So Annoying

I hate when this happens. Last night, I had the most boring dream.

I dreamed my Dad and brother came over early in the morning. They didn't want breakfast, so I offered them tea.

I was unsure if they wanted black tea or green tea, so I offered them both darjeeling. They both accepted. Then I realized that Dad liked coffee better. So I asked if he wanted that instead. He said sure. Then I had to decide if I should make him both the tea and the coffee, since he drinks alot of caffeine in the morning anyway. Then I had to decide what mug to use. I thought about giving them paper to-go cups, because it looked like Dad was in a hurry. However, I realized that I had a coffee mug that I had borrowed from Mom. So I figured I would pour it in that, so he could just take it home. After making, and then re-making his tea, because something went wrong, I poured him his darjeeling. He told me he brought his own mug he wanted to use. So I poured it out of that cup, and into his cup. Then I had the idea of making his coffee, and putting it in the cup I needed to return to Mom.

It just went on and on and on! So basically my dream consisted of me puttering around the kitchen fretting about hot beverages for an entire morning.

Pearls before Swine

I bought this cute, red, unlined notebook a long time ago. I was saving it for something special. I just didn't know what I was going to use it for yet.

Last month, Jr spotted it, and asked me if he could use it. I reluctantly said yes. The one condition I gave him is that he had to use it for something special, and not just use it as scrap paper like he would use any other notebook. He told me it was going to be his 'to do list' book and nothing else. So I said ok.

So a month later, I found it sitting in his pile of papers he accumulates. I asked him if he is using it as his 'to do list' book, or did he use it once and forget all about it. He looked thru it, and saw one incomplete list that was dated a month ago.

So yes, he used it once and forgot all about it.
I asked for it back. He says
"No, you said I could have it. "
I tell him "I said you could have it on a condition that you did not follow"

He told me he just forgot, and he was going to use it now.

Motherhood Marketing

I was thinking again about how much marketing has shaped our personal opinions on raising kids. Americans tend to potty train their kids at a later age than people in other countries. The result of this tendency maximizes profits for the diaper industry, because people are buying disposable diapers for longer.

I hear a re-occuring phrase whenever I'm reading about this subject. It's always something to the effect of: "you have to wait until they're ready". Parenting magazines offer articles that show the ''signs'' that your child is ready to be potty trained. Overall, we have a very relaxed view as to how quickly we should get our kids out of diapers.

When it comes to nursing though, people tend to feel strongly about how long they let their kid latch on. It's very rare to see a mother nursing a toddler. Non-parents tend to think these women are just weird.

Some mothers would like to nurse longer, but find that their milk supply is not enough for their baby. People forget that once you start feeding other food to your baby, you stop making as much milk yourself. They start feeding them food more, and before you know it, many babies lost interest in nursing. When I took Filip in for a check-up at 3 months old, my doctor said to start introducing food at 4 months. Also, formula companies throw samples at new mothers left and right. They know that once you start formula, it's a slippery slope towards using it exclusively.
I'm curious as to where my doctor got the information to tell her patients to introduce food to babies that early. I would not be surprised if it came from a milestone chart created by a leading formula company.

I've heard many people say something to the effect of "If they're old enough to {have teeth; talk; eat; etc} they're old enough to stop nursing." However, I hardly ever hear any similar remarks about rushing potty training.

Hence, we're slow to potty train, and quick to wean. Who benefits? Logically, it is the driving forces behind this cultural view, big business. Our cultural opinions, that we hold so dear, are maximizing profits for businesses, and taking away nurturing, and a sense of achievement from our babies.

Good Morning

Since I wrote my obligatory non-Filip post on jewelry to show I have other interests, I have to say something about my son.

He's the easiest kid to take care of. He had too much sugar before we went to bed, so he was awake when we were going to sleep. He still climbed in bed with us and tried to sleep, but could not. So I popped in Napoleon Dynamite and went to sleep myself. He stayed up until midnight, then got out of bed when he was tired and turned the TV off. Then he went to sleep next to me.

So he's sleeping in this morning. It's rare for him to sleep in the bed past when I wake up, but I've been up for over an hour. (Hence, me being able to post 2 blogs)

Vibrant Artwear

I got new jewels yesterday.

Vibrant Artwear is a great place to go for nice-looking costume jewelry. It's this bright blue and pink building on the corner of Market and 4th. You have to walk farther than the cute part of Market street.

The clothes there are cheap, they have some vintage stuff. I was not that interested in their clothes. However, the whole upstairs is a display of cheap necklaces, bracelets and earrings. The necklaces and bracelets are $2 each, and most of the earrings were under $1. Even though it's that cheap, there was some really cute stuff there.

All the jewelry is organized by color. So it's the perfect place to go if you need to find something that matches a particular outfit. I bought 3 necklaces: black, orange, and pink. Then I got dangle earrings to match each of them. They were just a sing bead on a hook pin.

Accessorizing is fun!

The Gift

I had a dream just before I woke up that I was still enjoying the gift of singleness.

My friends and I were all working our pioneer assignment. We all lived in a van reminiscent of the mystery-mobile on Scooby Doo. I had no responsibilities except to preach. Best of all, it was a time in my life when I could go all day without someone entering my personal space, and no one ever touched my body except for the occasional hand-shake or hug.

I woke up to Filip wanting to nurse and hold me. Then, he got in my face asking me to feed him.
"Mommy, eat eggs, mommy, eat eggs, EAT EGGS!"

That was a nice dream.

Hatchlings

Welcome baby birdies! Their eyes are not even opened yet.

Our New Neighbors

Robin's nest right near our back door. Kim pointed it out to me.

Cookie Fail

I had to make cookies this morning for the people working at Crownsville. My first batch turned out perfect.
I smoked out the house, because I used a pizza pan with holes punched in it for my 2nd batch. The cookie batter dripped through the holes and started burning on the floor of the oven. Thankfully, the smoke taste did not make it into the cookies.
I decided to put the oven on the clean setting for 3 hours before I bake the rest of the batches. I had left the cookies to cool on top of the stove. Now, when I tasted the cookies, they absorbed the 'oven cleaning' smell. Hopefully, I have enough cookie batter left to fill my 40 cookie quota.

Speaking of minor domestic crisis', I put Filip in the tub to take a bath. While he was bathing, I was washing out the light bulb globe that belongs to the ceiling light. He grabbed the globe while I was not looking. When I looked down, he was playing with shards of glass in the water. It must of broke under water. He didn't get cut thankfully.

Fun Day

Today we took Filip to the John Deere store for a tractor pull. They canceled it, but you could still walk around and see all the antique tractors on display.

Then, Lystra had 3 free tickets to Port Discovery in Baltimore that she couldn't use. So we went down there. Port Discovery is a museum for kids. It had alot of fun stuff to do. They had a pretend grocery store, where kids could go 'shopping' and then ring themselves up.

In the picture, is Filip 'driving' the VW beetle they had there. It was parked next to a pretend gas pump and air pump. So the kids could pump gas, and fill up the tires.

They had an animal show while we were there. So Filip got to see a snake, bearded dragon, gecko, tarantula, another kind of lizard, and this huge turtle.

The picture where he's in the balls was a little room for the 4 and under crowd. Once we made it there, I just kind of stayed in that room, because I was tired of walking around, and he was entertaining himself.

It was a pretty good museum. Big kids would get a kick out of the 'urban treehouse'. It was this habitrail type thing that was 3 stories high. They also had a bunch of creative stations where kids could decorate hats, or tiles and other stuff.

Rearranging

I balanced out our bedrooms these past couple of days. I'm working on creating space for a new baby.

Before, I did not store anything in my bedroom, because I wanted it to look as spacious as possible. We stored all our clothes in Filip's room. They were stored in bins which I kept on 4 tall shelving units all along his walls. For a year, we got used to it just being this storage room with toys in it.

Instead of displaying the bins on a bunch of shelves, I decided to have them tucked in the closets and other places between the two rooms. I also moved two shelf units to my room, where I now keep the little TV, media, and jewelry and most of our clothes.

So now, instead of having my room as a bed-shrine, and Filip's room a storage room for everything, we have a bedroom and a playroom.

Filip's room now has a table that covers most of my Herbalife stock. The rest of it is stored out of reach. He also has his playard that he plays in alot. My room now has a TV, so we can watch movies in bed without dragging the laptop in. Now, all we need is space for the new baby's stuff...