7.22.2008
the many uses of hp
on my (gradual) quest to live a more chemical-free lifestyle, i went googling hydrogen peroxide today in an effort to find out if it needs to be diluted or used straight as a common household disinfectant. i'm constantly cleaning off jack's table in the playroom since he leaves cheerio and cracker crumbs all over it, then colors on it, crawls on it, sneezes on it...you get the picture. i don't like the idea of using chemical disinfectants since he eats off it. i bought a spray bottle at lowe's to keep hydrogen peroxide in for these little tasks. i discovered a site that gives tons of uses for hp which i hadn't considered. i like random bits of knowledge, so thought i'd share: snopes.com uses for hydrogen peroxide. i specifically like suggestions #1, #2, and #8.
7.21.2008
to be or wish to be: that is the difference
I took Hawkeye on a walk this morning after Jack went off to daycare, since I figured it would be too hot to do so later in the day. I realize that his time spent at daycare should be time spent writing a dissertation, and yet, here I am. Back from the walk, still not writing a dissertation, but writing a blog posting. Thanks, Steph, for watching Jack so my thoughts and legs can meander a bit sans toddler. Heh.
On my walk, I found myself pondering many of the things about my life that I wish were true, followed by the realities of my life that are. I consider myself a very happy and thankful person. I'm happy with everything I have and am and love. I'm thankful for the privileges I possess, from having the choice to stay home with my children and watch them grow while they are young, to having enough $$ to buy a latte when the urge strikes, as well as an able mind and healthy body to do most things I strive to do. There are few things I would change about my life if given the chance. And I always try to remind myself of that, if not daily, then every so often. I think it's easy to get caught up in the "if only"s and the "once __ happens, everything will be good"s. Many of the challenges I face on a daily basis are so trivial that it's easier for me to keep things in perspective; there will always be more dishes to wash, more laundry to fold, another tantrum to quell, another feeding (diaper, spit up, mess...) to tackle.
With that said, I still ruminate on those things I'd like to change about myself or my life. They are minor in the grand scheme of things, but things to strive for nonetheless. I've never been one for New Year's Resolutions, though I appreciate the opportunity they provide for setting a start date for big changes in one's life. For me, changes have always come slowly and gradually, as I am the kind of personality that needs time to adjust and come into things rather than spontaneously go for it. So I'm using this little personal entry here to get my thoughts out onto...cyberspace, in order to have a list I can SEE. Which, I hope, will help me to come to some conclusions as to what I can change. Or at least what I am interested in working toward. Thinking out loud, I guess. With other people's eyes overseeing.
What I found myself thinking this morning: I wish I were the kind of person who woke up at 6:00AM every morning, feeling refreshed, no matter what time I went to bed. I wish I then took the opportunity to go for a jog while the others in the house slept, taking the dog with me to get him some exercise and one-on-one time. Upon returning from the jog, I wish I would take a shower and get dressed for the day, then make a pot of coffee and have a healthy homemade smoothie for breakfast. I wish that then I actually sat down with the newspaper (or at least the morning television news) and educated myself on current events. Then, and only then, would I feel 100% ready for the children (and husband) to get up and start their day. In reality, I doubt I could accomplish all this in the alloted 45 minutes from waking at 6 and everyone else's waking time of 6:45. But I *wish* it were that way. I've always wanted to be one of those morning people who jumps out of bed and takes advantage of the sunrise to get all sorts of things done, and enjoy some personal downtime. Goddess knows I need down time.
Continuing on with my wishlist, I wish I could truly commit myself to working REALLY HARD for the full 4 hours at daycare (pending Benjamin's cooperation). I wish I would feel a sense of accomplishment after every work day, knowning I have the ability (not just the potential) to really finish this thing. Hey, while we're wishing, I wish the dissertation was already finished and PhD in hand, so I could focus on other wishes. But that's just wishing away. Teehee. I wish I was committed to dissertation work as I am to blog postings.
I wish that instead of considering myself "on the verge" of making a healthy lifestyle change (in terms of exercise and diet), I would just do it. I wish I would make time to exercise every single day, no matter what. I wish I would push myself to make healthier choices with snacks, no matter what. I have the ability, I just don't have the motivation. I wish I would do this so I could finally lose the extra 25 lbs of baby weight (from *both* pregnancies) and snuggle into a comfortable and healthy BMI again, along with a stronger sense of self-esteem (okay, okay, and pants that actually fit).
I wish I would take more time in the evenings away from the television, and outside with a book, instead. I wish I took more time to read for fun, period. Not just parenting magazines, but fiction and non-fiction and newspapers and even books on Puerto Rico.
I wish to cultivate a hobby. I have no hobbies. I'm serious. I don't know how to knit (and attempts at crocheting went horribly wrong), like many friends. I don't have a particular sport I choose to take part in. I don't do art (though I'd love to have the talent to do so). I have a black thumb, so gardening is out. I enjoy cooking, and I do my fair share, but it's usually in the form of "go, go, go!" to get as much done as possible and move onto other things. I love to travel, but, well, you know the answer to that right now. And can travel really be a hobby? Reading could be a hobby. But we've already covered that.
I wish I still volunteered at local animal shelters. I miss that. It was terribly rewarding. Of course, I spent so much time at the IC shelter in the cat room, that I spent a lot less time on my comps. But I digress from wishing.
I'm at the point now where I'm wishing I spent less time wishing and more time doing. So what can I do.... looking at this list, I think it's safe to say that all my wishes are doable given the motivation and commitment needed to accomplish them, but given my current circumstances (two kids under two and a dissertation to finish), they are not doable all at once.
The reality of my mornings is that I wake up when Mike and Jack wake me up at 6:45. I may get a shower in if I'm quick. Otherwise, I only have enough time to get dressed and try to juggle Jack's breakfast, Ben's morning feeding, and packing Jack's bag for daycare. Once he and Mike walk out the door, I try to wash up the breakfast dishes, eat my own breakfast, get Benj snuggled into the wrap, and exercise Hawkeye in whatever form. At this point, it's usually 8:30am. I pick Jack up from daycare at 11:45am (ish). This can be used as good work time, but inevitably some of this time gets spent catching up on email, finishing odd jobs around the house I started the evening before, and putting out small fires created by Benj and Hawkeye. When I finally sit down to work in earnest, it takes awhile to get into the groove. Then I finally do, and get on a definite streak of productivity, and realize that it's 11:30 and I need to get Benj out of the wrap, changed and fed before having to pick Jack up. So I'm usually running late to daycare. Good thing it's only a 5 minute walk. Then it's lunch time, get Jack down for nap time, and usually I try to get back to whatever I'm working on with the diss. Sometimes that works, sometimes not. Jack naps for 2 hours while I try to get diapers washed, an afternoon snack prepared before he gets up hungry, dishes again, prep for dinner done, and Hawkeye exercised (yes, again.) Of course, this entire day is puctuated with countless diaper changes of two children and feedings for Benj. Once Jack gets up, I have an hour to entertain him in the backyard or otherwise until Mike comes home. When Mike gets home at 4:15ish, he takes the boys and I finish getting dinner ready. We eat at 5:15ish, then have a bit of playtime left until Jack starts his bath/bedtime routine at 7pm. I usually start feeding Benj while Mike puts Jack to bed, since at 7pm he starts his "I need to sleep and thus need to nurse constantly" routine. Mike comes downstairs, we watch a Netflix or whatever taped on the DVR that evening, and go to bed. Done. That's my life, pretty much every day. It's happy and fine, but I do love the weekends and Mike's other days off when I can mix it up a bit by actually LEAVING the house to, gasp, go to Target or grocery shopping or whatever else.
I realize none of you care to read the narcissistic details of my daily life. As I said, this entry is more for me than anything else. But writing it out helps me to see where I have room for change and where I need to just accept things as they are.
What probably won't change any time soon:
--I think it's safe to say that volunteering is out for awhile, as it takes a good stretch of time to leave the house and do it. Once Benj is no longer nursing so often, maybe I can fit it in.
--reading the newspaper in the mornings
--learning a new hobby
--becoming a morning person....I could *try* to get up at 6am, and maybe I'd eventually get used to it, but it's darn hard to do so. I can admit that.
What could definitely change:
--I can certainly make better efforts to use all daycare time on diss. work
--I can obviously commit to healthier eating, and maybe even a jog once a day after Mike gets home from work
--I could attempt to read a book in the evenings and take a pass on t.v. (this means about 0% time spent with Mike on weekdays, but I guess we don't talk much during a movie anyway...)
Okay, this is good. For me. To know what I want to do and what I, in reality, will take the time and effort to do. I think this list will be good for me to look back on. Thanks, folks, for allowing me the indulgence of pondering aloud.
On my walk, I found myself pondering many of the things about my life that I wish were true, followed by the realities of my life that are. I consider myself a very happy and thankful person. I'm happy with everything I have and am and love. I'm thankful for the privileges I possess, from having the choice to stay home with my children and watch them grow while they are young, to having enough $$ to buy a latte when the urge strikes, as well as an able mind and healthy body to do most things I strive to do. There are few things I would change about my life if given the chance. And I always try to remind myself of that, if not daily, then every so often. I think it's easy to get caught up in the "if only"s and the "once __ happens, everything will be good"s. Many of the challenges I face on a daily basis are so trivial that it's easier for me to keep things in perspective; there will always be more dishes to wash, more laundry to fold, another tantrum to quell, another feeding (diaper, spit up, mess...) to tackle.
With that said, I still ruminate on those things I'd like to change about myself or my life. They are minor in the grand scheme of things, but things to strive for nonetheless. I've never been one for New Year's Resolutions, though I appreciate the opportunity they provide for setting a start date for big changes in one's life. For me, changes have always come slowly and gradually, as I am the kind of personality that needs time to adjust and come into things rather than spontaneously go for it. So I'm using this little personal entry here to get my thoughts out onto...cyberspace, in order to have a list I can SEE. Which, I hope, will help me to come to some conclusions as to what I can change. Or at least what I am interested in working toward. Thinking out loud, I guess. With other people's eyes overseeing.
What I found myself thinking this morning: I wish I were the kind of person who woke up at 6:00AM every morning, feeling refreshed, no matter what time I went to bed. I wish I then took the opportunity to go for a jog while the others in the house slept, taking the dog with me to get him some exercise and one-on-one time. Upon returning from the jog, I wish I would take a shower and get dressed for the day, then make a pot of coffee and have a healthy homemade smoothie for breakfast. I wish that then I actually sat down with the newspaper (or at least the morning television news) and educated myself on current events. Then, and only then, would I feel 100% ready for the children (and husband) to get up and start their day. In reality, I doubt I could accomplish all this in the alloted 45 minutes from waking at 6 and everyone else's waking time of 6:45. But I *wish* it were that way. I've always wanted to be one of those morning people who jumps out of bed and takes advantage of the sunrise to get all sorts of things done, and enjoy some personal downtime. Goddess knows I need down time.
Continuing on with my wishlist, I wish I could truly commit myself to working REALLY HARD for the full 4 hours at daycare (pending Benjamin's cooperation). I wish I would feel a sense of accomplishment after every work day, knowning I have the ability (not just the potential) to really finish this thing. Hey, while we're wishing, I wish the dissertation was already finished and PhD in hand, so I could focus on other wishes. But that's just wishing away. Teehee. I wish I was committed to dissertation work as I am to blog postings.
I wish that instead of considering myself "on the verge" of making a healthy lifestyle change (in terms of exercise and diet), I would just do it. I wish I would make time to exercise every single day, no matter what. I wish I would push myself to make healthier choices with snacks, no matter what. I have the ability, I just don't have the motivation. I wish I would do this so I could finally lose the extra 25 lbs of baby weight (from *both* pregnancies) and snuggle into a comfortable and healthy BMI again, along with a stronger sense of self-esteem (okay, okay, and pants that actually fit).
I wish I would take more time in the evenings away from the television, and outside with a book, instead. I wish I took more time to read for fun, period. Not just parenting magazines, but fiction and non-fiction and newspapers and even books on Puerto Rico.
I wish to cultivate a hobby. I have no hobbies. I'm serious. I don't know how to knit (and attempts at crocheting went horribly wrong), like many friends. I don't have a particular sport I choose to take part in. I don't do art (though I'd love to have the talent to do so). I have a black thumb, so gardening is out. I enjoy cooking, and I do my fair share, but it's usually in the form of "go, go, go!" to get as much done as possible and move onto other things. I love to travel, but, well, you know the answer to that right now. And can travel really be a hobby? Reading could be a hobby. But we've already covered that.
I wish I still volunteered at local animal shelters. I miss that. It was terribly rewarding. Of course, I spent so much time at the IC shelter in the cat room, that I spent a lot less time on my comps. But I digress from wishing.
I'm at the point now where I'm wishing I spent less time wishing and more time doing. So what can I do.... looking at this list, I think it's safe to say that all my wishes are doable given the motivation and commitment needed to accomplish them, but given my current circumstances (two kids under two and a dissertation to finish), they are not doable all at once.
The reality of my mornings is that I wake up when Mike and Jack wake me up at 6:45. I may get a shower in if I'm quick. Otherwise, I only have enough time to get dressed and try to juggle Jack's breakfast, Ben's morning feeding, and packing Jack's bag for daycare. Once he and Mike walk out the door, I try to wash up the breakfast dishes, eat my own breakfast, get Benj snuggled into the wrap, and exercise Hawkeye in whatever form. At this point, it's usually 8:30am. I pick Jack up from daycare at 11:45am (ish). This can be used as good work time, but inevitably some of this time gets spent catching up on email, finishing odd jobs around the house I started the evening before, and putting out small fires created by Benj and Hawkeye. When I finally sit down to work in earnest, it takes awhile to get into the groove. Then I finally do, and get on a definite streak of productivity, and realize that it's 11:30 and I need to get Benj out of the wrap, changed and fed before having to pick Jack up. So I'm usually running late to daycare. Good thing it's only a 5 minute walk. Then it's lunch time, get Jack down for nap time, and usually I try to get back to whatever I'm working on with the diss. Sometimes that works, sometimes not. Jack naps for 2 hours while I try to get diapers washed, an afternoon snack prepared before he gets up hungry, dishes again, prep for dinner done, and Hawkeye exercised (yes, again.) Of course, this entire day is puctuated with countless diaper changes of two children and feedings for Benj. Once Jack gets up, I have an hour to entertain him in the backyard or otherwise until Mike comes home. When Mike gets home at 4:15ish, he takes the boys and I finish getting dinner ready. We eat at 5:15ish, then have a bit of playtime left until Jack starts his bath/bedtime routine at 7pm. I usually start feeding Benj while Mike puts Jack to bed, since at 7pm he starts his "I need to sleep and thus need to nurse constantly" routine. Mike comes downstairs, we watch a Netflix or whatever taped on the DVR that evening, and go to bed. Done. That's my life, pretty much every day. It's happy and fine, but I do love the weekends and Mike's other days off when I can mix it up a bit by actually LEAVING the house to, gasp, go to Target or grocery shopping or whatever else.
I realize none of you care to read the narcissistic details of my daily life. As I said, this entry is more for me than anything else. But writing it out helps me to see where I have room for change and where I need to just accept things as they are.
What probably won't change any time soon:
--I think it's safe to say that volunteering is out for awhile, as it takes a good stretch of time to leave the house and do it. Once Benj is no longer nursing so often, maybe I can fit it in.
--reading the newspaper in the mornings
--learning a new hobby
--becoming a morning person....I could *try* to get up at 6am, and maybe I'd eventually get used to it, but it's darn hard to do so. I can admit that.
What could definitely change:
--I can certainly make better efforts to use all daycare time on diss. work
--I can obviously commit to healthier eating, and maybe even a jog once a day after Mike gets home from work
--I could attempt to read a book in the evenings and take a pass on t.v. (this means about 0% time spent with Mike on weekdays, but I guess we don't talk much during a movie anyway...)
Okay, this is good. For me. To know what I want to do and what I, in reality, will take the time and effort to do. I think this list will be good for me to look back on. Thanks, folks, for allowing me the indulgence of pondering aloud.
7.20.2008
Weekend check-in
Just checking in for the weekend. It's once again a nice, relaxing one. Friday we got to see some friends from Rochester, MN who were in town for a family gathering. The Davis family stopped by with their two kids, who played with Jack awhile. They are expecting their 3rd and we (well, at least I) will be eagerly watching to see how it goes with 3 children ;)
That evening we went to Court Avenue Brewing Co. downtown, one of our favorite restaurants to go for a nice, casual meal, and had some good beer and food. Now that all IA restaurants/bars are smoke-free as of July 1, it brings brand new horizons to our dining pleasure. It was nice to be able to walk through the bar to get to the restroom and not have to pass through a giant cloud of smoke.
Saturday I did some major Target shopping to get the final gifts I needed for a bridal shower, bachlorette party, and wedding of my close friend from highschool, Alicia. Saturday evening Mike and Jack went to BBQ at the Carlson house, while I took Benj with me to Alicia's combination 30th birthday party/bridal shower/ bachlorette party/ honeymoon preparation party. It was great fun with a tropical theme, and 6 fabulous women to share good drinks and laughs with. Here are a few photos (they even look tropical, as my camera was set to "cloudy" so it cast a warm hue onto every photo I took):
Today my brother and his new girlfriend, Beth, stopped into town and we had lunch at a new sushi spot by the mall. I'm kicking myself for not taking a photo of the maki rolls we ordered--this place is by the far the best with maki presentation of any place I've ever been. Beautiful, colorful, HUGE pottery platters are used for displaying the rolls, and they have so much decor about them you hardly want to eat them. Our favorite is the Amazing Roll, which has mango and avocado and eel and all sorts of other treasures in there. So, so good. My camera was again pretty grainy today (I need to put it back into auto focus, I think), but here are a couple shots of Adam and Jack and his new dearie with the kids:
Benj was very tired out from this weekend of visits and visitors:
That evening we went to Court Avenue Brewing Co. downtown, one of our favorite restaurants to go for a nice, casual meal, and had some good beer and food. Now that all IA restaurants/bars are smoke-free as of July 1, it brings brand new horizons to our dining pleasure. It was nice to be able to walk through the bar to get to the restroom and not have to pass through a giant cloud of smoke.
Saturday I did some major Target shopping to get the final gifts I needed for a bridal shower, bachlorette party, and wedding of my close friend from highschool, Alicia. Saturday evening Mike and Jack went to BBQ at the Carlson house, while I took Benj with me to Alicia's combination 30th birthday party/bridal shower/ bachlorette party/ honeymoon preparation party. It was great fun with a tropical theme, and 6 fabulous women to share good drinks and laughs with. Here are a few photos (they even look tropical, as my camera was set to "cloudy" so it cast a warm hue onto every photo I took):
Today my brother and his new girlfriend, Beth, stopped into town and we had lunch at a new sushi spot by the mall. I'm kicking myself for not taking a photo of the maki rolls we ordered--this place is by the far the best with maki presentation of any place I've ever been. Beautiful, colorful, HUGE pottery platters are used for displaying the rolls, and they have so much decor about them you hardly want to eat them. Our favorite is the Amazing Roll, which has mango and avocado and eel and all sorts of other treasures in there. So, so good. My camera was again pretty grainy today (I need to put it back into auto focus, I think), but here are a couple shots of Adam and Jack and his new dearie with the kids:
Benj was very tired out from this weekend of visits and visitors:
7.16.2008
Trade offs
Some of you know we are in the process of getting rid of our battery-run lawnmower, the Neuton 4.1. This was our first purchase after we chose our house. We were still in NYC, but had already signed the papers on our house here and had 2 months till moving time. We knew we needed a lawnmower, and we knew that lawnmowers are not regulated like vehicles, and thus spew out a lot of emissions and use a lot of gasoline. So we found the Neuton mower, which got great reviews. We bought it, we loved it. Quiet (we can have conversations while mowing), so lightweight, and easy to use. I was the main mower for the first couple years. But the downside is that it's tiny--only a 14' wide blade, and is recommended just for yards no larger than a 1/4 acre. Ours is bigger since it's a corner lot, and one battery couldn't make it through the mowing session. So we bought a 2nd. Even so, the number of passes you have to make to cover the lawn with such a small mower takes long enough to nearly force you into heat exhaustion on 95 degree Iowa summer days. So Mike got annoyed one day and went to Lowe's for a gas mower. Well, actually there was a transition-- a neighbor purchased one of those push-mowers and gave us her old gas mower, which was on the fritz. That got us through about a month of mowing, until it died. (It went quickly on Freecycle, though, so someone out there must think they will be handy enough to fix it.) Neuton has a larger mower now available, but the cost of that plus 2 new batteries would have put us at nearly $600, and we weren't willing to go there just yet. Anyway, Mike bought a gas guzzler.
I feel guilty about this little step backwards in our quest to live more eco-friendly lives. I'm not sure that using the biodegradable trash liners actually is an equal trade-off for pushing around a gas mower every 4-5 days for 6ish months of the year. So in an effort to be more eco-friendly in other areas, we ordered a compost tumbler, and I'm looking for a clothes line to start hanging up diapers and other clothes to dry. I've been wanting to try the clothesline thing for awhile, but it often slips my mind. Thanks to our next door neighbor, who just bought one, I'm motivated to find my own. So that's on the list. I hear that sunlight naturally..sanitizes (is that the word??) diapers and takes the stains out, so hopefully we'll be pleasantly surprised. I'll have to stay on it, though, since we go through diapers like wildfire, and they'll need to dry quick in order to keep Benj's bottom covered. Mike tells me we simply cannot put jeans or jean products on a line as he hates the feel for it, but all else is fair game (even undies? hmmm, that could be interesting).
On the composting front, we already have a homemade bin that we made a couple years ago and set up in the garden. We got a few wooden pallets from Lowe's that they were going to trash and made a 3/4 box shape to put around the pile. Unfortunately, though, we are really bad about going out and turning the pile. We also lack the necessary brown material (carbon sources) like dry leaves and straw, etc., to keep it going well enough. All we add is kitchen scraps, which is too much green (nitrogen) material and larger items like banana peels take too long to compost down. So we are going to have to make some strides to do better, but the tumbler is our first step. No more pitchfork turning, just a few turns of the barrel each day and it does its thing. Hopefully this will eventually enrich our horrible garden soil, which is dry and rocky and far from fertile. Our tomato plants are about a foot high; that's how bad it is. Compounded by my generally black thumb, little grows here at our house. But I'd like to get some gardening stuff in next year for Benjamin's baby food, at least, so the compost will hopefully help with that if I can make it work!! We went with the Organic Compost Tumbler, btw.
Trade offs for Mother Earth. Hmm. Hopefully in the future, when the gas mower dies, we'll be ready to plunge back into battery-mowing. And hopefully by then they'll have a larger more useful model for larger yards. Until then, if anyone is interested in our Neuton 4.1, let me know. It's listed on Craigs list, and I had one interested gal, but so far no definite takers.
I feel guilty about this little step backwards in our quest to live more eco-friendly lives. I'm not sure that using the biodegradable trash liners actually is an equal trade-off for pushing around a gas mower every 4-5 days for 6ish months of the year. So in an effort to be more eco-friendly in other areas, we ordered a compost tumbler, and I'm looking for a clothes line to start hanging up diapers and other clothes to dry. I've been wanting to try the clothesline thing for awhile, but it often slips my mind. Thanks to our next door neighbor, who just bought one, I'm motivated to find my own. So that's on the list. I hear that sunlight naturally..sanitizes (is that the word??) diapers and takes the stains out, so hopefully we'll be pleasantly surprised. I'll have to stay on it, though, since we go through diapers like wildfire, and they'll need to dry quick in order to keep Benj's bottom covered. Mike tells me we simply cannot put jeans or jean products on a line as he hates the feel for it, but all else is fair game (even undies? hmmm, that could be interesting).
On the composting front, we already have a homemade bin that we made a couple years ago and set up in the garden. We got a few wooden pallets from Lowe's that they were going to trash and made a 3/4 box shape to put around the pile. Unfortunately, though, we are really bad about going out and turning the pile. We also lack the necessary brown material (carbon sources) like dry leaves and straw, etc., to keep it going well enough. All we add is kitchen scraps, which is too much green (nitrogen) material and larger items like banana peels take too long to compost down. So we are going to have to make some strides to do better, but the tumbler is our first step. No more pitchfork turning, just a few turns of the barrel each day and it does its thing. Hopefully this will eventually enrich our horrible garden soil, which is dry and rocky and far from fertile. Our tomato plants are about a foot high; that's how bad it is. Compounded by my generally black thumb, little grows here at our house. But I'd like to get some gardening stuff in next year for Benjamin's baby food, at least, so the compost will hopefully help with that if I can make it work!! We went with the Organic Compost Tumbler, btw.
Trade offs for Mother Earth. Hmm. Hopefully in the future, when the gas mower dies, we'll be ready to plunge back into battery-mowing. And hopefully by then they'll have a larger more useful model for larger yards. Until then, if anyone is interested in our Neuton 4.1, let me know. It's listed on Craigs list, and I had one interested gal, but so far no definite takers.
7.15.2008
Daycare blog
Steph put up a blog for the purpose of informing parents of the kids she watches at her new daycare about what their kids are up to during the day. I think it's a great idea. She only has Jack and Lily so far (in addition to her son, Jaxson, of course) so it's a nice little group. The blog is cute, check it out: Little Hawks Daycare.
The greatest thing for me is that it doesn't feel like daycare. It's more like a regular playgroup for Jack (which I pay a small fee to not attend) :) He couldn't love it more. We mention "get your shoes so we can go to Jaxson's house" and all I hear is "Bye mama!" and he's out the door. Sometimes I have to tear him away just to take him home for lunch and naptime. I'm trying to get as much done as I can now while Benj is still small enough to sleep while Jack's away. I imagine that once he's crawling, I'll have a real dilemma. I could consider sending him with Jack to the Little Hawks, but the timing will likely be bad... Steph will have a lot of youngins coming in at the end of the year/beginning of 2009, right around the time I suspect Benjamin will become a handful. Guess we'll take it as it comes! For now, just thought I'd share the cute blog.
The greatest thing for me is that it doesn't feel like daycare. It's more like a regular playgroup for Jack (which I pay a small fee to not attend) :) He couldn't love it more. We mention "get your shoes so we can go to Jaxson's house" and all I hear is "Bye mama!" and he's out the door. Sometimes I have to tear him away just to take him home for lunch and naptime. I'm trying to get as much done as I can now while Benj is still small enough to sleep while Jack's away. I imagine that once he's crawling, I'll have a real dilemma. I could consider sending him with Jack to the Little Hawks, but the timing will likely be bad... Steph will have a lot of youngins coming in at the end of the year/beginning of 2009, right around the time I suspect Benjamin will become a handful. Guess we'll take it as it comes! For now, just thought I'd share the cute blog.
7.13.2008
Weekends are Wonderful
Hi all. We had a fun weekend, enjoying Mike's time off and the beautiful weather. Saturday morning we went up to see Ankeny's Summerfest parade with my parents. It was our 4th parade in 3 weeks, but at 2 hrs., great weather (many people were wearing sweatshirts!), and some interesting floats, it was the best yet. We are completely over the whole candy thing, though, so we went for the watching instead of the sugar high. Having seen so many parades in the last few weeks, I think I've come to the conclusion that it's a shame parades now rarely contain floats (you know, the fun that goes along with having a parade theme, and helping your organization come up with a creative way to dress it up in float form; i.e., eye candy for the parade-goers) and are more like advertising grounds for businesses and local politicians. I'm not opposed to local businesses being in on the act, but I got tired of all the banks, new developments and builders handing out parephenalia to rack up new business. And while Ankeny's parade did have some floats, apparently the art of float-making has gone by the wayside, as they weren't too ritzed up and there weren't too many. Be that as it may, it was a good parade and had more than just fire engines and churches. We got to see tae kwon do clubs break boards, baton twirlers, an actual high school band (my alma mater!), dog walkers, and other fun stuff. Not too many photos to report, but here are a couple:
Later that night we visited some friends at their new home in Ankeny not too far from my parent's house. Peter, Terrilee, Loralei and Owen--we are so happy you have your first house (and dog!) and can't wait to see all the new developments.
Today was spent at home just hanging out. A nice long walk in the morning, some weeding in the garden, mowing, and sandbox play in the afternoon. Good weekend stuff. I can't believe July is half over--where is the summer going??
Benj loves to stand
and look around
and smile
and be adorable
We also discovered he loves to be read to, already. He studies the pictures and kicks and smiles and coos while we read. Maybe he'll be a studious little dude.
Later that night we visited some friends at their new home in Ankeny not too far from my parent's house. Peter, Terrilee, Loralei and Owen--we are so happy you have your first house (and dog!) and can't wait to see all the new developments.
Today was spent at home just hanging out. A nice long walk in the morning, some weeding in the garden, mowing, and sandbox play in the afternoon. Good weekend stuff. I can't believe July is half over--where is the summer going??
Benj loves to stand
and look around
and smile
and be adorable
We also discovered he loves to be read to, already. He studies the pictures and kicks and smiles and coos while we read. Maybe he'll be a studious little dude.
7.06.2008
Hard at Work
This is me, today and most days now that I'm in the midst of earnest work on my dissertation:
Correction; this is me and Benjamin. In fact, there isn't much division between the two of us as individuals. The baby knows the difference between mommy's arms and pretty much every other place on earth. Not even dad's arms are acceptable most days. Ben sleeps next to me all night long, he nurses with me all day and night, he rides in the Moby wrap most moments in between. I've tried laying him down in bouncy seats, pack n' plays, and other places once he's fallen into a deep sleep in order to have a little more freedom of mobility, but he always wakes up after a couple minutes when he realizes he's not being held. He never falls asleep in the stroller or car seat, which makes most outings terribly stressful if we have to drive more than 10 minutes to get there. I haven't yet reached that point of being "touched out," as some mom's call it, and hope I continue to feel fine with it. Yet it's admittedly tiring when all I want to do is give my back a break and go make a late night snack while Mike takes over Ben duty, and seconds after handing him over he awakes and cries and cries. We've tried letting Mike have a chance to calm him, but it never works. Most times he doesn't need to eat, he just wants me. I took a 35 minute trip to Target the other night to try on non-maternity pants, and upon arriving home I could hear Ben screaming from the garage. I took him from Mike and within 30 seconds he was calm and quiet. Fully awake, not hungry, just wanting me. It's nice to be needed, but it sucks for Mike and makes it so I'm never "allowed" to leave the house again (at least not after 7pm, according to my husband...unless I take Benj along. Woohoo, there's a night off.) Jack was never like that so it's a strain for Mike to have any Ben bonding time at all since he just can't keep the kid happy. I'm hoping that this will change as he moves away from the newborn months, since if it doesn't, I'm going to be in SERIOUS need for some time off. For the first time, I'm seriously considering buying a pacifier. Not so much for everyday use, but before our huge road trip to MN in August. There's just no way I can take him out of the car seat enough on that trip to make him happy and still get to our destination, so I'm hoping a pacifier would help him to fall asleep in the absence of mom's arms. I'm just praying he doesn't get too attached so that we don't have to face the art of breaking him of the habit 2 years from now. Any seasoned parents out there have other suggestions for helping him calm down in a car seat?
Correction; this is me and Benjamin. In fact, there isn't much division between the two of us as individuals. The baby knows the difference between mommy's arms and pretty much every other place on earth. Not even dad's arms are acceptable most days. Ben sleeps next to me all night long, he nurses with me all day and night, he rides in the Moby wrap most moments in between. I've tried laying him down in bouncy seats, pack n' plays, and other places once he's fallen into a deep sleep in order to have a little more freedom of mobility, but he always wakes up after a couple minutes when he realizes he's not being held. He never falls asleep in the stroller or car seat, which makes most outings terribly stressful if we have to drive more than 10 minutes to get there. I haven't yet reached that point of being "touched out," as some mom's call it, and hope I continue to feel fine with it. Yet it's admittedly tiring when all I want to do is give my back a break and go make a late night snack while Mike takes over Ben duty, and seconds after handing him over he awakes and cries and cries. We've tried letting Mike have a chance to calm him, but it never works. Most times he doesn't need to eat, he just wants me. I took a 35 minute trip to Target the other night to try on non-maternity pants, and upon arriving home I could hear Ben screaming from the garage. I took him from Mike and within 30 seconds he was calm and quiet. Fully awake, not hungry, just wanting me. It's nice to be needed, but it sucks for Mike and makes it so I'm never "allowed" to leave the house again (at least not after 7pm, according to my husband...unless I take Benj along. Woohoo, there's a night off.) Jack was never like that so it's a strain for Mike to have any Ben bonding time at all since he just can't keep the kid happy. I'm hoping that this will change as he moves away from the newborn months, since if it doesn't, I'm going to be in SERIOUS need for some time off. For the first time, I'm seriously considering buying a pacifier. Not so much for everyday use, but before our huge road trip to MN in August. There's just no way I can take him out of the car seat enough on that trip to make him happy and still get to our destination, so I'm hoping a pacifier would help him to fall asleep in the absence of mom's arms. I'm just praying he doesn't get too attached so that we don't have to face the art of breaking him of the habit 2 years from now. Any seasoned parents out there have other suggestions for helping him calm down in a car seat?
7.05.2008
2 parades, 3 bags of tootsie rolls, 1 giant baby
Happy holiday weekend everyone. Hope you are being merry and all. Thursday was merry for us as we went to the WDM city parade. It can be summed up in this way: fire trucks, politicians, and tootsie rolls.
Then came Friday, the 4th of July. Mike and I aren't exactly the flag-waving type, but I'm a sucker for kids in festive clothing
We spent the day in Osceola with Mike's partents, grandma, aunt and uncle, and brother's family. Good food and company, a parade, a talent show, and carnival rids. And a footlong corndog I shouldn't have ate but enjoyed anyway. The Osceola parade can be summed up like this: tractors, horses, fire trucks, and tootsie rolls.
It was a long, good, beautiful day. We were worn out from the sun and didn't make it to fireworks that night. But the sound of the festivities woke Jack up, so we watched the end of the WDM fireworks show from the comfort of Benjamin's window. The show ended at 9:35pm and we went to bed at 9:45pm. Party Animals.
In other news, Thursday was Ben's 2-month birthday and he celebrated with a trip to the pediatrician. Instead of a percentile for weight, he received an "UP" arrow, indicating that he is indeed off the charts, thus theoretically 100% of other 2-month-old babies are smaller than he. He's now at 15 lbs 6 oz. Well, he was on Thursday. Probably more now. He's half of Jack's current weight. And 95% for height. But only 25% for head circumference. Pinhead? I hope not. I tortured myself for weeks on end leading up to this wellness check, since it would be the beginning of his vaccinations. I read "The Vaccine Book" to educate myself on vaccine controversies, and got concerned over the lack of research on the amount of aluminum in vaccines. I threw around the idea of asking for a spaced out vaccine schedule, but in the end wasn't commited enough to through a fit trying to get it. So I went ahead with vaccinations as scheduled. Pray that he doesn't have long-term aluminum toxicity from brain build-up. Sheesh. As my friend Samantha said, "Add this to the list of things parents have to worry about."
Monday morning I'll be mailing my adviser the first set of pages of my dissertation for her to see what I'm doing. I won't have near the quantity she'd like to see (probably 15-20 pages, but she's hoping for about 50-75) but it's something, I guess. Wish me luck on that!
One final note. If you or anyone you love is considering being in a parade in the future, please, for the love of god, do not throw out tootsie rolls. That is apparently the candy of choice for paraders these days, and I have to say, they just aren't that loved. Opt for, I don't know, rubber balls purchased at the $1 store (wouldn't it be fun watching kids dive after those as they bounce down the street?), or some other type of candy... but just not tootsie rolls. Or god forbid, their horrible cousin, "frooties," fruit-flavored tootsie rolls.
Then came Friday, the 4th of July. Mike and I aren't exactly the flag-waving type, but I'm a sucker for kids in festive clothing
We spent the day in Osceola with Mike's partents, grandma, aunt and uncle, and brother's family. Good food and company, a parade, a talent show, and carnival rids. And a footlong corndog I shouldn't have ate but enjoyed anyway. The Osceola parade can be summed up like this: tractors, horses, fire trucks, and tootsie rolls.
It was a long, good, beautiful day. We were worn out from the sun and didn't make it to fireworks that night. But the sound of the festivities woke Jack up, so we watched the end of the WDM fireworks show from the comfort of Benjamin's window. The show ended at 9:35pm and we went to bed at 9:45pm. Party Animals.
In other news, Thursday was Ben's 2-month birthday and he celebrated with a trip to the pediatrician. Instead of a percentile for weight, he received an "UP" arrow, indicating that he is indeed off the charts, thus theoretically 100% of other 2-month-old babies are smaller than he. He's now at 15 lbs 6 oz. Well, he was on Thursday. Probably more now. He's half of Jack's current weight. And 95% for height. But only 25% for head circumference. Pinhead? I hope not. I tortured myself for weeks on end leading up to this wellness check, since it would be the beginning of his vaccinations. I read "The Vaccine Book" to educate myself on vaccine controversies, and got concerned over the lack of research on the amount of aluminum in vaccines. I threw around the idea of asking for a spaced out vaccine schedule, but in the end wasn't commited enough to through a fit trying to get it. So I went ahead with vaccinations as scheduled. Pray that he doesn't have long-term aluminum toxicity from brain build-up. Sheesh. As my friend Samantha said, "Add this to the list of things parents have to worry about."
Monday morning I'll be mailing my adviser the first set of pages of my dissertation for her to see what I'm doing. I won't have near the quantity she'd like to see (probably 15-20 pages, but she's hoping for about 50-75) but it's something, I guess. Wish me luck on that!
One final note. If you or anyone you love is considering being in a parade in the future, please, for the love of god, do not throw out tootsie rolls. That is apparently the candy of choice for paraders these days, and I have to say, they just aren't that loved. Opt for, I don't know, rubber balls purchased at the $1 store (wouldn't it be fun watching kids dive after those as they bounce down the street?), or some other type of candy... but just not tootsie rolls. Or god forbid, their horrible cousin, "frooties," fruit-flavored tootsie rolls.
7.02.2008
Still Feelin Photo Happy
Regression, anyone?
On our family walk this morning, we stopped at a little manmade lake just 7 minutes walk from our house. The little lake is filled with fish who are apparently quite hungry, and some very friendly (and also hungry) Canadian geese. We brought moldy italian bread, which they apparently thought tasted great.
On our family walk this morning, we stopped at a little manmade lake just 7 minutes walk from our house. The little lake is filled with fish who are apparently quite hungry, and some very friendly (and also hungry) Canadian geese. We brought moldy italian bread, which they apparently thought tasted great.
7.01.2008
Back in business
Our new camera arrived today! So far I'm loving it. Canon, I owe you one. I'm experimenting with a lot of the manual settings, which I have never done before, and am discovering a whole new world beyond the whole "automatic point and shoot" setting. While the boys were sleeping, I played around and Morphine was a very cooperative model.
Auto mode:
Manual mode with tweaked lighting:
What fun. The pets don't get much air time these days, so this was a treat for Morphine ;) If I could take a photo of the camera itself, I would (I'm way too lazy right now to find a mirror or look for a photo online). I happen to think it's the cutest little thing. It's a Canon SD1100 IS Digital Elph, so nice and tiny (slightly larger than my cell phone) and very lightweight. We got "bohemian brown" since pink, blue, gold, and silver all seemed to ugly or too boring. Mike was dead set against brown, but I won. It's a very chic color with burgundy undertones--what could be wrong with that? (Isn't it nice that our lives are so privileged that THESE are the things we concern ourselves with?)
Things here are chugging along. I have 8 pages of the diss. written. Not much, but more than before. I've gotten a lot organized and I at least feel I'm making progress. My adviser (yes, she's still my adviser. She was quite happy when I agreed to stop analyzing and start writing, just for her) is looking for quantity rather than quality right now, which is tough for me. But I'm trying. I do what I can, and I guess that's where I leave it.
I sent Jack's 2nd birthday party invites out today. Seven weeks in advance...there is some dissertation procrastination for you. It's a truck theme and I plan to *attempt* to make a truck-shaped cake. Given my history with cakes, I hold low expectations. I consider myself a fairly proficient, even good, cook. But cakes are not my strong point. Refer to the following photo for the proof (a peanut butter chocolate cake I surprised--and I do mean, surprised--Mike with one day back in May 2006):
Incidentally, I do better with pies...
although I have never figured out how to make two crusts meet and mold together so all the filling doesn't ooze out as it did in these pies. Suggestions? Anywho, back from my tangent. Point is, truck cake may look like a landfill, but I'm going to try. We are going to have a little water activity pool for the kids. Because I'm so camera happy right now, I even took a photo of the box:
We're going to grill again like last year, but at home this time so we have the option of air conditioning if it's super hot again. Should be fun. Can't believe he'll be two in just 7 weeks. Yikes. He's taking after me lately by eating spicy foods. He ate up this mint/currant/couscous salad I made the other day, and loves the Mexican chicken corn chowder we had last night (very spicy). He eats salsa when we are out at Mexican restaurants as much as everyone else at the table. I thank myself for eating all those homegrown jalepenos during pregnancy for the fact that I don't have to cook special, milder foods for him now :)
Benjamin will be 2-months-old in 2 days, and is following in Jack's footsteps at this age by simultaneously losing hair and gaining weight. He's probably over 15 lbs at this point, no joke. Here's a big old chubby smirk for you:
He's normally not quite so lumpy looking, but apparently the angle I chose for that photo beefed up the cheeks a bit. I thought it was cute enough for a post, though.
Off to watch "30 days" on FX (AWESOME show by Morgan Spurlock, "Super-sized" dude.) Expect more posts now that I've got a camera on hand again!
Auto mode:
Manual mode with tweaked lighting:
What fun. The pets don't get much air time these days, so this was a treat for Morphine ;) If I could take a photo of the camera itself, I would (I'm way too lazy right now to find a mirror or look for a photo online). I happen to think it's the cutest little thing. It's a Canon SD1100 IS Digital Elph, so nice and tiny (slightly larger than my cell phone) and very lightweight. We got "bohemian brown" since pink, blue, gold, and silver all seemed to ugly or too boring. Mike was dead set against brown, but I won. It's a very chic color with burgundy undertones--what could be wrong with that? (Isn't it nice that our lives are so privileged that THESE are the things we concern ourselves with?)
Things here are chugging along. I have 8 pages of the diss. written. Not much, but more than before. I've gotten a lot organized and I at least feel I'm making progress. My adviser (yes, she's still my adviser. She was quite happy when I agreed to stop analyzing and start writing, just for her) is looking for quantity rather than quality right now, which is tough for me. But I'm trying. I do what I can, and I guess that's where I leave it.
I sent Jack's 2nd birthday party invites out today. Seven weeks in advance...there is some dissertation procrastination for you. It's a truck theme and I plan to *attempt* to make a truck-shaped cake. Given my history with cakes, I hold low expectations. I consider myself a fairly proficient, even good, cook. But cakes are not my strong point. Refer to the following photo for the proof (a peanut butter chocolate cake I surprised--and I do mean, surprised--Mike with one day back in May 2006):
Incidentally, I do better with pies...
although I have never figured out how to make two crusts meet and mold together so all the filling doesn't ooze out as it did in these pies. Suggestions? Anywho, back from my tangent. Point is, truck cake may look like a landfill, but I'm going to try. We are going to have a little water activity pool for the kids. Because I'm so camera happy right now, I even took a photo of the box:
We're going to grill again like last year, but at home this time so we have the option of air conditioning if it's super hot again. Should be fun. Can't believe he'll be two in just 7 weeks. Yikes. He's taking after me lately by eating spicy foods. He ate up this mint/currant/couscous salad I made the other day, and loves the Mexican chicken corn chowder we had last night (very spicy). He eats salsa when we are out at Mexican restaurants as much as everyone else at the table. I thank myself for eating all those homegrown jalepenos during pregnancy for the fact that I don't have to cook special, milder foods for him now :)
Benjamin will be 2-months-old in 2 days, and is following in Jack's footsteps at this age by simultaneously losing hair and gaining weight. He's probably over 15 lbs at this point, no joke. Here's a big old chubby smirk for you:
He's normally not quite so lumpy looking, but apparently the angle I chose for that photo beefed up the cheeks a bit. I thought it was cute enough for a post, though.
Off to watch "30 days" on FX (AWESOME show by Morgan Spurlock, "Super-sized" dude.) Expect more posts now that I've got a camera on hand again!
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