Whew

 I figured I should make a quick blog statement explaining that my vacation wasn't all bad and it wasn't all MIL.  I took the smile and nod approach from time to time, as well as the approach that involves me acting like I didn't hear what she said because I was too involved with Monkey/TV/picking at my nails.  The latter approach is easier because a smile and nod often invites more conversation from her- and we all know where that leads!

Ok, so below is Monkey showing off her new shades.  For the life of me, I could not find a decent pair of sunglasses for a toddler.  They were all crazy-looking: watermelon-themed, etc.. I saw these gold puppies with a small Cinderella decal on the side and figured what the h*ll. 

Did I mention she got sick on our second day there? She came down with this crazy virus that kids get in the summer and it involved ulcers in her mouth and blisters on her feet, legs & bum.  Poor kid.

 Below we have a recovering Monkey carrying around a cheese grater.  This cheese grater was probably (a) really sharp, but also (b) the highlight of her week.  I ended up hiding it in a cabinet she couldn't reach to save her from injury and me from losing my mind chasing her with it.

 Anyway, I've never really been to the beach for a week with a 1.5 year old, so I sort of assumed it would be like my beach trips as a child- hang out on beach all day.  But at this age, she wakes at like 7, eats lunch at around 11:30 and naps until between 2-4:00 (longer since she was sick).  This limits mommy's beach time! 

I will absolutely post a 30 wk preg picture this week.  I have forgotten that I was pregnant for most parts of this pregnancy but it is getting harder to ignore.  My belly is really heavy and is getting in the way and I am really tired most of the time (and say b*tchy things to my golden retriever for fetching random sh*t around the house that doesn't need to be fetched and for trying to sit on my disappearing lap).   It's 9:17pm and I can barely keep my eyes open, but I know that if I go to sleep, I will wake up and it will be midnight and I will have to pee.  Then I will wake up and it will be 330am and I will have to pee.  Then I will wake up at 630 to Monkey and it will be time to go to work. 

I've been trying to be more conscious about how I spend my time and use extra minutes to tidy up certain areas of the house so that on the weekends I'm not bombarded with housework.  It works early on in the week but by Thursdays, I'm pretty much paralyzed after work and getting Monkey fed, bathed and put to bed.  I think I will have to cave and get a cleaning lady soon if  I am going to continue to work full time.  Or I'll be one of those crazy moms addicted to adderr*all or ritalin or whatever crazy moms are taking these days.  And my house will be clean, I will go to the gym every day, spend quality time with every breathing being in my house and work full-time.  I totally see how and why those crazy moms get addicted.  Thank God J does almost all of the every day cooking  (I still cook fun recipes) and the dishes and pulls his own weight in the area of laundry.  Because I'd be perfectly fine if we all ate cereal for dinner every night out of plastic bowls with plastic spoons.   And then we'd eat fancy on the weekends.