This might sound like a small thing, but it's big to me. I can sleep on my back again. It's been almost a month since I could lie on my back without so much discomfort or pain that I had to roll to my side. This would be due to the three abscesses that developed, were lanced and then surgically removed. I mention this in case you forgot. Had I posted pictures, I assure you, you would not have forgotten. But as I don't want to drop my follower-base from three to zero, better judgement prevailed on the picture posting front.
But back to my back. It might not sound like a big thing, being able to lie on your back, but it is my main mode of sleeping. I used to sleep on my stomach, and I still try to sleep on my stomach, but with the cervical spinal fusions I've had and the reduction in movement points in my spine by two in comparison to those non-fused sleepers out there, I just don't have the rotational mobility in my neck to afford me the ability to sleep on my stomach with any level of comfort.
So, I like to go to sleep on my back. I may spend most of the night on my back. I'm asleep, so I'm not sure, but I think I'm on my back more than any other position. I like both sides too, but they're just position changers until I rotate back to my back for the bulk of the night's sleep. Recently, using a C-shaped neck pillow positioned around the surgical sites, I was able to sleep for short bits on my back, but it wasn't that comfortable so it never lasted for that long. Now, if I lie carefully and just so, I can go to sleep on my back, so hip hip hooray, disco, bossa nova, waltz and other dance moves all around to celebrate.
How is the healing going, you ask? Now that you mention it, it's going very well. The packing phase is complete, meaning the wounds have filled in well with muscular and adipose tissues. I was dressing the wounds until yesterday, due to drainage, but as that has also ceased, I'm done with gauze and tape for good. It does look like I'm on the road to some lovely scars though. Did I mention this ruined any possible chance I'd become a butt model some day? Did I further mention I never had a chance at being a butt model in the first place but it's helpful in coping with the situation to have something to mourn about?
The Big Boy Update: My good little sleeper. Even with the transition to the toddler bed, he's an excellent sleeper. I didn't fully appreciate his willingness to not only get in his toddler bed, but stay there and go straight to sleep until we "toddled" his sister's bed. I am very proud of him because of his great sleep habits. He will even let you know if he needs a nap. This morning, I asked him if he needed a nap. At first he didn't want to go to sleep, then he told me, "nap" and when I carried him upstairs (with his head on my shoulder and arms tucked in towards his chest, classic nap-readiness signs) he went straight to sleep.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Spankings. Yes, I spanked her last night. Three times. Not hard, but enough to get my message across. We wanted to go to a New Year's Eve party. She didn't want to go to sleep. The toddler beds were calling to her and telling her she needed to explore the room, irritate her brother and keep him from sleeping too. I had to put the rocking chair (her current obsession) and the laundry basket in the closet. I sat for twenty minutes blocking the exit from the toddler bed and having her pretend to be asleep and, "accidentally stick her legs, butt and general body in the exit area as though it were purely by chance and I had no idea I was trying to get out, Momma, honest." She was waking her brother up. She was not sleeping. I was annoyed. After three rounds of mild spankings that were warning whaps, she went to sleep and they were excellent little sleepers for the rest of the night.
Fitness Update: I so need my sleep. New Year's Eve and I was out well past my nine-o'clock bedtime (after two-o'clock, ugh) so I cancelled my run with my neighbor because sleep was much more attractive to me than exercise. I even asked daddy if he could take the morning shift so I could sleep. I really love to sleep. Note to self: write a blog post about the importance of sleep in your life.
Someone Once Said: Censorship is never logical but, like cancer, it is dangerous to ignore it when it shows up.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Monday, December 31, 2012
Little Girl Cute and Little Boy Brute
My daughter is adorable. She is walking well, but she still has that cute little toddle that goes with her stride. She's trying to walk more quickly, so she falls flat on her face a lot, gets right up, and keeps going. She smiles a lot, she likes to engage your attention, hand you things and then take them back. She has some words and accents those words with lots of additional babbles. She is a little girl cute.
Her brother, on the other hand, while also being cute, is a little boy brute. He is bigger, he is stronger, he is more experienced and he is mentally aware that he wants to experience everything, and yet can't experience it all. In short, he's a two-year-old.
It's a reasonable and understandable phase where children get frustrated because they want to do, have, reach or experience more than they can or are allowed to. One easy way to work this frustration out is to push your sister over. Or at least that's how it's being played out in our house.
He also wants attention. Giving him attention, even negative attention, just because he did something rude to his sister, is in part, a win for him. Reacting to his sister every time a small or slight insult occurs only gives her the incentive to cry or complain more. So we have some challenges to rise to.
He's not a bad kid. Children are born selfish and must be taught to share, to be kind and to be gentle. I must say though, just like his Aunt Brenda, I am looking forward to the day his sister gets tired of his shenanigans and hauls off and hits him in the face. I will try not to laugh.
The Big Boy Update: Asleep at the meal again. He didn't get around to napping and after eating the breaded pizza for dinner he couldn't manage to stay awake while the rest of us finished eating. I reclined the chair so he could nap for a bit.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Asleep in and out of bed. For her morning nap, she settled down and was quiet after wandering around the room for a while. My husband went up to check on her to find her asleep between the rocking chair and the dresser. For her afternoon nap, I put her in the room and went to get the carpet cleaner to get a few spots treated in their room. I came back just moments later to find her asleep in her toddler bed, with her blanket, without her pacifier. She slept for several hours. Also, night three of the toddler bed with the rail opening switched to the opposite orientation and she didn't fall out in the middle of the night. This toddler bed thing just might work after all...
Fitness Update: Only 2.5 miles this morning for several reasons, but we got out in twenty-seven degree weather and ran, so I count that as a win. On the weight maintenance front, today marks forty-five weeks since I started to lose weight and then subsequently maintain weight earlier this year. At today's weigh-in, I'm still maintaining, and some days, just maintaining feels like an effort when there are delicious holiday meals and desserts and treats all around you.
Someone Once Said: He had discovered that long human words rarely changed their meanings but short words were slippery, changing without pattern. Or so he seemed to grok. Short human words were like trying to lift water with a knife.
Her brother, on the other hand, while also being cute, is a little boy brute. He is bigger, he is stronger, he is more experienced and he is mentally aware that he wants to experience everything, and yet can't experience it all. In short, he's a two-year-old.
It's a reasonable and understandable phase where children get frustrated because they want to do, have, reach or experience more than they can or are allowed to. One easy way to work this frustration out is to push your sister over. Or at least that's how it's being played out in our house.
He also wants attention. Giving him attention, even negative attention, just because he did something rude to his sister, is in part, a win for him. Reacting to his sister every time a small or slight insult occurs only gives her the incentive to cry or complain more. So we have some challenges to rise to.
He's not a bad kid. Children are born selfish and must be taught to share, to be kind and to be gentle. I must say though, just like his Aunt Brenda, I am looking forward to the day his sister gets tired of his shenanigans and hauls off and hits him in the face. I will try not to laugh.
The Big Boy Update: Asleep at the meal again. He didn't get around to napping and after eating the breaded pizza for dinner he couldn't manage to stay awake while the rest of us finished eating. I reclined the chair so he could nap for a bit.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Asleep in and out of bed. For her morning nap, she settled down and was quiet after wandering around the room for a while. My husband went up to check on her to find her asleep between the rocking chair and the dresser. For her afternoon nap, I put her in the room and went to get the carpet cleaner to get a few spots treated in their room. I came back just moments later to find her asleep in her toddler bed, with her blanket, without her pacifier. She slept for several hours. Also, night three of the toddler bed with the rail opening switched to the opposite orientation and she didn't fall out in the middle of the night. This toddler bed thing just might work after all...
Fitness Update: Only 2.5 miles this morning for several reasons, but we got out in twenty-seven degree weather and ran, so I count that as a win. On the weight maintenance front, today marks forty-five weeks since I started to lose weight and then subsequently maintain weight earlier this year. At today's weigh-in, I'm still maintaining, and some days, just maintaining feels like an effort when there are delicious holiday meals and desserts and treats all around you.
Someone Once Said: He had discovered that long human words rarely changed their meanings but short words were slippery, changing without pattern. Or so he seemed to grok. Short human words were like trying to lift water with a knife.
Sunday, December 30, 2012
The One Who Dies With The Most Toys Wins
When I was in high school it seemed everyone had a shirt with the saying, "The one who dies with the most toys wins," on it. It was like one of those very clever television commercials that you remember because the jingle would get stuck in your head or it was hilarious, and yet you don't remember what the commercial was about. That shirt, with that slogan, was for something. Maybe it was a sporting goods store. It could have been a national chain or some product line that was local; but regardless, the source of the high school t-shirt craze eludes me.
Today, I think of that phrase commonly when I watch my son. I think of it more often than not when he's in the tub with his sister. He is older, he is bigger, and he is accustomed to being able to bully his way through a situation (unless he's caught at it) to get what he wants from his sister. Most of the time, this means he wants whatever it is she has.
In the tub, we commonly put in a lot of floaty toys. They float all around the two children and they like to play with them. My son likes to tell us what each one is now. But he wants to have them all. He wants all the ones she picks up, but things float away from you in the tub, so if you grab one and drop the one you were holding, it will most likely get back to her and then she's got something to play with again. So, and this is the best part, he tries to hold all the toys he can in his arms and to make sure he doesn't lose any, he has to sit still and do nothing.
He has won domination over the majority of the toys, but he can't play with them or he'll lose them. It's like the saying from the high school t-shirt and what it made me think about. If you have all the toys, but you're dead, what good is that? I know, I know, that's not the goal of a retailer trying to sell you their great kayaking equipment, but that's what I thought about nevertheless.
His sister doesn't mind too much as one of us sends the other toys he couldn't fit into his greedy little arms over to her and it goes completely over her head that he's trying to play toy keep-away.
We are working on courtesy, sharing and kindness every day. It is a work in progress.
The Big Boy Update: Five word sentences. More than one reliable adult has caught him saying five word sentences. He uses four word sentences regularly, sometimes back to back. It's mostly descriptive, where he tells you what is currently happening or what he observes, but he's chaining more words together all the time now.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Rocking. There are two rocking chairs, one in her bedroom and one in ours. They were both presents from her Mimi, and the one in our bedroom was the one Mimi rocked me in when I was a baby. She is currently obsessed with climbing in, standing in, sitting on, rocking, climbing out, throwing the pillow off the edge, putting the pillow back in, and then repeat until she's tired or it's time to eat.
Fitness Update: Finally we ran. Only six miles because I'm still somewhat coldy and we haven't run in almost two weeks. We plan on running again tomorrow. Hope for good weather, my friends.
Someone Once Said: People always expect a government to work miracles—even people who are fairly bright other ways.
Today, I think of that phrase commonly when I watch my son. I think of it more often than not when he's in the tub with his sister. He is older, he is bigger, and he is accustomed to being able to bully his way through a situation (unless he's caught at it) to get what he wants from his sister. Most of the time, this means he wants whatever it is she has.
In the tub, we commonly put in a lot of floaty toys. They float all around the two children and they like to play with them. My son likes to tell us what each one is now. But he wants to have them all. He wants all the ones she picks up, but things float away from you in the tub, so if you grab one and drop the one you were holding, it will most likely get back to her and then she's got something to play with again. So, and this is the best part, he tries to hold all the toys he can in his arms and to make sure he doesn't lose any, he has to sit still and do nothing.
He has won domination over the majority of the toys, but he can't play with them or he'll lose them. It's like the saying from the high school t-shirt and what it made me think about. If you have all the toys, but you're dead, what good is that? I know, I know, that's not the goal of a retailer trying to sell you their great kayaking equipment, but that's what I thought about nevertheless.
His sister doesn't mind too much as one of us sends the other toys he couldn't fit into his greedy little arms over to her and it goes completely over her head that he's trying to play toy keep-away.
We are working on courtesy, sharing and kindness every day. It is a work in progress.
The Big Boy Update: Five word sentences. More than one reliable adult has caught him saying five word sentences. He uses four word sentences regularly, sometimes back to back. It's mostly descriptive, where he tells you what is currently happening or what he observes, but he's chaining more words together all the time now.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Rocking. There are two rocking chairs, one in her bedroom and one in ours. They were both presents from her Mimi, and the one in our bedroom was the one Mimi rocked me in when I was a baby. She is currently obsessed with climbing in, standing in, sitting on, rocking, climbing out, throwing the pillow off the edge, putting the pillow back in, and then repeat until she's tired or it's time to eat.
Fitness Update: Finally we ran. Only six miles because I'm still somewhat coldy and we haven't run in almost two weeks. We plan on running again tomorrow. Hope for good weather, my friends.
Someone Once Said: People always expect a government to work miracles—even people who are fairly bright other ways.
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Stairs and Pretzels and Falling Down
Several things have happened in our lives lately that involve falling down, pretzels and stairs. First, I'll start with my personal combination of all three, Stairs + Pretzels + Falling down.
Last night I had a platter full of pretzels my brother and sister-in-law had brought for us to enjoy. It was movie night and I said I'd take the plate down to share with everyone. As I started down the stairs my foot must have slipped or stumbled or stuttered on the carpet and from that point on things got busy and hazy all at the same time.
I think (I am not sure) that I wasn't able to stabilize myself and/or grab the hand rail. I further think I was doing the wrong thing mentally and thinking, "Don't drop the pretzels!" Shortly after that, as I fell forwards, I realized I was going down the full flight and started doing damage control. "Save your spine!" I remember thinking. I have had multiple spinal fusions and I have a healthy fear of more spinal damage and injury.
I don't know how or what I did, but I think I tried to make a large, expanded ball of myself using my arms to push away from my head and back. I do know I tumbled over and over and ended up on my back at the bottom of the steps. It was a loud, but I think a somewhat slower fall than it might have otherwise been.
And as I looked up from my awkward position at the bottom of the stairs, I saw all my friends standing around with the most worried faces on. They had all dashed from their chairs to make sure I was okay. They wouldn't let me get up. I wasn't in a hurry, but I needed to check out my limbs and body. I got up and they had me sit down. I started feeling around and we were all talking about how terrible it sounded, me falling down the stairs with the clatter of the pretzels and the metal plate falling with me.
One of my friends was very upset. He was visibly shaken. I got up and hugged him and told him he was going to make me cry he was so worried. I kept saying that I remember thinking I had to protect my neck and spine and I don't know how I did it, but aside from two small scrapes on my leg through my pants and a bruised knuckle, I thought I was okay.
They told me I should be excused from doing anything else for the rest of the night and that I was going to be sore tomorrow. I didn't argue. I went to bed, expecting to be all aches and pains today, but no, I'm fine. I have a mildly bruised knuckle and two small scrapes.
Also, I have to say thanks to everyone who didn't mind the pretzels on the floor and ate them anyway.
The Big Boy Update: My son only has Pretzel action happening, but it's annoying enough to bother both my husband and me. He loves pretzel sticks. He eats them all the time. We found a small pretzel stick lodged in the grounding hole of an outlet the other day just after he put it there. We removed it when he wasn't looking. And before I get phone calls from outraged adults, I challenge anyone to have a completely baby-proof house. I doubly challenge you to have a toddler-proof house. When you build your padded walls, furniture-less home, invite me over, I want to see this marvel.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter gets points for both Stairs and Falling Down, but not together. On the stairs front, she very much wants to walk down stairs. She goes up and down them all day with an adult following closely behind or in front of her. Now she wants to walk down the stairs, forwards, with your help. She really wants to do this. So far, no falling down, but I'm worried we're going to miss her dashing up one time and hear her clattering down.
On the Falling Down side of things, I heard a "clunkety clunk" sound in the middle of the night and realized she'd just tumbled out of her new toddler bed arrangement. There's a railing, but if you position your little thirteen-month-old body just right in a ball, you can roll off the opening in the rail. It's only about ten inches to the ground and I was upstairs grabbing her about the time she'd started to wake up and become incensed. I placed her back in the bed and she went right back to sleep. The rest of the night was another story as she woke up two more times and got out of bed to investigate.
Fitness Update: Rained out! Trying again tomorrow morning for a run because running in the dark in the rain in thirty-degree weather just isn't that fun.
Someone Once Said: I don't see how an article of clothing can be indecent...a person, yes.
Last night I had a platter full of pretzels my brother and sister-in-law had brought for us to enjoy. It was movie night and I said I'd take the plate down to share with everyone. As I started down the stairs my foot must have slipped or stumbled or stuttered on the carpet and from that point on things got busy and hazy all at the same time.
I think (I am not sure) that I wasn't able to stabilize myself and/or grab the hand rail. I further think I was doing the wrong thing mentally and thinking, "Don't drop the pretzels!" Shortly after that, as I fell forwards, I realized I was going down the full flight and started doing damage control. "Save your spine!" I remember thinking. I have had multiple spinal fusions and I have a healthy fear of more spinal damage and injury.
I don't know how or what I did, but I think I tried to make a large, expanded ball of myself using my arms to push away from my head and back. I do know I tumbled over and over and ended up on my back at the bottom of the steps. It was a loud, but I think a somewhat slower fall than it might have otherwise been.
And as I looked up from my awkward position at the bottom of the stairs, I saw all my friends standing around with the most worried faces on. They had all dashed from their chairs to make sure I was okay. They wouldn't let me get up. I wasn't in a hurry, but I needed to check out my limbs and body. I got up and they had me sit down. I started feeling around and we were all talking about how terrible it sounded, me falling down the stairs with the clatter of the pretzels and the metal plate falling with me.
One of my friends was very upset. He was visibly shaken. I got up and hugged him and told him he was going to make me cry he was so worried. I kept saying that I remember thinking I had to protect my neck and spine and I don't know how I did it, but aside from two small scrapes on my leg through my pants and a bruised knuckle, I thought I was okay.
They told me I should be excused from doing anything else for the rest of the night and that I was going to be sore tomorrow. I didn't argue. I went to bed, expecting to be all aches and pains today, but no, I'm fine. I have a mildly bruised knuckle and two small scrapes.
Also, I have to say thanks to everyone who didn't mind the pretzels on the floor and ate them anyway.
The Big Boy Update: My son only has Pretzel action happening, but it's annoying enough to bother both my husband and me. He loves pretzel sticks. He eats them all the time. We found a small pretzel stick lodged in the grounding hole of an outlet the other day just after he put it there. We removed it when he wasn't looking. And before I get phone calls from outraged adults, I challenge anyone to have a completely baby-proof house. I doubly challenge you to have a toddler-proof house. When you build your padded walls, furniture-less home, invite me over, I want to see this marvel.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter gets points for both Stairs and Falling Down, but not together. On the stairs front, she very much wants to walk down stairs. She goes up and down them all day with an adult following closely behind or in front of her. Now she wants to walk down the stairs, forwards, with your help. She really wants to do this. So far, no falling down, but I'm worried we're going to miss her dashing up one time and hear her clattering down.
On the Falling Down side of things, I heard a "clunkety clunk" sound in the middle of the night and realized she'd just tumbled out of her new toddler bed arrangement. There's a railing, but if you position your little thirteen-month-old body just right in a ball, you can roll off the opening in the rail. It's only about ten inches to the ground and I was upstairs grabbing her about the time she'd started to wake up and become incensed. I placed her back in the bed and she went right back to sleep. The rest of the night was another story as she woke up two more times and got out of bed to investigate.
Fitness Update: Rained out! Trying again tomorrow morning for a run because running in the dark in the rain in thirty-degree weather just isn't that fun.
Someone Once Said: I don't see how an article of clothing can be indecent...a person, yes.
Friday, December 28, 2012
The Nap Dance
This could have been a bad idea, but I'm not sure it was any worse than it would have been otherwise; I converted our daughter's bed to a toddler bed today. Here's the thing, she's thirteen-months-old, and that would be, in my general opinion, far too early to give her the freedom of a toddler bed. But there are other factors, okay, one other factor, her brother.
He could climb out of his bed some time ago, but he didn't climb out. I'm not sure why, but even though he had the capability, he didn't take advantage of it. Until just recently. Once we realized there was no keeping him in his bed, it didn't make sense to not change over his crib to a toddler bed. "There's really no sense in punishing him by asking him to land on his head and then not be able to get back into his crib if we had an alternative," I thought.
The problem arises in that he and his sister share the same room. In general, they sleep very well together, even if one is wailing or crying or not sleeping, if the other is tired, then that sibling just goes off to sleep. We have a new plan to put a gate at the door to their room and shut the door to their play room until my son is asleep. Later in the night when we check on them, we open the door to the playroom so he can occupy himself when he wakes up. And this has worked.
So far, he gets up and plays nicely until it's time to eat. But he doesn't leave his sister alone. He wants her to play with him so he shoves things into her crib through the slats. We had to remove a chair because he was using it to climb into her crib; and on top of that, she's mad because she wants to be out and playing too.
So today, as a test, I converted her crib to the same toddler bed as his. She has loved his toddler bed. She's all about climbing and she has had more fun climbing in and out of his toddler bed since we converted it. Now she can climb in and out of her bed. But will this change work out?
So far, it's been interesting. She is so very excited to be able to climb in and out of the bed that it's been hard to go to sleep. Eventually for her morning nap she did fall asleep. This afternoon they were both tired. While her brother finished his bath I took her up to bed and expected her to fall straight to sleep. No such luck. She was bed shopping. For ten minutes she went from one bed to the other, checking out the mattress, lying down, getting back up, going back to the other bed, and most notably, not sleeping.
When her brother came up to have a nap he was delighted and wanted to help her in her bed selection pursuits. He brought blankets and pillows from bed to bed. He tried to get into the bed with her, he tried to jump on her head (he does that from time to time) and he definitely, without a doubt, wasn't about to go to sleep either. It was a funny little nap dance to watch.
Eventually we got them both up. She hasn't napped yet and it's approaching bed time. He, on the other hand, fell asleep on the sofa sitting up and hasn't woken up yet for dinner. I have confidence they'll sleep--perhaps together, perhaps separately. They seem to like each other (when he's not jumping up and down on her head) and I have high hopes they will settle down into a routine soon.
The Big Boy Update: While all this was going on, the testing of the beds, moving of the blankets and pillows around, I came in to watch for a while. My son told me to, "lie down." He brought a blanket over to me as I was lying on the floor. He brought me a pillow. I tried to sit up, "No. Momma, lie down." I lie back down. I close my eyes, hoping they will settle down soon. Then I feel something smashed on my mouth. Oh, he's brought me a pacifier, the final ingredient to a good nap. How sweet.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Crib converted to a toddler bed and I don't know how she'll fare tonight. Usually, once she's asleep she stays asleep through the night. We shall see how it goes. We have relatives in town so I'm hoping it goes well because I don't want them to leave early due to lack of sleep from two noisy babies playing across cribs in the middle of the night.
Fitness Update: We've had two failed run attempts resulting from work issues. Tomorrow morning we're trying to run again. Maybe the third time will be our lucky try. My neighbor and I haven't run in so long we're wondering if we've forgotten how.
Someone Once Said: Most people won’t learn even by experience. Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.
He could climb out of his bed some time ago, but he didn't climb out. I'm not sure why, but even though he had the capability, he didn't take advantage of it. Until just recently. Once we realized there was no keeping him in his bed, it didn't make sense to not change over his crib to a toddler bed. "There's really no sense in punishing him by asking him to land on his head and then not be able to get back into his crib if we had an alternative," I thought.
The problem arises in that he and his sister share the same room. In general, they sleep very well together, even if one is wailing or crying or not sleeping, if the other is tired, then that sibling just goes off to sleep. We have a new plan to put a gate at the door to their room and shut the door to their play room until my son is asleep. Later in the night when we check on them, we open the door to the playroom so he can occupy himself when he wakes up. And this has worked.
So far, he gets up and plays nicely until it's time to eat. But he doesn't leave his sister alone. He wants her to play with him so he shoves things into her crib through the slats. We had to remove a chair because he was using it to climb into her crib; and on top of that, she's mad because she wants to be out and playing too.
So today, as a test, I converted her crib to the same toddler bed as his. She has loved his toddler bed. She's all about climbing and she has had more fun climbing in and out of his toddler bed since we converted it. Now she can climb in and out of her bed. But will this change work out?
So far, it's been interesting. She is so very excited to be able to climb in and out of the bed that it's been hard to go to sleep. Eventually for her morning nap she did fall asleep. This afternoon they were both tired. While her brother finished his bath I took her up to bed and expected her to fall straight to sleep. No such luck. She was bed shopping. For ten minutes she went from one bed to the other, checking out the mattress, lying down, getting back up, going back to the other bed, and most notably, not sleeping.
When her brother came up to have a nap he was delighted and wanted to help her in her bed selection pursuits. He brought blankets and pillows from bed to bed. He tried to get into the bed with her, he tried to jump on her head (he does that from time to time) and he definitely, without a doubt, wasn't about to go to sleep either. It was a funny little nap dance to watch.
Eventually we got them both up. She hasn't napped yet and it's approaching bed time. He, on the other hand, fell asleep on the sofa sitting up and hasn't woken up yet for dinner. I have confidence they'll sleep--perhaps together, perhaps separately. They seem to like each other (when he's not jumping up and down on her head) and I have high hopes they will settle down into a routine soon.
The Big Boy Update: While all this was going on, the testing of the beds, moving of the blankets and pillows around, I came in to watch for a while. My son told me to, "lie down." He brought a blanket over to me as I was lying on the floor. He brought me a pillow. I tried to sit up, "No. Momma, lie down." I lie back down. I close my eyes, hoping they will settle down soon. Then I feel something smashed on my mouth. Oh, he's brought me a pacifier, the final ingredient to a good nap. How sweet.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Crib converted to a toddler bed and I don't know how she'll fare tonight. Usually, once she's asleep she stays asleep through the night. We shall see how it goes. We have relatives in town so I'm hoping it goes well because I don't want them to leave early due to lack of sleep from two noisy babies playing across cribs in the middle of the night.
Fitness Update: We've had two failed run attempts resulting from work issues. Tomorrow morning we're trying to run again. Maybe the third time will be our lucky try. My neighbor and I haven't run in so long we're wondering if we've forgotten how.
Someone Once Said: Most people won’t learn even by experience. Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Post-Holiday Irrelevancy and Additional Ramblings
Tardy with a Bit of Irrelevancy
I was excited I'd been posting, every day, for a year now. I remembered getting started right after Christmas last year. I was pretty sure it was the 27th. This morning I went to check and I started posting on the 21st, not the 27th. My first thought was, "Well damn, how could I have missed my blog anniversary?" My second thought was, "Well, it's no surprise, I'm terrible with anniversaries and birthdays, a week late isn't so bad." So my post about how I was pleased I'd made it a full year, posting every day, saying this and that and trying to add in a bit of humor where I could manage it, was now totally irrelevant. But I did make it a year and it does seem many days like this blog is an important part of my life. I never styled myself as a journal writer, but it appears to suit me in some way.
Just Flip It!
For those who have seen (and seen again, and seen yet again) the movie Mystery Men, hopefully an image of Captain Amazing has popped into your head with this sub-title. Not only is Mystery Men one of my favorite movies, it has many lines that accent my life and add emphasis just where needed. And with that as an introduction, let's talk about mattresses.
I had had a mattress forever (no, really, I think it had been that long.) I had bought a new mattress and the nice salesman had explained how you should rotate and flip your mattress on a regular basis. "Pish, pshaw, whatever," I thought. That night I slept the last night ever on my old mattress. The old mattress I had never flipped because the other side had an unsightly cool-aid stain on it. A cool-aid stain you never saw under mattress pad and sheet. "I shall debunk this mattress flipping conspiracy," I thought and flipped the soon-to-be-recycled mattress. And then...I had the best night's sleep I had had in years.
So now, I'm a mattress flipping convert. Every four to six months I flip my mattress, even if my husband doesn't want to. I even flipped my mattress pregnant and then got put on bed rest the next day due to a cervix that was a bit strained. Was it the heavy lifting of a king-sized mattress my mother and I flipped the day before? We will never know. But I slept better for the rest of the pregnancy, I can tell you that. We flipped our mattress again the other day. Firmness. Bliss. "Comfy dumfy" as I called it. My husband told me that word was more silly than the word "huggles," which I hate. Still, if you haven't flipped your mattress in a while, do yourself a favor and do so.
My Rainbow-colored Nose
I have seen more colors come out of my nose in the last two weeks than I would have believed had I told my two-weeks-ago self from the future me of today. Perhaps not all of the rainbow of colors, but a good percentage. My friend during all this congestion mess has been a product called Neilmed that my father and several other people have recommended over the past few years. You mix water with a PH balanced saline solution and you stick the nozzle into your nose and inhale or squeeze, or both. Either way, you're not getting a misting of solution into your nose, you're drowning in it. You are completely and utterly flushing your sinuses with this delightful substance that causes things to dislodge you didn't even know were there. Things that are so foul and repugnant you're glad they're out, because had you known they were in your head, you might have started to gag right then and there there so it's a good thing you're already at the sink. If you don't have one of these Neilmed things, get one. Trust me.
Christmas Squirrel
This is sad, so I'll make it short. I got up early on Christmas morning to go take care of my friend's cats. Small, furry animals cared for and I'm on the way home when, bam, a squirrel dashes under my car faster than I can react and I hit it. I hope I killed on contact it and it didn't suffer. It was a sad note amidst the happiness of my Christmas day.
Rearrangement of Chattels
Yesterday I was moved to move the children. I moved them out of our bedroom and into their own room clothing-wise. They have, since they were born, been dressed and changed in our bedroom. This has put a cramp in our dresser space for both my husband and me, but it's been worth it from a stair-climbing perspective. As they're not changing clothing more than twice per day and they commonly get changed before or after naps and bed, it makes sense to put their clothing upstairs in their room. We will see how it goes.
The Big Boy Update: Talk and babble. He can talk and be understood. But sometimes, all he says is gobbledy blub. I was just on the phone a few minutes ago with my mother and he wanted to talk to her. He babbled lots of things, none of which I understood. My mother said, "You're going to have to give me a little help here," to me. I told her her guess was as good as mine. I'm not sure why he's so clear in enunciation sometimes and sometimes makes no baby sense to anyone other than himself.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Wave and Hello. She waves at you if you wave at her...sometimes. And she can say, "hello." She likes to wave and say hello to herself in the mirror the best I think though.
Fitness Update: I yearn to run. I really do. I drive by the park on the way to take care of my friend's cats and I see the trail. Perhaps it's cold and rainy but because I can see the trail through the woods and I want to be out there running. With a cold, in the cold and the rain? Apparently so. My neighbor and Uncle Jonathan are back in town now. Soon I shall run again.
Someone Once Said: A wedding ring is not a ring in my nose.
I was excited I'd been posting, every day, for a year now. I remembered getting started right after Christmas last year. I was pretty sure it was the 27th. This morning I went to check and I started posting on the 21st, not the 27th. My first thought was, "Well damn, how could I have missed my blog anniversary?" My second thought was, "Well, it's no surprise, I'm terrible with anniversaries and birthdays, a week late isn't so bad." So my post about how I was pleased I'd made it a full year, posting every day, saying this and that and trying to add in a bit of humor where I could manage it, was now totally irrelevant. But I did make it a year and it does seem many days like this blog is an important part of my life. I never styled myself as a journal writer, but it appears to suit me in some way.
Just Flip It!
For those who have seen (and seen again, and seen yet again) the movie Mystery Men, hopefully an image of Captain Amazing has popped into your head with this sub-title. Not only is Mystery Men one of my favorite movies, it has many lines that accent my life and add emphasis just where needed. And with that as an introduction, let's talk about mattresses.
I had had a mattress forever (no, really, I think it had been that long.) I had bought a new mattress and the nice salesman had explained how you should rotate and flip your mattress on a regular basis. "Pish, pshaw, whatever," I thought. That night I slept the last night ever on my old mattress. The old mattress I had never flipped because the other side had an unsightly cool-aid stain on it. A cool-aid stain you never saw under mattress pad and sheet. "I shall debunk this mattress flipping conspiracy," I thought and flipped the soon-to-be-recycled mattress. And then...I had the best night's sleep I had had in years.
So now, I'm a mattress flipping convert. Every four to six months I flip my mattress, even if my husband doesn't want to. I even flipped my mattress pregnant and then got put on bed rest the next day due to a cervix that was a bit strained. Was it the heavy lifting of a king-sized mattress my mother and I flipped the day before? We will never know. But I slept better for the rest of the pregnancy, I can tell you that. We flipped our mattress again the other day. Firmness. Bliss. "Comfy dumfy" as I called it. My husband told me that word was more silly than the word "huggles," which I hate. Still, if you haven't flipped your mattress in a while, do yourself a favor and do so.
My Rainbow-colored Nose
I have seen more colors come out of my nose in the last two weeks than I would have believed had I told my two-weeks-ago self from the future me of today. Perhaps not all of the rainbow of colors, but a good percentage. My friend during all this congestion mess has been a product called Neilmed that my father and several other people have recommended over the past few years. You mix water with a PH balanced saline solution and you stick the nozzle into your nose and inhale or squeeze, or both. Either way, you're not getting a misting of solution into your nose, you're drowning in it. You are completely and utterly flushing your sinuses with this delightful substance that causes things to dislodge you didn't even know were there. Things that are so foul and repugnant you're glad they're out, because had you known they were in your head, you might have started to gag right then and there there so it's a good thing you're already at the sink. If you don't have one of these Neilmed things, get one. Trust me.
Christmas Squirrel
This is sad, so I'll make it short. I got up early on Christmas morning to go take care of my friend's cats. Small, furry animals cared for and I'm on the way home when, bam, a squirrel dashes under my car faster than I can react and I hit it. I hope I killed on contact it and it didn't suffer. It was a sad note amidst the happiness of my Christmas day.
Rearrangement of Chattels
Yesterday I was moved to move the children. I moved them out of our bedroom and into their own room clothing-wise. They have, since they were born, been dressed and changed in our bedroom. This has put a cramp in our dresser space for both my husband and me, but it's been worth it from a stair-climbing perspective. As they're not changing clothing more than twice per day and they commonly get changed before or after naps and bed, it makes sense to put their clothing upstairs in their room. We will see how it goes.
The Big Boy Update: Talk and babble. He can talk and be understood. But sometimes, all he says is gobbledy blub. I was just on the phone a few minutes ago with my mother and he wanted to talk to her. He babbled lots of things, none of which I understood. My mother said, "You're going to have to give me a little help here," to me. I told her her guess was as good as mine. I'm not sure why he's so clear in enunciation sometimes and sometimes makes no baby sense to anyone other than himself.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Wave and Hello. She waves at you if you wave at her...sometimes. And she can say, "hello." She likes to wave and say hello to herself in the mirror the best I think though.
Fitness Update: I yearn to run. I really do. I drive by the park on the way to take care of my friend's cats and I see the trail. Perhaps it's cold and rainy but because I can see the trail through the woods and I want to be out there running. With a cold, in the cold and the rain? Apparently so. My neighbor and Uncle Jonathan are back in town now. Soon I shall run again.
Someone Once Said: A wedding ring is not a ring in my nose.
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
The Cosmos and the Bonus Stars
I'm on the mend from this flold now, at least I hope I am, my husband had a downturn for a day or so but I've got no time for that so hopefully, determinedly, I'm almost better. I've had very few of these really bad cold/flu things that I can remember in my whole life. I recollect one that really knocked me out for almost two weeks, conveniently during the holidays, so much so that I was barely able to teach at my customer site early in January. This one has not been that bad.
I remember when I was very young there was a popular book titled Cosmos, by a gentleman who at the time wasn't very well-known, named Carl Sagan. This turned out to be the hot item to get for Christmas if you were an intellectual adult, or perhaps were just into outer space and our pursuits therein. My dad was wild about this book.
I think he suggested I read it or look at it but I was too young and there were too many words and at that age I didn't sit still long enough to read. Today, I would be all over the book. I've been thinking about this book a lot this holiday season. I think I have a vague recollection of the cover, black with lots of stars, but I'm not sure. What I do remember is a review of the book that ties in the two big hits of the season that year.
First, there was Cosmos, and second, there was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad flu that everyone was getting. There was lots of congestion and an associated cough—a productive cough that caught you unexpectedly and regularly off guard and sent little spatterings all over the place. It was a mess.
I remember what the reviewer of Cosmos said, but here's the interesting thing, I remember the review, but I didn't read the book, nor did I read the paper or watch the news, so I'm thinking my mother must have found the review funny and read it aloud to my father and me. The reviewer said the thing that had helped him make it through the terrible flu was having Carl Sagan's Cosmos to read. He further said that what with all the coughing he'd been doing he was fairly sure that starry scape had a lot more man-made stars added to it on his copy of the book.
To this day when there's any bout of cold or flu going around smack in the middle of the holidays, I always think of Carl Sagan and Cosmos.
The Big Boy Update: I do it. Oh boy, does he want to do everything. Everything. He's becoming much more conversational about things. Although... he also seems to be verbally regressing to his sister's level of babble when he's tired. But he does know how to talk, and when he wants to do something he will tell you he wants to do it himself.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Pick me up, or else. She likes to be picked up. Maybe it's for comfort, maybe she just likes you. Maybe she wants you to feed her or get her, "oooce." She wants to be picked up a lot. She will come over to you, put one arm up in the air and do her best cute/pitiful look and hope for the best. If you don't get her message, she will sit down on the floor and wail in despair. It appears we have created another baby feedback loop. We are working to correct this.
Someone Once Said: Abstract design is all right—for wallpaper or linoleum. But art is the process of evoking pity and terror. Creative art is intercourse, in which the artist renders emotional his audience.
I remember when I was very young there was a popular book titled Cosmos, by a gentleman who at the time wasn't very well-known, named Carl Sagan. This turned out to be the hot item to get for Christmas if you were an intellectual adult, or perhaps were just into outer space and our pursuits therein. My dad was wild about this book.
I think he suggested I read it or look at it but I was too young and there were too many words and at that age I didn't sit still long enough to read. Today, I would be all over the book. I've been thinking about this book a lot this holiday season. I think I have a vague recollection of the cover, black with lots of stars, but I'm not sure. What I do remember is a review of the book that ties in the two big hits of the season that year.
First, there was Cosmos, and second, there was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad flu that everyone was getting. There was lots of congestion and an associated cough—a productive cough that caught you unexpectedly and regularly off guard and sent little spatterings all over the place. It was a mess.
I remember what the reviewer of Cosmos said, but here's the interesting thing, I remember the review, but I didn't read the book, nor did I read the paper or watch the news, so I'm thinking my mother must have found the review funny and read it aloud to my father and me. The reviewer said the thing that had helped him make it through the terrible flu was having Carl Sagan's Cosmos to read. He further said that what with all the coughing he'd been doing he was fairly sure that starry scape had a lot more man-made stars added to it on his copy of the book.
To this day when there's any bout of cold or flu going around smack in the middle of the holidays, I always think of Carl Sagan and Cosmos.
The Big Boy Update: I do it. Oh boy, does he want to do everything. Everything. He's becoming much more conversational about things. Although... he also seems to be verbally regressing to his sister's level of babble when he's tired. But he does know how to talk, and when he wants to do something he will tell you he wants to do it himself.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: Pick me up, or else. She likes to be picked up. Maybe it's for comfort, maybe she just likes you. Maybe she wants you to feed her or get her, "oooce." She wants to be picked up a lot. She will come over to you, put one arm up in the air and do her best cute/pitiful look and hope for the best. If you don't get her message, she will sit down on the floor and wail in despair. It appears we have created another baby feedback loop. We are working to correct this.
Someone Once Said: Abstract design is all right—for wallpaper or linoleum. But art is the process of evoking pity and terror. Creative art is intercourse, in which the artist renders emotional his audience.
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