Addicted to Twitter!!

Well thanks to a segment on KSN, I'm totally addicted to Twitter. I had heard about it before but hadn't really looked into it. I finally decided to sign up and I am so happy I did. Twitter is the best and easiest way to keep up with what everyone else is doing. And I've linked my twitter to my facebook account so when I update my status on Twitter, it automatically updates me on Facebook. And I've linked it to my wonderful Blackberry. So if I'm on my way home and I get stuck at a dang train, I can update my Twitter and anyone that is "following me" will know I'm waiting impatiently on a train. So if you're interested in knowing what's going on my life throughout the day, just sign up on Twitter and Follow Me. You can even click on the Follow Me link in the menu on the right. And if you want me to follow you, send me your username. And if I really like you, I'll set it up to receive instant updates from you on my phone! Mom, I fully expect you to sign up so you can instantly update when you hear from Adam!! The same goes for you Kandyce so you can update when you're on your way to the hospital. LOL.

WISHING EVERYONE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY!!

BUSY BUSY BUSY!!

Ok, so I know I haven't posted in quite awhile, but I've been super busy. As a matter of fact, my update today is going to consist of the reasons I haven't had time to update.

1. I have three two children and a husband. Nuf said.
   
2. I'm reading two books and yes, I'm reading them at the same time. I'm reading Scream-Free Parenting which is actually a really good book so far. And I'm reading Storitelling. It's a guilty pleasure so get over it. AND I'm reading my dad's second book and editing it. However, I haven't picked up any of these books in several weeks.
   
3. See number 1 above.
   
4. I'm working on a baby blanket for my sisters baby. Well, I intend to make a baby blanket. I haven't actually started it yet.
   
5. Have you met my family?
   
6. I'm working on a how-to/procedures manual type thing for work to make my life easier. This is a much bigger task than it sounds.
   
7. Thank goodness for BC. You figure it out.
   
8. I am planning my sisters baby shower for this Saturday. Yes I know. It's crazy to have it during a holiday week, but that's the day that worked.
   

In addition to these ongoing projects, I have stuff I have to do everyday. I get up at 5:30 a.m. every morning. I get Ereka up at 6 am and feed her breakfast. I pick out clothes for both kids and lay them out for Eric. If Ereka happens to be done with breakfast by 6:20, I help her get dressed. If she's dilly-dallying around, it's Eric's problem. I try to be out the door by 6:30. I am at work from 7 am to 5 pm. I'm home by about 5:45 pm and before I can even put my keys down, I get "What's for dinner?" If I'm lucky, I have dinner on the table by 6:45. Then I get to clean up after EVERYONE. Then I start getting the kids ready for bed. Ethan is usually in bed by 7:30. Yes this seems early, but remember, we rise early. Ereka is in bed by 8. By this time I'm too dang exhausted and have absolutely no interest in doing anything listed above. And I'm pretty sure somewhere in there I'm supposed to clean the house, do laundry and spend quality time with my family.

All of this being said, I finally started on a baby hat for Kandyce's baby and will hopefully finish it tonight. I am prioritizing and I figure I will get everything done I want to get done some time in the next 10 years.

I'm thinking I need to reorganize.

Explanation...

Ok, the story behind Gary's name. Last week, Ereka came up to me and Eric and the following conversation took place:

Ereka: I want a pet snail.
Eric: We have pet snails.
Ereka: No. I want a REAL snail.
Eric: Those are real snails.
Ereka: No! I want a real snail that lives out of the water that I can put on a leash.
Me: Honey, snails can't live outside of water.
Ereka: Yes they can! Gary doesn't live in the water.
Eric: Who's Gary?
Me: Spongebob's pet snail.
Eric: ::rolls eyes::
Me: Ereka, Gary does live in water along with Spongebob and Patrick and Squidward. They all live in water.
Ereka: Whatever mom.

Clearly, I have no idea what I'm talking about. And so, we decided to name the new dog Gary. He's not a snail, but she can pretend he is.

Meet Gary!!

Well, we have a new addition to our family. Meet Gary. Gary is a Miniature Dachshund aka a weiner dog. We just picked him up yesterday and already, the entire family is in love with him. He's only about 7 weeks old and is absolutely adorable. Ereka is so in love with Gary. She wants to hold him all the time. She was a little frustrated yesterday because he just wanted to sleep. But he more than made up for it this morning. He was chasing Ereka all over the house. They both were playing great together. Unfortunately, this was at the same time, I was trying to get Ereka to eat her breakfast and get ready for school. There are a couple of pictures of Gary at the end of this post along with a video. And there is a story behind the name Gary which I will explain later this week. I first want to see if anyone can figure out why we named him Gary. I will give one clue. Ereka and Eric had a conversation last week about Ereka wanting a pet snail. That's your clue. I don't have anything to give the winner (unless they want a simple knitted scarf or hat). If you have kids, you may be able to easily figure it out. I really wanted to name it Oscar, ya know, Oscar Mayer Weiners. But I was out-voted.

I'll never have to say that!!

So I was referred to this pretty funny blog today. The current topic is basically things you never thought you'd say. Of course then you have kids and all kinds of crazy stuff comes out of your mouth. Here's the link (crazy phrases). Go ahead and submit your own phrases too. You'll have to read through the comments to find out the ones I've submitted. And I'm pretty sure those won't even be the craziest ones I'll ever say. Ahhhh, the joys of being a mommy.

Good News!!

I have some absolutely great news. Ereka has been accepted as a role model for the Early Start Education program in the Douglass Public School system. YAY!!!!! I don't have any specifics yet so don't ask me. I was beginning to worry I would have to find another preschool out of town for her to attend which would cause serious transportation issues not to mention cost us more financially (especially with the rising cost of gas). I was so thrilled to get the phone call. Unfortunately, this means Ereka will have to go back to the doctor to get her last round of shots (so much fun for her and me). I am hoping this will give her the social interaction she really needs. Not to mention, prepare her for Kindergarten. Hmmmmm. This means we have to go $chool $hopping for new clothes and school supplies, start a new morning (and evening) routine. Ohhhhh, my baby is growing up. Yep, I do believe I will be taking the first day of school off from work.

That's it; I'm Moving!!

I have had enough of this weather. Wind (and I'm not talking about a nice summer breeze), rain torrential downpour, lightning and thunder (which is nice to watch for an hour or so but NOT all night long) and tornadoes. I'm tired of it. And yes, I'm sure in a couple of months when we're in the middle of summer, I'll be thinking, "Boy I hope we get some rain soon."

Last night, I had to get the kids out of bed and take them to our tornado shelter. I honestly don't remember exactly what time it was, but I know it was after 8:30. I was watching the weather and pretty soon they started talking about tornadoes west of us heading east. Well crap. Of course this time, I wasn't prepared. After all, last time they had been warning us for days. This time, it was about 10-15 minutes. I went outside. It wasn't even raining yet. I went back inside, got the diaper bag, made sure there were plenty of diapers and wipes, threw in a few snacks, a flashlight and my contact solution because of course on this night, my contacts would be bothering me. I got a sippy of milk for Ethan and a cup for Ereka and went ahead and put them in the diaper bag. Looked outside again. Still nothing except some a lot of lightning and thunder. Ereka gets out of bed and asks, "Mama, I think we need to go to our tornado shelter." So I told her to get a pair of socks and her tennis shoes. I then proceeded to get Ethan up. Of course he was already asleep and trying to get him up was like trying to wake the dead. I put both kids on the couch. The weather man said that people in Douglass should be heading to their tornado shelter. Well crap. I decided to go ahead and take the diaper bag and purse out to the car and unlock the car doors just in case, but I still wasn't sure we would be going anywhere.

As I'm putting stuff in the car, I notice everyone in the neighborhood is leaving. I took that as a sign. I went back inside, grabbed the kids and loaded them up. Just as I was buckling them in, the tornado sirens sounded. As I drove to the tornado shelter, I decided I better call Eric and let him know what was going on. I knew he was working and wouldn't answer his phone and honestly, he probably didn't even have a clue what was going on, but just in case, I wanted him to know where we were. It was a good thing, because I had limited cell phone service inside the shelter. And as much as I was trying to stay calm and collected, I left a very teary-filled voicemail on his cell phone. Because of course this would have to happen on a day that we were cranky with each other and barely even said goodbye when he left for work.

I took the kids inside the storm shelter and we sat and waited. And waited. And waited. We were in there over an hour. There were probably at least 50-75 people (as I try to picture the room and recount in my head) the same area as us and there was no air conditioning. Before I had left, I grabbed my MP3 player from the computer and threw it in my purse. I'm glad. It has an FM tuner and so I was able to somewhat listen to the weather on the radio while we were in the shelter. But I had to turn it off. It was making me nervous. At one point, a lady actually said, "Everyone sit down and cover your children because it's headed right for us." And yet at this point, I was calm. I've been in this situation before a few times; back when I was a girl scout. It never failed. Every year, while at girl scout camp there would be a tornado near us and we would have to go to the storm shelter. It always upset me. But I was younger then. I think I was calm because I was too busy trying to keep an eye on Ereka and keep Ethan from running off to explore. I didn't have time to be scared.

Luckily, nothing happened. I believe there was circulation that passed over us, but nothing touched down near us. THANK YOU LORD. And so we went home.

And of course we still had lightning and thunder and wind and rain all night long so I didn't sleep at all. I am absolutely exhausted today. That ugly orange couch in our conference room is looking mighty comfy right about now.

An Ebay Challenge

A few months back, we (my office) received a free gift from Office Depot. An MP3 Speaker System. It actually looks pretty nice, but nobody in our office has any use for it. I suggested to my boss that we list it on Ebay. After all, it has a retail value of $30.00. His reply..."I bet we don't even get $10 out of it." And so my challenge. Here is the link to the Ebay auction. Please forward to everyone you know. Surely someone out there needs/wants an MP3 Speaker System. I will never live this down if it doesn't sell for at least $10. PLEASE HELP!!! Thank you.

My New Toy!!

My new mp3 player was finally delivered yesterday! I had ordered it at the end of March from Target.com after receiving a generous gift card. It wasn't available yet, but if I pre-ordered it, I saved over $50.00. So I did my research (since I've never even owned an mp3 player) and decided to go ahead and purchase it. Fast forward 2.5 months and here it is! It's a SanDisk Sansa View 8 GB. I played with it last night and I absolutely love it! There is no way I could write a decent informative review so here is a link to the review that convinced me it was a good deal. There are also some customer reviews for it over at Amazon. Just click on the My New Toy link over on the right and it will take you directly to it. Granted, I've only had the thing a day, but I am very happy with it and will be glad to answer any questions.

Here's a cute video of Ethan dancing and clapping to the TV. It's a little dark, but you can still him pretty good.

And here's a video of Ereka enjoying her new swimming pool.

I've got bragging rights!!!

Today I'm going to brag about myself. It's not something I do real often, but this is really great news. Back in early March, one of the members of one of my Paralegal Yahoo Groups sent a message looking for members to complete a questionnaire for a chance to be profiled in one of the issues of a new paralegal magazine, KNOW. I thought what the hell. It can't hurt to volunteer. So I sent her an email back telling her I would fill out the questionnaire. Well no sooner than I received the questions, all hell broke loose here at work and I was swamped. I finally got around to filling out the questions a couple of weeks later and sent them back to her hoping I hadn't missed the deadline. Whew, I hadn't. She even told me that she liked my perspective and she would forward my questionnaire to her editors. I hadn't heard anything since.

Fast forward to yesterday when I got an email from her telling me that I will be the magazine's paralegal profile for the SECOND issue of KNOW!! How exciting is that!!!!!! It's a bi-monthly magazine and the first issue debuts in June so the second issue will be in August. However, now I have the task of finding a picture to send to her to be put with the article. I never actually thought I would be chosen, let alone be put in the 2^nd issue. This may not be a big deal to some, but I'm pretty dang excited about it.

My Updated Desktop

I finally got around to updating the pictures on my desktop. Here's what my desktop on my competer at work now looks like.

I'm going to change the underlying background but it may take a while to find a good fit and it took long enough to find the right pictures, resize them and arrange them.

And here's a cute video of Ethan.

WOOHOO!!!!!

The Pointer Sisters describe it best with their hit song "I'm so Excited." I'm finally getting my all-time favorite show back!! WOOHOO!! Our local po-dunk cable company is finally getting SoapNet. Those that know me best know exactly what show I'm talking about. And it's not a daytime soap. I should have my show back by the end of summer. WOOHOO!! And to top off that good news, I just found out that they are doing a spinoff of the show coming this fall. WOOHOO!! Can you tell I'm a little excited?

Ok, now that I can breathe again, Ethan had his 18 month checkup yesterday. Everything went well. He's weighing 25lbs, 3ozs and is 31" tall. He's developing normally. Except his speech. He is babbling a lot more and talks in his own language, but the doctor said he should be able to say at least 6 words by now. Soooo, here's the plan. He has a regular well checkup in 6 months. But, if he doesn't know at least 6 words (besides mama and dada) within 3 months, I have to take him back and we'll move on to speech therapy. The reason she is giving him 3 more months is because he has improved in the last three months and he still may improve more. So we're gonna try some of the suggestions from doctor to encourage him to talk more and see where we're at in 3 months. That's all I have for now.

UPDATE: So I was able to dwindle my Yahoo Group list down to just 16 groups and thus reducing my daily emails to about 200 - 300 per day and about 600 on the weekends. It's much better.

It's time to cut back

Well after muddling through almost 700 email messages last Monday and almost 1000 yesterday and the 4 to 5 hundred I receive daily, I've decided it's time to cut back. At this very moment, I belong to 34 yahoo groups and have all 34 yahoo groups set to daily email. So why not just switch to digest mode? Because if I don't have time to read the daily emails then I definitely won't have time to read the daily digests. So I'm cutting back. I haven't quite decided which groups to remove myself from yet. That will take some serious thinking. While I ponder this seemingly impossible task, here's an interesting bit of information I came across last week about your personality and your birth order.

BIRTH ORDER

ONLY-BORNS

Positives: Only-borns are the mega-movers of the world. They are task-orientated; tend to be extremely well organized, highly conscientious and dependable. They are keen on facts, ideas and details and feel extremely comfortable with responsibility.

Negatives: The negative characteristics of only-borns can be tough to handle. They are often unforgiving, very demanding, hate to admit they're wrong and usually don't accept criticism well. To others, they seem very sensitive and indeed, their feelings are easily hurt.

FIRST-BORNS (This is me!!)

Positives: They are natural leaders (um no) and often high achievers (yes). The majority of politicians, spokespersons and managing directors are first-borns. They frequently live with a sense of entitlement and even superiority (hmmmm). They often come in two flavors: compliant nurturers/caregivers or aggressive movers and shakers. Both are in control (definitely); they just use different methods. As a rule, first-borns are picky (no comment), precise people - they pay attention to detail - tend to be punctual, organized, and competent (all 3 definitely apply to me). They want to see things done right the first time. They don't like surprises. (Well that almost fits me to a T).

Negatives: They are often moody (no comment) and occasionally lack sensitivity (hmmm). They can be intimidating, particularly by pushing people too hard or refusing to take no for an answer. Sometimes they can be a bit 'know-it-all', and often they are poor at delegating - largely because they don't trust other people as much as they trust themselves. They also tend to be bossy, perfectionists (ummm, yes) and overly-conscientious.

MIDDLE-BORNS

Positives: The classic middle-born is very relational, tends to be a people-pleaser and usually hates confrontation. Their basic need is to keep life smooth and their motto might be 'peace at any price'. They are usually very calm, will roll with the punches and are amiable, down-to-earth and great listeners. They are skilled at seeing both sides of a problem and eager to make everybody happy. That makes them good mediators and negotiators.

Negatives: They tend to be less driven than first-borns, but are much more eager to be liked - or at least be happy with them. They have a difficult time setting boundaries. They can drift into becoming 'co-dependent' as they try to please everybody. They are not good at making decisions that will offend others. They also tend to blame themselves when others fail.

LAST-BORNS

Positives: Last-borns are the world's cheerleaders. You have strong people skills and love to entertain and talk to others. You make friends easily and immediately make others feel at home. You're an extrovert, energized by the presence of other people and you're probably not afraid to take risks.

Negatives: Last-borns tend to get bored quickly. They have a strong fear of rejection and a short attention span. When the fun stops, they've had enough and want to check out. To some extent they're self-centered. They may harbor unrealistic expectations of finding a relationship that is always fun - and of course, such relationships simply do not last.

What's that smell?

Ok, so Eric made it through his procedure ok. He's still alive. Barely. I'm kidding. But he did tell me that he was in so much pain, he thought he was dying. He was a whole new respect for women who have given birth now. Anyway, it's done and not something he ever wants to experience again.

Now, onto the topic at hand. I received a catalog yesterday from Yankee Candle. I really love the smell of most of their candles. But sometimes I wonder where in the world they come up with some of those scents. They have just released their new summer scents and there were even some scratch and sniff's in the catalog. The first one I came to was "Ocean Water". Ok, not bad. I don't know anyone who really wants to have a candle that smells like ocean water because honestly, I think the ocean stinks. Then I came to the next one. "Dune Grass" Are you kidding me?! Dune Grass? Who in their right mind wants to have their house smelling like dune grass? Well let's scratch and sniff anyway. EWWWWWW. Excuse me while I go puke. I didn't think anything could smell worse than that. I thought wrong. "Fresh Cut Herbs" was next. The name sounded alright. Scratch and sniff. Double EWWWWWWW. It smelled like rotten grass. It was twice as bad as the dune grass. And I'm sitting here thinking, people want their house smelling like this? I'll stick with the Fudge Ripple scent. That one didn't even have a scratch and sniff. I assume that's because it probably smells great and people would buy that one instead of one of the nasty smelling ones such as "Beach Walk" which smells like moldy wood to me. Where do they come up with this stuff? You can click on this link if you're really interested in having your house smell like rotten grass or moldy wood.

The Power of a Look

A look can be quite effective when you want something. My daughter gives me a "puppy dog" look when she wants something and probably about 75% of the time, it works. My son hasn't discovered the look yet. When he wants something, he whines or screams at the top of his lungs, which is quite effective too. When the trash is nearly overflowing, I can just look at my husband and he knows, the trash needs to go out. The look can work on strangers too. When I'm at a store waiting for someone to come help me, I can stand there looking annoyed and that probably works about 25% of the time. Last week is a wonderful example of the power of a look. It was around 10:00 p.m. The kids were asleep in bed. I was in my nightgown in bed watching TV when all of a sudden, the windows start rattling because our neighbor kid has his dang car stereo turned up. Now, I don't mind loud stereos during the day so much. I've been known on occasion to turn up my radio when a good song comes on the radio. But this was 10:00 at night. I waited a few minutes thinking maybe he would be turning it off soon. Finally, I was ticked. I was worried he was gonna wake up the kids. So I put some pants on and walked to the front door. I first turned on the porch light thinking that maybe if he saw that come on, he might have enough sense to turn the dang thing off. I waited. Still playing. That was it. I opened the door, flung open the screen door, stepped out and gave this kid the "Look". You know the one. The look that says if you don't turn that damn thing off, I'm gonna come over there and turn it off permanently. He was in the process of walking towards his house, with his car stereo still blaring. I must have given him a pretty dang good look because when he saw me, he said, "OK" and ran back to his car and turned it off. I didn't even have to say a single word. I calmly walked back inside shut the door, turned out the light and went to bed. Ahhhhh. The power of a look.

Finished Packing FINALLY!!

And it only took about 10 months. I've spent the past couple of weeks rearranging, organizing, and cleaning the house. There are absolutely no more boxes in our house! I put everything I wanted to keep (i.e. old school awards, mine and Eric's diplomas, etc.) went into Rubbermaid containers (I could buy stock in Rubbermaid) and anything that neither of us wanted anymore either went into the trash or into the garage sale pile. I got our master bathroom completely organized so now you can actually see the countertop. I rearranged our bedroom and you can actually walk through it (so long as a certain someone keeps their clothes picked up!). All of this was a really big task and I feel so relieved that I have finally finished it. I'll try to take pictures later today and post them. I'm really proud of this accomplishment and anyone that has ever moved knows exactly how I feel right now.

On another note, Eric is having laser Lithotripsy done Thursday morning for a kidney stone. It's a non-invasive procedure where they use shock waves to break up kidney stones that are too big to pass. He has one right now that is 7mm. He's not in any pain right so that's good, but the doctor wants to get it out ASAP before it gets any bigger. So we'll be checking into the Kansas Medical Center at the butt-crack of dawn 5:00 a.m. on Thursday morning. Unfortunately, Eric will have to miss 2 days of work. Let me rephrase. Eric gets to miss 2 days of work for this. He has to be on an all liquid diet all day Wednesday along with drinking two bottles of magnesium citrate. But at least he doesn't have to have surgery to have it removed. Thank goodness for technology.

Both kids are doing great. Ereka's favorite phrase right now is "I don't want to live with you no more". Four year olds are so much fun!

Final Round!!

So now the Wichita Wingnuts have made it to the final round. I wonder if KU will be so lucky. Anyway, here is an updated link (http://www.cnbc.com/id/23898413). So go vote for the Wichita Wingnuts!! I may have to actually take up a baseball game this year and see how well they really play. I wonder if they can live up to their logo. hmmmm.

Go Wingnuts!!

CNBC is hosting a Minor League Baseball Logo Contest and the Wichita Wingnuts have made it to the Final Four! Go Wingnuts!! Click on this link (http://www.cnbc.com/id/23878416) to vote. The polls close at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow, so vote now! This team hasn't even played a single game yet and they are already so close to winning this contest. So forward this to everyone you know (cause it may be the only thing they ever win).

And while we're discussing Final Four victories (even though I'm a K-State fan), congratulations to KU for their close call victory over Davidson yesterday (and my joy for their win has absolutely nothing to do with my March Madness bracket). GO KU!!

Catchin' Up

Ok, so I know it's been awhile, but I've been super busy. Honestly. Work has been crazy. And by the time I get home in the evenings, the last thing I want to do is sit at the computer and update everyone else on my life. But things have quieted down somewhat for now. So now I get to play catchup at work and at home. Although I did make time to work on my knitting. I just finished two more projects. I finished Ereka's legwarmers a couple of weeks ago. Here's a couple of pictures.

I also finished a lighthouse dishcloth 2 nights ago. I'm pretty proud of the dishcloth. It was a needle knit pattern that I converted to loom knit. I only made a few mistakes which I now refer to as "kid distractions" because I'm sure that's what happened. Here's a picture of the dishcloth.

And I'm super excited because my new wonderloom from dalooms finally arrived today. I can't wait to try it out this weekend. What else have I been up to? Not a whole lot (as you can tell from the pictures of Ereka with my dirty floor that obviously needs to be vacuumed). But I have proof that I've been doing laundry because I did manage to do this to Eric's brand new white T-shirts.

Nice, huh. It took half a gallon of bleach to turn them white again.

Eric and both kids were sick this week with a stomach bug. YUK. That's all I have to say about that. Other than that, everyone is doing great. I wish the weather would warm up and stay that way. Ereka is going bonkers inside the house all day everyday. I'll upload some new pictures of the kids this weekend. Have a great weekend everyone!!

You ate the WHOLE box?!

Girl scout cookies were recently delivered. We had ordered some boxes from my sister and some from Eric's cousin. My absolute favorite are the Caramel Delights. They have always been my favorite. When I sold cookies, they were called Samoa's. Same cookie, different name, still taste great. Anyway, so I ordered 2 boxes of those from my sister. One evening while I was knitting, I devoured about 7 cookies. When I got home the next day, the rest were gone. Eric said he and Ereka ate them. Ok, no biggie, there's still a whole other box. Well, fast forward to Friday evening, I wanted some cookies. I go in search for the purple box and I can't find it. I ask Eric about it. He looked at me and said, "Well I was just going to eat a couple, but they were so good, I ended up eating the whole box." Are you kidding me? At first, I thought he was just joking and he had hidden the box from me. But no. He ate the whole dang box. He said, "Don't worry, I'm sure I ordered a box of those from my cousin." Ok.

Well Sunday, we picked up the cookies he ordered from his cousin. Hmmm. There is a red box, an orange box and a green box. I look at Eric. He just smiles and says, "I'm sorry. I must have ordered you the green box instead of the purple one." Oh well. It's not like I really needed them anyway. Yesterday, he was scrounging looking for something to snack on and I commented, "Well why don't you eat a box of cookies." I was joking, but apparently he didn't realize it because he ate another box of cookies. Well that's ok. Last night, I proceeded to hide the rest of the cookies, with the exception of the green boxes because I know he hates Thin Mints. Ahhhhh. I feel much better. We'll see how long it takes him to notice they're gone.

On a completely unrelated matter, both kids have had their well-baby and well-child checkups. Ereka had hers last week. She is doing great. The doctor went to check her ears and lo and behold, an ear infection. Go figure. Other than that, she's fine. She's growing perfect. I was a little concerned about her weight, but she is in the 98% for her weight and 77% for her height. The doctor said she will probably burn quite a bit when it warms up and she is outside more being more active. Although I'm sure the snacking her and Eric do everyday doesn't help. And she didn't get any shots. She was sooooo worried she was going to be getting shots or blood taken. The doctor asked me if I wanted to do it that day or wait until next year. Well since I had Ethan with me, I opted to wait. The doctor said that's typically what they do anyway.

Now on to Ethan. He had his 15 month checkup yesterday. He wasn't quite so lucky with the shots. He got three yesterday. Ethan is weighing in at 23.5 pounds and is 30" tall. He's developing great. He's doing everything he's supposed to be doing with the exception of talking. He's still not talking. He does a lot of babbling. Everything is dada dada dada dada. The doctor said he could just be a late talker. She said we'll give until he's 18 months old before we start worrying. She's not too concerned about it because he's doing everything else he supposed to be doing. She also said, that if we, um, lose, um, the, um pacifier, that would probably help. We're working on it. I promise. I think we're just going to have to round them all up and toss them in the trash. The doctor said they really don't need them after 15-18 months anyway because typically, they can be given something else to soothe them, such as a blankie or a toy. I see a sleepless weekend coming on.

Happy Birthday Ereka

And Happy Valentine's Day to everyone else! Today is Ereka's 4^th birthday. Awww, my baby is growing up L. I asked her how old she was today and her response, "I'm 3 years old."

"No, you're 4 today."

"I don't wanna be 4, I wanna be 3."

"Well I'm sorry honey, but you're a big girl now and you're 4 years old."

"Well I'm mad at you now."

"Well I still love you."

"I love you too mommy. I guess I can be 4."

I'm glad that's settled (cause I'm not sure I could handle her being 3 again)

So after I got off work yesterday, I stopped at the store to buy something for Valentine's Day for Eric. Let me tell you something. Valentine's Day is all about Women. Everything is for women. Nothing for Men. Unless your man likes cutesy little animals or heart-shaped anything. And I was not the only person waiting until the last minute to buy anything. It took me 10 minutes to get through the VD section. I was finally able to find a lovey dovey
cutesy nice card and a frog balloon. Here is a couple of pictures of the balloon.

It's actually quite cute. And my wonderful husband got me a very nice card and a stuffed bear. And we're going to double date with my brother and his wife tomorrow night and go out to dinner. YAY! An evening among adults (thank you Mom!!). HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Moment of Truth

I don't know if any of you have seen this new show on fox. Click on the fox link and watch some recaps. It's actually quite entertaining to watch. However, I don't know who in their right mind would ever be a contestant on this show. There is not enough money in the world for me to go on this show. The contestants have to answer several VERY personal questions and if they are telling the truth, they move up the money pyramid but if the lie detector says they are lying, they lose everything. These people are insane. I consider myself to be a truthful person, but there are just some things in my life that everyone doesn't need to know. Everyone has secrets. And I guess if you want to tell the whole world what those secrets are (and risk ruining relationships/friendships, etc), then by all means, go on the show! I, however, will keep my secrets to myself. Watch the show. It's on tonight. What's your opinion? Would you go on the show?

On a totally unrelated note, I want to thank my cousin Destiney for earning me $0.62 by purchasing the greatest looming book of all time through my Amazon link. This is the first earning from this blog. THANK YOU!! By the way, if you're interested in the same book, you can search "Loom Knitting Primer" or "Isela Phelps" in the Amazon box to the right. Thanks again!!

I was having fun 10 years ago

I got an email last week from our senior year class president regarding a 10-year reunion. WHAT?! 10 years already!! I can't believe it. It has flown by. I absolutely loved my senior year of high school. I went to every single sporting and school event I could. I went to my prom after only deciding to go the day before (which made shopping for a dress interesting). I had tons of fun. I would love to be a "professional student". LOL. Get paid for going to school. Now that would be a great job! Maybe later this week, I will scan in some old pictures from high school. Ahhh, the good ole days.

On another note, I learned that Ereka's bed (the frame) is about 51 years old. It's a bunk bed set. My mom and my aunt slept on the set for years and then me and my sister slept on the set for several more years. So it's on its 3^rd generation now. My cousin brought up an interesting fact yesterday though. Lead paint. Hmmmm. This thought never even crossed my mind. So I went home and examined the bed. It didn't appear to be painted, just finished. But I thought better be safe than sorry and dug out a lead tester (thank you Mom & Bob) and tested the wood part and the metal part (hey, you never know). And the results were…NO LEAD!! (whew).

This past weekend, I pulled out my container of yarn and made note of what I had. WOW. That crap stuff accumulates fast. Here's a couple of pictures.

This was before I started digging it out and organizing it.

And this was after I organized it.

And here's a picture of a mitten I made. It's really thick and warm. I need to sew the thumb better, but other than that, I think it's pretty good!

And here's a recent picture of the kids.

Can you hear me now?

Well I am still fighting this stupid ear infection. My ear doesn't hurt anymore, but it still feels full and it's still ringing and I can barely hear out of it. It's driving me crazy!!

On another note, I finally was able to finish my plastic bag holder. I was on hiatus from my knitting since Ethan was sick and I was sick. I finished it last night and I really like it. Here's a couple of pictures:

It was really easy to make and I probably could have had it done in just a few evenings if I hadn't had sickly interruptions. I'm gonna make another one and try putting some stripes in it and if I can do it, eventually I want to make one with our last name down the side or maybe at least just an H. We'll see. I haven't decided what my next project is gonna be. I want to practice some different stitches first.

Some more news on the home front, Ereka got a new bed last weekend. Here's some pictures:

This was the first day we brought it home and put her brand new sheet/comforter set on it. We just set on the floor and picked up the frame the next day.

This was after we put it on the frame and rearranged her room a bit. Some of you may recognize the footboard. It's the same frame me and Kandyce slept on for i don't know how many years!!! Now if only Ereka would actually sleep all night in her bed. I could have just bought the sheet set and set it up on the floor.

Mommy, M.D.

I don't care what doctors say. I'm a mommy and I say ear infections are contagious. They are in my household anyway. And I'm betting just about every mommy will agree with me.

I woke up Sunday morning around 3:30 am with the worst earache ever. And of course Ethan was sleeping comfortably on my chest (after yet another very looooong night) and there was no way I was moving. So I laid there for an hour in excruciating pain. Finally, Ethan sat up and then promptly laid back down on the pillow next to me. I'm not sure he even opened his eyes. I quickly, yet carefully, took this opportunity to get up and take something for the pain.

I rummaged through my medicine bottles and was thinking that I'd really like to take the Percocet or the Demerol I have, but I better just stick with the prescription Ibuprofen. The others would make me too drowsy to function and since I am a mommy, I still have to take care of everyone else who is sick. Luckily, the Ibuprofen worked and the pain subsided. When we got up for the day, I decided I was not doing another night like that and told Eric we were going to Immediate Care that day. Surely they won't be that busy on a Sunday. He and Ereka could go eat lunch while Ethan and I saw the doctor and by the time they were done, we should be done. That was a stupid idea.

The place opens at Noon on Sundays and we pulled into the parking lot around 11:45. You would have thought the place was having some kind of sale. The line stretched clear across the parking lot. It probably would have been a 3-4 hour wait minimum. And so we exited the parking lot and went back home. I called our doctor first thing Monday morning and by the time I actually got through and was able to talk to anyone, all of their Monday appointments were taken. So I made an appointment for Ethan today. My ear didn't hurt anymore, so I opted not to make myself an appointment. Another stupid idea.

About 8:00 pm last night, my ear started hurting again. I took some more medicine and went to bed. Luckily I was able to see our doctor at the same time as Ethan this morning and found out I have an ear infection and Ethan has a double ear infection. I give it a couple of days and Ereka will have an ear infection too. Like I said, ear infections are contagious in our household.

Practice makes perfect!!

My recently finished loom knitting projects...

This is a beanie hat for one of Ereka's babies.
This was supposed to be a potholder. I did much better on it after the first half.
World's ugliest hat ever. I was just practicing with some ugly yarn that had been given to me.
Can Coozie. Again, I was just practicing with the ugly yarn. I'm gonna modify this pattern and try it again though.

No these are perfect projects, but the only way to learn is to practice. And yes these are ugly, but I'm gonna use my good pretty yarn on practice projects. I'm currently working on a plastic bag holder. I'll post a picture of it when I'm finished. TTFN!!

The sick really are sick

Ok, maybe I was just a wee bit cranky yesterday. I blame it on lack of sleep. Eric went to the doctor yesterday and I told him since he was going anyway, he could take Ethan with him. Well Ethan doesn't have an ear infection, just a little bit of fluid and a red throat. Hmmmm. I would assume the red throat was due to the screaming fit the night before. Eric, on the other hand, has a severe double ear infection! The doctor wanted to know why he hadn't come in sooner. Soooo, Eric really is in pain and I don't know what the heck Ethan's problem is other than he just wants to be a PITA…(btw, he was up at 3:30 this morning, hence my cranky mood again). And now, Ereka is starting to get a head cold. The vicious cycle never ends…

Here are some things to ponder today…

If aliens are smart enough to travel through space why do they keep abducting the dumbest people?
If we're not supposed to eat late night snacks why is there a light in the refrigerator?
If babies are so cute when they're born, how come half of them grow up to be ugly old men?
Why doesn't "Buick" rhyme with "quick?"
If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends?
Why do psychics have to ask for your name?
If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth?
Is it really an optical illusion, or does it just look that way?
Can a person without eyebrows show surprise?
Why can't women put on mascara with their mouth closed ?

Why don't I ever get to be sick???

Why are men such big babies when they're sick? They are worse than children! My son has been sick for a few days now with a stomach bug and I'm pretty sure he has an ear infection now. I came to this conclusion at about 3 am when he was crying his head off and pulling at his ear. I think I got about 2 hours of sleep last night so I'm a little cranky today. But things like this come with being a parent, right? WRONG. Things come like this with being a Mother. Because when the kids are sick, apparently only mommies know how to take care of them. My son wanted nothing to do with anyone on Sunday except me. That's ok. I had the day off. Sunday night, he was still sick and at about 4:22 a.m. Monday morning, I had decided that I would not go to work on Monday since I probably wouldn't get much done anyway because of lack of sleep. On Monday, he was doing soooo much better. He actually let my husband hold him in the afternoon and he ate dinner pretty well. He only woke up once Monday night (it was my husband's turn to get up with him…funny how it always works that way) and so I thought GREAT, he's better! Last night proved me wrong. On top of all this, my husband has a head cold. And you would think it was the end of the world. He has quickly learned though that he will get no sympathy from me whatsoever. When I'm sick, I still go to work, take care of the house, take care of the kids, cook, clean, etc., etc., etc. That's what mothers are supposed to do. That's the way its been for generations. HELLOOOOO. We are in the year 2008. It's all about equal opportunity! And that includes roles in the home too. You're sick? I'm sorry. Here, take this, suck it up and give Ethan a bath. You can still walk, talk and breathe, so you can still help out around here. If I can do it, so can you. And that's that.

New Hobby!!

Well I picked up a new hobby last week. Like I really need something else to do with all my spare time (please note the sarcasm). Anyway, my new hobby; Loom Knitting. I absolutely love it! It's sooooo easy to do. I had taught myself to knit (with needles) a little over two years ago. I wanted to learn so I could make blankets. However, I quickly realized just how long it would take to make a blanket and I just don't have time to keep up with a long project like that. I'm an instant gratification kind of person. So I pretty much picked up the needles every few months or so. Well last week I discovered loom knitting. My very first project was a hat for my daughter and I started AND finished it in just one evening! It took about 4 hours (with a few interruptions). I was so thrilled, I started a hat for my husband the next night and it only took 2 evenings to finish that. The first hat I needle-knitted for my son took over 4 months!! This weekend, I made a beanie hat, a potholder and a coozie! I'm hoping to keep this up and start a blanket in a month or so. Eventually I hope to be good enough to design my own patterns. There is tons of stuff online that makes learning sooooo easy. There are even instructional videos on YouTube! Here's a couple of pictures of what I've done.

Another Baby? Over my dead body!

Ok so I'm a few days late, but Happy New Year!! We didn't do anything for New Year's; heck we were in bed by 9:30 (wow I feel old). I had a lot of things I had planned to do on New Year's day though and I didn't even get half of them done. That's what happens when you have kids. You make to do lists so you know what you're not getting done.

We did get all of Christmas decorations put away (well except for the lights still on the house that never even worked) and put them back in storage. While we were reorganizing our storage unit, I decided to pull out some baby stuff to freecycle. I pulled out the walker (that my son never even used) and the swing. My husband wanted to get rid of the bassinet too but I said nope.

"Why not"

"Cause I'm not ready to have another baby yet" and he looked at me like I was nuts.

"Huh?"

"Don't you know anything about Murphy's Law? When a woman gets rid of all her baby stuff, she gets pregnant soon after. That's the way it works. So we can't get rid of too much stuff cause we're not having another baby right now"

"Whatever"

Anyway, here is the video I promised of my Christmas Day mess. Everything hadn't been brought in quite yet, but you get the picture.

You could barely walk through the living room by the end of the day. Here's what our living room looked like only 2 days later.

And here it is January 3 and we still don't have everything out of it's packaging yet. But we're getting there...slowly. Maybe the kids will have all their new stuff opened by March.

That Dreaded Visit

I thought about whether or not to talk about this as it's rather personal, but I thought what the heck. I'm sure almost every woman out there can relate to this. I had a doctor's appointment this morning for my annual exam and women, you know exactly what annual exam I'm talking about. The nurse does all her usual stuff; weight (ugh, didn't lose any pregnancy weight); blood pressure (still perfect).

"Any pregnancy's?" I'm sitting there thinking, you have my entire chart on your little laptop there and you have to ask if I have had any pregnancies? I guess I waited too long to answer cause she asked again.

"Pregnancies?"

"Yes." And then she just sits there looking at me like I should have more to say.

"Do you want to know when they were?"

She says, "No, how many?" Well why didn't you ask that in the first place. Again though, I wonder why she's asking when all of this information should be in my file.

Then she asks, "Are you still taking Mez….(I can't even pronounce it, let alone spell it)?" Ok, you have to ask me about my pregnancies, yet you know my primary care doctor gave me a prescription for dizziness 2 months ago?

So anyway, after we're done playing 20 questions, she tells me the doctor will be in shortly. There's the sheet and the gown. So after she leaves, I get undressed and recover myself up in about 30 seconds. There is nothing more embarrassing than the doctor walking in while you're still standing half naked trying to cover up. Trust me.

So now I'm sitting on the exam table/bed with a sheet over my bottom half and a gown around my top half. Now that I have every bare inch of my body covered, I sit there and wait…and wait…and wait some more. Usually my doctor's office is pretty quick. I've never had to wait more than 15 minutes in the waiting room and never more than a couple in the exam room. They must have been busy today. 20 minutes later, the doctor finally comes in. (Hmmmm, glad I'm not the only one that's put on a few pounds.) Now we get to play 20 questions again. Only this time we get to play while being examined. Why do doctors do this. Don't they know how uncomfortable we already are. We don't want to talk about how Christmas went or what our New Year plans are while you are examining our most private parts. COME ON!

Anyway, that's over. Don't have to worry about it for a whole year now.

Btw, I was able to get to my computer last night and uploaded the video of my Christmas mess. I'll try to get it on here later today.