Lonely Lunch

I forgot how lonely lunches used to be while I was working. I would always speed through my lunches to get back to work to stay current with my chargeable hours.

When you work in a professional service environment, chargeable hours are everything! Your entire life seems to revolve around chargeable hours and budgets. How many hours do I have to work this week in order to meet my budget? I'm behind 20 hours for the month, how many days and hours do I have to work to catch up? I have to charge what?!?! 210 hours this month! Chargeable! That doesn't include non-chargeable work?!?!

The workload (fortunately and unfortunately) was never the question! Just the number of hours in the day and the number of hours of my life I was willing to give up for a paycheck and promotion.

But, the stress level is drastically reduced for me while working a part-time schedule. But, the lunches are still lonely!

Annabelle spent the day with Nonnie today while I worked. I missed that sweet girl today! She's my love and my everything. Lunches are never lonely with Annabelle! Sometimes a little busy and stressful, but never lonely! I'll take the busy and stressful any day. I don't like those lonely lunches.

Braves win!

Atlanta Braves 8
Washington Nationals 1

We attended the Braves game this evening with some of hubby's fellow coworkers. We've taken Annabelle since she was a baby in 2007, and she's always loved it!

This year though, I think she enjoyed the train ride the most. We opted to ride Marta because we didn't want to fight the crowd for a parking space. It took a lot longer than it normally would have, had we just driven, but it was worth the excitement on that sweet girl's face. And, she even got to ride on a Marta bus too! Yet another first for Annabelle!

And, she loved doing the tomahawk chop! When we weren't doing it, she would turn to one of us and say, "I want to do 'dat' again." As she said, "dat," she motioned her version of the tomahawk chop.

Man, just wish I had a Flip Digital Camcorder!

And, she even took her own turn to decide which hat the picture of some random fan was under after the three hats went crazy on the television screen and moved all over the place. If your a Braves fan, in the past, they used to show a picture of a ball instead of the random fan. She picked #2! I think #3 was actually the correct hat though.

And, here is that sweet girl with her Daddy! No pictures of Mommy and daughter as they aren't so cute. Mommy needs a new do, and it takes pictures for Mommy to realize just how rugged she looks!

We had a blast at the Braves game! And, if you haven't noticed, Annabelle is sporting a Boston Red Sox uniform. Her Nana Janet and Papa Bill gave it to her a few years ago. It is alright though, we weren't playing Boston, and I don't think anyone really knew the difference. We're still Braves fans through and through (and maybe Boston Red Sox fans second)! Sorry Nana Janet and Papa Bill! You haven't sold us on those Red Sox yet!

We left the Braves game around 9:45 p.m. just after the seventh inning stretch. We arrived home to pack Annabelle's clothes around 10:45 p.m. Then, it was off to Nonnie's for Annabelle to spend the night! I thought for sure that Annabelle would have fallen asleep in the car on the way. Nope! Not my sweet child! She would miss too much! Instead, we arrived around 11:45 p.m. with a wide-eyed little girl. I did fortunately convince her to make the bedtime routine very short with no books and three or four songs total. So, I fortunately made it home shortly before 1:00 a.m.

Dear Annabelle,

I love you, but you wear me out!

Love,

Mommy

I need a hug

Last night, I went to check on Annabelle before calling it a night. I love to watch her sleep!

Unfortunately, she can be such a light sleeper that she wakes up as soon as I even open the door to her room. The distant light in the hall seems to bother her. Wonder who she gets that from?

Well, last night, I needed to see my sweet girl, so I opened the door and slowly tip toed in. I was peeking down at her, she opened her eyes, looked at me, rolled over and then started whimpering ever so slightly. I decided to exit immediately and swiftly!

Not so quickly she thought! "Sing me a song," she whimpered. So, I sat down and sang her ABC's to her. This is one of her nighttime songs. She even sang along with me, bless her heart! It actually brought tears to my eyes.

So, I finished singing, told her I loved her, and closed the door behind me. Whimpering again!

I entered again and walked over to her crib. Her arms were outreached towards me and she said, "I need a hug." My heart melted! We exchanged hugs, and I began to leave, and this time, she was okay with me leaving, and I left with a happy heart.

When I came back to our bedroom, hubby said, "Are you crazy?"

Yes, a little! I'll chance her waking for another hour just to watch her sleep!

Cinnamon Rolls

We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast this past Saturday as a special treat. Annabelle enjoyed one cinnamon roll, but she didn't seem overly enthralled in them. She wanted no more, only one!

But, on Sunday morning I asked her, "Annabelle, what would you like for breakfast this morning?"

"A cinna-nen roll," she replied instantly without any hesitation.

I told her, "Sweetheart, we ate them all yesterday. There aren't any cinnamon rolls left."

You would have thought that I snapped at her in pure meanness for nothing! Her bottom lip rolled over her top lip, her mouth began to quiver, and then she buried her head into my arm and started crying. She was fighting back those tears! Where does a two year old learn to try and hold back tears?

She finally calmed down, and I promised her that we'd buy her some more cinnamon rolls. Then, as her Daddy was walking out the door later that afternoon to make a quick trip to the grocery store, she stated to him, "Get some cinna-nen rolls Daddy."

Be Creative @ Your Library

If your toddler "read" 10 books this summer, he/she could earn a board book at the local Dekalb County Public Library, compliments of Target. They also had this program last year, but we were so busy vacationing that I forgot to redeem the list of books read for her board book by the deadline.

This year, however, she earned her "Doggies" board book by Sandra Boynton! You cannot beat a Sandra Boynton book. Those have been my favorite to read to her since she was born. And, fortunately, we did not yet have the "Doggies" book. We did have the "ABC" Sandra Boynton book that the librarian originally offered.

Apparently, most parents are not as anal as I am. I wrote down a total of 21 books that we've read in the past month and a half. Of course, that doesn't count the twenty times that we probably read almost each and every book. Okay, I'm over exaggerating a little bit, but you get the picture. The librarian said, "Oh, wow," when she saw the long list and "Nice handwriting by the way." Yes, I write much like a typewriter.

Of course our trip to the library to redeem her board book AND read books consisted of Annabelle running around, whispering and then talking rather loudly, pulling books off the shelves, beginning to read four books, but yet, only completing one all the way through because she was so busy running from one table and/or chair at the library to another.

Fortunately, I am able to somewhat control her at this age (at the library) as she's only supposed to pull two books off the shelf at a time. She'll pull more, but together, we replace the one she doesn't want any more so that all times she only has two. It wasn't this easy a year ago!!! She didn't understand two books only then.

So, above, is a picture of Annabelle this evening in her brand new pajamas that I've put off her wearing all summer because I wanted to get a picture of her in them before they got really dirty (now that summer is almost over) with her new Sandra Boynton book.

And, is this not the cutest little bottom?

Make 'em talk

For a few months (or more), Annabelle loves to animate her toys. It all started with her Sarah Lynn and Margaret bendable Little People that Grandmama and Granddaddy gave her for her 2nd birthday, and now, she has also moved on to making those itty bitty tiny hard animals talk.

It is her favorite thing to do, and she especially loves the company. She is always telling me to "Make em talk Mommy! Make em talk!"

And, frankly, I do get a little tired of "making em talk." I'd prefer to listen to her "make em talk" as she's got quite an imagination, and they are quite polite when they do interact with each other. That makes my heart smile!

Well, yesterday, after eating our weekly lunch at Captain D's with Grandmama and Granddaddy, I suggested that we all go to the Dollar Tree to look around. I was in search for some of those yellow cleaning gloves. I've been telling Annabelle for awhile now that we needed to get her own pair so she could help me clean. She's been sharing with me! And, to say the least, that is always very interesting.

So, off we go, to the Dollar Tree. And, I didn't make her sit in the buggy because she enjoys the Dollar Tree as much as I do.

It didn't take long before she found a basket of her own to dump her very own purchases, or so she thought! It was a battle I didn't want to fight. The battle where I tell her not to touch or remove anything from the shelves. And, she was having fun and learning at the same time. I thought, we can place everything back when we leave.

Keep in mind, I probably sound a lot more patient than I really was, but my feelings inside were such that I wanted to pull my hair out because she had gathered 20-30 items from all over the store, and the one basket she originally had carried then turned into two baskets. One for her to carry, and then she requested that I carry the other basket she found to stuff junk into.

Finally, it was nearing time to go, so I told her that she could pick out one thing to buy. But, only one thing.

She's always been such a little negotiator. Her response to me was, "Two things." I told her, "Nope, one thing." "No, two things," she said until she finally realized she wasn't going to win this battle.

Then, she'd find two things she liked, and she would say, "I take dis one, and Grandmama can take dis one to her house." Pretty smart for a two year old!

So, she continued her hunt, and I told her it was time to put everything back and that she needed to stay with Grandmama and make a decision while Mommy placed everything (okay, almost everything) back in its proper location.

As I turned the corner after replacing the last item, she came running down the aisle to me with a small package of tiny bath toys in hand. She said, "Mommy! Mommy! We can make em talk!"

My thoughts out loud to Grandmama went something like this, "Lovely! Yes, we can make em talk alright. Just something else to make talk!" I tried to persuade her to buy the cute magnets she had originally found or even the small plastic dinosaurs because I thought those tiny bath toys weren't all that cute, and they were a waste of money.

Boy was I wrong! Now, I am sorry that I even tried to persuade her otherwise. Maybe one day I'll learn to stay out of her business. But, she has had the most fun with those six, tiny, colorful bath toys. And, they really are quite cute!

As we were checking out at that counter at the Dollar Tree, I even gave her a lesson on saving. I told her, "Now here is your dollar. You can either take the money home and put it in your piggy bank, or you can trade it for those toys." Obviously, she opted for the toys. But, she soon forgot that she had spent her dollar and told me later after we picked up a penny on the ground to put in her piggy bank that she would put that penny in her piggy bank "with my paper money." Paper money! Those were her words!

I couldn't help but smile last night after she went to bed just remembering the excitement in her sweet little voice as she ran to me with those bath toys in hand to tell me, "Mommy! We can make em talk!"

So, what is a story without a picture?!?!

Dear Annabelle,

I hope you will always find the simple joys in the little things! You really help me to open my eyes and see the fun in the small things.

You have such an imagination (even though it drives me a little crazy on some days). If you don't have actual toys to "make em talk," you use grapes and even your fingers at the dinner table to act as a Mommy, Daddy, baby, puppy dog, you name it (and I'm not even joking)! We don't typically allow toys at the dinner table, but with an imagination like yours, you don't even need toys!

Keep those imagination genes from your Daddy flowing sweet girl!

I love you!

Mommy

Where's Daddy?

Here is a conversation I had with Annabelle during breakfast this morning:

Annabelle: Mommy, where's Daddy?

Mommy: He's at work sweetheart.

Annabelle: To make me some money?

Insert snicker from Mommy. And, then, she continued before I could answer her.

Annabelle: To put in my piggy bank.

Mommy: Um, no, not exactly.


She's a girl after my own heart! She wants her Daddy to make money for her to put in her piggy bank! That's my girl!

Although, honestly, I do believe in working for my own money and not "spreading the wealth." I think we are going to need to talk in a few years before she slides down the wrong political path, but she's right on target with my methodology for saving!