on the lighter side

Yep, I’m still working through Baby J’s issues but today I wanted to post something a bit more humorous since Miss C cracks me up with the things she says. . . (sensitive readers, beware!)

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While getting on the potty last week, I noticed she has gotten tall enough to just scoot back onto it, versus climbing up like a monkey. I commented to her that she was getting so tall and growing so much (her pajama pants all look like Capri’s suddenly, too!).

She looked back, really proud and grinning. “I don’t fall in anymore!” (Something she’s said often of late, though I don't recall her ever falling in.) Then she proceeded to say, “But my bottom needs to get bigger.”

“It needs to get bigger?” I was a bit confused by this, but wanted her to go on.

“Yeah, big like yours.”

Nice. (For the record, I don’t have a big bottom by anyone’s standards, except hers perhaps.)

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Then, earlier this week, I was changing Baby J’s diaper and Miss C was quietly fascinated. I didn’t say anything, just waited. No comment.

The next day, I was changing him again only it was a dirty diaper and since I’ve taken him off solids for now, it was that breastfeeding seedy poop that can be rather smeary and messy.

Miss C was amused as I cleaned all the “tedious” areas. She giggled and said, “His bottom’s funny!”

I had to work to keep a straight face. “You mean this?” I pointed to the obvious, still not volunteering anything.

“Yeah! His bottom looks like a clown!”

(Anyone ever watch Baby Newton? Just think on it for a moment. And that’s all I have to say about that.)

on sleep-deprivation

A few weeks back, I asked the doctor to prescribe Prevacid for Baby J's tummy troubles. I debated it long and hard since I tend to be conservative when it comes to meds, especially for my little ones.

It took a week or so, just like I'd been told, and then I began to notice that he no longer cried through the late afternoon. My hopes began to rise.

We saw the doctor for his 9 month check-up last Tuesday where we discussed the difference with Prevacid versus Zantac. We also talked about how he still wasn't sleeping very well at all. She doubled his dose.

That has been a week now. He still barely sleeps. He is still miserable. And this is the happiest baby I know, typically. His ears were totally clear last week; I doubt that's changed. But our nights are getting worse -- the closer to morning we get, the shorter his spurts of rest are. At some point, I end up holding him for extended periods of time while we both doze. If he takes a 45 minute nap, I need to be happy with it. A two hour stretch at night is amazing; a one hour stretch or less is becoming the norm. More and more, he wakes up crying within two to five minutes of being laid down. This is from a baby who, at two weeks old, preferred his bed to my arms for his sleep time. This is the one baby of my three who does not want to co-sleep in any fashion. He does prefer to fall asleep with someone holding him, but has never minded his bed, that's for sure. And my efforts to lay him in my bed during my groggy state of being at 4am are absolutely futile. (The cutting of tooth #8 did not solve the bad nights as I'd hoped.)

I'm not resting well, can you tell?
So now I have two choices:

1) Reglan, a highly debated drug for babies especially.
2) Remove all possible allergens from my diet since we definitely have a history of allergies in our family. I'm so tired I can barely cook a meal right now, much less eat it. I have been happy to just get something remotely tasty down. In fact, it's 2:30 and I'm about to go get B from school - and I have not had lunch thanks to a certain upset little one.

I have the means and ability to change my diet. That is my first choice. I just need to get my bearings and make a few purchases since our current allergy limitations are not so wide spread. Since we already do not have any peanuts or tree nuts, I will additionally drop eggs (boo hoo...I could eat them every single day and are my fast easy dinner idea!), all dairy (while I don't buy milk due to Miss C, I still love my cheese!) and shellfish (pretty rare anyway since we avoided it as a potential allergen for Miss C until recently). If necessary, I will further eliminate all soy and fish and then lastly, wheat. Wheat will be last because when I gave him solids Cream of Wheat was one of the few foods he tolerated better than the rest.

For his sake, I truly hope something gives soon. For my sake, something needs to give. These little people are the light of my life and I do not function well for them with so little sleep. Not well at all.

mystic light

Nope. That's not some new thing I'm into. In fact, I'm all about catchy paint names, and that one is just kinda okay, so I obviously loved this color to pick it out for Miss C's room -- it's two shades lighter than "periwinkle bud" by Behr. I know you're dying to go to Home Depot and see it for yourself, now, aren't you? (It's on card 600-C. Go ahead, you know you can't help yourself.)

I cannot tell you how hard we've worked for the past two days. And I cannot tell you how much Baby J still has trouble at night, often wanting to be held upright the last couple of hours of my supposed sleep. I'm so wiped out I almost dozed off putting him down for his nap 15 minutes ago. Considering I pick up Little B in another half hour, that might have been a not good thing. At least since the alarm wasn't set. Maybe I'll take a 20 minute cat nap before heading out to get him...hhhmmm...sounds lovely.

On that note, I'll have to tell you about my room switcheroo and how it went later. But yes, we did get everything done that I'd planned on. So much so, I am in shock. Yet, there is still so much to do!

big plans

Okay, maybe my title is a bit fluffed, but let me tell you what we have going on in the next three days. Whoa. Three days? I better be fast on here because now I'm freakin' out!

Tomorrow, I need to get my tail to a home improvement kind of place and make some fancy decisions on a paint color for Miss C's bedroom. Soft pink? Springy Green? Two colors? I'm all about changing things up, but my husband leans toward traditional, so I have to step lightly. Especially since we still believe we'll be trying to sell our home within a year's time, maybe two.

Friday, my dear husband has a major, and I do mean MAJOR professional exam to take that he has been for a studying for really hard since before that surgery he had. He won't get the results until Christmas. Last year's results weren't so merry, so I'm seriously praying that this year something gives a little and we're all a bit merrier, ya know?

Saturday.
Oh, sweet Saturday.
We will pull out that paint I need to choose and buy.
And we will begin pulling things out of both kid's rooms.
Including the loft that has to be taken apart, the installed planets on the ceiling, the two lanterns on the wall, the large hooks for holding gymnastics rings and even the mounted shelves. Sigh.

Little B and Miss C will be swapping rooms and Miss C's new one will be getting that face lift a paint job offers. Both of them will be getting some (hopefully) better toy-managing skills and organizing in their new rooms.

Little B struggles hard -- I mean hard -- in the winter seasons. The past two weeks we've seen it begin in small, subtle ways. I love the fall season, but maybe that is to balance out the difficult times that seem to come with it. My stress levels are already on the rise which means my reactions to everyone aren't so hot right now. I need to dig my heels in and pray my way through, I know. Only One can really help.

So, one of the things we have decided to do is make his room easier for him to organize. "Poor organization skills" is something he struggles with desperately. That would be of his room, his school desk, his emotions, his thoughts, his reactions, his behavior. Yes, it's his Sensory Processing Disorder, but he's come really far and for the first time I think we're past enough of the other things that I need to work specifically on showing him how to cope with this organizing thing. Which is laughable, really, since I am no expert and while I can arrange systems, I cannot keep them up as well as I'd like. Too many decisions involved. However, unlike Little B, I can at least figure out where to look for something!

Miss C's room is currently a very light blue, a bit larger and very airy feeling compared to his Dijon yellow, smaller room that feels dark and to me, depressing. It's a nice enough room, but our plans to paint it and such have never before materialized, and now I'm thinking it's just as well since moving him will provide more space for his big boy toys, remote controls, Lego-building, etc. And, it's just big enough to put his dresser in the closet and raise his loft to the highest setting (if he wants), therefore providing better floor space (I'm thinking reading corner for this book-lover child of mine). Plus, it's already a boy-friendly color (yes, pastel, but he needs light and bright and cheerful, so it's STAYING). Maybe I can find some cool posters to put up for him.

In my mind, this is going to be so much fun, so cool and so much better. In reality, I have three kids who will need attention and/or want to help.

Anyone want to come play?



ps...The big nasty bruise on my leg is now just colorful, not painful...and I can sleep on that side again! Whoohoo!!

grand slam

Or, make that body slam.

Today, Miss C was playing in the bathroom sink with water. Not a big deal, really. I used to let Little B do that for hours (little did I know it was providing sensory diet for him which is why he had good days after doing that)--so, I figured she'd just have a bit of fun and get a little wet and that would be that and no big fat hairy deal.

Ha.

If only life were that simple, right?

She came out fairly wet, and I really didn't understand why the (grown-up sized) tee she slept in (yup, she was still in pj's) was wet at the bottom as well as all over the front. She told me she'd been washing her face. Actually, a moment later I realized she meant her fish...have no fear, it was a very tiny yellow plastic fish acquired at the fall festival last night. Okay, washing the fish because it was dirty, fine. Glad it was fun.

And the water play was promptly forgotten about as I readied myself to mop the kitchen floor. Which also required extensive sweeping, something we will not discuss. Argh. I had to nurse Baby J in the middle of his nap so he could rest more (thanks, reflux!), which was also the middle of my mopping session because he does not like to be left out of my sight, and quite often that also means out of my arms. Sweeping and mopping, begone.

I have no idea why I was going into the kid's bathroom, I really don't. But, I did go in there. And stepped into a massive puddle of water--I kid you not. It was standing water, and I cannot fathom how there was so much on the already slick tile. But there was.

And I body slammed into the ground. And I stinkin' hurt. I almost decided to just hang out there until someone really needed me.

My right forearm hit something or other (door jam?) and has what resembles a burn. It's wearing a bandage with Neosporin now.

The spot on my right arm where I got my flu shot yesterday was pressed into the floor.

My left leg was twisted under me and I felt like I just missed breaking something--it was funky with my foot at an angle and my toe red and scraped up.

I think I might have bumped my shoulder blade, but can't tell for sure.

My back is aching something fierce.

The best part was my right thigh. I swear if I'm not sporting a 6 inch purple streak by morning I'll be in utter shock.

Every spot that landed poorly on the floor was soaking wet.

When I got up from couch to take Baby J to his crib for a nap, I ached all over. Yeah, I'm getting too old for that body slammin' stuff. Forget Calgon -- Motrin, take me away!

But, she's awful cute, isn't she?? (She keeps requesting "bumps" for her hair!)

how we celebrated

Several of you have asked what we did for our anniversary. So, I'll tell you.

Mr. J got home after 7pm from his class and brought Wendy's for the kids--don't say it, I know that was late for dinner. It does happen more than I want to admit because I far prefer eating with everyone here and that means waiting for daddy to get home. And yes, it was fast food, but that's not a staple, it's a treat. Consider it them celebrating for our anniversary. Nothing about the day was ideal, I assure you. It was long and tiring for both of us, but that's just what it is sometimes. We take it and move on.

So, we fed them, and called in one order of Manicotti from the tiny Italian place down the road, complete with garlic knots (heaven in dough) and -- cannolis for two for dessert. YUM.

We tag teamed while we ate, getting the little ones into bed, complete with stories and kisses. Then, for what time we had with three sleeping kids, we brewed up some decaf and savored our dessert while watching something on DVD. Maybe an old JAG episode. I really must admit I cannot remember.

And you know what? It was nice to just have a bit of quiet on the home front. I'm all about that. I didn't worry about the pile of dishes, the unfolded laundry or the toys on the floor. We chatted and loved being together. That's all that really mattered at the end of the day.

(He had his cannoli on another plate.)

What about the love letters, you ask?
Still "in progress". Really, it's been crazy around here.
BUT THEY WILL GET DONE.

love letters

Saturday will be my 11th wedding anniversary.
I love that.

And I love the man I married so much more now than I did eleven years ago. I think every year longer is a year deeper and sweeter. I cannot fathom my life without my husband and hope to never find out what that would be like.

I would love nothing more than to go celebrate in style - so long as dressing up was not required. But, this year’s budget is tighter than we’ve ever seen and celebrating “big” just won’t happen. Anniversary money? Probably in the gas tank. Or the refridgerator.

Besides, I have no baby sitter (so we can’t use the movie gift card that we got last Christmas) and to top it off, this is my husband’s last weekend in a long class an hour from home – 9am to 6pm on Saturday, 8am to 3pm on Sunday. Something about that doesn’t ring true for a carefree weekend.

In light of all those things, we decided to get creative.
We’ll be writing love letters to one another for anniversary presents.

And HE suggested it. We should actually be very good at this since we spent a year prior to our wedding living 3,000 miles apart with TWO visits during that time (granted, we had actually known each other for a very long time). We spent enormous amounts of paper and postage on each other and I won’t even tell you what our last phone bill looked like, after we were officially engaged…the earlier ones were bad enough! Nope, we didn’t have email and cell phones were not a common commodity "back then".

And while we may squeeze in a chance to go out for dinner inexpensively as a family, there won’t be filet mignon, I can assure you (but it sounds good, doesn’t it?!). Instead, the odds are very high that we’ll go to Chinese or Mexican soon, order sodas with the meal (with jalapeño cheese dip if it’s Mexican!) and call it an anniversary dinner. Truthfully? That’s okay with both of us. We don’t mind sharing it with the kids, either. After all, they are part of our family and when we got married, we became family to each other.


But, since tight times are everywhere at the moment, I want to ask you:

~What would you do for very inexpensive dates and gifts, etc?

~Tell me what you’d do for $5 or less, and/or tell me what you’d do for $10 or less.

Please leave a comment with your ideas!


Among my favorite ideas are sharing a dessert and latte; going to a bookstore and perusing the clearance items to see if something fun strikes both people as an interesting purchase--a game, a book, or who knows what. Either one could be done with those two budget restrictions and are things I like! Of course, neither of these will happen since taking three kids along changes the dynamics drastcially!

the race

I need to finish my lunch before Baby J finishes his diaper.

Mercy.