Sick Today

My nose is runny, I have a cough, my throat, ears, and head hurt. The girls both have it too. I'm miserable. The babies are like "whatever!" but I can barely function.

How do babies do it? If there was something on the market called "Baby Energy!" in pill form or even as an energy drink, I would buy that stuff by the case. By the boat load, even.

I Can Totally Do This

So THIS is what pregnancy is like for those lucky ladies who aren't miserable for 9 months straight!

My pregnancy with Clark is just so different than my pregnancy with Elise. My major complaint is that I get that awful, painful tingling in my lower back, butt, and legs for hours and hours after mommy/daddy time. Sex Butt, I call it. I got it with Elise, too. It showed up around the 5th month with Clark. Man, was I disappointed that THAT pregnancy side effect was back.

Am I the only person who gets it? I've never heard anyone else complain of Sex Butt. My kids simply refuse to let me enjoy mommy/daddy time for some reason.

Of course, I have trouble sleeping. Turning over in bed is a major hassle now that my belly is so big, and I'm a tosser and a turner. So I wake up just about every time I need to change positions. Not to mention my twice nightly trips to the bathroom.

Over all, though, I can't really complain. Pretty awesome.

Chatterbox

Elise is getting pretty good at copying the sounds that she hears. Words, I mean. I often tell her that I love her, so she's started trying to say it back. It sounds mostly like "uh la yah!" but it's so very cute and melts my heart every time she says it. Even if she has no idea what it means.

Oh, and last night Husband left the room where the kids were playing and I suddenly needed him back. I was shouting his name across the house. Well, now Elise can yell his name, too. Husband thinks it's funny. I'm glad. Some adults are weird about how kids address them. I don't think she'll call Husband by his first name for any length of time, though. She just knows that she's getting a reaction from us right now.

More Teeth

Elise is getting her first molar! I know this because she stuck my finger in her mouth and bit down.

Squeezy Tummy

The Braxton-Hicks contractions have begun!

I've had, like, 6 or 7 of them tonight. Just BOOM! Contraction time!

I'm 26 weeks along now. That's earlier than I got them with Elise, I'm pretty sure. I think that Clark is planning a jail break. Probably after he heard me suggest to Husband that we name him Linus Galileo instead of Clark. I think he figures he better hurry up and make an appearance before I go completely bonkers.

Like Weeds

The kids are growing like crazy. Henry is about to need new shoes-- his second size up in 6 months or so. He needs bigger shirts and the girls are both ready for the next size of clothes.

We've been buying little things here and there as we see good prices. Got the girls some shirts today, got Georgia some pants a few days ago. We also bought Elise her first swim suit today. She looks so insanely cute in it.

Anyway, I think we'll just stop feeding them for a while and see if that helps slow these growth spurts down. We'll save money on clothes AND food that way. Win-win!

Baby Fishy

Elise is signed up for swimming lessons next month!

She's going to love it. She already tries to lay down in the bathtub and she likes dipping her face in the water. She's totally comfortable being dripping wet, having water in her eyes, letting her fingers and toes shrivel up. If she could sit in the bathtub all day eating goldfish crackers and bananas, she'd be the happiest baby ever.

I'm going to be the one taking her to the lessons. I certainly don't fit into my one-piece bathing suit, so despite my better judgment, I will be wearing my bikini. I'll look gross and weird... but who am I trying to impress, anyway?

Busy

A couple of times a year I do some work-- contract work, I guess you'd call it. This time I'm REALLY busy. Slammed. It'll be good money, but oh man. Staying up past midnight doing boring crap for hours on end when you have 3 babies and a pregnant belly SUCKS.

Baby Butt Lump

When I'm pregnant, there comes a point where the baby is big enough that I can tell where certain baby body parts are sometimes, regardless of movement or kicking. Feeling the butt comes first.

I felt Clark's butt recently. I felt it a little above and to the right of my belly button.

Its hard to describe what it feels like when I feel a baby butt in my uterus. There's extra pressure, and a slight tension in my skin. It feels like maybe there's a knot in my tummy. And then when I feel my belly with my hand, I feel an extra hardness, where usually my pregnant belly is soft.

When I touched Clark's bony little butt, he stayed still breifly and then he moved. The lump and the tension were gone. But it's nice to feel him extra.

I love your butt, little guy!

Salsaroni and Apples

Husband and I read that some people like to add salsa to their macaroni and cheese. We decided to try it. Husband will mix just about any two food items in the kitchen together and eat them anyway, so he was all for it. We got mild salsa so the kids could taste it, too.

The kids loved it! It tasted just how you would expect-- nothing amazing but not bad, either. Mostly, I'm storing this in my mommy memory bank for when they start boycotting vegetables and I have to find ways to sneak a few onions, bell peppers, and tomatoes into their meals.

Also, I read that apples help reduce the severity and duration of nasal allergies. They help block histamines somehow. So don't skimp on the apples during allergy season!

Your Bedtime Story Tonight

Someone Else's Post

Just read this blog post and it was good. It was written about adopted children, but it would definitely apply to foster children as well. In fact, anyone who wants to be a compassionate parent could benefit from reading this lady's thoughts. Because biologically related to your family or not, every child has moments or hours or DAYS of crummy, frustrating behavior and it's really easy to get into a negative, crummy, frustrated place of parenting, as well. To take it personally. To forget that children aren't as emotionally developed as we want them to be sometimes. But in their fits of bad behavior, they still need us to be there for them and show them that we love them, even if we don't approve of their actions.

click here for the link

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day, friends and family!

We had a nice day. Nothing crazy. Low key, like Mother's Day.

Took the kids to the library. Husband got a smoothie on the way home as a special treat. He only eats sweets on certain days, so no junk food today. Smoothies are a loophole, I guess, since they're all fruit. But I'm going to make him a cake on his next sweets day-- that was our agreement.

I think Husband bought some computer-related thingy or another as a Father's Day present. Now he's playing video games. Headphones on so he doesn't wake the babies up, clicking away on his computer.

Happy day!

Kiddie Weekends

On weekends where we don't have anything big planned, Husband and I have a list of places that we like to take the kids for an hour or two. One of the keys to having small children-- especially lots of small children-- is keeping them busy.

I don't know if it's because they're still really young, but the kids enjoy trips to the grocery store. There are lots of different sights and sounds. Strange new people to shout hi to. Unfamiliar things to talk about. They all love smelling the produce and the flowers. And they're still unaware of the lure that sugary cereals or freshly baked cookies has on most people, so there's no whining or pleading for junk food.

We can get our shopping done for the week and keep the kids entertained at the same time. Very cool.

You Tell 'im, Elise!

Elise tripped over a power cord earlier today. She got up, turned around, and told that cord, "NO, NO, NO!!!"

It was heeeeeeee-larious!

She's also started saying "please" to get what she wants. She's very good at knowing when it's appropriate to ask nicely. She's even trying to use it to manipulate a bit, I think.

The other night Elise woke up too early for a feeding and so when I heard her asking for milk I told her "Night night, Elise." She knows that I'm telling her to lay back down when I say that. She fusses for a minute, but she understands what I mean and she does lay down. Well, she wasn't having it that night. Instead of going back to sleep she started asking please, please, please (in her little baby way that she does, as it doesn't sound like a perfectly formed word yet but I know what she's saying). I didn't give in, but MAN... good move Elise. That one almost worked on me.

Tubes Tubes Tubes

Well, not surprisingly, Georgia needs tubes in her ears, too. So now we begin the process of getting the procedure approved by the court and set up with the doctor. We're still waiting on paperwork stuff so that Henry can get his put in. This stuff takes forever!

Up And Away

Georgia stood up in the middle of the floor all by herself last night and then took off walking. Yay!

She only did it once. You know how babies are-- she probably won't do it again for a week or two. But I'm just glad that she did it at all. She's never come close before to displaying enough balance to stand herself up without holding on to something.

Wow. Soon we'll have 3 toddlers. And a newborn. Wow.

Growing Elisey

Elise had her 15 month old doctor's checkup recently. She was 30.5 inches tall (45th percentile) and 20.5 lbs (15th percentile). Healthy as could be.

I asked the doctor if it was a problem that there is such a difference in the percentiles for her height and weight. He said no. She's continuing to grow and gain height and weight steadily. He said that the plotted curve for her weight since she was born shows a normal growth pattern. In fact, she has a higher weight percentile than she did at her one year checkup. She had a big growth spurt in height in the last 3 months. But she's just naturally skinny, I guess.

No shots at the 15 month checkup. Happy baby!

Swim Lesson Success

Henry started swim lessons recently. We signed him up for several reasons-- kids should know how to swim for exercise and for fun, knowing how to swim makes kids safer, and also Henry has anxiety about bath time so we thought he might learn to like the water if he enjoys hanging out in a swimming pool. We were fully prepared for a meltdown and even the possibility of discontinuing his lessons.

It went well, though. He was a bit timid, but he followed instructions for the most part and even smiled a few times during class. Henry did very well for his first time in swim class, and I think he'll be happy about going back again.

Success!

Baby Breakfast

One thing I can count on the kids for is that they'll eat a good breakfast. They all three like most breakfast foods. Henry and Elise don't care for eggs, but I can trick Elise into eating them if I add enough cheese.

Pancakes, waffles, Cheerios, corn flakes, toast and jelly, cheese toast, cheese grits, yogurt, bananas, applesauce, blueberries, english muffins, oatmeal, biscuits, potatoes, milk, juice... Henry, Georgia, and Elise will eat all of that stuff. Georgia hasn't yet figured out that she can refuse food, so she'll eat anything you give her no matter what. But Henry and Elise can be picky. I don't know if they just really like breakfast food or if they're always too hungry in the morning to make a fuss, but their first meal of the day is usually pretty big.

Maybe I should try to be more adventurous-- quiche, breakfast burritos, baked beans, granola-- and see if they're still willing to eat what I serve.

Broken Heart, 6 Steps, Ribs

* Elise broke my heart forever tonight. It was time to make dinner, so I left the kids in the girls' bedroom with Husband and walked down the hall and through the kiddie gate. As I shut the gate behind myself, Elise came running after me, crying. She didn't want me to leave. I turned around to see her standing at the gate, her hand stretched out, and she sobbed, "Bye bye, Mama!" Oh my god. I'm crying just thinking about it again.

* Without prompting, Georgia decided to practice walking tonight. Over and over, she walked from the edge of some furniture to me or to another target. She got up to 6 steps in a row, which she accomplished several times. She was SO proud of herself, laughing and smiling. It was pretty awesome. It's easy to see that her balance is getting better, and she's getting much more confident.

* My ribs have been hurting. Clark must be sitting in my belly differently than Elise did. I don't remember having sore ribs with Elise.

The Grossest Grossness

I'm pretty sure Elise ate poop today.

At the end of snack time this afternoon Husband said, "Elise's breath smells like poop." I did not take what he said literally. Apparently I should have.

Shortly thereafter, with a terrible look on her face, Elise handed me something that looked like maybe a chewed up and spit out Cheerio. Dutifully, I grabbed it off of her hand and then washed it off of my own hand in the kitchen sink.

"What was that?" Husband asked. "I don't know. I don't want to think about it or it'll just gross me out more," I said. Famous last words.

As we got the kids cleaned up and ready to get out of their booster seats, I noticed Elise's hand was dirty with something that didn't look like anything she had eaten for snack. There was a small light brown smudge behind her ear. Something was in her hair. I wondered where this mess had come from.

Back in the girl's bedroom, Husband says, "I STILL smell poop." So we checked diapers. Elise was poopy and Husband put her on the changing pad. As he opened her diaper he says, "THAT'S the same smell that's on her breath!"

And then it dawned on us. Everything suddenly added up. Our daughter ate her own poop.

So gross.

Baby Fat, Etc.

* I had a check up with my OBGYN's office today. I have gained 9 POUNDS since last month. Holy crap. Time to slow down on the ice cream, I guess.

* Heard Clark's little heart beat today. The midwife said his heart rate is around 130. An old wives' tale says that unborn girls have a heart rate of over 140 beats per minute and boys' rate is under 140. So even though science has proven that heart beats per minute does not actually indicate your baby's gender, the old wives' tale does hold true for Clark.

* Henry is all signed up for swimming lessons. A parent has to get in the water with the kids, so Husband will be enjoying the pool this weekend, as well. Henry has a lot of stress and anxiety at bath time. We're hoping that the swim class will show him that the water can be fun. If not, we may have to abort the mission. We'll see how it goes.

* More drama with Henry's DNA test. The lab has misplaced some documentation, so even though the DNA test is complete, they wont release the results until they get another copy of the documents. First they lose the samples, then they lose some paperwork. I'm buying these people a file cabinet for Christmas. Idiots.

Go, Georgia, Go!

Georgia took a couple of steps tonight! They were lunging baby steps, not real walking, but that's so much more than she's ever done before. I was so excited!!!

Georgia's started making a few new sounds, she's making progress toward walking, and she's using her baby sign language more. It's as if she's been observing for the past few months, taking it all in, and all of a sudden she's decided to put everything she's learned in to practice.

Yay!

Just goes to show that every kid's different and you never know what's going on in their little baby brains.

Stupid Morning

Yesterday morning sucked. Sucked.

I knew that Georgia had an appointment scheduled with an ear, nose, and throat doctor that day. I had waited TWO MONTHS for this appointment as that was the soonest they could see us, and I was anxiously looking forward to it. We're trying to find out if Georgia needs ear tubes like her older siblings both do, so this appointment was very important to me. I want to help her get her speech and her balance issues resolved while she's still a little baby; if there's anything we can do to help her now, I want to do it.

Anyway, because of some stupid confusion that was all my fault, I realized the correct time for Georgia's appointment 20 minutes before we were due to be across town meeting with this specialist. I freaked out. I called the doctor's office to see if I could reschedule for a time in the near future... instead, the receptionist said, "You can be up to 15 minutes late for your appointment." So I decided to go for it. Like an idiot, I decided that I could make it. I would do this for Georgia. I would be a good mom, correct my mistake, and make it there on time.

I threw on some clothes, packed the diaper bag, scooped Elise out of her pack 'n play (she was napping), and ran to my car. I packed shoes for Elise but didn't have time to put them on her. I didn't have the minivan, which would have made my life much easier. I also didn't have a stroller, as they were all in the minivan.

I called Georgia's day care and asked them to have her diaper changed and have her ready to go, stopped by and picked her up, and raced across town to the hospital, where the doctor's office is located. I had to find parking. And of course, the ONLY parking spot was WAAAAAAAY far away from the hospital entrance. I carried both of the girls through the parking lot, to an elevator, and down the longest corridor I've ever seen in my life in order to reach the doctor's office. This with my big pregnant belly. A 20+ pound baby on each hip, a diaper bag (god knows how much that weighs), and me power-walking the whole way.

I arrived at the office 19 minutes late. I showed up breathing heavy, drenched in sweat, and feeling like I was about to die. My arms were shaking they hurt so bad from carrying both of the girls such a far distance. Nervous laughter from the people in the waiting room when I opened the door carrying two babies of different races and sporting a big, round tummy. Looking like a wet, disheveled, crazy woman about to have a heart attack. Thanks, jerks. No, no one bother to hold the door for me. I'm fine.

And then

to top it all off

the receptionist says to me after I check in, "Oh, the doctor isn't in today. We'll have to reschedule."

I put my head down on the counter and laughed. Or cried. Or both. Not sure.

So I composed myself as best I could and said that since I was already there, I might as well go ahead and fill out all of the in-take paperwork so I don't have to do it next time I come in.

"Okay! Good idea. Oh, and is your phone number blah-blah-blah-9?"

"No. It's blah-blah-blah-4."

"Oh, I guess that's why we couldn't reach you about rescheduling. We have your number wrong in our system."

So, all of that just to fill out paperwork. It sucked. I hate people.

On an up note, the girls were super well-behaved in the waiting room. Perfect little angels. They must have known that it was not a good time to mess with mommy.

You've GOT to Be Kidding Me

Elise and I were reading "Good Night Moon" yesterday. On about half of the pages of the book there is an illustration of a red balloon floating in the air.

Elise freaked out.

She'd point to it, ask "bye-yoon? bye-yoon?" (her word for balloon), and then start whining. I'd tell her, yes, it's a balloon and everything is okay. Turn the page. There's another one. "Bye-yoon?! BYE-YOON?!" Fuss, fuss, fuss. She'd put her finger right on the picture, but it still scared her for some reason.

This phobia runs deep.

Crappy Housewife Video

I saw this today on awkwardfamilyphotos.com:



Kinda funny. Intentionally so? That's up for debate.

I personally love being a stay-at-home mommy right now. I would gladly forgo the disco to stay home and cuddle my babies. Silly lady. She doesn't know what she's missing.

My Baby Songbird

Elise sang for the first time tonight!

Elise loves nursery rhymes-- especially anything with animals in the song. Tonight at dinner we sang "Baa Baa Black Sheep" and Elise started singing the song over again by herself when we were through. I mean, she can't really say the words, and she only mostly got the tune-- but she did a pretty impressive job for 14 month old.

She sang, "Baa baa" just like it's supposed to start. Then more baas and that evolved into crazy-sounding baby babble that was clearly meant to imitate our adult words. She bobbed her head as she sang. It was awesome.

Baa baa baa baa baa baa buggah buggah bwah bwah duh duh bugnahdaggadaggamuhmuh...

Second (Baby) Guessing

With the first baby, I wondered about every detail of how she'd look when she came out. What color would her hair be? Whose ears would she have? What would her nose look like?

With baby #2, I wonder those same things, but I also put it in the context of baby #1. Will Clark have the same hair color as Elise? Will they be the kind of siblings that people know right away are related because they look so similar? Will Clark be skinny like Elise is, or will he be a chubby baby?

And of course, I wonder how different their personalities will be. I wonder what kinds of things I'll end up remarking on. This time next year, will I be saying, "It's funny how similar Elise and Clark are!" Or will I be saying, "Elise was so much more laid back than Clark," or, "I thought Elise was an easy baby, but Clark is just a dream!"

So exciting to think about these things.

Caught Stealing

Where I live, there is an agency that helps foster parents pay for day care for their foster children. This agency helps anyone who meets certain financial requirements, but foster children are considered to have no income and the foster parents' income is not counted, so foster kids are always eligible. It's really nice. We have no fees at all for the kids' day care.

Foster parents do have to check in with the agency periodically-- go down and sign paperwork. Yes, they still live with me. Yes, they're still in day care. At the end of this process, they walk you through a room filled with books and let you pick out a book for each of your foster kids.

I had to renew our day care voucher today and I had Elise with me while I did it. The lady who was helping me said at the end that Elise could pick out a book, too. Very nice of her.

While I was looking for books for Henry and Georgia, Elise was browsing the shelves, too. Right at her baby eye-level she found a book with Sesame Street characters. I've been showing Elise some Seasme Street most days of the week, to keep her occupied while I make dinner. She watches maybe 20 minutes of an hour episode. And LOVES it.

I saw her pick up the Seasme Street book. She looked up at me. We made eye contact. Then she took off running. I think she believed that she was stealing the book.

Of course, I let her keep it. She power-walked/baby-ran almost the whole way back to the car with that book. Big Bird is going to need to have a serious talk with my kid about this.

Poop

Ever since Georgia has lived with us, she's had problems with constipation. I guess it's constipation. Even if the poo is soft, she'll cry and strain when it comes out. It's soooo pathetic to watch her cry and grunt. Her little face turns red sometimes. Sometimes she gets so upset she pulls at her own hair.

I've talked to her doctor again and again about it. Eventually he put her on some kind of oil to help grease up her insides. I thought it helped, but in retrospect she was on antibiotics at the same time and I think that it was the fact that antibiotics can cause diarrhea that might have been helping her and not the oil itself. I told the doctor that the only time she's ever not cried during bowel movements is while she's on antibiotics. He only half listened to me. He insisted the oil was helping.

This morning before she left for school, Georgia had a poo and when I changed her diaper there was blood. I know it was from the straining, so I didn't freak out. But I did call her doctor's office. I guess you have to tell this doctor that there is blood involved in order to be taken seriously. Telling him that she scream-cries for minutes on end EVERY TIME she poops isn't enough. Apparently it's the blood that did it.

I took her to see her doctor this evening. First he asks, "Does she eat many vegetables?" I wanted to laugh and say that I'm a vegetarian, so yes, she eats plenty of vegetables. But I just assured him that she gets a very balanced diet (she eats meat at school) and hardly any junk food at all.

The doctor FINALLY agreed to try a new medication. He also said that I need to bring in a poo sample so that they can check for parasites. He said that he doubts that they'll find any, though. I said, "Well, it won't hurt to rule that out." And he said, "Yes. It doesn't hurt to check." No kidding. We should have done this MONTHS ago in my opinion. I asked at more than one visit, "Is there anything we can check for? Some kind of next step?" Well, better late than never, I suppose.

I hope that her new medicine helps. I can't even imagine how potty training will go if every bowel movement is a traumatic experience.