Through The Years

Not Quite Right

2011-08-23T20:09:00.000-04:00

The other day, I woke up not feeling quite right. At first I thought that I must be really hungry, so I tried to eat, but eating made me a bit queasy so I assumed that I most likely had caught a stomach bug. I spent the day downing Pepto and trying to figure out why on earth I felt so weird.

Even though it FELT like I had a stomach bug, I didn't have any of the obvious symptoms, aside from the pain in my stomach. I started to wonder if maybe I didn't have a weird case of heart burn or possibly even a stomach ulcer. It progressively got weirder throughout the day and after Bill finally got home from teaching at the Red Cross (it felt like he was there forever!) I was able to curl up and take a nap while he took care of the kids. I attempted to eat something for dinner but all it did was make me feel even worse, so I gave up and while the boys spent some time with my parents, Bill and I settled in to watch a movie that we'd been dying to see with my sister.

Right at the end of the movie I started to get increasingly uncomfortable. The weird pain had started creeping from the center of my abdomen down my entire right side. I asked Bill what I thought was most likely a really stupid question- "Where is my appendix??". He looked at me like I was an idiot, told me where it was located (on my right side) and informed me that if I had ruptured my appendix I would be in agony on the floor, and not watching a movie.

Fair enough. I've heard about appendicitis before, enough to know that people say it can feel worse than child birth. I sort of crossed that off of my list of possibilities and assumed it was most likely a ruptured ovarian cyst or something similar. Finally my mom convinced me that I needed to just call my on-call primary care physician. By this point it's around 11pm on Saturday evening. I call. I tell the nurse my symptoms and she tells me "OK now it's time to decide whether you're going to go to the ER yourself or whether I am going to call 911 for you" at which point I sort of flipped out, because I have MAJOR issues about riding in ambulances. I would have to be unconscious. That's pretty much the only way you'd get me into one. I flat our refused the ambulance and told her I would drive myself.

Bill starts getting ready but I argue that I don't think I'm going to be staying, they will probably only give me an ultrasound, see that I ruptured a cyst, and send me home, so there is no point in him driving me up and then having to pick me up at some ungodly hour of the morning having to drag the kids from their beds. He insisted on driving me, and I insisted that it was silly because I'd be back in a few hours. He reminded me that I had said the same thing the LAST time I drove myself to the emergency room.... and I ended up having emergency surgery to liberate my gallbladder. I didn't feel in nearly as much pain this time as I did then. I pressed. He relented, and I drove myself.

The hospital was super busy when I got there, so I put a one hour time limit on my waiting room stay. If I was still in the waiting room one hour from the time I got there, I was going to go home. After about 45 minutes I asked the young woman next to me how long she had been there. Her reply?? Four hours. Four. Hours. At that point I started putting all of my stuff away in my purse and got up to leave just in time for my name to be called by the triage nurse.

Damn.

Grudgingly, I go back, do all of the weight/blood pressure/insurance stuff and get taken to a room. Meanwhile, I'm pretty sure Four Hour Waiting Room Chick wanted to murder me. Pretty quickly I was seen by the ER physician who said I sounded like a textbook case of appendicitis. I rolled my eyes a bit.

And then it REALLY started to hurt. It went from being a gnawing, constant 4 or 5 on the pain scale to being an awful, stabbing 7 or 8. At this point, I wasn't doubting anymore. My CT scan came back and the doctor let me know that I was being admitted and the surgeon was on his way in.

The good news- The surgeon on call the day was the exact same surgeon who was on call the night I had my last and most epic gallbladder attack. We're old pals! He joked with me that I need to stop having children, because it seems as though every time I need emergency surgery, I have a baby just a few months old at home. I am fast running out of obsolete and/or unnecessary bodily organs that he can harvest.

All in all, it was a bit of a scary ordeal but I acknowledge just how lucky I ended up being. It was caught early, before it had actually ruptured and was just on its way to that point. Had I ruptured, my hospital stay would have been much longer and recovery would be much more difficult. It's two days later and I'm exhausted still but already feeling a bit better. Remembering to take it easy when you have three kids is no small thing. Yesterday after coming home from the hospital I tried doing way too much and really felt it after a while. Speaking of which, here are some totally random pictures I took documenting my hospital stay.

The hospital 'dinner' that almost made me cry. I hadn't eaten for what felt like days, and didn't realize when they brought the food try in that my doctor had ordered me on a liquid diet. Beef broth, a popsicle, and jello. Epic meal fail.

Facetime chatting with Jakob, who is showing me how messy the living room was. I look like a total hottie, don't I?? :D

I ended up in a room with a REALLY gorgeous view of the city. Too bad my roomie wasn't nearly as pleasant.

A picture Kayleah sent me of poor Bill completely exhausted, fell asleep mid sentence.

Nobody looks good in a hospital gown. Nobody!

IV. Fun times!

I think I'm going to go take a nap for now, but someone remind me to tell the Roomie From Satan story next time I blog :)

The Stuff I've Learned

2011-08-11T21:53:00.001-04:00

A few of my friends recently have become first time parents, and while I'm super thrilled for them, I can't help but think back over 8 years ago when I became a first time parent. I've learned a ton of really useful stuff in the past 8 years, but at the same time, I've learned some completely random, off the wall, and sort of crazy stuff that nobody ever tells you about in any of the fancy parenting books you can buy. So here's a short and incomplete list of the random stuff I've learned since becoming a parent:

A newborn baby can fart louder than most adults. Only unlike most adults, a newborns farts are usually productive. And by 'productive' I mean it's time to bust out the baby wipes.
We could repave roads with meconium
This one sort of correlates with the above- an 8lb infant can produce 9lbs of poop and/or vomit in one day. If you don't believe me, you have obviously never had a newborn.
You will spend an insane amount of money on toys and gear for your children through the years. They will all sit on shelves gathering dust while your child/ren play with cardboard boxes, burp rags, and paper plates.
Never assume a visit to the pediatricians office will be less than an hour. In July, it probably will be. In December, cancel all of your plans for the day and bring a book. Or two.
Some things can and should be scrimped out on (toys, clothes, books, bouncy seats, swings, etc, can all be obtained from a friend, a thrift store, or a consignment shop) but some corners should never be cut. Car Seats. You are strapping your tiny, fragile, helpless infant/toddler/child into a steel and plastic contraption that will hurl around at rates as high as 75 (or higher if you're a big speeder!)MPH surrounded by other steel and plastic contraptions (some of which are HUGE-think tractor trailer) who are going just as fast, if not faster. You may be a good driver, but all it takes is a split second of distraction or another driver making a reckless decision and all that is standing between your child and tragedy is the seat they are strapped into. Get a good one. And for the love of God learn how to use it PROPERLY!
This relates to the above but deserves to be its own bullet point- Figuring out how to install and use a car seat properly is about as difficult as learning how to speak Gaelic from a Japanese speaking teacher. There is no shame in asking a professional for help.
If you think a newborn that doesn't sleep is frustrating, wait until you have a newborn that doesn't sleep, a toddler who doesn't listen, and a school-ager who won't wake up in the morning.
No matter how good the movie is, once you watch it for the 89274th time, you will want to chuck it through the window.
You may not realize it now, but one day you will come to realize that boogers, vomit, and poop are totally acceptable dinner table subjects. Well... maybe not acceptable, but certainly unavoidable.
People who have never had children are better parents than you are. Just ask them. Or don't ask them, they'll tell you anyway.
Never ask a woman how far along she is. If you do not understand where I'm going with this- some day you will.
The moment people realize or find out you are pregnant, your body and medical choices will immediately become public property. People will touch you, perfect strangers will ask what you are doing with your breasts, your vagina, your childs penis, etc, etc, etc. People will expect answers, and no matter what, you will get into trouble. If you are breastfeeding, you will offend the formula crew. If you are formula feeding, the breastfeeders are gonna get judgy. If you tell people it's a private matter between you and your baby, then you're a pretentious bitch who thinks she's better than everyone else.
Turn off Geotagging. It's creepy.
Take a lot of pictures. But then make sure you put the camera down and have some fun, too. There's nothing crappier than spending the day watching your family do something awesome through a camera and realizing at the end of the day that all you did was walk around and snap pictures.
Babies need snuggled. Snuggle them. One day your baby will no longer want to be snuggled anymore and you will realize just how desperately you wish you could turn back time and enjoy those wonderful sleepy cuddles just one more time. So do it now.
Your house will not clean itself. I know this to be true, trust me. I've spent the past 8 years waiting for it to get with the game.
I don't care how amazing, independent, and/or self sufficient you are. One of these days something will happen and you will want nothing more than to be able to run to your parents and let them fix things. Being a grown up is a harsh reality, made even harsher when you are someone elses parent and THEY are looking to YOU to fix things.
Chances are, nobody thinks that your child is as brilliant, cute, or clever as you do. That's ok though, they're just in denial ;)
Not a single fast food place on the planet tastes as good as home cooked meals, especially home cooked meals made by someone else (Shout out to Robyn!!) when you can't cook for yourself.
A child with a 105.2 degree fever can still run through the house like a maniac, meanwhile when I get a sniffle I want to curl up and die
There's a lot of advice you will get that will be outdated, not work for your family, or be downright strange. Be nice with the advice givers, because one of these days you will consider yourself an 'old pro' at this parenting gig and you'll catch yourself giving unsolicited advice to a wide eyed first time parent who knows everything about everything and you'll remember when you were the wide eyed first time parent who knew everything about everything without knowing anything.

Parenting is fun and scary and exciting and a wild roller coaster of emotions that will not end until you are no longer on this earth. You learn something new every single day. Embrace it.

No Summer Slide Here!

2011-07-20T23:29:00.000-04:00

Growing up, the only summer slide I had any knowledge of were the slides found at the playground (which we frequented). Now that Jakob is in school, and entering into third grade in the fall, the summer slide takes on a whole new meaning. I've blogged before about his academic struggles and although now he reads fluently at the top of his class, he still struggles with his math.

I take struggling with math seriously- because math is by far my most difficult subject. I have difficulty remembering the concepts, formulas, theories, and most of the time struggle with applying them in the appropriate ways. Luckily, my field of study is Social Work, so it doesn't hold me back from my chosen profession... but my dream was always to be a doctor. I have no doubt at all about my abilities in every other subject area- except math. Not having a solid foundation in math completely botched my dream of being the next Dr. House. I don't want that for my kids. I want them to pick a profession based on what they love without being constrained by something as silly as numbers.

With that in mind, Bill and I have been doing a ton of work with Jakob already this summer on his math facts. We got him addition flash cards that he's getting extremely good at, subtraction flash cards that we'll add in when we feel as though he's got a good mastery of all of the addition concepts, and lastly we got very basic multiplication cards so that if he gets really good at both addition and subtraction, we can challenge him a bit with the multiplication. Our goal for him is that he will know basic math facts, like 8+9=17 or 13-3=10 on sight without having to count things out with his fingers by the time he goes back to school in the fall.

We also are working on skip counting. He's totally mastered the 2's and 5's up to 100, but he was really struggling with the 3's and 4's. We started working on the 3's last night and he's already mastered up to 30. Once he has them down up to 100, we'll start working on the 4's (while still refreshing all of the others as well).

Re-reading this I realize how annoying I sound. I promise that we're not spending our entire summer with our children sitting at the dining room table running math drills- we've actually had a ton of fun with it. The other night we were all doing our chores together and every time Jakob walked through the living room (where Bill was cleaning) from the bedroom (where the kids and I were cleaning) Bill made him answer a basic addition question. If he got the question wrong, he had to do as many push ups as the answer was (so if the answer was 3, he had to do 3 push ups). We all had SO MUCH FUN with it. Jakob was taking stuff out of the bedroom to put into the trash, even though I had a trash bag with me in the bed room, just so that he could be asked a question. And within about an hour of doing this, Jericho was in on the game and being quizzed on his colors, shapes, and numbers. If Jakob wants to spend some time on the computer, first he has to do all of his skip counting perfectly.

So I'm really hoping that when he goes into 3rd grade this fall, he'll be ahead of the game and not be so overwhelmed by material that he doesn't understand.

Unpopular Opinions

2011-07-05T17:25:00.000-04:00

I swore that I wouldn’t do a status update about the Casey Anthony verdict but since I’ve just read no fewer than 40 status updates about it, I’m going to throw my opinion into the ring via blog post (because my opinion on this totally matters in the grand scheme of things). I want to preface this by saying- I think that Casey Anthony is as guilty as guilty could possibly be. I base that opinion off of nothing more than what I’ve seen on the news. I have watched the trial coverage closely (not the coverage done by biased media outlets- but the actual trial itself) and while most of it was painfully boring- I came out of it knowing one thing: Casey Anthony would not be found guilty. My guess was that the trial would end in a mistrial or a not guilty verdict.

So many people on Facebook, Twitter, and the Bloggosphere are screaming the justice was not served without taking the time to open their eyes and realize that justice HAS been served, it’s just not the justice that so many expected.

The prosecution took a huge gamble prosecuting a woman for murder based ENTIRELY on circumstantial evidence in a case that nobody could prove actually was murder. I can only hope that if, for whatever reason I ever find my future in the hands of 12 of my peers, they will be as impartial as this jury was.

Our judicial system is by no means perfect, nor is Casey Anthony- in fact, it seems like she was a pretty shabby excuse for a mother and possibly a human being. But our judicial system has spoken- Not guilty, and if I were on that jury, I would have agreed 100% with the final verdict despite the fact that I think she did indeed kill her daughter. The evidence was just not there, and you can not send a person to jail for life or to death without a single shred of credible evidence.

In the end- a beautiful little girl is dead and an already dysfunctional family appears broken beyond repair. If you believe in God you’ll know that true justice will be served when the time is right and will be completely out of the hands of mere mortals. If you believe in Karma… well… we all know what sort of woman Karma is. Let us all try to move on from this story having learned something valuable- that justice isn’t always what we want it to be and that none of us should forget the legacy that Caylee Anthony leaves behind. Countless children go missing, are abused, and are murdered every single day in this country without the public ever hearing their names. They disappear into the night without a trace, a voice, or a champion. Caylee has been found, brought home, and laid to rest- we need to put our effort into making sure that this story stops being repeated in the lives of so many of our young ones.

The Process of Finding Me

2011-05-10T17:42:00.000-04:00

I was young when I got married. It was just a handful of months past my 18 birthday. I was not only young, but scandalously PREGNANT! Granted, I was only a few days pregnant, but it's still scandalous, right? Right. A lot of people have told me that my husband and I are 'lucky' to still be together despite all of the statistics on marriage in general, and especially marriages that start during the teen years and include children that early. That's a huge load of crap. Luck has had absolutely nothing to do with it, hard work has. We've worked hard to have a strong, healthy, uplifting, and passionate partnership all the while going to school, working, and raising our children. But my marriage isn't what this blog entry is going to be about. It won't be about my children either. It's going to be about me.

Me. Me. ME!

Gabriella is just over 6 weeks old now, and a few weeks ago I was sitting feeding her and thinking about life (because what else is there to do while you're feeding a newborn?) in general. I got to thinking about being a wife, and being a mother, and wondered what else I was. What legacy will I leave my kids? Wife and mother. Wife. Mother. Well, that's nice. And peachy. And LeaveIttoBeaverish.

That was when it hit me. When the Hell did I lose myself?? I can't pinpoint a time exactly, but I'm pretty sure it was around the same time I became a young wife and mother back to back. I have a ton of interests... but none of which have been pursued because I'm too busy being a wife and mother. I love style and fashion... but I stick to khakis, jeans, yoga pants, and polo shirts because that's what moms seem to be expected to wear. As a young, brand new mother, I desperately wanted to conform to what I thought society wanted mothers to look like. I've had my fair share of "mom hair" through the years, because I'm so busy being a wife and mother I don't have time to maintain a fun, funky, youthful hair style that I would prefer. I used to love playing sports, running, writing, and snowboarding... but I haven't done any of those things (with the exception of writing, obviously, because I'm writing right now) in years. I'm too busy scrapbooking and cooking and doing what moms are supposed to do.

Not that I don't love cooking (I could experiment with baking various goodies all day long!) and scrapbooking (I'm totally fine with looking at pictures of my gorgeous little ones for hours on end) but I'm more than that.

I've always been a bit of a liberal, non-conformist type... so the realization that I have totally shoved myself into the wife/mother stereotype box annoys me.

So I decided to do something about it. I'm reclaiming me.

Step One- I went to the salon with my sister (not to be confused with going to the saloon with my sister, which would be a whole different blog entry altogether!) to get my hair done. Hubby and I figured out that it had been over two years since the last time I had gone out by myself and done something just for me. Two years. TWO. YEARS. Seriously, that's crazy. My 'me time' always ended up being me going grocery shopping without the kids or birthday shopping for the kids or Christmas shopping for the kids... it always related to my wife/mother status in some way. This time, it was ALL ME! Instead of getting my hair done like I normally would (short and easy to style) I only got a trim, and I dyed it. I went from brunette to almost black... and hot pink. Yup. Hot pink!

It's not as wild and crazy as it sounds, it's actually pretty tasteful looking (as tasteful as hot pink hair can look) and not too in-your-face. But it's pink, and I always have wanted pink hair. I never went pink because what kind of wife does that? What kind of mother goes to soccer games or karate practice with pink hair?

I do. That's who!

Step Two- I'm getting my body back. I'm 6 weeks postpartum and have been given the OK to start working out again (everything but abs, I'm not allowed to do anything with my abs until I'm 3 months postpartum). I got our gym membership back up and running again, and hopefully I'll be back up and running again soon too. It's pretty daunting because I've been on limited activity, then modified bed rest, then full bed rest since the end of last summer, so I'm about as out of shape as a person can possibly be. For too long I've used the excuse of being a mother for letting myself go physically. There was always an excuse... gyms were too expensive, I couldn't take time away from the kids, I felt guilty for leaving hubby to take care of the kids, etc, etc, etc. No more excuses, this mama is gonna have a super hot bod... some day. Hopefully. Eventually. After a lot of work (and I mean a LOT! Pregnancy does not treat me well when I climb on the scale!).

That's only steps one and two. I'm not sure what steps three through infinity will be in the claiming back of me, but I'll keep you up to date as I figure things out. Maybe I'll put together my own grunge band or audition for a few local theater productions... anything that doesn't scream "I'M A MOMMY!". No gardening or book clubs here.

A Womanly Art

2011-04-04T13:46:00.001-04:00


Jakob giving Briella breast milk from a bottle!

Breast feeding.

Ohmygod. Without a doubt it's the hardest thing I've ever done. In my life. Ever. I feel as though something so natural should come to me more easily, and I really struggle when I hear people talking about how much a breeze breastfeeding is, or how they make too much milk, or the worst.... how they can't wait until their milk dries up because they aren't going to breastfeed.

With both boys I failed, miserably. Or I should probably say that my body failed both myself and my kids. When I had Jakob I was so young that I admit I didn't put a whole lot of effort into it. When I never saw a drop of colostrum, and never experienced the engorgement that other women always spoke about I just figured my tatas didn't work and used formula. It was a bummer, but I got over it pretty quickly.

We wanted Jericho so desperately for so long that when I finally got and STAYED pregnant with him, I devoured everything I could find on breastfeeding. I read every book, every website, every brochure, every everything. I wanted the bond of breastfeeding and I wanted the health benefits for the baby. Once again, my body failed me. Only this time, I actually worked at it. I went so far as to start taking an anti-nausea drug called Reglan, whose side effect is inducing lactation! I was pumping constantly and even then I only produced a grand total over 24 hours of one half of an ounce. I was so miserable and so depressed I finally gave up after a few weeks because of the emotional toll it was taking on me. I would pump and cry and feed him a teeny little half an ounce of breastmilk at the end of the day and cry. I berated myself, I berated my body, I berated the authors of all of the books and pamphlets and brochures who make it seem like breast feeding is the easiest and most natural thing in the world. The hardest part is that when you google 'low or no milk supply' you'll find website after website, and article after article that tells you that pretty much all women produce enough for their baby and if they feel their supply is low, they're doing something wrong.

Way to make a hormonal, emotional, sleep deprived new mother hate herself and her own body.

So with this baby I went into things desperate to make it happen at least once, because it's entirely likely that this will be my last chance. I nursed constantly in the hospital, but her weight was in a total free fall from 7lbs4oz down to 6lbs4oz. She lost a pound. The doctors and nurses were VERY supportive of breastfeeding but I could see there was some definite concern about her weight loss. Finally I tried a Supplemental Nursing System, which is basically a teensy little tube attached to a bottle of formula that you can slide into the side of their mouths while they nurse and they'll get formula, and hopefully some breastmilk, while at the same time your breasts are still getting the stimulation of the baby sucking.

This sort of worked, the only problem was that she only got a few sucks in before she'd get exhausted and fall asleep.... so her weight continued to go down. Finally I broke down and asked for a bottle of formula. I'll never forget feeding that to her. I felt like a total failure, rocking her with a bottle of formula in my hand.... crying. Poor Bill felt so awful that there was really nothing he could do to make me feel better... but at the end of the day I knew she needed something and that I couldn't give her that something. I tried pumping in the hospital and couldn't even get a full drop of colostrum out, so it was pretty obvious that she went for three days with absolutely nothing. It was time.

Here it is, 9 days later, and I'm ecstatic to say that roughly 75% of her daily feedings come from me! I'm on Reglan again, and a number of other herbal supplements known for their milk boosting properties, and pump at least every two hours. I still try to get her to latch on, but artificial nipples have spoiled her rotten, because there's so much instant gratification to them. The second she sucks, there's milk available to her, whereas with me, she's got to suck for at least a minute before things start moving. I still try and figure that even if she just uses me as a pacifier every now and then, we're still getting that bonding time, and sometimes I'll bust out the SNS and hook it up to a bottle of breast milk, that way she's getting her meal, I'm getting the breast stimulation, and we're both getting the bonding experience.

I don't know how long I can maintain this. Right now I'm LUCKY if I get an ounce and a half from both sides every two hours. She eats around 3oz in each feeding, so sometimes I can give her a full breast milk feeding, but typically we have to supplement with a bit of formula until she is satisfied. Hopefully I'll start making more than that so that as she gets bigger and eats more at a time, I can increase how much she is getting from me, but I'm not terribly optimistic about that. I'm just happy that I'm able to do it right now, and love knowing that she's getting all of the wonderful health benefits that I can possibly give her.

Baby Makes Five!

2011-03-28T16:18:00.000-04:00

As most all of you probably know by now, on Saturday morning at 10:42am we welcomed our third baby into the world. Gabriella Rae Bondi came out a shockingly teensy 7lbs4oz and is 19 1/2 inches long. She made her appearance via emergency csection at exactly 39 weeks gestation, and came out making as much drama as she made the whole time she was in there!

To start at the beginning- My last entry focus on the ECV that we had done in an attempt to turn Gabriella. She staunchly refused to budge an inch, so our csection was scheduled for April 1st and we prepared ourselves to wait it out. Little did we know that when the ECV kicked me into labor slightly that day, it would continue through the weekend and get really intense on Tuesday evening while we were out grocery shopping. I wasn't feeling transition or anything that dramatic, but I was definitely to the point where I was breathing through contractions and having to rock back and forth to ease myself through them. On Wednesday there had been no change so I called my OB and was brought in for a biophysical profile (an extensive ultrasound and nonstress test to check on the overall wellness of the baby) and a cervical check. Despite having some very intense contractions and having them record on the monitor, because there was no change in my cervix I went back home to wait it out some more.

By my regularly scheduled appointment on Friday I was exhausted. I had been in labor on and off for eight days, and heavier labor since Tuesday evening. Emotionally, physically, and mentally I was so worn down that when my wonderful midwife Susan checked my cervix and said I had made absolutely NO changes at all, I actually started to cry. I've struggled with how I feel about my body through this entire pregnancy with feeling like it was betraying me, and this was sort of the straw that broke the pregnant lady's water. At least if my cervix had changed I would feel like my body was getting something done properly instead of being frustrated about the complete lack of any progress whatsoever.

Because it had been days since the last time I had slept decently (thanks a lot for keeping me up all night long for nights on end, contractions. I appreciate it) Susan prescribed me a sleeping pill that is safe to take during pregnancy. I took it late Friday evening. I woke up Saturday morning and KNEW this time that it was go time. I'm not sure what exactly, but something had definitely changed, probably the fact that my entire body relaxed for the first time in a long time. We called up, and were told to come on over. We dragged my awesome sister Kayleah out of her cozy warm bed to stay with the boys and busted a move. She was really the only call we made because of all the false alarms we had already been through we figured we'd just go ahead and wait until we knew something.

From the moment we got to the hospital, things seemed to happen REALLY fast. Like, OHMYGOSH fast. My OB, Dr. Marziale (Dr. M from now on!) was waiting for us in L&D, checked my cervix immediately and sure enough, I was dilating. If Gabriella wasn't breech, this wouldn't be a big deal and I would have been sent home to do a lot of walking and spicy food eating and all sorts of other silly things to move things along faster. Because of her breech presentation, all it meant was that instead of getting a scheduled csection, I was going to have an emergency csection.

Holy smokes.

Just like the ECV, no amount of reading or watching videos or asking questions could even begin to prepare me for the actuality of having a csection delivery. Instead of having an epidural, I had a spinal. I was skeptical about its ability to keep me numb through the entire procedure, but I'm happy (and relieved!) to say that I didn't feel my body being cut into at all. In fact, I didn't even realize I was being cut into until my anesthesiologist asked me if I could feel it. It was so weird, because I could feel my skin being touched, but I just assumed they were washing me off or something. Not once did I ever guess they were halfway done with getting her out by that point!

Another similarity to the ECV was my blood pressure totally tanking again.... so I had a shot of epinephrine and that helped quite a bit.

I really struggled with the fact that I wouldn't be able to take part in or witness her actual birth, so I had Bill stand up and take pictures of the entire thing! I figured that if I couldn't take part in it the least I could do was see it all later on.

Once she was out and I got the chance to see her, all I could say was "OHMYGOD she is TINY!". We (Dr. M included!) were all expecting a much larger baby, so the fact that she came out significantly less than 8lbs was a huge shock. At this point, my anesthesiologist asked if I wanted some medicine that would basically make me sleep for the rest of the surgery but I was feeling pretty good so I declined because I wanted to be as aware as possible during Gabriella's birth. All that changed about five minutes later when I all of a sudden had this painful sensation of being punched or kicked in the chest. I mentioned something to Dr. M and she told me that my bowels did NOT like being messed with and that she was putting them back in where they belonged. At that point, I told Mr. Anesthesiologist that I would happily take whatever that magic potion was in his little syringe. Within seconds I was floaty and feeling wonderful. I was aware of what was going on around me, I could hear Gabriella crying and carrying on, I could hear Dr. M and the nurses talking, but I felt so heavy I couldn't really move much or talk... not that I cared to at that point.

The surgery itself was easy peasy with the exception of the weird bowel pain thing, it was that night when things got a little touch and go. I was put on a morphine pump as the spinal was wearing off and I was able to press the button every six minutes for immediate pain relief. Only, I had no idea I could click it every six minutes, so I was waiting sometimes up to half an hour before clicking and by that point the pain would be enough that the tiny bit of morphine coming through the pump just wasn't enough. Plus I had my all time favorite put in again, the urine catheter. "Discomfort" would be putting it mildly.

Once I was brought over to recovery it was found that I was bleeding quite a bit more heavily than anyone liked, so I was given pitocin through my IV to force my uterus to contract and hopefully to slow the bleeding down. That hurt like a son of a gun, because I had the catheter in, was being given pitocin, and every ten minutes the nurses were coming in to do a manual external uterus massage. All in addition to having a giant stapled closed incision. Eventually my bleeding slowed and I was able to be moved over to the maternity wing. My nurse told me that within a few hours I could get the catheter out but that I would have to get up to go pee and at that point I would have the morphine pump removed. I was dead honest with her and told her I wasn't sure I wanted the catheter out yet because I wasn't sure I was ready to handle life without my trusty morphine pump. Oral meds just didn't seem as kick ass as a morphine pump.... but my extreme dislike of the catheter won out and within a few hours I was asking for the nurse to come back and take it out.

This was the point at which I realized I'm not nearly as tough as I'd like to think I am. The catheter and morphine came out, and I attempted to get to the bathroom. One hour later and in tears of agony and complete frustration, I finally finished the ten step journey from my bed to the bathroom and back again. It was, without a doubt, the most awful pain I have ever experienced in my entire life. It gave me a new framework for that pain scale question. Without a doubt that bathroom trip qualifies as my new "10" on the pain scale. When I finally got back to my bed the nurse gave me a shot of something that was more wonderful than unicorns and ice cream. I have no recollection of what it was, all I remember was not even caring that I had to get a shot in my butt as long as it took the pain away. That was when she told me I hadn't been using the morphine pump incorrectly and I had inadvertantly let my pain get out of control, which was why I was in such an extreme amount of it.

Now here I am and it's been two days. We should be heading home tomorrow.... and I'm feeling a ton better than I was on Saturday night, but I feel like I'm such a long way from being myself. I'm completely dependent upon my oral pain meds (Motrin and Percocet) and still in a ton of discomfort.

It's funny, but Kayleah and I had an interesting talk last night about whether I'd have done things differently if I 'knew then' what I 'know now' in regards to the csection. I think that if someone had told me back in July that I would get pregnant and it would end in an emergency csection I probably would have hauled tail to the OB to get as much birth control as they would be willing to pour down my throat. It's sad, but true. I think if I had known the outcome way back then, I'd have made a different choice. Which is why it's probably a very good thing that we don't get let in on these matters beforehand. However, now that I have her here with us, I look at her and know I would go through a million Saturday Night Bathroom Trips if it meant having her in our lives. She's worth every second of the pain and fear.


Waiting for the fun to start

I had no idea I was chopped open already here


Feet first, stubborn to the bitter end!

The first time I got to touch my daughter.

Beady little eyes

She's so amazingly alert!

Three men and a princess

Her daddy is totally smitten

Dr. Marziale- Best OBGYN in the entire state!

She's got her eye on you!

The boys are absolutely crazy over her.

Sleepy little girl!

External Cephalic Version

2011-03-17T18:32:00.000-04:00

Nasal Cannula. Ugh!

I had one today. It's a procedure they do in an attempt to get a breech (butt/feet first) or transverse (sideways) baby into a head down position for a vaginal birth.

Lemme tell you, no amount of reading or asking or discussing could have prepared me for how completely an ECV would suck. They suck. In a big, big way. I would much rather have a totally natural vaginal birth than go through an ECV again.

Here's how my day went:

I had to check into the hospital at 6:30am, with an empty stomach. They got me admitted into labor and delivery in just a few minutes and even though I thought it would be at least 9:30am before they started the whole process, everyone was in my room and ready to go by 7:30. After discussing all of the risks with each different person (risk of the ECV with the OB, risk of the epidural with anesthesia, risk of IV complications with the nurse... etc....etc....etc. Fun liability stuff!) we got the ball rolling.

First in was my IV. I have horrible veins. Really and truly horrible. The last time I was in L&D when I was around 22 weeks, the nurse stuck me 4 or 5 times, then gave up and called up IV therapy. The IV therapist got there and after about 30 minutes she gave up as well. I didn't end up with an IV that day, but I had to sit there and drink a TON of water. Anyway, today was no different. Getting an IV placed was hell, and finally they had one of the guys from anesthesia do it. He got it on his first try, but he put it into a place in my hand that is super bony and was right where I bend my wrist, so pretty much every movement I made felt horrible, despite having it taped into place with at least a roll of white medical tape.

Next up was an epidural. Some OB's will do this procedure with just muscle relaxers, mine refuses. Apparently it's very painful for the mother (HA! Little did I know that 'very painful' would translate into 'OMG Please stop before you crack my ribs!') without the epi, and less likely to be successful. So there were three lovely people from anesthesia ready and willing to assist. It took FOUR TRIES to get an epidural placed correctly because of some back/hip injuries I sustained previously. The anesthesiologist even suggested I get myself to a chiropractor ASAP after this baby is born to see if they can help realign things back there. I may just have to do that.

After the epidural was in, it was go time. In my little bitty room I had 1 OB, 2 L&D Nurses, 3 anesthesiologists, and 1 ultrasound tech. It was totally a full house.

The OB covers me in gel and gets to work while the ultrasound tech keeps track of exactly where the baby is and the baby's heart rate. Within about two minutes I had this weird, woozy.... hard-to-describe feeling. It was a floaty, fuzzy, generally odd sensation. I tried to tell the anesthesiologists about it but I was having trouble forming words that made any sense. Right away my BP cuff went off and it turns out that my BP totally tanked. I was down to 40/30. In went a shot of something (I'm pretty sure it was epinephrine) , I was put on a nasal cannula with oxygen, and within a minute or two I was a bit shaky but feeling totally normal again. The ECV went on.... and on.... and on. I swear I thought it was never going to end. The OB tried so hard that she was on her knees on the bed beside me, beet red, and soaked in sweat. I jokingly told her that I hope she didn't waste her time getting up early to go to the gym this morning. She didn't!

After around 20 minutes and 3 separate attempts, my OB gave me a really sad look. I so knew in that moment that it was a bust. She knows how much I want to avoid a c-section, and she looked really crushed that despite her best effort, the baby just wouldn't turn. I didn't cry.... but I sure was close. I hate everything about the idea of having a csection. It goes against all of the pretty visions I had of having this baby. Plus, I know that if we ever are insane enough to do this again, my risk of having to have a repeat c-section are high.

I had to stay at the hospital for around 6 hours after the procedure because I had started to have regular and fairly intense contractions. I needed some Terabutaline which didn't seem to help much, but I finally got to go home after they checked my cervix and noted that despite all of the contracting, my cervix wasn't changing at all (thanks to there being no big old noggin smashed up against it!). Waiting there on the monitor might have been the worst part, because they left the epidural in on the off chance they would have to take me back to the OR.... I couldn't get up to pee. The nurse thought I might be contracting so intensely because of a full bladder. So onto the catheter. Without a doubt, that sucked the very most. All of the epi medicine was already completely worn off, so every single time I so much as moved, that thing was digging into me. Torture. Without a doubt. Now every time I pee (which is pretty much once every half an hour because I went through 5 bags of saline while I was there!) it burns like a son of a gun (how's that for too much information??).

At the end of the day, I'm glad we tried. As horribly as it hurt, and as scary as the whole passing out/BP thing was, at least if I do end up with a section I know that I did absolutely EVERYTHING to avoid it. Csection is scheduled for April 1st! Hopefully this baby will get in gear and turn herself properly!

What Babies Need

2011-03-08T09:16:00.000-05:00

I'm a member of a birth board where all of the mamas due in April of 2011 can get together and chat. It's nice to drop in every now and then to chat with people who are at the same place I'm at, but something I noticed recently has been driving me CRAZY! All of these mothers have super long lists of things their babies "NEED!". Things like bottle sterilizers, wipes warmers, a pack and play, bassinet, cosleeper, crib, swing, bouncy seat, baby tub, pacifier holders, pacifier clips, car seat covers, stroller umbrellas (not to be confused with an umbrella stroller), Changing table, changing table mat, changing table mat cover, moses basket, hooded towels, mobile, exersaucer, jolly jumper, sound machine, humidifier, dehumidifier, vaporizer, baby toys, video monitor, hooded towels, baby washcloths, powder, lotion, shampoo, body wash, fancy laundry soap, etc, etc, etc. Seriously, that's just the stuff I can think of off of the top of my head. If I put some real effort into it I bet I could make a list at least double that.

I can't wrap my head around the fact that people actually buy all of that stuff for a NEWBORN! They are babies for heavens sake! What do they REALLY need? Here's my list of things you actually need for a baby:

Formula/Breast milk- That's a duh thing, but it needed to be said :)
Love.

Ok, fine.... in our culture they need some other stuff too, but they sure don't need much! Here's my list of things that are culturally necessary to have for a baby in our area:

Car Seat- Obviously. Not only is it a law, but it's the safest way to transport baby.
Clothes- Another obvious fact. Sleepers/outfits/socks/etc. Unless you have a summer baby, then you just need a ton of onesies!
Diapers- Cloth or disposable, doesn't matter.
Baby wipes- Again, cloth or disposable, doesn't matter.
A place to sleep. They don't need 47 places to sleep. They don't care if they're in a bassinet, a pack and play, a crib, a moses basket... whatever! Chances are they'll spend most of their time sleeping either in the car seats or in your arms.

And that's pretty much it in terms of need. People in other countries make do with so much less than we do when we have babies. Watch the movie Babies! It's amazing what the Nairobi family has.... pretty much nothing, but their baby is chubby tubby, happy, and looks health. Amazing, huh??

I feel like so many people complain about their finances but then they waste hard earned money on stuff that makes absolutely NO sense at all! Hooded baby towels? Seriously?? I have about a zillion towels in my bathroom, the idea that I'd go out an buy a special stash of fancy towels for a baby boggles my mind, especially because they're so stupid expensive and they sure don't last very long! And baby washcloths. They exist, I swear! Apparently regular washcloths aren't good enough for babies, you need to have something that's half the size but twice the price. My kids use the same tub I use, the same washcloths I use, and the same towels I use. They've managed to grow into happy, healthy, well adjusted children, so I imagine I haven't traumatized them too much by using a big towel.

So that's my vent on the marketing of baby products. 90% of the crap at Babies R Us is just that.... crap. Stuff that manufacturers create, package, and make you believe with all of your heart that you need desperately or your baby will somehow not grow into a successful adult. Save yourself some money and don't buy into the hype :)

(Full disclosure: I am spoiled and will admit to the fact that I own both a baby swing and bouncy seat. With both of the boys that bouncy seat was a total necessity for the sake of my sanity, and the swing was just a waste of money. Hopefully this new baby likes the swing or I'm going to be SOOOO annoyed! The bouncy seat is completely responsible for me being able to shower, clean, and cook with a new baby, so in my world, that little splurge has been SO well worth it. See? I'm not totally against a few baby splurges... I just hate how overboard people go on catchy, flashy baby stuff that is absolutely meaningless and unnecessary to a newborn).

Worlds Best Salad

2011-02-26T15:34:00.000-05:00

No really, you have to try it if you have never had it. It's sweet and delicious and will make you wonder how you ever lived without it. My husband, who isn't a huge salad person to begin with actually requests this. For dinner. As a meal!

It probably has some fancy name, but I have no idea what it is.

You need:

Fresh Spinach
Feta or Goat cheese
Dried cherries
Walnuts
Grilled chicken (optional)
Poppyseed salad dressing (Targets brand is the absolute BEST!)

Grilled chicken turns it from a salad into a meal for me, so that is optional if you want to make this as a side. Throw together a few handfuls of everything (don't you love how technical I am?) and go to town. You won't regret it!

They Glued Her Down!

2011-02-24T12:29:00.000-05:00

The other day we took the boys to Great Northern Mall to see Gnomeo and Juliet. I should probably preface this by saying that I hate the movie theater. I mean like, really really hate. Everything about it is hate-worthy. I hate sitting in the crappy chairs when I'm 34 weeks pregnant (Great Northern hasn't been updated yet, but I don't like Shoppingtown and I'm terrified of heights, so going all the way up to the theater in Carousel is completely out of the question), I hate spending $30 on four movie tickets when I can buy the movie when it comes out for $20 full price, I hate that a bucket of popcorn costs $8 to eat even though it only cost about $.08 to make, I hate sitting in a small dark room full of loud, annoying, and germ infested fellow human beings (nothing personal, I'm sure you're all very nice people), I hate sitting behind someone who is 12 feet taller than me, and I hate having to move so that people can walk by to relieve their bladder for the 20th time during the first 12 minutes of the movie.

So now that my major hate of the movie theater is well documented, you'll understand that actually going to one was one of the major sacrifices that I have made as a parent (right up there with stretch marks, expensive shoes, and trendy clothes)... because the boys LOVE going to see movies. The movie itself was cute but nothing I'd rave about, but there was this one scene where Juliet's father gnome glues her feet down to the top of a platform to keep her from seeing Gnomeo. For whatever reason, that scene has really stuck with Jericho. For hours after the movie he kept running up to Bill or myself saying "They glued her down!" then he'd go running off to play again.

Here it is, days later, and he's still completely randomly telling us "They glued her down!". He is such a perplexing little boy. I can't figure out what was so special about that scene, but I have a feeling we'll be hearing "They glued her down!" for a good long time to come.

And for the record, if you haven't been to Great Northern Mall lately, you really need to go check out their new play space. They took the old pay-for rides out of the center of the food court and set up this great (FREE!) play space for the kids to run and go crazy in. It's lovely and the boys love it. Bill and the boys both hate grocery shopping, so yesterday I dropped them off to play at the mall and went down the road to the Price Chopper and Target that are together in the same big building to get grocery shopping done. An hour (and way too many contractions!) later I picked them back up again. The boys love that they can play for a while, Bill loves that he doesn't have to get groceries, and I can enjoy grocery shopping without a grumbling passel of men tagging along adding stuff we don't need to the cart :)

A Splurge

2011-01-30T10:35:00.000-05:00

Every year around tax time, we go ahead and splurge a little on something for the kids. In years past it's been bunk beds and new mattresses, a Wii system with games and the Wii Fit, or a special (or expensive) toy item that they wanted. This year we decided that since we've got too many electronics, the boys have pretty much everything they could ever need or want, and there is no way I'm bringing more toys into this house.... we'd go ahead and splurge on their bedroom.

We've always bought what was on sale or handed down to us for their sheets, blankets, pillowcases, etc. They've never had a theme to their room, or been able to really pick out stuff they wanted.

Right now they are both absolutely OBSESSED with dinosaurs. Completely and totally. So that's what we decided to go with.

Pottery Barn Kids has an amazingly cute dinosaur line, and even though it's a bit spendier than I like, I figure that the quality is such that I won't need to re-buy anything for a very very long time. Plus, I think it's beyond adorable, and I love that it's not overly child-like, so they won't think it's cheesy in 3 years. We got the sheets, quilt, and pillowcases. Bill had estimated that the final cost would be double what it actually was, so I was pretty pleased with myself :)

As much as I love the dino line, no room would be complete without me being slightly frugal, so instead of buying the dinosaur wall hanging that you can see in the top right of the picture, I decided we're going to just make it ourselves when the spring comes. We've got enough scrap lumber sitting around that paying $200 for it seems insane. I am no artist, but the painting is done rough enough that I think I'd be pretty safe to just freehand it.

We also didn't get any of the room accessories shown because I think we could do much better at Target and/or HomeGoods. Seriously.... $100 for a dinosaur shaped rug? Thanks, but no thanks!

An Elephant Never Forgets

2011-01-06T21:57:00.001-05:00

I didn't wash them! Call the cops!

And apparently, neither do mothers. Or more specifically, neither SHOULD mothers.

I was just reading an article entitled "Mothers Don't Forget" that told the tragic story of a mother who had forgotten her infant daughter in her vehicle while she was at work for the day. She made a slight deviation in her morning routine right before dropping her daughter with the sitter, and the rest of the story is history. This is a story that has been on the news a lot in the past few years. I feel as though at least twice every summer we hear a big story about a parent (usually a mother, seldom a father) accidentally leaving their child in a hot car for hours and finding the child dead later in the day.

The stories are horribly disturbing. But in my eyes, even more disturbing are the commentators who spew hateful bile in the comment section of this particular article I was reading, and articles like it all across the internet. "She needs to be sterilized!" "She should get the death penalty" "What sort of woman would forget her child in a car? That's MURDER!!! SHE'S A MURDERER!" "I hope she spends the rest of her life in agony knowing that SHE KILLED HER BABY" "I hope she kills herself" and of course "A good mother would never forget her number one priority in life, her child".

Of course, these were followed up by a string of things like "I have a million children and have never once forgotten anything about any one of them, including but not limited to their weight at every single doctors appointment until they turned 18, their head circumference at birth, and of course, I certainly never forgot one in a car, because unlike that other woman, I'm a good mother"

These comments aren't written by husbands and fathers, neighbors, or firemen... they're written by OTHER MOTHERS!

It must be so nice to be perfectly perfect in perfectly every way. I wonder if they teach a class somewhere entitled "101 Steps to Become A Perfect and Completely Infallible Mother" that nobody ever invited me to take. Or maybe they sell perfection in a bottle over the counter at Macy's. Just spray it on and you'll never ever ever do anything wrong as a parent... or specifically, a mother.

But don't FORGET to spray it on, or you're at risk of murdering your child.

I don't get it. When the hell did mothers become so judgmental of one another?? I can't even say I'm above all of the judgments, because I can be judgmental in certain situations. For example; I'm super judgmental about car seat use. I cringe when I see people putting their babies into a car seat with a super huge fluffy, puffy snowsuit on, and I hate seeing itty bitty babies who are no longer rear facing when it's obvious they are nowhere near the 1 year/20lb minimum.

But that sure doesn't mean I'm perfect. Those carrying car seats are a real nightmare. More than once I had Jakob in his as a baby in a store, took him out of it for whatever reason, then put him back in without buckling it, thinking I would buckle it when we got to the car.... then completely forgetting his buckle was undone.

Thank goodness we were never in an accident when I had made such a stupid, completely thoughtless error. If we had been, chances are my child would have been ejected from the seat, and even the car... likely not surviving.

And hateful, cruel, spiteful and downright vicious mothers would have labeled me a murderer, said I deserved to lose my baby, and painted a picture of me as the most horrible human being on the planet.

I'm happy to say that my judgments don't go that far. Sure I can be judgmental about car seats, but when I hear a story on the news about a child who died or was injured in a crash, I don't pipe up with "if you had only bothered to get a good car seat and use it properly then YOUR BABY WOULD STILL BE ALIVE! You're a killer! It's your fault!". I couldn't imagine thinking, let alone saying something so awful to another parent. My heart bleeds for them and I wish with all of my heart that someday they are able to find peace and comfort through their grief.

So kudos to all of you perfect mothers out there, if you don't mind, could you email me your secret? Because I'm damned sure not anywhere close to perfect, but I would sure as heck like to be.

2010 In Review

2011-01-02T21:43:00.000-05:00

Now that 2010 is over, I'm going to take a moment to reflect back on the year as a whole and the changes it brought to our family.

On the whole I feel like we had a good year. It wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, however there was enough bummy stuff it certainly wasn't an 'amazing' year.... that will probably be saved for the first year we're in our dream house :)

For Jericho- 2010 was the Year of the Movie. He went from being obsessed with books to being only mildly obsessed with books but crazy about certain movies. To date, his favorites are Finding Nemo, Shrek (all except the Final Chapter), Cinderella 2 and 3, and recently he's gotten into Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. It's the year he went from diapers to big boy undies easier than I ever thought possible, the year he dubbed quiche "egg pie" and the year he decided that snow boots are bedtime footwear. Seriously, he wears his snow boots to bed. Every. Single. Night. Usually OUR bed, which means he's digging his big old clompers into our backs all night long.

For Jakob- 2010 was the Year of Autonomy. He went from being a very clingy, insecure child who always wanted to be with Bill and I to playing with friends, going on sleepovers, talking on the phone, and trying out new activities and foods he never would have tried before. He's also grown leaps and bounds academically in the past year, mostly in his literacy but also a bit in math as well. He fell in love with the outdoors and camping, and cried when his hermit crab died. He and Stella (our cat) have gone from a quiet truce to stay away from one another to the absolute best of friends. He and Jericho seem to have found their niche together during 2010 and while they definitely fight like brothers, you can also see how desperately Jakob loves Jericho, and how overwhelmingly Jericho returns the feeling. Jakob is a five star big brother.

For Bill- 2010 was the Year of Career. He's gone from just having jobs, to working in his actual career of choice. It's been hugely stressful both for him and for our family unit as a whole. We went from being spoiled rotten having a ton of his time and attention to having to accept that just because he's only AT work from 7:30am-3:30pm doesn't mean he's done working for the day at 3:30. He also was hired on as a paid instructor for the Red Cross which has the benefit of bringing in extra money but the downside of taking him away from home even more than usual. As busy as he is, we look very much forward to the summer when he belongs to just us and nobody else for 2 1/2 months. He's also halfway through his Master of Arts in Teaching program and really excited to say good-bye to being a student in a classroom for a while.

For myself- 2010 was the Year of the Rollercoaster. It's been an interesting year for me full of super high highs and extremely low lows. I had more miscarriages than I care to think about, one that was particularly devastating to me that was difficult to overcome. Now I'm 89 days away from my due date and savoring every second of this pregnancy which seems more and more like a miracle to me every time I feel her move. I went from being gainfully employed part time for a job that I really loved (and that paid exceptionally well for a part time position!) to being a stay at home mom and student. Now, I'm no longer a student... just a stay at home mom, which I'm struggling a bit over. I don't for a second take the time I have with my children and my family for granted, but I have a hard time every now and then accepting that I don't make a financial contribution to the family, and missing the interaction of coworkers. I also had my braces taken off!

For our whole family, 2010 has been a full, busy year. We looked at some houses, fell in love with one, but decided against buying right now, no matter how much of a buyers market it is out there right now. We did some camping which we hadn't done since Jakob was just a baby and had a wonderful time together as a family. We saved over $10,000 off of retail prices by shopping sales and using coupons. We got a new niece on both sides of our family. My sister moved home from North Carolina FOR GOOD (hopefully her hubby Kyle will be soon to follow). Some of our bonds with family and friends were strengthened, while sadly others grew weaker.

All in all, we're stronger and happier as a family than we've ever been before and I can only see that getting better in 2011 when we welcome our very first daughter/sister into the family and hopefully buy our first home together!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! Here's a photographic peak back at 2010 :)

Financial Matters

2010-12-30T14:13:00.001-05:00

I noticed the other day that people seldom ever talk about finances to one another. I wonder why this is... is it the taboo factor? People aren't supposed to know how much you make? How much your house is worth? How much you spent on your car? How much credit card debt you have?

Well, maybe I'm not grown up enough to buy into the financial secret world, or maybe I'm just far too open about matters of a financial nature but I feel like by sharing information like that not only do I have to hold myself accountable for it, but I have OTHERS who will hold me accountable for it all too.

So here goes!

At its very worst, about 18 months ago, we had a grand total of roughly $20,000 in consumer debt, give or take a few hundred. Then over this past summer because Bill was out of work for the summer and I don't have a job, we pretty much destroyed all of the headway we made in paying off that $20,000 by charging up everything again while we were both out of work.

For the entire time we've been together, Bill has been in charge of the finances. He paid the bills, I spent the money, and that's how things went. Over the summer I realized how detrimental this setup was to our financial lives. We've always had a good credit score, mostly because Bill was always vigilant about never making a credit card payment late, even if we were only paying the minimums. But I decided sometime mid-summer that when Bill went back to work in September, I was going to take over the family finances. He would make the money, and I would take care of making sure it got where it needed to go.

This was, by far, one of the best financial moves we've ever made.

Not because Bill wasn't good at paying bills, he was. But because I was bad about shopping, because I'd ask Bill "Hey, I need to go to Target, do we have money?" and he'd clear money up for me to go. I never realized how much of those little shopping trips was going onto our debt. Now that I'm in charge of things, I'm the one who sees exactly where this money is coming from, exactly how much we owe, exactly how much interest we are paying, etc, etc, etc. This has inspired me to completely change the way I spend, shop, and even think about spending and shopping.

Since Bill went back to work, we've brought our credit card debt down from somewhere around $20,000 to $9,387.08. So we've managed to cut it by more than half in four months, and that doesn't even count the non-credit card bills that we had fallen behind on that have been brought into the black.

It certainly hasn't been easy or comfortable- there are plenty of times that I really REALLY wanted to buy something that I had to talk myself out of knowing that the money would be better spent on paying off high interest debts. There are also those times when I buy something I know I shouldn't have bought and have that buyers guilt that brings me right back to the store to return it.

I'm so looking forward to the fact that the rest of our debt should be paid off shortly after the beginning of the new year. I'll be able to put all of that money into our down-payment savings for our home, and into paying off our student loans (I'll make a post about those another time, but that's one more debt that makes me cringe!).

In the meantime, I can look at my credit card bills and be relieved that I won't be paying an absolutely outrageous amount for the next 40+ years of my life:

Pregnancy

2010-12-22T17:38:00.001-05:00

Today, I am 101 days from my due date. In two days, I will finally be out of the triple digits and have only 99 days to go. I swear there are days when I feel like I've been pregnant for a million years and I have a million years left to go, but on other days I feel like it was just yesterday when I dropped the bomb on Bill during a financial conversation that I was pretty sure I was pregnant. The look on his face was priceless.

Unlike previous experiences, I've been trying hard NOT to complain about this pregnancy. Yes, my hips hurt. Yes, I puked like a maniac for over four months and lost over 20lbs because of it. Yes, my boobs hurt like hell (yes, I went there!), and yes, I pee every six minutes.

But I've lost so many pregnancies that the fact that I'm sitting here at 25 weeks and 4 days feeling my little girl bumping around inside of me seems like such a miracle that none of the frustrating little discomforts seem as important as the fact that I have been able to get to a point where survival is a possibility for her.

And because of this gratitude, I decided to write a blog about all the parts of pregnancy that I love.

I loved the look on Bill's face when I told him we were pregnant. Again.

I loved the way Jakob reacted when we told him he was going to have another sibling (he wants at least six)
I love that first ultrasound where I was so terrified to look at the screen because I was horrified of reliving past experiences, but instead of three little malformed clumps of cells, I saw one teensy little smudge with a flickflickflicker heartbeat right in the center.

I loved feeling her first teensy little fluttery movements

I loved the anticipation of finding out whether we were having a girl or a boy. Bill had the day off work and we took both boys with us. The tech made us wait until the very end of the ultrasound before finally telling us what we were having. When he asked me if I saw 'those three little white lines there' I immediately started crying. I've wanted a daughter so badly for so long that finding out it really was a girl was a totally overwhelming moment for me. Plus, the fact that Jakob was so happy (he's always wanted a sister) he was in tears made me cry even more.

I am currently loving the feeling of her big girl kicks that make my entire belly jump around. Something about being out and about while she's moving is a total thrill to me. Nobody else knows she's moving, it's like a little secret between her and I.

My boobs. Yes, I said it. Now that I'm not having those awful knifing pains from the first few months, I can appreciate the fact that they look awesome. Yes indeedy they do, just ask my husband. He'll tell you AAAAAAAAAAALL about it. It's the closest I'll ever come to having fake boobs, and it's pretty awesome.

I adored seeing Jericho and Jakob holding their brand new baby cousin Sophia. I know that technically that has nothing to do with my pregnancy, but seeing how gentle they were, especially Jericho, totally melted my heart. Jakob has already proven what an excellent big brother he will be, but Jericho has had me pretty nervous. But he held Sophia so tenderly and so reverently it really soothed a lot of my fears.

One of my favorite parts is that Jericho will move my shirt out of the way so that he can shine the light from his glow worm into my belly button so that his baby sister has some light in my tummy. He does the same thing with musical toys, he likes her to listen to them through my belly button.

Maternity clothes. Yes, I do indeed love maternity clothes. Not just because they have gotten wickedly stylish since my first pregnancy, but because I can get away with wearing yoga pants pretty much every single day and nobody ever thinks twice about because HEY, I'm pregnant :) Plus, Gap Maternity has some insanely comfortable clothing that is basic enough that if I ever have more babies, I won't feel a million years out of style in them.

There are so many more reasons I can think of, but the bottom line is that I'm well aware of the fact that this could be my last pregnancy, so it's a whole lot easier to treasure every single moment of it instead of wishing it away as quickly as possible. As much as I want to meet her, I want her to cook away for as long as she needs before she makes an appearance. For her benefit, but really, for mine too.

It's Been A While!

2010-12-09T09:54:00.000-05:00

Hey guys! It just hit me that I haven't updated this blog in AGES! Keeping up with summer and school and new jobs and the boys and this pregnancy made me pretty lazy, but now that the end of my school career is on the horizon I figured that getting back into the swing of blogging again would give me something to do.

So- A quick update, although everyone who knows me on facebook probably knows all of this already.

Bill got a long term substitute at a middle school in the Syracuse City School District. He's teaching 7th grade and while he really loves it, there's a lot of pressure on him to do well both internally and externally. There's a possibility that this position could turn into a permanent one, so that's pretty exciting for us. He's also working part time at the Red Cross teaching a variety of things (CPR, AED, First Aid, Babysitting, etc) and loves being able to teach adults who actually listen and don't typically act up in class :)

I'm doing a whole lot of nothing currently. I'm in my last semester of school and I should be writing papers but I'm a little burnt out from that at the moment, so here I am, updating all of you most wonderful people. I'm not working at all, which feels a little weird sometimes. I'm so used to having some sort of income that not having one at all makes me feel like I'm not contributing to the household as much as I should be.

Our pregnancy is going along remarkably well. We seem to have passed a number of potentially risky scenarios right over and are doing great! I'm 23 weeks, 5 days pregnant and have 114 days left to go! On one hand I feel like I've been pregnant forever, on the other, I feel like this pregnancy is speeding by so fast I'm going to miss all of the important stuff. We're due on April 2nd, and I honestly would be surprised if I went early at all. I have no desire to evict her from her cozy little hidey spot until we're well out of cold and flu season, so I'm content to wait. Plus, as uncomfortable as pregnancy can be, I am fully aware of the fact that this could easily be the last baby I carry so I am definitely savoring every second.

Jakob is doing GREAT in school. All of his literacy problems from last year seem to have vanished entirely and he's in the top reading group in his class. This makes me so happy because I really struggled to deal with the frustration of him falling behind last year. Reading is so incredibly important and the fact that he had difficulty with it completely broke my heart. He adores his teachers this year and just generally seems much more happy and content with school now. If only we could get a handle on the math, we'd be golden! He's so excited to have a baby sister and absolutely can not wait until she gets here!

Jericho is so..... Jericho. I really don't have any other way of putting it. He's hilarious and spunky and demanding and just generally fun to be around. He's one of those kids that you can't help but adore even when he's doing something that he absolutely should NOT be doing. He's totally potty trained now, even at night! It's a concept that completely boggles my mind and I keep waiting for it to all disappear but he's been incredibly consistent. He's never once wet himself overnight and has only had a few day-time accidents, usually when we couldn't get him to the potty on time. The best part is that he's essentially done it on his own. He showed interest so we got him a potty chair but using it was totally up to him, and he took to it like a fish to water. I'm just so thrilled that I won't have two children in diapers that I can not even wrap my head around it! We just need to break the pacifier habit and he'll be all ready for preschool. GAH! Preschool??? I can't believe it's coming so soon. I don't think I have the heart to enroll him for this coming fall, he still seems like such a baby to me. There's no way I can see him with all of those big kids in school all day. I have no doubt whatsoever that HE would do fantastic, it's more me that I'm worried about!

Aaaaand now for some pictures of the boys outside in the crazy snowfall we've had the past few days!

Stuff To Do In CNY

2010-05-13T20:37:00.000-04:00

Summer is fast approaching, and this year we absolutely can NOT wait. It'll be the first summer ever that we have the entire summer to ourselves with no jobs to devote our time to, and no renovation projects to keep us busy.

But this leaves us in a bit of a conundrum. No work means no paychecks. No paychecks means that we're going to be living off of our savings, which is fine because we have been planning for this since last fall. My big concern is that I don't want to occupy our time with costly adventures. I'd much rather find fun, free, kid friendly stuff to do close to home. We've already got a bunch of camping trips planned, and we've got the schedules for all of the Family Film Festival locations, but I'm wondering what you guys do to keep the kids busy over the summer?

$44.47

2010-04-10T19:19:00.001-04:00

I had such an awesome deal-finding weekend that I couldn't possibly keep it to myself. I'm way too excited not to share. This may get a little long winded, but I'm constantly being asked how I get the good deals I get, so I'm going to go into serious detail!

I started my shopping trip yesterday at ToysRUs. I was going specifically to get a Didj game for Jakob's birthday in June. June is a few months away, but I had a $5 off a $25 purchase coupon, and a $10 rewards certificate that I wanted to use before they expired, so I figured that since Didj games are so expensive, getting half off of the game would be a great deal.

I ended up striking gold!

I purchased the following items:

1- 24oz Bottle of Disney Princesses Bubble Bath (not pictured-gave it to my niece's): Regular price- $3.99 Sale Price- $.98

1- Wateroo's Water Box: Regular Price- $3.98 Sale Price- $.98

3- PediaCare Long Acting Cough Medicine: Regular Price- $6.99 Sale Price- $.98

2- H2O Kid Grape Flavored Water: Regular Price- $3.98 Sale Price- $.98

1- Tropical Twist Kids Hand Soap: Regular Price- $7.99 Sale Price- $1.98

1- Kids Only Shampoo: Regular Price- $7.99 Sale Price- $1.98

1- Kids Only Conditioner: Regular Price: $6.99 Sale Price- $1.98

1- 32oz 7th Generation Grapefruit Glass/Surface Cleaner: Regular Price- $5.99 Sale Price- $1.98 (Buy one, Get one 50% off)

1- 25oz 7th Generation Lavender Dish Liquid: Regular Price- $5.99 Sale Price $1.98 (With 50% off, so $.99)

4- 7th Generation Free and Clear Liquid Fabric Softener: Regular Price- $6.99 Sale price- $1.98 (Two bottles were $1.98, two bottles were $.99 because of the BOGO 50% off offer)

1- Didj Clone Wars game: Regular Price- $29.99 Sale Price- $14.99

(I was really excited to find the Didj game was already on clearance for 50% off!)

In addition to the fantastic sales, I used the following coupons:

(2)-$1 off any 7th Generation household product
(2)-$2 off any TWO 7th Generation household product
(1)-$7 off one Leapfrog Didj game

However, before I used the coupons, I gave the cashier my $5 off a $25 purchase coupon, then my $10 rewards card.

Out of Pocket I only paid $10.19.

PLUS, 7th Generation is doing a mail in rebate offer. Purchase any 3 7th Generation products and receive $5 back by mail.

In the end, I will have only spent $5.19 on all of the above items.

I totaled all of the items up, and I SHOULD Have paid $129.80

Because I bought 17 items, that essentially means I will have paid roughly $.31 per item. Pretty fantastic if you ask me :D

Then today I decided to hit Walgreens and Price Chopper for a bit of couponing.

I started at Walgreens, and bought my things in five different transactions. Here's what I did:

1st Transaction:

1- U by Kotex Ultra thin pads $3.49

Used-
1 $1 off Kotex coupon

Paid $2.77 and got back $2.50 in register rewards (RR's)

2nd Transaction:

1- U by Kotex Ultra thin pads $3.49
3- Walgreens brand toothbrush $1 each

Used-
1- $1 off Kotex coupon
1- 3 for $1 Walgreens toothbrush coupon

Paid $3.85 and got back $2.50 in RR's

3rd Transaction:

3- Oral B toothbrushes $3 each on sale
1- Banana Split lollipop (needed a filler item) $.59

Used-

3- $2 off Oral B
1- $2.50 RR from transaction 1

Paid- $1.86 and received $3 back in RR's

4th Transaction:

3- Kraft Mac and Cheese $1.39
1- U by Kotex pads $3.49

Used-

1-Walgreens Kraft Mac and Cheese $.69 each coupon (one coupon works on all three boxes)
1- $1 off U by Kotex
1- $3 RR's from 3rd transaction

Paid $1.84 and got back $2.50 in RR's.

5th (and Final!) Transaction:

3- Puffs Plus 180 ct boxes $1.49
3- Kraft Mac and Cheese $1.39
4- Dawn Botanicals Dishwashing liquid $1.99

Used-

1- $.99 Dawn Liquid Walgreens coupon (applied to all 4 bottles)
1- $.69 Kraft Mac and Cheese Walgreens coupon
1- $1 each Puffs tissue Walgreens coupon
2- $1 off 2 Dawn Dishwashing liquid
2- $2.50 RR's from previous transactions

Paid $2.55

My total out of pocket for all 5 Walgreens transactions was $12.87 with a total savings of $53.54

If you're still reading this, I commend you! My third and final stop was Price Chopper to take advantage of their double coupons up to $3!

I did this one in 3 transactions.

Transaction 1:

2- Dads Trail Mix dog food 20lb bags $9.49 each (BOGO Chopper Shopper Card)
2- Cocoa Puffs Cereal $3.59 each
2- Trix Cereal $3.19 each
2- Dannon yogurt 4 packs $2.49 ($2.00 each Chopper Shopper Card)
1- Garlic Bread $3.19 ($1.99 Chopper Shopper Card)

Used-

1- 4/$6 Price Chopper General Mills Cereal coupon
1- Price Chopper coupon doubler
1- $1 off 2 Dannon yogurt coupon (Doubled to $2)
2- $1 off 2 General Mills Cereals coupon (not subject to doubling)

Subtotal- $40.71 Paid- $18.24 Saved- $22.47

Transaction 2:

2- Ronzoni Whole Wheat Pasta $1.49
2- Danonino Yogurt 6pack $2.19 ($2 Chopper shopper card)
4- Gushers $2.99 each
2- Wishbone Salad Dressing $2.69 (BOGO Chopper Shopper Card)

Used-

1- 4/$6 Price Chopper Gushers coupon
2- $.50 on 2 Gushers coupon (automatically doubles to $1 without doubler coupon)
1- $1.00 on 2 Ronzoni Pasta coupon +Doubler coupon= $2 off 2
2- $.50 off 1 Wishbone salad dressing coupon (automatically doubles to $1)
2- $1 off 1 Danonino 6 pack coupon + 2 coupon doublers = $2 off one

Subtotal- $24.70 Paid- $6.17 Saved $18.53

Transaction 3:

1 Keebler Wheatable Pecan Nut crackers $3.69 ($2 chopper shopper card)
2 Dannon Light and Fit yogurt $2.49 ($2 chopper shopper card)

Used-

1- $1 off Wheatable coupon + Coupon doubler = $2 off
1- $1 off 2 Dannon Light and Fit yogurt + Coupon doubler = $2 off

Subtotal- $8.67 Paid $2.00 Saved- $6.67

My total expense between ALL THREE stores was $44.47

My total savings was $231.01 and I only spent about an hour clipping and researching on sales. So next time you think that you don't have time to coupon, just think that in about two hours (one hour for clipping/sorting, and one hour for shopping) I made $231. That's pretty good hourly pay for a stay at home mom :)

And here you can see the spoils of war!

Friends Don't Let Friends Pay Full Price

2010-03-14T19:40:00.002-04:00

I get asked a lot where it is that I find all the deals that I combine my coupons with, and there are a couple of answers to that. First and foremost, I always go through the Sunday circulars to see what is happening locally (because sometimes sales are regional and not national) and then I get online to see what other people have found. Here are some of my favorite sites for coupon deals and matchups. I have them all bookmarked, and just go down the list to see what has been updated. It takes me, at most, twenty minutes a day.... and saves me hundreds every single month.

Here is my list of Best Places On The Web:

Dealseeking Mom

Common Sense With Money

Clippin' With Carrie (This one is at the top of my list of favorites, I always check her out first).

My Frugal Adventures

For The Mommas

She Saved

Totally Target

Thrifty and Thriving (Formerly known as The Bargain Jargon)

If you've got places you like to go for info on the latest deals and steals out there, feel free to add them as a comment!

Including, Excluding, and Homeschooling

2010-03-08T20:20:00.003-05:00

This is going to be a bit long winded, so pull up a seat, make yourself comfortable, and try to bear with me.

The things I have learned as a parent are interesting, to say the least. I love this job title "Mom" but some days I wish I could just be mom while I let someone else be the parent. I have no idea if that makes sense anywhere outside of my own mind, but there you have it. You know those days where your child is moody, snappy, and weepy at the smallest things for no immediate reason and you get so exasperated you just want to strangle them? We had one of those days today.

First, Jakob is a part of the after school program that Bill teaches at Seymour... Drama class to be precise. Today we had Aunt Pam watch Jericho while Bill and I both taught the class because we brought in the xbox and did a karaoke battle between the boy and girl students. It was a lot of fun, but Jakob was really snippy during the entire thing, to the point where I finally made him go sit at the table with his head down. After a few minutes I took him into the hallway to talk to him, and he was really teary and weepy the entire time.

When we got home and Bill left to take Pam and her kids home, my mom stopped by. Jakob wanted to go spend time with her and grandpa but she was on her way to school and grandpa isn't feeling well... so he started crying again.

At this point, I realized that something just plain wasn't right. He snuggled up with me and after he had calmed down a bit, I asked him what was REALLY making him sad, because it was obvious there was something under all the little mini tantrums and dramas. This broke open a dam of near hysterical sobbing. Which, of course, was kind of scary for me because:

1.I wasn't expecting such a big reaction
2.Bill wasn't around to help out with whatever crisis may have been happening, so I felt a bit out of my league and alone
3.I had no idea what was upsetting him, so I had this knot of fear in my stomach that something really bad may have happened.

Little by little, the story started to unfold.

With the warming weather, other classes have apparently been able to go outside to play. From Jakob's perspective, his teachers said they would be able to go outside today, but for whatever reason, they never went. To him, it seemed that they were lying. He even said "They said we could go outside but they lied to us!" Of course I explained to him that sometimes in classrooms things happen and you just can't do something you were planning on doing, but that I didn't think his teachers would ever lie to their class to hurt anyone's feelings.

Then he went on about how he feels as though whenever he needs help doing something, nobody is able to help him because they are always busy helping other kids, and the way he feels at getting so much actual instruction as opposed to playing and having fun.

I think it all boils down to him feeling incredibly pressured and stressed out because of school. I hate this, because he's only in FIRST grade. When I was in first grade, it was fun. We played, we learned, we went outside... it was fun. I don't remember ever having all of this angst as a six year old.

So after we talked, I did something I don't often do, and made a split second decision to tell him that we could do school at home, but if we did, he wouldn't be a part of Say Yes anymore. I thought he would probably dismiss it right out of hand because he loves being a part of the after school program, but I think he's really considering it.... and shock of shocks, so am I.

Now you're probably all wondering how Bill reacted to all of this, and what his thoughts are. He doesn't really seem to keen on the idea of home school, however, he is incredibly keen on the idea of us transferring Jakob to his 'home school', as opposed to homeschooling. Jakob should be at Franklin Magnet School, but we put him into Seymour Elementary Schools PreK program so that Donna Mullett would be his teacher, because we love her muchly and she is a first rate, five star kind of educator. After PreK we had every intention of moving him to Franklin, but he seemed so happy and comfortable at Seymour, we decided to leave him there for kindergarten as well.

Now when he entered kindergarten, we were given two options for his classroom type. We could pick a bilingual classroom, or an inclusion classroom. An inclusion room is one in which 'normal' students share the same classroom, and teachers as children who have been labeled with learning and/or behavioral issues. The inclusion rooms take a Spanish language class, but their main instruction happens in English. In the Bilingual rooms, there are no labeled children, and they split the instruction equally between English language and Spanish language. So for one week, a Spanish speaking teacher teaches the class entirely in Spanish, and the next week, an English speaking teacher teaches the children in English. The bilingual classroom is meant mostly for children whose native language is Spanish and are learning/have learned/need to learn English.

We made the decision to put him in the inclusion room because we didn't think he was advanced enough academically to be able to handle learning in another language, especially since he's been struggling with his early literacy since preschool.

Bill and I are now wondering if this was perhaps a bad idea. This year started his class out with 9 'inclusion' students, and 18 general education students, for a total of 27 students, with one lead teacher, one teachers assistant, and one special education teacher. We are all for diversity in the lives of our children, so this seemed acceptable to us.

Only now, more and more we hear stories of what Child X or Child Y did in class today, and we see just how much the inclusion kids impact the general education children. The kids aren't getting to go outside because there aren't enough teachers to safely maintain a class of that size outdoors, when you have 4 or 5 kids who may or may not dart out into the street at any moment, or have a meltdown. I think that this is a large part of why his class has not gone on a single field trip, but had to watch other classes go on numerous trips to a variety places.

It seems so unfair to the general education students that they are suffering because of the inclusion kids, it seems unfair to the teachers that they don't have enough staff present to DO things with their class, and it's awful to have to watch your child stressed, sad, and upset over fallout from decisions you have made in good faith, trying to do your best.

Sadly, in that school, we don't have the option of transferring him into a different classroom that isn't an inclusion room, because there is only one inclusion room per grade level, and the rest of the classrooms are bilingual. We still don't feel he would benefit from being in a bilingual room, so that's out of the question.

This leaves us with two options- Home-school, or switching him back to Franklin where, from what we understand, there is only one inclusion room per grade level, and the rest of the rooms are general education rooms.

To be brutally honest, I don't know if I'm equal to the task of educating my kids myself. It's the kind of job where if you fail, you have failed your children, and the consequences are of the life long sort. I spent a few hours today reading through the rules and regulations for home schooling in NYS today, and it seems so daunting I'm not sure if I could even cut through all the red tape without breaking into a fit of hysterics at least twice daily.

All the while, it's heartbreaking, because we love Seymour, and are very active within the school. We love his teachers (past, and present), and we love the principal. He has friends there who he cares about deeply, and loves the after school program.

It's so frustrating, and such a huge decision. I'm scared to death to make the WRONG and completely fail him as a parent.

Anyone out there who ever mistakenly thought I was a 'perfect or near perfect' parent... you were way wrong. Because all I know is that right now I have no idea what I could, or should do.

Advice is not only accepted, but would be gratefully appreciated.

Have I Told You Lately...

2010-02-23T10:18:00.003-05:00

....how much I love cloth diapering?

No? Well sit down for a second and I will.... or better yet, let's chat about it. Do you use cloth? Why, or why not? Would you be interested in TRYING cloth if you had the opportunity?

Right now we are sole Grobaby users. It took us almost a year of trying out other products to settle on their system and take the plunge into buying enough that we can diaper full time with that and only that.

Full Disclosure- I am shamelessly attempting to win a Grobaby contest by making this post, and hope to get some great feedback!

Having Awesome Offspring

2010-02-08T20:45:00.002-05:00

Yes indeed, I have awesome offspring. This is different than having good kids, because good kids can get a little... well... boring. Awesome kids bend rules and act crazy and get into trouble and at the end of the day they just want to snuggle on the couch that is covered in black marker (true story) in their jammies that are covered in goodness-only-knows-what within minutes of bath time (true story) after you've prematurely ended the mittens swim in the toilet bowl (another true story).

I read all the Parenting magazines about how to raise good children. Good learners. Rule followers. Book readers. And it just sounds boring to me.

I'll admit, this is a big switch for me. With just Jakob, I went bonkers trying to keep his hands and face clean, his shoes scuff free, and his feet on the ground. I thought that's what good parents did... and I can see that being partially true. Keeping our children safe and protected is a priority. I'm freakishly obsessive about the car seats being strapped in properly and age appropriate, vaccinations, and keeping track of recall lists. The stuff that keeps my kids healthy and safe.

Past that, I've learned that climbing on a bunk bed isn't going to kill them. A bit of dirt smeared on a cherubic little face is not going to cause the world to stop spinning.

And kids who are so full of life they dance and scream and run in the hallways every now and then when they're not supposed to are kind of awesome.

Flu Shots

2009-12-05T09:39:00.006-05:00

As a mother, I sometimes feel that it is my sacred duty to wait until a moment in the lives of my children when they are being traumatized.... to pull out a camera and snap some pictures! I mean, really... it's all about memories, right?

Pediatrician walks in the room:

His ticker works just fine!

And finally, the moment we've all been waiting for:

Yesterday Jericho got both the seasonal flu shot and the H1N1 flu shot. Now I know that vaccinations have been given a real crappy reputation (H1N1 especially) but after coming down with H1N1 myself, I knew that there was no way I was going to let an opportunity pass to keep the kids safe. Jericho was sick as well, but he only ran a low grade fever for a day or two. Jakob, however, got very very sick. There were days his fever would sit around 104.9 for hours without budging. The poor kid was just so miserable, I'm hoping to save Jericho from going through that. (Jakob is signed up for the shots, but we have to wait until more come in for him to get them).

Jericho also got a check up from his doctor, Alan Freshman (who I highly recommend to everyone, always, because he's the best pediatrician in the history of great pediatricians) to see how his weight is going. He is 19 months now, and had been 21 pounds since he was 9 months old. Obviously that is slightly concerning (by slightly, I mean VERY!) because at this age, children should be gaining weight consistently and not leveling out until they are about two-ish. I'm happy to report that he is now 22 pounds!

Grobaby Biosoakers

2009-10-17T10:11:00.002-04:00

A few months ago, I was lucky enough to be able to be a tester for my absolute favorite cloth diaper EVER. I've mentioned them numerous times in this blog, so my love is well established.

GROBABY!

Seriously the best cloth diaper on the market right now. They came up with a great disposable option called the Biosoaker. This biosoaker can be stuck to the inside of your Grobaby shell and works WONDERFULLY! Here's some info on them (taken from the Grobaby biosoaker website):

Super Soft Lining

Certified natural, 100% Ingeo spunbound non-woven fabric.
Compostable to EN13432 (EU) standard and ASTM D 6400 (USA)
Core

Biodegradable Wood Pulp fibers, contains 3 grams of SAP gel (compared to 10-20 grams in other disposables).
Waterproof Outer

The Bio-Film used (fecula) is waterproof and 100% natural.
Compostable to the following standard: EN 13432 (EU)

As a tester, I fell in love with them. You get all the convenience of a disposable with none of the guilt associated with a regular disposable diaper, AND your baby will still have the cutest booty on the block with the outer (which, by the way, Grobaby has come out with some AWESOME printed shell options).

I loved using the biosoaker when we were on the move because I didn't have to worry about bringing a wetbag along everywhere, and if there was a poopy diaper with no diaper sprayer around, I didn't have to wonder if fellow shoppers would notice a little... *ahem*.... aroma wafting out from my bag.

If you haven't tried them, you MUST! If you want to try cloth but are afraid to take the plunge, this is the perfect way to ease into it. Baby steps and all that, right? To sweeten the deal, you can try them FREE right now! Just check out their facebook page to read about the current Biosoaker Blog Giveaway (I did!).

And the winner is....

2009-09-12T19:27:00.002-04:00

..... Daniella! CONGRATS!

Thanks everyone who entered. There was such a great response that it's very likely I'll be doing another giveaway again in the near future. :)

Baby/Toddler Giveaway!

2009-09-04T11:58:00.004-04:00

Yes, you read that title right, this is going to my very FIRST blog giveaway! All the reviews and recommendations I've done in the time I've been blogging seem to have paid off, for YOU READERS!

So what's the scoop? Here goes:

Any of you faithful mamabargains followers probably know the name Tourance by now. If you're scratching your head wondering what/who on earth Tourance is, you need to click the above link to check their products out. They carry some really gorgeous baby/toddler towels, ultra luxurious baby blankets, along with robes and blankets for mama!

Now I know you're wondering what you might win, and how on earth you might win it, so here's the deal:

Go to the website.
Peruse all of the baby blankets and towels (you can find them here).
Fall in love with one.
Post a comment on this blog about which one you love, and what you love about it. You can also ask any questions about the Tourance company, or post a review if you've already tried a Tourance product.

Each person can post up to FIVE comments to be entered in the drawing. You can, of course, post more than five comments if the conversation gets good, but only five comments will be counted in the drawing.

To pick a winner, each commenter will get a number 1,2,3,etc. Each comment will get your number put in the hat. If you make five comments, your number will go in five times. Then we'll let one of the little guys pick the number out of the hat and we'll have a winner. Why not use a random integer generator? Because it's way more fun this way!

We will let the winner know via email and through another blog post, so keep your eyes out and check that email regularly!

The winner receives ANY Tourance Hooded Towel OR Baby blanket. That's right, YOUR CHOICE!

GOOD LUCK!

As an added bonus, right now you can buy ANYTHING from the Tourance website for 60% off the list price. HOLY COW!

There are 2 ways to take advantage of this awesome deal:

- Place your order through their website,t then check out on our normally. However, please leave a comment on special instruction for vendor in Paypal instruction box - "Code 60%" with your email address so that they can credit you back the difference.

- Email them at info@tourance.com with your order, shipping address and credit card information. They will issue you the final invoice which will show 60% off for your confirmation before your order ships out.

This sale ENDS September 16th.

This CONTEST ends Friday, September 11th 2009 :)

Mamabargains

2009-09-02T20:46:00.008-04:00

I get asked an awful lot where I buy such cool kid stuff, and pretty much every single time, my answer is Mamabargains.

I've saved a crap load shopping with them, received some crazy awesome stuff, and made some great e-friends by getting to know other mama's in the playground. So if you're a mama, papa, grandma, grandpa, or just have kids in your life, you've gotta check them out. Here you can see some in-action shots of some of the stuff I've bought from them:

Honey-Do List Update

2009-07-13T09:14:00.003-04:00

As anyone who is on facebook knows, Bill has been chipping away at his Honey-Do list rather quickly, and we've made some big decisions as he's been working, so here is the updated list of things to do, and things that have been done:

1. Back room:
a. demolish closet- DONE!
b. level floor- DONE!
c. run wiring for light- DONE!
d. replace door with the one from bedroom- Not done, but only because we made the executive decision to knock that whole wall out and create a dining room where an unused bedroom used to be.
e. patch/paint
f. hang light
g. lay new flooring
h. install trim

2. Kitchen:
a. replace door- DONE!
b. fix trim by door
d. finish patch over sink/skim coat over bad areas
e. paint walls and cabinets- Walls are still being painted, but the cabinets.... We're getting new! HORRAY!
f. strip and wax floors- Same with this, no need to fix them because we're installing all new!

3. Bathroom:
a. remove sink, vanity, mirror and light above existing sink
b. patch/paint
c. run plumbing for new sink
d. install new pedestal sink
e. build shelves in existing sink area
f. install new lights
g. install ceiling exhaust fan
h. replace ceiling tiles
i. clean/paint bathtub
j. new tub surround
k. lay new flooring
l. install new trim

4. Living room:
a. remove carpet- DONE!
b. patch/paint
c. install new ceiling fan- DONE!
d. lay new flooring
e. install new trim

5. Our bedroom:
a. remove carpeting
b. run wiring for ceiling fan and start wiring for three way switch in boys room
c. run wiring for new plug
d. run cable line
e. patch/paint
f. install ceiling fan, plug, and switch for boys room
g. install new flooring
h. install new trim
i. move tv from boys room to ours

6. Boys bedroom:
a. remove carpet
b. replace door
c. run wiring for ceiling fan and finish wiring for three way switches
d. run cable line
e. patch/paint
f. install ceiling fan
g. install new flooring
h. install new trim

7. Install new outdoor lights/rerun wire for Living room outdoor light to other side of roof

So while it seems like there is still a lot of stuff that needs to be done, the biggest things are already accomplished. The new wiring and removal of carpets is easy peasy, and then we've just got finish work.

We've decided on colors for the living room, bedrooms, and bathroom.

Living room- "Almond paste"- It's sort of a light yellowish brown. Neutral but still nice.

Bathroom- "Ice rink blue" since all the fixtures in the bathroom are either porcelain or silver (including lighting fixtures) I wanted to paint a really cool color that would still flow well with the bathroom color. Ice rink blue it is :)

Bedrooms- I don't recall the name of this paint, but it's a slightly deeper blue than the icy blue of the bathroom.

Kitchen and Dining Room- I haven't decided yet because we're still undecided on flooring for the kitchen, so I don't want to pick out a wall color then find a great deal on flooring that doesn't match at all, so I'm going to wait until we decide on what tile we want to use, then go ahead and pick a color. Since the kitchen and dining room flow into one another, I'll have to either do the dining room the same color, or a really similar color so they don't clash with one another.

Less than a week into the mini-remodel and that is where we are with it all :)

It's Been A While!

2009-07-06T14:20:00.002-04:00

I am so terrible about keeping up with blogging, but I'm going to try to be more consistent with things, because the other day I read back through some of my archived entries, and it was fun to be reminded of things I had forgotten about. I guess that's one of the cool things about blogging (or journal keeping).

Since I last blogged, Jakob turned six, and finished kindergarten. Bill finished his job with the lab and has NINE WEEKS off before he starts working in the school district full time. In the time he's off work, we've planned a big renovation of our place to make it nicer and update stuff that needs updating. Luckily he can do pretty much anything (plumbing, electrical, construction, etc, etc, etc) which will save us a ton of money. His list of things to do looks a little something like this:

1. Back room:
a. demolish closet
b. level floor
c. run wiring for light
d. replace door with the one from bedroom
e. patch/paint
f. hang light
g. lay new flooring
h. install trim

2. Kitchen:
a. replace door- DONE!
b. fix trim by door
d. finish patch over sink/skim coat over bad areas
e. paint walls and cabinets
f. strip and wax floors

3. Bathroom:
a. remove sink, vanity, mirror and light above existing sink
b. patch/paint
c. run plumbing for new sink
d. install new pedestal sink
e. build shelves in existing sink area
f. install new lights
g. install ceiling exhaust fan
h. replace ceiling tiles
i. clean/paint bathtub
j. new tub surround
k. lay new flooring
l. install new trim

4. Living room:
a. remove carpet- DONE!
b. patch/paint
c. install new ceiling fan- DONE!
d. lay new flooring
e. install new trim

5. Our bedroom:
a. remove carpeting
b. run wiring for ceiling fan and start wiring for three way switch in boys room
c. run wiring for new plug
d. run cable line
e. patch/paint
f. install ceiling fan, plug, and switch for boys room
g. install new flooring
h. install new trim
i. move tv from boys room to ours

6. Boys bedroom:
a. remove carpet
b. replace door
c. run wiring for ceiling fan and finish wiring for three way switches
d. run cable line
e. patch/paint
f. install ceiling fan
g. install new flooring
h. install new trim

7. Install new outdoor lights/rerun wire for Living room outdoor light to other side of roof

We're hoping that the heavier construction work will be done within 2 weeks, because the idea of spending the whole summer living in a construction zone gives me hives!

The New Love of My Life

2009-05-20T16:01:00.002-04:00

Alright so maybe that sounds a little dramatic, but I think I've made my mad love of cloth diapering really clear. We've tried pretty much all the diapers, and had fairly good luck. I mean, we never had the nightmares that some people seemed to have, although we did have to change Jericho constantly, and he often leaked through with pocket diapers (even with two microfiber liners).

We were to the point where he was leaking through often enough that we were putting him in disposables at night and if we had to leave the house in order to cut down on the amount of laundry we were doing, and keep him from waking up soaking wet and freezing at night. The only diapers we had luck with were prefolds with a Thirsty's cover. The only problem with those NOW is that he won't even stay in place while sleeping, there's no way he'll stay still long enough to get a prefold put on.

So when the all new Grobaby cloth diaper hit the scene, I was interested but a little skeptical. We'd already spent a small fortune on Happy Heiny's, Fuzzi Bunz, Bum Genius, you name it, we probably own it. After reading reviews of mama's who tested the diaper before it got released, we decided to take a leap of faith and order some.

I couldn't have been more thrilled with them. The colors are SO FUN and can be seen here. At first I figured we would just get the Mandarin and Kiwi colors (yellow and green) but I liked Blackberry (purple) so much I figured that real boys rock colors like purple and pink, so we got some of them too.

We have twelve shells (four of each color), 24 soakers, and 16 boosters (with ten more soakers on their way after they were offered for 10% off yesterday). I love that we don't have nearly as much washing to do with the GB as we did with the pocket diapers. I also love never having to stuff a diaper! I hated sitting there for what seemed like hours with my hands prickling from the microfiber.

Some people have said that the system is expensive, but I see it as being cheaper than buying a pocket diaper. For example: A grobaby shell set (which includes the shell, booster, and soaker pad) costs approx. $24.99. A Happy Heiny OS costs $18.99. Once the HH has been soiled, it's done and you have to put a whole new one on. And btw, the HH's are not organic, the GB soaker/boosters are all organic cotton.

So for one full day of cloth diapering with 10 diaper changes, pocket diapers will cost you around $190 a day.

With the GB system, we typically use two shells a day and 10 soaker pads. For two shell sets, it's $50, and for four double-packs of soakers it's approx. $68. So totally you're only spending $118 per day.

Now, for the record, you aren't going to be spending $118 EVERY day for the rest of your CD'ing life, just until you have however many days of diapers you want. I like only have to wash every four days, so the total for my family to use the GB's for four days would be $472. The four day investment for HH's is $760! People THINK the GB system is expensive, but as you can see, once you break it down the investment you need to make is far less than you'd make with other pocket diapers.

Plus, they're trim. Getting an absorbent, trim cloth diaper is next to impossible, but the folks at the Natural Baby Co have made it happen!

A little side note- I am in NO WAY affiliated with TNBC, I'm just a really happy customer. I have had little issues where I've needed the help of the customer service department, and have been treated impeccably every single time. In my opinion, a product is only as good as the people who make and sell it. These people happen to be a million shades of awesome. I strongly recommend checking them out on facebook, and ordering direct from them!

And for your viewing pleasure, here's our very own GroBaby!

One and Counting

2009-05-02T20:26:00.003-04:00

Well, Jericho had his big day about two weeks ago. He turned the big 0-1! The birthday fairy brought him a crap load of stuff, and the baking mommy made an awesome alligator cake of awesomeness. Ok, so maybe it wasn't that awesome, it actually kind of looked like something a precocious five year old would make in art class, but at least it was made with lots of love, that's all that counts, right? Right? If not, please lie to me!

Here are some pics of the cake (Pretty much everyone else is on facebook, so you've all probably seen them all)

The Lake

2009-04-28T10:12:00.003-04:00

So this isn't going to be a real update as much as me just showing a picture that I fell in love with. I have no idea why I like it so much, considering you can't see either mine or Jericho's faces, but for that reason it seems to appeal to me an awful lot.

Our Very Own Lil' Kicker

2009-04-27T21:39:00.003-04:00

This is Jakob's first year being old enough to do all the really fun lessons and leagues in the area. First we signed Jakob up with Lil'Kickers at SportsCenter481. They have great lessons and group building activities to help kids learn some basic soccer rules. So far, Jakob absolutely loves it... even though it means one of us has to get up early every Saturday morning to take him.

Then we heard about Eastwood soccer from a woman Bill works with. She's had her son with them for quite some time and recommended them highly, so we went ahead and enrolled Jakob in that too (for a significantly lower price than the Lil'Kickers!). We spoke with his coach, and his first practice is on Wednesday. His first game is Saturday morning! This means that we're going to have to switch him into the Thursday night Kickers class, because he's got practice on Wednesday and games on Saturday.

The cool thing about the games at this age is that there is no ref or point keeping, the kids just run and play for the fun of running and playing, while learning the rules of the game, and getting some teamwork practice.

Something important to note is that this, officially, makes me a soccer mom.

I want to play with big brother!

2009-04-23T22:44:00.004-04:00

So Jakob fell asleep on the couch tonight after complaining of having a bad stomach ache (poor kid!). Jericho all of the sudden noticed him there and went over and cuddled on him, then started to mess with him to try to get him up to play with him. It was a very cute moment and we caught some of it on video! (Don't mind the Nancy Grace in the background or the state of distress of our living room!)

Easter Pictures!

2009-04-18T18:54:00.008-04:00

I forgot that I uploaded all our Easter pictures to Facebook, but never uploaded any here.

The boys' Easter Ecosacks.

I can just hear Jakob's train of thought here. "Hurry up with that camera mom, so's I can get to my stuff!"

I tried to focus on getting a bunch of shots with Jericho since it was his first Easter!

This is one of those 'desperate times call for desperate measures' things. I couldn't find the perfect Easter/Spring napkin holders ANYWHERE. Finally, I went exploring in the little girls' hair bow area of WalMart, and viola! $1.99 for a pack of four :D

Jellybeans make for an awesome centerpiece.

Jakob and daddy (I love how Jakob is so dressed up and Bill looks like he just rolled out of bed).

Jericho looks like he's eating dead bodies. It's actually cherry cobbler.

Jakob with our surprise singlet kitten Lilly

A Year of Decisions

2009-04-16T11:43:00.003-04:00

It's amazing to think that Jericho is almost one year old. Holy cow. Fifteen days and counting. It's hard to believe, since it feels like he just joined the family a few months ago. Of course, with his first birthday comes lots of decision making.

First and foremost- when to start plain old milk. With Jakob, we started him on cows milk full steam ahead, and got a rude awakening when we found out the severity of his allergy to cows milk. The poor kid suffered for days :(. Interestingly, he outgrew the allergy quickly and now can slam it down with the best of them.

With Jericho, since breastfeeding and I just don't work out, he's been on formula. The problem with the formula is that it makes him really constipated. To try to combat this, a few days ago we decided to start giving him regular milk, in tiny doses at a time to monitor for any allergies. He has done unexpectedly well with it, although at first he balked a bit. We've been mixing a scoop of his old formula with it so he's not totally shocked at the change. He's been doing great with it though. He's been steadily drinking less and less as he eats more and more. I'm happy to note that he no longer refuses to eat anything but avocado, in fact, he eats pretty much EVERYTHING.

Another big decision to be made is when to turn his car seat around. With Jakob, we couldn't wait to turn him, and actually did it a few days before his first birthday. With Jericho, we're a bit older, and I've done a LOT more research on the subject. We've decided we're going to go with extended rear facing for him. Basically, what this means is that he will stay rear facing until he reaches the height/weight limit of the rearfacing seat he's in. At which point we will turn him around until he hits the 60lb forward facing limit (Jakob is just barely 40lbs now, so we're figuring his seat will last him until he's at least six or seven).

Most people ask why we chose this route when it's a lot more convenient to have them forward facing. It's simple really, in all of the many hours of reading and talking to certified car seat specialists, I learned how unsafe it is to have such a small child forward facing. The 20lbs/one year rule is the governmental minimum. In actuality, babies that age still have a disproportionately large head, so in an accident, they are unable to hold their own heads steady the way an older child or adult does.

There's a great video HERE that shows crash test footage of a test dummy rear facing vs forward facing.

So yeah, there are the big decisions we've been thinking about the past few weeks with little mans birthday coming up, which brings me to the final big decision.

BIRTHDAY PARTY!

For Jakob's first birthday, we went CRAZY. I mean, really, we did. We got a pavilion, a Fun Jump, and ended up having well over 50 guests. This year we have decided that both boys will get a small immediate-family-only party on their actual birthday, but this summer when Kay and Kyle get to come home for a while, we're going to throw a big bash for all the family and friends. Not really a 'birthday' party exactly, just a big get together/BBQ type event for everyone to celebrate all the birthdays/graduations/new jobs/new houses/anniversaries/new babies/etc/etc/etc. As it happens, our birthday season starts in April with Kyle's birthday, then we've got Jericho in May, Jakob and Bill in June, Me, Kayleah AND our brother in July, plus Kay and Kyle and my parents have their anniversaries around those times. It'll be a jack of all trades sort of party. Once we get the dates K&K are coming home, we'll get some invitations out. If you're going to be in or around the Syracuse area, consider yourself invited!

Jakob has put in a request for the Apple Ponies, so we're probably going to have a repeat of his 4th birthday. Oneida Shores pavilion, Apple Ponies, Fun Jump, Swimming, BBQ, fun for grown ups and kids alike.

(Just an important side note for any friends and family that are drinkers- since 1. We don't drink and 2. it's a family party, we won't be providing any drinks harder than Sprite and ask that you leave the alcohol at home)

Free Stuff.... NO JOKE!

2009-04-03T16:33:00.003-04:00

A friend of mine owns a store that specializes in earth friendly stuff for babies, mommies, and families.

She's currently running an awesome contest:

ENTER TO WIN!!

$50.00 of any product of choice!

TO ENTER: Just email her your name, email address, mailing address and product choices- by Midnight, April 30. shannon@nyorganicmomma.com

A winner will be chosen and announced on May 2!

No purchase necessary. All shipping paid for by OM. Emails collected will not be used unless permission is given. Please let us know in the email if you are not interested in further product notification or specials.

So basically, it costs you nothing but a few seconds, and you can win $50 of merchandise. If you have kids, are expecting, would like to be expecting, know someone who is expecting, or just like organic stuff, REGISTER!

Also, you can get 15% off your entire first order if you use the coupon code 'newcust15'.

You can find her website HERE!. Go, nose around, buy some stuff (or don't!), just don't forget to register to win FREE STUFF!

Strange and Unusual Things

2009-02-23T13:09:00.003-05:00

I know I promised to continue my update the other night, but I lied. Sorry :)

Something happened the other day though that I couldn't resist blogging about. Saturday night I had a dream about Jakob being bitten by a snake. A rattlesnake. On the back of his hand. It was a pretty scary dream actually.

When we got up Sunday morning, Jakob and I were sitting in the living room and our conversation went like this:

Me: "Hey, you know I had a dream about you last night?"
Jakob: "Yes, I know"
Me: "It was kind of a scary dream"
Jakob: "Yes, I know"
Me: "In the dream, you got bitten by a snake!"
Jakob: "I know. On the back of my hand, by a rattlesnake"
Me: *Dead silence*
"How did you know that?"
Jakob: "I just did"
*Cue Twilight Zone music*

I was totally blown away by it, because at that point I hadn't told anyone else, so it's not like he heard me tell Bill about it or anything. It makes me wonder at the unconscious connection parents have with their children, especially mothers with their kids.

Globetrotting

2009-02-16T16:23:00.005-05:00

It's been almost a month now since I last blogged, and since we've been really busy I know I'll probably leave all the most important stuff out. I'm going to try anyways though!

About three weekends ago (Jan 29-30) we were hanging around the house on Friday afternoon when I told Bill "Hey, why don't we drive to Rochester tonight, get a hotel room somewhere, and take the boys to Strong Museum first thing in the morning?" He was all for the idea, and within an hour we were packed and on our way. Jakob LOVES staying in hotels, so it was like heaven for him. He's a really really good traveler. Jericho seemed pretty amused at the surroundings. We stayed at the Hyatt in Downtown Rochester, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is traveling through there and needing a place to sleep. They have an on-sight restaurant that is a bit costly but serves some really terrific meals.

We had a blast at the Museum, how could anyone not? And of course took oodles of pictures:

The view from our 11th floor room:

Jericho looking just like me as a baby:

One of my favorite pictures of Bill and Jakob together

(I'm off to eat dinner, but I promise to continue this update later on tonight!)

I Need Fired

2009-01-14T10:41:00.007-05:00

Seriously, I do. I am like, the single worst blogger in the history of terrible bloggers. So much has gone on since the last time I blogged properly I don't even know where to begin, so don't be shocked if this entry ends up being kind of long and wandering.

First an update on the boys- They're both doing really really well. Jakob is doing fantastic in school and is in the advanced reading group on his class. His teachers (and most of the other teachers as well) adore him. Jericho is getting so big. We're a little bit anxious because he won't hold his own bottle, nor can he sit up on his own yet. We know that all kids develop at their own pace, but I think all parents get nervous when their child seems to be blooming later than what is average. He also sleeps terribly. One of these days he will sleep through the night and poor Bill (who always gets up with him) will actually get a good night of sleep!

I never thought I'd say this, but I think we're going to have to get one of those teach-your-baby-to-sleep books so that we can get him on some sort of schedule, because what he's doing right now, staying up until 3am and only sleeping in one hour spurts, is just not sustainable for any of us.

Bill is still splitting his time between the lab and the school. He's really enjoying getting into the school thing, each day that goes by makes him want to be at the lab less and less. I can't say I blame him, parking up on the hill is a NIGHTMARE!

Christmas was awesome, and BUSY! On Christmas Eve we opened presents with my parents early in the morning, then in the late afternoon we opened presents with Bill's parents. We talked to Jakob about Santa, and he said he didn't want to open any Santa presents on Christmas Morning, he just wanted to leave for 'Pleah and Kyle's. So we only set out the presents we wanted the boys to have for the trip, they opened those up, and we were off to North Carolina.

We actually learned a lot while making the drive to NC. One is that Bill is the master-trunk-packer. Seriously. We had a trunk full of presents, a high chair, baby swing, indoor tent (for Jakob) clothes for four people for a week, formula, diapers, etc, etc, etc. Bill managed to fit it all in the trunk. Of course, when he popped the trunk open once we got there, it sprang up hard enough to take someones head off. I guess it was under a bit of pressure :)

Another thing we learned is that no matter how good the kids are on the 12 hour drive, it's inevitable that one or the other will start crying when we're a mere 45 minutes from our destination. Yup, Jericho did AMAZING all day long, until we were just about there, he was done being in his car seat, he was totally over the drive, and just wanted snuggled. I was amazed though, I mean, the boy went 12 hours with only being held while going into rest stops. That's amazing for a baby his age (and totally not like him!)

Speaking of rest stops, that's another thing we learned. Travel on Christmas Day made us miss a ton of traffic, which was lovely. What we didn't think was that since we weren't traveling on the thruway, there were no actual designated rest stops. You had to get off of the highway in a town when you needed to eat or get gas.

The only problem is, on Christmas Day, everything is closed. Luckily we were always able to find an open gas station (after searching for a bit) to fuel up and go to the restrooms, but there wasn't a single Wendy's/Arby's/Subway open all day long. We survived the drive on junk food.

So that's really all the excitement I can think of just this moment, so I'll leave ya'll with some pictures:

Christmas Portraits

2008-12-20T11:39:00.008-05:00

I know... I know... I really need to do a PROPER update, but since time is so short and it's the holidays, I'm doing a quickie Christmas Picture update. I *PROMISE* to do a real update soon though!

Snowsuit Friends and Avocado Babies

2008-11-16T23:31:00.005-05:00

First and foremost I just want to say that with the nearing of the end of the semester in school, it's unlikely I will be blogging much at all over the next few weeks. I have a research paper and presentation coming up that I have yet to even start, and it's due November 30th. Needless to say, I really should get cracking.

In the meantime I am going to spend precious time that I could be working on that project blogging here because I love you all so much. Seriously. I'm doing this for you. Don't you feel special? You totally should, matter of fact.... give yourself a hug. Pretend it's me.

*End of love-fest*

What's up with the Bondi family lately? Loads, although most of it is painfully boring I am going to tell you in excruciating detail anyways.

But first, before I forget, I need to have a little rant. I was being a good little student earlier and working on a Journal Article project (which I finished and submitted on time, you're welcome very much) so I closed all of the other places online that distract me from my work. Doesn't it figure that the one time I'm not paying attention, one of the moms posts in our playgroup forum that Target is having a sale on their Britax Marathon car seats, which are normally between $200 and $250. What were they on sale for? $49 freaking dollars WITH free shipping! We just bought Jericho the Britax Boulevard Click Safe for oh... I don't know.... around $320! You better believe I would have taken in right back to the store since it's barely even a week old. Sadly, after just a few hours Target closed the sale for whatever reason and I missed out. I am so bummed.

But hey.... I bought Jakob an awesome sweater from Gapkids to make myself feel better (and funny enough, the full price of the sweater was MORE than the sale price of the car seat!)

Also, there is an awesome site that one of the mommies in my playgroup turned me on to, it's calledMama Bargains. It's a store that only has one thing for sale at a time, but they offer it for a dirt cheap price. My most recent and awesome buy is a Tri-Chair for Jericho. Which is a high chair, rocking horse, and desk/chair all in one. Very very cool! I try to check it every time I get online because the stuff they offer is constantly changing, and you can even request that they try to get things, and while they don't make any promises, they do go out of their way to bring in some cool stuff.

Ok, enough of that, on to what we are doing.

It's been a long, hard road getting Jericho interested in eating baby food. it took us a while to get him to eat the baby cereals, but he'll do it now. Our current issue is getting him to eat fruits and vegetables. We started with Peas, and they were a resounding failure. Every time we put them into his mouth, he would gag so hard he would make himself vomit. So anyways, as I mentioned before, we finally got him to eat by letting him feed himself.

That lasted for all of about a day before he was back to gagging.

Until I decided to try avocado with him. I had read a while ago that it is a great first food for babies, and I figured I didn't have much to lose.

Now, it is all he wants to eat. I cut it up, pureed it, froze it in ice-cube trays, then put the little frozen cubes into ziplock bags. He likes it mixed with any type of baby cereal, and wolfs is down like it might disappear at any moment. Odd, but true. As you can see, he had it everywhere, on his high chair, forehead, behind him... everywhere:

Jakob is doing really well in school. It's sort of frustrating that they have the kids nap during the day. Jakob hasn't napped since he was about two, so now that he sleeps during the day, he lays in bed until 11pm wide awake. As you can imagine, this makes it terribly difficult to get him out of bed in the morning. I have a parent teacher conference tomorrow and will address it with his teachers because it is so not working for us.

He was so cute the other night, all day long he played with Jericho's snow suit as his imaginary friend. Seriously- he took this snow suit with him everywhere and was actually playing with it. When it was bed time, he asked us if he could take his friend to bed with him to sleep so that he 'wouldn't be lonely'. We thought it was the funniest thing, so we let him. And sure enough, he slept the whole night with his new buddy. I love having a child with such an active imagination! (And yes, Jakob sleeps without a shirt. The boy likes to be naked as much as possible).

Oh and you will all be thrilled to know that Bill has started his substitute teaching. Instead of being nicely eased into it, he was thrown into teaching a 7th and 8th grade English class at Danforth, which is in a really crappy area. He sure got his feet wet. Along with the whole rest of him. Tomorrow he's teaching a first grade class at Roberts Elementary- which is pretty much the TOTAL opposite of his first experience. He's actually really excited.

Well, that's most all of the excitement :-)

Until next time!

I Got Tagged

2008-11-11T15:56:00.002-05:00

So here goes :-)

5 Things I was doing ten years ago...
1. I wasn't even allowed to date yet
2. I met Bill (at "Our Town" auditions)
3. I could hardly stand Kayleah (the feeling was mutual!)
4. I was in "Our Town" and was stage manager for "Little Shop of Horrors"
5. I dyed my hair for the first time (a lighter shade of brown than it already was)

5 Things on my "to do" list today...
1. Go to ACMoore *Check*
2. Get Bill more of his favorite black sports socks *Check*
3. Grocery shop *Check*
4. Develop outline for Chemical Dependencies research paper *Check*
5. Clean house *No check*

5 Snacks I enjoy...
1. Welch's fruit snacks
2. Pretty much any sort of melon.
3. Brownies with no icing.
4. Cherry cobbler
5. Double fudge cookies

5 Things I'd do if I became a millionaire:
1. Pay off student loans, without a doubt
2. Build a huge but somehow energy efficient home a la Extreme Home Makeover
3. Adopt
4. Take the boys to travel the world
5. Pay someone in an important place to give Kyle an honorable discharge

5 Places I've lived...
1. Down the road from where I live now
2. Across town from where I live now
3. That's all. I hate moving around.

5 Jobs I've had...
1. Atonement Hellcenter for Demons
2. I was a telemarketer. I'm sorry
3. Library assistant
4. Pharmacy tech
5. Stay at home mom

5 people I tag...

1. Kayleah and Kyle
2. Andy and Natasha
3. Mommy Madness
4. Flansburg Family
5. Mortonland

Celebrating MORE firsts!

2008-11-10T21:21:00.003-05:00

This past week has been one FULL of firsts!

Jericho got his first two teeth within a day of one another. We took a million pictures trying to get one that showed his teeth, and finally we did it!

He also fed himself for the first time today, and although it was a complete and total mess, he actually managed to get some pears into him without puking them back out.

You see, Jericho isn't too fond of food. It took a long time to get him interested in cereal but we figured that once he was good with the rice and oatmeal, he'd be all about tasting other foods.

Way way wrong.

We started with peas, and I kid you not, every single time we put a mouthful of peas into his mouth he would gag himself so bad he would vomit everything that was in his stomach. So then we tried a number of other fruits and veggies with the same outcome. Finally, a clever mom in my playgroup suggested letting him feed himself.

BINGO! I never would have thought of that, but come on, the boy puts his hands in his mouth no matter what they are covered in, so I figured it was worth a try. I stripped him down and amazingly, he scarfed down some [organic] pears without puking! HIP HIP HORRAY for intrepid mommies!

He also sat up for the first time today, and since Bill and I are so photo happy, we got out the camera and made sure to get pictures of it. Needless to say, Jericho wasn't as thrilled with us as we were with him.

Trick or Treat!

2008-11-01T18:42:00.003-04:00

I think I've mentioned this before, but I just have to mention it again.

I LOVE HALLOWEEN!

I swear, we do more on Halloween than we do on Christmas.

We started at Jakob's school. They always have a parade through the building. This year was a little different since a select group of parents were selecting best costume awards. Jakob, of course, won one (and no, it wasn't because I was a judge! Everyone said he looked awesome!). After the parade, the parents met up in the Family Lounge to have Cider and doughnuts. Since it was a half day, we just waited around until the school dismissed at 10:30.

After school, we went to Arise (my internship site) to show the boys off in their costumes. Jericho was his typical snuggly, lovable self... while Jakob was being a wild child and making everyone laugh. Everyone loved them.

After a visit there, we went over to Bill's mom's workplace where they do trick or treating and a pizza party for the kids. Jakob wowed everyone with his stellar manners. At one of the offices, nobody was there but there was a dish of candy set out for the children to just take.... Jakob took his piece, then as we were walking away said "it's too bad we can't tell her thank you". Then, each time there was a piece of chocolate candy put into his bag, he announced to Bill that he had more chocolate for him, and if he was offered a choice, he would pick out Bill's favorite candy. We were pretty proud of his generosity.

Once the party was over, we came home so that Bill could get ready to go to work. Sadly he had to go in for a few hours, but since he wasn't doing any work with the mice he was able to take Jakob in with him. Of course Jakob was THRILLED. He adores going in to work.

This left Jericho and I on our own for a few hours, and what did the little bug do? SLEEP! It was WONDERFUL! What did I do? Absolutely nothing constructive. I played on the computer and straightened up the house a little bit. I also threw a roast in the crock pot so that we would have a meal prepared for when we got home from trick or treating.

We left the house pretty much straight away after the guys got home from work. We went to our Great Aunt Shirley and Uncle Greg's house for trick or treating. They live in a really lovely area, where you don't have to be worried about what doors your child is knocking on, and there aren't full grown people panhandling at doors for candy. The atmosphere is just all around lovely. We went around the block and Jakob got an absolutely ridiculous amount of candy. Luckily, he isn't terribly fond of candy, so we don't have to worry about cavities and such.

And here, of course, are some pictures of the festivities:

Now on to a non-Halloween story.

Jericho is exactly six months old today (can you even believe it???) and although he isn't crawling around yet, he certainly does get around. The other day, I was in the bathroom while Bill was doing laundry. We had left Jericho on his play mat in the living room, and when we came back (at the exact same time) he was gone.

Of course we both started to have heart failure which quickly turned to laughter when we found him half under his pack and play. Turns out, he has learned that in order to get around where he wants to get, all he has to do is roll. So now we have to keep everything up out of his reach because he rolls his way around. It feels like he is just growing way way way too fast. It makes me sad :(

Running on E

2008-10-14T21:41:00.002-04:00

Anyone who thinks that online learning is a breeze has obviously never taken classes online. Right now Bill and I are BOTH in school full time- completely online. As if that is not bad enough, my laptop needs sent back to the factory for repairs so we are both full-time-online students who share one computer. This does *not* make learning simple. Actually, I don't feel like I'm learning much at all, just memorizing what I need to know for the length of time I need to know it for.... then it's lost.

Normally I am a very intent, focused student. This semester has brought out the worst in me. I am constantly putting things off until the last minute then getting frustrated when I don't quite understand it. I suppose I am at the point where I just want to be finished.

On a more positive note, I was invited to join Phi Theta Kappa, which is the schools honor society. I'm pretty excited that I got good enough grades to get an invite. I get inducted in on the 29th in a candle light ceremony. Fancy huh?

The other day Bill made me buried cherry cookies. A whole batch of them. My very favorite on the planet. Needless to say, they did not last long. Be jealous:

Last weekend Bill and I got MAJORLY serious about cleaning up the storage area. I couldn't take the absolute mess that it had turned into. So out everything came so that I could sort through everything, put summer stuff away, get winter stuff out, figure out what needed washed/aired out/thrown away. Even the curtains got washed. You know how 'they' say that things must get worse before they can get better? That was very very true of our house last weekend. It was so bad I was getting a little anxious because of the chaos.

I am happy to report that the house is now under control. Thank heaven.

And for your viewing pleasure, here are loads of recent pictures (just for the record, in some of these Jericho has a white reflection in his retina.... he does NOT have retinoblastoma, it's actually just a random thing that happens when you do a red-eye reduction on the software that we use. It sometimes leaves a whitish reflection):

Strangely, Jericho loves the taste of lemons. Maybe because I am a lemon water junkie.

I will probably go to jail.

2008-10-08T10:17:00.002-04:00

Yes, I probably will... if I act on my gut instinct to travel to Nepal to kidnap little Matani Shakya. Apparently she has been voted the new incantation of some goddess the Nepalese people worship. She is three years old and will spend the next years, until she reaches puberty, being isolated and worshiped. Sounds all wonderful and good, right? Being worshiped. Not so much. From reports that I have read, once she loses her status at goddess, men are wary of her because husbands of an ex-goddess are rumored to die at young ages. So basically, she will spend her entire life struggling.

Being a goddess is not very child friendly, never being allowed to play or have fun, never getting to throw a tantrum or run barefoot in the grass. Never able to build sand castles or stomp in mud puddles.

The very idea of it makes me cry. That is no kind of life for any child to have to live. I can't imagine what sort of ramifications it must have psychologically and emotionally. Children NEED the love and comfort of their parents and caregivers, not to be treated as a revered OBJECT! She is going to be staying in some cold, remote temple away from her family, surrounded by strangers, with nobody to advocate for her very most basic right- freedom.

Yes, I know that it's a bit of a rant, but I want to steal her and give her a normal life.

Can't We All Just Be Involved?

2008-10-01T21:21:00.003-04:00

The coming of the new school year also ushers in the coming of Parent Involvement and PTA meetings in the schools. I decided to be an active parent by getting involved in these daily/weekly activities that include fund raising, workshops, crafts,etc. Normally, this is a good, positive thing.

Not in my life it isn't! I have learned that I can never do something half way. I either don't do it at all, or I go in with guns blazing, whether I like it or not.

For example: On Monday there was a financial meeting to discuss how the parent involvement fund is going to be divided up this year. I was one of the painfully few parents present, and mentioned to the principle how I thought it was sad that the children don't have a school play. The principle thought so too, as she had done drama in the past. We discussed how it would be too expensive to get royalties to a play, when all of a sudden I came up with the idea of us writing the play ourselves.

Within seconds I had been nominated to make it happen. Here I was just making a suggestion, and now I am responsible for creating and pulling off a school play. Being in a high school production is far different than producing and directing an elementary school play I would imagine. I know, without a doubt, that I am in way over my head.

As if that wasn't enough, I was also informed that my name was submitted as the one of the two Parent Advocates who will be meeting monthly with the Superintendent of the schools. I don't even know what I'm supposed to do!

When I do meet the man, the first thing I'm going to do is raise heck over how disgusting the school lunch menu's are. Everyone tries to teach children to eat healthy, but how on earth can they when for school lunch they are having BBQ pork rib patties on a white bun with peaches that are covered in whipped cream on the side? As though it's not bad enough that they are being fed that horrid fruit from a can that is coated is syrup, now they're putting whipped cream on top???? Or my new least favorite- double dogs on a roll, which translates into two... TWO... pork hot dogs on ONE bun. Freaking ridiculous.

A few of you have been asking me what I've gotten up to lately with my crafting, but since I've started creating Christmas gifts, I really can't post about them because some of the people I am creating Christmas gifts for happen to read this blog. I *am* taking pictures of the projects I work on as I work on them so that I can make blogs about them post-festivities and not give any secrets away! I will tell you though- I am in the process of making some AWESOME things!

(Side note: as you can see from the above picture, Jericho is a lot more interested in his baby food now!)

Pandoras Box

2008-09-29T22:13:00.003-04:00

Since I have been really bad about writing lately since life has been crazy busy, I thought I'd open up Pandora's Box..... ok, so maybe I just opened up my picture files, but it sounds more dramatic that way.

Here's some new pics of the boys, taken this weekend on my shiny new Lumix YAY!

I think he looks a lot like my sister Kayleah in this one:

Bill was the absolute hit of the Syracuse Baby Expo with his baby wearing awesomeness (yes, this is the wrap I made):

The Unlikeliest Of Places

2008-09-24T10:13:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I wandered over to the WalMart in Cicero to kill time before I had to pick Jakob up since Jericho was a little antsy sitting around at home. We picked up a few random bits and pieces, but the coolest thing happened on our way out. At WalMart they always have greeters standing by the entrances welcoming people in and saying 'farewell' to those on their way out

Well, the older gent who was the greeter at the exit I was headed to noticed the sling (that I made and posted about in a previous blog) that Jericho was being carried in. He stopped me to ask me how exactly it worked and we got to chit-chatting for a few minutes.

Come to find out this gentleman had a PHD in science and was a Biology/Chemistry/Environmental Science teacher at the high school and college level. It was so interesting considering that is what Bill is interested in going into. He told me a number of stories about his teaching days and some of the assignments he had given his students. One of them was actually really awesome! In his Environmental Science class, their final project was to write a paper on what the world would be like 50 years from that time (now mind you, this easily was 20+ years ago). He said it was fascinating to see what the students came up with. I thought it would be a neat idea for Bill to use at some point in his teaching.

But you know, who ever would have thought that I would meet someone so cool working at WalMart? I think that a lot of people (myself included!) have the preconcieved notion that people working in jobs like that are unmotivated or uneducated. Obviously that is the dead wrong assumption. Meeting him was definitely the highlight of my week I think. I ended up standing there to chat with him until I finally HAD to go or I would have been late to pick Jakob up from school. It was lovely and refreshing. I find myself liking older people and feeling sad that it's so seldom that we sit down and listen to them, living the fast paced lives that we young people live. Sometimes it's nice to slow down and listen.

Jakob is doing really well in school. He loves it, of course. And yes, I still walk him to his class every single day. I also went to the first parent workshop of the year and was sad to see so few parents there. Only five parents showed up, out of an entire school full of children, only five parents came. So needless to say, I'll be getting involved with the Parent Association. Just call me soccer mom extraordinaire!

Piaget Michael Bondi

2008-09-21T20:01:00.002-04:00

For those of you who don't know, we have a lovely toy Poodle named Piaget. We got him last year for Jakob's birthday. After much hemming and hawing, my first choice name started to stick. Jean Piaget (who our Piaget is named after) was an influential mind in the field of behavioral development in children. Being a student of social work, I find his theories fascinating. I plan on naming our next animal Maslow... and so on (although I do think we'll skip naming a poor, unsuspecting animal after Freud).

Anyways, today Jakob decided it was reprehensible that our Piaget does not have a middle name. So he decided to share his own. Piaget will henceforth be known as Piaget Michael Bondi. I suppose this means that the next animal has to be Maslow Lawson (since that is Jericho's middle name).

On a side note: we did our grocery shopping today, and I'm proud to say that what should have been $138.... we only paid $94 for. Oh how I LOVE sales at the grocery store! My favorite, by far for anyone who is interested, is the buy one get TWO free Freihofer white or wheat bread. One loaf is usually $3.39. We paid just under seven dollars for six loaves. Bread freezes REALLY well, so if you have freezer space, I would suggest swinging by Price Chopper!

Also, if anyone is feeling an overwhelming urge for some lasagna, you really should swing by my house. I got into the mood to cook some, and ended up making an absolutely insane amount. By my calculations we'll be eating leftovers for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for at least the next week.

*Hot Off The Press

2008-09-17T17:26:00.003-04:00

In Bondi News Today:

Absolutely nothing thrilling. Seriously, nothing that splendid has been happening, which is why I haven't been blogging. But since people are starting to complain that I don't write enough, I will share all the nitty gritty little details that nobody really cares about knowing, but everyone will probably read (my readers are such an odd bunch!).

Remember in my last blog I mentioned trying my hand at sleep sacks next? Yeah, I didn't do that. But I did make Jericho some great leg warmers. Right now they are big in baby fashion, especially among cloth diapering parents and parents who baby-wear. You see, cloth diapers can be a bit bulky, and childrens clothing nowadays is made to fit over a super thin 'sposie (disposable) diaper. For a lot of CD parents, leggies are the perfect solution, because on a baby, they go all the way up to the top of the thigh where the diaper starts. And since cloth diapers can be so cute, it's fun to be able to show off a little cloth covered booty. Also, when you wear your baby, their pant legs tend to get jacked up to their knees, leaving little naked legs sticking out the bottoms.

At Target you can buy "Not Sox" for about $12. Instead, I bought a double pack of girls heavy knit gray knee socks, cut off the feet, tossed in some elastic, and VOILA! My very own NotSox for a fraction of the cost. Plus, Jericho will never have cold legs, and for hanging out around the house it makes diaper changing SOOO easy since he doesn't have to wear pants! I suppose he could go out and about without pants on... but.... I'm a fashion snob when it comes to the kids, so not wearing pants is just so not an option.

Bill had a screening interview at the school district yesterday. It went really well, and the interviewer told him that he will be getting a letter in the next few days detailing what steps he needs to take next. The coolest thing was that the guy was so impressed with Bill's experience and resume, he told him that he was honored to meet him! How cool is that? He also told Bill that he should really get a transitional B teaching certification, which basically makes it so that you can be a teacher based on your experience before you actually get a teaching certification.

The only thing that will suck about Bill getting a job there is that our current dentist doesn't take the insurance company that the district uses. Anyone who knows how much we love our dentist will understand how crushing this is to us. I mean jeeze, the dental office was one of the first places we called with the news that Jericho was here. Then we took him in to visit them when he was only a few days old. It's real love I tell you (it would be even better if they did free whitening since we're such wonderful patients.... but I think that would probably be asking a little much!)

So in order to stay with our teeth-fixin' people, we are going to do one of two things:

1. Beg the dentist to get the paperwork in so that they can take this new insurance.
2. Pay for our dental out of pocket- not the ideal choice, but we are absolutely willing to do it in order to stay where we are now.

You know, speaking of loving our dentist.... I just realized that our family has had amazing luck in picking out health care providers. I have an ob/gyn that I adore, Bill loves his GP, Jakob and Jericho have a pediatrician who I firmly believe is the very best Syracuse has to offer, and we have a dentist we absolutely adore. How many people out there can say that?

If anyone is shopping around for any of those providers, I'm more than happy to give their contact information! Our dentist takes patients starting at around two years old too, so your whole family can go to the same place. :-)

Change of subject.

Jakob is doing really well in school. He walked himself in on Monday when Bill dropped him off, but then when I dropped him off on Tuesday he started to cry and told me he would be scared to walk to his class alone..... so like the insanely protective momma bear I am, I walked him in. I'm not the only parent who does it still, so I don't feel too much like it's going to traumatize him for life.

He woke up this morning and cried when I told him it was time to get ready for school. I asked him why he was so upset and he replied "I'm just crying because the days at school are so long". I kind of have to agree with him! Being in school for eight hours really does seem excessively long for a five year old child. He's also not thrilled that they don't have as much free-play time as they did in pre-school. I understand the need for there to be learning with this whole "No Child Left behind" push, but I think people forget that they are only five years old! Let them enjoy being little for a while, in no time flat they'll be joining the rat race.

Another thing....when I dropped him off this morning, everyone was outside and there were a ton of cops around. Apparently someone called in a bomb threat! Talk about a blast from the past! When I was in high school we used to get bomb threats pretty much every single day. After Columbine, things started to be taken really seriously, so we would be outside in the dead of winter for HOURS while the buildings were searched. I was, of course, a bit nervous to leave Jakob after that, but I figured if I took him home, I would in some way be to blame for some future psychosis or something because I affirmed his fears or blah blah blah. I left him, but I was a bit on edge all day. I'm happy to report that the kids were all perfectly fine by the end of the day.

Oh and Jakob is also quite thrilled that he finally has a bunk bed (thanks dad!). We don't have space to put it up, but he is happy just to have it. He's been wanting one for about a year, but it took us forever to find one we liked.... interestingly.... we ended up liking the cheapest one we found the most. It was $199 and is FAR better quality than the $600 and $900 ones that we found (which were on SALE!)

The picture up top is one that I had to dig through the archives for since my camera is a broken down piece of junk and no longer likes serving a useful purpose. It's Jakob at Strong Museum last summer (anyone with kids who wants to road trip to Rochester let me know! Jakob has been BEGGING to go back!).

Holy wow, for someone who didn't have a lot to say, I sure have said an awful lot haven't I? I suppose I should be doing some math homework, so I will get on that and bid you all a splendid evening!

*Diaper Making Update

2008-09-13T20:57:00.002-04:00

Well, you guys asked for it, so here it is.... the finished product!

And here it is in use!

I'm proud to say that not only does it look way cute, it also works REALLY well. Jericho peed quite a bit in it, and there wasn't a single leak. He actually took a nap in it. My mom found a number of things she didn't like about it after it was done, but she is your typical perfectionist, so in my eyes, as long as it does what it's supposed to do, I don't care that much whether there is the right amount of elasticity in the leg bands.

Needless to say, I can finally start tracing the pattern out onto the nice fabric that I bought specifically for this purpose. I can't even tell you how convenient pocket diapers are. No more difficult than using a disposable diaper! I'm more than happy to share the pattern (and tips for making it!) with anyone who is interested in giving it a go!

Oh and, while I'm on the subject of making things.... A woman that is in one of my mommy meet-up groups asked if anyone could make toddler sized sleep sacks... for those of you who have no clue what a sleep sack is, you can see one here. It's an awesome type of blanket that your baby can wear.

I thought to myself "DING DING!" How super easy those would be to create! So that is going to be the next project I try doing myself. My mom has already made it clear that I'll be on my own with that one.... but I'm going to try to weasel some help out of her.

Don't Go Breakin' My Heart.

2008-09-11T21:17:00.003-04:00

Today, after picking Jakob up from school, I had to run up to campus to get something from Bill. Typically this is no problem at all, but today Jakob decided he wanted to go to work with daddy and use the 'telescope with the swirly things' (a special microscope that he uses). Bill had an awful lot to get done, and knew that Jakob would get bored pretty quickly, so after waffling back and forth for a while, said no.

By this time, Jakob is sobbing his eyes out. Bill looks and me and says "he's breaking my heart!" because he genuinely wanted to take Jakob in with him, but was really busy. After trying to soothe Jakob over for a few minutes, Jakob looks at Bill and through his tears yells "YOU'RE breaking MY heart!"

I had to bury my face in my arm so that he wouldn't hear me laughing. I haven't laughed to the point of tears for a really long time, but that definitely had me going!

I wish I had something more interesting to tell you, but life has been shockingly dull of late.

Since I have been horrible about picture taking the past few days, I thought I'd give you an old picture of Jakob to enjoy. Just outside of the picture, there are DVD cases spread all over the carpet. He so got busted this time!

*Kangababy

2008-09-08T19:11:00.003-04:00

I've been thinking a lot lately about the concept of babywearing, which I absolutely love. A lot of people think that the idea of having your baby against you is a pain, but it's really so easy and convenient. Plus, it gives you a wonderful bonding opportunity. Today I had Jericho in his carrier at the store and the entire time we shopped, he rubbed his palm along my arm. It was so sweet I actually walked around the store for longer than I had planned just so he wouldn't stop doing it. If he had been in his car seat carrier, he never would have been able to do that.

Why wear your baby?

There are a variety of reasons. I won't bore you by posting them all, but if anyone is interested, you can check out this link. It has a lot of great reasons that you probably wouldn't expect.

Since we have had Jericho, he's been riding in a Baby Bjorn that was on loan from my sisters sister-in-law. We liked it so much that when I saw one advertised for really cheap on craigslist, I grabbed that one too. Now we have one for the car and one for the house.

But the way Jericho is shaped, it's starting to get awkward to carry him in it. He's short and tubby and there is only so much space for him inside of the carrier.

So I fired up google and got to searching. I found a really neat one called a Moby Wrap, and noticed that some of the moms on my mothers group had talked about them as well.

Neat huh?

But the more I looked at them, the more I thought that they were way over priced. So I did some more checking, and found the fabric they are made out of. 100% lightweight stretchy cotton. Jersey knit. A fabric that they happen to have an abundance of at the fabric store.

So I wandered over and picked some up. Easy as that. The great thing about jersey knit is that it doesn't unravel.... so you don't have to have any sewing prowess at all to make one! YAY! As long as you can wield a pair of scissors, you're good.

I bought six yards of heather gray, cut it in half length wise, and now have 2 Moby inspired wraps for less than the price of one Moby. The wrapping may look complex, but it isn't at all. There is a great youtube tutorial that teaches you how to wrap and tuck step by step.

I was the guest speaker in a class up on campus earlier today, and carried Jericho in his new wrap the entire time. He was such a little gem! Since there are no buckles or plastic pieces, it's amazingly comfortable to wear, both for mommy and baby. Had I worn him in the Baby Bjorn for an hour of standing, my back would have been killing me afterward. My back isn't bothering me a bit. It feels really natural to carry him that way too.

Doesn't Bill make a great model?

*A New Lease On Life

2008-09-07T17:35:00.002-04:00

I was looking at one of Jericho's fancier cloth diapers the other day. They are called "pocket diapers". A pocket diaper has an inner layer, which is what is against the baby's skin, and an outter layer, which is waterproof. There is an opening somewhere on the diaper, typically in the back, where you can slide in an absorbent insert that will soak up all of the moisture. It's a diaper that we only bought one of because they happen to be quite expensive. Which is a shame, because I like it so much. It's exactly like a disposable diaper... only... it's cloth. No prefold, no cover, no pins or snappi to deal with. Just a diaper with velcro or snap closures which are really cool. Pocket diapers are advertised as being "dad friendly". They are so easy to use at night and when you're out and about, but for the cost, it's just not worth it.

Unless..... oh yes, you just knew I'd have a way around it, didn't you?

Unless... You make your own.

After spending WEEKS researching how to create these diapers on my own, looking at designs, patters, fabrics, and other diapers, I was ready to begin.

Firstly, I had to invest in a material that is both waterproof and able to be run through the washer and drier. Polyurithane Laminate is the perfect solution. It's a knit fabric with a waterproof laminate coating across one side, thus making it waterproof. Obviously, that is important when creating a cloth diaper that is one piece. It can't leak of you'll be changing baby clothes an awful lot. Sadly, you can not buy this in the fabric store. It has to be ordered online, and costs around $9.00 per yard. Not too bad considering you can probably make seven diapers out of a one yard piece, and use any left over to make mama cloth if you're interested in that. The other sad thing is that they don't make this in very exciting prints. I ended up buying plain old white, you'll understand why later.

The other thing I had to buy was something called Aplix. It's a velcro-like closure that is a lot more durable than typical velcro. Obviously, it has to stand up to an awful lot of washing. This stuff is surprisingly inexpensive. It costs about $1 a yard for either hook (the scratchy side), or loop (the soft side). You need to buy both, so it's at least two dollars. I ended up buying 3 yards of hook and 9 yards of loop. Why? Because you use more loop than hook, and the standard when you're making cloth diapers is 3 yards of loop for every yard of hook.

I needed to pick the fabric that would be against the baby, and in my search I found that the best fabrics to use are 100% cotton. I decided to use cotton flannel. Nothing fancy from the craft store. But a receiving blanket that was never used. Waste not, want not, right?

I figured that since this was a trial diaper, it would be silly to chop up brand new fabric only to do something wrong and ruin it, so I looked through my closet and found an old vest I got from the thrift store that was fleece (which is another great diapering fabric!).

Both the blanket and vest were washed with Charlies soap, which is an all natural-no additives soap that leaves no residue behind. This is important because anything that leaves a residue on cloth diapers will ruin their ability to absorb moisture. If you look at most any detergent ingredient list, you'll see things like 'softeners' and 'brighteners'. That translates into 'film left behind on fabric'. Cloth diapers need to be able to absorb moisture while being waterproof. So no fancy detergent, no fabric softener.

So anyways, I decided that the blanket would be the fabric against the baby, then would come the layer of PUL, which would be hidden by an outer layer of repurposed vest fleece.

I spent last Saturday morning creating a pattern based on ideas I got from other diapers I looked at. There were features on a number of diapers that I wanted to recreate on my own. I thought creating a pattern would be the easy part. Thus far it has actually been the most difficult! After a few hours, I finally had what I wanted.

Yes, my pattern was created on a Cheeze-It box, but it was the only thing in the house that was big enough to put the entire pattern on.

Here are all three layers: PUL, Flannel, and Fleece-

It took me a while to figure out how to pin the diaper so that once it was turned right side out, everything was where it was supposed to be. You see, the flannel is supposed to be separated from the PUL and fleece by the absorbent inner liner. So I had to pin the fabric together for sewing in such a way that it would be layered appropriately once finished. Flannel, then PUL (Laminate side facing the flannel) then the fleece. I FINALLY got everything pinned together properly.

Now, since I am not so great on a sewing machine, we are just waiting on my mom to do the actual sewing together. **Hint Hint MOM! I know you're reading this. Get moving lady!**

Hopefully, within a few days I will have the finished product and will be able to report on it's success or failure. Stay tuned!

*Kindergarten

2008-09-04T13:57:00.002-04:00

I am proud to announce that I didn't cry much at all. This morning he was just killing me though. He got out of the shower and wrapped up in a blanket. He kept saying he was cold and shivering, but after a few minutes I realized he wasn't shivering because he was cold, he was shaking because he was nervous. He asked for waffles for breakfast, ate maybe one bite, then couldn't eat anymore.

He was *JUST* like his daddy. Bill gets like that when he is really nervous, it was so cute to see Jakob using Bill's mannerisms. Of course it also broke my heart because it made me feel even more like I didn't want to let him go.

I did really well though, the worst part was watching him walk off into his classroom with the teacher. He didn't look back or anything, just left.

I had to go to work right after we dropped him off, and I couldn't concentrate on a single thing all day long. Now I'm just waiting to go pick him up since he doesn't get out until 3 (Doesn't that seem like an awful long day for little kids? Drop off at 7:55am, pickup at 3pm). I feel comfortable with his teachers, which makes me really happy. I was afraid we wouldn't like them.

Also, Bill's schedule has been crazy since I've been working on Thursdays and Fridays now. On those days, he doesn't go in until 1:30, then has to work really late. Obviously this sucks especially with Jakob in school now, because Bill likely won't get to see him but for a few minutes in the morning. I've been trying to get him to warm up to the idea of taking the baby to work *with* him. A bunch of the other people have done it, why not him? Finally he decided to give it a try, and he was actually really pleased with the results. He said Jericho behaved wonderfully, and of course got a ton of attention. Plus Bill was able to get a lot of work done (he picked me up at one, and I drove him back up to work so that I can have the car to get Jakob from school) and won't have to work until the sun sets.

Just for the record, he doesn't take the baby in to the lab, he keeps him in the office to do computer and paper work, lest any of you think we expose our little man to hazardous chemicals.

So that was today in a nutshell. Hopefully tomorrow I'll do better with letting Jakob go to class on his own (although I doubt that will happen, I want to KNOW that he knows where his classroom is).

Getting More Bang For Your Buck

2008-09-03T11:51:00.004-04:00

I hear an awful lot of: "How can you afford to dress your kids so well" and "OMG Where did you get that?" or "You only spent HOW MUCH?". I hear it so often in fact that I thought I would make an entry about shopping, since it's something I do so love to do.

First of all, I want to make sure people realize that cheap and frugal are two totally different concepts. Being frugal is:

"The practice of acquiring goods and services at minimum cost achieved via economical restraint or creative measures. Frugality can be related to the idea of being conservative or conserving money"

By contrast, cheap is:

"relatively low in price or charging a low price"

So you see the difference? You can be cheap without being frugal, but you can also be frugal without being cheap. The words are not appropriately interchangeable.

For example: cloth diapering is not cheap. The start up cost is actually quite a bit more than you would spend on a box of diapers. But because you are getting the best *value* for your dollar, cloth diapering *is* frugal. It is not cheap in the long run, but when you have four children and only had to spend $300 on diapers once instead of over $2,000 per child, you will realize quickly how frugal cloth diapering can be.

My most recent frugality has been shopping for back to school clothes for Jakob. Last year, school shopping was no big deal since he could still fit in all of his older clothes. We just got a few new pieces here and there for him. This year was an entirely different story. All of the clothes he had last year he had already outgrown by the end of the year, so there was no way we could reuse any of that. He needed an entirely new wardrobe, which is no small thing considering kids' clothing can be expensive.

I was able to get him an entire *BRAND NEW* fall/winter wardrobe for less than $150. Sounds like a lot, but anyone who has children and shops for brand new stuff knows that $150 is hardly anything.

Here's how I did it:

I stayed away from WalMart and KMart. Why? You might ask. Aren't WalMart and KMart supposed to be cheap places? Yes, they are... supposed to be. One pair of size 6 boys jeans at WalMart cost a whopping $24.00. Yup, you read that right. Sure there were cheaper styles, but I won't wear tapered leg jeans, so I can't imagine putting them on Jakob. For the classic boot/wide leg cut jeans, it was expensive. I could have bought him four pairs for $100 and that would have been the end of my back to school shopping.

Shopping Tip One: I start early, at the beginning of the summer clothing season actually. All the heavier clothing goes on sale to make room for summer stuff.

Shopping Tip Two: There is a store we have locally called H & M, located in both Carousel Mall (for those of us who are willing to brave the construction madness) and in Great Northern Mall. I was able to get double packs of really nice fitted, long sleeved basic color shirts (black, brown, green, blue, red, etc) for $1 each. And by that I mean each double pack was $1, making each individual shirt $.50. SCORE! People often (and sadly) overlook stores like this when back to school shopping because they seem to think that it's outrageously expensive. Most of the clothing there is a FAR better value than clothing from WalMart, KMart, or even Target.

Shopping Tip Three: When I find a great sale, like the $.50 each shirts above, instead of just getting the size Jakob is in now, I get the next few sizes up as well. Sure, it means spending a little extra money now, but in the long run, it will save me a TON!

Plus, H & M Often has a deal where if you buy any of their denim, you can pick any hoodie to go with it for free. Their denim isn't outrageous, it runs anywhere from $9.99 to around $24.99 . So you can spend $12.00 on a pair of jeans, and get a $14.00 hoodie for free. $26.00 of merchandise for less than half. Can't beat that.

I also want to add that H & M clothing is really sturdy. It's the sort of stuff you can buy for one child, and by the time the next child gets around to wearing it, it's still sturdy and in great condition. The black shirts stay black and don't turn gray, the knees of the jeans don't fade, and Jakob is rough on his clothes, but they always manage to wash clean no matter what detergent I use.

Super Shopper Savings Tip Number Four: Old Navy. You can almost always find great sales at Old Navy. Their clothing isn't quite the quality of H&M, but it's still a good value. Recently they had a huge denim sale where all childrens' denim was $7, and all adult denim was $12. That is where I got most of the jeans Jakob will be wearing for school this fall. I also got Bill a few new pairs since all of his jeans were getting pretty frayed around the edges. Since it was the first time he's needed new pants in a few years, it wasn't a big deal.

Side note: Avoid the Old Navy outlet. For some really odd reason, their outlet store sells the exact same things they sell in their regular stores.... only..... they sell them for the exact same, and sometimes MORE! Every now and then you can catch something great on sale, but for the most part, I would avoid their outlet. It's just not worth it.

Shopping Tip Number Five: Check out babygap. I adore Gap clothing, I can't see paying $34 for a sweater, but I can always find pretty good prices for stuff online. My favorite ever Gap buy was last year in their store. I was looking for pants for Jakob, and went in there as a last resort, and found a bunch of his sized jeans on sale from $34.99 down to $5.99! I bought every single pair they had in his size. Those jeans lasted him from fall to spring, and were in such good condition, I have packed them all away for Jericho. So the sale was good at the time, and will save me from having to buy jeans in that size for Jericho down the road. That same day I got a cream colored cable knit romper that was originally $65 dollars for $6.99. I put it away thinking that some day it would make a great baby shower gift, not knowing that Jericho would be coming along. It's the perfect size to fit him once the weather turns.

Shopping Tip Number Six: Check out The Childrens Place outlet often. I got both Jericho and Jakob a ton of outfits for $4 at the end of the winter season. Each top was $1.99. Instead of getting the plain tops, which I had already got at H & M for cheaper, I stuck with getting sweaters and button down shirts. The pants were also all $1.99. My favorite outfit for Jakob is a pin striped button down, with the matching argyle sweater vest, and matching dress pants. Each piece on it's own was $1.99; so the entire outfit cost me $6.

Shopping Tip Number Seven: Browse sales racks for things to put away for future gift-giving-events. You may be planning on professional Christmas pictures next year. If you shop in the few weeks after Christmas one year, you can pay up to 90% off your outfits for NEXT Christmas. Can you even beat that?

Shopping Tip Number Eight: All Targets are not created equally. Locally, We have a Target in Camillus, Cicero, Clay, and Central Square. If you find something you want at one store, but don't want to pay full price for it, call around to the other three. You'd be amazed at how the Target stores never seem to have the same thing on sale at the same time. I've paid 90% off for something at the Cicero Target, then gone to the Clay Target to find it still full price!

Edited to add:

Shopping Tip Number Nine: I can't believe I nearly forgot one of my very favorites. REPURPOSE! What's that mean? It means that the white tshirt from last year that still fits but is covered in stains can be given new life. Sort of like Lazarus being brought back from the dead, so can you bring clothes (or any fabric for that matter) back from the garbage pile. All it takes is some RIT (or any other kind you happen to favor, but I like RIT) dye. To make your money go even further, it's a good idea to keep things put away until you have a lot of stuff you want to dye and do it all at once. This way you only have to buy one package each of whatever color you may want instead of multiple.

So now your stained up old white shirt is a crisp looking blue, all stains covered up and hidden away. Not only are you saving money, but you're helping save the planet by wasting less. GO YOU!

Those are just a few of my tips on saving money on clothing. If everyone likes this entry, I'll go ahead and do another on how to save on all your non-clothing shopping!

*Yeah Baby!

2008-08-31T09:05:00.004-04:00

Any parent of a small child in the Syracuse (and surrounding areas) needs to know about the Yeah Baby! Expo that is Sunday September 28th, from 10am-4pm. It's going on at the Holiday Inn in Liverpool, and admission is FREE!

What's the coolest part? Well that's simple, the focus this year is Growing Up Green. Sadly, there are only two companies in the Syracuse area that are involved in all things environmentally friendly. One is BebeWamu, who sells cloth diapers here, and runs the ONLY cloth diapering service in the CNY area. The other is nyorganicmomma who specializes in selling items for babies, children, and momma that are totally safe and earth friendly. No lead paints, no BPA or other harmful chemicals, lots of wooden toys, etc.

Why am I telling you all this like some sort of annoying commercial?

Because YOURS TRULY will be there teaching parents how to GO GREEN by making their very own organic, or regular baby food! Exciting huh? So you all must come by to say hello, and buy lots from Shannon (owner of organicmomma) and Casey (owner of BebeWamu) because if you do, I get referral credits. And who doesn't love free stuff? Plus, they offer fantastic merchandise, which is another good reason to buy from them! Did I mention there is a lot of free samples to be given away, and loads of contests you can enter? Plus I believe you can get your kids' pictures taken for free. Are you enticed enough yet?

We hope to see you there!

*Are Your Kids Safe?

2008-08-28T19:43:00.004-04:00

Mine certainly weren't. Yesterday morning, I clicked on a link to a youtube video. I've never been happier that I did. I really think that anyone with young children, or planning on having children should watch this. It's the things that you don't know, or think you know, that can take your child from you early.

For those of you who can't watch it due to being at work, or having a slower connection speed, I will share with you what it's about.

It's the story of a little boy named Kyle, who died in an automobile accident, probably because he was being restrained only by a seat belt and in a booster seat. His belt failed, came unlatched, and he was ejected from the vehicle. Sadly, he passed away.

It really hit me hard, because Jakob was in a BPB (belt positioning booster) which is the little hard plastic seat that lifts larger children up so that the lap belt is positioned across their bodies correctly. This is the seat he was using, only we had taken the back of the seat off:

By the end of the day, and after doing a lot of research on different safety seats for older children, Jakob was in the Britax Regent:

Just to give you an idea of the sheer size of this seat- Jakob is on the very smallest size setting that is shown in the above picture. It's a beastly thing that takes up about 20 square feet in the back seat of our Impala, but when it comes to safety, you really can't compromise. Britax has some of the very best rated seats we could find, and after reading pages and pages of reviews on seat after seat, we decided that this one would be the best for him.

Our mistake came in assuming that it was safe for a four year old who was 40lbs to be in a booster with a lap belt. That is the very barest minimum for using a BPB, but a number of children that are just over the limit have been killed or seriously injured because such small children are not built to withstand the sheer force of a car accident with only a lap belt. The five point harnesses have proven their worth in safety test after safety test. They have become the gold standard in car seats, and have pretty much phased T-shield restraints and overhead shield restraints out. They are, by far, the safest to keep your child in until they reach a size that their bodies can withstand a collision in a lap belt, which isn't until at least 60lbs. Our Regent will get us until Jakob is 80lbs (around about the time he'll be getting ready to drive the car himself!)

Interestingly, as I was doing research on the car seat for Jakob, I checked out consumeraffairs.org and found to my absolute horror, that the car seat Jericho has been riding in has been recalled. Apparently the seat itself can detach itself from the base in a collision. Thus defeating the purpose of keeping your child properly restrained. Luckily it's not the seat itself, but the base that has the defect, so we have stopped using it and are buckling the carrier directly to the seatbelt. It's totally inconvenient, and takes forever, but whatever it takes to keep our kids safe we will do. We have a call in to the manufacturer for a free replacement (defect free!) base.

Now I want to buy a Toyota, which has a much better LATCH system than most other cars, and a high crash test rating. Safety first, right? Ok so maybe the bills have to be paid first, but it is my goal to get a vehicle that is really family/child friendly as far as safety, comfort, and size.

Parting thought: Make sure your kids are in carseats that are age/size appropriate, and make sure the seat has been installed correctly. http://www.usa.safekids.org/tier2_rl.cfm?folder_id=1400 <--- That is a website that you can go to in order to find a car seat Safety Inspection Station. No matter how well you think you've installed it on your own, you should always get it checked, just to be certain. Your kids lives are worth it.

*Tis the Season!

2008-08-26T23:26:00.006-04:00

For apple picking! FINALLY! To me, apple picking means fall. And fall means all sorts of wonderful things: apple everything (pancakes, pie, bread, tarts, fritters, butter, etc), Halloween, pumpkin patches, Thanksgiving..... *sigh* Fall is just the most wonderful season.

So we got to get a little taste of fall today! It was a gorgeous 70 degrees outside, Bill took the day off work, and we packed the boys up to go to the apple orchards. It was especially exciting because it was Jericho's first ever fall activity! He was completely taken by everything there was to see. From the trees to the tractor and other people; he just loved it.

I love that he's at the age where he is so awake and alert all the time. Now I don't *always* feel this way, especially when I'm exhausted and in major need of a shower, but days like today where he is completely entranced by all the sights and sounds are so wonderful. I almost feel like I am experiencing everything again through the boys. This was all stuff I did as a kid, and now I'm taking my kids to do it. How cool is that? Jericho was especially interested in the way the leaves felt...

You'll all be thrilled to know that I bought the most fantastic thing ever. It's a microwave baked potato maker. Yup, that's it. It's a fabric bag that you put your potatoes in, pop them into the microwave, and then enjoy. We tried it our for supper, and it's most excellent! For your viewing pleasure:

It's wonderful and I recommend it for anyone who adores baked potatoes but can't tolerate the thought of turning the oven on when it's 90 degrees outside and you don't have central air! You can do white potatoes, sweet potatoes and squash in it as well. It will come majorly in handy when I'm making Jericho's baby food.

We had a blast getting apples. Jakob was really brave.... more brave than I wanted him to be... and was climbing the ladders to get to the apples that were up high.

We got a ton of the little Empire treasures, and Bill has been in a baking frenzy. Already he's baked a pie and bread. He is such a baker. I like to bake when it's cold out. Bill will bake when it's 90 degrees outside and not mind at all!

Jakob was a little bummed that the apple ponies weren't there. But he made up for that by spinning the horse-guide-thing around by himself (what the heck is that spinning thing called anyways?) I'm sad I didn't get a picture of when he made Bill do it with him. That was hilarious.

The perfect end to our wonderful day at the apple farm came when we were on 81 North coming home. On the right, just before the Harrison/Adams street exit is Upstate hospital, and there on the roof, was a medivac helicopter. Now, I am in no way happy that someone was sick/injured enough to need a helicopter, but Jakob was pretty darned excited to see it there! We pulled onto a side street that gave us a direct view of the 'chopter' as Jakob calls it, and were lucky enough to see it take off. Jakob has watched this video at least 20 times since I got it. He is such a little boy!

And finally, we managed to get a sort of family picture. We all look a little crazy, but it's the first picture we've taken of the four of us all together. Bad huh?

*Inspiration at Long Last!

2008-08-25T19:13:00.006-04:00

Halloween. It's coming soon. Well, maybe not *that* soon, but it's still coming, and in this family, Halloween is a very important holiday. Much thought and deliberation goes into picking and creating costumes. Last year Jakob was a pirate, which may not seem like a terribly exciting thing, but his costume was put together entirely by yours truly. No trip to the costume store here!

Without a doubt, my favorite part was the black fitted velour coat I found at the Salvation Army in the girls department for $3. It was absolutely PERFECT! The boots were also little girls, and also from the Salvation Army.

My goal costume is going to look something like this:

And Jericho, of course, will be one of the lost boys. I sure wish that one of the lost boys was a lamb, because I have a lamb costume I found for $2 after Halloween last year. I'll have to look at it and see if there is any way I can make it into a lost-boyish costume.

I also wish that I had a little girl. We so need a Tinkerbell to make our Halloween complete.

Any inspiring thoughts/ideas on the whole Peter Pan thing are greatly appreciated!

*Roll Over Incident

2008-08-25T14:30:00.003-04:00

I was finally able to catch Jericho doing the big Front-to-Back and thought I'd be a good blogger and share. There is really nothing terribly exciting happening here, so I won't bore you by trying to make my days sound interesting, they are not.

But I *am* pleased to tell you that Bill's mom has been working away on some of those crochet Christmas toys and they're looking SOOOO cute! They're even better in real life than they are in the pictures!

Enjoy the video:

*Warning: Graphic Content

2008-08-24T00:27:00.004-04:00

I would bet money that this blog entry gets more views than any of my others just because of its name. It's like driving by the scene of an accident, you just can't help but hope for some gore.

Well, you've been warned, but you came in anyways, so if you puke or get all disgusted you have only yourself to blame.

This is a followup to the blog I wrote about the mouse that was dead on my kitchen floor. You will all be proud of me in that I was brave enough to push the stiffened up little carcass of the little flea bag across the kitchen floor with a broom and deposited it on the step outside of the kitchen door. I just couldn't take it being in the kitchen anymore. Every time I went in there, I'd have forgotten that it was there, and it would scare me all over again!

So instead of waiting for Bill in the kitchen, it waited for him on the steps outside. He and Jakob had a lovely time giving it a post mortem examination. The general consensus is that it was a male that had reached full maturity and died from having its liver punctured. YAY Stella! Gotta love those sharp kitty teeth!

For some strange reason, Jakob wanted to pull the little critters tail. So equipped with latex gloves and the guiding hand of daddy, he was brave enough to do it.

Jericho couldn't have cared less about the whole mouse debacle and happily chewed on his hands as the examination took place.

*The Worth of a Cat

2008-08-22T12:22:00.003-04:00

I am proud to announce that our cats have finally proven their worth. All these years the fat tubs of lard have been eating (and pooping) us out of house and home, and I finally feel as though the debt has been repaid.

You see, there has been a mouse in our house the last few days. I'm fairly certain it is just this one particular one, but it wouldn't go away! Bill was going to get some traps but never got around to it.

Apparently the cats thought he was taking too long and dealt with the situation themselves.

So as I sit here typing this, there is a dead mouse in the middle of my kitchen floor. I'm not sure if it was Stella or LingLing that got it, but my guess would be Stella. She's a lot more street than LingLing and has brought us any number of half dead birds to show her love. Ling Ling just eats. And poops. And sleeps.

Why is the mouse in the middle of the kitchen floor still you are probably wondering. Simple. Because I don't handle dead things. Or even worse, things that look dead until you pick them up at which point they miraculously revive themselves and start attacking you with their little Bubonic Plague carrying selves. (Ok, so I know it's rats that carry it, but who knows? It could be a mini rat for all I know).

I have informed Bill that the little dead creature will be there waiting for him when he gets home. And that Jakob and I will be eating out at Johnny Rockets since our kitchen is no longer a part of the green zone. But really I just wanted a reason to go get a turkey club sandwich.

Thank you Stella. Or Lingling. You are loved.

*The Most Wonderful Time of the Year?

2008-08-21T20:41:00.004-04:00

Have you ever seen that Staples back to school commercial? Anyone who knows what I'm talking about is likely nodding and chuckling right now. Those of you who have no idea, watch it now.

I envy the father in the video. I wish I could be half as exited about back to school as he is. I am trembling in my boots. See, kindergarten is so different from Preschool it's amazing. First of all, the school day runs from 7:55am to 3:00pm. Talk about a long day! I'm worried that Jakob just won't be able to handle that extra hour. Preschool got out at 2:00pm, and that seemed to sort of push it.

That's 7 hours! It's almost a full day of work for an adult.

Day length aside, I'm also nervous because he'll be eating in the cafeteria. Seems like no biggie, but I remember eating int he cafeteria when I was little, and there were some big kids in there! They always pushed in line and were fairly rough with us wee ones. Luckily, the TA of the classroom will be in the lunchroom supervising them.

What really makes me nervous is dropping him off. We have to drop him off at the door and he will have to go to his classroom by himself. I asked the teacher what time the school calls you by if you child isn't in school, and she gave me this sort of vacant look. When I was a kid, if you didn't show up for class, the school called your house by 10:30 or so.

So here I have to drop him off at the door, and pray he makes his way to his classroom safely. Then, not find out whether he actually made it to class until I show up to pick him up and he isn't there. I know a lot of people will think I am overreacting, but this isn't unheard of in schools. I know, I watch the news. He just seems to young to be walking to his classroom alone. At least there are bathrooms inside the room, so I can comfort myself with the fact that he won't have to go out into the hallway alone if he needs to go.

I get more and more nervous the closer we get to the first day, which is September 4th.

On a more positive note: Jericho had his first real meal of big boy food today. It might have been soggy baby rice cereal, but he was majorly unimpressed. Jakob took to food like you just wouldn't believe. Not Jericho. He can't be bothered with it. As you can probably see, his excitement is just overwhelming:

But since he has been blowing through formula like a little formula vampire, we'll be working on getting him used to it. I will probably be starting to make and freeze baby foods for him sometime soon, so that I have a good stock pile of it built up when he starts on the good stuff.

Jericho is going to be so sad when Jakob is in school all day. I think he will genuinely miss him during the day, they are so much in love with each other it makes me really happy.

*A Walk In The Park

2008-08-19T19:38:00.011-04:00

Today, after waking up, Jakob asked if he could put on his helmet and ride his scooter in front of the house. Since it was an absolutely gorgeous day, we got dressed and went out. After about three minutes of watching him ride his Spongebob scooter over the seven sidewalk squares that comprise 'our' part of the sidewalk, I started to feel a little sad for him. What fun is it to go twelve feet only to have to turn around and go back?

If I were a less protective parent, I would let him go further, but I'm just sure that someone won't look behind them as they are backing out of their driveways and Jakob will end up squashed like a little bug on the pavement. So he is allowed to ride from the back passenger side of my car to the beginning of our next door neighbors fence (which is only about two and a half feet, before their driveway begins). One day I might measure the 'green zone' when I'm not quite so lazy, but I'm sure it's no more than 12 feet.

Feeling guilty for not living in a place that has more sidewalk for him to play on, I offered to take him to Onondaga Lake to ride along some of the paths. No kid in their right mind would say no to that, so off we went.

Just for the record, I say 'so off we went' like it was some really easy thing. This is, in fact, so far from the truth it's insane. I was outside with Jakob and Jericho, and the diaper bag. To prepare for this trip, the diaper bag, Jakob, Jericho, the stroller, the carseat, the scooter, the helmet and my sanity all had to make it into the car. While we were already outside, I put the scooter into the trunk, and the diaper bag into the front seat. Then I had to get the stroller out of the storage area, and of course both boys had to come with me since I couldn't leave either alone (at this point, Jericho is in sort of a strange football type hold where my arm is around his midsection, but his body is parallel to the ground.... he did not like it much but since he is still too small to help support himself on my hip, it's like holding onto dead weight and down he slips). Back outside to put the stroller into the trunk, and inside once again to get Jericho into his carseat, put the dog in a location where he won't eat/chew/pee everything, and grab some toys for the baby.

Keep in mind that seven days ago I had major abdominal surgery.

Finally, after about 15 minutes, we were all loaded up into the car (and my sanity was hanging on by a thread). I'm feeling a bit like supermom by this point. All I was missing was a frilly apron and fresh baked, from scratch of course, zucchini bread

At the park, Jakob had a good time climbing on the trees and rocks, increasing the number of grays on my head by at least 15.

Here he goes up the rock:

Here he comes off the rock:

That's a perfect 10 landing if I've ever seen one:

This is the coolest tree ever (and I'm sad I never noticed it before). It starts out as one tree, but then all of a sudden branches out into a bunch of trees. Crazy huh? There was a perfect little flat space inside you could walk around in. Of course Jakob took advantage of that:

I was shocked he was in such a picture taking mood. Normally he runs from the camera and cracks up as you try to chase him:

Then it was off to play on the playground:

Sort of off topic here for a second: People at Wegmans park really make me mad when they pick one of four benches that surround the playground area, plant all their garbage on it, and wander off. Today there was not ONE bench available, and yet, there wasn't a single living creature sitting on them. I was sorely tempted to just swipe my arm along one and knock all the garbage onto the dirt. But since I am not yet that rude, I asked some people to kindly remove their things so that someone could actually use the bench for its intended purpose. If they need a place to put their stuff, I'm sure they have a perfectly good trunk attached to their car out in the parking lot. I didn't say that last part, but I certainly did think it.

So yeah, after about an hour on the playground, I finally cajoled Jakob into leaving so we could pick daddy up from work, but not without stopping to get some ice cream from the ice cream stand first.

Those places make me sort of mad that they would park an ice cream vendor just outside of a playground, where every child there can see. It turns a free family day at the park into something that's going to cost. And boy does it cost. One single bitty lonely little vanilla cone with cotton candy sprinkles was a whopping $2.25! I could get one of those Friendly's Ice Cream cartons for a dollar at Price Chopper, pay another dollar for a box of the house brand ice cream cones, save myself a quarter, and be able to make six or seven ice cream cones!

Anyhow, anyone who knows Jakobs feelings about vanilla ice cream will be pleased to know that he not only asked for sprinkles, but ate them too! I'll admit, I did a little covert ice cream cone licking while he was putting his seat belt on, and it was pretty darn good. I've never had cotton candy sprinkles before. I highly recommend them!

Meanwhile, Jericho spent the first few minutes gazing at the lake in interest:

Then spent some time hero worshipping his big brother:

Then off to the Land of Nod. For the record, lest any of you think me a poor and neglectful parent, his car seat harness was so poorly positioned because I hadn't adjusted it for fear of waking him. Before getting into the car I tucked him into it properly:

*NEWSFLASH

2008-08-19T09:21:00.005-04:00

Jericho is entering into his 9 1/2 hour of a marathon sleeping session. Jakob is also still asleep. I can not tell you how happy this makes me. Now if only I could sleep that sound, we'd be good!

*Pollinating the Flowers

2008-08-18T18:27:00.003-04:00

This morning, Jakob decided he wanted to go outside to blow bubbles. So I get him and Jericho (and myself as well of course) dressed to go outside. We get out there, and he starts admiring the flowers we planted on Earth Day, which is our tradition.

Interestingly enough, out of all the flowers that were planted this spring/summer, the ones Jakob planted are the only ones that are still in bloom, and have been in bloom since the spring. That child has a green thumb like you wouldn't even believe (as long as it's plants and not helpless little creatures. You guys already know what happens with those). Anyways, he's inspecting his flowers and ever so seriously informs me that there is a bee on one of the flowers "pollinating it so that it will live and not die".

Most people would think that statement is proof of how intelligent and well read our child is. I am here to inform you that is not the case. He knows that from watching "Bee Movie" over, and over, and over, and over, and over again. See, movies can be educational!

I have to say though, that movie is the cutest! It's right up there with Ice Age on my list of favorites. Before motherhood, I couldn't stand cartoons. Now there are some that I absolutely adore. Like Over the Hedge and Barnyard. There are some classics that I love too, Peter Pan (my all time favorite, and btw, do you think Jakob looks a bit like Peter when his hair is longer? I totally do and get all sad every time he wants a haircut), Pocahontis, and Aladdin to name a few.

Jericho has been fairly miserable today. Quite a bit of puking and crying. I'm pretty sure he's working his bottom teeth out of his poor little gums, because he's typically pretty serious about his routines and stuff, but he's not downright miserable. Whether it's the fact that he got used to his routine with daddy and now daddy is back at work, the teeth coming in, or he's just not feeling well, I sure hope it passes soon. I'm not good at dealing with whining babies. Crying I can handle, but that constant whining because they hurt/don't feel good breaks my heart. What parent wants to see their baby cry and deal with feeling helpless? None that I know.

*Daddies, Feet and Eating Disorders

2008-08-17T22:19:00.006-04:00

I woke up this morning to Bill's excited voice exclaiming that in all of Jericho's random babbles was the word "daddy". Now of course, Bill took this coincidental blending of random consonants as an avowal of the baby's deep and abiding love for his father. I, being the good and loving wife I am, have chosen not to ruin this for him. Dear readers, it will remain our little secret. Shhhhh

As for REAL up to the minute Jericho development news, he officially found his feet today. He's been eating away at his hands for weeks, so the toes have been made into a real feast. Toe lint... YUM!

Speaking of eating body parts, it's my regret to inform you all we're looking into infant therapy for Jericho. Seems he's a little bulimic. The minute after he's done with a bottle, down his throat the fingers go, up comes breakfast/lunch/dinner. I know it's something that's been starting among children that are younger and younger..... but goodness, this is a little crazy. We will find the very best professional to help us through this trying time. (Um, just for the record, that's a joke).

Oh and Jakob and spent a good hour out in the driveway hosing down Bill today. It would have been great if it had been 90 something degrees, but since it was barely 70, they got a bit chilly. The whole reason they were doing it was because I found a jumperoo, highchair, and numerous toys on craigslist for dirt cheap today. Bill and I are real germ freaks when it comes to the boys, so they got the grand deluxe cleaning.

Bill is thrilled to be going back to work tomorrow. I've gotta say, he's done pretty darn good as a stay at home dad. I could REALLY get used to livin' the high life. It would be awesome if someone would fan me with a giant leaf, but I'll take no diaper duty and not complain a bit! It's a real shame we have bills and student loans to pay :-(

I'm doing pretty well. I found out that not only does my new and semi-improved digestive system not like milk or eggs, but that I am also allergic to the prescription the surgeon gave me for post-op pain. I kept waking up thinking we must have bed bugs or something, sort of freaking out about it actually. Turns out, it was hives I was covered in. I've stopped taking them, and started taking Benadryl. Hopefully the hives will be gone soon, because they itch like MAD!

Signing off,
The Insanely Itchy One

*Celebrating the Firsts... and Mourning the Lasts.

2008-08-16T10:13:00.004-04:00

These past two days have been historic ones in the Bondi household. Yesterday afternoon, Jericho rolled from his front to back for the first time, and last night he slept for 8 1/2 solid hours for the first time. Of course, Bill and I woke up and checked on him a number of times to make sure he was still breathing. So while he slept through the night, we still did not. It will come with time though.

With all the excitement of these wonderful firsts, I'm feeling a little sad.

With Jakob, I wished his entire babyhood away. I couldn't wait for him to roll, crawl, stand, walk. I was thrilled when he could hold his own bottle, feed himself with his own spoon, and go to sleep on his own.

I never realized that I was missing so many momentous occasions in my excitement at his development. I had no idea the last time I rocked him to sleep, that I would never do so again. To me, it was just a moment in time that I wished I could be doing something mundane, like cleaning the house, or taking a shower.

I celebrated moving him up to a big boy carseat from his infant carry carseat, instead of taking notice of the fact that I would never get the chance to hear him laugh at me swinging him through the air in his baby seat.

Now I don't mean to be completely boring and depressing, it's wonderful to watch our children grown, develop, and learn new things. But I feel a little sad too.

Luckily, I learned from the things I overlooked with Jakob. Every time I rock Jericho to sleep, I give him all of my attention and really savor it, because I have no idea when the last time will be. Tomorrow night, he might want put down in his crib and left alone. We just don't know.

So with Jericho, I'm wishing he'll stay a baby a little while longer. He's no longer a newborn, but I can at least pray that it will be a while before he's sitting up without needing my help.

*Schnapi Das Kleine Krokodil

2008-08-15T13:09:00.003-04:00

I don't have much to say today, other than I'm still pretty sore and working on recuperating. But I wanted to share something very dear to my heart with all my devoted readers. I want you to meet Schnapi, Das Kleine Krokodil. He is Jakob and Jericho's absolutely most favorite thing to watch on the computer. Then I get it stuck in my head for hours. It's just so cute, you can't help but love it!

Watch it, love it, and feel free to hate me when you find yourself driving along in the car singing "Shni Sha Schnapi, Schnapi, Schanpi, Schnapi"

*Mr. Mom

2008-08-14T20:19:00.006-04:00

Ok, before you read any further, you must start this video (and watch it too, because it's hilarious!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1TTXdsCtvw&feature=related

So anyways, this is my ode to Stay At Home Dads. Because, you see, that is what Bill has been these past few days (and will be for an indefinite number of days yet to be). He is so cute running around the house, trying to please both boys at once, get the dog outside before he piddles on the carpet, keep the house clean, and somehow find time not only to make a meal, but to eat it as well.

He told me today that he is starting to look forward to going back to work. I can not even put into words how happy this made me. He always looks at me sideways when he gets home from work and I act so relieved that he's there to help. He often offers to let me go to work for him if I let him stay home with the boys.

I, of COURSE, always jump at this idea. I would LOVE to go eat at the lab all day long and hang out with fellow adults who indulge in adult conversation fairly often. He always laughed, unable to imagine why any self respecting grown up would want to go to work when it's so wonderful being at home.

Yes, please note from the above photograph that it's been a while since he's had the opportunity to shower and shave. He's looking quite tired with bags under his eyes, and yes, he has a child tied to him. Literally.

I think this is the biggest positive to come out of this surgery thus far. I am rather enjoying myself :)

I wonder if I should send him to a playgroup with the boys, or if that would just be too cruel.

*No Day Like...... Yesterday

2008-08-13T15:44:00.005-04:00

As many of my devoted (or just plain bored and have nothing else better to do) readers may know, I have been dealing with a miserable gallbladder for a number of months now. If you didn't know that before, you do now :-D

The gallbladder that has been the bane of my dietary existence is no longer mine to worry about. It is currently the possession of a proud staffer in the Pathology lab at Community General Hospital. I'm a bit annoyed about that actually, because I really wanted to see it once it came out, but the surgeon said I would be too out of it to see/remember it after surgery, and it had to be sent to the path lab right away.

Now that I've confused you all, I'll go back to the beginning:

Monday I woke up pretty miserable, which wasn't great because I had my job interview (which went great nonetheless). After the interview, I took the boys to Wegmans to pick up some groceries, then I called Bill to see if I could pick him up early from work, because my stomach was really not feeling good at all. It wasn't the typical gallbladder type pain though, so I figured it was stomach flu or something equally annoying but not life threatening. But, like the good little housewife that I am, before I went to sleep, I washed Jericho's diaper laundry on the off chance I ended up in the hospital, so Bill would not find himself with a bag full of dirty diapers, and not a single clean one to be had.

Monday night, after throwing in the laundry, I went to sleep, slept horribly, and woke up around 4:30am Tuesday feeling even worse. I took a bath (my default for any time I feel like crap. Into the bathtub I go. Honestly, if more people took warm baths, world peace would reign supreme). When the bath did nothing but make me dizzy, I decided it was time.

Now just the fact that I would want to go to the ER is pretty amazing in and of itself. I am, as a rule, allergic to the ER. It makes me sick. Seriously, no matter how sick you are, the minute you get to the ER it just gets worse. But this was bad enough that I decided to take the chance.

Since I got there around six in the morning Tuesday, it was pretty quiet. I was the only person in the waiting room and was brought in right away (that's what happens when you present with Heart attack like symptoms). By seven, I was on an IV, had recieved an ultrasound scan confirming the gallstones, and by nine I was talking with the surgeon, being told surgery would happen before the end of the day. Probably 4:30 (which I took to mean more like 6:30 or 7:00 since that's how it goes with surgery and stuff)

I was supposed to be waiting on a room to be admitted and all that nice stuff, where I would then wait for them to come get me. So Bill had my dad drive him up to drop some stuff off to keep me busy while I waited, and to grab the car out of the ER lot. Then he left again to stay with the boys until surgery.

Around Noon the ER nurse came in and told me they would be taking me by at least two.

Now mind you, Bill is back home with the kids, and I'm there on my lonesome. I text Bill to let him know, so he can actually be there in time. He arrived at 1:18pm, and I was taken straight from the ER to the OR at 2.

It was definitely NOT how I imagined spending my day, but at least I haven't got to stress out over having gallbladder attacks anymore. The incisions still hurt pretty bad, I give props to these people who can go back to work the next day after having surgery. I was in the hospital until eleven today, and can't imagine being at work right now. I feel like my belly button is going to rip apart and spill my insides out all over the carpet at any moment now. It's not a whole lot of fun.

Strangely, my throat hurts more than the incisions do! The surgery people said it would be 'a little uncomfortable' for an hour or two, not that it would feel like I have strep over 24 hours later!

But I'm alive, and that's all that matters, right? Yup, just so long as the pain killers keep up the good work :-D

Please note: The gallbladder picture at the top of this page isn't my own, it's one I grabbed off of the net so that any enquiring minds that are curious what it looks like, can see. I tried to get them to let me see mine, but they didn't :(

*(Not) Counting the Minutes

2008-08-11T14:24:00.005-04:00

I was just looking at the clock and realized that Jakob has been on the phone with Kayleah and Kyle for the last hour and a half. Thank goodness they are 'in'. You know, those cheesy Verizon cell phone commercials? They're part of the Verizon network, so calls from us to them (and the other way around) don't eat into our minutes. Thank goodness, because Jakob can talk a persons ear off!

He has informed Bill and I that we are going to North Carolina tomorrow at five to play at "Pleah's" house for an hour, then come home.

Great idea son. Lets make a 24 hour round trip drive just to have an hour long playdate.

Life as a child is so wonderfully simple, isn't it? To him it's just a short jaunt in the car, and *VOILA!*.... we're there. To me it's a logistical nightmare trying to make sure we have enough socks, underwear and clothing for everyone, enough formula and clean diapers for Jericho, Jericho's toys for the ride, and a list of random but necessary baby equipment (something to sleep in, something to eat in, something to play in, etc).

The first time we ever traveled with Jakob it was an overnight stay in Rochester when he was only a few months old. Something I don't wish to do with Jericho at this young an age. Once he's eating solids and regular milk, I'm all about trips. But my goodness, bottles and formula and baby food logistics are a nightmare and a half. It's situations like that where I REALLY wish my boobs worked. But that's another story entirely.

For those of you who are interested, I got the internship with Arise. GO ME! I don't think she hired me because of my qualifications, I think she did it because she fell in love with my kids. But either way, I got it, and it's going to way easy. Mostly clerical work with a bit of shadowing thrown in to make it legit. I'll be working Thursdays from 2:30 to 4:30 and Fridays from 8 to 4. Luckily Bill has a job right now that is really flexible, so he'll go from a Mon-Fri work schedule to a Sun-Thu schedule and we won't have to worry about putting the boys in daycare or after school programs and whatnot. (See my freak-out post on leaving my children with others.... you'll understand how this is exciting to me).

This just makes me think how soon school will be starting. Online classes start about a week or two before regular classes, so any day now the courses will open up and I can get to working. I'm excited that it's my last semester. FINALLY!

*The Few, The Proud, and The Bouncy

2008-08-10T18:17:00.004-04:00

I strongly doubt there is anyone on this planet who doesn't know Jakob is obsessed with soldiers. Today he decided to wear his army uniform all day and be a 'real soldier' which consists of everyone having to call him 'Sergent', and him calling everyone else 'Captain'. This is all cute and funny until he calls for "Captain!" and the wrong captain answers.

"NOT YOU! I was talking to the OTHER captain!"

I wish he would go back to his love of dollhouses. Life was so much easier then. We didn't spend our days ducking grenades and riding around in halftracks. For those of you who are like me, and ignorant of the equipment used in the armed forces, a halftrack is a type of vehicle that has regular front wheels, and caterpillar tracks on the back. Evidently, these odd looking creations are able to drive through all sorts of terrain with a huge load, while being quite simple to drive.

My five year old taught me that by the way. Every time he talked about his halftrack, I, stupidly, thought he was refering to his geo tracks train set.

I was well and truly set in my place for such stupid assumptions. If he's this smart now, I'm going to be in real trouble once he starts kindergarten.

As I type this, Jericho is happily babbling away in his exersaucer. Which I am proud to say I found at the Salvation Army for less than ten dollars, which I was proud of at first, but have since learned someone else got the same one for free on freecycle. This brings about the competitiveness in me. I must somehow find another one for a better deal... meaning they will have to pay me to take if off of their hands.

As God is my witness, I WILL FIND A WAY! *Said in a booming voice while shaking fist at the cloudy and overcast sky*

Seriously though, I was one of those parents who, before having Jakob, thought any parent lazy enough to need to put their child in such contraptions is far too lazy to have children and should refrain from doing so.

Until, that is, I had one of my own. Jakob spent a large number of his formative months viewing the world from the comfy seat of an exersaucer. An exersaucer that I had the grand idea to sell at a huge yard sale. Sold it along with every other baby item we had owned from Jakob. We had saved EVERYTHING. The basement was full of all of Jakobs clothing, high chairs, bottles, blankets, pack and plays, baby swings, bouncy seats.... You name it, we had it. At least two of everything too, because he had to have one for our house, and one for my parents house. Sold, all of it. For at least 99% off retail price because we just wanted it out of our house. You know, since we were never going to have more children.

This grand sale took place roughly one month.... yes... 30 days, before I found out I was pregnant with Jericho.

Hindsight annoys me. Majorly.

So here is my little porky, bouncing away happily in the new-to-us exersaucer.

*Who Can Resist Baby Giggles?

2008-08-09T22:28:00.004-04:00

One of Jerichos very favorite things in the world is to be tickled by his dads facial hair. Since his giggle is so irresistable, I just had to share it!

And since I can't show off Jericho Videos without showing off some old Jakob vids..... enjoy :D

*Sylvan Beach

2008-08-09T17:36:00.015-04:00

Today was the day my moms company throws their big family picnic bash. Typically it's at Longbranch Park, where they easily throw down a couple grand on food, a full carnival for the kids, bouncy houses, caricature artists... you name it. This year whomever was planning it decide to be lazy and throw the big bash at Sylvan Beach Amusement Park. You could eat from 1-4 at the restaurant, whose name I can not recall at the moment, and the rest of the time, ride the rides and have fun. All paid for by the good people who run her company (gotta love a boss who cares about office morale huh?). Of course, Jakob was super excited, too excited to eat in fact, and wanted on the rides right away.

It's amazing how much he's changed since last summer. Last summer we tried to get him on some rides, and he refused to get on any of the 'bigger' rides, he just rode the carousel and stuff. This year, he was on the tilt-a-whirl..... bumper cars AND bumper boats, pretty much everything. Talk about brave.

Although he did come off the tilt-a-whirl looking like he was going to pass out. It was pretty funny actually.

Jericho couldn't have cared less. He chilled out in his stroller and got pushed around all day, so he was happy. I'm not a ride person, so I let the guys do the rides, and wandered around all the vendors that were set up. It's amazing the cool, creative things that people come up with. It's even more amazing how much money people are willing to spend on those cool, creative things.

My favorite stand belonged to an old Native American gent who handcrafted all sorts of things. I almost got a dried frog satchel for Jakob. It was so cool, once a real live frog, it has since been gutted, dried, and turned into a little bag. Too bad it cost $50, or I probably would have bought it. But once again, my cheapaholic tendencies hold me back (from spending way too much on something I don't need... thank goodness). I *did* get him this awesome hand made leather and wood hand drum, where if you spin it in your hand, these little balls attached to either side hit the leather and make noise. I thought it would make a cute stocking stuffer (and at $4 you can't really go wrong).

As I type this, Jakob, Bill and my brother are still at the park. Jericho was getting sick of being there, I was getting a sunburn, my mom seemed to be getting bored, and my dad has been dealing with his malaria coming out of hibernation, understandably, he wasn't in the best of spirits. So we left my parents truck there for the boys, and came home in my car (which is currently in the driveway being worked on. It needed pretty much everything. Thank goodness we are good friends with a mechanic)

Last I heard, they were taking a canal cruise. Good thing I'm not there because I'd be all paranoid about Jakob not having on a life vest and stuff. As long as I'm not there, I can just assume they wear them (even though I'm pretty sure they don't). Bill has yet to return Jakob to me with any major injuries, so I am going to trust in his good jugement (and his healthy fear of my wrath should Jakob get hurt somehow).

Enjoy the pictures!

*School, Jobs, and Internships.

2008-08-08T10:01:00.001-04:00

For those of you who are following the journey of our little family like creepy internet stalkers, here's an update on the basic boring stuff that I always forget to mention.

Bill has applied to the SCSD for a position as a substitute teacher. It's pretty exciting actually, because once his foot is in the door, the district will worry about getting him all the stuff he needs to be an official teacher. So if he gets hired there, he'll do that on a per diem basis, and keep his job at the research lab, which I affectionately refer to as the foodsearch lab, since I swear all those folks do is eat! On any given day, Bill will tell me that they are going out to lunch to celebrate X's birthday, Y's thesis defense, or Z's bunion. There is ALWAYS a reason to celebrate something (which is a shoddy excuse for them to get something to eat. It's no wonder there isn't a cure for cancer yet, I'll bet all the researchers do is eat).

For those of you who are wondering whats up with the doctor gig, Bill decided that it's less the medicine he is interested in, and more the science. Which would make him a damn fine biology teacher (considering he loves teaching for the Red Cross so much, it'll be nice for him to get PAID to teach!) If he decides teaching isn't his thing, it's easy peasy to get back into medicine.

Since I am starting back at school in September, I had to dig around for an internship. Not as easy as it sounds when you have neither the money nor the inclination to put your children into daycare, or with a babysitter. I called a woman from a local agency "Arise" to see if they were interested in interns, and she jumped at the idea. While we were discussing a time for us to meet for an interview, I mentioned that later in the day is better for me because then Bill will be off of work and I won't have to stress over leaving the boys with someone else. She was like "well hey, I ran my own daycare for 14 years, why don't you just bring the kids along with you?"

This is probably rather strange, but I believe this internship is going to be my idea of heaven. Who doesn't want a job where you can bring your children to work with you and not have to worry about leaving them with someone who can't possibly care about them as much as you do? I am feeling pretty positive about the chances of me being able to bring them along during the day for work if the supervisor is INVITING me to bring them to an interview!

Plus, I have it on good authority that this agency tends to hire its interns once their internships are complete, and since this place is a block away from where I live, it's perfectly located to be saving on gas!

Jakob is starting back to school in just a few weeks. Needless to say, I'm freaking out. Preschool wasn't so bad because we were good friends with his preschool teacher. I have no idea who his Kindergarden teacher is, so I'm sort of nervous. I have issues leaving my kids with other people. The school said that Jakob is eligible for a bus to school........ LOL.... yeah, um, right. I wouldn't even let him ride a bus to a field trip without me or Bill going with him. I've heard way too many horror stories about kids and busses and bus drivers and stuff. I'm so not trusting some bus driver who is only making minimum wage and is probably still half drunk from the night before with the life of my child. I'll drive him myself thanks.

Yes, I know, I'm insanely overprotective. But really, look at the world we live in. How can I not be? We live in a world where people rape three month old babies. I hate hearing 'well X has a totally clean record" yes, well so does everyone else before they get caught too. There's no way I'm letting my kids be someones first time offense.

Oh and you'll all be thrilled to know that Bill likes using cloth diapers just as much as I do (since I've had a number of people ask me how he feels about it). He likes saving money just as much as I do. I mean geeze, who wants to wear plastic and chemical filled undies? Cotton is way more comfy (and our garbage cans don't stink of poopy diaper)

Here's a flashback pic of Jakob from when he was about seven months old, and a recent pic of Jericho. They are kind of starting to look alike to me, except for the hair, Jakob was bald for ages, and Jericho was born with a gorgeous head full.

*The Livingroom of Brotherly Love

2008-08-07T16:25:00.001-04:00

So I was lucky enough to catch a picture of Jakob and Jericho being cute this morning. Jakob wanted to work on a plastic canvas project, so I gave him some extra supplies to work with, but he insisted that Jericho wanted to sit on his lap as he worked. They stayed like that for about an hour until Jakobs legs started falling asleep.

Side note: Jakob has the most ridiculous arm muscles I have ever seen on a five year old. It makes me so jealous.

*Beware: Child Unfriendly Places You Should Avoid

2008-08-07T08:59:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I realized, when it was already far too late, that there are lots of lists of child friendly places around town, but there doesn't exist a list of ridiculously child UNFRIENDLY places. So here is my very own list, for educational purposes only of course.

Child Unfriendly Place #1- The AC Moore across the street from Great Northern Mall in Clay. Now you would think that this place caters to mostly women, and women are the ones who mostly have the children (womens' lib advocated, please don't hurt me for stating the truth here). Seriously, while I was there yesterday with Jericho (who is three months old by the way) I noticed that everyone else who was there had a young child with them. I'm sure there were a few old ladies lurking, but I didn't see them.

So anyways, Jericho, of course decides while I'm in the back right hand corner of the store that his diaper is not only wet, but needs changed NOW!

For anyone who has ever been around when this moment of clarity strikes, you know what happens when Jericho decides he wants changed. For anyone who has *not* seen this frightening occurrence, I shall enlighten you. The second Jericho wets his diaper, he wants it off. And since he is (obviously) unable to put that need into words, what happens is more like a demonic possession the likes of which you only see on that stupid "A Haunting" show that's on the Science or Discovery Channel or whichever one it is. His eyes sort of roll back in his head as he unleashes the screaming demons within. His face turns a mottled purple, and if you aren't fast enough, he starts doing that 'screaming-so-hard-he-can't-catch-a-breath' thing. It's quite frightening if you aren't used to it. Call 911 kind of frightening. Ask my parents, they bore witness to it the other day and my dad hasn't stopped talking about it since.

But the moment that diaper comes off, he is IMMEDIATELY back to being his sweet, chubby, cherubic little bubbly self.

This is why that diaper needed off immediately. Before his screams suffocated him to death and the authorities blamed me for it. Since, of course, they can not begin to fathom what this baby is like when wet.

So there I am, on the complete different end of the store from the bathroom (Murphy's law here). I'm in the far back right, it is in the front left. I could not be any further from this stupid bathroom if I were in my car in the parkinglot. Getting from point A in that store to point B was surely an Olympic event. If it's not yet, then it should be. The aisles are only about half a hair wider than their itsy bitsy shopping carts, and most of the aisles were full of boxes (I thought stores did their restocking at night, not at 3 in the afternoon). Finally... FINALLY we get to the bathroom. I open the door in blissful relief that the screaming will be over momentarily.... only to see that there was no changing table.

I'm not even kidding. No changing table. There's a huge garbage repository of some sort, like the Waste Management type you see outside, only it's made out of wood, and it's inside. Very strange.

Dilema: Screaming wet baby. No changing table or counter to be had. Great big sign "do not bring shopping cart into restroom".

Well, I'm sure not going to change him on their dirty, god-only-knows-whats-on-it floor. In comes the shopping cart that is full of stuff I'm buying, a diaper bag, and a baby in a carseat. Out comes all of the stuff that I'm buying onto the floor. Out comes the diaper bag. Out comes the car seat, because the back of the shopping cart is so small, there is no way I can lay Jericho down in it without taking the car seat off of the seat up front and closing it. Out comes Jericho from the car seat, and into the back of the cart he goes.

Now I'm torn, I'm annoyed at the store for not having a changing table in the first place, yet at the same time, I'm impressed with my ingenuity. I mean, come on, who thinks of changing a baby in the back of a shopping cart? I felt victorious, like I WON! Won what, I'm not certain, but the feeling of victory was there nonetheless. Until I realized how nearly impossible it is to change an infant in a shopping cart. I never noticed how much elbow room this process takes, but when I found myself with a sad lack of range of elbow motion, I realize how truly important it is.

After some pretty fancy arm work, the child is happy and dry in a fresh diaper. Praise the saints, rest for my eardrums at long last!

I'm rather surprise the FBI didn't bust the door down during all of this, since Jericho was making noise like I was trying to feed him to some carnivorous pagan spirit god. Had I been on the other side of that door, hearing that shrieking, I likely would have called the paramedics.

So yeah, ACMoore in Clay tops my baby unfriendly list. If you're gonna go there, get a babysitter, for your own precious sanity.

*Crochet Ninja Turtles

2008-08-06T14:06:00.001-04:00

I had to show these off especially to make Kyle jealous..... I had forgotten about them when I made my original Green Christmas post, so here's the set the will probably end up being Jakobs favorite this Christmas:

*I'm dreaming of a .... GREEN.... Christmas

2008-08-06T11:30:00.001-04:00

I think that one of my biggest personal strengths is being a plan in advance sort of person. With all the recent scares about lead in toys, massive recalls because of toys that can break apart and get lodged in a childs throat, I've really started thinking about Christmas. It especially hit home after I was surfing the net one day and found some of the toys Jakob has have been recalled.

So, to solve the toy recall/lead/godonlyknowswhatotherchemical problem, I am purging most all of the boys' toys (YAY Craigslist!) and replacing them with earth friendly/child safe stuff that is not going to kill/horribly maim the little people.

I have a good friend who does some truly amazing wood work. He has volunteered his time to make the boys a full set of hardwood building blocks. Complete with columns, arches, and all sorts of super cool kiddie architect stuff. They're going to be made with untreated woods, and a water based, non toxic wood stain. I'm really excited because I realized that while we have those giant plastic lego's, we don't own any real building blocks. Jakob doesn't even really like the legos, so those are going to be out the door (craigslist ;) ) and enter the cool new blocks :D

Also, Bills mom is way good at crocheting things, so I've spent weeks scouring the net for child friendly crochet patterns. It's amazing what is out there! And best of all, the patterns are FREE! (Anyone who knows me knows how truly important free is to me). I've found some really cute counting toys, stuff that's differently textured for Jericho, rattles, airplanes, you name it, you can crochet it!

One of my favorites is Mr. Wotsit:

Could he even be any cuter? I think not. I figured with one of those little cat balls that jingle inside of him, he'd make a great rattle toy!

Then there are the most random things I never would have thought of, but are WAY cool, like these safety cones:

How perfect to go with a collection of crochet cars! I never would have thought of it! Sadly, I am crap at crocheting (I love to do it, but I suck bad at it).... so.... Bill's mom to the rescue!

*Pictures!

2008-08-05T18:36:00.001-04:00

Through The Years

Not Quite Right

The Stuff I've Learned

No Summer Slide Here!

Unpopular Opinions

The Process of Finding Me

A Womanly Art

Baby Makes Five!

External Cephalic Version

What Babies Need

Worlds Best Salad

They Glued Her Down!

A Splurge

An Elephant Never Forgets

2010 In Review

Financial Matters

Pregnancy

It's Been A While!

Stuff To Do In CNY

$44.47

Friends Don't Let Friends Pay Full Price

Including, Excluding, and Homeschooling

Have I Told You Lately...

Having Awesome Offspring

Flu Shots

Grobaby Biosoakers

And the winner is....

***Baby/Toddler Giveaway!***

Mamabargains

Honey-Do List Update

It's Been A While!

The New Love of My Life

One and Counting

The Lake

Our Very Own Lil' Kicker

I want to play with big brother!

Easter Pictures!

A Year of Decisions

Free Stuff.... NO JOKE!

Strange and Unusual Things

Globetrotting

I Need Fired

Christmas Portraits

Snowsuit Friends and Avocado Babies

I Got Tagged

Celebrating MORE firsts!

Trick or Treat!

Running on E

I will probably go to jail.

Can't We All Just Be Involved?

Pandoras Box

The Unlikeliest Of Places

Piaget Michael Bondi

*Hot Off The Press

*Diaper Making Update

Don't Go Breakin' My Heart.

*Kangababy

*A New Lease On Life

*Kindergarten

Getting More Bang For Your Buck

*Yeah Baby!

*Are Your Kids Safe?

*Tis the Season!

*Inspiration at Long Last!

*Roll Over Incident

*Warning: Graphic Content

*The Worth of a Cat

*The Most Wonderful Time of the Year?

*A Walk In The Park

*NEWSFLASH

*Pollinating the Flowers

*Daddies, Feet and Eating Disorders

*Celebrating the Firsts... and Mourning the Lasts.

*Schnapi Das Kleine Krokodil

*Mr. Mom

*No Day Like...... Yesterday

*(Not) Counting the Minutes

*The Few, The Proud, and The Bouncy

*Who Can Resist Baby Giggles?

*Sylvan Beach

Baby/Toddler Giveaway!