mariahsmommy’s blog

Originally published at Toddler Tales. You can comment here or there.

Ever since she was born, Mariah has had a strong love for music. Even when she was in my womb, if I played loud music she'd kick like crazy. In fact, the first time I ever felt her kick was when I was listening to some loud rock and roll song. When she got big enough, she started dancing anytime she heard music. And her passion for music hasn't died with time. It seems like now more than ever she's obsessed with everything that has to do with music and dancing.

So now that she's three I decided to put her into a dance school. There's one near us called Julie's School of Dance and they allow kids as young as 2 and a half to join. They dance in the parades for all the festivals for nearby towns. I think it's something Mariah would really enjoy, so we might as well just see how it goes.

The only thing would be the price of the dance outfits. I've heard that this can get costly. However, I decided to look online and see what I could find. I came across this website with the cutest dance clothes. The prices are reasonable and the outfits are darling. Just imagine Mariah in something like this. How cute is that? But I think this one has to be my favorite:

If you can't see the words, it says "Does my butt look big in this tutu?"

I love it!

Originally published at Toddler Tales. You can comment here or there.

Finally we get a break from winter weather. Last week it snowed three times and rained the other days. Snow in April? No, thank you.

But this week the sun came out at last! Yesterday and today have been really nice. And I'm not the only one who appreciates it - our kitties have been rolling in the driveway all day. They come in to eat and drink and they're right back outside to play. :) I think when Mariah gets home, I'll ask my mom to watch Gabe so I can take her to the park. She loves the slides but hasn't gotten to go down them yet this year.

Oh, and my candle arrived today! If you don't remember, I won it in a contest a couple weeks ago. I got the Cucumber Melon scent and OH. MY. GOSH. It smells SO good that I want more of them.

One more thing.. Gabe is feeling a lot better today and actually slept nine (almost) straight hours last night. Poor little guy, this cold took a lot out of him!

Originally published at Toddler Tales. You can comment here or there.

My poor little boy is sick. I knew this would happen. Yesterday he had a horrible fever, but I finally got that to go away.

And the crankiness. Lord, the crankiness is more than I can take. He will not sleep for more than 15 minutes at a time and he will not lay down anywhere but in my arms. I have to hold him almost constantly or he cries. His crying makes my womb quiver, it's so sad.

My arms are so effing sore from holding him but how can I not? Look at this (albeit snotty/drooly) face.

Who could resist?

PS. Does anyone know the best way to remove wall border? When we moved in this is what greeted us:

It's through the entire house. It's so ugly it makes me want to run screaming from the house everytime I see it. Please help me!

Originally published at Toddler Tales. You can comment here or there.

When the toddler's away, the kitty will play lay?

Mariah's kitty, Bounce, is a great cat. Perfect for a little kid. He never bites, scratches or runs away (even when she's trying to dress him up in clothes). When she goes to bed at night, he'll politely sit on the end of her bed until she's sleeping, then he'll sneak out. He doesn't hiss or meow at her when she picks him up (incorrectly most of the time, but he's a fat cat) and carries him around the house. He'll chase her piece of string for hours until she finally gets too tired to run anymore.

He's a great cat.

But when she's not home, I think he tries to store up as much rest as he can. All he's done since she left five hours ago is sleep.

Poor kitty. :heart:

Originally published at Toddler Tales. You can comment here or there.

I am so sick and tired of being sick and tired. I just had a cold a couple weeks ago and now I've got another one! I knew this would happen. When we were in Minnesota visiting the Mall Of America, we stopped by to see some friends. They informed us that they had just gotten over being sick so we might catch it. I said, "Well, that'll be me! If I'm walking down the street and someone on the opposite sidewalk has a cold, I'll catch it." And it's true. Whereas my husband could have someone sneeze directly into his face (ew, I hope not, though) and not get sick.

Oh, and when you're a parent you dread sickness even more because you know your kids will catch it from you. If you're lucky it'll be one after the other so you don't have two (or three or four or five or.. however many you have, god bless your soul) sick kids at once. Yet it never works out that way.

Excuse me while I go cuddle with my box of Kleenex and count down the time until my grandma picks the kids up for the night. Then it's nap time for me!

PS. Please meet my new best friends.

Originally published at Toddler Tales. You can comment here or there.

1. I love springtime in Wisconsin!
2. Biscuits and gravy and french toast are foods I love to eat for breakfast.
3. It seems I'm always searching for my daughter's nuk.
4. Blogging is a great way to end the day.
5. I think I need some money!
6. Sunshine is what I've been craving lately.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to sending the kids off to Grandma's, tomorrow my plans include nothing and Sunday, I want to sleep in!

Originally published at Toddler Tales. You can comment here or there.

We moved into our cute little three bedroom, two bath mobile home in February. It had some things that needed fixing up, but we struck an agreement between the owner that we'd do these and in exchange we wouldn't have to pay the security deposit, which helped us because we didn't have a lot of money at that time. For the most part, the repairs were fairly simple. Overall, we were pleased with the deal.

Until.. the opossum incident. Oh, trust me, it's as delightful as it sounds.

Ian went into the master bathroom one day to find a huge opossum hiding out amongst our unpacked boxes. He immediately called me back there to look at for myself. Yeah, right. After hemming and hawing over what to do with it, he finally called his friend Dustin, who came over to help him remove the dang thing. They put it in one of our empty boxes and carried it outside.

Upon reentering the bathroom, a big hole was found in the side of our vanity and part of the floor as well. Ian decided to rip up the carpet, repair the hole and then place linoleum down, because really - who wants carpet in the bathroom for pete's sake? Here's what the floor looked like when he laid the new wood down:

And another.

Here you can see part of the hole.

Here Ian draws where the floor hole was.

Weights hold down the linoleum so it sticks.

Toddlers work as well..

So no more opossums for us! Now we just have to paint the walls...

Originally published at Toddler Tales. You can comment here or there.

So, as the mother of a toddler, I often find myself living in a zoo of stuffed animals. I think we have more stuffed animals in this house than our town does in residents. What to DO with all these critters? Drop them off one by one on people's doorsteps? Stuff them in mailboxes? Give them away as holiday gifts to every single person I ever met? And some I didn't meet but just happened to pass by on the street?

No. I needed a net. Yeah, a net. That'd be a brilliant idea! And my daughter wouldn't cry and get those sad little tear tracks down her pudgy cheeks. However, I hit a snare. All the stores around here didn't sell toy nets. So I did whatever I do when I need a creative idea: go to my mother-in-law. The lady who makes lamps out of rolling pins, makes gorgeous stained glass windows and can basically turn some ugly old stump into a masterpiece.

Her idea? Use an old sheet or a blanket and tightly nail it so it stretches out just like the net would. Brilliant! And you know what? It worked.

Brilliant. I think it's brilliant. Oh, and? Brilliant.

And that's why its my WFMW from Rocks in my dryer.

Originally published at Toddler Tales. You can comment here or there.