Never Trust a Squirrel- by Olivia Pavich

Olivia got the book Never Trust a Squirrel from her Grandma. The official descroption of the book is as follows:
William, a young guinea pig, longs to experience the world outside his secure hut. Stella the squirrel's invitation to explore is more tempting than his mother's stern warnings of danger, so off he goes. He soon finds himself abandoned by Stella and pursued by a hungry fox. Thanks to his mother, the young guinea pig eventually ends up safe at home. William is adorable, Stella is nasty, but the fox looks more mild-mannered than threatening. Children will sympathize with William's need to test the limits.


Here's Olivia's version- as taken by audio from my husband's phone one night before bed:

"The day afternoon was very excited because Sonny was not very excited to trust a squirrel. So the squirrel never trusts a squirrel of the day. The day after was very excited to never trust a squirrel. So they went in the woods to find some.....woods, woods, woods and was very excited all the day long cause all the day long they were very excited of all the days of the month. Never trust a squirrel every day cause...never trust a squirell as very excited like a rabbit. The rabbit was so excited to go to the school. School was not opened. So..so...a fox came and looked for rabbits. The rabbit stepped on carpet which was very quiet."

Wow.

I'm an addict

Hello. My name is Sarah. And I'm an addict. I've been able to keep my addiction to just once per week but sometimes, I fall into a day long buzz. I'm finally ready to admit my problem......

I LOVE JERSEY SHORE.

It's back on Tuesday January 4th and I. CAN'T. BE. MORE. EXCITED.

I don't know if it's because these people make me feel like I'm extremely classy and intelligent or if I just love the way they parlayed their craziness into a multi-million dollar business. Mike "The Situation" made $10M last year alone. He trademarked his name, came out with a few workout DVDs, designed shirts and jewelry. Snooki appeared on many magazine covers and gets paid to attend club openings and personal appearances. JWOWW has her own clothing line.

WHAT? Forget college.....just get drunk on TV and you'll be made for life!

I'm just amazed that these characters are so intriguing to me. I consider myself above-average in intelligence. I don't like other trashy TV but I just can't stop watching this show. I find their antics hilarious, annoying, insulting and sometimes dangerous. I fear my children will act 30% as awful as they do.

It's like a train wreck or something. I just can't turn away.

There- I said it. I admit to loving these horrible people.

I feel much better!

Ahhh....it's finally over.

I do love the holidays but I also love when they are over.

Most of the presents are put away. A few decorations have been taken down. I like to leave my tree up for a week or two after Christmas since it takes SO much effort to put up. The kids really like the tree too so we'll leave it up for now but all the trinkety type decor is coming down in stages.

Our Christmas was very nice. We traveled but everyone still got their naps and were relatively well behaved. We received a lot of nice presents--nothing too big and not too much to return. The kids had a lot of fun seeing our extended family and the food was excellent as always. I need to unload my camera and post some new pics soon. Now that things have settled down, I should be able to get caught up with the 400+ pics that are on my memory card!

Hope you all had a nice holiday!

Merry Christmas!

Since this weekend will be super busy with traveling, I'd like to send my "Merry Christmas" out to you all today!

Have a wonderful and blessed holiday!

The Pavichs

Sometimes I just need to take my own advice

The title of my blog (Just Rolling With It) encompasses my attitude towards life. The serenity prayer "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; And wisdom to know the difference" is my own personal mantra.

I try not to get caught up in the "shoulds" "woulds" and "coulds" of parenting. I appreciate different points of few and different parenting styles. I try not to compare my kids with other kids. I try to understand that the "milestones" are just general guidelines and not all kids will hit them at the otherwise "appropriate" times.

I try to give my mom friends a relaxed view on parenting. I tell them not to get caught up in it all. Babies and kids will do things as they want. As long as they are happy, healthy and progressing, there's no reason to stress.

So, why can't I take MY OWN advice?

I'm so stressed out about Owen not sleeping through the night, that it's got me going crazy. I've been researching reverse cycling, exclusively pumping/bottle feeding, over feeding, under feeding, adding more solids, taking solids away etc.

Information overload.

My other kids were sleeping through the night (8pm - 6am) by 13 and 16 weeks. No problems. Owen is the only one who's been nursed this long so that's the only thing I can think of that's causing this. Some days, I want to quit just to get sleep. But what if that doesn't help? Then I'm not nursing (which I love) and STILL not sleeping. That doesn't make sense.

AH!

I'm just crazy over tired and really feel helpless. I'd like to apologize to all those mamas who I accused of overreacting when their babies weren't sleeping through the night by 6, 9 or 12 months. I feel you now.

Dear Santa: I want sleep. Consistently. For the next 18 or so years. Thanks, Sarah

Christmas Crabbiness

I think I'm just getting crabby. I sort of can't wait for Christmas to be over.

I can't stand the extra traffic and people at the mall. I just need deodorant from Target. I don't want to wait for 30 minutes to find a place to park, another 10 getting through the store, another 45 in line and another 30 to get out. At this point, I'd rather stink.

I'm sick of the CONSTANT Christmas related questions....are you ready? Are you done shopping? Is everything wrapped? What are your plans for Christmas? BLAH BLAH BLAH. It's as bad as after you have a baby and need to answer the same questions over and over and over and over and over again.

I tired of the Kays Christmas commercials. At first, I thought they were sweet. Now I'm just annoyed. No mother is HAPPY to be awake at 2:00am with a baby that's clearly not sleeping well. Maybe if you gave me diamonds I would be....I take that back. I DO like those commercials.

I want my living room back. My tree, although beautiful, is taking up the prime toy storage space in my living room so now everything spills into the middle. Ba-humbug.

I love Christmas. I really do. It's one of my favorite holidays. I just wish it didn't start before Halloween and go for 2 long months. I will be very excited to see it come and even more excited to see it go.

When did moms become the "All Knower of Where Everything Is"?

I only have two eyes. And my brain can only hold so much information.

No, I don't know where YOUR green car is.

No, I don't know where YOUR other shoe is.

No, I don't know where YOUR cell phone is.

No, I don't know where YOUR mittens are.

I can't possibly know where everything is, at anytime, all moments of the day. It's just impossible.

And I would appreciate it if you could just PRETEND like you actually looked for something before you asked me. That would make me feel a bit better---like you put some effort into it.

Not only am I expected to know where everything is, but I'm also expected to put all said items away at the end of the day.

So maybe, just maybe, I'll start stashing things in very strange places so I get some kind of entertainment value about of this "house manager" job:

Mom! Where's my green car?

 ---- check the toaster

Mom! Where's my other shoe?

----- check the fish tank

Honey! Where's my cell phone?

----- look in the shower

Mom! Where's my mittens?

----- check the attic

Much more interesting for mom......... :)