Problem Solving

I recently get fed up and couldn't take Salem throwing her food on the floor any longer. It is a constant battle between the two of us 3 times a day and I'm tired of the area under her chair looking like complete and utter filth.

So, we are DONE. When I worked at the CDC in Alaska, the children would have to learn to dump their own food after each meal by the time they were in the pre-toddler room...1 year of age. Salem is going on 19 months now, so I thought hmmmmm.........if a one year old can do it, then she is defin. capable of doing so. So, after breakfast yesterday, I let her dump the food that was left in the trash and guess what, not a single piece of food has been thrown on the floor since!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



This is her doing her Salem is "So Big" sign with 2 hands in the air!

Now, why didn't I think of this 9 months ago? It sure as heck would have saved me many, many of Quinn Wars within our household. I love solving problems like this, but could bang my head against the wall because of how simple it was to do so and how LONG it took to accomplish such a task.

Whistler, "OH CANADA!"

On top of the highest point on Whistler Peak



Our friends, Mark and Megan Gabrielson

In case you don't already know this, Whistler is MY FAV. place in the world that I have ever been to. I love Alaska, but Whistler is primo and even above Anchorage on my list. If I had a trillion dollars to live there, I would. Or, if I was 18 again with no hubby, or child in sight, I would totally live out of my car and be a hippy-ski-bum....I'd be all over that!

Andrew and I with his Grandma Quinn in Washington

The house that Andrew grew up in in Washington

Eniumclaw High...where Andrew went to school

A group of his friends from high school

Andrew and I just returned early this AM from spending 9 days in the Seattle/Whistler areas. We were able to visit his grandmother, friends, and his hometown of Enumclaw, Washington. His parents own a condo in Whistler Village (Creekside), so we try to utilize it as much as possible. He has spent many winter weekends there over the years, and back when we were dating, he took me there for a romantic week long getaway. This trip wasn't AS romantic (we had 2 of his BFF's from high school with us that are now also married...they actually got married the day after us which is Andrew's birthday!) , but had a wonderful time enjoying the beautiful weather, slopes, beers, food, and company of such great friends!

Out the front door is the slopes and this is the view from the back of our condo

We spent most of the days skiing, but took 1 day off to visit folks and another day to check out the Village as they prepare for the Olympic games being held there in 2 years. We didn't take nearly as many pictures as I would have liked, but walked away with a few classic Andrew shots!


We were able to have free VIP tickets to a concert in The Village while we drank, ate and sat on everything made out of ice.


Some random dude with the beautiful Whisler Village in the backdrop

Salem, once again, stayed behind in Texas not only with her Grammy (Andrew's Mom), but also with her Great Old Granny (Andrew's Mom's Mom). I can only imagine how much attention she soaked up and what an ass pain it is going to be for me this week to break. It is ALL WORTH it; for I know both sides enjoyed every second they got to spend with each other. I can hardly recognize my own daughter this afternoon. She has grown so much over the past 9 days and matured into this not little, but BIG toddler. She is learning her colors (everything is "Yellow") and talking more and more up a storm. She is napping right now, and I want her to wake up so I can play with her some more and see all the exciting and new things she learned while we were away. Andrew's Mom always takes such great care Salem and we are incredibly grateful that she travels all this way to take care of our Sweet Baby Salem.

My goal this week is to sweat out all the alcohol weight I have put on. I swear. I look like a balloon that is on the verge of bursting. My face, ass, thighs, BASICALLY EVERYTHING on my body is swollen and disgusting looking. The whole "You can eat and drink whatever the heck you want because you're burning a ton of calories skiing" saying is a crock of crap. It might be true if you only eat a head of lettuce with a couple walnuts on top and have just A beer. Ummmm, do you know us very well? We do things in excess in this family and there is NO such thing as just having A beer or eating healthy while you're skiing in THE most beautiful place in the world on vacation and what is that you say?...............KID FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We took all of our advantages to the LIMITS and now, we're paying for them. I'm afraid of seeing my girlfriends in fear that they might not recognize me.

Having a brew after a long day of skiing

You would find us here, at this bar, at lunch, or immediatley after our snow days.


Hooray!!!!!!!!!! Salem is waking up! I don't think I've ever been this excited about her waking up from a nap since she was a little bambina. Gotta Jam On It!

"Tank Doo, Yaya!"

Yaya sent flowers and a Valentine's Day frog for Salem yesterday to help make her feel better tomorrow after her operation. She loves dragging ( I would say carrying, but it more or less gets flung acorss the entire house), the froggy around and yelling "NO!", at Lilly to leave her dirty paws off of it.

On another note, she has recently discovered makeup and follows me around asking for "lips!" Yesterday, she found my brushes and then kept wanting me to take close-up photos of her after she played with the brush on her face. I swear, is she 1 or 16?
Somedays, I just don't know.

Breaking Up

I've decided to end my relationship with ALL Swiffer products; especially the Wet Jet. I'm tired of swiffering every night before bed, only to wake up to 1,000 square feet of tile sticky as all hell. All it does it make matters worse, so I am done, DONE I SAY!

I won't just stop there. THE most annoying thing to me in the ENTIRE Universe is STAINED GROUT. Did any of your builders out there also make the stupid decision to not seal your grout? Mine did, and now, I find myself cursing his name every day as I try to scrub the brown, turning black, grout in high traffic areas throughout my home. Honestly, what's the point of not sealing such a thing? It does nothing but make your floors look disgusting even after you've mopped. If I would have known I would be so upset and loose as much sleep as I have over it, I would have paid extra do seal the deal.

Instead, I now find myself stuck with no place to turn. You should see the area where Salem has her highchair. Sometimes, I look over and want to vomit just by the thought of what bacteria could be lurking underneath such filth. Am I the only one with this issue?

Anyways, I would like to know, from all of you, what bothers you the most in this wonderful world we're living in....make it good!

Salem's Boyz

She had a day filled with attention from lots of boys in her life that "luwf" her. She spent the morning coloring and flirting with her #1 guy, daddy. Then, she had an afternoon with not only 1, but 2 boyfriends. I'm thinking I'll have her strive to be the next Hugh Hefner. Hey, these days, you have to start 'em young to prep. them for the future! I know what I'm doing here! Although, I must say, we already have Hugh beat. She has #1 boyfriend, Knox, #2 Peyton, #3 Tristan, and #4 Keyson. I guess we'll have to stay in NB to keep this going for the rest of her life. Damn.

The Verdict

Tubes in both ears on Thursday for Sweet Baby Luvs. No fun.

Fat Tuesday

Today has been a day, today has been a day. Salem hasn't been sleeping through the night very well. She has had an on going ear infection since, what feels like, the day she came out of my vagina. I swear. She has any appointment with the ENT tomorrow to schedule tubes to be put in her ears. THANK GOD. I can NO longer take a toddler who is in so much pain that she can hardly make it through the days. I have to keep her occupied 24/7 to keep her mind off her ears. She sticks her fingers in them and constantly says "ouchie mama". So sad, huh?

I, too, ventured off to "Photo Wonderland" (aka The Picture People) today with my girlfriend to have Salem and Knox photographed for Valentine's Day. Lets just say.....it didn't go as planned. Our intentions were in the right place, but the kids weren't feeling the love today. We couldn't even get a single descent shot of them together. So, we are both sending "Love Day" postcards out, with 2 separate photos of them on it by themselves. Lame. The photographer sucked ass, and shouldn't be working with children. Janelle and I thought it would be so cute to send pictures out of the two love birds together, and it just didn't pan out that way. I hate it when things don't go as planned. Why couldn't there have been at least just 1 okay picture? Just 1 people, that is all I'm asking. Is it that hard for you to do your flippin' job correctly? Seriously, I think I would have had more luck if I would have ripped that camera off her neck and taken them my damn self. I kept having to tell her over and over again just to take a freaking picture. I mean, seriously, WTF? WTF?


All schnockered out after 2 dreadful hours at the P.P.

Hopefully our day will only get better from here. It doesn't appear that that is going to happen any time her soon since she just woke up from nap and I KNOW she needs much more needed rest than that because she was up half of the night. Ugh.


Tonight we're going over, as family, to our friend Kris and Dawn's house for a crawfish boil to celebrate Fat Tuesday. Maybe a glass of wine will calm my nerves. 5 o'clock can't come fast enough, I swear!

I'll also be trying "King's Cake" for the first time this evening. I'm not too sure that I fully understand the concept behind it all. I mean, seriously, a choking hazard baby in a cake that you can't even eat? How can you enjoy eating cake if you're constantly worrying about dying on a little baby logged in the back of your throat?

One final thing:

CHANGE.

Get out there and VOTE!

*******************UPDATE***********************************************
The crawfish boil was a hit. Our friends, The Munds, go above and beyond for every festivity and I knew tonight wouldn't be any different. We had fresh (still crawling around) crawfish and beer straight from New Orleans. Kris also made his own "special sauces" (doesn't sound proper, but you get what I'm saying), along with LA rice and beans, corn, shrimp, fresh oysters, clams, you name it, they brought it to the table.

Yes, we also had the King Cake along with fresh chocolate moose that was all so yummy! No, I didn't get the baby ; however, Dawn, that watched me stuff the baby deep into the loins of the cake, got it in her slice that she cut for herself. Sad, but true. We'll just blame it on to many beers. What the hell, that's what you're supposed to do on Fat Tuesday...eat and drink yourself silly :0)