Wishing everyone a happy, healthy New Year's Eve and may there be good times ahead in 2009.

I'd like to have somthing funny or clever to say, but honestly I "Wimped From Home" today since snow was forecast and it seemed to make the most sense to stay off the roads. I'm not sure how much more productive I was...I made a small dent in the problem I'm currently working on, but while I was copying files around I watched our video from Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. I had to laugh out loud a couple of times hearing Emily belting out Jingle Bells back to back, over and over and over... Emily unwrapping Ella Maddie's present (a soft baby toy) and dropping it on her head, like "Here you go." But when the camera found her face, little Maddie was all smiles. And in nearly every shot, Emily's butt cheeks were peeking out of her pants.

The past twelve months have been a blur, let's see if I can remember anything...

January: It didn't take me long the second time around to realize I was expecting baby number two.
April/May: There was some early worry about a cord defect that luckily for us, didn't evolve into any other complications.
June: A busy, happy month for traveling. Trips to the beach house in Hyannis, up to Maine for Heather & Ben's fabulous wedding and a chance to see the rents.
July: A short trip up to New Hampshire and Emily's first visit to Storyland.
September: Baby number two was a no show, so she was induced and born on the 18th...after a relatively quick and "easy" delivery.
October/November: Baby days...
December: Back to work, holidays, the ER, stomach bug, and here were are at the last day of the year.

I'm sure I've neglected to mention a few other key events, but the baby is calling. So off I go.

Happy New Year to each of you.

The girls should be home any minute, but in a whirlwind our holiday was frustrating, cozy, magical, delicious, irritating, exhausting, and over. The low lights included a trip to the ER Christmas night and yours truly got the stomach bug at 2 am Sunday morning. But the highlights were hot tea, grandparents to read bedtime stories, chicken soup, staring at the Christmas tree, watching Emily play with her kitchen serving us all cake until Swiper took it away, noticing Maddie roll over, and having time to fall asleep watching Horton Hears a Who.

Emily's seeing The Wizard of Oz for the first time...I found that movie a little scary when I was a kid. It still creeps me out.

And it snowed, and snowed and snowed some more. It's been snowing all day and Emily's been drivng me halfway to crazy. It's fast-approaching 5:00 pm and I don't know what the plan is for tomorrow...work from home? Will daycare be open? Do I need to make lunches tonight for tomorrow? Sigh. I guess I'll feed the baby, make something for dinner and mull over this the rest of the night. It feels like I feed the baby a dozen times a day, and when I'm not feeding her I'm changing diapers. Oh wait, that's because I am. I just put timers on the Christmas lights five days before Christmas. And I can't wait to put everything away, our poor tree is all but dried out because we didn't lop off the bottom so it's not taking up much water. It's not dropping needles but the branches are just dry and droopy. Just another week and I'll put it out of it's misery. Poor tree.

Waiting until Christmas to open it but that's the first time we've seen Emily's own signature. I'm sure she's been practicing lots at preschool since they've started a new handwriting program. Let's see, since I went back to work last Thursday there was an ice storm that affected lots of co-workers and friends, the baby refused to eat anything at daycare for the first four days, and news of a snow storm justified working from home yesterday. The baby finally took bottles from daycare on Wednesday, so she's settling in. The snow that came wasn't the biggest storm we've seen but it was nice to not waste half the day commuting. I sent the girls to daycare for the morning and picked them up around 2 pm, so I was able to get a few work-related tasks done and laundry. Bonus! Today is a relaxed, housebound day. There's a crock pot of beef stew simmering away and I just ate an entire frozen Kashi pizza after eating half of Emily's lunch. I feel like I should get her out to play in the snow, but I think it's still pretty cold outside and I'm not motivated enough to go freeze my ass off so she can play. She got a bubble bath instead. Oh, the baby laughed at me (consistently, not just a random shriek or giggle) on Monday night. It was pretty fun. And I'm no stranger to "blow outs" but Ella somehow managed to get a big blowout that soaked the front of her onesie, leaving her backside untouched. I can't figure out how that happened! Emily has taken to pushing the kitchen chair around to the cupboards so that she can climb up and pretty much reach anything she wants on the countertops, not even the top of the microwave is safe, where she swiped a banana or two or more? (I'm pretty sure she just had one.)

Farewell....I hope the new blog doesn't fall by the wayside, but it's likely to be neglected from the mad scramble of the work routine. Tomorrow I have to report back to the office, Ella Maddie starts daycare, and I don't feel the slightest bit prepared. Time, money, and motivation. No matter how much I have, it's never enough. Emily's gingerbreadman ornament that she made this week. She was all excited to hang it on the tree when she got home on Monday. It's one of the few ornaments that's stayed on the tree - Emily keeps taking off the ornaments, removing the hooks, and then saying that they need hooks. It was fun to decorate the tree last weekend, but I don't want to do it every day until Christmas. Anyway, I can't spend my last afternoon in front of the computer. I'll be doing enough of that at work.

A few moments before I start a mad dash to clean the house before the in-laws arrive today. It's tree decorating day! Yesterday, we picked up Emily early from preschool and went to pick out a tree. We spotted one almost immediately, but let her run up and down the rows before "picking out" the tree. She actually ran inbetween the rows and I was holding my breath, half-expecting her to trip over a metal stand/bar and knock her teeth out two weeks before Christmas. But, that didn't happen. Then, when we got home she ran around in dried leaves practically up to her waist since we never got the yard cleaned up. And the tree made it inside without any trouble. Emily doesn't seem very impressed yet, maybe some lights and decorations will help. I'm impressed we found somewhere to put a tree at all.

The office project lost momentum for a while, but I finally nagged some more and my wall shelf has been transformed from a huge box in the hallway to it's new home in my office! It's not attached to the wall yet, but we're so close. I also envision mossy-green painted walls with fresh white trim and hardwood floors, too, but that's a laugh and a dream away. I'm so excited to see the old folding table go out the door that I could sit here and marvel at all the open floor space for hours. Of course, there's still a fair amount of crap that needs to be organized but Saturday, I'll have my father-in-law assist the dear mister with securing this sucker to the wall and then it's all mine!

Today was picture day at Emily's preschool. She just wore typical playclothes, in fact she doesn't have any dressy clothes, and I'm skipping the holiday dresses for the girls this year. I bet Emily wore her (adorably cute) Hanna Andersson dresses from the past two years for less than a day. I'm sure I'll make up for it next year. Anyway, today the baby was a champ and we went out shopping for over three hours. It would have only been two, but I spent an hour and a half trying to choose between the regular Chutes and Ladder's game or the Dora edition. Oh my god, what has happened to my brain?? I'm afraid work won't take me back in this condition.

I have to remember that the Rudolph special is on tonight. And tomorrow, barring any rain, we're getting a Christmas tree.

It is done.

Please whack me over the head and remind me that this is fun. Holidays, that is. Whack me again and tell me to quit whining. I just really, really, really hope the "compact" kitchen set isn't too small for Emily.

Ok then. Time to string up some lights on the porch since it's quite mild out and the baby's still sleeping. Then I'd better remember to eat something...leftover pizza?

Thankful for preschool today!! And although I felt motivated out of the gate, I fell into decision making stalemate and wasted no fewer than four hours on the computer, mulling over holiday gift ideas for our three-year-old. Thing is, I already know I'm getting her a kitchen set and not much else. I even narrowed it down to a few models. Just. Can't. Decide. Worried that the one "with more stuff" will be too small and it's non-returnable, but it costs less than the other set, so I should probably just hit submit and forget about it. Next year it'll be something else. The toy storage crates arrived today, and although I was initially inclined to delegate assembly to the mister, I put them together myself since I wanted it done today, not six months and a year from now. I like the crates. One's filled with stuffed animals and the other's filled with random larger toys. But, not surprisingly, the morphing living-room-into-play-room is still lacking some storage and organization. I think I want some bins or a bookshelf, but (yes, again), I can't quite visualize the space. Maybe it's because there's a clash of "wannabe living room but playroom is winning" going on in there. Come to think of it, there's some of that in every room of our house. So there was no shopping for Emily's winter boots, or cooking or cleaning, but there was a bowl of stuffing and gravy for lunch, toy box assembly, laundry (there's a shocker), at least an hour spent staring at toys and wondering what to do with it all, and some baby goofballing time in there, too. And because I fell short of cooking anything today, we're having pizza. That's just what I need after that stuffing and gravy.

I'm a grouchy girl today...I'm sad that my maternity leave is quickly coming to an end. I hate Emily's haircut that she got three days before pictures and the holiday season. The last bad cut just grew out and all I wanted was the bangs trimmed so the length could grow out. It's not cut evenly in the back and the sides are whacked. I was planning to get our first family pictures done and now I'm considering waiting until that cut has grown out. A little nutty? Oh yeah. I'm bitter. So much for that happy thankful holiday feeling, sorry for whining.

I hooked a wine charm on Emily's cup at dinner, then she thought that I forgot to give everyone straws. So she ran out to the kitchen and came back with straws for all of us. If you're wondering, wine just isn't the same with a straw.

Wow. How is it Friday already? I guess I'm overstuffed and too lazy to post. I'm sitting here debating whether or not I can justify having bread pudding for breakfast (again). That would make it two days in a row since I had bread pudding for breakfast yesterday. Um, maybe I should just stop with coffee and biscotti today. Anyway, we had Thanksgiving on Wednesday with a couple of friends because that day just worked better with their work schedules. But there was little to no planning and nothing got started in the kitchen including a 9.5 pound turkey until after 4:00 pm so it we didn't eat until 8:30 pm. But, when all was said and done there was stuffed shells, garlic roasted broccoli, macaroni and cheese, a small turkey with all the basics (stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy) and wine, of course. We didn't even touch dessert until the next morning. Since we couldn't be with family, friends were the next best thing. If they hadn't come over we wouldn't have done anything out of the ordinary and that would have made for a very sad, sorry way to waste a holiday. I was surprised how nice the dining room table looked all dressed up and it was nice to have music and chatter floating around. Emily raided the napkin rings all night and I found them in pots, cupboards and everywhere but on the napkins where I put them three, four, half a dozen times. And I found the unused turkey baster resting between the washing machine and dryer a day later. Chuckle. So the best part about the real Thanksgiving Day was that we didn't cook a darn thing. It was a pretty quiet day, our friends left around noon and I think we just washed the leftover pots and pans and watched movies.

Today? We're ditching the cable company and giving DirectTV a shot. I'm not too keen about getting a dish but the cable service has truly been horrible. But I've got a small itch to go out, so I may actually go shopping today of all days. I can hardly keep up with all the email on special offers and sales. I was a little pissed, however, when I got an email from one retailer announcing free shipping just days after I ordered some stacking toy storage crates. Figures.

I wish I could do the laundry without the fear of getting a static shock sharp enough to send me yelping into the next room. And my hands are so dry it actually hurts to run water on them. Just about anything that touches them leaves me with a nick; I've got a bandaid on my pinky on one hand and on my thumb on the other hand. If I don't have bandaids on, I just keep whacking the same cuts over and over...and it's not like I'm doing anything heavy duty around here, just grabbing things out of the fridge. Must decide on a kitchen set - retro pink or red, sink and oven without fridge or the set that smooshes in a little refrigerator. Looking at the KidKraft sets, this one and that one. Pink? or Red? Flip, flop...flip, flop. Wow, there's an entire site devoted to play kitchens. I'd better get something before everyone runs out of stock. Thinking red....

Friday night I told my three-year-old that the chocolate marble cheesecake I was eating was broccoli. And she believed me. So it should come as no surprise that when she opened the refrigerator Saturday morning all she wanted was mommy's broccoli for breakfast. She's going to be so very disappointed when she asks someone for broccoli and ends up with a bunch of green stuff instead of cheesecake!

I ate the last of the "broccoli" today after a bowl of the chicken soup I -finally- made. It figures that I lost the cooking bug just in time for Thanksgiving week. Meh. But I impulsively bought a 9 pound turkey yesterday since, well, I don't know why. We're not having company aside from one couple, and one of them is vegetarian. But we so rarely eat turkey (deli meat doesn't count) and now I've got a 9 pound excuse to make gravy and mashed potatoes. I think I need about 4 sticks of butter for those two recipes.

If it weren't for the Dunkin gods, our kitchen would be in a state of emergency this morning. Recently, I've been waking up to the sweet smell of a small regular waiting patiently for me on the bedside table. A little piece of heaven...in a cup with a sippy lid even. I am unquestionably more juiced up in the mornings after a little caffine. Beds are stripped, laundry has started, Emily's out, and now I'm debating whether to cook or clean first. The den. I really must deal with that room. But first! I'll waste even more time online...we were invited for chili and football and I took the girls to Casa Reilly's on Saturday. It was cold, it was windy, but it was perfectly spicy and warm inside. I don't have the iron stomach I used to be so proud of, but I enjoyed a small bowl of chili anyway. Yesterday was pretty boring around here. I saw Winnie the Pooh three times, most of the Partiot's game, got Emily bubble-bathed, and everyone was sleeping by 9:00 pm. Unfortunately, even a boring day still costs a pretty penny since I ordered a wool winter coat for myself, pink polka dot flannel sheets for emily (she's using the last set of threadbare flannels from my post-college twin bed), two of these stackable crates, and a cotton rag rug for the den. Our house needs some warmth in the way of lighting, rugs, and pictures that are actually hung on the walls. I'm bummed that I didn't notice these sooner; I would have splurged for them in either nickel finish. Oh well, it's better this way. Sconces aren't exactly on (any) of my lists, but they would have looked so nice in the blue room. Focus.

And I haven't even started holiday shopping. This is why I must go back to work.

I literally just got off the phone complaining about the mess of toys in our house and then promptly went online to browse for kitchen play sets. It's a sickness.

Oh, feeling so relieved right now. What a relief. Ahhh....just had our car seats inspected again (our third time) since I now have two car seats stuffed into the back of my Civic and the infant seat was just not secure. It moved a good four inches every time I took the carseat out. I tried tightening the seat belt but just never got it to snug up. I feel pretty incompetent that I don't know how to install our car seats, but that's why I just love being able to call our local officer and get help. He also rechecked Emily's seat and pointed out that we really need to use the top tether and he clipped that into place. What's the point of paying a small fortune for car seats if they're not installed correctly?

Earlier this morning, Ella Madeline had her two month checkup and first set of shots. She weighed in at 11 pounds and 7 ounces. She was a good baby, smiling at the nurse until she got the first shot and then she turned purple and screamed through the next two. But, it was over in a blink and she settled before I had all the snaps done on her jammies.

I can't be left home alone. Turned up my nose at the den and set my sights on the rug that's occupied half of the narrow back hallway for nearly a year since I frantically dragged it out of my office last December when an ice damn showered everything in there with water. Ahem.

Anyway, it fits like a glove into the what should be a formal-living-or-family-room-that-is-now-where-the-toys-go-room. So the hallway is freed up, minus the stroller I have no idea where to store, but I'm at a loss as how to organize all the toys. I've been eyeballing kid storage shelves and bins for months or more but just can't decide on anything. As I was happily vacuuming the rug in it's new location it occurred to me that now I'll need to figure out where to put a flipping Christmas tree in a few weeks.

FRICK. I forgot to take out the good pieces of chicken from the stock. Clearly a chicken has more focus on tasks at hand than I do. And no, I haven't cleaned the den yet. Or eaten breakfast, unless a cup of coffee and a vitamin counts. Haven't lunched yet. I did slice baby's finger pretty good while trimming her nails. Boy, was she pissed. That sucked.

Thanks to the chicken stock goddess hotline, it's starting to smell like chickenliciousness in our house. And since that pot wants me to leave it alone while it simmers all day, I need to figure out what I want to get done since it's a skip from noon already and my motivation promptly goes down with the sunset at 4:00 pm. I've been promising myself I'd clean the den. This means moving the couch and rescuing all the abandoned toys underneath, cleaning the floors from sticky dried up spills and hardened bits of dropped toddler snacks. Oh joy, I can hardly wait.

Seriously. I need to have summer babies so I don't feel like the day's over at 4:00 pm. What a waste of time on maternity leave!

Another dish from last week's adventures in the kitchen. And more beans. This soup was just ok, I think it would have been better if I had mashed up more beans to thicken it a bit more. I prefer chicken, potato, or a good minestrone soup to bean, but this soup made for a good, quick lunch nonetheless.

This was last week's Boston Baked Beans recipe, from the wonderful Cook's Illustrated cookbook. Although small white beans were rated better than navy, our small local grocery store only had navy beans; and I had no intention of ever buying salt pork, but when I noticed it in the same store, I thought to myself, "Follow the recipe." So I came home with a slab of fatty salt pork. I also used a big 8 quart stockpot instead of a Dutch oven but the beans came out smackingly delicious. Who doesn't like sweet, sticky molasses, especially when it's drizzled across the entire recipe? I love this recipe because it's simple and forgiving.

Hmm. Already I let a day slip by without an update. I don't want to turn into a whining fill-in-the-blank but I was a little irritated last night after running to the store, picking up Emily, rushing back to make lasagne while Emily peed on the floor (on her way to the bathroom), Emily clinging to my legs as I tried to spread ricotta over noodles, drizzling garlic butter over the bread with a spoon since I must have thrown out our brushes without replacing them, pan frying sausages and heating up corn and beets since I was half an hour behind on the lasagne (it wouldn't be ready until 7 pm) and Emily was begging for food (she wasn't likely to eat the lasagne anyway). Stop. I have to interject that I HATE that our stove doesn't have a vent. How can any kitchen be up to code without a vent?? After all was said and done, Emily fell asleep on the couch and the mister wasn't even hungry so he went up to bed for the night. All I could think was, "Why do I bother?" OK, at least I won't need to cook tonight. And they missed out, folks, because the food was pretty good.

If I don't mop the floors today I get a pass for dusting/polishing the cupboards and wood in the kitchen. I don't even remember how the wood cleaner got into my hands. THAT wasn't on the to-do list today. The baby has been sleeping in the car seat since about nine o'clock this morning. I know you shouldn't let them nap in the car seat, but since she's STILL sleeping and it's after two, I think that must be a scam. She's still breathing, I checked. Several times. I'll go wake her up. It's either a diaper change and feeding or clean my dresser. I'd rather go the baby way.

This morning started off with five crispy pieces of bacon, four of which made it between two slices of bread with turkey and mayo. Does that qualify as a sandwhich? Should I go on to say that that's what I ate for breakfast, along with a mug of hot chocolate and biscotti, peach and mango juice and two dill pickles. The pickles garnished the sandwhich. Emily had a more conventional breakfast of juice, waffles and bacon. Later I saw that she only ate the bacon. So it's a bacon kind of day around here, but that's ok. They were the last few slices and I didn't want it to go to waste.

The drop off went exceptionally well today, I didn't even take Emily upstairs. She went without any fuss with Stacey, which was a swell treat on a Monday morning. Especially considering that the little Miss Emily howled more than the baby getting to bed last night.

It's just past noon, the kitchen is cleaned up from this weekend's Saturday night pizza and Sunday's roasted chicken and vegetables. The floors are vacuumed and waiting to be (steam) mopped. I'll declare this day a winner if I do make good on mopping the floors and cleaning up the top of my dresser. No cooking tonight, there are plenty of leftovers.

Here we are, a fresh new start. Now what? The problem I have with blogging is that as much as I enjoy reading other people's blogs, I don't like tending to my own blog. It becomes work, as I sweat over writing, editing, proofing...did I say too much? Is it too boring? Is it interesting? How much time have I spent (wasted) when there are plenty of things that are begging for my attention. Case and point: I should eat and drink something before noon, switch the laundry, clean off the top of my dresser and check on the baby.