It's new year's eve again, the traditional time to sit down and make resolutions to change all the things about ourselves we've been trying to change for years. I traditionally don't do this, because I tend to break them within a few minutes short time anyway, but here goes nothing. (Really, probably nothing will change)
1) I resolve to lose weight. The same weight I've lost and found for years now. I guess what I mean is, I resolve to stop running into my weight watcher's leader at Dunkin Donuts.
2) I resolve to keep my house clean. Well, okay, clean enough to at least use the futon. And dry, I resolve to keep the house dry as well. Oh, and rodent free. I resolve to not allow rodents to make a home in my pantry. I also resolve to bathe the kids at least once per week. Really.
So we actually survived Christmas, and had a lot to celebrate! My brother was able to join us, which was awesome, and my dad and Al's mom and aunt also came up. A busy, but fun, time. Enjoy the pictures!
Aisling got a Sugar Plum Fairy outfit for Christmas. After seeing the nutcracker, she simply fell in LOVE. Here's a video of her dancing to the Nutcracker. Enjoy!
And in this one she's dancing while eating a chocolate covered pretzel stick. That's my girl.
I was upstairs today, changing into my play clothes (or, unsuccessfully changing out of my work clothes before they get covered in spit up from the human fountain we call Siobhan) when I heard the baby squealing with delight. Squealing! I was so happy to know that Aisling could make her laugh like that. Come to find out, Aisling is making her laugh by standing on the arm of the couch and jumping off onto the cushins. Yeah, real funny!
I cleaned out the fridge yesterday. You'll never guess what I found. Seriously, you will never guess. A TREE. I remember.... Connor brought home a seedling evergreen tree for arbor day. (I didn't even know we celebrated that). Well, if you put a seedling in the fridge, and wrap it with a wet paper towel, it will stay alive until you are able to plant it. However, it will not last eight months. Now you know.
I also cleaned out my car. (I don't know why I do these things...) in there I found 57 mittens. Not pairs of mittens, mittens. I also found assorted hats, and many socks. My kids leave socks everywhere. (How does that happen? Does one just feel the urge to remove a sock, but keep the shoe on?) I also found food from every single food group, but mainly the sticky, smelly, and slimy food groups. There was also stickers on every surface, as well as marker writing all over the place. In case I ever lose my car, I'll be able to identify it; it's the one with "Connor" written all over the backseat.
Thanksgiving was good. We all ate too much food as usual.... (Weight watchers? What about it?) We also got the tree up, well, 95% up. I'll add pictures later.
One thanksgiving dinner when people were gathering around the table to do grace and they herd a big BOOM KRASH BANG! And it was a monster And they were so scared that they didn’t do thanksgiving! The End
Wyatt had a doctor's appointment today. He was scheduled to go to the hospital for a swallow study. (This is where he gets to drink lots of yummy Barium and they get to watch him while he eats a variety of things. This helps us to keep track of what he's able to eat and how we can best keep him safe while helping him learn to feed himself.) ANYWAY....
His appointment was at 10:30. I left work at 9:30; picked him up at 9:45, and off we went. Got to the hospital at 10:30. Got out the wheelchair, my purse, all the crap that we need to bring everywhere we go, and were on our way. I took extra care to lock the doors, which I don't always do, because we were in a creepy parking garage.
We made it to the information desk, and we were told we needed to register. Great, now it's 10:40, and I need to register before I can even get to my 10:30 appointment? So, I go ahead and sit down to wait, then we go back to register. I sit down with the woman, who seems to be having a very difficult time finding Wyatt in the computer. I'm hearing a lot of "huh". Turns out, we weren't supposed to be there that day. So, after lots of phone calls and keyboard clicks, we find out we have an appointment Wednesday. Great. By this time, Wyatt is complaining miserable that we're still there. (I later find out that my appointment was cancelled and re-scheduled. By whom I'll never know....)
So, we turn around and head back out. Boy, that was a day off work well spent.... As we head back to the car (Which I actually find without walking around the entire garage for an hour and a half) I notice.... that the door to the back of the van is WIDE open! I took all that care locking the door, but left the back door wide open when I took out the wheelchair. Didn't I feel like a complete idiot walking over to this wide open car in the middle of the creepy parking garage. well, of course then I had to check every nook and cranny of the van to make sure there were no bogey men hiding inside!
So, one changed appointment, one van left wide open, and one wasted day off. Super. Which was worse, this appointment, or the one on Monday where all three kids, and myself, got the flu shot? Both were a barrell of laughs, I guess.
My not-quite-related-through-marriage-never-met-'IRL'-live-in-different-countries-dear-friend Grazia sent this to me. I thought it was hilarious! ____________________________________________________________________ Subject: Tough Love vs. Spanking - Good Argument
Most people think it improper to spank children, so I have tried other methods to control my kids when they have one of 'those moments.'
One that I found effective is for me to just take the child for a car ride and talk.
Some say it's the vibration from the car, others say it's the time away from any distractions such as TV, Video Games, Computer, IPod, etc.
Either way, my kids usually calm down and stop misbehaving after our car ride together. Eye to eye contact helps a lot too.
I've included a photo below of one of my sessions with my son, in case you would like to use the technique.
This works with grandchildren, nieces, and nephews as well.
So, if I ever wanted more proof that moving to Northern Vermont has turned my children into total hicks, all I had to do was visit Boston. The kids were very cute. Every building we walked into received a "woa" or a "cool" or "this is so tall". Their favorite part of the whole trip was riding the T and going up and down escalators. Seriously, as we are at the top of the Prudential Center, looking down on all of beautiful Boston, all I kept hearing was a resounding chorus of "When can we go back on the train or ride an escalator?" Yeah, no strange looks from people there.
We did have a fun time. On Friday we spent the entire day at the aquarium. While it was a really long day, it was pretty fun. We then had dinner at Faneuil hall and went back for some bedtime swimming. The next day we were able to ride the T into Boston, which was cool. We went to the garden and saw the statues of the mallard family from Make way for Ducklings. That was pretty fun. (Mostly for me, but, whatever...)
After that we rode a carousel at the frog pond and played on a playground. There were some researchers there from Harvard doing some experiments with kids. They had a little game set up and were doing experiments on fairness. The game was a level that would either deliver candy to both players, or take candy away from both players. One child was in control of this. The kids were either given the same amount of candy or not. The kid in control got to decide weather or not they got to keep them. It was pretty cool to watch. Both Connor and Aisling participated (although, not at the same time. That would have thrown all their theories of fairness right out the window. Nothing is fair when you play with your siblings).
We then went back to Fanueil Hall for snacks and shopping. While we were there we stopped to watch some street theater. This was a troupe of hip hop dancers. At one point, just before they started asking for everyone's money, they grabbed Connor and a few other people and brought them to the middle. It turned out that one of the dancers was going to do a flip over the group. I'll try to add the video as it was pretty cool. We then had dinner in the North End. That's always great. A few pastries from Mike's Pastry, and we were on our way.
We did have a great time, as I hope the pictures will show. It was really great to be close to home again. Boston looks totally different now, since the Big Dig. There's a lot more grass, and you dont' have to walk under 93 to get to the North End! (I was lost amongst the grass and cleanliness...) We even hung out at a cool fountain. You can see the video of Connor daringly running across the fountain when the water is off.
We are out of school over Thursday and Friday this week, and have decided to take a quick trip to Boston. So far we've gone to the pool, (except Siobhan and I, as we forgot her diapers). Then we went out to dinner with my dad and Al's mom and aunt. Then, we also went to Target. Oh yes, for a Vermont girl, going to Target is essential. However, we went there at 8:00 PM, [oh yes, again, I am THAT MOM] so we only lasted about 30 minutes. It was akin to torture. But, we did get the diapers for the pool. The doors of the hotel are automatic, and Aisling referred to them as 'magical'. Today we are off to the aquarium. I'll keep you posted!
Recently Al thought he heard a cat stuck in our pantry. After investigating, he discovered that Wyatt (whose room is right next to the pantry) was awake, and assumed that's who was making the noise. The next morning, while making lunches, Al discovered some, eh, proof that a cat had been in the pantry. He cleaned it up and we all went to work.
That afternoon, I went in the pantry to get snacks, and discovered that all the proof was not cleaned up. After silently cursing Al for a moment I began cleaning it up. I realized there was lots and lots of it....
I was having to pick things up and move things, because this proof was even under things. As I picked up a box of some insignificant product, there curled in a little ball beneath it was......
"NOT A MOUSE NOT A MOUSE NOT A MOUSE" Was what I could spit out. It actually was: That, ladies and gentlemen, is a POSSUM!!!! In my pantry, with my food! Only, when I saw it, it looked like this: I truly am shocked that you didn't hear my screams.
We called a few pest companies who, for some odd reason, did't think our little friend was an emergency! Needless to say, I was not about to sit down to dinner just a few feet away from this guy, so we went out to eat. The kids did their best impressions of a possum:(Clearly Siobhan's is the best)
Our possum removal guy came the next day. He theorized that perhaps the cat brought in the possum. (I love my cats, I love my cats.... must remember). Another pleasant surprise was that the possum was actually injured. Yeah, yeah, poor possum.... but check out my pantry... (Be warned.... it's gross) The whole pantry looked like that. A fried of ours said it looked like CSI.
Needless to, I got a brand spankin new pantry out of the deal. It is *sweet*. I almost with I could sleep there. Although, I said that about the new mudroom too, and now it pretty much looks like the rest of our house.... a huge mess of crap lived in. I've wanted a new pantry for years, so I guess it wasn't all bad....
Connor today gave me his explanation for why grass and trees are green.
"I know why the grass is green. Because leprechauns go there. Sometimes the grass is brown because leprechauns don't go there. Also the trees are green because leprechauns climb up them and stay up them. Then when the leaves change colors it means that the leprechauns have left their magic powers for a little while."
I don't think I am going to teach him about photosynthesis like, ever. His explanation is waaaay more fun!
He had his soccer jamboree today, and while the entire soccer season was full of warm beautiful days, today's marathon soccer event was held in freezing temperatures with scattered rain. That figures. But, on a good note, no more blood was shed.
Raising four children is turning out to be much more difficult than it appears.
I now have received an overdue fine from both the town library as well as the school library; I completely forgot about a hair cut I had scheduled, and didn't even show up. I am now living with ridiculous hair in need desperate of a hair cut because I am too embarrassed to call back. I did the same thing to my dentist not one, but two times, and got a little nasty gram from them asking me to either step up or go elsewhere; (I am therefore living with a chipped tooth in need of a crown, because I don't want to call them back either. I also don't want to admit that I actually need a crown for crying out loud). I've shown up late to work basically every day since I've been back, and I've developed a lovely little addiction to caffeine. We haven't done groceries in about two months, and the evening dinner routine consists of cell phone conversations of "Honey I'm the frozen food section. What do you want for dinner, and do we need anything else?" That makes for extremely unhealthy eating. Hence, I haven't attended weight watchers in a while, and shudder to think what the scale may say. Then there are the other days when I actually forget to eat, those are fun too. I basically pay my bills only when they send out those friendly reminders that say "Do you want your electricity? PAY UP". I have not, at this point, lost any children, but I am sure it's only a matter of time. I also have never left the house in slippers or anything like that, but stay tuned.
We went for our annual apple picking trip last weekend, and, as usual, had a blast. When I get pictures back I will share them. Although here's one good one of Aisling:We did take the annual apple picking trip picture with all the kids.Here's one (not so great) picture:
Here's what it took to get that picture:
Also, what do you do when the baby cries? Share your Pokemon cards of course.We've started giving Siobhan cereal with dinner. I really, really wanted to wait until she was six months old. (She's four months and three weeks). However, this baby is truly a Frugoli baby! She's been eying us eating our food for about three weeks now, and last week started fussing and crying when we wouldn't share with her. apparently, she's been doing the same thing at day care, and tomorrow will start getting cereal at lunch as well. For what it's worth, Connor also started food at four months, only his first food was black beans while at the Hard Rock Cafe in Miami. It's the only thing that would console him!
We had our first experience with Dermabond last week. It's pretty fascinating stuff, and does a great job holding together the eyebrow of a certain six year old. Oh yes, while we've surprisingly escaped both stitches and broken bones over the past six years, we are now the proud owners of one scarred up eyebrow.
Connor had a soccer game last Wednesday. Within the last five minutes of the game, he came running across the field, hand over his eye, blood seeping through his fingers. At my last recollection, he had not been playing soccer, and I wondered what the heck he could have been doing on the sidelines. (With Connor, it could have been anything). Once we were able to get him to speak, we found out one of his teammates threw a water bottle at him. Apparently, it was a fierce bottle, with some sort of ice contraption in the top. At any rate, it left a sizable blue egg on Connor's forehead, as well as a long and fairly deep cut through his eyebrow. Of course, all the moms on the sidelines jumped to action and we were handed packages of baby wipes, various bandaides, tissues, and all sorts of blood absorbing products. Finally we tracked down a first aide kit and found some butterflies. A teammates mom put two butterflies over the wound, and off we went to the walk in clinic.
While on the way we talked about options, and Connor asked if he would get to choose. Poor kid didn't want any stitches! Thankfully, we did not need them. They did a great job at the clinic. We did have to wait quite a while, which is no fun with an exhausted kid and a baby, but that's life at the clinic.
Anyway, I would love to know what people were thinking of me while I was out buying my newly glued together kid Suzie Q's and Chocolate milk at 10:30 PM on a school night! Incidentally, although I offered him a day off the next day, he wanted to go into school to show the kids his new "battle scar" (his words!)
We'll add pictures at some point.... when I can actually get him to stop moving.
The cat presented us with a great science lesson tonight. "Hey kids, come watch the cat dissect a chipmunk". Were the kids grossed out? Oh heavens no. They thought it was cool. I tried to tell them that we too were having chipmunk for dinner, but they didn't believe me.
Siobhan had her four month appointment today. She weighed in at a hefty 13 pounds 9 ounces. She was 24 inches long. When Connor was four months he weighed 17 pounds 3 ounces, and he was 26 1/2 inches long. He was also pretty much eating entire steak dinners. When Aisling was 4 months she weighed 14 pounds 12 ounces, and was 25 and 3/4 inches long. Siobhan is the runt of our little litter! Siobhan also had her shots today, poor baby, and is sleeping upstairs.
Connor had his first grade open house tonight. Al went with him and Aisling. What was Connor most excited to show them? You guessed it, Zack's new cage.
Here's a quick trip to the Heather soapbox. There's a new movie out called "Tropic Thunder". I don't know a heck of a lot about it, but I do know that within the movie there are scenes that perpetuate stereotypes of persons with intellectual disabilities. Disability awareness groups all over the country have launched protests and what not. I just wanted to share with you a video that was made in response to this movie. It's a great video, and worth sharing with everyone you know. It speaks to the very heart of why I do what I do on a daily basis.
Isn't he so cute? He started cub scouts tonight. He had his first den meeting. He was so incredibly excited. Cub Scouts comes with its own set of dues and dates, of course, along with fund raising and other parental expectations. Every Monday night he and Al go to a meeting. It's getting tricky to schedule this kid's activities. Can't wait until there are more of them involved in extra-curricular activities! Connor alone has cub scouts, soccer, piano, and dance. He's either going to be incredibly well rounded, or an exhausted juvenile delinquent.
Today Aisling came home from school with a paper bag full of milkweed. Apparently they had taken a little nature walk at school today. She was very excited, and held onto the bag for a lot of the evening. At one point she was talking about pouring it into a glass. Ah ha..... she thought we were actually going to get some sort of milk. Well, it turned out to be equally exciting to tickle the boys behind the ear with the not-so-milky seeds.
We took some pictures of the kids this weekend. We went to see Wyatt's older brother's football game, and the spirit moved us to photograph the kids. Aisling wanted to wear her fourth of July sundress. I told her it was too cold. After a total meltdown we finally agreed upon the sundress with a t-shirt and jeans underneath. Siobhan, of course, had to match exactly. (So said Aisling)
When you're screaming in the morning because you aren't given the peanut butter toast you want, you may have marshmallows as a consolation prize. Lesson learned.It turns out we didn't take the camera to the fair. None of the four times we went. However, I did promise you a unicycle story, so here it is. Aisling and Connor earned a free day at the fair for reading their summer books. They went with Al, as I had to work that day. Al reports that Aisling participated in one of the shows by riding on the shoulders of a person riding a unicycle while doing dog tricks. My crazy brave girl! When the kids got back from the fair, they had high aspirations of becoming carnies themselves. (Dream big kids....) I've included for you a video of their first ever circus. It's good stuff. Be prepared for the not-quite-so surprise ending.
School has started of course. We are now a proud family of fifth grader, first grader, preschooler, and babyroomer. Wyatt's classroom is now upstairs, so he gets to ride the elevator multiple times during the day. I don't know what he thinks of that, but I would think it were cool if it were me. (But I am a very simple person). Connor's teacher has a guinea pig in the classroom. He is extremely excited about that. I don't hear about much else about his day, but I know for a fact Zack the guinea pig is healthy and happy.Aisling is again in preshcool, with the same teacher, which we managed to convince her was actually way cooler than it sounded. She enjoys taking care of the new younger preschoolers, mostly by trying to talk to them while they are still sleeping during nap time. Siobhan has, of course, also started day care. She is in the baby room, with the other babies. She doesn't tell me much about her day. I have also gone back to work. Milton is a town that passes its school budgets notoriously late. Like, July late. For those of you unfamiliar with school spending, let me explain to you what that means. We put a budget together and present it to the town in March. They turn it down. We present another one to them in May. They turn it down. We then present another one in July. Thankfully, that one they passed. (Saving themselves about 10 cents each in the process. Thank GOD we fought for that money). Anyway, when the budget is not passed, we are not allowed to make any purchases. We were in desperate need for a new accessible bathroom for our needy students. This was not able to be started until August. (remember, the budget). we go back to school in August........ The bathroom was created by taking away 2/3 of my office. So, when I returned to work I literally had NO office. It was gutted. Now, remember back to May, folks. I was scheduled for a C-section on May 19th. Instead, on May 7th my water broke. This left me no time to get my room cleaned up for the summer. So, all my stuff was thrown into boxes and stored in random places throughout the building. The first few weeks have found me scouring the school in search of curriculum, pens, pencils..... I finally got my office back today, but have no phone cord, or computer cord. *sigh*. At least we'll get a new bathroom!
We redid the girls' bedroom. We will post pictures, once we actually take some. Aisling now has a little reading lamp above her bed. Tonight, for some odd reason, she decided to put Barbie into the lamp. Lo and behold, Barbie's hair melted to the lamp. Aisling decided to peel it off. The screaming was impressive. All of her poor little fingertips got burned. I would assume she's learned her lesson, poor baby.
Connor came home from school on Friday with a really great piece of work that he had done. It was a piece of paper folded into four sections. Each section described something he had done this summer. It was great, and I could tell he worked really hard on it. Here it is: Unfortunately, it scanned really lightly. But, what is says is this: "I played baseball"; with a picture of him playing baseball. "I played with Cain"; with a picture of him and our neighbor. The next one is an image of him swimming. The last one (in yellow) says "I had a baby", and it shows a picture of me (or Al, the story changes) laying on the bed holding Siobhan over our head. How totally cute! It's a great image, as we do that a lot to the baby. I love how he says "I had a baby"! It just cracks me up! This one's a keeper for all time!
Have a blessed mew year!
