My Facebook

Claire has her own "Facebook." I don't know where she comes up with this stuff. If she asks what I'm doing or reading on the computer sometimes I'll say Facebook, so this is what she came up with. Watch the video here:

Toddler Nursing

I just ran across a great article about toddler nursing. Here is my favorite line from the article: "Humans are the only mammals that don't let their offspring feed to term. I can't deny that I like to normalise breastfeeding in a world that sees it as increasingly alien..." I really enjoyed this article and it makes me want to let Claire nurse on demand when out and about instead of offering her a sippy, snacks, or snuggles. Nursing is just so much simpler! Who needs to haul along sippy cups when you've got 2 perfectly good sippy boobs!?! It mentioned something about the age of weaning should being closer to 6! "I've learnt that the natural age of weaning is closer to six years – when the first permanent molars appear – than six months."

I also really liked this comment, "No matter how hard I found breastfeeding, however, I couldn't stop, for two reasons. The more knowledgeable I became, the more vital I knew sustained breastfeeding to be. And, second, because it is obvious how much breastfeeding means to my daughter."

Freaking Annoying Cell Phone Habits

FIRST: Annoying answering habits:

1. Answering your phone when you can't talk for more than 1 minute because you're doing something else. Someone actually invented something to solve this problem. It's called VOICEMAIL. USE IT!
2. Answering your phone during a movie, concert, or otherwise interactive situation where you are expected to NOT be on a phone. This includes while paying for goods or services. It's rude to both parties. Again...voicemail was invented for this issue.
3. Answering your phone while doing something extremely loud...you know, using power tools, or vacuuming are good examples of when to let your call go to voicemail.
4. Answering your phone when talking to someone else. Nobody wants to be on hold. Hold should have never been invented. It sucks for everyone.
5. Answering your phone while in a public restroom. Nobody wants to hear flushing while they talk to you. And nobody wants to hear your stall call while they are going potty. It's a little creepy to hear a one-way conversation in an otherwise quiet restroom.
6. Answering your phone while waiting in line at the grocery store because you're expected to um, interact with the cashier. Besides, you might want to pay attention and make sure you don't get double charged for something. Oh, and that beeping of the scanned items is very annoying to hear.
7. Answering your phone while watching TV or listening to music loudly. Either let it go to voicemail OR hit pause. Don't do both.
8. Answering your phone while eating. Listening to someone chew while amplified over the phone is just downright disgusting.
9. Answering your phone and then 3-way connecting the call to someone else without asking. Maybe we don't want to talk to that person right now or just had a quick question for the person that we actually called...not the other person.
10. Answering your phone in your own bathroom and and then flushing the potty. Seriously. If you have to answer your phone now, then don't flush the potty. I don't care how close you are. I don't want to know that you just crapped or peed. And I'm gonna laugh if you ever accidently drop your phone in the dirty crapper water.
11. Answering your phone in the car. Um, driving requires some attention. I don't want to be responsible for your next car accident. Plus it's freaking annoying to other drivers and can even be fined in some areas. HANG UP AND DRIVE.
12. Don't answer a landline while on a cell phone or vice-versa. It's like holding. Let the other one go to voicemail. You can't be on 2 lines at once. It's just rude to both people and frustrating to yourself when you try and decide who you want to talk to more.
13. Don't answer an unknown number when you're talking to me. That's like beyond retarded. That's like leaving a $12 IMAX movie to go home and check your email to read the SPAM that you get.
14. Don't answer a survey. What a waste of freaking time. No wonder you have to keep close tabs on minutes.
15. Don't answer your phone while at a restaurant, even if your food isn't there yet. The only place that is ok is a place like McDs where you pay for the food at the counter and get it yourself.

NOW: Annoying calling habits:

1. Don't call me for directions to my house on the way to an event. I'm likely busy getting things ready or already have other company here. Ok, if it's a true emergency, fine. But plan ahead. Get online and look up directions and print them out if you still live in the dinosaur age...better yet...get a GPS. Again, inventions were invented for a reason.
2. Don't call me for the phone number or address to where you are going. What the crap. I have a life. Just because I *might* be home doesn't mean I want to look things up for you. There is actually a service that will do this for you for a small fee. It's called...ready for this...INFORMATION! But...again...if you are cheap, plan ahead and http://www.justfuckinggoogleit.com/. OR...if you have a GPS...it will list theses these things. There are also these little electronic handheld thingys that have the Internet that will come right along with you wherever you go. OPTIONS ARE ENDLESS.
3. Don't call me while you are looking at refrigerators and ask me to research them for you while you are at the store. You've got to be beyond kidding me. This is part of doing your homework. This a MAJOR appliance. One that YOU NEED TO DO YOUR OWN HOMEWORK ON!!!
4. Don't call me back without checking your freaking voicemail. It just makes you look stupid. I don't care if it wastes your minutes.
5. Check your voicemails daily. Again, stupid-looking.
6. Respond to your voicemails within 24 hours. Again, stupid and/or rude-looking...falls on YOU!
7. Delete your old voicemails. I can't believe how many people I've called who have full Voicemail boxes. Seriously. It takes 2 seconds to delete them. On the other hand, it's a pretty good indicator that I better not leave you one.
8. Don't complain that I never call you because when I do call you, you manage to somehow violate at least one of the above mentioned rules in a least every phone call.
9. Don't pass the phone off to someone else in the room without asking. If I wanted to call that person, well, I would've called that person.
10. Don't call me while you are waiting in line at the grocery store. Your fellow shoppers don't want to hear you talking while in line. We've discussed this before. Call when you have some quality time to spend chatting.
11. Don't get mad when you don't leave a voicemail and you don't get an instant call back. Just because there is a missed call from you, that doesn't mean I am going to instantly call you back. I probably haven't even missed my phone. It's probably out in my car, allowing the voicemail to pick up call after call. I will listen to my 5 voicemails and respond to those first. IF I even look at the missed calls, I may or may not get around to returning your mystery call about something you forgot about why you were calling anyways.
12. Don't call me to look up random facts. I don't care what you want to know. Use http://www.chacha.com/
13. Don't call me to go turn on the TV to watch a certain movie or show. I don't give a rat's ass what you are watching. It's not going to be on the same channel anyways.
14. Don't call me while the person next to you is on the phone. Hearing another conversation is annoying.
15. Calling me then talking to another person in the same room with you without saying "hang on" It's confusing. And rude.
16. Calling me and then not letting me go after and adequate conversation length. Once someone hints they need to "go" then it's only polite to let them go within about a minute of said hint. Continuing to try and talk to me when I've got a screaming toddler is frustrating for everyone involved, and I will hang up the phone on you.
17. Only ever calling me for to look up something online for you. I'm glad you know I've got the Internet. But you could at least call and chit chat once in awhile, too. Seriously, a 3 minute phone call could fill me in a lot about your life.
18. Calling me to tell me to check my email or snail mail box. I check those. Daily. Email I check AT LEAST 3 times a day...morning, noon, and night. Just because you only check your email...weekly, doesn't mean I do.
19. Calling me to tell me you texted me. I don't have texting. Either call me or email me. Send me a letter in the snail mail if you can't pay your phone or Internet bill this month. A stamp is only 42 cents. Steal some change out of a fountain if needed.
20. Calling to ask about a text you sent me. I don't have texting. Texting is gay. I hate texting. I can't type on a little tiny keypad to save my life. I don't want to see your stupid pictures and forwards instantly on my hip. They can wait to go to my inbox where I will delete your stupid Obama and other forwards without opening or otherwise looking at them if they have FW: in the subject line. If it's not worth a full phone call or a full email, it's probably not worth my time. Or definitely.
21. Calling and leaving extra long voicemail messages. I have set my voicemail time limit to one minute.
22. Don't call and "finish" what you were going to say on another voicemail. I will call you back. Maybe. If you don't piss me off too much.
23. Don't call me and read something to my voicemail. I don't want to hear it.
24. Don't call me and read me Bible passages to my voicemail. I have a Bible. If I want to read it, I will.
25. Don't call me and read something to me that you found in German. Unless you are my Dad or a native speaker...then your German sucks. I don't want to hear it. And even then, see 23.
26. Don't call me and call me and call me. LEAVE A VOICEMAIL. I WILL CALL YOU BACK WHEN I GET BACK TO MY PHONE.
27. Ask where I was. Maybe I was taking a shower. Maybe I was sleeping. Maybe it's none of your beeswax. Maybe I was in a public restroom or checking out at the store or I just didn't hear my phone ring. Maybe I was at the bar getting drunk because I want a FAS baby (NOT!) Just because "I stay at home" does not mean I actually sit at home on my couch all day and answer my phone instantly. If I want to tell you, I will.
28. Don't call me and leave me voicemails between the hours of midnight and six AM. You should be asleep. NOT on the phone. I turn my phone off, but most calls during these hours are never productive and usually involve mind-altering substances.
29. Don't call me for someone else's address or email address or my own. Really. Take 2 seconds and look it up for your freaking self.
30. Don't call me to edit your paper/resume/project that is due in 30 minutes. Really. I'd love to read your stuff and laugh at all your grammatical errors, but I need a little more time, especially if you want some constructive feedback.
31. Don't call me only when you need something. I've already figured those people out. I have their numbers in my phone, not because I'm going to call them, but just so I can see when they call and then I hit "Ignore."
32. Don't call me and ask what I'm doing tomorrow. I know you'll want me to do something for you, so just tell me and then I'll decide what I'm doing tomorrow...aka helping you out or sticking to my original plan.
33. Don't call me to babysit for your kid plus 5 other random kids I've never watched before 2 hours before you need me. I'm going to say no and wonder why you thought I would watch them.
34. Don't call me when I'm in a bad mood, like right now. I'll probably let it go to voicemail so I don't get pissy and unnecessarily irritate you in the process.
35. Don't only ever call me while you're in the car because it's not safe and because you probably really don't have time to chat anyways.
36. Don't put me on speaker phone ever. At best, speaker phone completely beyond sucks. Nobody can hear anything. If you don't have time to chat, please be polite enough to let me know.
37. Don't complain that I don't have a landline or have texting blocked. I really don't care that this fact might piss you off. I might actually giggle about the fact that it pisses you off.
38. Don't call me to ask me my own address. Don't be so freaking lazy. I know you have it. Keep yourself organized to freaking know where it is.
39. Don't call me and tell me some long website address. I'm not going to go look it up. I'm not going to probably even listen to my entire voicemail message. Email it to me. Duh. And even then I'm probably just going to delete it. :)
40. Please don't call me ask my husband computer questions. He has email. He doesn't want to help you. But neither do I. Your computer probably sucks. You need to stop going to crappy porno sites. Email him your questions, don't call me about them. It makes me want to stab you and drink your blood when you ask about computer questions. Nom, nom, nom! I don't call you for computer help.
41. Don't call my husband's work Blackberry and leave a message. He didn't stutter on his message. (Go ahead for those of you that have never called. Call it and get a giggle out of it.) But don't leave a message. Either me or one of his coworkers will be deleting your message that nobody is going to hear. And we are just going to think you're even stupider for leaving a message. And don't leave a message to be funny, because the messages were just deleted today and probably won't even be acknowledged (ahem, deleted) for a few more months.

The End.

Disclaimer: All of the above are based on actual observations or personal experiences. If you think something is directed at you, it probably is. :) Ask me, I will tell you because I'm cool like that! But don't feel bad if you think something is directed at you because most of these things have been violated by several people several times. I don't claim to have perfect manners or perfect phone manners, but I don't talk while driving or crapping or checking out at Wal-Mart. I was prompted to write this particular post when I called my mom and she answered while AT A CHRISTMAS CONCERT. SERIOUSLY! Ok, now I know that when Claire is older, I'll probably want to answer her every call just in case it's an emergency. But I've also called my Dad probably at least 2 times while he was at the movies. Seriously. LOL. If it's a true emergency then I should be calling 911.

I'm going to bed. NARGH!

Blocks!

I ordered Claire some wooden blocks for Christmas before I saw this post. Now I'm doubly excited about her gift!

Duggars had premature baby!

The Duggars had their 19th baby, 3 months early...she was only 25 weeks prego. Holy Carp...that would be like me having this boy next week. Read more here.

Sesame Street Potty Chart

Claire has been doing great asking to go potty. Check out her sticker chart. The sticker chart came in a coloring book about Elmo learning to use the potty that her friend Pierce gave to her for her 2nd birthday. I'm glad I finally got it out. She loves picking what sticker she gets to put on the chart.

Advent Calendar

Claire is in love with her Advent Calendar. She wants to carry it around and play with the little doors. She can't open any new doors, yet...hasn't figured that out. I have to open them for her, so that works out well.
I let her pick out which one she wanted, and of course she picked the one with baby Jesus. She loves babies, like most toddlers.

St. Nicholas Shoes Craft

Claire made St. Nick shoes for the first time. Well, she colored them and "helped" me tape them together.
She was so excited to have made her own shoes and carried them around all day.

She loves coloring!!!

I think she is going to be right-handed, but sometimes she will use her left.

Finger Painting Christmas Shapes

Claire had so so so much fun finger-painting! I traced the Christmas shapes with cookie cutters, then she painted them with finger paint. Oh, and I added some glitter! I.love.glitter=true!
Well, the one on the left, she colored, but the rest were finger-painted.

Now we have all these cute shapes, and I'm not sure what to do with them! Maybe I'll stick a string through them and hang them on the tree?

She kept saying "Oooh! Squishy!!!"

I kept her in her jammies so no clothes would be stained, and I put a huge bib on her too.

Feeling Better...Not so pissed...

Well, I feel better now after ranting about my silly OB appt. today. And thank you, Amy, for pointing an obvious fact that I didn't seem to connect at the time. My boy is MEASURING 2 weeks EARLY, yet she is claiming that nursing while pregnant could some how cause the baby not to grow. CAN'T BE BOTH!!!

Hello, the milk supply would dry up first...and I am kind of waiting to see if this happens. But Claire always asks for milky nummies. I ask her if milk is coming out, and she always says YES. Once in awhile in the evening while nursing to sleep she will say it's "All gone." So I know she's drained things for a moment.

So this evening Claire and I hit up the Hancock Breastfeeding Group for their Christmas party. It was a complete blast and all the little kiddies and nurslings were dressed super-duper cute!!! And there was food...and it was super yummy!

I talked to the LC (lactation consultant) and told her Dr. N. had advised me not to nurse. And guess what? She said that I wasn't the first mom that had told her that. Seriously. I want to educate this silly OB. I'd like to find a really good, recent article that supports nursing during pregnancy to give her...but is there even a point?

She is an OB. I asked if she has kids. Nope. So obviously she's never nursed any which pretty much says it all. If you want someone to deliver your kid who has had a good nursing experience I suppose you'd have to go more the midwife route.

And it was a good night since Claire went right to sleep after running around and playing with other kids almost all day!!!

Silly, Silly OB.

I just got back from my OB appt. I am supposed to be 22 weeks, but baby boy is measuring 24 weeks. I HATE THE OBs. At my last visit, 4 weeks ago, I met with Dr. S. who already was mentioning induction because I was measuring big. GOOD GRIEF! Can we at least wait until APRIL to start mentioning inductions.

THIS TIME, I left ticked again, because I happened to mention I was still nursing. I didn't meant to. Really. I know you're not "supposed to breastfeed past 12 months." (Please not the dripping sarcasm.) The reason I'm ticked was because the silly OB, Dr. N, said "You're still nursing while you're pregnant?" Yup. "You're really not supposed to." Oh really? "There is a concern about the baby getting enough nutrients." Really.

So guess what I said. I said she could jot down on her little chart that she informed me of that, but I've read otherwise and plan on continuing. Ha. I felt her bristle a little at this point. She's like, well, legally we have to inform you to stop nursing in case the baby inside you isn't growing enough.

WHAT. THE. HELL.

Women have tandem nursed for THOUSANDS OF YEARS. I am beyond pissed right now.

I said I was in La Leche League. I dropped that "L bomb" ha. And I have read otherwise. I turned out fine and my older brother David nursed while my mom was pregnant with me...and for 9 more months alongside me!!! GEEZ!!!

ME.ANGRY=TRUE!

So then I got all bitchy. Yes I did. I said I would like to see what she had read otherwise. That caught her off guard. I asked where she had read that. Couldn't really remember. MAYBE BECAUSE THAT'S A LOT OF SHIT. Pardon my French.

Anyways, baby boy was fine. Did the normal pee in a cup, let them take my blood pressure, etc. Sometimes they want to take it twice because it tends to run low. I swear it's the fish oil vitamins I've been taking daily since trying to get pregnant with Claire.

His heart beat was strong and measured at 150. (If you follow old wives's tales, girls are supposed to have a higher heart beat, so that was wrong.)

UGH. WHY AM I SO ANGRY.

I am so mad that the back of my neck feels hot.

At least Claire was GREAT at the neighbors. She was a perfect angel and didn't hit over a toy once. And didn't cry when I left or when she realized I'd left!!! She loves playing with Christopher since they are about the same age. He just turned 2 mid-November, so about 3ish months apart...

I've got frozen pizza in the oven. I'm too mad to make dinner. I had to blog instead. ;)

WHY AM I SO PISSED?

BECAUSE I'M RIGHT?

Oh, and she also mentioned the whole contraction crap from nipple stimulation but that is crap too because contractions without dilation is fine!

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

First time Finger Painting

I finally got around to finger painting with Claire and it was a blast. Check out our video here:

Christmas Mittens

This is a craft we made at story time. I thought it was cute. It would be even cuter to make gloves and trace their little hands for the gloves. All she did for this was add Christmas stickers, but she had a blast! Notice she even put the paper backing on one of them. She even threaded the pipe cleaner through herself, I just helped twist it together!

The Making of the Gingerbread House

So these are gonna go in reverse since that's the way Blogger likes to upload things. Here is our finished house! Slightly sloppy by my old definitions, but absolutely perfect with a 2 year-old helping!

You'll notice that Claire was a huge fan of this craft project. Her hands are in her mouth on several photos. She loved the icing.
I would actually put the icing on the house and then she would stick the candies on. And then I kept noticing she would just stick her finger in the icing so she could eat it.

Her eyes are closed in pure bliss:

What's not to love? Sugary treats right after breakfast while still wearing Sponge Bob jammies. I hate Sponge Bob btw. But for $3 clearance jammies at Wal-Mart...you stop caring and just buy them. Stuff at the Goodwill or Resale stores costs more!

YUMMY! I put out all these different bowls for the candies. Next year...I won't be so organized. It's all just gonna get mixed up anyways!

She got the hang of this right away and had a blast sticking all the candies on...in between sticking some in her mouth!

Ahh...standing in the chair. This is why I like to keep her strapped in the booster seat or high chair. Then she can't get out!

I first told her we were gonna put the candy on the house and she dumped a whole bowl right on to it. :)

It only took about 5 minutes to ice the house together. The roof was broken in the box, but nothing a little icing didn't fix!

Stay tuned for more fun Christmas crap, err...crafts...that we've been making!

Ring-Around-The-Rosie

Claire is in love with Ring-Around-The-Rosie. SHE LOVES IT. She doesn't just fall down at the end. She does a belly-flop-dive onto the ground at the end. I don't know why it's so fun, but she wants to sing it like this "Ring around the Rosie! ASHES! FALL DOWN!" so she can hurry up and get to the falling down part of things.

My New Favorite Music Video

Check out this great little music video clip set to Beyonce:

Playing with Play-Doh

What is it with 2 year-olds and Play-Doh? It's great! It will keep her busy for at least a solid 15 minutes. And that's a long time in the Toddler world. Sometimes she will sit and play with it for up to an HOUR before she asks to get down. Daddy actually took these pictures, so I give him credit. He actually got her looking and smiling here!!!!
This is the set she got on Sunday, and she is already having a blast mixing the colors. That's the whole fun of it!

I like to let her play with it every day because 1) I know it's a good way to keep her busy without having to watch her really closely and 2) It's great for working on her strength in her little fingers and hands with all the ripping, pulling, and smashing!

Daddy made this snake and she decorated it. I was taking a glorious Sunday afternoon nap. Alone. :) No, I tried to get Claire down for 30 minutes, but she didn't want to sleep. So she got to go play while I got to sleep. I probably should've tried longer, but I kept dozing off and she kept waking me up...and I knew Daddy was home. So around 6pm Claire crawled into my lap to nurse. Josh and I were watching a movie about ... something ... it was that memorable...what was it...that big hippie fest in the NY area that drew so many people....WOODSTOCK....anyways, suddenly I realized she wasn't nursing, but she hadn't moved for some time. She totally had fallen asleep. Like OUT. So we enjoyed the movie while she slept on my lap for a bit. Love that she can still fall asleep nursing like that. Of course...she didn't fall asleep nursing in the bed earlier, so it's not always a given anymore. Just when she's super tired!

Doesn't she look so big sitting in one of the big chairs and not her booster or high chair?

It's about time she got some new Play-Doh. Her other ones were getting really dried out and crusty from her playing with them so much! I could MAKE some Play-Doh, but that requires, you know...effort. LOL! Actually, I'll probably make some with her this winter when it's cold and staying inside and still having fun requires some thoughtfulness to make things fun.

She loves to help me cook. Her new thing is wanting to help me put eggs on to boil for breakfast. She is learning the art of GENTLY putting them into the pot, and not dropping them. There is always one that gets a crack and leaks little egg bits all over the pot. Ahh, the joys of having a toddler help in the kitchen. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

Gingerbread House

I love making Gingerbread Houses. I find the kits awesome. I've even made my own Gingerbread and cut the pieces to size in the past, but it's really hard to get them uniform and the same height/thickness. The kits are super-cheap. It doesn't matter what it tastes like because it's not like anyone's actually going to eat the icing or Gingerbread after it sits out for weeks. I got this Gingerbread Kit for $9 bucks which included the premade icing in a bag and lots of candy. We did add some extra candy we had laying around and some random leftover Halloween Candy. I like to always put the house on a sturdy cookie sheet, so we can decorate around the base, too. Plus it makes it easy to move around and catch fallen candies. Watch as Claire and I chat with Daddy about the house and stuff here:

Hammer Pants

I actually really like this outfit Claire is wearing. I think it's super cute! Josh thought it looked like MC Hammer Pants from back in the day though. Check it out here:



What do you think?

Happy St. Nick Day!

Yesterday, we celebrated the 2nd Sunday of Advent as well as St. Nick Day. Here is a video of Claire finding her loot:

LOOKING AND SMILING!

WOW! Here she is LOOKING AND SMILING! It's my new blog header, too, btw. If you haven't checked out my new blinkies on my page and our elf dance, please do so!

Princess Obsession

Here is Claire playing with her Nativity Set and some of her Princess Dolls. I'm thinking they were the "Three Wise Women."
Every time I take pictures, she screams "Take a picture of me running in a circle!" Why? They make for terrible pictures, but I think she gets a kick out of seeing them on the little screen.

She is insisting on wearing dresses the past few days "I wanna wear a dress like Princesses!" BUT she doesn't like to wear tights or sweaters. Hmm. A slight issue in Midwestern Winter!

Movie Night!

We enjoy having our neighbors over to hang out. We usually order pizza or Chinese and eat together and then the kids can play/sit and watch a movie for 2 minutes before getting up to play. I was trying to get them to all look. Kind of pointless with a movie on and suckers in hand. Oh, and this is the couch that went into the "man cave" AKA: Josh's office after we got our new recliner. We've had this loveseat nearly 10 years! It was the first piece of furniture we bought together. Aww.
Claire and Amelia enjoying some sweet suckers!

Science Proves It

I found a great Power Point Presentation about brain development and why it is so harmful to babies. Here it explains why leaving an infant to cry it out or "gradually" cry it out is abuse. Bascially it talks about infants 12 months and under. However, I don't see it much different for something like a 14 month old, other than the fact that their brain may be more developed. But I wouldn't risk it!

Placenta Eating

Wow. Here is an interesting blog post on eating placentas. All I can say is...wow. I don't know if I could bring myself to eat my own placenta. It seems sort of cannibalistic in a way. But I'm not a huge meat person, and I like red meats even less. What do you think?