I have to start this blog out by saying Steve and I love Adam Sandler movies. We’ve probably seen every one of them (multiple times!) and they never get old. A few of them we probably have memorized from start to finish. One of my favorites is probably Billy Madison. It reminds me of some fun times in college (Amanda can vouch for that) and it just cracks me up every time I turn it on.  There is one part in the movie, when Billy is repeating 1st Grade where he colors a duck blue. Here’s the quote:
Billy Madison: Well, I made the duck blue because I’d never seen a blue duck before and I wanted to see one.
Miss Lippy: Well, I think it’s an excellent blue duck. Congratulations Billy, you just passed the first grade.
Billy Madison: Wow, Miss Lippy, that’s great. What do you think of that Mr. Blue Duck?
[pretending to be duck]
Billy Madison: That’s quacktastic.

So, I about died laughing when Addison came home today with this work sheet:

As she handed it to me she said very matter-of-factly, “Well, I made the goose rainbow because I’ve never seen a rainbow goose and I wanted to see one.”

Oh, and while we’re looking at the picture-who gives a pre-K kid a work sheet with a picture of a gun on it? Couldn’t they come up with something better? Goat? Grapes? Grandma?

When you’re little Christmas morning is something you look forward to for months. Heck, I’m almost 30 years old and still haven’t stopped! You dream about those packages under the tree and try to imagine what will be inside them. It’s one of the most exciting days of the year! So, imagine when you wake up and run to the tree and every single present you open is socks. Not even pretty, fuzzy, cozy socks. Plain white ankle socks. That was today in a nutshell.

When I went to my midwife for my first prenatal appointment I had to fill out the standard mess of paperwork. One of those papers stated I needed to decide then whether or not I wanted a 3D ultrasound for an extra fee that would not be covered by insurance. This is our last baby. It was a very unplanned pregnancy so the bonding I felt right from the beginning with this baby has been minimal. Because of this there was never a doubt in my mind that we would do the 3D. I didn’t want to know the sex this time around so getting a small glimpse at his/her face has been on my mind for months. 

We went in the room and as soon as she put the wand on my belly the tech says, “The baby’s hands are up in front of the face so there are going to be a lot of black shadows. ” She showed us a foot once and a hand once. The rest of the time was spent hovering around trying to get some face shots. Everything was a big blurry mess. I don’t know if the quality of their machine is bad or if the tech was just bored with trying and didn’t really care what she gave us as long as she gave us something, but whatever the reason I feel completely cheated out of my time and money. I do remember thinking at one point that the baby resembles Noah and that it had chubby cheeks, but I watch the video back that the tech gave us and none of those clearer shots are even on there.  I don’t know what the hell she was recording, but most of the time you can’t even tell it’s a baby. Steve and I sat here tonight trying to make light of the situation a bit and managed to come up with about 10 other things the baby looked like, a pumpkin, a cat, and Michael Jackson, to name a few. It was like when you lay and watch clouds and make pictures out of them.

When we had our regular 20 week ultrasound this same tech did a great job explaining what everything was that we were looking at, but she gave us a couple of mediocre pictures. I went through the video and took still screen shots to get some great pics to show people. I was hoping to be able to do the same this time around, but there’s nothing. It’s a big blur of sepia tones.  I will be mentioning to my midwife at my next appointment (in TWO weeks. Holy crap I’m on bi-weekly appointments now!) that they need to show sample pictures of what to expect during this ultrasound because had I known how poor the quality would be there’s no way I would ever done it. I can think of a heck of a lot of other things to spend $100 on. I left there in tears and have been crying on and off all night. I keep staring at the pictures trying to feel something. Trying to see something. If you look closely at a few of them you can make out some blurry facial features, but after Googling 3D ultrasound images and staring in wonder at the pictures other woman got to see of their babies it just makes me even more upset.

Some of you are probably reading this thinking, “Well, that sucks but it doesn’t sound nearly as bad as she’s making it out to be.”  What else was going on in the room while getting this totally shitty ultrasound?

Alaina was hiding behind a chair crying because the baby was “scary” and “looked like a witch.”  She refused to look at the screen. She whimpered the entire time she wasn’t crying and was trying to pull herself up onto the table with me. A table, mind you, that barely I fit on by myself. She was too hot. She was too tired. She wanted to go play in the waiting room. Should I keep going?? I think the fact that this baby is real came crashing into her brain when that ultrasound machine came on and we’ve been dealing with the fall out all night. I’m trying to stay patient with her and I know I need to address these fears and concerns that she’s acting out, but I could barely keep myself from being weepy all night so I knew I would just get frustrated with her if I tried to get to the bottom of her fears tonight.

Addison was laying across two chairs pretending she was sleeping and loudly fake snoring. Then she had to go potty. Then she looked at the screen for about 30 seconds. Then she had to go potty. Followed by more fake snoring and sleeping.

Noah. Well, Noah was being Noah. Most of you have had the pleasure of meeting and spending at least 5 minutes with my little man. He’s an adorable pain in the ass.

Then Steve got a work related phone call halfway through letting him know that while he was gone a worker hit a gas line out on his project that completely shut down 33 in front of Concord Mall. So then I start worrying about how the hell I’m going to figure out how to get home. Elkhart and I do not get along when it comes to driving directions.

Oh, and the baby’s breech. And I had to get labs drawn. All around craptastic day.

My pre-k kid spent computer class sitting in the office. That’s right, at the ripe old age of 4 Addison has already experienced her first trip to the office.

When I went to pick her up yesterday her teacher pulled me off to the side and told me she had a small problem with Addi. I assumed Addison had either peed her pants or had a major meltdown because something hadn’t gone her way. These are everyday occurrences in our house with Addison. She’s a pretty sensitive kid and tends to over react to things easily. But, she’s also a kid who is set in her ways and doesn’t let anyone push her around, which is what got her in trouble this time.

The “special” class of the day yesterday was Computers. She has made it perfectly clear on more than one occasion that she does not like this class, going so far as to tell me, in a very matter-of-fact voice, yesterday morning, “I’m NOT going to computer class today.” I should have sensed trouble right then.  They got into the classroom and Addison refused to sit at a computer, telling the computer teacher that she didn’t want to play on the computer. After much prodding the computer teacher finally gave her a choice, which I assume is what Addison was waiting for. See, last year she was in a Montessori setting. She THRIVED there, and I am starting to regret switching her to Holy Cross. But, that’s another story in itself.

Her choice? Either sit at the computer and play Kid Pix or sit in the office for the duration of computer class. Addison’s response? “I’d like to sit in the office.” She is so not MY kid.What kid doesn’t like Kid Pix? Addison, that’s who. She would rather sit with real markers, crayons, stamps, pencils, etc and create art. She’s a very hands on kid and I can respect her preference, but I’m trying to balance that with also teaching her that she needs to respect her teachers and at least try some new things at her new school.

I asked her why she chose to sit in the office and her rambling went something like this, ” All they wanted me to do was sit there and use colors and stamps and put trees on the screen.  And I only want to play games on the computer at home. And I only want YOU to learn me how to use the computer. And, in the office I can just sit there and relax.”

It took everything I had not to crack up. I walked back over and informed her teacher that she actually enjoyed her trip to the office. She chuckled a little and said, “Well, I guess we won’t be doing that again.” Great. Can’t wait to see what her next “punishment” will be.

For our first family vacation we took a little road trip down to North Carolina to visit my aunt and cousin and for Steve’s sister’s wedding.  A little recap…

Thumbs up:

• Coming home with 2lbs of chocolate covered gummy bears
• Swapping plants with my aunt, that I’m sure to kill
• Noah learning how to clap, and now doing it everytime we say, “Yeah!”
• Noah blowing raspberries at me for the first time while trying to get a tsp of Motrin in his mouth.
• Lainey kissing a giraffe for her birthday
• Spending time with family we haven’t seen in over a year
• Noah playing peek a boo with his blanket on the way home.(the ONE cute moment of the entire car ride for him)
• Coming home with suitcases full of CLEAN laundry.
• Having time to read and entire Sookie Stackhouse book on the car ride home.
• Watching the girls dance at the reception. Addison suckered some woman into being her dance partner all.night.long.

Thumbs down:

• Noah having an ear infection for the whole trip.
• Paying $20 for a crappy pedicure that lasted 4 hours. Apparently they’ve never heard of using a top coat.
• Forgetting to bring Noah’s highchair
• Untangling a huge bunch of balloons when you realize you only have an hour and 15 minutes until the wedding you are attending starts.
• Finding every piece of food I thought Noah ate either under his bum or smooshed into the van floor.
• An odd rash Noah got on his legs after a day of sprinkler fun.
• North Carolina BBQ.  Bleck.

Yesterday we met some friends at Burger King for lunch. It’s our Friday “thing.” Addison was sitting at the table with me coloring on some scrap paper while my friends and I dished about how to organize our coupons and how to get good deals at CVS. Addi tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Mom, would you please draw a penis on this person for me please? I don’t know how to draw a penis.”  I told her to ask her Daddy when we got home because he would be WAY better at drawing penises than Mommy.

After Steve and I had a good laugh about it last night we decided to teach her how to draw clothes on her stick people.

I spend entirely too much money on groceries.  I’m a compulsive shopper. If I see it and think it’s a good deal or if it just looks yummy, I buy it. I used to be a great shopper. I would spend $60 a week on groceries and have plenty of money left over to do fun things with the kids for the week. Lately though I’m dipping into Steve’s money more to do the things with the kids b/c I have no self control when I step into a grocery store!

A couple weeks ago one of the members of my Mothers and More group did a meeting topic on “shopping for free” I had been looking forward to this meeting for weeks. I’ve always been intrigued by people who can walk into CVS and walk out with more money than they went in with. I just didn’t GET it. Unfortunately, due to a completely horrid free pancake day at IHOP and a husband tied to work I wasn’t able to make my meeting. I did get my hands on a flier though and started out by typing on the first link I found on the paper, Money Saving Mom.  Never did I think I could be this excited about grocery shopping! I started printing coupons and thanks to Money Saving Mom I stumbled upon A Full Cup, where I learned to get some smokin’ deals at Target. I never in a million years thought I could walk into a Target and walk out spending less than $50. It’s NEVER happened before. This week I went into Target and spent $28.33 on $51.13 worth of groceries.

I’ll be back later to post what I got and the prices. It feels so good knowing how much I’m helping my family right now by making our money stretch a little further. So, thanks to all you fellow moms out there who put so much time and effort into posting deals, coupons, and tutorials on how to get started. I’ve been studying up and hope I’m half as good at the shopping gig someday!

On Valentine’s Day I was standing in the kitchen dressed up and ready to go to dinner with our wonderful friends Eileen and Michael. We were heading to a restuarant downtown that is known for their amazing martinis (that were quite lacking on V-Day).  Steve came downstairs dressed up as well and Alaina asked me where I was going.

Me: I’m going on a date.

Alaina: With who??

M: With Daddy

A: Eeeewe, you can’t do that Mom, you guys are MARRIED.

Then she proceeded to rant for 10 minutes that she never wants to get married or date.  I told her her father would appreciate that.

The girls and I have been working on cleaning their room this afternoon. It’s trashed. There are still Christmas toys that have no home. I came out to take a little break and check my email. When I went back into their room they were both sitting on Alaina’s bed playing with Noah. They’ve got him all covered up with a blanket and laying on Alaina’s pillow. I told them both to get back to work cleaning. Alaina’s response?

“Mom, Noah isn’t happy right now and he needs some love. We’re making him laugh.”

My response? Fine. Cleaning can wait a little while. How could I say no to that?

2 MONTHS?? I haven’t blogged in 2 months? Seriously? Wow.  A lot has happened since December 2nd.

There’s the whole Christmas whirlwind. I might share some pics if I get brave enough to relive the madness of the day by searching through the folder for one or two that aren’t burry from the kids not sitting still for more than half a second.  The kids got entirely too much new crap and I still haven’t found some place to store most of it.

Addison turned 4 on December 30th and decided two days before her birthday that she wanted friends over for dinner ON her birthday. Usually I throw a party for her in mid January so we have more than 5 days to recover from Christmas.  I threw together a cake which looked positively hideous compared to most of the others I’ve done and then Bella ate 1/3 of it while Steve was “watching” the kids so I could run to the store. Apparently he can only watch the kids, not the dog too.

New Years Eve we went to the Second Annual Littell Family Party. The kids ran around the basement going bonkers while the grown ups played with James’ breathalyzer (he is a SB cop) and drank yummy drinks made by our own personal bartender, Michael LOL. Tracy is one lucky girl to have married a man that can mix up the best drinks in town.

The main reason I haven’t been around for a couple months is poor little Noey has been so sick. That kid just can’t catch a break. It all started about a week before Christmas with a cold. It turned into an ear infection. After antibiotics it still hadn’t cleared up all the way.  Long story short, he was exposed to dairy twice which threw him into 2 more ear infections. This last time the ear infection was accompanied by an upper and lower respiratory infection and possible bronchitis. He still has a cough, but he’s back to sleeping through the night and being my smiley happy baby.

More on the Noah front: He had his 6 month check up last week inbetween a couple sick visits (we’ve been to the dr. about 12 times in 2 months.) He was 21lbs and 29 inches. 98% for height, 94% for weight. He started sitting up around 5.5 months just like his big sister Lainey. I was wondering if he’d be more like Alaina or Addi, who didn’t sit up until she was 8 months! In the last couple days he’s been rolling all over the family room and getting into trouble. The girls are in for a rude awakening now.

He’s loving eating real food, and his favorites are pasta, chicken, bananas, and pears. Although, he will pretty much eat anything that is on a spoon on it’s way to his mouth. Except avocado, not a big fan which I can’t say I blame him, Yuck!

He’s been a little booger about nursing, and I’ve been exclusively pumping for about a month now. I’m finally getting him back to nursing a little which is a relief b/c as awesome as my (well, Amy’s) pump is I’m tired of being tied to it 4 times a day. I’d rather be tied to my baby.

I find that the majority of the time I blog about Steve I’m usually venting or complaining about some random “man thing” he’s done, when in all actuallity he’s the best husband a girl could want. He’s great at doing little things to show me how much he loves me.

In the winter my hands get really chapped and red, especially if I’m doing dishes alot or not wearing gloves. Then they burn and itch and I can’t get them wet until they heal. Saturday we spent all of the late afternoon putting our Christmas lights up outside. It wasn’t terribly cold, but I couldn’t wear my gloves b/c they kept getting stuck on the lights. By the time we came in my hands were a mess. That night every lotion I put on them burned so I finally washed them and put on a layer of Lansinoh. By Sunday morning they were a little better, but still really hurting. I needed to take a bath and wash my hair, but I knew there was no way I could put my hands in water that long.  Steve came in and washed AND conditioned my hair for me so I didn’t have to get my hands wet. It was like my own little hair salon at home.  I told him I’m never washing my own hair again. He’s got himself a job for life.