Attention, Attention!!!

Allright, that's it.

I here by declare November the official

"If you bother to read a blog in the first place,

then take 2 seconds to leave a comment on it"

Month.

Let's face it, with google reader, and bloglines, you don't even have to blog hop to keep up on your friends blogs, but come on! Time to rejuvenate those of us who need blogs for the praise, the "hey, you're funny" and the ego. Thanks to my friend AliFinale, one of the first blogs I ever read, for this reminder and for her friend who has this cute sign on her blog. I don't know her, but I like her already...

So pass it on. I will be doing my darndest to show the love to the blogs I follow, do the same. Even if you've never commented before. Stranger or friend. Even if it's a quick "Me too!" Give us Mommy Bloggers some love... because I know you're coming and reading from my Blog Patrol. And it hurts my feelings a little that my hit counter shows 50-80 readers a week, yet I manage a lousy 5 comments- even on my best stuff? Do you know what that does to my pride???

If you agree, pass it on. Blog about it. Facebook it. Heck Tweet it- no don't really, I think Twitter is lame. But don't feel shameful about plugging yourself. Sometimes the few words we get from a comment makes our day. At least for me. And I promise, if you take the time to comment on a blog, that person will for you too sometime. It's the whole Blog Karma thing working.

Dark Circles...

SO it is a given that Moms to newborns are going to get crappy sleep. I have no qualm with that. It get it. I expect it. And frankly, my two year old still gets up in the night, a lot. So when Brenner came home I was all prepared to be sleep deprived and napping as much a possible. Which, thanks again to that 2 year old, napping has never been an option.

But what I really take issue with is the superhuman sense newborns come with. Do you know the one I am talking about?

Not their ability to eat nonstop or pee and poop like crazy. Or even how much they can cry.

It's how they are able to sense when your head finally hits the pillow. Not just hits, but you know when you finally sink in and sleep is near -- and just then, the baby makes a noise or cries or spits up? That's the superhuman sense I am talking about.

And Brenner has that superpower down to an art.

I need to learn how to sleep with my head levitating inches above my pillow. I'll work on that when I'm not so tired.

And just cause he's so stinking cute, here is b3 at 4 weeks old.

Open Mouth-Insert Foot...

What is it about a woman being pregnant that causes other around them to say the first thing that comes to mind? Be it a loved one or a stranger at Target; being prego is like a magnet for stupid people comments, advice or ancient wives tales.  So, I thought I'd compile a list of things said to me in the course of my three pregnancies.  Consider it a sort of "what not to say when talking to someone expecting" list. Please feel free to comment with your personal fav's- maybe one day I'll write a book.

• Oh you just popped out in the last week.Thanks for stating the obvious...
  
• Don't worry I got really swollen in my pregnancies too. 
• Wow, are you sure there's just one? My pediatrician asked me that one. Love her.
  
• We got pregnant without even trying. This one bugs me for many reasons a) let's face it there's always some sort of "effort" involved.  And b) never say this to someone who is or has struggled with infertility. I promise they will secretly want to poke your eyes out.
• You're not supposed to lift your arms over your head. As I am closing my trunk.
• Due anytime now, huh? Actually not till August, but thanks!
  
• You're wearing flip flops to church? If you would like to squeeze my feet into more appropriate footwear, be my guest.
  
• Are you going to try for a girl? Please just let me get through this pregnancy first.
  
• You really shouldn't be drinking Coke. Oh yeah? And my 2 yr old should really be sleeping all night in his own bed too I bet.
  
• Oh just buy a few maternity clothes, everything else will stretch. No one tells you that a some point even those biggest maternity clothes won't fit.
  
• Wow, we really need to get you clothes that fit. Thanks Hon.
• So what will the baby's sign be? Really? As if I know and or care at this point.
  
• He's a little old for you to be carrying him. Well unless you're volunteering shut it.
• Be sure you drink lots of water. While I agree this is vital let's face it the more I drink the more I pee, it's a vicious cycle.
  
• Are you sleeping on your left side? Actually I just don't sleep, nasty side affect of this pregnancy but when I lay down it is on the correct side.
  
• Do you need help out with your groceries? Um duh it's 190* out and I have to get my kids in the car too. So yes of course I'd love some help.
  
• How much weight have you gained? Unless you have an MD after your name and I have your pager in my cell, that's just rude.

I plan on adding to the list. It's still early the best comments come once you hit the 30 week mark.

Sometimes I think I should have a shirt printed that says "august boy third hot tired" and on the back in smaller print " two other boys- 6&2- no name yet- yes we have a pool-no my FIL isn't my OB- yes, I'll have an epidural- I think it would solve a lot of strangers questions. And even some not so strangers as well. What's the awesomest thing that has been said to you? I love knowing I'm not the only one who gets this...

Weighed Down...

You know that feeling, after a long day you just feel really weighed down. Tired, spent- and then you put your purse down and Wa-La - not so heavy anymore! I recently thunked my purse on the counter and decided to find out just what made it so dang heavy! The contents were as follows- in no particular order of discovery...

• 4 Matchbox Cars
• 17 restaurant crayons (I save them and melt them into those cute round crayons we made as kids)
• 1 bouncy ball
• 1 'Pidermah' action figure
• $3ish dollars in loose change
• Extra camera battery and memory card
• Notepad
• Denim patches to fix Braden's pants
• A bottle of Tums
• Kids Tylenol
• A wide variety of my meds (Zofran, Tylenol, ect ect)
• 2 pens
• 1 broken pencil
• Packet of fruit snacks
• Random wrappers of various color and size
• 1 lip gloss, 2 chapsticks (girly and non), and 6 lipsticks (remember I used to be a makeup artist, old habits ad all)

Oh and then the 'essentials'

• Wallet
• Check book
• Spare diaper w/ small wet ones packet
• Ridiculously old receipts- I didn't even TRY to count those!
• Gum
• Mace

Seriously! No wonder I feel like I need a forklift every time I go somewhere! SO I have dug out an old favorite purse that is MUCH smaller. Only the 'essentials' and 1 toy car are going in it- from now on. 

Or until tomorrow when real life happens again...Obviously my OCD-ness does not apply to my handbags.

Decontamination in Progress...

I popped my last day of a 'Z pack' this morning, then turned to give Berk his day 3 dose. Then I went over and wiped Braden's nose, before answering the phone to hear Rusty sounding all raspy.  Enough already!  I have not been this sick in a very long time. What is this super bug that hit Gilbert this month?

I was fine Wednesday, and bam Thursday hit me like a ton of bricks. I think being pregnant only compounded it because my gag reflex is so sensitive. Coughing too hard, sneezing too hard or crying too hard are all bad ideas since they result in me puking...So by mid morning that day I was in tears, pawning my kids off on a neighbor (I Love you M!) and praying for some magical cupboard to open and have the medicine I needed...I ate solid food again for the first time 4 days later. We had Pops do a quick ultrasound to see baby and make sure he was doing good. Baby Beck looks great-although I think he is mad his diet has been so bland lately (or because we still haven't thought of a name)...But, me on the other hand, I lost all the weight I had gained so far this pregnancy-plus some. Not so good. But Poweraide,Popsicles and water only have so many calories!

Honestly, Braden had a pretty bad cough last week, but nothing major. So when I got it I was floored. I went through 4 boxes of kleenex in 2 days and didn't leave my house until Sunday evening. And by no means am I anywhere near 100%, I would say I am working at about 30% still, but at least I was not in jammies today! Progress! 

So I am eradicating this plague from my house. I have cleaners coming tomorrow, I have new linens ready to be put on all the beds, I have Lysol for the door handles, and trash cans. I have Clorox wipes for the toys that have kept my poor kids entertained and I have new DVD's for Braden to watch- because he has been pretty patient with me this last week.  I have a HUGE bottle of Vit. C out for Rusty and I and I have kudos for Netflix for keeping me entertained over the weekend. Oh, and nothing but the highest of praises for my Mom and my Hubby who did all the laundry for me- even put it away! I am thinking I may have to bust out my Spring Cleaning post from last year and scrub this place from top to bottom, but I will have to get some energy in me for that first.

No More Hand-me-downs...

Having two boys both born in the same month (and throw in a nephew -born in the same season just a year before Berk) I have had good use of the clothes my kids have.  After Braden outgrew things I shipped them up to Draven and then we get them back in time for Berk to wear. We had a pretty good thing going I thought. Quite a lot of BANG for our bucks, ya know?

Until about 3 months ago- when 'pants season' started for Braden. Suddenly jeans only are lasting about 3 weeks.  I started seeing all these little holes in the knees of his jeans. So I did the thrifty thing and ironed on patches. Those lasted about another 3 weeks and now we are getting holes in the patches covering the holes!  Seriously what is my kid doing at school? It is ALWAYS the left knee- always.  For some reason his khaki pants are exempt from this thrashing, thank goodness!  So I have hit the point where my kids will no longer be getting hand-me-down jeans pants. Mostly cause they have all been cut into nice jean shorts. 

My theory is that denim just isn't what is once was or something, cause I was the youngest of six and I know I got loads of hand-me-downs, so why did those last and these didn't?!? Anyway, just needed to vent. And now  I am going to go wait for the UPS guy- he's bringing me some new maternity clothes (yeah) and a few new pairs of jeans for Braden to thrash...oh the joys of motherhood.

My Nemisis...

I hate laundry.

Okay really just the gathering part and the actual switching loads part.

I dread Monday's because that is my designated laundry day. And yes it's Tuesday but I have been procrastinating. 

But worst of all, I hate pairing up socks.

Hate it like I hate having sand all over my clean hardwoods or having it rain after I finally get my car washed. Hate it.

And why is it that all of the socks can't come back out of the laundry when you KNOW they all went in? Rusty is always asking for a pair of dark socks- good luck I say! I like the tidiness of having the laundry all folded and in baskets and ready to be put away (shoot I even started paying my little niece to help me put some of it away!) Everything is peachy, my system is set-- all except for the sock matching.  Is there a better way, any tricks? I mean besides the whole 'wear once and toss' thing which is utterly wasteful but sounds oh so good to me right now...

A Little Vent...

We are all allowed to vent once in a while on our blogs, no?  And since I am the author/creator of this particular blog I can vent whenever and about whatever I want.  

Blogger: ihaatu

Me: I hate you also

Blogger: ruuustupd

Me: Maybe a little

Blogger: cat

Me: cat

Today that is Word Verification.  

Now I know many of you have blogged about this, it is annoying and time consuming.  And it just plain BUGS ME! Frankly, I think most of the blogs that have it either a) didn't know it was a choice when they set their blogs up(BTW it defaults unless you change it) b) don't know how to turn it off (one little click in settings FYI) or c) think it will stop strangers from commenting (thus the registered users feature).  

But more specifically, I hate-like fingernails on a chalkboard- word verify on Private blogs. I mean come on! I already had to log in to see your blog and now you want me to essentially log in again to comment. Captcha prevent spammers, and by having a private blog- you are already DOING JUST THAT!!!  And, it drives me crazy that by the time I am done reading all the post I read late at night, my eyes are fuzzy and if I am typing to fast and enter a l instead of an i and it makes me do it again, well, chances are I am skipping commenting and on to my next blog.  Blogging is fun for me, not a job...although I would make good money if I was paid for all the time I spend blogging...Really. 

SO, I thought I would educate you on what word verification is and why you think you need it, so that hopefully, some of you will turn it off and end my aggravation!

According to blogger.com the purpose is " This option (off by default) gives bloggers a tool to prevent the automatic creation of comments by nefarious ne'er-do-wells (e.g. spammers)".Wikipedia says, "CAPTCHA or Captcha (IPA: /ˈkæptʃə/) is a type of challenge-response test used in computing to ensure that the response is not generated by a computer. The process usually involves one computer (a server) asking a user to complete a simple test which the computer is able to generate and grade. Because other computers are unable to solve the CAPTCHA, any user entering a correct solution is presumed to be human. A common type of CAPTCHA requires that the user type the letters or digits of a distorted image that appears on the screen."

I mean really, are you getting so many hits on your blogs that spammers have found you?  Me thinkest not.  I know my blog gets about a hundred hit a day, and I haven't yet (finger's crossed) had a problem with spam. Although, I do know that 100 hits a day isn't a ton.  And I will acknowledge that our {dot} com DID receive spam on our comments page, but that was after 5 years and nearly 70,000 hits-so we disabled it and starting this blog.  And bottom line, the point of being able to pop by your blog, love it enough to want to comment really quick and get to the next post is -well it is becoming a project!!!

Sorry if I offended some, I mean it all in good bloggin fun- except that I really really do hate word verify, and if it makes you feel any better, my own sister leaves it on her blog and I think it is PURELY to drive me crazy! And no, I am not gonna stop reading and commenting on blogs/private blogs that have Captcha- I will just vent a little in my head each time I do.

Whew, I feel better- and I am off to a fun Girls Night Out, where I will be making the cutest frame and Christmas Advent calendar!

And Breathe...

Last week could not have been over fast enough. I love the holidays, but what I hate is all the extra commotion that comes with it. Everyday last week I had at least three things on my calendar that were must do's or must go to's. I felt like my plate was so full, I was gonna have leftovers for a month!

Everything from dental cleanings for three of us, to taking the snack to preschool, to assembling and tagging 30 crystal beaded bookmarks for the YW's Christmas gifts. But, the one I am most grateful is over with...singing in church. Oh, don't forget the fun things on the calendar like the work holiday party- (an hour and a half away), or the progressive dinner -(I skipped and was so mad about) and of course, the true highlight of the week, Bunco at my house. Weekends are for relaxing, right??? Not mine, Saturday my brother & his wife went through the Temple (congrats), plus breakfast with Santa (our in-laws had to take the kids) and putting new light fixtures on the front of the house (thank you very much Smith family for giving us this brilliant idea...), sewing new drapes and a trip to Old Navy. Sadly, there really were about twenty other things I had to do this week too, but, now that the madness is over I feel like I can breathe again. Ok, after I finish this mountain of laundry I can breathe again, hmmmm I love the smell of clean, hot clothes... This week has to be better, right???!

My favorite part about hosting Bunco is getting to buy all the cute gifts, table treats, and finding something yumm-o to make for the dinner!