Not worried

I'm not worried about the Swine Flu. It's all over the news and people out there are going all nutzo about it, but really... Maybe I'm just stupid or something.
I do have asthma. And I have a kid who has asthma. And I have a baby. But I'm still not worried. We don't use public transit (not available), we don't go out to the movies or anything... Rowan is at school and John works on a university campus... but... It just seems silly to worry so much about something like that. Wash your hands before you eat. Wash your hands when you get home from going to the store. Keep your fingers out of your mouth. All those things you do to keep from getting the regular flu - just do that. Sure, there's no shot, but MOST people don't get the shot anyway, and they make it through every winter just fine.
I may sound callous, but the deaths are over reported. Over 30,000 people die every year from the regular flu. 236 cases (not deaths, just cases!) isn't going to make me get my panties in a wad. It's just not. And I'm not going all nuts on the antibacterial soap. Flu is viral anyway.
I think that if the media had anything else to talk about, this wouldn't be hyped up so much. They're just tired of talking about the failing car industry and stupid banks. If they had anything else to talk about, this wouldn't be such a big deal.

_______________________________

I love it when Niall tells on himself. I was just putting him down for a nap and he said, "Mommy, I hid a car in my bed because I don't want you to find it. So don't take it!"
I didn't.

Family Hair Update

Because you know the state of our hair concerns you. ;)
I got my hair cut today. It was long overdue. The last time I had it cut was before I got pregnant with Eleri. I went to the hair place that my neighbor, Heather, recommended.

I think she did a good job!

Rowan's mohawk is back in action.

Niall once again has a "fuzzy head."

And you have to get Eleri's hair wet to see how long it really is.

John and Loki's hair remain unchanged.

6 month well check

Our Pixie baby is a dinky girl! 24.25 inches - 10th percentile
14lbs 11.5oz - 25th percentile.

Awww.

No shots today. She was due for some, but I refused until the snotty goes away. No sense in making things worse when it's not really time sensitive. A nurse shot visit in a week or two will be fine.

After her ped visit, I decided to head over to the mall and check out the sale at Gymboree. I have to admit, I'm a Gymbo failure. Even with the sale prices, I can't bring myself to buy. The stuff is cute, great quality, well made... but I grew up shopping at the Ramblin' Rose.
Ahh the Ramblin' Rose. It smelled like attic - kind of dank, kind of musty. It was Mom's favorite store in the universe. I hated going. It felt like we were there for hours, but it probably wasn't really that long at all. Over the years it got better. I discovered that I could get some good books there. We moved away before I was really old enough to appreciate all that was possible at the old RR, which is too bad. Mom still hasn't lost the thrift store bug, though, and I love to go with her whenever possible.
All this to say, I'm a thrift store mama. And maybe next summer those cute shirts that I saw at Gymbo today will show up at the Children's Orchard or the Guardian Angel.

6 months old!

I've spent the day trying to get pictures. Still working on that. Someone would rather stand up ALL. THE. TIME. God forbid I put her down and make her actually be on the floor.

I did make her a new dress. And here's what she looks like when she gets to do what SHE wants to do.

The hair, the hair, it's everywhere.

The hair - post pigtails.

Massive amounts of snot will wreck your fashion sense

Yes, I'm sorry to admit it, but all that snot is never a good thing, especially when you combine it with all of that hair. You can look at me like that all you want to. It's just not a good combo.

You see... when you have all that snot... it makes a lovely cement to stick your hair to your cheeks. This calls for drastic action.

Yes. I am aware of how it looks. You're cute enough to pull it off. Just go with it.

Don't look at me like that! It's not my fault! Okay maybe a little. I did pass on the massive snot genes to you. Your dad did, too. Did you see the size of his nose? And you can blame your brothers' coughing on you for the cold. That was all them.

You can make this work. You have the power of cute on your side. No one else could pull off a 'do like this. Remember the primary objective. Hair crusted to your cheeks is not a good look for anyone. Insane pigtails? If your brother can rock a mohawk, you can do this. Just dig deep.

It's a tough job, but you make pigtails look easy. Even if they're sloppily done by your wack-job, sleep deprived, decongestivated mother.

See? The added sheen of snot on your cheek just adds to it.

Cinderfella

His wife will thank me some day.
Really, when you get down to it, cleaning the toilet is the perfect job for Niall. I put in the cleaner and do the preliminary swish, and then he gets to stand there and swirl and swirl until there is a bunch of suds. It's superfun!
The hall bath is the boys' bathroom, and I don't know what they do in there but standard cleaning is not enough. Standard cleaning still leaves that oh so lovely urine reek. John tells me that his mom resorted to mounting plexiglass on the wall next to the toilet when he was a boy, because they were ruining the wallpaper - so they must come by it honestly.
But ya. Bathroom cleaning from now on is going to mean that Niall puts on his bathing suit and we go in with a bucket of Dr. Bonner's and hose the place down. 'Cause the standard job just isn't going to do it.

They think I don't know...

She thinks I don't know about her.
She thinks I don't see the way her eyes light up when he walks into the room.
The way her eyes follow him wherever he goes.
The hair on his collar.
The way his hand will absently seek her out, even when he isn't paying attention.
Oh ya.
I see it.
I know about her... the other woman.
The wife always finds out.

snork

We are sick. Eleri has her first cold. It's very pitiful. Last night she was just lying in bed with me, whimpering.
So I'm not worrying about the friday flick. If someone does something cute today, I'll film it and maybe get around to posting it. But I wouldn't count on it. We're all snotty noses and puny feeling here.

Accomplished

• Get fitted for nightguard: check
• Lunch with John: check
• knit night: check
• portrait of the kids:

check.

Don't worry, Grandparents. You have an 8x10 copy waiting for you.

That was a lot for a day. I'm off to bed now. 'Night.

True to form

I wrote this for the blog on April 6, 2006:

With streaming eyes
And wads of kleenex in my nose to stop the drips
I stand guard on my front porch
Perched in my chair
Sipping tea and knitting
Wiping the accumulated goo from my eyelashes
I smile at the chirps and twitters
As I look at the flowers and the yellow dust that coats the world
I feel the sun on my skin and the breeze on my face
Knocked slightly demented by antihistimine
I am determined to enjoy this season
Even if it kills me.

It would be true today, except I don't have a front porch anymore and I can't take the antihistimane that knocks me silly because of the whole nursing the baby thing. I think I was nursing Niall at that point, but he was older and didn't sleep in my bed. Oh well.

Today I am snot-tay. Pixie wants to sleep, and probably would if I could go without sneezing long enough. As it is she's meowing in her saucer and blowing raspberries. That's her new thing. Her shirt is always soaked. I'm going to have to find the bibs.

It's Monday! Laundry day! Compounded by getting out the summer clothes! And diapers! And and and! But I'm making chili for dinner and I'm thinking cookies are in order too. It's overcast and dreary. We should have cookies.

I did take egg dyeing pictures. I have to get them off the camera. There are no Easter clothes pictures because I'm planning on taking the kids to portrait innovations for that. I think I'll go make that appointment right now.

Friday Flick!

Someone is growing up entirely too quickly.

Confession

I am an unwilling cosleeper.

I didn't plan on it. Rowan never coslept. There was no lying down to feed him. I had to squeeze the milk into him, burp him multiple times for every feed, hold straight upright so it wouldn't come out through his nose... It was a labor intensive process.
And then I had to put him down and pump so I could do it all over again. There were times that he would be crying in his bassinet and I couldn't do much because I was pumping and was half dead on my feet and barely coping as it was.

And then there was Niall. He was SO EASY to feed. I learned to nurse lying down. I fell asleep. I woke up when he wanted to nurse again and I would roll over and give him the other side. I fell back asleep.
I finally booted him from my bed when he was 10 months old and a very greedy, rude sleeper.

I have fallen into that situation again. Eleri snuzzles up to me and I fall asleep while nursing her. She wants the other side, we move and do it all again. And I thought that I was going to try to move her into her side-carred crib.

yeah, right.

I put her in there the other night because she was meowing and smacking around, and I was tired. She meowed a little more and then just rolled over and went to sleep! By herself! Without nursing!

I thought victory was mine! I stretched out, luxurious under the blanket that I could pull all the way up to my shoulders and not have to worry about smothering my precious little baby. And I lay there. And lay there. And couldn't. fall. asleep.

Finally at about 12:30 I got her out of her crib and pulled her back into the bed with me. I nursed her a little since that woke her up, and then we both drifted off. I admit it. I didn't want this, but now I can't fall asleep without my living, breathing, little teddy bear. I have cold shoulders. I'll deal.

---

Thanks for all the comments on the state of the house vs. life. It's good to know that there are other people on the same page. And you know, it makes me wonder...

Why do we do this to ourselves? Why do we care so much that we rush around squirreling things away when we know someone is coming over? Why do we present a better face to the public than we present to our own families?

I think that this is something I need to work on. I think I need to have it nicer for my family and not worry so much about the guests. Maybe my friends are secretly glad to see the screwdriver on the mantle and the stack of whatever that is in the corner, because they have the same thing at home. I think I want to keep it a little nicer around here than it is today, and have that be the face that the world sees, too.

And then I really want to tackle my bedroom. It should be my sanctuary instead of being the catch all for what I'm hiding from the rest of the house.

Does it count if the fruit/veggie portion of my lunch is salsa?

You bet it does. That means I'm eating.

You see, that's one of the things about being here at home. Some days, most days, I'm just pulled in so many different directions that I forget what it is I'm supposed to be doing. Like feeding myself.
Most days I feel like I didn't get anything done at all.
Some days I spend forever doing a simple thing like changing the look of this blog, and suddenly it's 2pm. The kids have been fed etc and are napping, but what happened to me in all of that?
I'll tell you what happened. I'm still in my jammy pants. That's what happened.

I'm sure most moms are like this. I have the kids, the house, the laundry, the food, editing, cleftadvocate, soggy granola, the birth defects board at babycenter, real physical people here in town, the list goes on and on and I really should have cleaned the carpets this weekend but the carpet machine is sitting by the ironing board in the kitchen right where it's been sitting all week.

And none of it (aside from making sure everyone is fed and reasonably sanitary) is VITAL. It's all just... stuff. The stuff I do. The bits and pieces of things that make up what I've ended up doing with my life. It will get done, eventually, and until then...

Sometimes I think that I should be one of those people who has the sparkling house. Everything has a place and everything in it. But then would I take a whole day to make a blog prettier because I wanted to? Would I go edit fanfiction for people that I don't actually know in real life because it helps both of us learn in the process? Would I pop in on a forum several times a day just to see what's going on?

I think I'd be lonely.

And so here I am. Pulled in however many directions, but getting some of it done. Sometimes.

fiddling again

I'm going to be fiddling with the look of this thing again. So if it looks screwy, it's not you. It's me.

Walky bike

Okay! This is Niall on his walky bike. What's a walky bike? It's what we call a balance bike. In this case - a 12" bike that has had pedals, chain and guard, and whatever else removed.
The theory is that a child will learn to balance better if they use their feet to push them along instead of using training wheels. The bike has to be low enough to do this comfortably, and once they get going fast enough a kid will raise their feet and balance without paying too much attention - it just comes naturally.
It worked great for Rowan, and it's working again. Not bad for a bike that we got for free from the neighbors! So here's the Friday Flick that was supposed to happen while the laptop was in the shop.

it's back

The laptop is home again. We're getting reaquainted. And I haven't been sleeping well lately, so my brain is oatmeal. I'm trying to upload some video now. Stay tuned.