We're leaving for our first family trip together this week. I made this horribly huge list of things we need to take. You'd think that we're going away for a month! I am looking forward to getting away from work and the house for a few days! I started packing tonight, but will have to finish in the morning.
We're not going far...just 1 and 1/2 hours up the road. We're going to Lancaster, PA and plan on visiting a little kids' theme park and we're going on a train ride... both things MG is already excited about. This will give us practice for longer and further trips.
We are hoping to visit TN sometime, but are not looking forward to a 10 hour drive with a toddler and an infant. My family really is bugging us to come, but do not understand how difficult it will be. They haven't met MB yet, either.
One thing that I'm a little nervous about is that I may have to NIP (nurse in public) since we'll be out and about doing different things when MB will get hungry. I've done it a couple of times in public, but it's been in places that I felt comfortable doing it. I really am shy about doing it, but I will if needed. Feeding my baby is much more important than a little embarrassment.
Did you all hear about or see the front cover of the BabyTalk magazine for August? It's a picture of a baby on mommy's breast. I think that it's a beautiful picture. You can tell that baby must be looking right into mommy's eyes. Anyway, there are some people who are very upset by it.
Ah, well. It's past time for me to get to bed! After midnight! Oh no. I just thought of something that I have to do for work before we leave tomorrow. Yuck. I guess I'll have to do it in the morning...too tired now.
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Flashback...a Sad One
Warning...this is a little sad, so you don't have to read it! I want to write about this because it kept me up late last night. When I was driving back home with the kids, I noticed a man trying to take his riding lawn mower up a very steep bank. He was having trouble getting it to go, so he kept backing up closer to the road to get up speed to try to get up the bank. I prayed a quick prayer for him, because it looked like an accident waiting to happen.
I was lying in bed trying to sleep, but this earlier thing made me flashback to the day of my dad's death. He was instantly killed when he was trying to drive a tractor up a steep hill and the tractor flipped on him. He was a little younger than I am now when it happened.
The flashback is remembering how I felt when I knew that I'd never see him (in this world) again. I was lying on my bed on my back and kicking the wall above my headboard over and over again. I could hear my younger brother doing the same thing over in his room. It was just so horrible and I was alone. Eventually my grandmother came in to talk to me.
It's weird that something that happened so long ago still brings heartache. I think that the worst thing is that this was a terrible thing for my mom. She was left with three kids (including one under one year of age) to raise alone. She has been through so much. She loved my dad so much and for years kept fresh red roses on his grave during the summers, cut from the rosebush he'd planted for her. She tried going back to school, but had to discontinue that because of lack of money. She also went into a deep depression, and that went on for years. I've had times of getting upset with her over things, but she's one strong person to have been able to raise three children alone. And none of us turned out that bad! She also took care of her dying mother when we were still kids.
Sigh. I don't dwell on this stuff and have come to terms with it, but sometimes something triggers the memories... like the guy trying to drive his mower up the steep bank.
I was lying in bed trying to sleep, but this earlier thing made me flashback to the day of my dad's death. He was instantly killed when he was trying to drive a tractor up a steep hill and the tractor flipped on him. He was a little younger than I am now when it happened.
The flashback is remembering how I felt when I knew that I'd never see him (in this world) again. I was lying on my bed on my back and kicking the wall above my headboard over and over again. I could hear my younger brother doing the same thing over in his room. It was just so horrible and I was alone. Eventually my grandmother came in to talk to me.
It's weird that something that happened so long ago still brings heartache. I think that the worst thing is that this was a terrible thing for my mom. She was left with three kids (including one under one year of age) to raise alone. She has been through so much. She loved my dad so much and for years kept fresh red roses on his grave during the summers, cut from the rosebush he'd planted for her. She tried going back to school, but had to discontinue that because of lack of money. She also went into a deep depression, and that went on for years. I've had times of getting upset with her over things, but she's one strong person to have been able to raise three children alone. And none of us turned out that bad! She also took care of her dying mother when we were still kids.
Sigh. I don't dwell on this stuff and have come to terms with it, but sometimes something triggers the memories... like the guy trying to drive his mower up the steep bank.
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Brave Mommy!
I took both kids to the park today for a picnic and play. This is the first time I've done it on my own. I felt pretty brave! We managed to get the baby fed and he was very happy the entire time. The park has a baby swing that he loves. MG was extremely excited and slid down even the biggest slides! She really had a ball playing in the sand and on the swings too. There was one strange encounter with another Mommy from outer space that I have to write about.
There were two Mommies sitting in the pavilion watching their kids playing in the sandbox. I could hear them in a deep discussion about something. I parked my double stroller in a level spot in front of the sandbox so that it wouldn't roll away while I got MB out and put him on a blanket nearby. Meanwhile, MG was already playing when I heard weird Mommy yelling at someone to "Move over! Move over!" Well, I didn't realize that she was yelling at me! Next, she was running past me and to the sandbox to get onto my daughter for throwing sand. I didn't see it happen, so I asked what did MG just do? Alien Mommy said "Oh she was just tossing lots of sand up into the air." Interesting. Then I saw MG taking a small shovel of sand and flip it up in the air. Ok, not SO horrible. I did take her aside and explain that flipping sand could hurt someone or get into their eyes and not to flip sand up into the air. I am glad that she wasn't throwing it at anyone on purpose.
Even though I was ticked off at this Mommy for being quite weird, I think I handled things ok. The sand thing wasn't what got me so irritated though. It was that I realized that she had been yelling at me for having my stroller in her line of vision! It's too bad that she wanted to sit up there and gossip instead of moving closer to watch her kids or interact with them.Oh well! I did move my stroller even though she didn't ask me nicely. I have actually seen this mother at the park several times, so I guess I may have to look forward to more encounters. What fun!
We did have a wonderful time despite this. MG was very sweet to the younger children on the slides. One little boy was scared to go down a double slide, so she went down it with him several times. It was very sweet. She's definitely showing off her big sister skills! This same little boy lost his shoe on the slide. MG ran over and retrieved it for him and was trying to put it on his foot. Very cute!
Since we haven't been to the park in a long time, MG pitched a terrible temper tantrum when trying to leave. I tried to reason with her when she threw herself into the floor of our car and wouldn't get up. I had to wrestle her into the seat and buckle her in after failing at reasoning with her for ten minutes. She was ok once she got cooled off in the airconditioning and had a drink. Then we came home and I had to carry her sleeping and she slept through me changing her diaper and washing her off. Then she woke up and wouldn't sleep during her nap.
When I finally went in to get her up from her "nap", I found that there was a ST (Stinkin Turd) in the middle of the floor. I asked "How did that get there?" because I thought that it may have been one of the cats! She said "I pull out and throw!" I hesitated and looked at it, and she yelled out in delight "Mom's a chicken! Cock-a-doo! Cock-a-doo!" Remind me to tell her about this when she's a teenager.
Sigh. I'm so tired! I needed a nap, too, after all of that!
There were two Mommies sitting in the pavilion watching their kids playing in the sandbox. I could hear them in a deep discussion about something. I parked my double stroller in a level spot in front of the sandbox so that it wouldn't roll away while I got MB out and put him on a blanket nearby. Meanwhile, MG was already playing when I heard weird Mommy yelling at someone to "Move over! Move over!" Well, I didn't realize that she was yelling at me! Next, she was running past me and to the sandbox to get onto my daughter for throwing sand. I didn't see it happen, so I asked what did MG just do? Alien Mommy said "Oh she was just tossing lots of sand up into the air." Interesting. Then I saw MG taking a small shovel of sand and flip it up in the air. Ok, not SO horrible. I did take her aside and explain that flipping sand could hurt someone or get into their eyes and not to flip sand up into the air. I am glad that she wasn't throwing it at anyone on purpose.
Even though I was ticked off at this Mommy for being quite weird, I think I handled things ok. The sand thing wasn't what got me so irritated though. It was that I realized that she had been yelling at me for having my stroller in her line of vision! It's too bad that she wanted to sit up there and gossip instead of moving closer to watch her kids or interact with them.Oh well! I did move my stroller even though she didn't ask me nicely. I have actually seen this mother at the park several times, so I guess I may have to look forward to more encounters. What fun!
We did have a wonderful time despite this. MG was very sweet to the younger children on the slides. One little boy was scared to go down a double slide, so she went down it with him several times. It was very sweet. She's definitely showing off her big sister skills! This same little boy lost his shoe on the slide. MG ran over and retrieved it for him and was trying to put it on his foot. Very cute!
Since we haven't been to the park in a long time, MG pitched a terrible temper tantrum when trying to leave. I tried to reason with her when she threw herself into the floor of our car and wouldn't get up. I had to wrestle her into the seat and buckle her in after failing at reasoning with her for ten minutes. She was ok once she got cooled off in the airconditioning and had a drink. Then we came home and I had to carry her sleeping and she slept through me changing her diaper and washing her off. Then she woke up and wouldn't sleep during her nap.
When I finally went in to get her up from her "nap", I found that there was a ST (Stinkin Turd) in the middle of the floor. I asked "How did that get there?" because I thought that it may have been one of the cats! She said "I pull out and throw!" I hesitated and looked at it, and she yelled out in delight "Mom's a chicken! Cock-a-doo! Cock-a-doo!" Remind me to tell her about this when she's a teenager.
Sigh. I'm so tired! I needed a nap, too, after all of that!
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
We are the Chunk Muffins
Not only do I have to worry about my chunkiness, now I'm concerned about Mr. Chunk Muffin himself. At Metalboy's six month check-up today, we found out that he weighs just under 23 pounds!!!!!! That's quite big for his age. He's very adorable in all his chubbiness, but I don't want him to have weight problems later on. I do think that he'll thin out some once he gets mobile. His regular doctor has said not to be concerned about it, but we saw the Nurse practitioner today who thinks that we're feeding him too much.
We're having a heat wave right now. It feels pretty unbearable outside. I filled up Metalgirl's paddling pool last evening when it finally cooled down and got shady. She played in her pool and ate popsicles. She also got her first set of wheels over the weekend.... a shiny new red tricycle. She loves it and is trying to figure out the pedals. She grabbed her toy monkey, hopped on her trike, and said "Goin to the zoo!" and she drove over to the door and was trying to get out. Later she was riding around saying "I a big girl!" and "Thank you Daddy!" She's so funny.
I'm looking forward to our vacation coming up in a few weeks. I really feel the need to escape and get away from work. I've started feeling a bit burnt out. We're having some problems at work that's affecting my schedule, and that's getting old fast.
I'd better go now. Sorry my blogs are a little blah!!
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Battle of the Pudge
I think that one of the hardest things to deal with after having two babies is my flabby body and new aches and pains. I really try to avoid looking in the mirror except to fix my hair and makeup, and to make sure I don't have my shirt on backwards or something-which does happen sometimes. It's just proving to be hard to lose weight as easily as it used to be. I've never had much of a weight problem till now, so it's a little depressing.
Other than the pudginess issue, I'm really feeling happy. We had a fun July 4th day off from work. It was great to spend time MetalMark, Metalgirl and Metalboy. We stayed home and relaxed, and I think that was the best way we could have spent the day.
Other than the pudginess issue, I'm really feeling happy. We had a fun July 4th day off from work. It was great to spend time MetalMark, Metalgirl and Metalboy. We stayed home and relaxed, and I think that was the best way we could have spent the day.
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