What You've All Been Waiting For

For the time being, I'm going to try and just post to blogger because I already know blogger and I found a hack for posting in chronological order that I'm hoping will work. You can find the first post at http://comewhatmay-thenovel.blogspot.com/
sometime tonight. Kids are finally in bed and they've been especially fun today so we may not start out with much of a bang, but at least we are starting, right?

Now that we've got that all out of the way, we can return to your regularly scheduled "look how cute my kiddos are" fest.

We Have a Winner!

Well, really there are several. But the main two are....dun, dun, dun, duuun:
Holly and Debbie
To keep it mysterious, I won't tell you which of Holly's Debbie's summaries I'll be mixing.

I've decided to combine several of your plot summaries. And in gratitude for all of your contributions, you will all have at least one shout out based on your contribution. For example, there will be:
an IT guy named Isaac
some fleeing south of the border
a pet named Satu who may or may not have magical powers
a probation officer named Annie
an Aunt Alice
and small town shell shock

You all rock! Now, send me your addresses if you want your goodies!
anonaly (at) gmail (dot) com

I told myself that I would not make myself commit to anything until Emiline was 4 months old. That will be tomorrow. So you can expect something to read and a place to read it (I'm still trying to figure out the best venue for posting, thoughts anyone?) tomorrow! Yikes!

Now I understand why my mom cried when I cut my little sister's hair.

Monroe women have kind of been known for their long, thick hair. How do I know this? When I chopped all mine off to just a few inches long in college (and dyed it purple) people from my home ward took it as a sign of filial rebellion. Several people even said things like "it's just not like a Monroe to have short hair." My mom cried when she saw it. I liked it. I thought it was spunky and fun. Since then, I've been a threat to my mother's desires to have daughters with long hair. Well, and when I cut my youngest sister's hair. More tears by mom, but a satisfied sister. My mom made me swear that I wouldn't cut any of her children's hair ever. I took the oath and then she said in bewilderment, "why don't you like long hair?" I never understood her passion and her tears. Until Wednesday.

Eric and I decided to get Jane's hair cut again and even it out. It wasn't really looking bad, but it was really wispy in places and would get snarled so easily I thought it might help. And I had a GREAT coupon for JCPenny's (no sitting fees! and 3.99 sheets!) so we were going to do family pictures (I knew if we didn't do it now at the beginning of the semester, I'd have no chance until after Christmas). After waffling a bit, I decided to get her hair cut before pictures so her two year old pics would be with her new hair instead of with her baby hair.

I should have read the signs better. There were a series of meltdowns before we even got to the haircut place. Jane was supposedly excited about getting her haircut. I'd told her the day before (which is key to getting things done with my lady) but when we got there, she melted at having to sit in the chair. So the stylist did a super fast job bobbing it and when she, with a flick of her scissors, chopped off all Jane's baby hair, I almost cried. It hurt! I looked at it on the floor and immediately regretted my decision. And when I saw the result, well, I didn't cry. But I wanted to. It looked a bit like a long bowl cut and all I could see was her striking resemblance to some Ludlow boys at her age (her dad and uncle, her cousin Jason). Eric thought it looked fine, by the way.

Now, these pictures are the best it has looked and took me great pains and tremendous effort to make it look this way, especially since My Lady is afraid of both the curling iron and the blow dryer. And to be honest, I don't mind it here. It's even starting to grow on me.

This picture gives you an idea of how the shoot really went...lots of tears from both girls. *sigh*
But we did get some good shots. Or good enough ;-)

Lots of Changes

Yesterday Jane told me she wanted to wear panties. The conversation went like this:
Me: Jane, let's change your bum.
Jane: I don't want to.
Me: We have to change your bum before we can eat breakfast. Do you want to eat breakfast?
Jane: Breakfast? Ummm, OK.
Me: Come here so I can change your bum.
Jane: No! No, No, No, No, No Mommy! Jane d-d-d-d-d-doesn't want to. (she's started stuttering lately)
Me: Jane, that sounds yucky! Talk nice please. (I say this a million times a day)
Jane: Pretty, pretty please!
Me: Say, "No thank you Mommy, I don't want to."
Jane: S-s-s-say no thank you Mommy, I don't want to change a bum.
Me: Oh that was very nice! Thank you Jane! Now I know you don't want to change your bum, but sometimes we have to do things we don't want to.
Jane: Mouse diaper? (Huggies have Micky Mouse. Emiline and Joey both have huggies right now, so Jane wants them to, she has Target brand or polka-dot diapers).
Me: We don't have mouse diapers for Jane.
Jane: Panties?

And in my brain I thought! Yay! Jane is wanting to potty train! Let's go for it! Woo Hoo! When, in actuality, she just wanted to NOT where a diaper.

But we took a whirl at potty training anyway and four wet pairs of elmo panties later with no successes, a missed nap (Jane's...and mine), and a tired, ornery mom I found myself dismantling Jane's crib. (She peed on her sheets, too, by the way). I didn't plan it and it wasn't like I didn't have other household jobs calling, nay SHOUTING, my name, but I just felt like I needed to push Jane along somehow into transitioning into being Big, that I needed to expect this of her. She's been going through this thing again where she wants me to carry her everywhere, but only when I'm holding the baby, I thought we had that licked. And the defiance and the whine were really ramping up again (although, she's ages better than she was pre-Zyrtec. Did I mention that the Doc put Jane on a nightly dose of Zyrtec for suspected allergies and she has been a different kid since?) And obviously potty training that day was a bust. And we need the crib for Emiline soon.

Then I went about finishing the bed rail that I had bought supplies for back in March. And, get this, Jane is scared of most loud appliance noises: blender, popcorn popper, hair dryer, vacuum (although we had a vacuum breakthrough the other day), but what does she do when she hears the jig saw or the drill power up? Comes running into the room and shouts "building!" She had a ball helping me unscrew the crib.

So yeah, Jane transitioned into the big girl bed with no fanfare and no problems so far (one full night and one full nap...) knock on wood! In the past when we have said Jane is a "big girl" she'd reply, "No. I Jane" or sometimes "no, I little." Tonight she told us she was "big Jane." So it seems like Jane is beginning to embrace this growing up phase of her life just a little bit more.

Cross your fingers.

Stay tuned for my next post: Now I understand why my mom cried when I cut my little sister's hair.

growth spurt

I really ought to have a picture for this, but it's been one of those days/weeks. Emiline hit a growth spurt last week and was eating all the time (and only taking 30 minute naps). This morning I woke up and she had a double chin...! I swear, like overnight!

Funny Kids

Two quick stories:
Today Emiline woke up from her nap the closest thing to mad I've seen her. Usually she wakes up pretty content so I went in to check on her and found her fighting against her bib and losing. That kid always has her fists in her mouth and she's started to grab at things now, too. She often will get her blanket or shirt or burp rag in her mouth accidentally that way. She's started to drool a little bit so I put a bib on her this morning and she couldn't get it out of her face so she was freaking out a bit. Way cute.

Jane's vocabulary just continues to grow and grow. A couple days ago she started talking about boogers. Yesterday Eric and Jane had the following conversation:
Jane: Boogers! a (in) Jane's nose!
Daddy: Ohhh, yeah, you're right!
Jane: Put it a (in) Daddy's nose?
Daddy: No, not in Daddy's nose.
(Jane tried to put it in his nose anyway)
Daddy: Let's put it in a tissue.
Jane: Booger in Lamby's nose!

In the past, she's been in the habit of calling out to me after she wakes up from her nap, but not the last couple of days. When I went in there today, we had the following conversation:
Mommy: Jane! You're awake! How come you didn't say "Mommy! I'm awake"
Jane: Boogers!!!
Mommy: Oh!
Jane: Jane's Boogers on the bed!
Mommy: (still taken a back) on the bed, huh?
Jane: Make a mess. Clean it up?
Mommy: You want me to clean it up?
Jane: No. Lamby clean it up. Napkin?

Thanks!

Those are some GREAT summaries, thank you all for submitting. I have no idea how I will choose. And it seems like my first post about this wouldn't take comments??? Good thing my guilt trip covered for the technology fail. Unless your name is Holli (of any spelling), this contest is now closed. If your name IS Holly (of any spelling), you have until Thursday at midnight to earn back my friendship, awe, and adoration...;-)

Stay tuned this weekend for the announcement of the big winner and details on where you can follow the riveting tale I am yet to write.

Aghast!

Really? No bites? No one wants to help a sistah out? You've all read my lack of style in this blog and you are hoping beyond hope that I WON'T ever write anything else, especially a novel???

As Jane says, "pretty, pretty please!" PLEASE submit a plot summary! Do it right now! Make it fast and on the fly and a little (or a lot) silly would be fabulous.

Luvs!
~marcee

A New Venture- And a Giveaway!

Remember when I launched my "Mastering My Masters" blog? Well, it totally worked. I finished my Masters Thesis.

Remember (if you've known me very long) how I always thought I'd write novels some day? Well, I've decided now is the time to conquer that beast, or, more accurately, when Emiline is sleeping through the night. BUT she has now slept through the night 3 times in the last week so I feel like I can begin thinking about this awesome project.

I have always felt like there is an enormous pressure on a writer in completing the first novel. ENORMOUS. So much so, that there are lots of would-be-writers (me?) who don't get past that first one. So I've decided to take the pressure off and write my first novel via a blog. I will write everyday until Eric graduates from law school and at the end I will have my first novel. I won't be able to go back and revise or edit or change my mind or anything, I just have to plow right through and git 'er dun. It will be a little bit playful and hopefully a lot of fun and a great learning experience.

Here's where you come in. I'm asking my vast (smirk. guffaw. snort) fan base out here in blog land to get me started. I am asking you to provide a two sentence plot summary for my novel. Now, plot summaries usually sound ridiculous, as the delightful Shannon Hale points out in this blog post, any good work can sound ridiculous in a parred-down sentence-long plot summary. (If you don't know what a plot summary sounds like, click on over to that link above and you'll get an idea of them pretty fast. )So, you get more points for being ridiculous, because that means I'll be more literary in the end. Or something.

Here are the rules:
1) You must provide at least the main characters name. You may also provide tertiary names.
2) None of the names you choose can be my name or names of my immediate family.
3) You must indicate some kind of plot.
4) You must submit them here, via the comment form, before Tuesday September 7, 2010
5) The plot summary must not be longer than two sentences.

Feel free to attach a title along with your summary, if you choose. But it's totally optional.

And in the spirit of blogland, let's make this a giveaway. The winning plot summary will receive something very special from one of my sponsors/something I've made!!!!! (exclamation points also in the spirit of blogland. don't you lurve blogland?) The rest of you will earn my undying love. Well, you probably already had that. But, pretty, pretty, please post? Pretty please help me out here! With a cherry on top!!!

Get Ready.
Get Set.
GO!