...DON'T come again another day....
Oh, I am SO tired of headaches. I've had one every day for a couple of weeks now. And it's been about two weeks on (headache pretty much every day), two weeks off (no headaches) ever since summer. This is getting ridiculous. Not to mention horribly frustrating and painful. I'm only allowed to take excedrin a couple of times a week, and that's the only thing that comes close to taking them away, so I have to plan my life around the days I can take excedrin. Those are the only days I get much accomplished. I've been on different medicine for preventing them, but nothing seems to be working very well. I'm on my third medicine now for that.
Last week I had the worst headache of my life, I think. It involved hours of laying in my dark bedroom doing nothing (once my husband got home from work....before that I was in pain on the couch with Rachel bounding in and out of the room). Once I finally got to my room I couldn't sleep because it hurt too badly. I couldn't read or watch TV because the light bothered me too much. I've never had it that bad before. The next day was my regular monthly visit with the neurologist/headache specialist, so I guess that was good timing, if there is such a thing as good timing for a headache. I have to have an MRI of my brain Thursday to make sure it isn't anything serious, since that's a new type of headache for me.
Today we're having friends over for dinner (it's been postponed twice now and is finally happening tonight). I had to plan to take excedrin today so I could get cleaning and cooking done today. Of all days, today I woke up with a headache, which NEVER happens. The excedrin has kept it from getting any worse, but it's still there. Ugh.
Okay, I'm done whining now. I just had to get my frustration out a little......
(And the other day, when Rachel told me she wants to be just like Mommy, all I could think of was, "I hope you're not just like me because that would mean you get these headaches.")
(Oh, and today, she told me she was going to grow up and be just like a Wiseman. I think she means from the Nativity story. That's the only context in which she knows what a wise man is.)
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Monday, February 09, 2009
just like me
Last night as I was getting her ready for bed Rachel said, "When I grow up, I be just like Mommy!" and reached to give me a great big hug.
Makes all of those sleepless nights, tears, and days of frustration and disciplining a little bit more worth it!
Makes all of those sleepless nights, tears, and days of frustration and disciplining a little bit more worth it!
Saturday, February 07, 2009
magic wand
Today was Grandma's birthday celebration (the celebration just keeps on going in our family!) with my brother and his family. Rachel had the time of her life playing with her grandparents and cousins (and listening their clock sing!).
She was wearing her cousin Emma's dress up clothes and waving her magic wand around. Their cat was perched on the windowsill, so Rachel walked up, waved her magic wand, and said, "Cat, I turn you into a prince! Bibby Bibby Bobby Bibby Boo!"
Thursday, February 05, 2009
a snowman
It was warmer on Sunday, so Daddy took Rachel out and they made a much bigger and better snowman than my previous attempt.
Rachel complained that it was too bright out, which is why she's wearing her sunglasses.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
a birthday surprise
Happy Birthday, Mom!
Yesterday was my mom's birthday. Over the weekend I decided on a whim to try to get home to surprise her. I had several plans for this week, though, and didn't know how to make it happen. But a dinner party got postponed, which freed up one evening, and I was able to postpone a playdate as well, which gave me a couple of free days. I checked with my dad to make sure they didn't have plans (they didn't), and he was in charge of making sure she was home when we arrived.
Monday afternoon we drove up and walked to the back door, which was locked. I have a key to their house, so I worked on getting the right key, but before I could, my mom opened the door. The blank, stunned look on her face was priceless. She didn't say anything so I said, "Surprise! Happy Birthday!" She was completely shocked and thrilled to see Rachel and me. One of the first things out of her mouth was, "So THAT'S why your dad mopped the floor and cleaned the bathroom last night!"
Hooray! We pulled it off! We've had a fun visit helping to make her birthday more special. We're driving back home this afternoon.
(And no, this post has nothing to do with going up in a hot air balloon....I just liked the picture!)
Sunday, February 01, 2009
some more odds and ends
Not a whole lot going on here. There's not enough fodder for a long, exciting post, but here are some snippets from the recent events at our house.
*Last weekend we were invited to dinner with some friends at their home. They had a clock above their mantle which chimed every hour. We got there just before the hour, so very soon after arriving it chimed. Rachel's head IMMEDIATELY whipped around to see what was making that sound, and then got SO excited about it. She kept wanting to hear the clock "sing" again. She stood in the middle of the living room staring up at the clock for several minutes at a time just watching it, waiting for it to "sing." An hour later, when it finally did, she was beside herself with enthusiasm, jumping up and down, squealing, and so forth. We heard it four times while we were there, and each time conjured up and equal level of glee. Our friends have since told us that whenever they hear it now they look at each other and smile, thinking of Rachel.
*Rachel likes to ask questions that she wants us to repeat back to her so she can answer them. These questions are often about colors. For example, she often says, "Mommy, what color them?" (usually meaning, "What color clothes do they have?" (A person isn't black or white in her mind unless they have on a black or white shirt. She's often pink, Daddy is often blue, and so forth--thankfully race simply doesn't register in her mind) or "Mommy, what color is my Snow White dress? These are always questions she knows the answer to, but she wants us to ask her.
*She's equally obsessed with the princesses as she is with Thomas the Train and friends. I think she'd have trouble choosing between the two if asked. Case in point: Last month while we were picking out big girl underwear at Target, she looked over the choices and told me, "I want dat one, Mommy," pointing straight at a pack of boys' Thomas the Tank Engine briefs. The princess pants we came home with were clearly her second choice.... We play the same Thomas games on the computer over and over and over. She knows them all by name and pours over the pamplet that comes in all of the packages with all of the trains' pictures on them, telling me which ones she likes (she likes them all, but some days she likes some more than others).
*When I go get her up in the morning, immediately out of her mouth is usually some strange fact from one of the princess movies. I guess she's been laying there thinking about them before I come in, so I walk in and she says, "Mommy, Pocahontas doesn't have a castle (she's never seen Pocahontas...she just knows her from a princess video from the library that she's watched endlessly)," or, "Mommy, the queen isn't very nice to Snow White." I hear these little phrases all through the day in the middle of doing something completely unrelated. At dinner: "Mommy, Sweeping Booty sweeps and pwince kisses her and she wakes up!" At bathtime: "Mommy, Cindawewwa has bootiful bwoo dwess."
*Oh, and I can't tell you how many times she's told me in the last month that she wants a beautiful blue dress like Cinderella. "And a gwass swipper on dis foot, and a gwass swipper on the udder foot and a cwown on my head." So you can guess what she's getting for her birthday....
*Last weekend we were invited to dinner with some friends at their home. They had a clock above their mantle which chimed every hour. We got there just before the hour, so very soon after arriving it chimed. Rachel's head IMMEDIATELY whipped around to see what was making that sound, and then got SO excited about it. She kept wanting to hear the clock "sing" again. She stood in the middle of the living room staring up at the clock for several minutes at a time just watching it, waiting for it to "sing." An hour later, when it finally did, she was beside herself with enthusiasm, jumping up and down, squealing, and so forth. We heard it four times while we were there, and each time conjured up and equal level of glee. Our friends have since told us that whenever they hear it now they look at each other and smile, thinking of Rachel.
*Rachel likes to ask questions that she wants us to repeat back to her so she can answer them. These questions are often about colors. For example, she often says, "Mommy, what color them?" (usually meaning, "What color clothes do they have?" (A person isn't black or white in her mind unless they have on a black or white shirt. She's often pink, Daddy is often blue, and so forth--thankfully race simply doesn't register in her mind) or "Mommy, what color is my Snow White dress? These are always questions she knows the answer to, but she wants us to ask her.
*She's equally obsessed with the princesses as she is with Thomas the Train and friends. I think she'd have trouble choosing between the two if asked. Case in point: Last month while we were picking out big girl underwear at Target, she looked over the choices and told me, "I want dat one, Mommy," pointing straight at a pack of boys' Thomas the Tank Engine briefs. The princess pants we came home with were clearly her second choice.... We play the same Thomas games on the computer over and over and over. She knows them all by name and pours over the pamplet that comes in all of the packages with all of the trains' pictures on them, telling me which ones she likes (she likes them all, but some days she likes some more than others).
*When I go get her up in the morning, immediately out of her mouth is usually some strange fact from one of the princess movies. I guess she's been laying there thinking about them before I come in, so I walk in and she says, "Mommy, Pocahontas doesn't have a castle (she's never seen Pocahontas...she just knows her from a princess video from the library that she's watched endlessly)," or, "Mommy, the queen isn't very nice to Snow White." I hear these little phrases all through the day in the middle of doing something completely unrelated. At dinner: "Mommy, Sweeping Booty sweeps and pwince kisses her and she wakes up!" At bathtime: "Mommy, Cindawewwa has bootiful bwoo dwess."
*Oh, and I can't tell you how many times she's told me in the last month that she wants a beautiful blue dress like Cinderella. "And a gwass swipper on dis foot, and a gwass swipper on the udder foot and a cwown on my head." So you can guess what she's getting for her birthday....
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Princess Rachel
Perhaps she's getting a little too into this princess thing. Since I gave her the Snow White dress, she wears it every waking moment (over her PJs in the morning, over her clothes the rest of the day, except for nap time and whenever we go out). She twirls around the house and says, at various times throughout the day,
"I so wonderful!"
"It's a dweem come twoo."
"Mommy, Daddy, how do I wook?"
She may as well be looking in the mirror saying, "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?"
She's not even three! At least the only ones she's trying to impress are her daddy and me. Though I'm sure that will unfortunately change sooner than I care to imagine.
(Oh, and right now she's wearing her Wonder Pets cape over top of her Snow White dress. Not only is she a princess, she's a super hero, too. Super Bunny Princess.....oh yes, Super Bunny is still here with us....just not as often)
"I so wonderful!"
"It's a dweem come twoo."
"Mommy, Daddy, how do I wook?"
She may as well be looking in the mirror saying, "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?"
She's not even three! At least the only ones she's trying to impress are her daddy and me. Though I'm sure that will unfortunately change sooner than I care to imagine.
(Oh, and right now she's wearing her Wonder Pets cape over top of her Snow White dress. Not only is she a princess, she's a super hero, too. Super Bunny Princess.....oh yes, Super Bunny is still here with us....just not as often)
Monday, January 26, 2009
bring on the dwarfs
Four dress up items from the $1 bin at Target= $4 (saving them for her birthday)
One Snow White dress also in the $1 bin at Target=$1 (not supposed to be there, but the cashier gave it to me for $1 anyway because there was no tag on it--I've since found the same dress online for $30!)
The look on her face as she twirled around in front of the mirror for ten minutes in the Snow White dress saying, "I wook so bootiful!"= PRICELESS!!
(I gave it to her early instead of waiting for her birthday because it looked rather small and I wanted to make sure it fit and she gets some wear out of it before she outgrows it.)
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Frosty the Snowman
To Rachel, all snowmen are Frosty the Snowman. She sings the song almost daily. Yesterday we went back out in the snow because it was warmer and we could stay out even longer to enjoy it. The sun warmed some of the snow and what used to be really powdery, dry snow is now wet, packable snow in some spots in the yard. So I made Rachel's first snowman.
She "helped."
She was very impatient, of course, so it was a very small snowman. After he had three sections to his body I found various things around the yard to give him a face and arms--mulch for eyes, and acorns for a nose and buttons. I found a curved, small stick to make a mouth. Then Rachel decided he needed a hat....made out of snow (I tried to give him my hat, but she didn't like that). I think it makes him look like he has three heads, but she was happy! 
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
almost Panera
I love soup, especially on cold days, like we've been having. Creamy soups are my favorite. My husband doesn't like soup very much, though (he doesn't like hot liquids....coffee-nope, hot chocolate-nope, soup-nope). He'll eat it occasionally, but I don't make it very often because I know he doesn't prefer to eat it. I like going to Panera because I can get a sandwich and soup--two favorites all in one meal. My favorite soup at Panera is Cream of Chicken and Wild Rice (of all the soups, my husband will eat this one, and actually kind of likes it, but mostly he likes the sour dough bread bowls they come in!).
Several times in the last couple of months I've made a roast chicken and used the bones to make chicken stock. Usually I use this to make chicken and dumplings, but lately I've been looking for a good soup recipe to use it in. Then I thought of my favorite Panera soup, and wondered if I could find a recipe for something similar. So I've been searching.
Today I found one that looked promising. I made it tonight for dinner, and it is awesome! It's almost just like the soup at Panera. Here's a link to the recipe if you'd like to try it.
I substituted chicken stock for chicken broth, added carrots (because Panera's has carrots, and I like them), and used half and half instead of heavy cream (still not the healthiest, but somewhat fewer calories and less fat). If you're in the mood for a good creamy soup, try it! It's great!
I also baked a loaf of bread to go with it. Not sourdough, like Panera, but just plain white bread. I messed up, though, and set it to rise and then left the house to run some errands. It rose too far, and when I got home and pounded it down, it didn't rise anymore. I baked it anyway, and it rose a little in the oven, but it's a very, very dense loaf of bread. I still sliced it to try it, and it tastes good. Just very dense.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to eat my soup!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
a snowy day
We've had several snowy days around here lately (and cold....very, very cold). But yesterday it was a balmy 23 degrees, so Daddy and Rachel went out to play in it. It was her first time out to play in snow since last winter, which she didn't remember, so it was like learning how to play in the snow all over again!
First she was thrilled to get to wear a snow suit. She has snow pants to go with her coat, but I decided to try out the snow suit (a $3 garage sale find last summer, which she didn't really need, but it was easier than snow pants and a coat).
When she got out, all she wanted to do was stomp around in the deep snow (up to her knees!). Daddy got out her sled (the nice, big one her Granny and Papa gave her for Christmas) and took her for a ride. She was laughing and laughing, until she fell out, got snow in her face, and then decided she didn't want to sled anymore. Maybe next time. I took some video of it, but I can never figure out how to make it work on here. Maybe I'll try later.
Daddy taught her how to make snow angels and the two of them tromped around for about a half hour before coming in.
She enjoyed finding some of her old haunts all covered in snow (the rock she always sits on, her sand box, and her swingset, to name a few). She came in to some hot (well, lukewarm...I didn't want to burn her mouth!) cocoa, also a first for her. She declared it, "Dewishus!"
First she was thrilled to get to wear a snow suit. She has snow pants to go with her coat, but I decided to try out the snow suit (a $3 garage sale find last summer, which she didn't really need, but it was easier than snow pants and a coat).
When she got out, all she wanted to do was stomp around in the deep snow (up to her knees!). Daddy got out her sled (the nice, big one her Granny and Papa gave her for Christmas) and took her for a ride. She was laughing and laughing, until she fell out, got snow in her face, and then decided she didn't want to sled anymore. Maybe next time. I took some video of it, but I can never figure out how to make it work on here. Maybe I'll try later.
Daddy taught her how to make snow angels and the two of them tromped around for about a half hour before coming in.
She enjoyed finding some of her old haunts all covered in snow (the rock she always sits on, her sand box, and her swingset, to name a few). She came in to some hot (well, lukewarm...I didn't want to burn her mouth!) cocoa, also a first for her. She declared it, "Dewishus!"
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
the good, the bad, and the ugly
Yesterday was an up and down kind of day.....
The Good
I recently started reading the blog of a friend of mine with two little ones. Her daughter is a year or so older than Rachel, and she has a younger son. I went back and read the archives over the course of the last couple of weeks. One of the things she wrote about was using a timer, and how much it has helped her at home. For instance, her daughter kept asking her to play with her, but she kept telling her, "Mommy has work to do," so she felt guilty for not playing with her daughter. Or she'd play with her daughter and feel guilty that nothing was getting done. This is a constant struggle for me, as well. So one day she set a timer and told her daughter Mommy would work until the timer beeped, and then when it was done, she'd play. Then when it was time to play she set it again and told her daughter, "Mommy will play with you until the timer beeps, and then I need to get some more work done." She wrote about the freedom this brought her--freedom to do work without feeling guilty because she knew she'd soon have time to play, and freedom to play with her daughter without feeling guilty for not working because she had already gotten some done and would soon get more done.
So yesterday I wanted to get some cleaning done, and Rachel started asking me over and over to play with her. I kept telling her that Mommy had work to do, but felt sad for constantly turning her down. Then I remembered the timer technique. So I told Rachel that she needed to play by herself until the timer beeped, and then Mommy would play with her. I set it for 15 minutes to start with. And it worked! She played happily by herself and I got 15 minutes worth of cleaning done (and 15 minutes actually allows me to get a lot more done when I don't have to be constantly shooing her off to play). After it beeped she ran in and said, "Mommy, you pway wif me now?" So I set it for another 15 minutes and told her I would play until it beeped again. She wanted to play her Wiggles Memory game, so we did, for a solid 15 minutes. And I didn't once feel bad for sitting on the floor playing with my daughter when I had work to do. I knew I would get to it soon. The timer beeped and she looked up and said, "Time for Mommy work!" The next time I set it for 20 minutes. Worked great and got a lot done. Then we played princess castle for 20 minutes. Actually, she played most of it by herself and liked just having me there watching her. Occasionally she'd give me a role to play, but mostly she moved the people around and used her high pitch pretend voice (where do kids learn that, anyway? I remember using that same voice when playing Strawberry Shortcake and other pretend scenarios growing up!) and played by herself.
I thought this was funny....the princesses and prince got thrown aside so the Yo Gabba Gabba gang could take a ride in the carriage. Oh, and she calls the knight in shining armor an "astwonot." I guess armor does slightly resemble an astronaut's suit, if you squint a bit!
So the timer....a new good thing around our house.
The Bad
There was absolutely no success in the potty training department yesterday, after a nearly perfect day the day before. Ugh. So frustrating--just when you think you're getting somewhere, there are nothing but accidents. And worst of all, the last one happened while she was sitting on the couch. Right on the crack between two cushions. Pee went down the crack and onto the material below, which soaked the bottom portion of the cushions, too. Top, sides and bottom of two cushions, completely soaked with pee. Gross.
Before dinner last night I started having an upset stomach and spent a good portion of the evening laying on the couch or in the bathroom. My husband was gone at the gym. So I had to clean up wet cushions (and a wet kitchen floor from another accident) and deal with not feeling well by myself. Not a fun evening.
The Ugly
I thought the evening was bad. The night was positively awful. At 9:55 or so, as we were finishing up watching The Biggest Loser and thinking about getting to bed, Rachel woke up crying. It was then that I remembered that she had been slowly developing a stuffy nose all day and I meant to give her some benadryl before she went to bed to help her sleep (she woke up crying from her nap yesterday, too, because she couldn't breathe, so I knew the night would be worse). But after the rough evening, my husband gave her her bath and put her to bed, since I wasn't feeling well, and since I wasn't up there, I completely forgot about the benadryl. So I went into her room to console her and give her some medicine. Only she wouldn't be consoled or take the medicine. She cried and cried and cried, half asleep, but unable to breathe. She kept pushing the medicine away. I tried, my husband tried, and finally I just had to force it into her mouth. About half of it spilled back out of her mouth, so she really didn't get very much.
I finally got her calmed down and back to sleep. But this scenario repeated itself (with ever increasing intensity) about every hour or hour and a half throughout the course of the night. I'm exhausted. Her longest (and therefore my longest) stretch of sleep was from about 3:30 until 7 this morning. At one point in the middle of the night I just couldn't get her to calm down. She was crying and crying, making her stuffy nose worse, of course. She kept sniffing really hard and then crying, "I can't do it!" At first I didn't understand why she was saying that--what couldn't she do? But I finally realized that she couldn't put words to it, but what she meant was that she couldn't breathe! She was trying hard to inhale and get air into her lungs, but she just couldn't. Poor little girl.
Today she woke up just as happy as can be, but still totally stuffed up with watery eyes all morning. Hopefully tonight with the benadryl I'll make sure not to forget, we'll all sleep much better.
The Good
I recently started reading the blog of a friend of mine with two little ones. Her daughter is a year or so older than Rachel, and she has a younger son. I went back and read the archives over the course of the last couple of weeks. One of the things she wrote about was using a timer, and how much it has helped her at home. For instance, her daughter kept asking her to play with her, but she kept telling her, "Mommy has work to do," so she felt guilty for not playing with her daughter. Or she'd play with her daughter and feel guilty that nothing was getting done. This is a constant struggle for me, as well. So one day she set a timer and told her daughter Mommy would work until the timer beeped, and then when it was done, she'd play. Then when it was time to play she set it again and told her daughter, "Mommy will play with you until the timer beeps, and then I need to get some more work done." She wrote about the freedom this brought her--freedom to do work without feeling guilty because she knew she'd soon have time to play, and freedom to play with her daughter without feeling guilty for not working because she had already gotten some done and would soon get more done.
So yesterday I wanted to get some cleaning done, and Rachel started asking me over and over to play with her. I kept telling her that Mommy had work to do, but felt sad for constantly turning her down. Then I remembered the timer technique. So I told Rachel that she needed to play by herself until the timer beeped, and then Mommy would play with her. I set it for 15 minutes to start with. And it worked! She played happily by herself and I got 15 minutes worth of cleaning done (and 15 minutes actually allows me to get a lot more done when I don't have to be constantly shooing her off to play). After it beeped she ran in and said, "Mommy, you pway wif me now?" So I set it for another 15 minutes and told her I would play until it beeped again. She wanted to play her Wiggles Memory game, so we did, for a solid 15 minutes. And I didn't once feel bad for sitting on the floor playing with my daughter when I had work to do. I knew I would get to it soon. The timer beeped and she looked up and said, "Time for Mommy work!" The next time I set it for 20 minutes. Worked great and got a lot done. Then we played princess castle for 20 minutes. Actually, she played most of it by herself and liked just having me there watching her. Occasionally she'd give me a role to play, but mostly she moved the people around and used her high pitch pretend voice (where do kids learn that, anyway? I remember using that same voice when playing Strawberry Shortcake and other pretend scenarios growing up!) and played by herself.
I thought this was funny....the princesses and prince got thrown aside so the Yo Gabba Gabba gang could take a ride in the carriage. Oh, and she calls the knight in shining armor an "astwonot." I guess armor does slightly resemble an astronaut's suit, if you squint a bit!
So the timer....a new good thing around our house.
The Bad
There was absolutely no success in the potty training department yesterday, after a nearly perfect day the day before. Ugh. So frustrating--just when you think you're getting somewhere, there are nothing but accidents. And worst of all, the last one happened while she was sitting on the couch. Right on the crack between two cushions. Pee went down the crack and onto the material below, which soaked the bottom portion of the cushions, too. Top, sides and bottom of two cushions, completely soaked with pee. Gross.
Before dinner last night I started having an upset stomach and spent a good portion of the evening laying on the couch or in the bathroom. My husband was gone at the gym. So I had to clean up wet cushions (and a wet kitchen floor from another accident) and deal with not feeling well by myself. Not a fun evening.
The Ugly
I thought the evening was bad. The night was positively awful. At 9:55 or so, as we were finishing up watching The Biggest Loser and thinking about getting to bed, Rachel woke up crying. It was then that I remembered that she had been slowly developing a stuffy nose all day and I meant to give her some benadryl before she went to bed to help her sleep (she woke up crying from her nap yesterday, too, because she couldn't breathe, so I knew the night would be worse). But after the rough evening, my husband gave her her bath and put her to bed, since I wasn't feeling well, and since I wasn't up there, I completely forgot about the benadryl. So I went into her room to console her and give her some medicine. Only she wouldn't be consoled or take the medicine. She cried and cried and cried, half asleep, but unable to breathe. She kept pushing the medicine away. I tried, my husband tried, and finally I just had to force it into her mouth. About half of it spilled back out of her mouth, so she really didn't get very much.
I finally got her calmed down and back to sleep. But this scenario repeated itself (with ever increasing intensity) about every hour or hour and a half throughout the course of the night. I'm exhausted. Her longest (and therefore my longest) stretch of sleep was from about 3:30 until 7 this morning. At one point in the middle of the night I just couldn't get her to calm down. She was crying and crying, making her stuffy nose worse, of course. She kept sniffing really hard and then crying, "I can't do it!" At first I didn't understand why she was saying that--what couldn't she do? But I finally realized that she couldn't put words to it, but what she meant was that she couldn't breathe! She was trying hard to inhale and get air into her lungs, but she just couldn't. Poor little girl.
Today she woke up just as happy as can be, but still totally stuffed up with watery eyes all morning. Hopefully tonight with the benadryl I'll make sure not to forget, we'll all sleep much better.
Monday, January 12, 2009
saving
Several of my blogging friends have posted lately about their deals and savings at the grocery, so I'm following in their footsteps and am going to brag on my frugal self.
Tonight I went to the grocery (by myself--BLISS!!) with the sole purpose of buying things on sale for which I also had coupons. And there were lots and lots of those things. (Okay, so I also bought milk, eggs, apples, and dry onion soup mix for my roast beef tomorrow....those things weren't on sale.)
The cost of everything I bought without sales and coupons? $140
The cost of everything I bought with sales and coupons? $64!!
I really, really was hoping I could get it down to $50; I didn't quite get there, but I'm still pleased.
Then I came home and realized I forgot contact solution, which just ran out tonight. Ugh....another trip tomorrow, I guess (and yes, I do have a coupon for that, too!).
(Potty Training Update: Almost a completely successful day! She pooped in the potty for the first time today, which was quite exciting for us all, and she used the potty each time she needed it, staying dry all day, including through her nap! Just before bathtime, though, she ruined the perfect potty day and put a small wet puddle on the dining room floor. We almost made it!)
Tonight I went to the grocery (by myself--BLISS!!) with the sole purpose of buying things on sale for which I also had coupons. And there were lots and lots of those things. (Okay, so I also bought milk, eggs, apples, and dry onion soup mix for my roast beef tomorrow....those things weren't on sale.)
The cost of everything I bought without sales and coupons? $140
The cost of everything I bought with sales and coupons? $64!!
I really, really was hoping I could get it down to $50; I didn't quite get there, but I'm still pleased.
Then I came home and realized I forgot contact solution, which just ran out tonight. Ugh....another trip tomorrow, I guess (and yes, I do have a coupon for that, too!).
(Potty Training Update: Almost a completely successful day! She pooped in the potty for the first time today, which was quite exciting for us all, and she used the potty each time she needed it, staying dry all day, including through her nap! Just before bathtime, though, she ruined the perfect potty day and put a small wet puddle on the dining room floor. We almost made it!)
Saturday, January 10, 2009
in other news
Since all I've written about lately is the potty, I thought maybe I should write about something else (though there's not much else going on around here).
In the evenings after Rachel's in bed we've been working on our vacation plans. We're headed, without Rachel, to Arizona and the Grand Canyon in May. After a tour of Arizona (Canyon de Chelly, Antelope Canyon, Monument Valley, Painted Desert, and other National Monuments and places like that), we'll be arriving at the Grand Canyon on my husband's birthday--how's that for a birthday present!? The next day he's going to attempt to hike the canyon, down and up, all in one day. I'm alternatively completely freaked out and fairly calm about this hike. I'm not going, so he'll be alone (although he assures me the trail will be heavily traveled and there will be lots of people to help him if he needs it). I did find the other day a place there where you can rent a sattelite phone to take down with him. He thinks I'm a worry wart, but he actually thought this was a good idea, so we're going to look into it.
I wrote a month or so ago that I was struggling with headaches. It's actually been an ongoing struggle since I was 13. No one's really been able to figure them out. They're not migraines, though they seem just as bad (they hurt horribly and are really dibilitating when I have them). So last month I went to a headache specialist (I'd tried several other specialists over the years, but they all wanted to give me pain medicine, whereas I've always wanted to find out what causes them and get to the root of the problem, not just cover up the pain. I didn't go to those doctors more than once.) When I was expecting Rachel my headaches seemed to magically disappear! I had a whole host of other pregnancy related issues, but thankfully headaches wasn't one of them. And after she was born I went for over two years without problems with them either. It was wonderful. But over the summer they started up again. I resorted to what I've always fallen back on, Excedrin. I had broken myself of it several years ago (with really bad caffeine withdrawl headaches to show for it), but it's really the only thing that took them away. So I started taking it again. And of course one of the first things the doctor wanted me to do was to stop taking Excedrin. He also put me on a medication to help me sleep (regular sleep patterns are a must for migraine sufferers, I've learned, and even though mine aren't technically migraines, it helped! My headaches went away for about three weeks! I was sleeping great, too, which was an added bonus. The drawback was that I was sleepy ALL the time, not just at night. I also started feeling dizzy and lightheaded. And my headaches came back. So yesterday I went back to the doctor. My blood pressure was high while I was there, and he said that was probably causing my dizziness and he didn't want me on a medication that was doing that to me. So he switched my medication yesterday. It's still supposed to help me sleep and keep my headaches away, but hopefully the other problems will go away. He also put me on magnesium, which I guess is supposed to help with headaches. At any rate, today I didn't have a headache! And I haven't been tired. So hopefully this new medicine will do the trick and we'll have solved the 21 year headache problem! And now that I've told you my life story of headaches, let's move on to something more exciting.
Today we went to a birthday party for a friend's little girl who was turning five. Rachel's friends with her and her younger sister, who is actually just a week older than Rachel. It was a soccer party, because my friend teaches soccer at this indoor soccer place, called "Locker Soccer." They played lots of games with soccer balls. I thought Rachel would love it, and I think she would've done great if I hadn't been there, but because I was there she wanted me to hold her hand and be with her every minute. She was afraid to venture out on her own to play the games with the other kids. She ran around and kicked balls a little, but after a couple of minutes she kept coming back to me. I hope she's over this phase before it's time for me to be a room mother or a brownie leader or something like that. Otherwise I may never be able to do those things, because she'll be clinging to me the whole time! She also thought she should be able to open a present (she doesn't quite get it that only the birthday girl gets to do that), and wanted her cake NOW, rather than waiting for them to take pictures of the birthday girl with her cake, sing happy birthday, and wait for the cake to be cut and passed out. She has a lot to learn in birthday party ettiquite, I've discovered!
So that's about everything that's going on in my world besides potty training. We'll see how this next week goes in that department. She's been kind of on-again, off-again with it the last couple of days. Hopefully it'll keep improving.
In the evenings after Rachel's in bed we've been working on our vacation plans. We're headed, without Rachel, to Arizona and the Grand Canyon in May. After a tour of Arizona (Canyon de Chelly, Antelope Canyon, Monument Valley, Painted Desert, and other National Monuments and places like that), we'll be arriving at the Grand Canyon on my husband's birthday--how's that for a birthday present!? The next day he's going to attempt to hike the canyon, down and up, all in one day. I'm alternatively completely freaked out and fairly calm about this hike. I'm not going, so he'll be alone (although he assures me the trail will be heavily traveled and there will be lots of people to help him if he needs it). I did find the other day a place there where you can rent a sattelite phone to take down with him. He thinks I'm a worry wart, but he actually thought this was a good idea, so we're going to look into it.
I wrote a month or so ago that I was struggling with headaches. It's actually been an ongoing struggle since I was 13. No one's really been able to figure them out. They're not migraines, though they seem just as bad (they hurt horribly and are really dibilitating when I have them). So last month I went to a headache specialist (I'd tried several other specialists over the years, but they all wanted to give me pain medicine, whereas I've always wanted to find out what causes them and get to the root of the problem, not just cover up the pain. I didn't go to those doctors more than once.) When I was expecting Rachel my headaches seemed to magically disappear! I had a whole host of other pregnancy related issues, but thankfully headaches wasn't one of them. And after she was born I went for over two years without problems with them either. It was wonderful. But over the summer they started up again. I resorted to what I've always fallen back on, Excedrin. I had broken myself of it several years ago (with really bad caffeine withdrawl headaches to show for it), but it's really the only thing that took them away. So I started taking it again. And of course one of the first things the doctor wanted me to do was to stop taking Excedrin. He also put me on a medication to help me sleep (regular sleep patterns are a must for migraine sufferers, I've learned, and even though mine aren't technically migraines, it helped! My headaches went away for about three weeks! I was sleeping great, too, which was an added bonus. The drawback was that I was sleepy ALL the time, not just at night. I also started feeling dizzy and lightheaded. And my headaches came back. So yesterday I went back to the doctor. My blood pressure was high while I was there, and he said that was probably causing my dizziness and he didn't want me on a medication that was doing that to me. So he switched my medication yesterday. It's still supposed to help me sleep and keep my headaches away, but hopefully the other problems will go away. He also put me on magnesium, which I guess is supposed to help with headaches. At any rate, today I didn't have a headache! And I haven't been tired. So hopefully this new medicine will do the trick and we'll have solved the 21 year headache problem! And now that I've told you my life story of headaches, let's move on to something more exciting.
Today we went to a birthday party for a friend's little girl who was turning five. Rachel's friends with her and her younger sister, who is actually just a week older than Rachel. It was a soccer party, because my friend teaches soccer at this indoor soccer place, called "Locker Soccer." They played lots of games with soccer balls. I thought Rachel would love it, and I think she would've done great if I hadn't been there, but because I was there she wanted me to hold her hand and be with her every minute. She was afraid to venture out on her own to play the games with the other kids. She ran around and kicked balls a little, but after a couple of minutes she kept coming back to me. I hope she's over this phase before it's time for me to be a room mother or a brownie leader or something like that. Otherwise I may never be able to do those things, because she'll be clinging to me the whole time! She also thought she should be able to open a present (she doesn't quite get it that only the birthday girl gets to do that), and wanted her cake NOW, rather than waiting for them to take pictures of the birthday girl with her cake, sing happy birthday, and wait for the cake to be cut and passed out. She has a lot to learn in birthday party ettiquite, I've discovered!
So that's about everything that's going on in my world besides potty training. We'll see how this next week goes in that department. She's been kind of on-again, off-again with it the last couple of days. Hopefully it'll keep improving.
Thursday, January 08, 2009
cabin fever
Because there's nothing else going on in my world right now, and it's truly the biggest thing on my mind at the moment, how about we talk about the potty some more!
Seriously, does everyone stay home all day every day when they potty train their children? Because that part of this process is really grueling. At least it's the dead of winter and there's snow and ice outside, so I'm not quite as tempted to get out as I would be in, say, June, when the weather is warm and sunny (but at least then she could run around outside in her underwear and we could get out). But I really, really, need to go somewhere, or I'm going to go crazy. Monday I ran quickly to the library after my husband got home, but I couldn't stay out long because he had to get to the gym. Tuesday I went to the grocery store after I put Rachel to bed (I really did need a few things, but I also just needed to leave!). Yesterday I made a quick trip to the post office after he got home, but again, I couldn't linger because on Wednesdays he helps with the youth group at church, so I had to get home so he could leave. Today I think I may put a pull up on her and leave, because, well, just because I want to. And she must be going crazy because she hasn't stepped foot out of the house since Sunday morning! Poor girl!
My friend Nancy suggested the plastic training pants. Maybe I'll go try to find some today so I won't have to resort to a pull up when we go out. They're basically the same as diapers, plus they're more expensive than diapers. I'm trying to avoid them as much as possible, but I did buy one pack, and someone gave me an almost brand new pack that their daughter didn't use.
We've had another successful morning, potty-wise, so far today. Let's hope it continues! Everyone told me that by the third day it would get better. I guess they were right! It was rough getting to that day, though. I hope it can only get better from here!
Seriously, does everyone stay home all day every day when they potty train their children? Because that part of this process is really grueling. At least it's the dead of winter and there's snow and ice outside, so I'm not quite as tempted to get out as I would be in, say, June, when the weather is warm and sunny (but at least then she could run around outside in her underwear and we could get out). But I really, really, need to go somewhere, or I'm going to go crazy. Monday I ran quickly to the library after my husband got home, but I couldn't stay out long because he had to get to the gym. Tuesday I went to the grocery store after I put Rachel to bed (I really did need a few things, but I also just needed to leave!). Yesterday I made a quick trip to the post office after he got home, but again, I couldn't linger because on Wednesdays he helps with the youth group at church, so I had to get home so he could leave. Today I think I may put a pull up on her and leave, because, well, just because I want to. And she must be going crazy because she hasn't stepped foot out of the house since Sunday morning! Poor girl!
My friend Nancy suggested the plastic training pants. Maybe I'll go try to find some today so I won't have to resort to a pull up when we go out. They're basically the same as diapers, plus they're more expensive than diapers. I'm trying to avoid them as much as possible, but I did buy one pack, and someone gave me an almost brand new pack that their daughter didn't use.
We've had another successful morning, potty-wise, so far today. Let's hope it continues! Everyone told me that by the third day it would get better. I guess they were right! It was rough getting to that day, though. I hope it can only get better from here!
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
the potty update--UPDATED FURTHER
For those of you who are interested, here's what's been happening in the potty training adventure the last day and a half. Those of you who aren't interested (and I'm sure there are plenty, because, really, who wants to hear about a two year old's bathroom habits????), you can just skip this post.
Yesterday was a bad, bad day, which is why I didn't post. I was really discouraged because we had many accidents and really no success (unless you count the time she was standing near the potty when she started to go on the floor, and I got her on the potty in time to catch the tail end of it. I still made a celebration of it, because it was the only thing close to success we'd had so far, and the poor girl needed some encouragement, so she finally got her sticker then. But that was the only glimpse of sunshine the whole day). I was ready to give up, especially after her nap when she asked me several times to wear a diaper. I really, really wanted to give in, but I decided to keep trying.
Last night my husband suggested that we try it for one more day to see if there was any improvement, and if there wasn't that we could take a break and try again in a month or so. So I decided to stick it out one more day.
This morning she was dancing around like I saw her doing yesterday just before she started to go (but yesterday it didn't really dawn on me that that's what she was doing). Today I recognized the little dance and put her on the potty. She sat there for a few minutes and all of sudden she stood up with a steady stream down her leg. I don't know if she had started and stood up because it felt funny or if she stood up and then started to go, but at any rate, I said, "No, Rachel! Sit on the potty! Put it in the potty!" She sat back down and finished the job. I was so excited and so proud of her! (Yeah, I know, get a life, Weed! Excited about pee???) I made a huge deal out of it. She finally got the Baby Jaguar sticker she had been hoping for all day yesterday (yesterday she chose Diego, and after that she decided she really wanted the Baby Jaguar one), and she had an ear to ear grin on her face.
Daddy was very excited, too, when he came home for lunch and we told him.
There weren't any accidents this morning, so I'd call it a successful morning! We'll see how this afternoon goes. But I feel much, much better and hopeful today about the whole thing.
UPDATE: 6:55 PM
Guess who just went on the potty two times!? Still no accidents today, either.
So I guess it's good that I didn't give up. Maybe we're getting somewhere!
Yesterday was a bad, bad day, which is why I didn't post. I was really discouraged because we had many accidents and really no success (unless you count the time she was standing near the potty when she started to go on the floor, and I got her on the potty in time to catch the tail end of it. I still made a celebration of it, because it was the only thing close to success we'd had so far, and the poor girl needed some encouragement, so she finally got her sticker then. But that was the only glimpse of sunshine the whole day). I was ready to give up, especially after her nap when she asked me several times to wear a diaper. I really, really wanted to give in, but I decided to keep trying.
Last night my husband suggested that we try it for one more day to see if there was any improvement, and if there wasn't that we could take a break and try again in a month or so. So I decided to stick it out one more day.
This morning she was dancing around like I saw her doing yesterday just before she started to go (but yesterday it didn't really dawn on me that that's what she was doing). Today I recognized the little dance and put her on the potty. She sat there for a few minutes and all of sudden she stood up with a steady stream down her leg. I don't know if she had started and stood up because it felt funny or if she stood up and then started to go, but at any rate, I said, "No, Rachel! Sit on the potty! Put it in the potty!" She sat back down and finished the job. I was so excited and so proud of her! (Yeah, I know, get a life, Weed! Excited about pee???) I made a huge deal out of it. She finally got the Baby Jaguar sticker she had been hoping for all day yesterday (yesterday she chose Diego, and after that she decided she really wanted the Baby Jaguar one), and she had an ear to ear grin on her face.
Daddy was very excited, too, when he came home for lunch and we told him.
There weren't any accidents this morning, so I'd call it a successful morning! We'll see how this afternoon goes. But I feel much, much better and hopeful today about the whole thing.
UPDATE: 6:55 PM
Guess who just went on the potty two times!? Still no accidents today, either.
So I guess it's good that I didn't give up. Maybe we're getting somewhere!
Monday, January 05, 2009
day one...a lesson in perserverance
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, what a day.
By the time naptime rolled around today, I'd cleaned up four wet accidents (thankfully all but one of them happened on the kitchen floor) and we hadn't had a single success on the potty yet. I was ready to throw in the towel.
Rachel woke up around 7:00 this morning and immediately remembered that last night I showed her a Dora sticker chart and told her that tomorrow she'd be wearing big girl pants and using the potty, and if she used her potty she'd get to put a Dora sticker on her chart. She was so excited, and as soon as she remembered this morning, she asked to sit on the potty. So she did--for almost 45 minutes, the trooper! But nothing happened. I gave her apple juice. Nothing. We read books. Nothing. She drank milk and ate cheerios. Nothing. At one point she looked down and said, "Come on, pee pee!" Oh, how I wanted to give her one of those Dora stickers! She was trying so hard and wanted one so badly.
All morning she'd go to the potty as soon as I'd tell her to, sit for quite awhile, and do nothing. She'd get up to play some more and within a few minutes, produce a puddle on the floor. "Uh oh," she'd tell me.
Naptime came. I had her sit one more time and we read books (we normally read books before naptime, but usually it's in the rocking chair with her in my lap). I sat next to her on the bathroom floor, and she kept slowly inching her little bottom from the potty over to my lap. I'd move her back over to the potty, and slowly she'd make her way back over to my lap. Poor little girl--just wanted to be held. And I wanted to hold her. But not with a bare bottom which was a ticking time bomb. Finally I put a pull up diaper on her and let her sit and snuggle in my lap for a few minutes before bed. Ahhhhhhhhhh. Comfort and relief for both of us.
I was really hoping her pull up would be dry when I got her up. No such luck. When she got out of bed I put her on the potty, where she sat for about an hour (watching a video, so she was happy to sit still to watch). But nothing happened. Daddy came home and I left for a half hour or so to go the library (truth be told, I really needed to get out of the house!). While I was gone she had another accident. Daddy didn't do too well with that, I guess. She sat on the potty several times after that, but to no avail.
Now it's bedtime. No more chances for her sticker today. Poor little thing. She's been such a good sport and tried so hard all day. No tears or complaining, just asking every so often, "Can I have my sicker now?" My heart breaks as I have to tell her no, that she needs to use the potty first. She struggles to wiggle her pants down and sits back down to try some more, even without my telling her to. You can't fault her for not trying. It makes me so sad that she didn't get it.
So many times today I've wanted to just put a diaper on and have our happy day of play back. I want to hold her on my lap (without fear of getting wet). But I know I wouldn't be doing either of us any favors if I gave up now. I might have to, if we keep having unsuccessful days--maybe she just isn't ready--but I'm not quite ready to stop yet. Close, but not quite. Tomorrow is another day.
By the time naptime rolled around today, I'd cleaned up four wet accidents (thankfully all but one of them happened on the kitchen floor) and we hadn't had a single success on the potty yet. I was ready to throw in the towel.
Rachel woke up around 7:00 this morning and immediately remembered that last night I showed her a Dora sticker chart and told her that tomorrow she'd be wearing big girl pants and using the potty, and if she used her potty she'd get to put a Dora sticker on her chart. She was so excited, and as soon as she remembered this morning, she asked to sit on the potty. So she did--for almost 45 minutes, the trooper! But nothing happened. I gave her apple juice. Nothing. We read books. Nothing. She drank milk and ate cheerios. Nothing. At one point she looked down and said, "Come on, pee pee!" Oh, how I wanted to give her one of those Dora stickers! She was trying so hard and wanted one so badly.
All morning she'd go to the potty as soon as I'd tell her to, sit for quite awhile, and do nothing. She'd get up to play some more and within a few minutes, produce a puddle on the floor. "Uh oh," she'd tell me.
Naptime came. I had her sit one more time and we read books (we normally read books before naptime, but usually it's in the rocking chair with her in my lap). I sat next to her on the bathroom floor, and she kept slowly inching her little bottom from the potty over to my lap. I'd move her back over to the potty, and slowly she'd make her way back over to my lap. Poor little girl--just wanted to be held. And I wanted to hold her. But not with a bare bottom which was a ticking time bomb. Finally I put a pull up diaper on her and let her sit and snuggle in my lap for a few minutes before bed. Ahhhhhhhhhh. Comfort and relief for both of us.
I was really hoping her pull up would be dry when I got her up. No such luck. When she got out of bed I put her on the potty, where she sat for about an hour (watching a video, so she was happy to sit still to watch). But nothing happened. Daddy came home and I left for a half hour or so to go the library (truth be told, I really needed to get out of the house!). While I was gone she had another accident. Daddy didn't do too well with that, I guess. She sat on the potty several times after that, but to no avail.
Now it's bedtime. No more chances for her sticker today. Poor little thing. She's been such a good sport and tried so hard all day. No tears or complaining, just asking every so often, "Can I have my sicker now?" My heart breaks as I have to tell her no, that she needs to use the potty first. She struggles to wiggle her pants down and sits back down to try some more, even without my telling her to. You can't fault her for not trying. It makes me so sad that she didn't get it.
So many times today I've wanted to just put a diaper on and have our happy day of play back. I want to hold her on my lap (without fear of getting wet). But I know I wouldn't be doing either of us any favors if I gave up now. I might have to, if we keep having unsuccessful days--maybe she just isn't ready--but I'm not quite ready to stop yet. Close, but not quite. Tomorrow is another day.
Sunday, January 04, 2009
t-minus 11 hours and counting...
...until we embark on the potty training adventure of 2009.
Starting tomorrow morning there will be no more diaper changing.... just messes to clean up. I've contemplated just letting her run around with no pants on, but I don't think she'd like that very much, so I'll put her in her cloth training pants (she calls them "big girl pants") and we'll see what happens. I have apple juice boxes for her to have to make her have to go more often, (these are a big treat because she normally only drinks milk or water, and she loves the boxes) and I plan to put her on the potty every 30 minutes so she can hopefully have some success. It's going to be a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooong day, but hopefully by doing it this way, instead of with pull ups, she'll get the idea faster, since who wants to wear wet underwear????
Make that a loooooooooooooooooooong week: I've purposely left this week's schedule clear, and my one agenda item is to stay home and put her on the potty. Anything else that gets done is icing on the cake, in my mind. Wish us luck. Here we go!
Starting tomorrow morning there will be no more diaper changing.... just messes to clean up. I've contemplated just letting her run around with no pants on, but I don't think she'd like that very much, so I'll put her in her cloth training pants (she calls them "big girl pants") and we'll see what happens. I have apple juice boxes for her to have to make her have to go more often, (these are a big treat because she normally only drinks milk or water, and she loves the boxes) and I plan to put her on the potty every 30 minutes so she can hopefully have some success. It's going to be a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooong day, but hopefully by doing it this way, instead of with pull ups, she'll get the idea faster, since who wants to wear wet underwear????
Make that a loooooooooooooooooooong week: I've purposely left this week's schedule clear, and my one agenda item is to stay home and put her on the potty. Anything else that gets done is icing on the cake, in my mind. Wish us luck. Here we go!
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