Chicken Cacciatore 1-2 pounds skinless chicken (boneless breasts or thighs), cut in to big pieces 1 can whole tomatoes, chopped or 2 cans diced tomatoes onion (sliced long) minced garlic mushrooms (sliced) Italian seasoning Serve with rice

In crockpot, throw everything in and turn it on for a few hours!
On stove, brown chicken, then put everything in the pot and simmer until chicken is done.

to be filed under "magical memories"

We told the girls about the baby this morning over breakfast. I had toyed with getting a video of it, to maybe show the baby some day... perhaps its good I was feeling to nauseous to get up.

Husband said "We're going to have a new baby in our house!"
Ellie grinning, "Mommy has a baby in her belly?"
"Yes, she does!"
"Yay!" says Ellie, "Now we can have three girls!"
"Or we'll have two girls and one boy," I say.
"Nope. I only want three girls."
"I think we'll be thankful for whatever God gives to us," says Husband.
"Nope. Three girls."
okay. We'll deal with this in a few months....
"Gracie, are you excited we're having a new baby?"
"No, we can't have a new baby yet," Grace says. She's totally serious.
"Why not?"
"Because we can't."
"But you love babies" I say, "don't you want one in our house?"
"Nope."

So there you have it. Our sweet, touching magical family moment of the day.

i'm giddy with anticipation

The stars have all aligned!  Husband is going to a conference at a posh hotel in San Diego in September and guess who is going with him?

ME! As in just me! No children!

I'm so excited. We've been trying to plan this for awhile, but details kept falling through.  But today he booked our tickets! Hee hee!!!! We haven't been away together in over 3 years, so we're super excited. Especially with le bebe coming, we are going to throughly enjoy some time to ourselves!!

and the winner...

of the citrus dot gift set is....

Kim from Pressing on Towards the Goal!!! Congrats!

Thanks to everyone who entered! It was fun discovering some new blogs this week!! Stay tuned because two other blogs that are giving away Eliza Grace gifts next week!