The Week in Review

The kids had this week off school. I had wanted to go to this indoor water park in the Pocono's, but when I called they were booked out - so we decided to do some day trips here instead.

On Saturday we all went to see "Night at the Museum." The plan was for Rick and the girls to see the movie, while I shopped at Target with the little one's and then went home for naps. As we pulled away from dropping off at the movie Jacob started crying and saying "Go with the guys, go with the guys." He was so sad to be left out, so I went back, bought a ticket for myself and we all saw it. It's probably the last movie Jane is invited to for a while - she slept through some of it, but is probably getting to the age where she can't sleep through them anymore.

On Monday, of course, we took them to the American Museum of Natural History. We used to have a membership there, and I took Rebekah all the time - but hadn't been in years. I guess I underestimated how great my little one's are - they really enjoyed it. Rick and the girls went to the planetarium while I browsed with the little guys. Jacob loved looking at all the animals, and finding letters he knew in their names. That night as I was tucking him into bed, I asked him what his favorite thing was. I thought he'd say the dinosaurs, but he said "Emblapence." I tried to think if we'd seen an ambulance anywhere, when I realized he was saying elephants - cute.

Emily has been really interested in space lately, and I thought she'd enjoy the planetarium, but she said it was boring. Rick and Rebekah enjoyed it, so I'll remember that for next time. After the planetarium we had a bad lunch for $46. Next time I'll make sure and take our own!

Then we saw the dinosaur skeletons, animals, the Native American exhibit (Emily was exited to see people like Kaya), the big blue whale and made our way to the "Pacific People's"

They had a small display on Aborigines, and the kids saw the replica (and I'm pretty sure, smaller) Easter Island head. We left in the afternoon as it was starting to really get crowded, and went out for dinner that night. Jane had her 1st garlic mashed potatoes, and thought they were heavenly.

On Tuesday I thought we'd just stay home and get stuff done here, but by 10am, Jacob was bouncing off the walls. It was cold outside, and I was thinking "Someone should invent an indoor playground." Then I realized there is such a thing - at McDonald's. So Emily, her friend Caroline, Jacob, Jane and I headed there for lunch and to blow off some energy. It was our 1st time there and Jacob LOVED it. The kids played, while Jane and I hung out. It was great, but next time I don't think I'll get lunch there. We eat fast food occasionally, but McDonald's always makes me feel sick after eating it. I especially try to avoid it since seeing "Super-Size me." Next time I think I'll just get them a shake, so we've purchased something, and eat lunch at home.

Wednesday Jacob had another hearing test in the morning. Rebekah stayed home with Jane and Emily went to a friends house to play. This was a place that was supposed to be better than the last. They were great with Jacob, and he was really good and co-operative until about an hour into it when he started saying "Go home." By then, we were almost finished, so not too bad. He hears well, which I had thought - but we just wanted to rule out the possibility that a hearing impairment was effecting his speech. He does have some fluid in them, but we'll go back to the ENT to see if he thinks it's significant or not.

On the way home I stopped at Lakeshore for a few things I needed. Cold-Stone Creamery is just down from there, and I took Jacob for an ice-cream. I think I have completely underestimated the importance of 1:1 time with him. I've been consciously trying to make a date with each of the big girls each month for a 1:1 activity, but had thought that Jacob is always with me, so he didn't need it. I was wrong. It was great to be out with him, minus Jane. We had fun sitting eating our ice cream and talking. I'm glad we have swimming lessons to go to without Jane. He is a darling boy, and I'll try and be sure to have more time alone with him in the future.

At the hearing place they gave him 3 Curious George stickers. When we got home he put one on himself, and gave one to Jane and one to me - isn't he sweet? Then he told Jane about our ice creams, and played "ice cream" with her.

I am really enjoying seeing them play more together, now that Jane is a bit bigger. She just worships Jacob, and squeals with delight at his antics. They are becoming good buddies, and giving me hope for the future that they will eventually entertain each other and I can get stuff done.

Emily got home from her morning play-date in just enough time for me to drop she & Jacob off at Gabby's while I took Rebekah to the Dr. We waited a while to go in, and Jane got called "he" several times, so I guess we won't be repeating this outfit again. We crawled back through rush hour traffic to pick up Em & Jake and home for dinner. It was my birthday (thanks for everyone who sent cards or called - it's nice to be remembered.) Rick came home and we had cake and opened my gifts. I got the new flash for my camera that I have been wanting, and am very excited to use it - I just need Jeff to give me a tutorial!

Thursday we went to the NY Aquarium. Jacob has been obsessed with feeding the fish we are currently babysitting, so I thought a trip to the Aquarium would be a good idea. I left my camera in the car - and couldn't be bothered going back for it, so sorry, no pictures. The Stanley's came too & it was great fun. It wasn't at all crowded, or even that cold. We sat in the front row during the show, and the kids all got a sea lion "kiss". Jane is just getting to the age where she is noticing & becoming interested in animals, so it was fun to watch her. She clapped in the show whenever anyone else did. Jacob was really excited to see the sharks. One opened it's mouth as it swam past us, and it was all he could talk about (& demonstrate) later that evening.

After the Aquarium, I made a trip to Costco for food, but boy was I ever glad I went because when I got there OUR TV WAS BACK IN STOCK!! It was all I could do not to throw my arms around the box and weep at the joy I was feeling. Rebekah opted to pass on the Aquarium, and spent the day working with her band "The Dark Muffins." She had a fun day too, I picked her up on the way home from Costco, we hurried through dinner & getting the kids into bed and then Rebekah and I hooked up the TV. We got it done 5 minutes before Rick walked in the door and 2 minuted before Grey's started. It was SO GREAT to be able to watch TV in our basement again. (Firedog will be here Monday to hook up the surround sound & make sure everything is working properly.) So it ended up being a really great day.

Friday mornings I have a babysitter. I ran a few errands (still amazed what I can do sans kids) and got to work in my office. If you don't know me very well you should know that I am a neat-freak and a germophobe - my office is my secret shame. It hasn't been really clean or organized since I had Jacob. Every now and then I get close, but then I get behind again & there are papers all over the floor, and I can't find anything I need. Hence the babysitter - this was my second week with one. My goal is to have it clean and organized by the time the kids get out of school for the summer (yes, it really is that messy!) The idea is, of course, that I will get the office under control and be able to use Friday mornings to do something for me - so I'm pretty motivated to work on it as much as I can.

Olive & Maude came to play in the afternoon, and Emily had a great time. She has such great friends. Jacob was just going down for a nap when they arrived and was devastated to think he'd miss out. I assured him they would still be here when he woke up. All of them played really nicely when he did wake up. He is such a social boy, so much like Emily in that way. It was a great day of getting things done - and the kids had fun too.

Saturdays around here have become one of the most hectic days of the week. They are the great errand days, but I always feel obligated to try and do something as a family, since it's our only day all together. This Saturday we decided to just get a bunch of stuff done, and I feel like Rick and I really tag-teamed well. He took the big girls to clean the church at 8am, while I stayed home with the babes and changed all our sheets (a Saturday task), then I took Emy (& Jane) to primary activity at 10am, while he took Jacob for a walk and Rebekah started her laundry (also a Saturday task), we left the primary activity early to get Emily to a birthday party. While at the party, I dropped the car off for an oil change, tossed Jane in the stroller and walked to the store for a few things I needed. We picked up the car, and headed home (Emy got a ride home.) I handled lunch and naps, and re-making of all the beds, while Rick took the car to get new tires. After naps Rick played with J & J while I took Emily to buy a few new clothes for our trip and then dropped her off at a friends for a play date. After her play date we cleaned up a little, got dinner for the kids and bathed them and put them to bed. SO, when Kathryn e-mailed for a girls movie night, I was happy to go, feeling like we'd accomplished a lot that day. I took Jane, since I couldn't quite convince Rick to keep her - but the other 2 littlies were in bed, and Rebekah was babysitting, so Rick had a quiet night to himself too.

Today was a typical Sunday. We almost made it to church on time. I have hope that we will be on time in the near future! The 11:30 time slot we're in now is killing us, but Jacob seemed to handle no nap a little better today, and actually stayed in nursery the whole time. I even managed to get to Relief Society - so things are looking up.

So there it is - a blow-by-blow of our "winter recess." It's snowing right now, and there's talk of a 2 hour delay for school in the morning. People around here flip out when it snows. I'm a little sad to send them back to school - the week went by quickly, but also looking forward to being back to our normal routine.

Piano Lessons

Emily started piano lessons last week with Erin. She LOVED it - did anyone doubt she would? Erin is such a great piano teacher - she's cheerful, and positive & uses lots of praise. Both my girls think she's wonderful.

A couple of days later Emily came to me and asked me for help with her practice. She said "Mom, I forget which notes to start with, can you come and show me?" I told her I couldn't, because I don't know how to play the piano, and she'd have to ask Rebekah. I watched her face as this news sank in (I don't know how she'd previously missed my lack of any musical ability.) Then I said "As soon as you learn this - you'll know something I don't know." She gave me a satisfied smile and walked away to find Rebekah.

I think that Emily is going to really get a kick out of learning the piano.

9 months old

Jane turned 9 months old yesterday.

What a doll this baby is! She is seriously cute. She's very happy, and smiles most of the time. She has 4 teeth, two on the bottom, and two little gappy one's on the top (you can just see them in the 2nd picture.) She loves to blow raspberries (especially while nursing), clap her hands, wave, click her tongue, and walk along furniture. She follows the other kids everywhere, and just wants to be doing whatever they are. She still just adores me - you really can't buy that kind of devotion, and I eat it up.

I'm glad I took these pictures in the morning, because in the afternoon, she climbed up 3 stairs while I was distracted, and fell down them. Now she has a nice big goose-egg on her forehead proclaiming what a bad mother I am (and today we went to Target, and bought an extra gate.)

For the 100th day of school, Emily's class could say what they wished they had 100 of. Her teacher told me Emily wished for "100 baby Jane's."

This week, she also started sleeping in her crib. Yesterday I packed away the hammock. Of course, she'll still sleep in bed with me at night, but I'm hoping to transition her to the crib from about 7pm - midnight. She did pretty well (for one of my kids) and has been sleeping in 2 hour increments in the crib.

Jane is a joy to have around, and we're all crazy about her.

X-Ray

Jacob had an x-ray of his head last Monday. No injury, he's just seeing an ENT to explore his speech and the ENT wanted one. Since I've never found an "X" picture for the photo alphabet book I made him, I took the camera to get some shots. He thought the lead apron he put on was pretty cool.

He was a little worried about the moving machine - but having Teddy there helped. I explained it was a "big camera" and then he thought it was funny that it moved around. The technician was pretty nice, but clearly had limited experience with a 2 year old, and didn't seem to get that moving his head into position & then saying "don't move your head" wouldn't really work. It took a lot longer than I had thought it would, but eventually we got one I hope will show what the Dr. needs to see.
When I made the appointment, I asked if I could just bring Jane & leave her in her car-seat in the hallway when they actually took the x-ray. I thought this would be OK, since I was planning on it taking about 10 minutes - and it was during nap time. She'd fallen asleep in the car going there, so I thought she'd sleep through it. We waited about an hour to go in, and by that time she was wide awake and already sick of the place. She was a trooper to wait for us to be done (the door was open, and she could see me), but she doesn't think much of the medical imaging place! I hope we don't have to go back!

Valentine's Day

Our Valentine's Day started out well. A snow day for the kids, so we could skip the morning rush & panic. We had our traditional pink heart shaped pancakes with whipped cream & strawberry smoothies - both of which Jacob helped me make (he loves to cook.)
The kids were cute and happy.
Playing nicely together and having fun.
They got to play in the snow (really very small balls of hail.) Jacob lasted a lot longer out there than I thought he would, and even kept his gloves on.

By afternoon, we were going a little crazy. The kids were getting bored, and I was freaking out by the mounting mess in the house. I went out to get pizza for lunch, and realized that Jacob had popped the sunroof in the car the previous day (when I was putting in the new car seats.) The car was full of ice & snow. Agh. Then the little one's took naps. I started wishing for a working TV ....

Then we had dinner - during which Jane projectile vomited all over herself and me. I cleaned us up, we finished dinner, then bathed the kids and got them into bed. Jane was just lying listlessly in my arms to sleep. A few minutes after they were down, Emily woke up and puked everywhere. Seems the stomach bug that had hit so many of our friends didn't pass us by after all! Rebekah had it Thursday night, and missed school Friday. Rick and I went out to dinner for our Valentine's date on Friday night, but about 5 minutes after I got home, it hit me.

I'm functional, but still feeling a little queasy. So far Rick and Jacob have escaped it - but I'm waiting a couple more days to see if they really have. Rick is home Monday, so I'll try and catch up some of the blogging I missed with us all sick last week!

Maybe next years Valentine's won't include vomit!

Lovely Boy

Jane is now over 20lbs, so needed to give up her infant car-seat. Since Jacob is just 6lbs away from outgrowing his, we got a new one for him, and Jane can use his. We bought it on Saturday, but I didn't install them until today (yes, even with the bigger seats - 3 still fit across the back of my car. I love the Pilot.)

The box sat in the living room for several days, and Jacob climbed all over it, and kept trying to open it. In case they didn't fit, and I had to return it, I didn't want him to touch (i.e destroy) it. Today when I finally opened the box, he came running over, squealed with delight, and then threw his arms around me kissing and hugging me and said "Thank-you Mommy." It was so sweet.

Yesterday in the car he had a similar moment with Jane. He was sitting next to her in their car-seats. I heard him say "Dane's holding mys hand." I glanced back to see that they were holding hands. The he said "She luff me." She really does. I can see that pretty soon, they will be great partners in crime.

For all his rough play and energy, Jacob really is a sweet little boy. He can get his feelings hurt easily and is very loving. I'm so glad he's in our family, I love him so much.

Breakfast

Abandoning all plans for a home baked snack (for tomorrows singing time at my house), I dashed into Stop-n-Shop on the way home this evening. LOOK what I found! Multi-grain cheerios, for $1.99 a box (must buy 4.) No problem, can I buy 16?

Each time I have been pregnant, we have lived on cold cereal. I spend most of my time in a coma-like state when pregnant, so any meal prep that takes energy, or actual looking at or smelling of food, is out of the question. Cold cereal is easy, it's yummy, and it's one of the least awful things to throw back up. (More info than you needed?)

I will never be pregnant again (thank goodness), but I am thinking that when the kids leave home & Rick is retired, I may institute a larger mid-day meal, and have cold cereal for dinner every night (or an apple with peanut butter.)

My favorite breakfast cereals are -

Weetbix

Any of the Kashi cereals with fresh blueberries

Multigrain Cheerios with banana slices

Natures Path pumpkin seed granola (very good over Fage yogurt.)

Aqua Tots

I grew up in Australia, where I spent a great deal of time (as most there do) in or around water. I LOVE to swim. Swimming lessons are important to me. I think it's just one of those things (like learning to read, or ride a bike) that all kids should know. Fortunately for me, our kids love it too.

In all the hamster excitement, I forgot to post that Jacob started back in swimming. I finally got brave enough to hand Jane over to a babysitter (I found a great one, and she came to the pool with us) and get back in the water with him.

I take my kids swimming at Aqua Tots, and they are amazing. It had been 8 months since his last lesson, and I wasn't sure how he'd do. He LOVED it. I don't know how much he remembered from last time, but he was right back at it, jumping in on "ready, go" and swimming back to the wall (underwater) for the count of 4. I was thrilled. I am nervous to have 2 mobile, non-swimmers this summer at the pool, so I am hoping he makes good progress. The first things they teach are safety related; to float on their back, and to jump in, swim back to the wall, and climb out by themselves (when kids fall in a pool, they fall in by the side, and many drownings can be prevented if they just know to get back to the wall, and climb out.) Of course, I'm not planning on him falling in or being unsupervised - I just want to be safe. I worked with enough near-drowning kids when I was at PCMC to make me extra cautious!

Here's my cute boy modelling his new wetsuit from warm belly (his last one was black - I guess Jane won't ever get a pink hand me down suit.) He wanted to wear it all day today!

I probably won't get any pictures of his lessons, since I'm in the water with him so here is a picture of him last summer playing with Rebekah.

Mrs. Nibbles

The Stanley kids are off on their big surprise - I'm so excited for them. But I'm also excited for my kids, because we're hamster sitting! My kids are dying for a pet, but I just can't take on anything extra to feed, clean & keep alive right now. A hamster for 4 days is perfect -

She's become quite the neighborhood attraction!

Last TV post - I promise!

I know what you're thinking - "Lady, enough about the TV already!" But we got the verdict today - by mail. Maybe they thought if they called on the phone I'd cry - the official letter said "uneconomical to repair." Can't say I was surprised, but I was holding out hope ...

So here's how the morning went, sans TV. I didn't manage to get a shower, and sent Em running for the bus as it pulled up at the stop yelling "I'll bring your glasses to school if I find them" as she ran. She also forgot her library books.

I debated about trying to get Jane down for a nap and showering during it, but what might Jacob do to her in her sleep? Maybe I could miss a shower - after all I'd had one at 2am when she puked all over me & our bed - but instead opted to just hurry and take a shower while they played & put her down later. I was just rinsing conditioner when I heard her cry out in pain - a peak around the curtain revealed Jacob standing next to her, running electric toothbrush in hand. Poor baby has so many unusual injuries. I hurried out of the shower, and sat in a towel wet & dripping on my bed to try and nurse her to sleep.

I saw Jacob walk by my room, and heard him turn on the water. Mmmmm, what's the worst he can do? Get his clothes & the floor wet. It's already laundry day, and I'll just change his clothes and mop up the floor - at least Jane will get a nap.

Jacob appeared at the door to my room - he looked at me with a defiant smile, as if to say "Don't you see what I'm doing?" Then headed back to the bathroom. A minute later he was back - wetter, with the same cheeky grin. I saw him pass by my door a few times, all the while listening to the sound of water splashing, and watching Jane's eyelids droop. THEN, I saw him go by with one of his boots in hand ... Not wanting to know what damage a boot-full of water can cause I lept up to intervene. Jane started screaming, and so did Jacob - banging on the closed bathroom door screaming "black boot, black boot."

Here are my thoughts as I dried & changed him & calmed Jane down-

* I wish we had our TV, so he could watch Sesame Street, and Jane could nap.

* What can I do to keep him still a minute?

* I wish we had an attached garage. I could strap him in his car seat, and he could watch a DVD in the car.

* Our street is pretty safe. I bet a running car in the driveway would be OK. I hardly ever see anyone I don't know here.

* Even if someone stole the car - they probably wouldn't want a kid, just the car.

* I bet we'd get him back - wouldn't we?

Realizing that I was willing to risk Jacob being kidnapped for Jane to get a nap, snapped me back to my senses. I tossed them both in the car and we went for a drive to let Jane sleep. We took Emily her glasses (but didn't realize about the library books until we were home) and also hit the post office, and then McDonald's (nothing like fries and a shake for good morning nutrition,) making sure we were in motion for 45 minutes, and Jane got enough nap to be her cute happy self again.

Anyway, the rest of the day was a little smoother ... but now we need to decide. Should we get a new TV? The same one? Will he just break that one too? Get something uglier, with poorer picture, but more durable? I think we should use the damaged one for a while longer (you can still see, it just has about a 4-6" section you can't see) We'll wait and see if he does anything more to it, if not then replace it with the same one. What do you think (but comment fast - we need something ASAP!)

TGIF

THANK GOODNESS IT'S FEBRUARY

I am not a big fan of January. After the colour and whir of the holidays it's just one big long let-down. February lifts my spirits - it's Valentine's Day and who doesn't get excited about telling those around us we love them. It's also my birthday, AND my kids get a week off school. Something about it being the only month with fewer days also makes it seem special to me. This month we make our traditional valentine homemade lollipops, and caramels and so my house spends many days smelling like sugar - aah!

If we're lucky we'll get a snowstorm, and the kids will have a snowday where they'll freeze outside making a snowman and sledding down our back steps, but come inside to the warm fire, hot chocolate and cinnamon rolls. I confess - I signed up to be on the school phone tree mostly so I'd be one of the first to know when it's a snowday - I get just as excited as the kids!

I also think you really need February's love to brace yourself for March. March is one long gray blah. No days off school, no good holidays (unless you're Irish) - it's just yucky. But if you make it through you have April - the weather starts to warm up (not in NY - not here until May) and you know you're on the downhill run to spring. So here's to enjoying February, getting through March and looking forward to April.

TV

They took our TV last Friday. It will take 7-14 days to determine if it's fixable. "No problem", I was thinking. "We've gone without TV before. Nine months with no TV when Rick was unemployed, six weeks with no TV when we put the French doors into our basement, and then last year 4 months when we remodeled the basement. We hardly ever watch TV in the summer - what's a couple of weeks?" After all, I am the one who said that no matter how large a house we own, we will never have more than one TV because I don't want it to be that important in our lives - and a TV should never be in a bedroom - that sanctuary of sleep & rest. I am philosophically against TV.

I made it through the weekend fine. Then Monday arrived & I had to miss 24. It's OK, I reassured myself, our DVR is probably still working and I'll be able to catch up soon. I didn't last long. On Tuesday (an ironic 24 hours later), I paid $1.99 to download it and watched it on Rebekah's Macbook while I folded laundry & picked up toys!

By this morning I was yelling over the phone at Rick, trying to figure out why "Cars" wouldn't play on our computer to keep Jacob still long enough to get Jane down for a nap ... then I began to think about my changing relationship with our tv set.

Kids #1 & #2 - I thought of TV as polluting their darling little brains. Something to be restricted and carefully monitored, like candy. Only terrible un-loving mothers, who knew no better let their kids consume large amounts of that junk.

Kid # 3 - Emily had just turned 3 when I was pregnant with Jacob. I would lie on the floor on pillows trying to will myself not to throw up anymore (it never worked) and leave Em parked with a snack and some water bottles in front of the TV for hours. I rationalized that it was PBS, and therefore educational. It was probably pretty equivalent to pre-school. She was lucky to have me choose such excellent programming for her.

Kid # 4 - TV is now a major part of our daily routine. Jacob watches it when Jane takes her morning nap, I watch TV to break the monotony of folding laundry, and most importantly of all - it buys me A MINUTES PEACE when the kids are melting down.

So, even though it's been less than a week. I'll be calling the repair guys in the morning and begging them to be speedy in their diagnosis of the TV. I'm hoping they'll say it's inexpensive & quick to repair - what do you think my chances are?

For tonight, we're zipping over to our neighbors house to watch "Greys".