(and, the Easter dress that I stayed up until 4am making fit like a glove!)
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Hoppy Easter!
We had a great Easter at Mim and Papa's house! Great food, beautiful weather & a whole lot of kids to hunt eggs with!
(and, the Easter dress that I stayed up until 4am making fit like a glove!)
(and, the Easter dress that I stayed up until 4am making fit like a glove!)
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Draining....
(After saving Jeff from a full day of watching all three kids... with Ivey who decided to resist any attempt Jeff made to get her to take a bottle... )
Jeff decided to go out and cut grass. Asa ran after him. Let's flash back to earlier in the season when Jeff tried to crank up his lawn mower only to realize that his battery was dead. Now, Jeff went out with Asa to cut some grass and Asa jumped up on the mower. "I get out here EVERY MORNING and turn your key and pretend to drive your lawn mower!"
Guess Jeff needs to keep his key in another location.
Jeff decided to go out and cut grass. Asa ran after him. Let's flash back to earlier in the season when Jeff tried to crank up his lawn mower only to realize that his battery was dead. Now, Jeff went out with Asa to cut some grass and Asa jumped up on the mower. "I get out here EVERY MORNING and turn your key and pretend to drive your lawn mower!"
Guess Jeff needs to keep his key in another location.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Animal Control
I know it goes without saying, but our boys are quite different. They think differently, they play differently, they have different likes and dislikes. Lately, we have noticed that Asa is constantly asking for us to play with him. Sometimes, we do. But a lot of times adult life gets in the way... or we are just fed up with being told that we are playing with Legos the wrong way. Jeff attributed his requests with a lack of attention from us... but this weekend he decided that Asa's increase in needy-ness is attributed more to his brother's lack of interest than ours. Most of the time, Addison doesn't like to play with Asa. Asa will want to play with Legos or play house or make art projects or play outside... Addison isn't interested. Addison is interested in, well, the number one thing he is interested is electronics- t.v., video games, computer games. We keep a reign on his t.v. and game allowance, which leaves him playing with his army men or running around the house, hiding behind doors, shooting us with nerf guns. Or moping around looking bored. If Asa doesn't want to play Battleship, army, checkers or chess... then Addison would rather sit in a chair by himself than play Asa's games.
While I was at a photo shoot, Jeff worked to get the two playing together. He asked them if they wanted to take turns playing what the other wanted to play. Asa jumped at the idea. No dice. Addison said he would rather just not play. Finally, after a lot of coercing on Jeff's part, they agreed that Asa would play Battleship with Addison and then Addison would play 'house' aka 'kitty' with Asa (basically just any pretend play that allows him to be the kitty in a scenario).
The game of battleship was a frustrating one for Addison, who pays very close attention, marking each of his selections with a peg. Asa, who has a hard time paying attention to games like this... especially ones that he really has no interest in in the first place, kept forgetting to mark Addison's selection, or else he would misread the grids. When I came home from my photo session, Addison's ships were spread out across the board, untouched by red pegs. Asa's board was a different story. He had grouped all of his ships into the lower left corner of the board... and dropped hints to Addison as to their whereabouts. Needless to say, it was like shooting fish in a barrell.
After the game, Addison slumped to go play 'kitty'. After a while, I heard Asa whining, "I don't like the way you play kitty!" I looked in and saw Asa with a blue fuzzy scarf tied around his neck for a leash (because every kitty has a leash) and Addison had in his hand a Lego creation that looked something like the Y of a slingshot. Closer investigation revealed that Addison had made a Lego taser (not knowing that this invention had a name, he called it the electric shocker thing). Addison was using said taser on the unarmed kitty, who was lying helpless on the floor. Sporadically, Addison would have to wait for it to recharge, stating that the longer it charges the more shock the kitty would get.... leading to Asa's whines about the injustice and lack of quality in the 'play' that he was getting from Addison.
While I was at a photo shoot, Jeff worked to get the two playing together. He asked them if they wanted to take turns playing what the other wanted to play. Asa jumped at the idea. No dice. Addison said he would rather just not play. Finally, after a lot of coercing on Jeff's part, they agreed that Asa would play Battleship with Addison and then Addison would play 'house' aka 'kitty' with Asa (basically just any pretend play that allows him to be the kitty in a scenario).
The game of battleship was a frustrating one for Addison, who pays very close attention, marking each of his selections with a peg. Asa, who has a hard time paying attention to games like this... especially ones that he really has no interest in in the first place, kept forgetting to mark Addison's selection, or else he would misread the grids. When I came home from my photo session, Addison's ships were spread out across the board, untouched by red pegs. Asa's board was a different story. He had grouped all of his ships into the lower left corner of the board... and dropped hints to Addison as to their whereabouts. Needless to say, it was like shooting fish in a barrell.
After the game, Addison slumped to go play 'kitty'. After a while, I heard Asa whining, "I don't like the way you play kitty!" I looked in and saw Asa with a blue fuzzy scarf tied around his neck for a leash (because every kitty has a leash) and Addison had in his hand a Lego creation that looked something like the Y of a slingshot. Closer investigation revealed that Addison had made a Lego taser (not knowing that this invention had a name, he called it the electric shocker thing). Addison was using said taser on the unarmed kitty, who was lying helpless on the floor. Sporadically, Addison would have to wait for it to recharge, stating that the longer it charges the more shock the kitty would get.... leading to Asa's whines about the injustice and lack of quality in the 'play' that he was getting from Addison.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
The Things I Can Do
Over the past week, Ivey has been working hard! I guess it's the new tooth that has motivated her to be a big girl. A few days ago she started getting up on her knees. She's working those abs and prepping for a future take off.
As if that weren't enough, she also started sitting up this week! She can hold herself quite well!
As if that weren't enough, she also started sitting up this week! She can hold herself quite well!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Two of the reasons I can't vacuum...
For the past two weeks, if not more, Asa has been working on a train track masterpiece which takes up the majority of the floor in his room. He has created the above-ground system from his Geotracks, large Legos and TinkerToys. It is so impressive that it has won me over and has survived room cleanings. It's like the Wilbur of toy messes... with a little Charolette, uh, Asa, providing the appropriate pull on the heartstrings in order to save it from its demise over and over. Okay, so that was a little dramatic, and unlike Wilbur, this track is going to have to go at some point.
\
In the same respect, Addison has been constructing an elaborate army on the rug in the upstairs foyer. This has been going on for 6 weeks or more (ever since Jeff's coworker gave him 2 huge boxes of leftover figurines from when his buddy closed his Comic Book Shop). Every two weeks or so I have him clean it all up so I can vacuum... and then that afternoon the troops are redeployed. The regular army men have had to call on backup from the random nerdy comic book shop guys and the Star Wars cast. Just like his brother, Addison seems to enjoy the setup more than the actual "play".
In the same respect, Addison has been constructing an elaborate army on the rug in the upstairs foyer. This has been going on for 6 weeks or more (ever since Jeff's coworker gave him 2 huge boxes of leftover figurines from when his buddy closed his Comic Book Shop). Every two weeks or so I have him clean it all up so I can vacuum... and then that afternoon the troops are redeployed. The regular army men have had to call on backup from the random nerdy comic book shop guys and the Star Wars cast. Just like his brother, Addison seems to enjoy the setup more than the actual "play".
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Mom may be a bit eggcentric
So, today, frazzled after 2 days of rain and Jeff being out of town, I decided it would be a good idea to teach the boys how to do pysanky. I pulled out containers of materials that they didn't even know existed and learned that mommy did crafts that they had no idea about... that involved FIRE! I taught them the general idea, but it was so hard for them to grasp the fact that the dyes must be done in order of light to dark, and there is no "going back". They would assure me that they did not want yellow only because they were focusing on the part that they wanted to work on RIGHT THEN. In pysanky, you have to think ahead and work in pieces... first, put wax on the areas to be kept white, then dye it a light color, put wax on the places to be kept that color and dye it again, and so on... They did better than I expected! Drawing on an egg with a tiny kistka of wax that you heat over a candle isn't easy even for adults.
Friday, March 27, 2009
1st Tooth!
TGIF? Not really.
If I had known what my weekend would be like, I would have appreciated the week more. I found out yesterday that Jeff was going out of town today... to be gone until Sunday. My initial thought is always to head for the hills and go hang out with friends and parents, but t-ball pictures right in the middle of Saturday afternoon makes that pretty much impossible. So, I will be home on a very very rainy 3 day weekend (did I mention today was a teacher work day?).
The day was dragging on, we had exhausted our tolerance for the Imagination Movers, and the rain slowed to a medium drizzle. It's over 50 degrees out there, so I figured there was no real harm in sending the cooped up boys out for a good puddle-jump. I think it did us all a world of good!
The day was dragging on, we had exhausted our tolerance for the Imagination Movers, and the rain slowed to a medium drizzle. It's over 50 degrees out there, so I figured there was no real harm in sending the cooped up boys out for a good puddle-jump. I think it did us all a world of good!
Friday, March 20, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
To be read in the voice of the Rocky and Bullwinkle narrator: "This is a Stick Up" or "A Load of Bull"
We ate at our regular BBQ joint for dinner tonight. Kids eat free Monday through Wednesday, so that's where we usually end up after a long Tuesday of school, violin, t-ball, and handbells. Tonight, we met the Hannahs (Kaeden's et al.) and the Ordons. The adults talked and the kids talked loudly and made a mess with the ketchup. At one point, Addison looked up at the t.v., which was showing "Cops" on mute.
"Hey! That guy is stuck to the wall!" He yelled.
We looked up to see a man spread out with his hands up on the wall, being frisked.
"He's stuck to the wall and that police man is trying to help him get unstuck!"
~~
Earlier today, Asa was working on his Heart House and was singing the B.I.B.L.E.. The stopped and ran into the living room to tell me that "bible" is a compound word. I explained that it wasn't but he insisted.
"Bull is a word"!
"Yes, but "bi" isn't" I replied.
"umm... yes it is! When you BUY something!"
I guess maybe he should be singing the B.U.Y.B.U.L.L..
"Hey! That guy is stuck to the wall!" He yelled.
We looked up to see a man spread out with his hands up on the wall, being frisked.
"He's stuck to the wall and that police man is trying to help him get unstuck!"
~~
Earlier today, Asa was working on his Heart House and was singing the B.I.B.L.E.. The stopped and ran into the living room to tell me that "bible" is a compound word. I explained that it wasn't but he insisted.
"Bull is a word"!
"Yes, but "bi" isn't" I replied.
"umm... yes it is! When you BUY something!"
I guess maybe he should be singing the B.U.Y.B.U.L.L..
Monday, March 9, 2009
5 Months Old!
Friday, March 6, 2009
Open for Business
Last week, we had to buy a new hot water heater. It seems that if you buy a hot water heater, you get a huge fabulous cardboard box for FREE! Asa claimed this box and instantly hatched a plan to open a business in it. He decorated it with hearts, wrote Asa's Heart House on top, and went to work for them next week making as many paper hearts as he could. He hired Addison for temporary help, who traded 3 hours of helping make hearts for 3 hours of playing army. There were big hearts, medium hearts, little hearts and skinny hearts, as well as various cards (which happen to already to addressed to and from people, so I think it limits his sales a little).
I remember roaming around my grandparents' house digging up weeds and plants and potting them into plastic containers and having a plant sale. I sold plants from my grandmother's yard in pots that I confiscated from her porch back to her. What a deal. I know Asa, like I, has grand plans of making big bucks off of his business.
I won't tell him that dreams of making it rich are no longer acceptable in our country. To make a large profit has been demonized. Perhaps I should explain to him that he needs to aspire to make just enough money to be live comfortably while giving a large portion of his money to his brother, who is sitting on the couch watching Scooby Doo... to make it fair and all. Maybe if Asa didn't have to pay such high business taxes he could hire more heart makers... ya think?
Letting him on to the recent shift would only do two things:
1. make Asa realize that aspiring to make it big isn't worth the negative views of others and higher tax burden and
2. make Addison realize that he can keep on sitting there with his personalized TiVo menu.
Instead, I will just continue on supporting the fresh hope for the American dream and hope that by the time my son is a successful Greeting Card manufacturer this wealth envy socialist ideology will come to an end long before he has to see it. Or, he could always move his Heart House to Ireland.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
The Evolution of Birthdays
I have heard a few times today, "Happy Birthday! What are you going to do today?". Each time I gave the same answer... dentist appointment, grocery store, pick up the boys from school, go to violin practice, handbell practice, and then probably go to our usual "kids eat free on Tuesdays" BBQ place. Last night I got very little sleep because Ivey screamed like crazy. I thought she was hungry, no... I got her back to sleep a few times... and it wasn't until 7:00am that I realized the poor girl had pooped (which she NEVER does at night) and it was particularly acidic and gave her an instant horrible rash. In between my various domestic duties today will be a all out diaper rash assault including baking soda soaks, diaper changes on the hour, etc. I will be cleaning my house, which looks particularly rough after 2 days of being snowed in. (Speaking of the snow, I did not leave the house yesterday, which meant that my van was buried under a ton of snow. I mentioned to the boys that I needed to go out and get it off before we can leave for school and Asa informed me that he tried to do just that yesterday... with a shovel... a full sized shovel... an old heavy rusty one with a wooden handle. Luckily, he couldn't get all the way through the snow and only left two large scratches across the hood... it could have been much worse!)
In the old days, birthdays meant a nice dinner, a night out, maybe even a party. These days, parties are left for Thomas the Train cakes or Nemo napkins or a monkey piñata hanging from a tree. I would like to have a little break to celebrate, but it is just not the year for it. Instead, I will think ahead 25 years to a birthday where going to dinner alone with Jeff is commonplace and I beg my very busy children to come along and fill the table with 90 decibles of chatter. This birthday, I get 90 decibles without even asking... to top it off it comes with a baby to hold, a game of Transformer Chess to play, a yard full of snow, and a little boy who would love my help cutting a cardboard box with a butter knife.
In the old days, birthdays meant a nice dinner, a night out, maybe even a party. These days, parties are left for Thomas the Train cakes or Nemo napkins or a monkey piñata hanging from a tree. I would like to have a little break to celebrate, but it is just not the year for it. Instead, I will think ahead 25 years to a birthday where going to dinner alone with Jeff is commonplace and I beg my very busy children to come along and fill the table with 90 decibles of chatter. This birthday, I get 90 decibles without even asking... to top it off it comes with a baby to hold, a game of Transformer Chess to play, a yard full of snow, and a little boy who would love my help cutting a cardboard box with a butter knife.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Just Like Daddy... Foot in Mouth
Ivey has found her feet! She doesn't even try to get them until they are all exposed and then she is perfectly content working to grab the wiggly things! She also LOVES bath time. We took a video tonight or her kicking like crazy in the water. It's like she is the agitator in the center of the washing machine. I'll have to post it when I have the energy!
I am not quite sure how I'm going to manage this, but in the Spring, Addison will be playing tee-ball, Asa will be in Karate, they will both still be in violin, and Ivey will be... well... eating every few hours. I am hoping to be able to locate some sort of teleportation device before all of these activities commence.
I am not quite sure how I'm going to manage this, but in the Spring, Addison will be playing tee-ball, Asa will be in Karate, they will both still be in violin, and Ivey will be... well... eating every few hours. I am hoping to be able to locate some sort of teleportation device before all of these activities commence.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Friends and Family
Ellen and I share a lot of things... we have similar recipes, similar tastes, similar child-rearing ideals, and similar roots. Although these connections are apparent in many ways, there is no better visual evidence of this than by the paintings that hang on our walls. You see, my grandmother and her grandmother were very much alike. The two of them enjoyed art, taking painting classes together. I remember walking through her grandparents' house at my bridal shower. I was shocked to see a painting, a still life, of a basket of fruit, tea kettle, and a picture of a cat. I was completely taken aback... this was the picture that my grandmother painted forever ago. The angle, perspective and style differed, but this was the same picture as the one that I have looked at since I was a baby, hanging on my grandparents' wall. Now, it hangs on my wall, as Ellen's hangs on the wall in her home.
Ivey and Anna wake up and look around their room at the same still life... and hear the same stories of their grandmothers who painted them. MamaNet's paintings are so very special to me, but so is the memories and connections that they remind me of every time I look at them.
Ivey and Anna wake up and look around their room at the same still life... and hear the same stories of their grandmothers who painted them. MamaNet's paintings are so very special to me, but so is the memories and connections that they remind me of every time I look at them.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Fun With Numbers
While driving the boys home from a trip to visit Anna and Bennett, Addison piped up and asked me, "Mom, what comes after a brock?"
"A what?" I asked.
"A brock. What comes after a brock?" he repeated.
"I have no idea what you are talking about."
"A BROCK. It's a number. What's after it?" He was getting aggravated.
"Addison, I have no earthly idea what comes after a brock because I have no idea what one is." I explained.
"Daddy says it's a number."
At this point, I decided to call Jeff and get to the bottom of this mystery.
After laying out the situation, Jeff erupted into laughter.
It seems that over a week ago, Addison was in one of his very talkative moods. He was asking tons of questions, and Jeff was getting exasperated. at the end of Addison's tirade of verbiage, he was inquiring about numbers. He asked, "What's bigger than hundreds?" Jeff answered with "thousands". Then, Addison wanted to know what was bigger than thousands. "Millions" Jeff answered. Addison wouldn't stop. "What's bigger than millions?" "Billions" Jeff replied. At this point, Jeff was done talking. "What's bigger than billions?" Addison continued. "Barack". Jeff didn't expect Addison to recall this conversation, nor did he expect the boy to believe him.
Now Addison wanted to know what comes after "a Barack".
A depression?
"A what?" I asked.
"A brock. What comes after a brock?" he repeated.
"I have no idea what you are talking about."
"A BROCK. It's a number. What's after it?" He was getting aggravated.
"Addison, I have no earthly idea what comes after a brock because I have no idea what one is." I explained.
"Daddy says it's a number."
At this point, I decided to call Jeff and get to the bottom of this mystery.
After laying out the situation, Jeff erupted into laughter.
It seems that over a week ago, Addison was in one of his very talkative moods. He was asking tons of questions, and Jeff was getting exasperated. at the end of Addison's tirade of verbiage, he was inquiring about numbers. He asked, "What's bigger than hundreds?" Jeff answered with "thousands". Then, Addison wanted to know what was bigger than thousands. "Millions" Jeff answered. Addison wouldn't stop. "What's bigger than millions?" "Billions" Jeff replied. At this point, Jeff was done talking. "What's bigger than billions?" Addison continued. "Barack". Jeff didn't expect Addison to recall this conversation, nor did he expect the boy to believe him.
Now Addison wanted to know what comes after "a Barack".
A depression?
Monday, February 9, 2009
Addison's Video Game Reviews
Anyone who knows him knows that Addison. loves. to. talk. He especially loves to talk about Star Wars and video games. If you can get a video game ABOUT Star Wars, then hold on to your ears, you are in for a treat. I have tried to explain the the poor kid that Mommy is just not interested in Star Wars or video game dialogue. I cannot help him figure out the character's middle name who was in the background of some scene in episode III, nor can I sing the background music that was going on during a totally non-essential random scene. But, you know what? There are people out there who do talk about, ask and know such things. For them, I give them "Addison's Video Game Reviews".
Friday, February 6, 2009
A Mother's Night
I am up late tonight to finish up some sewing. It is very late and every busy little body is snug in bed. Jeff, as usual, has dozed off in the middle of a really good show and will probably remain there all night. I am in the dining room, fabric strewn on the backs of chairs and the soft glow of the machine. I am ironing straps and the smell reminds me of my grandmother's house. I have ironed many straps and this was the first time this memory came to mind. I remember her calling me to her sewing room to try on a freshly ironed dress, or shirt, or pair of pants. I keep ironing.
I am listening to the Grateful Dead, singing along to ripple. Then, it shuffles to Janis Joplin's version of Summertime. I realize that, although I am tired, I am enjoying this time. I think of my mother. Here I am in the middle of the night, all alone in a house full of sleeping children, sewing and listening to music. My feet are cold from standing on the hardwood floors of an old house, no subfloor, no insulation. Although I have no memory of it myself, I know for a fact that my mother played this exact role in this exact scene years ago, with Hal and I dreaming in our beds. This thought makes me smile. Then I notice the pin cushion. Her pin cushion. If it could, I bet it would enjoy nights like this as much as I do.
I am listening to the Grateful Dead, singing along to ripple. Then, it shuffles to Janis Joplin's version of Summertime. I realize that, although I am tired, I am enjoying this time. I think of my mother. Here I am in the middle of the night, all alone in a house full of sleeping children, sewing and listening to music. My feet are cold from standing on the hardwood floors of an old house, no subfloor, no insulation. Although I have no memory of it myself, I know for a fact that my mother played this exact role in this exact scene years ago, with Hal and I dreaming in our beds. This thought makes me smile. Then I notice the pin cushion. Her pin cushion. If it could, I bet it would enjoy nights like this as much as I do.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Stress Relief.
Jeff didn't come home from work today. In his place was a big ball of stress in a Jeff suit. Work had him all keyed up and nothing was able to make him relax. Although I had a lot to do once the kids went to bed, I sat on the couch beside him and watched some TV. As we watched some fairly entertaining and definitely mindless show, we heard the boys upstairs. They went to bed an hour ago, yet we heard them banging around and talking. At one point they went to get a cup of water from the bathroom. I was worried it was for some creative and/or sinister purpose, but Jeff assured me it was probably for consumption purposes only. Either he believed that or he really didn't want to get off the couch.
A while later, I heard little footsteps on the stairs. We paused the TV and asked who was there. As soon as he heard that the tones of our voices were safe, he sped up to a chipper sprint into the living room. He stood there with a big grin on his face. His zip-up one piece footy pajamas were stuffed full of blankets. He looked hilarious. Jeff and I lost it. We laughed until tears fell from our eyes and our sides literally hurt. He had stuffed two blankets into size 5T pajamas. Instead of being all in the front, he did an excellent job of distributing the bulk all around. He didn't look like a kid with a pillow under his shirt. He looked obese. He looked... hilarious.
Once we pulled it together, we made him do a turn so we could check out all angles of his handy-work and sent him back to bed.
Much needed comic relief.
It came at a good time since just a few hours earlier he got in serious trouble, complete with a spankin' from Daddy, for pushing his brother's head under the bathwater. No joke. I know I've said it before, but I don't know how boys survive to ever become men.
From an attempted drowning and major discipline session to an oomp-loompa kid with two blankets in his pj's in 2.5 hours. That's parenthood for ya.
A while later, I heard little footsteps on the stairs. We paused the TV and asked who was there. As soon as he heard that the tones of our voices were safe, he sped up to a chipper sprint into the living room. He stood there with a big grin on his face. His zip-up one piece footy pajamas were stuffed full of blankets. He looked hilarious. Jeff and I lost it. We laughed until tears fell from our eyes and our sides literally hurt. He had stuffed two blankets into size 5T pajamas. Instead of being all in the front, he did an excellent job of distributing the bulk all around. He didn't look like a kid with a pillow under his shirt. He looked obese. He looked... hilarious.
Once we pulled it together, we made him do a turn so we could check out all angles of his handy-work and sent him back to bed.
Much needed comic relief.
It came at a good time since just a few hours earlier he got in serious trouble, complete with a spankin' from Daddy, for pushing his brother's head under the bathwater. No joke. I know I've said it before, but I don't know how boys survive to ever become men.
From an attempted drowning and major discipline session to an oomp-loompa kid with two blankets in his pj's in 2.5 hours. That's parenthood for ya.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Baby It's Cold Outside.
The weather has been just ridiculous. It was 19 degrees this morning. 19 degrees. Don't we live in Georgia? I am ready for Spring.
Needless to say, we've stayed indoors today. I didn't want to venture out to the grocery store or run errands. Instead, we just hung out at home and did our favorite things...
Asa grabbed his Thomas the Train carrier and put it on the table. He asked for the large tablet of paper and his markers. He sat forever, drawing every detail. I was unaware of exactly what he was drawing until he was finished. I was very impressed. My little artist. (He says he likes it when people call him that.) I taught him the term "still life".
Addison was able to play Nintendo today. He played his Star Wars Lego game and the Blast Works game that Hal gave him for Christmas. I allowed him to be lost in his video game world and he was very thankful. I bet he'll want it to be miserably cold more often.
Ivey and I played her favorite game of me looking down at her and touching her face with my hair. She kicked her legs and squealed, looking up at my head to tell me to do it again. Soon enough, she will just say "More, Mommy!" But, for now, she says it clear enough with her eyes and hyper little legs.
Needless to say, we've stayed indoors today. I didn't want to venture out to the grocery store or run errands. Instead, we just hung out at home and did our favorite things...
Asa grabbed his Thomas the Train carrier and put it on the table. He asked for the large tablet of paper and his markers. He sat forever, drawing every detail. I was unaware of exactly what he was drawing until he was finished. I was very impressed. My little artist. (He says he likes it when people call him that.) I taught him the term "still life".
Addison was able to play Nintendo today. He played his Star Wars Lego game and the Blast Works game that Hal gave him for Christmas. I allowed him to be lost in his video game world and he was very thankful. I bet he'll want it to be miserably cold more often.
Ivey and I played her favorite game of me looking down at her and touching her face with my hair. She kicked her legs and squealed, looking up at my head to tell me to do it again. Soon enough, she will just say "More, Mommy!" But, for now, she says it clear enough with her eyes and hyper little legs.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Applications Elsewhere...
Asa spends a whole lot of time upstairs playing with his Legos... I mean a WHOLE lot of time. (Enough time that his Grandparents would all stop commenting on how they have too many Legos if they only could see the enormous benefits of said activities on, say, me, but I digress...)
He builds houses, spaceships, aliens, various cars and contraptions, some which have been mentioned in this blog in the past. Well, recently he has brought back out the "big legos" and made a monster of a house. Yesterday, he came running down the stairs and informed me that he was creating the notes to his Suzuki violin song "Lightly Row". He didn't quite get finished, but he has most of the song standing up on his Lego table. I promised him I would take a picture of it to show to Ms. Becca, so here it is...
He has three rows....
E22311A123EEE
E2223111A2EE
222
Lightly Row has been conquered, so "Song of the Wind", here we come!
(Ha! I just noticed Addison's toes on the ladder.)
He builds houses, spaceships, aliens, various cars and contraptions, some which have been mentioned in this blog in the past. Well, recently he has brought back out the "big legos" and made a monster of a house. Yesterday, he came running down the stairs and informed me that he was creating the notes to his Suzuki violin song "Lightly Row". He didn't quite get finished, but he has most of the song standing up on his Lego table. I promised him I would take a picture of it to show to Ms. Becca, so here it is...
He has three rows....
E22311A123EEE
E2223111A2EE
222
Lightly Row has been conquered, so "Song of the Wind", here we come!
(Ha! I just noticed Addison's toes on the ladder.)
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Joe Cool
Friday, January 23, 2009
Who's That Girl?
As the last three months have gone by, I have realized that although exclusive nursing has had many many perks, it's downfall is the inability for anyone else to spend a lot of quality Ivey-time. This has created, well, a bit of a monster. A cute monster, but a monster never-the-less. Ivey is a funny little creature whom I have gotten to know very well. But, as time passes it occurs to me that I may actually want to be away from her for more than two hours at some point in the first year of her life. So far, she tends to accept new people fairly poorly. I take that back, she accepts them fine, as long as they don't actually mess with her! Most of the time, unless she is well rested and has a full tummy, she bursts in to tears if anyone other than her immediate family looks into those beautiful blue eyes. We shall work on this... But, until we are successfully independent from Mommy (aka the milk machine), I will provide you with a run down of what I have learned about this funny little girl.
Ivey loves mornings. We are very blessed to wake up on a regular basis to wide grins and kicking legs. She adores mornings, which makes me able to tolerate mornings a little better myself. She loves to be held, but only if she can see over your shoulder. Sure, it's nice to be toted from place to place, but isn't life a journey rather than a destination? A car without windows is no fun... she'd rather hang out the window like a golden retriever with its tongue flapping in the wind (or licking your shirt as the case may be). She enjoys lots of personal attention, but really likes it if she is laying down, in the crook of your leg, in her bouncy seat, or in a swing. I really think she likes her independence. I swear this girl is just dying to sit, crawl, stand, etc all on her own. She makes a very impressive attempt at sitting up from a reclined position, like she's working on her abs of steel.
She stays perfectly happy watching her mobile (the best mobile on Earth... the boys adored it also) long enough for me to bathe, put on make-up, fix my hair... the whole 9 yards. If she's not watching her mobile while I bathe, she's n the bathroom sitting in her bouncy seat with some toys... and I swear she gets cracked up when bathtime is over and she sees a big tall person stand up out of a very tiny tub. She smiles every time.
During the day she loves her swing, where she has taken more than a few naps in her day. Recently, she sat for over an hour and watched me dismantle our ice maker and replace the motor... which must have been fairly entertaining but never actually resulted in ice. When I do dishes, she sits in the swing or her bouncy seat and plays with various toys, or watches her brothers act like crazed monkeys all around her.
Ivey is utterly smitten with me (or should I say "udderly"), but she also has a particular fondness for and tolerance of Asa and Addison. I guess we are the three people who spend all day long with her. She will watch them both and follow them around the room with her eyes. Either she is highly entertained by them, or she already knows that she'd better keep a close eye on them.
Sleepiness is pretty easy to read, with its tell-tale eye rubbing and fussiness, but hunger is a little tougher. She sucks on her hands constantly, far preferring them to her pacifier. I've never had a thumb-sucker, but I think we just may this time. When she's going to sleep, she usually spits out the paci and comforts herself with her hands. At least she can't lose them. (I've found that she'd more likely to take the paci if you hold it back and show it to her first, putting it to her mouth slowly... who knows, maybe this way she thinks the whole thing was her idea!) If she's tired, she'll usually fight sleep for a little while before giving in. But, you can tell if the cry is a winding-down-losing-the-fight cry or a totally-furious-for-being-in-this-bed angry cry. That last cry isn't gonna lead to anything but ringing ears and a soaked mattress from when she gets herself so upset she pukes. The other cry will usually fade pretty quickly. Lately, she has stopped fighting it so much and actually has seemed relieved when she is put down. I hope that becomes a trend! When she eats, she has started to make it play-time, with lots of poking her head around my shirt and grinning. This totally cracks Asa and Addison up, which I'm sure eggs her on. I also can't help but smile back when I see that cute little grin and that very-proud-of-herself look on her face.
At the moment, Ivey's favorite toys include:
-musical flowers with crinkly petals that she loves to touch and make noises with
- a little yellow duck that is supposed to hang from her carseat but she prefers grabbing and pulling its little beak into her mouth, leading to the often repeated joke, "Look, we're having chicken for dinner but Ivey's having duck!"
-Her "wubanub", which is actually a paci which is sewn to a purple stuffed frog
-What I call the "atomic duck", which is a common yellow duckie with colored rubber hose things coming out of it and looping back into it... it looks like some kind of model atom... very bizarre, but fun to chew on. Addison called the thing "gross".
When Ivey's upset, you cannot look at her in the face. It will only escalate things to a whole new level of loud. My suggestion, either put her in a swing with some music or put her high on your shoulder and walk around to rooms with impressive light fixtures or fans if you got 'em. Walking outside may help. Honestly, when she totally spirals, I am able to magically reboot her system with a nursing session... no help to anyone else. Oh, and if you are holding her, don't try to yell to someone across the room. She startles pretty easy and then you have to convince her that something isn't seriously threatening her life. Believe me, it's happened more than once. I don't remember if the boys did this, but she gets very scared at times.
She usually gets a kick out of lying on the bed with me standing over her, waving my hair back and forth lower and lower until it touches her face. She anticipates it and gets so excited. Biiig thrills. If I don't do it she unlocks her gaze with my eyes and stares right at my head. Ivey's just gotten to the point where she laughs at peek-a-boo. Not when I cover her eyes, but when I hide behind my hands and pop out. She can anticipate it now and, when she's in the right mood, she finds it pretty hilarious. Another thing that is sure to get smiles... a loud, exaggerated kissy noise. She loves stripping down for a diaper change, kicking around with no diaper on, and she absolutely adores baths. She isn't a long napper, but she is completely exhausted by 9:30 at night and will sleep soundly all night long. Once she's out for the night, she's out until at least 6:00. Her belly may wake her up at 6 or 7am, but we both lay down, she nurses, and we both fall right back to sleep. I get up and leave her there... and she usually is fast asleep until 8:30 or 9:00. That's my girl.
Now, this description might paint a pretty clear picture of Miss Ivey, but in actual practice, to give her to another human is pretty likely to result in an explosion of quivery mouths and a very loud, chipmunk like cry. We'll start small, with Daddy keeping the three kids for a few hours on Sunday while I go to a photo shoot. Hopefully, we can convince our little darling to chill out before the grandparents, and all others who can't wait to get their hands on her, lose their rose-colored confidence in keeping her... so we might be able to make it out for a few hours!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Lookin' Out My Backdoor
Years ago, Asa and Addison collected sticks and rocks and other various yard trash and created "The Beaver Dam". This was a big pile of junk right in the back yard between the cedar trees, where no grass grows. They have played at "The Beaver Dam" ever since. Over time, the name has been less associated with the pile of sticks (which has been removed and re-removed over the years) and more associated with that particular spot.
So, on this very cold day, Asa and Addison bundled up to go play at the Beaver Dam. I have no idea what they are making or digging up or burying, but it sure looks like fun.
And it just so happens that the Crepe Myrtles right behind it offer a great vantage point for Addison to grab one of his various dart guns and stake out the scene.
Friday, January 16, 2009
An "Any Day"
I have been asked "how do you do it". For those with a bunch of kids, they know. For the rest, here is a description of my day today/week. For better or worse, this is how I do it.
It's about 7:45 or so. Still asleep, I hear the sounds of Addison playing his Leapster in the living room and Asa attempting to pour cereal... sounds like flakes of some kind... maybe Raisin Bran? It sounds like he is pouring too much but I'm very tired and the risk of wasting some cereal does not outweigh the benefit of an extra 15 or so minutes of sleep. It's a teacher work day of some flavor... so there's no need to actually get up. Had it been an actual school day I would have still laid there for another 15-20 minutes anyway, nursed a baby, polished the boys' cereal attempt, threw some clothes down the stairs for them, packed fairly healthy fairly appealing lunches, put shoes on over my fuzzy house socks, packed Ivey in her carrier, made sure homework was in the bookbags and made it out the door in about 35 minutes... enough time to get the boys to the church/school right down the road by 9:00am. But, today was not a school day. I let myself fall back into my semi-conscious sleep state... the only sleep state I've had since giving birth five and a half years ago. I swear I know the goings on of everything in every room of the house in my sleep.
I have Ivey in the cosleeper beside the bed. At around 8:15 I hear her stirring and I roll her out of her bed and into mine. I nurse her while lying on my side. She eats, I sleep. I wake up and she is finished eating and asleep beside me. I roll her onto my tummy and burp her... keeping me still in a lying/sleeping position. Ahh... every minute counts.
I finally emerge from the bed and change Ivey. Sure enough, Asa has poured too much cereal, not Raisin Bran but Cranberry Almond Crunch. For the most part, they like to eat their cereal dry. Asa spots me and acts as if he has poured the bowl for me... "Do you want some, Mom?" Sure. Bonus. But, I never actually eat it.
I change Ivey's diaper and explain to the boys that there is no school today. It is absolutely freezing outside, 25 I think, and the house is cold. I check the thermostat... 59. I turn on the heater in the dining room and the oven, cracking it to at least help the kitchen get warm. I put Ivey in her seat with some toys and make a caramel cappuccino. Ahhh... my espresso machine. The best darn appliance in my kitchen. I see from the kitchen that Asa and Addison are playing a very loud game of chess in the living room floor. It seems they had made a deal. Addison played a pretend game of "kitty" (where they pretend to be cats and do various cat things... like climb trees and meow and have kitten under the table) in order for Asa to then play chess with Addison. Asa must be trying to bow out half way through the game. By this point I am checking my email as I listen. I yell for them to work it out nicely, which they do.
I get the diapers out of the dryer, stuff the inserts as needed and lay them out into nice neat little stacks. Then, I rotate the laundry. Asa and Addison help me by going upstairs and throwing down all the clothes from the hamper, then transporting them to the utility room (or "tizzity" room as they say it. Makes it sound hip-hop. Meet me in the tizz-ity room. I chuckle to myself at the sound of it). After the laundry session, they ask me if they can help some more. I had just taught them how to load the dishwasher with dirty dishes, so I thought I would let them put the clean ones away. Their eyes lit up at the idea. They took turns standing on the counter while the other handed them the dishes. Honestly, what's the worst that could happen. A broken dish or two... maybe a fall off the counter. Both of those have happened before and we lived through it just fine. Unless someone broke a dish and hit a jugular, I think they'll be fine. I fold laundry on my bed as I listen to the progress in the kitchen. Ivey is on the bed with me watching the fan.
In a little while, I hear a loud crash. It wasn't all that loud, but it was definitely an incident of some type. I came in and Asa was extremely upset. Shaking. I looked around and nothing seemed broken, no blood. Asa had fallen off of the counter and landed in the dishwasher, on some plates and whatnot. He wasn't hurt, but he was so shaken up about the whole thing that he was sobbing and apologizing over and over. I gave him a big hug and told him it was fine and he continued. He kept on and on about how sorry he was and how he was in big trouble. It scared him and it took me a long time to convince him that I wasn't angry in the least. Eventually, Addison had something cool to look at and Asa moved on.
I ran around the house doing various chores and then it was time to feed Ivey. Every. Three. Hours. After that, I started the Pink Panther that I had Tivo'd and took Ivey into the bathroom and put her in her bouncy seat while I took a shower. Okay, so we don't have an actual shower yet, but I took my sitting-pseudo-shower that I do in our little tub. Believe it or not, I got in and out of the "shower" in enough time to put MAKE UP on and actually fix my hair before the Pink Panther ended. I packed a diaper bag, got everyone dressed and we went off to run errands in the 30 degree weather.
I told Asa and Addison that we had some errands to run but if they were good for me we could go to Chick-fil-A and play on the playground for lunch. Well, it was lunch time, so we hit it first. Turns out, it was "receipt day" where you keep today's receipt and get the entire meal free if you bring the receipt in before the end of February. Sweet. We eat and then the boys play while I feed Ivey. I talk to a grad student who is watching her niece and nephew for her single-mom sister who has a doctor's appointment. I have a nice conversation about public health and then I give the boys the five minute warning. I learned early on that as long as I let them know how much longer they had before we needed to leave, they wouldn't be upset about having to go. So, I give the arbitrary 5 minute, 3 minute, 1 minute countdown. They took their socks off even though they know they aren't supposed to. I know it is because they were climbing up the slide, think about how I would want to take mine off too if I were climbing up a slide, and say nothing to them about it. Socks, shoes, refills on drinks and then out the door.
Next stop, Old Navy. They were having a huge online sale and I bought some things for the kids and myself. For some reason, I went temporarily insane and ordered a pair of pants that wouldn't even go past my thighs. The boys brought their Leapsters into the store and played them while I made my return. Then, I walked them back so I could shop the extra 50% off already reduced clearance items sale. I let them sit behind some clothes and play Leapster while I shopped... moving them to a different display as I moved isle to isle. I grinned as people walked by them, not noticing the feet sticking out of the line of coats.
After Old Navy we went to the mall, yes, the mall. I forgot my stroller and Ivey was asleep, so I need to carry that heavy carrier into the mall. Ahh wait. I am returning a 5x8 rug to JCPenney. What to do, what to do. After a few minutes of pondering, I asked the boys for help. I carried Ivey in her carrier and the diaper bag while the boys grabbed each end of the rolled up rug. The four of us, rug in tow, made our way to the door. We must have looked hilarious because the man coming out laughed pretty hard. We returned the rug and then went shopping around for a present for Cameron's birthday party. Again, I had no stroller so I had to carry Ivey through the mall. Asa wanted to go on an escalator, so we hit the one in JCPenney. Addison was a bit nervous. He has had a couple uneasy episodes with escalators recently. Once, we were at the top of a big one and all stepped on. After a few feet I realized Addison had chicken out and was still at the top. I tried to fly back up but to no avail. I would have tried harder but didn't want to leave Asa standing at the bottom... what to do! I ended up having to ride to the bottom, keeping an eye on him the whole time and then Asa and I rode back up the other one to go get him. Another time, Addison somehow slipped and busted his lip. It sounds more exciting than it was, but he blames the escalator anyway.
We end up walking the entire length of the mall, finding nothing for Cameron. I have to stop very often to switch arms for the baby carrier. Too heavy for such a walk. We make our way back through JCPenney, pick up my curtains from the catalogue desk and Asa manages to carry them for me to the van. As we load it into the car I realize that I need to change Ivey's diaper. I make up a song, as if sung by Ivey herself, about her poopy diaper. They erupt in laughter. I continue with my hilarity only to push Asa over the edge. He laughed so hard that he wet himself. Mom just can't help it. She just had to whoop out the funny. I had no extra clothes but came up with a temporary solution. Then, Addison says that he has to pee. He didn't tell us this when we were in the mall, no. He waited until he made it all the way to the car and strapped in. I was about to sacrifice his leftover lemonade in order to use his cup but Asa volunteered his. I hold the cup as Addison goes... um... in the cup, IN the CUP, IN THE CUPPPPPP!! For some reason, Addison was having some control issues. So, my hand, his shoes, and everything in a 12-18" radius got sprayed. I took a deep breath, mumbled something to myself and wiped everything off. I have other errands to run, but we decide to go home, exhausted.
Once home, Asa and Addison swing each other around the foyer floor with a jumprope while I, you guessed it, feed Ivey. I then answer emails that should have been answered days ago, think about filling Ellen and Bethany's picture orders, and then decide to procrastinate on that because they are my friends and they will understand. I put up a bunch of items on Ebay, called and booked the restaurant for Jen's bridal shower, looked up fabrics for Kierstin's baby carrier, and confirmed dates for two photo shoots. I'm sure I called mom about six times because, well, I always call mom about six times. Then, Asa and Addison show me their fabulous Lego house they made... two story with tables and chairs and a train running right through the middle. Make a mental note about how brilliant my children are.
I ask the boys to help me install roman shades, curtains and valances in the living room. Asa feeds the valances onto rods as I pre-drill the holes. Then, Addison helps him make a "cave" in the corner of the room using all of the boxes and packaging that I have discarded, along with all the Lincoln Logs, the window sill and a throw blanket. Because of this "cave", I was only able to hang two roman shades. I was able to complete one of the window treatments, another window has the shade hung, and the support system for the cave was left untouched.
Fed Ivey.
Jeff came home at 7:30 and I was fixing dinner. I buzzed around him as he visibly struggled to stop the conversations in his head. His blank gaze and motionless stance made me feel like I was on fast forward around him. I would ask for him to hand me things out of the refrigerator, asking two more times in different pitches until one cracks through. He hands me what I need, on auto-pilot. Realizing that he was not actually home from work, I called for Asa and Addison to pitch in setting the table. The three of them managed quite well, although sometimes Jeff would get lost between the fridge and the table by stopping to either check his Facebook account or play air-piano. Eventually, dinner was finished and mostly ready to eat. I stand by the table as we say blessing so that everyone else can go ahead and eat while I keep working. I quickly make tea, pour milk for the kids and bring Ivey's mobile into the dining room so she can watch it while we eat. I sit. Wait. Napkins. Okay... I sit again. Wow. I just realize that I have eaten two whole meals today. That may be this week's record.
As we eat, I realize it is way later than it should be. We get up from dinner and head straight up stairs. I nurse Ivey and try to get her in bed while Jeff brushes the boys' teeth and gets them into PJ's. Asa comes into Ivey's room and gets his hugs and kisses. Addison comes in and decides that he can wait until I am finished and I come into his room to get them. About fifteen minutes later, still nursing, I head Addison call from his room. "Mommmmmmmmy". I say nothing. Then again, "Mommmmmmmy". He continues this at 17 second intervals for a solid 8 minutes. Now, he will come all the way down the stairs when he should be in bed just to ask me who the president of China is, but tonight, he lays there and yells my name. Not responding, I realize that dinner is no doubt still on the table. At this point, I start to feel overwhelmed and tired. All the plates and food and butter and tea and pots and just down there waiting for me. I welled up to cry but then Addison altered the pitch of his voice with his "Mommmmmmy" and it made me laugh a little.
I lay Ivey down and she cries. I go tuck Addison in, which is all he wants. Then, I go back to Ivey. Eventually, I get her settled down and head downstairs to confirm my speculation on dinner. No fairies here.
I quickly move into hyper-mode and clean up. Jeff must feel guilty as he types his email because he got up to help. Then, I continue at the same speed through more laundry and a quick clean up of each room. I have piles and piles of folded laundry that I still need to put away. It is almost 1am. Really, I might as well stay up and get it done because my little Ivey doesn't nap for any length of time during the day.
Unlike a lot of weeks, this week has been particularly productive. I think the lack of organization around here is getting to me.
On Monday, I put shelves in the space about the fridge, organized the crafts that were thrown up there and then Asa and I made curtains and hung them in the front. I also installed a shelf at the top of the upstairs closet and covered the back of the empty panes in our Butler's pantry, hiding all of my crap that has been out for the world to see. Oh yeah, and I painted the window trim in the living room.
On Wednesday, I took the boys to school and immediately went to work taking everything, I mean EVERYTHING out of the "tizzity room". Once it was empty, I took down the broken light and measured the 8' x 15" strip of missing ceiling. I found a piece of thin plywood in the shop and ripped it on the table saw. I found the jigsaw and cut out a hole for the light box. I patched the hole... the gaping hole... the hole that the cat had found and managed to routinely jump up through in order to climb across the ceilings, coming out in the storage room. After that, I measured the room and went to Home Depot with three kids. The man in the store thought I was an absolute lunatic as I tried to figure out what shelving system to go with. He thought I was even crazier as I had him help me pick out a fluorescent light for me to install. His face said... "Her poor husband". I think he expected me to royally screw something up. Well, screw something up I did.... I screwed up a bunch of shelves. I also installed a new light, which actually comes on when I flip the switch. Once the shelves were up I organized everything that was lying on the deck (it really looked like a yard sale out there) and ended with a whole new room. A whole new organized room with a whole new LIGHT... and no hole in the ceiling.
Now, it is Friday. Actually, it is Saturday by this point. Jeff's asleep on the couch, the kids are all dreaming dreams of kitties and Star Wars and, well, boobies. And, after I put away these clothes and make room on my bed... I hope to get a little sleep myself. Maybe the way to install a new ice-maker motor will come to me in my dream...
It's about 7:45 or so. Still asleep, I hear the sounds of Addison playing his Leapster in the living room and Asa attempting to pour cereal... sounds like flakes of some kind... maybe Raisin Bran? It sounds like he is pouring too much but I'm very tired and the risk of wasting some cereal does not outweigh the benefit of an extra 15 or so minutes of sleep. It's a teacher work day of some flavor... so there's no need to actually get up. Had it been an actual school day I would have still laid there for another 15-20 minutes anyway, nursed a baby, polished the boys' cereal attempt, threw some clothes down the stairs for them, packed fairly healthy fairly appealing lunches, put shoes on over my fuzzy house socks, packed Ivey in her carrier, made sure homework was in the bookbags and made it out the door in about 35 minutes... enough time to get the boys to the church/school right down the road by 9:00am. But, today was not a school day. I let myself fall back into my semi-conscious sleep state... the only sleep state I've had since giving birth five and a half years ago. I swear I know the goings on of everything in every room of the house in my sleep.
I have Ivey in the cosleeper beside the bed. At around 8:15 I hear her stirring and I roll her out of her bed and into mine. I nurse her while lying on my side. She eats, I sleep. I wake up and she is finished eating and asleep beside me. I roll her onto my tummy and burp her... keeping me still in a lying/sleeping position. Ahh... every minute counts.
I finally emerge from the bed and change Ivey. Sure enough, Asa has poured too much cereal, not Raisin Bran but Cranberry Almond Crunch. For the most part, they like to eat their cereal dry. Asa spots me and acts as if he has poured the bowl for me... "Do you want some, Mom?" Sure. Bonus. But, I never actually eat it.
I change Ivey's diaper and explain to the boys that there is no school today. It is absolutely freezing outside, 25 I think, and the house is cold. I check the thermostat... 59. I turn on the heater in the dining room and the oven, cracking it to at least help the kitchen get warm. I put Ivey in her seat with some toys and make a caramel cappuccino. Ahhh... my espresso machine. The best darn appliance in my kitchen. I see from the kitchen that Asa and Addison are playing a very loud game of chess in the living room floor. It seems they had made a deal. Addison played a pretend game of "kitty" (where they pretend to be cats and do various cat things... like climb trees and meow and have kitten under the table) in order for Asa to then play chess with Addison. Asa must be trying to bow out half way through the game. By this point I am checking my email as I listen. I yell for them to work it out nicely, which they do.
I get the diapers out of the dryer, stuff the inserts as needed and lay them out into nice neat little stacks. Then, I rotate the laundry. Asa and Addison help me by going upstairs and throwing down all the clothes from the hamper, then transporting them to the utility room (or "tizzity" room as they say it. Makes it sound hip-hop. Meet me in the tizz-ity room. I chuckle to myself at the sound of it). After the laundry session, they ask me if they can help some more. I had just taught them how to load the dishwasher with dirty dishes, so I thought I would let them put the clean ones away. Their eyes lit up at the idea. They took turns standing on the counter while the other handed them the dishes. Honestly, what's the worst that could happen. A broken dish or two... maybe a fall off the counter. Both of those have happened before and we lived through it just fine. Unless someone broke a dish and hit a jugular, I think they'll be fine. I fold laundry on my bed as I listen to the progress in the kitchen. Ivey is on the bed with me watching the fan.
In a little while, I hear a loud crash. It wasn't all that loud, but it was definitely an incident of some type. I came in and Asa was extremely upset. Shaking. I looked around and nothing seemed broken, no blood. Asa had fallen off of the counter and landed in the dishwasher, on some plates and whatnot. He wasn't hurt, but he was so shaken up about the whole thing that he was sobbing and apologizing over and over. I gave him a big hug and told him it was fine and he continued. He kept on and on about how sorry he was and how he was in big trouble. It scared him and it took me a long time to convince him that I wasn't angry in the least. Eventually, Addison had something cool to look at and Asa moved on.
I ran around the house doing various chores and then it was time to feed Ivey. Every. Three. Hours. After that, I started the Pink Panther that I had Tivo'd and took Ivey into the bathroom and put her in her bouncy seat while I took a shower. Okay, so we don't have an actual shower yet, but I took my sitting-pseudo-shower that I do in our little tub. Believe it or not, I got in and out of the "shower" in enough time to put MAKE UP on and actually fix my hair before the Pink Panther ended. I packed a diaper bag, got everyone dressed and we went off to run errands in the 30 degree weather.
I told Asa and Addison that we had some errands to run but if they were good for me we could go to Chick-fil-A and play on the playground for lunch. Well, it was lunch time, so we hit it first. Turns out, it was "receipt day" where you keep today's receipt and get the entire meal free if you bring the receipt in before the end of February. Sweet. We eat and then the boys play while I feed Ivey. I talk to a grad student who is watching her niece and nephew for her single-mom sister who has a doctor's appointment. I have a nice conversation about public health and then I give the boys the five minute warning. I learned early on that as long as I let them know how much longer they had before we needed to leave, they wouldn't be upset about having to go. So, I give the arbitrary 5 minute, 3 minute, 1 minute countdown. They took their socks off even though they know they aren't supposed to. I know it is because they were climbing up the slide, think about how I would want to take mine off too if I were climbing up a slide, and say nothing to them about it. Socks, shoes, refills on drinks and then out the door.
Next stop, Old Navy. They were having a huge online sale and I bought some things for the kids and myself. For some reason, I went temporarily insane and ordered a pair of pants that wouldn't even go past my thighs. The boys brought their Leapsters into the store and played them while I made my return. Then, I walked them back so I could shop the extra 50% off already reduced clearance items sale. I let them sit behind some clothes and play Leapster while I shopped... moving them to a different display as I moved isle to isle. I grinned as people walked by them, not noticing the feet sticking out of the line of coats.
After Old Navy we went to the mall, yes, the mall. I forgot my stroller and Ivey was asleep, so I need to carry that heavy carrier into the mall. Ahh wait. I am returning a 5x8 rug to JCPenney. What to do, what to do. After a few minutes of pondering, I asked the boys for help. I carried Ivey in her carrier and the diaper bag while the boys grabbed each end of the rolled up rug. The four of us, rug in tow, made our way to the door. We must have looked hilarious because the man coming out laughed pretty hard. We returned the rug and then went shopping around for a present for Cameron's birthday party. Again, I had no stroller so I had to carry Ivey through the mall. Asa wanted to go on an escalator, so we hit the one in JCPenney. Addison was a bit nervous. He has had a couple uneasy episodes with escalators recently. Once, we were at the top of a big one and all stepped on. After a few feet I realized Addison had chicken out and was still at the top. I tried to fly back up but to no avail. I would have tried harder but didn't want to leave Asa standing at the bottom... what to do! I ended up having to ride to the bottom, keeping an eye on him the whole time and then Asa and I rode back up the other one to go get him. Another time, Addison somehow slipped and busted his lip. It sounds more exciting than it was, but he blames the escalator anyway.
We end up walking the entire length of the mall, finding nothing for Cameron. I have to stop very often to switch arms for the baby carrier. Too heavy for such a walk. We make our way back through JCPenney, pick up my curtains from the catalogue desk and Asa manages to carry them for me to the van. As we load it into the car I realize that I need to change Ivey's diaper. I make up a song, as if sung by Ivey herself, about her poopy diaper. They erupt in laughter. I continue with my hilarity only to push Asa over the edge. He laughed so hard that he wet himself. Mom just can't help it. She just had to whoop out the funny. I had no extra clothes but came up with a temporary solution. Then, Addison says that he has to pee. He didn't tell us this when we were in the mall, no. He waited until he made it all the way to the car and strapped in. I was about to sacrifice his leftover lemonade in order to use his cup but Asa volunteered his. I hold the cup as Addison goes... um... in the cup, IN the CUP, IN THE CUPPPPPP!! For some reason, Addison was having some control issues. So, my hand, his shoes, and everything in a 12-18" radius got sprayed. I took a deep breath, mumbled something to myself and wiped everything off. I have other errands to run, but we decide to go home, exhausted.
Once home, Asa and Addison swing each other around the foyer floor with a jumprope while I, you guessed it, feed Ivey. I then answer emails that should have been answered days ago, think about filling Ellen and Bethany's picture orders, and then decide to procrastinate on that because they are my friends and they will understand. I put up a bunch of items on Ebay, called and booked the restaurant for Jen's bridal shower, looked up fabrics for Kierstin's baby carrier, and confirmed dates for two photo shoots. I'm sure I called mom about six times because, well, I always call mom about six times. Then, Asa and Addison show me their fabulous Lego house they made... two story with tables and chairs and a train running right through the middle. Make a mental note about how brilliant my children are.
I ask the boys to help me install roman shades, curtains and valances in the living room. Asa feeds the valances onto rods as I pre-drill the holes. Then, Addison helps him make a "cave" in the corner of the room using all of the boxes and packaging that I have discarded, along with all the Lincoln Logs, the window sill and a throw blanket. Because of this "cave", I was only able to hang two roman shades. I was able to complete one of the window treatments, another window has the shade hung, and the support system for the cave was left untouched.
Fed Ivey.
Jeff came home at 7:30 and I was fixing dinner. I buzzed around him as he visibly struggled to stop the conversations in his head. His blank gaze and motionless stance made me feel like I was on fast forward around him. I would ask for him to hand me things out of the refrigerator, asking two more times in different pitches until one cracks through. He hands me what I need, on auto-pilot. Realizing that he was not actually home from work, I called for Asa and Addison to pitch in setting the table. The three of them managed quite well, although sometimes Jeff would get lost between the fridge and the table by stopping to either check his Facebook account or play air-piano. Eventually, dinner was finished and mostly ready to eat. I stand by the table as we say blessing so that everyone else can go ahead and eat while I keep working. I quickly make tea, pour milk for the kids and bring Ivey's mobile into the dining room so she can watch it while we eat. I sit. Wait. Napkins. Okay... I sit again. Wow. I just realize that I have eaten two whole meals today. That may be this week's record.
As we eat, I realize it is way later than it should be. We get up from dinner and head straight up stairs. I nurse Ivey and try to get her in bed while Jeff brushes the boys' teeth and gets them into PJ's. Asa comes into Ivey's room and gets his hugs and kisses. Addison comes in and decides that he can wait until I am finished and I come into his room to get them. About fifteen minutes later, still nursing, I head Addison call from his room. "Mommmmmmmmy". I say nothing. Then again, "Mommmmmmmy". He continues this at 17 second intervals for a solid 8 minutes. Now, he will come all the way down the stairs when he should be in bed just to ask me who the president of China is, but tonight, he lays there and yells my name. Not responding, I realize that dinner is no doubt still on the table. At this point, I start to feel overwhelmed and tired. All the plates and food and butter and tea and pots and just down there waiting for me. I welled up to cry but then Addison altered the pitch of his voice with his "Mommmmmmy" and it made me laugh a little.
I lay Ivey down and she cries. I go tuck Addison in, which is all he wants. Then, I go back to Ivey. Eventually, I get her settled down and head downstairs to confirm my speculation on dinner. No fairies here.
I quickly move into hyper-mode and clean up. Jeff must feel guilty as he types his email because he got up to help. Then, I continue at the same speed through more laundry and a quick clean up of each room. I have piles and piles of folded laundry that I still need to put away. It is almost 1am. Really, I might as well stay up and get it done because my little Ivey doesn't nap for any length of time during the day.
Unlike a lot of weeks, this week has been particularly productive. I think the lack of organization around here is getting to me.
On Monday, I put shelves in the space about the fridge, organized the crafts that were thrown up there and then Asa and I made curtains and hung them in the front. I also installed a shelf at the top of the upstairs closet and covered the back of the empty panes in our Butler's pantry, hiding all of my crap that has been out for the world to see. Oh yeah, and I painted the window trim in the living room.
On Wednesday, I took the boys to school and immediately went to work taking everything, I mean EVERYTHING out of the "tizzity room". Once it was empty, I took down the broken light and measured the 8' x 15" strip of missing ceiling. I found a piece of thin plywood in the shop and ripped it on the table saw. I found the jigsaw and cut out a hole for the light box. I patched the hole... the gaping hole... the hole that the cat had found and managed to routinely jump up through in order to climb across the ceilings, coming out in the storage room. After that, I measured the room and went to Home Depot with three kids. The man in the store thought I was an absolute lunatic as I tried to figure out what shelving system to go with. He thought I was even crazier as I had him help me pick out a fluorescent light for me to install. His face said... "Her poor husband". I think he expected me to royally screw something up. Well, screw something up I did.... I screwed up a bunch of shelves. I also installed a new light, which actually comes on when I flip the switch. Once the shelves were up I organized everything that was lying on the deck (it really looked like a yard sale out there) and ended with a whole new room. A whole new organized room with a whole new LIGHT... and no hole in the ceiling.
Now, it is Friday. Actually, it is Saturday by this point. Jeff's asleep on the couch, the kids are all dreaming dreams of kitties and Star Wars and, well, boobies. And, after I put away these clothes and make room on my bed... I hope to get a little sleep myself. Maybe the way to install a new ice-maker motor will come to me in my dream...
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Ivey Updates and Diaper Talk
Ivey is now 14 1/2 weeks old... or 3 months and a week. She is doing wonderfully, is now 12 pounds and sleeping like a log (at night, at least)!
When she first came home, she was eating every 2-3 hours during the day. At night, I would let her sleep until she woke up to eat, which usually happened every 4 hours or so. In no time at all, she stretched this to 5 hours and then by mid November she was sleeping up to 6 hours at night! Now, she still eats every 3 hours during the day (currently it's around 7:30, 10:30, 1:30, 4:30, 7:30, then one more sometime between 9 and 11 or so) and then I put her to bed for the night. She sleeps all the way until 7:30 and then we start all over again. This morning, she scared the blazes out of me because I fed her and put her to bed by 10:00 and at 8:00am I woke up and realized I had not heard a single peep from her all night. Usually, she whines a little at about 2am and needs to have her back patted a little until she goes back to sleep. Last night, NOTHING. I turned on the video monitor and she wasn't moving one bit so I flew up the stairs. That little girl was so sound asleep... at 8:15 I had to wake her up!
This time around is so much different than last time. Having only one gives me the ability to be flexible. She usually starts the day off eating at about 7:30, but sometimes it's 6:30 and sometimes (like today) it was 8:30. We just play things by ear and ease things back on track... no need to fret about how long we'll be gone to run errands because we don't use bottles at all. It's very nice.
The cloth diapering is going very well. I actually enjoy it, believe it or not. There is a certain satisfaction at having a itty bit in tow through the grocery store and not even needing to go down the "baby needs" isle. She makes it all night long with a FuzziBunz, stuffed with its FuzziBunz insert along with either a LoopyDoo Insert or a Kissaluvs Booster Doubler. The combo works very well. I have also used a DryBee diaper at night, which is a all-in-one hybrid. I just stuff it with either the LoopyDoo or Kissaluvs doubler and we haven't had a single leak. During the day, we alternate between various brands. At first, when she was tiny, I didn't like the FuzziBunz very much. They went up to her nipples! But, now they are one of my favorites. The BumGenius are great, but the One Size style are still a bit bulky. They will be excellent when she gets bigger, though. The only ones I haven't been all that thrilled with are the Happy Heinys. They work fine, but compared to the Drybees, BumGenius and FuzziBunz, they leak more often. Man, do I sound silly.
Asa and Addison both have frequent night time accidents. I can't really get mad- I mean, how on earth do you teach kids to wake up when they have to go? They do strip their sheets on their own and put the wet clothes and such in the utility room to be washed. It finally hit me that it was ridiculous to be washing cloth diapers for Ivey but buying pullups for Asa and Addison. Now, I have big cloth pull-ups that I can stuff with a big BumGenius One Size insert for them. They're like underwear, but can hold it all in if there is an accident. I was hoping it would wake them up better than the pullups (or underwear in Addison's case, that boy will sleep all night in a wet bed, undies and clothes), but it doesn't seem to. So far, I've been pleased with the StarBunz SuperUndies.
Back to Miss Ivey. Honestly, the girl cracks me up. First of all, she is a total momma's girl. She is just completely smitten with me, and although it is tiring... I do love it. She is laughing now, which is hi-lar-ious. Even though she sleeps great at night, her napping needs some work. She hasn't fallen into the two-nap-schedule, so about an hour after each feeding she gets fussy and takes a cat nap. Her cat naps are usually only 20-45 minutes. That doesn't leave momma much time to get things done! She absolutely lvoes taking a bath, and screams like crazy when she gets out and we dry her off. Diaper changes are fun to her. As soon as that diaper comes off the legs start kicking and she gives big ol' grins! She started drooling a few weeks ago. She's not quite as drooly as Addison was, but she's working on it. I guess she is gearing up to teath. One thing that she has started doing this week is pulling her abs like she is doing a crunch when she's reclined. It is completely obvious that she wants to sit up all by herself. Under that soft belly must be some serious ab muscles because she's gotten pretty good at it. I may have myself an eary crawler/walker on my hands!
When she first came home, she was eating every 2-3 hours during the day. At night, I would let her sleep until she woke up to eat, which usually happened every 4 hours or so. In no time at all, she stretched this to 5 hours and then by mid November she was sleeping up to 6 hours at night! Now, she still eats every 3 hours during the day (currently it's around 7:30, 10:30, 1:30, 4:30, 7:30, then one more sometime between 9 and 11 or so) and then I put her to bed for the night. She sleeps all the way until 7:30 and then we start all over again. This morning, she scared the blazes out of me because I fed her and put her to bed by 10:00 and at 8:00am I woke up and realized I had not heard a single peep from her all night. Usually, she whines a little at about 2am and needs to have her back patted a little until she goes back to sleep. Last night, NOTHING. I turned on the video monitor and she wasn't moving one bit so I flew up the stairs. That little girl was so sound asleep... at 8:15 I had to wake her up!
This time around is so much different than last time. Having only one gives me the ability to be flexible. She usually starts the day off eating at about 7:30, but sometimes it's 6:30 and sometimes (like today) it was 8:30. We just play things by ear and ease things back on track... no need to fret about how long we'll be gone to run errands because we don't use bottles at all. It's very nice.
The cloth diapering is going very well. I actually enjoy it, believe it or not. There is a certain satisfaction at having a itty bit in tow through the grocery store and not even needing to go down the "baby needs" isle. She makes it all night long with a FuzziBunz, stuffed with its FuzziBunz insert along with either a LoopyDoo Insert or a Kissaluvs Booster Doubler. The combo works very well. I have also used a DryBee diaper at night, which is a all-in-one hybrid. I just stuff it with either the LoopyDoo or Kissaluvs doubler and we haven't had a single leak. During the day, we alternate between various brands. At first, when she was tiny, I didn't like the FuzziBunz very much. They went up to her nipples! But, now they are one of my favorites. The BumGenius are great, but the One Size style are still a bit bulky. They will be excellent when she gets bigger, though. The only ones I haven't been all that thrilled with are the Happy Heinys. They work fine, but compared to the Drybees, BumGenius and FuzziBunz, they leak more often. Man, do I sound silly.
Asa and Addison both have frequent night time accidents. I can't really get mad- I mean, how on earth do you teach kids to wake up when they have to go? They do strip their sheets on their own and put the wet clothes and such in the utility room to be washed. It finally hit me that it was ridiculous to be washing cloth diapers for Ivey but buying pullups for Asa and Addison. Now, I have big cloth pull-ups that I can stuff with a big BumGenius One Size insert for them. They're like underwear, but can hold it all in if there is an accident. I was hoping it would wake them up better than the pullups (or underwear in Addison's case, that boy will sleep all night in a wet bed, undies and clothes), but it doesn't seem to. So far, I've been pleased with the StarBunz SuperUndies.
Back to Miss Ivey. Honestly, the girl cracks me up. First of all, she is a total momma's girl. She is just completely smitten with me, and although it is tiring... I do love it. She is laughing now, which is hi-lar-ious. Even though she sleeps great at night, her napping needs some work. She hasn't fallen into the two-nap-schedule, so about an hour after each feeding she gets fussy and takes a cat nap. Her cat naps are usually only 20-45 minutes. That doesn't leave momma much time to get things done! She absolutely lvoes taking a bath, and screams like crazy when she gets out and we dry her off. Diaper changes are fun to her. As soon as that diaper comes off the legs start kicking and she gives big ol' grins! She started drooling a few weeks ago. She's not quite as drooly as Addison was, but she's working on it. I guess she is gearing up to teath. One thing that she has started doing this week is pulling her abs like she is doing a crunch when she's reclined. It is completely obvious that she wants to sit up all by herself. Under that soft belly must be some serious ab muscles because she's gotten pretty good at it. I may have myself an eary crawler/walker on my hands!
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