Snowy Day aka Best Mom in the World Award

It snowed a bit yesterday and that's my excuse for not leaving the house today. Tomorrow I will have to find another excuse but today that's it. Had a bad night. Talia and I took such a good nap yesterday that I wasn't tired at my usual 9 or 10 pm. So I stayed up until after 1 am. Talia went to bed before 10, a miracle, and also Ron put her to sleep-- another miracle and something we just started doing because I can't handle the new crying "I don't want to sleep in my bed" thing. She definitely cried and said "Mommy Mommy" but I have to say, it's losing its effect on me!

Anyway, Talia woke up a few times overnight-- another new thing this past week and of course I couldn't sleep after sitting in her room for 10 minutes so I was up from 4-6 am. Then T woke up at 8, which is a good time for her but I was, of course, still tired. Coffee, however, is a wonderful invention. I'm glad I don't believe in that "no caffiene while you're pregnant" thing.

We did some usual stuff this morning, like watch a little tv, skip breakfast as usual and play Polly's and tea party (well, T played tea party, I checked my email and spoke to my sister on the phone). Somehow I convinced Talia to come upstairs (oh yeah, I told her we were going to wash all the fabric for her Princess quilt) to the third floor and she played pretty nicely while I started cleaning out the office and packing stuff up for our move in July to Madison, WI. She colored, played with stickers, and then actually played on the computer for the first time by herself. I had bought a Pooh toddler game way back when and found it while cleaning. I figured out if you press the arrow keys on the computer the game pretty much plays itself so I let her do that. We tried a lesson in controlling the mouse but that didn't work. I guess that takes some serious hand-eye coordination.

I packed up all my nursing books and most of my scrapbooking supplies and mosaic books and other crafty projects. I know I'm not really going to be using them in the two months before the baby comes and I'm certainly not going to be using them in the two months AFTER the baby comes but before we move so... in the box they go. It's sad because there is so much stuff I could sell on ebay but I just don't feel like I can be bothered at this point. I made a box of stuff to put out at the curb to give away once springtime comes, a box of stuff to just give to the thrift store, and a box of specific stuff to give to friends. I listed one thing on ebay. my sister told me it's easier now to list stuff and that's true so maybe I'll be inspired. I just can't deal with the post office and stuff. I could use some extra cash to buy gifts for my new niece or fabric or other quilty things. Or clothes for the new baby. Or toys for Talia.

It's kind of freeing to just throw shit away. I keep asking myself, will I use this before the move? Will I use it after the move? And then I toss it. I did find Talia's baby book, which made me feel pretty damn guilty. I barely filled any of it out. I should really print out some pictures from the external hard drive of Talia's first months and stick em in. The book is mostly just empty with some papers stuck in and a list of milestones.

Of course, now the office just looks ten times worse than it did before but in some ways that's progress, right?

What gives me the "Best Mom in the World Award" is that I'm letting my kid play with a big tupperware filled with rice, barley and bulghar and basically using it as a sandbox. She has asked a few times for me to bring in her sand table from outside and obviously, there is no way I'm going to do that but I've seen her play so nicely with the sand table at school that I thought I would give it a try. I filled a big tupperware with the aforementioned materials (after asking myself, am I really going to be cooking any of those items again in the next 4 months-- NO), put it on a cookie sheet that has sides and gave her some spoons, cups, a funnel (that may have been a mistake) and some plastic animals to bury. So far she's been playing for over an hour and I've been on the computer. She says she is planting flowers and making food for the mice. Of course, the cleaning people are coming in two days (after skipping two weeks ago due to snow, sickness on our part and the arrival of my new niece) so I'm not going to have to do the most stellar job of cleaning it up but how hard is it to sweep up barley anyway? Better than sand, I suppose. So here we are, sitting together in the kitchen, not watching tv, and we're both getting stuff done. Innovative idea on my part, if I do say so myself!

I decided to document our day by taking a picture every hour or so. Here are the results:

The Snow

My Coffee

T drinking milk and watching tv

Upstairs doing laundry

Playing with the homemade "sandbox"

Taking a nap (notice how she takes up an entire king sized bed and must sleep with a blanket over her head and then wakes up crying because she's so sweaty!)

Playing with stampers and playdoh