Today I went in to the dentist to have my tooth extracted. Yesterday I had an x-ray done and we found out that the tooth was very badly decayed and pressing on the nerve. I was pretty sure that was the problem, having had a number of sleepless nights due to the pain over the past few months. It has been getting progressively worse, so it was time to get it taken care of.
I do love the dental office that was recommended to us by a friend. I guess there is one in town that most of our church members like, but my friend said he tends to "find" lots of problems and this other dentist was better. The tip was a good one. I really liked that they didn't make my decisions for me and just gave me all of the options. They were leaning toward root canal, but didn't make me feel bad for picking extraction. I told one of the receptionists that I'm mad at the tooth anyway, so it could go!
Rob dropped me off for my appointment (I was on an asap list and got in today, Praise the Lord!) and he took the kids to the store to stock up on soft things for me to eat, like rice pudding and Ben and Jerry's. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the dentist has massage chairs, so I had a light massage during the whole ordeal. I was repeatedly numbed (but not quite enough b/c they had to give me more...red heads usually need more pain meds than most other patients.) Then the dentist and his assistant came in. I felt like I was part of a comedy routine at times b/c the dentist noticed a funny commercial on the tv and kept talking about people doing self-dentistry and describing it in detail. He and his assistant had a merry time talking about it while he loosened up my tooth. None of it was too pleasant, but the actual pulling was the worst. I was gripping the arm rails and digging my heels into the chair trying to keep myself from running out of the room. The top half of the tooth popped off and hit my in the shoulder. THEN he had to get the root out! He found it funny that the tooth "ran away" and said it was better off on the floor than in my mouth :) He also said that proves how decayed it was.
When he finally finished, he informed me I had to come back to have the sutures removed. I was wishing for dissolvable stitches, but no such luck. I'll go back next week and I'll also have an x-ray done for the other side. I have a tooth that needs filling, but he wants to be sure that's all it needs.
Overall, I haven't felt too bad today. He had given me a prescription for pain killers yesterday to help me out until I had the tooth removed, so I still have them and have faithfully taken them today. The bleeding is almost done and I've had a "yummy" diet of mashed potatoes and various puddings. Rob had a cheeseburger for lunch and I almost had to leave the room...it smelled so good! He said he'll treat me to one after I heal up. I remember eating a bagel sandwich in front of him after he had his wisdom teeth removed, so I guess turn about is fair play. I should be okay in a couple of days, but I have to wait two weeks before playing any wind instruments, according to the info I got. Guess I'll have to wait to take up the clarniet....
All in all, not too bad, but I have learned my lesson. I will faithfully go to the dentist from here on out. Matthew and I even had a talk about how I might have avoided this if I'd gone to the dentist. He'll make his first trip soon and I want it to be pleasant for him.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Free Dental Care???
So today I went to the dentist to have a tooth looked at. I loved the office, the dental assistants, and the dentist himself. I was very impressed with their facilities, their level of care, and the fact that they discussed all options with me, including prices, and left all decisions up to me.
What impressed me the most, however, was the bill. I was looking it over to see the specific charges. $55 for the office visit, $23 for the partial x-ray, and $0 for the tooth ache. Yup, that's right, my tooth ache was free. Now that's service! :)
What impressed me the most, however, was the bill. I was looking it over to see the specific charges. $55 for the office visit, $23 for the partial x-ray, and $0 for the tooth ache. Yup, that's right, my tooth ache was free. Now that's service! :)
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Our weak
No, that's not a spelling error in the title. It's rather how I have felt all week long. I've had many health issues to deal with this week, leaving me very weak today. I have had severe tooth aches, so bad that I got only 4-5 hours of sleep in a 48 hour period on Monday and Tuesday, I caught Anna's cold/virus/weird baby thing and that makes me tired, my wrist has been acting up again, and there's probably something else that I missed. Blah....
However, God has been so good to us in spite of my weakness. Or maybe through it. I have had a much sweeter attitude toward the kids, my own as well as my three-year-old Tiny Trackers. I have been too weak to combat some issues with the kids and found alternative ways to have fun with them. We changed our whole school approach and it's working. Ben has been a sweeter child as well. So while my body is very tired, the rest of me is doing just fine.
I mentioned we've changed schooltime, and it's been for the better. I have always had the intent of unschooling the children but thought it best to use a more ecclectic approach for a few years. That has been thrown out the window. I'm unschooling now. We do have a time we call "schooltime" and we learn a Bible verse (the TT verse for the week), we read books, we talk about the "subjects" of the week from the book I'm following, and we do a craft or activity. Matthew then works on his reading lessons. But I also catch teachable moments (thank you, Mr. Heaton) throughout the day and they learn more that way. For example, Matthew found a quarter yesterday which led to a discussion about George Washington and Mount Vernon. We looked at my guidebook from my visit there for a bit and now he has a brief understanding of GW. That's the stuff we do all day long. You might think, "Hey, I do/have done that same stuff with my kids!" Then you have unschooled them. For us, it's more about catching the teachable moments and keeping their curiousity alive until they are able to do things on their own. I plan to get some more educational games and math manipulatives around here, but for now we are going to forgo any textbook-type material to teach them. For more info on the subject of unschooling, check out The Unschooling Handbook by Mary Griffith. Unschooling just seems to fit our family so much better than other homeschooling methods.
Rob's birthday was on Tuesday and we had a nice, quiet day at home. I had a bit of money from renting out some of Rob's textbooks, so I treated him to a Hardee's breakfast. We had pizza for lunch and for supper we went to the grocery store and each picked out something fun to eat. Kind of weird, but easier to manage than taking him to a restaurant with three small children. We also got our new washer that day, so he had a toy to play with :) And, just to round out his exciting day, we filed our taxes. That may be the time when parents are most thankful for their children....
Otherwise, it's been a pretty quiet week. The Custom Shoppe, where Rob works, is cutting down to 32 hour weeks now from 36 (from 40....). At least he's still employed, but I told him he works for a communist company. You know, spread the wealth out enough so that every gets something, but it's still not enough. He found that pretty amusing.
However, God has been so good to us in spite of my weakness. Or maybe through it. I have had a much sweeter attitude toward the kids, my own as well as my three-year-old Tiny Trackers. I have been too weak to combat some issues with the kids and found alternative ways to have fun with them. We changed our whole school approach and it's working. Ben has been a sweeter child as well. So while my body is very tired, the rest of me is doing just fine.
I mentioned we've changed schooltime, and it's been for the better. I have always had the intent of unschooling the children but thought it best to use a more ecclectic approach for a few years. That has been thrown out the window. I'm unschooling now. We do have a time we call "schooltime" and we learn a Bible verse (the TT verse for the week), we read books, we talk about the "subjects" of the week from the book I'm following, and we do a craft or activity. Matthew then works on his reading lessons. But I also catch teachable moments (thank you, Mr. Heaton) throughout the day and they learn more that way. For example, Matthew found a quarter yesterday which led to a discussion about George Washington and Mount Vernon. We looked at my guidebook from my visit there for a bit and now he has a brief understanding of GW. That's the stuff we do all day long. You might think, "Hey, I do/have done that same stuff with my kids!" Then you have unschooled them. For us, it's more about catching the teachable moments and keeping their curiousity alive until they are able to do things on their own. I plan to get some more educational games and math manipulatives around here, but for now we are going to forgo any textbook-type material to teach them. For more info on the subject of unschooling, check out The Unschooling Handbook by Mary Griffith. Unschooling just seems to fit our family so much better than other homeschooling methods.
Rob's birthday was on Tuesday and we had a nice, quiet day at home. I had a bit of money from renting out some of Rob's textbooks, so I treated him to a Hardee's breakfast. We had pizza for lunch and for supper we went to the grocery store and each picked out something fun to eat. Kind of weird, but easier to manage than taking him to a restaurant with three small children. We also got our new washer that day, so he had a toy to play with :) And, just to round out his exciting day, we filed our taxes. That may be the time when parents are most thankful for their children....
Otherwise, it's been a pretty quiet week. The Custom Shoppe, where Rob works, is cutting down to 32 hour weeks now from 36 (from 40....). At least he's still employed, but I told him he works for a communist company. You know, spread the wealth out enough so that every gets something, but it's still not enough. He found that pretty amusing.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
The Inauguration
Here at the Litwiller homestead, we had a great time watching the inauguration. It was rather thrilling for all members of the family. We need change. The old was getting worn down, tired, and smacks of a different era entirely. The new represents progress, enlightenment, and a departure from the decript ways of the old. It is too bad the the old left the new with such a huge mess to clean up, but the new is young and up for the challenge.
What? You think I'm talking about Bush and Obama? No way, man. We had bigger things going on around here. We got our new washing machine today! Yup, no more avocado green for us. We have a beautiful, state-of-the-art Whirlpool machine with all kinds of bells and whistles. Good thing, too, because the laundry was piling up around here.
What? You think I'm talking about Bush and Obama? No way, man. We had bigger things going on around here. We got our new washing machine today! Yup, no more avocado green for us. We have a beautiful, state-of-the-art Whirlpool machine with all kinds of bells and whistles. Good thing, too, because the laundry was piling up around here.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Ugh
That's my reaction to this past week. Just a great, big UGH. We went back to our family's "regular" or school schedule, but instead of just Rob going back to school and work, we all decided it was time for a schedule change.
Anna woke up shortly after midnight on Monday (or Sunday night, for the non-literalists) and didn't really go back to sleep. Turns out, she was sick. Now, I have no idea what the illness was, but she was cranky for several days, slept at odd times, woke up a lot at night, was warm but had no registerable fever, and had gook coming out of her eyes. I will label it as "weird baby virus" since we moms know that we spend the first year or so of our babies lives wondering what's wrong with them and never diagnosing a problem. Since her sleep pattern was off, she was driving me nuts. I finally told her on Wednesday to pick a schedule and stay on it. She did: she now wakes up at 5:30am, naps around 9am for a half-hour, naps at 2pm for three hours, and goes to bed at 8:30. I'm not overly happy about the early wake-up call, but at least she's on a schedule and I REFUSE to mess with it now!
Benjamin is no longer napping. **sigh** I now have two of them awake in the afternoons, so that means two kids to keep occupied. We moved school time to afternoons during Anna's big nap and that helps, but it makes me tired. Ben is fine without a nap and falls asleep sooner at night. Let me explain that one: he goes to bed at the same time as always, but now he actually goes to sleep :)
Matthew is the same as always. I think he kind of misses our special time alone in the afternoons, but he's adjusting.
Rob and I had planned to get up at 6am starting on Monday to do our devotions and start the day w/o children. We did and we've been faithful to our plan, but it was very hard the first day after getting so little sleep. Anna now joins us in the mornings for what we have dubbed our not-so-quiet time. I'm just glad I have a set time for my devotions now that is managable for me. I know that once she naps less, she'll get up a little later in the morning so I can wait her out.
And we all had to get used to Rob being gone from 8-8 again. He does come home for lunch or break each day and the length of his stay depends on the day, ranging from 30 minutes to an hour. It helps a little, but not as much as I'd like :)
All week long, I was looking forward to a stamp workshop on Friday and I did get to go, Praise the Lord! We made a neat stationary box and cards and it was nice to spend three hours w/o children, just working on a hobby.
Otherwise, it was a very frustrating week overall. I know we'll be fine once we all get used to it, once Mommy comes up with a loose pattern to follow during the day, and now that I've realized I have to let go of all that I want to do during the day for myself. I asked Rob to give me an hour to two for myself on the weekends and he said he'd try. His workload is more intense this semester, so he will have to be at the library alot on Saturdays, but that's okay. I plan to leave town once a month to give him space. I feel more comfortable travelling alone with the kids now that Anna is older and Matthew can feed her in the backseat. He's such a good boy!
Just to add one more thing to our difficult week, our washing machine is giving up the ghost. Well, it does still work, but that's the problem. It never stops washing the clothes. Rob ran a load one evening and when I went to move the clothes to the dryer the next day, it was still going. Since it's very old (avocado green!) we bought a new one today. When our appliances break, they like to go out with style! (See phantom VCR story from last year)
God is good. All the time. Even in a rough week. It's always darkest before the dawn, so I'm looking for a better week coming up. I have a few ideas on how to improve our new schedule so we'll see if they work. If not, I might consider joining the circus. I figure it won't be much different than where I live now!
Anna woke up shortly after midnight on Monday (or Sunday night, for the non-literalists) and didn't really go back to sleep. Turns out, she was sick. Now, I have no idea what the illness was, but she was cranky for several days, slept at odd times, woke up a lot at night, was warm but had no registerable fever, and had gook coming out of her eyes. I will label it as "weird baby virus" since we moms know that we spend the first year or so of our babies lives wondering what's wrong with them and never diagnosing a problem. Since her sleep pattern was off, she was driving me nuts. I finally told her on Wednesday to pick a schedule and stay on it. She did: she now wakes up at 5:30am, naps around 9am for a half-hour, naps at 2pm for three hours, and goes to bed at 8:30. I'm not overly happy about the early wake-up call, but at least she's on a schedule and I REFUSE to mess with it now!
Benjamin is no longer napping. **sigh** I now have two of them awake in the afternoons, so that means two kids to keep occupied. We moved school time to afternoons during Anna's big nap and that helps, but it makes me tired. Ben is fine without a nap and falls asleep sooner at night. Let me explain that one: he goes to bed at the same time as always, but now he actually goes to sleep :)
Matthew is the same as always. I think he kind of misses our special time alone in the afternoons, but he's adjusting.
Rob and I had planned to get up at 6am starting on Monday to do our devotions and start the day w/o children. We did and we've been faithful to our plan, but it was very hard the first day after getting so little sleep. Anna now joins us in the mornings for what we have dubbed our not-so-quiet time. I'm just glad I have a set time for my devotions now that is managable for me. I know that once she naps less, she'll get up a little later in the morning so I can wait her out.
And we all had to get used to Rob being gone from 8-8 again. He does come home for lunch or break each day and the length of his stay depends on the day, ranging from 30 minutes to an hour. It helps a little, but not as much as I'd like :)
All week long, I was looking forward to a stamp workshop on Friday and I did get to go, Praise the Lord! We made a neat stationary box and cards and it was nice to spend three hours w/o children, just working on a hobby.
Otherwise, it was a very frustrating week overall. I know we'll be fine once we all get used to it, once Mommy comes up with a loose pattern to follow during the day, and now that I've realized I have to let go of all that I want to do during the day for myself. I asked Rob to give me an hour to two for myself on the weekends and he said he'd try. His workload is more intense this semester, so he will have to be at the library alot on Saturdays, but that's okay. I plan to leave town once a month to give him space. I feel more comfortable travelling alone with the kids now that Anna is older and Matthew can feed her in the backseat. He's such a good boy!
Just to add one more thing to our difficult week, our washing machine is giving up the ghost. Well, it does still work, but that's the problem. It never stops washing the clothes. Rob ran a load one evening and when I went to move the clothes to the dryer the next day, it was still going. Since it's very old (avocado green!) we bought a new one today. When our appliances break, they like to go out with style! (See phantom VCR story from last year)
God is good. All the time. Even in a rough week. It's always darkest before the dawn, so I'm looking for a better week coming up. I have a few ideas on how to improve our new schedule so we'll see if they work. If not, I might consider joining the circus. I figure it won't be much different than where I live now!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Kid Quotes
Heard over the last few days at our house:
Matthew was watching 101 Dalmations and he said, "Mommy, Cruella DeVil is not real." I said, "That's right, she's not." Matthew then said, "Mommy, if Cruelle DeVil WAS real, I'd be nervous."
Ben, Anna, and I had gone upstairs this morning so that I could get Anna dressed and he decided to go potty. While he was in the bathroom, he yelled out, "Mommy, you don't have a wee-wee. How do you go pee-pee without a wee-wee?" All I could do was laugh. Come on, the kid is not even three yet and he's already making these connections? He was distracted right away afterwards by a toy, so I didn't have to answer!
Rob was coming downstairs for devotions two days ago and heard Anna say "Da-da. Ba-ba, Da-da?" He turned around to pick her up and brought her down to eat. She's been getting up around 6am the past two mornings so we're having our not-so-quiet times.
Matthew was watching 101 Dalmations and he said, "Mommy, Cruella DeVil is not real." I said, "That's right, she's not." Matthew then said, "Mommy, if Cruelle DeVil WAS real, I'd be nervous."
Ben, Anna, and I had gone upstairs this morning so that I could get Anna dressed and he decided to go potty. While he was in the bathroom, he yelled out, "Mommy, you don't have a wee-wee. How do you go pee-pee without a wee-wee?" All I could do was laugh. Come on, the kid is not even three yet and he's already making these connections? He was distracted right away afterwards by a toy, so I didn't have to answer!
Rob was coming downstairs for devotions two days ago and heard Anna say "Da-da. Ba-ba, Da-da?" He turned around to pick her up and brought her down to eat. She's been getting up around 6am the past two mornings so we're having our not-so-quiet times.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
My right-hand man
Awhile back, I did some gushy mommy-love posts about Anna and Matthew. I think it's finally time for Ben's. It's been hard to feel the maternal rush of love for him because, well, he's two. If you have or have had a two-year-old, you know EXACTLY what I mean. He's caught between the world of a baby and a child and we're both struggling to decide where the lines of independence should be drawn. I have to keep reminding myself that Matthew was just as frustrating at this age and he's fine now.
All that being said, he is a great little guy. A few weeks ago, we had an ice storm and the sidewalk was very slick. I was in my dress shoes and needed some help getting to the car. Since Ben is always the last one ready (usually still working on socks when most of us are ready to head out the door) he became my little helper. Ever since then, he has declared it to be his job to help Mommy to the car. He talks to me the entire way and reminds me to be careful and elaborates about all of the terrible things that might happen if I fall. Here's a sample rambling of Ben's: "Mommy, you need to be careful on the ice. You don't want to slip and fall, noooo. You need to be careful so that you don't fall and hurt yourself. Yeah. The ice is very slippery..." and on it goes until we're both safely in the vehicle.
He also babbles to himself at night. Rob and I just sit on the couch and howl at his monologues. Matthew and Anna will be sound asleep, but Ben's just telling himself stories, reminiscing about the day, and I don't know what all else. We think that he might have an imaginary friend because I've heard him refer to someone several times as he rambles and it's a made-up name.
Ben still looks like a baby to me at times. He got some pale green jammies for Christmas and he looks like such a little guy in them. He also still has to have his blankie (or binkie, as he calls it). Thankfully, he only needs it when he goes to sleep.
He has to be a big boy, though, and he loves shoveling with Daddy. Rob bought the boys each a child-sized shovel and Ben makes the most of his. Matthew will shovel for a bit then abandon it to play, but Ben mainly stays right by Daddy to "help" get the snow from one pile to another :)
He is also taking more responsibility around here. He loves helping me with Anna and will fetch things that I need for her. It seems that the more independent I make him, the better behaved he is. I guess he's just ready to step up to the next level. I don't think I'm ready, but if it were up to me, children would never leave the newborn stage. I love my kids at every age, but I especially love newborns. Newborns with night-time nannies would be best....but I digress.
Benjamin is my sweet, little right-hand man. I just love him to pieces, even when he's being two.
All that being said, he is a great little guy. A few weeks ago, we had an ice storm and the sidewalk was very slick. I was in my dress shoes and needed some help getting to the car. Since Ben is always the last one ready (usually still working on socks when most of us are ready to head out the door) he became my little helper. Ever since then, he has declared it to be his job to help Mommy to the car. He talks to me the entire way and reminds me to be careful and elaborates about all of the terrible things that might happen if I fall. Here's a sample rambling of Ben's: "Mommy, you need to be careful on the ice. You don't want to slip and fall, noooo. You need to be careful so that you don't fall and hurt yourself. Yeah. The ice is very slippery..." and on it goes until we're both safely in the vehicle.
He also babbles to himself at night. Rob and I just sit on the couch and howl at his monologues. Matthew and Anna will be sound asleep, but Ben's just telling himself stories, reminiscing about the day, and I don't know what all else. We think that he might have an imaginary friend because I've heard him refer to someone several times as he rambles and it's a made-up name.
Ben still looks like a baby to me at times. He got some pale green jammies for Christmas and he looks like such a little guy in them. He also still has to have his blankie (or binkie, as he calls it). Thankfully, he only needs it when he goes to sleep.
He has to be a big boy, though, and he loves shoveling with Daddy. Rob bought the boys each a child-sized shovel and Ben makes the most of his. Matthew will shovel for a bit then abandon it to play, but Ben mainly stays right by Daddy to "help" get the snow from one pile to another :)
He is also taking more responsibility around here. He loves helping me with Anna and will fetch things that I need for her. It seems that the more independent I make him, the better behaved he is. I guess he's just ready to step up to the next level. I don't think I'm ready, but if it were up to me, children would never leave the newborn stage. I love my kids at every age, but I especially love newborns. Newborns with night-time nannies would be best....but I digress.
Benjamin is my sweet, little right-hand man. I just love him to pieces, even when he's being two.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
A Fun Family Day
We had a great day today just hanging out as a family. This morning Rob tried a new pancake recipe: cinnamon roll pancakes. They turned out pretty good. He doesn't usually experiment with bread-type things, but this was a good gamble. Then we straightened up the house and prepared to head off to McDonald's for the "no more diapers" celebration. Since our Mickey D's burned down a few months ago (and they are planning to rebuild it, we just discovered) we went to Jefferson, the nearest one with a Playland.
The boys haven't been to a McDonald's for several months now so Ben was a bit intimidated by the play structure. He's afraid of heights anyway, so he timidly made his way around the thing, getting rescued by a nice older girl at one point. Once he'd gone around to every area once, he chose the "safest" places to play. Matthew, on the other hand, was like watching a monkey swinging around his cage. Absolutely fearless! He was born in the year of the monkey, so I suppose it makes sense. :)
We left after about an hour and a half and went to Wal-Mart to make a few purchases and then we headed home. We had a great time this afternoon just hanging out together. The boys worked on growing crystals from a kit Matthew received for Christmas. Ben hasn't napped for the past two days and I might just keep him on that new schedule. He goes down earlier at night and sleeps in later, so it's not too bad. I might even move their school time to the afternoon when Anna is napping, since she's in the process of giving up her morning nap. I just love massive schedule changes.....
Anyway, we got pizza tonight from our favorite place...Ricos! They have reopened again and had large pizzas for $5 for the church family. (The owners are members of our church.) It's the best pizza in town, so it was a great deal. Then we hooked up the VCR and let the boys watch Lilo and Stitch for the first time. Matthew was so into the movie that I thought he was going to cry when Stitch left Lilo and when Cobra Bubbles was going to remove Lilo from her home. He loved the movie as much as Rob and I do (we laughed ourselves silly the first time we saw it!) I tried to find my talking Stitch, but I can't find him anywhere. You ask him questions and he talks back to you...very goofy, but alot of fun!
The kids are now heading to bed and it's just been a great day. Anna was so silly tonight and kept trying to entertain us by laying on her back and laughing and kicking her feet. She's a little ham for sure....no clue where she gets it from.
The boys haven't been to a McDonald's for several months now so Ben was a bit intimidated by the play structure. He's afraid of heights anyway, so he timidly made his way around the thing, getting rescued by a nice older girl at one point. Once he'd gone around to every area once, he chose the "safest" places to play. Matthew, on the other hand, was like watching a monkey swinging around his cage. Absolutely fearless! He was born in the year of the monkey, so I suppose it makes sense. :)
We left after about an hour and a half and went to Wal-Mart to make a few purchases and then we headed home. We had a great time this afternoon just hanging out together. The boys worked on growing crystals from a kit Matthew received for Christmas. Ben hasn't napped for the past two days and I might just keep him on that new schedule. He goes down earlier at night and sleeps in later, so it's not too bad. I might even move their school time to the afternoon when Anna is napping, since she's in the process of giving up her morning nap. I just love massive schedule changes.....
Anyway, we got pizza tonight from our favorite place...Ricos! They have reopened again and had large pizzas for $5 for the church family. (The owners are members of our church.) It's the best pizza in town, so it was a great deal. Then we hooked up the VCR and let the boys watch Lilo and Stitch for the first time. Matthew was so into the movie that I thought he was going to cry when Stitch left Lilo and when Cobra Bubbles was going to remove Lilo from her home. He loved the movie as much as Rob and I do (we laughed ourselves silly the first time we saw it!) I tried to find my talking Stitch, but I can't find him anywhere. You ask him questions and he talks back to you...very goofy, but alot of fun!
The kids are now heading to bed and it's just been a great day. Anna was so silly tonight and kept trying to entertain us by laying on her back and laughing and kicking her feet. She's a little ham for sure....no clue where she gets it from.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Hooray for Rob!
This morning, I went to our mom's group and Rob kept the kids home with him. He doesn't start school until next week and when I tried to volunteer him to be in the nursery (we're having trouble finding people so some of the mom's have been rotating turns in the nursery) he said he'd help by keeping ours at home. Good idea! By the time I got home, Ben was consistently peeing in the potty (standing even!) and had at least one bowel movement in there as well. Ben has finally gotten over his potty-anxiety and loves going potty now. Other than plying him with sweets each time he went, I'm not sure what Rob did, but I told him he can "babysit" anytime!
We found out this week that Rob only has to take six credits to finish his degree instead of nine. The other two classes he has already taken or are not necessary, so that's a praise.
Otherwise, we're doing pretty good. We're getting back into a normalish schedule after the holidays, althought it won't really be normal until Rob is back in school and we all adjust to his new work/school schedule.
And now I need to distract the 4-year-old by letting him on the computer to watch his Mickey Mouse.....
We found out this week that Rob only has to take six credits to finish his degree instead of nine. The other two classes he has already taken or are not necessary, so that's a praise.
Otherwise, we're doing pretty good. We're getting back into a normalish schedule after the holidays, althought it won't really be normal until Rob is back in school and we all adjust to his new work/school schedule.
And now I need to distract the 4-year-old by letting him on the computer to watch his Mickey Mouse.....
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Happy New Year!
Last night we had our little New Year's Eve party here at home. Rob came home from work around 8:30 and after his supper, he made funnel cakes. We all enjoyed them then played some Wii. We had rented "Boom Blox," a game where you knock down blocks in a logical manner and "Big Brain Academy", an IQ sort of thing. Boom Blox is supposed to be a great game, but we didn't care for it. The controls felt rather clumsy to us. We did like the other game (we're nerds so go figure.) Matthew has played some of it as well. We also played some Whack-A-Mole so that Ben didn't feel left out. He does play Wii with us sometimes and especially enjoys boxing, but these games were beyond him. Rated E for everyone does not actually include everyone :)
Anna went to bed at about 10:15pm. I hadn't intended to keep her up, but she was so happy that I decided to let her play longer. Matthew fell asleep on the couch between 10:30 and 11 and I carried him upstairs at 11:30 when I was ready to crash. Rob decided to call it quits at midnight, but Ben was ready to go! That child was as full of energy at midnight as he was when he first woke up! He did go to sleep easily, but I think he was ready to play until the wee hours of the morning. He was rather cranky this morning and is taking a longer nap to pay for it :)
Today we took the whole family on a massive Wal-Mart excursion. We all had gift cards to spend there and we thought a less crowded day would be a good time to go. I had a small list of needs for the boys (snowboots, pants, and underwear for the soon-to-be-potty-trained) and then let them give me ideas for the rest of their cards. They both ended up with a new DVD, fireman outfits, a hat for Ben, and a flashlight for Matthew. It was so fun to let them just get what they wanted and not have to say, "No, we can't afford that" or "wait until your birthday." They've been having lots of fun putting out fires today. Anna needed new sleepers, sippy cups, and I decided to get her some Gerber Graduates food. She does not like baby food and wants to feed herself, so I'm trying out different things. Her doctor said not to worry about her lack of eating: some babies don't eat solids until after a year and some have an aversion to the texture of pureed food. That seems to be Anna!
Rob and I were very responsible and replaced our old slow cooker and rice cooker. We had some other needs here and there and it all added up to a very boring spending of the gift cards. I am extremely thankful for the cards and that we could take care of our needs, but sometimes it's fun to be irresponsible and spend money on video games, movies, toys, and novelty t-shirts. I guess that's what I did with my birthday money (yes, I support Stampin UP!) so I've had my spree for the year. Good grief, even THAT was responsible! I used it to buy supplies for the Christmas cards....
Ah, what am I belly aching for? I don't think I could ever spend recklessly again anyway. I even have a hard time buying a soda at a fast food place b/c it costs the same as a 2-liter! Blah, blah, blah....
We're making our annual Litwiller New Year's Day Chinese dinner. We usually make one when we're home on New Year's Day....except for the year the D family came over. Mr. D. doesn't like Chinese so Rob made pizza. Let's just say barbeque sausage pizza was NOT a hit....
Time to go chop veggies and wrap egg rolls!
Anna went to bed at about 10:15pm. I hadn't intended to keep her up, but she was so happy that I decided to let her play longer. Matthew fell asleep on the couch between 10:30 and 11 and I carried him upstairs at 11:30 when I was ready to crash. Rob decided to call it quits at midnight, but Ben was ready to go! That child was as full of energy at midnight as he was when he first woke up! He did go to sleep easily, but I think he was ready to play until the wee hours of the morning. He was rather cranky this morning and is taking a longer nap to pay for it :)
Today we took the whole family on a massive Wal-Mart excursion. We all had gift cards to spend there and we thought a less crowded day would be a good time to go. I had a small list of needs for the boys (snowboots, pants, and underwear for the soon-to-be-potty-trained) and then let them give me ideas for the rest of their cards. They both ended up with a new DVD, fireman outfits, a hat for Ben, and a flashlight for Matthew. It was so fun to let them just get what they wanted and not have to say, "No, we can't afford that" or "wait until your birthday." They've been having lots of fun putting out fires today. Anna needed new sleepers, sippy cups, and I decided to get her some Gerber Graduates food. She does not like baby food and wants to feed herself, so I'm trying out different things. Her doctor said not to worry about her lack of eating: some babies don't eat solids until after a year and some have an aversion to the texture of pureed food. That seems to be Anna!
Rob and I were very responsible and replaced our old slow cooker and rice cooker. We had some other needs here and there and it all added up to a very boring spending of the gift cards. I am extremely thankful for the cards and that we could take care of our needs, but sometimes it's fun to be irresponsible and spend money on video games, movies, toys, and novelty t-shirts. I guess that's what I did with my birthday money (yes, I support Stampin UP!) so I've had my spree for the year. Good grief, even THAT was responsible! I used it to buy supplies for the Christmas cards....
Ah, what am I belly aching for? I don't think I could ever spend recklessly again anyway. I even have a hard time buying a soda at a fast food place b/c it costs the same as a 2-liter! Blah, blah, blah....
We're making our annual Litwiller New Year's Day Chinese dinner. We usually make one when we're home on New Year's Day....except for the year the D family came over. Mr. D. doesn't like Chinese so Rob made pizza. Let's just say barbeque sausage pizza was NOT a hit....
Time to go chop veggies and wrap egg rolls!
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