Hodgepodge

It's been a busy summer in a lot of ways and most of it hasn't been very fun or been something I can really blog about.  But we have been doing SOME fun stuff and I wanted to share some updates.

• Pumpkin farming continues apace.  It seems that our first few fruits did not get fertilized (a couple of them didn't even bloom!) so we lost those pumpkins.  But over the weekend I managed to catch a female flower in full bloom and hand pollinated it myself.  We'll see if it worked!
• We eventually reached an impasse with Jamie's speech therapy.  After an especially frustrating and rude (on their part) call with DART, it became clear they were really not willing to help.  We hired a private therapist to work with Jamie and he's making progress again.  I'm really excited for him!  I also found out that if Jamie was to qualify for year round services, he would have to lose 20% of his progress during breaks and not be able to make it up during the 2-3 week summer sessions.  TWENTY PERCENT.  And if all he does is tread water, that's perfectly fine with them.  That is not fine with me so I'm so very glad we have such a great private therapist.
• Liam is really excelling with swim lessons this summer.  We spent a bunch of time at the pool before lessons started and he seemed to finally make the connection between his brain and the necessary coordination.  He started to actually SWIM.  Now we're halfway through lessons and he's doing the big water slide without getting caught at the bottom and he's >thisclose< to going off the diving board on his own.
• Over the 4th of July, the kids and I went up to Michigan to visit with my parents.  My Aunt and Uncle were also there from California and they got to meet the boys for the first time.  It was really good to see them. I haven't seen them since I was very early pregnant with Jamie when I attended one of my cousin's wedding.  We had a good time visiting with everyone.  We went to the beach one day and the kids had a really great time.  Liam swam like a fish (and saw some too!) and Jamie spent most of his time in the shallows with the sand toys - and had a grand time doing it. 

Swimmer Liam!

Playing in the sand. 

• Our air conditioning quit on us a couple of weeks ago during the hottest week we've had yet this summer (of course). We're talking heat indexes over 100 degrees.  When we had the repair guy come out we discovered that our a/c unit was THIRTY-ONE years old. Basically, it was about as old as the house itself.  Solution? Replace. The good news is that we got a good reliable unit that's larger and more efficient that will cut our electric bills down. The bad news is that it cost several thousand dollars.  We've lived in this house for five years and in that time we've replaced the furnace, the water heater, the washer/dryer, the refrigerator, one of the garage door openers, and now the air conditioning.  All that's left is one garage door opener, the dishwasher, and the stove.  Then we'll have a complete new set! /sarcasm
• I'm looking forward to making a happy announcement soon but the time is not quite right. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, enjoy Maggie.

Hodgepodge

• It took me a little over a week but I'm finally at a place where I feel like I can deal with Liam having Celiac.  I know we have some rough waters to navigate but I'm feeling like we can handle them.  Most importantly, I feel like I can be there for Liam as he begins to process what all of this will mean (we have not yet told him - see the next bullet point) and that I can be honest with him with whatever questions he asks.  I'm not going to cry at the drop of a hat anymore, I'm going to be strong and confident - which I hope will instill in him a confidence in our ability to deal with this as a family.

• We have not yet told Liam that we suspect he has Celiac or what that means.  We've told him that he has to go see another doctor so we can get more information but we haven't said anything beyond that.  We want to see what we can find out from the doctor before we have that difficult discussion with him.  Once we know enough to answer all his questions, we will make full disclosure to him about what's happening.  We see the specialist on the 12th and I'm hoping to know more about our next steps after that appointment.  Liam is a worrier and there's no point in leaving him worried and anxious when we can't calm those anxieties.

• Christmas is under way! We've completed the shopping but I still have all the wrapping and sending to do.  I also need to decorate the house but I have plans to get that started on Thursday.  I've designed, had printed, then addressed and mailed all our Christmas cards - earliest I've managed to do it yet.  Jamie has learned to say Santa and points him out with glee every time he sees him.  I'm hoping Christmas will be full of magic this year.

• I'm a big old failure at the diet lately.  When the call came about Liam I basically spent about a week eating my feelings (some more cheez-its? Don't mind if I do...) and between that and Thanksgiving, I put on three pounds.  This is especially annoying because I'd plateaued and was just beginning to break through the wall when I got derailed.  So, I gained 3 pounds that were pretty damn hard to lose in the first place.  The climb back onto the wagon was akin to scaling Everest but I think I've managed to do it.  Now all I have to do is stay here.  Weigh-in tomorrow should be so much fun.  Except not.

Hodgepodge

1.  We had an appointment for Liam with the ophthalmologist today to check his vision.  He was looked at about 2 years ago and he didn't need glasses then but we were told he would likely need them sooner rather than later.  A week or two ago he told me that sometimes his vision gets blurry so I called the eye doc and set up an appointment.

Good news!  No change in his eyesight and no glasses.  Unless he complains earlier, we don't need to have him checked again until late 3rd grade.

2.  For my birthday, my parents have chosen to gift me with a plane ticket to go spend a weekend with best friend.  I am so excited about this I could plotz.  The weekend I've been dreaming about (a weekend away from the fam) is becoming a reality and I get to see Trista to boot!  Good friends!  Tasty food!  Sleeping in!

Cannot.  Wait.

3.  Jamie starts speech therapy tomorrow.  It's only the first appointment so it will be mostly paperwork and assessment.  The real work doesn't start until our next appointment but I am eager to get the process moving.  Anything to make the kid stop slapping himself in the head when he's frustrated and mad.

However, in the last couple of days he said "bubbles," "button," and "hello!"  None of these words help us in day to day life (you couldn't learn to say "milk," kid?!) but a start is a start.

Hodgepodge

1.  I have to apologize for the lack of blog posting.  There are lots of reasons but mostly it has to do with illness and the horrible depths of winter.  It seems like we manage to get over one nasty virus only to catch another one.  It's getting tiresome to say the least.

2.  Last week Jamie decided to pop with another mystery virus complete with mystery fever.  After 3 days of trying to figure out his problem with no luck, we took him to the doctor.  Double ear infection.  I think he's getting close to needing ear tubes.  This is the second infection he's had in 6 weeks and it's certainly not his first time on the ear infection merry-go-round.  We'll have to talk with the pediatrician at his checkup but if this keeps going?  Tube city.

3.  In related news, Augmentin sucks.  It may kill the infection but it also makes for diapers that I really don't want to spend the time describing.  Those nasty diapers, in turn, gave Jamie a case of diaper rash like you wouldn't believe.  His whole butt was cherry red and he was hopping mad as a result.  I decided enough was enough, called the pediatrician, and asked that Jamie be put on a different medication.  He is a much happier camper now.

4.  In dealing with Mr. Shedding Virus, I seem to have caught his cold.  It was inevitable, I suppose, since he was coughing on me and I was short on sleep.  I've had worse but this one is sticking around and driving me nuts.  I'd really like to see the back side of it sooner rather than later.

5.  Phil the Groundhog failed to see his shadow last week.  If his prediction holds true and we get an early spring, I will travel on over to Punxsutawny and plant a big fat kiss on Phil's lips.  On the other hand, if he fails me and this winter hangs on until April, his caretakers are going to want to put him in some kind of anonymous protection program because I will hunt his furry ass down.  I'm sure my father would loan me his varmint rifle.

6.  I want a new camera so badly I can taste it.  Our point-and-shoot is really beginning to piss me off and the pictures I have from Liam's birthday are so crappy as to exacerbate my ire.  However, we have more important things to be spending our money on so I will go on dreaming.

Hodgepodge

1.  The kids got their flu shots on Friday and oh the drama.  Liam was understandably nervous about it and it bothered him enough to wake him up in the middle of the night.  I worked it out with him with gentle words and lots of cuddles and some lost sleep on my part.  When we went to the doctor's office in the morning he did just as I asked and sat still while the nurse did her thing.  When it was over he said, "That didn't hurt at all, Mommy!  It was great!"

[headdesk]

I'm glad it was better than he was anticipating it would be but I would have preferred to keep my sleep.  I did point out to him that next year he didn't have to be so scared.

Unfortunately, the kids then proceeded to spend the next 36 hours doing their very best to be their very worst.  I am honestly amazed that I did not spend those 36 hours screaming my fool head off at them.  Slowly, oh so slowly, I am learning patience.

2.  I raked up 20 bags of leaves this weekend.  TWENTY.  I have completed about half of the front yard.  I haven't even touched the back patio yet.  I hurt all over and my hands are covered in blisters.  I HATE RAKING LEAVES.  I detest it.  I abhor it.  I loathe it.  I despise it.  It is an abomination.  I am sure that the total number of bags I will rake will be 666 for this chore is The Beast and that is his number.

In other words, it is evil.

3.  I made apple pie today.  Homemade crust, northern spy apples - the whole shebang.  Om nom nom.

4.  Jamie believes in safety first.

 

5.  Pittsburgh has its own lexicon.  After living here for 10 years, I am still learning new and interesting jargon.  Just this week I learned about "dippy eggs."  (That's over easy to the rest of us.)  Well, I ran across this at a local Dunkin' Donuts this week and, well, only in Pittsburgh would someone do this:

"Caution: Wet Slippy Floor"

6.  It bears repeating:  Raking leaves is the devil's chore.

7.  I'm going to go eat pie now.

Hodgepodge: Halloween Edition

1.  It's possible that we have finally broken the Halloween curse in our house.  Almost every year since Liam's birth, Halloween has been cursed.  Only the first one was relatively normal.  When he was 9 months old, he sat out with me a for a little bit but that was it.  After that it was bedtime.  When he was 21 months old, it rained so hard we couldn't possibly go trick-or-treating.  Also, Scot got rear-ended on his way home from work that night.  When he was 2.5, he did half the street and then it was time for bed.  When he was 3.5, he flat out refused to go trick-or-treating.  When he was 4.5, he spent the entire night before Halloween puking all night long.  We gave our bowl of candy to the neighbor to hand out and stayed in.  This year finally seemed to work out.  I handed out candy while Scot took the kids.  Scot came home with Jamie after about 30 minutes and Liam stayed with the group of kids and adults that were working the neighborhood.  He came home an hour later with a such a haul he said "Mommy!  It's so heavy I can't even lift it!"

Score.

2.  Speaking of scores, when did Halloween candy go so upscale?  I thought I was being a good house by buying the good candy (no dum-dums, tootsie rolls, or bit o' honeys here!) and giving out at least 2 pieces per kid.  Apparently that's the chintzy way to go about things, these days.  Liam got more than one full treat bag in his candy.  How much time and money do these people have that they are handing out whole bags of treats to each kid?!  He also got several full size candy bars, including a Dove bar.  Now, what 5 year old is going to appreciate that one?  I'm pretty sure that's going to make its way into Mommy's emergency stash.  Also?  Not a single dum dum sucker.  No tootsie rolls.  Nary a bit o' honey.

3.  He did get one thing that is making me shake my head.  Let's call it the Christian Tootsie Roll (because it's a piece of poop).  He was given a fake piece of money in the amount of $1,000,000.00.  On the front it says things like "Department of Eternal Affairs" and "All Saints Eve, October 31."  Then, on the back, in small letters around the edge, it says the following:

The million dollar question:  Will you go to Heaven?  Here's a quick test.  Have you ever told a lie, stolen anything, or used God's name in vain?  Jesus said "Whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart."  Have you looked with lust?  Will you be guilty on Judgment Day?  If you have done those things, God sees you as a lying, thieving, blasphemous, adulterer-at-heart.  The Bible warns that if you are guilty you will end up in Hell.  That's not God's will.  He sent his Son  to suffer and die on the cross for you.  Jesus took your punishment upon Himself.  "God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."  Then he rose from the dead and defeated death.  Please repent (turn from sin) today and trust in Jesus, and God will grant you everlasting life.  Then read your Bible daily and obey it.

My problems with the Christian Tootsie Roll are numerous.  First of all, I don't think most kids know what lust is.  And what if they're looking at a man in lust?  Is that OK?  Also, don't you dare tell my kid how God sees him.  How are you to know what God thinks?  Are you God?  Running around in righteous indignation about sin makes you just as bad as the sin you keep pointing out.  See you in Hell with my kid.  Furthermore, stop threatening my kid with Hell just because you think Halloween is a sinful, awful, pagan holiday.  It is, but if you don't like it, don't participate.  

I'm just glad Liam can't read well enough yet to understand what the Christian Tootsie Roll is trying to shame him about.  I'll be shredding that little bit of propaganda toute suite. 

Life, Lately

I've been having trouble trying to come up with blog posts lately because we're so busy but life is also very routine.  This is good news in a lot of ways as it means Scot's health issues (which I haven't talked about on here very much) are beginning to resolve themselves and my stress level is beginning to reduce itself.  Thank God for small favors.  But, on the other hand, it makes for rather boring blog posts, no?

Instead, I'm just going to give you a "here's how it's going in the Two Kids and a Beagle household."

1.  Liam continues to attend kindergarten with gusto.  Loves school, loves his teacher, loves riding the bus, is making friends - what more could I ask for?  We don't have parent-teacher conferences until November but I'm hoping for a good report - both academically and behaviorally.

Liam is also continuing apace at Tae Kwon-Do.  Moving up into a color belt class was like moving from kindergarten to first grade.  It's not at all the same except that he's still supposed to behave himself and listen.  However, if he doesn't, he gets to do push ups.  But he's holding his own pretty well and he's already learning his next pattern.  The biggest change for him is that his class is now at 6:00 pm instead of 7:00 pm so he's busy from 5:00 (dinner time) until bedtime on TKD nights and that kind of ticked him off for awhile.  He's adjusting to it now, though, and pretty soon it will seem like it's always been like this.

2.  Jamie is now 19 months old and 28 lbs 12 oz.  He is, for lack of a better term, a tank.  I was honestly shocked when he weighed in because I expected him to be at least 30 lbs.  He certainly feels like he is - the kid is dense!  He, too, is enjoying his two days a week at daycare and practically throws his shoes at me if we're not moving out the door fast enough.

He's also expanding his language at lightning speed.  The other night, while I was at TKD with Liam, he looked at Scot and said "UPSTAIRS!  BATH!" over and over until Scot figured it out and said "you want to go upstairs and take your bath?"  Jamie snatched up his stuffed animals and made a beeline for the stairs as fast as his chubby little legs would carry him.  He certainly gets his point across, that's for darn sure.

3.  The beagle?  Continues to pee in my house.  There are no words.

4.  Scot and I will be celebrating our 9th wedding anniversary next week.  We've been together for 11 years now.  It's amazing how slowly 11 years seems to go when you're a child and how quickly they fly past when you're an adult.  And yet, here we are, with two kids, a dog, a mortgage, and being subversive in the suburbs.  ;)  When I was 17 years old, the thing I wanted most in life was to have children (and yes, I knew that college came first, thankyouverymuch, and then marriage).  I have my share of bad days being a stay at home Mom, but the truth is that I wanted this very much and I wouldn't chose differently if given a chance.  I love you, Scot!

5.  I remain corpulent.  There are no words for this, also.

6.  I become less enamored of my soccer mom title the longer soccer goes on.  The kids are fine; the parents are not.  They yell at their children from the sidelines.  They reprimand them for not being aggressive enough.  They give me dirty looks when I clap for the *other* team when they score (because, dude?  It's six and under and there's barely any rules.  The kids are trying and it's a good job reaching the damn net at all).  I clap when our team scores, too, but I don't feel the need to denigrate a gaggle of 5 and 6 year olds just because they scored against us.

The longer this goes on the more I hope that Liam loses his love of the game.  I'd rather be a dojang Mom any day of the week.  It's just so . . . suburban.  Or, more accurately, suburban nightmare.  I'm all for kids learning that not everyone is awesome and not everyone gets a trophy and how to be a good sport but this is U-6 soccer - most of these kids have never played the game before and it just isn't important at this age to be so damn competitive.

7.  Otherwise, life is life.  I clean the house, I run children to school, I pick kids up off the bus.  There's play dates and grocery shopping and bills.  One of these days there will be time for me - I begin to see a glimmer of those days but it's a faint glow on the distant horizon.  We'll get there.  Eventually.

Hodgepodge, Part Deux

1. We finally received Liam's Kindergarten assignment in the mail a couple of weeks ago and he will be an afternoon session student.  I was hoping for morning but since I don't work, he was almost guaranteed to get afternoon since they save the morning session for families in which both parents work.  Liam is happy with it, though.  It seems that he wanted afternoon Kindergarten.  Plus, right about the time he starts to really get bored, it will be time to head to school.

Weirdly, the "first" day of school is on a Thursday and it isn't even an instructional day.  We have a one hour session in the afternoon that both Liam and I have to attend as an orientation session.  I assume we're going to cover things like getting on and off the bus, where the bathrooms are, arrival time, dismissal time, etc.  Then, the next day is his first day of instructional time.  On a Friday.  Why didn't they have the orientation on Friday and start fresh on Monday?  Or orientation on Monday, instructional time begins Tuesday?  SO.  STUPID.

2.  An orange crayon gave its life in my dryer last week.  It melted into a sheer patina of orange all over the drum of the dryer.  Luckily that patina seems permanent and isn't rubbing off on clothing.  Sadly, about three-quarters of the load that the crayon was in got melted orange crayon on it.  And it was a pretty large load of the kids' clothing.  I was panicked that I was going to have to buy all new shorts for Liam and try to replace as many of his beloved Star Wars shirts as possible.

I started looking around on the internet for methods of removing the crayon and they were all long, multi-step annoying processes that I simply don't have time for.  They usually involved some kind of solvent or oil based product (one called for car lubricant).  These are the sorts of things I do not have on hand.

So I decided to give OxyClean the old college try.  I figured it couldn't make things worse and on the off chance it worked, it would spare me having to go out and buy special items to clean the clothes.

I started by spraying the marked portions of the clothing with OxyClean spray.  Then I ran hot, hot, hot water (to get the wax to soften) into a bucket and added about three scoops of granular OxyClean.  I put the clothes in there to soak for several hours (at least three hours of soaking but some I left overnight.)  Then, I put the clothes into the washer on a heavy duty hot wash with detergent, liquid OxyClean, and fabric softener.  I did them in small batches so that they'd really get most out of the wash cycle.

Miraculously, this worked.  I managed to save the entire load of laundry and didn't have to replace a single item.  OxyClean really will clean ANYTHING.

3. I came home today to find my neighbor vacuuming our cul-de-sac.  Yes.  Vacuuming.  With a shop vac.

They're trying to sell their house.  His wife finally retired and they bought a house in North Carolina somewhere.  The house went on the market last week and he's been super double crazy obsessive about the landscaping being just so ever since the for sale sign went up.  Neighbor Man is a crazy lawn worshiper at the best of times but he has now officially gone off the deep end.  I fail to see how vacuuming up random bits of asphalt is going to help the house sell faster.  It makes me want to let Jamie run around naked on the lawn, peeing at will, while the rest of us work on putting a car up on blocks in the driveway.  Just to mess with him.

4.  Speaking of Jamie, he is officially pacifier free.  I've been considering taking it away for awhile now and he was down to using it only while he slept but after talking with another Mom about it (*wave* Hi, Burghbaby!) I decided to strike now while he can't fight about it.  Naps on the first day seemed to go OK with minimal chit chat occurring in the crib before sleep.  Bedtime the first night was hard.  He chatted for two solid hours before finally shutting up and going to sleep.  His morning nap the next day was also difficult - it took an hour for him to go down.  But, afternoon nap that day and bedtime that night were a breeze.  No chit chat, just sleep.  I couldn't believe how easy it was.  No fuss, no muss and it's bye bye paci!

5. Last on the hit parade is the fact that Liam has learned to whistle and he is awfully proud of this fact.  He can't whistle loudly.  He can't whistle a tune.  He can't even whistle more than one note.  But, boy oh boy, does he get as much mileage out of that one note as he possibly can.  He has gotten to a point that he doesn't even realize he's doing it so I repeat the phrase "Liam! Quit whistling!" about eleventy billion times a day.  It's become so annoying to me that I'm ready to send him on a tour of seedy South American prisons so that he can be used to whistle confessions out of criminals.  "Ok, ok!  I'll confess!  JUST MAKE HIM STOP WHISTLING!" If I could translate that into Spanish, I would.

(Because I'm curious, I just hit Google Translate and this is what I got in return:  "¡Ay yi yi! ¡Voy a confesar! ¡Hacerle la parada silbando!") 

I'm honestly unsure how I've managed to retain my sanity this long.  Of course, I'm sure some people question the stability of my sanity to begin with.  ;)

Hodgepodge

1. Ladies and Gentlemen, it's official.  I am fat.  I have reached a weight I have never seen before in my life (outside of being pregnant) and it's disheartening to say the least.  I wish I was doing better with this but I'm not.  I'm lazy and I don't make the time I should to eat right or to exercise.  I admit that the exercise part is damn hard when it's over 90 degrees everyday but I should be eating far better than I am.

So.  It's time to unearth my willpower from where ever it was that I buried it, dust it off, and try it on for size.  It will probably be too small - just like all my clothes - but with a little effort, I should be able to stretch it.  In the immortal words of Shakespeare "once more into the breach." 

I'll let you know if I'm a miserable failure this time, too.

2.  Liam and I spent some time at the community pool today and I just have to ask - what is with all these suburban housewives with perfect bodies and tiny little bikinis?!  I wanted to open a vein right there in the pool with my tubby butt in my speedo tank suit.  I felt like I was hanging out with a bunch of ex-supermodels.  Where are all the real women at?  They say the average woman is a size 12 - not at the pool!  Oh no, these women are working to get up to a size 0.  Pass the Pringles, I'm depressed.

3.  A giant ugly flying beetle type thing hit the walk out patio door last night and scared me half to death.  The thing was so huge I thought a bird or a bat had flown into the window.  It was as big as my palm.

What in the name of the little baby Jesus is that thing?!  I was under the impression that I did not live at the equator (although current temps might belie that remark) where the bugs are as a big as your head.

*shudder*

4.  In a shocking twist, my neighbors did not turn my street into a war zone this Fourth of July.  Our community fireworks were on Saturday the 3rd and I expected at least some shenanigans that night.  Nope.  Not even a single firecracker went off.  On the 4th itself, there were other people setting off god knows what (and I hope you lost a finger while you were at it!) but no one chose to set up camp in my front yard to do it.  Moreover, none of my direct neighbors did it in their yards.  So there were some booms and such, but nothing like it's been in the past and neither of the kids woke up scared out of their minds.  I'll take that with a smile and a nod.

Roundup Time!

1. I have been remiss in updating about the diet. Oh, that pesky diet. Well, the week after I regained 2 pounds, I neither gained nor lost. That was frustrating in the extreme. But, I suspect it was the result of certain womanly cycles because this past week I lost 1.5 lbs. So, yay me! With the weather warming up I've gotten out to walk a few times - not as much as I need or want to but it's better than nothing. Also, I am eating a lot more salads for lunch since it's not cold and I'm not craving an entire pot of macaroni and cheese. ("Thy Mac and Thy Cheese, they comfort me." Hibernation, Chapter 2, Verse 3.)

I've also recently discovered an obsession with pickles, of all things. Did you know they're only 5 calories a spear? Holy hell - crunchy and salty and zingy all at once plus a snack that is almost good for me! Bring on the pickles.

So, if I can keep myself on track, I'm hoping to crack off another pound or so this week. Keep on chugging, Cari.

2. My son informed me the other day that he had a dream about me. This didn't seem so unusual given that he sees me every day. Then he told me that in the dream I was dressed as Slave Leia from Return of the Jedi. I'm fairly certain that no 5 year old boy is going to see that costume in the same way that every other adult sees that costume so I think I'm safe from the whole Oedipal thing for now. Plus, it's kind of a compliment that he thinks I could wear such a get up.

Although the thought of me actually donning it and what I would look like wearing it makes me want to go screaming into the night. That is NOT a good mental picture.

3. A week or so ago, I took Liam to see "How To Train Your Dragon." He had seen a preview of it when we went to see another movie and he had been talking about wanting to go so I got a sitter for Jamie and he and I went as a date. I wasn't expecting much figuring that it was just another kids movie that I would find vaguely amusing and think was just OK. I was wrong.

If you have not yet seen this movie, stop reading this and go look up the nearest theatre and soonest showtime. Then get your ass there and see it. It was FABULOUS. I actually sat on the edge of my seat during the climax of the film with my hands clasped hoping it would all turn out OK. (and of course it does - it's a KID movie!) I still can't decide if I like it better than I liked "Up" and that's saying something because I loved "Up." It was just wonderful. Seriously, go see it.

Also, Liam and I had great fun on our date. :)

4. Jamie is cutting two more teeth. He is making life burdensome on the rest of us. I'm pretty sure that even though he can't talk his thought process goes something like this: "Bitch! Fulfill my needs! NOT FAST ENOUGH, BITCH!"

Yeah. I need a sea of margaritas.

But, it seems as though one might actually be breaking through. *fingers crossed* We'll see what tomorrow brings.

5. I have one more post to write: The Great Retaining Wall Project of 2010. I promise it's coming soon!

A Roundup of Liam Quips

Lately I've had a running list of all the things that Liam has said that I want to blog about. They're all fairly short to explain and I decided to gather them all up into one post.

1. We got Liam a Nintendo DSi for his birthday. This was his big gift from us. Ever since then he's been spending as much time as we'll allow playing the games he has and trying to get better at it. He's learning incredibly quickly. A few days ago he was sitting with Scot after dinner and working on a part of a game (Star Wars, naturally) that he was having some trouble with. Scot was helping him work through it and I was running around doing various chores. As I passed the room they were sitting in I heard Liam say:

"I'm much better than Mommy."

Ha! Too right, kid!

2. We were watching Star Wars: Attack of the Clones the other day. He's only seen it a couple of times and yes, we skip the parts that are inappropriate for him. Anyway, the words that scroll up the screen at the beginning came on and I asked Liam if he needed me to read them to him. He gave me a look that said "what, are you some kind of dumbass, Mom?" and said "Mom, the music is telling us the words!"

Maybe it's just me, but I love that my kid sees a story when he hears music.

3. We've also been going through a rough patch with Liam when it comes to his behavior. I don't know what is going on with him but he's been a disrespectful little toerag a lot of the time lately. I feel like I spend a lot of my day doing nothing but disciplining him. On one of the more difficult days I've had with him recently he popped out with the following two gems:

"I don't love you, Mommy. I only love Daddy."
"I don't like this house. It's boring."

It's going to be a long year.

4. On yet another day while viewing yet another Star Wars movie, this time "The Phantom Menace", Liam finally solved a mystery he'd apparently been working on for awhile. At the end of the movie when Qui Gon, Obi Wan, and Darth Maul are fighting, there is music in the background that has a chorus singing various non-word syllables. Click here to see a clip.

Suddenly, in the middle of watching this battle scene Liam exclaimed "I finally figured out what they're singing!"

Scot and I looked at each other and wondered what was about to come out of his mouth next. We asked him "What do you think they're singing, sweetie?"

He sang, "Qui Gon! Darth Maul!"

Go ahead. Go view the clip. Come back and tell me the kid doesn't have a point.

5. Last, Liam looked at me out of the blue this morning and asked me, "Someday, would you like sell Jamie for 29 cents?"

I think he's trying to tell us something. ;)

Roundup Time

It’s been awhile since I did general round up post so here we go.

1. As of January 4 I have been back on the diet. I have 30 pounds of baby weight that I would like gone as of 6 months ago so I’ve started working in earnest. At last weigh in I had lost 3.6 pounds. I know, Whoop De Doo, Basil. But I’m trying. Changes have been made. I just wish they’d evidence themselves by shrinking the size of my ass. One day at a time, as they say.

2. Jamie is weaned! Yes, ladies and gents, the titty bar is closed. You don’t have to go home but ya can’t stay here. This is yet another reason for my work on the weight loss - I no longer have to eat like a horse to make milk and I don’t have to worry that I’ll jeopardize my supply by dieting. He’s doing well on regular milk and made the transition with nary a hiccup. Now that he’s fully over to milk, my next task is getting him to sleep through the night. He’s very close to that now so I’m hoping a little nudging on my part will do the trick. Oh sweet sleep, how I’ve missed you these last (long!) five years.

3. In other Jamie news, I discovered today that he understands language better than I thought he did. He’s been working on learning to use sippy cups and while he’s mastered cups that have soft spouts he can gum on to get some milk out, he’s had trouble figuring out spouts that require actual sucking. Even being on bottles hadn’t really helped all that much.

Today I gave him a sippy of the sucking variety because the other ones I had were dirty. He played with it for a bit. Chewed on the spout some while working on teeth he has coming in. But he was obviously looking to get the milk.

“Honey,” I said, “you have to suck on it like a bottle if you want the milk.”

I went back to whatever I was doing and a few minutes later turned to look at him. He was sitting on the floor with his head thrown back, the sippy spout in his mouth, sucking back milk like it was the greatest thing on earth. So. One little tip from Mommy and he figured that out.

4. Scot dug up this little gem today that has had both of us snickering. Amusingly written yet full of interesting and little known tidbits.

Four Fun Facts About Sloths

I just want to say that if I had a metabolism that didn’t store fat except for small deposits on my feet I would eat macaroni and cheese every day of the week with a Girl Scout cookie chaser.


5. Lastly, I leave you with Liam. Crazy Man with the Crazy Hair

Thanksgiving Roundup

1. I did not lose 5 pounds by Thanksgiving. However, I'm fairly certain I gained 5 pounds in turkey, dressing, and pumpkin pie alone.

2. The trip to my parents house went fairly well. We borrowed my mother-in-law's Subaru Forrester in an attempt to gain ourselves some cargo space and passenger room only to find out that we probably could have done as well in our Honda Accord. It was a rather cozy 6 hours each way in the car with four people (two in carseats) and a dog. It was the one and only time I've wished that I had a minivan.

It was nice to visit with the my parents and they enjoyed seeing the kids. Maggie got some vet work done by my Dad and is now the proud owner of two gaps in her teeth (she had to have two teeth removed) and a row of stitches on her right hip/flank area (she had a cyst removed). She's a happier dog, though, so I can only assume that her mouth was bothering her even though we had no idea the two teeth needed removal.

I was sick for the first portion of the visit with a nasty cold that left me hacking, nearly voiceless, and choking on my own snot (yeah, you needed that image, eh?). Just about the time that I started feeling better Scot came down with a NASTY migraine and the following day started showing symptoms of my cold. Dude, he cannot catch a break.

Jamie did about as well as I expected him to do with the interruption of his schedule and the necessity of sleeping in the same room as me. Which is to say, not great, not horrendous, but definitely not what I see at home. I'm glad to be home but I know I'm going to spend the next week re-training him to sleep at night.

Liam spent most of his time hanging with Puppa and running himself ragged with the Maggie and Archie (the dogs - Archie is my parents' Cavalier King Charles spaniel). I think he wanted to take Archie home with us - or better yet, just stay there and never come home again. :P

3. I attended my 15 year high school reunion while I was in Michigan. I, unfortunately, only got to stay for about an hour because Jamie had a complete meltdown at home which neither my mother nor my husband could calm so I was called home to deal with him. But, it was nice to see people, they were all really nice to me - even going so far as to offer me hugs in greeting - and it was obvious that my nerves over the event weren't justified. I know that I've changed since high school and it's obvious that most of them have as well. So, the rotten treatment I received at the hands of some of these people is just not important anymore. Now that it's over, I'm kind of bummed that I couldn't stay longer and that even if I could have, I would not have been able to stay out until the wee hours since I have a baby who is still nursing and needed to drive 6 hours the next day. I'm hoping I'll be able to make the 20th reunion when the kids will be a bit older and I'll have a longer leash. :)

4. It is so good to be home. I'm reveling in the quiet of two kids in bed, the husband headed there himself because of his cold, the dog sleeping on her cushion, and the rain on the roof.

Roundup

1. Thanksgiving this year is going to involve a road trip. We’re headed north to my parents’ place. We haven’t seen them for Thanksgiving (or any other holiday, really) since I was pregnant with Liam so this should be a good trip. I’m just hoping that Jamie gets his sleep under control between now and then. Otherwise, this trip is going to suck donkey nuggets. I wonder if they’ve got any spaces open at Gitmo - it couldn’t possibly be worse than what Jamie’s been putting me through lately.

2. In conjunction with Thanksgiving, I also have my 15 year high school reunion. Let me pause a moment here while I breathe into a paper bag. *hyperventilate* Ok, all done now. Anyway, I don’t know how many people will be there and I don’t think I’ve seen a single one of them since graduation day. I’ve reconnected with one or two via Facebook but to say the least I’m a little nervous. I keep flashing back to the scene in “Grosse Pointe Blank” when John and Joan Cusack are discussing reunions.

Martin Blank: Did you go to your reunion.?
Marcella: Yes. It was just as if everyone had swelled.

Yeah. I’ve swelled. Damn baby weight.

3. Jamie, little Nero that he is, has suddenly decided that baby food from a jar? Sucks. He’s become increasingly difficult to feed even his favorite foods. Today I threw up my hands in frustration and started feeding him table foods. I watched him cover himself in avocado at lunch today. But the interesting thing is that if he has something to self-feed, he’ll eat muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch better off the spoon. Sneaky little man.

4. My mother-in-law introduced me to a new and evil cookie recipe this weekend. It’s not only dead simple it’s also sinfully good.

Cake Mix Cookies

1 chocolate cake mix
1/2 cup flour
2/3 cup oil
2 eggs
12 oz chocolate chips

Blend cake mix, flour, oil, and eggs. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop from teaspoon onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 9-11 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool on sheet for 2 minutes then remove to a cooling rack.

Voila! Scrumptiousness.

I keep looking at this recipe and finding yummy ways to vary it. Mint Chocolate Chips! Sin in a cookie, I’m telling you. Peanut Butter chips! Mmm, mmm, Good. How about a vanilla cake mix with cinnamon chips? Orgasmic!

I foresee this becoming a staple in our house. And I wonder why I swell.

Roundup

1. I have officially reached whale proportions. I need to lose 30 pounds and I need to do it last week. Since I have two small kids going to gym isn't exactly convenient. So, it's time to step up the yard work/housework regime and cut back on the crap food. Oh sweet Kit Kats, how I'll miss thee.

If I can drop 5 pounds by Thanksgiving I'll consider that a victory.

2. Liam cracks us up all the time. His latest was using the phrase "two headed duck crosser." We gave him the "buh?" face the first time he used it and asked where he heard that. He said "Flushed Away!" We had watched the movie earlier in the day so we thought about it, pondered it, reverse engineered it and realized that he meant "two faced double crosser." Ha!

3. Jamie is racing through his developmental milestones. He'll be 8 months in a couple of days and he is crawling, pulling up, and cruising with abandon. He is just itching to chase his brother and the dog. At this rate he'll be walking before he's a year old. I know that all parents say this but I can't believe he's growing so quickly. Then again, I'm shocked that Liam will be 5 in a few months. How did that happen?

4. I had my first parental experience of the kid-up-all-night-puking illness. That? Sucked. I won't gross you out with the details but the sheer lack of sleep was heinous and I'm used to getting less sleep. What's worse is that it was the first night in forever that Jamie slept really well and instead of sleeping I was cleaning up puke. Yay parenthood!