Nagging Women

There's a really funny Diet Coke (or Pepsi?) commercial on the radio right now.  It's a woman explaining how men may feel as though we are nagging or "know-it-all's".  She urges men to understand that it's really just us loving you so much that we want you to be the best you can be.  I was laughing out loud, all alone in my kitchen one day.  She goes on to say, "We care for you so much.... It's just us being unselfish with our knowledge of what you're doing wrong."  Oh my gosh, it took me a moment to compose myself.  Very, very clever.  And true. =)

Froot Loop necklace and Dr. Seuss

Gabriel made me this very nice Froot Loop necklace the other day at school.  He put a lot of elbow grease into it and only after I ate some of it did he tell me, "Uh, Mom...You're not gonna' want to eat those.  They've been all over the floor."  

In honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday, Gabriel made this super cute top hat at school.  I could see him on the bus as it was pulling up to the bus stop.  He was very proud of his hat and not the least bit ashamed to wear it all the way home.  He even shared it with Gavin.

Pink Underwear

Seems like overnight Breanna has become a different girl.  As I unload her clothes from the dryer I reach into the sea of colors:  hot pink, florescent orange, key lime, sunshine yellow- and that's just one pair of underwear!  Boy shorts.  I think she knows they are going to peek out when she sits down so she wants to make sure they're cute.  I make her do the "sit test" in the dressing room before I "o.k." a pair of jeans.  "Crack kills" as she would say.  

She wants to switch her elective from leadership to art.  Chuck and I feel it's very important for her to stay in leadership.  She has had many great opportunities as a result of this class and while art would be beneficial, we want her to stay put.  Is it up to us?  How much freedom should she have with her schedule?

  

Chuck took her to mass Ash Wed. morning and then dropped her off  at school with a big cross on her forehead.  She came home trying to convince me that she sweat it off in P.E.  

The girl eats like a horse.  Loves to eat.  Nonstop.  She's on an oatmeal kick lately.  Like twice a day- big bowl of oats with frozen blueberries and brown sugar.  

She wore leg warmers to school today.  Leg warmers with skinny jeans and slippers.  She's asking when she'll be allowed to wear make-up. 

I had to ask her yesterday to stay downstairs with us.  All of a sudden, when she gets home from school she goes straight to her room and stays there (reading the Twilight series).  She comes down for dinner and unless American Idol or 24 is on she goes back up for the rest of the night.  I told her we miss hanging out with her.   

She told me tonight that she and her best friend, Lyubov, want to get a job at Subway when they turn 14.  

I wonder every day if I'm doing everything I can to be sure she has good memories of growing up.  What type of person will she remember me as?  Supportive and happy or bitchy and exhausted?  

She doesn't realize that I play dumb more often than not so she can believe she's smarter than I am.  This way I can catch her more easily when she tries to get away with things.  I can read every facial expression she makes and I KNOW immediately when she's lying to me.  Usually her conscience gets the best of her and she confesses without me having to push.

She was 4 and a half years old when Chuck came on the scene and convinced me that I should not be friends with my kids.  I didn't quite get that at the time.  Now I can see where there should be a line drawn.  That's not to say that we aren't "friendly" with them, just that we (and they) understand our role is as parents. 

She is a wonderful girl, daughter, big sister.  She relishes her role as "sis".  It's just amazing to watch her love for her brothers.  Genuine, pure love.  

I'm such a proud mama.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Gabriel asked me today, very casually while eating lunch, "Mom, why do people's hearts stop beating?"  Rather than blurt out the first thing that came to my mind, "Because everyone has to die at some point", I took a moment to form my response in my head.  "Probably because God needed them in Heaven."  "Why?" was of course, the next obvious question.  "I don't know", I said (which I realize I'm using way too often lately which makes him usually defer to Chuck for the answer).  "Maybe because he needs a new angel."  He pondered that for a moment, then between bites of his egg burrito said, "I hope I go to Heaven."  "You will,"  I assured him.  "Do you know how I know you'll go to Heaven?"  I asked him.  "How?" he asked.   "Because you were baptized,"  I said.  A grin came across his face, then a split second later dissipated when he realized he'd thought of something.  "But you're not," he said.   "Yes I am.  Remember when I was baptized at BCC? (Beaverton Christian Church)"  "Oh yeah, " he replied,  "Just not in the Catholic church."

     Gabe takes being Catholic very seriously.  He prays the Rosary with Chuck at bedtime and goes to mass occasionally.   He has many gifts that were given to him when he was baptized such as his cute, very colorful fat-beaded rosary from Tom and Kayleen, lots of children's bible stories, etc...  And oh, his dinnertime prayers are so sweet!  "And God, we thank you for this wonderful dinner inspired by Mommy.  And for all the people who are hungry and cold, we hope they have food and warmth.  And that's all I want to say.  In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen."

Fox Channel 12

So we ditched Dish Network and now only get local channels.  Totally fine by us- the only one who's really ticked is Gabe because we're cut off from SpongeBob.  He's learning to color and play ball instead like 6 year old boys should.  

We get the important stuff like '24' and 'American Idol'.  

Gavin's new word is "miiiiiiiiiiiine".  Imagine this in a cute 17 month old squealing voice while hugging object tightly to his body and running away.  All of a sudden it's not so cute.  We're learning "share" in sign language.  

Mama Milk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzEKVcwx6a4

WARNING:  Do not watch if you object to breastfeeding!  Obviously I'm in love with breastfeeding my baby so I thought this was absolutely beautiful.  If you are reading my blog and you object, please DON'T READ MY BLOG!!!!

Sunday school and margaritas

Once a month I volunteer in Gabe's Sunday school classroom at my church.  Today was my turn, but Gabe decided to go to Costco with Chuck instead.  So I sat and had a picnic with Isabella and Matthew (one of my favorite-not supposed to have a favorite, I know-little boys there).  I asked Matthew if he could make me some chamomile tea, to which he replied, "Hmm, camel milk?  Let me see if I have any camel milk."  Isabella told me her favorite foods to eat for breakfast are gummy fruit snacks and sausage.  From the mouths of babes...

Just so you know, "The Reader," not so great.  I was really disappointed.  Sure, Kate Winslet won the Golden Globe for best actress, but quite possibly it's because she was nude through pretty much the whole thing.  Yeah, she's an awesome actress, but I could've written a better screenplay.  Thanks to Tori and Carlie for supplying the awesome margaritas and tacos!

I Love Wednesdays

Wednesdays and Fridays are pajama days around here.  I stay home with Gavin, drink LOTS of coffee and we play and do laundry.  Today I got up pretty early and made banana hazelnut pancakes.  Yumm!!  Fridays used to be "Pampake" day for Gabe and me when he was in preschool and nowadays we just don't have time in the morning to make a hot breakfast.  Chuck will usually make about a dozen eggs in the morning and we all just eat a little bit as we wake up.  Gabe and Gavin love eggs.  

On a different note, I think Gavin is getting ready to start the potty training process.  He recognizes when he's about to poop.  He pauses whatever he's doing and looks at me and says, "Aw, maaaaaaan."  Then Gabe will say, "I think we have a stinker!"  My sweet boys.  

Brrr...

As I sit here with my fingers frozen to the bone I 'm searching for sunny, summertime pics to warm me up. Here are a few of our summer at the beach. This was Gavin's first time and yes, he wanted to eat the sand

YES WE ARE!

The greatest country in the world!  

What an amazing feeling- to be hopeful again.

Through my tears of joy, I couldn't help but notice over the course

 of the past few months, a slight resemblance between the (would you

call them the "Second Family"?) V.P. and wife to a certain

couple in my family...

Judge for yourself-

Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill.

My dad, Mike Leonard, and his wife, Debbie.

My new 'do

Here it is-my new cut.  I went shorter than usual in the back.  Going for the asymmetrical bob.  I go back and forth between wanting to grow it out and keeping it short.  Short is just so easy.  Anyway, gotta' go-  I have a date with Jack Bauer.

Today's list

Things I'm loving right now:

• Nerf- because when I'm sitting on the floor putting my shoes on and Gavin runs up to me to throw a ball at my head it doesn't hurt.
• Seneca Crispy Apple Chips- "Yumm-o!" (to quote one of my favorite foodies-Rachael Ray).  You must try the Gingerbread and the Cinnamon flavor.  Supposedly healthier for you than regular chips, but still a lot of fat. 
• my new haircut- I think Gennie got it right.  pics coming soon...
• Jack Bauer- 24 returns tomorrow night!  Then American Idol next week.  OMG, life as I know it is over.  My nights will no longer be mine.  

Florrrrri, come back!

Flori, Florrrrri, RRRR- roll your tongue, "rrrrrrr". Like on the movie Spanglish, remember Flor? Flori graced us with her presence for 2 glorious, magical Saturdays. She and her daughter, Heidi, worked together for hours to make my house sparkle. They moved all the kitchen appliances, scrubbed the showers, even cleaned the window ledges. For a brief moment we breathed a sigh of relief. Having them come in to do a deep clean every other week made it easier for us to keep up with the day to day messiness. Then we realized it didn't make sense. We were cancelling cable, Netflix, newspaper subscription, frequent Starbucks excursions(GASP!), and fancy cheeses at the grocery store but we were paying for a housekeeper. We justified it by reasoning that the time they saved us in cleaning opened up more time for us to focus on the business. It was fabulous. Fabulous but unrealistic. My toilet hasn't been scrubbed ever since. =(

Puke!

Ugh, puke! The big stainless steel mixing bowl has been become a fixture next to the couch as we take turns laying here in agony just hoping that we will soon puke our guts out and feel better. Yesterday was my turn. It hit around 3pm. At first I thought I was just shaky and nauseaous because I'd had too much coffee. Chuck took all the kids to the studio so I could get some work done but all I could think was, "You better go lay down now while you can before they get home." Did I? Of course not. Too much to do. Eventually I made my way over and hoped it would pass. When the kids kicked me off the couch a couple hours later to play "Scene It" (b-day present from Steph- Thanks!) I drug myself (and my trusty bowl) upstairs looking forward to my comfy bed. Then it came- that wave of nausea accompanied by the feeling of your entire body breaking out in a cold sweat. To the toilet! Couldn't decide whether I needed to sit on or hug the bowl. You catch my drift... Without too much graphic detail, suffice it to say, thank goodness for my bowl because my body decided to expel as many different bodily fluids as it could all at once. "Will my husband still respect me if I yell for him to come wipe my butt?" was all I could think in my pitiful state. Since I couldn't muster up the energy to call for him I decided to give it a go. I cleaned myself up, made my way back to bed and summond for him the only way I could think of- by stomping on the floor and hoping that would get his attention. He rushed upstairs to see what all the hub-bub was about. I let him know he'd need to dump out my puke bowl (rinse very well to eliminate any residuals, please) and restock the t.p.
The good news is Iwas in bed very early and got a good night's sleep, with bowl by my side. I haven't needed it since. All I could bring myself to eat today was a piece of toast with pumpkin butter because I'm too afraid to eat anymore, although I'm starving!

Arctic Blast 'o8

Dead giveaway that it's a snow day:  I'm vacuuming under the cushions of my couch.  Arctic Blast '08 has arrived.  We get a couple inches of snow and Portland closes up shop.  Kinda funny to see considering we lived in Alaska and functioned in much worse than this every day of winter.  I guess since Portland isn't used to this weather it's a big deal.  The kids are psyched because they're pretty much getting an extra week of Christmas vacation.  

We had a couple scary near-frostbite incidents with Gabriel.  After playing outside with Chuck and Bree for a little too long he came inside screaming in agony that his hands were frozen.  This lasted for a good 10 minutes.  It scared the heck out of me because I'd never seen him in this much pain- even when he broke his collarbone.  We googled "frostbite" and tried our best to warm his hands up but he didn't even want to run them under warm water.  Through his tears he exclaimed, "I ne-ever want to go out-side e-e-ever agaaaain."   As I sit here typing, Chuck is layering him up to go play outside with Cameron: 3 shirts, sweatshirt, winter coat, hat, 2 pairs of gloves.  

Doodle learned how to spin in circles.  Oh my goodness, could he get any cuter?!?!  2 spins and he's dizzy.  

While laying in bed last night reading about Mariah Carey's Christmas traditions in Redbook I happened to stay tuned in after The Biggest Loser finale and got sucked in to the premier of "Momma's Boy".  Chuck thinks Gabe and Gavin will be momma's boys.  I wouldn't mind.  Some of these moms were a little over the top, though.  I think I can see myself more concerned about the guys who are interested in Breanna than I am with the girls interested in my boys.

Amen to that!

Just a follow up to yesterday's post.  This was sent to me from one of the girls in my breastfeeding group.  How cute?!?

Breastfeeding

As some of you may know, a couple months ago I decided to become a volunteer peer counselor with the Nursing Mother's Counsel of Oregon.

I (along with about 20 other women) underwent about 25 hours of training over the course of one weekend and 3 Monday evenings. Along the way I met some very nice gals who share one of my most passionate beliefs- that breast is best and all babies should breastfeed for as long as mom can do it. Of course there was also the bra-less hippie who was there because "if all babies were breastfed there would be no wars". Well, possibly, but I might not say that out loud before a group. All in all, it was a very positive experience and an opportunity for me to do something for myself that had nothing to do with personal training or poopy diapers. I jumped at the chance. I knew that my breastfeeding relationship with Gavin would be ending soon and I love the whole experience so much that I still wanted to be involved in it in some aspect. In the training we discussed counseling skills, breastfeeding challenges, mom's diet, breastfeeding beyond the first year, weaning, counselor responsibilities and many other things. As a counselor I'm required to cover a live-line phone shift at least once a month and participate in health fairs, business meetings and get-togethers.
Today was my first phone shift. (I just call in to have calls to NMC forwarded to my cell phone) My shift was from 12-3 and I received my first (and only) call at about 12:30. I was soooo excited but also scared about giving out faulty information and ruining a mom's entire breastfeeding experience.
Here's what I'm hit with my very first time at bat: Mom of 5 wk. old (5th child) concerned that DHS is going to take her kids because her boyfriend uses marijuana for medicinal purposes in the home and because she's breathing the second hand smoke, she's passing it to the baby through her breastmilk. Apparently she's red flagged anyway due to a past issue with her 2 yr. old. They want to test her urine for marijuana. Does she stop nursing or just lie to them and say she's stopping and hope they'll leave her alone? Wow, couldn't be something like, "My nipples are sore and my baby has pooped 9 times today." I really wanted to help her and deep down all I could think to tell her was that our mission was to help her continue her breastfeeding relationship with her daughter. Drugs?!? She seemed like she wanted to continue nursing but I almost caught a hint of, "Fuck 'em, let them take all 5 of them if they think they can do a better job."
After that call I just came downstairs to my little doodlebug with his messy hair and booger nose and felt so blessed to be able to provide him with a warm home, abundance of food and clean breastmilk.

Gavin giggles

Just a little video of the kids.  I just love Gavin's giggle!

Bad quality because it's my digital camera (not camcorder).  He loves to roughhouse with the big kids.

Not-So-Happy Meal

About 3 years ago we decided that maybe it wouldn't be so bad to let our kids in on a little piece of American culture and expose them to what they would inevitably come to know and long for- the McDonald's Happy Meal.  Once in a great while it couldn't be so bad, right?  Wrong.  Gabe puked it up like his little virgin tummy had never had trans fat before.  Scared the heck out of him and he hasn't wanted McDonald's since.  Fast forward to 1:47 a.m. Sunday morning.  "Gabriel threw up all over me," shrieked Breanna as she hovered over our bed.  Huh?! By the time I calmed Gavin down and got him back to sleep Chuck already had Gabe in the shower while Breanna fought off her gag reflex changing her sheets.  Guess we forgot to tell her you have to rinse out the chunks before you throw them in the washer.  I learned what dried, crusty bits of red bell pepper and meat (more on that later) look like when they come out of the drier.  After everyone got cleaned up and played musical beds we were up again very shortly trying to get Gabe to the bathroom before he blew chunks all over our bed and floor.  He didn't make it.  This scenario repeated itself a few more times before dawn.  So, needless to say, we spent our weekend washing towels and sheets, napping,  and sanitizing any hard surface he'd come in contact with.  Poor little guy.  We can't completely blame it on McDonald's.  After breakfast he went to a pool party and had his fair share of cake, pizza, and popsicles.  And since I didn't have time to go to the grocery store and the kids were about to starve to death I stopped and got fast food burritos for dinner.  Put it all together and it makes for a not-so-fun Saturday night.  He stayed home with me today and broke his perfect attendance streak.  He was bummed but still wasn't feeling well and asked if we could "cancel school today".  

On a positive note, we got our Christmas tree!

"Meoooow"

Gavin's new sound.  My little stinkerdoodle is just sweet enough to eat.  His little personality just shines through and keeps this big, goofy grin on my face all day.  My cheeks hurt from smiling so much.  He was in his high chair today and saw Chuck pull into the driveway and said, "DADA!" and squirmed to get down.  He's so excited to see Dada and Dada's so excited to see him that we have to be careful to not completely disregard Breanna or Gabe if they're in the room when he gets home.  Gabe got his hair cut today.  Long overdue.  Speaking of hair cuts- mine's starting to become mullet-ized.  I just can't seem to get it right with my stylist.  The only really great experience I've had with her since she's been cutting my hair (for about a year) was the last cut about 6-7 weeks ago.  But just this last time I was pretty unhappy and each day that goes by I become more unhappy with it.  Here's the kicker- she's my next-door neighbor.  So what can I do?  Go elsewhere only to run into her with my new haircut?  She's a super-sweet lady but I just don't know what to do.  I haven't been getting what I've wanted from her.  She's always more than willing to see me immediately for a touch up if I notice there's a problem (which I always seem to do).  Chuck says I'm just too picky and I'd find something wrong even if it were perfect.  He may be right.  I say, it's MY hair on top of MY head that I have to see EVERY DAY and style EVERY DAY and I want to be happy with it.  Also, since she cuts my hair out of her home do I give her a tip?  Feedback, please.