Normal

I just got totally lost in a book for the last three hours. Can't believe it's so late. And I still have to get all the costume stuff together (and let's not think about that hemline amendment with a little lace contribution I was going to make. Uh oh. giggle).

It took me about a day to get over the hair incident. Only to be replaced by a new incident of losing the order form for the Girl Scout nut sales. Did I mention that most people paid already... in cash? Uh, yeah. That kinda sucks. I pretty much worked myself into a tizzy looking for the dang thing, and so I just stopped. Now I'm praying it shows up. Especially since I ordered a whole bunch of stuff in anticipation that it will.

Now we're on to Halloween prep and strep throat.

And may I just say, regardless of your own personal convictions regarding all the fanfare of this season, if your kid gets those vampire teeth at their party at school... just throw. them. away. My preschooler had her party early (and totally rocked the Snow White thing, sorry, no pics) and got no less than TWO pair of teeth, that then proceeded to make the rounds of all my children's mouths, despite my feeble protests. Well, today George tested positive for strep, and I'm just waiting for all others to follow suite. Fun fun.

So it's just normal here. And I can't help but laugh at typing that. What IS normal, anyway?

I think this winter is going to be a very interesting one. At least God kind of prepares you. Or warns you.

The outcome will be good, regardless.

Baby continues to rock and roll. "Play" times are more distinct now, usually. Just trying to figure out the best time to plan the labor is what stumps me. You know. Like you can plan that kind of thing. Haha. I'm sure it will all end up just fine.

Oh wait. Huggyface is having a dance party. Woohoo. I always wonder just what they do in there that feels like a certain movement. Little tickles on the side, or a certain limb pushing up in a particular spot. Wish I had a magic camera, with xray vision, that I could use to see inside.

I have really bad reflux at the moment from 2 fajita/burritos I ate. Ugh.

I found my UdderCover! Yay. (Mine is the Maria.) So excited to try new things. I'm still trying to figure out a way to put legwarmers on a boy. They weren't really the fashion when I had my girls. Neither were they cute knit caps with big bows, of which they sell millions of on Etsy. I didn't know about etsy then, either. I don't think I can get away with bows on a boy, but legwarmers, maybe. I'm probably buying a stroller/carseat combo tomorrow. Off Craigslist. Actually, I don't think I've bought anything off Craigslist either. I suddenly feel so behind the times. Help! Help! Save me from becoming a fuddy-duddy!

Well, I should go sew or bake cupcakes or something. I think I've rambled enough here, right?

Thanks for stopping by. :D

I don't even know what to call this post except "I want to cry"

We have been growing her hair out for a long, l o n g , VERY long time. I thought I posted about her cutting her hair, but was unable to find such a post. I did find this one that was written, what, in March 09 I think. If you scroll down in that post you will see pics of Cheeks and a rather nasty hair-do, particularly in the bangs area. And please notice I said March of 2009. Not 2010. We have had so very many episodes of hair cutting here that I have totally lost track of when they happen. Hers have always been a doozy, and to be fair, she may not have been the initiator of the last one. But, again, we have been growing out these lovely mistakes for months. Many many months. Now, it's straggly, the odd bits have grown out some, her bangs are in her eyes. It's time. Past time. It's been on the docket to get her into a salon, not just a mommy chop job, even, and get her be-a-U-ti-fied. I just haven't had the opportunity yet (and now, I'm waiting for payday).

Tonight the kids were watching a movie, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, while I made supper, then I called them in to eat. And after that we all sat down to finish the movie, when it dawned on Kong, that some inspiration may have come from this movie.

While we were eating, Miss Cheeks got up from the table because she was done, and went to the bathroom. Later, she came into the kitchen, and I have since forgotten what she said, but it clued us into the fact that she had CUT HER HAIR... again. Well, what she was saying and the long strands on hair hanging oddly from her head and the HUGE GAPING HOLE around her forehead where hair once shaggily covered.

At this point, what do you do? I was so mad. So devastated. So frustrated. Sad and mad. And I wanted to ring her little neck and cry at the same time. How long, oh how loooonnnggg I have suffered the absolute mess and disaster that is her hair, patiently waiting for the day when all could be rectified and she could finally have a nice haircut, something cute, that doesn't make her look like some kind of street urchin or negelected child.

Seriously? The only fix that will even it up would be a buzz cut. Yes, it's THAT SHORT in the front. See?

See how there's a raggedly line, and then just above that there's a kind of bald spot or more skin showing? Yeah, that's a 2-level cut. The pic doesn't really do it justice in showing the damage.

And just to give you and idea of the quantity of hair we're talking about here, because there are pieces cut from the sides and even the back, here's some of the hair. This is what Kong found in the bathroom.

And these long strands laying on the floor, those are similar to what was hanging off the back of her head, as well as trailed through the 3 rooms she walked through to get to the kitchen to show us her lovely new do.

Wouldn't you cry? It took all the strength I could muster, and THEN SOME, to not scream and shout and spank and tell her it looked ugly. Because it does. I'm so tired of her having this *(&(dkf$%*^ldkf!#%jsld hairdo. I just want her to be cute. And with a nice NORMAL hairdo.

We think she may have gotten some inspiration from Natalie Portman's very short, pixie-ish hair in the movie. And while that may be what we come to, Natalie Portman doesn't have very round chubby cheeks, unlike my Miss Cheeks, and I don't imagine it will bear the same level of cuteness on my girl.

Sigh.

Sigh some more.

My friend says I should laugh. Maybe 10 yrs from now. Right now I'm just working on not crying. Or taking a buzzer to her head.

Belly Shots

Not of the vodka variety. No six-packs here (unless you count the amount of stretch marks in a 3 square millimeter area).

They probably all look pretty much the same. (And it's weird I'm wearing my glasses in all of these, when I usually don't wear my glasses.) This was more of an experiment in playing with collages on Piknic. I wish they had a "tool" for removing double chins. In real life. (yeah, it's called a gym membership. :D ) lol I'm trying to decide if I actually look skinnier. I know. Should not be my goal. But I still have only gained about 6 lbs. And now, my "fancy-free" eating is about to end as my blood sugar is becoming more sensitive. sigh. (What sucks is that Halloween is always a time when I, ahem, enjoy the "bounty" of the holiday.) At least it's only for another "few" weeks. Not much time left. FREAK!

And actually, I was thinking today that I really need to talk to doc about inducing and when she thinks that might happen. (With GD that is usually what she does.) Friday after thanksgiving would be good, but it all depends on how they mess with the hub's work schedule.

Baby moves tons, but he definitely has times of sleep and awake. The kids are enjoying putting their hands on mama's tummy to feel baby move. Yesterday I thought about getting out the video camera as he was really rockin' and rollin'. Have you ever seen those videos on YouTube of crazy belly moves? I can't say I've ever had the kind of alien movement that some of them show. It's still cool. And the vids are fun to watch.

I'm measuring great. I haven't had any more problems with contractions. My back doesn't hurt too bad... yet. I have gotten a massage twice, the last one just before my ob appt. When she checked the heartbeat it was in the 130's. Usually it's 150's. I commented that that seemed pretty low. She said baby's just relaxed. Now I know why. It's a good thing. I still worry about baby's head being down. I can't wait til my next ultrasound.

Oh, and we have a  p r o b l e m .  WE NEED NAMES!!!! Kong likes names that start with Br-, and I don't. I like Levi or Judd or Jude or Eli or Evan or ... ones that he doesn't. The only one we both were like, hmm... was Dixon, and that one didn't pass the test for, ahem, obvious reason. Just asking for trouble and teasing. What I do know is, the kid won't leave the hospital without one. What I hope doesn't happen is that he leaves with a name like Brock. Or Brett. (Nothing against those names, it's just they don't really fit us. imo) Less common is better but not too weird. (Not that I care, it's hubs that likes more "normal" names.) Suggestions?

Oh, and just the first name. Middle's picked out. Decided long ago. Not that it was ever a choice. When you give all of the rest of your children your own middle name, you can't really break protocol with the last one.

I can't think of anything else to say. Other than I'm addicted to Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant. (Oh, and they filmed a 16 and Pregnant here this summer!!! Not that that's cool, really, but maybe ? a little?) I haven't even watched any of Grey's Anatomy because of it. GASP!

Crash Bang Boom

The sound of cars, blocks, buckets-o-stuff.

It's a boy thing. Boots loves to dump. I think it's just for the sound.

Or maybe the satisfaction of making a mess that mommy just cleaned. (another of his favorite activities, undoing that which I just did). Which drives me crazy. Which is why the title "Mrs. Bananas" is appropriate for me. That, and I'm the mom of many monkeys. And that I will have birthed 5 of them, all within 7 yrs. (But hey, living next to a family of 10, with some other neighbors who will have 11, and countless other large families I know, I feel pretty normal. As normal as I can, at least.)

But I digress.

Maybe it's just the concept of dumping. Cause and effect?

That leads to this...

Please note that this is a scrap of carpet that is covering mere plywood underlayment. I would NEVER let my carpet get that disgusting normally. Besides being the entry to our back door, it's where the kids do crafty stuff like painting and playdough and coloring my door with waterproof mascara, and, apparently, dump out cereal. I would shampoo it but the plywood... yeah, no. So just don't look. 

I mean, in this case, it wasn't the loud crash bang boom. Clearly. I suppose Cheery O's do make a nice sort of whooshing sound when an entire box is dumped on the floor.

I was alerted to the fact that this event had taken place not by any crash bang boom or whoosh, not by a child shouting out "Mooooooom. Boots dumped out the cereal." I didn't walk into the kitchen area and feel the crunch under my feet. Oh No. My two youngest tots kept merely running back and forth, from addition to den, checking on me, and trailing that stuff throughout the entire main floor. It was the crunch-crunch under their feet that hadn't been there before in the room I was in, that made me look up and wonder, what's that sound?

So I followed the trail. And brought "you" with me.

The song in the background is JJ Heller's Your Hands. Awesome song.

 And yes, I know that the wood flooring needs a coat of paint. Desperately. But since it's in the room that leads to our ONLY bathroom, it's kind of hard to cordon off that room for a week to let the paint properly dry. Nevermind finding the time with 4 young children.

My house needs much repair. But you should have seen it before. Uffda.

I guess I should be less upset when it's the tub of blocks or potato head pieces that he's dumped. Much easier to clean.