The First Swim Class

Bright and early this morning, Melinda and Jacob started their very first swim class. Level 1, Water Exploration. Skills they work on include blowing bubbles, bobbing in the water, getting comfortable with getting in and out unassisted, dunking their heads underwater, and eventually floating front and back with assistance. Melinda tells me that her teacher said that she will be moving to Level 2... but nobody said anything to me, so I'm not sure if they meant right away, or as soon as this 6-week session is complete. I'm sure she'd have to be put in a different time slot to get Level 2 instruction, at least.

Anyway, I got to sit and watch them through a one-way mirror while they were with their teacher. It was a group lesson, but there was only one other girl in their group along with Jacob and Melinda. Right off the bat, Melinda and Jacob both had trouble sitting and waiting for instructions - they both wanted to run off and do their own thing. I watched for about 10 minutes, while they did "Simon Says" in the water, with blowing bubbles, chin in the water, cheek in the water, etc. But then I had to run home, because I had forgotten the towels. And since it was a brisk 34 degrees this morning, that was not something I wanted them to do without. It's an indoor pool, but the shock of going back outside would not be fun if they were wet. Also, I tried to take some pictures, but I couldn't use the flash because of the one-way mirror, and without the flash there was too much movement and you couldn't see anything for the blur.

Here is a quick question & answer I did with them when we got home. Jacob, poor little guy, had some trouble during the lesson. They were holding onto the wall and walking towards the deeper side, when he let go of the wall and kept on going. Within a couple steps, he was in too deep. The instructor was helping the other little girl there, and Jacob was just outside her peripheral vision. I, quite honestly, got VERY panicked as his head went under the water,and he started flailing. It was just deep enough that he couldn't quite get his face back up. It probably lasted a total of 4 seconds - but when you remember that this a little guy who gets absolutely traumatized by water getting on his face in a bath.... well, then you realize that this was probably terrifying to him. The teacher saw him and snatched him up, and sat him up on the wall. He laid down on his tummy right there on the poolside, and wasn't crying, at least... but he had a shocked look on his face. After that, they worked on "jumping" into the pool from a sitting position on the wall, and he did okay with that. He continued participating. But listen to his answers here in the Q&A and you'll see that he isn't thrilled about the idea of more classes. His little scare sort of colored all his answers... he really was fairly excited this morning before class actually started. On the other hand, I was quite pleased with how Melinda did. While not terrified of water in her face, she certainly hates it. Always demands a towel if her eyes get wet. But even though I noticed she was uncomfortable with her face wet, she was very eager to try everything the instructor asked her to do, and didn't panic or get upset when she would go completely underwater.... just kept her eyes squeezed tightly closed, was all!

My questions are in red, Melinda's and Jacob's answers are noted with their name.

Before you went to swim class, how did you feel about it?

Melinda: Happy, because it sounded really fun.
Jacob: Scared.

When you saw the pool for the first time, what did you think?

Melinda: I guess I liked it. (She ran around a lot, I thought she was excited. She tells me she was just playing airplane.)
Jacob: It's not good.

What did you think about your teacher?

Melinda: Fun!
Jacob: Not good to me.

What was your favorite part of swim class?

Melinda: Going under the water.

What did you do under the water?

Melinda: One of the parts when I went under the water, I opened my eyes a teeny bit, it didn't look fun under the water... I didn't see it very much. I didn't want my eyes opened all the way.

What was your favorite part of swim class?

Jacob: Not good. The part I like is the lollipop part when we were all done.

What did you like while you were IN the water?

Jacob: Jumping into my teacher's arms.

Melinda's 2 cents: I didn't have to jump into the teacher's arms. She just caught my hands and my face went under water.

What new thing did you learn at swim class today?

Melinda: I pretty much know how to do everything.

Do you know how to hold your breath?

Melinda: Yes, when I went under.

What new thing did you learn at swim class today?

Jacob: How to swim.

How did you swim?

Jacob: Like a duck.

How do ducks swim?

Jacob: They swim with the yellow colors.

Tell me what was scary about swim class.

Jacob: We go into the swimming pool.

What happened in the swimming pool?

Jacob: I don't know.

What happened when you were walking down the wall?

Jacob: I fell in and that was scary.

Why was it scary?

Jacob: That was scary. Falling down the wall.

Were you stuck under water?

Jacob: Mmm-hmm. And I couldn't get up.

And how did that make you feel?

Jacob: Sad and scared.
Do you want to do swimming class again?
Jacob: Uh-uh.

Why not?

Jacob: I don't like it.

Was there anything you didn't like at swim class?

Melinda: Uh-uh. No. Nothing.

Do you want to do swim class next week?

Melinda: Yes, yes, yes!!

What are you excited about learning next time?

Melinda: Swimming under water.

Do you think you will be good at it?

Melinda: Yes, yes, yes!

Anything else you want to tell me about swim class?

Melinda: Mmm, maybe after the next class.

P.S., regarding some comments I've gotten:
As for witnessing it, I've been processing panic emotions all morning/afternoon. Feels eerily similar to all the bad dreams I've had of Jacob dying while I was completely powerless. My body was just starting to get to the point that I was thinking I should run to the door and scream to get the instructor's attention when she turned and saw him. Took a while for my heart to slow down. I may very well feel as scared as he does. I also insisted that he take a nap today to help recover from the scary morning. He was already seeming clingier and more easily upset than normal, by noon. And that's saying a lot, for Jacob these days.

But, I was impressed that despite the scare, he continued to participate and didn't have a meltdown. He was more hesitant to get his face anywhere near the water, but he didn't stay OUT of the water or cry at all. We'll see how he is next week. I'll keep trying to talk to him and work through it with him. If nothing else, I hope that maybe it helps him understand why learning how to swim is so important, so that sort of thing doesn't happen again.
Here's to hoping he'll not be too scared for next week. Nothing like starting off swim lessons for the very first time with a frightening event. :-\

Kids These Days

Prepare to be overwhelmed by newness.  The kids have been busy!!

Melinda drew a fun picture the other day.  It seems to me that she has a lot of good imagination, and a fairly decent drawing ability, but it's harder and harder to encourage her to sit down long enough to draw anything anymore.  But here's what she came up with: Her and a friend sliding down a really fun slide (it's on the back of a math paper, so excuse the other odd things that scanned through - I toned them down as best as I could):

 

In just a couple weeks, Melinda has gone from being completely unable to hula hoop, to becoming a quick expert.  I'm amazed at how quickly she's picked it up!!

We also bought a jump rope a few days ago.  Again, something she was completely unable to do when we brought it home.  But with a little time and determination, she again figured it out all on her own.  She's up to doing 4 jumps in a row! 

I don't really have any fun pictures of Jacob, but he's gotten extremely comfortable with computers in the past couple weeks.  A month or so ago, he was completely unable to get a handle on using the computer mouse.  Now he clicks everything, much to our dislike/  Because, yeah - do you really want a 3 year old helping himself to anything and everything on your computer?  He can your change task bar's size, location and type faster than you can even realize that he's standing in front of your computer, messing with things!  The kids are allowed to play on Jesse's computer, which is mainly just for internet usage and games, so there's nothing sensitive there.  But Jesse is frequently annoyed these days, trying to figure out how to undo what Jacob has rearranged.  And the rule is that he's not allowed to even touch my computer, but that doesn't keep him from trying.  He's particularly fond of clicking the pause button when I have music playing.  Over and over and over.

Jacob's also learned how to use the potty "Daddy's way".  Standing up.  Oh, the messes...  He hasn't quite mastered how to get that aim right at the very beginning yet, and we frequently end up with wet potties, wet socks, wet shirts....  but he's bound and determined to keep right on standing up for potty time.  A shame, too - he was so comfortable just straddling the toilet, when even Melinda never was, and still isn't.  She's still nervous without a toddler-sized potty seat.  But Jacob just keeps on trying new things.

With summer coming up, and both Melinda and Jacob still being fairly uncomfortable with water, I finally bit the bullet/got on the ball/admitted reality - whatever you want to call it - and signed them both up for swim lessons.  They'll start in Level 1, geared toward the kids who still don't put their face in water (yup, that's them!), and have half-hour lessons just down the street every Wednesday for 6 weeks.  Melinda's super excited that I'm finally getting her lessons, after probably a good year of talking about it, but she's still doubtful about the part where she's going to have to put her face in water.  Hopefully the instructors are as good as I've heard they are!  Plus, they don't chlorinate the pools, so hopefully it will be easy on their eyes.  From their website:

If you notice a slight salt taste in our pools it is because they are state-of-the-art! We brought these systems in from Australia. We add salt to the pool, raising the salinity to 4500 ppm (the human tear is 8000 ppm). Then we run the salt water through a low voltage electrical charge in the backroom that converts the salt (NaCl) water into natural chlorine. We never have to add harsh chemicals to these pools.

Alex.  Now, Alex is constantly doing something new!!  Can you believe the little guy turns one year old on April 1st?!  Just a couple weeks away!  (*sniff, sob, sniff*)
He's really mastered climbing on our chairs now.  One of his favorite pastimes is climbing up the front room chair, climbing over to the couch, sliding down feet first off the couch, and starting the whole rotation over.  He'll do it for a good half hour before he gets bored!  He loves to climb up onto the computer chairs and see what treasures he can find up on the desks.  And last, but not least, he figured out the dining room chairs.  For a couple days, we got away with just making sure the chairs were pushed in after we were done using them.  Now, though, if he's feeling really determined, he will pull the chair out, and then climb up on top.  And of course, the table is easy pickin's after that.  And what toddler in his right mind wouldn't go ahead and climb up on top of the table if he already got as far as the top of the chair?  So, nothing is safe anymore.  What an adventure...

 A couple other fun, random things that Alex has done:  He really likes to "play" the drums from Guitar Hero:

Alex also likes to take the stairs out of Melinda's dollhouse, and then crawl right on into the bottom floor.  Like he's Clifford the Big Red Dog, or something.  ;)

 

You think we're done yet?  Not a chance!  Alex also has started to figure out the fun little pop-up toy that seems to be a standard in every home, and has certainly been in ours since the early days of Melinda:

And, being such a busy boy, it's always nice to crash on a cuddly Daddy at the end of the day:

 

Alex has been mimicking for a long while now... but we just hit a pretty major first.  We've had a letter Z and letter Z words hanging up on the wall for a couple weeks now, and Jacob and Melinda like to point at them and name them.  The other night, I took Alex near the wall, and he started pointing at the pictuers, too.  So I told him the names of each one.  Pretty soon, he was saying the "zzzzzz" sound right along with me, and clearly proud of himself.  The next night, which was last night, we did it again, and he said "zzzzz" even better than before.  And when we went and sat back down with daddy, we pointed to me, saying "Mama".  Pointed to Jesse, saying "Dada".  Pointed to Alex, saying "Alex".  He paid very close attention, clearly interested in this new thing.  We repeated it a few times.  Then, he pointed just like we had been doing, right on Jesse's chest, and very clearly said "dada"!!!  Of course, then he tried to call me "dada", but didn't sound as sure about it.  But I think we can call that his first word, can't we?  (And, for the record, he doesn't really say "mmm" sounds yet, so I don't think "mama" will happen anytime soon.)

This next thing is not so much completely kid-specific, but I still wanted to include it.  We had a few friends over for a playdate yesterday.  I had wanted to do a playdate this Tuesday anyway, but when I saw it was also St. Patrick's Day, we (okay, fine: I) decided to make it a little bit fun, too.  We ran to the store and got some green lei's and some shamrocks (which we hung on the walls), and some St. Patrick's Day plates.  We set out every green food we could manage:  Sliced green apples, cut up broccoli, celery, cucumbers, pickles, green grapes... I would have done sugar snap peas, too, but they looked awful and wilted at the store.  I also made little "rainbows on a stick":

 

And the fun part: Green juice.  I can't remember clearly whether this is something I found a couple years ago on the internet, or if maybe Jesse's mom, Nedra, gave the idea to me.  But basically, it's spinach and apple juice.  Put enough apple juice into the blender to provide liquid, add a whole bag of baby spinach, and blend it all together.  Then, put it all through a strainer, leaving out the really thick bits of spinach, add in the rest of the apple juice, and you're left with a very green apple juice with a surprisingly enjoyable and refreshing spinach flavor.  We gave this to Melinda to drink when she'd get constipated.  But it seemed like it would be fun to enjoy on St. Patrick's Day, too, so I added it to the menu for our playgroup.  :)

 

 

And the playgroup was really fun.  A nice full house, with a total of 9 kids and 4 of us adults.  All those yummy fruits and vegetables were plowed right through.  And when the veggies were gone, Melinda wanted more and requested some carrots and dip.  Of course, she was also given the option of extra bug-shaped graham crackers that our friend brought along.  Can you believe she declined that in favor of the carrots?  :)  Jacob, in the meantime, was working hard to remind me how hard 3-year-olds are.  I guess I had forgotten.  But when he went from perfectly fine to throwing a big ol' giant fit over bike-sharing issues, I exclaimed in exasperation, "Are all three-year-olds like this?!?  Because I seriously can't remember!"  And, in unison, all my friends piped in with a hearty "YES!"  Sigh.  I guess that means I get to do this all over again in a couple years with Alex.  Ugh.

We continued our green fun for dinner:  We had a soup that included green onions and spinach, followed by a leek/spinach/broccoli quiche.  Which was very yummy, by the way.  Although now I'm starting to wonder if maybe the kids wouldn't have enjoyed some corned beef and cabbage.... oh well.  The all-green-all-day thing was fun, too.  :)

Building My Family

Sunday night, I lay in the dark, snuggling with Jacob and Melinda, singing bedtime songs to them. I had just finished singing a new song we've been learning in Primary, called "My Eternal Family". I sang it through twice, because I needed the practice with the lyrics. After I finished, Melinda asked, "Mommy, what's an eternal family?" I answered, "It means a family that is together forever. Eternal means that something doesn't ever stop. So an eternal family is a family that stays together, always, without any end - even after we die. Isn't it wonderful that we can be together forever?!" A noncommittal, empty pause, and so I filled in the space: "Well, I'm so glad we can be together forever. I love you guys so so much. Did you know that I love you so so much?" Melinda answers, kind of squirming around, like she's looking for the right thing to say, "Ummm, hmmm, well, I thought you only loved us a medium amount."

Oh. Oh.

I quickly corrected her and told them both that they were the best things that ever happened to me, and I really do love them so much - but sometimes I have a hard time being a good mom, and when I get frustrated, I'm unfortunately not so good at showing them how much I love them. I hugged them both tightly and again told them how much I loved them, and how glad I am that we can be together forever, because I would never want to be without them.... all the while, tears are falling down my upturned face, wetting my cheeks, dripping into my ears. How can I express how much they mean to me?? How can I help them understand?

I sung a few more songs, tucked them into bed, and didn't dwell too much longer on our short conversation: Once I got out to the front room, I also had Alex to take care of, because Jesse was not successful at getting him to sleep. And once he did finally go to sleep, he woke up crying loudly only about 30 minutes later. Side note: He struggled with the sleeping all day on Sunday, screeching a loud high-pitched noise at random intervals, which seemed to me like a stubborn refusal to fall asleep, more than anything else. And do you know how loudly an almost-one-year-old baby can screech when he wants to? Well, let's just say it's loud enough to both make your ears ring, and bounce screeching echoes off of the walls of your fully-carpeted, fully-furnished home. Yay? Anyway, so needless to say I was losing track of my earlier thoughts pertaining to eternal families, and I was getting tired and frustrated, having no real quiet time to enjoy to myself. So when Jesse got on my nerves a little bit later, I got rude and snippy with him. And the rest of the evening was officially ruined, at that point, as he was now reacting to me similarly, and both of us were too grumpy to suck it up and make things better.

After Alex was finally asleep for good, and I set him down, I heaved a big sigh and realized I really needed to apologize to Jesse. I worked up some humility and sincerity, and expressed my regret to him. My apology went smoothly, was accepted easily, and the remaining few minutes of the evening were now fine and stress-free. Except for when I couldn't fall asleep until after 1:30am. As I lay there in bed, being able to think clearly in the quiet (which was laced with snoring, of course), my thoughts wandered, as they should, back to my discussion with the kids at bedtime, and eternal families.

I went over the lyrics in my head:

I am a builder, working each day to build my family.
And I will do the best I can to serve them lovingly.
I am a builder, growing so tall, and learning every day
To speak with kindness in my home, to help at work and play.

My Heavenly Father sent me here, and He knows I can be
Strong and righteous as I build my eternal family.

Simple song, not my favorite in the world, and definitely geared towards children. But it struck me full force in those quiet moments, as I considered the fact that my oldest daughter thought I only loved her a medium amount, and I easily took out my frustrations on my husband that same evening. Am I really doing my best to build my family, working my hardest to always speak with kindness in my home? To serve them lovingly? Am I keeping in mind that my Heavenly Father gave this work of motherhood to me, and that He knows I'm capable of finding the strength within myself to build up my family with love?

Why is it that we are so often most rude, condescending, short-tempered and unforgiving with our families, the people we love most, who are most important to us? This is a frequently covered topic, it seems... We should treat our families even better than we treat our friends, I know this. I think we all know this. And I know I'm always on my very best behavior when I'm talking with my friends in even the briefest encounters. I need my friends, and I don't want to ruin my relationship by being too thoughtless with my words, or by coming off even the least bit rude. I don't want to do anything to offend them or drive them away. So why am I so often the opposite when it comes to my family, the people who matter the most to me, who are completely irreplaceable and the center of my world? Is it just because I know they can't just up and stop seeing me if they don't like me? Is it Satan just trying to tear apart the most fundamental and important unit of mankind? Or is it because I take their presence for granted?

I couldn't answer any of my own questions before I finally drifted off to sleep, at least not to my satisfaction. But it did give me a lot to think about, and again reminded me of how much I want to improve my family relationships, to become more Christ-like in my love with them, more perfect in my dealings with them. It's an ongoing process, and even if the reminders hurt and make me sad, I'm grateful for them, so that I can reevaluate myself, and renew my resolve to work harder. To build my eternal family.

Image via http://www.flickr.com/photos/seattle-utah/

Natural Products I Love: Part 1

Taking a moment to veer from my typical family happenings report, I'd like to share with you one of my newest favorite natural products.

In recent years, antiperspirants have started coming under scrutiny for their potential health risks. The bare bones of the idea is that every antiperspirant has one thing in common: Aluminum. The aluminum clogs your pores, thereby eliminating or greatly reducing the ability to sweat. However, aluminum is linked to Alzheimer's disease, and when used so closely to the breast (right on top of lymph nodes!) may also be a factor in breast cancer. Now- there is a big ol' debate out there whether the relationship between aluminum and Alzheimer's/breast cancer means that antiperspirant use is actually risky or not, but for this sort of thing, I'd rather be safe than sorry. For a more detailed look, I'd recommend the four part article, full of research, science, etc., found at controlyourimpact.com:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Again, my basic thought process is better safe than sorry - I don't know if antipersperant use is risky, but it sounds plausable to me. The body sweats for a reason, and anything that inhibits the body from performing the way God designed it to perform seems risky to me. So, a bit over a year ago, I made the switch from antipersperants to plain ol' deodorant. But it hasn't been a fun journey, all the time. At first, I was generally happy with the brands I picked - they smelled nice and performed to my expectations. Unfortunately, it seemed like my body would adapt to them after a while, and they would just stop working, no matter what brand I tried. I would have to reapply the stuff several times a day if I had any hope of not being stinky. I was getting downright frustrated and sorely tempted to switch back to antiperspirant.

Then, I found the Thai Crystal Deodorant Stone. I read the reviews - they seemed pretty good. But I didn't order it right away, thinking it perhaps cost too much money for a deodorant I wasn't sure would work. My other options still weren't working well, though, and so a couple weeks later, I hopped back online and ordered it. It came a few days later, and I used it for the first time the next morning. It was a little awkward to figure out - you have to get the stone wet and rub it all over your armpits, and then let it dry. So I ended up wetting it at my bathroom sink after my shower, applying it, and then standing in front of a fan for a couple minutes. I've since figured out that it doesn't need to be dripping wet when you apply it, and I've gotten used to having my armpits wet for a few mintues while I get dressed, so it's not quite so strange. But the deodorant stone uses mineral salts to stop odor. This is not an antiperspirant - you will still sweat. That might not make some people happy. But *I* like it. Okay, no, I don't like to have sweaty armpits, but I think it's normal and I don't like the idea of stopping it artificially. What I do like is that I'm stopping the stinky smell from developing, and doing it essentially risk-free. According to the Cosmetic Safety Database, deodorant stones are about as low-risk for anything as you can get.

Let me give you a run-down of how well the Thai Crystal Deodorant Stone works, by giving you an example from this past weekend. When we went out to play at the playground on Saturday, I hadn't showered yet. Now, I normally wouldn't love to admit that, but I think it's important to show you how well this works. I didn't feel like wasting part of my beautiful, unusually warm Saturday by showering. The last time I had showered, then, was Friday at about 8am. I re-applied the deodorant stone, though I probably didn't really have to, and we went out to play. I was quite sweaty when we got home - it was a sticky, humid day, and I had carried around Alex, run around chasing balls, etc. And it was still warm when we got home, and mild activities, like folding laundry and playing Guitar Hero, were making me sweat more. But at the end of the day, I still smelled fine. Not perfect, but just like a "hey, that's my smell" sort of thing. Not stinky. Just me... after all that sweating, and going on 2 days after a shower! And Jesse's tried it, with the exact same results - if I get right up into his armpit at the end of the day, I can smell something, just barely, but it's not something I can call stinky. It's just Jesse.

And this stuff is going to last a long time, I can tell. I've been using it for about a month, and I can't really tell that it's gotten significantly smaller. It's a really dense stone. And when it's wet, it goes on smoothly, with it's nice curved edges. There are other brands of deodorant stones out there, and I have to assume, with their common mineral salts ingredient, that they would work about the same. I was worried that the cost of the deodorant stone was too much, but I'm definitely getting my money's worth out of it. I can't imagine that I'll need to replace it within the next year. And I'm avoiding any potential health risks in the process. Yay! As far as I'm concerned, this product is what I'll be using the rest of my life.

Marvelous March Weekend

You just can't beat today's weather.  70 degrees!  In March!  Obviously, we weren't the only ones itching to get outside and soak it all up this weekend.  After the late winter snowstorm earlier this week (we only got about 5 inches, maybe, but it was more than we had all winter long!), this was a very welcome change.  Melinda really wanted to just go to the neighborhood playground, but Jesse didn't.  He gets bored at playgrounds.  And I'll be honest and admit that I do, too.  But Jesse was the decision maker this time around, and he decided we'd all go out to Meadowood park again.  Nice open space, paved walk, big fields, and a playground. 

Everyone and their dog was there.  Literally- most families did have a dog with them... or two.  Joggers were out in droves, dogs were every couple feet, and the amount of kids?  Well, let's just say there was a 10-minute line to get onto one of the 4 available swings.  We spent most of our time out on the fields, though, kicking around soccer balls, throwing our hula hoop up in the air, blowing bubbles, and even just enjoying the ability to let Alex roam free without worrying about his feet getting wet.  Although we did have to pick a relatively mud-free spot on the field, since melting snow doesn't tend to leave dry ground, after all! 

Jacob had a fun time running with a ball to each of the nearby sports nets (they were kind of small to be soccer nets, so I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that they were lacrosse nets), Daddy tagging along.  Eventually he picked up a stick and started hitting invisible monsters.  He got so much energy out!  He always gets into trouble when he picks up anything stick-like at home, because invariably, he winds up whacking someone and starts a big cry-fest.  But out in an open field, he could swing that stick as wildly as he wanted to!

Alex spent most of his time picking up clumps of dirt from the recently aerated ground, trying to eat every single one.  Lovely.  But when he wasn't doing that, he was climbing up into the stroller seat.  Because, ever since he figured out how to get up that chair (from the video I shared earlier this week), he's been climbing up chairs non stop.   I turn my back for two seconds and he'll steal my computer chair, even!  And of course, the new found prowess at climbing chairs also comes with an increased confidence in his ability to climb down, so he's also fully capable of getting off my bed, the couch, and any chair he climbs into.  I kind of miss being able to plop him on my bed and running to the bathroom alone, knowing he'll be "trapped" there.  Now he just slides on down like it was never a challenge.  Amazing what a couple days can do.

Melinda seemed a little bored outside today, unfortunately.  While we were at the fields she kept begging to move on to the playground.  We put it off as long as we could, since it was so crowded, but finally acquiesced.  And then she spent most of her playground time (well, aside from waiting in the line for swings) trying to get random girls to play with her.  My heart broke a little, watching so many girls just dash on away, barely acknowledging that she was there, but she was persistant.  She came to me a little glum, saying that the girls weren't playing with her, and I explained that things were so busy that they probably didn't realize she was trying to get them to play with her.  She seemed okay with that explanation.  But I know a lot of kids can be overwhelmed by her in-your-face eagerness to be friends, too.  I never know how to react to things like that, since my nature is to be so much more withdrawn.  I don't know whether to encourage her or try to tone her down. 

Anyway, we had a lovely day outside.  It was a little humid and sticky, but we got out in short sleeves, no jackets - Jacob even wore shorts (laundry day... no clean pants!).  And we were all perfectly comfortable.  And when we got home, we opened up all of our windows and let things air out.  That has to be one of my favorite parts about spring - the fresh air in my home.  Can't do it in summertime without giving up the air-conditioned comfort.  But spring is perfect for fresh, new air.  And in fact, here it is almost 10pm and most of the windows are still open.  It's heaven, I tell you!

Another side effect of springtime:  We cut hair.  Warmer weather means Jacob's head gets sticky with sweat.  He's always been a sweaty kid, but I think his super thick hair just amplifies the problem.  Doesn't take more than a couple laps around the front room, and his hair is soaked.  And obviously, we did a lot more than hop around indoors today.  So, it got buzzed.  I took the opportunity to go ahead and trim Alex's hair, as well  It's been getting long on the sides and back, and not looking too great.  I always hesistate to cut my babies' hair for the first time, and this time was no different, but I had been mulling it over for a good 2 or 3 weeks now, so I was ready.  While Jesse buzzed Jacob's hair, I had Alex in the high chair and took a pair of scissors to his hair.  He was so good, too!  He kept trying to look at the scissors, of course, but he behaved very nicely and calmly as I snipped away at his hair.  And now he's neatly trimmed, and I think I did a fantastic job for my first time ever attempting to trim boy's hair by hand.  One side is a bit shorter around the ear, but I doubt anyone but me would notice it unless I pointed it out.  Jesse said it doesn't even really look like he got a haircut - and that's a good thing!  I didn't want him to look buzzed or anything, just neater.  He doesn't have as much hair as Melinda and Jacob did at this age, anyway.  And with it being blonde, it looks like even less.  I was just going for a nice trim, and I accomplished it.  Yay!  (And I only pinched his neck with the scissors once!!)

Oooh, and Melinda did her bath all by herself for the first time today!  Well, I filled up the water for her - she was stubbornly insisting that she wouldn't be able to get the right temperature.  But she did all her own washing and rinsing, and did a great job.  She's getting more responsible by the minute!  She even helped Jesse scrub the toilets this past Thursday night.  I had asked Jesse, while Melinda was in earshot, "Jesse, do you think Melinda's big enough to clean the toilets yet?"  While Jesse was hemming and hawing about it, Melinda was jumping up and down, almost dying of eagerness, whining about how she really wanted to scrub the toilets!!  Boy... if only I could bottle up that enthusiasm for when she's a teenager, huh??

Randomness

You know, I think Mr. Sandman is out to get me.  But not in a helpful way.  Between Alex's crack-of-dawn antics yesterday morning/the night before last, and last night.... Boy oh boy, am I getting sleep deprived!  What happened last night?  I honestly have no clue.  Donated blood in the evening, felt perfectly fine all night.  But despite feeling very tired, heavy-eyed, and ready for sleep last night, I could not fall asleep!!!  Finally, at 4am, I was starting to drift off (no thanks to my MP3 player's batteries, which had died around 3am, taking my relaxation music with it) - I could tell, because my brain was following a not-real storyline, and it was just barely starting to get that surreal feel to it.

And then Alex woke up.  Yay.  Well, he went back to sleep fairly easily, but it just prolonged my falling asleep.  And of course, you know, the entire time I'm laying there, whacking Jesse every few minutes for daring to start snoring again (can't you see I'm trying to fall asleep over here?!?) I'm thinking how entirely unfair it is that I'm getting closer and closer to morning with no relief in sight, and this is the second night in a row that I'm not getting the sleep I need!!  And there's no chance for naps today - we've got a playdate after lunch.  And I have to get ready for hosting preschool at our house tomorrow.  So, yeah.  I'm super-duper happy today!!  Or not.  I actually feel like digging my eyeballs out, they're so tired.

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Allyson over at Laughadaisy tagged me for a quick little picture meme:
Go to the 6th folder of your picture files and post the 6th picture.

....drumroll!!
My 6th picture folder happens to be 2008.  And then I sort them by month within that, so there weren't any individual pictures.  So I picked the 6th folder, which was June.  And the 6th picture there is this slightly-blurry but oh so spring-worthy picture.  I can't wait for spring!!  (Holy moly, Melinda's hair was short!!)

Alternatively, if I ignore the 6th folder part, and just go to my "internet" folder, where I store all sorts of random photos, the 6th photos is this one of Melinda and Jacob just before Halloween in 2005!

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And here's another meme for you, that I found on Facebook:
This is a fun way to waste 5-10 minutes (or more if you actually want to be creative).

Make your band's album cover meme:

1 - Go to Wikipedia. Hit “random”
or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to Quotations Page and select "random quotations"
or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote on the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to Flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together.

And here's my band's album!

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I'm thinking of making baby blankets for my two sisters, Melissa and Megan, who are both expecting their first baby girls in May.  I've been eyeballing quite a lot of lovely, adorable, girly fabrics on Etsy.  What do you think, you two?  Any of these strike your fancy??  I'm wondering if I should even mention it (too late now!!).  Because I've been oh so unreliable at finishing projects lately.  But I should be able to handle some simple blocked blankets by May, right??  Here's what I'm looking at:

#1

#2

 

#3

 

I also absolutely adore this bundle of fabrics.... but it's not so girly.  :(  I might have to buy it for myself....

 

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Uhhhh.... look what Alex just figured out how to do while I was typing this post....

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I have the best kids!!  While that video was uploading, Jesse got home and we had lunch.  And then I put Alex down for a nap.  Just before Jesse left back for work, and after I left the room to rock Alex, Jesse told Melinda and Jacob to clean up the room for me.  When I came out, they had put all their train tracks away, and folded all the blankets!  *sniff*  Way a make a tired mama so happy!! 

Status Report

We caught one more mouse the night before last, for a total of 6, but no more last night.  Making good progress at culling the population, I think!

Yesterday was not a great day.  Alex woke up for the day at 9:30am.  Not a problem.  But between then, and when he went to sleep for the night at about 10:00pm, he had three dinky little naps. 
One: He fell asleep on the way to the grocery store.  Couldn't have been out for more than 5 minutes.  Woke back up when I took him out of his carseat. 
Two: He fell asleep in my carrier while we were in the grocery store, but not until after about half of the shopping was done.  And then he woke back up when we got to the checkout line.  So, again, he couldn't have been out more than 10-15 minutes. 
Three:  He did not fall back asleep on the way back home, like he often does.  Though, Jacob did.  No, he didn't go back to sleep until we were in the car again on the way to church for an activity last night.  And again, slept for no more than 5 minutes or so.  Woke up, again, as soon as I took him out of his carseat. 

You would have thought that he'd be eager to fall asleep at 9pm.  Lately, we've gotten into a really good routine: I read stories and sing songs to Jacob and Melinda, and Jesse takes Alex and bounces him to sleep out in the front room.  But I think Alex was just plan ol' overtired at that point, and he wasn't willing to hold still.  So he got crankier and crankier till I got him to go to sleep at about 10pm.  And of course he fought against the process the entire time.  And then, somehow, I got tired enough that I was falling asleep on the couch by 11pm.  I can't remember the last time that happened.  I know, I know - what am I doing up at 11pm anyway?  Who knows.  Jesse and I just never switched off of Mountain time, somehow.  We've been going to sleep consistently at midnight for the five and a half years we've lived in Maryland.  But if we visit our family in Colorado or Washington, we have no problem going to sleep at a normal time.  Anyway.  I fell asleep on the couch at 11pm.  And of course, as soon as I relocated myself to bed, I was wide awake.  And I didn't get back to sleep until after Alex had woken up to nurse around midnight or so.

And then he woke up at some crazy zombie hour of 5 or 5:30am.  And stayed. awake.  Crying. Fussing.  Squirming.  Playing.  I could not get him back to sleep until 7am.  And this does not help my mood today by any means.  Especially not since Melinda decided to wake up at about 6:30am (probably from all of Alex's crying), and Jacob got out of bed at about 7:30.  They usually both stay in bed till closer to 8.  Sometimes later.  I stayed in bed as long as I could this morning, despite them being up, but they have to come talk to me every few minutes, anyway (despite what I thought were my clear instructions to Jesse that he should warn them not to interrupt my sleep on penalty of death)... so it wasn't restful catch-up sleep.

Thank goodness I've managed to get them all to take a nap right now.  I need the quiet.

In the meantime, I resting.  Sure, blogging, too.  Doesn't that count as resting?  I'm also drinking a ton of water.  Because the idea is that tonight I'll be donating blood.  And this will be the first time I've ever donated blood while breastfeeding, and I just want to be extra sure that my body has enough liquid in it to continue the milk-producing process after I lose all that blood.

And I have to tell you, I'm really looking forward to those few minutes I'll be glued to a cot with a needle sticking in my arm.  Because I won't have to be the one dealing with the kids.  Mwahahaha!  And then I'll get to enjoy cookies and juice afterwards!!  But really... I am excited to be donating blood again.  It's been a while.  I just hope that the Red Cross doesn't start harrassing me with weekly phone calls to donate again like they do my husband.

Rachel's Pasta

After Alex was born, Grandma Newson came to stay with us and help us out for a while. While she was here, she introduced us to Rachel's Pasta. Apparently, Jesse's sister Rachel invented this one all on her own. And while it's a fairly simple recipe, it's also delicious, and we've included it on our regular rotation now. Sometimes we have it as often as once a week! I've been meaning to put it on my blog for a looooong time now, but I keep forgetting. But since I'm sitting down to include it on today's shopping list, I thought I'd take a minute to do it now!

Rachel's Pasta

1lb of italian sausage
1 can of olives, sliced
1 bottle sphagetti sauce (I like to use Bertolli's marinara)
1 can italian stewed tomatoes (I like to use diced tomatoes, cuts out a step)
1/2 to 3/4 cup frozen chopped spinach (I use an entire bag of fresh baby spinach, usually)
1/2 chopped onion
3/4 cup thinly sliced carrots
Pasta (Grandma Newson and Rachel suggest Penne, but we love to use large shell pasta)

Cook pasta according to directions.

Meanwhile, cook carrots and onion in a frying pan with a little water to steam them. Add sausage and crumble fry till cooked. Add tomatoes (cutting stewed tomatoes into smaller pieces), sphagetti sauce, olives, and spinach; simmer on low.

Serve sauce mixture over pasta, or combine and serve. (We always combine it!) Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Midnight Mouse Massacre

A few weeks ago, after noticing some mouse droppings in the kitchen, we bought some mouse traps.  (Side note:  I'm really beginning to wonder, at this point, if mouse-free apartment living is even possible.)  The first night we set them out, one trap caught a mouse. 

Then a few weeks passed, and nothing was getting caught.  I took a closer look at the traps, and wouldn't you know it - all the bait had been cleanly removed, but none of the traps had triggered.  So we rebaited them.  Put them in all the spots I know those mice are going.  BUT, it was the same story the next day.  Every single trap was clean, not a single mouse caught.  Now I was starting to get a bit furious!!  How dare those mice outsmart the traps!!!  I don't want to feed them free handouts, I want to catch them and get them out of my home!!!

Now, I just have to say, for the record, that I am not a huge fan of live traps.  I don't want to have to drive these house-invading mice and drop them off in a field somewhere.  I just want them gone.  It does make me a bit sad that I'm killing them when they get caught in my traps, and it makes me feel a bit guilty when I see them dead, (because they *do* look so cute and innocent...when they're not actively streaking across my house) but overall, I'm okay with the traps that kill mice. 

We bought a different style of trap, since the others obviously weren't cutting it, put bait on the indicated spot, set them up exactly as instructed.  Next day, licked clean again. 
GRRRRrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRR!!! 

So Jesse tried something else - he put the bait waaaay back in the trap, so they wouldn't be able to reach it from the sides or anything.  And then he pushed the trigger plate about halfway down - just before it reached the trigger point.  Because, you know, mice are small and lightweight.  We had to put more pressure on them ourselves to get them to set off than we thought a mouse would put on it with its entire body. 

After they were set and put in place, we went to bed.  Not 10 minutes later, we heard a bit of a clatter.  We ran off to the kitchen, and there was a dead mouse, caught in the trap.  Hooray!!!  Success!!  We re-set it and went back to bed.  A bit later, another clatter.  Another dead mouse!

And you know, we caught four mice in the same trap, in the same spot in our kitchen, within 1.5 hours.  No more in the morning, though.  Maybe that was all of them?  Those four plus the one from a few weeks earlier?  I'm not holding my breath, though.  I know enough about mice reproduction that I don't doubt the possibility of a lot more.  Especially with the cold weather outside.  And the neighbors upstairs who leave piles of trash out on their porch for weeks at a time.  But it's nice to finally see some good results with our traps. 

And speaking of cold weather - we got a big snowstorm last night!  And actually, it's still snowing right now.  Why do we always seem to get the really good storms right before spring starts?  When I'm so tired of cold weather and so anxious for spring, and not really feeling up to the idea of venturing outdoors to really enjoy it?  But March has definitely come in like a lion.  I'm anxioulsy looking forward to seeing it go out like a lamb.  We've had a few days recently with mild temperatures and a nice mild, perhaps even warm breeze, and it just feels heavenly.  I want more of that!  And the blossoming trees, the green grass, the budding flowers!  Oh, I can't wait for spring.  Going outside without spending half an hour bundling up three kids.  Basking in sunshine.  Even if I have to wait a few weeks, I was reminded of some fantastic news this week - Daylight Saving Time begins on March 8th!!  I can't wait for the lighter evenings, starting just next weekend!!