When do they grow out of this again?

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Note to self: baby-sitters can be a good thing.

We planned to meet up with my family tonight at Abuelo's to celebrate my brother's birthday. (My baby brother is 19. How is that possible?) I had it all worked out in my head: our reservations were for 5:15 and Beckett had woken up from his nap at 2:45, we needed a half hour to drive up there so he could take a quick nap in the car at 4:45 and be a happy little Chunk through dinner. Sawyer would be hungry and would sit nicely and chow on cheese quesadillas and chips. And I would get to enjoy my bacon-wrapped steak and shrimp.

Well, having lived with my children since the beginning of their existence, I should know to never form expectations for outings. Because the way they behaved in the restaurant was definitely some damn good birth control for all the other patrons.

Sawyer's dining experience went something like this: Kick and scream when Daddy tries to put me in the high chair. Throw crayons. Crumble chips. Run to another empty table to sit. Kick and scream. Grab glass box of artificial sweetener packets. Walk around taunting mom that I might drop and break said box. Kick and scream at another high chair attempt. Be taken outside. Come back inside. Throw artificial sweetener packets in the fountain. Hurl more chips and crayons across the table. Complain loudly from the high chair. Notice everyone is ignoring me, so scream even louder. Be taken back outside, where I yell for Grandma over and over. Wait until Mommy and Daddy box up their food and are leaving to stop yelling and ask to go back inside. Cry for Grandma and Anna the whole way home.

Beckett just plain didn't want to sit still and protested very loudly about it. Rather than falling asleep on the way home like I expected, he cried and was so hysterical when we got home that he wouldn't nurse.

So, we spent about twenty minutes total in the restaurant (which happens to be my favorite) and I got to box up most of my 18-dollar entree without touching it. The steak and pappas just weren't the same out of the microwave five hours later.

You can read my husband's rendition of our evening here. He went into much greater detail (and I think he pays more attention than I do).

I think that as consolation, I should totally win the pink Dyson that 5 Minutes For Mom is giving away. Dyson is even donating the full value in cash to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, so everyone wins! Check them out, leave a plug in your blog and you have a chance at winning too. But hurry, tonight's your last chance! (And besides, it's mine anyway!)

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 10:12 PM 1 comments  

I'm losing my mind today, I've already decided

Friday, September 28, 2007

Having two kids was a bad, bad idea. No, let me rephrase that. Having these two kids was a bad idea. I should have ordered the model with the mute button and autopilot feature. (Those of you with more than two kids -- I maintain the opinion that you are completely fruit loops. I mean that in the nicest way.)

Today has most definitely earned the infamous label of One of Those Days. Yes, at only 8:30 in the morning. The baby has decided that he can't leave my side absolutely ever, which would be fine if I, you know, didn't have a single other thing that ever needed my attention. Ever. Oh, and he's learned that my shoulder makes a convenient snot rag. This makes for an awesome fashion accessory, let me tell you. Snot distressed tees.

And the toddler's affliction with Crisco and tearing paper into tiny little shreds doesn't exactly make for a clean house. He also finds joy in saying, "Look Mommy, rocks!" while chunking one from his hidden stash across the room.

My title comes from Kate Gosselin. She muttered it under her breath on an episode of Jon & Kate + 8 and immediately I was like, "YES. Preach it, sistah!" Although the thought of comparing my life to hers is absolutely laughable, because if I were in her shoes I'd have ran away to Mexico a long time ago. People are definitely born with certain levels of patience -- mine is down here and hers is up here. (Picture me doing some frantic low and high hand gestures.)

I called the husband crying already this morning (poor guy hadn't even made it to work yet) and he said I could come downtown for lunch. To which I whined, "But that's still four hours away. I'm losing my mind now." Plus, that would involve taking a shower and making myself look more like an actual functioning person, so we'll see if I can muster up enough motivation.

Oh, and it appears that not only am I allergic to Neosporin, but I have also developed an allergy for Band-Aids. And yes, I found out the hard way.

I think my comfort food of the day is going to be Halloween Mix. Take a bag of candy corn (I like Brach's Autumn Mix; the little pumpkins are cute) and a jar of dry roasted peanuts (although I'm making a double batch and using both dry roasted and honey roasted) and mix it all together in a bowl. Something about the sweet and salty combination is amazing. Like a Payday. Try it. Love it. Thank me later.

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 8:25 AM 9 comments  

Sickies

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

As you may have gathered from my last post, our house is sick today. It started with DH bringing a cold home a week and a half ago. Just your typical congestion and sneezing. He was over it in a few days, and by the weekend I thought the rest of us had gotten lucky and dodged it.

Not so. I started sneezing yesterday and by late afternoon, my head was spinning. I went to the store to search for some fabric storage options and had to leave my cart in the middle of the aisle and go directly home because I was worried I might pass out. I spent the rest of the evening on the couch, shivering and being achy all over. DH ended up taking me up to bed and piling four blankets on top of me, then shoving a heating pad underneath me, which did the trick to snap me out of the chill.

The baby must have sensed something was up because for the first time ever, he slept seven consecutive hours. And then four more on top of that. That's a record for him, and was much enjoyed by us. Thank you, Chunky.

This morning, I still couldn't get out of bed without my knees going weak, so DH played Super Dad and stayed home. I slept the majority of the day (which I haven't done since... hell, since I was pregnant with Sawyer) and by mid-afternoon, I was up and around again. Only to notice something a little off about Sawyer. And within twenty minutes, something was really off, because he spent the next few hours going into random fits of crying and twisting around on the floor. We concluded that he must be sick as well, which was heartbreaking to witness because I knew how awful I had felt last night and couldn't imagine how confusing that must be to a two-year-old.

The last time he was really sick was with a 12-hour stomach bug around Christmas, and he slept through most of it. (That was also when he painted my beige carpet a nice shade of orange with his puke. Fun times!) When he gets colds, it never seems to bother him. So seeing him this out of sorts was a new thing for me.

He went through bouts of wanting things, then not wanting them, crying, screaming, and then being happy again. He wouldn't even talk on the phone to Grandma, which is when I knew he must really feel awful. I finally convinced him to cuddle up on the couch with me and watch iCarly, and he seemed to feel much better after that. It probably also helped that his Tylenol kicked in around then. We called Grandma back and he croaked out in the saddest little voice, "I siiiick." Talk about a heartbreaker!

He's in bed now, so hopefully he'll feel better in the morning. Now I just have to hope and pray that Beckett doesn't get a nasty case of it, because he's a drama king on a normal day so I can just imagine the show we'll get when he is sick for the first time.

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 9:46 PM 3 comments  

Wordless Wednesday: Sick.

sick.

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 7:03 PM 3 comments  

And now for something constructive

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

sarahs_quilt1

I finally finished a project today that I've been working on for weeks. Well, not literally weeks because I have just worked on it here and there in between other projects. But it definitely took awhile to go from start to finish. I haven't made a quilt in a long time so it was nice to get back into. This is for a friend of mine's daughter. I love getting to sew with pink!

I quilted it in the ditch. Boring, I know. But I didn't want to practice freehand on someone else's quilt just yet. The next one, I promise!

And the binding. OH THE BINDING. I swear, it took me longer to bind the damn thing than it did to baste and quilt combined. I did Heather Bailey's binding method for the first time. And I should mention that I am NOT good at following written directions. Not at all. I think I read and reread her instructions 200 times and scrutinized each illustration even more than that. And I still ended up having to pull out dozens of stitches and start over. It's quite a fun thing to do when you don't get more than ten minutes at a time before either of the babies are screaming. But! I did it and hopefully the next one will go much more smoothly now that the kinks are worked out.

I realize that I'm behind the times and this is the normal way to bind a quilt, but as I've mentioned before, I'm self-taught and generally just make up things as I go. I used to just make bias tape and bind my quilts with that. But no more! I'm cool like Heather Bailey now. Except that I didn't hand-stitch mine. I love the hand-stitched look so much more but I probably won't have the time or patience to do that for another few years. So machine-stitched it is.

I also finished this fab diaper wallet a few days ago for another friend. I love this tattoo fabric. Some day when I don't have a million other things to do, I want to make a bag out of it.

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 11:13 AM 8 comments  

Which straw will be the one to break the camel's back?

Monday, September 24, 2007

Don't people blog on the weekends? I kept thinking something was wrong with Bloglines because all my feeds sat dormant for hours and hours and hours.

What? What's that? You all have lives on the weekend and don't sit around waiting for people to update blogs? Oh. Okay.

Not like I have room to talk. I didn't post anything yesterday, breaking my daily updating streak. If I had, all it would have said was I NOW UNDERSTAND WHY SOME SPECIES EAT THEIR YOUNG. Because sleep around here? It is crap again. Complete and total crap. We were doing so well by the middle of last week and I naively thought that the sleep demons were gone. But in the past two days, he has totally regressed. He starts crying if I even take him near the crib. And if I lay him in it? Alert the press because it is a BIG DEAL and he screams and screams and refuses to nurse.

And of course now I feel like a total failure because apparently I have traumatized my baby so much that he is terrified of his crib. Mother of the Year right here.

I am out of ideas. Sawyer was never like this. We'd put him in his crib and not hear a peep out of him til morning. He loved sleep and still does most of the time. Which of course, begs the most logical question: what did we do differently with Sawyer? Big difference: Sawyer was formula fed and Beckett is breastfed. I hate to jump right to the conclusion that being breastfed is the reason he has such horrible sleep habits, but at this point I have nothing else to go on.

This breaks my heart because I love breastfeeding, I believe it's the best thing for him, and it kills me to think that he might sleep better if he was on formula. No, I won't wean him, and never would for such a selfish reason. Because really, the person suffering most from his sleep issue is me, not him. So I'll just have to suck it up. But if a year rolls around and his sleep isn't any better? You can bet the weaning process will be starting. I'm crunchy but I'm no Mother Theresa. I do not intend to endure two or more years of a child who still nurses ten times a night. I draw the line somewhere.

When I started solids last week, my main reason for it was that I had hopes it would help him sleep better. Well, I couldn't tell you if it does or not because apparently my kid is part of a vast minority who wants nothing to do with anything that doesn't come from a boob. We've tried bananas, avocados, oatmeal and nectarines. He ate the bananas the first two times, but ever since then, all have been met with a sour face and and instant deposit down his bib.

I spent $50 on fruits and veggies and several hours preparing them and freezing them last night and this morning, and now I have doubts that he will even eat any of it. And seriously? Baking and pureeing fruit is a job. The skins of the peaches and nectarines did not "pucker and slip off" like several websites would have me believe. I had to take a knife to them and scrape the skins off little by little, with Beckett tugging at my pant leg all the while because he does not occupy himself for more than 10 minutes at a time. So I'm sad to say it, but this will probably be the last time I make his food for awhile.

Now that I feel totally inadequate as a mom having laid all that out there, I should go relax some while I can. I hear him stirring already and he's only been asleep twenty minutes. I never had the intention of using this blog as an outlet for frustrations, because I feel that negative attitudes don't really solve anything. But sometimes, a girl's gotta vent.

I guess I could at least end the post on a good note. Here's Beckett in his Halloween costume. I could tick off all the reasons it sucks and I paid way too much for it, but I don't suppose that would be very positive. So I'll just post the picture.

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Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 2:22 PM 8 comments  

I blame Dora

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Multiply this by a thousand and this is my daily life.

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 5:05 PM 5 comments  

Apple for my teachers

Friday, September 21, 2007

I am continually amazed by the wealth of information, companionship and just plain cool stuff that can be found on the internet. For example, just today I have:

  • Learned how to sew a french seam from Stardust Shoes
  • Watched videos on Youtube of free motion machine quilting (soon enough I'll get the courage, i.e. naive ambition, to take the plunge)
  • Learned a fabulous way to fold my fabric uniformly from Happy Zombie (which has given me the itch to go out and buy bins and transform the disaster that is my fabric stash)

And of course, the countless quilt patterns and tutorials from crafty bloggers and endless Flickr photo streams of beautiful stitchery that have given me so much inspiration.

When I first began sewing a little over two years ago, it was with a borrowed machine from my mom that was older than me, and I had no clue what I was doing. She showed me how to thread the needle, change a bobbin and turn it on. And from there said, "Sorry honey, all I ever did with it was sew your Girl Scout patches onto your vest!"

No one in my family sews. At least, no one that I lived closer than a thousand miles to growing up that could have taught me. So I was going into it completely blind. I started out by making a patchwork blanket with some scraps of fabric I had left over from a scrapbooking project. And some cut up flannel pajama pants. I was 8 months pregnant and bored out of my mind, and thought I could make a simple blanket. It wasn't very good, and I didn't do anything right (it wasn't quilted or hand-tacked at all, I used the cheap bagged polyester batting and the binding was a mess). But I was so damn proud of that thing.

Since then, my bored curiosity has grown into a profiting business (never mind that all the profit goes to buying more fabric) and a plethora of ideas and inspiration. Seriously, I have more projects on my "some day I'll make this!" list than I have hairs on my head. It's been both a blessing and a curse. But a fun curse.

People tell me all the time that I'm "so talented!" and "so creative" and just "so!" But really, if it weren't for the wonderful and amazing talent of all the crafty goddesses in blog land and beyond, I'd still be cutting squares with a 6x6 piece of plywood as a template, tracing it with a ball-point pen. (Yes, I really did that. Told you I had no idea what I was doing.)

So I guess this is my thanks to all of you who have inspired, taught and amazed me with your awesomeness. There are a handful of sewing blogs in my blogroll on the side bar, but I find new ones every day that I learn something from so I'll try to post them every now and then to spread the crafty love.

Eventually I'll start posting my own ideas and techniques, if I can ever get past the fear that no one will like what I have to say or find it useful. I get lots of reassurance in the form of customer satisfaction, but still, the grass is always greener, you know? It's like high school all over again, trying to get in with the popular girls and hoping they don't notice that you haven't started shaving your legs yet and still wear a retainer. At least in this case, the popular girls are willing to share their secrets.

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 10:11 PM 5 comments  

Just another day in paradise

Thursday, September 20, 2007

I am slowly making my way through my customs list. Today I finished a scrumptious minkee blankie set for a friend's son. Tonight I think I'm going to cut squares for a custom quilt and finish a diaper wallet, and tomorrow I'll embroider a big stack of fleece I have waiting to be made into loveys. Only... 15 left on the list. Gah.

I would have finished more today but Beckett decided he needed to be attached to my hip or he would die. It's a little difficult to run a sewing machine or a rotary cutter with a 22-pound growth protruding from one's hip. You know, the whole needing both hands thing. Any time I put him down he'd crawl after me and then do that silent cry with his mouth wide open like I'd told him I was giving him away to the Jehovah's Witnesses. I finally just gave up and help him most of the day.

However, I did manage to get both kids down for naps at the same time without a fuss, so score one for me. When they woke up, I was stir crazy so we headed out to the park across the street. Sawyer picked up some rocks and I let him bring them home. It was so neat to watch how he chose certain ones over others. As soon as I figure out how to do his nature table, I'll add them to it. I can't wait for the leaves to start falling so I can let him explore and collect some.

When we came back inside, I was in the office for a couple minutes and heard Sawyer climbing up onto a chair that I had left by the counter. I went out to catch him and was met with him holding an avocado that was missing a chunk, and green slime oozing from his mouth. This is hilarious to me because it opens up a whole new world of ways I can torment my children when they get older. Like spinach inside chocolate cupcakes. Much easier and more effective than Time Out. And funnier.

Since the skin was broken, I had to use the avocado right then, so I mashed some up for Beckett. We started bananas on Monday and he wasn't crazy about them, so I didn't have very high hopes for the green fruit. Well, you would have thought I was feeding him foot fungus the way he gagged and choked and spit out every bit of food and saliva from his mouth. After that, he shrieked any time I got the spoon within a foot of him, so I think I have my answer for avocados. We'll take a solids break tomorrow and this weekend I plan to buy a bunch of produce and cook everything up and freeze it. We can try something else on Saturday and maybe I'll find something he likes. Sawyer would eat anything, so of course we would get a picky eater this time around. One of them had to take after me.



I used the picture with his eyes closed, even though there were a few others featuring more face contortion. But it seems that DH is not capable of taking a picture without glaring red laser eyes. Speaking of DH, he's getting more creative. This morning was the next installment of Cheesy Love Notes, following the Starburst Message. When I sat down at my computer, I had ten emails in a row from him.

See?



The funny part was that when I looked in my trash, I could see that it had taken him about 15 tries to get it right. But still. I am spoiled.

He also blogs. You should read his blog. And be nice and comment. Because for every blog comment he gets, I lose an article of clothing. (Okay, not really, but isn't strip blogging a good idea? Especially since I don't know how to play poker.)

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 9:11 PM 3 comments  

Once again, I could not make this stuff up.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

DH's grandparents left this morning. I was sad to see them go, because this was probably the only time they will ever make it out here. Papa Sam is 80 and Nese is just a few years younger. I am in awe that he managed to drive over a thousand miles one-way just to see us. And we weren't even their only stop! From here they were on their way to Jonesboro, Arkansas to visit more family before heading back to Texas. Amazing.

Oh, and Papa Sam also mowed the lawn for DH on Monday. Wouldn't it have been nice if that energy had been passed down a couple generations?

I felt bad because Sawyer wouldn't give them hugs goodbye. He was ranting about wanting the 'CROWNS' and was completely fixated on it. He did wave and blow kisses when they drove away, which made my eyes well up.

Shortly after they left, the Comcast repairman showed up. We've been having problems with channels going out the past few days. And I shouldn't say repairman, because there were actually three repairmen. The best part? They brought three men in just to tell me the cable going into the back of the box was loose. A couple righty-tighties and it was fixed. Yeah, I felt stupid.

As they were leaving, Sawyer ran to the door and bellowed out, "I'll miss you!" and started blowing kisses. Only 10am and already the boy ain't right.

Tonight, I got the bright idea to run to Wal-Mart for some cording to finish a drawstring backpack I made for Sawyer. I made it for him to use as a Halloween goodie bag, so the fabric matches his grizzly bear costume. It is adorable and all I needed to finish it was three yards of this stupid cording.

Normally I avoid Wal-Mart at all costs, but it's closer and cheaper than JoAnn's if I'm not buying fabric. Although tonight I'm sure I would have actually gotten home sooner if I'd just driven the extra distance to JoAnn's.

It's always a given that I'll have to stand around awhile waiting for an employee to come cut. Tonight was no different, and there was a woman ahead of me so I got to wait even longer. She and the employee bickered about whether the collegiate fleece she was buying was to be sold by the yard or by the panel. After what seemed like hours of scrutinizing the end of the bolt, she declared that the price was per panel (which I could have told her because, duh, if it comes in a panel, it is sold by the panel).

After that ordeal, she spent quite a bit of time making sure the fleece was rolled up just so, secured with multiple rubber bands and back on the shelf before assisting me. Apparently it would have been out of the question to help customers first. Whatever. She meticulously measured out three yards of my cord in slow motion. Every single employee I have ever encountered in their fabric department does this so severely that I'm beginning to wonder if they are trained in being so damn slow. I could have cut it myself, printed out the ticket and been to the checkout in the time it took her to cut a single piece.

The next 20 minutes (and no, I'm not exaggerating) consisted of her leaving to hunt for Scotch tape to secure the ends of the cording, rolling each color back up and securing it on the roll before moving to the next piece, realizing the printer was out of paper and calling for back-up. The manager that came then spent another 20 minutes putting the paper in upside down, stabbing at the machine with scissors trying to open the lid, watching me pop it open easily in two seconds, printing the receipt out on half a sticker and ringing my order up three more times trying to get it to print correctly before I just grabbed my stuff and stormed off, telling them I'd figure the rest out myself. In Slow Motion, because that is the Wal-Mart mission statement.

Now, I consider myself to be of average intelligence. I have never worked at Wal-Mart, or anything similar, in my life. And yet, I was doing their job better than they were. You know, I try not to perpetuate stereotypes but this one is like shooting fish in a barrel.

And of course, as I always do, I chose the check-out lane that seemed short with only one cart ahead of me but was actually four guys with their things all in one cart. Meaning four separate orders and payments. By the time I left, I had been there over an hour just to purchase some cording and nursing pads.

We had been intending to put Beckett to bed at 8pm and by this time it was 8:20. As I sped home I envisioned myself getting pulled over for speeding and explaining to the officer that it wasn't my fault because I had just been assaulting by a handful of lobotomy patients at Wal-Mart. And he totally would have understood and let me go with a warning.

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 9:41 PM 3 comments  

Wordless Wednesday - Roots and Wings

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Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 9:06 AM 3 comments  

Knock on wood

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Beckett went to sleep in his bed tonight. By himself. Without crying. At all. Words cannot express how relieved this makes me feel. I was beginning to think we had a mutant child who doesn't require sleep. I'm sure we'll have some setbacks still but I am a believer now that he can do it. Hallelujah.

Today was our last day with 'Nese and Papa Sam. The boys had such a good time with them. I need to remember to get some pictures of the four of them before they leave in the morning. We all know how cooperative Sawyer is with the camera though so I won't hold my breath.

Case in point:
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That was him saying, "Mommy, I don't see any stars." Hey, anything to make him look at me!

He did smile for a couple seconds when I started singing the Puppetmaster song from Yo Gabba Gabba. That show is not right.

20070918_0611

Papa Sam found an empty bird's nest in the back yard. Sawyer was not impressed and tossed it across the driveway. I need to ask him what he did with it, because I want to make a nature table like I've seen some other bloggers doing lately.

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And Beckett did what Beckett does best.

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Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 10:52 PM 2 comments  

Six months!

Monday, September 17, 2007

I'm totally being a bad hostess and am holed up in the office instead of out entertaining our guests. Shame, shame. I needed to blog about this tonight though, or a few days will pass and I'll end up forgetting.

First of all, Happy 6 Months to my little Chunk. *sniff* To celebrate his half birthday, he had his very first taste of something besides mama milk. He's been showing the signs of being ready for solids for awhile, but I wanted to wait until six months. So this morning, I mashed up some banana for him, as well as put a slice in the safe feeder and let him go to town.

This is all I need, thanks.


In short, he was less than impressed. He dug chewing on the safe feeder but each bite of the mush I tried to give him was met with a sour, contorted face. He didn't actually swallow any of it, I don't think. I guess that he liked the taste but not the texture, as it still had some small lumps. I was right, because we tried some Gerber Stage 1 tonight instead and he gobbled down the entire container. Next time I guess I need to use the blender.

Down the hatch.


Ehhhh, or not.


You're kidding, right?


We grilled out at my parents' house tonight, and then congregated outside for one of the last nice evenings of the season. It was so gorgeous out. Perfect temperature, no humidity, no wind and the leaves are just beginning to get a tinge of orange to them. I love this time of year. Beckett crawled around in the grass with Pappy and Sawyer spent the entire evening drawing with sidewalk chalk. He screamed in agony when it was time to go home and we had to leave the chalk behind. Our ride home featured a very loud rendition of "GET MORE CROWNS PLEASE GET THE CROWNS." (Crowns = crayons, which is what he called the chalk, for those of you who aren't fluent in toddler-speak).

He gags on a miniscule chunk of banana, but blades of grass are no problem. Does not compute.


Yum, dead grass.


He looked at me maybe three times total, despite my frantic hopping and exclamations of, "Look! I'm Dora and Boots and Drake & Josh are on and Diego is here with Baby Jaguar!! Come get some cookies! There's an alligator on my face!"




And when he did look at me, it was for a split second, resulting in a blur (because I don't have that sweet 'kids and pets' setting to cheat with).

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 10:52 PM 6 comments  

A few seconds to breathe

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Naps have gone considerably better today! The only reason I'm posting is because he's napping. And my house is clean and ready for guests, thanks to help from the husband. He's good for something every now and then.

We cheated on the first nap, because DH took him in the car to get the aquarium toy and he fell asleep on the way home. But hey, it was a nap and we took it. I counted two hours from when he woke up from that nap to try again. I had cozied up his crib with the bumpers I sewed months ago, a new mattress cover, fresh sheet, and soft blankie and stuffed animals. Took him in his room and nursed him, then put him in the crib.

He was okay for about ten minutes, babbling and playing with the toys. When his fussing got louder, DH went up to comfort him. He did that three times, laying him back down each time. I really thought he was going to nod off but he ended up getting irate, so I nursed him again and he fell asleep during that. Again, sort of cheating, but it's a step in the right direction. All in all, it took about an hour, and I felt good about it because we did not allow him to cry at all (fussing and crying are totally different). We kept him in his room the whole time and were persistent that it was nap time, so I think after a few days of this he will get better at it.

I'm now showered and the house is clean (and yeah, the hair sculpture still resides in the drain; told you I was bad about that), I've made a big dent in laundry and had lunch. So after Beckett wakes up, I think I'll nurse him and then make a quick trip to the fabric store before our company gets here. I've been obsessed with craft blogs for the past week or so and there are so many things I'm itching to sew up. Bluebirdbaby inspired me to make some corduroy pants for the boys, Not So Fancy Nancy posted a tote bag tutorial I'm dying to try and happythings has much quilty goodness I can't wait to use my stash up on.

I'm anxious to be able to sew some things for myself and as gifts for a change. For the past couple months, I've done nothing but fill orders, and while it's nice to make money, it can get pretty monotonous. (However, I am only about $400 away from paying off my 24" iMac that I bought on credit just a month ago, so I can't complain too much!) I haven't made anything for my own kids in ages. A couple nights ago, I made a couple sets of coasters to send out as surprises for some friends, and it was so fulfilling. Plus, I got to use scraps! I have piles and piles of scraps just begging to be made beautiful.

And yes, I still keep buying fabric despite the stash I have that is taking over the house. I can't resist it. It's textile porn for me. I have a total fiber fetish.

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 2:53 PM 3 comments  

Zombies

Friday, September 14, 2007

My brain is too ravaged to blog tonight. Major sleep issues going on, still. I'm pretty sure it's because we are inconsistent and always just do "whatever works" to get him to sleep, whether it be walking or TV or a car ride or nursing. He needs the same thing every time to fall into a routine.

I remember someone telling me with Sawyer to put him down for a nap after he has been awake for two hours, even if he didn't seem tired. And it worked with him. So we will be starting that tomorrow, equipped with the Ocean Wonders Aquarium that I will steal from my mom's house.

I would give my left ovary for him to be able to put himself to sleep. This stuff is torture. I can handle the night wakings, but the never-ending battle to actually go to sleep in the first place? Six months of that is quite enough, thanks. I'll have a break now, please.

I will be sparse around these parts for the next few days. But with good reason! DH's grandparents from Texas are coming to visit us for the first time and I am stoked. The last time they saw Sawyer, he was 9 months old, which obviously means they haven't met Beckett at all. So tomorrow will be spent battling the sleep monster and disguising my house to make it look like wild boars don't actually live and breed here. If I don't come back in five days, you can be pretty sure a closet swallowed me.

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 9:59 PM 4 comments  

Gimme five

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Sarah @ Ordinary Days posted this nifty little interview meme, so I'm jumping on the bandwagon. Here are the rules: Leave me a comment saying “Interview me.” I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions. If you don’t have a valid email address on your blog, please provide one. You will update your blog with a post containing your answers to the questions. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Here are my questions from Sarah:

1) Sawyer and Beckett make me think of Tom Sawyer and his girlfriend Becky. Does this have anything to do with how you chose the names? If not, what DID make you choose them? I actually didn't know he had a girlfriend named Becky! That's pretty sweet, though. Now I can pretend that's why we chose those names. ;) One of my jokes when I was pregnant (although not really a joke, because I actually considered doing it) was telling people we were naming the baby Finley, Finn for short. So then we'd have Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. Heh. I scratched Finley off the list when I noticed that more and more people were using it on girls. Then I found out there were people who used Sawyer on girls and I was really pissed. NOT COOL, people. Not cool or trendy at all.

Really though, Sawyer's name came about because it's a tradition in DH's family for the males to have a 6-letter S name, paired with a 6-letter A name for a middle name. We picked Sawyer mainly just because we liked it, and because it was pretty unique at the time. Then those assholes at ABC came out with Lost and now we will forever be asked if he is named after it. NO. His middle name is Andrew, which is DH's middle name as well as my brother's first name.

Beckett's name was a little harder. We considered continuing the SA trend, and had picked out Samson Archer. Then I decided that if we had more kids and any were boys, I didn't like any other 6-letter S names enough to use them. So we stopped the tradition at one. DH was trying to help me come up with names and he couldn't think of any. So, me being the wonderful wife I am, decided to let him "help" in another way. I started looked through cast lists from his two favorite shows, Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. Beckett was the last name of a doctor on Atlantis, and I fell in love with it. His middle name is Avery, picked simply because I like it. :)

2)Tattoos, huh? What and where and why? I have two so far, and plans for seven more, as soon as time and money allow. Funny story about my tattoos, actually. I went 22 years without getting a single drop of ink in my skin, and then got my first two a day apart. Nothing like jumping in with both feet, eh?

My first one is a birth goddess symbol on my left forearm. I got it June 18th of this year. Here's a picture. It's pretty self-explanatory, I guess. Childbirth is such a sacred and passionate thing to me. I wanted my experience with it to be permanent, and I wanted it in a place that people would ask about it and I could tell them my story. Giving birth to Beckett at home was the most life-changing experience I've ever had, and I love sharing it with everyone. I have plans to add some traditional Japanese waves around it and maybe a little color. It's definitely not finished yet.

The very next day, my mom and I went and got matching tattoos together. We got a phoenix, to symbolize our rising up together. She and my dad were going through hard times and she needed something to show that she was strong and her own person. I did it with her as a sign of my friendship to her. It was fun, and I know all the mod snobs out there say you should never get matching tattoos with anyone, but I don't care. My little sister has plans to get the same tattoos when she turns 18.

The ones I have planned are pretty intricate and I'm dying to get started on them. I have a shoulder piece, back piece, foot, wrist and inner bicep planned. But I learned from my first experience that you should spend a little time picking your artist and learning about how to care for a tattoo before just running out to get one, so I'm holding off on it for now. Do you hear me, kids? If you don't want a shit tattoo, DO YOUR RESEARCH! Both of mine need touched up badly because I was stupid about it.

3)Describe your first crush. Oh, Lord. I have no clue who that would have been! I was a very crushy little girl. Besides, the only one that really matters is the one I had starting in 7th grade -- my husband. :) We played on the tennis team together, and he came to help out at the junior high sometimes (he was in high school at that point). Every single girl on the team had a crush on him, and a couple of them dated him. And yes, I have several of them added on Myspace just so I can rub it in that he's MINE now.

4)What is the biggest difference between you and your husband? Hmm. We are pretty damn similar. But I think probably the biggest difference are our political views. We aren't terribly different, but enough that I know we probably shouldn't discuss politics if we want to go to bed happy (unless make-up sex is the goal, of course). I will admit that he knows a lot more about the issues than I do though, so more often than not he ends up teaching me something.

Oh, and our taste in food couldn't be more opposite. I'm extremely picky -- hate most vegetables, like things plain, no frills. DH, on the other hand, would eat absolutely anything. This man will make a sandwich containing bologna, cheese, mustard and peanut butter because "the peanut butter makes it more filling." I do not lie.

5)Let's say there is a terrible accident and you die tonight. What embarrassing things will people find that you didn't have a chance to hide or destroy? Lets just say I would be forever mocked. I am horrible at keeping things picked up. So anyone who came into my house would have plenty to laugh at. The soda can graveyard on my desk, the leaning tower of used breast pads on my night stand, and the very worst of them all -- the giant hair sculpture currently residing in the shower drain.

Anyone who has kids knows that post-partum hormones make your hair fall out. And if you have long hair (or hell, mine is short now and I still do it), you probably do like I do and stick the stray strands on the wall of the shower and then ball them up and toss them in the drain, right? Right?? I try to remember to clean it out after every shower but I forget. A lot. DH hates it.

Wow, that's really embarrassing. I hope you're happy, Sarah! :P

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 11:26 PM 11 comments  

Not quite ready

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

If any of you pay particularly close attention to my tags and my blurb at the top of the sidebar, you might have noticed that my boys are no longer Sam and Bex. Some of you know (and some of you probably don't know) that those are not their real names. When I started this blog, I had the intention of keeping a certain veil of anonymity over myself. I altered each of our names slightly and planned to refrain from mentioning my business, Myspace, place of residence, or any other telling info. Some of that I will still uphold as planned, but I just couldn't continue with the altered names. My boys are Sawyer and Beckett to me and no matter how I try, I can't call them anything else.

Before Beckett was born we thought we might call him Becks or Beck. Neither name has really seems to suit him quite as well as the full name. DH instead has taken to calling him Beckers, and while it's a pet name that will surely embarrass him in front of his friends in a few years, it's surprisingly fitting. I, on the other hand, call him Chunk a good part of the time. Chunky if I'm being extra cutesy. I'm sure he's going to love it when he starts school. Heh.

Sawyer has always been Sawyer-Man to us. Sometimes Bubba also, but most often, Sawyer-Man. Don't ask me why, because I can't tell you. When I was pregnant with him, I used to sing "Do you know the Sawyer-Man, the Sawyer-Man, the Sawyer-Man" to the tune of The Muffin Man. And then once he was born, I made up a stupid little song to get him to laugh. "Sawyer-Man, he's a big big man, he's a big big big big man." He knows the song well now, and I can sing the first few words and then he will chime in with "MAAAAAAN!"

Today I spent some time going through the massive piles of clothes littered around Beckett's room, and I know everyone says it -- but wow, time flies. Most of his clothes are what I had left over from Sawyer and even though I didn't buy much new, I still unearthed dozens of pieces that he didn't even get to wear before ballooning up to 22 pounds. I folded away onesies and cute overall outfits and some soft fleece sleepers from 'Nese and Papa Sam that still had the tags attached. It was just never cold enough for him to wear them and now they're too small.

And although I say we're done having babies, I can't bring myself to sell or give away any of it. Partly because of the "What if?" voice that plays in the back of my mind, but also because.. well, I'm not really sure why. I never thought I would be attached to their clothes but I guess I am. Before I got pregnant with Beckett, I gave a bunch of Sawyer's clothes to my cousin who had a boy. I wasn't emotionally attached to them and figured we could just buy more when we had another baby. I can't do that this time though. I guess it must be something about these outfits going through two children that makes them that much more special.

I tell everyone all the time that I can't wait for the boys to be older so we can take family vacations, go to baseball games (or in DH's case, coach Little League), and be free of the stresses that come along with diapers and nap time and breastfeeding. But as I laid in bed tonight nursing Beckett after a failed attempt at putting him down awake in his crib, I allowed myself to drink it all in -- his scent, his soft head, his body curled up next to mind, hand stroking my face. And for just a little while, I wanted him to stay like that, perfect in that moment, just a little longer.

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 11:59 PM 6 comments  

Wordless Wednesday: Slow Shutter

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Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 11:37 AM 6 comments  

An ode to my husband

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

While DH was cooking dinner tonight, he mentioned that he was disappointed that no one on his MySpace friends list had said anything about today being 9/11. Considering that I'm on his Myspace friends list and wanted to save myself from being cut (which is a Big Deal on the internet, you know), I quickly offered up, "Happy 9/11, babe!"

"Ehh, not the word I would have chosen, but thanks."

My DH is an extremely proud citizen. Dare I say, patriotic. Much more so than I am. He has a very high respect for military and I'm pretty sure that if the kids and I were to perish in some sort of unfortunate incident tomorrow, he'd sign up for the Marines on Thursday. September 11th is a very sacred day to him and he takes it very seriously. Not that I don't -- but I guess I'm just sort of removed from the whole thing and it's hard for me to relate any emotion to it.

I just typed up a blurb about what I was doing that day and how I felt (or really, my lack of feeling) and I just can't post that. It's not me. I still don't feel much of anything about the whole thing. I feel like I should, but I just don't. My mommy board has a couple conversations going on about 9/11, one specifically about how we will explain this event to our children several years from now. I will be honest and say that's not something I ever really think about. My husband would choke on his Keystone Light if he knew I considered saying, "Eh, they'll teach them about it in school." I think it is safe to say that I will leave all the explaining of wars and politics to him.

I'm an eternal optimist in that regard and live by the belief that "everything will work out." Bills will get paid, the baby will sleep through the night eventually, my mother-in-law will appreciate me some day, I will be skinny again soon enough. I don't worry about the hows or whys of getting there, I just believe that it will happen. That line of thinking will probably come back to haunt me one day, but for now it works and I'm all about living in the moment.

And now, for something completely different, because I can't let it get too serious around here. At the beginning of this post, I mentioned that my husband cooks dinner. I know, I know, amazing, right? Well, not only does he cook, but he also a knack for coming up with quirky ways to show his affection. Once, I came downstairs one morning to find a note propped on my keyboard that read "I <3 You." A couple days after that, I was working on my computer when an Outlook reminder popped up. "Your husband loves you" was set to take place in ten minutes.

It took him a few weeks to come up with something to outdo that one, but he did it today. When I came into the office this morning, I noticed that my bag of Starbursts had been emptied onto my postage scale. The first thought that popped into my head was that DH had fished through them and picked out all his favorite kinds and left me with the rest. Because that is totally something he would do (although he would leave the pink ones for me because he's just sweet like that).

An hour or so later, I was digging through my embroidery thread, which is next to the postage scale. I looked down at the square candies and about melted into a puddle on the floor at what I saw. He had spelled out his love for me in fruit chews.

Now, my husband is the king of cheesy, but is that not adorable?? Don't get me wrong, he's not perfect. He has his fair share of undesirable qualities. Like his tendency to tell me things like, "I had the most awesome crap this morning. I considered leaving it for you. It was like a coral reef, emerging from the water."

So see, he kind of owes me.

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 10:24 PM 7 comments  

More nurse-in pictures

Sunday, September 9, 2007

I got more pictures back from Amanda, who so kindly gave me permission to post them here. She got some great ones! There are tons more at Flickr. I also created a group for all breastfeeding protest pictures, past and present. If you have some to share, I would love for you to add them. Here is the group.

I sent out a revised press release with a couple pictures attached to all the media outlets last night. I sent it to about 30 different email addresses, so I'm hoping we have a chance of at least one picking it up. Although I feel stupid because I accidentally Cc'd them instead of Bcc, so they'll be able to see everyone I sent it to. Oops.

Some good blog coverage:







Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 10:36 AM 2 comments  

Better video and a plug

Saturday, September 8, 2007

Thanks to my wonderfully amazing husband, I was able to snatch the news-quality version from their website and I now have that on Youtube! It's posted in the entry below.

My pictures were also featured on Breastfeeding 1-2-3. Thanks so much for the plug, Angela! Congratulations to all the participants nationwide for making this such a huge success.

I will get back to my regularly scheduled programming of spit-up and dirty diapers soon. For now though, I'm basking in the glory of taking a step to change history today.

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 10:27 PM 0 comments  

I'm famous!

Well, not quite. But this is my first time ever EVER on the news so forgive me for being a little overzealous. :P

The segment was short and sweet, only about 30 seconds. It's currently the top video on their website at wthr.com. No article yet, but maybe they will still post one. We need to send out revised press releases with pictures to all the media again, and maybe we'll still get more stories in print.

Do I look nervous? I was nervous. Very nervous. The reporter pulled up and I kept saying "Oh my gosh" over and over. I probably sounded like a loon. I did bomb one question -- I started to answer and then just said "uhhhhh, that's all I have for that one!" I wish they had shown some of my other comments. But oh well, I'm happy that we even got coverage at all!

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 7:54 PM 3 comments  

Just awesome.

I am back! I am tired, but so, so proud. We had 23 total attendees and I was SHOCKED when a Channel 13 reporter pulled up. I did an interview and it should be on the 6 o'clock news tonight. I'll post a link when I have it. He came shortly after we got there so he didn't get a shot of the full crowd, which is kind of a bummer. But I wasn't expecting any coverage at all, so I'll take what we can get!

We had a few people stop to voice their support, and also some asking why we were there. We were able to give them our hand-outs and they seemed supportive. After the event we took a paper that we had all signed in to the manager, to thank them for being supportive of our cause. So all in all, a huge success!

Thank you so much to all of you who came out. It really meant so much to me to have you all there to back this cause!

Here are a few pictures. The rest are on my Flickr, and another mama also got some with her camera so I'm waiting on those.







Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 2:32 PM 3 comments  

All systems go!

Friday, September 7, 2007

I was getting increasingly nervous tonight about how things would go down tomorrow, worrying about how Applebee's respond to us and whether or not I would lose my mind and start talking in circles. So I decided to just go up there and talk to a manager tonight to get it over with. I should make it known that I absolutely LOATHE public speaking, giving speeches, and just speaking to new people in general. I avoided speech class in high school like a frog avoids a truck tire. So I was NOT looking forward to talking to this dude.

I sat in car and practiced a few times out loud, and almost put the car in gear and drove away. But I made myself get out of the car, go inside and ask for a manager. A big, burly guy, maybe early thirties, came over. I introduced myself and like I had hoped and prayed, the words just flowed out and I knew exactly what to say. I gave him our press kit and confirmed a location for us to assemble. He was very positive and seemed to support what we are doing. I was so excited when the conversation was over that I totally forgot I had wanted to order dinner.

On the way out to the car, I actually squealed. Yes, complete with a little leap into the air and some fist-pumping action.

The signs are made and everything else is ready to go. Time to get hippy-fied.



Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 11:41 PM 2 comments  

The pick-up artist

After over an hour on the phone being tossed across the Marion County circuit board and talking to five different people, I finally got in contact with the Office of Compliance and I am 99% sure we don't need a permit for tomorrow! The woman I spoke with said she didn't think so, but transferred me to her supervisor, who did not answer. I left a message so hopefully she will call me back with a definitive answer.

Still no word from the media, which is slightly a bummer. Although it does help to make me less nervous to think that I might not have to be on camera. The point of this whole thing is to spread awareness though, so media attention would be nice!

After DH gets home tonight I'll go pick up some balloons and poster board to make signs. We have secured a large banquet table so we can decorate it nicely and draw lots more attention to ourselves. Tonight I'll paint up signs with such slogans as "Babies love eatin' good in the neighborhood!" and "Bathrooms Are For Diapers, Not Dinner!" I plan to take lots of pictures and I'll post them all here when I get home.

Other than all that excitement, we've been busy around here. I took the boys across the street to the park yesterday and there was another mom there with her little boy. We chatted for close to an hour and I found out she only lives a couple blocks from us. She invited me to start walking with her in the mornings, and also to hang out with the kids, maybe go to Gymboree or the museum. I teased DH that I had gotten a hot chick's number. He was jealous.

So last night, we drove up to Castleton to get The Double Stroller so I can start going on walks (as much as I'd love to be super crunchy and sling Bex on my back, I just have to face it that I am not in shape and would be huffing and puffing after two blocks if I did that). I use capitals because it is THE stroller that I chose after days of searching online, and this store 45 miles away was the only place I could get it in stock. Because as all you moms know, the color of the stroller is of utmost importance. We needed Milan.

We picked it up and drove back home in record time, and DH took it out of the box to put it together for me right away. Because I am impatient. I danced around him like a dachshund with ADD. As he started pulling it out, tiny shards of red plastic littered the carpet. Broken. Of course.

I called the store we had bought it from and put emphasis on the fact that we drove an hour and a half round trip and couldn't really just bring it back by. They were unimpressed and informed me they were closing soon for the day and we could bring it back another day. Nice. So I'll just call Graco and request a replacement part. Luckily it was just a piece of the brake that was broken so it doesn't inhibit function too much.

I took pictures at the park yesterday. Bex was content to just sit in the stroller and be adorable as I chase Sam all over the block trying to keep him from killing himself. I laugh at the idea of what the other mom must have been thinking as I'd interrupt our conversation to race after Sam, flip flops flying, to rescue him from hurling himself into the street or off the top of the playground. I don't need a gym membership -- I have a live treadmill.

Look at those chompers!


Squinty in the sun.


My baby looks OLD. *sniff*


His mission is to make the weirdest possible face when I bug him with the camera.


Hollering "NO MOMMY!" at me when I told him to smile.


Building "volcanoes" with the mulch.


He scares the crap out of me on this thing. The only time he has ever fallen is when I reached him and caught him with about a millisecond to spare.

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 2:32 PM 2 comments  

Indy Breastfeeding Supporters -- We need your help!

Thursday, September 6, 2007

The years of DH accusing me of being a dirty hippy (said very lovingly of course) are coming to fruition this Saturday. I stepped up and volunteered to be the organizer for a "Nurse-Out" at our local Applebee's as part of the nationwide protest.

Gulp. I have never done anything like this, ever. I am incredibly nervous. We have contacted all the local media but have not heard back from them yet. I jump every time the phone rings, thinking it's a reporter calling for an interview. I'm so scared I would bomb it but hopefully the words will just flow when the time comes. Tomorrow I need to call the county commissioner and make sure we don't need a permit. I will also call the media outlets again and spend the day printing out signs and other handouts.

Did I mention I am nervous? SO NERVOUS. So please, if you are in the Indy area, come help support the cause! We need as many people as we can get and I think I will find strength in numbers, so the more people, the better. Here's the info I sent out to all my local groups.

WHO: Breastfeeding Supporters (not just nursing moms!)
WHERE: Outside the Applebee's restaurant at 10680 Enterprise Drive, Camby IN
WHEN: Saturday, September 8, 2007 11-1pm

This is a national event in response to the treatment of a nursing mother and baby at an Applebee's in Kentucky. Unfortunately, the manager at that location did not follow Kentucky's law, which states that "no person shall interfere with a woman breastfeeding her child". Please read the press release below for the full story.

This is not aimed at this particular Applebee's location. We are participating in this demonstration to send a message to Applebee's Corporate that we expect them (and all other places of business) to obey the law and not interfere with a mother breastfeeding her child by demanding that she cover up or asking her to move. We also want to raise public awareness of Indiana's own laws regarding breastfeeding in public.

You do not have to be a nursing mother to attend! Anyone is welcome.

Please feel free to forward this email. Spread the word to anyone you know who would like to show up and support this cause. Mothers, fathers, grandparents, friends, anyone and everyone is welcome!

If you have any questions please contact:
Alicia ( proxxygirl@gmail.com) or Amanda (itsawarinthere@yahoo.com)

PUBLIC PROTESTS APPLEBEE'S RESTAURANTS NATIONWIDE
Breastfeeding supporters will gather on Saturday, September 8, 2007 at Applebee's Restaurants across the country to protest the treatment of Brooke Ryan and her 7 month old child.

On June 14th, while Ms. Ryan was breastfeeding her baby discreetly in a corner booth during an anniversary dinner with her family, an Applebee's Manager asked her to cover her baby with a blanket. Ms. Ryan responded by citing the Kentucky law that states that "no person shall interfere with a woman breastfeeding her child". Ms. Ryan then produced a copy of the statute that she had received from the Kentucky Health Department, an organization that encourages women to keep a copy with them for situations such as the one she was experiencing. The manager, after reviewing a copy of the statute continued to insist that she had to "cover the baby with a blanket" if she wanted to breastfeed there, and that nursing her child was "indecent". The family left the restaurant before being served their meal, Ms. Ryan and baby in tears.

Shortly following the incident, Ms. Ryan retained the services of a lawyer who contacted Thomas and King, the company that owns and operates the Lexington Applebee's location. Nearly 2 months later, the company responded with a letter stating "we are considering keeping blankets in the restaurants for use by breastfeeding mothers that may not have them readily available," with the intent that mothers will be forced to put them over their babies.

Breastfeeding supporters have decided to conduct a public protest at the store location, as well as locations nationwide. It will occur on Saturday, September 8, 2007, at noon. When Senator Tom Buford, (Rep., KY), who spearheaded the passage of the Kentucky public breastfeeding law was told of the planned protest at the store in Lexington, KY, he said, "Let me know the date and I will come by and support you", and also made a suggestion of an appropriate sign for the event: "small children are not allowed to eat in this restaurant."

Even though there is a patchwork of strong and weak state laws aimed at protecting a woman's right to nurse her baby, the mistreatment Ms. Ryan encountered is far too common. Most women who nurse their babies will at some time be forced to feel the shameful sting of discrimination. Usually this burden is carried by a woman in secrecy, due to fear of further anguish to her family. Some women choose to bring their stories to the public in an effort to educate and bring about a positive change. Earlier this year, a Pennsylvania woman was threatened with arrest if she did not stop breastfeeding her child at her local mall. Last November, a mother in Vermont was kicked off of a Delta flight for not covering up while breastfeeding her child. The Delta incident resulted in over 800 participants protesting the discrimination by conducting "nurse-ins" at Delta counters in over 40 cities across the US.

"Because most public breastfeeding laws do not provide a clear remedy for women who are harassed or discriminated against," said Salem Hamilton, Executive Director of Birth Without Boundaries, International, "we are asking for breastfeeding supporters across the country to encourage their legislators to add enforcement provisions to their state's laws that would provide the protection women and babies need".

On Friday, August 31, 2007, the official corporate response as given by Mr. Alex Bressette, Applebee's corporate office's International Guest Relations Manager, is as follows: "Applebee's strives to provide a comfortable and enjoyable environment for all our guests. Our policies regarding breastfeeding are consistent with the laws of the states in which we operate."

In the spirit of the existing diversity and inclusion policy published by Applebee's Restaurants, Birth Without Boundaries, Intl. is asking the corporation to adopt and implement an official breastfeeding friendly policy.

As a breastfeeding mother, Ms. Ryan is doing the best for her child by giving him the optimum nutrition possible. According to UNICEF, if infants worldwide were fed only mother's milk for their first six months, at least 1.3 million lives a year would be saved.

The September 8, 2007 event is sponsored by Birth Without Boundaries, International; a Pennsylvania based non profit organization committed to eliminating restrictions placed on birthing mothers and their babies.

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 10:33 PM 2 comments  

Ever feel like you're being watched?

On our way up to bed last night, DH casually informed me that he gave my blog address to his grandmother. I stood there stunned for a few moments and then the following conversation ensued. Imagine my voice as more of a frantic howl.

Me: "Why would you do that?!"
DH: "What?"
Me: "Why would you give your grandmother my blog address?!"
DH: "Um.. I.. don't know?"
Me: "What if I want to write about my period!!"
DH: "I'm pretty sure she used to have one of those."
Me: "What if I want to write about our sex life?"
DH: "She knows we have sex."
Me: "But! But! Why would you DO that?!"
DH: "She said she was not good with bookmarks so I don't think you need to worry."

More stunned silence.

Me: "I am so blogging about this tomorrow."

So Nese, if you're reading this, HI! I love you and I promise I won't write about anything too terribly embarrassing. Or if I do, I'll try to put a warning at the top, something like "If you wish to read about my horrid yeast infection, proceed with caution" or "This post involves 42 swear words." Just kidding, I don't swear much. But the yeast infection thing.. I can't make any promises about that!

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 11:20 AM 2 comments  

I couldn't make this stuff up

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

It's becoming increasingly apparent that I have a knack for choosing the worst possible check-out lane in the grocery store. You would think that after 22 years of grocery store experience, I would have learned how to scope out the lightning scanners and master sackers. But no.

You guys know what I'm talking about. I can't be the only one that is this unfortunate, right? It's always when I'm in a hurry because DH is in the car with a crying baby, or my kids are swinging like chimpanzees on the handle of the shopping cart, or I'm late for something or I just really really really need to pee. I have debit card in one hand and the other is poised to stack my purchases on the conveyor belt in order of location my pantry.

But of course, the cashier forgets to turn on the conveyor belt. The person in front of me is taking up the whole thing. So I'm stuck waiting as she digs out her glasses so she can squint at the numbers on the customer's 53 coupons and peck them onto the number pad one by one. Then proceeds to scan so slowly that it seems she's reading the nutritional facts on every cup of yogurt.

I finally get my loot stacked onto the belt, in perfect order of course. And now the person in front of me starts digging in her wallet. "I know I saw a nickel in here yesterday. Where did it go?" Apparently I am the only person in Indiana who knows what a debit card is. Because if it's not someone trying to count out $54.73 in dimes and pennies, it's someone wanting to write a check. And the check machine keeps spitting it out, which of course means that the cashier has to call for back-up.

And you know, they never dig their wallet out until the cashier gives them a total. Has anyone else noticed that? Do they realize how well grocery scanning time can be utilized? You can have your method of payment ready and also pile your bags back into the cart as fast and the cashier fills them. It's a simple concept, really.

And if the person wants to pay with a fifty dollar bill? My cashier will never have correct change in the drawer. Once again, back-up is called.

After payment is made (I've been in line 22 minutes now), I get to wait in silent fury patiently while the person perfectly aligns the entire contents of their wallet before moving out of the way. Walking and folding a receipt at the same time is too difficult, you know.

Miraculously, now it's my turn. But wait! The fun isn't over. Now I get to watch as the bagger throws canned green beans on top of my bread and a can of Raid in with my fresh fruit. Exactly thirteen of my items won't scan and have to be entered in manually. (Yes, she needs the glasses again.) She gets to the beer I'm buying for my husband and hesitates for a minute and then asks for ID. The only time I have ever gotten carded and it's when I've already been in line for an ungodly amount of time.

And my ID is in the car.

So yes, I get to go out and get it while my stuff is shoved aside and she helps the next person in line. I come back inside with it and wait another ten minutes for another Coin Counter and Wallet Organizer. Finally, it's my turn again, my bags are tossed into my cart and my order is paid for in one fell swoop of my debit card.

Total time checking out: 47 minutes.

Sometimes, I get really lucky and get behind some wise ass at 11 o'clock at night who tries to write a fake check. The teenage cashier tries no less than twenty times to shove it through the check reader before calling a manager over, who tries twenty more times before telling the guy sorry and he leaves his bags and walks off. I have a total of three items and could have paid by now. However, it's still not over! No, now something won't scan. Again.

"Do you know how much this was?"
"No."
"You don't have any idea?"
"No. ... Do you want me to guess?"
"Uh.. sure."

So that night I'm kicking myself for most likely paying way too much for a magnetic dry erase board. Why I didn't say 99 cents, I will never figure out.

I will say that I am extremely glad that my kids aren't old enough to beg for cake and pie or run around knocking stuff off the shelves. When that happens is when I start carrying a cattle prod. Or, you know, become a millionaire because I'll have good stories for my eBay auctions.

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 11:38 PM 2 comments  

Already wishing it was Friday

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

I keep thinking Sam is asleep, only to hear him thunder across the floor above my head again. He already emptied his drawers again (!!!), as well as the drawer under his bed, so there isn't anything left for him to destroy in there. Unless he decides to stack the drawers up and play mountain climber again. I haven't heard the rumble of them toppling over yet though, so he must be biding his time.

Earlier today I could hear him being too quiet at the top of the stairs, and when I asked him what he was doing I was met with, "Spitting my water." I marched up and snatched the cup from him, and when I turned around to go back down he said, "You better get a towel."

"Yes sir, I will get a towel, and you will clean up the mess."

"No, Mommy. I goin' in my house. Bye."

Why didn't anyone tell me that the attitude starts at two years old? Shouldn't he still be struggling to form sentences? The teachers at pre-school next year are going to love him.

He went into his Little Tikes house and slammed the door, and when I tried to get him to come out and help me clean up the water, he responded by bellowing "STOP! GET OUT, MOMMY."

He's still playing with that dollar I gave him yesterday, too. He has crumpled it up, shoved it in his pocket, teased his brother with it and chewed on it, but has astonishingly left it in one piece. I am considering putting it in his baby book, because this is pretty monumental.

Bex was in true form this morning, wailing like an abandoned kitten and trying to launch himself out of the bouncer every time I tried to put him in it so I could get some orders finished. So in an act of desperation, I slung him on my back in the mei tai and kept on sewing. And let me tell you, I feel like I have discovered a magical power now because he actually let me work like that! He was content with chewing on the strap and I trucked through the rest of my orders in record time.

I took pictures, of course, and I hope no one laughs too hard at my scraggly hair and pajama attire. It was either that or take him out so I could shower, get dressed and fix my hair. Which was just not happening at 8am.

I was even more surprised when I turned my back to the camera to snap a close-up of him and realized that not only was he happy, he was asleep. Sam NEVER fell asleep on my back when he was a baby so I hadn't even considered that Bex might. And if that wasn't enough to make me feel like Super Mom -- I actually managed to wrangle him off my back and into the crib without waking him up. I barely had time to snap pictures of the orders before he woke up twenty minutes later, but I still felt pretty awesome about it.

Apparently, 20-minute naps are the trend today because he's already up from his second one and is fussing at me to pick him up. So much for eating lunch after blogging. All I have consumed today are two cupcakes and two Diet Dr. Peppers. I wish I could find the humor in this situation but it's just not happening today.

It's a post about nothing

Monday, September 3, 2007

I've been sitting here staring at this white box for several minutes now, trying to come up with a witty, attention-getting blog post and the words are just failing me tonight. It's almost intimidating. Isn't that pathetic? I doubt hardly anyone even reads this aside from my husband and still

Wow, that whole paragraph was going nowhere fast. Curse you, Dawn Meehan! I can't write anything now without contemplating the thought that I need to make it good enough to catch Nickelodeon's attention. Well tonight the words just aren't coming to me so I'll have to let my literary genius shine another night. Or something.

I really shouldn't let days pass between blog posts because too much happens and I could spend days blogging everything. So instead, I'll talk about something that happened today. A couple days ago, I listed our Arm's Reach Co-sleeper on Craigslist. Bex hasn't slept in it since he was two weeks old so it's been serving as a nice, over-sized remote control caddy for the past five months. Might as well clear it out of here and make some money, right? Plus, DH told me I can't buy a new double stroller until I sell some of the other baby junk that's cluttering up the house. And my very tired of 22-pound-baby arms are telling me that that double stroller is very necessary.

So anyway, a woman contacted me about the co-sleeper and we arranged for her and her husband to come look at it today. When they got here I took them upstairs to show them how it worked, had several moments of feeling very very stupid because I couldn't get the thing to collapse (way to make them feel confident in their purchase!) and finally got it figured out and out the door with them. As soon as they left, I did what any normal person does: I looked her up on Myspace. Oh, wait, that's not normal?

I'm being honest, though. I did. Maybe I'm the only one that does this, or maybe not, but when I meet someone new, I am always wondering if it is someone I could form a friendship with. Maybe that's just the reclusive SAHM in me, but it's the truth. I look at every young mom I see as a potential friend for me and playmates for my boys. A couple for DH and I to socialize with. I'm sure everyone that has kids knows that as soon as the first one is born, your friend network is minimized by about 90%. The only people who want to hear about sleepless night and poop and teething and Mr. Clean Magic Erasers are other parents who also deal with sleepless nights and poop and teething and Mr. Clean Magic Erasers.

I told DH that I found her on Myspace and the first thing he said way, "Oh, you did not add her, did you?"

"God no, I'm taking it slow, I don't wanna scare her off!"

But let me tell you, I did think about adding her. Is that stalkerish? Rhetorical question. I settled instead for emailing her back to say thanks again and ask her if she wanted to take a travel swing off our hands. I had set it upstairs intending to send it with them and totally spaced it. She emailed back and said they would love it and we could set up a time later this week to meet up. She also complimented my well-behaved children and now I'm wondering if I emailed the right person.

And yes, I bounced into the kitchen to tell DH. Yes, he made fun of me and my new "love interest." And no, it does not take much to excite me. :P

Oh, and I almost forgot. After they left, I tossed the envelope containing the money into the office on the floor. Ten seconds later I turned around just in time to see that Sam had wedged out the bottom corner of the baby gate, snatched the envelope, removed the cash and was bounding off shrieking, "Me get the dollars!" I panicked and snatched them back, because we are talking about the king of paper shredding, after all. To which he pouted very pathetically and convincingly. So I gave him a single dollar bill, and he carried that dollar bill around for the rest of the evening. Did not shred so much as a corner of it. I almost expected him to kiss the dollar and hang it on the wall a la Mr. Krabs, but then I realized I probably watch a little too much Spongebob.

Blogged by Making A Modern Family at 11:08 PM 1 comments