Three is the "New" Two...

*This picture of Allie is about 7 months old, but it says it all

The last few days have been challenging at our house. Allie and Jack have been going through a stage. Well, I hope it is a stage, cause I can't .take it if it's not *grin*. Allie has been super whinny and very demanding. I had today off and Matt took the day off too, what a treat! Well not when the day starts off with your daughter pounding on the door of her bedroom (which she can't open herself, it sticks) and when you open the door you are greeted by a scowl, when you tell her to go potty. Going potty when you wake up is not an option in our house, too often their are accidents if the potty isn't the first stop. So after the potty, it was demanding help getting her footed jammies back on and zipped. If you don't know me or you are new to reading my blog, I don't do anything when my child (or anyone for that matter) demands it. In the process of getting through this she ended up in time out. Mind you that she had only been up for about 10 minutes!

Once coming out of time out I decided that we were going to start over and we cuddled in my bed (daddy was getting the trucks emissions test done). This is something Allie loves, especially when we get to do it just the two of us, no little brother or daddy; just some Allie and Mommy time. We enjoyed about 15-20 minutes of this and then Jack woke up and Daddy was getting home with some breakfast muffins, for a treat.

At breakfast Allie told Daddy, "Your an Ass Daddy, I don't want to save my muffin." Nice huh, I guess I need to check my mouth, so then we had a talk about why that is not a nice thing to say and why little girls don't use "that" word.

As we were getting the kids dressed and ready to leave; Allie was in rare form, she ended up in time out three more times and I ended up in tears. I don't know what has been going on with her lately but she has been testing me on everything and it just gets to me. I told her that I don't like it when she is mean to me and that it hurts my feelings. I also told her that I was going to go to the DMV by myself; she flailed herself onto the floor and had a melt down! Yikes where, oh where, has my daughter gone? This is totally unlike her, she is normally such a good helper and very good.

We did "all" end up going to the DMV together and she was pretty good and yes we did get the truck registered *YAY*. Then we headed to lunch and to visit Nana, all I have to say is that I have never been so glad to get home and put them both down for a nap.

Side Note:

Jack has been feeding off of Allie's behaviour the last few days and he has been whinny and clingy as well, it seems every time Allie gets worked up so does he and he starts to cry... Calgon take me away!

Hopefully the rest of the day, well what is left of it will be better.

"Not Me!" Monday

• I did not buy frosting last week just to have in the back of the fridge as a secret little snacky treat, no way I wouldn't do that!
• I did not get excited last week at all the new visitors to my blog, that would just be silly.
• I most certainly did not pretend to be still asleep on Sunday morning so that Matt would get the kids as they woke up and I could get a little bit more sleep. I would never do this I just love waking up early when the kids do.
• I did not feed Jack soy yogurt with baby cereal mixed in for dinner on Saturday and Sunday because he was being so picky that he wouldn't eat anything else. I would never give in and do that, especially two nights in a row!
• We definitely did not just go for a car ride late Sunday afternoon because both of the kids were whinny and we were tired of being stuck in the house from all the rain.
• I definitely did not shamelessly hint to my husband that I wanted flowers delivered to me at work for my birthday. I would never do that, especially since he sweetly gets me flowers for no reason at all.
• And I definitely did not come up with my list while driving home from work tonight. I would never multi-task like that while driving.

What did you not do this week? Take my word for it this feels so good and it is definitely cheaper than therapy *grin*

Oh, and I am defiantely not on the phone with my good friend as I am finishing typing my "not me's"... that would just be a terrible friend... oh and I did not just get bagged for it!

Beco Baby Carrier Giveaway At Simple

I don't usually post stuff like this on this blog but I thought some of you might be interested. If you haven't checked out simple yet, you definitely should. They review items and do great giveaways! Right now they are giving away a great Beco Baby Carrier to a lucky reader. I don't know about you but I would love a Beco, especially for hiking this fall.

To enter the contest all you have to do is check out the BabySnaz sight and then leave a comment on Simple about what your favorite product was and you can get a second entry by blogging about it. Good luck!

Just a Little Venting

I am a huge nursing advocate, I nursed Allie until she was 18 months old and I was pregnant with Jack. I am still nursing Jack and I treasure and love every moment of nursing; perhaps this is why it bothers me so much when I hear that doctors and nurses are not as supportive of nursing as they should be.

I don't usually say too much about my opinions on nursing because I don't want to offend people or hurt feelings; however their is nothing better than the breast. Formula companies try and "sell" tell you that their formula is just as good, but it is not. They have tried and it is good but it is not the same as breastmilk. This is not to say that there is anything wrong with bottle feeding, it is just to say that they are not the same. Phew!! Now that I have that off my chest, no pun intended.

Why is it that doctors and nurses who should be the most supportive of breastfeeding are sometimes not. Why do they try and push formula on new moms? Why do they try telling mom's things like, your baby has breastfeeding jaundice because they are not getting enough milk. Wait a minute, no that is not why they have jaundice, it is not caused by breastfeeding and you do not need to supplement with formula to treat it. Ugh, this feels so good to get this out!

Way too often medical professionals prey on a mother's insecurities and fears. What mom what's to hear that their baby isn't eating enough and they are sick because of it and then follow it all up with, oh and you can "fix" it by bottle feeding.

With Allie I was lucky enough that she didn't have jaundice and she practically crawled over to latch on when they put her on my tummy. My little man Jack, was a different story, his latch wasn't as great and he had jaundice which didn't help. I was lucky enough to have a mom who was a lactation consultant and a huge support to me. When Jack was re-admitted to the hospital for his jaundice and the nurses tried to tell convince me that I needed to supplement with formula to help his jaundice clear, I knew this wasn't true and when I refused, they looked at me in disbelief. I was very adamant that I would not supplement with formula. I did pump and was willing to supplement with my own breastmilk and guess what he didn't take it, wasn't hungry. All I managed to do was send my milk production into overdrive. But what about the mom that doesn't know that they don't need to supplement with formula and they do it and it sabotages their breastfeeding.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think that formula is wrong, I just don't think that breastfeeding should be sabotaged, it is worth doing and should receive more support than it does.

Well now that I am done, what do you think? What has been your experience with breastfeeding?

"Not Me!" Monday

Okay, so I have been so inspired by Mck Mama's "Not me!" posts; so I thought I would join in on her new "Not me!" Monday. So here it goes...

This weekend, I did not run out of rice milk and give Jack whole milk; when I strongly suspect that he may have a milk allergy. That would just be a bad mama.

And I definitely did not forget and order Jack a grilled cheese when we were out to eat last night. That just didn't happen.

I did not run a red light on Saturday with my two pregnant friends and my two children in the car. Nope that definitely didn't happen!

I did not go 4 days between giving the kids a tub bath, yuck, that would be gross.

And I absolutely did not try going shampoo free with my own hair for 3 days! Ewe that would be worse than not giving the kids a tub bath. Nope not me!

So what have you NOT done? Join in on the fun.

Fall Top Ten

Now that I have come to grips with summer being over, I can share with you my favorite things about fall. Summer is by far my favorite season, but there are so many things that I love about the fall (it's my second favorite season).

1. Cool mornings to cuddle up under the covers.
2. Autumn Foliage
3. Jeans and flip flops (seriously I have to hold onto wearing them as long as I can)
4. Apple Picking
5. Pictures of the kids in the pumpkin patch!
6. Carving Pumpkins
7. The way the crisp fall air smells in the morning.
8. Babywearing- using my Mei Tai, I love this carrier, but it is hot in the summer.
9. Playing in the leaves (but definitely not raking them *grin*)
10. Hiking

Updates

Sorry I haven't written much lately, things have just been super crazy.

*To start Matt left on a business trip early Sunday morning, and I came down with Jack's cold (which you knew if you read my twitterings on my side bar *grin*).

*This weekend I decided to try going no-poo (no shampoo), I know, I know, sounds gross; but I have a really itchy scalp and I was reading this blog and it sounded like it might be something good to try. Well, to make a long story short I tried it out and went water only and on alternating days I used baking soda and vinegar. Well this lasted a whole three days! I had school pictures this week and I wanted to be able to wear my hair down and I just couldn't because it was just too greasy, surprise, surprise! So I think I am going to look for some good non toxic "adult" shampoo, and try that instead. If you know of any good ones, feel free to leave me a comment.

*I have been getting both kids up, dressed and out of the house in the morning by 6:30. This is a big switch, because since school has started back up I have been taking Jack to "school" and Matt has been taking Allie.

*Oh, and I almost forgot, I dropped our dog off to my parents on Saturday! They are watching him while Matt has been away... it has been like a vacation for me. But, I am going to owe them BIG. Tuffy isn't the easiest dog, hence I needed help with him while Matt was gone!

*Open House is tomorrow at school and I had a classroom observation today, from my principal. Open House is always so much work to get ready for and well with an observation to plan as well, I have been busy.

*Matt is coming home tonight, YEAH!

Back Behind the Lens...

I love taking pictures and it is one of the things that I really miss now that I am back to work. Today was a great chance to take some fun pictures at my friend Megan's baby shower; it was so much fun and I have been waiting on pins and needles for it. A bunch of us from work got together and chipped in to get her a cleaning lady for the twelve weeks of her maternity leave, which works out to be 6 cleanings, every other week. This is something that she has said that she really wanted and we (Wendy and I) were SO excited to be able to organize it. I can speak for myself and say that I was almost giddy about it; I just couldn't wait to see the look on her face when she opened it. We were also able to get her most of the items that were left on her registry. It was so much fun going shopping yesterday with our friend Wendy and getting all the goodies. It was fun knowing that we were getting her all the things that she really wanted. I love that feeling you get when you are doing something for someone that you know they are really going to like, it just makes you feel great!

Here are some pictures from the shower

Isn't that diaper cake so cute! I have to try this.

This look on her face was just what we were hoping for when she opened the note about the cleaning lady!

I really loved taking pictures today, and I am inspired to start taking some baby pictures. This is something that I have always wanted to try my hand at and I have a bunch of ideas that I would love to try. Who knows maybe one of my new mama or soon to be new mama friends will let me take some pictures of them and their babies! If I do I will be sure to show you all.

Followers

Blogger is offering a new feature, where you can follow the blogs that you read. I have added this to my blog it is down on the bottom of the right hand sidebar. Just click "follow this blog" and you will receive updates when I update *grin*.

Hope you all had a great day. I am heading to bed and hopefully I will have time tomorrow to do a real post.

On the Menu?

So, now that school has started back up so has packing lunches and this ranks right up there with grocery shopping. Anyone who knows me knows that I HATE to go grocery shopping and will do just about anything to avoid it. Well, making lunches for 3, sometimes 4 people, four or five days a week is a close runner up. I make the usuals; peanut butter and jelly, cold cut sandwiches, soy nuggets, turkey meatballs, veggies and left overs (from dinner the night before) we are lucky because the school that the kids go to will heat their meals, we don't have to send them in a thermos. For snacks, I send fresh fruit, dried fruit, nuts (for Allie only) yogurt, cheese, animal crackers or other small crackers/cookies (as a treat). I try and use as much organic as possible. What do you pack for lunch? Do you have any good lunch ideas?

Weathering Hanna

What is left of hurricane Hanna has reached us in Connecticut and she still has some punch left to her. We are in the midst of a Tornado Warning! and getting a TON of rain. In the last couple of hours we have gotten 5-6 inches of rain in our town and surrounding towns.

Today I was supposed to go to my friend Meg's son Luke's 3rd birthday party this afternoon/night and we decided not to go because of the weather and with all that is going on I am feeling pretty good about that decision. Allie and I had both really wanted to go but we will plan another time to get together.

I have to say that living in the northeast, tornado warnings FREAK me out! Not to say that they don't freak out people in other parts of the country, but here in the east we just don't experience this that often and it is scary, you don't know what you should do. Do you go to an interior room once the warning is issued, do watch the weather on the news and go to an interior room when they confirm a tornado. There is just so much what ifs. Plus it is nighttime now and that just makes it worse because you can't see anything outside.

Plus to make it more aggravating we keep getting the warning come across the top of the T.V. and it cuts out the sound of the weather we are watching and it says to tune into channel 12 for more details. But, when you do you get QVC and no further details about the weather! Grrr!

Hopefully by the time we go to bed the weather will have calmed down a bit.

McCain/Palin

"Vote for the candidate who is best for the country, not the party you belong to." and "Country matters more than party"


Both of these are my favorite quotes from Senator Joe Liberman at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday night. I give Liberman a lot of credit for speaking at the RNC, he has always been a senator who stands by what he believes, not just his party.


I have to say that I am excited about the McCain/Palin ticket. I am happy to see two mavericks, who will be able to try and reform Washington, DC. I am also happy to see a conservative woman running for Vice President! Just what we need a strong woman with strong values! She is a woman I would want as a role model for my daughter.

Updates

Wow, I can't even believe that it is September 2nd. The last week has been so busy; I haven't had a chance to do any posting since my Pitty Party post. Sorry about that, sometimes it just feels good to get it all off your chest. Thanks for putting up with me, oh yeah it is my blog *grin*, but seriously thank you for your kind words of encouragement. I am feeling much better.

Last week was such a whirlwind, between getting myself back into the school routine and getting the kids into their "school" routine. Being a stay-at-home mom is busy and there is lots to do but, now that I am back to work, it is all about time management and getting things done. I have to say that my least favorite part of my evening routine is making lunches. I don't know what it is about it, but I just hate doing this. The kids school is in the process of building a new school and they will be moving in November or December and when they do they will be including meals. A part of me (that part that hates making lunches) can't wait and the other part of me doesn't want to give up the control of what my kids eat. For the most part my kids eat pretty healthy. I try not to have a lot of processed food for them and I try to use mainly organic. So, do you see where I am going with this; I don't think that the food the school will be providing will be comparable to what I choose for them. Please I work in an elementary school and I see what passes for healthy school lunches and there is no way that I want my kids eating that stuff.

We had such a great weekend, well two thirds of it was great. Saturday was not one of Allie's finest days. Just to quickly fill you in, it was a rough day, she and Jack went out with me to do errands with my friend Melissa. We started out at Once Upon A Child and she was okay there and then we hit the dollar store next door and she unraveled a little more and then when we hit a quick lunch at McDonald's (I know, I know) she officially started to fall apart and ended up in time out. I should have bagged it from there but I needed to finish my errands so we headed to Target and full melt down. When I say melt down I mean nuclear melt down, complete with stares from strangers. At this point I don't even remember what started it but my oh my did she fall apart. I even had to switch her into Melissa's cart and took Lily. Finally I called Daddy to come get her, but it wasn't that easy. He was a half hour away AND he hit traffic getting to us. I ended up waiting for him in the parking lot at our car, with Jack in the car napping and Allie sitting in the shopping cart and me sitting on the card rail, because she was sobbing uncontrollably. For those of you reading this that don't know Allie, this is TOTALLY out of character. She is usually so easy going and well behaved. Thank goodness that is over and with any luck we won't have another day like that.

Sunday we visited Matt's mom in the nursing home and then the kids and I went to my parents house for the day, well it was supposed to be the day, but we ended up staying over and leaving in the morning. We had such a great time, we went swimming in the pool for our last summer pool swim and had a fire in the fire pit, which Allie loves; especially the s'mores that go with it *grin*. Yesterday was really busy, we drove back from Grammy and Papa's and headed to the beach with Melissa and the kids and it was great. I just love going to the beach; we sit at the waters edge and let the kids play and swim, there is just nothing like it. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE pool swimming but the beach is great with little kids!

My plan is to try to catch what remaining summer moments are left and enjoy them, winter is just around the corner, coming quickly and will last too long in my opinion. How are you planning on capturing the summer moments that are left?