I have realized that no matter what the topic, I can fit at least one "when we get to Germany" into the conversation.
Recycling? Yeah, we do some, but we're trying to get used to doing more, since we'll have to when we get to Germany.
It's freezing today!! And this is what the entire winter will be like when we get to Germany!
Oooh, yum, sausage! I'll get to eat lots next year in Germany.
Oh, man, my favorite pair of flip flops broke! Oh well, I won't need 50 pairs when we get to Germany, it's not hot enough to wear them constantly.
Hey look! Snow boots on sale! We'll need those next year in Germany.
Hmm, this luggage is falling apart. Looks like we'll need to get some new luggage before we leave for Germany.
And so forth. Try me. Come up with a topic that I can't somehow relate back to Germany.
Also, my yahoo avatar now has me, a bald baby in a high chair eating/throwing some mystery green baby food, at a German festival (as is evidenced by the obviously Bavarian house behind me). I don't know whose baby I kidnapped, but he needs to quit throwing that green stuff at me.
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Highlights from The Pre-Move Briefing
Man in Charge - "Did you all get these? Please raise your hand if you did. If you did not. Please raise your hand if you did, did not receive a copy of this." I forget what it was he was passing out, but we already had it and decided to keep our hands down.
Lady talking to us about personal financial matters - "If you're going to open a new banking account, be sure to have the money ready to transfer into that new account, and change your direct deposit information." Really? Is that really something that only soldiers moving overseas need to know about? Is it possible that none of the adults in that room had ever opened a new account before? Other thrilling information included, "Remember that ATM fees add up!"
So anyway, she finishes her little spiel and asks if there are any questions. The lovely lady two rows ahead of me raised her hand. "Yes ma'am, can you tell us what we need to know about overseas schools?"
It's a good think I was sitting in the back row so that no one could see my bewildered expressions.
Oh, and the official (not personal) finance lady. The one talking about pay checks and advancements and allowances and such. She repeatedly said that when driving your POV (car) to be dropped off for shipment, you get paid $109 per mile. She never caught her mistake, and no one ever questioned it. It's $109 per day, and 20c per mile.
They made the majority of the information out to be way more complicated than it really is. It wasn't an information problem, but a communication problem. They should hire me to do these briefings. They'd answer questions and the people were left looking more confused than before. I didn't really learn much that I didn't already know, which is pretty sad for a 2 hour long briefing. It was mostly clarification and reminders for me. it was absolutely bewildering for some others, who I guess just found out like, yesterday, that they'd be going overseas. It's crazy that we've known for a mere 2 weeks and we're further along in the process than some of the people that were there. And we're not even leaving for 11 months!
Tomorrow, I get to go see the nice man who will sign off on the paperwork saying that none of us have any special needs that can't be accommodated in Germany. Or, at least we hope that's what will happen.
Lady talking to us about personal financial matters - "If you're going to open a new banking account, be sure to have the money ready to transfer into that new account, and change your direct deposit information." Really? Is that really something that only soldiers moving overseas need to know about? Is it possible that none of the adults in that room had ever opened a new account before? Other thrilling information included, "Remember that ATM fees add up!"
So anyway, she finishes her little spiel and asks if there are any questions. The lovely lady two rows ahead of me raised her hand. "Yes ma'am, can you tell us what we need to know about overseas schools?"
It's a good think I was sitting in the back row so that no one could see my bewildered expressions.
Oh, and the official (not personal) finance lady. The one talking about pay checks and advancements and allowances and such. She repeatedly said that when driving your POV (car) to be dropped off for shipment, you get paid $109 per mile. She never caught her mistake, and no one ever questioned it. It's $109 per day, and 20c per mile.
They made the majority of the information out to be way more complicated than it really is. It wasn't an information problem, but a communication problem. They should hire me to do these briefings. They'd answer questions and the people were left looking more confused than before. I didn't really learn much that I didn't already know, which is pretty sad for a 2 hour long briefing. It was mostly clarification and reminders for me. it was absolutely bewildering for some others, who I guess just found out like, yesterday, that they'd be going overseas. It's crazy that we've known for a mere 2 weeks and we're further along in the process than some of the people that were there. And we're not even leaving for 11 months!
Tomorrow, I get to go see the nice man who will sign off on the paperwork saying that none of us have any special needs that can't be accommodated in Germany. Or, at least we hope that's what will happen.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
"That's up to you..."
This was the most common answer at our meeting today. Right. It's up to us where he goes and what he does, and whether it's counted against his leave, etc... in the month between school and his report date. Entirely up to us? Yeah, I don't think so. And other such nonsense.
She did let me know who CAN answer my questions - many of them will be answered by the transportation people, and we can talk to them once we've got our orders, which should be in a couple months.
And we've now got the information about getting passports and our medical sign-off, both of which will allow us to go to Germany with him.
So it was less than thrilling. Next stop - relocation briefing next Thursday.
She did let me know who CAN answer my questions - many of them will be answered by the transportation people, and we can talk to them once we've got our orders, which should be in a couple months.
And we've now got the information about getting passports and our medical sign-off, both of which will allow us to go to Germany with him.
So it was less than thrilling. Next stop - relocation briefing next Thursday.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Pre-move, part 1
For future reference, pre-move entries might be boring for many. But I'm going to start doing them for one simple reason. Okay, two. One, I have lots of friends who have moved overseas, but their memories of the pre-move process is incomplete. If I could read their thoughts during that time, it would help me organize mine. So, maybe one day, some friend of mine will tell me they're moving overseas and are feeling overwhelmed, and I'll just forward them a link to here and presto, they can read it all and see how hard or easy it might be. They can figure out what to expect at least. And two, its my blog and I like to ramble about the boring things I do, so there.
Today I visited our Relocation Office. I wondered if they'd think I was strange for coming in for the low-down a whole year in advance. She said I was smart, and having time to get it all figured out would certainly make it easier. And she also said that it would really be good if we can make it to the pre-move briefing next week. They're offered monthly, so I wondered if I should put it off, but she said to come on!
She gave me a ton of information. I have a CD that apparently has a link on it which will take me to a ton of information about the base and moving there, etc. It better not be the plain old site that I could google and find on my own. (because I found it to be quite underwhelming.) I also have the following brochures/magazines/xeroxes:
PCS-TDY (*I'll teach army lingo in a minute) EUROPE - moving to europe mag with info on cleaning your quarters, filing a claim, and driving in europe.
GERMAN - A 31 page xeroxed list of German words. It's in 3 columns, and the 3rd one got cut off, which could be problematic if this was my only German-learning tool.
Importing Pets, Plants, and Hunting Trophies into Germany. Which I just glanced through and will probably never look at again since I own none of the above, at least, I'm not planning to move my lavender bush, so it's not an issue. You should know, however, that you are not allowed to import crocodiles. (okay, it is also good to know that you can't take even reptile leather or some seashells over, but I don't have any of those anyway.)
Sponsorship Gateway to Europe - Michael can request a sponsor already living there, and they can help us out along the way.
Adjusting to Germany - a booklet with the basics about life. Topics include many I'd wondered about already - What's different about living in Germany, German Residential Laws, Trash and Recycling, Transformers, Appliances, and Telephone Usage and Billing. Did you know that Germany has "quiet hours" daily from 1-3pm? Nice! And German doctors are not used to having to explain why they're recommending any particular treatment, they expect you to just accept it. Whoo boy. Our microwave won't work and the transformer won't make it work. Other small appliances like toasters and hair dryers are better bought in Europe as well. It's not discussing big appliances though, but I'm assuming I can't use them. Speaking of, anyone need a fridge?
Dining Out and Shopping in Germany - Ah - you have to pay for condiments in fast food places. Good to know. And, something I'd wondered about... See, I read that they have tiny refrigerators, and I wondered, "but where do they keep their food then?" It seems it's common to shop very often, even daily, for fresh foods. At the back is a list of German shopping vocabulary words. I like this one - Reformhaus - Health Food Store. And Konditorei - Confectioners. Yum.
Drivers Handbook and Examination Manual for Germany - yeah, I'd already heard to start studying this sucker now. I'm told it's a pretty hard test. We get a special US Forces German permit. This is a pretty huge booklet.
Tips for a Successful Move - This has all the basic info about moving. All the stuff I've heard before but didn't retain. Stuff you forget about from your last military move that you need a refresher on. Allowances, household goods weight limits, vehicles, etc.
Shipping Your POV (car) - A few pages of info. Most of which makes no sense to me, it's all legal sounding and I think they left a page out here and there. I just read it and understand no more than I did before I picked it up. I just want to know: when and where do I drop it off, can I leave carseats installed in it, and when and where can I pick it up. I also have to figure out what to drive after drop off and before pick up.
Last, and perhaps my favorite, The chart with the Dislocation Allowance Rates. That is, the amount of money that they pay you to move. It's a "sorry for the inconvenience of moving, here, have some cash!" allowance. The 2008 chart isn't out yet, but we'll get at least $2,154. Really, this is to offset security deposits and utility turn-ons.
Watch for Part 2!
*Alphabet Soup lessons (Army lingo!)
PCS - Permanent Change of Station (or, as permanent as it gets in the military)
TDY - temporary duty ____ I have no clue what the Y stands for. maybe less than a Year? Not sure. I know it means short term assignments.
Today I visited our Relocation Office. I wondered if they'd think I was strange for coming in for the low-down a whole year in advance. She said I was smart, and having time to get it all figured out would certainly make it easier. And she also said that it would really be good if we can make it to the pre-move briefing next week. They're offered monthly, so I wondered if I should put it off, but she said to come on!
She gave me a ton of information. I have a CD that apparently has a link on it which will take me to a ton of information about the base and moving there, etc. It better not be the plain old site that I could google and find on my own. (because I found it to be quite underwhelming.) I also have the following brochures/magazines/xeroxes:
PCS-TDY (*I'll teach army lingo in a minute) EUROPE - moving to europe mag with info on cleaning your quarters, filing a claim, and driving in europe.
GERMAN - A 31 page xeroxed list of German words. It's in 3 columns, and the 3rd one got cut off, which could be problematic if this was my only German-learning tool.
Importing Pets, Plants, and Hunting Trophies into Germany. Which I just glanced through and will probably never look at again since I own none of the above, at least, I'm not planning to move my lavender bush, so it's not an issue. You should know, however, that you are not allowed to import crocodiles. (okay, it is also good to know that you can't take even reptile leather or some seashells over, but I don't have any of those anyway.)
Sponsorship Gateway to Europe - Michael can request a sponsor already living there, and they can help us out along the way.
Adjusting to Germany - a booklet with the basics about life. Topics include many I'd wondered about already - What's different about living in Germany, German Residential Laws, Trash and Recycling, Transformers, Appliances, and Telephone Usage and Billing. Did you know that Germany has "quiet hours" daily from 1-3pm? Nice! And German doctors are not used to having to explain why they're recommending any particular treatment, they expect you to just accept it. Whoo boy. Our microwave won't work and the transformer won't make it work. Other small appliances like toasters and hair dryers are better bought in Europe as well. It's not discussing big appliances though, but I'm assuming I can't use them. Speaking of, anyone need a fridge?
Dining Out and Shopping in Germany - Ah - you have to pay for condiments in fast food places. Good to know. And, something I'd wondered about... See, I read that they have tiny refrigerators, and I wondered, "but where do they keep their food then?" It seems it's common to shop very often, even daily, for fresh foods. At the back is a list of German shopping vocabulary words. I like this one - Reformhaus - Health Food Store. And Konditorei - Confectioners. Yum.
Drivers Handbook and Examination Manual for Germany - yeah, I'd already heard to start studying this sucker now. I'm told it's a pretty hard test. We get a special US Forces German permit. This is a pretty huge booklet.
Tips for a Successful Move - This has all the basic info about moving. All the stuff I've heard before but didn't retain. Stuff you forget about from your last military move that you need a refresher on. Allowances, household goods weight limits, vehicles, etc.
Shipping Your POV (car) - A few pages of info. Most of which makes no sense to me, it's all legal sounding and I think they left a page out here and there. I just read it and understand no more than I did before I picked it up. I just want to know: when and where do I drop it off, can I leave carseats installed in it, and when and where can I pick it up. I also have to figure out what to drive after drop off and before pick up.
Last, and perhaps my favorite, The chart with the Dislocation Allowance Rates. That is, the amount of money that they pay you to move. It's a "sorry for the inconvenience of moving, here, have some cash!" allowance. The 2008 chart isn't out yet, but we'll get at least $2,154. Really, this is to offset security deposits and utility turn-ons.
Watch for Part 2!
*Alphabet Soup lessons (Army lingo!)
PCS - Permanent Change of Station (or, as permanent as it gets in the military)
TDY - temporary duty ____ I have no clue what the Y stands for. maybe less than a Year? Not sure. I know it means short term assignments.
Like sand through the hourglass...
Except unlike soaps, I only remember to update quarterly or so, and try not to bore you with every minute detail.
The Mikayla/Alex deal is ongoing, though at least I don't hear about it daily. I have witnessed hugs on more than one occasion, though, as well as the giving of candy after school.
Both kids are doing great in school, though. Some of Aaric's ADD genes are showing up, but we're on top of it. Mikayla is reading. She was reading before any of us even knew she could. Aaric gets books in his folder every afternoon to read, and Mikayla would steal them and sneak off to read. Then we couldn't find the books and hysteria would ensue. Then I started paying attention and realized she was reading them aloud. Well, I figured she was just reciting, because she's always had a knack for reciting books after hearing them once. But then I started pointing words out randomly, and sure enough, she was reading. The books were above her level, so she took forever to sound them out, so I let her teacher know about all this, and she started sending home K level books for her to read.
The whole family was illness-free for all of Sept and Oct, then in early Nov Mikayla started coughing. It all went downhill from there, and everyone has been sick this month. Xander is currently the worst, with cough and crusty eyes.
Xander, by the way, is past walking and on to running and climbing. He climbs into my dining room chairs and shakes the backs. These chairs have been with us for 7.5 yrs and 87 moves, so they're not in the best condition, so this concerns me a bit. I'm just waiting to hear one crash to the floor. Pushing them in does no good, he can pull them out. Or climb in with them pushed in, and then scream because he's stuck.
He's also the cutest thing known to man.
And as a preschooler, he'll most likely know as much German as English.
(Like that segue?)
Yep, we're moving to Germany! We'll be moving in about a year, a year that will be filled with organizing and decluttering and throwing away and giving away and selling and figuring out what to store and what to take and so forth. It will be pretty busy. Michael, of course, will be away at various schools for most of the year. He's home for the next 3.5 weeks, then he'll be home for 6 weeks in the spring, and that's it. I'll most likely be out of this house completely by the time he's done next fall, so after that 6 weeks, he won't be back. He'll sign out of Bragg in the spring. THIS will be our lovely new home. It appears to be a gorgeous city.
If you know me at all, you know I can't resist the pre-planning, even long before it's logical. So of course, I can tell you all about the rental houses currently available, how much they cost and what the floor plan is like, and what small neighboring town I'm strongly leaning towards. (Also quite lovely and home to a big honkin palace and just 10 minutes from the base)
Today I'll be visiting the Relocation office here to get all the official lowdown and find out what all I can start on from the technical side of it. As in, can we go ahead and get the ball rolling on our passports?
Our brains are seriously in overdrive. The whirlwind has slowed considerably in the past week since we found out. I swear, we both spent the first 48 hours within a foot of the computers, googling our little hearts out. We're the proud owners of 1 German language CD, and 2 downloaded (legally! from the library!) German learning programs, and we've got one other CD program checked out from the library. Our goal is for all of us to be able to carry on a semi-decent conversation upon our arrival.
We're uber-excited.
Of course, the one big drawback is that we're just not going to be able to travel home while we're there. Plane tickets for 5 (6 eventually) cost quite a pretty penny. And really, to be honest, I think if we're going to spend 3 of our 80 years of life in Germany, we should make the most of them. So we'll be staying put in Europe. Plus, it's a 9 hour flight. Nine hours. On a plane. With 3 kids. I've taken long flights before. South Africa was a doozy. I've traveled with kids before. I've even flown with 3 kids before! (Mikayla at 6 mo, Aaric at 2.5, and my niece at 3.5) And let me tell you, THAT was a whole new brand of fun. Okay, it honestly wasn't that bad. But nine hours with 3 kids on a plane? That's what I'm looking forward to the least. That and going through airports with 3 kids and luggage for 5 and 1 carseat. Fun, fun.
So let the shopping begin. I'm now on the lookout for inexpensive but good quality luggage (most of ours is falling apart and suitable for putting into the van but could easily fall apart when being tossed around the tarmac by airline employees), and winter clothes (it's snowing in Bamberg today! with a high of 1C!) and gadgets to keep the kids entertained for 9 hours on a plane (DVD player, leapster, valium... okay, kidding on the valium). I'll be all over the after-Christmas clearances this year!
The Mikayla/Alex deal is ongoing, though at least I don't hear about it daily. I have witnessed hugs on more than one occasion, though, as well as the giving of candy after school.
Both kids are doing great in school, though. Some of Aaric's ADD genes are showing up, but we're on top of it. Mikayla is reading. She was reading before any of us even knew she could. Aaric gets books in his folder every afternoon to read, and Mikayla would steal them and sneak off to read. Then we couldn't find the books and hysteria would ensue. Then I started paying attention and realized she was reading them aloud. Well, I figured she was just reciting, because she's always had a knack for reciting books after hearing them once. But then I started pointing words out randomly, and sure enough, she was reading. The books were above her level, so she took forever to sound them out, so I let her teacher know about all this, and she started sending home K level books for her to read.
The whole family was illness-free for all of Sept and Oct, then in early Nov Mikayla started coughing. It all went downhill from there, and everyone has been sick this month. Xander is currently the worst, with cough and crusty eyes.
Xander, by the way, is past walking and on to running and climbing. He climbs into my dining room chairs and shakes the backs. These chairs have been with us for 7.5 yrs and 87 moves, so they're not in the best condition, so this concerns me a bit. I'm just waiting to hear one crash to the floor. Pushing them in does no good, he can pull them out. Or climb in with them pushed in, and then scream because he's stuck.
He's also the cutest thing known to man.
And as a preschooler, he'll most likely know as much German as English.
(Like that segue?)
Yep, we're moving to Germany! We'll be moving in about a year, a year that will be filled with organizing and decluttering and throwing away and giving away and selling and figuring out what to store and what to take and so forth. It will be pretty busy. Michael, of course, will be away at various schools for most of the year. He's home for the next 3.5 weeks, then he'll be home for 6 weeks in the spring, and that's it. I'll most likely be out of this house completely by the time he's done next fall, so after that 6 weeks, he won't be back. He'll sign out of Bragg in the spring. THIS will be our lovely new home. It appears to be a gorgeous city.
If you know me at all, you know I can't resist the pre-planning, even long before it's logical. So of course, I can tell you all about the rental houses currently available, how much they cost and what the floor plan is like, and what small neighboring town I'm strongly leaning towards. (Also quite lovely and home to a big honkin palace and just 10 minutes from the base)
Today I'll be visiting the Relocation office here to get all the official lowdown and find out what all I can start on from the technical side of it. As in, can we go ahead and get the ball rolling on our passports?
Our brains are seriously in overdrive. The whirlwind has slowed considerably in the past week since we found out. I swear, we both spent the first 48 hours within a foot of the computers, googling our little hearts out. We're the proud owners of 1 German language CD, and 2 downloaded (legally! from the library!) German learning programs, and we've got one other CD program checked out from the library. Our goal is for all of us to be able to carry on a semi-decent conversation upon our arrival.
We're uber-excited.
Of course, the one big drawback is that we're just not going to be able to travel home while we're there. Plane tickets for 5 (6 eventually) cost quite a pretty penny. And really, to be honest, I think if we're going to spend 3 of our 80 years of life in Germany, we should make the most of them. So we'll be staying put in Europe. Plus, it's a 9 hour flight. Nine hours. On a plane. With 3 kids. I've taken long flights before. South Africa was a doozy. I've traveled with kids before. I've even flown with 3 kids before! (Mikayla at 6 mo, Aaric at 2.5, and my niece at 3.5) And let me tell you, THAT was a whole new brand of fun. Okay, it honestly wasn't that bad. But nine hours with 3 kids on a plane? That's what I'm looking forward to the least. That and going through airports with 3 kids and luggage for 5 and 1 carseat. Fun, fun.
So let the shopping begin. I'm now on the lookout for inexpensive but good quality luggage (most of ours is falling apart and suitable for putting into the van but could easily fall apart when being tossed around the tarmac by airline employees), and winter clothes (it's snowing in Bamberg today! with a high of 1C!) and gadgets to keep the kids entertained for 9 hours on a plane (DVD player, leapster, valium... okay, kidding on the valium). I'll be all over the after-Christmas clearances this year!
Monday, October 15, 2007
I'm in the news!
Okay, so maybe not me, personally. But as I was just catching up on some blog-reading, I hear the friendly newscaster say the words, "mommy blogs." I start listening and it's a little 30 second "story" about how many millions of moms have blogs and new ones pop up every day, and some moms even make money at doing it. Now, that, I knew. I know that Dooce (link to the left) has made a career of it. I don't know who they were actually talking about, but they mentioned that one lady makes $48K per year from the ads on hers. I totally need ads.
Monday, September 10, 2007
And so it begins...
Tuesday - "Guess what Mom? I have a boyfriend! He waves at me and I wave at him. he's in my class." I say, "Oh really? What is his name?" while thinking, "Not even a week in school and already with the boyfriends? Why can't she be uninterested, like Aaric?" She doesn't know his name. A boyfriend. Whose name she doesn't know. Nice.
Wednesday - "My boyfriend's name is Alex! He's insert some girl name here's boyfriend, too. We share." I respond, "Oh, Alex, huh?" while thinking "Lovely. At least she is learning sharing skills, right?"
Wednesday night at church, yelling across the parking lot to friends, "Hi guys! Guess what? I have a boyfriend, and his name is Alex and he's in my class!"
All of this, by the way, is said in that sing-songy little voice that every little girl possesses. (Really? Five s's in that word? Seems like overkill.)
I told her teacher about it and she says Alex is quite the ladies man.
Wednesday - "My boyfriend's name is Alex! He's insert some girl name here's boyfriend, too. We share." I respond, "Oh, Alex, huh?" while thinking "Lovely. At least she is learning sharing skills, right?"
Wednesday night at church, yelling across the parking lot to friends, "Hi guys! Guess what? I have a boyfriend, and his name is Alex and he's in my class!"
All of this, by the way, is said in that sing-songy little voice that every little girl possesses. (Really? Five s's in that word? Seems like overkill.)
I told her teacher about it and she says Alex is quite the ladies man.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Quiet
It's quiet in my house. Both big kids are at school, and Xander's incoming tooth doesn't seem to be bothering him yet today, so it's quiet.
Aaric's first day was rather ho-hum. I mean, he just fell right back into the routine without skipping a beat. Not overly excited, not sad, just like, "yeah, school again. Good times." Mikayla had orientation that day, which went well. I was sitting in a tiny chair right in front of the teacher's desk, which had a box with about 50 markers in it, which Xander reached up and pulled down. Markers cascaded all down my back and onto the floor. I spent the rest of the time trying to keep him occupied and his fingers off the supplies.
Her first day also went very smoothly. Well, except that I forgot to give her the antibiotics, so I had to interrupt class to do it an hour later. I wondered how she'd do though. I went back to work when Aaric was four weeks old, and while I always had a schedule that allowed me to see him a good bit, I kept working full time until he was nearly 2. And then, my attention wasn't on him as much because I had a tiny newborn. Mikayla, though, has never left my side other than to spend a week at Grandma's every once in a while. And, I've always suspected that she likes Grandma more than me anyway, so that was totally no big deal. (She really did ask me a while back why she can't just go live with Grandma.) But I wondered how she'd deal with actually being away from me, with people she doesn't really know, for 6 hours a day. And she did just fine. Not a hint of nervousness. Cautiously excited. It helps that we stopped by the school often last year, so she was already familiar with her teacher. She really wanted Aaric's K teacher this year, and is still a bit mad that she doesn't have her, but she's settling in just fine.
Monday, while Aaric and I walked together, she raced another kid almost all the way to the school. We come from the back of the school, and I watched her round the corner to the front of the school and thought that was it. My 5 year old baby just ran off to her second day of school without saying goodbye or even looking back. Then I rounded the corner myself and saw her walking back to me, giggling. "I don't know if I know how to get to my class!" I walked her to the front door and reminded her that there are people standing inside to help them find their way, and off she bounced. That night, I said, "this morning I thought you went in without saying goodbye." She laughed and said, "I'd never do that!! That's because I love you!"
Then today she told me goodbye when we were about halfway there, so she wouldn't have to do it later. Please tell me we haven't already hit the "embarrassed to be seen with mom" stage.
Xander is now not only walking, but also preparing for a career as a professional daredevil. We know that he can get down from the bed without injury. We know this because we've left him on the bed a couple times, only to find him happily playing on the floor. So I wanted to catch him in the act so I could see how he does it. After I caught him in the act once, I decided I don't want to see it. It seems that he starts out sitting, then scoots forward to the edge until his legs are dangling off, then he lunges forward. So far, I've always jumped up to catch him as he starts to lunge, because I can just see him breaking a leg or a spine. So, whatever it is that he does, I have no desire to see it. I've started teaching him to roll over and slide down. Same with the stairs, which he can climb. But at the top, he sits there peering downward with a look that says, "that's a LONG way down, I think I'll just sit right here."
Today, we're going to eat lunch at the school. The kids say they only get 10 minutes to eat, and neither has finished the food I send with them, so I'm going to check out the situation for myself. Surely they get more than 10 minutes, right?
Aaric's first day was rather ho-hum. I mean, he just fell right back into the routine without skipping a beat. Not overly excited, not sad, just like, "yeah, school again. Good times." Mikayla had orientation that day, which went well. I was sitting in a tiny chair right in front of the teacher's desk, which had a box with about 50 markers in it, which Xander reached up and pulled down. Markers cascaded all down my back and onto the floor. I spent the rest of the time trying to keep him occupied and his fingers off the supplies.
Her first day also went very smoothly. Well, except that I forgot to give her the antibiotics, so I had to interrupt class to do it an hour later. I wondered how she'd do though. I went back to work when Aaric was four weeks old, and while I always had a schedule that allowed me to see him a good bit, I kept working full time until he was nearly 2. And then, my attention wasn't on him as much because I had a tiny newborn. Mikayla, though, has never left my side other than to spend a week at Grandma's every once in a while. And, I've always suspected that she likes Grandma more than me anyway, so that was totally no big deal. (She really did ask me a while back why she can't just go live with Grandma.) But I wondered how she'd deal with actually being away from me, with people she doesn't really know, for 6 hours a day. And she did just fine. Not a hint of nervousness. Cautiously excited. It helps that we stopped by the school often last year, so she was already familiar with her teacher. She really wanted Aaric's K teacher this year, and is still a bit mad that she doesn't have her, but she's settling in just fine.
Monday, while Aaric and I walked together, she raced another kid almost all the way to the school. We come from the back of the school, and I watched her round the corner to the front of the school and thought that was it. My 5 year old baby just ran off to her second day of school without saying goodbye or even looking back. Then I rounded the corner myself and saw her walking back to me, giggling. "I don't know if I know how to get to my class!" I walked her to the front door and reminded her that there are people standing inside to help them find their way, and off she bounced. That night, I said, "this morning I thought you went in without saying goodbye." She laughed and said, "I'd never do that!! That's because I love you!"
Then today she told me goodbye when we were about halfway there, so she wouldn't have to do it later. Please tell me we haven't already hit the "embarrassed to be seen with mom" stage.
Xander is now not only walking, but also preparing for a career as a professional daredevil. We know that he can get down from the bed without injury. We know this because we've left him on the bed a couple times, only to find him happily playing on the floor. So I wanted to catch him in the act so I could see how he does it. After I caught him in the act once, I decided I don't want to see it. It seems that he starts out sitting, then scoots forward to the edge until his legs are dangling off, then he lunges forward. So far, I've always jumped up to catch him as he starts to lunge, because I can just see him breaking a leg or a spine. So, whatever it is that he does, I have no desire to see it. I've started teaching him to roll over and slide down. Same with the stairs, which he can climb. But at the top, he sits there peering downward with a look that says, "that's a LONG way down, I think I'll just sit right here."
Today, we're going to eat lunch at the school. The kids say they only get 10 minutes to eat, and neither has finished the food I send with them, so I'm going to check out the situation for myself. Surely they get more than 10 minutes, right?
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Summer Summary
I know I've been MIA recently. With good reason. Here are the highlights. Or lowlights, as most of them are.
Following the UTIs and head injuries, we went to GA for 10 days (injury free!) and then Myrtle Beach for 5 days. While the beach trip was "injury" free, Xander did have a yeast infection/diaper rash the entire time. There's something odd about slathering your little boy down with Monistat.
A few days after our return home, Xander was all better and I was looking forward to a healthy August. But before that, it was Aaric's birthday. I'm the mother of a seven year old. I feel old.
On Aaric's birthday, the kids and I went to the beach with some friends. Camping. I got some mosquito bites, but otherwise, the trip was injury/illness free. We got home Sunday afternoon. Had spaghetti for dinner.
Sunday evening, I noticed redness around Xander's neck. Monday, I notice redness on his chin. My logical conclusion was that he'd gotten a little burned on his neck, and his constant drooling was irritating his chin. Until it spread and he had pink puffy eyes and a little not so cute pink goatee shaped rash on his face. Then I knew something was up, but was still not panicked. The next day it looked like I'd just taken the kid outside around noon and positioned his high chair so that he was facing directly into the sun and left him there for a couple hours. Bright red, all over his whole head. That was Tuesday afternoon. We went to the ER.
ER doc declared it "dermatitis, cause unknown." He got a dose of steroids and we were sent on our way. Friday, he was not only bright red, but also all his skin on his head was cracking, and in his neck it was just plain gross (I'll spare you the gory details). So we went in to see our doctor. The resident thought it looked bacterial, and went to get her attending doc, brought back 2 of my favorite doctors at the clinic, and they all looked him over for a good long while. The final conclusion is that he had Scalded Skin Syndrome, which is one of the ways Staphalococcus aureus presents itself in infants. As my doctor described to me, "It basically looks like you dipped his face into a vat of boiling water." Nice mental image, right?! So, off the steroids and onto the penicillin.
Within a couple days, he'd improved greatly. I, on the other hand, was increasingly itchy. The mosquito bites were not getting under control. They were getting worse. At his 1 week follow up, I showed them to the resident, who asked and was told I should just use neosporin and see if that helps. It didn't. I went back in a few days later and she said it was bacterial, put me on some meds.
Meanwhile, thanks to the 546908 rounds of antibiotics Xander has had so far, his poor little body again gave in to the yeast, and we both had thrush symptoms. The next day, I found a sore on Mikayla much like the ones I had (did I mention it spread? I started with 10 bites, wound up with around 80 sores. fun stuff.) so we headed to Urgent Care. There, they actually did a culture on my nasty germs, and put us both on new antibiotics. He said it was MRSA. Which is methasomething resistant staph aureus. In other words, "a whole bunch of drugs won't touch this bacteria in the least." Well, it turns out it was not MRSA, but it is the SA part. And it's not really getting better.
So, that's what our summer has been like. I've alerted the staff at our doctor's office that I may just start camping out in the waiting room in order to simplify matters and save my gas money.
Open House for the kids is tomorrow, so today was our last real day of summer. And we spent it cooped up in the house, with our staphy germs. No really, I'm told we're not contagious, but I look icky, so I'm staying in. Tomorrow though, we have to go out.
Open House, and then tomorrow night is a school night! Aaric's first day is Thursday and Mikayla has orientation then, and then her first day is Friday.
Oh, I almost forgot some of the Xander-related highlights. While trying his hardest to fight his battle with SSSS, a tooth popped through. No wonder he was cranky. Itchy, painful skin, a tooth pushing on his gums, and steroids that turn kids into maniacs. I'm actually surprised it didn't go any worse!
A week after that one came in, another followed. And then not quite a week later, the third made it's way in. The days of gummy grins are gone. Luckily, the toothy grins are just as cute.
Over this past weekend, he was standing, falling forward, and a foot would move forward, so he'd sorta take a step, but it was more of a failed attempt to achieve balance than anything else. Yesterday, that evolved into him taking 2 intentional steps forward, a few times during the day. Today, he was taking 4-5 steps in a row. He's walking.
I find that to be pretty absurd, because he's so tiny. (comparatively. Remember, my other two were whoppers) Twenty-one pounders shouldn't be upright and mobile. But he does it anyway.
So that really is it. I wanted to get all that out of the way so that I could do back to school posts later this week. Or, in my recent fashion, a "here's how our fall went" post in November.
Following the UTIs and head injuries, we went to GA for 10 days (injury free!) and then Myrtle Beach for 5 days. While the beach trip was "injury" free, Xander did have a yeast infection/diaper rash the entire time. There's something odd about slathering your little boy down with Monistat.
A few days after our return home, Xander was all better and I was looking forward to a healthy August. But before that, it was Aaric's birthday. I'm the mother of a seven year old. I feel old.
On Aaric's birthday, the kids and I went to the beach with some friends. Camping. I got some mosquito bites, but otherwise, the trip was injury/illness free. We got home Sunday afternoon. Had spaghetti for dinner.
Sunday evening, I noticed redness around Xander's neck. Monday, I notice redness on his chin. My logical conclusion was that he'd gotten a little burned on his neck, and his constant drooling was irritating his chin. Until it spread and he had pink puffy eyes and a little not so cute pink goatee shaped rash on his face. Then I knew something was up, but was still not panicked. The next day it looked like I'd just taken the kid outside around noon and positioned his high chair so that he was facing directly into the sun and left him there for a couple hours. Bright red, all over his whole head. That was Tuesday afternoon. We went to the ER.
ER doc declared it "dermatitis, cause unknown." He got a dose of steroids and we were sent on our way. Friday, he was not only bright red, but also all his skin on his head was cracking, and in his neck it was just plain gross (I'll spare you the gory details). So we went in to see our doctor. The resident thought it looked bacterial, and went to get her attending doc, brought back 2 of my favorite doctors at the clinic, and they all looked him over for a good long while. The final conclusion is that he had Scalded Skin Syndrome, which is one of the ways Staphalococcus aureus presents itself in infants. As my doctor described to me, "It basically looks like you dipped his face into a vat of boiling water." Nice mental image, right?! So, off the steroids and onto the penicillin.
Within a couple days, he'd improved greatly. I, on the other hand, was increasingly itchy. The mosquito bites were not getting under control. They were getting worse. At his 1 week follow up, I showed them to the resident, who asked and was told I should just use neosporin and see if that helps. It didn't. I went back in a few days later and she said it was bacterial, put me on some meds.
Meanwhile, thanks to the 546908 rounds of antibiotics Xander has had so far, his poor little body again gave in to the yeast, and we both had thrush symptoms. The next day, I found a sore on Mikayla much like the ones I had (did I mention it spread? I started with 10 bites, wound up with around 80 sores. fun stuff.) so we headed to Urgent Care. There, they actually did a culture on my nasty germs, and put us both on new antibiotics. He said it was MRSA. Which is methasomething resistant staph aureus. In other words, "a whole bunch of drugs won't touch this bacteria in the least." Well, it turns out it was not MRSA, but it is the SA part. And it's not really getting better.
So, that's what our summer has been like. I've alerted the staff at our doctor's office that I may just start camping out in the waiting room in order to simplify matters and save my gas money.
Open House for the kids is tomorrow, so today was our last real day of summer. And we spent it cooped up in the house, with our staphy germs. No really, I'm told we're not contagious, but I look icky, so I'm staying in. Tomorrow though, we have to go out.
Open House, and then tomorrow night is a school night! Aaric's first day is Thursday and Mikayla has orientation then, and then her first day is Friday.
Oh, I almost forgot some of the Xander-related highlights. While trying his hardest to fight his battle with SSSS, a tooth popped through. No wonder he was cranky. Itchy, painful skin, a tooth pushing on his gums, and steroids that turn kids into maniacs. I'm actually surprised it didn't go any worse!
A week after that one came in, another followed. And then not quite a week later, the third made it's way in. The days of gummy grins are gone. Luckily, the toothy grins are just as cute.
Over this past weekend, he was standing, falling forward, and a foot would move forward, so he'd sorta take a step, but it was more of a failed attempt to achieve balance than anything else. Yesterday, that evolved into him taking 2 intentional steps forward, a few times during the day. Today, he was taking 4-5 steps in a row. He's walking.
I find that to be pretty absurd, because he's so tiny. (comparatively. Remember, my other two were whoppers) Twenty-one pounders shouldn't be upright and mobile. But he does it anyway.
So that really is it. I wanted to get all that out of the way so that I could do back to school posts later this week. Or, in my recent fashion, a "here's how our fall went" post in November.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Quotes!
Mikayla: I do not like Aaric, he is the worst brother I have ever seen! (because he put a "book" she'd made into the shredder.) (and yes, mom, I told him to stay away from the shredder!)
Aaric, at 10 AM: When is Grandma going to get up!?? (she was at work!)
Xander: amamamamama. pppfffttt.
Aaric, at 10 AM: When is Grandma going to get up!?? (she was at work!)
Xander: amamamamama. pppfffttt.
Recovering
(Yes, 2 in one day because I'm behind on things I'd wanted to write about, and have the time now, but these two are so unrelated that I wanted to separate them.)
Two Saturdays ago, we had yet another trip to the ER. I've spared you all the updates on Xander, but we're up to four UTI's now, so we've spent gracious plenty time in the ER and doctor's offices. This time, it wasn't Xander.
Mikayla and Aaric had been outside playing and Michael sent them up to rinse off in the shower. Aaric was showering and Mikayla was playing in the bathroom. We heard a crash and screaming.
Mikayla scares easily. She'll freak out and scream all the time. So Michael ran upstairs mainly to check on the mess that was made by this crash. I stayed on the sofa with Xander until around a minute had passed and she was still screaming. I decided that perhaps I should investigate.
And I was the first to notice the blood running down her back. Michael brushed her hair aside, and it was clear that the blood was coming from her head.
I've never realized just how traumatized I'd be from seeing blood coming from my child's head. I think it wouldn't have been so bad if the cut had been visible, but it was covered by her hair, and there was a lot of blood. So of course, I freaked. Michael put his EMT skills to good use and rushed her to the bathroom to start applying pressure. I rushed next door to see if the neighbors could watch Aaric for us. By the time we got to the car, her lips were white and her eyes were rolling back in her head, and we'd found out what had happened. She was swinging on the shower curtain rod and it fell, and the end of it hit the back of her head. I still hadn't seen the cut.
When we got to the ER, I carried her in and went to the desk I'd been directed to and said, "She's got a gash on the back of her head, she's very pale, and she's trying to sleep." The check-in lady herself didn't act very concerned, but she did rush us through. She made sure we were the next to get into triage. By then, Mikayla was throwing up, but the color had also returned to her face. The insane triage nurse not only needed to take her temperature (vomiting kids with a concussion are not the easiest to convince to hold a thermometer under their tongue!) but also wanted to weigh her. I just told him there was NO way we'd get her to stand alone on that scale. I mean, she could barely even hold her head up and he wants her to stand? He agreed to just list my estimate.
Next we were put in a trauma room. Every other time I've been to the ER, we've been in a "room" that contained a bed, a couple machines to monitor vitals, and walls made of curtains. This time, we were in a real room with permanent walls and a door. There were two beds with huge lamps overhead and equipment that was designed to save lives. Most disturbing to me, were the posters on the wall with instructions for what to do in case of airway failure and the chain of command in rescusitation situations. Now, is it just me, or are these things that the hospital staff should just know? I don't want the person who is working to get me breathing again to need to look up at the poster to try to figure out what to do!
So anyway, once we were in there, no one seemed to stressed. Her color was back and the bleeding had slowed. The nurse put the pulse ox monitor on her and made chit chat about how it happened and her lack of vaccinations.
The doctor came in, and he was strange. He didn't put on gloves as he separated bloody strands of hair to find the cut. He put a finger and thumb on each side of it and wiggled the skin around, telling the resident behind him that he was checking for debris. The resident asked if he would irrigate, and the doctor shrugged and said, "no, we just look around for debris..." Then he said they'd be back in a few minutes to do the staples. He did look at her face and ask her a few questions. She was not at all happy about it, but she was at least responding by then. I asked if he was going to do anything else to check for concussion and he just said, "nah, she has one." Apparently, if the kid gets hit in the head, they just assume it's a concussion and if the kid is acting semi-normal, they assume it's not too bad.
A few minutes later he stapled her up, which she was VERY much not happy with. Then of course we sat there for an eon to wait on the discharge papers.
Later that night, the reality of it all started hitting us. I hadn't thought about the color of her folder, but Michael noticed, and told me that there was only one color left after yellow, which is what she had. Then, I guess I knew already, but I more fully realized why we'd been in the trauma room. They weren't just being nice and giving us a comfier bed and more well lit room. We were there because if she had gotten worse, they would have needed some of that equipment. Then came the thoughts of how much worse it could have been. One inch lower, and it would have hit her spine instead of her skull. Instead of a concussion, we likely would have been dealing with a broken neck. A bit more force and it would have probably fractured her skull. As it was, everyone is suprised they didn't do any x-rays to check for it anyway. And if it had bled much more, she wouldn't have pulled out of the early stages of shock quite so easily.
After processing all of that, we were finally able to move on to being thankful at how lucky we were that it wasn't worse. She really was okay.
Michael had nightmares all that night. I slept well, but for a couple of days I asked her how it was and checked it for more bleeding way more times than necessary. Over a week later and I still keep replaying it all in my head.
But then I see her playing and feel so thankful that she's her normal self and not even in any pain anymore.
And then I have to go retrieve Xander from the stairs or any of the other many things I have to do on a daily basis to try to keep us all out of the ER for as long as possible. We're on day 10 with no doctor visits now (not counting going in for the staple removal, which her Nana did). Ten days with no doctors, and just hoping we can keep that trend for a while. At the very least, we go to the urologist in August. I just hope we don't need to see one prior to that. I like our doctor, but I've seen him way too many times this year. And I like our ER, but I'd like it better if I didn't see it so often. Mostly though, I'm just glad that all the kids are healthy and uninjured. For now.
Two Saturdays ago, we had yet another trip to the ER. I've spared you all the updates on Xander, but we're up to four UTI's now, so we've spent gracious plenty time in the ER and doctor's offices. This time, it wasn't Xander.
Mikayla and Aaric had been outside playing and Michael sent them up to rinse off in the shower. Aaric was showering and Mikayla was playing in the bathroom. We heard a crash and screaming.
Mikayla scares easily. She'll freak out and scream all the time. So Michael ran upstairs mainly to check on the mess that was made by this crash. I stayed on the sofa with Xander until around a minute had passed and she was still screaming. I decided that perhaps I should investigate.
And I was the first to notice the blood running down her back. Michael brushed her hair aside, and it was clear that the blood was coming from her head.
I've never realized just how traumatized I'd be from seeing blood coming from my child's head. I think it wouldn't have been so bad if the cut had been visible, but it was covered by her hair, and there was a lot of blood. So of course, I freaked. Michael put his EMT skills to good use and rushed her to the bathroom to start applying pressure. I rushed next door to see if the neighbors could watch Aaric for us. By the time we got to the car, her lips were white and her eyes were rolling back in her head, and we'd found out what had happened. She was swinging on the shower curtain rod and it fell, and the end of it hit the back of her head. I still hadn't seen the cut.
When we got to the ER, I carried her in and went to the desk I'd been directed to and said, "She's got a gash on the back of her head, she's very pale, and she's trying to sleep." The check-in lady herself didn't act very concerned, but she did rush us through. She made sure we were the next to get into triage. By then, Mikayla was throwing up, but the color had also returned to her face. The insane triage nurse not only needed to take her temperature (vomiting kids with a concussion are not the easiest to convince to hold a thermometer under their tongue!) but also wanted to weigh her. I just told him there was NO way we'd get her to stand alone on that scale. I mean, she could barely even hold her head up and he wants her to stand? He agreed to just list my estimate.
Next we were put in a trauma room. Every other time I've been to the ER, we've been in a "room" that contained a bed, a couple machines to monitor vitals, and walls made of curtains. This time, we were in a real room with permanent walls and a door. There were two beds with huge lamps overhead and equipment that was designed to save lives. Most disturbing to me, were the posters on the wall with instructions for what to do in case of airway failure and the chain of command in rescusitation situations. Now, is it just me, or are these things that the hospital staff should just know? I don't want the person who is working to get me breathing again to need to look up at the poster to try to figure out what to do!
So anyway, once we were in there, no one seemed to stressed. Her color was back and the bleeding had slowed. The nurse put the pulse ox monitor on her and made chit chat about how it happened and her lack of vaccinations.
The doctor came in, and he was strange. He didn't put on gloves as he separated bloody strands of hair to find the cut. He put a finger and thumb on each side of it and wiggled the skin around, telling the resident behind him that he was checking for debris. The resident asked if he would irrigate, and the doctor shrugged and said, "no, we just look around for debris..." Then he said they'd be back in a few minutes to do the staples. He did look at her face and ask her a few questions. She was not at all happy about it, but she was at least responding by then. I asked if he was going to do anything else to check for concussion and he just said, "nah, she has one." Apparently, if the kid gets hit in the head, they just assume it's a concussion and if the kid is acting semi-normal, they assume it's not too bad.
A few minutes later he stapled her up, which she was VERY much not happy with. Then of course we sat there for an eon to wait on the discharge papers.
Later that night, the reality of it all started hitting us. I hadn't thought about the color of her folder, but Michael noticed, and told me that there was only one color left after yellow, which is what she had. Then, I guess I knew already, but I more fully realized why we'd been in the trauma room. They weren't just being nice and giving us a comfier bed and more well lit room. We were there because if she had gotten worse, they would have needed some of that equipment. Then came the thoughts of how much worse it could have been. One inch lower, and it would have hit her spine instead of her skull. Instead of a concussion, we likely would have been dealing with a broken neck. A bit more force and it would have probably fractured her skull. As it was, everyone is suprised they didn't do any x-rays to check for it anyway. And if it had bled much more, she wouldn't have pulled out of the early stages of shock quite so easily.
After processing all of that, we were finally able to move on to being thankful at how lucky we were that it wasn't worse. She really was okay.
Michael had nightmares all that night. I slept well, but for a couple of days I asked her how it was and checked it for more bleeding way more times than necessary. Over a week later and I still keep replaying it all in my head.
But then I see her playing and feel so thankful that she's her normal self and not even in any pain anymore.
And then I have to go retrieve Xander from the stairs or any of the other many things I have to do on a daily basis to try to keep us all out of the ER for as long as possible. We're on day 10 with no doctor visits now (not counting going in for the staple removal, which her Nana did). Ten days with no doctors, and just hoping we can keep that trend for a while. At the very least, we go to the urologist in August. I just hope we don't need to see one prior to that. I like our doctor, but I've seen him way too many times this year. And I like our ER, but I'd like it better if I didn't see it so often. Mostly though, I'm just glad that all the kids are healthy and uninjured. For now.
Aaric, the sweetie pie manipulator
I wanted to scan the picture, but I left town before getting the scanner hooked up. So instead, I'm just telling the story and if I ever get it scanned, it'll be in the photo album.
Aaric had been banished to his room for a variety of reasons. I figured while he was there, he may as well clean. After the second day, I started over-focusing on the cleaning, forgetting that it wasn't the main purpose of his banishment. But I got sick of seeing him playing during his "punishment" and finally stuck my head in and told him that if I caught him doing anything other than cleaning again, I'd take away whatever he was playing with. A few minutes later I looked in and saw him with a crayon and a piece of paper. I snatched it up and stormed out and shut the door behind me. Then I looked down at it.
sary sary sary
sary sary sary
a thsunn tims
Im sary momye
i lov
Which translates into, "sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, a thousand times, I'm sorry Mommy. I love..." which is where I'd cut him off.
I thrust it at Michael and said something about it not being fair that he'd disobey me by writing a sorry/love note! The nerve!
May as well throw in a funny thing he said the other day. His birthday is coming up and we're in GA, so everyone is asking what he wants. He has no clue. The only TV he watches is PBS, and I'm a mean mother who refuses to take him down the toy aisle ever, so he has no idea what other toys are even available to him. There was something he'd mentioned one day and I said "absolutely not!" Clothes, especially socks and underwear, were mentioned and he said "absolutely not!" A couple days later, I was talking to someone else about what he might like and said, "Hey, Aaric, what was it that you asked for and I said no way?" He thought about it for a minute, smiled a little grin and said, "Clothes!"
Aaric had been banished to his room for a variety of reasons. I figured while he was there, he may as well clean. After the second day, I started over-focusing on the cleaning, forgetting that it wasn't the main purpose of his banishment. But I got sick of seeing him playing during his "punishment" and finally stuck my head in and told him that if I caught him doing anything other than cleaning again, I'd take away whatever he was playing with. A few minutes later I looked in and saw him with a crayon and a piece of paper. I snatched it up and stormed out and shut the door behind me. Then I looked down at it.
sary sary sary
sary sary sary
a thsunn tims
Im sary momye
i lov
Which translates into, "sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, a thousand times, I'm sorry Mommy. I love..." which is where I'd cut him off.
I thrust it at Michael and said something about it not being fair that he'd disobey me by writing a sorry/love note! The nerve!
May as well throw in a funny thing he said the other day. His birthday is coming up and we're in GA, so everyone is asking what he wants. He has no clue. The only TV he watches is PBS, and I'm a mean mother who refuses to take him down the toy aisle ever, so he has no idea what other toys are even available to him. There was something he'd mentioned one day and I said "absolutely not!" Clothes, especially socks and underwear, were mentioned and he said "absolutely not!" A couple days later, I was talking to someone else about what he might like and said, "Hey, Aaric, what was it that you asked for and I said no way?" He thought about it for a minute, smiled a little grin and said, "Clothes!"
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
I really am here.
I promise. Gotta get my scanner up and running and then I'll have a fun little story along with a picture. For today, just a couple things.
1. I found this poem just now. It should be renamed, "Kelly in 30 years." What a great opening line: When I am a grandmother I shall have a purple sling. I already have a cranberry batik, I say that's close enough to purple.
I've decided that I hate the TV. Actually, my particular hate here is harder to pin down. On the one hand, I think that all of the TV shows and commercials aimed at encouraging people to lose weight and get healthy are a great thing. If part of the obesity equation is that we have too many couch potatoes, then what better way is there to reach that audience? But I don't like the flip side. The flip side is that people with perfectly normal bodies get self conscious about their bodies for no good reason. Prime example:
Mikayla, giggling, as if she was just asking for a haircut, again: Mom, I need to lose weight!
Me, shocked, but figuring she really didn't understand what that even meant: Why do you want to do that?
Mikayla, still casual and laughing: Because I'm a little fat!
Yeah, I'll admit that every once in a while I pull up the growth charts and weight for height charts and see where the kids are at, just to stay mindful of it (they're both perfectly normal). I don't tell them about it though, and I certainly don't do anything to make them think they might have problems. I know that it came from the stupid Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers and Alli and every other weight loss program commercials.
I don't want to have to deal with body image issues with my 5 yr old! But what I DO want is to be able to watch TV from time to time. Maybe it's time for Tivo.
Xander. Well, he's just the cutest thing on the entire planet. I know none of you will admit it, because that would be rude, and one day your kids may google and find this and it would be sad if they saw that their mother admitted that someone else has the truly cutest baby on earth. But it's okay. I know you think he's the cutest ever, too. It'll be our little secret.
Pictures tomorrow. Or Thursday. Along with the Aaric story.
1. I found this poem just now. It should be renamed, "Kelly in 30 years." What a great opening line: When I am a grandmother I shall have a purple sling. I already have a cranberry batik, I say that's close enough to purple.
I've decided that I hate the TV. Actually, my particular hate here is harder to pin down. On the one hand, I think that all of the TV shows and commercials aimed at encouraging people to lose weight and get healthy are a great thing. If part of the obesity equation is that we have too many couch potatoes, then what better way is there to reach that audience? But I don't like the flip side. The flip side is that people with perfectly normal bodies get self conscious about their bodies for no good reason. Prime example:
Mikayla, giggling, as if she was just asking for a haircut, again: Mom, I need to lose weight!
Me, shocked, but figuring she really didn't understand what that even meant: Why do you want to do that?
Mikayla, still casual and laughing: Because I'm a little fat!
Yeah, I'll admit that every once in a while I pull up the growth charts and weight for height charts and see where the kids are at, just to stay mindful of it (they're both perfectly normal). I don't tell them about it though, and I certainly don't do anything to make them think they might have problems. I know that it came from the stupid Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers and Alli and every other weight loss program commercials.
I don't want to have to deal with body image issues with my 5 yr old! But what I DO want is to be able to watch TV from time to time. Maybe it's time for Tivo.
Xander. Well, he's just the cutest thing on the entire planet. I know none of you will admit it, because that would be rude, and one day your kids may google and find this and it would be sad if they saw that their mother admitted that someone else has the truly cutest baby on earth. But it's okay. I know you think he's the cutest ever, too. It'll be our little secret.
Pictures tomorrow. Or Thursday. Along with the Aaric story.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
I'm a forgetful procrastinator
1 - We didn't make it to IDM. I had a sinus headache and Aaric was still sick, too.
2 - From what I hear, the day went really well, though!
3 - My friend, Beth, DID have the baby, and I was fully recovered, so I was able to be there and he's very much cute.
4 - Larry came to visit for the weekend. We all know he really came to see a girl, but managed to squeeze us in.
5 - Aaric said a couple of really hilarious things this weekend. Things which I now cannot remember. If I could, I'd share them. I know both Larry and Michael asked if I was going to write about them though. So see, I AM writing about them... I just can't remember what they were.
6 - Now Mikayla and Xander are sick, and it seems that Xander's body just always responds to germs by over-reacting. He was 105 degrees yesterday.
7 - Mikayla is all registered for kindergarten.
8 - Have I ever told you that Xander is quite possibly the cutest little critter EVER?? He's cooing at me right now. Of course, he throws in a few "dadadada's" too. He only throws in the Mamamama's when he's mad.
9 - We have a swingset! Thanks to my dear mother and favorite Aunt Becky, we no longer need a fence because the children actually WANT to be in our yard. Watch for pictures, probably this evening.
10 - because a list of 9 just seems weird. Oh, I know, dessert recommendation: Sara Lee's Andes mint chocolate pie. There are 5 components - chocolate graham cracker crust, chocolate puddingy stuff, mint puddingy stuff, lots of whipped cream around the edges, chunks of andes mints sprinkled on top. Yum.
Michael reminded me of the fun things Aaric said.
Michael, to Aaric: Santa Claus is dead!
Aaric: Duh Dad, there is no Santa Claus. That's so yesterday's news.
2 - From what I hear, the day went really well, though!
3 - My friend, Beth, DID have the baby, and I was fully recovered, so I was able to be there and he's very much cute.
4 - Larry came to visit for the weekend. We all know he really came to see a girl, but managed to squeeze us in.
5 - Aaric said a couple of really hilarious things this weekend. Things which I now cannot remember. If I could, I'd share them. I know both Larry and Michael asked if I was going to write about them though. So see, I AM writing about them... I just can't remember what they were.
6 - Now Mikayla and Xander are sick, and it seems that Xander's body just always responds to germs by over-reacting. He was 105 degrees yesterday.
7 - Mikayla is all registered for kindergarten.
8 - Have I ever told you that Xander is quite possibly the cutest little critter EVER?? He's cooing at me right now. Of course, he throws in a few "dadadada's" too. He only throws in the Mamamama's when he's mad.
9 - We have a swingset! Thanks to my dear mother and favorite Aunt Becky, we no longer need a fence because the children actually WANT to be in our yard. Watch for pictures, probably this evening.
10 - because a list of 9 just seems weird. Oh, I know, dessert recommendation: Sara Lee's Andes mint chocolate pie. There are 5 components - chocolate graham cracker crust, chocolate puddingy stuff, mint puddingy stuff, lots of whipped cream around the edges, chunks of andes mints sprinkled on top. Yum.
Michael reminded me of the fun things Aaric said.
Michael, to Aaric: Santa Claus is dead!
Aaric: Duh Dad, there is no Santa Claus. That's so yesterday's news.
Monday, April 30, 2007
This and That
"Mommy, when we're grown up, Aaric will be my children's Uncle Larry."
Nothing I said could convince her that Aaric will never be an Uncle Larry.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
We've got a super fun event to go to on Wednesday - the International Day of the Midwife. Note that it is NOT a protest. I explained the basics to Aaric and he said he did indeed want to skip school to go, and said, "I don't want to say anything [because he's so shy you know], but I will hold a sign..."
"Well, honey, it's not really a protest. I don't think there will be any sign holding..."
"Will there be burning sticks?"
"Yes, honey, in modern American society, when we want to bring about change in our government, we storm the Capitol with torches. When all else fails, arson is the answer."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"hack hack hack cough cough"
"hack cough cough hack hack"
"achoo"
"whine whine cough"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
I hope they are well enough to be arsonists, I mean, activists on Wednesday. Also, I have a friend due any minute now, and if she doesn't pop that kid out before Thursday, then they'll induce, so I hope they don't get me really sick!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"dadadadada ba dada aaaama dadadadada ppppffffbbbbtttt"
Nothing I said could convince her that Aaric will never be an Uncle Larry.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
We've got a super fun event to go to on Wednesday - the International Day of the Midwife. Note that it is NOT a protest. I explained the basics to Aaric and he said he did indeed want to skip school to go, and said, "I don't want to say anything [because he's so shy you know], but I will hold a sign..."
"Well, honey, it's not really a protest. I don't think there will be any sign holding..."
"Will there be burning sticks?"
"Yes, honey, in modern American society, when we want to bring about change in our government, we storm the Capitol with torches. When all else fails, arson is the answer."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"hack hack hack cough cough"
"hack cough cough hack hack"
"achoo"
"whine whine cough"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
I hope they are well enough to be arsonists, I mean, activists on Wednesday. Also, I have a friend due any minute now, and if she doesn't pop that kid out before Thursday, then they'll induce, so I hope they don't get me really sick!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"dadadadada ba dada aaaama dadadadada ppppffffbbbbtttt"
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
A couple old nemesiseseseses
So, who remembers my garden? (If you don't, go refresh yourself, because it'll be update time, soon!) It's been in this state for over a year now. Plus some new weeds. At some point, Michael dug up some of the roots from those horrible ugly plants that I battled with for hours.
So, yesterday I was weeding, and I see a few little green shoots. I dug around them a little and was horrified at what I found.
One of those awful plants was still alive. It took me nearly an hour, but I dug and dug and pulled and pulled and broke lots of roots apart and finally pulled out the huge root system. The nightmare in my garden is finally over. AND it's nearly weed-free and actually has a few flowers. That we haven't killed yet.
I also wrote around that same time about Aaric taking his bike around the neighborhood (back in the Legal Notice Lady days. he's not supposed to leave the yard without me, unless I send him somewhere, which I rarely do.
While weeding yesterday, the kids were playing with Aaric's scooter on the sidewalk. Aaric came to tell me that Mikayla had gone to the playground. I asked him to go get her. It's right around the corner, no biggie. She came back less than a minute later. Several minutes later, I was done weeding and he wasn't back yet. I walked to where I could see the playground - no Aaric. In no mood to wander the neighborhood on foot, I grabbed the keys and let Michael know what was up and circled the block in the van. No Aaric. Now, there was that ONE time when he rode his bike about a 1/3 mile away, into the next neighborhood over which was under construction at the time. But that's the only time he's gone that far. So we were concerned. We put the younger two into the van and Michael got in his car and we split up to search. We both circled our immediate area again, and then he went one way and I went the other. He wasn't at the school, and I called Michael and he wasn't at the community center (1/3 mile away) either. A couple minutes later, I was calling to say that if we didn't find him in a minute, we needed to call the police. As I was saying, "if we don't find him..." Michael interupted to say, "I see him."
This time, he was about 2/3 mile away. It had been probably about 30 minutes from when he left our front door until we found him. He says that he was looking for Mikayla - he didn't see her coming back home, they were on opposide sides of the street.
I'm suprised I'm not gray yet.
So, yesterday I was weeding, and I see a few little green shoots. I dug around them a little and was horrified at what I found.
One of those awful plants was still alive. It took me nearly an hour, but I dug and dug and pulled and pulled and broke lots of roots apart and finally pulled out the huge root system. The nightmare in my garden is finally over. AND it's nearly weed-free and actually has a few flowers. That we haven't killed yet.
I also wrote around that same time about Aaric taking his bike around the neighborhood (back in the Legal Notice Lady days. he's not supposed to leave the yard without me, unless I send him somewhere, which I rarely do.
While weeding yesterday, the kids were playing with Aaric's scooter on the sidewalk. Aaric came to tell me that Mikayla had gone to the playground. I asked him to go get her. It's right around the corner, no biggie. She came back less than a minute later. Several minutes later, I was done weeding and he wasn't back yet. I walked to where I could see the playground - no Aaric. In no mood to wander the neighborhood on foot, I grabbed the keys and let Michael know what was up and circled the block in the van. No Aaric. Now, there was that ONE time when he rode his bike about a 1/3 mile away, into the next neighborhood over which was under construction at the time. But that's the only time he's gone that far. So we were concerned. We put the younger two into the van and Michael got in his car and we split up to search. We both circled our immediate area again, and then he went one way and I went the other. He wasn't at the school, and I called Michael and he wasn't at the community center (1/3 mile away) either. A couple minutes later, I was calling to say that if we didn't find him in a minute, we needed to call the police. As I was saying, "if we don't find him..." Michael interupted to say, "I see him."
This time, he was about 2/3 mile away. It had been probably about 30 minutes from when he left our front door until we found him. He says that he was looking for Mikayla - he didn't see her coming back home, they were on opposide sides of the street.
I'm suprised I'm not gray yet.
Five
She woke up, looked up at me, put her head back down and closed her eyes. A few seconds later, she popped back up again to say, "Aren't you going to say 'happy birthday' to me?" And this set the tone for the day. She told anyone who would listen that it was her birthday. And that she was five years old. And did you know it's her birthday? And that she's five now?! Her Sunday school class sang to her. After church, we went to Red Robin where the servers sang to her and gave her ice cream (the main thing she'd been looking forward to - being sung to in a restaurant). We had cake at home and sang to her. They sang to her at Awana's. AND she got sung to on the phone a couple times. It was her dream come true - the world revolved around her for a day. She made sure of that.
Gift she's most excited to have, her "huly hoop." Not hula, huly. The thing I grabbed on a whim, that cost a whopping $4. Favorite gift. But of course, we haven't picked up her new bike yet and haven't put the swing set together.
Now that she's five, I can teach her what 5 year olds do. She's still young enough to believe most of what I say. "Five year olds don't whine Mikayla." "Five year olds can do chores!" Or, about a skirt that's too small but she loves it, "Oh, Mikayla, that skirt is size 4." Yeah, she doesn't want to wear it anymore. She's five now, you see.
(Sorry all that is a couple days late. I have 3 kids, you know!)
Gift she's most excited to have, her "huly hoop." Not hula, huly. The thing I grabbed on a whim, that cost a whopping $4. Favorite gift. But of course, we haven't picked up her new bike yet and haven't put the swing set together.
Now that she's five, I can teach her what 5 year olds do. She's still young enough to believe most of what I say. "Five year olds don't whine Mikayla." "Five year olds can do chores!" Or, about a skirt that's too small but she loves it, "Oh, Mikayla, that skirt is size 4." Yeah, she doesn't want to wear it anymore. She's five now, you see.
(Sorry all that is a couple days late. I have 3 kids, you know!)
Monday, April 16, 2007
Proof that I live among insane people
So, we're at the commissary, and Xander is screaming. Nursing hasn't helped, he doesn't need to burp, I realize that he's probably got a dirty diaper, and since he's been cranking and just thought it was hunger, it may have been that way for a while now. So, I take him to the car for a change while Michael and the kids finish up.
Sure enough, he's dirty and has a very angry looking rash going. I get him cleaned up and slather him down with Miracle Salve and then let him hang out all naked to air dry for a few minutes.
Up walks an MP. I open the door and he says to me, "Hello, ma'am, the woman in that car right over there [points to the car parked 2 spots down with no cars between us] is offended by your baby's naked, um, bottom, and so you'll need to put him down."
Yes, he was standing in my lap, and yes, his offensive naked butt was visible through the window. He wanted to stretch. And he was in pain, so I was doing what it took to keep the kid comfortable for a few minutes!
OFFENDED! By an infant tushie!
What is the world coming to?
Also, we're like the 5 little pigs over here, and boy am I glad our house is made of bricks. There's a tree down a few houses away from us, and today was trash day and every single trash can on the street is laying on their sides and at least one house down from where they belong.
Sure enough, he's dirty and has a very angry looking rash going. I get him cleaned up and slather him down with Miracle Salve and then let him hang out all naked to air dry for a few minutes.
Up walks an MP. I open the door and he says to me, "Hello, ma'am, the woman in that car right over there [points to the car parked 2 spots down with no cars between us] is offended by your baby's naked, um, bottom, and so you'll need to put him down."
Yes, he was standing in my lap, and yes, his offensive naked butt was visible through the window. He wanted to stretch. And he was in pain, so I was doing what it took to keep the kid comfortable for a few minutes!
OFFENDED! By an infant tushie!
What is the world coming to?
Also, we're like the 5 little pigs over here, and boy am I glad our house is made of bricks. There's a tree down a few houses away from us, and today was trash day and every single trash can on the street is laying on their sides and at least one house down from where they belong.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
The Negotiator
Mikayla sneaks into my room and kneels down to grab a handful of chocolate eggs and kisses from the bucket Michael stashed on his desk, "out of their reach" that is now on the floor.
"You may have ONE piece of candy, Mikayla."
"Okay, I'll just take all of these to my room to choose which one."
Right. Like I'm dumb enough to fall for that.
"You may have ONE piece of candy, Mikayla."
"Okay, I'll just take all of these to my room to choose which one."
Right. Like I'm dumb enough to fall for that.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Aaric: Doing his part to save his teacher from boredom
They're working on pronouns. The teacher was reading some book about a cow...
"She tromped through the mud..." blah blah blah, I don't know that story. She then asked if the cow was a boy or a girl. They correctly answered that the cow was a girl. So, the teacher went on to ask how we know, expecting, I assume, to hear something about the usage of the word "she." And what a boring day it would have been if that's what Aaric would have said. No, my dear son said,"Because of the boobs!"
As he heard me telling this tale to a friend on the phone, he said, "Well, I didn't know the proper word for them on a cow."
"She tromped through the mud..." blah blah blah, I don't know that story. She then asked if the cow was a boy or a girl. They correctly answered that the cow was a girl. So, the teacher went on to ask how we know, expecting, I assume, to hear something about the usage of the word "she." And what a boring day it would have been if that's what Aaric would have said. No, my dear son said,"Because of the boobs!"
As he heard me telling this tale to a friend on the phone, he said, "Well, I didn't know the proper word for them on a cow."
Monday, April 09, 2007
Home Again, home again, jiggety jig
Isn't that in a nursery rhyme?
We've spent the past week in GA and FL and are back home now. Aaric went to the Okenfenokee Swamp with my dad. My mom took me, my other two, and Larry's two to Florida where it was freezing cold and all the kids swam. Except the baby, because he thought they were crazy. I got my big toe wet once. On accident. My nephew informed me that when he was a baby, his arm got chopped off. Also, that he's caught, wrestled, and killed, a mean shark. Some call it "imaginative." I call it "paranoid delusional."
Michael got a tattoo, which he's wanted to do for the past couple decades, at least. Speaking of decades, his age is equal to three of them now, but he's still in denial.
Mikayla started the ride home crying because she wanted to stay in GA longer. Then she started crying because we weren't close to NC yet. Then she was excited to be home, and celebrated first by sneaking way more candy than I'd said she could have, and second by staying up way too late. It's 11 now, and I still hear her playing.
But we are indeed home again. I need to unpack and clean and then I have a friend who is having a baby any day now, and I have Aaric's field day to volunteer for and lots of other excitement in the coming months.
We've spent the past week in GA and FL and are back home now. Aaric went to the Okenfenokee Swamp with my dad. My mom took me, my other two, and Larry's two to Florida where it was freezing cold and all the kids swam. Except the baby, because he thought they were crazy. I got my big toe wet once. On accident. My nephew informed me that when he was a baby, his arm got chopped off. Also, that he's caught, wrestled, and killed, a mean shark. Some call it "imaginative." I call it "paranoid delusional."
Michael got a tattoo, which he's wanted to do for the past couple decades, at least. Speaking of decades, his age is equal to three of them now, but he's still in denial.
Mikayla started the ride home crying because she wanted to stay in GA longer. Then she started crying because we weren't close to NC yet. Then she was excited to be home, and celebrated first by sneaking way more candy than I'd said she could have, and second by staying up way too late. It's 11 now, and I still hear her playing.
But we are indeed home again. I need to unpack and clean and then I have a friend who is having a baby any day now, and I have Aaric's field day to volunteer for and lots of other excitement in the coming months.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Did you hear that?
It was a pin dropping. I almost heard it.
It's very quiet in this house. I never realized just now much noise Mikayla adds to our home.
A few phone-quotes from the past week:
She was hhmmpppfffhhh-ing me, so I told her I might just drive to GA and stick her little hiney in time out.
"Don't EVEN think about coming down here, Mom."
"Who is making that baby sound that I hear?" (Possibly the dumbest question of the year. I wanted to respond, "Oh, it's one of the 17 babies we've adopted in your absense. His name is Tom. He's moved into your bedroom.")
At 8:15 PM, I tell her we're running late, and are just now making dinner. "It's not too late for dinner, mom!! It's not even bedtime. And I even already ate breakfast today!"
To which I now reply: Dear Mom, Good job! There are some days, when around the same time, she freaks out and says, "Mom, you never gave me breakfast!" and demands more food. Breakfast foods. That's why she finds it incredibly impressive that you've served her breakfast. But I DO serve her breakfast, I promise.
Aaric's response to Mikayla being away: "Mom, there's something I haven't told you, and that's that she is annoying."
Xander's thoughts: "Man is it quiet around here during the day. I think I'll start babbling non stop to make up for it. I just can't stand the silence. bbbammmmmmmmmmaaaaappppffffftttahhahahaa!"
Also, he's been introduced to the wonderful world of "sippy cups with water" and thinks they're really cool. And cheerios, which are easier to get down after you've dumped water on them. Because I leave the "sippy not spilly" thingies out of there. We're still on Crawl Watch 2007 and so far he either hasn't done it or has been incredibly stealthy. He has realized that picking his hands up is possible, but not what to do with them from there, other than put them back down into the same spot. Then he lowers himself to the floor, moves his hands to one side, and goes back up, this time facing a new direction. He's getting there.
Lastly, Aaric wants a baseball and baseball mitt. He's wanted one ever since he was a little boy. And we need to get him one, not only so that he can play with it, but also so that when he meets some famous baseball player (where? In WalMart? It's not like we go to games...), he'll have to get it signed. It's all true.
It's very quiet in this house. I never realized just now much noise Mikayla adds to our home.
A few phone-quotes from the past week:
She was hhmmpppfffhhh-ing me, so I told her I might just drive to GA and stick her little hiney in time out.
"Don't EVEN think about coming down here, Mom."
"Who is making that baby sound that I hear?" (Possibly the dumbest question of the year. I wanted to respond, "Oh, it's one of the 17 babies we've adopted in your absense. His name is Tom. He's moved into your bedroom.")
At 8:15 PM, I tell her we're running late, and are just now making dinner. "It's not too late for dinner, mom!! It's not even bedtime. And I even already ate breakfast today!"
To which I now reply: Dear Mom, Good job! There are some days, when around the same time, she freaks out and says, "Mom, you never gave me breakfast!" and demands more food. Breakfast foods. That's why she finds it incredibly impressive that you've served her breakfast. But I DO serve her breakfast, I promise.
Aaric's response to Mikayla being away: "Mom, there's something I haven't told you, and that's that she is annoying."
Xander's thoughts: "Man is it quiet around here during the day. I think I'll start babbling non stop to make up for it. I just can't stand the silence. bbbammmmmmmmmmaaaaappppffffftttahhahahaa!"
Also, he's been introduced to the wonderful world of "sippy cups with water" and thinks they're really cool. And cheerios, which are easier to get down after you've dumped water on them. Because I leave the "sippy not spilly" thingies out of there. We're still on Crawl Watch 2007 and so far he either hasn't done it or has been incredibly stealthy. He has realized that picking his hands up is possible, but not what to do with them from there, other than put them back down into the same spot. Then he lowers himself to the floor, moves his hands to one side, and goes back up, this time facing a new direction. He's getting there.
Lastly, Aaric wants a baseball and baseball mitt. He's wanted one ever since he was a little boy. And we need to get him one, not only so that he can play with it, but also so that when he meets some famous baseball player (where? In WalMart? It's not like we go to games...), he'll have to get it signed. It's all true.
Friday, March 16, 2007
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly... with a couple funnies thrown in
As of today, we are debt-free. We do owe our parents money for the times they've bailed us out over the years, but if you pulled up our credit report, after it's been updated, it would show that we have no more debt. The last of it was a student loan and a van payoff, both of which were taken care of with a tax refund. We now have a whopping $266 left of our tax refund and it will be used to supplement the budget this month. Now car payment-free, we'll be getting a fenced in yard soon! And the windows tinted on the van so that my children aren't roasted alive during the summer back there! This is all very exciting here in our boring little corner of the world.
Just a couple weeks after supposedly leaving, the bubonic plague hit our house again. For Xander it's allergies, partly due to the 3 very long haired animals he was exposed to Saturday. He's almost stopped wheezing, finally. For Mikayla, it's a cough and fever. For me, it really seemed like round 2 of the flu, but then it was suggested that it could be pneumonia. 2 strep tests, 1 blood draw (two pokes though, thanks to my tiny non-bleeding veins), and 1 chest xray later, we know that Mikayla has strep throat and I have, get this, the common cold. All my tests said I was healthy.
Spring had sprung. We were wearing shorts and sandals and frolicking in the sun. This morning, when we took Aaric to school (20 minutes late, thanks to my sick self oversleeping), it was 62 degrees. So we wore warm weather clothes. Then we went to Urgent Care for the aforementioned testing. When we left, it was 52 degrees and dropping and we were freezing. That really wasn't fun. we've got rain all day and now a chilly weekend coming up.
Do you know how I woke up this morning? I mean, after the two times I hit snooze and then apparently my alarm clock just gave up on the impossible task of waking me up. "MOM! Mikayla dumped water on me!" She seemed to think this was the perfectly reasonable course of action. She woke up, saw that it was morning, tried to wake Aaric up, he resisted, so she poured water on his head. I thanked her for waking us, but asked that next time, she just come get me. Preferably, not with a bucket of water.
And, in explanation of the new quote: So, Aaric likes to dance. He learned from The Acadamy of Professional Whiteboy Dancing. He hears music and he starts his own crazy brand of dancing and Michael and I will laugh and usually under our breaths, say, "He is SO white!" He's enthusiastic, he just lackes the moves. Mikayla and I were just counting. She'd demonstrated that she can count to 21, so I asked if she could go further. With a little help from me, she made it to 100. She was really just doing the "70....80..." with me filling in the blanks. So, i said 99, and then paused and she wanted me to say it, so I triumphantly said, "ONE HUNDRED!!!" And she rolled her eyes and said, "Mom, you are so white." Indeed. Which is why you won't see me dancing often.
(blogger hates me lately and won't save my template changes, so I'll get the quote in there when I can get it to cooperate)
Just a couple weeks after supposedly leaving, the bubonic plague hit our house again. For Xander it's allergies, partly due to the 3 very long haired animals he was exposed to Saturday. He's almost stopped wheezing, finally. For Mikayla, it's a cough and fever. For me, it really seemed like round 2 of the flu, but then it was suggested that it could be pneumonia. 2 strep tests, 1 blood draw (two pokes though, thanks to my tiny non-bleeding veins), and 1 chest xray later, we know that Mikayla has strep throat and I have, get this, the common cold. All my tests said I was healthy.
Spring had sprung. We were wearing shorts and sandals and frolicking in the sun. This morning, when we took Aaric to school (20 minutes late, thanks to my sick self oversleeping), it was 62 degrees. So we wore warm weather clothes. Then we went to Urgent Care for the aforementioned testing. When we left, it was 52 degrees and dropping and we were freezing. That really wasn't fun. we've got rain all day and now a chilly weekend coming up.
Do you know how I woke up this morning? I mean, after the two times I hit snooze and then apparently my alarm clock just gave up on the impossible task of waking me up. "MOM! Mikayla dumped water on me!" She seemed to think this was the perfectly reasonable course of action. She woke up, saw that it was morning, tried to wake Aaric up, he resisted, so she poured water on his head. I thanked her for waking us, but asked that next time, she just come get me. Preferably, not with a bucket of water.
And, in explanation of the new quote: So, Aaric likes to dance. He learned from The Acadamy of Professional Whiteboy Dancing. He hears music and he starts his own crazy brand of dancing and Michael and I will laugh and usually under our breaths, say, "He is SO white!" He's enthusiastic, he just lackes the moves. Mikayla and I were just counting. She'd demonstrated that she can count to 21, so I asked if she could go further. With a little help from me, she made it to 100. She was really just doing the "70....80..." with me filling in the blanks. So, i said 99, and then paused and she wanted me to say it, so I triumphantly said, "ONE HUNDRED!!!" And she rolled her eyes and said, "Mom, you are so white." Indeed. Which is why you won't see me dancing often.
(blogger hates me lately and won't save my template changes, so I'll get the quote in there when I can get it to cooperate)
Saturday, March 10, 2007
The joys of E coli
I had a doctor's appointment scheduled for Friday morning. Xander woke up with a temperature around 104. That's not teething. So when I went in, I took him in with me and begged the doctor to check him out and test his pee.
It's another UTI. And when I was getting his new prescription filled at the hospital (yes, our pharmacy is in the hospital) I stopped by Medical Records to get copies of his lab work from the first one, to take in to his doctor next week. Turns out that last time, it was E coli. Also, they'd called to tell me that his blood tested positive as well (for bacteria, not e coli specifically) but that it could just be contamination from his skin. Well, I asked around and based on the bacteria that was found, apparently it was most likely not contamination, but he did actually have a blood infection. Which maybe explains the 107 temperature he'd had!
So he's now on his 2nd UTI in a month and 3rd round of antibiotics in the past 3 months.
I, by the way, am fine. Just a checkup! I'm not only still alive and healthy, but also didn't lose as much weight while sick as I thought I had, which is good. I had a few places that made me freak a bit that I'd spent way too much time in the sun as a teen, but she assures me that it all looks benign but she'll slice them off anyway. Because the residents need more experience in that area of treatment. Seriously. We've also got a plan for my insanity, I mean ADHD, and migraines. Best of all, she didn't make me do any bloodwork, so it was a needle free day.
Oh yeah, this means we'll get the joy of visiting a pediatric urologist and the nearest ones are about an hour away. I'm not at all excited about that.
It's another UTI. And when I was getting his new prescription filled at the hospital (yes, our pharmacy is in the hospital) I stopped by Medical Records to get copies of his lab work from the first one, to take in to his doctor next week. Turns out that last time, it was E coli. Also, they'd called to tell me that his blood tested positive as well (for bacteria, not e coli specifically) but that it could just be contamination from his skin. Well, I asked around and based on the bacteria that was found, apparently it was most likely not contamination, but he did actually have a blood infection. Which maybe explains the 107 temperature he'd had!
So he's now on his 2nd UTI in a month and 3rd round of antibiotics in the past 3 months.
I, by the way, am fine. Just a checkup! I'm not only still alive and healthy, but also didn't lose as much weight while sick as I thought I had, which is good. I had a few places that made me freak a bit that I'd spent way too much time in the sun as a teen, but she assures me that it all looks benign but she'll slice them off anyway. Because the residents need more experience in that area of treatment. Seriously. We've also got a plan for my insanity, I mean ADHD, and migraines. Best of all, she didn't make me do any bloodwork, so it was a needle free day.
Oh yeah, this means we'll get the joy of visiting a pediatric urologist and the nearest ones are about an hour away. I'm not at all excited about that.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Are you a Slacker Mom?
I see that in an ad all over the place and it really annoys me. However, I also always think, "Why yes I am!"
What I've really slacked in, though, is writing. That's partly due to the black plague which infested our home for a good week and a half. I'm now trying to figure out if Xander is a) relapsing once again, b) has another UTI (please no because that means some not so fun tests) or c) teething. I've decided it's teething because that's the easiest one to deal with.
Whatever the case, he had a fever last night which apparently caused more delirium. Never before have any of my children done this. But he was awake. For over an hour. Babbling. Full of joy at 2 am was he. mabapprffftttmaafff over and over and over. for over an hour. He talked more in that hour than he typically does in a week. Michael rolled over and offered the helpful suggestion that I try nursing him. Because I hadn't thought of that? He was not sleepy and he certainly was not hungry and he just wanted to lay there and talk to himself very very loudly. And when I was awake enough to notice, he felt hot. I never could find a thermometer though. he finally went to sleep and woke up normal temperatured and chipper.
He constantly sticks his tongue out and hums through it. Usually while on all fours rocking back and forth trying to figure out how to propel himself forward. Then when he does manage to fly forward, it's usually into my face where he then opens wide and tries to suck my brain out through my cheek. Mikayla thinks that is the grossest thing ever.
Speaking of Mikayla, she tells me at least 74 times per day that I don't like her and that I'm not fair and that I'm not her best friend. And I'm a meany-pants. And because they are smart enough to take turns (if they didn't we might have sold them to the gypsies already) Aaric has turned into a kid who almost always likes us and does what we say. Almost. He still has the attention span of a mosquito and can lose his socks 4 seconds after I hand them to him while we're getting dressed to leave for school, but for the most part, he's a very pleasant kid to be around. It really makes up for Reagan, I mean Mikayla.
What I've really slacked in, though, is writing. That's partly due to the black plague which infested our home for a good week and a half. I'm now trying to figure out if Xander is a) relapsing once again, b) has another UTI (please no because that means some not so fun tests) or c) teething. I've decided it's teething because that's the easiest one to deal with.
Whatever the case, he had a fever last night which apparently caused more delirium. Never before have any of my children done this. But he was awake. For over an hour. Babbling. Full of joy at 2 am was he. mabapprffftttmaafff over and over and over. for over an hour. He talked more in that hour than he typically does in a week. Michael rolled over and offered the helpful suggestion that I try nursing him. Because I hadn't thought of that? He was not sleepy and he certainly was not hungry and he just wanted to lay there and talk to himself very very loudly. And when I was awake enough to notice, he felt hot. I never could find a thermometer though. he finally went to sleep and woke up normal temperatured and chipper.
He constantly sticks his tongue out and hums through it. Usually while on all fours rocking back and forth trying to figure out how to propel himself forward. Then when he does manage to fly forward, it's usually into my face where he then opens wide and tries to suck my brain out through my cheek. Mikayla thinks that is the grossest thing ever.
Speaking of Mikayla, she tells me at least 74 times per day that I don't like her and that I'm not fair and that I'm not her best friend. And I'm a meany-pants. And because they are smart enough to take turns (if they didn't we might have sold them to the gypsies already) Aaric has turned into a kid who almost always likes us and does what we say. Almost. He still has the attention span of a mosquito and can lose his socks 4 seconds after I hand them to him while we're getting dressed to leave for school, but for the most part, he's a very pleasant kid to be around. It really makes up for Reagan, I mean Mikayla.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
"If a dog gets food in his brain, will he speak?"
"I have to go get a bar of soap, because I'm sick."
So you tell me - typical 4 yr old silliness, or is her fever making her delirious?
We've had a month full of fevers. First it was Xander. One day he was 104, then for 2 days he was 101-102, but with no symptoms. Then at 5am one morning when he woke up hungry, I was suprised there were no flames coming off of his body, and checked and he was 107 degrees. Off to the ER we went and a few hours later we left with a UTI diagnosis and a prescription. Two days later we got a call saying that his urine cultures came back and his bacteria wouldn't respond to those meds, so we had to switch. Today is his first day off of antibiotics, and his stomach will be glad to get back to normal. It has not been fun.
Then Saturday, Mikayla started coughing and by bedtime she had a fever. She spent Sunday acting very tired, and then did nothing but eat a little, drink a little, and lay on the recliner all day long yesterday. Last night, Aaric got it. By the way, he never gets sick on the weekends. If some disease is going to take up residence in his body, it does it the night before his return to school. Every single time.
So today, they're both couch potatoes. They say their legs hurt. They cough. They have fevers.
One more day of PBS Kids and I'll go insane.
So you tell me - typical 4 yr old silliness, or is her fever making her delirious?
We've had a month full of fevers. First it was Xander. One day he was 104, then for 2 days he was 101-102, but with no symptoms. Then at 5am one morning when he woke up hungry, I was suprised there were no flames coming off of his body, and checked and he was 107 degrees. Off to the ER we went and a few hours later we left with a UTI diagnosis and a prescription. Two days later we got a call saying that his urine cultures came back and his bacteria wouldn't respond to those meds, so we had to switch. Today is his first day off of antibiotics, and his stomach will be glad to get back to normal. It has not been fun.
Then Saturday, Mikayla started coughing and by bedtime she had a fever. She spent Sunday acting very tired, and then did nothing but eat a little, drink a little, and lay on the recliner all day long yesterday. Last night, Aaric got it. By the way, he never gets sick on the weekends. If some disease is going to take up residence in his body, it does it the night before his return to school. Every single time.
So today, they're both couch potatoes. They say their legs hurt. They cough. They have fevers.
One more day of PBS Kids and I'll go insane.
Monday, February 05, 2007
The Big 1-0
As of today, Michael and I have been together for a decade.
So lets take a little stroll down memory lane, shall we?
Michael tries to distort the facts and say that I stalked him. I never once stalked him. I just had every single one of our mutual friends stalk him on my behalf, thank you very much. And it wouldn't have taken so much convincing to get him to agree to meet me if it weren't for my mean brother. Yes, Michael said he didn't want to meet anyone related to Larry. But he caved, in order to get half the city off his back. See! This just proves that I'm always right - a lesson he's still struggling with. Maybe by the end of the second decade, he'll have it figured out.
Our first date was going with a group of some friends to a Roaches concert. Speaking of the Roaches (for those not from my hometown and surrounding area, they were a Beatles cover band) I bought a book at Aaric's book fair that every child of a Beatles fan should have. It's called "Who Were the Beatles" and has a history of the band, in a G-rated version. So anyway... Roaches concert.
A year later, we were engaged.
When we met, I was a whopping 17 years old. I just thought he was cute and was in desperate need of a new boyfriend. He just thought I was a psycho stalker who would probably kill him if he didn't give in.
So see? What if I hadn't been a pshycho stalker? Where would we be now? He'd be dead and I'd be in jail, and none of that sounds like fun at all. (I promise I'm not really just holding him hostage here)
So yeah, ten years. I was going to come up with a bunch of other nice stuff to say, but Xander was screaming his little head off and I couldn't think and now my brain is just fried. Must go get chocolate. I made celebratory chocolate peanut butter brownies.
So lets take a little stroll down memory lane, shall we?
Michael tries to distort the facts and say that I stalked him. I never once stalked him. I just had every single one of our mutual friends stalk him on my behalf, thank you very much. And it wouldn't have taken so much convincing to get him to agree to meet me if it weren't for my mean brother. Yes, Michael said he didn't want to meet anyone related to Larry. But he caved, in order to get half the city off his back. See! This just proves that I'm always right - a lesson he's still struggling with. Maybe by the end of the second decade, he'll have it figured out.
Our first date was going with a group of some friends to a Roaches concert. Speaking of the Roaches (for those not from my hometown and surrounding area, they were a Beatles cover band) I bought a book at Aaric's book fair that every child of a Beatles fan should have. It's called "Who Were the Beatles" and has a history of the band, in a G-rated version. So anyway... Roaches concert.
A year later, we were engaged.
When we met, I was a whopping 17 years old. I just thought he was cute and was in desperate need of a new boyfriend. He just thought I was a psycho stalker who would probably kill him if he didn't give in.
So see? What if I hadn't been a pshycho stalker? Where would we be now? He'd be dead and I'd be in jail, and none of that sounds like fun at all. (I promise I'm not really just holding him hostage here)
So yeah, ten years. I was going to come up with a bunch of other nice stuff to say, but Xander was screaming his little head off and I couldn't think and now my brain is just fried. Must go get chocolate. I made celebratory chocolate peanut butter brownies.
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Welcome to the family, Xander!
It seems the big kids have passed on some of their secrets to Xander. The most important one being: "For a really fun time, act super duper sick or injured, and watch Mom freak out a bit. Then, as soon as you go through the magical doors of the ER, reveal that you're perfectly fine and perform stunts for the entire ER staff." Past events include Aaric with a concussion asking the doctor if he could see the pictures of his brain and Mikayla with a supposed hurt leg jumping off of the gurney repeatedly. They didn't stress the part about him faking the whole thing though, so he still has some work to do.
He'd had a temperature of about 104 Wednesday night and then stayed around 100-101 until Friday afternoon. Friday evening, he was just fine. Playful, happy, normal temp. He woke frequently to nurse and in my half asleep state, I kept noticing that he sure was feeling warmer and warmer. At 5, I woke up to a child generating enough heat to warm our entire house. He was at 107. One hundred and seven degrees.
By the time we got to the ER, he was a reasonable 102. They checked him over and agreed that there were no other symptoms, so they ordered bloodwork and a urine sample.
He was then treated as a pincushion. No, actually, the three nurses that worked on him were great. Two helped hold and pass the other one stuff, while he did all the poking. Xander was not impressed with the catheter or the needles. They couldn't find any veins in his little arms, so they first went in the shoulder but couldn't get enough so they used one on the top of his foot. Let me just say that it was not fun. Diagnosis: UTI. We've got 2 weeks of antibiotics and have to follow up for further testing. Did I mention that I was in there for 5 hours?
So then, this evening, on our way to some friends' house, Aaric threw up in the car. There's a stomach bug going around.
So because I need to say something about Mikayla...
Check this out. She's had gray/blue/green eyes for the past 4.5 yrs. Now, suddenly, this:
Brown. Weird, huh?
And because I just can't resist:
Lots of new pics have been added to the gallery!
He'd had a temperature of about 104 Wednesday night and then stayed around 100-101 until Friday afternoon. Friday evening, he was just fine. Playful, happy, normal temp. He woke frequently to nurse and in my half asleep state, I kept noticing that he sure was feeling warmer and warmer. At 5, I woke up to a child generating enough heat to warm our entire house. He was at 107. One hundred and seven degrees.
By the time we got to the ER, he was a reasonable 102. They checked him over and agreed that there were no other symptoms, so they ordered bloodwork and a urine sample.
He was then treated as a pincushion. No, actually, the three nurses that worked on him were great. Two helped hold and pass the other one stuff, while he did all the poking. Xander was not impressed with the catheter or the needles. They couldn't find any veins in his little arms, so they first went in the shoulder but couldn't get enough so they used one on the top of his foot. Let me just say that it was not fun. Diagnosis: UTI. We've got 2 weeks of antibiotics and have to follow up for further testing. Did I mention that I was in there for 5 hours?
So then, this evening, on our way to some friends' house, Aaric threw up in the car. There's a stomach bug going around.
So because I need to say something about Mikayla...
Check this out. She's had gray/blue/green eyes for the past 4.5 yrs. Now, suddenly, this:
Brown. Weird, huh?
And because I just can't resist:
Lots of new pics have been added to the gallery!
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Lies the Cashier Told Me
Aaric and I went to the Shoppette (Army-ese for "convenience store") this evening to pick up a few things. As I set my basket on the counter, he grabbed a Hershey bar and tossed it on the counter. I put it back. He attempted another, and I blocked him. He grabbed a third and was trying to sneak it onto the counter. I started to reach toward it to slide it over and then I'd pick it up and put it back. But the cashier got to it first. She picked it up and said, "Oh, I'll get it!"
Now, at first, I thought she meant she'd pay for it and give it to him. I was debating on how to respond to that. I do have the money to pay for a candy bar, I just didn't think he needed one. But no, she was slick and stuck it under the counter.
If she'd left it at that, we would have been fine. But of course she didn't. As she continued to scan my stuff, she kept saying things like "Don't worry, I got it in there!" and then toward the end "I put it in, but you can't eat it until you get home, okay!" I glared.
Why must people feel the need to lie to kids like that? I'm sure she thought she was being helpful by getting him to quit trying to sneak the candy bars. But I'd rather he keep trying than quit just because he thinks he won. And I'd prefer not to lie to him! Not to mention that if I hadn't had a little chat with him in the car to let him know that the mean lady lied, I would have had a major battle once he excitedly dug through the bags and realized he'd been tricked. Helped me? She totally set me up for a bigger issue to deal with later. I'm just glad I thought to go ahead and discuss it with him first. And, knowing that he was likely to throw a tantrum, I'm glad I waited until he was buckled in to tell him. He handled it well though. He wants to know if we should call the police. Lying is wrong, you know.
Now, at first, I thought she meant she'd pay for it and give it to him. I was debating on how to respond to that. I do have the money to pay for a candy bar, I just didn't think he needed one. But no, she was slick and stuck it under the counter.
If she'd left it at that, we would have been fine. But of course she didn't. As she continued to scan my stuff, she kept saying things like "Don't worry, I got it in there!" and then toward the end "I put it in, but you can't eat it until you get home, okay!" I glared.
Why must people feel the need to lie to kids like that? I'm sure she thought she was being helpful by getting him to quit trying to sneak the candy bars. But I'd rather he keep trying than quit just because he thinks he won. And I'd prefer not to lie to him! Not to mention that if I hadn't had a little chat with him in the car to let him know that the mean lady lied, I would have had a major battle once he excitedly dug through the bags and realized he'd been tricked. Helped me? She totally set me up for a bigger issue to deal with later. I'm just glad I thought to go ahead and discuss it with him first. And, knowing that he was likely to throw a tantrum, I'm glad I waited until he was buckled in to tell him. He handled it well though. He wants to know if we should call the police. Lying is wrong, you know.
Friday, January 19, 2007
Mikayla the future fashion editor
I refer you to this: http://gofugyourself.typepad.com/go_fug_yourself/2007/01/golden_globes_r_1.html
Please view the picture, read the commentary, and then come back here to read Mikayla's commentary.
"Oh why is she wearing that? She's wearing cotton balls!! Did she think it was Cotton Ball Day?"
I think she's well on her way, don't you?
Please view the picture, read the commentary, and then come back here to read Mikayla's commentary.
"Oh why is she wearing that? She's wearing cotton balls!! Did she think it was Cotton Ball Day?"
I think she's well on her way, don't you?
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Mikayla the Bully
We'd been outside chatting with the neighbors, but it was time to go in to clean the house. Michael told Mikayla to come in, she resisted, drama ensued. Thirty minutes later with her wailing on the stairs and them arguing back and forth, I offered to intervene. I got a brilliant idea. I knew she needed to calm down, and we also needed her to be out of the way so we could get work done. So I grabbed up some cardboard (we happened to have just broken down a ton of boxes from the garage) and some crayons and took her to her bed. I got her attention with "HEY, YOU WANNA COLOR??" I went on to explain that I wanted her to draw a picture of how she felt and why she was so angry and then I'd come back and we'd talk.
A little while later, on her bed, we discuss her drawings. "This is me, and I'm sad and angry. This is Daddy, and you see? He's pulling my arm. I didn't want to come inside, I was getting grass to make wheat so we could make bread because I'm hungry. I'm mad at Dad. He can't be in my club because he's mean and boys aren't allowed. See..." she pauses to draw a circle around him and then a huge X over it, "I crossed him." So then we discuss that she should have just told him that she wanted a snack, and I also explained that wheat doesn't come from grass. The chat continues, as we try to come up with a snack that she wants and that I agree would be an okay snack. She insists on chocolate, I refuse to cave. I get drawn and crossed and kicked out of the club too. Baby boys and their mommies are allowed in, except me. Because I'm mean.
Somehow, the topic turns to her friends at church. We talk about a few of them, and then she starts to draw a picture and says that it's Caroline. "Caroline is not my friend." Caroline gets crossed. I ask why she doesn't like Caroline, and what Caroline does that's mean.
"She told on me."
"Well what did she tell on you for doing?"
"I pushed her!"
"Why did you push her? That isn't nice."
"Because I don't like her. She's not my friend, and she's mean."
"So, you pushed her, and she told on you, and that's why she's mean?"
"YES!"
I finally talked her into trying to be nice to Caroline despite her being so terribly mean, and she even talked about it Sunday morning before church. She was going to be nice to Caroline to see if maybe they can be friends afterall. But Caroline wasn't there Sunday. I hope it's not because she told her parents about the bully of the class.
A little while later, on her bed, we discuss her drawings. "This is me, and I'm sad and angry. This is Daddy, and you see? He's pulling my arm. I didn't want to come inside, I was getting grass to make wheat so we could make bread because I'm hungry. I'm mad at Dad. He can't be in my club because he's mean and boys aren't allowed. See..." she pauses to draw a circle around him and then a huge X over it, "I crossed him." So then we discuss that she should have just told him that she wanted a snack, and I also explained that wheat doesn't come from grass. The chat continues, as we try to come up with a snack that she wants and that I agree would be an okay snack. She insists on chocolate, I refuse to cave. I get drawn and crossed and kicked out of the club too. Baby boys and their mommies are allowed in, except me. Because I'm mean.
Somehow, the topic turns to her friends at church. We talk about a few of them, and then she starts to draw a picture and says that it's Caroline. "Caroline is not my friend." Caroline gets crossed. I ask why she doesn't like Caroline, and what Caroline does that's mean.
"She told on me."
"Well what did she tell on you for doing?"
"I pushed her!"
"Why did you push her? That isn't nice."
"Because I don't like her. She's not my friend, and she's mean."
"So, you pushed her, and she told on you, and that's why she's mean?"
"YES!"
I finally talked her into trying to be nice to Caroline despite her being so terribly mean, and she even talked about it Sunday morning before church. She was going to be nice to Caroline to see if maybe they can be friends afterall. But Caroline wasn't there Sunday. I hope it's not because she told her parents about the bully of the class.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
On my shopping list:
It says, "They say I have ADHD, They just don't understand... Oh look, a chicken!"
Friday, January 12, 2007
How Crunchy Are You?
First off, for the record, this is the best stuff ever. I get it at Target and snack on it all day.
Now, on with the quiz! (note that males need not take the test, and if you're a male who lactates and gives birth, head to your doctor immediately.)
Do you have homebirths?
15 points for “yes” (unassisted)
10 points for “yes” (with a midwife in attendance)
5 points for alternative birthing center
2 points for “thinking about/would like homebirth”
0 for “no” (wouldn’t consider it).
Will you circumcise future sons?
5 points for “no”
-5 points for “yes”.
Do you use cloth diapers?
20 point if you do Elimination Communication (no diapers)
15 points if “yes” (wash and make your own)
10 points if “yes” (wash your own)
5 points if “yes” (diaper service)
2 points if “thinking about it”
0 points if “no” (wouldn’t consider it).
Do you observe your fertility signals using Natural Family
Planning/Fertility Awareness and use that for birth control/trying to conceive?
10 points for “yes” (observe and use for birth control/ttc) or you use ecological
breastfeeding/lactational amnorrhea
5 points for “yes” (observe for trying to conceive)
2 points “thinking about it”
0 points for “no” (wouldn’t consider it).
Do you breastfeed exclusively for the first 6+ months?
10 points if “yes”
5 points for “no” (use occasional bottles of expressed breastmilk)
2 points for “no” (use occasional bottles of formula)
0 for “no” (don’t breastfeed by choice).
Do you co-sleep/family bed?
10 points for “yes” (all night every night)
5 points for “yes” (part/all of most nights)
2 points for “thinking about it”
0 points for “no”.
Do you use a sling/soft carrier?
5 points for “yes”
2 points for “thinking about it”
0 points for “no” (wouldn’t consider it).
Do you believe in/practice child-led weaning
(even if that means breastfeeding for several years)?
15 points for “yes” (complete child-led weaning)
10 points for “yes” (up to 3 years)
5 points for “yes” (up to 2 years)
2 points for “thinking about it”
0 points for “no” (you’ll wean the baby at 1 year or earlier).
Do you tandem nurse/nurse during your pregnancy?
10 points for “yes” (nurse during pgcy and tandem nurse)
5 points for “yes” (nurse during pgcy, but wean before birth)
2 points for “thinking about it”
0 points for “no”(wouldn’t consider it).
Do you eat organic/whole/natural foods and limit your meat?
15 points for “yes” (grow own/buy organic, shop only at health food store,
grind own wheat, vegetarian, etc.)
10 points for “yes” (grow some of own food, buy organic,
use whole wheat flour, bake own bread, eat some meat occasionally)
5 points for “yes” (try to buy natural, whole grain foods, etc.)
2 points for “thinking about it”
0 points for “no” (wouldn’t consider it).
Do you use herbal/homeopathic remedies?
10 points if “yes” (very rarely see a regular doctor)
5 points if “yes” (but use a doctor occasionally)
2 points if “thinking about it” (see a doc for now)
0 points for “no” (wouldn’t consider it).
Do you homeschool?
10 points if “yes” (currently homeschool)
5 points for “yes” (will homeschool)
2 points for “thinking about it”
0 points for “no” (wouldn’t consider it).
What's your take on childhood vaccinations?
15 points for no vaccines
10 for delayed, selective vaccination
5 points for selective, on schedule vaccination
2 points for thinking about not vaccinating
0 points for vaxing on schedule.
Would you/have you ever breastfeed/fed someone else's baby
or have someone else bf your child?
10 points if yes (have or someone has bf your baby)
5 points if yes (would)
2 points if maybe 0 if no (wouldn't consider it).
Do you use cloth/re-usable products for mom?
10 points if yes (make own)
5 points if yes (buy own)
2 points if thinking about it
0 points if no.
Ratings
120 – 140 Super Nutty, Ultra-Crunchy Granola Earth Mama
90 – 119 Mmm! Love that whole-grain crunch!
60 – 89 Pretty Crispy
20 – 59 Sprinkled with Granola
5 – 19 Instant Oatmeal
0 - 4 Jell-O
My score has gone up and down some over the past few years (I think I first saw it when I was pregnant with Mikayla) but I'm currently at 130. And while that's darn high, I should point out that the actual total amount of possible points is 160, not 140. Whoever made this up wasn't so good with math. So see! I'm 30 points from the top!
Though honestly, I think it should include some other things, but this one is mainly in regards to pregnancy and babies.
I also found this one, which works for both genders, but I only scored 34% on it because apparently you must live for jam bands if you want to be considered crunchy. But I scored 99% as compared to others my age. http://www.okcupid.com/tests/take?testid=1741962902911821320 The flaws in this one - there's no "drive my own NON- SUV vehicle" option. They only list the extremes.
Now, on with the quiz! (note that males need not take the test, and if you're a male who lactates and gives birth, head to your doctor immediately.)
Do you have homebirths?
15 points for “yes” (unassisted)
10 points for “yes” (with a midwife in attendance)
5 points for alternative birthing center
2 points for “thinking about/would like homebirth”
0 for “no” (wouldn’t consider it).
Will you circumcise future sons?
5 points for “no”
-5 points for “yes”.
Do you use cloth diapers?
20 point if you do Elimination Communication (no diapers)
15 points if “yes” (wash and make your own)
10 points if “yes” (wash your own)
5 points if “yes” (diaper service)
2 points if “thinking about it”
0 points if “no” (wouldn’t consider it).
Do you observe your fertility signals using Natural Family
Planning/Fertility Awareness and use that for birth control/trying to conceive?
10 points for “yes” (observe and use for birth control/ttc) or you use ecological
breastfeeding/lactational amnorrhea
5 points for “yes” (observe for trying to conceive)
2 points “thinking about it”
0 points for “no” (wouldn’t consider it).
Do you breastfeed exclusively for the first 6+ months?
10 points if “yes”
5 points for “no” (use occasional bottles of expressed breastmilk)
2 points for “no” (use occasional bottles of formula)
0 for “no” (don’t breastfeed by choice).
Do you co-sleep/family bed?
10 points for “yes” (all night every night)
5 points for “yes” (part/all of most nights)
2 points for “thinking about it”
0 points for “no”.
Do you use a sling/soft carrier?
5 points for “yes”
2 points for “thinking about it”
0 points for “no” (wouldn’t consider it).
Do you believe in/practice child-led weaning
(even if that means breastfeeding for several years)?
15 points for “yes” (complete child-led weaning)
10 points for “yes” (up to 3 years)
5 points for “yes” (up to 2 years)
2 points for “thinking about it”
0 points for “no” (you’ll wean the baby at 1 year or earlier).
Do you tandem nurse/nurse during your pregnancy?
10 points for “yes” (nurse during pgcy and tandem nurse)
5 points for “yes” (nurse during pgcy, but wean before birth)
2 points for “thinking about it”
0 points for “no”(wouldn’t consider it).
Do you eat organic/whole/natural foods and limit your meat?
15 points for “yes” (grow own/buy organic, shop only at health food store,
grind own wheat, vegetarian, etc.)
10 points for “yes” (grow some of own food, buy organic,
use whole wheat flour, bake own bread, eat some meat occasionally)
5 points for “yes” (try to buy natural, whole grain foods, etc.)
2 points for “thinking about it”
0 points for “no” (wouldn’t consider it).
Do you use herbal/homeopathic remedies?
10 points if “yes” (very rarely see a regular doctor)
5 points if “yes” (but use a doctor occasionally)
2 points if “thinking about it” (see a doc for now)
0 points for “no” (wouldn’t consider it).
Do you homeschool?
10 points if “yes” (currently homeschool)
5 points for “yes” (will homeschool)
2 points for “thinking about it”
0 points for “no” (wouldn’t consider it).
What's your take on childhood vaccinations?
15 points for no vaccines
10 for delayed, selective vaccination
5 points for selective, on schedule vaccination
2 points for thinking about not vaccinating
0 points for vaxing on schedule.
Would you/have you ever breastfeed/fed someone else's baby
or have someone else bf your child?
10 points if yes (have or someone has bf your baby)
5 points if yes (would)
2 points if maybe 0 if no (wouldn't consider it).
Do you use cloth/re-usable products for mom?
10 points if yes (make own)
5 points if yes (buy own)
2 points if thinking about it
0 points if no.
Ratings
120 – 140 Super Nutty, Ultra-Crunchy Granola Earth Mama
90 – 119 Mmm! Love that whole-grain crunch!
60 – 89 Pretty Crispy
20 – 59 Sprinkled with Granola
5 – 19 Instant Oatmeal
0 - 4 Jell-O
My score has gone up and down some over the past few years (I think I first saw it when I was pregnant with Mikayla) but I'm currently at 130. And while that's darn high, I should point out that the actual total amount of possible points is 160, not 140. Whoever made this up wasn't so good with math. So see! I'm 30 points from the top!
Though honestly, I think it should include some other things, but this one is mainly in regards to pregnancy and babies.
I also found this one, which works for both genders, but I only scored 34% on it because apparently you must live for jam bands if you want to be considered crunchy. But I scored 99% as compared to others my age. http://www.okcupid.com/tests/take?testid=1741962902911821320 The flaws in this one - there's no "drive my own NON- SUV vehicle" option. They only list the extremes.
Friday, January 05, 2007
bbblrrrbbbppppppfftt
Says Xander. He's started babbling a ton and it's SO cute! he's also mr drooly pants so he blows bubbles, too.
"ungeeellleee" is what he jsut saiad. I think it means, "man why won't A and M keep thier buttes in bed?|
Also, today he rolled from front to back and was utterly stunned. He learned back to front before xmas. front to back totally freaked him out. He's also started trying to help me type, SO EXCcuse the typos, people. and if any more of his hair falls out, I'll cry.
Christmas was great. lots of presents, lots of food, lots of fun, and oh yeah, lots of germs. xander and Mikayla both got a cold which is of course, worst at night. Last night was my first full night of sleep in over a week. "Full" not counting the waking to nurse, of course. I'd been waking to care for chILDren coughing up lungs though. I took Xander in and confirmed that yes, his lungs are still in there and they aren't even filled with snot.
I could say more, but Mr Babbly Drool is kicking me and pulling my hair. such violence!
"ungeeellleee" is what he jsut saiad. I think it means, "man why won't A and M keep thier buttes in bed?|
Also, today he rolled from front to back and was utterly stunned. He learned back to front before xmas. front to back totally freaked him out. He's also started trying to help me type, SO EXCcuse the typos, people. and if any more of his hair falls out, I'll cry.
Christmas was great. lots of presents, lots of food, lots of fun, and oh yeah, lots of germs. xander and Mikayla both got a cold which is of course, worst at night. Last night was my first full night of sleep in over a week. "Full" not counting the waking to nurse, of course. I'd been waking to care for chILDren coughing up lungs though. I took Xander in and confirmed that yes, his lungs are still in there and they aren't even filled with snot.
I could say more, but Mr Babbly Drool is kicking me and pulling my hair. such violence!
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