1. This week promises to probably be the shortest Three Thought Thursday yet. I don't have much to say. In fact, I feel kind of silly writing at all. Like what do my basically irrelevant thoughts matter when there are much more important things going on in peoples' lives. I guess I'm sort of feeling that way today because two friends of mine are both going through hugely difficult things that make my world of fussing and pouting babies seem pretty trivial. I'm constantly reminded of how blessed Mark and I are. Really, truly, blessed. For everything- literally everything- we have.
2. Speaking of blessings, it seems like every time I write, it's about the firecracker in our family, Kolbe. Reagan rarely makes the headlines unless it's to discuss his lovely skin outbreaks. But let it be known that Reagan is precious, amazing, and just so stinkin' cute. It blows my mind that he is nearly the age now that Kolbe was when Reagan was born. Yep. He'll be fifteen months in a few weeks. He still seems like such a baby but is developing a little personality of his own. Still not much talking. Lots of grunting and growling and he's even starting to use more signing. For the longest time he'd just stare at me and smile when I'd sign to him. Like Wow, Mom! You're weird! ...Entertaining, but weird! I guess he finally put two and two together. He cut two bottom teeth this weekend and they've been giving him a heck of a time. He woke up crying in the middle of the night around 2am two nights ago and I snuck in there and sat on the edge of Kolbe's bed and just held little Ru for a good half hour. He's so big now. But I still love cuddling my baby.
3. We finally put some top soil and mulch down in our front garden yesterday. Seriously, I've owned this house for almost six year now and we're just getting around to putting down some soil and mulch. Pretty sad, huh? Not because we didn't want to, it's just that landscaping stuff is so expensive! Sheesh! But once again, I'm terrified that we're going to have to sell our house on the spur of the moment and I don't want to have to do all these things all at once. Throwing out some mulch and potted plants is far less costly than actually landscaping the whole thing. Kind of like a fake Louis Vuitton purse. Gets the point across that you're trying to be stylish and trendy, but without the ridiculous cost. And no, I don't have one of those. I wouldn't be kidding anyone. You all know I'm broke.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Three Thought Thursday: Episode 16
1. Time to take a visit to the mommyhood confessional. Up until this week my nearly two-and-a-half year old has been using a passie while sleeping. I know. I'm cringing too. The thing is, Kolbe didn't even learn how to suck until after his palate surgery when he was one. For bottles and his beloved passie, he always just chewed on the nipple. So when he moved from his bottle to his sippie cup, we let him keep the passie but only at night or during his nap. It was such a comfort item to him that we felt bad trying to get him to learn all these new skills while taking away something so constant to him. But another year or so has passed and the obsession with passie has just continued on and on. Passie is not supposed to leave his bed but as of late it has been emerging all the time. Any time he doesn't get his way. Any time he gets hurt. Any time he's bored. I'm all about allowing Kolbe to have things that comfort him. Heck, I could never imagine taking away blankie from him. But passie had turned in to this crazy game of I'm-not-supposed-to-so-I-want-to-even-more. With the birth of my first nephew a few weeks ago, I came up with the idea to give Kolbe the "opportunity" to send baby Jackson his passies. He totally agreed to this exciting idea and was completely cool with it. Until bed time, of course. He knew where they were but was having such a hard time accepting it! The conversations went a little something like this:
Kolbe: Mama, Mama.
Me: What, Kolbe?Kolbe: Idunno.
Me: Ok.
Kolbe: Mama, Mama.
Me: Yes, Kolbe?Kolbe: Help me.
Me: Help you do what?
Kolbe: Idunno.
He just wasn't sure what to do without passie. I lay with him and we cuddled close and he was asleep within minutes. Same with naptime. He's done better and better and his worries about passie being gone have seemed to subside. Plus, he just beams when we sing his praises for being so generous to his new cousin. We make sure to tell everyone we know so that they can tell him they're proud too! Mark and I took him to bed last night and we all cuddled. After quickly falling asleep, Mark said, "Gosh, he's not a baby anymore." I think he might be right.
2. Things have been a little harried in our neck of the woods lately. Especially with Kolbe, as always. He is an absolute dream with babies but the whole brother-who-steals-my-thunder thing has not been vibing well with him lately. And I hate it. 'Cause it feels like I'm always on to him. And I don't want our relationship to be that way. A few nights ago, Mark decided to hit the sack a little early and I found myself not tired enough to sleep. So I picked up a parenting book I had started once upon a time and it was like God was throwing me a lifeline. I immersed myself in thirty pages or so and came across things like:
-"Stopping bad behavior is parenting at its most basic and least rewarding." (Amen.)
-"It is nine billion times more important to teach a child what to do in the first place than it is to teach them what to stop doing."
-"Effective discipline...seeks to command obedience by strengthening relationship."
-"Parents must constantly fight the temptation to practice what we call "Ex Post Facto Parenting." This is a parent's temptation to leave our children to their own devices until there is a problem, at which point we go in to crisis/punishment mode trying to solve a now-intractable problem that could have been prevented had we only been paying attention in the first place."
A lot of ideas I came across while reading were things I think I've been subconsciously aware of all along, just too "busy" to connect with. Reading it all typed out on paper made so much sense. And while it's easy to want to slap my own wrist and say Come on, self. Look how you've messed up already! The truth is, I have two children who are fifteen months apart. I'm the first to admit that for a good chunk of time there, I was in total survival mode. And poor Kolbe never had the opportunity to learn the right way to do certain things. Like interact appropriately with someone fifteen months younger than him. Someone he has to share everything with. Someone who gets some of mom's attention some of the time. Now that the insanity level has dropped a bit, it's time for me to set aside the "me" stuff (you know, the stuff that's already been put aside for the past few years...) and focus on helping Kolbe understand the way this world works. We had a fabulous day together yesterday. And I'm hoping, praying, and working for the best for today. (by the way, all the quotes are from Parenting With Grace: A Catholic Parent's Guide to Raising Almost Perfect Kids)
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Three Thought Thursday: Episode 15
This hasn't been a good week in Mommyland, so sorry if this post comes across as a giant complaint!
1. We'll start with something slightly on the good/cool side. Kolbe is becoming more and more autonomous. Little things that used to require Mama's help are now simple for him to do on his own. In fact, he has just recently started going to the bathroom without even telling me. He'll disappear and I'll go to track him down. Upon arriving at the bathroom door, I call out, "Kolbe?" "Me's going poops, Mama." Too funny.
This morning's happenings went a little like this:
Me: Let's get dressed so we can go eat breakfast, Kolbe.
Kolbe: Eats. Yogurts. for Breakfast? Mama? (yes, he does pause between each word...)
Me: Yes, we can eat some yogurt for breakfast. Do you want to get dressed first or Reagan?
Kolbe: Me. Den Rudy.
(I dress Kolbe, put him down and move on to Reagan. Kolbe disappears. Kolbe returns to the room by the time Reagan is dressed.)
Me: Ok, let's go eat, guys.
Kolbe: Mama. Me. Rudy. Eats. Yogurt!
Upon arriving in the kitchen, I'm astonished to find two cartons of yogurt set out on the table. One at Reagan's seat and one at Kolbe's. And each had a spoon beside it! Sheesh. My little guy is growing up before my eyes! A tiny little part of me did make a mental note: Self, you do realize that now that he is starting to do lots of tasks for himself, he's going to be getting in to more and more that may not run as smoothly as this episode. And then another part of me is saying: Self, this guy can get his own breakfast! Convince him that he shouldn't come in and wake you up until he's done with breakfast! Heck, what else can you train him to do on his own!?! Ha ha! I'm proud of my little guy!
2. On to the not so pleasant topics:
My poor little Reagan has developed an icky case of nummular eczema. I'm not exactly sure what makes it "nummular"...that's just what Mark calls it. Something to do with the little circles it makes all over his legs, arms, back.... He's had this eczema for a long time. It's just really gotten worse in the past few months. I'm not sure if it's due to us being outside in the dry, Lubbock weather a lot more than in the winter or what. And it doesn't seem to itch. He's never scratching it. It just looks horribly painful and has moved from just his legs to pretty much his whole body except his face. Eczema runs in Mark's family so we aren't surprised that he has it, and his pediatrician has basically said that we've just got to do the basics to treat it. There's no real way to get rid of it. I don't want him to be stuck inside all summer. He loves to play outside! We've tried everything: hydrocortisone (1/2% and 1%), Cetaphil, udder cream, Pond's dry skin cream, Vaseline, A&D ointment, colloidal oatmeal baths. The list goes on and on. This is the point where I wish I had one of those blogs that like a thousand people read so I could request advice and get tons of feedback with all kinds of ideas I haven't thought of. But maybe, just maybe, one or more of my four and half readers might have a tip or two for treating really, really dry skin. Have you had any luck with anything else? I'm desperate for my poor little guy!
3. So like I mentioned at the beginning of this post, this has not been a good week thus far. Things have been super tough in the discipline department. Monday was a nightmare filled with Kolbe attacking Reagan left and right. The jealousy issue has gotten huge with Kolbe! If Reagan has a toy, Kolbe wants it. If Reagan sits on a chair, Kolbe knocks him off. If Reagan has my attention, Kolbe throws a fit to steal it. So after a rough Monday, I decided that I was going to give Kolbe every bit of attention he needed. So I could cut him off before he started his attacks. Tuesday actually went well. I got absolutely nothing done in the house and was completely exhausted by the end of the day, but Kolbe was so much better than he was on Monday. I stuck to his side the entire day. Literally. Other than nap and when we were in the car, he was at my side the whole day. (even when I went to the restroom!) I was able to redirect him before things went wrong and it seemed to be working well. So I thought I'd stick with the plan yesterday too. And I think it backfired a bit. Kolbe quickly caught on to the fact that he was getting a lot of attention and decided that he should revert to acting like a baby. Yesterday morning was total fussy/whiney overload. He somehow confused getting a lot of attention to correct his behavior with getting a lot of attention so he could always have his way. Things were going better after he woke up from nap yesterday afternoon and then this happened:
II. Casualties
III. Benefits
IV. Aftermath
1. We'll start with something slightly on the good/cool side. Kolbe is becoming more and more autonomous. Little things that used to require Mama's help are now simple for him to do on his own. In fact, he has just recently started going to the bathroom without even telling me. He'll disappear and I'll go to track him down. Upon arriving at the bathroom door, I call out, "Kolbe?" "Me's going poops, Mama." Too funny.
This morning's happenings went a little like this:
Me: Let's get dressed so we can go eat breakfast, Kolbe.
Kolbe: Eats. Yogurts. for Breakfast? Mama? (yes, he does pause between each word...)
Me: Yes, we can eat some yogurt for breakfast. Do you want to get dressed first or Reagan?
Kolbe: Me. Den Rudy.
(I dress Kolbe, put him down and move on to Reagan. Kolbe disappears. Kolbe returns to the room by the time Reagan is dressed.)
Me: Ok, let's go eat, guys.
Kolbe: Mama. Me. Rudy. Eats. Yogurt!
Upon arriving in the kitchen, I'm astonished to find two cartons of yogurt set out on the table. One at Reagan's seat and one at Kolbe's. And each had a spoon beside it! Sheesh. My little guy is growing up before my eyes! A tiny little part of me did make a mental note: Self, you do realize that now that he is starting to do lots of tasks for himself, he's going to be getting in to more and more that may not run as smoothly as this episode. And then another part of me is saying: Self, this guy can get his own breakfast! Convince him that he shouldn't come in and wake you up until he's done with breakfast! Heck, what else can you train him to do on his own!?! Ha ha! I'm proud of my little guy!
2. On to the not so pleasant topics:
My poor little Reagan has developed an icky case of nummular eczema. I'm not exactly sure what makes it "nummular"...that's just what Mark calls it. Something to do with the little circles it makes all over his legs, arms, back.... He's had this eczema for a long time. It's just really gotten worse in the past few months. I'm not sure if it's due to us being outside in the dry, Lubbock weather a lot more than in the winter or what. And it doesn't seem to itch. He's never scratching it. It just looks horribly painful and has moved from just his legs to pretty much his whole body except his face. Eczema runs in Mark's family so we aren't surprised that he has it, and his pediatrician has basically said that we've just got to do the basics to treat it. There's no real way to get rid of it. I don't want him to be stuck inside all summer. He loves to play outside! We've tried everything: hydrocortisone (1/2% and 1%), Cetaphil, udder cream, Pond's dry skin cream, Vaseline, A&D ointment, colloidal oatmeal baths. The list goes on and on. This is the point where I wish I had one of those blogs that like a thousand people read so I could request advice and get tons of feedback with all kinds of ideas I haven't thought of. But maybe, just maybe, one or more of my four and half readers might have a tip or two for treating really, really dry skin. Have you had any luck with anything else? I'm desperate for my poor little guy!
3. So like I mentioned at the beginning of this post, this has not been a good week thus far. Things have been super tough in the discipline department. Monday was a nightmare filled with Kolbe attacking Reagan left and right. The jealousy issue has gotten huge with Kolbe! If Reagan has a toy, Kolbe wants it. If Reagan sits on a chair, Kolbe knocks him off. If Reagan has my attention, Kolbe throws a fit to steal it. So after a rough Monday, I decided that I was going to give Kolbe every bit of attention he needed. So I could cut him off before he started his attacks. Tuesday actually went well. I got absolutely nothing done in the house and was completely exhausted by the end of the day, but Kolbe was so much better than he was on Monday. I stuck to his side the entire day. Literally. Other than nap and when we were in the car, he was at my side the whole day. (even when I went to the restroom!) I was able to redirect him before things went wrong and it seemed to be working well. So I thought I'd stick with the plan yesterday too. And I think it backfired a bit. Kolbe quickly caught on to the fact that he was getting a lot of attention and decided that he should revert to acting like a baby. Yesterday morning was total fussy/whiney overload. He somehow confused getting a lot of attention to correct his behavior with getting a lot of attention so he could always have his way. Things were going better after he woke up from nap yesterday afternoon and then this happened:
Yep, that's the inside of my dryer. Around 4pm, right before I was about to start making dinner, the buzzer rang on the dryer. Upon opening the dryer, I was greeted by this lovely site. And everything in the dryer looked exactly like the walls. Virtually a total loss thanks to an ink pen left in Mark's dress pants. Here's an outline to express my sentiments toward this event: (unfortunately not in proper outline format 'cause I can't figure out how to make it line up in right in blogger...)
I. Event: Pen explodes in Asmussen Dryer
II. Casualties
A. my favorite pair of khakis
B. two brand new shirts of the boys'
1. brand new: I just cut the tags off before placing them in the wash
C. a baby gift that I spent the entire nap time making for a friend
2. said baby gift was the purpose of the load of laundry. The only reason I did the load was because I needed to wash the gift. The other items were thrown in just to make a full load.
D. Several other items: a cute purple hoodie of mine, a baby blue cardigan...
III. Benefits
A. Could there possibly be a benefit to this event?
B. Yes. Shopping for a new favorite pair of khakis.
IV. Aftermath
A. Spent 30 minutes scrubbing out the dryer
B. Attempted to re-wash the ink splattered clothing by adding detergent, OxyClean, and color safe bleach
1. while this did work for a few spots, none of the items returned to their former glory. The majority of them had 50+ spots.
C. Since this all took place during the time I'd normally be making dinner, dinner never got made.
D. Packed boys in the car and headed to McDonalds- This was an event only french fries could remedy
E. Dear Husband brought home roses. Possibly trying to brighten my day. Possibly trying to save his life.
Why do the most ridiculous things happen on the toughest days? Dear Lord....mercy!!!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Three Thought Thursday: Episode 14
1. Another Lenten season has come to an end. I wish I could say this Lent was a little more sacrificial for me, but I'd be lying if I did. Instead of giving up something major this year, I decided to focus on a few specific goals instead, namely losing ten pounds and getting from 10mg of prednisone per day to 5mg per day. Mark told me from the beginning that losing ten pounds in six weeks was a little bit too lofty of a goal considering I only had ten pounds to lose and didn't plan to pick up a rigorous exercise routine or diet. I guess he was right. I lost six of the ten pounds. But I'm not disappointed. That's still about a pound a week! And I definitely feel better about myself. Honestly, that was the goal: to focus on taking better care of the body that God gave me. So much focus has been on being a mommy that I had given up on myself to an extent. For people who see me regularly, I doubt the change is noticable. But my brother Pat, who last saw me at Christmas-time, was in town this past weekend and said, "Hey Dog! You look like you circa 2004!" Compliment? I'll take it. As for the prednisone goal, I'm proud to say that it is in the bag! I've officially been on just 5mg of prednisone for two weeks now. I had to gradually work down and spend a while on 7.5mg before making the final move. But so far I have been happy to see no flares since moving to 5 and that includes making it through another visit from Aunt Flo, where I was anticipating a flare to pop up. Yea! Praise God! Overall, while not extremely sacrificial, this Lenten season has done wonders for how I feel physically and how I feel about myself mentally. Which I'd like to think is how God would want it. And the best little Lenten gift of all was the birth of my very first nephew (I'm finally an aunt!), Jackson Patrick, to my brother Mike and his amazing wife, Casey. I'm so excited!
2. I got this little funny in the mail this week from my mom:
3. A few weeks back I wrote about trying out new non-meat recipes for Lend this year instead of relying on take-out fried fish. I'm happy to announce that we didn't get take-out at all during Lent this year! Instead, we tried a variety of yummy new recipes and ate at our friends' house a few times. My favorites that I attempted were Lamu-style Mahi Mahi and Eggplant Parmesan. The fish was phenomenal. We actually had it twice--first filleted and then shredded up for fish tacos. And it's super easy to make, to boot! Since we don't have the best fresh fish around here, I used frozen fillets and it was still delish. The eggplant parmesan was quite the process to make but was so worth it. Definitely not as healthy as the fish but a very yummy comfort food style meal! I'll definitely be adding both to my year-round recipe collection!
2. I got this little funny in the mail this week from my mom:
Toally brightened my day! Especially the little note from my mom at the bottom.
I can honestly say I am ALL of these things, usually on a daily basis. I considered omitting "veterinarian" since we're not currently owners of a quadraped, but after seeing my boys at Uncle Andy and Aunt Abby's house this past week, I better keep it on there...
3. A few weeks back I wrote about trying out new non-meat recipes for Lend this year instead of relying on take-out fried fish. I'm happy to announce that we didn't get take-out at all during Lent this year! Instead, we tried a variety of yummy new recipes and ate at our friends' house a few times. My favorites that I attempted were Lamu-style Mahi Mahi and Eggplant Parmesan. The fish was phenomenal. We actually had it twice--first filleted and then shredded up for fish tacos. And it's super easy to make, to boot! Since we don't have the best fresh fish around here, I used frozen fillets and it was still delish. The eggplant parmesan was quite the process to make but was so worth it. Definitely not as healthy as the fish but a very yummy comfort food style meal! I'll definitely be adding both to my year-round recipe collection!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Three Thought Thursday: Episode 13
1. I think spring is finally arriving here in Lubbock! (The boys have loved getting to wear shorts!) I've never been much of a gardener. Mainly because I can't afford to be one. But I grew up getting to watch my grandmother and mother wiggle their green thumbs in their yards and always hoped that someday I'd be able to have a somewhat respectable garden too. Since Mark and I have absolutely no idea where we'll be living come August (so scary!), we kind of feel like we need to get our yard in decent shape just in case we have to sell the house. So in an effort to save money, I decided to attempt to grow flowers from seeds instead of buying the pre-grown flowers. After a few weeks of watering, some of them are finally sprouting! I'm so excited! I was starting to wonder if it was a lost cause. Lord willing they'll survive the transplant here in a few weeks!
2. Kolbe has started singing. It is seriously one of the cutest things I've ever heard! I decided to sign him up for a little music class that they offer through The City of Lubbock for kids under the age of 5. We started going a few weeks ago and he loves it! While he doesn't sing very loudly in class, he loves to perform his newly learned tunes at home. His favorite is the "Good morning to you" song and I just get so tickled when it gets to the "hello, hello" part and he belts out "heno, heno" with such excitement! It's so precious! I absolutely have to get him recorded so in years to come when he has left the coop, I'll be able to hear that sweet little voice again.
3. As much as I've complained about my kitchen before, I have to say that I'm so grateful for the awesome laundry room that I have. "Rearrange laundry room" has been perched above the top of my weekly to-do list for about four solid weeks. I finally managed to cross it off yesterday. I'm not sure why I was avoiding it so much; it really wasn't that bad. Spending an hour or so in there made me realize how much I love all the storage space. My kitchen has literally spilled over in to there! Since there's no discernible pantry in the kitchen, I've set up a little shelving unit in the laundry room where a good amount of our groceries go. Beyond that, it has pretty much become a catch-all for many other things: laundry stuff (of course), art supplies, coloring books, cleaning supplies, hostess-type stuff...even a few power tools! Maybe one day I'll have a china cabinet or hutch to store extra house wares, but for now, the good ol' laundry room does the trick! It's definitely a highlight of our little casa!
2. Kolbe has started singing. It is seriously one of the cutest things I've ever heard! I decided to sign him up for a little music class that they offer through The City of Lubbock for kids under the age of 5. We started going a few weeks ago and he loves it! While he doesn't sing very loudly in class, he loves to perform his newly learned tunes at home. His favorite is the "Good morning to you" song and I just get so tickled when it gets to the "hello, hello" part and he belts out "heno, heno" with such excitement! It's so precious! I absolutely have to get him recorded so in years to come when he has left the coop, I'll be able to hear that sweet little voice again.
3. As much as I've complained about my kitchen before, I have to say that I'm so grateful for the awesome laundry room that I have. "Rearrange laundry room" has been perched above the top of my weekly to-do list for about four solid weeks. I finally managed to cross it off yesterday. I'm not sure why I was avoiding it so much; it really wasn't that bad. Spending an hour or so in there made me realize how much I love all the storage space. My kitchen has literally spilled over in to there! Since there's no discernible pantry in the kitchen, I've set up a little shelving unit in the laundry room where a good amount of our groceries go. Beyond that, it has pretty much become a catch-all for many other things: laundry stuff (of course), art supplies, coloring books, cleaning supplies, hostess-type stuff...even a few power tools! Maybe one day I'll have a china cabinet or hutch to store extra house wares, but for now, the good ol' laundry room does the trick! It's definitely a highlight of our little casa!
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