1st day of 1st grade

There's my big boy 1st grader!

The first day went well. We parked at the park and walked through the park and school playground* to Jax's class. The teen from across the street was not starting school until 11am so she offered to watch Dex and Cars for me. So it was nice that Jax and I went alone and we chatted without interruptions. My little boy is so grown up!
*edited to change playgroup to playground. Doh!

Testing testing

Blogger ate three blahgs from yesterday so I will keep this short just in case it does it today too.

School starts tomorrow. Jax has insisted on Veggie soup for lunch because I told him I had a thermos for him. He is fascinated with it. I hope he can open it up by himself tomorrow.

Dex had another friggin meltdown tonight. Stephen and I got in an argument about the way I handled it. Guess who was the hardass?

I was planning to go to bed early but Primary Colors came on. This movie is so good. It is almost over so I need to pay attention to the last little bit...

Damn blogger eating my new blagh entry.

So I will not report that nothing happened today.

Boohoohoo

I think blogger ate my blahg.

In that case, nothing new to report today.

Oh my aching back!

I scrubbed the kitchen floor today which took ages. The swifter wet mop does not work as well as I had hoped (or maybe I just need to use it more often - lol) so today I spent almost an hour washing the floor with vinegar and water. It took so long because it is wood so I would have to wipe each 3'x3' section dry after I washed it to protect the wood. I think we need to refinish the floor. Add that to the job jar.

Stephen wanted the kids to have one last summer blast so we went downtown Seattle to Gameworks. While they played, I wondered around the shops downtown. I bought a bra and free undies from Victoria Secret (a coupon came in the mail for free pair plus $5 off a bra). I was so excited to buy a bra that was not a nursing or maternity bra! I am sure it won't fit me once I finish nursing but it looks good now! It is the same size I was before I got pregnant so hopefully my boobies won't shrink too much once Cars is weaned.

Speaking of that, the little stinker turns up his nose at vanilla soy milk too. So who knows what I am going to do. I was speaking to a friend of one of my playgroup friends and she said she recently weaned her 20 month old dd and her dd will not drink milk or eat yogurt or cheese so she just ensures she drinks calcium enriched oj. Adding that to my shopping list...

Two more days until school starts for Jax in his peanut-free classroom! ;)

My boys on MOVIE NIGHT.

Cars kept wrestling Dex for his bowl of popcorn so I finally got him the container of Toddler treats and he was so happy to sit down and munch away, next to his brothers.

Over the past two weeks he has become so determined! He wants to do whatever his brothers do. Today he almost burst through the screen door because he wanted to play outside with them. Yesterday, he climbed up the ladder to Jackson's bunk. Today he tried again and fell off (bad mommy was in the bathroom and forgot to shut the big boys' door - yesterday was daddy's fault). Anyway, he has become quite a challenge. He is also teething so he is a little miserable and hard to distract with something more "age appropriate" when he gets into his brothers' things.

An apple for the Teacher

Jax met his teacher today. We found the class and he found his spot at the shared tables. She was great - remembered him from last year (she was the full-day K teacher in the class next to his). She had a little letter for each student as well as a letter to the parents stating that the classroom was PEANUT-FREE! Wow. She said it was what was best for all involved. So no peanut butter sandwiches allowed for that class. I was so happy I could have kissed her!

Next, I went to the office to drop off Jax's benadryl and epi-pen and the nurse gave me a letter from her that will go home to every parent reminding them that the class was peanut-free (yeah!) and a list of common foods that kids are not to bring to class (m&m's, pb, granola bars, cracker jacks, etc). The note also reminded parents to READ labels.

There are *5* 1st grade classes this year. After they re-drew the school boundaries last year, they apparently had no idea of the real number of students coming into this school. There are also a large number of 3rd graders too.

Remember my vow never to cook again? (August 3, 2004). I broke it and I should not have. I made pizza tonight, with pizza dough from SCRATCH. Problem is that the dough tasted awful and was as hard as a rock. Why oh why do I not listen to myself? I.CANNOT.COOK. End of story. I have got to quit pretending!

Nothing new here. Stephen is feeling ill from a major allergy attack. He was trying to tough it out but all that resulted in was a bitchy wife listening to a moaning grown man. I drove to Safeway late last night to get him some Claritin.

My mother is getting on my nerves. I love her dearly, of course, but she seems to think that I am not capable of handling Jax's peanut allergy issue with the school. See, the thing is, there is no issue at the moment. I spoke to the teacher and we appear to be on the same page. We'll see what happens and I will re-address it if it is not working. My mother, from 2500 miles away, is insisting that I march over to the school district and DEMAND that the school become peanut-free. She says "Andrea says at HER school they would make a classroom peanut-free. Every child has the right to an education in an environment that is safe for them". My gawd! Give it a rest. I am going to stop talking to her about it.

And then the rain came...

Ok, remember how I was complaining because it was too hot and too dry. It just start raining a few days ago and never let up? And it is COLD! Well, cool, but feels COLD compared to 85F. Twenty degrees cooler and here we are. Brrr - I am not ready for wearing pants and sweaters again. Man, I hope they fit me!

Called the school yesterday and spoke to Jax's teacher about the peanut thing in the classroom. She has had a peanut-allergic child in her class before so I am confident she will be on top of things. She was the full-day kindergarten teacher until this year so Jax also knows who she is already. And she spoke at length about him and his allergy to his k teacher.

Dex has been a bit of a pill lately. I think he is struggling being the middle child. I am trying to work more on making sure he expresses his opinions (without whining, please!) and we take into account his wishes but for the most part he is so easy going that it seems it is only for very minor things (in my eyes) where he is insisting things are his way. Let's hope that once school starts things will improve for him.

I am being a big PITA at the SAHP forum because I want to hit 10000 posts by September 1st. Only 168 to go! ;)

We've decided to hold off repairing the cracked pipe for now. I need to call for an estimate from the drywall guy to find out what the overall cost will be. Insurance broker advised me not to go through insurance unless it was "catastrophic" else my rates could go up or I could be deemed "uninsurable". I don't get it - wtf do I have insurance for then?

Anyway, off to watch the news then to bed to read my book.

I cut this out and laugh (and cry) over it:

Drip Drip Splash Sploosh

Ok, it is much later now and panic mode is over. Our bathtub drain is leaking and it seems a my bath last night drained unto our family room ceiling. Lots of drywall to repair and hopefully not replace. We'll know after the plumber gets here later today (can't imagine how much that will cost us - a plumber on a Sunday). Sh*t - now I am worrying about mold...

Anyway, we finally found the main turn off (both to the house and from the street - I highly recommend that people know where it is and I cannot believe we were such dolts and didn't know beforehand).

F*ck - burst water pipe (awaiting a call from a plumber and cannot find shut-off valve. Stephen is still looking and I am just sitting here panicking!).

The waterpark was FUN. The kids had a blast and even Stephen had fun. Sometimes he spends too much time trying to ensure that the kids are having fun that he takes the fun out of it, you know what I mean?

Canada has only won 2 Olympic medals. I am disappointed and a lot of Canadians are PISSED. Wondering where all the taxpayer's money is going...

We went to the Seattle Aquarium today with Ash, Gav and Kins. It was so nice. Even better because the discount card (called Prime Card) that MS employees get got us all in for $3 (except for Cars - he was free). Anyway, just as we were getting ready to go it was feeding time for the octopus. To feed him, they throw a peanut butter jar with fish in it into his tank. He used the suckers on his tentacles to open it up to get the fish. Too cool! We also saw them feeding the sea otters. They have a really neat area that is like the tidal pools and there are sea cucumbers, star fish, purple sea urchins (like in Freddie the Fish!). Way cool. Then we went to Red Robin for lunch the home.

Here's a shocker. Stephen is actually taking a VACATION day tomorrow. We are taking the kids to a waterpark. This is the first vacation day he has taken all year, not counting the month he had off in February which was covered under his paternity leave. Anyway, let's hope the sun continues to shine tomorrow!

I have some sort of bite on my arm and it is so itchy. I noticed it on Monday and it started to hurt last night and work me up. Still so very itchy! Today it has "spread" and is red and lumpy. The redness is about 2" long and 1/2" wide. If it hasn't gotten better after the weekend I will go to the doctor. Ash says she thinks it is a ~shudder~ spider bite! eeek!

Summer is almost over and I feel that I need to pack a million more things into the last few days remaining. Jax meets his teacher a week tomorrow then starts school the following Monday. Today we nothing and I feel like I wasted a day! Playgroup was canceled because no one could make it (various doctor appts). So we just hung out at home until about 2pm when I piled the kids in the car for a trip to Sears (reminded me of the scene from The Brady Bunch Movie when Mike says "Put on your Sunday best kids; we're going to Sears!".

I bought the bigger boys a pair of Land's End All Weather Zip Mocs and a couple of long-sleeved t-shirts for school. I think Jax is probably set for clothes now and Dex is too (need to haul out the size 5 pants bin). Jax's Land's End raincoat is due to arrive the first week of Sept (back-ordered). They will both need new winter coats (just a fleece-lined nylon coat). Cars is out-of-season on the outerwear so I may have to buy him more fall/winter clothes. I am finally hitting the sizes where I started keeping clothes.

Stephen mentioned tonight that his bonus will be coming in his mid-Sept pay. I told him I was going to buy a new grill because about four times this summer I have almost caught fire in a huge fireball trying to light the damn one that we have. On Saturday, I even singed all of the hair off my right hand and forearm. The ignition is broken so we have to light it with matches or a lighter and it is frightening! Anyway, I told him that he could use whatever was left of the bonus to buy what he wanted except for any damn Lego!

Time for bed. Actually I am reading a good book (see to the right -->) and I want to read before I get too tired.

Midwest Weather

It was humid today. Humid summer days = migraines. Off to bed.

Low Tide

We went to Alki Beach in Seattle today. The stress of driving across the lake then through the city was not as overwhelming as I had expected. Dex was enthralled while driving across the West Seattle Bridge which made my palms sweatty - tight lanes and way too friggin high! Anyway, we got to Alki about an hour before low tide (11:58am) but the tide was out already and it was so fun poking around under rocks to look for crabs, clams, eels, shrimp (at least they looked like shrimp - but very tiny), etc. No starfish but I guess the birds got to them before we arrived. By the time we left a 2pm the tide had come back in and the flats and tidal pools were long since gone. It was chilly there (only 60 degrees whereas it was mid-70's on the Eastside when we left!) but still a great time. I would love to go next year during the extreme low tides.

Saw my psychologist for the first time in three weeks. I thought I would have nothing to say (since I am cured, don't-ya-know) but I bathered away for an hour. Next appt is two weeks today.

Tried to get Cars to go back to sleep in his crib after he awoke last night but to no avail. I think he is destined to sleep forever in our bed from midnight to 6am. *sigh*

Missed 9am mass because we had company still. Then after they left Stephen went to get his haircut and now it is three minutes before 11:30 Mass. My kids are glad about it.

JP and Marilyn arrived yesterday and stayed overnight. It was a short but nice visit as always. We played poker last night and of course I won because we were only playing with chips and not money.

Stephen fed Cars a scrambled egg this morning. He gobbled it right up. Now of course I need to watch him for any signs of an allergy. Nothing in the past has given me any indication that he has an egg allergy but because of Jax's allergies, I worry and fret about it. Cars would not take a cup of homo milk (aka whole milk but it is called homo milk in Canada - short for homogenized). I will try again today and tomorrow and if not I am off to buy him some soy milk, I guess. I'll probably buy him the vanilla stuff because it looks like it would be yummier than plain soy shit.

Stephen took the boys to the mall yesterday to visit the newly opened Lego Store. Of course he had to buy them not a $5 lego set but a freaking $30 set - one for each of them! Crips! Here I am trying to be frugal and he's off pissing our money away. I have also stopped driving around in the heat without the air conditioning on in the car because he drives around in his car with the air set at 68 degrees!

Ok, ranting about that made me feel a little better.

Twenty-five dollars and two cents ($25.02). That is the cost for 2 passport pictures. Thanks Canada. They changed the specs for passport photos last year. Before that, Canadians living in the States could just get the US sized passport photos (you know the ones that cost like $4.99/set at Costco or $7.99 at the drug store?!). Well now they need to be 50mm x 70mm with the head between 32-36mm (or some such nonsense). So I had to go to this specialty photo place that charged $23+ tax for the pictures. Next, I need to FedEx it (they recommend FedEx vs regular mail because that adds another MONTH to the processing time) and the cost is $95 for the actual passport. Holy Crap! And with my luck we'll be called for our green card meeting with the USICS while my passport is being processed. *sigh*

Ok, why do magazines send the renewal notices to you six months in advance? I just received a notice for a renewal for
Better Homes and Gardens but my subscription does not run out until January. And I swear that Consumer Reports has sent me four renewals already for a December renewal! Sheesh! Like I don't get enough junk mail!

HOT HOT HOT

Ok, the hot weather has returned and it is a little more humid that usual. Ugh. Our poor little air conditioner just does not do enough. I think we will need to relegate it upstairs and at least cool one of the bedrooms off...

Yesterday we went to Meydenbauer Beach Park again yesterday for playgroup. It was hot this time and the beach was re-opened. The kids splashed around in the water until I saw a big rat (or muskrat or something) swimming in the water so then I suggested that they just play on the beach unti we left shortly thereafter.

Speaking of big rat, Ash had a strange animal on her deck last week. She said she had no idea what is was. Lori suggested it might be a Mountain Beaver. I'd never heard of them and Ash looked it up online and sure enough that is what it was. So much wildlife around here!

Today we are heading back to Lk Samm State Park and we'll see the family of Bald Headed Eagles as well as cool birds as they go fishing.

This weekend JP and Marilyn are coming. They will bring all sorts of good things with them from Hickory Sticks (for Stephen) to Smarties and PeaButter for all of the kids. Yeah!

Oh, time to go pack a lunch for the beach!

Sorry for no updates...I've been so busy!

Saturday: Pissing rain in the morning cleared to sunny skies and the bbq went well. Fun time had by all although Cars cried again when I put his hat back on him. :(

Sunday: Clean out the garage and put together a shelving system for the garage

Monday: Trip to Remlinger Farms. It was stinking hot but the boys had a great time.

Monday Night: Friend drove up from Portland to stay for a couple of days.

Tuesday: Bought closet organizer for under the stairs closet and Friend installed it and helped me organize.

Will post more updates later!

Of course the first time it rains in a month has to be the weekend that we are having a bbq.

Rain, Rain, Go AWAY!

I spent the day getting ready for the party and reading the forums. Cars has loose stools and I am guessing it is from the cheese on the pizza he had for dinner last night. Poor boy. Oh, I guess it could have been the cake too.

Ok, off to clean the kitchen.

Somebody doesn't like his birthday hat.

** Warning ** This is whiny and has TMI at times. Read at your own risk! ;)

Tuesday, August 5th. The day had finally arrived for baby boy #3 to be born. Stephen and I took some photos of our family of four before we became a family of five. It is strange waiting around all day waiting for a c-section. Why could they have not scheduled it for the morning?

We arrived at the hospital at 3:35pm for my 5:30pm c-section. They prep'd me for surgery and about 5:00pm the anesthesiologist came in. A few minutes later my OB dropped in and we chatted about the surgery and the baby. At 5:35pm they wrapped me in a warm blanket and I walked across the hall into the operating room. I laid down on the table and started getting really scared. This was my third c-section but that did not make it any easier or more reassuring. I was very frightened. I was also upset that my yet to be born son did not have a name! We had just spent the last 1.5 hours narrowing our list of 10+ names down to four and then finally to two as we left for the operating room (Cameron and Carson).

The spinal was inserted about 5:40 and by 5:55 they started the operation. Things progressed quickly and my baby was born at 6:00pm on the dot! He came out peeing! I took a quick peek at him and saw a mass of black hair! Stephen announced that he looked like a Carson - he finally had a name! Stephen went across the room with Carson while they cleaned him up. I started getting really, really hot and told the anesthesiologist that I was hot and I felt pains in my chest. He reassured me that my ekg was fine but there was a lot of discussion with the staff in the operating room. All I could think about was how hot I was. I couldn't even concentrate on the baby. About 35 minutes later we were all moved back to my room for recovery. Stephen and I had decided not to call anyone to tell them the news until the baby had a full name. I loved the name Carson but was so uncomfortable that I didn't really want to discuss a middle name. Finally I told Stephen that if he really loved the name Ezra so much would could call the baby Carson Ezra. We made our first phone call announcing Carson Ezra's birth about 90 minutes after he was born. I do love his name.

I threw up several times from the spinal. I remember cuddling Carson at one point then yelling "I'm going to barf!". I felt like a horrible mom and I was not a good patient.

I finally started feeling better the next afternoon. I was no longer hot. My IV and catheter was removed around dinner time. I started to get some really terrible pains about an hour later and after an unsuccessful trip to the bathroom to urinate, I nearly fainted on the floor. Stephen and the nurse caught me. I kept telling them my bladder was too full to pee but they assured me that could not be the case. Finally I was given a special bladder ultrasound and my bladder had nearly a litre of urine in it. I had to have the catheter reinserted (NO FUN!). Within minutes the pain was gone. They think the other catheter had been pressing against the wall of my bladder so it could not empty properly.

The rest of our stay was uneventful. Carson was latching on wonderfully and I was able to get about 1.5 hours of sleep at a time during the night! Friday morning we left the hospital to go home to our new life as a family of five

* * * * *

Happy 1st Birthday to my baby.

As promised, I made the kids corn dogs and I had leftover Burrito Pie. Stephen just got home now and he is having a hotdog on the George Foreman Grill.

We went to Chuck E. Cheese today and met
Heidi and her kids. It was a nice time. She took some photos so hopefully they will be up on her blog. ~hint hint, Heidi~ Ok, I've only met her three times but I feel like I've know her for ages and this sounds silly but I will miss her when she moves to Alaska next week. Her kids are GREAT fun too.

Stephen snuck me home an Oreo Blizzard so I am off to take the kids to bed so I can eat it in peace.

I cannot cook

I pretend to cook. Oh sure, I can toss a couple of skinless, boneless chicken breasts in the oven, steam some veggies then and say I "cooked" dinner. But really I cannot cook. Today I burnt dessert and undercooked a roast chicken(Beer can chicken on the grill). I could not believe I am so friggin lame at cooking.

I had put the cake under the broiler to brown the topping and heard the thermometer going off outside because the chicken was "done" (at the right temp). I ran out to check on it (the temp said it was cooked - but perhaps I hit a bone with the probe) and thought it was probably done so I had to delicately balance it off the grill and into a pan without spilling the can of beer or burning myself. I finally got back inside in time to smell that putrid burnt sugar smell that I recall so well from high school science class (anyone have to do that experience where you burn sugar with the bunsen burner??). The topping was BLACK and not salvagable. Then I started cutting up the bird and the whole one side was still pink! I could not believe it. My thermometer LIED! I cried. Then Stephen arrived home, had a good laugh which then just made me mad then he made dinner (grilled burgers and hot dogs) since we didn't feel that microwaving the bird would make us feel good about eating it.

I am not going to pretend to cook anymore. I am not even going to try to make Cars' b-day cake. I suck!

Met some friends at a park today. It was a lovely day, sunny, warm but not hot. The kids were running around by some big old trees behind us when suddenly CRACK, WHOOMP, THUD! A huge limb about 4" in diameter and 12 feet long feel from one of the trees! It landed at the feet of a little girl. Another six inches and she would have been seriously hurt! Man, I am shaking again just thinking about it. Jax and Gav had just been in that spot, kicking a soccer ball around. Tami and I freaked and called the city of Redmond. They send a crew out and one of the guys said he had trimmed the tree last week and it was so old and diseased that he recommended chopping it down but it is an old tree and is in a perfect spot for shade. The park is brand-new (just had the official opening on Saturday - it was farm land donated to the city). The next limb that falls will probably crush the picnic shelter and hopefully not a little kid.

Cars is cracking me up tonight. He is running around like he is hopped up on sugar or something. Stephen let him carry the tv remote around and he thinks he is KING. lol

Our playgroup families met at a beautiful park on Lake Washington for a bbq dinner. It was fun and nice to see everyone's spouses again. It is a little sad because after four years, our playgroup will probably disband at the end of the summer.

Ticked at Stephen (over something stupid but screw it - I wanna be pissed!) so I am off to go pout.