Dear Followers

I have decided to blend all my blogs into one, so please come and follow me at Jeneral Mom

Started a new blog

As the intro post says, I have been feeling directionless since losing my job, becoming a SAHM, and putting my Ph.D. on hiatus and I wanted to set a goal for myself that wasn't about the kids, but could include them. So, I have set a challenge for myself to make a homemade product for 365 days. I would love some support (followers) and maybe to have people play along when I set up some challenges (like asking people to make something homemade on Thursdays and post about it).

homemade365.blogspot.com

The rundown

Bullet pointed list to explain my lack of posting:

1. I rolled my ankle at the park 3 weeks ago. I have a freakishly high tolerance to pain (yeah, I'm the chick who dilated to 9cms without knowing it) so I went two weeks in what I consider "pain" and then tought it would be a good idea to have it checked out in case it is broken. Not broken, but the ligament is ripped off the bone, and will take another 7 weeks to heal, so I am in a brace, am supposed to stay off my feet, not drive too much, and not do any weight bearing (hello ankle, have you met my life...not going to happen).
2. Miss L. keeps me on my feet (dear L., see drs. orders from above. Oh, you don't care, okay then). Not only does she speed crawl and stand up, but she has started walking while holding on, and recently discovered the ability to climb up the stairs. Also, she will eat anything so must be watched constantly...she even stuck her tongue in an electrical outlet. P-Daddy refers to this as "the infant stage of imminent danger".
3. we've had alot of birthdays (C, X, and me) and we are planning a big birthday bash on the 12th. Now, I just have to find or make a dragon pinata, and come up with quests.
   

Things I never imagined saying....

X - "Mommy, can we have some carob chips?"
Me - "Sure"
S - "I'll get them; where are they?"
Me - "In the freeze, next to the placenta."

Pity my children, poor poor things. I think they will be scared for life from some of the wacko, hippy things I do. But, they are still eating the carob chips.

blah

'nuf said......

Blogging is hard:

1) with kids who like to eat and drink and pee and have needs that only you can meet;

2) while nursing...it is hard to type one handed while defending the keyboard against marauding little hands;

3) when you want to be substantive but your brain pretty much works on one or two word sentences like "food good", "one moment", "not now", "must sleep".

4) when you wish you were witty or clever, or even a little bit interesting, but all you can muster up is anecdotes about kids and poop.

Now for the good news, I have the blogging bug back and will be true to my bloggie self and work on this blog as well as the others I have planned.

Mixing things up

My friend Dawn is one of the most creative (and giving) people I know. Sure, she is a little manic about changing the look of her blog all the time, but hey, she is a graphic designing wiz, so you have to cut her some slack :) Well, her shop is now a free shop wherein she makes the cutest blog designs and then gives them to the world for free. So, I have had this same blog design since I started and while I love it, I feel the need for some creative mixing things up, so I am going to start using Dawn's designs on this blog and rotating them. I am in the process of setting up a number of other blogs which I will use Dawn's designs for as well (or um, maybe beg her for some specific designs). Once they are up and ready I will post links.

P-Daddy is home from Hawaii and I have a pork roast in the oven (with a mustard rub and lots of garlic cloves in it), Chardonnay chilling in the fridge, Meritage breathing out on the counter (in case we can't decide between red or white), and garlic green beand waiting to be made.

Today is a good day.

Just for the specs: I am first going to try out "calming down" layout that Dawn posted today. Please check out her designs at Almost Ready Blogs.

Hawaii....and stuff

P-Daddy has been in Hawaii for about a week now. Things are going better than expected here (which is to say we have all survived intact) but we are looking forward to him coming home on Sunday. Apparently, I will be going back there in 5 years to renew our vows (at the Turtle Bay resort on the North Shore), so yippeee, something to look forward to. The kids have all been feeling crappy and S has missed 3 days of school. I am forcing him to go today so that he can pick up his missed homework (yes, in Kindergarten).

The drybed creek at the park we go to for Homeschool Day was flooded this week and was up to about the kids knees. They all had a great time wading in the water, building a rock bridge with the older kids, and playing with their friends...that is until C tripped and fell into the water. Then, I had to strip them all down and head home. Thank goodness I didn't get pulled over, because three scantily clad children and a perfectly warm and cozy baby may have been tricky to explain. No pictures from the park as the camera is on vacation in paradise.

We have been looking after Otto Doggy while RR, AC, SRC, and LRC are also in Hawaii. We go over three times a day and spend an hour or so with him. Pretty much all he wants to do is cuddle on the couch (which is nice) and the kids are having fun. Granted, I am obsessively vacuuming their house everyday because they have a Dyson and I miss my Dyson so it is like vacuum therapy.

Time to go see if S still has a fever or if I can force him to go to school.

Shout out to Penn State!!! Hi Ellen!!

Is this weird?

Is it weird that I haven't been blogging because I have been planning other blogs? Is that kind of like cheating on my blog? I will detail those more later. I am sneaking a few seconds on the Internet without someone demading I feed them or get off the computer so they can play PBSKids.com (damn you P-Daddy for showing them how to play educational computer games). Okay, honestly I am just suffering from some pretty severe exhaustion. Miss L has decided that she can not possibly go more than 45 mins between nursings so my night goes something like this:

7pm - insert breast in baby's mouth. Leave it there until 9pm when I try to lay her down.
9:15pm - stick boob back in.
9:30pm - lay her back down and desperately hope she sleeps
10:15pm - feel her crawl back onto me and demand just a little nightcap.
repeat until 4:45am when alarm goes off, I give up, go downstairs and start my day.

We have also been having some pretty serious discussions about pulling S out of school, and have come to the conclusion that X will be homeschooled because there is no way, with his personality, that he would last in a class setting. Now he wants a uniform with a purple shirt and blue or khaki pants.

Mostly, I have been doing research and planning for a low-carb diet for X and me. After reading Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution (on the recommendation of my friend, April) I have to finally suck it up and treat my combo of hypoglycemia and insulin resistance. Also, I can fuck with my body as much as I want, but I have no right to screw X up. So, I will treat his hypoglycemia until he is out on his own, and makes his own decisions. My endocrinologist wanted me to do the 1st phase of South Beach to reset my pancreas, but I think I will do my own combo of Dr. B, South Beach, and things from Nourishing Traditions and Body Ecology.

Busy, busy, busy

We have been crazy busy trying to adjust to this school thing, partying with all of our friends (many, many of whom have recently had or will soon have B-Day parties), and trying to establish a working schedule for those of us left at home.

L is desperately trying to crawl and gets really frustrated when she can't, so she has been super attached recently.

I signed up to market wines for a winery in Napa. I have my own business called Time Out Wine and do in-home wine tastings for people...at least I will once I get everything started. I will have a blog for that too.

Honestly, I have just been really uninspired to write anything. It rained several days last week and everything seems fresh and new, so I will try to write again.

P-Daddy B-Day

Today is P-Daddy's B-day. He took the day off work so we could go and do something fun, but then we all remembered that S goes to school now and it would be unfair to do something as a family without him. So we are at home watching movies. S and I will go to pick up the needed items to make him the Apple Pie he requested in lieu of cake after school.

Here is a cute little video of L dancing with P-Daddy. The sound is messed up so you may want to mute your volume.

Yum - Fermented Foods

I LOVE fermented foods (yoghurt, buttermilk, kefir, kombucha, kimchi, sauerkraut, etc.) and have seriously been considering refining our diets (especially mine, Spencer's and Xavier's) based on the Body Ecology Diet.

Cultures for Health is having a great giveaway right now for free starters. I am psyched about entering. Go to Kelly the Kitchen Kop for details.

I already make our own yoghurt, cottage cheese, bread and most baked goods, so I am not worried about all the fermenting required by the diet. More later when I finally decide what I am doing.

My love of clogs

So, as a child of the '70s I have an abiding love of clogs. In fact, when I became a very strict vegetarian, my leather clogs were the one thing I refused to throw/give away. They were finally done in by R-dog when he was a puppy, yet I continued to hold on to them for sentimental reasons. I also love high heels, but cannot wear them safely - I am hypermobile which means my joints pop in and out of place really easily, so walking in heels generally means 1)take a step, 2)have ankle pop out , 3)shift weight to pop ankle back in, 4)step with other foot and repeat. I eaither have to wear high heel boot with thick heels or if I am lucky something with a strap.

I was reading Angry Chicken this morning and she had a post about a dress and clogs. I followed the link to Swedish Hasbeens and I AM IN LOVE. I want one of everything in every colour...so not going to happen as they price out at about $170USD each. Oh, to dream the impossible dream. I particularly love these:


Now all I need is stylish clothes and my old smokin' hot body back to go with the shoes. Actually I like these ones too,and I think they would be super cute with this dress from A Green Banana at Etsy, but I don't yet have enough body confidence back to wear something like this.


Well, this is the kind of post you get when I've had 2hrs of sleep because L nursed from 8:30pm to 2:30am, slept for about 2hrs, nursed until 7:30am, took an hour nap and has had to be nursed or held since then....yes, I'm blogging one handed. No, she won't take a pacifier nor a bottle.

I think I might need to watch my language....

I was playing around with the girls the other day and teasingly called them fussy britches, when all of a sudden I hear S yell from the other room "don't call my sisters fucking bitches!" Yeah, this tells me I swear a wee bit too much.

note - I have never, ever called my daughters fucking bitches...I reserve that for crazy ass women drivers who cut me off while I'm barreling down the 1604 at 70mph (app.110kmph).

Menu Monday

L is being amused by S - she is sitting in her Bumbo, which is in an empty laundry basket and he is pushing her around - so I have a minute to post.

Monday - bean and cheese wraps
Tuesday - curried green peas and potatoes over rice
Wednesday - veggie tomato soup
Thursday - sweet mango mahi mahi (for P, X, and C) and mango tofu (for me and S) over couscous
Friday - pirogies with tomato sauce and veggies
Saturday - tacos
Sunday - pulled pork fajitas

I have a crazy, busy week coming up so not sure how much I will be able to post.

Bad, blogger! Bad, Bad, Blogger!

Sorry, I have been MIA. I have been doing alot of research on the business (or businesses) I am thinking of starting. Add to that a major L growth spurt and I have essentially been either engrossed in research or tied to a nursing baby.

One thing this week - had my second ever panic attack. The first one was at Kinder roundup at the local public elementary, and the second was in Walmart on Sunday, Kindergarten supply list in hand, battling it out with the other moms for the last 6-pack of glue sticks. I have issues, major major issues. And, damn, why do I have to spend so much money supplying a class that my tax dollars are supposed to cover - a sack of paper plates; seriously? Two rolls of paper towels; really? Construction paper for everyone to share; come on!!!!

Eventhough we have decided to let S attend the Science Academy he was accepted into, he has asked to also be homeschooled, so we will be doing afterschooling on the subjects he either won't get or won't get in depth, as well as extra practice in subjects he does get. X is very upset that S is going without him, so I will be doing much more homeschooling with him than I had previously planned. Most pre-K and K but very light heartedly because he is like me - if he doesn't think get something perfect the first time he freezes and doesn't want to try (sorry sweatheart, my paralyzing perfectionism and self-doubt were not traits I wanted to pass on to anyone). I will post our new schedule once I figure it out.

L needs me again, so gotta go. And, as I said on my Facebook account, I am saddened by the fact that there is absolutely no sexual connotation to the thought of having my boobs in someone's mouth all night. One day they will be purely decorative again, but for now their true function is answering the call of the distress call of the hungry boobie bird.

L's 5-month stats

So, I finally took L to a doctor to get her vaccinations. She has been extremely healthy and I didn't want to take her to a doctor during the swine flu scare, and then, well, I just haven't done it. So, the kids and I packed up, drove to the docs and she got a check up. She is wonderfully healthy, and had a great time until the shots - at which point she looked at me with the most betrayed look I have ever seen. We came home and she slept for 4 hours, but when she woke up she forgave me.

Her stats:

Height - somewhere between 27 and 28 inches. She kept moving her leg and so we took the only measurement we could get accurately (which was 27inches) but the nurse thinks she may be taller. SO, that is somewhere between the 97th and 100th percentile.

Weight - she weighs about 15lbs 8ozs. That puts her somewhere around the 60th percentile.

So, based on those two measurements, looks like she will have X's body type - tall and thin. S and C are very proportional in height/weight - his height and weight have always been the same percentile and C is always about the same with weight being higher than height.

Her head is 16inches, which puts her in the 20th percentile - I find this funny because the boys always had big heads (with percentiles higher than weight or height). Guess we'll just see how big her head gets.

Sorry for the absence

Yikes, it has been a long time, eh? The last two weeks have been crazy.

On Saturday the 11th, X went to his first Batizado for capoeira and received his first ranking cord. It was incredible to watch the advanced students and Mestres play, and I was thrilled that X was able to participate. We were also happy for our friends JR and KR who also got cords. P-Daddy wants to take capoeira up so he can do handstands and bounce up and down on one hand.



Sunday was S's birthday and we had a Star Wars-themed party for him with homemade lightsabers (note to self: arming masses of children with weapons results in absurd amounts of chaos), lightsaber decorated cake and tons of fun.



On Tuesday, baby Martyn was born to our friends Jac and Joanna. Can't wait to see him! Then on Friday, baby Charlotte (Charlie) was born to our friends Kris and Brandon. Welcome to both of them. On the same day an old friend of mine (Max from CEGEP) became an uncle for the first time to little Laila (another L name).

Charlotte Young

Also, we found out that S got accepted into Harmony Science Academy - a magnet school in our district that has very strict academics and a concentration on science, math and reading. I was very conflicted because I was looking forward to homeschooling him, but he asked to try it out. He also said that he still wants to be homeschooled and do all the fun things we planned, so our educational journey has gone from homeschooling to afterschooling. I will probably concentrate on things he won't get in school (or only a little of) like history, geography, languages in the earlu grades like Latin and Greek, art and music history, and then just extra practice in literature, math, science, vocabulary, spelling and handwriting.

Thursday, I threw a Tutu party. A bunch of us moms got together and made tutus. It was a hoot and the little ladies got some pretty tutus.


Then Saturday, S and P-Daddy went out for S's birthday treat - lunch, movie and toy shopping. I have been spending my time coming up with business proposal for what I want to do once my stupid cheque from the moving company gets here (anyone else think 5 weeks is a little much to wait for a cheque?)

Homeschool Tuesday - learning when you are sick

Spencer and Xavier have been working their way through Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, but they are finding the early lessons too easy and we are going through several in one sitting. However we have been struck down with a fever that is going around so formal lessons have stopped until the kids are all well. While they are not up to par, they are watching the

Leap Frog DVDs (which I cannot recommend highly enough) in place of reading lessons,









Zaboomafoo for nature study and









Magic School Bus DVDs for science.

Menu Monday

Sorry this is late - we lost Internet, cable and phone last evening for about 4hrs - I think due to the "storm".

Monday - Israeli Couscous with Pesto, almonds, onions and honey goat cheese.
Tuesday - Roasted Veggies with Italian seasoned Barley (I found a bunch of great squashes and peppers at a roadside veggie stand)
Wednesday - Split Pea soup with homemade bread
Thursday - Mexican-inspired Lasagna
Friday - Quinoa, Avocado, cranberry wraps
Saturday - Tacos (veggie crumbles, guacamole, tomatoes, onions, salsa, cheese, sour cream)
Sunday - Spencer's B-Day with a party during the day so if we want to eat dinner after the party is over I will have veggie hotdogs and regular hotdogs - I'm guessing we won't actually be eating dinner.

As you can see there are two carry over meals from last week.