Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Game, Kids, Etc.
Sooo, I'm a little bit addicted to Sudoku. I play it to wind down, and I often have it in the bathroom (yay, you say). I don't like to play it on the computer - just the little electronic game that Santa brought Tony for Christmas. I can't say I'm very good, though. It's taken me a month to get "ok" at level 1. I usually get stuck on level 2. What a loser! Oh well, you can enjoy something you're not good at, right?
I'm having a very frustrating time parenting lately. Cameron is going through the strangest thing right now. He has a fit about everything, rational or not. It's like the limited amount of patience he possessed has dwindled to nothing. If he's taking his coat off and can't quite get his arm out instantly, he starts this prolonged screaming & crying stuff that is FAKE. It's the worst ever. He also does it whenever Luke wants a toy or book that Cam has - which is all of the time. We're not handling these times very well, but I thought about it this morning and we're going to try a plan. I just will not tolerate him acting like that. So, if he starts the crying/whining/screaming for no reason, he automatically gets sent to his room. He can come right back out whenever he feels better. If he the fit is over Luke wanting something Cam has, Luke automatically gets the toy, and Cam goes straight to his room until he feels better. I'm tired of getting worked up about it, and I'm tired of listening to it. Hopefully, this will teach him that these outbursts will not get him the attention/sympathy/whatever that he's looking for. Whew. It's a toughie.
Luke is a little booger! He's such a strong-willed, stubborn fellow. We're also working on not giving in to his whims. When he has a fit, he'll just have to get over it. I'm not picking him up or soothing him as much as I used to. I know family hates this, but I refuse to raise a little brat! He's not all booger, though. He's smart and cute as a button. He's taken to running away from me. Like, I was just trying to get him to go in his room for a nap, and I'm pretty certain he wanted a nap, but he took great pleasure in running away with a wicked giggle saying "no night-night!" Punker.
So, let's add another child to the mix, shall we? And let's make her a GIRL! Can you believe it? I sure can't. Well, it took me forever to wrap my mind around another pregnancy so soon...now I have to get used to the baby being female! I totally had no feeling or intuition of the gender. And I didn't "want" one gender or the other. But I guess I just "expected" a boy, or assumed that was our fate. When the ultrasound tech said girl, I was totally shocked! I guess it's about time we got some more estrogen in this house. ;)
Alright, then, off to tend to the laundry and work on a few eBay listings. Lots of boy clothes to unload.
I'm having a very frustrating time parenting lately. Cameron is going through the strangest thing right now. He has a fit about everything, rational or not. It's like the limited amount of patience he possessed has dwindled to nothing. If he's taking his coat off and can't quite get his arm out instantly, he starts this prolonged screaming & crying stuff that is FAKE. It's the worst ever. He also does it whenever Luke wants a toy or book that Cam has - which is all of the time. We're not handling these times very well, but I thought about it this morning and we're going to try a plan. I just will not tolerate him acting like that. So, if he starts the crying/whining/screaming for no reason, he automatically gets sent to his room. He can come right back out whenever he feels better. If he the fit is over Luke wanting something Cam has, Luke automatically gets the toy, and Cam goes straight to his room until he feels better. I'm tired of getting worked up about it, and I'm tired of listening to it. Hopefully, this will teach him that these outbursts will not get him the attention/sympathy/whatever that he's looking for. Whew. It's a toughie.
Luke is a little booger! He's such a strong-willed, stubborn fellow. We're also working on not giving in to his whims. When he has a fit, he'll just have to get over it. I'm not picking him up or soothing him as much as I used to. I know family hates this, but I refuse to raise a little brat! He's not all booger, though. He's smart and cute as a button. He's taken to running away from me. Like, I was just trying to get him to go in his room for a nap, and I'm pretty certain he wanted a nap, but he took great pleasure in running away with a wicked giggle saying "no night-night!" Punker.
So, let's add another child to the mix, shall we? And let's make her a GIRL! Can you believe it? I sure can't. Well, it took me forever to wrap my mind around another pregnancy so soon...now I have to get used to the baby being female! I totally had no feeling or intuition of the gender. And I didn't "want" one gender or the other. But I guess I just "expected" a boy, or assumed that was our fate. When the ultrasound tech said girl, I was totally shocked! I guess it's about time we got some more estrogen in this house. ;)
Alright, then, off to tend to the laundry and work on a few eBay listings. Lots of boy clothes to unload.
Friday, January 26, 2007
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
What a ray of sunshine!
I am in a bad ass cranky mood today. Come to think of it, I was in the same mood yesterday. Everyone is getting on my nerves. The dogs are annoying, the kids are annoying. Cam won't blow his snotty nose, but prefers to have it run down onto the pear slices he is eating. I have a headache, I'm hungry but can't find anything to eat, and I just want to take a hot bath and play Sudoku. But I can't, unless I take annoying older child in there with me, and he'll want to get in the tub with me, and I won't be able to make the water very hot, and he'll want to play, and it won't be relaxing at all. I want the sun to come out. I'm tired of the gray, drab, gloomy weather. I want the house to be cleaner, but I don't want to be the one to clean it. I want the laundry to be magically done. I want to sleep. I think I need a vacation!
Friday, January 19, 2007
Bust out the Purell
I can't believe I'm doing this, but I'm taking my children to Chuck E. Cheese for a playdate today. I swore to avoid that place as long as possible, and here I am voluntarily exposing them to the madness, grossness and overpriceness that is...Chuck E. Cheese.
edited to add…
OK, scratch that! Cam still wasn't awake by like 9:20am, so I got him up and he has a rip-roaring fever! Wouldn't you know it. He's been healthy for more than 2 weeks, and the day we have plans, he gets a fever. We are ALWAYS canceling playdates because one of the kids gets sick that very day. Oh well, Chuck will have to hold off on meeting us for a while longer... (that's ok!)
Friday, January 12, 2007
Money and the future
I am an eBaying fool lately. Right now, I have 10 items listed...I think that's a record for me. I've been selling my maternity clothes (well, the ones worth selling) as I outgrow them. I can't wait to find out the baby's gender (January 26) to see if I need to start listing all of our boy clothes. Even if it's a boy, I'll be selling the clothes as he outgrows them. Wow, can you imagine not having all those boxes full of stored clothes?? If it's a girl, I'll need the $$ I make on the boy clothes auctions to spend on girl clothes. I bought a postage scale to make mailing a lot easier. This way, I can just print off the postage-paid label from PayPal and stick my package outside the door, instead of trekking to the post office each week. And the scale was essentially free, since I used eBay winnings money to pay for it.
So, with all of the family changes in store soon, we've had to make some decisions. Here's what we've figured out:
1) Cam and Luke will share a room.
2) We're getting them bunk beds, but they'll be unbunked for several years.
3) We probably won't be able to get our house ready in time to sell and move before the baby comes. (but if we can, that's cool, too!)
4) We are ok with a smaller house (another 3 bedroom is fine, as long as there is a playroom/area, and as long as it's a two-story).
Now is the time I really wish we'd made the move before Cam was born. But we were like, "no, we have more to do to this house." And, "no, I like this house...it's fine for right now." Anyway....now that we only have one income, we're kind of stuck! We need to move to get Cam into a better school district before Fall, 2008. We won't get to move to our "permanent, we're-staying-here-for-a-long-time" home. I guess that'll come when I go back to work, but that won't be for a few years, likely.
So, that's us, in a nutshell. I plan to be very busy with my eBay listings, and hopefully we'll be able to make a few bucks to help alleviate the financial strain.
So, with all of the family changes in store soon, we've had to make some decisions. Here's what we've figured out:
1) Cam and Luke will share a room.
2) We're getting them bunk beds, but they'll be unbunked for several years.
3) We probably won't be able to get our house ready in time to sell and move before the baby comes. (but if we can, that's cool, too!)
4) We are ok with a smaller house (another 3 bedroom is fine, as long as there is a playroom/area, and as long as it's a two-story).
Now is the time I really wish we'd made the move before Cam was born. But we were like, "no, we have more to do to this house." And, "no, I like this house...it's fine for right now." Anyway....now that we only have one income, we're kind of stuck! We need to move to get Cam into a better school district before Fall, 2008. We won't get to move to our "permanent, we're-staying-here-for-a-long-time" home. I guess that'll come when I go back to work, but that won't be for a few years, likely.
So, that's us, in a nutshell. I plan to be very busy with my eBay listings, and hopefully we'll be able to make a few bucks to help alleviate the financial strain.
Monday, January 8, 2007
Musica
So, Cam sings now - a lot. Does he sing kiddie songs? Not really. Mostly, he sings Red Hot Chili Peppers and Barenaked Ladies numbers. It's funny to see him playing with his Bob the Builder trucks and hear him sing words like "Shocking, Appalling" and "Standing in line to see the show tonight and there's a light ooon..." We get in the car and he begs to hear "my favorite song, Upside Down, Mom! Please? Please? Please?" Should a three-year-old really be bopping his head along, belting out, "Nothing's good enough for me...to shake me from complacency..."?
Not to be left out, the Lukester digs the tunes as well. He doesn't sing quite as much as Cameron does, but he sure likes to boogie down. His favorites to shake it to are "Jingle Bells" (BNL version, which is silly as heck) and "By the Way" by RHCP. He literally runs toward the CD player when he hears the opening chords of either song, so he can dance in front of it. A song I've found he likes to hum along to - and it's kind of embarrassing to admit this - is "Lights" by Journey...you know, "when the lights go down in the cit-ay..." He likes the "nah nah nah nah nah nah" part.
As for me, I've had "The Final Countdown" in my head for two days. I don't have much to say about that, as the brain cells that remain are fragile, you can imagine.
Not to be left out, the Lukester digs the tunes as well. He doesn't sing quite as much as Cameron does, but he sure likes to boogie down. His favorites to shake it to are "Jingle Bells" (BNL version, which is silly as heck) and "By the Way" by RHCP. He literally runs toward the CD player when he hears the opening chords of either song, so he can dance in front of it. A song I've found he likes to hum along to - and it's kind of embarrassing to admit this - is "Lights" by Journey...you know, "when the lights go down in the cit-ay..." He likes the "nah nah nah nah nah nah" part.
As for me, I've had "The Final Countdown" in my head for two days. I don't have much to say about that, as the brain cells that remain are fragile, you can imagine.
Friday, January 5, 2007
Some points of interest:
Cam has taken to calling Luke "Little Cookie".
The C-man has also decided that the new baby is a boy and refers to him as "Fruit Loop".
Luke hates shoes.
Luke's favorite phrase: "Is that?" - meaning "What is that?" He asks it constantly.
I like Dr. Pepper again.
Yep, all is well with the world.
