tis the season to be busy....

wow, the past week has flown by...jeff is home so i am sitting in the living room, feet up, fire blazing and lights low finally adding pictures to the computer. we had annie's 1st birthday two weekends ago and i can not believe my little sweetheart now turned into hell-en is a year old. i feel like i barely remember each of her magical days.....however, i am not forgetting her new super hero abilities, such as, climbing into the dishwasher, climbing onto the fireplace but never figuring out how to climb off, running hugs, drop to the floor fits, roaring laugh and all around happy personality.

i started baking last wednesday and after (2) batches of chocolate pretzel clusters, peppermint bark, candy cane cookies, (1) batch of holiday biscotti, peanut butter and chocolate biscotti and mini coconut cupcakes and oreo truffles i am baked out. however, i do have a few more things to whip together for the neighbor tins and christmas eve dinner. i completed my shopping last week and everything is wrapped and under the tree. i guess this is not saying a lot since today is the 23rd of december and it is near midnight.

We went to the kids' christmas party today and had so much fun. it was a smaller group this year and not so overwhelming. with eight kiddos running around wearing themselves out time flew by.....we frosted santa cookies (i made the icing, blue (coconut), yellow (lemon), orange (orange), green (mint) and red (vanilla)) and had a gift exchange. i always think i am a great gift buyer; i just have a knack for finding the perfect present. i really enjoy my girlfriends and look forward to time with them. this is very new because well, i just am not usually good at keeping up with friends. not that i am not a good friend and i really care, it is just hard to keep up with anyone other than myself these days.

i finally had my hair done last friday....all i am saying is i will never go 4 1/2 months again without a highlight and trim. it is amazing on how much driving a clean truck and having a fresh hair do can change my attitude towards life. one thing i totally believe is that i am judged by the appearance of my truck. my life may be falling apart and i may be hanging together by a very thin thread but if my truck looks good than no one will notice my hair being 3 inches grown out and not blown dry in over four months. along with all the other helpers i am searching craigs list for...i need someone to come by and blow out my hair twice a week. maybe i just need to win the lottery???

oh, jeff and i went to longspaugh baby #3 on the way ob appt today....and had our first sonogram. WE KNOW THE SEX.....however, i am keeping it to myself until Christmas, hee, hee, hee..

all in all....jeff has been home for four days and oh, so helpful to me....i am busting with holiday spirit and extremely grateful for my two girls and baby on the way. we are lucky to have a thriving business and beautiful home......i wish all of you a merry christmas and happy new year!

my poor second child...

i was just lying down to bed...yes, before midnight. i did have to rise early today, oh, about 5am to take two of the guys out to the airport for a flight to new orleans. and while i was up in the still of the house thought to myself this is really nice and maybe i should get up early more often. however, the reality of it is i tend to stay up too late working and 5am is just the beginning of my r.e.m. sleep.
so, what brought me leaping out of bed and running back to the office.....poor annie, i realized i bragged on izzy and said nothing about anabel. so....here it goes, i did post a video on facebook today of her laughing because izzy wanted to take her babies for a walk down the street this afternoon and i thought i could not put annie in the stroller because she had been in and out of her carseat since 5:45 this morning (izzy stayed in bed this time and cade moved into our room if she woke up). in my mommy can be clever and crafty mode, i strapped her to the red push car izzy received for christmas last year (two straps for my monkey) and let her drive the car down the street and up the golf course.** i had to video her from my phone because she was so excited that her laugh was making me cry. it was one of those moments where i believe i am a damn good mom and it is not all fluff on the outside.
annie has also been imitating izzy....after bath time izzy like to play peek-a-boo in the closet, you know opening and shutting the door all the while looking for your surprised look each time when she shouts peek-a-boot. annie thinks this is so great and after her diapering and dressing (izzy always says "annie first") she rushes over to the closet to do as her sister did. well, three days ago she must have been playing the game by herself because she shut herself in cade's room and it was probably 5 minutes later before i heard her hollers for help. oh, oh, tonight izzy was peeking around the doorway into her room playing the same game and annie proceeded to get up and again pop her head around the corner waiting for my over excited "oh, you scared mommy...peek-a-boo".

so there it is....i bragged on both my wonderful children and can probably go to bed now since i am beyond tired.

**side note~word on the street is there is a buyer for the golf course, a lake country resident who struck rich in the barnett shale AND that someone else is looking into reopening the clubhouse with an upscale spa theme! i may be really really excited soon. jeff, please add to my christmas list a new set of golf clubs (mine are over 10 years old) and a golf cart....

jeff flew the coop and we are lost....

so, last thursday the girls and i returned home from little gym and yoga to hear the washer machine running...my first thought, did i finally find someone to do my laundry, iron it and put it away. second thought, seeing as i don't recall meeting this miracle worker (also still looking for the part time chef/food prep) was fandango must be doing it in hopes i can then take her for a walk because i KNOW jeff is not doing the laundry because there has been a stack of his stuff on the counter for the past week waiting to be hung up! however, the ugly truth was jeff was doing his laundry but only because he had decided to head back to new orleans....that day....like in an hour and a half after our return! i believe i was actually mad at him for the short notice a good day or two.
being that i am single "momming" again, my blogs will be a little sparse. i do have a better attitude this time and am trying to keep my chin up. i am finding the more i can laugh with the girls the less i feel like i am hanging by a thread over a 100ft cliff waiting to drop. also, i am putting keeping the house in order a priority (rather than keeping up with my work) and this too is helping me stay sane.
izzy did/said some really some really incredible things today. first, during bath time she was taking a smaller cup and filling a larger cup (no great task at 26mo.) however, while dumping each cup she would count them in order till it filled up then would start again....i am not sure where she is learning how to actually count but i have a feeling it has something to do with all the curious george we watch. second, she has begun to draw circles and calling them circles, while this may be normal my niece was not much into this sort of thing and i recall begging her to practice circles when she was four. third, i brought a black leather chair home from cody's apartment and out of no where the past few days she has been climbing up in it to nap and telling me she wants to "sleep in uncle cody's chair". while this breaks my heart i am so grateful she put two and two together and remembers cody.
i have been spending a lot of time wondering about baby names....if a boy, well, we have several from jeff's side to choose from and if a girl, do i choose another "bel"??? i have one in mind that i love and a middle name that rocks. i am really into names. both girls middle names are relevant to a family member we want to honor...izzy's is jean after jeff's mom and annie's is lee after me and i was named after my aunt gwen, someone who has done so much for me in my short life. she is one of the better influences i have always had and one to remind me the world does not revolve around how i can change others only myself. our new neice is names whitney josephine, whitney because chris proposed on the top of mount whitney (i know, so awesome) and josephine is jeff's grandmother's name. so i have really big shoes to fill......
a huge storm is rolling in and cade is practically sitting on top of me...so i better wrap this up. here is a list of our latest daily presents from babci.
on the 3rd day of christmas: a bunch of hair bows...not five or six more like a dozen and a half different colors.
4th day: two christmas plates, santa napkins and beautiful red place mats (for mommy)
5th day: a couple boxes of animal crackers...you know the really good ones in the circus box (i may have eaten most of at least one box)
6th day: large popcorn bowl, movie and kettle corn for family movie nights (love it!)
7th day: a new magnetic farm puzzle book and card games
8th day: a snowman mug for warm cocoa, glowing santa and milk chocolate santa candies

so as you can tell we are still thinking this is the greatest thing on earth....have a great day and i will be back soon!

oh, and don't forget to send me your christmas cards...they make my day!

a slice of humlbe pie to go with all my bitchfest entries....

so jeff has been home now for 10 days and 1 1/2 hours give or take a minute or two. and i am loving it....he has slowed down (could be the fact he worked for something like 36 days in a row), i must clarify, jeff slowing down is kinda like me on crack. however, he has been here at the beck and call of both girls and just when i think i am about to curl up in the corner and cry he gallops into the room to save the moment. izzy even told dadda she needed to poopoo and he took her to the potty, brushed her teeth, nite nite diapered her all the while making it the event of a lifetime for her. i make it sound like he is not normally so helpful, he is when he is home....this being the issue. before going to new orleans the work here was coming in like crazy, still is but not quite so hot-n-heavy.....so jeff was leaving by 7am and returning at the end of bath time most night; this does not leave much time for dadda bonding or mommy help. i will admit the first few days were touch-n-go being he was not used to being here and a part of how i keep it all together (even in my own may not make sense to you way) and i was not used to him standing there trying to figure out how to help or be a part of our chaos. by thanksgiving morning we had figured it out and well, my life has been so much easier since.

i better stop before my dear husband's head gets too big......

i will finish by trying to update through photos from all our many challenging yet rewarding days the past few weeks.

here are the girls halloween night. their costumes were kinda all over the place. these tutus were a gift from momo (my mother) along with matching shirts. i found izzy a bodysuit, wand and wings and she became some type of fairy. poor annie was not in the mood to dress up and she just wore here skirt for about 10 minutes!

as i mentioned before thanksgiving was at our house this year and everything worked out wonderfully. jeff and i teamed up without too much fussing at one another and brine the turkey, roasted and for what was our first 23lb bird....we did a damn good job. i informed him maybe in a few years we should do two turkeys and try to fry one.......my whole family (well, those around here) came over and my aunt with the body of a 20 year old brought gluten-free desserts (have to say they weren't too bad, however, i do like her full-throttle chocolate chip cookies better), even all three of my cousins showed up along with one of the girlfriends. i opted for the easy way out and rented the dishes and table clothes, with a little rinse-rinse and re-stacking in crates clean up was a breeze. as usual we played hours of apples to apples and well, lets just say my mother is a good sport because she gets a lot of shit during this time.

jeff had izzy outside helping him cut up firewood and burn some of the brush. she did not get dress until 2:30 and smelt like a boy....no complaints here, i had lots of free time in the kitchen to work some foodnetwork inspired magic. during the crunch time of smashing potatoes and reducing pan drippings for gravy babci and dadda kept annie entertained by the fire in our backyard. by this point izzy fell asleep and stayed that way through dinner but woke up in time for dessert. cade had some type of flu the whole school break....every time i entered his room i was armed with a can of lysol and breathing mask.....all i could think was who would do all i do if i get this crap!

last friday i had a list of things i wanted to do while jeff was home...go to the parade of lights, the gaylord for the ice wonderland, the zoo, christmas card photo and put up our tree and hang the lights. well, after being sidetracked for most of friday we decided to meet the cooks downtown to watch the parade of lights. okay, we decided at 5pm and it started at 6pm......not only did i need to dress the girls in warm clothes, pack the stroller, chairs, snacks and what not; we were also going to stay the night at the worthington and kinda take a ftw vacation night. the girls enjoyed the parade...jackie and i enjoyed waiting two hours for the guys to return to the suite with uno's pizza (jury still out on this one) but the best part was the following day....after dragging dad and his foggy brain out of bed we went to breakfast and walked around a bit, then annie and dadda took a nap in the room while izzy and i walked down to see my aunt at larry north and read a few dozen books at barnes n noble. on our way back up we stopped in and took a swim with owen in the pool. it was a wonderful 18 hours away from home! (fandango did not agree...poor pup!)

babci (jeff's mom) is doing something different this year for the girls and their christmas gift.....she has prewrapped 24 individual gifts for everyday leading up the christmas morning. each one is labeled and ready to be opened on the appropriate day. i hope to find the time to share them all with you as i think this is an awesome way to kick up the excitement in a two year old who may or may not understand what is going on.

on the first day of christmas izzy and annie received new ornaments....beautiful butterflies to go with a new santa and sleigh for mommy and daddy. m-n-l gives us these polish ornaments every year corresponding with a big event we shared.

on the second day of christmas the girls received new scarf, mittens and hats....izzy loved hers so much she went to bed tonight with them on! annie just patiently, or rather as patient as she can be, waited through whole gift thing for her nite nite bottle and crib.

finally, the girls went over to momo's house today for almost 6 hours. my youngest sister is in town this week so the girls had some much needed aunt cari time too. i came home and worked for 4 hours straight...no interruptions or jumping jacks to keep my eyes open, plus i was able to shower too! they had so much fun playing in the leaves and making christmas cards i think the just might have to try it again next week. well, i have now sat here next to the tree in our quiet house and updated both my blog and facebook....nite nite!

all i want for christmas is....

so, jeff returned home Sunday night....it was very emotional for the girls having not seen their dad in over three weeks. for me, the lap top returned and thus hopefully my ability to release in the form of a blog. in the past few weeks, if by chance, being in the office i felt i could do a little writing for myself, all i could come up with was the negative (by 9pm all i felt was negative). without unleashing my poor poor me...my life can totally suck pity party, i will say it takes a lot to keep up with both girls now 11 months and 26 months plus answer the phone to which keeps the business going, oh, and all the work in the office. i really thought about running away and even began to doubt my parenting abilities.....however, my husband is home now and well, i should have a bit of a break for the next ten days until he leaves again.*
i started christmas shopping last week and in one morning completed about a 1/3 of my list. while izzy was in school annie and i made our way around the shopping center down the street from her school. i also purchased myself a christmas present (that leaves either two small ones for you husband or one big one). as for my christmas list this is what i want....1) world peace, 2) all neglected children tended too, and 3) a decision regarding the overgrown golf course behind our house. OK, for the real self deserving list...1) i really really want those new diamond earrings i have been asking for the past three years (yes, husband please ask your brother for guidance and inside knowledge to any "great" deals on a pair tiffany princess cut studs) 2) a would like to receive a day at the spa to be pampered while YOU keep up with both girls, not calling your mom over to lend a hand and finally 3) a date night for us, nothing fancy (no, i don't need dinner at my favorite restaurant lonesome dove)...just the two us...we could go to the movies and wonder around barnes and noble, just like the days before babies.
thanksgiving will be at our house this year. i had my mother talk to my aunt (only because she can talk in the evenings and well, i look at my phone ringing after 6pm and wish i had a voodoo doll to poke your eyes out with because that is my most crazy, at my wits end time of the day) and explain to her that while i could contain izzy in her house, annie is a different story. i would be "fighting" her all day and well, there would be no way to stay for game night. so, dinner is at our house this year and i am not in the least bit stressed. i plan to set the table tonight and bake anything i decide we can not live without, leaving only the turkey, smashed potatoes, dressing and brussel sprouts for tomorrow.
during my emotional i may not make it days while jeff was gone my wonderful bnl and snl had her baby and i would like to congratulate chris and krista on the birth of whitney josephine. we only wish yall were not in washington and are counting the days until we meet the newest longspaugh girl!
well, i better be off and oh, wash brussell sprouts or something.....happy thanksgiving to everyone and enjoy the time with your family and friends ( even if you need to start the day with a drink to do so...this is what i do when not preggos!) if you are crazy enough to shop on black friday..i wish you all the luck and patience in the world.

oh, if anyone is doing the turkey trot thanksgiving morning look for us...we will be the ones with the monster orange stroller, black lab and babci toting her king charles through the crowd of people. i may even make my husband a thermos of bloody mary!

*i should note that cade was extremely helpful the last week or so...picking up the living room every night, not complaining when i would beg for a five minute shower, and in general just being here to give me some support. however, i do think he was trying to make up for the phone call his math teacher made to me to let me know he eggs on the class clown and she was fed up.

trying to visualize world peace....

so, the election results are in....i woke up (yes, woke up, i believe i feel asleep somewhere around 9pm) around 10:30ish to see mccain conceding to the race...while i truly wanted to cry all i could do was hope all you obama supporters knew something i did not. don't get me wrong i can see the plus side of the changes he has promised us as a nation, but i also am nervous about some of the other changes.... (jeff is so going to wave his finger at me for actually writing this)
1) i fear for the changes to health care...now, before you go off and judge me, please listen...as you know we own and operate a small plumbing company and if you know anything about health insurance coverage for SBO it is almost non-existent unless you are ready to pay a high premium. for example, our first insurance company did not cover anything unless you were hospitalized which sounded ok because i was most nervous about the day jeff fell off a latter or did something that required a trip to the emergency room. at the time we were both relatively healthy and pretty young. with such insurance availability to sbos maternity coverage is not an option, so we have paid out of our pockets for both girls....ob and hospital; except with annie i forgot to prepay so the hospital filled out some forms and we were given some government assistance, so around 14K for both babies...anyhoo.. we are okay with this, it is part of the choices we made, yes, it would be great if insurance coverage was more affordable, but would i have been able to use my really really incredible ob who did everything in his power to save us from a c-section (which would have been covered) with izzy. (she was upside down, twisted and entirely too large for my body)??? would we have been able to choose this high-risk specialist when it took over two years to get pregnant with izzy after two very emotional miscarriages??? so, as you can see, i don't want to lose my options in health care...i would rather carry around my kate spade, bought in an estate sale bag for a few more years than have to use a doctor unable to access my maternity needs.
2) i also know this....i have worked three jobs at once to start this business with jeff who worked 75hour weeks, i worked 40+ hours while putting myself through college, i have a hard time with government handouts....now listen, i do believe everyone needs a hand from time to time and i am so glad those programs are there, but i have a hard time knowing medicaid is covering the medical cost of a meth addict's children for five years or that a boob job came from the earned income credit. AGAIN, this is not everyone, but these are just a few of the examples i personally know.
3) i worry about the affect this election will have on our sbo taxes....we have worked really hard to get where we are today and last year lost a few options in a sbo bill congress would not renew (whatever being the technical terms). our business has always grown in numbers each year, but with that come additional cost. it would be nice to know if we do more than break even we will not be pushed into a higher tax bracket.
3) i am on board with government help, but where is the line drawn in a government that is too big....i like small government, local government, local choices given to the people of this country. i don't want someone in washington making decisions for me...a small person in the outskirts of fort worth, texas (are you supposed to put the comma there in a sentence). i want to know the officials we elect locally still have a say in the big decisions because what is good in uptown new jersey may not fit us down here in north texas.

i need to stop...because well, some of you may never read my blog again...or i may end up with lots of nasty comments about what an uncaring person i am.....i really do care, i just like to know i must take responsibility for my choices and my choices whether good or bad will effect my life to teach me a lesson. you should learn from the wrong ones and gain knowledge from the good ones to encourage you to always grow as a person. these choices are how we teach our children to be responsible adults one day....ones to strive to work hard and push for the american dream. i did and it was through a lot of hard times.....ask me sometime about why i could not get govt help to fund my college tuition and i will be glad to share my story.

have a great day, i am off to explore new orleans some more and watch the minutes fly by because i return to reality tomorrow.......

**side note** i have found better insurance coverage and the cost is half of what it was but we still do not have any maternity coverage. affordable insurance is out there...you just have to look really hard for it. we pay under $250 a month for our family of four.....and the girls have great coverage.

OBAMA NATION....I AM TRUSTING YOU

in new orleans and loving it!

so, here i am sitting on a hotel bed fee up, tv on election results having just spent the day riding the street car and wondering around. now don't get me wrong i do miss the girls, but having never left them i totally forgot how wonderful it feels to be me and only me....i ate when i wanted, i pee-ed when i wanted, i did not stop for naps, i did not change diapers, i just have wondered around with my own thoughts not really talking to anyone. yeah, yeah, some people can not stand to be alone or not have someone to talk to all day, but me, well, i enjoy alone time, and actually just realized how much good it does for my soul.
anyhoo, things are really different here in new orleans. being a gal from the right side of the tracks i find myself turning my ring around backwards and clinching my purse. (oh, yeah, i said purse not diaper bag) the hotel jeff is contracted with is in uptown which is near the old money area. the houses are amazing....true southern monster mansion with beautiful wrap aound porches and large greenery. the mccain support signs are in abundance....which surprised me but did put a smile on my face. the mix of people is just that a real m&m bag of cultures....though it seems to weigh on the artsy side. the clothing the locales and they stand out is very urban or very retro. i actually saw a girl with acid washed jeans that were tight rolled!
as for transportation i used my two legs to wander around with and the street car. it runs directly out front of the lobby and goes both directions. i even jumped rails and switched to another trolley line to get to the art house movie theater (tried to watch rachel get married...was kinda relieved when i had to leave early to deal with an unexpected work issue). tomorrow i will wonder down to the french quarter and french market....i heard several people asking the trolley drivers if they were headed to the market which makes me think it is probably something i should check out. i popped into harrah's and spun a few slot machines waiting for my movie to start and enjoyed the freedom of being able to hop hop hop around without two kiddos and a monster suv or stroller.
oh, and most importantly i spent an hour in the hotel gym lifting weights, doing crunches and a bit of cardio.....wow, i should vaction more often.
i have only called to check on the girls once today...i have not wanted to bug my mother or upset izzy by hearing my voice. though my mother says she is doing well....no tears only a couple of "mommy" whimpers.
well, i am going to watch the election results come in and sit on the edge of my seat hoping for a small miracle. jeff should be up soon and maybe we will head out and find some good ole cajuin food!