peace, love and happiness.

While on the way to Maeve's doctor appointment, my G.Love was on shuffle this morning... this song fittingly came on:

"Peace, Love and Happiness"
why let this world weigh on your shoulders
pick it up push it off
before you let yourself colder
just look into the eyes
the good eyes of a child and see
that love rise like a river
and flow for a thousand miles
to give me some
peace love happiness


There are a lot of places I could go with that, but remember, its Monday- and I've stepped out of the weekend... :)

Maeve's appointment went really well- surprise, surprise! I juggled both kids, 4 shots (3 for Maeve and one for Henry- his flu shot) clothes coming off, clothes going on, Maeve screaming on one hip, Henry screaming on the other. But, we survived. I think I'm relating my airplane experiences to everything- ya know, if I flew with my two crazy kids, alone with 3 tons of junk, I can survive a 20 minute doctors appointment.

Maeve weighs 30.2 lbs. and is eeek.... maybe 37 inches? Shoot I forgot!

I DO remember that she is in the 50th percentile for both height and weight. Doctor gave me props for good eating habits... if she only knew Maeve survives off of cheese and fruitsnacks.

Nothing really event-worthy happened, just those dreaded shots.

The doctor always drops the "this is how many shots we need to do" bomb and my heart sinks... today it was 3 for Maeve. AND my pooooor bubba man- he was chillin' in his seat, and somehow got roped into getting the flu vaccine. I mean obviously, it was my decision, but I figured better limit my office visits to ONE instead of two. So I pulled his pants down and they stuck him. He's been screaming ever since- no really, he's been screaming ever since the shot.

Maeve was next- and she was a good girl. I thought for sure I'd be fighting her, but she just wrapped her arms around my neck and slumped down. She cried and waved "bye" to the shots and the nurse... ("BYE NURSE! BYE SHOTS! YOU GO NOW!") and then began the Maeve spree.

Target was our first stop... an Icee and cheetos (YUCK) is what she wanted. We looked through toys and books, and she wanted all these little dinky things that were bound to get sucked up in the vacuum cleaner. I tried to talk her into "Candyland," she said "no." Her "prize" ended up being a box of Junior Mints... I love this kid :)

I made a run by "Clothing Carousel" (insane, yes, considering that Henry had not stopped screaming- I must be immune to it or something...) but I found some awesome deals. Both kids got fall coats (funny I just realized they're both Old Navy coats- not that that matters, but cool I guess)- the coats (and specifically Maeves) are in AWESOME condition. I kind of dread buying winter coats- they wear them for one, crappy season and ruin them. This year I said I wasn't paying over 15 bucks for a coat. Both were under ten. Nice, nice. I also found jeans for skinny minny Maeve and two sweaters for Henry. The best part? I had credit there- so I didn't have to spend actual money. suuuuuweeeet!

We got home around noon... Henry screamed through lunch and threw his cheese and pretzels on the floor- very, very odd.

I put the kids down around 12:30/one or so... and was SO, SO excited to get an hour of ALONE TIME. I got in a good conversation with a friend (with screaming in the background...), was able to get some photog stuff done and then I realized that Henry was STILL screaming.

Henry IS STILL screaming, in fact. I called his doctor, ended up talking to the nurse who gave him the flu shot this morning- she assured me that it wasn't a reaction to the shot, that he was probably just sick or teething. SO guess who gets to make a second trip to Jackson Peds??? My whole plan/theory on combining the kids' shots in one visit has backfired. blah.

Thank goodness Ryan will be home by then and it will just be mr. man and I.

Happy MONDAY!

Miracle Grow+Beans= ??? & other news...

A few disclaimers: this post will be all over the place- its another one of my "random" posts. And really, after reading it- don't worry- I'm fine. I really, really am. I'm in what you might call a "funk." But I'll climb out soon enough :)

My dog (Lola) got into the garage and ate a box of that miracle grow powder that you add to water AND an entire bag of green bean seeds. Normally I'd be excited about green beans and miracle grow... but not inside my dog. Especially when the miracle grow powder was 15 buckaroos. Good Lord... can I get a break?!?!?!

In other gardening news... the storms and heavy rains are kind of killing my garden. Well, that's what I think anyway. I can't figure out why else things would suddenly take a turn a downward turn. One day the garden is thriving, the next, its looking wilted. Hmmm.... how disappointing. Maybe it will make a comeback.

This past week has kind of been... a flashback? To highschool maybe? It's been a LONG time since I've been thrown into the firey pits of drama. And wow. I don't like it one bit. Get me OUTTTTTA HERE! I've been listening to the new Jack Johnson album a lot... it brings me back to earth- calms me down, eases my soul :) There's a song called "No Good With Faces" and its AWESOME. SO awesome that you should look up the lyrics and read through them. It's one of those songs with a great message. :) My next acupuncture appointment is in a couple of weeks.... it can't come soon enough. I think I'm going to listen to that song while I get poked. I need some peace :)

In kid news... Henry is sitting pretty much on his own. Maeve is still not interested in the potty. I'm spending my days at various parks & playgrounds. And I wouldn't have it any other way. I've talked about getting a part time job at Gymboree- just to get out of the house for a bit... but I think that would be totally counterproductive. Instead I'll just stick to my "photography" outings. I am thoroughly enjoying meeting new people, getting out of the house for an hour or so, and trying my best to capture some moments. It's a lot of grunt work- not the actual session but the editing process. Still though, I'm hoping it will lead to something someday.

I've lost 12 lbs. in the past 6 weeks :) WAHOO! And if you know me, its not because I've been exercising or dieting religiously. I HAVE been more active (gardening, playing outside, walks w/ the kids) but food is still my fave :) I DID cut out alcohol (well kind of... no alchy at home but if I'm out with a friend or two, I'll get a "light" drink) and I have weaned off of one of my meds. I am thinking that's the big reason for the weight loss. Anywho, I'm excited its gone. 8-10 more pounds to go and I'll be pre-preggo... (pre-preggo HENRY... not Maeve! :)

And last, but certainly not least piece of randomness I have for you tonight...I have a desire to throw out my computer, phone, camera, tv- anything that links me to the crazies out there. I just want to live with my family. Do what I love and like to do and be at peace. I want to live with my family on an island with nice, friendly people. HONEST, friendly people who are nice. Haha- is that too much to ask???? :) I want to eat fresh fruit every morning, grill fresh fish every night... look at my beautiful children and smile. Because life is good. It's OUR life. We're doing what WE want to do. No outside influences, no negativity. Just living a good, honest life. I want a boat with a margarita. I don't want to worry about my waistline. Ryan will love me however I look- no need for Coach purses or new countertops. Just simple living. THAT'S what I want. SIMPLE, HONEST living.

Hmmm... maybe we should become Amish :)

Mr.Man's WCC

Henry had his "well child check" yesterday morning (preceded by my Michigan heart appointment... more on that later).

He was a happy babe through the whole appointment... we got the go-ahead for SOLIDS- not just rice cereal (which I started a couple of weeks ago) but SOLIDS- WOW! I was shocked and happy! :) When Dr.Williams asked how much food he's taking and I replied with "ohhh, about 30-35 oz." She looked a little surprised and said it was time to start him on some stage one foods :)

This kid means business when he eats and I had this feeling he needed more than just his bottle. We're on day 2 of peas and he's loving them. And I mean, LOVING THEM. He attacks the spoon and has the strength of 10 babies as he tries to shove the goods in. And here's what shocked me most- he eats the peas like he's been eating for years. He, on his first day of eating solids, did better than Maeve ever really did with baby food. He knows just how to take it in, gum it, and swallow it. He's definitely a foodie.

He got 1 out of 2 shots yesterday and he took 'em like the manly man he is. Just a few quick tears and then was settled as soon as a paci was stuck in his mouth. We didn't get the prevnar because apparently its been recalled. Scary. But Dr. Williams told me that it was recalled because of the color of the caps. Hmmm... anyways glad we avoided that one for now because as the nurse put it, "prevnar is the 'bad' one." I am all for vaccinating, but it still scares the heebie jeebies out of me that one of these days the vaccinations will be proven to cause something in kids.

ANYWHO, onto big boy's stats:

at 4 months (and a week) Henry is weighing in at 15 lbs. 2 oz. (50th percentile in weight)

he is 26 inches long (75th percentile in height)

and... totally forgot his head circumference. I DID ask for the doc to make sure it looked okay because to me, it looks a little bulgy but she said it was on track and all babies have a little bit of head distortion. She said the more he's on his tummy the more it will "even out."


Milestones:
rolling from front to back
rolling from back to front
cooing/laughing/"talking"


His skin is looking AWESOME! YEA!!!!!!! Dr.Williams thinks its a combo of the 5% cream and the weather. She told me to continue using the cream ONLY on the "bad spots" as needed. She also told us to continue with the zantac.

...and that about sums it up right now :) Again, we're thankful and feeling incredibly blessed to have 2 healthy & happy kids.

9 Month Stats.

So we were like a week or two late on her 9 month appointment but it was because of Boston... anyways her doc. appointment was this morning and it went really well. I was hesitant to take her back to the doc. because of the last traumatic appointment she had, and frankly she has been such a grouch because of her teeth that I thought it was very possible that shots could push her over the edge...

But I lugged her in this morning and everything went fine. Here are some quick stats for all of you who are wondering if my baby is a giant or not :) haha...

Height: 28 or 29 inches (I think- I can't exactly remember... we were pinning her down and I was really distracted by that) (97th percentile!!!!!!)
Weight: 20.13 lbs. (75th percentile)
She is crawling like a champ, standing on her own, walks with our hands and while holding onto stuff... (like she can walk her way around the coffee table which scares the crap out of me, but its cool...). She is saying "momma," "dadda," and "bobba." Hmm... what else... oh she is def. cutting her teeth but I didn't need the doc. to tell me that.... All in all she is a very healthy girl! :)

She had one finger poke (which she didn't even notice!) and one shot (which she did notice). But it was really funny because she LOVED those band aids the nurse put on her! Like obsessively loved them... She stared at the one on her finger for about 10 minutes- and noticed the one on her leg later in the day. Once she got the nerve up to touch the band aid on her finger it was off within about 2 seconds. And as soon as she caught sight of the one on her thigh she was ripping at that one.

I do have to say though, as well as the shots went, she as been SUPER crabby today. Normally I don't let her fussiness get in the way of plans (I will just tote her little fuss booty along with me :) but jeeeeeeezzzz today it was BAD. I was actually on my way up to Ann Arbor and turned around to come back home because her screaming was so intense!

Thankfully after a nap, a dose of motrin and some cuddling, she is in a much better mood. :) Sometimes its tough to be a baby.