Smiling Through the Rain

It just isn't the holidays if my idiotic bio-dad doesn't show up with his trashy wife and wreak havoc at my Grandma's house... I've described him as the " black sheep " of the family on this blog before and I can't reiterate enough how I think this term was actually invented specifically for him.  He seems to have made it his life's goal to prove that he is the black sheep every chance he gets. Thanksgiving morning we always go out to my Grandma's house, including my mom even though she and my dad have been divorced 30 years.  She is definitely more welcome than he is.  This was the 1st year without my Grandpa so that was tough, and everyone was on their best behavior.  It's a huge family with tons of cousins and lots of great-grandkids.  It's always been my favorite place to celebrate the holidays.  Of course, we have little family fights.  One year, it was over the gravy.  Another it was about gloves. But then Black Sheep and Mother...

Normally, I'm what people would refer to as a Scrooge.  The holidays have, for the most part, really gotten on my nerves and even caused anxiety attacks.  The biggest culprits being Christmas and Thanksgiving. Because with all that said, I L-O-V-E Halloween.  And I can tell you what the big difference is.  Christmas and Thanksgiving are very traditional, rigid holidays with a lot of strings attached.  Compared to Halloween, which is just fun and easy-going.  I usually vomit when I hear carols playing in stores starting in September, and cringe when I hear a countdown to Christmas.  Turkey and its fixings are just okay in my book (I'd pick mexican food anyday) since they're kinda bland.  The weather is turning cold and crappy.  And I get a little weird about opening gifts in front of others.  Oh, and I hate shopping for gifts to give unless I know exactly what they want.  The only good thing about this time of year was Ch...

After numerous facebook messages, texts, and comments left by my very sweet and loyal followers, I've decided that this blog must go on.  You all reminded me that even if people don't comment very often, it doesn't mean that they no longer read my updates.  Apparently some people like to follow my boring, pretty predictable life.  And let's face it, I really do love writing.   Even if no one reads it. So, it's going to just have to fit in the schedule.  No more half-assing it.  I need to be better about commenting on others' posts and updating more frequently.   Because this blog truly has been my lifeline during the hardest times of my life and you are amazing friends who deserve better.  Who knows what life may hand me next.  I may just need you all again.  Since I'm back from retirement already (sure was a lovely break), I had a comment about baby #2.  Good question .  How about you all...

This blog has been my source of comfort, friendship and support for almost 3 years now.  I started it during my painful infertility battle just on the verge of undergoing my ovarian drilling which ended up being a success.  I've celebrated with you all, cried with you all, and prayed for my readers who were going through similar heartbreak.   I've even looked forward to returning from vacations so that I could check my blogger again for updates on my friends who were expecting good news soon.  This blog has been everything to me.  It's amazing how many women I've connected to that I would never have met otherwise.  No one can help you through a tough time like someone who has been there or who is currently there too.  I swear my miscarriage would have killed me if I hadn't had such compassionate readers offering amazing words of strength and hope.  And I'm so grateful that I've had that kind of support. But most of my long-time blog...

Paisley had lots of pictures taken of her on the cruise and actually enjoyed it!  She didn't burst into tears once, and doesn't appear to be suffering from PTSD now.  :)   Of course, she didn't stay still for any of the pictures, but the photographers did a great job of capturing action shots! This was a bridge on the main floor of the cruise ship that Paisley loved to run across! As you can see from her less-than-thrilled expression, she'd rather be running loose than have me hold her. This was a crowd favorite.  Tons of other passengers stopped to watch this shoot, because she was being adorable! We didn't pose any of these shots, she just played and they took pictures.  Worked so much better. Running like crazy across her favorite bridge She adored the DreamWorks characters.  The other kids were all terrified, so she got to spend a lot of time hugging on them. They just heaped all the props up together and she l...

Paisley has now been on 10 flights and we have only had one near meltdown which I described several posts ago.  And I was kinda on the verge of having my own at that point, so I understand where she was coming from.  Lots of you have asked me to share how I keep her happy and what I take with us to make flying a pleasant experience.   I'm certainly no expert and mostly I just wing it when it comes to parenting.   But this girl LOVES to travel and I was determined to not let a baby slow us down.  As far as what I take with us on the plane...  I just carry-on a little rolling suitcase that can slide easily under the seat in front of us.  I don't want to stow it overhead because crap up there is essentially useless during the flight!  We also travel with a very lightweight (8 pound) stroller which we check in at the gate.  In her bag, I keep our travel documents in the front pocket away from everything else and easily acces...

Sure, I could post about more important things.  But it's late.  I'm exhausted from this stupid time change.  So I want to talk about diapers.  Or I should say the lack thereof. Packing for myself and a one-year-old in a single suitcase is difficult.  Kinda like working a rubik's cube. I have to plan very precisely for exactly what we'll need for an entire week for both of us.  And diapers take up a bunch of room in that tiny space.  So I must have done the math a bit wrong when deciding how many diapers we'd need for 7 nights, because I decided that 34 would be plenty .  In my defense, I also packed about 10 swim diapers since we'd obviously be spending a lot of time in the water.  What I didn't account for was that due to all the amazing cruise food, including a ton of delicious fruit, my child pooped about 3 times a day.  And peed WAY more than usual, resulting in a diaper change at least every 2-3 hours.   Now, no...

We are home from our cruise and we had a wonderful time!  I have SOOO much to catch up on, so I'm planning on posting a blog a day for a while.  We'll see if my motivation can hold up with this stupid daylight- savings-time-nonsense that is making me comatose by 7 pm... Relaxing on a hammock in Haiti Paisley was remarkably good.  The flights all went well again with the exception of one "incident".  It was our last flight coming home and we'd been traveling all day.  The plane was hot, Paisley was tired and I had to sit by a stranger in a very tiny seat meant for a dwarf.   The crisis began when we had delays due to the airline "overbooking" the flight.   How this is possible I still don't get.  But they kept asking for volunteers to take a later flight and we kept waiting to leave.  So, Paisley had a meltdown. My worst nightmare. Luckily, it only lasted about 2 minutes.   Sadly, it felt like 4 hours.  An...