New Year goals

I have a thing against New Year resolutions. I tried year after year making and then shortly breaking them. Eventually I gave up even trying to make them in the first place. I just started making and setting goals through out the year. I decided that I needed to exercise more this year so I started walking once a week with a friend. I have since then started walking twice a week and am planning on trying three times a week. That proves to me that I can make and accomplish goals so I am going to make an attempt to set a few goals for me to accomplish by this time next year.

1. I will get my sewing machine fixed. It has been broken since before Evan was born and I would like to get it working so I can finish the quilt I am working on.
2. I will get new glasses. I have needed new ones for years now but every time I got ready to go to get new ones I got pregnant which means I had to wait.
3. I will go to see the dentist regularly. I have been putting it off since Evan has so many doctor's appointments it is hard to have to go for myself too.
4. I will organize my downstairs. This is our living area and it can get quite chaotic. I want to have more control over the toy mess. I want to tame the under our stairs mess, we pretty much cram stuff under there just to put it somewhere. As I just finished typing that my husband actually started cleaning up under our stairs completely on his own.
   
5. I will get rid of all the junk that is sitting in our garage. We have already decided that we do not need it anymore we just need to take the next step which is to give it to charity.
6. I want to enrich my spiritual life. I have been slacking when it comes to reading the Scriptures. Since I am now in the nursery I am not getting any sort of lessons taught to me on Sunday so I really need to do some studying on my own.

I think that this is a nice manageable list of things to do. I am hopeful that next year I will be able to report a successful completion of my list.

Pediatric Grand Rounds

Pediatric Grand Rounds is up over at Breath Spa for Kids. Shinga has put up another wonderful edition. Something worth checking out is Dr. Flea's series of posts on the diseases kids are currently vaccinated for. It sure makes you glad for modern medicine.

I am such a nerd

I am a complete and utter nerd. If you were not convinced by my nerd score you will be by the end of this post.

I have discovered the fun of podcasts. They are free and there are so many interesting subjects that I can hardly contain myself. I just spent a good hour browsing and subscribing to some so I can listen to them while I am taking the kids out for stroller rides.

I love Forum (a call in radio show on my local NPR station). I used to get to listen to it a lot in the car but now it seems like I am never in the car when the show is on and I can never remember to listen to it at home. Now I get to listen to people discuss an amazing range of topics. I think it will be neat to have a chance to listen to more of the NPR shows that I like but can't always catch all the time.

One surprising podcast that I found is presented by a cat veterinarian. I actually volunteered at this guy's clinic eons ago back when I was young and starry eyed. I wanted to be a vet when I grew up so I was eager to get all the experience I could. This guy was amazing with cats. He could spay a female cat incredibly fast, it was truly amazing to watch. He was also a very funny and interesting person to talk to. He had me laughing through most of the time I spent with him. I am very excited to listen to him.

You should go check them out. Even if you do not have an iPod you can still listen to podcasts on your computer.

Well now

I can't say I am all that surprised at this score.

Fish!!!

Evan had an appointment with his cardiologist today. It was a simple follow up to make sure that everything was fine with his pacemaker. Since my parents are in town and my husband had the day off work I thought it would be fun for us to play tourist and see some of the sights.

I had originally thought that we could do to the zoo. We had an awful rain storm yesterday and it was super windy today so we switched it to something more indoors. Since the boys love fish we decided that going to the aquarium would be lots of fun. Harry got so into the spirit of things that he added the word fish to his vocabulary. Evan was so excited that he thought nothing of walking the whole time (which is something that would not have happened before his surgery). We finished up the trip with a lunch of fish and chips forgoing the traditional clam chowder for something we knew both boys would love.

It was very neat that a lot of the tanks were low enough that little kids could look in with out having to be held up to see.

This is Harry and my mother in the tunnel part of the aquarium. Harry was very excited to see fish swimming over his head.

This was the touch part of the aquarium. Harry wanted to go swimming withe the leopard sharks that were in the tank. The sharks were smooth if you pet them front to back. If you tried stroking them the wrong way then the skin felt like sand paper.

Evan was very excited that he was finally able to touch something. He was too little to reach into the shark tank with out going in up past his arm and possibly falling in to boot. Starfish in a tidal pool were much more his speed.

Harry is really into puppets so he was quite excited to see this shark puppet in the gift shop. He threw a huge fit when it had to be taken from him to be payed for.

This last picture is for you Gina. I had no idea you and your husband kept a boat here. You claim to live in Southern California but I am kinda wondering.

My new toy

My lovely wonderful parents bought me an iPod nano for Christmas. I have been having fun for the last few days digging up my music collection and putting them on my ultra tiny and super slim mp3 player. My music collection is not all that extensive but it seems a bit weird that I will be able to fit it all in the palm of my hand. My nano also has solitaire on it which is a strangely exciting thing. Evan had a doctor's appointment today and I was able to play a few games while he was playing in the waiting room. To him it did not look like I was doing anything all that interesting so he left me in peace which was quite nice.

What cool things did you get from Santa?

P.S. My sisters all chipped in and got me a medical book with pediatric diseases and treatments. I also have my own pediatric dosing handbook so I am now set to ditch all the doctors and treat my kids all on my own. Kidding!

Merry Christmas!

I hope those of my readers that celebrate Christmas are having a wonderful holiday. We have had a nice quiet holiday at home. My parents will be coming over tomorrow to have a bit of fun with the grandkids. Our holiday has been pretty nice aside from the fact that apparently I took no thought beyond what our main dish would be for our Christmas dinner. We bought a marinated turkey breast at Costco but I did not even get any side dishes planned or anything. I ended up scrambling at the last second and digging deep into our freezer for items that I had long ago forgotten. It was a fairly passable meal aside from my feeling that the turkey was not cooked quite enough but my husband insisting that it was. He hates dry turkey after years of eating it so I deferred to him.

My pushy sister E (the same one that pulled me out of a tree) called us just as I was getting dinner on the table wondering why I had not posted pictures of the boys opening presents. I am only giving in to her since she can still mess with my present as it is coming with my parents on the plane tomorrow. After tomorrow I am so going to ignore her demands.

Evan and Harry in their Christmas church clothing on Christmas Eve day.

Our Christmas Eve candle light dinner. In my husband's family they have the big meal Christmas Eve and it is basically a junk food dinner although my husband took offense when I used that term to describe it. Silly man!

Evan opening Annie and Claribel on Christmas Eve. Evan has so many engines in his train collection that I thought he could use some cars for the engines to pull.

Harry opening his present on Christmas Eve. I ended up wrapping a few cheap present for him since he would not be getting any presents until my parents came. My inlaws bought the boys a train track set that they have been playing with for awhile now.

Harry enjoying his video. Mommy and daddy let the kiddos stay up waay too late on Christmas Eve in the hopes that they would sleep in.... they didn't.

Christmas morning. Evan got some Thomas coloring books and some parts for his Mr. Potato Head.

Harry having fun playing with Evan's presents while he is not looking.

Strange things

My husband remarked at dinner tonight that it was a bit strange seeing Harry cram his face with food using both hands. We are still so used to seeing Evan daintily picking food up with his right hand. I still dress Harry like I am compensating for a gimpy left hand. I just can't break the habit. I often have to remind myself that he can help me get both of his arms into the sleeves.

Another difference is that Harry at the end of a meal has two dirty hands instead of one. I guess that would be the one advantage to having a child with one working hand. I have actually taken advantage of this fact on occasion. When we want to hold Evan down for some procedure or another we never have to worry about the other arm. This is especially nice for blood draws. If they use his good arm to draw from all I have to worry about is keeping the rest of his body still.

Seeing Harry as he is growing into his own little person is fun. It is so much different than with Evan. I think we are heading for some big shocks since I have already seen Harry try to run, something that Evan has yet to master. He also looks like he might be a climber. I have seen him ponder things that are climbable with a gleam in his eyes. I just hope that he is not too hard on his poor parents we are still rookies in so many ways.

A busy rainy day

I had my final baking before Christmas push today. I chopped a huge bowl of apples so that I could make four pies and another batch of apple butter. I got a lot done because Harry decided to sleep most of the day. I think he could be going through a growth spurt.

We have been waiting for several weeks for approval for more physical therapy for Evan. The PT had faxed all the paperwork several time and heard nothing. Today she called the insurance company to see what was going on. Apparently the paperwork had been just sitting there ignored. *steams shoots out of my ears in frustration* I try not to complain too much about our insurance company since a lot is covered. The have been pretty good for the most about getting things approved on time and what not. It seems that they have really dropped the ball when it comes to physical therapy because we have had nothing but trouble and delays every time we need a new approval for more therapy.

I also found out that the other cardiologist is leaving the practice. He was a nice guy and I hate to see him go. I am sure the new doctor will be nice and all but she will not have been there since Evan was a baby. When he was first in the hospital both cardiologists took care of him equally. It was not until Evan was sent home that he was assigned to a cardiologist for follow up (she has a clinic in a near by city every month which is why we go to her). He has also done all of Evan's caths so we have had a continuing relationship with him.

Evan and I had a lot of fun walking in the rain to deliver a few of the pies. He loves to play in the puddles. One of the people in the complex put one of those giant inflatable snowmen out on the front lawn so we had to go see that too. It is kind of sad that Evan has yet to see a real snowman with real snow. Last time we were in Utah during the winter snow was very lacking.

Pictures and the first word

My lovely sister has demanded new pictures of the kiddos. I am only caving in to her since it really has been awhile since I have posted new pictures.

Harry is finally getting the hang of the whole sippy cup concept. He is now down to one bottle before bed and that is mostly a comfort thing.

Harry's first encounter with oatmeal. It was quite a hit.

Bowls are really fun to play with.

Harry and Evan playing Christmas carols at the birthday party we went to this morning.

"Let's play Jingle Bells next!"

It is official Harry has said his first word and that word is "bubble". I am pretty strict when it comes to the official first word. I require an outsider to independently confirm what I already suspect. At Thanksgiving my Mother-in-law swore that she heard Harry saying "ball" but to my husband and I it sounded more like "ba" and was not in context. I have also been hearing "wow" but not always in context. This morning, at the party, my friend told me that she heard Harry (who was off in the kitchen pulling out all the Tupperware in my friend's cabinet) say bubble while he was holding the bottle of bubbles that had been handed out as a party favor. Bubbles are also a fixture at our house. I call them the toddler tamers since I can blow some and all the crying will magically stop. It makes sense that something that he enjoys so much is his first word.

And the most annoying phone call of the month goes to....

The company that is supplying Evan's Synagis this winter. (applause) This company is more "hands on" that the last two from the previous cold and flu seasons. They call me every month to make sure that we have not moved on them and to tell me when the arrival date of the shipment should be. They even offer a service that will remind parents to call the pediatrician and set up an appointment to get the shot. Like I really need that. Luckily I convinced the nurse that called me about the service that I was a competent person and could make appointments on my own like a big girl.

I think that I would not be as annoyed with the calling if they would actually deliver the dang Synagis on time. The first time it was a day or so late but last time it was a whole week late. That was a whole week that Evan was vulnerable to the virus. I had also managed to get everything set up so that Evan's shots and Harry's well baby check ups were all at the same time. I had to make an extra trip to the office just for the shot. This company had the nerve to send me a survey asking me to rate how they were doing before we had even received any kind of service from them.

The most annoying monthly phone calls ever award goes to Evan's insurance case manager. Every month for almost a year I got a call from "Angelina" who did not speak the best English, making each call especially frustrating and annoying. She quizzed me every month about how Evan was progressing. Each and every time she had to ask me the same questions many of which she could have answered juts by reading his medical file. I know that she had permission to read it since I signed the papers myself.

After what seemed an eternity she told me that the monthly calls would stop. I took this to mean that she was just not going to call me but what was really happening was that Evan was being taken off of case management. That was fine until Evan's cardiologist's office called her to get something taken care of and she had stopped working there. I was ticked to say the least. Once my husband called to complain the case management people were falling over themselves to make sure that we were satisfied and everything got taken care of extra fast.

One more week

It is one short week until Christmas. I have yet to even send out any Christmas cards. It is the thought that counts right?

Since I have become a mother my mind always turns to Mary during the Christmas season. There are a lot of pressures on any parent, but it must have been pretty scary at times knowing that you were going to be the mother of Christ. I wonder how she managed to do it.

I am such a sucker for big brown eyes

Today I did a bit of Christmas shopping for my husband. We decided to get each other small gifts so we could have at least one thing to open. I took Evan with me since he loves to be my shopping buddy. One of the stores I went to happened to have a nice selection of Thomas the Train stuff. It was a discount store which made everything more dangerous since the items were heavily discounted. I ended up buying a lot more than I should have just because Evan was so dang excited about everything.

The item I regret buying the most was a silly computer game which was a mere three dollars. Now every time I even approach the computer he thinks I am going to play train with him. He was already addicted to the Thomas website. The funny thing is that he is not even interested in playing the games himself. He is content to let Mommy play them while he happily sits and watches. I wish he would do that with a computer game that I am actually interested in playing. He is also not very into reading blogs with me which makes doing anything on the computer while he is awake a difficult task. I tried looking up a recipe for dinner tonight and he ended up having a huge temper tantrum since it was not train related.

I really should have saved all this for Evan's birthday but again I am such a sucker for seeing his excitement that I let him play with the books and computer game right away. This is part of the reason that we do not gift heavily during holidays in the first place. I love getting the kids little things through out the year and soaking up the excitement all year long. At their tender ages it really does not take much to get them laughing which is very nice. I think that I will have to rethink things as they get older since I can't have them thinking that every time they want something I will just go out and buy it. I do not intend to raise spoiled little brats. Those eyes just get me every single time so it will be interesting to see how strong my resolve will be.

How rude!!! (updated with more pictures at the bottom)

I found out last night while chatting with my mom online that not only did she open my presents early but my evil sisters did too! I know they are reading this blog so I am going to put them on notice. I am not sending presents next year until after Christmas. That way you HAVE to wait like I am waiting to open presents. If you are going to cheat you should at least have the decency to send us our presents so we can open them early.

Part of the presents were the ultra cute Christmas pictures that I had done awhile back. I did not post them on here since I did not want to ruin the surprise. Now the point is very moot so enjoy blogsphere!

Meme

The Laundress has tagged me with Ms. Cathy's Christmas meme. Here ya go, more than you ever wanted to know about my Christmas preferences.

1. Hot Chocolate or Egg Nog? Hot Chocolate all the way baby!!! First off it is chocolate, second the taste of egg nog makes me gag. I buy a gallon of egg nog every year for my husband but I never touch the stuff.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Well Santa has yet to visit us. I am still deciding if I am going to even teach the kiddos about Santa. I think that if I delay long enough the problem will go away.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Colored on the tree, white on the house.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? I try to but have not found any fresh stuff for this year.

5. When do you put your decorations up? The day after Thanksgiving if we are at home

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? I don't really have one yet.

7. Favorite Holiday memory? I love it any time we can go to Temple Square and see all the holiday lights. picture below

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I was eight and my father made this big deal about telling me. Quite honestly it was not a huge shock to me. I think that deep inside I already knew.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Of course! My mother was always too impatient to wait until christmas. She is so impatient that she has already confessed to opening the present I sent her (See, I totally outed you to the whole world Mom! Next year I am sending the presents by overnighting them so you can't open them so soon)

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? My husband and I have all our ornaments from when we were kids and we buy the boys one every year. It is a crazy mish mash but it is fun looking at the ornaments and remembering.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it but that is because I have never lived all that long in a snowy area. When I lived in Washington I remember praying for the temperatures to drop below freezing so we could get some snow.

12. Can you ice skate? Of course! I am not super good at it but I can go forward in a circle without holding onto the side.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? My favorite gift was the Pound Puppy that my great grandfather got us when we were little. I still have mine and she slept in my bed until the day I got married.

14. What's the most important thing? Making memories with family and remembering the birth of Christ.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? French silk pie

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? The Christmas Eve junk food dinner. This is a tradition that my husband's family does. Once a year they all just pig out on all the stuff you are not supposed to eat. For them it replaced a more traditional Christmas dinner but I insist on something nice and fancy on Christmas day.

17. What tops your tree? an angel

18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving? Giving! I love watching my family open the presents that I pick out for them. I try very hard to find really good gifts for them.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? My favorite Christmas hymn is "O, little Town of Bethlehem" When we sing it I get an amazing peaceful feeling.

20. Candy canes, Yuck or Yum? Yum!!! Well yum if they are fresh, yuck if they were the ones my husband saved from last year to decorate the Christmas tree.

I am tagging Vicky, You da mom!, and Gina.

Home again, home again lickety split

After sleeping off his anesthesia Evan enjoyed a hearty breakfast of apple juice and jello. Then we moved on the the perennial favorite banana. Everything stayed down much to my delight. We then had all the doctors and nurses come in for visits after which we were on our way home. Whee!

We got home in time for lunch and nap time. Evan is pretty gorked out on his Tylenol with codeine so he slept really well. The meds even allowed the pacemaker rep to interrogate it without having to endure a screaming fit. The rep told me that he had been having a bad morning and was dreading having to deal with Evan's hysteria. He was very happy that Evan was being a mellow drugged out little guy.

Whew

Evan's pacemaker replacement went very well. There was a lot of going back and forth about whether he would need to have a lead replaced or not. Evan's cardiologists thought that it should be replaced but his surgeon was reluctant to do it. In the end it was not replaced because the surgeon was not %100 sure that he could even find a good placement for a new lead should he decide to replace it since he was so soon post op from his other surgery.

There was talk of us going home tonight but it was decided that he should stay overnight just to be safe. The pediatric floor then fought with everyone else and wanted to insist that he stay in the PICU for recovery. Everyone else thought it was silly and over kill since all Evan had endured was a cut into his skin. He had not even been intubated or anything major like that. Eventually Evan's doctors won out and we are safely on the pediatric floor which is a much quieter and nicer place to sleep.

Evan is having his usual throwing up after anesthesia issues but seems to have kept his pain medication down. I am hopeful that he will be able to have a meal in the morning once he had had a good night's sleep. Every thing is looking quite good for me to be blogging from home by tomorrow afternoon.

Giggles

I think one of the best parts about being a parent is discovering the many different ways you can make your children laugh. Tickling is very big in our house. My children have inherited my husband's hyper sensitive tickle genes. Evan loves to be tickled and will actually place my hand on his tummy when he wants to be tickled.

There are other less obvious laughter inducing things that get bigger laughs than mere tickling. A dinner time favorite is to have me take my glasses off and make funny faces at the boys. I think it is the combination of me being silly and changing the look of my face by taking off my glasses. The hand monster is also a huge hit, especially with Harry. The hand monster will sneak out from under blankets to prey on unsuspecting feet. It will also walk along dinner tables and try and gobble hands.

A game I call fake sneeze is the bath time favorite although Evan is taking it out into public. Fake sneeze involves one of the boys placing a bath toy onto the side of the bath tub. Mommy then fake sneezes and knocks it back into the bath tub. I have to keep control of this game since Harry has been known to laugh so hard he falls over and risks drowning. The other day I saw Evan throw a toy into the air and then fake sneeze. That was his toddler version of the game. He is also just randomly sneezes and laughs.

The number one thing that is guaranteed to get the kids laughing so hard they can barely stand is called "Daddy throws the yarn ball up the stairs and Mommy throws it back down". DTTYBUTSAMTIBD was discovered quite by accident. I was cleaning with my little helper Harry upstairs. I threw the yarn ball down the stairs because I had been intending on using it to knit with. Evan happened to see it go down and started laughing up a storm. He then tried in his toddler way to throw it back up the stairs. Luckily his efforts were quickly augmented by daddy who had a much stronger arm and could get it to the top of the stairs. Of course I had to throw it back down just for fun. We did this for as long as we could stand the mindless activity and the entire time the kids were laughing hard. Now and then on grumpy days we give that silly yarn ball a toss and everyone feels a lot better.

Too much sugar

We had our ward Christmas party tonight. We were plagued by several mistakes. The first one was that my husband was in such a hurry to get out of the house that he ended up tripping over Evan and dropping the pie I had baked. It was clean but completely broken into pieces. Instead we brought the big plate of gingerbread cookies that I had been baking for something else. My husband grumbled that they were not frosted yet but I did not care at that point.

The next mistake was that we had thought it was a dinner so we had not eaten anything before hand. Evan and Harry got their dream dinner of sweet breads and cookies. I did get some fruit down them first so it was not all a bust.

A surprise of the evening was that Evan got freaked out by Santa. He eagerly ran up to him but once my friend put him on Santa's lap he flipped out. Harry was pretty lukewarm about the fat man and did not stick on his lap for long either. It was pretty fun otherwise. The kids had fun getting all sugared up and we had fun talking with friends.

Hatred

I absolutely loath the last of the new Star Wars movies (I didn't even see it in the theaters even though I am a sci fi fan). Padme looks so slightly pregnant at the end of her supposed pregnancy that is sickens me. I was twice her size and I only had one baby in me. The girl has the nerve to die of grief over the fact that her husband Anikan Skywalker has turned to the dark side? She just ups and dies even though she has two babies to care for? I hardly think so. It would have been more believable to have her hit by a bus than that. I will not even go into all the ultra cheesy dialogue that plagued the entire prequel series.

This post was brought to you by my husband and his love of cheesy movies.

Long day and lots of news

As you all know Evan's pacemaker is on it's last legs. Evan's cardiologist had been hoping that he would be a canidate for a special pacemaker that she thought would help his heart beat better. She referred us to a pediactric pacemaker specalist for a consultation. With all the back and forth stuff involved with that we did not get a call from Really Big Children's Hospital until Monday. I called them back on Tuesday and made an appointment for mid January. Then I get a call back later asking if we could come in today.

The appointment turned out to be quite the ordeal. I was rather nervous to be going to a strange and distant place on my own so my husband got the day off work. The internet directions said the trip should be an hour and a half but the people we talked to said it was closer to two and a half hours due to traffic. I decided that we should just leave three hours early so that we had get lost time. We timed it perfectly and were there only slightly early.

Evan was scheduled for an echo which I was kind of nervous about since he hates them for some reason. It is not the least bit painful, just an ultrasound for the heart. I brought a lot of things to help keep him still. He ended up eating way too many Jr mints but those and a Thomas DVD helped keep him mostly still. The consultation with the doctor went pretty quickly but it was not a quick in and out thing. She stuck around while a nurse practitioner played with Evan's pacemaker settings a bit and helped me entertain him (this is another non painful thing that Evan hates).

The end result was that Evan was not sick enough to warrant the special pacemaker (good news). She had thought that we would be having the pacemaker replaced at her hospital much to my dismay. Luckily when we finally stumbled back into the house at 5:45 (after leaving at 9am) we had a message from Evan's cardiologist's office saying that his surgery was set for this Tuesday.

My head is still spinning and I am exhausted after such a long day. The kids were such troopers and held up well with the crazy schedule or lack there of. I hope that Evan is tired enough not to wake up at 5:30 am for the second day in a row. I am going to be busy this weekend getting everything ready. I also want to bake a bunch of goodies for the nurses at the hospital so I am going to have to get busy.

How to search the web

I, like many other bloggers, have a bit of code in my blog that tracks how people get to my blog. There are a lot of crazy web searchers out there so I thought I would do my part to help the poor misguided people that end up at my blog.

When you are searching for something keep your search simple. Pick out a few key terms and go from there. Less is more in this case. Often i will use only one or two words to find the information that I need. If I get overwhelmed with irrelevant results I will slowly become more and more specific. Example: is normal birth kids are less smarter than cesarean birth kids? This is far too wordy, not to mention that it is grammatically incorrect. Pick out a few words such as "intelligence cesarean" and you will come up with websites like this which has a research study on this very subject.

Next you will want to evaluate the website that you get your information from. Is this website an official website. The article I linked to is in a database of peer reviewed medical studies. It should hold a lot more weight than a personal website like a blog where there is no need for the writer to actually be correct. I can write that the moon is made of cheese but that does not mean anything. I would believe a person that has been to the moon and says that it is made of rock over me who has never even been to the moon.

Scan the blurb where it shows your search terms coming up. If you can't tell if the website has anything to do with what you are searching for then the information is unlikely to be there. Also watch out for sponsored results. The can often have nothing if anything to do with what you are actually looking for.

You also need to see how old the information is. If the article is from 1906 rather than 2006 then you know that things will be out of date. Things change and sometimes even change back so you need to be careful about what you are reading and take it into consideration.

Finally my biggest tip is this: do not go beyond the first two pages of search results. You are wasting your time. The further you go the less relevant the page is to your search. That means quit clicking on my web page hoping to see a picture of Brittany Spear's hooha because it ain't here! I just wrote about a silly dream I had about her.

Sleep is needed part 2

I did manage to get some sleep last night. I broke down and started counting sheep. It seems like a silly cartoony thing to do but it worked. Sometimes, when I get truly desperate, I will listen to the scriptures on CD. They always knock me out in less than a chapter. I also get the added bonus of having the words of God imprinted on my subconscious. I am studiously avoiding reading this evening even though I really want to finish the book. It is due pretty soon and I need to get it read and back to the library.

Right now I am feeling a bit lost. I am a person that craves alone time. I have to spend a portion of my day alone or I go bonkers. My husband went to bed not too long after the kids did so I ended up with a very unexpected evening on my own. Had I know that this would be happening I would have planned something fun. I have wasted all the time I can on the internet, I can't read my book this close to bed time and there is nothing on TV. I keep having the feeling that it is later than it really is. Maybe I should turn in early too. My inner night owl shudders at the thought especially since my husband has an unexpected day off so I will get the chance to sleep in. What is a gal to do?

Sleep is needed

I really should stop reading Steven King. I picked up one of his latest novels and now I can't sleep. I have the tingly on edge feeling that I always get when I read his books. I find that I can get over the feeling better if I read the book in one sitting. Of course I really can't do that sort of thing any more. So here I sit at the computer typing blind since I left my glasses upstairs. I am hoping that I can get some sleep tonight since I have a long day tomorrow.

Pediatric Grand Rounds

Pediatric Grand Rounds is up over at the granola rules. She includes a tasty looking recipe for home made granola. Go on over and check it out!

Evilness

I baked an apple pie just now and my husband is whining. Apparently I am a horrible temptress who is aiming to torture him. He has been trying to watch his weight so that he does not get put on the fat boy program and to top that all off tomorrow is fast Sunday (we skip two meals once a month as part of our religious observances). I think the whole ideal that the military would put my rather skinny husband into the fat boy program is silly but the way the program is written he has apparently been on the edge so he had to slim down a bit to make weight.

The pie I made is incredible. I think that if you died it would be served in heaven. It is just sooooooooooo good. Last time I made it I ate most of it. I was nice and let my husband have a few pieces and I even let Harry and Evan split one which they promptly gobbled up. I highly recommend you baking one or two up for the holidays. Your family will love you for it.

P.S. Don't feel too bad about my husband. I mentioned to him that my hand hurt because I had burned it on the oven while baking the pie. He wondered why I would burn myself (like I did on purpose or something) and asked when I had done the burning of said hand. He admitted that he had not hear my swearing when I asked and then told me to put it under water. No kidding, really? I should put my hand under cold water to help with the burn? Who knew? He also apparently, along with not hearing the swearing in the kitchen, he missed me leaving the water running for a really long time.

Mmmmm pie!

Meme

I was tagged by Knitting Maniac to do the Six Weird Things meme. I have already done this one but I decided that I was sufficiently odd to do another six things. I am adding a twist though and telling you six odd parenting things that I do.

1. I let my kids eat off the floor. Sometimes I need them to stay in a particular room for awhile while I do something else that I need to get done. I will scatter goldfish crackers or cheerios on the floor of the room I want them in and encourage them to eat the food. They are quite good scavengers and manage to get most of it up off the floor.
2. I taught Evan to pat his bottom when I ask him where his bum is.
3. I have decided to replace "uhoh" with "bust my buffers". I am hoping that Evan will too.
4. I think it is funny when I see Evan jamming his finger up his nose.
5. We don't buy our kids Christmas presents for their first two years of life. They have more fun with the wrapping paper any way.
6. My monster hand is a huge hit with the kids. I hide under a blanket and stick my hand out so that it can eat (tickle) the kids.
   

Fun Links

Here is another edition of fun links where I share some of the truly bizzare websites that I have visited.

• Here is a great stocking stuffer for the naughty people in your life. It is also a great thing to put in your guest bathroom.
• Here is a great way to have fun with your kid's toys.
• Want to read a book but don't think you have the time? Here is a way to get your classic literature sent to you in your email in daily installments. Currently I am reading Pride and Prejudice for the five millionth time.
  
• Have you ever been caught in a sticky situation and knowing how to win at rock, paper scissors would save your life? Here is a way to be prepared in case your life depends on you winning.
• The worst album covers ever.
• Are you lost when you hear other people talking about my all time favorite tv show Lost? This will help you.

We are decorated

We put up our Christmas tree, the Christmas village is up (shudders) and both Nativity scenes are out (one is for the kiddos to play with so naturally it is scattered all over the floor) and I have harassed my husband sufficiently that hopefully the outdoor lights will be up by Saturday ("I guess I could try to put them up if I have the time")

Evan helping daddy decorate. Harry was absent due to an urgent nap.

Mmm ornaments are tasty.

It looks best riiight there! Perfecto!

This is the end result of letting a two year old decorate your tree.

We redistributed the ornaments for more coverage, however you will note a big empty spot thanks to Harry. Our ornaments are wandering around the room at odd times and I have to go around collecting them to put them back on the tree.

My hand painted nativity scene. My mom made a wooden one in Homemaking one year and we kids adored it so much that when I was engaged my dad copied it and made me one (he cut the wood, I painted it). It took me two years to get all the details painted to my satisfaction. I even made my own colors of paint, I am that picky. This is just part of it, there is a lot more including shepherds and the like. I may post more pictures of it later.

Part of the awful and horrid Christmas village. Most of it was given to us by my parents, my mom had grown quite weary of it and I was desperate for any decoration since I was newly married. I have grown to loathe it as much as my mother. My husband will not part with it and insists on adding to it. I just wanted a simple garland and some candles on my entertainment center instead I am stuck with that monstrosity. Maybe in out next move it will "break".

Do you have any questions?

Harry had his 1 year well baby check up today. He is average for weight (22 pounds) and below average for height (I forgot what it was and I am too lazy to even get up and look) but he is keeping up with his growth curves.

After being quizzed about various things, it turns out that Harry is drinking the proper amount of formula (which will soon be changed to whole milk once this can of formula is gone). I am doing good by not giving him juice and I should try and make sure that the meat Harry eats is white meat instead of red. I am not too sure how I feel about the last one but let it pass.

My least favorite part of a doctor's appointment is at the end after all the quizzing. The dreaded "So, do you have any questions?". I feel like I should have something to ask. Often times I don't, especially at run of the mill pediatrician's appointments. Generally if I want to know something I will look it up online or ask someone in my family. I really do not involve my pediatrician in things like how to discipline my child or what I should be teaching them and when. I think of those things as none of your business areas, although I know people who involve their pediatricians in things like that. I figure I have a brain and I know how to use it. That is why so often when the question comes up I have nothing to ask about.

Maybe I should just ask the questions that I really would like to know. Do you have a blog? Are you going to write about us if you do indeed have a blog? Can I read your blog? Would you like to read my blog? Do you think I am a nut case mom, or do you actually like us as patients? I have to admit that the last question is not one that weighs too heavily on my mind since the instant Evan saw the pediatrician enter the room he ran up to him and hugged him. I doubt that anyone could resist that.

How do you like them apples?

I have apples coming out of my ears. My in-laws kindly foisted off on us as many apples as out little car could carry. On the trip home Harry had a blast taking apples out of the box tucked in the middle seat and holding them only to drop them on the floor where more apples resided. He luckily would only lick them so I did not end up with a bunch of apples with tiny bites out of them.

I have grand plans for these apples. I am going to make some apple butter which I hear is very heavenly. I am also going to make some apple pie filling to can so that I can have apple pie any time I feel the need to. I am planning on giving some of the pie filling jars away as Christmas gifts.

Tonight I made some apple crisp. Tomorrow I am making an apple pumpkin pie. The next night who knows? I am going to be baking up a storm so that we will have a chance to enjoy the apples while they are fresh. I am getting creative and enjoying it.

There is also the old stand by apple sauce. With all the apples we also brought home a handy dandy applesauce maker thingy. You just cook the apples whole and then run them through the machine. The pulp is squished out and you have beautiful apple sauce all ready to eat. Apple sauce is last on my list though, it will be my final thing before I run screaming from the apples. While it will be easy to make, we are not all that fond of it and have several jars of it still in our garage that my mother-in-law sent home with us during other trips to their house.

Wish me luck with my apple endeavors and think of me on Saturday as I make the big push to can them.

Birthday pictures

Harry's birthday cake

Mmmmm Cake is so good!


Not too messy, but it sure was tasty.


Check out that cute little tummy!


Big brother Evan is helping Harry get the hang of opening up presents.