Just another Manic Monday

melody921

What's up, ladies?

I had a brief moment last night when I thought today was Sunday. Whomp whomp. I feel like I'm trying to clean all the things off my desk so I can get into true holiday mode, but it's an uphill battle. Meanhwhile, the half a dozen cookies I ate for breakfast are adding to my Christmas spirit.

We took the kids to see Santa yesterday. DS was in heaven. DD totally freaked out, like sobbing, clinging to me, refusing to touch the sleigh bells Santa offered her and repeatedly saying "No wanna see Santa." :-(

DS has a man cold again. I might strangle him before tonight is out.

willy_gert

We had a good weekend!  We were going to watch our friends' kids, but that got cancelled.  So we ended up just hanging out and working on stuff at our house.  

We took Luci last night to look at all of the Christmas lights, she was so excited!  It is so much fun to have reminder of the wonder of the season!  She is making my scrooge attitude diminish quickly.

People from our church came over and helped DH with our yard on Saturday and it was such a huge help!  I feel this sincere need to give back as much as possible as soon as possible.

redneckmomma25

My dishwasher will arrive in 20 minutes. I am seriously like a kid on Christmas. I am so excited.

I still haven't caught up on Fridays thread. Sorry.

I still need to shop. By last year I was done with g and wrapped. I feel behind. I know it doesn't matter and I don't want this attitude to ruin my Christmas spirit.

PenelopePond

MIL sent each of the boys a box from "Santa".  It has a make your own snow thing, Reindeer food, a letter from Santa, and their certificate of being on the nice list.  Cute, but now Ethan thinks he's on the nice list and no matter what he does he's not getting off it.  He actually said "Santa already said I'm good so it doesn't matter."  He's 5.  Wtf.

MIL is pissy because we said no bike for Ethan for Christmas.  We have no place for him to ride it (small driveway off a busy road), and no place to keep it.  She said she's going to buy it anyways.  DH said he'll donate it if she does.  I can't wait to see what happens.  Stubborn butts.

I think my final on Saturday went well.  The teacher sent me a nice email and said some nice things, so I'm feeling pretty good, but I still don't have my grade (not that I'm expecting it yet).  Now I'm studying for my Algebra final tomorrow.

When finals are done, I'm binge watching my DVR shows.  I can't wait to catch up.

MarisaKathleen

We had family baking day yesterday.  I think Nancy ate 4 whole cookies.  Like cut out cookies, not tiny chocolate chip ones or something.  She was hilarious.  I don't know that she's ever had more fun.  Cal can't hang.  DH had to come pick him up.  He had such bad FOMO he wouldn't take a nap and was bummed out about not being held the whole day.

I got my period for the first time in over a year.  Even though I'm on depo.  I'm not happy about it.  I thought that was a perk of being on depo!  Boo.

Pokedot

Ola ladies! We're back from vacation. We got in yesterday at 3:30. Totally not enough time to recooperate before the madness of Monday. I already had to bring DS to the doctor. Double pink eye and an ear infection. Oh the joys. Thankfully he's in good spirits. He was so excited to see us yesterday. I almost cried.

melody921

PenelopePond said:

MIL sent each of the boys a box from "Santa".  It has a make your own snow thing, Reindeer food, a letter from Santa, and their certificate of being on the nice list.  Cute, but now Ethan thinks he's on the nice list and no matter what he does he's not getting off it.  He actually said "Santa already said I'm good so it doesn't matter."  He's 5.  Wtf.

MIL is pissy because we said no bike for Ethan for Christmas.  We have no place for him to ride it (small driveway off a busy road), and no place to keep it.  She said she's going to buy it anyways.  DH said he'll donate it if she does.  I can't wait to see what happens.  Stubborn butts.

I think my final on Saturday went well.  The teacher sent me a nice email and said some nice things, so I'm feeling pretty good, but I still don't have my grade (not that I'm expecting it yet).  Now I'm studying for my Algebra final tomorrow.

When finals are done, I'm binge watching my DVR shows.  I can't wait to catch up.

Maybe she can keep the bike at her house.

melody921

BunkinMama said:

@penelopepond what is the reindeer food made of? My oldest made reindeer food in school last year, oatmeal and glitter ha! We put it outside in the driveway Christmas Eve. Then my baby sister's BF had the idea of leaving behind reindeer poop where the food was, so we put some milk duds in the driveway! Good luck on your final tomorrow!

That's what we made our reindeer food out of last year too! DS was just asking yesterday if we can do it again and add extra shimmer.

PenelopePond

BunkinMama said:

@penelopepond what is the reindeer food made of? My oldest made reindeer food in school last year, oatmeal and glitter ha! We put it outside in the driveway Christmas Eve. Then my baby sister's BF had the idea of leaving behind reindeer poop where the food was, so we put some milk duds in the driveway! Good luck on your final tomorrow!

Yep, that's all it is.  Oatmeal and glitter.  I like the poop idea!  We'll do that.

Thank you!

PenelopePond

melody921 said:

PenelopePond said:

MIL sent each of the boys a box from "Santa".  It has a make your own snow thing, Reindeer food, a letter from Santa, and their certificate of being on the nice list.  Cute, but now Ethan thinks he's on the nice list and no matter what he does he's not getting off it.  He actually said "Santa already said I'm good so it doesn't matter."  He's 5.  Wtf.

MIL is pissy because we said no bike for Ethan for Christmas.  We have no place for him to ride it (small driveway off a busy road), and no place to keep it.  She said she's going to buy it anyways.  DH said he'll donate it if she does.  I can't wait to see what happens.  Stubborn butts.

I think my final on Saturday went well.  The teacher sent me a nice email and said some nice things, so I'm feeling pretty good, but I still don't have my grade (not that I'm expecting it yet).  Now I'm studying for my Algebra final tomorrow.

When finals are done, I'm binge watching my DVR shows.  I can't wait to catch up.

Maybe she can keep the bike at her house.

I have a feeling, if she gets it, that's what will have to happen.  I want him to have a bike, but I understand DH's reasons for not getting one.  MIL is looking for an alternative big gift right now, and if the bike comes up again I'll ask about keeping it at her house.

Pokedot

MarisaKathleen said:

We had family baking day yesterday.  I think Nancy ate 4 whole cookies.  Like cut out cookies, not tiny chocolate chip ones or something.  She was hilarious.  I don't know that she's ever had more fun.  Cal can't hang.  DH had to come pick him up.  He had such bad FOMO he wouldn't take a nap and was bummed out about not being held the whole day.

I got my period for the first time in over a year.  Even though I'm on depo.  I'm not happy about it.  I thought that was a perk of being on depo!  Boo.

I had my period almost the whole time we were in Mexico. I was so sad. There was lots of shower sex because otherwise, eeewwww.

MarisaKathleen

harti09 said:

Kids successfully made me cry on two separate occasions this weekend. I consider myself a tough cookie, but this whole two year old thing is really taking a toll on me. I get raising kids is hard work, but the extreme amount of effort I have to put in lately, to only have a less than mediocre outcome is defeating. I need a freaking vacation. 

Also, random thing that's been irking me all weekend:

The in-laws got DS two large gifts for Christmas, totally over $100. They only got DD one thing, and it was like $25. Price aside, the gifts are nowhere near comparable. They've always shown DS more attention unknowingly, but this is such an obvious display of preference in my mind. How do they not realize it?

Uh, what?  That's f'ed up.  Have your or your DH said something?  HOW CAN THEY NOT REALIZE IT?! I would be inclined to think they do.  I know I favor my nieces on my side over my nieces on my DH's side because I've had them longer and see them more often, but I still spend the same amount of money on them regardless.  

melody921

harti09 said:

Kids successfully made me cry on two separate occasions this weekend. I consider myself a tough cookie, but this whole two year old thing is really taking a toll on me. I get raising kids is hard work, but the extreme amount of effort I have to put in lately, to only have a less than mediocre outcome is defeating. I need a freaking vacation. 

Also, random thing that's been irking me all weekend:

The in-laws got DS two large gifts for Christmas, totally over $100. They only got DD one thing, and it was like $25. Price aside, the gifts are nowhere near comparable. They've always shown DS more attention unknowingly, but this is such an obvious display of preference in my mind. How do they not realize it?

That is really shitty @harti09. Are they of the "boys are better" mindset across the board? I'd be tempted to say something.

hmp1

Pokedot said:

Ola ladies! We're back from vacation. We got in yesterday at 3:30. Totally not enough time to recooperate before the madness of Monday. I already had to bring DS to the doctor. Double pink eye and an ear infection. Oh the joys. Thankfully he's in good spirits. He was so excited to see us yesterday. I almost cried.

Hope you had an awesome time! Sorry you had to come back to a sick kiddo, that's no fun.

melody921

@BeebopandBuddy, how did Maya like the Nutcracker? I'm planning to take DS to a local production next week.

hmp1

I had a super woman weekend. I can't believe we got it all done and all had a great weekend! James' birthday party, tree and decorations up, went to see Santa at the Botanical Gardens, and cleaned out the laundry room because my new washing machine was delivered this morning.

I'm mad that I let the Santa picture lady art direct us. I was going to sit on the side of the chair with Leo on my lap and DH behind James (who was on Santa's knee). She said we should take Leo and stand behind Santa with Leo between us. Well, now you can't see Leo's cute little outfit. DH had the brilliant idea to photoshop a picture of Leo in James' individual picture with Santa so that is the plan. It will be a completely obvious photoshop and totally a picture just for laughs but I'm excited about it.

BeebopandBuddy

melody921 said:

@BeebopandBuddy, how did Maya like the Nutcracker? I'm planning to take DS to a local production next week.

She was awesome the first half and seemed to be enjoying it. I think she thought it was over at intermission because once we got back in our seats, she just wanted to dance and wouldn't sit down. We ended up leaving about 10 minutes before it was over. I'd call it a success. I think I will take her next year but do the earlier show because 3 p.m. with no nap wasn't working in my favor. Oh, and another plus, she said she wants to try dance class again, so I'm happy about that.

melody921

harti09 said:

@MarisaKathleen I mentioned it to DH just briefly. I'm not entirely sure he was listening to me. It was kind of in passing. I'm going to bring it up again tonight. It's obviously not sitting well with me because I've been thinking about it since the gifts arrived. He knows how much I try to keep things even for the kids too.

@melody921 DD is the first girl born into the family in over 100 years. MIL was the only girl with 4 brothers. I think they prefer boys because it's what they know? It's very clear they don't 'get' DD. Still not an excuse, but I think that's where it comes from. 

I don't understand that though bc MIL is female! So strange.

Pokedot

hmp1 said:

Pokedot said:

Ola ladies! We're back from vacation. We got in yesterday at 3:30. Totally not enough time to recooperate before the madness of Monday. I already had to bring DS to the doctor. Double pink eye and an ear infection. Oh the joys. Thankfully he's in good spirits. He was so excited to see us yesterday. I almost cried.

Hope you had an awesome time! Sorry you had to come back to a sick kiddo, that's no fun.

Thanks HMP we had an amazing time. I didn't want to leave 80* and sunshine for 20* and 5" of snow already today!

redneckmomma25

I'm excited. Felt the baby on the outside today!

My bff who was due a few weeks before me and lost him at 14 weeks is ovulating. I'm so happy for her. She's on Femara. I'm really praying this is a good egg and she has a bfp for Christmas. She's been so great with still being a part of my pregnancy. I so want her to have a sticky baby this time.

Pokedot

Oh I forgot to mention DH lost his wedding ring in the Caribbean while we were snorkeling. That was fun to find out. In hindsight we should have left them both back at the resort. He has 2 and this was the cheaper one (about $100) but I'm still sad it's gone.

kelbel527

PenelopePond said:

MIL sent each of the boys a box from "Santa".  It has a make your own snow thing, Reindeer food, a letter from Santa, and their certificate of being on the nice list.  Cute, but now Ethan thinks he's on the nice list and no matter what he does he's not getting off it.  He actually said "Santa already said I'm good so it doesn't matter."  He's 5.  Wtf.

Brody told me the other day that he wasn't nice when he was 3 (last year) and he still got Christmas gifts.  So he now thinks that he has to be on the nice list because he's better than he was last year.  

It's actually pretty logical, but damnit!

kdsmith43

I attempted my moms homemade chicken pot pie that I love so much last night, and it turned out pretty darn good! 

I am done with most of my Christmas shopping and mostly because everyone is getting a homemade gift - either a spoon windchime or a burlap wreath. I am tired of guessing at what everyone might like, so I hope this is a huge hit.

MarisaKathleen

@kdsmith43, post pictures!!  I have spoon wind chimes that are around 10 years old and are definitely looking it. :-)  How easy was it to make?

MarisaKathleen

Some a-hole at work microwaved fish again.  And someone else burned coffee.  It's a horrible day for smells around here.

BeebopandBuddy

MarisaKathleen said:

Some a-hole at work microwaved fish again.  And someone else burned coffee.  It's a horrible day for smells around here.

:-&

melody921

IndigoVader said:

melody921 said:

I don't understand that though bc MIL is female! So strange.

I am a female and would have no clue what to buy for a girl.That being said, we keep things equal around here, I would have no issues telling her it was unfair.

Eh, but when kids are little, many gifts aren't even gender specific. They just need to find a way to even it up.

hmp1

Operation add Leo to the Santa pic, complete  

:P

kelbel527

IndigoVader said:

harti09 said:

They wanted to get the Hess Truck for DS, so they did. MIL then contacted me because she had no idea what to get DD. I wrote her a big email talking about what DD was into and gave her several examples of gifts, all in the price range of the Hess Truck. Then we received three wrapped gifts in the mail. I peeked, because I was confused at the third. It's a large truck. I'd seen it before while online shopping, so I Googled it again - $70.

I'm going to have DH ask them about it. I was just going to get an additional gift myself to even it out, but this probably is best to deal with now so it doesn't continue. 

FIL recently asked me if we were sending DD to preschool too in January...I guess he thought we were only sending DS?

IDK, they're nice people but definitely oblivious to some pretty common sense things. 

See, now that is just blatant.I would do it this time, but you can't spend the next 16 years covering up for them. Not cool.

I actually disagree with this.  While you should definitely address it with your ILs, if it didn't stop, I would probably continue to keep it up.  Ensuring that both kids feel equally loved would be more important to me than worrying about who I am covering up for.  

I hope you can let your ILs know how much their actions could hurt your DD, especially as she gets older and can nip in the bud early.

From an outsiders perspective, it's been pretty obvious over the years that our SIL's parents clearly favor one of our nephew and that my ILs tend to spoil the other nephew.  It's great that they seem to balance each other out, but every time I see either set of grandparents showing favoritism, it breaks my heart for my nephews.  I have no idea of the grandparents realize that they do it.

pharmer78

MarisaKathleen said:

Some a-hole at work microwaved fish again.  And someone else burned coffee.  It's a horrible day for smells around here.

just put a bag of popcorn in the microwave and set it for 10 minutes...you won't smell the coffee or the fish after that!

redneckmomma25

Favoritism sucks. They are young. How hard is it to shop for them really? I could maybe see finding different ages easier to shop for but you have no excuse if you were given ideas. I would definitely deal with this know. If they refuse to get dd something else then I would tell then you are returning some of DS' stuff. Hopefully they get the point soon.

AKB090609

On the favoritism front wears dealing with it as well, unfortunately. The girls Great Grandmother clearly favors their cousin as does MIL. For us it is because neither of them can keep up with DD1 physically, and DD2 doesn't like anyone but DH andI.

amandad715

As a kid growing up on the "wrong" side of grandparent favoritism- it sucks. My dad isn't as close with my nana and aunt and always felt like an outsider, especially after his father passed away when my dad was only 19. He actually feels closer and more welcomed when he's with my mom's side of the family. 

My aunt and nana are very close so my two cousins (boys) always got special treatment, extra gifts, special dinners, etc. Then there is my sister, who was /is favored more than me by both my aunt and nana. For example, my nana is a die-hard cook and baker. She would say to my mom, I'll bake for Amanda's bday, so that you have something besides cake. Aaaaaaand she would show up every year with my sister's favorite dessert, cheesecake. And then would say, "Emily, I made you a cheesecake bc it's your favorite." Um, hi. It's my birthday. 

Plus, both of them would pick up special things here and there for Emily, just because. And my sister is a tiny petite, little thing. As are my aunt and nana. They just love that. My mom tried to balance things out, I know. But as a kid, I could see it in the little things. 

tinyhumantoe

@beebopandbuddy My mom bought Nutcracker tickets for us... And Winn. Holy too young. It was a disaster! Show was at 2 and she didn't take a nap despite our efforts. We spent the entire time in the lobby!

tinyhumantoe

My parents and inlaws text me so freaking late. I think anything after 1030 is ridiculous. My parents have me on a group text right now..... Fuck group texts!!!

tinyhumantoe

I agree @origamipoppy‌, especially for non-family. I think anything after 930 is probably my limit for family, unless we're all watching the walking dead or something.

My neighbor that wants to sell me advocare texted me at 1029! I was like, uh whut?

tinyhumantoe

So I just wanted to tell everyone that today at work I was basically living the bathroom scene from dumb and dumber, minus the toilet malfunction. I was seriously concerned that the pain was only half gastrointestinal, and half labor contractions. It really freaked me out. Worst stomach ache of my life. Embarrassing!

I just woke DH up trying to kick the dog who thinks its weiner buffet time. It is NEVER weiner buffet time. I want to throw him out the window.

Night time is my least fav part of the day because I'm so miserable and can't sleep

Does anyone watch 90 day fiancé?

melody921

MelsaX said:

I have a couple of little gifts to buy for the boys, then I'm done with Xmas shopping! I still have all my baking to do, because that's what everyone is getting as gifts. This year I've decided to do: Salted caramel and dark chocolate truffles Apricot delight Pistachio, white chocolate and cranberry cookies Peppermint bark And macadamia brittle I painted tins with chalkboard paint, and will decorate them with chalk pencils, that's what the baking is going in to. I'm also making fridge magnets with IG photos on them for everyone. I found a tutorial on sticking them into little tiles, and gluing magnets to the back. I like the way they look rather than the standard printed ones that you can order online. I've still got a bit to do. The few days before Christmas is going to be pretty intense with baking!

OMG @MelsaX, please share your recipe for this!

melody921

kelbel527 said:

IndigoVader said:

harti09 said:

They wanted to get the Hess Truck for DS, so they did. MIL then contacted me because she had no idea what to get DD. I wrote her a big email talking about what DD was into and gave her several examples of gifts, all in the price range of the Hess Truck. Then we received three wrapped gifts in the mail. I peeked, because I was confused at the third. It's a large truck. I'd seen it before while online shopping, so I Googled it again - $70.

I'm going to have DH ask them about it. I was just going to get an additional gift myself to even it out, but this probably is best to deal with now so it doesn't continue. 

FIL recently asked me if we were sending DD to preschool too in January...I guess he thought we were only sending DS?

IDK, they're nice people but definitely oblivious to some pretty common sense things. 

See, now that is just blatant.I would do it this time, but you can't spend the next 16 years covering up for them. Not cool.

I actually disagree with this.  While you should definitely address it with your ILs, if it didn't stop, I would probably continue to keep it up.  Ensuring that both kids feel equally loved would be more important to me than worrying about who I am covering up for.  

I hope you can let your ILs know how much their actions could hurt your DD, especially as she gets older and can nip in the bud early.

From an outsiders perspective, it's been pretty obvious over the years that our SIL's parents clearly favor one of our nephew and that my ILs tend to spoil the other nephew.  It's great that they seem to balance each other out, but every time I see either set of grandparents showing favoritism, it breaks my heart for my nephews.  I have no idea of the grandparents realize that they do it.

My grandparents had blatant favoritism when my brother and I were little. On one hand, we got more gifts than two kids actually needed. But compared to what our cousins received, we were definitely the lesser grandkids. 

melody921

tinyhumantoe said:

My parents and inlaws text me so freaking late. I think anything after 1030 is ridiculous. My parents have me on a group text right now..... Fuck group texts!!!

I would ask them nicely not to contact you after a certain hour (or just don't respond until a decent hour). Years ago, before we even had kids, DH and I instituted the 9-9 rule, as in don't call us between those hours. His parents were ringing really late or really early, and I always thought it was some emergency. Also, at a certain point every night, I silence my phone and put it in another room, so it's not waking me up.

BeebopandBuddy

tinyhumantoe said:

@beebopandbuddy My mom bought Nutcracker tickets for us... And Winn. Holy too young. It was a disaster! Show was at 2 and she didn't take a nap despite our efforts. We spent the entire time in the lobby!

That sucks. I think Maya was borderline too young at 3 1/2. She will be better for it next year when she's almost 5. I can't imagine Ethan sitting there for more than 2 minutes.