A couple events that happened within the last day and a half made me realize that I still have a lot of things to work on with Jacob!
Story #1
We went to IKEA last night. One, we wanted a new dresser for the kids (they've managed to step inside their drawers so many times that it's becoming impossible to open them, because the railings are bent and the ball bearings completely gone, and there are no replacement parts that I'm aware of). Two, since we had to stay home sick so much over the last week and a half, we really were taking any excuse available to get out of the house. And IKEA does have a nice play place called Smaland, that Melinda and Jacob have just been aching to play in, ever since Jacob became fully potty trained. (Did I mention that he is essentially past accidents now? HOORAY!)
So, off to IKEA we went. Jacob and Melinda ran into the play place without really listening to the young lady attending, as she gave them instructions about no running, and where the bathroom is. After a few minutes into our shopping, Jesse said, "We really should have made Jacob use the bathroom before letting him play." I agreed with him, despite the fact that we made him use the bathroom right before we left the house. He tends to have to go a lot more in the evenings. Still, I wasn't worried that he'd have an accident. Mostly not worried, at least.
We got back to pick them up around 40 minutes after we left them. As soon as we walked up, the young lady said, sort of mumbling in her not-especially-helpful mannerism, "Jacob took off his pants." I know I looked completely shocked. "WHAT?!" I exclaimed. "I have no idea why he'd do that! He's never just taken off his pants before!!" Melinda saw us waiting there, and we waved her over to get ready to go. Meanwhile the young lady went to the bathroom to get Jacobs pants. .... AND his underwear. When she said he took off his pants, I thought she meant he just stopped in the middle of playing, took off his pants, and continued on. But no. He had gone to the bathroom.
And when Jacob goes to the bathroom, he strips himself completely down, sits on the toilet to pee, and then gets back down. And when we're at home, he'll often streak through the house and take a good long time before he puts his underwear and pants back on. I usually either have to chase him down myself, or nag him a good 10-15 times before he finally stops listens to me. That's when we're at home. I haven't left him alone since he potty trained, and I completely forgot about this when we dropped him off at IKEA. Of course he wasn't about to be ready to put his pants right back on, all by himself, before going back to playing at such a nice shiny new play place. It's even more entertaining than home! Why do there what he's not willing to do at boring ol' home?!
So anyway, Jacob had gone potty, left his pants and underwear in the bathroom, and run back to playing. All right before we came back to pick the kids up. And where was he when we got there? Rolling all around in the ball pit, with his completely naked bum. And when he climbed out, there he was, streaking for anyone who cared to watch through the windows into IKEA's main lobby.
Apparently all those other kids in the play place were just absolutely screaming before we got there, too. I have no idea if they were screaming in amusement or terror or what. All I know is that Jacob put on quite a little show for everyone, and had absolutely no inkling about his little social faux pas. He simply used the bathroom like a good boy, and went right back to playing.
Jesse was absolutely mortified. I was slightly amused, but also embarrassed that I had forgotten about this aspect of potty training for public readiness. And, I suppose, Jesse was definitely right about making him use the potty. Would have avoided that whole mess!
But... yeah. We definitely still need to work on his getting-dressed-after-using-the-potty skills. Nice way to get that reminder, huh??
Story #2
While Melinda was at her little preschool with our church friends this morning, I took the boys to the mall to play, and then over to Trader Joe's to do a little shopping. Jacob loved pushing around his little kid-sized cart and helping with the shopping. We enjoyed some free samples. We picked out our favorite foods. And then we went and bought all our food. Just as we were finishing up putting the food into bags, our cashier started giving Jacob balloons. We got two - one for him, one for Melinda. As soon as he had both in his hands, I went and swiped my card to pay for the groceries, and helped finish up bagging the last few things. As I went back to sign, I looked up and Jacob was gone. GONE. Every direction I turned my head, he was nowhere to be found. I almost had a heart attack, I swear!! I finally spied him through the fully-windowed storefront, at the very end of the sidewalk that runs along the storefronts and parkinglot. Just sauntering away, holding his two balloons, completely oblivious to anything else.
A panicked "Oh crap!!" slipped out of my mouth, and I told the cashier I'd be right back. I ran to the automatic doors, stepped right outside them, and yelled Jacob's name. No response. I yelled again, louder. Still no response. Knowing I just ditched my baby in a grocery cart with complete strangers, I took off running after Jacob anyway. Finally got his attention, and brought him back to the store as quickly as I could. There was Alex waiting for me, happily poking tomatoes. Heart still racing, I signed for the credit card and started - with both boys- back out the doors.
I can only guess that once Jacob had the balloons in his hands, his brain thought "Hey! Shopping's done! Time to go!" and just started walking back out. I'm just relieved a million times over that he didn't wander out into the parking lot. He isn't good at looking for cars, yet, especially not when armed with fun toys like balloons in his hand. And it's a very busy parking lot, too! And nobody took him... that's a good thing. Though I don't know why he was able to walk by three different ladies just standing around without a single one of them trying to help him find his mommy, or at least stop him from walking any further.
When we got to our car, I finally had a good chance to tell him how scared I was when I couldn't find him, and ask him why on earth he left without me and walked all alone out into the parking lot? Where was he going? "I don't know." Why didn't he wait for mommy? "I don't know." Didn't he think that was scary, to be all by himself like that? "No."
Sigh. Obviously, I still need to have some really good safety talks with him, too. Who knew a 3-year-old boy would be so much more work than a 3-year-old girl??
Friday, February 27, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
A Few More
Pictures and videos, that is.
Here's a couple more of Alex climbing our dining chairs... he's really getting too big for his own good!
And here's a video I grabbed during one of our recent sick days. All of us lined up in front of the computer to play some Webkinz games. Sigh, no, they're not really educational. But they're fun for the whole family! Just see how much they all enjoy it. ;)
Here's a couple more of Alex climbing our dining chairs... he's really getting too big for his own good!
This is what happens lately, if I dare sit at the computer with Alex awake. If he's not already on my lap, he'll climb up onto it (and if I'm sitting just right, he doesn't need any help from me, between using the stool, my crossed ankles, and the arms of my chair as strategic climbing grips). And once he's on my lap, he's not satisfied to stop there. He'll pound my keyboard or climb all over my desk. Today he finally made it all the way on top. Now I'll never be able to do computer stuff with him awake again, he's just too eager to get back on top of my desk!!!
And here's a video I grabbed during one of our recent sick days. All of us lined up in front of the computer to play some Webkinz games. Sigh, no, they're not really educational. But they're fun for the whole family! Just see how much they all enjoy it. ;)
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Recent Pictures and Videos
I haven't been sharing a lot of our recent pictures and videos. I'm going to remedy that in one, giant, overwhelmingly full post, shoving them all together. Sounds like fun!!! But beware the bandwidth resources needed! ;)
First up: Alex likes to sit in boxes, a lot. So if the older kids get one out, and it's small enough for him to maneuver, you can bet you'll find him sitting in it before long at all! And he not only likes to just sit and enjoy, he also likes to get in and out, in and out. Not always gracefully, but always adorably. One such example:
Alex also likes to try to climb. Or at least try to, in most cases. His favorite thing to do when I'm sitting at the computer and he wants attention is to go under my desk, get in front of my legs, step up on the stool I use as a footrest, and pull himself up onto my lap. He gets high enough that I always have no choice but to help him up all the way. And of course, he's super duper interested in banging my keyboard lately, which is a big reason my blogging has dropped off. It's awfully hard to type *anything* with a baby who won't leave the keyboard alone for even 2 seconds!
He's figuring out our chairs, slowly but surely. Putting his knee up, pulling up with his arms. He once got almost all the way onto the seat by climbing up the back like this, but I didn't get a picture of that. I *did* get a picture of this attempt. Please, please, please ignore our disgusting chair. Focus on the cute baby!!
The next picture is a typical example of Jacob's favorite way to "dress up" these days. He thinks this is a hilarious costume.
I have to agree. Though, I think it can be outdone by the simplicity of putting both legs through one of daddy's long-sleeved t-shirts, pulling the bottom hem up to his shoulders, and running around with a maniacal giggle. I have yet to capture that on camera, unfortunately, so you'll have to use your imagination.
The next series of of photos is from a day at the park during our nice weather.
A *huge* group of geese.... flying west?!? What does that mean?
Alex likes the hula hoop.
Melinda runs like crazy, so the wind can blow the bubbles for her.
One of my least favorite chores (and boy, you know, I have a fairly large list of least favorite chores, if I stop to think about it...) is feeding anything of a pureed texture to a baby. I simply don't enjoy it. Enter the giant light-bulb above my head: Melinda is always begging to help with grown-up things! Melinda loves baby Alex! Melinda would *love* to feed food to Alex, and she's big enough to do it competently! Duh! Why didn't I think of that before?! Alex enjoyed some applesauce, Melinda enjoyed being a big helper, and I even got time to clean up the kitchen without a baby begging for attention! Win/win/win!
First up: Alex likes to sit in boxes, a lot. So if the older kids get one out, and it's small enough for him to maneuver, you can bet you'll find him sitting in it before long at all! And he not only likes to just sit and enjoy, he also likes to get in and out, in and out. Not always gracefully, but always adorably. One such example:
Alex also likes to try to climb. Or at least try to, in most cases. His favorite thing to do when I'm sitting at the computer and he wants attention is to go under my desk, get in front of my legs, step up on the stool I use as a footrest, and pull himself up onto my lap. He gets high enough that I always have no choice but to help him up all the way. And of course, he's super duper interested in banging my keyboard lately, which is a big reason my blogging has dropped off. It's awfully hard to type *anything* with a baby who won't leave the keyboard alone for even 2 seconds!
He's figuring out our chairs, slowly but surely. Putting his knee up, pulling up with his arms. He once got almost all the way onto the seat by climbing up the back like this, but I didn't get a picture of that. I *did* get a picture of this attempt. Please, please, please ignore our disgusting chair. Focus on the cute baby!!
The next picture is a typical example of Jacob's favorite way to "dress up" these days. He thinks this is a hilarious costume.
I have to agree. Though, I think it can be outdone by the simplicity of putting both legs through one of daddy's long-sleeved t-shirts, pulling the bottom hem up to his shoulders, and running around with a maniacal giggle. I have yet to capture that on camera, unfortunately, so you'll have to use your imagination.
The next series of of photos is from a day at the park during our nice weather.
A *huge* group of geese.... flying west?!? What does that mean?
Alex likes the hula hoop.
Jacob concentrates so he can blow some bubbles.
Melinda runs like crazy, so the wind can blow the bubbles for her.
Mommy tries to take pictures of bubbles, which were blowing by quickly, but still awfully pretty with their multi-colored shimmers, with the optical zoom. This one turned out fairly good!
One of my least favorite chores (and boy, you know, I have a fairly large list of least favorite chores, if I stop to think about it...) is feeding anything of a pureed texture to a baby. I simply don't enjoy it. Enter the giant light-bulb above my head: Melinda is always begging to help with grown-up things! Melinda loves baby Alex! Melinda would *love* to feed food to Alex, and she's big enough to do it competently! Duh! Why didn't I think of that before?! Alex enjoyed some applesauce, Melinda enjoyed being a big helper, and I even got time to clean up the kitchen without a baby begging for attention! Win/win/win!
Now for a few videos!
I apparently don't know how to judiciously stop recording, so my videos are all long and potentially boring in several places. Oh well, skip parts if you want to. I promise there's cute stuff in there! And if nothing else... well, this is real us. More to come, potentially, if the uploading part ever agrees with a host.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
One Crisis After Another
Yes, I realize it's been 9 days since my last post. I'm certainly not doing a good job at keeping up with my posting, lately. Reminds me of my journal just after I was married. Except, back then, I often didn't even finish an entry - it would be left in the middle of the sentence, only for me to find it still incomplete 2 months later.
Anyway... I could blame my infrequent posts on a lot of things. But suffice it to say that I'm sorry if you've been checking regularly, only to be disappointed! I'm having a hard time, these days, finding a time where I'm ready and able to dedicate a good chunk of time to writing about my life. ;)
The past week has been full of a lot of little (and some not-so-little) crises. Shall I tell you about them?
Our good weather streak lasted a good long time. Wednesday was the last day we were supposed to get really great weather, so we took ourselves out to the playground, which was now soft and muddy from the melted snow and ice. The weather was so great, in fact, that Jacob didn't wear a jacket, and was just running around in his t-shirt. I wore a sweater jacket, because I tend to get chilly no matter what, but I ended up feeling much too warm and a bit sweaty even in just that!
Since the ground was so muddy and gross, I didn't feel too keen on the idea of letting Alex just wander around. So I put him up on the playground equipment. I did my typical thing, where I let him go where he wanted to go, and just guarded the exit areas from the ground, so he couldn't fall off. Well, that worked fine, until he crossed the equipment all the way to tall spiral slide. Melinda was right with him, so I didn't get concerned, foolishly. I just watched from the ground, ready to get him as he went down the slide. I feel so stupid that I even thought it was a good idea. You would think that I would be past these sorts of mistakes by my third child, wouldn't you? At any rate, it wasn't a good idea. Alex was having such a good time walking on the playground equipment, that he just kept right on walking when he got to the edge of the slide. Probably because he's not terribly familiar with slides yet, and doesn't treat them like stairs, which he's generally wary of. All I could do was watch with horror as he stumbled down towards the first curve of the slide, which was as tall as my upstretched hands. As soon as his hips collided with the edge, the momentum carried him headfirst over the edge of the slide, hurdling towards the ground. I yelled in horror and dashed to that side of the slide as fast as I could, instinctively hoping I could catch him. But of course, I'm not that fast. I watched him, almost in slow motion, tumble through the air towards the ground, my reaching arms being too far away to afford any help. After he flipped headfirst off the side of the slide, his legs sort of cartwheeled over his head, and he ended up landing with a low thump on the soggy woodchips in quite possibly the best position one could hope for, after falling from such a height: He landed completely horizontal to the ground, partially on his side, so that it at least looked like his shoulder, hips, feet, and head all connected with the ground at the same time. He started crying instantly, and I scooped him up just a split second later, clutching him close to me and then inspecting him.
There was not a single scratch anywhere on him, not even a mark from any of the woodchips. No bruises. Nothing. It was the luckiest fall I've ever seen in my life. But of course, Alex was pretty scared, after falling a good 7 feet down to the ground. Holding him tight and rocking him wasn't helping him calm down. I was so glad I had the ultimate baby-calming weapon: Nursing. As soon as he started sucking, he was quiet and calm, even if his eyes still looked spooked. And I just sat, trying to calm myself down, too, feeling stupid and foolish for letting my 10-month old navigate the playground on his own. Guilty as I feel about it, you can probably bet that he won't set foot on a playground without me holding his hand the entire way until he's almost 3!
After we were finished playing at the playground, we headed home. I practically had to rip them away, even though their only playmate was a little boy who barely spoke a word of English. They were having so much fun having anyone to play with at all! It seems to rare that we run into other children while we're out. But we were expecting a UPS package, and they tend to arrive right around 5pm, and I didn't want to miss it. As we neared our building, though, I saw that there was a UPS truck parked in front. And then I saw the UPS delivery man go back into his truck with a rather large package in hand. I knew it was mine. So the kids and I totally booked it down the sidewalk, trying to catch him before he left. Melinda thought it was great! Jacob, not so much. He collapsed crying on the sidewalk about 100 feet from me, screeching that he was too tired to run (why is that never the case indoors?!?). And of course, since he was collapsed, that meant he wasn't walking towards me, either. So the whole time I'm there talking to the UPS guy and signing for the package, he's wailing on the sidewalk refusing to move another step. Finally Melinda convinced him I wasn't running anymore, and he joined us, face red and streaked with tears. And we got our package! (I've never had to practically chase down a delivery guy before!)
We had done our taxes and got our returns back that week, and Jesse and I decided to buy Guitar Hero: World Tour (the band kit) for something fun to do with our money. Most of our tax returns is going into savings, some of it is paying for car parts and repairs that we needed, but this one little thing, we're having some fun with. And this package that I hounded the UPS man for was it! We were so excited to get it, we didn't want to wait another day.
We've been enjoying our Guitar Hero fun since then. Jacob took immediately to loving the drum set, and Melinda wasn't far after. Jesse and I have fun teaming up to do guitar/drums on all sorts of different songs. Even Alex has joined in the fun, and if he's down on the ground playing anywhere near the drums, he'll reach up and hit them with his hands. I've played around with singing with some songs with the microphone, but for most of them, I'm just not familiar enough with them to attempt the singing. At any rate, it's been a lot of fun, and a purchase we've really enjoyed.
On Thursday, the weather changed sharply. A lot of strong winds blew through and brought cold air. We visited a friend, and two houses down from her, a tree had fallen over, leaning on the power lines. We didn't lose power or have any ill effects ourselves, though! But we did feel sad, saying goodbye to the beautiful spring-like weather.
Saturday was Valentine's Day, of course. The kids really loved getting their own little mini-tin of four chocolates, and a Valentine card from Mommy and Daddy. Jacob is still hanging onto his, even taking it to bed with him, despite it getting bent and a bit crumpled. He has asked us to read it to him several times. It has a picture of a monkey on the front, and I wrote "our little monkey Jacob" on the inside. He giggles at that a lot. ;) Jesse and I just exchanged boxes of chocolate.... maybe next year I'll suggest we just go to the store together and pick out our own favorites, hehe! We don't tend to make a big deal out of this particular holiday. We decided to go out to the Golden Corral buffet for dinner on Saturday. It was full of really delicious food, as always. I stuffed myself with too many good main course types of foods, and didn't have enough room in me to enjoy dessert, which made me really sad. :( But it is one of my favorite places to have dinner, with all the choices to pick and choose from. And I really love their steaks!
Jacob had started sounding funny on Friday: His voice was just off enough that it seemed like a good throat-clearing would fix things. But he started getting a runny nose and a cough just a couple days later, and felt a bit warm by Sunday night. By Monday he was sounding pretty bad, with a hacking, phlegmy cough. And Alex followed quickly behind him, with his own profusely runny nose, phlegmy cough and fever. In fact, he was very hot on Monday night. I'm guessing he probably had a fever around 102 to 103, though I never brought out the thermometer. Despite his near-constant waking, he was in a fairly good mood for being so hot, so I wasn't too concerned. He was pretty wide-awake at about 6am, so I changed his diaper (nursing constantly throughout the night has a way of filling those things up quickly!) and took him into Jacob and Melinda's room, since they had both migrated to our room during the middle of the night. We laid on the bottom bunk - so that if I fell asleep and Alex was awake, he'd be able to wander around on the floor without being in any danger. And when I set him down on his back next to me, he just laid still and "talked" to me for 10 minutes or so, pointing at my face, "honking" my nose, and eventually playing peek-a-boo behind a stuffed animal. He had a smile plastered on his face the whole time. So he couldn't be feeling too badly, could he? He eventually talked himself back to sleep, which was entertaining to watch - usually he really fights sleep. But neither of us got much sleep at all that night. Poor little guy just couldn't stay asleep after every cough woke him up. And if he wasn't nursing, he was coughing. And for whatever reason, I just couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep through nursing for most of the night.
Today, Jacob still has a cough, but is looking better otherwise. Alex sounds about the same, but wasn't so hot last night (and the fever was essentially gone during the day, and again during daylight hours today). Unfortunately, my throat started tickling yesterday, and today I woke up with a headache, and I'm starting to have a productive cough, too. Jesse feels about the same. I've heard Melinda cough a few times, but somehow she has this amazing ability to skip most of the illnesses that circulate in our house. I won't be surprised if she never coughs more than a few times total, you know? So we're all sort of house-bound this week, besides doing the grocery shopping that couldn't be put off another minute, back on Monday. Jacob is driving me absolutely up the wall. He's throwing, hitting, pushing, and screaming almost constantly. And Melinda is doing her part in teasing him and egging him on. And I'm just too tired to deal with it to the best of my ability, anyway. I'm lucky that I got them all down for a nap today, though Jacob was really fighting hard against it. It took him 20 minutes to stop thrashing around constantly and just twitch or kick occasionally, to finally just slipping off into sleep. And I doubt he'll go to sleep easily tonight. I think we got spoiled with so much outdoor time last week, that these few days of being house-bound s really getting to him.
Also by Sunday, I was freaking out pretty badly about another potential crisis. If you're afraid of "too much information", stop reading now.
Really, you've been warned. I'm going into major girl-territory here.
After Alex was born, my cycles came back at only 4 months postpartum, despite my exclusive breastfeeding. (And, as a side note, I always felt rather bitter and robbed because of that! I got 15 months out of Jacob, but only 4 out of Alex, and over a month of that time included typical postpartum bleeding!!) I had been keeping careful track of my cycles this time around, and though for a while they were rather unpredictable, I eventually evened out to a regular 26-day cycle. Now, this was fairly short for me. Pre-Alex, my cycles had always been 30 or 31 days. Even back when I was a teenager, and even between pregnancies. So this whole 26-day thing was a bit new to me, but I got used to the regularity. So, Thursday was when I was expecting my next cycle to start.
By Saturday, still nothing had happened, and I was getting really concerned. But it still wasn't on my mind constantly. By Sunday, when we were home and had little else to do, I really was freaking out. But I still hadn't worked up enough courage to take a pregnancy test. In my mind, it was better to not be sure about anything, than to know for sure that I was pregnant with another surprise baby, only 10 months after Alex was born. I wasn't ready to deal with that sort of reality, so I settled for just worrying endlessly about the possibility. By Monday morning, I had had enough of torturing myself with guessing games, so I took the only test I had in the house. But not until after I had a good quiet one-on-one pleading session with the Lord, where I both begged to not have a pregnancy yet, or to at least be able to accept His will for me, somehow. Because while I don't think I would terribly mind a 4th baby in the house, even if it wasn't what I wanted right then, the thought of another pregnancy, at least at this point in time, absolutely was sending me into a panic. There was just no way of thinking about it that made it sound like even a remotely good thing. I just couldn't imagine carrying, nursing, and caring for a 10-month-old, super-active child while growing a giant, uncomfortable belly....among many, many other negatives that I thought of over the course of the previous few days.
I shook the whole time I waited for the results of that test. It was a nice clear, strong negative, though, and I felt a little lighter. Unfortunately, that particular test was also a year past it's expiration date. And so I couldn't trust it completely, even though most of my Google searches told me that expired tests generally gave either ambiguous or false positive results, instead of false negatives. I had to go grocery shopping on Monday, anyway, so I picked up a new pack of tests at the store, and took another test later that night. I didn't shake quite so much, that time.
Again, it was negative. A nice, clear, strong negative. I was happy, and so relieved!!! But what the heck was going on with my body?? I felt like I couldn't be 100% sure about the results, despite how much I trust that brand of pregnancy tests, until my cycle showed up. And so I waited, a bit anxiously
Finally, late last night, things started up again. I don't think I've ever been so happy about it in my life! I'm also not sure exactly what held things up, though. Was it stress-related? Or perhaps all those short cycles were anovulatory, and this time, ovulation started again, lengthening my cycles back out to my previous normal length? Or maybe even a combination of both? I'm not sure what to expect next month. Sheesh!!
Now, see, I *have* to update more regularly than this! This post was ridiculously long!!!
Anyway... I could blame my infrequent posts on a lot of things. But suffice it to say that I'm sorry if you've been checking regularly, only to be disappointed! I'm having a hard time, these days, finding a time where I'm ready and able to dedicate a good chunk of time to writing about my life. ;)
The past week has been full of a lot of little (and some not-so-little) crises. Shall I tell you about them?
Our good weather streak lasted a good long time. Wednesday was the last day we were supposed to get really great weather, so we took ourselves out to the playground, which was now soft and muddy from the melted snow and ice. The weather was so great, in fact, that Jacob didn't wear a jacket, and was just running around in his t-shirt. I wore a sweater jacket, because I tend to get chilly no matter what, but I ended up feeling much too warm and a bit sweaty even in just that!
Since the ground was so muddy and gross, I didn't feel too keen on the idea of letting Alex just wander around. So I put him up on the playground equipment. I did my typical thing, where I let him go where he wanted to go, and just guarded the exit areas from the ground, so he couldn't fall off. Well, that worked fine, until he crossed the equipment all the way to tall spiral slide. Melinda was right with him, so I didn't get concerned, foolishly. I just watched from the ground, ready to get him as he went down the slide. I feel so stupid that I even thought it was a good idea. You would think that I would be past these sorts of mistakes by my third child, wouldn't you? At any rate, it wasn't a good idea. Alex was having such a good time walking on the playground equipment, that he just kept right on walking when he got to the edge of the slide. Probably because he's not terribly familiar with slides yet, and doesn't treat them like stairs, which he's generally wary of. All I could do was watch with horror as he stumbled down towards the first curve of the slide, which was as tall as my upstretched hands. As soon as his hips collided with the edge, the momentum carried him headfirst over the edge of the slide, hurdling towards the ground. I yelled in horror and dashed to that side of the slide as fast as I could, instinctively hoping I could catch him. But of course, I'm not that fast. I watched him, almost in slow motion, tumble through the air towards the ground, my reaching arms being too far away to afford any help. After he flipped headfirst off the side of the slide, his legs sort of cartwheeled over his head, and he ended up landing with a low thump on the soggy woodchips in quite possibly the best position one could hope for, after falling from such a height: He landed completely horizontal to the ground, partially on his side, so that it at least looked like his shoulder, hips, feet, and head all connected with the ground at the same time. He started crying instantly, and I scooped him up just a split second later, clutching him close to me and then inspecting him.
There was not a single scratch anywhere on him, not even a mark from any of the woodchips. No bruises. Nothing. It was the luckiest fall I've ever seen in my life. But of course, Alex was pretty scared, after falling a good 7 feet down to the ground. Holding him tight and rocking him wasn't helping him calm down. I was so glad I had the ultimate baby-calming weapon: Nursing. As soon as he started sucking, he was quiet and calm, even if his eyes still looked spooked. And I just sat, trying to calm myself down, too, feeling stupid and foolish for letting my 10-month old navigate the playground on his own. Guilty as I feel about it, you can probably bet that he won't set foot on a playground without me holding his hand the entire way until he's almost 3!
After we were finished playing at the playground, we headed home. I practically had to rip them away, even though their only playmate was a little boy who barely spoke a word of English. They were having so much fun having anyone to play with at all! It seems to rare that we run into other children while we're out. But we were expecting a UPS package, and they tend to arrive right around 5pm, and I didn't want to miss it. As we neared our building, though, I saw that there was a UPS truck parked in front. And then I saw the UPS delivery man go back into his truck with a rather large package in hand. I knew it was mine. So the kids and I totally booked it down the sidewalk, trying to catch him before he left. Melinda thought it was great! Jacob, not so much. He collapsed crying on the sidewalk about 100 feet from me, screeching that he was too tired to run (why is that never the case indoors?!?). And of course, since he was collapsed, that meant he wasn't walking towards me, either. So the whole time I'm there talking to the UPS guy and signing for the package, he's wailing on the sidewalk refusing to move another step. Finally Melinda convinced him I wasn't running anymore, and he joined us, face red and streaked with tears. And we got our package! (I've never had to practically chase down a delivery guy before!)
We had done our taxes and got our returns back that week, and Jesse and I decided to buy Guitar Hero: World Tour (the band kit) for something fun to do with our money. Most of our tax returns is going into savings, some of it is paying for car parts and repairs that we needed, but this one little thing, we're having some fun with. And this package that I hounded the UPS man for was it! We were so excited to get it, we didn't want to wait another day.
On Thursday, the weather changed sharply. A lot of strong winds blew through and brought cold air. We visited a friend, and two houses down from her, a tree had fallen over, leaning on the power lines. We didn't lose power or have any ill effects ourselves, though! But we did feel sad, saying goodbye to the beautiful spring-like weather.
Saturday was Valentine's Day, of course. The kids really loved getting their own little mini-tin of four chocolates, and a Valentine card from Mommy and Daddy. Jacob is still hanging onto his, even taking it to bed with him, despite it getting bent and a bit crumpled. He has asked us to read it to him several times. It has a picture of a monkey on the front, and I wrote "our little monkey Jacob" on the inside. He giggles at that a lot. ;) Jesse and I just exchanged boxes of chocolate.... maybe next year I'll suggest we just go to the store together and pick out our own favorites, hehe! We don't tend to make a big deal out of this particular holiday. We decided to go out to the Golden Corral buffet for dinner on Saturday. It was full of really delicious food, as always. I stuffed myself with too many good main course types of foods, and didn't have enough room in me to enjoy dessert, which made me really sad. :( But it is one of my favorite places to have dinner, with all the choices to pick and choose from. And I really love their steaks!
Jacob had started sounding funny on Friday: His voice was just off enough that it seemed like a good throat-clearing would fix things. But he started getting a runny nose and a cough just a couple days later, and felt a bit warm by Sunday night. By Monday he was sounding pretty bad, with a hacking, phlegmy cough. And Alex followed quickly behind him, with his own profusely runny nose, phlegmy cough and fever. In fact, he was very hot on Monday night. I'm guessing he probably had a fever around 102 to 103, though I never brought out the thermometer. Despite his near-constant waking, he was in a fairly good mood for being so hot, so I wasn't too concerned. He was pretty wide-awake at about 6am, so I changed his diaper (nursing constantly throughout the night has a way of filling those things up quickly!) and took him into Jacob and Melinda's room, since they had both migrated to our room during the middle of the night. We laid on the bottom bunk - so that if I fell asleep and Alex was awake, he'd be able to wander around on the floor without being in any danger. And when I set him down on his back next to me, he just laid still and "talked" to me for 10 minutes or so, pointing at my face, "honking" my nose, and eventually playing peek-a-boo behind a stuffed animal. He had a smile plastered on his face the whole time. So he couldn't be feeling too badly, could he? He eventually talked himself back to sleep, which was entertaining to watch - usually he really fights sleep. But neither of us got much sleep at all that night. Poor little guy just couldn't stay asleep after every cough woke him up. And if he wasn't nursing, he was coughing. And for whatever reason, I just couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep through nursing for most of the night.
Today, Jacob still has a cough, but is looking better otherwise. Alex sounds about the same, but wasn't so hot last night (and the fever was essentially gone during the day, and again during daylight hours today). Unfortunately, my throat started tickling yesterday, and today I woke up with a headache, and I'm starting to have a productive cough, too. Jesse feels about the same. I've heard Melinda cough a few times, but somehow she has this amazing ability to skip most of the illnesses that circulate in our house. I won't be surprised if she never coughs more than a few times total, you know? So we're all sort of house-bound this week, besides doing the grocery shopping that couldn't be put off another minute, back on Monday. Jacob is driving me absolutely up the wall. He's throwing, hitting, pushing, and screaming almost constantly. And Melinda is doing her part in teasing him and egging him on. And I'm just too tired to deal with it to the best of my ability, anyway. I'm lucky that I got them all down for a nap today, though Jacob was really fighting hard against it. It took him 20 minutes to stop thrashing around constantly and just twitch or kick occasionally, to finally just slipping off into sleep. And I doubt he'll go to sleep easily tonight. I think we got spoiled with so much outdoor time last week, that these few days of being house-bound s really getting to him.
Also by Sunday, I was freaking out pretty badly about another potential crisis. If you're afraid of "too much information", stop reading now.
Really, you've been warned. I'm going into major girl-territory here.
After Alex was born, my cycles came back at only 4 months postpartum, despite my exclusive breastfeeding. (And, as a side note, I always felt rather bitter and robbed because of that! I got 15 months out of Jacob, but only 4 out of Alex, and over a month of that time included typical postpartum bleeding!!) I had been keeping careful track of my cycles this time around, and though for a while they were rather unpredictable, I eventually evened out to a regular 26-day cycle. Now, this was fairly short for me. Pre-Alex, my cycles had always been 30 or 31 days. Even back when I was a teenager, and even between pregnancies. So this whole 26-day thing was a bit new to me, but I got used to the regularity. So, Thursday was when I was expecting my next cycle to start.
By Saturday, still nothing had happened, and I was getting really concerned. But it still wasn't on my mind constantly. By Sunday, when we were home and had little else to do, I really was freaking out. But I still hadn't worked up enough courage to take a pregnancy test. In my mind, it was better to not be sure about anything, than to know for sure that I was pregnant with another surprise baby, only 10 months after Alex was born. I wasn't ready to deal with that sort of reality, so I settled for just worrying endlessly about the possibility. By Monday morning, I had had enough of torturing myself with guessing games, so I took the only test I had in the house. But not until after I had a good quiet one-on-one pleading session with the Lord, where I both begged to not have a pregnancy yet, or to at least be able to accept His will for me, somehow. Because while I don't think I would terribly mind a 4th baby in the house, even if it wasn't what I wanted right then, the thought of another pregnancy, at least at this point in time, absolutely was sending me into a panic. There was just no way of thinking about it that made it sound like even a remotely good thing. I just couldn't imagine carrying, nursing, and caring for a 10-month-old, super-active child while growing a giant, uncomfortable belly....among many, many other negatives that I thought of over the course of the previous few days.
I shook the whole time I waited for the results of that test. It was a nice clear, strong negative, though, and I felt a little lighter. Unfortunately, that particular test was also a year past it's expiration date. And so I couldn't trust it completely, even though most of my Google searches told me that expired tests generally gave either ambiguous or false positive results, instead of false negatives. I had to go grocery shopping on Monday, anyway, so I picked up a new pack of tests at the store, and took another test later that night. I didn't shake quite so much, that time.
Again, it was negative. A nice, clear, strong negative. I was happy, and so relieved!!! But what the heck was going on with my body?? I felt like I couldn't be 100% sure about the results, despite how much I trust that brand of pregnancy tests, until my cycle showed up. And so I waited, a bit anxiously
Finally, late last night, things started up again. I don't think I've ever been so happy about it in my life! I'm also not sure exactly what held things up, though. Was it stress-related? Or perhaps all those short cycles were anovulatory, and this time, ovulation started again, lengthening my cycles back out to my previous normal length? Or maybe even a combination of both? I'm not sure what to expect next month. Sheesh!!
Now, see, I *have* to update more regularly than this! This post was ridiculously long!!!
Monday, February 9, 2009
The Gazebo
Today was the third lovely day we've had in a row. Temperatures in the 50's-- in February!! We've been getting outside as much as possible, and today was no exception. We went to play over at Meadowood park, which has a lot of nice open space. The kids got out a lot of energy, and bringing bubbles sure helped to find a lot of playmates in an instant. (As one dad put it, "I think you just sent out the Universal Kid Signal with all those bubbles, there!")On our way home, we passed a lot of large, expensive homes. I usually crease my brows in confusion at why such large houses even exist - they seem like such a waste to me, especially in this economy. But they can be nice to look at, I won't deny that. One in particular had a gazebo attached to a wrap-around porch.
In the instant I saw that gazebo, my brain went into overdrive, flitting through a lot of thoughts in the matter of about two seconds, maybe less. My very first impression was imagining a young couple standing beneath it, in a very innocent and romantic way. Smiling to each other, maybe holding hands or enjoying a cozy embrace. I smiled to myself, with such a picture in my head, thinking about how it feels to be newly in love. The next instant, I imagined being the mom of that young couple, as if it was my house, and perhaps the imaginary girl under that gazebo was my own daughter with one of her first loves. And then the very instant after that thought, I imagined two reactions to that scenario: One, I'm skeptical, judgmental, and not very willing to allow her and her boyfriend their own private space in that moment. I'm not overly kind or particularly happy about the pairing, and it shows on my face and in my voice in the way I react to them, as well as how I talk about it with my husband. Reaction Two, I'm happy. Simply happy. I see my grown teenage daughter smiling, see the twinkle in her eyes, and enjoying the gentle, innocent touches from her boyfriend. And I react by smiling, truly happy that she is happy and having this experience in her life, despite any misgivings I may have about the particular (imaginary) boy that she's in love with. I trust her, I love her, and I want the best for her.
Remember, those thoughts happened in such a rush that it took maybe two seconds, tops. The time it took to see the gazebo attached to the house, and to drive just past it so it wasn't in my line of sight anymore. And I went from smiling, thinking about the romance, to my face completely dropping as I realized in a sort of epiphany moment that those two reactions I pictured in my mind represented a very real choice lying ahead of me in my life. I suddenly wondered if those seemingly random thoughts weren't put there by a Higher Power. And I wondered to myself, will I remember this choice when my daughter is a teenager? Will I remember it now?? Can I make the conscious choice to choose the happier reaction to my children's situations, over the choice to be more grumpy and cynical, refusing to allow myself and possibly my children to feel joy in their experience, instead distrusting their judgment and dismissing the validity of their feelings?
Of course I hope I won't have to think about it for at least 10 or 12 more years.... But the act of envisioning this imaginary scene seemed to make a very clear-cut choice, and acutely simplified the feelings each of us (mother and child) could experience in either scenario. I hope I make the happy choice. I hope I don't try to control their choices, but instead create an environment where they would feel comfortable, and happy, inviting their significant other to our home and spending one-on-one time near me, instead of away from me... perhaps even under a gazebo. And I would smile, and remember what it was like to fall in love, happy that my child was creating her or his own memories in that moment.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Reality Check
(Has it really been almost a week since I last posted? What's up with that?)
Can I just say....
You know you're the world's worst housekeeper when your 3-year-old refuses to pee on a toilet because it's "too dirty". And when you try to convince him that it's okay- it won't hurt him- he whimpers and cries and insists on using the other toilet.
That same child can make me go between proud as a mother hen to horrified as all get-out in 2 seconds flat: While grocery shopping in a busy store, he simply switches from singing "The First Noel" beautifully and angelically, to yelling "NIPPLES, NIPPLES, NIPPLES!!" with a mischievous giggle and smirk.
Jesse always says that car problems always come in threes. 1) Van's windshield wipers going berserk, check. 2) Nissan's CV joints about to break any minute, check (Jesse's got the new parts now, just has to find time and good weather to change them). Hmmm... #3.....
I had forgotten Jesse's car rule. Didn't ever cross my mind to expect another thing going wrong. But it crossed Jesse's mind. He wondered to himself Monday morning, "I wonder what's going to go wrong next??" Well, when I drove the van that same day, I saw the answer. Our windshield is broken. Well, not broken. But majorly cracked. And it sure wasn't cracked or even dinged on Sunday. It's cracked on the inside, too, not the outside. Jesse the engineer says that it's from being hit on the outside, something to do with tension of concave vs. convex surfaces. His guess is someone hit it with a football. We didn't notice anyone playing around on Sunday, but the weather was definitely nice enough, and we've seen people playing with footballs in the parking areas before. The nice people in us want to believe that whoever did it didn't even realize it. The cynics in us are grumpy that someone ruined our windshield and maybe just ran away knowing they'd never be caught. And now we have to replace it out of our own pocket, because we sure don't carry insurance to cover this kind of thing, with cars that are so old.
The good news is that we'll be able to afford it, and truth be told, that windshield was pretty crappy anyway. It had grooves in the shape of the windshield wiping pattern, and driving at night made annoying streaks of light on the passenger side, from headlights especially.
We can afford it because of taxes. Why do car problems always happen around tax time, and not summertime, Jesse and I wonder? Probably because winter is hard on cars, we guess, but it's still odd. Almost every time our cars start breaking, it's in the middle of winter. Late December or January. Truly odd.
But anyway, Taxes!!! I had wanted to get our taxes filed this past Saturday, but I was still waiting on the form from our bank. I finally got it on Monday, and well, I decided to try and do it myself, since I had time, instead of waiting for Jesse. We use the TurboTax program, which I really like. They pull most of our information straight from the previous year's forms, so I don't have to fill out much anything new. It's not a cheap program, but since we have a rental property back in Colorado (the money sink that it often is), we really need the extra help. Otherwise, I'd probably just file with a free method online. Anyway, so I went and input everything into TurboTax in less than an hour, and I felt like I did everything right (especially since I always participate in the taxes with Jesse, I'm familiar with the process by now). I was amazed by the amount it was saying we'd get back, though! Over $5,000 for federal, and over $1,000 for state. WOW! $6k tax refund? THANK YOU!! I suppose that it's mostly because of adding a third child to our tax returns, and I don't think Jesse ever changed his W-4 at work, either, to adjust for the addition to our family.
So, good news is that we have plenty of money to cover the random car things going crazy. And enough to make a nice little extra cushion in savings. Maybe eventually we'll even be able to use that savings for a down payment on a house, or something. Hopefully we won't ever have to use it as an actual cushion because of lack of employment or anything.
Can I just say....
You know you're the world's worst housekeeper when your 3-year-old refuses to pee on a toilet because it's "too dirty". And when you try to convince him that it's okay- it won't hurt him- he whimpers and cries and insists on using the other toilet.
That same child can make me go between proud as a mother hen to horrified as all get-out in 2 seconds flat: While grocery shopping in a busy store, he simply switches from singing "The First Noel" beautifully and angelically, to yelling "NIPPLES, NIPPLES, NIPPLES!!" with a mischievous giggle and smirk.
***
Jesse always says that car problems always come in threes. 1) Van's windshield wipers going berserk, check. 2) Nissan's CV joints about to break any minute, check (Jesse's got the new parts now, just has to find time and good weather to change them). Hmmm... #3.....
I had forgotten Jesse's car rule. Didn't ever cross my mind to expect another thing going wrong. But it crossed Jesse's mind. He wondered to himself Monday morning, "I wonder what's going to go wrong next??" Well, when I drove the van that same day, I saw the answer. Our windshield is broken. Well, not broken. But majorly cracked. And it sure wasn't cracked or even dinged on Sunday. It's cracked on the inside, too, not the outside. Jesse the engineer says that it's from being hit on the outside, something to do with tension of concave vs. convex surfaces. His guess is someone hit it with a football. We didn't notice anyone playing around on Sunday, but the weather was definitely nice enough, and we've seen people playing with footballs in the parking areas before. The nice people in us want to believe that whoever did it didn't even realize it. The cynics in us are grumpy that someone ruined our windshield and maybe just ran away knowing they'd never be caught. And now we have to replace it out of our own pocket, because we sure don't carry insurance to cover this kind of thing, with cars that are so old.
The good news is that we'll be able to afford it, and truth be told, that windshield was pretty crappy anyway. It had grooves in the shape of the windshield wiping pattern, and driving at night made annoying streaks of light on the passenger side, from headlights especially.
We can afford it because of taxes. Why do car problems always happen around tax time, and not summertime, Jesse and I wonder? Probably because winter is hard on cars, we guess, but it's still odd. Almost every time our cars start breaking, it's in the middle of winter. Late December or January. Truly odd.
But anyway, Taxes!!! I had wanted to get our taxes filed this past Saturday, but I was still waiting on the form from our bank. I finally got it on Monday, and well, I decided to try and do it myself, since I had time, instead of waiting for Jesse. We use the TurboTax program, which I really like. They pull most of our information straight from the previous year's forms, so I don't have to fill out much anything new. It's not a cheap program, but since we have a rental property back in Colorado (the money sink that it often is), we really need the extra help. Otherwise, I'd probably just file with a free method online. Anyway, so I went and input everything into TurboTax in less than an hour, and I felt like I did everything right (especially since I always participate in the taxes with Jesse, I'm familiar with the process by now). I was amazed by the amount it was saying we'd get back, though! Over $5,000 for federal, and over $1,000 for state. WOW! $6k tax refund? THANK YOU!! I suppose that it's mostly because of adding a third child to our tax returns, and I don't think Jesse ever changed his W-4 at work, either, to adjust for the addition to our family.
So, good news is that we have plenty of money to cover the random car things going crazy. And enough to make a nice little extra cushion in savings. Maybe eventually we'll even be able to use that savings for a down payment on a house, or something. Hopefully we won't ever have to use it as an actual cushion because of lack of employment or anything.
***
Alex can be so much fun these days. He loves clapping anytime he hears anyone else clap (TV included). He loves pat-a-cake and often "says" it to himself. He's learning the song "Popcorn Popping" from Primary, which is just so cute. He's pointing at things like a madman, which I find just incredibly adorable, the way his whole body gets into it. And the way he babbles nonsense at 50mph while he's pointing to various things. I just wish I knew what sort of things he was talking about... I'm sure it's fascinating!! He's mimicking sounds a lot lately, too (ahhh... especially some of the goofier sounds found on Webkinz games). And my new favorite: Honking noses. We poke his nose gently and say "honk honk!". Then he pokes our nose and goes "hah hah!" It's all so much fun.
But teething is not fun. Still. Ever. He's got his 7th tooth (3rd on the bottom), and is now working on his 8th, also on the bottom. It's loads of fun. Or not.
But teething is not fun. Still. Ever. He's got his 7th tooth (3rd on the bottom), and is now working on his 8th, also on the bottom. It's loads of fun. Or not.
***
We joined a little preschool co-op with some ladies in our ward. It's once a week, basically for Melinda only (though if I want to hang out and try and let Jacob participate, too, it's okay). Aside from Melinda, it's also all boys. But she's enjoying herself so far! We've done two weeks, and this week it will be our turn to host. We work on a letter from the alphabet, do a little reading, some basic math skills, and otherwise just have some free play time, snacks, that sort of thing. It's pretty casual. But it's nice to have something organized to do. I'm excited for my turn with teaching, too, though I hope it won't take me long to get a feel for a decent schedule!
While Melinda's at "preschool", Jacob and Alex and I have been enjoying some time to ourselves. The first week, that included shopping at Trader Joe's and then coming home to eat and check on the status of the installation of the new dishwasher (which has been SO NICE!!). Last week, we hung out at the playplace at the mall, did some mall browsing, and then went to Trader Joe's again. I was honestly quite surprised at how easily Jacob took to this Melinda-free time during the day, and how much better he behaved without her around. Maybe surprised doesn't cover it.... I was shocked, I guess. I always assumed that the minute Melinda wasn't around to offer a constant playmate, Jacob would be off-the-wall crazy. I was so wrong, and it's a happy thing.
While Melinda's at "preschool", Jacob and Alex and I have been enjoying some time to ourselves. The first week, that included shopping at Trader Joe's and then coming home to eat and check on the status of the installation of the new dishwasher (which has been SO NICE!!). Last week, we hung out at the playplace at the mall, did some mall browsing, and then went to Trader Joe's again. I was honestly quite surprised at how easily Jacob took to this Melinda-free time during the day, and how much better he behaved without her around. Maybe surprised doesn't cover it.... I was shocked, I guess. I always assumed that the minute Melinda wasn't around to offer a constant playmate, Jacob would be off-the-wall crazy. I was so wrong, and it's a happy thing.
***
I was quizzing the kids on their favorite things last night to keep them occupied while we waited for food to be ready. When I asked Jacob who his best friend is, he said, "Alex!!!" Aww, how cute. :)
***
I don't know why I didn't start reading chapter books to the kids earlier in their lives. It takes a little extra time on my part, but ohmygoodness, they've been going to sleep so much better! Almost every single night I never hear another peep from them. Big difference from the typical past routine of them bouncing off the walls for an hour or two, with mommy and daddy constantly going back to tell them to stay in bed, before finally falling asleep. This way is so much nicer, and I'm enjoying the reading, myself! (Reminder: My sidebar has a widget from Goodreads with my currently-reading books as well as my recently read books, if you're interested in following along.) And you know, they even stay pretty quiet while I read, too? I didn't expect that when I started it. And the other big bonus is that Melinda is always so full of questions after I'm finished reading, ranging from concepts from the story, to vocabulary, to rather deep spiritual questions that had nothing to do with the story, but must have crossed her mind somehow during some part of the day. It's been nice to have little discussions with her during a time of day when she's so willing to be quiet and really listen to the answer, and respond back with her own thoughts.
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