Baby Update

I just got home from my OB appointment. It doesn't look like Matthew will be here too soon. I am about a fingertip dilated & more thinned out than last week. But, I wasn't dilated enough for my doctor to strip my membranes. She said it looks like I have a week or so to go. It could be more, but chances are it won't be less. His head is still down, so Matthew is cooperating quite nicely so far!

I am glad that I have a little more time to get ready for his birth. I don't think it's really hit me that in the next 2 weeks I'll have a little baby to care for. I'm really excited to see who this new little boy who's joining our family will be. These last weeks of pregnancy really require a lot of patience - for everyone involved. Tyler has been asking, "Is Matthew coming tomorrow?" He's just dying to help take care of his new baby brother. He keeps asking me if he can rock Matthew to sleep to help me. How cute is that? Hopefully he'll come really soon so that we don't have to keep wondering when he'll get here. I'll keep you all updated.

Have a Happy New Year!

Obedient Boy

Well, I have some happy news. After a couple weeks of telling Matthew to turn over, he finally decided to obey! On Sunday, I suspected that Matthew had turned over, but I wasn't sure. When I went for my check-up yesterday, it was confirmed by ultrasound that Matthew is head down. Hooray! But, since he barely got his head in the right spot, I have not dilated at all yet. That's OK though. Now I know I'm less likely to have a Christmas baby. (Am I guaranteeing myself a Christmas baby by making that statement?) Anyway, I'm just so happy that Matthew is getting set for a regular ole delivery! Thanks for all of your prayers & encouraging words!

Opening Doors

Today Claire learned how to turn a doorknob & open a door. She's finally tall enough to reach! She's so proud of herself & spent a good portion of her day opening and closing doors, just because she can. She was so cute opening doors like a big girl! This is a bummer for me though. Now I can't just shut the door to keep her out of trouble. I guess it's time to put those annoying child-proof doorknob covers back on. She'll be so disappointed when she finds that she can no longer practice her new skill. I'm sure she'll get over it quickly.

Naughty Little Boy

My little Matthew has been a very naughty little boy this week! You might be wondering how a boy who has not yet made his entrance to the world could be naughty. . . well let me tell you. Last Tuesday afternoon, I went for quite a while without feeling him move. So, I called my OB's office & they told me to go into Labor and Delivery. When I got there, his heart-rate was just fine. The nurse did a quick ultrasound & found the reason why I couldn't feel Matthew moving. That naughty little boy has flipped himself over into a lovely breech position, which apparently can make it difficult to feel the baby's movements. Now a C-Section is a highly likely possibility in my near future. I really hope that he flips himself back over so that he can come out the way that nature intended! I really don't want to deal with the recovery from a C-Section. So please pray that my baby will get himself into the correct position for me.

"Lemon Tree"

When Jeff & I bought our house almost 4 years ago (we're 2 weeks shy of 4 years), we were so excited that there were so many fruit trees in our backyard. You really would be surprised that 2 mature grapevines, along with an orange tree, a loquat tree, an apricot tree, a kumquat tree, a guava tree, a banana tree, and a lemon tree could all fit in our tiny backyard. We actually had some bananas grow on the banana tree. We got about 4 oranges off of our orange tree each year, but it got some tree disease & suddenly died this summer. The guava tree has since been replaced by a little avocado tree that needs to grow a bit before it produces any avocados. The loquat tree is slated for replacement by a fruit we might actually eat - possibly an apple tree. We get tons of kumquats and apricots each year. But, the one tree that has been a huge disappointment has been the lemon tree.

Every year we wait for the lemons to ripen, but before they can turn bright yellow, they get blown off of the tree by the Santa Ana winds & we never get to eat them. Well, the other night, Jeff was wanting a lemon to put in his water and we didn't have any of them in the house. For some reason this year quite a few of the blossoms survived to actually grow into lemons & I'd noticed that some of them were a bit yellowish last week. So I suggested that he go check if there were any lemons on the tree that were ripe. Jeff found 2 lemons that had blown off of the tree, one was slightly yellow & the other was still quite green. I told Jeff that there was no way he could eat the green one, but the other one might be OK. He sliced into it & the flesh was still pretty green. He decided to use it anyway. Once he tasted it, he asked me if I was sure that they were lemons. "Of course they're lemons, what else could they be?" I responded. Well, to make a long story short, after we both tasted the lemon & examined the peel, Jeff & I finally discovered why we were never able to pick any ripe lemons from our tree. Lemons do not grow on Lime Trees!!!

It only took us 4 years to realize that we have a lime tree in our yard, not a lemon tree. What a couple of dopes we are. We were able to figure out that we have guavas and loquats, but we were too ditzy to realize the reason our lemons were never yellow! What a bummer! We probably could have picked a few limes & enjoyed them over the past few years. There are a lot of them on the tree right now, I bet I can pick some tomorrow!

We had a good laugh about our "Lemon Tree." No wonder my parents are able to grow way better lemons than we do. They have the right kind of tree. To our defense, the limes always turn slightly yellow before falling off the tree. I guess now I should consider replacing the loquat tree or the dead orange tree with a lemon tree. After all, I have been waiting for 4 years to pick a lemon in my backyard!

Prop 8 Victory

I just saw online that the wonderful California voters passed Prop 8 in the election yesterday. It was a very close race. I think the current #'s are 52% Yes to 48% No. They're still counting votes, so I'm curious to find out what the final vote count turns out to be. Hooray!!! Today is a great day in California! It's just too bad that the No on 8 side is a bunch of sore losers & have already begun to file lawsuits regarding the issue. Oh well - we still WON!!!!

Daylight Savings

The end of Daylight Savings used to be my favorite night of the year. Even up until last night I was ecstatic to get that extra hour of sleep! Last night I curled up in my bed, almost giddy because I would be getting to sleep longer. That joy was cut short when Tyler came into my room bright and early this morning. For some reason, I didn't stop to consider that my kids wouldn't know that they were supposed to sleep an extra hour last night too. I guess last year, Tyler was still sleeping in pretty late & we had earlier church so it didn't make as much of a difference. Anyhow, the annoyance didn't end there.
We go to church at 1:00, which is usually a challenge since that's when my kids take naps. But, to them it was 2:00 - even worse. We went to Everett's blessing (which was the highlight of my day) at 1:00. Both kids were horrible during Sacrament Meeting. They each had to have a turn being carried out. Tyler's antics began when we made him sit on the other side of us because the kids right next to him were eating fish crackers. He threw a major fit because he wanted to sit by them. Poor boy, any other kid could keep sitting there without a second thought, but it wasn't a good idea for Tyler to be so close to "bad cheese." Claire was just plain tired and resorted to being noisy & naughty.
After we left the blessing, we hopped in the car to get back to our ward. (Tyler & I had to practice the Primary Program and Jeff had to teach Elders Quorum.) Both kids fell asleep in the car while driving back to our ward. They are never pleasant when we have to wake them before they're ready, but they did OK for the rest of church.
Once we got home, they were back into their horrible behavior. After dinner, Tyler begged me to make smoothies. So I put some banana, cranberries, grapes, blueberries, soy milk & ice in the blender to please my little guy. He took about 2 sips of his & decided he was done. Claire found a great use for hers. She managed to redecorate the kitchen with it. It ended up all over the wall, floor, her chair, the table, her hair, face, hands & Abby Cadabby outfit. That was a lovely mess to clean up.
Yikes, they were so naughty today!!!! We actually put them to bed almost 2 hours earlier than usual just to have a break from them. They must have been tired, because they both went right to sleep. All I can say is, "This is no longer my favorite day of the year!" Maybe when my kids are older I'll be able to renew those loving feelings toward my extra hour of sleep. For now, I'll just have to accept the fact that the end of Daylight Savings is just as bad as the first night of any vacation we've ever taken!

Where's the Diaper?

I was just in my bathroom putting my make-up on when I heard my door open. Claire came walking around the corner completely nude, carrying her wet diaper. Tyler was not far behind, carrying an empty box of Huggies & said "Mommy there's no more diapers." What a sight! Best I can tell, Tyler was trying to help Claire change her diaper but couldn't find the diapers that I just put into her drawer. I took Claire to her room & got her all diapered up. At least there was no mess on the floor to clean up. Oh these kids are so funny!

One Little Tootsie Pop

Halloween is always a fun holiday for children with food allergies and their parents. (I hope you catch my sarcasm.) Tyler is beginning to understand that he can't eat most of his Trick-or-Treat candy because it has "bad milk" in it - but that doesn't necessarily make it any easier for us.

Our church Halloween party was a couple weeks ago & included Trick-or-Treating. Tyler was pretty good about asking which candies he could eat. He gave a tootsie pop to Grandma, Grandpa, Jeff & me since he couldn't eat them himself. I ate my tootsie pop that night & my parents took theirs home with them. Jeff, not a huge candy eater, left his on the counter. Well, a couple days later, I came out of the bathroom & Tyler told me, "Mommy, I ate that sucker I gave to Daddy." I couldn't believe it! Those aren't just made on shared equipment with milk! They actually contain whey and condensed skim milk! I hurried & gave him Benadryl. Then I called Jeff at work & told him to be prepared to meet us at the Emergency Room. Amazingly enough, Tyler didn't have a reaction to the milk in the tootsie pop! He didn't even get hives! I'm hoping that means that he's beginning to outgrow his allergy - either that, or I gave him the Benadryl fast enough. Who knows? I know I shouldn't get my hopes up. Especially since he had hives all over his face and neck at the end of church on Sunday. But this is a really good sign & I hope that his next blood test will show some improvement. In the meantime, we just have to survive Halloween this Friday & I think we'll be OK.

*An added note after the questions in Krista's comment:
Tyler did eat the entire tootsie pop, but it was one of those mini-sized tootsie pops. I found the wrapper on the counter & I dug through the trash to find the stick, because I wanted to see if he'd really eaten the whole thing. It took a while to find the stick because it fell into the bag from our frozen burritos. There was no candy left on the stick & I could see the different colors on the stick from the sucker part & the chocolate part. He really did eat the whole thing. I asked him if he liked it & with a great big smile he said, "Yeah, it was good." And now, we just got home from being out & about and Tyler had horrible blistered hives all over his face & neck. So I had to give him a bath & Benadryl. I wonder what he touched!?! Maybe we were just really, really blessed last week when Tyler ate the Tootsie Pop. Heavenly Father was protecting him when I wasn't there doing my job.

Thief in the Neighborhood

How annoying is it that somebody stole the Yes on Prop 8 signs from our front yard? Another family across the street had a Prop 8 sign & it is gone now as well.

Oh well, little does the thief know that we can replace our Yes on Prop 8 sign a couple times a day until the election if necessary. We only have 100 of them in the back of my car, waiting for us to deliver them to about 80 homes tonight. I guess we're supposed to report it to the police when the signs are stolen. You can bet that the next time it disappears, I will be calling the Fontana Police Department. Many people around the state have been having similar problems.
http://protectmarriage.com/article/opponents-of-traditional-marriage-engage-in-dirty-tricks

The most incredible is the man in Modesto who was assaulted while working on the Yes on 8 campaign. http://protectmarriage.com/article/prop-8-supporter-violently-attacked-for-distributing-lawn-signs

This is a very heated issue with very passionate supporters on both sides. Thankfully, we are on the Lord's side, so I know that we will be blessed for our efforts.

It's Been a While

Hello friends. It's been a while since I've written on my blog. Sorry, I guess I've just been lazy. Here's a quick update.


Claire -
A couple weeks ago we were just finishing lunch. There was a tortilla on the counter that might possibly have touched some "bad milk, " so I threw it in the trash. Then I put the package of remaining tortillas back into the fridge. A few minutes later I found Claire walking around in the family room, snacking on a tortilla. I wondered, "How did she get that? I thought I put those away." Then it dawned on me. . . I checked the trash can and sure enough the tortilla I tossed out was no longer there. Yes my friends, my little Claire was eating food out of the trash can!!! Yuck!!! I guess I can safely say that Claire is not a picky eater!

Tyler -
Earlier this week, I was at my Grandparents house with my kids. Tyler was at the kitchen table drawing pictures with my Grandpa. I overheard him tell my Grandpa, "W starts with D." I thought for a second, then I realized he was correct. "Double-U" does in fact begin with the "D" sound. What a very clever & observant boy I have!

Jeff -
Jeff is funny. He has certain articles of clothing that he refuses let go. A few years ago I had to order him a purple Eskimo Joe's T-shirt for Christmas so that he could get rid of the one he had & loved. It had so many holes, it was barely hanging together. He reluctantly replaced the old one with the new one. Last Sunday, Jeff asked me if I could wash a load of dark clothes because he left his fleece jacket in the laundry room for me. Then he asked me if I could repair a spot on it that was falling apart. When I realized which jacket he was talking about, I told him that maybe the hole in it was a sign that it was time to say good-bye to it. He just couldn't believe that I could say such a thing! It is his favorite. It is so comfy (his words, not mine). I think it's ugly. It was out of style before we even met (seven years ago). But he's been wearing the thing the entire time I've known him. He bought it while he was in college & absolutely loves it. He even wears it with his dress slacks, a white shirt & tie to church! Yikes! So, as the dutiful wife, I washed it for him & he wore it to work on Monday - even though I have not yet repaired the spot that's coming unstitched. I guess I'd better fix it so that he's only going to work in an ugly coat, instead of an ugly coat that's falling apart.

Colleen -
I'm still here, getting more and more pregnant. I'm due 3 months from tomorrow! Hurray! My Grandpa & I painted Tyler's bedroom last weekend. It turned out so nice. It looks so clean and fresh! I'll post pictures when I finish decorating. Now I have to figure out how to fit all of Claire's stuff in there too. Once the baby is born, Tyler & Claire will be sharing that room. (That's the joy of living in California - small houses, small yards, and formerly huge price-tags so we can't sell for more than we owe!)

Baby Cosme -
We now have a name picked out for our baby boy. We plan to name him Matthew Gordon Cosme. Matthew because Jeff & I could both agree on it. It means "gift from God," which I truly believe he is after my experience getting pregnant with him. I've always liked that name. When I was a sophomore in high school, I had to do a project where I carried around a 5 pound sack of flour strapped to a doll. We were required to name our flour baby & I named mine Matthew Austin. I guess the name Matthew has been on my list since then. The middle name we picked, Gordon, is my Grandpa's name & we wanted to name our baby after him. We actually had the middle name picked when I was pregnant with Claire, but she needed a more girlie name, so Gordon had to wait for a baby boy.
I can tell that Matthew is getting bigger. Mainly because I am getting bigger. Today I could feel his bum pushing out toward the top of my belly for a while. I guess that's a good sign that he was facing the right direction. He has now shifted & I can't tell which way he's facing. I just hope he stays with his head down. Last night I had one hard contraction. It really hurt! Good thing it only happened once. I don't need to feel any more of those for a while.


The Kitchen -
I finally finished the curtains for the kitchen! Remember all of the drama getting the fabric back in January and February. Well, here is the final result! It sure feels good to have those done! Now I'm working on curtains for the family room. I've finished the valances for the 2 small windows. I just have the 2 panels for the sliding glass door left to finish. I can't wait to get those done, but they are so big, I'm dragging my feet on starting them. They'll each be 90 inches long, 52 inches wide, and have 8 grommets on top. They're a little bit overwhelming to me. Plus, I cut each panel 4 1/2 inches too long, so I need to cut them again. I'm not looking forward to that. I guess it's good that I cut them too long instead of too short though.


The Whole Family -
We've been busy helping with the Yes on Prop 8 Campaign. Prop 8 is an ammendment to the California Constitution that states, "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid and recognized in California." Since the end of July, Jeff has been out canvassing precincts and taking opinion polls. This week our whole family has been out every night delivering yard signs to people who have requested them. I drive, Jeff delivers the signs, and the kids watch movies in the backseat of the van. It's actually been a positive experience for us. Tyler & Claire are both so excited to go deliver signs. I don't think they understand the importance of what we're all doing - but that's OK. It's really for them that we're doing this. This is such a significant issue for the state of California, and it makes me feel good to do my part. I hope that any of my California friends who read this blog will really think before voting on this issue. There are so many negative long-term effects if Prop 8 doesn't pass. The loss of religious freedoms, and the changes in public education in California are two of the biggest! We are optimistic that our side will win. Recent polls show that it is likely that our side will win in this election. Just remember VOTE YES ON 8!
*Just an added little note. I just went out in my front yard to take that picture of our yard sign. Someone had taken it down & left it sitting flat on the sidewalk! How annoying is that? At least they didn't steal it or destroy it. Some friends of ours had their sign ripped in half by one of their neighbors. I hope nobody does that to ours!

We're Having a . . .

I know you're all holding your breath & dying to know whether we're having another girl or another boy! I had an ultrasound yesterday. The ultrasound tech took all of the measurements she needed & then let Jeff into the room. We asked her if she could tell the sex of the baby & she said that she could, but that she wanted to show us. So she zoomed in on the important parts and we are most definitely having a boy! We are really excited for another little boy in our family! I am ready to start shopping for some new boy things. Won't this be so fun? I actually bought him a cute overalls outfit and some little blue shoes yesterday! Now we just have to pick a name for him. There are quite a few girl names that we like, but boy names are a little harder for us to choose. We still have quite a while to decide, so I'm sure we'll pick the perfect name for him by the time he's born.

Earthquake - We're Fine

Hello friends. We're having a shaky afternoon. A 5.4 earthquake struck about 20-25 miles from our house just over an hour ago. Since the main quake, there have been 32 aftershocks. We only felt the original quake. Jeff works very close to the epi-center & felt the quake quite strongly, but he is fine. We didn't feel the shaking very hard at our house. Nothing fell off of our shelves. My shampoo bottles that balance precariously on the top of our glass shower enclosure didn't even fall. If you want to see our earthquake activity, go to the USGS link on the lower left-hand side of this page. Have a great day everybody!

Peanut Butter Love

Tyler has recently developed a habit of sneaking into the pantry & eating peanut butter straight out of the jar! Tonight I could smell the peanut butter on his breath, so I asked him if he'd been eating peanut butter. Here's how the remainder of the conversation went:

Tyler: Yes, I ate peanut butter.
Me: You know you're not supposed to be doing that. I don't want your fingers in the jar - it puts your germs in the peanut butter.
Tyler: I didn't put my fingers in, I got a spoon.
Me: (Giving the mom look) A spoon huh...
Tyler: (Pause while batting eyelashes & smiling) I LOVE you Mommy (short pause) and I love peanut butter!

I know he was just trying to stay out of trouble. But, how could I be mad at that. I just had to laugh and give Tyler a great big hug. It was just too cute. Now, here's what I wonder. . . which does he love more, the peanut butter or me?

As an added note, Tyler's new found love of peanut butter reminds me of Kristin. I can totally picture her dipping Hershey Bars straight into her jar of peanut butter . I tried it a few times & it's actually quite tasty! Does anybody else have creative ways to eat peanut butter? I like to dip my apples in peanut butter. Yummy!

Alexis is Here

Well, Heather was the first to break the trend. Nearly a week late, Alexis Mae Cluff made her entry to the world. She was born at 11:14 pm on Monday, June 30. She was 19 inches long & 5 pounds 4 ounces. She's a tiny little girl! My mom bought her some premie clothes to wear until she gets big enough for the newborn sizes! Since she was born on June 30, she gets to share her birthday with Amanda & her Uncle Jeff. Three people in our family sharing the same birthday, isn't that pretty incredible? I wonder if there will be a triple shared birthday on January 9th too.

I really wish I could be in Utah to see Alexis! She is so beautiful in the pictures Heather sent. I think she definitely looks like our side of the family, sorry Nathan. I would love to post a picture, but I prefer to keep pictures of my family members password protected on Kodak Gallery. If you'd like to see the pictures, let me know & I can send you a link to the online photo album. Have a wonderful day everybody!

Six Word Memoir

Well, Janine tagged me to write a six word memoir. So, I kept a pen & paper handy to write down some ideas. I am going to follow Janine's example & tell you some of my runner-ups before I announce my winner.

These aren't really phrases I live my life by, or want to be remembered by - but I sure say them a lot. I was surprised by the number of six word phrases I use regularly.

Life with kids is never dull.

Get that out of your mouth!

I sure hate changing poopy diapers!

Laundry is a never ending battle.

I hate mopping the kitchen floor.

Don't touch that - it will break!

Don't touch that - you'll get hurt!

How much longer until nap time?

Do I get a nap too?

I need chocolate - give it now!

Don't look away for a second.

Every day is full of surprises.

You can always try again tomorrow.

Now for my favorite --

A mother's work is never done.

I chose this one because it reminds me that no matter what, I will always love my children. I will do whatever it takes to care for them & to teach them. I always have room for improvement. Even when my kids are grown, I will still be there for them. Being their mother is the most important thing I can do with my life. I am so grateful that I've been given this opportunity. So I guess I wish to be remembered as a mother who always loved her children & always did what was best for them, even when it wasn't easy.

Unexpected Fun

Monday, Jeff met me at the OBGYN's office for my check-up because we were expecting to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time. The doctor didn't find the heartbeat right away, so she said, "Let's cheat & go use the ultrasound machine." So, we got an extra surprise peak at our baby. We saw the heart flickering it's little beats. We saw the arms and legs that are forming. It was a lot of fun. I was glad that Jeff was there for this bonus ultrasound.

The best part of the visit was receiving my official due date. Any guesses? Well, it's already a pretty busy day in our family. Based on the ultrasound that I had back in May, my due date is January 9th!!! I think somebody sure has a sense of humor. January 9th is already, Ian's birthday and my birthday (Lora's too)! I laughed so hard when she told me this was my due date. I really hope that this baby gets to have his/her own birthday. It'll be hard to do in my family in January though. We have a lot of January birthdays. It will be a bit of a bummer since I don't want this baby to come on the due date. Tyler & Claire were both born on their due dates, and all 3 of Melissa's kids were born on their due dates. I think it's kind of cool that all of the grandkids on my side of the family have been born on their due dates. I guess it would be OK to break the trend & have a baby on a day other than the due date. Heather's baby, Alexis, is due next Wednesday, so it'll be interesting to see if she is born on her due date or not. Maybe she'll be the one to break the trend. I guess I'll just have to wait & see.

There's No Way!!!

Jeff is home now! Yea!!! Except for that fact that right now he's watching a PBS show about the Icelandic Horse! Doesn't that have fun & entertainment written all over it? That is why I'm blogging in my bedroom.

I had an easy morning today. Claire slept until noon. After she woke up, my day got interesting. When I went in to get her up, I found that she peed all over herself & her bed. Diapers can only hold so much pee. When she's been asleep in the same diaper for 16 hours, what can I expect. So I undressed her & told her to go to the bathroom for her bath, which she usually does. I grabbed her sheets & wet pj's to put in the washer. While I got the load of laundry going, Claire wandered out to the family room.

Pretty soon, Tyler yelled, "Mommy, Claire went poo-poo." I told Tyler, "Oh, she couldn't have. She probably just tooted," thinking to myself, "There's no way!" Upon returning to the family room, I found that Claire had, in fact pooped - 3 big poops on my carpet!!! One was right over the spout of a sippy cup. I threw that cup away!

I took Claire into the bathroom. While I was grabbing the wipes to clean her bum, she peed all over the bathroom floor & rugs! I guess I should have stuck her in the bathtub. After I got her all cleaned up, I put her in the tub. I ended up picking the poop up with toilet paper & flushing it down the toilet. Then I ran the Spot Bot to clean the carpet. (A very valuable machine that every parent should own.)

I'm just proud of myself for not throwing up! I guess the fact that I was laughing my head off helped me to avoid thinking about how truly disgusting it was. Now I've learned my lesson. Always keep a diaper on children who are not potty trained! I hope I don't ever have to deal with a situation like this ever again! Yuck!!!

Still On My Own - Day 5

Well, I've made it to Day 5 of my 8 days playing single mom. The weekend was rough. Claire spent most of Saturday night screaming her head off. I think I got about 3 or 4 fragmented hours of sleep that night. I guess Claire was just trying to get me ready for the sleepless nights to come in January. My grandparents came & stayed with my kids who were too sick to go to church while I went to teach my Primary lesson. (No luck in finding a sub & I can't find it in me to be a flake.) Then they stayed to keep me company & I made a lovely dinner of roast and potatoes. The gravy was so yummy. I tried to rub it in to Jeff that he missed our Sunday dinner. He replied with, "Well, then I don't feel so bad that your mom made me Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies." He's been wanting me to make those for a couple of weeks. Apparently my Mom is making sure that she spoils Jeff while he's staying at her house!

Claire keeps sneaking into my room & sitting on my chair in front of the computer. I finally figured out why. I've been letting Tyler & Claire talk to Jeff on Skype. She sits there hoping to find her Daddy in the computer. How sad is that? She really misses him. I think that's part of the reason for her sob-fest on Saturday night.

Today I actually had a great day. My Grandma & Grandpa took Tyler to the San Diego Wild Animal Park for his birthday. They let Claire & me tag along. We had so much fun! Tyler loved seeing the elephants. He also got to stand right next to a lion with only a super thick layer of glass between them. Claire loved the bird show! I only had one pregnant near vomit experience because of the animal smells. Those birds sure did stink! It took a lot of control, but I did my best and kept my $7.79 + tax hamburger down.

Tyler is spending the night with my Grandparents tonight. I took the opportunity to splurge on a dairy-laden treat. Claire & I stopped at Pinkberry on our way home tonight. Original with strawberries, pineapple & granola -- YUMMY! I took my Pinkberry home, stuck it in the freezer, put Claire to bed & finally got a chance to watch P.S. I Love You (while enjoying Pinkberry). I loved the movie. I think that was the most I've ever cried during a movie. Most movies, I only cry at the end... not this one! I cried through almost the whole thing. Now my eyes are incredibly puffy! Girls, if you have a night when your husband is out & you need a romantic chick flick to watch, this one is perfect! Fair warning, just be sure that you put the entire box of tissues next to you on the couch. The 4 tissues I started the movie with were saturated in no time! I had to pause the movie to fetch the box.

Anyway, I think I'm going to make it to the end of my single days. I only have Wednesday, Thursday & half of Friday until Jeff comes home. Now it's time for me to say "Good-night!"

On My Own - Day 1

Jeff had his Radioiodine treatment today. He's doing well. He'll be staying with my parents for an entire week. (The doctor felt that he should stay away from home a little longer than what she originally told him since I'm pregnant. Big bummer!) Jeff says that he'll be having a rough time away from home. He'll be so bored locked in my parents' house with nothing to do but watch t.v.! Sure... I think he's getting a bit of a vacation. Especially since I'm nauseous about 85% of my waking hours, and I get to take care of the kiddos all by myself 24 hours a day for 8 days. I'm trying to be tough. I know there are plenty of women who do this on their own on a regular basis. But let me tell you, did I get off to a great start today.

Tyler waited until the pediatrician's office was closed this afternoon to tell me that his ear still hurts. Since he hadn't complained about it all day, I figured it was better. Now I might have to brave the Urgent Care tomorrow if his ear is still bothering him.

I put Claire in the Exer-saucer with some crackers so that I could use the restroom. She started choking on the crackers, so I had to rush out to help her & clean up the cracker goo she spit everywhere. Wouldn't it be nice to get a chance to use the bathroom without any interruptions?

When Claire woke up from her nap I found that she had diarrhea at some point. It was all over her clothes and her bedding. I had to change her sheets and get a load of poopy laundry going! This also required her second bath of the day - she was pretty gross!

When I put Claire to bed tonight, she got really upset & started crying. In the time it took me to wash my hands (I had just emptied the disgusting Diaper Genie), she got herself so worked up that she threw up on herself. Thankfully nothing got on the sheets that I had just changed. The extra set was still in the dryer.

Now, both of my kids are in bed. My house is quiet. So quiet that I can hear the fireworks from the Quakes Game (about 4-5 miles away). I need to wash the dinner dishes, and then my night can begin. I ordered PS, I Love You on Pay-Per-View, so I get to reward myself with a chick-flick after a long and tiring day. I hope I'll be able to stay awake to watch it. If not, it'll remain in my DVR for 24 hours.

Tomorrow is a new day. I hope my kids feel better & I'll breeze through the day without any problems. I'm not going to hold my breath though!

Lucky Number Seven

Lucky #7! It only took 7 of these little sticks before I finally got one that had 2 lines on it! Jeff & I are very excited that Baby #3 will be joining our family sometime near the end of December or beginning of January. I'll let you know when I get my official due date. Thank you for all of your prayers. They were definitely answered & I feel so blessed. I can't wait to meet this little one!

Attack of the Killer Spider?

Janine will appreciate this one...

So I just put Claire down for her nap. I realized that her pacifier was in the family room and went to retrieve it. When I returned to Claire's room, I found her lying in her bed, drinking her bottle, with a big black spider on her fingers! I freaked out! I started screaming & tried to swat the vicious creature off of my baby girl. I knocked her bottle out of her hands and stood her up. I looked all over her crib, through her blankets, and on my hands for the spider. It was nowhere to be found! How could I let my daughter sleep in that room with such a horrible creature on the loose? Meanwhile, Claire was screaming her head off! She was terrified! I don't think she knew quite what to think of her Mommy losing it like that! When I picked her up & tried to comfort her, I found the big smooshed spider - or should I say piece of black fuzz - stuck to Claire's shirt. I pulled it off & had a good laugh. All of that over a piece of fuzz! Too bad Claire didn't understand the reason for my madness. She was so upset that she peed in her diaper, so I changed her & put her back to bed. She began crying hysterically when I put her back in her crib. Can you blame her? She was traumatized. It took a couple minutes of coaxing her to go back to bed & she was fine. I hope that she will not remember this little episode when it's time to go to bed tonight!

One More Chance

Just a quick update... Jeff's Radioiodine treatment is scheduled for May 30th. His doctor is giving us 1 more month to try for baby #3. So now, I'm armed with Clomid to increase our chances. I hope it works. At least now I can feel like I've done my part. If it's meant to be that Baby #3 comes along now, it will happen. If it's not meant to be, we'll just have to wait another year. At least I have Tyler & Claire to keep me busy in the meantime.

Thanks for all of your comments on my previous post. It's nice to be reminded that I have friends who love me!

Ugly Cake

Let me tell you all about the cake I've been baking this week...

First Layer:
Monday, Jeff had an appointment with an endocrinologist for his thyroid problem. He found out that he must have a treatment with radioiodine. He has to be away from children & close physical contact for 5 days. So he'll be staying at my parents' house for 5 days, so as not to contaminate our growing children with his radioactive body fluids. This treatment doesn't have any major side-effects, so Jeff will be just fine. The biggest bummer about this is that we will not be able to try for baby #3 for at least a year. For those of you who know me, you know that getting pregnant is not the easiest thing for me. Last September I started to take birth control to help regulate my cycle. (With Claire I only had to take it for 2 months.) In October, I had a huge bleeding problem which may or may not have been a weird miscarriage. My doctor switched me to a different birth control to see if that would help, plus I had to take it for 4 more months. So 5 months of horrendous side effects: nausea (like unto morning sickness), fatigue, and a very short temper, just to name a few. At least I was able to maintain my current weight this time. (When I went through all of this when trying to get pregnant with Tyler, I gained 20 pounds & never lost lost it.) Needless to say, it is very frustrating to me that I went through 5 months of yuck for nothing. Unless I can get pregnant in the next week, it'll be 2010 at the earliest before another baby can join our family! But, seeing as I'm a week late & the 4 home pregnancy tests I've taken all reveal that I am not currently pregnant, I'm going to have to say that it will be highly unlikely that I can get pregnant by then. And, since the birth control has never regulated my cycle for more than a year, I'll have to do the birth control thing all over again when Jeff's little swimmers are no longer damaged by the radioiodine! I cried for 3 days about this. I haven't cried yet today, so maybe I can keep myself together.

Filling:
Probably made of rotten fruit. Tuesday I had to run to Stater Bros. to pick up a few things for dinner. While parking my car, I scraped the front passenger side against that thing you put your shopping cart in when you're done shopping. Does it have an official name? I guess someone found it necessary to leave an old rusty chain wrapped around the pole where I couldn't see it. It left a handful of straight lines about a foot long where the paint is scraped off of my car! Oh well, I guess I'm just going for the "distressed look."

Second Layer:
I'll just plop the second layer right on top of the gloppy filling. Wednesday, I got the long-awaited letter telling whether Tyler got into the only preschool that will agree to accept a child with severe food allergies, or competent enough to handle the allergies. Unfortunately, Tyler's application was not pulled out in the lottery. He is #5 on the waiting list. More tears for Colleen. I just want my son to be able to do the things that most other kids get to do. He is very smart & doesn't need the academic side of preschool. However, he needs the social side of school. He needs to learn how to sit still & listen to the teacher. So I decided to move on. I gave the local Tiny Tots Program one more try. I figured if I spoke to the teacher I might get better information than the teenage receptionist at Parks and Rec could provide. The teacher was dumb as a box of rocks, so she provided a bit of comic relief. Here's how the conversation went:

Me: I have a son with a severe milk allergy. Are you trained to handle children with food allergies?
Teacher: No not really, but we have kids with food allergies here & we keep an eye on them.
Me: Do you serve snacks during your school-day?
Teacher: We don't serve them, but the parents send snacks for their kids. They are required to be healthy snacks though, and we don't let the children share snacks.
Me: Do the children wash their hands after they eat their snacks?
Teacher: No, but we do make sure they wash their hands after going to the bathroom. We have hand sanitizer too.
Me: Well, hand sanitizer kills germs, but does not get rid of milk protein. If my son was to have a reaction at school, would you know how to give his Epi-pen to him?
Teacher: Oh, we aren't allowed to give any medications to students.
Me: So, you would just stand there & watch him die? You wouldn't give him his Epi-pen?
Teacher: We aren't allowed to give any medications, but he could bring it and give it to himself.
Me: He' s 3 years old, he can't give himself a shot. It sounds like your school would absolutely not be a safe place for my son. Thank you for your time.

Wow! Could I send Tyler there? No way on the planet Earth!!! It also makes me wonder about that lady's competence as a preschool teacher. Shouldn't a preschool teacher know enough about child development to know that a 3 year old won't be able to give himself a shot? Oh well, I'm just hoping that we'll make our way up the waiting list for the school district preschool. Every time I think about that phone conversation, I just have to laugh about the teacher's ignorance. It reminds me that not everybody understands just how dangerous food allergies can be & that I need to be careful with Tyler.

Icing:
This morning came the icing on an already crappy cake. (I'm picturing a cake that looks like it was created by Oscar the Grouch.) Tyler came in my room at 6:15 this morning saying that he had a stomachache. I got him the barfing bowl & sent him back to bed. He started crying saying he was hungry & needed breakfast. I told him it was far too early for breakfast. (He wouldn't eat his dinner last night, so he had to go to bed hungry.) I figured he was just hungry. When Tyler heard Jeff getting ready for work, he got up & begged Daddy to get him breakfast. Jeff did get him breakfast & left for work. I was still asleep, not really coherent of the fact that Tyler was already up. A while later, Tyler climbed up on my bed, saying that his tummy hurt & he was going to throw up. I said, "Not in my bed!" I told him to go to the bathroom, but instead, with me chasing behind him, he decided to walk out to the family room & puke all over the carpet! He got in the bathtub & I started to clean up the carpet. Then Tyler yelled to me, "I threw up in my bedroom too!" So even though he had the barfing bowl, he decided to lean over the side of the bed & puke all over the carpet & his Lightining McQueen slippers. Nice! What happened to that glorious boy who barfed in the bowl in February? Needless to say, I am buying a full size carpet cleaning machine TONIGHT! Does anybody have a machine that you like & works well? I love my Spot Bot, but for big messes, it takes forever to clean them up. It took me 2 hours to get all of Tyler's breakfast out of the carpet. 15 cycles of the Spot Bot in the family room and 8 cycles in his bedroom. Now Tyler says he feels fine and wants to eat & play. All I know is Claire better not start barfing!

I hope that I am done baking this cake! I don't want any sprinkles on top! Maybe now that I've written this, I can leave my pity-party behind & get on with my life. Maybe I'll go shopping for clothes tonight, since I haven't been buying any for myself lately. You see, I thought I'd be wearing maternity clothes any day now. But since that's not happening anytime soon, why should I keep walking around with clothes that are all ratty. Maybe I'll even go get my nails done! Have a great day everybody!

One Word

You. Can. Only. Type. One. Word.

Not as easy as you might think.

I got this in an e-mail & thought it would be a fun blog post. Since this is my blog, I decided to bend the one word rule by hyphenating some words & adding parenthetical explanations to a few responses.

Where is your cell phone? Purse
Your significant other? Jeff
Your mother? Perfectionist
Your father? Sarcasmic (inside joke - I know it's not a real word)
Favorite thing? Silence
Your dream last night? None
Your favorite drink? Strawberry-daiquiri (non-alcoholic, of course)
Your dream/goal? Organization
The room you're in? Bedroom
Your fear? Death
Where do you want to be in 6 years? Bigger-house
Where were you last night? Home
What you're not? Rested
Muffins? Banana-nut
Where you grew up? California
The last thing you did? Breakfast
What are you wearing? Bathrobe
Your TV? PBS
Your pets? Never
Your computer? Laptop
Your life? Chaos
Your favorite day? Christmas
Missing someone? Skinny-me
Your car? Bug-splattered
Something you're not wearing? Bra
Favorite Store? Target
Your summer? HOT
Who will win the presidential race? Idiot
Your favorite color? Brown (never thought I'd say that)
When is the last time you laughed? Now (Explanation - Tyler is jumping on my bed. He says he hurt his rack. I asked him where his rack is & he pointed to his shoulder. At least he doesn't know the true meaning of that expression & that he will never have a "rack.")
Last time you cried? Saturday (watched "We are Marshall")
Who will/would re-post this? Friends

Our Utah Adventure

Tyler, Claire, my Mom, and I just returned from our trip to Utah. We had a really great time! Here are the highlights of our trip.

#1 - Uncle Ryan taught Tyler to do the MC Hammer dance. When Tyler performed the dance for everybody, he fell down & said, "I think I need more practice." He had us all laughing hysterically.

#2 - We went shopping & tried to find some new shoes for Claire. While trying on shoes, Claire learned a very girly word. She clearly said, "Shoes." Later when she found Tyler's shoes, she began repeating "Shoes, shoes." I guess I'm in trouble if she's already learning about shoes. Although, I do enjoy buying cute shoes for her.

#3 - Speaking of shoes, I found a new brand of shoes I want to try for Claire. When we were leaving Costco in Orem, we saw a lady carrying a little girl with adorable shoes. We had to roll down the window & ask her where she got her daughter's shoes. She said they were called Squeaky Shoes. She bought hers on e-bay, but you can find them on various other websites. I'll be ordering a pair or 2 for Claire as soon as I find the best deal. I also love Pedipeds. I've purchased a few designs of Pedipeds. They now sell toddler sized shoes too. Hooray!

#4 - We drove to Olympic Park in Park City & Tyler got to play in the snow. He ran to the top of a hill with Uncle Nathan. (Uncle Nathan was a good sport, it was 36 degrees outside & he only had a lightweight coat.) Tyler & I got to build a mini snowman and make snow angels. My favorite thing in the snow, Tyler's shoe got stuck in the snow & came off. He took a few steps with just his sock until I came to dig his shoe out. Claire was not a big fan of the snow. It was just too cold for her, so Auntie Heather stayed in the cafe with Claire while everyone else went outside.

#5 - While we were packing the car to go home, I was bent over picking some things up when somebody walked up & grabbed my butt. Then I realized it was my brother-in-law Nathan. He had mistaken me for my sister. He said he thought I was Heather because we "all wear those same jogging suits." I think he was really embarrassed. We were all laughing so hard about that one. Now not only has my brother-in-law Jason has seen me with my pants down when I forgot to lock the bathroom door, Nathan has given my butt a little squeeze. The question is, who of the two is the most embarrassed?

#6 - While we were driving home, a Sienna from Wyoming sped right past me. A while later a Highway Patrol Car passed me. Not a problem for me, my cruise control was set exactly at the speed limit. A short while later, the same Sienna came speeding past me again. (They must have stopped for gas or something so we passed them.) My Mom & I watched as the UHP car pulled over to the right lane as the Sienna approached to let him pass. I knew exactly why the officer did that. The driver of the Sienna was soooo stupid - he actually passed the Highway Patrol Car. I mean really stupid, the UHP car was white & had big black letters that said Highway Patrol on the trunk. As soon as the Sienna passed the UHP car, the officer flipped his lights on & pulled the Sienna over. We were dying laughing, mostly because the Sienna totally deserved that ticket & should have been fined for lack of brain power while operating a motor vehicle.

We had a fun time in Utah, but I am glad to be home. My children are a lot more calm in our own house. They sleep much better in their own beds & I don't have to worry that they're destroying someone else's house. Plus at home they get enough sleep, so they're way less grumpy. But Uncle Ryan, Auntie Heather & Uncle Nathan are not here in California (yet). So the chance to visit with them makes the trip to Utah worth it!

"Bad Milk" is Still BAD

Tyler's pediatrician called me this morning with the results of his latest allergy blood test. I am really bummed to let you know that he is not yet showing any signs of outgrowing his milk allergy. In fact his IgE levels were nearly 2 times worse than they were last summer. His allergy is now considered Class 5. (The scale goes from 0 to 6.) Last summer he was a Class 3. His egg allergy also showed higher IgE levels, but still nowhere near that of his milk allergy.

I don't know why I'm so sad about these test results. It doesn't really change anything for Tyler. I knew he still had his allergy, so what's the difference? I guess I was just hoping for some small sign that he might be improving and to get the results that are the complete opposite of that, well, it's a bit disheartening. So we'll just continue to keep his diet dairy free & keep a close watch on him whenever we're in public. The same ole routine.

I know that there are things that are much worse than food allergies, and I'm grateful that his only major allergy is milk. We have friends whose children have multiple major food allergies & that would be so hard to handle. Milk is very easy to substitute in recipes & I'm grateful to all of you who have forwarded dairy free recipes to me. And, since the commercial just came on tv, I am sooo grateful to the clever person who invented Benadryl Perfect Measure. Now I don't have to deal with a sticky, leaky bottle of Benadryl and a sticky medicine dropper in my diaper bag.

I also want to thank all of my friends and family who are so kind to Tyler and considerate of his allergy. I really appreciate your efforts to prepare food that is safe for him, calling me to read ingredient lists as you're at the store, avoiding milk products before we get together, and wiping down your kids & your homes - it really means a lot to me. You guys are the best!!!

Thanks for listening. I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Shopping with Tyler

A couple days ago, I was shopping at Kohls with my kids. While looking for a new bra, Tyler announced in a nice loud voice, "You're looking at boob things, Mommy!"

I tried to quiet him with, "Yes, now shhh."

He kept saying, "Those are boob things, you're getting boob things..." After he said "Boob things" 3 or 4 times, I decided to move on & we went to look at table linens. I guess I'll have to wait to buy "Boob things" until my kids can stay home with Daddy.

Tyler's First Talk

Tyler gave his first talk in Primary yesterday. (Primary is the children's sunday school at our church.) He's been dying to "talk on the microphone" since his first Sunday in Primary. He was so excited to give a talk. He did such a fantastic job. He wasn't afraid at all. He was very professional & spoke quite clearly. We're all so proud of him. Way to go Tyler!

If anyone would like to use the talk I wrote for Tyler, feel free. It's simple enough for a 3 year old & was perfect for Easter Sunday - but could be used any time of the year.

Tyler’s First Primary Talk
“Jesus is my Savior”

Jesus lived a long time ago.
He taught us how to Choose the Right.
He taught us how to love one another.
He did many important things during his life.
The most important was the Atonement.
Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane.
He said a prayer to Heavenly Father.
He suffered for all of our pain and all of our sins.
That made it possible for us to repent.
That is why Jesus is called our Savior.
Some bad men took Jesus and hung him on a cross.
He died for us.
On the 3rd day after he died, he was Resurrected.
That means that his spirit and body were joined together again.
Because Jesus was resurrected, we can all be resurrected too.
I am thankful for Jesus and what he did for me.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Magnetic Personality

Back in my dating days, there were times that I would swear that I was a Dork/Weirdo magnet. I had a strange guy follow me from a taqueria and leave a creepy stalker-ish note on my car at work. When I was 22, a 19 year-old called me demanding that I go out with him, obsessively angry each time I turned him down. A "special" guy in the singles ward kept asking me out. There was even a homeless guy I went out with back in my BYU days. Somehow the dorks/weirdos always managed to find me.


This week I've discovered that my magnetic properties have changed a bit. I am now a Crazy Magnet. Twice this week I've had run-ins with women who I swear should be committed!


Crazy #1 - Wednesday, my Mom & I went to Target in a semi-ghetto shopping center. My Mom got Tyler out of the car while I cleaned the mess Claire made with a sucker. While cleaning an angry Claire, Jeff called my cell phone. So with all the noise of Claire's screaming & trying to hear Jeff on the phone, I couldn't hear what was going on outside of the car.


Apparently, Tyler was running his hands across the rear bumper of the car next to us. My Mom told him to stop. He did stop for moment, but couldn't help himself - the car was a beautiful shade of blue, his favorite color - he just had to touch it! Just then Crazy #1 came out of Target yelling, "Look what that kid is doing to my car!" My Mom grabbed Tyler to get him to stop. The lady put 2 kids (possibly her grand kids) in her PT Cruiser & maintained some major attitude.


Enter Colleen. As I got Claire out of the car, Crazy #1 and I had to pass between our 2 cars. I said "Excuse me. Sorry, was I in your way?" She just snarled & didn't respond. I thought, "Wow, she's rude," not knowing what happened during all of the noise.


My Mom leaned over & said, "I think she's pretty p.o.'d at you."


Crazy #1 responded by yelling at us, "You're da#* right I am. You don't let your kid touch other people's property. Even if it is dirty. That don't give him the right to touch my car. He's gonna scratch it! He gots fingernails that'll scratch the paint!"


My Mom told her, he's 3 years old, he doesn't have fingernails that are going to do anything to your paint!"


Crazy #1 continued to go on about it as we walked into the store. We stopped by the door to make sure she didn't do anything to my car as she backed out of her space! Luckily she didn't.


Granted, Tyler shouldn't be playing around , touching people's cars like that. However, parking in a public parking lot means that people will likely touch your car. That's just the risk you take. For goodness sake, I didn't even act that rudely when someone hit the side of my new van in a parking lot - I did have the police come out & take a hit-and-run report though. Crazy #1 obviously has no manners, or suffers from some form of mental illness. Isn't it wonderful that she was magnetically attracted to me?


Crazy #2 - Today we went to Scandia (a place with mini-golf & carnival type rides). Tyler & his 2 cousins rode on a little train ride. Jeff put Tyler in the engine car with another boy. Ian & David rode 2 cars back. After 2 times around the track, the ride operator had to stop the ride to kick some older kids off. While the train was stopped, 2 more kids climbed in Tyler's tiny car. The boy sitting by Tyler was totally squishing him & kept touching him. As I looked around at all of the kids eating their pizza, I got a little nervous with that boy touching Tyler. So I asked the ride operator to have Tyler move since that boy was squishing him. She helped him climb back by his cousins. Here comes Crazy #2, the lady in the blue Phillies jersey. She walked up to me and proceeded to tell me that I needed to have older kids & get over it. She continued on,"your son was mixing it up with my son the whole time. He hit my son & pinched him. Kids just do that"


I informed her that Tyler had been in that seat the whole time. How was it possible when the boy touching Tyler just climbed in? I then told her, "If you must know, my son has a life-threatening allergy to milk. If your son has been eating milk & touches my son, he could die." (OK, that was a little extreme, he'd only die from eating something with milk. He gets pretty good hives from touching someone who ate milk though. I just hoped that would be enough to shut her up!)


She says, "My son hasn't had any milk today. He's allergic to it too. If your son has a disease like that, you shouldn't bring him here. Keep him home!" Oh, that made me so mad! How dare she say something like that! My son has just as much right to be there as anyone else, allergy or not!


Then she walked away. I called to her, "I think you misunderstood the reason that I moved my son. It was strictly for his health and safety." I headed back to wait for the kids with the rest of my family.


As it turns out, Crazy #2's son wasn't the boy squishing Tyler He was the boy who was originally in the car with Tyler. I know that Tyler wasn't hitting or pinching her son because Tyler was leaning out the window the whole time & I kept yelling at him to turn around & put his arm back in the train. I also don't believe Crazy #2's son is allergic to milk. If he was, she would have been more understanding. Parents of kids with food allergies tend to bond together. I think Crazy #2 was out looking for a conflict, or maybe she thought she was imparting some parenting wisdom to a young mom. Who knows? No matter what her motive, she was incredibly rude!


It doesn't end there! My family was standing by the ride's exit waiting for the boys to get off of the train. I went & told them about Crazy #2. My Mom was so mad! Jeff was angry too! When the kids got off of the ride, I happened to notice that the little girl who rode next to Crazy #2's son took off running toward the golf courses. Tyler & I were already walking in that direction, but my relatives were all lagging behind. My Mom overheard Crazy #2 frantically looking for her lost daughter. I said, I bet that little girl who took off running was her daughter. My Mom & I decided to take the high road & let the lady know that her daughter went the opposite direction than where she was looking. We actually passed the little girl, who by now was near tears. We told her that her Mommy was looking for her & helped her find her mother. When we found Crazy #2, she didn't even say a word to us. There was no "thank you" for finding her daughter. As we walked away, my Mom said, "You're welcome."


Crazy #2 gave a snippy "Thank you." Then she couldn't resist one last jab at me as she stormed off. She called "You need to grow up and learn how to be a mom!" Can you imagine the nerve, we just found her lost kid for her & that was her response! (If only she was so crazy that she was talking to herself!)


I turned & started to walk back toward her. Jeff held me back, but that didn't stop me from getting the final word. I called out, "At least I can keep track of my kids!"


Oh, I was sooooooo furious! I have spent much the day thinking of things I wish I'd said to her. Don't we all do that? What I've finally decided is that there's obviously something wrong with her. I feel very sorry for her children, being raised by such a psycho. But mostly, I am sad for Tyler. He will probably have to deal with people who are rude about his allergy as he grows up. I can just picture Crazy #2, or someone like her, at the school throwing a fit that her homemade cupcakes can't be served at the class Halloween Party. I really hope that doesn't happen, but at least now I've had a taste of Crazy #2, I can be better prepared to handle these situations in the future. Next time, I'll simply say, "It is none of your business how I care for my children or the reasons why I do what I do. You can take your comments elsewhere!"


I don't know why the polar shift in my magnetism, but the crazies are heading my way in full force. I sure hope there aren't too many more. I am just glad that I have my Blog to vent. I'm tempted to print business cards to hand out to the crazies. They would read, "You're the new star of my Blog. Read about yourself at cmcsaidso.blogspot.com." Wouldn't that be hilarious?


Thank you for listening to my stories. I feel so much better now that I've written about the crazies! I'm looking forward to reading your comments.

A Shaking Good Time

The past few days have been genuine Fontana fun! Saturday night, the Santa Ana winds picked up. Tyler gets scared during the wind - too many scary noises! So, he came to wake Jeff & me shortly after 1:00 am. He didn't want to sleep in his room. I ended up lying down in his bed with him for a while - hoping he would fall asleep. Lying there, I realized just how creepy the wind sounds in his bedroom - he's on the wind side of the house. I don't blame him for being scared.

All of a sudden there was a loud rumble and the house began to shake. Yep, an earthquake! I grabbed Tyler & got into his doorway. It was a quick earthquake, but still an earthquake. We grabbed a couple of blankets & a pillow. Now that an earthquake was thrown into the mix, there was no way Tyler would ever sleep in his room. As we set up camp on my bedroom floor, a second earthquake shook the house. What amazes me about this - Jeff hardly even woke up & made no attempt to even get out of bed.


I will admit though, I go into autopilot mode during earthquakes. I can make it to the doorway before I even wake up! One time when Jeff & I were engaged, there was an earthquake during the night. As I ran for my doorway, I slipped on my wedding invitation catalog & cut my head on my dresser. My parents made fun of me saying that I was probably the only person injured in that tiny earthquake!

After the 2nd earthquake on Saturday, I checked in on Claire & made sure that I had diapers & shoes for the kids near the front door - just in case a larger earthquake forced us to leave our house. I checked the USGS website (see the list of my favorite websites) to find that these earthquakes were centered just north of Fontana, which is basically where I live. A 3.9 followed by a 3.1. They were not very big, but sure made for some lousy sleep! Whenever a strong wind gust hit my house, I wasn't sure if it was an earthquake starting or just the wind! Annoying!!!

We slept much better last night without the wind! We did have one more earthquake north of Fontana this morning - but it was only a 3.2.

All of that being said, I really do like living in Fontana. That crazy wind that blows periodically from late September to March or April clears all of the smog out & gives us blue skies. We have great views of the mountains. Those mountains were created by the San Andreas Fault. So along with our lovely mountains, we must accept the inevitable earthquakes. We take the good with the bad. I suppose the same can be said for living in any number of places. However, our main perk for living in Fontana - right now it is 78 degrees and sunny. I have my windows open & I'm wearing shorts! I hope those of you still dealing with snow aren't too jealous!

Better Day

Just a quick update. I had a successful curtain day! In LA I found fabric that I liked for my family room curtains! I bought 9 yards of it! Now I'll be able to make the family room curtains before my party on Thursday. That also means that I'll be able to get rid of my vertical blinds! Jo Ann's reordered my fabric and didn't charge me for shipping. Hooray! So, in about 2 weeks I'll be able to have another go at the kitchen curtains!

No Such Thing as "Simple"

Why can't anything ever be simple? For instance, take the curtains that I want to make for my kitchen. Two standard size windows with a basic valance - what should be so hard about that? You'd be surprised....

So, at the beginning of January I purchased fabric from Jo Ann's. My mom took the last day of her Winter Break to come over & help me make the curtains. We rolled out the fabric, only to find a very obvious flaw running through the length of it. Instead of cutting & sewing, we packed my kids in the car & headed back to Jo Ann's to return it. There was some sort of problem returning it because it was 2 inches shorter than what they charged me for. I hadn't used any of it. They finally agreed to allow me to return it. We looked through all of the decorator fabric that they had in stock & couldn't find anything, but I bought a book to learn how to make curtains.

I returned to Jo Ann's a few days later with my Mom, Grandma & sister, Melissa. This time we searched the thousands of special order fabrics. Because my kitchen & family room are open, a Great Room type of arrangement, everyone felt that the curtains in my kitchen must not clash with my purple couch. (The purple couch was awfully stylish when I got married almost 6 years ago - now I long for brown leather.) Finally, Melissa found a beautiful brown and cream colored linen fabric that I loved! I was pretty sure that I wanted that one, but by then the store was closing. It was too late to do a special order.

I returned a few days later & ordered that fabric. (Although it was on sale 50% off, it still cost me an arm and a leg by the time I paid tax and "shipping and handling,") I was so excited for the color change in my house, I went and bought coordinating rugs for my kitchen and front door.

During our lovely Valentine's Week Barf Fest, they called to tell me that my fabric had arrived. I was able to slip out later that week to pick it up. I made them measure it to be sure that they didn't short me again! The roll of fabric has been hidden in my closet while we all recovered from our illnesses.

Today my Grandma came over to help me make the curtains. We spent a while, figuring out how to cut the panels out of the fabric so that the design on the 2 panels would match up. We didn't have much extra fabric to spare. We found that there was a little + mark on the selvage edge of the fabric in exactly the length I needed. Yippee! I made the mistake of commenting, "Yea, this is going to be easy!" I guess I jinxed myself - maybe I should have knocked on wood. Not 3 minutes later, as my Grandma was measuring for the second panel, she found 2 lovely holes in the fabric. Right smack in the middle. There was no cutting around them & no hiding them! Bummer!!!

I just can't win! All I know is that Jo Ann's had better take this fabric back!!! I didn't spend all of that money to have curtains with holes in them. So now, my house will be boring & curtainless for the party I'm having next week. So sad! I really wanted my house to look nice when everyone came over. I guess it's just not meant to be. I have one more hope though. Tomorrow, Jeff & I are getting a baby-sitter. We will drive to downtown LA & search the little shops for another fabric that will coordinate with my paint, purple couch, and brown rugs. If I find something I like, I'll buy it & return the holey fabric to Jo Ann's. If there's nothing downtown, well, I'll just have to re-order the fabric from Jo Ann's.

I feel so defeated! This was supposed to be a fun project. Something I could be proud of. Now, every time I look at my plain windows I wonder, "Is sewing really worth it? Maybe I should just go buy some stupid curtains and be done with it!" Now, 2 months after buying the original fabric, I still have no curtains and I am convinced that there is no such thing as simple! Wish me luck as I search for fabric #3!

Public Behavior is Fair Game!

The other day, I ran to our local Michaels store to exchange an item I purchased. There was only 1 register open & 1 long line at that register. Pretty soon another cashier came to open a second register & she took the lady who was in line in front of me to her register. I stayed in my current line since the item I was exchanging was behind the counter. Anyone in line behind me had the option of going over to the second register. The lady in line behind me choose to stay in the first line. As the cashier was figuring out how to process my exchange, a third register was opened. Suddenly, the lady who had been in line behind me took the giant project board she was holding, threw it down (no joke -she chucked that thing) and stormed out of the store! The poster board was damaged, the corners now smashed in! I looked at the cashier & said, "Wow!" The cashier was pretty calm about it & responded,"Well, it's not my kid who's not going to have what he needs for school!"

I couldn't believe that a grown woman felt that this was appropriate behavior. Then, when I walked out to my car, I saw the woman standing next to her car in the parking lot with her cell phone in hand. I was curious, to say the least. So of course, even though it was quite cold outside, I rolled down my car windows to try to hear her conversation. She was calling the Michaels store, demanding to speak to the manager. I wish I had been able to hear the rest of her conversation. I have no idea what sparked her sudden outburst in the store - maybe that third cashier grabbed someone from the other line to start her line. But how could the third cashier have known that the crazy lady had been in line longer?

The best thing about all of this - she could have saved herself a lot of time & embarrassment by waiting another 30 seconds for me to finish my transaction. Now, not only did she waste her time standing in the parking lot calling the manager (too chicken to speak face-to-face), but ended up without a poster board! I wonder if she had to return to the store with her tail between her legs to buy one, or if she had to spend the rest of her evening trying to find another store that carries the same type of item. Maybe her poor child had to go to school without his posterboard for his science project. Who knows? As a former teacher, I can only imagine the note the teacher received, trying to explain why little Timmy couldn't finish his science project on time. Or, even worse, having to deal with the kind of parent who throws things around in stores! Yikes!!!

What did I learn from this episode?
1 Be careful of your behavior in public. You could become the topic of somebody's blog!
2 Be patient. Waiting an extra 30 seconds can save you more time in the long run!
3 Be observant. There are crazy, entertaining people all around, just waiting to give you an amusing story to tell!

Holiday of Love???

Another Valentine's Day has come and gone. I still believe that Jeff and I are destined to never celebrate a romantic, lovey Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day has never been kind to us. Let me take you on our Valentine's Day journey.

2002 - Jeff and I were engaged. Jeff was working in Valencia, so by the time he got to my house, it was really late. All of the nice restaurants were so crowded that the only place we could find was Islands. I gave Jeff a CD and the can opener that he really wanted from our wedding registry. He gave me a lamp shaped like the Eiffel Tower and sent roses to me at work. Boy are we romantic!

2003 - This was our first Valentine's Day as a married couple. Sadly, my Great-Grandma died the week of Valentine's Day. When Jeff & I got off of work, we speed-walked the mall to find a new dress I could wear to her funeral. I didn't find one. Then we ate an early dinner at the Black Angus near Ontario Airport, listening to horrible love songs. The remainder of the evening was spent in the viewing room at Rose Hills, paying our respects to my Great-Grandma.

2004 - Jeff was not feeling well. His Mom & Grandma came over to visit. His mother had to force him to take me out to a Valentine's Day dinner. We went to El Gran Burrito. Jeff sat & watched me eat my tacos. Too much excitement for me!

2005 - One of our better years... My aunt generously offered to watch my little Tyler. Jeff & I got Philly Cheesesteaks and bowled 2 games before returning home!

2006 - One of the worst years! Jeff's mom, Jo Ann, was going through Radiation treatments for brain tumors. I was driving about 120 miles a day to take her to her treatments. In the middle of this, Tyler got RSV & was in the hospital for 3 days. When Tyler got out of the hospital, he couldn't be around Jo Ann, or anyone else. I suppose you could say he was Quarantined. After a week, on Valentine's Day, Tyler's doctor said that he was no longer contagious and it was therefore safe to be around Jo Ann and the general public again. Upon arriving at Jo Ann's house, I found that her health had deteriorated significantly in the past week. She was very confused, and struggling to breathe. As we drove to her radiation appointment, she was hallucinating and talking to herself. When we returned to her house, I was really worried to leave her alone. I told her that I was making a fancy dinner for Valentine's Day & invited her to join us for dinner & spend the night at our house. I then left her to rest at her house until Jeff went to get her for her oncology appointment. As I suspected, her oncologist felt that she needed to be admitted to the hospital. Jeff took her to the ER. (A stupid hospital policy that she must be admitted through the ER.) Jeff tried to wait there until she got a room. A little after midnight, the nurse suggested that Jeff go home, because there most likely wouldn't be a bed available until the next morning. He got home close to 2:00 am. Soooo, we never even saw each other on Valentine's Day. Within the next few days, we learned that there was nothing more that could be done for Jo Ann. We arranged hospice and home care services for her. She lived 2 1/2 months after Valentine's Day.

2007 - I honestly don't even remeber what we did for Valentine's Day last year. I think we left Tyler & Claire with my parents & went to dinner - possibly at Black Angus or Red Robin. Then we wandered the Super Wal Mart for a while. We didn't have much time because I had to return to my nursing baby. Maybe the 2 1/2 month old baby can explain the fact that my memory of that time is a bit fuzzy.

2008 - The winner!!!!! Tuesday I woke up with a horrible headache. I wanted to rip off the right side of my head. Before I got out of bed, I said a little prayer & asked to be able to take care of my kids that day. I expected to barely make it through the day by lying on the couch while my kids played in the family room. Thank goodness my prayer was answered, not exactly how I would have liked though. My plans changed when I went to get Claire up & found that at some point during the night, she threw up all over her bed & carpet! I bathed her & cleaned up her room. Later, I put her down for a nap. Just as I sat down on the couch, Claire began screaming. I opened her door to find that she threw up all over her bed & floor - again. I bathed her again & put her in her high chair so I could clean up her room. She threw up in her high chair. This required bath #3. I spent most of my day cleaning barf! Just as I heard Jeff pulling in the driveway, it hit me! I rushed to to bathroom. Then I was down for the night. Not long after that, Tyler began throwing up! (It was wonderful, he actually used the bowl we put in his bed!) We all still felt lousy on Wednesday, but my sweet husband made me homemade chicken noodle soup. Valentine's Day was heralded in shortly after midnight when Claire threw up all over her bed. I woke Jeff & we cleaned it up together - true romance! I still felt lousy all day on Valentine's Day. We ate leftover soup for dinner. Jeff surprised me with a giant cookie from Mrs. Fields. He also bought me a meat cleaver. Jeff will be getting an extra guitar for his Guitar Hero 3 game as soon as they are released. Claire's vomiting continued through Saturday night, when she threw up all over her room, and in Jeff's mouth!!!! No puke Sunday! We're hoping she's over it! I am so sick of cleaning up various bodily fluids! To top it all off, Tyler stepped in dog poop on our way out of church today! I cleaned the poop off of the rug in my car, but I threw his church shoes in the trash! (I don't want to sound wasteful. His shoes are getting too small & I was going to buy him new ones for Easter anyway. Now I'll just get them a couple weeks earlier than planned.) When asked why he stepped on the poop, Tyler's explantion is, "The poop was up and I wanted the poop down." Yes, oh yes, he stepped in it on purpose! Grrr! I can't wait until this year's Valentine's Day Drama is complete! I hope that the dog poop was the Grand Finale!

Needless to say, I HATE VALENTINE'S DAY!!!! My sister-in-law, Chris, once suggested that Jeff & I pick a different day of the year to be our Valentine's Day. That would probably just mean that there would be an extra day of guaranteed drama and/or disappointment for us. It has become an item of comedy, waiting to see what Cupid will send our way each year for Valentine's Day. How could it get any better?

Here I Am

Well, here I am - I'm adventuring into the Blog World! I have Ilene, the true Blogging Queen, to thank for this experiment! I'm looking forward to filling this Blog with the stories of my life, but it's late & I'm going to bed! Good night!