Why My 1 1/2 Year Old DOESN'T Rock!

First check out why Chloe rocks and doesn't rock the house.

And why Ali has some major rockage going on. Now here is why Miss CrazyGirl doesn't exactly rock my world.

-She has slept through the night four times in 16 months.

-She is on a MAJOR food strike.

-She hates milk.

-She tosses food all over the place.

-She throws blue-in-the-face, kicking-and-screaming tantrums several times a day.

-She jumps up in the middle of diaper changes and takes off running.

-She bites. HARD.

-She says "Baby..NO NO!" while she is doing something naughty (throwing her pacifier in the trash, pulling all the wipes out of the container, dumping out a basket of toys, etc).

Yeah, I should probably stop now, this could go on for a while.

But she is cute!

Baby.

Nearly two years ago, The Hubs and I were talking about names. He's never been the type to devour name books, make lists, or agonize over decisions, so he is darn lucky he married someone who takes care of the obsessive side of name-choosing.

We came down to three names; Alexia, Olivia, and Allison. I wanted a child that we could call "Allie" so the first and third choices were mine. He was standing firm on wanting Olivia. I wouldn't say we fought about it, but there were a few slammed doors, screaming fits, and divorce threats......so nothing major really (I joke).

Finally on November 19th, 2006, we made our decision. I remember the day so clearly because we were at my nephew's 6th birthday party. We were sitting around with our extended family, enjoying cake (well I was 7 months pregnant so I was shoveling cake in my mouth without pause) and we announced "We've decided to name the baby Alivia. You know, like Olivia with an A?" Everyone kind of smiled halfheartedly and said "Oh that's great." Although my mother made a bit of a face and asked "Really, are you sure???" My dad, the horrible speller, thought that was how it was spelled anyway. Even though we had mixed reactions, I felt good about our decision.

The thing with her name is that most people pronounce Olivia like "Uh-liv-ee-uh" and not "OH-liv-ee-uh". That is exactly how we say our daughter's name, with a soft A, so most people don't even know her name is spelled differently.

So, after she was born I settled down in my hospital bed to finalize paperwork. I poised my pen over the official sheet of paper (with one hand grasping the open front of my hospital gown so my boob wouldn't flop out) I asked The Hubs "Are you sure?" Without hesitation he said "Do it."

So she became Alivia Mae. Her middle name is mine, and it is also my paternal grandmother's (more about that later). So as I wrote the name down carefully, I felt a bit of apprehension. I was worried about her first day in school as the teacher stumbles over her name or calls her "ALIVE ee uh" or "A ummm liv ummm err ah umm" or telling strangers her nickname is Ali (like Allie, not like Muhammed) which doesn't make sense if they think her name is Olivia. Sigh.

So after all of the agonizing, worry, stress and explanations, I feel like we chose the right name.

As for what we call her on a daily basis....that's a whole 'nother post!

Two All-Beef Patties, Special Sauce, Lettuce, Cheese, Pickles, Onion, on a Sesame Seed Bun!

I'm going raw and I'm going vegatarian!!!!

Well, kind of.

There is no way I could live the raw or vegan lifestyle all the time. I was a vegetarian for several years and really felt healthy and wonderful, and lost a lot of weight, but I won't kid myself, it would be nearly impossible now.

But I am making a committment to eat one raw meal a month, and one vegetarian dinner a week. That's 56 meals sans meat, and 12 meals sans heat!

We very rarely have meat for breakfast, maybe one or two Saturdays a month we will have bacon or sausage links. And we eat a lot of organic PB&J's on whole wheat for lunch, since that is the only thing Chloe will eat lately. Sigh.

But the real challenge is dinnertime. The Hubs is a meat eater, and I am sure he will be until he is in the nursing home, using his dentures to chew his steak. I am not a huge red meat fan, but I like me some chicken.

This week our vegatarian meal was corn on the cob, baked sweet potatoes and a big green salad. Both of my kids gobbled it up, and The Hubs made a good effort. Although I am relatively sure he picked up a Big Mac on the way to his night shift at work.

I don't think the once a week herbivore diet will be that hard. It's the raw meal that I am having a hard time with. I can't see myself wrapping up tofu in seaweed and serving it with a chunk of fresh coral reef or something. There has to be a collection of raw recipes out there that are actually doable, affordable, and tasty. Anyone have a great raw recipe or idea to share???

Reading

Finished Uncle Tom's Cabin on Friday. Loved every single page of it and cried. A lot.

Started The Glass Castle Sunday and finished it Monday. Seriously awesome, amazing book. Read it. Please?

I've got Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Unholy War:Terror in the Name of Islam next on my list. Anyone want to read a Mark Twain classic with me??

Day Two-Project GID!

Yesterday I purged and cleaned two more areas for Project GID. You can find day 1 here. The first project was our hall towel closet. For some reason this closet piles up SO fast. The Hubs is also into the fine art of collecting massive amounts of useless crap. He has a hodge podge of computer bits, random wires, tools, etc. But he never wants to sort through anything or HEAVEN FORBID, throw something away. This closet is one where his junk starts to collect.

The before picture with my collection of candles, all kind of lotion, mismatched towels, and The Hubs' crap stowed behind it all.

Still a lot going on, but a little more organized. I threw all of The Hubs' junk in the green and blue buckets and I am now going to dream about the day that he will sort them.

Here is the top of my microwave. I have tried a large number of techniques to manage the amount of paper crap that accumulates around here. In baskets, daily sorting, shredders blah blah blah. It all works for about a week, then I lose the steam and the paper builds up again.

In all of it's glory.

Sorted, filed, shredded....

Throughout this week I will be doing the girls' closet, computer desk, a few more kitchen cabinets, and laundry area. Do you have any areas that you just need to GIT R DONE????

Project GID

Project GID has now begun! GID, or rather Git Ir Done, is something I have been meaning to do for umm..ya know....about...umm....okay... carry the one, yeah 4 years. You see, The Hubs and I are both packrats (to the tenth degree). We have no concept of cleaning up after ourselves or putting things away. Every once in awhile I will go on a cleaning binge but I really am a terrible housekeeper. I am working on it though!!

I have a lot of areas in my home where things just pile up. Things that have no specific home get shoved into these little corners which start to take over the entire house. Flylady calls these things "hot spots". My specific hotspots are all over the house, and are in need of MAJOR decluttering and organizing. Since these things have been on my list so long I finally broke down and said "You know what? Just git r done!" So, here we go, here are my hot spots in all of their glory, followed by pictures of my new shiny drawers and cabinets (cold spots?). I would never share these pictures unless I had a nice clean shiny one to follow it with. :)

I have four drawers in my kitchen that hold utensils, spatulas, etc and they get SO cluttered. Both of my monkeys like to play in there, so they don't stay organized for long. But they are now!

Our bathroom cabinet. It was in bad need of a purge. In going through the vapo rub, old crusty toothpaste and dried out deodorant I discovered a few LONG past expiration dates. I guess this calls for a trip to Target to restock my cabinet. Dang. If I have to.

My shameful bathroom counter. Our bathroom is small, so it seems like the counter is cluttered when there are only two or three things out. When there are 73 things out, it looks terrible.

Gleaming.

Thanks for looking. This weekend I am also tackling my towel closet, laundry area, computer desk, and the girls' closet. Git R Done!

Why my 1 1/2 year old ROCKS!

First I told you about why my 3 year old ROCKS and DOESN'T ROCK, now let me tell you about why my one and a half year old (almost) rocks my world!

-She is ridiculously hilarious, she does the silliest things.

-She is so smart, she talks up a storm, including two word phrases.

-Her face lights up when I walk in the room.

-She goes to bed without a peep.

-She loves to kiss and hug little dollies.

-She eats pretty much everything you give her.

-She is super strong and resilient. She jumps up after taking huge falls.

-She loves to sit on my lap and sing songs or read books.

- She gives The. Best. Hugs.

-She loves to cuddle at night.

Yeah, she rocks!