Juggling Joy

New Tricks

2012-02-10T21:12:00.003-06:00

Ok, so I've only been meaning to write this blog since Tuesday, and here it is Friday.

Baby Hank continues to delight and charm (as long as I'm within three feet of him). He sprouted a new tooth, right next to the first on the bottom front row. He said "light" again in reference to a light. Quint was playing with light switches, as usual, and as he turned on a light, Hank looked up, pointed to the light and said, "light". He also has said Papa and Mamama. He communicates on a regular basis if I'm tuned in enough to notice. For instance, if you combine this cry with this particular cuddle, it always means that he's tired. If you combine this cry with this wiggle, he needs to burp.

For breakfast, he will eat about 12 ounces of applesauce and oatmeal. For lunch, he usually has about 6 ounces of veggies with meat. For supper, he has about 8 ounces of veggies and 4 ounces of fruit.

I finally figured out a great way to have a toddler paint!!! I've got two clip boards with lots of paper on each. I used a paper plate for a pallet. I put him in his high chair, took off his shirt, and put a clip board in front of him. I held the pallet. I gave him a paint brush this time, instead of just finger painting. After he'd painted for a while, I asked him if he wanted another page. when he said yes, I traded clip boards, moved the wet paint onto the table, leaving a fresh clip board ready to go. In this way, he painted about 12 pictures on Tuesday. And none of them went for so long that they were just solid brown paint. I had fun later looking at the blobs and trying to find pictures there.

A friend commented on facebook that it was funny how I called my cousin Larry, Cousin Larry, and not just Larry. That goes way back to quoting the show Perfect Strangers. Here's the fantastic Dance of Joy!!

And the Bibbi Babka song:

Fantastic show with ridiculous physical comedy.

Counting! And counting blessings.

2012-02-04T14:04:00.004-06:00

Yesterday, I told Quint that if he ate two nuggets, then I would give him some strawberries. "Ok, Mama." So I made three nuggets and cut them all up into four pieces. So he had twelve pieces on his plate. As I set it down in front of him, I said again, "Ok, you need to eat two whole nuggets to get strawberries. That's eight of these little pieces." "Ok, Mama."

In a short amount of time, he said with a full mouth, "I ate two nuggets, Mama!" I went over and counted the remaining pieces. Sure enough, there were only four left! He had eaten exactly eight. So at the very least, the boy can count! And if we really wanted to stretch it, we could say that he understood some pre-algebra concepts of one nugget equals four pieces, two nuggets equals eight pieces, twelve minus four is eight, and so forth...

But I had further confirmation today that he understands counting quantities (as opposed to simply saying the numbers in the correct order). He was playing in the other room, and brought me a curvy string of magneatos. He said, "I made a seven!!" This curvy thing looked more like an S, 5, 2 or Z depending what side you were on, but I stopped and counted them. There were seven! I told him very good and that I was proud of him and everything, and then said, "there are seven pieces, but what does it look like?" It rotated in his hand for a minute and he said with excited eyes, "A Five!!" Awesome!!

So I think that in the last couple days, his brain has put together that putting numbers in order is also how many there are! That may have never occurred to you that those are different, but I had seen evidence of that in my son for quite a while. Especially when he would "count" things starting at three. For a while there, he could count from one to three, and from three to eight, but not from one to eight. When he gets above ten, it's really cute. It's eleven, twelve, furfteen, furfteen, furfteen, sixteen, etc.

Elevators and escalators are still all alligators, and I just can't correct that one yet. He loves to go downtown and see the big buildings. Lately, he's been begging to go to the big zoo, or the real zoo. Instead of the pet store, or an online zoo. He really wants to ride an elephant and was really disappointed when I told him that they don't let kids ride elephants. They don't even let adults ride elephants.

He has also started a new level of pretend play in the last few days. He will pretend to be a dog and crawl around barking. Then he will slide around on the hardwoods on his belly, propelling himself by hands and toes, and say he is a turtle.

We've been working on small talk including "what's your name" and "how old are you". The full name thing is harder to teach than you'd think. "Hey George, what's your name?" - seems kinda silly. I'm trying to teach him his address and his parents' names. Yesterday at the store, when I had a lady ask him where he lived, he said, "at our house." Well, of course you do. "Where is your house? "Ooo Hope Meaduh" DARN CLOSE!!!

He is constant entertainment and only really frustrating for under 60 minutes per day.

Now Hank! Hank is moving around better and better each day. He will ooch, roll, and wiggle around the whole living room. He can crawl backwards a little bit, and gets really ticked off when he runs into a wall. I think he will start crawling any day now, but I'm hoping he will wait until my mom is in town next Saturday. Because he's always in footed sleepers, he stays on the carpet because he slides too much on the hardwoods. But he thinks belly sliding is fun on the hardwoods. I can totally see him learning to do a one person wheelbarrow move go get round on the hardwoods. He eats more than a cup of food at each meal, three times a day, with countless cheerios and chex mixed in for snacks along the way. He loves the magneatos and figured out that weebles are magnetic in the butt. He has just started drinking out of a sippy cup, and still does it best when he's laying down. Perhaps the full sippy cup is too heavy for him to lift high enough to drink from.

His first word was light, which he hasn't said again, but when I ask him, "where's the light?" he will look right at it and sometimes point. He has said "ba" to a ball, and frequently will say, "Mama" and then grin when I say, "yes, Hank?"

sweetness

2012-02-03T15:13:00.001-06:00

George: Thomas! NO!! Stop Crying!!

Me: George, yelling at Thomas to stop crying will never work. Why don't you try patting him, or holding his hand, or singing to him.

George (with ticked off look on his face): Woah, woah, woah you boat, dada stweam, merr-ry, merr-ry, (pause) dweam.

Thomas - stopped crying.

Me: (trying not to laugh) see, honey, it worked!

Ooooooooohhhhhhh so thaaaaaat's what it is.

2012-01-23T21:00:00.002-06:00

So all day yesterday I was snappish, was really sensitive about my space bubble (why is Quint ALWAYS within 6 inches of my legs?!), and got exceptionally emotional after 5 minutes of a conjoined twins TV show. Then finally it hit me. This is PMS!

I immediately went to the other room to tell Hubby. I said, " I finally figured out what's wrong with me today." He didn't say whatdyamean. A clue. He said, "what?" I said, "I think this is PMS!" He thought about it for a minute and said, "yeah, that would explain all of it!"

Go figure. When PMS shows up just three times in three years, you forget what it looks like. Also, we are now on red alert for "all systems go - DON'T GET PREGNANT!"

tons of photos

2012-01-20T22:19:00.008-06:00

So today I took a friends' advice and dug a grand hole in the yard with my son. Our yard has limited toddler fun resources, but lots of space. It was about 50 degrees - warm for lately. It took about 15 minutes of me digging and playing before he really got it, but then he didn't want to stop. We had sweetgum-tree-stickerball-people, shelters made from tree bark, flags made from leaves, and lots and lots of sticks in the damp earth. All eventually got whacked with a plastic shovel, but who cares. AND we got really dirty. Which is tricky to accomplish in the winter.

Here's Hank in his hanging outside ewok uniform.

Cutie pie

And here's your Where's Waldo quiz for the day. Can you find where Sir Topham Hat is hiding?

Getting warmer

There he is! Quint moves these wall stickers around most days.

And here's what the boy's room looks like at the moment. It is forever a work in progress.

Super cute - brother teaching!

2012-01-20T00:22:00.004-06:00

My boys are a continual joy. Except starting around 4:30 until 6pm, that is. The witching hour just really sucks sometimes! Today at one point when everyone else was screaming, I screamed too!! And thank goodness neither of them thought it was funny or I'da had'ta knocked their block off!!

Anyway. This morning when I was bathing them, they were playing together so nice. Quint was coloring on the wall of the tub with a tub crayon. After a few minutes, he said to Hank, "here you try it.... like this." He put the crayon in Hank's hand, put his hand over Hanks, and drew on the tub. It was so darn cute!! And that's the first time Quint has tried to teach Hank something. Awesome!!

A friend came over today to watch the boys while I went to the dentist. She told me about the imaginary play that she and Quint had done. And it was Quint's idea! In some Sesame Street books we have, Elmo is perpetually looking for a little black puppy (which he never finds!!) Quint took his Fisher Price Little People dog, would hide him, and wanted my friend to have another Little People look for him and find him. Quint just amazes me sometimes.

Hank is trying to learn to crawl which is a frustrating process for all of us. One day soon, he'll get really ticked off, gain super-human strength from his anger, and get it done for the first time. Right now, he's pushing around on his toes, sliding his face along the floor. If he would just extend his arms, he would be walking like a bear. But I can't really help him with that. When I try to lift his shoulders, he thinks I'm trying to pick him up. In the mean time, he scoots around a lot crying in frustration. He can roll and stretch to move around quite well. He can't go from laying to sitting on his own yet. He'll get there.

Quint will frequently beg and beg and beg to see either Nannie or Grandma online or on the computer. I always feel bad when we DO get on skype and then he takes off doing something else. When I pick up the phone, he has started telling me, "no, Mama, no talk on the phone." Monopolizing little so and so....

Friday update

2012-01-13T21:55:00.003-06:00

Last night the temperature plummeted and it spit rain/sleet/snow for a couple hours. The result was a snow day for most businesses when there was only black ice on bridges. The high today was only 36 degrees so we didn't leave the house for the second day straight. Quint was a huge whiny butt. He may not be feeling good and I know Hank isn't feeling good. He's had a fever, has been pulling at an ear, and is way too snugly when I'm holding him. So going outside in this weather was out of the question. Mid-morning, when Quint wanted to lay in my lap and have me cover him up, I knew it was time to administer Advil all around. After that, things got better.

And snow day inspiration struck!

I got our camping tent out of the garage and put it up in the loft. Now let me tell you about this tent. It was bought at the beginning of my disaster preparedness binge when I wasn't willing to spend hardly any money on the project. I found this 9ft x 9ft tent on craigslist for $20. It's got a bit of a funky smell, but we have camped with it once. (What can I say, my wonderful hubby is a city boy to the core.) So it's not new, is sandy inside and has leaves on the outside. After Quint has caught me fiddling with it and is now completely underfoot, it dawns on me that one person is simply not capable of putting up a tent of that size. Picture lots of cussing and springy stick comedy here. I finally leave it until Uncle Four wakes up from his long winter's nap. I ask him if he thinks it will fit in the loft, or if I'm just smoking crack. He thinks it will fit!

We get the whole darned thing up only to realize that the door of the tent is as far away from the loft door as possible. And it is barely possible for me to get back to that door once the whole tent is up. So we take it down again and rotate it-twice-before we actually have it in the right place. And then I vacuum out the sand.

Quint is delighted with a REAL tent! Not just a blanket over dining chairs. I tell him I'll try to "find" the ball-pit balls so he can play with them in the tent. I close him out of the loft and get out the huge box of annoying toys. (The toy vacuum that won't stand up. The tumbling tiger that will only stand on his head. The psychotic teddy bear that speaks whenever you bump it in the middle of the night. And all the extremely heavy toys that look like you're supposed to throw them at your brother's head. And nearly 200 ball pit balls.) Quint hasn't seen the balls for at least a month. He spends about 30 minutes running around in the tent in the balls yelling "hello balls!" which after the 85th repetition, is actually "bellow halls!"

Awesome!

When Papa gets home, Papa and Quint disappear into the tent. Quint runs up and down the stairs several times, not looking for me (what a nice change!) and continues to play upstairs with Papa. After he's in bed, I peek in the tent and find that Papa had made them a nest of blankets, pillows, and a flash light. Very cool Papa time.

Hank is so much fun at this age. He's a great size. I can play rough with him and not throw my back out. I can dangle him upside down and make him giggle. He's animated and responds to conversation across the room. He communicates physically. When he's upset, he will clamp down on my arm and neck in a tight little baby hug. When I get down on the floor beside him while he's sitting, he will lean over with one arm, hug me, and sit back up to play. When he's hungry, he will lean over, grab my shirt collar with one hand and try to yank it down. Or he will try to nurse on my bare shoulder. When he's excited he will flop both arms and legs up and down, HARD, as if he's trying to take flight. He already has an "aw-shucks" look!

Since I first bathed them at the same time last Tuesday, it has finally occurred to them that they can do things TOGETHER! Hank has tried to lean over and hug Quint! Quint has started requesting a Hank kiss before bed as if he were, you know, an actual person in this household! There's only an occasional "No, Hank!" when he takes a toy. Quint will share his applesauce with Hank. They're starting to become, you know, brothers!! It's fun to see.

Hank's first word!!

2012-01-12T13:44:00.003-06:00

Hank said his first word! He's nearly 8 months old. He was staring at the light above the kitchen table. He lifted hid arm, pointed at the light and said "light". I said, "that's right! It's a light!" And he smiled.

Hank's first tooth!!!

2012-01-11T08:54:00.001-06:00

Hank has his first tooth! I found it this morning when he was gnawing on my finger. Quint and I jumped around singing, "he's got a tooth, he's got a tooth" and I think Hank said, "too" when we were done!

Random bits

2012-01-08T22:04:00.003-06:00

Several years ago, our shower leaked through the floor to the downstairs kitchen table area. Well, it has started up again. But there's a weird delay. Sometimes Hubby will be done with his shower and already downstairs when it starts dripping through. Does not bode well. So the wonderful dudes who repaired it last time are coming tomorrow and will probably be ripping a hole in the center of our house.

And I really mean they are wonderful. They aren't going to charge us for this one since they should have fixed it last time. This is the same company who did $50k worth of repair to our house after the house wreck. You know, that time two teenagers drove a Bonneville through the people door to our garage. The impact scooted our Crown Victoria sideways 18inches and launched paint cans across the garage to leave inch deep dents the size of your head in the drywall. So we know these guys.

When little Hank cuddles up to my shoulder, he wraps his little arm around my neck and squeezes soooo tight! It is so sweet! Except when he grabs a handful of hair and twists, but still, I LOVE those baby hugs.

The other day, Hank was screaming his head off because I wasn't holding him, but lunch had to be made using two hands. I asked Quint to go over there and sing him a song. Sing him itsy bitsy spider. He went over there, sat down beside him and I heard him singing tunelessly and making the little finger motions. Sweetest thing ever!! After the song, he came back over to me. I asked him if Hank liked it. He looked back at Hank (no gap in screaming), looked back at me like I was nuts, shrugged, and went back to his toys.

Cookies!!! 20 minute video

2012-01-02T09:25:00.002-06:00

Yeah, so it's way too long, but it's primarily for my family so stuff it.

Whistle Stop Park video and still shots

We Are Blessed

2011-12-27T19:44:00.004-06:00

While we were out of town for 10 days, we had the post office hold our mail. Today it was delivered. All of it. And 2/3 of these cards were delivered today. This is how many people sent us merry wishes this year. And loads of pictures among them! Besides family and friends seen recently or 15 years ago, there are a few names to be dropped. Like Haslam, Ramsey, and Jeb Bush. I'm SURE they signed those suckers themselves, of course. I especially appreciate the folks who put their kid's FULL names, and the current year. For those of you who didn't, I filled out that info on the backs of the pictures.

Our Christmas was wonderful. We had tons of food, the boys cleaned up in the gift department, and we were given enough clothes and stuff to warrant an apple box shipped back separately. And most importantly, we got to spend tons of time with family. My boys are completely spoiled rotten and I'll have to un-rottify them in the days to come. Well worth it.

Thank you, Lord, for the wonderful blessing of my family. Thank you for healthy, brilliant, beautiful boys. And please, Lord, don't bless us with a third.

Further updates

2011-12-13T21:26:00.003-06:00

At Wally World today, we saw a large cardboard picture of the terrifying panda. Quint got tense and started edging over to my leg. I quickly said, "this is just a cardboard picture of the panda, Quint. See?" and thumped it in the head. He visibly relaxed, reached up to feel of it, and then hit it himself. Maybe we've turned a corner on the Panda's-gonna-get-me thing.

Quint learned that he can toot on command today. I tried not to laugh, really I did! But he would obviously try pretty hard, toot, and then absolutely die laughing at himself. And I would laugh at his reaction. Did I mention that he is boy to the core? So all day, there was tooting, laughing, then laughing. I put it on Facebook and my boyfriend from 7th grade said to make sure he doesn't try TOO hard or bad things will happen. He does still wear diapers. Which told the tale tonight at bathtime. Also, his contribution to the bubble bath was especially comical tonight. Never a dull moment around here.

I thought I'd try to put Hank down in the boy's room to sleep tonight. He was completely knocked out, still nursing a bit in his sleep, right until I stepped on the squeak outside their bedroom door. Then, he awoke, went rigid, and squeaked so loudly that the sleeping Quint flopped over in shock. He thumped right back down asleep, but I dashed down the hall with Hank just to make sure. Sheesh! I finally did get him down in there. I'll have to stealthily put the monitor in there here in a while.

Last night, when I went in to try to get Quint to stop crying and go to sleep, inspiration hit. I did the Elmo voice and had Elmo ask if he could spoon with Quint. He very sweetly put his arm around Elmo and we heard not another peep out of him.

I packed away 7 or 8 pounds of ham into the freezer tonight. All sliced up into sandwichable slices. We've nearly polished off the pound cake that was given to us, and the oaty-berry-yummy bars that were given to us. We will probably freeze some of the cheese danish that were too cheap to pass up. Because, as Pastor Chris said on Sunday, we all need extra carbohydrates around the house at this time of year. He was advertising for the bake sale going on in the foyer.

Every version of the Grinch is good. I want to ride the uphill trash dumper machine!!! It seems like a ride at Schlitterbaun!!! White Christmas gets dull after just 10 minutes.

Dropped the Ball

2011-12-12T22:32:00.003-06:00

Ok, it has become shockingly clear that other people cannot audibly hear my every thought, so I'm going to have to impart some pertinent catchup info.

1. We are probably not going to put Hank in a head-reshaping-helmet. Insurance is not initially excited about paying for the first step CT scan. His head is starting to round out now that he's reliably sitting up for most of the day. And several relatives, who I trust, have looked at his head this weekend and they can't see the odd lumps that I think I can see. These lumps might not be there at all, and I might be just looking at his head too much. My big concern has not been childhood ridicule for an oddly shaped head, but later in life when his hair falls out and an odd shape would be more obvious. And as Cousin Four has pointed out, Hank is not going to be mad at me when at 40 or 50, he has lost his hair and realizes that lumpy head could have been avoided if I'd only put his head in a vise at six months of age. That will be in the 2050s or 2060s just for perspective. Good point. There is nothing wrong with his head (as far as we know) and the "treatment" would have been considered cosmetic. So, as I said, we are probably not going to be doing anything about this oddly flat head thingy.

2. I'm taking an Intermediate Accounting class this spring.

3. We are taking the umbrella stroller and baby sling with us when we travel.

4. Hank has gained a full pound since I started feeding him actual food several times a day. He is still considered underweight for his age, but is growing properly.

5. I fell down the stairs yesterday. My biannual missing of the last two stairs, just like I always do. I did NOT have a child in my hand at the moment. I did have an armload of (previously) folded laundry. I scraped and carpet burned one arm and severely jammed my second toe. Horrible injuries, that. Otherwise, I landed on my fluffily padded arse. Hubby had no hope of hearing the fall, being with both boys, a TV, with a running washer and drier between us. Cousin Four bolted over to me, kept examining the laundry and finally said, "there's no baby here!" "Nope, just me." Huge sigh of relief from him. Then, "Are YOU ok?" Completely understandable reaction, that still seemed funny at the moment. He then helped me up and asked if he could stop producing adrenaline now. Yes.

6. Quint has been having a lot of trouble sleeping through the night since he personally met Po from Kung Fo Panda. We saw him at the huge hotel with the great Christmas lights. He came out for his appearance probably 20 feet from us. (For a mere $50, you could have your picture taken WITH him!) Quint crawled out of the front of his double stroller, climbed my frame, clung like a burn and cried into my neck. We now have to have a nightly litany of "the Panda won't hurt you. The Panda won't come in here. The Panda doesn't know where you live. The dark can't get in." and other reassuring statements. So Hank and Quint are sleeping in separate places again so that Quint doens't wake Hank up.

I think my battery is just about to die!!! More later.

Quint's first Christmas tree

2011-12-06T07:44:00.003-06:00

Quint is just over two years old now and he can articulate things better and better. Saturday, we went to the Opryland Hotel to see the lights and decorations. He saw a sixty foot Christmas tree of blue lights, a thirty foot regular Christmas tree decorated with 15 inch teddy bears, lights and whole gift boxes. We saw the poinsettia tree too. At Lowes, we saw all the prelit Christmas trees for sale as well.

Sunday night, Hubby got home from a business trip after Quint was in bed. We got down the tree from the attic and put it up in the living room. We were tempted to wake Quint up to see it, but didn't want to disturb him. A few minutes later, he woke up from a bad dream. Our eyes locked, and Hubby darted up the stairs to go get him. Quint was sooooo excited!!

He ran around saying Grismas Tree, Chrisma Tree, Grandma Tree, and lots of other variations. He was jumping up and down and clenching his fists in glee. It was sooooo much fun!!

All day Monday, the lit but undecorated tree stood in the living room. I kept telling him that when Papa got home we would decorate the tree. I would explain that we would put pretty things all over the tree. At one point during the day, he dug out his train underpants and decided that they needed to go on the tree.

While we were decorating the tree once Papa got home, Quint kept talking about decking Asians. I could just imagine (cartoon style of course) Quint punching some Asian guy.

It was very fun to decorate the tree for the first time with Quint.

Mispronunciations

2011-12-04T17:33:00.003-06:00

Mispronunciations I can't bear to correct:

Alligator = escalator
Alligator = elevator
alligator = alligator

Grandma-tree = Christmas tree

Making Baby Food

2011-12-03T08:37:00.002-06:00

In my latest video of mommy advice, I explain how to make your own baby food and store it easily. There are two videos: a short one that gets the job done, and a long one that answers any questions you might have. The summary of the video is as follows:

Take two cans (matching) regular canned vegetables. Drain the water from one can. Combine both cans in your blender and blend until smooth. You may have to scrape down the sides occasionally. Pour finished baby food into a quart jar or tupperware bowl to keep in the fridge for daily use. Or put in smaller plastic containers to label and freeze.

Here is the longer video that gives lots more detail and answers a lot of questions:

Here is the shorter video, all of which is contained in the longer video:

Share The Love

2011-11-29T14:20:00.003-06:00

Well, we've all shared the love at this point. Quint had a stomach virus that manifested Friday, Sunday and Monday. Hubby's version manifested all day Saturday. And now..... drumroll please...mine has manifested on Tuesday. And it's a busy day for Hubby at work so he couldn't stay home. So I've got a 26 month old, a 6 month old, nausea, aches, pains, and headache. Fun.

So far, Hank seems unaffected, but he spits up all the time and, now that he's on vegetables, his dirty diapers are unpredictable. Hmmm...

Ok, I'm thinking of either starting a new blog about raising two kids 20 months apart, but I'm also considering renaming this one. Which does everyone think I should do.

Poor Baby...

2011-11-25T21:46:00.002-06:00

Quint has a stomach bug. This is the first time he's been sick since.... well, since I pulled him out of daycare. Hmm... that's interesting.

I'm gonna get a little gross here so beware.

The poor guy doesn't know how to throw up and I've had to coach him in ways to make it less gross. Like, "just let it come out your mouth, don't try to stop it". "You know that feeling you had right before you threw up? When you feel that again, try to tell us "throw up" so we can make it easier." And by that, I mean motor him to the hardwood floors or throw a blanket at him. It came out his nose once, poor guy.

The good news is that he didn't seem to feel bad. He wasn't whiny, or feverish, and he was still energetic. We all talked about it, and I'm not sure he ate hardly anything in the last two days. He threw up three times and the first time, I just nearly caught it in the face. He came over to me and coughed in my face. I chided him on covering his cough, turned away for the second cough, and he threw up on the third. Once in the living room, once on the kitchen floor, and once in his bed.

This evening, he wanted to eat some of my mac and cheese. I started to say he couldn't, that this was Mama's supper, then Hubby and I locked eyes and we got him his own plate. Down the hatch it went. So maybe he's feeling better. I hope so!

Easy and Cheap Ways to Simplify Your Kitchen

2011-11-22T11:22:00.003-06:00

Here's my latest how-to video for organization and coping with two kids under two. My oldest is now technically 26 months old, but anyway....

Here's the outline of the video:
1. Simplify your tupperware.
2. Simplify your sippy cups.
3. Reuse quart applesauce jars. (They don't leak at ALL!)
4. Re-examine your baking dishes and store those you seldom use.
5. Repurpose your kitchen drawers.

Sweetnesses

2011-11-18T23:00:00.003-06:00

Sometimes Quint will wake up happy and say that he "slept tight". "You slept tight, Mama?" "Yes, I slept tight." Papa slept tight? Yes, son, Papa slept tight. Hank slept tight? I think so. He didn't wake me up.

Some sunny mornings, after breakfast, he'll walk around smiling, patting his ribs, and say, "I'm happy Mama."

When I trip and stub my toe and just nearly cuss, he will offer to kiss and make it better.

When (miraculously) Hank hasn't been crying while I was out of view, he will wiggle all over and give me a huge open mouthed smile.

When Hank has been giving the most pitiful of pathetic cries while I was out of view, and I pick him up, he snuggles into my neck putting as much of his face and head skin against my neck, hold my shoulder with his right arm and squeeze.

Quint will frequently kiss his brother on the head. He will also sweetly say, "bwother cwying" as if he's sad to hear it (as opposed to exasperated like I probably am).

When I'm away from them for three hours, I want to wake them up to hug them but at the same time, want them to go directly back to sleep so I can go to sleep.

I love my boys and view my time at home with them as precious. They only bring me to the point of frustrated tears a few times a month, but the rest of the time is sweet and rewarding and exhausting and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Quint and the leaf blower

2011-11-10T06:35:00.003-06:00

Thoma's first cereal.

Thomas making fun noises!

Quint in the leaves!

Sitting up!

2011-11-01T22:57:00.006-05:00

Here's the latest shots of my boys! Little Hank sat up for the first time yesterday!! As in, I pose him and he can maintain it for one to two minutes. When he first realized what he was doing, the look of joy and astonishment on his face was priceless!! And because I get to stay home with him, I got to see that face and not just hear about it. For me, that's huge! Here he is sitting up!

Here are both of my boys.
Quint being silly in the tub.
Quint holding Hank's hand.
Quint flying down the stairs with his teddy and blanket.
This hat is just too cute!!
My little leprechaun!
Silly face...

Smiley bubbles.

These pictures are in reverse order so the first one is the most recent and the last one is about a month old.

Cutest things ever!

2011-10-24T20:52:00.002-05:00

The other day, Hank was screaming his head off for his own supper while I was trying to fix a meal for all of us in the kitchen. Hank could see both Quint and I, but this was not enough. I asked Quint to go talk to him or play with him or give him a toy, or just tell him its alright. Quint calmly sat down beside Hank's bouncy seat, took Hank's hand in his and said, "It's alright, Thomas." I nearly cried that was so cute!! This surprised Hank for about 5 seconds of quiet. Then Quint said, "brother cwying" again to me. Like I can't hear him... I said, try a toy. Hand them to him one at a time. And Quint DID IT! He handed him about three toys in a row, each good for about 5 seconds of quiet, but still, it helped ME!

Outside today, I had Hank laying on two thick blankets on the ground while Quint and I played in the leaves, pulled weeds, whacked things with sticks, played with bubbles, etc. After a while, Quint went over to Hank, carefully crawled over him and kissed his forehead. Then he gently laid his body down on Hanks, squeezed Hank's shoulder and sat back up. Hank smiled, giggled, and kicked his feet (a sign of contentment for Hank). Then Quint saw I was watching and said, "kiss and hug brother". Sooooooo pweshus!

Hank has started reaching for my face when I am close enough. Sometimes he pats gently, but other times he grabs that thin, floppy neck skin of mine and twists like a demon!! But mostly he's smiling and coo-ing while he lovingly does this. I still think it's sweet.

Hank is all smiles

2011-10-06T09:42:00.000-05:00

Here's my Smiley Boy at Nannie's request.

New first for Quint

2011-10-05T08:24:00.002-05:00

Well, it's official. Quint can finally get out of his crib. The loud thump woke us all up this morning, but there was no crying. He just came to find us. This only comes about a year after we expected it, so I'm kinda relieved that he's learning to be brave and try new things. You just watch, I'll REALLY regret saying that shortly.

Clean a living room in 4.5 minutes

2011-10-03T15:28:00.002-05:00

This video shows how you can make a room look remarkably better in just a few minutes. This is neatening as opposed to cleaning. Cleaning involves removing dirt. Neatening is what you do to either restore sanity, or start to actually clean. But a quick neatening job can make you feel better so you can maybe tackle the next room in a similar fashion, and then maybe the kitchen, and the satisfaction of seeing one thing done can just snowball until you've got the whole house neat or clean. Or until the kids wake up from their nap...

How to diaper a baby

2011-09-29T09:21:00.003-05:00

Here's what actually happened this morning.

Convince Quint (toddler) that I can change his exceptionally stinky diaper for him before we play play-doh. Haul him to the upstairs changing table which is still missing it's changing pad cover because it's clean but not upstairs yet. Clean up his diaper while fighting with the wipes container which is nearly out and therefore doesn't weigh enough to be able to get the wipes to separate after you pull them out.

Try not to cuss.

Finally get him cleaned up only to realize that there are no toddler diapers on this changing table. You've brought them upstairs, but haven't gotten them this far yet.

Tell Quint not to move one muscle, DO NOT try to climb down from this changing table. Dash to the bedroom to fetch the new package of toddler diapers.

Finish diapering the toddler.

Go play play-doh while the infant (Hank) starts to make mildly distressed noises. I still haven't changed him this morning, though everyone HAS been fed.

Hang up dress shirts out of dryer.

Fetch hangers from our closet.

Finish hanging dress shirts out of dryer.

Clean up play-doh since Quint has left the room to play with something else.

Pick up Hank, who gives me the sweetest smile, and take him to the changing table.

Realize that Hank has had a dirty diaper which has leaked out the top of his diaper onto his shirt and blanket.

Realize that you used the last wipe on Quint.

Try not to cuss.

Think, think, think! Do you have any wipes upstairs? Yes, near the play-doh to help with cleanup. Dash at lightening speed to fetch those.

Start to clean up baby. Get mess all over the plastic changing pad, all over Hank's back, clean it up with wipes and the blanket that's already dirty. Carefully wrap blanket and shirt so that clean sides are outside and bend to put it in the dirty clothes basket under the changing table.

Try not to cuss because the basket is missing. Put the bundle where the basket should be which keeps the mess confined. (A baby gate prevents Quint from disrupting this plan.)

Decide to bathe Hank. Wrap Hank in a clean blanket for transport to the bathtub.

Realize I'll need a diaper nearly as soon as we get out of the tub. Realize the package of infant diapers is empty. Lay Hank on the floor wrapped in his blanket while I open a new package of diapers and while I'm at it, do it right. I empty the new package and put the diapers in my diaper holder box. I do the same for Quint's diapers in the box right beside Hanks.

Turn back to Hank to realize that he has peed while all this happened, but miraculously, it was all caught by the blanket.

Haul Hank to the tub. One glance in the tub confirms that the tub is too dirty for an infant bath. Grab the baby bath soap and move to my bathtub.

Convince Quint that he doesn't need a bath, too. Start to fill the tub which scares Hank because of the noise. Comfort Hank in his pee blanket while testing the water temp with my other hand.

Bathe Hank. Tell Quint not to put his face right beside my elbow while I'm doing, well, anything. Please go somewhere else.

Forbid Quint to add a cracker to the bath water.

Forbid Quint to add a box of crackers to the bath water.

Tell Quint not to sit on the flat of my calves while I kneel to bathe his brother.

Finish bathing Hank, take him out, and start to dry him off. Put on diaper.

Take him back to his room for a fresh T-shirt and sleeper (to keep him warm after his bath.

Wander around for a minute looking for a fleece blanket to keep him extra warm while he's fresh from the bath.

Hear Hank spit up and feel something trickle off my elbow. REALLY?!

Find a burp rag and mop up my arm, shoulder, and Hank's fresh sleeper.

Grab the bouncy, go downstairs with all children to find a fleece blanket. Apply fleece blanket and a bib to Hank.

Turn on VeggieTales Moe and the Big Exit for the third time in three days.

Sit.

Breathe.

Wish for a real drink. Dr. Pepper will have to do.

Moral of the story is - don't put off doing your chores which includes restocking the changing table, finishing laundry, and cleaning the tub.

Little diaper bag

2011-09-26T17:07:00.003-05:00

OK, I'm starting something new. I'm filming little how-to videos for new moms or moms trying to shift from one kid to two. If nothing else, they can see how I do it and take one tiny aspect for themselves. I hope to do organizational things for the house, car, outings, and possibly some money saving things. Here's my first try:

Here's what I carry in my little diaper bag for short trips around our suburb.

Other ideas I've got are for how to simplify your kitchen, how to roast a chicken in 7 minutes flat with things already in your kitchen, and other recipes for people who only have time to cook in 2 minute snatches. Let me know what you think. Or what I accidentally videoed in the background that's horrible...

That's not a rule....is it?

2011-09-24T14:58:00.006-05:00

There are a lot of things I've said in the past year that have surprised me. Plus a lot of rules I've made that make me laugh. Here's a sampling:

Do NOT lick the wall.

Do not throw toys, except balls, and then never at people's heads.

Don't TOUCH ANYTHING! (Usually this is because he's running free with something gooey all over his hands.)

Do not wipe your nose on the couch.

Please get your lettuce out of your chocolate milk.

Do not step on your toys.

Do not let Elmo swim in the toilet.

Wearing your sandals with the picture of Pooh does not hurt Pooh. See, he's even smiling!

Hank's Baptism

2011-09-19T17:28:00.001-05:00

Here's the video of Hank's baptism. We were very proud of how many folks wanted to stand up with us for his baptism.

Quint's Second Birthday

2011-09-18T18:08:00.002-05:00

With my folks in town for the week, there's been little computer time, but here is the video of the crucial song!

More will follow with time...

Chawky Mick

2011-09-07T21:24:00.002-05:00

Because I'm home with the boys all the time now, Quint doesn't want me to go anywhere without him. Last night, we needed some groceries, the most urgent of which was milk. We had 2%, but were out of whole. Quint kept saying , "No, Mama, no store" or "me store, ME!" Now he looooooves his chocolate milk. I just told him that we were out of chocolate milk and I had to go to the store to get more. Small thoughtful pause. "OK Mama." And a couple minutes later, when I had yet to pick up my purse, he said, "bye, bye, store, Mama." :-p Manipulative little so and so.

Tonight, I told him I was going to go to church by myself for a while. He went through the same thing of "No, Mama, no church." "Me church too?"

Recently, during a really rainy day, he really wanted to go somewhere, and anywhere would do. He systematically listed off every place we ever go. Jump place, park, walk, store, church, out-eat, etc. Finally he just kept saying "Go!!" and pointing to the front door. Poor thing. It was 60 degrees and raining and I just wasn't going to take us out in that out of only boredom. Two days before it was 105.

Whoops, teething baby, gotta go...

My boys

2011-09-04T23:45:00.004-05:00

Ok, I've gotten a lot done on my class, so I'm rewarding myself with a blog entry. But it's mostly pictures, so ENJOY!

So I got silly with the shampoo process...
Quint had an odd reaction to seeing Hank in his exersaucer type thingy for the first time. Hank loved it!
Quint: Mama! Get him outta there!
Hank: Ladidida...Cool, check out that baby in the mirror!
We lent this to a friend for a few months and she returned it cleaner than I've ever seen it. Check out that clear plastic thing on the right. I had no idea you could get it actually CLEAR!!
Quint entering the pool in his unique way...
Quint dressed as a Little House on the Prairie
character. Despite this face, he really did
like the overalls.

Papa and HankHank and Papa

Papa: Quint, Don't punch your brother!
Quint: My life was PERFECT before you came!
Hank: Just try it wise-guy. One day I'll be taller than you.

All my boys!
Quint the little angel....maybe devilish angel...

Computer time

2011-09-03T16:03:00.005-05:00

I'm trying to spend more time on the computer working on my accounting class. The real result is more blog entries, facebook time, email checkage, and weather checkage. I've gotta do better.

But here's the daily update on Hank's rash. Since it started leaking clear stuff late last night, we went to the doctor today. He said it wasn't ringworm, but just eczema. OH! So that's why the anti-fungal hasn't been working. Good to know. Hydrocortizone, neosporin, or eucerin are the cures.

Other Hank news is that we had an extended neck sighting the other day! Perhaps 60 seconds straight of both sides of the neck being visible! Right now, he's propped up in the high chair trying to make a rattle do what he wants. We'll see how Quint reacts to him using the chair when they get back from the jump place.

God bless the jump place when I need to study accounting, Papa is home, and it's 105 freakin' degrees outside.

In the TMI category - the planets aligned and sex happened!! EEEEVVVERYone is happier in life now.

In unrelated news, I fell on a rusty screw the other day and cut my thigh pretty bad. But Dammit that spider DIED!!!! So now I need a tetnis shot. Apparently a tetnis shot is good for 10 years unless you cut yourself with something rusty. So why is it supposedly good for 10 years? Not looking forward to that.... The sweet part was that Quint was playing in his pool nearby and asked me several times, "OK?" as in "are you alright?" Finally I said no, I'm not alright. He got out of the pool, stopped what he was doing, came to me and patted things. He had no idea what to do, but thought that concerned patting would help. And it did! It made me smile and quelled the urge to cuss really really loudly.

OK, I gotta get back to studying. Hubby is still at the jump place, but I gotta use my time better.

Things Got Better

2011-09-02T11:05:00.002-05:00

I remember when Quint was about 4 months old that suddenly, things seemed easier. I couldn't define how, exactly, but things were just better. I've always thought it was odd in Dick Francis books when he would say simply that "things got better". I get it now.

Monday, I had that feeling for the first time since Hank was born. It suddenly occurred to me that this has suddenly gotten easier. I have no idea if the situation has changed or if I've just gotten used to it. Hank doesn't have to be fed every 2 hours any more. He can go 4 or 6 hours pretty easily. Quint has cut down on needing something done RIGHT NOW simply because I'm nursing Hank.

On the other hand, Quint has turned into the no-monster. He'll just shout no instead of using his words to tell you what he really wants. On the other hand, when I raise my eyebrows and firmly say "NO" he stops asking for whatever.

The irony of my revelation that things are better is that very night Hubby was left home with both babies for nearly 6 hours. Hank got upset and wouldn't take a bottle. Hank cried for so long and so hard that Quint got upset that Hank was upset and so they were both howling when I came in. Hubby was a little wild eyed, very frustrated, and said he had a new found respect for me. I cuddled Quint and asked Hubby to hand me Hank so I could nurse him. With both babies on board, things got quiet. Everyone breathe a sigh of relief. Earlier, I had asked Cousin 4 how the night was going. He very politely said, "well, things were ok for a few minutes...a couple hours ago."

Hank is 3.5 months old, so this revelation of "easier" has come 2 weeks earlier than I expected. I knew I would need the most help this summer while Hank was the tiniest, and Cousin 4 has filled in that gap quite well. He was here and unemployed for 6 weeks to help me out during the day. Primarily, he picked up toys (restoring my sanity) and bounced the bouncy seat (allowing me to nap). Those two baby related things were a HUGE help, not to mention all the dishes, sweeping, trash taking, and cooking he did.

The other day, Hubby got on my case for how trashy my car was on the inside. Junk and trash accumulate at an astonishing rate and very occasionally, I shovel it all out. During the summer here, me cleaning out my car usually means having my two babies sit in the car in 95 degree heat while I clean out my car. Not happening. And once I bring them all in, I never think about it again. Ever. It's one of those chores that when it goes undone, it only inconveniences me. So it gets skipped. Always.

A while later, Hubby returned from getting my car inspected to find me supervising coloring "try to stay on the paper, honey. Please don't step on the crayons..." folding laundry, listening to the clothes washer and dryer, and listening to Hank be exceptionally frustrated that he couldn't roll over. He took all this in, and apologized. It was very sweet and did wonders for us both. Again, things got better. Better is good.

Oh yeah, and Hank rolled back to front for the first time! That's our new baby trick for this week.

Recent Conversation at My House

2011-09-01T16:07:00.003-05:00

Me: Hey Honey, did you see how I arranged the roses in the vase?

Him: Yeah, it's different and really pretty! You're quite the interior decorator!

(pause)

Me: Really? I thought you didn't like how I decorated things.

Him: No, you do a great job.

Me: But you won't let me do a lot of the things I want to do.

Him: Sure I will! What would you like to do?

Me: Take Jeff Davis off the living room wall?

Him: (quick response) No.

Me: Or take down the picture of the Rockies in the sofa room?

Him: (quick response) No.

Me: See, you don't let me do the stuff I really want to do.

Him: What's so wrong with the picture of the Rockies?

Me: Um, you've never been there, the colors clash, and the frame is a different kind of wood from anything else in the whole house.

Him: But there are family obligations tied up in that picture.

Me: To who?

Him: Ummm...

Me: Yeah, I thought so.

Him: But the flowers look great!

Me: Thanks honey.

Eventful weekend!

2011-08-28T22:24:00.018-05:00

We had a Grandma visit and a baptism! Here's the photographic narrative.

Here, Grandma and Quint are playing stomp the leaves.

Here, they're looking for lost treasure (AKA the sidewalk chalk).

(switch to Australian accent)
Here in the wild, Quint searches for local wildlife.

Having found what he was searching for, he takes
control of the situation by force of his mighty weapon.

Quint and Hank together.

Darling Quint

Hank being baptized by Allen Black and Chris Seifert.
Thanks Suzanne for taking these pictures!
They are great!

We had quite a crowd of people to support us at this baptism! It was very sweet and we were very touched. Along with Grandma, most of the choir came forward to be with us, and three whole families of our friends came forward as well. Hubby nearly teared up at that.

Afterward, we went out to eat with one of those families and S had a lot of fun laughing with Quint. This was the most enjoyable dinner out I've had in over two years! No one needed to be nursed or hand fed the whole time! For the first time, we ordered for Quint off the kids menu and he ate pretty well! Nothing like nuggets and fries at a Mexican restaurant! I didn't even have to mop up Quint's hands and face afterward! (someone else did) It was so relaxing!

This one is just too funny. If you imagine
the black things on either side of his head
as startled beagle ears, it seems even funnier.

This guy, however, is in the middle of singing you a

Sinatra style sad love song, and charming your pants off.

Hubby is going to be home all this week! Or rather, will be in town and home in the evenings. I start my Intermediate Accounting class tomorrow evening. I'll be gone from the house for 6 hours which will be the longest I've ever been away from Hank. Sniff sniff...

For those of you wondering, I'm taking one accounting type class per semester while I'm staying home with the boys for the purpose of re-entering the workforce when Hank starts school. I'm planning ahead to fight against the gap on my resume for while I'm home with the boys.

Hubby will be teaching one course this semester which will meet on Thursday nights.

Cousin 4 is taking his last course this month for his masters. So soon, we'll be some highly edge-a-ma-kated peoples around here with three advanced degrees in the house.

Train Underpants Thomas

2011-08-25T21:50:00.007-05:00

While Cousin 4 and I were preparing dinner the other night, Quint came in and told us, cute little hands folded, "Train Underpants Thomas". He said this a couple times and waited as if we were supposed to do something. I said something like, "yes, Thomas is on your Train Underpants." Ten minutes later, I went into the living room to find this.

He had benevolently given all his train underpants to his brother.
A very sweet big brother, sharing things like underpants, cheezits, ice water, books (that one scared the crap out of me). He has only once tried to pick him up off the couch, but at 23 months there is no way he's strong enough to do that.
And here's some cute ones of Hank enjoying being propped up with pillows. And he usually doesn't whimper until he's completely laying flat.

We had been concerned that Hank had a lazy eye, but a trip to the ophthalmologist proved that he has exceptionally healthy eyes.

Here are a few prayer requests for those of you who know us.
Please pray for my sister D and her son C.
Please pray for my mother-in-law J.
Please pray for my sister-in-law and her family in Baltimore.
Please pray for rain for Texas.
Please pray for the fires in Texas.

Two weeks?!

2011-08-17T21:29:00.002-05:00

Has it really been two weeks since I blogged?! Good grief. So here come the highlights in reverse order.

Cousin 4 has a job! He was offered and accepted today a job in his own field that's within 10 minutes of the house. He was floating around 4 inches off the ground today.

My dear friends MD and GLD3 left today after a lovely 5 day visit. They got to meet Hank, see the sights, visit the bouncy house place, and enjoy some temperatures in the 70s and 80s! They're from Texas, by the way, and while they didn't get to see rain while they were here, they did get to comfortably sit outside in a breeze with green surroundings. When my mom visited from Texas earlier this summer, she was here for 10 days and it didn't rain a single time, which is very unlike our area. So maybe it's the people in Texas that are making it hot and dry.

This weekend, we had a G3, a G4, and a G5 in the house, all at the same time. And none of them are directly related! The closest was a second cousin. At times, we resorted to Trey, Four, and Quint. I wonder if our son will think that men that aren't his brother or father are all named G?

I'm trying to get registered for a class for this fall. It will only meet one night a week, on Mondays. I keep forgetting to pump milk so we can get Hank used to a bottle so I can go to class without leaving Hubby with 3 hours of crying baby. And the milk I've pumped, I've let go bad in the fridge. Duh. But I no longer view my breast milk as hard won liquid gold. Hard to keep up that mentality when it squirts out onto the bathroom counter when you're trying to dry off from a shower.

When my dear friend MD and I were in college or high school or something, she read a 1950s book about housekeeping. One of the tips was to prepare for your husband's arrival home from work by freshening your makeup, neatening up the living room, making sure the kids look clean, and preparing dinner. At the time, we talked about it and said something like, "yeah, freakin' right!" On Tuesday, with her help, in the 40 minutes before Hubby walked through the door, we neatened both living rooms, cleared off the dining table, prepared a simple casserole, started the washer, dryer, and dishwasher, and kept both kids happy while we did it. She mentioned the 1950s book and I admitted that I think of that most days! When we read it we thought, "my how times have changed!" and now we think, "my how times have changed, again." No, this is not my duty to my husband, but I've found that the evening goes a whole lot smoother when the sight of the house puts a smile on his face.

The Women's Liberation Movement has really kicked women in the butt. Sure, women can get out there and have a job outside the home, earn the money, bring bacon, fry bacon, clean the pan, put it away, and make sure there's bacon for tomorrow. But the downside is a generation of men who think that they shouldn't do ANY of that. I can't tell you how many single women I know who can only find lazy "can you support me, honey?" type men. But I digress....

Hubby is about to be out of town for 4 days. A big daily motivator for me is his arrival home. Starting around 3pm, or when we all get up from our nap, I start thinking about dinner and my "got done" list. If there's nothing really on my "got done" list, I get off my butt and fix that. With him not coming home for the next few days, I wonder if I'll get much done. Apparently, it's list time.

I'll include pictures of recent events soon!

When you're expecting a muppet for dinner....

2011-08-04T21:08:00.005-05:00

I have a dear friend who came to visit me and meet my youngest son the other day. She (we'll call her CK) hadn't met him yet because her life is just a LITTLE bit busy right now. Her daughter had her first baby 5 days before Hank was born. So she's a new grandmother. Also CK's mother has been struggling with Alzheimer's and has taken a serious nose dive since November. To help her siblings care for their mother, CK drives nearly 3 hours one way every weekend to spend the night at her mom's. Also, CK's daughter was in the hospital for a long time after the birth and had to go back into the hospital a month later for several days. Did I mention that CK has a full time job downtown?

I hadn't managed to see CK or her new grandbaby because I've been a little busy with two boys under two. Occasionally we would email or leave each other messages. At some point she expressed distress at not having met Hank, especially since she held Quint before he was 5 hours old. I did my best to reassure her that sometimes life gets busy and we can't see our friends as much. That doesn't mean we don't love them, we're just busy. Life with two boys will calm down for me and her life will slow down one day too. We'll catch up then and have regular lunches again then.

So Tuesday, we finally managed to get together. CK, her daughter, and granddaughter came for dinner and hanging out. And they brought dinner! Awesome! AND Hank wasn't having a colicky night. ALL SIX PLANETS ALIGNED!!

Starting mid-afternoon, when I was certain that they were coming today, I started telling Quint about them so he could expect visitors. The baby's name is Zoey. So I said several times that Zoey was coming to visit. He lit up! Every time I mentioned it, he was excited that Zoey was coming. Odd reaction, but whatever....

When they were ten minutes out and were taking my dinner order, I told Quint they would be here any minute. He started watching the driveway. When the car pulled up, he shouted, "ZOEY!!!" and ran to the door. I still had no idea what his excitement was about. CK came in with the baby in her carseat and Quint got a good look at the baby. We matched his enthusiasm and said, "here is Zoey!!" He was polite and happy, but was obviously disappointed. I was so glad to see CK that I barely noticed.

While we were eating, and Zoey was in the swing, he kept turning around, looking at Zoey, and saying, "Zoey" kind of with a sigh. Only then did it occur to me that he was expecting a Muppet to come to dinner. Zoe the Muppet, not Zoey my friend's grandbaby.
I shared this revelation with everyone and Quint looked at me like, "duh, Mama, Zoe!" They had no idea that there was a Zoe Muppet. So we had to find a clip of her on my 40 Years of Sunny Days DVD. They were tickled. I pointed out that baby Zoe's were even on the Pampers they had been using.

Quint is a great kid. Even when I accidentally trick him into thinking a Muppet is coming to dinner, he still doesn't loose his s-h-i-t.

Self-propelled - two very awesome words

2011-08-02T08:39:00.005-05:00

One of our cost cutting efforts was to cancel the lawn service. Duh! you say, but for a mere $50 per month, only during the summer, we have avoided approximately one hour of marital argument time PER WEEKEND for as long as we've been paying someone else to do it. We fundamentally disagree about the phrase "it needs it". And we completely recognized that we were paying for weekend peace rather than lawn care.

A luxury we can no longer afford at $300 per year (leaf work in the fall is $75),

So a while back I started looking for a self propelled mower for cheap. Yes we have a push mower, but it didn't start well six years ago when it was lodged under our deck. Cousin 4 and Nannie contributed money to this endeavor when it became apparent that I was being too cheap in my search. Cousin 4, being male, can go into pawn shops and mower shops and not get swindled. He found a lovely used mower for $125.

And have I mentioned our vertical lawn. It's the reason we have to have a self propelled. This picture depicts at least ten vertical feet but at times it feels like a hundred. This is Tennessee the land of no flat land. And the steepest part of our yard has two Sweetgum trees. Female Sweetgum trees. (Think "seeds" and not "balls" and this makes sense.) Which means they emit stickerballs. Thousands of stickerballs. Which no mower machine has trouble with, but the person behind the mower will roll the length of their foot on a regular basis. So take your vertical lawn and add one thousand stickerballs. This makes mowing the lawn A LOT more difficult.

However! Now we have a self-propelled mower instead of a plain push mower.

The planets aligned this morning in that I was awake, the boys were not and it was 72 degrees outside! So I mowed the front lawn this morning for the first time in at least 5 years.

Things I've learned this morning:
Self-propelled are some of the most beautiful words in the english language.
Self-propelling downhill makes you have to trot to keep up.
Self-propelled are some of the most beautiful words in the english language.
I am SOOOOOO out of shape.
Self-propelled are some of the most beautiful words in the english language.
There is NO breeze today but loads of humidity.
Self-propelled are some of the most beautiful words in the english language.
It is pretty satisfying to see a neat lawn and know you did it yourself.

What can YOU do in twenty minutes?

2011-07-28T14:22:00.004-05:00

Guilty party

I can play "knock, knock" with Quint for a minute and then slide the fish sticks in the oven for 16 minutes. Then look at Hank in the swing closely only to realize that he's had an explosive dirty diaper. He's sitting in a puddle which also shot out of his diaper and up onto the top edge of the swing seat. Start mopping that up and quickly determine that Hank needs a bath. Mostly clean up the baby AND the changing table. Take the baby upstairs and start to run a bath. Convince the toddler that he does not need a bath right this minute and please, please, please get out of the way and (gulp!) why don't you stay up here with Mama and NOT go play in the still dirty swing. Can you close the gate? Uh-Huh! crisis #2 averted. Bathe the baby, dry the baby, dress the baby, set the baby in his crib. Wash hands. Dash downstairs to jerk the fish sticks out of the oven with 21 seconds to spare! Dash back upstairs to fetch Quint, shove him in his highchair (where he can't play in the still dirty swing). Answer the phone! (Com'on, you knew the phone was gonna ring in here somewhere!) Give my sister the short version of the last 16 minutes while cutting up fish sticks and applying ketchup. Hands feel sticky with no telling what - wash hands again. Talk and laugh with Sis while I figure out that the dirty straps on the swing are attached to the swing, and not to the washable cover. Drat! (to say the least) Extract the washable cover from the hard plastic swing and take all icky cloth to the washing machine. Wash the straps as best as possible. Listen to a gruesome tale from the ER via my nurse sister. Agree with her that your big toe is really the only toe you really NEED. Learn that you should put cut off body parts in a baggie with a wet rag and THEN in ice for transport to the ER. It's only teeth that should be put in a glass of milk. Bring clean, swaddled baby downstairs in the bouncy seat. Extract toddler from his high chair since he (for once) ate all of his food before saying "all done!". Notice that my hands are damp with something. Panic, wash hands again, and look at everything I've touched in the last 90 seconds. Take the speaker phone away from the toddler and hang up with my sister. Put my own fish sticks on a plate with ketchup, move baby and bouncy to living room and sit down to eat my lunch.

So what can YOU do in 20 minutes?

Random thoughts

2011-07-27T20:23:00.012-05:00

Wow, 11 days since I last posted! In short, here's the events that have happened that have not really been covered in the blog: (they are not in order)

Mom visited for 10 days. Hubby was out of town for 7 days of that. Cousin 4 has moved in and seems to have fit seamlessly into our lives. Mom, the boys and I went to the zoo, and to see the train display at a local botanical gardens. Mom went on a motorcycle ride with Cousin 4. The boys, Nina, Nina's granddaughter and I went to a bouncy house indoor playground, had a blast, and managed not to paralyze ourselves due to overexertion . The heat wave has driven us indoors, for the most part. I realized today that Quint hasn't gotten really dirty in 4 days - a crime for a boy of nearly 2! Hank had his 2 month checkup and is a healthy, normal little boy.

Super Hank!!

The boys together.

Mom (AKA Nannie) is taken for a ride!

Hank looking more like Hank than
like a startled frog.

Quint and Nannie at the train display.

Nannie and Quint on the zoo carousel.
We rode it a total of 8 times.

Nannie and Hank.

Give us a wave, Hank.

Hank now weighs 11 pounds! He is fully within regular standards, but is taller and slimmer than Quint was. I had noticed this on some of my favorite baby outfits. Hank is outgrowing them vertically, while they are still baggy around the middle. He smiles a lot while he's on the changing table. He coos a lot. He has what his doctor is calling colic several nights a week. I thought it was due to virtually any strong spice. But last night, I had some wonderfully spicy chili (garlic included!) with no ill effects for little Hank. So maybe I can stop eating only the blandest of foods.

My quest for bland yet yummy foods has prompted me to try cooking some simple yet delicious meals. I've recently roasted a whole chicken and served it with green beans, flaky biscuits, hominy, and a berry-yogurt dessert. The three men I fed this to raved and raved about the meal. Cousin 4 made us all french toast for supper recently and it was the first time I'd loved it.

Quint has, just today, been really verbal and has strung together several words to make near sentences. "Chocolate milk yummy!" was the cutest. He probably used 20 new words today. These are words that I knew he knew what they meant, but he had never actually said them. He talked of coupling rail cars, which he calls rail trucks due to Thomas the Train. I also think he was saying "shunt" while playing with his little train today. He would say this while shunting a couple of cars to the side. He LOVES his little plastic train set. Yet when the little cars derail and lay on their side, he seems to panic! It's as if he thinks someone is hurt or hurting. Perhaps the over-personification of Thomas and friends has its' downside.

Really random and detached thoughts - one sentence has nothing to do with the next. I have to do a load of baby laundry every other day. We've managed to clean out the dryer vent (an annual cuss-fest) without any actual cussing! I try to only go to the grocery store twice a week now - not that I need that many groceries, it just seems harder to put off a cheeto deficiency. I bought 376 diapers the other day for $50.45 - that's about 16 cents a diaper!! I've cooked several meals lately for the four of us with plates for about $4-5.00 per meal. That's for the whole meal, not per person. ($3 chicken, 35 cent hominy, 70 cent green beans, $1.30 flaky biscuits.) I am awesome!! Yet I've had some trouble with depression due to my lack of exercise due to the heatwave.

Having a moment

2011-07-16T06:57:00.003-05:00

Hubby is out of town this week. My mom, Nannie, is in town to help me with the boys. Here's a conversation that happened yesterday with Hubby.

Hubby: Hi Honey, have you got a minute to talk?

Me: Not really, I'm having a moment.

Hubby: What's wrong?

Me: Nannie took Quint for a walk to give me a little break and I thought I'd slap another layer of polyurethane on these tables. I managed to flick polyurethane on my glasses, forehead and freshly washed hair. I think my glasses are stuck to my face. And Hank just woke up and started crying.

Hubby: I'll let you go! Call when you can!

So instead of a peaceful few minutes with a sleeping baby, I basically took a bath in mineral spirits. I got all the polyurethane off my glasses pretty easy. I put mineral spirits on a paper towel and rubbed it all over my arms, face, and after a moment's thought, in my hair. Then I washed my hair with hand soap at the kitchen sink. All of this while bouncing Hank in his bouncy seat with one foot. Then I made myself some honeybutter as a consolation and called Hubby back.

Opps, Hank is awake. Thus end of blog!

Watching the children and the garden grow....

2011-07-11T15:40:00.008-05:00

OK, so we don't have a garden. But I've always liked that line in a song.

It always amazes me when you notice a child's growth from one day to the next. When Quint was a baby, there were some days that you'd pick him up and think, "wow, you weigh more than you did yesterday". Once I heard three people say that about him on the same day, and they hadn't heard each other say it.

Now, Quint is a barrel chested little boy and there are some days I can tell that his barrel has expanded from the previous day. His chest will be deeper from sternum to spine. And usually, within a day or two, a bunch of his shirts don't fit.

Yesterday, Hank had an obvious chest growth. All of a sudden the barrel of his chest is thicker, and at the same time he chunked up a bit. He was wearing a white onesie and when I put him to bed, I swear that thing was looser than when at 10am the next morning. He filled out his onesie overnight. And no, it wasn't a diaper that needed changing. There's more meat on his little arms. So maybe Hank is going to turn into a little chunk like Quint was. I'd really like that. I like fat babies.

Quint had a large first today! He wanted to wear his underpants for the first time. He wore them for about an hour, which ended with an accident, but he stopped the accident, went to the potty and finished up. For 22 months old, I count that as a great success. Here he is showing off his Thomas the Train underpants.

Nannie arrives tomorrow which will be a fun week of trips to the zoo, the train show, the park, the library, all those places that I can't take Quint by myself. Once Hank is content sitting in a stroller, then maybe things like the zoo can work with just one adult. Maybe.... but for now, we have to wait for Aunt D or Nannie or Nina to come to town.

And here's a video for Aunt J and chids. I call it confession time.

Laughing baby

2011-07-06T09:42:00.004-05:00

Little Hank is about 7 weeks old and is giving us reactionary smiles quite a bit now. Especially at 4am when they are needed the most. The really cute part is that we've caught him laughing some! I'll hear a funny little noise and look down at the bouncy seat to find him smiling. Then he will belly laugh again and smile again. Priceless! It will be very hard to catch on video though. The whole thing usually lasts about 15 seconds.

I hope this is an indicator that he will have a positive outlook on life in general.

the fallout...

2011-07-02T15:59:00.003-05:00

While my sister was in town, she held little Hank nearly constantly. As she says, she was sucking all the lovin' out of him via repeated kisses on the noggin. She left on Thursday. Guess what Hank wanted all day Friday... he wanted to be held constantly. So Friday was just LOOOOAAAADS of fun. So much fun, that I asked my hubby to come home early to rescue me. Hank was the baby who never slept and never hushed either. Once Hubby got home, we could at least take turns holding the baby or visiting with the quiet and sweet son.

The very good result was then when he finally DID go to sleep at around 11pm, he slept straight through the night until 5am when I woke HIM up to relieve the amazing milk pressure. Then he went back to sleep for three hours. He's six and a half weeks old!

I looked it up and Quint did that at eleven weeks. Of course this with Hank might be a fluke.

Sis's Visit

2011-06-30T16:52:00.022-05:00

My wonderful sister came to visit last Sunday and just left a few minutes ago. She came for vacation and to meet my new baby Hank.

While she was in town, we did three big things that I can't do my myself right now: Go to the park, go to the zoo, and see the train exhibit at a local botanical gardens. It's really hard to chase a nearly 2 year old while holding a newborn. Once Hank can hold up his head and therefore be strapped to my chest, this will change (some). So for all these events, one of us would chase Quint and the other keep Hank happy.

So here's our photo collection from the last week. Please note the placement of the raisins.

Baby Hank

Uncle Sam wants YOU!

At the park. Aunt D hates to have
her picture taken so I'm relying on

my super zoom here.

Cedar chips are really cool!

Aunt D and Hank

Hank's standard look right now.
Kind of like a startled frog.
I'm confident that he'll grow out of it.
A little smile!

A little more smile!
At the zoo!
On the zoo train.
Elephants!
Giraffes! This is where I finally relaxed and
tried to let Quint run free without me completely
freaking out. There were fewer people near this
exhibit and Quint was running slower. The combo
let me let him wander free.
At the train exhibit the next day, my
"where is my kid!" panic had returned because
it seemed that Quint and I stayed on opposite
sides of the exhibit for a while. I finally chilled a little.

I finally got this picture of Quint after about 90 minutes.

The first good hour of this exhibit, Quint was running around shouting "TRAINS! TRAINS!" or "CHOO CHOOS!! CHOO CHOOS!!" about ever three seconds. By the time I could get a still shot of him, he was sitting where he knew the train would come right by him about ever 60 seconds. Then he would softly say, "train, train" every time it rolled by. Very worth it.

THANKS SIS!!

Tightwaddery and tiny accomplishments

2011-06-23T11:47:00.000-05:00

I've gotten a lot done lately, or at least I feel like that. I think this is mostly due to me lowering my expectations on calling a chore done. I've started to put it on my list as being "done" if I work on it at all. Today I spent 10 frantic minutes balancing the checkbook, did not get it up to date, but did get some progress made, and therefore I put it on my "to done list". Other things that took about the same amount of time, yet made my got-er-done list include making 3 phone calls, paying three bills and picking out books at the library.

I've been reading the Tightwad Gazette during middle of the night feedings and rockings. There are large chunks of this book that are seriously out of date. For instance, the tip that you can save on your phone bill by requesting pulse service instead of tone service. Also, she repeatedly suggests writing thoughtful letters instead of paying 9 cents per minute for long distance. I think it's been nearly as long as we've been married since we paid for long distance per minute.

On the other hand, some things are timeless like eat simpler meals, hang dry laundry if you can, shop garage sales and thrift stores, and how to find more storage space in your house. The last of which made me want to call my former neighbor to give her some space saving ideas. Then I realized that since she moved, and doubled their square footage, she probably doesn't need these tips any more.

Baking more from scratch probably wouldn't save me much money due to how much I might bake non-edible items. Also mixes and baked goods are extremely cheap! Can you really bake 2 dozen cookies for less than $1.29?

I have made a Tightwad Gazette grocery notebook this week. The Gazette, combined with the show Extreme Couponing, has encouraged me to at least examine if we could use coupons to save money beyond the Aldi prices. For several years, each time I've examined prices at non-Aldi stores, Aldi still has THE best prices and generally tastes better than Kroger brand. As a result, I've stopped looking at prices and don't know what things cost right now. The notebook will help me with this. The notebook is a portable listing of the place, size, cost, and cost per unit of products, listing one item per page. For instance, sliced bread has one page and I can list what Aldi, Kroger, and Walmart have for standard prices. That way I'll actually know a sale when I see one.

*DING!*

Since Hank was born, I've gone to the grocery store about twice as often for 3 items that I feel cannot wait. This is driving me nuts and, I'm sure, costing me more in impulse purchases. Also, I'm eating a TON carbohydrates and still weigh less than I did when I was 28 1/2 (AKA when my body decided to have a new, standard, larger number.)

*DING!*

Rechargeable batteries are great - EXCEPT IF THEY ARE SIZE D! We are very firm believers in rechargeable batteries. When I was like 12 and my dad realized that we teenagers were plowing through tons of AA batteries for our Walkmans, he bought us a charger and enough batteries so that some could always be on the charger and some always in our Walkmans. We basically stopped needing to buy AA batteries. Incidentally, just within the last year or two have I called my daddy to tell him that THOSE SAME BATTERIES from when I was twelve, have now officially died. Me and my husband agreed and we trashed those 4 batteries. Yes folks, that's 20 years.

We have also recently tried to use some size D rechargeable batteries from my husband's childhood. These would not run any of our kid's toys. We thought they were just dead. But then I read the actual batteries. Size D rechargeable batteries have a different amount of volts than disposable batteries. A lower amount of volts. Which means they will not run the baby swing, or the bouncy seat. Why did the battery mafia do this?!

Still, the single D battery that runs the vibrator part of the bouncy seat still only costs us about $6 per month. Gee, is it worth $6 per month to be able to get to sleep with a newborn in the house. OMG YES!!!

*DING!*

There is a children's book for adults called "Go the F**k to Sleep". Our local library has one copy. There are 14 holds on this book. That means that 14 people have requested this book when it is available. That has made me laugh many times in the last 48 hours. Sooz, I really wish you and I could snicker over this book. I do miss you on a regular basis!

*DING!*

We got to go to story time at the library today for the first time, and then play on the playground with the help of my local grandma. Yes, going to the park requires two adults for me, right now. Later, when Quint is better trained to public playgrounds and/or stopping when I say STOP, I'll be able to do this alone. But right now, I cannot chase a toddler and make sure no one steals Hank at the same time.

*DING!*

Hubby got his lap-band adjusted the other day. He had mentioned that he wanted to start eating better when he had that done, but he failed to mention that he would also be going hard core low carb - except for cookies. I had dreams of soon being able to make meals that Quint, Hubby and I could all eat - and therefore we all stop eating separate things at separate times. But no. If I don't eat a metric ton of carbs per day lately, I literally get dizzy while moving the laundry from the washer to the dryer. Protein is great. But carbs are a must. So the dinner I spent 3 days planning (this is a crock pot recipe that says it takes 20 minutes to prep) was eaten this evening by just me. I was not at all hurt that he didn't want to eat my cooking (how can you dislike something you haven't tried?) but was just more frustrated that I had planned for three days to prepare supper for my husband and I, to no avail. The primary ingredient was potatoes.

*DING!*

When you're home all the time with a toddler, you REALLY have to mop more than once a week. Otherwise the ants go marching one by one, horrah, HORRAH!

*DING!*

DING! is what my family says during our marathon phone conversations to indicate a complete and total subject change.

*DING!*

Why is it that when I ask my husband to help me with the kids I sometimes get the question, loaded with contempt, "Did you get a nap today?!" Indicating that he didn't get a nap today so he shouldn't have to do something. Sure I got a nap, but I also got up 2 hours earlier than you for the day and was up a total of about 2 hours during the night with feedings. Who is more oppressed here, WHO I ASK!!

*DING!*

My husband is wonderful and helpful and after I answer the above question in the affirmative, we split the current duties down the middle and get to work.

Speaking of which, he's trying to comfort our upset newborn without the aid of mammarys. OK, when you misspell mammarys, the suggested corrections are stammering, menageries, hammertoes, and miniseries. That's just funny. And I still spelt it rong. Gotta go.

Sitting up - not really

2011-06-16T11:09:00.006-05:00

We've been taking walks with Quint and Hank in our double stroller. We can lay Hank flat and Quint can sit up in the front. The last couple walks, Hank has just cried the whole time and I wind up carrying him for most of the walk. Which will really do a number on your back!

This morning, I took the boys on a walk by myself (first time I've tried that) and sure enough, Hank started to cry about the time we hit the jogging path by the creek in the next neighborhood. It's the most peaceful part of the walk - except if you have a screaming infant. I had noticed that Hank screamed more when I had the sun shade covering him completely up. So I tried sitting his seat up so he could see out. He immediately shut up! I had enough blankets with me to prop him up so his little head wouldn't flop around. He was quiet the rest of the walk and even was asleep when I got us home!

Hank is one month old today!

And here's a shot of my sexy husband and my froggy legged Hank.

First smile?!

2011-06-14T16:20:00.003-05:00

Last night, I think that Hank smiled at me for the first time!

It was somewhere between 1am and 5am, who the hell knows when. He had just finished nursing and burping and I held him close to my face, said Hi and smiled really big. He looked at me like I was nuts, and then gave a little grin! I sat there for a minute thinking, "am I just imagining that? Isn't this way too early?" So I waited a couple minutes and did that again. Once again, he looked at me like I was nuts, and then gave the same little grin!

Now begins the circus type antics to try to get more smiles out of my four week old baby!

I looked it up, and first smiles can be expected between 4 and 6 weeks old. So maybe it was the real thing! I'm counting it! SO THERE!!

In other news, I had the (non-female) annual physical today including an EKG. Yes, I'm 33 and had an EKG. That's because my blood pressure is being managed. Everything turned out fine, but have you ever tried to get a comprehensive exam from a doctor while you've got a 21 month old and a 4 week old?! I took a friend with me to help with the kids and she brought her son with her - who was a big help too! But that made 6 people in a room the size of a walk in closet. And of course the infant had a blow out diaper and needed a whole outfit change. Quint was great if a bit all over the place with his toy trucks. Thankfully, my doctor has 4 girls, including a set of twins and was able to block all that stuff out and concentrate on me. My friend handled dressing the infant and was the proud recipient of vomit on both of her shirts.

I've managed to fill out the birth announcements today and they only lack postage.

Coming home from the hospital.

2011-06-12T10:13:00.001-05:00

Coming home from the hospital. Quint had pink-eye on Hank's second day of life, so I didn't see Quint for like 36 hours straight. Which was hard. So here we are leaving the hospital and Quint seeing me and Hank for the first time in a while.

Quint and Hank

2011-06-09T09:47:00.003-05:00

Long overdue, I know, but I've been a bit busy. Here's the video of Quint first seeing his little brother. I think I'm going to call the new baby Hank on my blog here.

Quint kept touching his hands to see if he was real. Soooo cute!

Quint is handling being a big brother pretty well. Sometimes he also whimpers when Hank is crying, and sometimes he looks disappointed when I'm nursing Hank, but that's all.

I know I haven't talked too much about Hank yet, but Quint does more interesting stuff than Hank right now. Hank sleeps a lot, cries when he's hungry or wet, and then goes back to sleep. That's about it. He's getting cuter by the day. He likes a pacifier and the bouncy seat. He still has his froggy legs.

And he's crying now so my blog time is up!

Balancing Act

2011-06-05T22:12:00.003-05:00

OK, I hardly ever post anything that makes my wonderful husband look dumb or silly, but this was just too cute. And sooooo something I would do. And actually, I have had a similar experience with Quint's winter coat.

Hubby and Quint were having a potty session (WHY is it that Quint just about won't go potty with me?!) when their speech became frantic. Quint was crying, Hubby was giving orders to stand up, and then Quint was calling for me. Suddenly, Hubby roars for me as well. Not good. Hubby was trotting toward me holding a crying Quint up by the arms.

"Honey!" Hubby says in a panicky voice, "he's lost the ability to balance! Quint, stand up!"

Hubby sets him squarely on his feet. And the boy does manage to balance for a minute, but starts to wobble badly. "MAMA!" he says pitifully. I sit on the ground in front of him, holding him up, and only then do I see the problem.

Both feet are through one pant leg.

Hubby is still looking panicked and like he's going to offer to take him to the ER any second. I try to suppress a giggle and lay the boy down on his back. I pick up the empty pant leg and flap it up and down. Hubby immediately looks relieved and starts to apologize to Quint for doing this to him. And then scolding him for not standing up as a result. Quint is still distressed and we both say soothing things to him while I fix his pants. As soon as he's on his feet, all is forgiven and forgotten.

If only all panic inducing episodes were so easily solved....

Pop Quiz!

2011-06-01T06:53:00.007-05:00

Alright, here's your pop quiz for the day! The next two pictures show Nannie holding a grandson. But which grandson is which?!
And here are two of the better family portraits from our most recent attempt.

Things are going well here! I feel great, Quint's nose finally stopped running, little Hank is still a relatively easy baby, and Hubby's work schedule has seriously improved.

The cicadas are still deafening outside our house and the little bodies are piling up in our driveway. There are enough of them in the front yard that it stinks a bit. They should all die sometime before the end of June

We've been on either two or three walks as a whole family. I was so dreading the 6 weeks of recovery from birth - that's how long it took for me to enjoy a walk with Quint. But at just under 2 weeks, this time, I'm enjoying our standard 2 mile walks. So far, Papa has been doing the hard pushing up the hills, but I'll get stronger. Having not exercised at all for about 4 or 5 months, I thought I wouldn't be able to do a 2 mile walk right off the bat. I lack some strength for pushing that heavy double stroller uphill, and I have to stop to catch my breath, but I'm easily able to do the walk.

Hubby took Quint to work with him yesterday and I got to have several hours with just me and little Hank. Wow is one baby easy! I got a lot of things done despite my 2 hour conversation with my sister (actually possible without a toddler present) and the two pieces of cake I ate as soon as Quint and Papa left.

Due to Hank's perpetual dirty diaper, he has a bit of diaper rash which I think might have been what kept us all up last night. It hurts when that rash gets wet! It also could have been that he didn't want to be alone. I've been trying to return to my own bed and (shocker!) actually sharing a bed with my husband. For these first two weeks, I've slept in the same room as Hank to make night feedings easier on me. The last several nights, I've started out in our bed, and for one reason or another, I return to the bed in Hank's room.

Quint continues to be a voracious reader! Not that he can read, of course, but he really loves books. I need to figure out a coordinated way to nurse one baby while reading a book to Quint. He can identify lots of animals (where's the giraffe) and can name a few. The same with shapes and colors. He has recently put together that the sound of an airplane goes with the visual of an airplane, and also that his Fisher Price Little People plane is an airplane. So for the first time yesterday, he pretended to fly the Little People plane around the room instead of just rolling it on the floor. For a while there, any vehicle with wheels was a choo-choo, but now he's starting to understand that this is a bus, that is a truck, etc.

Oh, and there he is awake, so my blog time is up!

(time passes)

OK, both boys are down for a nap and oddly, I don't need one.

Hank and I went to the doctor today to get his weight checked. He was
7 lbs. 11oz at birth,
7 lbs. 2 oz when he went home
7 lbs. 4 oz on day 4 and (drum roll please...)
8 lbs. 3 oz on day 16! No wonder those Newborn onesies seemed kind of small! So despite everyone around him being sick, he has gained quite well!

It starts!

2011-05-24T21:21:00.008-05:00

Tonight, at dinner, when Quint said "All done" for the eighth time, I took a firm stand. I told him that he would get no cookies or crackers tonight unless he ate more of his supper. Hubby said he could enforce that. Hubby repeated and clarified. Small pause. "You funny," said Quint with an adorable smile. My mom immediately hid behind her drink and tried her best not to laugh. I looked down at my plate and thought, "oh crap". Hubby said, "did he really just say 'you funny'?" This does not bode well for the terrible twos.

Earlier today, I was trying to explain to Quint why he couldn't jerk blankets away from his brother when they were holding up his wobbly head. Then I was trying to explain why he couldn't put his 27 lbs self in the bouncy seat ever (those things should have a toddler understandable weight limit printed right on the back!) while he was laying his head pitifully in the seat of the bouncy. As he got up to inch around me, he clearly said several times, "mean Mama, mean Mama." Talk about rip your heart out! I tried to cuddle him and explain how the bouncy was Deuce's and not Quint's while Quint's special blanket is just his and will never be Deuce's. Nothing could fix it.

Thankfully, after a nap, a meal and a trip to the grocery where Quint was within 3 feet of me for 40 minutes while I loaded his favorite foods into the cart and fed him cookies, I could do no wrong. He would walk by and grin and pat me. He would laugh in my arms and do all the sweet things he does. I felt forgiven. For refusing to let him break his brother's bouncy seat.

Deuce is a very different baby than Quint. And so far that's nice. He sleeps for larger chunks in the night, sometimes up to 4.5 hours between feedings. He hardly ever really cries! He'll get fussy and work himself into a snit, let out 2 or 3 big "waaaa"s and then wait a full minute for me to react. If those cries didn't net any results, we get another dose. It's like a snooze button. The snooze isn't long enough to complete going to the bathroom, but two snoozes usually will do it.

Deuce also perpetually has a dirty diaper. No matter when you change it, he will make a new, tiny, stinky deposit within the next 3 minutes. And it doesn't work to let him have more time. And if you change that one, he will just make another deposit in another three minutes. But once he makes a small deposit, he will feel at home there - until you decide that it's been long enough and you change it again. Surprisingly, there has been no hint of diaper rash with this phenomenon. I've started hitting him with desetin on occasion anyway.

Deuce makes the most hysterical faces. And makes the weirdest noises. On occasion, he will whistle like a teapot, bleat like a sheep, meow, squek and lots of other noises.

Here his is on the day we came home.

Here's the cat trying to get a little lovin' while
Nannie is enamored with Deuce.

Quint admiring Deuce.

Yes, you can hate me now.

2011-05-21T21:03:00.002-05:00

I am 33 years old. Last summer, I wore size 8 pants. I had a baby last Monday. This is Saturday, AND THEY COMFORTABLY FIT!!

Our first week of life as a family of four has included a toddler with pink eye, a cold with fever, while cutting a tooth, a grandmother with probably bronchitis, a new mother with some...digestive issues, and a new father having to work 15 hour days (which will likely end tonight). So forgive me if I haven't said more on my blog this week.

Our new addition is eating well, sleeping well, gaining weight and so far is very different than his brother at this tender "days old" age.

New Baby!

2011-05-17T03:42:00.014-05:00

My new son was born at 3:46pm, May 16, 2011. He weighed 7lbs, 11oz. He is 19 inches long. It was a fairly easy birth, he gave a strong cry, and has been showing all signs of a healthy boy.

Here he is at about 20 minutes old with his papa.

He was right at an hour old when he met his big brother.
(M~ I look so much like you in this side shot of me!)

Quint smiled, giggled and tried to give the baby
a high five several times.

Grandpa had a good photo from that first hour. I didn't
manage to get a good shot of Nannie during that first hour.

Quint looking at his new brother,

and giggling.

Proud mama with alert baby.

Showing off.

Holding Papa's hand.

My boys!

I haven't figured out what I'm going to call my new son on this blog. I try to keep us anonymous, so I probably won't use his name on here. We called him Rastus before we had his name figured out. But that was only because it was an ultra hick name that we knew we wouldn't use. I've thought of calling him Bruiser for how he would bruise me from the womb, but there's another blog I read who has a Bruiser. I've thought of Buster for the same reason, but I'm not sure I like Buster for my sweet infant.

I'll figure it out soon, I'm sure. And I'll post more pictures later, I'm sure.

Potty Training Expert - Papa!

2011-05-13T17:33:00.006-05:00

Apparently, my husband's instincts about potty training are about a thousand times better than mine. My first indication was a couple months ago. I was shocked at this revelation, but I am fully willing to admit it after last night's success.

But first, a brief account of the the background story from Monday. Monday morning, I left a little early for work without looking in on Quint. His Papa has been taking him to daycare on Mondays and I felt a twinge of guilt for not looking in on him before I left. That twinge of guilt vanished when I got a call from Hubby at 8am. Apparently, Quint had removed his diaper, made a mess all over the crib, but at least looked sheepish when Hubby went in to wake him. So Hubby and Quint had a very "fun" morning dealing with that. I was SSSssoooooo glad I got to miss out on the fun.

Last night, I was tired and hurting and could not get my huge pregnant belly comfortable. It hurt to sit, it hurt differently to walk. I had a negative patience level for noise, dark rooms, and any request upon me. Yes, I was the typical freakin' ray of sunshine that I've been throughout most of this pregnancy. Quint was walking around and started taking off his diaper. My interpretation: NOT GOOD!

I told him sternly to stop and not do that and only do that when you're in the bathroom. I lead him back to where his Papa was sitting and basically told him to deal with his child. He started sweetly talking to his son. I mentioned that random diaper removal might should be a spank-able offense. Hubby, disagreed in an non-offensive way and continued talking to his son. I studiously occupied myself with "useful employment" as Jane Austen would say. He finally asked him directly, "do you need to use the potty?"

Emphatic "Uh-huh!" from Quint.

Hubby whisked the now naked boy off to the potty. He went #1! Much bragging, clapping, and whatnot. I even walked all the way in there to brag on him.

Hubby instructed him to stay sitting and trying for #2. Hubby left him alone in the bathroom for a minute. I sternly said that it could be a disaster to leave him in the bathroom by himself, naked, and with yucky ammo in the potty. That netted me a "whatever" kind of look. But Hubby wandered back in there. Quint done #2 as well!

Much ecstatic bragging, clapping, hand washing, and hugging!! Amazing success on the potty! And all because of how Papa handled it completely and totally correctly!

Yeah, and me? I wanted to spank the kid when he took off his diaper and then didn't trust him to be on the potty by himself. Yeah, I'm batting a thousand here.

Oh well, at least one of us is great at this!

Quint and Jr.

2011-05-11T02:51:00.005-05:00

I have not had the baby yet.

Here's a picture of Quint at two weeks old. See how those fat cheeks make his lower lip bow in the middle.

And here's an ultrasound picture from 5/10/11. Looks like we've got more fat cheeks on the way. Wonderfully kissable fat cheeks!
.

Baby Boy

2011-05-10T11:59:00.006-05:00

Here are the fantastic 3D pictures of our second little boy. They estimate that he's 7lbs 4oz.
And the big huge news is that she's willing to induce me on MONDAY!!! So Monday I get to be done being pregnant!!

Playing in the pool

2011-05-09T19:11:00.001-05:00

Here's the latest video of the golden boy.

36 weeks pregnant - now and then

2011-05-08T21:45:00.005-05:00

OK, so here's a direct comparison between my two pregnancies. The red shirt was a few days ago and the green shirt was at 36 weeks when I was pregnant with Quint. Everyone, including me, thinks that I look smaller this time. But the beauty of me taking these staged photos with both pregnancies is that I can directly compare them! I've cropped them based on the position of the walls. The two different cameras were sitting at the same table at virtually the same height. My lower back and shoulders were against the wall in every shot. I can't think of how I could have done this to create a better comparison.
I think my belly in the green shirt (2009) is just a teeny, tiny bigger. I'm shocked that it's not significantly bigger.

I see the doctor Tuesday. Maybe she'll decide to admit me to the hospital for some reason! I'm sure I'm completely shooting myself in the foot by being really pretty darn prepared to go into labor this week. The only thing that would be inconveniently un-done at the moment is that the infant seat has not been installed in Hubby's car yet. I would like to have the photo album caught up, but I could order the photos from shutterfly tomorrow. The bills are caught up and I've sorted the mail. The freezer is pretty well stocked. There's only a couple things we need from the grocery store. My bag is packed. Quint's is half packed with the list of remaining things in the bag. Let's see, the bassinet part of the downstairs pack-n-play isn't put together yet, but it's within 10 feet. The laundry is in pretty good shape, though is not completely caught up. The entire downstairs is vacuumed. I have extra keys made for guests. Quint has a box full of toys clearly marked for entertainment after the birth.

We were talking about it at my temp job and one guy suggested that I completely unpack my hospital bag and throw away my list of things to go into it because the fact that the bag is packed will prevent me from going into labor. I can see that. But I can't unpack that bag.

OK, it's 10pm, so it's time to take my ambien and go to bed. My chores are all done, or as done as they're going to get today.

36 weeks and water play

2011-05-05T18:20:00.011-05:00

Here I am at 36 weeks pregnant. I swear that sucker poked out another 2 inches last night. My skin is still trying to stretch around it. Rastus has been less active today, but still very responsive to nudges from me. And by "less active" I mean he didn't make me holler in pain with repeated foot stabs.

And now for the really interesting pictures. Here's little Quint at playing with water, like we do nearly every day as soon as we get home.

As my mom would say, "we are vewy busy."

"Pool water is tasty!"

Typically, Quint gets gleefully soaking wet and we change his clothes before we have dinner.

New words for today: star, lotion, and "donk" for donkey.

Mood Changer

2011-05-03T21:25:00.003-05:00

Lately, and it seems to consistently be on Tuesdays, I'm in a really bad funk. It's completely emotional and it affects how I feel physically, especially here now while I'm twenty months pregnant. I wonder what it is about Tuesdays. Maybe its because the week seems to be stretching ahead interminably. Sooooooo long until Friday, even if you have nothing planned for the weekend. And the last two weeks I have completely recognized that I needed some mood alterer.

Last week, on Wednesday, I finally figured out a really annoying problem at work. I wonder if I just really really wanted to have my mood changed and that's all I could find, but still, it worked.

Today, I was feeling icky and heavy and like the shuttle to work was the worst circle of hell. You know, basically wishing I drank, or smoked, or was addicted to prescription pain meds or something.

And then said some hysterical random $hit to my co-worker and she got tickled and I started laughing at her laughing and we couldn't stop laughing and it was wonderful! It was the high quality, non-nonsensical crap that normally happens at 3am on a camping trip. And I've laughed about it four times since I got home!

For the record it had to do with Michael Jackson, fake noses and other people's reactions to fake noses on women. See! Sounds like a riot.

With that huge giggle fest, a seriously delicious nearly hour long nap on the couch in my husband's office, and managing to catch the first evil shuttle just after my work shift (which got me home 20 minutes earlier), I felt great until 9:30 tonight. And even now, at 10:05, I'm still in a good mood and feel pretty good sitting down.

Listen to this list of accomplishments - and yes! for the first time in seemingly months, I actually HAVE a list of accomplishments!!

After I picked up Quint, I took him over to the train station and showed him a real choo-choo. Then we made a stop at Walgreens. Then we went to the library for the first time ever and checked out a dozen board books. Once home, we had supper, played in the balls, read some books, washed some laundry, got Quint in bed, put the infant carseat back together (a 30 minute strap-frustration fest), cleaned out my car, emptied and refilled the dishwasher, and cleaned up the kitchen.

I also have been silly with my husband several times today, which has not happened in quite a while. I've been a REAL ray of sunshine lately. But thankfully, he hasn't gone into the "be wary and afraid of the severe mood change" phase, but has just appreciated the mood, however fleeting it might be.

It also occurred to both of us seperately that this productivity fest has in the past, in other women, indicated that they will give birth in the next 24 hours.

Yes, that might be bunk. But, I have my fingers crossed. Despite only being 36 weeks pregnant.

The roaring frog.

2011-05-02T19:33:00.006-05:00

Whenever my son sees a picture of a lion, he does this really cute little roar. Same for a tiger. These make sense.

But when he's eating limes, and we keep telling him things like "this is a lime" he roars because he thinks we said lion. This only made sense after much thought on our part (the slow parents). Since then, we try to emphasize the M in lime. No success yet on Quint's comprehension, but ehh, he'll get it.

Here he is roaring with his limes.

Whenever we're going through various animals and their sounds, he always roars with the frogs, no matter how many times he laughs at my "ribbit" and tongue poking. Well, this morning, I finally figured that one out! We have Aristocats to blame for the roaring frog. Start watching at 2:40 in this clip.

And of course bullfrogs roar. Ok, so it's called a croak, but it's pretty darn close. So my son was not just plain wrong - he just knew of a different type of noise for that animal that was correct!

The new words for yesterday were teacher and clock. No, he was not trying to talk about clocking the teacher with anything.

I saw the doctor today and baby and I are both doing swimmingly. Apparently, she normally hooks women up to a fetal monitor for a while at this stage. We did that, and she said the baby's heart rate and such were textbook normal. Next week, I get another ultrasound to at least guess at his weight. She had some other reasons as well, but they weren't alarming. So I'm still pregnant. Everyone's healthy. I'm mostly miserable and my belly hurts most of the time with non-alarming pain. I'm ready to be done, but at not quite 36 weeks, the bun is not done, so we'll bake a bit more. Two NICU nurse friends informed me this weekend that boys really do better if they go to 38 weeks. My goal was 37 so I wailed a bit at that news. So please pray for me!

It's a horse/cow!

2011-05-01T20:24:00.007-05:00

For a while now, Quint has been calling a horse a cow. He's been calling a cow a cow as well, and even saying "moo" for a cow, but just in the last 2 weeks, a horse has also become a cow. So I called my friend who has a pony in order to try to straighten Quint out.

We have been playing with his plastic farm animals with sound effects. For horse sounds, I've been neeaaaa-ing and doing the horse-raspberry thing, and climp-clomp noises. I was hoping on this trip that he could at least hear the first two and he did!

Another friendly horse neeaaa-ed at us several times which made Quint really laugh. My friend's pony raspberried several times, once while Quint was standing on the ground next to his head. He jumped back a foot and then really laughed hard. He got to pat the pony, sit on the pony, and I even tried to make sure he smelled the pony.
We never got to pet the ultra soft nose because the pony was intent on grazing, but we tried on another horse. Instead, we got to see his teeth because the horse he thought I had a snack for him. He was only trying to "lip" me. Quint was never really scared of the pony which I was very glad of, and got comfortable enough to wander around the pasture while we visited and let the pony graze.

At the end, we went into the barn where about six horses poked their heads out to say hello. Quint eagerly pointed to them all and said, "COWS!!!" (forehead smack) We had been calling the pony a horse the whole time and making horsey noises. Maybe he'll get it soon.

Here he is in the pasture where he would lovingly hand me half rotten hay and then scatter it out of my hand. He laughed and laughed and ran and played.

He was really starting to look sleepy when we left after an hour and a half. He didn't fall asleep on the way home, but once we were home, he napped for FOUR HOURS! And I slept for three and a half of those. And so did Papa. We were rather shocked when we woke up that it was 2pm. Hmm.... how about some lunch?

So a big, huge thank you to my wonderful friend "next-door" who has the pony!! We had a great time and I'm sure Quint will catch on to what a horse is very soon!

Fun last night

2011-04-26T18:40:00.003-05:00

Last night with little Quint was really a whole lot of fun.

When we got home, he still wanted to play outside, even though he'd been outside for quite a while at Priscilla's when I picked him up. I wanted to get out the infant seat and install it in my car, so this worked. Quint looked thoughtfully through the laundry basket of outside toys and gardening type implements and took off for the back yard. There's one patch of soft silt just in front of our back deck lowest step. It's always easy to scratch up great play dirt. After a few minutes, I went to check on him and sure enough, he was covered in soft, dry dirt and was obviously thinking about trying to drink his little bucket of dirt. I wasn't really willing to deal with a muddy (dirt + spit = mud) boy and a bath and whatnot. My belly had felt really heavy all day and I just hadn't felt tip top. Also there was a huge mosquito on Quint's head. The mosquitoes are worse in the back yard than the front. Hmmm... what to do...

So I got out the swimming pool and turned on the hose to dribble quickly into the pool. This way, he could clean up himself and I wouldn't have to deal with mud, just water. I hauled Quint out front again, which he didn't seem to mind, and immediately picked out different implements for water play. For quite a while, he played in the water while standing outside the pool. The water was way too cold to be inside the pool, but after a while, he wanted to get in and tried with his shoes on. I talked to him about how cold it felt on his hands and are you sure you want to get in? Yes. So I took off his shoes, socks, and pants. I dipped his feet into the pool and immediately sat him on my lap again. He gasped and clung to my arm. I laughed. He laughed. Do you want to try again? Yes. Dip. Gasp. Giggle. The third time, he wanted to stay standing in the pool, the whole time saying, "cold! cold!" He had fun playing in the pool for probably 20 minutes. Occasionally he would try to go down on one knee, but would quickly shout "cold!" and stand back up. Very funny to me. He never did cry because of the cold, which was a relief to me. Typically when playing in the pool or bath, he'll fill a cup with water and dump it over himself. He only did this once with the cold water. He gasped and looked astonished, then laughed. He didn't do that again. Smart boy!

Later, inside, while I was trying to cook dinner, he was, as usual, very whiny and just cried because I was cooking. Why on earth does he hate to see me cook? Any cooking causes tears, including the 40 seconds it takes to heat nuggets. We had a lime and I had a brilliant flash. I cut him a slice of lime, showed him how to hold it to eat the pulp easiest, and he was happy as a clam! He loves limes and lemons. He sucked and chewed on that thing until it I was done cooking. He giggled, made faces, and roared like a lion the whole time. When we say lime, he hears lion.

After supper, his daddy called and he talked on the phone to his Papa. When he heard his voice, he smiled, picked up the phone and said, "whoa?" (his version of hello). Quint made several appropriate responses on the phone, including a "bye" at the end. Very fun for Papa.

About 7:15, 45 minutes before bedtime, Quint was down to thinking the only fun thing to do was run and dive at mama's huge belly. Very not fun for me. Quite painful and causing me to get more and more irritable. So it was time to pull out the secret weapon. I bought it a week ago and was saving it for some evening I had Quint alone and I was hurting pretty bad. The huge bag of 100 plastic balls! (Think Chucky Cheese ball pit.) I dumped them into the pack and play in the living room and plopped Quint in the middle of it. He was ecstatic! He swam through the balls, scooped them over himself, occasionally threw some at me. He kept shouting "BALL! BALL! BALL!" I got to sit outside the pack and play, not get beat up, and simply play by sticking my arms in occasionally. PERFECT!!

When Hubby got home, Quint said to him over and over, "Papa LOOK! BALL!" pointing to the balls at Quint's feet. Papa came over and played with him with the balls and also by pressing his face against the pack and play screen to make funny faces. Papa would lay Quint flat on top of the balls and spin him around like a washing machine. Lots of jumping up and down and dancing in the balls. At 10 unitl 8pm, we started trying to get him out of his own personal ball pit. At 8:05 we finally accomplished it. Papa hauled him upstairs and Quint wanted him to put him to bed. Fantastic for me! I went straight to the tub and floated my huge, horrible belly for an hour.

So despite me being miserable last night, I still had fun with my son. I even got the infant car seat base installed in the car and the carseat covers taken off for washing. That's the only thing I really got done last night, but eh...the non-hanging laundry is clean and sitting in our bedroom. It can fold itself later. Or not.

Baby gifts

2011-04-21T20:33:00.004-05:00

Since Quint is only 19 months old, and the same gender as my baby due in just 6 weeks (AKA ten years), I'm not at all surprised or hurt that I haven't received a baby shower or any baby gifts yet. And there's very little I NEED for the new baby. But there are several things I would like. But I don't feel comfortable dropping hints in person to any of the likely candidates for second baby gifts. Seems a bit grasping... And these are things that I can afford, but someone (cough..cough...Sis..cough) might really have fun shopping for a couple of these things.

I'd really like a new special outfit to bring home our new cutie-pie. Ten years from now, I don't want to rely on my outfit or haircut to determine which baby I'm bring home in the pictures.

I'd like a brand new, monkey plush blanket of some kind to be just his very own blanket. A non-hand-me-down, since nearly everything else will be a hand-me-down.

I do actually need some new plastic backed bibs. The old ones are falling apart mainly because the label clearly said not to put them in the dryer and they've been through the dryer approximately a hundred times.

And if Quint is any indication, I will need a bottle of mylacon drops the first night we're home from the hospital.

I don't think I'll need a second baby monitor, but I'd love to hear advice on that.

And here is the ever present blog page for our second son's wish list, recently updated.

I've got the double stroller, a second pack and play (one upstairs, one down) with them set up and nearly ready to go. I got the boppy and bouncy seat out of the attic today. I have newborn and size 1 diapers. I have all the clothes, blankets, and burp rags washed, folded and put away. We have not put the car seats in the cars yet, but I'm still 6 weeks from my due date. For feeding, I've got my boobs (obviously) and I need to dig out my "supplies". I haven't packed my hospital bag yet, but I've started to pack Quint's overnight bag in case he needs to spend a night at a friend's house. To my surprise, I've found that most of his things will have to be packed at the last minute seeing how he uses them every day (teddy bear and special blanket) or I don't want to take them out of circulation this early in the game (favorite books, movies, and clothes) so perhaps that will have to wait a bit.

Am I forgetting anything?

This may be a bit controversial, but I've bought a baby doll to help Quint in the coming adjustment. I'll be playing with it much more than Quint before the birth and he's been interested in my "play" so far. Put the baby doll in the bouncy seat. Hold the baby a lot. Swaddle the baby. Put the baby in the pack and play, etc. That and lots of conversation and books have Quint so far understanding so far that his brother is in my belly and he's going to be a big brother.

I can't think of a conclusion for this blog, so BYE!

34 weeks and a boy in the dirt

2011-04-20T21:46:00.013-05:00

This blog could easily be named "way too many pictures" but you'll just have to deal with it.

Here's me today at 34 weeks pregnant with Quint, as always, really wanting to poke in the belly button. It kind of hurts to poke my belly button in, so the game is that Quint dives for it and I cover it up. I'm feeling about a thousand times better now that I can always get at least 4 or 5 hours of continuous sleep per night. It lets me handle various....pains..... better which makes me a better mom and wife in the evenings. It's always more fun to have a mom and wife who isn't impatient and snappy because she'd rather be soaking in a tub or laying down. Life is better with Ambien!

Quint absolutely loves the hammock. Anything that swings or rocks is an "eeee-awww" as in "yea-haw! Ride the pony!"

Here's Quint's latest photo-op in the yard with his tiny mower.

Putting sticks in the fire pit.

Lately, when I say, "smile for the camera," I get this for some reason.

Pouring dirt is fun!

What does it taste like?

I got a bunch of dirt in my shoe!

I promise, as a 100% boy, to always love playing in the dirt.

Quint is 19 months old, is gaining new words by the day, is amazingly cute, and got a head to toe scrubbing right after these pictures were taken.

Speaking of new words, today I finally figured out that "is-shoes" are TISSUES!! Considering he's had a runny nose for 2 weeks, you'd think I have figured that out quicker! But "tissues" are also napkins or paper towels, so give me a little credit. He also recently correctly identified my best friend's picture from the collection on the walls. Since she lives 800 miles away, this is impressive! When I put some bigger shoes on him the other day, he said "oooooo! New shoes!" He was also very impressed and excited by the wall of yogurt at Walmart the other day. He loves to be swept off his feet, tickled and tossed on some soft surface. Sometimes he will even lay down on the floor and say, "tickle, tickle" in order to get you to tickle him.

33 weeks pregnant

2011-04-15T20:53:00.005-05:00

Here's a belly shot! Quint still loves to poke the belly button and laughs every time he just sees it! I wore my "birthday cake" shirt to Target today and got a compliment from a complete stranger - THANKS MOM!

Since starting the Ambien, I finally feel good! It's amazing what good rest will do for you. I've stopped throwing up so often, my feet only swell when I've had too much salt (like pizza). Little Rastus has started hurting me daily with his kicks and occasionally will leave a sore spot that hurts even when he's not currently kicking. Several other people have been able to visually see him moving and said articulate things like, "whoa".

Quint had his 18 month checkup today (even though he's 19 months old) and he ranks at the top of the scale for communication and gross motor skill and whatnot. So we have confirmation that he's BRILLIANT! Which of course I knew, but still..... He's at or near the 50th percentile for height, weight and length. His head is a little larger than usual, but I knew that too. Here's a cute one of Quint.

My nesting has taken the form of stocking up now. So far, it's just purchasable items like chicken nuggets, fish sticks, disposable tupperware, baby wipes, diapers of both sizes, and paper bowls. Aldi doesn't sell the wipes, paper bowls, or tupperware, so I made a huge haul at Target today, using up two gift cards I recently found in my wallet.

OK, it's 9:15, so it's bedtime.

The old me

2011-04-14T06:24:00.002-05:00

Some guys at my temp job found out the other day that I played trumpet in my High School marching band. They also found out that I sing in a church choir in a robe with a hymnal and organ. They were both floored. They would have never guessed either one of those, especially the trumpet part.

I haven't decided how I feel about that yet. That was sooooo much a part of my identity in High School, but it really isn't now. I've even recently given away my signature chillie pepper shorts and I don't play trumpet any more. But have I really changed so much that people can't picture me as a trumpet player?

Something to think about...

Random stuff from the past week.

2011-04-12T20:48:00.007-05:00

I should preface this by saying that I took my first ever ambient just minutes before attempting this blog.

Rastus has been kicking HARD for about a week now! As in I yelp and grab for the protruding foot between my navel and ribcage. The other day, I told Hubby to talk to him to calm him down. While hubby had his face on my belly, he got solidly kicked in the head which made me yelp and jerk. So Rastus kicked his daddy in the head in utero!

*subject change*

Our kitty cat is Quint's favorite animal ever. We have to do everything kitty around here and I bet I nearly have Aristocats memorized. The other night, though, I had settled Quint down to read his favorite book, had gotten him comfy where his elbow wasn't stabbing me/his brother, when the cat decided that she wanted to join story time. I didn't think there was any more room on my lap, but she tried. After a minute or two, Quint pushed her off! Too many people on the lap.

*subject change*

After my flop of a yard sale, I packed everything up and had the ARC come pick it up.
Here's what I put out for them (not the swimming pool). And just a few hours later, only the Christmas trees were still there. Apparently they don't pick those up until November 1st. So we'll have a friend help us give those to goodwill. Wonderful feeling of emptiness in our storage areas.

*subject change*

Apparently my belly button outie is so funny to my son that it can produce a giggle any time I show it. Yesterday, I used it as bribery. "If you take one more bite of yogurt, you can poke my belly button." Worked like a charm for three bites in a row!

*subject change*

I've been sleeping so horribly for several weeks now that it's made me quite crabby. Monday night, for some reason, I got a good night's sleep! I only got up in the night 3 times! As a result, I felt pretty darn great all day Tuesday. Rastus was kicking the fool out of me, but I otherwise wasn't hurting. On the phone in the afternoon, after catching up with my husband, he said, "you seem like you feel good today. You seem, you know, nice!" He immediately started backpedaling and saying please don't take offense at that, but I though it was hysterical. I've been around me lately. I know I've been an effing ray of sunshine. He was relieved that I was laughing. Quint was in a good mood when I picked him up and I felt great, so we went to the park for a half hour while they finished filling my ambien perscription. Quint is very independent on the playground now!

I took the ambien at 8:15 and before nine was having great difficulty writing in this blog. It's now 5:45 and I seem to have a bit of a hangover, so maybe I'll nap a bit more. I only woke up twice in the night. I accidently broke a lamp I've had for nearly 30 years - I have hopes that I can find a replacement globe on ebay.

Off to nap time before my day must start.

New video camera

2011-04-09T13:34:00.001-05:00

Here's the first test shots with the new video camera this morning. Just regular play in our PJs, but the first video we've had since Christmas.

Chuckle for the day

2011-04-08T19:43:00.005-05:00

My mom told me a funny today. With her gardening club, she regularly sees my old high school boyfriend's mom. So they've known each other for years and years. OMG I dated him nearly 15 years ago! I'm not old enough to have had a real boyfriend nearly 15 years ago!! How does time pass so fast?!

Anyway.

They were explaining to someone that they had known each other for years and their kids even dated for a while. Mom said she didn't think we (the kids) kept up with each other any more, but still...

My ex-boyfriend's mom looked at my mom and said, "Well how did Josh know she just cut her hair?"

Now that made me laugh! So I guess he or his wife reads this blog! I haven't heard from Josh directly since maybe high school. Hi Josh!!

But if he or his wife has a blog, I'd enjoy keeping up with it, too!

Pity party and perspective on such

2011-04-07T05:22:00.004-05:00

Anyone remember "the chezits" from my first pregnancy? That wonderful phenomenon where I cry uncontrollably for nearly no reason? Yeah, it's back. Only this time, there ARE things to worry and cry about in my life.

So here's the pity party: I'm not permanently employed and will have to look for real work after the baby comes. I'm already quite uncomfortable in my pregnancy and I have FIVE TO EIGHT WEEKS LEFT TO GO! It's getting harder to take care of Quint with a huge belly which complains when I lift Quint. Rastus (baby 2) has recently learned how to practically bruise me with his kicks and turns. Hubby has been ligitimately quite busy at work and has been working late a lot. He has already warned me that he will need to work this weekend. I miss his company and his help with (literally) the heavy lifting around the house. My temp job is at times mind numbingly dull, but we need the money. With commute times and whatnot, this temp job requires that poor Quint is in daycare for nearly 10 hours each day. I wouldn't want to be anywhere for 10 hours straight. He hasn't complained or been reluctant to go to Priscilla's, but yesterday when I dropped him off, he sat in my lap for a few minutes looking around, then sighed, hugged me, and went off to start his day. When I pick him up, he wants to leave NOW. Which really pulls at my heart strings.

So with all this going on, when "the cheezits" hit, I'm usually focusing on some or all of these. I do at least feel a better after I've cried and cried. But let's get some perspective here.

I do have a job right now which pays nice money. This money has allowed us to breathe a bit, do a little frivolous spending for sanity's sake (I'm talking probably $40 worth of frivolous spending) and get both the cars repaired. April is now completely solvent, including the $700 in taxes we owed, and if they keep me two weeks past this Friday, May will be solvent. Solvent is good. This job is hard on Quint, but it IS temporary.

As uncomfortable as I am right now, physically, I do not really want to have the baby right now. I may go through fleeting times of thinking " get him out, get him out, get him out!" but I am only 32 weeks along. Here's what happens when you have babies too early. A friend's blog shows pictures of a new set of triplets who were at approximately the same gestation as my little boy. Yeah, let's keep the karate kid in the oven for a bit longer no matter how many times I yelp per day.

Yes, I'm unemployed right now and money is tight, but we are in no danger of loosing our house or anything like that. Of our three credit cards, the only one that has anything on it has $1800 in car debt from the latest car we bought. And that's at some spectacular rate like 4-6%. All that to say, we've got credit available that we can tap into if necessary. With our tight budget (which we've mostly stuck to!) we still eat plenty well, even if we never really eat out. We're warm enough, cool enough, have gas for the cars, etc. And money is coming in right now from my temp job. So that's really not that bad.

And lastly, there is no huge family crisis going on in my life like poor Amalah. She is exactly the same amount of pregnant as me, and her father died of cancer last week. She also has a 6 year old and a 3 year old who have lost the first close relative of their young lives. So there's a lot of hard explaining to do.

My husband is wonderful and we just celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary. When he's home from work, he helps out, lifts things, takes over Quint duties, and massages things that ache on me. He reminded me last night that we've been through tougher spots in our marriage. Really? I asked. Like what? Like when we were living in two different states with a failing business and actively going into debt as a result. And then two teenagers drove into the side of our house. OK, yeah, that was really bad too. This is comparable but with pregnancy emotionalism added in.

I have an adorable little boy who is learning new words all the time. He is polite and obedient for the most part. He sleeps easily and through the night. He is a joy every single day for at least a few giggle infested minutes.

I have lots of blessings to count and I should try to count them when the cheezits hit.

*subject change*

My yard sale that I worked so hard on was a complete flop. I made a whopping $18. And yes I advertised. And I got a lot of interest in some of the stuff via craigslist. And it was beautiful weather. But the big point of the yard sale was the purge of our house. And the ARC will pick up my yard sale left overs on Friday morning. I need to call them today to let them know that it will be at least 10 boxes, a full size mattress and box springs, a carseat and working vacuum. I'm delighted to be getting rid of that much stuff that we don't use.

I still really like my hair shorter. Last night, I washed it late and went to bed with a wet head. This morning IT IS DRY!!! That hasn't happened in years and is a very welcome change. And with washing it more often, I'm able to treat my psoriasis more efficiently so maybe that will get better soon, too.

OK, off to start the daily schedule.

Three days with the new hair

2011-03-30T21:44:00.002-05:00

So I've had my new hair for three days and it looks better now that it's a little more curly.

I still like it, but it has one distinct pregnancy drawback. Prepare for Too Much Information: It does not independently get out of the way while vomiting. With really long hair, it's always either pulled back or is long enough to dangle outside the toilet bowl, safely out of the way.

On the other hand, it's easy to rinse out in the sink.

Prepare yourself!!

2011-03-27T20:58:00.010-05:00

To get the full effect, we'll start back in August with the first major hair cutting I'd had in quite a while. And it was the first haircut I'd had at all in over a year.

BeforeAfter

Results: sent to Pantene Beautiful Lengths and Mom

And now here we are 2 months before the arrival of baby boy #2.
Before:

And after:

And the resulting two ponytails will be sent to Pantene Beautiful Lengths again.

I had thought about it for a long time and realized that I needed to simplify my hair before little Rastus showed up. I've been dreading and putting off washing my hair for the last few months and that's not a good habit to be in when you have a new baby. So far, I really like it!

I don't think my hair has been this short since my sophomore year of high school when I grew out my bangs. No more buns for me and no more braids. But ponytails will now be light enough to be possible!

Oh! And the maternity shirt I'm wearing is one that Mom made for me! It has sparkles all over it and makes me feel like a birthday cake with sparkler candles. Pretty cool!

Temporary Employment!!

2011-03-25T21:42:00.002-05:00

I HAVE TEMPORARY EMPLOYMENT!!!!

Earlier this week, I signed up with Randstad, a temp agency that has kept me busy in the past and is also how I became permanently employed in the past. Monday, I interviewed with them, and she wanted me to fill out paperwork as if I were a new employee (including filling out a W-4). Tuesday, I went to orientation. Wednesday, at 5pm, they called me back to offer me a temporary gig making $5 more per hour than H&R Block. Full time. I think it took me about 10 seconds to process all that and accept. "When do I start?" I asked. Tomorrow at 8:30am.

*cue the mental cogs whirling*

Sure!

Good thing I'd gotten a bunch of weird errands done that day! I didn't have work at H&R for Thursday or Friday, so I was planning on organizing and arranging the yard sale, gathering more to sell, sorting and putting away newborn laundry, sweeping out the garage, hiding the new toys for a rainy day that I had bought at the consignment sale, maybe keeping Quint home one day to suck extra quality time out of being unemployed, etc. So, I had to ditch all that and re-prioritize. A process that took, oddly, about 12 hours, but I managed it in the end.

I did still wake up at 4:30 like I have for a couple of weeks now. And as a result, I was horribly sleepy that first morning on my new job. The people are plenty friendly, the environment is OK, the work is repetitive, but not difficult (I will be charging my MP3 player this weekend). It's an alright place to be for now. It is definitely a job I can do. The money brings a sense of relief to our finances. In 2 days, I've earned nearly $200. I hadn't realized that my eyebrows had been living in my hairline, but I have noticed in the last 24 hours that my eyebrows have lowered to regular levels and my shoulders sit a little lower than my ears.

Both Hubby and I are sad that I can't be with Quint as much. And with the commute during rush hour and a 40 hour work week (my old job was 37.25) Quint will be in daycare nearly 10 hours a day. Which is painful to me. But we can keep Priscilla and maybe something wonderful will change and I can stay home after Rastus is born. Maybe this other scenario. Or maybe this scenario... I'm still hopeful.

But in the mean time, we won't be going into debt for regular expenses during April, despite us owing income taxes this year. There is absolutely no word on how long this temp job will last, but even if it only lasts 5 weeks, April will be solvent. If I only work the first two weeks of May, May will be solvent.

There is still a ray of hope on the unemployment benefit subject. Too detailed to go into, but we've made an appeal.

Things are looking up.

Purging progress

2011-03-23T05:48:00.003-05:00

I'm having a yard sale April 2nd to get rid of all of the stuff I'm purging from the house. This must be a nesting instinct that has seriously taken hold of me and will not let me go! Yesterday, I spent just one hour in the attic and found six or seven boxes of stuff I can either sell or throw away. I'm trying to get a lot of this purging done while Quint is still at daycare. There's nothing worse than trying to clean out the attic with a pitifully crying baby at the foot of the attic steps, wanting to climb up there with me.

Why, you might ask, was there stuff in the attic that was just trash? With time, comes perspective, and with that perspective, things become trash. One is the large product of a childhood hobby I haven't touched since college. Another is a box of 3-ring binders containing all my notes from my religion classes from college. The only small debate about these things is do I keep the binders and emptied page protectors. I bet they just get pitched.

Since I'm having my second little boy, and we will probably stop having babies at that point, I can part with a lot of things I've been saving for my daughter or decorating her room while she's small enough to not get a say. My sons will never be interested in my adolescent chapter books involving three female best friends who just can't live without each other. So half of those books are going bye-bye.

Christmas decorations we were given several years ago that we have never used. GONE! Knick-knacks that I didn't remember I had. Part of my angel collection which is not sentimental and I haven't used in decorating in years. And they just aren't me any more. I went through the books in my office/peach room/baby's room and pulled out all the books I know I will never read again. My fetish with Claude Monet has passed so all those huge coffee table books can go. Roller blades I might not use again for 5 years? OK, I couldn't part with the implications of that just yet - those went into the attic. They are the only thing that has gone INTO the attic though.

Yesterday, a friend heard that I was having a yard sale and gave me a huge TV and two boxes of stuff to sell, saying I could keep the money. Cool! Though we might switch it out with one of our own and sell our old one instead. She asked me to come back Sunday and haul away other stuff in her attic.

OK, it's now 6am. Let's see if I can catch an hour of sleep before Quint wakes up!

Double stroller awesomness

2011-03-21T11:37:00.006-05:00

Sunday, I bought a double stroller off Craigslist. Previously, I had only wanted a specific double stroller that went with our infant car seats. But then it occurred to me that it never, not once, was a problem to move a sleeping baby from the stroller to the car or the car to the stroller when Quint was a baby. (Did I really just type "when Quint was a baby?!") So don't need that one specific stroller.

So, of course, to Craigslist I went. And I was willing to be patient instead of drive 30 miles for a stroller. But within 2 days, I saw a good deal. A very good deal, it turned out. Sixty dollars!!

Here's the whole stretch limo thing. (Hey, my entryway looks clean! Wow!)

Both food & drink trays pop off. Both seats can recline to laying flat. Quint can crawl into the front seat by himself. Both canopies pop off. Storage can be accessed from the back or from between the seats. Closing it up is incredibly easy. While technically it's a one hand close, the reality is that it's huge and weighs a lot and you're gonna need two hands or maybe a friend to get it into your trunk - where there will no longer be room for more than 3 bags of groceries.

I've even got my OWN cup holder and junk catcher! It hardly looks used, and the previous owner was a little nuts about germs and had recently taken off all the cloth, washed it, washed the frame, and put it all back together.

So I talked myself out of the $170 stroller I thought I had to have, and spent $60 instead. Am I good or what!!

In other news, I'm gathering crap for a yard sale on April 2nd. We sold the tiny blue love seat for $40 this weekend. My unemployment claim has officially been denied so I'm going to have to give up Priscilla soon. Hopefully just for a while. She has two spots opening up in August when two kids start regular school. So maybe I can put my boys with her in August if I find a job! Don't ask me to talk about having to give up Priscilla because, yes, I will immediately burst into tears.

Here they are again: Priscilla and Uncle Vester. The best daycare on the planet.

I must tout my own awesomness!

2011-03-18T20:10:00.006-05:00

With the variety of consignment sales going on in my area right now, I thought I would probably be getting Quint's next round of clothes at these sales. The problem is that I'm continually surprised at what other people refer to as "great deals". Footed PJs for $2.50 is really only a dollar off a Target two pack. To me, spending $4 on a single shirt or pair of pants, even in the 3T size, is an OK deal, but it's still expensive compared to what I can usually find on Craigslist. And I'm one of those people who has (so far) refused to go into an Old Navy store looking for new toddler's clothing. Aside from the knees of pants, he's going to outgrow it before it's worn out.

My son is currently in 18 mo - 2T size shirts and pants and around 24 month PJs. There's still a large box with some larger 2T size things in the loft that still seem a little big. My point is that he's got plenty of clothes for right now. Except shorts. It was 83 degrees outside today, and while I really love my collection of cords and jeans for him, shorts might be a good idea soon.

So I've been scouting through the Craigslist pages for a couple weeks now, looking for that irresistible, huge lot of 3T boys clothes for nearly nothing. Oh, and they had to be local. Not the "local" that means a 30 mile drive. I realized I was being picky, but I also have time to be patient. Like all summer.

But this week: it happened. I saw this listing: Boys clothes sizes 24months - 3T. It is a whole trash bag full of stuff all in good condition. No holes or stains that I noticed. I would be willing to send you pictures of some of the items or everything if you are interested. Just send me an email on here!

List price $30!

I'm the second to respond but the first person is a no-show. Tonight I picked up a large black trash bag of toddler clothes. The lady had washed them all yesterday and when I arrived, was still pulling them out of the dryer because she wanted to give them to me unwrinkled. What a golden idea! I had to chuckle when she told me that. I gladly paid her $30 for a bag I had trouble lifting.

Once at home, I got them all out to look at them. And more importantly COUNT them. Sixty-eight pieces! Forty-four cents each! And out of this huge bag, there were only about 4 shirts that looked old or faded, and I suspect they were designed to look like that. Marvel comics with distressed images and whatnot. There were 8 or 10 pairs of long pants, about the same number of really cute shorts. Some of the pants were the fantastic adjustable waist kind. Three pairs of swim trunks. One puffy, warm winter vest thingy. One pair of overalls. The remaining 40+ shirts were about half long sleeve and half short sleeve. And over half the short sleeves were polo shirts which I really seem to like on him. They're all in wonderful shape. They're all freshly washed in what Hubby determined was "Lara's family's detergent". AND they're all wrinkle free and still warm from the dryer! I feel like I won the lottery! An entire wardrobe, no matter the season, for $30!

Now, whenever Quint outgrows half his clothes at once (that's how it always seems to happen) I can just go shopping in a plastic bin in the loft!

This is the huge pile from two different angles.

I don't think I could have done any better! Perhaps I need to keep her number handy and just call her every few months to see if she needs to sell some of her son's clothes!

29 weeks pregnant & 18 months old

2011-03-16T12:47:00.007-05:00

Who's that dark side bad guy with the shriveled face in the third prequel of Star Wars? Here's my son as him. Here's my son as the adorable wizard from Middle Earth.And here he is as the adorable baby Rocky Balboa. (Cue the Rocky theme music.)
Here's the funniest shot of my belly button.

I'm 29 weeks pregnant and little Rastus has learned how to use his heels! He seems to be trying to expand all his edges at once to take over the world in there. He'll be tapping on my left hip bone, and a millisecond later, tapping on my right ribs. Two minutes later, he punches my left ribs and kicks straight down into my guts. More than once a day, he gives me an "ooff" worthy shove. He also seems to just vibrate sometimes. But as with Quint, when his daddy tells him to calm down and let me sleep, he DOES!

Here's the best shot of my hair.

The last two days, I've been more comfortable and happier, but then again, I've refilled my Zoloft and haven't been actively nesting as much and therefore being too active. Also, Hubby and I went ahead and had the very un-fun conversation about our finances, so I'm no longer dreading that. Also, the doctor said my blood pressure was still looking good yesterday.

Quint was 18 months old yesterday! And I even thought to mark his height on the door frame and date it. He's learning more day by day and is saying more and more as well. Our current frustrating word seems to be "hot" which he also calls my hat. He will point to hot food and say hot. He will pat the end table surface and say hot. He will point to cold food and say hot. So I'm sure we'll have a breakthrough in the next few days, but it's a little frustrating right now. The last time we were at an impass like this, he seemed to be pointing to everything and saying "kitty" including the cat. Finally, it dawned on me that he was saying "get it" and he looked so relieved when I finally got it for him.

The other day, I was putting lotion on his legs and saying, "lotion feels gooooood" and he said quite clearly, "yes it does."

Last Thursday, I went to daycare with him to learn things from Priscilla. If we have to give her up, I'd like to mine her for all the advice possible before we have to part with her. I wanted to see how she did messy things like paint and play-doh and keep her carpet clean. I wanted to see how she got the kids to eat broccoli and fresh spinach and other unlikely pre-school kid foods. I learned a great deal, but the process was rather traumatic for little Quint.

He was incredibly jealous and just sobbed for a lot of the day. Priscilla finally told me around lunch time that, while she appreciated me voluntering help at the daycare, she said I couldn't come back until Quint was at least 3 years old. Even if I had Quint on one leg and another child on my other leg, reading them a book, Quint did not look comfortable. And when I fed the 4 month old a bottle! OMG! His little lip poked out and he cried big fat tears the whole time. Let me tell you - this summer is going to be FUN!

We went home after lunch and before naptime and it was nearly bedtime before he was acting like himself again. I told him several times once we were home that the next day he was going to Priscilla's and I was not going to stay with him. He was fine the next morning when I dropped him off.

But since I went to Priscilla's and read countless books to Jacob, Quint has been really interested in his books and I bet we read 5 books a day now! Or rather, three books, with some twice through. Also in the last week, he can sit and pay attention through a whole lot of flash cards. Upstairs, we have the colors and shapes cards and downstairs we have the animal alphabet cards. Usually, we can get through 2/3 of the 52 animal alphabet cards before he looses interest or has more fun scattering them. With the colors and shapes cards, I can get through all of them, and then re-present some of them by collecting all the reds together, and all the greens together, etc. We know he knows yellow and green, so far. With his new found attention span, if anyone would like to buy him some new books or flash cards, you can click here to go to amazon.com and have them shipped to the house!

He loves to be outside and walk circles around our cars. He's very good about coming back closer when we tell him he's gone too far. He knows that to go outside, he must have shoes and THEN a coat. So sometimes, he will bring us his shoes or his coat to try to get the process started. Or just repeat "shoes?" until we address the issue.

My little guy is growing up and seems less like a baby each day, which is kinda sad. On the other hand, it will be weird to have a completely helpless infant again this summer.

28 weeks pregnant

2011-03-09T16:57:00.005-06:00

I'm officially in my third trimester!! Why is it that it seems to be going so fast and so slowly at the same time?!
Here we are at week 28, or 7 months pregnant. That's little Quint with the blurry face. This is one of the maternity shirts Mom made me! You can't really see in the picture, but there are iridescent sparkles all over it. It makes me feel like a festive birthday cake. Which makes me crave sugary icing. Of course I crave all kinds of sugar recently. I wonder if vanilla flavored yogurt without aspertaim would satisfy my cheesecake craving?

Here's what Babycenter.com says about week 28.

By this week, your baby weighs two and a quarter pounds (like a Chinese cabbage) and measures 14.8 inches from the top of his head to his heels. He can blink her eyes, which now sport lashes. With his eyesight developing, he may be able to see the light that filters in through your womb. He's also developing billions of neurons in his brain and adding more body fat in preparation for life in the outside world.

At my ultrasound last week, the technician estimated his weight at about 2.5 pounds. Because my ab muscles were in fantastic shape before I got pregnant with Quint and absolutely horrible shape when I got pregnant with Duce, Duce is a much bigger strain on my belly muscles. I'm wishing for flying buttresses at a much earlier stage this time around. If I fold my belly bands double and wear them at the same time, I get some relief from all that unsupported weight. Also, floating the belly in the tub is a wonderful thing.

*subject change*

I feel like I've gotten squat done today, so I'm going to list it off in the longest way possible:
extracted the broken bulb from the hall fixture and replace that bulb
replaced the dead bulb in the peach room
replaced the button battery in the scale (I weigh 144.4 pounds!)
fluffed and hung all Hubby's dress shirts
picked up all the stuff from around Hubby's desk!

sorted said junk into the following boxes: trash, trash, trash, unused cords, stuff that goes elsewhere, tapes-CDs-CB, important looking papers.

stored the three trash boxes in the garage and labeled them "Monday" (guess when trash day is!)

labeled and stored the non-trash boxes in the loft
made a list of things to sell at a yardsale
took Quint outside for a few minutes (in the mud and white pants)
left Hubby a note to vacuum under his desk
labeled boxes in the garage for ARC
wrote in my blog
took a pregnancy picture
napped twice
ate thrice

OK, so that looks pretty impressive! Keep in mind that most of those took 5 minutes or less. Neatening Hubby's office took 90 minutes.

Reverse nesting?

2011-03-07T09:31:00.003-06:00

Perhaps I'm going through some reverse nesting. I'm not collecting things for the baby, but I'm getting rid of excess junk before the baby arrives.

This morning, after Hubby left with small fry, I darted up to the attic to find that box of Hubby's stuff that he didn't think worthy of a label. I quickly went through it and pulled out the handful of stuff that wasn't outdated (in a bad way), from a former employer (2 years past), or from clubs he is no longer is a member (yes, I know, we're all amazed that there IS a club that he has quit!). I took the majority of that box out to the curb for trash pick up. I was in a mental race against the trash pick up guys, due who knows when this morning.

Then I went back up there, and reduced three of my boxes of precious childhood memories down to one box! Ancient and horrible photos, negatives, cheap plastic empty photo albums, ceramics I didn't even remember, empty photo frames, extra copies of newspapers with legitimate memories, etc. I also found four large-ish things that simply are not my taste anymore and which could probably fetch some money off craigslist. And I pitched a rather huge box that only had some old scotch bottle canisters in it. I actually asked Hubby if I could pitch those several months ago and he wondered why we were keeping them.

So in just 90 minutes, I managed to seriously increase our trash pile out front, remove 6 boxes from the attic, find some things to sell, and a small box of things to give to goodwill or the ARC. I quit when I realized I was starving, I was hurting pregnancy-wise, and I'd gotten to the stage where I was thinking "oh, but we might have a daughter one day, I'll keep it" quite a lot.

One day, when we're moving, I hope to be able to pile up a stack of Hubby's precious junk next to my stack of precious junk and point out that my stack is 1/3 the size of his! Is that a mean-hearted goal? That will also be the time when we'll be marveling at our volume of junk anyway.

Someone remind me to never buy another picture frame ever, OK! I need to learn how to convert the ones I've got to hanging picture frames.

So now, I'm on to eating, putting my feet up and later posting some things on craigslist.

Potty time and piano playing - not simultaneously!

2011-03-05T20:29:00.008-06:00

My son is not quite 18 months old and today he used the potty and went #2!!! We're so proud! Or at least I am. Hubby hasn't actually said that, but he did brag on the boy a whole lot.

We've been talking more and more about when he's going (when we can tell) and asking him if he knows what that felt like right before he went.

So today, he said, "I go?" and grabbed his diaper. I asked Hubby to go up and do something about that, not ever dreaming that anything would actually come of it. My belly was hurting and had the brownie box perched on my prone belly - I was occupied! I figured Hubby would put him on the potty, he would cry, and nothing really would happen. A minute later, Hubby hollered asking how to do this. I gave some dumb answer along the lines of "figure it out", until he said "this is really messy, I could use your help". Messy? It's never been messy before! I bolted up the stairs.

Sure enough, we had a mess on our hands. But some had landed IN the toilet!! So while Hubby and I were exclaiming about the mess, of course Quint started to cry. I shifted into calming, reassuring, you did so good type of things to calm us all down. At one point Hubby said, "HOW IS THIS OK?!" I calmly said, "because it is NOT the end of the world and this is actually fantastic progress." "OK, that's true."

We got everything and everyone cleaned up and calmed down, bragging about how good he did. I realize that if I had bolted off the couch at the first sign of "I go?" then we likely wouldn't have had a traumatic mess, but how on earth was I supposed to know?!

I'm frantically trying to think of a fantastic reward when he pats the tub and asks to play in the water in the tub. YES!! So we had a bath, or rather water play session, on a non-bath day and he played and laughed and played. I told him several times that he was getting to play in the water because he did so great with the potty.

NOW TO THE SUBJECT OF MUSIC!

This week, I sold a piece of exercise equipment and took the cash to the consignment sale at church. There, I bought a bucket of musical toys, a tiny wagon, a riding toy for outside, AND a small, musically correct piano! I had wanted a piano for Quint, but the funds don't appear to be in our future at this time. So a $15 piano was just perfect!

The very amazing thing, was that as soon as he played with it at home, he found two notes exactly one octave apart and kept playing them to hear them together! (E flat if anyone cares.) He had tapped around up and down the keyboard, but when he hit those two, he stopped, played them again, and looked at me! I said, "yeah, those sound the same don't they?" and he smiled!He has stopped and played at the piano many times now, and only knocked it over a time or two. It's a great thing for him to play with while I'm in the kitchen, too. We've been working on not pounding it (or the cat) but playing gently. It makes lots of other noises, and has a beat box which he loves to dance with. It also has an off switch and is light enough to hide in the loft if it starts to drive us crazy. All fantastic features - especially for $15!
He has also had much more success with the kid whistles within the bucket of musical instruments than with his daddy's fancy and expensive whistles. Daddy's whistles can actually play TUNES while Quint's can't but we certainly are not to the tune phase of Quint's whistle playing yet. We're to the "I made it go" phase of whistle playing.

So Quint has had some wonderful new developments this week!

27 weeks pregnant

2011-03-03T13:40:00.007-06:00

Yesterday, I had my glucola check, a ultrasound, and my rH shot. Yippie for efficiency! But there were a few good pictures of our second little boy.
And he's definitely a boy, by the way. No pictures of that, but here's his cute mug shot!

*subject change*

I've gotten a lot done today! I've cleaned out two boxes of our precious memory clothing and split them into piles to keep, toss, and give away. Mostly give away. The really unique ones, I photoed and then tossed or gave away. There were like 3 things out of two boxes that I thought we might actually use in the future.

I've also baked muffins which will keep me from missing my fruit bars which are more expensive. I've made brownies which will supply me in several days of my chocolate fix which seems to be a regular craving with this pregnancy. Normally I don't tolerate chocolate well, but all bets are off when I'm pregnant.

I've scanned all our 8x10 wedding pictures and other childhood 8x10s so that we now have a digital version of them. I also scanned in the ultrasound pictures and taken a belly shot.

I have gathered quite a bit of stuff for ARC to pick up tomorrow morning! There are three boxes of stuff for them and I only told them I'd have one. I'm so proud! AND I don't have to haul it to goodwill

Failures: Today, I have eaten muffins, muffin batter, brownie batter, brownies, and cheetos. And that is all.

Now. It's 2pm. Do I want to try to find some stuff in the attic for ARC or have a brownie and a nap before I pick up Quint. Decisions, decisions.... hey look, we've got milk....

The park with Nannie

2011-02-28T09:16:00.019-06:00

While my mom was here last week, we took Quint to the "big" park by the library. There were lots of kids, and two huge jungle gyms, one of which was age appropriate for Quint and the other was just a little out of his league. That didn't slow him down for long, though.

Since the photos are pretty much self explanatory, I'll just have this be a photo blog.

He was asleep about 30 seconds after this puzzled little look. We had spent an hour and a half at the park and he was moving fast the whole time.

Counting and the creek

2011-02-27T20:14:00.010-06:00

We wanted to go to the park yesterday. Actually, Hubby wanted a big huge walk that my pregnant self just isn't up to these days. So we were going to walk to the local park and play with Quint. But when we went outside, he wanted to play in the yard. For quite a while now, he has wanted to explore the usually dry creek bed just behind our property. I haven't taken him down there because it's steep, there are sticker bushes, and I'm a little uncoordinated right now.

But Hubby had none of those reservations!

AND the big rain we had 3 days ago meant that there was actually water trickling by! Loads of fun for a little boy! Or a little girl, for that matter. The water was about a half inch deep, so we let him walk in it a bit. We pointed out the water fall, showed him how things float downstream, named all the objects nearby (moss, rock, leaf, mud, gunk), and let him feel of the water with his hand.

But most importantly, we sat his little butt down on a flat rock, put his feet toward the water (not really in the water) and handed him a stick! This alone provided at least 45 minutes of unending entertainment! And yes he got filthy, and one leg got soaked. And half of his coat, and some of me, which seemed to be the most fun of all.

It may look like he's not happy in these pictures, but he was laughing his little heart out every time I shrieked from getting splashed.

And then awe at how the cloudy mud he just made would quickly dissipate and the water would look clear again. Tons of fun for all of us. When he started looking board, we took him back up to our yard where he played with moss and the cold fire pit for a while. We started teaching him the joy of gathering sticks, and patting the soft, carpety moss that covers our yard.

We all had a lot of fun, and it was about 20 minutes after he confirmed that his wet feet felt icky that he actually wanted to go in and get out of his wet clothes. It was 62 degrees out, so we certainly didn't feel bad. We kept asking him if he was cold and he was too busy to answer. He spent the next hour in the house running around in his diaper and T-shirt, much to his delight.

Also yesterday, there was quite a bit of throwing the baby on the bed with lots of begging to do it again. Especially after I positioned the enormous pregnancy pillow just right and threw him into that over and over. This was accompanied by counting to three and throwing him on three.

Later on in the evening, we were playing with a toy that turned inside out. While I was doing that over and over, I would count to three and pop it out on three. After a while, we noticed that he was saying "none, twoo,..." and then pausing for me to say three. We locked eyes in settlement and encouraged him to count with us. He didn't right then, but a couple minutes later, he was crawling around his blue recliner and was saying, "none, twoo, tree, (pause), none, twoo, tree". SO MY LITTLE BOY IS COUNTING!!! AT 17 MONTHS!!!

Ok, granted, he has no idea how many three is, and this little display really only proves that he understands the concept of "ready, set, go". But he knows what order those words go in! And gosh darn it, I'M COUNTING THIS AS COUNTING AT 17 MONTHS OLD!

He does know the colors yellow, green, and red. Blue is a bit more confusing since there are several shades amongst his toys and flash cards. And why should sky blue and navy blue be called the same thing? Maybe I need to work on light blue and dark blue. He has said the word purple at daycare, but not really at home.

So of course I have the most brilliant little boy on the planet! Doesn't every mother say that!

It's the little things in life...

2011-02-26T06:10:00.003-06:00

Priorities shift as you get older, and they also shift when you realize that your regular paychecks are about to dry up with no real replacement in sight. As my birthday approached, I realized there were several things I had been wishing for around the house that certainly fell into the category of non-essential. Of course the non-essential category has greatly expanded recently.

While trying to cut our budget anywhere we can, some regular purchases have started to seem extravagant. My favorite food in the whole wide world is the Aldi brand of microwave macaroni and cheese. A whole meal of this wonderful goo costs a whoppin' $0.87. Sometimes it's $0.99. But a blue box of mac and cheese is only $0.35 and you get twice the food. So one third the price and twice the food means that my favorite cheesy goo costs 6 times more than another mac and cheese that's still pretty good. The slightly smaller loaf of honey wheat bread is sometimes double the cost of the whole wheat bread.

So with these kinds of cuts in mind, here is the list of stuff that Mom bought me for my birthday which had been on my non-essential list. You ready?
Two more foot stools to scatter around the house.
Two more cheap face clocks.
Two new cheap napkin holders of the simple style that I like.
A slide for Quint.
Two new Teflon coated pans ($10 and $7 respectively).
A gallon jug of that wonderful softsoap handsoap.
Batteries - D, AA, & AAA those suckers add right up! And size D recharables don't have the same voltage and therefore don't run baby toys correctly.

None of those things are very expensive, but they added up.

Another thing I've shifted lately, is my diaper purchasing. I had been using Diapers.com, buying a million diapers at once in order to avoid shipping costs, and having huge boxes of diapers arrive at my house for about $0.22 cents per diaper. And that's my favorite brand too. Seemed like a pretty good deal since you can pay $0.30 per diaper if you're not paying attention at Target or Walgreens. Aldi sells diapers starting at size 3 (Quint's current size) for $0.15 each. Until recently, Aldi diapers had one slightly annoying feature that made me willing to pay more for my favorite diapers. Aldi diapers are just as good for Quint as my favorite diapers, they were just folded in an annoying way. But they've changed recently and aren't folded that way any more! So now I have absolutely no problem with cutting our diaper costs by 30%! So this means that I can diaper Quint for $20-25 per month.

Complete subject change:
I FOUND MY CELL PHONE!! It was in the front yard, covered in watery mud, and lit up and worked when I opened it!

Back to original subject:
It's amazing how much money you can save by just never, ever going into a store. I've noticed that I blow about $3 every time I go into Walgreens. Simple solution. Don't go into Walgreens. And when you need OTC medicine (thus negating the drive thru), walk quickly down boring aisles. Don't even think about walking into Hobby Lobby, Lowes, or WalMart. Only walk into the dollar store with a specific list and STICK TO IT! Also, I've got to start sticking to my Aldi list. The snacky-carb aisle gets me every time. On the other hand, I need to buy some better snacks for Quint.

Ok, so I don't have a good conclusion or wrap/up thought to this post, so you'll just have to make do with the fact that my brain has jumped to a subject other than this blog, and deal with it.

Cheers!

Pregnancy pictures!

2011-02-23T15:28:00.004-06:00

At least one friend (maybe two) wanted to see my current pregnant belly, so here we go! First, the baseline photo from last fall.

And now the current photo at week 26, 6.5 months.
When I first started taking these pictures, I worried that I'd get the two sets of pregnancy pictures mixed up. What was I thinking? There will always be a brightly colored toy if not my son in the picture that shows my belly.

Mom's visit

2011-02-22T20:51:00.003-06:00

My mom left today, after a week long visit. This was brilliantly planned to coincide with a 3 day out of town trip of my husband's, so I had help while he was gone. It unknowingly coincided with the end of my illness and me remembering that with my last pregnancy, about now was when I realized that I hadn't felt really good in quite some time and am not likely to really feel good until after the birth. The birth THREE MONTHS from now. Only this time, add in worries about money, jobs, and a very active 17 month old. Plus some female issues that are simply a result of having two babies so very close together. Even my doctor said that if I'd waited another year or two, my body wouldn't have this particular problem.

Mom is really great at the whole tag team thing. Especially with zero conversation involved. As in, "hmmm, I'm taking your horizontal/drooling state to mean that I should take the baby upstairs/downstairs and let you rest for a while."

We also got a whole lot done! Here's our super duper list:
We picked out cloth and a design for Rastus's baby quilt.
Mom made me three pretty pillow cases to replace our mismatched/hideous/20 year old spares.
We finished Quint's baby book.
We put the finishing touches on two maternity shirts Mom made for me.
Mom vacuumed the whole house twice during the week she was here.
We cleaned out my car
Mom made a tuna casserole to freeze
I added to our scrapbook (including the article that put my hubby on the front page of the local paper!)
We bought and put together an indoor slide which is a HUGE hit with Quint.
We cleaned out the garage which involved just as much child chasing as cleaning.
We cleaned out and reorgainzed some stuff in the loft to make way for clutter that needs to be stored until it matters so little that we can toss whole boxes at a time.

Commentary on pitchable stuff and reorganization: I finally threw away several items that we have had for several years, if not NINE years, and thought they would be useful one day. If it hasn't actually been useful in the last six to nine years AND has no sentimental value, then it got pitched. A few boxes of sentimental things were thinned or combined or both to take up half the space. The 17 year old computer monitor that had been taking up valuable climate controlled space in our loft got pitched. The accompanying 17 year old computer box was nearly recycled, until I realized that both of our ancient computer boxes could serve a useful weighty purpose with our food storage (long boring explanation). Many boxes in the valuable climate controlled space got demoted to the garage. The trash pile on Monday included the box the slide came in (filled with trash), the box the new pack and play came in (filled with trash), the full trashcan, and a huge extra empty box filled with trash. It was great! The huge pile of clutter in the middle of our garage was cut in HALF! Sooo satisfying.

Mom got enough face time with Quint that she would also get spontaneous leg-hugs on the fly. He would sometimes call her Nana (she prefers Nannie) but would sometimes revert to calling him Mama. Nannie bought several new toys or DVDs which will be enjoyed by boy and mom alike. She took him for walks, stroller rides, trips to the park, exploration of the yard, and one trip to the super-duper park near the library. She developed the "RRRRrrraaaaoooorrrrr!" game which was a huge hit. She figured out why he had suddenly stopped liking chicken nuggets and he now loves them again. She would change dirty diapers without complaint or even comment that it had happened! She bathed him and did all the heavy lifting when baby #2 was traumatizing my body. It was wonderful!

The whole week Mom was here, the weather was exceptionally warm for February in Tennessee! The day at the super-duper park near the library, I had on a sleeveless maternity top and I never reached for my sweater!!

The only downsides of that week involved losing my cell phone (the same day as the big garage clean up - argh) and my hours drying up at H&R Block. I knew all along that my hours would be severely reduced about mid-February, but it seems to have completely stopped. Which means I'm not really hitting my placement agencies for temp work.

So please pray my employment situation. Also please pray for a wonderful new friend to move into the empty house next door.

Toddler diets and new language skills

2011-02-18T21:30:00.005-06:00

I frequently read a blog from a mom who calls herself Amalah on this blog. She's the mother of 2 boys, pregnant with her third, and has a realistic perspective of when to be strict and when to be a push over. She has several blog sites, including the Advice Smackdown on Alphamom.

While being really frustrated with Hubby's ideas about Quint's diet recently, I wrote her a letter. SHE PICKED MY LETTER!! And wrote about it today!!

Go read it here!!

I am so excited to have tons of advice on this subject.

In other news, Quint is gaining new phrases and words every day!! Two weeks ago he had about 20 words, and now we consider him to be just talking. This morning, we were laying on a really fluffy bed with a four inch feather top mattress. He was face down on the bed, as was I, and I said, "yeah, it's fluffy..." Quint looked at me funny and said, "It's soft" as if to correct me.

When my mom was preparing nuggets for his lunch, he said, "you got it!" when she grabbed it out of the freezer. Then, after they were cut up and ranch dressing applied, he said, "ahhhhh, nuggets"

Recently he said he would help me mop. "I help you".

One grumpy morning, he didn't really want to play and he said "but I'm tired". I asked him if he wanted a nap and he said "uh-huh" and walked to the stairs, ready to go up to his bed.

He recently said "thank you" for a cracker.

It's getting to be so easy to communicate with him! And just two weeks ago, I noticed how frustrated he was that I just couldn't understand him. And I know that's what it takes for him to learn something new - extreme frustration leading to motivation to learn something new. Yay for my little guy!

Let the good times roll!

2011-02-09T16:33:00.003-06:00

Saturday, Quint started to seem sick. I hoped that I was just looking too hard since a lot of kids at Priscilla's were sick. He had a tiny cough Saturday. Sunday it was obvious that he was actually sick. The gooey cough had intensified and the nose faucet started running. Fever showed up Sunday as well. Monday, I was wiping his nose so often that I got NOTHING else done. It's now Wednesday and he occasionally still feels warm. He's eating a tiny bit on a regular basis and seems to be drinking enough. I'm also giving him a lot of applesauce as food/liquid.

Last night, I started to have a little tickle in my throat. Today I'm coughing up stuff and feel like crap. And Quint still needs his nose wiped on a regular basis. I couldn't sleep while Quint took a 3 hour nap this morning, but I couldn't keep my eyes open between 1pm and 2pm.

Also, baby #2 reacts strongly to tomato soup. Kicks in 3 directions at once. Thanks son.

I called Hubby to see if he could come home and take care of us. But he had meetings solid starting at 3:30. I really wish I could have used the Star Trek transporter to get my dad or Hubby's mom here to help out. My mom is busy this week.

Snow was predicted to start around noon. It didn't start until 3pm, but since it's been below freezing (like 20) for two days, it's immediately sticking. Hubby called at 4pm to say that he may already be stuck downtown. The roads are all slanted and sloped downtown. There is the train, but his office is about a mile from the train station. Then there's the problem of me picking him up in the same weather. This same storm dumped 19 inches in Arkansas. Hmmm...

So Quint and I are safe, warm, have plenty of milk, diapers, soup and applesauce. I have plenty of baby medicine. I have plenty of my feeble pregnancy medicine. What little good it does. Hubby is currently stuck at his office where he's plenty warm, has a narrow couch, plenty drink, but only a pack of hot dogs to eat. And whatever reduced rations we've put in his trunk. He may try to come home, but that's uncertain at 5pm.

Quint has been sleeping 12-14 hours at night with this illness, and he requested to go to bed at 7pm last night. So if I can make it until 7 or 8pm, I can go straight to bed.

Please pray for us.

Update at 8pm: Hubby made it home! And I am so glad! He hoofed it down to the train where the 5pm train left the station at 5:40. I jumped in the car and braved the roads to drive the 1.5 miles to the train station. The round trip took 30 minutes and we didn't slip around much.

Totally Awesome Sentence Son!!

2011-02-05T03:49:00.004-06:00

Quint has been babbling away in whole "sentences" for some time. The fact that they are in another language is completely irrelevant to him. And clearly, if he's gone to the trouble to give me a long garbled answer, then I should certainly understand what he wants, RIGHT? Sometimes he looks at me like, "what are you stupid? I just told you!"

But tonight was totally different. I actually understood all the words in the garbled sentence! Yes it was probably a sentence that only a mother could translate, but ...eh?

I was still eating supper, but he was out of his highchair and running around. He ran over to me, put his head in my lap and hugged my leg. I hugged his head and patted his back and said, "I love you, too, son." AND HE SAID "aahh wuv ooo...too!" And then he kept his head on my lap as if he hadn't just done something amazing! I made a big deal of it and said how awesome that was and he smiled and clapped, turned around in his little dance step, and took off for the living room again.

23 weeks pregnant

2011-02-03T21:27:00.005-06:00

This first picture is me and Quint when I was 7 weeks pregnant.

And this is me at 23 weeks pregnant, earlier this morning. Our second little boy is kicking and moving and when I poke him, he kicks back. I haven't had any false labor for over a week now, but I have had heartburn and diminished breathing capacity. I've also been able to sing at least 2 notes higher than normal for me. So I've been helping the sopranos out with some of their high Gs. My choir director said that it was just because I'm pregnant. He sees it all the time. Wow! Learn something new every day! I still wake up at 3:19 most days, but last night, we went to sleep at 9pm and I got more sleep than I've had in I don't know when! As a result, I yawned all through the day.

I did the taxes for a woman today who is nearly the same age as me, is 23 weeks pregnant, and also had an especially traumatic few weeks surrounding when she found out she was unexpectedly pregnant. We had so much fun talking that I gave her my cell phone number on my brand new business cards. Her name is Mary, in case I forget her name in the next 24 hours.

It's peak week at the tax office so I've actually been working a lot of hours. Weird feeling after 6 weeks of not working much.

Outside

2011-01-30T20:54:00.002-06:00

What with one snow storm after another and persistent temperatures below 40 degrees for like...ever, the last time Quint got to play outside was in Texas in 2010. Literally, the last time he played in the yard, any yard, was last year. That's pitiful! When we leave Priscilla's, he will frequently point to the playground and obviously want to play. And I kept having to tell him no, because it was covered in snow, or 24 degrees out, or both.

Finally, Friday, it was warm enough and dry enough that the kids got to play on the playground at Priscilla's.

Saturday, it was a whopping 65 degrees! About lunchtime, I tell Quint that we need to change his clothes (out of PJs) so we can go outside. His face lights up and he starts laughing. I grab the big diaper bag with clothes and drinks and snacks for Quint and put him in the car. At first, he's confused because I tell him we're going outside and then put him in the car. The neighborhood park is a quarter mile away, but up a steep hill, coming and going (literally) that I'm not sure I'll be able to manage with the stroller. We get out at the park and play and play and play.

I let him run around everywhere and he loves to cross the bridge then walk back up the gully. When he needs help with a slope, he holds up his hand for me to hold, but if he doesn't think he needs help, he doesn't ask. We swing. We climb up the playscape and go down the slide backwards a gillion times. After a while, I feed him lunch on the playscape. I wonder why I didn't bring anything to eat for myself.

A neighbor comes out with his little girl and we have fun getting to know them. They have a son almost the exact same age as Quint who is home taking a nap. I'll have to look them up later, and meet his wife and son. Apparently, these folks first came to look at buying their house on the day of our house wreck in 2005. Nothing like entering a prospective neighborhood only to find an extra car through the side of a garage. That sticks with you.

Hubby came home from work and came to find us at the park. We play for a while, and I realize that we've been at the park for 2 hours! We ask Quint if he's ready to go home and he says no. But he's starting to stumble on flat pavement, so we take him home anyway.

Even after all that time outside, whenever he heard me say the word "outside" to my sister on the phone, he started laughing and raced to the door.

Sunday, we go for a big walk and play in our own yard for quite some time. Quint is very good about coming back closer when I tell him not to go far. It's so nice to be outside. We meet some more neighbors who have a 2.5 year old boy and a 9 week old boy. We've got a 1.5 year old boy and will have another in 4 months. This could be really fun for playdates in the next few years.

A friend recently encouraged me to try to make lots of friends for the boys to play with. She said that when her kids were little, she was way too picky about who her friends were and she was alone a lot as a result. Ten years later, she has lots of friends with whom she doesn't agree on everything. For instance, she and I have opposite political views. She's Catholic and I'm Protestant. She's learned that you don't have to have everything in common.

So we look forward to a lovely warm day again tomorrow when we can hopefully get outside again!

First Haircut

2011-01-24T09:47:00.001-06:00

Sunday, we gave Quint his first haircut. He is 16 months old. It was a traumatic experience for all of us, but I think it looks mostly alright.

But first, we have the "before" pictures.

Front, and the atrocious back.
Quint's mullet has been a popular topic of conversation for quite some time now. We were both putting off cutting his wonderfully soft little hairs. We were finally both in agreement, at the same time, that his hair should be cut. All along, we've planned on buying clippers, and doing it ourselves. We figure we'll be good at haircuts by the time Quint cares what it looks like.

Since Hubby cut his own hair for ROTC all through High School, I asked him to take the first try at it. We used the longest guard possible. The clippers had a non-scary noise about them so Quint wasn't afraid of the actual clippers.

But like everyone on the planet, he hated having his head controlled and held still. So of course he started crying, which upset us even more than cutting his hair for the first time. Hubby strictly ordered me NOT to cry! "Yes, sir," I gulped.

The very worst and most pitiful thing about the whole process was where Hubby's mind went while shearing his young son. For some reason, he kept thinking about shaving people's unwilling heads before sending them to the gas chambers! "Wow, honey, I'm glad my mind didn't leap to Auschwitz."

Understandably, that severely rattled him, so I took over the shearing. When there were very few long or spiky parts, we picked him up and cuddled him. Once he stopped crying, I took him out on the porch to brush off his shirt. Poor guy had some hairs stuck to his lips, even. Finally, I just jerked off his hair covered shirt, in 41 degree weather, brushed off his face and neck and we headed in to the tub, where we finally got a good picture of the haircut.
After the trauma of the haircut, we probably spent an hour in the tub playing with cups of water. Where once again, our joyful little boy showed his shining face!