Did Someone Say Chocolate?

A new day...

Ooo I was cranky last night. hehe Oh well, I'm sure some panties are in a wad! Got some sleep last night, all is well. Daniel does pretty good now. The night before last, he was figidity from about ten until midnight, finally falling asleep for good at midnight. He slept right through until 6:30 a.m.. Technically speaking, he slept through the night, but I consider any six hour sleep that he has as good progress. Most times, like two nights ago, he's down from 9 pm until about 3:30 a.m.. I think I'd much rather have him regularly on that schedule then not being able to get him down until midnight. I like having some time in the evenings to unwind a bit before I zonk out. Plus when he sleeps until 3:30, he's normally back up between 7:30 and 8 a.m. which is perfect for my work schedule that he'll have to follow three days a week.

Doug is taking the kids out to eat and to the library as part of their normal Saturday routine. I stay home so I can clean in peace and have alone time. Considering I've been off of work for eight weeks, the cleaning and alone time is not a big deal these days. I've been a bit stir crazy this past week. I'm trying to relax and enjoy my time off, but I just feel useless never getting much accomplished. Doug often tries to get me to go with them, but I just don't consider lugging a baby around a public library and to McDonalds a big thrill. He normally pouts whenever I say that though heh. The other three kids, however, thoroughly enjoy their time out with dad.

Yeah! F-U!

Another day shot with only kitch/LV room floors swept and scrubbed. I wanted to make bread (I should say try to, it's been probably at least 8 years since I've done it). With other things that I was trying to do and Daniel's sleep schedule today, I just didn't manage to get it done. Many days go by that I feel pretty useless, like I can't accomplish anything around here. I manage meals and general clean up, never getting to my other clean up projects I want to get done, just to turn around and have to do same crap again the next day. Is this how SAHM's (in case you don't know...stay at home moms. I've read this in other blogs and didn't have a clue until someone finally said what it was. I guess that's what you get for being a 'working mom' BLAH) feel all the time? If so, no wonder they bitch a lot.

Speaking of bitching. I have a bit of a rant that I've been hanging onto for quite some time and I'm in about the mood to share it now. If you find this offending in the least, then you are probably one of whom I am referring to, so how about you go look in a mirror, stick your middle finger up, tell yourself that that's from Michelle because she don't give a damn what you think anymore.

I am sick of breastfeeding mothers with the "holier than thou" attitudes. I'm tired of feeling like I have to justify my choice to bottle feed with lame excuses about medication/working etc. just so I don't get that disgusted "oooh you're bottle feeding" attitude accompanied with the look of pity for the child and complete disapproval of me. It's like somehow I don't quite measure up as a mother because of my choice to bottle feed. I'm tired of feeling like I'm excluded out of some secret society of moms that only mothers who breastfeed are worthy of joining. I get this shit online, I get it in RL.

You know what? It's my fucking boobs and my decision. Woman who choose to bottle feed shouldn't be made to feel like we're doing some GREAT INJUSTICE to our babies for doing so. Formula fed babies do just fine. I have never had a sick, underweight child EVER. I've also had no trouble "bonding" with my child, nor them with me. They look up at me with love in their eyes as I snuggle and feed them just the same as a breastfed baby would. As far as affordability...who gives a fuck eh? Is my money all of a sudden your money? Choices are available and woman should be able to make their own choice to suit their own individual desires/needs/wants, lifestyles and comfort zones without having to feel guilty about their choice from someone who just happen to of chose differently. Everytime someone assumes I am nursing or gets that attitude, once corrected, of "well I breastfed all of my babies" with me, I could just scream. I'm sick of feeling like I should hang my head because I bottle feed and I'm not going to do it anymore. Screw all you mothers (and fathers) who think I am doing something horrible! My baby and me are doing just fine! Thank you very fricking much!

You know what else, while I am at it...F U society for making such a big deal out of large families making me feel like I couldn't possibly have any more kids with my husband without being embarrassed to admit how many I had. GHRRRRRRRRR!

~ an after thought... I know not all breastfeeding mothers have this attitude towards us bottlefeeding moms.

And so 6th grade begins...

She comes home the second day of school talking about a "secret club" she's in and she's the only girl. That peaked my interest right away. I confirmed again "the only girl?". "I don't know everyone in the club yet Mom. It is a secret club." she says. Then I want to know what exactly she had to do to get into this club. She blushes and says "I had to answer some questions". "Hmmmm, ok, what kind of questions Sarah?" "Well, you know Mom, just questions"... heh, I do know, that why I asked *laughs*. So after about five-six minutes of prying and pushing, in the end, the questions were innocent enough (that's also assuming she's telling the truth and until she lies to me and gets caught, I really don't have any reason not to trust Sarah).

So, each day I make it a point to ask Sarah about her club and her friends. Sarah has always been pretty open about stuff with me. It started a few years ago when I openly talked about girl/boy stuff with her so she'd she that even though I'm a mom, I was also a girl one time too. We often giggle over her "girl" stuff and quite often she'll come to me for advice when she runs into trouble with a friend at school.

Sarah has kept me pretty up-to-date so far on the comings and goings of this club. She was worried one day because two of the club's "arch enemies" turned out to be her friends and she didn't know what to do, so we had that "talk" about not being mean to someone just to follow a group. Luckily, Sarah has never been the type of child to make fun of someone else or even be mean to them. She's been teased too much herself, so she knows how it feels.

So, the past couple of days, I've heard all about these boys who like her and who she likes and how cute they are etc etc etc. Tonight, the phone rings..."is Sarah there". OOOOOOOoo it's a BOY!! Hehe, five minutes later it's HIS FRIEND. LOL. I'm all giggly over it, Doug is less enthusiastic about it. I'm just happy she's got friends this year and is being liked by someone! Last year was really hard for her. She got teased, had only one friend all year that got teased worse than she did and had to work her ass off for teachers she didn't like. This year she really likes all her teachers and so far seems to be making friends. I would feel a bit better I guess if I heard more about some girl friends. She's only mentioned one this year in her class. Either way, it's nothing like last year. Here's to grade 6!! It's next year I'm sure I'll curse!

Is it nesting...again or just moodyness?

Ya know I'm in a funk. I'm not sure why I feel so restless and moody. I am tired out, but I just feel like I need to do something...accomplish something while I'm home so I can say I did a, b and c while I was off for three months!. I've had a lot of time around the house, so now I feel like picking it apart. I blame Doug for it too. He got me all worked up the other night at his suggestion of getting new bedroom furniture (bunkbed/loft combo that we have seen before) for Cody's room and I got all hot to paint...etc. I could barely sleep that night thinking about it.

We loaded the kids up the next morning and went to two places and we found a really nice set that we both really liked. Then he decided to go home and think about it to make sure we could afford it blah blah blah! Ladies...never let your man think about it, EVER!! Well after going through the whole "budget/this is where we are" thing, new furniture became a non priority pretty quickly (understandably so).

I should have walked away then but oh no, we ended up talking about comfort zones and debt, were we willing to carry debt? If so, how much, etc!! Gah, again ladies... just WALK away. You'll be saving yourself from tired head caused by brain overload! In the end, it was basically decided that carpet was a priority and now's the time to do it while I'm off work. Then we could get the furniture for Cody's room and it was worth going into debt a bit to have the house improved. Then I said forget it, let's just wait. The fun had been zapped out of it. Men...just *make noise* about money, budgets, debt, comfort zones, interest rates, long term goals, priorities, one time expenses, one time cash flow increases, unforeseen one time expenses, decreases in income, et al, then say okay. I guarantee she won't want it when you're done. *laughs*

Actually, I feel like he caved in thinking that I really wanted it. I certainly didn't ask him to change his mind about it and I didn't even disagree with him (we've never disagreed about money). He and I both know that had I even pushed a little bit to get it, we would have been walking out of the store with it. He spoils me enough openly, that we both know I could get whatever I wanted. I just NEVER take advantage of that. I just really think that he would regret getting something he didn't really think we should get in the first place, so it's just better to wait it out a bit. I'm not prepared to shoulder any guilt if he did regret it later.

Anyway, so now I have tired head from all that. Like my mood needed that rollercoaster. I think I'm just looking for something to work on, or maybe I'm not. I just don't know, I'm fidgety. I haven't been "home" so much since my first year going back to school in '97. I only had to go at first for two days a week. My second year was five days a week just like my current work hours are (home at 3). After graduation I was home for 4 weeks and started the full time job at the law firm. Even when I moved here to Texas, I was lucky enough to start work within 4 weeks. I've now been home since July 1st, only going in every other week for a couple of hours to run the payroll.

Being home has its advantages. I'm certainly not going to rush to try to get back to work, but I think a few more months of this and I'd have to do something. I'd go stir crazy and run out of things interesting to talk about (you can really only talk about dog poop and burping so often). When Doug came home yesterday, I had the living room all tore apart trying to find another "functional" way to organize everything. MUST have more ROOM! Guess what? It went right back to the way it was except we made Bella's pen a bit smaller (she only eats and sleeps in her area now anyway, we only gate it off so Dexter won't help himself to her food). Last night I tore apart the computer room wanting/hoping to fix something in there too. I managed to add another book shelf to relieve some book clutter from the living room, but that's about all that got accomplished with my "organizing" fit. I still don't feel right though. I'm not done.

The *make noise* comment is for my dear husband who one day last week, to his own detriment, made reference to MY conversation with HIM when asked if he heard me as *well I heard you making noise*. GASP. He has not lived that down yet and probably never will!!!

Oh Happy Day!

Congratulations to Rachel and family on the birth of their baby girl and also to Chuck and Lauren who are finally together!!

As if I'm not hormonal enough

You sure can tell I'm back on the pill. I swear that crap makes me cranky. Maybe I am imagining things, but I've taken just over a week's worth and I feel different already. I feel an urge to bitch for no particular reason and it's making me feel even crankier not having a real reason to bitch. Now if that ain't hormones, than I don't know what is. I might be just tired. Interrupted sleep does catch up to you after awhile. Who knows. Blaming birth control sounds good.

I took Daniel shopping at Kid to Kid (a re-sale shop) for some sleepers. He outgrew all but 3 pair of ones we have (and those JUST fit him), so it was that time to re-stock. They have so many cute clothes, it's hard to pass them all by, but having too many baby clothes in one size really can be a pain in the ass. I love one piece jumpers and they had racks of them. Most items are priced between $2-$6 ($6 being something fancy). His sleepers were mostly all $3 and $4. Cheap and considering babies never outwear their clothes, everything is just like new, me likey! Plus when I'm done with them, I can take them back and re-sell them!

When the other kids were little, I had so many friends that were having babies or had babies, that I got a ton of clothing from friends or friends of friends. It was nuts. Garbage bags full, all the time. I'd literally sort through and only keep what I really really wanted and I still had way too many. Well, with Daniel, I didn't know anyone here who had just had a baby (with the exception of Doug's nephew, but they are expecting again now), so we didn't have the advantage of a lot of hand me downs. The re-sale shop will be great as he outgrows things. People have bought him a ton of clothes. He really doesn't need or want, for anything, therefore, I always need to be careful when I go to a place like Kid to Kid. It wouldn't take me long to get carried away with unneeded items especially with prices like that.

We finally watched that Queer Eye For the Straight Guy show the other night. It was okay, I'm sure it varies from show to show at how good it really is. The one guy with the blonde hair that handles wardrobe was comical. I guess I could go crazy in that re-sale shop than just do what he does and take Polaroid shots of each outfit so Daniel won't wear the same thing twice in one month. Hehe.

I also bought a little baby memory box today at Walmart. I was going to put all his little cards and gift tags and misc. baby items in a scrap book and his baby book, but when I saw that box on the shelf, it was perfect and cute to boot. I was hot and annoyed by the time I had finished my shopping. Walking through any parking lot in Texas heat is enough to wipe anyone out. By the time I was done unloading the cart and putting baby back in van, we both were hot and sweaty. I noticed that two guys were parked behind the van, one boosting the other. It was obvious one car stalled out in the middle of parking lot. This car was down from me by one vehicle, so if the car doing the boosting would move, I could get out. Well I started the van after checking my room and thought, I'd give it a try. Ha, it's hard enough backing a van out of normal tight spots let alone having a vehicle parked directly behind you with it's freakin' door open. I tried and failed, still sweating, baby starting to fuss, I put the van (oh OUR van btw, we just got it back yesterday, Hurray for Odyssey's! Piss on Town and Country's) in park, got out and kindly asked them if they could move their car so I could get out. The younger guy started walking very deliberately and slowly towards me staring me down as if I had a lot of nerve to ask him to move. I just looked right back at him and said I have a crying infant in the car and I want to go home!! Apparently not speaking English very well, he asks why can't I ...then makes a motion with his hand that indicates the van backing up. I make the motion right back at him and said through gritted teeth I tried that and the other two vehicles are parked too close to me and his vehicle parked there makes it too difficult. He still wasn't moving until his buddy with the dead car told him just to back it up and pull in closer to let me out. Blah. Geesh. What did he think I'd do, just sit there and wait for an obviously dead car to magically start for him. Some people. Have I said lately that I hate Walmart? I don't say it enough.

Awwww more cuteness!

Don't you just love it when they first start to smile! His first true smile was on the 19th. I was lucky enough to catch this one on camera yesterday and funny enough, this one isn't his biggest gummer grin. It gets MUCH bigger!! =D

ooooo More presents!

Doug's Dad and step mom came to visit today. Daniel was an angel during their visit! They also brought three gifts with them for Daniel from family and a friend. Cutest darn baby outfits ever! I just love baby clothes. We also found out that our "sister-in-law" is expecting. She had been told she was unlikely to ever have kids, so was hopeful during an appt. she had a few months ago when a doctor did a much more thorough exam to discover that she didn't have the problem they initially thought she had. So, after just getting married to Doug's step-brother in June, they started trying right away and whammo!, sure didn't take long. He has one child (18 mos), but it'll be their first. I hope all ends well for them. Her having a baby next May is just going to reinforce my hormonal need for another one!! Daniel will be almost a year old by then!! Boo hoo! Myabe by then, he'll be such a handful, I won't want another one Heh.

School went pretty well for the kids yesterday. Sarah was very happy that she seems to have a quiet class this year and liked her teacher...so far. She'll actually be rotating between four teachers this year, so hopefully that'll help her stay organized a bit better. Both boys came home with glowing point sheets and Cody's teacher met Doug out in the parking lot yesterday and gushed about how compliant and well behaved Cody was. Doug was like "I know he is, he's not a bad kid, we don't know why he did what he did". Oh well day one was good and the boys seem okay with it now. Cody was the only one in his class yesterday, today there is another young boy in with him (he threatened his teacher). Cody knows this because they did some "anger management" counseling today together. I guess overall, none of what they do in there will hurt the boys. Cody came back yesterday actually liking it. Doug said "careful Cody, not a single day past your 3 weeks!". Geez that's all we need is for them to love it and figure out how to never leave. I actually think the novelty of peace and quiet will wear off pretty quickly. It was the same with summer camp, they loved it for 3 days, than dragged ass the rest of the time.

I was pretty sleep deprived the night before last. Daniel fell asleep much earlier than normal, so I spent the night awake anticipating him waking up and oddly enough he didn't wake up until his normal time at 3:30 a.m.. Gah, why do mom's do that? I couldn't let myself just fall asleep, I just felt like he was going to wake up hungry at any given moment. Nevertheless, when he went back down for a nap 'tis morning, he actually slept until almost 11 p.m. which let me get a much needed nap before company came! Well I'm off to Walmart to get mentally beaten down. Why do they have to have cheap groceries there? Gah

Call me a sucker for quiet time

Ok ok, baby is sleeping in his bouncy chair with the stupid vibrator ON! Gah, I wish I could get past the feeling that I'm doing something wrong by having it on. He loves the darn thing. Sarah and I went to her "meet the teacher" night up at the school. I also took the opportunity to go introduce myself to Cody's teacher and to give her the insight as to what had happened this summer with Cody. I had been concerned his teacher would form an opinion of him before ever meeting him. She seemed very nice. Her room was empty so we had quite a bit of time to chat. Her little secret that she shared with me is that she just found out she is pregnant, due in April. It's her first child, so she's very excited. Has that glow already (of course that'll vanish as soon as she hugs the toilet enough LOL, ok bad joke). I fear Cody may lose his teacher this year depending on how things go with her. As sick as I was, I just can't imagine teaching a classroom full of 4th graders.

I did not like either of the kids teachers last year. The homework issues and lack of compassion and positive reinforcement was almost enough to make me nuts with wishing for summer to come. This year I got much better vibes from both their teachers. I really hope for a more positve school experience for them. I think Cody is getting worried about tomorrow. He didn't eat any of his supper, he was still sitting there playing in it, looking all mopey when I was doing dishes. He dragged his butt with his assignment tonight too. I talked to him a bit, he actually thought he wouldn't be allowed in his classroom at all because they would charge him with tresspassing. Just goes to show you how young and easily confused he actually is. The tresspassing order is only for the 3 weeks he's in Alternative School. I wasn't able to take him for "meet the teacher" night. He's not allowed on any district school property.

Doug picked up the school supplies that arrived today. Gotta love that online shopping thing! No stress shopping, no lines, no empty shelves, no screaming kids, no cranky parents and everything you need delivered within 24 hours. The only thing I did not order was looseleaf (here they call it filler paper, I remember the first time I saw that on a list. I had no idea what the heck they were asking for lol). It's not that cheap to order it online considering just a few days before I saw it at Walmart for .31 per package. So, I sent Doug today to get 15 packages of it...DOH, my bad, shoulda bought when I saw it, EMPTY. He went to some dumb drugstore and almost had to pay more until checkout lady says "oh we have that on sale". He says "great, I'll take 15". She says "limit 3". Blah. Just reinforces that whole "ONLINE" thing *grins*

Ya know for someone who would like to loose some pregnancy flab, I sure suck with my will power to do so. Can you all say with me "3 batches of peanut butter chocolate chip cookes, 1 chocolate cake, 1 apple crisp, 1 blueberry grunt, 1 chocolate pie, 1 batch of chocolate chip cookies, 3 tubs of chocolate ice-cream, 1 entire box of kit kats" GAH... What is it Humbaba always says? UFF-DA. I am starved for sweets. I just can't get enough, mind you I had help eating that stuff (well I did polish off all my kit kats, heck they are Canadian kit kats, who could refuse those!!), but seriously, I don't know what's wrong with me. I've also drank a few cases of diet caffeine free pepsi (and I use the term few loosely!). Could this be a hormonal thing? A lack of baby thing? or maybe just a PIGGISH thing? *laughs* Ok bed time. It would seem even with baby sleeping, we're still up late ... ummm...talking...ya talking. that's it, that's all we're doing...ya, not taking any kind of risky chances in this house, nope. We're waiting for birth control to kick in! Two more weeks....YUP just talking...GAH!

Adorable is...

what you'll see when you click here! Awww, my babies!

Well well well...

I'm not so stupid afterall. Not only have I figured out a way to help baby Daniel sleep longer, but I have figured out how to jump on the band wagon with Blog Rolling. I don't feel so left out now hehe. Once I had time to actually sit and look at it, it's not hard, I was just being dumb and interrupted yesterday. I've cleaned up my links a lot too, took some out (all the clanlord ones are gone now, I stopped reading those months and months ago), added some new ones... you know what to do if I should have you linked, but don't <---email me or leave a comment.

When Sarah was a baby, she hated her crib. She slept in a little rocker chair for about four months before finally outgrowing the chair and graduating to her crib. Well as it turns out, her little brother is the same way it would seem. He was up and down again starting before lunch, so after Doug and the kids left for the library, I put him in his carseat (not buckled in, just wrapped up) so I could carry him with me room to room as I sorted old clothes from the kid's dressers. Let's just say "out like a light" and stayed that way for about three to four hours before waking up to be fed. He's now out again, and has been for quite awhile, asleep in his bouncy chair. He'll soon wake up to be fed. He'll have his cereal around 9'ish and I can only hope that these nice naps he's had today won't effect his sleeping pattern tonight!

It was nice getting the kid's clothes sorted. They outgrow stuff about two or three times a year and what happens when I don't keep up with it is they yank it out, try it on, realize it doesnt' fit, then throws it in laundry basket. Not realizing it doesn't fit, Doug or I, wash it, then the cycle is repeated. You'd think they would just bring it to me to say it doesn't fit anymore or at least remember each time that it doesn't fit. Oh well, we should see a difference in the laundry now. *grins* ...I hope.

Lazy day

I feel like we did nothing but run around shopping and working all week, so it was nice to stay home today and putt around the house. We didn't even shower and get dressed until after lunch and Daniel let us take a nap 'tis morning too. That was about the only "real" sleep he's had all day. When we run around doing errands, he sleeps the entire time, but here at home, he's up and down, up and down, sleeping for ten minutes here, twenty there, maybe an hour if he's real comfy. He seems to want to eat every 2 - 2.5 hours. I'd much rather see that become 3.5 - 4 hours (or longer at night). We've been working on it, but some days, like today, he eats, falls asleep either right away or an hour later, I lay him down, ten minutes later, he's awake wanting his soother or to be picked up.

He doesn't cry much and is easily quieted, but I just don't get why he's not staying asleep lately. Sometimes I think I'm missing or forgetting something. I gave him a bit of rice cereal last night (only one teaspoon). He did real well with it. He kept thinking the spoon was his bottle, so he was sucking the cereal right in. His facial expressions were pretty cute! After he finished his bottle and settled in for the night, he slept for five hours. Not bad for a start.

Changing the subject...I've checked out that blogrolling thing a lot of blogs are starting to get. I created an account and now feel just plain dumb. I figured it was something as simple as adding the code to your blog template, adding your links and voila. Hrmmmm...not. Ooo I also used my slow cooker for the first time today. We've had it for a long time and I suck at new things, but we had a big package of back ribs that we normally cook in the oven, so last night, I made up the sauce, Doug cut the ribs up and we threw it in the fridge and started it up early 'tis morning. They weren't bad, meat was tender enough. I'd like to try a roast or something in it. I'm famous for overcooking meat (paranoid of uncooked meat, guilty), so if this thing would help that, then great. Now to figure out how to use it properly for other recipees. Heh. I dispise cooking. Why can't there just be chefs included with the purchase of a home. One can dream eh.

In other news, for those of you who play or played Clanlord... Doug and I have cancelled our Koric and Felicity accounts. Boo Hoo Hoo. We never play anymore and it's become a huge waste of money. I don't want to play, but I hate to think of Koric and Felicity not "being there". We worked hard on those characters (Fel will be 3 years old soon, Koric is even older) and sunk a lot of ourselves into them as well, afterall, they played a key role in our love story! Oh well, life moves on and in the scheme of things, it was and IS just a game. I contacted Kiriel D'Sol, who interracts a lot with newbies and provides them with needed items, about unloading all of our stuff to her so she can do good with it all. Doh, baby is up again, that was ten minutes. poor little guy.

Nice ring to it

I've been popping around reading some new blogs lately and ironically most of the women are pregnant. It would have been nice to have found some of them while I was pregnant, but oh well. One night while feeding Daniel, I was randomly clicking around on some of Chuck's links and found Moody Mama. I read a few entries, then stumbled across this rant! Well, it had some potty mouth in it that cracked my ass up. It was a great rant about kids and chores, something I'm sure every parent can relate to. The next day, I read her entire blog from start to finish. If you like rants about kids, life and stupid people, mixed with a little potty mouth in just the right spots then this is a blog for you.

We finally finished clothes shopping for the kids. With all the crap they needed, plus the extra clothes for Alternative School, we spent over 600 smackeroos! And get this, we looked everywhere and cannot find a bathing suit to fit Sarah. I'm going to have to look online now. She's outgrown a girls 16 and I assume she'll need a ladies small (size 3 or something??! I don't know).

I also finally got their school supplies ordered tonight. I ordered everything from Office Depot using the work account because I get a huge discount and it's tax free. I only had to spend $88 for 3 kids this year and only have a few things left to pick out from a store that's going to cost less than $10, so I think we've done pretty good this year on supplies (it could be worse, it can always be worse!). Good god though, the lists do seem to get worse each year with specifics from the teachers. They list preferred brand names, colors, and sizes on their lists (oh and of course, none of it is the same from classroom to classroom). Oh well, I at least feel ready. We should have everything organized and labeled in time for Sarah's meet the teacher night on Monday.

I had my 4 wk checkup at the doctor's today. Considering how often I bitched about having to wait so long for appts. at that office while I was pregnant, we were amazed to have a 9 a.m. appt. and be walking out of there at 9:30. What's up with that anyway? All is well with me, healing up good she says, so we can "resume pelvic activity"... ummm who said we stopped?! MEOW!!!! That actually just sounds good doesn't it? Mmmm "resume pelvic activity"! Where is my husband?!! Ha ha, she's actually had me on pelvic rest ever since my pre-term labor back at 31 weeks. She doesn't know me very well if she thinks I could stay on pelvic rest for 13 weeks LOL! We talked about birth control methods etc. I think we are going to stick with the pill for now. I had a question for her that I forgot to ask and maybe one of you know... my wedding ring still won't fit my finger. When does the swelling go away completely or am I stuck with bigger knuckles now? Ooo baby is up...

Mics. Ramblings

Daniel will be 4 weeks old tomorrow. He has settled in very nicely as part of our family. He still melts my heart when I look at him (just like his daddy does!). His little cheeks are growing like Sarah's did. By the time Sarah was a year old, her cheeks looked like she had been storing nuts in them for the winter. I'm pretty sure he's reached 10 lbs by now (probably more, gulp). He's outgrown the first of many outfits already, I could cry. My newborn isn't staying a newborn for very long.

Warning: Boring baby item recommendations ahead. Some things I scoffed at while registry shopping at BabiesRus, but have run out to buy since:

First: Night/Day Bottle/food Warmer. This is by far the best thirty dollars you will spend IMO (if you bottle feed at all). After the very first night of running out to the kitchen to get a bottle (numerous times), then running hot water in a bowl and waiting for the bottle to warm up for my patient, but very hungry 72 hour old infant did me in. We hit the store the very next day and gladly purchased this miracle. The product itself just rocks, no complaints.

Second: Baby wipes warmer I laughed when I first saw one of these and gave it the attitude "what next?". Well ha! I use face cloths on his little bum, but whenever I try the wipes thing, he cries and cringes. Those nasty things are so freakiní cold. Poor little guy. This fixes that!

Some things we just really like:

Daniel loves this. Doug calls it his little rerun. I remember the first time I turned it on. His little eyes got big and he was mesmorized instantly.
This car seat/stroller combo is soooo easy to use! Weíve now officially bought two!! Grins! Actually I shouldnít grin considering WHY weíve bought two (got rear ended 2 weeks ago for those who forgot, Gah van is still in the shop). This thing has a gravity button to fold the stroller in one, quick, easy swosh, all done! The car seat has a strap to pull to tighten the harness/straps and a button you push to release the tension to get baby out easily. No adjusting necessary, it went from box, to van with baby in seat (We knew none of this when we bought it though and were thankfully taught it when we had the seat inspected). None of this easy stuff was around when the other kids were little. I remember all too well jammed fingers in strollers and crying babies in and out of seats.

Of course as you know Daniel loves his kick and play bouncer chair, but those are a dime a dozen. I think any of them are probably just fine and the music on mine is annoying as ole hell, so had I to do it over, I think I'd listen to them first. I noticed one with an aquarium same as the musical crib toy I mentioned above, I think I'd like to hear that one. Oh and one more must have especially if you have pets, is the Diaper Genie! That thing is just plain cool and easy to use.

Oh well now that I've bored you all to death, *yawn* I took Sarah shopping on Sunday for school clothes. She's been bugging to go (for a switch, must be the age thing) and was pretty sour when we decided weíd do the shopping while they are in camp this week, so I caved and her and I went. It was my first time being away from Daniel since birth. Daddy was in charge! We were gone for about 3 hours and I only called once. Not so bad eh (we wonít talk about the stalling for twenty minutes to get out the door). Yesterday, Doug and I went shopping for the boy's clothes. It's not been easy this year. Both Justin and Sarah are borderline with their sizes. Sheís too big for some size 16's (girls) and too small for juniors/ladies. Same with Justin. We are finding 29" waist seems to be fitting him this year. Doesn't that seem big for 14 years old? Oh well, still cost us a few hundred dollars and we arenít quite finished. We buy them new clothes every few months, so it really isnít all that bad. I also have to get off my ass and order their school supplies too!

Had Justin's ARD meeting at his school today and we found out he can still join Cross Country and Track this year. Alternative School won't effect that, mind you if he got into trouble during the school year, then he'd get the boot, but he's safe for now. Poor Doug, I think I've beaten him down with all the shopping these past two days. He acts like a trooper, puttin' up with it, but I can read him like a book! It's killin' him, the walking up and down, up and down, lookin' at this, tryin' that, hummin' and hawin', the same ole "I can't decide" speech, over and over and over again. hehe!!

"YES! Drill Sergeant, SIR!"

We went on Friday to meet with the principal at the Alternative School. The few days before the meeting, I had been gearing myself up to go in there all ready to defend the boys and get mouthy. When push came to shove, their actions are truly hard to defend. They behaved like little shitheads back in early June, no disputing that. I guess I had hoped the punishment we, as their parents, had administered would be acknowledged, perhaps even respected, but little did I realize, it was actually expected, not appreciated.

Once the paperwork was filled out, Mr. Swan came out to introduce himself. He reminded me of some sort of drill sergeant that you'd see on TV or something. He "front and centered" Justin for a Polaroid shot and sternly explained that he'd be concentrating mostly on him seeing as he "was pretty sure he {pointing at Cody} followed him {Justin}". We spoke up in Justin's defense to reassure the drill sergeant that we hold them both responsible for what happened. Cody can think for himself and that we are dealing with a disability in Justin that effects judgment and maturity, effectively it's like dealing with two nine year olds. He didn't really acknowledge what we said too much, he was front and centering Cody for his picture by then and going into the lecture of what "identification" meant and how these pictures would be used against them if they ever did anything out of line at the school and weren't there to be identified.

That basically set the tone for the whole meeting which by the way was almost two hours long. It was bizarre sitting there watching and listening to someone else stern talk/lecture the boys saying virtually the same shit we spiel off to them whenever we think they need a reminder of why they are being punished or what we expect of them in the future. I couldn't find my voice. It was like I was taking a small break as the parent and I was letting someone else say all that rerun crap for once. At least for this round I think I could smell a bit of fear in the room, or was it respect? Nah, it was probably a bit of fear for the unknown. I just sat there listening to him lecture the boys and give them some grief for what they had done realizing this wasn't going to hurt them any and they darn well deserved it and probably need it. Does that make me awful?

The school itself is very small (30 enrolled for start of year), only six students max are allowed in Cody's class and ten in Justin's. So they will get a lot of teacher time and because the kids are in all different grades and are receiving different work from their "home school", the teachers basically teach them one on one. There are a lot of rules at this school and they are much stricter for Justin than Cody. Cody basically goes through the motions to get through. Justin, however, has to earn everything and won't be getting out unless he's graduated to level 3 and has the approval of Mr. Swan. Cody will be in for a minimum of 3 weeks, Justin's minimum is 6 weeks because of his age. Mr. Swan also told them they aren't leaving until he gets a some sort of answer as to why they did what they did. We couldn't get one, so I can't see him being able to, but who knows. I'm not sure if he'd truly hold them there for that or not, I got the impression some stuff might have been tactics. He barely addressed Doug and I, this intake meeting, as it turned out, was for the boys. He wasn't rude to us and answered any questions we had, but the "talk" was for the boys benefit, not so much ours. Also, oh joy, they've never had two children from the same family before. Way to go boys, make history.

Oh and you remember my little immature comment back here about Daniel unloading his bowels in this guys office? Well guess who made Mommy proud? Oh ya baby, farting, grunting, stinking, the whole package. High Five Daniel! (btw, there have been quite a few more comments made recently in that post in case anyone had been reading, but moved on).

I haven't fully accepted the idea of Alternative School, but I have accepted the fact that I can't do anything about it. The boys are set to go, it's been made clear to them what's expected of them and they are anxious to be done with it. Now we'll see what happens after. They aren't mouthy kids like I'm sure the staff are used to dealing with, so like AC said, maybe they'll make chummy with the teachers. Okay a mother can dream. Heh.

Picture time...again

Last year, no wait, the year before last, we bought Justin a bunch of K-NEX for Christmas. Since then we've bought a ton of expansion pieces for his set and other kits as well. He has a huge container full of this stuff and thankfully, he never seems to tire of it. He quite enjoyed himself when Mom was down because she was someone new he could build all his models for. He has built so many neat things and now that he has a motor, they usually have moving parts to them now. Here is one of his concoctions.


If you have a kid who loves to build stuff with lego, next step up would be this KNEX. It's been well worth the money we've spent.

Here's a picture of baby Daniel and his daddy.


I'm sure he was either getting lectured on politics or physics or maybe this was the night he got the play by play on his brother's and dad's Yu-Gi-Oh duel! Notice the remnants of the last of my Hickory Sticks from Canada in the waste bin. Boo Hoo Hoo! Glad I still have half a case of Chunky Kit Kat bars left.

We have pictures of Daniel's first bath that a nurse gave to him a few hours after he was born. He was NOT a happy camper to say the least. I think she roughed him around enough, flipping him this way and that way, using a little scrub brush/sponge thingie that it's no wonder he cried all the way through. Well his sponge baths at home weren't much better. I think I managed one, maybe two baths that he didn't screech through. I mean, it's actually a bit comical because he truly is only cold. You can watch him calm right down as each piece of clothing gets added, once dressed and wrapped, he's all okay again. =)

You can imagine when his circ ring and cord finally fell off, we were expecting the worse with his first "real bath" , but we were relieved to see that once he realized the water was warm and that we were keeping a warm face cloth over his belly, all was well with the world.


He actually spent the entire bath staring at the mirror. Cute.

Here's a shot of him in his MVP suit.


On the back of the outfit, on his little butt, it says MVP. Gotta luv baby clothes!!

These next three shots all go together. It's an illustration of a "cause and effect" sort of thing. We got a kick and play bouncer chair as a shower gift. It has annoying music, it lights up, has toys and last of all, but not least in Daniel's eyes, the seat of it vibrates. Of course all this stuff can be turned on separately or simultaneously. I don't use the "vibrator" function that often because I have a bit of a pet peeve with vibrating/swinging type contraptions for babies. I'd much rather be the soother for my infant than some vibrating plastic thing. (Ok I've said vibrator too many times in this paragraph, I'm starting to think kinky thoughts *grins*) Okay, so here's the thing...he FREAKING LOVES THE VIBRATOR. I swear it knocks him out in well UNDER five minutes. Watch and observe what happens to babies who play with these toys...

ON


OFF


ON AGAIN


God save me. *wink*

Hands are tied

Doug has made some calls back and forth with some school officials and unfortunately, it doesn't look like there's too much we can do to avoid having the boys attend the Alternative School. It's written in the district policy (which actually is a State wide policy) that any child that engages in conduct punishable as a felony SHALL be removed from class and placed in an alternative education program. The boys both know we don't want them to have to attend this school and that we did every thing we could to try to avoid it. I really hope, if anything, this helps them to realize that we, as the parents, have punished them, but what they did was serious enough it warrants punishment from outside the home. They are lucky charges weren't laid.

Doug had contacted Justin's school councilor (who worked quite closely with Justin last year and happens to be his bus driver too) to advise him about the trouble Justin had gotten himself into. He's pretty concerned about Justin going too, but isn't sure there is anything they can do. He phoned back after speaking with Justin's school principal and now both are requesting a meeting on Tuesday. It's probably to get his education plan up-to-date, we're not sure. I thought maybe they wanted to try to keep Justin from having to go. I don't think Cody would be too happy about having to go alone if Justin gets out of it. I wouldn't think it was a good idea for one to have to and not the other, but at the same time, both Doug and I are concerned about Justin being able to remain on the track team when he returns to school. Having Asberger's, Justin has benefited so much from cross country and track, that we'd hate to see him lose that on top of everything else.

We also finally got a letter from the principal at the Alternative School requesting an "intake" meeting on Friday morning. We're going to go and haul all four kids down there, should make for an interesting time. Maybe Daniel could pick that time to fill his diaper and stink up the man's office, he he....okay that was just plain immature. Sue me =P. Seriously though, I really wish discretion could be used in the boys case. I want them to see and acknowledge how we've already punished the boys and what all they have accomplished. Doug's step mom had a point when I discussed it with her. She said "the boys are accountable to you and Doug because of the money you paid out in damages on their behalf, but they are also accountable to the community and school for the damage they caused. Now whether Alternative school is the answer, I don't know". She has a point, but I can't help but worry about the effect of this school on them. The stigma they will face of having to return to their regular schools late and have every one know where they were will be horrible. Kids from that school really have a tough time when they return, from both students and teachers. Oh well, sigh, enough, there's nothing we can do now and well...when you boil it down, they should have known better than to break those windows in the first place and we can only hope they learn a lesson from this whole ordeal!

Your what?!

So, Doug takes the two youngest kids to the doctor's the other day for a check up. This had to be done for all three kids in order to switch pediatricians. Our previous pediatrician was set to retire in a few years and this new doctor came highly recommended by my OBGYN, so we wanted the switch. When they got back, I spoke with Doug about how the appointment went. He told me that both of them were pretty embarrassed about getting the "full" check. The doctor told the kids that he had to make sure all the parts were there. Doug said he tried to make it as comfortable for the kids as possible, but they both did some giggling and squirming and were pretty red faced about it anyway. The doctor told Doug that Sarah was in stage 2-3 of puberty (where 4 is when you start your period) and that she should come back in one year for a follow up. Cody doesn't need to be seen again for a few years.

During supper time that night, I asked the kids how their appointments went that day. Well I knew better than to ask (remembering how it was when Justin got his first physical), but I couldn't resist! They broke out into red faced giggles again and Sarah pipes out with "MOM HE HAD TO LOOK AT MY PUBERTY THANG". *laughs* I don't know about ya'll, but a puberty thang is new to me!

Splish Splash

Had a good visit with Doug's family yesterday. It was the baby's first long day trip out. He had a feeding and a poop at each grandparent's house and promptly went back to sleep. The kids got to swim for a bit, we had a good supper and even got to take the baby over to see Doug's grandmother. She hasn't been well at all and we didn't think we'd be able to go over, but Doug's Mom said grandmother was disappointed that she had told us not to go over, so we popped over on our way home for a minute. We got some pictures of her holding Daniel and a few with Doug and his mom too. His grandmother is 90 years old now! She can be pretty spunky at times. She got right after Doug's Mom for "hogging" the baby. Older people amaze me, they truly do! What a lifetime of wisdom and memories in their eyes.

This is day one of the bet between Doug and the kids. Mom had had a chat with all the kids about calling Doug "dad". We have always left that up to them, never pushed either way. Well, the other night during supper, out of the blue, Justin says "Grammie talked to us about calling you dad and I think I will". After a bit of conversation about it, they all decided they'd start calling him dad. Nothing more was said about it, but we noticed that they were still calling him Doug (we all know habits are hard to break).

They are all back to playing Yu-gi-Oh each night now. The kids are in their glory. So, Doug decided to have a little bet going. If the kids win a game, they get to pick 4 new cards to keep, but if Doug wins they have to call him "dad" for 24 hours. The kids were all pretty giggly last night during the matches. They all loss, of course. Every time they slip up and call him Doug, he says "who??!!". They giggle, blush and say "Dad, I mean". Comical.

I had a friend that I used to work with call me today. I haven't heard from her since back in March when she left for another job. She had received Daniel's birth announcement in the mail and had a gift for him she wanted to bring over. She got him two cute little outfits. Very nice of her to do that. He's already outgrown some of his newborn things so clothes are always welcome and crap, who can resist baby outfits?!

Daniel had his first real bath today! His cord fell off on Saturday. He's got a cute little belly button too, looks like an upside down "T" (of course his belly button could be hideous looking and I'd still think it's just adorable!). We braced ourselves for a screaming fit, but were pleasantly surprised to see that he actually quite enjoyed himself as long as I kept water pouring over him or a face cloth over his little chest. Once I pulled him out and started the process of drying and dressing though, he became the "not so happy little camper"! He just doesn't like to be cold! He's just like his mama!

As a side note, Mom arrived home in Nova Scotia 'tis afternoon. She had left Ft. Worth on Tuesday morning, 3400 kilometers later and 105.50 for gas, she's finally home safe and sound (and tired as hell)!

Sigh, ok he's big

For nine months I always said I want a "little" baby. Now that he's here, I want him to stay "little". Every time someone sees him they say "oooo my he's a big baby isn't he?". I say "NO NO NO NO he's LITTLE! AND he's staying LITTLE". Well we went to the doctor today for his 2 week check up.

At birth:
Weight: 8 lbs 2 oz
Length: 19.75 "

At 2 weeks, 2 days:
Weight: 9 lbs 6 oz
Length: 21"

Everyone sob with me. He's not LITTLE!! WEEEEP!