Riley and Avery

[Fresh out of the bathtub, hanging their stockings.]

[Preparing treats for Santa (candy cane cookies and chocolate rice milk) and the reindeer (oatmeal, celery, and a carrot)]

[Avery admiring her tube of My Little Ponies]

[Avery was pretty happy with her stocking and probably could have gone without presents.]

[The (empty) stockings that I made the girls this year. I'm not making any more any year soon, that's for sure. The girls picked out their fabrics on their own.]

[Just a cute Avery picture! By the way, Mom, that's a scratch beside Avery's nose, courtesy of Riley, not dirt!]

[The Naked Girls playing with their new toys. Riley's wearing her Huggalugs on her arms. She loves them. She had the "pirate" ones on her legs, but took them off because she was sweating.]

[Riley contemplating her next culinary creation!]

[When it comes to present un-wrapping, Avery turned pro sometime between her birthday and Christmas. She was so involved in unwrapping that she would forget to look at the gift.]

Christmas Eve sucked. It just totally sucked. I hadn't finished the girls' stockings, so I let them take a later nap than normal so I could work on them and then they wouldn't go to sleep at night. I finally got them down at 11 pm, and Avery kept waking up every 20 minutes or so and wouldn't let me go. Then I finally got her to sleep soundly around 1 or 2am and Riley woke up and wouldn't go back to sleep until around 5 am. All I got were little snatches of sleep. I think I could fall over and slip into a lovely coma. At least they both slept for about 45 minutes to start with so I got to put the presents under the tree and stuff the stockings before they interrupted me. One really annoying conversations I had with Riley as she was struggling to sleep so that Santa could come last night went like this:
Riley: Am I asleep yet?
Me: No.
Riley: Well, I was and you just woke me up by talking!
ARGH! And in my acute mental fog, I fell for this about a dozen infuriating times.

Riley and Avery really made out this year. Sometimes you don't realize that you've gone overboard until you see all the presents crowded under the tree. Luckily we have a sparse tree and not all that many branches to get in the way. The treehouse we got the girls is really huge and really well made, standing taller than Riley. Both girls love working the pulleys, but already fight over the large bucket so that they can move the people from one level to another via bucket. Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Allan got them a Ryan's Room Fairyland Forest and the girls love the bright colors and all the fairies. Pulleys must be the thing, because this one has one that goes around the set with fairy chairs hanging from it. Riley whips it around like an amusement park ride. Poor fairies. Of course, we had to get Riley a Littlest Pet Shop playset and Avery a My Little Pony playset. The girls got fairy and princess cookbooks from Auntie Mina, Uncle Brendan and the boys. I thought they would have a stroke when they saw all the colorful treats they can make. When we next have money I'll take them shopping for ingredients. I always feel crass when talking about what I got, so I'll pass on that...

I also got Riley some quality books. She's been choosing really annoying books lately. In fact, I returned her Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand back to Barnes and Noble because I found it nauseatingly written. I simply couldn't read it. The characters were one-dimensional and the plot was unfocused, and oh my goodness, the dialog was unreadable. We're working on Mr. Popper's Penguins now and find that much more enjoyable. Perhaps I should have taught her to persevere, but I also want her to develop discriminating taste when it comes to books. It always baffled me when Rudi would finish a 800 page book, and when I asked him how it was, he's say it sucked. Then why finish reading it? Or like the time I watched Scent of a Woman, and found it so horrible that I physically got sick to my stomach, and yet I kept watching it to see if it got better, and it never did. I guess that's when I learned not to waste my life on sub-standard movies and books. Anyway, for Christmas she received a beautifully illustrated collection of Aesop's fables and The Water Hole by Graeme Base.

Riley definitely has enough toys, so I'm focusing on art and craft supplies for her birthday. What she really needs is an art cabinet to organize all of her supplies and store her finished art. Right now her art is taking up all of the under-cabinet space in our kitchen. I've got a bunch of stuff picked out from Discount School Supply online, so hopefully Rudi's unemployment will go through and we'll have money to buy her stuff. As it is, if we pay the absolute bare minimum on our bills, we'll have about $250 left over for food/gas/etc for the entire month. Which means a lot of going no where and a lot of ramen noodles and plain rice. February won't be so bad, but I'm not getting my VA education payment in January since I barely had classes in December. Well, I had seven days of classes, so I should get a little more than $200, but will need to spend that on books since classes start 1/16. I won't get my full benefits in February either, but it'll be close to $450 so that'll be fabulous. Once I get my full benefits in March, we'll be okay. Until the semester ends again.

Riley's face painted at the Walmart holiday party (not commenting on the quality of the work, but Riley looks cute!)

The best present over: The huge box that the presents came in from Grandma and Grandpa. Note that the box has a "doorbell" hanging on it.

The girls' idea of decorating the tree involves hanging ALL of the ornaments on the branches that they can reach.

I'm getting impatient for Christmas. All the wrapping is done and now I can't wait to give the girls and Rudi their presents! I got Rudi an iPod nano for Christmas, before he was fired. He told me to take whatever I got him back to the store, but I had already opened the iPod and uploaded pictures and music to it, so there goes that. Which is fine because we haven't exchanged gifts since Riley was born. Plus, I'm tired of him buying a new disc-man every month, only to have them break a week or so later. Then I get to hear him cursing in the middle of the night, and the *click*click*click* of him changing the batteries and the *click*click*click* of him taking batteries from the remote controls and every other battery-operated thing to try them to see if they work. Then, if I'm really lucky, he'll tromp downstairs to get the battery recharger and I get to hear that *click*click*click*. Then more cursing and such, all at 3am. Not cool. I got him a hard case for the iPod, so hopefully he won't manage to break it. And perhaps it will get him to go to the gym more often, which in itself is worth the cost of the iPod. I hope he likes it!

Ugh, I'm so far behind on blogging! I still have to post tree-decorating pictures, as well as pictures from our trip to the Electric Safari at the zoo. Better get cracking...

The tree decorating pictures will have to wait since we've been slowly doing that over the course of days, and usually the girls aren't dressed in a way that Grandma would approve of!

So we piled the kiddos on the car on Wednesday and drove out to Woodland Park to Pike National forest to legally chop down our own tree. The permit was only $10, so you can't beat that. There was a lot more snow on the ground than we had anticipated, so we couldn't hike too far in for a tree. I went in with the idea of purposely getting a tree that did not look like a lot tree. I wanted a tree that looked like a real tree. Rudi is going around looking for a lot tree. I finally convinced him on a sparse-looking tree with dozens of pine cones still attached to it. It was about four or five feet too tall, but he chopped it down and cut it down to size at home.

Next year we'll go a little earlier in the cutting season and bring our snowshoes. We also decided to get the girls their own snowshoes next winter. Riley will definitely be big enough. We'll see about Avery, she may still need to be worn.

So I sold my three books back to the school for a whopping $130!! Holy cow, UMBC never paid that much. Especially considering that I bought them on Amazon for $75 total! Sweet!

We've been filling out applications left and right. I am pretty much willing to work anywhere, but Rudi is being more picky. That's fine with me. If I work for a month or two it'll give Rudi time to find something that he doesn't hate everyday. It's actually been nice having him home, for once. I guess it makes a difference that it wasn't really his fault that he got fired, and that I'm not mad at him for it. When money starts getting a little tighter, I'm sure things won't be so rosy, but we're not letting it kill our holiday spirit. There's a brand-new Costco opening up about two miles from our house. It's supposed to be a great company to work for, like they practice what they preach, unlike Walmart. If Rudi can get in there, we'll be golden. But I'm not sure exactly when they are opening, I think about a month or two. Definitely within 12 weeks, since you can't apply for a job there until the store is 12 weeks from opening. I just don't know if we can wait 12 weeks for Rudi to get a job. Hopefully it's much less.

I filed an unemployment claim against Walmart. I'm sure they'll fight it tooth and nail and we'll get nothing, but at least I'm trying. In Colorado an employer can fire an employee without cause, but as far as unemployment goes, unjustified firing is the same as laying off. Otherwise, all companies would just fire employees without cause rather than laying them off and having to pay unemployment.

I am filling out an application at Mountain Mamas Natural Foods. Hopefully I'll be able to get a job somewhere. Anywhere.

I just thought of something. Being in the paralegal program, we get free unlimited access to Westlaw, which is the premier online database for cases, case history, and precedence. Most law firms cannot afford Westlaw because Westlaw charges lawyers $36 per minute to use their database, and the lawyers usually turn around and charge the client about $60 per minute for the research. Holy cow, my access to Westlaw is golden. I could probably get hired by a law firm now as a legal secretary now just based on my access to Westlaw! By the time my Westlaw access ends I'll be a full-fledged paralegal. Oh yeah! Not that I'd do it, but just because I could...

Just a quick one to gloat about my straight A's!! Yeah, I rock!

PPCC 21355 ACC 101 Fundamentals of Accounting PPCC Online Campus A
PPCC 22242 PAR 115 Introduction to Law PPCC DownTown Studio Campus A
PPCC 24252 PAR 116 Torts PPCC DownTown Studio Campus A
PPCC 22329 PAR 127 Legal Ethics PPCC DownTown Studio Campus A

To be honest, I think the accounting teacher graded on a curve. I'm pretty sure I had a rock-solid B. Two-thirds of the class dropped out, so I'm pretty sure she just gave me the A. Not that I'm complaining...

We put up the tree today, so I'll post pictures of that later...didn't want to wait for photos to upload to share the news on my grades.

So, we got a little bit of snow recently. Not too bad, it's just really cold out. When did I become a snow-hater? I vividly remember playing happily in the snow as a kid. So when did this happen? I mean, I HATE snow. I know I should be taking the kids out sledding and such, but did I mention that I hate snow? And Avery is a little too young to really enjoy playing in it. She just stands there, heaven forbid if snow actually falls in her hair or if she gets a snowflake on her cheek. Colorado snow is so dry that there's really nothing yo can do with it. We tried in vain to make a snowman (okay, I didn't try all that hard, but I know defeat when I see it). The snow just doesn't hold together. Perhaps when it starts to melt a little bit, the snow will get more moist and hold together.

So I've been in a cooking slump. Sick of everything that I normally make and without enough time to find a recipe that interests me. Now that I'm done with school (YIPPEE!!) I've been browsing recipes. So yesterday I made luau chicken with a side of coconut rice. Holy moly, totally delicious. And it smelled so good while it was cooking. Mmmmm...I'm heating myself up some more now. We had some dried apricots that no one was going to eat, so I diced some up and put them in to cook with the rice. Nice. Different in a good way. The luau chicken did call for green peppers, which Rudi despises. I usually need to cut them big so he can avoid them, or cut them tiny so he doesn't notice them. I chose big this time.

It was nice yesterday not to have to do any school work. I was barely on the computer at all. Well, I did check in rather frequently to see if any grades have been posted, but I was only connected to the internet for a few minutes each time. Well, obviously I'm on the computer right now...On Sunday I was literally on the computer from when I got up on the morning until 1am, working on my accounting projects. Literally. The kids were running wild like little heathens. It felt so good to hit the mattress that night. So happy to be done with Accounting. I am doubting that I was able to finagle an A, but if not, it was a hard-earned B. What kind of idiot takes accounting as an elective anyway? I should have learned my lesson when I took calculus as an elective at UMBC. Duh. If a class is going to be hard, it might as well be interesting. Next semester I'm taking Native Americans of North America, an anthropology class. I've been told by professors that I need to take anthropology classes, based on how I debate issues. They said it would be interesting to me. We'll see.

Riley went througha little jag where she wasn't very interested in tea, so she wasn't getting her chamomile/lavender/catnip infusions for a few days, and I really noticed a difference. So I guess it's working. Her evaluation with the developmental pediatrician is next month, so I want to get this just a little under control. Rudi would be totally okay with medicating Riley, as long as it makes his life easier. I'm totally NOT okay with it. In order to avoid marital strife, I hope that this guy will have alternative ideas as well. Rudi puts a lot of faith in medications and modern medicine. He's okay with not vaccinating anymore, but this thing with Riley really drives him crazy. He is her father, so I have to take his ideas seriously, but I hope he doesn't advocate medicating Riley.

Oh, I think Rudi returned a library movie to Blockbuster, so I have to go give them a call. It's Avery's favorite Care Bears movie.

So Rudi has been taking Riley and Avery to storytime at the library every Wednesday evening when I'm at school. Recently she's learned a lot of holiday-themed finger-plays, which is fine by me. But she's also been learning a lot more about Santa than I feel comfortable with. I don't know for sure if she learned it at storytime, but I know that she's not learning it in school, but perhaps she's learning it from kids at school...Anyway, she's all over baking cookies for Santa and leaving carrots for the reindeer. And I've never been comfortable with the idea of asking Santa for anything. It just rubs me the wrong way, it's greedy. Especially since we've already finished gift-buying for Riley, so what if she asks for something we didn't get her? I'm fine letting Riley determine what she wants to believe in, and if she choses to believe in Santa that's fine with me. But now all she talks about is Santa, and what cookies we are going to leave for him, if we have carrots for the reindeer, she's writing "letters" to Santa, and even wrote him an invitation to her birthday party. It's going way too far. I don't feel comfortable actively deceiving her. I'm at a totally loss at what to do. How do I explain to her that Santa isn't going to come to her birthday party? I have never taught her a thing about Santa because I wasn't sure if we would do the Santa thing, but she's picked it up like the plague.

These pictures are from Walmart's holiday party. Riley got her present from Santa, then sat on his lap, then went back because she forgot to "read" him her list, then went back because she forgot to invite him to her birthday party, she wanted to go back to tell Santa about her canker sore (but we dissuaded her that time), then she went back to give him a hug and a kiss, then she went back to say goodbye, then she went back to give him her cheesy smile. Before we went there, Riley kept asking if it was going to be the real Santa or a fake Santa, and I didn't want to go there, so I put the question back onto her. Then she said "I know how we can tell if he's fake. If he can't even stand up, then he's fake." And it dawned on me that the fact that someone would pretend to be Santa never occurred to her. She thought it would be a Santa that wasn't even a person.

Avery was horrified of Santa (and she said earlier that she was going to ask him for a Care Bear) she clung to be saying "scared! Scared! Home! Home!" Poor little thing.

By the way, Avery can count! I didn't hear the whole series, because I was just happening by when I heard her. She was pulling pencils out of the pencil cup and putting them in her hand. I heard her say "five, six, seven, eight" then she stopped because she noticed I was watching. Smart girl! I'm sure she learned that from Riley because Riley is a number-oriented person, for sure. I don't know what number she started with or how far she could have gone, but that was a surprise!

I have snow pictures, but I think I'll save them for the next post!

Just a quick one because I'm really angry at Beco right now. They must have their heads in their butts or something! Shortly after buying the Beco, I unbuckled the shoulder straps to do a front carry with Avery (since she was sleeping) so that I could cross the straps inthe back. Well, I forgot all about the chest strap and one half of it slipped off the end of the strap. So, for a whopping $8.50, I order a replacement from Beco. I get a payment confirmation from PayPal, but no receipt or confirmation or shipment notification from Beco. So I wait two weeks (actually I forgot all about the order with all the holiday shopping and such) and receive nothing, no communication, no chest strap. Meanwhile, I realize that Dani at Baby Cotton Bottoms has them in stock and I just could have swung by. So I shoot off an email to Beco saying that I needed a reply by Thursday (last Thursday) or I'll dispute the charges. They send me a shipment notification last Thursday, saying it was shipping via USPS Priority Mail with 2-3 day delivery. No apology, no personal communication, just an electronically generated email. Well, it's a week later and I don't have the chest strap yet. So I look further into the shipment notification and track it online, and it turns out that they merely generated a shipment label last Thursday, but didn't actually ship it until yesterday. I swear, nearly four weeks to receive a chest strap! Argh!! I think I'm going to refuse the package and reverse the payment and just buy local from Dani, just to spite them. Beco has been a craze for a while now in the babywearing community, so no "growing pains" excuse will fly with me...

Just had to vent a little!

We celebrated Avery's birthday yesterday. It was a blast. Avery still does not quite "get" unwrapping presents. Christmas will probably teach her. Rudi got her a cake on Sunday, since he works right next to the bakery. I asked him to take a look at the cakes and what they had, and he bought one instead. So we were under a time-crunch to have the party before the cake went bad. Also, he's only off on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so those days are our only options. Avery loves the doll, and the doll clothes and cloth doll diapers we got her also fit her other dolls, so that's a bonus. She loves putting the doll in the cradle that Grandma and Grandpa got her and kissing the baby goodnight. The My Little Pony baby that Auntie Mina and Uncle Brendan sent was a big hit too. It's funny, the pony talks, and no matter what it says, Avery always says "no!" or "uh-uh!" She's such a mean mommy.

I've been pretty hard-core about not putting up decorations before Avery's birthday, which was another motivating factor for having her party a few days early rather than a few days late. We are going to Woodland Park to Pike National Forest next Tuesday to cut our own tree. Permits are $10 and you have to hike in and find a tree, cut it down, and drag it back to your car. Sounds like the stuff movies are made of. If the weather next week is anything like it's been this week, it at least shouldn't be too cold. I'll most likely wear Avery and Riley will just have to hike. Rudi might be able to carry her in, but he'll be dragging the tree out. If there's snow we might bring the sled and I can pull Riley while wearing Avery...

I'm having a really difficult time thinking of presents for Avery for Christmas. when I was wrapping presents, I found that we had several for Riley and only two for Avery, a My Little Pony playset and a book. I searched Oompa for literally days and could only find a puzzle, so that's on it's way. I did order fabric to make aprons for the girls, but that doesn't really help me even out the gifts, because I'm making one for each of them. Rudi got Riley a digital kids camera which she'll go ape over for sure. I've wandered around Toys R Us, Target, Walmart, and two independent toy stores and just couldn't find anything for her. None of the other doll stuff really fits with our parenting style (baby doll swings, car seats to carry the baby doll in, etc.). She loves the train set we have, but I bought it at a yard sale, so I don't think I'd be able to find accessories for it. Ugh, I just don't know.

I'm supposed to be studying for finals, so I'm going to go do that now. And wait for the pictures to load.

Here are a couple of pictures from our playdate at ArtSports. It's a trampoline gym that also has pre-ballet for Riley's age. Something to think about. The girls had a blast. Avery mostly enjoyed running back and forth on the trampolines, and trying to jump. Riley loved the foam pits. The picture of her on the swing-thing should give you a good laugh. Just look at my face. These pictures were not taken on my camera, since I didn't bring it as I intended on fully participating and acting like a kid. The swing is about ten feet above the pit. The first dozen times Riley swung on it, she swung back, screaming in excitement the whole way. Then she finally dropped the last two times. She's a pretty brave kid.

This is a picture of Avery that I've been meaning to post for a while, showing her process for eating a Flavor ice. It involves wrapping it around her head, apparently.

So, I went the vaccination seminar, and I have to say that I will not be giving the girls any more vaccines. In fact, I'm looking for a naturopath to detox them from the vaccines that they've already received. The facts are startling. For your enjoyment (and perhaps annoyance) I will be posting some random things for a while. For instance:

1.) In 1921 Johnny Gruelle's 8-year-old daughter was vaccinated in school without her parents permission. Between the months she became ill from the vaccination and her death her body was completely limp--like a rag doll. It was this sick, vaccine-injured child that inspired Gruelle to create Raggedy Ann.

2.) In one study: Of immunized children, 23.1% had asthma, 30% had other allergic illnesses. Of non-immunized children, 0% had asthma or other allergic illnesses. In another study, children vaccinated with DPPT (or MMR) had 14 times more asthma and 9.4 times more eczema than non-vaccinated children.

3.) 70% of babies who die of SIDS have received vaccinations within three weeks of their death.

4.) In 1975, Japan raised the minimum age of vaccination from 2 months to 2 years. Crib death, infantile seizures, meningitis and other infectious diseases in infants virtually disappeared. Japan went from 17th in infant mortality to 1st. Since 1988, Japanese parents have the choice to vaccinate under the age of 2. SIDS dramatically increased.

5.) What's in a vaccine?--formaldehyde, mercury, aluminum, phenol (carbolic acid), borax (ant killer), ethylene glycol (antifreeze), dye, acetone (nail polish remover), latex, MSG, glycerol, polysorbate 80/20, sorbitol, monkey, cow, chick, pig, sheep, and dog tissues and cells, gelatin, casein, human fetus cells, human viruses, antibiotics, genetically modified yeast, animal, bacterial, and viral DNA (may affect recipient's DNA).

6.) In the 1950's government scientists learned that the polio vaccine was contaminated with monkey virus SV40, a potent carcinogen. The public was not notified. The vaccine continued to be sold. By 1961, over 90% of US children received the contaminated vaccine (100 million shots given).

Scary stuff, huh? This seminar was given by a husband and wife chiropractor team. They were very understanding, wanting only for parents to be educated. They did not imply that parents who vaccinate are bad parents. They also conceded that there are no real studies on the effects of vaccines, but there are strong correlations between vaccines and various injuries that need to be explored and studied by scientists who are not sponsored by drug companies.

Oh, Avery wakes...

I'm letting this one go, since I have updates and more important stuff to blog about...next one will have pictures, I swear.

I've been such a blogging slacker lately. It's getting towards the end of the semester and it seems like I have many tests and papers due every week. That's the downside of taking once-a-week classes. They move so fast. Registration opens next week for Spring semester. I'm taking Legal Writing, Family Law, and Contracts. I am taking Indians of North America, an anthropology class, as an elective. I am doing well in all of my classes, currently I have all A's, but some of these classes have so few grading opportunities that if I do poorly on one test, it can knock me down to a B easily.

I went to Sage Woman Herbs here in town and Riley is now on a calming infusion a few times a day. Chamomile, lavender, and catnip (I though that one was funny!). Catnip is also indicated for prevention and treatment of fevers, of which she gets a lot, so we'll see if this helps at all. I just can't go into the developmental pediatricians office in January knowing that I haven't tried absolutely everything. I also have recommendations for naturopaths and chiropractors who can do testing for food sensitivities. The book I'm using by the way is Naturally Healthy Babies and Children: A Commonsense Guide to Herbal Remedies, Nutrition, and Health by Aviva Romm. Phenomenal book. It was lent to me, but I think perhaps I'll buy it.

On Thursday I'm going to a seminar "Informed Decision: The Other Side of Childhood Vaccinations." I need to figure out what I'm going to do with Avery; selective vaccination or delayed vaccination or what. Riley isn't due for more shots until she's five, so I have time to think about her. It's right across from my school at the public library. I'll go to an hour of class and skip out to go to the seminar. Don't tell anyone!

I finally found a doll that I'm going to get Avery for her birthday. It's the Tidoo Doll from Corolle. I'm not buying it from that website, because the price and shipping suck, and they have it in a local store here. It's meant to go in the bath, so it's fast-drying and Avery can wash it all she wants. It's smaller than I originally intended, but we can't win them all. It's also phthalate-free, so it won't kill her. Which is s plus, I guess. I'll probably just get her the doll and a couple extra outfits for it. I think that'll be enough. They're a little pricey, so that'll have to do.

What in the heck is up with Riley? She is feverish again today (she has been very mildly feverish for a couple of days now) starting last night (hooray for a horrible night's sleep!). I'm just so sick of it. My girl who used to have a rock-solid immune system is getting sick so often now. I don't get it. Her nutrition has never been better, hardly any processed foods anymore (unless we can't help it--I don't know how to stew tomatoes, so I buy canned stewed tomatoes, you know what I mean?) and excessive sweets have been virtually eliminated. I know that it's probably a result of the changing weather, or more likely the weather that refused to stay changed. Cold one day, warm the next, then snow, then warm.

I feel like a complete nerd, but a woman in West Side Moms lent me her copy of...oh poo, forgot the name of it...looking on Amazon right now...anyway, it has recipes for infusions for common childhood ailments. Although anxiety isn't one of them, I thought I'd try to make a tea to support her immune system. She's such a tea connoisseur, I thought it would be fun to create our own. Anyway, I'll try to make it to the apothecary within the next few days to get my weird herbs that probably taste like dookie...

Oh, yeah, yesterday was Halloween! Didn't take any pictures because I suck. Riley wore her costume from last year, saying that her witch costume was itchy, and Avery refused to wear hers at all. I still have to download the pictures from the Coffin Races, but can't find any stinkin' batteries. Riley had a blast, though, and Avery tagged along, not really trick-or-treating, just thrilled to be outside in the pitch darkness. Riley had a UNICEF box from school to collect change in. When she received the box a few days ago, she declared to me "I have so much work to do! I have to ask the grown-ups for money for the CHILDREN! And then we give the money to Stephanie and she sends it to the CHILDREN!" Sometimes she can be so serious. But as we were walking up one sidewalk, Riley and Avery both tripped on a giant crack in the sidewalk and Riley fell onto her UNICEF box and it exploded and all her change went flying everywhere. Because their porch light wasn't on, we could only recover 5 pennies. Riley was heartbroken, and Rudi felt so bad for her that he put his book change in her box. Anyone who knows Rudi knows how sacred his book money is...

Riley and Avery easily chose five pieces of candy to keep and put he rest out for the Switch Witch. They both were thrilled with their books and stuffed animals that the Switch Witch left for them. Avery got The Belly-Button Book by Sandra Boynton, which is rather a classic. Riley got The Faerie's Gift, which I was very pleased with. I didn't read it before I bought it for her, I just judged it by its cover. There, I admit it. Avery got a stuffed pig, and Riley got a stuffed guinea pig that looks a lot like Rosie. Riley always complains that she wants to bring Rosie along with us wherever she goes, so now she can, in a way.

Oh, I still can't find the name of that book, and I can't find the book either. Oh, great...

We got Riley's school pictures in yesterday. This is the one that the photographer chose for us. He actually took forty pictures of each child. He has all of them on his website. You can see them here and here and here. There are some cute ones and silly ones. I'm pleased with the one that he picked for the package.

So Avery is 23.5 pounds now, and 31 inches. Still under the third percentile for height and weight, according to American growth charts with formula-feeding considered the norm. I can't seem to find any growth charts for breastfed children, only for those up to 12 months. Perhaps I'm not trying hard enough. Just going through my occasional cycle when I feel that Avery is malnourished...It's not like we take her to the doctor anymore...

Just a quick one in order to relay an ingenious idea that I heard from West Side Moms. So, we all hate that our children get so much candy on Halloween and eat it all seeming at at once. It kind of erases the healthy choices they've made throughout the year. So, one lady told us that she uses the Switch Witch. The story goes that the Switch Witch has children of her own who only eat candy and her children are hungry (and unhealthy) and she goes around while children sleep Halloween night and if human children leave their candy out for her, she will switch it for a really good gift.

And the best part...who gets to eat all the candy? Hmm, making you think, huh?

Just thought I'd share a quick story today....

Last night as I was trying to get Avery and Riley to sleep, Avery sits up and starts kneading my tummy. I ask her what she's doing, and she said "roll playdough!" I'm like, thanks a lot for pointing out that I have a flabby stomach!! And then to add insult to injury, the last three times I went to school, she has refused to kiss me! And Rudi took them to snuggle-up story time at the library last night, where they come in their pajamas with stuffed animals and such and get read bedtime stories for 30 minutes. Anyway, when I get home, Avery wants nothing to so with me, she just continues to sit on Rudi's lap. I asked her "Avery, did you miss me?" she said "no, Riley." I said, "Riley missed me?" and Avery said "yes." Little turd...

So here it is, the story about Courtney and Caitlynn's birthday party. Another neighbor, Candace, was there with her one-year-old son, and two daughters about seven and eleven, or so. So, this woman who I barely know, starts telling me that I should beat my children. I kid you not. She said that she sympathizes with me about what I'm going through with Riley (what? I don't know this woman!). She proceeds to tell me that she beats her children with belts, and the one time she left a mark, someone at her daughter's school called child protective services on her. She maintains that she does not abuse her children, but it's her house, her rules, and they better follow the rules and behave or else. I'm thinking, what if her children grow up to be stay-at-home moms and their husbands decide to beat them because it's their house, their money, their rules? I don't want my children to get used to being beaten "because they deserve it." I'm sitting here being told that I need to lock them in their rooms (like they have one) and let them scream. I want my children to be able to (respectfully) question authority, toe the line, test the limits, and stand up to people acting unjustly (including myself). Yeah, sure, beat your children into submission and they'll behave for you, but they'll grow up to be nobodies. Just another member of the masses, a minion, a yes-man (or woman)...

Oh, and this is rich...A few months ago (in open-window weather) Avery was waking up during the night with really painful gas, screaming and screaming, and I could do nothing but try to massage her tummy and hold her. It was literally the middle of the night, and happened over and over, and if my mind had been functioning, I would have realized that the window was open and would have closed it. So yesterday Candace tells me that Avery woke her up that night, and she was concerned so she went out to find out what was going on and she told me that she was about to call child protective services (this was before she "knew" me). She's telling me this and I'm standing there flabbergasted, not believing that a woman who beats her children with a belt was going to call CPS on a gassy child!

This is what greets me after realizing that he girls have been playing quietly together (a rarity) for a while, while I was talking to Mom on the telephone. And don't think that the rest of Avery's body didn't match. Her tummy was painted, her hands, arms, legs, her feet. Oh, yay!

We had snow yesterday morning. Riley was thrilled, Avery not so much. Avery thought the snow was a good idea in theory. She wouldn't leave the porch.

We went to Boo at the Zoo on Saturday. Riley loved it so much and said that she wished that she lived at the zoo. What, you mean we don't live in a zoo already? It was cool seeing the zoo at night, lights in the trees and jack-o-lanterns lining the walk-ways. We went into a haunted house that Riley was probably a year or two too young for. She was pretty scared. We took the free shuttle from a nearby shopping center into the zoo, since it was crazy crowded. On the way back to the car, Avery and Riley are clutching their bags of candy and eating carrot sticks that I brought. Avery wouldn't put on her costume. She kept shaking her head, saying "LIKE it!" which means that she doesn't like it. We ran into a few people that we knew, so that was fun.

Riley had a birthday party on Sunday for a girl in her school who was turning six. The party was at their house way way way far out in the country. Oh, it was so far away. All the other children were also from Riley's school, and all the parents stayed versus driving so far to go somewhere else and then coming back. I mean, come on, they live on a dirt road. For the love of pete, they get coyotes there! All in all it was a lot of fun. The girl's father recently split with her mother, from what I can tell. So he's a single father. And he's from Billings, Montana. So I guess the homesteading mentality is natural to them. He's a general contractor and has added onto their house and manages to selvage quite a lot from the properties he works on and is saving the materials up in his barn to build a brand new house on the land. I wouldn't sleep in a TENT that Rudi had put up himself, much less a whole darn house.

When we got home from the birthday party, we went right over Kelly's house for Courtney and Caitlynn's birthday party, but that is a whole 'nuther story that deserves its own post...

So I took Riley in for a much-needed professional styling. We went to Child Styles here in the Springs, which came highly recommended in my mothering group. Riley sat in an old-fashioned car with working pedals and steering wheel. She got to pick a movie to watch while getting her hair cut (she chose Brother Bear 2, or something like that). She sat really still and moved her head the way the hairdresser asked her to. I'm really pleased with the hair cut. People ask us wherever we go where we got her hair cut. So I guess it turned out well. She has such straight hair that it really needs to be professionally cut. Every scissor cut shows up on her hair. I noticed when we went to get her portraits taken that her hair was flat and lifeless. She had just had a bath, though, so perhaps that's why her hair was so flat and "ugh." She did not like getting her hair blow-dried and Riley has put me on notice that next time we go there I am to tell the lady not to dry her hair. Avery got a little trim-up but was not too happy about the whole ordeal, and especially not the blow-dry.

I had to get this one off my chest, so no time for pictures. Besides, my camera batteries are currently inside the girls' train set, so I'll have to re-charge them.

So, I took Riley and Avery in to Target Portrait Studio to get their portraits taken. I wanted pictures of them together and of each of them separately. Well, it was an absolute fiasco. The girls weren't the problem. They acted their ages. No biggie, right? Well, we got there at 10:20 for a 10:30 appointment. We waited for over half and hour to be taken back to the studio. And after a few shots, the photographer proceeded to yell at my children and complain about them in front of them!! Many photographers tend to be over-zealous and this frightens some children. She made some half-hearted attempts at getting a photo of the girls together. Then when she was photographing Avery, she gave Avery a teddy bear which she was very interested in. Avery was more interested in examining the new bear (sorry, my kid's not stupid, she likes to observe new objects. They're not Target Portrait Studio for Retarded Children Only, so I though she could have given her a minute! Sheesh!) The lady started saying "Avery! Avery! Avery!" to get her attention and quickly escalated into full-blown yelling at her "AVERY! AVERY! AVERY! (insert big nasty exasperated exhale) OH MY GOD, SHE IS JUST TOTALLY IGNORING ME!!!!" There was a sad little picture of Avery resulting from this which captured her blue eyes nicely. One of the sales girls who wasn't in the studio for the sitting remarked that it was a serious picture and looked like she was going to cry, and I'm like "Lady, she was about to cry! She was being abused!" Then it was Riley's turn for individual shots. She has an admittedly aggravating habit of pointing her face at the camera with her eyeballs elsewhere. So the lady was like "look in the camera, Riley, can you look in the camera? RILEY! YOU KNOW WHERE TO LOOK, NOW LOOK IN THE CAMERA!" She kept making those snotty little exhales throughout the whole experience.

So we wait for more than an hour to have our pictures brought up on the computer so that I can look at them. None of them are worth anything. One of Riley was passable. I'm looking through them to find the best of the worst and since we'd been there for over two hours, the girls start complaining about being hungry, thirsty, etc. And it's about Avery's naptime. The photographer apparently gets a break from her stressful job and says to me "is there a place where you can dump them off and come back without them?" What? Excuse me? I was flabbergasted! So I went home and I am ashamed to admit that I was so stressed out by the whole thing that I was short with the girls.

So I called customer service and it turns out that this lady is the manager of the location, has been there a long time, and has a good record. But they said that they absolutely didn't doubt that this happened to me, etc. and that they really wanted me to give the studio another chance and is giving me the package of the one picture that was okay and sending coupons for three pages free (big whoop). I told them that there is no way that we will go back when that lady is there, even if she's not the photographer. My children don't need to see her again. They were really nice on that end and really apologetic. I think I'll take the girls back separately and get the $7.99 package for each since they'll be separate visits and it will be a lot less stressful that way. If there happens to be another pose that I like I'll use one of the coupons.

So Riley and Avery took short naps when we got home, and when Riley woke up I apologized for being impatient with her. I told her that the picture lady was mean to her for no reason and that Riley did nothing wrong, nothing to deserve it, etc. I told her that the picture lady made me angry and instead of being angry at the picture lady like I should have, I got angry at Riley, so on and so forth. We discussed how it's okay to be angry as long as we're angry at the right person, blah, blah, blah...I told Riley that when we go back I'll make sure that lady isn't there and promised that if she smiled really nice I would let her take a funny face picture and I'd buy it.

Just had to vent.

So the girls ran their first running race on Sunday. Some runner's group here sponsored an adult race (3 1/2 miles on a trail, 1/4 mile down the middler of a river, complete with obstacles) and free kiddie races. I thought the race for Riley's age group (0-3) was a little short for Riley, about 50 yards, but was great for Avery. It's a four-race series, one every two weeks in a different part with increasingly longer runs. It's not like anyone won the toddler race, since most of the children were closer to Avery's age or younger and the parents were running with them. It was like a buffalo stampede. Kelly, our neighbor, came with us. Her girls were in the 7-10 age group and ran 8/10ths of a mile. Poor Caitlynn is asthmatic and had a hard time with the run. Three women that I know from West Side Moms were running the adult race. As soon as we pulled up and parked I saw Maida run by, followed by Paige, and then Candy. We waved and cheered. I think perhaps this may be something that I would be interested in participating in next year. You know, the strange thing is that I don't really like running, but like an Alzheimer's patient, I keep returning to it for some reason. I think that road races are not very interesting, but perhaps a trail run in our gorgeous Colorado would be more fun. The girls got a ribbon for their participation, which they quickly forgot about, which means that they're scrapbook fodder for sure. They get a "large" trophy if they complete all four races, but I didn't tell them that since I only want them to participate if they enjoy the participation.

A group of mothers from West Side Moms has gotten together and formed a preschool homeschooling group, mostly for participating in field trips together. On Tuesday, while Riley was in school, I took Avery to the Fire Station for a tour. It was really great to get out and do something just Mommy and Avery. All the kids were around Avwery's age, so that was nice for her. For some reason, I was the one volunteered to try on the firefighter's outfit. The fireman said that I made him feel fat, since the pant hung off me like a clown costume. I tried the hat on Avery, who slowly tipped over backwards under the weight, but I caught her in him. Next week's field trip is to the pumpkin patch, but I think that I better not exclude Riley from that, and probably won't be able to squeeze it in between dropping Riley off at school and picking her up.

I took Riley in to the doctor's today because of her cold (Rudi insisted) and got the usual rest and fluids recommendation. The up-side is that I got the much-coveted referral to the developmental pediatrician. The appointment isn't until January 7th, the soonest they had available, and it's a two hour appointment. Now that I think about it, I'm regretting not scheduling it for a day when Rudi can either come with us or stay home with Avery. I went to a new doctor who I wasn't really fond of. First, the immunization posters were all over the place, as well as shelves full of formula. I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone. And even a poster for Gardasil, which neither of my girls will never ever ever get. Ever. And the doctor was a relatively young woman who was socially awkward and shy and withdrawn. I feel bad critiquing her,and I have no reason to doubt her medical ability, but a parent should have confidence in the abilities of the pediatrician, and that's not what I got at all. And the receptionist was about as incompetent as they come. After the appointment, I was standing at her window while she was making labels on a label maker (important work, I know) and after a few minutes she asked me if I needed something. No, lady, standing at this window is just a fun way of passing my day and watching you make labels spices up the monotony of my day-to-day existence! I tried to make a payment, and she refused (too lazy to figure out how much I owe, since I owe a percentage not a flat rate). She told me to wait for the bill. Then I asked to make an appointment to see Dr. Sayers and she gave me a card and told me to call and make an appointment. Dr. Sayers is located in the same practice as the doctor we saw today, so it's not like he's in a different office or different practice. Geesh. It was like Medicaid central in there. So the search is still on for an acceptable pediatrician who participates with our insurance. Mission impossible.

Oh, what else is going on? Hmmm...I'm sure there's something...

Having problems uploading photos...

Oh, yesterday I was making pork and sauerkraut for dinner and Riley was playing in the front yard and our door was wide open. The smell of the sauerkraut began to waft outside, and Riley runs in with her hand over her nose, "Mommy, mommy! There's a terrible smell outside! Oh no, it's coming in our house! Quick, shut the door!" Ah, when the smell of your cooking causes such panic in your children!

Most have already heard this story, but I'm recording it here for posterity. I told Riley that it was possible to make our own playdough. Riley says "Hmmm...or, we could just let the people in the factory make it and we can buy it at Walmart." Doh! And she hasn't been to Walmart in months. Rudi likes watching that show "How It's Made" and I think that's where Riley gets her factory information.

We did go with Kelly, Caitlynn, and Courtney (our neighbor and her girls) to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo today. We had a whole lot of fun. For once, we actually went to the Will Rogers Shrine to the Sun, which is included with zoo admission. The views were absolutely breath-taking. We live in a very beautiful city and we're lucky for that. We actually saw the tiger this time, and about three feet away through a chain-link fence. That was awesome.

Riley and Avery attended their first birthday party for Elijah at Pump It Up. They ran around like crazy people for 90 minutes and then chowed down on pizza (minus cheese for Avery) and strawberry cake. The 90 minutes of playtime was just enough. The kids got all of their energy out and didn't complain about leaving to go eat pizza and cake.

Riley and Avery both got new pairs of shoes recently. I felt so bad that when we measured Riley's feet, she's a 9 1/2 and the shoes she was wearing were an 8. The downside is that she's not in toddler shoes anymore, so gone are the days of super-gaudy girly shoes. Avery got her first pair of shoes at nearly two years old. She got your typically mid-height Stride Rite shoes, white with embroidered flowers around the top. Avery absolutely adores her shoes and must wear them everywhere. I'm relieved because I was scared that she wouldn't like them and refuse to wear them like the other Stride Rite shoes we bought her. She won't go outside anymore without her shoes on and she wants to use them too, walking instead of being carried or pushed in the cart or stroller.

Since we taught Riley to do things by "magic", like close the car doors and start the car, Avery has learned to say "hocus, hocus, pocus, POCUS!!" It's really very cute how she says it, pointing her finger. She is also saying "please" and "thank you" and "sorry." Her sentences are getting better, too. When she bumps her head she says "hurt head look kiss." So we're making progress there. She also is showing great interest in learning her colors.

I wanted to upload more pictures but need to recharge the batteries, so I'll have to post more later today...I realize that none of the ones uploaded so far have Riley in them.

So Riley has a knock-knock joke that goes as follows:
R: Knock-knock.
Me: Who's there?
R: Letter
Me: Letter who?
R: Letter in, she's naked! (It's supposed to be "letter in she's been knocking" but Riley got it wrong)
Anyway, the other night Avery sits up after nursing and says "Knock-Knock" so I say "Who's there," although not expecting an answer. Avery says "Letter!" and I say "Letter who?" and she says "Naked!!" It was so freakin cute. Today she is making up her own knock-knock jokes. At the age of 21 months...

I keep forgetting to post that I am going to enroll Riley in Capoeira classes. Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian dance/martial art "played" to live music. Here's a video. Each student receives an instrument and learns to play it. Rudi wanted Riley to take a martial art, I wanted her to get involved with music, and Riley wanted to take ballet. I didn't want to expose her to the body image issues of ballet, so capoeira seems like a good mix of all. They offer two trial classes for $10, so we'll go for that and see how Riley likes it. Hopefully she'll enjoy it.

I am proud to say that I have a 100% in accounting so far, through four assignments. And the last one was a toughie. I have a test that I have to take this week, so I'll see if Rudi can take the girls somewhere while I complete it.

Well, Riley has definitely been more social at school. Today I pick her up and she's on the tire swing with a boy named Evan and they're have a grand ol' time giggling and talking, so I let her play. Then they move over to the seesaw and I'm pretty sure that she saw me while she was running over there, but she didn't react, so I wasn't sure. I'm used to the "MOMMY!!!!" when I pick her up from school. Then I KNOW she saw me while she was on the seesaw, and she completely IGNORED me and moved on to something else with Evan! The teachers were happy that she was befriending Evan, since he has some anger/behavioral issues and Riley is a good influence, but also won't stand for mistreatment. Riley a good influence, you say? We must remember that Riley is a perfect little angel in school. "Smiley Riley" they call her.


So I logon to The Babywearer today and see that I have a personal message, which I never have. Turns out it's from Lillian who is the creator, in Norway, of the Taitasi Mei Tai. These things go for around $250, by the way. Although I have never seen a Taitasi, I posted pictures and sewing notes on how I made the one I made (which was based on the Taitasi, to be fair). Apparently I came too close to how she actually makes it and she objected to my posting the sewing notes and asked me to remove them. I complied, but must admit that I am flattered...

I just found the camera-connector-thingy that lets me upload pictures, hence the delay in blogging. I studiously put it away before going to Maryland and then forgot where I put it. So, I'll upload pictures and move on...

So, long time no blog. We're falling back into the rhythm of school mornings. The first morning was rough, but it's all getting better. Kelly, our neighbor, has been coming with us in the mornings (more about that later) and that helps so that Avery doesn't have to get out of the car. She LOVES Riley's school and screams if she has to leave. And then Avery cries "Riley! Riley! Riiiiiileeeeeeeeeey!" It's pretty sad that she misses Riley. One of the teachers left to head her own school here in town (one that we looked at before going to Golden Mountain), and the teaching assistant moved up to teacher, and the new teaching assistant happens to be a friend of a friend, so all is good there.

The phone may be busy a lot now. I am taking an online course (accounting, yay!). I didn't end up buying the textbook, and I'm glad that I didn't because it cost $125 and I found that it is available free online. So I have to do all my assignments AND read online. So, I apologize, but I need an "A" in this class...

So I suck. Haven't updated in a while. So sorry...and I haven't taken pictures in a while, so only pictures from Maryland right now. Like I said, I pretty much suck.


So I started school last week. Three in-class courses (all paralegal courses) and an accounting course online. Finding the time to do homework and complete the required reading is really not cool. Try taking reading notes with two little ones who always want to be in your lap and steal your pens. So I'm really really tired. And because my classes are over dinnertime, I don't think that I've been eating well enough. So that doesn't help. All of my professors are great, so at least that's good. One of my professors, who's also the head of the paralegal program, is very very animated. Almost crazy. At least it's entertaining. And scary sometimes. I wouldn't dare come to that class unprepared. No sir.

The girls have beee excellent for Rudi when I'm in school. Avery still cries a good deal when I leave, but calms down right away. Riley whimpers a little still, but is all-in-all the brave one. And the four hours that I'm gone go really smoothly. Really makes me feel wanted. At least I have the excited hugs and kisses to look forward to when I come home. And I also look forward to seeing what imaginitive (and incorrect) way Rudi has come up with to cloth diaper. I've given him so many tutorials and none of them have stuck. Once I came home and the diaper cover was on inside out and backwards, and the prefold was hanging over the top by about eight inches. Hmmm...

Riley starts school on Tuesday. She's been asking about it, and not in her normal crazy way, but like she's looking forward to it. They are having an open house on Labor Day, so I'll go with Riley. Good thing is that Rudi is off on Tuesday and my classes are out that day, so we can do something special as a family to celebrate Riley's first day of school. Don't know exactly what that would entail, but at least the idea's out there.

Avery is currently sick-ish. Her normal fever. Horray. So sleepless nights will be the norm for me for a while. Riley had the fever bug last week, so what's a few more nights without sleep? Who needs sleep? Avery gets feverish so much, with no other symptoms, that I don't even need a thermometer anymore. I'd say 102-103 degrees right now. Not too bad. The virus jumped right over me. What I wouldn't do for a sick day.

Avery is talking so much more lately. I was sitting down and she just came up to me and goes "hands, feet, eye, nose, face, ear, knees (her favorite), tummy (her other favorite), arms, mouth, back, butt, pants, shirt" pointing out all of my body parts and saying them. I didn't know she could say nearly half of them. Then I asked her if she wanted to nurse and she said "sleep, bed, nurse." Not really a sentence, but step-by-step instructions. Bossy thing. She patted Riley's bike seat today and said "sit butt". She really likes dressing herself, sans diaper. Perhaps I should get her a pair of undies or two. She seems to do okay without diapers or undies under her pants, so maybe that's the next logical step. Although she doesn't ask to go potty any more (and to be fair, I haven't put her there or suggested it) but always asks for a diaper when she has to pee. I don't want to be pushy, but it's going to get cold soon. Potty train now or never. Probably never, since I'm not all that motivated. Who am I kidding?

Waiting for pictures to upload...waiting...waiting...

Rudi has a doctors appointment tomorrow to see what is to be done with his gallstones. Hopefully not surgery. The doctors at the VA are like old sawbones. So behind on technology. Not that it's their fault, just lack o' funding.

So I'm finally making some progress in cleaning up the mess that greeted me when I came home from Maryland. Rudi insists that the place was clean when I came home, but I guess we have different standards. Just cleaning out a walkway does not constitute "clean" in my book. It's starting to look like a house again.

We walked up to 7-Eleven today and I let the girls each pick out a treat. Riley picked out M&Ms and Avery picked out a package of Oreos (slim pickins when you're allergic to everthing), and then we headed over to the Slurpee machines. While there, Avery saw the cold case where they had all the milk and sandwiches and such and saw a packege of Oscar Meyer bologna hanging there and she starts freaking out asking for bologna. So I tell her that if she gets bologna, she'll have to put her Oreos back. So she does. Everyone in the store was cracking up, Riley with her M&Ms (normal) and Avery with her bologna (abnormal).

So I finally finished the Harry Potter series several days ago. I read all seven books in a little over two weeks and now I'm suffering severe Harry Potter withdrawl. Rudi has graciously agreed to let me go to the movies Monday night to see the Order of the Phoenix. That'll be fun.

I start school on Tuesday and am really nervous about how Rudi will fare while I'm in class. Hopefully class will end early since it's the first one, and Rudi and the girls can ease into the routine more slowly. Rudi doesn't understand a single word that either of the girls say. Mostly, I think, from a lack of trying. I'm trying to impress upon him the importance of actually interacting with them, and distracting them from my absence, rather than sitting there watching TV for three hours. I just have a really bad feeling about it. He talks about establishing routines with the girls, and then blows them out of the water. He doesn't understand that if I go grocery shopping at 4pm and he lets the girls fall asleep, they're not going to go to bed at 8pm. He thinks that they should just go to bed anyway, or lay up there awake, just because it's eight. Argh!! No sense worrying about it now.

So we were outside playing with our balls (no chuckles, but we have a lot of balls) and a neighbor-lady wandered by with her two children and dog. Since the girls wanted to pet the dog, the mother and I spoke briefly. Her 4-year-old popped one of the big balls by hitting it with a stick. She also had a boy that just turned one. We didn't talk long before it started to rain, so we all went in. Then we had dinner and went back out after it had dried to play with our balls again and saw and ambulance and firetruck almost in front of our house. Apparently something was wrong with this lady's youngest boy. And all the neighborhood kids were standing around watching, as were some of the adults, and it was kind of embarassing to see people shamelessly rubber-necking this family. So I asked this woman if she needed someone to watch her 4 year old while she went to the hospital. So we had an extra kid for about three hours. I don't know how mothers of boys do it. Andrew was very polite, he preceeded everything he said with "Um, excuse me?" even to Riley. They played really well together. But anyway, I was so annoyed by the boy energy! Now, Riley is very on-the-go but it can be bridled and directed, but not the boy. Andrew said that his brother was in the bathroom and got a bug stuck in his throat. I'm not sure of the accuracy of this, but that's the story. He was crying and wheezing when they put him in the ambulance. Maybe we'll get the full story, or maybe not. I'm not the town gossip.

Don't know why I bother blogging when in Maryland, since most of the people that I update for are here...but just for the sake of continuity...

So we got to Maryland totally okay. We did sit next to a man on the flight from Atlanta to Baltimore who was a father of six children and coached multiple sports, so needless to say, he really liked children. He talked to Riley for the absolute entire flight, which I though was really nice at first, but then I realize that he's drunk. And he started giving me a headache.

Avery is in disposables for this trip, as we just couldn't fit the cloth diapers in our luggage (another failed attempt at packing light). She wouldn't pee in them for three days. Now it seems that she's back to normal, pee-wise, but now we're working on pooping...

James and Riley are getting along famously. And Riley and Avery both absolutely adore baby William. And what's not to love? I've never seen a baby so happy all the time! Just to sit and laugh at whatever he lays his eyes on! He's such a soft little chunk-a-lunk!
Everyone here is getting a little peek at Riley's transition problems. It seems that it is a bona fide problem, as opposed to something that is simply annoying to the parent.

I haven't been feeling all that great since we got here, but mostly yesterday and today. I don't know what it is. Probably just climate-change and the humidity. I feel like the excessive Maryland gravity is pulling me into the ground. I may simply be dehydrated or something. I can try to choke down some more water. Yuck!