bathtime buddies

new rule

you know the 'new rule' segment of Bill Maher's show (maybe you do, maybe you don't) welp this is my new rule:

everyone MUST blog. this is especially important for those with children. it doesn't have to be fancy but it does have to be updated at least weekly and must include pictures as often as possible. at the very least have a Myspace page. how am i suppose to spy keep tabs on you & your family if you don't blog?

this is the perfect example: i just found out that my friend Beth's son had surgery recently. i have no idea even why... because she doesn't blog. and my cousin Janeen who has three kids ages 1, 2 & 7 is on my mind all the time. i am clueless as to how they are doing and i haven't seen pictures of her kids since Halloween. this could all be avoided if blogging was mandatory. just an idea.

holy crap!

literally. WOO HOO!! May-May pooped on the potty today!!! she started holding it in (as usual these past 2 weeks) and i told her i wouldn't hold her unless she tried potty and that i would go with her and hold her hand. she left the room upset and screaming in pain only to return a second later to say "i want go potty now" so we went and she went. it's clearly painful for her but she is making it much worse then it needs to be.

laughing, smiling, dancing, singing, lollipops!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i am by no means convinced this is the end of our poop problems. however, this is a breakthrough and i am smiling ear to ear .... it's amazing sad how much of my happiness hinges on poop these days.

online photo contest

so this website Five Minutes for Mom is having a photo contest for Mother's Day.

i found this photo from back in August when Cameron was (exactly) 2 months old. we spent a good part of that night nursing, singing & rocking ... anything to get him to sleep, and ended up on the couch. that morning Mayden found us and climbed up for a snuggle. as you can see i am clearly exhausted yet totally reveling in every minute with my two munchkins. ahhhh motherhood!

flea bitten

mosquito?

chicken pox?

FLEAS!

poor May-May has been sleeping with fleas the last few nights and i just realized it this morning! gosh i feel horrible!! i started noticing a few bug bites on her a couple of mornings ago and figured that maybe a mosquito somehow got into her room. then this morning there were a million little dots all over her. my first thought was Chicken Pox then i went online and realized the the dots were a little different. sooooo i went into her room and took a good look at her bed. one. two. three. four.... there they are. i should have know since the cats LOVE sleeping in her bed during the day.

plan of action:
getting rid of fleas is a royal pain in the ass. that i remember from my childhood. all the chemicals, all the bites, all the vet visits, all the bombs. i changed May's sheets on Monday Chris is going to call the vet to get some flea medication that you put on their necks so that when a flea bites them it dies... nice. until then the cats are kicked out. i moved all their stuff to the garage (which i was going to do anyway since the weather is nice now) why do we have cats?

photo friday

Mayden from above............








Cameron from above............





Mayden from below.........................









Cameron from below...................

meet Collin

another perk of Spring; Colling comes out of hibernation. Collin is our next door neighbor (well, really 2 yards over) and Mayden's best friend. Collin is quiet and only rarely tortures May-May with water guns. he is 4 and a half and speaks both English & Chinese fluently. they've known each other since the very beginning and May adores him.

THEN:

NOW:

Happy Earth Day!

planting day

May and i were digging in the earth again today. this time we did our planting... tomatoes, spinach, zucchini, spaghetti squash & cantaloupe. i simply followed the directions on the back of the little packs i bought. i guess it will take a few weeks before we see any tiny results popping thru the ground. we're suppose to get rain tomorrow so i set out some buckets (i want one)to collect some water for the plants as they prefer rain water over the hose.

in other news Cameron is one sick puppy. his fever is gone but now the coughing and congestion have arrived. he's got this barking cough that must be painful. this is exactly what Mayden had last week so here we go with round two... i guess it's better then having them both sick at the same time. last night it took me 3 hours to get him to sleep. he was so obviously tired yet nothing...NOTHING i tried worked. he did that arching his back thing and screaming bloody murder...what a great combo. finally i forced him to stay in the sling (after many back arching bouts) while i walked the hallway for a 1/2 hour until he finally fell asleep at 10:30. he woke up again at 4am but was pretty easy to get back down. tonight it only took me an hour to get him down, lets just hope he stays down!

in other other news Mayden is driving me absolutely NUTS with pooping... or lack there of. she's been holding it in until she can't possibly hold it in anymore. meanwhile she claims she doesn't need to go potty while OBVIOUSLY she does. every time she has the urge to poop she dances around, whines & cries, demands to be picked up and sometimes screams in pain. this can go on for up to 48 hours with the symptoms getting progressively worse and more frequent. i wouldn't mind it so much if it wasn't so disruptive to her (and my) life. it's so seriously ridiculous.

photo friday

these are from our little beach trip to OC, NJ yesterday

are vaccines really needed?

Cameron went to the doctor for his regular check-up yesterday and of course needed a vaccine. only one shot this time which is a break from the usual 3-4 they give at a time. never has he had a reaction to a vax until yesterday. last night around 11pm he woke up with a fever of 103.8!! after attending to his immediate needs (water, love, Tylenol) i call the on-call doctor as i'm packing a bag for the hospital... but apparently i was over reacting because the doctor basically said to give him Tylenol and deal with him. so i did. he slept with me in our bed as Chris graciously took the couch (we need a King size bed!) this morning his fever was still high at 102.2. more Tylenol. it did drop to 99 at one point today but then jumped back up to 102.8 this afternoon...arg! called the doctor again and the nurse tried to tell me that his fever was probably from him getting Mayden's cold and not the vax... ummm excuse me?!? anyway if the fever is still hanging around tomorrow i'm taking him back so they can fix him (after all he was perfectly fine before i brought him there on Tuesday).

seems like the majority of Americans are okay with our country's vax system but there is a very vocal minority (at least in my circle) that choose not to vax their kids. i shamefully (and purposefully) had decided not to educate myself on the issue and to blindly trust (as many parents do) the medical community with this decision. the basic concept of vaccination i understand and i totally believe that because of vaccination we have come this far in defeating many diseases. but i think i have even more reason to disagree with vaccination. i think the sheer number of vaccinations that infants receive is way over the top. and why do we have to vax for the Chicken Pox, isn't that just a right of passage for growing up? when do we say that a disease is totally gone? i mean will my grandkids have to be vaxed for Polio? and on top of all that i'm mostly sure that the pharmaceutical companies aren't entirely ethical.

i just wish i felt like i had a choice in the matter. this is really horrible to say but i think not vaxing or delaying/selective vaxing is just too much of a pain in the ass to do. you have to fight with your doctor, sign waivers, resign yourself to homeschooling, worry about litigation and be very educated about your decision so you can defend yourself at every corner.

i feel like such a sheep.

somebody sure has a lot of time on their hands!

Mayden says

so today on the swings May and i were laughing at our cat Kit-Kat who was trying to catch the swing she was in. anyway, mid laugh May says "this whole world is a joke" LOL soooo funny!

i hope it sounds reads as funny as it was at the moment.

Nada Surf

my husband is a pro, he's been doing it for years. he inconspicuously plays music from a band i don't know for months on end. then he starts with the subtle mentioning that this band is coming around soon. after a few weeks of pressure i agree to go with him, mostly so that he doesn't have to go by himself. we sucker my sister and her fiance to babysit. next we go to the show which features slightly attractive men on stage (most anyone looks good playing an instrument, even the one who resembled Jack Sparrow). i have a great time, recognizing most of the songs because even though i wasn't paying attention all those months my subconscious was. an wha-la the next morning i can't get enough of -in this case- Nada Surf. he's good. truth be told no matter how much i kick and scream on the way to a show i almost always end up loving the band in the end.

i dare you to listen to this song and not love it. go ahead and try.

it's here!!!

for months i have been carefully plotting my great double stroller purchase. i've spent countless hours researching the best double stroller out there. turns out there really isn't such a thing. double strollers are notorious for not being perfect. there bulky, heavy, hard to steer, etc, etc.

so i decided that i wasn't going to spend any more then $200 because i can't understand spending a ton of money on a stroller... although they exist and people do. that narrowed it down a bit. i went thru a phase where i thought i wanted a sit-n-stand but that was fleeting. i realized early on in my search that i prefer side-by-side rather then tandem models. when Cam was first born i bought an old tandem stroller from a yard sale for $10 and have grown to hate it. folding it is a pain, the poor kid who ends up in the back seat gets squished, super hard to steer and after a long fight it barely fits in my car soooo side-by-side it is. i like the idea of them being next to each other plus they are much smaller and therefor will fit much better in my mid-size sedan. i test drove a $350 Peg Perego stroller and loved it BUT as i said it was $350!!! so i moved on to ebay where i thought i'd find a used one or a new cheaper off brand. turns out i find the Peg Perego new for $185! WOOOHOO it did take me a few days to push the "buy" button because i thought it was too good to be true and i didn't want to be duped. it arrived today and it is real. so if you're looking for a good deal on strollers (or weird dolls) check out this seller.

so this evening my mom, the kids and i headed to Walmart to give it a test ride. very smooth ride, easy turning, kids comfy and surprisingly not feeling like i was taking up the whole isle. it was so great, i am truly in love.

isn't she a beauty?

the Speers Seven Signs Spring has Sprung

sunny & 73 degrees today... that is weather you can't argue with!

#1. my favorite tree in the yard is starting to bloom

#2. flip flops make an appearance

# 3. our bikes are out... Chris even put together the bike cart so we can now take both the kids around.

#4. a-hiking-we-will-go... and we did!

#5 clothes on the line to dry.

#6. half naked babies laying around.

#7. our house looks like this.... because we're too busy outside to deal with it.

gardening 101

it's about time i follow in the footsteps of my mother and her father.... both avid gardeners. so i am venturing into the unknown this spring and planting my very own garden. i did the initial weeding and hoeing this afternoon. i guess the next step is buying and planting seeds. i'm planning on doing tomatoes, green peppers, zucchini & maybe something else. i really have no idea what i'm doing, thank goodness i have the Internet to help me. i'm also hoping maybe genetics will come into play.

my little helper/ grass eater

another little helper

all done! (for today)

March Movie Madness

yes i am a little late with this but it needs to get done. this month was much different from last when we watched a whoping 10 movies. surprisingly this month we were only able to fit 1 movie into our lives.... and we had to watch it in two sittings...sad.



Hot Fuzz- really funny and totally over the top just like it's sister movie Shaun of the Dead (another really great movie). acting is great, comic timing great, overall a very wonderful and somewhat gross film. Score= A



SCORE=
A= loved it and will definitely watch it again
B= liked it but probably won't watch it again
C= didn't really like it and definitely won't watch it again
D= couldn't even finish it

Silent Speer Saturday

i'm convinced...

that God himherself created Ben & Jerry's Oatmeal Cookie Chunk ice cream to ease the pain of raising small children (add your own pain here)

it is so much better then Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. SO much better.

a few things

last Thursday my good friend Julie (her husband & son too) welcomed the newest member into their family: Elle Alysse! she's super cute and super tiny. it's amazing how quickly you forget how small they come into this world. Cameron was a little more then a pound lighter then she was and yet i was so surprised at how little she looked. funny!



did anyone watch NBC's Dateline last Friday? they showed the craziest story i've seen in a long time. it was about two girls who were mistaken for each other in a car accident. one lived and one died. the details are so bizarre and heartbreaking for both families. i don't know if they have past Dateline episodes online for people to watch but if they do, you should! it's called: A Twist of Fate

Cameron finally popped his first top tooth thru today. the next one is only days away i'm sure. here's some video of him at lunch today (carrots) talking about Dada clearly only to get me to stop bugging him.