June 2006
19 posts
My back hurts
Both boys have been teething for about two weeks. The teeth have
not cut through. They spend a good portion of the day on my legs
trying to pull down my pants.
If I only picked up the noisier kid, Dougie would never be picked
up. Lately, I have been picking up both at the same time.
Yesterday, between everything with Becca and the boys being their
delightful selves with their gums, I could...
Never ending
We have been dealing with constipation issues with Becca for six months
now. This is not a case of the poo not wanting to come out.
No. This is a case of Becca not letting the poo out.
I’m a little slow. For the past week, week and a half, Becca has
been very cranky, irritable, crying at the drop of a hat, and
tired. It took me until this morning to realize it’s because she
has...
Communication
Dougie LOVES to eat bananas. This kid would eat just bananas every meal all day long if we let him.
We don’t. I really wouldn’t want to deal with the constipation.
Anywho, the bananas are kept on top of the (usually) empty cookie jar
on the counter next to Dougie’s high chair. He will eat some of
what we give him. Then he looks at me, looks at the bananas,
looks at me,...
We have a winner!
And the winning bid goes to…..Champion!
With the best price of $2,890. And the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. And eligible for the energy tax credit.
Not that I am that picky. Considering our current windows, plastic sheeting would probably be an improvement.
Fifth grade teacher
My dad was in the Air Force while I was in elementary school. So,
I ended up attending 3 (skipped after the first quarter), 4 (finished
the rest of the year), 5 and 6 grades at Yokota AFB, Japan.
There is not sufficient housiing for the personnel there, so we spent the first year renting a house off-base in Akishima. Perhaps this one
will be better for you. Since my brothers were sharing a...
Another option?
Ben and I have never been fans of vinyl siding. It is definitely not environmentally friendly.
So, perhaps we can just replace the badly damaged wood siding with new
wood siding. The siding currently on the house has not been
maintained, obviously. If you keep up with it, wood siding will
last you as long as you need. I mean, heck, Mount Vernon is still standing, isn’t it? I think it...
Siding and window quote #2
Okay, if you think our first quotes were bad, you will just laugh at the newest.
Siding = $35,327 Windows = $5,671
Yes, you read that correctly.
The salesman was telling us that we can finance it and spread it over
as many years as we want. He said most people pay off this
financing when they sell the house. This was after we told him we
planned to stay here for 10 years. I can’t...
What to do?
Once again, we have purchased a house where the prior owners replaced
the windows on the front of the house but not the back. Our
utilities are running over $200 a month. We had to move Becca’s
bed to an inside wall when it got cold because the air was coming in
around the window. When Ben grilled outside the other week, I
could smell the charcoal in the kitchen.
The wood siding is...
A conversation
Me: We should try to make it to the gardens today. I feel guilty for not taking the kids out.
Ben: You feel guilty for not taking the kids out? It’s
called predictability. They like not going out. They feel
secure. Kids thrive on patterns.
Age
Yesterday, a Dr. told me, ‘You really don’t look 33’.
I replied, ‘Well, it’s only been 10 days’.
Chairs
Magnus learned how to climb up onto chairs yesterday. I came into
the dining room and found him standing up on the dining room table in
triumph.
I tried pushing the chairs all the way under the table. He
climbed up onto the chairs from under the table and was trying to shove
his head into the little opening where the chair bows back. This
would have resulted in him tipping the chair over and...
Abuse
Tuesday morning, Ben lifted Magnus onto or bed to crawl around.
Magnus stood up at one point. lost his balance and fell backwards onto
me. He very hard head connected with my left cheekbone. It
hurt like a mutha.
This morning I was letting the boys go downstairs. Dougie was
just sitting on a step grinning at me. Magnus, even though our
stairs are fully three baby widths wide, felt the need...
Someday
I will research the cost of solar panels for my house. Enough to
fully cover the amount of electricity we use. And I will convert
our furnaces over to electric. And our hot water heater.
Everything except for our cooktop will be electric. And I will
make my house 80 degrees in winter and 65 in summer if I want and not
have to pay for it.
Boys' one-year stats
Magnus
32 inches
27 lbs 8 oz
Douglas
32.5 inches
30 lbs 14 oz
The dr was very impressed by Dougie’s walking backwards. I didn’t
realize it was such a big deal, but she said it is a 15 to 18 month
milestone.
Darn creepy kid
I was lying in bed with Becca last night, getting her to sleep.
We had the lights off and the blinds open to watch the lightning.
B: Do you see the black eyeball?
M: What black eyeball?
B: It’s right outside my window, behind the trees. It’s looking at me. It’s scary.
M: I just see trees.
B: It’s a big scary black eyeball.
M: No. There are just trees out...
Cars
Uncle Drew gave the boys cars for their birthday. This and this. Dougie really
likes the police car. He spends most of the day either pushing it
around or picking it up, hugging it to his chest and taking it for a
walk. It’s pretty cute.
My wonderful husband is so great! He installed the toilet lock so
that I wouldn’t be woken up by the boys splashing in the toilet this
morning!...
Veddy Interesting
I have some parenting groups in which I like to lurk. Browsing
one today, one woman mentioned that her cousin just decided to search
around on the internet and found unclaimed money for their
grandparents. hmmm.
I put in my maiden name. Nothing that seems to be my family. I put in my married name.
Ben’s grandma. There is unclaimed property of her’s held by the state of...
Sound Effects
I had all three kids laid out side-by-side on the floor. It was
zerbert time. I went down the rown getting each kid in
turn. The zerberts were, if I say so myself, rather bright, fast,
sharp, cheery-sounding ones, or at least as cheery-sounding as a
zerbert can be. After several rounds, Becca asked if she could
give me a zerbert on my tummy.
The noises she produced were slow, deep,...
Morning
There is a clock/radio/sound machine in the boys’ room.
Generally, it is playing ocean waves when the boys are going to
sleep. For some reason, the alarm on it decided to go off at 6am.
By the way, it works. The boys were woken up.
I kicked Ben, because I was mostly asleep and I couldn’t quite figure
out why his alarm sounded different. I went back to sleep.
A bit later, I was...