Monday, December 24, 2007

One more sleep till Christmas

Well, here it is Christmas Eve. I have to say that this year it has been weird. It just doesn't seem like tomorrow is Christmas. This is the first year that Nate has kind of understood things. He knows that Santa is going to bring presents. However, we never took him to see Santa. I guess our stand-by is the ward Christmas party, however, we did not go this year. And I just don't want to take my baby out to a mall right now. (call me crazy) So that never happened, and I feel a little bad about that.
I guess part of the problem is that today is starting like any other day. Jesse is at work, and I'm home with the kids. We aren't doing anything special. I'm doing laundry. This afternoon we are going to Jesse's parent's house, but that is all the way after nap time. I need to go to the grocery store this morning. I want Graham to eat well before we go though, but this morning he is especially stuffy, so eating it not so much happening. Another part of the problem is that I'm just so tired. I'm pretty sure that I was awake more than I was asleep last night. It was a particularly rough night. I think that's mostly it. It's hard to get excited for Christmas when you are so tired.
And since this is already such a downer, here's one more thing I'm sad about. Growing up, my mom wrapped all of our presents so that they looked nice (not with bows and stuff, but just so that they were wrapped neatly.) and she used all sorts of different wrapping paper, so that when we came out on Christmas morning, all of the presents were spread out under the tree in all of their splendor. Well. The problem is that Jesse is not a wrapper. (I love you Jesse.) So I do a good job of wrapping his presents and Nate's presents, but he is going to come home tonight at 9:00, and be too tired to wrap presents, so either everything will be wrapped in the bag or box that they came in, or everything will be hastily wrapped in all the same paper. It just isn't as pretty. Is it asking too much to put some effort into it so that I can unwrap pretty presents? i know, it's totally not important. It is just something I kind of feel bad about come present time.
So there you have it. I'm too tired for Christmas this year. I just need to read the Christmas story a bunch more times, and maybe some other inspiring Christmas messages. So we'll see. Sorry this is such a downer, but you get what you pay for.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

While Mommy Sleeps

Ok, so here is a first for us. Nate has always been a very un-curious boy. I have never been worried about him getting into anything particularly dangerous or naughty. However today, he changed all of that. By about 4:00 I was about done with my day. Due to the sick night that we had, I couldn't keep my eyes open come 4. I was fine during nap time, so I watched Hairspray (and it made me wish once again that I was some fabulous singer and dancer so that I could be in movies like that. They just look like they have so much fun.) Anyway, I had no nap today. So Nate got up from his nap, and I decided to be good and have a no TV afternoon, so we were playing for a while, and then as mentioned, I couldn't keep my eyes open. So I must have actually dozed off for a while, I kept on hearing Nate taking toys out of the box of baby toys, and taking them somewhere, but it didn't occur to me until too late what he was doing. I heard him in the hall bathroom. So I go in in a panic, and all of the toys are all over the floor and they are wet. He cannot turn on the faucet.
So he had an immediate time out all the way upstairs in his bed. At that point I could not fathom how to recover from something like this. Would I be ok ever using these toys again? Keep in mind that these are like, teething toys, and toys that will be chewed on, just based on the age they are intended for. Some of them were hard, and some of them were plush. So I just shut the bathroom door for a minute, and got a child door handle thing to put on the bathroom door. As further punishment after time out, Nate had to have the boogers cleaned out of his nose.
So I have soaked everything in a strong bleach solution, and rinsed it off. What do you think? Do they need to be thrown out. I don't know if they were actually dunked in the toilet, or if Nate just splashed water out. I have a feeling that some were actually in the water. It will be months before Graham is big enough to play with them. Is there a statute of limitations for how long they will remain gross? As I write this, and think about it, I am totally grossed out. I think I may just have to throw out the toys. So I want serious opinions. Should I be locked up just for thinking about keeping these toys? This is my grossest post yet, but you get what you pay for.

My Sick Fmaily

Well, on Sunday Nate woke up with a cold. I heard him sneezing in the middle of the night, and when he got up he had a runny nose. So he was finally starting to get better yesterday. I was glad that it seemed to be a short run. The poor little boy has a terribly chapped upper lip which started to bleed, and I can't get him to let me put stuff on it. But I was happy that he seemed to be drying up lately.
However, last night I put Graham down for bed, and within a few minutes I hear this choking cough coming from his room. It really sounded like he was choking on something. So I go in, and rock him back to sleep, and within 5 minutes of putting him down again, I hear the same noise. He ate again, and went back to sleep, more coughing. Anyway, what it comes down to is that anytime he was lying on a flat surface, even if he was on his side, he would start to cough. So it was one of those nights when I had to sleep with him in my arms in bed with me. He would every once in a while start to cough or cry while he was sleeping, but I usually was able to get him to go back to sleep by patting or rubbing his back.
Anyway, I just feel so sorry for my tiny boy to be sick so soon in life. Nate didn't get his first cold until he was like 9 months old. Here poor Graham is only 2 weeks old and he is sick. He is sleeping now in his bouncy seat, and he may have to sleep in that tonight. It elevates his head, so I think that helps.
Anyway, I do feel a bit guilty about him being sick, because it happened after I had taken him out yesterday. Of course, he stayed in his carseat the whole time, and no one really looked at him or touched him. There were a few kids who got close while we were at a play date, but no one actually touched him. And it usually takes a day or two after being exposed to something for the symptoms to show up, and it makes much more sense that he would have gotten this from his brother who he is around all day. But all the same, I feel a little guilty.
Anyway, I hope that he gets better soon. It is no fun to have a sick infant. Plus, it's a little scary. I have felt just a bit sick, so hopefully I am passing some antibodies to him when he eats.
So that's it. We are watching the Great Muppet Caper. Nate is calling them muffins, and sometimes cake. So that's it. I need to go distract my child from the pantry until lunch time. Another half an hour. So that's it. It's a little germy, but you get what you pay for.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

All Done

Ok, so due to the fact that I was due to have a baby so close to Christmas, I knew this year that I had to be on the ball. I got Nate's shopping done in October, and I did most of Jesse's shopping online, and got that done early. So I really only had Jesse' stocking stuff left once we hit December, and I got most of that done, but then I had like 3 more things I needed to pick up. I am proud to say that I got those things today. I even got an extra bag of Hershey's Kisses to put some in Nate's stocking, because when we talk about Christmas the first thing he always says is that Santa is going to bring chocolate for his stocking. He's pretty easy to please.
So that's it. I'm done. It involved my first real trip out with both of the kids by myself, and I survived. We even went into two different stores, in tow different shopping centers, one of which had no shopping carts. (I can't go into specifics because Jesse reads this blog.)
So I have one thing to complain about today. I have been greatly dissapointed in the selection of Christmas candy. I always associate York Peppermint Patties with Christmas, the little ones, especially those wrapped in the holiday colors. However, I have not seen them in any stores this year. I have been totally bummed. I have, however been pleased with Giant Eagle's stock of candy cane Hershey's Kisses. So that's it. I know, they are ground breaking thoughts, but you get what you pay for.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

A Weighty Issue

Well, I am proud to say that I have lost 30 lbs in the past 2 weeks. I now only have about 3 more lbs to go before I am back down to my pre-pregnancy weight. Of course, I have 30 more lbs after that before I am back at a reasonable weight. My friends and I had talked about doing a biggest loser thing. I still have 4 more weeks before I can really start working out. I also have given myself the next 4 weeks to not be on a diet. However, maybe I'll start easing into a diet after the holidays are over. So once I really start needing to lose weight look for my progress. I need to report to someone, and this blog is as good as a real person. (Yeah, I have become a shut-in in the past weeks.)
In other news, my son is having fruit snacks for breakfast, and that is, sadly, the closest thing he will eat to fruit today. However, he has crossed a line, and is eating the soft fruit snacks. You know how there are 2 kinds of textures of fruit snacks? Well, it used to be (until yesterday) that he would only eat the harder variety, the ones that are dry. But he ate our last pack of them yesterday. So we have a ton of these other fruit snacks, they are Mott's, so they are made with applesauce, and all natural, but Nate would not touch them. However, yesterday he decided that they were ok enough to eat, so now maybe we'll go through this huge bag of them finally. (I bought them from costco like 10 months ago.)
Anyway, I'm hungry, and I need to drink something. And Nate is already talking about when daddy comes home, and it's only 8:30. We have a long way to go... So that's it. That's my life, but you get what you pay for.

Monday, December 17, 2007

I've been working on the railroad

Well, what do you know, it's a twofor day.
Ok, so I haven't actually been working on the railroad. I quit that job years ago. But last Christmas we got a keyboard, and it is one of those that has all of these songs programmed into it. One of the songs is I've been working on the Railroad. That happens to be Nate's favorite song. So over the past months, he has been learning more and more of the song. Just recently he started singing the Dina won't you blow your horn part. However, he is pretty sure that it is actually "dinosaur blow" I mean, really it makes sense. He doesn't know any Dinas, but he sure knows about dinosaurs. So I guess that answers the age old question- yes, there were railroads in prehistoric times.
I know, it's a bunch of nonsense, but you get what you pay for.

The first day of the rest of my life

Well, here it is the first day of the rest of my life. Jesse went back to work today, which means that I am officially a mother of 2 children. (Ok, I guess really it was official when I actually gave birth, but you know.)
So far it has not been so bad. Aside from the fact that Graham picked last night to be the first night that he really didn't sleep at night. In addition to that, Nate woke up with a cold yesterday, which is getting a little worse today. But other than that, things are ok. Graham slept for maybe two hours after Nate got up (thankfully, Nate didn't wake up until 8:30) But as soon as I had decided to take a shower, Graham started to cry, and Nate wasn't interested in watching his movie, so he managed to shut himself in his room, and he couldn't get out (good to know for the move to the toddler bed.) So I got out of the shower to both of my children crying hysterically. Other than that, there was one time when I was changing G's diaper and he was crying, and N couldn't get to Lizzie, so he is downstairs screaming for me.
We did pass the first hurdle of me feeding G and Nate made it through that without needing anything, so that was good.
Anyway, N just went down for a nap, and G is sleeping as well, so I think I'll try to take a nap too. Zoe is bringing lasagna for dinner tonight, and that makes me happy. Have I mentioned lately that I have great friends?
So all in all I'm thinking I may be able to do this whole 2 kids thing. We'll see. I mean, I don't have much of a choice though, do I? So that's it. It's not going to cure any diseases, but you get what you pay for.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

A Few Random Things

Ok, so the first thing is some positive press on my neighbor. Whereas yesterday I found another beer bottle in the front yard to match the one I found a few weeks ago in the back yard, I did have a positive experience today. Today my neighbor brought over a piece of mail that was accidentally delivered to his house. It happened to be my husband's pay stub, you know, with account numbers and all sorts of other sensitive info on it. So I was glad that he returned that. So maybe they are good.

In other news, I have the secret to all happiness as a mother. When Nate was born I received a cd called Baby go to sleep Heartbeat music Therapy. It says really big on the cover, STOPS CRYING GUARANTEED! The lady who gave it to me wanted me to try it out to see if it worked. I guess that I was the one who was having a baby when she got it. Anyway, I tried it on Nate and it worked wonders. It did stop him from crying, and it put him to sleep for a long time. He now is 2 and he listens to "the moon song" to go to sleep. (Sesame Street- I Don't Want to Live on the Moon.)
So Graham is a pretty content baby as I have mentioned. He really doesn't cry much, and when he does cry I can usually stop it, or at least know what it's about (He's mad because he's not latching etc...) This afternoon for the first time in his short life he was crying and crying and I could not do anything to stop it. I figured he was tired, so I tried to give the Binky, and that was not met with success. I tried to nurse, and he would for like 30 seconds and then start screaming again. So I thought, now is the time to pull out the big guns. I came downstairs and put the magic cd on, and before the intro to the first song was through, he stopped crying hysterically, and he was sleeping. Like, seriously, if I could be their spokesperson, I would.
So you can go to babygotosleep.com and find out all about this miraculous cd. I have given it to many people, and it has been met with varying success. I think the key is to use it while they are still tiny, and then you can have success with it while they are older as well. Even if it doesn't put your baby to sleep, it will probably at least calm them.
There you have it. The secret to my sleeping babies. Nate slept through the night at 2 months, and I'm hoping for similar success with this one. Well, speaking of sleeping Nates. It is time to go wake mine up from his nap. So there you have it, wonderful advice for all new moms. This time, you get more than you pay for.

bf2 rocks

So my husband just started this blog. He originally was going to call it "finding my needles" and in our sleep deprived state we had a really good laugh about that one. Well, instead he is blogging about his favorite video game, Battlefield 2. He just started it yesterday, and is all interested in it right now, but admits that he will probably forget about it when he goes back to work. Anyway, he wanted me to read it, and so I read it, and his latest post is all, oh, my wife hates me, oh my wife doesn't understand video games, oh my wife is so irrational, I wish my wife would get off my case. Ok, so maybe I'm being a little melodramatic, but it's my blog, so I can be. (Of course, that is his blog, so he has the same right.) Anyway, so yeah, it's a whole blog about how much he loves this video game, how it has brought him to love History, and World War II. He also talks about his favorite mini-series, Band of Brothers, and how everyone needs to watch the 57 part series, and read the book. It was at this moment that I realized my husband is an uber-nerd.
And in my defense, it's not that I hate video games. I have no problem with him playing video games, but when it takes priority over helping out around the house, helping with taking care of your child, especially when your wife has been taking care of him all day. Also, when it take priority over your relationship with your wife, well, that is when I have a problem with the video game. He got to the point where he literally played that video game 40 hours a week. And he doesn't understand why I didn't like the game.
Lately he has not been playing that often. He only has played it a handful of times in the last year, and that is fine with me. I want him to be happy, and to pursue his interests. He needs down time just like me, but maybe he needs to have some up time as well.
Anyway, the baby calls. So there you have it. He's my wonderful husband, but sometimes you get what you pay for.

ps. I don't want this entry to come off as my complaining about my husband. I love him dearly, despite his flaws. I'm just defending myself against his slanderous remarks in his blog.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Shut in

Well, I'm pretty much a shut in these days. So I have nothing really to talk about. We went to the doctor for the one week check up, and sure enough, our baby is still doing well. He had to be pricked for his PKU, and that didn't go so well. The first nurse came in and pricked him and got half of the blood she needed, and then he stopped bleeding. I guess the Vitamin K shot they gave him at birth was extra strong. (Side note, I just spelled extra "exrta" and it seriously took me a full minute to figure out how I had spelled it wrong. I need a nap.) So she brings in another nurse, and she tries and they decide that he is dried up there. So they have to start it all over again. The other nurse sticks him in the other heel and fills up the circles perfectly in like 30 seconds. We should have started with the other nurse. My poor baby though, He was so very sad. But miraculously Jesse took him to the car and by the time I had checked out, he was sleeping peacefully. What a good baby I have. So that is it. Our one experience of the day. I know, it's pretty boring, but you get what you pay for.

Monday, December 10, 2007

The newest member of my team

Well, it finally happened. I guess I always knew that it would eventually, but for a while there, I was also pretty sure that it would never happen. I finally had my baby. Graham was born last week, at a hefty 8 lbs 12 oz. If this were not a public site, I would post photos, but well, it is. So if you know me, you can email me and ask for the web address to find photos on.
So I was supposed to be induced, and I was told to call at 6am to see if I could come in. So I call at 6. They say call back at 7:30. So I call at 7:30 and they say call at 9. So I call at 9 and they say, don't call us, we'll call you. So it gets to be like 11:30 and I'm wondering if I can eat lunch, so I call and they actually said I could eat and come on in. So that made me happy. So I get there, and as I am waiting for all of the tubes to be hooked up, and the doctor I'm having contractions. So the nurse sees this, and talks to the doctor, and they just start me on pitocin right away. So I figured that was a good sign. The anesthesiologist was not available, so the nurse asked if I wanted a narcotic in the mean time. For future notice: if a nurse asks if you want a narcotic, the answer is always yes. It was quite an experience. I don't know that I would want to just experience that anytime, so I don't think I'll become a druggie, but it sure took my mind off of the labor pains.
So That was at like 3pm, and then at 5:30 or 6 I finally got my epidural. It was totally different from when I had Nate. I had the epidural for a bit longer, and well, I felt nothing. I couldn't even move my legs on my own. This time I didn't feel the pain of the contractions, but I did feel the pressure of the baby descending, and I felt my legs, they were annoyingly tingly, but I delt with it. Anyway. At like 8:30 after an hour of agony wanting to push but not being allowed to, I finally had Graham after pushing for only 11 minutes. Not too bad in my book. This being induced thing keeps on getting better and better.
So now I have a baby. I'm feeling pretty good these days. Today we made our first venture out into the world to Wal Mart and the Grocery store. I am still feeling the effects. It was maybe a bit too much.
So Graham is like the best baby in the world. He is still a sleepy little fellow, even at night. He wakes up for a few hours a few times each day, and is pretty content to either sit in his bouncy seat or sit on someones lap. He rarely spits up, and in general doesn't cry too much. He is even getting used to having his diaper changed. Nate is doing well with him, but daddy is still home from work, so it will be a different story when it is just mommy.
So there you have it, a rare look into my real life, you know, the one that is not just meaningless babel. It's pretty great right now, so I guess now I'm getting more than I paid for. (Of course, the doctor's bills have not come yet...)

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Self Check Out

So, in addition to Stork Parking, I like that the grocery store that I go to has self check out. I am a fan of self check out. Not everyone is. I happen to like that I don't have to have any human interaction. I am also a fan of atms as opposed to Tellers. I am rather anti-social when it comes to strangers. What can I say, the Safety Kids taught my not to talk to strangers.
So we were at the grocery store tonight, and we picked a self check out line. There were 2 people in front of us. The lady who was waiting only had a few items in her cart, and the other lady was almost done. We figured this would be an ok line. Well, the first lady was starting to have trouble, and then when she finally got all of her produce scanned in, she had to scan a billion coupons in. Then she was upset when she couldn't scan anything past the first coupon. So she starts trying to get the attention of the attendant, but she couldn't. I could see that the coupon had not gone all the way into the container, so it had not registered yet. So I kind of piped up and told her that she needed to push the coupon in farther. Well, that worked, and then she was able to get the rest scanned in without a problem. So we finally got her taken care of. Her final bill? Almost $200. I just feel like if you have that much stuff, maybe self check out is not your best bet. Maybe that's just me.
So now onto the next lady. Now, maybe it's just me, but if you have to wait for like, half an hour in line to get to your turn, maybe you could be productive with your time. For instance, if you have 7 billion cards on your keyring, maybe you could take the time while you are waiting to find the one you need, instead of waiting until you get to your turn, and it's time to scan, and then you have to find it. Well, she was super duper slow, and then she could not get the salad bar to scan in. That wasn't her fault though. It really was difficult to figure out if you hadn't done it before. Then she goes to pay, and she starts talking about how she doesn't want debit, she wants credit, and she doesn't want to enter a pin number, and on and on. Of course, if you actually read the instructions, you read how to do credit, and not debit. So I say something again. Well, she finally finishes, and let's just say that we were completely done scanning all of our stuff before she had moved out of the end of the bagging area, I'm trying to hold all of our stuff back, and it's just not working.
And one or both of them was complaining about how there should be someone working the check out line. I'm of course thinking, there are several other check out lines that are manned, and if you wanted to have someone to hold your hand through check out, you should have gone through one of them.
I guess this is another one of those, If I were queen of the world, I'd not only have express lanes, but I'd also have self check out lanes only for experienced check-outers. If you are going to try out the self check lane, you should have maybe only a few items. And maybe not be a dufus. So there you have it. I may be a jerk, but you get what you pay for.