Weekend of 3/26/10

This weekend we took it easy with the kids as a precaution with their tubes. We didn't travel to Troy (as I really wanted to) or go to Spencerville for Jim's family Easter (first holiday we've ever missed). We didn't do an Easter Egg Hunt for the first time - too cold and wet and didn't want to take ill kids out in it.

We did do some things though:

1) tried the Hot and Ready $5 large pizza from our local Little Ceaser's. It was "okay". Certainly a good value at $5 but we'd pay more for better quality pizza if we had the time to wait for it.

2) I stopped nursing Chris for a variety of reasons: a) he's an avid biter. So bad, in fact, that when Nicole was playing pretend with her dolls she scolded her angel for biting; b) he was taking an 8oz bottle consistently and in March moved to drinking anywhere between 1-8oz per meal. While this change probably marked an end to a growth spurt this fluctuation was physically a difficult for my production to keep up with; c) he gets very distracted now. Even if I take him to a quiet place that's just us he would break away every few seconds to look around. Oftentimes teeth were involved in breaking off.

I feel guilty though.... Nicole got another month (10 months) compared to him.... part of me thinks I should tough it out with the biting.... Chris hasn't tried to nurse since we stopped on Friday so I'm taking it that he's fine with it. I'm only in a little discomfort as my body's adjusting. I'm reminding myself I achieved my 6 month goal and then some. Jim's supportive either way and listened patiently while I lamented a bit last night.

3) I attended a bridal shower for my second cousin and a baby shower for my neighbor. I determined that fondant icing is not good to eat but is pretty to look at.

4) patio furniture shopping is in full swing. So far I've ruled out Furniture Fair, Home Depot, Wal-Mart, and Sam's. Costco hasn't gotten their full inventory in yet so I'll need to go back. Target, Lowes, Watson's, Menards, Garden Ridge, and the Frontgate outlet are next on the "to shop" list. If I can find the time I'd like to go to Pottery Barn and Patio & Hearth too.

5) we bought the honey-glazed ham for Easter!

Friday Friday

Tubes went well yesterday. We had to be at the hospital at 6:15am but Children's is like the pinnacle of efficiency so we never had any down-time to read the books or watch videos on the laptop we lugged there and back. Both kids woke up grumpy from anesthesia, slept for 2+ hours once they got home, but were back to their normal selves by the afternoon. They both DETEST the ear drops we have to put in 3X/day (doctor told us they would sting). This means that we're dispensing doses of medicine 14 times a day to one kid or another for one ailment or another.

Jim and I are watching LIFE on Discovery - fantastic!

I watched Hoarding: Buried Alive on TLC and one part of it almost made me gag. I'm not sure why watching other people's mental ailments intrigues me so..... I get wrapped up in Intervention too.

Jazzercise is sometimes killing me - I try to really push it and not slack so I'm a sweaty mess at the end of it. There are these ab things we have to do with leg bounces and then bicycles. OMG. I'll be sad when my Groupon ends mid-April but it's too expensive to keep up for just 1/week.

Nicole's big thing when she's upset is to tell me "that doesn't make me happy". It's funny to hear because she sounds all pathetic when she says it so I try really hard to not smile while she's clearly "traumatized" over my clothing suggestion, ear drop requirement, or turning off of Dora.

Chris - 9 month update

It's a month later already! WOW!

Most of Chris's developments have been physical in the last month. Here's some things he can do:

1) bop his mouth like an Indian
2) shake his head 'no'
3) give 5 and double 5
4) accurately use his pincer grasp
5) wave "bye"

Of course he does these things when he wants to, not when I ask him to show off to friends/family.

He's very nosey now that he fully grasps object permanence. He's constantly leaning out of my arms to grab at something.

He's so close (1 week away?) to crawling - he can get up on all fours and rock; he can push himself backwards or in a circle; but not actually move forward. It's a double-edged sword of wanting him to accomplish the milestone and dreading the added responsibility of a mobile child.

Nicole continues to love and dote on him. She fed him a sour cream and onion chip yesterday and proudly announced "Mommy, I shared with Chris!". Great....

Most fun purchase at the mother's sale

A new, in-box tent for $5.

The whole family (at times all four of us!) has been in this thing every day since I bought it Saturday morning.

4 Days since my last post- eh....

• How Nicole switches on a dime from full-blown tantrum to totally calm and pleasant is beyond me.
• I went to Jazzercise and really worked it. I was sweaty, drank a full bottle of water, and actually *gasp* felt refreshed at the end. What's happening with this working out thing is that I now feel guilty just doing it one day a week. I don't feel guilty while I'm sitting on the couch watching Cake Boss, I feel guilty when I'm at work thinking back about how I should be working out more.
• Both kids are cleared for tubes in their ears. Surgery is next Thursday.
• There's a mother's sale tomorrow at Lakota. It's at 7:30am. Are the deals worth getting on the road at 6:30am? hmmmmmmmmm
• A few nights ago I pulled out new clothes for Chris. My not-yet-9-month-old is comfortably wearing 18 month clothing now. *sigh*
• My neighbor is home from the hospital and I feel bad that I never went to see her while she was actually admitted.
• We bought granite for the kitchen! Next project: landscaping
• Chris is eating pureed spinach and it looks GROSS. He's gotten very good at dried puffs and Cheerios but still spits out any other solid food like scrambled eggs, pancake, etc.
• Today's Jim's last day of traing for his new job. LONG hours, lots more work than the last job, but so far so good.

Weekend of 3/12/10

• DVRed and watched "Parenthood" - good show. Good acting. Will be watching in the future. It makes me want to have four kids so they can grow up and be friends like the characters are....
• Went to the aquarium yesterday with the kids and mom - fun times! Nicole slept for 4.5 hours straight upon returning home; Chris slept 4.
• We upped Chris to the full-size car seat yesterday because he'd outgrown the pumpkin seat. He looks so cute in his new seat. I'm not even sad that he's outgrown the baby seat. :) Points for the mom with emotions in check!
• Met Karen C.'s new beau on Friday. REALLY liked him. Even more, I liked how much he obviously likes her.
• Greg and Jenna told us about the very conservative priest they met with at the church they wanted to be married at. I'm STILL shaking my head at the interaction and I didn't even experience it first-hand. I FULLY understand and respect why the church is clinging tight to the morals they value. I DO NOT understand why ANYONE needs to be rude in expressing their opinion.
• Nicole and I taught Chris to shake his head "no" while Jim was judging the science fair on Saturday morning. He's so funny when he does it and I think he makes himself a bit dizzy because he shakes so quickly. This means in the last three weeks he's learned to wave, give 5 and shake his head. No crawling yet though...
• I was in baby food making mode this weekend too - carrots, sweet potatoes, mango, tomato, banana, avocado, black beans, peas and a new one for me - spinach. Pureed spinach looks DISGUSTING- it's green/almost black in color which is just totally weird to see as baby food. It's so healthy though.... Anyway, I tried it out on him yesterday for dinner and ... HE LIKES IT!
• Nicole is wearing overalls today. I just love overalls on kids.

Geez, people

I got up at 11pm last night to throw up. It was pretty random, painfully acidic, and after another half hour of generic nauseousness, totally over. In fact, if my throat wasn't' burning this morning as a result I'd wonder if I dreamed the whole thing.

EVERY man I've mentioned this to has the same conclusion: "maybe you're pregnant". The women don't say this. They ask if I feel okay today. All the guys though say that and then just stare at me with this coy smile.

For the record, I'm not pregnant.

Happenings

Watching

• Jim and I watched LOST yesterday on DVR. I have no idea where that show is going....
• I still have the Olympics on DVR but with each passing day I consider more strongly just deleting it.
• My co-worker offered to lend me The Exorcism of Emily Rose which Jim has watched and claimed was one of the scariest movies he's ever seen. As I have 0 desire to watch a movie that's scary in the least (my mind is creative enough on it's own in a house that's still settling and full of noises), this will never enter my "to watch" list.

Nicole-isms

• "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to"
• Negotiating. Especially when it comes to how many books to read at night. We're all about making deals too - she gets one last drink before bed, I close the bedroom door before she goes to sleep is a common one.
• Saying numbers and showing me how many fingers that constitutes
• Dancing crazy and announcing (correctly) "I'm making Chris smile!"
• Saying things with a southern accent - where is this coming from!?
• Coming to our room to sleep at 1am

My World

• I have my midterm this week at school - class is more than half over already! wow!
• That Matt Nathanson song "Come On Get Higher" is stuck in my head all the time
• So many of my good friends are suddenly in relationships it's making ME feel "butterfly-y" for them
• We went to the home and garden show downtown this weekend - projects we're considering include landscape lighting all around the house, large-scale landscaping & granite countertops. I guess this is why we work....

Wednesday morning

Went to the ENT specialist today. Both kids are getting tubes in their ears. Though it's classified as "surgery" and both will be knocked out, I'm not really concerned. Whole thing is about 2 minutes per ear so not that involved obviously.

Jim's new job has led to some interesting conversations that when I retold them they had my coworker laughing so hard he was crying this morning. :)

We are officially locked and loaded for vacation this year. This is where we're staying. My boss told me though that with tubes in their ears neither kid can go swimming.... uh....

Is anyone else's week going slow?

Last Night's Antics

Nicole, as I've mentioned before, changes classrooms 5 times to get different subjects. Sometimes she gets on kicks from one of the teachers and (this makes me happy) they're often from previous months of lessons versus what she's immediately learning now.

Lately Nicole's kick is continents (which she can point to on a map):

(In February they learned about the body (muscles, bones, brain), the letters L-O-V-E, fractions, animals from around the world, and art projects using hearts.)

Chris LOVES bath time because of all the splashing.

Not sure how it happened but this morning when I came to wake him up he'd somehow worked one of his arms out of his PJs.... yes, they were still zipped all the way up with the snap zipper flap still fastened....

Last Weekend of February

I accomplished about nil point five this weekend. On Friday night Jim and I didn't have plans so we took it easy with the kids and watched Night at the Museum 2 (C+) after then went to bed.

I don't think I've mentioned it but Nicole has come in our room around 1:00 every night for about the last three weeks. I thought it was having to go to the bathroom that woke her up but she's often dry in the morning so that killed that theory. She's a relatively good sleeping addition - I don't get woken up too much and she likes to cuddle. Consensus of parents I've talked to is that it's okay for now....

On Saturday I met Jenna at Jazzercise. We both really like it but it's kinda pricey if we buy in and still only go 1/week after our Groupon sessions are over. 8 more to go before we have to decide....

Saturday night we didn't have plans either so we milled around, ran errands, ate dinner at Meijer of all places (their Bistro was our 4th place choice after our first three tries bombed but the whole family ate for less than $8 so not so hateful) before we went grocery shopping.

This morning we skipped Church, had a great breakfast and lunch. I went to Kohl's to go shopping and got about $85 worth of stuff. I've been goodwilling a lot of my things away lately so my wardrobe is taking a noticeable hit in the variety department....

TMI Alert!
OH, to make you groan, I got my 9th period since September of 2006 (that's 9 periods total in 39 months). I've been on the lookout for it for several months though so I was a bit excited when it came this morning. Then I realized that I'll pretty much have no reprieve of it for the next 20-25 years and I groaned.

Jim starts his NEW JOB tomorrow which means he'll be picking up and dropping off the kids from now on.

I'm sad that the Olympics are coming to an end. They always make me emotional and all hopeful for world peace and such.... I really enjoyed watching the Aerials this year. All the things I'll never experience but look SO cool. My DVR will most likely go from hitting 99% full at one point back to the normal 13% or so starting tomorrow.

Yeah, I really did just blog about poop

Nicole is OFFICIALLY potty-trained (#1 & #2!). Today marks day 5 that she's been in panties only (except when sleeping but even then she's only wet about 50% of the time when she wakes up). HOORAY! Now comes my "terror" that we'll be in the far corner of Target when she announces she has to go, forcing me to tear ass across the store in mad panic to get her there on time....

On Tuesday Jim predicted that Nicole was constipated as she said her stomach hurt and she hadn't gone in a few days. Wednesday night she told me she had to poop and it clearly took a lot of effort. When I asked her if she was doing okay she told me it was "stuck". Eventually all worked itself out and I thought the problem was solved.

When she was concluding her bath though she said she had to go again. Out of the tub and onto her potty she went. After several minutes she announced she was done and needed toilet paper. When I went to empty her potty I got the shock of my life - the whole thing was about filled with poop. It was like 2X what an adult should poop and it just came out of my 2.5 year old. Where did she store all that poop!? It was so amazing I actually called Jim upstairs to see it.

Yeah, being so awed by a bowel movement that you call someone else to look at it and then that person willingly comes to see... now that's what you call a "parenting moment". No one else in their right mind would do this....

Chris - 8 months old!

Yesterday Chris officially turned 8 months old. AWWWW!

He continues to be an amazingly happy baby. Each time he sees me his whole body wiggles with excitement and makes me all smiley. He's even gotten so excited and wiggled so much he's fallen over. awwww!

Some things he's up to:

• He clearly knows his own name and responds by looking or talking back to you if you say it


• Separation anxiety has set in over the last two weeks specifically (this is the reverse of all the wiggling I previously mentioned).


• He's starting in on the Gerber pick-up stars (the kind that melt in your mouth) but isn't so sure about the whole solid food thing yet.


• He likes to sing along with Nicole in the car

Some general things about him:

• He's a belly sleeper


• When he wakes up and can get in "walrus" position to look at me he smiles so big. This is promptly and always followed by lifting his arms and legs off the ground and balancing on his big pot belly while he wiggles in excitement and squeals


• He's nursing 3X, getting formula 2X and eating food 2X/day. I'll be upping him to 3 meals a day this weekend. His favorite foods are black beans, pineapple and yellow squash with rice cereal.


• He likes books but I think he's a little confused by the 2D nature of the pictures because he tries to grab the objects


• Poor thing's on his way to tubes in his ears. We'll know 3/3/10.


• Bathtime = splash time = big fun


• He LOVES to be tickled and cuddled


• Every night before bed (8-8:30ish) he gets rocked and has 3 versus of Amazing Grace sung to him (and one verse of humming for good measure). He holds his "sleepy bear" while we rock and sucks his thumb.

Life Update (LONG)

Things here have been busy. I feel like I open up every blog that's a "general life update" that way. hmmmm.... The following are totally random and a bit out of order but should sum it all up nicely.





I had big plans for Nicole's Valentine cake for her class. She still gave out regular Valentines to her friends but they were having a party so I wanted to make something special with my newfound skills. I went in on the 11th for lunch as usual but brought my camera to take the kids pictures (which they LOVED- what cheeses!). That night I made the cake and the morning of the 12th I got up early to decorate it. I think it turned out pretty good. I don't want to post other people's kids' pictures on the internet but if I did I think you could tell who's icing face belongs to who's real face. Can you tell which one is Nicole?

The other night Nicole and I had it out. She didn't want to brush her teeth. She wouldn't put on her pajamas. Nothing about the end of the evening was going well. I told her that if I counted to 3 and she didn't put her pj's on we weren't reading books. Fast forward... she's finally in bed and wants to read. I clearly and calmly explained the phrase "Good choices, good things happen. Bad choices, bad things happen" and reminded her that because she didn't put on her pajamas she wasn't getting any books. HOLY COW did that sink in. I've been hearing all about the good choices she makes several times a day since; especially at night while she's picking what books to read.

Chris and Nicole went to the doctor last weekend and got diagnosed with ear infections (double for him, single for her). Another round of antibiotics for both of them. Chris goes to an ENT on 3/3/10 and if the infection is still lingering he's getting tubes.

Jim's final interview for a new role (still at P&G) took place this week. Four candidates applied and he's been unofficially told he's a finalist. Should know this week. Good news - [the new worksite will have a gym (that insert is for Jim, I could care less about the gym part) and] it's only 3 minutes from daycare! He'd be in global finance for fem care which constitutes a lateral move.

Jenna and I started Jazzercise yesterday. I was blissfully rewarded for my efforts upon returning home. :) I liked it (Jazzercising I mean). She and I could laugh about being new and the ensuing learning curve but I felt good at the end - I was sweaty but not gross and I wasn't sore the next day. I'll work harder next Saturday. I think though that this is something I could maintain in my life. For the record there were about 30 people there, we were on the young 25% (average age was about 43 I'd guess), and there was only one leotard in sight (worn by a 65+ no less!).

OH, and I finished the Kabballah book a week and a half ago. Biggest surprise was that Jewish people believe in reincarnation! Few interesting tidbits:

• The soul enters the body 40 days after conception which means that Jewish people are fundamentally okay with abortion until that time and not after.
• We are all a part of one single soul - each of us is a small part and has to complete our "mission" on Earth by returning as many times as it takes to do so until with time the soul is whole again and we can all live eternally with God
• Jewish people have a prayer for everything. I'd be a bad Jew as I could never remember 1) all the prayers or 2) to say them at every appropriate occasion
• Hebrew is an amazing language for so many reasons - even the shapes of the letters and numerical value of each has a meaning that gives the Torah several levels to understand. My Hebrew = not so good.

Lastly, a funny thing when the girls came last weekend. She's a good sport so I hope she doesn't mind my sharing this.... Viki let Nicole dress her up as a mermaid by wrapping a green afghan around her waist. Nicole was all about dolling her up with a crown and calling her "my mermaid". At one point she stood back and looked at her mermaid and declared that Viki needed to "take your shirt off". Because mermaids don't wear shirts of course. She had us both dying with laughter.

On a daily basis I

• brush the bottom row of teeth first
• wear a bracelet
• tell Jim I love him at the conclusion of every phone call
• eat sweets of some kind
• remember something I should have done but didn't
• check my email
• shower in the morning even if I took a bath the night before
• put on mascara at a bare minimum
• ride in/drive a car
• reminisce

I'm not going crazy, I KNOW I saw...

• Several years ago I watched an MTV "documentry" on "Fuzzies" - people who like to dress up in mascot costumes for sexual purposes. Somehow I appear to be the only person on the planet watching MTV that day and it's such a weird subject that when I attempt to explain it to people I'm the one who gets weird looks. Update- it is "Furries" and I'm glad I'm not alone!
• My second cousins and I watched the movie "Fortress" about a farmtown school that got kidnapped and was held in a cave for ransom. I found the link to it on Yahoo! movies (see above for more info) and was pleased to see it got an A- even though no one I've ever talked to has heard of it!!
• At our old house I was constantly seeing things, shadows, movement, something out of the corner of my eye. I was so convinced of this and the possibility that there was some kind of ghost in the house that I went to a "seer" that my co-worker hired because he was seeing/hearing things in our office [of all places]. Sure enough, the seer said that at least two of us were brining spirits to the office with us daily. Not sure I totally buy it, but...

Sport Physics

LOVE LOVE LOVE the Olympics. I've been watching videos on the "behind the scenes" of the sports for a while. Here's the one I watched today on the science of bobsledding. Way cool! (no pun intended)

Top 10: MOVIES

I've been thinking about movies lately and if I could pinpoint my TOP 10. Here's a stab that I came up with on the drive into work. These are in no particular order

1. Gone in 60 Seconds
2. Oceans 11
3. Traffic
4. The Wizard of Oz
5. The Proposal
6. The Notebook
7. Overboard
8. Sweet Home Alabama
9. Forrest Gump
10. 10 Things I Hate About You

Thinking about this more today (Thursday) I think I'd replace Traffic with Dirty Dancing.

Happening around here...

1) I got my Ruminations email this morning and cocked an eyebrow at one comment:
There seems to be a lot of confusion about proper post-first-date protocol. To me, it's very simple. Ladies, if a guy takes you out, common courtesy calls for you to email, text, or Facebook message within 48 hours to say thank you. You can't believe the amount of courage it took me to ask you out. So even if there is no connection and you never want to see me again, at least thank me for trying. It's like the participation trophy of dating.
Clearly I've been married too long. I had no idea....

2) Nicole is fully into playing pretend. She started a few weeks ago when she shared her Sleepy Bear with Jenna and now can go full-out pretending she's a princess, Dora, or an animal.

3) Nicole is also pretty big into emulating people. The two 'people' she wants to be most like are Ryann and Dora. Nearly every time we go to the bathroom and she needs to get changed I hear "I wear panties like Ry Ry." Fortunately these role models are more than acceptable to me.

4) Speaking of Ry Ry, I saw a super cute thing that I'd like to get her for her birthday (she'll be 3 on March 18). I know she'd really like it but the $20 price tag is, in my opinion, too much for what the item actually is. We spend more than $20 on her present so I'm half tempted to say "screw it" and get it anyway but the cost-conscious buyer in me still doesn't like to overpay...

5) We were the ONLY team in our bowling league to actually show up for our 5:30 league time. Since I could really care less about the Super Bowl that was just fine with me. I had to look on Yahoo! to see who won this morning and even then I only saw by reading the article they had with the best commercial clips.

6) Lastly, since I have more free time on my hands lately while the kids sleep I've been watching some new shows. So far I haven't been overly impressed but I have been moderately entertained. Things I've seen for the first time just in the last week: The Ultimate Cake-Off, Rich Bride Poor Bride, Toddlers & Tiaras, & Project Runway. I did DVR ANTM per Jen Johnson's enthusiasm. I'll keep you posted if there are any diamonds in the rough....

Cake Decorating

I asked for cake decorating lessons for Christmas and my mom got them for Dad and I. We took a 4-week course at Michael's Craft Store. Here's our progress!

Week 2, our first cake! Mostly star techniques used.

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Here I am making a house warming present for Karen C. Don't I look official?

Dad's Results


My results. Clearly my wording needs lots of work....

I forgot my camera the third week. We did lettering, swirl flowers, star flowers, vines, leaves, shells, hearts and clowns. I got the shells down pretty well but my hearts still need some work. Dad was a big fan of the clowns. He used one on his final project in week four.

Dad's icing strategy is clearly "More is More". His writing isn't too bad. His spelling and humor on the other hand....

The fourth week we worked with all stiff icing to make roses. I was encouraged by Martha's comment that they are a skill quickly developed with good results. Our icing was not the right consistency though so my ramp-up was slower than I'd like. When we finally got the right stuff in the bag things went better.

Mom and Mike's birthday was the night of our final class so I made a HB cake. Clearly my writing skills still aren't' there...

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There's another class, Course 2, that starts next Saturday and covers basket weaving, royal icing (like for gingerbread houses), and a plethora of other flowers. I have friends coming in that weekend (YAHOO!) and Jenna and I are starting Jazzercise (a Groupon buy) that morning so my cake decorating pursuit is on hold for at least 3 more months....

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I do have what I hope is a great idea in mind for Nicole's Valentine's Day party though!