still recovering...

As I said in the previous post, my mom was here last week for a festival here.  The festival was Saturday and when I woke up (before the crack of dawn) to get stuff set up, at our house it was not too bad weather wise.  It wasn't warm, but not entirely cold.  So I dressed in long pants, a tank top, a short sleeved shirt, and a fleece.  When we got out to our site, it was FREEZING!!!  My mom and I were SOOO cold.  So we hopped around and tried really hard to warm up.  Jerry brought me a sweatshirt right as the sun came out.  Regardless it was a decent day and I had fun.  My mom and I were joined by my friend Amy.  Together we set up shop.  Amy had the idea of doing face painting.  I picked up a set of paints and thought, how hard can it be?  It is actually quite fun.  I have to be honest.  Amy said that she thought we should charge 3 bucks a pop.  I was a little wary of the price.  I thought no one would pay that... Boy was I wrong!!  At one point I looked up and there was a HUGE crowd surrounding our area waiting for face painting.  There was another booth face painting as well.  We actually had a mom come over to out booth after her daughter's face had been painted and asked us to fix it!   At the end of the day, a woman approached us.  She asked if we were already booked for the next weekend.  I nearly fell over from giggling.  Um, no we are not booked (this is the first time I've ever done this!!!)   So she said that her church was having their fall festival the following Sunday and they paid all their vendors up front because all the activities are free, and what do we charge.  We told her we needed to discuss what our price would be.  So we did and when she came back, Amy talked to her and she hired us on the spot!  It was amazing!!  I'm super excited about it!  We will only be working for two and a half hours and while that's not too long, we will be working really hard I am sure!  So that was a great thing that came out of the festival.  I have been beat though.  Mom ended up with a really bad cold.  And as we only had 3 chairs, when Amy and I were both painting faces, one of us had to squat and my thighs were killing by Sunday afternoon.  (We will have four chairs for this Sunday!)  I sold a bunch of stuff as well, so that was good.

So on Monday I took the kids over to swim at Kristie's gym with her and L.  Grace is such a water baby.  I brought both of their life jackets this time and she just walked in until her little feet didn't touch anymore and then she'd roll onto her back and then flip herself over onto her front.  I gave her a noodle to hang onto and she just held on and kicked her little legs as fast as they would go.  It was really cute.  Elijah is still timid in the water, but still loves the pool.  He decided he was the life guard and played on the ramp and entertained himself.  After swimming we ate lunch and then ran races with the kids on the indoor track.  We enjoy going there, but it's quite a drive and a little pricey for the day, but it's a special treat for sure!  Monday night I went to see Where the Wild Things Are and I will write a review of later.

Tuesday we went to meet Angela to celebrate N.Lo's actual birthday ate a donut and then went to play at the park.  Elijah and Grace were both missing some stuff for winter (as was I) so off we went to the Bargain Box.   Got the stuff we needed.  And off we went to Michael's for face painting supplies and accessories for Sunday.  Then lunch with Jerry.  After nap (or lack thereof for Elijah) I was ready to get outside.  I started to go into the back yard but Elijah told me, "there isn't enough dirt in the back yard."  Alas.  So to the front yard we went.  I used this as a good sign to clean out the car.  Which I did (it was REALLY gross) and then cleaned the carpet, the roof, and the seats.  I feel like I'm driving a new car!

Today we had went to the park.  It was nice to have a sort of mellow day to just enjoy the day.  Tomorrow we are off to the pumpkin patch with our playgroup and then Friday we have soccer.  This week just seems packed.  I don't see that next week is going to be better....but still I would rather be super busy than super bored!

February 2009

February 05

Enter February!

February (what a weird word...) has started with a bang.  I guess January wen out with one.  We went to a super fun birthday party.  They rented a bounce house and while it was chilly, all you had to do was jump jump jump to get warmed up!  It was a blast!  Elijah had a great time once he got over the initial shyness of being around people (that he's around at least once a week...)  Jerry kept Grace at home and therefore making him stay away from work for a little bit.  He hasn't taken a whole day off since Jan 17th (not that I'm counting... well, really I am!)  And while that's a lot of overtime, it is becoming obvious that Elijah and Grace miss him a lot.  Grace sees him and immediately wants to crawl over to him and snuggle.  Elijah has a tough time after lunch when Jerry goes back to work and then coming to the table to eat dinner.  The latter because Jerry comes home and plays with him.  But it's okay.  I have something for every weekend the rest of the month, so he'll have to be here.  And I need a little break too!  I'm going out with the two K's this weekend to see a movie and I'm soooo looking forward to it.  Honestly, it could be a blank screen for 2 hours and I"d be fine with that!

So the weather has been all weird!  Today the high was supposed to be 35 by Sunday it's supposed to be 70!  So whatever!  Yesterday we had 20 minutes of hard snow and then it stopped, but was FREEZING the rest of the day!  We went to a friends house and iced Valentine's Day cookies and had lunch.  Today we went to the train museum (where Elijah had his party last year!) and had it completely to ourselves.  I was happily surprised.  They have a great children's room and I thought it would be packed with moms that wanted to get out of the house...alas, it was not the case.  So that was nice.  I think that I might get a membership there.  I mean if we go just 3 more times it would pay for itself and they do cool stuff like Polar Express readings and whatnot... so we'll see.

On another note: I love our crock pot!  It's my new favorite thing!  I mean we had one before, and I guess I just wasn't that into it or something.  It just didn't seem to cook things right or something... of course, the only thing that ever really cooked was beef stew... But I have been trying all kinds of things in it and most recently I made BBQ!  It was so easy and SO yummy!  I love it!  Just wanted to share! ;)

Tomorrow we are heading for a park since it's going to be in the 50s.  I also have a baby shower that I'm taking Grace to this weekend.  While it's nice to get out, I really wish I just had two days to really work on the house.  I don't know what the solution is to the toy room, but there has to be a better way.  Maybe I'm just not diligent enough at keeping things where they go, but Elijah is REALLY into piling things up.  That's fine, but then when it's time to clean up everything gets all mixed up and unless I go through and sort it all out it's impossible to find things.  THEN he gets all whiny that he can't find one specific toy and tears up the room finding it.  I really think shelving maybe the answer, but when the heck am I going to have time to install them?  sigh... My folks are thinking about coming down for a week in March, so maybe I can do it then.  I really think that I depend on order.  And while I don't want to be anal, or pass this tendency onto my children, it really makes me a little crazy to not have organization.  We won't even talk about the mess that is the master bedroom right now...though it may say something to my lack of sleeping well lately...hmmmm... sigh...again... time...

Okay...that's all for now...

February 15

How I lost my Mother of the Year Card and regained it!

I've been soooo bad about blogging lately.  I honestly, have wanted too, but...well, am too lazy.  Though, we have been busy.

So last weekend I went to see He's Just Not That Into You.  Good movie, great cast!  I went with two of my good girlfriends and we had an absolute blast!  I love hanging out with them.  Usually I'm not a good triangle friendship type of girl.  But with these women, we seem to really connect and have a good relationship with just the three of us.  It was really nice to get out of the house!  On Sunday I went to a baby shower and I took Grace.  It was nice and low key.  Again, nice to get out of the house.  The weather was absolutely great!

Then Monday happened... sigh... I was striped of my Mother of the Year card for sure!  We went to walk the loop (I am determined to get in shape!!) and everything was good.  Though Elijah now understands landmarks and generally where things are.  Since the loop goes right by the beach, he KNEW we were there, and would NOT stop asking about it...so I reluctantly crossed the road and allowed him to spend time at the beach.  I thought that we would get out there and he would want to leave because the wind was really strong and a little chilly.  sigh... not so much.  He was perfectly content to play.  As was Gracie.  So I let them.  It was fine.  I had very little to do that day, so why not.  We were there for about 30 minutes and I was starting to get hungry and we needed to stop by the grocery store on the way home, so I gave Elijah a five minute warning, then a two minute warning, then a one minute warning and then told him it was time to go.  I picked up Grace and started back toward the stroller.  Elijah screams, "NOOOOOOOO!" and takes off running in the wrong direction.  Okay. I think, he's going to stop and come back, because he knows better.  or not.  So I say, "Elijah Jacob Jones, you need to come back here right now!"  And I proceed to count to three.  He doesn't stop.  So I start walking slowly after him thinking, SURELY, he is going to stop and turn around and come back.  SURELY he KNOWS that I'm already mad. He DOES stop and turns around and sees that I am coming after him, and starts running faster!!!  Now, my blood is physically boiling.  I am honestly thinking about sitting down and crying, because this is what happens to me when I get REALLY mad.  I'm at a loss.  I have a 20 pound baby I'm carrying as well as a jacket which contains my camera, keys, and wallet (not too light) and I'm on the beach alone.  I stop for a minute.  Elijah stops. Then starts running again.  He is now about 100 yards in front of me.  I drop my jacket and start jogging in sand with Grace.  I'm not covering any ground.  My only two choices are, watch Elijah run away out of my sight, or put Grace down, sprint after Elijah and hope that Grace is fine for the couple minutes she'll be out of my sight.  I choose the latter.  I sprint (mind you I don't run) after Elijah and have to contain myself from not ripping him a new one because the girl child needs me to get back to her.  Grace is, of course, happily eating sand and could have cared less, but the fact that I had to put her down pissed me off beyond belief.  So I'm half dragging Elijah back to Grace.  He's laughing which irks me to the point I am seeing red.  I say, "That's it Elijah, we are going straight home, you will have lunch, and go to bed.  No chicken fries (McDonald's), no TV, NOTHING!"  Elijah suddenly realizes, hey, mom's pissed!  And collapses on the sand crying.  I say, "GET UP NOW!"  He goes limp (must be opposite day I didn't get the memo.)  I jerk him up, and do something I thought I would never do, I swatted his little butt.  He walks for three steps and collapses again.  At this point, I don't care anymore.  All good parenting has left my being and sailed away on the ocean.  I let go of his arm and say, "Fine.  You know what Elijah?  I'm done.  You can stay here.  The tide is coming in you might want to go up to higher ground, good luck."  And I walk away.  I pick up Grace and I keep walking.  My lungs heart, my heart is racing, and I just want to curl up and cry.  Elijah comes bolting up next to me saying, "NOOOOO MOMMY!!!! 'Ijah want to go with mommy!!!!  P'ease...... 'Ijah going to be a good boy now."  I say, "You may come with us, but you need to make big boy choices."  He says nothing, just follows us back to the stroller where I chug the rest of my water and sit down while I calm down.  I then start getting the good parenting vibes again.  I explain to Elijah why it's dangerous to run from mommy.  He apologizes and we finish our walk.  He was upset that there was no special food and no Curious George, but every time he whined I said, "Next time you won't run from Mommy" and he shut up.  After nap we started fresh and had a great rest of the day!  sigh...

On Tuesday we had soccer. I LOVE this class!  Elijah is doing well in it as well.  We got home from soccer, Elijah watched about 5 minutes of TV and announced he was going to bed...and then did so!

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we played at various parks because the weather was sooo AWESOME!  I wanted to get to the beach again, but the wind was REALLY strong AND I didn't want a replay of Monday.

Yesterday we went to a really fun birthday party at Monkey Joe's.  This is big indoor area filled with inflatable jumpy things.  Elijah and I have been there before but he's been to nervous to really do anything and I was either preggo or had Grace so I couldn't really do the things with him.  Yesterday, though, I got to play with him and we had a BLAST!!!  Jerry worked for a bit and then brought home chocolates for me.  Next weekend we are going to Myrtle Beach and staying at this place.  It has a HUGE indoor water park, so I think it will be really fun.  Today we walked around Home Depot and daydreamed about home improvement stuff.  We priced a bunch of stuff and I think much of it will be doable within the next year.  We also went to Target because Elijah's feet have grown (AGAIN!)  I bought shoes for him three months ago a size to big and he's outgrown them...sigh... so new shoes for him.  Ohhh, and I forgot, I treated myself to some Fit Flops.  They are not THE fit flops, but they are 1) MUCH cheaper and 2) helped out our neighborhood Avon lady.  I picked them up Friday and wore them for about 2 hours.  They are SUPER comfy and Saturday morning, my thighs were a little sore.  So I'm really excited about them.  I mean if I'm going to wear flip flops anyway...right???

GRACE: has three teeth now, is crawling like there is no tomorrow, has the funniest chuckle EVER!, occasionally says some words (other than mama and dada), and is pushing up...not so much pulling up.  She pushes up on her legs to stand.  This only works if she has her hands on something, but she doesn't seem to pull with her arms so much as just use them for balance.  She LOVES doing downward dog and REALLY wants to stand up from that, but alas, gravity (and strength are against her in that endeavor...soon baby girl too soon!)  She loves to go into the playroom when Elijah isn't in there and play with all the toys by herself.  It is AMAZING to me EVERYDAY how absolutely different the kiddos are and yet rather similar.  Grace also LOVES her veggies.  She will eat corn and peas and broccoli.  She also LOVES rice of any kind.  However, said food must be whole.  None of that mushed up crap for her.  Easier for me!  Oh, and of course, the world might stop spinning if we run out of cherrios!

Okay... so this is a REALLY long entry...but now ya know!  I'll post some pics and hopefully I'll write sooner than later.

February 20

The 3 year old stats!

Today we took Elijah for his 3 year well child check.  While a little late, we wanted to wait until we had our new insurance...which is nice because well child checks are free on our insurance (well, no co pay anyway!)

So here are the stats: He's 36.6 pounds which is the 90% for his age.  And he's 40.5 inches tall which is 97% for his age.  He is roughly the size of a 4.5 year old!!  He grew 5 pounds and 4.5 inches in one year!  The doctor was impressed that he grew that much.  Though he doesn't think I'll have a 7 foot kindergartner, he probably will be one of the taller kids in his class...unless he stops growing (ha!)  Elijah is healthy all around.  The doc answered my questions about the car seat/booster seat thing (he said to go by weight as opposed to age...so in a 3.4 more pounds or two more inches, he's in the booster part of his seat) and reassured me that his speech issues were normal.  I figured they were, but it's always nice to hear from a doc. There is a cool little form you fill out at the beginning of the appointment to see where you child is developmentally.  Elijah does everything on the paper except say his first and last name when asked what his name is...which is something we just started working on anyway. During the appointment Elijah was super shy and wouldn't let go of me until the doc said he was done and then Elijah was all about saying bye bye.  Grace was a very good girl though the whole thing.  We went to McDonalds as a treat afterward.

                          

                                       my little guy!!!

We are now waiting for Jerry to get home so we can load into the car and hit the road to Myrtle Beach for the weekend. We are staying in a resort that has a HUGE indoor water park, so even though the weather isn't going to the warmest, we'll have a fun time.  I have been fighting a nasty cold all week and think I'm finally nearing the end of it.  I sound all low voiced, but I feel a lot better...mostly due to Jerry being so great.  He kept Grace the past couple of nights and brought me soup and juice and zicam and cough syrup and anything else I could have needed.... JERRY ROCKS!!! (in case there was any doubt!)

February 22

Mini Vacation

We're home!  We had a GREAT time!  I wish we could have stayed for longer, ah well...next time!  I gotta say that this was one of the nicest places we have stayed.  There were two indoor water parks.  We were right on the beach (though it was rather cold...but ya know!)  There are restaurants on site, so you don't HAVE to leave...and we only did once.  Everyone that works there was SUPER nice!  I do have to say that I cannot imagine being there at peak season.  I don't know how booked they were, but it was fairly crowded...not so much that it was bothersome, but if they were at full capacity, I don't think it would have been as fun.  The kids had a blast in the water.  I posted some pics in the February album ( had more but apparently there is some mystery error so a bunch didn't upload...whatever...)  I wish we had brought the camera the second day, but on our way out Elijah's hand got caught in the door and we got sidetracked.  The second day we went to the second park.  There was a lazy river and smaller slides that allowed tandem sliding.  Elijah actually went down with me twice...but that enough for him.  The other water park is cool too.  It was in our tower, so a little closer.  It had a submarine that had water features all around it, and I think that was Elijah's favorite thing.  Grace LOVED the water.  A friend of ours lent us a little float for her and her little legs just kicked and kicked under there.  It cracked me up!  She was just happy as a little clam hanging in that and watching everything!  The two bedroom unit was the way to go.  We tried the kiddos in the same room and it worked really well.  I slept in their room and Jerry slept in the big master bed.  When Elijah would wake up and want to sleep with me, I transferred Grace to Jerry.  But they slept well together in one room.  Elijah even slept through Grace crying when she woke up.  That was my biggest thing about transferring her into her own bed in their bedroom.  So I think we will start that transition soon.  This morning we got up and went for one last play in the water before check out at 11.  We got back to the room by 10 and changed clothes and went to load stuff up.  We had to wait a while for an elevator down and then decided to just carry our stuff across the road to the parking deck instead of trying to fight the insane check out traffic.  If we had expendable income, I seriously think we would consider getting a time share at this place.  Even if we were there at a warmer, more crowded time, we could walk just about anywhere anyway!  There's also a new bypass (or maybe it's not new...but whatever) that made getting to this place super easy (we did it in just over one and a half hours.)  On our way home we stopped at the outlet mall for lunch and went into Old Navy.  They were having a huge clearance sale so we walked out with a bunch of new clothes!  Now we're home and (sorta) ready for another week!

December 2007

December 08

TAG!!!!

my friend Angela tagged me so here it goes...

1. I started smoking when I was 16 and quit when I was 22 as a Valentine's Day present to Jerry. When I was 20 my height was 5'2 1/2"  at 24 I was 5"4 3/4"   hmmmmm... I quit cold turkey and still dream about smoking occasionally... a former minister of mine told me, "when you start dreaming about sex and stop dreaming about smoking you know that you are truly a non-smoker."  I have also heard that it takes your body a full 10 years to completely heal... I'm almost there!!!  I now get very annoyed when sitting in a non-smoking section and smoke still comes through... sigh...

2. When I was in 3rd or 4th grade I went to a piano competition thing-y and forgot one of my memorized pieces half way through... so I made the rest up.  The judge guy did not pass me on that piece, but commented that he was impressed that I didn't just stop.  I played the piano until my sophomore year in college and then gave it up...though I miss playing and if we had the space I would want a piano.

3. I have three tattoos.  I got the first one after I graduated from high school (Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes on my hip) the second one with money I saved from a competition for quitting smoking (that was the first time I quit...only took twice!)  The tattoo guy told me it was a Native American symbol about how the moon and the sun are connected... ummmm.... it wasn't until almost 6 years later when I was really looking at a picture of it that I realized that it's a naked lady...very artsy (obviously!) but still... I love it though... it's on a shoulder blade.  And finally after I left WWC I went with a friend to get a tattoo and ended up getting one myself.  It's an ankh and it's the biggest tattoo I have.  It's on my lower back.   I love all three and I often think about getting another, but I doubt that I will.

4. I think of myself as spiritual instead of religious, but I really like to sing hymns.  I love my church from the mountains.  There is a church here that I like well enough to attend, when I feel like going.  I don't care for religion being pushed in my face and I find many super religious people to be rather hypocritical... or lacking of knowledge.  But I tend to keep thoughts to myself in the aspect of religion.

5. I have recently found myself being a more conservative democrat.  I find that I am not as extreme as I thought I was.  It's very interesting.  I don't think that I would ever be a republican, but I do find that some of the far left-ist people rather annoying and arrogant... to the point they are almost as bad as the far right-ist... I try to not get into debate about this either...

6. I am a total mountain girl at heart... if we had even a hope of moving back to the mountains, I would do just about anything to move back there... including finding a job... (not that I wouldn't do that here...)

7. I can say the 50 states in alphabetical order in one breath...even while intoxicated...  it's quite humorous when I'm intoxicated....

December 10

This weekend....

So this weekend was freaking amazing weather wise!  And the weather is continuing to be nice.  We are having a cookie exchange tomorrow and I was going to get hot chocolate, but now I'm thinking that I may get lemonade instead.  It's supposed to be 80 degrees!!!  Insane!  While I guess it's nice, it's hard to think Christmas-y thoughts with this heat... though I guess I bring this on myself living at the beach and all.

So I made cookies yesterday and Elijah helped me.  We are taking gingerbread people, so he helped roll out the dough and cut the cookies.  It's funny.  He didn't lick his fingers once and wasn't interested in tasting the dough... I guess that's good.

We played at a couple of different parks this weekend as well.  The weather was just too nice not to be outside.  Though yesterday we went to a park and a guy brought his kid and Rotweiler...to a park seriously?  Then the kid ran off and the guy sat down with the dog and started smoking...SUPER SIGH....seriously?  Elijah was the only kid playing on the equipment...go walk and smoke elsewhere....sigh...  So we ended up leaving shortly after that, we at least got a good hour of play in.

I've finished my shopping and just waiting for a couple more things to arrive in the mail.  I feel good about being done.  We went to walk the mall last week and it was packed!

I guess that's really it.  We find out what the baby is on Friday!!!!  I'm sooooo excited!  I've been dreaming about it... I must say that this dreaming is the worst thing about my pregnancy.  I have the weirdest dreams when I'm pregnant.  So I wake up so freaking tired... sigh...  anyway, I dreamt last night (amongst really weird things...) that we were having a girl... The only name we are solid on is a girls' name... so who knows... we'll find out FRIDAY!!!!!!  Have I mentioned that yet?

That's all.  I'm going to add the pics of Elijah helping with the cookies and by then I'm betting that Elijah will be up and ready to play...as usual!

December 12

two more days

of waiting!  sigh...

we had our cookies exchange yesterday.  it was really nice and fun and yummy cookies!  but the weather was so freaking hot!  we walked before the party and i was beat the reat of the day.  i felt bad for elijah.  he wanted so much to run around outside, but i didn't have enough energy to run after him.

this morning i went to BBB and got a shower head that can be handheld so jerry can start giving elijah showers.  jerry doesn't feel comfortable in the shower with elijah b/c one the shower is so freaking small and two he can't see well without his glasses.  i don't mind showering elijah, but it's getting harder and it's not going to get easier anytime soon... sooo why, you ask, don't we just give him a bath?  because, i say (hehehehehe), in the bath his shampoo and conditioner (yes conditioner...he has the thickest hair!!) can't stay on his skin very long or it exasperates him eczema... so in the shower we wash his hair and then his body with his special soap... in the tub he just sits there in it.  so i'm glad we have this shower thing, now i don't have to be squatting in the shower to wash the kiddo.

i think tomorrow we will go to the park to play, and i think that some of our playgroup will be there.  this weather is crazy warm, but only for a few more days, so might as well get out and enjoy this.

my newest addiction is facebook.  i cannot get enough of it.  jerry and i are playing a scrabble game through it (not that we couldn't play scrabble on our own...) and i'm catching up with people from high school and college.  it's awesome!

okay so taking bets... girl or boy!  elijah's up from nap, so off i go to chase that one!

December 14

It's a......

GIRL!!!!!

At least we are 90% sure.  She was not cooperating very well, but you know...  I assume everything is okay... but we won't know for sure until Mary looks at the pics.  Anyway, we are really excited!  And yes there is only one in there....

December 16

Fa la la la la la la la la

Finally some colder weather to put me more into the Christmas spirit.  Don't get me wrong, it's been nice to not have to bundle up in millions of layers to go play at the park, but come on, it's December already!

So Jerry got his bonus check on Friday...and while not as much as we would have liked (though is it ever?) it was enough to go get a DRYER!!!  WAHOOOO!!!!  I know I should continue to be all environmental and whatnot...but dang it's nice nice to not have to wait until the morning to hang out clothes, just so I'll have clean undies in a day... ahhhh...I guess I really am growing up being all excited about this....  We also purchased new Tupperware stuff (as most of our old stuff was missing lids) and a new knife block (our old ones had wooden handles...who makes knives with wooden handles and says they are dishwasher safe...sigh... anyway they were growing stuff and some were broken...so new knife block....wahoo!)  We are also tossing around the idea of getting a rechargeable lawn mower.  We have an electric one right now and really like it, but the cord is starting to annoy us...so if craigslist would get with it and let me post I would go on and try to sell the old one.  We also still have the riding lawn mower, but it hasn't worked in a while and we have no idea what's wrong with it (yeah, big surprise with all our extensive knowledge of small engines and whatnot...)I think we should just sell it and be done with it, but we'll see.

It is my goal that before the new year we will call 1800GOTJUNK and get the insane amount of crap in our garage out!  I like that they recycle what can be recycled and then dump the other stuff.  I just don't want to deal with it.  If the garage can get organized ahhhh... we would have a place to store all the crap that needs to be stored in order to get ready for the new baby.

My folks are coming down for Elijah's b-day in January and we need to finish painting the living room and get the new nursery painted and the office organized... sigh... I need to make a list so we aren't spending a lot of time doing nothing.

Have I mentioned that I love our new dryer.... it's so quiet... no ear splitting squeaking...contented sigh...

December 25

A Peaceful Christmas

Our Christmas was a peaceful one.  Jerry and Elijah slept until almost 8 and since I was up at 6 and couldn't go back to sleep, I made French Toast and bacon for breakfast.  After we ate we opened presents.  I guess I should back up a little though.

On Sunday we went to see Jerry's folks.  We did a little Christmas-ing there.  Elijah was given a present larger than himself and it took him 20 minutes to open it.  Mainly it took this long because he wanted to shred the paper into little bits...silly kiddo.  Anyway, he got this Toy Story 2 train set.  It's really quite spectacular.

Okay, so back to today... After breakfast we started with stockings.  Elijah was excited to pull stuff out of his and he started to unwrap his gifts...soooooo sssssllllloooowwwwlllllyyyyy... His first gift was a set of small (think matchbox size) Tonka trucks.  We might as well have not gotten him anything else.  He was so excited about those.  But he eventually moved on.  So after stockings we moved onto presents.  Again, it took a few tries (and wanting to stack EVERYONE'S presents, still wrapped, into a big pile...) he enjoyed opening his gifts...though he still wanted to rip the paper into smaller pieces instead of ripping into the package.  We gave him some musical instruments and a little magnetic zoo train.  My aunt gave him a little phone thingy and a lift the flap book about bugs.  My folks gave him a trike.  Oh, and we gave him a play dough activity kit.

Jerry got several DVDs, a lap desk for his laptop, some shirts (the ones I got were too small...go figure right?), a programming book, and something else I'm forgetting...

I got some yummy chocolate pancake mix, a couple of LED lights, some maternity sweaters, 4 books, cupcake feet, a couple CDs, and a gift certificate to a maternity store.  My parents also got me a subscription to Everyday with Rachael Ray!

Tomorrow Elijah and I are traveling to Asheboro to meet my parents, Laura, and Laura's mom at the zoo on Thursday.  I'm excited to go, but I'm a little nervous about the traveling.  This will be the first time I've traveled out of town with Elijah by myself.  We are staying in a hotel with an indoor pool, so that will be fun and I'm not worried about having him by myself at the hotel.  It's the car that I'm quasi-stressed about.  But we aren't leaving until after lunch, so hopefully he'll sleep for a good portion of the trip.  Then on the way home I'm hoping he'll be so exhausted from playing at the zoo all morning that he'll sleep all the way home.  the only problem then, will be my bladder, and the baby that seems to think it's a soccer ball.

I guess I'll upload some pics so I'll have some room on the card for the zoo.  He's so into animals lately, I'm curious to see what his expression will be seeing them live.  I am a little bummed because the polar bears aren't there.  The sea lions are getting a new habitat and so they get to live in the polar bear's area...since the two don't get along too well...you can figure it out.  sigh...  oh well.  The weather looks to be perfect.  The last time I went it was right after Christmas and there was barely anyone there, so I'm hoping that it'll be fun.

okay... uploading...

Hope everyone's Christmas was merry!

 

Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas!

May you have peace and joy today and all days!

December 31

Happy....

Happy

New

Year!!!

May 2007

May 01

A beach day with no documentation

HUGE SIGH.... we had a blast at the beach this morning.  I took a ton of pics and when I came home to download them...the card corrupted... and now it won't format (which would have erased all the pics anyway...  I'm so bummed.  So we have to get another card.  You may have noticed I haven't updated any video or pics lately...well our computers haven't been talking to each other properly, so Jerry fixed that last night.  I was waiting to download a bunch of pics until that was fixed and now... SIGH... I should've gone on and downloaded them.  How frustrating!
ANYWAY, we had so much fun this morning.  Elijah and some of his friends played in the sand and in the water.  I actually went all the way in.  The water temp is 67 but the air was so warm!  On our way home Elijah fell asleep and then slept for about an hour once we got home.  Then woke up to eat and hasn't gone back to sleep.  Sigh... I made him sit quietly with me for about an hour so he at least got some rest...
Okay, I just wanted to vent about the stupid camera...
May 07

Work Work Work

YAWN!!!!  What a busy weekend!  On Saturday I hosted play date from 10 til 12, then I worked all afternoon...  On Sunday we went out for breakfast and then Jerry and Elijah went to see Jerry's folks and I worked until 4 and then went out with the ladies!  That was very fun.  The working was fun too, but it was a lot...  Have I mentioned that I have this new project?  I was commissioned to tie-dye a huge amount of kids clothing to be sold in Carmen's store (FYI by the end of the month her store will be on-line as well....she is also going to have virtual birthing classes...I think it's pretty cool....) So I spent Saturday evening rubber banding everything and Sunday dying.  This afternoon (and probably evening) I will spend rinsing everything.  So I am tired and dyed a bit...  but my test projects turned out pretty well I must say.  I'll put some pics at the bottom of this post.
The rest of last week was pretty uneventful.  Jerry watched the republican candidates debate and was disgusted at many things they did or didn't say.  He got really fired up when three people raised their hands and said they didn't believe in evolution.  Anyway, he blogged about it...  he's so funny about his politics.
Oh yeah, so on Saturday Jerry took Elijah out to the store with him.  he was going to go to just the grocery store and maybe the library, but I got a call from him while he was in Target.  This is the conversation:
"Umm, hi we're in Target."
"Okay."
"Ummm, so Elijah found something he wants..."
"Oh he did did he?"
"So....is it okay if he gets it?"
"What is it?"
"It's a surprise."
"Is it for mother's day?"
"no."
"Is it for the whole family?"
"no."
"It's just for Elijah?"
"yes."
"Is it expensive?"
"I don't think so...."
"okay."
So they get home and Jerry brings this thing in behind his back and says this is Elijah's.  It's a ride on scooter thing from Radio Flyer.  Super cute.  But get this... the reason he bought it was because there  is a picture on the side of the box that looks JUST like elijah (if he had a hair cut...)  Anyway, Elijah loves it.  He still hasn't figured out how to make it go forward, but he's really good at going backward...it really funny!
So that's that....
Oh and Elijah's word for the week is uh-oh....Everything gets an uh-oh...

May 11

one more week!

We leave on vacation in one week BABY!!!!  I'm excited to have my hubby for a week...  We leave for Edisto Island in one week.  I'm excited to just get away.  My folks will be there on Sunday, but they are staying in a different area of the resort.  It'll be nice to have a babysitter if we should need one!  My mom's so funny...she doesn't want to intrude on our vacation and promises not to bother us...we don't mind mom!!!  I'm just looking forward to doing nothing!  I do think we are going to try to go up to Charleston for a day...but if it's too hot, we may revisit that idea.
So last night, we hear Elijah cry out...when this happens we wait for a minute to see if he's really awake and then just check on him to make sure he's not up doing stuff he's not supposed to...ANYWAY, jerry goes in and comes back and asks for the camera.  I go in and there's Elijah with his head on the floor and his body on his bed totally asleep (see the photo album for the pic...) we of course fixed him so he was back on his bed...  but what a cutie and funny little boy!
Rachel just called so we are going to the library and the store with her and MR...  HAVE A GREAT DAY!!!
PS check out the sweet potato production page for the tie dyes...i turned them into Carmen Wednesday...Actually I think that I might add an album here....
May 15

Is it vacation time yet?

sigh...this week seems to be dragging!  Yesterday we walked the loop and then had lunch with Rachel and MR.  Today I went and dropped off some reversible sunhats and a few slings at Carmen's.  Her site should be up by the end of the month!!!  I also did some yard work this morning.  Have I mentioned that our dryer is about to kick the bucket?  It's been squeaky for a while, but it has gotten unbearable lately.  We don't run the dryer unless we are home...so it's really annoying and REALLY loud.  So we are now hanging all our clothes out to dry.  We really want a good energy star dryer....but they are REALLY expensive.  So for now, this will work.  I think the dryer just needs a new belt, but I have no idea how to fix a dryer...sigh... the biggest thing is the diapers.  Not usually a big deal, but since we are going on vacation it's kinda hard.  So we are using disposables now and getting all the diapers (and the pail which is how we will transport the diapers in)clean to be able to pack in the car...sigh...I would have preferred to use disposables on the trip, but we'll have a washer and dryer in the condo, so why not?
So we took care of MR on Saturday while Rachel and Erin went kayaking (with kayaks I found for them, thank you very much...)   We took the kids strawberry picking.  It was really fun.  Elijah would take the bucket and move it out of MR's reach and then she would crawl after it and right as she got there, he would pick it up and move it again.  We came back here and I pumped up the pool.  While I was doing that I had MR sitting on the ground and she was just talking away and Elijah was just running around.  later when I was getting them our of the pool, I look at MR's legs and she had fire ant bites all over them!!!  She never cried, but they looked horrible and I felt SOOOO bad!!!  Poor kid.  But she never got upset and they look soooo much better...but this is the first time we took care of her and that happens...sigh... Of course, Rachel and Erin weren't even a little upset, I wouldn't be either as those stupid little ants are everywhere...but still....  Needless to say I treated the whole yard Saturday afternoon.
We picked the first blueberry off of the bush this weekend and I pulled the last three carrots and picked some peas.  I'm excited!  I think that our garden is going to be better than last year!  Everything looks really good.  I need to get out and hoe in between the rows before we leave.
That's it I guess...
May 16

yeah...

So I was just reading Claire's blog and she was talking about things she loves.  She mentioned that Planet Earth Series...I really keep meaning to watch it, but forget until it's over and then I'm all annoyed...sigh... ANYWAY, she was talking about the cool underwater creatures that were shown on one.  That made me remember the pics someone sent me after the tsunami hit a couple years back.  They are of all these really cool (and sometimes creepy) creatures that washed up on shore.  I'm going to post them in just a minute, because they really are interesting.
Is anyone else watching Notes From The Underbelly?  I'm totally addicted to the show.  It's just funny to see how some people view pregnancy.  I guess it's different for each person.  I know a whole bunch of pregnant women right now and each one of them is handling their pregnancies differently.  It's really cool.
Hmmm....I'm watching a show called My Kid's A... And there are a bunch of kids that have all these different lives...One is joining the Cirque Du Soleil, One is a 12 year old preacher, and one is a transgender kid...  It' quite interesting.  The transgender (I think...I came in in the middle) was a girl and wants to be (or rather is) a boy.  The mom is trying to find a doctor who will remove his breasts...hmmmm... very interesting... random thought....
So today I finished washing the clothes and drying them outside.  I also hoed the veggie garden and the side garden, so they are weed free-ish..I'm pretty beat now, but it's good.  It's supposed to rain tomorrow so I will pack everything and get the house cleaned up.  we aren't leaving until after lunch on Friday since we can't check in until 4.  We were going to go through Myrtle Beach, but it's bike week there...so not so much for us...
Okay, this has been a really random blog....I'm going to post pics.
May 17

okay...so maybe I was wrong...

Maybe we just don't have bunnies around here...though I find that hard to believe... ANYWAY, I just did some research on the marigold theory...Apparently it doesn't work for many, in fact some of the bunnies were actually eating the marigolds!  So many suggested blood meal which you can buy at the garden center.  Since we haven't had any trouble with the rabbits, I'm not doing anything else.  I've also heard that if you pee or spread hair around it will keep them and deer away.  I lost so much hair after EJ was born that I spread it around last year, no problems with the deer or bunnies... who knows...
I'm packed, Elijah is packed, his toys are packed....now all that's left is Jerry and the food and then we'll be ready to go!!!  I am a little nervous about the insane price of gas, but as this is probably the only place we're going this summer, I'm not that concerned.  We plan on renting bikes once we get down there, so that takes care of the gas issue once we're there.  We may go up to Charleston for one day...we'll see...
Okay, I'm going to post a video and some more pics of the kid.  Also I'm posting pics on the Sweet Potato Productions page...so check out the new stuff!
This is probably it until we get back so have a nice week!!!!
May 25

home again home again...

So we're back...got back around 4 actually.  It's depressing to come home and realize you live in an ugly place...Edisto is covered with live oaks and palm trees... it's just so pretty...oh well... we could sell our house and live in a  tent...
So our vacation... well, we got there last Friday and jerry woke up sick on Saturday and was sick for the majority of the vacation, so that sucked.  My parents got there on Sunday afternoon, that was nice.  If Jerry had felt better, I think they would have been asked to babysit.  Elijah's long term memory is becoming more apparent.  He gets excited to see my folks instead of looking at them like strangers.  He is willing to go off with them and be okay with the whole thing.  Quite nice...  I rented a bike with a baby seat while we were there and on the arm days it was fab-o.  Elijah and I went to the pool and played and walked to the beach to play in the sand.  If we had such nice bike lanes here, I would consider getting a bike, but as it is you really risk your life getting on a bike.  Jerry didn't rent a bike, so once he was feeling better, it was sorta silly to ride a bike and drive a car.  There's a great park on the island and Elijah really liked that.  He slept well at naps and at night, as did I!!!  However, he got Jerry's sickies and now has a cough that is not pretty.  If he's not feeling better by Tuesday, we'll go to the doc.  We went out to the ACE basin and walked around the plantation there on Thursday.  I got eaten by bugs there, but it was really nice.  The last half of the week it was a bit cooler so we didn't go to the beach as much.  I just felt so bad for Jerry.  He's worked so hard and he was sick on his vacation, which in turn meant I wasn't really on vacation since I was on mommy duty 24 hours a day...but we were in a beautiful place and we didn't have to worry about work and hours and stuff like that...soooo...
Anyway, we are back and our house is still standing and our garden looks good...so life is good.   Now to catch up with everyone else...
May 28

back to the grindstone

Well, not really...but yesterday I did work my little tail off.  In the morning I broke out the weedwacker and cleared out around the house, then jumped into the ditch...I got about 3/4 of the way down the side ditch and the weedwacker just stopped working.  It's electric so I thought maybe I had tripped a switch or maybe over heated the motor...but apparently not. It just doesn't work.  Since his was a gift and we have no proof of purchase, we are out of luck... Oh well, we realized we needed something that can have attachments and maybe a bit more power.  This one definitely did it's job and worked great...so, once that broke, it was lunch time and after Elijah (and I) had a nap, I hung a rack in the pantry...makes it look so much better!!! and then fertilized the garden with liquid worm poop!!!  Thought that was funny, but we found it for the lawn a bit ago and now we have it for the garden.  It's really cool stuff and they have a program for recycling used soda bottles...The company seems really environmental and we like to support companies like TerraCycle.  It's awesome...check 'em out!!
Anyway, it was a good day.  Today Elijah and I went over to Rachel's grandmother's pool and played for a bit then picked up some lunch.  It was good to see her again.  Jerry's friend, Eric, came down to visit for the day, so that was good for them to catch up.  Tomorrow we'll go to story time at the library and then I want to check out this bookstore in town.  I also want to try my hand at a Memory Quilt so I need to find some fabric crayons at AC Moore... I hope these work out.  I am hoping to have a website up before homecoming in October, though I think/hope that it will happen sooner.  I just purchased another bolt of fabric from JoAnne's, so we'll see...
I'm waiting for a video to process to add to the site and then I am going to just chill with my hubby for the evening.  I'm sad that he has to go back to work, though he worked on Saturday... but at least it's a four day week.
Hope you had a good long weekend where you are!
May 31

little known facts

or maybe they are widely known...who knows...
1. i don't make friends easily.  i tend to not always be myself and then the whole thing blows up in my face when my true colors come through.
2. i often feel that i don't belong and that i am somehow in a temporary state.... i constantly hope that this feeling will eventually end.
3. i worry that my children will have some of my same issues.
4. i do worry about what people think of me and secretly get my feelings hurt quite often...but i don't let it show...
5. i think that the whole "organic" movement is overrated and that you are really just paying a higher price for the same food...wash your food people!  i know that there are those that judge me for not eating organic and for once, i really don't care...
6. i do believe in buying in local and think that it's great that there are farmer's markets in which this is possible.
7. i think the best way to go is to have your own garden...but i know that's not always possible either.
8. my husband is my absolute best friend...he kicks butt!!!!
9. i secretly think that the country is doomed if we don't find someone who can actually make a difference...
10. i miss my college friends (and my two high school friends i still talk too) so bad that it hurts.  i wish we all lived really close...
11. i sometimes feel i lead a rather lonely existence...i am scared that my children will feel this way too...
12. i get annoyed with people who claim to be open-minded, but refuse to look at the other side of things... (another reason why i love my hubby!!!!  he keeps me in check...)
13. i don't feel like a martyr because i went through natural childbirth...my labors were only 5 and 6 hours...who knows what i would have done had it gone on longer.
14. i sometimes don't think my heart can hold all the love i have for jerry and elijah and grace... i honestly don't know what i would do if anything ever happened to them...
15. i realized today that i don't want to live in this town much longer... i would be only a little sad to leave, but i think i would be happier elsewhere...
16. i haven't attended church in quite a while... i have tried a couple down here and none of them have felt like it could be home.  i miss having the feeling of acceptance i once had... it makes me lonely and a little sad.
17. i miss acting...a lot...but i love my kids...but i still miss the stage...
18. i haven't felt like i was a part of something great for a long time (besides my marriage and being a mom...)
19. i call my folks just to hear their voices sometimes... i miss living close to them...
20. i often feel guilty about things i have no control over...i don't know why and i don't know where this comes from...
21. i often over react to small things and think they are much worse than they really are...
22. when i over react to these things, i tend to realize that i need to change direction in life.
23. i believe that life is too short to not be silly...
24. i love to skip.
25. chocolate is the one thing i can not seem to give up.... why can't brussel sprout be bad for you...those i would have no problem giving up...
26. i have missed three weddings of college friends and i regret missing each and every one...
27. i wish i would win the lottery...but i don't play it...
28. i wish i had the means to travel all over the world...
29. i wish i had joined the peace corp directly after UNCW...
i have had a crappy morning... i don't want to get into it...but it has sucked!  i've been rather tearful writing this and my adorable little boy has been coming over giving me hugs...what a sweetie...
i just needed to write...

September 2006

September 01

Drum roll please....

Elijah is crawling!  Well, kind of!  He crawls toward things he isn't supposed to touch.  He also crawls a few crawls realizes he's within lunging distance and lunges. I think this is the funniest.  But it works for him.  He can push up from his tummy into sitting guess he figures he doesn't need to crawl all the way to whatever it is.   For the past two days he's been trying the crawling thing out, and today was the most he has done yet.  I am sure it is just a matter of days before he is off and running.  We still are completely childproofed.  I can't find a cord keeper kind of thing for the abundance of cords around the TV area.  And we need a baby gate.  But I think that's it.  So that's the news for today!
Now for a bit of soap boxing.  Not much really...I read this article in the NY Times about corporations and breast feeding.  SIGH....  I am just disgusted at the way corporations treat there less educated, lower salaried employees.  Okay, that's really it...I just can't write about it now.  The article is well written and makes very good points....  I'm going to go watch my kid try to crawl some more...
September 04

Big Yawn

Yes, the crawling is GREAT!  He's so funny!  We are going to be getting our exercise casing him soon.  Right now he really seems very content to stay on his mat in the living room (we expanded from number to letters...) He really likes to crawl to the entertainment center, which has a glass front, so I tried making barricades...yeah, that didn't work...we'll think of something.  I guess we could take the glass door off, but then all the components are exposed...it's not the end of the world....
I have read and heard that once a baby learns a new skill they want to stay up and practice and all I could think of was not my perfect angel....YEAH RIGHT!!!  Friday night, Elijah didn't go to sleep until 3 a.m.!!!!  It was like college, but not really...The next morning, he was up at 7:30!  sigh...  Saturday was better and then yesterday we hit the beach in the evening.  Elijah had really only had two short (car) naps.  So I thought he's be really cranky at the beach.  We got there at 5 and played in the water for a bit, then I left Elijah with Jerry and really went to get in the water.  When I came back, Elijah discovered the wonder that is sand.  He promptly started digging a hole (such a little boy!)  he would dig his little hands into the sand and then throw it over his shoulder.  He was covered from head to tow in sand!  It was soooo cute!  He only put a little into his mouth (I guess this anti-solids thing extends to sand ...thank goodness!)  I tried to wash him off, but you know how the sand is... So we got home around 7:30 and he was sooo tired, but too dirty.  SO I jumped in the shower and Jerry brought him to me and I got him all clean.  He fell asleep at 8:30 and Jerry said he only woke up twice before he handed the monitor off to me at 2:30 and that it only took a few minutes to resettle him.  I totally expected to be up with him at 3:30...but he slept until 5:30 AND THEN went back to sleep until 7:30 AND THEN I cuddled with him in bed until 8:30!!!!!  That means I got 7 hours (count 'em BABY!!! SEVEN) of sleep.  I am sure this was a fluke, but MAN it was nice!!!!  He has already taken a 1 1/2 hour nap today, so I am sure we'll be back on this three hour schedule tonight...
I'm going to go to a Le Leche meeting on Wednesday and see if I can get some advice about this non-eating thing.  I know that he's fine, but it is bugging me a bit.
Okay, Elijah seems to be giving Jerry a hard time...I'm off....Oh Happy Labor Day!
September 09

Shopping on Saturday

It's been a bit since I've had a chance to write...having a crawling baby is exhausting, but really exciting!  He's learned to open cabinets...more childproofing to do.  We went to the high society lunch  and almost all the babies are crawling.  it's crazy!  Elijah was so gentle and sweet to the other babies.  It was really sweet.  Friday I spent the morning baking for some mom's to come over this morning for breakfast after the Mother of Twins Sale.   I kept Elijah all night last night and he woke up almost every hour and nothing would do unless he got to breast feed.  It made for a long night...especially since I got up at 6 to get ready for the sale.  But alas alack.  I handed EJ off to Jerry at 6:45 and then Rachel called and I went by her house and rode with her and MR to the sale.  We got there at 7:15 and 4th in line (the sale started at 8.)  My main thing was finding a backpack hiking carrier (found it for 15 bucks!), winter clothes (found lots for ~30 dollars) and a safety gate...didn't find one of those...but two out of three isn't too bad.  I was really good and only bought 3 toys for EJ.  I bought him a wooden pull toy in the shape of a caterpillar, a push/ride/pull toy, and a stacking toy.  Overall I think I did really well.  Bonnie (from Jerry's work), Bonnie (from next door) and Rachel all came over for breakfast and brought their babies.  MR was the odd girl out, but she handled it very nicely (very aloof to the boys....)
Earlier this week we got EJ some Robeez shoes and some overalls from a consignment shop.  We got him the shoes since he'll be pulling up soon and these are supposed to be really good to learn walking in.  Bare feet are the best, but these are the next best thing.  They are soft leather and enable the baby to use his toes to learn walking basics.  As it will be winter when he's really starting to do the cruising thing and we have hardwood floors, socks are not conducive, so he needed something to keep him warm and allow him to walk.
My folks left on Thursday for England and Ireland.  I'm so jealous, but excited for them.  I hope they are having a good time.  They are on a canal boat for the first week and then spending two weeks in Ireland.  A friend of theirs is staying in their house until they return...though if a hurricane decides to hit us, she may have some company!  We were talking about what a pain it would be if a hurricane came and knocked out the power.  As we are out of town, we are the last priority to get power restored, so it would suck a little bit.  So I think we will leave if a Cat3 or stronger comes our way.
Okay, that's it for now... hope you are having a GRAND weekend.
September 14

My Eighth month old and other stuff!

So Elijah turned 8 months yesterday!  I can't believe that in 4 more months he's going to be 1!  What's that all about?  He's crawling everywhere now and follows us around.  It's really cool!  In fact, the other night we put him down in his crib on his back to sleep with his head toward the closet.  We heard something on the monitor so we went in to check: he had flipped over onto his tummy, pushed up into crawling, and turned around to the other end of the crib and then collapsed on his tummy, all the while totally asleep.  It was really funny.  I have no idea how he isn't exhausted by morning all the moving around he's doing....not that he's sleeping through the night.  Anyway, he's just so amazing.  He can play independently for a bit without me in the room (though I'm always within eyesight...me of him that is...) He's starting to associate mama and dada with the right people (not always correctly, but Jerry and I try to respond when he says them and reinforce the correct words with images....)  We think he is signing drink, and again we reinforce the sign with the actual act when he makes it, we give him drink (water).  He could just be fascinated with his hand...  when he cries we pick him up, but he's started fake crying to get picked up...so we say "Elijah use your signals," and as long as he's not really tired, he'll stop and raise his arms to be picked up.  It's really amazing that he's learning this stuff.  I love every minute of it!!!  I wouldn't trade it for anything!  Yes, it's exhausting sometimes and there are nights when I am wondering why on earth he's awake when he refused to nap the day before....but I would rather be awake with him than have no baby at all!  He's such a good baby and so cuddly!  I just love him so much!!!!!
Okay...moving on....
First off let me say that I am in NO WAY supporting Wal Mart in this little rant...but....
WalMart is beginning to carry more organic foods.  Here's an article (blog) that goes into the whole thing...
okay, I am not a huge organic buyer.  There are many reasons, but that's another blog for another day.  This is about WalMart and smaller Natural Food stores.  Okay, so I try to support local businesses, however, when local businesses change you four bucks a pound for "organic"peaches, I really can't support it.  I simply don't have the money.  So the local natural food coop is a little upset that Walmart is selling organic.  Many think the laws on Organic foods are too lax and this will make them more so.  Some are upset that the organic foods are coming from places that under-pay under age workers.  Some are concerned that the small businesses will be driven out of town.  While these are all good points, I must say that I become a little annoyed.  While I do not shop at WalMart, there are many whose only choice is to shop there for many reasons, but usually it's related to money (or lack thereof.) So are these people saying that unless you make lots of money you don't deserve to eat organic if you so choose?  Jerry brought up the issue that WalMart can guarantee sales to a mass instead of to a few limited people, so of course, organic farmers could make a much better profit selling their goods to Walmart as opposed to the small coop.  As for the laws (or lack thereof) for organics...I really doubt that Walmart coming in is really going to make the lawmakers move slower or faster.  It takes a lot of time to go to every farm and make sure they are using only organic fertilizers and no pesticides and whatnot...personally, I wash my food and really don't think that I am any less healthier than anyone else....If the pesticides were that bad, I believe the majority of America would be keeling over...and they aren't.  The argument that underage underpaid people are going to be growing the food...well look at the label of your clothes and unless it says made in the USA (and sometimes even if it says that...) you can bet some small child got paid 10 cents to make your GAP shirt...not that this is okay, but that 10 cents probably put food on that child's table that may otherwise be bare...again not okay, but then you are tacking many 3rd world countries and then you are asking to pay 150 dollars for a t-shirt...again...another rant for another day... As for putting small businesses out of business...I think that's horrible, but when you are asking people to pay a lot of money (plus membership fees) for something, you have to look at the big picture.  If you charge 25 dollars for a bag of rice and one can go to Walmart and pay 10 dollars for the same bag.... well, you do the math.  However, I don't think you are going to loose the majority of customers.  You just aren't going to gain any new ones.  I know that's horrible to say, and while I won't be going to Walmart to buy anything organic or not...I'm not going to be going to our local coop either...but then I never went there to begin with.
Okay, that' it for now.  I hope I haven't ticked off any avid WalMart shoppers or coop-ers...this is simply my opinion....If you choose to shop at WalMart, go for it.  If you support your local coop. good for you (glad to know you're making more money than I)  As for me, I'll continue shopping at the local Lowe's food, buying my regular food (insecticides and all), and vent my frustrations right here...
thanks for reading!
September 19

Not much happening

We've had a pretty laid back few days.  Elijah now has six teeth with tow more getting ready to cut through.  He is crawling like crazy and doing much in his crib.  It's really funny, if I bring him to bed with me, he doesn't move that much, but in his crib....it's like he's racing in Daytona or something.  Very cute!  Last night he was up at 1:30 and Jerry handed him off to me for a mid-night feeding and change over.  Elijah was just up from then until about 3.  He wasn't fussy or active, he was just awake.  I would rock him and put hi in his crib and rub his back and sing to him and walk around with him and nothing.  I suppose I could have brought him to bed with me and he probably would have fallen asleep and I could have slept a little as well...but you think of these things a little too late.  So he finally fell asleep and then I was awake.  I kept waiting for him to wake up (which he didn't do until 6:30....) I think I finally fell asleep at 3:45...sigh... oh well... at 6:30 I did bring him to bed with me and we slept until almost 9.  We went over to Rachel's this morning for cookies and a play date with MR and some of Rachel's neighbors.  It was lots of fun and we had very yummy cookies!
Ooooooo...last night we watched Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.  It was soooooo good.  I LOVED West Wing and was so sad when it went off.  I also LOVE Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford, and they ROCKED!!!  I thought it was well written and very cheeky!  I just wish it came on a little earlier...oh well.  Sunday night was the premiere of Amazing Race.  The couple I liked the most got booted...sigh...but it still looks like a good season.
Yesterday I gave Elijah some cooked and cooled spaghetti to play with...it was freaking hilarious.  He got it EVERYWHERE.  I have pics, but they're in the other room and Jerry's trying to get Elijah to sleep...if he sees or hears me, Jerry will have to start all over...
I think we are going to go to the doctor tomorrow.  Elijah seems to have a yeast infection on his neck and it's just not clearing up.  Part of that reason is we put the ointment on him and he immediately starts scratching and off it comes.  We have tried putting it on him once he's asleep...nope, doesn't work.  We are putting socks on his little hands at night so he doesn't rip his skin up from the scratching.  Poor guy.  It's not getting worse, but it's not getting better.  It seems to follow his teeth cutting.  He'll cut a tooth and it clears up and then another one starts coming in and well, yo get the point....
okay...I guess that' it for now.  I'm off to sneak into our room for a shower...
September 20

poor parents

My folks are in Ireland and I just heard from them that Florence hit over there, so they are seeing Ireland in flood stage.  That sorta sucks!  Mom said that dad is enjoying the beer there though....so that's good!  I mean when in Ireland...right?  We're good here. Elijah has discovered he wonder that are doors.  He likes to sit at doors and open them and close them...It's pretty cute...not that I'm biased.  We went to the doc today.  I thought EJ had an yeast infection on his chest and neck, but turns out that it's eczema.  So I guess that's good...well at least to know what it is and how to treat it.
That's it right now....  Oh yeah...Elijah is weighing in at 23.6 pounds!  What a hunka hunka...
September 24

A Successful Weekend!

We had our friends over for the weekend.  It was lots of fun!  We went to some local gardens on Saturday to walk and have a picnic.  The weather was perfect.  This morning we had a leisurely breakfast and just hung out.  Jerry and I got back from Costco a bit ago and had some pita pizzas...yummy!!!!  And now he's watching football and hanging out with Elijah.  I must say as weekends go, this one was very good!
We are heading up to the mountains in a couple of weeks for homecoming at WWC and vacation.  We are taking Rachel and Erin and MR with us.  We decided to rent a van so that we could all ride together and save the wear and tear on our car.  I think it will be great! I hope the weather is good.
My parents wrote that they finally saw the sun in Ireland.  Apparently they were there when Florence hit them and then Gavin (I think...) hit while they were driving to their next location.
Jerry has a yearly review tomorrow....send good thoughts his way...while we are fine with his income, a nice raise would always be welcome!
Elijah has officially cut eight teeth now.  I'm hoping this slows down a bit.  He doesn't really seem upset by it, but I think they wake him up at night...  oh well, such is life.  My little 12 hour sleeper (not all at one time grant you) has become a less than 10 hours and no naps...We finally got him down for one today and I just snuggled up beside him and snoozed as well.  I hope that he's doing a little better while we're on vacation.
I guess that's it for now... not a very exciting blog entry, sorry...
September 26

So where's your baby from?

Have I mentioned that random people ask me this?  What do you mean where is my baby from?  My uterus....HELLO?!  It's just really funny to me.  A friend of mine from college just commented that Elijah looks Asian.  He does a bit and I don't mind people commenting on his looks, nor do I mind discussing his ethnicity.  But to ask where I got him from...like I got him a WalMart on sale or something.   Jerry made the point that if I'm not with him, then Elijah does look a little out of place with me, white Irish-y girl, but still.  When did people become so rude, to presume that I would be married to a white guy and therefore Elijah could not have been born of me?  It's just odd I guess.  I would never look at a child and think...oh, well, obviously that child is adopted or from some other place.  What business is it of mine whether or not the child was born of someone or adopted.  It's their child right?  sigh... people...
Anyway, just thought I'd write about that...okay, I'm trying to keep Elijah from pushing the off switch on the computer...Later... (BTW...my folks get home today!!!! YEAH!!!!)
September 29

Public vs. private TVs vs. bathtubs

So, we have been discussing what we really want to do about Elijah's education.  We go back and forth between home schooling, private school, and public school.  Recent studies have shown that children in private schools really don't get any better education than those in public schools.  All in all I think it has the most to do with parental involvement.  My whole issue with the public schools in this county is the overcrowding.  I just don't want EJ going to class in a bathroom.  However, that's five years down the line and who knows what will be going on then.  I obsess about these things and then I hear about the shootings in Colorado and it makes me nervous to put him anywhere...sigh...  anyway there is a small debate going on in my head and I will write more about it at a later date.
Tomorrow we are going to a friend of mine's house to tell our birth story.  My friend Carmen teaches a birthing class (ALACE...not sure what the acronym stands for off the top of my head...but it's natural childbirth classes) and is having a Saturday session in for her classes and has invited some friends to tell their stories.  I talked Jerry into going because I think it's really important for the men in the class to hear what it's like to be the man in the birthing room.  I hope that it won't be too painful for him...(he's so shy...sorta...)
ANYWAY, we are getting a new women and children's wing at our local hospital.  And apparently the higher ups have decided to cut the funding of having bathtubs on the labor and delivery ward so they can have wide screen TVs.  I'm not even talking about birthing tubs.  I'm just talking about a shower with a bathtub.  The showers on the current L&D floor are insanely small.  We were able to fit a small shower chair in the shower for me to sit on, but Jerry stood outside of the shower and rubbed my back from there.  Not that Jerry wanted to be in there with me, but had he wanted, there would have been NO way.  Anyway. at our lunch the other day, many of the women were very upset with this decision.  I guess I can understand.  I personally wouldn't have wanted to be immersed in water.  I did LOVE the shower and it felt great during hard contractions.  But that doesn't mean that other women might not want to be in the tub.  I fear though, that this society is not all about the natural birth.  So many women are all about getting an immediate epidural...this can elongate the labor...and since you can't walk or feel anything, why not pass the time away with the TV?  I guess I see the reasoning behind this, however, do they really need wide screen TVs?  It's not like there is another hospital they are in real competition with.  I don't know.  I wish there was a birthing center...independently run, that allowed moms who wanted a natural birth to do so without the stress of so many medical procedures and constant hospital paranoia of malpractice looming.  I've seen such centers that are very close to the hospital, in case something goes wrong.  I personally was very happy with our birth, but my doctor was very understanding and knew exactly what we wanted.  Now my doctor is no longer doing OB, so we are thinking mid-wife for the next baby (a few years away people...)  I have heard of people driving up to 2 hours a way to give birth in a birthing center.  The closest hospital that even offers bathtubs is 1 1/2 hours away.  Some women may not make it that far in time... I don't know... I think there should be a happy medium, where everyone gets an option... but I guess that would be asking to live in a perfect world...
Alright, the little man has been extraordinarily grumpy today and now is fighting Jerry (who's attempting to put bedclothes on the little one...) I'm off to help....