He Said July 22, 2008

Recently we went to the pediatrician for Baby’s 6 month well baby visit.  She is doing well. She is in the 90th percentile for weight. Hee, hee, hee. If you saw her legs, specifically her thighs, you would believe it. I think she looks healthy. I love all of her little folds on her thighs and arms. She is growing so fast. Her height and weight are growing consistently so we don’t have to worry about her weight. Quite frankly, I wasn’t anyway. Of course she got the requisite vaccinations. So sad…and this time her leg was red and sore after getting one of those shots. Poor thing!

During the visit, the doctor asked about her temperment since he heard her crying when she first got in the room and had to get undressed. Mind you, he was in another room. He also heard her crying (well, screaming) when she was getting weighed and having her length measured. She was practically crying the whole time, sometimes even when I was carrying her. At 6 months old, she already doesn’t like going to the doctor’s office.

So, the doctor asked us if she cries like that a lot. So I said that she does “grumble” a lot at home. She will let us know vocally by fussing, crying, or screaming when she is unhappy, bored, lonely, or dirty. She often grumbles when Mr. MaD leaves the room and she can see him walk away. 

After relaying all of this information to the doctor, Mr. MaD says, “She grumbles a lot, just like her mother.”

The doctor’s reply, “Oh? Usually, spouses say stuff like that when the other spouse is not in the room.”

Car Seat Confusion July 10, 2008

When I begin reading a car seat installation manual, it might as well be written in greek! No offense to the people of Greece. I just can’t figure out why car seat installation is so difficult for a college graduate. Trying to follow the installation directions in the manual is of little assitance.

We recently purchased a 2nd carseat for Princess so that Mr. MaD could drop her off or pick her up from preschool on some days. After doing some research, we decided to purchase the Britax Frontier Combination Harness-2-Booster. Last night Mr. MaD tried to install in in his car. After almost 1 hour of trying, he gave up and brought it back in the house. We did a mad search online to get some tips for installing it. Interestingly, a lot of people have trouble installing this car seat in their cars. Some have even said they were returning it.

We aren’t going to return it since we like the features. Plus, there are too many others that we don’t like. We heard that the Radian (spelling?) is also difficult to install.

Why in the world does Britax make such terrible directions? We have 2 other Britax carseats. One is the Regent which Princess is using now and a Roundabout which she used earlier. The Regent wasn’t exactly easy to install either but it was easier than the Frontier. The Roundabout wasn’t so easy to install in the rear facing position. I mean I feel like I need to be a rocket scientist or engineer to be able to get these darn carseats into our cars. The pictures aren’t detailed enough and the directions aren’t clear enough.

Also, most of the carseat safety sites in our neighborhood do not install carseats. They do check if you installed it correctly and give you tips how to do it but they don’t do it for you. I think it has something to do with liability.

I hope someone out there who works for Britax is listening to all of us parents who are struggling with their carseats. I mean they really have a good product but if we can’t get it installed properly how much use will it be to our families! I’m not sure how other manufacturers directions are but Mr. MaD thinks the Graco instructions for our infant carseat is great compared to the Britax instructions.

Anyone out there have any advice?

Are those “Crocodile Tears”? July 9, 2008

First comes the whimper, then the fuss, then the moans, then the screams, then the tears. By then, it is full on crying mode and I don’t mean the whimper cry. My children’s cries make me cringe. So much so that I can feel the back of my neck tensing up.

Okay, I’m not saying that I don’t like to ever see my children cry. I actually can ignore it especially when I’m putting Princess on time-out and she is screaming her head off.

So when does it bother me?

• at the doctor’s office when my girls are getting their shots-poor things
• the first time I left Princess at Sunday School by herself (by the way, they asked me to pick her up because she was crying so much)
• when Baby is crying and I can’t soothe her
• when I’m in public and everyone is staring at me with the look
• when Mr. MaD took Princess to preschool for an “orientation day” and had her stay by herself to take a nap (I’ll tell you more about preschool later)
• when Baby starts crying because Princess is crying-they are so in sync when it comes to crying
• anytime the girls are sick, in pain, sad, or scared

Just last week we were at Sam’s Club doing some shopping. It was crowded because it was just before the 4th of July. Princess happened to take a late short afternoon nap that day but we headed out right before our usual dinner time. We got to Sam’s and I had to process some pictures so Mr. MaD took Princess and Baby around the store. Well, Princess was not happy about leaving me so she started to fuss.  It’s a good thing the picture processing didn’t take too long. So we headed off down the aisles and did some shopping for a few things. Soon Princess was asking for milk. Well, unfortunately, this time I left her milk in the car. I usually carry a drink and snack with me into the store just in case. Of course, the 1 time I leave it in the car she starts to fuss. I was able to appease her for a little while then when we finally got in line to pay…she let it loose.  The cashier lines were so long! The wailing began and I kept telling Princess to stop crying because we were almost done and she could have some milk in the car. Nope! No deal! I just had to ignore it, even if no one else could. Yep, all eyes were on us! I’m sure everyone was thinking that I had either just scolded my child or that my child was so spoiled. It’s a good thing that Baby was sleeping in her infant seat and did not wake up or else I’d have 2 crying children on my hands. I couldn’t wait to get out of there. That even took a long time because the line out the door was so long too! Ugh! By the time we got out of the store and was driving home, it was something like 2 hours past their usual dinner time. So, I guess I can’t totally blame her for fussing!

What do you say? July 7, 2008

My grandmother passed away recently. She was in her 90s so she lived a good long life. She was my last surviving grandparent so that was quite sad.

We attended a wake service for her. It was not a Christian service. After the service, I wanted to view her body. Princess wanted to come with me. I was a little hesitant at first but I carried her over and told her, “Look it’s mommy’s grandma.” She took a quick look then buried her head in my shoulder. I didn’t really know what to say to her so I said, “Mommy’s grandma went to heaven to be with God.” Although my grandmother was not a Christian, I did not know what to say to my 2 1/2, nearly 3 year old daughter. I knew that I shouldn’t say that “Grandma is sleeping” because I didn’t want her to be scared of sleeping or falling asleep.  Let’s face it, I never really thought about what I would say to my young children when they encountered a death in the family.

I guess that was a taste of what future uncomfortable, tough conversations will be like. I’m still thinking about what to say about death. What is appropriate for such young children?

Being Middle-aged July 7, 2008

Being middle-aged seems to be synonymous with health concerns…

Recently, Mr. MaD has been complaining about some stomach problems. So off to the doctor he went. At first I thought it might be celiac disease so I told him he should try to eat gluten-free products. So he tried it. As it turns out, his doctor checked for celiac disease and said that it wasn’t his problem. So then we thought it might be acid reflux so he was given some medication. That didn’t seem  to help yet. Mr. MaD had to take a bunch of tests…most of which I can’t remember the names of. I know one of those test involved drinking that “barium” solution. (Forgive me if I spelled it wrong.) As of now, we are still not sure what is going on. So, we are playing the waiting game. He is watching what kinds of foods he is eating and he is trying not too eat after 7pm.

As for my health, I recently visited my physician for a stomach bug and she thought that I had an enlarged thyroid. I had to get a blood test done and an ultrasound. Thank God all was well with my thyroid. The blood test also revealed that my glucose levels were under control. It was actually lower than my last blood test which was before I got pregnant the 2nd time. My OB thinks that if I control my weight I will probably not have to worry about diabetes. On the other hand, I had some high numbers for other things so I have to take another blood test in a couple of weeks. At least I don’t have to fast for this one.

Last week I visited my optometrist. I mentioned that I felt like my vision hadgotten worse since I gave birth. He said it is probably related to age more than my pregnancy. Yes, he’s mentioned it to be before that after 40 years old, your vision gets worse. Since, I already wear glasses for seeing distances I didn’t think my vision would still change. But now it seems that I’m having trouble seeing close-up! Yikes! Sometimes I find myself squinting when I’m clipping my children’s nails or when I’m trimming my cuticles. Then it hit! The dreaded word…bifocals! Boy, did I feel old! What comes to mind when I hear the word bifocals? Well, my grandmother of course. How could I need bifocals! I was in denial! After showing me his own bifocals ( the ones that don’t have the line across the glass), I gave in to getting a pair of reading glasses rather than bifocals. I think I’ll hold off on bifocals for a year or so more especially since I don’t wear my glasses all the time. So now I’ll need to carry 2 pairs of glasses around and put on the appropriate pair as needed. Then when I finally succumb to bifocals, I’ll just use my new frames and update the lens to bifocals.

Let’s face it…no matter how you look at it, being middle-aged, is always in your face!

P.S. I can’t wait until I’m done nursing baby so that I can finally color my hair…yes, I do have white hair!