dunna, dunna, da, da, da, DA

What, you didn't recognize that tune from my singing?

It's my birthday. Yippee! I'm 28. People keep asking me how old I am and I don't remember. I have to do the math every time. I went to lunch at Olive Garden today, and stuffed myself WAY too much! am very sorry about that now. Wow. belly hurts.

There's this guy that I dated in high school for a short time. We also went to the same church, and knew each other's families and stuff. His dad helped me train my horse for the 4-H fair shows and stuff. He was a grade ahead of me, and his sister was a grade below. She even lived on the same floor as me one year at college. Anyway, if I could have possibly married the family without marrying the guy (who I do love, but just not enough to marry) I would have. If I could adopt new parents, they'd be my first choice. if I didn't love my in-laws, I'd say I wished Rob was their kid, but... Anyway, I got a card in the mail from both the sister (Thanks Jill) the mom (Thanks Harriett) and a phone call from the guy. I love that family!!

Lat time, I swear

i repeat - my doctor is an idiot.

You know that Keflex that he couldn't prescribe for me? It's what I'm currently taking. Yeah, it's safe.

Here's a brief recap.

He wanted to prescribe Keflex.

I told him I was nursing - asked if that was okay.

He told me no - prescribed something else.

Pharmacy said it wasn't safe.

Called the dr office to get it fixed.

Dr called in Keflex - confused me.

I called both pediatrician and ob/gyn for doublecheck.

Am now taking Keflex.

Idiot!

feet

check out the latest scrapbook page located here:

http://ktjrdn.photosite.com/scrapbook2006/

death wish

Yesterday, Ally had a death wish. She woke up whining and didn't stop (unless she was screaming or crying) for a couple hours. Rob and I both lost our patience, and I about threw her out the window. (not really, but I was close) She improved throughout the day.

We went to the fairgrounds and saw the horse a friend of Rob's shows, and them went on some rides (they have them open all summer on the weekends) When we were on our way home, we told Ally that it was almost time for a nap, and put her in bed when we got home.

For the past 2 years, Ally has fought us at naptime. We usuallly put her in the car and drive somewhere and avoid the fight (yeah, we're horrible parents, blah blah) It's only 2 days a week, and she naps well at day care. But 2 or 3 weeks ago, we tried to get her to lay down on her own, cause she was being a brat and clearly needed a nap, but the car ride didn't work. She pitched a fit and screamed a while, but them she lay down. Now, she naps. For 2 or 3 weekends, she has laid (I know that's horrible english, but don't really care) down with little or no fuss. Today, she didn't even try to argue with me.

It makes me SOO mad. I love it that she naps, but I just want to wring her neck that she couldn't have figured this out long ago. I know it's our fault, but I still want to wring her neck. It could have been this easy all along! Same thing with sleeping through the night. She has only really started that now that Anya is here. and while I was home on maternity leave, she all of a sudden, on her own, decided that it would be okay to lean her head back when I was her hair instead of screaming at me, looking down, and getting water in her eyes. I've been trying to get her to do that forever too.

I know this is the terrible twos, and expected her to annoy me, but not by being cooperative.

back to the sickness once more
My dr is an idiot. He was going to write me a prescription for Keflex, and I said "Can I take that while I'm nursing?" Of course not, so he scrolled through his little palm pilot thingy and found something else. i dropped it off with Walgreens, and went back to pick it up. I know my dr is an idiot, so I asked the pharmacist if it was safe. It's not. So now, I'm waiting to see if he replaced it with something that actually is safe. Bastard.

That'll teach me

Once upon a time, we had 2 cats. I loved them dearly, and Rob tolerated them. Now, one of the cats got an idea in his head that he wanted to play outside all the time. We couldn't have him prowling the neighborhood, so we came up with this idea to keep them in the yard like a dog. We put a dog door in our screen door to the backyard, and strung a wire around the top of our fence. Then we put shock collars on the cats. Of course, the cats are smaller than most dogs, so we didn't know how high to set the voltage. We didn't want to hurt them. So to test it, Rob stood next to the fence and touched the shock prongs. He got shocked, of course. He cussed and dropped the collar and shook his hand, and turned the voltage down a little. And the next time he walked near the fence, he made damn sure he wasn't touching the prongs. In fact, the next time I walked near the fence I looked down at my hands to make sure I wasn't even carrying the collar. (Who am I kidding? The next twenty times I went near the fence I did the same thing) Electric shock (i.e. PAIN) is an excellent teacher of some lessons - even secondhand.  (Unfortunately, it only worked on the cats for about a month and a half. The cat decided he was more interested in the field across from the house than staying out of pain, so he jumped the fence anyway - and brought many many dead animals and some live ones back with him, so we had to relocate the cats to a friend's house in the country.)

Until about a month ago, that was the only lesson PAIN had ever taught me.

Last night, Anya ate at around 5:15 and stayed awake with Rob afterward looking around at stuff outside. She didn't fall asleep until around 7 or so, which is not unusual. Ally's bedtime did not go well last night (for Rob and I - Ally did just fine) so I was in no mood to stay up longer by waking Anya up to eat. I figured, I would just go to sleep and see how long it took. The next time I looked at my watch, it was 4:00. I rolled over and instantly my boobs hurt.

Last month I had mastitis. I woke up and my right boob hurt, and I felt like shit. Then I got a fever, and it just got worse from there. That was the crappiest I've ever felt, I think. My fever topped at 102.5 thankfully, cause Rob was going to make me go to the hospital if it didn't come down soon. He had to come home from work and help with the kids and help me function. Again - it sucked.

Anyway... This morning, I almost panicked. My boobs hurt and I was hot. I jumped off the couch (where I was sleeping 'cause Anya was asleep upstairs, and I wouldn't be able to hear her in bed unless she was screaming loud enough to wake Ally up too, and no one wants that) freaking out. I frantically felt myself up and concluded that I was just full, and I cannot even express the relief I felt. I was hot because the upstairs is always warmer than my bedroom. But just for that one nstant, I felt like I was walking toward the fence again.

11 hours of sleep. I don't think Ally has ever done that when she hasn't been sick. (Has Ally ever NOT been sick? I can't seem to remember) So now, I worry about Anya sleeping too much. Of course, not too much, 'cause I'm kinda self-centered and have half my brain cheering because there is hope that someday I will sleep again. I had long ago given up on that. She's probably just going through a growth spurt or something.

in other non-sickness related news...
I was on the phone with the technical assitance people for one of Ally's toys that wouldn't work the other day. Of course, Ally wouldn't be quiet, and then Anya woke up and started fussing. So, I had a brilliant thought and got them both to leave me a lone. I told Ally to "go make faces at your sister" So she went over to Anya and blew raspberries at her for a while and kept them both out of my hair. She's such a good kid. I'm really enjoying this whole "follows simple instructions" phase Ally is going through. (Of course, she only follows the ones she decides she wants to, but hey, she's 2. and she's female, so I'm not sure that will ever change)

sickness
I stayed home yesterday. Everybody but Rob is sick in varying degrees. I had to suck Anya's nose out lots and lots in the middle of the night the other day. 2 month olds aren't supposed to have big green buggers are they? Ally got cough medicine last time we went to the dr a couple weeks ago, but is not getting much better. In fact, her nose started running too. My cough is not getting any better, and I can't take a lot of medicine for fear of drying up my milk. Now, I too have a runny nose. I had to sleep on the cough Tuesday night so I could sleep sitting upright.

So yesterday, I took Ally back to the Dr and found out she now has a sinus infection, and FINALLY we got some antibiotics for her. Hopefully she'll be better soon. I have an appointment with my dr this afternoon. Maybe I can get some antibiotics too. Anya is pretty much okay. She doesn't have much sinus cavity yet to get infected or anything. I just have to keep her nose sucked out and maybe spray it with some saline to keep it clear. But, my god, will it ever end???

Rob is kinda pissy because he's afraid he's going to get sick. and he's sick of hearing all of us "cough and hack" all thetime. It gives him a headache. What about me? Doing it kinda gives me a headache too. Men!!

And the crappy thing is that some stupid kid somewhere decided to eat one of those Triaminic vapor patches, and so they got recalled. They worked so well at helping Ally sleep at night when she's congested. Now, even if you see them on the shelf and get excited and try to buy every last one of them, thrilled that you found them just in time, the cashier will dash your hopes and won't be able to ring them in even if you beg her "Please, please, they are the only thing that works", because the computer tells her they've been recalled and she probably tells all her co-workers and they all laugh at your desperation after you leave. Fuckers.

heaven is quiet
I got to ride to work all by myself today. I work 3 blocks from my daughters' day care (well, Ally's - Anya doesn't get to go there for another month and a half), so I was always the one to drop the kids off in the morning. I'd get the whole "Since you're going to be going right past there..." Nevermind the fact that I had to be at work at 7:00 and he didn't have to be anywhere for the whole day, and could do it without rushing around, etc. Anyway... I have to leave even earlier now that I have to take Anya to day care at a whole other place. Ally needs to sleep more and Rob has to work in the same building as me and is up anyway and doesn't have to work until 8:00. He's now taking the kids to work and I'm picking them up after. I got to ride to work today in complete silence. It was great!

I was only a little embarrassed when I drove to the daycare anyway and had to make a big u-turn. :)

thumbsucking
I don't even know where to start. I hate seeing kids with pacifiers when they are old enough to talk. I know that you can take them away before that, but most parents just don't for some reason or another. I still don't think a pacifier is a good thing. I think kids should be comforted by their parents, or a boob, or something. But NOT their thumbs either.

I am not judging anyone whose child sucks something. Whatever works for whoever is working it, ya know? I am just very grateful it never became an issue at our house. Ally never even tried to suck anything else. I hate to admit it, but I even tried to get her to suck a pacifier once (just once, I promised myself I would never give it to her again), just to get her to shut up (please God - shut UP!!) - no dice.

I hate thumbsucking. I can't even verbalize why. It's beyond words. Maybe it makes me feel like I'm failing or something, and it's too emotional for me to admit it. Maybe it's just because I've seen how hard it is to break the habit. Unlike a pacifier, you can't really take a thumb away. Maybe something I can't remember from my childhood is influencing it (I sucked my thumb, but Mom asid I quit pretty much without a fight) Whatever it is, the very thought just makes me shudder. I would rather give my kids a pacifier.

Rob hates pacifiers the way I hate thumbs. He says you shouldn't give a kid an external blah, blah, blah. I don't know his argument that well, because my mind was screaming NOT-THE-THUMB the whole time he was talking. Whatever. It makes sense logically. I just can't convince myself of it completely.

Anya has found her thumb. I've taken it away from her and rocked/bounced her in the past, but she didn't have a whole lot of coordination then. I just hoped it would go away. But now, she's getting pretty good at directing it to her mouth when she's fussy. Rob is not happy with it either, and we both just hoped it would pass, but it doesn't look like it's going to. I hate it. Everyone keeps telling me that "some babies just need to suck". That sounds like BS to me.

So how about it? Can anyone help me come to terms with this? Because it looks like I'm going to have to.

more pictures
I've done a couple scrapbook pages, and have Anya's 2 month pictures.

These are the album covers for my photo albums. I have them organized by age.
This is from birth to 1 year old
This one is from 1 to 2 years old

And this is my album for the few pages I've done this year. I'm way behind! One of them is the invite to the BBQ we have every summer.

Also, Anya's 2 month pictures are up. (Well, they will be soon if they aren't right now. I'm going to work on them next.)

random boring thoughts
The other day, I was "eating" Anya's toes. Ally thought it was great. She laughed and laughed (and Anya giggled too). But later, I walked upstairs and found Ally sitting on the couch with her foot in her mouth. Maybe not the greatest thing to teach her.

Rob started his new job Monday. He's already bored. Haha. He always tells me he'd be glad to be bored at work and now he's finding out that it's ... well... boring. Anyway, they are going to start real training next week. This week is just paperwork and training manuals.

I've actualy had work to do. I'm happy for something to do, but there was something wrong with my html and I couldn't for the life of me figure out what was causing it. I finally figured out how to fix it, but still don't know why it happened in the first place. Very frustrating.

Anya is a huge fatso. It's starting to be very hard to carry her in the pumpkin seat. But, she's much happier. I really had a hard time liking her to start with. She was a monster. She's settling in and becoming an easier baby. Boy, it's a good thing that I was too exhausted to post much that first month or so. I was not a happy camper.

I can't eat egg rolls. This really upsets me. There is a place in the town where my FIL lives that makes THE BEST egg rolls I've ever eaten. So, when we go visit, Rob and I almost always come home with some. (Like a couple dozen) They are so yummy. Well, we brought some home Sunday. I had one Sunday, and a couple Monday, and Anya turned back into a monster (complete with thumb-sucking, but that's a post in and of itself). I didn't have any Tuesday, and yesterday she turned back into a baby. I think the cabbage is bothering her or something. Boo-hoo. I want egg rolls!

We're having our 4th annual cookout on August 6th this year. I made up these cute little invitations, and had them printed. I made them the right size for some envelopes I had at home. Problem is that they printed them the wrong size and I didn't notice it and told them it was okay. So now I have to buy different envelopes. oh well.

"How did Ally enjoy the fireworks?" you ask. What fireworks? we didn't see any. Now I know that makes us the worst parents on the block, but honestly, it makes our life much easier. See, the thing about fireworks is that you can't see them until it's dark. And it doesn't get dark until after 9. That's Ally's bedtime. Hence, no fireworks. Someday maybe, but not now - sleep is better.

Speaking of sleep: mom took Ally to Jungle of Fun on Monday. She had to drag Ally out kicking and screaming. I guess Ally had a good time. Whaatever - she wore herself out and hasn't been feeling that great. Anyway, she fell asleep on the way home, and didn't wake up until the next morning. Well, she woke up a couple times, but mostly just moved a little and whined a little and went back to sleep. Then the next morning she puked. I think she just got too hot, and was a little sick to start with, then didn't eat for 18 hours or so... Anyway, she felt better and is back to normal now. She has never in her (short) life slept for 13 hours before.

Anyway, that's some fo the random boring things going on in my life. How bout you?

sleep
Anya has been settling in to a sleeping pattern. She usually goes around 4 hours or so at night, so I usually only have to get up once. It's not terrible (anymore). But last night, she ate at 9, went to sleep at 9:20, and didn't wake up until 3:15 am. For those of you who are math-impaired - that's 6!! hours. I'm so happy. I can't remember ever sleeping that long. Of course I didn't go to sleep right way. There's always something to do before bed, but still... there was much rejoicing when I looked at the clock this morning.

Doctor's office
Aly has had a cough for a while. (so of course, I have too) I finally took her to the dr office Friday. Anya had a well-baby check-up and they told me to bring Ally along (and come in half hour early and then they made me sit for 45 minutes). Ally now has some extra strength prescription cough syrup, and Anya was pronounced "very healthy". She now weighs 14 1/2 pounds.

So now both of the children have been seen and I'm still coughing. Yuck.

pumpkins
Ally: I'm not a big girl. Mommy's a big girl. And you're a boy.
Rob: What are you?
Ally: I'm a punkin. hee hee

Stage 3 of The Great Toddler Bamboozle
We haven't yet begun stage 3 of The Great Toddler Bamboozle. Anya is 2 months old and still sleeping in our room in her bassinet. The warning label on it says 3 months or 15 pounds. We'r e probably approaching both. We really need to go buy a mattress for the crib. What a pain in the butt. Although I have to admit, it is getting to be a tight fit in the bassinet.

Tha good news is that our plan actually seems to have worked so far. Ally has been sleeping in her own room for quite some time. I think she pretty comfortable in there. The bad news is it's not likely to last. I can't believe that a plan we made around our 2 year old is actually proceeding without deviation. it's all going to fall apart when we set up the crib - I bet. Cross your fingers for us.

Oh, and also... We found Ally's mobile at Walmart for $5 and it's great. It was so cheap because the box was torn to pieces. I have never seen the same mobile for sale anywhere, but I love it. I tried to find another for Anya, and was having no luck. Then, I found another one at Walmart for $10 on clearance. I have never seen this particular model anywhere else or any other time. How can they put them on clearance when they never had them at regular price? I'm confused. But, of course, happy, 'cause I bought it, and now I have matching mobiles for the kids' beds. (at least until Ally finally quits using hers)Yippee!

potty-mouth
I just told someone about the time I was so sleep deprived that I sat on the toliet and peed, but forgot to pull my underwear down first. The sad thing (aside from the fact that it was a true story) is that I said "I sat down on the potty". I have been potty-training Ally for too long! Anyone want to come visit me for some grown-up conversation?

Comments
I've just noticed that I'm not getting email notifications when comments are posted. That sucks. I love comments. Oh well, I can see them now that I'm looking for them. Yay. Tripod changed the format of the blog just a little bit, and maybe it's screwing things up. Hopefully it will work itself out.

my little obsession
I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I have this little OCD thing that I do. My towels have to be folded in a certain way. Anything else is WRONG! My mother passeed this one on to me, so I blame her. She used to make me re-fold towels if I didn't do them right. I've been tying very hard to get over it, because it's just not important, but it's so hard to do. Rob doesn't care how the towels are folded, so if he folds them, his pile of towels always drives me crazy. We've lived together for a very long time now, and I can usually stop from saying something (because I know if I do, he'll just stop folding laundry completely, and that will be so much worse). I can't always stop from re-folding them though. He never even notices. But it's driving me up the wall, so I came here to vent.

Look at the towel on the top of this pile. Isn't it nice and neat? The bottom one is folded wrong.


Here look closer. Isn't that just offensive? Yuck. All the edges are sticking out everywhere. And when he piles them up, they aren't even turned the same way so the big fold can be grabbed without unfolding the towel in the process. Sickening.

Here's a towel folding lesson:

Step 1. Fold the towel in half. Not along the short side. That's just silly. Put those stupid little seam thingys together. What's with those anyway? Anyone know why they exist?


Step 1 1/2. Move the kid out of the way, so you can take some more pictures. Isn't she cute!


Step 2. Fold it in half again. Along the same axis. Duh. Don't go switching directions yet. And make sure that the short sides don't stick out.


Step 3. Fold it in half again. Now we switch directions. No, don't leave the stupid seam out for everyone to see. Keep it in the inside of the fold. No one needs to even know it exists. See, isn't that much better?


They stack up so pretty that way. And when you pull a towel off the stack, you only have one fold available, so it comes off still folded up pretty.


And the seams are hidden on the inside along with the edges of the towel.



Now you know how to fold towels. Aren't you glad? You're excused to your linen closets now to apply what you've learned.

p.s. The stores fold them wrong too. But their towels aren't all raggedy after being washed umpteen million times, so it doesn't look so bad. I very rarely re-fold towels in the stores.

p.p.s. His mom folds them that way too, but it's easier to deal with. After all, she has no responsibility for the laundry. She's just doing it to help out. Thanks Darra. I don't usually re-fold the towels after you've left - only sometimes. :)

p.p.p.s. My mother also makes you re-fold towels if you fold them inside out (the folded over part of the hem is visible). She has issues, but not me because, well, I'm not THAT crazy.

sleep
Anya went 5 and a half hours between feedings last night!! WOOT!! If only I got to sleep that whole time, but such is life. I got more sleep than I have in ... oh, a year or so. So why was it so hard to get out of bed this morning?

Would write more, but I have to go practice moo-ing.



(Moo. Cow. Milk. Breastpump. jeesh, do I have to explain everything?)