This should be interesting...

We're going camping.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!

Stay tuned for what should prove to be an interesting story. If we survive it.

Confidential to Casey - we're still on for tomorrow. I should be home by the time you're done swimming.

iLike my iPhone

I've had an AT&T Tilt for a couple of years, but the battery isn't lasting the way it used to. A new battery was $50. A new iPhone was only $100. Guess what I chose!

BJ is annoyed because now I am officially cooler than he is.

Boy is Apple slick. Their packaging is slick. Their interface is slick. I'm even thinking about going to a Mac next time I need to upgrade my laptop.

BJ will plotz when he reads that.

So, that's what I've been doing for the last 24 hours, more or less, trying to get everything set up and configured. iThink it's really going to help me keep up with everything at BlogHer.

Ok, I'll stop with the "iXXXXX" now. Heee...

We did take an iPhone break when Bumpa stopped by last night for a visit. The girls were so happy to see him. Then we took a pizza over to Karen's to play with her and her kids. It was a nice evening.

Today we're having lunch with Casey and her kids, probably at Chick Fil A, but first I have to find her phone number. It's in my old phone. I also need a shower and stuff.

I have an appointment with the brilliant Dr. Dave this afternoon. I haven't really talked about it on the blog, but basically I want to talk to him about boundaries and preschoolers and what's normal. I feel like the kids are touchier with me than other peoples' kids are with them, and I'm not sure if it's normal. MG has a real thing for my "squishy tummy" (I just love that adjective. *sigh*) and sometimes if she's stressed, she'll try to put her head under my shirt. In public. Delightful.

We went to the drive-in a few weeks ago, and Claire was cold, so I put her inside my shirt to keep her warm. Ever since, she's been putting her dolls and toys inside her shirt, with their heads through the neck hole of the shirt, and asking me to "go in." Sometimes I let her, depending on what shirt I'm wearing. Sometimes I don't. It depends on my mood, too, and where we are. Sometimes I'm just not in the mood to be that touched, and sometimes we're in a place where it isn't appropriate at all.

Whenever I lay down with either of them, usually to go to sleep, and sometimes if we're just sitting, their hands will find their way into my shirt and they'll rub my stomach. Again, sometimes I ignore it, but sometimes I can't (like if we're out in public) and I don't let them do it.

I guess I need to know if this is normal, if I'm damaging them by letting them do it, or not letting them do it. All the Sears books talk about how important it is to have "skin to skin" contact with babies, but none of them tell you when to stop!!

Bearing in mind that Claire is 28 months old and MG is going to be 4 next month, what do you think? Did your kids still use you as a security blanket at this age? Have I screwed them up (again), or is this normal?

Also, am I weird for going to a shrink over this? Hahaha... I really respect Dr. Dave when it comes to parenting stuff. He is really knowledgable, and just talking to them and hearing, "you're doing fine, your instincts are good," from an expert really helps me with my confidence. I could hear that from BJ, my mom, other moms, my sister... all day, but for some reason Dr. Dave's opinion carries a lot of weight. Maybe it's the Ph.D.

Then tonight, BJ wants to take the kids to Grandpa Ben's farm and go camping in the pasture! That'll be interesting! I predict that Claire and I are going to end up indoors. I'll take pictures and let you know how it goes.

I really need to find Casey's number and get a shower. What are you doing for fun this weekend?

Partly Cranky with a Chance of Narg

I keep losing track of what day it is. That's getting annoying.

It is Wednesday. I know that because I looked at the calendar. Today I went to the office with the kids (always an adventure) to pay BJ's quarterly taxes (a month late - whoops! It would be nice if quarterly taxes were due, you know, quarterly) and catch a few things up. I'm going to take them to the drop off program at the church tomorrow so I can spend a couple more hours there. Lucky me!

Then we went shopping. I would've found a bunch of great stuff if I were a 300 pound black woman. I need to have a very serious talk with the people who make clothing for women. It'll go something like this:

Not everyone who weighs more than 150 pounds can pull off leopard print. In fact, I think it would be good for all of us if you stepped away from the prints altogether. And while you're at it, can we please refrain from anything involving stripes? And polka dots? Seriously - I found a red top with two inch white polka dots that would look extremely cute - on Minnie Mouse! Can't we make cute, conservative clothes for those of us who weren't blessed with a love of exercise or a metabolism, and happen to be under 60 years old? Because I'll tell you what, if you don't start making cute clothes for women my age who look like me, then we're all going to start walking around naked, and none of us want that. I'm putting you on notice. If next summer's clothes don't meet my very simple requirements, I'm going to show up at your headquarters wearing nothing but a smile. Capiche?

Shopping makes me want to eat. Fortunately it's too hot and humid to even think about baking anything, or I'd be 12 cookies closer to the next size up.

I hate it when I get in this mood. I do NOT want to pass this on to my kids. I did find a few cute things for MG, which is good, because she's outgrown all of her summer clothes. The kid is solidly into 5s, approaching 6s. She's so tall.

That's the problem - I'm not overweight, I'm undertall.

A lot of the BlogHer girls are writing confessional posts about all their foibles so that we won't be surprised when we meet them and they aren't practically perfect in every way. I'm not planning on telling anyone that I snore like a lumberjack, or that I sweat like my dad, or that I can't hold my liquor until it's too late. I don't want them to find another roommate and make me sleep in the lobby fountain (although that would be convenient, because I wouldn't have to take the time to shower in the morning if I slept in a fountain... This idea has possibilities). The more I think about it, the more it feels like the Sheraton is going to turn into a college dorm in a week (a week! GAH!).

I did not love the dorm. I never really fit in with the other 7 Amys on my floor. Maybe they hated me for snoring. I don't know, but I'm getting that nervous dread thing... I'm about ready to sell my ticket to the highest bidder and stay home with my head under the pillow, sobbing.

It's because I went shopping. To hell with TJ Maxx. I am not going to let them ruin my fun. I can't possibly be the only person attending BlogHer who is a size 18.

There, that's my confession. I'm a size 18. Sometimes a 20. Sometimes a 16, but only because women's clothes sizes are so stupid.

I went to a PiYo class with Casey the other night and before the class I was complaining (to Casey) about a Facebook discussion I'd gotten into about breastfeeding. I told her I was going to write a breastfeeding book for people who aren't militant. Some random woman in front of me said something like, "They say that breastfeeding helps you lose your baby weight." "Oh REALLY?" I said, holding my arms out wide so she could see the exact size of my body, "Because I nursed my oldest for 28 months, two kids simultaneously for 9 months, and my youngest for a total of 22 months. I must have been doing it wrong!" She didn't say anything else.

I should have knocked her over when she was doing her sun salutations. I could've taken her. And knocking someone over might make me feel better.

I need a drink.

Having Too Much Fun

I have no excuse for the sporadic posting lately. We've just been so busy. Cate from Alaska came Friday and brought her beautiful girls. Iris is the happiest baby I've ever met. We've spent between 10 and 12 hours together, now, and I've heard the child cry exactly once.

Esther and Mary Grace are becoming the best of friends. Mary Grace has even told me that she wants to go to Alaska. When I told her that it's really far, and we'd have to drive for days and days, she said, "Well, we'll just have to fly in an airplane instead."

She has it all figured out.

As you might remember, Cate and I were best friends in middle school, then we grew apart a bit in high school, and then we found each other again on Facebook. It's amazing how similar we are, and how similar our choices are - particularly with our kids - even though we haven't really seen each other in 15 or 20 years. I mean, we never talked about natural childbirth or breastfeeding when we were twelve. How is it that our choices are so similar? It makes me think that there's a lot more to those early childhood friendships than we give credit for. Who we hang out with really forms who we become, in ways that I could never have predicted.

I've been astonished by how easily we've just picked up so many old friendships where they left off. I really love Facebook for bringing so many wonderful friends back into my life.

So that was Friday. On Saturday we were supposed to go to the zoo with a huge group of friends, but it was raining, so we went to the Children's Museum instead. I think we had about 20 people in our group, so it was impossible to stay together. We did manage to keep mostly together for the dinosaur exhibit, though.

It's funny how I have the same four pictures of my kids at the museum, at a dozen different ages, and with different friends. I know I've seen this one before:

They've opened the new King Tut exhibit, but you have to pay extra to see it. I didn't think MG and C would get much out of it, being only 2 and 3 years old, so we skipped it. They have opened the new Egypt exhibit though, and that was very cool (and didn't cost extra).

My kids are funny. They very rarely play with the pretend food at home, but at the museum they have pretend food in several of the exhibits, and I know this because my kids run to it like it's magnetic and they're metal every single time we're there. Maybe it's because the museum stuff is the size of real food, and our plastic food is in miniature. I don't know, but it's weird. Maybe the museum will tell me where they get their plastic food, so I can ditch the mini stuff (that, frankly, really hurts when you step on it!) and get some full-sized plastic food.

So, we played with the food. I ran into a guy I dated in college in the new Egypt exhibit. That was random. He lives in Indianapolis now, and has a daughter about MG's age.

Sunday I let my friend Casey talk me into trying her "PiYo" (Pilates/Yoga) class with her. I have just one thing to say about PiYo:

OUCH.

If yoga's so great for you, why was Yogi Bear so pudgy? I'm just sayin'...

Where was I? Oh, Monday... Monday we met Cate and her kids and my mom at the dairy and had a very mooooooving experience!

We got to see twin calves being born! Unfortunately, my camera died after we'd been there just a little while, so I don't have many pictures. We did get this cute one on a cow. Don't worry, PETA, it's not a real cow.

That's what we've been up to. Today I'm getting a haircut, and trying to catch up on all the things I've been neglecting at home. Like the bathrooms. Eek.

I am also trying to get ready for BlogHer. I can't believe it's only 9 days away. I've got my business cards, and my clothes. I am thinking about finding a new laptop bag. I have one that's really thin and light, but it doesn't have pockets or a shoulder strap. The one with pockets and a shoulder strap is really heavy. Plus, it's just plain black, so it'll look like every other laptop bag in the joint. I need to find something that'll stand out in the crowd - if nothing else so that I don't end up taking off with someone else's bag. Grocery shopping today, too. And the post office.

Hey, they can't all be super-fun outing days, right?

The Diaper Bag Diva

No, not me.... Kaydee is the Diaper Bag Diva, and she asked me to help promote her really cute website full of baby gear.

Since she loves me (or my blog, anyway), and I love you, we decided to throw a little giveaway! Just visit her website and choose your favorite item under $40. Simply leave a comment with your name, an e-mail address where I can find you if you win, and the name of your favorite product. In one week, I'll draw a name and the winner will receive that item from Kaydee. Choose carefully - there's lots of really cute stuff. If you don't have kids, or if your kids are past the baby stage, like mine, think of all the pregnant people you know who are going to be having showers (like Jill!!!) and enter for the gift you'd like to give!

Personally, I'm liking the Versailles Bowling Bag Diaper Bag (pictured above right). (Sorry I can't get the picture to be less grainy). What's your favorite?