please help

how did/do you get your toddler to go to bed? seriously, need some help and suggestions here. we've tried everything. it's a 20-90 minute ordeal depending on the night, and I can't hang. I'm going insane with this.

please help. please leave suggestions here or email me or link me to where you've written about it before.

and if you have bonus ideas on getting a toddler to sleep past 5:30, we'd appreciate those too.

thanks in advance.

weekend update

I would like to dedicate this post to dad, for his unwavering patience and love of the person I am. you said you had fun yesterday and I hope that's true. we will go again, and we will rock, and I will drink ahead of time so I'm easier to lead. I love you. happy father's day.

four years ago, I gave my boyfriend salsa dance lessons for Christmas.

this year for father's day, I finally came through. the only glitch was the salsa class was moved so we had to do swing. actually, no glitch, dad just wants to dance.

so there we were yesterday, ready to dance, after 5 hours of sleep, and no lunch, having forgotten to eat before the 4 hour workshop because of frantically getting the girls ready for the sitter. whew. and dance we did.

at first, dad embarrassed me, which he is very good at doing in any venue with music playing. next, we danced. and this is a problem because he is supposed to be dancing and I'm supposed to be following.

I'm a very controlling person. yes, I'll admit it. I like things done my way. and when it comes to dancing, I have a really hard time letting go. this was okay at first. we were learning the basics and it was good for me to focus on what we were doing. however, I started to notice my sweet husband's frustration with me around the start of hour two. unfortunately for him we were in a public place so he couldn't just yell at me to stop it. I tried to tell him I knew I was not doing a good job at following, that I was trying, that I would stop.

but I couldn't. I don't know why. I don't know if it just was the control freak in me or something more sinister hiding deep enough to remain unnoticed. I tried to tell him everything he was doing wrong, how to fix it, and damn it -- I couldn't just RELAX and have fun.

and here's where I see my perfectionist side collide with the control freak. how did dad ever come to be able to live with me anyway? I had to do it perfectly. we had to do it perfectly. forget that neither of us had ever been swing dancing, or had any sort of dance lesson. that doesn't matter. if I'm going to do something, I do it right. and get really frustrated and upset if it doesn't happen right away.

I guess I thought 4 hours was enough time to become a professional swing dancer. that we are that awesome. that "workshop" means completely proficient and ready for Dancing With The Stars or some shit.

but alas. we are just so-so. but that is what is expected after one lesson. and I'm okay with that. now.

towards the end, I was finally able to relax and let dad lead. and it turns out we are pretty good. too bad this only lasted a little bit since our exhaustion and low blood sugar caught up with us around the same time. we stumbled, we laughed, and we left on a good note with plans to go again.

continuing, as planned

five hours of sleep.

swing dance lesson.

fun.

too late to be up.

tomorrow...

for the record, I'm 5' 7"

this morning I was lamenting to myself that I had nothing to say, yet I have a blog to update, so come up with something, and it better be good.

and then I remembered that I had to go pee in a cup and give blood for life insurance testing. surely something would occur there to write about.

and it did. and now I'm really mad.

the usual routine went like this: pee, get weight, get height, get blood pressure three times, get blood, see ya.

my routine went like this: pee, get weight, get height, no really get height, get blood pressure three times, get blood, for the love of god get my height, see ya.

here's the discrepancy. since turning 13 I have measured 5 feet and 7 inches. always dead on. never wavering no matter where I'm measured. until about 6 weeks ago when I measured 5 feet and 7 1/4 inches. cool. taller I can handle.

today's results: 5' 6 1/4"; 5' 6 1/4"; 5' 6"

seriously? shrinking? an inch in 6 weeks?!?!

the first two times I thought, this thing must be off. dad was measured here wednesday and also was surprised to hear himself almost an inch shorter than usual. but the third time a different person was brought in to reevaluate.

still not convinced.

so I promptly measured myself upon returning home. and in an attempt to prove to the world my true height, the following photo montage:

photo 1 next to the measuring tape

photo 2, not much better

this is getting funny

put a book on your head, that will help show where you measure up to. right...

okay, like as a kid, put a mark on the wall.

I don't know, that looks pretty close to the 7, right? I used two 60-inch measuring tapes, with this 7 coming off the second. that makes 5 feet and 7 inches. or pretty damn close to it.

now we just have to measure dad. and call the lab to tell them their chart's off and I'm not shrinking.

and I had to add this, because it's adorable.

theme days

thanks to secret mom thoughts, I've got two more theme days I will try and incorporate next week: "ticked off tuesdays" and "then and now thursdays". the then and now may be a little hard as my photographic documentation is missing from most of my teen years, but I'll try and see how it goes.

so that brings me to 4 theme days. that should be good.

see you tomorrow.

ready for this?

I am going to attempt a blog a day for 365 days.

just cause.

and I'm sure this will only last about, oh, a week or so. I do start school again next week after all. however, that also means I will constantly have my laptop with me, so maybe there will be 2 or 3 (gasp!) blogs a day during the week.

I think I will also start more themed days, at least to begin. that should alleviate the need to really come up with something good to say, every day. I already have "weekend update" on sundays, and will add "wardrobe wednesday" next week, done by many and inspired by this fine lady.

any ideas for others? I figure if at least 3 or 4 days have themes, I can do this.

and since I just noticed I already have done a blog a day since sunday, we'll count that as day one. look at that! day 4 already. that was easy.

bug update

the bug sent to me from New Mexico is actually an arachnid from the family Solifugae. they can bite humans, but aren't venomous. and apparently they're really fast. they are known as sun spiders, wind scorpions, and camel spiders. these guys are found all over the world in hot, arid areas, hence a New Mexican high desert origin for our visitor.

I wrote to my mom to see if she knew what it was and it was identified as a "child of the earth". this name applies to the creature above, and this scary looking thing, known as a Jerusalem cricket:

I'm not sure which I'd rather have arrive in the mail. but I'm sure the cricket would have met the same fate as the sun spider did.

neighbors

our downstairs neighbors have moved, and all prospective neighbors have come looking during naptime. I feel this is completely unfair to the poor soul who sees the cool place below us. the apartments here aren't bad, with beautiful hardwoods, lots of space and lots of light. but there is little sound-proofing.

all I know is hd doesn't walk anywhere. she stomps.

and that must suck if you live below us.

cause really, how much could area rugs deaden the noise anyway.

and did I mention she has officially entered the constant whining/tantrum phase and never sleeps past 6? and that we have another one who will inevitably be walking around before your new one-year lease expires?

like I said, poor soul.

Weekend update

last week we received a most wonderful package of goodies from grandma Olsen that included this:
I was putting all the packaging away when I saw something in some of the plastic. I looked closer and found the above, immobile, even when the plastic rattled. I thought it was dead. the biologist in me was all, look at this cool thing, wonder what it is. so I poked it. and it moved. and I freaked.

that plastic went right back in the box where it was sealed until dad could get home, take pictures and kill it.

now the biologist in me is all, what a wuss, it's just some bug, you've seen dead bodies and stuff and didn't freak. but I don't know what it is or what kind of damage it could have done to me or my lovely family (who I would like to remain lovely).

any ideas as to who our visitor from New Mexico was?

in other news, we went berry picking today and got tons of raspberries, blackberries and blueberries. there is something quite satisfying about picking your own food. just to see where it came from and see who grew it is cool. and hd loves running around on farms. so many rows to run up and down, chickens to see, and berries to pick and eat.

actually, she called them boobies. we picked boobies today. hee hee.