rachel's continued ramblings

this is the first time micah's fallen asleep at the table. it was so funny because he was determined to finish his sandwich. his eyes were closed the whole time, but he just kept taking bites and chewing. but his head kept flopping around, doing the stevie wonder thing. i felt a little bit sorry for him, but of course my first instinct was to grab the camera. i'm horrible! but it was so cute, i couldn't help laughing (and snapping a million pictures). when he finally gave in and laid his head on the table, i rescued him and put him to bed, where he is currently... i guess i should go clean up the table. Make a Smilebox slideshow

i figure there were a few of you out there who might appreciate this scene i happened upon this evening in my living room...

... oh yeah.  LAYLA! 3 year olds astound me on a regular basis, especially this one.  when leaving the NKCC this noonish, it had started raining which spawned layla's very favorite thing in the whole world: puddles!  so, while i was putting micah in the car, she stomped in them and got the bottom of her pants all wet.  as we were driving home (by way of the post office, but that's a whole different adventure) i heard this slurpy, sucky sound and i looked behind me to see layla SUCKING on her wet pant legs.  EEEWWW!!! what on earth would possess a person to do this?  can we say motor oil?  antifreeze?  bird poo?  dirt?  i hope she survives.  ::shudder::

this is how micah went to sleep last night... i've always heard that there were kids like this.  the kind who would just lay down and go to sleep when they were tired, but they were sort of mythical to me.  certainly, my children were never THOSE kids.  oh no, mine fight it until the last second, forcing themselves to stay awake, being cranky and fussy and grumpy until sleep is IMPOSED upon them by someone else.  but this is what micah did last night.  dave and i were watching tv and i noticed him stop playing and lay down.  i didn't figure it was a big deal because he's done that before when he was tired, but never actually fallen asleep.  but he stayed there.  he would pick his head up and look around every once in a while, and then he started doing the little-kid-sleeping-position with his butt up in the air and his head on the ground.  pretty soon he quit moving.  it was kind of tempting to just cover him up and leave him there...

i think i made money going to starbucks today.  i went in to get dave and i some coffee.  i ordered a tall peppermint mocha for him and an grande eggnog latte for myself.  there were technically two people taking my order - the guy at the cash register, and the girl who was writing on cups.  she heard eggnog, he did not and made some mention of a 'latte', with no mention of eggnog.  it was brought to his attention and he was like, 'oh, let me change that'. i made a joking comment about it being just fine if he only wanted to charge me for a regular latte, and then he went off on some schpiel about how eggnog lattes are overpriced anyway and he didn't know why they charged so much more for them and that he didn't feel like bothering with changing it.  okay... so i paid and went to wait for my drinks.  the barista (not cash register guy OR cup girl) put a drink up and called out, "tall eggnog latte" and i looked around but there was no one else...

for the public record... the other night i tweeted that dave was taking pictures of his nostril.  i have been informed, by an authoritative source, that this is incorrect.  although i heard him say the words, "hello, nostril!", this is actually the picture he was taking at the time - clearly , not of his nostril. in actuality, he was fiddling with the zoom after having taken this lovely picture of himself, and, as he demonstrated to me, it zooms in directly on his left nostril, provoking him to utter the words, "hello, nostril!"  he assured me that he is not, in any way, immature enough to be taking photos of his own nostrils and didn't much appreciate it that i had stated to the whole world that he was. so the truth is revealed.  my husband was NOT taking pictures of his nostril, contrary to what i had previously posted. thank you for your understanding. (i had considered posting the zoomed-in picture so everyone else can say, ...

i'm venting because i'm really mad. i fell for a stupid scam this morning and i feel like an idiot. i'm sorry if anyone else gets scammed because of me. grrr. the internet. it's a blessing and a curse! here's a link i found that has complete info on it. man i feel like such a huge idiot. don't worry, i didn't get past the first couple screens. i'm not THAT big of an idiot. it only takes a couple for me to acknowledge the 4 million little red flags that are popping up all over. grrr.!!! http://blog.trendmicro.com/facebook-picture-joke-connives-with-email-harvester/

i thought i would share with you, this lovely little drawing my daughter made: cute, huh?  there are a lot of this type of drawing these days.the only problem is where she chose to draw it...  how about a little perspective: yup, that's the bathroom counter.  cute, huh? and this is after she got 'grounded' from all her other markers after i discovered a whole collection of N's, M's, and W's on her bed.  that's right, ON her bed.  the bottom sheet to be exact.  not sure where she found this one... it was a felt tip pen, as opposed to a marker, and therefore, not washable.  i was able to get most of it off, but there's still a faint pink head with legs and shoes (notice the shoes - even when she's being naughty, she still knows what's important) on the bathroom counter.  LOVELY. where did this come from??? yes, she's always been a little bit evil... but, holy cow!  she's just awful lately.  anyone know of a good 3 year old...

see all the big welts?  yeah, me neither.  our spectacular appointment with the allergist revealed that layla is allergic to nothing.  so we're back to square one and we know nothing other than that something is causing her bladder issues and we don't know what.  maybe her doctor can put a little pressure on the urologist to see us.  who knows.  and food doesn't seem to be causing her skin issues, nor the rash she gets on her face after eating sometimes.  okay, that's not exactly accurate.  food is causing it, but not an allergy.  she has sensitive skin and when food gets smeared on her face, it irritates her skin. so, as disappointed as i am that we've gotten nowhere here, i am looking on the bright side that she isn't allergic to something major like wheat or dairy that would create a significant lifestyle change in regards to our diet.  so in that respect, it's good news.  i just really want some answers.

i was browsing through the pictures on the computer tonight and happened upon this one that was apparently taken during the 'picture-taking' portion of my wedding.  it was too good to pass up.   sorry brenda, i couldn't resist.  check out mackenzie!

micah had his 1 year checkup today.  he's apparently skinny.  what?  our child... skinny?  how could that be? it only got brought up because he's no longer consistent with his previous percentiles.  i guess that means his weight gain isn't keeping up with the rest of his growth (and that of the other 99 lucky kids that get to make up the percentile chart).  so i guess i'm supposed to feed him more and higher calorie foods.  "no more fruits and veggies for you!  it's all bacon cheeseburgers from here on out." at any rate, i think he'll live. layla is seeing the allergist tomorrow.  finally!  i'm so excited.  not for the 2 and a half hour appointment that i have to keep micah entertained through and possibly watch layla get poked several times, but to finally find out what the issues are.  i'll definitely update tomorrow. finally, and totally unrelated... i know i'm weird, but am i the only one who reads the ran...

so last night, while hanging w/ my sick pup at the folks', i was just sitting down to write a post.  inspired by my young son, the title WAS to be something along the lines of, "holy cow this kid's a freakin' monkey!"  he chose this very moment to climb up on a dining room chair (yes, unassisted - timely, huh?) and then fall over the back of it and land on his head.  so i picked him up and checked his vitals comforted him.  i was figuring he was alright - because he usually is.  mid-wail, i noticed a small sliver of something white and hard in his mouth.  i fished it out and, convinced it was a piece of one of his teeth, i proceeded to upset him even more by hauling him into the bathroom, laying him down on the counter, turning on the bright lights over his face and digging around in his mouth, trying to get a look and feel at all of his teeth.  well, i have no idea what that was in his mouth, but all 8 teeth were accounted for and uncompro...

so obviously, from my earlier post, the dinner-making portion of my day was a little less than spectacular.  oh, that was just the beginning. dave worked late today. after dinner, i ran a bath for the younger 2 and in the process of getting them from the dining room to the bathroom, micah knocked the container of cheerios off the table and they dumped ALL OVER the floor.  i scooped up what i could and threw it back in the container, then, mindful that the water was still running in the tub and i didn't want to flood the bathroom, i herded the kids into the bathroom and dumped them into the tub. i went back into the dining room and proceeded to sweep up the mound of cheerios that was left on the floor, all the while keeping an ear open for both voices and giggles in the bathroom (as long as you can hear them, their heads are above water, right?).  that took all of about 2 minutes. i looked in on them (both happy as could be) and discovered that both of my younger...

does anyone else have this experience?  sometime between 4:00 and 4:15pm, some magic switch, somewhere, is thrown.  it's the "mom's-trying-to-cook-dinner-now-so-i-need-something-anything-not-for-any-specific-reason-other-than-she-needs-to-do-something-else-so-i-must-have-her-attention-right-now-and-i'm-getting-very-upset-and-am-going-to-make-it-as-difficult-as-i-possibly-can-for-her-and-enlist-the-help-of-my-siblings-while-i'm-at-it" switch.  i would say that 6 out of 7 nights a week, whatever dinner preparations i make, are done with micah attached to one or both of my legs.  it makes navigating between the fridge, stove, sink, and counter so much easier!  open fridge to pull out food = pull micah out of the fridge so i can close it. open cupboard to get out a pot = micah emptying the rest of the pots onto the floor. get ingredients out of upper cupboards = removing layla from the countertop. getting a knife out of the dishwasher = pulling mic...

i'm so at a loss for what to do with layla lately.  she's given up naps but still technically needs them.  but if she does nap, she stays up until like 10pm.  either way, it's a bad situation.  now, with the whole time change thing, she's getting up before the crack of dawn, making things even better.  every evening is a huge struggle now, leaving me trying to get dinner ready and deal with micah's antics, shane's activities and whatnot, with her whining or falling apart or fighting with shane or getting into trouble because she gets all hung up on doing something that i'm telling her not to do.  it is MOST unpleasant.  then, by the time dinner is actually on the table, she's too wigged out and almost never eats it, something i'm sure is doing wonders for her general mood as well.  then comes the getting jammies on/brushing teeth/getting into bed battle.  it's like it never ends.  she's so tired she can't function in a civilized fashion,...

and why did nobody tell me? i swear i'm going to lose it today - or sometime in the near future.  i don't know if it's halloween, too much excitement, too much candy, the weather, the fact that we were out of town for 5 days or what, but my kids are driving me up the friggin' wall! they're fighting, stir-crazy, seem to have misplaced their ears and their ability to do anything they are asked to do and they're trashing the house repeatedly, which just puts me more on edge.  they're just awful!  it's like they're trying to get on each other's nerves... and subsequently mine.  my parents said they were just wonderful for the 5 days they spent with them.  the listened, they got along, they ate their dinners... what the heck?  maybe they used it all up. i need a vacation from my kids... and i just had one.

i jinxed it.  i never should have said anything and i knew better.  last night was awful.  micah woke up at about 3:30 and stayed up for at least an hour, miserable and crying.  way to go, rachel!  when will i learn! 

i almost don't want to post this in case i jinx it. if we backfire, i'll admit it - you don't talk about the no-hitter. but we're in the midst of a 'project' with micah. mr. high maintenance has pushed us to the limit with his nighttime needs. basically, we've gotten ourselves in a situation where micah wakes up multiple times a night and wants to nurse. it's ridiculous, because he totally doesn't need to, it's just what he wants to do to go back to sleep. and, in an effort to have him shut up as quick as possible (in order to avoid having 3 children awake in the middle of the night instead of just 1) i just give him what he wants so he'll go back to sleep. but i recently reached the end of my rope. i need sleep! so i moved out. not really, but i moved out of the room. i've been on 'vacation', sleeping elsewhere at night and letting dave handle the nighttime stuff. basically, dave's been putting him to bed and 'helping him...

halloween was a big success!  we managed to find costumes for everyone, some were related.  maybe next year we'll go for a theme. we went trick or treating over at the same development by my parents' house where we've gone the last 2 years and they lived up to the hype again by handing out full size candy bars and decorating festively. one house handed out playdough, which layla was SO excited about. i hadn't really anticipated one minor issue, though. layla is so well adjusted to her recent dietary restrictions that she was 'rejecting' anything people tried to put in her pumpkin that was in a brown wrapper. she'd hand it back to them saying, 'i can't have chocolate.' the first house she did that at, the guy actually went into his kitchen and got her a pack of fruit snacks! how totally nice (and unnecessary). i told her that it was okay if people gave her chocolate, we would sort it out later. gotta love a picky 3 year old trick or treater...