This Little Piggy Went Wah Wah Wahhh!

Last night was a bit stressful for me. Judah needed to be at VBS by 6, which meant that he needed to be finished with supper by 5:30. This poses a problem at our house, because he knows that Curious George is on while Mama makes supper from 5-5:30. How dare I try to change the system? My ridiculous solution to this problem was to allow Judah to watch his beloved curious monkey while he feasted upon a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. TV and the responsibility of eating or concentrating on anything else do not go together at our house. We may never be one of those families that can order a pizza to watch with a good movie. When the TV is on, Judah is in the zone.

So, my house was in a frenzy. I had just gotten the excersaucer out of the garage for Liam, which takes up a large area in our tiny living room. Joining the excersaucer, was a bouncy seat, a swing, and multiple toys from the other two children. As I was running back and forth trying to get Judah fed and focused, Mayah decided she needed milk NOW! Mayah is not completely verbal yet, so the way she lets you know she needs to feed her addiction to fluids is by grabbing your leg and pushing her cup against you. She is relentless.

Somehow, in the mess of it all, my pinkie toe became the victim in a very unfortunate accident. It really is all a blur now, but I somehow tripped or jammed my toe against the wall or a toy. My brain has spared me the constant replay of this incident by blocking the whole scenario out of my mind. It's just too painful...

So, I have taken a picture of my ugly feet (all apologies) so you can all give me your deepest sympathies. Please focus on the right pinkie toe...the swelling...the bruising...the pain and suffering...

A Few More Memories

Now that my sister and her daughter, Madeline, have been gone for nearly a month, I have more pictures to share. My mom, sister, and I took our memory cards to Walgreen's before Jenny left and put all of our pictures on one disc. My mom brought the disc up this weekend!
This is a sideways photo of Madeline Rose. It is sideways because I couldn't figure out how to flip it for real (side note: Usual Suspects was on the CW this weekend. I would have been interested to see how they pulled that one off with all of the swearing.)

Liam has the bluest eyes I have ever seen. I love them.

This was the evening of our "all cousin birthday party". Madeline fell asleep in Jenny's arms at the supper table.

This was right after Maddie woke up. She was a bit somber and not that into opening her presents. Luckily, she woke up a little just in time for bed.

I miss them already. The worst part is that I don't even know when I will get to see them again. Jenny and Maddie come to visit once or twice a year, which is why we had the all cousin birthday party. Judah and Mayah got to open birthday presents from Aunt Jenny since she won't see them in November, and Liam got some clothes in celebration of his birth. Lily got a bunch of presents, too. We had a great time.

Transformers- Rubbish in Disguise

Will and I got a babysitter to come to our house last night after the kids went to bed so we could go on a date. We were debating between a movie or dinner because you really only get to do one when your babysitter doesn't come until 8. We chose to eat a light supper and then pig out on some sinfully buttered popcorn at the movie. As my title suggests, we chose to see Transformers- Revenge of the Fallen. Our reasoning behind this was that there weren't very many shows we wanted to see, and of those we would consider, this was the one that would most benefit from the theater setting.


The thing about the Transformers is that Will and I both grew up playing with the toys and watching the cartoon. I really don't understand the appeal of the movies if you don't have some sort of childhood memory linked to them. If someone were to say to me, "Jess, let's go see a film about giant alien robots who fight other alien robots on our planet while spewing forth a variety of corny catch phrases", I would probably be skeptical. I'm not saying I would turn him or her down, because I like a good action film. But if I had watched the first one for the movie and story line alone, I would not have wasted my time with the second one. But alas, I did.


The first problem with this movie, is that the beginning and ending plot is all about teenage love. They begin the film with that "say you love me first" crap and end the movie with the same stuff. I, for one, could care less if a couple of teenagers love each other or not. It was a stupid plot, and I felt like the writers gave it way too much air time. I realize that most of the people that went to this film probably enjoyed the shots of the young maiden straddling a motorcycle or sprinting from her impending doom with her breasts flailing out of her tank top. These silly additions I can live with...they are not necessary for the plot, but they are expected. I just think it is unnecessary to try to appeal to a larger crowd by throwing in that "I'm only 17 but so much in love" junk. I'm going to see the film for the action and special effects...isn't that what I should get?

The second problem with the film, is the pure hokeyness of it all. The writers really tried to give the aliens personality this time, and I think it ruined the film in a lot of ways. There were just too many stupid catch phrases and one-liners thrown in, sometimes even under a robot's breath. I'm not going to give a bunch away about the film, because there might still be a chance that I haven't turned you off completely, but know that you have been duly warned. This film is rubbish.

Water Fun

Here are some fun pictures of our summer so far. I love photos where you can see the water splashing. This is Mayah at my parent's house a few weeks ago. She loves to splash!

My dad went and got a slip and slide. Mayah showed no signs of fear.

This is my neice, Madeline, drinking from the dolphin's mouth. My sister bought the kids a pool while she was visiting from Montana. They loved it.

It was Judah's turn to drink from the mouth of the dolphin.

Camp Jubilee

Yesterday, I loaded my children into our vehicle, packed some essentials, and headed up to Camp Quaker Heights for Camp Jubilee. CJ is a week long camp held at CQH for adults who have a mental or physical handicap. These campers stay in a cabin for the week and have a GREAT time. My first experience with CJ was a bit frightening. A lot of the campers can be extremely touchy-feely and make you feel extremely (but unintentionally) uncomfortable. I was in charge of the canoes my first year and sat at the dock for eight hours straight. The counselors would bring the campers down to the dock, and my job was to help the campers into their life jackets and into the canoes and paddle boats. It was a task! My favorite memory of that year is witnessing Ric Garrison jump out of a paddle boat to escape the wandering hands of a young lady camper. Do you remember the game "Are you nervous?" from junior high? As it turns out, Ric wouldn't have been very good at that game.



This year I didn't have a job or task. I took my three kids up to hang out with the campers and staff. My kids haven't been exposed to many people in wheelchairs or with mental disabilities, and I am choosing to be proactive in introducing them to all of the different people that God has made. A few days before Christmas, a few friends and I took our kids to a retirement home to sing to the residents. Judah gave a hug and a kiss to every person he saw (about 40 people) before we left. He kissed the knees of the residents who were in wheelchairs. It was very sweet. I know some kids who are terrified of people in wheelchairs, so my goal is to expose them to these people in a safe environment.



I think my mistake was in not explaining to my children where we were going before we got there. We arrived during karaoke hour, which was fantastic! The campers were all in the lodge, singing and dancing to "Sweet Caroline" when we walked in. We were immediately surrounded. Most of the campers just wanted to touch my kids. They would pat Mayah's nose and rub her curly hair. Judah buried his head deep into my chest. Mayah endured the petting for an impressive amount of time and followed a counselor around to meet the campers who were immobile and wanted to see the "sweet babies". One lady kept grabbing both of Mayah's hands to dance with her and asking her if she wanted a bottle. Mayah gave her a few dirty looks before running back over to me. Liam was in his car seat with campers hovering over him. It was a task to protect all of my children from having fingers stuffed into their mouths and poked into their eyes.



After about ten minutes of being in the spotlight, the campers went back to their singing and dancing. We joined them in singing "I Love Rock and Roll", "Stacey's Mom Has Got It Going On", and "Yellow Submarine" before the kids were ready to explore the camp sight. After lunch, we went swimming with the campers, and Judah lost his fear. The campers weren't so enamored with my children, so we were able to just soak it all in.

Overall, it was a really good experience for my kids. I hope to go back each year and get them into volunteering at the camp as they get older.

Sleepers

I love to sleep. When I was in high school, I could sleep until 1 pm on the weekends. My friends knew not to call to hang out before noon if they wanted to keep their good standing within my circle. When I had children, I was sure that my sleeping habits would be put to the test. Three children later, I can tell you that my kids have absolutely inherited this gift.

The other day Judah fell alseep in his room for two hours. At four, I went to get him up. He walked over to our chair and fell asleep for another 40 minutes or so. I thought it was adorable.

Potty Success

I think I can finally say with great confidence that Judah is officially potty trained. Hoo-rah. It really has been a miserable experience. But now that he is out of diapers COMPLETELY, I can't believe we lasted that long.

I am pretty sure it was especially frustrating for me because Judah is such a smart kid. I have been genuinely excited with his ability to learn things. The kid knew all of his letters, numbers, and shapes by two and a half. Colors were a bit hard to grasp, but for the most part he is a bright little kid. So why doesn't brightness translate into figuring out the potty? He showed all of the early signs that he was ready to train. He wanted to sit on the potty, tried to wipe me when I would go (don't worry, I didn't let him get far), could dress and undress himself, and knew all of the potty lingo from Elmo. So why was the kid over three and a half years old when he stopped peeing all over the floor? It was maddening.



So many people give and take advice about training a child. I don't think there is really one tried and true way to train. Believe me, we tried everything with the kid. We started out simple with the M&Ms reward and went to the sticker chart from there. Both systems interested him but neither motivated him. After that, we went for the naked approach. I would not put anything on him at all when we were at home. This worked pretty well from day to day as long as we didn't have to go somewhere. He would use the potty willingly instead of peeing or pooping on the floor, but once you put a diaper on the kid to go somewhere, all bets were off. He just didn't care.

One thing that really helped was a classic film titled "Elmo's Potty Time." Good stuff. The one downfall of this show is that Elmo instructs that your body will tell you when it needs to go potty. Because of this poorly worded phrase, my very literal son will scream, "My booty and penis aren't telling me they have to go!!" if you try to make him use the potty at a time that he deems inconvenient. Some day, when he isn't three, he will stop waiting to hear from his penis...I hope.

In May, Judah turned three and a half. I was sick of buying diapers for three children. One day I just decided that I wasn't going to buy him any more diapers. I was done. But I wasn't done cleaning up poop and pee. Many a pair of Cars and Dino undies were sealed into a plastic bag and tossed into the garbage. The true test came when we had plans to meet some friends at the zoo. I really debated slapping one of Mayah's diaper on him. Would he still use the potty if he was wearing a diaper or pull-up? Would he unlearn everything we had been through in the past few weeks?

After the inner dialogue died in my head, I realized that I wasn't willing to take the chance of having to start all over. So we put some undies on and got into the SUV. I warned Judah that we would leave the beloved zoo IMMEDIATELY if he had an accident. I thought all would be fail when we got to the zoo and discovered that the rest rooms were closed for cleaning. Are you kidding me? The friendly volunteer at the front desk directed us to a long hall and elevator that would take us to a rest room somewhere downstairs. Fifteen minutes later (and much crotch grabbing), Judah had relieved himself in an appropriate location.

Ever since our glorious day at the zoo, Judah has been accident free. We are a month into undies all day, every day. Last night I decided it was official after realizing that he had been through many nights clean and dry. Good bye, pull ups!

Stevie Rocks My Socks

My cousin, Seth, is dating the most talented photographer in the world. Yep, that's what I said. Deal with it. She is truly amazing! Stevie, who lives in Maryland, was in Omaha to photograph a wedding and drove up to Des Moines just to take pictures of our kids. She did not disappoint. Please check out her blog if you enjoy a great photo.
http://www.stevietblog.com/

This is Judah. He isn't big on posing for a nice picture. Here he was pouting on the steps and Stevie used it to her advantage. I love how big his eyes look.

Here is a picture of Judah during the actual shoot. I love that she got a picture of his missing tooth. What a good looking kid!

Here is Mayah playing around in the house. Don't you just want to squeeze her cheeks?

This is beautiful Liam.

Here is a shot of my three children.

If you come to my house on any given day, you will more than likely encounter one of my children in just a diaper or underwear. So why should Aunt Debbie's house be any different? This is Mayah in her diaper.

I am excited to see the rest of the photos that Stevie took. These were just a few to get me excited, and I am!