Bella Journal 3/3/11

Well hello! My it has been a while. I have been super busy lately at work and in my home life, which leaves no time to read my favorite blogs, let alone write my own posts! I can't wait to get reaquainted with you guys!

Like I said, my house is an absolute mess right now, borderline unlivable. But we have some new furniture and the rooms that are "done" are looking great! I will share some pictures of my home with you shortly!

To start off this week, I have another lovely drawing done by my daughter. She is in a Pre-K class right now and they have journals that they write in about once a week. The kids draw the pictures and the teachers write what the kids are narrating to them about the the picture. This was Bella's entry from last Thursday:



I would like to clarify that my dress was so tight that I barely ate that night. Also, my daughter wasn't at the same table I was during dinner. Any other night, her statement would probably be true. Ah, gotta love kids!


One more MAJOR thing to share... I am going to The Beaches Resort in Turks and Caicos in October! Time to go on that Turks and Caicos diet! Be prepared for diet and exercise posts to start up again!

Artiste

If you were to ever meet my daughter, you would gush over how cute she is. Really, she is darling! There is so much I love about her: her giggle, her energy, her sense of humor (yes, she tells jokes!), her sweetness, just so much about her is amazing. However, an ego-boost she is not:

I did laugh out loud the moment I saw this. Kids really do say the darndest things! Yes, the statement is true that Mommy is bigger than Bella, but really? Of all the things out there, she had to pick the one that was so body-conscious? Oh my love, thank you for keeping Mommy in check. Time to hit the gym folks!

Weigh-In Wednesday

Alright, so my weight gain last week wasn't all Aunt Flo's fault. I had gained weight overall, but I am down from last week. I am down 2.2 lbs. I have been so good today, having eaten a banana for breakfast, half of a very genetically altered large fuji apple, and half of a taco salad for lunch. Ok, fine, I will also come clean about my can of Coke that I guzzled at lunchtime too.

That's all I have to say for this Weigh-In Wednesday. Hopefully my morning walks/jogs will make a difference by next Wednesday.

Current Weight: 207.2 lbs.
Overall Weight-Loss: 22.8 lbs.

Random Bella Moment:
John was very generous for my birthday last year and gave me a super cute pink netbook. I was putting it on top of my dresser when it lost balance and fell onto the floor with a loud crash! It was heard throughout the house and it didn't help that I screamed "Noooooo!!!" Naturally John yells up, "What was that?"

After I unconvincingly responded with, "Nothing!"

Bella yells back, "Mommy's computer!"

Thanks for keeping me honest kid.

Weigh-In Wednesday

I shall keep it short and simple. This was not a good weigh-in (warning: TMI coming up!) and I would like to blame Aunt Flo for this one since she is visiting me this week.

I have tickets to the Usher concert in November. I am hoping this will encourage me to lose some weight so I can get all kinds of cute for him!

Current Weight: 209.4 lbs.

Random Bella Moment:
Bella: Mommy, I am all done with my sandwich.
Me: Good job!
Bella: I'm still hungry, Mommy.
Me: Oh, I'm sorry. Would you like some water?
Bella: Mommy, hungry means food.

Thanks for setting me straight, Bella! Mommy sure does have a lot to learn.

My 4-Year-Old Teenager

My Bella.

What a handful that girl is. She is just the cutest thing in the world - for the most part. Last night? Not so much.

While Daddy was watching football, Bella and I were upstairs hanging out in the master bedroom. One too many times Bella "accidentally" kicked me. When I had reached my limit, I sent her to her room. No yelling, just a firm, "Bella, you need to go to your room."

As she was walking away with her head down and her feet stomping, she said, "I wish I didn't live in this house!"

My ears must have deceived me. Little girls don't say that! This is teenager crap. I should have eight more years to prepare for that kind of stuff! What could I have mistaken her sentence for? "I wish I didn't lick a mouse"? That was more feasible since kids do weird things. But I knew I hadn't misheard.

I called Bella back into my room and said, "Bella, what did you say?"


Without an ounce of fear or humility, Bella once again repeated, "I wish I didn't live in this house."

The mix of anger and hurt were competing within me. I couldn't very well cry in front of her, so I told her to go back to her room and pack up her things if she wanted to live somewhere else. To my surprise, she walked away without a fuss. After a couple of minutes, I walked into her room to find her laying on her bed. I repeated that she needed to find another place to live if she didn't want to live in my house. She still wasn't scared or sorry. I told her to tell her dad she was leaving.


At this point, Bella knew that I meant business. As she was walking down the stairs, she started crying saying that she didn't want to leave. After a talking to from her dad, she apologized and suddenly became my precious little child again.


This was all in a span of 20 minutes. She is only four. Hot damn, being a parent is hard.

Sleep. Love Sleep.

When I was a teenager, once upon a hell of a long time ago, I remember running on a few hours of sleep a night, sometimes only taking a quick power nap. Nothing was more important than hanging out with friends and house parties. Go out Friday night until the wee hours of the morning (seriously, like 3:00 AM - the perils of my push-over of a single mom. SORRY, Mom!) and then waking up at like 8:00 to go to my part time job for eight hours on Saturday. Didn't need coffee, just my young age to keep me going all day.


Since becoming a mother in 2005, I have come to appreciate sleep.


If I don't get enough sleep during the weekdays, my mornings are pretty interesting. Here are some reasons that I need to get eight hours of sleep a night:


1.) I wake up resentful of the person sleeping in next to me because he has a day off. As a result, I make as much noise as possible to wake him. (Hey, if I can't sleep in, NO ONE can!)


2.) It is no fun putting your child's bubble gum flavored toothpaste on your toothbrush only to realize it a moment after it enters your mouth.


3.) I am an adult now; therefore, I shouldn't get my left hand and my right hand confused, resulting in putting a sippy cup full of milk in my mouth instead of the cup of coffee I am holding in the other hand.


4.) Slippers are not appropriate to wear to work.


5.) It is illegal for your child not be buckled in while driving. (Thank goodness I have a responsible 3-year-old who is more alert than Mommy and will scream, "I'm not buckled in, Mom!")


6.) Bad idea to whiz past your child's daycare, because frankly, she is too young to be put to work at the office. (Again, thank goodness for my child who pipes up to say, "I don't see my school, Mom." Making it possible for me to pull a quick, and illegal, U-Turn.


Man, Sleeping Beauty didn't know how good she had it. Personally, knowing what I know now, I would've smacked Prince Charming across the head for waking me.

Straitjackets Are Slimming

I have already told most of you about the Straitjackets Are Slimming blog. It is written by Maya Rickards who is a single mother of two.

If you haven't checked out her blog, you must! She is hilarious in that I-hate-life-most-days-but-see-the-humor-and-keep-on-trucking kind of way. She is cynical, sarcastic, and funny. If you are looking for a good laugh, check her blog. She is putting up a post once a day for the month of November.

My favorite quote from her post today is:

"Thank you, to my sons daycare provider, who reminded me to always keep an extra set of clean clothes in his cubby, by putting him in lace trimmed capris complete with “cutie” spelled out in rhinestones across the butt."

It reminded me of my little Bella who one day decided to put on someone else's clothes at pre-school, went up to the teacher and said, "Miss Amanda, do you like my new clothes?"

Ah yes, my daughter the klepto.