Deep Thoughts...

It's a gloomy, rainy, stuffy Friday. The last thing I want to do is be productive and work. Getting out of bed today was like getting up in the middle of the night. It was so dark and stormy (perfect sleeping weather). I think I hit snooze about 290 times. I finally dragged my big 'ol ghetto booty out of bed knowing that daycare drop today was going to take a while (Layla's last day in the little baby room). I had to give cards to her teachers and a present to one of her teacher's who's leaving to have a baby on Mon (c-section).

Anyyyywayyyy... the whole point of this post is to vent my frustration about gas prices. "Oh here we go!" is what I'm sure you're all saying. I know. I am the last person who thought I'd be hearing myself gripe about this. The media and old people (no offense to anyone reading this who might consider themselves "old"... if it makes you feel any better, I don't consider anyone who I know as loyal Sherman blog readers to be old) are the ones that are supposed to be blowing this whole catastrophe that is completely out of our hands out of control.

Let me explain... last weekend, I decided to take a good hard look at our finances, the budget plan, the bills, expenses, blah blah blah. Something I do every few months which always results in a melt down / panic attack where I scream and rip my hair out, and shout unreasonable drastic thoughts at Jake like filing bankruptcy and cutting out unnecessary items like toilet paper, food, and water (but keeping the must haves like hair products, sweet digs and shoes) out of the budget. Poor guy always has to talk me off of the edge, get me to understand we really are doing well (especially when you take into consideration what we started out with as a couple... remember our first place in Hudson!?? Then our next place in St. Paul!?? That blue house!! Oh my God I can't believe I lived there alone for a while when Jake was away for the Army. I can't believe I'm not dead). So in doing this review of expenses, I finally calculated how much we're really spending on gas. I about shit a kitten. Seriously. SHIT A KITTEN.

Yes, I know. I'm well aware that Jake and I BOTH drive GAS HOGS. And of course, my gas hog has to make a pretty hefty commute every week. Every time I drive I can hear the sound of a straw sucking the very last remains of a milk shake from the bottom of a McDonald's cup. At $4.20/gallon, I'm spending $90/week to fill up that damn Envoy, which equates to $360 a MONTH. That's just for ME. And that's if I ONLY drive to and from work for God's sake. Jake doesn't have much of a commute, thank God, but come fall, we're dead. He travels up north about every damn weekend for 3 months. "Hi, straw sucking milk shake, here we come." I thought I felt trapped in the Redneck Riviera before I was paying attention to gas and all the money I'm wasting ... Now that I'm paying closer attention, I'm going to turn into the Nazi of driving, and a total hermit crab.

Jake: "Babe, I have to go to the store to get toilet paper. We have none left in the house and I have to take the kids to the pool."
April: "Oh no you don't. We can't afford the gas. Go get a leaf out of the back yard. In fact, grab a pile of 'em. We're not going anywhere for a while."

Dear Mr. Obama or McCaine: Please lower gas prices. Whoever says they're going to do something about that first wins my vote. You frickin' b.s.'ers.

Does anyone know how to MAKE wine?? I can't afford to buy my own and could really use a glass or 8 right now.

10 Months Old and Going Strong

Well, as some of you are aware, our "Little Beepa", "Bean Pie", "Stinky Bean", turned 10 months old this past Sunday. Hard to believe. Jake and I were just talking about how we can't even really remember our lives before Layla (okay, that's a slight exaggeration, but you catch our drift). She's brought so much happiness, excitement and peace (yes, I said peace) to our lives and continues to do so each day we wake up and walk into her bedroom to see her smiling face. And yes, she seriously wakes up each a.m., sits up in her crib, starts babbling and by the time we walk in, she's there to greet us with a GIANT smile from ear to ear with her eyes squinted. Melts our hearts, every time.

Yesterday, Layla had her 10 month check up. All went well (except for the part where they had to take blood to check her iron levels (routine)... she didn't like that they were trying to hold her arm in place but was fine after they let her go and just gave them a look like, "Don't TOUCH me!")... She's maintaining her weight at a solid 24lbs (down to the 97th percentile from the 115th, so that's good news, right?) and is 30 inches long. Ears are lookin' good and she's healthy as a horse (knock on wood). While we were in the dr's office, waiting for Layla's doctor to come in, the fire alarms went off and the entire clinic had to be evacuated. I was so rattled I almost ran outside with Beepa in only a diaper. Thankfully Jake was there w/his voice of reason. He looked at me like I was drunk and said, "Um, we're not going down in flames anytime soon, let's just put her clothes on shall we?" Uh, yeah, sure. Seems harmless. Our appointment was delayed by two hours only to find out that burnt popcorn was what triggered the alarms and brought the entire Hartford F.D. to the hospital. Nice.

Next week, our little big girl will be moving from the "young infant" room at daycare to the "older infant" room. My God! Where does the time go!! The biggest difference between the two rooms is that Layla will get to play with babies that are motoring around just like she is and she'll be sitting at a big girl table for lunch instead of a high chair. It'll be good for her, as the babies in her room now are too little to crawl and Layla thinks they're dolls. I remember when Layla was that little, and the older babies were learning to crawl. I used to get so mad and would complain to Jake about how the little germ mongrels were crawling all over her, dirtying her up and sticking their fat little fingers in her mouth. And there was nothing she could do about it because she was tiny and helpless and just laid there in her boppy! Now look, I'm a mama of one of those little "germ mongrels" who motors around trying to hug the "dolls". Awwwwe.

I'll post pics this weekend of our growing baby girl. Everyone keeps telling us how everyday with a baby / child is better than the day before. When they say it, we always think, "How can it get any better than this?" ... it always does.

This is where we live... Seriously???

Check it out... Hartford man, "clad in underware arreseted in robbery". Way to stay true to your home town dude.

I seriously anticipate seeing this on the next episode of "The World's Dumbest Criminals". What an idiot.

Like Father Like Daughter

Something we thought everyone would find interesting and adorable. Daddy's first parade and Layla's first parade! Spitting images of each other. I love their expressions!!!

Independence Day

So we have been having a little trouble getting the post we want with the pictures we want. My solution is to add a post and go from there. The Pictures below are from yesterdays big events. Layla got all geared up in her 4th of July outfit and we headed to the H-Town parade.(Lots of Tractors and souped up lawn mowers) When we got home Layla tried out her new frog pool. She really likes splashing around.

Happy Fourth of July Weekend Everyone!

Jake April Layla and Hudson.

Independence Day

Happy Independence Day to everyone!! This was Bean's first big 4th of July holiday. She got a good taste of why daddy is so fond of this holiday. We went to the Hartford parade (that's not why dad likes the 4th) to have some fun in the sun, then just chillin' in the nice weather for the rest of the day.
Tonight, the redneck riviera is sure to put one seriously illegal display of fireworks. Thousands of dollars are spent by the residents of Foxtail Drive alone on fireworks and explosives. They go as far as bolting their explosives to boards so they can detonate their display from afar. We're sure to have police in our neighborhood by at least 10:00 p.m. tonight. That, coupled with a frantic Hudson who is so afraid of fireworks you'd think he'd just seen the Grim Reaper himself carrying a giant dagger with, "Hudson, I'm here for you," etched in the blade with blood, will absolutely provide for some entertainment on this end.
Have a wonderful 4th of July, remember what this holiday is celebrating, be grateful for this wonderful country we live in, the freedom that we have and give thanks to the brave ones who have and continue to sacrifice their lives to protect the freedom we all too often take for granted.

Little Miss Independent

As promised... here are just a few pics of one of Layla's latest and greatest milestones. She is loving this little push behind walker thingie. She pulls up on it and stands all by herself. She'll push it forward about an inch at a time, but doesn't realize that in order to actually move with it, she has to also move her feet. She keeps those pudgy little tootsies just planted on the floor. Then daddy tries helping her with the steps. She loves it!! I love the look on her face first pic... little miss independent saying, "I can do it myself!!"

The other pics are of daddy's best helper, helping with the lawn mowing duties this past weekend. It's one of Bean's favorite things to do. In fact, she often falls asleep while dad's mowing. She pulls her hat over her eyes to block the sun, puts her head down and goes to sleep. Hysterical.