Well, nothing special is going on right now.. just thought I'd update my blog. MySpace is going well for WOM, the luncheon is Sunday and I'm looking forward to it. Am babysitting for my old friend Lisa J. Saturday so I'll have some money for lunch. It's been really nice reconnecting with her. She called me out of the blue a few months back and we've just reconnected. It seems silly now all the reasons we stopped speaking way back when. She's such a different person now and I guess I am too. We had one of those silly teen fights back when we were like 19 or 20 and hadn't spoken in ten years. These days we talk at least 3 times a week. It's funny how some things work out.

Most of the people I knew in highschool, I'm still friends with... Not as close as we were back then, but still friends. There are only a few that we grew apart or had a falling out. I inherited a couple of my friends sisters over the years because we grew apart as far as closeness goes. That's an odd thing too. One of those sisters has turned out to be a good friend as well. *waves at Christina*. There's a couple of friendships that I've had that I regret how they turned out, but sometimes you just have to let people go. I'm terrible for hanging on to a relationship long after I should have just let it go. I always end up really hurt in the end when I've done that. I suppose that's just one of those lessons that I needed to learn.

Boy, I guess I'm feeling pretty introspective today. LOL. Now if I could only analyze why I'm having so much trouble potty training Dayanera? I am currently trying bribes and using an egg timer. LOL. Lisa J. suggested the egg timer which is working great for me, at least I can remember to make her sit on the potty now. The problem is that the kid does not care if she's wet or dirty. On the plus side Maverick is dying to sit on the potty. LOL. Maybe I'll have him potty trained before he even turns two at this rate. Head Start begins the first week in September and she still isn't potty trained. I'm so frustrated with it. sigh. Patrick isn't much help either.

I love Patrick more than anything in the world, but he is working my last nerve over this one. He doesn't make her sit on the potty, he doesn't want to take her, he forgets to set the timer so he doesn't "remember" to take her, and generally doesn't want to mess with it. I can guilt him into it when I'm ready to scream about it, but he isn't exactly volunteering. My take on this is that I didn't create her by myself and he should share in the frustration as much as I do. He'd rather slap a diaper on her and forget about it. Now, how does one train a husband to potty train? There's a book someone should write.

I can never stay mad at him though. LOL. I'm easy I guess. All he has to do is kiss on me or do something cute like playing with the kids and I'm all mushy. You know we'll have been married four years in December? Hard to believe sometimes. Feels like we've been together forever. Oh it's not always hearts and flowers, believe me we are soooo not perfect. LOL. But we have a good relationship 80 % of the time and that's better than most people, I think. This was fate, had to be, with the way we started. LOL. I mean, he came home with me one night and never left. We lived together from day one, were pregnant 3 months into that and married 7 months into it. The odds were bad for this to work out and in the beginning I was afraid it wouldn't. I almost kicked him out 4 or 5 times. But the last two and a half years have been the best of my life.

You know people always talk about the first year of marriage being the honeymoon period. Not for us. LOL. The first year was the hardest, the next six months weren't great either but after Patrick gave up the bar... well, now I can't see myself ever being without him. Go figure? We were talking about some friends of ours who voluntarily separated for three weeks. Not like your thinking. LOL. She just went to visit family for that long before he could join her. We couldn't imagine doing that. Hell, we thought we were going to die when he was gone for 15 days. I missed him like a physical ache in my bones. Patrick says we are just attached at the hip or something. Is kinda scary to be that attached to another person, sometimes, but I wouldn't trade it for anything either.

We spend alot of time planning for our future, which I think makes a big difference in a relationship. We are kinda stuck in limbo right now while we finish college, but that doesn't stop us from planning what we'll do when we graduate. I'll be graduating before he does by a good two years if he decides to double major like I want him to. The plan is for me to graduate and get a job, so Patrick can become a house husband and finish school. LOL. I'm kinda looking forward to that. We'll get to switch roles. Dunno how well it's going to work out... he never cooks unless he can pop it in a microwave (sad really considering he's a chef who's been to culinary arts school), he never folds or puts laundry away. I have to moan, groan, and guilt trip him into giving the kids a bath. He's not afraid to clean or pick up, if I gripe at him to do it. He's always taken equal care of the kids (cept for this potty training business and baths). I think it will be like anything else and it will take us a while to find our rythm. We'll probably argue a bit, but we'll eventually work out a system like we do with everything else.

Well, I've probably written a book about nothing so I should probably end this. I still haven't been over to MySpace yet today to check on WOM's stuff or my personal page, and I haven't been to WOM's message board yet today either. Need to do that before I get off of here, so I'll check you all later.

Blessings,

Natalie/Em