Slow down, I'm getting dizzy....

• My sister stopped by last week to show me the cloth diapers she's been making. And they are cute, and certainly soft looking, but imagine my surprise when I realized that I recognized the fabric they were made from. I had lent her my baby stuff, and she had cut up the baby blankets. My heart cried. I took about two days of me whispering, "Let it go, just let it go" before I didn't feel like tearing up again. And even now my stomach clenches just a little. There were quite a bit that I didn't mind that she used, but there were two that were special. You moms out there know what I mean.


• My daughter had her 6th birthday last Friday. I can't believe I have a 6 year old. A child, no longer a baby. I decided not to do a birthday party this year, and we had the best time ever. The entire day was an Emilie day. She got a free meal coupon from a local restaurant, so we went there for breakfast. Then we went to a nearby town and used her $3 (free from their birthday club) gift card at Toys R Us. They gave her a special shopping cart that was decorated, a balloon, and a crown to wear, and she spent about an hour trying to decide how to spend her $5. (Yep, I'm a BIG spender. LOL) She was thrilled to come out of there with a gumball machine and a huge bubble wand, and I was thrilled that she had such fun and I only spent $1.40. We ate lunch at the park and she and Landon played for awhile, and then we headed to the mall. I had two $10 gift cards for Build A Bear, and a $10 off coupon, so she got to pick out a new Build A Bear, and also clothes and shoes for it. And I only spent $15.00. The kids played at the mall, and then I got them a pretzel to share and she also got to stop for an ice cream at the place down the road from us. She declared it "the best day ever". My mommy heart was so happy for her. We did go out to dinner the next night with my family...her favorite place (which, fortunately, happens to be my favorite place also) Jimmy Wan's Tai Pei, and my family met us there. The waitresses sang to her, and she got a free special dessert, and she told the owner's wife who had stopped by to ask if everything was good that it was "the best birthday meal she ever had". As we were leaving, I heard the woman telling her husband what Emilie had said. We came back home and had cake and ice cream, and she opened a few gifts from extended family. She had a lovely time. And I had a day where I honestly and completely enjoyed my children.

• We decided to get the kids a trampoline, and then changed our minds and we got them a swingset instead. A giant one. A wooden one. From Sam's Club. And it comes in 5 different huge boxes and says it will take two skilled people 24 hours to put it together. So yeah, my dad and I will be working on it for quite awhile.....
• Last weekend I picked up a dresser from a friend of mine. She graciously gave us a really nice heavy wooden dresser with a large mirror. Emilie has been needing one since her's kept falling apart, and there was only so much hammering and gluing I could keep doing to it. We took the old one out of her room and stuck it in the front yard with a "free" sign on it. A man came and wanted it, but said he didn't have room for it in his car just then, so he wanted to know if he could take two of the drawers out and then lay it down in the yard and come back for it later. Sure, no problem. Only, he never came back. So now I have a dresser that I can't give away because it has two missing drawers. Ugh. What a waste.
• Two of the neighbor girls came over on Tuesday and started whispering to Emilie. I don't like whispering around me, because I know that nothing good is being whispered about when a mommy can't know what it is. I had them tell me what was up.....apparently they had "found" a nest and it had two baby birds in it. They had carted it from one yard to another, tried to feed it ants, and were attempting to keep them warm by wrapping them in a bandana. Argh. I lectured them all about not touching baby birds, not messing with nests, etc, and then demanded that they bring me the nest and show me where they found it. Well, come to find out, they had knocked it out of the tree in MY YARD. By this time, they had been moving it around and carting it around for about 5 hours, so I figured there was no way these newborn baby birds were going to make it, but I figured I'd try at least. I stuck the nest back in the tree, wedged it in where it was before, and prayed that night that the mommy bird would come back. I had a dream that night that the mommy bird had, and I woke up the next morning, doubtful that it was true, but hopeful. I walked outside and looked up and just grinned from ear to ear. That was beautiful mommy robin, sitting on her nest. I've been watching her now for two days, and she is so lovely. But now I worry about when she pushes them out....I have to check that we don't run over them, I have to keep the cat inside, I have to watch that the dog doesn't get them when he goes outside. I feel like I just had two more children.
• I haven't been watching what I've been eating lately. Ugh. I feel ick. And I've gained back a few pounds. Double ugh.
• Got a nasty email from my stepmother-in-law. She wants me to tell hubby to call his dad so they can wish Emilie a happy birthday. She informs me that father-in-law is upset because we didn't call back after he left a message. If I were a person who cussed, I'd be muttering WTF right about now. Husband's father can be so childish sometimes. The world revolves around him. Nevermind that they called ONCE to wish Emilie a happy birthday, and that it was the day AFTER her birthday. Nevermind that they didn't send a card or a gift for her. And who calls only once and then gets mad about it? And why in the world is this something for me to be telling my husband about. If fil has an issue with husband, shouldn't he be calling him. A little backstory here...FIL left family when my husband was about 2 years old. Left for another woman, who he later married. Husband had an older brother who died when husband was in 8th grade (brother was a freshman in college). FIL turned nasty after that, and wrote husband horrible letters in which he said stuff like "why couldn't you have been a better son like your brother" etc. They didn't communicate at all for about 10 years. I sent him a letter after we got married, introducing myself, telling them what a fine man his son turned out to be, and then exchanged Christmas cards with them for a few years. I told them when daughter was born and I sent pictures, then they FINALLY got in touch with Brad and communication started up again. But that whole ten years of not speaking, and those horrible letters, and the rest....well that has never been addressed. At all. And somehow it all falls on my husband (and more so me) to be the ones to put forth the effort. FIL forgets that father's day isn't just about him....now husband is a father too. Anyway, I could vent for a long time more, but needless to say there is much I want to say when I respond to her email, and I'm not sure I should. Argh. In laws. And that's just half of them......
• May be headed to VA after the 4th of July to spend a week with my parents and kids camping. Sometimes that sounds like fun and sometimes it sounds like a nightmare, so I am undecided right now and whether I will or not. I'd rather they just took both kids and let me get a gazillion house things done around here.