"Why does everything happen to ME?"

Once again, I am finding myself without adult playmates. For the millionth time, both my sister and my mom are gone at the same time, with Mary on her way out in a month or so. You'd think that would not be a big deal, but when you're used to having them over every day or every other day, there is a big, gaping hole when they aren't there. I realize that not everyone has the luxury of having family around at all, and I'm sorry if that's the case for you. However, for me, it's simply a fact and I really do enjoy it. Senia is always up for going on walks, running errands, or just playing with Hannah while I do something ridiculously wild like take a shower. My mom is great about watching Hannah while I teach piano, also going on errands & walks, and taking Hannah during my "voluntary timeout(s)." Mary is somehow able to play with Hannah, pet our cat Mocha, and visit with me without skipping a beat. (She'll be a great mom!) Above all, though, I enjoy the easy-going, interesting & fun conversation that we can have whilst giving Hannah lots of love and attention. Now granted, I love my moms groups, and they are wonderful for both Hannah and I, providing me support and encouragement, as well as playtime & valuable learning lessons for Hannah. At those, though, the conversation is (understandably) centered on everything "baby" or "toddler." While I thoroughly enjoy that and find it very helpful, there are also times where I just want to talk about the Olympics, or The Office, or maybe even something as profound as feelings or emotions about relationships, faith, etc. Mom, Senia, and Mary are my outlets. So you can see why I might be a little disturbed to find them all gone or leaving...it's not that I don't want them to experience new adventures & enjoy their school, vacations or volunteer opportunities, it's just that sometimes a girl's gotta be a little selfish. :)
And now I'm done ranting.

P.S. I'll give a back rub to the person who can name where that quote is from.

Isn't it too early for the Terrible Twos??

Well, it's official. I need a break from being a mom. This may sound horrible, or it might sound completely reasonable, but at some point, I'm sure all moms get to this moment. My break doesn't have to be long or even overnight--we're just talking a few hours of Heather-time, sans Hannah. (I don't even like typing that, but it's the truth!)
Today was one of those days where I felt like I was going to jump out of my skin out of restlessness at approximately 9:00 this morning. Hannah was up by 8:30, and we'd had our breakfast...and my day was empty from then until 6:00pm. I did the responsible & appropriate Mom Thing and took us both out on a nice walk, picking some blackberries on the way. That was good, but then as soon as we got back to the house, Hannah was a wreck. She cried when I took away my cell phone, she cried when I took away the lotion she was holding, she cried when I took away the raw pie crust that she was eating. Now, you might be wondering why I'm so cruel in taking all these things away, but I was giving Hannah other options all the while. And these weren't little fake cries, but real live alligator tears & big "wahs." One thing I found interesting--and somewhat amusing--was that during one of these outbursts, she actually took a second to open her eyes to make sure I was watching. Hmmmm...That IS interesting.
At any rate, after a total nap time of 1.5 hours, Hannah was really falling apart by 5:00 when Keith got home (EARLY!!! :) She did one of those smiley, whiny cries that seemed to say "Daddy, save me from the mean mom!"
Now I'm sitting here doing stuff online & trying to think of the things I can do during my voluntary timeout on Friday. My mom has graciously offered to watch Hannah so I can do just that. Any ideas for something free that will be relaxing & fun at the same time? :)
What's amazing, though, is that despite all of today's frustrations & difficulties, I still find myself wanting to go outside and be with Keith & Hannah, even though these are precious minutes to myself. Ahhh, the power of unconditional love in action. :)

The Par-tay!

Well, the Breaking Dawn party was fun, interesting & maybe not something I would need to do again. :) (I would've written this post earlier, but I was too busy reading the book--in 48 hours.)
Senia, Mary & I decided to go to the Borders near us as opposed to Powell's because it was closer...as much as we were disappointed to not give blood...We arrived at the scene at about 9:30 and were given a wristband with the number 674 (!) on it--that was to receive a book!! We discovered later that fortunately, those numbers were somewhat arbitrary and the wait was not long. The store was already pretty crowded at that point, and the party had just began. We saw teenage girls in prom dresses (for the Forks HS Prom), teenage girls with an array of t-shirts--both professionally made & handmade, teenage girls with costumes representing various Twilight characters, and more teenage girls. Notice a theme? Nevertheless, we forged on & pushed ourselves into the sea of people (teenage girls.) There were older people (including some guys) at the store, but we quickly discovered they were simply customers hoping to sit in a nice quiet (haha) bookstore & sip their lattes or chai teas. Poor, unsuspecting people. :)
The night started off with a trivia game, which consisted of minute details from the book (aka--the temp in Phoenix when the book series begins; which was 75, by the way...not something I recalled during the game.) These gals had obviously spent some serious time studying to prepare for such an exam. :)
Next was the debate of the "Edward vs. Jacob" camps. If you don't know what that means, read the books. :) Mary, the lone Jacob fan in our little group, somewhat reluctantly snuck over to that side of the room, which was actually more populated than I would have guessed it would be. For the next few minutes, these gals were screaming (yes, SCREAMING) comments back & forth about who was "hotter," who was better for Bella, and who could give her a better life. At one point, I attempted to raise my hand to say something, but the judges were obviously only paying attention to the jumping, screaming, fanatic girls in front of them. I was just waiting for someone to burst into tears while emotionally defending Edward or Jacob. I might add that before the party, the three of us had a very in-depth, psychological debate about the pros & cons of Jacob or Edward, and none of those points were brought up in the Borders debate. Hmmm...
After a short break for everyone to regain their composure, the costume contest started. That was fun to see how people dressed up, but it was a bit sad when someone would come up & there would only be a few claps. :( Brought back memories of some uncomfortable talent shows & such. So when someone would get that response, we would try to clap wildly instead!! :)
Then for the next hour, they did a couple raffle prizes & started to get things organized for the actual book release. That was the most organized part of the night--oohhh, if only I could have gotten a hold of a megaphone during the games...
Anyway, according to the receipt, we got our book at 12:45am on August 2nd. I started reading as soon as we got home (sorry, Senia & Mary, but a girl's gotta have her priorities) and finished at 1am yesterday morning. Whew! I loved it--I know there have been some controversial comments online about the book's plot, but for a teen vampire saga, I think it is really entertaining & very well worth reading.--See my earlier post "Vampires are SOOOO Cool!"