I'm in the process of reorganizing content and giving it a fresh look to our website: www.ringofsaturn.com. Actually, it's Rusty's website but it's so outdated and neglected- it needs a woman's touch. The first step was a new logo, and here it is:

Josh's cold is causing him problems with his breathing. He's had several puffs on his inhaler today along with a Xopenex breathing treatment before bedtime. He's wheezing and sucking in air. I expect he'll cough throughout the night and may need another breathing treatment in the middle of the night. :-/ At this rate, he'll stay home with me and Elliot tomorrow so I can monitor his asthma.

Elliot also has his cold. With him, I expect he'll get an ear infection but this time I'm more prepared. I have drops I can put in his ears (ofloxacin) at the first time of infection. It won't make the infection go away but it will help prevent the stuff from gelling and getting stuck inside like it has in the past.

As for me, I'm pooped! I started my day at seven when both boys woke up at the same time. Elliot woke up three times last night and Joshua once from his stuffy nose. Elliot took one good nap then a short one in the afternoon while Josh decided to skip his nap entirely. I didn't get to bed last night until midnight (I'm running on less than six hours of sleep) so it's no surprise that while it's only 8pm, it feels like ten to me!

Elliot had his nine month check up on Wednesday:

Weight: 19.3 lbs. (25th percentile)
Height: 29.25" (75th percentile)
Head: 17.22" (10th percentile)

Elliot is turning out to be a bit smaller than Josh was at nine months.

[Josh's] 9 month check-up.

* Weight is 50th percentile at 20.7 pounds
* Length is 95th percentile at 30.25"
* Head circumference is 45th percentile 17.75"

Elliot's a healthy happy chap who is hitting all the milestones- except a little behind in language development. He makes sounds but doesn't babble much and doesn't make a distinctive "word" for mama, dada, cat or any of his other interests. He doesn't imitate the sound of rising and falling of conversation and he doesn't babble as often as I remember Josh doing it. But all that's still ok. He's not behind in any milestone, just taking his time is all!

Josh has a cold today that slowly snuck up on him yesterday. It started out seeming like allergies but then his nose continued to produce mucus and the sneezing continued. We spent most of the weekend at home taking it easy except for a trip to grandma & pop-pop's to play. We're also still battling him with using the potty. He has an accident every day at least one time. Today it was on the stairs shortly before we left for the grandparents'. Yesterday it was during lunch at the table. Friday it was three times in the day plus one poop in the pants. I wanted to strangle him Friday. (I mean that in a cartoon-ish Homer Simpson way, not in a Casey Anthony way.) Maybe tomorrow will be the day we make it accident free. He's been promised a big shiny balloon as a reward for going a day without any accidents.

In the spirit of training, we made up a new song for him to sing to the tune of "Apples & Bananas":
I like to pee, pee, pee, pee-pee in the potty! (repeat)
I like to poo, poo, poo, poo-poo in the potty! (repeat)
Josh likes to add pooping, farting and pssss sound effects to make it more funny.

We're re-evaluating the plan for me going back to work. We both feel it's rushing Elliot to send him to daycare now. When he's 18 months or two, we'll be more ready. With taxes and childcare costs, it's going to be an all or nothing deal for it to be worth it. The amount I need to make in order to cover taxes and childcare and then bring home some income is a job that typically is full-time. Working weekends and nights doesn't appeal to me because that cuts into my family quality time. I'll continue to search for freelance work but I don't expect to re-enter the work force until next year sometime.

Today's Josh-ism
We're walking home after an evening stroll in the neighborhood and we're all thirsty.
Me: I'm going to have some lemonade when I get home.
Rusty: I like limeade.
Me: I like lemonade.
Josh: I like orange-ade!

In other news, Elliot seems to be picking up new sounds at a fast rate. This week he can make two 'n' sounds: n as in nice and n as in thing. He says mamamama frequently, especially when he's feeling frustrated, hungry or neglected for attention. Of course 'b' and 'd' sounds. And occasionally 'ya' and 't' sound. When I'm strapping him into the car and he doesn't want it, he goes 'nanana' in an angry tone. He seems very close to saying a first word. He has his nine month check up appointment on Wednesday.

We're looking forward to the rain coming from Hurricane Gustave. It landed on Louisiana's coast this morning with relatively little drama regarding flooding and damaging winds. It will spin over to our area for two days then dissipate back to the east. Thursday should be a very nice day: high of 85, no rain. If it's not too muddy I may try to get us out to the Arbor Hills playground after dinner that day.

Debunked: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/8/31/234157/516/1017/581734

Moving on...

Ever had a hunch that something wasn't right but you doubted yourself? I had that feeling after McCain announced his running mate and the media focused on her having a baby just four months ago. When I saw her speak at the podium, I thought "wow, she doesn't look like she has a four month old." Then I dismissed this notion making excuses that she probably has staff to help care for him and maybe she works out more than the average mother.

Then I got this link from a friend: http://dailykos.com/story/2008/8/30/121350/137/486/580223

Now I'm not sure what is truth and I realize this blogger is heavily biased against the Republican side. But I can't seem to shake the notion that I had a feeling she wasn't the mother of a newborn even before the article was sent to me. I can't find one single picture of her looking even remotely pregnant. If it's true that she is covering for her unwed teenage daughter, then this lie will surely come out eventually and could hurt McCain's run for office.

McCain selected Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his Vice President running mate. First, if he gets elected I hope he lives a long life. I don't trust that Palin is prepared to take over as President should McCain decide it's time to kick the bucket during his presidency. He is 72 after all. While she may be a good person with similar views as McCain, she doesn't have enough political experience. She was governor for only two years and mayor of a small town prior.

I'm all for supporting women to run for office, but I think this choice clearly shows poor judgment on McCain's part. The term "loose canon" comes to mind. He didn't think through with a clear head. I fully believe he is playing to the public's eagerness for change and is off his game in this race. I don't trust that McCain's decisions will get much better if in office.

I'll be voting Obama, thank you. If I had bumper stickers, they'd say:
Obama '08
I am Pro-'Bama
No way. No how. No McCain!

Two new milestones with Elliot today: 1) he can now make the 'm' sound and even said 'mma-mma-mma' while looking at me, and 2) he pulled up to standing one time today at the foot of the stairs. After he stood holding on to the step I got excited and joined him on the floor. But then he wanted attention and didn't stand again.

I went shopping at the Divine Consign buying just over $100 of clothes for the boys. Elliot now has a winter coat but I'll have to find a new jacket for Josh somewhere else. I won't know until tomorrow or end of Saturday how much of my stuff sold. So far the baby swing is gone because I didn't see it on the floor. Next Spring I'll have more stuff to sell as Elliot outgrows the baby stuff and graduates to the toddler stuff.

I'm looking forward to our upcoming three-day-weekend even though we don't have any plans yet.

Here's me trying to put up a tent covering with Josh's "help". Actually he was an active observer.

Me: Dang it, the pole keeps- wait wait wait- ok, I think I got- oh no!- argh! it came out, ok I think I can- ARGH!- up up up- hold it- no no!- ARRGGHH! God- Mother- ok, ok let's see- stupid breeze- if I can just- no no wait, the pole again- not you too!- I just need to- wait wait wait- ARRGGHH! @$#!&%!!!
Josh: Mommy, you said @$#!&%.
*a quiet moment*
Me: Yes, I did. That was bad.

I battled it a few more minutes then gave up. Stupid tent covering. I don't need it anyway!

I joined Twitter this week. I still don't get it though. Like Friendster, this is a flash in the pan that will eventually have a number of abandoned memberships. I've tried to find "long losy high school friends" with no success. Like me, they probably don't want to be found!

Josh told me this morning that he would like to be a pirate for Halloween. And not just any pirate- he wants to be a big pirate! He means he wants the hat and long sword.

I'm not sure how I want to dress Elliot for Halloween. He's a crawler and explorer now so any outfit that looks good on the floor or plays the part of crawling will do fine. I'll see what's on sale at the consignment sale next week before I get creative or buy new.

I took the kids to the Natural Science Museum last Thursday. Josh really enjoyed! He liked the Children's area where he could play and explore science concepts. But he really enjoyed the big kid stuff like the tornado emulator, photovoltaic wall and the router display. (Is this a surprise?) He also enjoyed the hot air balloon that rises two stories. But he didn't care about the dinosaur bones. I guess that's a leap in knowledge he hasn't made yet.

Next year we'll go again but we'll take the Dart rail instead. I am sooo excited about this rail coming close to our area. Oh man- it'll be awethum! The new DART Green Line will go from Carrollton to Love Field to Downtown to Deep Ellum to Fair Park to Lake June. By September next year the Southeast portion should be open and our station will be probably early 2010.

All the weddings are done, all the parties attended, all our visitors have gone home. I don't know what to do with myself any more! My last big thing to look forward to is the consignment sale next weekend.

And taking our next push to potty train Josh. He knows how but doesn't want to do it at home. The down time should be ideal for us to focus on that.

Josh's willfulness is about to drive me insane! It's a struggle to do the simplest things: put on your shoes, get in the car seat, go to the potty, get in the bath tub, lay down in bed, eat your dinner, put on your shirt, close the door... When he gets it in his head that he's in charge he snaps "No!" or whines "I don't wanna...". Then it's a battle of the wills to get him to do (or not do) whatever.

This evening I asked him to turn around to face me while I was putting on a nighttime diaper. He kept turning away from me half as a game, half in defiance. After a full day of battles I snapped. I pushed him down, hastily strapped on his diaper then left him alone in his room to cry while I took a moment of time-out to calm down. We've apologized to each other and made our case ("Mommy, don't hurt me" "Joshua, please do as you're told") and now we're on good terms again.

On the up side, Rusty will be home tomorrow afternoon. There will be much rejoicing with him home!

It's only Friday but it feels like Saturday night already. Thursday Emily & Ian left town after brunch. After eating with friends (Tommy, Kathy, Lee & Barb) then sending Emily & Ian off, I spent an hour napping with Elliot and another hour cleaning house. Lee & Barb then came by to visit and help me with last minute bachelor/bachelorette party planning.

Yesterday night was the party. Rusty & I both participated but in shifts. He got the first half which was dinner at TomTom's. Apparently the food was fantastic because everyone raved about it. I attended the back half of the evening. I entertained and cared for the boys in the uptown area during dinner then we switched at the half-way point in front of The Ginger Man Pub. After a drink or two, we all moved on to Backdoor Comedy. The show was late starting but that's okay because we were late-ish to all get there. We opened with Mark Agee, had several other comedians then ended with Raj Sharma who did a roast of Tommy & Kathy. Oh man- we laughed so hard for so long! My stomach muscles were sore after the show! I tipped the roaster $50. This morning Tommy & Kathy sent this:

I woke up this morning in one of those "Oh Hey, I'm awake." moments.
I tried going back to sleep, but I was still glowing from how fun last
night was.  All I could think about was how fun everything was and how
much it meant to me.  My muscles were still a bit sore from laughing
and crying from laughing that much.

Thank you both, so very much for last night.  It had us truly present
to how great our friends are and how much they love us.

Yarr!
-Kathy and Tommy.

I didn't get home until 1am then woke up at 6:45 when the boys got up.

The Falgout-Carter wedding is tomorrow. I'll take Elliot with me leaving Josh with a babysitter for a couple or few hours. I hope to make it through most of the reception but it depends largely on whether I can get Elliot to nap on my lap without too much noise. The good news is that the wedding and reception are at the same place and it happens to be close to my home in Carrollton. yay!!


Also on Thursday, Rusty's grandfather, Frank Macedon, passed away in the morning. It was abrupt but not entirely surprising. Rusty left at 4am this morning to fly out with his parents to Las Vegas as they settle affairs. Tomorrow they will dress the body then Sunday they will have a private viewing, a blessing by a nun then send the body to the mortuary. The plan is to cremate but I'm clear whether that's Sunday or some other time. Hopefully Rusty will be back home Monday.

With all that said, I need to shower and primp before bed since I won't get much of a chance tomorrow morning.

We played Scrabble this evening. Here are the words we played:
grip (I went first)
pistil
melt
awning
irk
melts
zed
dawning
veal
modal
jean
criers
coy
blog
shines
liar (+ at + le)
booty
spend
nap
duck
vex
cox
guild
dove
que
que (triple word)
if
done (Rusty's last played word)

Rusty won with 127 points, but barely! He used the remaining points from us to beat us. If he hadn't, I was in the lead followed closely by Ian and Emily.

Oh yeah, Emily & Ian are visiting for a few days. They drove from Norfolk, VA starting Friday, spent the night in Mississippi, detoured through Winona, TX arriving here Sunday evening. (They'll be here until Thursday mid-day then they're moving on towards Plainview, TX to see Emily's parents.)

Sunday was our sick day. It was bad! Oh God, we were sooo sick! We ached, we were feverish, had the runs, our stomachs felt swirly. Our bodies did a fantastic job of vacating every morsel of food from our systems. I think we ate some bad organic tomato soup (Amy's). First Josh threw up around midnight, then I threw up two hours later then Rusty at 3am. I was dumb and desperate for something soothing on my throat so I drank some SlimFast- which came up to say "screw off" an hour later. Let's just say we didn't keep anything but 7-Up/Sprite down for about 24 hours. Rusty & I laid around the house moaning and sleeping in shifts. We lucked out that it was a weekend so Russ & Anne took care of Josh (he had waaaay too much energy!) but Elliot stayed home with us. To make matters worse, I couldn't just lay around all day like I wanted to. Oh no. There was work around the house to do because we had company coming that evening. And a baby to care for. I had to clean the bathroom floor, the carpet in Josh's room, the carpet in Elliot's room, do some laundry and shower myself. I was so low on energy that I managed to do all this (that's right- Super Mom to the rescue) very slowly and with frequent breaks.

Today we slowly regained our confidence that not all food was bad and by this evening we're back to our normal dorky selves. ;-)

Elliot has an ear infection again thanks to his recent head cold. He's been dripping snot from his nose since last week Friday (one week!) and now has goop coming out his left ear. He doesn't like it when I clean out his ear and wipe his nose but otherwise he's content.

We got our A/C cleaned out this week- things are waaay cooler now! We haven't been good about cleaning out the intake on the A/C so it was working too hard. Rusty is also going to patch a few leaks this weekend. There are small holes leaking cool air into the attic.

Elliot's still getting around without crawling. He'll take a one-two then lunge the rest of the way. If an object is too far away he just doesn't bother.

Joshua is still in diapers. We talked at dinner time about how log is too long. Three years old is too long in my opinion but Joshua continues to show he's not ready or willing. This evening he pooped in his diaper in his bedtime instead of going to the potty. He knows full well where hes supposed to go and ho to do it himself but he chooses not to do it. We're at our wit's end with it. I want to be free of constantly taking him to the potty (b/c he won't take himself) and battle about that and Rusty wants to stop spending money on diapers for him. We may need a potty whisperer!

I'll miss Jim Tavaré. He was my favorite of the Last Comic Standing contestants. What's not to like about a strange bald man lugging around a bass? He was funny all the time, not just on stage. But Iliza did have a commanding stage precense which probably helped her win. Thank God God's Pottery did not win! I'm also watching Project Runway, Mindfreak and Who Wants to be a Millionaire, in case you were wondering.

Elliot tooks a few crawling steps last nights. It was clumsy and wobbly, but undeniably crawling. Today he hasn't repeated this new skill. Not yet.

Joshua had a small cold Friday that Elliot caught Sunday evening. Josh is over it by now but poor Elliot's nose is still runny and he still feels crappy. Hopefully he'll pull out of it soon. Maybe some good rest and easy play today will help since Josh is at school.

I created a Facebook account today. I really didn't see a need for one (still don't) but I decided on a whim to go with the flow. It seems like every other friend I know has one. Facebook sells itself as a hip means to keep up with friends (I already do), share photos ( I do), reconnect with old classmates and coworkers ( I don't care to). Whatever. I'm in the crowd now. So write on my wall or do whatever Facebookers do to "friends".

Yeah so, a friend of mine, well two actually, are getting married in like two weeks. It's crazy! I've been planning a scavenger hunt for their bachelor/bachelorette party. They want to do a combined thing avoiding the whole strip club scene, hookers in a hotel room, party bus thing. I can't give details about the hunt but I'm really excited about it! I got a chance to work on the list today. Tomorrow I'll scope out the Deep Ellum area for a reality check on what's in business and what's cool to do. Not only do I love planning stuff like this but I also love seeing it play out. Rsty & I are going to split the evening. The plan is that he'll do the dinner thing whilst I do the hunt thing and somewhere in between we'll hand off the kids.

Rusty is at a different wedding this evening. I put the boys to bed rather easily this evening. I'm surprised at how easy it was. I got both bathed, pajama-ed, then set Josh in front of his night-time show on Sprout. While he wound down, I nursed Elliot hoping he'd fall asleep. Nope, he didn't. But he was very sleepy and ready so I laid him in bed. Meanwhile, Josh's show ended while I was still feeding Elliot so he turned off the TV, picked out five books and brought the stool out for me to sit on next to his bed. Then he played with Legos in his room waiting for me to finish with Elliot. What a trooper!! I laid Elliot down and knew he'd either put himself to sleep or cry until I got him. Luckily he put himself to sleep. I played with Josh a few minutes, read him two books, rubbed his back then lights out. And it was silent upstairs! Not a peep from either room since then.

Except I think Elliot pooped while going to sleep because his room reaks and his back end feels solid. :-s

Oh dang it's hot out! They say- it's not the heat, it's the humidity. No. No the humidity is fine. Somewhere it's in the 70's and humid (Portland, ME?) and nobody complains that it's hot. No when it's 100+ degrees, it's hot with or without humidity. The humidity just keeps the heat around longer at night. It got up to 116 degrees around Phoenix, AZ today. Now that's hot! Despite our heat wave this summer, we have had some rain during what's typically the dry season. This morning we saw thunderstorms to the north and even heard a few loud claps of thunder- but we didn't get any of that rain. We got rain twice on Wednesday. Statistically speaking, we never get rain in late July or August. Crazy!

Elliot's got a new tooth coming in on the bottom. This bugger has been giving him problems though. He's been running low fevers almost everyday since Monday. I took him to the pediatrician on Wednesday to make sure it wasn't something to be concerned about. I looked in his mouth and didn't see anything. She checked his ears, nose, throat- he's all around healthy. While he was crying at her she did see the bump on the lower gum line. This will be tooth number seven.

August is shaping up to be a busy month for us already. Tomorrow Rusty is going to an old buddy's wedding (I'm not going), then we have Emily & Ian visiting, then Tommy's wedding & the surround parties for that, then my mom says she's coming to visit some time, then I'm selling baby stuff at a consignment sale at the end of the month.

That's right. We're so done with babies, I'm letting it go. Gear & clothes are up for sale then going to donation. The money I raise will go right back into buying new clothes for the boy's fall/winter clothes. I have nearly 50 things I'm selling at Divine Consign then whatever's left over from the sale will go into a garage sale the following weekend. Then anything left over will go to St. Vincent de Paul or some charity.

Speaking of Catholic charity, send your soothing vibes to Rusty. He's been having terrible shoulder pain for the last several days. He now thinks it's due to sitting in a non-ergonomical way at work. Even after a chiropractor and a massage therapist worked on him, he's still got a knot in the back of his shoulder. I rubbed his back yesterday night but it didn't do any good. So think meat tenderizing thoughts and send loosey-goosey vibes in his direction. Hopefully he'll get past this soon.

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.