Journal: sickies, it was bound to happen (alternately titled "come on spring")

TODAY

Out my window: sunny and the weekend and early next week are supposed to be gorgeous.  Almost Spring, right?  Right??

Clothing myself in: The same thing I have worn for the past 3? more?? days.  Yeah.

Around the house: Sickies. Gemma came up last Sunday night about 10:30 and told Aaron she didn't feel well.  It has been pretty much same story, second, third, fourth verse ever since.  Luckily we only had one puker, and she only puked once.  Mainly lethargy and fevers.  Gemma missed Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday school.  I kind of felt badly not sending her back Wednesday afternoon, but alas she went back Thursday.  And Friday.  And then I picked her up Friday afternoon and she was tired and cold and weak and came home and crashed on the couch to the tune of an almost 104 fever.  Come on!!  Clem got hit the lightest, he was only feverish for one day and has been fine since.  Kolbe got hit last but seems to be pretty much recovered now.  But then, so did Gemma.  Sigh.  Our last round was a year ago January, so we were due I suppose.  Even so.  Come. On. Spring.

 

The baby/toddler: He is funny.  He loves playing games from our game closet.  Trouble and Connect 4 are favorites. He will sit and pop the Trouble bubble and move the little pawns to different spots, yelling, "I'm winning!  I'm winning!" all by himself.  It's pretty funny.  He also likes to pack up his backpack with random toys and other things and wear it around all day.  Or push his things around the house in his shopping card.  Lately he is adamant that he wears his shoes all day every day, often his hat as well.  There are only a few shirts that he really likes, on the days those aren't clean it is a tough sell getting him dressed.  He can take himself to the bathroom completely on his own now.  He shimmies up on the toilet backwards and shimmies right back down when he's done.  Sometimes his underwear are on backwards and inside out, and his shoes are on the wrong feet about 50% of the time, but if he wants to do it himself I am all for that.  He is completely weaned, hasn't nursed since my last blog post.  Hasn't even asked.  I figured weaning him would be a little more difficult, he really liked nursing, but I suppose he was ready to be done.  First time I haven't been nursing or pregnant (or both!) since before I was pregnant with Gemma.  Ages and stages. 

 

The kiddos:  Like I said, Gemma has spent most of the week sick.  I was encouraged though, from my kid whose favorite activity is *not* going to school, the first thing she said when she realized she was sick Monday morning and wasn't going to school was, "but it's PE day.  I'll have to miss PE."  And something else, though I don't remember what it was now.  Sometimes I wonder if she likes school more than she lets on.  She has a "best friend" now, and this makes me smile.  She never really clicked with anyone last year, and that had me just a wee bit concerned.  Because I like to worry.  But she has made good friends with a sweet little first grade gal in her class from a wonderful family, so that makes me happy for her.  I don't want her to be the most popular or have the most friends, those things don't matter, but I did really want her to find at least one good friend, and she has.  God is good.  

Kolbe.  Kolbe Kolbe Kolbe.  Kolbe has been my tricky one lately.  I don't know if it's growing pains or his age or what, but he has just been a ticking time bomb the past 2-3 weeks.  And when he gets set off it is just a matter of weathering the storm, which can last anywhere from 10 minutes to two hours.  Usually on the longer end.  I do not kid.  We have figured out some triggers, and removing those has helped, but even so oh this is more trickeration than I was looking to deal with.  Sigh.  Parenting.  It ain't for the faint of heart. 

In the kitchen: Hmmm, this past week I made quesadillas and creamy tomato tortellini, cornbread and bacon stuffed pork chops, salads (with crispy chicken for us, a side dish for the pork chops for "The Fathers" as we've dubbed them), and French dips with whole grain sour dough (from the store) and green beans.  Because you have to serve green beans with French dips, didn't you know?  Next week is grilled meat (with mashed potatoes/cauliflower and steamed asparagus for TF), something TBD, spaghetti with meat sauce and roasted broccoli and cauliflower, fish a la foil and my dear hubby is planning to make sushi today.  Oh, and we bought our first cantaloupe of the season, but haven't cut into it yet, so the jury is still out.  Along with being ready for Spring weather, I am ready for all the fresh fruit that will come with the season change as well.

Crafting: no.

Learning:  We've read a few books this week.  And watched dozens (I do not kid) of hours of television.  Because TV is educational right?  It is pretty much the only thing we do when we are sick around here.  I have offered to read to Gemma and for the most part she hasn't even been up to that.  Spring will come. (Spring will come, Spring will come, Spring will come.)

Reading: My Theology is about the only thing I've gotten to this week.  Oh, and I got a new Bible and am beginning the process of incorporating regular Bible reading/meditating (starting with the Gospels) into my day.

Watching: Keeping up with Gold Rush.  A friend loaned as The Lego Movie (if you click the link it will take you to a great website that reviews movies as well as books I am told) so we will probably watch that soon.  Since we obviously have not watched enough television of late.

Bringing me joy: Reading from my new Bible.  Dear friends.  Snuggling Clem.  Gemma falling asleep on my lap.  Kolbe's apologies.  As tenacious and difficult as he can be, he is always very apologetic and remorseful.  Which helps.  (Looking for the silver lining here, people.)

Thinking about: lots of things.

Pictures to share:  

Fun at the school's annual "Read Night".  Look at those happy faces.  It is fun to let the kids splurge and eat things we don't normally buy or eat once in awhile. Even though we had to bring Kolbe his own food, at least we were able to find some suitable substitutes.  Clement must have been looking at some other camera.  Two for three ain't bad.

Journal: ho-hum

TODAY

Out my window: Overcast but very mild for January.  It's supposed to cool down quite a bit next weekend.  Spring will come.  January is almost over, and then we've just got to get through February.  And probably most of March.  Sigh.

Clothing myself in:  Jeans, hoodie, tank.  I got my hair cut last week (I was wayyyyyy overdue for a trim) and got some product to scrunch it with.  It's nice to have some variety instead of the same thing every day.

Around the house: Meh, not much.  When I had the boys' pictures taken I ordered a big print (it was the promotion) of the two of them for their wall, and  moved the frame that was in that spot down to Gemma's room with some baby pictures of her, so glad to finally have the final empty space on her bedroom wall filled.  Now just need to get and paint the boys a bulletin board for their room and bedroom walls should be good.

The baby/toddler:  Clement is currently obsessed with his little blue backpack and our wooden Melissa and Doug cupcake set.  Like, whenever we go anywhere he has to take a cupcake with him in a ziploc bag in the backpack.  And he has been very into wearing a ball cap lately.  We have had to really talk to him about not wearing it to Mass or mealtime, to avoid epic meltdowns at inopportune times. (Is there ever really an opportune time for an epic meltdown?)  I also think he is in the process of completely weaning.  He seems to be dropping his nap, and on days he does nap it is either in the van, at the table, or in front of the television. Don't judge.  ;-)  So no more nursing at naptime.  And there have been several nights the past week he has not asked to nurse at bedtime and if he doesn't ask I don't offer.  It will be weird not having anyone nursing.  But I think I'm ready.  It has been a very natural progression.

 

The kiddos:
Kolbe got some Legos for Christmas and his birthday and he has really gotten into those.  And I have really gotten into them as well.  Legos are fun!!  There are some things that I just hate the idea of doing with my kids (ahem, Candyland).  There are some things I am kind of meh about and will do but they don't thrill me (eating a play-food picnic for instance).  And then there are things like reading books and now apparently playing Legos, that I will actually ask them if they want to do.  This week is Catholic Schools Week for Gemma. She will have some special duties at Mass tomorrow, I'll take the kids back later in the morning to shop the Book Fair, and there are several different activities this upcoming week in which she will participate with her classmates and her family.  So grateful for our Catholic schools.

In the kitchen: Mexican Chili, Zesty Italian Chicken with stewed lentils, baked fish with steamed broccoli and maybe some rice, and a classy hot-dog dinner out at the school for Read Night.  On a whim I fried some Chicken Fried Chicken this past week with all the fixings on the sides (mashed potatoes, creamed gravy and canned green beans....because sometimes canned green beans are just good).  It was so yummy.

Crafting: Nope.  Nada.

Learning:  Kolbe still seems pretty eager to learn and work on school related stuff.  Here I was so worried about kindergarten readiness and I think he's going to be just fine.  Curious to have his IEP (here in 6 weeks or so) and know what our plan of action will be for Speech next year.

Gemma is getting more independent with her homework which is really nice.  She is just realllllly pokey after school some most days.  Oh well.  Sometimes you've just gotta let it go.  (No, I am not quoting Frozen, thank you.) 

Reading: Theology, Philosophy, and I started Augustine's Confessions this week as well.  Sometime I will probably need to toss something light in there, but for now I am really enjoying keeping up with the Theology and Philosophy.  Gemma and I are about to finish the Kirsten series, and I have been trying to really make a concerted effort to read more with Kolbe.  I read (the first half of and skimmed the rest) Teach a Child to Read with Children's Books and gleaned some really helpful information from it.

Watching: The back of my eyelids.

Bringing me joy: Days that the kids can play outdoors.  Awesome awesome hubby.  New pictures of my boyzos.  A dead mouse that had been tormenting us for TWO MONTHS.  (//Hides head in shame.//)

Thinking about: Trust in God.  And the pro-life movement.  This post by my friend Jackie was really good, and articulated quite well my thoughts of late.

Pictures to share:  

This year's Baptism Anniversaries.

 Beautiful sunrise.

Clement is TWO

I thought I would break from the usual Journal posts and give Clem his own little post for his second birthday.

Likes:

• the word "nooooooooooo" (in his defense, when he does say, "yes," it is an adorable "UHH-huh")
• eating strawberries and raspberries
• doing whatever the big kids are doing
• reading books, he will happily sit on my lap and listen to long picture books, by himself or when I am reading to the big kids
• bananas
• giving kisses
• swinging at the park
• daddy.  he is aaron's most enthusiastic greeter when he gets home each evening.
• waving bye-bye to daddy from the front yard.  he stands there waving and yells, "bye-bye daddy-O"
• the color blue, he is very adamant about wearing his blue jammies and blue shirt if they are clean, and is rather irritated when they are not
• trains, he especially likes the little Thomas ones that stick together with magnets (he got a stuffed Thomas, a "James" take-along, and some train books for his birthday)
• his stuffed kitten
• playing Kolbe's "Let's Go Fishing" game

Dislikes:

• being contained
• he used to not really care for black beans, but I think he is eating those now
• milk.  i can not get this child to drink cow's milk.

Things he is doing at two:

• he will repeat almost anything, has probably 3-4 dozen words he uses regularly to communicate, and has starting to string together 3-4 word sentences
• he loves to jump on our little work-out trampoline in the basement
• he can climb and run and slide at the park quite independently
• he has been sleeping on the floor in his room (and still co-sleeping some as well) since March, soon he will move to a big boy bed in the same room as Kolbe.  he still nurses to sleep.
• he recently moved from his high chair to the big table (we had to put another leaf in).  after about a week of this we have decided that a booster seat at meals/snacks is a must. 
• I will come in and add his weight and height when I've taken him in for a well-child visit here soon.  I am guessing he ways around 23-24 pounds.
• he wears size 2T clothing
• he poops on the toilet exclusively and has started showing some interest in potty.  not enough for me to want do any intentional potty-learning with him, but I will continue to encourage.
• he is much less scary on the stairs than he was just a few months ago. I have actually started letting him go down un-accompanied.  But apparently going down head up on his belly is for the birds.  He likes to hold the rail and step down (like a big kid, go figure) or go down on his bottom.
• he has started showing more interest in the television the past four or so months, and will sit down and watch a show with the big kids.  he often holds one of his feet while he is watching tv.
• when I get the camera out he yells, "CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESE"
• he is still nursing during the night, some nights only twice, but a lot of nights many more times, for quite long periods sometimes.  it is getting frustrating and uncomfortable for me, and disturbing my sleep (and his) more than I think is necessary at the age of two, so I have decided to night-wean.  we are going to go cold-turkey.  I anticipate several rough nights, but I think if I am empathetic yet firm (vs. being wishy-washy about it and sending him mixed messages) we will make this transition and both come out happier and well-adjusted on the other side.  wish us luck on this journey.  I'll continue to let him nurse at naptime and bedtime as long as he asks, but I may transition him out of that as well when he moves to the big-kid room
• he occasionally skips his nap.  when he does nap it is only for 45 or so minutes.  he goes to bed between 7:30-8pm and gets up between 6:30-7am (typically)

climbing UP the slide at the park

with his backpack, just like the big kids

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR CLEMENT!  WE LOVE YOU!!!

Food-for-Thought round-up (2nd edition)

A Pox on the CDC's Vaccination Agenda - This was an interesting read I stumbled upon after just going through a round of chicken pox at our house.  I would definitely lean towards thinking the chicken pox vaccine is doing more harm than good, for various ethical and safety reasons.  A few things of interest from the article: (quoting)

Indeed, since the introduction of universal chickenpox vaccination in the US in 1995, the vaccine has been found to have only limited effectiveness,[2] with 1 in 5 children receiving the original vaccine experiencing “breakthrough” infections.”[3] This is why, at present, children on the CDC’s immunization schedule receive two doses. But increasing the number of doses isn’t working either.  For example, in 2006, a chickenpox outbreak occurred in a population of Arkansas schoolchildren with 97% immunization compliance. When the researchers looked at the difference in outbreak cases between one-dose and two-dose children, none could be found.[4] (the footnotes can be found at the end of the article if you click on the link)

and

Chicken pox vaccine is also grown with living cells from aborted fetal tissue. Known as “diploid” vaccines, they carry their own set of biological and obviously moral risks.  As far as the precautionary principle stands, injecting virus-infected human cells, alongside powerful immunotoxic adjuvants, into the bodies of healthy children in order to ‘protect’ them from a benign, immune-strengthening bout of chickenpox, sounds like the very definition of insanity. But as it stands today, millions of parents and their pediatricians consider this not only sound practice, but necessary to prevent infecting others.

Oftentimes people examining the effectiveness or necessity of compulsory vaccination fail to mention the aborted-fetal link, so I was impressed that this article touched on that.  For more info on aborted-fetal vaccines and their dangers, take a look at this video or more info here.

Homemade Watercolors - We go through a lot of watercolors around here, so I'm intrigued.  Definitely debating about trying these.

How Same-Sex Marriage Won - I like how this tied same-sex marriage to the wide-spread acceptance of contraception.  As my husband said, contraception really paved the way to many of the "evils" we see in today's society.

Is Cursive Writing Dead? - I can (sort of) see both sides of this one, but I definitely fall into the camp that leans toward thinking cursive is still very necessary.  I mean,on a very basic level, how does one sign one's name if one cannot write cursive?  Am I missing something here??  I think cursive teaches attention to detail, it teaches kids to slow down and take pride in their work.  I think it can be an art in and of itself.  I remember my grandma's cursive always perfectly slanted and beautifully written with those flare pens she was never without.  Maybe I'm just an old sentimental fuddy-duddy, but do away with cursive?  Methinks not.  If cursive is not taught to my children in school, I intend to teach it to them at home. 

Lactivism, aka I'll teach YOU how to feel about nursing - I really liked this. Three kids in, I feel like I've really come full-circle with the whole 'nursing' thing.  I've never used formula (and my younger two have actually never had a bottle), but with my oldest I would pump at home and then bottle-feed her in public.  I feel silly about this now, but that's where I was.  With my second, in looking back I am probably a little guilty of some of that in-your-face "lactivism" that I've definitely witnessed, namely in perusing threads and strong opinions on Facebook.  I feel like I've reached a happy medium with my third, and will probably be in the same place I am now with any subsequent children.  I keep an "all purpose" light-weight blanket in my diaper bag that I use as a blanket/changing pad/nursing cover/burp cloth, etc. etc.  If I am out in public and in close quarters (namely the pew at Church comes to mind) I will toss this blanket over my shoulder when I  nurse.  Otherwise, if I am at a park or in a large gathering where there's lots of space, I typically just nurse.  That said, I will add that I am rather small-chested and I always wear a tank under my shirt that I can pull down the neckline of so there just isn't a whole lot of anything being shown.  If I were somewhere and didn't have my magical blanket and my baby (who nurses on demand) needed/wanted to nurse, I am confident of my ability to discreetly nurse him in a "non-in-your-face way" without offending anyone. Or rather, if anyone chooses to be offended I am of the mindset that this is their problem.  And I say that with all due respect.  Like I said, I've really come full-circle.  I feel very strongly about the importance of breast-feeding...from nutrition to bonding and everything in-between.  But it's not my job to convince the general public of this by being obnoxious. 

And along the lines of breastfeeding, I didn't read the whole thing but The Risk of Not Breastfeeding was an interesting and unbiased paper.

Here's one that really doesn't need any commentary...Blessed John Paul II to be Canonized!!!! 

And another one from Catholic AP.  Finding God in our Parenting Weakness.  I liked this quote a lot: 

I am not called to create perfect experiences for my children.  I am not called to create a perfectly tidy house for my children.  I am called to lead my children to heaven, even when it’s messy, inconvenient, and downright infuriating.  

In the recipe category...we don't have (or have room for) a dehydrator, but I think I may try these homemade fruit roll-ups in our oven.  I remember loving my mom's homemade fruit roll-ups, and I couldn't agree more with the author's sentiments on the store bought ones.

For more Food-for-Thought visit Simplemama.

A Charlie Brown Christmas

Gemma got this Charlie Brown Christmas book as an Advent gift from her grandparents. She has really enjoyed it the past few weeks. It is one of the nicer "push the button interactive" books I've seen (and the only one we own). Anyways, when I saw that A Charlie Brown Christmas was going to be on TV I decided to DVR it so we could show Gemma. She enjoyed it, as you can see. I was nursing Kolbe to sleep while we watched and Gemma decided to snuggle right in. Sweetness.

Our babies

This is a picture of Gemma and I nursing our babies. I was really excited that Aaron was around to capture this in a photo, because she has been doing this a lot lately, especially when I'm feeding Kolbe, and I think it's really sweet. Here are some I was able to snap the other day.
And here is a pic of both my babies in their coordinating Bummis Super-Brite diaper covers.
I am really excited...pathetically excited even, about Gemma's diaper situation. She had been wearing these contours, which I liked for the most part, but they were just getting too small for her. I recently had to purchase bigger covers (which I hated to do so close to potty-training) because of the leak issues we were having, but then realized it wasn't only the covers that were too small, but the diapers too. Well, I was debating my options, when I remembered the stash of red-edge prefolds I had ordered for the purpose of burp-cloths and for Kolbe's future use. And, lo and behold, they fit her!!! Definitely on the small side, but they work sooooooo much better than the contours. And I'm really happy that I hopefully won't need to buy a bigger size, as she is getting very close to being potty-trained. She has been pooping in the potty for months now (how she figured that one out at such a young age is still beyond me!), but the whole potty thing has just been lost on her. Completely. Here recently though she's been using the potty in the evenings before our shower, and even sometimes in the mornings (especially the days that she wakes up DRY, which blows my mind). I'm not going to push her, but I will continue to encourage, as I really do think we're getting close!!! I recently purchased this book for her, and she seems to think it's pretty cool. I think if I left her naked from the waist down she'd have it in a snap, just not entirely positive about that approach. It's just that she seems to know she has to go and runs to sit on the potty when she's not wearing any diaper/pants/whatever, but when she's in a dipe or even training pants, she tells me that she goes as she's going or after she goes. We're definitely making progress though, diapers and all, and I'm good with that. She needs to do it on her time, and not be forced. And while I'm on the subject...does anyone know of any training pants out there that are thicker (more like the thickness of a diaper) but can be pulled up and down rather than fastened on as a diaper. I just really hate to try pull-ups, because I think that might set us back. But it would be oh so much easier to just be able to pull pants up and down, especially when she wants to try to go 5 times in 30 minutes. Let me know!!! Wow, I really am a mom. I just blogged a very long paragraph about potty. Wow. I think I'll quit now. TTFN!