Happy Halloween.

So take a look at my little monster!! This is Jacob terrorizing the dog with his mask on. He chased poor Loki around and around.

Here he is as my lil vampire. He got a great kick out of these masks from my mom's house that I borrowed.

And here I am. I'm not in my costume yet. This is just what I look like on a Monday morning. Ha!

No seriously, Halloween is my favorite holiday and I love the gruesome part of it.

I'm crying it out right along with him.

Danny cried himself to sleep tonight and it broke my heart, but I HAD to do it. He sleeps through the night with out any problems, but getting him down is a major issue and it's my own fault. I'm weak and couldn't let him CIO. I knew from the beginning that I should be working toward this goal because I didn't do it with Jacob nad I paid the price. And so has Jacob, unable to fall asleep by himself, always needing one of us to lay down an dsnuggle with him.
I'm home in the evenings by myself and I'm the one who has to put the kids to bed everynight. At first Danny would fall asleep in my arms and I could put him to bed where he would sleep through the night. Then it switched to him falling asleep in my arms, then a transition to the sofa for 20 minutes before the final move to the crib. Then another step was added...I would have to go get him out of the crib an dhold him for a little bit to get him to fall back asleep and then into the crib. Finally all hell broke loose this week (bad timing as I was overworked and overtired) when Danny started screaming about 15 minutes after I put him down. We would repeat the routine and 15 minutes later he would wake screaming again. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
My ugly side came out. The part of me I loathe. The part of me that yells at my children. I'm ashamed. I yelled at my 6 month old baby. Who does this? I realized I was not coping with his sleeping habits. (Add in a 2 year old who still needs me to lay down with him at night and has been staying up until 10 or 11. I get up at 5:30 am and was having no time to unwind from my day....I know excuses).
So tonight DH was home and I said I have to let him cry it out. I had already tried the "Ferber method" and it only made Danny more upset. So I made the decision to let him cry (well scream actually) without going in to reassure him. It took 14 minutes and 45 secs for him to stop crying and it broke my heart. DH is home again tomorrow so I'll do it again. Someone please tell me it gets better.

Fences Make Good Neighbors

....and I wish I had a bigger fence.
My neighbors drive me nuts. They are in no way in league with Kether's neighbor's, but still annoying. So we share a driveway, which has always been a headache. Basically we never park in the driveway because we would have to pull over onto our walkway essentially blocking the walk up the house. However, we do occassionally pull in to unload kids, groceries, supplies, etc. Well our neighbors have these huge trucks, monster trucks. They take up the majority of the driveway, including our part. We have let it slide. I should also mention that I think 5 people live their, but there are at least 7 vehicles + a trailor for an ATV (which is also parked in the alleyway between our houses). So today I come home and I can barely walk up my path and get up my stairs b/c they have 2 vehicles parked there. Good grief people...show a little respect.
Well I decided to be passive/aggressive and turn off my porch light later in the evening when I realized they were using the light to continue working on their crap.
You know, if they were pleasant, maybe I would be a little more forgiving, but they have never really been helpful at all.
Last year they changed their tires and threw them out on garbage night in front of our house. The city wouldn't pick them up right away. I could have potentially been fined for trying to throw them out. And last winter when I was very pregnant with Danny, not once did they offer to shovel my sidewalk. Ethan works evenings and if it snowed in the afternoon or at night I had to shovel. They would be out there at the same time as me and just do their property.
I'm just so sick of this me,me, me mentality.

Read my lips

Man nothing makes me crankier than when I put on a pair of jeans and they are so tight I can barely breathe.
I can only blame the dryer for a certain amount of the tightness, the rest is all me. I had to wear a pair of these tight jeans to work the other day (I am really behind on laundry). Well I was bitchy nad cranky all day. I looked fine because my shirt was long enough, but I could barely squat down and my job requires alot of bending and squatting.
Ugh, as soon as I got home I threw on some sweats and had some cookies. Yeah, that meade me feel better.

Come Sail Away, come sail away with me

I don't know about you, but I would go anywhere with this sailor.




What a ham. He loves his little tootsies.

Way Back Wednesday!!

Here we go...it's heavy petting time thank to TKW

I could only find pics of my dog Loki. (For some reson the cats don't like to pose with the baby or toddler...I wonder why?)



I hope you enjoyed. Loki is a 145lb Akita that I bought for Ethan one Christmas. He's a great protector and is wonderful with the kids.