Public Service Announcement - Car Seats

You may or may not know but I am a car seat nut. I feel very strongly about having children in car seats that are properly installed and used for as long as possible. So today I thought I would take a minute to remind everyone about their importance and proper use. Keep reading if you have a child or grandchild under the age of 9.

There are a couple of You Tube videos floating around that I think are good to view. One is about Kyle and the other about Belle. They are not graphic but highlight what can happen in car accidents. After viewing both of these I have done some research on the subject and here is what I have learned.

• While boosters can be used at 3 years old, 30 lbs and 36 inches (I think). They shouldn't be. Boosters should really be reserved for the 5 and up set.
• There are accidents that happen that no matter what kind of car seat you use your child can be injured or killed. The best we can all do is use the best seat we can.
• Seat belt failure is extremely rare.
• The Britax Regent MUST be tethered after 50 lbs. This is why I don't have Rehm in one. Where I need him to sit in the car tethering is not an option.
• Newer cars that have side curtain air bags greatly reduce the likelihood of a child being ejected from a vehicle.
• Newer cars that have stability control greatly reduce the risk of roll over. I recently heard that transportation experts say this is going to reduce injuries and deaths from accidents as much as the mandatory seat belt laws of the 80's did (I have not verified this)
  

If you would like more information on this topic here is a good discussion of the first video. I find the Car Seat Board on Ivillage a great resource for car seat information. There are several certified CPS techs that will answer questions there.

Now on to some general reminders that we all forget at times.

• Children should remain rear facing until at least 1 year and 20 lbs. A lot of research suggests that it is actually better to keep children rear facing until they reach the rear facing limits of their seat. Here is a discussion on this.
  
• Never use LATCH and a seat belt at the same time to install a cars seat unless the seat manual specifically says it is OK.
• Car seats expire! Yes this is true. Check your manual for most seats this is 6 years from the date of manufacture. The date of manufacture is on a sticker somewhere on the shell of your car seat.
• Never buy a used seat if you don't personally know the seat's history. Otherwise it could be a recalled seat or could have been in an accident.
• If you are in an accident of any kind check your seat manual to see if your seat needs to be replaced. It may need to be even if the accident was minor. The insurance company will be happy to replace them (at least from personal experience).
  
• Keep your seat manual where it is easily accessible and read it entirely before installing seats.
• Check the seat manual and your car manual for LATCH anchor weight limits - yes, once your child reaches a certain weight you can no longer use LATCH.
• Check your car manual for tether anchor weight limits.
• Make sure you and your spouse/significant other BOTH know how to correctly install the seats you own. This is important! Sometimes things come up that require moving a seat when the other person is not around. Be comfortable installing all of your seats.
• If at all possible keep your children in a 5 point harness as long as possible. There are several seats now that can harness to 65 lbs - at various price points.
• Children usually out grow a seat by height before weight. A child is too tall for their seat rear facing if there is less than one inch of hard plastic above their head. A child is too tall for a forward facing seat if their shoulders are above the top harness slots or the tops of their ears are above the top of the seat.
  
• Children should be in at least a belt positioning booster until 8 years of age, 80 lbs and 4 feet 9 inches tall.

Remember when purchasing a car seat that yes they can be expensive but they are one of the most important purchases you can make for your child. There is no one best car seat. The best car seat is the one that best fits your car, child and budget.

In case you are wondering I have all three of my girls in Britax Marathons. I love this seat as it rear faces to 33 lbs and forward faces to 65 lbs. This means that from 5 months old to probably 6 years old they can use this seat. Rehm is currently in a Graco Turbo booster but as of tomorrow will be in a Britax Parkway. He, just in January, outgrew his Marathon by height. I am very sad for him not to be in a five point harness any longer but the Britax Regent was not a choice for us because of the need to use a tether with it.

I personally really like Britax seats. They are expensive, but I can usually find sales on them online. I find that for me their seats are easy to install, and easy to use day in and day out. I recently had to use my back up seats - made by graco. There was much foul language getting them installed and every time I had to put a child in them. So for me it is worth it to have a seat I am comfortable using and feel like I am using it properly. And when I do the cost analysis on the Marathons they cost me roughly $0.11 a day per seat.

If you have any questions about car seats of any kind please feel free to ask I may or may not know the answer but I'll try.

Disclaimer: I am not a CPS tech. But think at times that maybe I should invest the time in money into becoming one.

Jenn - who is now stepping down from her soap box

Child Labor

In the spirit of trying to get everything done and keeping my children from watching too much TV, I think I may have broken the child labor laws this afternoon. Actually I'm sure I didn't and they were having fun and have no clue what they were doing was actually helpful.

You see it all started while I was trying to get dinner ready and realized I needed to wash bottles for tomorrow. This little light bulb went off and I thought "Rehm and Charlotte LOVE to play in the water, the bottles need washing, hmmm, could it be? Could I really entertain them AND end up with clean bottles?"

So I got them all set up, Rehm washing - since he is older and more coordinated - and Charlotte rinsing. They got about half of them done before they started splashing and sticking their faces and hair in the water, so then the lost the "privilege" of washing any more bottles. Yes I called it a privilege and yes they were upset to have to stop. No this won't be the last time I have them do this task :)

Another funny from last night. Charlotte starts crying around 11:00 and calling me. I go in her room. Here is the conversation that follows:

Charlotte: Mommy, I need to tell you something.
Me: What is it Charlotte, what do you need?
Charlotte: Mommy, quit bothering me!
Me: Is that ALL you needed to tell me?
Charlotte: Yes!

Yes ladies and gentlemen, Charlotte summonsed me from bed just to tell me to leave her alone! If you know Charlotte this is probably not too surprising. She definitely keeps me on my toes and laughing (well most of the time).

Ruby has already been up three times screaming so it is looking like a long night ahead. I'm assuming it is her ear again and so thankful we have an appointment with the ENT tomorrow.

Have a wonderful evening.
Jenn

Mystery Solved!

OK so after extensive research (yeah right) I have determined that Frank is a fairy Shrimp! And the little jumpy things in the tank are water fleas! Here is a picture of a fairy shrimp.


See it really doesn't look anything like the auqasaur.

I know you are all glad that this little mystery is solved. I know Michael is.

Jenn

Frank!

Not only is the silly fake Auqasaur still alive it now has a name.

I commented today that the Auqasaur didn't have a name and Rehm immediately said, "We should name him Frank!" Then a minute later he said we should name him Aquasaury. I quickly nixed that one. So Frank it is. Except I'm still not convinced that Frank is a real Aquasaur.

This picture is what an aquasaur is supposed to look like. Frank looks nothing like this. I just spent the last 10 minutes trying to take a picture of Frank so everyone could see that he looks nothing like this, but he is so small and fast that I was never able to get more than a blur. An Aquasar is supposed to be 2 inches long, Frank isn't even an inch. The "shell" on the Aquasaur, Frank doesn't have it, and Frank's eyes protrude out from his head. And his little shrimp tale is red! So I think we have a fake Aquasaur, but at the moment the five year old doesn't care. Frank is only supposed to live at most 3 months. So far he has made it about 4 weeks. I'd say for an aquasaur with stunted growth or a complete fake, he has made it much longer than I ever expected.

Michael would say the real story is not in Frank's fakeness but in my obsession with his fakeness. And the fact that I would actually take time to try to take the silly thing's picture. I think he thinks there are a lot more useful things I could be doing with my time than obsessing about the Frank the Fake. Ah well, he is probably right and I did just realize that I need to go finish making lunches and fold laundry.

Here are a few pictures from the weekend that I thought were precious. Enjoy!

Ruby the Red Nosed Reindeer

Eliza Claire

Charlotte

Yes, I know Christmas is over but apparently Charlotte doesn't!

Jenn

One Hundred and Seven Ears

For the kindergarten set today was a very exciting day! It was the 100th day of school! To celebrate each child had to bring 100 of something. What did our kindergartener come up with? No not pennies or paper clips or rocks. Rehm took 100 Cheeto's! Yes, Cheeto's! However I don't believe he came home with them...Hmm, I guess someone had a good snack. I'm hoping he shared a few with his friends. Actually tonight at dinner Rehm informed us that he actually took 102 Cheeto's. So I don't know if he truly miscounted one of the times or if a couple broke giving him the extras. Or maybe he is just an overachiever and had to go above and beyond the assignment.

Ruby and Eliza are seven months old today! How in the world is that possible? Where have the last seven months gone? So what are the girls up to?

Ruby: Weighs 19 lbs., 4 oz. She is rolling both directions with ease. She is not a big eater and has definite food dislikes. She likes to make a grunting, growly noise. She is very active and wants to be able to really move. She also has the "princess and the pea" syndrome. Any little thing that is off will affect her sleep - one degree too cold in the house she screams, a noise, she screams, any kind of illness she screams. She is sitting up on her own for 30 seconds or so at a time. And she will grab anything and everything she can get her little hands on. She loves to give kisses. She is very smiley.

Eliza: Weighs 20 lbs., 11 oz She is rolling both directions but only back to stomach easily. She will eat anything and everything. She is constantly "talking." She is happy to lay/sit in one spot for long periods of time and observe. She will sleep through anything and everything. She is sitting up on her own for 30 seconds or so. She loves to laugh at her brother and sister, especially when they give her zerberts.

Today I took both girls to the doctor. Both have ear infections, AGAIN! And Ruby was currently taking an antibiotic - it just wasn't working (she did have a 2 day break thanks to the stomach bug). Eliza had both ears infected, Ruby only one. Ruby had to get another antibiotic injection and continue her oral meds, Eliza got a prescription for oral meds. Ruby has an appointment with the ENT on Wednesday to schedule tubes. I have a call in to the ENT to see if they can also see Eliza at the same time. Last night, Eliza slept through the night without a peep. Ruby was up from 2 to 3:30 and then in our bed for the rest of the night. I hope and pray we can get these silly ears taken care of soon. I feel so bad for my girls.

Tomorrow should be interesting. Rehm has a basketball game at 8:00 am. And has pictures BEFORE the game. That means someone has to get him there by 7:10ish. Any bets on if he is on time?

Have a great weekend.
Jenn

Get Over It!!!!

Do I have a 3 year old or a teenager?

So today when I picked Charlotte up from school, we were getting in the van. I had asked Charlotte to get in her seat. Instead she had decided to go get her lunch box. I blocked her path and a fit ensued.

Charlotte: Screaming and crying
Me: Charlotte, get in your set and use your big girl words.
Charlotte: Still Screaming.
Me: Charlotte, get in your set and use your big girl words.
Charlotte: Mommy, get over it! (In big girl words, no crying, no screaming, no whining)
Me: Charlotte, use your big girl words and tell me what you need.
Charlotte: Get over it!

Finally she decided to get in her seat as asked nicely for her lunch box so she could have a snack. I gave it to her and off we went.

In case you're wondering I was able to refrain from laughing until she couldn't see or hear me. But if this is how she is talking to me now what is she going to be like at 13? And I'm still not sure what I was supposed to get over, her not being in her seat or her not using her big girl words :)

On a different note. I tried a new meatloaf recipe tonight that was fabulous. If you are watching your weight or on a low fat diet, eat a very small piece. It is Paula Dean's recipe and is called Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf. Enjoy! We sure did. I served it with mashed potatoes. If you are like me and like real mashed potatoes but don't have time to deal with making your own try the frozen ones. They are really good and no one would ever know the difference!

Tomorrow is shaping up to be a "fun" day as I'm starting to think Eliza Claire has an ear infection. What is up with our family's genes! Our ear genes suck!

Happy almost weekend!
Jenn

Baptism Date Set

We finally have the date set for the baptism. Well actually the girls' baptism has been on the church calendar since before they were born. Baby A and Baby B Maham were scheduled to be baptized on Easter Sunday. However, I really wanted them to be baptized in the sanctuary by our Senior Pastor, which wasn't an option for Easter - for those of you that don't attend our church we have Easter services in two buildings and baptisms are only done at the very last morning service which is done it the fellowship building. So the new date for the baptism is March 11 at the 9:30 service.

Now the fun of finding just the right thing for the girls to wear can start in earnest. I always thought after Rehm and Charlotte were born that if we had more kids they would just wear their siblings outfits. And even after we found out we were expecting twins I thought that we'd end up with a boy and a girl and still be ok. But of course it couldn't be that easy or cheap. So we have to find them their very own thing. And I don't even have 2 months to do it! If you know of a good place to look for baptism gowns let me know.

Mom and Dad, I hope you can make it for 3/11. If it helps the kids have spring break the week afterward and would love to see you!

It has been a long day of meetings, working out, working and just being a mommy so I'm off for a little TV time and bed.

Hope everyone had a great day!
Jenn

Can't sit still

Hmmm. What have I done today? I'm not really sure. All I know is I haven't sat down except to feed babies. Well except for lunch, but I was also feeding babies then. So I really haven't sat down longer than that.

Let's see. I took Charlotte to school. Drove to Babies R Us. Sat in the van while the girls finished their nap. I used this time to catch up on some work and get ready for our committee meeting tomorrow. Went inside, looked at car seats, bought the girls a shirt each and some sippy cups. Put everyone back in the car and went to our church's preschool to get applications for next year.

Yes we are going back next year. That is the only way all three girls can be at the same school as Charlotte's current school does not take babies until 18 months and the girls will be 14 months at the start of school. I know some of you are saying, but you had Charlotte there so she could go to private kindergarten. You would be right, but for now we are thinking it is better to wait and let her be the one of the oldest in the class. If, at the end of next year, we feel differently then we will be scrambling to get her a slot in a good kindy program - I'm sure you'll hear all about it. But for now it works best for our family to go back to our church's program. Hopefully we'll still feel that way when we are doing the drive next fall (it takes about 40 minutes to get there in the morning due to traffic). Hey, maybe the new toll roads will help with all that traffic! Yeah, I know I'm dreaming...

OK back to my day. I met my friend Meredith for lunch. It was a real treat for us to have lunch with only 2 kids in tow as when we normally get together we have all 7 of our kids. Which of course is not very conducive for having adult conversation. Thanks for lunch Meredith I really enjoyed it. We need to make it a regular event.

After lunch I picked Charlotte up from school. Another mom at school and I have a little system. She has a 9 month old. So one of us will stand in the parking lot and watch all the little ones in the cars while the other one takes her three year old in or picks her up, then we switch and when everyone is dropped off or picked up we can leave without ever having to get any of the babies out of the car. It is so nice. And when she isn't there some of the other mom's from Charlotte's class are nice enough to walk Charlotte in for me.

Once we got home. I spent the 30 minutes until time to go get Rehm making dinner. Charlotte helped while Ruby and Eliza played on the floor. We made split pea soup. Charlotte enjoyed picking through the peas and rinsing them for me.

Rehm brought home his homework for the week today and decided to do all of it in one sitting. His big task was to write as many words ending in -ig and -ed as he could think of. It took him about 20 minutes or and he learned tow new words - zed, wed. His other home work was writing numbers and then a page of completing sentences.

Of course after that it was time to finish laundry and dinner. After dinner bath time madness starts. When it is over it is time to clean up the kitchen, make breakfasts, lunches, and bottles. Tonight I got the added bonus of picking up so Maria can come tomorrow to clean. I love cleaning day. I love having the house really clean for at least a few hours before the kids start destroying it again. Oh and after cleaning up I got to go move car seats around in the van to make sure one of the new ones I want will actually fit behind the driver's seat. Luckily it will.

Oh, and the best news of the day! No one threw up on me today! Woohoo! Hmm I guess that says a lot about my standards when all it takes to make a "good" day is not getting thrown up on...

Off to pack work out clothes for tomorrow.
Jenn

Ruby is on the Mend

Ruby is doing better today. By the evening she was ready for a bottle and smiling and happy again! I'm so glad she is feeling better. So far no one else is showing signs of catching the bug. I'm praying that the rest of us miss this one.

Each of the girls started new tricks. On Saturday Ruby reached for me. And today Eliza rolled front to back. So now they are both rolling both ways. It seems that with physical milestones Ruby is about a month ahead of Eliza. With verbal milestones Eliza is about a month ahead of Ruby. Go figure.

This morning Charlotte was watching TV and asked me to turn the TV off because Curious George was coming on. Her explanation, "I don't like Curious George very much because he is just curious and I am not curious!"

We found out today that the insurance company is going to pay for replacing all of our car seats in Henry. The sad thing is I'm very excited to get to go car seat shopping! I know I'm a geek. Hopefully Henry will be fixed and the new car seats will be here by the end of next week.

Hope everyone had a good Monday.
Jenn

Weekend Wackies

Hmmm. What happened in the the land of Mayhem?

Rehm had his first basketball game. Unfortunately they lost 24-4. Rehm shot once and hit the rim, but alas no basket. I have to say this was the cutest, funniest thing ever! And of course in the craziness to take the whole family to the gym (to workout) and be at the game by 11:00, I forgot the camera and video camera!

Huey, um I mean Michael went to an Aggie basketball game with several of his friends from college. The Aggies won. Whoop. Michael had a kid free 24 hours. And a bunch of college kids got to laugh at the "old guys."

Sunday brought church and work and a fun get together with friends. Since Huey, um I mean Michael was not home, I had to get all of the kids ready and out the door for church. My goal was to leave by 7:45 however it was 8:09 when we pulled out of the driveway. At 7:40 I thought we just needed coats and strapped in seats. How did that take 25 minutes? Well it started with sending the three year old upstairs to get something...

After church I loaded everyone up to go to our friends' house for lunch. Michael met us there. We had a great time and lunch was fabulous - Kat, I really do want that recipe! After lunch Ruby woke with a nasty diaper and threw up all over me. So time to head home after apologizing for exposing everyone to the stomach bug! Sorry!

Ruby is still not feeling well and hasn't kept anything down since 11:00 am. My poor girl. I talked to the pedi - have I mentioned how much I love him? He is the absolute best! He said she should be ok until morning but to call then if she still isn't keeping anything down.

BTW, did you know you can make your own Pedialyte? Kathryn taught me this trick today. And since I'm cheap I'm all for making my own. The recipe is in Baby 411.

I wonder how this week will turn out, I have already canceled my childcare reservation at the gym for tomorrow, bummer. Hopefully I can get Charlotte to dance class. I wonder which kid will start throwing up next? Hmm, I wonder how long the virus lasts? I wonder how many loads of laundry I'll do this week? It should be fun.

Excuse the typos - I did this one handed while holding a sick baby.

Hope everyone had a great weekend. I'm sorry if you saw us today and we got you sick!
jenn

Life without Henry

Wow a "normal" day today. Everyone was on their normal schedule. The only big difference was we were not driving Henry which put several kinks in the day.

We borrowed Michael's parent's van so we could get an estimate on getting Henry repaired (thank you!). Of course that meant installing 4 car seats in the van - which was not a fun task but luckily we thought to do it last night. I had to move the stroller to the van as well.

After the girls' morning nap we went to the grocery store. It took about 2 hours from the time we left our house until we got home (the grocery store is only 10 minutes away). Pushing the stroller and pulling the cart and keeping 3 girls happy during the excursion is always interesting. Charlotte was a good helper today and the girls slept most of the time. It got interesting when we got the groceries in the van and the stroller wouldn't fit too. Of course by this point Eliza was crying and Charlotte was ready for lunch. After about 5 minutes and moving half the groceries to a different location and trying to fit the stroller in 3 different locations we were finally ready to go home. It is amazing how different 2 mini vans can be.

I also realized today just how much I appreciate my power doors. The garage door wasn't working (the door would only go up about 18 inches before stopping). This meant I could not take one baby out to the garage strap her in and come back in for the second one. I had to take them both out at the same time as I don't like leaving one of them in the car alone in the driveway while I go in to get the other one. My neighbors must get a good laugh watching me cart both of them out together, trying to get the front door shut before the cat escapes. Only to get to the van and have to try to open the doors with both hands full and no push button opener! I am happy to say I managed to get both girls in the van without dropping anyone. And of course I got to repeat this when I got home from the store and when we left to pick Rehm up from school. I am happy to report that my wonderful husband has repaired the garage door so I won't have to "juggle" everyone to leave the house anymore.

I did realize when we got home from dinner (with Grandma and Grandpa) that I left the stroller in their van. Luckily I have my back up stroller to use tomorrow so I don't have to make a special trip in to get it. I know you're thinking what's the big deal about being without the stroller for a day? Well if you can easily carry two wiggly 20 lb babies, while corralling 2 other children and opening doors and such it isn't a big deal! But for us mortal humans it really is a necessity for leaving the house.

After getting the estimate to fix Henry, the person who hit us decided she would file the accident with her insurance. So hopefully we can get the ball rolling and have him back to normal soon. Of course this will mean going through the process of using a different van for a few days and I can honestly say that always makes me very glad to get Henry back.

A useful thing I learned today. If your three year old chews the end off of the stylus on the leap frog explorer globe you can call the company and for $5 they will send you an new one. I don't know why Charlotte thought chewing the end off was a good idea but until the new stylus gets here Rehm will be borrowing her globe and Charlotte will be doing some extra chores to pay for the replacement stylus. Who has bets on how long it is before we order the next replacement stylus?

Happy Weekend!

Stroller Stalking

The Ice is finally gone! Everyone got to go back to school today. Rehm's school was delayed 2 hours (9:40 start), Charlotte's school was delayed 1 hour (10:30 start) and Ruby had a doctor appointment at 10:10. Yes, you are right I couldn't possibly be at all of those places at those times. So I dropped Rehm off at school and headed toward the doctor's office where I hoped to meet Michael at 10:00 so he could take Charlotte to school. For those of you who don't know, I drove Charlotte about 10 miles past her school to do this. Of course traffic was a nightmare, so I didn't get to the doctor's office until 10:25 so of course Charlotte didn't get to school at 10:30.

The Charlotte exchange was pretty comical. I unbuckled her from one car seat, buckled her in the other and handed Michael her backpack. Then they were off. About 15 minutes later I got a call from Michael that he didn't have her lunch box. Oops - it was still in Henry. Packed and ready to go but in the wrong car. Luckily when Michael was asking one of the teachers about lunch time so I would know when the have her lunch there they offered to make her a lunch so I wouldn't have to drop it by. Can I just say that made my day.

Ruby has another ear infection! This is her fifth one since the beginning of November. So after leaving the pediatrician I got to call the ENT to make an appointment to talk about getting tubes put in. Unfortunately he can't see her until the end of the month a few days after she finishes her antibiotic. Hopefully, she can make it to that appointment before she has another flare up. Poor baby. She did not sleep well last night and I spent most of the night in the recliner with her. It made me glad we splurged and bought the recliner - it was supposed to be my nursing chair for the twins but unfortunately nursing didn't work out. But it still gets plenty of use. Last night it was much more comfy that the couch would have been.

OK by now you are wondering what all of this has to do with stroller stalking

After the doctor and dropping of Ruby's Rx we went to the mall to return some stainless steel flatware. It was a Christmas present that I truly was thrilled to get. Unfortunately when we washed it the first time it came out of the dishwasher with RUST on it! I didn't think stainless steel could do that. So I'll be looking for new flatware soon.

While at the mall I saw a lady with a double stroller I had considered purchasing . However, I could not find one in real life to look at and did not want to purchase it sight unseen as it was really expensive. So I decided on a combi instead (which I love). But when I saw this one today I wanted to get a closer look. So I followed the lady through the mall trying to nonchalantly catch up with her so I could check it out, find out where she got it and see if she liked it. Unfortunately I lost her. I'm still really bummed about this.

When I mentioned the stroller stalking to Michael he thought it was the craziest and dumbest thing ever. I think the exact response was "You did what? Why? Why would you even think about that when your already committed to another stroller?" So he obviously didn't get it but I'm sure some of you ladies out there will.

Why is it on days you don’t do laundry one kid has an accident in their bed the night before (and doesn’t bother to tell you until going to bed tonight) and the other throws up on the futon? Do they have some kind of “Mom has too much laundry to do let me really over whelm her” radar?

Off to do more laundry and make my grocery list. Oh boy, tomorrow I get to go to the grocery store with all three girls. That is always an adventure. Just a little public service anouncement. When you see someone pushing a stroller through the grocery store while pulling a cart behind them. Please smile nicely and give them plenty of room for turning down aisles. It really is as hard as it looks.

Starting to get a little stir crazy!

No school again! Everyone is home for day three. The roads are mostly just wet, but with the temperature in the upper 20's and ice on everything else we are staying put one more day. We are all getting sick of each other and ready to interact some non-family members. Hopefully we will all get out of the house tomorrow - I still expect a delayed start for school in the morning.

So far today we have watched TV, had "school" (this consisted of some work sheets and melting ice by various methods), played a matching game and are now having movie time. Rehm has obviously got his fill of TV as he was not interested in movie time. Granted instead he is playing computer games, so it isn't like he decided to read or do something more imaginitive - I didn't want anyone to assume he had loftier goals. I think he just wanted to do something with out Charlotte.

Charlotte has a new game. She calls it babysitter. She brings her baby and diaper bag to me and proceeds to give me all the instructions of how to take care of her baby. It is very obvious she is a first time mom because her list of instructions takes about 10 minutes. Then she tells me to call her on her "cell-o" phone if I need her. Her number is 311-611-1211. I wonder where she came up with that but had to laugh that it had the right number of digits. When she needs a sitter it is so she can go to "a meeting" but she is always going to be back "really late."

Eliza has been babbling a "nee, nee" sound for a couple of weeks - it seems to mean "I need something" and has earned her the nick name NeeNee, Today she has started babbling a "da, da" or "ba, ba" I can't tell for sure as it is in a really growly voice. But she is obviously happy and is telling her toys all about it.

Ruby learned to growl about a week ago and it is really funny when she starts up. She sounds really mad but usually she isn't. She is back to waking a couple of times during the night. She is a princess sleeper just like Charlotte. I don't know if she is cold or has an ear infection this time. But if conditions aren't PERFECT she will wake screaming multiple times a night.

Ruby and Eliza are eating some solids now. So far Eliza likes everything and Ruby likes everything but peas. I think they are too thick for her. She will eat them if they are mixed with something else. They have started a few finger foods like wagon wheels, cherrios, and graham crackers. They do the best with the wagon wheels but we are out of those right now and obviously haven't been able to get to the store. Ah tomorrow.

Here are the girls enjoying lunch today. It consisted of Peas and Carrots mixed together, oatmeal, cherrios, and water.



Once again it is nap time and then time to fold laundry. Oh joy my most favorite thing in the world to do. I just get up in the morning thinking I can't wait to do some laundry! Hopefully I'll have TWO loads today! I sure hope you can all hear the sarcasm in my voice. After laundry I hope to put together Picante Chicken Pasta Soup (mom it is in the new church cookbook) for our dinner.

Hope everyone is having a lovely day.
Jenn

It's Snowing!

About 11:30 Michael came down stairs to tell us it was snowing. At that point it was more sleet than snow but there were some nice large snowflakes mixed in. It has been doing something ever since. The last time I looked out it was just snowing nice big flakes. The side walks and street are mostly white at this point. Rehm and Charlotte have been out to play once and are ready to go out again. They want to build a snow whale. I told them that with the amount of snow we have so far it will be more of a minnow than a whale.



We only see snow in any amount every 3 to 5 years so the kids are in heaven. To hear them talk you would think we had gotten at least 6 inches of snow. Oh how different it is in Texas. Not only am I raising suburb kids, I'm raising them where a dusting of snow is "AMAZING."

A baby is crying, more later

The Weather Outside is Frightful

OK so it isn't that bad but we are experiencing our annual ice storm. It appears that all 6 of us will be house bound until some time Wednesday. So now we have to figure out how not to drive each other crazy and activities to keep the kids from sitting in front of the TV all day. I have just moved furniture around in the living room and made a corner "fort" and gotten out a bag of large legos. At the moment they are playing grocery store with the legos which is very funny since we have a huge container of play food they could play grocery store with. I expect a little later in the morning we will have a rambunctious game of Hullabloo .

Tonight is Kid Cook Night. It is Rehm's turn to help and pick the menu. So we will be make Chef-bor-ar-dee Pizza Kits with fettuccine Alfredo and carrots and oranges. We try to do kid cook night once a week. Last week Charlotte helped make monster burgers - complete with faces.

We learned Monday that Ralph a Whale Shark at the Georgia Aquarium and Gasper a Beluga Whale also housed at the Aquarium have both died since we visited in December. We were all very sad to hear this news. We read all about both deaths at the aquarium web site. Rehm had several questions and while reading about Ralph almost cried. Poor boy.

Charlotte just came to tell me the cave is messed up and Rehm needs something out of the toy closet and the girls are ready for a nap so it is time to go.

Jenn

Henry is Injured

Luckily it is a minor injury and he should be better with the replacement his bummer. We were rear ended on the way to grandma's tonight. No one was hurt and none of the kids even knew what happened until we told them. Now the joys of having the repair done and dealing with insurance start.

Rehm was very funny, he thought Henry was going to have to be replaced with a new van. He was very concerned about Henry and how we would get home, etc. After getting to Grandma's he looked at the bumper and couldn't even see where the problem was - the crack and scrapes are visible but they are very minor. Needless to say he was much less concerned about the whole thing then. Charlotte has not mentioned anything about the incident since it happened and I think Eliza slept through all of the excitement.

For those of you confused, Henry is our Honda Odyssey. Rehm named him when we first purchased him. His friend Lael also has a Odyssey and her family named theirs Homer for obvious reasons. However, Rehm assumed that Homer was named after the Homer on the Hungry, Hungry, Hippo game so our Odyssey had to be named after on of the other Hippos. Thus, the name Henry. At the same time our Accord got named Harry (yes another Hippo). Henry is talked about as if he were a person and not a van. For about the first six months that we owned Henry, I told the kids he was lactose intolerant because I didn't want them to have their milk sippy cups in him. He has since outgrown that problem :)

Hopefully the rest of the weekend will be uneventful.
Jenn

Not the Best Mom Today

OK so I said I was going to update this once a week but a few interesting things happened today I thought I would share.

Michael came home this evening to find the girls (AKA Ruby and Eliza) sitting on the couch against the back pillows playing with toys. I however was not on the couch but in the kitchen (standing maybe 10 feet away) working on dinner. He walked in and said "Um, are you OK with this?" My response was "Mostly, though I know I shouldn't be." Oh, the things we do when we have more than one child. Nobody fell off the couch or was harmed in any way and they are six months old. I told him next time I'd at least put a few pillows on the floor, just in case.

Earlier in the day Charlotte was helping me take ornaments off the Christmas tree and told me she had turned the monitor down a little. The girls were napping. I went about my business intending to go check it in a minute. Well, I got dinner assembled (lasagna), talked to my mom and kept Charlotte out of trouble. About 45 minutes after she turned it down I remembered to check it. Needless to say, both girls were crying and not very happy with Mommy. Hopefully they hadn't been awake too long. I guess the good news is I got a lot accomplished during nap time. And tomorrow I'll remember to put the monitor where Charlotte can't reach it.

Happy Weekend!
Jenn

It's a new year

It is a new year and I have decided to post an update on the craziness in our lives at least once a week.

So what have we been up to? Well for the holidays we loaded up the van and drove to NC, North Carolina that is...With all four kids in tow! Yes we are crazy. No we did not lose anyone, or have to "stop the car." Surprisingly or not, everyone did GREAT on the drive and I think had fun. We took three days going to NC and spent half a day at the Georgia Aquarium (sorry I didn't call Renee). Rehm was of course in heaven and we all really had fun. I'll add pictures next week. On the way home we just drove and drove and drove and drove :) Two of our nights in hotels we did not have cribs! That of course was a little bit interesting but we managed just fine. My favorite quote from the trip was from Rehm. As we were parking the van to go to the aquarium he said "Um, Mommy what language do they mostly speak in Georgia?"

Now that we are home everyone is getting back into our normal routine. We are almost finished getting the Christmas decorations down! Yeah, I know it is late but what do you expect?

Our other excitement right now is growing Aquasaurs. Rehm received them for Christmas. From his parents - I managed to loose them the first time I bought them and had to purchase a second set. Then we had to have a desk lamp to help regulate the temperature. Finally, way too many dollars later, we are raising baby Aquasaurs. Rehm was very funny. After we had added the eggs to the water he got a funny look on his face and said "Oh no! in one to three days I'm going to be a parent!" He didn't sound so excited about them then.

Well Charlotte wants me to play with her and Ruby is crying so I guess it is time to go.