Parenting - More than just feeding and walking them??

Ah, so we went to our first night at a parenting group/class that started this week. It's always a joy to have your kid run wild and act like a lunatic at a parenting group.

"Hello, my name is Melissa. And my kid needs some discipline...quickly."

They had a babysitter upstairs and we could hear every whine, screech, and crying fit. By 8:30 he was in meltdown mode and sobbing. I brought him down with us since we were wrapping up and he could not sit still. It was painfully obvious he has never been trained in obedience.

At home he knows the boundaries of the house and generally follows our house rules. But other than that he has no rules. **Insert "Oops" face here** He doesn't know how to sit down and stay in one place to play for any length of time. He doesn't like to hold my hand when we're walking. He won't sit in my lap. He's...like a wild animal.

It was great (sarcasm) and humiliating. It was like everyone was thinking - I hope my kid doesn't turn out like THAT one. I have no idea what people were thinking - but I'd probably be thinking that if I were them.

So Mark and I had a long discussion about what we expected of Hayden when we were out of our home.

1. That he should be able to hold our hand while walking without pulling or collapsing to the floor in a tantrum.

2. That he should be able to sit in one place with a toy for a short period of time and play quietly without moving or running around.

We'll start with those.

So today we began "practicing" these skills at home. A big part of the problem is he doesn't have a lot of opportunity to be trained in how to behave while were out, because we don't go out a lot. So I instituted a "play mat" in the kitchen. He got to pick one toy and had to play on the mat while sitting. Sitting and being still are the most difficult for Hayden. We started with 5 minutes of playing without disobeying and leaving the mat.

And he did wonderfully! I think it only took 15 minutes for him to finally spend a 5 minute stretch on the mat. I'm slowing going to extend the time, but I'm excited he did so well on the first try!!

Since he seemed to be obeying well, I tried a variation of the mat skill. We went outside in the front yard. His "mat" was the front porch. While I weeded and watered the flower bed, Hayden played on the front porch. He had to be reminded several times of where the boundary was, but he never willfully disobeyed after he was reminded. So Corbin and Hayden played, while I was able to actually do something in the front yard!! Something I never could do with Hayden before.

I got a recommendation for his shrieking as well. I small bit of something that tastes awful, like vinegar. Now he has his shrieking and tantrum "medicine" - I think it's working. Now when he starts screaming and I approach him he says "uh oh" - so he knows he's A.) Done something wrong and B.) Will experience a negative consequence for it.

This is really my first intentional "training" for Hayden. Most of what I done so far has been "reactive" parenting. He misbehaves and I discipline him. But I've never taken the time to train him to have the skills to behave well. Hopefully I can give him the tools to behave better in new situations.

Writing My Own Adventure

I love reading a good, well thought-out fiction book. I love stories. I enjoy the character development, how characters can intertwine and plots come together. I love catching those small little "details" the author throws in to see if you're paying attention. I love it when you can tell the author really "knows" their character and can show you who they are. I love plots that are more than what they appear. Stories that have multiple sides to be discovered.

When I was young I wanted to write a book! Didn't we all? Or is that just me? A book where I created and controlled my characters and how the story unfolded. A story that I gave twists and turns and surprises!

And somehow that writing bug never left, it just got buried under the weight of the world and self-doubt.

I think I will dust this old brain off and let my imagination run loose. I will write my own adventure, the adventure that my mind has been writing for years, only it never made it into words. A story with the sights and smells that lift my heart and with the excitement of a child making a discovery. I want to spend the rest of my life writing my story. And no one may ever read it, but it will have a life of its own - in my mind. I'm not writing it to be published, it will stay in the closed pages of my notebook, but it's something I need to do.

Today, while the kids napped, I took my notebook and went outside. I started spilling out the details of my story, brainstorming the nuts and bolts of my story. I loved every minute of it. And I was in no hurry, there was no deadline and no one to impress. It was MY story. I hammered out small details of one section that was rattling around in my mind. I put it to paper and the rattling stopped. It couldn't be more than a paragraph or so of the story, but the details were decided upon. Not even written about - because that will come later - just brainstormed. Scribbles here and there, connected with arrows. Ideas circled and crossed out. But my story was swirling into ... itself.

And I only got 15-20 minutes to think about "my" story, but it was a rewarding 20 minutes.

A Good Day For Reading

It's been raining off and on all day, but in a strange sort of way. The sky looks blue and clear, but then a stray cloud will pour on us for a minute, then move away. I much prefer constant storming/rain vs. this drizzling type.

This morning Corbin had his 2 month check up. He's 11 lbs 2.5 oz and 26 inches. Poor baby got his vaccines today and so I've let him sleep in the swing today instead of his bed. I think this has made the day much better than it would have been otherwise.

I just ordered a new book on Amazon - Merry Hall. It sounds very good! But we'll see. I wish I had a good book to curl up and read on a day like today, but my latest buys have been parenting books - not exactly the rainy day read I would like. Anyone have a good suggestion? I'm always up for a new(or old) book.

Hayden has been testing the boundaries today - which leaves me exhausted and at my wits end. He's in that difficult toddler stage where he doesn't talk much and understands only a little, yet has all the physical abilities and curiosity of an older toddler. Achieving any kind of discipline over tantrums and shrieking is a very long uphill battle. He is in the habit of shrieking whenever he wants something or doesn't like something. It's a very annoying habit - which I'm sure is even more shocking to non-parents when we're out. All my efforts to curb this behavior have failed. Has anyone else gone through this? Did you have any success in stopping it? Or do you just have to wait to grow out of it?

I didn't get as much done as I would have liked today. I've designated Monday as my cleaning day, but I only managed the laundry, a few (not all) dishes, and picking up the living and dining room. My bathrooms desperately need some attention - but I'm in no hurry to start cleaning toilets, ha!

And I think I'm getting the hang of Corbin's cries, I've narrowed them down into these categories:

1.) I'm hungry, please pass the boob.
2.) OH crap, these cheap Luv diapers have leaked again!
3.) Gas, gas, I have GAS!!
4.) This activity mat is boring.
5.) What the? Help! There's a 30 lb toddler SITTING on me!!! Momma!!

Happy Thursday!!!!!

Another Thursday flies by! It's incredible how fast time goes by. Pretty soon I'll be writing a post like this as an 80 year old woman! Of course then, instead of cutsie baby stories I'll be talking about my bowels and bunions.

Right now, I'm not quite THAT interested in my regularity, so we'll stick with kiddie stories.

Tonight is our romantic movie night again - wooot! The Painted Veil. It's not a traditional "romance", but it's a wonderful story of how love can grow as you get to know another person's character.

And just to clarify, we do not only watch "my" movies - the last movies we watched were The Toy and The Best of the Best. Clearly, two of my hubby's pics. So, don't think he's deprived in movie selection or anything.

I'm also loving the thunder that's been rolling all afternoon - although no rain at all. Very strange. However, that worked out beautifully and allowed me to talk a walk with a friend this morning. It was overcast and looking like rain, but it blocked the sun and heat wonderfully.

And I must say I am STILL not impressed with Luvs diapers. As I mentioned previously, we ran out of the good size 1s, so I pulled these down from the closet. We had bought them when Hayden was a baby, but had abandoned them. Now I am for sure that I was right to abandon them. They have leaked 3 times in the last 2 days. And not from some kind of poop explosion. Just pee! But, I will be grateful for them, it is saving me from spending more money on diapers. So I will deal with the extra outfit changes and just enjoy the savings. Hey, it gives me a reason to dress Corbin in all his cute outfits. Outfits, that he'd probably never have a chance to wear if he just wore one a day. HA!

Corbin is LOVING his new activity mat. I am quite happy with our "splurge" on buying this. I know we didn't need it but it has really gotten a lot of use just in the last week. Even Hayden likes it.

Today was "Sewing" day and I found a sewing project I never finished. For several friends I had made fabric books (from a kit) for their babies. I had left one for Hayden, but never got around to doing it. I bought one Little Mermaid, one Cars, and one Finding Nemo. At the time, Hayden wasn't into movies so I unknowingly gave away the best on for him, the Cars book. But, just in the last couple of weeks Hayden has really been watching Finding Nemo - which turns out to be the fabric book I still had! So today I made the book for him during his naptime. I'm really excited to see how he likes it. I think I'm going to give it to him and then put on Finding Nemo! Maybe he'll recognize the characters.

Just doing that project made me want sew more things for Hayden. I'm eager to check out the fabric shops for Cars fabric. I wanted to make sheets/pillow cases for him! This will be a harder project than I've attempted yet, but I really would like to do it.




And that's what's made me happy today!! How about you??? (If all else fails, at least tomorrow is Friday)

MS Walk

Have you met my amazing husband? He's the hot one in the middle.

He's gorgeous. He has the best sense of humor and can make you laugh and smile in less than a minute.

He is kind. He would go out of his way to help a stranger or a friend without even thinking about it.

He loves making people feel comfortable and liked.
He is an amazing father that changes diapers with perfection, gives bottles, tucks in his toddler, rocks his baby, gives the best baths, and isn't afraid to get down on the floor and play with his son. He's never too busy or too tired to be a Dad. He'll go on walks and to the park even if he has a headache or is tired.

He is a caring husband who lets me drag him around to the theatre in the park or for mile long walks - even when he's not up to it. He puts up with my Romantic movie thursdays. He always hugs me and shows me he loves me. And he's not too proud to say "I love you" out loud no matter where we are. He's the best thing that ever happened in my life and has taught me more about life than anyone else.

His motto is "Live, Laugh, Love".

And he lives with Multiple Sclerosis.

Three years ago this disease rocked our world and sent us on a roller coaster that I would never have volunteered for. But it made us stronger as a couple, and set our priorities straight.

Plans are not set in stone anymore for us, and each day is precious. He may live the rest of his life wonderfully or not. That is the mystery of MS. And we thank God for each MRI scan that comes back clear. We do what we can with both modern science - he takes a shot each week, plus a handful of pills to deal with this symptom or that, and nutrition - he follows a fat free diet.

But despite all this my husband is amazing, strong, loving, and the best person you'd ever meet.

November 16th (a Sunday) is the MS Walk here in Austin and our family will be there supporting all of the MS community to raise money to find a cure. If this is something that touches your heart, here is the link to our team page. Our team name this year is "I'm Just MSing With Ya!". Sign up to walk on our team and/or donate if you like. Or just pray for us and all those walking.

This will be our 3rd year walking, so in honor of that I'm designing a team t-shirt!! (Be patient, the page loads slowly, but I promise it will load eventually). If I can get 15 folks interested in buying a shirt (and hopefully walking with us too!!!) We can order the shirts for only $10.27 each. Which would rock. Because if I buy only 6 instead of 20 (6 is the minimum order) they come out to 23 bucks. Ouch. Anywho. So if you like the shirt and want to show your Zavala spirit - let me know. We'll probably be ordering the shirts next month!

The walk will be at the Dell Diamond again this year and they even have a free lunch and things for the kiddies to do. I'm super excited and hope all our friends can come out and support Mark!

One Hundred Pushups

So I was gah-chatting (or gmail chatting) with my bud, J-Dawg when she turns me on to this site:

http://www.hundredpushups.com

It's a program that trains you to do one hundred push ups in six weeks. After looking over the site, I decided to take the challenge.

And I discover...much to my surprise..I'm a big out of shape loser! HA! Yes, I am a column one person (AKA I can do less than 5 push ups - and that's even on my knees). Oh dear.

But yes - in less than 6 weeks I will be a push up master! Or uh, at least doing more than 5.

Won't you join me? =D

Kiddos

Is it really only Tuesday? No, I'm just kidding - my week is going pretty great (but I was serious about it being Tuesday for those ready to hit the sauce already).

Hayden Happenings:

• He has a new fascination with our changing pad. Whenever he sees it he pulls it out, unfolds it, lays down, and awaits a diaper change...even though we just did it...like 2 minutes ago.
• He's added new "words" to his vocabulary - "Ka-chow!" "Whoa" "Car" "Mine, mine..mine mine mine" and "Mac"
  
• Notice "mine" comes from Finding Nemo - a new favorite. Hehe, he doesn't know what it means yet - thank goodness. He just says it randomly
  
• He loves the new activity mat we bought...for Corbin.
  
• Initially, he was freaked out by the light up flowers on the activity mat - that was a great night. My son..is afraid...of flowers.
• He got over it.
  
• He likes to watch TV laying down...facing the opposite way so it's upside down...uh huh

Corbin Happenings:

• He's smiling
• He's cooing
• He's batting at toys on his activity mat
• He's grown out of Newborn diapers - awww
• We ran out of the upscale size 1 diapers - oh crap now I have to pull out the Luvs

Yay! My Pants Have Zippers

After many long months of elastic, I have FINALLY gotten back into my jeans. Jeans that have a zipper and a button and don't sag down after you wear them over an hour.

So far I'm down 12 lbs since starting dieting. Wahoo! I'm liking this. I must say I haven't missed sugar or bread that much. There are lots of alternatives to sugar - bread...well not so much. But I have SO much more energy - it's awesome.

I'm totally wanting to start experimenting with food to come up with some great recipes. Food and I have been having an intense love affair forever, but it's time for me to take the upper hand.

Hubby gave me a "wake up call" and encouraged me to make my "diet" food good! He made the most delicious eggs ever! And it kind of hit me that the possibilities for healthy eating are endless - I just need to get creative and not be lazy and reach for the first "easy" food I see. Which is hard with two crazy kiddos, but I'm feeling good and energetic these days, so I can do it.

Hubby's eggs combined shredded lean lunch meat like Turkey Breast, red bell pepper, cheese, and of course eggs. It was delicious! I've since tried it with ham as well - of course it was yummy. Previously, I was just quickly frying or scrambling up some plain eggs - which was getting pretty boring. I thought I didn't have time to make anything more, but it really only takes 2 or 3 more minutes.

Tonight I'm making strawberry cheesecake. It should be yummy, I'm putting it in the oven now. My first "real" dessert - that's in line with my diet of course.

Tonight we're having friends over for dinner - I'm super excited! I think this will be the first time we've invited friends over for "dinner" since Corbin was born. I hope they aren't scared away by our crazy kids. Dinner time can be wild, haha! But I like wild.

Then we're going to watch 300 - I've seen it, Mark hasn't yet. So that should be fun. Oh and for those wondering about Like Water For Chocolate...uh yeah. HA! It wasn't exactly what I had envisioned. I had heard about it because of Chocolat, since they have barely similar story lines. Bottom line - I should have rented Chocolat again, haha! Mark and I were cracking up - it was super cheesy and almost a comedy. We were making fart jokes the rest of the night (apparently her cooking could induce killer flatulence - seriously). Not exactly the romantic mood setter I'd hoped for. This week - The Painted Veil. I have seen this one, so I know what I'm getting into. If you haven't seen it, I'd recommend it - I loved it.

Oh and here's a short clip of what happens when you try to feed your toddler dinner at 9:30.

Bun in the Oven Friday

Don't get any strange ideas people - I just had a baby 7 weeks ago - I really AM talking about baking. Friday is my newly appointed Baking Day! Even though I can't eat what I'm baking, I just love baking - so I'll just make Mark and anyone else who comes close eat it for me!

How to have a successful baking day:

**Disclaimer: This is how I have a successful day, do whatever the heck you want**

Step 1: Try to put both kids down for naps if possible (but especially the toddler)

Step 2: Light some vanilla candles. That way if your baked goods come out horrible, at least the house smells good. Did you know that if you put your candles in the freezer they will burn longer? Yup. Something I've found to be true - a lit candle by your sink puts you in a better mood to cook and clean up. Really!

Step 3: Put in some baking music. I'm settling for the Pride and Prejudice soundtrack since it's already conveniently located in my CD player. However, I'm up for suggestions on music to cook by. Anyone? Anyone?

Step 4: Clean your kitchen. I wouldn't want to cook in a dirty kitchen - too much distraction and kills the mood and peace.

Step 5: Decide what you are going to bake. Today's yummy goodness will be low fat brownies and cookies for the hubby. If I have enough time, maybe a Lemon Meringue Pie. I'm in the mood for lots of delicious smells. If I can't eat them, I want to smell them. I know this sounds insane and like it would make me want to cheat, but it doesn't. I'm a weirdo I know.

Step 6: Get started!! Brownies first since they are the easiest. If kiddos stop me from continuing at least those will be done.

Step 7: Nurse Corbin while brownies bake. Play with Corbin and then put down for another nap.

Step 8: Brownies are done! Start on cookies while house is quiet. Did you know that if you put a little sugar on your spoon it keeps the dough from sticking when your dropping it onto the cookie sheet? I didn't learn that until like 2 years ago...I'm slow. I use a super low fat recipe on these cookies so that Mark can eat them. I think they are better than regular cookies - and the sugar on the spoon coats the cookie to make it even more scrumptious. Not that I can eat them, but whatever. If you're on a low-fat diet, they are perfect for you!

Step 9: Realize you're all out of cream of tartar and scratch the pie idea until Sunday. How does that even happen? Running out of cream of tartar - I hardly use the stuff. Bah.

But at least you have brownies and cookies.

Step 10: Give a cookie to your toddler!

Happy Thursday

So it's movie date night again...woot! Tonight we're watching Like Water for Chocolate. I actually never saw this movie when it came out - probably because I was 12, haha. Oh 1992 how long it's been.

I've finally managed to get back to playing piano - nothing like new sheet music to flame your passion again. Of course, I had to get the sheet music to Pride and Prejudice. The soundtrack was almost entirely piano, which is rare these days.

Corbin is doing new things every day. Last night when we were at community group Mark was holding Corbin and making funny faces at him. At one point he had Corbin mimicking sticking his tongue out! HA! I'm always amazed when my boys learn something new. It's incredible how fast they learn and grow.

Corbin has also taken quite an interest in the hanging toys on his infant seat. He likes to bat them and even grabs them once in awhile.

Hayden is being a good big brother and copying his momma. Yesterday, I wiped Corbin's mouth with his blanket and Hayden came behind me and wiped Corbin's mouth too!

Poor Hayden has been super accident prone this week. He munched it on the tile, got a big black eye from falling on the edge of a stair, hit his head twice at the playground while trying to go through a tunnel, fell off the piano bench and now he just backed into my laptop and smacked his head. If he makes it until the end of the week without and ER visit I'll be surprised. Most of these boo boos were caused by his "testing" boundaries and momma's patience.

Oh, and an update on losing the baby weight: I've lost 10 more pounds since starting this new diet. Woohoo! (Insert victory dance here).

Balloons Are Evil

So yesterday we did our weekly outing to HEB plus (a giant grocery store for you out-of-towners). We've been going when Mark gets home. We eat dinner in their little cafe and then do our weekly shopping. They always greet the kids with balloons - which are Hayden's absolute favorite right now. So he gets a balloon and we get home only to have it float up to the top of our 20 foot living room ceiling.

Luckily, it was bedtime and Hayden didn't notice...until this morning. He finally saw the red, floating, evil, air-filled monster and immediately wanted it DOWN.

Okay kid, slight problem - your momma is like 5 foot 2 (on a poofy hair day) - and there's no ladder tall enough in this house to retrieve your "precious".



Okay momma, slight problem - I want it down NOW and I will throw tantrums the rest of them morning for you not getting it down. I will ask to be picked up all morning in an effort to be taller and reach my "precious". When that doesn't work, I will throw another tantrum because you are so SHORT!

I think God had pity on me and the balloon floated down by itself this afternoon - I owe you one God.





Corbin of course thought this was all quite hysterical.

Fun at the Zavala House

In an effort to keep my very energetic 21 month old "occupied" I've scoured blogs, books, and my brain to find new and creative activities for Hayden.

I tackled a very small sewing project and made bean bags for Hayden:


Then I bought the kitchen helper which I saw being used on Chasing Cheerios and now I can finally cook in peace. Although I do it standing in an inch of water some days:



I also used an idea on saw on Chasing Cheerios to interject a little "fun" into mealtime by using a muffin tin as a plate:


Another idea I tried this week was a sandwich on a stick! I can't remember where I saw this at (if it's you leave me a comment and I'll link), but basically I made a heart shaped grilled cheese sandwich and stuck a popsicle stick in the middle before grilling! Hayden LOVED it and was lick the cheese off the stick even after the sandwich was long gone. Alas, I didn't get a picture. Oh well.

And here's some pics just because:

MOTHS!!!!

Texas, how I loathe thee...

Ever since I came to this God forsaken state, I've had nothing but trouble with...bugs! And bugs of all kinds. Cockroaches, gnats, maggots, and now moths...again. Granted I haven't had all these buggies at once, or even all in this house, but still! Can I not have a year go by without some kind of bug invasion??

I mean, I never had these problems growing up - and I did the cooking and shopping. But then again I lived in a cooler climate with less bugs.

In our first apartment after we got married, I left some water in a pan to soak and a day later - yuck. Gnats are gross.

Then a few weeks after that, I had bought some potatoes and put them in our pantry (which for some reason had carpet flooring) and they went bad. Bread would mold in like a day. Fruit looked bad before you even took it home from the store. The apartment complex would spray for cockroaches and they would be everywhere!!

Later, when we moved to Austin, a strange smell started coming from our chimney. My mother was in town visiting us - what a lovely impression. She thought it was probably something stuck in the floo. Our roommate Mikey was the only one brave enough to open it. Right about the time he said "See there's nothing in ..." out bounced a dead squirrel!!! We all screamed and jumped on the couch and Mikey ran around the corner. The way it bounced from the fireplace to out on the carpet we thought it was alive for a second. But no, oh no it wasn't. MAGGOTS!!! Ugh. In the carpet, everywhere. We cleaned them up, sprayed the carpet. But they kept coming back. Bleh.

Then in this house. What is up with moths in food?? What kind of jacked up food are we eating anyway?

So this time we noticed moths coming out of the pantry. I'd dealt with it before so I wasn't too excited to get in there and clean everything out again. I thought I'd try the "let's pretend there are no moths" method. Every night I would see Hubby swatting the pantry like a mad man. Hayden giggling the whole time.

So finally today I did what I knew I had to do. One at a time I inspected every can, box, bag, etc. for moth cocoons. I was so dreading this task. There is nothing like sticking your hand back into the dark reaches of your pantry and finding who knows what. With a fly swatter in one hand and a sponge in the other I dug in. I was swatting those little buggers like a crazed lunatic. I must have really been going wild cause one of my nursing boob pads flew out of my bra. Later when I nursed Corbin, I noticed it was missing - lying next to the pantry.

And of course the culprit was a bag of flour. Ewwwww. So I threw out 3 trash bags of food stuff. For the fully grown moths I hung fly paper traps and swatted.

I hate bugs.

Let me say that again...

I HATE BUGS!!!!!

Yours & Mine

Oh, so I never updated about movie date night! We put Hayden down for the night, let Corbin fall asleep in his swing and we got to watch our movie in peace. Pride and Prejudice set the tone for the "night" and hubby managed to keep his male quips to a minimum.

After the movie it was already 11:30pm and hubby needed to go to work early, so there was almost no lovin' going on in the Zavala household that night, but ...

(Sex talk coming, cover your eyes if your sensitive...)

I convinced him that staying up a little later would be to his benefit. And let me tell you - you gotta try KY Yours & Mine lubricant if you haven't yet. I had seen the commercials and was curious so when hubby and I were out at Walmart I snagged some. I figured it be like all the other products that typically do little for us ladies, but I was wrong.

It comes with two different lubricants one for the woman, one for the man. The guy's lubricant is "warming" and the female's is "cooling" and I highly recommend this product!!! And that is all I'll say about that.

As for Mark, his comment afterward was..."My p*n*s is on fire ... and my balls are frozen." Then we cracked up for like 5 minutes when I told him "I HAVE to put this on my blog you know."

A Very Long Afternoon

It was such a jam-packed day, I don't know where to begin.

Corbin's tests were done in the Outpatient wing of the hospital, which looks like an ER basically, and has it's own entrance. So, I didn't get a chance to check out the awesome architecture and features of the hospital. This area was pretty bland. That sucked, I was really looking forward to seeing it - it looks so cool in pictures.
First thing done was to put in his catheter and IV. Luckily, they let me watch TV two curtains down so I didn't have to watch it all. It sounded bad enough. Poor Corbin was starving by then (1:15 or so) because they directed me not to feed him after 10:30am. They let me nurse him once they finished with that part.

Then we went to another room where they laid him on a long thing table and inserted him into this foam that kept his body in place. A machine moved underneath him to take pictures of his kidneys and bladder. They put the radioactive stuff in the IV and on the screen I could see his kidney and bladder light up as the liquid went through his system. Like we thought, only one kidney was working.

The test took over an hour and Corbin was not thrilled with laying there on his back that whole time. We started with the pacifier dipped in the sugar water, but after about 30 minutes Corbin had had enough of that. Then we switched to a bottle, but we couldn't give him too much for fear that he'd need to be burped - which wasn't possible until the test was done.

At one point the technician spilled the sugar water on Corbin, so they rest of the day Corbin had dried, sticky sugar water in his hair - a lovely hairdo.

Next, we went to another room for the bladder test. They force the contrast up the catheter and watch as it enters the bladder and exits again. Basically, it was a lot of "pee-catching", haha. Two guys were doing the test and they were hilarious. Whenever Corbin would fart, one guy would say to the other, "Dave, was that you?" and we'd all crack up. One guys job was just to catch Corbin's pee with a cloth, haha. What a job. At one point, Corbin had like a 2 foot stream that the guy missed, ha!

That test was difficult physically for me. I had to wear a vest and then lean way over the table to hold Corbin's shoulders and arms for the test. Being that I'm incredibly short, this was exhausting.

Then once he had peed out all the contrast the test was over and we got to go home.

The day was very tiring, but it was made so much better through friends. Luckily, a friend was able to watch Hayden so Mark didn't have to take off work. That was a blessing. Then, another friend brought over dinner. It was just what I needed. I had forgotten that she had offered and right before I checked my phone messages Mark and I were talking about what to do for dinner. I had brought a snack with me to the hospital but it was so intense and busy I never even got to open it. The thought of making dinner sounded like too much, and even going to dinner was too much effort. I was in no mood to entertain a toddler tonight. Then I played our messages and there it was, my friend asking what time I wanted dinner dropped off! Wow. A Godsend.

Corbin was so exhausted from the tests (he got no sleep all afternoon), that after his bath (I had to get the sugar water out of his hair) he slept for over 3 hours. Poor baby.

We had thought about making the movie in the park tonight, but I'm too worn out for it. Right now I just want to relax.

Is it Happy Thursday again?

Wow how time flies by, another Thursday post. In an effort to make more time to do things like, oh, cleaning dirty dishes so we can eat and washing clothes so we're not naked, I've been looking for things to cut back on. So what's a large area I spend my time these days? Hmmm...blogs of course. Not blogging, but reading other's blogs. There are definitely some blogs I love and will of course not give up, but over the months my google reader has filled up with all kinds of blogs I've run across. Many of these blogs originally spoke to me and were really enjoyable, but I've noticed something lately...

Instead of the usual witty, personal, or real-life posts that first attracted me, I'm reading nothing but give-aways, funny pictures, promos for this store or that site, and what award they just received. The awesome material that made some of these blogs great, is gone or only happens once a month, if that. It's sad, because I really enjoyed relating to some of these great bloggers. I don't know if it's because their blogs are "famous" now or they are just caught up in the quest for high blog traffic, but things have changed.

FYI, I don't read others blogs because I want free stuff. I don't want to be directed to some online store unless they really love the product and can tell me why. And I can google funny pics and youtube videos all day long if I want, I don't need to go to someone's blog for that. My computer is usually muted these days anyway since kiddos are napping. So when the whole blog post is just a video, well that leaves me with nothing.

Is there any reason that those kind of blog "extras" can't be included WITH actual content? Because I miss the content!

So I'm setting aside those "types" of blogs for now, in return for some extra time in my day. I'm not yet prepared to remove them from my google reader, but I'm not reading them.


Okay, now to my life. Today was Hayden's Ear, Nose, Throat doctor appointment. The bottom line is that we're probably doing tubes in the fall. And he passed his hearing test with flying colors. Woohoo. This was the first time he actually paid attention to the hearing test. It was awesome. But the whole appointment left me exhausted as it's very physical. He has to be held down for almost everything - looking in his ears, throat, the test where they take a picture of his ear drum, etc. He really hates going there. As soon as he sees the Dr he starts crying and throwing a tantrum. Yay for Dr. visits.

Tomorrow is Corbin's visit to Dell Children's Hospital for his kidney tests, etc. It will be a long afternoon, but I hear that the hospital is really gorgeous and awesome. Maybe I'll have a chance to look around while I'm there. I'm supposed to bring a bottle and a pacifier tomorrow. I've been pumping like a mad woman in the hope that if it's breast milk and not formula he'll actually take the bottle. And Hayden has managed to hide EVERY pacifier we own...I hope I don't have to buy another. If I can remember I'll bring my camera and take some shots of the hospital!

Tonight is movie date night and I'm psyched! Of course we're watching a DVD at home after the kids go down, but either way it's a date! Tonights movie - Pride and Prejudice. Hubby wasn't that interested until I told him that if he made no annoying comments and watched it, he just might get lucky tonight. :P

Facebook Compare

Facebook Compare is an interesting little widget. You can find out what your friends REALLY think of you (in comparison to someone else of course)!

Now you "friends" may have put me first in "More Confident", "Rather Get Stuck in Handcuffs With", "Braver", and "Hotter", but let's talk about these others...

Apparently, some of you don't consider me well-mannered...what gives? Is it my insane burping? I thought only Mark knew about that. It's the diet coke guys I swear!!! That darn carbonation. I don't remember excessively farting or chewing with my mouth open - but I guess I could have slipped....

And a few of you are under the mistaken impression that I would never skip class. Uh huh. This about the girl who almost failed freshman year because she NEVER went to class. I'm the one counting how many days of class I missed so I can see if I can squeeze in one more. Hell even when I was working I never had more than 1 day of vacation saved up. Boy do I have you guys fooled!

You've also pointed out I'm not as "naturally talented" as the rest of you all. I'm not sure what these "natural talents" are, but I assure you I do have my "special" abilities. I'll just be content to stay incognito with my amazingness - kind of like Clark Kent.

And what's with this crap about my hair??!! Are you saying "moi" doesn't have as nice of hair as you people. Some of you don't even have any hair!!! So bite the big one baldie, me and my bad hair are not affected by your criticism. It is true though that I haven't had a hair cut in, oh, let's just say awhile.

So if you haven't had fun looking at what your friends are saying about you on facebook - beware!! It's the votes you DON'T get that really tell you about yourself. :P

Hayden Craziness

(Hayden in April 2007).

The thoughts of Hayden:

Mom must wear the super cool ear muffs I found in the drawer all day long!!

Look a cat! "Moo" Look a dog! "Moo" Look a tree! "Moo".

I can NOT sleep without my blanket and will scream bloody murder until Mom comes in and realizes what an idiot she is for not checking that it was in my bed before putting me down for a nap. Mom needs to find it right now, even though I hid it in her bedroom closet!

A baking sheet is the coolest toy ever!! I wonder if I can bonk "Bebe Bubba" on the head with it?
(No he hasn't yet...but I'm sure it's coming).

Cars!!! I want to watch CARS!!! NOW!!!

Mom? Dad? This movie is NOT Cars!!!! Take it out.

Did I just see Dad in a photo? Dada!! Where are you? Why do you leave every day?

(While pointing at any female in a photo) Mama? (BAH! No I'M Momma!!!!)

A quiet house, a quiet mind

I am definitely a "home" person, but because I'm often isolated from adult contact I find myself craving frequent outings. This isn't always doable with two young children under two years old - one of them being fresh out of the womb.

I want to enjoy my home more, so I've been reading blogs and books that focus on the home. I must say, I am really enjoying them.

I mentioned once in a post a small, glass ornament I used to hang in my office. I thought I'd remembered it said something like "No place like home". However, after digging it out of my "work" box, I see that is said:

Home is where we begin.

How true that statement is. Our homes are the stage on which are lives are played out. We may leave for a short period of time, but we always return. We have sayings like "Home Sweet Home" and "No place like home" or feelings like "Homesick".

But how often are our homes in complete chaos? Our homes are so crazy that as soon as we enter them we want to leave. We go out to eat, we head to a movie, we go shopping, or we head to a bed and breakfast.

Bed and breakfast???!!! Someone provides you a clean, well decorated bedroom, and a hot meal in the morning in exchange for big bucks. Why can't I have that at home? Granted, I have to make my own meal, but honestly, is it that difficult? No.

Maybe if my home was more peaceful, clean, and cared for I would enjoy it more and want to leave it less. Aren't we all looking for a place to call home? A place where we can curl up on the couch and read a good book. A place where we can create delicious smells in our kitchens and feed our families with well thought out meals (not my mac-n-cheese standby). A place where you can enjoy a cup of tea or coffee with a friend. A place to plant a garden. A place to plant some roots.

Roots are something I long for. See, I have none. My Mom seemed to have a NEED to move. Maybe to her, a new home would fix all the things not working in the current home. Considering we moved just about every 2-3 years, I'd say that the philosophy was a bust.

You MAKE your home where you are. "Home is where your heart is" right? Put your heart in your home, put your love, your care, your joy in your home and make some roots.

Bigger is not always better. Newer is not always better. These are things I keep reminding myself. I can destroy and make un-homey a new house as easily as an old one. Some of my favorite places are ancient compared to our tract house way of living.

When Mark and I bought our house, we saw it's potential to become a home. We've yet to invest in that potential. For many years, we just slept and ate here - too busy with work to notice. Now it's time to make a home here. I just hope I'm up for that task.

What a Morning

You wake up expecting a normal, no excitement Saturday and then....

I got a call from the pharmacy this morning and they started asking all these questions about Corbin's prescription.

Pharmacist: Did the doctor change the prescription in July?

Me: Well, she wanted to continue it, and she did say she was going to check the dosage against his new updated weight, but when she came back in the room she said it was still 1.5 mL - so I don't think so, but maybe?

Pharmacist: Well previously he had been prescribed Amoxicillin, but the next prescription filled was for Azithromycin. It looks like it should have been Amoxicillin. The pharmacy called the Dr. office when we filled the prescription because the dosage looked off and adjusted it, but I think that it should have been Amoxicillin since that was the original prescription.

Me: What?

Pharmacist: Well I paged the Doctor (it's Saturday, so of course they aren't open) and I'll talk to her about what it should have been.

Me: Uh, ok...

At this point it hasn't all sunk in yet. Then it hits me. What the? They gave the wrong medicine to my one month old baby????!!!!! Would this other antibiotic be hard on his kidney? I think back to the Dr. visit. I had been giving a 1 month prescription for amoxicillin as a preventative against infection etc. However, the urologist said that he wanted Corbin to stay on it until his tests at 6 weeks old. So I told our pediatrician we needed the prescription refilled to last longer. She wrote me a new prescription - which I didn't really look at cause I figured it was the same thing. Then I filled the prescription. They asked me if a generic was ok, I said yes, so I didn't even look at the name - figuring I wouldn't recognize it anyway. Of course, now that I'm thinking about it I recognize Azithromycin (AKA the medicine used in the Z-pack we adults get).

So I freak out and page the Dr. too. Of course, the Dr. I need to talk to isn't on call - and no Dr. from our office in on call, it's some guy I've never heard of.

So to wrap it all up, they are refilling his Amoxicillin and the strange unknown Dr. said the Azithromycin shouldn't have caused any problems for my baby and to go back to the Amoxicillin. The pharmacy is going to talk to our real Dr. on Monday to confirm all of this.

Then to top it all off, I think we found out Hayden has a peanut allergy. We gave him a Reese's Pieces and he got a bunch of hives (from just one!) so it's peanuts or yellow dye #5 - hehe. We're still narrowing it down. He also had a reaction to some Lemon Poppy Seed bread, which is made with Lemon pudding (that has yellow 5). I had thought it was the poppy seeds, but it might not be. So we're going to give him just Lemon pudding and see how he does with that. I really hope he is not allergic to peanuts - that would really suck.

And in cool news, we've started to potty train Hayden. He's still young, but he has learned how to make his potty chair play music!! As soon as I sit him down on it he pees so his chair will sing to him. So he can somewhat control his bladder. Kinda cool! I'm not expecting much yet, but I thought I would just start introducing the concepts. We even bought some pull-ups.

And now, I have to bathe the next kiddo before naptime....

TGIF

So Zilker Theatre was a bust. =( We got there right as it was both starting and the sun setting. There were no places to sit where you could actually see anything at all and it was getting dark and impossible to set up our little "picnic". So after about 10 minutes we left. So much for that idea. It was a heartbreaking moment.

Anywho, at least it's Friday now. Corbin's schedule is all messed up today. He's only wanting to "snack" and is not interested in any kind of napping. Last night's sleep was ok, but not as great as it has been. He had a few periods of waking up after only an hour or so. Ugh.

I started a new diet today and it's going great so far. I just hope I don't bail on it at the sight of junk food. I really would like to get rid of his extra weight. And who am I kidding, it's not all baby weight.

As for this weekend, I choose to make no grand plans for fear of failure. I will hide in my house and do home things.