Zoo!

Last Saturday we went to the zoo when it was about 60 degrees. It was fantastic. Kian absolutely loved it. This time he could run around and try to touch everything. These pictures are in no particular order.





This was the best, the sea lion kept swimming up to play with the kids:




Kian thought this was great. He kept saying "rhino fight" all day long:


Sea lion was showing off for us:



And this monkey/gibbon thing was showing off for Kevin:








Poor leopard just kept pacing in it's tiny cage, I felt so bad!


Tigers were pacing too, they needed to be free!


Grant going along for a ride:



More fighting rhinos:



Although my picture-taking abilities haven't really improved much, I can tell the tremendous difference this camera makes in what I can take! So happy with it!

You call yourself a parent?

View this disturbing article: 14 year old girl posts nude pictures of self.

Then, tell me-what kind of parents does she have? Yes, I know she did it. Yes I know she should have known better. Yes she needs to be responsible for her actions, etc. and so on.

But, at 14 she should still be monitored while using a computer. My parents' computer was in the dining room, there was no "privacy" to upload those kinds of pictures and post them to a public site. This is also her parents responsibility to ensure her activities on the computer are appropriate.

I know that kids these days have access to all kinds of technology that even I didn't have 5 years ago. But, that just calls for more vigilant parenting. It's not an easy job, no one ever said it would be. And it seems that it gets harder as kids enter those teenage years, not easier. Just because they are more independent able to care for themselves, doesn't mean they necessarily should.

Maybe it's just me, but Kevin and I agree that we don't want our kids to have a tv or computer in their rooms. Especially a computer, where access is wide open to the world. Um, hello? that's what parental locks aer for. Stop giving your 9 year olds digital cameras, cell phones and computers in their bedrooms. You're just asking for this.

I don't agree she should be charged as a sex offender, but I do think there should be some punishment. What about her parents? Is there something about lack of supervision on a minor? Or charging the girl with endangering a child-because lots of other minors saw that picture as well?

These are the tings that make me pull my hair out and wonder why there isn't a rigorous exam by a psychiatrist, pediatrician, social workers and teachers that parents must pass before having children?

Cheesy cravings

My pregnancies seem to be more about food aversions and avoidances than cravings. (First time I couldn't stand beef or tacos, this time I couldn't stand chicken. I am finally eating chicken again after 16 weeks.) However, I have noticed I crave cheese and dairy a lot more while pregnant than any other time in my life. I suppose this is because I do not drink milk.

Yes, gasp, sputter. I hate milk. I can't stand the taste of it, can barely get a few gulps of chocolate milk down even. On cereal? A splash just to get it damp, but I rarely eat cereal either-unless it's dry.

Last time, I ate lots of cheese, ice cream and cottage cheese. This time, I still like a snack of cheese and crackers, and have cottage cheese a few times a week for lunch, but what is really driving me crazy is macaroni and cheese. Ohhh yum. Every day I just want a huge, steaming hot bowl of mac and cheese. Homemade is best, but in a pinch any will do. But, absolutely not from a box. Frozen, is decent, but never from a box. I need really gooey cheese in there.

Don't worry, I do take a prenatal vitamin with calcium supplement and my OJ is calcium/vitamin fortified. Plus, I incorporate all my veggies and fruits so my diet is balanced and not lacking in calcium, I just know I need more of it to build baby bones too.

Now, excuse me while I stalk some mac and cheese...

Dreams and Dr. Phil

What do those have to do with each other? Nothing really. Let me just start out by saying how utterly disgusted I am with Dr. Phil lately. I used to like him, and he really wanted to help people and had great advice. He didn't put up with "no guff" as Kevin likes to say. He didn't enable them, he gave them choices and told them the hard truth. But...

But, now... he's just like every other Hollywood nut. I can't stand him anymore and want to shake him as hard as I want to shake this mentally unstable "Octo-mom". He is totally enabling her, giving her baby showers and gear, helping her get assistance in the home, and okay with her lying and fraud of the welfare and food stamp/government assistance programs. Unbelievable. It makes me so angry. I know it's horrible to say, but I'd love to see those babies adopted out to families that truly want children and not for their celebrity status, children to love. Hey, Dr. Phil, why don't you address Nadya about how to properly care for Autistic children (not in playpens with bottles at 3 yrs old) and address her mental health disorders? Bunch of morons.

Anyway. I had to get that off my chest. When pregnant I have extremely vivid dreams. It's scary. I cannot watch any tv that has any violence, blood or scariness in it before bed. I wake up shaking because I dreamed I was in the room with the bloody mattress and guns or...yeah. Thanks CSI, Law & Order, Criminal Minds, Flashpoint, 48 hours and 60 Minutes. I now have to stick to American Idol, Biggest Loser, cartoons, PBS educational and musical programs or Antique Roadshow.

No clever titles

I'm no fancy blogger with awe-inspiring posts each day or infinite wisdom to dispense, so my post titles are clearly lacking in creativity and even relation to the post. Whatever. At this point if you are still reading my blog at all you're more interested in my random weirdness than being inspired and touched with heartfelt miracle stories. Whatever that is supposed to mean.

Anyways. This week has been extremely busy at work. Wednesday I put in a super long day and that was not fun. Normally I work 8-4, I got in there a little after 9 and didn't get home until 6:30. I know there are people who do that daily but YUCK! No thank you. It just is hard to spend time with Kian and Kevin, especially when Kian goes to bed by 7:30. What was also annoying was that I had a lot of visits/meetings and was driving all over the county. Being in the car is really killing my back lately, as is sitting in my office chair.


Due to this horrendous lower back, tailbone, hip/buttocks pain I've been going to a chiropractor the last 2 weeks. It has seriously helped me so so much. I had some back pain with Kian but it was at the end, when I was enormous and that just made sense. Some of this now is coming on from me not getting my back and abs in to great shape after the first time, the old tailbone injury festering, and now I am carrying around an almost 30 lb, almost 2 year old. Well, I barely carry him, but there's the picking up and down for changing and in the parking lot and in the car seat, etc. The side I carry him on is the side that has been slowly breaking my leg off my body. The chiro said my tailbone was not in the right position, makes sense we all agreed, since in '05 i broke it and it took a couple months to feel "normal" again.



The plan is that she's going to get me all aligned and I'll continue my yoga, stretching and other exercises to keep it in check throughout the rest of the pregnancy, seeing her occasionally for readjustments. This is the first time I'd been to a chiro, my mom and brother have gone before, but I was always nervous. It feels great though, a little spinal massage and heat thrown in and it's a nice half hour of quiet almost pampering time.

Other than that, we're both just busy at work. Kian has resumed his normal sleeping patterns after last week's refusal to go anywhere near his bed. Still not sure what that was about. I have just been trying to play with my camera still, but haven't had the time or energy after I get home. The weather has been nice this week so I did get outside but would anyone cooperate? No. Kian and I are going to attend an Easter Bunny pancake breakfast at Kevin's mother's church Saturday. Should be interesting, I'll take some pictures.

Then, we just plan on enjoying the 50 degree weather! woo hoo! (Although, with warm weather comes construction, as 490 is now down to one side and almost ready to be torn to shreds again! Ugh!) At work we are taking on the Eat Well, Live Well challenge and counting our steps and fruit/veggie servings daily. I'm great about the veggie intake, but I need to get out and walk more! There are prizes involved!


Kevin took this picture, but I think it's funny how fast his hands were flying on the keyboard. He always points out the k, o and n. He thinks he gets Elmo to come up, but he doesn't know I secretly do it with the mouse =D I gotta brag, the kid is super smart. He says 3 and 4 word sentences now, tells me to draw things for him (babies being his favorite). He has a little best friend at school--a girl! He always includes her in his prayers at night. He says thank you to God for different people every night, but Jon and Kenzie are always on there! He knows his shapes, colors, counts 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 (no idea why he doesn't like one and two!). My paranoia keeps me watching how his feet turn in, ankles roll in a bit, especially without shoes. All my clients with that problem get foot braces, which I don't' want, but don't want to ignore it. Kevin does have very flat feet also though. AND! He goes pee on the potty. I started out just asking if he wanted to sit whenever we were getting in the bath. He did, and he went. Then I ask him whenever I change his diaper and he wants to sit on the "big, big potty". He has gone every single time he sits on there. He lets us know if he wants his diaper changed, but isn't yet telling us he has to go on the potty. Which is fine, I just wanted him to start getting used to the feeling of sitting on it. I'd like to work on it this summer for sure. Of course, he refuses the cute little potty chair we shelled out $20 for, opting for the real toilet. Whatever works kid.
The best though is that he tells us "good morning" and "I love you", without us telling him to do it! I'll have to get out the video soon! Until then...

St. Paddy's Day Parade

The weather was perfect (for March in Rochester) and the parade was enjoyable. (Probably because we didn't get too close to the bars.) That morning I realized Kian didn't really own green clothes! Wow. Oh well. Aside from rude people not following proper parade etiquette and getting in front of us, in front of Kian and pushing us around, we had a great time.

Thank you.

....tada:

This guy was really into it.

Irish wolfhound. Duh.

Amazing dancers, amazing dresses.

My boys

Younger girls, still talented, still very pretty outfits.

And thank you, too.

We topped off the day by having a late lunch/early dinner of...a garbage plate. In true Rochester fashion. This was Kian's first garbage plate. He loved it. The kid eats anything!



*Please, please tell me you know that Nick Tahou's created the first garbage plate. It consists of 2 hamburg patties (or hots) on top of fries, mac salad and/or baked beans drowned in hot sauce and mustard. It really is delicious.

What we've been up to

Saturday was pretty much just a lazy day to clean and grocery shop. It was nice not having to do anything. Friday night concluded our long annoying week with dinner and a trip to the fish store...with Jon...like last week. And every week?

Sunday we went out to my parents' house for Kiara's birthday. Grilled steak out. That was delicious, it's been awhile!

I got my Nikon on Friday night so I have been playing and learning it all weekend. Still not close to knowing everything. I know what I want it to do and then have to read in the book because there's so much to it. I am in love. I really wanted the D90 but paying off bills with the tax return was the right thing to do. I keep telling myself, especially with another baby on the way. So far, I've just been taking random pictures. I haven't even pretended to focus on the lighting, coloring, whatever yet. Just focusing and learning the camera. My Kodak easyshare camera was...nice. But, took forever to actually take the picture. Here's what I'm amazed at: it's so quick I can even capture cold dog breath in the air! Look:





And here is what happens when you tell Kian to say "cheese".

Sleep

Now, if you know me, you know I don't typically require much sleep. I pulled so many over-nighters in college it's ridiculous. I didn't flinch when we brought Kian home and I woke up every other hour. I did just fine throughout the next day even. But, this. This is pure exhaustion, the likes of which I've never experienced.

I never knew the meaning of tired until now. Kevin, he can fall asleep anytime, anywhere, for minutes or hours and still go to bed with no problem. If I take a nap, I usually don't sleep at night. That has all changed with this pregnancy. The extreme fatigue I feel daily, hourly is just ridiculous. I wasn't quite prepared for this. Hormones and chasing around a toddler while trying to maintain housework, real work and relationships is overload. I actually take naps whenever I can, and spend most evenings curled up under a blanket trying to stay awake until 8 or 9 o'clock. It will pass soon and I'll get more energy as it goes on, at least until the end anyway.

The other problem we're having lately is Kian is waking up earlier and earlier. He used to be a 12 hour sleeper, all night, no problem. He takes about a 2 hour each day. Usually we put him down around 7 and he sleeps until 7 am. This week, however, he is waking up at 6:15, 5:20, 6 am, etc. This makes it very difficult for me to get ready (this is my shower time) and makes him cranky. We tried putting him to bed a half hour later, that only resulted in him waking up at 5:20 the next morning (mostly because he peed through his diaper). I know he still needs that amount of sleep. I'm hoping it's just a little phase and we'll get back to the good sleeping. He doesn't wake up at night. Which, I was nervous about after switching to the new bed. He stays in the bed all night, doesn't get out until morning. Even if he wakes up he just calls us. Perhaps it's just the switch of the bed. But his room is nice and dark, and I wish he'd at least sleep long enough to let me get my shower in. Well, without him trying to climb in too!

So, with us both wide awake by 6 am this morning, and me with having a late meeting today at 4 pm, that will make for 2 very tired people this evening.

WTF? OB version

I know, I know. I don't use those words. But, Jon and I like to email our "WTF" lists to each other throughout the day of stupid people, stupid things, things that make no sense, that annoy us, etc. It's like venting. So here's mine:

I had my 12 week prenatal appointment today. I only gained one pound in the last month-Yay me! Blood pressure is low as usual. The nurse left and I read a magazine until the doctor came in. She says "Hi, how are you, you look good." I say that I'm doing fine. She then says "Good. Okay I have to put you on the high risk category". Here's where that comes in: WTF? What? Excuse me? Huh? Wait, what again?

I thought she was joking. But, she was serious. Why? How in the world am I high risk? Technically, and really, I'm not. It's because of my Factor VII clotting disorder. Mind you, I have a mild to moderate level. I occasionally get my levels checked. It is *probably* the cause of the annoying, excessive nosebleeds (hello, dad? get it checked, you gave it to me!) and heavy periods. Last time with Kian, I had blood levels checked 3 times throughout the pregnancy and they actually improved. Like, to normal person levels. So, no action was taken, no need for anything.

I guess what happened was, another doctor in the practice recently got an OB patient with Factor VII disorder and brought it up to the practice. Which, of course, turned into a committee thing and a hospital thing and a practice thing and a huge stupid deal. My doctor asked them what the big deal was, told them about me before, etc. They decided as a (CYB) policy that it needs to be labeled high risk. I'm about as low risk as you get! Fortunately, they decided at this meeting/committee that us Factor VII patients don't need to go to a special high risk OB, just have close monitoring of levels and checks with the Hemophilia center, etc. Which, was our plan anyway, like before. How annoying?! It just goes in my record so everyone knows should something go wrong. I just don't like being labeled that, the hospitals and doctors are going to see that and act nutty!

Anyway, the good news is that she found the heartbeat immediately and it's perfect. 6 more weeks until ultrasound. And American Idol is on tonight. And I made delicious ham and scalloped potatoes for dinner. And I have some good snacks to get to. Happy Tuesday.

Weekend Update

I feel like I haven't posted anything remotely interesting in a very long time. We're finally over all our sickness. Thank you God! Kian has recovered almost 100% from his illness. Fever went away the next morning after we went to the doctor's. Said it was probably a virus, but to watch in case more signs of meningitis appeared. He could very well have the mild viral kind, but they wouldn't do anything for it anyways. The treatment would have been fluids and Tylenol. Which we were already doing. His neck/head still seems a bit sore at times, but so much better. He's still not completely back to his old self, a bit whiny/clingy but so much improved.

So, other than sickness what have we been up to? Well, today we did this:


I didn't plan on or want to move Kian up to his "big boy bed" just yet. But, yesterday and today when I came to get him he had one leg over the side rail. Not cool. The way the crib is, because it turns into a full-size bed also, is rounded top rails and easy to slide off one his foot was up there. I knew it was only hours or days before he took a head-first dive onto the wood floor. So, we asked him if he wanted his race car bed and to say bye-bye crib. He went right in and said "bye bye crib", waved and said "race car bed". That was that. Kevin's client was kind enough to give us this, in great shape, race car bed. It's a twin and seems so big for him now. But, what I like is that I can crawl in it with him, read to him and snuggle while putting him to bed. No more leaning over the rails and that wouldn't last long anyways the way my stomach is already growing. He got up once at nap time, at bedtime he didn't get up at all. At daycare he's been on a cot so he's somewhat used to it. Kevin did it all himself, and it's all correct and the crib is still up in the other room, waiting now.



I came down into the family room (aka the toy/play room) the other morning and found Kian had done this:

Apparently the lion had horrible vision, or wanted to look smarter.

Remember those 2 days in February where it hit 58 degrees? Those wonderful, blessed days? We took full advantage and played outside for awhile. I guess sandboxes don't lose their appeal even in winter.



Look! Buds on my lilac bush already! (that's Lie-lock, not lie-lack!)



And of course we made brownies. This is what happens when you let a toddler "lick" the beater:



It also ends up on the china cabinet, floor, wall, chair and cushion, and everywhere else you can imagine finding 2 weeks later. Gotta love it. So, in between all that sickness, that's what was going on here in the Glor house.