Yesterday was the first field trip for Emily's pre-school. They were supposed to go to an apple orchard and pick apples, then have their snack, picnic style, on blankets on the grass.
Yesterday's weather...absolutely lousy. It was windy, barely 50 degrees and drizzling very steadily. I had Ethan with me and really, really didn't want to have to take him out in that kind of weather, but didn't really have much choice until Emily's teacher stepped up and offered to take Emily with her so that Ethan didn't have to get wet and cold. Bless her heart. She has a young grandson and said that she wouldn't take him out in that, so she understood. Thankfully, Emily really likes her new teacher, so she went willingly.
Since the weather was so bad, the apple picking didn't last long at all. What took well over an hour last year took barely 20 minutes this year, with no picnic snack. All in all, they should have rescheduled. When Em got back to the van, her jeans were absolutely soaked up to the knee, as were her socks and tennis shoes. I stripped her down to her sweatshirt and underwear, covered her in one of Ethan's blankets and we headed home.
Since the filed trip was so lousy (and she had so been looking forward to it), I offered to take her home to get dry clothes and then to let her go play at the mall. She thought that sounded good and so off we went.
Things went fine until we headed back home. As we were standing at the van in the Sear's parking lot, trying to load the stroller/car seat and Emily in the van, I heard someone yelling and then saw a large black woman running (and I use the term very loosely) in an erratic fashion not too far from where we were. She was being pursued by a mall security guard. It would have been funny if it had just been me there, because it was like watching everything in slow motion, the woman was running so slowly. She was zig-zagging all around, trying to get away, but anyone could see that there was no way she was going to out-run the security guard. There was also a plainclothes female officer trying to catch her. I assume that the woman was trying to shoplift, but I guess I'm not 100% sure.
Anyhow, the yelling, aside from the guards telling her to stop, was the woman yelling to whomever was supposed to be manning the "getaway" vehicle. She kept yelling to "Jamal" or something like that, who apparently was supposed to be picking her up, but by this time, the guards had caught up to the woman and a patrolling security vehicle had cornered the getaway car.
Meanwhile, I'm desperately trying to get Emily buckled in her carseat and trying to get the heck out of there because it's all happening way to close for comfort (especially since you just never know what a desperate criminal will try in order to get away). In retrospect, I should have broken my "always buckle up" rule and just driven somewhere else in the parking lot, but it all happened so fast.
As we finally start driving away, about three spaces down from our car, Emily is able to look out her window and see the woman, lying face down on the ground, being handcuffed. The woman's pants were, quite literally hanging down below her naked rear end (I think they were falling off as she was running) and so this is the image left in my poor barely 5 year old's mind.
I spent the entire ride home (about 15 minutes) trying to explain what was happening because Emily was full of questions, and as usual, the simplest explanations weren't cutting it. She was curious and is inquisitive, but is also sometimes too sensitive and smart for her own good. It can make for a bad combination...and at bedtime, it proved to be just that. She spent the better part of an hour last night, crying and being upset because she was afraid to go back to the mall and afraid of what she had seen.
So thanks a lot, stupid selfish shoplifting criminal. Thanks for causing prices to go up for all of us. Thanks for making the world a lot less safe, but most of all, thanks for scaring my sweet, sensitive little girl and taking away a bit more of her childish innocence. I hope you spend a nice long time in a miserable jail cell. You deserve it.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
A Day in the Life....
It's 4:15 pm. So far I've:
~taken a shower
~fed Ethan and made breakfast for Emily
~tried to dry my hair while Ethan screamed, only to have my hairdryer quit half-way through
~attempted to finish drying my hair in front of the fan, while Ethan continues screaming
~finished getting myself ready (this includes actually remembering to put on all my make-up this time)
~gotten Emily dressed
~gotten Ethan changed and dressed
~gotten both kids into their respective car seats and in the van
~taken Emily to pre-K
~chatted with my mother-in-law, who has been dealing with health issues
~gone to Meijer to replace my hairdryer and make a few pictures
~screwed up several pictures due to a too-complex computer program, but since Ethan was screaming (again) and I was running out of time, will have to fix later
~checked myself out at Meijer because I didn't have time to walk to the other end of the store where two of the 24 lanes were open
~picked up Emily from pre-K (which of course involves carrying Ethan in his car seat down a long sidewalk and waiting for her class to be the last one to let out, then walking back up the very long sidewalk to the van
~ran through the Wendy's drive-through for lunch for Emily and me
It's now 12:00pm, by the way.
~got home, unloaded both kids from the van
~ate lunch while feeding Ethan
~changed shirt after Ethan spit up his lunch on me
~turned on the computer and checked a few websites while Ethan played for about ten minutes on his play mat
~picked up Ethan from playmat when he started crying
~changed his poopy diaper
~sat down on the couch
~changed shirt #2 after Ethan spit up on me...left on shorts because they weren't too wet..yet
~tried to feed Ethan again because he was still fussy
~changed into shirt #3 and a new pair of pants because Ethan PROJECTILE vomited several meal's worth onto me (shirt #3 may or may not have a little (dried) pee on it from last night when he showered me during a diaper change, but I didn't have another available clean shirt )
~packed both kids up in the van to quickly go grocery shopping
~said "Come on Emily" at least 30 times while in Walmart
~got back home, unloaded kids and groceries from van, put cold stuff in fridge, left the rest for later
~fed Ethan
~played with Ethan
~got Ethan to sleep and put him in the swing
~read a book to Emily and helped her dress her dolls
~folded Ethan's clean laundry and put it away upstairs; collected adult dirty laundry
~went downstairs and into basement to start new laundry (thank you to Maytag and their Bravos high capacity washer!!)
~went back upstairs to put away clean kids' laundry that I took out of the dryer
~sat down to write this post
How can it only be 4:15?
~taken a shower
~fed Ethan and made breakfast for Emily
~tried to dry my hair while Ethan screamed, only to have my hairdryer quit half-way through
~attempted to finish drying my hair in front of the fan, while Ethan continues screaming
~finished getting myself ready (this includes actually remembering to put on all my make-up this time)
~gotten Emily dressed
~gotten Ethan changed and dressed
~gotten both kids into their respective car seats and in the van
~taken Emily to pre-K
~chatted with my mother-in-law, who has been dealing with health issues
~gone to Meijer to replace my hairdryer and make a few pictures
~screwed up several pictures due to a too-complex computer program, but since Ethan was screaming (again) and I was running out of time, will have to fix later
~checked myself out at Meijer because I didn't have time to walk to the other end of the store where two of the 24 lanes were open
~picked up Emily from pre-K (which of course involves carrying Ethan in his car seat down a long sidewalk and waiting for her class to be the last one to let out, then walking back up the very long sidewalk to the van
~ran through the Wendy's drive-through for lunch for Emily and me
It's now 12:00pm, by the way.
~got home, unloaded both kids from the van
~ate lunch while feeding Ethan
~changed shirt after Ethan spit up his lunch on me
~turned on the computer and checked a few websites while Ethan played for about ten minutes on his play mat
~picked up Ethan from playmat when he started crying
~changed his poopy diaper
~sat down on the couch
~changed shirt #2 after Ethan spit up on me...left on shorts because they weren't too wet..yet
~tried to feed Ethan again because he was still fussy
~changed into shirt #3 and a new pair of pants because Ethan PROJECTILE vomited several meal's worth onto me (shirt #3 may or may not have a little (dried) pee on it from last night when he showered me during a diaper change, but I didn't have another available clean shirt )
~packed both kids up in the van to quickly go grocery shopping
~said "Come on Emily" at least 30 times while in Walmart
~got back home, unloaded kids and groceries from van, put cold stuff in fridge, left the rest for later
~fed Ethan
~played with Ethan
~got Ethan to sleep and put him in the swing
~read a book to Emily and helped her dress her dolls
~folded Ethan's clean laundry and put it away upstairs; collected adult dirty laundry
~went downstairs and into basement to start new laundry (thank you to Maytag and their Bravos high capacity washer!!)
~went back upstairs to put away clean kids' laundry that I took out of the dryer
~sat down to write this post
How can it only be 4:15?
Monday, September 21, 2009
Doctor Time
Well, with Ethan reaching the two-month milestone, came the two-month doctor's visit and the rotten shots.
The good news...he's healthy, developing perfectly (much faster than big sister, which I find interesting) and growing beautifully.
Ethan is now 11 lbs. 9 oz. (50th%) and is 23 1/4 " (50th%) He has gained 3 lbs and 11 oz. since birth and 3 1/4 in. It's interesting to compare his growth to Emily's because if I recall, at her two month appt. she was at least 12 lbs. and off the charts in terms of height.
We discussed Mr. E's continuing battle with reflux and are upping the dose of his medicine (we're on a second one of those, from Zantac to Axid) to see if it helps. If his all day fussiness and fussiness while eating doesn't get better, then we'll try a different type of medicine (Prevacid) to see if there is any difference.
The bad news today is that Ethan had some adhesions in a place where a little boy wouldn't want those (oops, momma didn't know to be on the lookout for those) and so the doctor fixed that, but Mr. E did NOT enjoy the process....OUCH! Poor little guy did not know what he was in for this morning. That, of course, made him cry and then 3 shots plus an oral medicine for Rotovirus (this was a new one for me, Em never had it) made Ethan one very mad little guy. I can't say that I blame him though.
All in all, we survived and now we just have to get through Emily's 5 year check-up on Friday. I'm dreading that one much more. After just one day of school, Emily came home with a sore throat, and ended up with a fever from Thursday afternoon through Saturday. When her fever spiked to 102+, we took her to the doctor. It wasn't her regular doctor, as the appt. was after hours, but they tested her for strep and the flu. Both were negative, but oh, the drama of those two tests was something to behold! We stayed home from church yesterday, just to try to get some extra rest and recover, yet when we woke up this morning, Andrew and I both had sore throats and my head feels achy (is that spelled right?). Emily is due to get at least 3 booster shots and either the flu shot or mist, whichever one we can get her to take (and by this I mean, whichever one requires less physically holding her down, which at her size, is a big job for me.)
You might start praying now...because a still sort of sick, highly dramatic 5 year old who is more the size of a 6-7 year old plus a probably fully sick momma with a 2 month old who may or may not be in the mood to cooperate should be fun.
The good news...he's healthy, developing perfectly (much faster than big sister, which I find interesting) and growing beautifully.
Ethan is now 11 lbs. 9 oz. (50th%) and is 23 1/4 " (50th%) He has gained 3 lbs and 11 oz. since birth and 3 1/4 in. It's interesting to compare his growth to Emily's because if I recall, at her two month appt. she was at least 12 lbs. and off the charts in terms of height.
We discussed Mr. E's continuing battle with reflux and are upping the dose of his medicine (we're on a second one of those, from Zantac to Axid) to see if it helps. If his all day fussiness and fussiness while eating doesn't get better, then we'll try a different type of medicine (Prevacid) to see if there is any difference.
The bad news today is that Ethan had some adhesions in a place where a little boy wouldn't want those (oops, momma didn't know to be on the lookout for those) and so the doctor fixed that, but Mr. E did NOT enjoy the process....OUCH! Poor little guy did not know what he was in for this morning. That, of course, made him cry and then 3 shots plus an oral medicine for Rotovirus (this was a new one for me, Em never had it) made Ethan one very mad little guy. I can't say that I blame him though.
All in all, we survived and now we just have to get through Emily's 5 year check-up on Friday. I'm dreading that one much more. After just one day of school, Emily came home with a sore throat, and ended up with a fever from Thursday afternoon through Saturday. When her fever spiked to 102+, we took her to the doctor. It wasn't her regular doctor, as the appt. was after hours, but they tested her for strep and the flu. Both were negative, but oh, the drama of those two tests was something to behold! We stayed home from church yesterday, just to try to get some extra rest and recover, yet when we woke up this morning, Andrew and I both had sore throats and my head feels achy (is that spelled right?). Emily is due to get at least 3 booster shots and either the flu shot or mist, whichever one we can get her to take (and by this I mean, whichever one requires less physically holding her down, which at her size, is a big job for me.)
You might start praying now...because a still sort of sick, highly dramatic 5 year old who is more the size of a 6-7 year old plus a probably fully sick momma with a 2 month old who may or may not be in the mood to cooperate should be fun.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Ethan at 2 Months
Ethan:
Today you are 2 months old.
I'm guessing that you weigh about 12 lbs, but we'll know for sure on Monday.
You are holding your head up pretty well, even though we still call you our little "bobble head" from time to time.
You love to smile, even if these pictures don't show it! You love hearing us sing "I'm a Little Teapot" or "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"
You are really enjoying playing with your activity mat and you're starting to figure out how to move your arms to hit the different toys. You kick your legs and wave your arms all over, while smiling and cooing at the toys. You hate tummy time, however. We keep trying, but it really makes you mad. So mad, in fact, that you actually rolled yourself over twice, from tummy to back, just to be done with it. I don't know if it was a fluke, but I suspect you'll be rolling pretty soon either way.
You are generally laid back, but when you get mad, you get really mad. Currently, you get mad whenever I have to hand you off to Dad. He's thrilled...or maybe not.
You still love your swing and will nap in it for hours each day. It is still worth it's weight in gold. You like looking up at the mirrored globe and the mobile and cooing and smiling at yourself.
Your sleeping habits are all over the place at the moment.
You have slept through the night one time (after a very long, fussy day). You were sleeping about 5-6 hours at a stretch pretty regularly, then you switched to being up every 3 hours, or less. That wasn't so fun. But the last two nights you've slept around 7 hours at a time, so maybe we're headed back in the right direction. Either way, you sleep WAY better than your big sister ever did! For that, we are thankful.
You are generally laid back, but when you get mad, you get really mad. Currently, you get mad whenever I have to hand you off to Dad. He's thrilled...or maybe not.
You still love your swing and will nap in it for hours each day. It is still worth it's weight in gold. You like looking up at the mirrored globe and the mobile and cooing and smiling at yourself.
Your sleeping habits are all over the place at the moment. You have slept through the night one time (after a very long, fussy day). You were sleeping about 5-6 hours at a stretch pretty regularly, then you switched to being up every 3 hours, or less. That wasn't so fun. But the last two nights you've slept around 7 hours at a time, so maybe we're headed back in the right direction. Either way, you sleep WAY better than your big sister ever did! For that, we are thankful.
All in all, I think we'll keep you!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Emily Turns Five!
The Five Year Old Birthday Girl
Emily opened lots of presents from us and from Grammy and Pop-pop and Aunt Kathy and Mom-mom. This weekend, we'll celebrate with Grandma and "Crapaw" and the gang.
She enjoyed opening each gift very slowly.
And little brother looked on...
She got books and videos and games...
Even a classic Etch-a-sketch
And little brother looked on....
Did you know they now make the Lite Brite in a flat screen version...very high tech!
Look at this little guy, not yet 2 months old and actually sitting up on dad's lap, holding his head and back steady for a few moments. He'll also be rolling soon. Something tells me he won't be content to "look on" for long.
Happy 5th Birthday, our sweet big girl! You're growing so fast and becoming a beautiful little girl with each passing day. We love you!
First Day of School and Five Years Old!
Today is a big, big day at our house. It's the first day of school...and Emily's fifth birthday!
Above and below, the official first day of school photos. Ethan and I dropped her off without a hitch this morning. Of course, it always helps to know that you're going to have sugar cookies with icing and sprinkles for snack. Having your b-day on the first day of school is a great way to win friends and influence people...not that Miss Socialite needs any extra help!
Below: this was last year's first day photo, just for comparison. She was just a few days shy of four and standing on her tip-toes.
Below, the five-year old and her b-day balloons. (sorry for the blur on her face, something was on my camera lens!)
More birthday pics to come later!
Thursday, September 03, 2009
Progression of a Baby Smile
Hmmm, mom's making a sort of silly face...sillier than normal.
Okay mom, really, that joke's pretty good.
What's this? A song...oh goodie! I'm getting excited now! My whole body's getting into this!
This song speaks to me...it begs me to smile...
I LOVE THIS SONG!!!! I LOVE MY MOM!!!!! If I could figure out how to actually laugh, I'd be giving you a great big belly laugh.
This is Ethan's reaction when I sing "I'm a Little Teapot" to him. Given his fetal nickname, it seems appropriate. At least he's got a good sense of humor. He even laughs in his sleep, but he hasn't figured it out when he's awake. He's been smiling since he was about 4 weeks old, but man, is it hard to actually catch a quick toothless baby grin!
Humor
Some humorous pics of the E-man
Look at me flexmy manly muscles!
Power to the little people, man!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)