Things That Make My Life Interesting Lately. . .

The life of a stay-at-home mom can get a little repetitive, boring, mind-numbing, you get the picture. . . so thank goodness for all of the followings things that are keeping my life interesting right now, for good and for bad:

Thing 1- Kirsten has already started shrieking, "Baby Natalie touched my clothes!" whenever Natalie's little feet or hands get anywhere near her. I can't believe it! Already she's started with the "she touched me, she's looking at me"s??? Impossible!
Well, she better get used to it now. In a few months Natalie will be crawling and then she'll REALLY be all over Kirsten and her stuff.

Thing 2- I realized, after about a month of trying, that being a work-from-home travel agent is a complete waste of time and money. The company really did sound great at first. . . they send you leads, you decide your own hours and work as much or as little as you want, and you make some extra money. What I didn't notice was the fine print that said they charged you a $49 monthly "affiliation fee" if you didn't book at least $1,000 just in commissions per month! How could anyone possibly sell that much from home? Long story (kind of) short. . . I'm no longer a work-from-home travel agent. And I'm trying not to feel too bad about the wasted time and money.

Thing 3- The rain has returned to Seattle! All week it's been really coming down hard, making it very tempting to just stay home and be cozy and warm. Yet I still took all of us to the Seattle Aquarium on Wednesday, and (much to Kirsten's delight!) to Chuck E. Cheese today. I hope she appreciates the things Mommy does for the sake of her entertainment!

Thing 4- Grocery shopping with two little kids is about 50 times harder than it is with one little kid. I usually grocery shop alone in the evenings or on the weekends. But our nice, new, massive Fred Meyer store has a pretty awesome contraption. . . race car shopping carts! Huge and hard to steer they may be, but Kirsten can sit right by me and drive the car, while I squeeze groceries and Natalie's car seat into the basket. This works best if you only need a few groceries, as you can see from all the grocery bags surrounding Natalie. (I know, you can't even see Natalie!)

Thing 5- It was Seattle Free Theater week, and I snagged free tickets for Stephen and I to go see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. It was such a fun and entertaining show! The best part was that Joseph was played by Anthony Federov, who placed fourth in American Idol season 4. I voted for him that year, and I still love his voice! He sang "Close Every Door To Me" every bit as good as Donny Osmond did, or better!

Thing 6- I heard Kirsten tell the babysitter, very clearly, "Go away!" Seriously rude!!! Where did she learn to say that???
On a much cuter note, yesterday she told Mr. Potato Head to "Go to sleep" and she laid him down on the floor. And when we ask her what a fish does, she says "Squim, squim."

Thing 7- Natalie is rolling over now, both ways! She loves to roll all around the floor, and it's fun to watch her and see where she ends up. Sometimes she still thinks she's stuck, and needs our help to flip back over onto her back. And today I was in the other room and heard her start screaming. When I ran to her, I found that she had rolled around and her head was somehow balanced on top of the metal leg of the bouncy seat. Pretty amazing!

Thing 8- Natalie is still an incredibly unpredictable sleeper. Sometimes she goes down at 9 and wakes up an hour later. Other times she wakes up at 2 or 3 am. Then last night she was up at 5 am and just didn't want to go back to sleep until about 7:30. Apparently I was incredibly tired, because when Stephen tried to wake me up and tell me to go get Natalie, he says I started saying stuff about pumpkin boards (?) and making lunch and nothing was making sense. I vaguely remember it.

Thing 9- I tried again this week to get cute two-year portraits taken of Kirsten. It's pretty difficult to do, and last time was a disaster. We drove down to Seattle (again, in the rain) for free photo shoots at a fun toy store. She wouldn't warm up to the photographers until they got out a bunch of balls and marbles for her to play with, and then she started smiling a whole bunch and throwing the balls to them. I haven't seen the photos yet, but I'm hoping for some really cute ones! The girls had such adorable matching dresses on, but do you think Kirsten let Natalie be in any photos with her? I think you're all guessing NO, and you're right.

Thing 10- I was the pool champion on our double date with our friends last night! It made me feel special.

Thing 11- I love Glee! And Project Runway. . . Survivor. . . The Office. . . Amazing Race. . . Top Chef. . . So You Think You Can Dance. . . Dancing With the Stars (kinda). . . Flipping Out. . .
And yes, I do still have a life. And a very full DVR.

Thing 12- I have recurring dreams about going to Disneyland, only the Disneyland in my dreams is a VERY strange place and nothing like the real park! The whole place looks different and the rides are bizarre, like the Pirates of the Caribbean ride where you're actually in the water, in an inner tube, going down big dark tunnels and huge waterfalls. I hadn't had one of those dreams in awhile, but then I did a few nights ago and was reminded again of how crazy they are.

Thing 13- Kirsten was singing along to "Don't Worry, Be Happy" in the car today. She loves that song! I would sing "Don't Worry" and then she'd sing "Be Happy!" And you know what?
It made me happy! :)