I grew up naked. Literally. Practically half my baby and toddler picuters I'm missing some, if not all of my clothes. In fact, there is one extremely cute picture of me riding a little tricycle naked. In our house this was never a problem. It was totally normal to be taking a shower and someone to come in looking for their toothbrush or asking to use the restroom, which I normally wouldn't mind unless they had to poop, then I'd turn them down... LOL It was also not unheard of for a friend and I to walk in the door to my mom vacuuming in a t-shirt and undies, as many of my friends have experienced. :)
So naturally, my kids are growing up the same way. Cooper frequently asks to "go naked", and Chloe often removes her diaper, runs into the room, pounding on her chest like Tarzan screaming "I NAKEY!" Now from a mommy point of view this great for potty training of course, but even if it wasn't for potty training, I'd have no problem with naked kiddos. Of course, if we're having company they'll have to put something on and they can't go outside naked, but in the privacy of our own home I'm in the "who cares" state of mind. What can it hurt?
It did take some work to get to this point though. When I met the husband he was on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. He was taught to wake up and get dressed for the day, immediately, even having to put shoes on, just to walk around the house, and he by no means was ever allowed to go around naked. No way. So it took a little work on my part to get him to "open up" a little especially when we moved in our own house. He would still close the door EVERYTIME he went to the bathroom. We're husband and wife for Pete's sake! But he eventually came around.
So this pool party we had attended last Saturday was the first time my kids encountered "going nakey" in public. After the pool we all had to shower off in the community shower. As a parent, there was no issue here. The kids took off their swim pants and swim diapers and showered off, but for me, I had to put some thought into this.
Now when I was younger, maybe 18 or 19, I went to the water park at Elitches. We were finished for the day and I went into the bath house. There were TONS of moms and kids in there getting ready to swim or ready to leave, but everyone who was changing into or out of swim suits was using the stalls, so of course they were all full. Well I'm not extremely shy or conservative, so I thought, "Screw it. I'm not waiting for a stall", and proceeding to strip naked right in the dressing area. Now for me this wasn't a big deal, but several of the moms seemed offended by this, one even shielded her daughter's eyes. At the time I thought this was ridiculous. I got dressed and left, then told they husband (at that time the boyfriend) about this experience and how silly I thought these moms were.
Fast forward to last Saturday at the pool. I showered in my suit, but then it came time to remove my suit and change into my clothes. I looked around the bath house. There were several pre-teen girls, a few moms, and some younger girls who had also attended the pool party, maybe 7 or 8 years old. Then I realized, who am I to decide what these girls have to see or not see? If these were my children or young teens in this locker room, would I want them to have to see someone they don't know get naked? Who knows how this children have been raised and what they think is appropriate or inappropriate. That's not my call. I then understood why I had recieved such a negative response to my nudity in the Elitches locker room...
Although I'm definitely not conservative, and certainly don't teach my children to be, there's a level of respect that must be shown for others and their points of view, which I think is a main part of parenting altogther. Parents don't do everything the same and don't look at things the same way. Some are strict and some are laid back. Some are conservative, some are not. Some spank, and some don't. Some yell, and some won't. And some are somewhere in the middle. So as parents we need to stop comparing and debating, and just have respect for each other and each other's way of doing things. After all, these are MY kids, are they not? :)
"Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs in my field, since the payment is pure love." -Mildred B. Vermont
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
I just had to ASQ....
ASQ: sounds like "ask", stands for "Ages & Stages Questionnaire". It's a form that the doc's office sends out to us before each child's check-up to evaluate them physically and developmentally prior to the appointment. They're sent out for 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, 2 years, 3 years, and that's as far as we've got so far. Don't know if there'll be a 4 or 5 year yet. Anyway, having three young kids we (hubby and I) have course done many of these forms. Usually they're no big deal. They ask questions in several different catagories like, communication, gross motor, fine motor, problem solving and personal-social, and you can answer in one of three ways, 'yes', 'sometimes', or 'not yet' (I don't think they want parents to have to use the word 'no' when it comes to their child's development, so that's not a choice of course, which is fine with me). It is scored with 10 points for a 'yes', 5 points for a 'sometimes' and 0 points for a 'not yet'. Each category has 50-60 points usually then the child is evaluted by a scale. There is a white area for high scores, a "grey" area for moderate scores, and a dark area for low scores to indicate a child may need further evaluation. Most of the questions are basic and simple like if your infant will hold his head up, roll over, speak one syllable sounds etc., but obviously as kids get older the questions become a little more specific.
Now, I'm a little up in the air on these forms. I think they have pros and cons, ups and downs, goods and bads. I think they're great for first time parents or parents with one child who don't have older kids to use as a guideline for younger siblings. For example, with Cooper the form was one of our first indications that he may have a hearing problem or need help with his speech. It begins to ask about "speech" from the 6 month form onward. The 6 month only mentions basic sounds like, ba, ga, da, etc. and progresses as the child should progress. I believe there were three forms in a row, 6, 9, and 12 months, that Cooper scored moderate or "behind" in the communication section. For Josh and I, not knowing exactly where he should be speech wise, this was a good marker for us, so we were able to alert his doctor that he may not be on track.
On the other hand, I think some of it is just silly. For example, I believe it was the 2 year form that asked "Does your child pick up a spoon or other similar object and pretend to use it as a telephone?" Now I know they're trying to figure out if my kid has any imagination, but I'm thinking, "Um no. If my 2 year old wants to talk on the phone guess what? He picks up... a phone." LOL Or another "dumb" one. On the three year old form: "Say two numbers like 'seven three' to your child. Does he/she repeat those two numbers back to you?" Again, I'm thinking to myself, "I've been working with my kid his whole life trying to teach him to count, but now you want him to count 'out of order'? Huh?" Now I get that they maybe want to evaluate his memory or something like that. I'm no specialist and I'm certainly not trained in child development, so I honestly don't know, but I'm also not going to be upset when Cooper looks at me like, "What?" LOL So, I really don't think you can tell if a child is "normal" or "smart" or anything like that form this (or any) form. All children are different and think differently. There is no "normal" or "average" child in my opinion. They're all special and unique and gifted in their own way.
That all being said, we got Cooper's 3 years ASQ form in the mail yesterday. I have to start by saying that my kids never cease to amaze me. I'm looking over the form, just randomly reading the questions just to get a general idea when I come to the problem solving section... It's question number 3 and it looks like this...
It's a stick figure "man" missing an eye, an arm, and a leg, and the question reads:
3. When you point to the figure and ask your child, "What is this?" does your child say a word that means a person or something similar? (Mark "yes" for responses like, "snowman", "boy, "man", "girl", "Daddy", "spaceman", and "monkey".) Then it offers a space for you to write your child's response.
Now I wasn't planning on trying any of these things with Cooper right at that second, but this one intriqued me, so I went over to him (he was sitting on Josh's lap), pointed at the picture, and ask, "What is that?" He looks at me like I'm a complete idiot, points to the side minus an arm and asks me, "Where other arm at?"
Josh and I immediately start cracking up! No, he did NOT answer correctly, but guess what? When my child looks at a half drawn picture he wants to know WHY it's not done right. He doesn't think it kind of, sort of, maybe looks like a monkey or spaceman. He wants to know why someone has drawn HALF a person. Now he didn't give the "right" answer, but I'm 100% satisfied with the answer he gave and I'm for darn sure going to write THAT in the box!
Anyway, on the whole I "like" the form. I think something like this is certainly needed and we need to keep childrens' best interests at heart, even if some of the questions are "silly" or "annoying". The form obviously does some good or it wouldn't be around right?
In looking at the form Cooper is right on track, and this is the first time EVER that I've been able to mark "yes" for all 6 question in the communication section! In fact, question 2 asks if he'll make three or four word sentences. ONLY three or four. He makes six, seven, upwards or EIGHT word sentences daily! I'm so extremely proud of him and how hard he's worked and the wonderful progress he's made over the last year!
And in other news, Chloe slept in her room, in her bed, all by herself ALL NIGHT last night. All night long. From about 9pm to 7am. Then she came into our bed just after 7am and wanted to snuggle with daddy (she's a Daddy's Girl for sure) and mommy. It's just recently that she's becoming a little bit of Mommy's Girl as well, which is totally fine by me. :DAnd Bro, well he's still not officially walking. Still taking one step here and there, which is also fine by me because I'm not sure how much I'm looking forward to THREE mobile toddlers. Ahhhh!
Well, as always, thanks for checking in and I'll definitely be back with more updates soon. Cooper's birthday party is two weeks away, then he'll have his check up, then Easter (which I'm already having a blast gathering up stuff for their baskets), and then Brodie will be ONE! Holy smokes!
Now, I'm a little up in the air on these forms. I think they have pros and cons, ups and downs, goods and bads. I think they're great for first time parents or parents with one child who don't have older kids to use as a guideline for younger siblings. For example, with Cooper the form was one of our first indications that he may have a hearing problem or need help with his speech. It begins to ask about "speech" from the 6 month form onward. The 6 month only mentions basic sounds like, ba, ga, da, etc. and progresses as the child should progress. I believe there were three forms in a row, 6, 9, and 12 months, that Cooper scored moderate or "behind" in the communication section. For Josh and I, not knowing exactly where he should be speech wise, this was a good marker for us, so we were able to alert his doctor that he may not be on track.
On the other hand, I think some of it is just silly. For example, I believe it was the 2 year form that asked "Does your child pick up a spoon or other similar object and pretend to use it as a telephone?" Now I know they're trying to figure out if my kid has any imagination, but I'm thinking, "Um no. If my 2 year old wants to talk on the phone guess what? He picks up... a phone." LOL Or another "dumb" one. On the three year old form: "Say two numbers like 'seven three' to your child. Does he/she repeat those two numbers back to you?" Again, I'm thinking to myself, "I've been working with my kid his whole life trying to teach him to count, but now you want him to count 'out of order'? Huh?" Now I get that they maybe want to evaluate his memory or something like that. I'm no specialist and I'm certainly not trained in child development, so I honestly don't know, but I'm also not going to be upset when Cooper looks at me like, "What?" LOL So, I really don't think you can tell if a child is "normal" or "smart" or anything like that form this (or any) form. All children are different and think differently. There is no "normal" or "average" child in my opinion. They're all special and unique and gifted in their own way.
That all being said, we got Cooper's 3 years ASQ form in the mail yesterday. I have to start by saying that my kids never cease to amaze me. I'm looking over the form, just randomly reading the questions just to get a general idea when I come to the problem solving section... It's question number 3 and it looks like this...
It's a stick figure "man" missing an eye, an arm, and a leg, and the question reads:
3. When you point to the figure and ask your child, "What is this?" does your child say a word that means a person or something similar? (Mark "yes" for responses like, "snowman", "boy, "man", "girl", "Daddy", "spaceman", and "monkey".) Then it offers a space for you to write your child's response.
Now I wasn't planning on trying any of these things with Cooper right at that second, but this one intriqued me, so I went over to him (he was sitting on Josh's lap), pointed at the picture, and ask, "What is that?" He looks at me like I'm a complete idiot, points to the side minus an arm and asks me, "Where other arm at?"
Josh and I immediately start cracking up! No, he did NOT answer correctly, but guess what? When my child looks at a half drawn picture he wants to know WHY it's not done right. He doesn't think it kind of, sort of, maybe looks like a monkey or spaceman. He wants to know why someone has drawn HALF a person. Now he didn't give the "right" answer, but I'm 100% satisfied with the answer he gave and I'm for darn sure going to write THAT in the box!
Anyway, on the whole I "like" the form. I think something like this is certainly needed and we need to keep childrens' best interests at heart, even if some of the questions are "silly" or "annoying". The form obviously does some good or it wouldn't be around right?
In looking at the form Cooper is right on track, and this is the first time EVER that I've been able to mark "yes" for all 6 question in the communication section! In fact, question 2 asks if he'll make three or four word sentences. ONLY three or four. He makes six, seven, upwards or EIGHT word sentences daily! I'm so extremely proud of him and how hard he's worked and the wonderful progress he's made over the last year!
And in other news, Chloe slept in her room, in her bed, all by herself ALL NIGHT last night. All night long. From about 9pm to 7am. Then she came into our bed just after 7am and wanted to snuggle with daddy (she's a Daddy's Girl for sure) and mommy. It's just recently that she's becoming a little bit of Mommy's Girl as well, which is totally fine by me. :DAnd Bro, well he's still not officially walking. Still taking one step here and there, which is also fine by me because I'm not sure how much I'm looking forward to THREE mobile toddlers. Ahhhh!
Well, as always, thanks for checking in and I'll definitely be back with more updates soon. Cooper's birthday party is two weeks away, then he'll have his check up, then Easter (which I'm already having a blast gathering up stuff for their baskets), and then Brodie will be ONE! Holy smokes!
Sunday, March 20, 2011
The Potty Project: Part II (Down in the "Dumps")
Mission: Potty Training
Mission Status: In Progress...
Targets: Cooper and Chloe Poston
Okay people. Potty training is in full swing. The targets (Cooper and Chloe) have two potty options and several 'bottoms' options. Potty option number one is of course the training potty, now located in their bedroom in front of the TV (another wonderful way to utilize the TV) instead of the toy room, and potty option number two is "the big potty". For 'bottoms' choices they can either A) wear a diaper (which poses the issue of removing it in time to make it onto the potty), B) wear a Pull-Up, or as Chloe refers to hers as "Princess Pants" since hers have Disney Princesses on them (again poses the same problem as option A), C) wear underwear (a little easier to remove, but still has the same issue as A and B), or D) "GO NAKED" as the kids call it (this is the option of choice most days).
In observing the targets over the last few weeks it has become apparent that target Cooper is a little more prepared than target Chloe. Coop has taken to it really well surprisingly. He asks to "go naked" almost everyday and only wears a diaper to nap/sleep. He will pee in either potty, and up until now he has preferred to take a "dump" in "the big potty", which was great because believe it or not that kid can make quite a bit of poo for someone his size and it's a pretty tight squeeze to get it all in the training potty. Yes visualize that for me if you will. LOL Well, he's been going to the bathroom pretty much on his own all day. He'll go in and go pee in the training potty then bring it out to me and show me, then dump it in the toilet and he HAS to wash his hands of course (that's his favorite part). If he goes poo on the big potty then he comes to me and says, "Booper pooped. Please wipe my butt" VERY matter of factly LOL.
Anyway, we're now "down in the dumps" for a couple reasons. One, he now likes to take a "dump" in the training potty, and two, he no longer likes to "dump" it out, which of course leaves me discovering poop all day long. Oh and he doesn't like to tell me about it either. The other day I went to make their beds and thought, "Oh. It smells like poop in here". Searched the potty's and found Cooper's FULL of poo. I had to dump it out and then bleach the crap out of it (no pun intended). Then I find Coop to ask him if he took a poop because of course he still needs his butt wiped and I have no idea how long ago he pooped LOL
Chloe isn't quite as ready as Coop is. She is still doing pretty well, but is off and on with it. She kind of does what Cooper does. If she sees him going then she'll go. If she sees he's "going naked" then she wants to go naked, though she prefers to wear a diaper or princess pants most days. If she does go naked I have to keep a close eye on her because she'll have a couple accidents. But in the last few days she's picking up on it a little better. Don't know if it'll last LOL I felt so bad for her the other day though. She came into the living room with her potty in hand all excited to show me her pee and she was yelling "I do pee pee! I do pee pee!" Then she tripped on the tile area by the front door, fell, and spilled pee all over herself :( She started crying and saying, "Mommy I maka mess. I maka mess" I felt so bad that I just scooped her up into a giant hug even though she was soaking pee. I got her right into the bath tub and she calmed down right away since she loves the tubby. And just yesterday I heard the toilet flush so I went to see who it was. Well the "culprit" had already vacated the bathroom, but then I found Chloe's diaper on her floor and found Chloe by the changing table with two legs in the same hole of a pair of princess pants LOL She's becoming SO independant SO fast! Doesn't need me to put her to sleep anymore, doesn't need me to change her diaper anymore, doesn't even need me to help her put on her princess pants! What am I good for now?!
At least Bro still needs me LOL I know I said this in my last blog but he's SO close to walking. He talks at least one step a day on his now, but never more than one step. Oh and he knows how to give kisses. It's adorable. He just leans in toward with his mouth half open. That's his version of a kiss LOL It's so cute though because everytime I give him kisses I always say, "love you" right after, so everytime I ask him for a kiss, he'll lean in to kiss me and then he tries to mumble something afterward. I'm going to take that as an "I love you" LOL And I'm trying to teach him to blow kisses which he tried ONE time, but hasn't done it again yet.
Anyway, that's about it for my potty update. Thanks for checking in and be sure to stay tuned for more potty progess!
Mission Status: In Progress...
Targets: Cooper and Chloe Poston
Okay people. Potty training is in full swing. The targets (Cooper and Chloe) have two potty options and several 'bottoms' options. Potty option number one is of course the training potty, now located in their bedroom in front of the TV (another wonderful way to utilize the TV) instead of the toy room, and potty option number two is "the big potty". For 'bottoms' choices they can either A) wear a diaper (which poses the issue of removing it in time to make it onto the potty), B) wear a Pull-Up, or as Chloe refers to hers as "Princess Pants" since hers have Disney Princesses on them (again poses the same problem as option A), C) wear underwear (a little easier to remove, but still has the same issue as A and B), or D) "GO NAKED" as the kids call it (this is the option of choice most days).
In observing the targets over the last few weeks it has become apparent that target Cooper is a little more prepared than target Chloe. Coop has taken to it really well surprisingly. He asks to "go naked" almost everyday and only wears a diaper to nap/sleep. He will pee in either potty, and up until now he has preferred to take a "dump" in "the big potty", which was great because believe it or not that kid can make quite a bit of poo for someone his size and it's a pretty tight squeeze to get it all in the training potty. Yes visualize that for me if you will. LOL Well, he's been going to the bathroom pretty much on his own all day. He'll go in and go pee in the training potty then bring it out to me and show me, then dump it in the toilet and he HAS to wash his hands of course (that's his favorite part). If he goes poo on the big potty then he comes to me and says, "Booper pooped. Please wipe my butt" VERY matter of factly LOL.
Anyway, we're now "down in the dumps" for a couple reasons. One, he now likes to take a "dump" in the training potty, and two, he no longer likes to "dump" it out, which of course leaves me discovering poop all day long. Oh and he doesn't like to tell me about it either. The other day I went to make their beds and thought, "Oh. It smells like poop in here". Searched the potty's and found Cooper's FULL of poo. I had to dump it out and then bleach the crap out of it (no pun intended). Then I find Coop to ask him if he took a poop because of course he still needs his butt wiped and I have no idea how long ago he pooped LOL
Chloe isn't quite as ready as Coop is. She is still doing pretty well, but is off and on with it. She kind of does what Cooper does. If she sees him going then she'll go. If she sees he's "going naked" then she wants to go naked, though she prefers to wear a diaper or princess pants most days. If she does go naked I have to keep a close eye on her because she'll have a couple accidents. But in the last few days she's picking up on it a little better. Don't know if it'll last LOL I felt so bad for her the other day though. She came into the living room with her potty in hand all excited to show me her pee and she was yelling "I do pee pee! I do pee pee!" Then she tripped on the tile area by the front door, fell, and spilled pee all over herself :( She started crying and saying, "Mommy I maka mess. I maka mess" I felt so bad that I just scooped her up into a giant hug even though she was soaking pee. I got her right into the bath tub and she calmed down right away since she loves the tubby. And just yesterday I heard the toilet flush so I went to see who it was. Well the "culprit" had already vacated the bathroom, but then I found Chloe's diaper on her floor and found Chloe by the changing table with two legs in the same hole of a pair of princess pants LOL She's becoming SO independant SO fast! Doesn't need me to put her to sleep anymore, doesn't need me to change her diaper anymore, doesn't even need me to help her put on her princess pants! What am I good for now?!
At least Bro still needs me LOL I know I said this in my last blog but he's SO close to walking. He talks at least one step a day on his now, but never more than one step. Oh and he knows how to give kisses. It's adorable. He just leans in toward with his mouth half open. That's his version of a kiss LOL It's so cute though because everytime I give him kisses I always say, "love you" right after, so everytime I ask him for a kiss, he'll lean in to kiss me and then he tries to mumble something afterward. I'm going to take that as an "I love you" LOL And I'm trying to teach him to blow kisses which he tried ONE time, but hasn't done it again yet.
Anyway, that's about it for my potty update. Thanks for checking in and be sure to stay tuned for more potty progess!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Getting Real
Recently I was at the library picking out DVDs for Josh and I and then for the kids. I was in the kids section looking at movies and a women approached me and says, "Now you know t.v. is NOT a babysitter."
...
Where to even begin. First off, let's start by saying parenting isn't a "black and white" subject. Yes there are some definite "wrongs" and there are some definite "rights", but it's not all right and wrong, so...sit back, relax, and come along with me as I pull off the mask and unveil what "mommy hood" is REALLY about.
There's a scene from Sex and the City 2 believe it or not, that is my absolute favorite and I was extremely impressed with the reality of it. Now I might not get it perfect, but to sum up it's with Charlotte in her kitchen with her two girls, approx five years old and the other was an infant. Her nanny (which we all have of course) wasn't there and she was trying to bake a bunch of stuff (I believe for her oldest daughter's school or something). The baby was crying, she was trying to bake, the phone rang, she was on the phone, and the oldest girl comes up trying to get her attention in the midst of all the chaos and ends up getting some food substance all over Charlotte's skirt. After this Charlotte just loses it. Loses it and retreats to the pantry crying, only to be found moments later by her nanny. I love this because every single parent has had those moments. The whole movie Charlotte tried to play the part of the "perfect mom", but none of us are perfect, and every parent can relate to that moment.
So....let's get back to this "t.v. isn't a baby sitter" crap. Besides the fact that it was absolutely none of this lady's business how my kids spend their time, I am NOT a believer in "t.v. rots the brain". Do I think a two year old (or any age child) should be glued to the t.v. every waking hour? No. But do I think t.v. is going to kill brain cells? Absolutely not. And guess what? For me, t.v. CAN be a wonderful "babysitter". I have three small children. Some weeks I don't get to shower for two days straight. T.V. is a miraculous invention in my book, and depending on what you're letting your kids watch, it can be very "enlightening" so to speak. Shit, I have to give partial credit to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse for my kids' love of counting. Yeah maybe Josh and I laid the foundation, but that show made it fun and interesting and exciting for them to do. Plus, you don't just have to plop your kids in front of a television. Half the time I'm watching these shows with them and asking them questions and encouraging them. Now "Happy Feet" (one of the movies I rented) that's just for fun, but who doesn't like a little fun now and again?
And this all brings me to my main point. It's not "black and white" and nobody's perfect. I certainly don't claim to be. My kids watch cartoons and eat donuts. They drink juice and TONS of chocolate milk. Some days Coop and Chlo still like to drink from a bottle. Okay, MOST days. I don't always style Chloe's hair and sometimes I forget to brush their teeth. Some days they wear mis-matched clothes, and some days they don't wear clothes at all (that's attributed to easier potty training of course). I still cuddle them as much as I can, and I'll still rock them to sleep, when they let me LOL I don't do everything the right way. I do it MY way, which is the best way I know how.
Does that make it wrong? No.
It makes it real.
So do I have to feel ashamed when some random women attempts to call me out in the library? Nope. We're all people, and we're all human, even if we are parents.
Now if you're a parent or a soon-to-be parent, and you're still confused as to what is "right" and "wrong" in the parenting world, I have a few helpful hints I wanted to add in here at the end. Enjoy ;)
Well there they are. 20 some odd tips for taking care of baby. Apparently a t.v. over the crib is a "no no". Oops. LOL
Thanks for reading everyone. Hope you all enjoyed it.
...
Where to even begin. First off, let's start by saying parenting isn't a "black and white" subject. Yes there are some definite "wrongs" and there are some definite "rights", but it's not all right and wrong, so...sit back, relax, and come along with me as I pull off the mask and unveil what "mommy hood" is REALLY about.
There's a scene from Sex and the City 2 believe it or not, that is my absolute favorite and I was extremely impressed with the reality of it. Now I might not get it perfect, but to sum up it's with Charlotte in her kitchen with her two girls, approx five years old and the other was an infant. Her nanny (which we all have of course) wasn't there and she was trying to bake a bunch of stuff (I believe for her oldest daughter's school or something). The baby was crying, she was trying to bake, the phone rang, she was on the phone, and the oldest girl comes up trying to get her attention in the midst of all the chaos and ends up getting some food substance all over Charlotte's skirt. After this Charlotte just loses it. Loses it and retreats to the pantry crying, only to be found moments later by her nanny. I love this because every single parent has had those moments. The whole movie Charlotte tried to play the part of the "perfect mom", but none of us are perfect, and every parent can relate to that moment.
So....let's get back to this "t.v. isn't a baby sitter" crap. Besides the fact that it was absolutely none of this lady's business how my kids spend their time, I am NOT a believer in "t.v. rots the brain". Do I think a two year old (or any age child) should be glued to the t.v. every waking hour? No. But do I think t.v. is going to kill brain cells? Absolutely not. And guess what? For me, t.v. CAN be a wonderful "babysitter". I have three small children. Some weeks I don't get to shower for two days straight. T.V. is a miraculous invention in my book, and depending on what you're letting your kids watch, it can be very "enlightening" so to speak. Shit, I have to give partial credit to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse for my kids' love of counting. Yeah maybe Josh and I laid the foundation, but that show made it fun and interesting and exciting for them to do. Plus, you don't just have to plop your kids in front of a television. Half the time I'm watching these shows with them and asking them questions and encouraging them. Now "Happy Feet" (one of the movies I rented) that's just for fun, but who doesn't like a little fun now and again?
And this all brings me to my main point. It's not "black and white" and nobody's perfect. I certainly don't claim to be. My kids watch cartoons and eat donuts. They drink juice and TONS of chocolate milk. Some days Coop and Chlo still like to drink from a bottle. Okay, MOST days. I don't always style Chloe's hair and sometimes I forget to brush their teeth. Some days they wear mis-matched clothes, and some days they don't wear clothes at all (that's attributed to easier potty training of course). I still cuddle them as much as I can, and I'll still rock them to sleep, when they let me LOL I don't do everything the right way. I do it MY way, which is the best way I know how.
Does that make it wrong? No.
It makes it real.
So do I have to feel ashamed when some random women attempts to call me out in the library? Nope. We're all people, and we're all human, even if we are parents.
Now if you're a parent or a soon-to-be parent, and you're still confused as to what is "right" and "wrong" in the parenting world, I have a few helpful hints I wanted to add in here at the end. Enjoy ;)
Well there they are. 20 some odd tips for taking care of baby. Apparently a t.v. over the crib is a "no no". Oops. LOL
Thanks for reading everyone. Hope you all enjoyed it.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
If you think...
...the Earth revolves around the Sun, you are sadly mistaken because today we met the teeny bopper who replaced the Sun. The Earth NOW revolves around her (well in her mind anyway).
So today we went to Sears and had pictures taken of the kiddos, but this blog really isn't about that. It's about the very pleasant, lovely young mother we "met" in the studio...
We had just arrived at the studio near 11am (our appointment time, since I was smart enough to make one like any normal person would). We were all decked out in our picture taking attire and it was very clear we were about to get our pictures taken. There were two women working in the studio: one in training and VERY new, and the other was the photographer taking the pictures and doing the training. The two women are getting us all checked in and are about to take us back to the studio when in walks...Little Miss Thing.
It was this sarcastic ass, attitude filled teeny bopper with her baby, her mom, and what I assume was her boyfriend. She walks up to the counter and "politely" asks if there are any openings today. The photographer looks at the schedule and says, "Yes. I could take you around...12:30pm." Miss Thing turns to me, gives me a dirty look, looks back at the photographer and gives HER a dirty look, so the photographer says, "Will that work? What were you looking for?" She says, "Well I was wanting NOW" and proceeds to give ME another dirty look. Then the photographer says, "Well these folks have an appointmentt right now, so the soonest I could do is 12:30pm." Again the girl glares at me and says, "It takes an hour and a half?" Up until now I'm cool letting the photographer handle this even though she continues to mean mug me, but at this point I'm about to step in because this chick is freakin' rude.
Luckily, the photographer had better people skills than me an says, "I could probably see you at noon, but I wouldn't want you to end up waiting and I wouldn't want them to feel rushed." Miss Thing finally caved and left and I was just left with my jaw on the floor.
First of all, who is just walking around the mall and thinks, "Hey. I'm gonna get my kids picture taken." Yeah nobody. If you were to find MY kids on any given day in the mall, they definitely wouldn't be "picture ready" LOL Okay, so let's pretend people do this and she wants her kids picture taken all the sudden...two, why would you think you can just walk into a portrait studio and expect to get your pictures taken just like that? Um, you wouldn't. It's not Cost Cutters people. Yeah of course you can make an attempt and hope to get lucky, but that'd be just it, luck, and you certainly have no right to get POed at the photographer because she can't take you right away. And last, but not least, you DEFNITELY don't have a right to give ME dirty looks because you're "not so smart" ass doesn't have the brains enough to plan in advance and uh....MAKE AN APPOINTMENT. Duh.
That's my little rant. Wouldn't have been such a big deal if she didn't involve me and my family (yeah she was looking at the kids too) in her dirty look charade. I'm a paying customer who had the smarts to set up an appointment and make sure I had enough time to get the pictures I wanted.
The rest of the appointment went awesome. We had the absolute best photographer ever. The studio had hired an entirely new crew of personnel, so this lady was only there to train. She said she'd been in the business for 10 years and had previously worked for Kiddie Kandids, a studio that specializes in taking pics of kids 5 and under, so she was PERFECT for our family. Normally Josh and I have to do all the work trying to get our kids to focus and smile, but we didn't have to do a thing. She positioned them and kept their attention long enough to get to the camera, get them to smile, and take the pics. It was wonderful.
Well that's about it for now. Just a short little blurb to clear my head. Thanks for checkin' in everybody!
And here we are:
So today we went to Sears and had pictures taken of the kiddos, but this blog really isn't about that. It's about the very pleasant, lovely young mother we "met" in the studio...
We had just arrived at the studio near 11am (our appointment time, since I was smart enough to make one like any normal person would). We were all decked out in our picture taking attire and it was very clear we were about to get our pictures taken. There were two women working in the studio: one in training and VERY new, and the other was the photographer taking the pictures and doing the training. The two women are getting us all checked in and are about to take us back to the studio when in walks...Little Miss Thing.
It was this sarcastic ass, attitude filled teeny bopper with her baby, her mom, and what I assume was her boyfriend. She walks up to the counter and "politely" asks if there are any openings today. The photographer looks at the schedule and says, "Yes. I could take you around...12:30pm." Miss Thing turns to me, gives me a dirty look, looks back at the photographer and gives HER a dirty look, so the photographer says, "Will that work? What were you looking for?" She says, "Well I was wanting NOW" and proceeds to give ME another dirty look. Then the photographer says, "Well these folks have an appointmentt right now, so the soonest I could do is 12:30pm." Again the girl glares at me and says, "It takes an hour and a half?" Up until now I'm cool letting the photographer handle this even though she continues to mean mug me, but at this point I'm about to step in because this chick is freakin' rude.
Luckily, the photographer had better people skills than me an says, "I could probably see you at noon, but I wouldn't want you to end up waiting and I wouldn't want them to feel rushed." Miss Thing finally caved and left and I was just left with my jaw on the floor.
First of all, who is just walking around the mall and thinks, "Hey. I'm gonna get my kids picture taken." Yeah nobody. If you were to find MY kids on any given day in the mall, they definitely wouldn't be "picture ready" LOL Okay, so let's pretend people do this and she wants her kids picture taken all the sudden...two, why would you think you can just walk into a portrait studio and expect to get your pictures taken just like that? Um, you wouldn't. It's not Cost Cutters people. Yeah of course you can make an attempt and hope to get lucky, but that'd be just it, luck, and you certainly have no right to get POed at the photographer because she can't take you right away. And last, but not least, you DEFNITELY don't have a right to give ME dirty looks because you're "not so smart" ass doesn't have the brains enough to plan in advance and uh....MAKE AN APPOINTMENT. Duh.
That's my little rant. Wouldn't have been such a big deal if she didn't involve me and my family (yeah she was looking at the kids too) in her dirty look charade. I'm a paying customer who had the smarts to set up an appointment and make sure I had enough time to get the pictures I wanted.
The rest of the appointment went awesome. We had the absolute best photographer ever. The studio had hired an entirely new crew of personnel, so this lady was only there to train. She said she'd been in the business for 10 years and had previously worked for Kiddie Kandids, a studio that specializes in taking pics of kids 5 and under, so she was PERFECT for our family. Normally Josh and I have to do all the work trying to get our kids to focus and smile, but we didn't have to do a thing. She positioned them and kept their attention long enough to get to the camera, get them to smile, and take the pics. It was wonderful.
Well that's about it for now. Just a short little blurb to clear my head. Thanks for checkin' in everybody!
And here we are:
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Beds, Blankets, and Beyond...
This week we decided to get Chloe her very own toddler bed. Although her and Cooper both still co-sleep with us, we noticed a need for Chloe to have her own bed. The reason being...she is literally obsessed with beds.
Don't ask me why because I have no clue, but since "our" bed IS her bed she's become very protective of it (so to speak) since we moved into our new house. She asks to go in our room and "sita bed" (in her words) several times a day to watch a movie. She'll take her drink, usually in a "baba" (which we're still trying to break her of...) and climb up in the bed by herself and watch TV.
The protective part comes in anytime anyone else needs to use that room or sleep in there. We also have Brodie's crib in there, so if he falls asleep and we go to put him in his bed, all the sudden Chloe wants HER bed. Even if she was previously pre-occupied with something else. She had this like "sixth sense" that goes off when anyone's going in "her" room LOL So we'll have Bro asleep and she starts screaming, "MY BED! SITA BED! UNT (want) MY BED!" which of course half the time wakes Brodie up. Or, heaven forbid Cooper falls asleep and we try to put him IN "her" bed....oh heck no! So usually we put Coop to bed in his bed, but we've obviously found the need for Chlo to have her own bed.
So...we went out and bought her her very own Princess bed. She LOVES the Disney Princesses so we figured this would be perfect and she'd could get absolutely hooked on it, just like she's hooked on our bed. We got the bed and the Princess bedding set and got Coop a Toy Story bedding set too.
Then we decided they could both use the own space too. Our new place has three bedrooms: a master, a smaller room in the middle, and a larger bedroom on the other end of the house. When we first moved in, we originally wanted to keep their toys and beds, well Cooper's bed, in one room, so of course we picked the bigger room as their room. Then we were just going to keep the small middle room for storage and an extra room with a futon in it. Well after we got the beds we decided to set both their beds up in the middle room with their own TV and keep the other room on the end as a toy room, so we moved the futon into the toy room and the beds and TV into the middle room.
Of course they didn't spend the night in their new room, but they DID hang out in their and watch their favorite movie, Frosty the Snowman. LOL They definitely "like" their beds, but as soon as the newness wore off....guess who's bed was back to being Chloe's favorite? Yep...ours. LOL
She doesn't mind going in and playing on her bed or watching a movie in there, but when she's cranky and wants peace and quiet, she still heads right for our room LOL
Oh and yesterday we had Uncle Larry and cousins Sean and McKenna come by to bring us some hand-me-down toys, and neither of the big kids had had a nap, so during their visit of course Chloe headed for our bed. Snow White was on and turned out cousin McKenna LOVES Snow White so McKenna climbed up in bed with Chlo....ugh yeah...all "you know what" broke loose. Chloe freaked out. There was no way she was letting someone else in HER bed. Needless to say Josh had to calm her down and tell her to play nice and a few minutes later they were laying together sharing Goldfish crackers LOL
So the bed idea was a "half" bust, but the toy room is working out great. Well until today...I was making lunch and I thought Cooper was watching Robin Hood on his bed. After a few minutes I got that "mommy feeling" like something's up and decided to check on him. Low and behold he was in the toy room with the baby powder...again. If I thought the chair thing was bad, THAT was nothing. He had dumped the ENTIRE thing of lavender scented baby powder ALL OVER the entire toyroom. Then my dumb self decided to try to vacuum it up...yeah. The vacuum just blew baby powder throughout the entire room, getting it on the few final things that hadn't gotten hit by Cooper. Then Cooper says, "Booper make mess. May-me (maybe) an accident?" I said, "No. I think it was on purpose." He says, "Yeah. On purpose. That funny huh?" LOL
Then his new thing, besides differentiating between "on purpose" and "on accident", and usually in HIS favor LOL, is "no problem". Since we've been potty training we've had a couple accidents of course. He prefers to run around bottomless instead of wearing a diaper, and makes it to the potty almost every time. He prefers to pee on his training toilet, but he likes to poop on the big potty. Well today the bathroom door ended up closed somehow and he couldn't reach the handle to open it to poo, so he had a very small accident on the toy room floor. That poor toy room got a beating today huh? Guess it was a good thing the baby powder was AFTER the poo, so it could help with smell. Well anyway, when he has accidents and try to make sure he doesn't feel guilty or ashamed so I keep saying, "Don't worry. It's no problem." Hence his new thing, "no problem", which is what he told me after the poo accident and what he told Josh about getting his gym clothes out of Josh's gym bag. I needed them to put in the wash and Josh went to get them, but Cooper says, "No problem. Booper get em." LOL
And last, but not least, we of course need an update on little Bro. He is EXTREMELY close to walking. He is "walking" between furniture and if he's holding onto something and sees something out of reach that he wants he thinks about walking, but chickens out LOL Josh and I have been holding his hands and trying to get him to walk between us, but he gets too excited and leans forward before moving his feet, so he falls. Oh, AND.....he's begun falling to sleep all by himself. We used to hold him and give him a bottle and he'd usually fall asleep on the bottle, but he's now starting fighting that. He doesn't want us holding him with a bottle at all. We just lay him in his crib, he holds his own bottle, and falls asleep. And during the night when we wakes up, we just give him a bottle and he goes right back to sleep. Sometimes he even puts himself to sleep without the bottle. He'll drink a little of it and then I can hear him in the room playing and making noises and within a few minutes he's alseep.
Well I guess that's about it for now. Not like it wasn't a lot LOL Thanks for checking in everyone! Be back soon with more updates, tales, and adventures from the Poston Fam!
Don't ask me why because I have no clue, but since "our" bed IS her bed she's become very protective of it (so to speak) since we moved into our new house. She asks to go in our room and "sita bed" (in her words) several times a day to watch a movie. She'll take her drink, usually in a "baba" (which we're still trying to break her of...) and climb up in the bed by herself and watch TV.
The protective part comes in anytime anyone else needs to use that room or sleep in there. We also have Brodie's crib in there, so if he falls asleep and we go to put him in his bed, all the sudden Chloe wants HER bed. Even if she was previously pre-occupied with something else. She had this like "sixth sense" that goes off when anyone's going in "her" room LOL So we'll have Bro asleep and she starts screaming, "MY BED! SITA BED! UNT (want) MY BED!" which of course half the time wakes Brodie up. Or, heaven forbid Cooper falls asleep and we try to put him IN "her" bed....oh heck no! So usually we put Coop to bed in his bed, but we've obviously found the need for Chlo to have her own bed.
So...we went out and bought her her very own Princess bed. She LOVES the Disney Princesses so we figured this would be perfect and she'd could get absolutely hooked on it, just like she's hooked on our bed. We got the bed and the Princess bedding set and got Coop a Toy Story bedding set too.
Then we decided they could both use the own space too. Our new place has three bedrooms: a master, a smaller room in the middle, and a larger bedroom on the other end of the house. When we first moved in, we originally wanted to keep their toys and beds, well Cooper's bed, in one room, so of course we picked the bigger room as their room. Then we were just going to keep the small middle room for storage and an extra room with a futon in it. Well after we got the beds we decided to set both their beds up in the middle room with their own TV and keep the other room on the end as a toy room, so we moved the futon into the toy room and the beds and TV into the middle room.
Of course they didn't spend the night in their new room, but they DID hang out in their and watch their favorite movie, Frosty the Snowman. LOL They definitely "like" their beds, but as soon as the newness wore off....guess who's bed was back to being Chloe's favorite? Yep...ours. LOL
She doesn't mind going in and playing on her bed or watching a movie in there, but when she's cranky and wants peace and quiet, she still heads right for our room LOL
Oh and yesterday we had Uncle Larry and cousins Sean and McKenna come by to bring us some hand-me-down toys, and neither of the big kids had had a nap, so during their visit of course Chloe headed for our bed. Snow White was on and turned out cousin McKenna LOVES Snow White so McKenna climbed up in bed with Chlo....ugh yeah...all "you know what" broke loose. Chloe freaked out. There was no way she was letting someone else in HER bed. Needless to say Josh had to calm her down and tell her to play nice and a few minutes later they were laying together sharing Goldfish crackers LOL
So the bed idea was a "half" bust, but the toy room is working out great. Well until today...I was making lunch and I thought Cooper was watching Robin Hood on his bed. After a few minutes I got that "mommy feeling" like something's up and decided to check on him. Low and behold he was in the toy room with the baby powder...again. If I thought the chair thing was bad, THAT was nothing. He had dumped the ENTIRE thing of lavender scented baby powder ALL OVER the entire toyroom. Then my dumb self decided to try to vacuum it up...yeah. The vacuum just blew baby powder throughout the entire room, getting it on the few final things that hadn't gotten hit by Cooper. Then Cooper says, "Booper make mess. May-me (maybe) an accident?" I said, "No. I think it was on purpose." He says, "Yeah. On purpose. That funny huh?" LOL
Then his new thing, besides differentiating between "on purpose" and "on accident", and usually in HIS favor LOL, is "no problem". Since we've been potty training we've had a couple accidents of course. He prefers to run around bottomless instead of wearing a diaper, and makes it to the potty almost every time. He prefers to pee on his training toilet, but he likes to poop on the big potty. Well today the bathroom door ended up closed somehow and he couldn't reach the handle to open it to poo, so he had a very small accident on the toy room floor. That poor toy room got a beating today huh? Guess it was a good thing the baby powder was AFTER the poo, so it could help with smell. Well anyway, when he has accidents and try to make sure he doesn't feel guilty or ashamed so I keep saying, "Don't worry. It's no problem." Hence his new thing, "no problem", which is what he told me after the poo accident and what he told Josh about getting his gym clothes out of Josh's gym bag. I needed them to put in the wash and Josh went to get them, but Cooper says, "No problem. Booper get em." LOL
And last, but not least, we of course need an update on little Bro. He is EXTREMELY close to walking. He is "walking" between furniture and if he's holding onto something and sees something out of reach that he wants he thinks about walking, but chickens out LOL Josh and I have been holding his hands and trying to get him to walk between us, but he gets too excited and leans forward before moving his feet, so he falls. Oh, AND.....he's begun falling to sleep all by himself. We used to hold him and give him a bottle and he'd usually fall asleep on the bottle, but he's now starting fighting that. He doesn't want us holding him with a bottle at all. We just lay him in his crib, he holds his own bottle, and falls asleep. And during the night when we wakes up, we just give him a bottle and he goes right back to sleep. Sometimes he even puts himself to sleep without the bottle. He'll drink a little of it and then I can hear him in the room playing and making noises and within a few minutes he's alseep.
Well I guess that's about it for now. Not like it wasn't a lot LOL Thanks for checking in everyone! Be back soon with more updates, tales, and adventures from the Poston Fam!
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
The Poston Kids Experience...3D!
Ok folks. Prepare yourself for...OUR FIRST REAL ADVENTURE! (Well, since blogging anyway...)
Today, since it's Josh's Sunday, we decided the kiddos could use a little "outting" after being cooped up in the house being sick all week, so...
We took them to their first movie! This is something we've been contemplating for awhile, but haven't followed through with because we thought they were too young and wouldn't sit through it, BUT we decided to give it a shot today. We found the perfect movie too. Gnomeo and Juliet: 3D. 1) It's in 3D, of course that would hold their attention, and 2) it was only an hour and 20 minutes, so I figured that was just about perfect.
So we got our tickets and our special glasses, and they even had a toddler/kid version of the 3D glasses that were super tiny and super adorable LOL Then we got them both their own little "kids box" thing that came with a really small popcorn, an ICEE, and a bag of fruit snacks. We hauled all this crap into the theatre thinking it was 1pm on a Wednesday and a G rated movie so nobody else would be in there...wrong. LOL It wasn't packed, but I didn't know how the kids would react and I didn't want them to disturb everyone else trying to watch the movie. Then I realized there were NO other kids in there, so I figured, "Hey. If you're an adult or teenager in a G rated movie theatre then you just better expect some kids to be a little rowdy."
We took seat near the front rail (which actually turned out to be a good thing), got the kids boosters, and got them settled in with their popcorn and mini glasses. They looked adorable. The previews started and then the movie and they kept saying a bunch of stuff they say during movies at home like "Here comes moomie!" very loudly LOL They watched intently for like the first 30 min, which was awesome, and then Bro got fussy, so I took him in the hall and left Daddy and the big kids to watch.
In the hall Bro crawled around and explored, and at one point he went over near the big hall (about 4 ft away from me) so I could still see him, but the people in the main hall couldn't see me. I could hear a group of teenaged boys a a little ways down by the concession stand and one was on the phone. After a few minutes of Brode sitting there staring at them the kid on the phone goes, "Dude. There's just some random ass kid in the hall." I just started cracking up. I don't know why, but I thought that was freaking hilarious for some reason. Like any decent parent would just leave their 10 month alone in the hallway of a movie theatre. "Decent" being the key word. This is why teens aren't usually parents. LOL
After that Brode came over to sit with me in the hall, had his bottle and fell asleep, so I went back into the theatre...to find...
Cooper and Chlo had spilt popcorn ALL OVER the theatre. It was all over the floor under the rails and all under the chairs. Oops. I went back up to sit with them and the movie was almost over now. Chlo had taken her shoes off LOL and they both kept saying "Hi Mommy!" and pointing out stuff about the movie to me and Josh. When the end scene came up with all the funky music they were both dancing and have a big ol' time LOL. Afterward they had the lights dimmed for quite a bit and I was hoping all the other people would leave in the dark so they wouldn't see they mess we made, but no, only half the people had left when the lights came up and we got our fair share of dirty looks on the way out. When we left I could see the theatre cleaning guy just outside the door and we told him of the mess our little ones had made and apologized in advance. He was very polite about it, but I'm sure he was thinking some not so pleasant thoughts on the inside...again...oops.
Overall it was a really fun experience and definitely something we'll be doing again. They saw the preview for Rio and both loved it (Chloe LOVES birds), so I'm thinking that may be our next flick of choice. I kept asking the big kids as we left if they had fun at the movies and they didn't answer, but then Coop says, "Mommy YOU have fun at movies?" LOL
Thanks for checking in ya'll. You know I'll be back with more adventures!
P.S. Cherise, I'm sure you'll read this and given your expertise with the cinema since your high school years as a theatre employee, I look forward to your take on young familes destroying the theatre :-) LOL
Today, since it's Josh's Sunday, we decided the kiddos could use a little "outting" after being cooped up in the house being sick all week, so...
We took them to their first movie! This is something we've been contemplating for awhile, but haven't followed through with because we thought they were too young and wouldn't sit through it, BUT we decided to give it a shot today. We found the perfect movie too. Gnomeo and Juliet: 3D. 1) It's in 3D, of course that would hold their attention, and 2) it was only an hour and 20 minutes, so I figured that was just about perfect.
So we got our tickets and our special glasses, and they even had a toddler/kid version of the 3D glasses that were super tiny and super adorable LOL Then we got them both their own little "kids box" thing that came with a really small popcorn, an ICEE, and a bag of fruit snacks. We hauled all this crap into the theatre thinking it was 1pm on a Wednesday and a G rated movie so nobody else would be in there...wrong. LOL It wasn't packed, but I didn't know how the kids would react and I didn't want them to disturb everyone else trying to watch the movie. Then I realized there were NO other kids in there, so I figured, "Hey. If you're an adult or teenager in a G rated movie theatre then you just better expect some kids to be a little rowdy."
We took seat near the front rail (which actually turned out to be a good thing), got the kids boosters, and got them settled in with their popcorn and mini glasses. They looked adorable. The previews started and then the movie and they kept saying a bunch of stuff they say during movies at home like "Here comes moomie!" very loudly LOL They watched intently for like the first 30 min, which was awesome, and then Bro got fussy, so I took him in the hall and left Daddy and the big kids to watch.
In the hall Bro crawled around and explored, and at one point he went over near the big hall (about 4 ft away from me) so I could still see him, but the people in the main hall couldn't see me. I could hear a group of teenaged boys a a little ways down by the concession stand and one was on the phone. After a few minutes of Brode sitting there staring at them the kid on the phone goes, "Dude. There's just some random ass kid in the hall." I just started cracking up. I don't know why, but I thought that was freaking hilarious for some reason. Like any decent parent would just leave their 10 month alone in the hallway of a movie theatre. "Decent" being the key word. This is why teens aren't usually parents. LOL
After that Brode came over to sit with me in the hall, had his bottle and fell asleep, so I went back into the theatre...to find...
Cooper and Chlo had spilt popcorn ALL OVER the theatre. It was all over the floor under the rails and all under the chairs. Oops. I went back up to sit with them and the movie was almost over now. Chlo had taken her shoes off LOL and they both kept saying "Hi Mommy!" and pointing out stuff about the movie to me and Josh. When the end scene came up with all the funky music they were both dancing and have a big ol' time LOL. Afterward they had the lights dimmed for quite a bit and I was hoping all the other people would leave in the dark so they wouldn't see they mess we made, but no, only half the people had left when the lights came up and we got our fair share of dirty looks on the way out. When we left I could see the theatre cleaning guy just outside the door and we told him of the mess our little ones had made and apologized in advance. He was very polite about it, but I'm sure he was thinking some not so pleasant thoughts on the inside...again...oops.
Overall it was a really fun experience and definitely something we'll be doing again. They saw the preview for Rio and both loved it (Chloe LOVES birds), so I'm thinking that may be our next flick of choice. I kept asking the big kids as we left if they had fun at the movies and they didn't answer, but then Coop says, "Mommy YOU have fun at movies?" LOL
Thanks for checking in ya'll. You know I'll be back with more adventures!
P.S. Cherise, I'm sure you'll read this and given your expertise with the cinema since your high school years as a theatre employee, I look forward to your take on young familes destroying the theatre :-) LOL
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Cooper, Our Little Trooper
So everyone in our little family has been sick with one form of illness or another for about the past week now. I'm pretty sure all the stress and pressure of moving lowered every one's immune system and we all became super susceptible.
First of, I wrote in my last blog that Cooper had come down with a cold and I thought Chloe was getting one too because she had a fever. Well Cooper DID in fact have a cold, but Chloe's fever actually turned into a stomach virus and she had diarrhea for two days. It was really no biggy. The fever was gone the first day, she only had a few diarrhea poos (my favorite thing as you all know) and she was acting fine and was her usual happy, crazy, spunky self. So of course I didn't think anything of it and maybe thought it was something she ate.
Well then I too came down with the cold that Cooper had (Still has I should say. And me too actually...) which was again no biggy. THEN Cooper started throwing up early Saturday morning, about 3am. He continued to throw up a couple times on Saturday, but was still drinking and acting like he felt okay. He ate dinner Saturday night and about 10 min after eating he threw up his entire dinner all over the kitchen floor. After that it was terrible. I put a big bucket next to our bed and let him sleep on the outside next to it (he usually sleeps in the middle). Throughout the night he continued to throw up about every 1-2 hours. It got to the point where he would wake up, know he was going to puke, roll out of bed and lean over the bucket. :(
At first he would throw up and feel better, like most of us do, and he'd tell me, "Mommy, Booper barf in that" and point to the bucket. Well by 3 am I too was throwing up (most of caught the bug too) and by 6am Sunday he wasn't doing so well anymore. We tried giving him water throughout the night, but he couldn't keep anything down, not even a sip of water. Like I said, by 6am he looked awful. He was really fatigued, tired, lethargic. He had a fever and his cheeks were flush, but the rest of his face was pale, and his little heart was beating really, really fast. I had kept my hand on his chest/stomach throughout the night to make him more comfortable and by morning I noticed how quickly his heart was beating, which is a sign of dehydration...
Josh had gone to work because I told him I could try to tough it out even though I was throwing up too, so at 6 o'clock I called my mom and told her how Cooper was doing and she said we should take him to be evaluated at the hospital, so I called Josh home from work and we packed up the kids and headed to Children's. Cooper was refusing to eat or drink anything at this point and slept all the way there.
When we got there they were really busy. We checked in and the nurse gave me barf bowls and towels for both of us. We went to the waiting room, which, if any of you have ever been there is full of toys and stuff, and most the time even sick kids will come around a little when the see all the toys. Well not Cooper. He stood with Chloe by some toys for a few minutes, then climbed up on the bench that my purse was on, laid his head on my purse, I covered him with a blanket and there we stayed until they had a room ready.
The doc came in and looked him over and said that she thought he may be a little dehydrated, but not awful, but she said she just wanted him to be able to keep fluids down, so she had the nurse give him an anti nausea pill and said we could try some fluids after that took effect. So we started by giving him a teaspoon of Powerade (which they'd given us) at a time every five minutes to see how he took it. At first he was kind of interested and took about 6 teaspoons full, but then started refusing it and saying his tummy was sick again and laid his head down on the chair. After that he climbed back into the bed and went back to sleep. When the doc came back in she said at this point (we'd been there three hours now) she would suggest starting him on an IV. She said we should get some fluids in him so that if he wanted to sleep then we'd at least know he was hydrated.
The nurses came in to start the IV and it was awful. I was still running to the bathroom down the hall every hour to try and throw up, but I obviously wanted to stay by his side while they did the IV, so I held his hand and Josh continued to wrangle Brodie and Chloe. I held his hand and me and one other nurse had to hold him down while a second nurse tried to insert the IV. It took those damn nurses THREE tries to get the damn thing in. The poked him in THREE different spots. The first one she worked on for several minutes before giving up on it and the second one seemed like it took, but the second nurse moved her finger away from the IV needle before she was supposed to and messed it up. At this point I feel like I'm going to throw up/faint, so I run to the bathroom thinking they have it in, and I come back to find them poking a third spot! Of course our poor baby is screaming and crying the whole time and Josh and I were completely torn up. They FINALLY got the damn thing in and taped everything up and practically put a cast on his arm so he wouldn't mess with it. He hated it at first, but they had a bunch of children's movies on the TV, so we put on one of his favorite movies and he was finally able to rest.
The IV brought his fever down and the nurses brought in a recliner for me to lay back in after I almost passed out a second time. I felt like a big baby being sick right next to me son, but I didn't know what else to do. Josh helped me get the recliner right next to Cooper's bed and I held his hand while he feel asleep. Josh sat next to me in one of the regular chairs, Chloe sat in the stroller and fell asleep watching the movie and Brodie fell asleep with his bottle in his carrier.
After that things were pretty quiet and all the kids rested for awhile. I felt better after being able to lay down and Josh and I watched a movie while the kids sleep and Cooper's IV finished up. He had the IV in for over three hours and finally started to come around. He woke up, started drinking and keeping it down, and was even chatting with the nurses LOL He kept asking for them to take the "cast" of his arm and saying he was "stuck", and we finally got the IV removed at about 4pm and we got to go home. Cooper slept all they way home and then layed in the recliner with me and slept the rest of the afternoon, and all night Sunday night.
Monday morning he was still tired, but wanted breakfast and was eating and drinking and keeping everything down again. He rested most of the day yesterday and we're hoping that Chloe's diarrhea was a version of this stomach thing and that she doesn't get what Coop had. They said Brodie is old enough that even he might get it, so the hospital sent us home with a prescription of the anti nausea meds they gave Coop, so if any of the other kids get it we can give it to them too.
Things have calmed down a little bit now. Cooper and I are still recovering from the cold and Brodie's little nose is running now, but that's it, and Chloe thankfully is NOT sick (knock on wood).
Other than sickness, we're still just getting settled in. It's Josh's day off, so I'm off running errands and getting some "mommy time" then hopefully we can all just rest up and relax the rest of the day.
Well thanks for checking in everyone. I'll be back for more update of course and hopefully they won't have to do with anyone in our family being sick. *fingers crossed*
First of, I wrote in my last blog that Cooper had come down with a cold and I thought Chloe was getting one too because she had a fever. Well Cooper DID in fact have a cold, but Chloe's fever actually turned into a stomach virus and she had diarrhea for two days. It was really no biggy. The fever was gone the first day, she only had a few diarrhea poos (my favorite thing as you all know) and she was acting fine and was her usual happy, crazy, spunky self. So of course I didn't think anything of it and maybe thought it was something she ate.
Well then I too came down with the cold that Cooper had (Still has I should say. And me too actually...) which was again no biggy. THEN Cooper started throwing up early Saturday morning, about 3am. He continued to throw up a couple times on Saturday, but was still drinking and acting like he felt okay. He ate dinner Saturday night and about 10 min after eating he threw up his entire dinner all over the kitchen floor. After that it was terrible. I put a big bucket next to our bed and let him sleep on the outside next to it (he usually sleeps in the middle). Throughout the night he continued to throw up about every 1-2 hours. It got to the point where he would wake up, know he was going to puke, roll out of bed and lean over the bucket. :(
At first he would throw up and feel better, like most of us do, and he'd tell me, "Mommy, Booper barf in that" and point to the bucket. Well by 3 am I too was throwing up (most of caught the bug too) and by 6am Sunday he wasn't doing so well anymore. We tried giving him water throughout the night, but he couldn't keep anything down, not even a sip of water. Like I said, by 6am he looked awful. He was really fatigued, tired, lethargic. He had a fever and his cheeks were flush, but the rest of his face was pale, and his little heart was beating really, really fast. I had kept my hand on his chest/stomach throughout the night to make him more comfortable and by morning I noticed how quickly his heart was beating, which is a sign of dehydration...
Josh had gone to work because I told him I could try to tough it out even though I was throwing up too, so at 6 o'clock I called my mom and told her how Cooper was doing and she said we should take him to be evaluated at the hospital, so I called Josh home from work and we packed up the kids and headed to Children's. Cooper was refusing to eat or drink anything at this point and slept all the way there.
When we got there they were really busy. We checked in and the nurse gave me barf bowls and towels for both of us. We went to the waiting room, which, if any of you have ever been there is full of toys and stuff, and most the time even sick kids will come around a little when the see all the toys. Well not Cooper. He stood with Chloe by some toys for a few minutes, then climbed up on the bench that my purse was on, laid his head on my purse, I covered him with a blanket and there we stayed until they had a room ready.
The doc came in and looked him over and said that she thought he may be a little dehydrated, but not awful, but she said she just wanted him to be able to keep fluids down, so she had the nurse give him an anti nausea pill and said we could try some fluids after that took effect. So we started by giving him a teaspoon of Powerade (which they'd given us) at a time every five minutes to see how he took it. At first he was kind of interested and took about 6 teaspoons full, but then started refusing it and saying his tummy was sick again and laid his head down on the chair. After that he climbed back into the bed and went back to sleep. When the doc came back in she said at this point (we'd been there three hours now) she would suggest starting him on an IV. She said we should get some fluids in him so that if he wanted to sleep then we'd at least know he was hydrated.
The nurses came in to start the IV and it was awful. I was still running to the bathroom down the hall every hour to try and throw up, but I obviously wanted to stay by his side while they did the IV, so I held his hand and Josh continued to wrangle Brodie and Chloe. I held his hand and me and one other nurse had to hold him down while a second nurse tried to insert the IV. It took those damn nurses THREE tries to get the damn thing in. The poked him in THREE different spots. The first one she worked on for several minutes before giving up on it and the second one seemed like it took, but the second nurse moved her finger away from the IV needle before she was supposed to and messed it up. At this point I feel like I'm going to throw up/faint, so I run to the bathroom thinking they have it in, and I come back to find them poking a third spot! Of course our poor baby is screaming and crying the whole time and Josh and I were completely torn up. They FINALLY got the damn thing in and taped everything up and practically put a cast on his arm so he wouldn't mess with it. He hated it at first, but they had a bunch of children's movies on the TV, so we put on one of his favorite movies and he was finally able to rest.
The IV brought his fever down and the nurses brought in a recliner for me to lay back in after I almost passed out a second time. I felt like a big baby being sick right next to me son, but I didn't know what else to do. Josh helped me get the recliner right next to Cooper's bed and I held his hand while he feel asleep. Josh sat next to me in one of the regular chairs, Chloe sat in the stroller and fell asleep watching the movie and Brodie fell asleep with his bottle in his carrier.
After that things were pretty quiet and all the kids rested for awhile. I felt better after being able to lay down and Josh and I watched a movie while the kids sleep and Cooper's IV finished up. He had the IV in for over three hours and finally started to come around. He woke up, started drinking and keeping it down, and was even chatting with the nurses LOL He kept asking for them to take the "cast" of his arm and saying he was "stuck", and we finally got the IV removed at about 4pm and we got to go home. Cooper slept all they way home and then layed in the recliner with me and slept the rest of the afternoon, and all night Sunday night.
Monday morning he was still tired, but wanted breakfast and was eating and drinking and keeping everything down again. He rested most of the day yesterday and we're hoping that Chloe's diarrhea was a version of this stomach thing and that she doesn't get what Coop had. They said Brodie is old enough that even he might get it, so the hospital sent us home with a prescription of the anti nausea meds they gave Coop, so if any of the other kids get it we can give it to them too.
Things have calmed down a little bit now. Cooper and I are still recovering from the cold and Brodie's little nose is running now, but that's it, and Chloe thankfully is NOT sick (knock on wood).
Other than sickness, we're still just getting settled in. It's Josh's day off, so I'm off running errands and getting some "mommy time" then hopefully we can all just rest up and relax the rest of the day.
Well thanks for checking in everyone. I'll be back for more update of course and hopefully they won't have to do with anyone in our family being sick. *fingers crossed*
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
The Potty Project: Part I
Mission: Potty Training
Mission Status: Serious
Targets: Cooper and Chloe Poston
It's official: We have begun serious potty training. I took the tips the kids' peditrician gave us and we got to work. 1) We bought them matching potties (except one's blue and one's pink) and set them next to each other in the kids' room. 2) We created a "prize" bucket. Stickers for trying and they get to pick a toy if the actually go. We started yesterday and...
It's working GREAT! They both love it! The fact that they have matching potties AND get prizes makes it really fun and exciting. I think they almost look at it like a game LOL Both Coop and Chloe went pee pee potty AT LEAST three times each yesterday! I lost count actually LOL AND the best part...the part we're most proud of them for...they BOTH went POO POO in their potties yesterday too!!!
Cooper had yet to go poo in the new house (remember my comfort story about Chlo), so we were getting a little concerned that he hadn't gone in like three days. Well last night before bed Cooper told Daddy, "Booper try go poo poo potty?" and Josh said he went in there, sat down, pushed and grunted, and then all the sudden I heard massive cheering LOL We couldn't believe it. Sorry if this sounds silly, but for us this is a BIG deal!
Now they still had a few accidents yesterday, but that's to be expected on day one of course. I'm just glad they're having fun with it AND it's actually working. It was the perfect time to start because being in the new house is completely new to them, so it's great time to start a new routine. We've even started a new bedtime routine which is working out perfectly. Brodie is sleeping in his own bed still and the kids are still sleeping in bed with us, but they're coming right to bed and falling right to sleep, instead of sitting with Josh in the living room chair for 1-2 hours watching TV first, which works great because half the time Josh would just end up sleeping with them in the chair half the night, and this way we all get to sleep together. Every night we've been there they've slept through the night with the exception of Brodie of course. He still wants his baba LOL
And last night was a little rough because they're both getting sick. Cooper's all stuffed up and I'm pretty sure his throat was hurting during the night, and Chlo woke up with a fever. Hopefully it's just a cold and they can get through it quickly.
Other than that, things are going great at the new place. We're STILL getting settled in, but that's to be expected. I'm actually on my way to get a washer from the Habitat Outlet Store with Coop in a few minutes. We got our old washer and dryer to the new place after they'd been outside for a year and the washer had a dead mouse stuck in it...I think...(we could definitely smell something) so we got a used washer from the outlet store yesterday then went to use the washer and guess what? It's not working either, so now I have to get one today and of course I have approx. 10 loads of laundry built up now...sigh.
Anyway, that's about all for now, but we better get moving so I can get home soon enough to DO all that laundry today.
Thanks for checking in everyone! I'll be back for more "Potty Project" updates AND more updates on our new place!
Mission Status: Serious
Targets: Cooper and Chloe Poston
It's official: We have begun serious potty training. I took the tips the kids' peditrician gave us and we got to work. 1) We bought them matching potties (except one's blue and one's pink) and set them next to each other in the kids' room. 2) We created a "prize" bucket. Stickers for trying and they get to pick a toy if the actually go. We started yesterday and...
It's working GREAT! They both love it! The fact that they have matching potties AND get prizes makes it really fun and exciting. I think they almost look at it like a game LOL Both Coop and Chloe went pee pee potty AT LEAST three times each yesterday! I lost count actually LOL AND the best part...the part we're most proud of them for...they BOTH went POO POO in their potties yesterday too!!!
Cooper had yet to go poo in the new house (remember my comfort story about Chlo), so we were getting a little concerned that he hadn't gone in like three days. Well last night before bed Cooper told Daddy, "Booper try go poo poo potty?" and Josh said he went in there, sat down, pushed and grunted, and then all the sudden I heard massive cheering LOL We couldn't believe it. Sorry if this sounds silly, but for us this is a BIG deal!
Now they still had a few accidents yesterday, but that's to be expected on day one of course. I'm just glad they're having fun with it AND it's actually working. It was the perfect time to start because being in the new house is completely new to them, so it's great time to start a new routine. We've even started a new bedtime routine which is working out perfectly. Brodie is sleeping in his own bed still and the kids are still sleeping in bed with us, but they're coming right to bed and falling right to sleep, instead of sitting with Josh in the living room chair for 1-2 hours watching TV first, which works great because half the time Josh would just end up sleeping with them in the chair half the night, and this way we all get to sleep together. Every night we've been there they've slept through the night with the exception of Brodie of course. He still wants his baba LOL
And last night was a little rough because they're both getting sick. Cooper's all stuffed up and I'm pretty sure his throat was hurting during the night, and Chlo woke up with a fever. Hopefully it's just a cold and they can get through it quickly.
Other than that, things are going great at the new place. We're STILL getting settled in, but that's to be expected. I'm actually on my way to get a washer from the Habitat Outlet Store with Coop in a few minutes. We got our old washer and dryer to the new place after they'd been outside for a year and the washer had a dead mouse stuck in it...I think...(we could definitely smell something) so we got a used washer from the outlet store yesterday then went to use the washer and guess what? It's not working either, so now I have to get one today and of course I have approx. 10 loads of laundry built up now...sigh.
Anyway, that's about all for now, but we better get moving so I can get home soon enough to DO all that laundry today.
Thanks for checking in everyone! I'll be back for more "Potty Project" updates AND more updates on our new place!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)