Tuesday, August 29, 2006
A blog I shall write!
OK, so, let me start this one with a rant. Tissue box. We keep a box of tissues on the back of the toilet. I think it's gross because, you know, you flush and all that germy stuff flies through the air and gets on the tissues you use on your nose. But, my husband and my family thought I was nuts for not having a tissue box there, so alas, one there is. Well, sometimes two. You see, when one gets empty, Tony will put a second box out. But usually, he neglects to remove the first! So, the empty box is underneath and the full one is stacked atop. A tissue tower, if you will. Now, of all the things that bug me, this isn't even on the front page of the list. But it does puzzle me, so I thought I'd share.
Tonight is meet the teacher for parents at Cam's preschool. Parents get to meet Ms. Judy to see how she runs her classroom and drill her with all kinds of questions. Tomorrow morning, the students get to meet their teachers. Cam is super excited, but acts all coy and shy about it when you bring it up. I can't wait to see how he acts with the other kids and I hope he totally respects Ms. Judy's authority! He's been a total bear at home. It's been a hard couple of months. He has multiple fits daily, bursts into tears over anything, fake cries, screams, kicks, ignores, runs away, refuses, plays too rough, etc. And he knows how to push every one of my buttons. But, when I get angry, he just gets worse. So, I'm trying an experiment today. Every time he frustrates me, makes me mad, pushes those buttons, I just give him a hug. I hold him close and tell him what he needs to do/not to do and hug him. I've done it twice. Is it working? Perhaps? It's 1:45 and we've had no time-outs and he's been a pretty good boy. It might seem silly, but something's got to give. I'm tired of being a bitch mom and I'm tired of fighting with a brat kid. How's that for name-calling?
On the brighter side of Cameron, he is in love with letters now. Thanks mostly to an awesome set DVDs by LeapFrog called Letter Factory and Talking Words Factory. He points out letters everywhere. He finds shapes of letters in food..."Mom, this piece of bread looks like an L!!" He's a total letter fanatic now! It's cute. He's also way into Bob the Builder and loves all construction equipment, particularly diggers. And he is obsessed with towing. I think he might become a tow truck driver when he grows up. He tows everything around the house, and with anything. A boat with an anchor on the back? We'll pretend it's a tow truck and hook a car to it! A plastic musical caterpillar with a string on it? Tie a bug catcher to it, and there you go. If he can connect two things and drag them around the house, he's happy. Although it is a little odd to hear him constantly ask, "is this a hooker, Mom?"
Lukey is so mobile, it's scary. Nothing is sacred anymore. He's an expert crawler now, and I think we're going to have to put a speed limit on that guy. He's so into pulling himself up to standing now. He's not cruising confidently yet, but he gets around some -very cautiously. He can reach, like, everything now. Including Cam's strawberry pop tart which he crumbled up and ground into the carpet this morning. I just thank my lucky stars that he can't open room doors yet. YET.
Luke threw us a major curve ball in the Game of Lucas and decided to take a bottle of formula! So, I gave him a bottle once a day, for almost 2 weeks. Then he refused, for just about two weeks as well. I guess the novelty was over. However, the bottle draught ended today, when I forced the nipple into his mouth, he drank, and he liked. Of course, I only made 4 ounces, so as not to waste even more formula. Figures.
All right. I'll leave you with these words of wisdom, spoken by...me. "If you want napkins that shred to pieces the moment you touch something wet to them, go out and buy Mardi Gras or Kroger Everyday napkins. You won't be disappointed."
Tonight is meet the teacher for parents at Cam's preschool. Parents get to meet Ms. Judy to see how she runs her classroom and drill her with all kinds of questions. Tomorrow morning, the students get to meet their teachers. Cam is super excited, but acts all coy and shy about it when you bring it up. I can't wait to see how he acts with the other kids and I hope he totally respects Ms. Judy's authority! He's been a total bear at home. It's been a hard couple of months. He has multiple fits daily, bursts into tears over anything, fake cries, screams, kicks, ignores, runs away, refuses, plays too rough, etc. And he knows how to push every one of my buttons. But, when I get angry, he just gets worse. So, I'm trying an experiment today. Every time he frustrates me, makes me mad, pushes those buttons, I just give him a hug. I hold him close and tell him what he needs to do/not to do and hug him. I've done it twice. Is it working? Perhaps? It's 1:45 and we've had no time-outs and he's been a pretty good boy. It might seem silly, but something's got to give. I'm tired of being a bitch mom and I'm tired of fighting with a brat kid. How's that for name-calling?
On the brighter side of Cameron, he is in love with letters now. Thanks mostly to an awesome set DVDs by LeapFrog called Letter Factory and Talking Words Factory. He points out letters everywhere. He finds shapes of letters in food..."Mom, this piece of bread looks like an L!!" He's a total letter fanatic now! It's cute. He's also way into Bob the Builder and loves all construction equipment, particularly diggers. And he is obsessed with towing. I think he might become a tow truck driver when he grows up. He tows everything around the house, and with anything. A boat with an anchor on the back? We'll pretend it's a tow truck and hook a car to it! A plastic musical caterpillar with a string on it? Tie a bug catcher to it, and there you go. If he can connect two things and drag them around the house, he's happy. Although it is a little odd to hear him constantly ask, "is this a hooker, Mom?"
Lukey is so mobile, it's scary. Nothing is sacred anymore. He's an expert crawler now, and I think we're going to have to put a speed limit on that guy. He's so into pulling himself up to standing now. He's not cruising confidently yet, but he gets around some -very cautiously. He can reach, like, everything now. Including Cam's strawberry pop tart which he crumbled up and ground into the carpet this morning. I just thank my lucky stars that he can't open room doors yet. YET.
Luke threw us a major curve ball in the Game of Lucas and decided to take a bottle of formula! So, I gave him a bottle once a day, for almost 2 weeks. Then he refused, for just about two weeks as well. I guess the novelty was over. However, the bottle draught ended today, when I forced the nipple into his mouth, he drank, and he liked. Of course, I only made 4 ounces, so as not to waste even more formula. Figures.
All right. I'll leave you with these words of wisdom, spoken by...me. "If you want napkins that shred to pieces the moment you touch something wet to them, go out and buy Mardi Gras or Kroger Everyday napkins. You won't be disappointed."
Monday, August 14, 2006
This day in shopping
Today's Kroger Purchases
Glad Tall Kitchen Trash Bags - 80 count = $7.59
Ultra Downy Liquid Fabric Softener - April Fresh Scent - 60 loads = $4.99 (plus card savings = $1)
Purex With Bleach Alternative Liquid Detergent - 24 loads = $3.12!!
Lansinoh Nursing Pads - 66 count = $7.99
Bounce Fresh Linen Dryer Sheets - Scent Level 1 - 120 6.4 x 9 inch sheets = $4.99 (plus card savings = $1)
The sweet deal was that I used a $25 gift card, so I only had to cough up $5.40 in real money.
Today's Target Purchases
Dawn Antibacterial Dishwashing Liquid - Orange Scent (Naranja) - 25 fluid oz = $1.97
Studioline Melting Gel - Not Stiff or Sticky - Flexible Hold - 6.8 oz = $2.94
Huggies Little Swimmers Diapers - size medium - 18 count = $4.48
Target Brand Diapers - size 4 - 34 count = $5.74
Target Brand Wipes - 432 6.8 x 7.9 inch wipes = $7.99
Plus, a backpack, lunch box and a book that I probably should have checked out at the library.
Glad Tall Kitchen Trash Bags - 80 count = $7.59
Ultra Downy Liquid Fabric Softener - April Fresh Scent - 60 loads = $4.99 (plus card savings = $1)
Purex With Bleach Alternative Liquid Detergent - 24 loads = $3.12!!
Lansinoh Nursing Pads - 66 count = $7.99
Bounce Fresh Linen Dryer Sheets - Scent Level 1 - 120 6.4 x 9 inch sheets = $4.99 (plus card savings = $1)
The sweet deal was that I used a $25 gift card, so I only had to cough up $5.40 in real money.
Today's Target Purchases
Dawn Antibacterial Dishwashing Liquid - Orange Scent (Naranja) - 25 fluid oz = $1.97
Studioline Melting Gel - Not Stiff or Sticky - Flexible Hold - 6.8 oz = $2.94
Huggies Little Swimmers Diapers - size medium - 18 count = $4.48
Target Brand Diapers - size 4 - 34 count = $5.74
Target Brand Wipes - 432 6.8 x 7.9 inch wipes = $7.99
Plus, a backpack, lunch box and a book that I probably should have checked out at the library.
Wednesday, August 9, 2006
Getting out
The boys and I have been trying to get out of the house every day 1) to battle my blues, 2) to entertain the kids and 3) to wear them out. We've gone on walks, to the park, shopping at Target, lunch with Tony, playdates, etc. We did not get out yesterday, because I was concerned about leaking blood all over the place and well-meaning folks mistakenly thinking I'm hemorrhaging and rushing me to the hospital. I did not even get a shower because, what would be the point? Get clean just to repeatedly get dirty again? Today, I'm bleeding less (slightly) and Cam asked where we were going. So, I figured we'd do a field trip. We got cleaned up and headed to Once Upon a Child, in order to get like 4 cents for used baby equipment. It started raining on the way there and I was praying it would let up by the time we got to the store. Actually, it wasn't raining at all in Florence, so that was a relief. OK, so I got the used car seat (please don't make me feel guilty about this. Yes, I sold a used car seat that got terrible reviews in Consumer Reports recently and flew off the base in a crash test that was under 30 mph. Needless to say, we did not use it for Luke, and thankfully never had a wreck with Cameron. I feel guilty enough already), two car seat bases and mini infant cabana out of the trunk and loaded them into Luke's stroller. Went around and got Cam out of the car. Shuffled around and got Luke out of the car. Had to carry Luke since his stroller was acting as a cart. Had to push stroller full of equipment, hold onto car seat, and push Cam through the parking lot because he was scared of an SUV who had their thumping bass up so loud it was vibrating my teeth. Luckily, I didn't have to wait long for them to look at my stuff and give me the chump change they saw fit to pay me for my garbage. Went back out, put Luke in the car (who was pissed because he didn't want to go back into his car seat so soon), put Cam in the car and headed to Skyline for lunch. Got to Skyline, it was sprinkling (it poured on the way there, so we really got lucky), got inside and Cam and I took some deep breaths to calm down. Well, I took deep breaths and Cameron imitated me. All was going well, until Cam shoved too much food into his mouth and "choked" and threw up all over himself. It was gross. And stinky. Wiped away his puke-induced tears, cleaned up as much of his clothes as I could with baby wipes and he was fine. We went about eating our food as if nothing had happened. Luke ate a ton. A woman and her two boys sat at the booth in front of us. The 5.5 year old boy told me his whole life story and asked me thousands of questions. He even showed me his dental work and told me his brother's birthday and where his dad worked. And his favorite tv shows and that the cable only works in the living room now. And that he loves 'pasghetti' and that he was drinking a blue slushie even though his favorite color is red. And that his grandma is coming to visit for 3 days and it's a 4-hour drive and they are going to go to King's Island. And so on. Came home, stripped Cam out of his pukey clothes, listened to Luke cry a lot, gave Cam a sponge bath, brushed his teeth, he peed in the big potty like a man and got pee all over the back of the toilet toward the end, got Cam redressed, put him down for a nap, fed Luke, put him down for a nap, changed my leaky feminine protection products and am now typing this blog. Read message boards and checked myspace and wrote an email in between thoughts. Need to do laundry and unload the dishwasher. And learn when to separate sentences and where to insert paragraphs. And when to edit certain information. :)
Tuesday, August 8, 2006
Back in black
Blog, schmog. I've been in a rut lately. Uninspired, on a sabbatical, not really anti-blog - just not pro-blog. I'd like to get some complaining out, so I figure now's as good of a time as any to resurrect my little blog.
Periods. I hate having a period. Don't get me wrong - I don't want to be pregnant...I just don't want to have a period. I got close to seven glorious period-free months after having Lukey, and I am thankful for every dry moment. Hallelujah, breastfeeding. I am currently on my fourth period and it is sucking. SUCKING. I've never had bad periods. But these fuckers are heavy. As in, change-that-super-plus-tampon-AND-overnight-pad-with-wings-every-hour- for-two-days-straight-heavy. And I can still expect to ruin a pair of undies in the process. I'm hoping my body will calm down once it gets used to being back in the swing of things. I've read that post partum women can have heavy periods due to built-up uterine lining or some such business, but how long is normal, I wonder? Anyway. So, I had to bitch about that.
Dogs. What makes dogs want to soil carpets? So, I'm sitting here folding towels. Hank starts profusely licking his "lips" - I sense a vomit coming on. I ask, "do you need to go outside?" and run to the back door. Walter goes out. Hank goes down the hall and pukes in front of Cam's room. Cam's asleep. I finally got him outside, where he puked some more. It's yellow liquid and smells like metal. I treated the spot, but it still smells. I think we're going to have to do the shampooer. Dogs can really suck.
Mothers-in-law. I don't want to even get into specifics, but why are some of them such idiots? Why is MINE an idiot? Why can't I have Julie's mother-in-law, or Amy's?
OK, I'm sick of complaining. On to more "interesting" things. Here are some random facts that have tickled my fancy lately:
You can cut through steel with water.
You can cut through steel with air.
At night, the low temperature is usually close to the dew point. As the air cools, it can't hold much water. And when water changes from a gas to a liquid, it gives off heat. It's called the latent heat of moisture.
If you're going to touch a live electrical wire, do so with the back of your hand. If accidental shock were to cause muscular contraction, you would not "freeze" to the conductor. Yikes.
So, share some knowledge with me. Tell me some interesting random facts. Please?
Periods. I hate having a period. Don't get me wrong - I don't want to be pregnant...I just don't want to have a period. I got close to seven glorious period-free months after having Lukey, and I am thankful for every dry moment. Hallelujah, breastfeeding. I am currently on my fourth period and it is sucking. SUCKING. I've never had bad periods. But these fuckers are heavy. As in, change-that-super-plus-tampon-AND-overnight-pad-with-wings-every-hour- for-two-days-straight-heavy. And I can still expect to ruin a pair of undies in the process. I'm hoping my body will calm down once it gets used to being back in the swing of things. I've read that post partum women can have heavy periods due to built-up uterine lining or some such business, but how long is normal, I wonder? Anyway. So, I had to bitch about that.
Dogs. What makes dogs want to soil carpets? So, I'm sitting here folding towels. Hank starts profusely licking his "lips" - I sense a vomit coming on. I ask, "do you need to go outside?" and run to the back door. Walter goes out. Hank goes down the hall and pukes in front of Cam's room. Cam's asleep. I finally got him outside, where he puked some more. It's yellow liquid and smells like metal. I treated the spot, but it still smells. I think we're going to have to do the shampooer. Dogs can really suck.
Mothers-in-law. I don't want to even get into specifics, but why are some of them such idiots? Why is MINE an idiot? Why can't I have Julie's mother-in-law, or Amy's?
OK, I'm sick of complaining. On to more "interesting" things. Here are some random facts that have tickled my fancy lately:
You can cut through steel with water.
You can cut through steel with air.
At night, the low temperature is usually close to the dew point. As the air cools, it can't hold much water. And when water changes from a gas to a liquid, it gives off heat. It's called the latent heat of moisture.
If you're going to touch a live electrical wire, do so with the back of your hand. If accidental shock were to cause muscular contraction, you would not "freeze" to the conductor. Yikes.
So, share some knowledge with me. Tell me some interesting random facts. Please?
i think the hug idea is great, and i hope it is still working for you! if not, i'm a 123 magic lover now...it's awesome.
Also, what did you think about Freakonomics? It looks like it could be good.