Equality, complaints and war with the pediatrician

Teaching children the value of human equality

When we lived in Rapid City, I babysat these two lovely kids. One day I was coloring with Ezra, who was about 2 1/2 years old. He dropped a crayon and without much thought, said, "Sheena, pick that up for me." I looked at him and said, "You can get it; I'm not your slave!" Then with even less thought, he quipped back, "No: You're my wife!"

Yesterday, the boys I watch after school were playing the board game Life. It's the game with the little cars and tiny pink and blue people that sit in the cars. I was minding my own business, when I looked up to see the game had stalled, and they were pushing a tiny pink person back and forth across the table to each other. It was then that I heard, "Haha! Let's play 'Flick the woman!'"

The 'Flick the woman' game was thought up by the same boy who, when I was pregnant, told me the baby would be born out of my mouth, because it was the only 'opening' for the baby to get out. I told him I better have a very big mouth and if he had any questions to ask his dad.

Seeing things differently

I always hated all of the 'When you have kids, you'll know/learn/do/say..." And I am happy to say I have not copied those words to anyone, but I have had some thoughts on the matter. And not only to childless individuals. It's hard to hear things like, "I'm soo tired," or "I'm soo bored." Or "I'm so busy..." It's not that I'm so tired or busy (at this moment...) but when I hear things like that, I think - Really? You're so stressed out because you had to get up this morning, get dressed AND go to work - all in ONE day?!? Yes, you better go get a massage and take a weekend getaway. When you come back, try doing all that with one - or more - children. What's that? Oh, you have a headache? Awww, let me play My Heart Bleeds For You on the worlds smallest violin of my fingers. Actually, You'll have to play it yourself because I am holding a screaming child, cooking supper, and doing a magic trick - all at the same time. But I do feel bad, really. I'm glad you can go to bed tonight and only have to worry about yourself while you sleep, uninhibited, until you have to wake up and repeat the difficult process of getting up, dressed AND going to work.

Ok, I'm done complaining, that is until I have four or five more munchkins and have a WHOLE lot more to say about things, including whiney mothers of only one child.

But then again, on the other side of the coin, just because you have children doesn't give you carte blanche for anything and everything. Your house isn't clean? Well, you do have children. You haven't bathed in two weeks? How should you be able to do anything like that with kids? Don't bother with making dinner or exercising - just grab some fast food and let yourself go, mama...

Baby class

At one of our baby classes recently, some mothers were discussing pediatricians. I don't really spend a whole lot of time dwelling on the subject. I generally take little P to the pediatrician whenever they schedule an appointment. We are in, out, and on our happy way. Not so, apparently for some mothers.

"I go to Dr. So-and-so....we've been battling over nursing baby X to sleep," one mother said, with a roll of her eyes. She proceeded to tell the other ladies about her 'battles.' I wasn't sure how you have a 'battle' with your pediatrician. Our appointments go something like this:

Dr: "Does Little P sit up by herself?"

Me: "Yes."

Dr: "Really! Wow, I guess she's normal!"

Occasionally the doctor will suggest something I'm not sold on, like giving her some special kind of water so many times a week, and I nod my head and say, "Oh...Ok!" and promptly forget about it.

At another class, I was talking to a mom about real estate. She was concerned about the cost of propane for heat, and I suggested she just look for houses with wood stoves or pellet stoves in them.

Mom: "Oh, well I don't agree with wood stoves...I'm a bit of a tree-hugger."

Me: "Oh, I see. So you probably don't want a pellet stove either then."

Mom: "Hmm, well I guess I could do a pellet stove...I don't know." (looks confused)

I guess the mom never thought about where pellets come from. Or maybe as long as the pellets don't look like a tree it is ok.

Douglas Family Picture and Yoga with Grandpa

Downward Dog!

Family pics part 1

We took some family pictures. Connie, Chris, Tucker & Ryker:

 The cousins:

 Getting set up to take a family picture. I don't have any of the big family pic yet.

 Grandma & the cousins

 The two babies - about 3 weeks apart in age.

More Thanksgiving 2012

Philip showing Penelope something on his phone:

Funny!

Connie (Wayne's sister) and Chris are getting married, so Penelope is trying out her flower girl dress. I loved it!

Assisting Grandpa on the banjo.

Playing piano with cousin Ryker.

Penelope LOVED Tucker! (cousin)

Tucker got a guitar just his size from Grandma & Grandpa.

Thanksgiving Day 1

We are relaxing and Grandma & Grandpa's house pre-Thanksgiving. Penelope plays with this car, which isn't as big as her cars at home, but she still tries to sit on it and get her feet inside...

 Helping grandma bake pies.

 Snuggling with Joanna

Standing up to the Russian-Mob Henchman

The Russian-Mob Henchman:

The guy really does look like a scary mobster. I took this picture discretely and left the camera on the counter, just in case the guy kidnapped me, Wayne could give the picture to the police so they could identify the guy. (Notice the gloves....don't want to get fingerprints anywhere!)

Anyway, I am getting WAY ahead of myself...

Wayne yet again sold his car and bought another one. The car he sold went to someone in Maryland via Ebay. So it had to be shipped on a semi. We were told the semi would be here Friday. On Tuesday afternoon, this guy showed up to get the car. He spoke very rough English, and looked like he worked for the mafia part-time. I was home, and had to sign for the car. The guy took out his clipboard and started walking around the car like a seamstress inspecting the stitches on a quilt. Every once in a while he would rub off the dirt with his thumb to make sure there were no scratches. He opens the door to look inside, where Wayne put the spare set of tires that were bought with the car.

Henchman: "What ees thees?"

Me: "A spare set of tires."

Henchman: Shakes his head. "No, no, no, thees not good. Thees add weight. Thees be problem."

Me: "Four tires add too much weight?"

Henchman: "Yees, I need hundred dollar extra."

Me: "Each tire weighs, what, 20-30 pounds? So 120 pounds makes that much of a difference?" (The guy has eight cars on his semi for crying-out-loud)

Henchman: "I cross state line, I pay PER pound, tax. I pay dollar per pound." Shakes his head. "You undeerstand?"

Me: "It cost you a dollar per pound every time you cross the state line?" (Right....)

Henchman: "Yees. Hundred dollar more."

Me: If it cost a dollar per pound he would need $120 if the tires are 30 pounds each. And that just gets him to Utah. So if his theory is right it should be more like $1,000 extra to get the car to Maryland. I called Wayne to make sure I wasn't misunderstanding anything for some reason. I also asked him if he were on his way home, hoping he would be here soon. He said he had to work late. Gulp. So I told the henchman that it didn't make sense to have to pay a hundred dollars extra, and if he needed more, he would have to get it from the people who bought the car and were paying for it to be shipped. I also told him my husband would be home 'soon.'

The henchman told me he would 'make some calls' and went back to his truck. I hid in the house and waited. The guy eventually began to load the car, and I began to relax. He finally left, and when Wayne got home, I told him for the tenth time, YOU ARE NEVER BUYING ANOTHER CAR!

Friend and snow pics

Does Leah not look gorgeous in this peach colored dress?!?!

 Girls going for a ride. It was so cute.

 Jadon pulling.

 Penelope is not a huge fan of the sled. She tries, but the sled usually ends up flipping over and she gets a face full of snow.

Fun in a Verizon Store

Ok, Janet, since you are semi-patiently awaiting my next post here you go. Today I will divulge the top secret story about the time I passed out in a Verizon store:

Eat. Even if I am sick, I must eat. Or bad things happen.

Once upon a time, back when I still had two arms and stomach muscles, I found out I was expecting a baby. Those first few weeks and months are a spiral of thoughts and emotions, from "I can't believe I'm pregnant," to "When can I start shopping for baby things?" The day I went to the Verizon store was somewhere between, "Will this nausea ever end," and "I don't want anyone to know I'm pregnant."

It was winter, and I had dressed in several warm layers to go to town. The Verizon store is where my good friend Cori works. So as she helped me, I was feeling sick, and well, warm. Then I started feeling even warmer. Then I took one of my jackets off and felt even warmer!! Then, drumroll.....I collapsed into a limp jellyfish as Cori caught me and held onto me until I started coming back around.

As I came to, I Cori was saying something like, "Sheena! Sheena! Are you OK?!?" and everyone in the store was staring. Someone got me a chair to sit down in and I just sat their trying to breathe and telling Cori I was fine. Just fine. The nice Verizon people let me relax in their office for a bit, and fed me some much needed food. One of Cori's co-workers blurts out, "You're not pregnant, ARE YOU?"

"Ahhh, well, yeah I guess I am," I said sheepishly. So I figured I better tell Cori so she didn't hear the big news through the office grapevine.

Cori just rolled her eyes a little and said, "I thought so...." So much for secrets between friends!

Now whenever I need to go to Verizon, whoever helps me usually looks at me, "You look familiar..." and I say, "Yep, I'm the one who passed out in your store."

So if I ever look a little woozy, please bring me some food. Preferably a Starbucks and a cheese danish.

Daddy Jones

Penelope has had lots of daddy time lately.

 Carrying Pellets in from the garage to the stove.

 Climbing on dad

 Riding dad...

 ...with the cat

 Checking out the computer

 Where's your nose Penelope?

Recent Pictures

Penelope got out and voted this past week.

 Already bad manners....looking smug while putting her feet on the table.

 Feet up. Yep, that's snow out the window.

 Penelope is still really interested in the cats. 

 Helping the cats eat.

 Penelope climbs everything...

 Life is good when you've got a friend to push you. (Penelope and Leah)