"santa" relents...

the last week has been really tough with reese. lots of talking back, beating on cade, and lots of poor decision-making. of course, this is only at home. apparently at school she is the best behaved little girl in class.

but today she brought this home:

reese said the entire class had to write these, so i'm thinking that everyone has been really having a hard time at school OR the teacher has her contacts in santa's crew.

when i saw this today, my heart just melted. santa will be stopping by after all, i suppose.

only 20 days til christmas!!!

and god bless the school bus drivers, right tiny tim?

today was the first day EVER that i put a sobbing, wailing reese on the bus. i hope her day improves from here, in her little 5-year-old mind i don't know if it could get worse.

she came home from school yesterday wearing an indian headband, which in kindergarten terms is a strip of white paper, decorated and stapled around a child's head, with a teeny neon feather glued at the rear. yesterday was also the school's thanksgiving meal and the kids got to be 'indians' during their meal. i asked if there were any pilgrims at the meal and reese said 'no' and then returned to her narration of their meal. i guess they don't learn about pilgrims til 1st grade then?

anyway, the headband was on her head almost continuously yesterday after she got home and little miss reese thought that she'd wear it back to school today. and me, being the wonderful mother i am, could not let her go to school looking like a dork (for lack of a better word! i wish i had taken a picture so you could see just how dorky --in a cute way!!--she looked in that headband). so i told her no, the headband needed to stay home today but she could wear it for supper tonight and even for our thanksgiving meal next thursday.

she didn't buy it.

cue instant tears and pity party. i didn't know this headband was tied into her popularity at school; she started going on about how no one will like her and no one will play with her. and everyone makes fun of her. and kids yell at her. and they blame her for everything.

sometimes i think we should have given her the middle name of drama. she has the personality of my husband but with the sudden sadness of my own school years. usually she's better after talking about it and after a kiss & hug from me but today wasn't one of those lucky days.

so that's why reese got to sit up front and spill her guts to the bus driver this morning. miss kathy is just an angel of a bus driver. i'm going to have to find something special for her christmas gift.

should i have called her teacher to let her know that reese was mopey? chances are that if i did that, reese would show up at school in a perfectly normal mood. so we'll let the school call me if there's any problems.
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i've broken out the christmas music. and i ordered rob's present. i hope he likes it. and just b/c i have my blog bookmarked on my computer, i won't be sharing that particular secret here. even as often as i shoo him off my computer, i still find open windows to ESPN when i hop on the laptop in the morning.
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elisha is teething or something. i thought we were done with this for a while but i guess not. she's almost 15 months old and has gotten 7 teeth in the last 3 months. no wonder i have these huge bags under my eyes!

since rob has been out at sea for the last 10 days, it's like musical beds around here overnight. elisha usually comes into my bed around 1am so i can get some sleep...cade fell asleep in my bed last night and elisha was so fussy that when she woke up in her crib i just took her out to the futon with me. pretty much, reese is the only one who stays in her bed all night and doesn't wake up at all.

i made the mistake of watching the 5th & 6th disc of heroes: season 1 last night. i couldn't stay awake for the final episode though. i went to bed at 1:30 and reese was up at 5:30. today will be painful...and full of suspense, i must know how the day after election day goes but i don't want the interruptions of the kids so i'll wait til after bedtime. only 11 hours left!

yet another reason 'dallas' is the shit.

has anyone else noticed what the most common prop is on TV? what almost every TV character is carrying around at some point during the show?

a coffeehouse-type disposable coffee cup. next time you watch a prime time show, keep track of how many coffee cups make their appearance. better yet, keep track of how many times the characters set down the cups and you hear a hollow 'thunk'. at least they could fill them up with water for a realistic sound when they're put down. drives me crazy.

if you're ever cruising the soapnet channel around 11am eastern, watch a bit of 'dallas.' those were the good old days when actors used real brown water in their coffee cups. there's a thousand reasons why 'dallas' rocks and that's just one of them.

happy birthday honey!

35 years ago today, a little japanese woman named sachiko gave birth to a 10 lb baby whom she named robert. who would have thought he'd grow up and be where he is today? married to a white woman with 3 kids, a mortgage, 2 cars, and a cat and a dog. ha! happy birthday, rob!

in honor of his birthday we decided to purchase a george foreman grill. i wanted one that could be used outside because i hate the smell of cooking meat in the house, seems like that greasy smell lingers forever indoors. this arrived on friday and i talked rob into opening it on saturday. i couldn't wait for his birthday today. we christened the grill yesterday. i had a turkey burger (with the bun! i'm weaning myself off of weight watchers.) and rob had filet mignon. my parents had shipped him an order of omaha steaks last week for his birthday. i know i don't feed him enough meat so he has to dose himself occasionally. *rolleyes*

anyway, it worked well and rob didn't smell like a big charcoal briquette afterward..always a plus. the turkey burger turned out yummy, too. i really want to find some salmon steaks and try those out on there. i LOVE salmon, but i haven't been shopping in a store with a seafood counter lately. and the one superwalmart i was in that had one, smelled like someone left a dead fish out. i didn't think it was safe to get seafood from such a stinky place. ugh. i also want to try doing veggies on there too. i think maybe i bought the grill for rob so i could eat healthier. hm. oh well. kind of funny that i bought him a little dirt devil vacuum that is used for computers, keyboards, and the tight spots of a car. seems like we'll both be able to use that too.


and a little update on cade...after talking with a college friend who went through the same things with their 3 year old son, i think i'm going to research preschools/daycares for cade. i'm thinking just 3 mornings a week? i haven't gotten any further on research other than telling myself that it might be ok if i let him out of my sight. funny how on the day i decide this, he's having a pretty good day behavior-wise.

and of course, since we're decided to take on this extra expense, now is the time for a neighbor to invite me to an arbonne party. i've never tried arbonne before but it seems that my dark circles and bags under my eyes get a little worse looking everyday. so this party is coming at a time when i'm feeling a little old & desperate. and yes, i'm only 31 but these kids have run me so ragged that i think i look about 41. i'm overdue for a cut & color too. and an eyebrow wax and pedicure. maybe i won't need a costume for halloween after all!

mommy confessional...

what to do, what to do...

over the last few days i'm realizing how my son and i do not get along. i know i've been pretty touchy lately, but i've been noticing that his favorite activities consist of: bothering elisha, bothering me, bothering the cat or dog, and bothering reese.

he floats from person to person, taking away toys or generally interfering with whatever they're doing at that time. he makes requests right when i'm in the middle of something (which i'm used to, kids don't always know to wait). he refuses to share, even though his older sister shares with him all the time, she's a really excellent model, imo. i hear "MINE" from him at least 20 times a day. he cries loudly and whines when he doesn't get his way (almost theatrically so, big huge tears and all).

it's almost impossible to discipline him when we're in public. i have been letting things slide though...not following through on my threats because i want to finish my errand instead of having a wasted trip. nothing frustrates me more than going somewhere to get something done and not completing the task. if we did use that approach, i'm afraid that i'd really be too hard on him because i'd be personally disappointed that the errand was left undone.

on the other hand, if cade has a game plan for the day, then he's completely happy. he's helpful with assigned chores and if he has a task, he follows through. he helps with the dishwasher, laundry, vacuuming, sweeping the sidewalk, anything! if i let him i'm sure he'd try and scrub the toilets and cook the meals. (hm, not a bad thought...)

it's to the point though, where i feel like i don't challenge him enough. he loves his ABCs and counting and games but i cannot keep him busy enough to keep him out of trouble. i've thought about homeschooling him in preschool but if he went to real preschool next year then he'd be really bored and apt to get into trouble there. he's only 3 years and 3 months old. if he went to a private preschool right now, i think it would be good for him, even for a few hours a week. but then what would i do with just elisha and me????

and then the thought comes...am i just pawning off my behavior issues on someone else? reese was a really good 3 year old. she was very obedient and didn't talk back very much. cade is just the opposite. it's to the point where i don't even like being around him b/c everything we do is met with a 'NO' from him. horrible things for a mother to say, i'm afraid. and really, i've had a difficult time with his childhood so far. for some reason i don't even remember his first year of life. i doubt my memory has been reprogrammed 'total recall' style, so what's up with that? he was a fine baby, as i remember. nursed fine for 13 months, had the same sleeping habits as reese, walked a bit early at 11 months...i don't know why i feel this block with him. ???

assorted topics

i think i'm all ready for the baby shower. i haven't picked up a gift for the mommies, but i'm thinking of going with gift cards to local restaurants that deliver. for one mom, this is her 4th baby and for the other mom, it's her 3rd. so i think they would come in handy for before their babies come or after.

i just need to clean clean clean. favors are assembled, crafts are ready for the kids, i'm going to make the dip & pumpkin cheesecake bars tomorrow (in btwn cleaning sprees)....i do need to print out the baby games i've selected though. i'm doing pumpkin trivia, baby Michelangelo, and one other...i think charades would be fun but maybe too 80s for everyone. everyone that is coming is a mom already so we'll have a fun time.

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our neighbors are putting up a fence. i'm not sure why. they had their house for sale last month and since then they've started getting chemlawn service and now the fence. i have to think it's not us, we're barely in the backyard and if our dog starts barking we bring him inside. they don't have any kids and their dog is so teeny that he couldn't navigate the grass even if they let him outside.

maybe it's because the lot behind their house has sold and so house construction will be starting soon. no better time to put up fences than before the neighbors move in. that's what our neighbors in connecticut did. jerks.

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i hate the appliances that are in this house. i don't know why ANYONE would choose such cheap-ass items for a new house.

the stove is electric with old-fashioned burners. it's all dial-controlled, NOT self-cleaning, and the heat from the oven comes up through the burners...enough heat so that you cannot rest anything on the burners as you're baking. the outside of the oven door gets hot enough that i need to keep they kids away from touching it. i don't think they'll get burned but it does get warm enough to be uncomfortable.

the microwave is such an aggravation as well. it won't defrost any given weight, only weight in .5 increments. rob tried to defrost a breakfast sandwich at .4 of a lb and it just sat there & beeped at him. and if you use the pre-programmed buttons (like for popcorn) it won't let you push the 'add a minute' button. and there is no quick-cook button (like a 30 second button).

i *might* have gotten spoiled with our appliances in our CT house, they were very nice. however, these are convenience features that in the long run aren't that much more expensive to purchase.

i think i'm just annoyed because the owners told us that they were building this house to move into, but the husband will be transferred soon. (they had been trying to sell the house without much success.) if they were going to move into the house, why would they buy such shitty appliances???? they sure don't help the resale value of the house...in fact the whole house is pretty standard...no wonder they couldn't sell it. people are looking for upgrades where possible.

personally, what i think happened with the owners is that they signed the papers on this house and when it was completed realized they couldn't afford to live here so they had to sell it. just on our street there are 4 or 5 houses for sale. and that's just in a 2 block distance. on the cul-de-sac 3 out of the 4 houses are for sale. then there's one that i think was forclosed on. i'm thinking the housing boom around here is slowing down a bit. enough griping about the house...it's a roof over our heads and we don't have to pay FL hurricane insurance on it, so it's all good.

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elisha has started sleeping through the night! it's hit & miss, usually just a few times a week but last night she did it, sleeping from 8:45 til 5 this morning. i kinda like getting some sleep. the best part is that she's sleeping in her own crib! not in our bed. so not only am i getting sleep but i'm getting plenty of space...well, except for the husband and the cat. but they won't cry if i push them back. :)

what have i done?

i am just not a party person. i'll attend them to be polite, bring a dish or whatever the hostess requests, help tidy up afterward...but i hate hosting them. i worry way too much about what people think of my choices.

well, i've really stepped in it now. in order to get the captain's wife off my back about my non-attendance at family group meetings (blush), i offered to host a baby shower for 2 of the junior officer's wives. eek. it's just a few hours on a sunday afternoon, and hopefully i can talk rob into taking cade & elisha out so they're out of my hair. having them out of the house really reduces my stress.

but like any good hostess, i stress anyway. i have no clue what to do. guests are bringing a dessert/sweet treat to share. so i guess i just need to plan on some punch and other drinks, and maybe a few back up sweet dishes just in case.

i should prep some party games, organize some gift ideas, oh and of course start cleaning. some of the wives are bringing their older children so reese will be here to play with them, however i guess i'll have to scoop some pooch poop out of our backyard too, in case the weather is nice enough to boot them outside. we've been a little lazy about poop patrol.

and the ironic part? the captain's wife won't even be here, she's hosting her own little birthday for her middle son at that same time. ha!

how much will old age suck?

i see all the troubles my mom is going through and it really makes me dread getting old. hip problems, knee problems (my dad has them too), and a family history of back problems are on my horizon. high cholesterol and high blood pressure are thrown in there too. oh, and the joys of menopause. although the current joys of menstruation are too numerous to be mentioned here, too. at times i think the best part of my life was before 5th grade when i had to start wearing a bra. it all went downhill from there.

i'm feeling pretty good these days, ironically. with the weight gone, i'm being a little activity junkie...dancing around the house, jumping on the trampoline, roller blading down the street with reese next to me on her bike (which was really a nice mommy-daughter moment last night), running the 2 blocks back from the bus stop in the morning, chasing the kids around the backyard...it just feels good to be moving. a year ago i thought i was too old (or too fat) to enjoy moving. how sad is that? my daily amount of exercise included walking around the house, going up & down the stairs, and getting fired up about cade's tantrums (although that surely burned about 300 calories per tantrum :)). i can't believe i wasted so much time being sedentary. :(

my knees still creak & pop and my hips hurt here & there though. so i guess that's something to mention to my doctor at my next exam, to see if there's anything she suggests for prevention. some wonder vitamin or supplement, maybe. i don't want to be where my mother is in 29 years. maybe that's the most valuable lesson she's taught me? i hate to put it like that, but i don't want to take my health for granted any more. and i don't want to be facing hip replacement surgery at age 50 (she's been in hip pain for the last 10 years).

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on recommendation from some ladies on my mommy board, i downloaded an album by colbie caillat (which rhymes with "ballet", i just saw that!). i feel like i'm listening to the full soundtrack of 'greys anatomy' but i like it. nice soothing stuff with one or 2 songs that are a little more angry. the perfect soundtrack for a grey day like today, i think.

right now i'm listening to 'taking you home' by don henley. i recall downloading that when i was pregnant with my first child, in 2002. listening to the lyrics, i sobbed and sobbed, imaging how i would feel with a newborn in my arms, the pain of labor already a memory. i have no clue what the song truly was written about but i think it could apply to childbirth.

Taking you home -
(don henley/stan lynch/stuart brawley)

I had a good life
Before you came
I had my friends and my freedom
I had my name
Still there was sorrow and emptiness
til you made me glad
Oh, in this love I found strength I never knew I had

1st chorus:
And this love
Is like nothing I have ever known
Take my hand, love
Im taking you home
Taking you home

There were days, lonely days
When the world, wouldnt throw me a crumb, no no
But I kept on believing
That this day would come

And this love
Is like nothing I have ever known, no no baby
Take my hand love
Im taking you home
Im taking you, home
Where we can be with the ones who really care
Home, where we can grow together
Keep you in, my heart forever

Instrumental (keyboard)

2nd chorus:
Oh and this love
Is like nothing I have ever known, oh no no baby
Take my hand love
Im taking you home

3rd chorus:
Oh this love
Is like nothing I have ever known, no no baby
Take my hand.
I'm taking you home
I'm taking you, home
Yes I am, mm, mm, mm, hey baby, hey baby
Taking you home

Short instrumental w/background vocals

Im taking you home baby
Im taking you home.

and now my ipod has moved onto 'never smile at a crocodile.' which is good advice.

more yaddah from me

or is it yadda? no clue. yaddah isn't some old yiddish word is it? no clue. if rob were here he'd tell me to wikipedia it.

anyway, yep my morning sucks. cade just had a 20 minute tantrum because i told him to go let the dog out of his kennel. cade wouldn't do it so i turned off the TV. then he went into full tantrum mode. i carried him to his bedroom to cry, but within minutes i was back in there because he was kicking the walls.

after 10 minutes of screaming & crying he finally sat for his 3 minute time out (for kicking the walls). all that just because i asked him to let the dog out.

now he's cleaning random things with a clorox wipe. staying busy by sucking up i guess.

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i have a friend named 'lola'. she takes wonderful pictures, they truly are artwork. she captures the most amazing sides of people. and the best part? she shares her work online with friends and strangers alike. however, some people have 'borrowed' her son's pictures as some sort of internet scavenger hunt. okaaaaaayyyyyy. hm. it seems they don't ruin the pictures, they just collect them and see how many they can collect. sounds weird, most of these kids are in foreign countries...that explains it all, right? they way i understand it, it's like a foreign myspace called orkut.com.

you can see by her website her photog skills are awesome, and her kids are the cutest (well, except for MY kids, haha). so sign this petition to get orkut shut down. the biggest complaint lola has with orkut is that her watermark ("property of" stamp) on the pictures is missing, so it shows no ownership of the pictures.

i signed it b/c lola is a friend, and i hate to see her beautiful pictures misused in any fashion. this might be harmless but the whole 'collection' aspect gives me the creeps.

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why can i not get started on anything?
--laundry
--planning a baby shower, to be held in 2 weeks (haven't sent invites out yet!)
--pick a room and clean it

laundry is really the priority today. cade is out of shorts and i'm out of shorts too. maybe i should just make a target run instead. if it weren't so damn warm down here in FL, then i wouldn't need to wear shorts all the dang time. global warming and all that crap.

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i have several friends on a mommy board that have had babies this month or are about to. dana is due any day, but hopes to hold out til monday so she can have an october baby. i tried to do the same thing dana, but elisha was born on 8/31, 16 hours shy of being a september baby. this is her 5th child, so you'd think she'd just be happy for babygirl to be born, instead of being picky about the dates :) i'd link her blog but like i said she has 4 kids, she doesn't have time to blog. i imagine the last time she posted on it was 3 years ago before baby #3 was born :)

so we're on baby watch for the next few days.

i have another friend who is in my thoughts on an almost constant basis. she is pregnant with her 4th and i wish her all the best baby-vibes i can muster.

and considering rob just got his vasectomy, i have babies on the brain. i'm throwing a baby shower in 2 weeks...our board just had 2 babies born last week...more babies in the future...the grandma & grandpa at walmart yesterday with the 3 month old twin girls...ack! they're everywhere!

today might suck.

cade was up at 5:30 today, eating breakfast with rob.

usually when he's up that early, he's a real jerk. talking back, whiny, demanding, tired but refusing to sleep...

we're all awake but elisha is still sleeping on the futon, how cute is that? we moved out there about 2am b/c she was restless in our bed. right now she's on her belly and looks so comfy. i wish today was a weekend so i could turn on a movie for the kids and go back to sleep with her. :( one of the drawbacks of kids starting school, i guess. you get rid of them for 8 hours a day but sleeping in and being lazy must wait for saturday and sunday. when is summer vacation???

did i mention...?

that i was doing weight watchers during these last 7 months? i'm not sure i blogged about it, for fear that i would fail. failure is easier to handle when the whole world doesn't know what a flop you are ;)


surprisingly, i haven't failed. from march 1 to date i have lost 76 pounds. 5 pants sizes. over 20 inches on my body have melted away. i can see muscles, abs, and veins where i couldn't before. who knew they were under all that skin? i'm not sure how much more i want to lose, i'm getting to the point mentally where i'm tired of analyzing and counting everything i put in my mouth.

weight watchers is a bit of a family joke for us. my grandmother and a few aunts have been on WW together and their weight really yo-yo'ed whenever they were on plan. i really don't want to be a yo-yo'er. i know i have TONS more energy right now and i love moving around...dancing around the house, bouncing on the kids' trampoline, going for spontaneous walks with the dog (which i'm trying to fit in as often as possible), playing soccer in the backyard...i'm just enjoying life in my body for once.

i'm actually about 20 lbs lighter than i was on my wedding day. rob says my hips/butt are smaller now than then...funny, i didn't think that would be the case after 3 kids! and the part that i really love? my bra size has gone down. i've been a C cup since high school, after babies up to a 40D and now i'm wearing a 36B. some women love their C cup boobies but i really enjoy this smaller size. with the dieting AND elisha nursing less, they've shrunk to a more manageable size. i look at the B size bras and get a kick of how they look like teenager bras, the cups are so little.

anyway, that's me tooting my own horn. toot toot!

a bit of bad news

maybe i shouldn't call home too often. i just worry about my aging parents.

i talked to my mom yesterday and found out the results of her latest doctor appointment. she visited an orthopedic something-or-other on friday and was told she'd need back sugery. she's been dealing with a pinched nerve in her lower back for the last few weeks. it's bad enough that she's has some numbness in her legs. her doctor diagnosed her with spinal stenosis and said that back surgery would fix 'er up. however, my mother is at least 80 lbs overweight and that creates some problems. she's going to work on losing about 50 lbs and in the meantime she'll have an epidural pain system put in place on october 10. (yeah, 2 weeks from now. arg. i guess this clinic is up to it's neck in people suffering pain, that was the first available appointment. maybe i should look into a job in anesthesiology...i have to learn how to spell it first, though. thank goodness for spell check.)

so after her weight loss (which may take up to a year? she's not very mobile so she won't be able to exercise it off) and recovery from back surgery, then she can plan on a hip & knee replacement, which is the primary reason she's been in & out of doctor offices for the last 9 months. she took a nasty fall in january and hurt her knee and her limping around on a sore knee was enough to irritate her hip. she's known that she should get a hip replacement, she's been having problems with her hips for the last 15 years. her frame of mind is that you don't go to a doctor unless you're bleeding or in horrible pain, so she's been trying prescription drugs to deal with the pain from her hips. she was able to put it off long enough that everything needed fixed at once. and i'm about 1300 miles away from being able to help her.

i asked mom if she had a plan for losing weight and she said that my dad was going to do it with her (he's also overweight, at least 80 lbs). so at least they have some support from each other. and i plan on calling her daily to harass her. i mean, um, give her diet tips. :)

my mom also told me about my sister-in-law, sharon. she was in the hospital over the weekend. she was visiting a friend and was walking down the stairs at the apartment complex...she missed the last few stairs and ended up hyper-extending her knee. sharon is really overweight, she should probably lose at least 150 lbs and the skin on her knee kind of "burst" with that kind of stress. there was no bone damage though, it was all skin & muscle tears. i believe there were several layers of stitches and a few days' stay in the hospital. she'll be coming home today and then out of work for a few weeks. my brother works 4 day weekends, so he'll be able to take care of her this week without losing out on his paycheck.

and my cousin, mark, is still on the heart transplant list. he had a massive heart attack in 2005 the damage done to his heart required that he have a pacemaker. now his pacemaker cannot keep up with his heart problems, so onto the list he goes. he & his wife have 2 girls, i think about 11 and 9.

i really don't know what i could do for my mom if we went to iowa for a visit. reese is in K 5 days a week, other than that we don't really have any commitments. i could homeschool reese for kindergarten and go to iowa for an extended time. i just don't know how much good i could do, i'd feel better for being there but i don't think having 3 kids around would help my mom much.

so i guess we make plans to go there for christmas? does my mom need the hassle of having house guests at christmas? we invited them down here for christmas, but i doubt my mom can travel that long.

so how's that for a monday morning waker-upper? :) maybe you have some misery of your own to keep mine company?

it's been a while. get over it.

it's been a while.

a long while.

but we're all still alive. we've all survived the move.

we stayed in the apartment in georgia for about a month and then we found a house to rent in northern florida. i think we're all settled in the house, but we have about a dozen boxes in the garage that i don't think will ever be unpacked. rob has conveniently stacked them up against the far wall and then shoved more stuff up against it, so i guess we're all unpacked now. there's still a few things i haven't found yet...like our rugs from the kitchen. those are the only things that come to mind. rob thinks he's lost a few things but those were just victims of me 'organizing' in the days before our move.

reese has started K and she's doing really well. she enjoys school but i have some reservations about her teacher. i think her teacher is doing the minimum and i guess i got used to reese's pre-K teacher who did way more than the minimum. all the K classes at reese's school are way over on teacher-student ratio and they have enough students to create TWO more K classes. (wow. that's a lot of 5 year olds!) so i volunteered reese to move to one of the new classes. i hope that i'm not moving her to someone who is a worse choice than mrs. R.

elisha is now mobile. she's WALKING...even though she doesn't like to broadcast it. if we're going the same direction in the house, she always looks to me for 2 hands to help her. she just started this a few weeks ago and i have to say she's the laziest walking baby i've ever seen. she's still decided that crawling is faster so that's the preferred mode i guess. she's also calling for me, which i'm already tired of. i hear 'ma!' 'ma!' 'ma!' until she sees me. and she does this cute shrug thing with her hands when i ask 'where's daddy?' i'm trying to get video of it and she's resisting me.

cade is still being a shit. it's better since he's turned 3 but he's still a shit. elisha is already learning to stand up for herself. when he takes a toy from her she screeches and smacks him. they really do love each other, i just wish he wasn't so hands on with her. he loves to rub her head or hug her, but i don't think he knows his own strength. i guess it's ok, elisha doesn't have bruises on her, right?

the newest development concerns my husband. yesterday was his appointment for a vasectomy. both of us were a little bummed but we realize that 3 kids is really ALL we need (and then some!). i've told rob that i think the reason i'm a little sad is because we're no longer in 'having babies' mode, we're in 'raising babies' mode. and i'm fine with it b/c i was a miserable pregnant woman and a witch as a new mother (to all but the baby of course ;)). so it's probably safest for all mankind to stop having babies now. so rob is hobbling around a bit, but he's already feeling better. he's feeling good enough to go hang out and play playstation, anyway.

we're starting daisy scouts this morning. so i better go hop in the shower for that. i haven't shaved my legs all week and what kind of mom would i be if i showed up with my legs all stubbly? actually, they'd probably volunteer me for camping with the girls if i showed up all stubbly!

our last week in this house...

hard to believe our move is finally happening. it's something i'm dreading yet i'm excited for the process to start. our family has been geographically separated for 5 full months, and i know it will be another month until we're all together again...and that was only with a short deployment included. the patrols on the tennessee are only 3 months long, but each day really stretches on when i can't at least talk to rob at the end of it.

the movers will be here next monday and tuesday, packing up our belongings and then loading them on the truck on wednesday. too bad for cade, they won't be using a semi-trailer...our streets & corners are too narrow to accomodate it. i'm sure he'll love the excitement though. staying at home with me while reese goes off to preschool has surely become monotonous for him...and me. (i keep thinking that maybe it would be good to get him involved in a preschoolish daycare next year. he's making progress learning letter sounds, counting, & all that but i have my worries about his maturity and selfishness. maybe that's how boys are???)

and now elisha is awake. dang. off to go be super mommy...

a bit of a revelation

i was driving home from walmart yesterday and i realized that i am happy. really.

this may not sound that huge to anyone else but to me it's big. i've spent a lot of my life wishing i could be like someone else or look like someone else or just BE someone else.

i am happy with my children, happy with my spouse (for now, i'm sure he'll do something dumb soon though), happy with all the choices i've made or am making, and happy with my body.

then we got home and reese threw a huge bratty fit and i mopped the kitchen and vacuumed the carpet. life returns to normal, even after you realize you love your life.

one month from today...

looks like we might have a renter for our home here in CT. we don't have a contract set up yet, i'm waiting to hear painting estimates (and time estimates for the painting) before we come up with a date just yet. the movers will be here june 11, 12 and 13, so hopefully painting can begin right after that. give me a day to tidy the house up and then the renters can have it. oh, and i need to have the carpets shampooed. add that in too.

i'm flying my dad here so that he can help us drive to georgia. if it was just the kids, i *think* i could handle it, but we're dealing with 3 kids, one cat, and one dog. and traveling down 95 sounds a little scary so my dad & i might head off the beaten track. i've never seen the appalachians before so seeing a few of those might be neat. of course, after we've been on the road 3 days, i might change my mind and just try to get there ASAP. i'm looking forward to the move, believe it or not.

rob will be gone when we arrive, he's deploying soon. the good news is that this "deployment" is insanely short. while he's gone, i'll be house hunting and hopefully we'll have somewhere to call home by august 1st. he is renting an apartment locally right now, so we have some where to hang out. a total bachelor pad, which will be why i'll be house hunting!

i counted it up the other day and rob's been gone for 4 months. he left in early january and then came back for a visit or 2. the last time we saw him was 5 weeks ago. he's going to be so surprised by how much elisha has grown. i'm surprised at how much she has grown.

it will be work to be a family again, but it will be worth it.

the ultimate challenge

my children hate me. they know that when i was younger (and skinnier and smarter) i loved sleeping. on weekends, i wouldn't get up til at least 10am...during the week, waking around 8 was early for me.

during the last week, reese & cade have both been up around 5:45 am. and if they're awake, you KNOW they're going to wake the baby. i honestly feel like this is some sort of competition...who can last longest with the least amount of sleep. the worst part is that after i tuck them into bed each evening, i seem to get my second wind and often end up staying awake til at least 11pm. add in several interruptions each night from elisha (who is still sleeping in bed with me) and the kids are in danger of winning this one.

just another reason we need to get our asses moved down to georgia...i can't hold on much longer.

updates and more updates

i've been forced to assimilate my blogger acccount with a google account. i have no clue what i have done but it wouldn't let me into my blog without me doing it. and we all know how VITAL it is that i get in here. i mean, my audience would really miss me. right? right???

this time THREE months have passed since my last post. wow. that's not very good at all. i guess i've been busy...

here's elisha's update:

• she is crawling.
  
• she is also pulling up on stuff.
• she just climbed a box yesterday.
• and she clapped
• and she has 2 teeth that she loves to bite with! ouch!
• she says 'mama'
• when she wants me, she chases me down and head butts my leg til i pick her up
• she's still sleeping with me and scared of the crib (or scared of being alone, i'm sure that's really what it is. she's used to having 2 older entertainers around constantly.)

here's cade's update:

• he's almost pottytrained! yee haw!!! he wears undies during the day and pullup at night. he's usually dry in the morning but i have a lot of pullups left over so we're going to use them.
• he's singing. some people may not be excited about this, but i remember reese doing it and i love that he's singing and remembering words and was paying attention to me when i sang to him all those times.
• he's now sharing a room with reese and bedtime is so much easier. for me. maybe not for reese. she takes the role of little mommy and makes sure he stays in bed.
  

here's reese's update:

• she's about 6 weeks away from turning 5. wow. a 1/2 decade. she's getting so old.
• she has started giving back what i give her. sometimes i am too impatient with her and tell her to hurry up. she fires right back with 'i'm BUSY, mommy.' so i guess she's learning to stand up for herself???
  
• she's also about 6 weeks from finishing her year of preschool
• i *think* she's reading. or else she has a photographic memory. the books she brings home from school are simple but she's reading them. and then talking like them. these books drive me crazy because they'e so simple...."i like you. you like me. here we go, up up up." etc.

and my update:

• i've been doing weight watchers since march 1st and have lost about 30 pounds. this is huge for me. i was growing out of my size 20 pants and now i'm fitting comfortably in 18s and a few 16s. i have about another 30 lbs to go until i reach what i weighed when i got married.
  
• major diet changes...no high fructose corn syrup (or at least in very limited amounts), low sugar, high fiber, low fat. my mood swings have really stopped...i can't believe how hfcs can really affect a person's moods. i'm doing similar things for the kids' diets (except the low fat part, i know they still need fats for good physical & mental development).
• the house *might* be rented out very soon. a couple came and looked at it, loved it and are submitting the paperwork to the property manager for approval. we might be moving very soon! hopefully after reese finishes preschool though.

so those are our updates. see you in another 3 months. :b

snot city

we were all healthy for about 3 days. then i think the 2 youngest picked up some bug from a walmart cart. reese and i are fine, but elisha has discovered that she hates the snot sucker. i hate it too, it usually turns into a struggle with elisha so i don't jab her in the eye. and since he refuses to blow his nose, cade's sleeves are crisscrossed with dried snot. rob is coming up for a visit this week, so we'll see if he gets any of our germs.

my saturday night was spent at youtube. for about 20 minutes i enjoyed clips from robot chicken until i fell asleep sitting at the kitchen table. you know you're tired when there's funny stuff on the computer but you fall asleep while sitting in the most uncomfortable chairs in the house. robot chicken was very entertaining, you have to have the right kind of mindset and since i'm a mom of 3, i totally get it. i sent a few of my favorite links to my husband and he enjoyed them too. i'm glad we have something in common other than 3 kids.

btw...the clips aren't appropriate for kids. so wait til they're glued to playhouse disney, then watch all you want. there's lots :)

mirror mirror on the wall...who's the sickest one of all?

hammer gave me a laugh today. i'm not sure which i am, but i will not be sharing pictures of my child's poop. i've seen it done before on other blogs and it's not pretty.

did i mention it hurts to laugh? i don't think i have a sinus infection, but my sinuses are just pounding. when i laugh, when i cough, when i sneeze (double ow!), when i bend over to pick something up, my head feels like it's caught in a vise.

however, life doesn't stop just because i'm sick. rob is in georgia, preparing for his next tour of sea duty. i've been playing the role of single mom (with a generous paycheck in the bank) for the last 2 1/2 weeks. we've had all sorts of germs visiting while rob has been gone...reese had a viral respiratory thing (a fancy name the doctor gave her persistent cough), cade had pinkeye, and now i have this head thing. elisha has her own thing going on...she's not sick but she's teething for real now. she's not sleeping well at all and she's biting. not what a breastfeeding 4 month old should be doing to a tired mommy! but she is cute. so i'll let it slide for a while longer.

i'm supposed to be getting this house ready to rent out so then we can move down to a rented house in georgia. we have a few superficial things to fix before i call the property manager to have her list it as available. however, with all these germs waging warfare on us, i really don't feel like leaving the house to get any of the supplies i need to do the work. i'm going to call her on monday and see if she has a handyman and a paint crew at the ready so i can just hand it all off to them. i surrender.

in the year...

thanks for the idea, hammer :) In 1976 (the year you were born)

Gerald Ford is president of the US The US celebrates its bicentennial, marking the 200th anniversary of its independence The Viking II sets down on Mars' Utopia Plains Promising, "I will never lie to you," Jimmy Carter is elected president of the United States Israeli commandos rescue hostages from Entebbe, Uganda The Concorde begins flights from New York to Europe George W. Bush is arrested and fined for driving under the influence of alcohol Cray-1, the first commercially developed supercomputer, is invented by Seymour Cray Freddie Prinze Jr., Reese Witherspoon, Colin Farrell, 50 Cent, Fred Savage, and Shannon Elizabeth are born Cincinnati Reds win the World Series Pittsburgh Steelers win Superbowl X Montreal Canadiens win the Stanley Cup Rocky is the top grossing film Filming begins on George Lucas' Star Wars The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins is published The Eagles Their Greatest Hits compilation becomes the first album in history to be certified platinum "Tonight's The Night" by Rod Stewart spends the most time at the top of the US chart Charlie's Angels and The Muppet Show premiere

What Happened the Year You Were Born?

happy new year...bleh.

once again, i've fallen into my poor blogging habits. i made dedicated entries for about a week but suddenly my free time is no longer my own.

elisha has decided that it's too entertaining to watch the world around her. this leads to catnapping, and just poor napping in general. getting her to sleep for an hour when the other 2 are awake is a major achievement. even getting her to sleep for an hour while the other 2 are already asleep is an achievement. maybe she's just busy growing synapses or something, because she is amazing me.

while we were in iowa, she discovered she could roll over and over and over and actually get somewhere. so if you put her on a blanket in the middle of the room and give her 5 minutes, you'll find her in a corner or up against the baseboard heater (which isn't even being used lately, it feels springier than spring outside!). she's also started using her voice more, just kind of blabbing to herself. and the last few days she has started blowing big juicy raspberries. it's so adorable, even if she leaves my shoulder wet all the time. she's really amazing me, i don't remember all this rolling over for at least another month with the other 2. (elisha just turned 4 months.) oh, and baby girl is also trying to sit up. when she's reclining in her carseat, it looks like she's doing little crunches because she's lifting her head up off the seat.

so christmas in iowa was a time of exploration for elisha. for the rest of us, it was a time of sickness. ugh. the 22nd i came down with the stomach flu (although i never threw up, i have such a strong gag reflex...or is that a weak gag reflex?? hmmm) but i felt any second like i could have thrown up. i made frequent trips to the toilet anyway, being struck with the diarrhea bug too. i stayed in bed for a whole day, something i haven't done since before i had kids. i was so weak, i couldn't have walked anyway.

rob had the diarrhea side of the sickness so he was in charge of the kids while i was sick. he brought me elisha every 2 or 3 hours to nurse and thankfully she did not get it. it was a short illness and i felt better around 10pm that night, but then who came into our room around midnight saying that she threw up in her bed? reese. :/

she had the bug the 23rd but was better in time for christmas. we thought we were all healthy so we left iowa on the 26th and who threw up in the hotel the morning of the 27th? cade :/ his first tummy bug :( i snagged the hotel's ice bucket and managed to catch most of it. the rest of the trip was a blur, between him throwing up AND having the nastiest diapers i've ever seen. i guess he really got screwed over.

we also had my initiation into the 'my child's just thrown up on your floor' club. cade nailed the floor in a mcdonald's in NY state. i added it to his baby book. :)

but we're all healthy again, just in time to hear of the meningitis scares in nearby rhode island. i hope all the decontamination they're doing in the schools there does the job. children shouldn't die from germs picked up in school.