I'm awake.
And have been since 5 AM.
Because I was in pain.
And all wet.
I love that my son is sleeping
For long stretches at night.
But when you're nursing,
There's definite downsides to that.
But I pumped.
And now Daddy can feed him a bottle later.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
"I Can't."
So Nathan's newest phrase is, "I can't." He said it for the first time yesterday morning, and has said it four hundred million times since then.
"Nathan, can you hand me Jacob's towel [burp rag]?"
"No, I tant."
"Nathan, can you put your toys away?"
"No, I tant."
"Nathan, can you please shut the fridgerator door?"
"I taaaant."
"Nathan, can you please stop being so noisy?"
"I tant. Nooo, I tant!"
"Nathan, can you help Mommy sweep?"
"I tant."
"Nathan, let's go potty." [this after him telling me he needed to go potty]
"[whining] I tant!"
"Nathan, go upstairs to your room if you're going to throw a fit."
"I TANT! [major fit crying] I TAAAAANT!"
Nathan, how 'bout you go mix mommy a stiff drink, 'cause she's gonna need it to make it through another day of this!
"Nathan, can you hand me Jacob's towel [burp rag]?"
"No, I tant."
"Nathan, can you put your toys away?"
"No, I tant."
"Nathan, can you please shut the fridgerator door?"
"I taaaant."
"Nathan, can you please stop being so noisy?"
"I tant. Nooo, I tant!"
"Nathan, can you help Mommy sweep?"
"I tant."
"Nathan, let's go potty." [this after him telling me he needed to go potty]
"[whining] I tant!"
"Nathan, go upstairs to your room if you're going to throw a fit."
"I TANT! [major fit crying] I TAAAAANT!"
Nathan, how 'bout you go mix mommy a stiff drink, 'cause she's gonna need it to make it through another day of this!
Friday, January 29, 2010
You Know You're a Mom When.....
...you can yank a two-year-old off the floor who's in the middle of a screaming fit and is peeing himself (the screaming fit was brought on by - get this - me not being able to go with him to the bathroom), spank him, haul him to the bathroom, yank his pants down, put him on the potty, and throw a rag on the puddle on the floor.... all without the three-month-old unlatching from nursing.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Note to Self:
In January, when the temperature is in the 20s, and the wind is blowing, always take a coat - even if you are wearing a sweater. Because when your son is lolly-gagging on the way into the grocery store, you will freeze a pertinent body part off.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Chubby, Chubby Cheeks
I can't get enough of kissing these cheeks! They are so soft, and he smells so good!
A friend pointed out when he met Jacob, "Your kids have very distinctive cheeks." That's very true. And I love them so much!
Ooh! I just have to go kiss him again!
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Living Frugally
With the down-turn in the economy recently, there's been a lot of buzz about how to save money and "be frugal." But apparently mainstream culture and I have a different opinion of what it means to be frugal.
I consider being frugal to mean, if you don't absolutely need it, you do without.
Mainstream idea of frugal seems to be, if you want it, you shouldn't pay full price for it.
I happened to have a magazine lying around that has an article about 18 "genius" ways to make your cash go further. Glancing over it, here's their ideas: limit the garments you take to the dry cleaner, get a cheaper gym membership, skip your morning Starbucks and make coffee at home, sign up for Netflix instead of going to the movie store, clip coupons, don't eat at expensive restaurants, get a manicure once a month instead of once a week, find the cheapest gas, avoid ATM fees.... Seriously? I'm so tired of hearing "brilliant ideas" like this that NORMAL people already do! I read another blog recently and the author said something like, "How the h--- are people that already don't do any of these things supposed to save money???"
Something I admit I could do better would be to clip coupons. And when I find a coupon for something we buy (mainly diapers), I use it. But most are for brand-name goods that, even with the coupons, are still more expensive than the store brands. I've heard there are often good coupons in the Sunday paper, but to get the paper to get the coupons, I'd spend $1.50. So I'd have to save that much just to break even. I've also heard that if you search online, you can find good coupons. But time is money. I don't have all day to search for coupons. (And once again, they're for name-brand things.)
I know a lot of people that think they're being frugal because they found something on sale. Sure, it's great that you only paid half price for those shoes, but if they're your 14th pair of shoes, you obviously don't need them, so is it really being frugal? (I'm guilty of this - not shoes, but clothing - if it's under $10 and actually fits me and is my "style", I will usually buy it - need or not.) Same thing with buying clothes for your kids - do they really need 40 outfits and 10 pairs of shoes?
I'm not the pristine example of how to live frugally, by any means. Thankfully, right now, we're not where we have to make the choice of whether we buy gas or groceries with what's left in the bank. (We have been there, and probably will be again, though.) I just get so tired of hearing people gripe about not having any money, only to listen to them talk about going shopping and finding this or that, or going out to the bar with their friends. Do you have any money or don't you?
I know people look at things that we buy and think we're extravagant. And we are at times. But there's a lot that we don't have/do, so that we can afford to buy stuff we want/need. We opt to not have sattelite TV, but we do subscribe to Netflix. We don't have a home phone, but we do have wireless high-speed internet. We don't eat out much, but I splurge on the type of meals I fix at home (lots of "expensive" ground beef, rather than cheaper pork or chicken). We don't buy our sons a bunch of little toys or extra clothes, so we can afford to spend a chunk to build them a nice play set. Almost every vacation we've been on we have stayed with family (because it's cheap), even though there's other places we'd like to go see (East Coast, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon). And after this last trip to Colorado for Grandma's funeral, I now know how much that little thing has been saving us every year!
Anyhow. There is no real lesson in this, just felt the need to vent. If you're already living frugally by mainstream standards, are there any other ways you can cut corners and save money?
(Your comments and ideas are welcome.)
I consider being frugal to mean, if you don't absolutely need it, you do without.
Mainstream idea of frugal seems to be, if you want it, you shouldn't pay full price for it.
I happened to have a magazine lying around that has an article about 18 "genius" ways to make your cash go further. Glancing over it, here's their ideas: limit the garments you take to the dry cleaner, get a cheaper gym membership, skip your morning Starbucks and make coffee at home, sign up for Netflix instead of going to the movie store, clip coupons, don't eat at expensive restaurants, get a manicure once a month instead of once a week, find the cheapest gas, avoid ATM fees.... Seriously? I'm so tired of hearing "brilliant ideas" like this that NORMAL people already do! I read another blog recently and the author said something like, "How the h--- are people that already don't do any of these things supposed to save money???"
Something I admit I could do better would be to clip coupons. And when I find a coupon for something we buy (mainly diapers), I use it. But most are for brand-name goods that, even with the coupons, are still more expensive than the store brands. I've heard there are often good coupons in the Sunday paper, but to get the paper to get the coupons, I'd spend $1.50. So I'd have to save that much just to break even. I've also heard that if you search online, you can find good coupons. But time is money. I don't have all day to search for coupons. (And once again, they're for name-brand things.)
I know a lot of people that think they're being frugal because they found something on sale. Sure, it's great that you only paid half price for those shoes, but if they're your 14th pair of shoes, you obviously don't need them, so is it really being frugal? (I'm guilty of this - not shoes, but clothing - if it's under $10 and actually fits me and is my "style", I will usually buy it - need or not.) Same thing with buying clothes for your kids - do they really need 40 outfits and 10 pairs of shoes?
I'm not the pristine example of how to live frugally, by any means. Thankfully, right now, we're not where we have to make the choice of whether we buy gas or groceries with what's left in the bank. (We have been there, and probably will be again, though.) I just get so tired of hearing people gripe about not having any money, only to listen to them talk about going shopping and finding this or that, or going out to the bar with their friends. Do you have any money or don't you?
I know people look at things that we buy and think we're extravagant. And we are at times. But there's a lot that we don't have/do, so that we can afford to buy stuff we want/need. We opt to not have sattelite TV, but we do subscribe to Netflix. We don't have a home phone, but we do have wireless high-speed internet. We don't eat out much, but I splurge on the type of meals I fix at home (lots of "expensive" ground beef, rather than cheaper pork or chicken). We don't buy our sons a bunch of little toys or extra clothes, so we can afford to spend a chunk to build them a nice play set. Almost every vacation we've been on we have stayed with family (because it's cheap), even though there's other places we'd like to go see (East Coast, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon). And after this last trip to Colorado for Grandma's funeral, I now know how much that little thing has been saving us every year!
Anyhow. There is no real lesson in this, just felt the need to vent. If you're already living frugally by mainstream standards, are there any other ways you can cut corners and save money?
(Your comments and ideas are welcome.)
Friday, January 22, 2010
In Case You Didn't Notice....
.... there are now little "reaction" boxes you can click at the bottom of every post. So for those of you that don't like to leave "real" comments, you can at least let me know someone is reading this babble. And it's anonymous. And easy. So just click them. Seriously.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Three Months!
I sat down at the computer to start working on taxes, and then the thought occurred to me that this would be a great time to write on my blog since everyone else in the house is asleep.
So I opened up my blog. And got distracted by reading some old posts. I love reading what's happened, and what I was worked up about, say... a year and a half ago or whatever. I really need to get these entries off of the computer and into a book. I keep seeing an ad for "Blog2Book" or something when I sign in here - does anyone know how that works? Since blogging has replaced my journal more or less, I should get a "hard copy."
Jacob is three months old today! He is getting so big! He can already wear some 6-9 month clothes. He's such a smiley guy. He loves to sit in his bouncy seat and watch us and then he'll randomly break out into a huge gummy grin. He's really making noises now, "talking" and cooing and even something very close to giggling. I swore he was teething. He has a tiny white spot that FEELS like tooth, but it's been there two weeks almost, and it still hasn't emerged as a tooth. But he's chawing on his fingers and biting me (ouch!) all the time, so I know teeth can't be far off.
On January 3rd, Paul's grandma passed away. She hasn't been doing well for a while, but right around Christmas, she really took a turn for the worse. We got the word on that Sunday morning, and on Monday evening, we took off for Colorado. We drove to Hays the first night (without stopping, miraculously), then from Hays to Fort Collins the next day (only stopping twice). The boys did excellent in the car, and really for the whole trip. We got a hotel room, so we'd have a place to spread out, and a place to take the boys away from everyone if they were cranky and needed naps. Nathan didn't have a single accident while we were gone (which really surprised me) - other than the car ride, which we didn't even try - we put a diaper on him. The memorial service was nice - Paul and Elizabeth and Janice played a lot of music, according to Grandma's wishes. I ended up being out with Nathan ("I need to potty.") and Jacob for the message. Grandpa seemed to be doing well, although I know it was hard for him - both having lost his wife, and having a deluge of people who want to pity and take care of him (two things a man like him hates). We made the trip back in one long haul, taking about 11 hours I think we stopped 4 times, including an hour and a half lunch break at the Burger King in Burlington, CO (they have an indoor kids play area).... Where we ran in to Paul's great aunt and uncle! Paul pulled me aside and said, "Who are my relatives that live out near here?" Pssht. So I just went and flat out asked them.
It turns out we were gone for one of the coldest weeks of the year (probably of several years), with temps hovering right around zero, and horrible wind chills (-20 or lower). This caused much nervousness on the part of Cody, who was taking care of our house and pets while we were gone. We'd warned him of the tendency of our pipes to freeze. He went into the cellar one evening to check things, and discovered water running down one of the walls. Fearing the lines to the kitchen had broken, he shut off the main valve and drained all the taps. This was probably the best thing he could have done, because when we got home, despite all the cold windy weather, all the faucets worked except the kitchen. It turns out (after the pipes thawed and we could investigate) that it wasn't the faucet, it was the kitchen drain that was leaking.... A joint had come loose, which was a cheap fix - though not necessarily easy, since Paul had to crawl into the crawl space under that end of the house, wearing 3 layers of clothes!
Nathan's vocabulary continues to amaze us. His newest, overused phrase is, "What you doing, Mommy?" And two that he can get rid of at any time are "Get up." and "Get out." Commando Demando. Those two are getting old. He got wooden train tracks for Christmas from Gramma and Grampa, and Paul and I have so much fun building the tracks with him that one of us has bought three more sets on EBay to expand the possibilities. We have a new layout built every day, if not more than once. And luckily, he's been extremely good about putting them away as soon as he's done playing. Potty training is going well.... He had gone over two weeks without an accident during the day (still not trained during sleep), and then he had an accident like four days in a row. Don't know what that's about. He's been very interested a few times recently when he watches me nurse Jacob, and also has climbed up on the toilet to watch while I chang Jacob's diaper. This has resulted in some "proper name" anatomy lessons. And may I just say, a two year old trying to pronounce "testicles" is hillarious.
I'm sure there's more I should write about, but Jacob is now awake and squirming on my lap. I need to go change the third "poop-plosion" of the day. And it's a cloth diaper. It's gonna be messy.
So I opened up my blog. And got distracted by reading some old posts. I love reading what's happened, and what I was worked up about, say... a year and a half ago or whatever. I really need to get these entries off of the computer and into a book. I keep seeing an ad for "Blog2Book" or something when I sign in here - does anyone know how that works? Since blogging has replaced my journal more or less, I should get a "hard copy."
Jacob is three months old today! He is getting so big! He can already wear some 6-9 month clothes. He's such a smiley guy. He loves to sit in his bouncy seat and watch us and then he'll randomly break out into a huge gummy grin. He's really making noises now, "talking" and cooing and even something very close to giggling. I swore he was teething. He has a tiny white spot that FEELS like tooth, but it's been there two weeks almost, and it still hasn't emerged as a tooth. But he's chawing on his fingers and biting me (ouch!) all the time, so I know teeth can't be far off.
On January 3rd, Paul's grandma passed away. She hasn't been doing well for a while, but right around Christmas, she really took a turn for the worse. We got the word on that Sunday morning, and on Monday evening, we took off for Colorado. We drove to Hays the first night (without stopping, miraculously), then from Hays to Fort Collins the next day (only stopping twice). The boys did excellent in the car, and really for the whole trip. We got a hotel room, so we'd have a place to spread out, and a place to take the boys away from everyone if they were cranky and needed naps. Nathan didn't have a single accident while we were gone (which really surprised me) - other than the car ride, which we didn't even try - we put a diaper on him. The memorial service was nice - Paul and Elizabeth and Janice played a lot of music, according to Grandma's wishes. I ended up being out with Nathan ("I need to potty.") and Jacob for the message. Grandpa seemed to be doing well, although I know it was hard for him - both having lost his wife, and having a deluge of people who want to pity and take care of him (two things a man like him hates). We made the trip back in one long haul, taking about 11 hours I think we stopped 4 times, including an hour and a half lunch break at the Burger King in Burlington, CO (they have an indoor kids play area).... Where we ran in to Paul's great aunt and uncle! Paul pulled me aside and said, "Who are my relatives that live out near here?" Pssht. So I just went and flat out asked them.
It turns out we were gone for one of the coldest weeks of the year (probably of several years), with temps hovering right around zero, and horrible wind chills (-20 or lower). This caused much nervousness on the part of Cody, who was taking care of our house and pets while we were gone. We'd warned him of the tendency of our pipes to freeze. He went into the cellar one evening to check things, and discovered water running down one of the walls. Fearing the lines to the kitchen had broken, he shut off the main valve and drained all the taps. This was probably the best thing he could have done, because when we got home, despite all the cold windy weather, all the faucets worked except the kitchen. It turns out (after the pipes thawed and we could investigate) that it wasn't the faucet, it was the kitchen drain that was leaking.... A joint had come loose, which was a cheap fix - though not necessarily easy, since Paul had to crawl into the crawl space under that end of the house, wearing 3 layers of clothes!
Nathan's vocabulary continues to amaze us. His newest, overused phrase is, "What you doing, Mommy?" And two that he can get rid of at any time are "Get up." and "Get out." Commando Demando. Those two are getting old. He got wooden train tracks for Christmas from Gramma and Grampa, and Paul and I have so much fun building the tracks with him that one of us has bought three more sets on EBay to expand the possibilities. We have a new layout built every day, if not more than once. And luckily, he's been extremely good about putting them away as soon as he's done playing. Potty training is going well.... He had gone over two weeks without an accident during the day (still not trained during sleep), and then he had an accident like four days in a row. Don't know what that's about. He's been very interested a few times recently when he watches me nurse Jacob, and also has climbed up on the toilet to watch while I chang Jacob's diaper. This has resulted in some "proper name" anatomy lessons. And may I just say, a two year old trying to pronounce "testicles" is hillarious.
I'm sure there's more I should write about, but Jacob is now awake and squirming on my lap. I need to go change the third "poop-plosion" of the day. And it's a cloth diaper. It's gonna be messy.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Welcome to the Blogosphere!
I'd like to welcome my cousins Amy and Emily to the wonderful world of blogging (actually, they're Paul's cousins - but I claim them). I'm thrilled that I'll be able to keep up with their antics this way. And hopefully they'll become as addicted to blogging as I am. (Although you can't really tell that by my lack of posting.... I promise you I'll get something of worth written tonight or tomorrow while Paul's home to distract the boys!)
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Journal
A by-product of not wasting time is that I have a quiet time. A by-product of having a quiet time is that I write in my journal. A by-product of writing in my journal is that I don't write on my blog.
Sorry.
I'll have an update for you soon. I actually put it on my to-do list, but I've had somewhere to go every day this week, and by the time I get home, I'm playing catch up.
But it's a new, UN-FOGGY day! Since last Thursday, we have had pea-soup fog around here. Visibility is barely a quarter mile - all day long. For 5 days. This caused a massive 30+ car wreck on the interstate just outside of town. Paul just barely missed being stuck in traffic when they shut both sides of the interstate down.
But I'm hoping my energy levels will return. It's not sunshine, but it's one step closer!
Sorry.
I'll have an update for you soon. I actually put it on my to-do list, but I've had somewhere to go every day this week, and by the time I get home, I'm playing catch up.
But it's a new, UN-FOGGY day! Since last Thursday, we have had pea-soup fog around here. Visibility is barely a quarter mile - all day long. For 5 days. This caused a massive 30+ car wreck on the interstate just outside of town. Paul just barely missed being stuck in traffic when they shut both sides of the interstate down.
But I'm hoping my energy levels will return. It's not sunshine, but it's one step closer!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Ego Blow
I told Paul that I was going to look into buying some snow boots, with all this snow we've been having. I have nice boots - but they have a 4-inch heel (not very snow/ice appropriate), and I have mud boots - but they're not very warm. I've been wearing tennis shoes, but when you have to walk through a drift to get to your car, you end up with cold, wet ankles.
I didn't want to spend a lot on them, and I figured since I'd only wear them a couple times a year, I'd just get some cheap ones from WalMart. So I looked on their website. The only boots they sell in size 12 are "developed for patients with severe foot deformities."
Ouch.
So apparently having that large of feet makes me a freak of nature.
I didn't want to spend a lot on them, and I figured since I'd only wear them a couple times a year, I'd just get some cheap ones from WalMart. So I looked on their website. The only boots they sell in size 12 are "developed for patients with severe foot deformities."
Ouch.
So apparently having that large of feet makes me a freak of nature.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Resolute
- resolute [ˈrɛzəˌluːt]
adj
1. firm in purpose or belief; steadfast
2. characterized by resolution; determined a resolute answer
[from Latin resolutus, from resolvere to resolve]
resolutely adv
resoluteness n
So... I don't normally make New Year's resolutions. In fact, I believe the last one I made was in 2004. I resolved to not eat fast food until my wedding in March. (Had to fit into that wedding dress!) I'm not sure if I kept it or not. Probably not. And that's the reason I don't make them.
But this year I decided to make one. Let me back up and explain how I got to this point.
When I got my new radio in the kitchen at the beginning of December, I all the sudden was listening to the radio all the time. And I was uncharacteristically in the mood to listen to Christmas music all the time. But my favorite Christian station wasn't playing much, and I didn't care to listen to a secular station (it seems like they play the same songs over and over). Someone suggested I tune in 88.1, which is a Family Life Radio station. Several times I caught a program in the afternoon called "Intentional Living." They talk a lot about living with a purpose. Setting goals, and sticking to them, instead of wandering aimlessly through life.
Add to this that I've been feeling very convicted about the amount of time I spend on the computer. I just waste a lot of time every single day. And it's not doing anything important! I do blog a couple times a week, but every day I could spend hours online, doing nothing more than checking Facebook and reading the news headlines and emailing. A lot of the time this is while the boys are awake, and I feel like I'm missing out on things I could do with them. I don't want to be one of those parents who's always zoned in front of the computer, whose kids beg them to come play and who puts off their kids so often that the kids quit coming to ask because they figure Mommy's "work" on the computer is more important than them. Or even worse - a parent who yells at their kids from in front of the computer because what I'm doing is so "important" that I can't get up and properly discipline or engage with my kids.
And because I waste so much time, my house is a disaster heap. Now, I can (and do) blame it on having kids and a husband. But the fact that I don't do anything about the mess on the dining room table until it has reached disaster status isn't their fault. Purely mine. If I don't waste time doing nothing, I can get the things I need to done, and have time to do things that I want to. (Like sewing. Or organizing my pictures. Or drawing.)
So my resolution is this: Set goals for each day and accomplish them. Don't waste so much time.
For now, at least, I'm going to write down my goals... Seeing them in writing makes me more accountable, it seems. And I am resolute. This is something that is important to me, and could possibly influence the life of my children.
My goals for this, the first day of the new year: Clean the kitchen. Clean the dining room. Exercise.
I got the first two done, including mopping - which I wasn't planning on doing. But since it took me so long (as I said before: disaster status), I didn't get to exercise. (But I feel like I have anyways!)
I haven't had my quiet time yet. That's what I'm going to do, then I'm headed to bed.
Paul stayed home sick tonight. I thought since he was home, I'd get to bed earlier.
Nope.
(And I realized that by the time I got this posted, it is actually NOT New Year's Day. It's the second day of the new year. Oh well. Close enough.)
Happy New Year!
I have a blog coming, I promise. If I told you I was saving it all up for a good entry, would you believe me?
Yeah, I wouldn't either.
On a different note, leave a comment and tell me about your New Years resolutions! I'm going to be writing about mine in the next day or two, so I want to hear what others are resolving to change this year.
And.... Good night.
:)
Yeah, I wouldn't either.
On a different note, leave a comment and tell me about your New Years resolutions! I'm going to be writing about mine in the next day or two, so I want to hear what others are resolving to change this year.
And.... Good night.
:)
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