Shiva is the only person I know with enough arms to apply diaper ointment to an 8 month old.

I am loving. Staying at home. I have so much that I could type here, but I still have several things to do before bed so I will make it short and sweet.

I have been hella busy. I have barely been online *gasp* and that's okay. Evan took pieces from his computer and put them into my computer, doubling the memory and adding another hard drive and a DVD Burner. We reformatted the machine and I am in the process of installing new software, the Adobe Creative Suite (CS3) and Microsoft Office 2007.

This past weekend we had alot going on. I don't know that I checked my email at all until briefly Sunday night. We were without power for 4 hours on Saturday, and I spent the time picking up the house and playing with Ardyn. I had the dryer going, the washing machine, the dishwasher, had JUST put the baby down for her nap and was going to sit down and pay bills online, and vacuum the house, when the power went out. That was a bummer. Saturday night Evan's band (Driftwood) had a gig and my sister and I went to watch. I was busy clear up until the moment I walked out the door that night and didn't get home till 2:30 in the morning Sunday, and then was up with the baby at 5:45 again, and at 7:30. Sunday I was pretty much zombie- and Evan worked in the yard (mowing, etc) and I did more laundry and washed diapers, cleaned the kitchen, ran the dishwasher twice, made my grocery list for the week, picked up Ardyn's room, and then Ardyn and I took a late bath together. She stayed up until 10pm (stinker) so I was up until 1:30 am because I had so much to accomplish before today. I had cleaning people coming, and because we had already been so busy, and I brought home everything from my office, and unloaded everything from my car when we bought the van, AND had the computer tore apart and software and hardware strewn all over.... I really needed to clean up. I felt like if I could make it through this weekend with all the things I needed to have done by Monday, then I would survive.

Today I woke up and cleaned more (this place was really a wreck) and Ardyn and I got dressed and packed the van up for a grocery trip. We ate lunch and I did lots of preparing for errands, packages to mail, stops to make on the way to get groceries, etc. I needed to refill all my perfume at Good Scents and make an appointment for a haircut. I wanted to wash the van and open Ardyn's savings account at the bank. I needed to get the mail (software for the computer had arrived) and drop off a UPS package. Then we had to get groceries. And get home in time for making supper and seeing Evan before he went off to band practice. I also had to call the Dr.'s office and get a prescription for Ardyn (she got a yeast infection diaper rash right before leaving daycare, that miconazole wouldn't clear up, so we needed Nystatin) and then had to pick up the prescription.

So we made it to everywhere we needed to be today, and also had an oreo blizzard and got $216 worth of groceries. It made me sad, but I had to buy my second pack of disposable diapers this week, because the creams and treatments we are using on her would ruin her cloth diapers. I feel terribly guilty about that. I know that I can use lay in liners for the diapers but they always seem to "move" in there, and I also want to eliminate the possibility that the yeast could be growing in her diapers (which I proved that it isn't, I was pretty confident in my very strict and efficient washing routine, not to mention my soap and oxyboost) She wears disposables 4 times a day and overnight when I put the cream on, but wears her cloth diapers for the rest of the day. She also has been going naked as much as possible to help clear it up.... she was naked for 3 hours straight on Saturday.

My milk supply is way up now since I don't have to pump all day. When she goes to bed at night, I pump once before I sleep and I am getting more than twice what I was getting when I was working full time. Wonderful. Building up my freezer supply feels good, although I feel like I might never need it! It should help me out when it comes time to wean though.

I am also really enjoying NOT washing pump parts and bottles every night. What a pain in the ass! The dogs are thrilled because instead of being in the kennel all day long, they have been out laying in the sun in the yard. They are enjoying it thoroughly.

I was able to get some jeans out on the line last Friday, which was awesome. I am working on carrying Ardyn AND a laundry basket outside with me. It's not hard when the basket is empty. I put her in the carrier that Amy bought me, because she loves to face forwards and look around, and it's the only carrier I have (out of 5) that allows her to face out. then I sit her in the grass and she plays and watches and grazes (ha) while I hang things on the line. She has been especially grabby lately. She can get into anything within 3 feet of her body in like .3 seconds. Today when I was getting groceries, she was trying to unload the cart as fast as I was loading it. She threw (literally threw) a tub of hummus (my favorite red roasted pepper) onto the floor and it went like 5 feet from the cart and broke open all over the floor at the end of the aisle. I looked around for a salesperson to help me, and per usual, when you WANT one there aren't any (damn *Mart*) so I just ran like hell. Does that make me a bad parent? Probably. But after I waited 50 minutes for my daughter's prescription to be filled and then 10 more in line with 9 other people while she screamed and fussed and kicked at me.... just to finally pick it up.... and 20 more minutes in the checkout line and then put everything onto the conveyor one-handed while she whined in my ear.... I didn't give a rats ass about that hummus anymore.

She was hungry because she hadn't eaten since like 1pm and it was 4pm, and she had skipped her naps because she refused to sleep when I put her down for her regular nap, and although I have breastfed while walking the aisle of Wal-Mart before, I am not able to do it when I am alone because I can't feed her AND push the cart at the same time. Today (while changing a diaper, holding two kicking legs up with my left arm and two flailing hands out of her crotch with my left hand, holding the diaper down flat under her with the other arm while I used the right hand to squeeze out ointment onto my index finger AND apply it) I asked my husband what kind of cruel sense of humor God must have to give us moms only two arms. Honestly. Shiva has 8, and that bitch is wicked awesome. (I say bitch because I am referring to Shiva in the form of Ardhanarishvara, half man-half woman. And I don't mean bitch to be derogatory here. AND I should also clarify that Shiva can be depicted with anywhere from 2-8 arms, but usually at least 4. Wiki it if you are not sure what I am referring to.) Are 8 arms to much to ask? Octo-Mommy sounds pretty cool to me. I mean, wouldn't they go well with those eyes we get in the back of our heads?

So as I write this I have finished my night. I have put away all the groceries. Made Spaghetti and Garlic Bread with Cheese for supper. Fed the baby and myself and my husband. Rinsed the dinner dishes and loaded them into the dishwasher. Nursed my daughter and put her to bed. Helped my sister shop online for a doghouse for Arnie. Washed two more loads of clothes. Taken the tags off Ardyn's 4 new pair of summer shortie pajamas. AND checked my email and decided that I have time to either blog or respons to emails, but not both. I bought the remaining supplies to make Dotty the Owl... and hoped to do that tonight, but at this point in time, it's already 10pm and I still have to unload stuff from the bed, put away laundry, make my list for tomorrow, read the book on how to set the water softener, let the dogs out one more time, brush my teeth, take my medicine, and go to sleep. AND probably pump and switch the laundry one more time. So, Dotty will have to wait. Another day.

I hope everyone is enjoying their spring. I know that I am!