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.

A day of rememberance

It was a seemingly normal day. We went out shopping the day after Thanksgiving sales leaving Evan behind with his grandparents. I was reluctant to leave him behind but I knew he would have fun with his grandma. At the mall while we were having lunch I saw a baby about Evan's age and I missed him even more.

On the way to to town my husband and I discussed where we would have buried Evan had something gone drastically wrong with his recent surgery. We had not discussed it before then because we had not wanted to face the thought that our only child could die.

Later that night as I was trying to help my mother-in-law cook a late dinner Evan started crying. He would not settle for my husband so I heated a bottle and tried to calm him down myself. He was writhing and sobbing and nothing could console him. I gave up and put him into bed for the night thinking that he was just over stimulated by all the excitement of the day. I was wrong he was not overstimulated, he was having his stroke.

This time of year is an exciting time but it is also a bittersweet time as well. My memories are made all that much stronger by being in the very place that Evan had his stroke. Last year's anniversary was a breeze for me since I was dealing with Harry and his issues. This year we are doing so many of the same things we did last year that it is hard to not let it prey on my mind.

We were so lucky that day. If that blood clot had gone in different directions things could have ended up so much worse. Evan could have had his forebrain destroyed. He would have had his ability to make rational decisions destroyed. His personality and memory could have been torn to shreds. The clot could have ended up in the back of his brain. All of the automatic things that you never think about could have suddenly been turned off. Death would have resulted.

I am so thankful that things turned out the way they did. Evan has made so much progress since that day. He is a very bright and happy little boy. He is an amazing and loving big brother. I am thankful for every (well almost every) day that we get to have him with us.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope that everyone is having a great Thanksgiving. I am dragging this fine morning because Harry decided that we all needed to party at 2:30 this morning (I think that from now on we will be having birthday cake in the afternoon and not right before bed). I took care of all the usual suspects and he was still wide eyed awake. After several attempts to get him to sleep I had to take Evan into bed with me and just let Harry cry it out. There was no way I could even function any more at that point. The stinker cried for about five seconds and was fast asleep. I then had to deal with Evan's determined effort to kick all of our covers off in a freezing room. My husband jumped ship and spent the night on the couch.

My mother-in-law and I are in cahoots and trying to force our husbands to take care of the kids while we are cooking in the kitchen. I have decided to extend that and am now hiding out in the computer room even though all my dishes are done and ready for the oven. I am thinking about possibly hiding all day, or as much of it as I can because I have had enough of whiny kids. As I am typing this I am hearing a duet of crying in the back ground. I am trying hard not to laugh.

Happy birthday Harry!

Today is Harry's birthday and even though this blog was up and running I did not post his birth story. Enjoy!

My pregnancy with Harry was pretty normal. The only big complications I had early in the pregnancy was some nausea, horrible heart burn and a round of kidney stones (that hurt worse than the c-section). I had the feeling that Harry would be a big baby like his brother so I decided to go for a repeat c-section rather than trying for a VBAC. I would have had to switch to a different OB because the hospital he delivered at did not allow VBACs.

Things started getting a bit crazy towards the last few weeks of the pregnancy. I was measuring very large so I had to go in for weekly nonstress tests. During one nonstress test I was having some mild contractions due to being dehydrated. I ended up spending four hours laying in the same position until the contractions stopped. I was so sore after. The next week my OB decided that since I was measuring 42 weeks at 36 weeks that he wanted to move the scheduled c-section up. He was worried that I would go into labor. At that point I was so huge and uncomfortable that I was ready for anything.

Unfortunately the week my c-section was scheduled on was Thanksgiving week. We had planned on having my in laws and my mother come to us and cook a wonderful meal. My mother was then planning to stay so that she could watch Evan for us.

Bright and early on a Tuesday morning we left to have our baby. I had already been through the whole thing before so I was pretty relaxed but also excited to be meeting the new member of our family.

The c-section it's self went pretty well. My favorite part is when they finally pull the baby out and you can breathe again. That feeling is just so amazing. Harry tinkled a bit on my OB as he was being pulled out, I think he wanted revenge since he was quite happy in my womb. As soon as he was out the OR staff started taking bets on how much he would weigh. Harry was a chunker. The RT that was on hand to make sure the breathing was going well brought Harry over for us to look at and even took a bunch of pictures while I was being sewn up. It was great finally seeing him even if the newborn hat that had been put on his head kept popping off (Not only do I have huge babies but they also have giant heads. Me and vaginal birth were just not meant to be.). Harry's birth weight was 11 pounds 6 ounces, exactly one pound more than his brother. They looked almost identical at birth except that Harry was a bit shorter and fatter. They both have birthmarks in similar places, how odd is that?

Recovery was pretty different this time around. I had been given a medication for nausea that made me loopy. I didn't feel safe holding Harry for a few hours but once I got my hands on him I hardly let him out of my sight. He was making a groaning noise that we had noticed Evan make when he was newly born (before we knew anything about his heart defect) but we kind of just ignored it because we thought it was normal. Our pediatrician was not quite as relaxed about it as we were, he felt that there was something not quiet right. He told us later that he was expecting a call in the middle of the night.

After we were setted down for the night I let the nurse remove him from the room to run some of the many tests that need to be run. Harry's glucose had been running low (normally huge babies run high because the mom often has gestational diabetes which I did not have) so they were watching it carefully. They had also been testing Harry's pulseox because of Evan's history and had noticed that this time it was low and that Harry was breathing rather fast. That set off a round of tests and an x-ray to rule out some things. The diagnosis was TTN. He was given oxygen through an oxygen hood which meant that I was not able to hold him. Seeing him like that brought back so many bad memories of Evan's birth.

My decision to have Harry at the same hospital that I gave birth to Evan meant that I had yet again chosen a hospital with no NICU. When Harry's condition had not improved markedly in by the morning he had to be transfered. Our wonderful pediatrician tired valiantly to buy him more time but Harry just needed the help of the extra oxygen too much. We were both very distraught at the time and had not wanted to have yet another child be transfered to a NICU.

My dear friend A came with her husband just before Harry was to be transfered (it was about 3 in the afternoon by now). She had been planning on visiting us but I had called in tears so she came right over. Her husband helped my husband give Harry a blessing which really eased my mind a lot. A stayed by my side as I was released from the hospital (My wonderful OB let me out early so that I could be by Harry's side). She sent her husband out to pick up my pain medication and other sundries that I would need including a nice dinner. My husband followed the ambulance to the new hospital to be with Harry while they settled him in.

There was such a difference in my mood once I got to the new hospital and saw Harry all bundled up. I was so relieved. I could finally hold him again as he had bee put on a nasal cannula for his oxygen supplement. It was a different NICU than the one Evan has spent time in so the bad memories were not there. This NICU was nice and roomy (if there can be such a thing in a NICU). The babies were also not nearly as sick in this one so there was a less urgent air to the place. Harry was not even in a warmer, he was in a normal bassinet. All those things signaled to my mind that every thing would turn out ok.

Despite his rocky start Harry quickly improved. He only ended up staying one day longer than we would have if he had not had the breathing issues. The neonatologist that was taking care of Harry was very impressed with my determination in staying with my baby so soon after a c-section. I just could not lay by while my baby was taken from my arms to another hospital. I felt I had lost too much time with Evan at a critical time and was not going to let that happen again.

Taking Harry home was a glorious thing. Since we had spent Thanksgiving at the hospital my husband and I decided to have our own Thanksgiving that Sunday. It was a day of much Thanksgiving for a wonderful Thanksgiving baby.

Sigh

I am in dial-up hell right now. It is going to take a lot for me to keep posting every day while I am not a home.

Fun, fun, fun

There is a good reason that during the day the kids are confined to the down stairs. That very good reason is that the upstairs (with the exception of the boy's bedroom) is not child proofed. I was forced upstairs today because of the instillation of the new furnace. I knew that Evan would be very much underfoot as he eagerly watched the workmen and Harry is so into everything that he would be getting into things just because he could. Both boys are down for naps now and I am getting a much needed breather.

I can't wait to have a warm house again but will not get to enjoy it long before we have to pack up and leave for our trip to the in laws. Which reminds me I had better get packing. Sigh.

The joys of motherhood

Evan's head is looking not so bad right now but I know once the bruise sets it will look terrible. I can see the darkness already lurking under his goose egg. He is going to look wicked fierce in the pictures I take for Thanksgiving and Harry's birthday.

Being a mother is an often thankless job filled with disgusting tasks. Some days however you have happy fun days. They are like sunshine breaking through dark clouds. Generally my dark days seem to be when the kids are in a developmental rut. Day after day I deal with the same thing and then suddenly they decide to change, to grow, to blossom.

One thing that has been preying on my mind a bit is if I am maybe smothering Evan just a tad bit too much. I feel that sometimes I am just a bit too quick to jump in and help him when he is trying something new and unfamiliar. I don't let him get out there and try new things on his own. Last week I got a chance to see him shine. The playgrounds in my are are rather unfriendly to kids with physical limitations (I am planning on possibly bringing that to the attention of the City government since it is a shame that all kids can't enjoy the play grounds). I was with a friend in another city and it had all the right ingredients for Evan. I got to see him climb up some steps, sit at the top of a slide and slide down all by himself. I almost cried. It was so hard for me to just sit back and let him play, I was so used to having to help him that it almost is second nature. Seeing him do that makes me wonder how much more he can do if he is given the chance.

Harry is starting to walk more and more. Seeing his huge smile as he totters around is so infectious. He is so pleased with himself when he gets it. It is priceless seeing him rush to my arms and giggling when I give him a big hug. He is also starting to actually listen to me. He is awful about standing in the bath tub. Every change he gets he wants to stand up. Tonight I told him to sit down and he actually sat back down. Of course he soon tried to stand back up but sat back down when I told him to. Harry also is learning things from Evan. Evan will pick up toys and Harry will then take a few and put them in a bin. They soon end up being taken back out, but it is a start.

Sometimes it is so easy to forget that there are two sets of little ears listening to your every word. I haven't taught Evan any naughty words (yet) but I did teach him some good ones. Every time he does something that I ask him to do I will praise him and say thank you. Tonight at dinner my husband gave him something that he wanted and Evan actually said thank you. I didn't want to do the whole prompt the kid to say thank you, so it was gratifying that he would get it and say the words on his own in the proper context.

It is just so wonderful when you have days like this. This is the priceless part of being a mother. It almost makes up for the endless hours of whining that I have to endure.

Here is another thing that Evan picked up by observation alone. I was trying to keep him busy while I was sweeping and my husband was getting dinner onto the table. On a bit of a lark I handed Evan the dust pan. He promptly started picking up the leaves from the floor and putting them into the dust pan and then putting them into the trash can. Never mind that it would have been faster for him to just put them directly into the trash, this was the grown up way of doing things.

I feel like the worst mom ever

Today after church we were all crowding in to the house through the back door and I knocked Evan over. He banged into our porch swing causing him to have a scratch and a huge goose egg on his forehead. I tried putting ice on it but you would have thought I was torturing him the way he acted. It was all I could do to keep him on my lap.

My question: How do you keep an ice pack on a reluctant toddler?

Giving thanks

We had our annual ward Thanksgiving dinner tonight. A fun time was had by all. I kept remembering last year's dinner when I was hugely pregnant with Harry and just about to welcome him to the world. I must say that I enjoyed this year's dinner much more since I was actually able to breathe and fit more than a few bites into my squished stomach. I think that Harry enjoyed getting his food through his mouth rather than second hand through my blood.

While I was there I got a new calling. Previously I was working with the Young Women but now I have the exciting calling of Nursery Leader. I will be doing what I do every day (which is wrangle toddlers) only I will have more toddlers to wrangle. I think one of my projects will be to clean out the toy closet. There are a ton of broken toys that need to be cleaned out. This has been a hard calling to fill so I really was not too surprised that they called me to do it.

I am ready for a change. I have been feeling like my family needs more time and it was really affecting how much time I could commit to Young Women. This will be a low effort calling, mostly showing up every week which is my specialty. One thing that always amazes me is how strong the Spirit is when am in interviews with priesthood leaders. It makes me more aware that Heavenly Father is very aware of the things that are going on with each of his children.

Bad Luck Renters

I am sure that when our landlord decided to rent our house to us she assumed we would be nice trouble free renters. We do our part to make sure that the place is well kept up. My husband is willing to do small repair jobs and we have really made a lot of improvements in the yard. However it seems that we have been able to quickly kill many of the appliances that were in the house when we moved in.

Things started off with the awful and ancient fridge. It made a horrible noise and then started leaking so we got a new one. Then the dish washer started smoking, we didn't get a new one but some repairs had to be done. Next came the oven. Along with the oven came new counters since the idiot installer did such a hack job that he ruined them. Now it is our furnace.

Last winter the furnace was acting up. It would turn on to heat and then one of the fans would run constantly. If you pried the cover to the thermostat off and wiggled a few things the fan would sometimes turn off but sometimes not. It was quite annoying when the fan would not turn off, the low hum would slowly chip away at your sanity. The repair guy thought he had it fixed and it worked pretty good for the rest of the winter.

Sadly the repair did not hold and we had to call them in again. The verdict was not good. Either the furnace had to be replaced or a $600 part was needed. The owner decided that since the furnace was not exactly new that it should be replaced. I think that by the time we move out of here every thing is going to be brand new. It is times like this that we are glad that we do not own the home.

My Mommy night out

I am one wild and crazy party animal. I just got back from scrapbooking with some friends. We had a blast and it was nice to have some adult conversation. My husband called me at about 11 wondering where I was. Apparently he had attempted to wait up for me and I had neglected to tell him not to bother since there was no chance I was coming home until I was about to drop from exhaustion. One of my friends said I should have told him that we had made a surprise trip to Vegas and that we were all out gambling (which if you know me would be completely out of character) .

It was so nice to just get out for the evening. I really have not had a night out like this in a long time. I love being able to talk with other moms and not feel so isolated. I have been feeling so discombobulated lately and this was a nice event that has helped me feel more grounded and normal. When I don't connect with other mothers after awhile I start to feel like I am the only one doing something or going through something. Eventually it starts to affect me mentally.

This is a picture I plan on putting into the scrapbook. It is the first picture I have been able to take of Harry walking. I had to be pretty sneaky to get it. Every other time I would whip out the camera he would promptly plop right on his bum. This time he decided to display his walking skills for the camera. Every day he is getting more and more willing to take a few steps here and there. It will not be long before he is running.

Thomas the tank engine

I seriously would not want to be a sentient train. You can only go where there is track. You cant look anywhere but forward. You still have to have someone driving you. You live a life of enforced servitude. Sir Topham Hatt is quite the slave driver scolding the engines if they are the least bit naughty.

I lied!

I am feeling recovered enough to talk about my day. Some intense vegging time in front of the TV perked me up enough.

My friend Ginger and two of her daughters came all the way from Utah to spend a few hours basking in my glorious presence. I had joked with her Sunday that if she wanted to come on over for a play date that we had today(Wednesday) free. She works for an airline so she gets to fly free and decided to pop on by.

We had a very long but pretty fun day. I think her day was much longer than mine since she had to get up at 3am and had a layover in Southern California. They did not have a direct flight available which would have given us more fun time. We did decide that when she next came it should be for a girl's weekend out and no kids should be in sight.

I rented a minivan so that she could see some of the sights of the city (we have a sedan so there would not have been room for her kids). I must say that I think I am in love. The new minivans are so much better than the boxy old thing that I learned to drive in. There was so much room too. I was a bit put off at first but soon my minivan legs kicked in and I had no problem with the larger bulk of the vehicle. I may go out and get pregnant just so we have to get one soon (haha just kidding.............I think).

It was my first time driving to the airport. I hate going to new places. I have a very strong fear of getting lost, almost to the point of it being a phobia. I am pretty good at gritting my teeth and just doing it but I white knuckle it the whole time and obsess. I love that getting directions off the internet is so easy. I wonder what people did before that. Maps I guess but that is not always a sure bet, especially if your map is old or you have no idea what direction you are moving in.

I do enjoy the rush that comes from successfully finding my way. I am very aware of my surroundings and manage to avoid getting lost by noting land marks. My grandmother quite seriously told my one of my sisters and I that my father was such a good navigator because we had a Portuguese ancestor(for those not in the know the Portuguese were very good sailors and discovered large chunks of South America). My husband likes to joke that if I donate blood too often my Portuguese blood might disappear. I get the last laugh because when I drive with my husband I am the navigator. My husband tends to get tunnel vision and quite honestly could not navigate his way out of a paper bag. I wonder how he managed to survive before he met me.

What a day

can't blog too tired had a pretty fun day. Will spill the beans later after I have recovered.

WWYD?

My very odd and eccentric (that is putting it nicely) Grandmother sent Harry a nice birthday card for his upcoming birthday. Included was a check made out to him. How the heck is a baby supposed to cash a check? I am thinking we will just sign (I really can't call it forging since he can't actually write) his name and put it in his savings account. Seriously, who writes a check to a baby?

I love my town

I love the town I live in. There are a few drawbacks to living here. The price for a starter home is insane. The weather is great and there are so many nice people that live here. I also love that we are in a pretty rural area but we actually don't have many of the drawbacks of living in a rural area, there are plenty of shopping and other amenities.

My favorite part about this town is the lovely green belts in the town. There are nice walking paths and lost of greenery so you can pretend that you are not in a built up area. Going out for walks is much easier, if you walk with a double stroller on residential areas the dips for the driveways makes it hard to push the stroller. A smooth path is much easier on your arms.

I also like that the constant hum of traffic is not buzzing in your ear. I love to use my walking time as a chance to think and meditate. It is much harder to achieve inner peace when you are annoyed by the sound of traffic.

The walking paths are often connected to the many parks that exist in my town. There are probably 6 or 7 parks in this relatively small town. Each one is located near a school which is located in a neighborhood. This is a very well planned planned community. There is also talk of putting community gardens in a few of the lesser used parks. I would love that because then we could grow more vegetables in the summer.

Pictures of Harry

Harry is feeling better now, no sign of fever. I thought I would share a few pictures that I took today.

We finally managed to catch him standing on his own. No walking pictures yet but this is a start. Oh, this was also taken nanoseconds before he sat down because we were making such a big deal of him standing on his own.

This is what happens when you have a mother that is not caught up on the laundry. You have to wear a flannel shirt because you do not have any clean long sleeved pajamas. Poor kid! (You can also tell that I have not picked up the living room in awhile)

Lunch ideas

Here is a tasty recipe for your naughty children.

This is all I have

I remain committed to posting every day this month. Having spent the day with a better but still sick little boy I don't have too much to write about, so this is what you are gonna get, a post about Harry's wool soaker.

When I learned about the whole concept of using wool as a cover for cloth diapers I was skeptical. It just seemed strange that something as non watertight as a knit garment would work to keep the baby's clothing dry. I am now a believer after having seen a wool soaker in action for myself.

I bought an ultra cute soaker off of eBay for a nice price. It was so cute that I could not resist. It had to be lanolized to make it work. Lanolin is naturally in wool it is sheep sweat. When wool is processed it is removed and saved for skin creams and things like that. After reading a bunch of different websites I gather that the lanolin chemically reacts with the urine and forms a soap like product which cleans the soaker continually. You only need to wash a soaker when you get it dirty or it starts to smell. The smell is a signal that the lanolin has been used up and generally only happens about every two to three months.

All I really know is that it works and works quite well. Harry took some really long naps today. I did not want to change his diapers and disturb him, so I just let him sleep. He never had a leak when he woke up but he did have some really wet diapers for me to change. Right now some very simple things are what thrill me.

Poor Baby!

I survived an entire day of whiny feverish Harry. When he was not sleeping he wanted to be held by me. I indulged the poor kid because that is what soft hearted mothers do best even when their kids get them up at ungodly hours of the night.

Surprisingly I am not actually all that used to the whole fever thing. Evan did not have his first illness until he was about nine months old. He picked up a horrible puking tummy bug when he was int he hospital for his stroke. Of course he waited until he was at home to show the symptoms and he lovingly shared his germs with me and my husband. That was one thrilling Christmas, let me tell you. I was extra freaked out because Evan's cardiologist had told us not to let him get dehydrated and what is the the first thing he does at home? Puke his guts out for several days. Evan has only ever run a fever when he has some sort of infection.

Harry has also been quite the trooper in the illness department. He has had a few colds but nothing major. Even this mysterious fever is not appearing to be a biggie (knock on wood). We will be staying home from church, since no one likes a germ sharer. Evan will go with daddy to church, leaving me with glorious time to myself if Harry is nice enough to sleep during that time.

I rock!

Very Well-Rounded You have: 70% SCIENTIFIC INTUITION and 70% EMOTIONAL INTUITION

The graph on the right represents your place in Intuition 2-Space. As you can see, you scored above average on emotional intuition and above average on scientific intuition. (Weirdly, your emotional and scientific intuitions are equally strong.) Your Emotional Intuition score is a measure of how well you understand people, especially their unspoken needs and sympathies. A high score score usually indicates social grace and persuasiveness. A low score usually means you're good at Quake. Your Scientific Intuition score tells you how in tune you are with the world around you; how well you understand your physical and intellectual environment. People with high scores here are apt to succeed in business and, of course, the sciences. Try my other test! The 3 Variable Funny Test It rules.

My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 99% on Scientific You scored higher than 99% on Interpersonal

Link: The 2-Variable Intuition Test written by jason_bateman on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Cleaning bah!

The cleaning kind of happened today. It really takes two committed parents to clean a home when you have two little kids around. My husband while quick to suggest cleaning the house is not so quick to put it in action. I did manage to get our room and the boy's room clean. I also folded all the laundry that was sitting in the hall. My husband did something or another in the kitchen and cleaned up the computer desk.

My husband was convinced that Evan was sick because he was being whiny and clingy. I had to laugh because Evan is clingy and whiny every day. I humored him and took Evan's temperature which was normal. Harry on the other hand was being even more clingy than normal. He was also insanely whiny. Whiny enough that my husband wondered out loud how I could stand dealing with the kids on a daily basis all day long. I felt a bit gratified with that statement. I know that he does not even understand the crap I have to deal with day in and day out.

It turned out that Harry was the sick one. I felt his forehead after his extra long afternoon nap and he was quite warm. I am not sure what the cause of the slight fever is but when I held him he was happy as a clam and acting normal. The only real symptom was his whinyness when I was not holding him and the extra sleeping. I hope that this is the extent of the illness but I am not holding my breath.

When my husband was taking Evan up to bed tonight Evan got upset and kept pointing in my general direction. I took that to mean that he wanted me to put him to bed. Evan was still a bit squirmy when I put him to bed but not too bad. A little bit later my husband looked near me and noticed that Evan's blanket was by me (generally Evan is not allowed to remove it from his room but my weak husband relented and allowed him to have it with him after nap time). That is what he had been pointing to! Not his dear mother, but a blanket. I guess I know where I stand now.

It was like herding cats

It is holiday picture time and I managed to get a bit of a jump on things. We had out appointment today. It was crazy trying to get both boys to sit still, keep hands out of mouths and smile. The first set were taken in front of a Christmasy back ground. Harry kept trying to crawl off. One of the pictures had my blurred hand in it from me trying to keep him in place. I then had the brilliant idea to put him in a chair. It worked like a charm except then Evan decided that he did not want to stand still.

I was a bit vexed with the outfits that I bought for the pictures. I found then at Carter's which is usually a good store. Apparently they size all of their one piece things small and the separates big. I returned the outfit I got for Harry because it looked huge on him. Silly me did not even think to try Evan's on him. When I put his sweater on him this morning he was drowning in it! His gimpy hand disappeared in the sleeve so I had to roll it a few times. Of coures there was no time to make any wardrobe changes as most of the stores in the mall were closed when we got there for our photo appointment.

While we were picking out our pictures I saw a very unfortunate little girl. The poor thing had awful stick straight and ultra thin hair. She is really going to struggle with that hair when she becomes a teenager.

Tomorrow my husband is off work and we are going to try and do a major house cleaning. Wish me luck!

Name Game

Chel tagged me for the name game. I am supposed to spill the beans about why I named my kids what I did.

Evan Wade: I knew that I wanted to name my first born son Evan since I was a young child. Evan was my father's father. He died when I was pretty young but I have some warm and vague memories of him. My grandfather was born in Wales and later immigrated to the US. He worked for the LDS Church Family History Center working on Welsh records. Wade is my husband's middle name. In his family instead of passing on first names the first born son is given the father's middle name.

Harold Walter aka Harry: We relied heavily on our family history for this name. Harold is my husband's father's father (there is a bit of an unintentional theme here neither of the maternal fathers have names that we like or are available). I liked this name because it is a strong name. I also liked it because then I could use the nickname Harry. I am a huge Harry Potter fan but did not want to seem to nutty by simply naming him Harry. We had trouble coming up with a middle name for Harold. I emailed my Aunt who is the family history guru of the family and asked her to search for an appropriate middle name. When I saw the list I fell instantly in love with Walter. After Harry was born I remembered that Walter was my father's mother's father. He was a mounted policeman in Seattle and was killed while trying to apprehend a criminal. Walter was also his father's name.

I am tagging Goofy J , Chelle and Zephera.

ugh

There is such a thing as too much fun. I have been twirling the kids in the new chair quite frequently today. Currently I am feeling a bit queasy. I think we will have to cut back on the rides from now on.

Names

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 7 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

I am incredibly special! There are a mere 7 people with the same name as me. I bet all of them have different middle names so that means that the chances are quite high that no one has the same exact name as me. There are 692,927 people with my first name, which came as no surprise to me since it was a rather popular name at the time I was born. I had three other girls with the same name as me in my high school math class one year.

My lovely last name is apparently quite rare. Only 3,240 people in the US have it. This again is no surprise, as before I met my husband I had no idea that my last name was even a last name. I don't really hate my last name but it sure is a bit of a thorn in my side at times. I can't complain to much as I could have kept my maiden name when I got married.

My maiden name was a good last name. According to the website 422,956 people in the US have it. It was also quite high in the alphabet and easy to spell. There was no confusion with pronunciation. When I got married I got a last name that is in the dictionary. It is pronounced differently depending on if it is a noun or a verb (we use the noun pronunciation). I always spell it for people because for some reason people do not understand that it is spelled exactly how it sounds.

My last name has greatly restricted my naming choices for my children. I had to keep to rather normal names that are spelled correctly. I just could not in good conscious name my kids some of the names I thought were totally cool when I was a teenager. It was bad enough that they have a tricky last name and then to add a weird first name, I just could not do it to them.

Sadly my in laws were not quite as conscientious as I was. My poor husband is the only person in the US with the name that is on his birth certificate. He has an awful and much hated family name saddled on him. The funny thing is that on his social security card his name is his nick name. So in reality he has two legal names. In the church and the military he is the name on his birth certificate but in other places he is his nick name. My husband tried to argue the military into putting his nickname on their records but being the military you can guess how well that went. He insisted that when we decided to name Harry Harold but call him Harry that Harold was on all his official documents. He did not want Harry to go through the same name battles that he has been fighting his whole life.

Sweet!

My husband decided that he was tired of the lame computer chair that we had been using. He proposed that we get a new chair as a joint Christmas gift. I was not all that unhappy with our trusty chair but after it developed a split in the upholstery I figured it was time for a new one.

My husband being the cheap guy that he is tried to be cheap with the chair. I was not having any of that. I told him that if this chair was going to be my Christmas gift it had to be leather. It also had to be really nice and well made. I was also hoping for one with a massage feature but those were way out of our price range.

Luckily a local office supply store decided to have a sale on office chairs. Ours was $40 cheaper that it normally was. It sure is a lot more comfortable than our old chair. That one gave me back aches that I had attributed to other things. Evan and Harry love the fact that mommy will hold then in her lap and twirl them around. Evan also loves to push mommy in the chair. I love the smell of leather and it sure makes blogging even more fun.