Middle of the Night/Monday Morning Bullets - Catch Up Edition

• OMG. I can't believe that it's been 2 months since my last post. I haven't even been that busy.


• I've really missed everyone, though. I finally logged onto my Google Reader, and I'm desperately trying to catch up on everything.


• In the last 2 months, I have managed to master like every Facebook game possible. Y'all would seriously be impressed with my Farmville skills. Or maybe not because staring at a fake farm waiting to harvest crops all day is kind of lame.


• I'm really loving my new town. It's super friendly, and way less crowded than Houston. I've made a new friend. She's all young and cool and just bought condo downtown. I felt so old because all I could think about when I saw it was that I could never fit all of Kaeli's crap into it. But the apartment has this awesome balcony where you can watch drunk people stumbling out of restaurants and trendy clubs.


• There has been a lot of adjusting going on since the move and engagement. Living with a boy when it has just been me and Kaeli for so long is really weird. The increase in laundry by adding just one person is seriously unbelievable. It never stops. And do you realize that guys can't eat just one of ANYTHING? In fact, they must eat 3 of your favorite yogurts in 1 sitting, therefore, leaving you with none!! And guys also don't appreciate your love of Gossip Girl, but can be coerced into watching Project Runway and even the new Models of the Runway. I figure that is a win.


• Kaeli started 2nd grade and is totally loving her new school. At the parent/teacher conference last week, her teacher said she fit right in and made friends in about 2 seconds. I wasn't really worried about it because Kaeli is a social butterfly, but it was really nice to hear.


• We have seemed to reach the stage where a certain 2nd grade boy teases Kaeli relentlessly, Kaeli then cries and says that he is so mean, but she NEVER STOPS TALKING ABOUT HIM. I like to torture her by asking if she "likes" said boy because she gets so annoyed, rolls her eyes, and says that they "are just friends". 2nd grade, people. 2nd freaking grade!!!


• I haven't gone back to work just yet. I did start really looking last week or so. It's been so nice to be home! I've loved how much time I've gotten to spend with Kaeli, but now it's getting kind of boring. She is at school all day, and there are only so many One Tree Hill reruns a girl can handle. Again, I stress the mastery of all things Facebook. Plus, the Working Girl inside of me is screaming to be let out. She needs to stare at Excel and play with spreadsheets and make office small talk while getting coffee!!!


• I've done a little wedding planning, but not near as much as I need to. We found the venue that we both love, but haven't signed the contract yet. Rob is being all boring and practical and thinks I should actually have a job before we dive into wedding expenses. Whatevs. Money grows on trees, doesn't it??


• So. remember my ridiculous Twilight/Edward Cullen obsession? It's turned into a serious sickness. I don't know if y'all realize how many teen vampire novels are out there. I'm addicted to at least 2 more series. I can't stop. It's kind of sad that when I go into a bookstore I head straight for the young adult section.

And for your dose of cuteness...here is Kaeli on the first Cold Enough for a Hat Day of the season last week!!

p.s. the whole messenger style tote bag is the IN thing, apparently. Kaeli HAD to have it since all the kids in her class do too. 2nd grade has definitely become the grade where EVERYTHING MATTERS.

Let's just pretend it hasn't been a month since we last spoke

We have a lot to discuss my blog friends!

I really don't even know where to start.

I'll just start with the biggest most exciting fun news EVER.

I'M ENGAGED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He proposed on the Bow Bridge in Central Park on our fun trip to NYC. I'm normally the girl who loves to tell a good story, but I'm seriously at a loss for words when I try to talk about it. I was hoping it would happen. I was even kind of expecting it, but I was still totally shocked when he got down on one knee!! It was all very cheesy and sweet and perfect!

This explains my absense from the blog world. I'm spending all of my time reading wedding magazines and playing on The Knot!

I'm getting married! YAY!!!!

I Officially Hate Moving

What was I thinking when I decided to pack my own boxes?

Worst. Idea. Ever.

Procrastinators should never be put in charge of packing.

I have too much stuff.

So tired.

This sucks.

The End.

7?!! How is she already 7?

**So this post has been sitting UNFINISHED for weeks. I'm a slacker mom**

Today is Kaeli's 7th birthday! (by today I mean 2 weeks ago...)

I seriously can't believe how fast 7 years has gone by.

I have to say that this past year has been one of my favorites. She really has grown up so much.

Case in point - She used "Touche" in a conversation we had the other day. And she used it CORRECTLY.

I love the person she is growing into.

Let's travel down memory lane, shall we.

Baby Kaeli!! Oh how I miss that squishy tummy.

2 year old Kaeli! One of my most favorite pictures EVER.

3 year old rockstar Kaeli

4 year old Princess Kaeli...I LOVED HER HAIR...I was obsessed with her little curls...I miss them everyday.

More 4 year old Kaeli...she carried a book EVERYWHERE

5 year old Kaeli...such a sweet little face!

6 year old Kaeli...Seriously fun age!!

And now...7 year old Kaeli...attitude and all

The powers that be blocked blogger at work!! Do they really think they can stop me?I will not be silenced!!!!

I think a discussion over proper use of a toilet seat is in my future

Remember how I casually mentioned that there was a reason I haven't been blogging much?

Well, I am ready to share it with the blogosphere.

Y'all are waiting with bated breath, aren't you?

Okay. Here it goes.

I'M MOVING!

Wow. How is that for anticlimactic?

Rob and I have reached the threshold on the length of a long distance relationship , and we decided it was time that Kaeli and I moved to his city. I pretend like we spent so much time debating who's city we would move too, but really there was never that much doubt. I like Houston, but I don't LOVE Houston so it won't be too hard to say goodbye. (Peace out, hurricane season. I am so not scared of you anymore.) Plus, quite frankly, his job is just better than mine. We found a house (to rent, of course...i am so not ready for the responsibility of my own home), and I am officially moving in 2 1/2 weeks. We've talked about it for a while, and it feels so weird that the time is already here.

I didn't want to put it down on the blog until things were final, and all important people had been notified. (i.e. - My boss because even though no one at work really knows about my blog, it would be just my luck that someone would stumble upon it before I had the chance to say anything. Not that anyone I work with really even knows what a blog is.)

I found it impossible to pull together a coherent post when all I really wanted to do was announce the move. I tried a bunch of times, but always left the post unfinished. I guess now y'all get to be inundated with all of the mundane stuff that happened in the last month. Lucky!!

Well, I am so glad that is out of the bag.

In a couple of weeks, I will be living with a boy. So weird.

The Emotional Minefield that is Raising an (Almost) 7 Year Old

OMG, y'all.

This whole raising a girl thing is IN-Freaking-SANE.

Kaeli has always been on the creative side. She's crafty and artsy. She talks about becoming a fashion designer when she grows up because she (and I quote) "just loves clothes so much and it is so fun to make styles." Since the day she could hold a crayon, she has been obsessed with notebooks and journals. She has them all over her room with drawings and short written passages.

Her creative flair has always been one of my favorite things about her. Kaeli and I are A LOT alike, but this is a quality she most definitely did not inherit from me. I love seeing all the ways she is growing into her own little person.

She also tends to be sensitive and dramatic (ok so the dramatic thing might be straight from my genes to hers but whatever).

Now on to my point. Kaeli has always shared her creative genius with me. She's always brought the journals and drawings to me so that we can look through them together. She never seemed to think of them as private or anything.

Until last weekend.

My friend gave Kaeli a little Hannah Montana notebook with cool colored pens. When Kaeli was in the other room playing with my friend's son, I, absentmindedly, picked up the notebook and started flipping through it.

Kaeli walked into the room to find me looking through the book, and had a complete and utter MELTDOWN. OMG. The crying. And the yelling about privacy and secret journals. And the crying. And she was so embarrassed. (In case you're curious, all she had written down was that she was in love with my friend's son, M. I think she caught me chuckling about it.) I sat there in shock because I have never seen her react this way before.

I apparently committed the absolute worse offense ever in her young life (Good thing she doesn't remember the baby years. She would be so mad if she knew all the first time mom dumb things that happened.) I have truly never seen her so angry and upset with me. I felt awful. I even bribed her with $2 and a pinky swear that I will never go through her journals again.

It amazes me that we can go from sharing everything, and, out of nowhere, she needs space and privacy. Her 7th birthday is in a couple of weeks, and she always gets a little "feisty" right before she turns a year older. I'm wondering if it's just a short term thing because she realizes she is almost 7 (and therefore totally grown up in her own eyes), or if we really are heading into a new stage of the growing up process. I mean, dudes, she's not even 7 yet. Isn't this all supposed to happen when she is older? I remember getting mad at my mom and sister when they would go through my journals. Their constant perusal of my inner thoughts is the reason I stopped writing them down. But, y'all, I was 11 when all of this crap started becoming important to me!


I guess it's time to brush up on my spy skills because I'm going to have to get a hell of a lot sneakier if we are to survive this phase!!