How To Dispose of A Useless Piano

Eric went out with a bunch of guys from church and shot the you-know-what out of it. It was a little depressing for me since that was my very first piano, but I was grateful that we didn't have to pay anyone to come and haul it away for us!

Adding to my Resume: Tooth Fairy

Haylie lost her very first tooth today! It has been loose for about 2 weeks now and I have been begging her to let me pull it out, but she refused. It was literally hanging by a thread when she got home from school today. I made her a bagel with cream cheese for lunch and she was eating it outside when all of a sudden she comes running into the house. "Mommy, Mommy, my tooth just fell out all by itself!!!" She was eating her bagel and the tooth got stuck in it - and she felt it crunch!

I have never seen such a look of pure excitement. She immediately wanted to call Eric and tell him to come home so he could see her tooth. She also wanted to write a note to the tooth fairy and ask her if she could keep her tooth (she saw that on one of her cartoons). I am very excited to play Tooth Fairy tonight and leave a little something under her pillow. And by a little something, I mean like, a quarter. I can't believe the amount of money kids get these days! I mean, to each is own, but let's set the bar low for tooth #1, eh? ;-)

It's probably just me, but I swear she aged a few years with that little gap!!

Her note to the tooth fairy - so cute!

And of course, Anna wanted to get in on the toothy action...nice.

I Spy...

I know I've been posting a lot about Anna lately - but she and I have been spending a lot more time together with Haylie in school. Last night, Anna was apparently not tired at bedtime. So she kept getting up and collecting things around the house to take to bed with her. In this picture, you will notice: a stroller, a flashlight, a baby doll, a stuffed frog, a coin bank full of coins, a pencil, a pad of paper that you cannot see, a band-aid on her ankle because she apparently had an ouchy, and her entire collection of silky blankets. Reminds me of an I Spy book. :-)











And, because she's just too cute...had to post these pics as well:


I found this Jumperoo at a yard sale and have it sitting in the garage waiting for baby. Any chance she gets, Anna climbs on in and makes herself comfortable. She says "I sit baby's" meaning "I sit in baby's toy."

She wanted me to roll her hair in these rollers. She thought that was pretty cool.

Spotlight on Anna

Well...I almost had a heart attack today at my friend Sue's house. I was picking Haylie up from her piano lesson and talking to Sue - the girls were playing with Sue's daughter - or so I thought. Out of the blue, Anna comes into the living room and shows me her fingers - all caked with nail polish. I thought for sure we were going to find nail polish spilled all over her carpets and I thought I just might die. THANKFULLY, and I don't know HOW she managed, but there was just one little drop on the computer desk where she was painting. She had 6 or 7 bottles of polish opened and not a single one spilled out. PHEW!

She peeled some of the paint off before I got the picture...but she had it on THICK - all around the tips of her fingers...



Here's my little angel after having put soap in her hair and posing adorably for the camera:

Every once in a while, she surprises me and does something really sweet and cute...she loves to sit on my lap while I sew and "help" me. (Although, I am running out of lap these days...)


She's developed a love for books and I love that she loves them! But she likes to pull them ALL off the shelf, then read...

And here she is - the picture of innocence, right?

I do love my little Anna. She keeps me on my toes and I'm sure she's giving me gray hairs, but I can't help but love that little face.

My Funny Girl

Today at lunch Haylie was cracking me up. She was eating an "everything bagel" with cream cheese. She pointed at the sesame seeds and asked me what they were. I said, "They're sesame seeds" - and she replied, "Oh, so we can grow more bagels?" Love it!

Then I was telling her that she starts kindergarten in 3 days. She met her teacher, Mrs. Mayfield, earlier in the week. So every once in a while I'll ask her what her teacher's name is so she'll know it on the first day of school. Today I asked what her and she said "Mrs. Gardenfield". Ha! I think she put kindergarten and Mayfield together and came up with Mrs. Gardenfield. SO CUTE! She is beyond excited for school to start, as am I. I think Anna will really benefit from some one-on-one time with me. And Haylie has lots of her little preschool friends in her class and they are going to have so much fun! Hooray!

Rough Week

I wanted to write a little something today to express my gratitude for awesome friends. I have had an icky week and in the last couple days my friends have really lifted me up and helped me overcome once again.

So the last time I reported anything about my depression, I had gotten off the Cymbalta and was feeling fine (around Jan 2009). Well, about 6 months after I got off the Cymbalta it started to creep back in. Poor Eric took the brunt of it that time. He encouraged me to go to the doctor and get back on the medication. So when I went back, I asked for another anti-depressant that didn't cost so darn much..and my doc put me on Effexor. (This was around July 2009) Loved it! Things were really getting back on track again. So, fast forward to January 2010, I switched to Kaiser due to the ridiculous rates that Blue Cross was trying to charge us. It is Kaiser policy to have a patient meet with a psychiatrist in order to be prescribed anti-depressants. So I met with Dr. Groot and he gave me some interesting statistics. I don't remember the exact stats but he said that once a person has one "episode" of depression, the are X% more likely to have another. And once a person has had two episodes, the likelihood of another is even higher, and so forth. That is when I decided that if I have to be on an anti-depressant for the rest of my life, then so be it. I'd rather be happy than deal with this roller-coaster ride. The problem is strictly hormonal - and if my body has trouble regulating hormones, then I need to do whatever is necessary to get them on track.

Alright, so around the same time we switched to Kaiser, we decided that we wanted to start thinking about having another baby. So Dr. Groot switched me to Zoloft which is on the list of approved meds for pregnancy. I've been on it since January, got pregnant in March and everything's been going great. Well, last weekend I slacked off and forgot to take my pill for about 3 days in a row. On the 3rd day, I was talking to my mom and saying that I kept forgetting to take my pill, but that I was feeling okay - hmm...maybe baby hormones are helping regulate me...haha...nope. Day 4 I remembered to take a pill, but was beginning to feel pretty down. My patience left me, Anna was getting on my very last nerve and I was so very tired and irritable. Trying to keep up with Anna's inquisitiveness (is that a word?) has become a full time job and I'm just. so. tired. Yesterday I called my friend Monica just to say hello and have some adult conversation and totally lost it. Break. Down. She was fabulous and "talked me off the ledge" so to speak. She has 4 kids of her own and had some really great suggestions which I've put into practice today and things are going a lot better! So I had also mentioned on Facebook yesterday that I was having a rough day - and if anyone wanted a 2 1/2 year old, they were welcome to come and get her. Well, my sweet friend Stefanie showed up on my doorstep and whisked the kids away so I could get some rest. Then she invited us to dinner as well! What a treat! So to top it off, I had an appointment this morning and my friend Jennifer D. took my girls to the park for a playgroup while I went to the appt. I know that doesn't seem like a big deal, but all these things have lifted me so much - and made me (once again) realize just how lucky I am.

I'm so grateful for my faith, for modern medicine (!), for my extremely supportive husband, and the amazing friends I am so lucky to have. *HUGS*

Dr. Dolittle??

Eric and I would like to formally request that from now on you refer to us as Drs. Dolittle. It has come to our attention that animals have a way of finding us when they need help. First, it was the box turtle that was cruising down the street in front of Eric's work. Then it was the chick who appeared in our back yard and started the Metler family chicken craze. Now, well, now it is this:



That, my friends, is a red-eared slider. "Red-eared sliders are almost entirely aquatic, but leave the water to bask in the sun and lay eggs." (Wikipedia) Ummm, I found this guy in our front yard on the cement in front of the gate to our back yard. Nowhere near WATER! He was pretty dried up and his shell looks a little beat up, but I think he's going to be okay. But seriously people, what are the odds that this water turtle would show up in front of our house - you know, the people who love turtles??? I'm tellin' ya...it's the Dr. Dolittle thing. We're not sure yet if we're going to keep this guy - so if you think you might be interested, let me know...