i'll wear black...

For PB's 2nd Birthday, we rented a beach house (yes, the first weekend in December).  That was a year and a half ago.
While we were at the beach, PB found a "Baby" in the toy bin that he REALLY liked.

This was also the weekend we announced to our family that Jelly was on the way!

 

After we got home from the trip, I bought PB a baby of his own.

He named it something that, at the time, sounded like "Serif", "Sherriff" or "Sara" in his little 2 year old voice.

Eventually, it became clear, her name is Sara. 
Where the name came from, we don't know... He never had a Sara in his class, so who knows????

 

PB goes through phases where he is really into Sara and then there are times, when I think he's done with her.  Thn past couple weeks, he's been into having Sara with him when he goes to sleep at night.

Last February (2008), PB and I went to breakfast at Maltby Cafe.  Our server and PB just hit it off.  (*She was darn cute by the way!)  We asked her name.  Wouldn't you know it?  Sara.

 

We've been back to the Cafe several times, but haven't seen Sara again.  Not that we were looking for her.  But if I did see her, I would have remembered.

 

This morning, PB crawled into bed with me around 6am (love that snuggle time in the morning).  He asked me to get his baby for him, so down the hall I went...

When Daddy came out of the bathroom to head downstairs for breakfast, PB said his usual "Hi Dad!" and then told him he wanted to go downstairs with him.

 

As he was getting out of bed, I asked PB his baby's name... (I like to check in and see if it ever changes....) He said "Sara". 

I said to Daddy "I don't remember who I was talking to, but they had a baby Sara too."

PB turns, looks at me and says "It's the girl at the breakfast place, her name is Sara".

 

Oh yeah.... Exactly.  I forgot that you would remember someone you saw once, nearly a year and a half ago.

 

CRAZY what these kids remember!

LOVE IT!

As PB spends more and more time with the "older kids" at school, his vocabulary becomes more and more "boy" like.

He thinks the word "Toot" is hilarious!

 

He also has a habit of saying "Huh?" when he doesn't understand or didn't hear what you just said to him.

We've taught him to say "Excuse me" if he wants someone's attention.

I've been teaching him to say "Pardon me" instead of "huh" when he wants you to repeat what you just said. 

Or at least I thought I was.

 

During bedtime, after we've done puzzles and books, whoever is doing bedtime will stay in bed with PB usually until he falls asleep.  (I know... I know... don't jump on me for that, its a bad thing we started and now can't seem to end). 

 

On Sunday, PB had a ton of energy at bedtime (chalking it up to a nap that happened WAY too late in the day). I was laying in bed with him.  We had been talking about our day and we were now at the point where I act like I'm asleep and stop responding when he talks.

 

"Mom?"

"Mom?"

"Hey Mom!"

"Excuse me, Mommy?"

"Mommy, excuse me..."

"Part of me, Mom."  

I love that my street has a group of kids who all play well together.

In the year and a half that we've lived here, I've figured out the oldest of the group are around 13 and the youngest is about 5.

 

With the great weather this week and the kids on spring break, one of the girls who had previously been too young to play, is now in the mix.  She may be 5 now... not sure.

My office window is open, I can hear them out playing Hide 'n Seek.

More specifically, I heard the tiny little girl voice counting:

"1...2...3...4...5...6...7...20...21...22...23...24...25...26...27...28...29...40."  

It just made me smile. 

 

While I LOVE that she is old enough that they let her play (and they bypass her counting skills), its mean to have her be "it", she clearly is not fast enough to catch the bigger kids as they run to "base".

 

I give her 'til the end of summer and she'll be right there with them. :)

Bring on the fun!

Practice our flying skills, since we'll grow up to be Superman!

Couple things.... if anyone is still out there.  I know it's been a long, long time since I've posted.

 

Jelly is 9 months old today!  Hard to believe.... where has the time gone?

He is crawling everywhere, loves to stand up in his crib and this morning, discovered that the drawers in the kitchen open.

 

"Hey Daddy - It's time to babyproof!"

 

 

Another thing about 9 months...

For the entire time I was pregnant (both times), I pretty much ate what I wanted.  I told myself, being pregnant was  probably the only time in my life, where I wouldn't be monitoring my weight and how big the number was.  I kinda "let myself go", if you know what I mean.  I know... I know... I should have been eating healthy, shouldn't have had pop tarts from the vending machine 5 days a week, shouldn't have had an ice cream night cap 7 days a week... coulda, shoulda, woulda... yeah yeah.

 

So, back in September, I started counting points again, not religiously, but paid attention.  Lost most of my weight but had about 6 pounds hanging on that I needed to lose. (There is a big difference between weight and size, muscle and fat).  Every year, I give myself a little wiggle room between November and February - there are just too many activities (and dangerous foods) to try to be strict with myself.
So, a few weeks ago, I challenged my team at work to try to fit in at least one hour of exercise every week.  Yes, I said one hour a WEEK! Thats how bad I am.  Most everyone was "in" and I really have had to challenge myself to make time for me.  I have a walking routine that takes me 45 minutes.  Not enough.  So, I need to find 2 days when I can get out and do it. (C'mon nice weather... where are you? You're part of my motivation!).

We do a weekly check in on Tuesday - fortunately, both weeks, I can say I got in my hour and then some. (not 2 hours... but I'll get there).

I decided if I was going to exercise, I should eat right and start counting my points again.  I'm glad I started back when I did. 
When I went for my "weekly weigh in" today, I'm back at my goal weight. 

Liek everyone said... 9 months on, 9 months off.

I did it, to the day. (yay, me!)

 

Now a whole new challenge starts.  I need to get moving, lifting, stretching.  I may weigh the same, but am definitely not the same size.

So, my journey to lose weight continues a little longer.  Once I get the exercise routine figured out and start building muscle again, I'll just want to maintain - but for now, I need the number to keep going down.

 

The best visual someone ever gave me was imagine how little space one pound of gold takes up vs one pound of butter.

Muscle takes up much less room than fat.  I need to give up some of my storage space.  I hope I don't need it all as summer approaches!

It kills me...

The daily washing of "pump parts".  Such a HUGE suck of my time (no pun intended, it just came out that way).

Actually, I hate pumping - I hate the stress of producing enough milk every single day - I hate the "hold" it has on me.

After I had Peanut Butter, I pumped before I went back to work and had a great supply of milk in the freezer.  This was WONDERFUL!  I never had to stress about making enough bottles for the next day. If I didn't make enough, I could simply go to the freezer, take out the appropriate amount and add it to the next day's bottles. One other thing...I rarely had to stress about how much milk I produced.  There was never really a problem. 

I stopped pumping when he hit the 12 month mark, but was able to give him breast milk until he was 14 months...

 

Jelly was born in July... we're now in a completely different situation than with PB.

Shortly after Jel was born, I pumped (and often), I was amazed at how quickly I need to start pumping to alleviate pressure.  I had built up my reserves and was thrilled to be in the same boat as I was with PB. 

In late July, I had a slight scare when I realized milk I had put in the freezer was not solid after 2 days.  UH-OH!  Luckily, my parents live nearby and I was able to store milk with them until the repair dude came out to replace the freezer fan ($400 later and a close call with losing nearly 100 ounces of milk).  I think losing the milk would have hurt me more than the money.

 

I continued to pump to build up the reserves throughout my 5 month maternity leave.  My freezer was full, almost to the point to where we couldn't buy any more foods that required freezing as the milk for Jelly was taking up space.  We were in the early stages of checking out extra freezers for the garage.  Not that I would have that much milk forever, but that since the plan was to keep going for a year, I knew that I'd always have some sort of supply to keep cold.  Or so I thought....

 

The week before I returned to work, my Mom watched Jel for a day.  He refused all the bottles of frozen milk that I had left for him.  Wouldn't take them. Period. End of story.  My poor baby was starving by the time I got back to him that afternoon.

The milk smelled funny.

I thawed more milk, all from different times of my maternity leave. 

The milk smelled funny.

I again thawed more mik.  Still funny.  Kinda like broccoli. Weird.

I did some research and found that the "fat" in my milk breaks down quickly after it has been pumped and therefore loses the "good taste" it should have.  I guess that makes it smell bad too.  It has something to do with excess lipase.  I did not have this problem after my first pregnancy and still do not know why I have it this time.

 

SO.... because of this, I now have a freezer overflowing with milk, that my son wont take.  A pain in my stomach that all of this milk is going to go to waste and the realization, that I am tied to this *&$# pump for quite some time.  I have to pump real time, every single day.  I can pump on Thursday for Friday... but not on Friday for Monday (unless I immediately put it in the freezer, but don't keep it there for too long).

I initially read about a solution that could help to preserve the quality of the milk - however - it was going to make me want to slit my wrists... Not really - but being a Mom who really wants to breast feed her baby... I did not want to have to scald every drop of milk immediately after it was pumped and then put it in the fridge.  More washing... more steps... more time... more frustration. 

I did try that for 2 days and then just decided to test how long I could keep the milk in the fridge before it went bad.

 

Let me be clear - I have nothing against formula or moms who choose to give their kids formula.... It's a personal decision.  I choose mine.. you choose yours.

Sometimes, I wish I wasn't so hard on myself and would let myself buy formula to supplement the bottles.   But... Nooooo- I put myself through this.  I'm funny that way.  When I make up my mind about something - thats the way it is.  Stubborn me.

 

 

So, there I was  - mid November, a freezer full of milk and me pumping my brains out.  What do I do with this milk?  There is NO WAY I am about to dump it.

 

Fortunately, I called the Mothers Milk Bank in California.  They would take it.  I told them the situation about the lipase, the taste/smell situation.  They told me not to worry, apparently they mix milk from different people together before they distribute it.  Any "funkiness" about it should be masked by the milk its mixed with.

I was screened on the phone, sent a questionnaire to complete about my health.  I had to provide my doctors contact info as well as the pediatrician's info.  They were both contacted and asked about the "state" of me and my baby.  I had to undergo a blood test to make sure I was healthy and did not have any diseases.  I was positive I didn't have anything, but it was nice to have it confirmed at no cost to me!

After all the screening and testing. I was told I was cleared and that a cooler would be delivered to my door.

Two days later, the Fed Ex truck delivered a bright red cooler to my door, it was empty except for instructions on how to package the milk for sending and the label for the paid postage.

So happy to finally be able to free my freezer - I immediately loaded the cooler.  The newest milk went in first, I wanted to be sure that if I ran out of room at least the most recently pumped was included.  I could barely fit it all in the cooler... had use just a few sheets of newpaper for insulation.

When I took the cooler back to Fed Ex, I got some funny looks from the people in the center.

I had to expect it... Here I am toting a bright red cooler, with large labels on it reading "DELIVER IMMEDIATELY CONTAINS HUMAN MILK - KEEP FROZEN"

The lady behind the counter, looked at it.  Looked at me.  Here it comes....

"Does this really have.....milk in it?"

"Yep!" I said in my most proud voice.

As embarrassed as I was by the labels on my cooler.  I was very proud that I was able to be donating milk my son couldn't use to someone else in need.

She and I talked a little bit about it, I told her the abbreviated story. She went on to tell me her story and how her Mom works with babies from Moms who are on drugs and need breast milk.

It validated for me, right then and there, that I did the right thing by sending all 22 POUNDS of frozen milk (weight of the cooler subtracted) to babies in need.

 

I'm happy to have the room in my freezer.  Happy to not have dumped the milk down the drain.   Happy to have helped other babies.  Happy to still be providing milk for my baby.  Happy when my husband washes the pump parts and bottles.  It just makes my day.

 

Maybe when I'm not pumping so much, I'll have more time for blogging?  Maybe???

 

 

 

I've been busy and spending most of my "free" internet time on facebook (I'm kind of addicted).

Last night, I took a break and did something for Me. Well, for Jelly really, but it was fun to do and I'm smiling at the end product!

 

I got out my embroidery kit (which I ordered just about a year ago), made my own pattern last night and went for it!  An hour later, I had my "Heart Breaker" onesie for him to wear to school today!

I gave myself a pat on the back for this one. (for real!)

 

I might be hooked!

 

I am still:

Today Peanut Butter is Three.

Tres.

Thrilling.

It's been three amazing years of learning.  Not just for him, but for me (Ed too). It seems like it wasn't that long ago, I was up with him, in the middle of the night,as we were first getting to know each other listening to Christmas songs on the radio, trying to comfort him and rock him to sleep.  Sometimes a few times a night. I remember at first celebrating and marking the miracle of his birth, then the hours of his life, followed by the days, the weeks and then the months.  Now the years. The natural progression.  I remember him calling me without a word being spoken, just an action or a sound told me he needed me.  I remember not being called at all, it was always Daddy he wanted.  Then I became "Daddy".  I think to him the word meant one and the same, someone who loved him.  Eventually I became Mama, then Mommy, somedays I'm still those things, but mostly just "Mom".  When he's being funny, he'll call me "Chark".  His antics are amazing, some for the good, some not so good, but all in all, he's just a sweet being learning to be a boy.  He has his struggles, learning to share, use his manners, the typical things a little one needs to learn,  which means we struggle with how to choose the right course of action to teach him the right.  Sometimes, when he's going to sleep he'll just curl up into my side and say "sleep with me".  A whole different struggle.  Stay or go?  I know the days when I have the opportunity to cozy up with my baby will be gone before I know it. I want to stay, hear him breathe, see him relax, smell his "just out of the bath" hair, hear him talk in his sleep and just watch him rest from all that he has absorbed the previous day.  I am in awe of this little boy.  Watching him figure things out, learning his personality and when to challenge him or step back.  He is independent, determined, curious, funny, a little shy and quite sensitive. A little bit of each of us.

I wouldn't trade him for anything.  His crazy hair.  His squinty blue eyes.  His  favorite phrase of "Peace Out, Hang Loose" when saying good bye.  As hard as it can be at times, being his Mom has been the most amazing experience of my life.  I am grateful for each day and know that while he is learning, I am walking right beside him getting my own lessons in life.  I am more patient.  I am getting better at being silly.  I worry like I've never before.  I am learning how to be a Mom and have this little guy (and Jelly too) to thank for teaching me.

Thank you boys, you are by far, my favorite teachers yet.  I can only hope to be the teacher's pet.

Happy Birthday Peanut Butter.

Wish Big!

 

Yesterday, as I was at school feeding Jelly.  I overheard one of the teachers in the room talking to a parent on the phone.

I could only hear one side of the conversation - that went a little like this:

"Thanks for calling me back.  It's all over his body.  His face a little around the mouth like he's been drooling a lot.  It's on his hands and arms too."

 

 

I am panicking at this moment - I am all too familiar with a couple of those sentences (from PB's old school).

 

When she hangs up, I ask if it looks like little blisters and is on the child's feet.  The answer to both questions is "yes".

I tell her it sounds like a good case of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD).

 

We talk about what the old school did to sanitize etc, the notices that went to parents and how it spread around the school.

 

 

Right before I leave, a message is delivered, that the parents are taking their child to see the pediatrician.

 

This morning, as I was dropping Jelly off, I asked the teacher if she heard back from the family.

It ends up - I was right!  (Just call me "House"! :)  He has HFMD.

I asked if the parents called and she said "No, they brought him in today.  He has a note from his Dr.  He's contagious, but its not a relly bad thing to have according to the Dr."

 

SCCCCRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEECCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

 

What the????

 

Are you kidding me?

 

So, to the Director I went, we discussed and since the child had a Dr's note, they were letting him stay.
Great.

That doesn't do much for me keeping my kids healthy, especially the week of PB's Birthday.  The last thing I want is for him to get this and to get his party friends (who are also classmates) sick.

 

So, a couple calls to our pediatrician and a visit to the Center for Disease Control website.  We've learned about the incubation period and the likely time of being contagious.  We may have missed it being out of town last week, but there could be others who are still carriers.  We're going to cross our fingers and hope for the best.

 

Dear Parent of the sick child in Jelly's Room - I have a job too. And while its inconvenient for you to stay home with your sick (CONTAGIOUS) child, it's inconvenient for all the other parents in the class who may have to do the same when their child gets your child's illness.  Please keep your child home, even though you have a note from your Doctor (they did say he is still contagious after all).  Today, it is inconvenient for me to have my HEALTHY child home with me, while I try to do my job, avoiding your sick child's germs so that my family can be healthy and my other child can have his Birthday Party this week.  While I realize it was my decision to keep my child home today, it is also inconvenient, that I am paying for a day of childcare, that I am not using, when it really is you should be having your child home and missing out on the day of paid care.  I could go on and on about why this is inconvenient.  I am assuming you are a first time parent, who doesn't know about etiquette of sick children and keeping them home to not infect others.  You'll learn soon enough.

 

 

OK - off my soap box.

5:57am woken up by Eddie

6:00 in the shower/getting ready for my first day back at work

7:30 wake up Jelly (Peanut Butter and Ed have already left for school)

7:45 change and feed Jelly (light rash on his belly that appeared after school yesterday, is still there)

8:25 load up car to take Jelly to school (his 3rd day)

8:32 sitting in traffic for the elementary school on the route to Jelly's school (Mental note to self - leave about 20 minutes earlier or later, but do not go this route at the same time ever again).  OH and It's pouring rain.

8:40 arrive with Jelly at school- it's still dumping.

9:10 at Target, buying whatever random sort of bottle I can find.  Jelly is refusing a bottle, which is a WHOLE other story in itself. Seriously, I need to be in the right frame of mind to write about this situation.

9:35 at home and logging on for my first day

9:36 boiling water to "prepare" the nipples for the new bottles

9:37 run back upstairs to enter password, get distracted and forget I'm boiling water until...

10:00 phone rings, its my manager, but I can't figure out how to answer my cool new work phone

10:01 feeling stupid

10:02 run downstairs to get my cell phone to call her back and see the water in full force

10:03 multitasking - talking to manager and boiling bottle nipples.  Looking at the rain.

10:26 End call, back up stairs to start tackling email

10:40 notice that I've received some email RSVP's from Peanut Butter's classmates for his bday party

10:43 refresh my excel skills and quickly make a spreadsheet to track who is and isn't coming to the party

11:15 head to Jelly's school to feed him lunch and switch out the afternoon bottles, hoping he'll eat from one of the new ones later in the day.  Still raining.

11:40 notice Jelly's rash is bigger and brighter, feed him lunch

12:45 leave school, head to Redmond for an afternoon meeting to catch up on the business (on the way, call the pediatrician about the rash).  Drive thru Mickey D's for a Filet o Fish.  I gotta eat something!

1:32 get to meeting - two minutes late, the parking lot was full

1:52 receive call from pediatrician.  I should bring Jelly in later this afternoon.

3:00 meeting ends, drive back up to Jelly's school in Woodinville.

3:35 HOORAY!  He took one of the new bottles without a problem!  Need to buy more before tomorrow!

3:40 on my way south to Mercer Island for the pediatrician- lightly raining now - the best its been all day.

4:20 I'm early - go to drive thru Starbucks

4:32 I'm still in line at Starbucks, I've ordered. What is taking so long???  I'm not going to have time to drink my beverage before the appt.

4:39 Arrive one minute early for appt

4:52 Done with appt, he has caught a virus at school - he's not contagious - nothing to do, just watch to make sure it doesn't go to his mouth or eyes. (oooh gross!)

4:55 In car on way to Babies R Us to buy more Nuk bottles

5:20 Oh great! They don't have what I need.

5:25 On the road up north to Target (thankfully, I have Jelly, my carpooler).  Winshield wipers are on FAST!  Prime traffic time - even the carpool lane is slow when its dark and wet (and the 5 o'clock hour)

6:00 Back at Target for the second time today - they only have 3 Nuk bottles that aren't pink.  4 bottles total will be ok for now.

6:29 In car to head home, warning that I have "50 miles until empty" comes on

6:50 At Costco filling the car with gas.  Glad the pumps are covered. I'd be soaked.

6:57 Finally on my way home

7:10 At home start nightly routine Ed has PB, I've got Jelly

9:29 done with nightly boy routine (Jelly didn't want to go to sleep)

9:30 have a HoneyCrisp Apple for dinner. ( at least its fruit!)

9:35 log back on and do some work, feeling guilty that I had so much "life" stuff on my first day back

10:52 right now. Gotta go to bed. I'm exhausted. 6am conference call tomorrow morning.  My goal is that my day is MUCH more work focused.

 

 

 

Well, its all over and now time to take down the decorations getting ready for the next Holiday.

Here's a peek into our Halloween!

 

First the costumes:
Jelly was a spider, of course the costume swallowed him - so he didn't spend much time in it.

I was his web. Not the most flattering costume -but a good use for the train from an old wedding dress!  Who knew a WHOLE WHOLE BUNCH of tulle could keep you so warm?!?

Peanut Butter was Dash from The Incredibles.  He loved having his face painted!  At each door after he said "Trick or Treat", he'd say "Look at my face!".  It was the darn cutest thing!

Lots of fun fall activity going on around here this week.

Most of our (ok, the boys) evening time was consumed with creating a gingerbread haunted house!  After the little boys were asleep, we spent lots of time getting our house ready for the little goblins who will come ringing our bell on what looks to be a rainy night.

 

 

Fun Fall Sunday! Raking Leaves!

 

 

Decorating Halloween Cookies (For the second time)

 

 

Night one of the house

Whe determines how big to make clothes for babies and what sizes to put on them?

Seriously, my kids are big, but they aren't giants.

I was looking back at my calendar for Peanut Butter and at 4 months I had him in a few outfits labeled "12 months".

I think Jelly is a little bigger than PB.  He has been able to wear "9 month" outfits since he was 3 months old - though we made his wardrobe all 9 month items yesterday.  For him it makes a little more sense, considering he was 9-6 when he was born.

But, for real, the sizing has to be off... Unless you have kids that are born on the smaller scale.

 

Great thing about him moving through clothes so quickly, is that I am ridding myself of bins of boy clothes just as fast! (YAY!  More room for my stuff!)  The drawback, people are still sending me baby gifts of clothing that are labeled as "age appropriate".  While I'm grateful for the thoughtfulness and the gifts, I must post the following consumer alert:

**Note to everyone who will buy baby gifts for friends in the future.  If you buy clothing - buy a size or two larger than what would seem appropriate for the babies age.   Make sure its season appropriate too! 

 

It's about that time... next month, Jelly will go to school. 

I remember, like it was yesterday, how I felt the first day I sent Peanut Butter to school.  What a wreck I was!

 

Since my body has been the sole source of nutrition for this child, except for the occasional bottle here or there, I figure its time to start getting him used to eating from a bottle.  Regularly.

This will also help me to better understand how much to put in each of his school bottles when the time comes.  I still consider pumped milk to be "liquid gold"... Never, ever, ever, waste a drop, if you can help it. (Especially considering what a pain in the butt it is to clean all the pump and bottle parts).  If I had a housecleaner, I'd put all his/her other duties on hold and have them solely spend time cleaning the parts.  I, seriously, hate it that much.

 

Good thing I'm working on the bottle now.  He's pretty hit or miss.

Last Friday, he took a bottle from my Mom, no problem.

Saturday he would not take it from Daddy, but hand him and the bottle to me and it went down, smooth - like buttah.

I tried again on Monday to give him a bottle.  No go Joe (and I'm not talking about Joe, the plumber - just to be clear).  So, in an effort to not waste the milk in the bottle, I got creative and tried to "bait and switch" him.  It worked.  If you can't figure out what I'm talking about - lets just say, he started feeding from me and as he relaxed, I slipped the bottle in.  He'd be good for about 20 seconds and then refuse again.  Eventually, about 45 minutes later, we finished, what should take about 20.  (Thanks Kathi, for being so patient while you waited for me to pick you up).

Today, I tried again.  Not so bad.  He played with the bottle a little, pushed it out of his mouth here and there, but we got it down.  YIPPEE!  I also, moved up to the next stage of bottle nipple to get the milk in faster.  I figured as long as he's drinking lets get it in FAST!!  This graduation to #2's could be the missing link.  We'll try to have Daddy give him a bottle tonight again.

I figure over the next few weeks, we'll get this figured out.  I'll resort to having all of my family members feeding him, so that he gets used to taking it from different people.  I wont resort to strangers on the street - but.... anyone I know who is within an earshot at feeding time, may be asked to step in.

 

This is where my time on leave starts to disappear.  I only have a month left, I will spend a lot of time pumping, feeding and washing pump and bottle parts, of course all in between getting as much 1 on 1 time with Jell.  So much for knitting, reading and getting my painting projects complete! 

 

After all, it is called infant care leave, not take some time off to do all the things around your house you've been putting off!

I've loved every minute of it!

In my hurried time to get ready and out the door, I have rolled three steps into one using this:

 

 

 

I love Wet 'N Wild Ultimate Sheer! It provides sunscreen, moisture and color all at once.
It's Cheap 'N Easy too!

 

Last Spring when I was initially checking out tinted moisturizers, this one got some of the best reviews - especially for the price!  And that I can pick it up at my local drugstore is even better.  No special trips to the mall for some hoity toity expensive line...

Read more here

 

If I had girls... they'd wear hats like this:

 

 

When I go back to work next month, I will be walking 7 steps out of my bedroom to my office. Yippee!  I am so excited about being able to work from home and no longer having the dreaded commute!

The whole time I've been on leave, I've been using my laptop on my lap, the dining room table or the floor, depending on where I was with Jelly.  We finally have a "temporary" arrangement set up in what will be my office.  The configuration is not final, but my system is set up, including wireless keyboard, mouse, monitor and printer.  This makes everything SO much easier! This also means my card reader and external hard drive (where all photos are stored) are hooked up too and posting entries with pictures (which are much more interesting than entries without) will be happening much more often.  WHEEEEEEEEEEEE!

So, while I'm not back at work for another month, I could be back in the regular blogging business very soon! (all dependant, of course, on the demeanor of a 3.5 month old little boy)

There's no place like home. There's no place like home.

It's time...

for Halloween decorations

turning up the heat

putting the flannels sheets on the bed

 

..and a glass of red wine at night - IF - I wasn't the primary feeding source for Jelly.  Maybe next fall???

 

 

A new Red Robin is going in near our house.

Yesterday, Peanut Butter and I were driving home from getting his "Potty Prize" we were talking about what to have for dinner.

Let me first set this up to say that PB loves his cheeseburgers, but he was talking about having pizza for dinner (which we had the night before) and I was trying to get him to think about something other than having pizza again.

 

Me: Are you sure  you sure you want pizza?  We had it last night.

PB: Yeah, I like pizza.

Me: Look!  There is a Red Robin, they make cheeseburgers there!

PB: The Red Robin doesn't make cheeseburgers Mom.... (in a "don't be so silly" sort of tone)

Me: Yes, they do make cheeseburgers at Red Robin and they're good!

PB: Mom, they can't make cheeseburgers at the Red Robin.  He doesn't have hands, just wings.  

I posted on Thursday about PB going to school for the first time in his BBUs (Big Boy Undies).  His teachers have been so great at working with him on Potty Training in class but I was sure there would be some accidents.  I was hoping for the best.

I called school at noon to see if I needed to bring more clothes. (I sent 5 pair of BBUs and 4 pair of pants and a pair of Crocs - not sure how far liquid goes down a leg and all) :)  At noon there had been 0 accidents! Yippee!

I was so proud of my boy... he was remembering to tell the teacher when he had to go.

Well, it seems the school got a little anxious and decided to start his transition into the next room that afternoon. 

The next room of course, is where he'll go ONCE he's fully potty trained.  That being said, you can be sure the teachers in that room were not so focused on when my boy had to go potty.  Not only were they not in tune with him, he didn't know the teachers, the kids, the environment and there was so much new stuff going on... do you really think he could remember to speak up when he had to go and find the right person to tell as well?

 

He came home with 3 "accident bags" and was wearing his crocs.  All a result of the afternoon when he was exploring the new class.

 

I don't think he got a fair shake at being successful in his new effort.

 

Yesterday, we told the school that  we aren't so into moving him into the next room until he gets more comfortable with the whole potty gig.  They listened, kept him in his regular room until 3:30 and guess what??? No accidents ALL DAY!  Double Yippee!

He did great all night.  As I was cleaning up from dinner, he was in the toy room playing, then I heard the bathroom light switch being hit, the door close followed by the "clank" of the toilet seat being put up.  He took himself into go potty!  He's getting it!

 

A couple weeks  back, when we gave a feeble attempt (about 4 hours worth) at potty training, I told him if he went #2 on the potty, I'd take him to the store and let him pick out a toy.  On Tuesday, when he had a good potty day, we offered him a treat, he wanted brownies.  I didn't have any made.  But  promised him that if he went "#2" on the potty, I'd make him whatever treat he wanted. 

He confirmed:  "Brownies.... and a toy" (he doesn't forget)

 

Guess what I made right after he left for soccer this morning????

Call me Betty Crocker... I was baking brownies!

 

We're making progress!

 

 

 

 

I love this - For what it is ( a commercial with) a CHEER!  The "back in the day" cheerleader in me has watched it 3 times already!

The message is pretty good too!

GOOOOO DADS!