Pictures

Back to work today after my nearly two week "strike." Ugggg...having such an attitude problem about it too. Would much rather hang out with Eli and Nolah. Erich's recruiting schedule at U of M has been relentless. After arriving home at 6:30 pm last night, he immediately went upstairs to check updates on the computer while I attempted to referee two toddlers during spaghetti & meatball night all by myself. Needless to say, I was not pleased....but it will be more of the same tonight and all the ones that follow until about mid-December. We were supposed to get the carpet cleaned yesterday. But after waiting all afternoon for the cleaners to arrive, I finally checked my cell phone and discovered a voicemail saying that they had been there and left because "nobody was home." I literally burst out crying from frustration. The only thing I can think of is that they may have arrived while I was outside playing with the kids. Our weekend was good. Eli and I shopped all morning on Sunday for Nolah's birthday party. We went everywhere - Ikea, the Dollar General, JoAnn's, Target, Kohl's...he was so good. I brought him home to eat pizza and was heading out the door to go to my aunt's house in Chelsea. "Mom," he said, "make sure you don't drive super fast unless the police are chasing you." Verbatim, I'm not kidding. So I went to Chelsea and learned how to operate my new camera. Very cool. Have been capturing lots of kid pictures, including some good shots of last night's spaghetti and meatball fiasco. Naked kids covered in marinara always make great shots.

Back of my Head

I saw the back on my head on the news last night! I helped run my agency's booth at the Kinship Festival in Detroit, which is an adoption fair for people interested in older/special needs adoptions, and kids who are available for adoption. News reporters came, and when they panned the room, there I was! Exciting stuff :) The Bakers came over last night (and brought burgers cooked by my favorite chef, Ryan) and it was fun seeing Eli and Harrison playing so well together in the sandbox. Sylvia, their 5 month old, is delightful. Her entire face lights up when she smiles. I can't wait until she and Nolah can play together. Nolah's new thing is walking on her knees...she rarely crawls, and hasn't yet taken more than a couple of steps on her town. But she can practically run on her knees - and many times she claps and/or dances while doing it. It's hilarious to watch.

Monster Attack

Nolah's been taking some steps on her own and has her very first shiner to show for it. It happened this week at my parent's house, and involved the corner of a coffee table - ouch! Eli has some more minor injuries - a couple mosquito bites and a random scratch. He has claimed that his "boo boos" are due to shark bites, crab pinchers, and a monster attack. Interesting. In other news, both kids had their Well Child appointments last week. They're healthy enough - Nolah weighing in at the 85th percentile and Eli's height down in the 11th (I've been asked twice now if they're twins). And even though the 11th percentile is really not much deviated from the average than the 85th, the doctor is a little concerned that Eli hasn't really grown much at all in the past 6 months. So he's earned himself a referral to a pediatric nutritionist and endocrinologist at U of M. It's not something I like to discuss because, even though my conscience is clear, there are people in my life to love to assign blame at the slightest health issue that any child faces. The following are assertions I've heard in the past two years: My good friend's child had colic because she didn't gain enough weight during her pregnancy; a relatives child did not roll over very soon because the parents didn't play with her enough; another relative's child doesn't speak very well because the parents probably don't make him speak; yet another relative's child doesn't sleep well at night because the mother doesn't let the baby sleep. I've also been questioned in a very accusatory tone why one of my babies suffered from infant acne and have heard from more than one person that autism is caused by a lack of discipline from the parents (God help me if I ever have a child with such a diagnosis...it'll clearly be my fault in the eyes of some people in my life). While I know that all of the above accusations are complete garbage, I really don't think it's helpful to mother's for people to be walking around saying such things. Neither of my kids were very fussy babies, but I've been told multiple times when they were crying that it was "because of my stress." Anyways, I digress. The plan is to keep Eli on a high calorie diet for the next month to see how he does, growth-wise. (I'm so jealous!) So he's been getting the once forbidden doughnuts and ice cream before bed. Erich came home from Kroger tonight, excited that somebody had stopped him to start gasping (Erich's words) about how "beautiful" his son is. I told him that I get that all the time - the blonde curls and big green eyes are just precious. And I'm not biased at all :) But what I'm most proud of tonight is that Erich told me that my meatloaf pie is the best thing he's tasted in years. Do I sound like a mid-western housewife??? No seriously, I've been reading the book called "Mennonite in a Little Black Dress." It's a memoir which is not my favorite, but a decent read, in which the author refers to herself as a "mid-life foodie" and contemplates writing a cookbook. It occurred to me that I never pick up a cookbook anymore, and derive great pleasure from inventing my own recipes (it's the little things when you have a 2 year old and a 10 month old). So whatever happens with my job, which is still kinda in limbo, I can always derive happiness in strangers telling me that my kids are beautiful and find my creative outlet in cooking dinner, just as a mid-western-stay-at-home-mom should. I know it's a ridiculous stereotype, but I really think they're on to something.