reunion pics (Super Dave's Mundanities (DaveChen)) by dave

I’m home, so I finally got around to uploading some of the pics I took of the Chen family reunion.

Here are my parents and all their grandchildren.

You can see the rest of them in the following Flickr set.
http://flickr.com/photos/superdavechen/sets/72157606288020719/

Posted in: kids

chapel thrill (Super Dave's Mundanities (DaveChen)) by dave

We’re taking along weekend trip to my old stomping grounds, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. I left town in 1997 and have been back a few times, but not in 5 or 6 years, I think. We drove down this morning, and hit town in a relatively quick 4 and a half hours.

We checked in to the historic Carolina Inn. It’s a nice hotel that’s owned by the University and run by Doubletree. They host lots of weddings here, and we saw one here today. The best thing is that it’s right across the street from Sitterson Hell, the computer science department building.

After checking in, we decided to wander around Sitterson. Ran into a few people I knew, although didn’t see my adviser. They’ve been working on expanding the building. They blew out the south wall and added a new set of labs, offices and classrooms. It’s set to open in July, and a guy I knew gave us a tour. Very swank, lots of light. The new graphics lab is cavernous.

In my day the department had no undergraduates. The department only granted graduate degrees, masters and doctorates. There was no bachelors f or computer science. That was rather strange, although great for us grad students. A few after I left, they finally added one. To support that they added a bunch of new faculty, so they needed more space, hence the building addition.

After touring the building, we walked around campus and stopped by the Old Well, a symbol of the school.

I had promised to by the kids some Tar Heel outfits on our trip. The only basketball player they know is Tyler Hansbrough. The kids could not stop talking about buying the clothes, so our next stop was to Franklin Street.

Finally we went back to the Carolina Inn to meet up with some friends. They have this “Fridays on the Front Porch” event where there’s food, drinks and a bluegrass band. It’s a surprisingly big thing. Hundreds of folks out at a picnic buffet. It was a good time, and I got to talk to a number of old friends. Here are some of them.

Jon & Jenny. Jon is holding their new baby. Jon & I were in a band together and we played golf. He was an undergrad when I was a grad student.

Don & Claire and their kids Ian and Laura. He’s another UNC CS PhD, and she was a secretary in the department.

Also there were Squishy (my former office mate) & Gillam, Andrei (my former brother in arms), Caroline Greene (smart, funny & babelicious), and Rich Holloway (another PhD). Also saw Greg Welch (grad student turned faculty) and met a student of his.

Posted in: kids , unc

the recital (Super Dave's Mundanities (DaveChen)) by dave

On Saturday Jake had a “cello recital”. He’s been taking cello lessons for a couple months now, so all he does now is do pizzicato open strings. No left hand. No bow. Just plucking.

His cello teacher also has a group class ever other week, so Jake and Elie get together with 4 other beginning kids. Elie just participates in the “music mind games” stuff that starts to teach a bit of music theory, different note and rest types, tempos, and beat patterns.

The recital was of all the teacher’s students, but she had just started teaching on her own recently so there weren’t that many. 5 or 6 absolute beginners, 1 kid a bit older, and a couple adult students (one of whom didn’t show).

Since the beginners didn’t really play, some of the time they were accompanied by their musical parents (or siblings). So I got roped into playing violin along with Jake. We did this silly piece where he plucks each of the strings from high to low and sings. I played along with the melody. My first violin performance in over 20 years.

Also the teacher played a piece, a cello prelude by Bach. Honestly, though I wasn’t that impressed with her playing. And in group classes I hadn’t been that impressed with her ear. In the recital rehearsal she tried to get a violin playing brother to re-tune his violin, but it was his hand position that was making him play out of tune. But she’s good with the little kids, so I can’t really complain.

The recital was held at a nursing home for Alzheimer patients, which was a bit strange. We needed people to let us into the building and then into the area we were playing. And one patient started to try and pick up a cello. But as an audience they were appreciative.

So overall it went well. But then today we got an email from the teacher saying that she was sorry but she was moving back to North Carolina to be closer to family. But Jake just started lessons a couple months ago! And now we have to find another teacher?

Posted in: golf , kids

ahh karma my old friend (Never melts (meef)) by jen

T always says "G0d h@tes c0medy musici@ns" because every time he plans a gig, a comical progression of things goes wrong. Now he says "G0d h@tes c0medy musici@ns' wives, too." because it's starting to happen to ME too! This morning I schlepped 3 kids to the lab for bloodwork on 2 of them. This place is always abandoned, let me tell you. For 2 pregnancies I went there and was most often the only Posted in: cranky again , kids

inborn (Never melts (meef)) by jen

This post is only marginally about gender roles. I just find it interesting that the girl will run and scream when she sees an insect. And that the boy will hold one out for her so she can feel free to do so. T and I do not do this to each other (though, life would be more fun if we did!) I don't really like bugs, but hey, home ownership has kind of desensitized me to all but the most vulgar and Posted in: bee , kids

staying that line (Never melts (meef)) by jen

After a much anticipated dr appt - because J's been doing nothing but eat lately and has looked visibly chubber than ever - I came home all agitated and annoyed and filled with stupid girly self doubt etc. The boy gained a pound and a half. I had to ASK them to weigh him. The nurse seemed impressed, and told the boy so. He smiled and cooed and flirted and laughed with her. The dr came in, Posted in: ftt , j , kids , pics

A late weekend review, some whining (Punkadyne Labs (Punkwalrus))

I don't remember much of the weekend. Saturday I really dug into the finances, and was pleased to see my Federal Return had already come in, so I paid a lot of bills that had backed up. I also straightened out my desk because I am *still* moving from my old den to my new, and it's caused some backup where stuff I can't categorize just ends up laying around.

Citibank bought my home loan. Dammit. I liked American Express PPH. I knw I have said this before, but when we first got the house, there was a problem where the bank accidentally split the house into two loans: a main one and a micropayment balloon loan. Those loans got bought and sold like four times in two years and it was hard to keep track of who to send the bills to for the current month. When we first refinanced, we consolidated it into PPH, and they had been our home loan ever since. When we had to get a second mortgage to fix the desk and parts of the roof, we went with... I forgot who we started with, but that was bought out by WAMU, and THAT was bought out by Wachovia. And when did I get that loan, 2006? Now I have to pay Citibank for my primary mortgage. I am not... all that happy with Citibank. I have had a bad past with them, although I haven't had much trouble with my current Citibank Credit card, which was once a different bank, I forget who. Even my local back, First Virgina, was bought out by BB&T;, and they replaced the decent staff they had with the typical minimum wage drones like every other bank.

There's like no concept of customer loyalty. These mego-conglomo-corporations treat us like a commodity, like how we'd treat cash that comes and goes from our wallet. You ever form an attachment to a $5 bill? No, and the banks don't know you from anything, either. And all your personal information gets sold to another company. No wonder identity theft is so rampant.

On Sunday, I went out with the Heare kids and aksident to the DC national Zoo. I had a lot of fun, and I think they did, too, despite it never getting warm or the sun coming out. Poor aksident was freezing her legs something awful in these shorts she had. There were many reasons I took them out to the zoo: exercise (for me), the company, talking with them.

Scarlet is still 9, and already she's got a Bohemian streak in her I wouldn't have suspected just a few years ago. Her clothing choices are very unique, for instance, and her outlook of "pink and pretty princess" has faded away. I found she likes comics, and while I don't really get into them, boy has she found a good contact to someone who can hook her up. :) I wonder if I can get her some Tintin? Hey, my fellow comic book nerds, is there like a Tintin-like comic or graphic novel that has a female protagonist you'd recommend that's not like, "The Bratz Dolls Break a Nail" or "Hello Kitty Bakes a Cake" or something?

CR was supposed to come with us, but he had an emergency operation on his toe, and has been bedridden until yesterday. He has now been sick too many days, and it's official: he is not graduating this year. I haven't really spoken about it in the LJ because there was still hope for a while, but because of the way they do English, he's not going to pass. The options are he goes to summer school to finish English, or repeats his senior year and graduates in 2009. Both have advantages and drawbacks, but in order for CR to stay on our health insurance, he has to be in school. There is NO way we can afford his medical bills if he doesn't have insurance. He either has to get a job and get his own insurance, or stay in school full time. We're pushing for him to repeat his senior year to buy some time, but the school is resisting this because it's only one class. We have a meeting Thursday because I want everyone on the same page before we make a decision.

We can't afford to pay for his college, short and simple. I never had illusions otherwise, but our family's finances are stretched very thin, and we don't have any liquid assets. Haven't I played this record before? takayla is working 2 jobs, I have my job, and the bills keep piling up. Most of them are medical, because even with the insurance, we're spending several hundred a month on prescriptions and co-payments. Then there's gas prices because we both work very far away from home. The irony is our family is making more a year than we ever had, and I am still paying bills like I did in 1995, before I got my first tech job and I was making only $19k/year. A lot of stuff is leaning on our credit cards, so we're paying buttloads of interest, and the balances keeps climbing because, on average, we spend $200-300 a month over what we take in. And then there's the incidentals, like house repairs, unexpected costs like anyarm changing her wedding from here to Vegas, plus whatever else is "oh, we have to pay $300 for this thing..." This is ludicrous. So if we can stretch another year, CR will be legally an adult in July, and he'll be available for better financial assistance. The current plan is an electrician trade school of some kind, so we're looking into that. The pressure is on me to try and get the money under control, or I estimate we'll have to sell the house and move out by the end of this year. Right now when the housing market is collapsing. My emergency plans are to cash in my 401k in October so we can afford to live for maybe another year, but I really, really, really don't want to do that for obvious reasons.

But it's not all hopeless. Don't give up on me yet, guys, and don't give me free loaves of bread and jars of discount Mormon peanut butter out of pity. There are some rays of sun through these storm clouds, many which I can't mention yet, so I hope some favors I have in the world of karma come back to me. Posted in: banks , cr , heares , house , kids , loans , school , zoo

we are old people... (Never melts (meef)) by jen

...who sit around late at night and talk about people we used to go to work or school with, but sitting around in my bed with 2 college friends on a Saturday night making fun of various people and things we saw online was kind of fun. It was like being back in one our crappy apartments. You know, except for the the baby laying on the bed. Saturday we had a blast just hanging out. They loved the Posted in: friends , kids , random

that's how they get you. (Never melts (meef)) by jen

Last night sucked for me. I was supposed to clean because I'm expecting company this weekend. Company that will be here in an hour, but the floors are still disgusting and I haven't showered. I went to bed at 1am and the baby promptly woke up. I don't remember what happened after that, other than I woke up at 5am because D was having a CHAT with said baby, who was nestled in my arms with his Posted in: j , kids

Orange (Never melts (meef)) by jen

Lack of appropriate subject matter? Let the pictures tell the story! also: I gave J some (baby food) pears (that I made) today. It was his first taste of solid foods, snif... The first bite was just, yeah, yeah. He accepted it, didn't make a face, nothing. Then he fussed a little, so I offered him some more. Soon he was crying when it wasn't coming fast enough. By the end, he Posted in: d , j , kids , pics

my day. you want to know how my day was? (Never melts (meef)) by jen

I'll tell you how my day was!

It all started this morning when I got tired of waiting for a package I've been expecting. This package was at least a week overdue. I called the people who sent it to me, and they told me to check with the post office. After calling the national post office hotline, and getting agitated with the stupid "you can say..." menus (what the hell is wrong with "push 1 for..") and pushing zero 5,000,000,000 times, the stupid voice said "okay. please hold." It was as if I was aggravating a computer! See, I can annoy anyone without even trying.

Finally the thing spit out a phone number to my local post office. Which I was stupidly not expecting, and wound up writing it on the laundry room wall. Good job. At least if I wrote it on my arm it would have washed off. So I called them, and I got this nasty lady who yelled at me and told me there's nothing she can do if the package hasn't ARRIVED yet. Well, sor-ee I was just checking. For all I knew, the package was in pieces in a bag waiting to be claimed! Bitch.

So then I got the kids ready for swimming, packed a bag, loaded them in the car, and left. At which point my gas light came on. Grrr. No, I never did fill the tires either by the way. The pump was not cooperating so I gave up. Got to the end of my road, realized I forgot the bag. Went back. Nearly hit the house turning around. Whoops.

Swimming was OK. D did not want to go in the water. Finally I convinced him to sit on the step. But he really did not want to go IN the water. I told Ed to just grab him. The first time, he got away. The second time, he screamed. The third and fourth time he was okay. After all that, he didn't really want to get out of the pool. Facepalm.

Next up was L's class. Hoo boy. Seems girlfriend had an Attitude Problem today. She was sassy and punchy. She did not listen to the teacher, did NOT sit still. I thought she was going to fall in the water at least 8 times, just because she was fooling around. And then the kicker was that she held up a float out of the teacher's reach, and when the teacher asked for it, she held it even higher, and eventually threw it. WTF? Who IS this kid?? She did that 3 times. By the third time I grabbed her arm and left. I told her that was unacceptable and she just stood there smirking at me.

After we were done at the Y, I drove across town to get gas. By then, J was screaming. Poor kid was just tired. I had almost gotten him to sleep at the Y, but then some people chose that moment to come up to him and talk to him. Don't you just love when you are obviously trying to get a baby to sleep and someone comes up to it and starts talking? So I went to pay for my gas only to find my credit card was declined. Now I'm up the creek. I called T and he said "oh, I canceled it." WELL THANKS SO MUCH FOR TELLING ME! So I got the number of the "main" card from him. He then asked me why mine didn't work. I bitchily informed him that I've been telling him for 3 years, that I do not HAVE my own copy of this card, and that he keeps telling me he's going to get me one, and then never does. Meanwhile, Patient Gas Station Man is staring into the back of my car at the now-3 screaming orangutans children with the biggest "what the... " expression on his face.

I figured there's no way I'm cooking once I get home, so I stopped at McD's. I ordered the undeserving brats kids some food amidst them screaming and howling that they wanted to go HOME. When I pulled up to the window, there were four people there. Probably just to gawk at me.

Then, when I arrived home, what was in the middle of the garage door, but a package from a certain company whose name is synonymous with "large woman of the jungle." A package that "hadn't arrived yet." A package that looked beat up, like it had been maybe sitting in the back of a postmaster's personal vehicle, or on the floor of a post office. How convenient.

When I sat down to my desk and tried to put the CD in my computer, the multimedia portion (the whole reason I bought it) did not work on my computer. Talk about adding insult to injury. Posted in: crazy , kids

solitude (Never melts (meef)) by jen

Lately, I feel like I need coffee or something. Some warm thing to wrap my hands around and just be alone for a while in the morning. I don't want anyone talking to me and I just want time to "wake up" and just organize my mind I guess. Naturally this means that L will talk to me about every single thought that goes through her little mind. And let me tell you, morning is too early to think about some of these things. And the randomness! aaaahh!

D is quiet, the baby is taking his morning nap, the dog is sunning himself, so naturally this would be a great time to take 20 minutes to myself, except L has no outlet at this time, because according to her, she "has" to talk! Bring on the coffee!

Also, don't light a candle unless you want toddler spit all over your desk.

Yesterday we followed up with the dermatologist. T was supposed to come and help me by watching the kids, but he showed up as I was packing to leave! Good job! 12:00 apparently means something at this office. They are very on-time. I showed up 7 minutes before 12 and waited for less than that. The kids must have been good, because when T asked the receptionist if she'd seen me, and described me as a woman with 3 kids she stared at him like "really??" I walked past her 3 times, but okay.

After that I dragged T to lunch and then tried to con him into putting air in my front tires. Ever the loving and caring husband, he told me to do it myself. When I told him I was a girl, and that "math is hard," he rolled his eyes and agreed. But then when we left he changed his mind again and told me he'd take the car out later that night. Which he didn't do. So now I have 2 flat tires and maybe a gallon of gas in my tank. I didn't stop for gas because the baby was screaming and I figured he could do that while he was getting me air.

Which would be great, because we have swimming today, and there exists no easy to get in/out of gas station anywhere along the route. I could go three miles in one direction, but then drive another 2 miles to make a u-turn to come back, but that's stupid because the Y is less than 3 miles away. In the other direction. Oh well, if I get stuck it's all his fault, right?

Well I can't fix the gas situation but I guess I can go out there with a bicycle tire pump and put some air in the tires, which I plan to do before I leave. BUT STILL!

I've written this whole post and not ONE iota of quiet! At least at swimming today I will get to talk to someone else. I am trying to figure out the logistics of 2 kids one right after the other. It wouldn't be so bad if D wasn't in diapers. I figure I can dress him quickly while he's wrapped in a hooded towel? I don't know. L's class starts 10 min later, not directly after, so I could probably trek back to the locker room, but since that seems to take 10 min by itself, I don't want to do that. We'll see if I get any dirty looks. And I packed a long shirt for him. heh heh. With my luck he'll throw the towel off and expose himself to the entire pool. Posted in: doctor , kids , random

did that suck? (Never melts (meef)) by jen

Did you hear that? That's the sound of me going insane. I have uttered the following phrases wayyy too much the past 4 days:

1. "GET OFF of my BED!!! NOW!"
2. "if you pee on my bed you will never be allowed in my room again."
3. "GO PEE!"
4. "if you pee in your pants the tv will be unplugged for the rest of the day."
5. "STOP THAT!"
6. "stop jumping on my bed!"
7. "if you want to lay down, go in YOUR room on YOUR bed!"
8. "put our blanket back in your room."
9. "I don't care what YOU want to do, I'm telling you to do this!"
10. "I don't want it."
11. "no, put it AWAY."
12. "stop that dramatic crying!"
13. "put it BACK. NO you can NOT have another one, you've had enough."
14. "get OFF THE BABY!"
15. "I don't want to go downstairs yet."
16. "get out of her room! leave her alone!"
17. "go back to bed. If I see you down here again I'm going to have to put the gate up."
18. "go back to bed! now!"
19. "get OFF the chair like that before you fall again"
20. "Shut UP! you're going to wake up the baby!!"
21. "SHH! no. just.. stop talking. STOP TALKING. what did I say? close your mouth. STOP. MAKING. NOISE. STOP! SHH!!"

One more day to go. Hopefully I won't wake up tomorrow morning and find a message from the husband saying he's having so much gosh darn fun that he's spending an extra day. Or that he's "just too tired" to drive any more and he's going to start first thing in the morning!

I predict I'll be in my car, with it running, waiting for him to come in. Posted in: crazy , kids

bored yet? (Never melts (meef)) by jen

Yesterday's visit to the dermatologist was just a thing I did. I didn't think anything of it, but kind of happy to talk to someone about it. Today's visit to the allergist was almost like angels playing harps or something. Oh, he did NOT tell me anything spectacular. And he seems to think my diet would play a SMALL role in J's skin and more likely it's just a "thing." That worries me since my mindset has always been "these things don't just happen for no reason." But at the same time the lazy part of my brain is all "go eat some macaroni and cheese! go on! go get it!"

I am so used to dealing with D, and while I'm trying not to apply what I learned with D to J, because they are different people, obviously; it's hard to discount it altogether. I have to stop myself a lot from saying "well, with D..." because it has no basis, most of the time!

Anyhow, this allergist said a lot of things that I agree with, things that directly counter the things the derm. said that I thought were kind of "old school." Now you might be thinking I like this guy because he tells me what I want to hear, but that's just a small part of it. I really like the dr and the practice and it's less than 20 minutes away, too. Not that I'm lazy to drive but I'm not used to having competent services without having to travel; they are few and far in between and hard to find.

I asked him if the stuff the derm prescribed was appropriate and he said it was a little stronger than he'd do but it was fine. (J's brain: "cut it with aquaphor, and use less.") Allergist: "maybe you only need use it for a few days, then use this as needed." Okay not really like that. He was very careful not to step on this other dr's toes. I bet drs hate it when you tell them that.

After the dr visit, I stopped at the store to pick up the prescriptions and walked around for 30 minutes while I was waiting for it to be done. What exactly am I waiting for, when both employees of the pharmacy were just kinda sitting there shooting the shit every time I passed? I know it wasn't ready because every time he saw me he'd tell me it wasn't ready. I'm not criticizing, I'm just wondering if there's some gnomes back there making the drug or something?

And while I was walking around I bought a bunch of useless crap. Shop Rite cookies. Those things are totally cheesy and total junk, but they are so good! They are fake oreos with one vanilla side and one chocolate side. (You can get them in one or the other, but for those of us who cant' decide...) I also got a bath brush for J's head, and lots and lots of gum, and some garlic hummus. That's not really the most "wtf?" shopping visit, but it's kind of funny still.

Then I came home and it was "only" 12:30! gah! it should have been MUCH LATER THAN THAT! I had a whole day to kill. However, I am exhausted now, and so were the kids. They were easy to put to bed. D's eyes were rolling back in his head as I was singing to him. Tomorrow, though, I'm thankful I don't have to go anywhere. Whew. 3 days in a row of "going somewhere" has taken its toll on the children, and L is sick. Which explains her previous behavior, I suppose. (it's always something.) So tomorrow we're going to take it easy. Posted in: allergy , doctor , j , kids

This is costing me a fortune in copays alone... (Never melts (meef)) by jen

This morning as I was digging through mt. laundry for some clothes for the kids I figured I wouldn't need to get anything for L since she seemed like she wasn't in a mood to get dressed. HA. I was thinking how I always dress them, or at least always have an outfit downstairs for them in case I have to leave on short notice. Do you see where this is going?

And I was also thinking how annoying it would be to go with three kids since T wouldn't be available on Friday to help me out. See where THAT's going? My karmic curse is following me around today.

So I'm sitting there FINALLY having gotten to sit down (after cleaning the kitchen and some other odds and ends) when the dermatologist called me. At first I thought they were just confirming my Friday appointment, but it seems after talking to the pediatrician they want him to come in soon.. like today! Can ya do today? um.. ok.

uh.. SHIT! Dressed the kids, ran upstairs to shower, dressed the baby. Kids are acting badly. Baby has been screaming every moment he's not in my arms, but refuses to be swaddled to sleep. Finally get everyone dressed with 20 minutes to spare, take baby to sit down and nurse. Baby pukes all over shirt! OKAY NOT FUNNY! This is the only clean shirt I have that's also presentable in public! Son of a... And after all that, he wouldn't even nurse. Grr.

I told T I was going, and surprisingly he said he'd meet me there (!!!!!) It's not far from his work. So I drove down there. It was a nice ride. I wonder if there are driving technique courses on how to deal with high winds? It was just my old commute plus a little jaunt onto a side street. A side street where I'd gotten into a minor accident um.. wow.. 8 years ago. yikes. I almost got T boned this time. (these are the only 2 times I've been on this particular jughandle... otherwise I love jughandles. Now I bet you know where I live!)

The dermatologist was very nice and didn't really tell me anything I didn't know, though he prescribed even more topical remedies. And I have to go back in a week. Since I was early, I sat in the car and made a bunch of phone calls. I lined up an allergist appointment for tomorrow (my phone skillz rock!) and then called the pediatrician to touch base and make sure they could get me a referral that fast. It seems I'm famous around the office, they don't even ask me who I am anymore. And it's not like it's a small slow paced practice either. Whoops.

In order to make these phone calls I had to open my cell phone, which I haven't even SEEN since I used it in the hospital after having J. There were 17 voicemails. 14 of which were hang-ups. 1 from my mom, 1 from the Y, and 1 from the pediatrician. Then I listened to the 2 saved ones to see if I forgot something. One of them was my friend Alison calling me at the hospital to say everyone was on the edge of their seats and would I PLEASE call her back or post. It's cute. Saved it again. The other one hit me right in the chest. It was the voice of someone I haven't spoken to in a long time. The message is really old, and I don't even know why I saved it because it's mundane and doesn't have anything important really. But just hearing this person's voice again really made me miss them. I saved that too.

And I didn't want to mention it in my last post, but I have also been called for jury duty. I do not really want to pretend that I am "interested in how the whole thing works" because I'm really kind of over that. This is the 3rd time I've been called since moving back to this state. (and I got called twice in my former state) I don't know if that's normal or if I'm "lucky." I did try the "hardship" option because it really made me think if I can't get a hardship postponement then I'm really kind of screwed. I don't know anyone who can watch these kids even for one day. And definitely don't know any lactating people. You also can't just drop kids in day cares as far as I know. The place around the corner used to have a drop-in service but only if they had enough openings for the day and you couldn't reserve them. Oh and it was $100/day for each kid over 3. Yeah. They really worded that hardship sentence very vaguely and legal-ese-y... I guess I just have to wait and see and deal with things as they come. Posted in: allergy , j , jury duty , kids , random

They stole my blood and all I got was this stupid band-aid! (Never melts (meef)) by jen

So I took J to the pediatrician today. He is having skin/possible allergy issues that I'm trying to get to the bottom of. He's been referred to a pediatric dermatologist and an allergist. Things are getting worse as we taper off the drugs he's on. Which make him cranky so I'll be happy to be rid of them in a small way. His hair is growing back and he no longer spends hours rolling his head back and forth at night.

As a side note, how cute is it to be woken up by a cooing chatty baby, who then breaks out in a huge hey-how-ARE-ya! smile when he sees you wake up and look at him?

Today's visit was doomed from the start. The kids were tired from a visit to grandma's yesterday. Before I left I held the two of them by their necks against the wall (note: maybe I elaborated) and outlined exactly what I expected of them. When we got there, they did sit nice and quietly in the waiting room for me, and L didn't scream when I told her she couldn't go see the damn fish and can you stop picking your nose (x54) and will you stop bothering those people they just don't want to talk to you (bitches!) and can you please stop shouting at the tv? whisper, please! (a whisper, to L & D, is more like "talking quietly" I have no idea how to make them whisper, though sometimes I can get D to whisper just by.. well, whispering.)

Onward to the exam room, where D refuses to enter (perhaps it was the dolphins on the wall. Murderous creatures, those.) When he did, he made a beeline for a small plastic chair along the wall. Which got L in a SNIT, let me tell you. I tried to get her to sit on another chair, on the stool, on the exam table, on my lap, but nothing would get her to stop screaming about the damn chair that by now I wanted to throw in the hallway. Finally D got up and sat in my lap with me and she got the chair. Then she got up and started spinning around. This never ends well, it usually ends with her getting dizzy and falling and smacking her head on something. I told her to sit down, and she loudly informed me that she did! not! want! to!

Dr comes by to say hello. D freaks the hell out for reasons unknown.

D leaves the room, refuses to come back, lays down on the floor in the hallway.

Dr. comes back in, steps over D, starts chatting up the patient.

L starts chatting up the Dr.

D refuses to move from his spot on the floor.

Dr. tries to tell me Important Stuff, during which L is at first trying to make conversation, but I guess after me shooing her away and asking her to be quiet she got pissy or something. Then she started loudly crying and whining that she wanted to go HOME and NOW. I sat her down and smiled and performed the Vulcan death grip and told her to please be quiet.

So naturally she screamed at the top of her lungs. "I!! DON'T!!! WANT!!! TOOOO!!!!"

Damn it.

I THINK I got the gist of the appointment. I hope I didn't miss anything important! J had a preliminary blood test which hopefully won't need to be repeated for the allergist, and we got some referrals, and we left.

All along I'd told her if she was good, she'd get a sticker. On the way out, I had to hold her up by her clothing and drag her along. Needless to say, girlfriend wasn't getting a sticker.

After I got back to the car I was a tad snippy, and the car seat straps may or may not have been a little tighter than they needed to be.

I guess L was That Kid today. We all have to play that once in awhile, it's like Jury Duty or something. Posted in: j , kids , pediatrician , that kid

allrightythen (Never melts (meef)) by jen

I drafted my last post. I'll go back to it when I'm in the mood to talk about it. I've been inundated with many forms of self-sabotage lately though. I feel like I'm getting "lessons" shoved down my throat about everything I've ever said to anyone. Not even karma, bad things, just conversational things. Sort of like saying "the baby naps every day" only to find yourself with a baby who never sleeps at all! Stuff like that. Annoying! I'm afraid to say anything now.

Took the kids to the Y this morning to take L swimming. I haven't told the husband that I'm just not going to soccer anymore. And DOH I just realized I saw his teacher this morning and she gave me a funny look and I wondered what THAT was about and now I know she's probably like "dude.. she's still alive.. whyfor not going to class??" Heh.

Anyhow the girl is doing ok in swimming. She still won't jump, she's very clingy. I laugh when I see Ed (the teacher) pulling her off himself only to have to re-do the other hand as soon as he's got one done. She's like a monkey. A monkey who doesnt' trust that you won't just throw her in the deep end and laugh. I'm sure it's because I abandon her all the time, you know. And the beatings, that's gotta take a toll on one's self esteem. Actually she's always been like this. She was walking by cruising for 3 months before I convinced her to just walk. I knew she could do it but she's just cautious and only does things when she knows she can.

But in any event, despite all that, she's moved up to the next level. And so I went and signed her up for it. I felt bad that D wasn't in anything, but I'm not into participation, and I can't do the younger kid swim classes with him because of J. Unless I want to do it on a Saturday which I DO NOT. BTDT. So I casually asked the lady if he could just go straight to the pre-pike that L is getting out of. She asked me how old he was and I told her 2, and she said he could. After making sure I could get a credit to my account if he HATED it, I just put him in it. Now please hope for me that it all works out, since I have them both on the same day, one right after the other, and if those classes don't fill up, I might get moved to another day/time and have to leave the house twice a week! Or worse, twice in one day! THE HORROR!

Also, someone send D some "it's okay to get wet" vibes. Posted in: kids , swimming , ymca

hey mom! (Never melts (meef)) by jen

Yeahhhh I don't think this is gonna work for me. Thanks for buying it for me though.

Posted in: j , kids , pics

You don't hate kids, you hate rude people (Punkadyne Labs (Punkwalrus))

I wanted to share this with you guys, because for some reason, the voices that guide me told me to post this. :-P

I like kids. I do. I love children aged 6-11 especially, because they seem to encapsulate the best and worst of what I like about the human race before they learn to keep that secret. I didn't used to like children. No. I think part of it was I was an only child, an AWKWARD child, and once when babysitting, a psychotic 8-year old stabbed me with a boning knife. On purpose. I was determined by age 18 I'd never have kids. Then I had one anyway, and I feel I am better for the experience. I love CR! :D

I approached much of child rearing like I approached "the real world." Kids, like the real world, are not out to get you. They just don't care. There's a vast difference there. The real world doesn't give a flip about you either, but that also means it doesn't hate you. So life and children come as you take it, and there's no real lesson book, so you can wing most of it with some common sense and sympathy. Treat life and children how you like to be treated, and things should work out... for the most part...

But the reason I posted this was an epiphany I had with a friend about a year ago. She is under the mistaken impression she doesn't like children. But when she told me why, I realized, "Oh... wait... you don't hate CHILDREN, you hate RUDE people, and that's understandable." I mean, if she said she hated short bipeds with knowledge deficits and legume anorexia, then maybe, yeah, she'd hate kids. But she described horrible acting children who, in my experience, are the vast minority. The same goes for adults, and I have seen quite a few rude adults who act like spoiled children. But, like adults, for every rude child out there, there's like 20 quiet and polite kids whom you do not notice because they are quiet and polite.

I know. I worked in retail for 9 years, and I counted. I sold children's furniture for three years, for God's sake.

In this case, this person I gave advice to is kind and a decent friend, and I have seen her with many kids, where she's usually having fun with them because in many ways, she speaks their language. We both agree she should not have kids, but that doesn't mean she can't enjoy the company of other people's kids... providing they are polite.

Many people, and a disproportionate amount of fandom I might add, don't like children. Many have all sorts of terrible advice of what to do with kids when they act rude. Most involve a vague description of violence that shows they think, on some level, Warner Brothers cartoons were moral lessons. "I'd smack, 'em!" I often hear very creative descriptions on what to do with rude children, almost exclusively given by people who haven't had children. Some of them are proud of it, like they have to prove something. "I don't plan to have kids," they say, as if someone else will be taking care of them in their old age. Some are just lazy, and some are crying sour grapes because they can't even get a date, much less breed. But thankfully, those people are a minority, too.

Kids who act out rudely on a regular basis do so because the people in charge of them don't plan well. Either they expect this behavior to be fixed by someone else, or they are too lazy to care. Often kids were a result of being too lazy to plan birth control. Here are some mistakes I see that lead to bad behavior in public:

They think the kid has a long attention span. By the very nature of how kids learn, time is far slower for them than an adult. Remember when 50 minutes was sooooo looooong for class to end when you were in elementary school? Now what's 50 minutes to you? So asking some kid hopped up on the desire to explore and learn to sit still for 20 minutes and do nothing is preposterous. It's like asking an adult to sit still and do nothing interesting for several hours. That's just mean.

They ignore the child. Kids always want attention. Negative and positive attention are the same thing to a kid who doesn't get either. Or only gets negative. I have seen some fannish people with terribly neglected kids. We all have those stories at conventions, especially after a decade or so. Most fannish parents who have decent children either don't bring them, because they know they'd get bored, or include them as part of their fannish community with a close, watchful eye to make sure they don't get into trouble. But a few bring their kids, and then don't pay attention to them. Or control their every move...! Controlling your kids too tightly is a form of negative attention. Your attention becomes a blur of bland commands with little relevance, so they seek positive reinforcement elsewhere. Like in a gang.

They treat kids like a separate part of the family. I see too many people treat their kids like, "My spouse and I, and then there's the kids." Not, "My family consists of 4 people with different, but important, needs." There's no "unit," just, "we're suffering through kids now... man, I can't wait until they move out." Like how people would deal with winter. "It will get better once it's over."

Anyway, there's my 2% of a universal credit voucher. Posted in: childhood , kids , rearing

the sheep is shorn (Never melts (meef)) by jen

After noticing D looked like a Beatle as of late, and L's been screaming when I so much as look at her hair, I decided it was high time to take the kids to get their first "real" haircuts. I've been in denial about D's hair for the longest time, but lately it's not staying nice and just flopping everywhere. And I didn't want to pay to do what I wanted... Can't see myself paying $20 a head to do what I can learn to do in 10 min or less by myself. Okay I read this and it makes me sound looney, but the truth is I just wanted to do it myself, for reasons I cannot understand. I guess it makes me feel competent and useful?

So in the span of about 5 minutes my 2yo Baby D looks like he's about FIVE! Holy crap! Between that, and the new shoes I had to buy him, and the fact he's totally out of toddler sized socks and into "boys" socks oh man where does the time GO???



For reference, here he is this morning. He was all proud that he put his hands in his pockets and wanted me to take a picture. (his hair is looking especially mccartney-esque here)



Anyway, I didn't touch the girl's hair. I might trim the ends but I want it a lot shorter, so I'm taking her in. Posted in: d , kids , pics

ho hum and funny (Never melts (meef)) by jen

Actual conversation with the girl this morning:

me: "hey L, where's D?"
her: "he inside."
me: "what's he doing?"
her: "playing"
me: "what's he playing with?"
her: "the toy."
me: "which toy is he playing with?" (trying to get an idea of where exactly "inside" is)
her, staring at me as if I am the stupidest person who ever lived, sighed, and said: "the one he is playing with."

oh. sorry.

also: remember those $6 LLBean snow suits? And how I had no idea whether I was having a boy or a girl so I got blue? And I thought I should get it in a bigger size (3-6) since D outgrew the small ones very quickly? Yeah.

Posted in: kidquotes , kids , pics

gah. (Never melts (meef)) by jen

Do you ever think, "hm, these kids look cute today, and I haven't taken "nice" pictures of them in awhile!" and then go get all of them dressed and shod and hair fixed and talk it up how they are going outside to take A Nice Picture only when you get outside they have other ideas and start fighting with each other and you tell them to shut up and sit down and if they don't take a nice picture they aren't going to get to stay outside after we're done, and then they start crying for no reason and you start cursing under your breath and the tears ruin the picture and then they're all scowling and looking away and whining that it's cold out and then just as soon as you focus your efforts on The Baby because he's the only one still cute at that point, he starts spitting up all over himself and every time you frame a new picture he urps some more until his cute little monkey outfit is totally white and beyond any minor photoshopping and then you wonder what the hell you were thinking in the first place?















Posted in: kids , pictures

I guess she did something that I didn't do first (Never melts (meef)) by jen

You may remember my neighbors, who copied everything we did, but scurried out of sight when I went outside to talk to them. They must have had J-Dar or something because they always seemed to know when I was going to stop and when I was just harmlessly passing by.

A few weeks ago I saw her out there with her babies and she was practically loitering in my driveway. Every nerve in my body was screaming to go out there and talk to her, but when I finally did, she heard the door open and suddenly remembered her house was on fire or something, from the way she freaked and ran.

This morning I woke up to the dog barking. He kept barking on and off until I finally went out there to see what he was barking at. I thought it was a squirrel, boy was I surprised to see a MOVING VAN in the neighbor's yard!

I guess it kinda makes sense, maybe the dog has been there forever. I haven't seen the dog in a long time. Maybe her husband left her and took the dog with her. Maybe something happened to him. (the dog and/or the husband) They have a baby that was born on D's birthday.. we knew the other was pregnant and due in October but haven't even seen each other since we met randomly at a blood lab last summer. I can't say she was really even nice to me that day, a little condescending, I think. ( When I had to tell her state the obvious that I was pregnant, she looked up and down at my huge pregnant form and said "oh you are? I had no idea." flatly.)

I don't know why I keep wanting to stay friends with people who aren't good for me but I'm still sad about it. I think I'm mostly SHOCKED and kind of really really curious about why/where they moved to. (Yes I know it's none of my business, but I think you'd all be curious too.) Mostly I think it's because she was a hard nut to crack and I liked the IDEA of being her friend and just assumed it'd be easier as the kids got older. And because she was the only person on our street that had kids this young. Everyone else is older, Child Free By Choice, or has teens/college aged kids.

While there's much cute/cool/nice things about having older people there - the guy down the street is totally enamored of L - they aren't really going to be my "friends."

Oh, well, enough rambling and back to waffle-making. I'm making a truckload of waffles so I can freeze them and simply pull them out of the freezer for the kids later instead of making them, getting the kitchen all dirty, and then getting cranky for the kids later. I got them a calendar and we put stickers for the holidays and birthdays. We're not done yet because J got bored and started screaming mid-way through, but we'll finish it later. If anyone has a child D-proof way of attaching a calendar to a wooden pantry door, I'm all ears. Posted in: kids , neighbor

academic redshirting (Super Dave's Mundanities (DaveChen)) by dave

The kids’ teacher brought up the topic of what the kids would be doing next year. The school is a private school that goes from 3 year olds up to 2nd grade. Our kids are turning 5 in June, so theoretically they could start kindergarten in the public schools. Of course that would save us a buttload of moolah, but we figured one more year in a more nurturing environment would be good for them. Their current class has 9 students and 2 teachers, while the public kindergarten has 22 students and 1 teacher.

Their current school also offers a junior kindergarten (JK) class, between pre-school and kindergarten, for kids who might need a bit more time to mature. The teacher mentioned that it might be good for Jake, since he’s a bit behind. His handwriting and vocal skills both could use more work. Elie on the other hand would have no problem in kindergarten. But I’m not comfortable with splitting the kids up into separate grades.

Academic redshirting, or delaying a child’s entry into school, has become increasingly popular. Some studies have shown that older kids do better in school. And our kids are smaller, so letting them grow an extra year might allow them to beat up other kids, rather than the other way around.

School systems have been pushing back the birthday deadline for entry to kindergarten. In Montgomery County it used to be that the cutoff was November 30th, now it’s September 1st. I think they found that pushing back the date improved test scores.

There was a big, long article in the NY Times Magazine entitled “When Should a Kid Start Kindergarten” discussing the subject. It points out the socioeconomic disparity of redshirting. The relatively affluent can afford to keep their kids in pre-school another year, while those less well off cannot. I guess we fall into the prior category.

So right now it looks like we might go the JK route, delaying their schooling a year. It’s funny, when I was a kid, I started school a year early. I was always the smallest kid in the class. I didn’t feel like it was a bad thing, although it probably contributed to my geeky lack of social skills.

Posted in: kids

(Never melts (meef)) by jen

1. This is the most insulting shit ever. Just reminded of a family event where I saw my cousin-in law or whatever you call your cousin's crazy Fatal Attraction wife. She had no idea we'd had J, or even that J was in the works (why yes, we talk often!) and I have a love/hate relationship with her. I really do like her, but man, sometimes, she's one of those Girly Girls that makes me feel like A Big Fat Schlump. Case in point - She was "greeting" J and me, when she stopped, put her hand on my arm, and said, "wow, you really like this, don't you? You really like having the babies, huh?" (yes, thats' verbatim. I think it was 'the babies' that did it.) So yeah I just kinda walked away from that with a major "WTF?" sign above my head.

2. But then, Later, D was having a meltdown and I had to ferry him up the stairs to his father while holding the baby in the sling. Now I have him in there partly so I have 2 hands to deal with my other 2 kids so this isn't really a hardship. Except when someone tries to step in and "help" despite your protestations, and then invokes the "it takes a village" mentality where they just DO without asking. D is not one of those kids who reacts well to that at all. When D is in those moods there's only one person he wants. If his father isn't available then I'll just have to do. I felt bad for shooing her away, and I know she was just trying to help, and she has no the babies of her own, so she has no idea how they can BE sometimes.

3. Today was L's first day of swimming. There are 3 kids in her class. So 2 other women, myself, J and D sat on the bleachers, only I didn't get to watch L because I was chatting with these people. Because I was obsessed with this one woman and even she asked me if she knew me from somewhere. So we were staring at each other and just chatting when every once in awhile she'd say "are you SURE I don't know you?" and all I could think of was that her KID looked familiar to me - and then suddenly everything clicked! The town where she lives, the kid... I asked her if her name was T, and she just stared at me and said "uh.. yes!" and I said "oh! you're M's wife! I'm T's wife!" T and M used to work together. I've met this woman twice, ever, and apparently recognized her kid as a) looking just like M and b) from the recent Christmas card we got. That is just too funny. At least I'll have someone to talk to next week. The weird thing is I thought her youngest was a lot older than L. She was the last person I'd expect to see today though.

4. L took to the water like she hadn't not been in the water for so long. Very cool. Unfortunately her size 12 mos swim shorts that the operator at LLBean insisted would be too small for her, were in fact too big on her and she was holding them up as she came out of the water. This thing should be snug on her, but it wasn't. I'll have to mull over my swimwear choices for next time. She doesn't have a bathing suit that fits her, so it's this, or buy something. Plus, my kids are very wimpy when it comes to chilly water.

4a. One moment. L was sitting on the top step with this HUGE grin on her face. I wish I had a picture of that. She was just SO HAPPY to be there.

5. I was also hoping that L's instructor was the swim director. Or at least that I'd see her, but I didn't. L's instructor was this cute lifeguard guy that I'd seen around the pool who always smiled at me when he saw me taking the kids in the water. Look at me, mildly bummed that my child's instructor is a cute lifeguard instead of some older woman. (I'm not really bummed.)

6. After swimming I took both children and put them in the day care. I'm trying to get D used to it, so I thought it'd go better if L was in there with him. Turns out it would not have mattered. L just ran in and didn't look back. D had to be pushed in. After a brief chat with the teacher about what I was trying to do, I left to go walk around for a half hour. When I left, D was standing next to the window leaning against the wall. When I came back, D was nowhere to be found. At first I thought he'd gotten over himself and gone to play, but the teacher smiled at me and pointed to the floor. Where D was laying, face down, as if he'd just flopped forward from his leaning-on-the-wall position and... stayed there. I asked her if he was like that teh whole time, and it turns out he did play with some random toy car briefly, but then he did... that. Well, at least he didn't cry.

7. Tomorrow is D's first soccer class. At first I thought he'd really be into it, but after seeing his behavior in the day care now I'm wondering if he'll just cling to my leg the whole time. Also, last year, D was absolutely petrified of the parachute games. L was in soccer then, and D was the sling baby. But holy crap, when we did the parachute, he'd freak. out. Should be interesting. As for L... she can't wait to go back to "play with the kids." in the day care. Posted in: kids , ymca

obsessing, navel lint gazing (Never melts (meef)) by jen

First I couldn't believe Christmas was so close and now I can't believe it's all over so fast. Whoosh, what a whrilwind. On TG, my aunt invited us to the house for Christmas eve, which we gladly accepted. a) I want to get out of my stupid "go to my mother's house two days in a row and want to put a fork through my eye" rut and b) I'd like to pretend we have "extended family." We had a super time. I put J in the babyhawk the whole time. This meant he was happier than a clam, and no one asked me to hold him. D took forever to warm up to everyone and L took right to the kids and was part of the "herd" that occasionally ran through the rooms. The food was awesome too.

I got my flash! Whee! A difference for sure. I'm still learning. I also got a new hard drive. After much pain and exposed computer innards and $200 unexpected "HELLO! buy a new OSX disk!" I was up until 2am last night getting it to work. That's the only time I can do things requiring the use of my brain without screaming and whining and "mommy look at me! You're not looking! D bit me!" and screaming and ugh. Still getting used to Jaguar, but pretty cool so far.

I was lucky when my computer got struck by lightning. My hard drives are just fried enough not to boot, but I managed to get most of the data off of them. To celebrate, I'm joining up with some online backup service. I DID have some of it backed up but it was so tedious to do it and I have 3 kids and 3 brain cells.... ooh what's that shiny thing over there... uh.. huh? what was I talking about?

The important thing is I'm back at my own computer! It only took 6 months. Kind of hard to take it that way. June seems like last week to me. Prenatal appts, sitting on a birth ball.. speaking of which my chair is broken, so it looks like birth ball is going to be my chair for quite awhile. We've been hemorrhaging money lately and I'd just as soon sit on a dining room chair than buy another stupid office chair.

Tomorrow is another travel day for us. The LAST ONE! I proposed to T that we leave early and come home in daylight. Now I'm pretty sure that we're going to get there and decide "this isn't so bad..." and stay late. But at least the option is there. Ugh. Supposed to snow tomorrow, that's the only raeson.

I forgot to schedule J's 2 mo checkup and I'm scared to. I feel like I forgot to hand in my homework and I'm not making eye contact with the teacher! I want to know how much he weighs really. I'm still on that, yes. I obsessively compare him to pictures of the other kids at his age trying to figure out if he's bigger, smaller, or on target. He is however all smiles. He's at that stage where he can sit for 10 minutse staring at his own hand in awe. Today I held up a mr. potato head doll for his inspection, and he laughed at it. He's been trying to hit/grab stuff too. We have a turtle mirror, and every time he sees it he breaks out into huge smiles. I can't tell if he's smiling at his own reflection or the turtle face over the mirror. Maybe both.



inspecting the hands...


neearrrr!


faarrr!


As for those other kids we have.. we did a lot with them this year for Christmas. We made cookies and ornaments and went sledding and even made a snowman. However stupid me forgot to break out the Night Before Christmas book like I'd planned to. Oh well.

Our Snowman


He's still sleeping in my bed. I tried twice to put him in the cosleeper but I couldn't go through with it because i am a big sappy wuss and missed him (not that he'd even go to sleep anyway.)

Posted in: kids , pics

Christmas Cookies (Never melts (meef)) by jen

Today I made cookies with the children. The recipe leaves much to be desired but to them sugar is sugar, right? Next time I'll make the dough and the icing ahead of time and just DO it. That's what I did once and it worked nicely but they don't nap any more. D was up all night and he needed a nap badly but he's being a defiant little...well.. jerk... and I spent most of the day trying to get him to nap. Eventually we hit a point where I really didn't want him to nap because he'd be up all night, but I really just wanted him to Go Away and Sit Still somewhere for an hour! The tiredness plus the sugar made him really obnoxious and I didn't like him one bit.

I let them do pretty much everything with the cookies, not worrying about messes or ugly cookies, since that's what my mother would probably do (before she flipped out and ran in the other room with a bottle of cuervo.) (or bailey's irish cream. She drinks weird things. what do I know.)

Before the mess. We mixed the dry ingredients in the bowl and this is when I realized it'd be more fun for ME if I did this ahead of time. But.. no naps.. when would I do it? pft.




L's 2nd favorite part!




By this time, he was having a tantrum. When I said we'd be making cookies, he thought there would be cookies a lot faster! He kept insulting me by going in the fridge and pointing out daddy's obviously superior cookies. The pre-made ones you shake out of the box. HEATHEN. The girl and I pretty much forced him to do this. He didn't really seem to think it was cool at all.




We HAD TO EAT THEM NOWWWWW. I thought I"d try to decorate a couple and get him out of my hair but it didn't work out that way.




I also made the mistake of leaving the kitchen unattended for a few moments.




Ahh, synchronized decorating.




Overall, L had a lot more fun with this part. D was eating sprinkles and eating his cookie instead of decorating it. Eventually after I stopped giving him cookies, he got bored and went inside.




Enjoying the fruits of her labors, I guess.




T can probably guess which ones I did and which ones he probably doesn't want to think about while eating.

Posted in: christmas , cookies , kids , photos

special snack (Super Dave's Mundanities (DaveChen)) by dave

Every Wednesday at the kids’ school parents sign up to bring in a “special snack” for the class. Some times the parent (usually a mom) will entertain the kids by reading a book or teaching them about something. Lynne signed us up for this week, and she roped me into playing violin for the class, my first public performance in decades.

I played a few kids songs, “Itsy Bitsy Spider” and “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”. Then Elie requested “Do-Rei-Mi”, so I faked my way through that, and I finished with Bach’s Minuet in G. Then we opened up Elie and Jake’s violins and let each of the kids play a little. The kids seemed to really enjoy it. I held the attention of a class of 4 year olds the whole time. Quite a feat.

We rented violins for our kids, and plan to start lessons for them, but haven’t actually taken any yet. Now Lynne is thinking about having Elie learn violin and Jake learn cello.

Posted in: kids

don't cry for me argentina (Never melts (meef)) by jen

I feel bad I'm abandoning my poor blog. I can only write when I'm at my own computer. At least I'll remember these times of being computerless and at the mercy of T's computer an the 2 bookmarks I've got down there.

-I think I've spent ... well way too much on the kids this year. I'm going to have to save some of it and dole it out randomly later. But I'm excited for it. I am not however excited to pick gifts for T's extended family. I never am, I hate it. Do you have people you just hate exchanging gifts for? He tells me we have to, and to suck it up because he likes buying them gifts. You might say "let him do it, then" but that won't work because he's a moron and he'll spend $40 per person. Or he'll spend $70 on one person and $3 on the next. I think this year I'm goinf to go for "unabashedly bad" and just buy those ever so obvious crappy "gift sets" that say "gift set" across the front of it.

-We are driving to our old town in a short time... It's been 8 or 9 years that we've been here and I don't think I've been back there since. I have a friend who I met a couple years ago who happens to live there, T has a gig, so I am tagging along and we'll be staying with her. 3 kids and a dog and all his gig-related crap and all the kid-related crap we can cram into his little car and off we go. I did something bad and bought a DVD player for the trip. I feel so dirty now. Hopefully it will save us. I'm not sure how I want to use it yet, whether I want to put it in at the beginning or pull it out later when I nearly drive off the road for dense aggravation and say "HERE! shut up and watch this!" We've been talking about this since some of our more hellacious trips to the beach last summer. I also caved an bought a mirror so I can see J while I'm driving. I never really felt so strongly about this with the other kids, but for some reason I'm becoming soft or something. I mean, what is seeing him going to do? I'm not really in a position to DO anything, even if I'm the passenger, because I do not possess Gumby Arms.

-J is doing well. He's gained past his birth weight and the drs are off my ass for now. He's only 10lb 6oz and I'm kind of surprised, he seems a lot bigger and heavier than that. I honestly thought he'd be close to 12lbs. His 2 month checkup has been pushed to the mid/end of December. We'll see how he does then. D gained like 4 lbs between his 1 and 2 mo checkups and looked noticeably larger. J is not as "wide" as D was. I'm not comparing negatively, it's just fun to think about. I won't care either way as long as he GROWS.

-Is it stupid that I am sad that J's the last one, and flip flopping in my little fantasy world that I want another one? That I sit and hope that in the next year or so things change and/or T loses his mind and decides he wants one more?? I thought I was DONE after this pregnancy and now I'm not feeling the same way. Sigh. This one isn't even 2 months old yet, clearly I need to pace myself. Just something stupid I think about now and again.

-I've wanted one for as long as I've had L, but never had the nerve, because I figured T would laugh me out of the house. But we ordered a Le@rning T0wer for the kids. Big wooden thing they stand on and climb all over in and out. I got the catalog AGAIN last weekend and T's parents were sitting at the table. I showed it to T and told him I wanted it and he just seemed indifferent. I honestly thought his mother was going to tell me it was useless and overpriced and "they can stand on a chair for FREE!" (hell , I'm sure many of you are thinking that) but to my surprise she offered to buy it for us. Eek. I can't wait to get it! I don't care if it's a Christmas gift, I'm putting it together now! Then we can use it to bake Christmas cookies. There, it's justified.

-J is smiling! he smiles at me all the time now. He's also more awake and aware and at night refuses to go to sleep. Look at him with his little opinions. He doesn't really nurse to sleep, his little eyes pop right open as soon as I put him down, no matter how long I wait and how unconscious he is when I'm done. Same thing if I nurse him laying down and just move away. And heaven forbid if I do get him to sleep and then get off the bed! So usually I'm here for the night, getting acquainted with horrible reality tv.


-We decorated the house for Christmas. At least the downstairs, I'm still working on the upstairs. And I hope to have the kitchen painted before Christmas so I can sit an bask in my pretty house. But I digress. I've been spoiled by L.. even though she totally touched the tree she was gentle and nothing got broken. Today I cleaned up no less than 4 glass ornaments that I thought were out of their reach. Until I realized that D was shaking the tree to make them fall down like a freaking monkey and a coconut tree. The last time I went in there I saw L holding 2 of the ornaments and when she saw me, her little brain went "OHHHHH CRAP!" and dropped the ornaments and ran away, ducking. I love how little kids run away thinking you're gonna hit them when you never hit them.

-Picture time!

in which he looks like a pirate.. aaar, matey!


seriously, mom...
Posted in: kids , random

owl story (Super Dave's Mundanities (DaveChen)) by dave

The kids enacted the owl story at school on Tuesday. Here’s the video:

There’s a YouTube vid here, dude

Mrs. Goldberg, their teacher from last year, does the reading. At the end you can see one of their current teachers, Ms. Zuraf, on the right side of the stage.

Posted in: kids