Rusty's snoring has nearly diminished this week. We're not sure why but I'm loving it. He insisted that I blog about it so that his reputation as The Very Loud Snorer could be restored. (Secretly, while this is wonderful, I don't expect it to last forever!)

Sometimes Josh wakes up from his afternoon naps just desolate. Today, after more than an hour and a half of sleep, he woke up crying then sobbing then wailing, whimpering, whining then cranky. This whole transition lasted about an hour. I held him in my arms, head over my shoulder, sat with him, held his hand, rubbed his back, offered milk and sacks, called his friend so he could say hi- I tried everything. We eventually walked around the block- his idea- then greeted Rusty as he came home. I am clueless as to why he wakes up like this. He never wakes up sad in the mornings (unless he's sick) and he doesn't always wake up sad from naps.

I got hiccups while reading to Josh tonight. They were so strong, I had to pause the story a few times because Josh was cracking up. I thought he'd never settle down. Now that both boys are out, we're going to watch The Golden Compass on the couch.



Best pictures of the week: Elliot bathing in the kitchen sink. He loves to be in the sink!

My appetite is funky these days. I start out the day with a decent breakfast (usually cereal or bagel), a light lunch, a few bites of a snack (Sun Chips, peanut butter stuffed pretzels, fruit, etc.), then dinner. Then, around this time, after the kids are in bed and I'm winding down for the evening- I get the munchies! I can't help it but I want to pig out. Even if I've had a filling dinner, my brain stills thinks I need something more. Lately I've been indulging this by snacking on a variety of things: fruit, nuts, ice-cream, cookies dunked in milk, Sun Chips, trail mix. Some nights are healthier than others but it's not really helping nightly urges. Tonight it's ice-cream with nuts on top.

I caught someone in a lie this week. I was checking out the Natural Grocer, a new small grocery store in the corner of a shopping strip. I had gone to a Sprouts store (love them BTW) nearby and thought I'd compare. I didn't much care for the Natural Grocer. There were hardly any groceries and tons of vitamins, herbals and supplements. They did have a sale on organic blackberries for $1 so I bought a box. As I was checking out, the cashier lady said, "I remember you from the last time you were here."
"I've never been to this store before today." Busted!
"Well you must have a twin somewhere..." Yeah, I doubt that.
I'll bet she says this to several people a day trying to give them the warm fuzzies so they'll come back.

A while back Rusty attempted to "help" me update the online photo album by switching from Gallery to ZenPhoto. Supposedly Zen is better on the back end in addition to looking fresher. Problem is that when he transferred the data, somehow it ate the captions for some... I don't know... 600 pictures! After several angry looks and catty mutterings, he's trying to redeem himself. He's managed to regain about 300 captions, but even then some didn't go to the right picture. So if you're poking around the old pictures (the pre-Elliot side) many pictures lack a caption and some have a misplaced caption. And I still have a scowl on my face!

On the bright side- I LOVE to look at Joshua's baby pictures. That part puts a smile on my face.

So it's a scowl until I get distracted with cute baby pictures.

We got a few books from the library for Josh this week. I was trying to go for classic fairy tales. He's heard references for the Three Little Pigs and Jack and the Beanstalk and other such stories. I thought it was time he got them for bedtime. What is it with people messing up these stories? Little Red Riding Hood is a modern girl with a hooded jacket on a bike on the prairie with a grandma who is a farmer and she catches a dim-witted wolf before he can harm granny then puts him to work making muffins. Confused? So was I! There's the Three Little Pigs one. The author had to create another character: the mother pig. She has a waffle business that lures patrons including a wolf who is a bully trying to eat the pigs, gets caught by the mommy pig, treated like a waffle which makes him a good guy again then is sent away to a far away beach. I'm certain Hans Christian Andersen would disapprove. I particularly hate the Pig story because the pigs don't solve their problem, the mother does! In both stories the wolf is turned into a "good guy" instead of meeting some terrible fate for their treacherous ways. Are authors afraid to discuss consequences of being a bully (or predator) or of misfortune of anyone? Why do they feel so compelled to modernize the tales? Little Red Hiding Hood should have a cape and hood, not some lame hoodie jacket from BabyGap. I say we've gone soft. Way too soft. We're so afraid our kids will freak out if a story says that grandma got eaten by a wolf or pigs cooked a wolf in their brick fireplace. I know, I know- not all fairy tales are suitable for young (impretionable) ears. This is where discretion comes into play. What's next? Hansel & Gretel meet a nice old lady who takes them home? The Ugly Duckling is accepted from the start? Cinderella's sisters are nice and Snow White never sees a poisoned apple? Rusty says, "It's too P.C." I couldn't agree more.

Also, Chutes and Ladders has Diego characters. Yet another lame bastardization of a classic.

Snapshots from my three-year-old's dreams:

  • his teacher was blowing a whistle
  • someone flying a kite
  • Pop-Pop came to the house
  • he couldn't find me downstairs (part of a nightmare)
  • he was going down a slide
After today's nap, he said he didn't have a dream, which I interpret as that he doesn't remember it.

The update on Rusty's grandmother isn't great. They got fluid out of her lungs but the cancer has disintegrated her ninth rib and spread to her spleen. She's still on oxygen and isn't expected to go off. It's not likely she'll be able to travel home to be with Anne so Rusty's parents are in Las Vegas with her.

Josh is home with me today and tomorrow. Today we're spending some time with Signe and Ethan who are visiting from College Station. Tomorrow morning we have three choices of things to do: play at a playground with an old neighbor, go to a splash pad or a MOPs playdate. I'm not sure what we'll do and it'll come down to timing. Elliot's asleep now at 9am leaving us open for lunch time play. His nap has shifted this week. He's gone down early for an hour or two, will be awake through lunch and down again around three or so. That's the latest trend.

Joshua has been annoying me relentlessly. He'll ask me repatedly through the day, "Hey mommy? What are you doing?" Even when he knows what I'm doing, he'll ask anyway. Sometimes he'll ask three or four times in a row even though I haven't changed what I'm doing. Grrrr! I know this is a phase and I'm looking forward to the end of it! He's breaking rules, defying my requests and acting rude. Sometimes I want to bop him on the back of the head. Instead, I vent to my mom in the evenings and shove the kids toward Rusty when he comes home.

Rusty's grandmother, Helen Macedon, has lymphoma and is going through chemo. She had a rough patch this weekend but is now responding well to drugs and treatment and may be well enough to travel soon. Helen's wish is to move in with Anne (Rusty's mom) to be close to family in her last months and years. We suspect she's feeling lonely and overburdened with her medical problems. She and her husband Frank live in Las Vegas. Frank will likely move into a full-time care facility when he comes to Plano too. I'm preparing to do what I can to help them out when they move here until I find a job.

Here's a picture I took of Elliot yesterday.

Here's another downer: today Joshua was exactly the same age that Jason was when he died in 1973- 3 years, 1 month and 17 days old. Nothing special happened today to commemorate this although I did take a moment to gaze at Josh this morning to marvel at how much he's grown and admire his features. I can now understand how the death of Jason put a wrench into my family's heart when he died 35 years ago.

This month is all about birthdays. Today was Byron's birthday, tomorrow is Hailey's, next week is Lisa's and Nia's. I'm looking forward to Hailey's party tomorrow because her mom, my friend Carolyn, will have her newborn baby in tow and I'm anxious to see him. I just love looking at tiny newborns. And he's the only boy in my circle of friends having babies this year. One boy and five girls. It's the year of girls! I think we're done with birthdays after these. Thank God!

My brain is exhausted and it's way past my usual bedtime. Last night we played Scrabble again after the kids went to sleep. Rusty won by 4 points (205 to 201). We could have played faster but we were being competitive pushing the game to midnight. Not tonight. Buenas noches!

We celebrated our nine year wedding anniversary yesterday. Rusty took the day off and we sent Josh to day school. After dragging Rusty out of bed, we had breakfast at Rise & Dine in Addison. I don't recommend that place- the waiter messed up on our order three times and the food wasn't special. While Elliot napped after breakfast, we played a game of Scrabble. I claim we both won, Rusty says he won. But we all know I'm right in this argument. :) Later, we went to Exposure Rock Climbing. I climbed about seven times, Rusty five times. We had a great time but felt sore afterwards. My arms and areas of my upper back are stiff today. Rusty's parents put Joshua and Elliot to bed so we could go see a movie: Get Smart. It was a good film. I would give it 3.5 stars. More interestingly, I had a huricane to drink that was waaaay too strong for my lightweight cheap-date self. I was feeling silly half way through the movie, then got hiccups towards the end and felt sleepy in the last ten minutes. Not only was I up and out past my usual bedtime but the alcohol was mellowing me way out. Overall, it was a good day with Rusty. We're looking forward to next year though. Next year will be our 10 year anniversary and we're planning to spend a few days in New York City. We've got one year to save up and make it happen.

In domestic affairs, Elliot is almost crawling, but not yet. He gets on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth. The time for crawling is very imminent. He's got six teeth now- four on top, two on bottom. He's a good eater chowing down on apples, bananas, sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, Cheerios, crackers, rice cakes, even some soft chicken. His poop is getting firm too. I'm still breastfeeding him every 3-4 hours and will introduce a sippy cup by the end of the month with water. I don't want to rush him from being weened but I also want to go back to work in the winter or early spring after he's weened and walking.

Josh is going through a let-me-do-it-by-myself phase. And it's a little aggravating. But I'm also glad he's taking on difficult tasks like trying to pour milk into his cup, put on clothes and shoes, and feed the cats. He's listening in on everything we say within earshot, expressing himself better and interacting nicely around Elliot. But he's also erradict. One minute he's sweet and calm then *bam* he'll start whining and complaining about something then another minute *bam* he's asking questions over and over then *bam* he's hyper-wild-child and breaking rules.

No word from my dad concerning his health. He got a pound dog this week and has been working in the heat. I spoke to him this evening (he was sober!) and he seemed to be doing well.

Since Elliot was born, I've been migrating at night to sleep in his room on the futon. Initially I did so to sleep in when Josh woke up before Elliot. The reason has shifted now to avoid the barrage of snoring coming from Rusty. After I've fed Elliot in the night and return to bed, if Rusty's snores are too loud or too persistent, then I move to Elliot's room. I'm not sure when I'll be able to give up the futon as my second bed!

4th of July is tomorrow but we're celebrating tonight by going to Kaboom Town in Addison. It's the first time in two years we've finally been able to see fireworks up close. Last year we missed it because Josh was in the hospital recovering from an MRSA infection, and the year before we missed because Rusty had a cold. But tonight- we're on! I'm about to pack the car and get snacks ready.

Elliot is making baby sounds. He's practicing his d's and b's and occasionally a 'g' sound comes out. I was getting worried that he was behind due to his ear infections, but he's on time. He's also practicing how to crawl but doesn't know what to do with his arms yet. His legs get up under his belly but his arms don't move with them so he flops forward or to the side. Eventually he'll get the idea. But I'm not inclined to help him. I'm enjoying knowing where he is after I set him down. That don't last forever.

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