All over the place

Edward turned 2 months old on Tuesday, which is also when this picture was taken. His concerned look is starting to be less common and he is smiling much more often.

The title to this post is because I have a lot to talk about, but nothing is really related, so it's sort of discombobulated.

For the first time in my married life we had a visit by an ambulance to our house this past week. One of the joys of living in our lovely little trailer is that every once in awhile I get shocked by the stove when working in the kitchen if I'm not careful. On Sunday I was doing some dishes, I had my left hand in the dish water, and at the same time I noticed some pots on the stovetop that were close to the edge. So with my right hand I reached over to push them farther on to the stovetop, and I got a shock. The worst of it was to my left hand that was submerged in the water. I figured I would be fine in a few minutes like usual and kept doing what I was doing. But my hand was feeling weak and tingly and all up my arm was sore. I looked at my hand and watched the blood vessels start to pop out and my skin looked pale but with red splotches. I waited about 5-10 minutes to see if it would fade away and when it didn't I started looking things up on the internet. All I could find information for was more severe cases, or mild shocks like the ones I'd usually get. So I called the consulting nurse and she said as long as I wasn't having any chest pain that I was probably ok. I said that I didn't have pain, but a fluttery feeling in my chest. She told me to get off the phone and call 911. Mike wasn't home so I called my parents first so they could come stay with the kids in case I had to go to the hospital. I was pretty calm the whole time until I called my parents...something about calling your mommy and daddy for help...I started bawling when they answered the phone and I'm sure I freaked them out pretty good because they beat the ambulance! But when I got off the phone with them, I was all calm again! I told the kids that some people were coming to check on me and not to be worried. It was so funny because the whole time they never stopped what they were doing, like nothing was out of the ordinary. The EMTs came, took my blood pressure which was 160 over something (high for me, it's usually around 100 over something), but they thought that I was probably fine and that going to the hospital would be overkill. I opted to stay, and that was it! By the morning my hand was completely normal.

In my last post I was complaining about the snow and worried that it would cause problems for paper route. Well for a snowy route day, it was the very best kind. By the time I got started it wasn't exactly slushy, but wet enough that when I drove through it it just splattered out of the way, but it wasn't slippery. So I took it as an opportunity to carve out a path for myself for Saturday morning in case what remained froze over and became ice. So I'm thankful for that.

I've mentioned before Colette's attention to fashion. She worked really hard on this ensemble. I think that it's basically a combination of a lot of her favorite pieces. You may remember the hat from a previous post.

Last night my friend Sarah helped me with a little project I was assigned by my dad and Mike, to paint the basement walls with sealer. A girl from church was watching my kids because Mike was at work. When I came to pick them up Colette was all over their dog. I was surprised because she and Adrienne have always been afraid of cats and dogs. They said that Colette was scared at first, but then after she was around him a little bit she said "He didn't bite me!" So then she was hugging him, kissing him, laying on him, etc. It was so cute because he was much bigger than her (he's a yellow lab). He seemed like such a sweet dog, so docile and good with kids. Sometimes when the kids were obviously annoying him he'd lift up his paw and half-heartedly swat at them, but he really didn't seem to mind. I would love to have a dog or cat, but as I've mentioned many times before, I'm allergic, and I left their house itching :-/ I carry allergy medicine that I can take without water in my wallet for those occasions when I end up at someone's house not realizing they have a cat or dog.

I thought by now I'd be in the clear for any infections arising from adjusting to nursing a new baby, but not so! I have developed a case of mastitis and am on antibiotics. Because of that I'd been taking it easy today and spaced out on the fact that today was early release. Adrienne came waltzing in the door and I was so surprised! I couldn't figure out why she was home early, and how she got here! Apparently the bus driver had been honking at the bottom of the driveway and my dad who was working on the house outside heard and walked down. He's on the list of people that can pick her up, so he walked her up the driveway. (P.S. to any of Mike's siblings that might read this - Adrienne's bus driver is your former bus driver Char!) Ugh, that's been my worst fear all year, that I'd forget about an early release day. As it is I have to set an alarm on my phone to remind me that it's time to pick her up or I'd space it on a daily basis. I've told a few people - ever since I've had Edward I've felt like one of those plate spinners - just trying to keep everything going all at once. I have to remind myself that it's only been two months now and at this point after having Adrienne I was just starting to come out of the fog!

So, I spent my down-time very productively as you can see below. Somehow I came upon this site. Sort of the same idea as that other one I'd abused recently. You can take a picture of yourself and morph with a celebrity. I found it interesting because I'd been told I looked like different celebrities, so I could see just how closely we matched up. Also I tried some of the people that the same site that did the look-alike meter said I resembled. I was surprised with some of the results because some of the people I thought I would resemble more closely I didn't, and some I resembled that I really didn't expect! I thought I'd put in the top ones that morphed well with the picture of me:

1st, Me and Alicia Silverstone


Me and Jennifer Aniston


And lastly, Me and Ali Landry


You don't even want to know how many more of these I did!

I'm a little bummed because I had an appointment to give blood tomorrow morning, but I don't think that's a good idea now that I'm recently sick. I'll just have to keep trying! I feel obligated to do it as often as I can because I can give to everyone, and also when you answer the questionnaire they give you, you realize how so many people can't give at all because of different circumstances in their life (like travel, sex related, drug related).

The progress on the house is coming along this week. The sheetrockers textured the walls early this week. Mike's spraying on the primer, and soon the paint (we've picked Vanilla Custard for the main color :-) The cabinets have been delivered, the framing in the basement is starting, and the cement in the shop and garage will likely be poured tomorrow! I am so excited to see it painted and cabinets going in! Then I'll be really really excited to see carpet! I don't know when that will be, but I would think in the next few weeks. It's so weird because I've been thinking about moving into the new place, but it hadn't really registered that this place we've called home for 7 1/2 years now is very soon going to be demolished! It's been a love-hate relationship, because it is so small, run-down, ugly, etc. But it's served us well...we bought it right before we were married so we've never had to pay rent, and our whole married life up until now has been here! Well...I'm sure I'll get over it pretty quickly!

Mike's mom came across this picture recently that I thought was so cute and so typical of Mike. Those legs belong to Mike and his friend Keith working on a Corvair. Proof that their love of those cars goes WAY back! Mike is a year older, but the legs that belong to him are the smaller pair ;-)

Here they are all growed up:

Looking at that picture of Mike I can really see how he's lost weight during the construction of the house. His face and tummy are so much thinner!







Okay, well to end this very random post, here's a book recommendation. It's called Rattlebone Rock...This is a book Adrienne checked out at school and it is so fun to read! I HIGHLY recommend getting it, and don't wait until Halloween! It's fun anytime.

Kid's Books

Sometime in May I started reading chapter books to Adrienne on a daily basis during Colette's naptimes (Colette doesn't have the attention span or understanding to be interested in them yet). Adrienne and I have really liked the books, so thought I would list them here:

This was the book (click here) that started us on the series, it's not a chapter book, but if you get into these, you might like it for fun.

We read all of these:
Prilla
Bess
Rani
Fira
Vidia
Beck
Lily
Tink

All eight of the above also come in box sets of four, which makes them a little cheaper. By the time we were done with the books above, we had figured out that the book that sets up the back story for all of them is this one:

Fairy Dust and the Quest For the Egg

It's longer than the others (30 chapters as opposed to the 10 in all the others), but I liked it the best (I actually shed a tear or two, but that may have had something to do with my being pregnant and hormonal) :-)

There are many more books in this series, but the ones I want to get the most aren't available yet, so we've switched to some different books:

When I was a kid in elementary school, two of my favorite authors were Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary. I haven't ready anything by them since I was a kid, and thought it would be fun to revisit them with Adrienne. So we got a box set of some of the Ramona books. So far of that box set we've read "Beezus and Ramona" and we're currently on "Ramona the Brave." And Adrienne is enjoying these just as much as the fairy books. They still get my seal of approval these many years later :-)

A poem by Adrienne

So, my daily post about the girls...I will be getting one up about Colette next, but for now, another one about Adrienne.


She is starting Kindergarten this Fall, so at this point any reading and writing she knows she's learned from the Leapfrog DVDs, or she's taught herself. So, to translate her poem - (line by line)

I B L E V iNF E /I believe in fai-
R E Z E D /ries and
M A J i C E D A /magic and tha-
T S U L U O / t's all of
F M i P O U M / my poem.

I Really Like The...

Evenflo Whisper Connect 900Mhz 2-Way Nursery Monitor

(P.S. - Pre-script - if there is such a thing. There's more in this post than just about the baby monitor, so read on if you're not into baby stuff :-)

Okay, actually I just posted my very first review on Amazon.com about it because I love it that much. This is what I say in my review:

I'm using this monitor so that I can hear what's going on with my 2 1/2 and 5 1/2 year old girls while I'm outside helping to build our house. I was concerned that it wouldn't work well with that much distance, but it's been great, with no static and I can hear everything that's going on. The 2-way feature is really handy to clear up minor disputes and appease kids that want me to come in for things that they can wait for. I'm not sure if the 2-way feature is as necessary with babies. This is what the Amazon.com Hands-On Review says about that: "The two-way walkie-talkie feature allows parents to talk to their fussy children if they can't get to them immediately. Sometimes this connection is all baby needs to get back to sleep!" So we will see about that, because I will be having another baby this fall. We haven't had a need for a baby monitor with the first two because our current place is too small and we can hear everything from any room. But the house that we are in the process of building will be quite large and I will definitely need one for this coming baby, and I believe it will also continue to come in handy with the older children as well. This monitor will surely get a lot of use from this family in the coming years!


......I just started a new label for products like this that I really love. I had one other item I'd mentioned awhile ago...the Leapfrog DVDs. Just so you all know, I love them as much as I love this baby monitor! so check them out if you haven't already (click on the label on this post to get to get to the post about the DVDs).

I shouldn't need to use the monitor all the time while building, because the girls would usually come out and play while I work, but today it was raining. It will also be handy for when the progress with the house gets far enough along that I can't hear them well even when they're outside too (if I'm on the top floor and they're playing in the basement - that will be the designated safe place for them to play in once we get done working down there). Speaking of progress with the house...Last I mentioned it, the foundation had been poured. Since then it was back-filled, we had the basement slab poured, the framing for the necessary support walls in the basement are finished, and the beams and floor joists for the first floor are now in the process of being secured. That's what I did today...nailed the floor joists into the brackets that connected them to the beams. My first actual construction-like job. Up until now I've just helped with clean up. I used to hate doing this stuff when I worked for my parents in the summers (from 12-16 or 17), but it's much more fulfilling when it's for yourself, and also I feel good about doing the menial tasks so that I can free up the time for my dad and Mike to be doing more important things. That two hours spent doing simple nailing (I used a palm-nailer and it was a breeze) is two hours that my dad didn't have to spend doing it! (I asked how long I thought it would take him compared to me, and he said about the same time)

So anyway, I'm really excited about this house stuff, and I'm finally getting to where the regular cleaning - laundry, dishes, and tidying - only take about 15 minutes each a day, because I have been feeling awesome now that I'm in the 2nd trimester, so it's pretty much maintenance with those tasks, rather than "catching-up". That's that part of my life anyway, I have a lot of other miscellaneous things I still need to catch up on before I feel like I've got things together. I need to get a schedule figured out for myself and that will help with that too, because then I can just plan some period of time toward doing those random things. Plus I need to start cooking more. I hadn't been cooking at all because I would get sick, but I feel better now and I can cook eggs, but haven't tried handling raw meat yet.

Still need to look at that draft I've been working on...by now I'll probably cut stuff out because it's all just getting to be such old news.

Boy...I think I just hit the wall as I'm writing this. I've been up since 3:00 a.m. (1:30 p.m. now). Mike is working a 13-hr shift today, so had to leave here at 5:30. Since I had paper route and it takes me about 5-6 hours, I wanted to leave a little earlier so that Mike's dad who kindly agreed to come over here (on short notice - I just asked him last night) wouldn't have to stay too long. So I got up 2 hours earlier and got back from route at 8:00 a.m. It was faster because of going earlier because there was less traffic. But boy did my allergies kick my butt! I kept praying for rain. I took some Zyrtec before I left, but I forgot to do the worst route in the grass department last and did it first! (Stupid, stupid!) So I was sneezing like crazy and went through half a box of tissue and about 10 Ricola by the time I was done! I took a shower as soon as I got home and that helped, and I feel excellent now after working outside for 2 hours in the rain! It wasn't raining too hard, so it actually felt kind of nice. So, like I said, I'm feeling pretty beat all of a sudden. Luckily Colette is due for a nap in a half hour, so I can take a nap then.

Oh...just thought of this. If anyone is interested, I'm going to the Forest Theater with Adrienne next weekend to see "Robin Hood". (Click on above link for more info) It's become a tradition I suppose...I took her to see "Peter Pan" 2 years ago when she was 3 1/2 and she loved it. Then last year I took her to "Anne of Green Gables" at 4 1/2 and worried that wouldn't interest her, but the whole experience of being in the forest for the theater ups the excitement level and she was fine. Last summer I also took her to see Ovation of Bainbridge's "Beauty and the Beast" and she REALLY loved that! I'm sure she'll like Robin Hood. Next year when Colette's 3 1/2 she'll get to join in on the tradition. So...leave a comment if you think you'll be there next weekend (only people I know), and I'll look out for you!

Have a great weekend all!

A MUST GET for Preschoolers!!

Parents of Preschoolers: Get this DVD! It's really really good! After only a few times watching it Adrienne started to teach herself how to read and write.

http://www.amazon.com/Leap-Frog-Letter-Factory/dp/B0000INU6S/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-7832264-8672707?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1175226985&sr=8-1

She liked it so much and saw the ad somewhere for "The Math Circus" and wanted it also. I was so impressed by "The Letter Factory" I had no problem with getting it, and even sprung for this 5-pack of DVDs:

http://www.amazon.com/Leapfrog-Learning-Talking-Factory-Storybook/dp/B000EHQU1W/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/104-7832264-8672707?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1175226985&sr=8-2

We've had the 5-pack a few days and Adrienne has watched and likes the new four ("The Letter Factory" is included in the 5-pack, so a dupliate for us). I know she learned a lot from "The Letter Factory" and I'm waiting to see if she'll learn just as much from these new ones before recommending it. We'll be giving the duplicate video to Adrienne's cousin Kieran for his 4th birthday that's coming up.