EEEK!

 

wagon ride

With the exception of the blonde hair and a lot less sun damage on her skin, Brooke sorta does look like me. 

expired!

By the way, those Newman's Own Chocolate Alphabet Cookies that expired 2 days ago? I just ate 27 of them and they are perfectly fine.

Don't look at me that way, they were small.

it's the great pumpkin, charlie brown

Yesterday we finally got around to getting some pumpkins. There is a farm right around the corner from us, so we drove on down and got us some punkins!

When I was a kid, we would get our Halloween pumpkin from Kroger or some other grocery store, so going to the farm is amazing! They drive you out on an honest-to-goodness John Deer tractor and wagon and they drop you off in the middle of the most sincere pumpkin patch that you have ever seen. We ended up with not one, not two, but 4 pumpkins. Two fairly large orange ones and two white pumpkins. We carved them tonight. I will try to post a picture of them later. Until then, Happy Halloween!

a question to ponder

Should a 4 year old be able to work a DVR (Tivo) better than her 36 year old mother?

adventures in parenting Vol. 2

I apologize for the return of the totally lame post title. However, it is called for.

The virus that had Andrew vomiting over the course of 4 days last week has now spread to my daughter. She came home from school yesterday and was complaining of a tummy ache. After an hour or so of general malaise and whininess she agreed to get into some jammies. I was helping her into her jammies when the alien life force in her stomach projected its contents all over her bed covers. (Why must the bed covers always be involved!) I hoisted her up on my hip and sprinted to the bathroom. I felt so bad for her as she cried/puked for the next few minutes. Her thoughts then went to the next day.

"Now I won't be able to go to school tomorrow! (whaaaa!) Will you call my teachers and tell them I can't come to school tomorrow? (whaaaa! whaaa!) Mommy, my tummy feels better now."

I parked her on the couch and placed the blue bucket on the floor next to her. She slept well through the night and is feeling better this morning. She is happily watching Sesame Street as I type this. May this adventure come to an end...

don't they have bigger fish to fry?

I usually don't get too political here. I am political enough in real life. Just ask my friends, they will tell you... however, I feel like this story needs to be addressed.

As the NY Times article suggests, the Bush administration has a lot going on right now...ie hurricane clean-ups, supreme court nominees, Tom Delay being indicted and the whole Valerie Plame-gate debacle going on. One might think they would hunker down a little and focus. Ya know, get their lawyers in line...but no, there is one more pressing bit of business. It seems that they are pissed that The Onion has been using the presidential seal in its satirical newspaper and they don't like it one bit.

Anyone smart enough to read The Onion is smart enough to know that the presence of the presidential seal in said publication does not represent an endorsement by the administration. DUH!

V-Chip Theatre

Child: "Hey mom, I noticed you put a block on Cartoon Network. That makes me really angry."

Mother: "Well Andrew, there are shows on that channel that I don't think are appropriate for you or for Brooke."

Child: "Oh yeah? Well I'm thinking about putting a block on Oprah."

adventures in parenting

I know, it's just about the lamest title, but it accurately describes my life over the past week.

Last weekend Andrew hosted his first "sleep over party". It was his own idea and he and 2 buddies had been talking about it since school started. I was a little apprehensive to have a sleep over with first graders. Aren't they a little young for it? When did I start having sleep overs? Would I have to drive boys home in the middle of the night? This was all totally uncharted territory for me.

I can't remember when I last had a sleep over. I am sure my first one involved my friend Valerie, who was my best friend growing up and lived only 3 doors away from me in Detroit. I guess it must have been around age 7, but I honestly can't remember. I do remember the sleep overs in grade school, prank phone calls, truth or dare, and the always popular "light-as-a-feather-stiff-as-a-board". Good times. Girl stuff, lots of giggling and silliness.

Boy sleep overs are altogether different. These guys are all about moving their bodies. They start off playing basketball in the driveway, then they move to the basement to play football. Next they take a break for Pizza. I try to calm them down by putting in a movie and making popcorn, but it doesn't hold their attention and I get tired of breaking up the wrestling matches. I decide to start talking like Yoda. "Banished to the basement you are!" I pop in Star Wars. But the boys demand that I refer to it as "Episode 4" which makes no sense to me because I am always calling it "the first Star Wars" (Um, because it WAS the first Star Wars, duh!) it's all very confusing. By the time Luke Skywalker saves the republic by blowing up the Death Star, it is closing in on midnight. I can't believe these kids are still awake! I hustle them upstairs into their jammies and into bed. I explain the rule that it is now time to sleep and I want them to quiet down. No more WWF for the night. I close the door and walk out.

Minutes later I am downstairs, snuggled on the couch with Mark (who has done the equivelent of not much all night) and we flip on Letterman. I listen upstairs for sounds of tumbling and more wrestling, but all is quiet. I tiptoe upstairs and peek in the room, they are all asleep! How in the world did I do that?

Overall the "sleep over party" was a total success. It was relatively easy! No midnight trips home for the guests and everyone was happy to eat blueberry buttermilk pancakes the next morning. Andrew is already making plans for the next one...

I was also going to post about Andrew puking all over his bed last night, but it was so totally gross that I need a few days to recover from it. Suffice it to say, I have managed to avoid an all out puke fest since I became a mother 7 years ago. I have been living a charmed life. However, that all came to a halt last night. The good news is, he is feeling much better this morning.

filed under: secret confessions

Here is a comment I overheard at Andrew's birthday party yesterday:

Andrew: " When I was little I used to eat my boogers."

Other 6 & 7 year old boys: "EEEWWW"

Me: "Hey dude, that probably isn't something you should admit out loud to your friends."

Live and learn I guess.

comment spam

As if annoying telemarketers weren't enough, I have now had to enable the word verification option on my blog. I have caller id on my phone and now I have word verification on my comments. Sorry people, but this is the way it has to be. And it's not as if I have all that many comments! I am just annoyed by having to go in and delete the spam comments. UUGGGHH!

Anyway, here it is. Not much of a post today. Sorry, it's just a rainy Monday and I am not really in the mood. I was in the mood however, to purchase some new discs. Currently playing are: Ryan Adams, The Pixies and Sigur Ros.

baby girl

When I became a doula I was aware of what it meant to be "on call". I knew that becoming a doula meant that I would have to commit to my clients no matter what. Be that holidays or birthdays or whatever plans or events that occurred in my life. I feel like I have "officially" become a doula now. I attended a birth on one of my children's birthdays, and it really could not have worked out better.

Mark announced earlier this week that he had a very important meeting on Thursday morning that he could absoulutely not miss. The minute he said this I knew that I would be called to the birth during that time. Phone rings at 3:30am Thursday morning. Client is having contractions and is at her mother's house. We chat about what might be happening. I ask her where she would feel most comfortable laboring. She says at home, and decides to head back there. She tells me she will call me when she gets home. Phone rings again around 4:45. It is her husband. They want me to come over. I tell them I will be there as soon as I can.

Hubby and I chat, he is stressed because he will now have to run the meeting from home and will not be able to get the kids to school until around 9:30. I tell him I will do what I can, but I have to leave. I head downstairs, pack lunches and head out the door.

I arrive at my client's house around 5:15am. She is hungry and is eating a grilled cheese sandwich and a bowl of soup. "hmmm" I think. She is eating. This is still early labor. I hang out with her and observe for a few minutes, I can't really tell when she is having contractions, and she says they are spacing out to about 5 minutes apart. We strategize and I tell her I think she is still in early labor. She has been up since about 1:30 and decides to go lay down and rest for a while. Her husband joins her and I hang out in the living room. Around 7:30am she comes out to go to the bathroom. She says that the contractions have spaced out a lot, to about 10 minutes apart. I tell her my situation, and we decide that I will go home and take my kids to school. She will call me when things pick up again.

I hear from her next at 11:30 am. Contractions are a little closer together, but more intense. She wants me to come over. I arrive at her house about an hour later. When I arrive, I observe her for a while and things have definately changed. She is much more serious and not as chatty. I think things are progressing. She is drinking a lot of water, and REALLY enjoying crushed ice. She takes many trips to the bathroom. After about an hour, the contractions are 2-3 minutes apart and really intense. She decides it is time to head to the hospital.

We arrive at the hospital around 2pm. She is checked in triage and found to be 7 cm with a bulging bag of water. She is moved to a labor room post haste. She labors for another 2 hours. She finds sitting upright indian style to be most comfortable. During contractions we clasp hands and rock back and forth. She has found her ritual and it is working for her. She is amazing and strong and totally in tune with her body. After a bathroom break she changes position to hands and knees. This new position brings even stronger contractions and her labor intensifies. When presented with the possibilty of breaking her water, she decides it might be a good idea. The midwife breaks her water, and after about 4 extrememly intense contractions, she feels pushy. The midwife checks her and she is fully dilated. She begins to push. I am at her head and decide to grab my camera, as I walked around the edge of the bed I saw the head crowning! Two pushes later her daughter was born. 9 lbs. 10 oz. A big, beautiful pink girl!

I was lucky enough to attend 2 birthdays yesterday! I stayed with the family until everyone was comfortable and the baby was nursing. They were elated and so was I. I headed home and arrived in time to go out to dinner with my family for Andrew's birthday. What an incredible day.

on the button

I am currently in a holding pattern for my October client. She called yesterday (her due date) to say that she was having contractions, but they were still pretty mild. That was 24 hours ago. I talked to her around 6pm last night and she had been contracting all day, but that it still seemed to be early labor. I was expecting to get a call last night, but never heard from her. And so, I wait.

I can't help but think back 7 years. I was waiting then too. Although, I was waiting for my own labor to start. I woke up at 4:30am when my water broke. After going to the bathroom, I noticed that the water had a green tinge to it. And at that moment my birth plan flew out the window. I went to the hospital around 7am and was admitted. Around 11am I was attatched to a pitocin drip. 15 hours later my little boy was born. It was a long difficult labor, but one that I am infinatley grateful for, because it put me on my path to becoming a doula.

Right now, I am going to bake cupcakes for Andrew to take to school tomorrow. I figure I should do it soon, just in case I am called to a birth later.

my friend, the author

So I just got an email from my friend Joe Florenski. His book about Paul Lynde has finally come out. I have a friend who is an author! How cool is that?!

Joe and I were good friends in high school. He was one of the few things I looked forward to in 11th and 12th grade. We had long fabulous chats about pop music (mine mostly focused on Duran Duran, his mostly on Abba) and various pop culture events of the mid 1980's. We kept a notebook devoted to these chats and would pass them back and forth in between classes. [Brilliant move on our part. It actually looked like we were taking notes!] A good portion was also devoted to Bob Geldof, Band Aid and Live Aid. These were huge important events to a coule of teenagers in Northern Michigan in 1985. I even gave Joe all 3 of my Live Aid VHS tapes. Lucky for me, they have recently come out on DVD!

Joe is the only person I know who became a pop culture major in college. He inspired me to devote an entire research paper to John Lennon and instilled a deep appreciation for the music of the Beatles. (I still love them!) He had (and still has) a vicious sense of humor, a short temper and a wicked tounge. All things that I adore about him. I believe I was the only girl he ever took out on a date. He came out to me one summer when we were home from college. He is a great person, and one of the few people from high school that I still talk too! I love and adore him. Buy his book!

dialogue between 4 year olds

Ahava: "Hey Brooke, if you are Jewish, you get to celebrate Hanukkah and go to synagogue and its really special because you pray there."

Brooke: "Huh?"

Ahava: "If you are Jewish, you get to celebrate hanukkah and you get to go to synagogue and it is very special, because you pray there."

(Beat)

(Beat)

Brooke: "Lemme touch your eye!"