Abigail's Birthday (Part 2)

As promised although a little later than I'd hoped here's part two :)

We finally make our way into the grocery store. In the foyer of the store, I grab a cart and put Angel in the big part and Abigail in the little seat. We then don't make it through the next set of doors before Abigail begins to climb out of the little seat, into my arms, and then climb down the front of my body right onto the floor. "I want walk" She says in her cute little two year old voice. Rather than fight it I just let her walk. It's slower in the store so I figure I won't lose her in any crowds.

 First things first as we walk in the door, Angel says "Can I have a cookie, Mommy?" I tell her that we of course can.

Just as soon as little Abigail's two year old ears hear this she starts yelling "Cookie! Cookie! I want Cookie! Want one!! Want one! Coookie!! Mommy! Mommy! Mama! Mama! Mom! Mommy! Mommmmmmmyyyyy Cooookiieee!!..." That continues right up until the cookie is in her hand.

And now after being at the grocery store for over 30 minutes and cookies in hand I can begin shopping. I pull out my list and get right to work starting in the bakery section and working my way down trying to be patient as little Abigail chews on a cookie, while staring into space, and walking three steps... five steps... 10 steps... behin... wait! Where did she go?? Where is she??

"Abigail?!?!"

There's really not too many people in the store, and I'm able to successfully follow her cookie crumbs to a few isles over. I grab her and what I need from that isle. "Out!" She screams as I hold her over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "I want out!!" She manages to wiggle her way down. "Abigail, stay with me. ok?" She gives me that little mischievousness grin of hers, turns around... and runs!

Meanwhile Angel is still in the cart... being.. Angel.

I run out of the isle we are in and to the main isle between the registers and the groceries. I'm standing at isle 2. I look down and she's at isle 12!! Luckily for me all the employees at this store know me and know my kids, and I see one of them reach out for her. She giggles and slides right past their grasp. Now me and another employee are chasing my two year old around the store. Once she is finally in my arms again she starts wigging her way back to the floor. I knew this wasn't going to work out. She's two now. She talks now, and she understands now, so I got down and held her face so her eyes met mine "Abigail." I said in my mommy means business voice "You have to stay with me or you have to ride with big sister! Do you understand me?"

Abigail replied with "bugabuga abba abba giddle giddle do do da... I... Baby... I... Know"

She then grabbed the bottom of the cart and said "push, Ad-jole(Angel)" Now we are getting somewhere. For the next 5-10 minutes things were working out great. Abigail is helping push, but then she decides to help me shop! She started grabbing anything she could get her hands on to throw onto Angel! "Abigail, we don't need that! Abigail! Put that back!" Each time saying "I want this!" Of course she was grabbing weird things too like olive oil and corn starch...

We do finally make it through shopping, but our trip is not yet over. We still have to wait for Cory. After we had the groceries in the car we had just a minute or so before Cory got off work. I knew we could freely walk around the store now and I could keep a really great eye on her. Unfortunately instead of a nice stroll through the store it turned into "Abigail! Stop! No! Put that down! Don't you run from me!!"

After about 10 minutes of that I thought it might be best to sit in the break room with some coloring books and crayons. Once we sat down Abigail found a back of chips and starts chomping away. I have no idea who they belonged to, but hey, they left a half full back of chips sitting on the break room table!

Angel starts coloring saying "Look at my pretty picture mommy!" Abigail starts scribbling very harshly on her paper and says "Adigadiga bebo bee bo... pretty! Mommy! Loook! Mommy! SEE??" I assure them they are both gorgeous pictures. Now that it's calmed down I decide to play a game on my phone while we wait. Just as my game loads I hear Angel say "Mommy! Abigail is eating a crayon! I look up and see little specs of black around her mouth and all over her tongue as she's spitting and spewing black crayon particles. I get up to grab a wet napkin to clean her up and while I've stepped away I look back back at the table only to find black scribbles all over the table!

Ok.. time to put the crayons away and leave the break room!

We head towards the bakery to see how my brother is doing. While I'm chatting, Angel is looking at cakes, and Abigail has made a fortress of solitude underneath the bakery display tables. She sits and watched the customers pick out bread and sweet treats. I've got a nice spot where I can stand and chat while watching her... We stayed there for the next 20 minutes while we waited for daddy... Yes.. my baby has turned... two...

Abigail's Birthday (Part 1)

I have two children. Angel who is six and in the first grade and Abigail who turned two yesterday. We had a small get together for her the day before yesterday with just a few family members to enjoy each others company and celebrate her bouncing through another year... Now anyone who has ever read any of my blogs where I mention Abigail you should know by now what I mean when I say bouncy...

Before I continue let me bring up my little Angel. When she was two we lived in a tourist trap of a community thanks to our beautiful beaches and almost each day we'd go to our local grocery store where little Angel would buy herself a banana and walk around the store eating it so calmly by my side. Everyone would great her and say hello. Most times my shy little Angel would hide behind my leg. After she would finish her banana she would hold on the the peel until we were near a trash can where she would reach up on her toes to dispose of it... I always heard of this saying called "the terrible twos" but in 2008 I thought this saying to be only a rumor.. and then.. well.. did I mention yesterday Abigail turned two??

Due to a few past shopping experiences I very VERY rarely take Abigail with me to the grocery store..  or really ANYWHERE for that matter..

While I once had my whole week organized and down to a science almost about how much money I spent and where I spent it, what days and how (based on sales, my budget and Abigail's nap schedule), I recently started back to work decorating cakes professionally for a very well established bakery in my area. This of course completely changed my typical routine... and hers... Now I shop when and where I have the time and energy to.

Yesterday after I got off work I came home only to realize that my cabinets were bare.  Because of Abigail's birthday get together, I had forgotten to do my grocery shopping over the weekend like I would have typically done, so I decided that once Angel got off the bus we would go to the store. This plan seemed fine, so I got Abigail all ready to go and we waited on the porch. My brother, Marc, who is car-less and staying with me right now came out to see if he could get a ride to work. (He just started working at the same grocery store as my husband, Cory) Sure, of course. We could all ride together and since Cory is getting off the same time that Marc is going in I'll just ride home with Cory. Angel gets off the bus. We load up and all is well.

When we get to the store I look behind me and see not one, but two sleeping children. Angel I knew wouldn't be a problem, but Abigail loves her sleep and gets very angry when you wake her up. I did what I had to do though. With Marc immediately gone to get ready for work I gently pick up Abigail and rest her head on my shoulder. The car door woke up Angel who simply climbed out and began walking to the front door.

Abigail's eyes open and she sees her big sister walking beside us. She starts squirming her little body out from my arms yelling "out! out!" I put her down on the side walk and look and Angel who is walking... bare foot...

"Angel, where are your shoes??" I asked
"I took them off in the car" She said
"You have to wear shoes. Go get them. Abigail stay here with us."

As Angel heads back to get her shoes I look up and see Abigail standing there staring at me with her most adorable mischievousness grin. Her body slowly turning the other direction. "Don't you run, Abigail!" I yell.

"Mommy, don't leave me!" Angel says

"I'm not! get your shoes! Abigail! Get back here!"

So I'm chasing Abigail while keeping my head turned towards Angel. I grab her and run back to Angel who gets her shoes. "Mommy let's find a bench for me to sit on to put on my shoes" she says. I'm fine with that. I'm patient. Let's do that. I'm holding Abigail who has now wiggled so much that I'm holding her side ways on my hip with my arm around her waste. Her feet are dangling behind me. Her little hands are clutching at my arm and she is yelling "Out! Out!" (That's her way of saying put me down).. Let me point out that we haven't even made it into the front door yet!

Abigail manages to wiggle out of my arms and takes off.. I start to chase her as Angel yells "Mommy! Wait! Mommy wait for me!"

"Hurry, Angel! I've got to get your sister!!"

and now that Abigail is waking up for the morning this story will be continued later... at nap time...

...with Noah and Brooklynn

Lately I have been doing my cousin a favor and occasionally watched her two children. It's been a very interesting a fun couple of weeks for me. (I've totaled about 4 babysitting days now in the past two weeks)

The first day I had them was last Wednesday. I agreed to it before I realized Angel had T-ball practice that night. Once Angel got off the bus I decided to take the kids to the park and then we could all go to practice. I got in the car only to realize I had no gas and no way to pay for it other than a check. This was not that big of a deal. It only meant I'd have to drive about 5-10minutes out of the way to get to the gas station that took checks.

On the way to the gas station I noticed Brooklynn climbing out of her car seat. I must point out that I had to wash this car seat earlier and I apparently didn't put it back together right! We got to the gas station and I had to pull her out, sit her down in the drivers seat and take apart and re-put back together the car seat. Meanwhile Noah has taken off his seat belt and is walking around the inside of my car Yelling to me "Can I get out? Can I help?". Abigail has decided this would be a good time to scream at the top of her lungs, so Angel has her ears covered rocking back and forth in her seat. Did I mention Brooklynn had figured out how to honk the horn?

Once I got the seat fixed and figured out I grabbed all 4 children ages 6, 3, 1, and 1 and we headed towards to entrance of the gas station. While inside they each wanted a drink. I figured since we were going to the park it might be a good idea, so I took these 4 young children all through the store in search of the children's drinks which they had moved since last time so they were hard to find! I also remembered I was out of milk.

We then made our way to the counter. I got their drinks, a gallon of milk, and my gas and explained that I'd be back for the drinks and milk once I'd safely buckled my children. Unfortunately I still had to attach Brooklynn's seat and it just happen to be in the middle in between Noah's car seat and Abigail's. Somehow after 15 minutes of working with everything while the three youngest were running around the inside of my car I manged to get everything in a working order and all children buckled. The cashier was nice enough to bring me the drinks and even help open them all while I pumped! 45 minutes later we headed for the park. We got there just in time to go to T-ball practice!

Luckily I have great patience when it comes to young children because despite the fact that my couch had now been peed on twice I agreed to watch them for two days again this week. Yesterday I took the kids to kidsfest at harborwalk. I had one baby strapped to my side and the other riding in the stroller with the older children holding onto each side. We only stayed there for an hour because there was nothing for the babies to do and all the fun stuff cost too much money at this free event.

Even though we went potty as soon as we got there and again just before we left... It seemed that no sooner than I started the car Noah screams "I have to go to the bathroom!!" "Well, Noah, you really do have to try and hold it."

I raced to Wal-Mart as best as I could without breaking any laws. We go inside head straight for the bathroom. "Do you need help, Noah?" I asked...

"No Ma'am." He says

It's quiet for a minute. Then he says "I pooped." Very calmly

"OK, are you done then?" I asked

"yeah, but I pooped on my underwear and on the floor"

I opened the bathroom stall and sure enough there is poop down his legs, on his shoes, underwear and all over the floor. "Noah?? What happened??" I asked

"I couldn't get my shirt off in time" He said

It slipped my mind that 3 year old boys like to get completely naked before pooping.

Once we got all that cleaned up as best we could, we picked up a few things and headed towards home... and just as soon as I started the car Noah screams "I have to pee!!"

"Noah! You were JUST in the bathroom!!"

"I have to pee real bad!"

"Well hold it and I'll find someplace as soon as I can!"

Grabbing himself with a look of concern Noah said "Yes ma'am"

I managed to find what looked like a closed business building with several trees. I parked in a way to where no one could see. Brooklynn had fallen asleep at this point and Angel was well on her way so I knew I couldn't take everyone out again. I figured this would be easiest. Noah took care of his business and we headed once again towards home.

After about 5 minutes of quiet Abigail started screaming. I'm driving and can't even try to reach a cup or mouth plug (pacifier). I find a parking lot and pull over. Noah screams "I have to pee!!!"

ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?

"Ok, Noah... go behind that dumpster"

"yes ma'am"

I find a mute button (pacifier) just as Noah climbed back in. Abigail quiets up. We cross over the 331 bridge and Noah screams "I have to pee!!!"

Wow... I wanted to make him wait but remember my poor couch I pulled over again and helped him to the edge of the woods. We got back in and soon Noah was fast asleep too. Even though I knew I'd be home in about 10 seconds I cranked up the music and kept driving...

Luckily this whole experience has helped Angel to understand what happens to baby boys...

They turn 3!

So instead of asking when she can get a baby brother she explains that we need to wait until Abigail grows up so that he won't be a bother to them...

In the Making

Due to the many request to see my progress as I go I decided to post my most recent work as I went on facebook. Here are the pictures of it from beginning to end... so here it is in a series of 10 images from beginning to end... the girl on a horse:

What's coming up!

I finally finished Vol. 5 of Teta's Adventures, which appears to be the last of the series. It's been really exciting to see my pictures in print like this. Angel claims that these books were written and illustrated just for her. As long as I live I plan to keep that idea in her head! I love it when she carries her copy of the book around saying "this is one of the books my mommy and her friend made just for me!" I'm really looking forward to getting started on some new books! I've decided that illustrating children's books is probably one of my most favorite things to do!

Right now I'm still working on a custom picture of the girl on the horse. I've got it all completely sketched out. Next I'll add the color. I try to make my custom pictures as realistic as possible without making them look too realistic. Sometimes I purposely leave out details so the picture doesn't look so much like the picture that it doesn't look I actually drew anything. I will be sure and post pictures once I've added color!

For all my girls...

Today was a very interesting day for me. To start with, last night, I had to work concession stand at the ball park so Angel and Abigail hung out at my brothers house. I was out way past their bed time. Abigail is usually in bed by 7pm, but last night she was up until after 10pm. Needless to say this morning she slept in.

She normally wakes up between 7:30-8am every morning, so at 9am I decided to check on her. I walked in and saw her eyes half open. As soon as she noticed me they were wide open and she jumped pointing to her cup I had in my hand saying "oohh oohh" I reached my hand out and said "Are you ready to get up?" On a normal morning Abigail would jump up and reach back for me. This morning, however, she shook her head, snatched her cup and curled up with her blanket, and it was right back off to dreamland for her.

I had made plans for my nieces to spend the night with me. I thought we'd make a trip to Destin and see what we could find to do down there. I knew Abrakadoodle had some things going on at Grand Boulevard between 10am-1pm that I thought might be fun. Once Cory came home I decided Angel and I should go get the girls while I let Abigail continue to sleep. I figured I'd pick her up on our way back through.

At 11:30 I was at Perry's house getting his kids. We chatted for a few minutes and then I headed back home. It was a nice day, so rather than have the air on I let the girls roll down the windows. A few miles passed Perry's house I all of a sudden heard a hissing sound. I thought nothing of it because I figured it was probably one of the floats in the back (We keep floats in the back of the car because you never know when you might go to the beach). Then I heard a loud "thump thump thump thump..." and could smell burnt rubber... I knew exactly what had happened! I immediately pulled over and sure enough.. there was a hole ripped right into my back tire. I called Perry and he came out and helped me put on the donut. By the time I got home it was now 12:30pm.

Abigail was still sleeping. I knew I would need to find a tire and we probably weren't going to make it to Destin, so we had some lunch instead. Abigail finally got up at 1pm and we set off for the DeFuniak Walmart. Once we got the tire taken care of we headed to the park. This park had a water splash area and even though we didn't come prepared to get wet... I of course let them!

Around 5pm we headed home. I had them strip down to almost nothing so my car wouldn't get too wet. We came home, had baths, and made dinner. Then I had them all set out clothes for tomorrow. After we ate and got everything cleaned up we all went to bed. It was now 7:30pm. About that time Cory was getting up to get ready for work. We all fell fast asleep...

Then at 11:30pm something woke me up... I got out of bed and checked on each of the four girls. They were all sleeping soundly. As I walked through the hall the thoughts crossed my mind.. as they often do.. "if something were to happen to Perry I'd be responsible for the well being of his children. Weather I were granted actual custody or not being their aunt and being my brother's sister, if anything were to happen to them I would absolutely be responsible for their well being."

I came back to my room and got in bed. I turned netflix onto my TV and watched a documentary called "Dear Zachary". I do not cry easily... period... I was once a very sensitive person, but through the years I've learned to keep that in and "toughen up". I suppose having 3 brothers can do that to a girl. This movie though... made me cry... hard... in part due to the story, but also in part due to the creators ability to make this story so real to me.

It's now 2:40am and I'm still awake. Partly because I'm still in awe of the movie. Partly thinking about my thoughts before the movie. Knowing how much I really love all those kids. Even my brother's children which I claim a stake in. They are mine.. as in they are MY nieces. Even more than that I really do love them as my children. I know my brother loves them too with all his heart, but knowing everything they've been though and how strong they've had to be I feel a particular need to make sure they are aware that they are very much loved, and are very important to me.

I never felt all that important as a child. I was unaware of how much love my parents had for me until I was an adult. I fear that same feeling for both mine and my brothers children. It's my goal that they know now and forever how much they are loved.

Getting my Work Done

I spend most of my mornings on projects. Having a toddler at home I have to take advantage of all of her sleep time, so my morning starts at 5:30am with a cup of coffee. I get Angel's lunch and breakfast ready and wake her up while we have meaningful conversations about dreams, flowers, and butterflies... or whatever else her 5 year old mind can come up with!

Once Angel is on the bus I have about 1 hour to work on art projects... two if I'm lucky!

Here is one of my most recent. It was a gift for my mother in law.





I used these pictures for the drawing...



Don't worry! I take advantage of her nap time too! She goes down for about an hour before lunch and then another 2 hours after lunch. (Yes! Be jealous that my baby sleeps so long!) The truth is even if she doesn't sleep I still put her in her crib during nap time where she stays fairly quiet. She knows it's quiet time, and I love that about her!

Right now I'm working on the last few pictures for Teta's Adventure's Vol. 5. You can find Vol. 1-3 at amazon.com. I didn't do the art for Vol. 1, but my very talented cousin did!

I'm also working on a custom drawing for someone. Here's what I've got so far... Can you guess what it will be?

Introduction

Some of you might be reading this wondering:

Does this girl really think she's got herself so well put together that she can write a book about it?

To answer that 100% truthfully and honestly.... YES!

I think I inherited an interesting trait from my dad. When I was really young my family was a hard core church going family. We stopped that when I was about 6 or 7. The reason is because my parents (my dad in particular) began a quest to discover the meaning of life, happiness, and religion. after about 10 or 15 years he started to figure things out and live his life in a simple and more meaningful way. Of course by this time I was an adult myself and started to notice I too was on my own quest to discover the meaning of life, happiness, and religion. Luckily for me I was a very observant child and paid attention to much of what my dad did in his younger adult years...

So now I really can say that I've got it together... I'm grateful that I'll be able to place these principals I've learned into my children while they are young... This blog is going to give you a little insight on how I got there and how I try and stay there....