You only think they aren't listening

Owen brought a ton of stuff home in his backpack this week, we found this amongst the pile.  

Easier to read if you double click

double click to gahhh you already know

Obviously I need to stop using that as a threat.  I can't imagine the look on his teacher's face.  This one is a keeper.  I can't tell you how many times we have read this and laughed our asses off.  Which is good considering the amount of caramel corn I am eating.

Why do YOU have cats????

When you think of all the reasons a person might have cats you think maybe:

cute
companionship
funny personality
low time commitment
mostly self sufficient
apartment sized

Or if you are more practical:

less smelly than dogs
eat bugs
keep feet warm at night
scares away mice
eats mice to stupid to be scared


We have two cats. Two (2) (dos) (deux)

The water is there all day, I don't know why they both get thirsty at the same time

So imagine my surprise a year ago when we had ........ an effing mouse living in our house.  I lost my shit.  Bud was doing a lot of trap setting, not a lot of mouse catching.  I suggested putting the cat food away, eventually they would get hungry enough to DO. THEIR. JOB.  For some reason Bud didn't like my suggestion ( I still think it's good).  It took a week or so before he finally caught it.  Whew.

Then a week and a half ago I went to the kitchen to make lunch and out of the corner of my eye I saw movement.  I never really SAW anything, but I was pretty sure it was another mouse.  I pretty much stood in one spot crying for ten minutes.  So again Bud put out the traps, I glared at the cats and nothing happened.  Then one day I saw the bastard run across the counter.  Bud hurried an moved things off the counter while I stood on a chair screaming "There, there, there it is, there, there on the counter" in an endless loop.  He finally trapped it in a bowl and took it outside, he meant to release it over the back wall, but it got out in our yard.  Awesome.

Two days later Rigby (gray cat)  struts into the house with live mothafrackin mouse, and lets it GO.  In. my. house.  Luckily Bud saw it grabbed it by the tail, ran out and threw it way over the wall into the street.  (He is my hero, also he scrubbed his hands really good).  What kind of cat does that?  Srsly

Three days after that?  Chloe (orange cat) does the same damn thing during dinner.  I first ran screaming, but figured I better help catch it if we didn't want it in the house.  I grabbed a broom, Bud got a diaper and we chased it back and forth til Bud caught it.  It was d-e-a-d but Bud told Owen it was just playing dead, like a possum.  It would totally come back to life out on the street.

I hate my cats.  Obviously we need to keep the screen door locked because they can open it.  However, the children are not overly conscientious about keeping it closed.  Every time one of the cats comes in I check it's mouth before I open the door. 

Anybody want an extra cat or two?

Terrible Fours??

I have started this post so many times, but I am determined to push through it today.  I have no idea what to do about Maddie.  Last year was tough with her, but she was three so we figured things would get better.   We thought starting preschool this year would help.  But the last few weeks have been a nightmare.

At school she is an angel, everyone there loves her.  They tell me how kind, and sweet and wonderful she is for them.  I don't know that girl, the girl I know is angry and stubborn and always on edge.  I see brief glimpses of the girl they know, but she is a fleeting image.  The girl I live with dominates the house with her frustration and anger. 

We are trying new behavior systems, Owen and Maddie each start the day with three magnets.  Fighting, or freak outs or tantrums result in the loss of a magnet.  Once they lose all three, they go to bed.  We keep track of how many they had at the end of the day and have a reward at the end of the week if they earned it.

On Monday, the first day, Maddie lost one in the car on the way home.  She was losing her shit because her artwork did not fit her homework folder.  When we got home she started her homework.  The assignment was to circle pictures that started with the letter M.  There was a bottle of medicine with a spoon next to it.  She knew medicine started with an M, but spoon started with an S so it shouldn't be circled.  BUT, there was no way to circle only the medicine without also touching the spoon.  We tried explaining that the spoon was part of the medicine.  No dice.  She started screaming and scribbling on the paper.  We finally had to take her to her room and leave her there until dinner.

When she traces her letters, she cries because she "can't write the letters perfectly".  Her grammar is very precise for her age.  She loses her mind when she can't do something "right".  We keep trying to explain, practice....blah, blah.

She is so mean to Ellie, she pushes her down, takes things away, has said she wants Ellie to be eaten by a monster.  I get the resentment, I do.  But lately she has been going into Ellie's room and waking her up from her naps.  Which just kills us, Ellie is super unpleasant without a nap.  She lashes out at Owen, hitting him, and scratching him until he bleeds.  He does torment her, and I think she waits until he doesn't expect it.  Which, I get.

What really gets to me, are her meltdowns.  She will lose her mind completely, even if she is getting her way.  Today she spent 20 minutes crying because she wanted to wear legging, and I said OK.  But she felt she was going to be to hot.  So I said, don't wear them.  Then she said but she wants to wear them.  Ok.  But what if she was to hot.  She argued with herself for 20 minutes.  I have no idea how to handle that.

Once she starts a meltdown there is no way to stop her.  I know this all sound like typical 4 year old stuff.  I can't put into words how it feels around here.  I wake up every morning wondering how bad things will get.  When we get to the end of the day at work, we dread coming home.  We just don't know how to help her, I am afraid we are doing it wrong and we will ruin her.

Should we get a child psychologist for her?  Should I drink more?  Maybe I could stay with my mom until Maddie is six? 

What have I been doing?

There has been a little of this:

And some of this:

Oh, so much of this:

And Hello!  Lots  of this:

She never stops moving.  She's like a shark, and she has also taken to biting.  I don't remember the other two being so climby.  She is kickin our asses on a daily hourly basis. 

Holy, Geezy Pete, I Finished!

You will now be subjected to pictures of THE QUILT. I think it was more work than giving birth, and took more hours than I can count.

But, it is pretty, yes?
This is an upclose of the quilting and the fabric. The dark purple looks black, but is actually a dark purple with flowers.

I am happy with how it turned out, but it does have numerous flaws. Bud threatened to beat me if I pointed them out to everyone, so I kept it to myself.

I was able to give it to her before we left PA and she seemed to really like it. It was a bit sad giving it away after all that work, but what can ya do?

I found out one of Bud's aunts is really into quilting and she showed me some of hers. They were absolutely gorgeous and all hand quilted. I might try hand quilting in the future, and also the applique that she does. It got me all motivated to try another. Everyone I know wants one, Owen really wants me to make one for him. I am thinking of making his and including his extensive button collection. He has a weird love of buttons and a giant jar of them. I think I could use some of them as embellishments. He loved the idea, so that is probably next.

I also want to make some baby quilts. I can practice new techniques and styles. I was thinking of donating those to a charity. We will see, I will keep you all annoyed with pictures.

The stupid things I do.

I haven't been around the internet for awhile. We have been busy having dinner with friends and keeping the kids entertained. We leave for PA next week for TEN days. I am nervous about the flight with the kids. We are staying at an aunt's house while she is out of town so that will be nice.

We will be going to for my sister-in-law's wedding. Bud is giving his sister away, and the girls will be walking down the aisle at some point. I still haven't found a dress to wear, I really have nothing to wear. I have a backup dress I saw at JC Penney that I can get in a pinch. My MIL keeps saying it is low key, but I just found out yesterday the yellow dress shirt I had for Owen won't work, it needs to be white. He isn't even in the wedding, he is a guest for the love of Pete. I'm not even asking about his pants, I am sure they will be wrong, but too bad.

The best part is our gift. Remember me talking about taking a quilting class?? Well, hey if you have never really made a whole quilt from start to finish, the best thing is to make your first one a wedding gift. I'm not even using a pattern, so I am just making it up as I go. I found some quilts I looked for on the internet, and just copied them but I had to guess at yardage on material. I am now busting my butt trying to finish before we leave. It has woken me up at night trying to figure out the best way to make the whole thing.

So I will be spending many hours over the sewing machine this week. I really want it to look nice for her. I think we should get a back up gift, just in case. Also, maybe we should give her money to supplement the gift. Gahhh

Random things with no universal theme

1) Update: Ellie can totally handle milk now! I don't understand how something can make a person barf for hours, can suddenly six months later be totally fine. Oh, well.

2) Bud and Owen went up to my brothers property to help build a cabin and camp. He took 1/3 of the kids, but only 1/8 of the work. ( don't as how long I spent deciding if I should use fractions or percentages, and what exact fraction of the work Owen actually entails) Maddie and I have had some nice one on one time. Mom took Ellie for a few hours so Maddie and I could shop and go to lunch. We also did a girl movie night with no boy movies. She has not seemed to miss the guys at all. When we were shopping at Target we got lunch at the snack bar. Maddie was a wreck because she was very hungry. The water was too cold, the chair was to far and the napkin wasn't folded in half. You can see how upsetting this is, right? So I told her that she was falling apart because she was hungry. At that point she clenched her fists and teeth and shrieked " I AM NOT FALLING APART!" Bwahhaaahaaa. The lady behind me burst into laughter. Three minutes after starting to eat lunch she was back to normal.


3) Bud and I are watching the first season of a show, maybe you heard of it?? West Wing?? It's awkward because I keep saying to Bud, " I think this is going to be a really good show." Well, duh, that's why it was on so long! Also there is no one to discuss it with because, Hello, 1999. Anyway, I like the show.

4) We leave later in the week to go to Disneyland. It will be the first time for the kids and I am really excited. We are having Ellie stay with my mom, otherwise one of us would have to sit out all the rides. I will miss her.

5) Ellie is finally starting to walk! Surely she is a protege. People always ask when babies are around 10 months if they are walking yet. I think babies who walk before 12 months are like unicorns. You hear about them but I don't think they exist in my family. Owen was over 14 months, Maddie was just after her first birthday and Ellie is getting close to 15 months. They get their superior physical skill from me.

6) Thank you all for your very supportive comments on my last post. It's nice to get non-teacher feelings and see that they are the same. It's encouraging that most parents are not crazy.

Destroying Lives.... One Child At A Time

V@led!ctor!an (from here on out referred to as V) is a big deal at our school, we usually have between 9 and 16 kids with a perfect GPA each year. As an AP teacher I will have a few of them in my class. At the end of third quarter one of my students had an 89%, I knew she was a V candidate and expected her to really pick things up the last quarter. But she didn't, 4 weeks before the end of the year I emailed her parents and informed administration she was likely to get a B. At that point she needed a 100% on everything including the final to get the A. I added some stuff in the last few weeks to give her (and others) more opportunities to bring up their grades. But she still got the B (87.7%).



She was in my room the last day of school crying for 2 hours. Her mom called me during that time and ripped me apart for about a half hour. She told me I could be an inspiration to her daughter and the whole family, that I didn't like her daughter and was trying to screw her over and that I don't care about any of my students, I am playing with lives. She saying if it was my child I would want the teacher to change the grade. I refrained from telling her, no if it was my kid I would want them to actually earn it themselves. Then when she was on the phone with her girl she told her I was just a bitch. The phone calls and emails kept up for three days. The mom kept saying the girl would do some extra project, which kills me. What about the other kids, how is that fair to them? I'm not going to give an opportunity to one kid and not others. gahhh

I got wind of a few people bashing me, a few of my students and a teacher, and that was frustrating. It irked me that it all fell on me, not so much the student. My administration was supportive, with the exception of one, so that was helpful. Overall, it was all very stressful and hurtful. I did get an email from another parent thanking me, I actually burst into tears when I read it.

If nothing else next years class will get wind of the fact that I don't "give" grades, you need to actually earn them.

I'm alive!

Everything went well yesterday. I filled out my papers, and only freaked a little when they asked about a living will. I got decked out in my fancy gear:

Bud had actually brought the camera to take crappy pictures of me. So sweet. But he waited on me hand and foot for the rest of the day so still a win for me.

I had nine injections, which the nurse thought was a lot. I was knocked out so that part was good. Then I did my usual coming out of anesthetic and raving about the awesome juice box. Best Juice EVAH. I ask them to write down the brand names. (generic) Then I laugh because I realize it is only the drugs that make every thing so awesome and tasty. I top my excellent behavior with telling all the nurses that I have never tried drugs so this is why I am so shocked at the tastyness of all the food. I bet those folks get lots of good stories.

When I downloaded pictures this morning I was surprised to see this one. I don't remember it at all.

Bud told the kids about the injections when we dropped them off at mom's house. He just told them I was getting shots in my neck and Owen lost it. It took 10 minutes to calm him down, he was weeping and really freaked out. Maddie seemed oblivious. When we got home I called Owen and told him I was ok and was "alrighty then, I got some swimming to do talk to you later". When Maddie got home she climbed on the couch with me and snuggled for 45 minutes, which she never does, she is not snuggly. So it was interesting to see how they each handled the situation. Of course Ellie is so self centered she didn't even notice. Babies!

Oh Hey

Look where I haven't been for awhile. I have lots of fun stories, but they will have to wait. (Being called a bitch by a parent, being unfriended on facebook)

Tomorrow I am having steroid injections into my spine. Well, the neck part of my spine. I am a bit terrified. I have had three epidurals, which is kind of the same, but you feel like you are dying then anyway so it is a bit different. This will hopefully help with all the pain and the headaches.

So anyway I will post tomorrow, if I am not paralyzed, or you know dead. Which probably never happens, but I am kind of clumsy and weird shit happens right?

Two Weeks in Pictures

Ellie had her first birthday! She enjoyed her spaghetti dinner, more than she enjoyed her first cake. Her siblings and cousins were excited to help blow out candles. And eat cake.


Owen had his party, sadly I don't have many pictures of him because I was in the kitchen the entire time. But this was his cake. I thought it turned out pretty well, a few things I would do differently next time, but overall it is how I pictured in my head.

See the happy family? Notice the look on Maddie's face and my grip on her shoulder? Good times.

Now I am planning Maddie's Hello Kitty party.

How Much Longer

Before Milkthaw Debacle 2010 Bud asked how much longer I was planning to nurse Ellie. I really don't know. I hadn't given it much thought until he asked. This is the last baby, when she weans, this is the end of nursing forever, and I am not really sure how I feel about it.

In 2001 my best friend had her son, I remember talking on the phone while she cried about breastfeeding. It wasn't working out and she was devastated. I really couldn't understand the big deal, I mean, there was formula, not like he was going to starve. I bet $20 I could call her on the phone and get her crying about now, 9 years later. I was sympathetic, but had no idea how to comfort her.

Two years later, I was about to give birth and Bud and I were dead broke. We had to decide each month which bills were going to get paid late. Bud was finishing his student teaching, he was hired for the next school year, which didn't start for another 4 months. I knew we needed to conserve every penny, so I figured I would try breastfeeding, I had never pictured myself nursing, and only planned to do it for 6-8 weeks, then the free formula we got should get us to Bud's first real paycheck.

Bud and I took the classes, and rolled our eyes at the "breast-nazis". I heard the discussions of increasing supply with fenugreek, and oatmeal. Eye Roll. When Owen was born I was exhausted. I had only had about 4 hours sleep the night before and it was now 2am the next day. The nurse was trying to get him latched on, and he wasn't cooperating. I was laying in bed rubbing ice on my ni**les to get him to latch. Finally, the nurse ordered me to sleep and Bud to give Owen a bottle. She promised me it wouldn't ruin the whole nursing thing and she would personally make it work, once I had some sleep. The next day Owen and I worked through the whole latching, I had the usual misgiving about is he getting anything. We went home and I was still not sure my boobs were doing anything. Until they suddenly got all hot and tingly, and tripled in size in about 20 minutes. Holy Heck. Anyway, I was in pain, the usual chafing and whatnot. We hadn't worried about a breast pump because the plan was 6 weeks or so. Luckily a friend was done with hers and lent it to me. (I know, single user, whatever, we didn't have money for a movie rental)

When Owen was 4 weeks old, I suddenly developed a high fever, chills, stabbing breast pain. So off to the urgent care I trudged. I knew it was mastitis, and I prayed the whole way the doctor would tell me to quit nursing. I figured I wouldn't have to feel guilty that way. Of course the doctor told me there was no way I could quit now! That would make it worse. Eventually my sensitive parts toughened up. I found I didn't hate the nursing, it was ok. Then we went back east to visit family, our flight at one airport was delayed for 5 hours, and I didn't have to panic about what he was going to eat. I just found a quiet corner of the airport and fed him whenever I needed. No matter what I had forgotten in the diaper bag, his food was always there, with me.

So, I extended the deadline to 3 or 4 months, I didn't think pumping at work would be pleasant. But it was ok, so the deadline was bumped to 6 months. Finally, at 6 months I stopped making deadlines. When Owen was 10 months I got the flu and my supply dropped a lot. So I made a bottle of formula, and he gagged. He wouldn't drink it, no matter what we tried. So, I bought fenugreek, and made oatmeal cookies. I gave away the $400 or so of free formula I had acquired and hunkered down for the next two months. A few weeks after his first birthday, he weaned on his own, and I cried.

When I had Maddie, I figured I would see how it went, but I would use formula if we needed it, and not stress myself. Well, Maddie was not a fan of the bottle. Lupe use to spoon feed her the milk. (yes she is a saint) So we never bothered trying the formula. The morning of her first birthday Maddie refused to nurse any more. I cried.

With Ellie, I knew a year would go fast, I had done the nursing and pumping at work twice before and figured I could handle it again. Once we found out she had a dairy allergy, it confirmed what I had already planned. Now as we near the one year mark, I wonder, will she wean herself like the other two? She is definitely more distracted, and less willing to spend time nursing. I feel pretty sure I will cry again.

If someone had told me that I would end up nursing 3 children for a year each, I would have laughed at you. Or possibly cried, this was not the mother I expected to be. Not that it is any better or worse than the mother I thought I would be.... just different. I use to think people who nursed for a year or longer were "caraazzeeeee", I wonder what other things will be different than I expect?

PS. I have no judgements about how others feed their children. Unless you give them Popsicles at 2 months, I am pretty sure you are doing a great job. And hey, I could be totally wrong on the Popsicles.

Freezer Fail

Mom just called to tell me her freezer stopped working. She isn't sure when, but everything is warm, including 50 bags of breastmilk I was storing there. I keep crying about it, I know I have to just suck it up, but damn. Since I was sick last week my supply has gone to hell, so I have been supplementing with a frozen bottle once a day, along with the usual bottles to day care. Then I was pumping before bed to try to get the supply up a bit. Then my power cord for my pump died, and we haven't been able to get a replacement* yet. We have enough to get through her birthday, but with the dairy allergy I wanted her to have enough for her cereal for awhile. I think it would help if I knew she would be fine with dairy. Once she weans, that will be the end of milk for her, unless she outgrows the allergy. I just picture her whole life without milk, and the only milk she could have was ruined.

*I know you can get the power cord on amazon, but it quit on Wednesday. I didn't want to wait for it to be shipped, figuring we could find some other adapter at radio shack. It is now Sunday and I still haven't found one. Amazon is laughing at me.

VomitFest 2010

You know the week is off to a good start when your 3 year old comes running into your classroom. Bud had to go pick her up from daycare because she threw up, he figured she could hang out with him in his room for then next hour, then I was done for the day and could take her home. It was my turn to take a sick day for a sick kid, so I got my lesson plans done for the next day. While I was finishing up, Maddie was puking into my trash can. Awesome.

Also awesome??? Driving home and hearing "I need to throw up". It is super hard to pull over fast and get a kid out of the car seat before vomiting ensues. There should be some sort of emergency ejection button. Anyway, we got home and I got her settled on the couch with a bucket, when WHAM, it hit me and I started throwing up. Yay. At least I already had a sub planned. So Maddie and I took turns puking until Bud got home. Then I went upstairs to vomit in peace. Sadly, we couldn't keep anything down, but we were so so thirsty.

The next morning Bud went and got us our favorite gatorade ( fierce grape, the others taste like crap) at 6 am. When he returned he informed me he had spent good amount of time in the bathroom at the store. Three hours later he was home from work. So two sick parents, one sick child, two other kids who don't give a shit how bad anyone feels, they want dinner.

Sadly, all the dehydration seems to have taken a toll on the milk supply. I haven't pumped at work since mid-February, because I had well over 200 frozen bags in the freezer. Luckily, this has made it possible to just supplement with the frozen stash. However, giving a bottle is a pain in the ass. You don't have a free hand for reading the internet. Or change the channel, or throw things at the cat the insists on caterwauling while you get the baby to sleep.

Getaway

With spring break Bud and I decided we should get a bit of couple time. Mom was willing to watch the kids so Bud made reservations at a local resort for one night. We went to dinner and walked around some shops and mostly got to vistit with each other. Good news: We still like each other and have stuff in common.

But the whole thing was kind of spur of the moment so I forgot to pack:

Shampoo
Conditioner
Comb (seriously)
Moisturizer (my face was so so dry)
Socks ( luckily I brought twelvety hundred pairs of shoes that required socks)


And also my sense of humor/youth. The people next to us were so loud. Apparently when you are 22 you don't need to sleep, ever. At 12:30 we finally called downstairs because of the loud music. This had no effect. At 2:30 we called again, and again didn't seem to bother them. It was frustrating because we just wanted to get some sleep, luckily we finally fell asleep about 3 am, and we slept until 9:30. So it was about the same amount of sleep we get here. Oh well we still had fun. And it is good to know we are THOSE people who will call security on your ass when you are too loud. Officially we are old. I had suspected this.

What???

Does this look like the face of someone who won't sleep???




Maybe this will help her to sleep better? Would that be wrong? Maybe I should drink it!


Or maybe if I buy more of it for Bud I can run away for a day and get some sleep.

Vanishing

The last month or so has been brutal.

Sleep

-Ellie has been sleep for shit the last few weeks. Two nights last week she was up from 9:30 to 1:30, not cool. In the past we were able to just lay her down at night and she would go to sleep on her own. Not anymore. Now I have to hold her til she falls asleep, I know I shouldn't but some times you do what you gotta do.

-Even if Ellie is sleeping, I am awake for hours every night. Just can't sleep, until 20 minutes before my alarm goes off.

- Why is it if you go a few nights without sleep couples must fight???

Sickness

- Ellie had some viral thing with an awesome fever.

- The following week Maddie has a double ear infection and pink eye.

-The week after that I had to leave work early to pick up Owen because he had a fever.

-Bud and I can't get sick because we need all our days for the kids.

Health

-Ha Ha...

Work

- The quarter ends next week and I have piles of grading to do before then.

- People in my department have been talking behind my back about me doing a shitty job this year. Which I have, so I need to get my self together.

Misc.

-My license is expired, to renew I have to get all these documents together. So I need to order a marriage license from my first marriage I really tried to block it out, now I have to pay money for documentation. Fuck

Sleepless in Blogland

Guess which child is currently not sleeping????? Yes, it is Ellie. I just finished my homework for my last quilting class. Here are a few thoughts...


Oobi = baby crack

Sinus headaches for 3 days = suck

Expired Drivers license = No Sudafed

Meth addicts = Assholes

Assholes = Win

by the transitive property Meth addicts = win

Zee on Nick Jr. = Love

Sleep = Never gonna happen.

Karma truly hates me

So this morning after waiting in the stage guest area we were herded out to the stage, and they were short 4 seats. I don't know what happened, but we got bumped. I can't tell you how bitterly disappointed I am. We got to sit in the second row, but we missed out on an opportunity of a lifetime.

OMG

So, not to be all braggity because as we know karma is watching, but tomorrow is going to be awesome. The President will be at my school, and I will be on stage for the town hall meeting. Holy cow. I have know idea what I will wear. No matter political affiliation I think it is pretty cool. Ok, must look through closet for 100003475 jillionth time.

Karma is a bitch, with time on her hands

Tuesday night we went to dinner for a school function. We brought all the kids, and Ellie was stuck in her car seat the whole time. She ate her dinner, and smiled at everyone. People kept commenting on what an awesome baby she is. I kept telling them to keep their voices down, but the universe heard them.
Ellie was awake from 11:30 to 2:15, I have to be up at 5:00 so work was full of awesomeness yesterday. We had a feeling daycare would call, and sure enough Bud had to pick her up during lunch. We played pass the baby for the last 2 class periods. Today I am home with her. Next time people say she is a good baby, I will put up fight.
So a heads up, karma does not have a long to do list, she will kick you in the ass, ASAP.

Today was the first day of my four week quilting class. At the end of the class I should have an actual quilt. I don't know how big it will end up being, but it will be a quilt. This is the first square. I need to make four more of these, and then next class we will make a different square.

I love the fabrics, I don't know what I like better, the dark purple or the paisley. I have done pretty well with the sewing machine. I haven't used one in 25 years, but it is pretty easy to use. I am surprised at how well it is going, it is not as complex as I thought than I expected. Their is a lot of Geometry, so I keep trying to see if I can come up with a lesson that would incorporate the quilting. I have lots of homework to do before the next class.

First Class Update

Here it is, my first quilt square:


This took me 2.5 hours. So an actual quilt would take maybe 50 hours? The fabric will cost $50. It may be smarter to go to target and buy a quilt on clearance. Either way, I am happy with it.

First Day Jitters

I started gathering my quilting supplies tonight. I can't believe all the stuff I have had to buy for this class. I am taking a basic class tomorrow night, it is just a 2.5 hour session. The actual class is on Wednesday.

On Saturday I met my SIL Vicki at the fabric store to pick out some more stuff on the equipment list and get the fabric. I am getting all the equipment in dribs and drabs so I can use the 50% off coupons in the paper. Anyway, we spent 2.5 hours trying to find the fabric we wanted. We need a total of five fabrics, one for the back, one background and then the three main fabrics. We kept finding 2 that looked great, but finding a third to coordinate was a nightmare. These are the three I went with:

I love purple, and Maddie's favorite color is also purple. If it turns out ok, she can use it in her room. I really like the paisley, it is a bit out of my usual range, but I think that is what I like about it.

The last few weeks have been busy. My dad is coming to town later this week, and we have been busy with our after school activity. It is like a qu!z bowl competition team, and we have been involved in our playoff matches. We are in the championship match this week on top of me having two quilting classes. We are also trying to get to the school play this week, we have heard good things and we both have a lot of students involved. Oh well, it seems every week is hectic and I should just get used to it, and stop complaining.

I May Be An Old Lady

I finally got around to taking my gift from Bud out of the box today. He got me a sewing machine, I haven't used one since I was in Home Ec in 8th grade. He got it for me because my mom signed me and my sister - in - law up for a quilting class, and you need to have a sewing machine.
I am really nervous about this class, as I recall from 8th grade, I'm not so good with sewing. There was thread flying everywhere, getting all tangled up, and the bobbin would fall out. Sometimes the thing would go really fast, then slow down, then speed up, it was all crazy. So, I am pretty sure that this class will go awesome. I took out the manual, and I don't even understand half the words. There are a lot of buttons and lights and I am pretty sure I am going to sew my fingers together. ( Don't doubt my powers, I once stapled the middle of my hand)
This week I will have to find time to go buy the fabric, I am excited about that part because, fabric= pretty. I am sure I will be overwhelmed by the number of options and find three fabrics that are completely uncoordinated, much like myself.

Accessories?? Check

This is what happens when a 6 year old boy helps his sister accessorize her hair.

Worth a Thousand Words

Swine flu? To much to drink for NYE? Tired of hearing about health care reform? Why would this baby be napping over a bowl?

Well, the allergy fairies are biting us in the asses. With dairy....WTF? Dairy? That's not even funny.

Back in August Bud gave Ellie one of those wee bottles of formula that they give you at the hospital. A few hours later she started vomiting, a lot. She kept it up at 10 minute intervals for about 3 hours. We thought maybe the formula was bad, or just hard on her belly. Then a few days before Christmas I gave her some of that new baby yogurt. Then, because I am extra smart I put her down for a nap. She woke up an hour later covered in vomit. I freaked the hell out because my mom's baby brother died at 4 months from suffocating on spit up. (my mom was the one to find him, she was 8). So Bud held Ellie over the sink for 3 hours puking every 6 minutes. I sat in the corner freaking out about how I could have killed her with the damn yogurt.

Anywho, we put 2 and 2 together and figured she must have a dairy allergy. Then last week I gave her some baby cookies that she loved. Then I looked at the label and notice the 5th ingredient??? Milk. I hoped since it was a minor ingredient, and baked it would be ok. But no! No! There was more changing of the sheets, more time over the sink. So this sucks. I hate reading labels. And I get the feeling Ellie hates throwing up.

So much of my time this week has been spent googling. And I am kind of freaking out. I don't know how to cook without cheese. My people are from the midwest, everything has cheese or sour cream or butter, or best case all three. She doesn't seem sensitive to me having dairy, so I have no idea how this will play out. I am hoping she grows out of it. But do we experiment every six months, and then apologize for the vomitfest?

We will address this with her pediatrician next month, but I know he will say we have to wait and see. He so doesn't know me, I need stats about the number of kids who outgrow it, at what age? I majored in math for god sake, give me some numbers and percents. He can make em up. Just don't tell me to wait and see.

I know there are some great (bullshit) options out there like soy milk, and (gag) rice milk or whatever. I'm sure as a family we can all pull together and become more healthy by exploring some of these other options and reworking many of our recipes. But..... that won't happen. I know us, we will just buy her the separate gross milk, I will make her a different bowl of mashed potatoes, and she will have frozen fruit sorbet while we have ice cream. She will feel like an outcast in her own family, with her labeled food in the fridge. She will resent us, and probably start dressing all goth and shit. We will remind her what a happy baby she was, and she will scream about us choosing the creamy goodness of dairy over her.

Or, you know, maybe she will grow out of it.

New Years Resolutions

Happy New Year! We spent a nice quiet evening at home, this has become our tradition, because we are also celebrating when we first met.

I don't usually do resolutions but I decided I would make a few this year. Some of the reasoning behind this I will write about soon.

1) Bud and I will socialize in some fashion at least once a month. This should ideally include non-family people. We used to have a large circle of friends, but one couple moved, another couple divorced and there was a lot of drama, and the rest just drifted away. We do have other friends, but we haven't made the time to hang with them much. So I will invite people here for dinner, or we will meet at a restaurant. I am assuming some of these people will probably invite us over so I won't have to do all the entertaining.

2) I will not micro-manage my children's craft projects. Christmas ornaments made by the children should actually be made by the children, without me telling them what colors to use, or where to put the colors. (or even worse me taking the ornaments and "helping" them)

3) I will buy a bike and learn to ride the damn thing. This terrifies me. I was never good at riding a bike as a kid. I ran into the mailbox and bruised my girly parts pretty badly on the bar, I ran into a fence (I don't know how), and once tied the dog to the handle bars and went for a ride. That was not one of my better plans. But as the kids get older I would like us to go on bike rides together. I don't want to be the mom staying at home while Bud is out with the kids. I don't want my girls growing up with that as an example. So I will swallow my fear, and my pride.

I will post pictures of the scabs!