I'm back!

Well, I'm back. I know, I know, it's been a really long time. Most of the time has been spent without internet access at home... and I don't know about you, but typing a blog post with my thumbs is NOT my idea of a good time. I'll break my updates into sections, and promise to update more regularly. :)

Kids:
E is now 5. FIVE! How did THAT happen? She's improved so much in terms of temperament. Tantrums are few and far between, and she's crazy smart. Kind of like a little sponge - she absorbs everything. We've started teaching her how to read using Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, but she has decided that she is not interested... so, in the meantime my job is to get her interested in learning how to read. She's done with preschool, and instead of starting public school kindergarten, we're homeschooling with my mom's help. We've seen too many kids just turn into horrible, horrible little beasts in the Lk Stevens School District; we don't want that happening. It is hard, however, because E sees the other neighborhood kids playing UNSUPERVISED in the parking lot of our apartments, and wants to know why she can't, too. Well, how do you explain neglect and disinterest to a child? You don't; you just tell them it's not safe.
I is 3 and a half. Talk about devious, she is definitely in that category. You can see the hamster turning on it's wheel when her brain starts to work. She's also quite obsessive compulsive. She likes things to be lined up in an orderly fashion (by category - color, size, type, etc), and will even make me stop to fix, say, the belts on display at Target if they are not in order. Wow. She's also very touch sensitive - she only likes "soft" pants (worn jeans or cotton stretchy leggings) and shoes that fit snugly with socks that have no seams. This can definitely make things difficult when you are trying to get out the door in a hurry!

Hubby is working two jobs again, and is very busy at Job #1. He gets depressed seeing wealthy people come in to his shop every day and drop a thou or two on a picture frame. I don't blame him. But, I am really proud of him for stepping up and helping to keep us financially afloat so that I can stay home most of the time. I'm sure he wants to move home to Oregon, but that's not in the cards for right now.

My Rheumatoid Arthritis is a finicky beast. I have finally found the "cure" for my flare-ups. It doesn't eliminate them completely, but it shortens them and makes them more bearable. However, I did have a pretty nasty flare on Tuesday that was debilitating, to say the least. It was miserable. But - it only lasted one day instead of 10.
Oh, what was my "cure," you say? Oh, simple. Eating vegan. HOLY SMOKES. What? Vegan? Not some "save the animals" type vegan, but an obsessively healthy vegan focused on high protein, low fat, absolutely NO animal products because they will cripple me vegan. Wow, that's hard. Did you know almost everything has something dairy in it? That's so strange! So, I find myself doing a LOT of shopping at PCC - the local food co-op, and the local vegetable stand. And, no, I don't find myself spending any more out of budget each month. In fact, I think we spend less. Give-or-take. I just spent $250 for a month (or so) worth of groceries for a family of 4. Not bad. Too bad I'm a sugar addict.
Dance is going well. I have resigned myself to not dancing as much and primarily teaching. It's good for me, and I find my pain levels to be less. Gee, really? I also have started making solo dresses. I've done 3 three-panel dresses and am in the process of making a really modern bubble-skirt dress. I think I may be on to something and I really, truly enjoy it. I also am working part-time at the local coffee shop - 9 hours a week, give or take. I love it. The customers are (generally) great, and the tips are even better.

Well, that's a brief (?) update for you. I'll have more to post later, I'm sure, but for now I need to move a sleeping I up into her bed, and get E settled down for the night. After How To Train Your Dragon is over, of course. (Why do all the Vikings have Scottish or Northern Irish accents? I am confused...)

Wow people are rude

So, we were in Target this morning getting baby food for Isobel. Both girls had their binkies (as usual, though Isobel rarely uses hers in public). We came around the corner of the baby food aisle and another shopper was blocking the way with her cart and her 5yo daughter. No big deal, politely said "excuse me" and went for the food I needed.
The little girl asks her mom "what are those?" pointing at the binkies. Her mom said they are pacifiers. She said "what are they for?" and the mom basically said "those are gross, you didn't have them as a baby because we threw them away when people gave them to us."

OK really? Is that a nice thing to say? I was tempted to say some snide comment but didn't. Her daughter kept asking questions but I just ignored them. Besides, by that point Emma was throwing ANOTHER tantrum and I was in an embarassed rush to get out of the store.

How rude.

Not a whole lot to report...

Well, not really.

I started teaching through the school district today - Irish dance for homeschoolers lol. It was pretty laid back, pretty low key. Katherine seems to think I'll have trouble with the homeschool parents, but I don't take anyone's crap and my rules are my rules, so I think we'll get along fine. :D

Emma starts preschool on Friday. She'll go 2 days/week - Thursdays and Fridays - and I'll work in the classroom on Fridays. Which means (drumroll please) I'll get to leave her on Thursdays and have 2hrs with just myself and Isobel! I'm so excited - I might even go and get a haircut or something. I can't even imagine...

Emma's talking in complete sentences now ("How are you a'day?" she just asked her sister), running amok, and she especially loves coloring now. I'm not kidding - I give her a coloring book and a box of crayons and she's perfectly happy. I love it. We've finally got her sleeping in her own bed. Not because we don't like cosleeping, but she's such an... "active" sleeper that there's just not enough room. We still don't believe in the Cry It Out method, but we've learned (as a family) to get Emma to sleep in her own bed in her own room all night long. Usually it involves me sitting on the floor next to her bed (she's quite the Houdini so she's in a toddler bed) until she's drowsy then she either tells me to leave or I tell her I have to go check on Sister, etc etc and sneak out.

Isobel is just on the verge of crawling. It's pretty cool to watch her want something and try to get it... she doesn't do the Army Crawl (Emma never did either), but she does a funny little scoot thing. Mostly she either rolls or goes backwards, but at least she's trying. I just hope she doesn't start walking at 10mo just like Emma did. That would NOT be OK to have two early walkers!!!! I just can't get over how absolutely laid back she is... She's happy I would say about 85% of the time. And when she's cranky? She's barely fussy and is either hungry, poopy, or her teeth hurt (she only has two bottom teeth as of yet).

We've made two trips to Oregon - well, three if you count the solo trip the girls and I made. First we went down for a bridal shower, then we went down for my brother-in-law's wedding, then we went down for a funeral. It's a LOT of travelling, so I think we're going to wait until the family comes up HERE for a visit before we go down again. I think that totals either four or five trips since May. The last time we took the Eurovan down with us. That was pretty fun - it's got a LOT more room than the Elantra does, and an adult could sit in the back with the kids if they needed us, etc. It's a bit of a gas hog at only 21-22mpg, and it's old (218,000 miles or so), but I love it. Can't go wrong with a Volkswagen.

One of my best friends was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma about 6 weeks ago. She's had two rounds of chemo so far and has a very positive prognosis so far. But, it's something that her family doctor missed for several months - if not years. She has a giant mass in her left chest (he'd been treating her intermittently for bronchitis), tumors in her lymph nodes (that have been removed, but he'd been treating her for mastitis for what, 7mo or so), and she's lost an incredible amount of weight. She's SO skinny! She has two little girls - Melanie is a month younger than Emma and Allison is 2 months older than Isobel - and she needs all the prayer she can get. SO - if you're the praying type - please pray!!

I'm getting excited for fall and winter. I really do love fall. All the leaves change, it gets colder (you can always get warm when it's cold but it's harder to cool off when it's hot).... Hallowe'en and Thanksgiving are right around the corner (along with my friend Tina's due date!), and then Christmas and Isobel's and my birthdays too. It's a fun time of year for me, I can't wait to bring out the holiday decorations and bake Christmas cookies and wrap presents and have all kinds of holiday-related fun. Oooh I LOVE it!

Anyway, I'm hosting playgroup tomorrow morning and my house is a complete and utter disaster. Wish me luck that I can get it cleaned up before Emma tears it apart again!!!

Toddlers are so funny

Emma: I want this one
Me: Which one
Emma: That one
I point: this one?
Emma: that that that!
Pointing at the teething tablets: This one?
Emma: THAT THAT THAT!

Turns out she wanted Benadryl. Yeah right, goofy kid. I just though the interaction was pretty clever.

Anyway. I hate my computer. This friggin' thing keeps jamming up and I lose pages, the whole thing freezes up and all I can do is a hard reboot... Talk about a PITA.

But, I think I shall revive my blog. It's been pretty useless up until now, so I think it's time to revive and post and update. I'm sure there are some ppl who actually read it, right? (Comment if you do!) So, I'll make it as interesting as I can.

Let's start with "Greening."
I swear, it's a fad and will fade... but I'm doing it anyway. Although, not for the reasons one might think.
"Green" cleaners are less likely to kill my curious toddler. Clary Sage, Rosemary, Vinegar, and Baking Soda are nontoxic, right? Worst case is that she'll get an upset stomach or they'll burn her eyes.
Dr. Bronner's rocks. I've been using it for shampoo lately. My hair seems much happier for it - less "disgusting" and more shiny. Shiny hair, now there's a thought! Plus, a little bit goes a long way and it smells nice. :)
Recycling just makes sense. When we lived in Seattle we were REQUIRED to recycle. So, I've reintroduced the Box Under The Sink for our recyclables, and so far I'm doing pretty good.
Cloth Diapers Rock. They're super cute and they're kind of addicting, too! And it's not really that hard to keep up with any extra laundry - I keep 'em in a pail with water, vinegar, and baking soda and wash them every other day. (In fact, I must do that when I'm done here). Plus, it's waaaay cheaper than buying 'sposies for TWO kids. Though I will say Isobel is more reliably in cloth than Emma, mostly because it's easier to put them on Isobel than a fighting Emma...

OMG speaking of hair. I got pissed last night and cut 4" off. It's been over 2 years since I've had a haircut, and the ends were all gnarly and nasty and dried and crap, so I got tired of trying to brush through it all and just hacked it off. It's not pretty... or stylish... but it's much shorter and easier to manage I'd like to think.

OK my huSBAND IS PLAYING WITH The keYBOArd as I TYPe, mUST Stop

noW AND GO inflict some serious pain.


Maybe I'll kick his ass at Rummy tonight. Mwa ha ha ha ha!

Le Sigh

Hello, faithful readers! Did you miss me?

Sorry, lots has been going on. I've been staying home full-time with Emma since mid-January. Am loving it! Except that there is LOTS to do in terms of housework which is very hard with a toddler running around! I tell ya, this kid gets into EVERYTHING! Her favorite? She watches for when you open a drawer then runs around the corner and sticks her hands in and grabs whatever she can before you catch her and take it away.
Oh and speaking of taking things away. Oy veh the tantrums! You'd think the world was coming to an end just because you took away the sippy cup, car keys, measuring spoons, wallet, book [pick one].
So now my mom is getting on my ass about setting boundaries with Emma. Um... duh! I'm all for child-led parenting, but my version is more along the lines of let the child explore what they want, but not let them run amok in public places and live with no rules. I'm sorry, but there have to be consequences for bad behavior.

Um what else is new.
Oh how did I forget! I'm pregnant again! Currently sitting pretty at 8 weeks with Baby #2! We have mixed feelings about this one; well, I do anyway. While I'm very excited about it, it's going to be more financial, physical, and emotional stress. But of course, who would say no to another baby to love? Not I!! Of course J and I are patiently waiting for the reality of this pregnancy to set in. I have an ultrasound on the 7th of June - I think it will feel more real then.

But I must say, if one more person says "was this a surprise?" I'm going to scream! Why is it that just because you have a one year old already, any consecutive babies must be a surprise? What if this was planned? (It was, by the way - just didn't think it would happen this quickly; after all Emma took us 18 months!). I mean, COME ON! First of all that's none of anyone's business whether it's a surprise or not, but whatever happened to "congratulations! That's so exciting!!!" ??? Oh. My. Some people, eh? Oh well - we're excited and that's all that matters.

But my mom's response is my favorite by far. "What ever happened to birth control? Abstinence, Kody, Abstinence!"

What else.

We've moved closer to Seattle. J got a new job. That's very exciting - it's a HUGE opportunity for him and has lots of growth potential. He didn't have any of that at C&B and so this is huge! And completely surprising as well as he wasn't looking for a new job - they offered this to him out of the blue! Wahooo!

And now said husband is staring at me across the table, commenting on my ability to type away whilst staring at him and not the keyboard or monitor... wondering what the hell I'm typing away about. I think it's rather funny, and will keep him guessing as long as I can.

But now, we're in dire need of more endorphins. And then a shower before Emma wakes up.

Will update you on the Mommy Drama or Why Must Mommies Compare Their Children later.

June Cleaver

So after almost 5 months of being a stay-at-home-mom (SAHM), I'm going back to work tomorrow.

I'm not sure how I feel about this.

New job, new people, new office... Away from my baby girl for 10 hours a day... Sigh wow.

Is it wrong to want to stay at home forever? Part of me wants to be the quintessential 50's housewife. Take care of my husband, my children, my household. Do the grocery shopping and clip coupons and play bridge with the ladies from the neighborhood. Except that I won't wear pearls when I vacuum like June Cleaver did. I hate vacuuming. But I love pearls. :)

Really, though. What's wrong with that? Stay home, make babies, be a good little housewife. I was watching Mona Lisa Smile a couple of weeks ago and thought to myself: "really, self; what's wrong with that? Find a good husband, stay home and start a family."

I'll tell you what's wrong. Society wants women to work. Well, women want women to work. Gone are the days of the housewife, the mom who does nothing but raise her children. Welcome in the days of the career woman, latchkey kids, and families who do not eat dinner together.

Gone are family values.

Gone are family dinners.

Gone are Sundays at the Grandparents'.

Now it's all about working, paying your bills, paying off your credit cards. Struggling to survive in a consumer economy where the average house price is $400k and the household with one working parent a) can't make enough money to support his family and b) will never own his own home.

Sad, isn't it?

Pictures!

What a little ham!

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