Yesterday's roundup

Let's see-the day began with me cleaning up a poopy mess on the carpet, and there were several more to follow. After being sick Justin hasn't always been telling me when he has to go to the bathroom, he either doesn't say it at all or he goes and then takes his diaper off. That can create problems. I am so far behind on laundry-I still have all the throw-up-y clothes to do and I was out of laundry detergent (finally got some last night) and the whole bodily fluid mess thing just added more laundry to it! Leanna decided to make a full bowl of cereal for Justin-that he didn't want, and spilled cereal all overt the table and floor while doing it. It was one of those days where I just didn't even get to do anything. There was one thing after another with the kids. The baby was fussy all day and Tom was gone all day into the night. Then his Uncle didn't leave his paycheck for him-which meant a wasted trip to his house(wasted time and gas money) and then later we had to stop by again to get it after his Uncle came home. By the time we got home I was too tired to do anything. That's actually fairly typical. I know there was more stuff that happened, but I don't remember anymore.

hot rock

At dinner tonight, in the middle of eating, Leanna turns to me and asks, "Mommie, is lava hot molten rock? Or is it just kljoienao;inf;oe(made up word that I don't remember)?
Sometimes I really wonder where this kid comes from.

fun with scrunchies

Sometimes having a big sister isn't so fun-see what she did to Justin!

The height of fashion!!

I think I have a picture of my cousin Chrissy doing this too. But Chrissy's like, maybe 16, in the picture.

a little harmless crossdressing

Poor Justin!
This is him wearing his sister's vest/coat (Care Bears) and a bonnet. He wanted to wear both. One day he is going to regret his current fashion choices. And having a Mom who so willingly documents them.

And no, I'm not worried about this-you should have seen some of his Aunt Laura's fashion choices when she wore her big sister's clothes! Hmmmm......maybe I should look for some of them and scan some!

wise child

Ask Leanna to tell you sometime about rain. Or the bacteria on your tounge. Or even calcium. She knows lotsa lotsa stuff.

Abduction video

http://video.msn.com/v/us/v.htm?g=214b96c4-272d-46c7-aba4-158d5355df71,5e4d5368-273a-4da7-9d82-d989edbf4431,13fbd804-eb36-4ce5-88fc-7e688cae41a7&t=&f=&p=

A video of an abduction test-you'd think a kid yelling, "You're not my Dad" would have an effect on people. Apparently not. One of the points made here is that even if you're not sure, even if you think that maybe the child is just misbehaving, it's better to be safe and call police. Seconds can make a difference for a child. I think this(ignoring the situation) is caused not only by people being involved in their own lives but by a lack of responsibility towards one's community. It's pretty scary.

Mimi

I just heard tonight that my grandmother talked to the doctor. They've decided not to do surgery, her blockage is too bad. She probably wouldn't make it off the operating table. So we're just going to enjoy her as long as we can. This news isn't a surprise, I didn't expect her to be around much longer. But it's still very very sad to hear it confirmed. More on this later, after I've processed it myself........................

Interesting

Kind of interesting-you can look up any house to see what it's worth(relatively). http://www.zillow.com/

I think they use court records and last sale prices to estimate the worth of the house. Any work or damage done can affect this, of course.

Calling Daddy

Justin picked up the phone this morning and said, "Daddy! Come home! Bye."
I asked him, did you call Daddy? "Yeah.(that would be yea-ah, not yay)" "Did you ask him to come to come home?" "Yeah(with a big smile)."

Having fun together

Timothy

four-legged ghost

Can you tell they're feeling better now?
This spooky ghost was wandering around the kitchen tonight.

rough weekend

Except for getting our camera back finally, this was not a fun weekend. I had to send Maree’ home early since we got sick.(Korinna was not happy-she had plans for Saturday night). Leanna and Justin were throwing up. And we’re talking projectile vomiting here. Leanna got hit the hardest-she looked so miserable the first day. I just sat there holding her Saturday afternoon-evening. She and Maree had been playing on the front porch while Tom worked on the van, and she didn’t make it in the house. All over the steps, front door, and vestibule! And she was throwing up the most. She’s old enough now that she knew she was going to throw up again, and she was afraid of it. Justin was the opposite-he didn’t understand what was going on, and he kept trying to swallow it instead of letting it come out. I kept telling him to put it in the bucket but he didn’t want to. I think he was just scared of it. This is the first time he’s been sick besides a minor cold/caugh. And one ear infection. So for the safety of the rug and bed, I decided to sleep downstairs with the kids. Plus since Tom’s starting a new job on Monday, I didn’t want him to get sick. I pushed the couch and love-seat together so we could be close (and make sure the bucket was there in time!) That was the longest night ever! Our couch is extremely uncomfortable! I was up frequently because of the kids waking up to throw up or ask for water. Poor Leanna kept saying how hungry she was, but she was afraid to eat. We woke up around 8:30 and no one had thrown up for over 4 hours, so we figured we were ok. Everyone was hungry and there was no food in the house-so Tom picked up some McDonalds. I wasn’t up for cooking yet and Tom was in a hurry (helping Jerry out today). But Justin didn’t eat and Leanna ate a few bites of pancake and threw them up a little later. She and Justin finally seem ok now-no throwing up since early afternoon!

So far Timothy’s fine. He woke up extremely happy this morning. I figure he probably has the most protection because of my milk. That would explain why Justin didn’t get it as bad either. I was feeling very queasy last night, and so very tired. I felt as tired as I did the first couple weeks after giving birth. I just wanted to sleep, I felt like I’d be ok if I could just sleep. But I couldn’t because all three kids needed me. Rough night. I couldn’t eat either. Nothing seemed appealing. I didn’t throw up at all though. I woke up starving with a very sore back and a headache (probably just from the no sleep and a lumpy too soft couch). Tom probably managed to escape since he wasn’t really around the kids much. Lucky him.

Now I’m left with like, 20 loads of laundry(all the clothes and blankets they managed to throw up on) and sanitizing of several household surfaces. Now my Mom’s starting to get it too, but her symptoms sound like mine, so maybe she won’t have it too bad either. It's miserable when kids are sick!

Inspiring sports story

So very rare to read a story about sports that has nothing to do with greed, money, steriods, etc. Great to know there are people like this playing.

From the Dilbert blog:

Winning
Recently there was a tennis tournament in Indian Wells. It’s one of the biggest tournaments not counting the four “Grand Slam” events. Because tennis is an individual sport, there are always great stories within the game. This year’s biggest story was James Blake’s comeback.
If you don’t follow the game, let me give you some background. Blake is the son of an African-American dad and an English mom. He was raised in Connecticut and had to wear a back brace for years when he was a kid. He took up tennis, excelled, and went to Harvard for two years before going pro. He looked promising, along with a number of other young Americans, but not top 10 material. He was most noted for his sex appeal and great personality.
I became a fan after watching him play Lleyton Hewitt a few years ago. After some calls that went against Hewitt, the Aussie singled out an African-American linesperson and complained to the chair umpire. Hewitt used a poor choice of words that led observers to think he was complaining of racial favoritism. Hewitt says he didn’t mean it that way, but nonetheless it became the story. And the media tried hard to get Blake to bite. They wanted him to complain about racism, maybe get a little mad about it. That’s good TV. But Blake didn’t take the bait. He politely pointed out that people say things in the heat of the moment, and whatever Hewitt said was Hewitt’s problem, not his. It seemed to me the perfect response. Sometimes trivializing is the best strategy.
Blake’s ranking bobbed up and down, peaking at 22 in the world. He shaved his dreadlocks and gave up his sex symbol image along with millions in potential endorsements. (I’m guessing his hair was prematurely thinning.) Then in 2004 he had the year from Hell. He ran into a tennis net post and broke his neck. Then he got a shingles virus in his face that paralyzed it on one side. Then his dad died.
There was some doubt that Blake would ever play tennis again. He watched the major tournaments from his couch and wondered about his future. In time, his body recovered, and he felt that he had been given a second chance. He grabbed it by the neck.
I don’t know what kind of training he did, but oh-my-god. I watched him play in person during the first week of the Indian Wells tournament and thought it couldn’t be the same guy. There was ferocity to his strokes. He wasn’t just hitting the ball, he was punishing it. His court speed was breathtaking. His shot selection was brilliant. His backhand, previously a weakness, had become a rocket.
You only needed to listen to the court sounds to know that Blake was heading deep into the tournament. When a tennis racket strikes a ball perfectly, it creates a sound wave that spectators can feel in their entire bodies. If you play tennis yourself, you can practically close your eyes and know who is winning.
Blake blasted through the field of world-class tennis players and found himself in an unlikely semi-final with a Spanish force of nature named Rafael Nadal. Nadal is the #2 player in the world. He hits with brutal topspin. It’s a relentless attack that less than a handful of elite players have been able to withstand in the past year.
Nadal brought his best, but Blake blew past with a combination of game and gamesmanship that surprised almost everyone, not the least Nadal himself.
Now it was time for the championship match against Roger Federer, the best player in the world. Correction – make that the best tennis player who has ever lived. That’s not just my opinion. He already has seven Grand Slam wins. If he stays healthy, many people expect him to hold every important record in tennis.
Against all odds, Blake blazed to a 4-1 first set advantage against the all-time greatest player on earth. It seemed as though nothing could stop him.
And then something happened. The momentum shifted. The rest of the match was all Federer. Blake seemed to fade away, settling for runner-up, but his effort that week was enough to put him in the top ten in the world.
At the trophy ceremony, Blake spoke to the crowd. He said that in 2004, when he was in the hospital with a broken neck, only one tennis player sent him a note to wish him well. It was Roger Federer.
I wanted Blake to win that match, yet somehow, by losing he found perfection.

Potty Training

In case anyone wondered, it is no fun to be woken up at 5:00 AM with, "Potty! Pottty!"

Indoor rain

Last night Leanna found a Barney raincoat(from cousin Karissa) in her closet and so she was wearing it until bedtime. At one point I caught her standing on a chair, with the hood up, head under the faucet-water pouring over her head! Being a kid is fun.

hiding food

Leanna has begun to hide food in the past few months. It doesn't happen often, but every once in a while.......

I remember hiding food in my napkin or way down in the garbage. Leanna's hiding place-she throws it under the table. Pretty much in plain view. Amazingly her father never spots it there though, (Tom: I checked the garbage-it wasn't there! Me: Did you look on the floor? Him: No.) and that's always where she puts it.

Hey You!

A Pink Floyd song came on in the van the other day(I think Hey, You) and Tom says ,"this is an old song, it's from 1974." And I said, "You're from 1974." And he said, "Yeah, but I'm not old. "

A very fine distinction, I suppose.

Experienced Mom?

When aren't you a 'new mom' any more?
Posted Feb 6th 2006 4:29PM by Sarah GilbertFiled under: Moms, Blogging Baby Round Table


I was calling myself an "experienced mom" in an IM conversation with Karen and she asked, "when will I be an experienced mom?"
I shot back, "when you have your second child!"
But then I thought about it a minute and realized, hello, many people only have one child, while others pack one right on top of the other in a pregnancy doubleheader. "When your first child is two," I corrected myself, arbitrarily.
Later I called someone a "new mama" because her baby wasn't yet one year old, and wondered, is she a new mama? She seems so knowledgeable, now, with her giggling crawling 10-month-old. How much experience do you need before you go from "new mama" to "experienced mother"? When are you really a mom?


To see how others commented to this post, scroll down on this page:
http://www.bloggingbaby.com/2006/02/06/when-arent-you-a-new-mom-any-more/

Useful?

Ha: http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Dirt_20Fortified_20Infant_20Food#1128071484

Also: http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Caffeine_20Shower#1022176829

eat them up, Yum!

Justin's favorite song right now is Fish Heads. He always wants me to play it on the computer. Then he sits there singing, "Fish heads, fish heads, rolly poley fish heads!"

Not the only adventurous kids!

I feel better now-Tom was talking to someone at work who also had to fix his stove. This man had to replace the glass top to his stove. Apparently his son likes to run accross the countertops. And put his foot right through the glass! My kids aren't the only ones!! And that's even worse than jumping on the open stove door!

(I know, I know, just wait it could happen later on-they could start running on top of the counters. Let me have my little joys!)

PS. Tom fixed the stove door tonight-he figured out how to get to the hinges to bend them back up!

in control

Justin also loves to pull me around-either by the hand or by putting his head between my legs and steering my body. He'll take my hand and say, "Come on!" and start pulling me back and forth across the downstairs floor. He really gets a kick out of that. Probably control issues going on there! Like how Leanna loves to make up stories or play with her dolls where they are little girls going for walks without their parents. But as though the thought is still a little scary to her she will then add, but they were old enough to do it! You know, so it's ok.

Cute

I love it when Justin says something but really he's suggesting what he wants you to say. He does this fairly often. For example, when I'm carrying him and Timothy down the stairs but my grip on him isn't quite as tight as he would like, he'll say, "I got you! I got you!" He means that he wants me to say I got you! He wants assurance that I do indeed have him-that he won't fall. So he tells me what he wants to hear! And it works, I do reassure him that, "I got you!"

missing the camera! : (

I really really miss my camera. You should see Timothy! He's getting so big! He wakes me up babbling away most mornings, it's really sweet! He's trying hard to talk.

I love taking pictures, I love looking at pictures. I don't even have to know the people in the pictures to enjoy looking at them! When the kids get older, I would love to take a class in photography.

great-grandmothers, hospitals, and personality

My grandmother-in-law is in the hospital now-pneumonia and a UTI. We've been spending way too much time in hospitals lately. (My Mom's heart attack, Timothy's birth, my grandmother's burn, her mini-stroke,now this!) It's led to some interesting conversations about death with Leanna. She's scared of both great-grandmothers(but not Sue's mother, she's always seemed to have a bond with her. And she doesn't see her all that often, she's just always got along with her)and I'm not sure why. Before Christmas we talked about how important it was to be nice to Nanny J. and Leanna seemed to understand and was all set for it-until she actually saw her. Then she just gets all funny and doesn't want to have anything to do with her. With my grandmother it's relatively recent. She used to be fine with her, but the past year, she's started to not want to say hello or goodbye and sometimes won't talk to her. I've also noticed that Leanna's started to reject people who try to force a relationship.

This has begun to happen with several of my Aunts in the past year and a half or so. My one Aunt in particular who Leanna was really close with when she was younger has really had her feelings hurt over this. And it's nothing she did-Leanna's just not willing to jump into things as though they saw each other every day. That used to be alright, but not anymore. I think she just needs time to adjust-time in her presence without things being forced-and then she'd be fine. But my Aunt doesn't get that, and as a result, Leanna pushes her away. Then she's hurt, and I feel bad and embarrassed that Leanna's acting that way. And you can't force it-the harder you try the worse it gets.

Leanna is an interesting mix of shy and outgoing. I don't know if this is a struggle between nature/nurture (her personality vs. being raised by two quiet, shy people) or if that's just how she naturally is? She is definitely a natural leader-I've seen her assume the leader role whenever she's around other kids. Sometimes she's afraid to initially approach them, but once it's started-she's off and running. Being home with me certainly hasn't hurt her in that respect. I assume some of that initial shyness will dissapear after she starts school and is around kids on a regular basis. It should be interesting to see.

the brown stuff

There have been just so many many incidents with poop. I, no, I just won't even get into it.

Cheesecake

Aunt Laura makes good chocolate cheesecake.

A boy and his vacuum

Justin LOVES the "new" vacuum we have. Nanny Sue gave us her old one-the canister type instead of upright. That means it's easy for Justin to push the hose around. One day his love of cleaning could be a good thing but right now it's kind of a pain. It's a fairly powerful vacuum so I have to make sure that there is nothing on the floor light enough to be picked up or to clog it. And he wants to vacuum constantly, even when his Daddy's trying to watch tv! He also can only go as far as the hose will let him, he has trouble pulling the body of it yet. So he'll be standing there, crying, trying to pull it! Or he'll say, done! unplug it, and then come crying to me that it's unplugged! He really loves that thing!
Right now the vacuum is "broken"(unplugged, cord hidden), I told Justin it needs to be fixed. He said, "fix it?" and went over to the door and said, "Daddy?" He was looking for his Daddy to fix it right away! I was also impressed that he's already learned that Daddy is the one to go to when you need something fixed!

I hope Justin's love of cleaning doesn't disappear by the time he's old enough for it to be truly useful. For now it does keep him occupied for periods of time. And that's always a good thing!!

More scary studies-pay attention Sue!

More scary studies on babycenter this week-for those of us who've had pregnancy complications! These are important for Sue(my mother in law) as well as myself because we've had preeclampsia(also known as toxemia). My grandmother also had preeclampsia with her first baby-and she's had kidney problems and heart problems.

Pregnant women who experience numerous complications, such as preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, or preterm birth, may also be at an increased risk of developing heart disease and early death, new research suggests. A few weeks ago or so there was also a study that showed pregnant women who suffer the dangerous high blood pressure condition preeclampsia, or who deliver a low-birthweight baby, may be at increased risk of developing kidney disease later in their lives, researchers report. "It is well known that preeclampsia is associated with later cardiovascular disease in the mother....."http://www.babycenter.com/news/archive.jhtml?id=530537&i=40

http://www.babycenter.com/news/?id=531470#story
Pregnancy complications were associated with an independent 60 percent increased risk for development of cardiovascular disease and a more than two-fold increased risk for death from any cause, according to analyses done by a team from Duke University Medical Center and Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

This next one makes me really angry because I asked Dr. Scaffidi about it. It seemed reasonable to me that cutting on the cervix could cause pregnancy problems and I asked about it. He assured me that it had no effect whatsoever!! I had the LEEP procedure done when Leanna was about 2 months old. Obviously I'm doing ok, cause I've had two babies since then, but I did lose the first pregnancy after the surgery. Not that it was necesarily related, but it's a possibility.

Cervical surgeries may cause pregnancy problems- Some of the most common methods used to treat precancerous cells of the cervix may also greatly increase risks for problem pregnancies, researchers report. loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP), the most popular treatment, increased a woman's risk of both preterm delivery and delivering a low-birth-weight infant by between 70 percent and 80 percent, and nearly tripled the risk for premature rupturing of the cervical membranes, compared to women who did not undergo this procedure.Currently, doctors are using LEEP because that's what they were trained to do, Goldstein said. " In young women, you start cutting on their cervix instead of freezing or vaporizing on the cervix and you are going to see adverse obstetrical outcomes," he said. "Lasering or freezing of the cervix doesn't have any of the risk."

Holland

Written about having a child with disabilities, but could apply to any loss of a dream. (Laura, maybe you could share this with some of your clients parents?)

WELCOME TO HOLLAND by Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability- to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this...
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip -to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."" Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills... and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy...and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ...about Holland.

Reprinted with permission from Emily Perl Kinglsey. 1987 copyright by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved.

Sigh

The first half of the day was nice-craft show at Ag. hall at the fairgrounds. Interesting and inspiring, if I had the time to do something about it. Lots of country style stuff that reminded me of my mother-in-law. The rest of the day-exhausting. Did manage to get more than usual done though-Tom worked on the stairs again finally, I'm not sure how the craft show inspired that, but I won't question it! Leanna did something(don't remember what) and got sent upstairs, and since Tom was working halfway down/up the staircase, Justin played on top of the stairs. This freed me to take care of the baby and get him to sleep. Then quick catch up on all the work I haven't been able to do! What excitement! I did dishes and cleaning and laundry and vacuuming! The sad part is that I'm only semi-sarcastic there.

Then when I went upstairs to clean the bathroom(baby in lap)that was part of my sacrifice-in order to get some work done downstairs I must accept a mess upstairs. And I discovered some blond hair on the floor! Apparently Leanna found a pair of scissors and decided to try a self-styled haircut one more time! Needless to say, this rendered the washcloths strewn accross the floor, potty seat(in three peices) in the bathtub and Q-tips in the toilet to be minor stuff in comparison!
All 3 kids needed a bath, and I decided to give the baby a bath first since he was getting fussy. I took off his diaper and right then Justin said Daddy gave him strawberries. Since we don't have strawberries, I asked him to repeat what he said. And as Justin repeated it, Timothy peed on my leg.

Did I mention that Justin broke the oven door? He slammed it open and jumped on it before I could get over to him and now the door won't close all the way.
I love all three to death, but man, it's just been one of those weeks.

scare

I just had to call poison control for the third time for Justin. (I did call once for Leanna) This time it was humidifier spray scent we had just bought. I didn't realize there was no protective seal on it, or I would have put it away immediately. We were lucky-despite the dire warnings on the bottle the man said it was just an irritant, not poisonous. I don't know if he actually had any or not. His breath smelled like it, but he would have opened the bottle with his teeth. If he had some, it wasn't much.

There is no time this kid is not into something!!

I can't wait until we get to the stage where he's breaking bones or visiting the emergency room(cause if his father's any indication-it's comming!)

For the record: I was feeding the baby, and Tom was in the bathroom. We don't keep chemicals in the kitchen, they are high up on shelves in the doorway to the basement. Justin's had one poison control call for each grandmother's house, and now one for ours!

trip

Leanna still asks me when are we going to Psycho farm? I think I live there.

(But she means Seiple Farm)

read a story, add yours

Add your story, if you are female, and past 12.

http://www.wheniwastwelve.com/

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The pause N' serve feature works on my new coffee pot-woo hoo! It's been a fun week.  

catching up

Let's see, I'll try to think of what's happened since I last posted. We had a toilet clogged over the weekend. Justin apparently dropped Elmo in a barrel into the toilet. Even though no one used it once we realized what had happened, it still managed to overflow and drip through onto the kitchen ceiling tiles(the ones we replaced for inspection). Lucky for us, Tom knew how to take the toilet apart to fix it. Thank god we didn't have to call a plumber!

While taking apart the toilet, Tom used his giant shop vac to clean. Then he decided to clean the shop vac out in the bathtub. With all the kids' toys still in there. So not only was the bathtub and floor really gross, all the bathtoys need to be sanitized too!

Leanna broke the millionth Correll "unbreakable" dish. Ha.

Justin's potty success continues-which is good.

I have a new cell phone-not really new-belonged to Tom's brother. Long story.

Claire was spotted walking home from school with her arm around her new boyfriend.

AC Moore advertises great sales and then runs out of the sale products!!

We visited my grandmother at the hospital. Leanna was afraid of her. She asked me why she looked different and had on different clothes. Justin and Timothy were great with her though and probably helped cheer her up a bit-my grandmother loves babies! She looked pretty good until she started getting nauseous-Tom had to help her to the bathroom and she got sick. Then she just looked very tired. They had to give her a shot of something to help with the nauseousness. We don't know how long she'll be in there.

No pictures of any kind!

The add picture function isn't working on my computer anymore, and I have no idea why!

Love

1. It’s like looking in a mirror!
It turns out we all have a little something in common with Narcissus—the mythical fellow who fell in love with his own reflection. Scientists at the University of Liverpool recently concluded that our brains favor people with familiar faces. The research team asked over 200 participants to view a number of digitally altered human faces. They found that subjects preferred the features they found the most familiar—whether that means his or her own visage or that of a family member. This may explain that common phenomenon of couples looking like they could be siblings.

I keep saying there is a reason my family thinks Justin looks like me and Tom's insists he looks just like him!

This fact is from the article: Love: 10 crazy scientific facts http://msn.match.com/msn/article.aspx?articleid=5946&TrackingID=516311&BannerID=544657&menuid=6

My Grandmother

Those of you who pray, add a prayer for my grandmother. She's in the hospital again-they took her straight from dialysis today to the emergency room.
She has fluid in her lungs and pink eye. She was feeling very weak. That's all I know.

Commercials

Leanna has really begun to pay attention to commercials in the past 6 months. I avoided them at first, for the most part by only letting her watch Playhouse Disney, which has only one commercial that sometimes plays-McDonalds. That probably explains why I didn't have to deal with her begging for toys at the store. But as she got older she started to pay attention to the tv that her parents watch too. And I started to let her watch Dora and Blues Clues on Nick Jr. That channel is full of commercials that cater to kids. And that's when I started to get occasional requests for toys. Now that she's older commercials aren't just fillers between the show, she watches them too, as though they were a mini tv show. And advertising really works on kids that young, because they can't distinguish fact from fiction. Leanna believes, word for word, everything she sees on tv. That's why last fall she told me that next year when she goes to school we'll have to go to Walgreens to get back to school stuff. Because they have it all. When I told her we could get that stuff lots of other places she insisted that we had to go to Walgreens. Or she'll ask me to buy a product immediately after watching a commercial for it. She has started to frequently comment on commercials, and likes to memorize the words to the ones she likes. Sometimes it's obvious that she just likes the song that plays, other times, who knows what it is that appeals to her? If the commercial has kids, she has to watch. She loves the ones where kids yell out, Hurray for Huggies!

I don't exactly regret letting her watch Dora and Blue's Clues though. Both were educational, at least somewhat. Dora's mainly valuable for teaching a little spanish, counting, and the concepts of through, over, under, around, etc. In Leanna's case in particular it really stimulated her imagination. When we would go for walks she and I would pretend to be going through the forrest(We have to rescue Baby Condor!!) or cross the troll bridge, etc. She also became fascinated with maps. Dora uses a map every show. So although Blues' Clues actually contains more educational material, Dora really sparked her immagination. And I think that's what counts more in the long run. It's what you make of it-kids who mindlessly sit in front of the tv are going to be the worse for it. Am I guilty of letting the tv babysit-sure. It think what helps to make the difference is that I try to talk to her about what she sees. I'm not always good about doing it, but I try to when I remember. I help her process what she sees. And I try to take some of the better stuff from tv, and use it to help her learn.
Unfortunately, my husband and I don't agree on what is appropriate viewing for kids. He basically thinks he should be allowed to watch whatever he wants, whenever he wants. And if I don't like it, than I should go elsewhere with them. He has a point, I should make more effort to just get them away from it when he watches that stuff, but it's not always possible. Sometimes we'll be watching something otherwise ok, and a something scary happens. Or the show ends and Tom will flip or a horror flick or something. They still need supervision, and so they're around the tv when I'm cleaning downstairs or making supper, or am on the computer. Even if they're not technically watching tv, they still hear it and they pay attention, even when you don't realize it. So if I realize that something is on that could be scary or itsn't appropriate, sometimes I just tell Leanna to turn her head quick. At least then she won't have the visual in her head. Or if I realize it after the fact, I try to talk about it with her. People are always getting into fist-fights on tv. So one time we talked about it-I asked her what they could have done instead of fighting and yelling. She said they could have stamped their feet and yelled biza biza! : ) She cracks me up sometimes. Or we talk about how the stuff that happens on Charmed is pretend. People can't really throw fire or move furniture with a finger wiggle. And demons don't just appear in your home. Not mine, anyway.

I really wish I hadn't let her start watching tv as young as I did. Around 9 months old she started watching Rollie Pollie Ollie on Disney. This is when I was working, and Leanna woke up a lot during the night. It bought me an extra half hour to sleep. But it also started a habbit that's difficult to stop. If I could do it over again I would keep her away from tv for as long as I could stand to fight it. (Which would have been easier had I not started her so young.) I think some kids are more predisposed towards getting sucked into the tv than others though. Leanna would watch all day long if I'd let her. Justin just isn't interested. He'll watch for a few minutes, if that, and then move along. He has things to do! And I've noticed that Timothy's already paying attention to it.
Don't get me wrong, I've made peace with my choices. I just know that I need to watch how much I let them watch, (and how long!) and make sure that I help them learn (good things!) from what they see.

Number one on the list

List of things to do with Leanna when she gets big like me:

1. Make a hammock together

Yum!

Timothy, trying to eat his feet. He actually had one in his mouth, but the second the camera went off, he's take it out!

Recent pictures of Timothy

Magic on Madison St.

Fairy Princess Leanna was spotted on Madison Street last weekend, helping her Daddy clean out the van. Sort of.

Pockets

Justin loves pockets! He's really fascinated with them now. And he thinks that all pockets have money in them because his Daddy's pockets do!

Justin with a little doll in his pocket.

If you wear a shirt that buttons down the front, or one that has holes in it, he'll think it's a pocket and try to put his hand inside.

Underwear!

I'm going through withdrawl-no camera! So I was using my Mom's today. : )
I was trying to get a picture of Justin with his "Big boy underwear" but he won't stay still for long! Last night my sister tried with her camera phone but it didn't come out too good, as you can see above. Also he had a box on his head. So the second picture is from today, showing him holding some of the new underwear. It's just to help give him incentive to remember to ask. There a little big though, I couldn't find any smaller than a 2T.

And on a side note, Justin looks just like my sister Laura in the picture from my Mom's house.

Mr. Independence

Justin's big thing right now is, "I'll do it!" or "I got it!"
Even when he can't or doesn't.

Brotherly love

It is sooooo beautiful outside today! It makes me restless-I want to go play!

Last night Timothy got his first taste of solid food-Justin shoved a popsicle in his mouth. He kept trying to give it to him and the second I turned back back to put something in the garbage-well, I turned around and there's little Timothy with his head shoved all the way back and Justin trying to push the popsicle in. I had to quick fish the broken off piece out(thank God for the tounge thrust reflex!) and then pick him up and comfort him. It's sweet that he wanted to share though.

Justin frequently asks to hold Timothy now. I had Timothy in the swing today and Justin was leaning on it, talking to Timothy. His weight pushed the back of the swing out of the hinges- and there's Justin, leaning on the swing with his arms around Timothy, crooning, "I got you, I got you!" It's so sweet-I just melt.

It has begun

I was holding Timothy today and trying to cut up peaches for Justin. Timothy reached out and knocked over the jar of peaches while I was cutting the ones in the bowl. He's just starting to sit up on his own, and already he's making messes.........................................................

another article on cosleeping

From my fav. blog, katie allison Granjou:

the family bed
I slept with all three of my babies in my bed and even wrote a book about it. So I have pretty strong opinions on family bedding, and was pleased to see this excellent new article from. Dr. James McKenna on the topic.
a few short sections for those of you who don't want to read the whole thing:

".....a consideration of human infant and parental biology and psychology reveals the existence of powerful physiological and social factors that promote maternal motivations to cosleep and explain parental needs to touch and sleep close to baby.....But infants usually have something to say about bed-sharing, too; and, for some reason they remain unimpressed with declarations as to how dangerous sleeping next to mother can be. Instead, ancient and irrepressible neurologically-based infant responses to maternal smells, movements and touch altogether reduce infant crying while positively regulating infant breathing, body temperature, absorption of calories, stress hormone levels, immune status and oxygenation. In short, cosleeping (whether on the same surface or not) facilitates positive clinical changes including more infant sleep and seems to make babies happy. In other words, unless practiced dangerously, sleeping next to mother is good for infants. And the reason why it occurs is because it is supposed to."

a little food sucess

Leanna ate raw carrots and a little bit of broccoli today(with dressing, of course). The rest of the broccoli she spilled, but still! Progress!
I tried explaining the concept of eating a rainbow to her, and I explained that the carrots were a nice bright orange. The lesson was lost though, because at that point she got all upset-she thought I was saying I would make her eat an orange(the fruit), which she doesn't like at all.

How the world works, by Leanna

Last night Leanna was explaining babies to me. She knows you need a man and a woman to make a baby. So she asked if we can make two babies next time, I can make a girl and Daddy could make the boy. I told her that Daddies' bodies don't make the babies, but it wasn't getting through. Then she said that Daddy could make the legs and belly, and I could make the head and arms. She also wanted to know if we could make a baby if God was busy making another baby at the same time.

Leanna's points to ponder

Leanna's points to ponder:

Leanna wanted to know why we have spit in our mouths, and if I could please make her body stop making it so that she wouldn't have to swallow it anymore!

frustrating

Just me complaining:
I hate how when I put money in the bankFriday it takes until Tuesday for the money to actually be there. That is so completely unfair considering that now your checks can clear within hours! Sure they can take your money away immediately but they can't credit it to you for days! That can cause real problems for those of us who live paycheck to paycheck. We live in the age of computers! Why can this not show up on computers immediately?? Anything else does.
Along similar lines: Ford Motor Credit decided not to report that my car was paid off. Apparently this happens often. The system shows a lein on the car until 2007(?I bought it in 1997-it wasn't a 10 year loan!) That car was paid off 4 years ago! So I called Ford and they're mailing me a notorized paper saying the car is mine! Why can't they just enter it into a computer and then it would show up at John Yurkonic as being paid off? Why get a paper signed, mail it, then have to go take it out again to prove? Tom especially is ticked off about that one.

A matter of household security

Nothing's safe anymore: Justin can now open doors! He's also figured out how to open the fridge(which still doesn't have a handle on it). Last night I had to barracade the bathroom to get a shower. If Justin is in a bathroom with a sink he will stand on things to turn on the water and play-not so good during a shower. So both he and Leanna stood outside the bathroom door trying to break in and getting angry with me for being in there alone! Actually I was kind of proud of myself for thinking of it-I had the hamper, shelf, little potty,
& the baby bathtub all arranged to block the door from opening. See, being a mom does require creative thinking.

Airport security

This makes perfect sense to me. I'd recommend Justin's skills.

From a comment on the Dilbert blog:
You know the drill when you go to airports. Wait in line, take off the shoes, put your keys, watch, wallet/purse onto the cute little X-ray machine conveyor belt, walk through the little scanner, get called over for your luggage to be more thoroughly searched, etc. I have an answer for this long drawn-out process be shortened considerably while also increasing accuracy to nearly 100%.
Toddlers.
Toddlers have an amazing and innate knack to find the most dangerous thing possible and immediately zero in on it. Put a 1 1/2 year old in front of a table holding a pillow, a Ginsu knife set, a television remote control, and a CD of Bobby Darin's greatest hits--the kid will immediately lock onto the knives.
Why are we spending millions of dollars on safety and security when you can just have a toddler reach into a person's luggage and find any weapons or potential dangers instantly? It's time we put these criminal masterminds to work making our nation safer.

funny commercials

A link for a funny commercials blog: I know my Mom at least will like the copycat Nextel commercial(it's a parody by high school students). Not as sure about my mother-in-law. She's very into religion and yet will still send me an email of a male stripper and such. I think the song that plays came out when I was in middle school-I can't believe it's now playing on a tv commercial!

http://funnycommercials.blogspot.com/?referrer=

Well isn't that special?!

Just to scare you awake!



Yes, I know, I have to resort to posting old pictures, but this one was too good not to share!

The Van

The van's running decently again thanks to Jerry's guess-a fuel pump filter. A $3.00 part! Although actually he already had one, one he bought for his camaro about 10 years ago on sale for .59 cents! Tom's pretty happy. He really loves that van. Although he claims it's no big deal, that he wouldn't mind getting rid of it for something more fuel efficient, I think he really does love it. He was even talking about painting it one day and putting in a new engine or transmission. And the color he wants to paint it? Green. Because his truck(the one that was repossessed) was green.

More sucess for the big boy!

Tonight Justin did both #1 & #2 in the potty! Wow! It's been surprisingly easy. It's not on a regular basis or anything, sometimes he asks me to go on the potty and he just sits there trying to get in trouble(for example if it's the big potty he'll try to pull stuff off the shelves or throw them in the potty). A few times he asked me to go and then sat breifly, then wanted to run around the bathroom. After I put a diaper back on him, about 5 minutes later he goes! I had to put a lot more effort into it with Leanna, and she was older! But then Justin cares more than she did-she was perfectly content to sit in her mess and play. It's about time something was easier with Justin!!

Timothy's growing

Timothy's started to rub my back while eating. Leanna used to do that too. It's really sweet.

His hair is finally starting to grow on top. He's beginning to hold toys, though not for long. He's starting to roll around a bit more. He's fascinated by Tom's hat-he'll go back and forth between Tom's face and his hat. He definitely knows his own name. He seems a sweet tempered baby, but when he gets angry, he gets really angry! I think he'll have a temper like Justin. He's a little less like a baby and more like a person now. I can't wait to find out what he's going to be like!
I miss having my camera, I see all these really nice shots that I can't take!

Little carpenter

Tonight Justin pulled a chair up to the counter, grabbed my mixer and started rubbing it on the countertop. I asked him what he was doing, and he said, "nice, nice!" He was sanding the countertop!
Translation: Tom just sanded and stained the wooden toychest from our living room. Justin has seen him sanding stuff in our basement. (Tom has recently refinished a cabinet, a child's wooden rocking chair, a small bookshelf, and he's working on a phone-stand-type table now) Tonight when Tom brought up the toychest Justin watched us touch the now smooth surface and say, nice! So he was just imitating his father.

today

It was an interesting day. Leanna made(stirred) brownies with love. Then she and Justin visited couchcushion land, after going to the hospital a few times(to have a baby, of course). I had a 15 minute intervel where both Justin and Timothy were napping, so Leanna and I made up a bedtime chart to help ease the bedtime transition. It did help tonight anyway, hopefully it will continue to do so. We made a deal to sell the green car to a neighbor, and accepted $500 for it. Badly needed money! Timothy discovered his feet today! And I'm slightly less paniky about freaky coincidences, for those of you who know what I mean.

dream facts & tidbits

dream facts & tidbits
1. One third of our lives is spent sleeping.
2. In your lifetime, you would've spent about 6 years of it dreaming. That is more than 2,100 days spent in a different world.
3. Dreams have been here as long as mankind. Back in the Roman Era, striking and significant dreams were submitted to the Senate for analysis and interpretation.
4. Everybody dreams. EVERYBODY! Simply because you do not remember your dream does not mean that you did not dream.
5. Dreams are indispensable. A lack of dream activity can mean protein deficiency or a personality disorder.
6. We dream on average of one or two hours every night. And we often even have 4-7 dreams in one night.
7. Blind people do dream. Whether visual images will appear in their dream depends on whether they where blind at birth or became blind later in life. But vision is not the only sense that constitutes a dream. Sounds, tactility, and smell become hypersensitive for the blind and their dreams are based on these senses.
8. Five minutes after the end of the dream, half the content is forgotten. After ten minutes, 90% is lost.
9. The word dream stems from the Middle English word, dreme which means "joy" and "music".
10. Men tend to dream more about other men, while women dream equally about men and women.
11. Studies have shown that our brain waves are more active when we are dreaming than when we are awake.
12. Dreamers who are awakened right after REM sleep, are able to recall their dreams more vividly than those who slept through the night until morning.
13. Physiologically speaking, researchers found that during dreaming REM sleep, males experience erections and females experience increased vaginal blood flow - no matter what the content of the dream. In fact, "wet dreams" may not necessarily coincide with overtly sexual dream content.
14. People who are giving up smoking have longer and more intense dreams.
15. Toddlers do not dream about themselves. They do not appear in their own dreams until the age of 3 or 4.
16. If you are snoring, then you cannot be dreaming.
17. Nightmares are common in children, typically beginning at around age 3 and occurring up to age 7-8.
18. In a poll, 67% of Americans have experienced Deja Vu in their dreams, occurring more often in females than males.

NONSEQUENTIAL AGEING

Wouldn't it be nice to have the wisdom of a 93 year old combined with the life we have now?
"At 93, I would give all the treasures I had aquired through my many years of financial success, just to cuddle with that baby who simply wants me, just me. I would drag my tired bones up from my chair if that child asked to play withme. I would gladly walk to the park or just sit in the yard and watch for butterflies. There would be no place I had to go; no phone call worth interrupting this beautiful day. My slow pace and undivided attention would be all that this child required.
And then I would be 35 again, and I would be reminded that, in the end, what I will treasure most are my memories with my children. And I wll feel as though those few chaotic years I spent in my thirties vanished in an instant. Returning from my day at 93, I know I will not regret spending less time out working or working out. I will reprioritize my life so that I will embrace the joys that are in front of me and I will be thankful for the good health with which I can enjoy them."

From The Mother's Guide to the Meaning of Life: What i've Learned in My Neverending Quest to Become A Dalai Mama by Amy Krouse Rosenthal.

spoiled kids

Another Gilmore Girls related thought, on the show the mother babysat a three year old who was extremely spoiled. She told the father how to fix it, and it annoyed me because it's the same trite advice people and books generally give.
How many parents are actually stupid enough to think their kid won't love them if they say no? How many parents actually think that giving their kid everything they want will make up for other losses in their lives? That's just too dumb! Well, gee, I guess that's how all out of control kids get that way-their parents never say no and give them everything they want. Realistically it doesn't work that way, it's much more complicated.
It's like the story in a parenting magazine recently where the mom had three kids but had the third kid a while later. Her first two children were well behaved and good kids. She dispensed parenting advice to others and thought she had it all figured out. Then came the third child who turned it all upside-down! All the generic advice she had doled out came back to haunt her-none of it worked with this one. Just being firm was not enough.
For some kids it will work, but not all. Real life is much more complicated than just being firm, sticking to what you say, regularly disciplining(teaching), being a good example, etc. for some kids. Trust me, I know! I just wish it was ackowledged more often.

kid quotes

"It's frightening to think that you mark your children merely by being yourself....it seems unfair. You can't assume responsibility for everything you do-or don't do."
Simone De Beauboir

"She discovered with great delight that one does not love one's children because they are one's children but because of the friendship formed while raising them."
Gabriel Garcia Marquez

proud

Last night while I was watching Gilmore Girls, the main character, Rory, is on stage at a conference, and her parents are in the audience watching her. Her Mom whispers in a proud voice, We made her! Right out of thin air, responds her equally proud Dad.

I've had so many moments like that. Just in awe of the fact that this child came from my body! I created this little person! We made this child, together. Really neat, when you think about it.