Monday, October 24, 2011
Ghosts and Bling
There are a lot of home-made Halloween decorations around the house, and it's nice actually having some decor outside, potted mums, decorated pumpkins, craft wind socks, some foam crafts hanging in the window. It's a big improvement from just our empty, dead-weedy planters. All of the kids can walk now, so I'm hoping this Halloween will be even more fun and eventful. Although, topping Abby Caddaby and my Big Bird costume from last year could be challenging. When we went to the store a while back Ava decided on a Minnie Mouse costume for herself, and I decided that Jenna would use her dance recital outfit to be a princess, and she got a new tiara. From the beginning of this season she kept saying she wanted to be a ghost, but I would change the subject, or say maybe next year. A ghost? It seems too simple. Aren't we supposed to spend $15 on pre-made, ultra-cute costumes with accessories? Well, I did get one for me and Jared, but I decided to cave on the ghost idea for her. As soon as I told Jenna she could be a ghost, naturally Ava also decided that was what she wanted! So as of today Minnie is off to VA for Katie. My step-mom and I made a fun trip to JoAnn Fabrics to find some iron-on fabric that I could use for the costumes. I found a really cute idea online to cut out a hole for their head to go through then put the ghost face on the front, which you can see on my Pinterest board :) As soon as I cut out the head and arms and put Ava's pillowcase on tonight she was running around the house, laughing hysterically!! This will be a hit, and one that I won't mind her using for dress up since it won't have tons of glitter falling all over the place. First task complete tonight, cutting out the eyes and mouths, and I also got some little jeweled ribbon that will iron-on. Jenna wants to just put the sheet on her head like the costumes she sees all the time. I don't think I can do it. I WAS that ghost when I was little, but I want to see her face in the pictures. So ghost costumes that are still simple with some bling are in the works. I'm feeling very "domestic momish" right now with my scissors and iron-ons. I don't make things.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Baby Bar & Grill
If you saw a young mother schlepping 3 kids into a sports bar & grill last night, that was me.
It was a long, stormy day in Branson. A trip to Wal-Mart with Ava was the major outing of the day, until dinner time when the power went out in the condo. We walked down to the theatre and restaurant building, and I had a feeling it would be a rough night when both of the girls tripped and fell on the way down, then we found the doors locked and lights out in the building. The cook came out to tell us they didn't have power either and that an electric pole was hit and knocked down nearby. 900 people were without power around the area. So where, oh where, would we get these kids dinner, and soon?? An old friend of my mom's was with us, and my mom also wanted to catch some of the football games that were going. Lucky for us a young lady approached before we got into our cars to leave. She asked if we were looking for a place to watch the game, and there is a family-friendly sports bar & grill that would have power. I didn't know there was such a thing, so I asked, "What exactly does that mean?" She said it's non-smoking and kids are welcome.
We pulled into the parking lot for the auto museum and toy shop and followed it around to the bar & grill. We made our way up the stairs, with only one more injury, Ava hitting her head on a piece of wood on the stair railing. As soon as we walked in I could feel my face changing into "overwhelmed and don't look at me." There were two guys playing pool right by the entrance, and the big smiles on their faces said to me, "She looks overwhelmed, and we've never seen that many kids in here." We made our way to a table, and on the way I paused where a couple had a baby in a carrier, and I said, "I'm glad I'm not the only one" with a smile on my face. When we got to the table I quickly moved Jenna to the end that had a more clothed picture of cheerleaders under the glass top than the other side with a girl in a bikini. Jared would occasionally jump and look around at the groups screaming and cheering with every other play of the games, whining "momma" and "up." Jenna doesn't do well with loud noises, said her "forehead was hurting," she hardly ate anything, and was hugging my arm most of the time. Ava warmed up to the place soon enough as she would clap and laugh along with the cheers around the room. As soon as the kids were done eating we decided to get going, and I'm glad we did because it started pouring rain as soon as we got in the car!
I was SOOO glad that the power was on when we got home. The groceries I had just bought weren't wasted, and I could give the kids a bath before bed. Jenna was exhausted and wanted to go to bed without a story, and Ava is in the portable crib. At the end of the day, it was nice to get a break from the rain for a bit, get out of the condo, and also be in a place where the adults were yelling louder, and being more rowdy, than my children. :)
It was a long, stormy day in Branson. A trip to Wal-Mart with Ava was the major outing of the day, until dinner time when the power went out in the condo. We walked down to the theatre and restaurant building, and I had a feeling it would be a rough night when both of the girls tripped and fell on the way down, then we found the doors locked and lights out in the building. The cook came out to tell us they didn't have power either and that an electric pole was hit and knocked down nearby. 900 people were without power around the area. So where, oh where, would we get these kids dinner, and soon?? An old friend of my mom's was with us, and my mom also wanted to catch some of the football games that were going. Lucky for us a young lady approached before we got into our cars to leave. She asked if we were looking for a place to watch the game, and there is a family-friendly sports bar & grill that would have power. I didn't know there was such a thing, so I asked, "What exactly does that mean?" She said it's non-smoking and kids are welcome.
We pulled into the parking lot for the auto museum and toy shop and followed it around to the bar & grill. We made our way up the stairs, with only one more injury, Ava hitting her head on a piece of wood on the stair railing. As soon as we walked in I could feel my face changing into "overwhelmed and don't look at me." There were two guys playing pool right by the entrance, and the big smiles on their faces said to me, "She looks overwhelmed, and we've never seen that many kids in here." We made our way to a table, and on the way I paused where a couple had a baby in a carrier, and I said, "I'm glad I'm not the only one" with a smile on my face. When we got to the table I quickly moved Jenna to the end that had a more clothed picture of cheerleaders under the glass top than the other side with a girl in a bikini. Jared would occasionally jump and look around at the groups screaming and cheering with every other play of the games, whining "momma" and "up." Jenna doesn't do well with loud noises, said her "forehead was hurting," she hardly ate anything, and was hugging my arm most of the time. Ava warmed up to the place soon enough as she would clap and laugh along with the cheers around the room. As soon as the kids were done eating we decided to get going, and I'm glad we did because it started pouring rain as soon as we got in the car!
I was SOOO glad that the power was on when we got home. The groceries I had just bought weren't wasted, and I could give the kids a bath before bed. Jenna was exhausted and wanted to go to bed without a story, and Ava is in the portable crib. At the end of the day, it was nice to get a break from the rain for a bit, get out of the condo, and also be in a place where the adults were yelling louder, and being more rowdy, than my children. :)
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
On point
Except for not fitting in a shower, I was suprisingly on point today. I'm tired, but I feel like things ran pretty smoothly. Everyone was up, fed and dressed on time, I remembered to give Jared some ibuprofen for his teeth before leaving (or I knew he'd be miserable), got everyone in the van to take Jenna to the bus, then right to MOPS. I actually remembered paci, blankie, snacks and juice cup for Jared in the nursery. I put him in a miniature chair at a kids table with all of his things and then left to take Ava to her room. I saw him cry right away, but I had to give it a chance. Ava was screaming at the top of her lungs when I was trying to leave her room, but I knew she would be fine in a couple minutes. This was our first MOPS meeting of the year, and it was a great time talking to friends and other moms that I didn't really get to know last year. After the meeting, I went off to get Jared, and the workers told me he sat in his chair the whole time! I could've cried right there. This was over 2 hours! I had given him medicine, he completely missed his morning nap and was exhausted. I also don't think he knew how to get out of that little chair on his own. Not that he would've allowed anyone to pick him up anyway, but I felt bad for him. At least my mom will be here the next two months to stay with him. Ava was happy as could be in her class and when I got her.
By the time we got home, we played a little, then it was time to get Jenna off the bus and have lunch. After Jenna had some quiet time playing her Leapster and laying down, Ava was refusing to take a nap, so outside we went. The girls dug in the dirt, did bubbles, and Jenna threw some rocks onto the patio that she had to sweep back into the planters. By this time she was exhausted and ready to go back inside. Before they played, it was shower time. I'm so glad I got that out of the way! It was a rough late afternoon with all these restless, tired, kids. I tried to sit with Jenna to do an assignment, but I knew she was too cranky to focus. I was determined to get good bed times for all of them. So I did! Jared was down by 6:30, and Ava was out at 7. While I was sitting with Ava, Jenna was at the kitchen table doing some drawing. I came out and had her do one of her homework assignments on her own, coloring, cutting and gluing pictures that start with "C" while I cleaned up the kitchen. Things don't usually work out well when I hover :) After that we had a very nice time completing her other assignment, practicing writing numbers 1-10. She tends to rush when she's writing, so we've been working on slowing down. When she does a number like 2 it can look like a backwards "S," so I came up with the "stop sign" for each number that has sharp points in. Now when she writes them she makes a race track track sound and screeches the brakes when she needs to pause at a point. This has helped her slow down a lot and focus on the shapes and curves of the numbers. She also consistenly drew legible 8s on her sheet! That has been her toughest one to get. After almost every number I praised her, and she gave me a big hug. I love that smile that came from her, she was so proud of herself. They actually looked like the right numbers :) We also worked on using lowercase letters in her name, and she would continually tell me NOT to give her instruction line-by-line-by-curve. I had to back off the hovering. She was even in a good enough mood to do some EXTRA activities. One that I picked from the choices on her sheet was jumping, skipping, kneeling and twisting, 10 times each. For kneeling I showed her to lunge, which I only did once and hoped she'd get it. She skipped across the living room, did her twists and then wanted me to twist too. Why not? After all of those school things she actually wanted to do some of her Kindergarten workbook that I got from Target. We did 4 pages, then it was time to get ready for bed, right at 8 p.m.
Most nights the girls go down at the same time, I have to sit by Ava's bed until she falls asleep, and I sneak back out to the living room. The past few nights Jenna has wanted me to lay down with her too, and I tell her that I can if Ava goes to sleep well. Last night Ava was NOT going to sleep, but I wanted to give Jenna some cuddle time, laid with her for a few minutes while Ava was up getting into things, then finally went to do the dishes and left Ava to go to sleep on her own, which was about 10 p.m. after repeatedly taking her back to her bed. Days that Ava doesn't take a nap are rough in the afternoon but pay off at night because she falls asleep so much quicker. So tonight I could actually lay down with Jenna. Twenty minutes later she was still awake, but quiet as I left the room.
The kitchen is decent, the kids are all asleep now, it's almost 9:30, and I might actually get a good night's sleep. I have definitely been wearing down the last few days. I can tell my mind is not all there. My mom's coming back tomorrow, and I need a nap :)
By the time we got home, we played a little, then it was time to get Jenna off the bus and have lunch. After Jenna had some quiet time playing her Leapster and laying down, Ava was refusing to take a nap, so outside we went. The girls dug in the dirt, did bubbles, and Jenna threw some rocks onto the patio that she had to sweep back into the planters. By this time she was exhausted and ready to go back inside. Before they played, it was shower time. I'm so glad I got that out of the way! It was a rough late afternoon with all these restless, tired, kids. I tried to sit with Jenna to do an assignment, but I knew she was too cranky to focus. I was determined to get good bed times for all of them. So I did! Jared was down by 6:30, and Ava was out at 7. While I was sitting with Ava, Jenna was at the kitchen table doing some drawing. I came out and had her do one of her homework assignments on her own, coloring, cutting and gluing pictures that start with "C" while I cleaned up the kitchen. Things don't usually work out well when I hover :) After that we had a very nice time completing her other assignment, practicing writing numbers 1-10. She tends to rush when she's writing, so we've been working on slowing down. When she does a number like 2 it can look like a backwards "S," so I came up with the "stop sign" for each number that has sharp points in. Now when she writes them she makes a race track track sound and screeches the brakes when she needs to pause at a point. This has helped her slow down a lot and focus on the shapes and curves of the numbers. She also consistenly drew legible 8s on her sheet! That has been her toughest one to get. After almost every number I praised her, and she gave me a big hug. I love that smile that came from her, she was so proud of herself. They actually looked like the right numbers :) We also worked on using lowercase letters in her name, and she would continually tell me NOT to give her instruction line-by-line-by-curve. I had to back off the hovering. She was even in a good enough mood to do some EXTRA activities. One that I picked from the choices on her sheet was jumping, skipping, kneeling and twisting, 10 times each. For kneeling I showed her to lunge, which I only did once and hoped she'd get it. She skipped across the living room, did her twists and then wanted me to twist too. Why not? After all of those school things she actually wanted to do some of her Kindergarten workbook that I got from Target. We did 4 pages, then it was time to get ready for bed, right at 8 p.m.
Most nights the girls go down at the same time, I have to sit by Ava's bed until she falls asleep, and I sneak back out to the living room. The past few nights Jenna has wanted me to lay down with her too, and I tell her that I can if Ava goes to sleep well. Last night Ava was NOT going to sleep, but I wanted to give Jenna some cuddle time, laid with her for a few minutes while Ava was up getting into things, then finally went to do the dishes and left Ava to go to sleep on her own, which was about 10 p.m. after repeatedly taking her back to her bed. Days that Ava doesn't take a nap are rough in the afternoon but pay off at night because she falls asleep so much quicker. So tonight I could actually lay down with Jenna. Twenty minutes later she was still awake, but quiet as I left the room.
The kitchen is decent, the kids are all asleep now, it's almost 9:30, and I might actually get a good night's sleep. I have definitely been wearing down the last few days. I can tell my mind is not all there. My mom's coming back tomorrow, and I need a nap :)
Monday, September 12, 2011
Advanage
I just had to blog about this eventhough I posted about it on Facebook. I rarely answer the door for anyone during the day. If it's the weekend Lance and I would determine together whether to answer the door. If so, then he'd answer or be close by. We have been known to get knocks at the door at 9 p.m. at which point my heart rate and anxiety jump as I rush into one of the kids's rooms to peek through the curtains so as not to make the person think someone is home, let alone aware that we heard the knock or doorbell at all. There has been one gentleman, in a suit and professional-looking, that has come by twice in the last few months during the day. He's had paperwork out on the hood of his car, but I couldn't tell if he was going around the rest of the neighborhood as well. He was either selling something, or doing a background check on a neighbor, which I guess I didn't help with. All this again assessed through a crack of the kids' curtains while I'm shooshing them so the person doesn't hear them.
This afternoon Jared and Ava were asleep, and Jenna was playing her Leapster when the doorbell rang. Usually people will wait a minute before ringing it again. This person gave it maybe 5 seconds. So I answered the door, knowing the screen was locked, assessed the situation and decided to open it. I stood right between a cracked screen door and the frame, and the salesman immediately asked for the adult of the house. From then on it was complement after complement about my age, "Wow you don't look 30! I thought you were a teenager!" Those were the least off-putting. He was selling an all-purpose cleaner, biodegradable, safe with children and pets, safe for fabric, and all natural. Natural enough for him to pull out the spray bottle nozzle and lick the tubing. Yes that's right. I thought two things, "EW," and "Non-hazardous is always good with the kids around." He proceeded to scrub the grime off of my brass address numbers, some mildew that was in the cracks of the blocks of my front planter, some of the driveway, and also clean an area of the screen glass. I was impressed when he rubbed his fingers back over it, and it left no fingerprints! Again, great for the kids. He had a brochure that I glanced over while he was going through the pitch, sporadically looking up and reacting to his jokes. I asked a couple questions, and told him I'd talk to my husband about it. His response, "When you go to Walmart to buy your cleaning supplies do you check with him first?" Again, I thought two things, "Excuse you, don't be talkin' 'bout my husband!" and "That's true." I finally decided I would get it.
For one thing, with the 5 different cleaners I have under my sink, it wasn't a terrible deal for something that would last a long time because it's a concentrate. I knew I would not be giving him a check or credit card, and I did have cash. I didn't have the tax amount, so he said he'd take it off for a cold drink. So I gave him a root beer and bottle of water.
I also sympathized with him as a door salesman and (supposedly) trying to raise his 10 year old son on it. His situation is probably different from the tons of teenagers we get selling professional lawn service all spring. He asked me if I'd ever done it. I said no. I do remember going with my mom when I was a kid and she sold vacuum cleaners and all the stuff that went along with them. This was when people let you in their house.
I think a part of me was also nervous about what would happen if I said "no" after all that time and effort. So basically I made a purchase out of some reasoning, guilt, sympathy and nerves.
As soon as I closed the door I immediately looked up the product's website. It looks legit, and it's sold on Amazon. So I at least didn't feel ripped off. The worst of the articles I've read so far about the product were about customer service and that I'm not the first of these well-rehearsed complements. I should've left well enough alone and ignored the door. Nonetheless, we are all safe and will have clean number plates, windows and driveway...if I get around to cleaning them. Crap.
This afternoon Jared and Ava were asleep, and Jenna was playing her Leapster when the doorbell rang. Usually people will wait a minute before ringing it again. This person gave it maybe 5 seconds. So I answered the door, knowing the screen was locked, assessed the situation and decided to open it. I stood right between a cracked screen door and the frame, and the salesman immediately asked for the adult of the house. From then on it was complement after complement about my age, "Wow you don't look 30! I thought you were a teenager!" Those were the least off-putting. He was selling an all-purpose cleaner, biodegradable, safe with children and pets, safe for fabric, and all natural. Natural enough for him to pull out the spray bottle nozzle and lick the tubing. Yes that's right. I thought two things, "EW," and "Non-hazardous is always good with the kids around." He proceeded to scrub the grime off of my brass address numbers, some mildew that was in the cracks of the blocks of my front planter, some of the driveway, and also clean an area of the screen glass. I was impressed when he rubbed his fingers back over it, and it left no fingerprints! Again, great for the kids. He had a brochure that I glanced over while he was going through the pitch, sporadically looking up and reacting to his jokes. I asked a couple questions, and told him I'd talk to my husband about it. His response, "When you go to Walmart to buy your cleaning supplies do you check with him first?" Again, I thought two things, "Excuse you, don't be talkin' 'bout my husband!" and "That's true." I finally decided I would get it.
For one thing, with the 5 different cleaners I have under my sink, it wasn't a terrible deal for something that would last a long time because it's a concentrate. I knew I would not be giving him a check or credit card, and I did have cash. I didn't have the tax amount, so he said he'd take it off for a cold drink. So I gave him a root beer and bottle of water.
I also sympathized with him as a door salesman and (supposedly) trying to raise his 10 year old son on it. His situation is probably different from the tons of teenagers we get selling professional lawn service all spring. He asked me if I'd ever done it. I said no. I do remember going with my mom when I was a kid and she sold vacuum cleaners and all the stuff that went along with them. This was when people let you in their house.
I think a part of me was also nervous about what would happen if I said "no" after all that time and effort. So basically I made a purchase out of some reasoning, guilt, sympathy and nerves.
As soon as I closed the door I immediately looked up the product's website. It looks legit, and it's sold on Amazon. So I at least didn't feel ripped off. The worst of the articles I've read so far about the product were about customer service and that I'm not the first of these well-rehearsed complements. I should've left well enough alone and ignored the door. Nonetheless, we are all safe and will have clean number plates, windows and driveway...if I get around to cleaning them. Crap.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
The Queen Ant
Jenna came into my room this morning to tell me there was a little black dot in her bed. I asked her what it was, and she said it might be an ant. So I told her to get a tissue and get it. As far as I know at that point she did. When I got up I checked the tissue in her bathroom trash it was flat and empty. So of course I asked her if she got it. She said she did, and "it was a queen ant!" I told her there was nothing there, so if she didn't squish it then it was crawling around somewhere. That might seem dramatic, but if I know something is crawling around it's hard for me to let it go and move on. I'd be paranoid about where it ended up. Now, the pest control was here yesterday, sprayed the entire perimeter of the house and the inside. I was ready to call them and get them back out here if there was a problem. After some prodding and back and forth, she finally says, "Oh mom, I'm just being silly. There was no ant." Jenna knows exactly how to get a reaction out of me. Thinking about it now, I wonder if she was using that to get me out of bed quicker and part of her wanting attention. She's been "silly" a lot lately. :) This girl is too much.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Oh Poop!
Today is the most beautiful day we've had this year that I can recall. It was actually cold when I went outside to shake the kitchen rugs out. The forecast, windy with a high of 75. I knew I needed to get some cleaning done that I was putting off, more specifically the bathrooms, and by the time I was finished it was 10 a.m. I gave the girls a snack, put Dora on and took a shower. Jared was up by the time I finished, so we all got ready to venture out to the park! I was originally going to pack a picnic lunch, but as I pulled it out of the packaging realized it wasn't good anymore. So that plan was out. Instead we'd just get something after the park.
As soon as we got to the park Jenna gravitated toward every dog that was out, including a really cute black lab puppy. Ava was off and running to the slides, and sweet Jared didn't go too far from me at first. It was a challenge keeping up with all of them, especially because Ava wants to do everything that Jenna does (the high climbing ladders, the HIGHEST possible slide up a huge flight of stairs, etc.) I had to hold Jared a lot and try to keep them together and be, literally, under Ava climbing up some of this stuff. I think they all had a lot of fun, though...until...
The very last thing we did was get a closer look at the pond to see the ducks and geese. Jared and Jenna were sticking close just fine, but leave it to Ava to test the limits, getting closer and closer to the water. You see where this is going. As soon as I said, "come back with us," she stumbled right over some little rocks on the bank and landed on all 4s in the muddy, goose poopy water. She started screaming, not because she actually hurt anything, but because she was covered in mud. I helped her up, took her shirt off and tried to wipe some of it off. We all walked to the bathroom and washed off Ava's arms that were covered. That was the end of that trip. I stripped her down in the car, hand sanitized everyone, and off we went. OH, but we still needed lunch. We drove though Chick Fil A, and everyone got in the bath as soon as we got home. I guess we'll go to the store, whichever one is open, after naptime. I definitely like doing baths earlier in the evening, but I would've preferred better circumstances. Baths and lunch done by 3, Jared's down for a nap, and now going to attempt nap time for Jenna (in her room) AND Ava (in my room).
Update - You'd think I would've just accepted the point of no return for naps with the girls. If it's past 3, it's not very likely that they'll go to sleep. Sometimes it's the opposite; they're more wound up than ever, and more cranky, whiny and easily set off than ever. It's more frustrating trying to get them to stay in bed, and with all that time wasted, it's easier just to keep them up. Early bed time maybe??
As soon as we got to the park Jenna gravitated toward every dog that was out, including a really cute black lab puppy. Ava was off and running to the slides, and sweet Jared didn't go too far from me at first. It was a challenge keeping up with all of them, especially because Ava wants to do everything that Jenna does (the high climbing ladders, the HIGHEST possible slide up a huge flight of stairs, etc.) I had to hold Jared a lot and try to keep them together and be, literally, under Ava climbing up some of this stuff. I think they all had a lot of fun, though...until...
The very last thing we did was get a closer look at the pond to see the ducks and geese. Jared and Jenna were sticking close just fine, but leave it to Ava to test the limits, getting closer and closer to the water. You see where this is going. As soon as I said, "come back with us," she stumbled right over some little rocks on the bank and landed on all 4s in the muddy, goose poopy water. She started screaming, not because she actually hurt anything, but because she was covered in mud. I helped her up, took her shirt off and tried to wipe some of it off. We all walked to the bathroom and washed off Ava's arms that were covered. That was the end of that trip. I stripped her down in the car, hand sanitized everyone, and off we went. OH, but we still needed lunch. We drove though Chick Fil A, and everyone got in the bath as soon as we got home. I guess we'll go to the store, whichever one is open, after naptime. I definitely like doing baths earlier in the evening, but I would've preferred better circumstances. Baths and lunch done by 3, Jared's down for a nap, and now going to attempt nap time for Jenna (in her room) AND Ava (in my room).
Update - You'd think I would've just accepted the point of no return for naps with the girls. If it's past 3, it's not very likely that they'll go to sleep. Sometimes it's the opposite; they're more wound up than ever, and more cranky, whiny and easily set off than ever. It's more frustrating trying to get them to stay in bed, and with all that time wasted, it's easier just to keep them up. Early bed time maybe??
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Kindergarten and kind of a weird day
Since we got home from vacation we have been preparing for Jenna to go to kindergarten. I've made a couple Target trips and one to the dollar store. I need to remember to go there FIRST next time! They have a lot more name brand items (Crayola in particular) than I remember when I was younger. Jenna and I took our own trip to Target on Monday to get two new outfits for school, some shoes and other goodies. She picked out a frozen pizza for our dinner, and we got Ava a new outfit too. We ended the day with getting our nails done. It was a great way to kick off her school year.
We took all of her supplies to school Tuesday night at the Meet the Teacher/Ice Cream Social. The classroom was packed with kids and parents. The teacher went over some basics, including wearing or bringing tennis shoes for Wednesday PE, and that they won't have "time" for snacks during 1/2 day kindergarten. I don't like that at all, first because my kids usually have snacks 2-3 hours between meals, and second because they're schedule is so full that they don't have time. Anyway, when the teacher concluded, she asked if anyone had questions. Who would be the only person to raise her hand? None other than my child. My heart froze expecting a "Kids Say the Darndest Things" moment, and the teacher asked what her question was. Her first response was really low and timid, I told her to speak up, so she repeated louder, "What's 2+2?!" The room filled with "isn't that cute" laughter and "Awws," and the teacher responded, "I'd rather YOU tell me the answer. What is 2+2?" So Jenna answered, "4!" Immediately other kids started chiming in with "3+3 is 6!" and the teacher enthusiastically announced, "We should do math tomorrow!" It was a proud moment. I just love her.
After meeting the teacher and seeing Jenna's classroom we went to get ice cream in the cafeteria. It wasn't much, just a a few kids and parents in there. I got some PTO and other fundraiser info., and we went off to do a trial bus ride. We got on the bus, and she was pretty excited...until it got going. She sat very quietly looking out the window the whole time. After we got back to the school I checked to see if we needed any other information and waited after another couple to talk to the principal who was out front. As we were waiting Jenna was telling me that her head and tummy hurt. We continued to wait until it was my turn. My first question was, "How long can we stay tomorrow?" He and the couple laughed, but there was a short awkward moment considering I was totally serious. I laughed it off but was still waiting for an answer. I he realized it and told me the teachers would announce at a certain point that it was time for the parents to go, then there would be a "boo hoo" breakfast afterward. After our conversation, and checking the bus schedule for tomorrow, we left, Jenna still complaining about her stomach hurting. I thought it might be motion sickness from the bus; Jenna did say she didn't like the loud noise of the engine. When we got home she just wanted to lay on the couch and rest. I went out to get some take-out for dinner, came back, and Jenna wanted to go to bed without eating. It was 6 p.m. I was in shock. She got up around 8:30, used the bathroom, still didn't want to eat and went back to bed until 5 a.m. Wednesday.
Jenna came into my room, crawled in bed, I went out the living room where she had been laying down, for who knows how long:, and left the light on. We all went back to sleep. Jared was yelling by 7, so Ava and I got up. Jenna kept sleeping until 7:30. She said her tummy still hurt a little bit, but was ok to go to school. I let her choose our breakfast, pancakes and yogurt, but she didn't eat much of it. We were early getting to the bus stop, and the bus was late, but she seemed excited and was running around with her friends while we were waiting. So off she went! Ava was a little sad saying, "I go too," but we walked back home and took our time going over to the school. We parked across the street, and I ran holding her to make the crosswalk lights. It was a good thing too, because we were just in time to see Jenna get off the bus! She didn't even notice I was around until I went behind her to get some pictures. We followed around to the classroom, put her backpack away and she sat in her seat. After a few minutes it was time for the principal to come on the loud-speaker and do the Pledge of Allegiance. Jenna and the boy next to her were the only ones who didn't want to be bothered with it and didn't stand up. Great. I gave her a couple hugs, and the kids lined up to go to the gym for PE. Cue parents to leave. I started to, REALLY, but then I saw some other parents following the kids. So why not? Ava and I slowly made our way over, I took a quick picture, and we went to the cafeteria for bagels and juice at the "boo hoo breakfast."
When we got home, Jared was napping, Ava was cranky, and I didn't really know what to do with myself. Today has just felt weird. Ava went down for a nap at 11, instead of the usual 1 or 2, and I took Jared with me to get Jenna off the bus. She is still complaining of her stomach hurting, didn't want to eat lunch, and went to take a nap from 1-3! Jared just went down for a THIRD nap. The routine of the day is not at all what I expected for Jenna's kindergarten days. All of her symptoms are very similar to the last time took her to the hospital and pediatrician, which might be TMI that Jenna would want everyone to know about :)
Overall, I am feeling very selfish right now for even having her to go to school today. There was one girl out sick from her class today, and I probably should've kept her home. It wouldn't have been a big deal. She would've still had HER first day, whether it was the official first day of school or not. She probably would have enjoyed it even more. I think I cared more about the "first day" hoopla than she did, but didn't want to miss it. She did tell me that she wants me to take her and pick her up from school. That was the plan that Lance wanted anyway, and she does have about 11 more years that she can ride it. I don't want to force something like that if it's going to make her shut down or be anxious. And one more way to hold to her on is fine by me. :)
We took all of her supplies to school Tuesday night at the Meet the Teacher/Ice Cream Social. The classroom was packed with kids and parents. The teacher went over some basics, including wearing or bringing tennis shoes for Wednesday PE, and that they won't have "time" for snacks during 1/2 day kindergarten. I don't like that at all, first because my kids usually have snacks 2-3 hours between meals, and second because they're schedule is so full that they don't have time. Anyway, when the teacher concluded, she asked if anyone had questions. Who would be the only person to raise her hand? None other than my child. My heart froze expecting a "Kids Say the Darndest Things" moment, and the teacher asked what her question was. Her first response was really low and timid, I told her to speak up, so she repeated louder, "What's 2+2?!" The room filled with "isn't that cute" laughter and "Awws," and the teacher responded, "I'd rather YOU tell me the answer. What is 2+2?" So Jenna answered, "4!" Immediately other kids started chiming in with "3+3 is 6!" and the teacher enthusiastically announced, "We should do math tomorrow!" It was a proud moment. I just love her.
After meeting the teacher and seeing Jenna's classroom we went to get ice cream in the cafeteria. It wasn't much, just a a few kids and parents in there. I got some PTO and other fundraiser info., and we went off to do a trial bus ride. We got on the bus, and she was pretty excited...until it got going. She sat very quietly looking out the window the whole time. After we got back to the school I checked to see if we needed any other information and waited after another couple to talk to the principal who was out front. As we were waiting Jenna was telling me that her head and tummy hurt. We continued to wait until it was my turn. My first question was, "How long can we stay tomorrow?" He and the couple laughed, but there was a short awkward moment considering I was totally serious. I laughed it off but was still waiting for an answer. I he realized it and told me the teachers would announce at a certain point that it was time for the parents to go, then there would be a "boo hoo" breakfast afterward. After our conversation, and checking the bus schedule for tomorrow, we left, Jenna still complaining about her stomach hurting. I thought it might be motion sickness from the bus; Jenna did say she didn't like the loud noise of the engine. When we got home she just wanted to lay on the couch and rest. I went out to get some take-out for dinner, came back, and Jenna wanted to go to bed without eating. It was 6 p.m. I was in shock. She got up around 8:30, used the bathroom, still didn't want to eat and went back to bed until 5 a.m. Wednesday.
Jenna came into my room, crawled in bed, I went out the living room where she had been laying down, for who knows how long:, and left the light on. We all went back to sleep. Jared was yelling by 7, so Ava and I got up. Jenna kept sleeping until 7:30. She said her tummy still hurt a little bit, but was ok to go to school. I let her choose our breakfast, pancakes and yogurt, but she didn't eat much of it. We were early getting to the bus stop, and the bus was late, but she seemed excited and was running around with her friends while we were waiting. So off she went! Ava was a little sad saying, "I go too," but we walked back home and took our time going over to the school. We parked across the street, and I ran holding her to make the crosswalk lights. It was a good thing too, because we were just in time to see Jenna get off the bus! She didn't even notice I was around until I went behind her to get some pictures. We followed around to the classroom, put her backpack away and she sat in her seat. After a few minutes it was time for the principal to come on the loud-speaker and do the Pledge of Allegiance. Jenna and the boy next to her were the only ones who didn't want to be bothered with it and didn't stand up. Great. I gave her a couple hugs, and the kids lined up to go to the gym for PE. Cue parents to leave. I started to, REALLY, but then I saw some other parents following the kids. So why not? Ava and I slowly made our way over, I took a quick picture, and we went to the cafeteria for bagels and juice at the "boo hoo breakfast."
When we got home, Jared was napping, Ava was cranky, and I didn't really know what to do with myself. Today has just felt weird. Ava went down for a nap at 11, instead of the usual 1 or 2, and I took Jared with me to get Jenna off the bus. She is still complaining of her stomach hurting, didn't want to eat lunch, and went to take a nap from 1-3! Jared just went down for a THIRD nap. The routine of the day is not at all what I expected for Jenna's kindergarten days. All of her symptoms are very similar to the last time took her to the hospital and pediatrician, which might be TMI that Jenna would want everyone to know about :)
Overall, I am feeling very selfish right now for even having her to go to school today. There was one girl out sick from her class today, and I probably should've kept her home. It wouldn't have been a big deal. She would've still had HER first day, whether it was the official first day of school or not. She probably would have enjoyed it even more. I think I cared more about the "first day" hoopla than she did, but didn't want to miss it. She did tell me that she wants me to take her and pick her up from school. That was the plan that Lance wanted anyway, and she does have about 11 more years that she can ride it. I don't want to force something like that if it's going to make her shut down or be anxious. And one more way to hold to her on is fine by me. :)
Saturday, August 13, 2011
A 5-year-old's prayer
It isn't often that Jenna wants to say her bedtime prayer herself, but she volunteered tonight. There were actually 4 or 5 prayers as she'd have something new to say after each "amen," or Ava would say, "Pray again." The synopsis in an abnormally sweet, gentle voice:
"Dear God, thank you for this wonderful world you created to enjoy. Thank you for my friend Jackie coming over, it was stupendous! Thank you for this beautiful day! The glory of your salvation is a beautiful thing..."
It totally made up for her not listening and abusing her sister today :)
"Dear God, thank you for this wonderful world you created to enjoy. Thank you for my friend Jackie coming over, it was stupendous! Thank you for this beautiful day! The glory of your salvation is a beautiful thing..."
It totally made up for her not listening and abusing her sister today :)
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Fruit tarts
Yesterday Lance and I took Jared out with us to get some pastries and a big fruit tart cake at Whole Foods to take back to Christie's house for dessert. After that we took Ava out to dinner with us at Mike's American Grill. It was awesome of course. We all enjoyed the fruit tart later, went back to my dad's and got everyone in bed. I had the girls with me on the sofa bed, and we were talking about dreams. This is a recap of the conversation:
Jenna: What are you going to dream about mommy?
Me: I think I'll dream about flying over the ocean!
Jenna: What's Jared going to dream about?
Me: Maybe that he can walk all the way across the room! What are you going to dream about?
Jenna: That I'm a dinosaur!
Me: What kind of dinosaur? A Jennasaurus or a Jennadon?
Jenna: A brachiosaurus! Ava, what are you going to dream about?
Ava: Fruit tarts! We all burst out laughing and continued to talk about it for a few minutes.
Jenna: I'm going to dream that I'm flying in space. Ava, are you going to dream about stars???
Ava:....and fruit tarts. LOLLLL
Jenna: What are you going to dream about mommy?
Me: I think I'll dream about flying over the ocean!
Jenna: What's Jared going to dream about?
Me: Maybe that he can walk all the way across the room! What are you going to dream about?
Jenna: That I'm a dinosaur!
Me: What kind of dinosaur? A Jennasaurus or a Jennadon?
Jenna: A brachiosaurus! Ava, what are you going to dream about?
Ava: Fruit tarts! We all burst out laughing and continued to talk about it for a few minutes.
Jenna: I'm going to dream that I'm flying in space. Ava, are you going to dream about stars???
Ava:....and fruit tarts. LOLLLL
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Busy bee
Since Jenna was little I've always noticed that she doesn't like to stare for very long. Getting her to look (and keep looking) at the camera, for instance, can be very frustrating. But she has no problem with interactive things, and I've never really had concern with her concentration since she loves doing workbooks and trying to read along with stories.
Yesterday Jenna had her first eye exam with an optometrist to get ready for kindergarten. The first "test" was putting her forehead and chin on a stand so they can look in her eyes. The optometrist kept asking her questions about the light, "see if it changes colors," etc. to keep her looking at it. The next machine was for the retinal pictures, so she had to continually look at a dot so they could take a good shot. That took a little longer for her because she had to stare long enough to get the picture. Eventually they were able to get them, but I could tell the dr. was getting a little impatient repeatedly asking her to keep looking at the dot. She really liked being able to see the picture of inside her eye, though.
Next we went into the exam room. That was interesting with Jared in a stroller and Ava's curiosity. The next exams consisted of looking into the mirror reflection of letters that were behind her, perfect. He had her follow a little light he was holding, but she didn't want to just stare at a boring light, until he put his finger over it, and it looked like his finger was glowing. Next she put on these huge 3-D glasses to identify shapes and the ones that stand out. She identified her shapes, then the dr. asked her to look at the first of 3 rows and show him the one that stands out. She quickly pointed to each of the 3 objects in each row one after another. She had already scanned and noticed the ones that stood out. He was very impressed with that. Naturally I take partial credit. But I also go into paranoid mode that she has ADD or something. He did say that once she gets in school her attentiveness and focus should improve. Next up was the "robot" glasses. As the dr. told her, every kind of glasses was in this machine! I took a picture of her so she could see how she looked. He tested her near/far sightedness. She favors more to far-sighted, as in she can brings things to focus well that are farther. Her diagnosis, she's 20/20, and from her exam he doesn't think she'll ever need glasses. No astigmasim or jittering of the eye, everything looks great.
She had her 5 yr physical and rest of her immunizations on Monday, her arms's still a little red and sore, but now all of the offical kindergarten paperwork appointments are finished!!
Yesterday Jenna had her first eye exam with an optometrist to get ready for kindergarten. The first "test" was putting her forehead and chin on a stand so they can look in her eyes. The optometrist kept asking her questions about the light, "see if it changes colors," etc. to keep her looking at it. The next machine was for the retinal pictures, so she had to continually look at a dot so they could take a good shot. That took a little longer for her because she had to stare long enough to get the picture. Eventually they were able to get them, but I could tell the dr. was getting a little impatient repeatedly asking her to keep looking at the dot. She really liked being able to see the picture of inside her eye, though.
Next we went into the exam room. That was interesting with Jared in a stroller and Ava's curiosity. The next exams consisted of looking into the mirror reflection of letters that were behind her, perfect. He had her follow a little light he was holding, but she didn't want to just stare at a boring light, until he put his finger over it, and it looked like his finger was glowing. Next she put on these huge 3-D glasses to identify shapes and the ones that stand out. She identified her shapes, then the dr. asked her to look at the first of 3 rows and show him the one that stands out. She quickly pointed to each of the 3 objects in each row one after another. She had already scanned and noticed the ones that stood out. He was very impressed with that. Naturally I take partial credit. But I also go into paranoid mode that she has ADD or something. He did say that once she gets in school her attentiveness and focus should improve. Next up was the "robot" glasses. As the dr. told her, every kind of glasses was in this machine! I took a picture of her so she could see how she looked. He tested her near/far sightedness. She favors more to far-sighted, as in she can brings things to focus well that are farther. Her diagnosis, she's 20/20, and from her exam he doesn't think she'll ever need glasses. No astigmasim or jittering of the eye, everything looks great.
She had her 5 yr physical and rest of her immunizations on Monday, her arms's still a little red and sore, but now all of the offical kindergarten paperwork appointments are finished!!
Monday, July 11, 2011
It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday...
A new adventure in leaving Jenna somewhere. I've slowly started adding opportunities for her to be without me. It started when she was 2 months old, we left her overnight with Grandpa and Christie for our anniversary. There were many calls to the house, and overnights didn't happen again for a while! I had to leave her to go back to work for a couple months. She stayed overnight at our house in MO with Lance's parents as well, a little better with just a few calls to check in. Next came playdates at friends' homes without me. Then it was preschool, where I dropped her off with a teacher at the front of the school (GASP). How was I to trust these people to take my baby from the front door to her classroom and keep her safe for 3 hours?! She loved every minute of it, so that helped. She's been off of school for a couple months, and I've been coming to grips with her riding the bus (at least home) from kindergarten this year. I'm glad we're only doing half-day though, I don't think I could handle a full day away yet.
This week she is attending VBS for 3 hours in the morning. We didn't have to rush around too much this morning. That definitely helps all of our stress level. It's at the same church I have MOPS, so she is at least used to the building and also has another friend from church there. But there was some hesitation and anxiety from her going into the sanctuary FULL of people. She said she wanted to go to her room (where she would normally be during MOPS). The babies and I all went in with her to her seat for a couple minutes. I left her in there and went out the foyer where she couldn't see me, but I did peak in one more time to wave to her, and then waited another few minutes to make sure she didn't leave looking for me. I was reassured by the pastor that there were plenty of group leaders for the younger ones, she wouldn't get lost in the shuffle and would be watched. I asked these questions specifically. I finally decided I couldn't just keep these babies in the foyer and mustered up the courage to leave. I got home, put Jared down for a nap, started some laundry, hung out with Ava watching cartoons and making appointments. Jared is up, they've had a snack, and I have 30 minutes left before I go get Jenna. I know she's loving it, though. I am extremely nervous about kindergarten, a big school, bigger class size. Seeing her up close and personal all day long, I forget how young and little she really is. This is a good re-adjustment for me...right? :)
This week she is attending VBS for 3 hours in the morning. We didn't have to rush around too much this morning. That definitely helps all of our stress level. It's at the same church I have MOPS, so she is at least used to the building and also has another friend from church there. But there was some hesitation and anxiety from her going into the sanctuary FULL of people. She said she wanted to go to her room (where she would normally be during MOPS). The babies and I all went in with her to her seat for a couple minutes. I left her in there and went out the foyer where she couldn't see me, but I did peak in one more time to wave to her, and then waited another few minutes to make sure she didn't leave looking for me. I was reassured by the pastor that there were plenty of group leaders for the younger ones, she wouldn't get lost in the shuffle and would be watched. I asked these questions specifically. I finally decided I couldn't just keep these babies in the foyer and mustered up the courage to leave. I got home, put Jared down for a nap, started some laundry, hung out with Ava watching cartoons and making appointments. Jared is up, they've had a snack, and I have 30 minutes left before I go get Jenna. I know she's loving it, though. I am extremely nervous about kindergarten, a big school, bigger class size. Seeing her up close and personal all day long, I forget how young and little she really is. This is a good re-adjustment for me...right? :)
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Party in the house!
Party prep continued...
Never a dull moment. I am so glad that I decided to get goody bags ready last night and take a shower and blow dry my hair. There was no way any of that was happening today. I almost went with getting fruit myself to cut up and making a cake, but I changed my mind and got everything from Costco. What a stress-saver...well some of the stress anyway. I got to bed after midnight last night and was anticipating the kids getting up at their usual 6:30, but instead it was 8 a.m., which meant I was an hour and half behind with 3 hours to go until party time! On the agenda, tidy up the house, get myself and Ava dressed (she would be going out with me), get the pool set up in the backyard and start the hose, then get to Party City to pick up the balloons and Costco to get the sandwiches. All this in a car with no A/C and taking the time to buckle and seatbelt in a toddler in a 2-door. I had a few wardrobe changes throughout the day due to dirt, water and sweat. Lance was a huge help cleaning the kitchen and taking Jenna and Jared out.
Ava and I got home at 10:40! Some shout-outs to Dawn, Angela and Lana who helped me get things together so I didn't lose my mind running late ;) It was about 11:45 when Lance called me because Jenna and Jared were getting cranky and wanted to come home, so I told him to come in through the front door, I had the blinds open a little bit so I could see them pull up, and I was a nervous wreck. (1) I was hoping Jenna wouldn't have some kind of freak out meltdown that you see on America's Funniest Home Videos, and (2) all the planning and whether it's a success are not will be over in 1 minute. It was a very long minute waiting for them to get out of the car and for Jenna to open the front door. But I had my camera ready, the living room was full of friends, in she came, we yelled surprise, and she paused and backed away slowly. It took a couple seconds and someone yelling Happy Birthday for it to click, and then the pure joy of the moment took over. It was perfect. Here's the moment:
She instinctively took her shoes off before joining everyone, then took her time going around the room to greet her friends, and when she got over to where I was she gave me a hug. After a few minutes I thought serving lunch would be a good idea, so I asked Jenna if she was ready to eat. Her response of course, "No, I want to play!" Well...ok. After taking our time to eat, we had a mad house getting kids changed and lotioned up to go play in the water outside. Once they were out there they had a blast, in spite of water getting dumped on each other's heads and mud slinging (literally). We did the cake outside and came in for presents. Just when I thought we were done Jenna reminded me, "No mommy we need to do the pinata!!" Right you are. There's something about a bunch of kids in an enclosed space scrambling for candy on the floor that makes me just laugh out loud. As the party was winding down and everyone was leaving Jenna was anxiously waiting to break out her new toys. At first I was having her wait while we re-grouped to start cleaning up, but instead I set her up on our bed with a couple of her new things while the babies napped.
It's 8 o'clock, it's been non-stop since I got up, my feet hurt, my head is greasy from sweating so much, there are still dishes on the counter and sink, I have a 2 year old who got a late nap and is still awake in her crib, but the rest of the house is clean, the kids are bathed and I have one 5 year old who is passed out after an unexpectedly exciting day to celebrate HER. Priceless.
Never a dull moment. I am so glad that I decided to get goody bags ready last night and take a shower and blow dry my hair. There was no way any of that was happening today. I almost went with getting fruit myself to cut up and making a cake, but I changed my mind and got everything from Costco. What a stress-saver...well some of the stress anyway. I got to bed after midnight last night and was anticipating the kids getting up at their usual 6:30, but instead it was 8 a.m., which meant I was an hour and half behind with 3 hours to go until party time! On the agenda, tidy up the house, get myself and Ava dressed (she would be going out with me), get the pool set up in the backyard and start the hose, then get to Party City to pick up the balloons and Costco to get the sandwiches. All this in a car with no A/C and taking the time to buckle and seatbelt in a toddler in a 2-door. I had a few wardrobe changes throughout the day due to dirt, water and sweat. Lance was a huge help cleaning the kitchen and taking Jenna and Jared out.
Ava and I got home at 10:40! Some shout-outs to Dawn, Angela and Lana who helped me get things together so I didn't lose my mind running late ;) It was about 11:45 when Lance called me because Jenna and Jared were getting cranky and wanted to come home, so I told him to come in through the front door, I had the blinds open a little bit so I could see them pull up, and I was a nervous wreck. (1) I was hoping Jenna wouldn't have some kind of freak out meltdown that you see on America's Funniest Home Videos, and (2) all the planning and whether it's a success are not will be over in 1 minute. It was a very long minute waiting for them to get out of the car and for Jenna to open the front door. But I had my camera ready, the living room was full of friends, in she came, we yelled surprise, and she paused and backed away slowly. It took a couple seconds and someone yelling Happy Birthday for it to click, and then the pure joy of the moment took over. It was perfect. Here's the moment:
She instinctively took her shoes off before joining everyone, then took her time going around the room to greet her friends, and when she got over to where I was she gave me a hug. After a few minutes I thought serving lunch would be a good idea, so I asked Jenna if she was ready to eat. Her response of course, "No, I want to play!" Well...ok. After taking our time to eat, we had a mad house getting kids changed and lotioned up to go play in the water outside. Once they were out there they had a blast, in spite of water getting dumped on each other's heads and mud slinging (literally). We did the cake outside and came in for presents. Just when I thought we were done Jenna reminded me, "No mommy we need to do the pinata!!" Right you are. There's something about a bunch of kids in an enclosed space scrambling for candy on the floor that makes me just laugh out loud. As the party was winding down and everyone was leaving Jenna was anxiously waiting to break out her new toys. At first I was having her wait while we re-grouped to start cleaning up, but instead I set her up on our bed with a couple of her new things while the babies napped.
It's 8 o'clock, it's been non-stop since I got up, my feet hurt, my head is greasy from sweating so much, there are still dishes on the counter and sink, I have a 2 year old who got a late nap and is still awake in her crib, but the rest of the house is clean, the kids are bathed and I have one 5 year old who is passed out after an unexpectedly exciting day to celebrate HER. Priceless.
Friday, July 8, 2011
It's been a long time comin'
Every once in a while I come back to my blog, look at the date of my last entry and think, what's been going on with me that I want to write about? Well, a lot has been going on in the last few months that I don't really want to over-elaborate on. Except to say that it's consisted of headaches, dizziness, stress, anxiety, depression, exhaustion, many doctors visits and ultimately medication. Looking back, I can really see how much of myself was missing. I was completely disconnected and unmotivated with my kids, I had this underlying aggression that usually reared it's ugly head in the evening and resulted in my screaming and on the verge of throwing something (or someone). I eventually came to the conclusion (through tears, prayers and the advice of special friends) that I probably needed to get on something to help, at least for now, so I can be the best version of myself. It has been a trying time, but I do feel about 80% on my way to "me". I still have a couple looming physical things that need to get resolved, but I take my time, I want to get things done, I laugh more, and I desire for my children to truly be happy and sense love and unity in our family. This is vast improvement.
Adventures in Partying
Wow. It's been a long day but also fun because I am anxiously awaiting Jenna's 5th Birthday surprise party tomorrow! Last night I went and got my hair done, and then I was planning on running errands for party prep. afterward. Unfortunately while I was at the salon a monsoon came through. With a trash bag over my newly highlighted and straightened hair, I made my way to the car and then drove 40 mph on the Interstate home. I knew it would be a long day ahead today since it started with Jenna throwing a fit about what shoes she wanted to wear to take her birthday pictures at JC Penney (LOVE their coupons btw). Of course she wanted to wear the ones that didn't match her dress whatsoever, and I had to resort to pulling the car out of the garage without her to make her hurry up and change them herself. By the time we got their the pink cheeks and tears had subsided, and she got some cute pictures in the end. She got to choose what we had for breakfast (waffles and yogurt) and where we got lunch after pictures (McDonalds). By the time lunch was over we were all due for a good nap. Success! Ava was my alarm clock at 3:30, we were expecting Lance home around 4, then we all ventured out to Red Robin for Jenna's birthday dinner. Jenna took a great nap and was the last one up before we left. This time she did get to choose the clunky purple crocs to wear with her dress :) We had a pretty good dinner, which including the waitresses singing to Jenna with her sundae, and Red Robin balloons that Ava managed to let go while getting strapped into her car seat, and Jenna let hers go in Target after that. Since I wouldn't be able to run my errands and conceal any party things during the day with all the kids, I had to manage while we were all together tonight. So I dropped Lance, Jenna and Jared off at Target to get a new movie, and I took Ava to Party City.
Now, Ava is very conversational, so I knew better than to even mention the words "Jenna" and "party" to her, or she would give it away in a second. So I told her we were getting birthday stuff for Jenna. Jenna has mentioned a party over the last couple weeks, and she is very inquisitive. I think she's on to me. The idea of a surprise party came from her MONTHS ago, so I tucked it away never to be mentioned again. One night last week she said, "For my birthday I want to go in my room when my friends come, and then I'll come out, and they can yell 'Surprise!'" I said next to nothing in response. Today I really tried to play up that our going to get pictures taken, going out to dinner and getting a balloon were our celebration of her birthday. And then tonight as the sun was setting, and clearly the day was done, she says with a sad voice, "When are my friends going to come for my birthday?" Just rip my heart out why don't you. Well, after I took Ava to Party City, I met back up with Lance, ran into Target to get a few other things, and Jenna asks, "What store did you go to?" Me: "It's a supply store." Jenna: "Yeah, but what's the name of it?" Me: "I just had to get cups n'stuff." Plus, Lance plopped Jared's stroller on top of the bag with the party stuff, including the pinata. I made a comment about it, which of course prompted Jenna to turn around and look in the back of the van. "Did Daddy get a pinata??!!" I replied, "Turn around" and quickly got in the car. At this point it's about 7:45, Jared's cranky, but we still need to stop at Costco. Yes I am a procrastinator. Again I just took Ava in with me, and when I started loading the van up Jenna noticed the two bowls of fruit salad and asks "Is someone coming over to eat that?" To which I said NOTHING. When we finally got home Jenna asked if she could wear her dress again with her PURPLE shoes when she's 6 and mentioned having a party for her birthday. As far as she knows, her and daddy are having special time to go hang out tomorrow morning while I prepare the house.
I am so glad they are all in bed now. All her questions are wearing me down. How can I feel bad and so gitty at the same time? Heehee. I can't wait!
Now, Ava is very conversational, so I knew better than to even mention the words "Jenna" and "party" to her, or she would give it away in a second. So I told her we were getting birthday stuff for Jenna. Jenna has mentioned a party over the last couple weeks, and she is very inquisitive. I think she's on to me. The idea of a surprise party came from her MONTHS ago, so I tucked it away never to be mentioned again. One night last week she said, "For my birthday I want to go in my room when my friends come, and then I'll come out, and they can yell 'Surprise!'" I said next to nothing in response. Today I really tried to play up that our going to get pictures taken, going out to dinner and getting a balloon were our celebration of her birthday. And then tonight as the sun was setting, and clearly the day was done, she says with a sad voice, "When are my friends going to come for my birthday?" Just rip my heart out why don't you. Well, after I took Ava to Party City, I met back up with Lance, ran into Target to get a few other things, and Jenna asks, "What store did you go to?" Me: "It's a supply store." Jenna: "Yeah, but what's the name of it?" Me: "I just had to get cups n'stuff." Plus, Lance plopped Jared's stroller on top of the bag with the party stuff, including the pinata. I made a comment about it, which of course prompted Jenna to turn around and look in the back of the van. "Did Daddy get a pinata??!!" I replied, "Turn around" and quickly got in the car. At this point it's about 7:45, Jared's cranky, but we still need to stop at Costco. Yes I am a procrastinator. Again I just took Ava in with me, and when I started loading the van up Jenna noticed the two bowls of fruit salad and asks "Is someone coming over to eat that?" To which I said NOTHING. When we finally got home Jenna asked if she could wear her dress again with her PURPLE shoes when she's 6 and mentioned having a party for her birthday. As far as she knows, her and daddy are having special time to go hang out tomorrow morning while I prepare the house.
I am so glad they are all in bed now. All her questions are wearing me down. How can I feel bad and so gitty at the same time? Heehee. I can't wait!
Monday, April 4, 2011
I can feel my temperature rising...
My mom went out for herself tonight, and Lance was planning to meet up with a friend at 7, so we managed to get the girls ready before he left. We shoot for 7 p.m. bed time, but that usually turns into 7:30-7:45. Tonight we got them in bed at 6:45! Lance put Jared in his Jumperoo, was ready to walk out the door, and cue Jared spitting up some of his dinner on his hands while jumping. So, Lance proceeds to leave :) I could sense this was just the beginning. Jared's lucky to get a bath once a week, he was due for one, and I didn't want him to be stinky of course, so I left him in the Jumperoo while I got his bath ready. I could hear the girls laughing, chatting, sometimes yelling, but I had to get his bath done. He also took a really short afternoon nap, so I was banking on him going to bed early too. I can normally handle the girls' chatting, but for some reason, tonight I had to work extra hard on containing the momwolf.
Giving Jared a bath was actually calming for me, but while getting him ready for bed I must have gone into the girls' room 2 or 3 times trying to convince them (mainly Jenna) to lay down and stay in bed. So far, after the "reasoning" techniques, Jenna doesn't get the computer, they don't get any cartoons, and no treats tomorrow. I actually did say that they won't get to go outside, but I might re-nig on that one or I'll go stir-crazy :) It was time to give Jared his bottle. Aside from knowing the girls weren't calming down anytime soon, as I was feeding Jared I saw was a little girl come on the porch and start playing with the kids' chalk! First thought, who lets their kid do that, are they just walking down the street? Is this a new girl who wants to play with Jenna? She rings the doorbell, so I have to stop feeding Jared. Thankfully he didn't fuss like I thought he would, but as soon as I answered the door I heard Jenna run out to see who it was and yell at her to get back in bed. Alas, it was a tree guy we called earlier giving us an estimate on trimming. Fine. So I went back to feeding Jared.
Now, one of the worst patience-testers for me is not being able to interject with Jenna and Ava because I'm feeding Jared and rendered immobile. If I put him down he'd be hysterical. So I have to just sit...and listen...to Jenna running, jumping, instigating...to Ava crying...or just laughing and encouraging Jenna. I know that yelling back to them will have to affect whatsoever. I went in a couple more times after I fed Jared, and just when I thought they were calming down, Jenna roars out with a monster noise resulting in Ava crying. They calm down, a couple minutes later, the same thing.
I was just talking to a friend the other day about how original nursery rhymes are kind of disturbing...Humpty Dumpty, Jack and Jill, but I have to admit that I can now relate to the end of "There was an old lady who lived in a shoe...she whipped them all soundly and put them to bed." In tonight's case, this applied to Jenna, and she is currently in my bed. It's 8:15, the last hour has felt like an eternity, but they are all quiet, and I think my heartrate is returning to normal. I'm not putting this on my mom and Lance of course, but I have been spoiled with her here to help. I need to get back on my game. I wish I still had some Costco cheesecake to drown my frustration and exhaustion in.
Giving Jared a bath was actually calming for me, but while getting him ready for bed I must have gone into the girls' room 2 or 3 times trying to convince them (mainly Jenna) to lay down and stay in bed. So far, after the "reasoning" techniques, Jenna doesn't get the computer, they don't get any cartoons, and no treats tomorrow. I actually did say that they won't get to go outside, but I might re-nig on that one or I'll go stir-crazy :) It was time to give Jared his bottle. Aside from knowing the girls weren't calming down anytime soon, as I was feeding Jared I saw was a little girl come on the porch and start playing with the kids' chalk! First thought, who lets their kid do that, are they just walking down the street? Is this a new girl who wants to play with Jenna? She rings the doorbell, so I have to stop feeding Jared. Thankfully he didn't fuss like I thought he would, but as soon as I answered the door I heard Jenna run out to see who it was and yell at her to get back in bed. Alas, it was a tree guy we called earlier giving us an estimate on trimming. Fine. So I went back to feeding Jared.
Now, one of the worst patience-testers for me is not being able to interject with Jenna and Ava because I'm feeding Jared and rendered immobile. If I put him down he'd be hysterical. So I have to just sit...and listen...to Jenna running, jumping, instigating...to Ava crying...or just laughing and encouraging Jenna. I know that yelling back to them will have to affect whatsoever. I went in a couple more times after I fed Jared, and just when I thought they were calming down, Jenna roars out with a monster noise resulting in Ava crying. They calm down, a couple minutes later, the same thing.
I was just talking to a friend the other day about how original nursery rhymes are kind of disturbing...Humpty Dumpty, Jack and Jill, but I have to admit that I can now relate to the end of "There was an old lady who lived in a shoe...she whipped them all soundly and put them to bed." In tonight's case, this applied to Jenna, and she is currently in my bed. It's 8:15, the last hour has felt like an eternity, but they are all quiet, and I think my heartrate is returning to normal. I'm not putting this on my mom and Lance of course, but I have been spoiled with her here to help. I need to get back on my game. I wish I still had some Costco cheesecake to drown my frustration and exhaustion in.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Baby corn
Judge as you will LOL...we were all sitting down to dinner, Jared just had a bottle, so he was just scooting around the living room waiting for his turn to eat. But he soon realized what we were doing and made his way under the kitchen table to shovel in as much rice and corn that was falling on the floor that he could. My response, well he's getting his dinner early. We all could not help but laugh at how he just stayed under the table waiting for Ava to drop her food. She also caught on and began intentionally "feeding" him. In my defense the floor was just cleaned and it was hilarious! Now, I am quick to take things out of his mouth as he's picking up random things he finds on the floor. So it's not that I don't care at all, but stuff like that would never fly with baby Jenna. Oh how things change :)
Friday, April 1, 2011
You got me wrapped around your finger...
For a child who wanted nothing more than to be put down and left alone as an infant has done a complete 180 in the last couple weeks, and especially in that last two nights. The only times Ava wants to cuddle are (1) when she's hurt, but even that is short-lived because she just wants immediate consolation and then to be put down; and (2) when she is teething. I usually know when Ava is teething because it is the only time she refuses to go to sleep in her crib and screams and cries in pure agony for mommy or daddy. It is especially worse when she hears us still walking around or the TV on. If this is the case, she must be held (cuddled) on the couch and stay up watching TV with us until we go to bed. It's also usually the cause of her crying in the car. Granted, it was past nap time today, but normally she'd just fall asleep. Inconsolable crying and tired. She did go down for her nap pretty well, though. Waking up didn't go so well, though.
Just to back track a little, with Jenna I was the biggest stickler about keeping her in her own crib/bed. But Jenna was also a HUGE cuddler and loved to be rocked, which sometimes we would do for over an hour to calm her down when she was teething. I would go through the routine of rocking her, but as soon as she got put in her crib would start screaming again. I would rather fall asleep on the floor next to her crib (and sneak out later) than allow her to sleep in our bed. A habit I was sure would never be broken if I started it. It wasn't until she was 3 and had scary dreams we would even consider it. She knows pretty well now that there are only certain times when she can sleep in our room. For example, when Lance is out of town, if she is really scared about something, or when I want her to take a rest without disturbing Ava's nap.
Now, in the case of the crying baby, it is much easier to let a kid "cry it out" when there is only ONE. However, adding more babies to the brood has made us pop up after no more than 5 minutes of crying so the others don't wake up. We'd rather spoil them than disturb the others and create even more frustration for ourselves and them. On more than one occassion Jenna has yelled out for us to come get Ava because she was crying. When Ava had her own room there were times I'd lay on the floor and sneak out, but as she has grown, so has her volume, vocabulary and dramatization. To me, there is nothing more heart-wrenching that my child screaming and crying out my name, but sometimes it's hard to differentiate if the child really needs something worth going to them for, or if they just don't want to go to sleep. Like I said, I can usually tell with Ava that it would be teething, so I am hoping that it's her 2-year molars coming early!
So many things about the way we parent changes as we have more kids. Things that no one can really tell you or that you'll think is "acceptable." I was so protective of Jenna, did everything for her, watched her every minute, and was so focused on routines. In some areas I am reaping the result of that control...in a toddler who whines when asked to do certain things herself or doesn't even want to try, and would rather hold herself than use the potty (that I forced her into before she was ready). She is getting more independent each day now, and some of things have given us good results. She loves organization, and she knows the way we do things in our house (and will remind people if they tell her to do something differently, ie. grandparents). When Ava came along, I quickly learned that I must be more flexible, allow her to do things herself and just not stress so much over little things, especially since I still had to keep order with Jenna testing her limits and my patience. Ava is naturally independent anyway. It is a great blessing but also makes it easier to let her play by herself, which she is content with. I have to be intentional with giving her attention, especially because with Jared as the baby, he gets TONS. He isn't standing or doing as much independently like Ava did. He's more on Jenna's track of development, which I actually love because I can baby him that much more :) He also got some spoiling in letting him sleep with us until I really wanted to let him go in his own crib.
Ava is one smart cookie. On one side, I do think that she sincerely just wants to be cuddled and held when she is teething, and "wants her mommy". But I am equally convinced that she is taking full advantage to get my undivided attention. Case in point the last two nights...
Wednesday night Lance and I took Jenna to church with us, leaving Jared and Ava with my mom to get them ready for bed. Jared goes down easily and wonderfully (though he is just barely teething, so that could be short-lived). Ava, on the other hand, had no intention of going to sleep. My mom tried to put her down for bed, but she would just yell and cry "Mommy, daddy, Jenna, church, BWAHHHHH). So when we got home we found Jared asleep in his room and Ava out on the couch snuggled on Grandma's lap. We made another attempt to put her down at the same time as Jenna. No such luck. So she got to sit out on the couch with me until around 10. I made another attempt at putting her down, and she was not having it. The solution...OUR BED...but only when I was ready to lay down too. She woke up with Lance around 6, I was not having that, Jenna was waking up too, so I put her in her crib and they went back to sleep for 2 hours! Little stinkers :)
Thursday night we all went through the regular routine, the girls got a bath, pjs, teeth brushed, each got to pick a book out and we sat together on their floor. By 7:15 or so they were both quiet and going to sleep. SUCCESS! Or not, cue Ava waking up crying around 9:30. The only thing that would console her, ME holding her on the couch...not Lance, not letting her lay down across the couch, not laying in our bed with just Lance, nothing! Even when Lance was holding her and I decided I should go to bed, if I got out of her sight she screamed. She did actually sleep all night and got up at 7.
What the heck am I going to do now? Is she actually teething, and in that case, with this pass? How long? Or am I starting an endless spoiled cycle of sleeping in our bed. Like I said, I'm pretty good about sensing what's going on with the babies, their crying and needs, but with my mom-guilt of worrying that my middle child isn't getting enough attention and the oh-so-intuitiveness of this toddler, I find myself tightly wrapped around one little tiny finger...and love her for it.
Just to back track a little, with Jenna I was the biggest stickler about keeping her in her own crib/bed. But Jenna was also a HUGE cuddler and loved to be rocked, which sometimes we would do for over an hour to calm her down when she was teething. I would go through the routine of rocking her, but as soon as she got put in her crib would start screaming again. I would rather fall asleep on the floor next to her crib (and sneak out later) than allow her to sleep in our bed. A habit I was sure would never be broken if I started it. It wasn't until she was 3 and had scary dreams we would even consider it. She knows pretty well now that there are only certain times when she can sleep in our room. For example, when Lance is out of town, if she is really scared about something, or when I want her to take a rest without disturbing Ava's nap.
Now, in the case of the crying baby, it is much easier to let a kid "cry it out" when there is only ONE. However, adding more babies to the brood has made us pop up after no more than 5 minutes of crying so the others don't wake up. We'd rather spoil them than disturb the others and create even more frustration for ourselves and them. On more than one occassion Jenna has yelled out for us to come get Ava because she was crying. When Ava had her own room there were times I'd lay on the floor and sneak out, but as she has grown, so has her volume, vocabulary and dramatization. To me, there is nothing more heart-wrenching that my child screaming and crying out my name, but sometimes it's hard to differentiate if the child really needs something worth going to them for, or if they just don't want to go to sleep. Like I said, I can usually tell with Ava that it would be teething, so I am hoping that it's her 2-year molars coming early!
So many things about the way we parent changes as we have more kids. Things that no one can really tell you or that you'll think is "acceptable." I was so protective of Jenna, did everything for her, watched her every minute, and was so focused on routines. In some areas I am reaping the result of that control...in a toddler who whines when asked to do certain things herself or doesn't even want to try, and would rather hold herself than use the potty (that I forced her into before she was ready). She is getting more independent each day now, and some of things have given us good results. She loves organization, and she knows the way we do things in our house (and will remind people if they tell her to do something differently, ie. grandparents). When Ava came along, I quickly learned that I must be more flexible, allow her to do things herself and just not stress so much over little things, especially since I still had to keep order with Jenna testing her limits and my patience. Ava is naturally independent anyway. It is a great blessing but also makes it easier to let her play by herself, which she is content with. I have to be intentional with giving her attention, especially because with Jared as the baby, he gets TONS. He isn't standing or doing as much independently like Ava did. He's more on Jenna's track of development, which I actually love because I can baby him that much more :) He also got some spoiling in letting him sleep with us until I really wanted to let him go in his own crib.
Ava is one smart cookie. On one side, I do think that she sincerely just wants to be cuddled and held when she is teething, and "wants her mommy". But I am equally convinced that she is taking full advantage to get my undivided attention. Case in point the last two nights...
Wednesday night Lance and I took Jenna to church with us, leaving Jared and Ava with my mom to get them ready for bed. Jared goes down easily and wonderfully (though he is just barely teething, so that could be short-lived). Ava, on the other hand, had no intention of going to sleep. My mom tried to put her down for bed, but she would just yell and cry "Mommy, daddy, Jenna, church, BWAHHHHH). So when we got home we found Jared asleep in his room and Ava out on the couch snuggled on Grandma's lap. We made another attempt to put her down at the same time as Jenna. No such luck. So she got to sit out on the couch with me until around 10. I made another attempt at putting her down, and she was not having it. The solution...OUR BED...but only when I was ready to lay down too. She woke up with Lance around 6, I was not having that, Jenna was waking up too, so I put her in her crib and they went back to sleep for 2 hours! Little stinkers :)
Thursday night we all went through the regular routine, the girls got a bath, pjs, teeth brushed, each got to pick a book out and we sat together on their floor. By 7:15 or so they were both quiet and going to sleep. SUCCESS! Or not, cue Ava waking up crying around 9:30. The only thing that would console her, ME holding her on the couch...not Lance, not letting her lay down across the couch, not laying in our bed with just Lance, nothing! Even when Lance was holding her and I decided I should go to bed, if I got out of her sight she screamed. She did actually sleep all night and got up at 7.
What the heck am I going to do now? Is she actually teething, and in that case, with this pass? How long? Or am I starting an endless spoiled cycle of sleeping in our bed. Like I said, I'm pretty good about sensing what's going on with the babies, their crying and needs, but with my mom-guilt of worrying that my middle child isn't getting enough attention and the oh-so-intuitiveness of this toddler, I find myself tightly wrapped around one little tiny finger...and love her for it.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
I think we're alone now...
At the moment my mom is at the movies with Jenna, Jared and Ava are napping, and I am sitting on the couch as still as possible, sipping ginger ale, praying that my lunch does not re-enter the atmosphere. Jenna had some virus on Sunday that resulted in sickness (to put in nicely) and wearing a pull-up for the rest of the day. So far Ava just had a low fever, so hopefully that's the worst of it for the rest of us. I started some laundry and vacuumed the bedrooms this morning, so I feel like I've met my house-duty quota for the day. Though I am sure more chores will present themselves as the day unfolds.
I started my day in the best possible way, a shower, prayer and reading the Word. Unfortunately, this is nowhere near my normal routine. That is usually reserved for waking up to Ava yelling to get out of her crib or because Jenna took something out of it, getting Ava out, making sure Jenna goes to the bathroom, straightening myself up a little, brushing my teeth, and re-entering mommy land for the remainder of the day. Last night I went to sleep around 11:30 and somehow managed to wake up after Lance this morning at 6:30. I was quickly motivated to get up and take a shower since I knew I might not get another chance during the day. I heard Jenna get up as I was getting dressed, and she came in wanting to play the computer. So, as usual, she had to go to the bathroom first, and I tried my best to keep quiet so Ava and Jared wouldn't wake up. But before I sent her out to the living room, I thought I'd take advantage of us being up together to pray with her for our day. I automatically felt a tenderness come over me toward her. We have many power struggles and lots of whining throughout the day, so sometimes I forget how so very precious she is. It wasn't a long, drawn out prayer that would make her start playing with whatever she could find in arm's reach, but a good note to start the day on. As soon as I was finished she quickly asked if she could "go play the computer now?" and off she went. I grabbed a cup of coffee and headed back to my room for some Bible time.
I don't read books for myself as often as I would like. Really, ever in the last few years. I also don't retain what I'm reading well, but instead forget what I've read as soon I read it. I find myself reading the same few sentences over again or skimming back. I always hated the English assignments where you had to write your own recap of what you just read! I like that I have a study Bible that has the commentary on the bottom, the profiles and timelines of the "characters." The commentary might not be perfect interpretation all the time, but after every few verses I find myself at the bottom of the page looking for an answer to, "What the heck does that mean?" Which I think can be common when you're reading the Old Testament. How ever long it took me to get through 7 chapters of Isaiah didn't really matter. I needed the replenishment and to be reminded of the power of God's word.
I had a thought as I was reading. One of the captivating aspects of reading anyone's book is that you are connecting with the author, their person, their personality, their thought-process. How awesome it is that we have THIS resource available to us. It isn't just any author's work, but it is history, the present, the future, the person, the personality, the thought-process of our Creator. In the day to day that can be mundane, I find myself desiring to be closer to the Lord, be reassured of His presence (in the midst of a toddler fit or the splashing water out of the tub that has brought me to the end of my rope), and just to be at peace. At the same time I can honestly ask myself, how do I expect to have any of that without reading the Word more? This is not to down-play the power of prayer in seeking God or to start a debate on whether God can reveal himself to those who don't have a Bible. But I DO. What excuse seems good enough to not take the time? None of course. The benefit far out-weighs whatever I could be doing in those few minutes (ie. my technology addiction as Lance would say, blogging is the exception right?).
Isaiah 4:2-5:2 - In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors in Israel. Those who are left in Zion, who remain in Jerusalem, will be called holy, all who are recorded among the living in Jerusalem. The Lord will wash away the filth of the women of Zion; he will cleanse the bloodstains from Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire. Then the LORD will create over all of Mount Zion and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night; over everything the glory will be a canopy. It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain. I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.
It all sounds nice until the last line there doesn't it? The importance of understanding the context in which Scripture is written goes without saying, but I also love when I am left with a thought for personal reflection and application. Today I am left with the thought of my children being my fruit. One of the points of the parenting study we're doing is so simple, but a good reminder. Without a doubt, your kids will do what you DO, not what you say! And I want the example of prayer and reading the Word to be one in the fore-front with the kids and the person they see me as. They won't really see me as an individual for many years and in maturity, I'm just their mom. With this blessing and responsibility I want to be someone who unashamedly displays the influence that God has had, and continues to have, on me as a person and be a reflection of Christ's love for people. What I'm striving for in myself is the dream I have for them.
I started my day in the best possible way, a shower, prayer and reading the Word. Unfortunately, this is nowhere near my normal routine. That is usually reserved for waking up to Ava yelling to get out of her crib or because Jenna took something out of it, getting Ava out, making sure Jenna goes to the bathroom, straightening myself up a little, brushing my teeth, and re-entering mommy land for the remainder of the day. Last night I went to sleep around 11:30 and somehow managed to wake up after Lance this morning at 6:30. I was quickly motivated to get up and take a shower since I knew I might not get another chance during the day. I heard Jenna get up as I was getting dressed, and she came in wanting to play the computer. So, as usual, she had to go to the bathroom first, and I tried my best to keep quiet so Ava and Jared wouldn't wake up. But before I sent her out to the living room, I thought I'd take advantage of us being up together to pray with her for our day. I automatically felt a tenderness come over me toward her. We have many power struggles and lots of whining throughout the day, so sometimes I forget how so very precious she is. It wasn't a long, drawn out prayer that would make her start playing with whatever she could find in arm's reach, but a good note to start the day on. As soon as I was finished she quickly asked if she could "go play the computer now?" and off she went. I grabbed a cup of coffee and headed back to my room for some Bible time.
I don't read books for myself as often as I would like. Really, ever in the last few years. I also don't retain what I'm reading well, but instead forget what I've read as soon I read it. I find myself reading the same few sentences over again or skimming back. I always hated the English assignments where you had to write your own recap of what you just read! I like that I have a study Bible that has the commentary on the bottom, the profiles and timelines of the "characters." The commentary might not be perfect interpretation all the time, but after every few verses I find myself at the bottom of the page looking for an answer to, "What the heck does that mean?" Which I think can be common when you're reading the Old Testament. How ever long it took me to get through 7 chapters of Isaiah didn't really matter. I needed the replenishment and to be reminded of the power of God's word.
I had a thought as I was reading. One of the captivating aspects of reading anyone's book is that you are connecting with the author, their person, their personality, their thought-process. How awesome it is that we have THIS resource available to us. It isn't just any author's work, but it is history, the present, the future, the person, the personality, the thought-process of our Creator. In the day to day that can be mundane, I find myself desiring to be closer to the Lord, be reassured of His presence (in the midst of a toddler fit or the splashing water out of the tub that has brought me to the end of my rope), and just to be at peace. At the same time I can honestly ask myself, how do I expect to have any of that without reading the Word more? This is not to down-play the power of prayer in seeking God or to start a debate on whether God can reveal himself to those who don't have a Bible. But I DO. What excuse seems good enough to not take the time? None of course. The benefit far out-weighs whatever I could be doing in those few minutes (ie. my technology addiction as Lance would say, blogging is the exception right?).
Isaiah 4:2-5:2 - In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of the survivors in Israel. Those who are left in Zion, who remain in Jerusalem, will be called holy, all who are recorded among the living in Jerusalem. The Lord will wash away the filth of the women of Zion; he will cleanse the bloodstains from Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire. Then the LORD will create over all of Mount Zion and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night; over everything the glory will be a canopy. It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain. I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.
It all sounds nice until the last line there doesn't it? The importance of understanding the context in which Scripture is written goes without saying, but I also love when I am left with a thought for personal reflection and application. Today I am left with the thought of my children being my fruit. One of the points of the parenting study we're doing is so simple, but a good reminder. Without a doubt, your kids will do what you DO, not what you say! And I want the example of prayer and reading the Word to be one in the fore-front with the kids and the person they see me as. They won't really see me as an individual for many years and in maturity, I'm just their mom. With this blessing and responsibility I want to be someone who unashamedly displays the influence that God has had, and continues to have, on me as a person and be a reflection of Christ's love for people. What I'm striving for in myself is the dream I have for them.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Pizza night
We usually get pizza once a week and have found a great local place that prepares everything for you, and you take it home to bake. It's become our preferred take out pizza. Occassionally I do make our own using the Pillsbury dough that you roll out, I'll put some olive oil on, pre-bake it a little bit, then finish it off with the toppings. Usually it's a bbq chicken w/ red onion. We really like it.
I recently found a couple ingredients that are a little better than what I'm used to or would have normally chosen for my pizzas. I try to find products with the least amount of ingredients in them and least processed in general. So at my last grocery trip I opted for 100% whole wheat Boboli crust instead of the white refrigerated Pillsbury dough. You'd either find it near the bread or in the pasta aisle. I liked the small size of them, so I got two.
Here's the rest:
Baked each at 450 for 8-10 mins. on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Pizza #1
1 package of Jimmy Dean all natural pork sausage
2 Tbs olive oil
1-2 cups shredded part-skim mozz (monterey jack also melts and binds well, or a shredded Italian mix of cheese would be even better!)
12 oz of the generic pizza sauce
I broke up and cooked the sausage in olive oil and drained it. Add the sauce to the crust, little bit of cheese, sausage and the rest of the cheese; however you like it. Bake 8-10 mins.
(I was also going to add some left over tomatoes from our salad last night, but the girls ate them all while I was cooking the meat). :)
Pizza #2
1 package of chicken tenders
1 Tbs olive oil
Baby spinach leaves*
Shredded Italian blend or part-skim mozz
Sprinkling of olive oil and parmesan for the crust
(I didn't do this, but sun-dried tomatoes would have been really good with this too)
Season uncooked chicken with salt and pepper. I used the same pan from the sausage and kept some of the oil. You can either empty that out and add another 2 Tbs oil, or leave it (which I did for the flavor) and add an extra 1 Tbs oil. Cook over med/high. Sprinkle the second crust with some olive oil and parm and bake for 2 minutes to absorb it and melt the cheese a little bit. Take it out, add the chicken, then spinach and top with your shredded cheese. Bake 8-10 mins.
*Note: For the spinach leaves, I just used some that were left in the pre-packaged bag that we had with dinner last night. I never feel like having salad two days in a row, and it usually goes bad. I'm glad I could use it for something.
Lance and the kids really liked the sausage pizza, I had one piece, and I'm having my second of the chicken one while Ava is running in and out of the kitchen asking for pieces of it.
Easy, successful, everyone ate and in a timely manner :) My kind of dinner.
I recently found a couple ingredients that are a little better than what I'm used to or would have normally chosen for my pizzas. I try to find products with the least amount of ingredients in them and least processed in general. So at my last grocery trip I opted for 100% whole wheat Boboli crust instead of the white refrigerated Pillsbury dough. You'd either find it near the bread or in the pasta aisle. I liked the small size of them, so I got two.
Here's the rest:
Baked each at 450 for 8-10 mins. on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Pizza #1
1 package of Jimmy Dean all natural pork sausage
2 Tbs olive oil
1-2 cups shredded part-skim mozz (monterey jack also melts and binds well, or a shredded Italian mix of cheese would be even better!)
12 oz of the generic pizza sauce
I broke up and cooked the sausage in olive oil and drained it. Add the sauce to the crust, little bit of cheese, sausage and the rest of the cheese; however you like it. Bake 8-10 mins.
(I was also going to add some left over tomatoes from our salad last night, but the girls ate them all while I was cooking the meat). :)
Pizza #2
1 package of chicken tenders
1 Tbs olive oil
Baby spinach leaves*
Shredded Italian blend or part-skim mozz
Sprinkling of olive oil and parmesan for the crust
(I didn't do this, but sun-dried tomatoes would have been really good with this too)
Season uncooked chicken with salt and pepper. I used the same pan from the sausage and kept some of the oil. You can either empty that out and add another 2 Tbs oil, or leave it (which I did for the flavor) and add an extra 1 Tbs oil. Cook over med/high. Sprinkle the second crust with some olive oil and parm and bake for 2 minutes to absorb it and melt the cheese a little bit. Take it out, add the chicken, then spinach and top with your shredded cheese. Bake 8-10 mins.
*Note: For the spinach leaves, I just used some that were left in the pre-packaged bag that we had with dinner last night. I never feel like having salad two days in a row, and it usually goes bad. I'm glad I could use it for something.
Lance and the kids really liked the sausage pizza, I had one piece, and I'm having my second of the chicken one while Ava is running in and out of the kitchen asking for pieces of it.
Easy, successful, everyone ate and in a timely manner :) My kind of dinner.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Don't play with your food! Or do?
Jenna is always the last person sitting at the table, procrastinating eating whatever it is she doesn't like or just taking her sweet time because she wants to tell jokes, play games, etc. Usually by the time we're eating dinner, we're counting down to bath and bed. The girls go down around 7, and I get in the habit of putting off dinner prep. We usually end up eating around 6. I definitely need to move all of this up. You'd think I'd learn by now to start dinner earlier so I'm not as stressed to make Jenna eat. In the back of my mind I'm worried about causing some kind of eating disorder by making her eat too quickly. I also don't want this to be yet another time of the day that I'm just telling her what to do the whole time. Dinner is supposed to be a fun, family-centered, relaxing time. Sometimes we get it right, ie. letting Ava crawl on the table when she's done and laughing at each other. Sometimes I just have to say, "Who cares?" Tonight was one of those nights that I wanted to lighten up with dinner but keep Jenna from getting so distracted that she takes forever. I decided that I didn't want to just leave her at the table by herself, exiled because she's the last one to finish her food. We had a big spinach salad with chicken. Quick and easy. She had already eaten her tomatoes, cucumbers and cheese cubes, and had some chicken and spinach leaves left (plus a couple pieces of avocado that I knew weren't going to get eaten). Then it hit me. She wants to play a game, so I'll make it up. Finish her food by taking bites in a pattern! She LOVES patterns and finds them in everything. So she made up what pattern she wanted to eat in. Chicken, chicken, lettuce, lettuce. This worked great for a reasonable amount of time. I just had to hold myself back from speeding her eating up. Even though she ate slowly, she kept track of the pattern as she was eating. It was cute. But then she had to be leaf-eating animals in the zoo, and I had to be a kid that wanted to ask the zookeeper if I could go in and feed them. Now, when Jenna plays games like this she tells me exactly what to say. I always tweak it a little and tell her that I can say what I want if I'm pretending, and when she's pretending she can say what she wants. For my own patience, and her eating even slower because of this game, I was done after the giraffe and zebra. Ava entered the scene and started getting into everything around Jenna and egging her on. So I decided she was just done. I'm continually checking myself and thinking about the long-term impact of my actions and words on the kids, especially Jenna. From tonight's experience, I took that it's ok to not be on schedule sometimes. You would think I know this by now with 3 kids and the fact that we're late everywhere we go. But by accepting the time I have for what it is, I can make it less stressful and more enjoyable for everyone. I might regret saying this some day, but for now I say...play...even with your food :)
Friday, January 28, 2011
Anything for blankie
So Jenna only gets her blankie for bed time, and we keep it at the top of her closet. There is also a toy chest in front of her closet. She always tries to sneak it. You see where this is going. First she started moving her night stand across the room, but we caught her. Then it was quiet. That's never a good thing. She wasn't in her room, and when she doesn't respond to my calling her I know she has blankie. I found her with the blankie, sucking her thumb in Jared's room. I couldn't help but laugh, and I told her to show me how she got it. Standing on the toy chest, she used her hobby horse to reach and get the it down. Then she said she "tiptoed to Jared's room." It's now in the hall closet, and she's standing and trying to balance on Cookie Monster and reaching to get the blankie once again. Ugh.
Trippy
I literally feel like I am in a different day than the one I woke up to this morning. I know I lay out my day's schedule a lot, so sorry if it seems monotonous, but here's a snapshot of my morning. It all started with a high squeal and crying.
5:45 - 6:15 a.m. Jared wakes up, gets a bottle and goes back down.
6 a.m. - Jenna is awake, Lance is getting ready for work.
6:15 a.m. - I walk out from Jared's room to Jenna already playing on the computer and Lance in the kitchen. I go take a shower...and pray while I'm in there!
7 a.m. - Get Jenna off the computer. Right now it's really a blur what happended between then and 7:45 when Ava woke up.
7:45 a.m. - Got Ava, changed her, made Jenna go potty, got breakfast ready.
8 a.m. - Had breakfast with the girls. Ava loves oatmeal, Jenna does not unless it has blueberries, but oh well, they got grapes instead and she took forever eating. Put some cartoons on after breakfast while I balanced the checkbook.
8:45 a.m. - Got Jared up, changed and out to feed him breakfast. From this time, the girls played, we read some, watched some SuperWhy and Yo Gabba Gabba on DVR.
10 a.m. - The girls get snacks, and I give Jared a bottle in his room so he wouldn't be too distracted. Of course the girls end up in there anyway :)
By 10:30 my brain was so heavy, I've had a cup of coffee, but it has done absolutely nothing for my 5 hour sleep last night, which was on the couch because I fell asleep watching Jimmy Fallon. So Ava was off for a nap! She took a while to go to sleep, but I also put Jared in his swing for a nap at this time. He was asleep in 15 minutes. Since Jenna had gotten up so early I thought NAP FOR EVERYONE. I got some laundry going while Jenna went potty again, and we both laid down in my room. The last time I looked at the clock it was 11. Jenna made a couple escape attempts when my eyes were closed, but after a trip to the potty and some threats to take away her animal figures and no movie today she managed to lay still. We both fell asleep! At one point I could faintly hear Ava yelling "UP" and talking in her crib. I could also hear the squeaking of her mattress while she's bouncing. I finally opened my eyes at 12:30 to Jenna passed out, mouth open, thumb falling out of her mouth and all. So I slid out of bed to get Ava. I realized as soon as I walked in why she was yelling, phew! When I took her in Jared's room to the changing table I could see the sun shining through the curtains, and I had the weirdest feeling that I skipped a day and woke up to a bright, sunny morning after a full night of sleep. We proceeded to the kitchen to get some lunch. It didn't take long for Jared to wake up with her running around, but I let him continue swinging while we sat at the table and chatted :) I sat down to start writing this just before 1, at which time I saw Ava go into my room (I should've closed the door all the way)! I quiety rushed in there, grabbed her under the arms, took her out and closed the door. She immediately started crying, "Jenna wake up!" Sorry sweetpea, not happening if I can do something about it. Then she wanted to go into Jenna's bed, saying, "nigh night." Hm, that could work. She loves anything of Jenna's and tries to imitate her all day long, so we'll try it out. Case in point, SHE COMES OUT OF THE ROOM lol and is saying, "Climb." She can't get back up on the bed herself. Then it took a whole minute when I left for her to start peeling off the flower wall stickers (which I'm sure she has seen Jenna do repeatedly as many of them are moved around the wall). I went in there and said, "No stickers, lay down." As soon as I left she did it again, of course. I walked in, and she immediately jumped to lay down with a big smile on her face. She knows exactly what she is doing. She did it one more time with a warning "no stickers" or she was going to go to her bed. That was inevitable. I figured she didn't get a good nap in earlier since she ended up with a messy diaper, so I put her in her crib. I gave Jared his bottle at 1:15. He is already insisting on holding it and taking his sweet time. Actually very sweet because he stops to baby scream and laugh, so I don't mind the extra time :) It's 2 p.m. now. I hear Ava playing in her crib, Jared's getting sleep again, and Jenna is still asleep.
As I wrote in my bio blurb under my picture, I have seen a lot of things, many of them weird, unexplainable, many surprising and disturbing (one of which was the eery feeling all morning of 9/11, the peacefulness of the day that I felt until the first tower was hit, surreal!). Not that today and that day come even remotely close in themselves, but today falls into one of those weird feeling categories, but in a good way. I'm sure the fact that I started my day by praying as something to do with this :) For some reason I had no problem letting Ava ride her tricycle through the living room. And the last time I slept during the day was when I had a stomach virus. I never do it, and the timing doesn't usually work out that I can if I wanted to, but I am OH SO GLAD that I did. Cheers to one of the weirdest feeling, but calmest, days of my parenthood.
5:45 - 6:15 a.m. Jared wakes up, gets a bottle and goes back down.
6 a.m. - Jenna is awake, Lance is getting ready for work.
6:15 a.m. - I walk out from Jared's room to Jenna already playing on the computer and Lance in the kitchen. I go take a shower...and pray while I'm in there!
7 a.m. - Get Jenna off the computer. Right now it's really a blur what happended between then and 7:45 when Ava woke up.
7:45 a.m. - Got Ava, changed her, made Jenna go potty, got breakfast ready.
8 a.m. - Had breakfast with the girls. Ava loves oatmeal, Jenna does not unless it has blueberries, but oh well, they got grapes instead and she took forever eating. Put some cartoons on after breakfast while I balanced the checkbook.
8:45 a.m. - Got Jared up, changed and out to feed him breakfast. From this time, the girls played, we read some, watched some SuperWhy and Yo Gabba Gabba on DVR.
10 a.m. - The girls get snacks, and I give Jared a bottle in his room so he wouldn't be too distracted. Of course the girls end up in there anyway :)
By 10:30 my brain was so heavy, I've had a cup of coffee, but it has done absolutely nothing for my 5 hour sleep last night, which was on the couch because I fell asleep watching Jimmy Fallon. So Ava was off for a nap! She took a while to go to sleep, but I also put Jared in his swing for a nap at this time. He was asleep in 15 minutes. Since Jenna had gotten up so early I thought NAP FOR EVERYONE. I got some laundry going while Jenna went potty again, and we both laid down in my room. The last time I looked at the clock it was 11. Jenna made a couple escape attempts when my eyes were closed, but after a trip to the potty and some threats to take away her animal figures and no movie today she managed to lay still. We both fell asleep! At one point I could faintly hear Ava yelling "UP" and talking in her crib. I could also hear the squeaking of her mattress while she's bouncing. I finally opened my eyes at 12:30 to Jenna passed out, mouth open, thumb falling out of her mouth and all. So I slid out of bed to get Ava. I realized as soon as I walked in why she was yelling, phew! When I took her in Jared's room to the changing table I could see the sun shining through the curtains, and I had the weirdest feeling that I skipped a day and woke up to a bright, sunny morning after a full night of sleep. We proceeded to the kitchen to get some lunch. It didn't take long for Jared to wake up with her running around, but I let him continue swinging while we sat at the table and chatted :) I sat down to start writing this just before 1, at which time I saw Ava go into my room (I should've closed the door all the way)! I quiety rushed in there, grabbed her under the arms, took her out and closed the door. She immediately started crying, "Jenna wake up!" Sorry sweetpea, not happening if I can do something about it. Then she wanted to go into Jenna's bed, saying, "nigh night." Hm, that could work. She loves anything of Jenna's and tries to imitate her all day long, so we'll try it out. Case in point, SHE COMES OUT OF THE ROOM lol and is saying, "Climb." She can't get back up on the bed herself. Then it took a whole minute when I left for her to start peeling off the flower wall stickers (which I'm sure she has seen Jenna do repeatedly as many of them are moved around the wall). I went in there and said, "No stickers, lay down." As soon as I left she did it again, of course. I walked in, and she immediately jumped to lay down with a big smile on her face. She knows exactly what she is doing. She did it one more time with a warning "no stickers" or she was going to go to her bed. That was inevitable. I figured she didn't get a good nap in earlier since she ended up with a messy diaper, so I put her in her crib. I gave Jared his bottle at 1:15. He is already insisting on holding it and taking his sweet time. Actually very sweet because he stops to baby scream and laugh, so I don't mind the extra time :) It's 2 p.m. now. I hear Ava playing in her crib, Jared's getting sleep again, and Jenna is still asleep.
As I wrote in my bio blurb under my picture, I have seen a lot of things, many of them weird, unexplainable, many surprising and disturbing (one of which was the eery feeling all morning of 9/11, the peacefulness of the day that I felt until the first tower was hit, surreal!). Not that today and that day come even remotely close in themselves, but today falls into one of those weird feeling categories, but in a good way. I'm sure the fact that I started my day by praying as something to do with this :) For some reason I had no problem letting Ava ride her tricycle through the living room. And the last time I slept during the day was when I had a stomach virus. I never do it, and the timing doesn't usually work out that I can if I wanted to, but I am OH SO GLAD that I did. Cheers to one of the weirdest feeling, but calmest, days of my parenthood.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Sick and tired
Well, it's been almost 2 weeks since Jared stopped nursing, and it has been 3 days that he has had a fever. He has had nothing more than a runny nose for 7 months, then he gets sick. Just when all doubts about going to formula had settled, the lack of my immunity-boosting nourishment for this tiny person has caused him to get sick. Ok, he might have gotten sick anyway considering both girls had a cold, but the timing doesn't help.
The plague seeped in on Monday, the 17th. Since Lance was off work I decided we should all go out to the mall, let Jenna unwind in the play area and use the babies' Build-a-Bear gift cards. Somehow I had completely overlooked the fact that the play area would be PACKED because of the holiday. But Jenna wanted to play, we were staying. Build-a-Bear is right next to the play area, so we went there first thinking the play area might not be as crowded in 30 minutes. No such luck. But it was fun picking out some new friends for Jared (Buster a spotted puppy) and Ava (Kara the Hello Kitty). Just a side note, on the drive to the mall, anticipating going to Build-a-Bear I actually envisioned a spotted puppy that we would get Jared and we would name him Buster, then I saw just that in the window of the store. It was really wierd. I wonder if he'll be extra special to Jared LOL. It was a long wait in line to stuff them, of course Jenna just wanted to plug her ears while the girl ran the cotton machine. She lightened up for the second animal and actually stepped on the pedal to run the machine. I love that store. I have more fun doing the "baths" and picking out the clothes that the kids do. I almost got the Hello Kitty mini couch, but I got a look and "uh...no" from Lance, so that didn't happen :) Oh well. It was on to the play area.
There were a lot of big kids, we knew Ava would just get trampled, so Lance put her on some of the mechanical cars and then took her and Jared in the stroller to get some cookies while I stayed with Jenna. She made a little friend (no surprise) and they played hide and seek. It was cute because there were so many kids they really had to look for each other. The time passed quickly, Lance came back. I asked if he got cookies, he said "I got cookies for us." I left it at that. Note that exact phrasing. Ava was getting cranky, so it was time to head out. We got in the car, and I looked around for some cookies. So I asked Lance where they were, and he said, "We ate them. I got some for me and Ava." Um, ok, we are having communication issues lately! LOL I pointed out his phrasing when I asked him earlier, but I should've known that I needed to be more specific. So no, "us" just meant him and Ava, not "all of us." Then of course I feel bad having told Jenna when we LEFT the play area that we would have cookies when we left. Now, usually I am super-anal about wiping the kids hands off after they've been somewhere germy, so I don't know what I was thinking not doing this for Jenna when we got in the car! When we got home she went potty and washed them, but the damage was done. Sickness was inevitable. By Wednesday she was coughing and sneezing all over the place. Sunday morning Ava had a fever. She's a tough cookie, though and was over it in a couple days. It's been a week now, and Jenna has that lingering loose cough, but is overall just fine. Saturday night, though, Jared started with a low fever of 99. It's been up and down since then, the highest was last night at 103. I finally broke down yesterday and let Lance take him to the doctor. It's not that I don't want him to get better, but I always try to hold off because I know he's just going to get antibiotics, which he just finished for an ear infection a couple weeks ago. Jared has also had a nasty chest cough and some wheezing, which I've been treating with Albuterol. So inevitably, he has a double ear infection and was prescribed with antibiotics. I'm glad that this time he got a 5-day antibiotic instead of another 10-day. Praying this will take! Poor little guy. He's only been drinking 3 or 4 ounces at a time, but getting plenty of rest. We were supposed to go to a MOPS playdate this morning, but he was at 101 when he got up. Another leisurely day in the Clifton house. So far Lance and I have avoided this cold that the kids have passed around. I hope it stays that way. We've all been sick off and on since Christmas, and I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. I can't wait for spring!!!
The plague seeped in on Monday, the 17th. Since Lance was off work I decided we should all go out to the mall, let Jenna unwind in the play area and use the babies' Build-a-Bear gift cards. Somehow I had completely overlooked the fact that the play area would be PACKED because of the holiday. But Jenna wanted to play, we were staying. Build-a-Bear is right next to the play area, so we went there first thinking the play area might not be as crowded in 30 minutes. No such luck. But it was fun picking out some new friends for Jared (Buster a spotted puppy) and Ava (Kara the Hello Kitty). Just a side note, on the drive to the mall, anticipating going to Build-a-Bear I actually envisioned a spotted puppy that we would get Jared and we would name him Buster, then I saw just that in the window of the store. It was really wierd. I wonder if he'll be extra special to Jared LOL. It was a long wait in line to stuff them, of course Jenna just wanted to plug her ears while the girl ran the cotton machine. She lightened up for the second animal and actually stepped on the pedal to run the machine. I love that store. I have more fun doing the "baths" and picking out the clothes that the kids do. I almost got the Hello Kitty mini couch, but I got a look and "uh...no" from Lance, so that didn't happen :) Oh well. It was on to the play area.
There were a lot of big kids, we knew Ava would just get trampled, so Lance put her on some of the mechanical cars and then took her and Jared in the stroller to get some cookies while I stayed with Jenna. She made a little friend (no surprise) and they played hide and seek. It was cute because there were so many kids they really had to look for each other. The time passed quickly, Lance came back. I asked if he got cookies, he said "I got cookies for us." I left it at that. Note that exact phrasing. Ava was getting cranky, so it was time to head out. We got in the car, and I looked around for some cookies. So I asked Lance where they were, and he said, "We ate them. I got some for me and Ava." Um, ok, we are having communication issues lately! LOL I pointed out his phrasing when I asked him earlier, but I should've known that I needed to be more specific. So no, "us" just meant him and Ava, not "all of us." Then of course I feel bad having told Jenna when we LEFT the play area that we would have cookies when we left. Now, usually I am super-anal about wiping the kids hands off after they've been somewhere germy, so I don't know what I was thinking not doing this for Jenna when we got in the car! When we got home she went potty and washed them, but the damage was done. Sickness was inevitable. By Wednesday she was coughing and sneezing all over the place. Sunday morning Ava had a fever. She's a tough cookie, though and was over it in a couple days. It's been a week now, and Jenna has that lingering loose cough, but is overall just fine. Saturday night, though, Jared started with a low fever of 99. It's been up and down since then, the highest was last night at 103. I finally broke down yesterday and let Lance take him to the doctor. It's not that I don't want him to get better, but I always try to hold off because I know he's just going to get antibiotics, which he just finished for an ear infection a couple weeks ago. Jared has also had a nasty chest cough and some wheezing, which I've been treating with Albuterol. So inevitably, he has a double ear infection and was prescribed with antibiotics. I'm glad that this time he got a 5-day antibiotic instead of another 10-day. Praying this will take! Poor little guy. He's only been drinking 3 or 4 ounces at a time, but getting plenty of rest. We were supposed to go to a MOPS playdate this morning, but he was at 101 when he got up. Another leisurely day in the Clifton house. So far Lance and I have avoided this cold that the kids have passed around. I hope it stays that way. We've all been sick off and on since Christmas, and I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. I can't wait for spring!!!
Friday, January 21, 2011
Is there anyone out there, outside...
Today has been a pretty good, but busy day. Jared woke up at 5 a.m. this morning to eat. I only know this because I asked Lance when I called him at work this morning. I didn't hear him on the monitor or hear Lance get up for work. I got great sleep last night, and when I woke up at 7:15 both girls were still in bed and Jared was starting to wake up, talking through the monitor. Perfect time to get in a shower. I got myself together, Jenna was out on the computer and the babies weren't complaining yet. By the time I got Ava and Jared up and changed it was 8 o'clock. Some other things to kick off the good day: 1) payday; 2) Lance coming home at 12:30; and 3) fresh coffee. I also got a text this morning that one of my closest friends had her baby in the middle of the night! Welcome Isaiah :) We were also looking forward to kids movie night at church with "Finding Nemo."
At 8:30 I gave Jared a bottle, put some cartoons on for the girls, and got some coffee and breakfast going. It was a really quick morning. 11 o'clock rolled around, gave the girls snacks and Ava went down for a nap around 11:45. Lance came home with a pizza for lunch before Jenna and I went to her preschool to do a Dial 3 Screening for 3-5 year olds. With the late breakfast and snacks, plus recovering from a cold, Jenna wasn't hungry at all for lunch, so she got a string cheese before we left.
I had never heard of this program until moving to St. Louis, but it's called Parents as Teachers. It's a free service through our district where parent educators can come to your home and evaluate your kids milestones and development but also give you tips on helping your kids meet goals. Basically, as a parent, "you are your child's first and most important teacher." The screening is made to determine if your child is on track with their development based on averages for their age. They look at gross and fine motor skills, concepts, speech and language and social development, and also check their vision and hearing. It couldn't hurt, and it might actually boost my own self-esteem that I'm doing something right in the midst of beating myself up for yelling or snapping at Jenna. I really think children's behavior outside the home is partly their own personality but also very much the influences on them IN the home. I think I really underestimate Jenna sometimes. She gets so whiny and difficult a lot at home, but I know she is a big social butterfly, loves interacting with other people, and is improving so much on listening (to other adults, not me). She can't really express herself at home when I'm constantly shifting my attention off of whatever I'm doing with her to tend to Ava or Jared. I try to take advantage of any opportunity to get her out and about, especially school. She loves it, and I love that. So onto the screening.
I wasn't really sure what to expect, so I was prepping Jenna by telling her that a teacher was going to ask her about the things she's learning in preschool, her numbers, etc. We signed in and went to the waiting area of the school lobby that has toys and books. It didn't take long for one of the "parent educators", who is also a sub for Jenna's teacher, to come out and get Jenna. She asked, "Jenna, do you want to go play some games?" To which Jenna replied, "Sure. Mommy, can I go play some games?" It was adorable. Then she rushed off as excited as can be, chatting down the hallway. I delighted in the other parent's amusement of her. She is something else. I knew that I wouldn't be in there with her, but I didn't like just sitting and waiting with nothing to do for an hour. I did some texting for a couple minutes, and another mom had come back to the waiting area after peeking into the gym where the kids were. Without being too obvious that I was going to do exactly what she did, I gave it a few minutes, then made my way around to the gym. Jenna's teacher was walking out of her room at the same time, and she was just as anxious to peek in at Jenna with me and adding that she expects Jenna will have no problem with kindergarten. We were chatting trying to steer clear of the windows. After a few minutes, her teacher left and I stayed to spy. I watched Jenna sitting at a table by herself with the educator, listening intently, and then sorting shapes into piles. I also saw her stacking blocks at one point. They changed stations to do motor skills: throwing and catching, hopping, jumping, skipping. When they left that station she spotted me through the window, AH. I didn't want to throw her off and make her non-compliant by the mere sight of me. The educator said something to the effect of "it's someone's mommy," to which Jenna quickly replied, "It's mine!" I quickly moved out of the sight and then felt totally stupid. I heard her talking, but I decided to just go back to the waiting area. I had been gone too long. My sister called after a few minutes, so I went out the first set of front doors. It was nice and heated between those doors and the outer set of doors. I saw two of the educators come to the waiting area and then another mom direct them toward the front door, so I rushed off the phone and went back inside. I followed them to the gym where Jenna was playing with (what else) animals with a little boy. She looked so cute and grown up all on her own in that room. I sat at a little table to discuss the results of Jenna's evaluations.
I wish I could've had the copy of the results that they keep because they showed the specific tasks that they did, so I'll try to jog my memory. She mentioned the block stacking activity for motor skills, which was also copying. She stacked a single tower but had a little difficulty building a pyramid style with the long level on the bottom, smaller level stacked above that in a row, etc. She did great with the physical things, jumping on one foot, skipping, etc. Some fine motors skills need work. She is on track with cutting for her age level (3-4yrs), though we need to practice some more. She isn't as coordinated with twiddling her thumbs and touching each finger to her thumbs. I never would've even though to practice something like that. But she did great with "concepts" such as, naming colors while being timed (15 in 30 seconds...or something like that), identifying body parts (except wrist), positions (between, above, below), sorting and identifying shapes and identifying concepts. One in particular was looking at a picture and telling what it's used for. One picture showed a thermometer, but Jenna said it was a ruler (I guess it looked similar with the little lines, and we use the forehead scanner at home. I don't think she's seen those old-school thermometers LOL). The educator asked what a ruler is used for, and Jenna said, "to see how long you are." :) The educator was really impressed with Jenna's rhyming ability and identifying upper and lower case letters. She also had to copy some letters and symbols. The triangle and diamond were tricky. She was trying to do the diamond, stopped and said, "That's not right," and quickly moved on to the next one. She did an eye spy picture game to identify the objects that start with a certain sound, like find the things that start with the "t" sound. As far as behavior, on one hand I was surprised that there were NO concerns, but then again it's always different when mommy isn't hovering to correct her every mis-step. That automatically turns into selective hearing and straight-up ignoring! She listened, stayed on task, and understood directions.
At one point when we were discussing the behavior, and the woman said they call Jenna the cheerleader because she's so enthusiastic about everything, I just had to laugh and tell the woman that it must be that she got out of the house because we've been cooped up inside, and I've been seeing a different little girl. Of course I know how well Jenna separates from me and does in school, but I realized the woman could take that as me being out of touch with Jenna or that I don't appreciate that about her or something. It's weird how I feel like I have to defend my parenting. Also, when she was talking about working on cutting with scissors, I told her that I have two other little ones that I'm going back and forth with, so I'm not really leaving Jenna with scissors to practice. I laughed about it, but hopefully she didn't take offense to that :-\ Either way, I sat at that table doing everything I could to not 1) cry and 2) laugh hysterically in sheer pride and joy. It's just a preK screening, but in those 15 minutes of going over Jenna's skills assessment I felt such satisfaction and accomplishment in myself. She didn't have to straight out say, you've done a great job, and she didn't. But sitting there seeing her reaction to all that Jenna was able to do and the individual that she is, was validation enough for me.
I feel like since having the babies, I miss developments and things with Jenna that she gets in school, but I am really glad that she has her outlet in school and can come home, we can be excited together on her counting or drawing something new or some different craft, things that I don't really have the time and energy to do at home...I guess except on snow days. It was really perfect, God-ordained timing with Jenna's age and having Ava. On one hand I'm going to always be a teacher for Jenna, but on the other, as Ava is getting bigger I feel like I've taught Jenna all I can in the "getting ready for school" capacity, atleast at this time in my life with the demands of Ava and Jared. I am so grateful that I was able to spend her first three years so focused on her, reading to her, taking her out, teaching, practicing, playing. Thankfully Ava takes a big nap during the day where Jenna and I can do projects or do a learning workbook. But at times I'll start something with Jenna, and have to say, "Oh wait, Ava's awake, I'll be back," or "Hold on, I need to get Jared's bottle ready." Today she did get whiny when I had to feed Jared. She just wanted me to put him in his rocking chair :) But while we don't have many routines left besides baby napping schedules, she has adapted really well. It was no surprise, though, that when Lance asked who she wanted to take her to movie night she said, "Mommy. I love mommy."
But before we headed out for that, I took Ava with me to go visit my friend and her baby. We stopped to get some flowers and then made it through the 17 degree (lower with wind chill) walk inside the hospital. One thing I thought about was that, although Jared is really little for his age, he has grown so much! Thankfully I had no yearning for another child or anything when I held the baby :) I kept Ava in the stroller, so we didn't stay too long as she was getting whiny, but it was a nice outing with just me and her. We got home, I cooked up some meat for Lance to make tacos, and Jenna and I were off to church. We did stop at the bakery for a big Valentine's day cookie (that Jenna picked out), and I had a miniature piece of white cake with a strawberry sauce, white chocolate mousse and strawberry on top. We were going to be a few minutes late for the movie, but it was nice to not make her rush to get somewhere. It's also good that she missed the baracuda in the beginning, it's scares her. Although she did surprisingly well during the scary angler fish part I'm trying to prep her for scary, loud things like that by telling her to plug her ears and close her eyes. Before she would run out of the room altogether, but I think I've convinced her that she doesn't have to miss more of the movie than necessary by leaving the room. Just close your ears and eyes, and I'll tell you when it's done. She must have asked me 10 times to sit right by her so I can hold her during the scary parts. She also knows how to control the remote to fast-foward the DVR for recorded movies, so she can get past the scary parts herself. Overall, the time out for us today was great. She had great manners, telling me thank you every time I brought a drink or food to our table for us, she would climb on my lap during the movie, we played a little Wii. There was also a little devotional for the kids mid-movie to think about why Nemo got in trouble and lost (he didn't listen to his dad), and that even though Nemo didn't listen, his dad still loved him and wasn't going to stop until he found him. She was exhausted by the time we got home, and so was I. I'm not used to being out that late. I think we left around 8:30. It's 11:30 right now, and I'm delusional.
In closing, no matter how much I have to tell Jenna to wait, stop what she's doing to Ava, don't do this or that...I love that girl, and she loves me, and now she has shown the world, well her preschool, how much I've invested in her. I guess I should technically say that I don't need recognition, it's my job as a mother to also be a teacher and guide her, and I do it out of my love for her. That's all fine and dandy, but it's also nice to know that someone notices!!!
At 8:30 I gave Jared a bottle, put some cartoons on for the girls, and got some coffee and breakfast going. It was a really quick morning. 11 o'clock rolled around, gave the girls snacks and Ava went down for a nap around 11:45. Lance came home with a pizza for lunch before Jenna and I went to her preschool to do a Dial 3 Screening for 3-5 year olds. With the late breakfast and snacks, plus recovering from a cold, Jenna wasn't hungry at all for lunch, so she got a string cheese before we left.
I had never heard of this program until moving to St. Louis, but it's called Parents as Teachers. It's a free service through our district where parent educators can come to your home and evaluate your kids milestones and development but also give you tips on helping your kids meet goals. Basically, as a parent, "you are your child's first and most important teacher." The screening is made to determine if your child is on track with their development based on averages for their age. They look at gross and fine motor skills, concepts, speech and language and social development, and also check their vision and hearing. It couldn't hurt, and it might actually boost my own self-esteem that I'm doing something right in the midst of beating myself up for yelling or snapping at Jenna. I really think children's behavior outside the home is partly their own personality but also very much the influences on them IN the home. I think I really underestimate Jenna sometimes. She gets so whiny and difficult a lot at home, but I know she is a big social butterfly, loves interacting with other people, and is improving so much on listening (to other adults, not me). She can't really express herself at home when I'm constantly shifting my attention off of whatever I'm doing with her to tend to Ava or Jared. I try to take advantage of any opportunity to get her out and about, especially school. She loves it, and I love that. So onto the screening.
I wasn't really sure what to expect, so I was prepping Jenna by telling her that a teacher was going to ask her about the things she's learning in preschool, her numbers, etc. We signed in and went to the waiting area of the school lobby that has toys and books. It didn't take long for one of the "parent educators", who is also a sub for Jenna's teacher, to come out and get Jenna. She asked, "Jenna, do you want to go play some games?" To which Jenna replied, "Sure. Mommy, can I go play some games?" It was adorable. Then she rushed off as excited as can be, chatting down the hallway. I delighted in the other parent's amusement of her. She is something else. I knew that I wouldn't be in there with her, but I didn't like just sitting and waiting with nothing to do for an hour. I did some texting for a couple minutes, and another mom had come back to the waiting area after peeking into the gym where the kids were. Without being too obvious that I was going to do exactly what she did, I gave it a few minutes, then made my way around to the gym. Jenna's teacher was walking out of her room at the same time, and she was just as anxious to peek in at Jenna with me and adding that she expects Jenna will have no problem with kindergarten. We were chatting trying to steer clear of the windows. After a few minutes, her teacher left and I stayed to spy. I watched Jenna sitting at a table by herself with the educator, listening intently, and then sorting shapes into piles. I also saw her stacking blocks at one point. They changed stations to do motor skills: throwing and catching, hopping, jumping, skipping. When they left that station she spotted me through the window, AH. I didn't want to throw her off and make her non-compliant by the mere sight of me. The educator said something to the effect of "it's someone's mommy," to which Jenna quickly replied, "It's mine!" I quickly moved out of the sight and then felt totally stupid. I heard her talking, but I decided to just go back to the waiting area. I had been gone too long. My sister called after a few minutes, so I went out the first set of front doors. It was nice and heated between those doors and the outer set of doors. I saw two of the educators come to the waiting area and then another mom direct them toward the front door, so I rushed off the phone and went back inside. I followed them to the gym where Jenna was playing with (what else) animals with a little boy. She looked so cute and grown up all on her own in that room. I sat at a little table to discuss the results of Jenna's evaluations.
I wish I could've had the copy of the results that they keep because they showed the specific tasks that they did, so I'll try to jog my memory. She mentioned the block stacking activity for motor skills, which was also copying. She stacked a single tower but had a little difficulty building a pyramid style with the long level on the bottom, smaller level stacked above that in a row, etc. She did great with the physical things, jumping on one foot, skipping, etc. Some fine motors skills need work. She is on track with cutting for her age level (3-4yrs), though we need to practice some more. She isn't as coordinated with twiddling her thumbs and touching each finger to her thumbs. I never would've even though to practice something like that. But she did great with "concepts" such as, naming colors while being timed (15 in 30 seconds...or something like that), identifying body parts (except wrist), positions (between, above, below), sorting and identifying shapes and identifying concepts. One in particular was looking at a picture and telling what it's used for. One picture showed a thermometer, but Jenna said it was a ruler (I guess it looked similar with the little lines, and we use the forehead scanner at home. I don't think she's seen those old-school thermometers LOL). The educator asked what a ruler is used for, and Jenna said, "to see how long you are." :) The educator was really impressed with Jenna's rhyming ability and identifying upper and lower case letters. She also had to copy some letters and symbols. The triangle and diamond were tricky. She was trying to do the diamond, stopped and said, "That's not right," and quickly moved on to the next one. She did an eye spy picture game to identify the objects that start with a certain sound, like find the things that start with the "t" sound. As far as behavior, on one hand I was surprised that there were NO concerns, but then again it's always different when mommy isn't hovering to correct her every mis-step. That automatically turns into selective hearing and straight-up ignoring! She listened, stayed on task, and understood directions.
At one point when we were discussing the behavior, and the woman said they call Jenna the cheerleader because she's so enthusiastic about everything, I just had to laugh and tell the woman that it must be that she got out of the house because we've been cooped up inside, and I've been seeing a different little girl. Of course I know how well Jenna separates from me and does in school, but I realized the woman could take that as me being out of touch with Jenna or that I don't appreciate that about her or something. It's weird how I feel like I have to defend my parenting. Also, when she was talking about working on cutting with scissors, I told her that I have two other little ones that I'm going back and forth with, so I'm not really leaving Jenna with scissors to practice. I laughed about it, but hopefully she didn't take offense to that :-\ Either way, I sat at that table doing everything I could to not 1) cry and 2) laugh hysterically in sheer pride and joy. It's just a preK screening, but in those 15 minutes of going over Jenna's skills assessment I felt such satisfaction and accomplishment in myself. She didn't have to straight out say, you've done a great job, and she didn't. But sitting there seeing her reaction to all that Jenna was able to do and the individual that she is, was validation enough for me.
I feel like since having the babies, I miss developments and things with Jenna that she gets in school, but I am really glad that she has her outlet in school and can come home, we can be excited together on her counting or drawing something new or some different craft, things that I don't really have the time and energy to do at home...I guess except on snow days. It was really perfect, God-ordained timing with Jenna's age and having Ava. On one hand I'm going to always be a teacher for Jenna, but on the other, as Ava is getting bigger I feel like I've taught Jenna all I can in the "getting ready for school" capacity, atleast at this time in my life with the demands of Ava and Jared. I am so grateful that I was able to spend her first three years so focused on her, reading to her, taking her out, teaching, practicing, playing. Thankfully Ava takes a big nap during the day where Jenna and I can do projects or do a learning workbook. But at times I'll start something with Jenna, and have to say, "Oh wait, Ava's awake, I'll be back," or "Hold on, I need to get Jared's bottle ready." Today she did get whiny when I had to feed Jared. She just wanted me to put him in his rocking chair :) But while we don't have many routines left besides baby napping schedules, she has adapted really well. It was no surprise, though, that when Lance asked who she wanted to take her to movie night she said, "Mommy. I love mommy."
But before we headed out for that, I took Ava with me to go visit my friend and her baby. We stopped to get some flowers and then made it through the 17 degree (lower with wind chill) walk inside the hospital. One thing I thought about was that, although Jared is really little for his age, he has grown so much! Thankfully I had no yearning for another child or anything when I held the baby :) I kept Ava in the stroller, so we didn't stay too long as she was getting whiny, but it was a nice outing with just me and her. We got home, I cooked up some meat for Lance to make tacos, and Jenna and I were off to church. We did stop at the bakery for a big Valentine's day cookie (that Jenna picked out), and I had a miniature piece of white cake with a strawberry sauce, white chocolate mousse and strawberry on top. We were going to be a few minutes late for the movie, but it was nice to not make her rush to get somewhere. It's also good that she missed the baracuda in the beginning, it's scares her. Although she did surprisingly well during the scary angler fish part I'm trying to prep her for scary, loud things like that by telling her to plug her ears and close her eyes. Before she would run out of the room altogether, but I think I've convinced her that she doesn't have to miss more of the movie than necessary by leaving the room. Just close your ears and eyes, and I'll tell you when it's done. She must have asked me 10 times to sit right by her so I can hold her during the scary parts. She also knows how to control the remote to fast-foward the DVR for recorded movies, so she can get past the scary parts herself. Overall, the time out for us today was great. She had great manners, telling me thank you every time I brought a drink or food to our table for us, she would climb on my lap during the movie, we played a little Wii. There was also a little devotional for the kids mid-movie to think about why Nemo got in trouble and lost (he didn't listen to his dad), and that even though Nemo didn't listen, his dad still loved him and wasn't going to stop until he found him. She was exhausted by the time we got home, and so was I. I'm not used to being out that late. I think we left around 8:30. It's 11:30 right now, and I'm delusional.
In closing, no matter how much I have to tell Jenna to wait, stop what she's doing to Ava, don't do this or that...I love that girl, and she loves me, and now she has shown the world, well her preschool, how much I've invested in her. I guess I should technically say that I don't need recognition, it's my job as a mother to also be a teacher and guide her, and I do it out of my love for her. That's all fine and dandy, but it's also nice to know that someone notices!!!
Sunday, January 16, 2011
CSN
As you may have noticed on Facebook and my New Years entry, I have been on a surge to share products that I've found. I call it the Clifton Shopping Network. I'm in no way saying these products are the best out there, everyone do what I'm doing, what you're doing is wrong, nothing like that. I love to find a deal, find good food and good quality products. Since having my kids I've gradually tried to find products that are better for them than what I might find with the leading brands. I'm not going to claim that I've done hours and hours of research on every possible product. I also won't say that I never take them to McDonald's or other fast food. I'm not totally "green" or au naturale on everything, though one of Jenna's school mottos is to take care of your world, and sometimes I feel guilty throwing things in the trash that could go in the recycle bin. It's annoying :) Some of the things I like now might also change along the way, so take from them what you will.
The purpose of this particular post is to share the formula that I've chosen for Jared. I have mentioned in previous posts that for some things I try to go organic, with eggs, straight milk, chicken, things like that. Probably like a lot of people that are bombarded with the "go green and organic" rhetoric, I do wish I could shop at Whole Foods all the time and get more organic products, but 1. I can't afford it, 2. I don't want scratchy recycled toilet paper and 3. I don't want to drive 40 minutes to the grocery store. Yes, there are a lot more organic options now, even Super Walmart as organic packaged lettuce, sealed pre-cut veggies, their own Organic milk, etc. So that is great, and I look out for those things. The main reason is avoiding any added, unnecessary chemicals, processing and hormones in animals products. I have this fear that antibiotics in mass produced chicken might make my kids resistant to antibiotics and that added hormones in these animals are going to make Jared girly. Yes, that's right, I said it.
SO I had used Similac Soy with the girls, originally with Jenna because I thought it might help with her gas, and I thought she was lactose intolerant. I stuck with it for Ava since that was what I used with Jenna and she had done great with it. When it came time to get formula for Jared I thought I'd stay with the Similac brand. We had already started getting organic milk, etc., so I didn't want to get a regular formula. I was really excited to see that Similac had an organic version, that the ped's office had Similac coupons at the time, and that you can also print them online. Score! At this point, formula was just a supplement to my breastmilk, as needed. But as I started getting closer to moving to formula full-time I started looking for a different organic formula. He seemed to like Similac fine, and so did I, but curiosity set in.
I don't even remember how I came across this formula, maybe just in a Google of "organic baby formula" or something, but I saw a Nature's One brand that was organic, they had soy, lactose free, etc. I decided to check them out further, examine ingredients, compare brands (which they also do on their website), and do price comparisons. One of the big things that caught my eye was that they don't use the DHA/ARA supplement that is found in most baby formulas (and a lot of milk products now) that supposedly makes the formula closer to mother's milk and helps with brain development. So I immediately thought, what is wrong with these people to not include that in their formula?? But they have explanations of why, and they made sense to me. In particular the fact that the DHA/ARA supplements in most baby formulas are derived by bleaching and deoderizing. I also did print out all of their fact sheets and asked Jared's dr. about them. She said it's just fine. This particular formula is labeled for "toddlers" since they promote breastmilk until 12 months, but nutritionally it is suitable for babies. I also asked the pediatrician about the DHA/ARA, and she told me exactly what I had read online in my research. Medically, there hasn't been a conclusion drawn that adding them to formula actually helps brain development or anything that is advertised for it. I wouldn't necessarily say it is harmful, but really no definite benefit or necessity. The Nature's One does use fatty acids that promote the body's own development of DHA and ARA. This helped ease my mind on this issue with the Nature's One. I also found excellent reviews on other websites (one in particular is linked below). Aside from that, the other nutritional component that caught my eye was that they don't use corn syrup and corn syrup solids but brown rice syrup as the carbohydrate. I've also been on a "no high fructose corn syrup as much as possible" kick lately, and I appreciated that they didn't use sucrose (basically table sugar) either. These carbs and sugars are what make babies hungrier, drink more formula, etc.
Here are some links:
http://naturesonedirect.com/ordafo.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1792824/babys_only_organic_toddler_formula.html?cat=25
A couple practical points too, I mentioned price comparisons. They're standard can of powder formula is $10. The leading brands for sensitive, soy or organic that I've seen are around $15. Aside from cost, the company has awesome customer service. I had to cancel an order (I was originally going to try Lactose free for Jared and then changed my mind), I had placed it on a Friday, sent them an email, and they emailed me back on Monday and had canceled the order and the pending charge on my card.
I will say there are two things that I don't like about the formula so far. One is that they don't have a pre-made liquid version. I've gotten spoiled with the Similac Organic because I've only been able to find the liquid. Baby's Only is just powder. The other is that it gets really foamy when I shake it up to mix it. I have to let it sit for a couple minutes and pour diagonally into the bottle. But if these are the worst things I can think of about a product I'm ok with that :)
Again, the last thing I want to do is go all superior on anyone. I'm just sharing my findings and hoping to open up other people's curiosity. As you know by now, the whole breastfeeding thing with Jared has been a roller coaster, so the formula decision was a big one for me. Who knew there was more than Enfamil and Similac? :)
The purpose of this particular post is to share the formula that I've chosen for Jared. I have mentioned in previous posts that for some things I try to go organic, with eggs, straight milk, chicken, things like that. Probably like a lot of people that are bombarded with the "go green and organic" rhetoric, I do wish I could shop at Whole Foods all the time and get more organic products, but 1. I can't afford it, 2. I don't want scratchy recycled toilet paper and 3. I don't want to drive 40 minutes to the grocery store. Yes, there are a lot more organic options now, even Super Walmart as organic packaged lettuce, sealed pre-cut veggies, their own Organic milk, etc. So that is great, and I look out for those things. The main reason is avoiding any added, unnecessary chemicals, processing and hormones in animals products. I have this fear that antibiotics in mass produced chicken might make my kids resistant to antibiotics and that added hormones in these animals are going to make Jared girly. Yes, that's right, I said it.
SO I had used Similac Soy with the girls, originally with Jenna because I thought it might help with her gas, and I thought she was lactose intolerant. I stuck with it for Ava since that was what I used with Jenna and she had done great with it. When it came time to get formula for Jared I thought I'd stay with the Similac brand. We had already started getting organic milk, etc., so I didn't want to get a regular formula. I was really excited to see that Similac had an organic version, that the ped's office had Similac coupons at the time, and that you can also print them online. Score! At this point, formula was just a supplement to my breastmilk, as needed. But as I started getting closer to moving to formula full-time I started looking for a different organic formula. He seemed to like Similac fine, and so did I, but curiosity set in.
I don't even remember how I came across this formula, maybe just in a Google of "organic baby formula" or something, but I saw a Nature's One brand that was organic, they had soy, lactose free, etc. I decided to check them out further, examine ingredients, compare brands (which they also do on their website), and do price comparisons. One of the big things that caught my eye was that they don't use the DHA/ARA supplement that is found in most baby formulas (and a lot of milk products now) that supposedly makes the formula closer to mother's milk and helps with brain development. So I immediately thought, what is wrong with these people to not include that in their formula?? But they have explanations of why, and they made sense to me. In particular the fact that the DHA/ARA supplements in most baby formulas are derived by bleaching and deoderizing. I also did print out all of their fact sheets and asked Jared's dr. about them. She said it's just fine. This particular formula is labeled for "toddlers" since they promote breastmilk until 12 months, but nutritionally it is suitable for babies. I also asked the pediatrician about the DHA/ARA, and she told me exactly what I had read online in my research. Medically, there hasn't been a conclusion drawn that adding them to formula actually helps brain development or anything that is advertised for it. I wouldn't necessarily say it is harmful, but really no definite benefit or necessity. The Nature's One does use fatty acids that promote the body's own development of DHA and ARA. This helped ease my mind on this issue with the Nature's One. I also found excellent reviews on other websites (one in particular is linked below). Aside from that, the other nutritional component that caught my eye was that they don't use corn syrup and corn syrup solids but brown rice syrup as the carbohydrate. I've also been on a "no high fructose corn syrup as much as possible" kick lately, and I appreciated that they didn't use sucrose (basically table sugar) either. These carbs and sugars are what make babies hungrier, drink more formula, etc.
Here are some links:
http://naturesonedirect.com/ordafo.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1792824/babys_only_organic_toddler_formula.html?cat=25
A couple practical points too, I mentioned price comparisons. They're standard can of powder formula is $10. The leading brands for sensitive, soy or organic that I've seen are around $15. Aside from cost, the company has awesome customer service. I had to cancel an order (I was originally going to try Lactose free for Jared and then changed my mind), I had placed it on a Friday, sent them an email, and they emailed me back on Monday and had canceled the order and the pending charge on my card.
I will say there are two things that I don't like about the formula so far. One is that they don't have a pre-made liquid version. I've gotten spoiled with the Similac Organic because I've only been able to find the liquid. Baby's Only is just powder. The other is that it gets really foamy when I shake it up to mix it. I have to let it sit for a couple minutes and pour diagonally into the bottle. But if these are the worst things I can think of about a product I'm ok with that :)
Again, the last thing I want to do is go all superior on anyone. I'm just sharing my findings and hoping to open up other people's curiosity. As you know by now, the whole breastfeeding thing with Jared has been a roller coaster, so the formula decision was a big one for me. Who knew there was more than Enfamil and Similac? :)
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Ahhhh *sigh*
I'm finally ok with Jared not nursing, mostly because he has slept through the night ever since we went to formula full-time. It's been a long 7 1/2 months continuing to get him twice during the night, up every 3-4 hours. The first full-time bottle night he went down at 9, woke up at 1, I told Lance to give him his pacifier and see what happens. He screamed for a whole 5 seconds and fell back asleep until 8!! Lance checked on him before he left to work to make sure he was ok :) The second night he went down around 8:45 and was up at 5. I gave him his bottle, put him back down, and he was back up around 7. The third night, last night, he had a bottle around 7:45, bed at 9, up at 6. I woke up to Jared in the bouncy seat at the end of the bed with the bathroom light on! I quickly called Lance to tell him that he can get laid back down in the morning LOL So that's just what I did at 7 a.m., and he didn't complain a bit. In fact, he fell back asleep until 9. Now, in the past I got in that habit of staying up late when I know the kids are going to sleep, but I have also forgotten how nice it is to get more than 4 hours of sleep!!! I've actually felt refreshed and ok with getting up before 7.
So far today has been a good day. Of course Ava saw me when I went to put Jared down because Jenna left their door open, so I went and got Ava out, sent Jenna to the potty and started the routines. Ava wanted to go potty after Jenna, so she did and got a pull-up for it. I heated up some coffee, turned on some cartoons for the girls while I got breakfast ready. Jared got up at 9, fed him some breakfast hoping he would hold off on the bottle until we got a friend's house for a playdate.
The girls both played better than I thought they would, especially as naptime for Ava rolled around. It was nice mommy time and very leisurely. Jenna quickly found the animals and dinosaurs and put them up on the dresser where no other child could reach them. Each of the girls both also managed to fall off the bed within the first 30 minutes of being there. Removing the steps only made Ava's screaming worse. She's so resiliant. She also doesn't listen for anything. Whenever I tell her not to do something, like take someone else's pizza or get off the coffee table, her response is acknowledgement of my speaking, a grin, and continuing to do it anyway. I need to find a way to make it her decision :) Somehow I also forgot Jared's pacifier at home. He was being so good at home and was wide awake. I put him in his car seat with a toy and didn't even think about it. I've mostly been trying to just give it to him when he needs to sleep or is really cranky. Those two usually go together with this calm, lovey cuddler. Unfortunately, during the day, the only way he'll nap is in his swing or if we're in the car. Well while we were out he would only be held when nap time came, and would not take a nap in his car seat or be tricked by the substitute pacifier. We left around 1 so I could get Ava down for a good nap, and he was passed out by the time I had gotten the girls belts on. Poor guy. We got home, both girls went down for a nap (after much reluctance from Jenna as she gets a nap maybe once a week), Jared got a bottle and went in the swing. It's 2:45 and all the kids are down. Ahhhh. Counting down to the next round. When Lance gets home we're heading out to eat and get some paint for Jared's room. Time to move on from Ava's powder pink :)
So far today has been a good day. Of course Ava saw me when I went to put Jared down because Jenna left their door open, so I went and got Ava out, sent Jenna to the potty and started the routines. Ava wanted to go potty after Jenna, so she did and got a pull-up for it. I heated up some coffee, turned on some cartoons for the girls while I got breakfast ready. Jared got up at 9, fed him some breakfast hoping he would hold off on the bottle until we got a friend's house for a playdate.
The girls both played better than I thought they would, especially as naptime for Ava rolled around. It was nice mommy time and very leisurely. Jenna quickly found the animals and dinosaurs and put them up on the dresser where no other child could reach them. Each of the girls both also managed to fall off the bed within the first 30 minutes of being there. Removing the steps only made Ava's screaming worse. She's so resiliant. She also doesn't listen for anything. Whenever I tell her not to do something, like take someone else's pizza or get off the coffee table, her response is acknowledgement of my speaking, a grin, and continuing to do it anyway. I need to find a way to make it her decision :) Somehow I also forgot Jared's pacifier at home. He was being so good at home and was wide awake. I put him in his car seat with a toy and didn't even think about it. I've mostly been trying to just give it to him when he needs to sleep or is really cranky. Those two usually go together with this calm, lovey cuddler. Unfortunately, during the day, the only way he'll nap is in his swing or if we're in the car. Well while we were out he would only be held when nap time came, and would not take a nap in his car seat or be tricked by the substitute pacifier. We left around 1 so I could get Ava down for a good nap, and he was passed out by the time I had gotten the girls belts on. Poor guy. We got home, both girls went down for a nap (after much reluctance from Jenna as she gets a nap maybe once a week), Jared got a bottle and went in the swing. It's 2:45 and all the kids are down. Ahhhh. Counting down to the next round. When Lance gets home we're heading out to eat and get some paint for Jared's room. Time to move on from Ava's powder pink :)
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Today is the Day
It's day 2 of transitioning Jared to bottle. It's definitely a better day than yesterday. I have been actually supplementing/having the bottle in addition to nursing. I've come to grips that he LOVES the bottle and that I don't have a big supply, so instead of going cold turkey, which is what I thought I'd be doing, I'm giving him what I've got then giving him the bottle. We'll see how long this lasts, especially when he knows the bottle will be coming. But it has definitely helped me feel somewhat useful in this department versus sobbing when I give him the bottle myself :) Regarding the neediness of this momma's boy, it warmed my heart when he woke up cranky from his nap and just wanted me to hold him. He stretches his arms over my shoulders and grabs my hair. He loves to play with it. If I turn him around to face out on my lap, he throws a fit. Much needed cuddles today. I was also able to lighten up a little bit in trying to convey to Lance how emotional the transition is for me right now. Definitely feeling the inadequecy. Things really turned around for me at church being able to talk to some ladies about it and getting some sympathy hugs. Thank you!
Last night while I was in the depths of this breastfeeding pit I was listening to the music for church since I hadn't gone to practice this week. It was just in the background while I was blogging and listening more for learning than worshiping. Practicing the music before service this morning was the beginning of a "lightening." While my down feelings on the situation were still present, I was able to step away from it for a little while and just worship and focus on God instead of myself. We did a couple songs that you've probably heard a million times, but really spoke to me. One was "Blessed Be the Lord God Almighty."
Father in heaven how we love you
We lift your name in all the earth.
May your kingdom be established in our praises,
As Your people declare your mighty works!
Blessed be the Lord God Almighty
Who was and is and is to come.
Blessed be the Lord God Almighty
Who reigns forevermore.
The other was "Today is the Day." For some reason when I would hear it on the radio it sounded a little corny to me. Much props to our worship team :)
I'm casting my cares aside
I'm leaving my past behind
I'm setting my heart and mind on You Jesus
I'm reaching my hand to Yours
Believing theres so much more
Knowing that all You have in store for me is good
Is good
Today is the day You have made
I will rejoice and be glad in it
Today is the day You have made
I will rejoice and be glad in it
And I won't worry about tomorrow
I'm trusting in what You say
Today is the day
I needed this today.
Last night while I was in the depths of this breastfeeding pit I was listening to the music for church since I hadn't gone to practice this week. It was just in the background while I was blogging and listening more for learning than worshiping. Practicing the music before service this morning was the beginning of a "lightening." While my down feelings on the situation were still present, I was able to step away from it for a little while and just worship and focus on God instead of myself. We did a couple songs that you've probably heard a million times, but really spoke to me. One was "Blessed Be the Lord God Almighty."
Father in heaven how we love you
We lift your name in all the earth.
May your kingdom be established in our praises,
As Your people declare your mighty works!
Blessed be the Lord God Almighty
Who was and is and is to come.
Blessed be the Lord God Almighty
Who reigns forevermore.
The other was "Today is the Day." For some reason when I would hear it on the radio it sounded a little corny to me. Much props to our worship team :)
I'm casting my cares aside
I'm leaving my past behind
I'm setting my heart and mind on You Jesus
I'm reaching my hand to Yours
Believing theres so much more
Knowing that all You have in store for me is good
Is good
Today is the day You have made
I will rejoice and be glad in it
Today is the day You have made
I will rejoice and be glad in it
And I won't worry about tomorrow
I'm trusting in what You say
Today is the day
I needed this today.
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