May 2006

May 05

stupid internet

our internet was down from monday afternoon until thursday afternoon.  it was sooooo frustrating.  it also meant we had to rely on our stupid cell phone which drops calls constantly...don't believe the cingular commercials!  i think we are going to cancel everything having to do with cable at the end of the month.  anyway, not a whole lot happened.  let's see... we got our lawn mower (which i think i wrote about) we still have to get a battery for it, but i think that will happen soon.  we had our friends rachel, erin and their daughter over for dinner.  i can't believe how big she's getting!  i don't know why it surprises me, because elijah shot up so fast, still it's fun to see.  we had our lunch (jerry calls it our high society lunch...what ever!)  that was really fun except that elijah had a massive crying fit right at about time to eat.  i think it was gas, poor guy.  he was so miserable i almost left, but then he fell asleep and was better once he pooped and had a nap.  i really enjoy going to your lunches.  i really feel blessed.
my friend laura comes here tomorrow!!!!!!!  i'm really excited!  she's driving my parents truck down with a bed that will eventually be elijah's, so that's cool too!  we've been friend since 5th grade!!!  that's along time for sure!  unfortunately the weather looks to be rainy and rather chilly for may.  that's too bad.  but it'll be so good to see her and catch up.  then my parents are coming down next friday for mother's day weekend.  very busy, but it'll be fun.
i really need to go to the library and see everyone there.  i think rachel and i may go together next week sometime.  i also need to get out to the montessori school before school ends.  i think about these things, but forget constantly.  so i'll add some pics of the boy.  only another week and then he'll be 4 months!!!!  i can't believe it!  oh yeah, and check out the pics of our garden as well!!!!
May 09

laura's visit

We had a grand time!  Really we didn't do anything but be lazy, play with the baby, and chat.  We watched some movies that Laura hadn't seen.  She was crazy and went into the ocean.  It was only 74 degree air temp and 64 degree water temp.  I was very surprised she stayed int he water so long.  Elijah and I stood on the beach and watched.  When we got home, Laura jumped into a  hot shower.  It was really good to see her!
Rachel, Erin, and Maya Rose came over for dinner last night.  We had pita pizzas...mmmm...  It's always good to see them.  I can't believe how fast Maya is growing.  Rachel is joining our little group (Jerry calls us the high society ladies....HA!) this week.  I'm super psyched about this.
Our friend Bonnie had her baby on Monday.   finally a boy for Elijah to play with.  I can't believe there are soooo many baby girls around.  Maybe our next one will be a girl and everyone else will have boys...we'll see.  I think Jerry may go see Bonnie this evening.  I made some banana bread for him to take.
I tried my hand a lemon squares this past week.  I think they turned out pretty good.  I think I will make some more later today.
My parents are coming on Friday and we are having a picnic on Saturday (weather permitting) to celebrate Mother's Day.  It's weird that we'll be celebrating not just our moms, but me as a mom too.  I sometimes can't believe that this is my job now.  I love every minute of it (even when our dear one doesn't sleep well at night...sigh...yawn.)
I guess that's all...
I'll post pics of Laura's visit..
May 11

sun finally!

we've had some gloomy days recently.  i guess it's good to get some rain, but i really hate days where the sun never shines and it never rains.  today it's sunny (for a little while anyway...)
we went and saw bonnie's baby yesterday.  he is really adorable.  we needed to go to target, but by the time we left the hospital it was too late.
rachel lets me borrow her mothering magazine after she is done with them.   there are some articles i read and take with a grain of salt, but others are really informative and helpful.  there was one talking about leaving the car seat in the car.  it made me feel like i was doing the right thing.  of course, our big fella grew out of his carrier car seat rather quickly, so we have to leave the car seat in the car.  but the article continues on with stats about children having flat heads and what not.  we noticed this with elijah last week and started putting him on his side to sleep.  already there is such a difference.  ANYWAY< the article said that leaving your child in a car seat carrier or in a swing or stroller makes the appearance of flat head more prominent.  we decided before elijah was born to not get a swing.  we do have a bouncer seat that i use while i'm hanging out clothes.  but i feel like i can rock or swing my child and i would rather do that than put him in a swing (my preference only.)  i was also scared that i would end up using the swing as a "babysitter".  so far i have had no problems...well, of course, there are days when elijah just will not tolerate being put down, but i have two carriers and so i just get stuff done while "wearing" him.  lately we have put him in the high chair during dinner.  he's sooooo interested in food and watching us eat.  i think he will definitely be ready by six months.  very fun!  anyway, it's nice to read that we have made good decisions for our baby.  there was also an article about breastfeeding in public.  i really need to become more comfortable with this.  i'm always looking for corners and whatnot.  but i realized yesterday in the hospital waiting room that there's nothing to see.  i'm not exposing myself, elijah's head covers most of me up.  people tend to see you and then quickly turn away, but i feel like that's their problem.  i feel i can defend myself if someone were to say something to me.  and really would they rather listen to a baby cry (he really can be loud!) or mind their own business while a child quietly eats?  it was weird that even some of the nursery nurses turned away quickly...i mean don't they help moms do this everyday?  sometimes i think that the hospital is maybe owned by formula companies.  we  were given a diaper bag with formula coupons (the bag itself was from a formula company) upon leaving the hospital, even though we were very clear that we were only breastfeeding!  it's a little irritating.  i guess it is easier to feed your child a bottle (except that ours won't take one) rather than fight through the sometimes difficult trials of breastfeeding.  and i TOTALLY understand that there are times when it is necessary for the baby to be on a bottle because he/she just isn't learning as quickly about breast feeding.  but i think it is really important to continually encourage mothers to continue trying breastfeeding.  it's sooooo much cheaper.  megan posted an article about breastfeeding that i thought was very interesting (i just tried to find it but the server got stuck....) talking about truth and fiction of claims made about breastfeeding.  anyway, like i say i understand not having the energy or whatever, but it amazes me that it doesn't seem as encouraged by the hospital as i thought it would be.
okay, i've rambled long enough and i need to get ready to go get rachel for our lunch.  i'm about to post some more pics of elijah, don't be amazed at the sitting up pic (well you can...i know i was) because he feel over right after i took the picture, but he is definitely on his way!!!!!
Oh yeah, to answer Claire's question.  at 2 months he was in the 97% for weight and 50% for height.  we go back on tuesday for his 4 month check up.  i'm calling 19 pounds.  jerry says no more that 18 and 3/4....we'll see....
May 15

mtoher's day and what not

my first mother's day... it ws fairly uneventful.  we went to church and that was nice.  jerry brought home KFC...mmmmm....and he says there is a gifty on the way (a device is the only hint i got.)  mom and dad bought jerry a weed wacker for an early father's day gift so we played around with it.  that was about it.
we are canceling our cable this week.  the only show i really cared about was west wing and it's gone now...sigh...i am not really sure we'll get it again next fall either.  we have an antena and we can get most local stations with that, so why bother with the 7 dollars a month.  we've also chandelled netflicks.  we realized that we were just getting movies for the sake of getting them and not really watching anything we wanted.  so we decided that was something else we could live without.  i must say we are doing really well with this not buying stuff.  granted i miss shopping and stuff, but not as much as i thought i would.  i mean we can get movies for free from the library.  we try to have friends over once a week for dinner...really it's very nice.  you don't have to wait for a table, you don't have to worry about the non-smoking section not really being non-smoking, you can choose your own music and you aren't limited to a menu as to what you can eat.
going back to the breast feeding thing...i understand that it makes people uncomfortable, but i have chosen clothes that cover my breast while i'm feeding.  if we are in a very public place i cover elijah's head and myself with a light diaper or blanket.  i really feel like i haven't gotten that many stares, but i also don't feel bad if people walk away.  but i do understand that society has sort of trained us to not look.  i personally am so curious now.  there are so many holds and babies latch in different ways.  at our little lunches this is often a topic of conversation.  i often wonder what it would be like for a woman who doesn't have children to join us one day...i'm sure it would be interesting with talking babies and crying babies and then the mothers all carrying on seven different conversations.  it may tend to give others a headache...but i really love going and hanging out with them.
okay, i have left my son with his grandparents for all of this, though i haven't heard him cry yet.  we are going to go see a relative today...car trip...tomorrow poor baby gets his four month old shots...not looking forward to that at all!
May 16

four month checkup

jerry won...elijah is now 18 pounds 6 ounces, 26 inches long and has a head circ. of 17 inches.  for weight and height he is in the 95% for head circ. he's in the 52%.  he's very healthy and did very well with his shots.  he's a bit cranky and wants to be held, but no fever.  we don't give him tylenol unless he runs a fever or seems to be in pain...but neither are the case.  we have a system down now.  after his first two shots i sit down and prepare to let him comfort nurse.  jerry helps hold him with the other two shots and then picks him up and comforts him and then hands him to me.  elijah cried while he was getting the shots, but that's it.
anyway, just wanted to post the update while i was thinking about it...
May 18

wellll...not so much....

SOOO, our boy didn't do as well as I thought he was going to do after his shots.  At about 3:00 the afternoon he got his shots, he started running a fever.  So we gave him Tylenol and like clock work for the next 24 hours every four hours as the tylenol wore off, he got cranky and cried.  I hate giving him medicine, but it really helped.  On Tuesday night I slept with him in my bed.  He just wanted to be cuddled and he freaked out evey time we put him down in his crib.  I was worried that this might happen last night, but he went down around 8:15 or so and slept until midnight.  He woke up screaming, so we feed him and then Jerry walked with him until he fell back asleep (no clue why I was still awake...) he slept in his crib until 7:00 this morning!!!  Let me tell you!!!!  I feel like a new woman.  Yesterday he took two really good naps and then slept through the whole night!!!!  I couldn't believe it.  He's still not back to himself yet, but the fever seems to be gone.  He's napping now.  We are supposed to go to our group today, I may just go for lunch and then leave, we'll see how he's feeling.  It's been so busy for the past two weeks.  We had Laura here for a few days then my folks came down.  Some friends from WWC are supposed to stop by either tomorrow or Saturday morning and then we are going to a baby shower Saturday afternoon.  At least the baby shower is just next door, so we could leave without too much trouble.
I am really looking forward to seeing my friends from WWC though.  One of them has a baby boy (also named Elijah) and she and her hubby have been in Belgium for a while.  It will be good to see her and meet her baby.  When we were picking baby names we first liked Noah, but then someone we knew named their boy Noah...then we settled on Elijah...it took a long time to agree on a name...so when we found out that Katrina had named their boy Elijah, Jerry and I decided that we weren't changing the name again! Don't really know why I just told that story...anyway...
So I guess that' it...
Oh yeah, the garden... well....things weren't progressing and I was getting bummed so mom and dad went out and re-planted the squash and green beans.  Peas will have to wait until next year.  The also planted more corn and some cantaloupe.  So hopefully it will do better.  Now that we have a weed wacker, we can better manage the grass around the garden.
Also...odd thing...(or maybe not....) we seen to have an ABUNDANCE of black widow spiders around our house.  I found one while I was weed wacking the ditch and then another one under the lip of a planter.  That one could have been dangerous as I grab the lip of the planter to move it... I know that it takes a lot to provoke these spiders, but it still freaks me out!  Of course, I don't like spiders to begin with.  Also these seems rather large...EEEWWWW!!!!!
Okay well, my boy is up and he needs a bath!
May 19

a busy day

we did end up going to lunch group yesterday.  it was very nice.  we decided that after next week (i'm hosting and i wanted to make peanut butter ice cream pie...) we would meet in the mornings around 10 instead of the afternoons at everyone's nap time.  that'll be good for outside temp wise as well...i can't believe it's supposed to get up to 88 degrees this weekend!!!
for mother's day my mom is getting me a stroller that has a canopy on it.  since i can't put the sunscreen on elijah yet we need something to cover him on our walks.  so i picked one out this morning and mom is going to order it for me.  i never in my life thought i would be so excited over a stroller...
ANYWAY, so as i was leaving our little group yesterday katrina and amy called and wanted to come by.  so i came home and tried to tidy up a bit (HA!) and then when they arrived, we had a very nice visit.  the tow elijah's were very happy to meet each other and were very cute!  katrina's elijah is almost a year old!  he's adorable!  it was really good to catch up and stuff as well.  katrina said that she might be down here more often as they know someone with a house fairly close by.  that would be really cool to see her more often.
so our friend bonnie started a blog and has pics of her very cute little BOY!  soooo exciting!
i'm off to check on the little one...his cough got a little worse last night and he isn't sleeping well....i'll post pics later...
May 22

6 years and counting

yesterday was our six year anniversary.  It was a quiet day.  like an idiot I mowed the lawn in the blazing heat of the day.  Needless to say, I did not finish it.  Maybe tomorrow before the temps soar back up to close to 90.  We met Rachel, Erin and Maya Rose for ice cream.  Our little guy is still all stuffed up and my allergies are killing me, but we are pushing through.  I think Elijah is feeling better.  I called the doc on friday at 10 in the morning and they didn't call back until 5:30!  It really annoyed me.  oh well, by then I was convinced that his cough and snuffles were allergies.  He has no fever.  I just wanted to know if I could give him anything to help make his cough more productive.  They said no...sigh... so we are constantly sucking out his nose with the little bulb thing and giving him saline through the nose...poor guy...
I am hosting our lunch group this week and I am going to try my hand at making homemade noodles.  i've done it before and it's really easy, I really don't know why we don't do it all the time.  We don't have a pasta machine so it's a little harder to get the noodles thin enough, but I'm making lasagna so as long as I use enough sauce it shouldn't really matter... we'll see.
Today wasn't nearly as productive as I thought it was going to be.  I did get most of the clothes put away, but I really wanted to vacuum.  elijah is scared of the vacuum, so I usually put him down to nap in a room far away from where I want to work...he just kept waking himself up this afternoon, so I ended up holding him for about 2 hours so he could get some sleep.  At night we have been using one of those Vic's night light vapor things and that helps, but I feel like he needs to try to get the goop out during the day.  oh well, the world will not end if I don't vacuum the house this week.  (Contrary to what my parents might think...hehehe)
Speaking of my folks...they are on a trip for their anniversary.  Dad booked a place and didn't tell mom where it is.  He just told her to pack her hiking boots...he sent me a link, it looks really nice!
okay, that's it for now.  Jerry got me some shower soothers and they are fab-o in helping clear my sinuses!  You just drop one in the shower and the vapor action goes right to work...ahhhhhhhh.....
i'm posting new pics of the boy....he's sooooooo cute!!!!!
May 25

just too cute

i really don't have much to write except that i have the cutest baby ever!!!! (sorry to all the other mom's out there...)anyway, i am posting some pics of him...
i just keep falling in love with him!
yep, i changed my theme yet again...lol...it's a GRAND day!!!!
May 27

yard sales and whatnot....

So our little guy is growing fast!  We were given a bunch of clothes before he was born that went up to size six months-ish.  Yeah, he's outgrown most of those (or will shortly.)  So I was on e-bay yesterday and I cam really close to bidding on a lot of clothes, but decided not to.  I mean you just never know what you are going to get.  So anyway, I was on this web site and saw that there was going to be a 15 family yard sale at a local high school.  I thought surely there would be kids clothes there, so i woke up this morning and got Elijah dressed (we left Jerry in bed....) and went to this yard sale...WHATEVER....I was so annoyed. 15 families must have donated 3 items each.  It sucked! So I was heading back home and there was a church doing a car wash and yard sale and I thought, what have I got to lose?  I mean we're already out, Jerry gave me cash for this exact purpose... So we stopped...boy am I glad we did!  They had a ton of stuff.  I got Elijah 19 clothing items (including the cutest little baseball cap!)a swing that hangs from the porch, a bunch of stacking toys, one of those ball toys that you match the shape to get them in (you remember the red and blue thing from when you were a kid...), and a great big board book about trains.  All for 25 bucks!  I was so excited.  Apparently they have this sale once a year.  So Our trip turned out to be successful!
Our lunch group I hosted this past Thursday went well.  I stayed up and made wheat noodles for the lasagna Wednesday night and Jerry made us garlic bread.  Only five of us were there...good thing too...I'm not sure we would have had enough...it was really good if I do say so myself.  We had a really nice time.  It's really fun to see everyone every week and just chat and hang out.  We are moving our time to the morning next week, which will be fun too.  All kinds of yummy foods to have in the morning time!  Bagels and muffins and doughnuts...mmmmm....
Speaking of muffins, did anyone see the Today show segment about muffins in America?  Apparently they went  around to some of the big chains and ordered fat free, low fat, or sugar free muffins and then had them analyzed.  First off the average serving size (according to the FDA) is 3 ounces.  Most of the muffins were between 8 and 10 ounces!  None of them were fat free and only two of the 10 were considered low fat-ish.  So that's annoying, BUT none of them were sugar free!!!  That's dangerous.  People who are diabetic count on truthful advertising when it comes to sugar free foods!  I thought that was horrible!  All the stores said they would re-test the mixes...but it's not the mixes I fear.  I am sure it's in the preparation...sigh...
I don't think that it would stop me from eating a muffin...but I don't eat muffins daily either...
My child is sooo funny.  We have a bed in the office now.  He's sleeping on it right now (very convenient I must say.)  Anyway, he's talking in his sleep.  It's pretty funny.  I thought he was awake, but he's sound asleep...
It seems like there was something else I wanted to write about, but I can't think of what it was...Oh well, must not have been too important.  It's hot and humid here... hope it's great where you are!
May 30

yawn

it is so hot!   elijah and i sat outside on the porch (in the shade) waiting for someone to come pick up an item they bought off the yard sale web site, and i thought i was going to roast!  i can't believe it's not june (yet) and it's already so hot!
anyway, i must say that my new favorite thing is posting stuff on freecycle and also on this web site.  since for some reason we don't have craigslist, i guess this is the next best thing.  it's not that popular yet, but once it is, i think it'll be great!
the biggest thing is that we are getting stuff out of our house!!!!
i just posted pics of the swing i bought at the yard sale.  jerry picked up the stuff we needed to hang it and i went on and installed it.  elijah seems to love it!  he's awfully cute in it as well...but he's almost always cute....
that's all....