13 weeks Yesterday- 3 months today!

Katelyn with Gracie playing with one of her toys. Gracie has learned how to touch the animals to get them to make sounds.

I live for these moments.  They are so very precious!  I thrive to see my children interact with one another.  Today- October 7, 2010 my littlest one is 3 months along.  She has come so far within such a small time period.  She has been trying to turn over from belly to back, rolling from side to side while on her belly, lifting her head and shoulders up, checking out her environment; she is so inquisitive about her home! Tonight we caught her attempting to get on her hands and knees and actually accomplished for a brief second. These are the moments that will never be again. 

It is almost like overnight I have went through "what do I do with this child to calm her down?" to being mystified as to how much she is doing and taking in.  It's like someone turned on a light.  She was so into checking out what was on the blanket design-wise to looking and playing with the toys.  She has already been scooting herself around on her blanket not really knowing or understanding how or why she did it, but now she seems to be doing it with purpose.

It feels like every day that Gracie does something new is like Christmas all over again!


Milestones. Markers. Etched in my mind and heart forever.

I now know how the indians felt when the settlers came over...

SERIOUSLY...

At first the Indians were probably excited to meet the new settlers... AT FIRST.. then when they were established into the area (house in my era) I find I know why they started beginning to despise them. SERIOUSLY!!!

My little settlers are led by the leader - a 12 week old that demands to have everything on her schedule! I mean she won't even smile if it's not on the schedule!

We have been working on "reprogramming" the settlers here in our "land"; They think they are smart. They think they can take the smallest task and turn it around on the Indians. WRONG.

They have been grounded to the "land" (AKA back yard, house) for some time period yet for Mama Indian to disclose. They have been informed that this time period could be 18,21, 35 - whatever age it takes for them to leave "said land". All three of the wanna be head Settlers have their own faults, and if I don't start taking control of the said faults then I the Chief, am going to lose said land just like the Indians lost it years ago when the settlers started taking over here in the America of long past.

So I have taken a break from cleaning up my "land" that these settlers take for granted and while sitting on the porch getting my thoughts together I have pretty much come up with this; there are too little Indians in this family and the settlers are over taken the land. This Mama and Daddy Indian needs to figure out how to keep up with all four little settlers that keep this household busy! We need the Indians to do like long ago- teach them how to survive on their own...

Chore lists are good, and partially working.. but it's up to Mama Indian to make sure they are done right! Yeah they were marked off... Yeah they half-assed attempted it... and yes I am guilty of accepting half-assed work.

I am not sure if I am getting my point across here, but I see it clearly in my head. The Indians LOST their LAND for the fact that the Settlers overcome them. I cannot let this happen here!!!!

Now for some NOT ME moments....





Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I have not felt guilty for not keeping up on my blog...

I did not walk out of the back door last night after looking around the living room an hour after I asked the kids to clean it up and say... "sure, that's okay.  I don't have to do what mom asks, she will do it for me" all the while Fireman was holding the baby and hear his comment of "oh now don't I feel small?"

I am NOT going to get a box and pick up all of the kids items they were supposed to pick up last night and I am NOT going to store them in an unknown to them location until they can start doing what is asked of them...

I did not laugh when Katie started to change a diaper only to open it and find that sweet pea poohed...

and I DID NOT help her out when I stopped laughing.

I did not get to spend some time with each child as they baked two huge cookies and frosted them yesterday on the day of all days "homemade cookie day" (Thanks Jackie for that info!!!)

I am not sitting here drinking a coke and red bull mixture trying to get out of the madness of being left to clean up after my settlers in the mess they have left.

I did not cook a huge breakfast yesterday, then had leftover chili and homemade bread for dinner, while 2 of the settlers did not like chili and I essentially ended up cooking 3 dinners (1 was at least re-heated!)

I am not trying to figure out how anyone is supposed to rest while the baby is sleeping AND keep a clean house...

I am not also curious if these doctors who say you can never spoil a baby have children of their own? And by chance does anyone know what they specify as being spoiled?



I did not laugh to myself when my daughter got angry at me when I told her I would not let her off grounding until I see the 'tude changed for 2 weeks straight then shut and locked me out of the back door to the house...

Oh I can just imagine that I can come up with soooo many more of these not me's... However I will leave this up to your imagination with the above not me posting and the Indians Vs. Settler's rendition of my household!

I pray everything is well in your village...

Until next posting!!

What is a fireman?

He's the guy next door, a mans man with the memory of a little boy.
He's never gotten over the excitement of the engines and sirens and danger.
He's the guy like you and me with warts and worries and unfilled dreams.
Yet he stands taller than most of us.
He's a fireman.

He put's it on the line when the bell rings.
A fireman at once the most fortunate and the least fortunate of men.
He's a man who saves lives, because he's seen too much death.
He's a gentle man because he has seen the awesome power of violence out of control.
He's responsive to a child's laughter, because his arms held
too many small bodies that will never laugh again.

He's a simple man who enjoys the simple pleasure's in life
hot coffee held in numb, unbending fingers
a warm bed for bone and muscle compelled beyond feeling.
The camaraderie of brave men and the divine peace and selfless service,
of a job well done.

He doesn't wear buttons or wave flags or shout obscenities.
When he marches its to honor a fallen comrade.
He doesn't preach the brotherhood of man
He lives it.

-Author Unknown

Gracie loves this bouncer!

We were given a bouncer seat that we have tried and tried to get Gracie to sit in, however she hated it and would fuss any time we put her in it.  I ran across this bouncer, made in 2001 by Summer Infant, Incorporate Model Number #01210.  After purchasing for $5.00 at a yard sale, I brought it home and even though it looked clean I wrote down the number off the back, took all of the cloth washable parts off, washed and dried them (yes it was very easy to take apart and put back together!), researched the item online, and found 4 c size and 3 AA size batteries for the actual bounce and the REMOTE that came with it.  The functions on the mechanical part of this product - it actually BOUNCES and VIBRATES!!  It also comes with a control built in to enhance the amount it bounces or vibrates and sounds of music, heart beat and also birds/outside.  You can control what sounds you would like to hear, if you want to hear them at all. It also has a switch to use with the remote.

The remote is a triangle with  a button for sounds, bounce, vibrate and stop.  In the photo below after I took the picture I noticed how dirty it was and it washed off very easily.  It has a little "eye" at the top that you need to aim at the base (shown above) to change modes.  I have actually used this to change modes when Gracie starts fussing, just to get her attention.  I have also used the sounds button. The stop button was nice when I noticed that Gracie was leaning a little towards one of the sides so I could re-adjust her in the seat.  There is also a small piece of fabric on the side to store the remote.

The actual back to the seat adjusts to lay pretty close to all the way down, slightly elevated, and elevated.  It also has a half circle with a butterfly teether, a bumble bee that when you pull the cord it vibrates back up, and also a snail with baby safe mirrors on each side so that the baby can see themselves.  There is also a pillow that has velcro on the hanger portion of the fabric so that you can adjust where the pillow sets so it is nice for newborn and up.  I love the sun bonnet on top because we get really direct sun into our living room windows in the afternoon and I can pull the bonnet down and keep the sun out of Gracie's eyes. 

Some of the disadvantages I have found; 

**It is difficult to store as it cannot be collapsed for storage

**The sun bonnet is attached to the seat fabric and makes laundering a bit difficult

**You have to make sure it is turned off when you want it off because the buttons are hard to tell if you have it actually turned off.

Even though this bouncer is 9 years old, it is still going strong.  While researching I have noticed that they have still kept selling bouncers really close to this and they now call it Mother's Touch II Remote Control Bouncer. 

For more information on all of the many products that they carry, please visit their website at http://www.summerinfant.com/index.htm.

All in all I am very happy I found this product.  It has helped me get things done around the house instead of trying to balance holding a new baby and trying to attempt dinner, dishes, etc.

I added some of Gracie's toys to the mix on the bar.  She was intrigued!

Where were you?

Disbelief.

Questions.

Sadness which turned to horror.

Scared.

Oblivious.

I remember where I was... and I remember after the third plane turned back around it was actually flying a path back towards Washington pretty darn close to over my home. Brutally, Americans were struck and they never saw it coming.

I don't know the statistics of how many people passed. I know that there were one too many. All of the employees who were in those buildings working; the firemen, policemen, even all of those families who were watching and praying that their loved ones were still alive.

All of those stories that have been told. Some of those stories share the horror of the days and weeks to come. Some told of that day. The phone calls from loved ones before they passed. Those who were taking a day off from working or showing up late to work by what seems to be the act of a blessing.

I will never forget waking up to the unrealistic reality of what happened that day. If only for a few moments... the world did stop turning, even if it were only for me.

Please keep those individuals and families involved with this demise in your hearts, thoughts and prayers.

Where were you when the world stopped turning?

"WE SHALL NEVER FORGET"
Click here for the documentary 

wordless wednesday 9 weeks (2 months)

The best thing to brighten your day...

Is to be able to look at your child and see her smile for no reason!