Long Day

A Happier Moment

I need summer, now. I cannot stand this cold weather anymore. I think Ireland has a major case of cabin fever. Today was not a good day, she was just cranky and whiny all day, and threw a fit when Chris picked her up. I am just so tired all the time, no matter if I get any sleep or not, I can't shake off this constant exhaustion. I need the sun. I know it will help me. After Ireland went to her dad's tonight I went and got a mani/pedi and it was wonderful. So relaxing just what I needed after this weekend. Yesterday I saw that the one I used to see wrote 'sorry' in the dirt on my car window,drivers side of course. Just what I needed to see, just made me more sad, I really, really hate liars. I wish people could just be honest. I better stop this now, too much whining in my life today, it's catching. Laundry is calling my name.

More pictures

Just a couple more pictures. I got this tatoo a couple weeks ago, it's Ireland's name, obviously and under it says Mo Chroi, which is Gaelic for my heart. I love it, and yes, it hurt like a bitch. That makes number nine for me, but I can cover them all, and yes I still like them all. The first picture is a little tribute to my Grandma that just passed since she bought Ireland this Elmo hat last winter. My baby is such a goof. Love her

17 months!

Just playing with my puppy

My baby is 17 months old today! How did this happen? The time has gone so fast, but I love every minute of it (well maybe with the exception of her giving me the flu twice) She is turning into such a little person. We have finally learned to climb down the stairs. She's been climbing up them since she was probably 9 mo old but now we can get down too so we're all set. I still keep the gate closed of course, she's only allowed to do this stuff with someone else with her. She talks all the time, still not too much english though. She says mama, puppy, kitty, bye, hi, go way (to the dog) and uh-oh. And last week for the first time ever, she told me NO! I was hoping we wouldn't pick that one up for awhile longer, but no, I was giving her lunch and she decided she was done with it, she shoved my hand back and said 'no mama'. She has almost all her teeth and she just wants to run, run everywhere. Sometimes she's a picky eater, and sometimes she'll chow down whatever you put in front of her. She wants to drink milk all the time, but I'm really trying to make her drink juice and water. She'll go to town with water if it's out of a bottle we are drinking, she always wants what we have, but she really doesn't want anything to do with juice. She's still having pooping issues, but no more trips to the ER. She loves putting our shoes on and trying to walk around. It's adorable. She sleeps alot, she'll go to bed around 10:30 and she doesn't get up til like anywhere between 10 and 11:30 the next morning. I realize how lucky I am for this since I work at night, but sometimes I worry about her sleeping this much, what if somethings wrong with her that I can't see? Is this normal, maybe just a growth spurt, or maybe she just got mommy's love of sleep? Did this happen to any of you guys? That's not to say she doesnt' still have her moments of no sleep no matter what. Especially when she comes back from Chris's house, it always takes her a day or two to get back to normal, he always screws up her schedule. That's life I guess. So that's my girl in a nutshell right now. She's fabulous and makes my life worth living every day. I just want to say thanks to my friends that are always there for me through the good and the really, really bad, you know who you are and I love you. Damn daylight savings, got to get ready for work.

What a week

Passed out on the floor after a long week!

Amy, Me, Ireland, Ashley, Kim and Charlie, my nephew

Ireland and mommy, and that damn paci!

Last week I had four glorious days off from work. I had taken Tuesday and Friday off to go along with my normal weekend of Wed/Thurs. I had big plans that involved nothing more than spending lots of time with my darling daughter. Unfortunately Wednesday my Grandma Simpson took a turn for the worse so Thursday Dad, Ashley, Ireland and I headed up to Applington to see her. My oldest sister Kim got a flight in from California that day and my other sister Amy picked her up at the airport in Moline and they headed to meet us in Applington. That was by far Grandma's best day in a long time. I honestly think she knew we were all there and wanted to be with us and say goodbye. Friday we headed back up there again, along with all my sisters, my mom, and my older sisters mom Paula. Needless to say this leads to lots of tension as my mom and Paula and Dad have to much bad history to ever make it right between them, but that was all put aside for my Grandma. That day was much worse and it was obvious she was fading fast. Saturday night I went to work and then Sunday morning I got a call from my Aunt saying Grandma had passed. She was 96 and she had a good life and she knew we all were there and loved her so that's what I try to remember. I was going to go to work that day because the visitation was Monday and the funeral was Tuesday morning but at 1 Ireland took a header off a chair and cracked her head on the windowsill. I didn't think she really hurt anything but that was the worst she's ever done so we took her first trip to the ER. The doctor said she was just fine, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. So Monday we headed up to Cedar Falls for the visitation. It was from 4 to 7 and when it was over Kim, Amy, Ashley and I went out to dinner. It's the only time in our adult lives the four of us have had any time to spend alone together and we talked about alot of things. It was really nice to know that what happened in the past was none of our faults and our parents completely handled it all wrong. But now we just want to move foreward and have lots of good times in the future, especially with all our kids getting older and getting to know each other. So that was really nice. Then Ash and I went back to our Grandma Crandalls to spend the night before the funeral. Ireland woke up at 1am screaming horrible bloody murder. I've never heard her like that and she was obviously in pain,she could not be calmed down. So off we went to the ER in Cedar Falls. My baby has never gone to the ER in her life and here we are twice in two days. She hadn't pooped in two days and was really constipated so they wound up giving her an enema and it finally came out. I hope none of you ever have to do that, it was awful. So she has to start drinking more juice and water even though she doesn't really like either one, she just wants milk all the time. Got home around 4am and the funeral was at 10:30. Kim, Amy, and I were pallbearers, Ashley couldn't do it cause she's 7months pregnant, and none of the rest of us have ever done that before but it went fine. After that was the luncheon and then we were back home to Des Moines. So yes it's been a very long week. We get three days of bereavement at work so I won't be going back until Saturday, and I really haven't missed it at all. In other news I finally got Ireland off the bottle! Sippy cups all the way for us now. However my child has had nothing to do with a paci for a good six months now. Then Ava comes over last week with her paci, and now we are obsessed with them again. What the hell? Hopefully she'll just forget about them again soon. The weather teased us for a few days and it was quite nice out, Ireland and I took full advantage of that. but now it's back to shit. Can't wait for spring so we can get outside to play, I know she gets cabin fever and I do too. Time to go finish some laundry while miss thing is napping.

Busy Girls

So cute in her coat and hat, ready to go!
Oliva, Ireland, and Ana at Grandma's party

So it's been a busy week for us. Sunday was my Grandma's 80th birthday party in Cedar Falls, and yes we can all thank my mother for planning it on Superbowl Sunday, like I could ever get that off from work. So I had to call in, but it was really nice, all the family (except my cousins in California) were there and it was really nice to see everyone. Ireland was getting over her bronchitis and ear infections but she was doing really well and had fun playing with everyone, especially my little cousins Olivia and Anna. Then Monday I stayed home with her until Chris came to pick her up for his weekend. Tuesday I went into work early and got off early as well so I got some sleep that night. Wednesday was bowling day of course, and my baby came home, Chris dropped her off at the bowling alley. She's always so excited to see me, it just melts my heart. But then of course she has a fit every time she has to be held by someone else so I can bowl. Wednesday night I went out for my birthday dinner with my girls. Jen, Jessica, Brianne, Amber, and Shannon and it was wonderful. No men, no kids, it's been forever since we've done that. We went to Ohana's and then to the bar for a couple of drinks and then realized how old we're all getting when we were on our way home by midnight, all tired. But that's the way it is now and none of us would change it for anything, and we had a great time. I really needed it as I've been dealing with some crazyness lately, but like they say, you're best friends will hate the same assholes you hate, and sometimes it really helps just to share the hatred with people who love you. So today is just a whole day I get with Ireland, which are of course my favorite days ever. She's napping right now and then I think we'll go shopping for a bit. The cold today is almost tolerable and tommorrows suppssed to be like 45 which is a heat wave compared to what we've been dealing with lately. God I hate winter. Tommorrows back to the grind, but next week I have four uninterupted days off with my little lady. So that's good to look forward to!

Sometimes

So here's what, I realize that I have a tendancy to let my emotions rule my mouth a lot of the time. I'm not sorry for what I say because when I'm saying it I definately mean it, but I usually come to realize I could handle some things better. So yes, the whole diaper rash thing made me very angry, that's my baby and she's suffering for no reason, but I don't want her dad out of her life. I want her to have a dad and I want her to always know that he loves her and would do anything for her, but it's just so frustrating sometimes. I wish he had the least bit of respect for me, like maybe to tell me he's having another kid before he posts it on the internet or to listen to me and do what I say when it concerns our daughter. That's what I want, easier said than done apparently. So yeah, that's how I feel about that. In Ireland news today, she has a double ear infection and bronchitis! My poor baby, we started the antibiotics today and she seems better already, happier anyway. The cough is a heartbreaker though. 5 days of meds and then hopefully we'll be good to go. Still gonna go to her dads tonight, he's sick too, hopefully nothing too serious, as angry as he can make me, I would never want anything to happen to him, Ireland needs a father. So I hope he feels better. I think I'm gonna go get my tatoo tonight, I got a gift certificate for it for Christmas so yay, free tatoo. I'm gonna get Ireland's name of course, on my arm. I'll post some pictures when I get it done. Then of course the boy will come over when he gets off work since it's a no baby night. Haven't seen him for two days since we both spend our weekends with our kids. So yep, that's the plan for the rest of the day. Also I feel the need to add that this is not a dramatic blog for your entertainment ( you know if I'm talking to you) So either understand that this is my life and this is how I feel, or f off and don't read it. To the rest of you, you know I love ya'll.

I hate computers

So sorry, our computer is being a peice of shit and will not connect to any form of the internet so I am using the lab top which I do not enjoy, hence the lack of posting. So what's been going on. Christmas and New Years were awesome. I actually got off work at 9 nye (since it was suppossed to be my day off anyway) and went out with Bri to ring in 2009. Good times. Thursday was my birthday, went to council bluffs with my boy and we had a really good time. Actually won some money too which is a miracle. He got me two dozen roses which are gorgeous, and was really sweet. He said he asked for 27 (since I'm 27 now, ugh) but the woman at the flower shop said it was tacky and wouldn't do it, seriously what a bitch. Today it's back to work as usual. Ireland has been running a fever the last two nights, but she's not acting sick so I've just been using tylenol and cool baths. We'll see how tonight goes, if it gets to103 she's going to the ER, last night it was 102.7, I hope it's just teething since she has no other symptoms. Her diaper rash is finally almost gone. How did she get diaper rash you ask? Why two visits in a row her lazy father couldn't go out and get her whole milk so he just gave her 2percent. Awesome huh? You can't do that, it's like switching formula on babies, you DON"T do it. And my poor baby had to suffer for it. I don't trust him anyway but now to know that he actually doesn't take care of her really upsets me. Why do you even want to be in her life? I have bad anxiety when she's gone now, I really can't stand it. I don't know what to do. Maybe when his girlfriend has her baby (yes she's pregnant again) he'll just leave my daughter alone. Honestly I don't know what to do anymore. But I promise if he ever neglects my daughter again very bad things will happen. So yeah, she is 15 months old now and I can't even believe it. She is just a ball of naughty energy. She runs around yelling mommy all the time so I can watch her do all her cool new tricks. She has only used the vomit against me once this year, on a 4 hour car trip. But please somebody tell me, HOW CAN I GET HER OFF THE BOTTLE? It is a nightmare. She'll take sippys but when she wants the bottle she will throw her sippy at me and throw tantrums until I give in, yes I give in I don't know what to do, she wears me down. So yeah, please help me. Gotta run, someone is very demanding today.