Don't Read This...It's Disgusting

Well, it's 4am, and I'm finally going back to bed.

I've been switching to the couch halfway through the night every night because of my back, so when I heard Caspian crying around 3, I assumed it was because I was gone. Instead of going in to take care of it, I decided to see how Charlie handled it. 10 or 15 minutes went past, and they had migrated into the bathroom, still awake. I was a little miffed that he hadn't just told Caspian where I was and explained why and maybe snuck in to "make sure" I was there...but I was letting him do it his way. Then I heard Caspian cry in a weird way I didn't recognize, so I got up.

I didn't recognize it because he's never had to use the puke cry before.

Oh, yes. While I was laying awake on the couch, letting Charlie fend for himself, Caspian had actually puked himself awake in bed. Poor Charlie. (But thank goodness we were sleep-sharing, or we might have woken up to a puke-crusted toddler.) Caspian had puked once on Charlie in bed, once on his own legs in bed, once on the bathroom floor, and several times into the bathroom trash can. He was so confused and totally distraught. That was the cry I heard.

In addition, Charlie was stuck on the toilet while Caspian threw up nearby. They apparently had contracted food poisoning from bad pizza (which I hadn't eaten, praise God). I sat on the floor an held Caspian while he heaved (mostly clear liquid, now). When he was finished, I got him to drink some water and eat two bites of saltine cracker. Which he then deposited back onto the bedroom floor. And the bathroom floor. And into the trash can.

I changed the sheets and his clothes, mopped up the floor, started a load of pukey laundry, and got them settled back into bed. Caspian was distraught for "boo", which doesn't surprise me, since he was so upset. I was hesitant to put anything else in his stomach, but he was going to make himself sick crying otherwise. A few minutes in — while he was asleep — he heaved and bubbled up again. I flipped him upright so he could "use" the towel we'd spread on the bed, and sure enough, out came more. Mostly mucous. Ew. That was new. Caspian was, of course, completely unsettled, having woken from serene sleep by being flipped around and then throwing up again.

After cleaning up a second round in bed, I held Caspian and rocked and sang and stroked his back. He was out and limp before Charlie could change the Boppy cover. I laid him down on the new towel, and he and Charlie are now blissfully asleep in bed. I decided to record this very first puke session for posterity while I waited for the first laundry load to finish. And now for round number two...

For those of you who are stalking this blog and haven't yet been informed by a real person: we're expecting!

Yes, it was planned (but the exact timing is God's.)
Our due date is April 23, 2009.
No, we won't know the gender until Christmas.
Yes, we hope it's a girl.
No, we'll still be thrilled if God wants us to have a boy. (Or as Charlie puts it, "If it's a boy, we'll just know that God wants us to have three kids.")
Yes, I've been tired and nauseated.
Yes, I'm already showing a little.
Yes, Caspian is over the moon about it.

From the creative team that brought you Tidbit, we present...Merbaby!

We're cleaning out our storage room, and I found this doodle in one of the boxes (click to see close-ups). I was 15 when I did it. The top shows our family in the house across from the Luce Center (notice the garage/dojo and Stu's and my attic room). In this picture, we have (L-R) Duncan, Dad, Me, Stuart, Mom, and Eric, plus praying mantises and cats Simone and Maggie. Notice Duncan's long hair and his and Eric's muscles.

The back apparently depicts each of us in our "trademark" (to me, when I was 15) activities. Duncan working out (sweating) and doing martial arts (confident); Dad driving for Airborne Express (neutral) and drawing a cartoon (happy); Mom using the computer (happy) and singing/being with children (really happy); Me listening to music while reading with a cat (hey, I don't just enjoy one or two things) and singing/doing art/fashion design/being with children; Eric singing and writing (in a journal?) while sitting on his couch; and Stuart playing baseball (focused) and laying on the couch with the remote, watching TV (also focused).


Caspian leads prayer now! He says, "Jesus...thank you for food...love Jesus!...amen!"

He was playing on our electric keyboard tonight and specifically asked that the instrumentation be changed to "trumpet" then "guitar"...craziness! He is so freakin' smart, it blows my mind.

Our attempt to curb his "hit people" phase seems to be going well, by the grace of God. He still talks about Star Trek, but hasn't seen any for a couple of weeks. However, he did name his Cabbage Patch doll (at grandma's) "Kahn." Seriously.

I am so proud of him. He is very, very consistent about saying "Yes, please" and "No, thank you" all the time. What a blessing he is!



Recently, he's been practicing his "surprised" face, as well as "mad" and "sad" and "happy." He cracked me up on Monday, when he ran down the hall at my mom's, toward the mirror, came to a screeching halt, and gaped in surprise (hand gesture included). He always adds, "Surprise!" aloud just in case you didn't get which emotion he was demonstrating.

New obsession: potty books (Once Upon A Potty and 1, 2, 3, Pee!). Oh. My. Goodness. If he were only as willing to sit on the toilet as he was to talk about it...whew. He even tells us when he's about to go; he just won't sit on the toilet. We have got to get him a training potty...

Caspian had his 2 year check-up on Monday. He was 33½" tall and 27½ lbs. The four things we're going to start working on are self-dress, somersaulting, pedaling, and potty books. Caspian knows how to get his clothes on and off, he just isn't coordinated enough to do it. I've started letting him do more and try to do it alone first. He frequently "v"s on the bed (up on hands and feet, tush in the air, head down), but I don't let him push past "v" because it's always on the edge of the bed. We did some practice somersaults down the center of the bed this morning, and he cracked up. He doesn't have any pedaling opportunities, but maybe we'll find something at Goodwill or OUAC. He's mentioned going on the potty before, but he freaks out if we try to follow up on his request. He's very aware of his p*n*s and knows that boys have them (and this morning asked "mommy pee?" since I'm not a boy and don't have one — oh, my). His ped said we can start reading potty books to get him used to the idea of going on the toilet.

Star Trek is officially off limits at our house now. Caspian goes around shooting people with a "phaser" (stick, phone, finger, etc.) all the time. We explained that it's not okay to shoot people, unless they're "bad guys" but he's too young to grasp that. In the last couple of days, too, he's starting saying, "Hit people." That was the last straw for me. That is not the sweet, gentle boy I know. We agreed to completely censor everything he watches, even when we'd really like to watch Battlestar Galactica over dinner. Thank goodness for the Olympics — something for the whole family! Caspian is fascinated by gymnastics and swimming.

One of his newest occupations is driving his car. I was letting him play in an empty MK shipping box while I put away laundry, and he said it was his car. He was making car noises (below) and trying to put a key in the side of the box.

I cut a hole for the key to stick in, drew some console features, and gave him a round lid to use as a steering wheel (turning SO fast, below). The funniest thing was that after I was done, he said, "A C!" He kept saying it, so I drew an air vent and knob and labeled it "A/C"...and he was happy. He takes a drive at least once every afternoon now. See my laundry? :)


He's memorizing more and more books — most recently, Color Crunch. I let him finish the ends of rhyming lines or say a single line on a page.

He got to see Uncle Stuart again on Monday. Whenever we see a plane while we're playing on the playground, Caspian says, "Plane! Stuart. Fly plane. Happy [to] see ya!" We have no idea where he came up with "happy to see ya," but he says it every time he thinks of seeing Stuart.

I finally posted my Seminar pictures, but they haven't been captioned yet. Speaking of Mary Kay, this past week was my 7th $1,000 week! It always seems to happen when I have three classes in one week....

For 08-08-08, the Cre8tive Group had a big Chinese/Olympic-themed celebration. We even had our own competitive events with prizes: the triathlon, the saltine contest (first to eat 6 in under a minute), and the cinnamon contest (eat a heaping tablespoon at once, no time limit). The triathlon consisted of corn hole (below), Wii Summer Olympics hammer throw, and an obstacle course. The obstacle course was shooting a basketball basket, running to the jungle gym, climbing across the monkey bars, sliding down the slide, doing four spins on a dizzy bat, running back through cones, and shooting another basket. Charlie and I had the top two scores on the hammer throw, and we both got admirable times on the obstacle course. Two people (at least) fell off the monkey bars — one of whom scored some hairline fractures in her arm. The Cre8tive Group's cake for the event ended up on the Cake Wrecks blog, which is awesome (if you want to laugh until you cry, you only have to read Cake Wrecks' May blog posts). All in all, it was a very fun night. Thanks, Chad!

As if we needed another time-waster...wanna be a piece of IKEA furniture? You get different results with different capitalizations, too!

Swedish Furniture Name Generator




And it's "blog-a-DEE-ya," if you were wondering.

They also have an Action Hero Name Generator, blogged Wolf Action, Treasure Hunter.



Freebie formal picture, from my Mary Kay Seminar awards banquet! Isn't my hubby a hottie? Rhetorical question.

Well, it's done. He's two.


First thing this morning, Charlie trained him to answer "two" when asked how old he is. He also tried getting him to show "two" with his fingers, but that didn't work as well.


His very first gift was a light-up Spiderman outfit from his Great-Grandparents Fraser. Boy was he surprised when it lit up!


He loves showing us how strong he is! That always makes for the funniest picture, because he sucks in his gut and shrugs up his shoulders. He looks emaciated!


He only had two requests for his birthday: cake and Star Trek. More specifically, he wanted to wear his Star Trek outfit. Ever since he and Daddy had their Trek-a-thon during my absence, Caspian has been obsessed. He asks to watch it first thing every single morning! He pulls his outfit out of the dirty laundry every day, asking to wear it, so we washed it last night.

You would not believe how difficult it is to find cake at a restaurant nowadays. It used to be that everyone served a free piece of cake on your birthday (there were two that immediately leaped to mind). When I called one such restaurant today, however, here was the conversation I had:

"Hello, I have a quick question about your dessert menu."
"Okay..."
"Do you serve cake?"
"Ummm...yes! We have brownies and cheesecake, so, yes."
"...?"

So, not only could I not find free cake, I could not find any cake. And Caspian wanted cake — as in cake. With icing. And cake in it. Praise God for O'Charley's, who not only serves cake on their regular dessert menu, but who was willing to give us a free piece of it instead of the standard free piece of caramel pie. And it was triple chocolate cake. And it actually tasted as rich and yummy as it looked. Woo-hoo!

Before the cake came, he enjoyed rolls, broccoli, and macaroni & cheese — three of his favorites!


We got video of him eating his cake, too. He was pretty excited about it.



After dinner, we took him to see Wall-E, since we had a movie gift card. He watched most of it standing up or trying to sit on his booster seat on the floor (not very effective), but he really enjoyed it!

Yesterday he said his first honest-to-goodness sentence: "Mommy, help me...please!"

Here's my loving little kissy man. Our favorite thing is when he grabs your face for a kiss!


Sometime today I told him, "You're wonderful. Do you know that?" "Mm-hm." "Do you know how wonderful?" "Two!" was his answer. LOL

He also spent time with his grandparents for dinner and cupcakes on Monday. He got a toy microwave and play food from Grandma Bonnie & Grandpa Kirk, and Horton Hatches an Egg with a plush Horton from Grandma & Grandpa Fiskeaux. He was so excited! He LOVES pretending to cook, and he LOVES elephants (the trunk is even poseable).

I finally got back from Seminar late Sunday night, and it was incredible! I have a ton of pictures and videos and stories to share, so keep your eyes peeled for updates. Here is a quick picture of the main arena (click to enlarge it).




Charlie helped Caspian learn a few new phrases, too — phrases he'd used enough that they became part of his vocabulary while I was gone: "clean up," "chocoate bread," and "Star Trek." Does that tell you what kind of week they had?


Some of you have asked for gift ideas for Caspian's birthday. He loves letters and numbers and colors (anything related to learning or reading). We never mind gently-used secondhand clothes and toys, either! (And the fewer electronic sound effects and noises, the better.) Since it's only his 2nd birthday, he doesn't really know about birthday presents yet ("cake" is his current focus), but for anyone who would like to get something for our little man, here are some things that have been on our needs/wants list.

• books, puzzles, and clothes are a given...or even a gift card to Once Upon A Child


• diaper covers ~ up to four Med-Lg Mothease Air-Flow Snap Covers (here or here). We recently had to get rid of 3 of his 4 covers due to leakage. They lasted two years in a small rotation, so we definitely got use out of them! "Med-Lg" is actually the size between medium and large...go figure.


• standing art easel (like this) ~ Caspian loves art, but we don't really have a good place for him to do art activities at his own height. We've been looking for one of these — they have chalkboard, dry erase, and a roll of paper in the middle to flip over for painting or coloring!


• LeapFrog Fridge Phonics (here) ~ He loved playing with a friend's single-letter set of these, but he knows the entire alphabet already. This goes a step further, to three-letter words. (And yes, this is an exception to the electronic-sounds thing.)


• standing play kitchen ~ His other love is pretending to cook. Whenever he's at church or a friend's house, he heads straight for the play kitchen (usually to make eggs or tea).


• tricycle or Little Tykes Cozy Coupe ~ Now that his limbs are getting more coordinated, we thought he would enjoy something he could ride in the driveway and on the sidewalk. Some tricycles come with detachable handles for the parent to start out pushing.


• diaper wet bags ~ up to three medium SMJAE (here) (patterns 011, 50, 54). We also had to get rid of 2 of his 3 wet bags due to leakage (again, they lasted two years in a very small rotation).


• cloth wipes ~ SMJAE has good ones (here or here) (gender neutral, floral sensation). We switched to cloth wipes for most diaper changes a few months ago, but we always run out of wipes before it's time to wash a load of diapers.

Okay, all you would-be medical people out there...what's wrong with my mouth?



For the last two or three days, I've woken up with a slightly sore throat that fades over the day, plus a sensitive tongue. It's kind of like the feeling you get when you've drunk your coffee too early and it burns your mouth (hypersensitive) or like when you've used too much Oragel (numb)? Today, however, my sore throat has not gone away all day, plus my taste buds are really prominent. They got more bumpy as the day went on (as you can see on the front of my tongue), and a visible ridge of bumps along both sides of my tongue sticks out higher than the rest of the taste buds. The right side of my tongue/mouth hurts more. The pictures don't really show just how high up the tastebuds are sticking. It's really weird.



Any clue, anyone?

Caspian is so awesome. Every day, he whips out a new word or concept. Last week he started praying at random times, on his own. He tells me he's going to pray, then what he's going to pray for. It's so cute. He does it every morning, too, when I'm getting ready in the bathroom. He'll climb up the stepstool, get a drink in a Dixie cup, announce "pray," set the cup on the top step, sit on the bottom step with his feet inside the stool, and pray for his water (and Grandpa, lately)! Oh, what a blessing he is!

He discovered money today! We were reading his toddler Bible, and his favorite pictures are from the prodigal son — especially where the son is holding a goblet in one hand and a bag of money in the other. I explained again that it was money and that you use it to buy things, and this time he repeated "money" (so cute, BTW). To show him some real money, I took all the change from my wallet and put it into his empty sock so he could hold it like the prodigal son held his bag. He thought that was the coolest thing ever. Then we dumped the change into a shallow tin and spent about 30 minutes sorting the different kinds of change back and forth between the lid and the tin. He said penny, quarter, dime, nickel, head, and house (building). We counted how many we had of each kind, put them in piles, poured them like water, and shuffled our fingers in them. Money is officially his new favorite toy (I know, I know — I've opened the floodgates). We played with it again tonight, and he keeps trying to get my wallet out to play with it some more. He would not accept poker chips as a substitute, either. Darn.


He got his second spanking ever this morning. :( He's been pulling out a power cord from the electrical socket in the living room recently, and the seriousness of it isn't getting through to him. This morning when he yanked it again, I gave him a swat on his behind. He was so shocked and surprised that he howled for quite a while. He didn't see that it was me, so he just associated the discomfort with touching the cord and the socket. (woo hoo!) We talked about it, and he decided that they were "No, no — eyes!" which means he's not allowed to touch them, just look with his eyes. Thumbs up!


I tried explaining about his birthday this morning, since we have a month to go. When I mentioned birthday, the immediate connection he made was "cake". I explained about his birthday cake, and asked what kind of cake he wanted (yellow and chocolate). Then I showed him the calendar, today's date, and his birthday. We circled his birthday with highlighters and pronounced it to be cake day. He understood that we had no cake today and that the special day was the day we will have cake, but all day, he wanted cake anyway! To get around the incongruity, he kept trying to circle today's date with the highlighters! He'd drag a chair over, climb up, grab a highlighter, and try to mark on today's square. It was pretty funny.

His big new color is teal and he's finally started verbalizing "orange" (as "ng"). Almost every morning, he asks to call Grandpa Kirk. His preferred greeting has switched to "Hi!" and when he starts in on giving "five," literally everyone in his sight line gets asked. He's getting pretty good at hitting balls with his plastic golf club (today we worked on a two-handed swing) — and he made the connection between that and Wii golf.

Marker session #2, with daddy:

Let me back up. Last Tuesday there was a Mary Kay event in Lexington to wrap up the final quarter of the Seminar year. Of all the people in attendance, I was shocked (truly) to be recognized as having the highest retail sales for the entire quarter! I got flowers and a tiara and it was totally unexpected. That event was also the first time I got to wear my red jacket in public, too. One other first, that not all of you will appreciate: it was my first time back in an underwire since sometime in my first trimester (early spring 2006). Talk about weird! That night I also experimented with not wearing a sleep bra — it worked! Ahhhhh...


On Thursday, my Red Jacket Debut was awesome! My friends/family/guests completely filled half of the seats at the Pampering Center. It was so incredible to have those who came, come to support me. I smiled so hard throughout the whole thing, my scalp hurt!

My dad took this picture outside the training center:

Caspian is turning into a parrot. He will almost always repeat the main word/phrase of whatever your statement is. He's also getting into concepts. For example, whenever we're about to get in the car or take a bite of food, he asks, "Hot?" No. "Cold?" No. "Warm!" Yes. "[just] Right!" (like in Goldilocks). His other big thing is happy or sad (and "cry"). He just cracks me up all the time. He is so awesome. He's so brilliant! And sweet! And funny! And gorgeous! And kindhearted! And strong! And WONDERFUL! I love him.

One more milestone: on Saturday night, we were all sitting in the living room together when Caspian suddenly insisted that he wanted to go through the gate into the other part of the house, and that he wanted both Charlie and me to go too...? We kept asking him where he wanted to go and why, but he just kept insisting that we all go. Finally he said he wanted us to go to the potty. We were so clueless, we kept trying to narrow it down (you want mommy to go potty? you want daddy to go potty? we don't have to go potty, sweetheart...). Turned out that Caspian wanted us to take him to the potty! We only realized this after he started pushing there in the living room and it was too late. Can you say, "Duh," first-timers?

Here's a little "blast from the past" for you!

Car Finale

God provides, that's for sure. We ended up switching service providers and replaced the entire engine in our car. Mercifully, God allowed some people to minister to us in a great way by loaning us the money to pay for it. Glory to God!


Tonight will be my Mary Kay RED JACKET DEBUT!!!!! Exactly two years and three months after I joined this incredible company, my team promoted me into this position of leadership and responsibility. No offense to the other MKers out there, but I really do have the greatest team on the face of the earth. They are amazing ladies, all of them. Our goal by the end of the month is to be an official Team, and I've been ordered to get into DIQ right away (by some of my sassy team members). I'm taking them up on that challenge!


How did I spend the afternoon? Letting Caspian play naked in the bathtub with washable markers for the first time. Thankfully, they're also non-toxic...





Gosh, I love my life. I'm so grateful and so thankful for the opportunities and flexibility Mary Kay has provided for our family. Thank you, Lord!

UPDATE: Prayer Request for the Car

We heard back from Toyota today. They replaced the pipes and cleaned everything out, then took it for a test drive. There is an unexplained rattling and the car won't maintain oil pressure. They cannot figure out what is causing these problems, so we have two options. We can either start replacing random parts until we find out what's wrong (expensive) or we can replace the entire engine (expensive). They found us a used engine that only has 83K miles on it for $4500. We don't even have the $900 for the first set of repairs, much less an additional $4500 (or more). Our mechanic is a man we trust to be thorough, so if they can't find the problem's source at the Toyota dealership, we believe them.

Please pray to heal our car, that we choose the right option, and that Charlie gains peace and comfort. This new blow has him reeling.


Guess I'd better hurry up and earn my MK car, huh? ;p



Here are a couple things to take your mind off Satan's attacks:


Caspian told me he drew the letter "u". On the right is the first set of "writing" he did, then he moved his stylus over to the center, drew two specific lines, and said "U!"

Here are the two lines he drew, in case you couldn't see them:




BACON TOMATO CUPS
8 slices bacon, crisply cooked
1 medium tomato
1/2 small onion
3 ounces shredded Swiss cheese
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon basil
10 ounce can refrigerated flaky biscuits (with layers that separate)

Preheat oven 375° F. Chop bacon, tomato, and onion. Mix all ingredients except biscuits into 2 quart batter bowl. Separate each biscuit into 3 thinner biscuits. Spritz muffin pans (or mini muffin pans) with cooking spray (like Pam) and lay each biscuit over a cup and shape using miniature-tart shaper. Fill cups with bacon mixture. Bake 10-12 minutes until golden.

This is a Pampered Chef recipe. Literally every PC recipe I've ever made has been amazingly delicious. Here's a catchall website with all the recipes: http://www.joycesfinecooking.com/pamperedchefs.htm http://www.jfcrecipes.com/pampered_chef.htm

Prayer Request for Our Car!

Early last week, the knob that adjusts the driver's side seat (raise and lower) dislodged. It could still spin, but it didn't engage. Fortunately, the seat was then stuck in the "up" position, so I could still see out (poor Charlie couldn't see stoplights, though, since he was hitting the ceiling). At the end of last week, the A/C started cutting out. It would be on for 30 minutes, then gone until the car had a chance to sit again, then on for 10, then gone, etc. We figured we'd take it in to get looked at sometime this week, since we're supposed to drive to South Carolina this weekend (and see good friends in Knoxville on the way).

As we were driving home yesterday afternoon, the "check engine" light came on. Once we got home, I went inside to get some things together while Charlie sat in the car with (a sleeping) Caspian. Fifteen minutes later, I came back outside and smelled burning oil. The car had started making weird rattling noises, too, so Charlie turned it off. He looked under the hood, then back at the heat gauge — off-the-charts hot. After waiting 10 minutes, he tried restarting the car. It died immediately on every attempt. This morning (after sitting all night) it started on the first try, but the service guy from Toyota said not to drive it.

At noon today, someone towed our car to Toyota. We got the following diagnosis: towing = $60; replace broken seat-adjuster knob = $16; because of a pin-sized hole in the radiator pipe, all the engine coolant had leaked out, causing the overheating = $775 for replacement pipe; all that overheating gunked up the throttle = $58 to flush. But that's not all. Only after all that work will they be able to figure out why the A/C stopped working and if other parts of the engine were damaged by the overheating. Whew.

Good thing God's in charge, huh?

Thanks for praying!


P.S. The interesting thing is, the last time I had a $1,000 Mary Kay week (as I did this past week), we suddenly needed $900 of car repairs. Hmmm...spiritual attack, anyone?


Here's a pick-me-up for your Monday: Caspian's first time holding a ladybug. Well, technically, a it's a ladybug carcass. It was dead on the sidewalk and he proudly carried it home. :)

Last night, I was up from 2am to 4:30am.

Not of my own choice.

It all started when Caspian woke up and wanted to BF. Fine. 30 minutes later, he woke out of a milk-induced sleep to sob, "Mama! Mama!" and to beat my breast, trying to push it away from himself. I cooed, "I'm here; mommy's here," and tried to get him to latch back on. He'd nurse for a few seconds, then do it all over again, adding a tortured, "No! No!"

I don't know if he was having a bad dream or if he suddenly decided it didn't taste right or what. Regardless, he finally woke up fully. Grrrr. It was all downhill from there. Throughout this ordeal, I repeatedly explained that it was nighttime, which was the time to sleep. No dice.

He decided he wanted to get down off the bed. "Where do you want to go?" I asked. "Daaah-puh" he replied. Double take. "What did you say?" "Daaah-puh" (grin). "You want a diaper change?" Nod. Woah — first time he's asked! I obliged, then carried his limp (but awake) self back into the bedroom. After swaying with him for a while, I tried laying him down...nope! Wide awake. "Down!" (plaintively). He wanted to go to the living room. Sigh.

When we got into the living room, I told him his toys were asleep, just like daddy. He tried reading books, but I pointed out that it was too dark. I asked if he saw how dark it was, and he did, so I explained that when it was dark outside that meant it was night, and night is when it's time to be asleep. For some inexplicable reason, that clicked (maybe because he saw that it was dark outside just like inside). At this point, it was 4am.

We walked back into the bedroom, climbed on the bed, and settled in...except that he noticed lights. It started with the tiny flashing red light on the smoke detector. It bothered him so much, he started whimpering and pointing, "That! That!" I explained that it wasn't a bad light and it was okay. Then he noticed the flashing red light on the VCR, so I turned it off. Then he noticed the green light on the baby monitor, so I turned it off. Then he noticed the red "lights" of our alarm clock, which I did not turn off. After all that, he was pretty satisfied, so he BFed again and finally fell asleep. When I "came to" he had already detached and was lolled to the side. I laid him down and finally lay down myself. 4:30am. Ugh.

Bare bones update!



Caspian...

• can name/find the 10 basic colors


• knows most of the alphabet and the letters' sounds


• can identify eight or nine major shapes


• has started saying "hmmm" when he's thinking hard about something


• put himself in "time out" once (after disobeying)


• made his first accidental 911 call over vacation


• L-O-V-E-S to do art


• dances whenever ending credit music comes on


• says "uh oh" when an alarm or siren sounds


• is addicted to Super Why!


• will eat anything except (so far) green olives and hamburger pizza


• enjoys dipping food (in salt, pepper, mustard, ranch, ketchup, salsa...)


• reads all the time


• has an infectious laugh


• gets cloth wipes now (except for poopy diapers)


• climbs like a crazy man


• still has a curly red faux-hawk


• recently discovered the joy of bouncy toys (like this)


• experienced his first "play group" on Friday (he was the oldest one there)


• opened a closed door by himself last week


• constantly amazes us with what he comprehends

Hilary...

• hasn't slept through the night in months :p


• started boxing every other day (yay, Wii)


• finished her 5th $1,000 MK week in April


• L-O-V-E-S spending every day with her fabulous son


• actually lost weight on vacation


• can't wait to go on a grownup date again


• is participating in the Great Cloth Diaper Hunt this month


• got to visit an online buddy group friend in Tennessee (Thanks for the pic, Becky!)


• eagerly awaits the new wetbag from her Co-Op, as the old bags are all leaking

Charlie...

• is a hottie


• needs to hurry up and start posting on his blog

Praise God, there's nothing wrong with Caspian's plumbing. Thank you all for praying for his VCUG. The catheter was not popular, but Caspian was so brave! He was over it pretty quickly once they took it out. All together, we were at the hospital complex for almost 5 hours. Ugh.

This Friday night will be Caspian's and my first overnight apart, ever! I'll be at a Mary Kay conference in Louisville from Friday afternoon through Saturday evening. Hopefully going a day without breastfeeding won't dry me up the rest of the way. We really want Caspian to decide when he weans...

Caspian's current favorites:
* "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes" ~ For motions, he usually jumps straight from "head" to "toes", then throws in "eyes" and "ears" when we get to that part.
* elephants ~ Caspian sees them in everything — dinosaur posters, trees, looking out the car window... Old MacDonald always has at least three on his farm.
* Teletubbies ~ He asks for them constantly ("duh-beh-deh-beh"), and they're not on until 12:30. (In fact, just now, he sat straight up in bed, called out "Teletubbies!" and went back to sleep.)
* balls ~ Whenever he throws a ball, he gives a mighty shout! He is so tough.
* climbing ~ Doesn't matter where or when or what, he will climb it.
* asking for Grandpa Kirk ~ It sounds like "PUH-pah," and always breathy. Right now Grandma Bonnie is "arf arf" (for Maisie).
* Music Machine CD ~ And it has to be forwarded right to the point where the actual Music Machine kicks in (track 2, 0:35). He asks for it by giving a little rumble to mimic the machine (sounds like a harumphing old man). Having Mommy sing the entire "Patience" song is also popular.
* baths ~ He asks for baths at random times throughout the day.
* "No" ~ He says it for both affirmative and negative, even though he can shake his head both ways. He sounds SO funny when he says it, too.
* applesauce, chicken, spinach, (any) beans, broccoli ~ Could be offered any time of the day, and he will eat them.

One of my clients is having me do her wedding makeup, and our first consultation was yesterday. It hit me about four-fifths of the way through what an awesome responsibility it is! Talk about pressure! It's really exciting and fun, though, because I actually get to do it on her myself.

In case you forgot, in December, the automatic sliding door on our minivan malfunctioned and closed on my left forearm. I've been in a brace ever since, and finally saw an orthopaedist this month. He had me start twice-weekly physical therapy, but my insurance company just sent a letter saying I couldn't do more than 5 visits because they didn't see the medical necessity (which means no more after tomorrow). I have to appeal, because I can't function like this — especially with a toddler! Please pray for them to see the light.

Our new laptops came today! ((wiggle, wiggle)) I'm waiting for Charlie to come home before I open the box. Thank you, Mary Kay tax refund! Today my "w" key started sticking on my old laptop (like the 1 and 2), so the timing is good.

Easter 2008 (Thank you, Aunt Steph & Uncle Stu, for Caspian's Easter outfit!)

Last night was one of my favorite moments as a parent. After Caspian's bath, when Charlie and I had him on the bed for lotion and PJs, Caspian reached up, placed his hands on either side of my face, and pulled my head down for a kiss!!!! My precious, darling boy. He even held onto my face for a little while, staring into my eyes. Talk about making everything worth it...

On the Mary Kay front, I have two big pieces of news. The old piece of news is that I keep a (semi-regular) beauty blog: http://beautyblog.kyredhead.com. Feel free to post questions on it! The newish piece of news is that I have gained three team members since February! Each of them really excites me as a leader, and I can't wait to see how they grow in their businesses.

If you like cool stuff, be sure to check out our new magnetic compact system!

Caspian got to play in snow for the first time last Saturday when we got six inches! He would have been content for us to leave him out there forever. He carried around the same snowball almost the entire time (and ate a good chunk of it). Of course, then it was 70 degrees on Wednesday of this week, and we played in the park next door for an hour and a half. Caspian threw quite the tantrum when we took him inside.


He was pretty traumatized this morning when he tried to climb out of bed facing outward (instead of lying on his tummy) and fell flat on his back. He cried and cried, but I didn't realize how badly he got scared until naptime. He was reclining on the Boppy, so when I eased it away to use it, his head and shoulders lay flat on the bed. When he realized he was laying flat on his back, he started wailing!? He just associated laying flat on his back with pain and fear, poor thing. He fell asleep nursing almost immediately and napped for four hours straight!

The orthopaedic surgeon I saw for my arm last week wanted to prescribe some pain meds, but I told him I was still breastfeeding. Caspian was with me, and the doctor asked how old he was. When I told him "19 months," do you know what his response was? He said, "Oh — well he could still be nursing for a while, then." I totally did not expect him to be so cool!

My little brother (an Air Force captain) flew into Lexington Thursday, so we got to go see him at the air strip. My mom is always calling Caspian, "Stuart", but Stuart usually isn't there to complain. Well, when we were standing in front of Stu's plane taking pictures, mom said to Caspian, "Where's the plane, Stuart?" The real Stuart was like, "Ummm...I know this one — it's right there! Yesss!" We all burst out laughing, so Caspian thought it was a hoot.


Hey, if anybody likes tea, I'm having a tea party in April. There's this Christian company called Let's Do Tea that focuses on making others feel good through tea. We'll have fresh scones and get to sample at least three different varieties of tea while learning about hospitality, properties of tea, and how to make the perfect cup of tea. But this isn't your grandma's tea! They have over 100 free trade flavors made with natural ingredients, like Caramel Rooibos, Strawberry Cream, Chocolate Mint, and Piña Colada. The chocolate mint one tastes like a Thin Mint, but the only fat/calories come from the milk you add. The caramel one smelled and tasted like caramel, too. Mmmm...yummy! If you just want to sample some of their delicious wares, they have loose tea, make-your-own-tea-bag sacklets, tea cup and pot sets, and all sorts of tea-related goodies. You can ask questions or place orders through Carrie Peterson at Let's Do Tea dot com, and I'll even get credit if you order through April 11 (and mention my name)!

Everyone please pray for us, if you will. Caspian goes in for a VCUG at 1 on Tuesday, 3/25. Pray that he is free from complications and isn't traumatized too much by the procedure. Pray for Charlie and me, that we'll be strong (emotionally) and alert to his needs. Pray for the techs, that they'll get the catheter inserted correctly the first time, and with proper treatment of Caspian's intactness. Pray that Caspian doesn't have a reaction to the dye (he's got pretty bad eczema).

Sorry for the lapse! Caspian was sick for a week, then I joined him on Friday. Mr. Faucet-Nose and I are still fighting it (mostly because Caspian nurses a LOT more when he's sick and also doesn't sleep...which means I don't either). Last night, though, God be praised, we slept for 7½ hours then 2½ hours! Caspian cupped my chin in his sleep, which was wonderful.


Right before I got sick, we finally got to use Caspian's Christmas present from Aunt Steph and Uncle Stu: a gift card to Once Upon a Child. We figured it was about time, since all of Caspian's pants are fast becoming capris. Here is Caspian showing his gratitude for his present (technically only half his present, as we saved the rest for future use).


After just one time having quesadillas for dinner, the next time he saw them Caspian said "dee-ya!" WOW! He also says "uh oh" and "boat" and "duck". He signs "socks" and "shoes" and "cereal" and "elephant" and "excuse me" now. We're trying to teach him "wet" and "poopy" so he can alert us to diaper status.

My blog is ticking me off a little. Whenever there's a table in the HTML code, the blog automatically puts a bazillion spaces above it (see below). There's no way to remove them in the code, either. Grrr...

Here are the major presidential candidate's current financial situations, courtesy of the FEC. Isn't it interesting to see the difference between how much cash they have and how much debt they have? Yay, American freedom of information!
CANDIDATE NAME	DIST	NET RECEIPTS	NET DISB	CASH	DEBT	THROUGH
CLINTON, HILLARY RODHAM	PRES	$118,301,658	$80,353,784	$37,947,874	$4,987,425	12/31/2007
GIULIANI, RUDOLPH W.	PRES	$60,238,856	$48,476,576	$12,776,812	$1,166,509	12/31/2007
HUCKABEE, MIKE	PRES	$9,003,808	$7,107,362	$1,896,445	$97,676	12/31/2007
MCCAIN, JOHN S	PRES	$40,383,022	$37,907,049	$2,948,427	$4,516,030	12/31/2007
OBAMA, BARACK	PRES	$103,802,535	$85,176,287	$18,626,248	$792,681	12/31/2007
PAUL, RON	PRES	$28,219,349	$20,379,929	$7,839,420	$0	12/31/2007
ROMNEY, MITT	PRES	$90,076,401	$87,644,953	$2,431,447	$35,350,000	12/31/2007

If you're curious about how any other candidates are faring, you can check their public records on the FEC's website! Just choose "U.S. President" and any other criteria you want.