Respect

I have been giving Bug baby cereal for the last month or so and have been pumping to mix the milk in with it.  I have plenty of milk, but it takes so much time and preplanning that often he doesn't get the cereal with his meal, just the baby food.  I decided to go ahead and buy a can of powdered formula so that I wasn't just adding plain water.  I also thought that it would be a good way for him to get any extra vitamins that he might not be getting from me.


So off to the grocery store I went with Sunshine in tow for special mommy and me time.  When we get to the baby aisle I'm looking at all of the different types of formula and all of the outrageous prices.  All I wanted was a small can of powdered formula, but not the individual serving size.  I continue searching, feeling utterly confused.  Milk-based?  I thought they weren't supposed to get dairy until they were a year old.  That can't be right, is it.  Sunshine looks at the ginormous can in my hand and asks, "What's that?"  I replied that it was baby formula.  "Baby formula?  What's baby formula?"  I was trying to figure out a way to explain it.  First I said you put it in their bottles, but then I stopped, I knew that wasn't what she was looking for. Then I said it was for them to drink and you mix water with it.  She looked slightly baffled by this.  Then I said that some mommies can't make milk so they use this instead.  Her eyes got huge and her mouth hung open a little bit and she exclaimed, quite loudly, "They can't?!"


I realized that I have 3 children and was buying my first container of formula.  We had been given formula in the past from the hospital and always gave it away to the local food pantry before it expired.  I nursed Sunshine for 17 months, Monkey for 18 and plan to continue with Bug for just as long.


I left the grocery store with a new respect for myself and my body.  I was proud of what I've been able to do for my children.  Then, later that night, when I saw myself in the mirror, I realized that my body is certainly not what it was 6 years ago, and I'm ok with that.

Vicky

I'm teaching her...

to crochet.  Who?  Sunshine.  Yes, I'm teaching my 5 year old to crotchet.  Ever since I said I'd crochet Monkey and her a scarf, she has been adamant on learning how.  I decided to give it a try and teach her.  She did surprising well too.  I hadn't realized how involved the coordination in the finger/yarn tension was.  Her little hands had to constantly move up the chain which meant that she lost the tension on the new yarn going to the hook.  I must say, the stitches were fairly uniform, every 4-5 stitches would match, whether they were looser or tight, it was definitely a good start.


Vicky

Realization

So I've already had that gasp of Sunshine going to kindergarten, now I've realized what that really means.  She has afternoon kindergarten and we'll be taking classes in the morning.  Last night I was thinking that I should go to the zoo.  Then I realizeed; If I want to go to the zoo, I will have to go in the next 5 days or I can only go on days that she doesn't have school.  Bug will never be able to just go to the zoo on a whim.  Now I understand why the zoo is so packed on those days that school is typically not in session.  Since she has afternoon kindergarten, we can't go there in the afternoon as we've done in the past when she was in preschool.  I suppose I can take Monkey and Bug when she's in first grade but then only on days that Monkey isn't in preschool.  This only reminded me why I want 3 day preschool.  Keep them home and get to enjoy them as long as possible.  She's taking the bus but the bus stop is down the street and around the corner so I will have to walk her there which means either wrapping the other 2 up just to go outside for 10 minutes.  I am not going to like this at all.  When will our lives go back to how they were... Oh yeah, never.

Vicky

Milwaukee

We just got back from Milwaukee, yes another trip, and had a wonderful time.  The Wisconsin State Fair was last weekend and I got to go to a state fair for the first time with my kids.  We watched the cows in the barns for a looong time.  Sunshine liked the Jersey cows best where Monkey preferred the Holsteins.  Monkey was a bit confused as to why the poor cows had something between their legs like that.  Some of the poor cows were so full they could hardly walk and were dripping milk along the way.  All I could think was "I feel your pain."  Seeing them waddle to the milking station made us thirsty so we went over to the milk stand.  A full 8oz of fresh cold milk for $.25 and with a choice of 6 flavors to add to it.  We chose cherry, root beer and banana.  The banana brought me back to when Nesquick used to have banana powder mix, it was just as good as I remembered.  The root beer tasted like a float.  Mmmm,  mmmm milk!



The next day we visited he Milwaukee County Zoo.  If you ever get a chance to visit this zoo, I highly recommend it.  First of all, it's shaded, any parent who has taken their child to a sunny zoo in the middle of summer knows how painful it is to stand there for 15 minutes staring at the lion who is just as hot as you.  All the animals were active and their enclosures had grass, ponds, trees, sometimes even multiple species in one enclosure.  We were also able to see the whole thing in our one day visit, which is a good/bad thing.  Of course this is just pure luck, but in the reptile house there was a king cobra and this thing was moving!  Not just a little either, I mean this snake was pushing his little frozen mice around waiting for them to move, he went for a little mini swim in his pool, he even opened his hood a bit, although I'm not sure at what.  We have video footage of him right in front of Sunshine standing about 1' and right in her face.  My little animal lover didn't bat an eye, she simply said "Look at his tongue.  I think he's trying to smell me."  My smart little girl.


Next day we went to the "The Domes" the local conservatory.  Beautiful building inside and out.  I could have spent a lot longer in there but the kids were done.  Of course my husband who loves taking pictures of every single flower we pass, forgot to bring his camera.  We did have his iPhone but it's just not the same.  As a reward for good behavior, I let the kids pick out a cactus.  I was a little perturbed though, it wasn't labelled as to what kind of cactus it was and when I asked the lady behind the gift shop counter she said she didn't know.  You work in a conservatory and you don't know the type of plant that you're selling.  I looked it up when we got home, turns out it's just about the most commonly bought cactus out there.  I also learned that cacti are not as low maintenance as I had previously thought.  There was a huge list of do's and do nots.  Regardless, Spikey is here to stay.  Sunshine insisted that he have a nickname so we agreed that his name would be Spikey with a nickname of Spike.


All in all a nice weekend away with the family and in-laws.


Vicky

Almost time

The other day my sister asked me when Sunshine started kindergarten.  I casually said that I didn't know, towards the end of August and I'd make sure I looked before the first day.  Well I went ahead and looked and I couldn't believe it, school starts in 13 days.  Wait.  What?  13 days?  No, she starts school at some point, not in 13 days.  13 days is less than 2 full weeks!  I'm not ready for my baby to start school.  I watched her for a bit and remembered the day that she was born and how the announced she was a girl.  I know everyone says how quickly time goes by and to cherish your moments and you think that you do but somehow kindergarten still sneaks up on you when you're not watching.



I sat on the couch with her for a while and snuggled with my baby.  I made sure I had a moment with her right then and there.  I told her how much I loved her and that she was the best little girl in the world.  I didn't tell her that in 13 days our lives would be changed forever and we would no longer have the luxuries of no schedules and lazy mornings.  That it wouldn't just be "us" anymore.


I think we're in the last couple pages of this chapter.  On to the next one, not the same but still just as much fun.

Vicky

Vacationing we will go

This week we went to Wisconsin Dells for 4 days with my family.  What a wonderful time we had.  Sunshine was just barely tall enough to go on the slides, but go on the slides she did.  She started out on a tube slide and continued to proceed to the body slides, wave pool, and even worked on her swimming.  Never much of a daredevil and a pretty big fear of heights, each step she took was a huge accomplishment.  She was a little bit more than nervous about crossing a cargo net tunnel bridge but eventually was running through with no hesitation.  Some slides had a bit more sun and ground showing through the bottom of the steps but she worked through that as well.  At first she did a quick crawl up on her hands and feet but again, she was walking up those stairs as well.



The only slide she didn't go down were the mats/racer slides that you go down headfirst into a dark tunnel.  It ends in a pretty steep drop.  We got up to the top and she decided she really didn't want to do it.  She cried for a good amount of time but I think it was more of an embarrassment issue than about being scared.  She saw both of her cousins (also ages 5 and 6) go down the slides and she just couldn't get past her fear.  Regardless, I was impressed with what she did do.  I must admit I was a bit more than nervous about going down those slides as well.


We stopped at Deer Park for a wonderful morning trip.  The deer were up and active and quite happy to receive their morning snacks from all of their guests.  I've been before but always later in the afternoon, it shouldn't have been a surprise that they aren't as active then.  Anyone who drives down a wooded road will know that the deer are out at sunrise and set.  The kids would have been willing to stay the rest of the day just petting and feeding the deer, goats, pigs and horses.


Vicky