Deep Thoughts Of A Five Year Old

"Some people are scared of meatloaf." -Kiera


So true Kiera.  So true.

Night Terrors

Every few nights for the past month or two, me and Ernesto wake up to Kiera screaming. She usually does this at about two in the morning. When we go in her room she is either lying down or sitting up in bed. She's shaking and her eyes are open. And she's crying. Sometimes it's a whimper, other times it's as if she's having a temper tantrum in her sleep. Inconsolable and crying loudly. At first we tried to reason with her. Kiera, what's the matter? It's okay baby, we're here. Even though she was obviously not awake. But it's a helpless feeling. We want to wake her up. We want to reassure her. And for god's sake, we just want our sleep. But nothing works. She won't wake up and we shouldn't try to wake her up according to the article we read today. It would only cause more confusion and frustration. But we can't help asking her questions while she's having an episode. Do you want some water? Are you having a bad dream? Do you want me to rub your back? And she never answers. You know why? Because she's asleep! Even though we know this, we can't help but try to communicate with her. Last night Ernesto was trying to help her. Nothing was working. Then I said, I'll take over honey. I know how to handle this. All I have to do is rub her back. Yes, I thought my mommy skills would work like a charm. But no. She didn't want me to touch her. She just seemed confused and started screaming louder. After about ten minutes she just rolled over and fell silent. Back to blissful, peaceful sleep. Back to dreamland...although she never left it.

I'm not sure if we should take her to a doctor yet. Apparently night terrors is a common phenomenon in children ages 3 to 8. We read that it could be caused by a disturbance in her sleep cycle, and she has been staying up later because our summer schedule is much more relaxed. So back to the normal bed time routine. If she's still having night terrors, then a doctor visit will be in our near future. We also read that night seizures can look the same as night terrors. This is a disturbing thought, and we hope that's not the case.

Yeah, so hopefully we'll get back to a full night's sleep. At least until Beckett arrives.

Heatwave

I have spent the last five days indoors...except for when I run errands. I just can't handle the heat. And the very idea that the car will be sweltering prevents me from leaving the house more than once a day at most. I mean I have a/c in my car, but I dread that moment right when I get into my car and it's so stiflingly hot that I can barely breathe. I've been throwing my kids outside on a regular basis so they can get dirty. And I will be venturing back out tomorrow. Otherwise I'll go insane. On a positive note though, my kids have spent so much time outside that Ryan caught his first toad today. Yay summer!

Photograph

New pictures from my cell phone.  Goofy kids and fun times.

Things I'm Buying For Baby

With baby number 3, I'm trying to be as minimalist as possible. Both for frugal reasons and just plain common sense reasons. Here's a list of my basic baby needs/wants.  If you're interested, then read. If you're not, then don't.


1. We will not be purchasing a crib. At least not right away. Since I'm a breastfeeding mama, it'll be easier to keep him close to me. Plus I want him close to me. So a co-sleeper it is. As he outgrows his co-sleeper, we will probably get a crib. But we'll purchase one of those mini-cribs, or a low-cost (I hate saying cheap because that implies that the quality is bad) Ikea cribs.


2. Slings. Two or three of them. Strollers are annoying and they get in the way of everything. So I want to avoid them as much as possible. Plus a baby close to the heart is a happy baby.


3. I'm not stupid. I realize I will need a Stroller. A lightweight non-bulky one. Because the reality is, it will be hard to aways carry baby. So to make life a little easier, a stroller will be needed.  


4. Vibrating bouncy chair thingy. There's a whole baby wearing movement (of which I am all for!) that says people should just wear their babies when they're cleaning, cooking or doing things around the house. Good idea.  I will do that some of the time.  But ALL the fucking time? Sorry baby wearing community, but you are completely nuts sometimes. For my sanity, I will need to put baby down. Let him sit and doze in his vibrating chair so I can get shit done, thank you very much.


5. A baby bathtub. I'm stuck between getting him one of those super cool bucket baths or one of those rubbery bath thingys that conform to your sink. Bucket baths. You know, it's a bucket especially made for babies. You fill it with a little bit of warm water, put baby in, and he curls up in the fetal position. It's supposed to be really soothing. It's very European, okay? Or there's those cool rubbery kinda baths that mold to your sink. Those are kinda cool. Not sure yet. I'm leaning toward the bucket though.


6. Diapers. Ah yes. The diaper debate. Cloth vs. Disposable. I've struggled with this one. I really wanted to go the cloth route. Simply because I've already contributed thousands of diapers to the landfills. And apparently all the diapers I've contributed to the landfills will take a good 300 to 500 years to break down. This makes me feel like a horrible person. And guilty as hell. But you know what? I don't have the money to buy two to three dozen cloth diapers. Okay that's just an excuse. I just don't feel like using cloth diapers, okay? You know how many loads of laundry I have to do a day already? Fuck that, my friends. Call me selfish, but I don't want to add another load of laundry to my list, thank you very much. If you use cloth, I think you're awesome. If you use disposables, I still think you're awesome. Therefore, I'm awesome too. Bring on the Huggies!


7. Clothing. Basic clothing. Do newborns need a shit ton of little cute outfits? No. It's a waste of space and a waste of money. Baby doesn't care what he wears. Don't get me wrong, I'll get a few cute things. I want him to look cool of course. But newborns sleep a lot. Or they just lie around a lot. So onsies and sleepers it is. Throw in some sweaters, a few jackets, hats and booties. He'll be a fall/winter baby.


8. Other stuff. Other stuff includes blankets, bedding and a floor mat with a few old fashioned baby toys.   Babies don't need a ton of stuff. I will get more things as I need it...if I need it. When I was a first time mom I received and bought too much shit. Half of it I never used and it ended up being a waste of space and money.


9. Oh yes. Almost forgot. Breastfeeding bras. I don't buy actual breastfeeding bras. I just get the ones that are really elastic that you can pull down easily so the baby can latch on.  


10. Oh and things like shampoo, baby oils (great for cradle cap), fever reducers and thermometers etc. A rectal thermometer is the most accurate for newborns. Underarm (axillary) temperatures are also used a lot. Axillary is how I took baby temps in the hospital. It's not as accurate as rectal because it can be up to two degrees off the actual temperature. For axillary temps, always add one degree (or is it two?). Ear thermometers are inaccurate on newborns, so I'll purchase that when he's a toddler.


11. Yes, and a car seat. But we already bought that. It's a convertible one. Because I hate those heavy baby carrier infant car seat thingys.  


Yay. I made my list. I feel better. I'm probably missing a few things, but that's the basics.

Evil Bitch Mother

Ryan is behind in math.  He's behind in reading as well (according to the Montgomery County school system), but I'm not too worried about it because he loves to read.  His reading will catch up pretty soon I think.  But it's the math.  The effing math.  I'm generally a very patient person.  Low-key.  I don't fly off the handle very often.  But when it comes to teaching math, I turn into Evil Bitch Mother.  


Evil Bitch Mother is mean and she doesn't care.  She yells a lot. She sounds scarier than hell and she scars her children for life. I'm sure of this.  Evil Bitch Mother makes her husband cringe, and if he's here when Evil Bitch Mother is teaching math, he usually has to step in and take over.  He has to save sweet Ryan from a wild-eyed crazy woman.  


Yes, Evil Bitch Mother hates math.  She hates teaching it.  And she doesn't understand why her son can't count simple change.  Or do simple fractions.  But Evil Bitch Mother needs to realize that she totally sucked at math too.  That her own parents got frustrated with her.  But I don't think they were as mean as Evil Bitch Mother. They didn't yell at me the way I yell at my son.  They didn't yell things like, Why can't you get this into your brain?! or This is simple Ryan! If you THINK for a minute MAYBE you'll GET it! 


I know.  Maybe he's bad at math because of me.  I'm embarrassed that I behave this way. Totally and completely ashamed.  I don't know how people home school their kids.  When I teach math, my sweet ass self turns into a vile person.  I think the only solution is to have Ernesto take over the math.  I have never met a more patient person than my husband (besides my mom).  When he teaches Ryan, Ernesto never yells.  He talks in a low, even tone and calmly corrects Ryan if he's wrong.  He explains things.  He just has a knack for teaching. The only way for Evil Bitch Mother to go away is if I resign my post as math teacher.  So honey if you're reading this, you are now Mr. Math.  I leave it to you.  My sweet, patient husband.  Who would never turn into an Evil Bitch Father.

There's A Baby In There

See? I'm pregnant.  23 weeks pregnant as of today. See my belly? You ain't seen nothin' yet my friends.  It's gonna get fuh-reakin huge.

The first picture I took had a very un-made bed in the background.  There were also massive streaks on the mirror from my lovely children.  So I cleaned.  Maybe I should take more pics of the house so I'll be motivated to clean.