Grub and Green

Grub and green?

Ok.  I wanted to put two completely unrelated topics into one post because I'm just crazy (or lazy) like that.


First, the grub.

I didn't start Eve on cereal until she was just over 6 months old.  Some call it smart..some call it child abuse.  Oh well.  She's definitely not underdeveloped, and she's slept 11-13 hours a night since 6 weeks of age, so take that.  She is one crazy eater.  I don't even think 1/4 of the food actually makes it to her belly.  She refuses to be fed.  Sheeee wants to do it.  So independent already.  

This is what happens when you try to take the spoon away.  She scrunches up her face, and it transforms into a weapon.

She'd like you to believe she made a happy bowl.  Oh how she deceives.

Worn out from all that hard work.

I just wanted to share some of this cuteness.  I often forget to share tidbits about her because there are so many "Cade stories" to tell.  She is going to be just as big of a handful as he is.  She is aggressive, she is silly, and she can melt me with her eyes.  I'm in big trouble.

Now for the green.  We live in the country.  Some of the people we know think the subdivisions they live in 2 minutes from Dogwood are considered "country living".  Please.  When I say we live in the country...I mean coun-try.  Anyway, this is going to seem really silly to some of you, but to my neighbors, this is going to be a big deal for them, too.  This year was soybean rotation for the fields around our land.  Can I get a whoop! whoop!?  Know what this means?  No more dry, ugly, brownish yellow corn stalks to look at for months on end.  The corn grown around here is not for human consumption.  It's for animals.  It has to be dry, dry, dry to harvest. It's just gross.  

Here are a few pics of what I get to see when I walk out my door this season.  Oh...and as a bonus, you get to see the really cool storm the blew through yesterday.  The deep blue sky looked ahhhmazing against the fields, and the fluffy white clouds made my camera salivate.

To our left

Straight ahead

To our right

This is the first "non-corn" year since we moved here, so that's why I'm ecstatic.  Plus, being surrounded by corn is kinda creepy.  

Corn=creepy...Soybeans=happy...well, for now anyways.  

Our two nighter at Batson

I'm a little late on this, but I'm sure you'll understand.

Last Tuesday, my sweet baby was admitted to Blair E. Batson with difficulty breathing.  I've never had so much fear concerning the well-being of one of my kids!

I had a few errands to run before our Savannah trip (I'll have to save this ordeal for another day when the mention of this doesn't make me wan't to throw something, puke, or cry), so my granny offered to come and watch the kids at my house that morning.  Eve had a virus the week before, but she had been doing very well for a few days.  No fever.  No runny nose.  Very minimal coughing.  I thought she'd be fine without me for a while, and I definitely felt good about leaving her while Brandon and I got away for a few days.

So, after the tires were balanced and the prescriptions were refilled, I returned home to find a happy toddler and a very fussy baby.  She seemed pretty upset, but I could also tell that she was very tired.  So, I laid her back in her bed to finish out her nap.  After she'd slept an hour or so, I went in to check on her.  I could tell that she was breathing quicker than usual, but she was sleeping well, so I let her finish out her nap.  When she awoke, she was veeeerryy upset and couldn't seem to get her breath.  She was taking extremely short, shallow breaths, and she could only get enough air to make a noise every 20 seconds or so.  I called our doc, and after explaining the situation in full, the nurse told me to come on in.

Well, needless to say, after a couple of tests and an in-office breathing treatment, it was decided that she must be hospitalized.

Soooooo much went on in the hospital, it would take an hour to type it all.  Instead of using that time for typing instead of some much needed cleaning, I'm  just going to give you a rundown of the highlights : )

The first nurse was a neurotic mess.

Allen, the respiratory therapist is an awesome guy.  Definitely made up for the other quacks who tried my nerves.

At one point Eve was on oxygen, had an IV in her foot giving her Rocephin, and had a monitor taped to her foot.  Pi-ti-ful sight.

Doctor Adcock was great!  Highly recommend him.

Brandon and I slept on one of those pullout chairs...at the same time.  Not pretty.

I washed my hair in the in-room shower and after 20 minutes of rinsing, still had enough suds in my hair to make that crunch/bubbly sounds with I touched it.  Worst water pressure ever!

Our fourth nurse was great.  Loved Ashley!

At one point my dad, step mom, mom, brother, son, and sister were in the room while Brandon and I ate and grabbed stuff from home.  I've heard there are lots of stories there.

Our third respiratory therapist was a crazed smoker.  She had 3 asthmatic kids.  Imagine that. (P.S.  The doc is almost certain the smoke on my granny's clothes triggered the sudden lung inflammation.  So, a smoking therapist did not make me happy.)

After 3 prospective release times, we finally blew that joint just before lunch on the third day.

It was a crazy time.  Scary and trying.  I'm so happy to have a pretty healthy, slightly raspy/crackly baby at home now.

Like I said, I'll have to get back to you on the foiled Savannah trip.  It's just too soon.

Impromptu "picanit" on the trace

Ok.  Mental image.  It's Wednesday at 3:15 p.m..  My dishwasher is running and my sink is already full of more dirty dishes.  I've been at home with a sick baby and ca-ray-zy 2 year old for four days.  There are enough Mega Blocks on my living room floor to build an additional room onto our home, and I'm so tired I could just lean up against the wall and fall asleep.  Actually, if I could just stand still for a few minutes, I could probably doze off free-standing in the middle of the room.  On top of that, my sick "mild child gone wild child" thinks it's acceptable to go on a nursing strike.....agghhh!!!

You're getting the picture, right?  One tired, stressed mama.  All I really want to do is set out a bunch of snacks on the table and tell everyone to have at it and crawl into bed.  Instead, I think "Oh!  A picnic sounds nice!"  As crazy as this may sound, it was kind of a perfect idea.  My husband drives home on the Natchez Trace each day, so I got this idea to throw together a picnic and meet him on his way home.  Whew.  I forgot how much work a picnic is!  On top of that, I thought it would be a lovely time of day for some photo ops.  We have only taken one family "portrait" (I use that term very loosely), so I threw the camera and tripod into the heap of necessities, as well.  If you're going to take a family photo, you also have to wear decent clothes.  I start in Eve's dresser, since she's the one I really want to take the most pics of.  I've been slacking a bit : /.  I pulled out an outfit she'd never worn before, and then made my way to Cade's closet to coordinate.  I quickly found a green shirt (what was I thinking?) that went with the dress I'd picked out for her.  After successfully dressing the kids, I moved on to our closet to find something for us to wear.  Crap.  I couldn't find anything kind of neutral to "go" with the kids' clothes, so I just grabbed something and threw it on and tossed a shirt for Brandon onto the "heap".

Five trips to the van later, and we're off to some elusive destination.  On the way, I decide it may be a good idea to alert my husband to the fact that we would be meeting for a picnic.  "Where?"  he asked.  Ummmm....well, that's a good question.  Luckily, I found a nice spot not too far down the trace.  As I carefully maneuver my van onto the grass, I see these ENORMOUS bugs start appearing from all directions.  Seriously.  We were surrounded.  I was getting really worried, but as we drove closer to the water, they thinned out and the nice breeze kept them at bay.

Long story short...we ate mediocre sandwiches and snack foods, struggled, as always, with setting up the tripod to get a decent family shot (we just haven't broken down for a remote yet), and I snapped a few pics of the kids.

I usually don't mess with the color of my photos too terribly much, but since my crazy self put my son in a green shirt and snapped in an almost solid green background, I had to get a little creative.

All in all, it was a pretty pleasant evening.  I still returned to a wrecked home, but at least I didn't have to spend the whole evening in the disaster area.

Imma be livin' that good life

Okay.  This post is going to be a bit of a whirlwind.  Today was our fourth wedding anniversary.  I remembered while I was sitting at the dinner table with my two munchkins.  Some of you think I'm a lame wife...some of you can totally identify.  Ha.   Last year we remembered our anniversary one week later at the dinner table with my folks!  We're not big "date" people.  We forget peoples' birthdays, which we've caught plenty of flack over.  We forget when relatives died.  We forget lots of things.  I'll be the first to admit that my memory totally sucks.  I can barely recall any of my high school happenings....middle school and under are almost a complete wash.  


So, when I was sitting at the dinner table tonight and my 2 and 1/2 year old starts belting out "Imma be, imma be, imma imma imma be", I thought about the rest of that chorus.  Imma be livin' that good life.  I started thinking about my life, and bam!  I remembered my anniversary.  Then came the flood.  The sudden rush of memories and emotions that have made up these four years, and I had to discretely swipe tears so that my boy didn't get worried about his mama.  It's been a crazy journey thus far.  Here's just a sampling....

We've moved three times in these four years.  For some of you that's nothing.  For me, it's been really hard and has been a huge learning experience.  Clinton...Jackson...Pelahatchie.  Who knows where we'll end up next?  We've learned that some landlords like to patch pipes with 2 liter coke bottles and that others don't make good on their renovation promises.  We've learned that we're pretty much destined to have crappy neighbors who chainsmoke in their "smoke-free" rental, listen to Enya at 2 a.m.,  and allow their yappy mutts to gnaw on our legs.


We've learned that Ulcerative Colitis is an ugly disease.  We've learned that all doctors do not have positive intent, and we've learned that some are amazing, brilliant people who are totally into saving lives.  After two trips for me, and three for my husband, we've learned that Cleveland, OH just isn't a place we ever want to see again in this lifetime (love ya Cleveland Clinic...Cleveland snow and residents...not so much).  We've learned that meds can make us do and say bad things, that colonoscopy images are scary, and that ostomies can bring people closer than they ever thought possible.  We've also learned that living with a pseudo colon is a day-by-day learning experience...for all of us.


We've experienced the joy of bringing two babies into the world.  Oh what joy.  I'm going to start bawling right...about...now.  Yep bawling.  Our babies are uhmazing.  They love on us, inspire us, and frustrate us like no other beings can.  We've learned to be better people...better Christ followers because of them.  


We've enjoyed being free of baggage from previous relationships.  We were the firsts.  And anytime things get rough and I'm ready to bail, I remember how we were so perfectly made for one another...how we waited for one another.  


We've met new people and lost touch with people we thought we'd never distance ouselves from.  We've switched to a new church after spending a decade at another.  


We've held a total of at least 10 different jobs in these four years.  We've gone from being a dual-income family which struggled off and on to being a single-income family which budgets like nobody's business and cuts costs left and right.  


We've realized that we don't always get what we want, but we definitely get what we need....which is not always fun. 


We've come to understand that love is not just something you say.  It's a lifestyle.


We've learned it's ok to just "be" every once in a while.


And while writing this post, I've been reminded that I don't want to even imagine what my life would be like without him.


Happy Anniversary

Life with a nudist

My two and a half year old is officially a nudist.  He hates clothes.  Loathes them, in fact.  He definitely did not get this from me....must be from his dad : )  I guess he wants to be fair to all parts of his anatomy.  I mean, is it really fair that the eyes get all the enjoyment?  Why shouldn't every square inch of his skin enjoy all the sights and textures he encounters every day?  Here are just a few places/times he particularly enjoys being nude.

1.  Outside.  It's nothing for me to look out into the back yard only to find a nude child running around playing with the dog.  Most of the time, he'll maintain a shred of modesty by leaving his shirt on, but you can forget about bottoms staying on.  The thing that gets me the most, is that he sits in his sandbox this way.  Can you say ouch?  That cannot possibly be pleasant.  And what about bugs?  Aggghhh.  It makes my skin crawl just thinking about it.  If the neighbor relations weren't so strained, I'm sure we'd have complaints coming from them.  But, since they chose to allow their vicious mutt to return after his stay in the doggie joint, I guess it's only fair that we get to run a mini nudist colony.  

2.  On the couch.  The cold, cold "inherited from Brandon's pre-marriage days" leather couch.  He will strip down and promptly crawl up onto the couch to watch his "tartoons" in morning.  I guess even his "peewuh"...I think you can guess what that is in his language...likes Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  At least he has one other being in this house who shares that sentiment.  

3.  After his "showah wit daddeeee".  The child hates baths, so we've gotten into a routine where he takes showers with daddy at night.  After his shower, my husband throws a towel over the little nudist's shoulders and releases him from the bathroom.  He makes a beeline into the living room where I'm usually feeding the baby or taking a breather and yells "Tada!" while he simultaneously drops his towel, bearing all.  The kid never even uses a towel to dry off.  He air-dries.  I guess he's just keeping it all natural.  

4.  Random public places.  Now this has to be my absolute fav (this is dripping with sarcasm).  There's nothing like seeing a shirt flung from the left side of the stroller and instantly hearing a burst of giggles.  I stretch around the edge to look at him, and what do I find?  A beaming boy who is rubbing his chest and belly.  All the while, everyone else surrounding is either laughing or thinking "I'm sure he gets that from his mother.  There's no way he would just up and do a thing like that if he hadn't seen it modeled at home."  Well, little old ladies and uptight moms, I'm here to tell you that he did in fact start doing this on his own.  I haven't shed my shirt in public in years.  JUST KIDDING.  Never done such a thing.  

Bonus:

I wanted to throw in this incident which occurred yesterday.  In an attempt to get some editing done, I'd allowed him to take my phone into the living room to "pway games and make T wex".  Yes, he has his own apps on the phone.  Don't judge.  Those babies got me through a 2 1/2 hour wait at the doctor's office on Tuesday.  Take that.  Aaaaanyway...my darling walks in the room where I'm working away and says "Where's mommy's phone?" in the most mischievous tone I've ever heard from him.  Without glancing at him, I say "I don't know.  Where is it?"  Again, he asks me where the phone is.  I look over at him to see his pelvic region jutting forward in an unnatural stance.  Upon closer inspection, I also notice an odd shape in his underwear (yes, he actually had some on).  You guessed it.  He'd put my phone, the object I have to touch and allow my face to touch many times a day IN HIS UNDERWEAR!    Gross, I know.  But I couldn't stop laughing for a solid 2.41 minutes.  

Never a dull or fully-clothed moment in this house.  

It's not easy being green

First of all, I will throw this disclaimer out there...I am far from being completely green. I don't drive the most fuel efficient vehicle out there, I drink bottled water, and I use tons of paper towels. However, over the last year, I have tried to be very intentional about eliminating as much waste as I possibly could and slowly transitioning to a more organic diet. So, for today's post, I'm going to share a few of those ways.

1. Shopping organic- Let's be honest. Organic products are not cheap! I almost hyperventilated the first time I saw the $4.29 sticker sitting beneath Annie's Cheddar Bunnies at the grocery store. I mean, we'd been spending a dollar on Goldfish. How in the world would I be able to afford replacing all of my food with food that is four times as much? It took me a little while to realize...I wouldn't. There

was absolutely no way I could afford to pay full price for those precious little bunnies, and the thought of paying $7 bucks for apple juice was enough to give me palpitations. I realized there were certain foods which are more important to buy organic than others. Meat, for instance, is one thing that I try to buy organically. After watching Food Inc., I decided this was definitely one of the items I'd replace with organic products first. If you haven't seen Food Inc., you should watch it. I will warn you, though. Don't expect to be able to walk into your grocery store ever again without gagging or triple thinking every purchase! Like I said, the transition has been gradual, and we are faaaarrr from being totally switched over. If I need an item one week, and the organic version is way too expensive, I buy what I can afford.

2. Re-usable bags- I love these! It's sooooo much easier to unload them from the vehicle. I know I'm not the only one who used my arm as a "bag hanging bar" on a rainy day and tried to haul in 3 trips worth of groceries in one shot. Afterwards, my arms would have red indentions all the way up them from where I'd hung 20 bags on one arm. Now, 3-4 of those bags are condensed into one re-usable bag. You may get treated like a shoplifter when you walk into Wal-Mart, but it's worth it. They can be expensive! I buy the 50 cent ones from Wal-Mart. I was once asked not to bring them back to Kroger. I thought that was a little dumb for two reasons. 1) I'm saving Kroger money by not using their plastic bags. Seriously, I saved them at least 15 bags. 2) I think it says something that I'll buy my bags from Wal-Mart, but I go to Kroger to shop. Ummmm...hello. No matter how much you pressure me Kroger, I will not succumb to your scheme to get my to buy your $2.99 bags. My next project will be to applique our initial to a rectangle of fabric, and I'm going to sew that piece over the Wal-Mart logo on my bags. Ha! Take that Kroger!

3. Cloth diapering- Probably 90% of you just said "Ewww". I know. Right now you've got this vision of me changing a dingy, brown, stained diaper and having poop up to my elbows. Ummm no. There is no way I would do it if it was even remotely that disgusting. When I first looked into cloth diapering, I was very skeptical and overwhelmed. I looked at one discussion board and thought what the heck are AIOs, Pockets, prefolds, WAHMs? I was lost. So, I started out with something "safe". I found a type of diaper which was sold locally so that I could see and touch it. I lucked up and found a big box of them for sale at a consignment sale and used those for a while. Then, as I became more familiar with the different types of dipes, I bought and bartered my way into having the more advanced, expensive kinds. I still use prefolds some at home, but I use mostly AIOs (all in ones). We have been purchasing disposable dipes to use for all outings, but now that my collection of AIOs has grown, I'll probably only use disposables for the church nursery. Moms, you know how much waste is caused by disposable dipes. I really think this was a leap, not a step, forward in decreasing our waste. It's made a huuuuge difference. Many people just look at the cost of the initial investment for the cloth dipes, and I'll admit, some of them are very pricey. You just have to figure out which ones work for you and your budget, and acquire the cooler, more advanced ones as you can afford them.




4. Breastfeeding- Now, this can be the real toughie. With my first child, I was teaching full-time, and though my lovely principal gave me a schedule which allowed for pumping time during the day, my surroundings just weren't conducive to really producing enough milk to completely sustain him on just breast milk (cinder block walls, voices in the halls, janitors trying to clean in the off periods...not very comforting : /) So, we supplemented. This time around, though, I was determined to breastfeed exclusively. Breastfeeding can feel very confining, and it can be if you let it be. No, I'm not one to just "whip it out" in public. I'm way too shy to nurse in a public place, even with a cover. I pump. I pump like crazy. I pump on the road. I pump while I'm watching TV. I pump while I work on the computer. That may seem incredibly inconvenient to you, but really after a few weeks of it, it just becomes part of your routine. Your new way of life. I go wherever I want to go. I go out on dates with my husband. I leave the kids with their grandparents while I run errands for the day. It IS possible to have a life and breastfeed. Right now, I'm working on what I've dubbed "Project Savannah". There's a checklist on the fridge with the number of containers of milk I'll need to freeze in order for my husband and I to be able to get away for 4 days in June. Another plus, especially for my daughter since she's been exclusive, has been no tummy problems or reflux.

5. Environmentally friendly cleaners- I've tried to switch over to as many "green" cleaners as I can. Some of them work well, some of them may as well be pure water. I've been using Seventh Generation laundry detergent for a while now, and I've really liked using it. The Seventh Gen all purpose cleaner is great, too. I wasn't thrilled with the dish soap, however. So, until I find another, greener, option, I'm switching back to the trusty old Dawn. I did looove the scent of the dish soap though. I've often considered making my own laundry detergent, but in the battle for time, it always loses. You have to read labels and do a little research. Just because an item is made by a company that calls itself "green", it's not necessarily the greenest option. There are many smaller companies with great cleaners. I just haven't gotten around to using very many of them










You should watch this video. It's crazy!









I'd love, love, love to hear how you and your family have "gone green". I'm always looking for little ways to improve out lives and decrease our footprint : ).


**I tried to throw a few links up, but they've disappeared after saving and editing a few times.  This post has been over a week in the making.  Busy, busy week!

you had a bad day

Yep. It's been one of those days. One of those "I can't look in the mirror because I look like death and I really don't want to see myself for who I really am" days. You know the ones. The ones you can predict before you get out of bed, or before you even go to bed the night/morning before. This would be my case because I went to bed waaaayyy too late. The ones where whatever you think spews out like word vomit, and you're wallowing so deep in self-pity that you don't even care to attempt to clean up the emotional messes you're making. The ones where you're so far in denial that you actually think the foulness of the day is caused by others, and you played no part in it escalating to its state of utter crappiness...for lack of a better word. Then what happens. You blow. You let it all out. You make complaints and claims that only make sense in your emotional and sleep-deprived mind. Ahhhh...and it's all better then....right?


Wrong

You look into the chocolate eyes of your two and a half year old. Those puppy dog eyes that were so full of joy when they peeked over the side of your bed at 6:47 that morning. But that joy is gone. It's been replaced with the threat of tears, and his face no longer glows...In fact it looks rather pale and dull. That's when it hits you. You've wasted a whole day griping, accusing, venting...For what? To make yourself feel better?

Well, since this has been my day, I'll be the first to tell you that "better" is the furthest from what I feel. I feel terrible. My head hurts, I look like an addict who is strung out, and I've been incredibly un-productive. None of that touches the hurt that I brought to my children, though. I know I killed my little warrior's spirit today. That hurts. It hurts so badly because I can't even apologize to him because he doesn't truly understand all that an apology entails. I think what hurts the worst is that he's probably already forgiven me. He loves me no matter what, and it makes me weep to think that I hurt someone who is so loving and forgiving.

I think if we're honest, we've all had those days. We're human. They're inevitable. But for us to grow and improve, I think we must strive to decrease them.

So you had a bad day....and it's ok.