Reverse mullet

Oh yeah, Lorelai is totally rockin' the reverse mullet. She's all party in the front, business in the back. Kate Gosselin's got nothing on my beautiful girl's 'do!

But OMG seriously, hair in the back, PLEASE grow ASAP! We got so spoiled with Lorelai's full head of hair when she was born, which makes it all the more sad that so much of it fell out.

See? There used to be so much!

Now it's all party in the front...

...and business in the back:

Here it almost looks like she's got some Donald Trump toupee/combover action going on:

Although I know it could be worse...at least she doesn't have the little bald man look going on like Logan had before ALL of his hair fell out! ☺

Confrontation

I don't like confrontation. I'm a shy person, so I'm just not good at it. Maybe I'm a pushover, but I really do try to avoid confrontation whenever possible. But sometimes it's unavoidable.

Many of you probably already know that we had an incident with Aidan at school this week. His teacher ripped up and threw away his school work because he wasn't doing it the right way. It made Aidan cry in class (even though he told me he tried to hold it in, bless his heart), and he cried about it again when he told me and Adam about it that night. My heart broke for him. I was angry for him and upset that he was embarrassed and disrespected in that way.

At the same time, I got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach because I knew Aidan was hurt and I knew I had to do something about it. I was anxious. Nervous. But I needed to stand up for Aidan and be his advocate because that's my job. When it comes to my kids, I have to fight to make things right for them until they can do it for themselves.

Unfortunately, this is a tricky situation. Several people (including Adam) thought I should go straight to the principal. Part of me agreed, because I just can't see any explanation that would excuse or justify what she did. But whether I like it or not, she's his teacher for the rest of the school year, so I decided that it's not in Aidan's best interest to make a big stink and piss her off. I wouldn't want to do anything to cause her to like him even less (we've had several indications that he's not one of her favorite students and they just don't mesh well) or cause her to not provide the level of teaching he deserves.

I was actually already going to be at school that next day for lunch with Aidan. He was "celebrity of the week" and one of his privileges was for me to have lunch with him. So I took that opportunity to speak with his teacher (just me and her, Aidan had already left the room), and I think I handled things pretty well. I just told her that I was concerned because Aidan came home really upset the day before, because he said she tore up and threw away his paper and asked her what happened.

She said she did, and explained that it was because he wasn't doing his work the right way and she said she'd been over how to do it with the class "several, several" times before (although Aidan later told me that he thought she must have gone over it while he was out sick for two days the week before because he hadn't heard the instruction more than a couple of times). She said she doesn't tolerate students doing it the wrong way because she said they all should have known how to do it, so she tore his paper up and threw it away. Apparently it's some complicated process (she fully admitted it was complicated and involved) for learning words where you have to write a word down, cover it up, read it, then re-write it. I honestly don't understand how he was doing it wrong, but she said she wouldn't have had to throw it away if he had just asked for help in the first place. Unfortunately, as he told me that night, he didn't know he was doing it wrong until she ripped it up, so he didn't know to ask, which I told her.

I also pointed out that Aidan said he was the only one who has ever gotten his paper torn up, and she didn't disagree. So it's not standard procedure for her (which still wouldn't be acceptable, but if that was the case, then at least Aidan wouldn't have been singled out like he was). I clarified with her that he wasn't cheating or anything, and then said I was very upset about it, that I didn't think that was an appropriate way to handle it because I felt it was disrespectful to the effort he was putting in. She said she was sorry, but she kept pointing out that he should have known how to do it and should have been doing it the right way. It was almost as if she was blaming him.

I kind of wish she was more remorseful and admitted she was wrong to do it, but at least I was able to call her on it and stick up for him (in a tactful way), so hopefully it doesn't happen again. I told her I didn't want anything to cause him to like school any less (which is what we had a conference about last month).

I talked to him afterwards and made sure he knows to ask her ASAP if he's not sure how to do something, and to let me know if she does it again. Adam did say that if there are any more incidents, we're going straight to the principal, but I'm glad I handled it this way this time.

It's just too soon for Aidan to start disliking school, so I want to do anything I can to prevent it! Here he is on the first day of 1st grade, so excited! I want him to be this excited for school every day for years to come. That's totally realistic, right?!?! :)

Lazy Sunday mornings

I love lazy Sunday mornings!

We lounged...

We* sipped coffee...

And I procrastinated like I do all the time. Sigh.

Even though I know I should have been checking things off my ever-growing to-do list, all I really wanted to do on Sunday morning was sit on the couch and watch The Incredibles with my kiddos.

Of course, that meant that I spent the afternoon inside the house mopping and folding laundry while Adam and the boys were taking advantage of the beautiful weather outside. UGH! Luckily, I managed to tear myself away from the mopping long enough to get out for a short walk with them. The weather was BEAUTIFUL this weekend! Logan was so happy not to have to wear a coat ☺.

Maybe next weekend I won't be so lazy and I'll check something off my to-do list. Organize the linen closet, perhaps? Or the pantry? Or transfer all our photos to an external hard drive we got waaay back in November? So many things to do, so little time. Especially when what little time I have gets taken up by all the chores that have to get done on a weekly basis, that I have no time for during the week. The laundry isn't just going to do itself, unfortunately!

But sometimes it's more important to just chill with the family. I just wish I was better at balancing the chilling, the chores, the family stuff, and all the extra things I want to do. Maybe I'll figure it out...one day. For those of you who have it all figured out, I'm certainly open to suggestions!

*Clearly by "we" I mean I sipped my coffee, then gave Lorelai my closed and empty cup since she kept grabbing for it. Don't worry, we plan to wait to introduce coffee until she's at least a year** old.

**And by a year, I mean fully grown. Don't want to take any chances on stunting her growth! ☺

I like 'em big, I like 'em chunky

(speaking of, where's our Madagascar 2 DVD? I can't find it anywhere!)

So it's been two weeks since Lorelai's 6 month well visit, and I realized I never posted about it! In what comes as absolutely no surprise to this proud momma, she's 100% perfect in every way. Great eater, great sleeper (knock on wood), developmentally on track, physically healthy and very happy. And still big, tipping the scales at 18lbs 12.5oz and 27 inches! Although, she's actually on the charts now (she'd always been above the 95th percentile, now she's 92% for weight and 90% for height), so she's definitely hit the expected growth plateau that's typical of breastfed babies.

Here are her stats from birth till now:

Birth: 9lb 1oz, 21.5 inches
1 month: 13lb .5oz, 23 inches
2 months: 15lb 4oz, 24.25 inches
4 months: 17lb 13.5oz, 26 inches
6 months: 18lb 12.5oz, 27 inches

My poor, scrawny arms are glad she's not still gaining a pound a week like she was for the first month!

In a slightly related tangent, I've been wondering if there's any correlation between how fast a breastfeeding mom loses her baby weight and how fast her baby gains weight? There's definitely correlation there for me. With Lorelai especially, it's like my extra weight all went straight to her—she rapidly gained and I rapidly lost. It was similar with Logan too (he gained rapidly in the beginning), although my weight loss wasn't quite as rapid with Logan. However with Aidan, he didn't gain quite as fast, and it took me a lot longer to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight.  Things that make you go "Hmmmmm."  Has anyone else had that happen or noticed that correlation?

Vintage cuteness

I was going through some old files on my computer and came across a few video clips (pardon the crappy quality, we didn't have a fancy schmancy Flip back then) of the boys, so I thought I'd share. These were taken 4 years ago when Logan was about 6 months old, and Aidan was 2 1/2 years old. Aidan loved those goggles (or "gobbles" as he called them)!

In this clip, Aidan was singing Logan an "I love you" song that he made up. It was the sweetest thing ever and I'm so bummed he didn't want to give an encore performance on camera! (And he's still scared of spiders ☺)



And here are some random pictures from back then, too:



Aidan, 2 1/2 years (Jan 2007)

Logan, almost 6 months (Feb 2007)

 

Aidan, 2 1/2 (Feb 2007)




Logan, 6 months (March 2007)





My fortune came true...

...in bed. Haha, just kidding!! ☺

Back in the summer of 2009 when I was trying to figure out whether (and when) I was ready to try for a third baby, I opened a fortune cookie and got the most appropriate and perfect fortune I've ever had. It's almost uncanny how fitting it turned out to be.

"A small gift can bring joy to the whole family." Lucky numbers 29, 14, 37, 19, 1, 56

I'm not a really superstitious person, so I'm not saying that this fortune is what made me decide I was ready to have another baby, but I just couldn't ignore how appropriate it was, and still is. Especially since it was the boys who, that very summer completely out of the blue, specifically told us they wanted a sister (in fact, this is what prompted me and Adam to actually start considering it). They honestly do feel like we gave them a gift of a beautiful little sister. With a huge smile on his face, Logan proudly reminds me on a regular basis that he and Aidan asked for a sister and we gave them one.

What makes this fortune even more perfect is that the first lucky number is 29, as in the day in July our small gift was born.

And funny enough, the word on the back is "watermelon", which is pretty much what I looked like I was carrying around under my shirt when I was pregnant with Lorelai!

My Strange Addiction

No, I don’t have one. I’m talking about the show on TLC.  I can now add eating laundry detergent, sleeping with a blow dryer, and snacking on toilet paper or couch cushions (among numerous other freaky things—seriously, where do they find these people!) to my ever-growing list of reasons my children could end up in therapy if I'm not a perfect parent. (Me? Overreact? NEVER!)

But seriously, I’m sure that’s one of the fears every parent has, at least to some degree.  I mean, we all know how much pressure there is to be the “perfect” parent and raise perfect kids who turn into polite, responsible, and productive members of our society. As parents, we have by far the most responsibility in shaping our child's life, by nature and nurture. When something goes “wrong” and a kid adopts some freaky addiction or heaven forbid, goes on a shooting rampage, I know I’m not the only one who looks at the parents, searching for any clue as to what went wrong.

Whenever Adam and I struggle to get Logan to eat his dinner, Aidan to do his homework, or let Lorelai cry because I can't (or won't) pee or cook dinner with a baby in my arms, it’s in the back of my mind that I hope we don’t mess them up for life!

Rationally, I know that parents aren't always to blame. Rationally, I know that I'm doing my best as a mom and that bottom line, I love and provide for my kids (which is apparently half the battle, if you ever turn on the news and hear the horror stories of abuse and neglect). And rationally, I know that it takes a lot more than a fight over food or homework and some crying to develop any type of addiction or other shrink-worthy behavior…but maybe I’d better keep a closer eye on the toilet paper, just in case. 

So YUCK

Nothing says "good morning" quite like rushing to the bathroom at 5:30am to comfort your child who was so rudely awoken by a mad dash to the toilet to violently vomit his guts up. Now try doing that on top of having spent the better part of the evening violently vomitting your own guts up, and it's NOT a pretty sight. And go ahead and add in a second vomitting boy for good measure, because two is always better than one, right? Needless to say, Aidan, Logan and I had a rough couple of days dealing with "the vomittings" courtesy of a nasty stomach bug. Luckily the boys didn't have it quite as bad as I did, and Adam and Lorelai have managed to steer clear so far. But I'd better stock up on extra lysol and clorox wipes, just to be sure it's out of our house for good!

I think we're all back to normal now (aside from me being a few much-missed pounds lighter). Fingers crossed we stay that way and toes and eyes crossed that Lorelai doesn't come down with anything!!

Me versus the sweet potato

I think the sweet potatoes I buy must know how much I hate them, because they've waged a war with me. For the second time, I've tried to make sweet potato puree for Lorelai, and for the second time, I failed big time. As in, "almost up in flames" fail.

Supposedly, the best way to cook a sweet potato is to bake it, because you retain the most nutrients and sweet flavor that way. Blah blah blah. So attempt number one last weekend was to bake the stupid thing until it was soft enough to puree. I poked holes in it, got it wet, then wrapped it in foil and baked for 45 minutes. I checked and it still wasn't done, so I put it back in for 15 minutes. I thought it was done, so I sliced it in half. It was still a bit hard in the center, so I put it back in the oven for about 10 more minutes. It seemed done, so I scooped the potato into the food processor and blended until smooth. Except, it never got smooth, because it turns out that the stupid, @#$!ing sweet potato wasn't fully cooked soft enough. I tried using the blender, the food processor, the hand masher, and even my hands to get those hard pieces blended. Nothing worked, so I did the next most logical thing—threw a major temper tantrum and tossed it all down the drain.

I figured baking just wasn't the way to go for me, so attempt number two today was to get another potato, cut it into little tiny pieces and steam it in a steamer basket on the stove. Since I was paranoid about it not being soft enough like last time, I left the pot on the stove a little (read: a LOT) too long, which I only noticed after I smelled smoke, and realized the sweet potatoes were buring and the pot was about to catch on fire. Just awesome. I had to throw that whole batch away too, along with the pot, which was burnt beyond repair. And our entire house STILL smells like smoke...5 hours later.

Now I know why I always boiled my sweet potatoes when I made them for the boys. Screw nutritional value, my pots and my sanity can't handle any more failed attempts at cooking nasty sweet potatoes!

And whenever I do get them made, I REALLY hope Lorelai loves them so my hard work wasn't all for nothing!

One of those mornings

This is one of those days where I wish I had just stayed in bed and cuddled with my baby girl all day.

If I had stayed in bed...

...Maybe I wouldn't have had an argument with Adam about helping me get Lorelai dressed (and then subsequently having to change her pants because I didn't like what he picked out, even though there was technically nothing wrong with it).

...Maybe Logan wouldn't have hit me and screamed at me that I'm a mean mommy who hurt his feelings (all over not being able to bring his pillow pet to school for share and tell because it doesn't begin with R, the letter of the week in his class).

...Maybe I wouldn't have heard that Aidan's bus driver accused him of poking holes in the seat on the bus. For the second time. (Can't wait to hear Aidan's side of that story, especially since he doesn't carry anything in his bookbag capable of poking a hole in a bus seat!)

...Maybe I wouldn't be having a bad hair day because of the rain. (To be fair, I'd probably still have a bad hair day, it just wouldn't be because of the rain and I wouldn't care since no one would see me.)

...Maybe I wouldn't be cold and wet because of the rain. (Wait, no maybe about that one...my bed is nice and warm and dry!)

...Maybe I wouldn't get a pounding headache every time I stand up. (That Advil took way too long to kick in!)

That's a lot of maybes for today. Eh...maybe tomorrow will be better.

For the record, Friday mornings should never have the same level of suckitude as Monday mornings.

Beaver Fever

And by "Beaver" I really mean "Bieber" but Aidan has a complete mental block on the name. Every time he says it, it comes out as Beaver. I'm officially tired of correcting him, so from now on, he will be forever known as Justin Beaver to us. 

Aidan has been growing out his hair so we've been joking with him that he looks like Justin Bieber. He was all "Justin who?" so I had to pull up a picture of "the Biebs" and explain who he was (while silently being grateful that he had not already caught the Bieber Fever from the girls in his class). Now that Aidan knows who he is, it's apparently been a regular topic of conversation amongst his classmates. He's learned all sorts of fun things about him like "he's a singer, he has a girlfriend and he kisses lots of girls." Oh my. If he starts going around getting girlfriends and kissing lots of girls, I guess I only have myself to blame for ever comparing him to the Biebs in the first place! Although it certainly wouldn't hurt my feelings if he became a famous singer. ☺

So what do you think? Twinsies?



In other related hair news, Logan now hates his curls. He wants to "tear them out" because they're ugly. Welcome to my world, kid. He pretty much got my wavy/curlyish hair, so I know how he feels. (I always wanted silky straight hair and I've only recently begun to embrace my natural waves.) Maybe Logan's just jealous that he doesn't have hair like Justin Beaver? I should probably come up with a celebrity who has hair like Logan. Any suggestions? I think Justin Timberlake has curly hair when it's longer. Think I could convince Logan's he's bringing sexy back with his hair? Just kidding. There's no way I'm introducing the term "sexy" to my 4-year-old!

Anyway, he just got it cut last night, so it's not as curly. Hopefully that'll stop the complaints for a while. And any desire to cut or tear the curls out himself...yikes! And for the record, I love his hair (although I think our hairdresser got it a bit too short in front this time)!