Toes

Dalen's foot hanging out of his crib during naptime.

Dalen and his Fav.

Dalen and his favorite playmate.

If it ain't one thing...

...it's 16 others. In our house, that is. Here is a day in the Life of Megan Hood.
I wake up to the lovely pitter patter of bare feet. It's Dalen reved up and ready to go. It can't be 7 a.m. I think. Mario gives him an extra boost to climb in bed with me and my nose is bombarded with the most gosh awful stinch. Great. Its 7 a.m. and I am already changing a stinky. The bright orange substance welcomes the day.
I notice Dalen is wincing and whining while I am changing him and then I notice he has awful diaper rash (which he never gets). So I cream him up and set him on his way. Mario is out the door by 7:30 and the whining and crying begins. Dalen is absolutely in love with Mario. Simply I will not do anymore. He cries for the next 20 minutes and I trash the thought of a bath in peace. Every so often I am decorated in trash that Dalen is digging from the trash can and I have to swim after it in the tub. I am then irritated I am even bothering to bathe. Seriously, whats the point when you are not only sinking in your own germs from the previously day but now with the germs from the trash as well? Dalen then decides to throw my clean towel and clothes in the floor. At this point, I'm thinking it seriously may be the beginning of a bath strike.
I then get a call from Mario informing me he has taken off to work with not only his keys but mine as well. No biggie I don't have to be to work until noon. Mario returns home shortly thereafter with my keys and returns to work. Dalen then begins to scream his head off again. Somedays I really do wonder if it would be better for me to work full time and Mario stay home.
The crying continues until I feed Dalen. I then realize I have no breakfast baby food so he will just have to eat fruit. Expectant mothers: DO NOT EVER FEED YOUR BABY PLAIN FRUIT IN THE MORNING! I will give no further desription as to what I have to change after that digested. YUCK! I think the odor is still stuck somewhere in my nose. Then I recieve a call of some1 not too happy with the way I dealt with a situation. You know you never can please everyone. Some days complaints wouldn't be so bad, if you had some days of appreciation.
FINALLY, we are dressed and ready to buy toilet paper at CVS. I load Dalen in a buggie with a car attatched to the front of it and he begins pulling everything he can off the shelves. I then realize their aisle aren't nearly wide enough b-c everything is within arms reach. We dash out the door in hopes to make it work on time. Due to the lovely city of Cleveland I park 3 1/2 blocks away from work because if you park directly downtown you recieve a ticket after 2 hours. And there is actually a lovely, wonderful cop who drives around ALL day doing nothing but hunting cars who have been parked too long. I mean seriously, don't you have something better to do? So I put 30 pound Dalen on my left hip. My diaper dag in my right shoulder. My purse on my wrist and after a few steps notice something doesn't feel right. Oh yea, I forgot to bundle myself up. Once I realized I would have to put Dalen down and the diaper bag and my purse and then put my coat on a relaod myself I decided I would rather freeze. So off to work we go. One block away from work I realize one of Dalen's feet is shoeless. Perfect. Now I get to walk another 3 block to retrace my steps and find the missing shoe. I get the store opened and retrace my steps only to find Dalen's shoe was safely in the back seat of the car. I am furious at this point, snot is pouring from my nose and I have no free hand to wipe it with. I return to the store and realize its only noon Megan.
I just can't wait til he can say thanks mom. Thanks for hunting my lost shoe. Thanks for feeding me. Thanks for dressing me. Sorry I trashed your bath. Sorry I make you feel not as fun as Pop. Then I realize I never told my mom thanks when I was younger and never said sorry either. So here is to my Ma. Thanks Ma and sorry.

Coupon Queen

I am totally into couponing now. Some girls at church that are my sisters friends are like COupon Queens....literally. Kmart is doubling coupons for a week....which means if you have a coupon that says $1 off you get it doubled to $2 off. The stuff below was purchased under $40!!! All of it is name brand and good quality stuff. I am really thankful I learned how to do this!

HEY PREGNANT GIRLS AND MOMS!!!!

Wanna know how to NEVER have to buy baby wipes again? Go to foodlion.com and click on baby steps. You get $1.50 off food lion wipes and thats how much the cost so they are FREE! All you pay is tax!!! Your computer will only let you print them off once but you can make copies and go as often as you need to. We haven't bought wipes in months!

Wanna know how to NEVER have to buy fruits or vegetable baby food???? Print baby food coupons from there too and there is a Gerber coupon for $2 off. You can buy a 2 pack of fruit and veg. for $1 so thats 4 servings of fruits or veggies for FREE! There is also a coupon for $1 off Gerber food and you can get another for FREE!

Kisses

I love Dalen's kisses!

Womanizer

This morning Good Morning America had a special on for Britney Spears' birthday. She did a live concert and literally Dalen was GLUED to the TV. It was just too funny to not video. He even dances a little.

Mt. Everest

This is exactly how I used to sleep and now Dalen does it. His butt is HUGE. We pretty much knew that was inevitable coming from Mario and I. Haha

Change of Scenery

Sometimes I think a change of scenery helps. Even if you aren't experiencing a particularly trying time in life, I think it helps. When you are surrounded by newness a new found appreciation begins to swell within you. Creativity is stimulated due to a glimpse of something for the first time. Your eyes then see things of the old in a new light and insight develops. Yes, a change of scenery brings forth healing.
When you are introduced to a new place you are looking at life from afar. You are no longer the person smothered by adverse trials but you become the outsider looking in. So Lord, take me somewhere, anywhere. Some place new and fresh. To an environment that will enhance a work you have already begun and when I return may the story read THE END.

Little Indian Hood

Here are some pics from Thanksgiving. Dalen is in his feather hat from parent's day out.

Me and Mario at my grandmother's house.

The grass is greener...

on the other side-of Dalen's gate that is. He is still not adjusted to being confined to one room. Unless of course our computer is out for him to bang on or a cell phone is out to make calls on...which he really does.

Roll Over!

Here is Yibby! She knows how to roll over really good now! Saturday she spent a lot of time on her belly just sucking her fist and looking around. She is so hilarious now-her personality is really starting to show through. I call her chubby cherub when she is smiling.

A Few New Favs

The 1st two pics are from this Sunday after church. Dalen is dressed from head-to-toe in Hicks Hand-me-downs...THANKS RACHEL!

Here is Dalen on Saturday night after a LOOOOONG day with the grandparents and cousin Yibby. I think for the 1st time we over stayed our welcome. haha

Here is Dalen kissing me with a wide open mouth. I wish it weren't blurry.