1000 Reasons I'm Not Ready for Baby #2

Ok maybe 10 reasons.  But I'm sure there are a thousand. ;)    Totally stole this from a blog I follow but felt it was timely.

We just bought a new house.  With a 3rd bedroom and 2nd and 3rd bathroom.  Naturally questions would arise about if another baby was on its way.

Here's the deal. We weren't really looking to move at this exact time.  The house in NO WAY affects our decision to space our children out FIVE YEARS or MORE.  

1) I just went back to work 3 months ago after 2 years off.  I owe it to my school and my students to be there awhile longer before taking a 2 year vacation again.

2)  Blaine still doesn't sleep through the night.

3)  Competitiveness runs wild in my family.  If my sister and I went to high school together, we would have been insanely jealous of each other / competitive to the point of death.   I AM SO GLAD WE NEVER ATTENDED THE SAME SCHOOL AT THE SAME TIME.   SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GLAD.  To grant  my kids this same privilege, a 4 year spacing or more is necessary.

4) Blaine exhausts me to no end.  I would die if I had a newborn to deal with.

5)  If Blaine is in kindergarten when the new baby is born, I will be at home with the new baby for 2 years.  Not as overwhelming. Like having an only child until 3:30 pm.

6) I never want two kids in college at the same time.  College costs are the reason husband nixed the idea of having 3 kids.

7)  I'm still breastfeeding.  Boobs want a few years of recovery!  'Nuff said.

8) Blaine's crazy amount of crying / screaming / terrible 2's is about enough to drive me batty.  He almost made himself vomit 4 times in a 20 minute car ride to put this in perspective   'Nuff said.  No other challenges needed at this time.

9) I love how it is just Blaine, me, and Nick.  Love it.

10)  Blaine is such a bed hog, we certainly can't fit 2 little ones in Mom-Mom's bed at once. ;)

With above items being said, of course I must say I get insanely jealous every time I see / hear a pregnancy announcement.  Must just be hormones.   I do worry it will take longer to get pregnant the 2nd time around and wonder if we should start trying sooner to make up for it.  Not worried enough though! LOL! :)

Ridiculous

We had some family photos taken and she gave me 10 or so "edited" images and hundreds of original images.    We look so ridiculously happy in all of them, I wish I could just sit and look through them all day everyday. I honestly don't feel ridiculously happy hardly ever.  Imagine that!  LOL!   I definitely let my job, my family, and my child stress me out WAYYYY more than I should.  I realize that I should count my blessings and not take anything for granted.  It is just tough sometimes and my subconscious needs some constant reminders:  We are healthy.  We have jobs.  We have family.

 Actually, life is ridiculously great.  

 
And in other news, we are MOVING!  We weren't really "looking" per say, but the "light house house" went up for sale so we jumped [a house I run by and admire daily with a lighthouse in the back yard].  We are so blessed and sooooooooo excited!

1000 more sq feet and MUCH further off the road [safer] than our current house

this baby lights up at night AND the back yard has a gazebo! and outdoor fireplace!  and wood patio!  YAY!

Dadda Daycare

Came home to this tonight.  Today was Dadda Day.  Nuff said.

Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: 8 Hour Adventure Race

this is what a checkpoint is; kinda like a geocache ;)

Have you ever heard of an adventure race?  

 "Adventure racing (also called expedition racing) is a combination of two or more endurance disciplines, including orienteering (if an orienteering map is used) and/or navigation (when non-orienteering maps are used), cross-country running, mountain biking, paddling and climbing and related rope skills. An expedition event can span ten days or more while sprints can be completed in a matter of hours. There is typically no suspension of the clock during races, irrespective of length; elapsed competition time runs concurrently with real time, and competitors must choose if or when to rest" says Wikipedia.  

Back in mid August, I stumbled upon this race but wasn’t convinced I wanted to do it.  8 hours is a looong time.  What in the heck is orienteering anyhow?  Swimming in late September?  At 8 AM?  No thanks! 

Well, what an adventure it was.  The race course was a secret until the day of the race.  I had no idea what I was in for!  The biking was EXTREMELY hilly and had you find 2 “checkpoints” on the way to the bike shop, 17 miles away.  From there, we had to run 3 miles to the canoe launch point [which happened to be the same place we launched for the triathlon a few weeks before].   After canoeing  3 miles, it was back to the Wilderness Center  for more adventures.  You had to go to the planetarium on the site where an expert star gazer had you identify things, you had to visit the rock walk to identify types of rocks, you had to climb a fire tower via a cable ladder [caving club volunteers there], you had to collect plants in a baggie throughout the day that expert plant ladies graded you on at the end, you had to answer math questions, and then of course the orienteering course where you went around with only a compass and map to locate up to 23 checkpoints in the woods.    Whoever found the most by 4 pm won.  

Oh and they cancelled the swimming part due to cold temps.  Yay!

PS Almost forgot, right before the race started they told us we had one more thing to do: carry an egg with us all day!  LOL!

All in all, we survived, were EXHAUSTED, bleeding, and itchy [lots of bushwacking], and we got 2^nd place to a team that had quite a bit more athleticism and experience than us [the girl can run a 4:50 mile and the boy does adventure races pretty much all the time] .  We only lost by 1 checkpoint so I’d say we did OK!   We estimated that we ran between 10 and 13 miles and we biked 35.  I might be closer to that half ironman than I originally thought [it is on my bucket list].  

FarmChick Friday!

My little harvester.....

the outfit almost dominates this photo LOL

These are all for selling!  We probably have 120 "prizewinners" [a variety], 65 "polar bears", and also carving pumpkins, squash, and pie pumpkins.

Fair Season

this fair stuff tires a guy out!

don't touch that, blaine, it is $460,000

got my pumpkin doughnut in my hand.  life is good.

local donut place makes the donuts right there at the fair. pumpkin doughnuts too!

not fair related but impressive.  potato harvest 2012.

Our county fair was in late August and the next county over a week later.  We visit both every year.  NOTHING IS BETTER THAN GOING TO THE FAIR!   Blaine had a blast, I had a blast, and it is definitely just one of those traditions I live for.    From the 4-H peanut butter milkshakes, to the fuzzy cows, bunny barn, art building, veggies, flowers, band shows, freebies, oh my. Too much fun stuff to name!

Prayers for a "Stranger"

Not sure when I started reading Elizabeth's blog but know I've been reading it since at least Nov 2010.  Bloggers are strangers yet friends.  Well, this was probably the saddest thing I've ever read on a blog.   Sad isn't the right word. Tragic, horrifying, unfair, want-to-scream, need-to-sob, sort of news.  Please pray for Elizabeth, Grayson, and their whole family for strength while they travel the unknown road ahead.

Massillon Triathlon

This has been the race I've been looking forward to all year.  In its inaugural year, it consisted of a 5.5 mile run [broken in 2 parts], a 3 mile kayak, and a 12 mile bike ride.  Best part?  HOMETOWN RACE!  The running was on a trail I run on several times a week [an old canal towpath that has been converted to a bike path], then we hopped into our boats approximately 1 mile from my house, and the bike route was on super scenic local country roads.  

I was pretty nervous going in because I had no idea "what type of people" would enter this race.  Ex:  I know I can survive 5.5 miles of running but I also know I can't do it nearly as fast as I wish I could.  So if some super fast runners were entered, I knew I would have trouble making up ground.

Looking around the morning of the race, Nick and I both got the "oh crap" feeling.  People just looked more "in shape" than they had in the last race, LOL.   We always look around and say things like "they look FASSSST" about other people.  We said that a lot that morning!

Turns out we really didn't have a lot to worry about!  I kept tabs on where I was at during the run, and when I hopped in my boat, I knew I was the 5th female.  Turns out that 2 of the girls in front of me were in teams [when I passed them in canoes with their team-mates, I figured it out], and the other 2 in front of me were individuals that were slow at kayaking.  One had a slow transition into her boat and I actually launched in front of her and the other one I passed in the first 100 yards on the river.  There was no looking back from there!  After passing several more guys on the river, and running to where the bikes are, a race official told me I was in 6th place overall, and the 1st female.  She said, "GO PASS SOME MORE!"  So I did!  I passed three more guys on the biking section for a 3rd place overall finish!  

I'm way more excited about getting 3rd overall than I am for getting 1st female.  Plus you have to factor in that the guy who won does Ironman's.  He's doing Ironman Hawaii in a few weeks!  Freaky fast.  Nick ended up 2 minutes behind me, for 5th place overall.   The local newspaper had the triathlon on the front page and I got quoted a few times in the article so that was neat. Nick admitted it was the first time he's ever been in the newspaper for an athletic event in his whole life. LOL.

Looking ahead, we are going to do an 8 hour adventure race on Sept 23rd that includes a 30 mile bike ride, 3 mile canoe, swimming, and orienteering.  SHOULD BE INTERESTING!

Workin for the Money

^^ has nothing to do with this post but is too cute not to share :)

I have officially survived 8 days as a working mom.  As most of you know, I was on a two year vacation.  That is what I considered my childcare leave!    I can't tell you how many times we missed being somewhere at 10:30 AM because that was TOO EARLY! ;)   I did a lot of sleeping in, a lot of cuddling with my babe, a lot lot lot lot lot of NOT following schedules, and a LOT of appreciating my time at home because I knew it was short lived.

I'll be honest.  I always wanted to be a stay at home mom, and I still do deep down. I struggled with my decision to go back to work daily for almost 2 years and I know I'll struggle with guilt in the future.  Ultimately it was two things that made me go back: I have my "dream job" sitting in my lap that I would regret quitting plus we want to be able to afford to "keep the family farm" when the time comes, whenever that may be.  

So after 8 days at work, I know it is a bit early to say this but, BEING AT WORK IS A HECK OF A LOT EASIER THAN BEING AT HOME!   The transition has gone great and when I'm in my classroom it feels like I have only been gone over the summer.  Getting Blaine up early is the worst; he is so sad and pathetic about the way he says "noooooooooooooo" and "beddddddddddddddd", not to mention the uncontrollable crying from awakening at 6:15 AM, but other than that the days have been going well!  He's with family 2 days a week and with a sitter for 3.

Can't forget to mention our babysitter is some sort of miracle worker:  I've been potty training Blaine for 2 years plus and still struggling with some things.  However, after only 3 days there, he is what I consider 95% trained.  He can even walk to the potty without being told to then pull down his pants AND undies now!  [you may remember we were having issues with that].   My fears about him becoming "untrained" there were totally irrational!

Naps could be going better but ya can't have everything! ;)

Hopefully week three at work goes just as well!

'Kins, Splitsville USA

 
As you can see from the first pic, my pumpkin split.  Boo!   Always a feeling of sadness, dreams lost, not to mention thinking about all those wasted hours, but this year I actually felt relief.  One less thing to do in the next 2 months!   It weighed 1197 lbs!!  Can't even imagine how big that would have been come October.

'Lil Sickie

I start work tomorrow and should not be surprised that Blaine is on DAY EIGHT of having a fever.   No other symptoms.  All he wants is to lay in bed and have a boobie.  He is going to be very sad come tomorrow.   I'm going to be very sad come tomorrow.  This poor little pathetic face makes starting back to work that much harder.  :(

Racing the Clock: Black Squirrel Adventure Triathlon

I'll be honest, I didn't really want to do this race!  It was held on the same day as the Pro Football Hall of Fame Parade and I'm a TOTAL parade junkie.    I even got up at 4 AM last year to carry a balloon in the parade so I could relive my high school days of when I was in the parade. Ha!   Going to the parade is probably in my list of top 3 favorite local summer traditions.

So when Nick said he would rather do the race than go to the parade, I wasn't exactly in agreement.  The race was short: 2 mile kayak, 5 mile bike, 2 mile run, which I used as a reason that it wouldn't really be "worth it".  Someone I changed my mind and am glad I did.

This race is part of a series called:

.

There are normally three races in the series but this year they had to cancel the third race.  The overall series winner after they add times from the races wins a $100 gift certificate.  

What made this race unique was that you had to race the clock.  They staggered the starts by launching 4 boats every minute as to not clog the river.  So while you race you have no idea who you are up against [again they had relays and teams in the mix] or what time they started.   Some people even started a full hour + behind where we did since they had to hold a 2nd heat for the rental kayaks.

After the kayak section I was already tired but the bike was on flat terrain so that was fine.  However, I have never run on "jelly legs" quite like I had to on Saturday!  Crazy feeling and I felt like I was going sooooooooo slow.  However,  I ended up winning overall female by 5 minutes with a time of 1 hour and 37 seconds!   It was very strange finishing and having no idea how you did compared with the others until the awards several hours later.   Nick beat me by a smidge at 1 hour and 10 seconds, and we both won the Crooked River Series so we have $200 to spend at an outdoors store! Hopefully they have kayaks on sale! ;)

I'm glad we did the race but I really missed the parade!  We'll see who gets their way next year! :)

Olympics! My Favs!

I've seen lots of posts about people being sucked into the Olympics and I'm no different.  I LIVE FOR THE OLYMPICS.  All year my excitement mounts over the upcoming events [summer or winter games, no different].   I stay up way too late and get way too into it.

 Let's touch upon some favorite athletes so far.

1) This year I have the added awesomeness of watching Bridget Franek, someone whom I have seen run several times in real life back when she was in high school [and I recently met her mom!].  Bridget runs in the steeplechase.  We got up early Saturday to stream her race live through the internet and SHE MADE FINALS!  How awesome!

2) It isn't the Olympics if you don't find someone super good looking on the men's gymnastics team. This year's fav has got to be Jake Dalton.  Those eyes are killer!

3) Kristin Armstrong [cycling] gets a mention because she is AMAZINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG.  Anyone who can have a baby the summer I had one and still be an elite athlete is just WOW.   THEN, She broke her collarbone in a crash in May [THIS MAY!!] and still made the Olympics.   When I saw her holding her son with her medal I about cried.  Then I shouted, "HE'S GOT THE SAME HAIRCUT AS BLAINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  ;)  I'm in love.

What are you loving about the Olympics?

World Breastfeeding Week

Just found out about WBW!  It starts today!!   Yes we are still breastfeeding, yes most think he's too old, yes we will continue and yes my mom has stopped making her comments about the "bad habit". :)

HAPPY WBW!

Potty Nightmares

It is no secret that potty training hasn't exactly gone like I had expected.  When Blaine was pooping on the potty at nearly 100% back at 5 months old, I thought "wow this potty stuff is easy" and figured he'd be trained by 18 months [the average age of potty training before disposable diapers were invented].  We started elimination communication at 2 weeks old and never let up, so he's known potty and sat on it muliple times daily for essentially his whole time.  

Where we are currently:  Blaine is naked potty trained but not clothing potty trained.

What's the difference?  If he is naked, he has no accidents all day.  He will go to the potty himself when he needs to go, do his business, and be on his way.  IT IS AWESOME.   I often walk by the potty and see pee in there and not even know when he did it.  Makes me so proud of my little guy!

HOWEVER, dun dun duhhhh.  That is where the happiness ends.  I'm so frustrated with him because if he is in underwear, he just thinks it is a diaper and pees / poops in there without telling anyone he had to go.  Obviously when we are out in public or when he is with a babysitter, we need underwear or a diaper and that is where I just am at a loss at what the issue is!  We talk until I'm blue in the face about how to "tell mommy when you have to go" and "these are underpants, you pull them down like this" and "DON'T POOP IN THE UNDERWEAR" but nada. 

I know tons of people who had success with "potty in three days" method of training, which has the kids being naked.  NEED ADVICE:  How did you transition naked potty trained to clothing potty trained?

2 More Weeks

Two weeks from today, I go to work for the first time since June 2010.   I hate feeling like Blaine's life will be turned upside down, but I can't help but think that.  He has been with Mommy all day everyday for just about his whole life [I've been away from him a few times, who are we kidding, but basically being with me on a daily basis is all he knows].   I'm sure he will adapt fine but it doesn't help the mommy guilt thing, and I can't ignore the fact I WANT to continue to be with him all day everday. 

So yeah, I'm nervous for us both. :)

In other news, the whole topic of "early to bed, early to rise" is getting better. He's in bed by 9 pm and up by 7:15 am everyday now.  That is AWESOME considering for the last two years we've been getting up between 9 and 11 am.  Still have a ways to go [I think we will both need to get up at 6 am to get ready and to the sitters by 6:40] but I'm feeling less anxious about the early wakeups now. 

He helped me take my boxes to school today that I've had in my basement all this time.  Made everything more real!

'Kins

Estimating about 500 lbs

Just in case you were wondering how things are going, here's my biggest pumpkin, growing off the 1818.5 Bryson seed [the current world record]. Crazy shape so let's hope it doesn't split!

Family Traditions: Summer Birthday Parties

I have soooooooooooo many happy memories of summer birthday parties as a kid.   My birthday was in June and my sister's in July so I have thousands of memories of swimming, fishing, jetskiing, paddleboating at my grandmas, and always consuming chocolate cat cake.

I love to watch the summer birthday party tradition come alive once again with a new generation.  All the cousins have birthays in boring months [winter and early spring blech], so seeing them on Sunday at Blaine's party having a blast on the slip-and-slide, tractor rides, paddleboat, kiddie pools, frog playing, etc, just warmed my heart and opened the gate of special memories.   Almost as if I planned for my child to have a summer birth just for the parties. :)

The frog was the biggest hit at the party! Giggles were contagious!

Headwaters Adventure Race [take 2]

I don't enter very many races.  We are talking 2 races in the last 10 years.  However, the idea of an adventure race really caught my eye last year and so I entered the Headwaters Adventure Race in an all-phase-team with my husband.   We both ran 2 miles, both biked 10 miles, and canoed 5 miles together.  We were under trained but still did OK but I had plans to improve for this year.

1) Train more.  Accomplished!  In the last 2 months, I have only had a handful of days "off" and have really enjoyed the variety of training.  Nick and I even went kayaking twice to prepare and it really paid off.  I dominated kayak, passing at least 10 men, some who had some pretty big muscles.  Great feeling. :)

2) Enter Solo.  Did it!  Right decision by a mile. 

3) Use a road bike.  I still don't own a road bike but I borrowed a "hybrid" bike that had road bike tires on it and completed the biking section of the course in 39 minutes, a whole 10 minutes faster than last year.  I was more prepared for the course and even had my friend George {THANKS} calculate the percent grade of each street so I knew what I was up against.  It is a VERY hilly course! 

Then I went into the race with two goals:  win my age group [so I could get a plaque] and not walk up any hills in the biking section [I believe I had to walk twice last year].  Our main race plan was to "keep MaMa Rosalie in sight"; but ends up this freaky fast lady who wins EVERY YEAR took the year off because, well, she is getting ready to head to London to watch her daughter compete in the Olympics.  [Could you imagine?!]    Just shaking her hand was like meeting a celebrity. :)   She definitely must think we are weird. LOL!

The race turned out great! Nick did AWESOME finishing in 1.51 [8th place overall including solos, relays and teams] and I finished in 1.54, winning 1st place for overall female!  Still hasn't really sunk in!  

I'm pretty excited because my hometown is having a similar race in September but it is longer run [5.5 miles] and longer bike [12 miles] so that will keep me motivated in my training for the remainder of the summer. 

Mama Rosalie

Can't believe it!

Summer Evenings

I know a lot of people [in real life and through blogs] who put their kids to bed early.  Even the sleep books advise you to put your kid to bed early.  Honestly though?  Moments like this always seem to happen after 8 pm.  :)   

My kid is never asleep before 10 and most days it makes me feel like a bad parent.  Then I get a photo like this and realize that my child simply gets to spend 3+ more hours outside with his dadda per day by going to bed at 10 versus 7.   Lucky kid!   August 14th  is going to come waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too soon; early bedtimes will be inevitable with a wakeup time before 6 AM looming for us all.  *tear*

Bachelorette!

The Bachelor / Bachelorette is one of those shows that is so dumb but I get sucked in season after season [unless of course I can't stand that season's bachelor / bachelorette; it happens].   FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, MY FAVORITE MADE FINAL 3.  I can normally pick my favorite the first night and it was no exception this year: when they showed Jef sitting in that stream in Utah, he was my pick for sure!  I'm definitely not a fan of his weird hair or skinny pants, but he is super cute and his smooth voice is to die for. 

TEAM JEF!

And in other news, my sister, you know the one I thought I wouldn't see again until Christmas, IS COMING HOME THIS WEEKEND! YIPEE! 

Twas the Worst Day, Twas the Best Day: My 'Lil Sis

Last Thursday was the worst day.  My sister moved 9.5 hours away.  I know tons of families live far apart, so for many of you, that may not seem like a big deal.  However, if you've been reading this blog long, you know that pretty much my whole family AND my husband's whole family all live within a 10 mile radius of here.   So yeah, a distance that far is a big deal to us.

She moved away for a one-year optometry residency.  So yes, only for one year.  My biggest fear though is that she would marry her boyfriend and live there forever.  [He will only live there, he has said it before, and WILL NOT COMPROMISE; an obvious stress to their relationship].  Their original plan was to get married this summer, but as the date neared, she kept telling him "no engagement" so he had yet to get her a ring, etc.  They have been dating 4 years.

Enter best day.  My sister broke up with him last night.  Her first week living in his state.  Ha!

YIPPEE!

I know she still might end up living far away from here, I know they could get back together, but at least now I have a little more hope that someday she may come back.  I want to squeeze my [future] nieces and nephews every single day [or at least more often than a few times a year] and have her close by.   If she ends up living anywhere but Ohio, I supposed I'd get over it, but I would prefer it be in a mountainous state. ;)  LOL!

We miss her already and it is only week 1.

Blaine loves Linday but wants her the heck off his tractor ;)

Farm Photo Friday

Whenever I find myself wishing I lived somewhere different [hello mountains], I realize that moving would take away thousands of moments like this away from my child.  He can now say "mama" and "papa" [what I've called my grandma and grandpa since childhood] and hanging out with them is his favorite daily activity.  Watching them interact just about makes my heart explode with happiness.  Not too many kids see their grandparents AND great grandparents every single day;  Blaine is one lucky kid.   I'm pretty lucky too. :)

"Barefoot" Running

The book Born to Run really motived me to give "barefoot" running a try.  You know, the way humans have run for millions of years, virtually no chance of injury, yada yada.  Read the book.  I use quotes around "barefoot" because I'm not quite ready to ditch shoes all together; there's a lot of poop out there! ;)

The Vibrum FiveFingers have always given me the hee-bee-gee-bees just looking at them [I hate things between my toes and cannot even wear flip-flops] so I knew I wanted something different.  I didn't want to pay a lot of money for something that I wasn't sure if I would like.

Enter Nick.  He's been running in the Vibrums for years; but he doesn't really run all that much.  He had a store / online credit and purchased these without me even knowing:

They are Merrell Barefoot shoes.  That I didn't even know existed.  So I stole them from him.  [Oh yeah, should add my husband WEARS THE EXACT SAME SIZE SHOE AS ME.  I cannot even begin to tell you how convenient that has made life over the years!]

So far it has definitely been an adjustment.  You have to change your running form to land on the middle or forefront of the foot instead of the heel so there are muscles / tendons yelling at you that you haven't used in years.  I did a lot of reading and youtube watching to get my form to where I felt it was right.   I've been taking it show and have worked up my mileage over the past month.  I'll be honest though, I have a race coming up and I thought I'd just wear my regular shoes, but I had them on to jog out to the garden today and it was TOO WEIRD!  I think I'm officially used to the barefoot shoes!

Much to Celebrate!!

This weekend was a big one:

1)  MY SISTER IS NOW A DOCTOR!

That one will never ever ever ever EVER sink in!  I remember when we would "play school" and she didn't even know how to count.  I taught her the alphabet for crying out loud.  That should mean I'm entitled to some of her salary or something like that.  ;)     In all honesty though, I'm sooooooooooo proud of her; she was class president all 4 years so had to make a speech and I almost cried!  

2)  I TURNED 30, OMG OMG OMG.

That too will never ever sink in.  I feel 16.  I feel too young to have a kid.   I'm going to go on pretending I'm a teenager forever.   When we woke up Saturday I said, "Blaine, it is mom-mom's birthday," and he replied, "nooooooooo."  So there you have it, I'm still 29.

3)  We celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary!

Ok that is the only one I believe.  We've been together almost 11 years now so being married for 6 almost doesn't sound like enough.  ;)

Potty on the Go

http://www.pottytrainingconcepts.com/Gin-16008.html

They are doing a give-a-way on facebook for this potty!  Always good to carry a potty in the car!

Farm Photo Friday

Had trouble picking my fav this week!

Blaine loves gardening even more when popsicles are involved. LOL.

These guys live across the street from my house.  I love that I can watch cows from my bed.

Speaking of my bed, I took this photo from my bedroom [looove this view].  Blaine was in heaven when the chopper and giant gak gaks showed up!  You can see a bird in the left side of the photo [blurry].  

Ears Ears Ears

This post is mainly about how I hate ear infections and how they have caused Blaine to forget about how he was almost potty trained.

Blaine got his set of first ear infections at 14 months.  As the ENT doc said, "HE MADE IT 14 MONTHS WITH NO  EAR INFECTIONS?! "   He got his second at approx 17 months and got his third in early April.  And his third never ever ever ever ever ever went away.   10 days oral antibiotics.   Still infected.   10 more days.  Still infected.  6 shots.  Still infected.  10 more days of meds.  You get it.  And this child does not take antibiotics without screaming.  We have to pin him down, hold his arms and head, and squirt that medicine in his mouth to the background noise of extremely loud screaming, crying, and gurgling.  Sounds like he's drowning in the medicine.   So it was 36 days of h*ll.    Not to mention how pleasant [HAHA] he is at doctors visits and at visits to get those shots.  Not to mention how every visit is another $30 copay.   Oh and the visit to the ENT specialist?  $50 copay and Blaine started the screaming hysterically the minute the receptionist used a digital camera to snap his pic.   The mood only went down from there.   Imagine a girl trying to give him a hearing test while he's locked in a sound proof booth screaming his head off.  Almost comical!

GAH.

So long story shot, he got ear tubes put in Monday.  You can imagine how pleasant he was [HAHA] at that hospital visit.  I have no idea how I got these two pics in without tears. 

However, I can already tell they are going to make all the difference in the world.  His little "ham-like" personality he has while at home has been taken to all new goofy levels and he is running around with a whole new level of bubbly personality.  

The downfall?  All that medicine over the last month and all that "feeling crappy" has realllllllllllly taken a toll on potty training.  He was to the point in April where I'd have in him underwear all day with little accidents.  The medicines starting messing with his poop; diarrhea one day and constipation the next.  So I kept the diapers on all day. He's still not back to his regular self [pooping once a day, first thing in the morning, on the potty].  He's evening struggling with peeing on the potty.   It has me very frustrated but I just remain calm with him and keep discussing "where the poops and pees go" and when I ask him, "where are you supposed to put the poop and pees?" he always answers "grass".  LOL.   

GAH.

So yeah, we might have the ear tubes in, but it remains that I'm changing more poopy diaps now that I did when he was 4 months old.  Bizarre.  I hope this ends sooner than later.

  

What I've been reading...

I rely a lot on other people's recommendations of books so thought I'd share four that I've read in the past month and my thoughts on whether they are worth your time.

I got every single one of these books at my local library! Free is key.

 

- Never read  her blog and now I've confirmed I never want to.  I couldn't even finish the book, I hated it that much.  Yes the thought of having a "suprise" as big as she did at a child's birth is heartbreaking [Downs], but this book was just not what I expected it to be.  

-Never read her blog, but would be one I would want to check out!  AMAZING STORY AND SUPER INSPIRATIONAL.  Definitely worth your time.

- The Spielmans are local celebs around here.  We all know Stephanie dies at the end but now we follow their story from the beginning; a story about love, football, and faith, but most importantly about having unending support for your spouse and how it is possible to have a good attitude even when life constantly handing you lemons. Or worse, a death sentence.   DEFINITELY A GOOD READ!

-The only fictional book I've read lately.  Recommended to me by my "sister" [who really isn't my sister but is living at my parents house LOL].  She told me a bit too much so I suspected the ending, but it is a good ending.   About a girl who loses her memory everytime she goes to sleep.  THUMBS UP!