A Post About Life

     My toddler is sleeping. I am enjoying the quiet "me" time. He woke up very grouchy and didn't want to eat breakfast. I'm suspecting the large bump at the back of his gum had something to do with it. Sigh. He climbs on everything he possibly can. He can say a few words, "no", "down" and "ouch" being the most recognizable. Other communicating is done by pointing and saying "Uh? uh?". I think that perhaps it would have been a good idea to teach him sign language, an idea that I sort of scoffed at. He had several weeks of horribly restless nights, and I was at my wits end to decide if something was wrong or if he was just being bratty. Finally as I thought about it, I remembered that his nights started being bad about the time I tried introducing milk. I quit trying to give him milk and presto! He started sleeping better at night. Hmm. Perhaps there is a connection there. But now what? Can a toddler grow strong bones on juice?
     I got a gardening catalog in the mail yesterday. Now I am dreaming. My problem is that I'd love to have all kinds of flowerbeds with nice flowers in them, but I have a hard time keeping them clean. Ah well. I want to try doing strawberries in a raised bed, so I'm going to be researching that this winter.
     We are having a very warm and snow-less winter so far. I keep wondering if we are going to get real winter. The lakes aren't really frozen over yet, and the snowmobile trails aren't exactly open. 
     The other day we were driving down the freeway, and we passed an ambulance that was on the way back from a run. There was an EMT sitting in the back smoking. Wasn't that sort of well, dangerous? And stupid?
     People always said that being a parent would teach you humility and unselfishness. And it does I suppose. But I think the biggest thing I have been sort of learning, or seeing I will learn, is patience. A child does not learn his lesson after one or even two times. At least my child doesn't. And so we go over and over it again. Multiple times a day.
     I am hoping to spend the rest of my week cleaning house. And next week I am going to hopefully finish organizing Benny's room and get ready to paint it. But, plans often don't work like you want them to. :)

For My Mom

...And anyone else that cares.

     This is post-hair cut. This was a week or so after, so it had grown out a little. And it's grown out even more now, so I'm happier with it then I was at first. Cutting the hair of a very active one year old is an interesting feat, I knew i had about five or less minutes before he'd be tired of the project. I think I did it in about three minutes, and it looked like it!

     This week was one of those tough mothering weeks. His very stubborn side tooth was bothering him again. I hope that THIS time it comes all the way through. And then he got a head cold as well. So for about four nights I was getting  up every hour or so. And that was with Tylenol. Last night he slept better, as in only getting up every 2-3 hours. And he's happier and eating again this morning. So I'm hopeful that we're over that hump. I had to wonder yesterday, how I ever did it when he was newborn and nights like that were a fact of life. It seemed much harder this time around.

     And I wanted to paint my whole bathroom this week. Ha!

Since We've Been Talking Motherhood...

     My baby is a year old. That's hard to believe. He trots all over the house. And investigates everything. I feel like all I do is say "No" all day long. Children definitely do not "get it", after only one or two times. It's line upon line, precept upon precept, for years on end I suppose. The whole parenting thing does not get easier with time, that's for sure.  By the time I get done raising my kids I can give the pat answer to anyone that asks me child training questions, "I don't know how I did it. There but for the Grace of God go I..."  And I am glad for the older women in my life that don't have answers, but they do understand and say, "Yes, I remember that stage." And my MIL told me once," It's good to at least start with ideals, they might not work, but at least you had them to start with." And in lots of ways, I have the easy stage now. No worries about potty training. Nor about schooling. Or running out to the road. Or what they are listening to, or viewing online. Or who their friends are. Or if they are following Christ. I just have to make sure Benny has food, clothing, and plenty of hugs and kisses. But,  every other stage of parenting has it's blessings as well.  In the end, all that matters is that they grow up to love and serve Jesus.
    

Of Earaches and Such

     My house is calling my name. Very Loudly. And I am pretending to be deaf. I have been a Good Responsible Mom for three days now, and I am tired of being Good and Responsible. So I am blogging instead of putting my house back together. I did do a load of laundry, and clear papers and stuff off the top of my table, and straighten the coffee table and comb my hair, and take a nap, and hug and feed and give my baby medicine, with a kiss of course. And I plan to be able to cook supper tonight, instead of my poor husband having to come home and fix something (he makes really good grilled cheese sandwiches by the way).  So I'm kind of trying to tell my self that I was virtuous enough to earn the privilege of blogging and doing something fun and different. Not sure what the something fun and different is going to be yet, and likely it won't happen. Anyway.
     So, Benny woke up with a fever Tuesday morning, but didn't have any other symptoms that I could find. He was very grouchy and irritable and I held him all day long. It was the same on Wednesday, except he screamed himself to sleep that night. Which was Not A Fun Experience. And his fever was 102 by then, so I and his father both said he is going to see a Dr. I was rather sure it was ears. So Thursday I called the clinic at 9. Now I have a super awesome Dr. and the nurses are great at my clinic, but the front desk was dropping the ball for some reason. Finally by 11 they said oh, we can't get him in today, but our other clinic can probably see him. Not sure why it took from 9-11 to figure that out but anyway.
     My really awesome mother-in-law had offered to take me in, since my car isn't working, and Clark felt he needed to be at work. So she came and got us and we were on our way. We had an hour to the other clinic, which gave us lots of time to chat about various subjects. By the way Mom, I researched that theory we discussed about European doctors not treating ear infection with antibiotics and that's not true. They do treat with them, they just don't treat as swiftly as most American doctors do. 
     We didn't know where the other clinic was exactly, but figured that it was a small town and we would find it. We wandered up and down the main track and a few side streets, and finally asked at the gas sation. They pointed us down a side street, we could almost see the building from the station.
      Benny decided to be quite the little charmer, and was smiling at everyone while misery looked out of his eyes. I think that the nurse and doctor first thought I was a silly paranoid mom that had dragged my baby in when there wasn't anything wrong with him. Until the Dr. went to look in his ears. The first ear Benny behaved like a perfect child and cooperated nicely. The second ear, not so much. I knew as soon as he started fighting us that ear was the culprit. I could see the Dr. knew that too. Mom said she heard him yelling way out in the waiting room. That clinic is not very sound proof, if you wanted to, you could easily eavesdrop on the patient next door. So the Dr, said yeah he has an infection and he'll prescribe antibiotics for him (the Dr. needed to brush his teeth by the way). I didn't very much like the idea that he has  to have antibiotics so young, but I am thankful for them. And I didn't think that 'natural treatment' was going to work by the time we were at that stage. He'd had it for several days already.
     So I got his prescription and gave him a dose when we got home. He is a real trooper about taking his medicine. He went to sleep and slept for several hours. He woke up feeling a little better. Last night went ok once I got him settled and he woke up with out a fever this morning. He's sleeping a lot today, but he showed some interest in playing with his toys. I'm hoping in a day or two I can have my happy bouncing baby back.
     I guess the poor child inherited his father and mother's genes for ear aches. Next time he gets an unexplained fever, I'll know what we have brewing and can maybe take preventative measures.
   This is the explanation for why I'm tired of being Good and Responsible. I'm dreaming of a puffy, flaky pastry with chocolate and vanilla filling cream and lots of whipped topping. And a pedicure.  And if you read all the way to the end of this post without getting bored, or sick of me talking about my baby, I'm proud of you.

Quote of the week:
Me to Clark at 1:52 this morning, in a not very alert frame of mind: "I want to go to the Alps and have a spa"
Clark, mumbling sleepily: " Whatever. You poor thing"
Which is what he says when I propose Mission Impossible.

How My Good Intentions Died

     When I became a Mom, I had all kinds of good intentions. I still have quite a few, but sad to say, I think they are going to leave, one by one.
     One of my Very Good Intentions, was that I was never going to feed my baby that powdered cereal stuff out of a box. I didn't see how it could be healthy, and I wanted his first experience of real food to be good, solid nutrition. I had visions of introducing him to mashed banana, or pureed oatmeal or rice when he was six months old or so.
   Well, I was moaning to my mother-in-law about his awful sleeping habits, and how I struggled to get him to settle for the night. "It sounds like a meat and potatoes issue to me," she said. "He wants more than what you are giving him. Get a box of baby cereal, and mix up a tablespoon or so before bedtime. It'll settle in his stomach and give him something to digest. I know it's cardboard, but it works, and a little bit like that won't hurt him. My mom gave it to her babies at six weeks."  I was desperate enough for advice, but at the same time I resisted the Idea slightly. After all, he's not THAT old yet, I told myself. Surely I can still satisfy him. I don't want to lose my baby that fast. But the more I thought about it, it seemed like a solution. After all, if it didn't work, I didn't have anything to lose, besides my sleep, and maybe my sanity. And I didn't think that mashed banana or real rice or oatmeal was going to work in a three month old tummy.

     So I swallowed my good intentions, and my pride,  and bought a box of cereal the next time we were in town. It sat in my cupboard for a few days while I tried to convince my self that feeding him cereal was a good thing, after all we do want our children to grow up and be independant of us. Just maybe not at three months old.

Shoveling it in.

      I fed it to him for the first time Saturday evening. The first spoonful was tentatively tasted. The next spoonful was eagerly swallowed. You've heard the expression "...Dove into his food."  That's the most accurate expression for the spoonfuls after that. He grabbed the spoon and tried to help me shovel it in. Both little hands got thoroughly involved in the process. It didn't make much difference in his sleep and eating habits through the night the first time. The next night I did it again, except fed a little more. He scarfed that down as well. He went to sleep better, but still woke up about three times to eat. By now I was feeling sort of like a guilty mom, because obviously he hadn't been totally satisfied, and was likely a little hungry.

More, Mom More.!!

      The nights since have ranged from mediocre, to fairly satisfactory. One night he refused to eat it, so I didn't force him. He had a tummy-ache later, which explained the non-interest that night. It hasn't really made a difference in how often he is awake at night to nurse. Which I suppose some people would say because the cereal doesn't contain anything anyway, and doesn't make a difference. It makes a difference in his level of contentment. I think he just needs a little extra boost every now and then.

Good stuff.  Real good stuff!! Yummy!!

     I dreamed the first night after the cereal that my baby had suddenly grew into a much bigger baby from the cereal. I was relieved the next morning when I woke up and he was still that same small size. I still had my little boy, even if he does have to eat food independently of me.
     So that was the death of My Good Intention. We are both happier for it. Sometimes you have to do what's best and what works, even if the "experts" tell you otherwise.  I wonder which Very Good Intention will die next?

I'm happy now!

A Few Questions

     5:30 am is way too early to be starting a blog post. It's also way too early to be out of bed as well. A certain son of mine needed to have his diaper changed, and he doesn't sleep through diaper changes as well as he used to be able to. So he is currently lying on the floor beside me halfheartedly playing toys. In a few minutes he will be sleepy, and we will head back to bed for a few hours of sleep.
     We had our snowstorm. It wasn't as dramatic here as they had predicted at one point; the main thrust of the storm went south of us. Sometime I want a storm to hit us with a foot of snow. But we did get about 8 inches out of this storm, which was a nice amount. It's terribly cold now. We ended up going to Mom and Dad's for the storm because Mom needed Clark's help to reformat her computer.

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      Well, that was as far as I got yesterday. So let's see... what else. Oh, how does one get a three month old to go to bed at a reasonable hour of the night? We're really struggling with that, and even when I keep him awake through the evening, I still struggle to get him to settle before 11. Last night I was SURE that when he went to sleep at 9:30 or so, we were looking at an early bedtime, because he hadn't napped for more then half hour stretches through out the day. But nope, at 10 he woke up, and so I fed him, then it was up, down, up, down, up, down for the next hour, literally at least that many times. So.....sigh. Last week I decided that he's old enough to reschedule to an earlierbedtime, and it worked beautifully one night. Not so since. Arrrgh! And two hours is all he can handle being awake at one stretch, after that we have emotional meltdown time. So, any ideas from any experienced moms out there? Please? Or isn't he big enough to do this yet?

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     Let's see, what else? I found a few recipes that I want to try for holiday baking yet. I found a recipe for making peppermint patties, only I need to see if in the end it's going to be "cheaper" to make my own rather then just buying them. I found a recipe for thumbprint jam cookies that I want to try. I got that inspiration from Kay's blog.

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     We have ladies Bible study tonight, and we are going to start the book "Having a Mary Heart In a Martha World". I read through the first chapter (barely had time for that, HA!), and I'm looking forward to discussing it tonight. I have a few questions though.  I'd like to know why everyone thinks I have "so much time on your hands, why you only have one child". Ha! I realize that life would be busier with more children but still...  And why do we place expectations on ourselves that certain things are good and Godly and Biblical to do, when the Bible doesn't say anything about it?  Like homeschooling, and raising your own food, and nursing your baby instead of bottle feeding, and having lots of children, and stuff like that? (So I thought I'd pick close-to-home subjects.) I mean, that's all stuff that I do/would like to do (not sure right now about the lots of children part), but in the end does it really matter?

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Benny has been sleeping for the last few hours (it's afternoon now). He needed to. I hope he cooperates tonight though. I think I shall publish this post now.

And All I Really Wanted Was a Nap...

1:31 pm: (All times approximate) Benny is soundly sleeping and I decide it's nap time for mom. I gather my pillow and fuzzie and settle on the love seat because B is sleeping on the couch.
1:52  I hear squeaks and occasional howls from the couch. Benny is starving, he thinks. I have maybe drifted off to sleep, possibly for 5-10 min.
1:54  I gather the starving child and prepare to feed him.
1:57  Only he drifts off to sleep in my arms. I wait for a few mins. but he is not waking. He didn't eat anything either...
2:03  I lay him down and prepare once again to try for my nap.
2:19  I have relaxed and am 3/4 of the way asleep. I hear howls from the couch. I stare at the source and suddenly remember, "Oh yeah, that's my kid and I am the one that has to do something about it."
2:33  Benny has eaten and is sleeping. I should change his diaper but he will wake up, so I am going to be a naughty mom and just put him down.
2:41  I lay down again.
2:43  I hear a car in my driveway. Francis is here to borrow my luggage piece with wheels, because she is flying to NE for a month. (Hey, I wasn't sleeping. It was good timing on your part.)
2:46  I lay down again. My mind compsoses this blog post and thinks of a million other things.
3:02  Benny stirs because he didn't burp. I consider giving up the napping attempt. I drifted off too many times to be able to relax now.
3:15  I give up. I get up and do laundry and work on this post. I eat a piece of dark chocolate candy. I chat with my husband. I hang a bouquet of roses to dry, and discover one of them is sprouting. I decide to be brave and see if I can root it. I consider that I had 7 1/2 hours of sleep last night. I can go to bed early tonight. Or I can try to nap later. Life is good. My baby is growing. I am happy.

 Quote Of The Week:
Clark at 6:30 am when Benny wakes up for yet another feeding: "Wow, he slept all night didn't he?!
Me: "Umm, you evidently were sleeping soundly from 2:30 am to 4:00. There was a thunderstorm around then too..."  
Clark: "Yeah, I did hear it rumble once maybe." ( He didn't hear the baby though.... Ah, well, not that I care.)

Mom's Side of Things

     Clark tells me I should blog. We shall see how many days/hours it takes until this is finished and posted.
     We got home from the hospital yesterday, and are getting settled into being a family. It's good to be home, but we did enjoy our hospital stay for the most part. We have an awesome small town hospital. They had four babies over the time we were there, which meant the Birth Center was full.
     I'm not really going to post a gory birth story on the world wide web. (If any of you want the details let me know and I'll send an e-mail.)  I did end up having to have a C-section because I was at 9 cms. for over three hours. It totally wasn't in our minds at all that we could end up doing that. For those of you who wondered how I'm handling that part, I'm doing ok. There will probably always be one or two "what ifs", but I think for the most part we made the right decision at the time. I talked it out with one or two people and they agreed that we likely did the right thing, and we can be better prepared to take steps to possibly prevent a C-s in the future. The Dr. said if he would have had a smaller head it would have been fine.
     Bendick was named after his great-great grandpa Skrivseth. Sometime Clark or another relation should blog about him and his story. Jerome is Clark's middle name, and I insisted that we use it. He's going to end up being called Ben I think. I call him Benny-Boy right now.
    Clark has taken to fatherhood like an old pro. He wasn't very comfortable with tiny babies. "I'm scared I'm going to drop them." Well, last eve. he was holding the baby and was helping me with something, and I was like, "Honey, don't drop that baby!" He said, "Oh I have him. Don't worry." I also told him maybe he missed his calling and should be a nurse or labor coach or something.
    I am doing very well. I had two goals today, take a shower and a nap. Neither has happened. Every time I got in bed and relaxed, the baby wanted to eat. :)  Clark says baby can smell naps. I think we'll try to go to bed early tonight. Ben is doing very well at night, only he wants to eat every two to three hours. It took a little bit to get the nursing part figured out, but that's  going fine now.
  And for those of you begging, here are more pictures. We'll likely be adding more pictures over the next few weeks/months.  :)

PS. Leanna, how cool that you found my blog! Makes me wonder who else is lurking around here.

I've been told that I should post again. Yes, well, I'm not sure there is anything terribly new or different in my life. It's really unseasonably cold right now. I mean like, we had snow on Fri. Yeah, really, we did!!! And since we turned our furnace off for the season, the house is rather chilled (one of our two electric heaters gave up the ghost). So I figure if I sit on the couch wrapped in my fuzzy and blog, at least I can keep from feeling guilty over the state of my house, which is a disarray of laundry and unpacking. I can also put off trying to figure out a snack for kids club tonight (if anyone has good,kid-friendly snack ideas that don't take a lot of time to make, please leave your suggestions!).

We went on a weekend retreat to the South Shore of Lake Superior. We got a really neat cabin, one of the best we've had yet. It had a huge backyard that ended at the lake shore, and you couldn't see any other cabins around it. Oh and the best part was that had a real fireplace that burned real wood. We had a fire going all weekend. I told Clark I wanted to take that fireplace home with me (it would feel good today!!). So anyway, we relaxed and enjoyed ourselves. We were close to Porcupine Mountains State Park, so we did some hiking as well. My husband thought I was crazy for some of the stuff I hiked. Like a half mile hike up a mountain, ending with a 40 ft. observation tower. I took it slow and easy and sat when we came to a bench, and everything is fine and dandy I think.  I think there will be pictures posted on Picasa of our weekend at some point in the future.

It was good to get away and relax. I realized how busy we've been in the last six weeks this weekend. Since the beginning of April, we've been at our church every other Sunday. I feel like I only know half or less of what's going happening in other peoples lives. Maybe life will slow down for a month or so. Ha! Fat chance! Clark asked me last night if there is a way that life can be lived "like we did this weekend, not sitting around doing nothing, just have a relaxed mindset".
I went to garage sales with my mom the other weekend, and got a nice lot of baby things. The only thing I need yet is a crib. I've decided that part of being a mom is worrying about our kids. Pretty much from before they are born until one of us dies I suppose. I know I worry about my baby, and I see other moms worrying about their children at all ages and stages of life. (BTW, I'm not using worry in a bad way here, I'm not sure what the better wording would be. Concern maybe? And I do think that we as moms can legitimately "worry" about our children as long as we don't obsess over it.)
So anyway, that's a little of what's going on in our lives right now. I planted garden two weeks ago or so (when it was warm!), and now I'm wondering if I should have listened to my intuition and Grandma Graber's wisdom. We'll see I suppose. It appears that my established perennials survived the snow and frost last weekend, so I am hoping for the best. And my pansies survived the winter and are coming back, which has really surprised me. The same with the sage. I doubt from the looks of the weather forecast that I will be digging in dirt much this week.
And now my husband and his mom are conniving to get me up to her house for the afternoon and eve., because my man cares about me and thinks I should be in a warmer location. So I shall finish my laundry, eat a lunch, shower and wash my hair, mix up cookie dough, then take my scrap booking and spend the afternoon with mom and the girls. See you all later.
Edited to add: Here is the link to a few pictures from the weekend.