So Tired...

"For disappearing acts, it's hard to beat what happens to the eight hours supposedly left after eight hours of sleep and eight hours of work." - Doug Larson

And how true that is.

I don't even get my eight hours of sleep.  Instead, I stay up doing unimportant things like blogging to keep my sanity and sense of self...

I thought it might be time for an update.  The kids do awesome things every day, my job is still amazing, and life is going pretty smoothly.  I could stop there, but I'll elaborate.  :)

The Kids:

Today, Kaden was pushing around his bubble mower (without bubbles) in the living room.  The mower makes an actual mowing sound, which wouldn't be so bad except that Kaden got a crayon stuck in there over a year ago and it somehow amplifies the noise to an annoying level.  Sometimes, the crayon lodges in the gears and the wheels quit rotating abruptly, as was the case today.  Kaden started whining and getting very worked up.

I said, "Kaden, what's the matter?  Why are you whining?"

He said, very seriously, "My mower's bein' difficult!"

This wouldn't have shocked me so much if he were four or five years old, but he's two and a half.  It thrilled me that he was using a three-syllable adjective correctly in a sentence.  Oh, and later he said, "Khloe injured me!" instead of "Khloe hurt me!"  Either his daycare classes place a huge emphasis on language or my Brobdingnagian vocabulary is rubbing off on him.

Khloe is walking all over the place finally.  She loves her new motor skill.  She also loves bracelets and shoes.  I've never been much of a girly girl, so I'm assuming she gets this from her Aunt Kami somehow.  One evening, we were shopping in Toys 'R' Us.  Khloe was super tired and throwing a fit - until we walked by the baby girl shoes, that is.  She stopped screaming instantly and started cooing and pointing at the shoes.  At home, she sits down as soon as she sees me pick up her shoes in the morning. She smiles and sticks out her little foot, and it's adorable.  When we get home in the evening, she spends a lot of time bringing me various shoes, thrusting them into my hands, and sitting down so I can switch them out for the ones on her feet.  Also, anything that can be used as a bracelet goes on her wrist.  She holds it out proudly and admires it, turning her hand back and forth with her arm outstretched.

Kaden is (mostly) potty-trained.  We still have accidents in the Pull-Ups, but he's very good about going to the bathroom.  He went through a "monsters in the bedroom" period where he refused to sleep in his bed, but the promise of a swing set had him sleeping alone and using the toilet in less than a month.  They both love the swing set.  I love it too.  :)

Kaden got his first haircut and he looks so much older!!  He's such a little man now. 

On TV and in movies, kids always get their first haircuts in some cute, kid-specific place where they sit in rocket ships or something, and that's always how I envisioned Kaden's first haircut.  I took him to Kid's Zoo on Seltice because, even though I'd never been inside, I had a feeling it would suffice.  It was everything I wanted.  He got to sit on a wooden lion and watch 101 Dalmations.  He was very well-behaved and it turned out wonderfully.  Except it cost $17 plus tip...not sure all of his haircuts will be there, but it was perfect for the first one.

Job:

You know how sometimes a job seems awesome at first but then once you've worked there a while, you hate going and everything is sucky and political and monotonous?  My job is nothing like that.  I loved it on the first day and I love it now, six months later.  Sure, there are some tough days, but I never wake up and think, "I wish I didn't have to work today..."

Ragweed pollen

For those of you who only read my blog when I remember to update it and have no idea what I do, I'll try to fill you in.  When I got hired, I was under the impression that I'd be working on the dust mite side of things, but it turns out that I work in pollens.  I've been told that they both wanted me and pollen won.  I like to imagine the project coordinators fighting over me, but it probably didn't happen as dramatically as I envision it.  Anyway, I was kind of disappointed when I found out I wouldn't get to work with the mites, but I realized very quickly that pollen is the place for me and I'm super glad it worked out this way.  Pollen is way more interesting than I thought it would be, and it's given me the opportunity to branch out and try my hand at a lot of different things.  I've written reports, SOPs, batch records, and study plans.  I help plan and execute studies to refine and upscale our processes, and I've worked my way into the analytical lab so that I can run extractions and test turbidity on the material from those studies on my own.  I work with a great group of people - some are even as nerdy as me.  I cleaned and organized my lab, then girlified it a little with pretty pink macropipettes and lab tape.  Oh, and I just found out that my supervisor has been working to get me promoted even though they don't usually do that in the middle of a year.  Apparently I'm useful.  :)

Life:

The kids and I are doing pretty well.  Thanks to our amazing family, we're getting back on track after a rocky 2011.  We wouldn't be as well off as we are without you all!  I bought a 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee - it's going to take me a long time to say I "love" another vehicle (oh, Chev...), but I like the Jeep a lot.

Miah and I are a couple now, but he's still living in Florida and I'm still living here, so I guess there isn't much of an update there at the moment.  :/

I'm turning 30 in August...I'm still not sure if that bothers me or not, but I decided that my birthday was so crappy last year that I was going to make up for it this time.  I'm going to Vegas!!  Or at least, I'm trying to.  So far it's just me and Miah, but we'll see if that list expands or not.  I love my babies, but I sure could use a vacation for a few days!

Okay, it's bed time.  In six hours, Khloe will be bouncing up and down in the crib, talking to her Violet puppy and waiting for me to pick her up.  It's a good thing she's so darn adorable and perky in the morning or I'd have a hard time rolling out of bed before 7:00!