For the Mom (or Mom-To-Be) readers

This is from Chiefmarketer.com - the writer is talking about decorating her son's room, and I thought it was pretty cute.

Photo Friday: Metallic

My first Photo Friday submission - what do ya'll think?

Needs

I stole this little game from Stolen Moments, a blog I really enjoy. Anyway, it's simple: go to Google. In quotations put: "Your Name Needs" and just see what comes up. My results for "Emily Needs":

• Sunshine!
• to SNAP out of it
• to find something that's her own to fulfill her (I think this result came from someone else doing this game, but I guess it counts).
• your help!
• a new computer
• almost 24-hour care
• a reality check
• to be told "No, there are certain things that just are NOT ...
• eating companions around noon Wednsday! (spelling error is not mine).

My thoughts:

• Sunshine - heck yeah! See the last post on the need for Spring to get here and STAY!
• I hope I don't need to snap out of it...
• I think I'm fulfilled. Really. I would like a little more time to explore the hobby photography though.
• Help - sure! Help me curb my ice cream/chocolate/dessert cravings! Then after Baby Deuce is born, help find me some time to exercise...
• Gosh I hope I don't need a new computer...
• the 24 hour care one was actually longer, relating to a disabled child - there's nothing funny there.
• I think I'm pretty grounded. I think. I don't think you can change diapers daily and need a reality check. Could be wrong though.
• I'm not sure what that one refers to...
• I always have Jack, my faithful dinner companion, with me daily! Sometimes he eats, sometimes not, but he's there!

Come on, Spring!

We're ready for you Spring - so quit with the winter weather and GET HERE ALREADY!

This might be a weird photo - I took it last year and was trying to take some macro shots (I suck at macro shots - I'm hoping it's a lack of proper equipment vs. ability). Anyway, look at the nice pretty little bud flower-things on the tree - and I remember that day, it was so warm. That was one year + one week ago.

I am tired of the 50ish degree weather. Bring on the warm!

Blogthings is Addictive...

Your 2005 Song Is

Feel Good Inc by Gorillaz "Love forever love is free. Let's turn forever you and me." In 2005, you were loving life and feeling no pain.

What Hit Song of 2005 Are You?

Unexpected...

In a Past Life...

You Were: An Insane Poet. Where You Lived: Ireland. How You Died: Hung for treason.

Who Were You In a Past Life?

Interesting...

>

American Cities That Best Fit You:

65% Atlanta

65% Miami

60% Austin

55% Honolulu

55% Washington, DC

Which American Cities Best Fit You?

Who reads this, anyway?

We've been moving a lot of Jack's baby things to what will be his little brother's room, so I thought I'd post this photo that I've always liked of one of Jack's toys (photo taken last May):

I've just always like that photo, so I am sharing it with all you fine folks this evening.

Anyway. I know I have some friends and family that read things on this blog from time to time and don't comment, and I know there are folks that I don't really know that read my blog from time to time that found me via my comments on their blog or a link on another's blog. So, an informal poll to satisfy my curiosity - do you read the blog, and how'd you get here? Friends and family, I know how you got here, so if you just want to shout "hello" I'd appreciate it.

Has anyone seen the Blogshares website? I googled my blog to see where it pops up, and it popped up here (actually, Laura's blog popped up first - you're worth B$3,094.91 in fake blog stock, Laura!). My blog is not quite so highly valued - just B$1,166.56. Apparently, Blogshares is a "fantasy stock market for weblogs. Players get to invest a fictional $500, and blogs are valued by incoming links.". I don't know how I feel about my site being on this fake market, but don't know what could be done about it, either. According to this it seems pretty harmless.

Been slacking on the blogging this week...

We've been super busy. Jack's playgroup was Tuesday, and he had loads of fun. He didn't want to leave, and threw a fit while I was walking out holding my angry child. I was asked to join some of the mommies and kids for lunch but didn't due to Jack's tantrum - hoping I can join them next time. Jack's friend Jada came over to play Wednesday, so that was fun as usual.

Jack had his second hearing eval on Thursday. I remain unconcerned about his hearing, but they still can't rule out a mild hearing loss since he's bored with their "game" to test his hearing. She did say that he can understand/hear normal speech, so even if he has a mild hearing loss that should not affect his speech development at this time. My brother, on Spring Break from law school, came over that afternoon. We had Philly Cheesesteaks just for him. We were lucky to get them cooked, since we lost our power for about an hour due to a thunderstorm. Of course, it doesn't necessarily take a storm for our power to go out, a frustration, but at least this time there was wind and rain related to the outage.

It was a beautiful day today, so we took Jack and Annie on the greenway today. It was fun, even though we didn't even go 1/4 mile because well, Jack was too fascinated with the bridge. Which unfortunately had been vandalized. Our small town of about 10,000 actually has this fantastic greenway, and some taxpayer/taxpayer's child decided to vandalize. Classy, real classy. Great consideration for others - and for yourself.

We had a big lunch today - Addam went to Chef's with some folks from work, and brought me back a burger around 1:45pm - so we didn't make big plans for dinner. Instead, Addam made Oreo blizzards for dinner (yes, we're bad). Jack had PB&J.

Anyway, that's the recap for this week. Still lovin' the new ride. Here's a photo of Jack I've been meaning to post for quite a while:

PHOTO DELETED

Life is pretty good when you've got crayons and a silly hat (it's a swim/sun hat. In March). I just love his expression here. And the fact that he's even wearing a hat - he normally hates hats, so it's rare to see him wear one for more than a minute. I think he wore this one for a good 30 minutes!

Jack's Clifford Bedding

Look how talented my mom is:

She made four pillows and his quilt. Jack LOVES the pillows.

She made the valance.

So Choice....

We got a new car! We kept my Civic, which is paid for and which Addam will drive to work, and traded in his 2003 Ford Explorer Sport Trac for this:

Thanks to www.leitchmotorsports.com for the photo.

I was hesitant about getting another silver car - the Civic's silver, and I've been driving it for almost 6 years now - but with the blue trim it just looked too cool. Plus, it was one of two 2005's left on Crest Honda's lot, and we were trying for a deal, so that aided our choice right there.

It's going to take some time for me to get used to driving it - I know it looks small, but it's very roomy and HUGE inside, and I'm used to a Civic Coupe. Plus I'm not used to driving so high up, but I think I'll learn to like that.

We're really happy with the purchase - no buyer's remorse so far. We realized that neither my car or his truck was going to fit two kids and the dog, plus other stuff, and I didn't want to learn to drive stick in Addam's truck anyway (I can be stubborn that way), so here we have the Honda Element, which quite frankly we've both been drooling over for a year or so. Plus our insurance bill will go down about $18, so yay!

Serenity Now!

Just felt like posting this one:

I took this photo last fall at Standing Stone State Park, in Overton County, Tennessee.

I was feeling some need for some serenity today after Annie (our dog) ate a diaper, and Jack was being a bit of a pain before his nap, as in: "Jack, do you want peanut butter & jelly sandwich and peaches for lunch? And milk?". Nods head yes. "Jack, your lunch is on the table. Want to eat?". Ignores me as he lines the trucks up in the kitchen floor. "Jack, your lunch is on the table. Want to eat?". Again ignores me as he lines the trucks up in the kitchen floor. "Jack, please look at me". Looks up. "Do you want to eat?" Blank stare as Jack tries to determine the most advantageous answer, and then decides that not answering would be the best route to take. Agh! This was around 12:45. I then gave up and put the food in the fridge. Jack finally indicated before 2ish that he did want lunch, he ate, and then he napped. And I so needed him to nap.

And the diaper - yes, I know I have some responsibility to bear for Annie eating the diaper. She's done it before, so I know she'll do it again, and after a bout of acute pancreatitis about 1.5 years ago (not diaper-related), I really don't want to have to watch her spend 5 days at the vet hospital on death's door, nor do we need the vet bill for that right now. Anyway. Bad things always happen when Momma gets distracted, and today was no exception. I changed Jack's diaper (just a #1, folks), on the move as usual, and set it down. I always toss the diaper immediately after the diaper change, no exceptions - aside from the sanitary reasons, I know the dog will consume the diaper if I don't get it out of her reach. Well, I guess after dealing with a recent tantrum, which I won't get into, and in thinking ahead about Jack's lunch, I forgot. Flash forward to about 1:30, when I am trying unsuccessfully to get my child to nap. I ask if he wants his green blanket, and he hauls down the hallway to his room. I assume he's coming back with the blanket, but you know when too much time passes, and it's just too darn quiet, that somethin's up. Well, sure enough, there's Jack crouched on the floor over his shreds of diaper. So I clean up, vaccuum, wash Jack's hands ("Jack, did you touch the diaper?" Nods head yes.), and smell Annie's breath - the tell-tale sign of the diaper consumption is found on old Pee-Breath, as I am now calling her. Disgusting! I'm lucky to have a child that does not put everything in his mouth - checked his mouth and breath and he was clean. Maybe that's weird to check his mouth/breath, but I wanted to see if I needed to call the doctor and explain how my kid ate a diaper. Luckily, he did not. Major disaster averted, at least for today.

Oh, and in mentioning Jack's diaper - just a shout-out to the moms out there that the Kroger-brand pull-ups are OK. We were on Pampers Easy-Ups for a while but they mysteriously disappeared from Kroger's shelf (I don't know if this is permanent or just a busy week for Easy-Ups). I had heard that the Kroger brand diapers were actually OK, and turns out those moms were right! And we'll need to know that with two in diapers very soon. Addam joked that poor baby two - who we'll call Deuce for the time being - won't even have a brand on his diaper (Jack was a Luvs baby). His diaper will just say "diaper" on his butt. Poor Deuce.

911 Ain't a Joke

I called the police today for the first time in my life.

Nothing bad going on at home, just FYI. But here's the story:

Jack and I were heading home from my OB visit today (I'm 19 weeks and have gained just 3 lbs. - the doctor seemed pleased - with Jack at this point I had gained 10; running after a toddler has an effect, I guess, but I digress). Anyway, since we still had a little while before lunch and, more importantly, before a diaper change, I told Jack we'd run to the park for a little while because he was so good while Momma was at the doctor.

Jack played for about 15 minutes or so and got a little bored - diaper change was rolling around so I promised Jack we would play outside when we got home. This seemed A-OK with the little man, so we headed toward the car.

After I loaded Jack up, I noticed the car next to me. All the windows were open, and in the back was a sleeping 1-year-old in her car seat. I did a double-take, and then looked around. The closest adults, who may or may not have been the parents, were quite a few yards away (I'm not good at estimating distance, so that's the best I can do on this tale, folks). I slowly walked to the driver's side of my car to see if someone would come to the car- no mom or dad-like figure approaching.

So, I get in the car, and think: "What do I do? Do I assume the folks at the picnic table are the parents, keeping vigilant watch on their daughter in the easily-accessible car? Do I assume that the "responsible" adult(s) are not to be found, and call the police?". I've never seen a child that young left alone, sleeping, in a car on an unusually warm (somewhere around 70-75 degrees at noon today) early March day.

So, whenever I need someone to tell me if I'm going overboard or not, I call my dear husband. As I drive home, I tell him what's going on, and he says "What?". I then ask "Do you think I should call the police?". He says yes, so I assume I'm not overreacting and make the call, not to 911 but just the general number for our local police department. The dispatcher takes the information down and just says OK. So I assume the sent a police officer down to check it out - I doubt flashing lights were involved. The dispatcher seemed pretty laid back for flashing lights and sirens.

Did I overreact?