Still Alive

Its been ages since I've updated my blog, so I suppose it might be nice if I notify the blogosphere every once in a while that I am still alive.

School has been crushing me since I took 10 credit hours last semester and I'm still working full-time. Oh, and I'm still the parent of a toddler, too.

Facebook also makes it incredibly easy to stay in touch with folks with simple one-line status updates, so I must admit that I've been feeling lazy lately.

Here are some recent pics of the kid which I offer in atonement for my bloggy absence.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Household Politics

A normal day in our house resembles an Ultimate Fight Club tournament. The conflicts begin innocently enough…I make a simple request of my toddler, he refuses and a battle ensues.

My husband is quick to blame our heritage. He is German and I am German and Irish. Obviously, Germans are notorious for their hot tempers and the Irish are considered to be a stubborn people. We try to do our part to perpetuate these stereotypes and my husband will be the first person to tell you that a stubborn woman with a hot temper is a load of fun to keep around. If that’s not enough fun for you, try hanging out with a toddler that has this personality.

Hubby had a moment of enlightenment today after I spent over an hour trying to put the toddler down for his nap unsuccessfully. It’s the Irish in us that causes these conflicts.

I’m the Catholic Irish of the household. Although I’d rather not fight, I’m fighting for what I think is right. I’m also just stubborn enough that I’ll fight as long as it takes to get my way.

That means that David is the militant IRA Protestant Irish of the house. He loves to fight and he’ll fight to the death to win. So what if he has to blow himself up along the way?

I think the solution to this constant conflict is to just follow in the footsteps of Ireland. When they find peace, we’ll just do whatever they did.

Either that, or the boy will grow up and go to college.

Duh!

The other day, David asked me

“Momma, how many bingers you got?”

I showed him my hand and told him, “I have 5 fingers. How many fingers do you have?

After pondering this question and studying his hand deliberately, he exclaimed

“All of them!”

Duh, Mommy.

Power Struggle

I know I’m a hypocrite because I abandon my blog for months at a time, then I suddenly reappear asking you for advice like I don’t realize that no one is reading this blog anymore because they got tired of patiently waiting for me to post something.

I’m going to throw this out into the blog-o-sphere anyway because it is driving me crazy.

It has recently come to my attention that my son is an evil dictator. He thinks he is the master of the house and I don’t think that is very cool.

For instance, I was eating dinner last night and he told me to get out of my chair. For those of you that have never been to my house, my kitchen table has seating for six people and I was sitting in one chair. The evil dictator wanted me to abandon my dinner and relinquish my chair to him just because. I ignored him and let him scream.

He seems to have this idea that Mommy is his meat puppet or his third arm.

I was appalled to realize that my kid is uber-spoiled, but I was even more appalled to learn that evidently every friend, family member, and church acquaintance that we have has mentioned to my husband that our kid manipulates Mom. I’m not really feeling warm and fuzzy about this situation at all.

I’ve started laying the smackdown, but I’m worried that my neighbors might start calling the cops because my kid has a nuclear meltdown every time I defy him.

Any tips for making the transition of power a little less painful for the folks within a one mile radius of our house?

Hibernation

I feel like I have been in hibernation as far as blogging is concerned, but I have my reasons. Mostly, I've been afraid to write anything here because my stomach has been in knots with anticipation and anxiety.

My 14 year old bonus daughter, Skywalker, is very, very close to David. He absolutely adores her and I am thrilled that they have a valuable sibling relationship with each other. Since she moved farther away from us two years ago, the kids have really been struggling with visitation. They both cry when it is time for her to leave and they miss each other terribly.

Skywalker is also very close to her dad. They have always shared a bond and she especially loves just being in the same room with him. I don't blame her, I love to hang out with him, too!

As if this isn't cool enough, we have also grown very close over the years. I've been in her life since she was 4 years old, which is practically as far back as she can remember. I'm also closer in age to her than her parents, so I am cool by default.

Since she loves us so much, she has been asking to live with us since she was 7 years old. The constant seperation has been painful for our family, but we've tried to make the best of the time that we do have together.

Due to an unexpected turn of events, my husband recently filed for custody of her. I have been holding my breath as I anticipate an ugly court battle, but it appears that she will be coming to live with us after all!!! Her parents are negotiating the details and we should know for sure by early next week.

HURRAY!!!!

God is good.

Swimsuit Update

In all seriousness, I need a new swimsuit for the summer season.

In the past, I’ve been a big fan of the skirted tankini because I had a lot to hide. Now that I’ve lost some weight, I thought I might try on a one piece. I found an old suit of mine that has been in storage for years and it fit! I got brave and threw it in my pool bag last night when we went to the YMCA for family swim.

Hubby’s first comment when he saw me come out of the locker room was, “Why did you decide to wear that?”

My response was, “I DON’T KNOW??!!!???”

I panicked thinking that I looked like a fat blob, but he later commented, “You look really good in that suit.”

I was a little more confident after that compliment, but that moment of euphoria was shattered when I had a Janet-Jackson-Superbowl-Wardrobe-Malfunction in the pool. Now I remember with shocking clarity why this particular swimsuit was in storage.

The search is on for the perfect swimsuit and I’ll definitely be trying on some suits to get an idea of my size and the perfect style for me. Then, I’ll probably be checking out this incredibly awesome website that I found. The prices are fantastic, there are coupon codes available, and best of all, the swimsuit models on this website look like REAL WOMEN.

I love it!!

Swimsuit Season

I just finalized our flight arrangements for our trip to Florida in June. We’re just visiting my Dad, but he has an in-ground pool and lives ten minutes away from the beach, so I’ll be spending more than my fair share of time in a swimsuit while we are there.

The good news is that I’ve lost a total of 31 pounds since this time last year. The bad news is that I have another 15 pounds to lose before I’ll be entirely confident being seen in a swimsuit.

Since my swimsuit from last season is obviously too big, I have to buy a new one. I’ve been researching the best swimsuit style for my body type and I’ve decide that this is the one: