Unexcused absence....

I got in trouble today for the lack of new posts. I know it's been a while since I've written anything new, and because of that have probably cut my readership in half, but well, I'm still trying to figure out when a good time to write anything is. I'm always thinking of new and amazing things to blog about, and some really boring (to some people) things as well, but well, those ideas always come at the wrong moment. Like last night while I was trying to make dinner and Sydney starting crying for seemingly no reason. What I didn't know was that she had obviously been sitting around in a dirty diaper for a while (I know, I'm losing my "Mom" nose, I should have smelt it) and it had been reacting rather nastily with her skin and giving her a really sore area. So when I went to figure out why she was crying (she had been playing with Jeff, and no he didn't cause the tears, but he didn't know why either) I asked her if she wanted to change her diaper. She readily agreed and we went to her room and that's when the hysterics began. She was a mess and in so much pain that she was wriggling and writhing all over the place making it doubly hard to change her diaper. Then while she's crying, Jeff had come to see what was going on and left Noah in his swing. Now that doesn't sound like that big of a deal, but well, Noah has decided that while he's awake, he doesn't want to be put down, so after a few minutes of crying and noticing that no one was coming to get him, he freaks out. So now there are two kids screaming at the top of their lungs and two parents trying to change one diaper. It was a little crazy. Thankfully after about 6 wipes and a butt load of desitin (wow, that's a really bad pun, sorry) Sydney was in Jeff's arms calming down and I went to pick up Noah and hope that our fish wasn't burnt. So, with many other moments equally as crazy as those, it's no wonder that I haven't contributed to the entertainment of my viewing public. If you can't understand that, just come and take my two kids for the day and try to spend even a couple of minutes at the computer between feeding, playing, cleaning and putting the "meow, meow" video on. Okay, so maybe I depend a little too much on the "meow, meow" video (other wise known as "Richard Scary's Best Sing-A-Long Mother Goose Video Ever") to get things done, like feeding Noah, without a constant barrage of everything Sydney can discover. But it helps me regain my sanity.

Well, I'm not really sure where that was going and I don't really feel like reading it back to discover if it makes any sense or not or what I was even trying to say, so I'll start something new here.

I tried a little experiment the other day to see if I really was as addicted to caffeine as I thought I was, and well, yet again I was correct. (If you didn't already know, I'm always right, because, well, I just want to be.) I thought that maybe it was just the smell and feeling of having a nice warm cup of coffee in the morning and that it was such a nice way to get things going that I may have been addicted to, but no. So yesterday, or maybe Friday (caffeine doesn't seem to help memory, I need to find something else to help that) I decided that I wouldn't make my regular pot of coffee (ya, a whole pot pretty much, just for me) but instead make a pot of decaf, that I had left over from while I was pregnant, to see if it was the caffeine or just the liquid that I was addicted to. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, one of the signs of addiction is constantly thinking about it, right? Well, I couldn't stop thinking about coffee and the need for caffeine. Decaf just didn't do the trick. All I could do was think about wanting a huge cup of full-power, dark, rich and every other term used to describe a great cup of coffee. I finally gave in to the complete realization that I couldn't trick myself into being more awake and alert while I was reading to Sydney. We were sitting in her rocking chair reading a book that I knew by memory. I decided to close my eyes and "read" to her. I did really good for the first few pages "Ants await, bumble bees blow balloons" (turn page) "Caterpillars circle dragonfly decorations" (turn page) "Earthworms entertain. Fireflies fandango." I think it was at about this point when I forgot to turn the page and continue with the story, or more accurately, feel asleep for a moment. I quickly realized what was happening and opened my eyes, turned the page and continued on with the story, hoping Sydney hadn't noticed what was going on. But I think she may have realized something was wrong when I kept doing the same thing. "Grasshoppers gaze." (turn page) "Hummingbirds hide inside irisess" (turn page) "Jumping junebugs kiss katydids (does anyone know what a katydid is?)" pause, oops, wake-up, continue reading "Ladybugs laugh, Moths mingle". You get the idea. Every few pages I would suddenly realize that I wasn't "reading with my eyes closed" anymore. Sydney didn't make it to the end of the book (Mrs. Spiders ABC's), I guess she got bored of it, or at least didn't like my dramatic presentation of it. I decided at that moment that I had better give up trying to fool myself into believing that just maybe I wasn't addicted to caffeine and go and make myself some. I was awake and alert and good to read stories moments after the caffeine hit my veins. Oh what a joyous feeling it was to have the drug rush through my system. Yup, I'm addicted.

Well, we've been having a bunch of fun around here. We recently rediscovered the beach. We hadn't gone in a long time and decided that Noah was definitely old enough now to spend some time cuddled up in the snugli while Sydney ran through the waves with Jeff. Wow, that little girl has no fear at all. She went running full-steam-ahead into the waves and only stopped because Jeff pulled her back. She loved the 82 degree water, yup, that's right, no type-o here, 82 degrees in the ocean, warmer than a lot of swimming pools up north. For some reason we forgot to bring a bathing suit or swim diaper the first time we went (we've gone like three times in the past week) thinking that we'd only be going for a walk on the beach (what little girl isn't going to get wet, what were we thinking, only walk) so Sydney got to get her clothes all dirty and wet. Then we decided that her shorts were going to fall off soon enough because they were so loose and the water was weighing them down so much, so we just took her clothes of and let her run around in just a diaper. Man, diapers these days can hold a ton of liquid. When we took it off to dry her and get her ready to go, it weighed like 5 pounds. Anyways, she had a ton of fun and I took a million pictures. Man, I love digital cameras. I always take a ton hoping that just one will turn out great and well, we actually had quite a few turn out great. Here are some of our favorites.







































































































Here a a few other pics from different days that I thought I'd include also. I'll try to put more up soon, hopefully it won't be another two weeks before I get anything new published, but well, don't keep your hopes up, but do keep checking back here, eventually something new will be added.