Posts Tagged ‘children’
If you’re planning to “pop the question” to someone *very* special during this upcoming holiday season, you might want to check out the selection of engagement rings at WhiteFlash.com. Mine looks similar to this one, although mine is gold and has a “cathedral” setting. Personally, what I was drawn to on this website were the anniversary diamonds! :) Our 10-year wedding anniversary is in June 2010. I *really* like this ring, and this band is also gorgeous (would be neat with the birthstones of our children!). I also like this pendant ~ it reminds me of a snowflake! And this necklace reminded me of Hannah … it’s called “Petite Dreams of Africa.” Anyway, Christmas is a *big* time for purchasing jewelry, and this website seems to have some *really* neat designs!
You may be wondering why I recently uploaded pictures of our dirty stove to Flickr. I love Mr. Clean Magic Erasers *so* much that the company actually mailed me a box full of free goodies! Included were the supplies for conducting a test to see whether Mr. Clean Magic Erasers clean things around the house better than “the leading brand,” which is Clorox spray cleaner with bleach. We’ve been using Mr. Clean Magic Erasers for a long time now ~ well, ever since having children! LOL! :) They’re wonderful. No need to convince me that they absolutely rock. But they sent a new fragrance that I hadn’t tried yet … Citrus & Light. Mmm, very nice for the kitchen! It was fun trying something new! There was a nice letter from a lady on their marketing staff, too.
Anyway, first I used both products to clean soap scum off two tiles they provided. The Mr. Clean Magic Eraser worked *so* much better, although I wonder whether the tiles were actually covered with a soap material or whether it was some kind of “simulation.” Regardless, I’ve used Mr. Clean Magic Erasers in our bathroom, and they work like a charm.
Next, I used the Crayola marker that they provided to draw on each tile. Both products worked exactly the same to remove the red marker, although I think that the Magic Eraser was a bit neater (no spray everywhere). Also, they provided me with a box of Crayola crayons to draw on a blank wall to see which brand removed the crayon marks better. Without a doubt, it was the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. Lucas went through a phase (around age two) when he colored on everything ~ most often, our walls. For a while, Mr. Clean Magic Erasers were the only thing that saved my sanity! LOL! :)
The company even sent me a wooden spoon with a recipe card attached. The directions said, “Use the enclosed wooden spoon to prepare Mr. Clean’s chili recipe and make a mess!” LOL! :) So, I did. (Well, I actually made my own chili recipe with ground turkey.) I then did a test to see which product cleaned our dirty stove better. Honestly, they both did a good job, but I think that the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser did a little bit better. We usually use a liquid flat-top stove cleaner, but the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser was much more convenient. The only thing that I’m wondering is whether Mr. Clean Magic Erasers could be manufactured with antibacterial properties? That would be super nice for the kitchen and bathrooms, in particular.
My favorite Mr. Clean Magic Eraser fragrance is the Meadows & Rain. So refreshing and makes our house smell *so* good. We also use the liquid cleaner (diluted) in order to wash things around the house, such as wood floors and kitchen tile. One thing I noticed in the marketing information they sent me, though, is that there’s also another fragrance: Lavender Vanilla & Comfort. I *definitely* want to try that one but haven’t seen it in our stores yet. Also, I didn’t know that Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Wipes existed. That’s awesome! The website also gives good tips for how to use everything.
It was *so* cool to receive a free “test” in the mail. Just a note ~ the company isn’t paying me to review these products on my blog. I just wanted to share the results of the test because I am a sucker for nifty cleaning supplies (and these work wonderfully). I highly recommend Mr. Clean Magic Erasers to anyone ~ especially to those of you out there who have children! :)
I miss crafting. It’s difficult to do while taking care of two small children. But not too long ago, I started thinking about something my friend Carol told me ~ that knitting doesn’t require pulling out a lot of supplies and that it’s something you can do while watching TV, hanging out with your family, waiting for appointments, etc. And there are *so* many bloggers out there who knit. Originally, though, I dismissed knitting because I didn’t think that I had time to learn something new ~ and I figured that I probably wouldn’t be too good at it (or patient enough). But a week or so ago, I started thinking about knitting more and more.
Saturday, I ran over to Wal-Mart to buy some new needles for our sewing machine (because crazily enough, I broke *three* of them while trying to sew a simple baby blanket!). I found some, then turned around ~ and guess what was behind me? Knitting supplies. Oh, the yarn! I found myself just staring at everything for the longest time ~ such beautiful colors! It was like looking at the various fabrics in the craft department ~ drooling over what I can possibly sew.
I’d heard several knitting friends mention Peaches & Cream yarn, so I checked that out. A color called “Earth Tone” caught my eye. But I thought, “I know absolutely *nothing* about this. I shouldn’t even look.” The yarn was so inexpensive, though! Then, I found myself walking over to the knitting needles. I saw some royal blue ones ~ size five, whatever that means! I said, “What the heck!” and took everything up to the checkout. But I felt such a twinge of excitement!
It kind of reminds me of my grandpa ~ he used to weave *gorgeous* handmade throws with acrylic yarn on his own handcrafted loom in his basement. And I remembered that a long time ago, my mom taught me how to knit ~ but I don’t remember a whole lot, and now I wish that I’d paid more attention! Anyway, I’m now the owner of a pair of blue size five knitting needles and two balls (uh, “skeins,” right?) of yarn. Last night, I managed to figure out how to do the long-tail cast on, but I can’t seem to get the first row started. It’s hard to even stick the right needle into the top stitch ~ way too tight. I know that ultimately, all of your stitches end up on the other needle ~ but that’s the point where I’m stuck. :( I’ve been checking out the website KnittingHelp.com.
Tomorrow, I’m heading over to Carol’s because she has graciously offered to help me get started. I can’t tell you how psyched I am to be starting a new craft! Maybe I could make some pretty washcloths to accompany my handmade soaps. Yay ~ I get to make things again! :)
Here’s a question for all of you parents out there. Our pediatrician has told us, for both of our children, that when they turn two years old, we can give them any kind of milk that we choose. In other words, they don’t have to drink solely whole milk anymore. She said that if *we* drink skim milk, they can drink that, too. But I’ve heard conflicting advice from other pediatricians, who say that kids should keep drinking whole milk because they need the fat for development. We actually got into a big discussion about this topic in my parenting e-mail group. I’m just curious what you parents out there have been told. My husband thinks that we should continue buying the kids whole milk (and skim milk for us), and I think that we’ll probably go that route. But it’s just funny how doctors can give such different advice!
Speaking about parenthood … yesterday, I volunteered at our church to help take care of the infants during the service. One little boy (who was about six months old) cried pretty much the entire time, and I felt *so* badly for him. You could tell that he missed his parents, and he was also teething (he kept chewing on his fingers, on toys, etc.). I searched in his parents’ diaper bag to see whether I could find anything that might make him happy (some snacks did!), but when I looked into their diaper bag, I felt a bit of nostalgia. They had packed *everything* they would possibly need: teething tablets, several pacifiers, a change of clothing (with matching hat), diapers (of course), a bottle and formula (of course), acetaminophen and ibuprofen, various toys, a blanket, extra shoes and socks, a changing pad … you get the idea. They were *totally* prepared! And I found myself thinking, “Gosh, it seems *so* long ago when *I* carried around all of that stuff!” I remember the days of feeling sad when the kids would cry and it was *so* difficult to figure out what was wrong. I still find myself rocking back and forth sometimes, even though I no longer have a newborn to hold! :) I heard this baby’s parents talking about the challenges of getting him to fall asleep on his own and how they read about the Ferber Method. Right then, the baby spit up on the father’s dress shirt, and it made me smile. Gosh, I remember those days ~ when, at the end of the day, my clothes were covered with everything imaginable! :) Even though our children are still very young, it seems like *so* long ago that we went through all of that. I miss it a little bit, but in other ways I’m very glad to be in this stage, too. There are challenges with every age, though! I still kind of see Meredith as a baby, but she’s totally not. She just turned two! I guess that I just found myself feeling a bit nostalgic yesterday!
Someday, down the road, I’d love to start my own bath and body business. I’ve been making soaps and other homemade toiletries since December 2000, but of course right now with two small children I don’t have much time to craft anymore. I miss it. :( Anyway, when I *do* have some free time to sell my things at craft shows, festivals, and online, I plan to give away some neat promotional products along with my goodies. I’m such a sucker for those! It would be fun to design my own logo to include on pens, notepads, etc. People love free stuff, and I think that it’s a good thing for a business to do. It’s always neat at home shows and other exhibitions to pick up freebies that companies are offering, such as pens, magnets, etc. I’ve actually thought about offering some freebies like those for my note card business, Shining Moments ~ but I have to get it off the ground first! :) Anyway, at least for the moment I can dream and plan!
My experience at SuperCuts this morning was awful. I took Meredith with me because I thought that she would be easier to keep track of than Lucas. When I walked in and told the lady that I’d like to get my hair cut, she looked at Meri, frowned, and said, “I can’t have her running around.” I said yes, that I hoped she would sit nicely on my lap during my haircut (which she did).
I sat down and showed the stylist a photo of Martha Stewart’s hairstyle, and she said, “Oh, that’ll be easy.” I told her that I had been trying to grow my hair out, and she replied in a nasty tone, “Why? For a pony tail or something?” Nice. And I kid you not … she made five or six snips and that was it. Rubbed some pumpkin-scented leave-in conditioner into my hair, and she was done. I told her not to be afraid to go quite a bit shorter with my length, but she said, “No ~ that’s all you need.” Huh? Thanks *so* much for listening to me.
Well, while Meredith was in my lap, I asked the stylist about whether we should trim her bangs and the sides of her hair, around her ears. She suggested that we just trim her bangs a little bit, and I said that was fine. I asked her, “Would you mind saving a piece of her hair, then, since this is technically her very first haircut?” She said sure. But when she started cutting, she just kind of let Meredith’s hair fall to the ground. I was *so* mad. I realize that her hair is thin and fine and that trimming her bangs didn’t involve much hair cutting, but a huge chunk of it fell down onto the floor. She just kind of blew it off and mumbled, “Sorry.” I wasn’t about to pick it up because the floor was somewhat dirty.
For a woman who has four children, she was certainly pretty rude to me and to Meredith. My haircut cost $15, and it was a *total* waste. (I even had a sale coupon for $3 off, so it was really $18. I could have bought this and been much happier.) Everything is expensive these days, and I don’t want to spend money on something that I don’t want or on bad customer service. Now I have a “haircut” that looks pretty much like it did before. I’m still mad about the whole thing. Generally, I don’t like to complain, but I think that SuperCuts will be hearing from me soon.
Today is our eighth wedding anniversary! But first … I want to talk about Lucas. He seemed a bit “off” all day long yesterday. He was pretty clingy and totally freaked out when I went into a different room. He wasn’t as active, either. But we knew that something was up when he curled up with us on the couch after dinner and quickly fell asleep in my lap. (I took advantage of that snuggling time, though, because those moments are pretty much few and far between these days!) We covered him up with a blanket and then eventually carried him upstairs to his bed.
Around 10:30 p.m. when I started to head to bed myself, I went in to check on him and he was burning up. So hot. He stirred awake and said that his ears hurt. (He has actually been saying for a few days that his ears are bothering him, but we thought that it was allergy-related.) That’s when I figured that it was probably an ear infection. Neither of our kids had experienced one yet, but I’d heard from other moms that alternating acetaminophen and ibuprofen and giving lukewarm baths helps. After I took his temperature (which was just over 100 degrees) and gave him some medicine, he wanted to snuggle in our bed. I got a cool washcloth for his forehead, but he didn’t want any part of that. He did really great with drinking some water, though. I changed him into lightweight clothes, and he fell back asleep.
Around 4:30 a.m., he woke up and wanted to snuggle with me. I took him into our bonus room, and we both slept on the futon for the rest of the night. He doesn’t feel nearly as warm today, thank goodness. He seems to be doing a lot better. I hope that more medicine and a bath will help even more. I’m debating about whether to call the pediatrician because it seems like he’s feeling better now, but maybe I will just to be safe.
OK … so, like I said, eight years ago today we were walking down the aisle! We were pronounced husband and wife at exactly 4:54 p.m. Right about now, I was probably preparing to put on my wedding gown and get ready for a bite to eat for lunch and then have some pictures taken. I couldn’t wait to see how all of our wedding planning during the past year and a half would unfold. It’s amazing to think about everything that we have done together during the past eight years ~ especially being blessed with two incredible children. I seriously cannot believe that we’re approaching our 10th wedding anniversary so quickly, either! Maybe then we can go back to Quebec City (where we went on our honeymoon). And hopefully we’ll be able to go back there for our 50th anniversary in 2050! :)
Jeff left a “Happy Anniversary!” note on the dry-erase calendar on our refrigerator this morning. We’re going to have a nice dinner this evening and just hang out as a family. I really feel that it doesn’t necessarily matter what you do for your anniversary ~ but rather, the important thing is that you’re fortunate enough to just be together.
Our eighth wedding anniversary is Tuesday, but we decided to start celebrating today. :)
First, we enjoyed a delicious lunch at our local café. I ordered chicken quesadillas (served with rich sour cream and spicy salsa), and Jeff opted for a breakfast of strawberry-blueberry pancakes with sausage. We live in a very small town where everyone pretty much knows everyone else, so when we walked in by ourselves, everyone in the café shouted, “What? No children?!?” :) It was nice to linger over a yummy meal while gazing out at the Hudson River and actually having some peaceful time to talk with each other.
Afterward, we jumped back into the car and headed to Crossgates Mall for a movie. Now, get this ~ I hadn’t been inside a movie theater since July 2004, when we saw “Spider-Man.” And actually, back then I was pregnant with Lucas but just didn’t know it yet. (Having to get up and go to the bathroom about every 10 minutes during the film should have clued me in!) It was just so amazing to think about sitting in that very same theater four years ago with a tiny little one growing in my tummy ~ about to find out very soon that I would be a mommy!
We saw “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” and we both agreed that it definitely wasn’t the best of the Indiana Jones movies. Still great, though. My friend Jan told me to pay attention to the monkey’s back (during the scene where they’re swinging from the trees, I’m assuming), but I must have missed it because I didn’t notice anything. It was kind of sad seeing Harrison Ford so much older (and slower-moving), but I swear that he just gets more and more handsome with age. The ending was cute ~ definitely setting up for a sequel. And I’d forgotten how loud movies can be! We bought some bottled water (on “sale” for $3.75, LOL!), and the lady in front of me at the concession stand spent $17 on two small Cokes and a large tub of popcorn. That’s just insane. Oh, but all that butter looked so freaking good.
I gave Jeff his anniversary present, too. The traditional eighth anniversary gifts are bronze or pottery, so I got a bit creative and gave him a gift certificate to The Pottery Place. I thought that we could go there as a family and create some fun things with the kids’ hand prints, or we could also go there as a couple and make something together.
So where were our children during all of this? At home with our wonderful babysitter. :) She goes to our church and is very pretty, smart, responsible, and kind. She just completed her senior year of high school while simultaneously completing her first year of college! We knew that Lucas and Meredith were in excellent hands. I’m so glad that she was available today.
And you know what? I’m so proud of myself. My anxiety didn’t bother me one bit today. Going places and being social like that often makes my anxiety flare up, and I figured that I’d have to pop one of my “mega pills” before the movie. Nope! It’s crazy ~ going to movies never bothered me before, but for the past several years I’ve been nervous about movie theaters (especially at night). This time, however, I did just great!
So Tuesday, on our actual anniversary, I have a very special dinner lined up: frozen lasagna. :) You might laugh, but it’s actually kind of a tradition. On our first wedding anniversary, we stayed in Montauk, NY, and bought some frozen lasagna one evening at a local grocery store. Then, we came back to our hotel room and heated it up in the microwave. It was pretty neat, having a “picnic” inside. So sometimes we still do the lasagna thing to celebrate that fun memory!
Almost eight years. Wow. And we’re getting close to our 10th!
How did your pet(s) react when you had children? Our kitty, Little Beast, was pretty skittish around Lucas when we brought him home from the hospital. (When I was pregnant with him, Little Beast definitely knew that something was up. I remember her acting differently ~ snuggling with me a lot more and also being apprehensive around my belly.) And as he grew older, she became a bit more interested but overall still stayed away from him and was very cautious. I remember laying Lucas down on a soft blanket on our living room rug so that he could roll over and do “tummy time,” and Little Beast would sit as absolutely close to his blanket as she possibly could ~ but she would never touch it. Someone suggested that Jeff should bring one of Lucas’s hospital hats home and let Little Beast sniff it (so that she could get used to his scent), and we did that ~ but I’m not sure whether that worked. I’d heard all kinds of stories about cats jumping into a baby’s crib, but that never happened to us.
As Lucas became a toddler, though, it was a challenge teaching him how to be gentle with Little Beast. We came up with a cute little song (to the tune of “Mary Had a Little Lamb”): “This is how we pet the Beast, pet the Beast, pet the Beast … this is how we pet the Beast, so gently with our hands.” He did a really good job overall (although sometimes he would try to ride her like a horse, pull on her ears, or pull her tail). And now that he’s much older, he does just great with her.
Well, Little Beast basically got pissed at us for deciding to procreate again. LOL! :) I’m sure that when we brought Meredith home from the hospital, she probably said to herself, “Oh crap, another one!” She generally just hides from the kids. Meredith seems to love kitties, though, and she is very good at being gentle with her. It’s awesome to hear her giggle and see her smile when she interacts with Little Beast! She won’t eat bananas but adores cat food, and I don’t get that. And she enjoys dumping cat food into her water dish. But here lately, she has gotten a lot better about that and doesn’t seem so interested in playing with the cat’s feeding dishes.
Anyway, I used to take tons of pictures of Little Beast, but I don’t really anymore. I feel badly about not paying nearly as much attention to her now as I did before having children. I’m lucky if I can remember to feed her in the mornings! I used to cuddle up with her on the couch while watching TV, and now my lap is filled with a little boy and a little girl! :) She’s getting older, too. I’m finding it difficult to admit, but … she was about six months old when we got her in 1998, and that was 10 years ago. We actually had to move her litter box up from our basement to our master bathroom because she has been peeing in our upstairs hallway. :( It absolutely stinks now. We’re not sure whether she’s getting old and tired and doesn’t want to make the trip downstairs anymore or whether she’s getting confused and thinks that our beige carpet looks like her litter box. Anyway, I think that it’s helping the hallway problem. Our bathroom smells now, though. :(
Today, I came across a site all about pets called ZooToo. It’s seriously like Facebook for animals, LOL! :) You can sign up, create a profile for yourself (along with a picture), and of course enter information and select a picture for your pet(s). If you’d like to see my public profile, it’s here. You can invite friends to join or browse for friends based on pets and common interests. There are boards where you can discuss pet-related news. There are also pet volunteering opportunities listed, and you can affiliate yourself with a particular animal shelter or rescue center. You can also find and rate pet services (such as groomers, boarders, etc.).
So as I investigate this site further, it makes me realize how little attention I’ve been paying to Little Beast as of late. I really want to work on that. She’s part of our family and has been with us through so much! And now, I should probably get going and make sure that she still has some food in her bowl, LOL! :)
