Red Sox Nation.

Red Sox Nation.
Originally uploaded by Suze3000.

In the pulpit. 

More dancing. (I thought all 3 pics went through at the same time.) 

The baby was baptized last Sunday. After the service was over, we brought Daniel back into the sanctuary for pictures. What did he do? He went straight for the pulpit and started dancing around in it. I'm not really sure what that means. *scratching head* 

but, lest you get the wrong impression.

I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO not a member of the W. fan club (in case you hadn't figured that out yet.)

Oh, guess I'm not a hippie. . .

I am 19% Hippie.

What? Am I a Republican? Why did I even bother taken this test?! I guess I’ll back to my George W. Bush fan club and tell them I just wasted 10 minutes of my life. At least I don’t stink, man.

Take the
Hippie Test
@ FualiDotCom

courtesy of ambuh

Large males for sale.

largemales
Originally uploaded by subterranea.

Wow! Cheap. Who knew?

E-bay newbie

I posted my first item up on e-bay the other day. And I don't have any bidders yet. Bummer. I don't know if I should have priced it lower and set a reserve. Or maybe I didn't choose the right shipping option. Or maybe it's the color. It's kind of a funky green, kind of whimsical. Or maybe it's because I don't have a big score yet? There are five people watching it. Are they just waiting until the last minute so that the price stays the lowest? That sucks. I hate that about e-bay. Does anybody bid before the last second? Can you bid on your own stuff? lol

Changing the title.

Looking for a new title. Playing around with a few to see which fits. Any suggestions?

And I thought I had it rough. . .

As much as I complain about Daniel bolting from me whenever we leave the confines of the house, this might be worse.

I have a friend in playgroup who just had her 3rd child. Her second is about 2 1/2 years old and has always been very attached to her momma. But she's taking it to an extreme. She won't leave her side and insists that her mother go with her everywhere. They can be alone in the house watching TV and Caroline has to be touching her mom. She won't play on her own even at home. I wouldn't really say that she's timid, because it's not like she ever warms up. She's totally not interested in interacting with anyone else. We've all tried to distract her away from her mom in the interest of preserving her mom's sanity, but to no avail.

Today, Mary mentioned that at breakfast this morning, Caroline insisted on pulling her chair around their circular table to the other side where Mary was sitting. She pulled her chair right against Mary's and then insisted on holding Mary's hand during breakfast. I don't know about you, but that would make. me. frickin. insane. I would totally lose it and say, STOP TOUCHING ME!!!!!!!!! Heck, I do that now. Heh. Mary's really, really frustrated and is concerned that Caroline's not going to do well at preschool this fall. She didn't last at a mother's morning out because rather than getting better about her mom leaving her, it got worse and Caroline would cry for longer and longer periods of time.

What would you do? I think I would totally start working on getting her to play or be by herself for small increments of time, even if she protested or cried, and gradually increase the amount of time. But that's just me.

I'm just saying . . .

We went to Play*space today which is billed as a child's "first museum." Really, it's more like a huge room with a bunch of different themed-play areas. If you go before 10:30 a.m., it's OK, but after that it's bedlam. Still, we had fun. It's one place where I can just let Daniel run around without too much redirection or worry that he'll get into something that he shouldn't.

We'll, there a dress-up/drama play area that has bunches of clothes and shoes and costumes for the kids to put on and also a small stage area with big velvet curtains. Daniel, in his first lap around the place this morning, ran through this area and onto the stage. He ran into the middle of the stage and said, "Ta-da!" Where do they get this stuff?! I was dying laughing.

Anyway, after a while, I noticed this one kid, probably 6 or 7 who was hanging out around the train table. What was unusual about him was that he was wearing a bright purple kid-sized princess-type ball gown. Clearly, he had donned this in the dress-up/drama area, but here he was at the train table playing oblivious to the fact that he was wearing this dress. Did he pick this out and put it on? Did somebody tell him to put it on as a joke? I don't know. Not that I see anything wrong with kids trying on whatever they want, but it was just such an interesting choice. Did it remind him of something that his mom wore?

But I do know that several minutes later when I saw him again, he was still wearing said gown and I noticed that he was wearing some beautiful Cinderalla-style slippers with it, too.

Hmmm. . .

ABC News: Woman Bills Husband for All the Housework She Did

There's an idea.

The only problem is that it sounds like she actually did lots of housework. I'm not sure I could bill very much. Unless I could bill for time I spent "working" on the computer. Heh.

Don't be alarmed if . . .

you no longer see your blog listed on the blogroll. You haven't been de-listed. ;) I'm added them to my bloglines page and left the ones that I can't get to on bloglines on this blogroll. When I have a minute, I think I'll be able to put up a link to my bloglines page, too.

Hope you have a good day. It's gonna be a hot one here today.

Politics.

One thing that bothers me the most about the Bush administration is how it's enshrouded its machinations in so much secrecy. They have taken the executive privilege so far beyond what it was intended for and then some. They have extended it further than any other administration. ever.

Did you know that counsel to President Richard Nixon John Dean has written a book about the Bush administration and its obsessive secrecy entitled "Worse than Watergate: The Secret President of George W. Bush"? Worse than Watergate?

This is to say nothing of their politics of course, but you have to admit that there are probably some politicians on the opposite side of the fence that even though you disagree with them wholeheartedly, you respect them as individuals. For me, that might be McCain, for example, or Colin Powell before he stood passively as he was emasculated by this administration.

None of that for the Bush administration though. At all. Just a sickening, uneasy, nauseaous feeling in my gut. Just dirty, dirty politics.

And Bush being revered for being a strong Christian. Give me break. His chief political operative/hatchet man, Karl Rove, the "architect" of Bush's reelection (or election if you are of the opinion that he wasn't elected the first time) is not even part of the religious right. His religious beliefs don't inform how he lives his life unless he worships Machiavelli, not that they need to, but if you are President Bush and you are holding yourself out as some self-righteous, born-again Christian, but then you surround yourself with people who don't hold the same values, but can do your dirty work, isn't that just a bit, um, WRONG? Why can't people see that? Rove isn't some big champion of the Religious Right, like it seems that most think he his. He has no morals or values. He sees nothing wrong with smearing those who speak out against the administration.

Being a Christian is more than what you profess to believe, but also how you live out what you believe, how you treat and interact with people and the world around you. Even your enemies. Why don't people get this about President Bush? Argh.

And if I paid attention more in church, I'd be able to quote some stuff from the Bible to support this. Darn it.

Ever had to use a port-a-potty with your toddler in tow?

The 2nd part of Cesca'spost reminded of something that happened last week while on vacation.

It was my turn to take Daniel out and about for a little while so that J , who had had a mostly unsuccessful trip to the beach that morning with Daniel, could get a break. (Unsuccessful beach trip being defined as when you child prefers to play in the outside shower at the bathhouse than actually on the beach. Yeah.)

Anyway, I needed some postcards, so I thought we'd walk up to the store and get some. As we walked, my stomach started rumbling. Uh-oh. I figured that there would be bathrooms at the store and we were closer to it than to where we were staying, besides, I needed postcards and to keep Daniel out and about longer. We got to the store, stomach still rumbling, but I was like, maybe I can make it until we get back.

Or not. Daniel had located the plastic car/truck selection in the store which I had been unable to steer him away from, being distracted by my abdominal distress. While he obsessed over which one to choose (I had told him that he could pick one out since I knew I couldn't handle a tantrum and hold my bowels together at the same time), I started looking around for the restrooms in the store.

OK, now I really had to go. I picked up Daniel and told him that we would come back to get a car/truck, but that mommy had to go potty. Ignoring the sign at the cash register saying "Port-a-potty out back around the corner", I asked if they had a bathroom. You might guess what the answer was.

I don't know about you, but I've never really been a port-a-potty user myself. Something about the sight/odor of raw sewage just tightens those sphincter muscles right up. So, we went outside, hurried by the port-a-potty to the next store. I quickly located their bathrooms, but also noticed the out-of-service signs on the the doors of the mens and womens restrooms. Thinking that maybe they weren't really out of service or that maybe they would be miraculously in-service for me, I asked the cashier about them. Sadly, they were indeed out of service. He empathetically suggested the port-a-potty in the parking lot of the store next door.

I knew I couldn't make it back to the room, so I carried Daniel back outside, put him down, knelt down and told him that we were going potty real quick and then we'd go back and get his car (which he was clamoring for) and oh yeah, DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING.

I held my breath and we entered the port-a-potty. DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING.

Ooo, what's this? he says as he looks around inside our close quarters.

DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING, I repeat as he points to the urinal.

I take care of business while he says, "Oooo, it's a potty."

DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING.

And we're done and back into the store for the promised car/truck purchase. Thankfully, I don't think he remembers anything about it except that he got a car and mommy got some postcards that day.

Lovely, eh? You gotta do what you gotta do. :)

Shhh. Be very, very quiet. . .

I think Andrew just fell asleep on his own in the crib while watching his mobile. I could be wrong. Maybe I've become temporarily deaf. I'm not sure. But it is very, very quiet up there and there are no little red lights blaring on the monitor.

I took him up and put him down in his crib in order to put Daniel down for his nap, fulling expecting to come back and coax the baby into dreamland. But looks like he made it there unassisted. This is pretty remarkable given the fact that I was called home early just this morning by my babysitter because he was so unhappy from teething and she didn't know what else to do. (She's only a high school student, and believe me, when Andrew gets mad and starts screaming, you lose any sense that you may have had in your head.) The teething with him has been really rough. We've been relying heavily on Tylenol and Ibuprofen and oh yeah, my boo*bs. Can't say that I'm really enjoying it that much, but at least it quells the screaming. He's normally such a good-natured baby. I hope that we haven't scared the babysitter away.

Andrew definitely has a preference for Mama. I hope that it's only because he's teething. He also gets like that when he's going through a growth spurt or is hungry. . . or. . . when he's sleepy . . . or . . . hmmmm, well, that's a lot of the time. The other night he was awake and crying and I was trying to get him back to sleep. I had my glasses on and I think he didn't recognize me at first. At one point, he stopped screaming long enough to open his eyes and you could almost see something click in his brain. I think he actually almost immediately stopped mid-scream and grinned when he realized that, oh, that is mama, silly me.

Come on out, toothies. We're ready.

43 Things

43 Things

This is so cool! What 43 things do you want to do in your life? Start thinking.

What I read on vacation.

I know that you are dying to know. . .

Did I finish any of those books on my vacation?

Hah.

I read about 10 pages of a book called Rockville Pike that I had started the week before we left.

That's it.

The upside is though that I still have a stack of good books to read. I'm not sure when. But sometime. Like when the boys leave home or something.

A lot of times when I'm sitting in church, I'm thinking about the things I need to get done. Yes, I know. I'm supposed to be paying attention to the sermon and I do mostly, but the sermons aren't always the most compelling. I was thinking today how I'd like to have a much better working knowledge of the Bible. I think about that a lot at church. I should know more than I do. And then I was thinking about all those books I took with me on vacation to read, but didn't touch. I want so badly to devour them and other things, too, but am limited by time for one thing. But also by the rate at which my brain can assimilate things. It's so frustrating because there's so much to learn and read, but my brain can only handle so much at one time, so it's not like I can pack my brain every spare second. It just doesn't work like that. At least not anymore. I think I assimilated information much faster when I was younger. Hah. What a revelation. People don't learn as easily when they get old? You're kidding!

And one day when I do have more free time to sit and read, I'll probably be sitting on my ass, sipping a margarita, maybe at the beach, thinking about all those things I should be reading or doing.

On memories and being home again.

It's funny what our brains do. As we were getting ready to drive home on Friday morning and I was thinking about getting back home, for a second, the home that I picture was not the one we lived in now, but our apartment in Boston. Driving up to the outside of the building and parallel parking or if we were lucky there would be a spot. Unloading all of our crap and making several trips to get it all up from the car into our 2nd floor apartment. Checking the mail box which was on the exterior of the building. Wondering how many hair balls we would find on the carpet just inside the door. Wondering how the kitties survived being left alone for a few days.

In fact, as we were driving home this time, I found myself all of a sudden thinking about the kitties and getting a little excited about seeing them. This little ritual clearly had worn a rut in my brain, in my memories. We don't have our kitties anymore since they both died last fall, but I still think of them at odd times.

Anyway, we were all soooo glad to be home on Friday. Everybody was super mellow. Daniel played quietly and contentedly on his own for a long period of time. Andrew chilled out in his exersaucer, catching up on all the whacking of his toys that he had missed in the last week. J spread himself out on the couch, TV remote in hand. Me, I was in my usual spot, laptop on my lap. There was a big sigh about the household for a little while that evening.

Blah-dee, blah-dee, blah.

That's how I'm feeling tonight. Kids keep waking up screaming. I've heard so much crying and screaming in the last week that I hear it in my head even when they are quiet.

The baby is constipated. He's been passing little turds for about the last 24 hours. I'm hoping those prunes kick in very soon. J is upstairs walking him around while he screams for about the fifth time tonight. I feel bad for the little guy, but I just don't know what to do and I'm kind of at the end of my rope.

J submitted his big grant on July 1st, then we had two different sets of guests for a week, then we had "vacation" for a week. By the way, say a big "Hooray!" to J for getting his grant in. He worked very, very hard. He deserved a big break. I'm not sure that spending a week on an island with a 6 month-old and a two year old was the relaxation he needed, or I needed for that matter.

And the car rides. They were a real hoot. Nothing like driving with two children screaming at the top of their lungs, trying to find a place to stop. Daniel would just totally flip out when he got tired of riding in the car or when his brother would start crying.

Oops, gotta go. Baby's still screaming and I'm sure J needs a break.

Vacay update.

Yesterday was a bit of a wash. It pretty much rained all day, so we decided to take the ferry up to see the Hatteras lighthouse. It's a beautiful lighthouse and pretty incredible that they moved it inland by about 1/2 mile because the beach is eroding. We saw it ever so briefly from the comfort of our minivan as our two young offspring slept in their seats.

Daniel had about ten million tantrums yesterday. Schlepping around in the car is just not ideal for him. And he's got these honkin' (yes, that's a technical term) mosquito bites that are itching the crap out of him.

This morning J resolved to take D to the beach on his own and the sun was shining when we got up, er, I mean, when Daniel got us up, so they took off. Baby A had fallen back asleep and I had a few quiet minutes to myself before he awoke again.

When he did wake up, we head out to the local coffee shop just down the street to get some caffeine. Apparently everybody on the island gets their coffee there. It's pretty cool though. A and I hung out for a little bit while I drank my coffee and then headed out again when he started getting restless.

We walked around a bit stopping to peek into some of the shops that I hadn't had license to enter previously when I was with the whole gang. Daniel is obsessed with those whirligig wind ornament thingies that you put in your garden or hang from the eave of your house, so I got him a little one of those. What I really wanted to get him was the tractor one, but it was too much money.

We headed back to our motel after a while to find that this morning's trip to the beach was not too much better than the first. We tantrummed our way through the rest of the morning, had some lunch and the conked out for naps. Daniel slept for a really long time.

Anyway, tonight we all headed back to the beach. We had the BEST time. I hung out with Daniel and just let him do whatever he wanted to do (which was mostly play with the sand.) I carried him a lot because he seems to kind of be afraid of the water, but encouraged him to walk and run and play. He loves dogs and we saw a family with their dog there and he went nuts, practically chasing the dog into the water We even managed to get him to leave without too much fuss. (Of course, being promised ice cream always helps.) It was a really pleasant evening.

I'm kind of sad really that our vacation is ending tomorrow. Today, the island seeming to be filling up for the weekend and I found myself kind of jealous of the people who were just beginning their vacation as we are ending ours. It's been kind of rough but this is an awesome place. These are some of the things that I liked about it:

1. You can pretty much walk anywhere and everyone does. There are always people out walking and riding bikes. The streets are pretty narrow, so the cars drive slowly and carefully. What's the rush anyways?

2. You can walk to shops, restaurants, bars, the coffee shop, which means that if you have a babysitter, you could go out to dinner, have a few drinks and not even worry about who's driving home.

3. Everyone is so friendly and laid back. I didn't have enough cash for our dinner that I was picking up the other night and they would have let me take it for a little less than full price if I'd had that amount.

4. This place is kinda quirky and totally not pretentious.

5. The beach is beautiful.

6. Lots of fun little shops to poke around in.

7. Love the coffee shop.

8. Love our accommodations. Kind of simple, but then when I go on a vacation where we are eating out more, I don't enjoy myself as much because I'm worried about spending too much money.

I'm sure there is more, but it's time to say good night.

Current events.

Yes, I know. I'm on vacation. I shouldn't be concerning myself with these things. But I am.

One of the President's closest advisers and the architect of W's whole outreach to the right-wing evangelical churches which ultimately lead to his election and reelection, Karl Rove, was apparently the one who leaked the identity of a CIA agent to members of the press because said agent's husband was making statements against the administration.

At the time it happened, the Pres said that whoever did it would be fired. Do you think Karl Rove will be fired? Only if we're lucky. Can't. Frickin. Believe. This. Crap.

Oh yeah, and Rehnquist has no plans to retire. Unrelated to the above topic, but noteworthy all the same.

Why didn't somebody warn us about taking a two year old and a 6 month old to the beach?!

We had an unsuccessful trip to the beach to say the least.

We attempted it yesterday morning. Slathered everybody with sunscreen and packed up the car. Drove the couple of miles to the beach. It was easy to park.

We quickly realized that we would need a couple of trips to get all our crap onto the beach. I tucked baby A under my arm, gathered a couple of things and started walking. J grabbed D and a couple of bags and the beach umbrella and we all headed up the walkway over the dunes. D insisted on walking himself, but soon tired out.

When we got to the end of the walkway, J abandoned his bags in order to carry D. I trudged onward through the soft sand, scouting for a good spot down, way down near the water.

Half an hour or so after we left the car, we arrived at our spot. (j/k) It didn't really take that long. It just kind of felt that way. Once at our spot, we commenced try to get set up.

Spread out the beach blanket, the one that isn't quite heavy enough to not fly away in the wind. Try to spread it out again and throw our bags on the corners all at once. D begins to run from us into the water and J tries to get him leaving me to wrestle with the blanket with jumbo-baby under one arm.

J brings D back who comes with fistfuls of sand which he deposits in the middle of the partially nailed down blanket. Great. Baby A is almost instantly coated with sand which sticks to him because of the heretoforementioned slathering of sunscreen. I also think I hear baby A's fair skin beginning to sizzle under the sun and feverishly try to set up his little sun shelter. While also holding the beach blanket down as the wind continues to wrestle it away.

J is chasing Daniel again and when he comes back, I ask him to put up the beach umbrella. Hah. It stays put for two seconds before it is aloft over the beach, landing about 20 feet from where we were. Luckily, it didn't impale anyone. So, the umbrella is enlisted in the struggle to hold the blanket down.

A's sunshelter also does not wish to remain grounded, so I try to hold it down with my knee and quickly lay baby A in it. After about two minutes when it starts blowing down over him, he wants out.

Meanwhile, D keeps running down the beach before we know it and pitches fits when he's brought back. Not too good at sticking around is that boy. Ten minutes in and I've had enough. I can't just hold the baby because I don't want him in the direct sun, and if he's not in his shelter, I have to hold it down with my leg or whatever.

"That's it," I growl at J. I'm going back to the car. He follows with D. We take some stuff and abandon the rest for J to make a trip back once we've secured the children inside our vehicle.

Beach outing: aborted.

J will just take D by himself with minimal bags to carry.

Ugh. What were we thinking?

The beach is really nice here though.

Vacation expenses.

Ferry ride to remote (sort of) island: $15.00

Sweet accommodations with full kitchen, screened porch, shady courtyard: about $85/night.

Wireless internet access at said accommodations: priceless. :D

Vacation Day One: Lessons Learned

Two year olds don't like long car rides and will scream bloody murder to get out of their car seats until you stop.

Two year olds can only be distracted for so long on a car ride before you just. can't. distract. them anymore.

Two year olds don't like to eat when they travel, nor do they like to take naps. Not a good combination.

Two year olds don't always respond well to new environments (at least the first day) not matter how many familiar items/routines you have.

But . . .

we made it!

Yes, I have a large baby.

We went to a party at a friend's lake house yesterday. It's tucked way away from anything on a small lake that has no public access and doesn't allow waterskis or jetskis. Our friends have a great little, rustic place with an awesome deck and screen porches, and a free-standing screened hut that is down closer to the water's edge. In this little hut is a TV, a sofa, and a nice view of the lake. We got to ride on their pontoon boat. D was interested, if a little scared. Andrew just napped in his baby (or maybe, toddler) size lifejacket.

Everyone was exclaiming over how big Andrew is. Yes, he's only six months. Yes, he's big for his age. Yes, he's long. Yes, he doesn't miss any meals. Yes, he likes to eat. Yes, he has buttery thighs. I beginning to wonder if they think it's cute that he's big or not. Well, we think he is. :) But I'm tired of trying to think of ways to respond. I'm pretty proud that he made it to 20 pounds at five months on bre*ast milk alone.

What would you say?

Vacay reading.

Off to the beach tomorrow.

Packed a bunch of books (as if I'm going to have tons of free time. heh) --

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver -- never read it before and figured I should.
Tuesdays with Morrie ditto
Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table saw it at B&N and thought it looked good
White China I saw it at the library and it looked interesting.

Will also throw in a couple of crossword puzzle books and some Real*Simples.

I tend to take too much stuff. I also have a couple of personal finance books from the library that I could take along, plus that Stitch*&*Bitch I got for Christmas, some parenting books. So much to read, so little time.

I tend to go a little nuts when packing for a vacation. Maybe if I bring just the right books / CDs / toys / games / outfits, it will all go smoothly. Ack.

Is there something that you obsess about when you pack for vacation?

Don't be fooled by the sweet smiles. 

Damn, lazy-ass dads.

J helps out a lot with the kids. Apart from the usual grumblings about who's turn is it to get up with a crying child or an early riser, we do alright. J changes diapers, feeds them, puts them down for naps or to bed at night, plays with them, disciplines the toddler and backs me up in discipling the toddler, and lets me escape for a few hours here and there. I have a great deal.

But when we have guests come and the father doesn't do much at all, then I think J starts to wonder if he does too much. Jim's sister and her family were here earlier in the week. They have two boys who are four and six and totally run wild. For the first few days, Daniel had a ball playing with them, but when they wouldn't stop trying to pick him up and pulling him around by his arm, he got kind of sick of it and spent the last day they were here not letting J out of his reach.

J's BIL is OK as a dad and does a fair amount with the boys, but sometimes, he just disappears. He'll vanish upstairs to take a nap and just leave the boys roaming the house. When he doesn't feel like disciplining them or watching them anymore, he'll just check out.

It'd be nice to be able to do that wouldn't it?

J and I spent the several days they were with us saying, "No." Over and over. Can I hold the baby? No. Can we watch Tom & Jerry? No. Can I get Daniel up from his nap? No. After a while, we didn't even try to be nice about it anymore. I ended up yelling at the oldest cousin on the last day they were here. I was looking for Daniel and Tim (the six year old) found him in some other part of the house. All of a sudden I heard Daniel crying and saying, "Noooooooooo." I went in the room where they were to find Tim dragging Daniel across the floor by his arm. Idiot.

Of course, his mom's response was, as she shook her head, he does the same thing to his brother. Well, here's a thought: maybe teach him not to do that. Maybe?

This family is really loud, too. They can't do anything quietly. at all. My family tends to be overly cautious about being loud, so I can't tell if my expectations are unreasonable or not. But I just kind of think that when your kids wake up at 6:00 a.m. and are running around the upstairs, that it would be more considerate to just take them downstairs than lay in your bed with the door open and let them come in and out talk to them. And maybe, you could ask them to at least try to be quiet when they are upstairs at night after others are already asleep. I know that kids will be kids and don't always do what they are told, but at least, make an effort.

Anyway, I'm feeling really ranty at the moment and I just want to get it off my chest so maybe I'll feel less wound up about things. We are going on vacation to the beach on Monday and I'm worried that it's going to be more stressful than not. Oh well.

Frickin' Firefox.

It's crashing all the damn time. I'm almost tempted to switch to Internet*Explorer, but that would be a desperate move.

Maybe it's my virus protection software. Frickin' overkill. What's all this shit running in the background? Slowing down my surfing experience. Don't they know I have a teething baby and a cranky toddler and have to get my internet in short, but efficient bursts. Argh.

And anytime something goes wrong, the computer wants to send a report somewhere, to Microsoft, usually. More wasting of my precious time. Heh.

But on the good news front, Jana is back! Yippee!