Monkeys make a mess

2011-10-27T20:11:00.000-04:00

Fall and Children always a good mix trying to enter a contest with www.rocktheshotforum.com

We'll see what happens there are way too many talented photographers out there for me to have a chance.

2011-09-14T09:52:00.002-04:00

So I guess I need to upload a bunch of stuff to smugmug from this summer. I can't believe how much my monkey boy has grown up. He's getting his own breakfast in the morning, sometimes putting his own lunch together for school. He's mostly stopped asking for us to buy him things. He'll either add it to his Christmas list or save up his allowance to get it himself. (he gets between 2 and 3 dollars a week based on how many of his chores he does.) I'm proud of him. I'm trying to parent him the same way i was parented. My mom told me, that a parent's job is to make sure the child can survive on his own in the real world. It's funny when I told him how happy I was to having him chipping in and helping out he looked at me funny, and wondered why it was such a big deal. Then he thought about it, and realized a lot of his classmates/friends don't do things for themselves because the parents do everything for them.

I nodded and said "yes those are helicopter parents" There are a lot of people out there who graduate college and don't know how to live on their own because the parents never taught them the skills they'd need. I guess that's why I don't usually mind the mess when he helps me make a meal. He thought that was funny and a few days later he was explaining the concept to his Aunt Susan. She got a kick out of it too. So here's to growing a confidant skilled child.

2011-09-14T09:45:00.002-04:00

How did summer blow by so fast?

2011-09-14T09:16:00.002-04:00

Really wasn't it just May? Summer was busy in that stop and go type of way. Busy/gone one week nothing the next. So we start off with kids getting out of school late because of snow days. The week after I went back to my hometown for my 25th HS reunion. It's funny I saw a lot of these same people 5 years ago but I guess being 7 months pregnant I didn't really stay and hang out. I had that chance and I think surprised people with who I've become. At one point I remember saying, I had to go away to be comfortable enough to be who I wanted to be. I couldn't do that staying in Girard.

So we get back and it's 4th of July. The next week the munchkin (or I should say mouchkin, the boy is such a mouch when we're at his brother's sports events) started extended school year as well as Music Therapy. I think the combination speech therapy and music therapy out side of what he gets in school is really helping with his speech. So July we basically just hung out. Monkey boy did do a week of rock wall climbing at the Y. Then Aug started the craziness all over again. We were redistricted to a new school, so I'm getting involved in the yearbook there. I'm so lucky that in someways the Monkey is flexible. He's taken to the change in schools pretty well. In the end this makes it easier for the Munchkin as he won't have to change school when he starts Kindergarten next year. (sheesh how is it my baby will be in kindergarten next year?) We spent a week in TN visiting my dad. I had my art and photos on display at B&N for the month of Aug and to top all that off two of my pages were included in the Fall edition of Somerset's Digital Studio.

I can't remember if I actually posted the two pages on here yet. But they're there at the top.

Of course Irene had something to say about the start of school. The kids started two days late, well monkey boy did, the munchkin didn't really start until after Labor day. So now i'm getting into the swing of the school year and what to do with my mornings. Though for September they seem to be filled with various doctor's appointments, all those yearly things, mammogram, teeth cleaning, physical. I'm also taking an online course through HCC on photographing people. Just trying to up my skills. Wish they had a class on lighting but I may have to fork out 300 for something like that. (sigh) Maybe I'll go post some pages.

Just a few More

2011-05-16T14:11:00.000-04:00

Oh I may as well post the two pages from this years, not doing so well keeping up this time around.

Might as well finish up my Art journal posting from Last Year.

2011-05-16T14:07:00.000-04:00

I mean it is mid May of 2011 at this point.

Yes it's been forever...

2010-07-28T22:59:00.000-04:00

Not very good at keeping up with much of anything lately. Guess I'm to wrapped up living in the moment. Kind of soaking in all the stuff happening. I do have more pages from my art journal though

A bunch more pages

2010-03-26T21:47:00.000-04:00

2 new art journal pages

2010-01-19T20:38:00.000-05:00

to new pieces from my art journal the first is the cover for my art journal. The second is a page called Ten Things, just some random thoughts from a day last week.

Art Journal

2010-01-04T13:37:00.000-05:00

I've started a new project. I'll be posting many of the pages I create for it here. An Art Journal is something I have been toying with for a year now. But what I saw in many of the magazines and books and blogs always made me doubt I could do something like this. Then a friend made me realize that this isn't for anyone else but me, so it doesn't have to be like anyone else's art journal. This is my art journal my artistic expression, my emotions, thoughts and life. Hopefully in the next week or so I'll revamp the way my blog looks as well.

2009-08-26T21:07:00.001-04:00

So much spinning around in my head. School starts this week. So my monkey boy starts Kindergarten. Tomorrow is a gradual entrance day, so we go part of the day. (yes me too). Then Friday is his first full day, so the whole family will be there to watch him get on the bus because it’s Ken’s Friday off. Not sure how I feel about this full day Kindergarten. Actually this whole every child left behind program still gets on my nerves, even 8 years later. They put so much pressure on kids so young. When do they get to be kids? They need to know the stuff we learned in first grade before they even get into Kindergarten. The school year gets longer and longer, I mean if you’re going to go to full year schooling then do it already. Just break up the year so that there are three, 1 month breaks between sessions. I think that’s reasonable. They keep making the year longer so you know what I have no trouble taking my kids out of school to do things I think are important for family or culture. I know my mom worked around the various in-service days and breaks to do thinks like take us to DC to visit the museums, and on family trips to places we’d never been. I feel it made me a more rounded student. I graduated in the top 10% of my class. Heh, by my last semester I had 3 study halls because I’d taken all my required classes and then some, so I usually had no homework to take home because it was done in school. I spent a lot of time wandering the halls camera in hand. (It’s good to be on the yearbook committee/staff)

Of course that’s all beside the point. I know my husband will be laughing at my Friday as I start crying because my big (little) boy gets on the bus. Though I think October will be even worse because then the munchkin will be doing the same thing 3 afternoons a week. Hopefully I’ll be able to be productive in those few hours alone in the house. Maybe I’ll even get to the gym twice a week. Or maybe I’ll paint the spare room so we can move the boys in there before November. Man, getting back into a school year schedule is hard. We’ll actually have to go up to visit my mom at Thanksgiving instead of a week or two earlier, like we have been the last five years. I guess that’s fair, Thanksgiving with my mom, Christmas with Ken’s family.

The weirdest thing happened yesterday while we were at our final playgroup picnic of the summer. I had two different people asking me how much I charged for my photography services. The little girl I took newborn pictures of back in Feb is going to be Christened and her mom wants pictures of her in her gown. Another friend was asking for someone else, her friend had just spent a boatload at Picture People for portrait of her twins and older daughter. I made sure Dawn knew to tell her that my photos weren’t going to be standard portrait style photos, they’d be closer to a lifestyle portrait. She made be asking for a digital page as well. Going to have to figure out pricing for that now since I’ll have to cover the cost of a professional use license on any of my scrapbooking kits I use.

Hmmm what else, oh yeah I saw a commercial while at my mom’s that really pissed me off. The whole immunization thing just pushes my buttons now. The commercial was for an organization that wants to make all kids get all their immunizations by age two. From all the reading and research I’ve done my feeling is age two is when we should just be starting to give our kids immunization and most certainly they shouldn’t be getting 6 different vaccines at one time. I don’t know how the medical community can say that bombarding our babies with that many things at once is going to be good for them. Ok I’m going to stop because I just make myself mad all over again. I’ll just say that I’m not against vaccines at all, they are important, it’s the stupid schedule they have set up that really grinds my gears.

On to better things Quin has become so much more responsive this summer. The only thing I wish I could change would be the speed with which his brain rewires itself. I can see how frustrated he gets when trying to vocalize. He really has to work hard to consciously get even simple sounds like ahahah, eeee, oooo , mamama, bababa, brbrbrbr out when he wants to. He makes all of those sounds unconsciously when he is playing but when he’s trying during speech classes, I can see the frustration in his face. He watches everything so closely now. When ever we play Here Come the ABC’s by They Might be Giants, he watches my mouth as I sing and I can see him trying to form the same mouth shapes. So it’s a start. His imitation skills overall are becoming much better. He does the motions now for several song games, and I’ve even seen him trying to copy Alex and his silly duck walk. Alex has developed a fascination with shaking his butt at people (mostly me and Ken) when he’s dancing around. I do have to gate Quin into his room now at night. Opening the door is now fully mastered, he’ll spend a good 15 minutes opening and closing his door once I’ve tucked him in for the night.

It’s funny while we were at my mom’s Quin tried a couple time so throw a temper tantrum. My mom just shook her head as I tried to keep from laughing. He is no where near the master of the tantrum that his brother is. I swear sometimes I was given Alex first so that I would think dealing with Quin’s Autism was easy. Okay that’s all I can think of at the moment. Other than hoping next year’s Adobe crop doesn’t fall the same weekend as Blogher. I’m hoping after the big consignment sale next month, I’m selling all the baby gear, I’ll have enough to pay for Blogher, and Christmas presents. A weekend up in NYC would be a nice treat for me.

here's the long one

2009-07-23T11:29:00.000-04:00

Summer just seems to be speeding by. I know the first two weeks of June were crazy with activities and getting ready for Monkey Boy’s preschool graduation. The munchkin has class through the first week in August, so except for vacations and short trips we’re still keeping a schedule instead of freeforming our summer. He starts back up end of Aug when school starts for the district. He’ll stay with infants and toddlers until his birthday then moves to the early intervention program. So this fall instead of watching just my oldest get on the bus to go to school, I have to deal with watching my baby do the same thing three afternoons a week. Bleh, I tear up just thinking about it. I know it’s best for him but it’s so hard. And I know it’s good for me too. I mean I can safely say my baby fever is completely gone, mostly because I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Actual clumps of time to use as I wish. I’ve started to clean all the baby stuff and get it ready for consignment. The stuff like the changing table, that is damaged or was a hand-me-down to us will go to freecycle. Monkey Boy has decided he wishes to share a room with his little brother. So we’re going to repaint the guest room (which is the largest bedroom beside the mater bedroom) and move both boys in. I’ll take Monkey Boy’s room for my office and we’ll make the Munchkin’s room the new guest room. This also frees up space in the family room. Maybe we’ll set up a work/activity space there for the boys.

Let’s see we spent a week in Tenn at my dad’s lake house. I think this wet spring they (we all had) caused mold to grow in their house because all three males in my family were stuffed up while we were there and fine once we got on the road home. Ken was the worst, he developed a sinus infection. We also spent a few days at Rehobeth Beach while my mom was down last week. The boys loved the giant sand box, not so in love with the ocean itself yet. I’ll come I hope. I remember growing up the week we spent in Ocean City every summer was the highlight. I think my mom and aunts had to make us, my sister, cousins and I, come out of the water every day at 4 pm. We’d be in there from the time we hit the beach after breakfast until it was time to go up and shower and change for dinner, with a brief break for lunch.

We were supposed to have one more trip this summer. This one was suppose to be for Disney. But Ken has a business trip that overlaps the end of our Orlando trip. So we’ve post poned until April next year. Well the other problem was the vacation club resort thing we were taking this trip on changed their income requirements for the Orlando resort. So our choice at this point is to flush two hundred down the drain or take a trip to Myrtle Beach. We’ll probably end up losing the money because I think our Deep Creek Lake family reunion is next summer. The kids won’t be out of school until mid June and we go to my dad’s for a week end of June/ early July. Unless its’ a short trip I just feel three week long trips a summer is a bit much. Anyway with the Disney trip postponed I’ll take the boys up to see my mom while Ken is on his business trip. That’s always good for fall clothes shopping anyway.

The munchkin is just amazing me with his gains in comprehension and motor skill development. He now actually participates in several song games like Happy and You Know it with out prompting for any of the actions. I can hear him humming/singing along too even if he has no words he’s carrying a tune. He’s starting to do more imaginative play with the little people farm animals. When Monkey Boy gets the art supplies out he joins us and at least tries for 5-10 minutes. I knew this was coming just didn’t expect it so soon after the move to the toddler bed but he figured out how to turn the door handle. The other morning I could tell he wasn’t feeling well but I couldn’t really figure out what hurt. While we were up in his room I had asked him what hurt and touched his forehead and nose. No real reaction except to turn his head away. We go down stairs and he was doing his ahahahah whine/cry he uses when he isn’t feeling well. Then he took my hand put it on his ear, then put it on his head and finally put it on the side of his neck. He was telling me where is hurt. With his new awareness he has become very clingy with me. I sometimes can’t even leave the room with out him either crying or following me. I mean it’s good, it’s just something I expected to deal with 18 months ago or so. His teacher said once we come back end of August until October when he starts early intervention we’ll start doing some separation exercises in class. I’ll drop him off and go get coffee or visit the library instead of staying and participating like I do right now.

Monkey Boy has been putting much more effort in trying to be center of attention. I guess he’s really noticing the concentration of other people working with the Munchkin. I try and spend time doing things alone with both boys but I find A. really interferes when I’m trying to work with Q, so Q is getting short changed by both me and Ken. It’s actually been an issue the one day a week he joins us at the Munchkin’s class. He doesn’t do this when he’s at school. His teachers have said he is polite and helpful, if a little sensitive. But he never acts out when he doesn’t get his way. When he’s with us at Q’s class that is exactly what he does and it is very disruptive. It’s hard enough for some of the moms, as their kids already have behavior issues with out my normally helpful older son having a temper tantrum because he didn’t get to pick a song at circle time. We have talked to him about this several time. Even the teachers at the program have talked to him. Well just two more weeks. He’ll start full day Kindergarten before Q’s class starts back up.

We’re now in the process of determining if Q has an allergy to corn or if it’s something more along the lines of celiac disease, with the problem being corn instead of gluten. Celiac does run in my family. My mom and at least one of my aunts has it. So to me it’s not outside the realm of possibility that something similar is possible with corn. I already make an effort to mostly shop only the edges of the grocery store. It amazes me beyond belief how many things have high fructose corn syrup in them. I don’t always have time to make my own snack foods. Thank goodness for goldfish. But boy does reading labels slow shopping down.
Ken’s computer has finally died after six years. And after years of always getting custom built systems he’s decided to just customize either and HP or a Dell. Just trying options to see which will get us the better deal. So I’ve had that to deal with along with the full page list I was given by Monkey Boy’s school of supplies he needs for the first day of school.

back post then a long one

2009-07-23T11:19:00.002-04:00

I know it’s been forever since I posted in here. First up I’m going to post something I wrote a couple months ago. I incorporated a most of it in a page I did last month.

5/30/09

Just doing a huge brain dump as Dianne calls them. So not sure how much sense any of his will make. Maybe if I get it out I can figure out how much I want to post on my much negelected blog.

It dawned on me the other day I am /have been, in mourning. In mourning for my beautiful baby boy. Knowing something was not quite right but trying so hard not to compare him to his rambunctious, talkative, imaginative older brother. Getting help for his developmental delays and then finding a program that worked so well for him. First the testing last fall and hearing PDD NOS, I know it was a starting point and had to convince my husband that yes this is the right track. He’s not just laid back and letting his brother do the talking. Then in February the follow up testing and the confirmation it was autism. From there I went into research mode, everything from what caused it to seeing what therapies were out there. Seeing if what we’re doing is enough, if we need to do more or add alternatives. Find what schools are out there and get recommendations. Mostly I see the huge progress he’s made since September. He laughs now, spontaneously, in the last week alone I’ve seen him do things he’s never done before, like Clap with out prompting, and make that fake cheesy smile when he sees me with the camera. You know the one, every kid does it until age 7 or 8. He’ll tackle me when I sit on the floor and get upset if I don’t kiss his hands before lights out at bed time. I can brush his teeth without protest, he holds my hand when we walk now, and can zip and unzip his jacket on his own. I can see him making connections. When we show him flash cards he can pick the one we describe with out saying the actual word. Like, “What do you wear on your head?” Instead of just saying hat. It's funny how much of this you take for granted that your child will do all these things and seeing him not being able to do them is heart wrenching.

Its things like this that make you realize how much you love your kids but how differently too. From day one my love for Q. has been fierce. I wanted to hold him tight and never let go. Monkey Boy I want to see fly, to see him set his imagination free and just be amazing. I want to push him and help him expand his horizons, to question and learn (no matter how much it drives me crazy some days) I want to see the mnchkin grow too but he always felt more grounded to me, gentler in some ways. A. is always dramatic and sometimes explosive, very changeable, but very fixated at the same time. He sees things one way based on how it was presented to him the first time, and doesn’t easily let that go. I feel like a mother bear sometimes with Q, I always have I want to protect him, keep him safe. I guess the mourning is a way of coming to terms with what I feel is my failure to do just that.

There was a meeting this week for the munchkin’s IEP. On his third birthday this fall he moves from the infants and toddlers program to the early intervention program in the school district. I wish they did something like this for all kids. I think somewhere down the road A will need one too. I worry that when he hits that awkward middle school age he’ll lose interest and get bored if he’s not given strong goals. See Q is taken care of, but I want to see Monkey Boy meet his potential as well.

Of course all the reading is starting to make me very mad. Especially with the medical establishment and their one size fits all attitude towards so many things. I’ve had some random conversations that have clarified some of the things rolling around in my head. In essence we’re all just ticking time bombs, genetically. We all have predispositions and the wrong environmental trigger can set it off. I saw a FAQ posted on the wall, in the exam room at our pediatrician’s office the other day. I had taken my older son in because of the fever he was running. It was about immunizations, one of the questions was Will immunizations overwhelm my child’s system. The explanation took most of the page but essentially it said no. I was so annoyed reading that because it is so wrong, so much apart of the one size fits all. Yes, immunizations can overwhelm a child’s system. I’m not saying I wouldn’t immunize my children if I could do it all again but I would certainly space everything out more and I would not use the combo shots. Hell, my kids had more shots in their first 9 months that I had in my first twelve years. And I’m of course mad that I ignored the whole immunization debate when I was pregnant the first time. I would have known that Hep B is unnecessary for an infant, in this country, unless there are other factors mostly dealing with the mother. I think what I’m pissed most about is that the states require all these shots by the time they are five. Why can’t they be spaced out even more, because you think people won’t get it done, that’s bull. I keep thinking if I had even considered family histories and thought about what was in the genetic soup that made my boys I would have known better than to just follow along. That’s my bad habit of taking the path of least resistance. I’ve started to hear things like the chicken pox vaccine may not work so well and that a booster is needed. I keep thinking why bother, as miserable as it was I’d almost rather my kids actually got chicken pox. Now I wouldn’t want them to get measles or mumps, I know I was glad I never had them but I question the safety of the MMR vaccine and would have preferred individual shots for those. I don’t know if it’s the metals they use in the vaccines or the combinations and quantity that overwhelmed his system and triggered Q. But I think the medical establishment really needs to start listening to parents and stop going off on wild goose chases in terms of research. To actually test vaccines thoroughly before having us inject them into our children. As my husband says in some ways they’re trying to play god and cure everything with out looking at the long term effects, with out knowing how our bodies work and react. I’ve been reading about the whole controversy with Dr Wakefield and the studies he did in the 90’s that first brought the MMR vaccine into question. They accuse him of saying children shouldn’t be vaccinated, when what he said was more studies needed to be made and in the meantime the MMR should not be used, but the individual vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella , that had been around for much longer should be. That there was a possible correlation between it and autism spectrum disorders but a much more extensive study was needed.

I’m mad at how narrow minded some doctors are about some of the alternative therapies. If a change in diet helps eliminate some of the behavioral problems, that then allows the more conventional OT and Speech Therapies work better, why not tell parents about them. I mean if a child is miserable because gas and intestinal problems, how are they to concentrate. If they aren’t getting all the nutrients they need because they’re bodies can’t process certain foods, how can they pay attention. One of the other moms, who has a son the in same program as the Munchkin, was doing her own research. She had started looking into getting a DAN doctor for her son. She’d asked for input from the doctor that had tested her son at Kennedy Krieger. The reply she got was so scathing about any alternative therapies, she started crying and questioning her decisions. All she wants is to help her son, just like I do, but the medical establishment sure doesn’t make it easy. Where as the therapists who have been working with our children were so much more supportive. They have seen the difference in behavior just changing to a GFCF diet can make. How much more receptive to therapies a child can be. And no it doesn’t work for every child, why should it we’re all different. Most of the websites I’ve looked at say try it for 3 months if you see a difference then you’ve eliminated one road block, if it doesn’t work at least you’re looking.

I get mad at myself too thinking about all the toxic things in just my home most especially cleaners, that I didn’t eliminate until Q was almost 8 months old. How I thought that recycling and not using processed food was enough for helping the environment, not really thinking about doing more. In the back of my mind I knew less toxins on this earth was better, healthier for my kids but again following the path of least resistance.

As you can see I’m all over the place. Guess its part of the process, I only wish it hadn’t affected my creativity. It’s not that I don’t have any ideas; it’s that I no longer seem to have the motivation to actually create them. I think that must be part of the process too. I’m sure one day the fountain will open up once more.

2009-02-28T15:43:00.002-05:00

A few things happened in the week following the munchkin's diagnosis that made it easier to come to terms. The first happened at work. A former coworker stopped in and was chatting with all the people he remembered who still worked there. He asked about the boys. I mentioned how I go from being elated that Monkey Boy starts school full time in September to near tears at the same thought. And then I mentioned how we were told the munchkin had autism. Brad started asking some very insightful questions. Then he explained his brother has autism. Growing up together he didn't really pay attention to all that was going on, they're very close in age (year and a half, not sure who is older) So his brother is in his mid to late 20's and has graduated college. And some of the things like the hand posturing when excited are still there but to a much smaller extent. Family and friends don't really think about because to them that is just how he is.

The second came from the service co-ordinator with the school district. She mentioned how she feels Q is on the verge of talking and his cognition is very high. To the point he can match written words to pictures of the same items. She wanted permission to start early reading exercises with him. She also said that the three year old program for children with developmental delay will be good for him. Though she didn't feel the autism program the school distric runs would be a good fit, the children in that program tend to have a lot of behavioral issues in addition to the learning, communication issues. She agreed with me that Q's behavioral problems are entirely age appropriate. She laughed when I mentioned that Q's tantrums aren't nearly as bad as the ones A can throw. (She's met A).

I can usually head off most of his tantrums, the only ones that are hard are the ones caused by Monkey Boy. It doesn't seem to sink in, no matter how many times I explain it, or how many different ways I explain it. The Munchkin plays with things for five maybe ten minutes max. Just let him play he'll put it down and move on to something else. Monkey Boy still rips toys out of his hands. Most the time Munchkin shrugs it off and moves on to something else. Sometimes he protests by pushing MonkeyBoy, then moving on. But certain things will set him into full tantrum. He has a set of Nick Jr books he absolutely loves. He looks through them or brings them to me to read. At the end he closes them and puts them back, you can't inturrupt the routine or you get munchkin on the ground crying, kicking and flailing. It doesn't matter if Monkey Boy was on the otherside of the room playing with something else he will come over and take whatever his brother has in his hands, incuding these books. :sigh:

Oh and the other joy of having boys. Monkey Boy told me the other day as we were coming home from preschool, that he was going to have lots of surprises for me for my birthday. "Girl ones" He sits behind me in the car so with all the car noises I don't always hear everything. I hear this "that was one of your surprises" "What was?" "I burped, it's one of your surprises" "Gee thanks, honey." "Oh that was a boy one."

2009-02-07T23:40:00.003-05:00

I guess I should give up and just say I'm and occasional poster. It's not that I don't have stories to tell or things to say. It's just at the end ofthe day I'm so burnt out I'd rather just goof off. 4 days a week I'm running until mid afternoon. Sundays I can take it slow but I have to work in the evening. Saturday has been birthday party day whether or not Ken has a wedding to shoot. So Friday is my one day to chill, which I can only kind of do with two kids in the house. Not getting dressed until noon on Friday is one of my small pleasures. I can hop online for 10-15 minute stints during the day but that's not enough time to do anything but read mail and catch up on other people's lives. And when monkey boy is in the house I can't concentrate on much of anything, he knows two volumes loud and screaming. Boy I miss nap times. Then again I cry everytime I think about him starting Kindergarten in the fall.

Anyway what got me to finally post is the munchkin. I took him to Kennedy Kreiger's CARD(Center for Autism and Related Disorders) for follow up testing. Last October we were given a diagnosis of PDD NOS. But the doctor felt he was still a bit young to pin down an exact diagnosis. Friday we were told Autism. I know this seems like a worse diagnosis and even though I was kind of expecting it I was still crying. The doctor was able to put things in perspective for me. She said there is a lot of argument in the field about diagnosis and criteria for the various spectrum disorders. So until things are changed she goes by the criteria listed in the DSM IV. There is specific criteria for both Autism Disorder and Asperger's Syndrome, if a child doesn't fit either one they are given a diagnosis of PDD NOS, kind of a catch all. Within each disorder there is a scale of how severe it is. Any where from severely mental retarded, and needing full time care, to very bright and fully functional. She did say based on the progess he's made, the program we have is a good one. If we find we need more help or different help to let her know and she can help us contact the right people.

This whole thing makes me worry so much for my sweet boy. I know he's bright but I also know he doesn't learn things the way school districts like to box kids into. I'm not worried so much about elementary school, it's when he gets older, middle and high school. Heh I worry about both of them getting to that age. I fear monkey boy won't be challenged enough, in the middle years. I know our high schools have very good advanced and AP classes, it's making sure he gets there.

Well while I was pondering all this I realized what my complaint of lack of creativity the last year really was. My output in 2008 was only slightly down from 2007. What I missed was the easy flow I had from shortly after the munchkin was born until early 2008. It was about this time last year that I started thinking something was wrong. He had his 15 month appointment and was barely walking on his own, only had three words, and had lots of trouble with fine motor skills, didn't turn when his name was called. Our pediatrician suggested hearing testing and if things didn't significantly change he'd suggest additional testing. So basically my head has been in a whole nuther space the last year. I guess knowing for sure is a starting point, and we can figure out where we need to go along the way. But it may be a while before my flow comes back.

2008-12-18T20:24:00.001-05:00

Maybe I'll update everything but for right now the last day or two.

I can't believe it. Alex actually slept in until 7:15 this morning. And yes this is sleeping in he's usually up at 5:30. I think it's because we finally convinced him he doesn't need to sleep with a lamp on. Shortly after his 3rd birthday he was having nightmares (nightmirrors as he calls them) regularly. We couldn't figure out what was causing them, could have just been a cumulation of changes going on at the time. Anyway he wanted to sleep with the overhead light on. I vetoed that immediately. I found an old reading lamp and put it on the otherside of the room. It wasn't really an issue when he was still napping but last spring his naps got very irregular (they're now a thing of the past except when he's sick). I noticed dark circles under his eyes on a regular basis. By late spring as he went to bed he insisted we cover his head with the blanket. At the time I suggested we turn the lamp off. He wasn't having it. This fall I noticed when we visited my mom he had no trouble at all sleeping without a lamp on. Since we were all sharing a room I wasn't giving him an option other than a regular night light. After our last trip up just before Thanksgiving, I decided we'd start turning it off when we went to bed. I have him a warning that we'd start once Ken was on leave for the holidays. Yesterday we went out and Amanda (our sitter) told me when we got home that he didn't want it on at all when he went to bed. He was fine with just his nightlight. Then this morning my little alarm clock over slept.

Alex is a trip lately. He hugged our Christmas tree the day we brought it home. Then last weekend he noticed I had put some things in their stockings. He came into our room and asked if he could see what was in them. I said no, he couldn't look until Christmas eve. Well that set off a wail of ear shattering proportion. I told him it was fine to be upset and he could cry about it but he did not need to scream at the top of his lung about it. So he's standing there in our room quivering a he cried. He actually looked like he was in pain keeping the volume to a normal level. So I told him if he wanted to scream he could go in his room and close his door. I just don't want to hear right next to me. I got up walked him to his room, he sat on the floor then let loose. I got Quin out of bed, dressed him then took him downstairs. A good fifteen minutes later he came down still a little tearful but calm. I'm surprised his throat didn't hurt screaming for that long.

The final Alex thing I'll leave you with will be song lyrics translated by a four year old (or almost 5 year old as he says) Not sure what the song is it was on Disney channel and part of it goes

dig a little deeper, dig a little deeper

well Alex sang as he walked upstairs to bed

"I'm a little tea butt, I'm a little tea butt"

kids are just crazy

2008-11-08T23:08:00.002-05:00

Good lord you'd think was avoiding my own blog. I could have sworn I posted in here before now.

This has kind of been sitting in the back of my mind for a couple years. Going into some sort of photography business. Mostly because my husband suggested it after he saw the portraits I took of the boys for our Christmas card right after Quin was born. That combined with what the moms in our playgroup have said tie and again about the stuff I shoot for them, well it got me thinking. Just right now with running here and there for Quin it's not an option. Maybe once he's in the preschool program for the county next fall.

This is from my journal after our trip to Kennedy Krieger:

Yesterday was a long day. Ken came with us to Quin's Tuesday class. He got to
see how things are run and how Quin does in class. Came home for a quick lunch
dropped Alex at his friend Riley's house. He was in heaven he got to play with
his best friend two days in a row. Then we drove to B-more for Quin's
assessment. It went well but you could tell by the end he was one tired camper.
The doctor basically said his cognitive skills were 18-21 months but his
language skills are still about a year behind. Based on some of the other skills
she tested he falls somewhere between a plain old language delay and PDD
NOS(pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified) though closer to
PDD than language delay. He is interactive and does model other behaviors, and
doesn't require some of the regimented routines autistic children can need. She
said not to be surprised if he still isn't talking six months down the road but
we should start using a few signs like more, all done, eat, drink, sleep just to
help him get his basic needs covered. She did think he probably would be using
signs spontaniously in the next six month though. Besides the music therapy
class we're taking she suggested we play music in the background at home most of
the time because that seems to wake up the part of the brain we need to get him
using language. He will probably have a hard time with reading at first. Doesn't
help that there is dyslexia on my side of the family and reading comprhension
problems on Ken's.All and all she felt with his current therapies he'll be able
to be streamlined out of special education programs at some point. We got home
had dinner then the kids went to be early (exhuasted) Ken and I vegged and got
to be early too. Tonight is a date night. But since Amanda is off ealy I may
have her come over and hit the gym before Ken gets off work.

The good news is that the program co-ordinator who works with Quin feels he's making a lot of progess. She feels he's much more expressive emotionally, laughing, smiling, making eye contact as well as the usualt temper tantrums. But it's good either way. He was so funny at Halloween. Trick or Treating was fun. My train (Alex) petered out a lot earlier than my little bat (Quin). We went around our court then down the block as we rounded the corner Alex said he was tired. So we walked back down the otherside of the street to our court and back to our house. Alex ran up to hang with DH. Quin on the other hand wanted to keep going. So we headed out again and up the street. He was so cute. He had this little flashlight (the boys got them at a party on Tuesday) didn't let go of it the entire time. He'd go up to each house up the steps, as soon as the door opened he'd look in then turn around and head off, to the next set of lights. :lol: An hour later we got back to the house. He still wanted to keep going but the eye rubbing had started and he was having me pick him up more often. So it was bed time. I guess picking a creature of the night for his costume was a good choice. :lol:

So in the midst of some good stuff there is bad. My mom has been having a rough couple years financially. The company she works for merged with another over the summer and things had started to look up. Well the bane of her existance at the old company got her demoted which also means a cut in salary. She was barely making ends meet before. So now her only option is to declare bankruptcy. She's worked so hard to get to partner and that got put on hold when she became BC survivor 5 years ago. 4-5 months of not working in order to recover from surgery basically put her behind and made it easy for this one partner to make her life even more miserable than he already had been for the last few years. I can't wait for the day this snake gets what is coming to him. I just wish there was more I could do for my mom to help her get through all this. The next day when I talked to my mom, she sounded much more grounded. I was in tears the first afternoon listening to her on the phone, and trying very hard not to let her know that. Friday she was asking me what I knew about Feng Shui so that we could set up her new office (cubicle) as well as her office at home, to bring in the good luck/prosperity. Looks like I have to go find my books.

That was my side of the family Ken's side is all drama. I can't even begin to explain it all. What it boils down to is that Su is basically throwing in the towel. No matter what she tries to do to help her dad it's wrong. Ken feels they should both be in a nursing home but that just isn't done in Chinese families. And the older brothers being good sons would never agree to it. So basically it would be the older two siding with my FIL while the younger two, one who is primary caregiver get stepped all over.
And we voluteered to host Thanksgiving this year (decided last year) OY!

So next week we go visit my mom for our early Thanksgiving. Tomorrow I have to be up and at work at the butt crack of dawn for a store meeting. Yes it's holiday time again. This after spending half the day there today because I set up the book fair for Alex's school. At least I can come home and take a nap before I have to be back in for work tomorrow night.

my usual catch up posting

2008-10-02T22:03:00.004-04:00

9/22/2008
Funky surprises today music wise. On Yo GabbaGabba they had the Birthday song from 16 Candles, the one by Altered Images, just not something I was expecting to hear on a kids show.And in the car this morning all of us were bopping along to Say Hey (I love You) by Michael Franti and Spearhead. Very infectious song. http://www.downloads.nl/results/mp3/1/Say+Hey+I+Love+You

Yesterday was bit unusual, Ken is actually leaning democrat this election. Actually he doesn't know which way to go, he's really waiting for the debates but he made a chart on what he feels are key points and is filling in how each canidate stands. In Field and Stream this month they had interviews with both canidates. Ken thought for sure McCain would come out ahead because F&S is for sportsmen and definately has an NRA leaning. But after reading it (he made me read it too) He felt like McCain was talking around the issues, primarily on land use and preservation, and environment. The only thing according to Ken, that he had going for him was the gun issue. Any true sportsman wants preservation of public lands and National parks because if those lands are gone so are the animals. After reading the article my feelings were just reinforced. I think the only good point McCain made was to restore the wetlands along the gulf coast because they would help control flooding after hurricanes. Anyway I can't believe it but this maybe the second presidention election where we'll be voting the same. (He couldn't in good consience re-elect Bush) Normally he votes party line straight down. I haven't done that in a long time. I vote based on canidates and don't base it on party. Must be the moderate in me.

Oh I disagree with the reps on a whole slew of issues but I think the dems try to do too much sometimes. I have yet to vote rep in a presidental race. usually it's the smaller local ones. I usually call myself north of center in terms of political leaning. I'm sure if you talked to a real rep they'd tell you I leaned dem. I grew up in NW PA which is very rep, hence the reason I escaped as soon as I was able. I think the reason I tend to be centerist is spending 15 years in the DC area four while in college, when I was forming a lot of world views. I see wrong being done by both sides and wish for a bit more compromise. Heh, my husband and I disagree on the whole gun thing but I know I won't change his mind and he won't change mine so we just let it go.

I just hope I can introduce my kids to all views/cultures and let them judge based on the values I raise them with. I love letting them listeno all sorts of music, which is partly why I like Backyardigans. It's funny because I have two friends who can't stand the show. One because she says it's too hip hop. My reaction was HUH? yes there are a couple of eps that are hip hop but there are just as many that are polka. The other says it's too ghetto, I just shake my head at that one, I must be a bit ghetto myself if that's the case.

9/29/2008
It just amazes me the difference even three weeks can make in a child. We started Quin in a program called Infants and Toddlers. It's run by our school district for children with developmental delays. Quin gets speech and occupational therapy classes three mornings a week he's also part of a music therapy class on an additional morning. They're really working on his fine motor skills and getting him to at least find non-vocal ways of communicating. I'm sure later on sign language will be taught but as the hand co-ordination isn't there yet we're finding other ways. Anyway he can now put together those simple wooden puzzles. He can stack rings and use one of those shape sorters. We're starting to work on wrist rotation, so those things will get easier. He makes eye contact now when he wants to continue a game. He'll bring things over to me, like his shoes, when he wants to go out. Or he'll go to the pantry and get out what snack he wants and give the bag to me. He's starting to imitate actions used in various song. He at least listens to instructions, sometimes actually following them, heh like most toddlers actually follow instructions when they don't want to. He such a brighter happier child as well lately, though the willfulness of being two has started as well.

Then there is Alex. He's finally been motivated to poop in the potty daily. He earns a star every time he does once he gets twenty he gets a prize. He's so motivated he's been trying to poop twice a day. Sometimes he actually does.What cracks me up are his descriptions of his poop. "I pooped a corn cob today mama." or "I pooped two carrots and a radish." This isn't actually what he ate but what they look like to him.

I had more to say but must go get Monkey boy from school run a few more errands before I leave for work. Which will be very dead tonight as the Ravens are playing the Steelers on Monday Night Football.

10/2/2008

Speaking of older siblings taking the younger one's new toys, that's exactly what happened here the last couple days. At Quinton's birthday party he didn't even get to open his own presents, Alex did. Quin is looking at his own presents like "Hey can I play with that?" We bought an 8x8 bouncer for his present. All the kids got to enjoy that Tuesday. I'm so happy the rain stayed away until after everyone left. 15 kids and 8 adults inside my house would have been nuts. Then yesterday evening when we opened his present from Aunt Su, the first person to play with it was Alex, of course.

Yesterday was Quin's 2 year doctor appointment. He's 28 lbs (I could swear he's heavier) and 35 inches tall. No shots this time but he did get the flu mist. Wwasn't real happy with that, but then he really hates going to the doctor. Our doctor said that even though he's making a lot of progress that we should set up and interview/evaluation with Kennedy Krieger, just to make sure he's getting all the services he needs. So I spent the afternoon on the phone with them. It loks like one of the doctors there is starting a program and Quin may be good for what they're doing, if not we'll have to wait possibly 6 months to get an evaluation from the CARD Center there. If that's the case one of the other pediatricians at our office will do the evaluation because he has a specialty in developmental delays. I swear sometimes he says actually words the problem is it's never when I'm focused on him so, I'm not sure if I heard right or if it's just wishful thinking on my part. Like he'll be in another room and in the midst of his babbling I'll hear a word, or in the morning when I'm still groggy I'll hear something. Ahh well.

I am so totaly geeked, last week was the announcement for CS4. I'm guessing the actual release will be in November. $199 for the upgrade, with my NAPP membership 160ish. I wish I could afford the entire standard design suite but to upgrade to that would be about $800. Not in the budget right now. Doesn't matter I will be absolutely happy to just get my hands on the new photoshop. Maybe I can talk my dad in to giving me the money for christmas, for the upgrade,not the suite. He's generous but not that generous.

So Alex was playing with my old fuji camera, he got some interesting shots. Debating on keeping that camera because we can get about $60 for plus another $75 for old cell phones, which would make a nice amount for christmas presents for the kids. Heh not even going to say what's on my wish list, besides the photoshop upgrade, the new D90 from nikon, would be lovely that and some new lenses. Those will have to be wishes because my SB800 is no longer syncing with my camera, that's the priority. Why does all the good stuff come out at once?

No interent arrggghhh

2008-09-14T23:29:00.003-04:00

So last Tuesday evening our internet went out. We had this same problem about a month ago after a very heavy rainstorm so I thought maybe that was causing a problem. Last time the day before Comcast was to come out we had our connection back so I cancelled. Well this time we were able to get an appointment much sooner. Turns out it was our splitter. We had our internet on an analog splitter with everything going digital by Feb 2009 they've been switching some stuff over early. And when they did that the analog didn't understand the signal so we go none. Since it was nothing we would have know about we won't be charged for this visit, and are up and running once more.

It's been a weekend for lots of house stuff we had to get the damper for the fireplace replaced. Which was relatively quick and painless. I think the guy was in and out in 20 minutes, he finished up before the rain let loose once more. Then Saturday was comcast followed by a guy giving us a price estimate on new windows. We're really trying to cut down on energy leakage from this house. In a couple weeks we'll be putting a couple more layers of insulation up in the attic. I know in a couple years we'll need to replace the roof, I really wish going solar didn't cost 10-15 thousand dollars because I do that in a heart beat if it was only a few thousand dollars more than a new roof.

Anyway I got back from a crazy evening at work, though the last hour and a half was easy (usually is Sunday nights) before that it was help one customer come back to the Customer service desk to three more. So knowing that you'll understand why I loved this artical I found tonight.

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1692453

Bad Blogger

2008-09-10T12:15:00.003-04:00

Heh so I've been everywhere but my own blog for the last month. I think my problem is I have stuff I want to say, or get down but the process of typing it out is such a PITA. Luckily I semi keep up with my journal, that way I can pack post stuff. So August pretty much blew by. We went to a wedding in NJ on the 23rd. The week before that I came down with something not sure what. I had super painful gas, hot flashes then chills, and lightheadedness. Silly me took the kids out on a picnic that day, they had fun I was miserable. I got home put Quin down for a nap, Alex settled in the family room, then promptly passed out on the couch in the front room. Woke when Ken got home with every single muscle in my body aching. By dinner time my insides liquified. Went to bed after a bowl of soup, then only thing I ate all day. Woke the next morning feeling fine.

The wedding was fun. Seeing Ken and his buddies from college joking and teasing each other was great. Ken went into wedding photographer mode and took my camera ( he brought a little point and shoot). The couple did have a hired pro but there seemed to be several pros who were guests as well. There was a two hour break between the ceremony and reception a couple of the guys needed to get cards for the bride and groom so we hung out at the B&N in Clinton and chatted in the cafe before going on to Il Tulipano. I didn't realize that when the resturant holds a reception they use the entire restuarnt not just one ballroom. The cocktail hour was in the bar/ garden area. Dancing in dinner was up stairs in the main ball room and the dessert bar was in the other. We got some decent photos even though the charge on my SB-800 started dying early in the reception. Ken said he should have brought his battery pack. Anyway before we knew it , it was almost 11pm. So we got on the road and were home by 2:30. I called our babysitter as we were leaving to let her know what happened. Luckily after 8pm she doesn't have much to do.

So last week I was at my mom's with the boys. Kids this age really are ready to go home after 3-4 days. Quin at least is starting to remember places so he wasn't up until all hours crying like he was the last couple times we visited.

I'm liking school starting back up Alex comes home plays for an hour then passes out on the couch. He was so excitd yesterday to see his friends again. Though he did have a small break down when he found out he wasn't in the monkey room any more. Luckily his teach from the monkey room moved to the tiger room so he has that consistancy. I picked him up and his buddy Cole asked if Alex could come over to his house and stay the night. Guess his friends missed him too.

Next week Quin starts with the infant and toddlers program. Speech and Occupational therapy,three days a week for 90 minutes. He is making progress on his own in terms of parallel play and communicating by either taking my hand to guide me or getting things (like snacks) and handing them to me to open. I know he understands what we say because a couple times I've asked him something and I get a very emphatic shake of the head no.

Aug 6 2008

Proud moment yesterday My monkey boy got his first pair of Coverse All Stars. We'd gone out for a birthday party at a resturant in the mall on the way out there was a shoe store and Alex wanted to go in. He desperately needed new sneakers but he won't wear the slip ons we bought at the beginning of the summer. He wore holes in he toes of his current pair. So I said okay and we went in he's at an in between size, top end of the toddler sizes bottom end of the boys, so we have to really try on shoe. Not a lot of selection in the smaller size in this particular store so I go looking in boys and find I'm not quiet ready to pay 30+ on shoes for Alex. But they had the All Stars on sale and I loved mine all through high school and college. So I showed them to him and he tried them on. Wanted to wear them home. He was bouncing all over the place showing them off to everyone walking by. Makes a mom proud.

Aug 3, 2008

I’m still feeling a bit turned around and I’ve been home almost a week now. My flight to San Jose was at 6am Friday morning. Which means I left my house around 4 am. Everything was pretty uneventful going out. I got in around 11am CA time. So I was really early to the hotel check in wasn’t supposed to be until 3pm. I figured I would see if anything was ready anyway. Lucky me they did have something ready. As I was checking in a woman walked up to me and said “DSP?” So even before I went up to my room I was meeting new friends and was invited to lunch. I have to say I met some really great people on this trip. There was supposed to be a photowalk for a group of 40 of us or so at 4pm. But the ladies I went to lunch with suggested doing one of our own as we looked for a place to eat. We ended up at E&O Trading Company. The food was very good, a mix of asian styles. We even wandered over to the farmers market, wonderful fresh fruit. Got back to the hotel around 2:30 crashed for an hour before heading downstairs to meet up for the photo walk. That was a trip, it was cool though to meet many of the designers at DSP. There are a few I buy from on a regular basis I love their styles so much.

The photowalk was really fun. About 6pm everyone started breaking off into groups to go have dinner. We walked around a bit more after dinner then went back to the hotel. Sad to say I was still on EDT so fell asleep around 10pm, my normal time at home 1am.
I woke 4 hours later with a raging headache. I can’t say it was a migraine because my usual migraine solutions didn’t work. I think it was brought on by several things dehydration, and bright sunlight being contributing factors. The biggie was my neck being out of alignment probably from the flight and using carry-ons only. The only way that seemed to work once I drank about a gallon of water, was to lay on my back and hang my head over the edge of the bed. I got a little more rest then took a shower and headed down to meet my new friends for coffee and a bit of a walk before breakfast. We were told not to get to Adobe before 9am because they wouldn’t let us in until then.

You know it’s really hard to get a cup of coffee before 8am on a Saturday in San Jose. None of the Starbucks were open, and even the hotel didn’t have their complimentary coffee set up. We asked the night before what time they set up in the morning and were told 7am, not true. We gave up went for our walk then got breakfast in a little diner called Peggy Sues. We found it on the walk back to the hotel the evening before. Breakfast was fun we talked about how digital scrappers are either looked at funny by traditional scrappers or looked down on by techie types. You say you use photoshop and the techies perk up until you say you scrapbook. Which is why I say I’m a graphic artist when I’m talking to people I don’t really know.

Adobe was great I was one of two smaller groups that got to talk with the production managers for photoshop. There was a third group that spoke to the manager for elements.
At this point CS4 is in preliminary beta testing. This means they are starting to gather input for CS5, we got to be part of that. A lot of what we’re asking for is already part of other programs in the suite like Illustrator, In design and Lightroom. The thing is most scrapbookers, heh most people, don’t have the money for the entire suite. We were talking about how In Design would really make the better program for scrapbookers because it is a layout program, and you can do many vector things in it. The only problem is you can’t really do photo manipulation in it and would need to switch back and forth between programs. It was a good meeting and gave the adobe people some ideas to work with including going back and reworking some of the filters that haven’t been touched or updated in a long time. The other cool thing that happened, we got to meet one of the designers of that wonderful tool…… the healing brush. He was talking about how it was a cheaper version of plastic surgery. Most of the rest of the day was spent scrapping, chatting, watching tutorials including one on a video from Scott Kelby and the photoshop tv Guys, made specifically for us. Adobe really is a cool company. The building itself had won awards for being a green building and they have recycling bins everywhere. On top of that all the employees we met really seemed interested in what we do as well as our input into their product. That impressed me. We had to leave at about 9pm and walked back to the hotel. I set my wake up call for 4:15 and arranged for a cab to pick me up at 5am for my 6:40 flight.

My flight home was not as good as my flight out. The leg from San Jose to Atlanta wasn’t bad though we did have to circle the airport a couple times. Once because of head winds the second because another plane was too slow moving off the runway, that eliminated our early arrival of almost an hour. The trip from Atlanta to Baltimore, that was a hassle. My flight landed at gate B3, I had an hour and a half to get to A29 so from one end of the B concourse to the opposite end of the A concourse. Not a big deal, I’d have time to grab some lunch on the way. Well I get to A29 and sit down to start on my lunch and we’re notified that the plane we’re suppose to leave on will now be arriving at gate B1. I’m a bit annoyed at this point since I just came from there. I get back to the center of the air port and am just about ready to go down to the tram to get to the B Concourse when I hear part of an announcement for a gate change. All I heard was A29, so I decided to check the flight listing. We were moved back to gate A29. I’m swearing under my breath at this point, my backpack and laptop are getting heavy at this point. I got back to A29 now there is a ten minute delay for the flight. With in minutes it turns into a half hour delay because of thunderstorms in the B-more area, then the flight is put on hold completely for those same storms. The hold is lifted a few minutes later and boarding starts. We then sit on the tarmac for 45 minutes because we now have to be put back in the que to leave, our original flight window lost because of the delays. So I didn’t arrive in Baltimore until 7:40pm. Good thing I didn’t have to wait for luggage. Ken let the boys stay up until I got home so they could see me before bed.

Monday I had to work, Tuesday I spent getting caught up on laundry, Wednesday was grocery shopping. Ken got back in town Wednesday night. Yes, that’s right back in town. He left first thing Monday morning for a meeting in Arkansas. Thursday I took the kids to the County Farm Fair. They had lots of fun and crashed when we got home. YAY for me. Friday we went to see Ken’s mom. She had another stroke the weekend before we got so busy. Ken had gone up to see her that Saturday by himself because the kids wouldn’t be allowed in and I would have had to stay and watch them anyway. She’s now at the rehab and it’s much easier to have visitors. Quin does not like institutional type buildings, we think it’s the lighting. He just starts screaming and crying and trying to get away. Ken took the kids with him to work the Friday I was gone, because he’d forgotten a few things he’d need on his trip. Quin did the same thing then. Luckily the rehab has a very nice garden area, so we brought my MIL out there to spend time with the kids. Afterwards we took my FIL to lunch. It’s so funny, he gets such a big kick out of Quin, especially watching him eat.

Yesterday we had a graduation party to go to. I hadn’t read the actual invitation so I thought it was an afternoon BBQ and hadn’t arranged for a babysitter. This meant Thursday I made a panicked call to Amanda to see if she could “Please,Please,Please watch the boys” She said she had to work but she could be there a little after 7pm to watch them. Since the party started at seven, we figured that would be good, we’d only be a bit late. We got very lucky she called around 2pm, they’d over scheduled people and let her leave early since she’d been doing 12 hour days all week. That meant she could get to our house by 6pm and we could leave earlier. She’s so sweet, I’m so glad we found her, the boys love her.
The party was fun, the place it was held was not quite what we expected, very college bar like. Just knowing Ken’s coworker, who this was for, she got her Masters, she likes thinks to be very nice on the dressy side when she goes our or has a party. I guess someone else made all the arrangements. So we played some pool, laughed and talked. It was a nice way to chill.

Check out my Slide Show!

2008-07-22T14:36:00.001-04:00

Will I ever Keep up?

2008-07-09T11:45:00.002-04:00

june 19,2008

You know your child is head to geekdom when
1) He insists on wearing socks with sandals
2)Puts his underwear on his head (imitating his uncle David)
3) His favorite new videos are the Multiplication Rock from the school house rock series, you know the ones when we were kids. Though he does like Lolly Lolly Lolly get your Adverbs, and Electricity Electricity too. Goes around singing those all the time now.

june 20,2008

yesterday was pure luck on naps at the same time.

I can get Alex to nap once every three days at this point. Quin never got rid of his morning nap. I can push it back somedays from 11 to 12:30-1:00 but usually he's ready by 10:30-11:00. If Alex takes a nap it's after 1:00. So sometimes there is a half hour overlap most times it ends up being one on one time for me and the kids. Quin naps 2 hours max most of the time but then he sleeps 11-12 hours at night so I really can't expect more. Alex when he does nap is out 3 hours but he sleep 8 1/2-10 hours at night. Yeterday Quin woke late, after 8am so he wasn't ready for a nap until we started lunch at noon. After I got him settled I gave Alex some craft time then told him he had to turn off the TV and rest, he was out ten minutes later. His nap was short just over two hours while Quin's went long at almost three. So it was a little out of tthe ordinary for both.

Then of course both had nightmares last night. At least with Quin all I have to do is bring him downstairs for 5-10 minutes in the vibrating rocker then he's ready to go back to bed. Alex on the other hand I have to calm down. Last night he was screaming about wanting to watch Phineas and Ferb. Luckily in his half wake state I was able to calm down with a promise to check when/if it was on today. Somenights are not so easy. And it's even worse when he gets nose bleed.

I forgot to mention date night wednesday got postponed until next week. Ken has a pesentation today, in Utah. His boss was suppose to go over the slide show over the weekend. He didn't then he told Ken Tuesday as he was leaveing they needed some major revisions. So he had to stay late wednesday to fix that because the flight was a buttcrack Thursday morning. Since Amanda was coming anyway to take the boys for a little toy shopping and ice cream (treat for Alex consistantly using the potty) I love Amanda, we were so lucky to find her. It's so nice to have a sitter you can count on. So I took the opportunity to go over to the gym. I have been taking a dance aerobics class the last few weeks. Though I get there and find out it was cancelled, the instructor's daughters had a dress rehersal for their recital. I spent 45 minutes on the bike instead. And I figured out that treadmills are really hard for short people unless yu have the co-ordination to us it without hanging on (I don't) because the arms rests/ are at an akward height when standing upright if you're under 5'6".

june 29,2008

SO a short update before we leave for TN, where I'll most likely have no internet access. Heh I can't even use my cell phone until we get out to the main highway. I think the only way my dad can get high speed access would be satelite and there is no way he's shelling out for that. Dial up won't cut it.

Yesterday was a crazy day. We went down to the inner harbor to meet up with family for lunch. My cousin's Kerrie and Becky were up visiting (both their mom and dad have family in MD) with their kids. So my aunt Pat arranged for everyone meet and go to the Aquarium. We decided not to do that part because we had a birthday party/playgroup BBQ to go to at 4pm and needed to bring certain food items. We needed the morning to prep that. Combined with the aquarium would ahve cost us $60 and we'll be spending $300 minimum for gas to and from TN. Not in the budget.

We had lunch at the Hard Rock out on their deck because it would have been a 20 minute wait to be seated inside. Luckily with the storms rolling in there was a nice breeze. I think there were 15 of us; Kerrie and her son, Becky and her two, Justin, his wife and their two girls, Katie and Doug and their two girls, Patty, my mom and us. Quin slept through lunch, and all Alex would eat was chips. Once we got home I had to feed them. We loaded up the car and headed over to Jen's for the BBQ. The kids had a great time I don't think they ate a single thing that was good for them. Ken was grill master once more. One of the other dad's, Brian told me if I ever divorced Ken he'd marry him. I think by the end of the night there might have been two of Ken's almost famous wings left, and several burgers and dogs. Quin found the water slide before any of the kids, so he was playing with the water that pooled at the bottom. Once the other kids started going down it he stood at the bottom and laughed everytime he got splashed and/or knocked down.

I just had to go up recover Quin's tooth brush for him. Since he started getting in his second year molars he needs a tooth brush to chew on to go to sleep. Could be worse things, I suppose. Occasionally as he drifts off it drops out of the crib, this wakes him and he starts crying. So mom must run upstairs recover toothbrush, rinse it off and hand it back to him. As soon as he has it in his hands he curls back up to go to sleep.

July 8,2008

Learn something about your kids all the time. It's amazing how different they can be. This trip to TN taught me that it doesn't matter what time Quin goes to bed he'll wake up about twelve hours later. So if I put him to bed at 8 he'll wake at 8. I now realize this is why he was up at 6:30 every morning, he was going to be at 6:30 every night. Why? because that's what we did with Alex when he was that age. No matter what time he went to bed he was up at 6:00 am. So if I wanted more free time it was better to get him in bed earlier.
The result of this is Alex is going to bed before Quin now, of course he's not taking a nap very often either.

I think it's going to be easier to get Alex night trained than it will be to get him to actually poop in a potty. 3 days out of 4 he wakes up dry and is still dry an hour later when I help him get dressed. I don't even bother with a pull up on the days he does take a nap. But man, I would just love if once just once he'd actually poop in a potty. Not sure how to motivate him on this.

Quin had a bunch of achievements this week. He learned to crawl up the stairs. Getting down is still a problem but up certainly isn't. He also started the "he's touching me/I'm not touching you" teasing. I was hoping they'd be a couple years older before this started. It was cracking Ken and me up. What he does is swing his leg over the arm of his seat and wave his foot at Alex. This of course sets him off and he's yelling an whining for Quin to stop. The he starts pushing the foot away. Quin brings it right back giggling the whole time because to him it's a game to relieve his boredom. I told Alex to ignore him and it would stop, because it's not fun if there isn't a reaction. Ken just shook his head no way that was gonna happen. Alex can't ignore anything unless it's something he doesn't want to do.

We have skin sensitivites in this family. I have to be very careful what I use or I get a rash/hives. Heh, I just found a shower gel I can use everyday a couple months ago. In most cases if I can use it my kids are okay with it. So I found a new sunblock and it works really well on me and Alex. Quin was not so lucky. The problem was I first tried it on him Saturday when we were at the party. He spent most of the afternoon playing in the water at the bottom of the slide and there were mosquitoes everywhere. So when I noticed Sunday there were only three-four bumps on his calves and thought they were bug bites. We weren't outside for any length of time until Tuesday. Well Tuesday night they were all up and down his legs and arms. Making for one miserable boy. Benedryl cream to the rescue. So now I have to find something new for him. I'll see if I can find california baby around here.

catching up once more

2008-06-14T13:43:00.001-04:00

May 22, 2008

I keep going back and forth about how much I'm going to worry about Quin's developmental delays. Some days I really worry, did I do something? Or not do something? Should I get him tested for autism? Then I see him playing next to his brother, fighting and laughing with him. Stopping to sit down and look at a book. Giggle as I read to him. Give me a look after I think he's done with lunch that says "hey where's the rest?" Come from another room just to give my knees a hug. When I see these things I think oh he just has his own schedule on what he wants to learn The teacher from infants and toddlers, who started working with us, teaches a music class for children with developmental delays, including those with spectrum disorders. She invited us to join her last two classes for the spring. (there won't be any during the summer). We went to one yesterday. Quin really enjoyed it, let me help him do some of the motions for the songs. He seems to respond very well when there is music. So I have a feeling we'll be using that more to encourage communication skills.

She gave me a few things to work on last week during her home visit. One suggestion since he enjoys eating, was to take a picture of him in his highchair, laminate it. When it is meal time hand him the photo repeating several times "Quinton time to eat" Then take his hand and walk him to his highchair. It didn't take long before as soon as I hand him the photo and say "Quinton time to eat" he'd take the photo walk to his chair and set the picture on the tray then raise his arms to be lifted up. Mostly we were working on this as a way of getting him to respond to his name. We're also supposed to offer him choices, food, toys, what ever, getting him to participate and engage with others.

So all this is going on and we're trying to get the house in order for the weekend. Ken got the main part of the backsplash up. The area behind the microwave can wait. He also patched, primed and painted the walls in the front hall. Mother's day weekend he trimmed all the tree branches. Tomorrow he'll be powerwashing the outside of the house. I've been cleaning, vacuuming and trying to just generally purge stuff from the house. Heh I have a bag of baby clothes and books to send home with my mom this weekend. The clothes she'll give to my aunt, to give to my cousin for his baby boy. The books will go to the library she's a board member of.

Now I just have get together a bag of ripped torn clothes to go for fabric recycling. Our county has an place that accepts electronics and fabrics for recycling in addition to traditional recycling of thing like paper, yard waste, plastic, metal and glass. That's where all Alex's pants with torn out knees will go as soon as I can convince him to wear shorts. Heh I can't even convince him to wear short sleeved shirts yet. He will be the kid wearing socks with sandals this summer.

June 14,2008

Not too much going on here. We went cold turkey with Alex and potty training last weekend of May. Now this is the second time we've tried this. The first time was about a year ago and he would just pee where ever he stood, didn't matter if he was dressed or naked. He just couldn't be bothered to stop what ever he was doing to go potty even though I had him on a timer. It seems to be working this time. We started with every half hour the first week. I also told him if he wet his pants he'd get a new pair of underwear but not new pants/shorts. A second time he'd be stuck in his wet underwear. If he made it to the potty three times after that he could have dry clothes again. With in a couple days he was at least trying every time the timer went off. We stretched the time out and now we're at every hour/hour and a half and a couple times he's actually taken the initiative and gone on his own before the timer went off. Most mornings he's waking with a dry pull up but I'm not going to worry about night time yet. Next step is poop.

I think the reason it's working this time is because he's interested in certain activities like t-ball (next spring) and swimming lessons and I told him they don't let kids who can't use the potty do those things. I think that and the peer pressure at school and in playgroup are finally working in our favor. Al the kids in our play group are potty trained and have been for a year, half of them aren't even 4 yet. And several of the younger set 2-21/2 year olds are starting. He's a smart kid I think he's figuring out this isn't the way to still get babied.

I need to make an appointment for Quin with an opthamologist, just one more thing to eliminate in terms of reasons for the developmental delay. My mom had mentioned while she was visiting, that our family has a tendency to be farsighted. We have noticed that he has a bigger emotional reaction to stuff the farther away he is. Not sure it's a real big difference but it may be just enough that he isn't making the connection between words and objects.

Ken had an interesting conversation with his sister the other night. She'd recently been to a conference on learning styles (she's a trainer for Xerox). There are two main styles experimental and contextual (I think, have to talk to Ken to confirm) We all have both styles to one degre or another. It's just more apparent with people at either end. Basically we figured Alex tends to be a contextual learner. He just absorbs information, by seeing and hearing and practicing he makes connections between things very quickly. Tell him something once or twice and he knows it. Show him how something works like basic addition/subtraction and he understands and starts playing with it on his own.
Experimental learners don't always do well with tests and books, but once they find their niche they are the best at what they do because they know it backwards and forwards. It's starting to look like Quin is more of an experimental learner. He examines everything, picks it up and looks at is from all angles. When he first started playing with cars he'd see how they work by rolling them on the floor, then at waist level then at eye level then on something taller than him. After that he's try different surfaces, smooth, soft, bumpy. I'm starting to think this combined with the second child tendency to do things later because the older one does things for them is some of the reason for his delays.

He's still not really reacting to his own name but he is starting to bring me toys to look at. He's also starting to copy what Alex does as he plays. He wants to play next to Alex or watch him while he plays a lot mre now too. His new favorite song is Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes I have to help him with the motions but after I help him he grabs my hands and does the same motions.

Last night/today has not been a good day. I spend an hour with Quin because he had a tummy ache. I just rubbed his back and belly, he acted a couple times like he was going to throw up. I was even trying to encourage him, just so he wouldn't be in pain but he swallowed it right back down. Finally he burped a couple times and ten minuted later farted. After that he wanted to go back to bed. Then at 5 am Alex wakes up screaming at the top of his lungs that he needs to brush his teeth. Now we brushed his teeth before bed, he didn't want to do it himself so I did it for him (he goes back and forth between brushing his own teeth and having an adult help) I was so pissed but I got everyhting ready for him and let him brush his teeth on his own. Now because he was carrying on so loudly Quin woke again. Quin has a temper, takes a while to set it off but once he's lost it he gets a bit violent. I went in to settle him down and he was fine while I was there until he realized that I wasn't going to pick him up and take him downstairs, then he threw himself down kicking and screaming. I just walked out and closed the door. He screamed for another 5 minutes. I packed Alex back into his room and told him he couldn't get up and go downstairs until 7am.
Since summer started he's been getting up and quietly going downstairs to play and watch tv between 6-6:30. For the last year he had been getting up but playing quietly in his room until 7am then getting me up to go downstairs. Either way it is kind of nice because I don't have to actually get up when he gets up in the morning. So today I've had to cranky whiny children, I'm pretty cranky myself from interupted sleep, not a good combo. Hoping they both take long naps.

Mother's Day

2008-05-11T21:38:00.001-04:00

This past week was no big deal until the end of the week. Wednesday we spent most of the day at Longwood Gardens. I had to leave by 2:00 because it’s an hour home and I had my yearly visit to the gyn at 4:30. Fun fun. The nurse who took my vitals was surprised I spent the day running around then came to the appointment. Then she thought about it a moment and said. “I guess this is kind of a vacation.” A bit. Next came the normal questions.

“Do you smoke ?”
“no”
“Do you drink ?”
“occasionally”
“Tonight ?”
“yes”

Everything looks normal, it was time for another pap smear, every three years now. It’s also time for another mammogram, o joy. Need to call for that appointment.

Thursday I got a fun e-mail. A producer from food network wanted to know if we wanted to have our cake shown on Ace of Cakes. Kind of left me a bit giddy. They wanted the backstory on the design.

The idea for the cake just started with monkey's and cameras. My husband is Chinese and 1968 was the year of the monkey. SO we're both monkeys, our oldest son was born in the year of the monkey as well. Until our younger son was born we were a house full of monkeys. My husband and I met through photography. He's a wedding photographer, I'm a pretty good amatuer especially with kids, my own plus their friends. Between us we've got more than 40 years experience with photography. My husband hobby jumps he's gotten back into trains because both our boys love them. He spent the winter building a HO scale track in our basement, so I threw in the idea of having him and the boys riding in an engine with me chasing them with a camera.

Friday Ken and I moved all the furniture out of the dining room, so we could get that mopped. Then I took the kids over to visit one of Alex’s best buddies. While we were out Ken put down a layer of linseed oil on the floor. Came home around 2:00 and put Quin down for a nap. Let Alex have a snack then he went down for one too. While they were both sleeping we moved all the furniture back slightly rearranged.

Saturday Ken had a wedding so I did laundry as my cold came on full fledged. Actually I felt it starting Friday night, the nodes on the right side of my neck were sore. I even went to bed early, that means I wasn’t feeling well. By this morning most of the scratchiness in my throat was gone but I’m completely congested. I didn’t really get a break from the kids. We got a break in the rain so Ken was out getting the yard ready. We really only have one more weekend to get everything in order before the party. No rest for the weary, especially since Quin decided he didn’t really want to take a nap. I barely got a shower in. I called into word, I’m hoping today was the worst of it and I can go in tomorrow.

Oh and my favorite new book, I saw this last week and have already gifted it to someone. If you have little boys it’s perfect. Little Boy It made me laugh as tears welled up in my eyes. It’s just as sweet in its own way as her other book SomeDay

End of April catch up

2008-04-30T20:20:00.002-04:00

Not much going on here. Seems like Ken and I have hit the same "I don't want to do anything" rut. Don't want to work on the house, most especially the kitchen, don't want to do the usual hobbies, don't want to do anything that involves thought. Now I don't mind hanging around outside watching the kids play in this wonderful weather. But once they're in bed I'm kind of veging with real arcade games. Ken's been watching lots of You Tube.

I finally got my hair cut last Tuesday. I compromised, I really prefer my hair short, Ken likes it long. So I got a layered bob, cut right below my ears, stacked up in the back so it's off my neck. I hate hair stuck to my neck when it's warm, even if it's long enough to pull up because it's wavy/curly some always escapes. It looks cute when my hair decides to be curly and ok when it doesn't. Pretty much wash and wear which it the best thing for me. The less effort on my part the better.

Last Thursday we went up to Erie to visit my mom. Friday did a little shopping. Saturday my Aunt came in from Cleveland for a visit. Sunday I hung out with Sherri my friend from HS. Monday I drove back. Alex is the perfect age for trips like this. He gets so excited he was talking all week about going to visit his grandma. Quin on the other hand was a bear. But then all kids 1-2 1/2 years old suck at travel. It messes with their routine and they're in an unfamiliar bed. He didn't settle in until sunday and the next day we went home. Alex was the same way at that age so it's to be expected.

I got our Birthday bash invites in right before I left town. Finished sending those out today. I have a few extras if anyone wants one. I don't expect you to come to Baltimore, memorial day weekend, I'm sure most people have plans at this point but I'm happy to invite people. My Aunt Bonnie is all excited to come so she can see the Ace of Cakes cake we're getting. Duff made our wedding cake so I figured a cake for a combined 40th birthday was a big enough deal to get another one from Charm City Cakes.

Sunday was our 5th anniversary, guess this is a big year all around for the Eng household. We went to Tir Na Nog for dinner. We spotted it as we were going to PF Changs for my birthday dinner. Ken saw the big Guiness Draft sign in the window. He's all about Irish beers lately and most especially Guiness I'm wondering if he was Irish in a past life. I can't believe I am sometimes because I can't stand beer. No gifts this year because 5th anniversary is wood and we got all sorts of new wood in our new kitchen, that we both wanted.

Dinner was wonderful. Very tasty and protions were normal sized. Just enough room for us to share a piece of the Ginger and Guiness Spice Cake. That was so yummy. After we walked over to Cheesecake Factory and got a couple pieces to take home for later.

Monday was the boring usual. Tuesday after I dropped Alex off Quin and I went to the Family Center for his evaluation with Harford County's Infants and Toddlers. His skill sets are all over the place.
Cognitive 9mos
Communication 6-9mos
Social Emotional scattered to 12mos
Adaptive 12-15mos
Gross Motor 15mos
Fine Motor 9mos

So he's in need of intervention. The good news is that we've found this early and with a little work by the time he's three there shouldn't be any noticeable differences in his skill levels. I'm almost glad he'll miss the cut off for Kindergarten when it comes time. I think it'll be better for him to have the extra year. They want to start home visits with a special educ teacher. Work with him to get his play more varied, have him start imitating others, make consistant eye contact, so interest in a wider selection of toys, follow direction, and to play with toys in the manner they're meant to be used. Right now he plays with anything that rolls; cars, trains, balls but when he plays with other toys like markers he doesn't use them to write he rolls them around. He doesn't really stack things but he will put things in containers. Anyway I guess the key to him connecting words with actual objects is through imitation, so getting him to start doing that should help with his language skills.

We're lucky this is a free program through the school system. Our tax dollars at work.

Today was a trip to the Herr's snack factory in Nottingham PA. The kids (well the older ones) loved the tour. And once you have warm fresh potato chips, anything else isn't quite as tasty. I picked up a couple of bags of snacks for Ken. He was so hapy to see the jalapeno kettle chips, he opened them right up.

Tomorrow I get to call around and set up food for our birthday bash. We're looking at going with a place called Beefalo Bob's Ken is getting a bit nervous on the number of people it's looking like a solid 60 but possibly as many as 80. We should have better idea of numbers by next weekend.

That's about it for now.

Birthday week update

2008-04-03T11:33:00.001-04:00

Tuesday was Quin’s 18 mos appointment. He’s doing well growth wise. 40th percentile for weight 55th for height, 90th for head size. The last of course means he’s gonna hit s growth spurt soon. Our pediatrician has started screening for autism at 18 months. I’ve read articles about starting treatment earlier being more successful. Well Quin failed the initial screening. Now this isn’t all bad, the doctor told me it was because of his delayed speech he failed. He has some pretty significant social skills. Basically they’re setting the net really wide because they’d rather over test and rule out kids who aren’t autistic than miss one who was. He did give me numbers for speech pathologists so I could set up a consult with one. He also gave me the info for the Kennedy Krieger Inst in case I felt I needed to have them look at him to be sure. I’m in the process right now to set up a consult with the speech pathologist they’re supposed to call me back to set up the final appointment today or tomorrow.

I was talking to my friend Jean yesterday and she said her pediatrician has started to do screening for autism as early as 6mos. They were asking her questions about Will at his last appointment. She thinks Quin probably had his one and only ear infection at a bad time. Not only was he learning to walk but it was a time when they pick up new words. Once he was able to balance himself all his concentration went into walking. That combined with the fact that he didn’t pop one tooth until 9 months old and has been getting a new one every couple weeks since then, most recently his second year molars, it probably made things hard on learning new words.

He’s got a big knot in the middle of his forehead. We spent Saturday up in Brooklyn. The only place to run around in front of my FIL’s brownstone is a concrete pad. The entire time we were there not one fall. We get home and I let him out to go play in the yard while we move all my IL’s stuff from the van to my BIL’s car. Suddenly we all hear a loud THUNK!!, followed by crying. He fell right on his face in our driveway.

Like I mentioned I received part of my birthday present Sunday on my birthday, the first season of Torchwood on DVD. I got the rest of it along with a Cold Stone cake on Tuesday. I guessed right. I have a new kitchenaid artisan mixer. I’m excited. You can buy all sorts of attachments for it. Yesterday was good and bad, I woke with a migraine. Even taking pain killers when I wake with one means, I can take the edge off but it won’t completely go away. Unlike the ones I get monthly due to hormones, which go away once I take something and lie down in the dark for a half hour.

We were supposed to go to Towson after Alex’s gymnastics class. Even though it was sunny the temps were in the 40s and it was really windy. It was not great weather for playing in the park, the original plan. Towson mall has a play area for preschoolers in the middle we were going to meet there then go to lunch at the Rainforest café. The thought of driving 25-30 minutes and all the noise once we got there, only to drive back was enough to make me queasy. So we didn’t go. I met Jean and her boys for lunch at the McD’s down the street, it has a play area. An hour of noise, I could handle. Then we came home and everyone took naps. By the time I got up an hour and a half later my migraine was a twinge.

Ken took me to PF Chang’s for dinner last night. It’s definatley a fusion of food styles not sure I’d call it American Chinese because there were a lot of South American/ Mexican flavors in the mix. I enjoyed it, not bad for a chain restaurant. We feel like boring old fogeys though because we were home by 9 PM. We thought about going to a movie but nothing appealed to us, and we’d have to wait almost an hour before the last shows started. With my head still aching a bit I knew I’d be out like a light if we sat in a theater.

In kitchen news we got our pulls and knobs in. Ken put some of the pulls on the drawers. They look really nice. The last of the trim goes up this weekend. SO all we have to do now is put in the order for the 2x6 burgundy tiles to use in the backsplash. So close to being done, not sure it’ll be ready by the party but we’ll try.

Burning Down the House

2008-03-23T01:18:00.000-04:00

It’s been an interesting week. Last Saturday night Ken almost burned the house down. All just so he could move the switches for the family room over a foot, because of the wall extention. Granted when the electrician came Tuesday and got a look at everything he thinks whatever Ken did was just the last straw. He did say Ken’s work was good. The damage was done when he packed everything back into the box after he tested it the first time. A couple of wires must have touched when they weren’t supposed to. It caused the breaker to blow and the wire insulation to melt. So the breaker was replaced as well as the whole circuit rewired. The electrician was shaking his head the entire time mostly about the slipshod job the original builder did with the wiring. Stuff that definitely wouldn’t pass inspection now. He’s guessing back in ’86 the inspection checked a few things make sure they were done right then okayed the whole house. That was all compounded by the original owner who added a bunch of light fixtures to the house and did his own wiring. This guy did a lot of changes to the original floor plan of the house and he knew what he was doing structurally but electrically he didn’t. Ken now doesn’t feel safe in this house. And wants to go through and bring everything to code. This one little mistake cost us $2000, basically there went our tax refund.

Quin must be getting in his second year molars. The kid has been trying to stuff his entire hand into his mouth the past couple days. In other news I have an appointment with a hearing specialist for him. At almost 18 months he basically still only has two words. I know he has some hearing because he loves music and laughs at Alex when he’s goofing off, but he doesn’t react to his own name. I hope I’m wrong and he’s just a late starter. He’s my little cuddle bug. Comes up to me all the time to give and get hugs. If were sitting on the floor together he’ll lean against me. Alex on the other hand only wants hugs when he sees Quin getting them or when I drop him off an school and at bed time. And when I give him a kiss he turns his cheek towards me like “alright get this over with mom” Though he does ask for 5 kisses when I do this.

Alex lost all his trains and cars Friday. All day I had to referee between the two boys. Every time Quin was playing quietly Alex would horn in and take things away from him. And the constant. “mommmmeeeee Quinnnsss at the traaaaaiin table” was driving me nuts. The thing is he likes playing with Quin other times, loves to make him laugh. But when it comes to cars and trains, even the ones that are actually Quin’s he won’t share or he’ll take them from his brother. So in order to earn everything back he has to do some real work on sharing.

I mentioned I was competing in a creative team contest. The designers at DSP, every six months hold a competition for a team of eight to create pages using their products. Well this time around I made it as far as round three. It’s farther than I’ve gotten before. It would have been a nice birthday present, for myself, if I had made it. Ah well the competition was really tough, some amazing creativity out there. And yes it’s coming up, this time next week I’ll be 40. I’ll get to spend the day before on a day trip to Brooklyn. We’re going to pick up Ken’s parents and bring them back to MD. His brother will then take them back to VA. While we’re up there we’ll take part in the Hong San so we can introduce Quin to the ancestors.

Ken is taking me out to dinner the following Wednesday. Then I really have to get onto making the invitations for our combined birthday bash over Memorial day weekend. I would love to invite all my online friends. I might even send them out anyway, it would be great to have you here even if it’s only in spirit.

We just spent Saturday evening watching 300, twice. It reminded me all over again of my love of ancient Greece and Rome. As a kid I had a fascination with Greek and Roman mythology, this in turn an interest in the history itself, mostly the Hellenic period of the Odyssey and the Illiad. It even started my interest in Architecture. At U of MD I took a few classes on ancient architecture because of it. Actually I see all along my fictional interests have guided my non-fiction ones. When I was reading a lot of fantasy I learned a lot about medieval Europe, science fiction lead to actual science, and even now the romance novels I read are all in the Regency/Victorian era, so I’ve picked up a lot of info on the Napoleanic Wars. Not sure how much of this will be useful in the long run, anyway back to 300, which took place in Doric Greece. Later than my earlier interest. I think now if I was to be back in ancient Greece I’d like to be a Spartan woman from that time period. They had many more rights than most other women, including the right to own and inherit property. They were educated right along with the men, I guess with it being a military based society the women needed to run the farms and businesses when the men were off fighting.

2008-03-07T23:32:00.000-05:00

I was talking to Ken the other night about how some people become better judges of character over time and how some don’t. He mentioned that his sister, who is ten years older, doesn’t have good judgement about people. She puts her trust in people who disappoint her again and again. Ken said his life got a whole lot better when his stopped listening to his family’s advice and went his own way. He said it still bothers him that they never give him credit for knowing anything. He can’t even shove it in their faces when he’s right because his brother always restates what he says and get the credit. Ahh, the trials of being the youngest.

This got me thinking about how I would have reacted to some of the people I work with if I had met them 15-20 years ago. There are a couple of guys in particular who are in their early mid-twenties. Both have graduated under grad, one is in grad school the other is kind of trying to figure things out. Travis, I met about a year ago when I came back from mat leave. When you first meet him he seems very serious but he has a very dry sense of humor. He teases me all the time, calling me a cool mom. He’s done this since he found out I was actually around for the tail end of the punk era. Travis is into classics; literature, poetry, music, even classic rock. I know if I had met him when I was younger the only time I would have talked to him was if we happened to have friends in common. He would have seemed too serious and even a bit snobbish to me then. Now we rib and joke and tease each other, and even talk a little literature. He really started teasing me after Ken wrecked my car and I had to drive the minivan full time. Heh, he comes to me when he has a head ache because moms have the good drugs.
His buddy Dave, I met this past holiday season when he was hired through Travis’s recommendation. He’s one of those good looking guys, who is really casual and doesn’t even know he’s good looking, and is just a little bit goofy and earnest. I know I would have had a super big crush on him when I was younger. I wouldn’t have done a thing about. I would have just hung out, thinking there was no way he’d go out with someone like me. I get Dave, I’ll talk to him about anything from graphic novels to philosophy. It’s fun to flirt a little but he’s at the searching stage. I remember that stage, seaching for what you want, who you are, what you believe in, your spirituality. Makes me realize how young he is to me. I guess as I get closer to my 40th birthday, I’m starting to really realize how lucky I am to have found where I need to be and who will travel that road with me.

Wednesday we had the granite installed. Ken was so happy that afternoon he was singing “you’re beautiful” to it, (the James Blunt song). It does look really good. And yes I have pictures. As of tonight we have a working gas stovetop. We were actually able to cook a full dinner tonight with out the help of a microwave. YAY!!!!! The plumber is suppose to be by tomorrow so the sink and dishwasher will be working and anything after that is cosmetic. I spent Quin’s naptime yesterday laying out the tiles patterns for our backsplash. I wanted to be able to figure out how many of each tile type we’d need and add 10% for errors. Then Ken and I started talking about pulls and knobs. I’ve found a set we like but I’m gonna check a bit more see if there is a better price out there. I do have to say that it’s a good thing our taste is very similar, there is usually not too much arguing over the little choices.

Updates

2008-02-29T22:10:00.002-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwlK3GC3lXs
Ken's video of our kitchen remodel to this point

2/21/08

I swear I think Quin has a crush on Dora. As soon as she appears on the screen he gets this huge smile on his face and stops what he's doing to go up to the TV. His ears have cleared up there is still a little fluid but our ped. feels the tiny bit remaining shouldn't interfere with hearing. He recommended that if Quin isn't saying a couple more words (in addition to the two he has) in the next couple weeks, we should set up an appointment with an audiologist and rule out a hearing problem. He does hear things but I notice they tend to be on the higher end of the scale, so it's possible he's missing sound on the lower end. Ken thinks it's just because he's pretty easy going and what makes him happy is pretty basic. Since we're meeting those needs without much effort from him, he doesn't feel the need to talk. 5-10 words at 18 months is considered normal so I'll give it a bit longer. It's so hard not to compare but I know Alex was unusual, he was babbling at 7 months and by a year speaking sort sentences. He talks a mile a minute now and his vocabulary amazes even me. I wonder where he gets some of the words he knows. Quin tends to be a much more physical child anyway and there are things he does better than Alex like catching and throwing a ball. (Alex still has trouble with that) I still can't help but worry a bit.

I hate cold bathrooms, so winter is the worst cold porcelin in the middle of the night is no fun. It finally dawned on me why my bathroom is so cold. It has an outside wall. I was gathering up clothes to put in a basket to take down to the basement and the ones closest to the wall were ice cold. Duh, I've been in this house three years and I just figured that out.

2/29/08

WooHOOO!!! We have a date for the granite to be installed. Next Wednesday, Ken has lined up the gas hook up to the stove top and the plumber for the sink. By the weekend we should have a working kitchen once more. That gives us three months to get things finished up, like the tile blacksplash and the cabinet trim. Just in time for our joint birthday party. That'll probably be the first time more of our family will see the new kitchen.

Ken almost gave me a heart attack today about the party. We we'r discussing what we need to bring to VA for his father's 80th birthday party tomorrow. Then he confirmed our party was over Memorial Day weekend. I said yes on Sunday. "I better check and make sure I didn't book that day. Oh wait all my spring weddings are Saturdays" I swear I would have smacked him if we had booked it. We picked the date before Christmas so we could get the word out to family, that way they'd be prepared for the invite. (My family mostly, I know my immediate family will come but some fo the extended family says they'll come then they back out whenever I try and host something. If they're gonna back out I want to know early on.)

I was talking with Alex's teacher Monday. She told me I could probably start working on simple addition and subtraction with Alex at home. His number recognition is the best in the class. He's also one of the youngest, I think there is only one kid younger than him, and a couple others that are a week or two older. She said none of the other kids are even close to ready. And the only time she can work with him is right after lunch when he waits for me to pick him up, and the other kids are settling down for naps. That's not a lot of time. Yay!! the John family math gene has bred true in at least one of my kids.

Happy Chinese New Year

2008-02-07T11:23:00.000-05:00

Gong He Fat Choi

Welcome to the year of the Rat, or mouse if you prefer, either way it’s a rodent.

The year of the rat is auspicious for all new beginnings. It’s a time to turn over a new leaf and take a fresh look at the world. Spirits rise in the Rat years and market economies begin to show and upward turn. Discoveries and inventions are especially prevalent and, for all, opportunities abound.

Leadership sits well on the shoulders of those born in the year of the rat. For, just as this is the first sign of the twelve, so Rats like to be head of the game, at the forefront of the action and where they can give orders. Restless and inquisitive, these are busy people whose minds are constantly on the go. Above all they are clever and instinctively shrewd. As the Chinese say even in times of scarcity, Rats somehow always know where sacks of grain can be found. No wonder, then, that these remarkably resourceful creatures are the supreme opportunists and arch survivors of the Animal signs.

From east west astrology by Lori Reid

Not much going on, on the kitchen front, just minor things this past week. Ken set up the wiring for the oven and a couple extra outlets. They came and measured for the granite. We should be getting the replacement trim today so they can finish up the cabinets this weekend. Ken being the engineer that he is, has been particularly anal. The cabinets on the return are slightly off square, each one is an 1/8 inch off so overall it is ¼ inch off. He’s been trying to figure out how to fix it without taking everything apart. Mostly because the facing has been glued into place on the backside and the cabinets are screwed together in such a way that it’s really hard to get to a couple of them.

Thursday was Quin’s well baby appointment. I made it so we went right after I dropped Alex at school. I mentioned to the doctor that I was starting to get worried about Quin’s lack of vocabulary. He has three words at this point Mama, Aweh (Alex), and Dada. He gave me some numbers for hearing testing because he’s not really making animal sounds or pointing to body parts and such when I say the names either. When he checked his ears there was a lot of fluid. I got a script for some antibiotics, I guess it looked like they’d been like that a while. His first ear infection and I didn’t notice. I guess I figured his discomfort when lying down was from all the teeth he was cutting. They’ve been coming through one after the other the last two months. He has almost all of them now. The Doctor did say that they may not test Quin until 18 months because it’s a bit early to worry too much. It may also be that he had the fluid in his ears so long he wasn’t hearing anything correctly.

I spent Thursday evening and Friday doing last minute stuff for the book fair. Ken got home around 4pm, very jet lagged. He wasn’t very functional but he needed to stay up until at least 9:30 or he’d never get back in the right time zone. I had to wake him the next morning at 9:00 so I could go over to the store and make sure everything was set up. Came back home fed the kids lunch put Quin down for a nap and took Alex back over to the store so he could help me with story time. We picked Bear Snores On and Snowmen at Night to read. Ken came by after Quin woke up and got Alex and I went to work. Lucky me I ended up in receiving, actually it’s not a bad thing. I had a migraine so dealing with people would have been a trial. I’d taken enough painkillers at that point it was just a dull throb. At around 8:00 I was freed to help clean up the store which looked like a bomb had gone off. It was in a good cause and with the sales the book fair brought in the Goddard PTO will take home almost $600, especially since it wasn’t a lot of work on their part.
Sunday I wasn’t supposed to wake Ken until I was ready to leave for work but he got a bug up his butt about the oven cabinet and figured out it was made in such a way that we were supposed to cut it to fit our specific oven. So he worked on that until I went to work. My job Sunday was to take down January displays and put up February ones in the kids department.

Monday was back to routine, almost. Ken was home to meet the guy doing the granite template. I took Alex to school, came back played with Quin a bit, fed him put him down for a nap went and got Alex. The teacher said he’s doing really good with his numbers and he’s one of the youngest in the class. Of course part of his motivation was this week’s subject is trains and the game they had on the computer was Thomas. It is pretty amazing watching him lately, he spells out all the words he sees. I see the understanding between letters and sounds and written words starting to click. I worked again Monday night and Tuesday was back and forth to the dentist day for cleanings. Silly me back in August, when Quin wasn’t really mobile, I figured I’d split up my cleaning from Alex’s. Take Quin with me in the morning have a friend watch him in the afternoon when I took Alex after school. That won’t happen again next cleanings are back to back. But my friend Jean was really great about watching Quin for both appointments. She said she’s just returning the favor of me taking her oldest to gymnastics class the last few weeks because she’s had to take the baby to weight checks at the doctor’s office. He wasn’t gaining enough weight and it was becoming a failure to thrive situation. He’s doing much better now on the right formula and gaining about a pound a week.

Yesterday was gymnastics class and playgroup lunch at Chuck E Cheese. I don’t mind these as much anymore most because my kids collapse in exhaustion when we get home at 1:30-2:00. Last night was the PTO meeting. My son isn’t even in elementary school and I’m going to PTO meetings, weird. Not sure how long this will last but I’m doing a self portrait a day challenge this month. I’ve kept up so far. I know I couldn’t do a whole year. I’ve been trying to do just a photo a day challenge for a year and a half now, and the days I miss add up to about a week a month. I’ll upload what I have so far and try and post them.

2008-01-27T23:25:00.000-05:00

I love my children I really do but when I don't get that two hour break from them during the day you get one cranky, irritable woman by 4:30-5:00pm. Alex is the one who really gets to me with the constant chatter, singing and questions, he's only ever quiet when he's sleeping and even that is questionable. Today being his birthday, (we had a party for hi Wednesday with his playgroup friends) I took him to cold stone creamery for his free birthday ice cream. Quin silly child that he is promptly fell asleep in the car. We did make one other stop at Hallmark, because I needed birthday cards to go with the present I'm mailing my step-dad for his 70th birthday next week. Quin slept through the stop at the card store and the trip over to cold stone, he woke as I put him back into the stroller a second time. So he might have slept 30 min max, usually he takes a two hour nap and I thought we'd left early enough that we'd get home and I could just put him to bed. But I think the little stinker was up at 6am like Alex was today.

We enjoyed our ice cream, I shared mine with Quin. Alex ate half of his and we took the rest home for later. We got hme and I figured I'd let them burn off a bit of their sugar high. An hour and a half later I took Quin up hoping for another hour of sleep from him. I told Alex he didn't have to go up and take a nap (mistake, big mistake) but he did have to lay down on the couch and rest. Now usually if I lay down on the couch with him he'll fall asleep. Not today, kept up the questions and chatter and after an hour I gave up and let him go play. I could hear Quin on the monitor the first half hour we tried this, then silence but that was short lived, so he came back down too. Needless to say I had them both in bed by 7pm, took a shower to de-stress and watched Night at the Museum. At a little before 10 I hear Quin fussing, then quiet, then full out crying, then quiet, when he didn't get quiet again the third time I brought him down. He was acting like his throat bothered him a bit gave him a little juice flavored water and set him in Alex's vibrating rocker.

Ken's gonna love this, Quin was completely fascinated by Throwdown with Bobby Flay. Let him chill for a half hour and took him back up. I have a whole week of this my only breaks from Alex being when he's in school and the night I work. I can do this.

Speaking of school Ken and I had a chat a couple weeks ago about school once the boys got older. Elementary school doesn't worry us. The school they'll go to is one of the better ones in the county. It's once they get to middle school I worry a bit especially if the "Every Kid Left Behind Program" is still in effect. I'm sorry but I feel that in certain subjects kids need to be grouped depending on ability. It's not so bad here in HS because they offer AP classes, I just feel like middle school will be the lost years. Alex is a bright kid and loves to learn I don't want him to loose that. He's and Aural learner. He hears something he picks it up pretty quick. I just worry he'll get bored in class and start acting up, clowning around, get in trouble if he's not challenged. Quin I worry about in a different way because I can see even now he has very hands on learning style. He has to sit there and hold things, manipulate them, alot like his dad. He's not going to test well, unless he works really hard. I'm a visual learner to some extent, some subjects I can read and understand others I have to sit there and play, write, draw it out. I know I have a visual memory not photographic really but if I physically put something somewhere I know where it is even if it gets buried. This was a big help when I was front list manager at the Union Station store. If I set up a table display or put things in overstock, you only had to ask me and I'd point right where it was.Back to what I was actually talking about before that tangent. Worried about school. We talked and if it's only the two boys, meaning I don't get pregant by spring, we're going to consider sending the boys to private school starting 6th grade, if we can find something that isn't too religious. I doubt that's very feasible in this area. If we have a third there is no way we can swing private school for three kids. That's actually where we left it to revisit later. I'm almost hoping Alex's artistic ability gets stronger then he'd be able to apply to Maryland Inst of Art as a high school student, easier to get in than if you wait until college.

Well almost all the cabinets are in place. Only one last one needs to be fixed in place and that's just waiting until the spackle on the wall extention dries. They come on the 4th to do the template for the granite. Could have done it this week but Ken felt it would be better to wait until he was back from Korea.it'll be another 2 weeks after that before it's installed. Gives Ken time to do the wiring for the oven. That and they should be able to get the molding up on the cabinets by then as well. If of course it actually gets here this week. It was supposed to be in before all the install started.

You can see the wall extention better from the family room.

As of today this is what the kitchen looks like.

Monster post to catch up on everything

2008-01-19T21:55:00.000-05:00

01/07/08

So Friday night was just the beginning. Soon after I posted Ken got home with Alex. He curled up on the couch which isn't unusual after he's had an active morning. Then he complained about his tummy hurting. I thought nothing of it because I figured he was hungry, since he hadn't really eaten anything since breakfast. Fast forward and hour later and he's puking all over the couch and his favorite blanket and stuffed animals. Load of laundry parts two and three. Then Ken got the idea to run out to the store and get a bottle of lysol hoping to control the germ spreadage. I think it was too late at that point. Alex threw up a couple more times before we convinced him to go upstairs to bed. Then the diarrhea started, popped him in the tub hosed him down. Got him into bed, told him to take a couple sips of water. He woke a couple hours later and gulped down what was in his cup then threw it back up ten minutes later. Load of laundry number 4. Quin through all this is trying to get us to walk with him, though he did pull himself to standing without using furniture. Ken got that on tape.Once the kids were in bed I made the mistake of eating dinner. Soon after my lower intestines liquified. At about ten pm dinner came back up. I curled up on the couch with my heating pad (for my back) and our big fluffy blanket now clean again, and watched Oceans Eleven. Crawled up to bed around 1am. Ken got up with Quin and fed him around 8am. Alex was up soon after so I went down to help. At 9:30 I was getting hot and cold flashes and everything hurt so I popped three ibuprofin and went back to bed. Woke around 1:30 took a hot hot shower and felt almost human except for the achiness and fatigue. Heard Quin in his room waking from his nap, changed him and brought him downstairs. Ken was crashed out on the couch in the front room and Alex on the one in the Family room. Dinner that night was two pieces of wheat toast. Ken was smart and didn't eat dinner so when it him a couple hours later all he was throwing up was toast and water. Why he even bothered trying to go to work this morning I don't know. So that was my fun weekend. I'm letting Alex recover one more day before sending him back to school. Hopefully routine will be restored.

01/08/08

Preschoolers are strange and wonderful creatures, Charming and whimsical one minute frustratingly stubborn the next. Shortly after he turned three Alex insisted we leave the light on for him to sleep. Now he already had a night light in his room but he was insisting on the overhead light. I KOed that and brought in a small table lamp. Well for the last month he's been sleeping with his covers over his head. Now I asked him if I should just turn the lamp off. "NO!NO!NO!" He just wants me to tuck him in with his covers over his head. The Whys have started in full force. A typical conversation goes like this:Mommy Why Gordon break Trevor cart?Because he couldn't stop in timeWhy could he not stop?Because he didn't see the crossing gate was closedWhy he not see the crossing gate?Because the Banner was covering his eyesWhy the banner on his eyes?The wind blew it thereWhy the wind blow it there?I don't know (teeth clenched in frustration)now this wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't read this story to him dozens of time and if he hadn't seen the video version of it just as many. Multiply this by thirty and you have a typical day for me when we're both home. Good thing he has school three days a week and I work two evenings, or I might be crazier than I already am. I don't know is the only way to actually stop the questions because if I say something like that's how the story goes or that's nature he'll ask why again.It reminds me of some of the lyrics in Chris Isaac's song PleaseWhat's the problem?What's the question?What's the answer?Where's this heading?You keep talking.Where's it going?If there's an answer I don't know it...PleaseYou're killing me.PleaseYou're killing me with all these questions.

1/12/08

So Monday was a recovery day, Tuesday Alex went back to school, which is just what my nerves needed. I went to a PTO meeting for his school that evening. I'm now organizing a book fair. Not that it's really much work I have connections, since I actually work for B&N. I attempted to take down Christmas decorations. We got the tree down but all the extras are still hanging out mostly because the bin I need to put things back in is down stairs and even half empty it's heavy and I need Ken's help to bring it up. I keep forgetting. I really need to take care of it this coming week. We need all the space in the dining room so we can unload our cabinets. Kitchen remodel begins Friday. Well it kind of begins Thursday. The plumber is coming in to install the pipes for the gas line. Once we have that in we contact BGE and they put in the connection to the main line in the street. Wednesday as you can tell from my post a couple days ago, was a hair puller for me. I'm so looking forward to gymnastics starting up again. Wednesday aren't as bad for me once we start having a regular activity to do. Thursday was another school day and Friday I made a playdate for Alex with his best buddy. Jean, his mom and I spent the afternoon chatting between refereeing. Saturday we went out to VA to take Ken's parents out for Dim Sum. Originally my BIL planned this but they changed their minds because next weekend Ken's niece is bringing her baby to see his great grandparents. We can't go next weekend because we have to be here for the kitchen destruction/construction. Su was actually happy we came and took the parents off her hands for the day, mostly because next week she'll have to play host with everyone there.Big news Ken interviewed for his GS 13. He's pretty sure he's got one of the two available slots. The first two people took an hour in the interviews and the one guy came out shaking his head saying he really screwed up. Ken thought he was in trouble going in but he was out of there in a 1/2 hour. Usually you'd expect shorter to be bad but the interview is a lot of technical questions about how projects are handled. Ken said as he answered questions the information he included answered several of the follow up questions. So he's feeling pretty good but he doesn't want to get his hopes up too high.So the travel starts once more. Looks like this year there will be 8 trips to Korea. Ken is figuring he'll be on at least half of them, starting with the one at the end of the month. Not quite as much travel, but the time he's gone will be a full week to 10 days. So I have to hope work can be flexible for me those weeks. I can get a sitter for Wednesday and Saturdays, I normally work either Friday and Sunday or Sunday and Monday.
01/15/08
This Wednesday was a bit busy. Gymnastics started again for Alex, I think we have a birthday party following that for one of the playgroup kids. Then that evening Ken’s work group is celebrating a good year by going to dinner at Fogo de chao. Our sitter got here at 4:30 dinner is at 6:30 we were gonna make a brief stop in White Marsh to look at granite for our counter tops and get a quote, but I found out they close at 4:30 so no point.Oh man I just realized Ken is going to be out of town for Alex's birthday. Ahh well Alex won't really know since we're having his party 4 days earlier.

okay I just want gravity to lay off me for a while. I slipped and fell twice today. First time I was in th parking lot outside Target. Just pulled Quin out of the cart and was heading for the sliding door to put him in his car seat. Slipped on some black ice. Pulled a muscle in my left thigh and am pretty sure my butt is bruised I have a big bruise coming through just under my right knee as well. It was pure luck I didn't re-injure my right knee. It's also lucky Quin wasn't hurt. He didn't roll out of my arms until I was already on the ground. It's also good that kids winter wear is so puffy. As soon as I got him buckled into his car seat he stopped crying, really he was just scared.We went home hung out a bit then at 11 I decided I needed a shower, it wasn't quite Quin's nap time but I figured the safest place for him was his crib if he fell asleep good if not I'd get him once I was dressed. Fall number two was in the shower. Foot slipped and I basically sat down on the edge of the tub tearing the shower liner. 01/19/08

I don’t know why I thought yesterday was going to be the start of our renovation. I guess because the plumber was in Thursday to rough in the pipes for the gas line. Anyway we spent Friday faxing around our floor plan to get quotes on granite for the counter tops. Then we cleared out the rest of the stuff in our cabinets.

The guys got here bright and early this morning. We hit a few snags two minor, one kind of major. The first was the tile backsplash was adhered to the wall so well they had to cut it out and replace the plasterboard. Then once they removed the cabinets the found out the wood floor was put in around them. So there is wood where ever the appliances were but under the cabinets there is none. The guys are gonna put in some particle board to even out the floor, because we’ve extended them out to get a return and enclose the space a bit. Those cabinets will be on the wood floor so to get everything even we have to fill in the holes. The final one is a big pain. We were not expecting pipes in the one soffet. Yes it does share a wall with the half bath but the two upstairs bathrooms share the wall on the other side of the half bath, the one that has the toilet and sink on it. So you would think all the pipes are in that wall right ??. If we can get the pipes raised two inches there will be no problem because the build up of the cabinet molding will cover it and we can get the cabinets in where they’re supposed to be. I think a plumber is coming by to look at it Monday.

Alex had a grand time watching everything going on. We have a window between the family room and the kitchen, he climbed onto his train table and had a perfect view. He was of course asking questions every five minutes. “What’s the man doing? Why he do that? What that noise?” He also spent some time ringing the chime we have in that window, well that and hammering the sill with his plastic hammer.

Quin was the real surprise today. He didn’t wake up until 9:30. Even when he sleeps late it’s not much past 8:00 especially with him in bed by 7pm and one two hour nap. Usually he’s up as soon as Alex is noisy which is 7am.

I’ll probably post this in the preschooler forum to see if anyone has suggestions. Alex is really getting annoying with his delay tactics. The bedtime ones I can handle. He knows I’ll read him two books so if he putzes around too much he loses a story. If he really takes too much time he loses both. He’s only lost both stories once, but usually once a month he loses one. He doesn’t like losing a story so just the warning “Finish up in Five minutes or you lose a story” gets him moving. What is frustrating me are the delays when we’re trying to go somewhere, even if it’s someplace he wants to go like gymnastic class or a friend’s house. Soon after becoming a mom I learned to build in a half hour 40 minutes to my out the door time. And many times I’ll load things into the car ahead of time like when the boys are eating breakfast. That means all we need to do is use the potty and get shoes and coats on. He knows how to use the potty by himself, I get him into the bathroom and then I go get Quin ready expecting him to be finished , when I get back five minutes later. No, he’s still standing there singing the same song, or spinning the toilet paper roll. Even if I stay in the bathroom and continuously repeat pull your pants down and use the potty, he’ll just want to play. Shoes and coats are slightly better. He’ll happily run to the front hall and get them, but then he’ll sit on his feet so I can’t get his shoes on him. Or he’ll stand there crying because his mittens fell out of his hat to the floor under the bench in the front hall. He’s smaller than I am and closer to the ground to boot, so I tell him to bend down and get his gloves, they’re right there. Even getting him into the car and buckled in is a chore. By the time this is all over we’re leaving 5-10 minutes later than I wanted too. I have the feeling that no matter how much time I get things going before hand it’s till going to happen. Now I know some of this is my issue. If I’m on time, I’m late, because on time to me is ten minutes early. I let this go when we don’t have a specific time to be anywhere and to be honest I was way worse when I was single because I was always 15-20 minutes early for stuff. If we’re going somewhere I don’t want to go I will time things so we’re 5-10 minutes late. Like I said I’ve gotten better, mostly because Ken’s family can’t agree on a plan or time for anything so we’ll only get a general range for when something will happen. I guess that’s where he gets it from.

my 1980's kitchen

My diningroom filled with stuff

my kitchen this morning

my kitchen tonight, not much cooking going on it huh

ugh

2008-01-04T16:04:00.000-05:00

Well last night was not a good one. Actually it was until about 1:30 in the morning. I had heard Quin fussing off and on since about 10pm. This time it was a full out cry. So I checked on him. The first thing that hit me as I walked in the room was the smell. Yes he had thrown up in his crib then rolled through it so he was covered in little bits of regurgitated lasagne. I can handle baby spit up but once it gets to real food puke, I start gagging myself. I managed to get him sitting up so at least he wasn't laying in it anymore. Then removed the stuff that was clean and finally the stuff that was covered until all that was left was the sheet and Quin. I needed Ken to help at that point. I just couldn't get close to Quin with out almost being sick myself. Ken got him into the bath and rinced him down then soaped him up. Meanwhile I changed the sheet and gathered all the puke covered stuff into the hamper, I figured I'd deal with that mess in the morning. Then I took over and washed Quin's hair got him dried and redressed. He was happy as I put him back in bed. Not a half hour later I hear him again, though he wasn't crying this time. He spit up once more, though this looked mucusy, and didn't smell nearly as much so I cleaned it and him up on my own this time. It's amazing how one little person can create a whole load of laundry by himself in such a short time.

That wasn't the end of it. This morning after breakfast Ken went to change him and he had a major blow out, I mean up to his shoulders in poop. Guess who hit the bath again. I think he's got a stomach bug. No fever and he seems fine otherwise but his poop is still really loose and he doesn't have much appetite. In the course of all this I pulled a muscle in my lower back. This means a trip to the Chriopractior in the near future. I've been walking around like I'm 90 all day.

In other news one of my pages was picked to be Memory Makers featured idea for their online gallery on Jan 8th. I'll leave the link but it won't be active until the 8th. So check it then if you like I'm posting it below as well. http://www.memorymakersmagazine.com/page_ideas.aspx

Swish Kit-Tina Chambers

Super star Template-Rene Bross

Felt Pink Scallop Stitch Alpha-Melany Violette

I have a relatively Quiet house for the moment. Alex asked to go to the train museum but Ken said it would have to wait until tomorrow. But they could go to the train store. So they're in Baltimore looking at trains. I'll see them again about dinner time. Until then it's me and my cuddle bug.

mute buttons and cracked heads

2007-12-28T22:06:00.000-05:00

Why don't preschoolers come with a mute button? That way they can babble and scream and chatter all they want and I don't have to hear it. Alex is getting on my last nerve today. Not really sure why, maybe because I'm tired I have a head cold and a sinus headache that comes and goes. Being asked the same thing 5 times even if I answered the first time it driving me nuts. Most days I can ignore it but today it's just pushing buttons.I sent both boys up for naps early. We're going to Longwood gardens for dinner as well as to see the Christmas displays. We're going with some of the playgroup families. But I invited my Aunt along. So she and her family are joining us as well. I think they decided to do it because it's on the way to Chambersberg where my uncle's family is and they spend Christmas with them ever year. Last year we went to Longwood but during the day so we didn't get to see everything lit up. I'm looking forward to it.

I've decided I'm not going to be surprised if I end up taking one of the boys to the emergency room one day for a cracked head. Within an hour of each other last weekend they both landed on their heads. Quin was first. We keep the door to the basement closed now because he can scoot across the floor pretty fast. Well I went to use the bathroom glanced at the door it looked closed. Ken was in the front room. I guess the door wasn't latched and the cat had been downstairs. He pushed the door open. Quin likes to walk up the stairs now he does this with the help of an adult because he still can't walk by himself. I guess he decided he was going to go downstairs and try it himself. I hear "mommy look what Quinton's doing" which is a familiar refrain in this house and usually means he's into Alex's toys. Then I hear a loud cry. Ken got there first. Luckily he must have rolled down and the stairs are carpeted. He only had a slight knot on the back of his head.Like I said not an hour later Alex took a header of the back of the couch. He was jumping on it and launched himself over the back. Thank god he's been in gymnastics class the entire fall, he knew how to curl himself up as he landed. He actually only hurt his foot when it hit the train table on the way down. I just know now that an emergency room visit is in our future.

I'm amazed both kids are leaving the tree alone, well mostly, sometimes Alex likes to rearrange the ornaments. The only thing he insists on is that I light it when we come down in the morning.

Randomness

2007-12-08T15:07:00.000-05:00

Just stuff that has occured to me lately.

Like the other day Ken was driving us all somewhere and this car cut us off and this little voice pipes up from the back "People just donno how to drive." I guess I say that alot in the car. I suppose it could be worse, at least he's not repeating any swear words.

I really really really wish Quin would just learn to walk on his own. This walking around holding onto adult fingers kills the back. That being said his new nickname is Mr. Scoochbutt. He gets around pretty darn fast, just scooching along on his butt. Always send Alex into a panic when he gets close to the train table. (even if he's ten feet way)

How is it that my 14 month old eats twice as much as my almost 4 year old. Actually we've noticed our boys do a lot of things opposite. Alex was babbling away at 10 months and has never stopped he actually had a good sized vocabulary by 18 months. He was crawling and cruising at 7-8 months and walking without help by his first birthday. He's been go go go always. Quin has just now really started babbling he refuses to even try crawling and as you've seen above he'd rather walk with the help of mom or dad. But then he eats really well, will try any food as long as it's from mommy's plate, he's a better sleeper in that he doesn't wake alot at night. Unless of course it's a night Ken and I would like some private time. How he knows, I'll never know because we never actually say anything. But on those nights he wakes up several times in the evening. Talk about mood killer, good thing we have a pretty good sense of humor.

The one that usually doesn't let me get a full night is Alex at least once a week he's up 3-4am for whatever reason, (stuffy nose, bloody nose, coughing, wet his bed, lost his blanket) and then he's up for the day between 6 and 7. Luckily after a trip to the potty he'll play "quietly" until his clock says 7:00. Of course the fact that he boys do things oposite gives me hope that I can start potty training Quin at 18 months and have him fully trained sometime after he's two. Alex refuses to get it. We've tried just about everything and it's just not happening.

We've been trying for a third child since July. Now I do want a third because I think then our family will be complete. That being said everytime my period shows up a little cheer goes up in my head. So even though I want another I guess I'm not quiet ready yet. We'll just wait and see what happens.

I've set it up we're going to have a cake done by Charm City cakes for our joint 40th birthday celebration in May. We picked may because at this point if I do get pregnant I'll be due in late summer/ early fall. A big party woul be no fun at all at that point, so we've moved it closer to my birthday instead of Ken's. Unfortunately Ken saw the price quote on the cake. I left the paperwork out on my desk. I was just going to cover the cost myself and not let him have sticker shock. Seeing as Duff has gotten so big now with the show on Food Network and all his prices have gone way up since he did our wedding cake almost 5 years ago. It'll be fun besides you only turn 40 once.

that's all I can remember right now, I'm positive there was more but I'm a little sleep deprived and I have a toddler pulling on my leg.

catching up again

2007-11-29T12:36:00.001-05:00

So I’m falling back into bad habits and not posting/updating. The thing is I have stuff to say but I go through and read about everyone else first and suddenly it’s hours later and I should get to bed because I know Alex will be up at 6am even though he’s gotten good about staying in his room and playing “quietly” until 7:00.

For about three years now my mom has been holding her Thanksgiving dinner a week/week and a half early. She got tired of being the second or third stop for my sister and step brothers. This way everyone comes and eats and visits, then sits and watches football with Bill. Well Alex of course starts coming down with something the Monday before we’re to leave. I thought it was a cold so I kept him home from school Tuesday hoping a day of rest would make him travel ready by Thursday. All day Tuesday his fever would spike and come down. So first thing Wednesday morning I got him a doctor’s appointment. The fact that he couldn’t talk at all was another sign. Luckily it was tonsillitis not strep. The Doctor told us he should be fine to travel once he had a couple doses of antibiotics in him but to base going on the trip by how he felt. He was looking
Much better by Thursday morning even if he still couldn’t talk above a whisper.

We missed our playgroup giving thanks party. I had food made and everything. It was also when the cookie exchange was being held. I ended up dropping everything off after we left the doctor’s office. I was able to go back once Ken got home from work get my share of the cookies and even some leftovers of the food. Actually half the playgroup was still there. I had a glass of wine too before heading home. It was much needed after spending the day with cranky sick boy.

So we went up to Erie. The drive wasn’t too bad a bit of snow as we got to the northern part of PA. We got there had dinner settled down the kids or tried to. Quin was having none of it. He’s gotten to the age where he knows he’s not at home and doesn’t like it.
By the end of the trip he was sleeping a relatively normal amount at night. But that first night was hell; the only way to get him settled was to bring him into bed with us which of course means I didn’t sleep. I hate being such a light sleeper; every little move noise wakes me.

Friday we hung out. Saturday morning I had my massage, and felt like happy jelly the rest of the day. Everyone started arriving around 1pm. Ken took them into the living room took portraits (at my mom and Bill’s Request) Dinner was around 3:30pm. It was weird everyone started leaving around 6pm. So we had a whole evening to just chill as well. My mom made me a chocolate raspberry martini for our second round of dessert at about 9pm. We got on the road by 10am Sunday and were back home by 5pm. I have never seen Quin so happy in my life.

Monday I had to work, Tuesday was catching up on laundry. Wednesday I had to cook the stuff we were taking to Su’s for Thanksgiving with Ken’s family. This was a much more relaxing day than usual because neither of Ken’s brothers was there. They cause Su so much stress with their clueless ness.

Friday Ken had a wedding and Saturday we attempted a family portrait. (Again we tried when Ken had everything set up at mom’s) Quin will not sit for a formal portrait. Ken has decided we aren’t attempting this again until he’s 5. The photographer, Judy, knew Ken from when they were both taking classes at HCC. After a few minutes she understood why we didn’t attempt this at home by ourselves. What I wouldn’t give to have someone like Krystal close by for things like this. I can get good pictures of the boys together, but then I’m letting them play and just firing away. If things start going downhill I play peek-a-boo from behind the camera. We were able to get a couple okay shots there is one where the three of us looked good so I just photoshoped a new head in for Quin from on shot a few frames earlier. I think I may still just try and get something cute of the boys to make the Christmas cards and include a copy of the family one when we send them out.

Oh yeah I almost forgot the Tuesday before we went to my mom’s we went in and ordered out cabinets. The kitchen project is on. I’m getting excited and just realizing it’s only like six weeks before we start work. Ken’s buddy Ted came by Sunday to look things over so he can give us a quote for the work we need done. He’ll be tearing out the old cabinets, knocking out the soffets, and taking the old tile backsplash down. Then he’ll install the new cabinets and prep the walls for the new back splash I have yet to design. I’m going to attempt to put that in myself but Ted did say he’d give me instructions. He said it was pretty easy and if I change my mind give him a call and he’ll give a quote to come out and do it too. In the midst of walking through the plans and such we discovered that knocking out the tiny wall that is currently next to the fridge will actually cause a whole lot of extra work. We would have to move three electrical outlets and tear out some of the hard wood floor and relay it. Major head ache because it was custom made for this house 15-20 years ago. We decided not to knock out that wall. Luckily after contacting Lowe’s they said as long as the angle cabinets haven’t been installed, we can exchange them with a possible 15% restocking fee. We might not even have to worry about that since they haven’t even been delivered yet. We’re leaving the fridge where it is, placing the 24” pantry next to it and having 36” base and wall cabinets installed between the pantry and where the door to the garage is. I think this gives us more storage space so I’m not real upset about the change. Ted said he’ll start the work the second week in January.

So because of where the return will be Ken suggested we rearrange the family room. It would have been very awkward to get in and out the way it was. I started thinking about it and got a bug up my ass and decided I wanted it done now before we got our tree and started decorating for Christmas. I moved a lot of stuff out on Friday while Ken was doing the wedding. We moved the furniture around Sunday morning. Its funny moving the TV to the wall we did makes it look so much bigger. The couch now faces the fireplace as well as the TV. Alex mostly likes it, well except now it’s even easier for Quin to get to his train table. He goes into a panic as soon as he’s with in a yard of it.

That’s it for now we’ll see how well I keep up the rest of the holiday season.

A month of Thankfulness

2007-11-07T21:57:00.000-05:00

November is always a reminder to say thanks for many things. I'm trying to follow along with the blog promts over at DSP. Since I get here once a week if I'm lucky I've got a few days to catch up on.

11/1 What Family members are you thankful for and why?

First up would be my husband. For all his quirks and annoyances I love him. He balances me. I've had to learn patience and to step back on certain decisions instead of jumping in and just taking care of things. He can't make a quick decision at all, well most of the time. And if it's something that doesn't really impact the family I just make a few points or suggestions and step back. Ten years ago that would have been very hard. But it's made me better able to deal with the insanity that is a three year old.

Next are my boys. I love them to death and no matter how much they drive me crazy I would never change the fact that they are here. I feel like I have to be a better person for them. And it makes me try harder to be a better person, to count to ten and step away instead of getting frustrated and losing my temper.

Last would be my mom. She always encouraged me to be me. She was my strongest supporter and now she's me inspiration. The strength and courage it has taken these last few years to deal with breast cancer. She speaks her mind a lot more and she's learned to let go a lot of baggage from her life. Because somethings are just so much more important.

11/2 What Kitchen things re you thankful for?

My oven one of may favorite things to do is bake. Cookies are top on the list.

My hand mixer w/ a whisk blade. This thing makes it so much easier to make light and fluffy frostings and chocolate cheese pie. My husband is ever grateful for me introducing him to chocolate cheese pie.

the tea pot once the weather gets cooler our nightly ritual is to relax and have a hot cup of tea befor bed.

11/5 Give three or more reasons why you're thankful for Autumn

The crisp scent in the air

I love fall light for photographs it has such a warm tone.

and this goes back to when I was a kid, school starts again

11/6 What jobs do other people hold are you thankful for?

Emergency workers, their help in a crisis can be the difference between life and death

Garbage collectors, it's a dirty job but necessary for keeping our cities and towns healthy

Farmers with out them I wouldn't have food on my plate, they work a long day with out much thanks

11/7 Think of all the new things on the market since our parents were young and what they had to work with. What cleaning supplies are you thankful for?

swiffer
furniture wipes
stain and spot removers

heh caught up just in time for the weekend

Family

2007-10-27T20:56:00.000-04:00

I got this from a friend of mine and figured it was a good reminder. I know I need one everyonce in a while.

F A M I L Y
I ran into a stranger as he passed by,
"Oh excuse me please" was my reply.

He said, "Please excuse me too;
I wasn't watching for you."

We were very polite, this stranger and I.
We went on our way and we said goodbye.

But at home a different story is told,
How we treat our loved ones, young and old.

Later that day, cooking the evening meal,
My son stood beside me very still.

When I turned, I nearly knocked him down.
"Move out of the way," I said with a frown.

He walked away, his little heart broken.
I didn't realize how harshly I'd spoken.
While I lay awake in bed,
God's still small voice came to me and said,

"While dealing with a stranger,
common courtesy you use,
but the family you love, you seem to abuse.

Go and look on the kitchen floor,
You'll find some flowers there by the door.

Those are the flowers he brought for you.
He picked them himself: pink, yellow and blue.

He stood very quietly not to spoil the surprise,
you never saw the tears that filled his little eyes."

By this time, I felt very small,
And now my tears began to fall.

I quietly went and knelt by his bed;
"Wake up, little one, wake up," I said.

"Are these the flowers you picked for me?"
He smiled, "I found 'em, out by the tree.

I picked 'em because they're pretty like you.
I knew you'd like 'em, especially the blue."

I said, "Son, I'm very sorry for the way I acted today;
I shouldn't have yelled at you that way."
He said, "Oh, Mom, that's okay.
I love you anyway."

I said, "Son, I love you too,
and I do like the flowers, especially the blue."

FAMILY
Are you aware that if we died tomorrow, the company
that we are working for could easily replace us in
a matter of days.
But the family we left behind will feel the loss
for the rest of their lives.
And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more
into work than into our own family,
an unwise investment indeed,
don't you think?
So what is behind the story?

Do you know what the word FAMILY means?
FAMILY = (F)ATHER (A)ND (M)OTHER (I) (L)OVE (Y)OU

2007-10-26T21:04:00.000-04:00

So this week started with a bang literally. I get a call Monday morning at 7:00 AM. "Hi Honey, I totaled your car." Ken is fine and I'm really not mad, slightly annoyed and I may be mad once our insurance premium goes up, because he's had three speeding tickets this year as well. The whole reason he had my car is because it's had a huge dent in the driver side door for over a year now. My sister backed her minivan into it when I was up visiting the summer before last. So last spring when Ken found out about all the travel he'd be doing this year we decided it was best he take my car and park it in airport parking becuase another dent or scratch was not going to make a difference in how much we'd get as a trade in from it. Where as the Odyssey is only a year old and we want to keep it running a good long while.

He was heading into the toll booths at the Ft McHenry Tunnel and the guy in front of him stopped short. It was a Ford truck so while the entire front end of my car crumpled the truck only had a tiny scratch. Insurance covers a rental for ten days. And Ken has been car shopping, we're going with another GM car mostly because we have points on our GM car just sitting there and we figure we can get a really good deal on an '07 at this point. He's trying to decide between a Pontiac G6 and the Malibu Maxx. He likes the Maxx because of the hatchback which is good for him getting camera equipment in and out of the car and he like the G6 because it has a V-6 and really smooth ride. We can get the better deal on the Maxx right now, so he's leaning towards that but being a Libra that could change tomorrow. It will go back and forth like this until crunch time, the end of next week.

They say that around one a child's appetite decreases but damn Quin can still put away some food. The other night he had a couple pieces of Alex's chicken. A fifth of my pork chop, some green beans and an entire small sweet potato, it was about an inch and a half in diameter and between 4 and 5 inches long. Alex never ate a lot to begin with so it did worry me a bit when he was basically down to one meal a day between the ages of 12 months and 30 months. He's better now but Quin still out eats him. He's definately going to be the big little brother.

Quin is also at that hard age where he's goiong down to one nap. So I've been trying to push his morning nap back but I can only do that so much. Three days a week I have to pick Alex up at preschool at 1pm. So putting him down later than 11am isn't an option at the moment. And he's just too cranky for words to let him go until after we get back from getting Alex. I'm seriously going to think about letting Alex stay all day at school those three days come spring.

We've had two and a half days of rain. I'm sure we've made a small dent in the drought conditions at this point. Looks like we can expect more tomorrow. So I need to figure out what to do with two kids for the day if I don't want to be trapped in the house with them by myself all day. At least today was Ken's normal friday off, so we could trade through out the day. Hmmm maybe that's why I woke with a migraine this morning. I know if you're trying to get pregnant you're not supposed to use advil but extra strength tylenol does nothing for my migraine but I figure it's early enough in this cycle it won't matter. It's better than being in pain all day.

okay that all that's new for right now.

photos and photos

2007-10-20T16:06:00.000-04:00

I'm starting off today with a couple of my favorite recent pictures of the boys
this first one just shows the difference in they're personalities so well

the second one I like because of Quin's smile

Quin has the most soulful puppy dog eyes, I know it's kind of sad I'm comparing my son to a dog but that's what they remind me of sometimes.

So I had my day off from the kids yesterday, Ken told me the night before he was dreading this day alone with the boys. But damn, it I've earned this at least twice a month since March he's been gone for a good portion of the week. That means no break for me, I'm on 24-7. When he's home at least, I can leave the house for a few hours childless. So we figured out something he could do with the kids on a rainy day. They went to the B&O museum.
When I got home last night the boys had just been settled into bed, so I snuck in and gave kisses. Ken said Alex had the time of his life. You could see the happy energy radiating from him. We're planning another trip there because ken didn't realize there were more exhibits in the other buildings not just in the main one. He said Alex had to name all the trains after Thomas and Friends characters. :roflol:
And Quin pulled one of my childhood tricks last night while Ken was making dinner. He got a hold of the box of wipes we keep next to my desk for diaper changes. Not only did he get it open he started pulling out the wipes. Ken said he had emptied a practically new package half way. The wipes were everywhere filled the whole center section of the family room. Quin was sitting in the biggest pile of them, so of course his pants were wet. I could have been worse he could have done what I actually did as a toddler. I got a hold of a box of tissues and started shredding them, the mess was all over the living room.
Yesterday was lovely and a little weird. I left around 7:30 am got to NY about three hours later. Though it took me another half hour to get to the Javitz center and then find parking. The Photo Expo is always overwhelming and I haven't been to one in about 4 years. My priority this year was to get info from the different album companies primarily for print and bind services on the coffee table style albums. I stayed away from the camera/lens vendors because that'll just make me want something we can't afford right now. Though nikon has a new super wide lens 18mm/3.5-55mm5.6 for about $120. it gets decent reviews especially as been light and versitile enough for when you need to be on the move.

I started winding down around 1 and went to get my car. It started pouring rain as I came out of the lincoln tunnel. So i got to Dianne's around 1:30. Ari is adorable, I just love his smile. He was showing off climbing on one of his toys so he could reach the lights. I even got a kiss as he left with his grandmother for the afternoon. Nilsa fell asleep soon after I started holding her. She's a noisy sleeper reminded me a bit of Alex. Always moving in her sleep too. Of course the fact that I was stroking her little foot periodically didn't help I'm sure. I really need to read the manual for my flash, I want to be able to control the light out put more. Even boucing the light was blowing out some of the pictures I took. I didn't do too badly on the hand held available light shots, though the ones that went down to a really slow shutter speed have camera movement in them.

I left around 4:30 and stopped to get something to eat outside of Trenton. I think that's what helped me miss the worst of the traffic. Though there was a back up around the Christiana Mall exit in DE.
I think I'm coming down with something. Around noon I was feeling a bit feverish and now it hurts to swallow, things must be a bit swollen because my ear hurts too. Wonderful, trying to decide which will help more the echinacea or the chamomile tea will help more.

oh Alex has found a way to help me fold clothes. He climbs into the dryer and fetches the clothes at the back them hands them to me to fold.:roflol:

2007-10-15T11:51:00.000-04:00

So I found these photos last spring when I was visiting my dad. My grandmother is the girl at the very front of the group photo. I think from that you can figure out who she is in the others. Anyway I see these and I keep wondering what happened to that girl that she became the cold, controlling woman I knew. One who cut herself off from all her family except her most immediate family and did what ever she could to keep her parents, husband, and sons from spending time with them as well.

Growing up I saw italian families on tv and until I was a teen I thought that was exaggeration. Everyone getting together on weekends, aunts and uncles chatting, kids running around lots of food and talking, always talking. becuase my italian family was nothing like that. The only family I ever saw were my great grandparents, the sweetest most loving people I've known, my grandparents and my uncles. Except for occasionally my grandfather would sneak us out while my grandmother was at work and take us over to his brother's house. When ever we were there it was like the families I saw on tv.

Something happened in the early fifties. Not sure what, my dad only remembers them moving from Genesee street. He doesn't have a whole lot of emotional depth, my dad, so it didn't really bother him that he was moving away from his cousins and friends, in some cases both. My uncle Tony might know he's only a year or two younger than my dad but things are kind of strained between the brothers, so I'm not real sure he'd talk to me about it if I asked. Something happend that she basically stopped wanting to be Italian. It's kind of surprising since they were in Utica, NY. If anything being Italian even a woman, would have been a benefit in getting promotions at work.

So the puzzle just sits there in my head. I have no names of people to contact to find more of my family's past, most of those who were living when it happened are dead. There were also pictures of her as a very young child in portraits with my great grandparents you can see the how much she was loved even in those stiff photos. It just makes me wonder even more how she became what she was. Like I never knew how much she loved baseball until she was in an assited living apartment because the alzhiemers was starting to get bad. She still recognized us at that point but she always drifted back. She kept talking about what a wonderful time she had visiting Cooperstown and the baseball hall of fame. We never saw that side of her as kids. Just the woman who was sweeping up the crumbs under the table even as we ate. Or she would clean up the toys we'd been playing with before dinner even though my mom had told us we could leave them and go back and play after dinner was over. The woman who had screaming matches with her parents in their apartment upstairs, I assume because they went and visited relatives and friends on the other side of town. Because right after my great grandfather would leave the house and either work in his garden or go for a walk.

Even after his funeral, she didn't join her mother, aunts and cousins at the wake being held at her uncle's house. No she took her family home then took her sons stawberry picking, only her sons, not their wives, not her grandchildren. My mom always felt that family was important, she'd missed her own sister's wedding to be at the funeral. Even after my parents divorced, she brought us up to visit our grandparents, because my father couldn't be bothered. I know that day was very confusing for her becuase no matter how much she fought and argued with her brothers and sisters, they'd always work things out, eventually. Ah well, maybe I should look more carefully at the boxes of stuff my father has of hers, maybe I can find out more that way.

Onto other things, can I say how nice it is to be in a real bra again. Nursing bras aren't the best for support. I've been really lucky both of my kids self weaned. Alex at 9 1/2 months and Quin just as I was considering weaning him. About a week before his birthday he stopped nursing on the right side, then the last time he nursed from the left was the day of his birthday party. It's kind of nice to have my body to myself again. Who knows how long it'll last since we've been trying since late June. I'm wondering if even though my cycle came back, that BFing was still working as birth control. So we're going to keep trying until my birthday that is. I just don't want to deal with pregnancy after 40. I mean it's different if I get pregnant before than and deliever after 40, ahh I don't know guess it's just a silly rule I have in my head. If it happens it happens, if it doesn't I have two sweet boys.

So our kitchen plans have gone through some revisions. Mostly because Ken wanted a 36" range. Then we talked and threw ideas around and decided on a 36"

Jenn-Air cooktop and a 30" oven.

The cook top will be about where our range is now but the oven will move over to the return we're putting in. We got our Quote for the Kraftmaid cabinets we wanted. It was about 1500 more than I guessed, so not far off.

I can't remember if we pick this style

Or this

The quartz countertops Lowe's offers were going to be about 3 grand. I remember when Ken's sister renoated her kitchen she actually went to a place in PA and picked her slab directly because it got her a better price. I'm going to ask where she got her's but I've been researching. Most of the local warehouses do have a whole lot of choice, then I came across this site and it looks like they do work all along the mid atlantic. All Ganite and Marble The choices and colors they have is amazing, we'll know for sure in January if it'll be a better price. Mostly because we're going to wait until the cabinets are being installed before going for an estimate. They usually install within a week. Guess we'll be making a trip to South Plainfield NJ. They have three locations but that is actually the closest one to us.

He's one

2007-10-05T22:51:00.000-04:00

Its hard to believe he's one now. He seems so much younger at one than Alex did. I guess it's because I've been through it once, and maybe I baby him more. But we took like a 190 shots on saturday for the family party. I don't think there will be nearly as many for the playgroup party tomorrow. So I'll share some.

As long as he was with Aunt Su, Alex allowed Quin to play with some of his toys.

Enjoying a cracker with YeaYea

then his Aunt got him started on a cheese curl habit

at least he eats Zucchini like it's candy

He's already got girls fawning over him

New pages

2007-09-20T12:20:00.001-04:00

Quin & Cassy (and Karen)
Quin made a new friend at my sister’s. He has always liked animals.He’ll be my boy that brings home all the strays. Cassy’s initial greeting
was one of enthusiasm. That kind of changed once Quin decided he didn’t mind her kisses and wanted to pet her. Then she started barking and
backing away. The more he laughed and tried to reach her, the more she backed away. This is in contrast to Alex, who hates being licked by dogs.
He’s the one backing away, which of corse makes the dogs want to lick him all the more.

CranberryDelight Kit-Kim Liddiard

Bright Boy
Journaling:
He's my Bright Boy. Even his middle
name given to him by his grandfather
means bright. It suits him well. You
can see it in his eyes, his smile and
his personality. Even in his habit of
being up bright and early every
morning.

Bright and Early Kit-Linda Rechtin
Tri Me QC-Tina Chambers
Glitter Alpha-Elizabeth Weaver

Homecoming
I found this picture of my mom and her date last spring. She went to a catholic girls school and they held many formals in combination with two other schools in the area. I just thought she looked so pretty in her dress.

Harvest Dance Kit- Linda Rechin
Notable Women WA-Tina Chambers
Sketch-Meryl Bartho

Perserverance
journaling:
Quin is determined to walk.
He tries several times a day,
always with help. He's not
very steady on his feet yet.
He may just do it by his
first birthday, just like his
older brother.

Trunk Show Kit-Rene Bross
Perseverance WA-FAPresidents set-Tina Chambers
3Blackslides QC-Lauren Bavin

scattergories

2007-09-20T10:33:00.000-04:00

A little fun for this morning, I got this a couple days ago from my friend Betsy.

SCATTERGORIES...it's harder than it looks! Copy and paste into a new email. When you are done, send it on, including to the person who sent it to you. Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following... they have to be real places, names, things...nothing made up! Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

What is your name? Cheryl

4 letter word: Camp

City: Charleston

Boy Name: Cameron

Girl Name: Cynthia

Alcoholic drink: Congnac

Occupation: Contractor

Something you wear: Chinos

Celebrity: Charlie Sheen

Food: Chicken Parmesan

Something found in a bathroom: Cat box

Reason for Being Late: car broke down

Cartoon Character: Cartman

Something You Shout: Come On!!!

Lots of new babies this past week. My cousin and his wife had another little girl. Then my friend Jean had a baby boy. Ken's niece also had her little boy, though he's six weeks early, so is in intensive care until his lungs mature. He's doing well. I'm amazed at Karen's strength. She had an emergency C-section but because they didn't have the facilities at the hospital she delivered at for premies, the baby was transfered to another hospital. Karen checked herself out after 24 hour because she wasn't going to be stuck in one hospital while her baby was in another. I don't blame her but wow, I hope if it came down to it I would have the same strength. The final baby was my friend Kelly's little boy. All this is really kicking my baby fever in to gear. Of course one of the ladies over at OUL has been doing an Oracle for any one who has questions. I was told I'll have a girl in July 2008. Which would mean I'll get pregnant in the next cycle or two. It would also mean I have to change my plans for a big 40th birthday bash for Ken and I in July next year. We talked about it, if I am due around that time we'll plan the party for Labor day weekend, probably Sunday.

Off to Cumberland tomorrow for a day out with Thomas. Alex is so excited to do this again. Ken took him last fall to the one in Stausburg PA. Quin is determind to be walking by his birthday. He just does not want to sit, he wants to walk but only by holding on to mommy's or daddy's fingers. Anytime you make him sit he starts crying. I told him he needed to start cruising the furniture. He didn't like that suggestion. spent this week cleaning the upstairs, just have the tubs and tpilets to do and I'm finished. Next week I'll be working on the downstairs, so the house will be clean by the party Saturday. Just praying the weather holds because we're planning a BBQ.

Insanity of Three year olds

2007-09-12T21:57:00.001-04:00

I'm trying to figure out if it's just Alex's personality or the insanity being three brings. Now to set this up at least once a week I through a few pillsbury biscuits in the oven. I split once between the boys and have the other two myself with some coffee. Alex insists on having some "coppy" too. So I put about an ounce in and add milk. He usually dips pieces of biscuit into the coffee. Occasionally one falls in and he fishes it out with a spoon. Today that happened and he just looses it. I of course look at him like he's crazy and say "use your spoon to get it out." "NOOooooOOOOoooo, not spoon" "well you either have to use your fingers or your spoon, it's up to you." So he uses the spoon to fish the piece out with his spoon. Then the next panic happens. "It's Brownnnnnnnnnn" He's been dipping the biscuits in the coffee for six months and is just now noticing they turn brown when he does this? INSANE

What they come up with

2007-09-11T19:53:00.000-04:00

It's funny sometimes what kids come up with. We noticed with the last few trip Ken has had for work, if he pulls out the big US wall map and shows Alex where we live and where he's going that Alex does better. This week he's on a much longer trip to Montana. He usually takes my car because with the dent in the door it doesn't matter if it gets a few more bumps and scratches in the airport parking lot. That means I have the minivan (this will change if we have a third, I'll have to break down and drive the minivan fulltime :sigh: )I picked up Alex at school today and he asked if we were going in the green car. I said no the brown car. "Oh yeah daddy drove the green car to see Hannah Montana." Bwaahhaaaahahaha!! Actually he mentioned it last night too that daddy was with Hannah Montana. I told Ken this he had a chuckle too.

So the other night at work one of the college kids (coworker) asked if I could sit down and talk with anyone living or dead who would it be. This is his first assignment for an english class. The first name that popped into my head was Jane Austen. First off reading her novels got me hooked on regency romances. But I'd want to meet her because she was very much an observer of how people interact socially. She wasn't afraid to show how ridiculous some of the rules were. I also feel she made her heroines strong, they didn't always play by society's rules espeically when they were wrong and hurtful. She wasn't afraid to show that women could be intelligent, sometimes smarted and with more common sense than the men they had to put up with, having no property rights of their own. It was an interesting topic to think on.

Two Things

2007-09-10T12:05:00.001-04:00

Two names you go by:
1. Mommy
2. Honey

Two things you are wearing right now:
1. Brown bermuda shorts

2. Blue T-shirt

Two of your favorite things to do:
1. play with my kids

2. digital scrapbooking

Two things you want very badly at the moment:
1. Another cup of coffee

2. Enough time in the day to do all I want and get some sleep

Two favorite pets you have had/have:
1. Sunshine

2. Bailey
Two people who will fill this out
1. Karen

2. Betsy

Two things you did last night:
1. Went to Work

2. created a new page
Two things you ate today:
1. biscuits

2. yogurt

Two people you last talked to:
1. Quin

2. Ken

Two things you're doing tomorrow:
1. Taking Alex to school

2. completing an album order

Two longest car rides:
1. OH to CA

2. MD to GA

Two favorite holidays:

1. Chinese New Year

2. Christmas

Two favorite beverages
1. Coffee

2. Kaluha on the rocks

2007-09-09T09:53:00.000-04:00

Well this has been a mostly quiet week. We got the the dentist and the xrays showed no damage to Alex's perminent teeth. He did say that I need to watch for discoloration in the teeth, he doubted that would happen but on the off chance it did they'd need to do a root canal so that the perminent teeth wouldn't be damaged. the swelling and sensitvity in the gums will be gone in a couple weeks.

Quin is determined to walk and he wants to do it on his own even though he doesn't even hve the balance to stand on his own for more than 30 seconds. Can't start the easy way crawling then pullin gup then cruising, no has to go from sitting up to walking. He will pull himself up if he can use a person.

Just sent Ken to the emergency room. While we were gone he continued working on clearing out the brush on the upper part of the hill in our back yard. He wants to lay stone "steps" to make it easier to go up. Well he came in contact with poison something, probably poison ivy but possible poison oak. He was treating the blisters but they seem to be spreading and they are popping on thier own and oozing pus. Checking on webMD it said that once they get to that point medical treatment is needed. The whole back of his right knee is covered, a patch on his left thigh and his right arm are just as bad.

On the kitchen fron we finally heard from BGE. We need to contact a contractor to install the gas lines in the house itself then notify BGE and they get us connected once it's ready. I think Ken was going to call the people who put in our new HVAC system. Not sure when he'll do that though, he'll be out of town all week. It's funny I have gone a whole week without him but usually it's because I'm visiting someone else. His travel the last year has been tues-thurs, this week it's mon-fri.

So this whole poison ivy thing has probably shot this months chance of baby making. I think I'm ovulating today. Which makes me want to just not try for a couple cycles because I'd rather not be hugely pregnant during the summer again. That and being due in July/Aug would spoil my birthday bash plans.

Quin is a boy after my own heart. I made ravioli with pesto for dinner last night because Ken had a wedding and it was quick and simple. Gave some to Quin and he just gobbled it all down. If only Alex would eat so well. Heh the only way to get egg in him is to make french toast, or I should say italian toast because I throw oregano, basil and parmesan cheese in to the egg before soaking the bread in it.

Starting to get together stuff for Quin's birthday party. Can't believe he'll be a year soon. I'm actually going to end up having two parties one for family before his birthday and one for playgroup after. I have no idea what to tell people to get him. except maybe clothes and books. We don't need any more toys in this house. All Alex's 12-18 month stuff especially pj's (they are fleece) are for winter. So I need stuff for fall weather, well except for jackets and coats. Long and short sleeve t-shirts, maybe a sweater or sweatshirt, cotton sleepers and socks. We need socks he's been bare foot all summer and I had to toss the ones Alex had. Suppose I need to look for shoes for him too.

I do like this for winter

it's not as heavy as a regular snowsuit, so it'll work well for going to and from the car in the winter. It'll fit nicely with the carseat.

I think that's it for now.

Vote for my picture

2007-09-04T20:48:00.000-04:00

I keep forgetting to post this here. I have a photo at picture.com that's in the rate my photo contest. So if you get a chance go check it out.

Rate my photo, Click here

playing in simpsons land

2007-09-03T23:38:00.000-04:00

playing with the avatar creator at the simpson's movie site. Cracking myself up.

Why is it children injure themselves on travel and/or holidays? Saturday evening Alex was playing with his cousins, slipped on one of his cars and fell. He landed on his face knocking his two front teeth back. Luckily they don't appear to be loose, there is a lot of swelling in the gums in that area. I left a message with our dentist's office to get an appointment asap. I just want to make sure there will be no trouble when the perminent teeth come in. I figure they'll call first thing tomorrow. Let's hope they can get us in that afternoon. If not I guess we'll miss the trip to the zoo on Wednesday.

Catching up

2007-08-30T20:44:00.000-04:00

catching up on a weeks worth of prompts

Blog Prompt 8/24: One food you would never give up is...

Ice cream is the one thing I could never give up. It's a habit for everyone on my mom's side of the family and we keep passing it on down.

Blog Prompt 8/27: What are your 10 favorite words.

monkey
munchkin
cumbersome
honey
photoshop
digiscrap
silly
red
snapdragon
pesto

guess this is kind of a mixed bag of words isn't it. Some I like the sound of, some I like what they represent and some I just say all the time.

Blog Prompt 8/28: Describe the most serious illness you have ever had.

I would have to say when I got strep throat about 15 years ago. It was the worst thing in the world not to even be able to swallow water. I was running a fever, couldn't even sleep because i hurt so bad. That being said I can say I've been very lucky and never had anything worse.

Blog Prompt 8/29: Today is More Herbs, Less Salt Day. What herb(s) do you like in your food?

ithas to be garlic because if I'm going to replace salt with anything that would be it.Now I do have some other favorites, basil, oregano, cilantro, coriander and paprika.

Blog Prompt: Just call me nosy Rosy! I had to defrost my freezer this month in hopes of repairing it, which we did. It amazed me to find stuff in there that I had forgotten about! Name 5 things in your freezer right now.

This I will have to remember off the top of my head, since I'm not home to actually look. We have peas, meatballs, butterfinger ice cream (well we did when I left it could be gone at this point if Ken finished it)pillsbury biscuits, and pork chops. There is more stuff I'm sure bat that's what I can remember.

Can I say I love my mom. For the last year when ever I visit she get's me an appointment with her massage therapist and watches my kids for an hour. I'd do this at home but Ken as been gone to often the evenings I have free he's usually out of town. very frustrating. I'm hoping that will change once ths program he's working on finishes.

A little bit frustrating

2007-08-26T11:54:00.000-04:00

This weekend has had it's good points but had some very frustrating ones. Friday morning I watched my friend Jean's little boy. He and Alex are good buddies. The only problem is together the get up to mischief that would normally not occur to either one of them on their own. They have now been given the nicknames of Butch and Sundance, and if they're with their third partner in crime (another little boy from the playgroup) they're the three bandits. So the boys went down stairs to play with the HO scale track Ken had set up on the floor for Alex. I'm on my laptop keeping an ear out for the baby who's taking a nap. It seemed kind of quiet downstairs, and that should have given me a hint that they were up to something. It wasn't until I heard the toilet flush that I went down to check. What I found was cat litter everywhere, all over the laundry room floor, all over my clean folded laundry, all over the carpet at the foot of the stairs then tracked over to where the track was, as well as on several of the toys they'd been playing with.

I washed them up then sent them upstairs so I wouldn't strangle them and cleaned up. I think having to rewash all the laundry was the most annoying part. The thing is they both know better than to touch the cat litter because Jean has cats too. Alex always asks what the cat box is I say "the cat's potty" "he poops and pees in the potty?" "yes" So he knows what it is and not to touch it. Luckily they avoided all the clumps in the litter and it looked like they used the scoop to get it out of the box. Still, they knew better. Ken came home right after I cleaned up the worst of it he laughed when I told him, but soon got a little pissed too as he helped me finish cleaning up. I told Jean what had happened when she came to pick up her son. At that point I was able to laugh. Her comment was "I guess it'll come as no surprise if we get a call from jail one day"

We are now on track to getting our kitchen remodeled. YAHOOOOOOOOOOO!!! We've been wanting to do this since we moved in almost three years ago. We even got an estimate on refacing which was like $35,000. We were both stunned because we thought it ws supposed to be cheaper than remodeling. Then we talked to a few people, including Ken's friend Ted who does home remodeling. He said for top of the line and replaceing all your appliances (which we wouldn't be doing) it would be about $20-25,000. For what we want he estimated $12-15,000. We had a basic plan for the changes almost from he start. Last spring I got the idea for having a huge combined bithday party for Ken and I during the summer of 2008 for our fortieth birthdays. Mine is in the spring his is in the fall, so one between the two seemed a good idea. But I wanted the kitchen done before that happened. He talked to Ted, who said he'd do the work for us but it would have to be during his slow time if we wanted a break on what he charges, which would mean Jan-Feb. That being the case we went into Lowe's to flesh out the design and get a cost estimate on cabinets and counter tops.
We were a walk in, so she worked with us until her appointment came in and will send us the final numbers this week. She told us since our project was January to order the cabinets early in Dec. We'll be able to get a pretty good deal because at that point it's so slow they'll make deals to get the sales. Very cool.

Now the frustrationin all this is we want to get a gas range. Both Ken and I grew up cooking on gas ranges. It's possible to get a gas line in this neighborhood, even though we have electric heat/ac. Our neighbor works for BGE and said it would be $800-1000 to get a line installed. So we've called (well Ken has) several times in the last year and a half and BGE keeps saying they'll call back and send us a letter telling us what we need to do on our end. Never happened, we've still got a few months to get through to them but it would be easier for them to do while the weather is still good.

Now my final frustration is Ken's travel schedule. He's been talking, trying to set up a schedule to go to the various Air Force bases to do the installations for the project he's been working on since March. The PM (project manager) is a civilian working for the Air Force. He sent a possible schedule in March, along with the project info they needed. He sent additional info as he went along. He's been in touch with a few of the bases, even visited a couple. The impression he got from them was any schedule he gave them would be fine, they just want it done. But he has to go through channels which means the PM. Ken's impression of this guy is that they gave him this position because he'll be retiring soon, and this is something he can't screw up too much. Boy were they wrong. He's been sitting on the schedule and the info. In July he had Ken resend everything because he couldn't find any of it. This really burned Ken up, as he'd all ready sent everything as he got it. So he flooded the guy's e-mail with reports. PM is now getting it from both sides the AF wants this done before '07 is out and has been trying to get a schedule since spring.
He's becoming very resentful. Now if this guy had done his job back in March everything would be done except for one or two more installs. Now Ken may have to work through the holidays to get all this done and get and extention on his use or loose time. It also means the trips he takes are the entire week, meaning he's gone from Monday morning to Friday evening. This screws my work schedule because then the only days I can work are Saturday and Sunday and he's got weddings two Saturdays each in September and October. In September we also have my MIL's birthday party one of those and Quin's first birthday party on another.

Ken not being used to a weekly work schedule, because his is bi-weekly, assumed that for the Monday's I miss at work I can make them up the Friday before. Doesn't work that way if I want to switch days I have to do it with in the same pay period. So now I'm losing two days of work because we have no one to watch the boys. The two people I'd ask are both about to have babies. Jean is due mid-Sept but because of GD she'll probably be induced the end of this week. And my neighbor is due first week in Oct so she can go any time now too. can I say ARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I leave Wednesday to go visit my mom for about 5 days, I'll take my laptop so should be able to post.

8/16/07

2007-08-16T21:03:00.000-04:00

Let's start with today's prompt and work backwards once again.

Blog Prompt: Aug 16 is the 30th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death. Do you know who Elvis is? If so, what was your favorite movie? Are you a big fan of his? Why or why not?

Yes I know who he is, I actualy remember the day he died. We (my sister and I)were at the baby sitter's house. And I remember Shirly being so sad that day. I'm not sure which of her daughters told us Kim or Val, both were in high school so to a nine year old they were cool. I know the radio was on all day on which ever channel was playing Elvis music. Of his movies I'v only seen a few and it'll be a hard choice between Blue Hawaii and Viva Las Vegas. I wouldn't say I'm a big fan but I enjoy a lot of his music. I guess how I feel about him can me expressed by quote a remember a friend making when I was in college. "If I ever have a boy I'm gonna name him Elvis." "After Presley?" "No, Costello"

Blog Prompt: Aug 15 is National Relaxation Day. Tell what things you see, hear or do that relaxes you.

I like relaxing in a shady spot on a cool afternoon. A good book is always a plus. I cup of hot tea is a nice way to wind down before bed. And when my kids drive me up a wall a nice glass of merlot or pinot noir is good after they are in bed.

Blog Prompt: Describe a 'sound' from your childhood. What was it? When did you hear it? What does it bring to mind?

The sound of gravel under tires. The road in front of our house was made of tar and gravel. If you could hear the gravel crunching under the tired it mean the road had been recently covered. I can't remember if they did it once or twice a year. I know during the hottest part of summer the road was almost smooth and you could actually walk barefoot on it and not get your feet cut, burned but not cut. I remember hating it after they lay down new gravel because it made riding a bike a bit harder and if you wiped out pretty painful.

Blog Prompt: August 13 is Alfred Hitchcock’s birthday. In honor of his birthday, name the movie(s) that scare you the most.

When I was a kid the Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween movies. Actually when I was really young that movie that Kiss made in about a haunted amusement park really freaked me out, had nightmares for a week. I'm not real fond of horror films unless they're kind of making fun of the genre. I have to say I found the movie Seven quite disturbing and the Hannibal Lechter movies did have me on the edge of my seat.

8/9/07

2007-08-09T12:14:00.000-04:00

Blog Prompt: I'm in the mood for some "current events" today and would love to hear what the weather is like in your part of the world. Also, how much did you pay for gas the last time you filled up your car?

Hmmm weather here in Maryland is actually pretty typical for August, upper 90's and 70% or more humidity. I know becuase I complain about it almost every year. Though I notice it's worse when you have kids and have to find stuff to keep them occupied because it's too hot and humid to let them play outside for very long.

Now I was actually pleasantly surprised Tuesday afternoon when I filled up that it was $2.82 for mid-grade. Kinda sad that I think 2.82 is a good price. But compaired to 3.10 about a month a go it is. Oh how I miss the days of under 2.00 a gallon not even going to think about the days of under a dollar a gallon.

Blog Prompt 8/8/07: What is your favorite day of the week?
I have to say my favorite day of the Thursday. Mostly because for the longest time it has been the night I usually watch TV for my favorite shows. It's also playgroup day so the boys get to play with their friends. It's the night of the Freebs chat with Tina Chambers at DSP. When my husband isn't traveling it is the one day I don't have to make him lunch, he goes out with the guys to the chinese buffet. And the weeks he is traveling it is the day he comes home.

Blog Prompt 8/7/07: Look at your hands. Why are you grateful for them?
I'm grateful for my hands for all they help me create, whether on the computer or through crafts and cooking. They allow me to make things for my family and friends to enjoy. I can hold my children's hands and faces. I can relax stroking my cat's head. I can tickle my boys all these things would be much harder to do with out them.

Blog Prompt: Aug. 6 is Lucille Ball’s birthday. I thought she was a great comedienne so in honor of her birthday, I thought we could tell a joke.

Since it is also Monday, I think many of us need a joke to make us smile today! Sorry all I have today is a silly knock knock joke I taught my three year old.

Knock knock
Who's there?
Alex
Alex who?
Alex the questions here.

The weirdest thing happened over the weekend, we were watching Handy Manny on Playhouse Disney. In this episode he was fixing a treehouse for two boys at their Abuela's house. The younger boy Alex was being left out of his older brother's game/club because he was only 6 and it was for 10 year olds. Now this is the first time I ever hear the older brother's name even though this episode has been on a couple times. The older brother was named Quinn. It kind of threw me for a few minutes. The two brothers had the same nicknames as my boys though the relationship is reversed. Alex is the older, and Quin the younger.

Can I say how much I'm looking forward to September. Mostly because I'll have a couple hours to myself again in the morning. Alex will be in school and Quin will be napping. Amazing how used to little things like that you can get. So it's really dawning on me that Quin will be a year old soon. I worked on the invitation for his birthday party. The weddig Ken was supposed to have the last weekend in September got postponed so we're planning the family party for then. The playgroup party will be the following Wednesday. I keep wondering if I should be worried Quin still hasn't tried crawling or pulling himself up. He likes standing and will grab old of my fingers to pull up but he hasn't done it on his own. He hasn't even pulled himself in to a sitting position on his own.

I feel like it's my fault. He gets a little lost in the chaos. It seems like as soon as I start working on anything, like getting a meal together Alex has a crisis, though I make him wait until I can get to him, it still pushes Quin's needs to the back burner. I'm hoping once Alex is in preschool again, spending time alone with him will help.

guess it won't be every day

2007-08-01T14:25:00.000-04:00

I tried but I guess I won't get to these every day. I'm thinking once a week may be a good start.

Today's prompt and move backwards
Tell how the internet has made an impact on your life.

Well the biggest impact was the people I've met. I have some good friends whom I never would have know if it wasn't for the internet my husband included. I met him on ICQ about 7 1/2 years ago. And because we lived close enough and both had a strong interest in photography we decided to meet up, three years later we were married. I've met people through so many different groups. Right after college I was part of the Mercedes Lackey fan club, and wrote fan fiction and went to dragon con down in Atlanta a couple times. The writing of fan fiction led me back to RPGs. Starting with MUDs like Dragonquest, then I moved into e-mail versions of AD&D and Shadowrun, these were more like round robin stories, with the DM creating the plot and each character writing their lines/actions. Once I started planning my wedding I started to visit different forums gear towards that eventually to the baby side of a couple of those boards. I still visit two on a regular basis, Our Little Universe and Lets Just Talk. Keeping journals on these forums also contributes in part to my digital scrapbooking. But the people I've met because of these places are the most important.

Now the internet has made other things much easier for me. I keep track of my finances better because I can download everything into Quicken. I can shop whenever I want and I can also research my purchases and then decide if I'll buy online or in an actual store. Because to be honest I dislike actually going shopping at the best of times. With two small children it makes is even more of a hassle. Even when I was younger most times I knew what I wanted and went to those particular places, then left. No wandering the mall for hours for me.

I think the internet allows me to keep in touch with my extended family better. I can write out what's going on post pictures in my galleries, show my new pages. Even though I talk to her every week I think my mom likes being able to visit my blog, she gets to read about things I forget to mention or that are kind of trivial but nice to know day to day things.

Tuesday's prompt

Take a photo you've been meaning to scrap and write your journaling for it here

I still haven't gotten to this one. I guess I've been waiting for the right kit to go along with it. I think this is a big example of what being three is all about. They're the ones keeping the band aid companies in the profits. At one point Alex was wear five band aids. Granted he did actually have booboos, though most of them did not warrant wearing a bandage. After a while I think they became a fashion statement for him. His favorites were the backyardigans and spiderman. It got to the point where, if he bumped against something he'd be calling out "mommy, MOMMMMYYY need BAnd AID, got ouchies, especially for hangnails and such. We got lucky while visiting my dad in July, they didn't really have any band aids so he had to make due with the ones he had left and by the end of the week those were gone too. Last weekend was the first time since then, that he asked for one.

This was from Monday so I'll answer as if it was still Monday

How many different 'hats' will you wear today? Will you be mom, grandma, employee, employer..etc. How do you balance all of it?

The biggest hat I wore was being mommy, but within that you could say I was storyteller, playmate, photographer, cook, housekeeper and chauffer. I was an album designer since we got in a couple orders. And finance manager because I went over all our accounts for the month. If it was friday or sunday you could add bookseller to that list as well.

Check out my Slide Show!

2007-07-28T21:38:00.000-04:00

Blog prompts

2007-07-27T10:45:00.000-04:00

I keep meanign to do this maybe it'll keep me posting on a regular basis. Anyway over at DSP they have a blog prompt challenge. We'll start with todays, and move back from there maybe I'll make it a habit.

What was the last movie that made you really laugh? Or do you have one you've seen over and over and still makes you laugh?

The last movie to really make me laugh was Dodgeball with Vince Vaughn and Ben Stller. We watched it 3 times in a row on DVD and them Ken went and bought it for me for my birthday. Though off the to of my head I can't think of one that over time still cracks me up. No wait that's wrong, Monty Python's Holy Grail still makes me crack up and going with that a Fish Called Wanda, must be John Cleese.

Thursday Prompt Make up a great excuse why you can't work today.
My excuse yesterday was I took the kids to the farm fair and we were all exhausted when we got home around 2:30 so nothing else got done.

Wednesday Prompt Stand in a favorite spot in your house, garden, wherever and describe it for us in detail.

We're out on the deck under our blue canopy. I love sitting in our cast iron chairs at the table because they rock. The tables set and canopy are set up right where the deck bends to wrap around the house. The grills are off to the right (yes grills one gas, one charcoal)almost directly in line with the french doors to the family room so Ken can bring dinner in quickly if we decide not to eat outside. In the spring my two azalea bushes bloom the flowers peeping through the rails of the deck, white to the right red to the left. Between the red azalea and the oak tree my husband has our canoe set up on saw horses. I hung the butterfly house my sister gave me this year in the oak tree just above the steps to the patio.

It'll be only a year or two more before we have to replace at least part of the wood on the deck. I love to be barefoot in the summer but the risk of splinters any more makes that hard. The only place that is safe is the 8 foot square area by the doors covered by one of those green outdoor rugs. Which reminds me I really need to hose down and scrub the kids toys that have been sitting out all spring/summer. They're getting pretty dirty. And I'm sure one of these days we'll get around to landscaping the back. Maybe leveling things a bit and putting in a retaining wall so that there is room for a play area for the kids. Maybe stairs cut into the hill so it's easier to use the flat clearing at the top for something other than weeds and overgrowth.

well that's all I have time for now the munchkin is awake.

Potty & Potter

2007-07-25T12:44:00.001-04:00

wow twice in one day

So friday afternoon I was chatting with my neighbor, she has two little girls and is 7 months pregnant with her third, a boy. We were talking about potty training because I know she had issues with her older daughter who is now 5. The younger one was potty trained except for nights soon after her second birthday, this past spring. The older one took until several months after her 4th birthday, and even now still has accidents. My neighbor says is her way of manifesting her jealousy. She intends on sending a couple sets of clothes with her to school when she starts kindergarten in the fall. Mostly because the baby will arrive a month into the school year. She said that the big backslide occured because three things happened almost at the same time. 1) The younger daughter arrived 2) they moved and 3) her husband started to travel for work and was gone a few days every couple weeks. She said she dealt with it by just letting it go and letting her daughter win because she was just making herself crazy trying to get it to happen.

So I talked with Ken that evening before leaving for work. And we figured out that Alex's backslide started about when Ken started traveling for work on a pretty regular basis. Last spring we had gotten to the point where he'd sit on the potty no problem, he'd tell me he went/was going right away. That was the first thing that stopped, then he started refusing to even sit on the potty.
So we decided to back off until November when Ken won't be traveling again until March/April. Monday Alex started a two week day camp at school. And what do I see on the page that we get the end of each day. He used the potty all day. 7 hours at school not one accident but at home I still have to check him every couple hours. This definately reinforces the idea that this is a kind of passive/agressive reaction to Ken being gone so much. This and his fear of the dark becoming more pronounced in the last few months.

Friday was of course the release of HP7. I went into work at 7:00 pm. And was put incharge of the trivia hunt at the party. At about 10:30 I was sent out to relieve the people handing out bracelets for people wanting to pick up their copy after midnight. At eleven I was brought in to give me a register and take a very brief break, enough time to chug a bottle of water and use the bathroom. At 11:30 we were trying to clear the store enough to allow people to line up. Then the fire marshal and the police arrived and told us to clear the store completely have people line up outside and then bring them in. This took until about 12:15, with much bitching and complaining by people at the front of the line. (Why they cared I don't know, we were bringing people in by ticket number they recieved with their bracelets, so they'd still be one of the first 50 in line) Things moved very quickly from there and we were completely done by 2:45. Clean up took until 4am. We didn't really do much anything lying around was either stacked on the info desk or a library cart and the shelves straightened so that nothing was actually lying on it's side. We found out shortly before we left we weren't the only store that had to clear the entire store before opening the boxes.

I have my copy sitting here waitng for me to finish reading 6 again. I'm about half way through. That's about it the baby is awake so I must get him. I might get back on when he goes down for his second nap before we go get Alex.

Personality DNA

2007-07-25T11:09:00.000-04:00

I got this from one of the journals I visit on LTJ

Benevolent Inventor

You are an Inventor

Your imagination, self-reliance, openness to new things, and appreciation for utility combine to make you an INVENTOR.

You have the confidence to make your visions into reality, and you are willing to consider many alternatives to get that done.

The full spectrum of possibilities in the world intrigues you—you're not limited by pre-conceived notions of how things should be.

Problem-solving is a specialty of yours, owing to your persistence, curiosity, and understanding of how things work.

Your vision allows you to identify what's missing from a given situation, and your creativity allows you to fill in the gaps.

Your awareness of how things function gives you the ability to come up with new uses for common objects.

It is more interesting for you to pursue excitement than it is to get caught up in a routine.

Although understanding details is not difficult for you, you specialize in seeing the bigger picture and don't get caught up in specifics.

You tend to more proactive than reactive—you don't just wait for things to come to you.

If you want to be different:

Try applying your creativity to more artistic arenas, and letting your imagination take less practical forms.

how you relate to others
You are Benevolent

You are a great person to interact with—understanding, giving, and trusting—in a word, BENEVOLENT

You don't mind being in social situations, as you feel comfortable enough with people to be yourself.

Your caring nature goes beyond a basic concern: you take the time to understand the nuances of people's situations before passing any sort of judgment.

You're a good listener, and even better at offering advice.

You're concerned with others at both an individual and societal level—you sympathize with the plights of troubled groups, and you can care about people you've never met.

Considering many different perspectives is something at which you excel, and you appreciate that quality in others.

Other people's feelings are important to you, and you're good at mediating disputes.

Because of your understanding and patience, you tend to bring out the best in people.

If you want to be different:

You spend a lot of time taking care of others, but don't forget to take care of yourself!

Sometimes you can get overcommitted, and when you sacrifice spending time with those close to you, it can make them feel unimportant.

You know what cracked me up, not sure why, but I held my pointer over the different squares in the tile. It tells what the different personality qualities are and the long green one over the little orange bar says slightly functional. I just find that funny.

Over a month

2007-07-20T16:28:00.000-04:00

Good lord it's been a month since I posted in here. Part of it is me and part of it is my children. I think once Alex goes back to school in September I'll be able to stop in more often, like during Quin's naps. And by me I mean that I seem to have a wave of creativity that runs about 3 years. When I'm at either end, feeling no creativity or super creative I don't post. It's when I'm in the middle I seem to post. Right now I'm on the high end, I've done more work in the last 6 months than I have done in the previous two years. Just to warn you if I start posting on a regular basis it means I'm on the down swing.

The last week of June I spent getting all my stuff together for the display on the art wall at B&N. I put it up on July 1st then left the next day to go to TN to see my Dad for a week. We get back I have my niece and nephew with us. My mom comes in the next day, they were here until last Thursday. So it basically felt like I haven't been home for two weeks. I spent the weekend getting the house ready because Tuesday I hosted a baby shower for one of my friends from the playgroup.

Lets see what's up with the kids. Quin sits up on his own, has been very cranky because he cut two more teeth. Rolls over, likes to stand but has shown no interest in crawling or pulling himself up. He's eating table food on a regular basis, it must be cut in small pieces but he gums it pretty well.

Alex has given up naps, I was hoping he'd at least keep taking a short one until he was four. I know the three hour ones wouldn't last much longer, but to go from that to none has been killer. I tray making him take some quiet time in the afternoon where he just has to stay in his room and either play quietly or read his books but he won't stay put and I can hear him wandering around getting into stuff in my room. The thing that really gets me, is he now realizes he can leave his room when he wakes in the morning (at 6am). He doesn't come to our room first no, he hears Quin moving around and thinks he's awake so goes in there and actually wakes him up, then he comes to my room saying "Quinton's crying mommy?" Luckily I can usually nurse Quin and put him back to bed for another hour or two. I've tried moving his bedtime up but he still seems to fall asleep around 7:30-8:00 so I gave up trying unless he is unbearably cranky in the late afternoon.

He has me at my wits end with potty training. He refuses to use the potty. He knows how to pull his pants up and down by himself, and he's used it at school but here with me he won't, even when his friends are over and they use it. He is definately physically ready, but I can't figure out what he's afraid of. Sometimes it seems like he doesn't think he can, so he won't even try. I don't know what to do anymore. Today we went through 4 pairs of underwear. And almost every time he went it was right after I suggested he just sit on the potty. Didn't tell him he had to go in it, just sit on it. We're coming up on a year now.

Well because of his resistance and some additional reading I've done, I've started the initial stages of potty training with Quin. I set him on the potty for maybe five minutes a couple times a day usually shortly after he eats. I don't expect him to actually go just kind of get him used to the process. Alex doesn't like Quin on the potty because it's his potty, but he won't use it himself. Ken was thinking about talking with a professional so we could figure out a way around this resistance. I keep thinking I waited too long with Alex going by what was recommended, and waiting for him to show signs of interest, which he's never shown. We seem to have back slid to the point where he doesn't even tell me after the fact that he's gone, he used to at least tell me a couple months ago. bleh

observations

2007-06-19T11:11:00.001-04:00

Can I say how good it feels to have my hair really short again, especially in this 90+ weather. I still can't believe Ken told me I should let it get longer, he's not the one who has to put up with it.

Ken was aking me questions the other day. Like was I as tempermental as Alex when I was a kid. I said no, I was petty laid back though things did have to be in a certain order but when I was upset I would just blow up and then it was over andI'd be a happy kid. I still do that, go along not let things get to me then I just explode and I'm all calm again. Quin is a lot like that. Then he decided Alex got it from his grandfather. The main difference is my FIL has the imperialness of the Dragon backing him up while Alex has the nervous energy of the Monkey. They both just lose it at the drop of a hat.

Quin is such an earthy personality. He loves food and animals and just hanging out outside. He absolutely loved the tofu dish at the chinese resturant we took my FIL to Saturday. It is so different how he reacts to animals compaired to Alex.

Alex would rather go to animals on his own terms. He's very cautious about dogs and hates it when they jump on him or lick him. And cats he loves to chase and scare. Quin on the other hand start giggling when a dog licks his face or hand. And wants to pet any furry creature that comes in range. The cat loves to just lay next to him and hang out. Guess who is going to be the kid to bring home all the strays.

random thought for the day: I wish Xena (Lucy Lawless)had the same birthday as me not Celine Dion. I couldn't stand her music before I found out we shared a birthday, so knowing this some how makes me dislike her music even more. Xena on the other hand is cool. She's what I wanted to be when I grew up. Heh the sad thing is I was an adult when the show came out.

Observations

2007-06-15T14:50:00.000-04:00

Alex is so funny sometimes. Last night he got mad at us because we wouldn't let him have his way. I gave him a choice about a half hour before dinner, he didn't answer, so I decided for him. It wasn't what he wanted and I wasn't making anything else at that point. Anyway he's crying and sobbing and putting on his little drama show and sobs "I want Grandma, I want Grandma." I just had to laugh because he thinks grandma is such a great lady and she is, but she's a tough lady too and I know she wouldn't put up with his flip flopping either. His cousins know the rules at grandma's house are probably a bit stricter than at home and they've learned they can't always get away with stuff there that they can at home. I'm sure Alex will realize this eventually too.

Quin has figured out how to blow rasberries, so he does that all the time now. Well when he's not chewing on something. I hope his love of trying new things in terms of food lasts and I don't end up with another ultra picky eater. It's kinda fun having to share some of my dinner or lunch with him. He likes baked turkey, and he really liked the inside of the burritos I made the other day. He liked the pasta sauce we had yesterday, couldn't give him the actual pasta, penne just doesn't cook down super soft easily. Let's see oh yeah he like the fried catfish we made Monday. I'm still giving him the pureed fruits and veggies. He's funny though even when he's not realy sure of a taste, hell make a face as he eats it but his mouth is wide open for the next bite. Likes yogurt a lot, need to find a store close by that has tofu, the store I usually go to doesn't.

I have one more week of my photoshop class. I have to put together the last two frames for my display on the art wall at B&N. I also need to print out credits for some of the graphics I used in what's going to be displayed. That has to go up July 1. We drive to TN to my dad's lake house the next day for a week. My sister and her kids will be there. We may be bringing the kids back with us and the following weekend my mom would come down and pick them up.

2007-06-14T14:17:00.000-04:00

Geez I don't know what with me lately, I guess I feel like i don't have much to say. Well some days things happen and I think I should write it down but by the time I get to the computer the moment has passed.

anyway to day was a rough morning. I had all of three hours sleep last night. I've had a sore throat since Friday. The last couple days it's been putting pressure on my right ear making it ache. Not real condusive to sleeping. So Alex woke at 5:30 crying because his blanket was dirty. I go in and it looks like at sometime in the night he had another nose bleed. It must have stopped as quickly as it started because he never woke. The little bit of blood on his blanket and pillow case was dry. I dabbed it off his blanket with a cold damp cloth and told him I'd wash it in the morning. As soon as I got him settled Quin woke. So I fed him and put him back down. An hour later Alex is up at his normal morning hour. The last couple days Ken has been taking him downstairs before he leaves for work to let me sleep a bit more. Today that didn't work.

Do you know how hard it is to explain to a three year old that some of his favorite trains have to be taken away because they could make him sick?
[URL="http://rc2corp.com/company/recalls_Wood_0607.asp"]RC2 recall[/URL]
I told him they had to go away for a while to be fixed. It'll be 6-8 weeks before the replacements arrive. So I get the tears dried and he understands enough that for now they are gone but he'll get them back just like new. It's a little after 7 at this point and Quin wakes up. Doesn't want to feed because he's more interested in what's on TV. I turn it off and he's still looking around because he can hear Alex on the other side of the room playing. I snatch a 45 minute nap on the couch around 7:30.

Get everyone fed and around 9:30 take Quin up for his morning nap. He's cranky and running a low grade fever. I gave him some Tylenol before I took him upstairs. He normally sleeps for two hours in the morning. Not today, I'm bringing him back downstair 45 minutes later. Then Alex want me to entertain him with the hand puppets. This lack of sleep and all the whiney crankiness from both boys is making me even crankier.

Finally noon arrives and I take Alex up for his nap. A half hour later I get Quin settled into another nap. At 1:30 Alex calls down that he is done. He hasn't slept at all I could hear him singing the entire time. So I go up and explain that he can't come downstairs yet because Quin is sleeping. I even told him. "I love you dearly but you are not a quiet boy, the baby isn't feeling well and needs sleep. So I need you to stay up here until the clock says 3, you can read, you can sing, you can play, but you have to stay in your room." He's still up there singing though the silence between songs is getting longer. I'm betting he falls a sleep at quarter of three.

2007-06-05T13:36:00.000-04:00

Lord, the boy can get himself hysterical. I heard him all the way out on the deck. Wednesday I planned on putting him to bed early because it was a no nap day. So around 5:45 I started the bedtime warnings. Well by 6:15 he was crashed out on the couch. I took his stuff up then I carried him up. He was in that semi-sleep state when I laid him down. I asked him if he wanted to get in his PJs and he shook his head and curled up under his blanket, thumb in mouth. I thought yay me. Husband out of town both kids asleep, nice cool evening after the hot day. I grab a book and a glass of wine and go hang out on the deck.
A half hour later I hear crying. At first I thought it was the baby then I come in the house and the monitor it's coming from is Alex's. I bring everything in and go upstairs. He's standing in the middle of his bed tears streaming down his face screaming at the top of his lungs. He's usually incoherent or at the very least nonsensical, when he's like this. First thing I do is get him in a hug and calm him down. Ask if he wants to get in his PJs now and brush his teeth. He nods between the slowly dying sobs. We take care of all that and he lays back down, I go to ask if he wants a story and he's out again already.
Now this was the second day he'd done this. He got hysterical the day before when I wouldn't let him get up from his nap after he'd been up there 45 minutes playing. His delay tactics were so silly, he asked for stuff he knew I'd say no to but it was like he had to try because you never know.

Has anyone out there seen Max & Ruby on Nick Jr? Well Max gets this sly mischeiveous look on his face when ever Ruby tells him he can't do something or he has to play somewhere else. You know he's going to do the opposite. How is it possible that someone who can just barely roll over, topples over after sitting for a minute and can't crawl can have this look already?

He's found his feet, he takes the spoon from me when I feed him and he growls when he's chewing on a toy. The last one tells me he was definately born in the year of the Dog. He had the neighbor kid who mows our lawn cracking up because he rolls his wrists and growls and it looks like he's pretending he's on a motorcycle.

Last week we watched Butterfly Effect. It's not what I thought it was. At least not what I remember the trailers being about when it was in the theaters a couple/few years back. It was actually a pretty good movie. Very psychologically mind bending. Ken and I were talking about it for a good hour afterwards.

Now much going on right now. I should actually be working on my photoshop assignment, we have another lesson released tomorrow. The guy came and fixed our AC. Good thing it hadn't been unbearably hot the few days it was out. It was fixed just in time, the next day it was in the 90's.

I now know who keeps the band aid companies in profits. Three year olds, Alex wants band aids for the smallest scratch or bruise lately. And he'd go through an entire box of band aids in three days if I let him. I literally have to limit him to two band aids a day.

Why is it the nights I actually go to bed early both my kids contrive to make sure I still don't get any sleep? Last night first it was Quin, though at least once he let out a huge burp all was well and he went back to sleep. Alex then woke up at 4:30 in the morning, Ken got up to check on him since I took care of Quin earlier. Well Alex had another bloody nose and was of course hysterical. It took the two of us to get him calm enough for Ken to put into practice what his parents used to do for him when he got them. Basically tilt the head back, cold compresses on the forhead, and direct pressure if needed. Last time Alex had a nose bleed he was already awake and didn't even really know what was happening because I came in just as it started. He didn't have a chance to loose it.

Quin is going to be my eater. He loves tasing anything from my plate he can get. Well anything I can break up into small enough chunks for him to work on. So roast turkey, catfish, potatoes, biscuits, pork chop. And he seemsto like any type of sauce we have on our food. He loved chewing on my fingers the day Ken made BBQ ribs. Speaking of which I thought it was the top two teeth he was cutting this time. Nope, he's getting in two more bottom teeth.

2007-05-29T15:43:00.000-04:00

Tangents, that seems to be my normal thought process. I think about one thing then it reminds me of something else, sometimes randomly, so I leave off the one thought and follow the other. I’ve gotten better about not talking when my brain does this mostly because it confuses the hell out of Ken. SO yesterday in the shower I was shaving my legs and wishing it was winter and I didn’t need to shave so often. This made me think about how when I’m pregnant the rate of leg hair growth for the entire pregnancy seems to be determined by the time of year I get pregnant. I got pregnant in spring with Alex so I needed to shave a moderate amount, every two or three days. With Quin I got pregnant in winter so only needed to shave once or twice a week. If I get pregnant in August or September (hoping for a spring baby) that means I’ll have to shave every other day, so depressing.

Baby reminds me of family which lead to thinking about my parents wedding pictures which I recently scanned. This in turn got me thinking about their divorce and how it didn’t affect me in a typical way. Most kids go through a stage where the hope their parents will get back together. I didn’t, maybe it was my age. I was 16 when they separated. All I felt was relief; most of the tension in the house was gone once my dad moved out. My sister on the other hand did go through that stage briefly. But she’s 2 ½ years younger and her personality is such that she hates surprises. She likes things predictable and stable.

I think it dawned on her pretty quickly that it was a good thing not to have dad around, hounding on her about grades and chores. Now I wouldn’t say my dad was verbally abusive, but he might have been considered so now days. I think he was typical of when he grew up and the way to encourage your kids to get better grades was through backhanded compliments and nagging. “You’re smart enough why didn’t you get A’s instead of B’s. Apply yourself, study more.” Usually in a voice just below a yell. He also would yell about nonsensical things. Both parents work so after a certain age part of our chores became light house cleaning; vacuuming and dusting and such. (Must be why I can’t stand dusting to this day, I really should do it more. Especially with Ken’s and now Alex’s allergies) see another tangent, more on that later.
I usually took care of the dining/family room every week. My mom would come home and thank me; my dad would see the one spot that was still messy. And would you like to know why it was messy. It was his stack of magazines, papers and torn out articles. If I straightened it up I’d get yelled at because he couldn’t find what he was looking for. If I left it he’d yell because the room was a mess (you can see the exaggeration here). No win situation for me. It was easier to no straighten it up and get the sympathetic pat on the shoulder from my mom and let my dad yelling roll off my back.

So on to the kids, Quin is rolling and starting to babble words, mostly Mamamama and aweh, aweh. The later he does when Alex is around so I’m assuming he’s trying to get his brother’s attention. They’re starting to play more together. Alex’s cars seem to be motivation Quin to want to crawl. I asked Alex if Quin could play with some of his cars. I got this semi-horrified look and he started reaching for his matchbox sized cars. I told him no not those; Quin is too small for those. You should have seen the huge look of relief on his face. I asked for some of the playschool rubber/plastic ones. He was happy to share those.
Alex had a cold right after we got back from my mom’s. Well even now almost a month later he still had a cough whenever he woke up and itchy eyes and a mildly runny nose. Since Ken has allergies and eczema and I have eczema, this means our kids are 80% likely to develop allergies. I already know Quin has eczema. Looks like Alex has hay fever type allergies. I took him to the doctor Tuesday because Ken had conjunctivitis and he thought Alex might too. Three weeks ago I might have said yes but not now. The doctor thinks it is allergies as well. Told us to try Claritin first and if that doesn’t have any affect, a prescription of Zyrtec was given to me for him. The Claritin seems to be helping he’s no longer rubbing his eyes, still has the post nasal drip cough when he wakes though.

My poor little munchkin, I think Quin is cutting a couple more teeth. He’s waking up in the middle of the night and takes a while to settle down afterwards. He’s cranky and constantly wanting to chew. I hope they come in quickly.

I already knew I needed a hair cut but the hot humid weather has confirmed it. Ken told me I needed to let it grow longer. I of course looked at him like he was nuts. First of all when it’s long I have to wear it so it’s off my face. If I don’t my face looks fat. I’d rather have it short and not have to deal with the extra time it would take to put my hair up. I barely have time to brush my teeth, how am I going to have time to put it in a French braid. Second of all my hair is really thick and wavy, so humidity makes it worse, it then sticks to my neck, ears and forehead all of which drives me nuts. Having the hair stick to my ears actually kind of freaks me out because I think it’s a bug crawling on me. Ken gave a big sigh when I explained why. I then told him that if I ever got on What Not to Wear, that the stylist Nick would agree with me, that it looks better shorter. So Now I have to figure out when to get an appointment. Michelle works Monday, Tuesday and Friday evening and Saturday morning. I doubt she’s working this Monday with the holiday but I’ll call and see if I can get in Tuesday. Friday is out, I work and Saturday Ken has a wedding. If I don’t get in this week I’ll have to wait until next Monday. Bleh

catching up (monster post)

2007-05-06T13:43:00.000-04:00

Okay I know I could have posted while I was at my mom's, but I didn't want to hog my mom's computer. Last week I was playing catch up with everything. We left friday after Alex finished school and went to my uncles in Cumberland. The kids love Chris and Cindy, Chris because he can be silly and play games and Cindy because she reads to them. My Aunt Pat on the other hand, well Alex likes her well enough but Quin started crying everytime she held him, he'd stop as soon as Chris or I took him. When I told my mom this the next day she laughed.

I got to my mom's Saturday around 2:30. Between the 40 minute stop for lunch and the 20 minutes while I got written up for a speeding ticket, in WV of all places. It took me a bit longer than planned. Though the trip home was actually not so bad only took 8 1/2 hours with stops. Not too bad with two small kids. And it would have ben shorter if I hadn't hit 695 at rush hour. What normally takes 40 minutes took over and hour. And a miserable hour it was both kids crying off and on, no place to stop and I just wanted to get home, the exit to 95 was just 16 miles away.

When we got to my mom's my Aunt Bonnie was there with her husband Jim. I haven't seen Jim in a long time. It's nice that they're both in Cleveland now, instead of out in Vegas. Only an hour and a half from my mom. I think even though Bonnie drives my mom nuts sometimes she likes that at least one of her siblings is willing to visit her. Though Katie comes to visit as well, Pat and Chris haven't been to Erie since my sister got married 14 years ago. They didn't even go up after my mom had her masectomy. Which has really pissed Bill off, he'd perfer my mom have as little to do with them as possible. I know Katie wanted to go up but she has to little girls and was a complete wreck about the whole thing herself so her visit would have been more work not less during my mom's recovery.

Quin charmed everyone once more. Alex was being shy and went in the front room to play. We had Bill's BBQ ribs and home made applesauce. Bonnie was feeding baked potato mixed in with the applesauce, he was loving it. After dinner they had to go, it was a nice visit but short. I did get the impression that Bonnie thinks Jason should have paid the extra 800-900 dollars and had Ken shoot his wedding. I guess the photographer they got hardly took any pictures of the John side of the family. Including Bonnie and Jim with the bride and groom. She's the mother of the groom for pete's sake. I still couldn't have gone since I was on travel restriction and ended up having Quin three weeks later.

I have to say it's pretty rough sleeping in the same room as both kids. Alex wakes several times a night and Quin usually wakes early in the am for a feed. The first night it meant they woke each other, to top it off Alex had a cold and was miserable. (I now have this cold, I caught it the day I drove home, lots o fun). By the next night giving him a tiny bit of Tylenol took away the worst of the aches and scratch throat so that he slept through the night much better.

Sunday afternoon I went over and visited my sister. I planned on taking both kids with me to dinner with friends but Alex wanted to stay and be with his cousins. And my sister's dog is both jealous and afraid of Quin. Alex on the other hand she enjoys giving kisses, must be because Alex hates it. Dinner with Patty and Sherri was nice. Quin flirted with them and with just about anyone else close by.

Monday was my massage. Can I say how much I needed this. Ken said i wasallowed a monthly massage and then he goes and starts travel nearly every week Tuesday to Thursday. I work Friday and Sunday. So Saturday and Monday evening are about the only times we can spend together. So I guess until this project is done it'll end up being quarterly.

Tuesday I picked up Jessie after school and we went over to the covered bridge close by. I had heard last summer that there was talk about it being torn down. I wanted pictures of it again before that happened. I found out later that the talk is about building a second bridge for traffic and restoring the covered bridge.

Wednesday was shopping day. Nothing for me and Alex this time, well nothing planned. He did get a couple pair of sunglasses from Children's Place. Ken needed polos and Quin needed pants, he's out grown them yet again. I hope the warm up continues because I have plenty of shorts in larger sizes for him.
I also took Karen's kids because Penny's was having a sale on South Pole and Brandon wanted shorts and tees. Jessie always likes new clothes.

NowI've been thinking about a new laptop since I was up visiting my dad. He let me borrow his a couple days. And I started thinking it would be nice to have my own stuff to take with me when I travel. That and there are a couple things this summer I want to particiapte in and if I had a laptop it would help. One is a photoshop seminar the other is called a Laptop scrap at a scrapbook convention in VA.

Nothing much else going on. I did order some seed mats last week and they came in yesterday. I'm going to have flowers this year. Well in addition to the ones Ken planeted while I was out of town. He said they were an anniversary gift. I got him a peach pie. He planted lillies near the shrubs out front on the right. That part of the house is in almost full shade all summer. I'm going to plant snapdragons on the other side because it gets full sun at least part of the time. Then a victorian garden collection next to the garage. Ken liked the pie so much he had a second piece, almost every night we had it.

There were points Tuesday, last week that were just hellish, . I'm trying to figure out if Alex is acting out because of Quin or because Ken is out of town so much lately. I know he pulls his delay tactic games at potty time just so he has my undivided attention for longer. I've been making sure I spend time alone with each kid several times a day. I guess Alex thinks I should spend all my time with him, but I didn't do that before Quin so not sure why he expects it now.

Anyway he has this yellow bin that he puts toys in to take up to his room every naptime and night. He almost never actually plays with the toys in the bin but he needs it to go upstairs and sit on the foot of his bed. Now he's onlt been doing this since Jan-Feb. I give a warning count down starting at thirty minutes because he transitions better with warnings that it's coming up. Usually at the 10 minute swarning and definately by the 5 minute one he's put the toys he wants to go up in the bin. At nap time he ignored my warnings so we went up to naptime without the bin. This caused a full meltdown. And I wouldn't let him leave his room to go back down and get it, I've told him I only bring it upstairs if it's in the bin, nothing in the bin nothing upstairs.

When he's upset he avoids looking me in the eye. Once I got him mostly calmed down I tried and go over the rules again but he wouldn't look at me and I know when he doesn't look at me he's not going to listen to me. He ended up taking a three hour nap. At bed time we almost had an exact repeat. He ignored my warnings until the last minute. And he only had half the toys he wanted in the bin when I picked it up. I sat it on the kitchen table when I went to fill his cup with watered down juice. He was running back and forth from the family room to the kitchen trying to get the last of the toys in the bin before I carry it up stairs. He was all panicked and crying the entire time. We get upstairs and he started the delay tactics, playing with his blocks instead of getting into pjs. Though I think he got the message this time, bedtime not playtime.

This whole drama led to a very early morning for me. Quin woke at 4 for a feeding and I brought him into bed with me. Alex woke at 5:30. We got him a clock a couple months ago and he knows that once the 6 turns to a 7 he can call to get up. So why he's trying this at 5:30 I don't know. 15 minutes later he's crying because his sheriff's badge dropped down between the bed and the wall. I told him I'd get it in the morning but I wasn't going to move his bed right then. Then he shows me he wet his bed. I ask him why he didn't say anything when I came in the first time. Then at 6:30 he's calling because his books fell off the bed. I crack open the door and tel him if he wants his books he can get out of bed and get them himself I am not his maid. He was quiet until 7:15 when I hear "I'm done" meaning he wants out of bed. Luckily the rest of today went much better, almost no whining and bed time he had his bin filled. And actually repeated the "bedtime not playtime" from the night before.
oh but the boy is trying my last nerve lately, good think he does at least one sweet thing a day to make up for it.

My big question is how can there be so much snot in such a small place. I'm sure Quin thinks the asperator bulb is a torture device. He had the cold Alex had the week before and was having a hard time eating and nursing in the mornings so I had to clean him out. He was screaming the entire time. I'd finish and he'd scream a minute more then realize he could breathe. We offically have a tooth coming through. Both Ken and I felt the sharp edge on Friday when he was chewing on fingers.

This morning was pretty nice. Ken was going through more boxes downstairs. I guess in one way the flood was a good thing. Got him getting rid of stuff, that and he needs more room in the shop so he wanted stuff either moved up in the garage or just gone. We have a box of stuff for the yard sale next Saturday, a bunch of stuff for recycling and some stuff ws just trash. Anyway this morning he found a harmonica came upstairs and gave it to Alex. Who was having a great time playing with it. Then he was saying he wanted his Katar so I pointed to where the fireplace bellows were on the table (that's his katar) He's like "nononono big katar" meanign he wanted to play with Ken's guitar. I told him he had to ask daddy first if he wanted to play it. It happens Ken was just coming up the stairs then. So he went to get it out but then Alex told him to play it and he ran and got the harmonica. It was so cute. He even went up to his nap a happy camper a half hour later.

We were talking about getting Alex his own guitar for his birthday next year. He loves pretending to play one all the time. Though if we do I want him to take lessons as well but I want to find someone who knows how to teach young kids and make it fun. I don't want this to be a chore for him, I want it to be something he enjoys and takes with him as he grows.

Video

2007-04-13T11:06:00.001-04:00

The munchkin is awake and content for the moment so I'll drop off a video clip. I did this because I wanted to show how Quin growls. He'll coo and laugh but mostly he grunts and growls with the occasional (what I call the bird of prey) shriek. Of course Alex is acting silly in the background playing with the cardboard tube from the papertowels.

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Friday the 13th is a lucky day for me. The cat decided to find a comfy place to sleep under my printer table. (He doesn't normally nap there) I was trying to figure out what he was doing and what do I spot between my table and my harddrive? The video camera we lost 4 months ago. I've been using my old fuji digital camera to shoot video. I've been recently reminded that our 4th anniversary is coming up. I had to tell Ken too, so we're both trying to figure out what to do. It looks like he'll becomeing back from travel that day. Usually he's back on a Thursday but this trip is bigger than most of the others. At least all next week he's home. He's even experimenting with the rib roast in the crockpot today. Decided to add granny smith apples, instead of his normal vegetables. It's really starting to smell good.

Easter Revelations

2007-04-09T00:35:00.000-04:00

Working on Easter Sunday, isn't the best thing but because it was so slow I got zone maintenence in Law and Cultural Studies done as well as the entire kids section straightened by 8pm. This left me time to look at books always a bad thing. I've found two i knwo have to get. The first is very sappy and wonderful and makes me cry.

The second is just cute

I also learned that easter egg hunts with three year olds are funny. You can tell them exactly where and egg is and they still don't see it. It could be right out in the open too. We had it inside this morning just for Alex because it was too cold to be outside.

The song Please by Chris Isaak takes one a whole new meaning when you have a curious child.

What's the problem?
What's the question?
What's the answer?
Where's this heading?

You keep talking.
Where's it going?
If there's an answer
I don't know it...
Please
You're killing me.
Please
You're killing me with all these questions.

Birthdays and such

2007-04-03T20:23:00.000-04:00

The question of the day Friday for both me and JM was "if it's your birthday why are you at work?" Mostly because both of us had our birthday plans for Saturday. I did take in a cake, and got compliments on it.

We hung out mostly on Saturday though we did have a guy come in and look at our mold problem that has been developing since the flood a few weeks ago. He looked everything over and because the cause was a pipe that broke inside the house he thinks our homeowners insurance should cover it. He also gave us a few tips to make sure the couldn't throw out the claim. I guess insurance companies will use anything they can even if it didn't have anything to do with what caused the mold, to say no. He took a couple air samples and sent them out to a lab in AZ. The claims adjuster comes to look thinkgs over tomorrow.

Ken went to Lowe's to pick up a few things and also started figuring out how to hang the ceiling fan we got for the family room. It's just about the hottest room in the house in the summer even with the AC on, mostly becuase there isn't a lot of air circulation. The fan will help, because it helps in the bedrooms upstairs.

We went to Sakura for my birthday dinner. It was the most amazing thing in the world to see the look on Alex's face when the grill went up in flames. I wish I had caught it on camera. After way too much food and a glass of Merlot we went home. We did a quick candle blow out before Alex went to bed. Didn't actually have the cake until a couple hours later. Ken had stopped at the Cheesecake Factory on the way home from the airport Thursday. That's why I love the man.

This weekend we decided to go cold turkey on potty training Alex. We're getting no where with the pull ups. He'll sit on the potty no problem he just won't go in it. I picked up some training pants, they're a bit thicker than normal underware. I think this is going to be a long couple of weeks with lots of laundry. It did dawn on me tonight as was talking to Ken, that the issue may not be the underware or pull ups, because he goes in them too. Today at school he had training pants on all morning, and stayed dry all morning. The teacher had said she'd taken him to the bathroom about twenty minutes before I got there but he didn't go. So when we got home I had him sit on the potty again, which he did for a good 10 minutes, playing with his cars. Not two minutes after I helped him pull up his pants he went in them. He did that every single time today, I have him go to the potty and nothing but as soon as he was dressed again he'd go. Very frustrating, anyway as I was saying, i noticed the only time he didn't go in his underware was when I didn't let him put a new pair of pants on after I took the wet ones down to the washer. So I think that's what I may do when we're at home. If he goes in his underwear, he doesn't get his pants back. This of course won't work when we're out, so just at home.

The other thing he pulled today was to wipe his nose on my sweater. He gave me a hug then he says "mommy there a booger on your shirt. I need a tissue." Needless to say my sweater was added to the pile of laundry collecting downstairs.

I'm gonna try and post a few pictures before bed tonight. Sometimes I amaze myself, I swear it feels like luck, when I go through my photos at the end of the day and see one that is just fabulous. I wish I could do it more often.

Too much to do

2007-03-29T00:33:00.000-04:00

I guess I’m not doing so well posting lately. I guess it’s because I’ve limited time and I know how long it’ll take me to compose a post and it’s easier to read along with everyone else and make a short post than it is to go over everything here. So Alex was out of school Friday as well as Wednesday. He had gotten most of his energy back though he was still taking breaks, and running a slight fever (100-101). That Friday was crappy weather anyway, the whole weekend we stayed in mostly. It made it easier to make sure Alex took a nap, he may be out growing them but when he’s sick he desperately needs one because he doesn’t sleep well at night. I even went home early Friday from work. Lovely freezing rain and sleet made the roads crap.

I got to round two in the competition but I did not make it to the final round. The work turned in was so good. I’ll try again in the fall. I have been submitting to magazine calls as well. We’ll see if that gets me anywhere.

Last week was pretty quiet; everyone was feeling healthy once again. Quin was more than willing to try new foods. At this point it looks like he’ll be our eater. He can finish a full container of fruit or veggie plus some in one sitting. With Alex, when we started him on solids we were lucky to get him to eat half a container. Not that it matters too much, this could all change when he hits 15-18 months like it did with Alex and he’ll be picky and not eat anything, though maybe not who knows. Monday I was feeding him at the same time taking a few bites of my own dinner. He was eyeing my chicken, looked like he was thinking “that looks so much better than what you’re feeding me.” It was pretty tender so I gave him a couple of teeny tiny pieces. I guess we may be pureeing dinner for him sooner than I thought.

Babies are such amazing creatures. There is wonder in their eyes as they see new things. The concentration as they realize their hands can grab and move things. And to hear the pure joy in their laughter is more than enough to make you laugh yourself.

I’m so glad spring weather has arrived we’ve been to various parks a couple times in the last week. I love it because my kids sleep so much better. Alex tires himself out running around like a maniac and I think the fresh air just makes Quin sleepy. Thursday we went to a place called Annie’s Playground. I’m sure I won’t want to go during the summer when all the older kids are there. That’s one thing I remember from last summer. Seven, eight and nine year olds don’t pay much attention to younger kids when they run around. I know I picked Alex up and dusted him off a lot because he got knocked over by older kids racing by. At least in the spring and fall the older kids are in school on weekdays, so preschoolers can play with out being knocked over as much.

Friday while Alex was in school Quin and I went to Target. I needed a bunch of stuff for the dining room. We invited a couple over for dinner, Ken shot their wedding. But as he got to know the groom he found out they had a lot in common, including growing up in Brooklyn. Eddie grew up in the Brooklyn China town and Ken in Bensonhurst, but they were both really familiar with the area. We’ve met up with them several times and finally decided we wanted to make it a bit more than a casual aquaintenship. So we invited them over to dinner. It’s funny how having guests motivates you to put the finishing touches on rooms. I needed a spring/summer table cloth, everything I have that fits the table is fall/ winter. While I was there I found a curtain rod long enough to go across our triple window. My stepmom had left us sheers when they visited in November; I just had nothing to hang them on. I wasn’t willing to spend $80-100 for a custom rod which is what I would have had to get from Lowe’s or Home Depot. I knew Target carried ones that extended to 120” but they were never in stock. They were Friday. So we hung the rod and the sheers Saturday morning after I mopped the floor. Then I went in for my cut and color. I took Quin because Michelle hadn’t seen him yet except for photos. He was so good and flirted with all the ladies there. I think between the two boys I’m in trouble when they’re teens. I got home with an hour to spare for the final dinner prep.

We made planked salmon and grilled asparagus. I tried a new wine, well for me anyway. I like Shiraz but this one from Rosemount estates was a Shiraz Grenache. It had a bit more of a fruity flavor than a Shiraz usually has. I figured it would go well with the salmon. Actually I bout three bottles of wine because I couldn’t decide. I got a pinot noir from Robert Mondavi because I like it and a blush from a local winery. Just couldn’t decide what I wanted until we sat down for dinner and that’s the one I opened. Dinner went really well. Alex was a bundle of energy but in a good way, no whiney break downs. Eddie and Soli brought dessert, a fruit tart. The fresh strawberries and blueberries on top more than made up for the custard. The custard wasn’t so custardy, it was more like pudding, guess that’s why there was a thin layer of dark chocolate between it and the crust. If the chocolate hadn’t been there the crust would have been soaked and wouldn’t have held together.

We plan on getting together again for dim sum in a few weeks. And maybe try to get together for some Mah Jong at some point. Sunday was quiet we did make a trip out to look at washers and dryers. The ones we have are about ready to peter out. I have to run everything through the dryer twice to get it dry and last week one load I ran had items of clothes that were dry coming out of the washer. That says to me it isn’t agitating right. They are 15 years old so we knew it was coming. I do want a larger capacity washer, especially if we’re talking about trying for a third. A bigger dryer isn’t as important because not everything goes in the dryer any way.

That brings us to this week, which has been pretty much same old same old. Tuesday we did go up to Havre de Grace to the park there right on the bay. Just too hard to resist when you have such a gorgeous warm gift of a day. Ken gets back late tomorrow afternoon. He was down in GA again this week. He even went over to say hi to my dad. They went out to dinner at a little Mexican place my dad likes. Friday I have to work, though I think I’m taking a cake in because one of the girls who works Friday has her birthday that day too. Then the boys are taking me out to dinner on Saturday.

The only excitement next week is Quin’s 6 month appointment. Can’t believe it’s been six months already. Where does the time go? I’ll try and get more pictures posted this weekend. It all depends on how quickly I do my assignment for my Photoshop class. I’ll get nothing done tomorrow we have a birthday party at build-a-bear. The next lesson is released Friday; I’m hoping it won’t take too long. The one today I got through, with interruptions, in about 3 hours.

2007-03-13T23:32:00.000-04:00

Don’t know what it is with me lately. I have stuff to say I just never come and put it down. Then things get backed up and weeks go by. The only way I can get everything down is to do it in word. Hmmm maybe I’ll just start a weekly word file and type in my thoughts every night and post at the end of the week. I wonder if this whole thing has to do with the creative flow I seem to be in right now. I’ve been very focused on photography and making digi pages.
So last week we got a highchair for Quin. A real one that is separate from the table. I thought about getting another like Alex’s that turns into a booster seat as he gets older but we have the room and if we have a third it’ll be used then too. The first night we had Quin in it while we ate dinner. He was thrilled he could see us at dinner time. The next night I made wet burritos. I turned to entertain Quin he grabbed my hand and started chewing on my finger, which probably had a bit of burrito on it. He was chomping down pretty good. I had picked up some cereal earlier in the week because we were planning on trying solids when we got back from my dad’s. We decided to try a little that night. He loved it. It certainly made things easier for Ken the nights I worked, he can feed him instead of fight with getting to take a bottle.
We left Monday morning for GA, by the time we actually got on the road it was twenty after 9:00, almost an hour after we planned. Though even with stops we made it there by a little after 8pm, so not too bad. My dad got to feed Quin that evening. They both had fun. They also have a new puppy, she’s actually about as old as Quin. Alex had fun all week chasing her around the yard and house. It certainly gave their older dog a break from being pestered by the puppy.
Ken left early Tuesday morning for TN, that’s where his job was last week. Left me with out transport until my dad got off work around 1pm most days. Donna was sick all week, and didn’t get close to the kids because of it. She found out Wednesday that what ever she had progressed into Bronchitis. Then she really kept her distance.

Quin caught the cold we’ve been passing around this time. He’s been pretty lucky. Lately it’s been Alex, then me then Ken, and a few days after ken starts feeling better Alex has a runny nose once again. Anyway it had been gumming up Quin’s right eye. I thought at first he might have pink eye but it never swelled up or got really bad. Just a little bit in the corners when he woke or cried. It got worse by mid week, luckily Donna had an unopened bottle of Little Noses (she uses it for her dogs). That helped a lot especially the one night Quin woke screaming I couldn’t figure out why at first then I realized he was trying to breathe through his nose and couldn’t. A drop in each nostril and a few minutes later he was clear enough to sleep.

I think the days of afternoon naps for Alex are numbered. If anything on the days he doesn’t got to school, he gets sleepy around 10:30-11:00am. If he naps then he’ll sleep three hours. It seems like every third day when he’s exhausted he’ll take a nap after school around 2pm. Of course last Friday he fell asleep next to the couch around three, this after he convinced me not to make him take a nap. Then yesterday he fell asleep on the couch around 4pm, next thing I know its 6:30 and he’s still asleep. He didn’t even protest when I carried him upstairs and wrestled him into his pjs.

We got back from GA Sunday around 8:30. After unloading the car, we found the laundry room flooded. As far as we can tell it happen earlier Sunday. The laundry room was flooded; the carpet in the finished portion is soaked in the areas closest to the laundry room. Funny thing is none of the boxes sitting on the carpet got wet. Looks like it soaked up the water and drew it down into the padding so nothing on top was touched. Now the boxes in the laundry room closet were waterlogged. That’s where the pipe was that caused the flood. Ken said it was the pipe leading to the outside spout. It somehow came unscrewed; Ken got it back together then spent until 2am with the shop vac sucking up the water. Luckily the boxes held china and glassware, so nothing that could be hurt by water. I spent yesterday afternoon repacking them. I think Ken’s project next winter is going to be making a China cabinet. I want to be able to display and use the china I got from my grandmother.

It dawned on me this morning as I folded the last of the laundry I did yesterday, that we’ll have to tear the wall out in the closet. I don’t want mold to get a foot hold inside the walls. I know this house had a problem with it before we moved in. It was upstairs in the linen closet, they had hook ups for a washer dryer up there. The previous owner had done it. I think it was a combo of that and the enormous pine tree we took down that caused the mold there. It was professionally cleaned out. I just don’t want to have it happen again.

My projects while I was at my dad’s was to scan old photos of that side of the family, I think I have about 60 scans. I even went through my dad’s slides. He has a Nikon negative scanner made it easier to get the slides scanned. The other was to have my dad shoot a family portrait of us. I guess I should just give it up at this point there is no way I’ll get both boys looking at the camera at the same time for a few years. There are a couple I like even though they aren’t perfect. In every photo someone is not looking at the camera.

I swear sometimes I’d like to strangle that boy. He’ll take children’s Tylenol or Motrin when he’s in the early stages of an illness but as soon as he feels really bad and is running a real fever he refuses. And if I make him take it he starts gagging to throw it up. He is so frustrating.

Quin is going to be my quiet charmer, I’m almost positive he’s gotten the John family gene. All three of his grandfathers have been completely fascinated with him. I guess part of it is he loves to be held where as Alex as soon as he was mobile he was off and exploring, a lot like him mother there. It’s really hard to hold and get close to someone who is constantly on the move. Alex also was pretty stand offish last year when we visited.

I think I’m going to try one day to count how many times Alex asks me “What’s that noise mommy?” Or “What’s that mommy?” The only problem is he’ll repeat it 3-5 times for a single item or sound. I stop answering after the second or third, no point in saying the same thing over and over, though he seems to enjoy it. He is also repeating everything we say. We have to be careful now more than ever what we say in front of him. I think the quarter jar is gonna start getting full.
I got a call today from the guy Ken sometimes works for doing weddings. He’s sending me the software he uses along with a site where I can watch video of how it’s used. Once I’m up to speed he said my base pay will be per 8pg/16 side album. If the album has more I get additional pay for every page. If I can knock them out in 20 minutes to a half hour I should end up making pretty good money.

I know there was something else I wanted to mention but it’s gone for now. If I follow through with the Word idea I’ll write it down when it comes to me.

No Pants

2007-02-28T00:04:00.000-05:00

Today was supposed to be no pants day. I was going to have Alex in no pants, no pull-ups, hoping he'd get the connection between the urge to go and using the potty instead of his pull-up. Well Ken stayed home sick. he got the same cold I hd last week and of course because he's male it's ten times worse than what I had. (yeah sure, you get to be lazy and sleep half the day when you're sick I don't)I had planned it for a Tuesday because that is the one day all week we're usually not doing anything. No school, no work, no playgroup, so I hole up in the house and spend the morning in my PJs, cleaning house, until the kids take their afternoon name then I go shower and get dressed.
Now I have to put this off until we get back from my Dad's house. We're going down there next week, a week earlier than planned, because Ken has a trip to SC the following week. This whole month is going to suck. Ken has travel every week, even though he's home weekends. It means I get no break from the kids Monday-Thursday one week Friday. He did promise to take me out to dinner, sans kids, for my birthday the last weekend in March. I'm just glad I'll be at my dad's while he's working next week. He'll be in TN about an hour and a half from my dad's in GA. He'll come back Thursday night and hang with us until we drive home. I hope I can get my dad to do a family portrait of us. I'm figuring we're not at home maybe, just maybe Alex will sit still for a few shots.I also want a casual portrait of just me and Ken. (another page idea, it's funny sometimes I get page ideas and have to go out and shoot photos for them instead of the usual making pages from existing photos)
I start a CS2 class online the 18th and have another more advanced one in May. The guy Ken will be doing weddings for this year is sending me his design software, so once I get used to that they'll start sending me design work. I'll try and get on again before we go and post photos for the last week or so. I've got a lot of pages too. I guess I've come out of my creative slump.

Chinese New Year

2007-02-20T11:27:00.000-05:00

Gong Hay Fat Choy

I meant to come in and post that earlier. welcome to the Year of the Pig or Boar depending on which you prefer. We had our New Years Dinner a day late because I had to work Sunday night. Ken and I both agree it'll be a couple more years before he has this down pat and it's as tasty as his dad's. The chicken was good the si fun (cellophane noodles) stuck to the pan because he was chopping the chicken, they still tasted fine but they weren't super long like they're supposed to be. Not sure what the bean curd soup needed. Extra salt helped some but it was missing that something that gives it a bit more flavor.

me and the boys have colds. I've been miserable since Saturday. Alex picked it up Sunday and now Quin has it. Alex went to school yesterday, because when asked him he got all excited. So he's feeling well enough and he's eating and drinking fine, his nose is just running like a faucet. Today he's picked up a cough. I picked him up from school and we went to the grocery store, so his nap got put off even later than normal for a school day. He went down at 3:00 but I could hear him up there playing until 3:30. He woke up a little after 5 crying, snot dripping out of his nose. I helped him clean up and he lay right back down. I left his door open and told him when he was ready he could come down. I went up to check on him right before dinner and he was sleeping so hard he was snoring. I covered him again with his blankets and went down stairs. He didn't wake again until 1:30 so i got him into his pjs and got him some OJ and he went right back to bed. Well actually I could hear him in there singing at around 3 but then it was silent again. At 6 he wanted to get up and go down stairs. I was able to get another 45 minutes from him by convincing him to play in his room.

So today it's 45 out, which is normal for this time of year. What a relief maybe some of the ice will go away. Though it is a grey cloudy day, so we're all still in our PJs. I have some new photos up at smugmug if you feel like checking things out. As soon as I figure out how to get Hello to work with the updated blogger I may start posting pictures again.

someone needs attention

2007-02-16T09:50:00.000-05:00

I think I figured out why I'm not posting much lately. It's really hard to type one handed. So I lurk. Quin has gotten to the age where he needs to be entertained. He does play by himself pretty well but those ten-fifteen minutes I tend to use for things like eating, light chores, showers. So even on the mornings Alex is in school it seems I can read but not post because as soon as I start to type someone starts fussing.

Valentines day wasn't bad even with all the ice and snow. I had gotten Ken's gift Monday. So we open cards and gifts after dinner then had the coldstone ice cream I picked up for dessert.

I hve figured out for every good day Alex has he'll have 2-3 bad days after that. We are trying something new. I have a job chart for him with 5 jobs, he gets a star for each one he does a day and when he gets 25 stars he'll get a prize. This first round it's DJ from[I] Cars[/I]. We started with Brushing Teeth, using the Potty, Clean up your Mess, No Whining and try new foods. He's not doing too bad most days he gets 2 or 3 stars. Tuesday was a bad day no stars at all. And DJ is sitting up on the top of the fridge as a reminder. Next round I think I'm going to change out Brushing Teeth, for Please and Thank you. I'm getting tired of the demands for things. Though lately just reminding him seems to work.

2007-02-03T09:32:00.000-05:00

I uploaded some video at clipshack

http://www.clipshack.com/Clip.aspx?key=9C664BE230D14FE0

http://www.clipshack.com/Clip.aspx?key=CE53DCC4901154A7

http://www.clipshack.com/Clip.aspx?key=8E2D18033AE898A2

talking trash

2007-01-31T10:05:00.000-05:00

So I didn't make it in here yesterday. Seems a certain someone decided he didn't want to sleep and even though I put him to bed at 9:30 like normal he was up a half hour later. Took me until 11 to get him down for the night so I had some tea and went to bed myself after that.

This is a little weirdness that happened Monday. We put our trash out for pick up in the morning. Around ten I heard what I thought was a truck go by so I check and see if trash was picked up so I could bring the can in. I noticed the lid was missing so I go out and it's halfway down the cul de sac. I get it and bring it back at first thinking nothing of it, it was windy and I didn't put it on tightly. As I put it back on I notice a trash bag in there that wasn't one of ours and the bag below it was torn. The can itself wasn't lying on it's side so I don't think a dog got to it. But why would some random person throw their trash in our can, and I'm not talking about someone cleaning a few fast food bags out of the car, I'm talking about a kitchen bag of trash. I know it wasn't a neighbor because they all had their own cans out. Just weird, was someone trying to steal trash, our bag tore and didn't have anything useful in it so they dumped the bag from the last house in too? Who knows, it's just I feel like I now have to watch my trash when I put it out. Not that they'll find anything but food scraps and diapers. We recycle all paper and cans and anything important is shredded before being recycled.

Funny Creatures

2007-01-26T10:56:00.000-05:00

Babies are funny creatures. I mentioned Monday how Quin would only sleep if I was holding him and within minutes of setting him down he'd wake up screaming. Wednesday was the opposite. I was bouncing him on my knee reading e-mail about 20 minutes before we had to get ready to go pick up Alex. I look down his head is flopped to the side and he's asleep. I wrestled him into his coat and strapped him into the carrier and the only reaction I got was a single whine. He didn't even crack open his eyes like he normally does to see what was going on. Of course he also slept ten hours that night. Most nights lately he sleeps 8 hours waking around 5am for a feeding before going back to sleep for another 2-3 hours. I had to get him up at 7:30 to feed and dress him, then let him go back to sleep while I got the house ready for Alex's birthday party.

The party went really well. The big issue with 2 1/2-3 year olds is sharing. We had a little crying and a time out at the begining of the party. There are some kids he has no problem sharing with and others he won't share with. He's know these kids since he was 8-9 months old. This one little girl in particular must just push his buttons because anytime she sits in any of his "chairs" he pitches a fit.

School is going well. He tells me in the morning he's staying home but as soon as we get there he's all excited. He's participating in class really well this week and this morning he gave me a hug and a kiss and told me to go home.

Today I'm gonna do a little house cleaning, tomorrow afternoon my ILs will all be here for a birthday dinner. Sunday at work I'll have to notify them of a schedule change. Ken doesn't want me to have to leave work because he sees how much better I do if I get out away from the kids for a few hours a week. He's all worried about how things will be with all the travel he has for work between Feb and July. He doesn't want to come home and find us one child short. It looks like Monday is his travel day and most weeks he'll be back Thursday night or Friday afternoon. So I can still work Sundays but it looks like I need to change Mondays for Fridays.

New picture in my gallery.

Ghostlight and Life

2007-01-23T00:27:00.001-05:00

okay I think I figured out the reason for the freak out. The plug in vaporizer I bought had a little night light on it. The light was blue. In Cars the character Mater is always talking about the ghostlight, which is blue. So I think the blue light in his room scared him. As soon as I took it out of his room, no more random crying at night, no more fighting nap and bedtime.

Their imaginations really do run wild at this age don't they. I think Alex is starting to like school. He was actually talking on Friday and today he was participating in activities and playing with the other kids. I give him an hour once we get home to wind down and he goes right up for a nap.
This was a huge relief today because Quin was being a pistol. It was just one of those days. Once he got up this morning he wouldn't sleep for more than ten minutes at a time unless I was holding him. So if I needed to do anything like eat, use the bathroom, shower, it was to the sound of Quin screaming at the top of his lungs. This also meant he was nursing a lot more than normal so that I had almost no recovery time. Needless to say I was happy I was going to work tonight, even if I did forget my dinner.

Busy week getting ready for Alex's birthday. We'll have a party for playgroup on Thursday, then I'm making something for him to take to school Friday and Saturday his actual birthday I've invited Ken's family over for dinner. I found a chicken parmasan recipe a couple weeks ago and tried it out. So that's what I'm making. It's funny I rememeber my mom making it when I was a kid but it always seemed like a lot of work for her so I'd never actually made it myself. This recipe is baked so I drop the frying step. It was really nice.

I always make the cake for the family dinner but I decided to make his cake for playgroup this year too. I just don't feel like spending $25 on a cake. I know a couple of the grocery stores around here have pretty good cakes, oh I don't know, I'm just feeling cheap I guess. I rather spend the money on a book for him.

The travel Ken's been talking about having to do for work is looking like a lot. He gave me worse case scenario. From end of Feb to July he might be gone 3 weeks each month. He did say that, it hopefully won't be that bad because there are now three teams to do the work instead of two. We'll see. If it's that bad I'll have to quit working. With Alex going to school we can't afford daycare for Quin and I would have to work full time to make it worth while. That's not something I want to do. It does look like I will get album design work from the photographer that Ken freelances for from time to time so if I can get two-three albums a week, I'll earn what I was getting at the store. (Though I do lose my discount, which was mostly why I was staying, that and my sanity, getting out of the house a few hours a week, without kids, is definately a need.)And I'll put in a quarter of the time.

Meldowns

2007-01-18T22:28:00.000-05:00

Not sure where to start maybe I'll work backwards. Not sure if Alex is leaving two with a bang or giving me a view of what three will be these last couple week. Today was a doozie. He had fun all morning with his playgroup friends. And even though I was frustrated this morning he was just being typical and moving on toddler time. That I think is just par for the course. let's just say before Quin I usually gave us a 15 minute lead time to get out of the house. I'm finding that doubling it to deal with two kids isn't enough, at least right now it's not. Looks like I have to quadruple it. I fed Quin, got socks and shoes on Alex and me, bundled Quin up and got him strapped in the infant carrier. Just as I'm going to get coats for Alex and me, he tells me "diaper change" now this doesn't nessecarily mean what he's saying any more. Some about half the time he says it before he goes. So I get him in the batheroom to the potty. He'll sit there 5-10 minutes then say he's done, even though he hasn't gone. Then he'll go in his diaper. So he's getting closer. So he did that this morning. We ended up leaving the house 5 minute before we were supposed to be at playgroup, which was being held a twenty minute drive away.

Because of all this I forgot my coffee which was sitting in a travel mug on the counter, my cell phone which was sitting in the charger, and the dish from the last dinner made for us by one of the playgroup moms. No coffee meant by the time we left playgroup I had a migraine. The ride back I kept telling Alex it was nap time once we got home. Usually if I give enough warning he protests but goes up and lays down with out too much trouble. Not today, it was nuclear meltdown. One good thing is he seems to have gotten past the "make myself sick" part of meltdowns. He was literally just sitting in the middle of his bed screaming at the top of his lungs and nothing would calm him down. I left went down stairs took three advil gathered his "cars" and brought them up he's calmed dow to the uncontrollable sniffle stage. I read to him a little and tucked him in. Usually after that he sleeps like the dead.

Quinton hadn't woken from the drive, so I left him in the carrier and lay down on the couch for a nap myself. An hour and a half later Alex is screaming at the top of his lungs once more. I get upstairs and he stops just as I open his door. He won't tell me what's wrong, won't let me comfort him, screams a few mre times, then pulls his blanket over his head and turns away. But as soon as I go to close his door he starts screaming again. I leave it open with the gate still up and go back downstairs. I hear the occasional scream over the next 10 minutes then silence. Ken calls around 4:15 saying he'll be late. I let Alex get up at 4:30 just after Quin woke up.

I get dinner started and both boys are being pretty good. Ken got home just in time to entertain Quin as he got fussy. I feed him a little before we sit down to eat but he still fusses most of dinner. As we're eating I give Alex his bedtime announcements. He needed to go to be early because I'm pretty sure he didn't really nap today. We got the presents from my mom and sister today and I let him open them while dinner cooked. The one from my mom was a set of pajamas with Cars on them. So at bedtime I asked if he wanted to wear those or his Thomas Pjs. He said "Cars" We're trying to get everyone upstairs, Quin needed a bath. So as Ken is ushering Alex to get what he wants to take with him. he freaks and throws his pjs at Ken. He told him he can't wear them now and carries him upstairs. Meltdown commences. I get Quin settled in his bath as Ken gets Alex dressed for bed, crying and screaming the entire time. He closes the door to Alex's room and comes into the bathroom and takes over with Quin. By that time Alex has calmed enough for me to read the rest of his book to him, sing our songs and tuck him in.

Maybe it's his cold maybe he's still in the terrible twos or maybe three is going to be worse than two. Though I have heard if two is bad three is better but the reverse is also true, if twos are good threes are horrendous. And of course I've been back at work three weeks now and he started school last week so everyone but Ken has a cold. Fun fun fun, noses leaking everywhere. I shouldn't complain too much usually at this point in the year I've already had a couple colds.

I think Alex is going to be a bit shy in school for a few weeks. His first day, last Monday they said he cried a couple times, just for a couple minutes, when he realized he wasn't at home. Wednesday he participated in class and seemed to do well. Friday he just stood back and watched everything. This week he didn't go Monday. I mean when Quin wakes up before Alex it means he's not feeling well. Sunday he ran a slight fever but the doctor told me last time we were in that they tend to run a small one the first day or two of a cold. Alex didn't wake up until 8:30, I called the school at ten of eight to say he wouldn't be in. He was himself except for the runny nose all day Monday and Tuesday. So Wednesday he was back in school. The one teacher made a comment when I picked him up because he was chattering away to me about his day. "That's the most I've heard him say all day" I guess he's still being shy. She did say he went up to the other teacher at the end of story time and said "Uhoh" when Goldilocks ran into the woods.
Must remember to bring in a G item for show and tell tomorrow.

Thursday is my usual talk with mom night and we were talking about schedules. Seems my kids are a lot like my sister and I were. I was up at 6am and Karen between 8 and 9. My mom said she never wanted to force us to be something other than we were so she worked around two very different schedules at least until we went to school. She did just what I do now. I let Alex get up and go downstairs around 6:30-7:00 am get him dressed and settled with some cereal and Playhouse Disney. Depending on the day I either get dressed or lay down on the couch. If it's a school day, I get Quin up after I'm dressed, get him changed and fed. Get Alex's backpack and lunch together (he takes his cars to school). By 8:00 am everyone is bundled and in the car ready to go.Other days I let Quin sleep until he's ready to get up. Like this week Tuesday was almost a lounge around in pjs all day for all of us.

My mom told me she did something similar with my sister and I. She let me get up at 6am got me a bowl of cereal and turnedon the TV, which I watched with the volume so quiet you could only hear it if you were sitting a foot away. Mom said she had some long mornings because she had to start all over when Karen woke 2-3 hours later. We didn't turn out so bad so I guess things will turn out right for my boys.

2007-01-05T16:55:00.000-05:00

Well I’ve been in lurker mode lately mostly because my cuddle bug is making things difficult. SO I did this offline in Word last night. Mostly because we’ve had no internet the last two days. They’re laying new cable, or finishing what they started in September, one or the other. Anyway this will be long.

Quin got really spoiled with all the family visits. The munchkin is more than happy to fall asleep on any warm shoulder presented too him. This makes trouble the next day when there is only me and Ken. Ken had been spending a lot of time in his workshop. He was trying to finish a project he was working on before going back to work on the 2nd (ended up being the 3rd) Quin wants to be held 24/7 I can do that. I have things to do as well. I know some stuff he can be in the carrier but when I’m cooking or folding laundry it’s not a good idea. I’m hoping by next week I get break him of this expectation. It’s killing me I can’t get any work done on the computer either because he doesn’t want to be held in my lap he wants to be held upright on my shoulder. The other reason this causes trouble is that I get what I call “touched out” I get to a point where I want everyone to give me ten foot radius of space and not touch me for and hour or so. I know this happened a little with Alex but honestly once he could hold himself up in a sitting position and definitely once he was crawling he didn’t want to be held. He had better things to see and do. Quin is looking to be the opposite.

That’s the other thing the boy loves to stand, hates tummy time but loves to stand. We may skip crawling this time and have to deal with a cruiser. I was pretty much done by the 22nd. I think I had to go out Saturday for groceries that was a huge fiasco. Ken also asked me to stop and get a certain size gift bag. There is a card store a few doors down from the grocery store. They of course were nearly cleaned out. He ended up going out himself in Sunday because he forgot something for his parents, and we’d be seeing them Christmas day.

This Christmas has had me thinking about family traditions. Neither Ken nor I really had any as kids. There are a couple; I think we’ll start next year just because I didn’t hear these ideas until after the fact. One lady I was talking with said the kids open one present on Christmas Eve. And it’s always new pajamas so that every one looks nice the next morning in picture. Then they watch a movie and read a book before everyone goes to bed. That just sound like a nice way to spend an evening with your family. Someone else has this little pickle ornament that she hides on the tree and whoever finds it gets a prize. I guess I’m just looking for fun little things that my kids will remember when they grow up.

I have to say I’m actually pretty grateful my in laws tend to mostly give clothes to the kids at Christmas. We weren’t inundated with toys. I put art supplies in Alex’s stocking; he got several books and a couple videos from us. The big his was the Cars bath set, he carries around the bubble bath because it’s shaped like Lightning McQueen. Once it’s empty he’ll probably keep it because it has working wheels. A couple of trains were the only real toys he got from us. My dad and step mom got him his own tool chest and set of tools. They’re toys but pretty realistic looking. I was able to hide the actual tools he’s been trying to carry around once he got this.

Like I said my in-laws got him mostly clothes, there was one car (it looks a bit like a PT Cruiser) a couple more Thomas the Train videos, each of those came with an engine. But I’m not really worried about him getting more of those they stay on the train table. Two more books one being the Polar Express. I’m so happy Su got him this. I was thinking about picking it up myself. Both boys got a couple more stuffed animals. I really wish people wouldn’t do that. Unless they become favorites these will eventually make it to the donation bag. My FIL always gets the boys savings bonds, which I prefer even more than cash. We just put those in the safety deposit box at the bank and let them mature. Cash sits in one of our accounts until we remember to write a check to put it in the college fund.

Christmas day this year went a bit smoother than last year, though it was hard getting Alex to open all his presents. He’d open one and then want to go off with it and play it o read it or whatever and we’d have to coax him back to open more. This is where another tradition might come in handy. My aunt started one this year at her house. The girls open about half their gifts then she makes waffles and everyone sits down for breakfast before going back and finishing the present opening. She said it helped Alena wind down a bit because she gets so excited. I can see how this might come in handy next year with Alex.

So we hung out the rest of the morning. Once the boys were down for naps, I made a sweet potato casserole to take with us to Dave and Carol’s. Then I took a shower. Around three we got the car loaded then the boys buckled in and headed out. We’re almost to Dave’s when Ken realizes he left the casserole on the stove. His plan is to drop us off and go back for it. Once we get in and tell carol what happened she said not to worry and just sent us downstairs. The guys were playing poker so Ken joined in. Carol had a box with a plastic train track that her boys used to play with out for Alex. Quin was unbuckled and so started the spoiling as he was held by one person after the other. When Su arrive with the parents everyone moved upstairs and the mah jong table was brought out. I eventually took over Alan’s spot after he lost everything. So the fact that I ended up with about 4 dollars is good since I really did start with nothing unlike everyone else.

Dinner was nice, everyone was asking me how I made our Christmas card this year as well as the photo stamps I put on the family cards. At the other end Dave was trying to explain Bush’s options for the war to Koon and not getting very far. The boys were talking about college, and Josh his job. After dinner poker was set up again, as was mah jong. I played until Quin needed to be fed again. Soon after dessert was laid, out then presents were opened before everyone had pie.

The next day was a lazy day. But as I mentioned Quin get real used to being held all the time so expected us to do that. Wednesday I took Quin and went out to Westminster for my cousin Kerrie’s baby shower. She’s only about 5 months along, but I think the reason they had it this early was because both families on her side are concentrated in Maryland, and they would be up here for her grandfather’s birthday. This way family could come, where as if they’d had it in either Louisiana, where her mom lives or Georgia where she lives, almost no family would have been there.

My other cousin Justin and his wife were there. They brought their little girl. Abby is 5 months old but Quin is nearly as big as she is. Of course he’s bigger than Alex was at that age too. Alex didn’t hit thirteen pounds until his 4 month appointment. So obviously the breastfeeding is going well. It’s funny he’s solid not pudgy. He does have the little fat rolls on his thighs but that’s about it. Anyway we received Justin and Denise’s wedding album in the week before Christmas. I talked to them and found out they were coming so I brought the album with me for them. They were really happy with it.

Thursday was playgroup and because it was such a nice day we took the opportunity to go to the park. The kids played for about an hour, it was still pretty cool. Then we headed over to a mall nearby for lunch. The restaurant is right by the train garden the mall has set up. All the kids had their noses pressed to the glass looking at the model trains going by. The place we had lunch is so popular it was hard for us to get a table big enough for all of us. Its funny you don’t really see Brooklyn style pizza much outside of NYC any more, but this place had it.

Friday I caught up on laundry because Saturday we were going up to Cumberland. My aunt and uncle hadn’t met Quin yet. So here was round three of him being spoiled. It was a nice day as well so Ken went with my aunts and uncle and the kids for a walk. I stayed at Patty’s and tried to get Quin to nap. We got home around 11 and right went to bed.

Sunday was my first day back to work. It was a short day which was probably a good thing. Quin still isn’t really taking a bottle. He’ll drink like half an ounce then start fussing, which then leads to screaming. I called around noon and he was screaming. When I got off an hour and a half later and called, he’d gotten him to sleep so I stopped at the grocery store for a few things. I was supposed to work New Years Day as well but they told me they’d call if they needed me. They didn’t call; it was a pretty yucky rainy day so I can see why they weren’t busy. I ran over to Target for diapers while the boys napped. I actually can’t wait until Quin gets to size three, then at least I can buy the big box at BJ’s. They don’t sell size two by itself. All the cases are 1-2 and even though they say up to 16 lbs they’re on the small size and I’d rather not deal with the blow outs. At least Target runs some pretty good specials and you can use coupons.

Tuesday was a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. I had to give Alex some rules before we went. He’s been really bad about answering when I ask him a question as well as listening when I ask him to do something. We’ve had to put him in time out a few times a week for both, lately. The other thing we’ve been doing to deal with it has been to take things away and put them in time out until he does as we request. I know all kids develop selective hearing, I know I had it. I just never realized it started this young.

Ken made a comment the other day how our kids reminded him of My name is Earl.
The older brother Earl is always getting into trouble, instigating stuff. The younger, bigger brother kind of tags along and gets caught up in it. Alex is going to be Earl, Quin of course the younger brother (the name escapes me). It’s funny I never fully realized how high maintenance Alex was until Quin came along, because as long as he’s fed and held he’s pretty easy going. I think he’s going to be my video gamer. This from watching his concentration while he’s in the bouncy seat. It’s the Oceans of Wonder one we got Alex when he was a baby. I’ve been putting it on the baby setting, so that if he kicks the toys either the bubbles go off or the music does. For a good fifteen minutes he’s there trying to get the thing to make noise. I hear these little gurgles and squeaks when he gets a good kick in, and it does what he wants. Alex never really cared, he’d listen to the music but pretty much ignored the toys hanging from the bottom.

Now one of the videos Alex got was Cars. We’ve now watched this at least 4-5 times a day since he opened it. Everyone in the house except Quin can quote sections of dialog now. I’ve been reading the Cars book he got as well, nearly every single night before bed. Though the last few days I lucked out and get to read the Thomas book Su got him instead. (It’s much shorter)

Wednesday night was playgroup mommies’ night. It was also a goodbye dinner for one of the moms. Jamie’s husband found a new job and they’re moving to Michigan. This is actually good for Jamie since she has family there. She’s the one that came and hung out with me for the afternoon I was laboring and Ken was shooting a wedding. I’m really going miss her. She’s one of those people who if you ever need help all you have to do is call and she’ll be there. It could be something as little as just needing a sounding board or something as big as watch your kids during an emergency. I also learned how good I have it with Ken. He helps out a lot more than some of the other dads. I also don’t have to remind him to do things. He pretty much knows Alex’s schedule, can put him to bed when I work at night. And doesn’t forget things like changing diapers when he takes Alex with him on errands. I guess I trained him well early on. Or it could be he really wanted to help out and listened when I asked. I also let him do things his way.

We’re getting closer to success with Alex and potty training. He’s been telling us “diaper change” when he hasn’t gone yet. The only problem is he has gone by the time we’ve gotten him to the potty. The other day when we were on our way to Cumberland, he was getting really frantic and we were trying to get to a gas station as fast as we could. I thought he’d pooped, I know he hates sitting in it. I get him to a bathroom and his diaper has nothing in it but he’s still frantic. As I’m trying to get him over to the toilet he pees. He was so upset; I comforted him and told him what a good job he was doing. And I apologized for not getting him to a bathroom faster. I guess from now on we’ll have to travel with his potty.

Monday he starts school three mornings a week. I’m kind of sad but I’m looking forward to the break. I’m hoping to work out a schedule for Quin. I’ve been complaining to Ken about him taking such short naps lately. A couple weeks a go he was taking longer ones, I figured it was the holidays that messed him up. Then I read somewhere babies his age sleep about 14 hours. He’s doing about 11-12 hours at night with feedings. So I guess expecting more than an hour nap at a time is much. He goes to bed around 9:30-10:00, wakes between 3:00 and 4:00 for a feeding, again between 5:30 and 6:00. I’ve been feeding him again after I get Alex settled downstairs at 7:00 and he’ll sleep until 9:00.
He takes a 45 minute nap late morning and a half hour one after dinner. Most days I can get him to take a long nap in the afternoon while Alex is napping. This is the one that hasn’t really been happening lately and frustrating me. I got used to taking a break from both kids at this point. You know getting some lunch, doing laundry, reading my e-mail.
Ah well no kid stays on any sleep schedule for too long until they get school age.

So my dad sent me a GC for Amazon to split between Ken, Quin and I. We ended up ordering Alex a booster seat. He’s getting too tall for his current seat and I thing we’ve got maybe a month left with Quin in the infant carrier. We got a snuggle nest for Quin. He sleeps really well either in the carrier or between us in bed. I think he like things close. So we’re going to try this in his crib and start getting him in his room all the time instead of just that first long stretch at night. We had a bout $20 left so I got Pirates of the Caribbean- Dead Man’s Chest.

The community college is now offering an online intermediate Photoshop class. I think I’m going to take that in March. I think that pretty much has me caught up. And if you read through this whole thing I applaud you.

Happy Holidays Everyone

2006-12-24T14:05:00.000-05:00

Stuffers3 red snowflake BG paper-Mars Olson

Stuffes4 White Furry BG -Mars Olson

Swirly Frames- Lauren Bavin

Good To Be Word Art- Tina Chambers

Snowflake doodles- Kimberly Giarrusso

Fonts-DSP Bethy and Snowdrift

Happy Holidays Everyone, I hope joy and prosperity for all in the New Year. Above it my most recent digiscap page. I hope you enjoy it.

We are such evil parents sometimes. The other day we were watching Toot and Puddle I'll be Home for Christmas. I love the Toot and Puddle books and we have this particular one to I wanted to see the special they made from it. Anyway as it began I was changing Quin's diaper and Alex was curled up on the couch next to where I was changing him. As I changed him Quin farted and I asked him if he was finished tooting. Ken walked up and asked what was on and I told him Toot and Puddle. Quin farted again. I said "Still tooting huh?" Ken asked "If he's Toot who's Puddle?" I pointed to Alex. We both started cracking up because it's true. Alex is liquid boy. Even if he has nothing to drink before going to bed half the time when he wakes up in the morning he's gone so much he's overflowed his overnight diaper. Poor kids having parents who crack jokes at their expense.

Tomorrow we go to my BIL's for dinner, so we'll do presents here in the morning. Then make lots of phone calls. Alex is funny he has a mini kitchen and lately he's been having me or Ken and even Quin come sit by it so he can bake for us and then feed us. It has a little phone on it. He's been picking it up and saying Happy Holidays Grandma, or Happy Holidays Riley, or Happy Holidays Shelby. The last two are our neighbors girls. He also smacks the top of the little refrigerator when he hangs it up, knocking the phone off. I think we've watched Over the Hedge too many times.

2006-12-22T15:31:00.000-05:00

I do't know how many of you are familiar with BabyZone but they have a weekly photo contest, and people vote for the best photo in 4 age categories. Well the picture I submitted of Alex last week was choosen for this week in the toddler category.

[URL="http://www.babyzone.com/contest/photocontest.asp"]http://www.babyzone.com/contest/photocontest.asp[/URL]

Now I just have to remember to go vote daily until the 26th.

Good Day

2006-12-20T15:02:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a good day. I got Quin to laugh. He's been smiling (and smirking wonder who he got that from) when I play with him lately. So I was actually trying to get a laugh from him. It sounded like a little hick-up at first but he had this big open mouth smile so I figured it was his version of a laugh.

I got the molassas cookies made yesterday, not sure why but this year I'm going for different with cookies, well different for me anyway. This was my first try at the molassas ones. I think that goes back to my number one craving while pregnant, the molassas chew cookies from Starbucks. Today I have to make pies for tomorrows party, I should say pie, if I make a chocolate cheese pie for other people Ken insists I make one for him.

Now how does the munchkin repay me for getting him to laugh he stays up late. Usually I have a feeding between 9 and 10 and he goes to sleep for a good 5-6 hours. Last night it felt like he was constantly attached to me. Must be a growth spurt coming up. It was 11:30 before he finally went down. I did finally get him to take a pacifier as well. I hope this keeps working because rocking him to sleep has gotten real old. That little quirk was Ken's fault. He found that when Quin fussed as he was drifting off and Ken rocked his seat, he'd go to sleep. Now he won't sleep, or won't sleep long unless rocked. This makes it really hard for me to get stuff done in the evenings. If this keeps up I may take him downstairs and Ken can rock him. You can see why if the pacifier works in helping him drift off instead how it would be better for me.

Just after dinner last night my sister called. She was giving me warning that she was giving our mom her birthday present early. When we were up there in November both Ken and I couldn't believe what bad shape her office chair was in. I mean you had to sit a certain way to even get it level. Talk about messing with your back, no wonder she has a standing appointment with both a chiropractor and a massage therapist. She got it second hand when her old chair fell apart. So I talked to my sister and asked if she wanted to chip in for a new chair for mom. She said yes. I ordered it and had it shipped to her. I did it a bit early my mom's birthday is the beginning of January, they had a sale going on so I could get a better chair for the same price I was willing to originally spend. Karen said her husband was laughing at her when she put it together over the weekend since it was a couple more weeks before they were bringing it over.

So Bill calls yesterday and tells Karen how my mom's chair keeps falling. You know the handle you press to raise it to fit your desk, well it falls all the way to the lowest setting, they pump it back up and as soon as any pressure is put on it it falls again. They took the whole thing apart to see if they could jerry rig something to keep it working. ( Mom is still on a tight budget) Karen called me to let me know she talked to Bill and while they're taking the dog to the vet, she was going to drop off the chair. She thought it was a good idea before mom decided to go out and get a new one, when we had one waiting for her. I think she forgot that mom wouldn't be able to do that right now, they had to get a new fridge a couple months ago so it's not in the budget.
My mom did call this morning to thank us. She was so happy, she wasn't sure what she would have done if they couldn't fix her old chair. Probably use one of the dining room chairs I guess.

I got to meet all Ken's coworkers this morning. The team was having breakfast over at Bob Evans, Ken needed to go because his boss needed him to sign his review for his bonus. We came along because everyone wanted to see the baby. This is the first bonus Ken has had in three years. He also got the highest rating possible from his boss. What a difference a year in a new team makes. Even when I first started seeing Ken the bonuses he got were small. From what he's heard this one will be pretty sizable. It'll show up in his paycheck in about a month. Just in time for holiday bills, we keep saying we'll cut back on spending for the holidays (like every year we say this) but it never happens. This will be welcome as it is slow season as well. He might book a few more weddings but he won't be shooting anything until April most likely.

sweet things?

2006-12-18T22:26:00.000-05:00

Well I kind of got a start on my holiday baking or should I say sweet making. Saturday I got three batches of fudge made, Chocolate, chocolate-peanutbutter and chocolate coffee. I have to work a bit on the coffee one. Need to add more coffee next time could barely taste it. Sunday I made snickerdoodles, I had planned on making two other types of cookies as well. Didn't happen.I gave Alex his normal nap count down starting at noon. And at 12:30 he was practically falling asleep on the couch. But as soon as I got him upstairs he decided he wasn't going to sleep. Just as I decided to let him out, it got quiet, and this was close to 4pm. If he had just taken his nap he would have been up and playing by that time. :shake:With only an hour nap he when to bed early but even then he was fighting sleep. Its funny I think he realizes that Quin won't be going anywhere. When he calls from his room for attention, like a cup of milk, his litany is now "mommy, daddy, baby brudder"

Last night Ken and I had or evening cup of tea before bed. Ken drank his. I had finished getting all the Christmas cards adressed and stamped. Iwent over my desk to finished up on the computer and moved my cup to the table next to the couch. Got up to do a couple other things then sat down on the couch. My tea wasn't there. I thought maybe I imagined things and hadn't put it on the table, but it wasn't on my desk either. I asked Ken where my tea went. He got this surprised look on his face then started laughing. He had thought it was his and drank it. Talk about short term memory problems, I thought I was bad. He made me another cup. It didn't stop there after a little :naughty: he used my towel after his shower instead of his.

Today was a slow day. We went to BJ's to pick up supplies. The entire time Ken is complaining he's cold. It was almost 70 out today. When we got home he was feeling tired and achy as well. We think he might be coming down with whatever Alex had last week. He went up for a nap, I took Alex up soon after, today he actually fell asleep almost immediately, well after a trip to the bathroom he did. Quin went down for his an hour after that. I finished wrapping some presents because I didn't think I'd get another batch of cookies done. Maybe tomorrow. Wednesday I have to make pies for the playgroup holiday party on Thursday.

Holiday Stuff

2006-12-15T22:59:00.000-05:00

With the holidays approaching I see a lot of stuff floating around on the various boards I visit, even had a couple e-mails. First up
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Depends on my mood, today it would probably be eggnog

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Everything gets wrapped except for maybe some of the stocking stuffers.

3. Colored lights or white lights on tree/house? Mostly White lights, though I do have one string of blue/green

4. Do you hang Mistletoe?Nope

5. When do you put your decorations up? Usually try to have everything up by the first week in December, this year has taken a bit longer.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? My mom's mashed potatoes

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? My mom's entire family getting together between Christmas and New Years. It was great to see all my aunts and uncles and cousins.

8. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes we do, though it got started when my sister and I would stay at my dad'd Christmas eve then go back to my mom's Christmas day
9. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I honestly don't know when. I don't think I ever believed he was a real person, I always remember him being the embodiment of giving.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Lights first, then garland, then all the ornaments I've collected over the years, the ones I made or was given, or remind me of a place, then some simple balls to fill in, finally the star goes on top.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?I'm somewhere in the middle. I definately prefer snow to freezing rain. I like it when it snows overnight and the next day is sunny cuz then you can go play in it but by day three it gets old.

12. Can you ice skate? Nope

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? I think it was when I was given Fashion Plates

14. What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? I love finding the perfect gift for someone. It's fun figuring out something they want that they didn't even know they wanted and seeing the eyes light up with delight. You know you've gotten it right.

15. What tops your tree? A star

16. What’s your favorite holiday tradition? I think we're still in the preocess of making our own traditions for our little family.

17. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Giving

18. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Chocolate Cheese Pie

19. What is your favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night (more about this next) & Hey Santa

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? how about eh, they're good in hot chocolate

21. What is your favorite Christmas special/movie? How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the original)

There was a blog prompt on one of the boards I visit and it was
What's your favorite song and why? I have two different reasons for liking the songs listed above. I've always thought O Holy Night was a beautiful song. And even though my religious beliefs tend towards eastern religions this particular song came to mean a lot more to me. I was in my third trimester with Alex when the holidays rolled around. This song combined with the pregnancy homones to give it a new meaning to me. It brang me to tears everytime, actually it still does.
Now the second song is more recent, it was on the Brian Setzer Orchestra CD I bought last year. And I just love how fun it is, the upbeat swing feel, and fun lyrics everytime I hear it it just makes me smile.

okay that's all I'm going to blather on about today.

2006-12-12T20:34:00.000-05:00

You would think it would be Quin keeping me up, but Alex has always been a lousy sleeper. Sunday nght since he still had diarreah,we decided I'd call the doctor in the morning. Overnight cinched it. The first three days it only showed up at his regular BM. So I called the doctor's office when they opened at 7am. They tell me there's nothing they can really do for him but the nurse said she'd have one of the doctors call to give me timps on dealing with it. Seems there is a stomach bug going around and in kids the diarreah can last 7-10 days. As long as he's eating and drinking there isn't much to do. They said bring him in if a) I saw blood in the stools or b) it lasted longer than 10 days. N eedless to say yesterday was horrible. He went through three pairs of pants and two shirts.
(sorry typing one handed, Quinton refuses to sleep unless held or rocked and my leg is cramping)
This is all really messing with Alex's sleep. His naps have been maybe an hou and a half. That's half his normal nap. Combine that with waking several times at night and still getting up at 6am, you have one tired monkey. He was acting up so bad we put him to bed before dinner. He seem to be feeling better though, he was actually cheerful for a few hour this afternoon.

Good Hair Day, Kinda

2006-12-10T14:19:00.000-05:00

Here's a funny thing to be excited about. My hair is finally starting to shed at a normal rate. I normally have thick hair and pegnancy exacerbates that. This summer every time I had my hair cut I had to have her thin it out too. And if I had gone for a hair cut five weeks agao like I as supposed to I probably would have had her thin it then too. I finally made and appointment so Monday is haircut day but I don't think I'll have her thin it. Silly huh.

So yesterday we went to BJ's to get stuff. Mostly laundry stuff because I've been doing mucho extra laundry the last couple weeks. While we're wandering around Ken glances down an aisle and I ask what he's looking for. "A boombox for my workshop." I'm swearing inside my head, and then say "no you're not."Man, I thought I'd figured out the perfect surprise for him and what does he do, he spoils it. Actually I got him a shelf stereo system. It arrived yesterday. Luckily he was down in his workshop when the driver rang the bell. I was able to get it stashed upstairs in the sparebed room before he saw it.

Today i spent wrapping little stuff for Alex's stocking. Mostly art stuff like safety scissors, glitter glue, more of the washable markers and waterpaints. I still need to get over to B&N to pick up the rest of my presents for my nieces and nephew. Maybe tomorrow morning, if I get to bed at a normal hour tonight. Up until two am the last two nights, last night I'm not sure why, the night before was because as I was going to bed at one Alex woke up with diarreah. He had it earlier in the evening too. I undressed him in the tub because it had been all over the inside of his clothes the second time we cleaned him up. No mess this time but it was much easier to just rince him off in the tub than make his poor red bottom any redder from the wipes. Anyway by the time I got him dressed again and settled it was almost two o'clock.

2006-12-07T23:49:00.000-05:00

I sometimes think cuteness is the only thing that keeps kids alive until they can survive on their own. They just have to flash a smile and mommy's heart melts.

I really wish we could do a family portrait again for Christmas this year but it's impossible to get Alex to sit for anything posed right now. I've heard the magic number is 4 for really reasoning with kids, just over a year until we hit that milestone and of course the second one will be on the move by that point. :sigh: I hope when we go see my dad in Feb/Mar between him and Ken they can rig something so we can get one of the four of us.

Today's playgroup we took a trip up to Longwood gardens for their holiday displays. Kelly, the mom who arranged it suggested to everyone that they should come back up some week night evening to see it all with the lights on. I think I can convince Ken to try that over his break. It's only and hour trip. Took me longer to get to Laurel sometimes, when I was working there. And I even took the backroads instead of 95.

Alex was so fun to watch, with his pack of girlfriends. (He was the only boy other than Quin) It worked out really well I put Quin in the baby Bjorn with a couple of heavy blankets and brought the stroller for when Alex wanted rest breaks. Quin slept almost the entire time we were walking around. Both my kids got the keep moving gene from somewhere. I know that neather one is/was happy unless the car was goin at least 40mph. So driving them around to get them to sleep would not practical if I'd ever even consider something like that. I'd have to be out on 95 constantly. Alex loved the bouncy seat, Quin loves the swing.

When we were at Hallmark the other day, he was happy as long as I was wandering around looking for cards but as soon as we got to the check out and I had to set him down, he was screaming. And he continued the entire time I was at the register, but as soon as I picked up the carrier, silence. The store clerk was laughing because of it. So today when I put him in the bjorn he was crying as I was getting everything out of the car because two kids under three means you need to take stuff with you if you're out more than an hour. Once I started walking he stopped fussing.

I forgot how much laundry babies generate. Alex was spit up king, Quin seems to be blow out king. I'm hoping the size change in diapers stops this. At least soaking everything in oxyclean seems to get rid of the stains.

So this weekend I have to go back to B&N to get the stuff I have on hold because employee appreciation days start. I need to finish decorating the house. And I need to wrap & pack the stuff that has to be sent out. My Christmas cards should be here by the 16th so if I get lables done before then it'll just be stuffing envelopes. That's all I can think of right now. ....

2 months

2006-12-01T23:23:00.000-05:00

At two months Quinton likes to stand, he has pretty good head control, though I still get headbutted several tims a day. This doesn't bode well for me in the future. I am hoping since he loves to cuddle so much he won't be quite as active as Alex was. He's gone from baby acne to cradle cap and if he's at all like Alex that means he'll start losing hair soon.

Poor Alex yesterday was playgroup and we hosted. He's actually pretty good about other kids playing with his stuff. The only place he has trouble is at the train table. He's fine if all they do is run cars around the track, but once they start taking it apart he looses it. It was the girls who tortured him this time. Almost all the boys in playgroup are like him now and they pick a side and run the trains around. I had to put Alex in a time out to get a hold of himself (been doing that a lot lately, don't use them for punishment any more, taking stuff and privledges away seems to work better for that) He comes back and plays for a while then a couple of the girls start taking the entire track apart, on was even lifting a whole section of it up over her head. Every time he screamed or cried she'd lift it back up again. Poor kid, I had to carry him out of the room before he had a total break down. I was all prepared to make him take his nap but he calmed down once we got to his room. He was fine the rest of the time everyone was here. He even showed his room to one of his torturers.

We moved Alex to his new bed in May and at naptime I put up a gate. For some reason he doesn't come out of his room at night. Once the sun is up he does come out, so some mornings I get woken by a cheerful "Hi Mommy, whacha doin mommy?" I found though that if I didn't gate him in at naptime he would wander around upstairs getting into stuff in my room. Closing doors doesn't help because he has no trouble opening them. So today I hear "help Mommy, help Mommy!" Where do I find him, stuck trying to climb over the gate. I guess that means the gate is going to be useless soon. :sigh:

2006-11-27T22:09:00.000-05:00

Quinton cracks me up sometimes. He's such a calm laid back baby, but whooo what a temper he has. When something happens that he doesn't like, such as diaper changes or we take a couple minutes too long to get to him or the car isn't moving fast enough, he just screams bloody murder. Then once he gets what he wants the cries will be cut of mid scream. I might even get a smile.
Today was no exception we had his two month appointment today as soon as I started undressing him he started screaming. Turned red in the face. I did get him calmed down but he started crying again when the nurse weighed and measured him. After she left, I nursed him for a bit, then just held him while I helped Alex find red car (Lightning Mcqueen) in the Cars look-n-find book. Talked with the doctor then once he was on the exam table he was screaming again. All hell broke loose when the nurse gave him his shots though. Poor bug has been crying off and on all day.
It' such a different reaction from Alex's to shot. He gets mad too but he sleeps most the rest of the day. When he was this age it was the first extended break I got because he slept mostly in 45 minute catnaps and maybe two hour at a time over night. So having my sleeper not sleep was a bit of a surprise for me. We've got him settled for the moment but I may wake him to feed him and give him a bit more Tylenol and hopefully he'll give me his usual 4 hour stretch for the first past of the night.

pull your hair out moments

2006-11-22T20:57:00.000-05:00

I thought for sure I was going to have to go up a diaper size already because Quin had blow out for three days in a row starting with Thursday's Playgroup. But he only had one a day and I noticed that in the mornings he only had wet diapers instead of every one being both. I figured the mid day blow outs were due to him holding it in in the mornings. We hadn't had problems today, or yesterday.

I almost had Quin napping in his crib. We got everything put together last week. I decided Friday to start putting him in it for naps. He was asleep I put him in and went downstairs. First thing Alex asks "Where's the baby?" I tell him asleep in his crib. Alex raced upstairs to look. He doesn't understand quiet or indoor voice yet. So he's talking a mile a minute at full volume. He's also trying to climb into the crib. First he tries my nursin stool but since it's slanted, didn't work so well. Then he started to run downstairs to get his stool, but spotted the one he has in the bathroom. Carries it in, sets it next to the crib, climbs up, and keeps asking if "Baby wake up?" I'm like no, it's his nap time let him sleep. At this point it's too late and the baby is awake. Now he won't sleep in there at all. Guess I'll try again in a week or so.Saturday and yesterday were spent cleaning and moving furniture. We finally put the shelves that Ken made up in Alex's room. They've been sitting in the basement for 5 months now. I also have way too much food in my freezers, cupboards and refrigerator. Ken and Su talked again and decided that separate Thanksgivings would be best this year. So I bought stuff for us to have our own. Then Dave calls and tells Ken he's going to VA to get the parents and invited us to Thanksgiving over there. Since his parents will be there we really have to go. I figure we'll have our own Friday, Carol isn't the best cook so we figure we'll need to counteract her food.

Ken got the images for my sister printed and depending what my dad and Donna want to do tomorrow I'll go to Michael's to get a couple more 12x12 frames. I asked my dad to take them up to Erie with him, so my sister will actually get them on her birthday.

I've been thinking alot about family and siblings lately, even before the discussion Ken and my mom got into last weekend. I keep hoping my boys have a good relationship with each other. I watch way too much food network sometimes anyway I see how the Deen boys get along with each other, kind of an easy teasing but loving relationship. I want something like that for my boys. I want them to back each other up, be there even if they feel like killing each other once in a while.