Four years

I've been legally recognized as putting up with his butt for four years now!

BINGO

Leanna went to back to school Bingo night with her Daddy the other night. I was supposed to take her but my swollen face and pain made that impossible. It turned out to be good because it gave them a rare chance to do something together and Leanna's teacher wasn't there so I didn't miss the chance to meet and talk to her. Leanna won 3 times(Ok, actually once, Tom won the other two but they counted it as her winning). Tom said it was boring and that Leanna said it was boring too-but they both came home smiling. Leanna said her favorite parts were 1.winning 2.seeing one kid she knew from kindergarten. She won a backpack with her school's name on it, two rulers-one with presidents, the other a flexible one, pencils, a pen, 3 dictionaries, 3 notebooks, a pencil sharpener, glitter, 2 free A-town fair tickets, a card for her school that gives discounts at local stores and restaurants. She was thrilled with her winnings. Not bad for a couple hours of boredom!

Got a monster problem?

This three year old is really cute-she knows what to do if there's a monster in the house.
(Inappropriate language though)

Creative Aunt

We saw my Aunt Cindy and Uncle Bob last night. She brought along these aprons she made from jeans or Jean skirts. They were for a craft fair. I wish I had a picture to show, they were really cute. She used trim to make the ties and to hold the top bib up and decorate the bottom. On some the bib was made from the leg of the jeans, on others she just used extra material she had. One had strawberries on the material for the bib and on the bottom ruffle so she added strawberry buttons. She estimated that they cost about 3 or 4 dollars each to make, with thread actually being the biggest cost(She bought the jeans from yard sales for no more than 50 cents each and the trim and material were given to her). I think she said she made 11 since the end of July. I wish I had time to be creative like that! She and her husband are both retired teachers this year, so she is able to do things like that. Although I have to say, she always found time to make things. They don't have cable and rarely watch tv and her hands are almost never idle. I admire her industry! When she comes to visit she always has a bag of knitting or crocheting along with her.
One day I would love to have free time to just make things and get really creative. I have a Loooong time until I get there though!!

Dream message

So I got up today with half my face swollen-an infection-and what's bizarre was my dreams this morning. I've been having a lot of strange dreams lately. In my dream was a guy I knew in high school and haven't seen or thought of since. I wondered why the heck he popped into my dreams as we weren't close, barely knew each other and I had no reason to think of him lately or anything. Then later as I was walking to the pharmacy -Amoxcillin-it occurred to me. I remembered that this guy had wanted to be a dentist. I bet that's why he appeared in my dreams, I cannot think of any other reason. It makes sense, it's like my subconscience was trying to send me a message! Cool.
Then I wondered why this guy and not a dentist I'd seen? Maybe because I can't go back to the last dentist I had(they don't take medicaid and I'm already behind on the payment plan they use) and I didn't like the dentist I used before that. Who knows....I don't understand exactly how the subconscience works, but I bet that's why this guy was in my dreams.

6 weeks

Jacob will be 6 weeks old tomorrow, and it feels like he's been with us forever. He's such a big boy, I can't get over how huge he looks in comparison with my other babies. I don't know what he weights now, but I'm sure it's gone up. He smiles a lot. I have yet to see any sibling jealousy towards him. They still make up lullabies to sing to him. They still fight over holding him and get mad when I won't let them. When Timothy woke up and found Jacob next to him he put his arm around the baby and happily settled right back to sleep with a smile on his face (I was right next to the baby). They just adore him.

I have a new way to measure weight loss

This weekend my Dad mentioned that he's lost 40 pounds, which made me think, Wow! that's like losing Leanna in weight!
So since giving birth I've lost Timothy, plus a little! That sounds much more dramatic!

Ummm, just so you know

Just to explain the post below, I am really tired. That makes me get silly. That is all...

Parenting a teen

I'm thankfully far away from this phase yet, but my fav. blog Katie Allison Granju posted:
may i simply say… August 24, 2007
Filed under: parenting, sundry — katie allison granju @ 9:24 am
…that parenting a teenager is truly, truly kicking my ass. I was in no way prepared for how hard this is, or how scary or stressful.
My mantra: He will be okay. We will all be okay. He will be better than okay; he will thrive and be well and happy.
I love him.
And someone replied:
I agree with the earlier posters—each and every child presents you with different challenges at different times. I also think it’s true that one’s first child has a particular path, very bound up with his parents’ paths. The challenge here more than anywhere is to differentiate. all the love and prayers.

NOTE TO MY SISTERS: See! The first child has it harder! I made the way easy for both of you! You should bow down and pay your respects!! I rule!

Little sweethearts

Anytime Jacob cries and I'm in the middle of doing something Justin and Timothy will run over to the bassinette and try to calm him. They can't really calm him of course, their little hands aren't really gentle yet but they try! It's really very sweet to see how much they love their little brother.

(Leanna will do this also, just not as often because she's usually more involved in whatever she's doing and so the boys make it over to the bassinette much quicker.

Just noticing

I've been having to explain a lot of song lyrics to Leanna lately. She's really been starting to pay attention.

Checking back

I couldn't resist checking the comments on the Dilbert post about creative swearing again because it was up to 700 replies! (People must really love to talk about swearing) and I have to ask, Claire was this post yours??:

"So's your face!!"
Try it; it works as a reply in almost any situation... it can be derrogatory or complimentary but always sounds disgusting and mean. For instance:
"Hey! You just cut me off, you *****!""So's your face!"
"Wow! You look really handsome today!""So's your face!"
Isn't that special?
Posted by: Dilbert's Rabbi August 24, 2007 at 07:03 AM

Claire also does the same thing with the name "Harry Potter" and sometimes the phrase "Your mother!" (which doesn't work so well since we share the same mother)

Also for me...

The comments are the interesting part......just a thread for my own personal reference. It's about boys and girls, genders, differences or the lack thereof, socially constructed or not?, basic survival skills, dangerous skills. Yeah, all that.

For me, not you

Just a reminder (and a very good point):(EDIT: NOTE: this is someone else's comment, not mine)
Oh, thank goodness I've found this forum! I've been scouring the web ever since I found out about TDBFB. The authors definitely noticed that boys have forgotten how to have unstructured fun, and they are to be commended for that. What's been neglected is that girls have NEVER really been able to engage in unstructured outdoor play - there's such a huge societal stigma against a tree-climbing little girl. This book reminds me of why I hated being a girl twenty years ago. We just didn't have the same freedom as boys.
And this continues. The girls at the PRESCHOOL where I taught a couple years ago often came wearing platform shoes, which they couldn't possibly run around in. I think a girls book should simple contain a chapter called "How to play without sitting down"
Also, tree-climbing. And using a compass.

Just my sense of humor

I just find this very funny, it's a comment someone left on a Dilbert post about making up your own curses.
"There are a series of videos on YouTube depicting a Tourette's sufferer. He yells, "Bob Saget!" using the same rhythm as "G-d Damnit!" I find it works very well and since Bob Saget is not omnipotent and has not sent out any rules regarding the use of his name there is less likelihood of damnation for taking his name in vain."

I don't know, the idea of Bob Saget's name being a curse word is just amusing.

This is why you go to a midwife.....

Because at the after-birth checkup she gives you a nice long massage! I can't picture any doctor I've ever been to taking the time to do that! She figures your body has been through quite a bit and most women don't have anyone caring for THEM. So she does it!
We had a long conversation during the massage and that was one of the things we talked about-how a midwife looks at how every decision affects you, not just the baby/pregnancy. And also very important, how things affect your family. She truly wants to make this a great experience for you. Most doctors simply don't care. (The example she gave was that to a doctor, a C-section is often a way to avoid a chance of a lawsuit, or a way to end a labor that is taking too long for their patience. They don't consider that the woman may have a family at home that needs her to take care of them instead of having to recover from surgery. That breastfeeding is extremely difficult on top of that scar, and that c-section babies have more trouble breastfeeding to begin with. Etc. ).
Hospitals don't care what kind of birth you want, in fact, she said she's afraid to walk away from her clients-even for a little-because you can come back to find they've started interventions the client never wanted! She said things always come full circle, and right now birth is at a bad place in the cycle. Women are dying from epidurals (I forget exactly what she said, but something about an epidural raising your blood pressure and that causes other complications) which is pretty scary. I knew it could happen as a result of a c-section but I'd not heard it could happen from an epidural. That's not supposed to happen in this day and age! Not in America!

People think you're crazy for not wanting pain medication, but if anyone's interested, I can give you a nice list of reasons why.....
Anyway, we had a nice long conversation about birth in general and mine in particular and she let me borrow a book on fertility. Another nice thing about midwives-they usually have a small library of books for your use!

The best gifts

Best baby gifts

I think my favorites are generally the ones that show real thought-the handmade blanket, like the one Tom's aunt made for Justin (although she has a sewing machine that embroiders for her-that must be fun to play with!), the frame with Timothy's name and it's meaning that his Aunt Laura made for him, gifts like that.

I like the idea someone lists in the comments on the link of adding a little note saying why each gift you give had meaning. As in "this particular cup is really easy to clean and was my child's favorite to use." This works best for a new mother, but would be sweet no matter what.

Anyone have a favorite (or just really special) baby gift they received? (or a suggestion for one)

Business and corporations

An interesting 3 page article on how Walmart is using technology instead of people (managers) to make decisions. Because they need to save money. This is starting to catch up with the company. I don't have a fascination with Walmart, lol, it's just that they write more about Walmart.
To me this is interesting because ever since I worked at McDonalds I've been theorizing about this same subject-why do corporations not realize that treating their employees like dirt hurts the company? Particular employees can really be a value to a company but the attitude of most Corp. is that all employees are easily replaceable. They're always trying to make an extra buck in ways that hurt the customer. Yes, they're in it to make money, but they go to ridiculous lengths to acomplish this. One of the most popular (that I've seen, anyway) is to reduce the number of employees on the shifts. Not because they're not as busy, but because they want to pull more work out of already challenged employees. This hurts the employees who become tired and sometimes grouchy with the customers, and of course it hurts the customers who must wait much longer for service and as a result of overworked employees often get poorer service to boot. I know from working in the Deli that many customers, particularly the elderly ones, like to chat with the employees, during and after thier order is filled. They like to come and see the same people each time. But when you're always that busy you don't have time to talk anymore and a customer trying to talk with you often becomes an annoyance because you have too much to do and not enough time to do it.
In my experience, when they reduce employees they also start new rules regarding things like not talking. Less talking means more work, right? Especially in a stupid job where the pay and skill is low and you don't have perks, little things like the friendships you form while working are the reasons you keep employees. It makes an otherwise boring job worthwhile. Then they usually yell at you for not smiling more. (I'm gonna smile now that I can't talk to employees or customers and I have more work to do and less help doing it?)
I think I'm gonna end this post for now. I could go on quite a bit more on this subject. I'll just say that I think it pays to treat your employees and customers well. I think today corporations try to do as absolutly little as they can. They've become incredibly greedy, focusing all the wealth a company makes at the very top of the ladder (CEOs and such) and the employees doing the hard labor are the one making pennies. It says much about our society that this is perfectly accepted behavior, doesn't it?

He smiles!!

I almost forgot to add here, about 3 days ago Jacob gave his first "real" smile......a smile that directly seemed to be in reaction to me. Practically since birth he's given smiles of contentment, such as after he eats. His little belly is full and he's in my arms and all is right with the world so he smiles.

But the medical community doesn't recognize those smiles as real-they say babies don't smile until about 4-6 weeks old (before then the smiles are supposed to be caused by gas). But I dissagree! Babies DO smile before then and it's not always gas!!

Anyway, the "real" smile was caused by singing and dancing with me and it was just the most adorable little smile ever!! He's a happy little boy.

Hopefully it was an enjoyable party/birthday

Mom made Laura a homemade cake with homemade iceing.