Cranio-rectosis

Well, we survived Christmas. The girls had a wonderful time and thankfully it wasn't over-done. The big hit with Elizabeth was the Dora the Explorer umbrella that was in her stocking at Boop's house. Who'd have thought a $6 umbrella would be **the** big hit?! Katherine loved the ribbons, bows, paper and tags - typical baby!! Although, she did love her baby doll from Santa, too; just not as much as the ribbons, bows, paper and tags!

Now we just need to get all evidence of Christmas out of the house. The tree is driving me nuts. It's been up for a month...time to go! However, I'm taking a mommy vacation today (Brad has E with him) and as soon as they get home from my sister's, I'm out the door. I may take Nin with me, but I'd really like a total mommy vacation -- leave everyone home with Dad and let me go do some "me" stuff (i.e. Scrapbook Corner is having their pre-inventory clearance sale and I'm feeling the need to shop for stuff). And I'm out of coffee, which is just wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. How could I have let myself run out of coffee? Apparently I'm suffering from cranio-rectosis (head up the butt disease) and that's the only reason I could've let it happen.

I've uploaded a "scrapbook page" of the year in review. Trying to learn Hello which is apparently a pain in the butt - even for those of us who pride ourselves on knowing IT applications.

Now I know how they feel

A little over a week ago Elizabeth had an eardrum that was about to rupture. This morning mine did. I spent the majority of last night "tugging" on my ear and trying to determine if it was a Eustachian tube dysfunction or if it was a true ear infection. Now I know. It's no wonder they scream and cry when they have ear infections. It hurts!

Thank goodness I'm in tight with my family doc and he had a spare Z-Pak at his house! Now let's hope Katherine and I don't get thrush.

It wasn't the Kool-Aid® and what did he mean???

First of all, it wasn't the Tropical Punch Kool-Aid® that made Elizabeth hurl. She had a "raging" ear infection (to quote the pediatrician) in her right ear. It was so bad that she ended up with a Rocephin shot on Friday morning when we saw the ped. Her right ear drum was bulging from the pressure behind it and he told me her ear drum might rupture. He said if we didn't do the shot, it would *definitely* rupture. My big girl was *miserable*!!!! I said, "Then let's do the shot." I know they hurt like hell (I had one when I had pneumonia a few years ago) - but they kick in so quickly and make such a difference. And I wanted to get her on the road to recovery as quickly as possible. She slept almost all day on Friday, but by 7:00 she definitely had some of the sparkle back in her eyes and was starting to be my happy girl again. We started oral antibugs on Saturday. She's still a bit whiney, but definitely better!

Sunday was Katherine's baby dedication at church. The service was great, even though there was little glitch in the PowerPoint presentation. I love the additional things we've done to make it more personal - a photo of the family and then a photo of the baby with a passage of Scripture. The choir softly "ooohed" "Silent Night" and the orchestra played as Jeff called each baby's name and we came forward. Afterward, I gave each family a copy of the slideshow on CD and a high quality print of their slides (on acid-free paper, of course, it's the scrapbooker in me!). They were thrilled to have it and it was a fun thing to do for them.

So, after baby dedication, a friend of mine approached me with tears in her eyes and said, "When I saw you walking down the aisle with that baby I thought 'There's Gina! With a baby! And her second baby at that!' After all those years we thought it wouldn't happen and prayed that it would. Now you have TWO!" Then she grinned and asked, "And number three?" I laughed and told her not to let Brad hear her ask that question because he says he's done, though I'd like one more. After Kay walked away, Brad asked what she'd said and I told him. In response to the #3 question he said, "You have seven months." What? "You have seven months to get pregnant again. You have to be pregnant again by the time I turn 40." So...does that mean he's okay with the idea of another baby? What would YOU take that to mean? Sounds like permission to "go for it" to me!

Thank goodness for OxiClean!

Tonight (okay, technically last night since it is 1:45a.m.) was the 2nd time in her life that my child has had Tropical Punch Kool-Aid®. Tonight was the 2nd time in her life that she's vomited. Once upon a time, that would've had me hurling as well, but I didn't care. All I knew was that my baby was retching and it was tearing my heart out! I think it grossed-out my husband to no end that quite a bit of it landed on me (clothes, body and hair all wash, son...calm down!)

At 10:30p.m. I heard her moaning in her sleep and I could tell she was beginning to run fever (she moans and talks in her sleep when she's running fever). At 11:00p.m., she woke up so I got her out of bed and gave her a dose of Children's Motrin. Now, I realize that an allergy usually won't make one run a fever...but I find it incredibly strange that both times she's had the Tropical Punch flavor (which is really, really red) she's hurled. She can drink Strawberry and Cherry flavors just fine. But *both* times she has had the Tropical Punch flavor...I've had to change her clothes and wash Bankdee (her purple blanket). Thank God she didn't hit Beh Bear or we'd be *sunk* (he's surface washable only...and I had to get the Woolite Upholstery Cleaner after him last time). At 11:45 I talked to the nurse because her fever was climbing. At midnight, it was down despite her having hurled the Motrin. When she was throwing her basketball and bouncing it off my head then laughing about it (the first time I didn't think she'd done it on purpose - however, when she giggled the next time it happened I knew she was being an imp). You're fine, you're going back to bed. Read her a few books then laid her in her bed. She asked for Bankdee. I told her I'd go get him out of the dryer and bring him to her. I walked back into her room less than a minute later...you guessed it, she was out like a light. Good, because Bankdee was still damp. The vast majority of red emesis landed on Bankdee so he needed a good soak in OxiClean and hot water. But, he looks brand new now! I love OxiClean!

I have friends who swear by the Mr. Clean Eraser (one friend even gave me one but I haven't used it yet). I'm one of those moms who swears by OxiClean. That stuff has gotten some major league stains out of things around this house. Two thumbs up from me and two more from my spousal unit...so that's a total of four (in case you can't do simple math) thumbs up from the Egg crate. Okay, get that glazed over look off your face. Jiminey crickets!

On another note...can I just say I'm ready for Eliza to get kicked off the island (or wherever they are on Survivor)?

Insomnia just sucks!

I haven't been to bed before 2:30a.m. for over two months now. Well, I'll go to bed around 10 or 11 a couple of times a week - do what I was there to do then get up (yes, that) until I realize it's 2:30 and if I don't get into bed, I'll have a ticked off husband. Every morning when he calls from the office he asks what time I came to bed and let me tell you, 3:45 NEVER sits well despite the fact that he was asleep and never realized I'd slid into the bed. I mean, he's asleep why does he care when I came to bed?! Oh well...I'm trying to do better, which explains why it is 1:30 a.m. I have two scrapbooks laying on the chest and I'm working on both of them plus blogging. Yes, I slugged a cold cup of coffee at about 10:45 tonight (it had been sitting by the computer since 10:00 this morning).

Katherine is doing the commando crawl all over the house - that means we now get the vacuum out at least three times a day. Haven't had to do that for about 18 months! Elizabeth dropped a huge hunk of chocolate chip cookie this evening and Katherine was on it before I realized what had happened. Let's just say she is definitely my child...she loved it and she wailed when I took it away from her. The kid doesn't have a tooth in her head! She can't have cookies yet!!! She's also finally sitting without support and tries to get herself into a sitting position but hasn't managed yet.

I'm ready for Christmas to get here and be gone. I'm ready to take down my tree and focus on decluttering my house...yeah, just after Christmas and a 2nd birthday...declutter...right. What planet did I come from?!

Wonder what they'll make on Iron Chef tonight. Right now, Rachel Ray is doing Seattle on $40 a day. Will she blow her budget?! Ooooh, the suspense!

Make it a double, straight up

Don't you just hate it when you make a decision in parenting that turns out to be a huge mistake?! And don't you really hate it when you want to blog about it but you can't get into your freaking blog and the webmaster wants you to send him/her an email telling him/her what YOU did to cause the error. Um,hello, all I did was click on "New Post" - otherwise, I didn't do a blasted thing! Why is it always the end user's fault? Granted there are a ton of loose nuts on keyboards these days, but I'm not one of them!

Okay, that bunny trail rant is over. Back to my regularly scheduled blog...

I'll type this up in Notepad and then copy and paste it once the blogger decides to let me back in. I've already rehashed this twice and the blogger has lost it both times - I have half a mind not to share it with you just because of that! Oops, I'm ranting again.

ANYWAY (sound like F.R. there), two weeks ago I allowed Elizabeth, my 22 1/2-month-old, nap on my bed. She slept for four hours and I wasn't about to look that gift horse in the mouth! I'll take it!! For the rest of the week she asked to nap on my bed and to fall asleep for the night in my bed. She never freaked when I moved her provided she was already asleep! Well, her daddy wasn't here at night and her baby sister wanted to be fed - so I allowed her to fall asleep for the night on my bed. Then when Brad was here one night, he didn't like that idea so I had to put her to bed in HER room. Yikes! I knew it wasn't going to go over well with Elizabeth - and I was right. The first night, she cried...no, she *screamed* for two hours. The next night, it was four hours. Yes, you read that correctly - four hours. Then it dropped dramatically to thirty minutes. Then it was 15 minutes - ah, we can live with that! Until she woke up 45 minutes later and absolutely freaked out. She was beating her head against the walls, the door and the furniture (you should see the bruises - they're horrible). It was a nightmare for all of us.

A friend of mine suggested I try rocking her to sleep. So, the night after the head banging, I did just that. She was still crying for my bed. Finally, in an act of despiration, I asked her if she wanted to nurse. She said,"Yes, Mama!" so I cradled her as if I were going to nurse her. She snuggled into my chest (not nursing) and went to sleep. Did she just need to be "the baby" for a little while instead of "the big sister"? I don't know, but it worked! When I moved her to her bed, she woke and started crying. I knelt by her bed and held her - "shushing" in her ear. She drifted off to sleep again. That always worked to calm her when she was a baby and it still works - I was taken back to a night she was four months old and I ended up outside with her doing that very thing - holding her tight and "shushing" in her ear.

On Thanksgiving night, she was to have spent the night with my mom. She was overly tired from not having a nap and I ended up bringing her home. That night, she didn't cry for my bed - she cried because she wanted her cousins! The next night, she went happily to bed after four bedtime stories (mommy was stalling, not her!)!!! Are we back in our routine?! We did have one relapse over the weekend, but nothing of the headbanging proportions. Hopefully we're through the hardest part.

Another friend of mine said, "Ah, parenting! Pass the Tylenol." I say, "Ah, parenting! Pass the hard liquor." And make mine a double, straight up.

So, I hit the all-time low as a mom

Elizabeth was asking to go to bed tonight when we were at the J's house. So, I packed her and Nin into the car and I headed home, knowing it would be at least 10:30 before I saw Brad. E fell asleep in the car on the way home - so did Nin. Great, we'll get home and I'll put them to bed and I'll have a couple of hours to work around the house. What planet did I just come from?!

E woke up as soon as I opened the car door - asking for a cracker and tea. Katherine woke up and wanted to nurse. Okay, fine. Then Brad gets home. Everyone is still awake. Manage to finally get Katherine to sleep at MIDNIGHT. Elizabeth is STILL awake. She's also going back and forth -- from our bed to the den. Wanting to be with Dada (who was asleep and not at all amused by the kisses he was being bestowed) yet wanting to watch the Wiggles. Finally, at 12:15 I'd had it. I gave her a small, small dose of Benadryl. Fifteen minutes later, she was asleep. Better living through chemistry.

Egg Pie

I took Katherine for her six-month well-baby visit yesterday. Since our pediatrician was unavailable for the entire month (he is semi-retired), we saw one of his partners. Katherine is 26" long (75th %tile) and 14 pounds one-half ounce (around the 15th %tile). She's always been a little lean, but her weight gain has really decreased over the past two months. The ped wasn't worried, though, and said most babies slow down either between 4 and 6 months or 6 and 9 months. Okay, if he's not concerned, I won't be either. Nin can sit with support...kind of (she'd rather lean all the way forward and suck her toes), but she's no where near ready to sit on her own. And, while she is teething - we have a couple of tooth buds - no snags have busted through the gums yet. And while I know each child has their own timetable, I can't help but remember that Elizabeth cut her first tooth six days before she was six months old, her second tooth three days later and she started sitting alone two days after she was six months old. I keep reminding myself that Nin being a little slower is a good thing because it means she probably won't be crawling at Christmas and my tree, gifts and bows will have one less set of hands attacking them!

Elizabeth has discovered the joy of a Bandaid (or "bink-tink" as she calls it). She managed to mangle a knuckle last weekend while "helping" her daddy and a neighbor cut up a fallen wild cherry tree. Neosporin and a Dora Bandaid to the rescue. Now, not a day goes by that she doesn't point to the injured area, tell me she has a boo-boo and ask for a bink-tink.

We had quiche for dinner last night. I call it "Egg Pie". I remember having dinner with my sister, her husband and my oldest nephew one night, when I walked into the kitchen he said, "NeNe, we're having EGG PIE for dinner!!" He was so excited. Hey, works for me! And what a great way to get kids to eat it - I mean, who doesn't want PIE for dinner?! When I was making it, I told E, "We're going to have Egg Pie for dinner, okay?" She was excited and stood at the chopping block watching me -- just as my nephew had done with my sister all those years ago in the same kitchen (we bought my sister and BIL's house a little over four years ago). When I pulled the quiche from the oven, her face lit up and she said, "Ooooh! Pie, Mama!" She couldn't wait to eat it - and she had a full piece. She ate as much as I did!!

This week, we are going to start attending story time at the library. We're going on Friday this week and will go on Tuesdays beginning next week. I'm looking forward to it. We had planned to start a couple of weeks ago; however, Elizabeth has slept late the past two Fridays. So, I guess I should say we'll go this Friday provided E doesn't sleep too late (which makes mom sleep late, too!). Yeah, I'm a slug. I don't get up until my kids do; but, most nights I'm up until one or two in the morning - does that make up for it?

We don't *do* bottles

I just have to laugh. Tonight, Brad was holding Katherine and he wasn't wearing a shirt. She was facing him, reclined on his legs. She was staring intently at one of his nipples and reaching for it, grinning. He laughed and called me to watch (man, has he relaxed! That never would've happened with Elizabeth). As I stood beside them, I saw it coming and I know it well - intent gaze, hands out, straining forward, mouth open - it's the "Latch-On Look" and she was headed for Dada's nipple. Hey, it's the right color, it's the right shape, it's a little on the small side but worth a try, right? As she did tummy crunches to get into a sitting position and leaned toward him, he gets a horrified look on his face and says, "Oh no! Come get her!!" Shoot, I was hoping she'd manage to get latched onto him before he realized what had happened.

And while Dad has relaxed about breastfeeding, I've turned into this breastfeeding crazy woman. I've found that if I'm nursing in public, in my mind I'm practically daring someone to say something to me. I nurse very discreetly but still, I'm just waiting for the opportunity to spout off my "Well, Jesus was breastfed" comeback. I'm dying to get the "I make milk. What's your super power?" t-shirt from granolathreads.com. Then there was the day at Holiday House - it's a big event for the Junior League of Little Rock (insert your favorite junior league joke here...if you don't know any email me and I'll tell you a couple of mine). I knew I would be able to get Katherine's charm bracelet and first charm there. As I'm perusing the charms, the woman asks what I'm looking for and I tell her that it is for my baby's first Christmas and we'll add a charm to it every year. "Well, we have this cup." It says "baby" on it - no. "How about one of these baby carriages?" Mmm, maybe, what else do you have? "Well, there are several bottles to choose from." That flew all over me and in my 'idiot son' tone of voice I said, "We don't do bottles. She's exclusively breastfed. Got any boob charms?" Which prompted a "Regina!" from my mother and the sales person immediately started looking for another customer to help. I don't know where inside me that chick was hiding - but all of a sudden, I'm the militant breastfeeding mommy - and darn proud of it! And, yes, my child has had six bottles that I can think of in her six months of life, but they've all held Mommy's Milk; but for all intents and purposes, we don't do bottles.

Speak any English?! (my fave line from Ferris Bueller's Day Off)

Saturday night Elizabeth and I walked into her bedroom at bedtime and she pointed to her Bible story book that was on the footstool by the glider. "Bie-buh," then folded her hands, bowed her head and said, "Aaah-men!" Then, she applauded. I mean, doesn't everyone end their prayers with applause?! (I promise, we're not charismatic). She was so serious, it cracked me up!

Sunday morning I awaken to a silly giggle from the foot of my bed and "Mama! Poo-puh!" Oh, no...have you poo-pooed? "Noooo. Poo-puh, Mama!" I can't figure out why she's saying something that's not quite poo-poo, but sounds like it...what is she saying? "Deh-doh, Mama!" Deh-doh? What the heck is deh-doh?! "Poo-puh deh-doh, Mama!" HUH?! Do you speak any English?! Then here comes Daddy - since he's spent the past hour with her I'm hoping he'll be able to translate.

"Did you tell Mommy what you had for breakfast?" he asked as he walked into the room.
"Uh-uh," she nodded, "poo-puh deh-doh!" and she giggled.

It finally dawned on me...PURPLE JELL-O! LOL My daughter convinced her daddy that she needed to have grape Jell-O for breakfast. Good grief!!!

I guess I can add purple and Jell-O to the vocabulary list. We're now up to 94 words that I've been able to document and I'm sure I've forgotten some. Amazing how things like counting the number of unique words in a child's vocabulary becomes important. I promise, my conversations with friends do not consist of "We learned another new word and we're up to X number today!"

Should I just shave my head?

I figure shaving my head will keep me from pulling all my hair out from frustration. Trying to run errands with a 22-month-old and a 6-month-old is a frigging Broadway production. It's not all the stuff, because I don't take much with me when I go out. It's the getting out of and into the car that is the thing that causes me to just lose it - I'm normally a fairly sane woman (shut up!).

Mr. Fix-It (I love him, but good grief, is my husband ever a "Martian") was trying to "help" me by telling me how I needed to do everything. Listen to me, daggone it! I already know how to do it, I'm just telling you what freaks me out. Just say you hear me and you understand and then SHUT UP! I know someone whose two-year-old was hit and killed in a church parking lot. A good friend of my sister's (an adult man) was recently hit by a 17-year-old who, reports say, was driving entirely too fast for the area -- and it is solely by the grace of God that Jay's 4-year-old wasn't the one who was hit. It would've killed the little one if it had been him. The thought that my toddler could jerk away from me and run in front of a car obviously scares the living daylights out of me. It's become an obsessive thought, more so over the past week since Jay's accident - and since I've been diagnosed by a psychiatrist as OCD - it doesn't take much for something to become obsessive for me. (Okay, so I now officially take back the "I'm normally a fairly sane woman" comment...now will you shut up?!)

Now, my nursling has finally nursed herself to sleep, big sister is in her bed asleep and Dad just got out of the shower and hit the bed. Since he and I went on a date tonight, I think I'll close this blog entry and join him ;-)

More vocab words

Popcorn, which is another I forgot to put on the "big list" below. New words so far this week (yeah, it's only Tuesday and we have three new words) out, help and balloon. It amazes me how children at this age learn new words almost every day.

The Backyardigans is a new show on Nick Jr. and Mommy loves it! Elizabeth likes it, though not as much as Dora (she doesn't like anything as much as Dora). However, I love it. It's cute, the music is great and the songs are catchy. I find myself with an "ear worm" every day - though I've not found it to be annoying like...oh...the Pepto-Bismol jingle ("Nausea, heartburn, indegestion, upset stomach, diarrhea, hey Pepto Bismol" -- arrrrrrgh!)

I've eaten all the chocolate E got for Halloween. Man, I need that Winsor Pilates Ab Sculpting DVD I just bought!

Sugar high

We went trick-or-treating last night. Elizabeth was a ladybug - and a very cute one at that. She had a wonderful time with her cousins and wouldn't let Drew too far out of her sight, which was a good thing since it pretty much required him to stay with us! She was a big hit at each house and everyone made a big to-do over her. Katherine started the evening as Humpty Dumpty, but she hated being in the costume; so, we put jeans and a cute Halloween bib on her. She was in a great mood and loved seeing all the people. And, despite the sugar high, Elizabeth was asking to go home and go to bed by the end of the night!

New words in E's vocabulary: Ellie (the friend of a friend and she pronounces it Ernie); keys; Chester (my aunt's dog) has been one of her words since the day Brad and I had stomach bug and Bippie came to rescue Elizabeth from non-functioning parents; bye-bye has been in her vocabulary for some time but I forgot it in "the big list" below; and banana...how did I forget banana?! She says "munna". It started out as "mamunga" but has morphed into "munna." And, she started saying "bag" last night -- referring to her trick-or-treat bag.

We're going to try to start going to toddler story time at one of the local libraries either this week or next. I'm looking forward to it, though I'm anxious to see if my daughter can spend 20 minutes listening to stories or if she's going to absolutely flip out. I think she'll do pretty well because she loves when we have storytime at home. I'll keep you posted and I'm sure you'll wait with baited breath.

Monkey see, monkey do

Brad is so good about teaching our girls their manners (seriously!). Not that I'm *not* teaching them manners, I guess it just cracks me up to hear the baby burp and him say, "You need to say 'Excuse me!'" Well, this morning Elizabeth let out a little burp. She immediately covered her mouth and said, "Tease me!" So, I can add that to her vocabulary list now.

As soon as she finished breakfast, she was walking around with Red Baron (her red bear that she adores and won't go anywhere without). She came over to me, lifted her pajama top and put Red Baron to her navel. I asked her if she was breastfeeding him and she said "uh-uh" (which being translated means "yes"). I had two thoughts: the first was how sweet it is that she's mimicking what she sees me doing with her baby sister; the second was, "am I *that* saggy?!"

It's all about Dora

So this afternoon my almost-22-month-old has a massive meltdown over not getting Dora Fruit Snacks - and I mean, massive meltdown. She threw herself against the kitchen cabinets in absolute dispair while wailing, "Dor-da! Dor-da!" She would come into the family room and look at me with the most pitiful face, "Dor-da?" asking almost hopefully. "Will she have changed her mind?" I could see the look in her eyes. "No. You've already had Dora snacks today." More wailing and flailing about ensued. This continued for over an hour...then Dada came home. A new ally for Elizabeth or for me? Still, no Dora snacks appeared. Oh, no, a new ally for that mean woman!!!

However, we did distract her -- with an evening of pumpkin carving! We carved Dora into the pumpkin (got the stencil off NickJr.com). She wasn't impressed at all until we put the candle in and lit it. Then, she threw her arms around me, "Mama! Dor-da! Dada! Dor-da!!" This child loves Dora the Explorer. I often tell people, "The ranking to Elizabeth goes like this: (1) God (2) Baby Jesus (3) Dora." Yes, she ranks up that high.

New or additional vocabulary words: ice; tooth; lamp; hot dog

I went in this afternoon to get Katherine out of her bed when she woke from her nap and she was so sweet! She was laying in the crib, on her side, snuggling with Meg (her nutmeg colored teddy bear, hince the name) and chewing on Meg's nose. It was sweet to see.

Wake up, Jeff! (with apologies to The Wiggles)

Yeah, it's 3:00 and I'm STILL awake. DAGGONE!!!! I HATE THIS!!!!!!!!!!

Iron Chef just went off and can I just say....YUCK! Who the heck eats the stuff they make? "Fuji-son?"
"Go ahead, Ota"
"The challenger is making fish gut soup and has flavored some creme-fraiche with squid brains. He's going to use the eyes to make fish-eye ice cream! Meanwhile, the Iron Chef just slurped out of the spoon and put it back in the pot!"
[stupid giggle from voice-over woman] "oooh! That sounds so delicious! It will feel like silk in my mouth."

ARRRRRRRRGH!!!!!!!

Vocabulary words

Just an attempt to track Elizabeth's language development...

1. star (dah)
2. night-night
3. bath (bah)
4. bed (beh)
5. bear (also "beh")
6. blankie (beepbee)
7. Pooh
8. Dora
9. up
10. down
11. oh no!
12. oh man!
13. done/all done
14. Mama
15. Dada
16. Katherine (Nin-nin, which is what we all call her now)
17. Boop
18. Paw
19. Nala
20. play-dough (bah-dough)
21. cracker
22. please
23. water
24. tea
25. drink
26. stuck (tuck)
27. think (tink)
28. clock
29. bottom
30. poo-poo
31. tee-tee
32. backpack
33. back
34. whoa
35. hot
36. hat
37. bowl
38. Blue
39. Steve (no...not Joe...Steve!)
40. Sammie (Mimi)
41. Drew (dooo!)
42. sock
43. Spock (bahwk)
44. Eric (Yi-yak)
45. Zack (Ack)
46. boys (bahs)
47. meow
48. quack
49. vroom
50. vacuum (back)
51. baby
52. cheese
53. cookie (too-ie)
54. Boots
55. pillow (pid-doh)
56. and because she's almost two...of course she can say...No!
57. hop (her word for frog)
58. bee
59. bug
60. dark
61. Bippie (what all the kids call their great-aunt)
62. Amy (our next-door-neighbor)
63. Amen
64. hi
65. A (what she calls all letters)
66. Swing (wee) -- Nin-nin wee, Mama! Nin-nin wee! (put Katherine in her swing, Mama!)
67. Apple (bat-too -- huh? but that's what she says!)
68. Tea (for any beverage that isn't milk or water)
69. Chin
70. Elbow

Mini-me and Humpty Dumpty

The other day, Elizabeth decided she was hungry for lunch...right now! While I was preparing her lunch, she pushed her foot stool to her high chair and proceeded to climb onto the tray of the high chair and then into the seat. Today, it was time for a nap. While I got Katherine settled, Elizabeth went into Katherine's room, climbed onto the changing table, laid down and started unsnapping her overalls so I could change her diaper. She is definitely my child. I'm ready to do something and I'm ready to do it right this second!

Katherine is rolling all over the place. She rolled across the den and into the entryway earlier today. She hated the parquet floor. "Get me back onto the carpet, Mom!" She wailed when she rolled onto the wood. I think the fact that she had her face in the wall didn't help matters any. Her Humpty Dumpty costume came in the mail today. We tried it on. It swallowed her, just as I knew it would. Shoot, this thing is so big, I think Elizabeth could probably wear it. But, The Omelette really *must* be an egg for Halloween. It's too perfect a costume.

This cluster migraine is driving me up the wall. Ugh.

Ack! Ey-yick! Bahs!!!

Translated from Elizabethean into English, the title says "Zack! Eric! Boys!!" Tonight, she decided that she'd start calling the two oldest J. boys by their names. She was so cute standing in the den in her PJs, looking up at the balcony and calling their names! Eric heard her and came out of his room. She giggled. "Hi Ey-yick! Hi!" He snuck downstairs without her seeing him and hid behind the sofa. When she walked toward the sofa and started calling "Bahs! BAHS!" again, he popped out and said, "BOO!" She squealed, laughed and threw her arms around his neck. I love seeing the two of them interact -- I've kept him since he was six months old. He'll be 18 in March. I know I'll blink and *she* will be 18 going on 38.

My sister often says, "Who takes a child by the hand, takes the mother by the heart" and that is so true. This family loves the girls to the hilt - and now I understand how much our love of their children has meant to Bill and Diane all these years. I remember once upon a time saying, about Eric and Zack, "I cannot imagine loving my own children more. I know I will, but I can't imagine it." I felt the same when Alex and Lauren were added to their family. And, even though I do have my own children now -- I still fiercely love those four.

Naptime and bedtime kisses

Elizabeth cracks me up sometimes. She has decided, over the past few days, that I need to "kiss" everyone and everything in bed with her when she goes down for a nap or for the night. Our routine is now this: rock and read a couple of stories (only one story at naptime), whichever book we read is the one that she wants to take to bed with her (the other story we read at bedtime is her Bible story - and she is not allowed to take that book to bed with her), say goodnights and give kisses.

"Sleep tight, Elizabeth" [kiss] She then presents me with Red Baron. "Sleep tight, Red Baron" [kiss]. She holds up Purple Blankie (yes, her blanket) "Sleep tight, Purple Blankie" [kiss] Then we repeat this with Cloud (the bear), Puddles (the duck), Simon (the bear/lovie), Dora, Boots (not the Nick Jr "Boots" but a stuffed monkey we named Boots), and...whatever book she's chosen to take to bed with her. Sometimes I even have to kiss pages *in* the book!

Last night, I had to kiss Margaret Wise Brown's book The Wonderful House (this is by the same woman who wrote Goodnight Moon) - both of the covers and the last page, which has a big cat on it. The other night, I had to kiss Swiper the Fox from Dora's Halloween story. I'm guessing this is just a phase, but I indulge her because it's so cute. When I think it has become a manipulative trick to get out of turning off the lamp...I'll stop. But for now, I suck it up. However, I draw the line at kissing the Barney book. It's the only Barney thing we own, she's never seen the evil purple dinosaur's show (and hopefully never will - that's my goal) - but she does like the book. I will be Lucy VanPelt if I'm ever expected to kiss that blasted purple blob!!!

Insomnia and vacuuming don't go together

For the past few weeks, I've been unable to get to sleep before 2a.m. and I hate it. I think there has been one night in the past month that I've actually been in bed and asleep before midnight. Not sure what the deal is, but it's got to stop! It would be okay if I felt like I could run the vacuum cleaner; however, something tells me that the other people I live with wouldn't exactly like the sound of the vacuum running at 2:00 in the morning. Truth be told, I've done that before and Brad took a huge hunk out of my backside - but I can't blame him, really.

I've tried all the "wind down" tricks - warm bath, reading, Sleepytime Tea, etc. Nothing works. I just know that one of these days, the insomnia will go away and I'll return to sleeping like a normal human being. I'm not sure what the trigger is - it's not caffeine related, it's not depression related (I'm taking Zoloft and it's working wonderfully, thank you for asking), I'm just a freak (shut up, you don't have to agree!!!).

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to snuggle my 21½ month old who doesn't seem to want to go to sleep herself tonight. Ahhh, leave her alone for 15 minutes and she manages to put herself to sleep. I think she missed seeing her daddy today - he's been gone all day and she adores him.

Thanks, Rebecca

So, here I am - thanks to Rebecca - recording motherhood as experienced by me for the world. Oh, how terribly exciting and I'm sure you can't wait to read it. Maybe I'll do better at keeping this up than my journal - which I'm horrible about keeping. I can't remember the last time I wrote anything in it.

This past weekend, I had to remind myself several times "I waited ten years for this child!" Elizabeth is almost two and it is showing! She had several meltdowns in Hobby Lobby because, well, she's twenty-one months old! Being in a shopping cart is not fun when your 9 and 7 year-old cousins get to "be free" even if they're walking alongside you and holding your hands while you're in the cart. You want out and you will raise all kinds of Cain until you get out! Hey, you've got your grandmother, your great-aunt and your aunt all on your side!! You can do it! And she did. But then, she suffered a massive meltdown. As my sister was carrying her through the store (we were leaving so all the other poor shoppers could shop in peace), Elizabeth was writhing, trying to get loose. My sister just held her more tightly. "I'm stronger than you, Elizabeth." More writhing. "I'm...still...stronger...than...you." (learning that being stronger than E is a difficult thing to be!). Massive meltdown at the cashier so Boop (grandmother) buys Peanut M&Ms -- hmmm, maybe *I* should've been having the meltdown if that's the result!!

We decided to go eat lunch. Buffalo Boy (what my nephew used to call Buffalo Grill because he thought grill = girl) sounded good; but the boys wanted to go to McDonald's because they have Playland and "Elizabeth will love it there." So, the adults sucked it up and we went to McDonald's. They were right, Elizabeth loved Playland. I wish I'd had my camera with me - she looked so cute playing. My mom was cracking me up, though, she had a hard time letting E play on the equipment by herself. My sister and I kept saying, "She'll be fine" and Mom would say, "All those other kids aren't letting her play and they're being rough around her." "This is a child who can wham her head on the floor, cry for half a second and then take off playing again. I think she can handle other kids - she's perfectly capable of taking them down! Sit down and eat, Mother!" My sister and I just laughed.

Almost time for Brad to get home from work - housework needs to get done and I hate doing it until right before he walks in the door.

Katherine's birth story

Again - so I don't lose it, I'm making sure it's blogged and back-dated.

Katherine was delivered via scheduled, repeat c-section on Tuesday, May 11, 2004. My first choice for her birth day was May 7; but my OB told me he wasn't really thrilled about that date. Turns out a dear friend of mine got married on May 8, so that worked out wonderfully - I was able to go to Shannon's wedding instead of being in the hospital recovering from a section.

On Tuesday morning, Mom came to our house to keep Elizabeth so that her Monday night could be as normal as possible - dinner with Mommy and Daddy, sleeping and waking in her own bed, then off to Boop's house after breakfast. Brad and I left for the hospital at 7a.m. and arrived there at about 7:25.

They took me to an LDR room to prep for my section and we got the same room as we had when I delivered Elizabeth - so we were prepared for the fact that the room is either an oven or a freezer. There is no happy medium. I was so nervous, I'd have Brad turn down the air, then turn it up, then turn it down, then back up...poor guy!

The anesthesiologist came in to talk to me about my spinal. My aunt works in the anesthesiology department and had already warned him about how sick I tend to get with anesthesia. He and the anesthesiology resident did quite a bit pre-operatively to help control the nausea that I might have. They did a great job, because not only did I not get sick, I wasn't even nauseous the entire time we were in the OR!!

After doing all my pre-op work up - we suddenly found ourselves headed to the OR. Just before I left for the OR, Kim and Katie came in (Todd and Tim were already there and had prayed with us). They had Brad wait in the recovery room until they called for him.

That OR had to be the coldest place on the planet! I was shivering horribly because it was so cold (and this was pre-spinal). I was sitting on the table and they were prepping everything for my spinal when I hear from behind me, "When did I say I'd bring Krispy Kreme donuts?!" Ah, my OB had arrived and had seen my husband. Brad had joked that he was going to tell him, "I thought you said you'd bring the Krispy Kreme?" So then, the entire OR ends up in a discussion about Krispy Kreme donuts (personally, I'd rather have Shipley's - but to each his own).

Then the search is on for latex-free gloves - leave it to me to be the difficult patient. Once latex-free gloves are found for everyone except the anesthesiology resident, we're ready to start. My OB served as my "support" while the anesthesiologist did my spinal. I was amazed at how quickly it worked. My legs were tingling and warm immediately (unfortunately, the rest of me was still freezing despite being covered with toasty warm blankets). They laid me down, started oxygen and finished all the prep work. They put up the drape and Brad was brought in.

My OB and the resident cleaned up adhesions from my previous section on their way in and on their way out. Apparently I had quite a few. I was trying to not go to sleep (they'd given me Phenergan shortly before my spinal). I don't really remember a lot about the surgery other than the anesthesiology resident holding my arm still so they could get a good blood pressure reading - that's how hard I was shaking! And I remember the anesthesiologist patting me on the head asking if I felt sick --- not one bit!

I heard "clear fluid" called out and knew it would be just a few seconds before I heard Katherine's cry. They told Brad to stand up and someone said, "You can take pictures, Brad!" (My OB later joked, "We had to tell him to take pictures this time, he was so laid back about the whole thing!") I felt pressure as my doc pushed her down and then the weird feeling of her leaving my body. Immediately, I heard her crying and everyone on the other side of the drape said, "What a beautiful baby!" She was suctioned and handed off to the pediatrician who stopped briefly so I could see her. Brad walked over to the table to take pictures while they dried and stimulated her (she was not happy!!)

They wrapped up Katherine and handed her to Brad who brought her over to me. He had one of the ped residents take a photo of the three of us. I gave her a kiss, Brad a kiss, then he and Katherine headed to the nursery while I was stitched up and sent to recovery. All in all, an uneventful repeat section that I'd do again in a minute!