Tis the Season

The Christmas decorations are up (minus the tree and illuminated snowman for the front porch), I started my Christmas Card mailing list, family portraits are scheduled, and my gift recipient list is done. Only 10,000 more things to do in less than a month. I'm always amazed and irritated by my own inability to drastically simplify my life. I hate the mad rush, but I can't let go of the feeling that I really should do all this stuff and if I don't I'm slacking in my duties. This week alone I have to plan something fun to do on Jordan's birthday, bake him birthday treats (no eggs as he has a classmate who is allergic), make sure the egg-free brownie mix meets with parental approval, buy and assemble all the elements for our family portrait outfits, interview 6 local business owners and write an article for the local paper about how they think the holiday season will affect local retail business, go to the grocery store, etc. etc. etc. Hopefully I can get it all done without driving myself or the kids crazy in the process. The thing is, Jordan wants to go somewhere and do something every day, but only if it's fun - no boring errands allowed. And Sasha has really started walking like crazy and doesn't want to spend a second of waking time strapped into a car seat, shopping cart or stroller. Ah well, at least I won't be bored ;)

My Evening

Already a little tomboy, Sasha loves to play catch. This evening she mastered the art of throwing a ball while standing. And nobody was more proud of her than she was of herself, the little dickens. After I got the kids in bed I tried on a multitude of clothes trying to find something to wear to work tomorrow. Now that I have standards for what I have to wear I'm finding getting dressed in the morning to be a lot more difficult. I was just scraping by when it was warmer, but long-sleeve shirts and pants that fit me, match, aren't denim, and don't require the wearing of heels are basically non-existent in my closet. I even dug through the (overflowing) hamper of clothes that need to be mended, altered, and/or dyed and came up with one navy blue polo tunic length top that I had planned on turning into a regular shirt one day and that might look decent with my only pair of khaki pants. Just as I was leaving my closet to go to the basement to dig out my sewing supplies I heard footsteps on the stairs and some loud whimpering. It was Jordan, half asleep and grabbing himself. Assuming that he had to pee I told him to use my bathroom. He started crying harder and headed in the completely opposite direction. When I called out again that he could use my bathroom since it was the closest he turned around, but instead of coming back into my bedroom and heading for my bathroom he started down the basement stairs! When I finally grabbed him and got him set up at the toilet he stood there crying and peeing until he was almost done, at which point he dribbled all over the outside of my toilet and then tried to put the seat down. I stopped him, pointed out that he'd peed all over the place, and wiped up the pee while he stood there crying. Immediately thereafter he began to laugh hysterically, went back upstairs to his room, tucked himself back into bed and fell asleep. Ah the joys of parenting! Now I'm sitting here, wearing the polo-tunic thing, which I somehow managed to shorten half an inch too much, trying to muster the energy to figure out how to take in the sides so it isn't a-line. I really wish someone would just teach me how to sew - I hate fumbling around on my own.

Vroom Vroom

Today my daughter (my daughter!) who is only 9 months old was playing with one of Jordan's toy cars, and running it along the ground and making the cutest little car noises. I was absolutely amazed. First of all, isn't she a bit young for that? And secondly (and most importantly) isn't she supposed to be my little girlie-girl? I need an ally against all the maleness going on around here. I mean, I grew up surrounded by girls, and spent the last 4 years alone with the boys when Kar. wasn't here. And Karlye loves sports just as much as the rest of them! If Sasha continues on this path she's going to love sports, hate dresses, despise pink...and then what will I do? Ah well, I suppose I will love her either way. And I do have the consolation of having a son who seems quite interested in both sewing and crocheting. Yesterday I sat down on the couch to do some mending and when I suggested that he could do his "sewing card" from pre-school because he was bored he thought that was an awesome idea and "sewed" quite happily and with intense concentration for almost an hour. At least I have the satisfaction of knowing that my kids are being given every opportunity to be well rounded and free of traditional sexist roles, right?

Update In List Form

• Last week Sasha got stung on the corner of her mouth by a wasp. I think she was trying to eat it. Thank God she didn't.
  
• Jordan took swimming lessons this summer and passed both the Preschool Begining and Preschool Intermediate levels. In a week he went from being afraid of the water to swimming like a fish.


• Summer has flown by; Jordan starts school in two weeks.


• My parents and the kids are going through some tough times - please keep them in your prayers.


• Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain...and yet more rain.


• We took the kids to a Madison Mallards baseball game and in spite of overcrowding, extreme heat, sun in our eyes, and a very late bedtime we survived and had a fair amount of fun.


• Justin and I went to a Brewer's game this weekend, and they won. We thought we helped them break their losing streak, but then they lost again yesterday. Too bad.
• We got to have Karlye all last week because she's finally done with her myriad summer activities.

Happy Birthday To Me

Bad Things About My Birthday:
I had to work.
Justin had to work.
The kids were extremely crabby.
The screaming children gave me a screaming headache.
Justin is going to play poker after work instead of coming home to spend time with me.
No one sang Happy Birthday.
No one made me a cake.

Good Things About My Birthday:
I have a job I don't hate.
I have children who are often lovely.
Tylenol...with caffeine...and ibuprofen.
Justin's grandma brought us a raspberry pie (and I ate a quarter of it).
The weather was gorgeous.
Many many people called to wish me happy birthday.
I'm not 30 yet.

Simplicity Schimplicity

So...I was trying to simplify my life. But I just went from having one (easy and boring) job (that I hated) to having 2 (or 4) jobs (depending on your point of view). Yes, that's right, I finally quit Captel, the bane of my existence. Friday was my last day. And today was my first day at Postnet in Oregon. It's a franchise business that does shipping, printing, etc. At last, opportunities to interact with people. In person. So I'm working there 3 days a week, and then 2 days a week doing bookkeeping, order processing, etc. for a guy in Oregon who has his own software development company. I also recently obtained my first free-lance editing job (!!!) and then of course, I still have to find time to work on my craft business. I thought simplifying my life would make me happy, but it turns out that I enjoy having a lot going on, and a lot of different types of things to do. In other news, tonight I rode my bike 4 miles into Oregon, my first bike ride in a year. And believe it or not, it is actually uphill both ways. (And some downhill both ways too I suppose, but definitely more uphill.) Unbelievably I survived, and am still able to walk (we'll see how I feel tomorrow though...).

Baby Genius? I Think So

Yes, I do think that Sasha is a baby genius. It's only to be expected since Jordan was one, and since her parents are so brilliant. Since five months of age, Sasha has used a fake cough to get attention. Since having a very bad real cough a few weeks ago she has amped up the fake cough so that it sounds like she is coughing so hard she's choking. Sasha also responds to her name, initiates games of peek-a-boo and chase, and (best of all) knows how to say mama. Usually she says "um-um-umma" but every once in a while she slips in a "mama". Also, when I ask her if she wants her nummies, she starts hyperventilating, saying "umma", and trying to rip off my shirt. And not only is the child brilliant, but fearless as well. A few days ago we were outside on the front lawn sitting on a blanket. All of a sudden Sasha took off crawling after Jordan. She followed him all the way down the hill beside our house (which is quite steep) on her hands and her bare little knees. And our grass (what there is of it) is not very nice for crawling on. Jordan is (finally) exhibiting his share of bravery as well. Today he actually put his face underwater when I told him to get his hair wet and last week he ate a bite of radish even after I told him it was spicy. Karlye has always had more than her fair share of daring-do, looking before she leaps, so to say. Last summer she got halfway up a climbing wall before looking down and realizing how high it was, and this month she went on a ride at an arcade that would have made me sick to my stomach. She did look terrified the whole time, but got off smiling and claimed to have had fun. Now I just need to work on my courage ;)

The Calm After the Storm

I might as well start this post by saying what a week! If my last post (which took me 4 days to publish) wasn't completely coherent, I can't be blamed. After I gave Jordan the first application of his prescription ointment I put him to bed and sat down to write. Midway through typing my entry, he showed up at my side itchier than he's ever been in his life. I spent the next 3 hours doing everything I could think of to help him. Finally, at 10p.m. I gave him an oatmeal bath and he settled down. He slept until 4a.m., at which time he woke up crying that he was itchy and in pain. My attempt to administer topical Benadryl only resulted in him screaming in pain. So I got ahold of the doctor on call, who told me he had no real advice to offer me, and to try the oatmeal bath again and call the pediatrician in the a.m. Thank God, Jordan fell asleep on my lap while I was on the phone. And the next morning he was fine and his rash was vastly improved. The nurse at the doctor's office said it was probably just the beginning of the healing process that was so uncomfortable. That's all well and good, but a little warning would have been nice. Of course, all of that was extremely stressful and exhausting, and when factored into my very busy week and the exhaustion of having a nasty cough and dealing with a sick baby who is cutting her first tooth (!) did not make for a great couple of days. But now I'm done with scheduled events for the week and can take a few moments to relax before starting in on the 2 million items on my to do list. Woo hoo.

What A Weekend!

Wow - I am worn out! It seems like with Justin and I working opposite shifts our whole lives happen on the weekends. This invariably leaves us with too much to do in too little time, resulting in the need for a vacation or, at the very least, a massage. This weekend was no exception.



The schedule was as follows: Saturday - create raised flowerbed in front yard, pick up babysitters, attend wedding reception. Sunday - church picnic, afternoon at the park with friends, regroup. The reality was that on Justin worked on the flowerbed from 10am Saturday until about 7:30pm. By that time we were both too exhausted to want to dress up and go to a wedding reception. But I had already picked up the babysitters (two of my sisters) on my trip into town to pick up extra edgers from Menards. So we cleaned ourselves up and went out for dinner. And it was desperately needed, as we've only been out by ourselves two other times since Sasha was born in November. Sunday we did make it to the church picnic, and we managed to enjoy ourselves in spite of the fact that Sasha and I were fighting some kind of nasty respiratory bug, Justin was exhausted, and Jordan was really itchy because his eczema was acting up. However, after yet another trip to Menards for the final two edgers, we were beat and decided to scrap the whole park idea. So we spent the remainder of the day being somewhat out-of-sorts at home.



Which brings us to today...Monday, everyone's least favorite day of the week. And today was no exception. I dragged myself to work at the ungodly hour of 7am, and 15 minutes later I left for home again. I was coughing way too much to be effective at captioning any phone calls (since we use voice recognition technology). I took a nap hoping to recover somewhat, awakening to find that Jordan had developed a nasty rash on his face. I wasn't sure if it was more of his eczema, which in the last two weeks has become completely out of control, covering about 75% of his body, or something contagious. So, I had to haul him in to see the doctor. Turned out to be yet more eczema, and that the eczema on his legs is infected. So now not only does he have to have a steroid cream, which I was hoping to avoid, but an oral antibiotic as well. I want to cry every time I look at his poor red rashy face and scabby legs. But, on the upside, we didn't have to cancel plans to go to the zoo in the afternoon since the doctor's office is very close to the zoo, and they squeezed in his appointment half an hour before we had planned to get to the zoo.

Update Already?!?

And the photos are up. I impress myself!

I'm Baaaack!

Hello all! I have decided once again to take keyboard in hand and rejoin the wonderful world of blogging. Although I would love to pretend that my motivation is pure, and that I am blogging simply for the sake of blogging, like Abraham Lincoln I "cannot tell a lie". (Okay, I can, but I won't). I've been considering doing the whole blog thing again lately because I've been feeling really out of touch with family, friends, acquaintances, and really with life as a whole. Having a baby and a job with virtually no interpersonal interaction will do that to a person I guess. But what's pushing me back into the blogging fold now is really a desire for shameless self-promotion. I've started my own business making crafts from second-hand and recycled materials and realize that blogging could be an excellent avenue for marketing. So on that note, check out my Etsy shop (the link to the left that says Hannah's Shop, in case that wasn't totally obvious). Buy my stuff, tell your friends...more stuff will be added all the time. Now that that's out of the way I can also say that I need to brush up on my writing because I'm planning to start writing real actual books (as opposed to imaginary books) and to do some freelance writing. So, I will attempt to make this blog interesting and informative. That way we all get more for our money! Look out for lots of fun stories about child-rearing, house-wifery, demeaning part-time jobs, and the link to a site with lots of cute family pictures, as soon as I get it up and running.