Life immitates art

Yes, the Christmas story is accurate, in case you ever wondered.........

Rufflebutts

LOL at this from parentdish:

"However, there is a huge downside to have only peniied offspring: they will never wear bloomers or those little diaper covers with the ruffles on the butt. I won't lie, seeing the cute coverings available at Rufflebutts gave me a bit of the blues that all my baby years were rufflebutt-free. (Sniffle.......)"

No lie, I just see little girl clothes at the store and they're so cute I want a girl baby. Every time. I mean, there are some cute boy clothes too.....but not as many and they just lack the Awwwww! factor that is inherent in little girl clothes.

Top 10 privacy invasions of 2007

Cheerios and chips

Also speaking of food.......Tom likes to leave bags of potato chips aside his chair, with the tops rolled down to protect the chips. The kids all know he leaves them there and if I don't watch it, that becomes breakfast sometimes. They start eating them while I'm out in the kitchen and then don't want to eat anything else. Today Timothy found a bag of cheerios with the top rolled down the same way Tom does with his chips. He sat on Daddy's chair and proclaimed, "these are MY chips!" and happily munched away on the cheerios. Now if only I could get that substitution to stick!!

Food and bribes

Speaking of healthy eating.......I know you're not supposed to use bribes of food as a reward. But sometimes I just can't find other options that work. Today I bribed Justin to eat some blackberries, with a reward of chocolate milk. Is that horrible? I'm hoping he'll remember he liked the blackberries and then eat them on his own another time. We'll see.

Felt board memories

Jamie posted a picture of a felt board she made for her son, one for good behavior and one for healthy eating. I'd been pondering how to do something similar for encouraging healthy eating, although it hadn't occurred to me to use felt. So I thought I'd post a picture of the felt board I made Leanna for her 3rd birthday. This is a week before Justin was born. She still plays with the pieces. We're waiting for Tom to CUT a new piece of plyboard in it. (It had plyboard, and cardboard in front to smooth it out, and then the cover comes off so it can be washed.)

I traced cookie cutters and shapes and characters I cut out from online printables to make the felt pieces for the board.

I like Jamie's idea of using a felt board for a diciplinary chart though-it's reusable, which saves time and resources!

Jewelry

Timothy picked out a ring for me to wear today. It's Sapphire, my favorite, but it's a rather large gaudy piece I wouldn't normally wear. But since he picked it out for me, today I wear it proudly.
Hey, I'm on the right track, aren't I? By age two I have him trained to bring a woman jewelry!

a few moments to myself....

For an extremely brief period yesterday afternoon, all four kids were napping. AT THE SAME TIME! But by the time I realized it, I only had time to grab the camera, took a couple pictures, then I went to the bathroom. At that point Jacob woke up, and then a few minutes later Timothy. I was reading Teacher Man by Frank McCourt, which I highly recommend!(He also wrote Angela's Ashes and Tis), and all the sudden I realized that in addition to the deep breathing on the bed, I hadn't heard Timothy for a while. Sure enough he had crashed on the floor. One minute he was picking up the jewelery he had spilled, the next he was sleeping! So it was just a little tiny bit of quiet space in an otherwise typical day. Those moments are nice.

Teacher Man & books and life

It's so weird, I glanced at reviews for Teacher Man and the vast majority are positive, but I clicked to read the reviews that only gave one star-the bad reviews. I was curious why. It's interesting to see how differently people can view the same book. I couldn't help feeling that some of them really missed the points he made. I really enjoyed the book, I enjoyed the writting and the moments he pulls out to explore in the book. The bad reviewers were saying that it was boring and too negative and he didn't find enough inspirational moments to write about. I kind of like that though, because real life isn't always inspirational. It's not all a rose garden with love and brilliance. I suppose some people skip through life, but others plod through, just doing the best they can and embracing the good when it comes. Sometimes the moments where things click inside your head, where inspiration strikes, are not the obvious ones. I can relate more to that than to perfection. Just my two cents.

On new life and feelings.....

I'm not really familiar with the band, but I came across this on another blog and I completely understand his feelings. It's why becoming a parent makes you a better person and gives you a new relationship with the entire human race.

New dad Joel Madden (from Good Charlotte) just posted the following on his official blog:
"Harlow.
January 23, 2008 at 3:14 pm
She’s already growing to fast! So I am at home writing this blog before i head to the DCMA store, and then the DEAD EXEC studio to work. I swear it’s so hard to leave during the day, but always so rewarding to come home to the little family. I’ve always been a guy who loves to love.Probably one of the things that define me outside of my work is LOVE. I had no idea what love even was until Harlow came along.
Me and her mother feel like the luckiest two people alive right now. This time in our life has been amazing. We both look at our little girl every single moment everyday and know there is nothing we wouldn’t do to protect her and her perfect little innocence. It seems like you turn on the tv, or get online and its all bad news.
We dont want her to know any of that yet. I actually never want her to know any of the pain and suffering we see out in the world everyday, or how harsh people can be as a result of it. Having this baby has really made me realize we all start out that way, then somewhere along the way something happens and people go one way or the other. But all started out sweet and innocent just like my little daughter. The world could really make you bitter if you let it, but thats where music, and art come in to save the day.
You’ve got to surround yourself with the things you love. The whole point to DCMA and this site is a bunch of us friends doing what we love, surrounding ourselves with positivity. I want my kid to grow up around that.
My heart goes out to Heath ledger’s family. Too young. too soon. too loved to be gone. It almost seems pointless to say this with the state of the media today, but i hope people will respect what his child and her mother are going thru right now and give them space. May God be with them.
So this one was especially long today on the writing side, i apologize it all just got me thinking."

Food Creations

A while ago I made Zoe's tuna bow-tie salad (from the Sesame Street cookbook). None of the kids would eat it though.

Also pictured is Maree's creation this past weekend. Bannanas, blueberry, pineapple, vanilla yogurt, & cinnamon. I think that was all. Only she and Justin would eat it, but he was mainly just eating the yogurt.

Fun with words

Also, I think I included that news of the wierd item mainly because I really like the word "Chutzpah!" It's really so fun to say!! I'm also partial to "schmuck." But you have to put the proper emphasis there. Words aren't as much fun without emotion. I guy I knew in Florida's favorite word was "gefeltefish" which I'm not spelling correctly here, but you get the drift. He also though the ultimate insult you could give a male was "nancy-boy." Anyone else have a favorite word, or is that just me?

Messy house fix

If your house is really a mess and a stranger comes to the door, greet her with, " Who could have done this? We have no enemies."
Phyllis Diller

News of the wierd

Chutzpah!
Ingrates: "Get in here and do your (word omitted by the Allentown Morning Call) jobs, you dumb (omitted)," said Donald Reidnauer Sr., 56, after summoning police to investigate a BB pellet fired at his house in Richland Township, Pa., in November. "I pay taxes. I am your boss. Get in here and do your jobs or I'll have to kick your (omitted)." Reidnauer then lunged at officers and was arrested. [Morning Call, 11-28-07]

Bugs, boys, and fear

Leanna shrieks, "A bug!" We all recoil. My Mom, about to leave, says, "Well, you know what you have to do Steph." But I battle a lifelong fear of bugs. When I was a child I used to have dreams about bugs chasing me around a sandbox. I hate them and irrationally fear them. As I stare at it, Justin picks up his shoe and marches over and starts beating it. (It should be noted that his initial reaction was to scream and jump back too). And he killed it. Then he brought his shoe over to me so I could scrape the bug off. I am relieved but a bit embarrassed that my three year old has fixed this problem for me.
Justin is getting so big. I look at him and he seems so tall suddenly. In subtle ways he is losing his babyishness. His tiny body looks so male with its broad little shoulders. It's funny, one minute he's trying on his sister's dress, the next he's crashing cars into people or things. Or he's trying to fix the broken remote. Or he's carrying around his toolbox, fixing things. While wearing the dress. He's all male, but still unafraid to have feminine traits too. I hope he doesn't lose that. Yet I fear other people's reactions if he doesn't.
Sometimes I can't believe that I'm raising three boys. I don't know what I'm doing here. It's completely uncharted territory for me. I really hope I can rise to the occasion.

Valentine's reminder

My sister sent me this, it's from an article she found on ivillige about Valentine's Day and I thought it might be a good reminder to everyone:

In short, the history of the holiday comprises beatings, torture, martyrdom and sexual enslavement. But I refuse to let that kind of negativity ruin the true meaning of Valentine's Day.

Which is chocolate.

I'm teasing, of course. I know that the true meaning of Valentine's Day is expressing love for those about whom we care the most, but obviously the best way to do this is by giving those we love chocolate. And as any good sex and relationship expert will tell you, you can't truly love another until you fully and completely love yourself.

Which means you need to give yourself chocolate before you give it to anyone else.

It's like that thing on airplanes where they caution you to put on your own oxygen mask before you help others with their masks. By giving yourself the gift of chocolate, you are giving those who love you a gift as well ‑- the gift of you taking the pressure off them to get you the kind of chocolate you want and, quite frankly, need.

Simply put, chocolate is the number one substance that can improve your love life. Chocolate is an emotional nutrition powerhouse, which has recently been shown to have antidepressant qualities and functions chemically similar to Prozac.

Love, Laura

Family blogs

Check out Maree's blog. She needs comments!!

Splurge or not?

I just found a book I'm considering getting, even though we have zero money. Something along these lines is badly needed! In the 7 areas of desperation, 3 are non-existant for me, one I'm drowning trying to accomplish, one is a nightmare, and the other two are just ok. What do you think, is that just cause to budget in a book?
Book Description:
Through her own personal stories and the stories of women and families with whom shes worked doing Family Manager Makeovers, Kathy Peel helps women navigate the seven areas of life that can cause feelings of desperation. The book
Entertains the reader with some light-hearted humor
Inspires the reader as she learns that God cares about the details of her life and wants to meet her and empower her at her points of desperation
Equips the reader to take steps in her own home and personal life that will make a huge difference in her familys--and her own--quality of life
Describes the seven areas of home life that can become out of control
Features stories from Kathys life about her own points of desperation and how God has met her in those points, as well as stories from other women
Offers spiritually based solutions to practical problems
THE SEVEN AREAS OF POTENTIAL DESPERATION
Home & Property--overseeing the maintenance and care of all tangible assets, including belongings, house and its surroundings, and your vehicles
Food--meeting the familys daily food and nutritional needs of your family
Family & Friends--dealing with relational responsibilities as a parent and spouse, and with extended family, friends, and neighbors
Finances--managing the budget, bill-paying, saving, investing, and charitable giving
Special Events--planning and coordinating occasions--birthdays, holidays, vacations, garage sales, family reunions, and celebrations--that fall outside ones normal routine
Time & Scheduling--managing the family calendar and daily schedule; dispatching the right people to the right place at the right time with the right equipment
Self-Management--caring for ones body, nurturing the mind and spirit

Sure, now I find the link!

I couldn't find a place where the Girl Scouts had a picture of their cookies a few days ago when I was looking. For future reference: http://www.girlscoutcookies.org/ click on meet the cookies

People-pleasing & identity loss

This one never occurred to me, but true.....

Little Butterball

6 Months old today!!

He's so fabulously chubby! He's so happy, and growing so quickly. When I took him out last weekend I realized he can't stay in the baby carseat much longer his head and legs are practically out of the top and bottom! He now grabs at items held in front of him or near him. He is constantly trying to talk. It alternates between high pitched screams and this husky contented "ahhh!" He is suddenly very aware of his father and becomes physically excited to see him. The excema is still very up and down-often within the same day. I don't know, aside from keeping his temperature even, and on the cool side, I don't know how else to help him. So far it doesn't seem to be linked to anything, but maybe I'm not trying hard enough.

Business as usual

I figured it's been a while since I posted about their antics, so here's a shot of Little People's Mrs. Claus, dipped in peanut butter and jelly. I found her in the jelly jar. Just hangin out in there.
There are so very many little incidents along those lines that it would be impossible to remember or post about them all. (Let's see, here's recent ones I can think of: Timothy opened the stove door with such zest that he pulled on hinge out, more instances where climbing the pantry shelves in search of food lead to food being knocked over and spilled, deciding to brush their teeth just because lead to lost toothbrushes and a decorated sink etc, etc.)

Exciting for me!

My husband was home for a change yesterday and since he was home he was bored. It worked out great for me though! He finally built Leanna bookshelves, simple ones, but great because her books are high, out of the way, and there's more room for her growing collection.

Then later on Tom cleared out a huge metal shelf in the basement that was falling apart and replaced it with a plastic one we'd been given. This looks neater and the metal one was in danger of falling over any moment! Then he built a long shelf attached to the basement ceiling for some of the extra stuff that don't fit in the smaller plastic cabinet. I'm so happy!! See how easy I am to please? He hasn't done stuff in our house for a long time.

And a big bonus is that the kids were just in awe. Justin went into Leanna's room and said, "Wow! Daddy did a good job!" They love to watch Tom work, especially with things like drills.

New stuff

Last week Leanna was very frustrated trying to put on her shoes. She asked for boots to put on, which are actually hand-me-downs from my (male) cousin and too big for her. She wanted them because she can just slip them on. Her shoes were bought last year before kindergarten and are getting too tight. As we walked to school she commented that people always make fun of her when she wears those boots. And previously she had mentioned that soom of the older girls who also meet at the church where Brownies are (they are high school age) laughed at her when she wore them there. I felt so bad for her, I've been there myself. I remember having a pair of sneakers that were so bad that the bottom of the shoe would peel halfway back. We just didn't have money for new ones. The ultimate humiliation came during a "fun and fitness" class at the Y when we were playing kickball. It was my turn and when I went to kick the ball the base got caught in the shoe flap. Everyone laughed. I can still feel the embarrasment of that one.
So I decided that I'd just have to use a credit card and get her some shoes. My Mom agreed that it was needed and we were in luck as Tom was finally home early enough that we could take her out to get shoes. Actually my Mom ended up getting her some sneakers, and a pair of boots. Thanks again! And I got her a pair of pink pants with pretty flowers on them-clearance for $6! and underwear, also on sale. My Mom also got her a new bathrobe(which I think was also on clearance) which is sooooo nice and fluffy and soft and cozy. I'm jealous, I have a whole bunch of bathrobes (hand-me-downs and ones that were bought, people like to get them for me for some reason) but I don't have one as soft as that!
The picture shows her asleep in her new bathrobe, a few nights later and her new sneakers. This is remarkable because Leanna does not wear shoes around the house!! They come off as soon as she enters the door! I just thought it was cute to find her sleeping like that-I'd just come home from a Friday night out with Laura.
It was really fun to buy her things, I wish I could do it more often.

Hungry baby!

He's so hungry, he could eat a dinosaur!!

Just recording the date.

Two days ago Jacob did something quite amazing. I'm not even going to post what because I know no one would believe me. My Mom admitted she didn't believe me until she heard it for herself, so that proves no one else would believe it either. I'm just recording it here so that I have a record of the date for myself. And if I manage to catch it on video, then I'll post it later.

Correction

Just for the record, it's been pointed out to me that when I posted about my baking with Justin this week, I talked about the things he did himself during muffin making. When I said that he was dumping ginger on the muffin pan, that was NOT part of the recipie. He added that himself. I was not amused, lol.

How to beat Excema naturally.

This is for my own reference, but it could help anyone you know who suffers from excema(The itch that rashes). On the last doctor visit it was extremely cold out and we walked, so Jacob was really bundled up. Then we went inside and it was unsufferably warm. His face which had already been red went to practically scarlett because of the heat. The doctor just gave me a few tiny samples of aquaphor (which Motherwear had sent me as a diaper rash cream or just for skin a few years ago). It's basically like putting patroleum jelly on your skin. And she talked about prescribing hydrocortisone cream also. No talk of prevention.
I've been useing some excema cream my sister got Jacob for Christmas, but I have mixed feelings about it. He cries when I put it on. My Mom has never researched it, but she said everything she's seen that mentioned excema talked about it being the body releasing toxins. Which makes sense, probably a lot of skin problems are a result of that. So if his body is trying to get rid of bad stuff, me covering his skin with a heavy lotion means that the bad stuff can't get out and is reabsorbed into the body. But if I don't use it, his skin get so red and dry it starts to crack. He gets scratch marks all over his face and head, even on the day I trim his nails.
Justin had excema too but his was very mild, he just get red and it looked like a rash but his never itched. I put lotion on him once a day until he was about a year old and it practically went away. When he is very hot his cheeks get red, that's it.
So I've been racking my brain trying to think of things we've done differently since Jacob's skin broke out. Which was around the end of November. On a whim today I googled coffee and excema and found this website, as well as a few mentions of the two. From what I can tell, it doesn't look like it's the only cause, but it can be a trigger, mainly in heavy coffee drinkers. But I'm thinking I may have been drinking more coffee than usual lately, or possibly just having more caffeine in general. I don't drink more than two cups a day. But I did get chocolate for Christmas and that combined with the extra cup of cofee (and holiday stress) that may be enough to do it? I'm thinking I'll purposely cut back on all forms of caffeine and see what happens.

(Interestingly, that website mentions Evening Primrose oil as a way to help heal it, and I have some left over from trying to naturally induce Jacob's labor, so I'll be taking that too).

A dinosaur story

Leanna's drawing, with a little story to go with it. This was her own idea yesterday. (In case you can't tell, it says, Dinosaurs cross the road. And the road looks quite a bit like train tracks.

: ) She told more of the backstory in person.)

Baking

I am also very proud of myself this week. We managed to try some new recipies from Justin's Christmas present cookbook, C is for Cookbook: recipies from the Street (Sesame Street). Monday afternoon we made Rosita's Strawberry Mango Smoothie which all three kids liked, and me too! And then on Tuesday just me and Justin made Abby Cadabby's Pumpkin Muffins. They weren't bad. I'm not a big fan of Pumpkin though. Timthy really liked them.

I particularly wanted to record the muffin baking here because it was special time spent with me and only Justin. He helped me with the smoothie too, but that wasn't a very involved recipie. He greased the muffin tin for me, and then dumped ginger on it, and poured all the ingredients in the bowls. and he mixed it all together. Oh, and he put love in them. That's important! (Leanna did come out and yell that I never do anything with her!) But Justin is actually more likely to get left out right now because the babies-Jacob and Timothy-are so demanding and Leanna needs me for homework and school stuff. I do consciously make effort to spend special time with each of them, weather it's just a few moments where they are the sole focus of my attention or longer spans like walking to the bank with just Leanna while her father stays home with her brothers.

All kinds of fun and body fluids!

We've been quite busy with boo boos and sickness. It's just been one accident after another. Timothy did a face plant into the floor and got a fat upper lip. Then the next day he fell and hit right next to his eye on the bottom of a step corner and got a very nasty bruise. Then the day after he got a fat lower lip from yet another fall. Leanna got an accidental hit to the forehead when I pulled one of those big popcorn cans out of Justin's hands.
Then we got some sort of bug, probably the same one going around the Lehigh Valley Hospital. Just diareah(SP?) and throwing up a few times. Leanna only throws up in the early morning (7Am and 5 AM on Wednesday and Thursday mornings, respectively) and Justin also threw up twice on Thursday. Leanna acts completely normal and Justin just has a few short periods where he seems tired and less exuberant than normal. But they're running around playing and acting like normal kids. I suspect Leanna was over it and then was re-infected by her brother.
Jacob's exema is still really really bad. Even though I've been double rinsing the clothes (as my Aunt told me was the entire cause of the problem).
And Timothy's potty training has suddenly kicked into high gear which means more laundry and today a giant poopy mess to clean. But I think that was stemming from the diahreah problem. He got his OWN underwear, big boy underwear!! last night. This morning he put on all three pairs! (Justin did that too)

Quotes

I need someone to protect me from all the measures they take in order toprotect me. -Banksy, street artist (b. 1974)

Before They're Born

A link to yet another parentdish post-this time on Mommy shopping, or unborn spirits choosing their parents?
It's an interesting idea, but for me it raises several questions:
If we choose our parents, why would anyone choose to be raised by a child abuser for example, or just plain bad parents?
At what point does a spirit enter the fetus then?
What about miscarried babies?

A book I read while pregnant with Justin, Baby Catcher by Peggy Vincent, mentions her son telling her that he was her "spirit baby". It's a really sweet idea, I probably like it so much because it would mean Justin was also the baby I lost. That might explain his extreme clinginess too. : )
If you've ever seen John Edwards (dead people can talk through him and he does shows on the subject) he talks about miscarried babies being there along with other relatives who've "passed over".
By the way I don't think ideas like this are incompatible with Christianity. I'm not entirely sure what my beliefs are concerning religion. But even if ideas like this are complete baloney they give comfort to some people, and I think that's ok too. A god I could believe in would be ok with that too.

From Babycenter email

5 signs your baby may be teething:
• He looks like the winner of his own personal wet T-shirt contest.
• When he chews on his fist, the expression "self-cannibalizing" leaps to mind. • You've exhausted all other explanations for his crabbiness.
• You've exhausted all other explanations for your crabbiness.
• When you look in his mouth, you see teeth.

Thongs of Praise?

Leading Economic Indicator: Evangelical Christians, among all people of faith, seem excited to purchase products that reinforce their religious values, according to a marketer cited in a December Denver Post report, with the result an explosion of Jesus-themed merchandise such as Jesus riding a bull, surfing and playing soccer, Jesus air-fresheners and Grapes of Galilee wine. (Among the tackier products, according to a November report in London's Daily Telegraph, are "thongs of praise" underwear with an image of the Madonna and child, and a template to place on a bread slice in an oven to create toast with the Virgin Mary's likeness.) [Denver Post, 12-22-07; Daily Telegraph (London), 11-25-07]

Monday Laugh, also reference

It was good to have a laugh, I needed that. I have linked a parentdish post on keeping a straight face when your child does something punishable but funny. I wanted to save the link for the future-with four kids it's bound to come up. I like some of the responses people gave(particularly responses 4 and 18, if you read the comments).

Leanna did have a note sent home this year for a small incident a bit ago. A boy grabbed her pencil and she grabbed it back. Not a huge deal. But apparently it's happened before and the teacher told her she should tell the teacher not try to grab it back herself. I wasn't sure exactly what to say other than that she has to follow the school's rules. (Tom told her, no you have to defend yourself or you'll get picked on. Arrgggh! So now she's got mixed messages about it.) But who knows, maybe the incident disrupted the whole class.

Anyway, a few of the incidents mentioned are pretty funny. I really love the image of the kid leading the fire drill line in the limbo. Not only is it a funny mental picture, but it makes me laugh at the personality of a kid who would think to do something like that!

Then in the comments: I would be upset with my kid for the language, but it is pretty funny " In our family, we get a belly laugh every Christmas when we sit down with our daughter to write her letter to Santa. Once, many years ago, our now-15ish nephew was having a difficult year and began his letter, written while in school: "F#@% You, Big Fat Santa..." (and got suspended). We get our pens and paper out, and the chortles start as soon as our pens get near the paper. It's been a handful of years since, and it never stops being funny to us. It's one of our all-time favourite family stories, and when the extended family gets together, it never fails to make us all laugh together. Even his mother laughs now. A little bit."

T-shirt

My sister made me a T-shirt for Christmas. This is what's on the front. I absolutely love it!!
I love that the graphic uses Rosie the Riveter too!!

New Year's Eve/Day

New Year's Eve I spent cleaning our basement and getting Tom to put together their train table, then watching the kids playing with their big joint Christmas present.

This is the one I bought back in April or May on sale. (I think it was $79 plus tax) I'm so glad I did! My Mom got the table on sale from her work for $20 or $25, so it was a great bargain all around!

Timothy particularly is enthralled with it. But Leanna and Justin love it too. And I've had some moments of peace while they went downstairs and played with it! Bonus for Mommy!!

Christmas Dress

I was trying to find a picture of Leanna in her very pretty Christmas dress but I really didn't get any good shots. The brand was Cinderella, how could I resist that? I'll just assure you that she looked very pretty. She took it off not that long after getting to Nanny Sue's (she spilled chocolate milk down the front), and Christmas morning I usually dress the kids before going over to my parent's house, but this year I left them in their pjs. We got up late and I knew it was going to take forever to open presents at my parent's house......so they didn't change into their Christmas outfits until before we left for my grandmother's house.

I'll probably have her wear it again for Easter -since it's white it'll work.

Fast Labor story

CONNELLSVILLE, Pa., Feb. 15, 2007
(AP) A woman gave birth to a boy outside a western Pennsylvania hospital, a delivery that happened so quickly that the infant wound up in the woman's pants."It happened so fast," Rebecca Johnson, 24, told the Daily Courier in Connellsville. "I didn't know what happened until he was in my pant leg."Johnson had just gotten out of the car at Highlands Hospital in Connellsville and was still in the parking lot when her 5-pound, 15-ounce son, Mason Matthew Parkinson, arrived Wednesday.An emergency room physician cut the umbilical cord in the parking lot, and doctors attended to Johnson until she could be taken to Uniontown Hospital, which has a maternity unit.Mason, Johnson's fourth child, was doing well.

A family of pack rats

It's funny, my mother in law just posted a link to an article on clutter being bad for you and I'd been thinking about that subject lately. It really is harder for some of us to get rid of things.......what's funny is that the stuff I'm willing to get rid of, my husband wants to keep. The stuff he wants to get rid of, I want to keep.....and stuff we're both willing to throw out, Leanna wants to keep!! I thought at this point we had only passed this on to Leanna but then today I realized Justin's already got it too:
I tried to have Timothy wear a soccer sweatsuit his paternal grandparents had given Justin last Christmas. It was on the small side when he got it, but he loved it because it had a soccer ball on the chest. So Justin got very upset and grabbed the clothes and put them on despite my protestations that they didn't fit and should be passed on to Timothy. As Timothy started crying because Justin was wearing his clothes, Justin happily declared, "This is the perfect outfit!" (That is exactly what he said, lol) "It fits!" (Yeah, like Urkel!) So we compensated by having Timothy wear the sweater I had for Justin. Since it had a dump truck on the front, this was acceptable.
This wasn't really about "the perfect outfit." Justin was sentimentally attached to the clothes. I'm like that too, I get attached to things. So I'm not sure how to change it, or even if I necesarily should.

Thanks!

I wanted to say thanks to those who gave us gift cards for Christmas-we bought groceries earlier this week. It was very nice to have a tiny bill at the checkout! Thank You!!

Fainting after Gardisil Shot

How did I forget to mention this!!???

Two days ago Jacob called out for "Mum!"

I hesitate to mention it, but he also occasionally cries, "Hun-ry!" in a desparately pleading voice. I very very frequently ask him if he's hungry when I feed him (because I wanted him to associate the word with the act) and I am positive he is trying to say it. But I know that most people would be quite skeptical of this. Both the fact that he's saying it and the fact that he's beginning to talk at all. It isn't perfectly clear to anyone other than me, so it doesn't count as his first word. I would also like to keep the stigma associated with having Hungry be your first word away from him, lol.

All four of mine were relatively early talkers though, so it's not that unusual.

I have such trouble getting a picture of him smiling because the flash on the camera fascinates and sometimes scares him. Here I caught him smiling, but of course the camera moved and took the picture mainly of a blanket. Still cute.

Milestones

Jacob is sitting, occasionally without support now. He is also starting to show interest in toys, sometimes. This is good as it means I can distract him for a little

with something other than me!

He is so rolly-polly!

Random things

*I fully expected a horrific morning the first day back at school, but both Wednesday and Thursday mornings went just fine. Such a relief and I actually got to enjoy her before school.

*Leanna was excited to show people at school her two missing teeth

*Timothy continues to randomly let me know he has to use the potty(and then sucessfully use it). I think it's time to get him his own underwear for some trial runs.


*I owe big huge thanks to my mother for tacking, heck, conquering!, my messy kitchen yesterday. I just couldn't bring myself to touch it, beyond doing the dishes and cleaning the table, repeatedly. There was just soooo much to do during the holidays and then I'm still putting aways Christmas toys and presents and ripping apart cardboard packaging etc.etc. now. So I just kept cleaning the living room over and over and putting off the kitchen. Thank you thank you thank you!!


*Timothy insisted on going to bed with two handfuls of cars last night. : )


*I found out from the WIC office yesterday that Justin is in the 8th percentile for weight. (The doctor's office didn't tell me, but the wic lady did. and I always find that stuff fascinating, I don't know why). He looks normal to me though.


*Justin asked for peaches today, and ate them(the two don't always go together) and then Timothy had some too! Every little step towards healthier eating counts!
(Mumbles motto to herself: _Progress, not perfection_)

Qutoes

“We are all teachers, or should be. Anyone who relays experience to another person is a teacher. Not to transmit your experience is to betray it.”
---Elie Wiesel

His Aunt's underpants

I came accross this info today

There is an old Jewish proverb that says, "Every child comes with a loaf of bread under its arm." We often chart astrology and Chinese horoscopes looking for signs and hope that our children will improve and enrich our lives.2007 was the year of the Golden Pig, an event that occurs once every 60 years in the Chinese calendar. The Chinese believe this to be the most auspicious year for a child to be born.

Maybe he WILL be our mild child!!

A Calm birthday party

This was actually Maree's calmest birthday party in years. Sure Maree' and Tom had their annual cake-in-the- face-shoving and all the kids were jumping on Tom (and he loved it), but the level of violence was way down this year.

Maree's friends & relatives

Maree's half sister and half brother-I think her little brother looks a little like her. Not the best picture of her and her Mom, but the sentiment is sweet. And for the few of you who know Rod and Shelly, that's their son Cody.

Maree is now 11

Maree' with her birthday card from Tom, and with her Christmas grill. She loved that.

All I want for Christmas

Leanna lost her first tooth Christmas day. It was very hard to get a picture where she didn't smile so that it hid the empty space or else look retarded.

She lost the one next to it yesterday also. The tooth fairy brought her a dollar for each one. (The tooth fairy didn't consult with me, I think I would have given a quarter or .50)

Ay Mimi's

Mimi's was fully decorated again this year (quite a project). Timothy playing with a car present (Car!!) he's got tons now and loves it. Justin eating one of Mimi's rice cakes, he loves them. And a rare shot of me, with Leanna.

Young photographer

Timothy apparently took a picture of his shoulder.

Bonding?

In a few moments pretty out of character for Claire, she actually played with her nephew. And I think both enjoyed it about equally.