Long time, no postings!

Sorry for my long absence. It has been busy around here. I can't remember anything going back past Friday. Where is my brain?

On Friday we stuck around here due to the rain. I desperately wanted to take Shayla out, but really didn't have any place that we needed to be! So we stayed in. Everything was great until she ripped off her Pull Up and decided to poop in the hallway. I think I will rename this blog, The Pooping Ping! I am quickly learning that messes can be cleaned. I am getting better at this and I am pleased that I am heading in the right direction with my thought process.

Saturday we stayed home all day and did some cleaning. The garage is a mess. I love an organized garage. I am ALONE in my love for the garage being organized though. I keep telling my darling hubby that if we clean it and MAINTAIN it, we won't have to do it so often. HELLO WALL? Nah, not getting it. I have a place for everything. Bill has no place for anything. Where it lands is where it stays. My next husband is going to be a neatnik and we are going to drive each other crazy looking at the clean walls all day. I can hardly wait. I am sure at that point, I may miss a little messyness, but right now, I don't feel like I will at all!!!! So Bill heads to the garage after I plead with him. He takes Pingster. After a few hours, I head outside to see the marvelous improvement. Yeah, sure. What was I thinking? The two have been playing!!!!! GRRRRR. I find the two of them sitting in my mom's car playing. Like a car should be played in? That is another story for another day!!!! So I tell the two rugrats to get out of the car and start doing something. We are due for our shower tomorrow and I want to put some stuff in the garage. Like a stroller maybe????? So Bill got out the leaf blower and blew out the leaves in the garage, neatened a few things and called it a day. Still looks like crap. I think an entire day/weekend needs to be dedicated to this. Got that SWEEEEEEEETIE?????????

We had plans to get together with friends of ours who we met when we went through DSS training. They wanted to meet Ping. So we headed to their home to have dinner. They gave Ping some great presents. She got Playdoh and paints and coloring books!!!! She was thrilled. So we had a great dinner and hung out. Today I got a call from them and they have been matched with a brandy new baby boy. I am so happy for them!!!!!!! They will be probably picking him up tomorrow. So I see a future visit with them really soon!!!

Sunday we got up and all got ready for our big day. After several years, we finally were having our baby/toddler shower. I can't even begin to explain all the details, but I am going to give it a shot. It was at the Cyprian Keys Golf Club in Boylston, MA. It was held in a room called the "Hall of Fame" and this room is part of the original mansion that was once there!!!! It's a beautiful room with a staircase that goes to the left or right. There are big windows and beautiful hardwood floors and paneling. Just beautiful. The place was decorated so wonderfully. My friend Sarah handled most of the details. There were lovely red linens, awesome bamboo plants for centerpieces, the most adorable cake I have seen in my life, sweet favors, etc.

The cake was a Panda bear and it had ladybugs on it and bamboo. I will post a picture. It was seriously the most adorable cake ever. The cake was done by the same woman who did our wedding cake. She only does wedding cakes and shower cakes if you are her bride, but she did this as a gift for us. This woman's talent is incredible. The cake tastes as yummy as it looks. It was carrot cake and chocolate raspberry. Our favorite flavors!!!!!!

The centerpieces were woven bamboo plants with a square base that had rocks and ladybugs in them. Love them.

There was a plate with a ladybug on it and the date of our shower. Everyone signed and now we have to bake it. Adorable!!!!!

The favors were clear boxes with red and white confetti and two chocolate dipped fortune cookies. YUM!!!

How one won the centerpieces was so much fun. They were scratch tickets with a panda bear on it. You scratched the circle and you won if it said you did. Great idea.

There were mints in red Chinese wrappers. These were held in an awesome bamboo tray that I got to keep.

Sarah even had a clipboard painted to match.

This woman does it ALL. She has a wonderful assistant and hubby by the name of Brad. These two rock. You have no idea how wonderful they are. We are so very, very blessed to have them in our lives. The love they have for us is just incredible.

Anita and Donna, my other wonderful buddies, took care of the menu and other details having to do with the event place. They selected steak, potatoes and broccoli. Everyone said their food was awesome. It was followed up with cake and ice cream!!!! Anita was on the phone with the coordinator making sure that everything was constantly up to par. She made sure we had the right drinks for the event and that they could get in early and set up. Anita is the woman! She is so wonderful. I just adore her. She is another one that is always there for us!!!!!

Donna who prefers not to get involved with details, kept in contact with Anita on a regular basis. She wanted to make sure that everything was going okay. Donna works opposite hours as the rest of us, so she was content letting Anita make the calls to Cyprian! She wanted to be part of the shower, so she and Anita decided to take on food duty:) Donna and I have been friends for too many years to count. Just another person who loves us to pieces!!!!!

After lunch, we were able to open all of the presents. We got so many nice things. We got the stroller we desperately needed. We also got a seat for the table, so Ping can sit up straight. Also received were clothes and a huge kitchen set from the fire department ladies. Bill can't wait to set it up. We have just been so darn busy since the shower. We got a cool mist humidifier and a great thermometer, some cute towels and a small pool you can put balls in. Also a fantastic white table with two chairs. There is simply too many things to remember it all!!!!!

It was a gorgeous party and I couldn't have been happier. Ping had a fantastic time. She was not shy. She was very well behaved for an almost three year old. We got to sit and eat with my three cousins. We were all entertained by Ping's antics. It was great for her to meet some of her family.

After the shower, a few friends came over and had coffee and helped bring the gifts into the house. Shortly after they left, our friends Karen and Rick stopped by to look at our loot. It was nice to visit. Needless to say, the house was a disgusting mess though!!!!

I have some pics, but not all of them. Thanks go out to Meri who took a ton of photos for me. Marghrit did too. As did Karen and Nicole!!!!!

Well I hope I have not forgotten anything!!!!!! If I have, someone will tell me:)

Monday came and I was soooo dead. I did nothing at the shower except for open gifts. I could not for the life of me get up. Neither could Ping. She and I stayed in bed till nearly 10. I had a 9am appt. that I had to cancel. I just couldn't move.

When I finally did get up, I proceeded to put a lot of stuff away. I worked all day and night. I put all the bags away, took all the cards out of the envelopes and put things in piles. Meri came over and we had a fashion show. We made Ping try everything on. Some stuff was too small, so I am exchanging those items for the same, but bigger. I hate to see her only wear an item once or twice. That stinks for the someone who went through the time to pick something out and spend the money. We got a few adorable keepsake items. Meri made a gorgeous pink and brown blanket. My aunt Joyce sent a water globe with Shayla Yu Ping engraved on it and a handmade blanket. Also I got, or rather SHAYLA got her first Tiffany gift. A beautiful white and pink pig. It's under lock and key and laser beams!!!!!!! I never got anything from Tiffany. Bahhhhh! Okay, I will get over it.

Yesterday we stayed home for most of the day because we had an appt. with the Early Intervention Specialist. She will be coming by weekly to work on language. She is so sweet. She stayed for 1 1/2 hours or so. After she left, I matched up all receipts to things I had to return! What a fun project! NOT. When Bill got home, we headed out. We hit Walmart, Fashion Bug, Babies R Us, Target and Red Robin for dinner. Personally, I wasn't a fan of dinner. Oh well, Bill liked. All we did was returns and got a few things at Target. Usually I would go myself, but it's so easy for Bill to drop me off, me do the returns and jump back into the truck. He watches Ping and I get stuff done quickly. It's not fun, but Bill is a great sport about it. Maybe I will keep him. He is soooo messy though! Decisions Decisions!!!!!

Today we were home most of the day. Ping actually grabbed a blanket, crawled up on the couch and took a nap. I was STUNNED!!!!!!! I was thrilled too. She was up so early this morning. I guess she must have realized she was beat!!! I had so many calls to make today. I am so sick of making business calls all the time. Does anyone else have them???? You know, call the bank, insurance, check into social security, call and get a better deal on cable, call the doctors for a prescription for HUBBY, etc. The mundane tasks that are hard to do with a screeching toddler!!!! I got a lot done. I was thrilled. We then headed out for her first playgroup with the Early Intervention people. It was okay. First of all, they sing for EVERYTHING. Not for nothing, but I do not want to sing for an hour and a 1/2. "Clean up, clean up, we all have to do our clean up........Now is the time we say goodbye, say goodbye, say goodbye......" STOP THE INSANE SINGING!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL. There was a ton of stuff to play with, so that was fun. They forgot to put some chairs in the room though. Oh they had chairs, if you were a 30lb toddler, but where were the adult chairs? You know, the one where chubs can sit??????????? UGH. Nothing like bending over for the entire time you are there. I got down on the floor a bunch of times. After all, I want to play, but come on now. Getting up was NOT PRETTY!!!!!! The kids in the group are scrumptious. They were all so dang adorable. Diverse too. There was a little boy that is Chinese, but only knows Cantonese. There was a little girl that was Vietnamese. A little Indian boy. I thought it was great for Ping to be around others from different nationalities. There were a few Spanish children as well. Maybe Ping will want to take up various languages as she gets older.

So they play and then the lights flick and they sing the clean up song. Then they do a shared activity where everyone sits in a circle and sings. Then we did the parachute thingie. Then a snack and then they played with shaving cream. The final thing they did was play with rice and put it in cups and such and then they played in little houses and on rocking horses. They sang a song for everything and flicked lights for everything. Yay. Too happy for me. LOL. The worst part was that one woman walked in and she had the worst freaking perfume on. It was HORRENDOUS. Helllllllooooo, I am allergic. Did you not know that? Okay, I know she didn't know, but damn! It was awful. After about 10 minutes of being there, I almost grabbed Ping and left. I didn't have the heart to take her away, but I drove home sucking up air conditioning. I really hope I don't pay for the perfume incident with a migraine tomorrow. I felt better after the air and some Advil. Perfume does a number on me. We have to watch for peanut allergies, but not perfume???? I know people like it, but don't bathe in it. This was one of those strong ones, like RED DOOR or something. It filled the entire room. I was miserable. That coupled with the bending over and singing didn't delight me to death, that is for sure!!!!!! I will go again next week for Ping's sake and decide from there what to do!!!!! Lastly, Ping was awful to me there. She is really very good to me when we are alone at home. She is loving and talks to me and gets me stuff, etc. When Bill comes home, she does not ignore me like she used to. However, when she is around others, she ignores me, acts like I am not her mama and gets annoyed if I get around her. It's very difficult to deal with. She would not sit with me today and she projectile spit at me three times. I thought I was going to KILL HER. So here we are singing a happy tune and I am imagining tying her to the top of the truck and going 90 all the way home!!!! I left and went straight home. I didn't even do the 2 errands I had planned because I was so angry and upset with her behavior. So we will see how it goes. If she continues with the bad behavior and the woman continues with the perfume, I will have to figure out something else to do!!!!!! I really want her to have fun with the other kids though. I don't need to be enveloped in stench though and feel like I can't breathe!!!!

We got home and Bill was at school. I gave her a snack and he came in shortly after. Thank god. I hate double shift days. She gets sad and mad when he isn't home and I get punished for it. I told him that she wasn't a good girl and then off they went to fulfill her dumpling mania!!!! I decided to close my eyes so I could sit up and blog tonight. Here it is, almost 1:30. I have been typing an hour maybe?

Time to hit the hay!

Mama out!

XO.