Advents Corner

I am so excited Christmas is one week away.  Matt’s family starts coming in from Hawaii on Friday with his parents arriving Saturday afternoon.  They have not seen Lani since July and she has gotten so much bigger since then, they are going to be so surprised.  I have been looking around for a table arrangement to make, as soon as I find one I will post it for you guys but if you have something you would like to share then please post it up here.

Tanya and I were talking about Christmas gifts and she told me something so strange. This girl is just crazy. I told her I could buy her an everyday hand bag and she said really I don’t think I could do that for you because that is so personal. Then she follows that up with do you need underwear? I just looked at her dumb founded thinking she was joking but she was very serious. She feels that she knows me well enough to pick me out underwear. Of all of the things in the world, panties!! She thought I was pushing it by suggested I get her a purse and she wants to buy me underwear. This girl is so strange, and then she tells me I could get her shoes. I could not pick out shoes for her or anyone for that matter. I can not even bring home shoes for my daughter. Tanya said she wants a pair of sexy boots; all I could do was shake my head.

This is really starting to tick me off; Matt got called for jury duty, AGAIN.  All I want to do is perform my civic duty and I have NEVER BEEN CALLED.  Everyone I know has been called at least once and some like Matt have been called twice.  Even my daughter’s ex-boyfriend was called.  I am really beginning to believe I do not exist.  When I started to buy saving bonds a few months ago I opened an account with the US department of Treasury or maybe I should say I tried to open an account with them.  You go through this gauntlet of questions to prove your identity and when I was all finished I was told that they could not verify who I was.

I was left with a form I had to take to my bank to have notarized stating I was who I said I was.  Do you think that has something to do with the fact that I have never been called for jury duty?  I have been registered to vote since before I graduated high school.  As soon as we moved to Florida I got my new drivers licenses, registered to vote, and also checked the box to become and organ donor because I think that is very important.  I have voted in very election we have had including the primaries and I don’t understand it.  I do not have a criminal record, I have only received on ticked in my life, and that was 16 years ago.  I am an upstanding citizen and I want to go to jury duty dang it.  If you have any insider information on how they pick the people they call for duty please share it with my readers, I would really appreciate it.

LSU will be playing Ohio State for the BCS Championship.  I am sure I will have many jokes to pass along to you from all of my family in Louisiana about the buckeyes as the game gets closer.  I will also be keeping my eye for cool stuff for you to check out.

Lani and I had a morning of shopping and waiting in line at the post office.  The lines are getting really long there with people picking up and dropping off.  The rush as not even hit yet but I am happy to say I got all of the presents mailed that needed to go out.  After all of that Lani and I  grabbed some lunch then came and she took a nap.  That was a lot of excitement for a little one and of course she was so good in the stores and at the post office.  She always is.

Christmas is getting so close and that means all of our family will be soon.  Weekend after next Mom and Dad fly in the same day Michaela flies out.  It is going to be so nice for them to be here for Christmas with Lani because this year she is so excited about the tree and the lights and the Christmas cards.  I is going to be so much fun Christmas morning with her opening all of her presents, I better make sure my digital camera battery is fully charged because I would not want to miss anything.  I can use the regular camera and Matt can use the camcorder so we can make sure we have every angle covered.

I might get to go to Vegas.  Matt has to travel there in January and we are trying to come up with a way for me to meet him out there on the weekend.  I have never been and I think it would be cool to stay in a nice Vegas hotel like the ones you see on CSI.  Having a little one makes things like this a little bit harder; this is a perfect time to have grandparents around the corner.  A nice little weekend get away for us would be so nice but I guess we will settle for the nights we put her to bed then sneak out to the movies. 

As many of you know we have 3 daughters and they are as different as night and day.  Our oldest is 17 ½, our middle daughter is 13 and our youngest is 17 months.  The oldest is very outgoing, talkative, and brunette, with blue eyes.  The middle is quite, very caring, always tries to make you smile, blonde with green eyes.  The baby is well entering her terrible twos, so silly, very smart, dark hair with brown eyes.  In raising the three girls we have come to realize they are so different.  The oldest has always had an independent streak so she was always and sometimes is still a handful.  The middle was always so quite I say because her sister never gave her time to talk and now there is Lani.

We are now up to 7 tantrums a day just in the time I pick her up from school to the time she does to bed, I have no idea how many she has at school.  She is refusing to take an afternoon nap now which only adds to the crankiness and makes this so much worse.  She is learning fast and testing her limits.  When you tell her no she will continue to do it but look at you while she does it to see when you are going to say something.  I do not remember the other two being like this, maybe it is because we, as Moms, forget about things like that.  Maybe it is like the pain of child birth, it hurts like hell when you are going through it but when it is over you don’t think about it anymore. 

I have to say that when she realizes you are serious she will just move on to something else so to this day she has not had to have her hand smacked or anything like that.  We choose to remove her from the situation instead of just letting her stand there being tempted.  When she throws her tantrums we just ignore her and tell her to let me know when she is done so we can finish what we are doing.  I make sure she is on a rug and can not hurt herself and I usually leave her in whatever room she is in until she gets up and comes to get me.  Last night it was so funny because I had my back to her while she was throwing one of her fits and she got up off of the floor and come and got in my lap and continued to throw her fit.  I wonder what process was going through her mind to come up with the idea of lying in my lap to get my attention because I had my back to her.  I did not take my eyes off of the TV and she stopped and got in her chair that was sitting next to me.  She then continued eating her dinner and that was it.  It is so funny how fast their moods change at this age.  I do believe the family is in for a surprise when they get here for Christmas.  J

I was taking Michaela to her Christmas concert last night and we were stopped in the turn lane at a red light at US 301 and Boyette Road.  When the light turned green two cars in front of us started through the intersection when another car ran the red light.  The first car slammed his brakes on to miss the car running the light and he did but the second car slammed right into him.  I pulled along side the second car to ask if he was ok when I saw the driver holding his head and passing out.  His car started going backwards so I jumped out of the van ran around, opened the guy’s door, and threw his car in park stopping it before it hit the car behind him.  When I pulled my head out of the car I turned and a man was walking up to me and I asked him to call 911 then when I looked at him it was Don. 

Don and Barb were also on their way to Michaela’s concert so the car I saved from being hit was Barb’s car.  Isn’that just so crazy?  I could not believe I did that, it happened so fast.  I looked back at the van and Michaela was just looking at me her eyes as big as quarters and Lani was still watching Little Einstein’s.    I had a super hero moment if only a brief one.  I could not believe I actually did something like that.  I could not believe I just did not point and say his car is rolling backwards.  I guess that was my good deed for the day.  It was two boys about Michaela’s age and they both new each other.  The guy that hit his head was fine.

This goes to show how much we love our children and how we do not care how stupid we look when we are with them.  When Lani and I go to the grocery store we are always singing and everyone knows I can not carry a tune to save my life but Lani thinks I sing beautifully.  So us singing “broccoli celery got to be veggie tales” in the produce section is a common occurrence at my local Winn Dixie and the workers there have learned to just smile and wave.

Matt and I bought Lani her own domain name for Christmas.  It is a gift she will have for the rest of her life or as long as someone pays the $6.99 a year for it.  :)  It is LeilaniCampos.com  I am in the process of moving all of her stuff over to it now.  I am so excited about it.  So when she gets older she can update it herself and it has everything on it from the time that she was created.  I had a lot of trouble when we were trying to have a baby.  We lost 3 and Lani was actually a twin but we lost the twin.  She is so precious to us and the journal starts with the moment I found out I was pregnant with her and goes through present day.  Because our family lives so far away from us I update the journal everyday (well almost) with the events going on in Lani’s little life. 

Today being the last day of November I guess I have survived my first attempt at NaBloPoMo and below you will find my badge to prove it.  A couple of days I had doubts but because of my children, stupid people in the world and relatives sending my crazy stuff I always had something to post about.  With Christmas upon us and family coming in from Hawaii I am afraid I will be too busy to post everyday during December but I intend on giving it my best shot. 

I hope you have enjoyed some of the things you have read for the month of November.  Even though at times my fingers hurt from typing and my eyes hurt from reading everyone else’s blogs I have to say I am not tired of blogging.  I think it is a great form of release for me.  Even if no one wants to hear about the 15 minute tantrum Lani through or Michaela getting through her last year of high school just writing about it helps me get through it.  To have one graduating high school, one discovering boys and one in diapers sometimes it can get to be a little much but I am making it and loving every minute of it.  I have a wonderful husband who keeps us all grounded and even though our family is in Hawaii and Louisiana they are close in our hearts and only a phone call away.  Thanks for sticking it out with me through all of the posts, I really appreciate it.

Diamonds, Loose diamonds, Wholesale Loose Diamonds or Diamonds already set in a ring are a girl’s best friend.  I have never had a solitaire diamond before because when Matt and I got engaged I opted for a solitaire sapphire surrounded by diamonds instead of a solitaire diamond.  I did however ask him for a diamond solitaire this year for Christmas.  I love my wedding band and I do not want another one but I would like a solitaire to go with my band.  I am hoping Santa thinks I was a good girl this year.  I would like a little box waiting from me under the tree this year. 

Do you ever wonder what companies really do with all of the market research
they conduct?  The company I work for had us all fill out those questioners to see how much we like our job and work place.  All of the people that are in my office are not pleased with the way they office is ran and the assistance we receive from the company on personal matters through HR and no one gave the company a good review.  We had the meeting to let us know how the survey went we were astounded by the fact that the office received the highest marks in every category.  How did that happen?  What survey forms were they reviewing?  It just goes to show you that you can make any survey read exactly the way you want it to.

Lani came home today with papers from school that the class did together. I love when they start bringing stuff home from school that you can put on on the fridge and admire. She is so sweet and she was so proud when I took her papers out of her bag. Cherish is time while you can before you know it they will be graduating and going off to college.

Michaela’s piercing is doing great.  All of the swelling has gone down and now she is in the process of keeping it clean and making sure the bar is able to move back and forth freely.  Lani is trying to say I love you and it is so precious.  When you say I love you to her she says her own version on it back to you.  She is getting to big it is hard to believe she is 16 1/2 months old now. 

One of the things I like about Christmas is the free gifts companies that you do business with through out the year send out. I was at the dentist office earlier today and they had promotional items with the dentist name on all of the counters, things like mugs and magnet calendars. I was standing waiting to check out and they just started handing me this stuff. I felt like Christmas came early. Yesterday in the mail I received a calendar from my insurance agent. I think that was out of guilt for the ridiculous prices they charge me for my homeowner’s policy though.

She woke up this morning and she said it did not hurt, I was really surprised.  It was still a little swollen on the one side where it was pierced twice but other than that it looked good.  She had her hair up in a pony tail to keep it away from the piercing but I am sure it was mainly to show it off.  She was so proud of herself and I was proud of her too. 

Michaela is getting an industrial piercing today.  She says she is terrified but she still wants to get it.  It is basically an ear piercing but instead of one hole it is two and a solid bar is passed between the two.  I will post a picture of it when we get back.  She is paying for it herself and in the long line of battles this is not high on my list so I did not tell her no.  Now if she would have said eyebrow, lip, belly button or anything other than the ear that would have been a no.  But I figure what can it hurt by piercing the ear she can always let it close up if she wants too.

We took Lani to get a hair cut today.  When Aunty Steph cut her hair she just sat so well and did not move or anything but that was not the case today.  She cried a little but she did have fun until we was put in the chair.  It is a place just for children so they had toys and things she was playing with and we go her some lotion called Leilani’s Lotion and it has a hula girl on the front of it and it is tropical smelling.  She is so cute with her little bangs and we did get the back trimmed up just a little.  We basically just evened it out because it has never been cut before and all these little curls came out of nowhere when she trimmed off maybe 1/4 inch off the back and about 1/2 off her bangs.