Okay, it wasn't specifically for being awesome.
But we did have the Cub Scouts Blue & Gold dinner this past Wednesday night. It went very nicely, aside from starting at a very crazy 7pm, with so many families bringing young kids in tow. Combine the two very big "no-no's" of kids eating a very late dinner and kids being up long past their bedtime, and you have a recipe for an extremely long, tiring night. But I digress. Back to my award! :)
At the end of the very long awards presentation (one of the boys even got his Arrow of Light badge...I'm new to this whole scouting thing, so that was definitely a learning experience), they asked Jesse to come up, as well as "Sister Newson". I blinked, looked at Jesse, and asked, "They want me to come up front?" I couldn't imagine why. I was rather embarrassed. But they wanted to give me an award (an actual certificate, mind you!) called the "Scouter's Wife Award". I kid you not. This thing actually has a large, golden, embossed scout symbol on it. It says, "Becky Newson, whose devoted support of her husband's Scouting has made possible his service to youth." Signed by the Den Leader, and one of the Bishopric members (it says "COR" under his name - does that make him a coordinator or something?), and [insert me giggling quietly] also by Jesse. The Den Leader made a very small speech about how impossible it would be for anyone to serve in Scouting without the large support of their spouse. I said a bashful thank you, and waddled (remember, 36 weeks pregnant, folks!) back to my seat as quickly as possible.
It's nice to be thought of and thanked, that's for sure, especially for something so unexpected (I mean, doesn't every wife need to support her husband's calling?). And I guess I do help out a bit. I screen his email and make sure he's paying attention and following up, at very least! And I do have to deal with him being out of the home at least one evening a night for Scouts, and encourage him to go to his crazy long Roundtable meetings even when he knows that he'll be there forever for very little logical reason. Now if only I were supportive enough to help him track down a Scouting shirt that he keeps being badgered about!
OH! Side story that Jesse related to me: The Arrow of Light committee, who did the award presentation (rather ceremoniously!), were taking bets on their way to our dinner- whether we would be serving chicken breasts or spaghetti. They commented to someone that we totally blew them out of the water! The theme was the Chinese New Year, so we had quite an array of Chinese-themed foods. Sweet & Sour Chicken and another version of Chinese Chicken were served as the main course, and little egg rolls were also provided...and fortune cookies, of course. Attendees were asked to bring sides in theme. I ventured out on a limb and made vegetable chow mein, although a *lot* of the other dishes were some variety of broccoli and carrots, it was almost funny. But yeah, it was fun to hear their expectations compared to what we actually had. (And a note to myself - in the future, keep to Jesse's potluck rule: Never bring more than would feed your own family, no matter how much they ask for. Otherwise you go home with enough leftovers to feed you for three days.)
In other completely unrelated news, but still worthy of mention: We were out enough today that we couldn't continue the diaper-less experience of Jacob and the potty. But while we were home, and Jacob in his diaper, he did come to me and tell me that he wanted to poop on the potty. I again helped him with getting his pants and diaper off, and sure enough, a few minutes later he came running down the hall to tell me he did it!! I am very proud of him! And then he did it again this evening, a bit before bedtime. But he had to go a little bit more after we had already tucked him in for the night, and I guess he didn't realize he can call for us. He just stood at the bedroom door, wiggling it enough to make me annoyed enough to get up and put him back in bed...but when he saw me he quickly said, "I pooped, mommy" and grabbed at his diaper to make sure I understood, I guess. Still - it's very cool that he's taking so much initiative in this potty stuff!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Jacob goes potty
Two weeks ago, if you would have told me that Jacob would learn to use the potty any day now, I would have laughed in your face. Just the way that he would pee anywhere as soon as he was out of his diaper, giggle with glee, and proceed to step in it....well, didn't seem like a kid ready for the potty to me, you know?
But somehow, amazingly, all of the sudden he decided he wanted to use the potty. I think it was when he was watching Melinda, not too long ago. Melinda always begs Jacob to come "help" her go to the bathroom - to hand her toilet paper, and then flush the toilet for her (she doesn't like the loud noise it makes, and she's had nightmares about the water overflowing out of the toilet and filling up the house). So Jacob's very involved in the process. And then, we went to the library 3 weeks ago, and decided to check out a couple potty books. He especially likes the Once Upon A Potty - Boy book. We also checked out the You Can Go to the Potty book, but he pays more attention to the pictures of a crying baby being taken care of than the bigger boy going potty, in that book. Anyway, just about a week ago, he pee'd in his diaper, and all of the sudden was saying, "I want go potty, mommy!" and started tugging at his pants. I was a little dubious, but I helped him get his pants and diaper off, and he went and sat on the potty. And got the teeniest little trickle out, lol. But he was so proud of himself!! He started jumping up and practically dancing, proclaiming "I did it!!!" He asked to go to the potty a bit sporadically after that, for the next several days.
Yesterday was a lot of attempts, all day long. Every time he noticed his diaper getting wet, he was at my side, begging me to help him go to the potty. And every time, of course, he had practically nothing left to do on the potty, because it all went into the diaper already. And today was looking like a repeat, and I was getting tired of it, fast. So before lunchtime, when he was already on his 3rd trip to the bathroom, I decided to leave his bum naked. He didn't like that at first, he kept asking for a diaper back on, and pants. I eventually compromised and gave him an oversized shirt and leg warmers to wear. (By the way, I used this Flikr tutorial to make my own children's leg warmers (aka "Baby Legs") out of women's knee high socks, it was fun!) He decided that was a-Okay with him! And pretty soon, he was running back to the potty every 10 minutes to go pee, with chants of "Quick quick quickly! Go potty!" And then he'd come back out and tell me, triumphantly, "I pee-peed! I pee-peed, mommy! Come see, come see!" I swear, that kid pee'd on the potty at least 20 times today. (What is the deal with boys!?!?) He *also* pooped on the potty, twice!! He only had one accident all day long. Amazing, huh? I guess being naked just made things click for him, finally!
My only problem is that, at least as of yesterday, he doesn't really seem capable of 1) understanding that he should use the potty before he goes in a diaper, and 2) getting pants and a diaper off quickly enough to take care of things by himself.
And of course, there's the whole issue of a baby joining the family somewhere in the next 3-6 weeks. I've heard many stories from other moms about how their child regressed with potty training after a new baby was in the house. So I don't want to get my hopes up to high that he will keep this up, just in case it all goes back to the way it used to be in a few weeks.
Still - the fact that he did so extremely well in a single day gives me hope that he won't still be in diapers when he's 4 years old!! :)
But somehow, amazingly, all of the sudden he decided he wanted to use the potty. I think it was when he was watching Melinda, not too long ago. Melinda always begs Jacob to come "help" her go to the bathroom - to hand her toilet paper, and then flush the toilet for her (she doesn't like the loud noise it makes, and she's had nightmares about the water overflowing out of the toilet and filling up the house). So Jacob's very involved in the process. And then, we went to the library 3 weeks ago, and decided to check out a couple potty books. He especially likes the Once Upon A Potty - Boy book. We also checked out the You Can Go to the Potty book, but he pays more attention to the pictures of a crying baby being taken care of than the bigger boy going potty, in that book. Anyway, just about a week ago, he pee'd in his diaper, and all of the sudden was saying, "I want go potty, mommy!" and started tugging at his pants. I was a little dubious, but I helped him get his pants and diaper off, and he went and sat on the potty. And got the teeniest little trickle out, lol. But he was so proud of himself!! He started jumping up and practically dancing, proclaiming "I did it!!!" He asked to go to the potty a bit sporadically after that, for the next several days.
Yesterday was a lot of attempts, all day long. Every time he noticed his diaper getting wet, he was at my side, begging me to help him go to the potty. And every time, of course, he had practically nothing left to do on the potty, because it all went into the diaper already. And today was looking like a repeat, and I was getting tired of it, fast. So before lunchtime, when he was already on his 3rd trip to the bathroom, I decided to leave his bum naked. He didn't like that at first, he kept asking for a diaper back on, and pants. I eventually compromised and gave him an oversized shirt and leg warmers to wear. (By the way, I used this Flikr tutorial to make my own children's leg warmers (aka "Baby Legs") out of women's knee high socks, it was fun!) He decided that was a-Okay with him! And pretty soon, he was running back to the potty every 10 minutes to go pee, with chants of "Quick quick quickly! Go potty!" And then he'd come back out and tell me, triumphantly, "I pee-peed! I pee-peed, mommy! Come see, come see!" I swear, that kid pee'd on the potty at least 20 times today. (What is the deal with boys!?!?) He *also* pooped on the potty, twice!! He only had one accident all day long. Amazing, huh? I guess being naked just made things click for him, finally!My only problem is that, at least as of yesterday, he doesn't really seem capable of 1) understanding that he should use the potty before he goes in a diaper, and 2) getting pants and a diaper off quickly enough to take care of things by himself.
And of course, there's the whole issue of a baby joining the family somewhere in the next 3-6 weeks. I've heard many stories from other moms about how their child regressed with potty training after a new baby was in the house. So I don't want to get my hopes up to high that he will keep this up, just in case it all goes back to the way it used to be in a few weeks.
Still - the fact that he did so extremely well in a single day gives me hope that he won't still be in diapers when he's 4 years old!! :)
Monday, February 25, 2008
Mmmm, Potato soup
I think I might have given this recipe to at least a couple people...but this is one of my favorite comfort foods, lately.
If you're unfamiliar with leeks, like I was before this recipe, it's not too bad. This is what a leek
looks like. In my grocery store, I find them near other vegetables like celery, carrots, etc. - the section that is refrigerated and gets sprinkled with water. What I was told is to use the white part, and the lighter green parts, not the "leaves", which are pretty tough. They grow in the ground, so you may need to be extra careful between the layers as you wash them, making sure they look clean. When I chop them for this recipe, I basically slice the leek into disks, and then lay the disc flat and cut it into quarters or more, based on the size of that particular leek.
And if you just want to skip the leeks, you can substitute onions. They have very similar flavors. But leeks have some good nutritional value, too:
Potato and Leek SoupThat's it! Easy, huh? Now, here's some modifications I like to do: Either add more potatoes or use less broth for a thicker, chunkier soup. Keep in mind that you're pureeing a portion of the soup, which will take out a bit of the chunkiness. 4 cups potatoes to 8 cups broth just doesn't cut it for me. Also, since I'm going for absolute "YUM!!" factor here, I like to add a bunch of shredded cheddar along with the cream. I usually end up adding a good cup or more of shredded cheese. I've also added chunks of ham before, which is good, but I like it just as much, sometimes more, without the ham. You can also play around with adding a green vegetable - like chunks of green beans, or maybe asparagus. (I haven't actually tried the asparagus yet, but I had some cream of asparagus soup just a day before I had this soup, and I think the two flavors might mix very nicely!)
3 tablespoons butter
3 cups leeks, washed and chopped
4 cups peeled, diced potatoes (make sure you use a non-mealy potato, like red or white/yellow)
salt & pepper to taste
6-8 cups chicken broth
2 cups heavy cream
Melt butter and cook leeks over medium heat. Add potatoes and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add broth, bring to a simmer. Cook until potatoes are tender.
Remove and puree a portion of the soup, return to pot, and stir in cream.
If you're unfamiliar with leeks, like I was before this recipe, it's not too bad. This is what a leek
looks like. In my grocery store, I find them near other vegetables like celery, carrots, etc. - the section that is refrigerated and gets sprinkled with water. What I was told is to use the white part, and the lighter green parts, not the "leaves", which are pretty tough. They grow in the ground, so you may need to be extra careful between the layers as you wash them, making sure they look clean. When I chop them for this recipe, I basically slice the leek into disks, and then lay the disc flat and cut it into quarters or more, based on the size of that particular leek.And if you just want to skip the leeks, you can substitute onions. They have very similar flavors. But leeks have some good nutritional value, too:
- Low in Saturated Fat, Sodium, and Cholesterol
- High in Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Folate, Manganese, Dietary Fiber, Vitamin B6, Iron and Magnesium
- Low in Saturated Fat, Sodium, and Cholesterol
- High in Vitamin C, Dietary Fiber, Vitamin B6, Folate and Manganese
Saturday, February 23, 2008
New bunk bed
Jesse got a raise at work, quite a substantial one. Honestly, he's be very underpaid for a while now, but not one to raise a stink about it. At any rate, it's quite the blessing. And there's something I've been wanting to get for the kids for at least a year now: A bunk bed from IKEA.
It's really short as far as bunk beds go. Standing up, the top railing of the top bunk comes to just under shoulder height for me.
Anyway, since we have a little wiggle room in our budget now, we decided to finally go out and get this for the kids. Up till now, they've been basically sharing the twin mattress on the floor, or sometimes separating themselves, with one of them in the crib-turned-toddler bed. (And it just so happens that Melinda had been complaining for the last several days about her mattress being on the floor. She wanted it up high, like Mommy and Daddy's bed is, now!)
So we made the trip down to IKEA this past Thursday night, attempting to squeeze it in between a Cub Scouts meeting that Jesse needed to attend. The traffic was horrible, though, and while we made our list of items to grab easily and quickly, the self-checkout was kind of a nightmare and took much longer than it should have, with only one attendant to help everyone who ran into a kink - which was just about every single person on 4 different machines. By the time we were out of the store, the kids were going nuts (well, Jacob at least - he missed his nap). And we had to take Jesse straight to his meeting instead of going home. He thought he'd be in there for 5-10 minutes, just long enough to get info on Day Camp. But guess what? The kids and I waited in the van for a full hour and 2 minutes. And this was after I had told myself that if Jesse wasn't back in an hour, I'd be going out to look for a disabled body on the ground. The night was dark and quiet enough to make my mind go there, especially since I didn't actually see him go into a door.
But he did make it back, grumbling about stupid meetings lasting 20 times longer than they needed to, for no good reason, and we made it home around 8:30 pm. Jacob had fallen asleep in the car while we waited for Jesse, so I tucked him into our bedroom. Jesse decided to go ahead and tackle the assembly that night, because he and Melinda were both excited about it. And since Jacob was out of the picture, it really was a good time for an involved furniture assembly project. I "helped" by sorting the pieces and reading the directions.
Here's the first completed side:
Melinda was doing great at going through the different hardware pieces and picking out the right ones. I think her favorite part, though, was inserting the wooden pegs into the many, many holes. Nice and easy job! Then she got in on some hexagonal screwing action:
And before long, we had enough pieces to stand the whole thing up and put it together. Melinda was getting pretty tired by this point, and it was all we could do to keep her focused on handing Jesse one screw at a time, instead of jabbering in some sort of nonsensical language and just plain not paying attention to anything.
Finally, assembly was done. We even got the neat little tent set up on top! Then we quickly got out the new mattresses (also IKEA), threw some sheets on them, put the pillows and blankets on, and finished up at about 10:30pm!!! Whew! Melinda was more than happy to climb into bed on the top bunk, up under the canopy. Although she has mentioned that she'd like a window in the canopy. I think I can handle that easily enough, by cutting out a circle and sewing some clear vinyl on it.
I'll have to rearrange some pictures on the wall, but otherwise, we're set! Jacob was thrilled when he saw it set up the next morning, and he's been hard at practice to get up and down the ladder easily. Of course, it's been really difficult to get them to sleep since we've gotten it - the novelty of a bunk bed will take a while to wear off, I think. But hopefully before the new baby interrupts all of our night schedules. Neither one of them can decide whether they want to sleep on top or bottom, separately or apart, etc., so there's a lot of going up and down and whining and arguing before they end up falling asleep. Still, it's obvious that they love it. Melinda came and told me, after she and Jacob had been playing in the bedroom for a while, that they had a great "adventure". The bed was a boat, and they got sucked up in a tornado (that's a nod to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker game that she loved to watch Jesse play on the Game Cube this past year), and then the boat ran into some sand, and on and on and on. It did sound like quite the adventure, and she was thrilled to re-tell it!
At any rate, this bunk bed will probably be our one "splurge" with the pay raise. Despite how badly I want a new set of couches, or how nice it would be to get Jesse a car that's not about to fall apart any second... We're hoping to get a good savings going, now, after so long of having practically nothing saved at all.
It's really short as far as bunk beds go. Standing up, the top railing of the top bunk comes to just under shoulder height for me.
Anyway, since we have a little wiggle room in our budget now, we decided to finally go out and get this for the kids. Up till now, they've been basically sharing the twin mattress on the floor, or sometimes separating themselves, with one of them in the crib-turned-toddler bed. (And it just so happens that Melinda had been complaining for the last several days about her mattress being on the floor. She wanted it up high, like Mommy and Daddy's bed is, now!)
So we made the trip down to IKEA this past Thursday night, attempting to squeeze it in between a Cub Scouts meeting that Jesse needed to attend. The traffic was horrible, though, and while we made our list of items to grab easily and quickly, the self-checkout was kind of a nightmare and took much longer than it should have, with only one attendant to help everyone who ran into a kink - which was just about every single person on 4 different machines. By the time we were out of the store, the kids were going nuts (well, Jacob at least - he missed his nap). And we had to take Jesse straight to his meeting instead of going home. He thought he'd be in there for 5-10 minutes, just long enough to get info on Day Camp. But guess what? The kids and I waited in the van for a full hour and 2 minutes. And this was after I had told myself that if Jesse wasn't back in an hour, I'd be going out to look for a disabled body on the ground. The night was dark and quiet enough to make my mind go there, especially since I didn't actually see him go into a door.
But he did make it back, grumbling about stupid meetings lasting 20 times longer than they needed to, for no good reason, and we made it home around 8:30 pm. Jacob had fallen asleep in the car while we waited for Jesse, so I tucked him into our bedroom. Jesse decided to go ahead and tackle the assembly that night, because he and Melinda were both excited about it. And since Jacob was out of the picture, it really was a good time for an involved furniture assembly project. I "helped" by sorting the pieces and reading the directions.
Here's the first completed side:
Melinda was doing great at going through the different hardware pieces and picking out the right ones. I think her favorite part, though, was inserting the wooden pegs into the many, many holes. Nice and easy job! Then she got in on some hexagonal screwing action:
And before long, we had enough pieces to stand the whole thing up and put it together. Melinda was getting pretty tired by this point, and it was all we could do to keep her focused on handing Jesse one screw at a time, instead of jabbering in some sort of nonsensical language and just plain not paying attention to anything.
Finally, assembly was done. We even got the neat little tent set up on top! Then we quickly got out the new mattresses (also IKEA), threw some sheets on them, put the pillows and blankets on, and finished up at about 10:30pm!!! Whew! Melinda was more than happy to climb into bed on the top bunk, up under the canopy. Although she has mentioned that she'd like a window in the canopy. I think I can handle that easily enough, by cutting out a circle and sewing some clear vinyl on it.
I'll have to rearrange some pictures on the wall, but otherwise, we're set! Jacob was thrilled when he saw it set up the next morning, and he's been hard at practice to get up and down the ladder easily. Of course, it's been really difficult to get them to sleep since we've gotten it - the novelty of a bunk bed will take a while to wear off, I think. But hopefully before the new baby interrupts all of our night schedules. Neither one of them can decide whether they want to sleep on top or bottom, separately or apart, etc., so there's a lot of going up and down and whining and arguing before they end up falling asleep. Still, it's obvious that they love it. Melinda came and told me, after she and Jacob had been playing in the bedroom for a while, that they had a great "adventure". The bed was a boat, and they got sucked up in a tornado (that's a nod to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker game that she loved to watch Jesse play on the Game Cube this past year), and then the boat ran into some sand, and on and on and on. It did sound like quite the adventure, and she was thrilled to re-tell it!At any rate, this bunk bed will probably be our one "splurge" with the pay raise. Despite how badly I want a new set of couches, or how nice it would be to get Jesse a car that's not about to fall apart any second... We're hoping to get a good savings going, now, after so long of having practically nothing saved at all.
When pigs fly
I have many, many, many mornings where I am unable to convince myself to get out of bed, no matter how much I know I need to. I'm just not a morning person. And hey- I'm 8 months pregnant and crazy tired, okay?!? At any rate, on Friday morning, Jesse had to run out the door to get to work on time, and couldn't grab the kids some breakfast like he often does. Which meant that I really did need to get up and feed those poor children. And honestly, I needed to get up anyway, in order to give myself enough time to get ready to go to playgroup. But mommy's sleepy, and warm under the covers, and just doesn't want to get up.
Melinda comes in after Jesse leaves, and asks, "Mommy, is it time for you to get up now and get us some food?" I groan. And pause. Sigh. "Give me a few more minutes, okay Melinda?"
About 5 minutes later, she comes back, dutiful little girl that she is. "Mommy, are you read to get up now?" I groan again. I'm really not ready. It doesn't feel like I will EVER be ready. "Can't you wait a couple minutes longer, Melinda?" She sighs, but leaves the room without complaint.
She comes back in quickly this time, after maybe only 2 minutes. "Mommy, I'm hungry. When will you get up?" Boy oh boy, this morning is hard. I really don't want to get up. But she is being so nice about it. So I say, "Hmmm. Maybe when pigs fly...."
Melinda gets this quirky little look on her face. It turns into half of a grin. Suddenly the tone in her voice expresses that she's had one of those "Ah-ha!!" moments, and she says, "OH! That's good. There *are* pigs here, see??" And suddenly, she is oinking and flapping her "wings". And since Jacob has since joined her, and copies everything she does, he chimes right in with his own little "coinks" with flapping hands.
As tired and unready to wake up as I am, I absolutely have to laugh at this display of wit and cunning. And wouldn't you know, it was enough to start off my day on a cheerful note.
(Nevermind that the rest of the day was a big disaster....it's the good stories we want to remember!!)
Melinda comes in after Jesse leaves, and asks, "Mommy, is it time for you to get up now and get us some food?" I groan. And pause. Sigh. "Give me a few more minutes, okay Melinda?"
About 5 minutes later, she comes back, dutiful little girl that she is. "Mommy, are you read to get up now?" I groan again. I'm really not ready. It doesn't feel like I will EVER be ready. "Can't you wait a couple minutes longer, Melinda?" She sighs, but leaves the room without complaint.
She comes back in quickly this time, after maybe only 2 minutes. "Mommy, I'm hungry. When will you get up?" Boy oh boy, this morning is hard. I really don't want to get up. But she is being so nice about it. So I say, "Hmmm. Maybe when pigs fly...."
Melinda gets this quirky little look on her face. It turns into half of a grin. Suddenly the tone in her voice expresses that she's had one of those "Ah-ha!!" moments, and she says, "OH! That's good. There *are* pigs here, see??" And suddenly, she is oinking and flapping her "wings". And since Jacob has since joined her, and copies everything she does, he chimes right in with his own little "coinks" with flapping hands.
As tired and unready to wake up as I am, I absolutely have to laugh at this display of wit and cunning. And wouldn't you know, it was enough to start off my day on a cheerful note.
(Nevermind that the rest of the day was a big disaster....it's the good stories we want to remember!!)
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Breast milk contains stem cells!
I thought that this was such amazing news, I just had to share the story!
http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20081102-16879.html
A few paragraphs from the article:
http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20081102-16879.html
A few paragraphs from the article:
But what Dr Mark Cregan is excited about right now is the promise that his discovery could be the start of many more exciting revelations about the potency of breast milk.He believes that it not only meets all the nutritional needs of a growing infant but contains key markers that guide his or her development into adulthood.
“We already know how breast milk provides for the baby’s nutritional needs, but we are only just beginning to understand that it probably performs many other functions,” says Dr Cregan, a molecular biologist at The University of Western Australia.
He says that, in essence, a new mother’s mammary glands take over from the placenta to provide the development guidance to ensure a baby’s genetic destiny is fulfilled.
“It is setting the baby up for the perfect development,” he says. “We already know that babies who are breast fed have an IQ advantage and that there’s a raft of other health benefits. Researchers also believe that the protective effects of being breast fed continue well into adult life.
“The point is that many mothers see milks as identical – formula milk and breast milk look the same so they must be the same. But we know now that they are quite different and a lot of the effects of breast milk versus formula don’t become apparent for decades. Formula companies have focussed on matching breast milk’s nutritional qualities but formula can never provide the developmental guidance.”
It was Dr Cregan’s interest in infant health that led him to investigate the complex cellular components of human milk. “I was looking at this vast complexity of cells and I thought, ‘No one knows anything about them’.”
Isn't it amazing? Research is always continuing, yet we still know so little about what is actually in breast milk. New discoveries are being made all the time! And now they find evidence that stem cells are in breast milk, and help to guide a child's physical development. All I can think, when I read this sort of news, is that WOW.... Heavenly Father sure knew what he was doing!!
Monday, February 18, 2008
The to-do list is shrinking!
Several weeks ago, on a mothering bulletin board I like to frequent, my "due date club" posted our to-do lists, for getting ready for the baby. It seemed pretty overwhelming at first, but I'm getting there!!
Today, since Jesse had the day off, Jesse and I knocked off number 14: doing a major cleaning of our bedroom and adjoining half-bathroom. What a relief to get that particular one done! Everything looks so nice. Of course, when he was vacuuming, he sucked up the tablecloth from his bedside table, which made the belt on the vacuum burn, and the room stinks pretty badly now. So after I'm done typing this, I'm going to go light a scented candle in there, hoping that it helps before bedtime!!
Anyway, I'm starting to feel close to ready. A little excited and a little nervous, too! I'm just about 35 weeks now - which means baby could be here in as little as 2 weeks, although 5 would certainly be more realistic when considering my history. Melinda and Jacob have both been doting on babies recently, which is fun to watch (although Melinda gets very confident and tries to carry around small 5-month olds by their armpits!! Ack!!!).
Also, we have babysitting lined up for this coming Saturday, and Jesse and I will get to go out for a nice last fling before the baby comes! We decided to go to the art museum and dinner afterwards. If my body can keep up with me, it should be a lot of fun!! And if my body doesn't keep up with me, well, we won't have the kids to worry about, so we can sit down and take all the breathers I need! :)
Today, since Jesse had the day off, Jesse and I knocked off number 14: doing a major cleaning of our bedroom and adjoining half-bathroom. What a relief to get that particular one done! Everything looks so nice. Of course, when he was vacuuming, he sucked up the tablecloth from his bedside table, which made the belt on the vacuum burn, and the room stinks pretty badly now. So after I'm done typing this, I'm going to go light a scented candle in there, hoping that it helps before bedtime!!
Many things on this list will go quickly. Three of them are simply laundry. Which I'm planning on doing tomorrow. My homebirth supplies are down to very basics, like making sure I have a small bottle of olive oil on hand, or printed directions to the hospital/phone numbers for emergency personnel (just in case!), etc. And all the supplies need to be gathered into the same location. So things like the olive oil, a crock pot (for compresses), a cookie sheet (for laying out supplies), just have to be transported from one room of the house to the other. Simple enough. The sewing, obviously, will take the longest, but I'm not stressing myself about it. And I think I have a pretty good idea in mind about childcare during the birth. I want Melinda and Jacob to be there, if they want to be (and Melinda has expressed a very strong interest in seeing it happen!), but I also need someone on hand in case they're too wild and bothering me, or get upset and need some soothing, etc. I don't want Jesse to have to be in that position, and leave me, which means I need to have someone over. My new Visiting Teacher is a stay-at-home mom of young teenagers, and she told me she'd be more than willing to help if I wanted to ask her (she sounded excited, honestly!), and she's very available because of her children's ages. Unlike most of my other choices, who I love, but have young kids of their own to consider. So I think my best option at this point is probably my Visiting Teacher...I just need to talk to her and make it final. And get myself more comfortable with the idea of having someone I'm not yet very close to in the apartment when I'm in labor, lol.
- Go through baby clothes, make sure there are enough 0-3 month pieces. Done!
- Clean out dresser drawers to make room for baby clothes. Done!
- Wash baby clothes and put them away.
- Purchase Official Birth Kit. Done!!
- Purchase and assemble supplies for homebirth into one location. In progress, nearly done.
- Sew pouch carrier. Done! Just have to see if it will fit after the baby is born, now!
- Wash Ergo carrier and Ring Sling.
- Sew Boppy slip cover.
- Sew DIAPERS!! (Okay, I was originally going to sew Newborn size diapers, but I've given up on that idea, and I'll either use disposables or buy a cheap system for newborns, and do my own sewing for size small, which should fit the baby by 1 or 2 months old, at most.)
- Sew baby blanket(s) with already purchased fabric. One super soft fleece blanket and matching toddler pillow done! Still have one patchwork blanket to go, ideally.
- Sew at least 1 pair of baby moc's (est time: 2 hours tops).
- Finish up the maternity sewing, silly! Time's running out! (honestly don't think I'm going to get around to sewing the top, but maybe I can adapt it to non-maternity, since I like the general style and fabrics I picked.)
- Pick a name for the baby. I think this might be done! DH and I both like Alexander Boden right now.
- Clean the house, especially get the bedroom and master bathroom in ideal condition. Due date: 36 weeks. Hoooooray! It's done!! Just have to keep it clean, now!
- Clean out the fridge/freezer.
- Get the mattress OFF THE FLOOR!!!! Getting out of bed is getting too hard! Done! Whew!
- Finalize plans for help with other children during the birth.
- Review Bradley Method techniques with Jesse.
- Pull out the co-sleeper and rearrange the bedroom to work with a baby.
- Wash car seat cover.
Anyway, I'm starting to feel close to ready. A little excited and a little nervous, too! I'm just about 35 weeks now - which means baby could be here in as little as 2 weeks, although 5 would certainly be more realistic when considering my history. Melinda and Jacob have both been doting on babies recently, which is fun to watch (although Melinda gets very confident and tries to carry around small 5-month olds by their armpits!! Ack!!!).
Also, we have babysitting lined up for this coming Saturday, and Jesse and I will get to go out for a nice last fling before the baby comes! We decided to go to the art museum and dinner afterwards. If my body can keep up with me, it should be a lot of fun!! And if my body doesn't keep up with me, well, we won't have the kids to worry about, so we can sit down and take all the breathers I need! :)
Saturday, February 16, 2008
The life of plywood, part 2
I originally posted in the Just Life post, near the end, that we recently bought a cheap piece of plywood to use between our mattresses in order to get our bed back up off the floor. Well, when we bought the wood, it was bigger than we needed it to be, so Jesse had them cut it at the store, and he went home with two pieces. One, we used for our bed. The other has been floating around while we figured out what to do with it. It measures 2 feet by 4 feet.
It just so happens that when our bed was on the floor, we had the box spring vertical against the wall, since we had nowhere else to put it, and we didn't really want to throw it away. We covered it with a large blanket that my Grandma had made for me as a wedding gift. So we basically had a queen-sized box spring as our headboard and wall decoration in one. Follow me so far? Anyway, when we put our bed back on the frame, the wall behind our bed suddenly looked extremely bare, and white.
I finally had an idea come to me for that extra piece of plywood. And today, I put it into action! We headed out to JoAnne's Fabrics today, and took advantage of a President's Day sale: We bought a piece of upholstery fabric for 50% off, and then used a coupon for an extra 10% off the total purchase. The whole family made the trip, but Jesse wasn't up for offering opinions on which fabric to pick. He kept shrugging his shoulders and saying, "I don't know, I can't really picture how this is going to look in the end, anyway...."
So finally I settled on a fabric that I liked, despite the fact that it pretty much matches nothing in our bedroom. Because, let's face it, nothing matches in our bedroom, anyway. We've got navy blue cheapo curtains, a hand-me-down dresser that has chunks of veneer missing and a mish-mash of knobs on the drawers, navy blue sheets and pillowcases (although right now, we're sporting beautiful red striped and green patterned Christmas pillowcases that Jesse's sister, Rachel, made for our family), and a brown and cream quilt that a different Grandma made for us, also for our wedding. And then we have a rocking chair in a forest green color, and our "bedside tables" are covered in blue cloths. So, nothing matches. And as a result, I just decided to pick something that I liked instead of worrying about trying to match something in the bedroom.
I also grabbed some batting-by-the-yard, and then we picked up a couple packages of small flat thumbtacks. And at home, I went to work: I laid the fabric face down, then the batting, then the extra piece of plywood on top. And started thumb-tacking the fabric to the back of the plywood. After the first few, I could tell my thumb was going to get sore quickly, so I grabbed a hammer to help. But even with that help, I still had to get them started with my thumb, and boy is it sore now. Yes, a staple gun would have been immensely less painful, and much quicker, but hey- we're cheap, remember? We don't have a staple gun. So thumbtacks worked just fine.
Here is the end result on the back, with all the lovely thumbtacks that made my thumb nearly get a blister:
And the front, where things actually look nice:
And then I finally manage to drag Jesse away from his computer, so he could help me screw some wire into the back, and then help me hang it on the wall. And here is our new "art" above our bed. Yay! It's so fun to do a quick project that makes a nice difference in your room. I really do like the fabric - it's very peaceful and calming, and I'm really finding that I like green a lot. Maybe enough to make it my "favorite" color. Maybe my favorite house color, at least. I still love love love blues for clothes. Oh, and for the record, Jesse really likes it, too, even though he couldn't picture it before! He said, and I quote, "It looks great, Becky." and "Nice picking, hon!" :)
Sure, maybe it's not super fancy, as far as projects go, and it's certainly not an entirely redecorated room, but it was still fun to do, and I really appreciate the wall not being completely bare now. And besides, we used the extra piece of plywood and gave it a new life! Now it's not stuck in the back seat of Jesse's car, or relegated to become a junk piece of wood for Cub Scouts to practice their skills with screwdrivers and nails. Nope, it's become a lovely piece of art! :)
It just so happens that when our bed was on the floor, we had the box spring vertical against the wall, since we had nowhere else to put it, and we didn't really want to throw it away. We covered it with a large blanket that my Grandma had made for me as a wedding gift. So we basically had a queen-sized box spring as our headboard and wall decoration in one. Follow me so far? Anyway, when we put our bed back on the frame, the wall behind our bed suddenly looked extremely bare, and white.
I finally had an idea come to me for that extra piece of plywood. And today, I put it into action! We headed out to JoAnne's Fabrics today, and took advantage of a President's Day sale: We bought a piece of upholstery fabric for 50% off, and then used a coupon for an extra 10% off the total purchase. The whole family made the trip, but Jesse wasn't up for offering opinions on which fabric to pick. He kept shrugging his shoulders and saying, "I don't know, I can't really picture how this is going to look in the end, anyway...."
So finally I settled on a fabric that I liked, despite the fact that it pretty much matches nothing in our bedroom. Because, let's face it, nothing matches in our bedroom, anyway. We've got navy blue cheapo curtains, a hand-me-down dresser that has chunks of veneer missing and a mish-mash of knobs on the drawers, navy blue sheets and pillowcases (although right now, we're sporting beautiful red striped and green patterned Christmas pillowcases that Jesse's sister, Rachel, made for our family), and a brown and cream quilt that a different Grandma made for us, also for our wedding. And then we have a rocking chair in a forest green color, and our "bedside tables" are covered in blue cloths. So, nothing matches. And as a result, I just decided to pick something that I liked instead of worrying about trying to match something in the bedroom.
I also grabbed some batting-by-the-yard, and then we picked up a couple packages of small flat thumbtacks. And at home, I went to work: I laid the fabric face down, then the batting, then the extra piece of plywood on top. And started thumb-tacking the fabric to the back of the plywood. After the first few, I could tell my thumb was going to get sore quickly, so I grabbed a hammer to help. But even with that help, I still had to get them started with my thumb, and boy is it sore now. Yes, a staple gun would have been immensely less painful, and much quicker, but hey- we're cheap, remember? We don't have a staple gun. So thumbtacks worked just fine.
Here is the end result on the back, with all the lovely thumbtacks that made my thumb nearly get a blister:
And the front, where things actually look nice:
And then I finally manage to drag Jesse away from his computer, so he could help me screw some wire into the back, and then help me hang it on the wall. And here is our new "art" above our bed. Yay! It's so fun to do a quick project that makes a nice difference in your room. I really do like the fabric - it's very peaceful and calming, and I'm really finding that I like green a lot. Maybe enough to make it my "favorite" color. Maybe my favorite house color, at least. I still love love love blues for clothes. Oh, and for the record, Jesse really likes it, too, even though he couldn't picture it before! He said, and I quote, "It looks great, Becky." and "Nice picking, hon!" :)
Sure, maybe it's not super fancy, as far as projects go, and it's certainly not an entirely redecorated room, but it was still fun to do, and I really appreciate the wall not being completely bare now. And besides, we used the extra piece of plywood and gave it a new life! Now it's not stuck in the back seat of Jesse's car, or relegated to become a junk piece of wood for Cub Scouts to practice their skills with screwdrivers and nails. Nope, it's become a lovely piece of art! :)
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Snuggled Up
Jacob just *loves* sleeping with his new Raggedy Andy, which Grandma Newson made for him for Christmas. (I really can't blame him - he's so cuddly and adorable!)
Every night, Jacob makes sure Raggedy Andy is laid down next to him on his pillow, and Andy absolutely must be tucked in under the blanket along with Jacob. Oftentimes, Jacob will lay on his side, put his arm around Raggedy Andy, and snuggle with him for a few minutes after being tucked in.
But even cuter, he has started holding Andy's hand while he falls asleep. I took this picture during naptime. Isn't it sweet? :)
He fell asleep quickly this time (just about 3 minutes!), holding Andy's hand in one hand, and my hand in the other (I sure don't mind the excuse to lay down and rest for a few minutes....). Once he had dozed off, I snuck off to grab the camera and take the picture before his hand relaxed and flopped away from Raggedy Andy's hand.
And a random side note: Every time Jacob wakes up from nap now days (and sometimes bedtime, too), he walks out to find me, and says in a breathy, groggy voice, "Good nap, Mom." (As in, "Don't worry mom, I had a good sleep, so PLEASE don't send me back to bed!")
Every night, Jacob makes sure Raggedy Andy is laid down next to him on his pillow, and Andy absolutely must be tucked in under the blanket along with Jacob. Oftentimes, Jacob will lay on his side, put his arm around Raggedy Andy, and snuggle with him for a few minutes after being tucked in.
But even cuter, he has started holding Andy's hand while he falls asleep. I took this picture during naptime. Isn't it sweet? :)
He fell asleep quickly this time (just about 3 minutes!), holding Andy's hand in one hand, and my hand in the other (I sure don't mind the excuse to lay down and rest for a few minutes....). Once he had dozed off, I snuck off to grab the camera and take the picture before his hand relaxed and flopped away from Raggedy Andy's hand.
And a random side note: Every time Jacob wakes up from nap now days (and sometimes bedtime, too), he walks out to find me, and says in a breathy, groggy voice, "Good nap, Mom." (As in, "Don't worry mom, I had a good sleep, so PLEASE don't send me back to bed!")
Six Quirky Things About Me
Summer tagged me over at her blog, Summer's Nook, to do this little quiz about myself, sharing six non-important things/habits/quirks about me. I'm bored enough today, so why not? I have to warn you, though, it was a real stretch for me to think of the following things. I seem so normal to myself.....
- I absolutely cannot put down a fictional book in the middle of a chapter. I must finish the chapter - so I have a good "stopping point" in a story - before moving on to a new activity. If I'm reading a non-fiction book, however, any ol' chapter will do just fine. This quirk leads to a lot of binge-reading on my part. And very very late nights, when I just can't find a suitable stopping point....
- I rarely manage to sit at my computer without grabbing a snack. Snacks can range from raisins, to ice cream, to crackers, and a million things in between, but if I'm at the computer for any length of time, odds are that I'm also eating something.
- I have a really hard time calling people. I always worry that I'm interrupting something - maybe they're sleeping in, or just getting out of the shower, so I'll wait till later. Oh, but now they might be getting lunch ready, and I don't want to interrupt a meal time. Wait till later again. Surely, now is prime time for naps, and I just can't make a phone call during a person's precious quiet time, whether they're napping, or just enjoying some peace while the kids nap. And of course, after naps comes all the chaos of grumpy kids needing snacks, so I shouldn't interrupt that either. Wait till later. Of course, now is the time that most mothers are probably getting dinner ready, and I know how hard it is to be interrupted in the middle of making dinner, so I'll wait again. But who knows, really, when they're eating? Is it 5:30? Is it 7:00? I better just wait to be sure. Of course, once it hits 7:00pm, they may be having some family time or getting the kids geared down and ready for bed, so I better wait a little longer. But calling anyone after 8:00pm just seems rude. I'll just wait to call another day. Maybe tomorrow their imaginary schedule will be less crazy. And me, a little less neurotic about phone calls.
- At bedtime, I always start the evening laying on my right side, facing the middle of the bed. And I will usually lay that way for at least half an hour. But I can't actually fall asleep until I've turned over onto my left side, facing the outside of the bed. Usually with at least a hand hanging over the edge.
- I don't like the milk jug having a cap on, once it's been opened. If it has a cap on, then I can't pour milk one-handed and put the milk right back in the fridge before the door shuts. NooOOooo. With a cap on, you have to set your bowl or glass on the counter, hold the milk with one hand, use the other hand to remove the cap, (refrigerator door shutting in the meantime), pour the milk, replace the cap, open the fridge back up (or if you've managed to keep it propped open with one carefully placed foot, more power to you!), set the milk down, close the fridge, then pick back up your bowl or glass. Instead of simply grabbing the milk with one hand, pouring quickly, putting milk back on the shelf, closing fridge, and moving on.
- My skin is acidic or something. I haven't quite solidified the theory, yet. But every keyboard and mouse I've had in the last 3-4 years has slowly had the paint etched away. My current keyboard is missing the letters N and M, and the D and C are on their way out, too. My last mouse was already replaced because it started looking so weird and worn, and my new one is already starting to look "raw" around the spot where the fatty pads under my pinky finger (the top of the palm) would hit. Oh, and my keyboard tray's lovely "wooden" laminate covering has also been rubbed raw under my left hand's wrist area, where it frequently rests. Jesse uses his computer as much as I use mine, and he doesn't have the same problem, despite having the same brands. So it must be my skin. Right?
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
My midwife's website!
I just learned today that my Midwife has a brand new website! I thought it might be interesting to share with my family and friends. We are planning a homebirth with this baby, and I'm very excited about it. Evelyn is such a warm woman, and has such a broad range of experience with birthing in many different environments and circumstances, as well as many years of experience behind her. Her two assistants, Shannon and Casey, are also just great! I think we'll be in great hands with them at our new baby's birth! :)
Alternative Birth Choices website
Alternative Birth Choices website
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Valentine's Day is coming
I don't normally talk much about Valentine's Day. It's typically not that exciting to me. But this year, I have a reason to post something about it. My friend, Summer, does Blogger redesigns. At a really good price, too. But it's not something I can justify spending money on, for a family blog. She recently held a giveaway for a free Blog redesign, and I knew my chances were slim, but I entered. And ... didn't win. ;)However, Summer also pointed out the person who did win is now holding a giveaway of her own (click here to see!) - she'll pick a random winner and pay for Summer to do a redesign for the winner! How cool! How generous! So of *course* I have to enter, right? Just for the chance that I can get a nifty custom blog by my own friend?
Of course, one of her rules for her giveaway also includes me posting about it, as well as telling something meaningful to me about Valentine's Day. So, I will share my favorite Valentine's Day memory.
It happened to be one of the first Valentine's Days that Jesse and I shared as a married couple. I don't recall specifically if it was the 1st or 2nd, but it was around there. Jesse was a student at the University of Colorado, and I was working at my legal secretary job. That particular Valentines Day was not a lovely day. It was cold and dreary most of the day, and near the end of the day, the weather brought a decent amount of snow, along with the wind. I had a stressful day at work. As was normal those days, Jesse called me in the afternoon, when he got home from school, and I think he could tell I wasn't quite thrilled with how the day was turning out. But when I got home, things turned around quickly.
Jesse had cleaned up the house very nicely (we had left it a bit sloppy the night before), and set the table with a tablecloth and two candles, and plates laid out nicely, already dished up with our favorite Chinese Takeout. Now that is the amazing part - we only had one car, and the Chinese place was a good 15-20 minute walk each way. Jesse not only cleaned up the house and made the environment nice for dinner, he actually walked in the cold, blowing snow - both ways! - just to get some of our favorite food, so I also wouldn't have to worry about cooking dinner when I got home. It was absolutely perfect, to walk in on a scene like that, and learning what he did, simply to make the evening special for me.
Now, we don't really celebrate Valentine's Day anymore. In fact, last year, the only thing Jesse brought home was a card that he had printed while he was at work - it was a Simpson's-themed card, with the phrase "I choo-choo-choo-CHOOSE you!"... with a picture of one of the Simpsons characters and a train. And actually, he forgot to bring it home on Valentine's Day, and didn't bring it to me until the day after! I admit, I rolled my eyes a little bit, but him telling me how much he and his co-worker giggled about the card and the reference it made to the show did make me smile a bit. Personally, I just like the excuse that is Valentine's Day to eat chocolate. Not that I ever really need an excuse. But when you see all the pretty packaged candies....well, you know they'll also go on sale pretty quick, ya know? :)
Every year I think about maybe making a nice themed dinner or something extra special for Jesse, but every year I manage to come up with a reason for why I don't. I don't know, Valentine's Day doesn't usually seem like a big deal us, and it's sort of an unspoken agreement that we won't make it one.
BUT - that still doesn't keep me from secretly hoping Jesse will surprise me, every year!
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Mommy's turn for the stomach bug
Sunday night, not long before bedtime, I noticed my stomach felt funny. It was one of those feelings where you can't quite decide if you're hungry, or too full, or queasy, or have an embedded burp, or what. And since my belly is getting pretty huge with the pregnancy these days, I also had the option to consider that maybe the baby was just pressing on my insides oddly. I ended up deciding to eat a couple slices of toast to see if that would fix anything. It didn't make any change, but I went to bed, all the same.
And then, yep, I woke up at 2:30am. Tummy still felt a little funny. I sat up, and literally had an internal conversation with myself, trying to convince myself that no, I was not, in fact, queasy. But telling myself so didn't make a difference, and soon I was running for the bathroom. Barely made it in time. Thank goodness we got our bed up off the floor, huh? Takes a lot less time to get from bed to bathroom these days. Perfect timing for that change, I guess!
Jesse had been thinking about calling in sick the next day, anyway, since his throat was feeling sore and his head was bothering him most of the day on Sunday. Those are his typical precursor symptoms for getting sick (even if "sick" only means a moderate cold). So when he heard me puking in the bathroom, he decided for sure that he'd be staying home on Monday. I threw up a couple more times overnight, and a couple times the next day, though I felt a tad queasy constantly until around 4pm on Monday. It seemed worse, for sure, if I stood up or sat up, so I pretty much just stayed in bed, unless necessary, all morning and afternoon. It was certainly a wonderful thing that Jesse stayed home. He took care of what the kids needed, and I got generally uninterrupted rest. When I finally got out of bed, I sat at the computer for a little while to catch up on email and things, and after a while felt very cold. Which was odd to me, since the entire time I was laying in bed, I was definitely on the too-warm side of things.
I ended up laying down on the couch with a blanket wrapped around my shoulders. Jacob decided he wanted to snuggle, with a blanket of his own, so I ended up with 2 blankets covering me. Jacob left when Jesse offered them some dinner. I fell asleep, buried by 2 blankets, and when I woke up, I knew I had a fever. My face felt incredibly flushed, the way it would feel if I were terribly embarrassed and blushing like mad. I didn't take my temperature until a couple hours later, but when I did, it was 100.5. Not a terrible fever, but enough to make me uncomfortable. I spent my evening watching movies and laying sprawled on the couch in a vain attempt to feel a bit cooler.
Since I went to bed still sporting a fever, I decided we'd better cancel our Tuesday morning plans. Melinda was so saddened by that. We were supposed to go to her friend Kate's house for "circle time", with rhymes, finger plays, and simple preschool type games. It's been on the calendar for a week now, and she's really been looking forward to it. But I couldn't justify possibly spreading a stomach bug + fever to other kids and mommies. I ended up sleeping pretty well that night (despite having slept most of Monday!), and I appear to be healthy again. As perhaps was manifest by my ravenous hunger this morning, hehe! I really ate barely anything yesterday - a container of yogurt, a couple nectarines, an orange, and a few handfuls of dry cereal. Otherwise I just tried to drink enough water (and eventually Gatorade, since the water became unappealing) to keep myself hydrated.
Jesse was just so awesome on Monday. I worried all day long that he wouldn't be feeling very good, himself, and then had kids to take care of on top of it. But at the end of the day, he said, "It sure was nice to stay home today!!" And I said, "Really?! Even with having to take care of everything by yourself?" "Sure!" he said, "I wasn't doing much anyway. Mostly playing video games all day!" LOL. But you know, he did all the diaper changes, all the feeding of the kids, ran to the store to get extra stuff for me, and did his best at keeping the kids out of my hair and relatively quiet. Plus, he did bedtime all on his own, and it was great fun to listen to that. He told them the story of the Three Little Pigs, in his own words, with voices and everything. Jacob was absolutely hysterical with laughter. I couldn't help but grin, from the other room. And when it came time to give them bedtime kisses, Melinda asked for Mommy after they got kisses from Daddy. Jesse told them I wouldn't be coming in, since I was too sick, and then proceeded to give them kisses "from Mommy", with a high-pitched voice. Melinda giggled and accused, "But Daddy, you don't look like Mommy!" I heard Jesse say, "Oh! But how do I look like Mommy? Do I stick my belly out really far?" Man, I almost burst out laughing at that one. I know Melinda did, a little bit!
Now, after all that chance to rest through an illness yesterday, if only House Elves really existed, and decided to visit our house. It's a little bit of a wreck, and I don't wanna fix it!
And then, yep, I woke up at 2:30am. Tummy still felt a little funny. I sat up, and literally had an internal conversation with myself, trying to convince myself that no, I was not, in fact, queasy. But telling myself so didn't make a difference, and soon I was running for the bathroom. Barely made it in time. Thank goodness we got our bed up off the floor, huh? Takes a lot less time to get from bed to bathroom these days. Perfect timing for that change, I guess!
Jesse had been thinking about calling in sick the next day, anyway, since his throat was feeling sore and his head was bothering him most of the day on Sunday. Those are his typical precursor symptoms for getting sick (even if "sick" only means a moderate cold). So when he heard me puking in the bathroom, he decided for sure that he'd be staying home on Monday. I threw up a couple more times overnight, and a couple times the next day, though I felt a tad queasy constantly until around 4pm on Monday. It seemed worse, for sure, if I stood up or sat up, so I pretty much just stayed in bed, unless necessary, all morning and afternoon. It was certainly a wonderful thing that Jesse stayed home. He took care of what the kids needed, and I got generally uninterrupted rest. When I finally got out of bed, I sat at the computer for a little while to catch up on email and things, and after a while felt very cold. Which was odd to me, since the entire time I was laying in bed, I was definitely on the too-warm side of things.
I ended up laying down on the couch with a blanket wrapped around my shoulders. Jacob decided he wanted to snuggle, with a blanket of his own, so I ended up with 2 blankets covering me. Jacob left when Jesse offered them some dinner. I fell asleep, buried by 2 blankets, and when I woke up, I knew I had a fever. My face felt incredibly flushed, the way it would feel if I were terribly embarrassed and blushing like mad. I didn't take my temperature until a couple hours later, but when I did, it was 100.5. Not a terrible fever, but enough to make me uncomfortable. I spent my evening watching movies and laying sprawled on the couch in a vain attempt to feel a bit cooler.
Since I went to bed still sporting a fever, I decided we'd better cancel our Tuesday morning plans. Melinda was so saddened by that. We were supposed to go to her friend Kate's house for "circle time", with rhymes, finger plays, and simple preschool type games. It's been on the calendar for a week now, and she's really been looking forward to it. But I couldn't justify possibly spreading a stomach bug + fever to other kids and mommies. I ended up sleeping pretty well that night (despite having slept most of Monday!), and I appear to be healthy again. As perhaps was manifest by my ravenous hunger this morning, hehe! I really ate barely anything yesterday - a container of yogurt, a couple nectarines, an orange, and a few handfuls of dry cereal. Otherwise I just tried to drink enough water (and eventually Gatorade, since the water became unappealing) to keep myself hydrated.
Jesse was just so awesome on Monday. I worried all day long that he wouldn't be feeling very good, himself, and then had kids to take care of on top of it. But at the end of the day, he said, "It sure was nice to stay home today!!" And I said, "Really?! Even with having to take care of everything by yourself?" "Sure!" he said, "I wasn't doing much anyway. Mostly playing video games all day!" LOL. But you know, he did all the diaper changes, all the feeding of the kids, ran to the store to get extra stuff for me, and did his best at keeping the kids out of my hair and relatively quiet. Plus, he did bedtime all on his own, and it was great fun to listen to that. He told them the story of the Three Little Pigs, in his own words, with voices and everything. Jacob was absolutely hysterical with laughter. I couldn't help but grin, from the other room. And when it came time to give them bedtime kisses, Melinda asked for Mommy after they got kisses from Daddy. Jesse told them I wouldn't be coming in, since I was too sick, and then proceeded to give them kisses "from Mommy", with a high-pitched voice. Melinda giggled and accused, "But Daddy, you don't look like Mommy!" I heard Jesse say, "Oh! But how do I look like Mommy? Do I stick my belly out really far?" Man, I almost burst out laughing at that one. I know Melinda did, a little bit!
Now, after all that chance to rest through an illness yesterday, if only House Elves really existed, and decided to visit our house. It's a little bit of a wreck, and I don't wanna fix it!
Friday, February 1, 2008
Winter didn't get the Memo
Winter is for snow!!! Right?!? Apparently, not around here. Last year, we got hardly any snow. I had all this snow gear for Melinda, ready to go, and it snowed less than a handful of times. This year, we've gotten all of 2 snows so far. It's been freezing cold since the last snow, but what happens in the last day or two? The weather warms up. Just in time for the clouds to roll in, and be too warm to snow. Definitely not snowing. Today it's a downpour of a rain. The last time it rained this much, it was a spring thunderstorm, and the kids splashed in the puddles. Like this:
Now, here we are on the very first day of February. The day before Groundhog Day. And look what I see outside!! Just look!!
This is NOT snow!! This puddle is BIGGER than the puddle made by the spring thunderstorm that we splashed in last year! And this puddle is still growing!! It's still a downpour out there! No stopping in sight! Can you just imagine how much snow we would have right now if it were 8 degrees cooler?? Surely at least 4 or 5 feet! Oh the fun that would be, a good dumping of snow! But instead we get gray, wet, sloppy rain. *sigh*
Notice in this picture, you can even see the carrot in the foreground, the same carrot that was in our leaning snowman. The snowman that only finally melted, completely, a couple days ago. Because it was just that cold, even with days and days of sunshine. It was that cold, until a couple days ago, when, like I said, it suddenly decided to warm up enough to turn any potential precipitation into rain instead of snow. Bleh! It's enough rain to warrant a weather alert. And to close 21 schools and/or businesses in the area.
It's not that I *just love* going out in the snow. Or having my kids beg tirelessly to have me let them go out in the snow to play. Or even the cold that goes along with snow, or the scraping of car windows, or the slippery roads, or the ridiculous amounts of salt they cover the roads with at the first hint of snow. I just think it's pretty. And can be fun, if I'm in the right mood. But I just don't like rain that much. A good thunderstorm, sure! Love a good storm! But rain... gray, sloppy, wet, depressing rain.... Snow is so much better than that. Any day.
Now, here we are on the very first day of February. The day before Groundhog Day. And look what I see outside!! Just look!!
This is NOT snow!! This puddle is BIGGER than the puddle made by the spring thunderstorm that we splashed in last year! And this puddle is still growing!! It's still a downpour out there! No stopping in sight! Can you just imagine how much snow we would have right now if it were 8 degrees cooler?? Surely at least 4 or 5 feet! Oh the fun that would be, a good dumping of snow! But instead we get gray, wet, sloppy rain. *sigh*Notice in this picture, you can even see the carrot in the foreground, the same carrot that was in our leaning snowman. The snowman that only finally melted, completely, a couple days ago. Because it was just that cold, even with days and days of sunshine. It was that cold, until a couple days ago, when, like I said, it suddenly decided to warm up enough to turn any potential precipitation into rain instead of snow. Bleh! It's enough rain to warrant a weather alert. And to close 21 schools and/or businesses in the area.
It's not that I *just love* going out in the snow. Or having my kids beg tirelessly to have me let them go out in the snow to play. Or even the cold that goes along with snow, or the scraping of car windows, or the slippery roads, or the ridiculous amounts of salt they cover the roads with at the first hint of snow. I just think it's pretty. And can be fun, if I'm in the right mood. But I just don't like rain that much. A good thunderstorm, sure! Love a good storm! But rain... gray, sloppy, wet, depressing rain.... Snow is so much better than that. Any day.
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