My Afflation

There's something satisfying about being able to pay bills and not worry about bouncing a check. Now I just wish that I had a little more money to pay a few more bills ....

A friend sent me this article. Kinda interesting when you think about it. Parents' brains tuned to babies' tears Emotions triggered by wailing tots. 22 December 2003 HELEN R. PILCHER The brains of mums and dads are tuned in to the sound of toddlers' cries, reveals a brain-imaging study. Non-parents, on the other hand, remain largely oblivious. Researchers at the University of Basel, Switzerland, played parents and childless adults recordings of babies' cries and laughter. They measured their brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Parents' brains fired up more in response to sobs than giggles, the researchers found1. The cries activated one brain region in particular, called the amygdala, which is involved in processing emotions. "This makes biological sense," says Erich Seifritz, who led the study. Tears signify to parents that something is amiss, generating emotions such as concern or fear, which prompt parental care. In evolut

We had a pretty good holiday. The kids got what they wanted. Josh is reading about one Animorph book per day (we got him a boxed set of 18 that someone was selling on eBay). Joy is thrilled to have her own baby stroller. She zooms up and down our hallway, sometimes without the baby. She puts all manner of things in it. And her books. She has to take a book with her when we go out. It's sweet. I got some of the CDs and a graphic novel that I wanted and Tim got a lot of things that I had heard him mention but didn't make it to his wishlist. Like the Empire Strikes Back Radio Drama and Offerings by Third Day. I need more arms. This year we had a video camera, so we taped Christmas and I didn't get into too many pictures. I know there has to be a way to get pictures off the video tape, pretty sure I read something like that in the user manual. Ah well, it's Monday, Tim is off vacation and I have to get me and the kids back on some sort of routine. Starting with breakfast ar

Joy is getting better at communicating with sign language. She's also picking it up and remembering a lot signs quite quickly.

Well, the tree is up. I got an AWESOME Deal, a 9-foot douglas fir for $15. Once I got home we discovered that well, 9-feet is a bit too tall for our simple abode. But it's soooo cool to have a big, live tree in the house. The downstairs is starting to smell like Christmas (fresh pine). We still have to decorate the tree, didn't have enough working lights so we are going to decorate later this week when we are all home.

I find myself staying up later and later on days that I am tired or in pain. And then I wake up even more tired and sore. I do not want to turn into a bitter old woman who can only think of her physical pain, but that is where I am headed. I am only 27 years old and I have some really bad days with my back. I try not to take more than 600mg of ibuprofen because I am still nursing. I used to take Aleve (TM) but can't until I stop nursing. Being in pain makes me really moody, and being in a bad mood sucks for my whole family. Then I feel worse. I do have a chiropractor that I see on a regular basis, but it doesn't seem to be helping. Who do you see if you think you are getting arthritis? My grandmother got it early, but in her hands and knees. I'm afraid I have it in my back or that I have really messed it up in the last few years. Word to the wary, if your doctor tells you to do certain exercises, DO THEM!!!!

I got this in an email forward, but it does make a point: This morning I heard a story on the radio of a woman who was out Christmas shopping with her two children. After many hours of looking at row after row of toys and everything else imaginable. And after hours of hearing both her children asking for everything they saw on those many shelves, she finally made it to the elevator with her two kids. She was feeling what so many of us feel during the holiday season time of the year. Overwhelming pressure to go to every party, every housewarming, taste all the holiday food and treats, getting that perfect gift for every single person on our shopping list, making sure we don't forget anyone on our card list, and the pressure of making sure we respond to everyone who sent us a card. Finally the elevator doors opened and there was already a crowd in the car. She pushed her way into the car and dragged her two kids in with her and all the bags of stuff. When the doors closed she couldn

Good News, Joy got her 18 month shots and cried only briefly. She's 26.1 lbs (75th percentile) and 35 inches long (off the charts, more than 95th percentile) and her head circumference is 48.5 cm (95th percentile). Not sure what the head circumference is for, but otherwise our darling daughter is going to be tall and skinny if she keeps this up. The doctor thinks she could get up to 5'10" if she continues this trend. So, I may not have shrunk her clothes. She's grown almost 6 inches in the last 6 months. Bad News : Josh's asthma has really affected his lung capacity. To the point that he has only 20% usage. So the doc put him on three meds for the next two weeks. Singulair (once a day), Advair (twice a day), and Albuterol (4-6x/day). And we have to track him on the flowmeter for 2 weeks. And he'll be on those three until he consistently gets about 250 on the flowmeter. Yours truly is not the greatest about tracking things like this, but I guess I am going to h

The phone rings. I answer (using the speakerphone), "Sargent residence". The person on the line says, "This is 911. Is there a problem there?" No wonder I can't find the phone. I look over and there is Joy with the phone to her ear, looking all innocence. The operator repeats, "This is 911, is there a problem there?" I say "Oh NO. My daughter was playing with the phone." She asks for my address and asks that I make sure she doesn't make any more false calls to 9-1-1. The phone call ends and Josh says, "How did she figure out to call 911???" That is the same question I am still asking myself. Too bad you can't do a keylock on regular phones.

[Thursday;03:16 PM] Tymbrwulf: guess what your daughter is doing [Thursday;03:16 PM] WhslngDeth: Climbing? [Thursday;03:16 PM] Tymbrwulf: no.... [Thursday;03:16 PM] WhslngDeth: Getting into stuff? drawing? Driving you crazy? [Thursday;03:20 PM] Tymbrwulf: you know that leaky cup of hers [Thursday;03:20 PM] Tymbrwulf: she was letting some drip on the table, then taking her dirty tank top from a few days ago and wiping it up [Thursday;03:20 PM] WhslngDeth: Oh brother. [Thursday;03:22 PM] Tymbrwulf: she did this a few times in a row before .... going over to my purse and finding the checkbook and pen [Thursday;03:22 PM] Tymbrwulf: she's trying to write a check now [Thursday;03:22 PM] Tymbrwulf: I went over to her to grab the checkbook and she pulled it away from me and looked like "MINE, you left it where I could get it" [Thursday;03:23 PM] * WhslngDeth rolls his eyes...she's not even 2 yet! [Thursday;03:23 PM] Tymbrwulf: she was *luckily* writing on the backs of the

I'm proud of myself today. I got two loads of laundry, actually three, completely washed, dried and put away. The put away part is especially important :) I am LOUSY at putting laundry away. I've been a subscriber of FlyLady for over a year now and I am still getting "flywashed". The thing that has begun to stick is the "do it now" principle. I just have to consciously hear myself repeat that in my head for things to get done. And the bed gets made everyday!!! At least 2-3 mornings Tim either helps me or does it himself. It's been especially nice since our anniversary when he got us a mahogany 4-poster bed ... with canopy :) So anyways, I *finally* declutterd my side of the bathroom sink and organized all my hair and beauty stuff. Quite a bit of it I don't use anymore (I mean, who has time to curl her hair, with curlers or a hot iron????) and got rid of a lot of makeup that I don't use and/or won't use. I even managed to vacuum the whole ups

My daughter is growing soooo fast. This morning she wanted to get ready with me. She brushed her teeth, then wanted to brush her hair. So she did that while I did mine and then I put some clips. Now ... she crawled into the sink to get to my lip gloss, the flavored stuff. So my little angel is all made up (well, hair and lips, I don't wear any other makeup). Now, she turned on the TV, flipped the channels and settled on Christoper Lowell. She did the same thing yesterday. My child who does not sit still is sitting totally engrossed. She even claps when the audience claps. It's kinda cute and kinda creepy. and oh yeah, she's eating a cup of ice. She's teething again. I just wish I knew what the draw was for her about a design show. She kinda watched Surprise by Design yesterday too.

Though, the whole undressing thing, Joy did it to me today. I got her dressed and she took off her shirt almost immediately. I'm going to have one of those . You know, the little girls that like to do an unconscious striptease in public. Time to buy more bodysuit type shirts. On the other hand, it does make it a whole lot easier to clean her up after eating!!

I must say, I am impressed with Fujitsu . My laptop this morning survived a real encounter with Joy . And it seems to be working just fine. Either that, or the case is so closely tight that the tea never had a chance to enter. Either way, I'm glad my machine still works. Back to housework. Gotta get the upstairs presentable for my own self!

Whew!!!! This morning I asked Josh to watch Joy while I did housework upstairs. Well, I come back down and my darling daughter has once again emptied my purse, found a pen and was trying (unsuccessfully) to write in her brother's math book. I glanced at the table and saw a big puddle. UH OH! I had left my tea (in one of those commuter mugs) on the table and madame had knocked it over. Tea everywhere! and seeping under my laptop!! "Oh no!" thought I, not to mention the words that came out of my mouth. I should have said "shitake mushrooms " but didn't. Cleaned the table, wiped off the bottom of my laptop and prayed that it would be ok. We have an extended warranty on it, but I don't want to test it just yet. But, as you may have guessed, it works fine. :) WOOHOO! I am such an addict when it comes to my computer. I wouldn't exactly be lost without it (I might even finish a few of my craft projects!), but I do enjoy using it. Note to self: I tell Jos

Today has been a busy day for Joy. She managed to undress herself AND get into the cookie jar. The girl knows what she wants! Tim took some pictures trying to undress herself. She managed to get her shirt completely off and then started working on her pants. I guess she didn't like that he tucked her shirt in (I never do), or didn't like how the outfit was put together, who knows. About the cookie, I set her on the counter to get her a cup of milk. She turned to her side, took the lid off the cookie jar, took a cookie out, and put the lid back on the cookie jar. It was cute, amazing, and another moment when I thought "Damn, my daughter is getting way too smart!".

I hate starting the days with housework, at least when I am trying to clean and the kids are frustrating my efforts. More than usual. *sigh* I have paperwork, housework and schoolwork to get done today. Someone give me a hand! (I'm slightly disorganized this morning and having trouble focusing. I have to keep telling myself "One thing at a time, just one thing at a time". ) More later, if I ever regain my focus.

Some days, it's just good to take the day off and relax. Take today for example. I had big plans for today. I was going to clean from top to bottom, hit Target or Freddie's and get Josh's room organized and generally get the place looking good. This is what happened (and I'm all the more relaxed and not stressed about it actually). Got woken up by Joy about 3-something. Brought her back to bed with me to nurse while I returned to deep slumber. She woke up and was raring to go about 7. Tim and I tag-teamed between sleeping and keeping an eye on her till about 7:30 when we realized it was futile and we might as well get up. Josh was at a friend's and the house was ... quiet. It was wonderful, the quiet. I made breakfast for Joy and myself (Tim doesn't care for oatmeal, instant or otherwise) and we all watched Saturday morning cartoons and played with Joy. About 9:30 we decided it would be good to take the dog for a walk, so we did, at least 20 minutes, more like

If you want to start thinking about Christmas or birthdays, I've added items for Josh and Joy to my amazon wishlist. Just look in the comment boxes for them. I may start their own though. .. I did. It's here . Joy is into blocks, basketball, and play animals and Veggie Tale music. Oh yeah, she likes Weird AL polkas too (well, she likes to dance to them). Josh wants Henry Huggins books on tape (we have the first one), and a few other book related items. I'm sure he will remind me.

Ok, I haven't posted in a while, but I feel the need to vent. I am sooooo sick and tired of dog piss, and cat piss, and can we just tear up the carpet now. For a while we had a problem with one of the cats (don't know which one) using everything and anything (mostly items of my clothing and a certain spot of carpet in Joy's room) ... but we got that fixed by getting a second litter box. Now we have a dog. The cats hang out in the master bedroom because it's safe. The dog isn't allowed in here. Here's the problem, Tim and I are used to closing our door. Now what happens when you close the door and there are cats in there and the door is closed for hours? You guessed it! Cat piss. And the dog hasn't figured out that the reason I get upset is because he's going in the house, though I certainly try my darndest to make him go out often. It would help if Josh actually *listened* to me and took him out when he was supposed to. OR when I tell him to. Ugh, th

This morning's quote from Tim regarding our beautiful daughter (and that's an unbiased opinion): [Wednesday;10:24 AM] WhslngDeth: You know, that smile of hers is going to be dangerous..... And now for last night's adventure We (as in Tim and I) have been under the impression that our bed was safe from the littlest one unless we put her on it or helped her up. Well, as she is wont to do, she proved just how mistaken we were. Last night, Tim and I were having a very late dinner of Jack-in-the-Box. Joy couldn't make up her mind whose lap she wanted to sit on, so we put her on the floor. WOOO BOY!!!! First, she got mightily upset, croc tears and red face and everything. Then she tried pulling herself up on our bed. Now she's done this before and usually sticks out her hand to ask for help. Not this time, no sirree! She grunted and she pulled and grunted and cried a little more and climbed herself right up onto our bed! At this point I gave up trying to eat and got down

The end of an era has arrived :( I'm drying up, but Joy is adjusting. Tonight it really hit me. I usually nurse her to sleep and we had to use a bottle tonight. She kept trying and trying, would drink some (regular) milk from the bottle, get back into position to nurse, try, switch sides, try again, go back to the bottle. Part of me is very sad. Part of me is soooooo ready to be done with being a human cow. *deep sigh* Now where do we go from here?

You know, I thought I was doing something right. This morning, Joy and I shared a healthy breakfast of homemade oatmeal (I add brown sugar, cinnamon, a touch of butter and some milk). We eat. We enjoy. She gets down and wants to draw. Then we come upstairs. ..... And she decides to have an after breakfast snack of cat food. All I did was go downstairs to explain to Josh (yet again) what the Kitchen Duties were and now I have them in writing and posted, so he has no excuse to skip anything .... and I come back upstairs and she's sitting on the landing calm as can be popping cat kibble. And then she offered me one! I declined, "No thank Joy, I'm full. Let's give the kitties back their food." I think she's full now. She hasn't gotten any in the last few minutes. Yay! It's time for the Letter of the Day (with Cookie Monster !) and also time to get my dd OFF my box. What is it with my kids and climbing????????

Pictures of Joy's first party . I actually got this album up the day after the party, but forgot to post it here. Pictures from Josh's party will be up soon too .... man I need a week or three just to catch up on my kids!

Happy Birthday to you... Today is Joy's 1st birthday!!!!! And to commemorate the occasion, she went DOWN the stairs, very quietly, very quickly, and very pleased with herself once she got to the bottom. Where she immediately headed for the kitchen trash. That mother's sense kicked in when I didn't hear any cooing up here. She tends to talk/coo to herself when she’s playing. Up until a few days ago she would automatically stop at the top of the stairs, turn around and come back. I got lax and used the gate only when I couldn't check on her every few minutes. Then she would go to the first landing with Josh. And now this. My daughter... And now that's she's napping I can get some work done! I have a party to plan!!!!

Man, am I behind or what???? Well, here's the scoop. Sunday (04/13/2003) Joy started walking backwards for the first time (first time I had ever seen her anyway). What was funny was that she wasn't even trying/didn't realize she was doing it. She was just reacting to her environment, which at this point happened to be a male friend making faces at her and being chased by "Bubba" (big brother Josh, who actually *wants* to be called "Bubba"). She can almost say "bubba" too, but luckily (?) she isn't talking yet. She does have quite the repertoire of cries though. And now for today's adventure!!!!!! So, I say to myself, "you better get into the shower while she's sleeping" I says. But, lo and behold, as soon as I've thunk that thought who should wake up? I had her on our bed for her nap since I was typing up reports.... but I digress. I quietly give her a bottle and hope that she's drowsy enough to go back to sleep

Today's answer to the question: How have you been? pretty good. trying to keep the house clean (impossible with a little tornado behind me) and food on the table (want some leftovers?) and doing the mommy thing (working was easier) :)

"You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, France is accusing the US of arrogance, and Germany doesn't want to go to war." and, as a bonus, an oddly appropriate signature follows: -- Generalizations are always inaccurate. -Mugsy

"Cleaning and Scrubbing can wait till tomorrow for babies grow up we learn to our sorrow, so quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep, I'm rocking my baby and Babies Don't Keep."

I forgot to write about yesterday's excitement. Joy discovered cat litter. Gave me quite a fright. I called the doctor, who told me to call Poison Control . I found out that there's now a national hotline number for Poison Control, that Joy should be ok unless she did ingest some used litter (crossing my fingers on that one). She seems to be doing ok, no vomiting, diahrhea (I know I spelled that wrong), fever or other signs of illness. But they said to watch her for the next week. What an adventure this parenting thing is turning out to be!!!!!

Tim and I made the mistake this week of trying to teach Joy to go down the stairs backwards ... you know, so that she doesn't fall and really crack her head. Not to mention that her legs are too short to go from step to step. About 5 minutes ago I notice that she's not in the room, nor in her room. I've closed the laundry room and Josh's room ... and she's quiet ... (insert heavy foreboding music here). I walk over to the staircase, she's 3 steps down and on her knees. She looks at me with a HUGE smile, stands up and turns around. She wants to finish going down the stairs!!!! (The landings confuse her still). So I hold her hand and she step-falls down two steps. I pick her up, go downstairs, bring up the gate and get that set up. One of these days she's going to figure out the gate......

This was the sig line on a group email. I tend to consider myself a pacifist these days, but the good father was rightt when penning this poem (statement). IT'S THE SOLDIER It's the soldier, not the reporter Who has given us freedom of the PRESS. It's the soldier, not the poet, Who has given us freedom of SPEECH. It's the soldier, not the campus ORGANIZER, Who has given us the freedom to DEMONSTRATE It's the soldier, not the lawyer, Who has given us the right to a FAIR TRIAL. It's the soldier who salutes the flag, Serves under the flag And whose coffin is draped by the flag, Who gives the protester the right to burn the flag. -Father D. E. O'Brien

So I'm doing a search for .... now I forget, something to do with Blogger .. oh yeah, blogbuddy ... and I come across Blogger Code . Mine is : B5 d- t k+ s- u- f i- o++ x- e l- c- The author seems to have a pretty cool site too ,,,, but I have to do the housewifey/mom thing .. no time to read! AGH!

Man! I can't turn my back for a *second*!!!!!! So, I'm getting out some requests and emails before heading out for errands. I'm in the office, so's Joy. Well, I was pretty damn sure she was here, that's where I put her!!! But no, I hear her coo from .... the baby monitor! Say What!!!! The monitor is upstairs!!!!!! (holy shit, dear Lord, please not again). So I run out into the living room. Silly me, I didn't put the gate up. (And usually there is enough here in the office to keep her quite happy and occupied).... So I run up the stairs. She's not in the hallway, her room, or Josh's room. I hear her coo again. She's in the laundry room.... trying to make off with the cat food. *Sigh* She's now down here safe (?) with me, playing in the downstairs bath with the doorstop (yes, the toilet lid is down) and the gate is up so she can't go mountain climbing again. She did it so FAST! and quietly too. I feel another gray hair coming on...

Satan called a worldwide convention of demons. In his opening address he said, "We can't keep Christians from going to church." "We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth." "We can't even keep them from forming an intimate relationship with their savior." "Once they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken." "So let them go to their churches; let them have their covered dish dinners, but steal their time, so they don't have time to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ." "This is what I want you to do", said the devil. "Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!" "How shall we do this?" his demons shouted. "Keep them busy in the nonessentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds," he answered. "Tempt them to spend,

More on Joy. I am currently downloading pictures of her from my camera. Like I said before, Tim tried taking a picture of Joy walking to me, but it looks like she's reaching out for my hand and not really walking on her own. Earlier in the day I took a pic of her standing on the coffee table , one of her favorite pieces of furniture to climb. She's so conditioned to me taking pictures that now whenever she sees the camera she stops whatever she was doing that I wanted to photograph and looks at me. She was determined to get to the coasters, another favorite. She likes to chew on them, bang them, and throw them. Truly, a multi-purpose toy :) Ah well, more later. It's getting late and I need to sleep.

SHE WALKED!!!!!!! Honest to goodness. Just now. Josh was playing with her, teasing her with her See 'n'Say and she took 2 steps. Josh called my attention to it. They were literally "baby steps". But then he moved further back, held out the See'N'Say and she took 4 steps unsupported!!!!! I was thinking about blogging earlier today to show her new fave thing ...climbing on furniture, but this is cooler. We tried taking a picture, but a digital camera is too slow to catch the action when you don't know when it's going to happen. Josh thinks I need to call all the relatives and let them know. ... She's 4 days shy of 9 months and just about walking 8sigh*. I'm proud and ... very very afraid. At least she still thinks crawling is faster... I just read over the last few posts ... from crawling to taking first steps/walking in just over two months ... is it just me, or is that a little fast?

I meant to go to bed much earlier. I wanted to be in bed by 10/10:30 p.m. ... That was hours ago. I'm off to a great start in fulfilling my personal resolutions. I have done zilch ... but the bed hass been made every day this year :) Ok, off to bed.

I think Joy said "Mama" this afternoon (ok, yesterday afternoon now by the clock). I called Tim when it happened. Joy was crying and crawling towards me. She grabbed my pant leg, said "Mama" through her tears and starting pulling on the leg. I picked her up ... it was nap/feeding time. She can eat and snooze at the same time. This is not always conducive to actually getting anything done around here. Anyways, Joy does babble a lot .. and the last few days it's sounding more and more like words. Very exciting ... and very ... disappointing. I want my baby to stay a baby *whine*pout*cry*. I'm not ready for her to grow this fast! And to top it all off, she's bona-fide cruising like it's second nature. Her big feat today ... going from me to the video case. It's almost two steps and she had to let go of me for a split second before grabbing the case. She's going to be walking way too soon for my likes. OH! before I forget, she's also master

bitch moan gripe if it ain't one thing it's another. Here I am, working on my mom's late Christmas gift, thinking I'll save some money for us all by printing the photos out ... but NO! our *(#&@)(&@)*Y(*WY(*EY(*Y printer is out of color again. It's really hard to get the darker colors like ... green! and blue! when there is no )(*&$)(&$)&$ blue! and yellow. I know my mom is light and all, but she is NOT the same color as the ()&)#(&)#$( photo paper. And my rocking chair (brown) doesn't even show up on the printed form. sigh. now I have to get the info on all these photos and pay to have them printed. sometimes I hate my life.