Friday August 27, 2004

An Other Reason to Eat Chocolate! http://us.mms.com/us/news/promotions/komen/index.jsp

I never have really needed a reason before now - but now I can justify it! ( Aug 27 2004, 05:32:36 PM CDT ) Permalink Comments [2]

Thursday August 19, 2004

It's Official........ I'm Old!!!!!!! I was plucking my eyebrows and I found 5 - count 'um 5!!! - gray eyebrows! Who in the hell, besides old people, get gray eyebrows. I guess I do.

I'm Insane!!! I just realized yesterday all the "stuff" I'm in charge of this year. I'll list them out for you: Vice President of the PTO,Girl Scout leader for my Junior troop, Girl Scout Leader for my Brownie troop, Service Unit Team Member leader for Girl Scouts, Home Schooling K, Helping out at L and M's school, put together and run a Back to School Bingo, Help my Junior troop run and put together a Carnival 2 weeks after the Bingo! now add on the fact that I'm supposed to be raising my children to be good and kind adults! I don't know how half of this happened - oh, I do, I have a very big problem with saying no! I did back out of teaching Religious Ed. So, maybe there's hope for me after all! ( Aug 19 2004, 09:26:57 AM CDT ) Permalink Comments [2]

Thursday August 12, 2004

Life, Life, Life...... It has been mad crazy around here the last couple of weeks. We have been running to band practice for M everyday this week and will again next week. We had a successful garage sale and was able to donate everything we didnt sell. But we have also been struggling with L and K who are having medical issues.

L has been suffering from headaches for the last 3 months. It's so hard looking back that it has been that long, yet it has. He received his glasses back in October, so we thought when this started that he needed a new glasses prescription. At his first eye appointment the doc mentioned that his eyes were tracking a bit slowly, but with continued reading it should correct itself. Then when he started having headaches we took him in to see if his prescription had changed. No change and this new doc. also noticed his slow tracking eye movement and suggested that we go to a vision therapist and see what they had to say. Now, I had read about vision therapy before and believe that it can help. But they kept trying to shove L into a category that didn't fit him. They kept telling me his eye tracking abilities were very, very poor and thus this was causing his headaches. Okay, I buy that. But then they kept telling us that he must be a poor student (actually, he's at the head of his class), he must be a poor reader (no, he just got done reading the Lord of the Ring trilogy), he must be bad at sports (Ah, again, No, he is very good at sports, he just isn't interested in them). Every time we contradicted this woman, she would wiggle it around to their point of view. By the end of it, it felt like we were in a used car shop and were getting hit with the heavy sell. Let's just say it left a bad taste in my mouth when we were done. Oh! and the fact that everyone, every single kid has the doctor recommend 40 weeks of therapy. 40 weeks! Which costs us roughly $7,000! To say the least, we will not be going to that clinic. We called his ped. (who had a CAT scan done of Liam's head to rule out a tumor the week before) and told him what their diagnosis were and asked where else we could go. So, now, next week we will be going to a ped. eye doctor - the kind that does surgery if necessary. I'm hoping that they will be able to help. L's headaches are getting worse as the weeks go by - to the point that he won't play or read. I'm hoping that we can help him.

K. K. K. K has Encopresis . This is a physical problem caused by constipation - basically, to make a long story short, the kid can't control when she poops. Not fun. We have gone to see a ped GI who has put her on increased fiber (we use Juice plus fiber )every day and a laxative twice a week. The problem is that K is supposed to start first grade this Sept. Unfortunatly, she is still having problems and Hubby and I have decided that we will not be sending her to school. It's not fair to the teacher or to her - I refuse to put her in a situation where she will be teased and humiliated. So, I will be home schooling her until this situation is resolved, which could be years. I was very, very torn about this. I know that I will have great support from family and friends (actually, my best friend home schools) it isn't that. It's the fact that I hope I can do a good job with her, that I can meet her needs. She loves, loves, loves school so for her not to go will be very difficult and hard for her. But, I sat down and talked to her about it and I think she understands. It will defiantly be an adventure - at least that's what I keep telling myself! ( Aug 12 2004, 08:37:00 AM CDT ) Permalink Comments [2]

Saturday August 07, 2004

It's Official! W, who is now 11 and 3/4 of a month, has started talking already! His first word - Up. He has been kind of saying it awhile for everything. We've been trying to just say it when we actually lift him up or pick up something. Tonight he looked me dead in the eye and said "Up!" and put his arms up to be lifted! His second word - Pop. This is thanks to my Mom, who during the garage sale this weekend started slipping him pop whenever I wasn't looking. He now holds a bottle of pop and scream "POP" as loud as he can as he shakes the bottle with great frustration. Thanks Mom!

We had our garage sale this weekend and it went well, although it was a bit slow. I was worried yesterday because we had a ton of stuff left over and knew that we wouldn't be able to sell everything today. When a gal came up and told me that she worked for a local homeless shelter and would take everything we didn't sell and we could have a tax right off voucher. Bonus! I was going to take everything to Good Will. She came an hour after the sale and took everything! Hubby did say that he hoped she wasn't just taking the stuff to have her own garage sale - but even if she is I don't give a rip at least we don't have it any more and we didn't have to pack it up and haul it somewhere!

Oh! Have you seen that new Dairy Queen commercial for their Brownie Blizzard, where the guy gets his tongue sucked into a blender thingies? It's just disgusting and yet every time I see that commercial I stare at the tongue all twisted in the blender blades - I know it's gross and yet fascinating! ( Aug 07 2004, 10:25:01 PM CDT ) Permalink

Monday July 26, 2004

Lord Help Me..... Well, it's started. I'm having withdrawal's from the lack of house shopping! I still have been getting the links from Edina and other house selling sites and I look at all those beautiful houses that I could be walking through and almost weep. But it has been very, very nice not having to keep everything perfect all the time.

I am currently at a loss at how to deal with W and his biting fascination. He loves, loves to bite. Our pediatrican suggested that when he bites us to not to react and to pick him up and place him on the other side of the room. This has not worked - mainly, because, when he bites it hurts like hell and there's no way not to react! My Mom firmly believes in biting back - but the boy is only 11 months old and I'm not sure he'll understand the whole "concept" behind the biting, other than it hurts. So, I'm wondering if anyone has any solutions for us? (Oh, he mainly bites me, sometimes the kidos and hardly ever Hubby!) ( Jul 26 2004, 02:25:39 PM CDT ) Permalink Comments [2]

Saturday July 24, 2004

Finally time to blog..... I have been so swamped lately that I haven't had the chance to write. Of course, I always think of wonderful witty things to say when I can't get to the computer. You, unfortunately, won't be able to read any of them because I have forgotten them all! :0) I thought I would bring you up to date on our "grand adventure" called life!

After three and half months, we have taken the house off the market. The Minneapolis/St. Paul area is booming with house sales, however, the northern suburbs are not. We had a grand total of 14 showings and no offers. We lowered the price of the house by $7,000 and had only 2 people come and look at it. I was tired of yelling at everyone to keep the house clean and they were tired of listening to me complain, so we decided that it was in the best interest of the family to take it off. We are thinking of maybe trying again next spring, but I wouldn't hold my breath on that. We really don't need to move, but carting the kidos back and forth from school is a bit of a pain, so we'll have to see how we feel at the end of the school year.

The bonus of taking the house off the market is that I am now doing a complete and total make over of the up stairs. Old wallpaper is coming down and fresh paint is going up. The kitchen cabients are going to get painted a wonderful cream color. The bathroom upstairs in having a shower installed (it's an older house, so we have a tub but no shower!). Oh, I live to redecorate! Poor Hubby grins and bears it. I am also in the mist of a total Clean Sweep! I'm so excited to get rid of all the crap that we have accumulated. I'm honestly not sure how we have gotten so much crap, but crap we have - up to our eye balls. Lets just say that we should make about a million dollars on our garage sale!

W is now crawling and starting to get ready to walk. He loves chasing after M, L and K and gets frustrated when he can't catch them. We are also slowly weening him into sleeping in L's room. Right now his crib in our bedroom - not fun for Hubby or I. I never have wanted to have a family bed (no offense to anyone who does do this), but a family bed we have. W makes the smallest sound and he ends up in bed with us - lets just say that it's not ME who is bring him into bed! We are napping him in L's room right now and hope to have him totally moved in with in the next two weeks.

That's basically it - we are thinking about going a small camping trip, but only if I get all of our "clean sweeping" done. I'm hoping to have that finished by the next century! ( Jul 24 2004, 11:51:51 AM CDT ) Permalink

Friday July 09, 2004

Thank God! Girl Scout Day Camp is finally done!! I'm so tired I could drop right now. The plus side is that all the girls survived and I didn't come close to killing any of them! ( Jul 09 2004, 08:28:08 PM CDT ) Permalink

Tuesday July 06, 2004

Ahh, the joys of Girl Scout Day Camp.

This is the week that K, W and I are all doing Girl Scout Day Camp. I haven't had a really "horrible" experience while doing day camps - I've been doing them for 5 years now. This year however has been a bit strange. Normally a day camp is run by one person, but they have 50 baygillion people helping them through out the week. Their job,essentially, is to make sure that nothing goes up in smoke. However, the director for this camp has decided to run this camp entirely by herself!!!! As soon as I heard this I should have run away screaming. She has mixed the lower age groups together, so we have first, second and third grades together. This on paper shouldn't pose a problem. But what the paper doesn't tell you is that these girls are just entering the first grade - they are still, basically, kidergarteners! We have girls that are 2 feet taller and more mature than their younger fellow campers. It has bascially sucked. The third graders don't want to "hang around" with the first graders. The first graders are just trying to keep up with everyone else and the second graders are just trying to keep everyone happy. Ugh! The agony! We have a few problem girls to add to the mix: 1) the leader's daughter, she's in 3rd grade, and likes to yell at her mother and call her names - a lovely child really! 2)The overly hyper child that can't seem to keep still and is constantly standing on the rickety benches and the ACES (Advanced Campers - they are older girls, usually in high school. They help out the adults and entertain the girls) 3) I just heard what has been happening with this one girl, who comes across as so sweet and nice. It turns out she a huge bully and has been secretly hitting and kicking the other girls! I think I'll end up killing one of them by the end of the week!

( Jul 06 2004, 06:53:37 PM CDT ) Permalink Comments [1]

Sunday July 04, 2004

Anyone want these children??? PLEASE! Child number one: She's very cute and only 6 years old - plently of time for you to mold her! She's loves dolls and drawing. She also loves, loves, loves to talk for 12 hours straight when we are all in the car together and there is no escape for her parents. Bonus! She will politely let you know that she needs a cup or bag because she "really needs to throw up."

Child Number Two: A devil may care 10 month old, who loves to smile at everyone. His ultimate dream day is crawling around in the grass chasing his older siblings. He also loves to scream and cry for 12 straight hours in the car and every time his Grandma's dog barks!

These children are free to whoever wants them! They haven't let their parents sleep through out the night in the last 4 days! Bonus: A Grand Caravan with a strange flapping sound when it breaks!

(Many of you have wondered where I have been. Well, for awhile I wasn't able to log on to blog, then Hubby fixed it and then I had nothing to write about! Why is it that I always think of witty or cute things to write about when I can't write about them and nothing when I can?? HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY AMERICA!) ( Jul 04 2004, 09:10:17 AM CDT ) Permalink Comments [1]

Thursday June 10, 2004

Hmmm..... K's 6th birthday is coming up this Saturday and today we went to the store to get all of the birthday supplies. When we got to the location I noticed that the store had moved and we needed to go down the block.

Mom: We need to go down the block, because they have moved the store.
K: Do you think they are tired?
Mom: Tired? I don't understand.
K: You know, from pushing the store down the road!
Mom: Oh! Um, yeah, they're tired! (giggle, giggle!)
( Jun 10 2004, 05:46:38 PM CDT ) Permalink

Wednesday June 09, 2004

A Decision. Many of my last blogs have been about the selling (or lack of selling) of our house. It's been very frustrating to say the least. Yesterday, I went and looked at house with our agent and then we discussed a "game" plan on what we could do to get our house sold. It was decided that we would keep the price the same, but offer a $2500 bonus to the buyers agent that would last until July 4th, and then if that didn't work drastically lowering the price over the next 2 months. Then he started on about how if we just finish the ceiling the office we would get more finished square footage. I then mentioned that I wanted to repaint the floor in the laundry room - someone painted it before we moved in and it's starting to come up. He suggested we put an indoor/outdoor carpet in instead and then mentioned we might want to repaint the house! While I love our agent all of these things cost money - a lot of money! We have all ready put new carpet through out the house (ok, in the two rooms without wood floors), we've redone the deck, we've finished landscaping the front yard - all to get more people to look at our house. We have a new furnace, air conditioner, and water heater. I refuse to do these additional things right now (besides we have a flippin' paint allowance for the house). I'm tired of putting money into this house when we plan on moving. The thing is is that our agent is also a friend and I don't want to loose that friendship by me being bitter about all of this. So, we decided last night that if the house doesn't sell by the 4th of July we are going to pull the house off the market - it's just to damn slow around here right now (out of 40 houses 3 sold last month!). I feel better now that I can see the end of the road. Hopefully, we'll sell, but it's not the end of the world if we don't. ( Jun 09 2004, 08:00:48 AM CDT ) Permalink

Wednesday June 02, 2004

Ahh, Shoes! I used to be a Shoe Aholic - actually I think Hubby thinks I still am one, but I'm not, I'm now a Mom. I used to spend lots of money on shoes - all different types and styles. I loved all of them. Then I became a Mom. During my pregnancies my arches flatten out and my feet spread and they now resemble hobbit feet (except that mine are not hairy!). My shoes now consist of Dr. Sole Gel Padded Shoes and a pair of sandles. I do have several shoes hanging in my closet - but they come out every so often for me to wear with a dress. I was watching the Today Show and they were showing the cutest dang shoes with shorts. I can no longer justify buying myself cute shoes though - not when two of the kids needed shoes the other day and it cost me roughly $50 to buy them new ones! Oh, to have cute shoes again! ( Jun 02 2004, 09:50:46 AM CDT ) Permalink

Tuesday June 01, 2004

Yeah!!!!! I just got back from a 9 month check up for W and brought up my hesitation about giving him the MMR (I have 7 year old nephew with Autism - We don't think the MMR is solely responsible for his problems. He has major food allergies, reflux and a huge history of inner ear infections. We believe that this combination with the MMR is what caused his autism. If W had been completely healthy I would not worry about giving him the MMR, but because he has had allergies to Milk products and reflux I have been very, very worried about giving him this shot.) However, I do want to have him immunzied. And I was told that my clinic is willing to give him the shots separated!!!! YEAH!!! Last year when I asked about it I was told that they didn't give the shots individually and was given a pamphlet that basically called me an overly-hysterical-mother-and-didn't-I-know-that-the-doctors-knew-what-was-best-for-my-child? I was sooo mad at the time I started crying - I hate it when I do that!!! So, now is happy days! W will still be immunzied, but in a way that I feel is safe for him! ( Jun 01 2004, 06:39:11 PM CDT ) Permalink

Monday May 24, 2004

W at (almost) 9 months! It's so hard to believe that almost nine months ago I had W! He's grown so much in the last several months. But what really struck me today is how different it is to have a baby now and have a daughter who is 11 and son who is 8. (I'm not counting K, because she's 5, soon to be 6, and that was the age M was when she was born) Having older children around a baby really makes you realize all the things that you told yourself that you were going to remember when they were babies was really a figment of your imagination. The baby does things and you suddenly remember when one of the older children did that or the fact that none of your other kids did that (at least as far as you can recall!). Its just so different to have a child that needs your constant attention and help for everything and another who is starting puberty and "just wants to be alone." It's been a very interesting month. All three of the older kids love playing with W a lot more now. I think it's because W definitely recognizes them as different from Mom and Dad and different from himself. He's also started mimicking the kids. M and K do a really great lion roar - if you heard them you would wonder where the lion was (M starting roaring right after she saw the Lion King - thanks Disney!). So, K roars for W and he roars right back at her!!! Not one of those little roars, but a roar that comes from the back of your throat and gut roars! Now when M fake laughs at him - he does the same type of laugh. Very freaky. But he has definitely developed his own personality over the last month. Temper tantrums are starting to become more frequent. He throws them several times during the day - when he can't have the remote or phone, when he is being cuddled for nap time, or when he can't reach something (while he's rolling around the floor like a maniac, he hasn't quite gotten the "crawling" thing - he's going backwards 99% of the time). He's newest form of sound is the Bronx Cheer ! He does it for everything! When you look at him, when he want's something or someone, etc... Of course, we all laugh when he does it - so I'm sure he'll be 16 and trying to get some girl's attention by "cheering" at her. Over all it's been a really wonderful 9 months. He's generally a really great baby - all smiles and laughter and very wet baby kisses. Now, I can't wait for the next 9 months! ( May 24 2004, 09:42:22 PM CDT ) Permalink

Saturday May 22, 2004

Ah! There's nothing like the pulling together of a community. So, our beautiful tree came down this week. I managed to watch it come down with out crying this time. Although, the one thing I found amusing is that the whole neighborhood came out to watch! I saw people I haven't seen all winter and spring! Ah, there's nothing like pulling a community together like the chopping down of a great tree! Now, this weekend we will spend a day of stommping on the dirt mound that is left to compact it a bit and placing sod on the spot of the old tree. If we were staying I would put a crab apple tree in it's place, but I'll let whoever buys this place do that. It also has been a better week for selling the house. We have had 3 house showings - a fantastic week seeing that we had the total of 7 before that. Hopefully, we'll sell soon. The house we want went down another $5000 - maybe we were meant to wait so we could get it at a much better price? ( May 22 2004, 10:02:17 AM CDT ) Permalink