Ultrasound

The news you've been waiting for.

We have....




















a....




















Little Stinker!!!!

Baby did not cooperate at all.
Facing down with legs pulled up to belly the whole time.
There was no way we were going to see anything.
We couldn't even get a picture.

The good news is...
the technician didn't see all she needed to see either
so we will have another chance
in about 2 weeks.

Quirkiness

I have been tagged by I Am Boymom. So in order to pass some blogging time while awaiting the greatly anticipated ultrasound of tomorrow I will leave you with 6 random and quirky things about me.

Rules:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. List 6 unspectacular quirks you have.
4. Tag 6 bloggers by linking them.
5. Leave a comment on each taggee's blog to let them know they've been tagged.

Here ya go:

• I can not, will not, refuse to drink water from a bathroom sink. It's just gross!
  
• I can play the piano some, but I don't read music. I don't play by ear as I need a book in order to play, but I couldn't actually tell you what the notes are.
  
• I have very rich taste in bed sheets. Our 1000 thread count sheets recently had to be replaced with the best we could find over here...a mere 300 count. I can't stand them. They feel very cheap. Sheets of 180 thread count are just ghastly.
  
• Along that same line...when we were traveling in the States and had to sleep wherever was deemed suitable by our host we always did and will in the future bring our own sheets and blanket for the bed.
  
• When laughing or smiling while talking with someone I'm not very comfortable with I tend to cover my mouth with my hand.
  
• I can't stand sock seams. When I must wear socks and shoes together you can be sure they are put on, taken off and adjusted at least twice before I'm good to go. It's a pain. :P
  

I'm sure you are all immensely edified by such knowledge. lol! For those who notice my last one is the same as Boymom's but does very much apply to me. I couldn't think of a different 6th one and I want to go to bed now. :)

I always feel awkward tagging people because when my tag gets ignored I then feel all stupid for tagging in the first place. I mean, like, I should have known you didn't want to be tagged! lol!

So play along...or don't. :P I'm tagging:

1. Ellen

2. Jen

3. Dana

4. Barbie

5. Julie

6. Katina

Birthday

Even though we celebrated Jason's birthday back in August with Seth, we couldn't let his special day pass unnoticed.


Besides it was the perfect excuse to have another cake. :)

4 Years Old

Potty Success

Paul is potty trained!!!
He "got it" in one day.
How in the world did that happen!?!

He tells us each time he has to go.
Except for the first day with 4 misses,
he's only had 3 legitimate accidents in the last week.
He wet himself a few other times but with good reason.

He's wearing his big boy underwear.
We've been out and about...no diaper.
Can you tell how shocked I am!?!

There was no power struggle or fighting.
You would have thought it was his idea.

Now I just need to figure out my potty training secret.
So that I can make sure to do again next time round.

Oh, Yeah!

I felt the baby move today!!!
I was getting a bit worried.
Being nearly 20 week I was expecting movement already.

My ultrasound is on Friday.
Hoping to see if we have pink or blue.
This week is going to drag by.

Two Days

• In the wee hours of the morning The Two helped themselves to 3 different kinds of milk and 2 kinds of juice making a delightfully sticky concoction which was then spilled all over my freshly mopped kitchen floor.

• Outside with knives...sharp knives. The Two were stabbing a rubbermaid container and The Other was walking around the yard toting his given "sword".

• A doll has been stabbed...not sure by whom, but there are suspicions.

• The Two pulled the clothes off the clothesline.

• The Two tore the padding off of the trampoline safety net.

• A sock and said padding was found in the back of the toilet...clogging it.
  

• Armfuls of toys were thrown out into the street along with a storage drawer.

• After sitting on stools for a lengthy amount of time as punishment The Two were allowed to play for the last 1/2 hour before bed. All the bedding is thrown down the stairs...Big. Fat. No. No.
  

• Banished to the playroom. The Two soak the entire room in 10 minutes. Not exactly sure how it was done, but the toys, the couch, the carpet, the piano, the book shelf, the ceiling...ALL soaked.

• You could say this was the straw that broke the camel's back, but then I would be the camel in this tale and I'm not prepared to go there. But this was the last straw.

• The Two have lost all their toys. Yes, ALL...Every. Single. One.

• A little extreme? Maybe. But there was one very unhappy mommy here last night. This was a lot of trouble in a short amount of time...even for my guys.
  

• I did leave out Baby's toys and The Other's trucks, since Baby was being his usual sweet self and The Other, except for the knife that was given to him, has had nothing to do with all these shenanigans. Besides he is being the Pottying Wonder Child and that's worth something.
  

• The Two have been told they may earn back toys by proving they can take care of belongings without the destroying and the messes.

• This toyless state might continue for a very long time. But Christmas is coming and if I'm feeling generous I might possibly...maybe...pull out one or two and give them back for the occasion.
  

• One thing is certain. It is never a good idea to have sick parents while The Two are healthy.

So that was my last 48 hours.
How was yours?

Diet Update

Jason is still doing well. The improvements we have seen are amazing! With the weather change we are dealing with mold again. We have noticed he is not resting well and that brings on the crabbiness...but even so he is still in the manageable range.

I found out that the Feingold website offers an international membership which is free. I've joined and we now have all the information on the diet just no food lists. This leaves us doing the diet the old-fashioned way without any sort of pre-made foods. It works for us as we rarely had pre-made foods anyway. The only item we are missing is bread which I will need to make, but haven't been motivated to start yet. So we now know what he can eat and what to avoid. Thankfully the good list is a lot longer then the one we started out on.

He is still doing Stage 1. I don't know how long it will be before we start adding in other foods. With the mold it would be difficult to know if we have a reaction to the new food or the mold.

I found an article about Feingold and there was a list of symptoms that the program is suppose to help. We have seen improvement in all of these areas. Only one didn't apply and that was attention deficit/unable to concentrate which Jason has never had a problem with.

Irritable, touchy, crank, difficult to reason and communicate with, impulsivity and restlessness, arguing, being excitable, not persevering, being unhappy, easily frustrated, unco-operative, aggressive and difficult to control...

Another thing I found interesting was that the diet is NOT going to help hyperactivity. It will not turn Jason into a placid child. He will continue with his energy, but you know, energy without all these other things is quite livable.

It Has Begun...

Yup, I started potty training Paul yesterday. When I saw the poor kid standing at the toilet pulling his diaper off, saying "I peepee!"...I thought to myself, "By George, I think he's ready." lol!


He is 2 1/2 now, but I've been putting it off because ...well...he comes across as being a little slow. He has a wonderful personality and he's the sweetest thing...just not the sharpest pencil in the box. (And I mean that in the nicest way. :D) I think he has been fooling me. lol! Yesterday he had 4 accidents and today none. Not a single one. He has told me every single time he's had to go. Things are looking promising for him being the easiest yet.


Hopefully things don't fall apart in the next few days...

Mistreatment

I was recently introduced to the concept of Window Mistreatments from this blogger friend, who learned of it from this blogging home decorating genius. Really. She has so many good ideas for decorating your home on a low budget. It's wonderful.

So after 2 years of living in this house I finally have the know-how to put curtains on my windows without spending a fortune to do so. I found this curtain at a charity shop for 3 pounds...less then $6.00....1 curtain, 2 panels. So equipped with my curtain material, hot glue gun and upholstery tacks the first of many transformations began in my kitchen.


Taking one panel I cut off the curtain tape that Brits are so fond of. Then I cut it in half and hot glued the two raw edges together making one long piece. Since this material was a curtain in it's prior life I was left with just one raw edge along the length of the top. I folded this over and ironed it down.


I then took some dark green jersey material that was inherited and hot glued this to the back for a lining. I gave it a lining simply because being able to see where the wall ended and the window began would bug me. So a liner was needed.


The one thing that put me off of the Mistreatment idea was that you use upholstery tacks to hang your curtains. Plaster walls and tacks do not mix well...ok, really they don't mix at all. But I came up with the idea of putting a strip of wood where I want my curtain. So with just 3 little nails doing damage to the wall I am able to poke tacks until my hearts content. :)

Here's the first step. You can see I put my "tack poking board" high on the wall, as is recommended by Nester.


Second, step was tacking it in the center of the big U. Then tacking the center of the next 2 U's. I repeated this 2 more times. No measuring...just eyeing it.


So it ended up looking like this. Aren't my tacks so pretty!?! They have daisies on them...a little detail. Probably no one will ever notice, but it makes me happy. :)


And here is the finished Mistreatment. I love it! It is so nice to finally have a curtain on my window. It was cheap, lazy and quick, but I can't tell. Can you? Looks awesome to me. :)


I did exactly the same thing for the other window. It took even less time to make the second.

The downstairs bathroom and laundry area are my next Mistreatment victims.

I can't wait. :)

First Year Slideshow

Morgan's Birthday

Could it possibly have been a year already!?!!
Seems like just last month I was looking like this and writing this.

Somebody got smart on her 4th time round the first birthday loop. No icing on this 100% whole wheat, banana breadish cake. Which means...no icing mess! Does a 12 month old baby really need so much sugar anyway? I think not. He didn't care and enjoyed it just as it was.


This was as close as he got to opening his own presents. Right after this picture was taken his brothers took over and were finished in 5 seconds flat. He didn't care about that either and as soon as they lost interest in the baby toys and were willing to share he happily played with his new toys.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Boy!

Baseball Boys

Up until recently
soccer was the only sport of interest in our house.
Baseball is the new soccer.

Random Bits

• In the past 3 1/2 weeks we have had 4 days of sun. Aren't you all just so jealous of our rain? lol!

• It is hard to get my laundry dry with so much rain. I wash 2 loads a day. EACH DAY! Is this normal!?! The days of 2 loads a week are long gone. No room for slacking or my laundry quickly becomes a mountain. Which it is right now... :(
  

• I had to take Seth's school trousers back today. I picked up the right size and never bothered having him try them on. Yesterday when he got dressed for school we discovered their hugeness. So a different brand, same size and they fit just like they should.
  

• I measured Seth just out of curiosity. At 5 years, 1 1/2 months he is 42' tall.

• Morgan fell down the stairs yesterday and has a lovely blue bruise on his forehead this morning. Hopefully it clears up before birthday pictures next week or he'll be looking abused.

• Jason is still doing well. I know we have the answer, but pinpointing what exactly triggers him will be the difficult part. I found some noodles that are made of just brown rice flour and water. He's going to be happy for a little variety.

• I've been moving furniture. Much fun for...well, just me really. Caleb does not share my enthusiasm for rearranging. lol! I took the dressers out of the boys room and put them in the drying room. I was tired of little boys pulling out every shirt in the drawer just to find the right one. So now I don't even have to walk two steps to put their clothes away...just take them of the drying rack and right into the drawers they go. Easy. I also switched our living room and play area. Pictures to come.

• First day of school went really well. Jason loved going with Seth although he was a bit put out that they are not in the same class. They are 14 months apart in age but 2 years apart in school because their birthdays happen to be on opposite sides of the cut-off date. Jason forgot all about his claims of joining Seth today and went right into his classroom like he was suppose to. And, of course, Seth is enjoying playing with his friends again. He is such a people person and LOVES seeing people everyday.
  

• I must start potty training Paul. I am so so so dreading it...

First Day of School

Seth in Year 1 and Jason in Nursery Class.

Excitement was running high this morning.
They love going to school!

They've changed so much since last year.

Amazed

Every little thing that you do...

Baby, I'm amazed by you.

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I took Jason out this morning to pick up acceptable foods for him. I took him with me so that Caleb could feed the other boys their breakfast at home. Up until noon was really rough. Crying most of the time, but not so out of control that he wouldn't walk with me while we shopped. I just ignored his wailing...there was nothing I could do to help him. This afternoon was a complete turn around. He's been sweet. No outbursts. No anger. No destructiveness. I have hope once more.

Someone asked what he is allowed to eat. For the next few days he is limited to:

• Rice...including rice cakes and puffed rice, as well as his plain rice.
• Bananas...we also have banana chips. The kind that are brown because of no preservatives.
• Melons...we have watermelon.
• Pears
• Dates
• Pineapple...we also have this in juice form.

He could also have a few other fruits, but I don't think he would be interested in them. Thankfully he actually likes plain rice and dry rice cakes. I did get some pear puree that he could spread on his rice cakes, but that was a no go. We will try it again later. I think he was just being a stinker. As long as no one is eating other things in front of him I don't think he will complain too much about what he is eating.

Also, because of his age we should see results in as little as a few days. So this Spartan fare should not even last a week. Older children take several weeks to show improvement.

Tomorrow is the first day of school. Thinking about sending him with a sign around his neck..."DON'T FEED ME!" lol! Just kidding. But we will be telling his teachers not to give him anything.