Archive for October 2007
How does this happen? I swear it was just yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital. (Crap…I’m getting all verklempt!) He is really growing up to be a little man. Today was preschool day at the fair and his class was there. Several of the mothers commented on how polite he always is and I was just *so* proud of him. (Shoot…I’m really starting to cry now!) He is well liked by everyone and all of the other moms tell me they hear (good things) about him from their kids all the time. Since I was a shy kid who had trouble making friends, this makes me so happy.
He got some games for his VSmile video game console and his very first bike! He took off on it like he’s been riding one all his life. The tricycle has been retired. Or at least put away until we have another one big enough for it!
In honor of his birthday, I wanted to share a series of pictures from right around the time of each of his birthdays. Check the next (password protected) post!
5 years ago, I was a house!
Posted on: October 10, 2007
So this is what I looked like 5 years ago today. Sorry it’s a bad pic and an even worse scan, but you get the idea. This was after D came home from work and I told him to go on back because I was NOT going to the hospital to be induced. (We were supposed to be there at a certain time and he’d left work early so we could be there.) I’d been crying minutes before he took this picture. I was a week overdue, it was still hot (much like this year…we were in the 90s yesterday!) and I was really *done* but so terrified for what was to come. As it turned out I never really went into labor and had a c-section when he went into distress.
I cannot believe how long it’s been. Seems like this was only yesterday. And tomorrow my little boy will be 5. This is a hard birthday for me…I feel like 5 is the line between little boyhood and big boyhood. It’s (typically) when they start school, and it feels like a milestone in so many ways. It’s such a cliche, but time really does fly.
Seriously, can you believe this sweet looking child is the same one in the story below?
The gas we pass…
Posted on: October 8, 2007
- In: All about C | Parenting
- 1 Comment
(For those who don’t know, that is a kid’s book title! I’m not just trying to be gross, though if you find gas gross, you might want to skip this one. 😉 )
Living with 3 boys, I am subjected to a LOT of gas. And potty humor. I admit to finding it funny at times…but generally it is some thing I can live without. But of course D and J think it is funny and they have now rubbed off on my sweet little baby.
This weekend, D was holding C and apparently C passed some very loud gas or something. And D exclaims “What was that?!?” And do you know what my sweet little baby said?
“Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaart!”
And it continued throughout the weekend. And is still happening today. I assume he got this from his big brother. I am mortified. But at the same time it is *so* funny to see this little tiny boy saying “Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaart!” with this big grin on his face. Hmmmmmmm…maybe that’s why it keeps happening…I crack up every time he says it!
In other C news, I taught him how to blow kisses last night. Adorable! And he’s now putting signs together in “sentences.” Last night he signed “more book” and “more eat.” I am SO impressed! He babbles constantly, but I cannot understand most of what he’s saying. He is very good with his signs, though. He hasn’t slept through again, though he’s definitely going back to sleep much easier than when we first started. Maybe someday we’ll know what it’s like to sleep all night!
There has been another Thomas recall. Again, we have many of the pieces that were recalled. Even better? The free “gift” they gave out to the people who sent in stuff to be replaced has been recalled. Yeah, they sent out another lead laden toy if you sent in stuff because it had lead in it. I don’t think it’s too much to ask that they test this crap before it gets sent out! When I called during the original recall to ask about reimbursing postage, they said they were providing a free gift instead. (Later they ended up covering postage anyway, but nowhere near what it cost me to ship them.) And my first question was “How do I know that one will be safe?” The person reassured me that they would absolutely not send out anything that hadn’t been tested/checked/whatever. So they flat out lied to me, and put who knows how many kids in danger *again* with their negligence. It’s infuriating, to say the least.
I used to really like the Thomas stuff. It was expensive, but it was a good quality toy. I like that they’re made out of wood, especially. Plastics have been getting some attention lately for being unsafe, so I felt good about the kids having wooden toys to play with. And they’re so collectible…they’re always coming out with new trains, new sets, etc. so the kids don’t get bored. But now I’m just disgusted. It sickens me that they don’t do better testing on toys. I’m willing to pay more for stuff I know is safe…just tell me where to find it. I know shopping online is my best bet but I like to see stuff in person, let the kids play with it, find out if it’s really something they’ll enjoy. It’s so frustrating.
And speaking of toys and such, J’s birthday is next week! How did he get to be 5??? He’s getting a bike for his birthday, and some other small things. It’s also preschool day at the county fair and his class is going. D is trying to take the morning off so he can go with us. Should be fun! I just can’t believe my baby is going to be *5* years old though…where does the time go? 😦
And 2 more things for today…
Posted on: October 3, 2007
This is my 2nd post today, so read down if you haven’t heard about the wonderful night we had! 😉
Today is October 3. Yes, 74 years ago my dad was born on this day. We all miss him a lot. In fact, I miss him so much I may go have Mexican food in his honor. (Family joke…he hated Mexican food.) Actually, if there was a Long John Silver’s near me, I’d go eat there. For years he worked for a local LJS franchise in Knoxville as their Director of Operations. We ate there every single Sunday after church and I despised that place. Now, I’d give anything to be able to eat it every now and then. So if you knew my dad, consider having some LJS (or Mexican food!) tonight in his honor. I think he’d like that.
And next, I’ve been informed that today is The Great Mofo Delurk 2007. (If you don’t know what a mofo is, don’t ask me. I will not be responsible for corrupting you!) Since I get as many as 100 hits some days, and almost NEVER any comments, this day’s for you. Leave a comment. Please. I just really want to know who’s out there reading about our crazy little family! For info on the origins of this great event, click on the button. And to leave a comment, just click on the place that currently says “No Comments” but with any luck will probably say the number of comments received later. It’s easy peasy lemon squeezy!
Sleep is wonderful.
Posted on: October 3, 2007
So I’ve been nightweaning C. The process has gone relatively well after the first night, and now D is able to get him back to sleep very quickly. It has meant more sleep for me, but much, much less for him since he is getting up to handle the nightwakings. (I can’t go in there, because it just makes things worse if I won’t let him nurse.) We’re down to 1 waking most nights, but he still hadn’t slept through the night.
Until last night!
I didn’t get him down (for good) until after midnight. Not a big problem b/c I’m a nightowl anyway — I just don’t like being stuck in his room with no entertainment. But I can deal with that. I lay down with him in the queen bed and nurse him to sleep, then extricate myself and go about my business. Most nights he’s down by 10 or 11, so no big deal. Last night was harder…I had a monster headache, and he’d fallen asleep around 9 and woke back up. Since I was still up, I went in there and we read some books, snuggled a little and after a few false starts, he was finally off to dreamland. D had asked me to get up with him so he could sleep better and I said no problem. I was a bit worried about how I would handle it without nursing, but I knew he was tired and needed a good night’s sleep after losing some to the nightweaning for the past 10 nights or so.
I fell asleep right away and next thing I know, it’s 6AM, D’s alarm is going off, and we suddenly hear C crying. The alarm woke him, but he had slept from midnight to 6AM. I haven’t had 6 straight hours of sleep in about 15 months! It was blissful. D, unfortunately, had a nightmare around 4AM and hadn’t been able to go back to sleep for a while so he didn’t get the sleep he needed, but I’m hopeful that this might happen again at some point and then eventually the sleep deprivation will become a distant memory.
The good news is that this process has gone much better than I expected. I’d been putting him to bed in his own room for a while so he’d get used to it. The first night (we started on a weekend so D wouldn’t have to go to work if he ended up being up with him for a long time) was really bad. C woke up at 2AM (his normal wake time) and then cried off and on for a couple of hours. He was being comforted the entire time, but he definitely wanted me. Every time he fell asleep in D’s arms, he would wake up again. At 4AM, he finally passed out from sheer exhaustion and slept until 7AM or so. The next night was much better and it’s gotten progressively better since. He generally wakes only once now and goes back to sleep very easily, without my assistance. It hasn’t been a fun process and the mommy guilt is excruciating, but I *need* this for my health and happiness. With him not nursing at night, I can take better drugs when I need them for kidney stone pain. And I can already tell that I’m happier and more patient with him during the day. He is also more easily redirected…if he’s climbing on me and lifting my shirt up, I can usually distract him with a toy, a book, a snack, or a quick snuggle. Two weeks ago, that was nearly impossible. It’s made a huge difference in the way I feel towards him and motherhood in general.
But I’m still thinking of escaping this weekend for an hour or two to myself. If only there was a good movie playing! I took a look at what’s out right now and nothing is turning me on…
We’re still here…
Posted on: October 1, 2007
- In: All about J | Minutiae | Parenting
- 1 Comment
I don’t know how many times a day I think “I should blog about that!” and then it doesn’t happen. I’m still in a funk and I can’t pull myself out of it. I’m just trying to spend as much time as possible off the computer, but that’s not really helping. *sigh*
One thing that has become a real problem for us lately is that J has started lying. He lied to the Occupational Therapist last week and told her he likes pizza. Totally not true. Last time we went to a pizza buffet he threw such a fit that we left without finishing our lunch. We haven’t been back since, and since D and I love pizza it’s been something we’ve been wanting for a while. So to help him understand why we don’t lie, we took him to the pizza buffet and he had to eat pizza. NOT a good trip. Luckily there were very few people there and we had the area we were sitting in all to ourselves. Then today when I picked him up from school, I asked him how much of his lunch got eaten. He told me that he ate it all. When I got home, he hadn’t eaten but a couple of bites from his applesauce, and a couple of crackers. This has been an ongoing problem — we put together a lunch of things he’ll eat (with his input each time) and make sure it’s 99% nutritious, and then he doesn’t eat it. Frustrating! So, again, he had to face the consequences. (We don’t “punish” much…generally all of his negative actions have a natural “consequence” and he has to face the “consequences” of his actions.) I am making him sit at the table until he finishes it. It has been an hour now and he’s still sitting there and moping about having to eat it all. To be fair, D packed him a HUGE lunch today (crackers, applesauce, grapes, raisins, carrots, and chocolate milk) so typically I would be fine if he only ate 2-3 things. But the fact that he lied and told me he ate it ALL when he only had a few bites of 2 things…well, it made me see red. And it didn’t help that he put the applesauce back in there and it dumped all over everything so the inside of his (reusable) lunchbag was a sticky mess. I feel like the mean mom, but I don’t know what else to do…any suggestions?
And in keeping with the “discipline for J” theme, I made him throw away one of his toys a couple of weeks ago. Yep, I am *that* mom. It was a small (inside) wagon that my in-laws had picked up at a garage sale. It is a toy I’ve hated since I first saw it…he runs at top speed through the house pushing it in front of him. I lost count of how many times he had it put up because he knocked C over with it, ran over D’s or my foot, broke something, messed up the wall or furniture, or any number of things (or people) he broke/messed up/hurt with it. So he’d gotten it back *yet again* and made bad choices in the way he played with it. This time he knocked C over and really hurt him with it. So I told J that he had run out of chances with this particular toy and that we would now throw it away. I felt AWFUL after I said it, but I knew I couldn’t go back…he really had been given so many chances with this toy that it was ridiculous. D came home while I was still trying to tend to C and his booboo, so I explained to him what happened. He didn’t say anything and I thought he was mad that I made him throw away a toy that D’s parents had given him. Shortly after, we were in the car going somewhere and I asked him if he thought I made a bad decision in making J throw it away. He gives me this sheepish look and says he’s glad I was the one who did it and not him! He can be SUCH a pansy sometimes. He says he knew it was going to have to happen eventually and he’s glad it was me and not him home when the proverbial camel’s back broke. So here I am feeling bad and he thinks it’s funny! This parenting stuff is definitely the hardest job I’ve ever done.
The W Family Chronicles 