Hodge-Podge

It's been awhile since I put any wise and thoughtful words out into the blog world. And it will be awhile longer. On my mind now are just random thoughts and stories

Microderm abrasion -
My mother in law bought me this cool little home microderm abrasion set. You pop this little spongy thingy on to little plastic thingamabob (looks like a electric razor without any razor) and dip the sponge in this gritty cream stuff (you would think I would know more about the things I'm putting on my face) push the on button and circulate it gently on your face. Good stuff. Last night I used it for the second time. It felt a little different than the time before. Not so soft - in fact it kind of hurt my forehead and afterwards my face was a little red. I tried to pop the sponge off to wash it and it wouldn't come off - I pulled and twisted and it wouldn't budge. Wanna know why? Because I hadn't bothered to attach the sponge at all - I just rubbed a gritty piece of plastic on my face - I can't wait to see how that helps diminish the appearance of fine lines and give my skin a radiant glow!

Doggie doo-doo-
Our dog Goldie runs away all the time. This is a newer development - she used to be very good with boundaries and we never needed a leash. Now she is always on a leash which has become quite a pain for us. It takes her so long to go to the bathroom and she never pees and poops in the same trip. Noooo....she milks as many trips out of it as she can. Today it was raining and Matt took her outside for the second time - about 10 minutes of running back and forth and sniffing and circling - nothing. She wanted to go back outside a few minutes after coming back in. We made her wait to make sure she really had to go. But again, nothing. Keep in mind it's cold and rainy and not fun for any of us to be outside with the dog. An hour and a half later I took the dog outside again. Goldie goes crazy - jumping around, whining, etc - when she needs to go out, so much so that you can't ignore it (plus she's been peeing in the basement, so we really don't ignore her). Yet it's been two hours and she still has not pooped! Again with the running back and forth and sniffing until finally.....success! As Goldie is squatting (sorry TMI) I look up and Matt, Ella and Catherine are all standing on the couch (not Matt, he can see out the window without standing) waving and cheering her on. Has any dog had such a celebrated poo?! I doubt it....

I can't believe I spent so much time writing about my dog.

My kids....
Everyone is healthy again except Catherine's nose is still runny so we follow her around with tissues. She still prefers crawling but stands on her own alot and talks lots of steps. I keep thinking that walking will make her less clingy so I keep praying she gets the hang of it soon. She is the biggest mama's girl ever. Even more so than Ella (perhaps my memory is a bit fuzzy though). Catherine would rather crawl on me, snuggle, give me kisses and be held than play with our toys. Cute, but it does get a bit old. In the last few weeks she started this growly like laugh that Matt and I love. Imagine a "hahaha" but with a growl to it. She has also become a very picky eater, and I don't know how to work with that at this age. I offer her all sorts of things and she isn't interested. Any ideas? We do lots of PB&J, macaroni and cheese, eggs, oatmeal, grilled cheese, any kind of fruit imagineable, avocado. That might be it. She's a jealous little girl - I think it goes along with the whole mama's girl thing. She gets upset when Matt hugs me or snuggles up to me, which he does often just to torment her. If Ella is in my lap (usually because she saw Catherine crawling over to me and ran over and beat her to it...sisterly love at 2 1/2 is something else) Catherine will crawl up onto my lap as well and then try to push Ella away. But she is doing so well when I have to leave her in nurseries for church and Bible study. Such a relief to know she's not screaming while I'm gone.

Ella. I could probably do a separate post on her. What's new with her? Her latest obsession is the movie Madagascar. We watch parts of it twice a day - it is the only thing she ever wants to watch. I really like the movie but I can barely stand to watch it anymore. She gets so excited about it - we have to skip over a few scary scenes - she always laughs when Alex the lion bites Marty the zebra on the butt. Great. The things she says are so funny - becoming very expressive - when I ask if she did something it's "yup, I sure did." Unfortunately that's not often the answer to "did you put your books away" but instead "Did you rub shampoo all over your clothes?". One of her favorite little things is the clean plate dance that Matt will do with her when she eats all her food. No one but Matt can do the clean plate dance. Great bonding time for daddy and daughter. Bedtime prayers are a trip. When I ask who she wants to pray for she thinks that she needs to say her name first. Sometimes she'll go through a list of people and then say "wait I forgot to say Ella first" and then start over. She always prays for Goldie and Pokey (my parent's dog). It goes like this - without fail- "...and Pokey and Goldie...they don't have hands...they have paws....so they can walk." I have no idea where that came from. But she says it every night- now without pausing - just a long run-on thought. Also she had an ear infection a few weeks ago and had to go on antibiotics - you know the bright pink kind! Most kids don't like medicine and parents have to fight to get them to take it. Not my Ella. She loves her pink medicine. She rubs her tummy in delight after she takes it and usually asks for it a couple of times a day. "No, Ella, you cannot have more medicine" Somehow I never anticipated saying that.

I could go on and on and I already have. So that's all for now.