You'll be happy to know that Leeann didn't throw up anymore after church on Sunday. Rob and I got to go out and celebrate a new job with some good friends by eating out at a super little Italian restaurant in downtown Albany called Clemenza's (on first street... I highly recommend it for you locals). It was so good that I could still feel the garlic seeping out my pores when I woke up in the morning!
This almost didn't happen because who wants to babysit a sick kid? How about a really good friend who was also stuck at home with a sick kid? THANK YOU BRENNA!!! Suzy took Titus and he cried and cried all of the way home because he didn't want to leave Aunt Suzy's house. It's so great to have family in town! Anyway, we had a great night and Leeann didn't throw up on Brenna, so that was good.
Last night, just as we were shutting off a movie I heard Leeann heaving from upstairs 36 HOURS LATER! So I picked up her pillow and blanket and scooped the chunks of vomit off of them before I stuck them in the washing machine. I suddenly found myself grateful that I didn't add corn to the soup we ate for dinner. She got into the shower to get the nastiness out of her hair and I set off to make her a towel covered bed on my floor. (Side note, it was the 2nd shower she'd taken all by herself yesterday. She's getting so big!)
This morning the kids and I all slept in until 10:15, so that was good. I cannot even begin to define the level of stir-crazy that I'm experiencing right now. They are currently watching the first of many, many movies they will likely see today.
Seriously, it's tough being a mom. I don't feel like a very good mom right now. I've been getting frustrated far to easily with my kiddos lately. They are whiny as can be because we've all been couped up at home, and frankly, I've been whiny too! Rob hasn't felt real well either and he's been trying to adjust to his new schedule at work since he's preaching on Sunday mornings now which makes me feel more stuck than normal because it's not exactly like I can ask him to come home and then just leave and go for a really, really, really long drive! Though we are supposed to be in St. Helens this weekend and he asked me this morning what we would do if the kids were still sick. At first I said we'd stay home. Then I said maybe I'd just take which ever kid isn't sick. Then I decided, hey... I'll just go :0) Really, I'd love to! We'll see.
I gave Leeann a sippy cup with water in it just before I sat down to post. I told her just to drink a little bit of it at a time. Turns out there was a good reason for my suggestion... it all came up again, but at least it made it into her bowl.
Anyway, I just wanted to update you just in case anyone else out there is laughing with me about my insane illness-prone children over these last couple of weeks. I'm trying to figure out how I haven't gotten sick yet. Sometimes I wish I would get sick so I'd at least have an excuse to hole myself up in my room, shut the door and sleep all day. My luck is that Rob would be sick too and I'd just have to fight through it though :0)
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Yup, Again...
This time it's Leeann... and it happened at church. She made it straight into the garbage can though, she has quite the aim!
I hadn't put her in her classroom because she was teetering back and forth about whether or not she felt sick. She said she didn't want any crackers in her class, so we were pretty sure that she might potentially not be feeling well. For Leeann to refuse food means something!
So, she's watching a movie on Daddy's computer and I'm blogging while Rob's preaching and Titus is playing in his Sunday School class. I honestly am beginning to wonder what on earth is going on.
To recap: In the last three weeks we've had 4 separate instances of throwing up (some more than once per instance), pink eyes, a nasty cold, ring worm (which come to find out isn't a worm but a fungus) and one grouchy mommy. Go figure!
I hadn't put her in her classroom because she was teetering back and forth about whether or not she felt sick. She said she didn't want any crackers in her class, so we were pretty sure that she might potentially not be feeling well. For Leeann to refuse food means something!
So, she's watching a movie on Daddy's computer and I'm blogging while Rob's preaching and Titus is playing in his Sunday School class. I honestly am beginning to wonder what on earth is going on.
To recap: In the last three weeks we've had 4 separate instances of throwing up (some more than once per instance), pink eyes, a nasty cold, ring worm (which come to find out isn't a worm but a fungus) and one grouchy mommy. Go figure!
Friday, January 23, 2009
How Big is Jesus?
Yesterday Leeann asked me, "How big is Jesus mommy?" I said, well, I don't know. Maybe as big as daddy, or maybe as big as Pastor Joel (who's considerably taller).
She thought for a minute and said, "Then how does he have the whole world in his hands?"
So, how would you have answered that question? Like a really good mommy I said, let's ask daddy!
She thought for a minute and said, "Then how does he have the whole world in his hands?"
So, how would you have answered that question? Like a really good mommy I said, let's ask daddy!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Please tell me this is just a dream
On this the eve of a historically monumental Inauguration Day, just 5.5 hours away from swearing in the nation's first black president, I find myself pondering the greater things of life, history, politics and vomit. Yes folks, that's right, vomit. Why else would I be awake at 3:30 in the morning? We've talked about how much I like my sleep and this definitely interferes with my sleep!
Of course, when this is the face that walks into your room some time in the awful 2 o'clock hour you can't help but want to sacrifice your sleep to care for this little guy. After all, some one has to get the chunks of vomit off of his face and out of his hair right? Some one has to get the vomit off his new jammies, and someone as to bathe the poor kid. Isn't that what God made mother's for?
And this morning, Rob found out that apparently daddy's are made for stripping beds of the nastiness before they can go down to the couch to sleep as to not be woken up during round 2.
Round 2 is never as bad though. The bulk of dinner usually ends making it's appearance during round one. You bathe them, get their bedding into the washer, lovingly dress them and rub their backs telling them how sorry you are that they are sick.
Then you lay them down on top of towels armed with several bowls and strict instructions to vomit in the bowl next time. Then you do what any blogging mom would do and you go downstairs to grab the camera, because every one prefers pictures with my wordy posts. You and I both know that there's typically a round 2 and quite possibly a round 3 before anyone is going to get some real sleep... so you pull out the lap top, crawl back in bed and write a public on-line journal entry about vomit, because we all know it's every one's favorite subject to read about!
When round 2 comes you make a mental note to keep the baby wipes handy for immediate clean up purposes, and also make a mental note to remind the sick child not to wipe their face on their shirt once they've finished vomiting. You change the towel out from underneath them, since they attempted to obey they strict throw-up-in-the-bowl instructions, but didn't quite fully hit the mark. Hey, he's only 3.
Well, maybe these are not the things that you would do, but they are the things that I would do. And, well, it's my blog and it's nearing 4 o'clock in the morning, so I get to tell these fun little vomit stories any way I want to. It's my prerogative! (That just looks funny, but that's how spell-check says it's spelled... I probably shouldn't argue with spell-check at this hour, it's usually right)
Of course, when this is the face that walks into your room some time in the awful 2 o'clock hour you can't help but want to sacrifice your sleep to care for this little guy. After all, some one has to get the chunks of vomit off of his face and out of his hair right? Some one has to get the vomit off his new jammies, and someone as to bathe the poor kid. Isn't that what God made mother's for?
And this morning, Rob found out that apparently daddy's are made for stripping beds of the nastiness before they can go down to the couch to sleep as to not be woken up during round 2.
Round 2 is never as bad though. The bulk of dinner usually ends making it's appearance during round one. You bathe them, get their bedding into the washer, lovingly dress them and rub their backs telling them how sorry you are that they are sick.
Then you lay them down on top of towels armed with several bowls and strict instructions to vomit in the bowl next time. Then you do what any blogging mom would do and you go downstairs to grab the camera, because every one prefers pictures with my wordy posts. You and I both know that there's typically a round 2 and quite possibly a round 3 before anyone is going to get some real sleep... so you pull out the lap top, crawl back in bed and write a public on-line journal entry about vomit, because we all know it's every one's favorite subject to read about!
When round 2 comes you make a mental note to keep the baby wipes handy for immediate clean up purposes, and also make a mental note to remind the sick child not to wipe their face on their shirt once they've finished vomiting. You change the towel out from underneath them, since they attempted to obey they strict throw-up-in-the-bowl instructions, but didn't quite fully hit the mark. Hey, he's only 3.
Well, maybe these are not the things that you would do, but they are the things that I would do. And, well, it's my blog and it's nearing 4 o'clock in the morning, so I get to tell these fun little vomit stories any way I want to. It's my prerogative! (That just looks funny, but that's how spell-check says it's spelled... I probably shouldn't argue with spell-check at this hour, it's usually right)
Monday, January 19, 2009
Nai Nai
After the Christmas program, Leeann's birth mom, Kyndall, came to lunch with us then ventured over to our house for a little gift exchange.
This a picture of Leeann wearing her beautiful new bath robe from Kyndall. She calls her Nai-Nai, which is Tegalog for mom. Kyndall is 1/2 Filipino.
Leeann and Titus opened up there 24 packs of Play-Doh compliments of Kyndall and her dad. We call him Grampy. 
Leeann chose a lotion and body wash set from Bath and Body Works for Kyndall. Leeann proudly picked out the gifts all by herself and was quite proud of them. She even wrapped them by herself too!
I tried to get these two to pose for a nice Christmas picture since they were dressed up so beautifully... but they were both quite hyper and I didn't exactly get the picture-perfect photo I'd hoped for. Oh well, you still get the gist. They were adorable!
This is just a fun picture showing Titus and Leeann engaging in one of their favorite activities--wrestling daddy!The Christmas Program
I wrote about this earlier, but here are the pictures from our church's Christmas Program.
Leeann was as cute, and sweet and angelic as can be!
As was Titus for the most part--during the first service. 
During the second service (after having some Christmas cookies for a snack) he discovered that the things on his back were wings.
Logan was a cow... and a cute one if you ask me!
Oh yeah, back to the wings. You know--the things that make you fly?
I think in this picture he was simply plotting his next move. 
Like, trying to tie his shoe. Why not? I'm sure he can figure it out on his own.
Or, how about I flop around behind some of these kids like a mad man?Maybe I'll do some flying. And some dancing. And some sliding across the stage? Maybe I'll run back and forth so fast that mom can't figure out how to grab me and take me off the stage. Yeah, that's it! That's what I'll do. Every body's laughing. I think they're laughing at me. They must like what I'm doing, and I should certainly do some more of it!
Why isn't mom taking pictures of my cute stunts? Everybody else seems to like it. She should be catching this... this is great blogging material! Mom, why'd you put your camera down?
Oh no, that's mom. She's coming up here. Is she laughing or crying? That's a tough one. Am I in trouble? Mommy, I'm just making good use of my wings... I can fly!
And this one is a better shot of Logan the cow.Storybook Land
We enjoyed a night at Storybook land with the kids just a few days before Christmas. Storybook land is a big building filled with displays off characters from beloved storybooks and movies. There is a large train set that had multiple trains going around tracks (click on the collage to see more details in the pictures above). You should have seen Titus go crazy when he saw Thomas the train!
We ran into our friends Toby, Kajsa and Kamden too. Toby was kind enough to take a fun family picture for us. Thanks Toby!
Santa was waiting at the end of Storybook land, and our kids weren't really sure what to do with him. In our quest not to lie to our kids we've told them that Santa is just pretend, but that some kids think he's real. They haven't really asked a lot of questions about it, they just take it for what it is. So when Santa asked them to sit on his lap the kids got a little freaked out. That is, until they saw he was offering candy canes... then all of the sudden Santa wasn't so bad!
When we walked outside just before it closed we were greeted with giant flakes of falling snow. We played around in it for a few minutes, trying to catch flakes with our tongues. It really was a picture-perfect beautiful ending to yet another wonderful family memory.
Snow Day
Yup, I'm still playing catch up. These are pictures from December 15th (our 7 year anniversary by the way). Rob got the day off of work because of snow! We treked over to Suzy's to play in the snow with the boys. It was cold! We had fun playing around in the snow and enjoyed some hot chocolate to warm us up after the adventures.
Click on the photo above to see fun pictures, like snow angels, wrestling and Logan and Titus licking the snow, then being upset because their faces were cold! You also need to check out Weston's hat hair in the hot cocoa picture!
Later that night Rob and Titus and I went to Applebees, since our intended anniversary dinner was supposed to be out-of-town and Leeann went out to dinner with some of her birth family members. Just as dinner finished we got a frantic phone call from Suzy about Landon being burned (he's doing well now, in case you are wondering) so we headed very slowly to the E.R. through the snow.
It was a fun day and I was super glad to get to spend it with my fantastic family!
Packed Away
I just packed away Titus's 12-18 month clothes... yippie! Suzy gave us some 2t and 3t clothes today and I purged the 12-18 month clothes to make room for them. His pants have been looking like high-waters, but 18-24 month pants fall off of him. Suzy gave me a size 2 with an adjustable waist today and they fit perfectly!
That's a really good thing since he's worn a hole in most of his 12-18 month jeans from being too rough on them for too long. If I remember right he's been in this size for a year or more. His new predicted height based on his latest measurements is 5'5"... up 3" from the last estimate. Only time will tell how tall he'll end up being though.
My kids have been a great joy to me lately. Amazing how the perspective changes when you're not holed up with sick kids isn't it? Seriously, I sure am having a lot of fun with them at this stage, they are both such joys to be around with their fun personalities. I'm so happy to be a mommy!
That's a really good thing since he's worn a hole in most of his 12-18 month jeans from being too rough on them for too long. If I remember right he's been in this size for a year or more. His new predicted height based on his latest measurements is 5'5"... up 3" from the last estimate. Only time will tell how tall he'll end up being though.
My kids have been a great joy to me lately. Amazing how the perspective changes when you're not holed up with sick kids isn't it? Seriously, I sure am having a lot of fun with them at this stage, they are both such joys to be around with their fun personalities. I'm so happy to be a mommy!
Friday, January 16, 2009
Not listening or not hearing?
Titus had his 3 year well check today and... he hit the charts on both height and weight! Out of 100 boys his age there might even be one or two that are smaller than him! He weights 25.2 pounds and he's 35 inches tall.
The doctor asked if I had any concerns and I told him that we were concerned about his hearing... especially lately. I said either he's been in a very defiant state, totally ignoring us, or he's having trouble hearing.
One glance into his ear with his light and he said, "Ah, his ear is full of puss, I'm surprised he's not screaming in pain!" So, it turns out that he has a pretty severe double ear infection, and can hardly hear anything.
So, the fact that he was driving me nuts this past week constantly asking, "What? What? What? What?", and refusing to obey when I would ask him to do something was really in response to actually not being able to hear. No wonder my week has been so frustrating!
Leeann didn't throw up anymore, so I think she just over exerted herself. Today, we're headed to Salem to do some shopping before heading to Logan and Weston's birthday party. I thought I'd have to stay home with Leeann, but it looks like we'll finally get to get out of the house and socialize today!
The doctor asked if I had any concerns and I told him that we were concerned about his hearing... especially lately. I said either he's been in a very defiant state, totally ignoring us, or he's having trouble hearing.
One glance into his ear with his light and he said, "Ah, his ear is full of puss, I'm surprised he's not screaming in pain!" So, it turns out that he has a pretty severe double ear infection, and can hardly hear anything.
So, the fact that he was driving me nuts this past week constantly asking, "What? What? What? What?", and refusing to obey when I would ask him to do something was really in response to actually not being able to hear. No wonder my week has been so frustrating!
Leeann didn't throw up anymore, so I think she just over exerted herself. Today, we're headed to Salem to do some shopping before heading to Logan and Weston's birthday party. I thought I'd have to stay home with Leeann, but it looks like we'll finally get to get out of the house and socialize today!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Christmas Through the Years
Here are some of the snapshots we've taken over the years of our very special "Decorating Day". It's fun to see how the kids grow and change through the years. I have delightful memories wrapped up in the days depicted here.
2004
2005
2006
2007
(There is not a picture like this for 2008, since Leeann no longer hands daddy the branches, she just puts them on the tree herself. Below you'll see the newer version of this type of picture, which is simply Leeann and Titus assembling the tree.)
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2006
2007
2008
2007
2008
2007
(See below for 2008)
Christmas Decorating
Okay, so I know I'm incredibly late in posting these, but that's how far behind I am on blogging pictures. These are pictures from December 8th. Rob took the day off of work and we drug out all the Christmas boxes from the attic and went straight to work.
Leeann and Titus helped Daddy put the tree together. This year they were actually helpful. Rob said that we'll get a real tree about the time they can assemble this one themselves--so that they'd still need daddy for something!
My beautiful family!
Peek-a-boo!
Quite possibly my favorite picture of all times!
Mamasita, donde esta Santa Claus? The kids were using each others thumbs as microphones to lip sinc our favorite song this year titled, Mamsita. It was a fun song played often!
This is Mary... with baby Jesus in her tummy. She came up with this one all on her own!
All day she was begging to put the angel on the tree. This was her crowing moment.
This picture isn't flattering, but it's the only one I have. We have a standing tradition of having Papa Murphy's pizza and rootbeer on decoration day.
And, ice cream while watching a movie together.
This year's pick was Polar Express. Since I'm the resident camera girl Rob snapped this picture of me to at least document that I was part of decorating day. Really, I was there, I promise!She threw up in the pool
So, what more can I say? Leeann threw up in the pool during swim lessons tonight. Well, she said she threw up in her mouth and her teacher told her to go to the garbage can. She got out of the pool and had liquid streaming down her chin and looked like she was blowing chunks, but it wasn't full-on vomit.
So, we're hopeful it was just due to the fact that she'd eaten dinner then exerted herself too hard. Or maybe she gagged on some water or something. I'm really hopeful that it's not keep-me-holed-up in the house for several more days sickness. I promise you... I will go nuts if it is!
It's been an hour without any additional incidence, so I think we'll be okay. I think we'll be okay. I think we'll be okay.
The good news is that she floated on her back, all by herself for more than 15 seconds! She's making great progress, and I'm quite proud of her!
So, we're hopeful it was just due to the fact that she'd eaten dinner then exerted herself too hard. Or maybe she gagged on some water or something. I'm really hopeful that it's not keep-me-holed-up in the house for several more days sickness. I promise you... I will go nuts if it is!
It's been an hour without any additional incidence, so I think we'll be okay. I think we'll be okay. I think we'll be okay.
The good news is that she floated on her back, all by herself for more than 15 seconds! She's making great progress, and I'm quite proud of her!
My Little Girl
This is Leeann at the age that Titus is now... isn't she beautiful! Where did my little girl go?
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
When one door closes, another door opens
I haven't posted much about adoption stuff lately because there hasn't been much to post about. We'd been waiting to hear about one particular girl for more than a month, and when we finally heard about her the case workers seemed to be rather impressed with our home study and it looked like it would be moving forward (at least to the next step).
We were excited because this was the last girl that we felt like we'd be a good fit for and if we didn't move forward with her we'd be looking to slow down our search or put it on hold for a while. Well, yesterday morning... amidst all of my irritation regarding day #183 (or so it feels like) of being couped up with the kiddos--I got a call from my case worker. She said this particular girl had been removed from consideration for an adoptive placement because of some decisions she'd recently made. Trying not to be too bummed, I let our worker know we'd still look through bios that seemed like they might be a good fit, but that we wouldn't be actively seeking anymore girls for at least a little while.
So, in my mind I began thinking about disassembling the bunk beds and reclaiming "big sister's room". A few hours later we got a call from our case-worker who said that one of the workers at Northwest Adoption Exchange (NWAE) wanted to send our case study along to another case worker, because she thought we'd be a great match. Anyway, I spoke with that case worker today and got some more information and she'll read our home study in the next couple of days... so we'll see!
This processes really is a roller coaster. It's been 8 months since we set out on our adoption journey, we'll see what God has in store for us!
We were excited because this was the last girl that we felt like we'd be a good fit for and if we didn't move forward with her we'd be looking to slow down our search or put it on hold for a while. Well, yesterday morning... amidst all of my irritation regarding day #183 (or so it feels like) of being couped up with the kiddos--I got a call from my case worker. She said this particular girl had been removed from consideration for an adoptive placement because of some decisions she'd recently made. Trying not to be too bummed, I let our worker know we'd still look through bios that seemed like they might be a good fit, but that we wouldn't be actively seeking anymore girls for at least a little while.
So, in my mind I began thinking about disassembling the bunk beds and reclaiming "big sister's room". A few hours later we got a call from our case-worker who said that one of the workers at Northwest Adoption Exchange (NWAE) wanted to send our case study along to another case worker, because she thought we'd be a great match. Anyway, I spoke with that case worker today and got some more information and she'll read our home study in the next couple of days... so we'll see!
This processes really is a roller coaster. It's been 8 months since we set out on our adoption journey, we'll see what God has in store for us!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
A day in the life of a quarantine zone
I'm going STIR-CRAZY!
You know, most days I think I'm doing okay at this whole mothering thing. My children are fairly happy, well-adjusted little gems who are kind to each other and to others. They use their manners 80% of the time and they are generally a joy for myself and others to be around.
We are going on day 11 of virtual quarantine with very little contact from the outside world, however, and it's beginning to look like Lord of the Flies in my house. My mothering instincts have all but withered away, and all of us are running very low on patience. Okay, me especially!
See, a week ago Friday we drove back from a wonderful vacation in Washington. Because we spent a week in Washington Rob had some work to do Saturday so he spent a good chunk of the day out of the house. Then we all drove to Corvallis to track down some books that Rob needed for Convergence, and he spent nearly every waking minute that he wasn't at work with his nose in these books because he needed to have them finished by Wednesday.
To spare you the boring details, between meetings, studying and nearly 3 full days (and nights) at school Rob has been home a grand-total of, well, not very much lately. This wouldn't normally be a huge problem because it only typically happens this way in short stages. For the most part he's around often and a very integral part of our daily lives... that's why it takes a toll on us when he's not.
This has only been exacerbated by a night full of vomiting, the on-set of pink eye, and days and days worth of icky colds. There's something about fighting a 3 year-old every 4 hours to put drops in his eyes as he's screaming at the top of his lungs, "I don't like that, I don't like that, I don't like that!" while trying to hold down his hands with my feet, his head between my knees and my hands trying to pry those tight little eyes open enough to put drops in them that puts us off to a bad start. It usually takes me about 20 seconds to do Leeann's drops and 4-5 minutes to do Titus's if that gives you any idea how much of a struggle it is!
And, to top it all off, I'm an extrovert. This means that my batteries are naturally charged by being around others. My batteries are dead.
Anyway, all of this is to help you understand why I'm definitely out of the running for mother of the week this week. After being up for only 20 minutes this morning I officially decided that I needed to leave my house... without my children. The only problem is, we're still under quarantine and there's no where that I can take my children that doesn't put others at risk. I woke up to Titus with a pair of scissors in his hands and a poopy diaper. While I was changing him he and Leeann were fighting over who-knows what and then they started fighting over something else and I told them to put those things in time-out... which they both started arguing with. Seriously, 20 minutes into my morning I was ready to crawl under a rock.
Instead, I gave them breakfast and told them they could color and now I'm here... blogging... my only connection to the outside world in times of quarantine! Oh, now they're yelling at each other from downstairs. Fun.
So, there you have it. Confessions from a true mom. One tired, frustrated, irritated, weary, worn-out, real-life mom.
You know, most days I think I'm doing okay at this whole mothering thing. My children are fairly happy, well-adjusted little gems who are kind to each other and to others. They use their manners 80% of the time and they are generally a joy for myself and others to be around.
We are going on day 11 of virtual quarantine with very little contact from the outside world, however, and it's beginning to look like Lord of the Flies in my house. My mothering instincts have all but withered away, and all of us are running very low on patience. Okay, me especially!
See, a week ago Friday we drove back from a wonderful vacation in Washington. Because we spent a week in Washington Rob had some work to do Saturday so he spent a good chunk of the day out of the house. Then we all drove to Corvallis to track down some books that Rob needed for Convergence, and he spent nearly every waking minute that he wasn't at work with his nose in these books because he needed to have them finished by Wednesday.
To spare you the boring details, between meetings, studying and nearly 3 full days (and nights) at school Rob has been home a grand-total of, well, not very much lately. This wouldn't normally be a huge problem because it only typically happens this way in short stages. For the most part he's around often and a very integral part of our daily lives... that's why it takes a toll on us when he's not.
This has only been exacerbated by a night full of vomiting, the on-set of pink eye, and days and days worth of icky colds. There's something about fighting a 3 year-old every 4 hours to put drops in his eyes as he's screaming at the top of his lungs, "I don't like that, I don't like that, I don't like that!" while trying to hold down his hands with my feet, his head between my knees and my hands trying to pry those tight little eyes open enough to put drops in them that puts us off to a bad start. It usually takes me about 20 seconds to do Leeann's drops and 4-5 minutes to do Titus's if that gives you any idea how much of a struggle it is!
And, to top it all off, I'm an extrovert. This means that my batteries are naturally charged by being around others. My batteries are dead.
Anyway, all of this is to help you understand why I'm definitely out of the running for mother of the week this week. After being up for only 20 minutes this morning I officially decided that I needed to leave my house... without my children. The only problem is, we're still under quarantine and there's no where that I can take my children that doesn't put others at risk. I woke up to Titus with a pair of scissors in his hands and a poopy diaper. While I was changing him he and Leeann were fighting over who-knows what and then they started fighting over something else and I told them to put those things in time-out... which they both started arguing with. Seriously, 20 minutes into my morning I was ready to crawl under a rock.
Instead, I gave them breakfast and told them they could color and now I'm here... blogging... my only connection to the outside world in times of quarantine! Oh, now they're yelling at each other from downstairs. Fun.
So, there you have it. Confessions from a true mom. One tired, frustrated, irritated, weary, worn-out, real-life mom.
Monday, January 12, 2009
I find this fascinating
I find it fascinating that only 4 people from my family and 1 person from my pre-college days seem to follow my blog (according to my week-long poll anyway). This is in contrast to 6 members of Rob's family and 5 people from his pre-college days. Perhaps he ought to do a better job of blogging on his own blog eh?
I've always thought I was blogging mostly for family members, but a grand total of 10 people out of 54 come from either of our families. That's in contrast to 7 who don't even know us, 19 from college and 11 from church.
I wonder if this information should or will change how I blog. Hmmm... The poll was really fun, thanks to all those who participated!
Here are the latest results as of today, but I've extended the poll for another week. So, if you haven't yet done so, please take the poll on my sidebar and if you haven't already, please leave a comment to tell me who you are also.
I'm part of Robyn's family
4 (7%)
I'm part of Rob's family
6 (11%)
I know Robyn from her pre-college days
1 (1%)
I know Rob from his pre-college days
5 (9%)
I went to college with Rob and/or Robyn
19 (35%)
I know them from NACC (or Albany in general)
11 (20%)
Someone I know recommended this blog to me, though I don't personally know either Rob or Robyn
0 (0%)
I stumbled upon this blog and now I read it, but I have no connection to Rob or Robyn what-so-ever
7 (12%)
I'm part of Leeann's birth family
1 (1%)
If you haven't yet done so, please take the poll on my sidebar and if you haven't already, please leave a comment to tell me who you are also. I know for sure of several readers who are faithful readers who haven't commented yet (Jessi, Jennifer, MeeMaw and Heempaw, Ron and Sally, Nikki, Aunt Barb, Stacey, Grandma and Grandpa D, SaraJane... just to name a few!)
I've always thought I was blogging mostly for family members, but a grand total of 10 people out of 54 come from either of our families. That's in contrast to 7 who don't even know us, 19 from college and 11 from church.
I wonder if this information should or will change how I blog. Hmmm... The poll was really fun, thanks to all those who participated!
Here are the latest results as of today, but I've extended the poll for another week. So, if you haven't yet done so, please take the poll on my sidebar and if you haven't already, please leave a comment to tell me who you are also.
I'm part of Robyn's family
4 (7%)
I'm part of Rob's family
6 (11%)
I know Robyn from her pre-college days
1 (1%)
I know Rob from his pre-college days
5 (9%)
I went to college with Rob and/or Robyn
19 (35%)
I know them from NACC (or Albany in general)
11 (20%)
Someone I know recommended this blog to me, though I don't personally know either Rob or Robyn
0 (0%)
I stumbled upon this blog and now I read it, but I have no connection to Rob or Robyn what-so-ever
7 (12%)
I'm part of Leeann's birth family
1 (1%)
If you haven't yet done so, please take the poll on my sidebar and if you haven't already, please leave a comment to tell me who you are also. I know for sure of several readers who are faithful readers who haven't commented yet (Jessi, Jennifer, MeeMaw and Heempaw, Ron and Sally, Nikki, Aunt Barb, Stacey, Grandma and Grandpa D, SaraJane... just to name a few!)
Friday, January 09, 2009
Pink Eye and Glasses
Yesterday was a big day for Titus (as far as his eyes are concerned anyway!). He came down with pink eye and also got fitted for his first pair of glasses that should arrive in a week. He looks cute, but so different. They hardly had any glasses that fit him because he's so little, but he should grow into the ones we got him before too long. Hopefully it'll help him quite a bit because the doctor said his left eye isn't doing much of anything... so he'll probably be excited to wear his glasses since he'll be able to see and track better. I'll be certain to post a picture once he gets his glasses. In the meantime we're laying low in what is probably a failing attempt to not spread our ickiness to the world!
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Because of the Tater Tots
*Caution, vomit story below, those with weak stomachs should stop reading here.*
I spent a better part of my wee morning hours consoling my son, cleaning up vomit, bathing him, doing laundry, remaking beds, etc. Why, oh why can't they throw up during the day time?
The first alarm came yesterday morning after breakfast when Titus said, "I have a tummy ache from beckfast (breakfast)". Then after lunch I heard, "I have a tummy ache from lounch (lunch)." At 12:45 (not even an hour from when I fell asleep) I heard him crying in his bed which is unusual. I asked him if he'd thrown up and he said he had... but I couldn't find any evidence of it, so I tucked him back into bed and sat by him and played with his hair until he fell back asleep. If I were smart, I would have given him a bowl and put a towel down 'just in case'. Hind sight is 20/20.
Around 2:45 he was crying again and I was reluctant to get out of bed because he wasn't crying over anything specific last time. Real motherly of me, I know! So, Rob finally woke me up enough to get out of bed and tend to him and sure enough he was holding a handful of thick, chunky reddish colored vomit, and his pillow and favorite blanket had been sacrificed too.
I thought far enough in advance to take his other two fleece blankets out of his bed the first time knowing that if he threw up, he'd need one to fall back asleep while the other one got washed. Why I didn't put a towel down is beyond me!
Anyway, he looked up at me through the tears and said, "It was because of my tater tots!" So I got him in the bath, cleaned him up, washed the contaminated items, got him dressed and sent him to his make-shift towel covered bed on my bedroom floor. Just before he made it to the bed he lost it all over blanket #2. I took him back into the bath room and cleaned him up and threw his blanket in the wash too. He missed his jammies entirely this time so I settled for a wipe up instead of a full on bath. We grabbed blanket #3 and headed back to bed. Just I walked in my room my bare feet discovered that might floor had been hit too. Yuck! So I cleaned myself up, tucked blanket #3 behind Titus, and tucked Berry Bear deep under the covers to protect her, and layed a bowl beside his head and gave him instructions on how to use it.
Just before vomit #2 Rob opted to head downstairs to finish his slumber on the couch, so I brought Leeann in to snuggle with me. She'd been rather concerned about Titus and was on the verge of tears while I helped him. She said she didn't want to be in her room alone and hadn't fallen back to sleep since the first incident started... so we snuggled up together and tried to go back to sleep.
Within another 45 minutes it happened again, but this time he totally made it in the bowl. I was so proud of him! Leeann watched intently and tried to console him... my little nurse in training... as he hurled for a few minutes. So, I cleaned him up, washed out the bowl and we all headed back to bed. Rob had to leave before 6 this morning so I woke up just a little bit to say good-bye to him. I, for one, am exhausted this morning!
Titus is as bright-eyed and bushy tailed as ever this morning though and hasn't thrown up since sometime before 4, so I'm hopeful we're in a clearing. I gave him a piece of toast and a little water for breakfast. Somehow, I think we're all getting naps today!
I had plans to make it in the office with the kids for a little while today, to go to the bank and the store too. I think my plans have changed to being busy at home today, hopefully we'll be able to tackle some of those things tomorrow. I'm not really sure why I share vomit stories with you, but if you're still reading you must find them somewhat interesting... which is strange.
In other news, please don't forget to vote in my poll if you haven't already, and leave a comment telling me who you are and that you read my blog!
I spent a better part of my wee morning hours consoling my son, cleaning up vomit, bathing him, doing laundry, remaking beds, etc. Why, oh why can't they throw up during the day time?
The first alarm came yesterday morning after breakfast when Titus said, "I have a tummy ache from beckfast (breakfast)". Then after lunch I heard, "I have a tummy ache from lounch (lunch)." At 12:45 (not even an hour from when I fell asleep) I heard him crying in his bed which is unusual. I asked him if he'd thrown up and he said he had... but I couldn't find any evidence of it, so I tucked him back into bed and sat by him and played with his hair until he fell back asleep. If I were smart, I would have given him a bowl and put a towel down 'just in case'. Hind sight is 20/20.
Around 2:45 he was crying again and I was reluctant to get out of bed because he wasn't crying over anything specific last time. Real motherly of me, I know! So, Rob finally woke me up enough to get out of bed and tend to him and sure enough he was holding a handful of thick, chunky reddish colored vomit, and his pillow and favorite blanket had been sacrificed too.
I thought far enough in advance to take his other two fleece blankets out of his bed the first time knowing that if he threw up, he'd need one to fall back asleep while the other one got washed. Why I didn't put a towel down is beyond me!
Anyway, he looked up at me through the tears and said, "It was because of my tater tots!" So I got him in the bath, cleaned him up, washed the contaminated items, got him dressed and sent him to his make-shift towel covered bed on my bedroom floor. Just before he made it to the bed he lost it all over blanket #2. I took him back into the bath room and cleaned him up and threw his blanket in the wash too. He missed his jammies entirely this time so I settled for a wipe up instead of a full on bath. We grabbed blanket #3 and headed back to bed. Just I walked in my room my bare feet discovered that might floor had been hit too. Yuck! So I cleaned myself up, tucked blanket #3 behind Titus, and tucked Berry Bear deep under the covers to protect her, and layed a bowl beside his head and gave him instructions on how to use it.
Just before vomit #2 Rob opted to head downstairs to finish his slumber on the couch, so I brought Leeann in to snuggle with me. She'd been rather concerned about Titus and was on the verge of tears while I helped him. She said she didn't want to be in her room alone and hadn't fallen back to sleep since the first incident started... so we snuggled up together and tried to go back to sleep.
Within another 45 minutes it happened again, but this time he totally made it in the bowl. I was so proud of him! Leeann watched intently and tried to console him... my little nurse in training... as he hurled for a few minutes. So, I cleaned him up, washed out the bowl and we all headed back to bed. Rob had to leave before 6 this morning so I woke up just a little bit to say good-bye to him. I, for one, am exhausted this morning!
Titus is as bright-eyed and bushy tailed as ever this morning though and hasn't thrown up since sometime before 4, so I'm hopeful we're in a clearing. I gave him a piece of toast and a little water for breakfast. Somehow, I think we're all getting naps today!
I had plans to make it in the office with the kids for a little while today, to go to the bank and the store too. I think my plans have changed to being busy at home today, hopefully we'll be able to tackle some of those things tomorrow. I'm not really sure why I share vomit stories with you, but if you're still reading you must find them somewhat interesting... which is strange.
In other news, please don't forget to vote in my poll if you haven't already, and leave a comment telling me who you are and that you read my blog!
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Check Out My New Poll ----------->
So I decided to experiment with the new polling feature that blogger added. With your help, I'd love to get some more information on who actually reads my blog. If you feel that you don't fit in any of the answer categories, feel free to leave a comment on this post.
I think it's fun that so many people read my blog, but I honestly don't have a great feel for who my readership entails. If you'd be so brave as to leave a comment to tell me that you stalk my blog, feel free... as I'd really love to know who's reading about our crazy life! If you like lurking in the anonymous shadows, you can just take the poll instead of revealing your true identity (though you should take the poll regardless of whether or not you comment)--but I really would love to know that you read my blog, whoever you are!
I think it's fun that so many people read my blog, but I honestly don't have a great feel for who my readership entails. If you'd be so brave as to leave a comment to tell me that you stalk my blog, feel free... as I'd really love to know who's reading about our crazy life! If you like lurking in the anonymous shadows, you can just take the poll instead of revealing your true identity (though you should take the poll regardless of whether or not you comment)--but I really would love to know that you read my blog, whoever you are!
Thursday, January 01, 2009
30,000
I've had 30,000 hits since I put my stat counter on my blog last March. That's kind of fun! Of course, I'm sure it's probably the same 20 people who just check it over and over, but that's okay. It counts you as a unique visitor if it's been more than an hour since you last visited my blog. On a good day I'll have as many as 250 unique visitors.
What's also kind of fun is that I can see what state and city you live in, how you found my blog (like what words you put into Google) and how much time you've spent on my blog too. If you have a blog, you should totally spy on the people who are spying on you. www.statcounter.com.
Happy first day of 2009!
What's also kind of fun is that I can see what state and city you live in, how you found my blog (like what words you put into Google) and how much time you've spent on my blog too. If you have a blog, you should totally spy on the people who are spying on you. www.statcounter.com.
Happy first day of 2009!
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