It's a...

GIRL!!!

Random tidbits...

• I finally finished cleaning the stupid freezer. Tons of stuff in there melted into this really nasty inch of gunk on the bottom of it. Then when the power came back on, it re-froze. So the main drawer to the freezer had been sitting outside for a while so I could hose it down. I finally got the hose, some soap, and a cloth, and cleaned it all out. Gross! Now we can finally stock back up on allllllll that stuff we lost.
  

• Tomorrow I have my big ultrasound! At my last appointment the hearbeat was about 155 bpm, which is the first time anyone has actually told me what it was. Lol. I can't wait to find out what and how this baby is! Dan is planning on meeting Marissa and I at the appointment. I am actually kinda nervous about it, because I'm such a crazy internet freak. I have recently found TONS of stories about pregnant moms, finding out their babies had Trisomy 13 or 18, both of which are incompatible with life. I keep telling myself that both of those diagnoses are extremely rare, but I'm just so good at worrying...

How 'bout some funny stories:

1. Lately, anytime I call Marissa something besides her name, "Cutie" "Babe" "Sweetheart" "Precious" etc., she replies with "Don't call me tootie (cutie)" or "Don't call me Babe. Call me Frissa!" It's hysterical, so we've been calling her odd things lately, just to hear her reply that way. And I still love how she says her own name "Frissa"! H at work says her name "Anissa" and they have arguments during lunch of "I'm Frissa!" "No, you're Anissa!" "No, I'm Frissa!" "No, you're Anissa" - I love this age!
   (Except when the argument is over whether a matchbox car is a car or an apple. I seriously had that argument with H this morning. He insisted, to the point of getting angry, that it was NOT a car, it was an apple! Ack! (And yes, I was immature enough to continue arguing with him. What can I say, it was entertaining - lol!))
2. While our power was out, Marissa didn't have her usual nightlight, and it was very traumatic for her. All her wonderful sleep routines are totally messed up. Anyways, she was in her bed one day (I think it was naptime - irrelevant) and was calling "Mommy, come get me!" over and over. After a while of that, when I didn't respond (I don't think she had even slept yet), she switched it to "Stacy [last name] come get me!" over and over. Lol. After watching a tv show based on a true story about a kidnapping of a baby, I had freaked out and taught her my full name. She learned it quite quickly, and decided to use it! I thought it was hysterical. But I've explained to her that she can only use it if I'm missing. Too funny! She also learned Daddy's "other name" isn't "Hun" (which is what I call him most of the time!) though she insists it is. And I've tried to get her to say her full name, but by then in a lesson of all names, she's too goofy and calling everyone the wrong name on purpose, then laughing at herself!
   
3. One night, while the power was out, Dan had plans to see a soccer game with a friend, so Marissa and I had a date at McDonald's. Yum. Lol. Anyways, we were sharing nuggets (EWWW) and fries, and we both like ketchup. A lot (that's an understatement, if you know me at all!). She was making sure I was eating too, and I quote "You want a fry to eat your ketchup with?" as if ketchup was the main menu item! Cracked me up!

That's all for now. I'll be sure to update after my ultrasound tomorrow!

...POWER!!!!

I'll be back on here soon, don't worry. After 8 full days of no power and no hot water, I've got laundry, dishes, cleaning, HOT showering, tv-watching, fridge-cleaning, food-buying, and cooking to do now!

Dying

SO because of some not-so-wimpy windstorms (no rain, no lightning, nothing else, just wind) LAST Sunday evening, we have been WITHOUT power since SUNDAY! No tv, no computer, no lights, no fridge/freezer, NO HOT WATER. Marissa's wonderful miraculous sleeping habits are down the drain. She's scared to death of the dark, and has barely even slept through the night all week. We can't do the few dishes we had left Sunday night since NO HOT WATER = NO SUDSY WATER to get rid of greasy dishes. We can't take nice long hot showers. I've spastically washed my hair a few times, but it's soooo freezing. We lost all the food in our fridge and freezer. We've been eating out every meal, once our bread was gone and we got sick of PB&J's. I also came down with the "cold of death" Thursday, and still worked as a nanny all week since Tuesday. They don't have power at their house either though. My cell phone won't hold a charge long enough. It keeps turning itself off even when it IS charged. Every time I order some food for take-out lunch, they forget to give me something precious. Thursday it was celery that I was craving so badly since we didn't have any fresh food in the house. Friday it was a wonderful chocolate cookie from Subway. Both of which I paid for, and did NOT receive. The cookie Friday was the breaking point. Lol. I basically had a meltdown to Dan over the phone because I did not receive my cookie. But it was really just the last straw in a really long week.

I called the power company Friday, and they said hopefully the latest we'd get power back would be Sunday evening. I heard rumors that it wasn't going to be until NEXT Friday, so I had to call and make sure I wasn't going to go insane. But today after church, Dan got a recording/call from the power company saying "call back if you still don't have power" - so who knows what that means. So he's currenly on hold with them to see what the heck is going on. This makes a full week of no power. I never thought I would survive, and obviously I'm going crazy. I'm at Dan's work to get in some computer time.

Well, sorry for the rambling. I will be back with a full post ASAP!

Love

I love Marissa. I love this age. I love staying home with her. I love watching her play. I love it when she asks me to play something with her. I love listening to her sing. I love listening to her playing "mommy" with her two babies. I love her running commentary on every noise, every movement, every object she sees. I even love her never-ending stream of "Why, Mommy? What did you do, Mommy? Why? What did you do? Why? What did you do?" I love the full conversations we can finally have, even when they don't really make sense. I love her memory of every little thing we do on a daily basis. I love her excitement when Daddy comes home from work. I love her excitement when she hasn't seen me for a bit and we are reunited. I love to watch her excitement when she discovers something. I love her look of pride when she accomplishes something "all by mySELF!"

Even when the day seems to drag slowly by, I love spending it with her. This week off from work has been wonderful for both of us. Her new favorite game says it all: I sit on the floor with my arms outstretched. She stands across the room with her arms outstretched. Then she runs as fast as she can, collides into my arms, and I kiss her cheeks over and over til she wipes it off. "More favorite game, Mommy?"

More potty mouth - lol

I've been feeling this baby move since last week! Last night I felt a really big kick or something while I was laying in bed. I LOVE feeling a baby move inside me!

About potty training...We gave up. I'm disappointed and kinda frustrated that I gave up so easily and early. Before we tried, I felt guilty because I felt like she was ready to try. But after trying, I could just tell she didn't really get it, and we were all (her included) just getting frustrated with her not getting it. She always knew to go potty, but not until just AFTER she went in her undies. Next time, I will just have to be more patient, and see if it rubs off on her, because I have a feeling my frustration was rubbing off on her, even though I tried my hardest to not let it show. This is just going to be a struggle, especially with all my germ-a-phobia-ness.

I'm also kinda frustrated because this week that I have off work is really the only time I'm going to have off work that's not a holiday. But if she's not ready, she's not ready. Plus, it's still very early. It just kinda hit me last night all of a sudden, that sooner or later she has to do this, WE have to do this, and the closer we get to her 3rd birthday, the closer we get to the "new baby upheaval" when they really don't recommend you potty train around then. So really, ideally, we should plan to have her trained by Christmas or so. That's very stressful for me, mainly because of my job. The little boy will be 3 in November, and is starting preschool three days a week (Yay!), so they're going to be pushing for him to be trained soon too. And I don't even know how to train ONE kid, let alone TWO. Plus, it will be at their house (Yay for messes on their hard wood floors instead of our carpet floors - the only positive point for training the kids at work - lol), where I have to chase after the younger sister (she's 1, and almost walking). It doesn't seem fair that I will have to do the majority of the training of the boy, even though I know daycares have to deal with training a lot too.

But at least now I get to enjoy my week off with my wonderful daughter, instead of stressing about going potty. Yesterday I had a friend come over with her daughter who is Marissa's age. It took them a little while before they were comfortable with each other, but once they got used to it, they played together SO WELL for SO LONG! They just babbled back and forth, playing in the play-kitchen. They set up a picnic on the floor, they put baby bibs on each other...it was soooo cute!

Guess that's all. Time for more toddler fun!

Potty mouth

Since today marks the beginning of 10 days of vacation from my nanny job, I decided to see if Marissa was ready for potty training. I didn't want to have to worry about the kids I watch, and I didn't want to have to train Marissa AND the little boy at the same time, since I have no clue what I'm doing. So this is really the ideal time. She used to seem so ready, way back in July (when I was miserably "morning sick"), so I figured she'd be even more ready now.

But...

today she seems clueless. We slept til 9am (which was a miracle, since I went to bed at 9:45 with a migraine last night), and she's been in undies since then. Dora undies even. But she already soaked one pair, pooped in another pair, and has only dribbled one time in the potty (which she promptly received an M&M for). I've had her sit down and try about every 10-15 minutes, but she hasn't gone at all. Shouldn't she have to pee more than once in the morning? Lol. I keep trying to get her to drink more juice, but everyone knows you can't really force a 2-year old to do much of anything

So...help? Tips? Advice? What to do differently? What NOT to do? Anybody? If she doesn't start to really get it over the weekend, we'll wait and try again later. But I just want to get this over with!