I was directed to this cute website today!
Here's my crew as elves for the holiday season :D
[url=http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9559257093][B]my elves[/B][/url]
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9559257093
On a separate note, I survived the week of having 7 kids! Woohoo! It was kind of fun and the kids had a really fun time. There's still 1 extra here but she's kind of quiet. I'm trying to get the house picked up a bit before tomorrow. We're having dinner with my dad and family then some Black Friday shopping.
Trying to decide whether or not to get Madison a Nintendo DS Lite for Christmas, or perhaps her birthday. But they have the bundles on sale now. Gonna bake some cookies from a mix and finish the laundry and get the baby food frozen.
I made my own Monday and C LOVES IT! I gave her some bannana bread this afternoon at the park and she liked that too. Guess she's a foodie like her mother haha!
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Latest and Greatest
Well I've been a busy beaver in the digi-scrapping arena. I completed two more layouts from the Jessica sprague class and two Christmas cards. They both might be do-overs but we'll see. Let me know what you think.
ETA: I took the layout off because apparently, I already posted it. The card templates came from Firefly Creations. Very cute! The redpaper on the horizontal card came from Jannidee Designs, the white paper from Amy Teets and the papers on the Christmas tree card came from Kate Pertiet.
ETA: I took the layout off because apparently, I already posted it. The card templates came from Firefly Creations. Very cute! The redpaper on the horizontal card came from Jannidee Designs, the white paper from Amy Teets and the papers on the Christmas tree card came from Kate Pertiet.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Little Miss Lotte
I've taken to calling Charlotte Lotte in my head. When I say it out loud it doesn't quite fit but I'd like to have a small nick-name for her.
Yesterday was her 6-month visit. She checks out well for the most part. 16 pounds 7 ounces, 28.5 inches long and 43 cm head circumference. The perctiles are as follows, respectively: 60%, >95% (I think the dot was above the tallest line) and 35%. She's got the biggest head by far of the 3 girls and I think is the largest at this point. I can't quite remember but she just seems chubbier LOL! I figure she'll thin out when she gets to moving about.
What else, let's see... she rolls periodically but not on a regular basis. We started foods almost two weeks ago. So far she's had commercially prepared sweet potatoes and squash. I found a rough patch on the back of her leg at peds visit yesterday and the ped thinks it might be exzema from the foods. I'm to prepare fresh only for now and thin it with breastmilk. Hopefully the patch will go away. I do believe C's skin is the same type as Madison's so I wouldn't be surprised since Madison had it as well.
She got two vax but the ped threw me for a loop. We had agreed to give her body time to heal from the infection at birth so we set six months as the time to begin vax. Well, yesterday ped said she'd prefer to wait until two or three years. I'm so on the fence with this issue. I may have to return to work next year so I thought it wise to get started. Plus Matthew and Madison bring all sorts of stuff into the house from school as do the children I babysit. We're going to draw a titer at the nine-month visit and if she has immunities we'll not have to repeat those.
Mia got a flu vax, but we're only going to do the first dose. She's got a very poor diet and seems susceptible to everything. If she were still b/f I would have skipped it but she hasn't in over a year now. Wow, that was a fast year.
All in all, doing well. I have to set an appt. for Madison for the white bumps under her eyes and Charlotte goes back in February for her nine-month. Here's a picture for your viewing pleasure. I think my dear friend from UK sent this. I owe her a couple pix. Oy!
Okay, I couldn't find that one. Perhaps I neglected to take it so instead here's one in her Christening gown.
Yesterday was her 6-month visit. She checks out well for the most part. 16 pounds 7 ounces, 28.5 inches long and 43 cm head circumference. The perctiles are as follows, respectively: 60%, >95% (I think the dot was above the tallest line) and 35%. She's got the biggest head by far of the 3 girls and I think is the largest at this point. I can't quite remember but she just seems chubbier LOL! I figure she'll thin out when she gets to moving about.
What else, let's see... she rolls periodically but not on a regular basis. We started foods almost two weeks ago. So far she's had commercially prepared sweet potatoes and squash. I found a rough patch on the back of her leg at peds visit yesterday and the ped thinks it might be exzema from the foods. I'm to prepare fresh only for now and thin it with breastmilk. Hopefully the patch will go away. I do believe C's skin is the same type as Madison's so I wouldn't be surprised since Madison had it as well.
She got two vax but the ped threw me for a loop. We had agreed to give her body time to heal from the infection at birth so we set six months as the time to begin vax. Well, yesterday ped said she'd prefer to wait until two or three years. I'm so on the fence with this issue. I may have to return to work next year so I thought it wise to get started. Plus Matthew and Madison bring all sorts of stuff into the house from school as do the children I babysit. We're going to draw a titer at the nine-month visit and if she has immunities we'll not have to repeat those.
Mia got a flu vax, but we're only going to do the first dose. She's got a very poor diet and seems susceptible to everything. If she were still b/f I would have skipped it but she hasn't in over a year now. Wow, that was a fast year.
All in all, doing well. I have to set an appt. for Madison for the white bumps under her eyes and Charlotte goes back in February for her nine-month. Here's a picture for your viewing pleasure. I think my dear friend from UK sent this. I owe her a couple pix. Oy!
Okay, I couldn't find that one. Perhaps I neglected to take it so instead here's one in her Christening gown.
A New Layout
I'm behind in my Jessica Sprague class. Week 4's lesson was posted Monday (how sad is that?!) and I just finished Week 3. And let's not forget that I haven't downloaded all the freebies, nor have I done any of the challenge projects. All in good time, my dear!
So this was a two page spread. I kind of wonder how it will print out since the middle cuts right into a picture. I might tweak it some to avoid that. I've asked on the message board over at JS website. Can't wait to read the insight all the wonderful scrappers have. It really seems to be a happy bunch.
And my little surprise for anyone that cares -- I created my first freebie! Yep that's right me LOL! I was inspired by something I'd seen recently and ran right over to my computer. It actually didn't take that long but I want to tweak it some before sharing. Not really sure anyone will pick up on it but we shall see. I probably should test it myself before posting. So I'll have to do that later. It's not necessarily a style I'd use myself but I've seen a lot of others take to it. Check back in a week or so if you're interested :D
So this was a two page spread. I kind of wonder how it will print out since the middle cuts right into a picture. I might tweak it some to avoid that. I've asked on the message board over at JS website. Can't wait to read the insight all the wonderful scrappers have. It really seems to be a happy bunch.
And my little surprise for anyone that cares -- I created my first freebie! Yep that's right me LOL! I was inspired by something I'd seen recently and ran right over to my computer. It actually didn't take that long but I want to tweak it some before sharing. Not really sure anyone will pick up on it but we shall see. I probably should test it myself before posting. So I'll have to do that later. It's not necessarily a style I'd use myself but I've seen a lot of others take to it. Check back in a week or so if you're interested :D
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
The Jury is Out
I finally got around to visiting the new Trader Joe's they opened in town a couple weeks ago. The littles and I went yesterday. I've been waiting months and so excited as I've heard such wonderful things about the prices and quality.
So, I wasn't WOWed. I liked it but it has its pros and cons.
What I liked. The fruits and veggies seemed really fresh and good quality. They had a nice selection of milks. They have all sorts of things we use, i.e. fruits, veggies, cereals, packaged goods, baking goods, meats, lunch meat, cheeses, etc. They even had scones and tea bread. I'm going to ask my friend about these and see if she's tried them. She used to go to the other TJ that's way down the road. Although, I would imagine the baked goods would vary from store to store. They also had some nice prices. Bagged salad for $1.99, the butternut squash was cheaper than at Food Lion, fair price for deli lunch meat even though it's prepackaged and the milk was decently priced as well. The free balloon was a hit as well as the free samples. Although, the free samples were cranberry-based so a bit too tart for my munchkin.
What I didn't like. It's a small store so I'd never be able to get everything in one stop. A lot of stuff is really pricey or smaller packages, i.e. the applesauce cups were $1.79 which is cheaper than Food Lion brand and probably better quality. However, there were only four to a package instead of six. Perhaps it would even out. Most of the packaged goods I saw and household supplies were a lot more. There's not as much variety. I suppose if we had a small family, i.e. 4 people instead of six, I could probably feed my family full-time on the nice organic stuff. However, that is prohibitive, especially with meats and such. Also the veggies were pricey, over $3 for a couple of cucumbers. Albeit, the ones at Food Lion are not always good but at least they're less expensive.
Like I said, I'll try it a few more times and might try to get at least my milk, eggs and whatever veggies are on special. The people were nice and friendly and if get there at the right time, I can park on the side and not have to walk through the parking lot.
On another note, I tried playing a game with Mia yesterday; Candyland. Perhaps she's a bit too young yet. She'll be three in January but didn't quite grasp the concept of the game overall. She moved her gingerbread man to the appropriate colors most of the time but didn't quite get it when you had to move back or got stuck in a bog. I'm hoping to get a few other games for Christmas for her that might be better. Candyland can get long sometimes.
I'd like to get Hi Ho Cherry-oh. She loves to count. I'd also like to get the duck shape game and the new Candyland game. I need to spend more interactive time with her and I don't much like playing toys. At some point Charlotte will be old enough to play with her and they won't want me around LOL! On one hand I look forward to not being so needed but on the other hand it's so sad to see my babies grow up so quickly. I know I can't wait for some days (like yesterday) to be over but other times I wish the clock would slow just a tad.
So, I wasn't WOWed. I liked it but it has its pros and cons.
What I liked. The fruits and veggies seemed really fresh and good quality. They had a nice selection of milks. They have all sorts of things we use, i.e. fruits, veggies, cereals, packaged goods, baking goods, meats, lunch meat, cheeses, etc. They even had scones and tea bread. I'm going to ask my friend about these and see if she's tried them. She used to go to the other TJ that's way down the road. Although, I would imagine the baked goods would vary from store to store. They also had some nice prices. Bagged salad for $1.99, the butternut squash was cheaper than at Food Lion, fair price for deli lunch meat even though it's prepackaged and the milk was decently priced as well. The free balloon was a hit as well as the free samples. Although, the free samples were cranberry-based so a bit too tart for my munchkin.
What I didn't like. It's a small store so I'd never be able to get everything in one stop. A lot of stuff is really pricey or smaller packages, i.e. the applesauce cups were $1.79 which is cheaper than Food Lion brand and probably better quality. However, there were only four to a package instead of six. Perhaps it would even out. Most of the packaged goods I saw and household supplies were a lot more. There's not as much variety. I suppose if we had a small family, i.e. 4 people instead of six, I could probably feed my family full-time on the nice organic stuff. However, that is prohibitive, especially with meats and such. Also the veggies were pricey, over $3 for a couple of cucumbers. Albeit, the ones at Food Lion are not always good but at least they're less expensive.
Like I said, I'll try it a few more times and might try to get at least my milk, eggs and whatever veggies are on special. The people were nice and friendly and if get there at the right time, I can park on the side and not have to walk through the parking lot.
On another note, I tried playing a game with Mia yesterday; Candyland. Perhaps she's a bit too young yet. She'll be three in January but didn't quite grasp the concept of the game overall. She moved her gingerbread man to the appropriate colors most of the time but didn't quite get it when you had to move back or got stuck in a bog. I'm hoping to get a few other games for Christmas for her that might be better. Candyland can get long sometimes.
I'd like to get Hi Ho Cherry-oh. She loves to count. I'd also like to get the duck shape game and the new Candyland game. I need to spend more interactive time with her and I don't much like playing toys. At some point Charlotte will be old enough to play with her and they won't want me around LOL! On one hand I look forward to not being so needed but on the other hand it's so sad to see my babies grow up so quickly. I know I can't wait for some days (like yesterday) to be over but other times I wish the clock would slow just a tad.
Friday, November 9, 2007
I must be mad ... Oy!
I love that ... oy! Picked that up from my friend A! LOL. So, someone approached me about watching her two children during T'giving break which is week after next. Our kids go to church school and for some reason they get an entire week off. Probably because they don't get some of the other holidays like Vets day (???) and the Jewish holidays off.
Anyhoo, I asked my Friday charge two weeks ago did she want me to watch her dd that week because generally I take her in on days off school. She said no she had family in town so I told the other family I could watch her children (6 and 12). My Friday charge was a no show last week so this evening the mom tells me she would like for me to watch her dd that week as well.
Here's where the OY! comes in LOL! At least one of the three is 12 so she doesn't really need babysitting, just a place to be that's not home alone. It's interesting but a lot of the families I meet at our church school do not leave their youngish children home alone, even though they could. I was a latch key kid by 12 but I also didn't have any younger siblings living with us at that time that my mom had to find a sitter for.
So anyway, it'll be 7 of us all day Monday. The two siblings will only come for a partial day Wed. and Thurs. And in the end I count it as an answer to prayer because that's money that we really need right now. It will really help, especially with Christmas around the corner. I keep forgetting that God tells us in the Bible that we are more important than the sparrows and hears our prayers. I worry incessantly about finances when I probably should let God carry that burden more often. Even this month I took in more than I thought and was able to make a tidy payment on the medical bills. When we were both working it would have been a pittance but considering our current situation, it was a nice payment and for that I'm thankful. It's a nice way to start the Sabbath with a reminder that God is keeping our family in His hands every day.
Thanks be to God.
Anyhoo, I asked my Friday charge two weeks ago did she want me to watch her dd that week because generally I take her in on days off school. She said no she had family in town so I told the other family I could watch her children (6 and 12). My Friday charge was a no show last week so this evening the mom tells me she would like for me to watch her dd that week as well.
Here's where the OY! comes in LOL! At least one of the three is 12 so she doesn't really need babysitting, just a place to be that's not home alone. It's interesting but a lot of the families I meet at our church school do not leave their youngish children home alone, even though they could. I was a latch key kid by 12 but I also didn't have any younger siblings living with us at that time that my mom had to find a sitter for.
So anyway, it'll be 7 of us all day Monday. The two siblings will only come for a partial day Wed. and Thurs. And in the end I count it as an answer to prayer because that's money that we really need right now. It will really help, especially with Christmas around the corner. I keep forgetting that God tells us in the Bible that we are more important than the sparrows and hears our prayers. I worry incessantly about finances when I probably should let God carry that burden more often. Even this month I took in more than I thought and was able to make a tidy payment on the medical bills. When we were both working it would have been a pittance but considering our current situation, it was a nice payment and for that I'm thankful. It's a nice way to start the Sabbath with a reminder that God is keeping our family in His hands every day.
Thanks be to God.
Good-bye summer
we miss you already. I can't believe it's November and time for Thanksgiving almost! The kids get a full week's break that week.
Why I Miss Summer:
I miss warm days.
I miss leaving the front door open.
I miss sunlight.
I miss dashing out without worrying about coats, hats, etc.
I miss sandals.
I miss shorts and summer tops, capris.
I miss getting out of the house in 5 minutes.
I miss opening the windows when it's not too hot.
I miss walking around the lake and playing outside.
I miss the long days.
I miss summer fruits and veggies.
I miss ice cold drinks and ice cream.
I miss swimming in the pool under the sunshine.
I miss walking outside and feeling the warmth of the sun on my face.
I miss the cute little summer dresses for little girls.
I miss putting a diaper and shirt on Charlotte and that's enough for around the house.
I dread winter this year and the lack of natural sunlight. Perhaps it'll be fine. I just don't like the dark days and I don't like the cold, it's painful! However, it is nice to snuggle in on a cold winter's night with some popcorn, a movie, blanket and hot cocoa (or even a cold coke) and spend some quality time together. Right now I'm finishing up a taco dinner, the house is closed up, it's cozy and smells delish. It's also quiet since two of the girls have fallen asleep before dinner. Unfortunately, one of them is not the baby LOL! Wonder how bedtime will go tonight. Hmmmmm.
Why I Miss Summer:
I miss warm days.
I miss leaving the front door open.
I miss sunlight.
I miss dashing out without worrying about coats, hats, etc.
I miss sandals.
I miss shorts and summer tops, capris.
I miss getting out of the house in 5 minutes.
I miss opening the windows when it's not too hot.
I miss walking around the lake and playing outside.
I miss the long days.
I miss summer fruits and veggies.
I miss ice cold drinks and ice cream.
I miss swimming in the pool under the sunshine.
I miss walking outside and feeling the warmth of the sun on my face.
I miss the cute little summer dresses for little girls.
I miss putting a diaper and shirt on Charlotte and that's enough for around the house.
I dread winter this year and the lack of natural sunlight. Perhaps it'll be fine. I just don't like the dark days and I don't like the cold, it's painful! However, it is nice to snuggle in on a cold winter's night with some popcorn, a movie, blanket and hot cocoa (or even a cold coke) and spend some quality time together. Right now I'm finishing up a taco dinner, the house is closed up, it's cozy and smells delish. It's also quiet since two of the girls have fallen asleep before dinner. Unfortunately, one of them is not the baby LOL! Wonder how bedtime will go tonight. Hmmmmm.
Insurance
Every year or so I explore the different auto insurance companies to see if we can save some dough on car insurance. We were with Nationwide for years and years until I found out we were paying substantially more with them plus they had crappy claims.
I think I've gotten close to ten estimates. I even got one from Nationwide because I received a letter in the mail from my previous agent saying their rates have come down. I got a rate online from them for $775.00 every six months which is about $150 more than what we're currently paying. About 20 minutes after getting the online quote the phone rang and it was them :rolleyes: Sheesh. Glad I let it go to voice mail.
The next time they called I answered and told them their rates were too high. The gentleman kindly told me that if I get the quote directly from an agent, it would be less. Okay, I told them to call back so they called back when I was trying to get the kids ready for bed. I asked if they could call back today instead and they asked what time. I said after 9. Yep, you guessed it. 9:06 I received a phone call. I asked them to call back this afternoon which they did.
So I spent ten minutes on the phone talking with the agent to get a "better" rate than online. The agent's rate was over $900! For two cars for six months. That's more than we're paying for three vehicles right now. No, thank you.
Now I just need to compare everything and pick the lowest one. I think I can save $50 a month! Woohoo!
I think I've gotten close to ten estimates. I even got one from Nationwide because I received a letter in the mail from my previous agent saying their rates have come down. I got a rate online from them for $775.00 every six months which is about $150 more than what we're currently paying. About 20 minutes after getting the online quote the phone rang and it was them :rolleyes: Sheesh. Glad I let it go to voice mail.
The next time they called I answered and told them their rates were too high. The gentleman kindly told me that if I get the quote directly from an agent, it would be less. Okay, I told them to call back so they called back when I was trying to get the kids ready for bed. I asked if they could call back today instead and they asked what time. I said after 9. Yep, you guessed it. 9:06 I received a phone call. I asked them to call back this afternoon which they did.
So I spent ten minutes on the phone talking with the agent to get a "better" rate than online. The agent's rate was over $900! For two cars for six months. That's more than we're paying for three vehicles right now. No, thank you.
Now I just need to compare everything and pick the lowest one. I think I can save $50 a month! Woohoo!
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Too tired to blog.
I was going to write tonight but dh commandeered me for special projects. Thanks honey! So now it's almost 10 and I'm way too tired. Perhaps it's the time change. Remind me to write about why I miss summer and Charlotte's newest. Oh, there's also her Christening and my latest layouts, if I haven't post the l/o already.
Nighty-night.
Nighty-night.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
New Layouts!
Here are my latest additions from the www.Jessicasprague.com Now We're Rocking class I'm taking. It's a smokin' class and I LOVE it!
Stress Revisited
So last year I sold a breastpump on ebay. It worked and had a ton of "free" stuff included. I got a good price for it and was happy to pass it along to someone else. Little did I know what I was in for. The chick who bought it claimed it was broken and filed a paypal claim against me. I fought it tooth and nail but lost. I was pissed to stay the least. I sent something in good faith and paypal didn't back me up even though the buyer had no proof and wouldn't furnish the ID # or pictures to ensure she didn't bait and switch. Furthermore, she didn't even attempt to file with the PO.
So she had to send it back to me and received a full refund. What she sent back was not what I sent AT ALL! It was completely busted! Plus, she did not return any of the parts. So in essence, she received over $50 in parts for free. This all created a huge amount of stress for me. I hate confrontations of any sort and they create a lot of worry and turmoil. Paypal said I would have to file a police report and although I wanted to teach this chick a lesson, I didn't want to bother the police with something this small.
So anyhow, I moved past it though it still rankles me from time to time and I always have a bit of anxiety when I ship something off. The past week I've been cleaning out my email account and ran across all the emails I saved from this drama. Boy the stress flew on my shoulders as quick as that! I still get all bunched up inside thinking about it. I'll probably be one of those person who dies early because I bring all this stress on myself.
I am so glad I am past all that now -- what a difference a year makes. But man, if I ever run into her I'd like to beat the snot out her. I reported her to ebay. I wonder if I would get in trouble for listing her name here and telling everyone to avoid her like the plague?
And in thinking back on a year, I recall with fond? or maybe not so fond memories my first trimester in pregnancy. What I did enjoy was after dropping the biggies at school and doing a couple things at home, I was back in bed around 10 or 11. Mia would take her long nape of the day (like 2-3 hours) and I'd watch Ellen, Runway Moms, and other birth related shows. I'd stay in bed until around 2 then get Mia lunch and we'd pick up the biggies from school. It was a great schedule.
Now it's anything goes :D Today we ran some errands and then stopped at the park where I was snubbed. Oh well. You know I don't know why people have to be like that. Whatever.
So she had to send it back to me and received a full refund. What she sent back was not what I sent AT ALL! It was completely busted! Plus, she did not return any of the parts. So in essence, she received over $50 in parts for free. This all created a huge amount of stress for me. I hate confrontations of any sort and they create a lot of worry and turmoil. Paypal said I would have to file a police report and although I wanted to teach this chick a lesson, I didn't want to bother the police with something this small.
So anyhow, I moved past it though it still rankles me from time to time and I always have a bit of anxiety when I ship something off. The past week I've been cleaning out my email account and ran across all the emails I saved from this drama. Boy the stress flew on my shoulders as quick as that! I still get all bunched up inside thinking about it. I'll probably be one of those person who dies early because I bring all this stress on myself.
I am so glad I am past all that now -- what a difference a year makes. But man, if I ever run into her I'd like to beat the snot out her. I reported her to ebay. I wonder if I would get in trouble for listing her name here and telling everyone to avoid her like the plague?
And in thinking back on a year, I recall with fond? or maybe not so fond memories my first trimester in pregnancy. What I did enjoy was after dropping the biggies at school and doing a couple things at home, I was back in bed around 10 or 11. Mia would take her long nape of the day (like 2-3 hours) and I'd watch Ellen, Runway Moms, and other birth related shows. I'd stay in bed until around 2 then get Mia lunch and we'd pick up the biggies from school. It was a great schedule.
Now it's anything goes :D Today we ran some errands and then stopped at the park where I was snubbed. Oh well. You know I don't know why people have to be like that. Whatever.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
The Stepsister
So I spoke with the stepsister three weeks ago as she had "scrapbooking" type questions about making her own wedding invites. She was going to have them in the mail that week and I should have mine by the end of the week.
Never saw an invite. So I figure one of three things happened. A. She never intended to send me one but wants me to know she's getting married and we're not really invited. B. It got lost in the mail. or C. Since she's so busy with three children, oh my gosh, that she hasn't done them yet.
I kind of think we're not going to get one. On the one hand, I wouldn't care that much really because I didn't particularly want to go and have to spend money for a gift on someone who treated my family and me so poorly. On the second hand, somewhere it kind of hurts a tad not to be included in a "familiy" event, especially since I know she'll lie to everyone about why we're not there and probably say something really mean about us like she's done before.
I guess time will tell. It's a shame that I was close with her extended family all these years because it would be really cool to have another sister. Maybe she's changed her ways. Something must have changed for a guy to stick with her for this many years and want to marry her. I still keep waiting for the phone call that she's pregnant. LOL
Never saw an invite. So I figure one of three things happened. A. She never intended to send me one but wants me to know she's getting married and we're not really invited. B. It got lost in the mail. or C. Since she's so busy with three children, oh my gosh, that she hasn't done them yet.
I kind of think we're not going to get one. On the one hand, I wouldn't care that much really because I didn't particularly want to go and have to spend money for a gift on someone who treated my family and me so poorly. On the second hand, somewhere it kind of hurts a tad not to be included in a "familiy" event, especially since I know she'll lie to everyone about why we're not there and probably say something really mean about us like she's done before.
I guess time will tell. It's a shame that I was close with her extended family all these years because it would be really cool to have another sister. Maybe she's changed her ways. Something must have changed for a guy to stick with her for this many years and want to marry her. I still keep waiting for the phone call that she's pregnant. LOL
The Bassinet is Gone
and it's okay. I've been sort of grieving the passing of C's baby days and thought I'd be more upset about letting go of her baby stuff. I was certainly sad enough when she stopped using it, especially since she won't sleep in her crib and has stopped sleeping through the night LOL.
My BIL in called the other day to tell us that his wife was pregnant. This is dh's brother. I know they've been trying for at least as long as Charlotte's been born, so quite a while.
I am so excited. I haven't been this excited that someone else is pregnant in probably a decade. Sad commentary of events but the ravages of infertility made it difficult. That doesn't mean I wasn't happy for my pregnant friends but I can't say I was truly excited for them and certainly I was downright jealous.
Now, however, I mostly feel our family is complete. In any event, we really cannot afford another child, my body probably couldn't carry one and our home definitely has no room for one!
So after Charlotte was getting too big for the bassinet I asked my dad if we could store it at his house. Normally, I would have just sold it on Craigslist or Pennysaver or something but since my dad and his wife just bought it for Charlotte I felt bad about simply selling it for a cheap price. But we also don't really have room to store it.
It's only been a couple few weeks, perhaps three or four that we've stopped using it. And K is only about 13 weeks along but she seemed more than happy to come get it and store it in their basement instead LOL!
She looks great and isn't showing at all yet. But I think that's how it usually goes with the first one. After that you're stretched out and show sooner, in my opinion. Heck, with Charlotte I couldn't fit my shorts before I even knew I was pregnant. I thought I was just getting fat and started exercising more. How's that for a laugh for someone who's known or not known they were pregnant long before the end of that vicious two week wait.
K is very excited. M, her dh, is very excited and we're just ecstatic for them. They are rather laid back and seem to have their priorities straight. I think they'll be great parents. K said she doesn't have any mom friends in the area so she'd probably have lots of questions, want to go shopping and the like. I'm happy to oblige LOL!
The plan is to shoot all our outgrown baby stuff to them as we finish with it. They are NOT finding out the gender (or at least not sharing it) until the birth. So we have a long way to wait (May) regarding all our pink things from C but that's okay. Again,she offered to store whatever and if they have a boy or they don't use it, they'll send it back here. Did I say how excited I was?
DH teased and told them they had some time to get their basement ready for the 'rents. That got a good laugh. So I guess we won't be buying any pink or blue but that'll give us a good excuse to buy something after the birth.
Wishing you well, K. :)
My BIL in called the other day to tell us that his wife was pregnant. This is dh's brother. I know they've been trying for at least as long as Charlotte's been born, so quite a while.
I am so excited. I haven't been this excited that someone else is pregnant in probably a decade. Sad commentary of events but the ravages of infertility made it difficult. That doesn't mean I wasn't happy for my pregnant friends but I can't say I was truly excited for them and certainly I was downright jealous.
Now, however, I mostly feel our family is complete. In any event, we really cannot afford another child, my body probably couldn't carry one and our home definitely has no room for one!
So after Charlotte was getting too big for the bassinet I asked my dad if we could store it at his house. Normally, I would have just sold it on Craigslist or Pennysaver or something but since my dad and his wife just bought it for Charlotte I felt bad about simply selling it for a cheap price. But we also don't really have room to store it.
It's only been a couple few weeks, perhaps three or four that we've stopped using it. And K is only about 13 weeks along but she seemed more than happy to come get it and store it in their basement instead LOL!
She looks great and isn't showing at all yet. But I think that's how it usually goes with the first one. After that you're stretched out and show sooner, in my opinion. Heck, with Charlotte I couldn't fit my shorts before I even knew I was pregnant. I thought I was just getting fat and started exercising more. How's that for a laugh for someone who's known or not known they were pregnant long before the end of that vicious two week wait.
K is very excited. M, her dh, is very excited and we're just ecstatic for them. They are rather laid back and seem to have their priorities straight. I think they'll be great parents. K said she doesn't have any mom friends in the area so she'd probably have lots of questions, want to go shopping and the like. I'm happy to oblige LOL!
The plan is to shoot all our outgrown baby stuff to them as we finish with it. They are NOT finding out the gender (or at least not sharing it) until the birth. So we have a long way to wait (May) regarding all our pink things from C but that's okay. Again,she offered to store whatever and if they have a boy or they don't use it, they'll send it back here. Did I say how excited I was?
DH teased and told them they had some time to get their basement ready for the 'rents. That got a good laugh. So I guess we won't be buying any pink or blue but that'll give us a good excuse to buy something after the birth.
Wishing you well, K. :)
Monday, October 15, 2007
I'm so excited!
I signed up for Jessica Sprague's Now We're Rocking online course for using PSE for scrapbooking. I haven't told dh but I can't wait to get working again. In all honesty, I should probably run through the first course Up and Running beforehand to refresh my memory since I haven't done anything since the class ended last month. The cool thing about her classes are you have permanent access to the lessons and materials so it's a great investment. Plus you can watch the tutorial videos anytime you please. I really like her as an instructor. Yahoo!
Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month
October is pregnancy and infant loss awareness month. The commemorate, light a candle today, October 15, at 7:00 pm to remember those who have lost a beloved child before or after birth. I've met many women in the past couple of years who've lost infants or whose babies have been born just too soon.
My own loss happened very early on, approx. 10 weeks gestation. I don't think anyone but myself even remembers. It was the first time I got pregnant without medical intervention. It was a very planned and wanted baby conceived shortly after dh's birthday and due on FIL's birthday. Seemed meant to be.
But what was really meant to be was to find out a couple days past my birthday that the new little life had left so swiftly and to physically let go of the pregnancy just before Christmas. It was a subdued holiday and we spent the month of January that following year just hunkered down together.
But every Halloween I remember that one Halloween I was pregnant for such a short time. The month of December never passes that I don't recall what happened those few years ago. July passes and I recall that we could be celebrating an additional birthday. I see friend's children who were born around that time as we would have shared pg and I always wonder what my child would have been like. Would I have had a boy or girl? For some reason I think boy. What color hair and eyes? What type of personality and temperament?
And then I look at my beautiful daughter, Mia. If things were different she would not have been here and she's wonderful. It's so strange how life works out sometime. With my melancholy personality, I can't help some days to think how different things would be right now had that pregnancy gone to term but it wasn't meant to be. What's meant to be is what we have now and it's a full quiver! I think the Lord for my many blessings.
Please light a candle tonight at 7:00 to commemorate all the lives that were much too short.
My own loss happened very early on, approx. 10 weeks gestation. I don't think anyone but myself even remembers. It was the first time I got pregnant without medical intervention. It was a very planned and wanted baby conceived shortly after dh's birthday and due on FIL's birthday. Seemed meant to be.
But what was really meant to be was to find out a couple days past my birthday that the new little life had left so swiftly and to physically let go of the pregnancy just before Christmas. It was a subdued holiday and we spent the month of January that following year just hunkered down together.
But every Halloween I remember that one Halloween I was pregnant for such a short time. The month of December never passes that I don't recall what happened those few years ago. July passes and I recall that we could be celebrating an additional birthday. I see friend's children who were born around that time as we would have shared pg and I always wonder what my child would have been like. Would I have had a boy or girl? For some reason I think boy. What color hair and eyes? What type of personality and temperament?
And then I look at my beautiful daughter, Mia. If things were different she would not have been here and she's wonderful. It's so strange how life works out sometime. With my melancholy personality, I can't help some days to think how different things would be right now had that pregnancy gone to term but it wasn't meant to be. What's meant to be is what we have now and it's a full quiver! I think the Lord for my many blessings.
Please light a candle tonight at 7:00 to commemorate all the lives that were much too short.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Cup of Milk
Here's my funny story of the day.
Yesterday dh took all four kids out for the day. Woohoo! I went back to sleep at 9:30 and slept until the phone woke at 1:00. I can't remember the last time I had that much totally un-interrupted sleep. It was great. Unfortunately, I paid for it last night and today but it was nice while it lasted.
While dh was gone I pumped over five ounces of milk. Woohoo! Even though he was gone 9:30 - 5, you'd think I would have pumped more. But anyhow, I only have two four ounce bottles and dh had one to feed the baby. So when I filled up that bottle and wasn't finished pumping, I poured the milk in a sippy cup, put the lid on and stuck it on the top shelf of the fridge with a sign attached.
Today I had to run to the store to get some ground beef at the last minute for dinner. I left the kids in the basement with dh and his helper as they were working on the basement. I was gone about 30 minutes and when I got back the cup of milk was sitting on the counter.
I thought perhaps dh had taken it out to feed the baby but he was busy working and the baby was fussing. SO I took the cup down and asked who took that out of the fridge. Mia tattled on herself. She drank my pumped milk! Only about an ounce tahnkfully. I asked if it was tasty and she said; "No, it wasn't tasty, mommy."
ROFL! I could only laugh. I knew she wouldn't like it LOL but I found it funny that she drank it and didn't like it even though she breastfed for over 18 months. I'm sure she doesn't really remember but it's funny nonetheless.
She did it again.
My stepsister called Friday night. The phone said private number but I told dh to answer it anyway. Sometimes my stepdad calls and he's listed like that. Remember she's getting married in December.
She's doing the invitations herself and saw stamps online with wedding verses/poems, etc. She knows I scrapbook so wanted to ask if I new a place locally to buy stamps. I told her what I knew and we chatted.
And behold ... what words come forth out of her mouth barely five minutes into the conversation??? What you ask, you don't know? "I'm the mother of three children."
Let me shout with my megaphone that the holy mother is on the phone. All bow down to saint mother who is crown of all because she's the mother of three , count 'em, three children -- all boys! Give the woman an award I tell ya. Ugh.
What's funny is she said this after she told me she had a child-free weekend. Gee, I wonder what a child-free weekend feels like? Let's stick her in a home with four kids seven days a week! I bet she gets one every other weekend! Must be nice and I really had to hold my tongue to not say anything LOL!
Okay, so I'm sorry to be so bitter but it just gets under my skin so. She's not the only one to have children and she didn't even raise but one really, the one that's biologically hers. Try four! I love my children dearly and this is nothing on them. Just her attitude and it's incessant. Every other sentence is I have three children. Yeah, so what's your point? Maybe I'll say that next time and see what she says.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Up and Running Again
Well, after two weeks, I think we're all back up and running. I don't feel 100% but so it goes. We took C to urgent care the other week when her finger got snipped with the nail clippers. I didn't think that thing would ever stop bleeding. She was fine LOL!
After Mia's stomach flu we returned to the trenches for potty training and it hasn't been pretty. I got pretty fed up yesterday when she pooped her panties, sat around in it for who knows how long, then dropped some on the carpet in her quest to pee on the potty. So she's sitting there on the little potty with her poopy pants around her ankles, poop smeared from waist to ankles and all over the potty asking for candy corns because she peed in the potty. Sigh. I'm not sure where to go at this point. She's asking for pull ups or plastic pants so she doesn't have to use the potty. It's not that she can't, she's just choosing not too and I'm getting tired of playing clean up crew.
Mia's gotten very precise with who's things are whose. I.e. when flipping TV channels, there are shows that are hers, Matthew's or Madison's. During the day, she will only watch shows that are hers. Same with other things we see; she'll give them labels as to whom they belong. She also says the word 'yes' a lot. Better than 'no.' LOL! But it's cute when you ask her a question and she comes out with a resounding 'YES' instead of 'yeah."
I'm beginning to wonder if Madison has some sort of learning disability. I need to get my thoughts together and make a talking point sheet for teacher conferences on the 22nd. I'm really quite troubled by what I'm seeing and I'm not sure if it's acting out from not being able to understand/handle the information or if she just completely has her own agenda. I took an adult ADD "quiz" the other day that someone posted on another website I visit frequently. I scored 75 I think and the scoring recommendations indicated I should seek help for anything over 70. Perhaps that's been my problem. The strange thing is I'm way beyond what type of person I was as a teen and early 20's. Maybe that's because back then I really didn't have that many things to juggle or take up my time. Or maybe I've changed?
Matthew is doing great in school but he claims it's boring. Not sure what to do with that. He doesn't like going to karate either. He complains about it a lot but seems to be doing well. We've been trying to do bedtime talks with him so he gets some attention. He's still getting stomach aches which bothers me. I'll be investigating that as well. His piano is being moved to during the school day in November which will be great for intramurals if they have them. He missed out on soccer for the fall season but they play indoors so I hope they have another session. I know he really wanted to do that.
Charlotte is growing by leaps and bounds. She plays with toys now, grabs her feet and rolls around when she chooses. I think she's a tad behind on the rolling because I didn't give her enough floor time. She doesn't talk as much as before but she still makes sounds, goos, smiles and such. I put up her crib yesterday afternoon, sniff sniff. We had a fairly interesting night. I think she ended up in my bed around 1-ish. It's not so bad except Mia still comes in and the fact that I fell asleep nursing Charlotte and woke up sometime later with her still attached. Not really wanting to go there! I hope she gets used to her crib. I got a cute polka-dotted sheet from Target I like. My dream bedding is by Caden Lane but it's $450 for a set so forgetabout it! I did buy the crib sheet for $30 when I went to check out the bedding. Why did I feel obligated just because it was a small shop and the woman was so very helpful? Now I have to take it back. What would possess me to spend $30 on a stinkin crib sheet? Even if it is stinkin cute LOL! But not that cute.
I think I covered all the kids. We closed the storage unit, put most everything away, sold it or gave it away, finished up the electricity. DH and M were supposed to do the floor and hook up the toilet this past Sunday only to find out that the crappy contractors didn't do the job properly. DH got some hardware to hopefully fix it otherwise we have to tear out the wall - AGAIN. What a so not worth it project. I could grouse about this for several more pages.
But I'll close for now with photos of the crib transformation and a group shot of the kids we're sending out west to a friend battling childhood cancer. Tata for now!
After Mia's stomach flu we returned to the trenches for potty training and it hasn't been pretty. I got pretty fed up yesterday when she pooped her panties, sat around in it for who knows how long, then dropped some on the carpet in her quest to pee on the potty. So she's sitting there on the little potty with her poopy pants around her ankles, poop smeared from waist to ankles and all over the potty asking for candy corns because she peed in the potty. Sigh. I'm not sure where to go at this point. She's asking for pull ups or plastic pants so she doesn't have to use the potty. It's not that she can't, she's just choosing not too and I'm getting tired of playing clean up crew.
Mia's gotten very precise with who's things are whose. I.e. when flipping TV channels, there are shows that are hers, Matthew's or Madison's. During the day, she will only watch shows that are hers. Same with other things we see; she'll give them labels as to whom they belong. She also says the word 'yes' a lot. Better than 'no.' LOL! But it's cute when you ask her a question and she comes out with a resounding 'YES' instead of 'yeah."
I'm beginning to wonder if Madison has some sort of learning disability. I need to get my thoughts together and make a talking point sheet for teacher conferences on the 22nd. I'm really quite troubled by what I'm seeing and I'm not sure if it's acting out from not being able to understand/handle the information or if she just completely has her own agenda. I took an adult ADD "quiz" the other day that someone posted on another website I visit frequently. I scored 75 I think and the scoring recommendations indicated I should seek help for anything over 70. Perhaps that's been my problem. The strange thing is I'm way beyond what type of person I was as a teen and early 20's. Maybe that's because back then I really didn't have that many things to juggle or take up my time. Or maybe I've changed?
Matthew is doing great in school but he claims it's boring. Not sure what to do with that. He doesn't like going to karate either. He complains about it a lot but seems to be doing well. We've been trying to do bedtime talks with him so he gets some attention. He's still getting stomach aches which bothers me. I'll be investigating that as well. His piano is being moved to during the school day in November which will be great for intramurals if they have them. He missed out on soccer for the fall season but they play indoors so I hope they have another session. I know he really wanted to do that.
Charlotte is growing by leaps and bounds. She plays with toys now, grabs her feet and rolls around when she chooses. I think she's a tad behind on the rolling because I didn't give her enough floor time. She doesn't talk as much as before but she still makes sounds, goos, smiles and such. I put up her crib yesterday afternoon, sniff sniff. We had a fairly interesting night. I think she ended up in my bed around 1-ish. It's not so bad except Mia still comes in and the fact that I fell asleep nursing Charlotte and woke up sometime later with her still attached. Not really wanting to go there! I hope she gets used to her crib. I got a cute polka-dotted sheet from Target I like. My dream bedding is by Caden Lane but it's $450 for a set so forgetabout it! I did buy the crib sheet for $30 when I went to check out the bedding. Why did I feel obligated just because it was a small shop and the woman was so very helpful? Now I have to take it back. What would possess me to spend $30 on a stinkin crib sheet? Even if it is stinkin cute LOL! But not that cute.
I think I covered all the kids. We closed the storage unit, put most everything away, sold it or gave it away, finished up the electricity. DH and M were supposed to do the floor and hook up the toilet this past Sunday only to find out that the crappy contractors didn't do the job properly. DH got some hardware to hopefully fix it otherwise we have to tear out the wall - AGAIN. What a so not worth it project. I could grouse about this for several more pages.
But I'll close for now with photos of the crib transformation and a group shot of the kids we're sending out west to a friend battling childhood cancer. Tata for now!
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
A Better Trade?
Before I begin, I went up at 9:30 to see if dh would like to run to McD's and get us special beverages, my treat. As if it's really my treat since I don't really work LOL! He was sound asleep and looked as if he had been so for quite a while. Back up the truck, jack! When is it MY turn? He spent 4 days in bed last week because he was sick. I don't get to do that. And now he goes to bed at 8:30? The least he could have done was let me know so I could have focused on the ever growing pile of dishes instead of the checkbook. Both are equally important, however, the children can't eat breakfast off a newly reconciled checking account statement. Ah well, I'm sure he'll love the mess when he gets up tomorrow and has to deal with it.
So going back to the trade thing. Typically, I balance the checkbook, juggle the money and pay the bills. It's become increasingly stressful to the point of practically causing me panic attacks. I can't stand it and I walk around with my stomach in knots ALL the time. I'm thinking I should have gone with dh and put the kids in public school this year. I'm probably cutting my life by a good decade with all the stress and worry I burden each day.
The aforementioned dishes are usually handled by dh because I simply can't stand them. I absolutely abhor repetitive tasks. Yes, this includes most housework but that's the way it goes. I'd rather clean the bathroom than do the dishes, yes it's true. So I clean the bathroom and dh does the dishes. I asked dh last night would he mind switching the dishes for the checkbook. I figured the 20+ minutes he spends on the dishes could be spent on the checkbook instead. Maybe he won't get so worked up about it as I do.
I don't plan to be completely hands off but I keep screwing it up. Plus maybe if I have to "report" to someone else I won't be a spendy. I have gotten better in the last couple of weeks and really think about my purchases. I need to especially reign in the fast food and groceries department. Then I need to figure how to squeeze in winter clothes for the children without going broke. We'll see what happens. Likely, I'll be spending the next month showing dh the ropes. Or at least my ropes. He's perfectly capable of balancing a checkbook and paying bills but I need to bring him up to speed. Should prove interesting.
So going back to the trade thing. Typically, I balance the checkbook, juggle the money and pay the bills. It's become increasingly stressful to the point of practically causing me panic attacks. I can't stand it and I walk around with my stomach in knots ALL the time. I'm thinking I should have gone with dh and put the kids in public school this year. I'm probably cutting my life by a good decade with all the stress and worry I burden each day.
The aforementioned dishes are usually handled by dh because I simply can't stand them. I absolutely abhor repetitive tasks. Yes, this includes most housework but that's the way it goes. I'd rather clean the bathroom than do the dishes, yes it's true. So I clean the bathroom and dh does the dishes. I asked dh last night would he mind switching the dishes for the checkbook. I figured the 20+ minutes he spends on the dishes could be spent on the checkbook instead. Maybe he won't get so worked up about it as I do.
I don't plan to be completely hands off but I keep screwing it up. Plus maybe if I have to "report" to someone else I won't be a spendy. I have gotten better in the last couple of weeks and really think about my purchases. I need to especially reign in the fast food and groceries department. Then I need to figure how to squeeze in winter clothes for the children without going broke. We'll see what happens. Likely, I'll be spending the next month showing dh the ropes. Or at least my ropes. He's perfectly capable of balancing a checkbook and paying bills but I need to bring him up to speed. Should prove interesting.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Thank You
Okay so I lost the sure thing bet LOL! I bet my son that the Yankees would beat the Orioles Friday night. I logged on at 10p and it was 9 to 6 I think Yankees up and the 9th inning. I felt bad for potentially taking my son's $. Turns out I owe him! And he didn't let me forget it, either LOL!
At Sabbath School this week they were learning about being thankful. So, the teachers had each child pick someone to write a thank you card to. Both my children picked me. How humbling is that?
Madison wrote "thank you" in her first grade scrawl on the inside and drew some pictures. I need to ask her what they mean.
Matthew wrote some lovely things inside his. It says: thank you mommy for your helping with homework. showing me how to read and spell. you showed me how to pray. I Love you. you also helped me to eat, walk, jump to talk and love. Matthew.
I was moved to tears. Most days I feel like a horrible mother with little patience and not enough time or attention to bestow on my children. I'm short-tempered and quick to shout. Even through all that, my children are thankful for the things I do for them. Again, how humbling.
At Sabbath School this week they were learning about being thankful. So, the teachers had each child pick someone to write a thank you card to. Both my children picked me. How humbling is that?
Madison wrote "thank you" in her first grade scrawl on the inside and drew some pictures. I need to ask her what they mean.
Matthew wrote some lovely things inside his. It says: thank you mommy for your helping with homework. showing me how to read and spell. you showed me how to pray. I Love you. you also helped me to eat, walk, jump to talk and love. Matthew.
I was moved to tears. Most days I feel like a horrible mother with little patience and not enough time or attention to bestow on my children. I'm short-tempered and quick to shout. Even through all that, my children are thankful for the things I do for them. Again, how humbling.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Week in Review
I see it's been a while, dear Diary (oops I mean blog). Haha! Life sure takes dramatic turns from time to time. I think of blog postings from witty sayings, astute observations on life and funny things my children do/say. But more often than not, they go in one side and out the other before I can even contemplate sitting down to write something. Such is life.
Last weekend I felt kind of stomach fluish and took it easy. DH had a yard sale that didn't do as well as we expected but was still fairly descent, especially after I sold the George Foreman grill. Wahoo! Sunday dh took the kids to family fun day with the Adventurer Club. I slept 1/2 the day and it felt WONDERFUL!
DH came home sick and didn't get out of bed or eat for four freakin days. I know how much he does around the house and with the kids. I know I'm lucky that my dh is involved. I know how much I appreciated it before he got sick but now I appreciate it even more. I thought I was going to have a breakdown, seriously. Taking care of four children plus a sick dh was a little much. Plus I wasn't really sleeping. No one else to get up with a crying baby but me, myself, and I. No one else to get everyone up and dressed, breakfast eaten, lunches packed, pick up kids, fix and clean up supper, homework, piano, baths, stories, bedtime, etc. etc. I'm so glad he's healthy again and not just for selfish reasons.
C ended up with conjunctivitis. I really liked the doctor who saw her at the night-time clinic but we were there for two freaking hours. C was ready to have a conniption because she couldn't lay down and go to sleep in her bed. I didn't feel well myself and was tired while we were left in the siberia of the exam room for 30-45 minutes. Gotta love those pixar movies - NOT! No good mags, etc. If I had known I would have brought a book or something. Anyhow she's better.
I've been freecycling the yard sale leftovers and almost everything is gone. Trying to sell the TV, van and sewing machine. I thought people would jump at a TV for $20. Perhaps not. I was shocked it didn't sell at the yardsale. In the past, stuff like that sold at the beginning. Oh yeah and the train table too. I had 3 people hot to trot and then never heard from them again. I guess I'll relist.
DH's company was sponsoring a fall event tonight. Yankees vs. the Orioles. I bet ds a dollar that the Yankees would win. Haha! He was like I guess I'll be paying you $1 LOL! I was supposed to go but didn't want to leave C that long or worry about pumping milk. Plus, I thought it would be GREAT for ds to do something special with dh. He was so excited. Apparently, he knows more about baseball than I thought.
So, then, I had to do something special for the girls. We went out to dinner in a real sit-down restaurant which is a treat. Madison didn't know that Bob Evans was cheating LOL! We got that same slow waiter we had at Father's Day but thankfully service was much better. Madison had to use the toilet twice which meant hauling everyone to the toilet. Mia spilled her drink on the floor. At least it was under the table but my shoes stuck to the floor and came off when we tried to leave LOL! I *really* wanted a hot fudge sundae but by the time dinner was over I was too tired to fool with it. This old man walked by and hit C's carrier with his cane. I didn't realize what he was up to and wanted to haul off and knock his block off. He was actually very sweet and was so impressed that she was kicking her legs and making the seat rock LOL! But if I had $1 for every time someone asks if it's a girl or boy sitting in a PINK carseat, I'd be rich I tell you. I know it used to be a nickle, but you know I have inflation to think of! The girls were fairly good but don't think I'll be doing that again for a looong while.
Oh, Madison came home from school Wed. after piano and informed me that she had a boyfriend named S and that they kissed. This could be a post by itself but dang she was awfully pleased with herself. She's only SIX! Going on 16 as her teacher said. I spoke to her teacher about it the next day. Perhaps they didn't even kiss but something that she made up but it needed to be dealt with. Oy vey! The next day she got in trouble for being in the bathroom stall with 2 other girls. Who knew what they were doing in there LOL! Girls will be girls.
Matthew cut out of karate early last night. Said he wasn't feeling well. Stopped to get medicine and was soooo impressed with the store. It was just a Giant but it was so splashy, neat and tidy. Even the fruits and veggies were in baskets by type. And it looked fresh too. The only disappointment was the donut section which was pretty much cleared out. He said his throat still hurts today so I hope he's not going to get what dh had. Dh did say he throat didn't hurt, though. They were taking ITBS tests at school all week and finished today with snacks and a movie. It was nice only dealing with one kid's homework for a bit. Madison needs so much assistance with hers and she never gets her work finished in class because she's too busy fooling around or taking too long to color the pictures. Then we have to finish it at home.
Oh, Mia's new favorite word is yes. Before when you'd ask her a question, she'd answer yeah. Now, it's yes but only if she means it of course. It just sounds so cute and decisive coming from her. You know how when a toddler learns the word NO they seem to find all sorts of times to use it. It's like they invent excuses or create scenarios just so they can use their new word. Well, that's what Mia's been doing. It's kind of fun because when I ask her questions now she'll actually think first before answering and I'm getting a lot of yes's instead of automatic no's just because.
Charlotte found her feet this week. She loves playing with them so now instead of seeing her laying flat and kicking her legs, you find her curled up playing with ther feet. It's too cute! I'll have to post a picture after the camera comes back. Also, her eyes turned brown. Several months ago, when you looked at them in the sunshine, they looked brownish but weren't really changed as of yet. But now, in any kind of light they are hazely-brown. Looks like they'll end up being a similiar color to mine. I prefer blue eyes for some reason but now it'll be interesting to see what her hair does. So out of four children, one has blue and the rest brown. Out of six people in the house, four are girls and two are boys. Out of six people in the family, two have blue eyes and four have brown. Out of six people in the house, two have brown/dark hair and four have blonde/light hair. Interesting, no?
Last weekend I felt kind of stomach fluish and took it easy. DH had a yard sale that didn't do as well as we expected but was still fairly descent, especially after I sold the George Foreman grill. Wahoo! Sunday dh took the kids to family fun day with the Adventurer Club. I slept 1/2 the day and it felt WONDERFUL!
DH came home sick and didn't get out of bed or eat for four freakin days. I know how much he does around the house and with the kids. I know I'm lucky that my dh is involved. I know how much I appreciated it before he got sick but now I appreciate it even more. I thought I was going to have a breakdown, seriously. Taking care of four children plus a sick dh was a little much. Plus I wasn't really sleeping. No one else to get up with a crying baby but me, myself, and I. No one else to get everyone up and dressed, breakfast eaten, lunches packed, pick up kids, fix and clean up supper, homework, piano, baths, stories, bedtime, etc. etc. I'm so glad he's healthy again and not just for selfish reasons.
C ended up with conjunctivitis. I really liked the doctor who saw her at the night-time clinic but we were there for two freaking hours. C was ready to have a conniption because she couldn't lay down and go to sleep in her bed. I didn't feel well myself and was tired while we were left in the siberia of the exam room for 30-45 minutes. Gotta love those pixar movies - NOT! No good mags, etc. If I had known I would have brought a book or something. Anyhow she's better.
I've been freecycling the yard sale leftovers and almost everything is gone. Trying to sell the TV, van and sewing machine. I thought people would jump at a TV for $20. Perhaps not. I was shocked it didn't sell at the yardsale. In the past, stuff like that sold at the beginning. Oh yeah and the train table too. I had 3 people hot to trot and then never heard from them again. I guess I'll relist.
DH's company was sponsoring a fall event tonight. Yankees vs. the Orioles. I bet ds a dollar that the Yankees would win. Haha! He was like I guess I'll be paying you $1 LOL! I was supposed to go but didn't want to leave C that long or worry about pumping milk. Plus, I thought it would be GREAT for ds to do something special with dh. He was so excited. Apparently, he knows more about baseball than I thought.
So, then, I had to do something special for the girls. We went out to dinner in a real sit-down restaurant which is a treat. Madison didn't know that Bob Evans was cheating LOL! We got that same slow waiter we had at Father's Day but thankfully service was much better. Madison had to use the toilet twice which meant hauling everyone to the toilet. Mia spilled her drink on the floor. At least it was under the table but my shoes stuck to the floor and came off when we tried to leave LOL! I *really* wanted a hot fudge sundae but by the time dinner was over I was too tired to fool with it. This old man walked by and hit C's carrier with his cane. I didn't realize what he was up to and wanted to haul off and knock his block off. He was actually very sweet and was so impressed that she was kicking her legs and making the seat rock LOL! But if I had $1 for every time someone asks if it's a girl or boy sitting in a PINK carseat, I'd be rich I tell you. I know it used to be a nickle, but you know I have inflation to think of! The girls were fairly good but don't think I'll be doing that again for a looong while.
Oh, Madison came home from school Wed. after piano and informed me that she had a boyfriend named S and that they kissed. This could be a post by itself but dang she was awfully pleased with herself. She's only SIX! Going on 16 as her teacher said. I spoke to her teacher about it the next day. Perhaps they didn't even kiss but something that she made up but it needed to be dealt with. Oy vey! The next day she got in trouble for being in the bathroom stall with 2 other girls. Who knew what they were doing in there LOL! Girls will be girls.
Matthew cut out of karate early last night. Said he wasn't feeling well. Stopped to get medicine and was soooo impressed with the store. It was just a Giant but it was so splashy, neat and tidy. Even the fruits and veggies were in baskets by type. And it looked fresh too. The only disappointment was the donut section which was pretty much cleared out. He said his throat still hurts today so I hope he's not going to get what dh had. Dh did say he throat didn't hurt, though. They were taking ITBS tests at school all week and finished today with snacks and a movie. It was nice only dealing with one kid's homework for a bit. Madison needs so much assistance with hers and she never gets her work finished in class because she's too busy fooling around or taking too long to color the pictures. Then we have to finish it at home.
Oh, Mia's new favorite word is yes. Before when you'd ask her a question, she'd answer yeah. Now, it's yes but only if she means it of course. It just sounds so cute and decisive coming from her. You know how when a toddler learns the word NO they seem to find all sorts of times to use it. It's like they invent excuses or create scenarios just so they can use their new word. Well, that's what Mia's been doing. It's kind of fun because when I ask her questions now she'll actually think first before answering and I'm getting a lot of yes's instead of automatic no's just because.
Charlotte found her feet this week. She loves playing with them so now instead of seeing her laying flat and kicking her legs, you find her curled up playing with ther feet. It's too cute! I'll have to post a picture after the camera comes back. Also, her eyes turned brown. Several months ago, when you looked at them in the sunshine, they looked brownish but weren't really changed as of yet. But now, in any kind of light they are hazely-brown. Looks like they'll end up being a similiar color to mine. I prefer blue eyes for some reason but now it'll be interesting to see what her hair does. So out of four children, one has blue and the rest brown. Out of six people in the house, four are girls and two are boys. Out of six people in the family, two have blue eyes and four have brown. Out of six people in the house, two have brown/dark hair and four have blonde/light hair. Interesting, no?
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
I finally called back
And before I forget, I talked to my step-sister the other night LOL! I was going to call her Sunday evening but she beat me to it. Turns out she's getting married. Two days after my birthday. Ugh. Why in the heck someone chooses to get married at Christmas time I don't know. We don't have enough time to get done what needs doing and I don't really feel like buying a gift and going to a wedding for someone I don't really care for.
She was all happy happy lala of course. But I swear, she acts like queen mother. The first sentence out of her mouth was I'm getting married. Then she was like, well you know as the mother of three kids....
PULEEZE, FREAKING PULEEZE LET IT GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You're talking to a woman with four children, two of which are under three. I don't want to hear you talk about being a mom of three when the youngest is 6. Plus they are only there part-time. So anyhow. I'm not queen mother by any means but I don't talk about it all the time to everyone in hearing distance. Anyway, so that drama is all done until December rolls around.
She was all happy happy lala of course. But I swear, she acts like queen mother. The first sentence out of her mouth was I'm getting married. Then she was like, well you know as the mother of three kids....
PULEEZE, FREAKING PULEEZE LET IT GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You're talking to a woman with four children, two of which are under three. I don't want to hear you talk about being a mom of three when the youngest is 6. Plus they are only there part-time. So anyhow. I'm not queen mother by any means but I don't talk about it all the time to everyone in hearing distance. Anyway, so that drama is all done until December rolls around.
Weekend in Review
First, I'd like to say thanks for the comments. Love those! Athena, I love the pastel colors too. I should post a picture of the new flower print :D
Saturday night I talked dh into going out to dinner. That was great. We went to Olive Garden and it was yummy. Salad, bread sticks, bruchetta and ravioli. MMMMMM!
Sunday I planned to go to a baby shower but Mia woke up early and threw up so I sayed home. We got SO much accomplished. Most of the laundry was washed and dried, we organized some of the basement and the yard sale stuff, totally cleaned out Madison's room. She now has one basket of toys and her dollhouse stuff only in her room. That should help when it's time to clean up. She now has the cleanest, neatest room in the house LOL! DH started the same thing with Matthew but it didn't have the same results. We've been trying to encourage the kids to sell some of their toys to make room and earn some money.
By the same token, we have to guard the yard sale stuff so that it doesn't end up back in the play areas LOL! It felt good to get so much done. We had Taco's for dinner and that was good too.
Monday was a low day for me. I tried to tell dh how I've been feeling but he wasn't really tuned in. Oh well, maybe I'll try again another time. If I admit something is wrong then I'll have to do something about it. And that scares me more than just dealing. I decided to spend the day out of the house yesterday but that didn't go so well. My saving grace was the stroller was in the van I was driving when I got to the circle mall. But the line at TCP was too long so I didn't even finish all my errands there. Kind of a waste.
Went to the grocery and Mia had an explosive diaper. She said she pooped a minute or two before I was done shopping. I smelled something so I looked down and green was getting ready to ooze right out the top of her pull up. So we trotted over to the restroom where it took me ten minutes to clean her up. And then I didn't have a clean shirt so she gleefully told everyone we passed that she was naked LOL! Today she had another so I laid her down to change her and stuff just oozed everywhere. I was like a volcano oozing down the mountain. Yech. I guess it's better than changing 20 diapers of diarrhea a day but still. I'll be glad when this is over. And to top it off, Charlotte has the goopy eye.
I picked up the kids and then between 4-6 I had to unload and put up the groceries, help Matthew study for his plant test and do other work, supervise piano, help Madison with her homework. We never made it it to piano. Supervise Mia who gets into all things and keep after the baby. I think the baby slept through most of the evening so that was nice. I also had to cook up dinner. It was a lot and I couldn't figure out how to stagger myself.
It just always feels like I hear I need I need I need I need and it's overwhelming, I tell you. I think I would like to have someone take care of me for a change. I love my dh dearly and wouldn't change him for the world but he's not really a "caretaker" type of husband, iykwim. My scrapbook class is over so I kind of miss the emails but not the pressure to keep up with the class. Of course, my other extra obligations are less, i.e. storage organization, etc. but there's still tons of other stuff to do. Like fold and put away a week's worth of laundry for a family of six including stomach flu clean ups.
Oh, I had more to write but I can't think of what else right now. I'm trying to live auction, Craigslist and ebay some stuff before the yard sale. I'm not very good at gauging what will or will not sell on ebay so that's always a crap shoot. I sold one thing that so far has covered the fees so at least I'm not out any $ just time. I expect my dh's toys to go for something so at least we'll get those out as well. September is no-listing-fee month up to like $9.99 so that's been some savings. I just can't wait to get rid of this stuff. I put up an auction of a couple dozen items for $1 or less but no one's biting. I'm not sure if my stuff is that bad or people just expect name brands all the time. Or maybe it's me. My self-esteem is just that low LOL!
Saturday night I talked dh into going out to dinner. That was great. We went to Olive Garden and it was yummy. Salad, bread sticks, bruchetta and ravioli. MMMMMM!
Sunday I planned to go to a baby shower but Mia woke up early and threw up so I sayed home. We got SO much accomplished. Most of the laundry was washed and dried, we organized some of the basement and the yard sale stuff, totally cleaned out Madison's room. She now has one basket of toys and her dollhouse stuff only in her room. That should help when it's time to clean up. She now has the cleanest, neatest room in the house LOL! DH started the same thing with Matthew but it didn't have the same results. We've been trying to encourage the kids to sell some of their toys to make room and earn some money.
By the same token, we have to guard the yard sale stuff so that it doesn't end up back in the play areas LOL! It felt good to get so much done. We had Taco's for dinner and that was good too.
Monday was a low day for me. I tried to tell dh how I've been feeling but he wasn't really tuned in. Oh well, maybe I'll try again another time. If I admit something is wrong then I'll have to do something about it. And that scares me more than just dealing. I decided to spend the day out of the house yesterday but that didn't go so well. My saving grace was the stroller was in the van I was driving when I got to the circle mall. But the line at TCP was too long so I didn't even finish all my errands there. Kind of a waste.
Went to the grocery and Mia had an explosive diaper. She said she pooped a minute or two before I was done shopping. I smelled something so I looked down and green was getting ready to ooze right out the top of her pull up. So we trotted over to the restroom where it took me ten minutes to clean her up. And then I didn't have a clean shirt so she gleefully told everyone we passed that she was naked LOL! Today she had another so I laid her down to change her and stuff just oozed everywhere. I was like a volcano oozing down the mountain. Yech. I guess it's better than changing 20 diapers of diarrhea a day but still. I'll be glad when this is over. And to top it off, Charlotte has the goopy eye.
I picked up the kids and then between 4-6 I had to unload and put up the groceries, help Matthew study for his plant test and do other work, supervise piano, help Madison with her homework. We never made it it to piano. Supervise Mia who gets into all things and keep after the baby. I think the baby slept through most of the evening so that was nice. I also had to cook up dinner. It was a lot and I couldn't figure out how to stagger myself.
It just always feels like I hear I need I need I need I need and it's overwhelming, I tell you. I think I would like to have someone take care of me for a change. I love my dh dearly and wouldn't change him for the world but he's not really a "caretaker" type of husband, iykwim. My scrapbook class is over so I kind of miss the emails but not the pressure to keep up with the class. Of course, my other extra obligations are less, i.e. storage organization, etc. but there's still tons of other stuff to do. Like fold and put away a week's worth of laundry for a family of six including stomach flu clean ups.
Oh, I had more to write but I can't think of what else right now. I'm trying to live auction, Craigslist and ebay some stuff before the yard sale. I'm not very good at gauging what will or will not sell on ebay so that's always a crap shoot. I sold one thing that so far has covered the fees so at least I'm not out any $ just time. I expect my dh's toys to go for something so at least we'll get those out as well. September is no-listing-fee month up to like $9.99 so that's been some savings. I just can't wait to get rid of this stuff. I put up an auction of a couple dozen items for $1 or less but no one's biting. I'm not sure if my stuff is that bad or people just expect name brands all the time. Or maybe it's me. My self-esteem is just that low LOL!
Dr. Pompo's Nose
Tuesday is library day at my childrens' school. Last week Matthew brought home several books and a movie. Madison's class did not get to go because they wouldn't be quiet in line (she said).
Going to the library is one of their favorite past-times. I'm not sure if it's the new books or new video. They can check out several books and one video. Luckily, most of the videos are educational.
One of the books Madison brought home today was "Dr. Pompo's Nose." If you haven't read this, I highly encourage you to check it out. Very cute!
The characters are carved pumpkins with their stems as noses. They have eyes carved out and mouths as well. Dr. Pompano finds a "nose" (a pumpkin stem) on the ground and each pumpkin that comes along adds an idea of what the stem actually is. A nose, a horn, a stem, etc.
Madison loved it and it's a funny little story.
Going to the library is one of their favorite past-times. I'm not sure if it's the new books or new video. They can check out several books and one video. Luckily, most of the videos are educational.
One of the books Madison brought home today was "Dr. Pompo's Nose." If you haven't read this, I highly encourage you to check it out. Very cute!
The characters are carved pumpkins with their stems as noses. They have eyes carved out and mouths as well. Dr. Pompano finds a "nose" (a pumpkin stem) on the ground and each pumpkin that comes along adds an idea of what the stem actually is. A nose, a horn, a stem, etc.
Madison loved it and it's a funny little story.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Blew through that one
It's a little cool here tonight so I went searching for warm pj's for C. Imagine my surprise when the 3-6 month sleeper was too small!!!!!!!!!! Well I should say too short. She measured 26-1/2" at her 4 month pedes visit this past Monday. That's the 95% percentile and 2" longer than Mia was at the same age. Madison's records are unfindable at this time to compare and Matthew was still in Korea at that age. She's also 13 pounds 7 ounces which is about 50% percentile. Mia was 13 and 5-1/2 at the same age. I could have sworn that C is chubbier than either of the other two girls but apparently not. With a good two inches, she'd be considered slimmer. I pulled out a couple Gymbo sleepers in 3-6 earlier in the week which proved to be too small as well but I just figured they ran small like their leggings. I guess not ! Ach. Anyhow, I'm off to find the box of 6-9 month clothes.
Oh and here are a couple more layouts I've done. The orange layout uses Jessica Sprague's festa papers and my new technique from her class making a hexagon-type photo collage. It's late and I forget what it's called. The other one is where we learned how to use templates which was R*E*A*L*L*Y cool!! Sooooo easy! I was doing it all wrong before. Anyhow that layout is using a Jen Caputo template and paper pack by Janidee Designs. Oh and probably a couple others from the class doing different techniques. Enjoy!
Oh and here are a couple more layouts I've done. The orange layout uses Jessica Sprague's festa papers and my new technique from her class making a hexagon-type photo collage. It's late and I forget what it's called. The other one is where we learned how to use templates which was R*E*A*L*L*Y cool!! Sooooo easy! I was doing it all wrong before. Anyhow that layout is using a Jen Caputo template and paper pack by Janidee Designs. Oh and probably a couple others from the class doing different techniques. Enjoy!
Hair, Hair, Everywhere There's Hair!
They don't tell you about all the weird things that happen to you when you get pregnant, like the dark line down your belly, leaky boobs, skin that stretches in places you never expected, hair that grows where you never expected, and so on. Most I can sort of understand as the body grows and expands and the hormones do their thing so you grow a lovely wee bairn in your belly.
But the strangest of all is the hair growth. I don't quite get this one. While pregnant my hair grows at astronomical rates. It grows faster, thicker and more of it grows until it's very thick. I have thick hair anyhow so this makes it even more. I find it difficult to find a barrette to corral it all.
So, I'm sitting around enjoying all this wonderful, luxurious growth of hair for three whole months after the baby is born. First, I'm sitting around wondering how my baby got to be so big already! Second, one day I wake up to take a shower and find a fistful of hair in my hand! The first time it happened I really freaked out. I had no idea this was a postpartum condition and thought I was ill!
So, it's been over a month and I'm tired of the shedding. I brush my hair before I shower to get out as much as possible and I still pull out a couple handfuls. It's always on my back and arms simulating a buggy feeling. The baby gets strands from time to time. So, if anyone has a clue as to the purpose of this, I'd love to hear it!
And from time to time I grieve that we decided not to have any more babies. I LOVE babies and since Charlotte's a fairly good baby, i.e. sleeping pretty well through the night LOL, I contemplate wishing we could have another.
And then I slap myself.
The old adage "Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it" goes through my head. When dh and I got married we talked about four children. But a while after #3 came along I decided that was enough. Or should I say we decided. Financially it's a struggle and I just felt I didn't have anything left to give after that. We were so busy with school and activities.
Then BAM #4. What a surprise that was. I love the little dear with all my heart; I love each of them enormously. I can't imagine what life would be like without each of them. But dang it's a lot of work. Mentally, I'm spent by about 4:00. Then there's just so many more things to do in a day. I feel so beleagured I almost say I want to go back to work. But I don't really want to do that.
I kind of wonder if I have some bit of depression or PPD? I should probably find out but I'm afraid. I should probably tell DH. I'm just not the happiest person on earth right now even though I have a lot to be happy about. I wish I could go away for a while to regroup or have a whole week at home by myself to just get things accomplished. Maybe if I got everything in order then I'd feel better? That seems silly though. I kind of feel like if the house isn't spic and span all neat and tidy it's going to drive me crazy. I LOVE a clean house of course but it's somewhat cluttered is all. Maybe this is why my grandma's house was always so perfect. Maybe it was the only way she could think clearly.
I'm way overwhelmed right now.
But the strangest of all is the hair growth. I don't quite get this one. While pregnant my hair grows at astronomical rates. It grows faster, thicker and more of it grows until it's very thick. I have thick hair anyhow so this makes it even more. I find it difficult to find a barrette to corral it all.
So, I'm sitting around enjoying all this wonderful, luxurious growth of hair for three whole months after the baby is born. First, I'm sitting around wondering how my baby got to be so big already! Second, one day I wake up to take a shower and find a fistful of hair in my hand! The first time it happened I really freaked out. I had no idea this was a postpartum condition and thought I was ill!
So, it's been over a month and I'm tired of the shedding. I brush my hair before I shower to get out as much as possible and I still pull out a couple handfuls. It's always on my back and arms simulating a buggy feeling. The baby gets strands from time to time. So, if anyone has a clue as to the purpose of this, I'd love to hear it!
And from time to time I grieve that we decided not to have any more babies. I LOVE babies and since Charlotte's a fairly good baby, i.e. sleeping pretty well through the night LOL, I contemplate wishing we could have another.
And then I slap myself.
The old adage "Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it" goes through my head. When dh and I got married we talked about four children. But a while after #3 came along I decided that was enough. Or should I say we decided. Financially it's a struggle and I just felt I didn't have anything left to give after that. We were so busy with school and activities.
Then BAM #4. What a surprise that was. I love the little dear with all my heart; I love each of them enormously. I can't imagine what life would be like without each of them. But dang it's a lot of work. Mentally, I'm spent by about 4:00. Then there's just so many more things to do in a day. I feel so beleagured I almost say I want to go back to work. But I don't really want to do that.
I kind of wonder if I have some bit of depression or PPD? I should probably find out but I'm afraid. I should probably tell DH. I'm just not the happiest person on earth right now even though I have a lot to be happy about. I wish I could go away for a while to regroup or have a whole week at home by myself to just get things accomplished. Maybe if I got everything in order then I'd feel better? That seems silly though. I kind of feel like if the house isn't spic and span all neat and tidy it's going to drive me crazy. I LOVE a clean house of course but it's somewhat cluttered is all. Maybe this is why my grandma's house was always so perfect. Maybe it was the only way she could think clearly.
I'm way overwhelmed right now.
Happy Birthday DH!
Today is DH's birthday. He's 42. Wow, how did we get so old?! We met when I was 20 or so and he was 23/24. Something like that. It was back in 1989! Seems like forever ago! Almost 20 years we've been together. Amazing, isn't it?
I wanted to try and plan a little get-together for him but he made it difficult. First he picked an activity that wasn't exactly geared to a bigger group of people. Then, he decided to work today and do his birthday thing tomorrow. However, tomorrow I have a baby shower to attend. It's from 1-6 or 12-06. Seems like a long time for a shower so I want to check and see what the format is.
That does require a phone call to someone I don't know. Heck the majority of the baby shower will be people I don't know and it scares me to death! Anyhow, enough about me.
So I think we'll do steaks on the grill Sunday. Tonight I'm making tacos but I'm not sure what time he will be home. I will be glad when he actually gets paid for this work instead of paying back work we had done. Not that it was a bad trade at all.
I got dh's pressies last night but got the wrong size on one. So, I will probably give them to him and exchange them later. It was purchased at Wal-Mart and I really have no desire to go there on the weekend.
So, a great big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my wonderful DH. Couldn't ask for better, IMO :)
I wanted to try and plan a little get-together for him but he made it difficult. First he picked an activity that wasn't exactly geared to a bigger group of people. Then, he decided to work today and do his birthday thing tomorrow. However, tomorrow I have a baby shower to attend. It's from 1-6 or 12-06. Seems like a long time for a shower so I want to check and see what the format is.
That does require a phone call to someone I don't know. Heck the majority of the baby shower will be people I don't know and it scares me to death! Anyhow, enough about me.
So I think we'll do steaks on the grill Sunday. Tonight I'm making tacos but I'm not sure what time he will be home. I will be glad when he actually gets paid for this work instead of paying back work we had done. Not that it was a bad trade at all.
I got dh's pressies last night but got the wrong size on one. So, I will probably give them to him and exchange them later. It was purchased at Wal-Mart and I really have no desire to go there on the weekend.
So, a great big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my wonderful DH. Couldn't ask for better, IMO :)
Monday, September 10, 2007
In the Trenches
Well, I'm deep in the trenches this week!
Potty Training Update:
Continues to go well -- woohooo! I think we used 2-3 pull ups all weekend (and not because we didn't change her LOLOL). Yesterday we went cold turkey after changing from the night-time pull up. A few accidents here or there but she was open to wearing the panties and using the potty in exchange for candy corns.
Last night was panties and plastic pants. Worked great! Mia got up this morning and asked to use the potty! This is breaking news, people!!!!!!!!!!!!! She was slightly wet but managed to make it to the potty. We went to the doctor's for C (another blog), picked up a freecycle item and headed to the grocery store. I decided to forgo the plastic pants and my girl was wearing shorts and panties! No diapers, no plastic pants, no pull ups, yahoo!
I had her use the disgusting public toilets, although the bathrooms at this particular store are relatively clean. She made it home no problem but pooped while I was bringing in the groceries. And other than an accident right after her nap, that's been the only accidents today. In fact, she has actually been telling me herself that she wants to use the toilet which is a huge score in my book. If I have to initiate every potty break, then she's not really using the toilet. Since she's beginning to initiate then I'm really comfortable that she's getting it and is ready to fully train.
I will hope to report by the end of the week that she's done. Wishful thinking, perhaps, but why not set the bar high and if we miss, at least we tired.
The other trench is the never-ending basement project. It's mostly done but it's done to the point where we closed our storage unit yesterday. Two months shy of a complete year. What sucks is they pro-rate going in but not coming out. Part of me wanted to at least keep the lock on until the end of the month so they couldn't re-let it. Bad, I know.
So there's boxes all over and a mess everywhere but we're slowly making progress. We have a freecycle pile going, a yardsale pile started and my verrrrry slowwwwly shrinking live auction and ebay pile. I threw a bunch of stuff up last night. Toys and a couple baby items. I also intend to list dh's old palm and Thundershift 500 (with his permission of course). He's also got an old train but I don't know if it works. Those Thundershifts are going for $20 - $50! My handle is nurturingmom2 if you want to check it out.
Again, by the end of this week or next I hope to have all the boxes sorted out and put away. We only have a small amount of storage space right now so we can't keep every item that's ever been given us no matter how sentimental. DH's motto is "When in Doubt, Throw it Out!" I'm a packrat by genetics so I have a harder time getting rid of things, especially if they have an emotional attachment, like my grandmother's music boxes. She's deceased and the music boxes are probably worthless in monetary value. I used to collect them but haven't even displayed them since Matthew came along.
Anyhow I'm sure this is getting rather long so I'll close for now. Will probably be a bit until I post again due to said basement project. In the meantime, I leave you with my newest digital creation ala Jessica Sprague's Up and Running class.
Potty Training Update:
Continues to go well -- woohooo! I think we used 2-3 pull ups all weekend (and not because we didn't change her LOLOL). Yesterday we went cold turkey after changing from the night-time pull up. A few accidents here or there but she was open to wearing the panties and using the potty in exchange for candy corns.
Last night was panties and plastic pants. Worked great! Mia got up this morning and asked to use the potty! This is breaking news, people!!!!!!!!!!!!! She was slightly wet but managed to make it to the potty. We went to the doctor's for C (another blog), picked up a freecycle item and headed to the grocery store. I decided to forgo the plastic pants and my girl was wearing shorts and panties! No diapers, no plastic pants, no pull ups, yahoo!
I had her use the disgusting public toilets, although the bathrooms at this particular store are relatively clean. She made it home no problem but pooped while I was bringing in the groceries. And other than an accident right after her nap, that's been the only accidents today. In fact, she has actually been telling me herself that she wants to use the toilet which is a huge score in my book. If I have to initiate every potty break, then she's not really using the toilet. Since she's beginning to initiate then I'm really comfortable that she's getting it and is ready to fully train.
I will hope to report by the end of the week that she's done. Wishful thinking, perhaps, but why not set the bar high and if we miss, at least we tired.
The other trench is the never-ending basement project. It's mostly done but it's done to the point where we closed our storage unit yesterday. Two months shy of a complete year. What sucks is they pro-rate going in but not coming out. Part of me wanted to at least keep the lock on until the end of the month so they couldn't re-let it. Bad, I know.
So there's boxes all over and a mess everywhere but we're slowly making progress. We have a freecycle pile going, a yardsale pile started and my verrrrry slowwwwly shrinking live auction and ebay pile. I threw a bunch of stuff up last night. Toys and a couple baby items. I also intend to list dh's old palm and Thundershift 500 (with his permission of course). He's also got an old train but I don't know if it works. Those Thundershifts are going for $20 - $50! My handle is nurturingmom2 if you want to check it out.
Again, by the end of this week or next I hope to have all the boxes sorted out and put away. We only have a small amount of storage space right now so we can't keep every item that's ever been given us no matter how sentimental. DH's motto is "When in Doubt, Throw it Out!" I'm a packrat by genetics so I have a harder time getting rid of things, especially if they have an emotional attachment, like my grandmother's music boxes. She's deceased and the music boxes are probably worthless in monetary value. I used to collect them but haven't even displayed them since Matthew came along.
Anyhow I'm sure this is getting rather long so I'll close for now. Will probably be a bit until I post again due to said basement project. In the meantime, I leave you with my newest digital creation ala Jessica Sprague's Up and Running class.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Adventures in Potty Training
So I decided that my 2-1/2 year old should potty train, potty learn, toilet train, whatever they're calling it these days. Hard to stay up on all the terms that are PC in the world of child rearing. I have enough trouble keeping track of my ownself and what belongs to me LOL!
So, a couple friends have trained or are training their dd's. One is the same age as Mia and just recently trained. The other is 17 months and training. I feel like I'm doing something wrong! But seriously, I know I'm not and Mia is perfectly normal. I am just tired of changing so many dirty diapers and paying so much for diapers. They are so pricey.
I know a lot of it is up the the child so you kind of have to go with the flow. Mia got really interested in the potty just when she turned two. However, in my impregnated state, I was unable to keep up with her interest which petered out at some point. Now she's kind of off and on but I've seen evidence that physically she's ready.
I asked my one friend what she did and they "ran out" of pull ups. I thought that's a great idea. I planned to do that last week, however, the running out of pull ups coincided with a lot of weekend activities out the house. Not a good mix with potty training. I figured we'd have several days of wet clothing. So we opened the last pack of pull ups.
Starting yesterday, Mia began asking for underpants. She wore them last night and also to bed. We put plastic pants on her for sleeping, good thing too! Today I think I put pull ups on her for the LLL meeting and we've been using training pants or panties since. We managed to get one poop and one good pee on the potty and a couple accidents.
The first accident I didn't realize she'd had but I did find a lovely puddle of "water" in the kitchen. Mia was dipping a basting brush in it and painting our front storm door. I spent a few minutes trying to figure out where the water came from. But while talking to daddy she proudly proclaimed she pee'd. That was my lightbulb moment. Ugh! Basting brush went in the trash.
So I'll continue with the underpants and hope that she's mostly trained in a few days. I'm afraid she'll relapse if we don't stick with panties or get confused. My great potty training tip is this. If you use a potty chair, keep a layer or two of tissue in the bottom. This way when they poop, the clean up is much easier. I have a queasy stomach so cleaning out a poopy potty is yucky!
Keep up the good work, Mia Mee.
So, a couple friends have trained or are training their dd's. One is the same age as Mia and just recently trained. The other is 17 months and training. I feel like I'm doing something wrong! But seriously, I know I'm not and Mia is perfectly normal. I am just tired of changing so many dirty diapers and paying so much for diapers. They are so pricey.
I know a lot of it is up the the child so you kind of have to go with the flow. Mia got really interested in the potty just when she turned two. However, in my impregnated state, I was unable to keep up with her interest which petered out at some point. Now she's kind of off and on but I've seen evidence that physically she's ready.
I asked my one friend what she did and they "ran out" of pull ups. I thought that's a great idea. I planned to do that last week, however, the running out of pull ups coincided with a lot of weekend activities out the house. Not a good mix with potty training. I figured we'd have several days of wet clothing. So we opened the last pack of pull ups.
Starting yesterday, Mia began asking for underpants. She wore them last night and also to bed. We put plastic pants on her for sleeping, good thing too! Today I think I put pull ups on her for the LLL meeting and we've been using training pants or panties since. We managed to get one poop and one good pee on the potty and a couple accidents.
The first accident I didn't realize she'd had but I did find a lovely puddle of "water" in the kitchen. Mia was dipping a basting brush in it and painting our front storm door. I spent a few minutes trying to figure out where the water came from. But while talking to daddy she proudly proclaimed she pee'd. That was my lightbulb moment. Ugh! Basting brush went in the trash.
So I'll continue with the underpants and hope that she's mostly trained in a few days. I'm afraid she'll relapse if we don't stick with panties or get confused. My great potty training tip is this. If you use a potty chair, keep a layer or two of tissue in the bottom. This way when they poop, the clean up is much easier. I have a queasy stomach so cleaning out a poopy potty is yucky!
Keep up the good work, Mia Mee.
Monday, September 3, 2007
Total Avoidance
I've been avoiding returning a phone call. This call is from my stepsister and she left a message saying she "has news." Well, why don't people just leave the dag-gone message instead of creating all this mystery? In her case, I can only imagine it's because she wants to trumpet something over me. There's a tad of bad blood there although she chooses to ignore it when it's beneficial to her.
I've been walked over and dismissed by her too many times to even count and so I chose to extricate myself from what I considered a toxic relationship. We even lent her money that was never repaid after twenty-five bazillion promises to do so. And now I think she's conveniently forgotten she owes us $300. That was $300 we didn't have but lent in faith. Moral of that story, never loan to family or friends.
It had gotten to the point where the only time she called was because *she* needed something. My children were born, had birthdays, holidays, etc. no acknowledgement from her. I didn't even bother calling her after Charlotte was born. I figured either my stepdad (her bio dad) would tell her or I'd call her as I did many others after I got out of the hospital. I don't think I actually had her # with me in any event.
She had the nerve to be offended, or pretended to be, that I didn't call her straight away. Well, my daughter was in the NICU you dumbo. Perhaps, when you found out you could have called to see if we needed anything!
Now she met this guy and he's got two kids and she's got one. Every time you talked to her you would think she was mother of the year because she has three freaking kids. Well, okay, they're not really all yours and you don't even always have them all at the same time due to visitation. But you had to endure 20 minutes of how busy she is with three children like she was the only one to ever have three children. So I told my dh that we trumped her now because we had four.
I haven't heard from her in four months. No congratulations card, no nothing for Charlotte. I swear it's like this child doesn't exist to some people. I guess as the numbers grow so does interest LOL I just really feel like she's going to tell me she's pregnant and I really don't want to hear that. I'm sure she'll brag about it was this or it was that and lay it on really thick until I want to explode.
And I don't even know why this even bothers me. We obviously have surmounted infertility to some degree. Did I feel like mom of the year because I was the only one in the family to have four children? Now I won't be the only one? Although, I'd beg to let her have 4 or even 3 all together all the time with no visitations on a regular basis. It doesn't even compare.
I wanted to call and ask her dad some carpet/flooring advice anyhow so perhaps I'll let him tell me and then I'll decide whether or not to call back. Truthfully, I hardly ever call anyone these days because it's so crazy all the time. By the time it settles down enough to think about calling people it's like 9:00 at night LOL! I wish I knew why this upset me so. It just really rankles me for some reason that she might be pregnant. Perhaps it's something completely different. Maybe she got a promotion or is getting married or something. I guess I'll find out sooner or later LOL!
I've been walked over and dismissed by her too many times to even count and so I chose to extricate myself from what I considered a toxic relationship. We even lent her money that was never repaid after twenty-five bazillion promises to do so. And now I think she's conveniently forgotten she owes us $300. That was $300 we didn't have but lent in faith. Moral of that story, never loan to family or friends.
It had gotten to the point where the only time she called was because *she* needed something. My children were born, had birthdays, holidays, etc. no acknowledgement from her. I didn't even bother calling her after Charlotte was born. I figured either my stepdad (her bio dad) would tell her or I'd call her as I did many others after I got out of the hospital. I don't think I actually had her # with me in any event.
She had the nerve to be offended, or pretended to be, that I didn't call her straight away. Well, my daughter was in the NICU you dumbo. Perhaps, when you found out you could have called to see if we needed anything!
Now she met this guy and he's got two kids and she's got one. Every time you talked to her you would think she was mother of the year because she has three freaking kids. Well, okay, they're not really all yours and you don't even always have them all at the same time due to visitation. But you had to endure 20 minutes of how busy she is with three children like she was the only one to ever have three children. So I told my dh that we trumped her now because we had four.
I haven't heard from her in four months. No congratulations card, no nothing for Charlotte. I swear it's like this child doesn't exist to some people. I guess as the numbers grow so does interest LOL I just really feel like she's going to tell me she's pregnant and I really don't want to hear that. I'm sure she'll brag about it was this or it was that and lay it on really thick until I want to explode.
And I don't even know why this even bothers me. We obviously have surmounted infertility to some degree. Did I feel like mom of the year because I was the only one in the family to have four children? Now I won't be the only one? Although, I'd beg to let her have 4 or even 3 all together all the time with no visitations on a regular basis. It doesn't even compare.
I wanted to call and ask her dad some carpet/flooring advice anyhow so perhaps I'll let him tell me and then I'll decide whether or not to call back. Truthfully, I hardly ever call anyone these days because it's so crazy all the time. By the time it settles down enough to think about calling people it's like 9:00 at night LOL! I wish I knew why this upset me so. It just really rankles me for some reason that she might be pregnant. Perhaps it's something completely different. Maybe she got a promotion or is getting married or something. I guess I'll find out sooner or later LOL!
Thursday, August 30, 2007
New layout
Yesterday was an absolutely horrible day. Everything went wrong. To top it off, Matthew's intramural soccer games are on Wednesday afterschool, conveniently when piano takes place. I *really* wanted his piano to be during school and now he misses out on soccer. Also, I'm missing a dinner because it's during the week. I'm sure there will be other times to meet with the new mommy friends I made. It's not really that big of a deal but I got so many little straws heaped yesterday that the back just broke.
We sat through a 90-minute "presentation" on windows. Why can't these companies just come in, measure and then give you your price? To be honest, the guy was a terrible salesperson so there was no hard sell really but it's just the process. Plus, like those next-day carpet places, they seem to jack the prices up just to give you a "discount" if you sign with them that same night. We're just collecting estimates.
The carpet is done .. yeah! Now we need to paint around the baseboards for the stairs, touch up the bazillion places they scuffed and readjust the closet doors which no longer work because the carpet is too high. I don't really recommend this company. I was not very happy with the workers.
So, following are before and after pictures of my basement, which still need some work and my layout following the scrapbooking class I'm taking on www.Jessicasprague.com. Leave me a comment if you like it!
A note on the basement pictures. Our basement is small so it's hard to get a good general picture. I chose the ones I did because it shows the pole in the middle. The HVAC used to be by this pole and we moved it along a wall that goes under the stairs. We also added a closet and bathroom. The bathroom remains partially unfinished in that the fixtures and flooring are not done, but the plumbing is installed and the first part of the electric. We'll finish it up at some point. At least now we can close our storage unit when we get it emptied out. Where to put everything is another problem. I'll probably be spending a lot of time on freecycle. I guess if I haven't used (or missed) something in almost a year's time I obviously don't need it LOL!
We sat through a 90-minute "presentation" on windows. Why can't these companies just come in, measure and then give you your price? To be honest, the guy was a terrible salesperson so there was no hard sell really but it's just the process. Plus, like those next-day carpet places, they seem to jack the prices up just to give you a "discount" if you sign with them that same night. We're just collecting estimates.
The carpet is done .. yeah! Now we need to paint around the baseboards for the stairs, touch up the bazillion places they scuffed and readjust the closet doors which no longer work because the carpet is too high. I don't really recommend this company. I was not very happy with the workers.
So, following are before and after pictures of my basement, which still need some work and my layout following the scrapbooking class I'm taking on www.Jessicasprague.com. Leave me a comment if you like it!
A note on the basement pictures. Our basement is small so it's hard to get a good general picture. I chose the ones I did because it shows the pole in the middle. The HVAC used to be by this pole and we moved it along a wall that goes under the stairs. We also added a closet and bathroom. The bathroom remains partially unfinished in that the fixtures and flooring are not done, but the plumbing is installed and the first part of the electric. We'll finish it up at some point. At least now we can close our storage unit when we get it emptied out. Where to put everything is another problem. I'll probably be spending a lot of time on freecycle. I guess if I haven't used (or missed) something in almost a year's time I obviously don't need it LOL!
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Happy Anniversary to Me!
Today is my 13th wedding anniversary. Boy we sure have come a long way! When we got married, we were living on the top floor in a penthouse suite in downtown Baltimore with a cool view of the Orioles stadium. I drove to Silver Spring to work full-time and dh worked for the company that owned the building in which we lived; hence the penthouse apartment with a 60% discount! I think he was working part time as well.
We had no kids and I was in college part time working towards my Associates in Science, Business Management. No kids, no responsibilities, nothing to do on the weekends but whatever we wanted. Stay up late, sleep in even later, eat whatever, whenever we wanted. Take off for a weekend trip, no problem!
Boy times have changed.
Three weeks after we married, we moved to a house in the burbs we later purchased. Bennies included a driveway to park right next to our house instead of a garage across the street and free washer and dryer!!!!!!!!!!!! It also came with more to clean and yard work -- blech! Life happened while we've lived here and we're now the proud owners of a minivan and parents to four kids. Whew! There was a time we didn't think we'd have any children so it's truly a blessing.
DH is fantastic and I couldn't have ordered a better father to my children. We've had our ups and downs and it's hard to stay connected a lot of the times but we're truly committed to each other and work hard to keep things together. No that it's all that hard but it just takes some extra efforts with all the other responsibilities and things going on.
This past Saturday my SIL babysat all FOUR kids while dh and I ate dinner at RUB in the city. The food was either very good or so-so depending on what you order. I recommend the brisket and dh recommends the Lemonade ;) Stay away from the banana "pudding" which isn't pudding at all. It's more like pureed bananas with cinnamon and vanilla wafers. Not too tasty. I think they were a little short-handed in the service department but over all not too shabby.
Tonight my stepmom offered to come down so we could spend time together on our actual anniversary. Not sure where we're going yet but I'm leaning towards The Cheesecake Factory because I want some chocolate cake :D Personally, I opted out of the overnight for the kids. Charlotte is our anniversary surprise from last year LOL! And while we love her to bits, we're not ready for another "gift" of that nature.
So here's a shout out to my wonderful hubby. Love you dear and look forward to many more years together :)
We had no kids and I was in college part time working towards my Associates in Science, Business Management. No kids, no responsibilities, nothing to do on the weekends but whatever we wanted. Stay up late, sleep in even later, eat whatever, whenever we wanted. Take off for a weekend trip, no problem!
Boy times have changed.
Three weeks after we married, we moved to a house in the burbs we later purchased. Bennies included a driveway to park right next to our house instead of a garage across the street and free washer and dryer!!!!!!!!!!!! It also came with more to clean and yard work -- blech! Life happened while we've lived here and we're now the proud owners of a minivan and parents to four kids. Whew! There was a time we didn't think we'd have any children so it's truly a blessing.
DH is fantastic and I couldn't have ordered a better father to my children. We've had our ups and downs and it's hard to stay connected a lot of the times but we're truly committed to each other and work hard to keep things together. No that it's all that hard but it just takes some extra efforts with all the other responsibilities and things going on.
This past Saturday my SIL babysat all FOUR kids while dh and I ate dinner at RUB in the city. The food was either very good or so-so depending on what you order. I recommend the brisket and dh recommends the Lemonade ;) Stay away from the banana "pudding" which isn't pudding at all. It's more like pureed bananas with cinnamon and vanilla wafers. Not too tasty. I think they were a little short-handed in the service department but over all not too shabby.
Tonight my stepmom offered to come down so we could spend time together on our actual anniversary. Not sure where we're going yet but I'm leaning towards The Cheesecake Factory because I want some chocolate cake :D Personally, I opted out of the overnight for the kids. Charlotte is our anniversary surprise from last year LOL! And while we love her to bits, we're not ready for another "gift" of that nature.
So here's a shout out to my wonderful hubby. Love you dear and look forward to many more years together :)
Friday, August 24, 2007
Grandma Got Lost
My grandma has dementia. She's had it for several years but it's really been telling these last one to two years. She spent the last two weeks at my uncles new home and since she's been home, she's really discombobulated and her routine is all messed up. For someone who lives on routine and depends on it to function because of memory problems, this is a really bad thing.
Yesterday she drove herself to the hair dresser or her weekly appointment. Now, the doctor told her some time ago it was probably best not to drive. And basically she doesn't except to the hair dresser and grocery. The family down there felt that was okay. My thought was perhaps you all should figure out another way to get grandma to her destinations.
I'm always hearing about old people venturing off and getting lost, dying after being exposed to the elements too long in bad weather. So yesterday she got lost coming home from the hair dresser. This is a place she's driven to on a weekly basis for YEARS! It was so scary; she was lost for over an hour. They finally took her car away. Hurrah!
But I still worry. If she's gotten this bad, how do we know she won't go fetch the mail and forget where she is? Will she catch something on fire because she's forgotten a pot on the stove? This is really hard. She's getting to the point where she may need to have more care than what's being provided. I'm not down there to deal with it. My uncle used to live across the street but he's moved due to his job. That leaves the lady that stays with her and my mother. I guess it'll have to do. I'm wondering if my uncle will take her to live with him?
My uncle and my mother don't get along because they're both cut from the same hard-headed, stubbon as mules cloth. My uncle is just like my grandad was in that there's no other opinion but his own and if you try to have one you're just plain wrong. And to that effect, there's only one right way to do things and that's his LOL! That's off topic anyhow. I'm worried about my grandma. She's more of a mom to me than my own mom and helped raise me for many years. I usually don't think about it much since she's not close by but it's going to be hard to say good-bye to her and it's happening bit by bit.
Yesterday she drove herself to the hair dresser or her weekly appointment. Now, the doctor told her some time ago it was probably best not to drive. And basically she doesn't except to the hair dresser and grocery. The family down there felt that was okay. My thought was perhaps you all should figure out another way to get grandma to her destinations.
I'm always hearing about old people venturing off and getting lost, dying after being exposed to the elements too long in bad weather. So yesterday she got lost coming home from the hair dresser. This is a place she's driven to on a weekly basis for YEARS! It was so scary; she was lost for over an hour. They finally took her car away. Hurrah!
But I still worry. If she's gotten this bad, how do we know she won't go fetch the mail and forget where she is? Will she catch something on fire because she's forgotten a pot on the stove? This is really hard. She's getting to the point where she may need to have more care than what's being provided. I'm not down there to deal with it. My uncle used to live across the street but he's moved due to his job. That leaves the lady that stays with her and my mother. I guess it'll have to do. I'm wondering if my uncle will take her to live with him?
My uncle and my mother don't get along because they're both cut from the same hard-headed, stubbon as mules cloth. My uncle is just like my grandad was in that there's no other opinion but his own and if you try to have one you're just plain wrong. And to that effect, there's only one right way to do things and that's his LOL! That's off topic anyhow. I'm worried about my grandma. She's more of a mom to me than my own mom and helped raise me for many years. I usually don't think about it much since she's not close by but it's going to be hard to say good-bye to her and it's happening bit by bit.
DH was in the doghouse!
My dh is a pretty good sort of fellow. He's a wonderful provider and an excellent father. He helps around the house with everything, I'd say, except cleaning the bathroom. Dishes, laundry, changing beds, vacuuming, mopping, he does it all. With the kids, bedtime, baths, errands, meals, drop of at school, again he does it all. Can't really complain all that much.
Except for last night.
He accused me of spending too much time on the computer scrapbooking, i.e. goofing off. See, after dh comes home from work, it's usually time to get the kids ready for bed, which he does. So I do some computer work or other stuff. This week the kids have taken an extra long time getting settled down he's coming down later than usual. On top of that, I did spend extra time at night, i.e. after 9p working on the scrapbooking lessons and doing some layouts using the techniques I learned in the on-line class I'm taking.
When he comes down from the kids bedtime, I'm scrapbooking. It's like 9:30 or after. It was irritating him that he was up there dealing with the kids instead of doing something more productive while I sat downstairs and played. There's a couple flaws in his theory, though. First, I made sure I had all the other chores done that needed to be done that day before I began scrapping. Second, I wasn't spending as much time doing that as he suspected because I did other stuff first. Third, he still would have been upstairs with the kids even if I had been doing something more productive.
So we hashed it out in a nice way last night. It was a productive chat. But his reaction doesn't help my guilt over doing things for myself these days. I feel guilty because he works hard all day and then comes home to deal with the kids before he even eats dinner. Then he stays up really late doing his things. But he says he enjoys that time with the kids. I'm not sure how I'd feel if the situation were reversed. I think I'd be the stereo-typical male -- wanting to come home, put my feet up and relax while the wifey gets dinner on the table LOL!
I do spend more time on the computer than I should. I'll admit that. It's a hard addiction to break. Almost as bad as my addition to coca-cola! But at least when I'm scrapbooking I feel like I'm doing something for the family and not just myself. DH thinks it's unnecessary in any event. His opinion is that I should just throw them in albums and be done with it. Our ideas about time efficiency and which tasks take precedence doesn't mesh for the most part. And that's okay.
I was trying to explain to him that as a mom who stays home I have no identity outside of the home. It's just Denise Mom or Denise Wife. I have nothing of value to talk about except how many times Mia uses the potty or what errands we ran or what we ate for lunch, etc. It's very depressing some days. I need an outlet. And if I'm not able to get out of the house to join a club, use a gym or have a job, then what's wrong with joining an online community, making cyber friends or working on scrapbooks? He just doesn't get it and never will. Some people don't and that's okay. I get it and I enjoy it, especially since I'm so shy in real life, and that's okay too. Some things we just have to agree to disagree.
Again, we had a productive chat. I always feel emotionally closer to him when we have these chats without the fight, of course. We should really have them more often. I mentioned that perhaps we should have "meetings" from time to time to assess what type of goals we have as a couple and a family and individually and how to best meet these goals. We can discuss our progress and perhaps if we are meeting goals and such on time then it won't matter if I spend an hour or two scrapbooking in the evening. Relationships are so complex.
Except for last night.
He accused me of spending too much time on the computer scrapbooking, i.e. goofing off. See, after dh comes home from work, it's usually time to get the kids ready for bed, which he does. So I do some computer work or other stuff. This week the kids have taken an extra long time getting settled down he's coming down later than usual. On top of that, I did spend extra time at night, i.e. after 9p working on the scrapbooking lessons and doing some layouts using the techniques I learned in the on-line class I'm taking.
When he comes down from the kids bedtime, I'm scrapbooking. It's like 9:30 or after. It was irritating him that he was up there dealing with the kids instead of doing something more productive while I sat downstairs and played. There's a couple flaws in his theory, though. First, I made sure I had all the other chores done that needed to be done that day before I began scrapping. Second, I wasn't spending as much time doing that as he suspected because I did other stuff first. Third, he still would have been upstairs with the kids even if I had been doing something more productive.
So we hashed it out in a nice way last night. It was a productive chat. But his reaction doesn't help my guilt over doing things for myself these days. I feel guilty because he works hard all day and then comes home to deal with the kids before he even eats dinner. Then he stays up really late doing his things. But he says he enjoys that time with the kids. I'm not sure how I'd feel if the situation were reversed. I think I'd be the stereo-typical male -- wanting to come home, put my feet up and relax while the wifey gets dinner on the table LOL!
I do spend more time on the computer than I should. I'll admit that. It's a hard addiction to break. Almost as bad as my addition to coca-cola! But at least when I'm scrapbooking I feel like I'm doing something for the family and not just myself. DH thinks it's unnecessary in any event. His opinion is that I should just throw them in albums and be done with it. Our ideas about time efficiency and which tasks take precedence doesn't mesh for the most part. And that's okay.
I was trying to explain to him that as a mom who stays home I have no identity outside of the home. It's just Denise Mom or Denise Wife. I have nothing of value to talk about except how many times Mia uses the potty or what errands we ran or what we ate for lunch, etc. It's very depressing some days. I need an outlet. And if I'm not able to get out of the house to join a club, use a gym or have a job, then what's wrong with joining an online community, making cyber friends or working on scrapbooks? He just doesn't get it and never will. Some people don't and that's okay. I get it and I enjoy it, especially since I'm so shy in real life, and that's okay too. Some things we just have to agree to disagree.
Again, we had a productive chat. I always feel emotionally closer to him when we have these chats without the fight, of course. We should really have them more often. I mentioned that perhaps we should have "meetings" from time to time to assess what type of goals we have as a couple and a family and individually and how to best meet these goals. We can discuss our progress and perhaps if we are meeting goals and such on time then it won't matter if I spend an hour or two scrapbooking in the evening. Relationships are so complex.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Back to School Night + this and that
I LOVE back to school night. It's so much fun to talk to the teachers again, see the classrooms and visit the rest of the school. I'm so used to things staying the same and knowing all the teachers. This year there are a lot of new teachers and new things happening. I still find it strange that I have first and third graders!! We also picked up the yearbooks for the previous year and I can't wait to dig into those.
Madison had more troubles at school, if I haven't already blogged about those. Talking again and cutting hair. Oy! In Matthew's class, there's a small spot on the board for discipline. It appears they get their name written for misbehaviors and then tally marks for repeated offenses. Then they run laps based on the number of tallies, i.e. 5 laps for one mark and 10 laps for two marks. After that they go to the principal's office. My whole point in mentioning this is that when I first glanced at it I thought it said "slaps!" What a hoot. I took a double take because the last I heard, there was no corporal punishment. And even if there was, my son would not be part of that.
A potty training funny. Mia likes to run around al fresca and I let her because she's more apt to use the potty. With two in diapers, 1. I hate paying for that many diapers. My free diaper source has dried up. 2. I hate changing that many diapers. To be fair, Mia needs very few diaper changes but still. I did discover that the regular pull ups (Pamper's brand) have the same number of diapers as the comparable size diaper packs Mega size for the same price. However, I can get $3 coupons on the pull ups vs. the $1 coupons for regular diapers. Plus they have Dora on them, Mia's fav! To me they're all just diapers.
With Mia, if she's got nothing then she'll use the potty or ask for a diaper to go. At this point I forward her to said potty. We tried panties the other day and she just peed in those as well. The point of this long story is that Mia asked for a diaper so she could poop. I thought she just had to pee so I said go use the potty and she's like hurry mommy poopy coming. Instead of arguing I picked her up to carry her to the potty and she did indeed have a poopy coming. What a lovely site that was. Thankfully, we made it to the potty in time. That reminds me I should clean the potty.
I went to the mall and found some pants that sort of fit. There was a choice between two sizes which shall remain nameless. The smaller size was a tad tight but it's my goal to lose the last of the baby weight by the end of the year. The larger size was just a bit too roomy for me. I wish they had the middle size. I think I have 15 pounds to go. In the mirror it doesn't seem so bad but it photos I look fatty fat fat.
I got an email from Home Depot today. They don't know we have a new Lowes I intend to use instead. Anyhow, the title was free shipping on tools and computers. Yes you read that right, computers! I opened it and indeed Home Depot is selling computers. I know that computers do have hardware but I didn't realize they came under the confines of a hardware store these days. So funny.
My addition to coca cola is absolute. I must break it. That's my new challenge. Matthew and I continue to have our bedtime chats. He really enjoys his time with me and it's rather relaxing. Charlotte was holding a toy and chewing on it today. She was also trying to rollover. Growing so big so quickly. Sigh.
I'm off to try another layout before it gets too late. I stayed up til 11:30 last night oy! Here's what I made today outside the class. Night. I had other stuff to blog about but it's getting late and this is getting long.
Madison had more troubles at school, if I haven't already blogged about those. Talking again and cutting hair. Oy! In Matthew's class, there's a small spot on the board for discipline. It appears they get their name written for misbehaviors and then tally marks for repeated offenses. Then they run laps based on the number of tallies, i.e. 5 laps for one mark and 10 laps for two marks. After that they go to the principal's office. My whole point in mentioning this is that when I first glanced at it I thought it said "slaps!" What a hoot. I took a double take because the last I heard, there was no corporal punishment. And even if there was, my son would not be part of that.
A potty training funny. Mia likes to run around al fresca and I let her because she's more apt to use the potty. With two in diapers, 1. I hate paying for that many diapers. My free diaper source has dried up. 2. I hate changing that many diapers. To be fair, Mia needs very few diaper changes but still. I did discover that the regular pull ups (Pamper's brand) have the same number of diapers as the comparable size diaper packs Mega size for the same price. However, I can get $3 coupons on the pull ups vs. the $1 coupons for regular diapers. Plus they have Dora on them, Mia's fav! To me they're all just diapers.
With Mia, if she's got nothing then she'll use the potty or ask for a diaper to go. At this point I forward her to said potty. We tried panties the other day and she just peed in those as well. The point of this long story is that Mia asked for a diaper so she could poop. I thought she just had to pee so I said go use the potty and she's like hurry mommy poopy coming. Instead of arguing I picked her up to carry her to the potty and she did indeed have a poopy coming. What a lovely site that was. Thankfully, we made it to the potty in time. That reminds me I should clean the potty.
I went to the mall and found some pants that sort of fit. There was a choice between two sizes which shall remain nameless. The smaller size was a tad tight but it's my goal to lose the last of the baby weight by the end of the year. The larger size was just a bit too roomy for me. I wish they had the middle size. I think I have 15 pounds to go. In the mirror it doesn't seem so bad but it photos I look fatty fat fat.
I got an email from Home Depot today. They don't know we have a new Lowes I intend to use instead. Anyhow, the title was free shipping on tools and computers. Yes you read that right, computers! I opened it and indeed Home Depot is selling computers. I know that computers do have hardware but I didn't realize they came under the confines of a hardware store these days. So funny.
My addition to coca cola is absolute. I must break it. That's my new challenge. Matthew and I continue to have our bedtime chats. He really enjoys his time with me and it's rather relaxing. Charlotte was holding a toy and chewing on it today. She was also trying to rollover. Growing so big so quickly. Sigh.
I'm off to try another layout before it gets too late. I stayed up til 11:30 last night oy! Here's what I made today outside the class. Night. I had other stuff to blog about but it's getting late and this is getting long.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Here's My Mid-Week Challenge
Here's my digi class midweek challenge. I wish all l/o were this easy as pasting a picture and doing a couple techniques. I'd be caught up in no time ;)
On other fronts; I went to Eldersburg for LLL this morning. I was the only attendee so I got to catch up with my friends/leaders a bit. No real "burning" questions! Called and make a carpet appt. for next Wed. When I talked to the woman last week, she said she'd try to squeeze me in that week but if she couldn't then she'd have me in this week. So I called Monday and left a message. No return call. Today I called again and she scheduled me for next week. What's the deal? I am not sure I recommend them based on timing. It's been almost a month since we ordered the carpet and were told it would be in in a couple days and installed shortly thereafter. Everything else with this project has taken for-e-ver so I don't know why I thought this would be any different. Of course, that means I get another week to hold on to my $ LOL!
It's been really cool here, only 64 today. I think I'll take my last remaining GC and find some pants that fit tomorrow. Hopefully I won't lose my diaper bag this time! I was hoping I'd have lost more weight by now but I seem to have hit a pleatuea. Doesn't help any that I keep eating fast food, chocolate and drinking coca-cola. Man that stuff is addicting.
I just caught my two-year old coloring on the stiars with marker. Her face is covered also. Oh boy! On a good front, she's used the potty several times today. I guess I should find some dinner here. I hate cooking. I don't mind preparing it but I hate thinking of stuff to fix. Tonight is Adventure Club sign up and tomorrow is back to school night. Fun fun!
On other fronts; I went to Eldersburg for LLL this morning. I was the only attendee so I got to catch up with my friends/leaders a bit. No real "burning" questions! Called and make a carpet appt. for next Wed. When I talked to the woman last week, she said she'd try to squeeze me in that week but if she couldn't then she'd have me in this week. So I called Monday and left a message. No return call. Today I called again and she scheduled me for next week. What's the deal? I am not sure I recommend them based on timing. It's been almost a month since we ordered the carpet and were told it would be in in a couple days and installed shortly thereafter. Everything else with this project has taken for-e-ver so I don't know why I thought this would be any different. Of course, that means I get another week to hold on to my $ LOL!
It's been really cool here, only 64 today. I think I'll take my last remaining GC and find some pants that fit tomorrow. Hopefully I won't lose my diaper bag this time! I was hoping I'd have lost more weight by now but I seem to have hit a pleatuea. Doesn't help any that I keep eating fast food, chocolate and drinking coca-cola. Man that stuff is addicting.
I just caught my two-year old coloring on the stiars with marker. Her face is covered also. Oh boy! On a good front, she's used the potty several times today. I guess I should find some dinner here. I hate cooking. I don't mind preparing it but I hate thinking of stuff to fix. Tonight is Adventure Club sign up and tomorrow is back to school night. Fun fun!
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Digi Layout
I signed up for a digital scrapbooking class at www.JessicaSprague.com. It wasn't very expensive and started yesterday. So far I just finished lesson one and love it! There are four lessons, one a week. Here's my first layout :) I could sit and do this all night. Now that's a scary thought!
Madison, My Madison
What is there to be said for you, little girl? Twice you've cut your own hair. The latest time being in spring when you gave your bangs a buzz cut. They still haven't grown back completely.
The first day of school you got in trouble for talking and got separated from your friend. Yesterday you cut your hair once again in class this time and hid the hair in your desk. Today you nearly cut your friend's hair.
I think this is going to be a loooooooooooooooooong school year.
The first day of school you got in trouble for talking and got separated from your friend. Yesterday you cut your hair once again in class this time and hid the hair in your desk. Today you nearly cut your friend's hair.
I think this is going to be a loooooooooooooooooong school year.
Happy Adoption Day1
Sunday was the celebration of when we became a family. The day dh became a dad and I became a mom. Eight years ago on Friday the 13th, we got the call that our son was coming home from Korea! So on August 19, 1999, around 6:00 in the evening, we welcomed Lee Myung Suk home to America. The wait to adopt seemed forever, although, it was a rather short period of time.
January 1999 dh and I took a 15 anniversary of meeting trip and spent the weekend in Annapolis. I love that place. The weather wasn't the greatest but it's where we made a life-altering decision. We quickly filled out the paperwork to adopt, returned it to the agency in February and by August we were holding our son.
January 1999 dh and I took a 15 anniversary of meeting trip and spent the weekend in Annapolis. I love that place. The weather wasn't the greatest but it's where we made a life-altering decision. We quickly filled out the paperwork to adopt, returned it to the agency in February and by August we were holding our son.
Adopting is a complete roller coaster ride and we had our shares of ups and extreme downs. A couple times we weren't sure it was going to go through at all but our story had the happiest of endings.
So now, every year we celebrate our "Family Day" together by doing something special. Usually that entails a trip to our local airport (not the one Matthew flew into) and a meal out. We drove out to BWI after lunch and spent a couple hours hanging around and visiting the Observation Deck. I really like the Observation deck if you have cause to be spending some time there. They have airplane parts to check out, fairly comfy chairs, huge windows to see planes landing and taking off and a play area for kids. It's also fairly quiet. It has restrooms but they took out the snack shop so come prepared.
I think we spent as much time visiting the snack shops and restrooms as we did in tne Observation Deck. We all had a nice time and well worth the $8 parking fee! DH was especially excited about the planes for some reason and took several photos. I think he was more excited about the planes than my son LOL! Mia kept asking when we were going to the hairpo so we kept explaining we were in it! My little cutie. We're trying to be frugal so decided against dinner out but then decided to pick up Chinese on the way home LOL! Everyone found something they liked, aside from Mia, and it was a nice day. A friend and her ds have birthdays that same day so we talked with them as well.
Since then, we have added three more children to our family and have a full house or quiver, so to speak. We are truly blessed with abundance.
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