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?
Friday, September 28, 2007
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!
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