Red Head

The night before I had Emerson I dreamt she had red hair. Then when she went bald and her hair started coming back I was convinced she was going to be a strawberry blonde. Her little eyebrows had a hint of red, or so I thought. Apparently Emerson has the same wish now as I did then because tonight as she was getting ready for bed this is what she said to me:

Em: "Is my hair red yet?"

Me: "What? Why?"

Em: "You know, from that strawberry stuff."

Then, as I'm laughing, she proceeds to get into the tub to get her bottle of strawberry scented shampoo to show me what she means. Holding it up she points to the picture and says "See?" The picture on the front of the bottle is a cartoon of a girl with red hair. Next she turns it over to pretend to read the back and says "See, it says it turns your hair red, right?" All I could do was laugh and by this point Tripp was there to witness the conversation. He replied "those are the ingredients" to her question about what the bottle said and she just said "oh" and went on to bed. I guess Tripp thought his reply made sense to a 3 year old and I was just so tickled by the whole thing I didn't think to tell her that she wasn't going to wake up tomorrow looking like Strawberry Shortcake. She's been washing her hair with the shampoo for at least a week and probably dreaming every night of her new red hair and tonight is going to be no different. If she were older she'd be ready to sue for False Advertising by now!!!

Ta-da!

Aren't you wondering why I posted a picture of a KitKat? And more importantly why does it look a little odd? Well it's not a new Kit Kat premiere. Brace yourself. . . it's a nut free Kit Kat!!!!! Woohoo! Can't you just hear the violins and angels singing?!?! Since I'm allergic to peanuts I have had to be careful about reading the allergy warnings on foods. Surprisingly or maybe not, most candy bars are made in a facility that manufactures peanuts, on equipment that processes peanuts or my favorite (haha) warning, "may contain peanuts". (Kit Kats in America are no exception to this rule.) I never really gave that warning much attention until one day when I was pregnant with Cullen and snacking away on M&M's and heard a crunch and I mean more crunch than when you bite into the sweet candy shell. Suddenly I tasted peanuts, next I started itching and then I was downing Benadryl all for a little chocolate fix. Since then I've been a lot more careful when eating and tonight I decided to do a little investigating to see if I could find foods/candy that are nut free. Thank goodness for the Internet. It's at times like this that I don't know how I ever lived without it. Come to find out there are tons of great products out there for people like me. And thanks to soy butter I can now enjoy a PB&J again or rather a SB&J (Wal-Mart even sells it!). But the BEST news yet is that Nestle has a facility in Canada that is completely nut free and they make Kit Kats, Mars, and Aero. So, if you want to know what I want in my Christmas stocking this year you can refer to the above picture! I'm so excited I feel like it's already Christmas. Just knowing that I can enjoy Kit Kat's again without worry makes me hear sleigh bells!

YAY for Nestle and YUM for me!!!!!

Can you hear me now?

Somebody, anybody please comment on my posts. I'm beginning to get a complex!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just because

Okay, okay, I know my blog is supposed to be about my adventures in motherhood but I had other things on my mind tonight. Plus, I like to randomly throw out my crazy thoughts and see what kind of reaction I get! hahaha :) Read my political babble post and then leave me a comment and let me know what you thought of my overanalyzation of a political figure!

Political babble

The past 2 nights my TV has been bombarded with the Democratic Convention. Tripp and I are still living in the dark ages watching free TV from the antenna mounted in our attic. We don't have cable so there's no way to escape all the political campaigning. Out of sheer curiosity I decided to watch Hillary Clinton's much anticipated speech last night at the Democratic Convention. Surprisingly enough I found myself appreciating her speaking skills and obvious intelligence. Truthfully I am not a Hillary supporter but after hearing her speak I understood why so many others were, she is quite a compelling speaker. Then tonight I saw her go out onto the floor at the Democratic Convention and actually make a motion to officially nominate Barrack Obama on the Democratic Bill and suspend the formal proceedings of recounting the votes from the primaries. Now, like I said before I am not a Hillary Clinton advocate but I have to say that I was sort of wowed by her ability to put aside her personal feelings and make a nomination for her opponent. Seriously it really takes a big person to make a generous speech for someone they have fought against for months on end. And how humbling to not only "lose" to your opponent but then endorse them in front of the whole nation. I realize it's all part of the "game" of politics but I am very amazed at the position that Hillary Clinton has been put in trying to unify her political party. I guess I sound like a Democrat but I will neither confirm or deny such allegations! haha If you know me well then you can probably guess which way I lean but if you don't then I won't indulge. One thing that I've learned is to not discuss politics because it tends to elicit strong feelings and sometimes erratic debates. However, this blog isn't really about politics or partisan views but rather just me analyzing a person trapped inside the twisted world of politics. As an outsider and a "critique-er" of people I see on TV I often find myself minimizing their human existence and only seeing them for the face they have to wear in their profession. However, due to the circumstances of this Presidential nomination I found myself pondering how Hillary Clinton as a person must feel giving up what she has so longed hoped for and swallowing her pride publicly as she nominated someone else for that role. Not that she cares what I think but I feel badly for the place she now finds herself.
This whole blog just proves what a softy I really am! I feel sorry for a woman who is powerful, holds a seat in the Senate, is a former 1st Lady and most importantly makes enough money to buy a small island in the Caribbean to escape from all this and probably play darts with a giant poster of Obama's face!!!!!

Quick Wit

Emerson never ceases to surprise me with what comes out of her mouth. Tonight she and Cullen were playing in the den when I heard her suddenly say "I'm sorry" to Cullen and then repeat herself over and over as the 2 of them ran towards the kitchen where I was. Her apologies got louder and more dramatic as she approached and then she started her girly cry. Cullen started walking back to the den without saying a thing as Emerson came into the kitchen. I couldn't figure out what all the fuss was about. I asked Emerson why she was upset and she told me she had "bited" Cullen. I asked her why she was crying if she was the one who did the biting. Her answer was that he hit her so she bit him. (Note I didn't say Cullen did any crying because he didn't. I've concluded the overabundance of testosterone interferes with the ability to feel pain when engaging in physical combat! haha) Apparently all the crying was because she thought she was going to get in trouble for biting. Of course I was going to get on to her for biting but I wouldn't have normally given her a big speech since physical aggression is usually not her way to get her point across. She generally sticks to the very annoying crying and whining characteristic of estrogen! But since she is now in daycare and next year will be in school I had to give her a speech about how biting was not acceptable at home or anywhere else, especially at her daycare where they have a NO biting policy that states your child can be expelled for such behavior. Yes, actually expelled from daycare! I told her that she was never to bite anyone again and definitely not at daycare because it was against the rules (I was hoping mentioning the "rules" would get my point across since she's a big rule follower thanks to being the 1st child). I told her that her teacher (who she adores) would have to call me if she bit anyone and she would be in big trouble. And this is where her response surprised me. She said without hesitation, remorse or worry,

"She doesn't have your number."

Seriously, this kid is getting too smart for me!

Love

Love means a lot of different things. To children love is expressed in numerous ways. I know my children love me by more than their words. Their actions speak louder than anything they vocalize. However, lately I’m beginning to wonder if they are trying to send me a not so subtle hint! A few weeks ago I asked Cullen if he loved me and he said “I love football”. Then last night we were asking him if he loved Granddaddy (my dad, who Cullen adores!), me, Daddy, or Emerson and to each question his response was “I love Nena”. Well, I guess that shows me where I stand! Then today this happened:
We were in a restaurant with my parents and my brother’s family. Emerson was trying to convince my Mom to let her go home with her, partly because she wanted to play with my niece who she thought was also going to my parents and the other reason is just because her favorite person in the whole wide world is my mom. Just to demonstrate exactly, here’s the conversation from this afternoon.
My niece talking to me: “I want to go home with you.”
Me: jokingly “You want to move in with me?”
Niece: “Yes.”
Emerson: “I want to go to Nena’s house.”
Me: “You do? Are you just going to move in with her?” (She had been there almost the entire weekend)
Emerson: “Yes.”
Me: “But what would I do, I want a little girl?”
Emerson: pointing to my niece “Here’s a little girl for you!”
So as you can see my children have made it clear that I rate under football and grandparents. I thought that kids were still supposed to love their parents at this age. Apparently I’m losing ground with them already. I’m going to have to start doing like the grandparents and bribing them with candy, ice cream and prizes!!!

Paul Bunyan's Kid

Daycare continues to be rough for Cullen. He got strep throat (no big surprise) and was out 2 days this week. The day he went back Tripp took him and of course Cullen was NOT happy about it. Cullen has stayed very firm about where he stands on the issue of daycare--opposed! However, apparently he does enjoy some of it. I called Tripp after he dropped Cullen off after his days out and asked how it went. Tripp said that it was rough as we expected but then he told me a very comical story. He said that Cullen had cried and acted very dramatic as Tripp left which made Tripp feel horrible and on top of that Emerson broke down when he dropped her in her classroom, her favorite classroom with her favorite teacher (I personally thinks she likes to play on Tripp's emotions!). So there's Tripp thinking he's abandoning his children and that they are just crying their little eyes out for their daddy. He leaves and drives to the bank to deposit a check then drives back past the daycare on his way to work (it's within walking distance to both of our jobs!) and sees kids on the playground. And this is how he described what he saw--

'Cafreene, I looked and saw all these little babies playing on the playground. They looked so tiny running around I was thinking they must have been a group from the baby room. Then I spotted Cullen's red overalls and all I could think was how much he looked like some lumberjack running around with a bunch of midgets.'

And then when I got home from work Tripp did a visual demonstration of what he saw. He took the trashcan from our room and set it in the middle of the floor then held up his arms like a giant and ran around the trashcan saying (with a giant's voice, of course) "you want to play with me kids?". I was laughing so hard I thought I was going to wet my pants. Really, Cullen is so much bigger than the kids in his class that he looks like we've been doping him with baby steroids. And it doesn't help that there is a little girl in his room only a few months younger than him that is so tiny that Tripp has affectionately named her Thumbelina. So in comparison to her Cullen honestly does look like a giant.

I'm beginning to think he is really Paul Bunyan's kid!

Seriously, we were relieved to find out that although Cullen pretends to hate daycare he does enjoy parts of the day--stomping around making the ground shake for all the other kids and of course snack time!!!!!!! :)

Thank you daycare!

The kids were dramatic the last few days of the week but overall they are doing better. Emerson really likes it but she likes to try to see if you won't drop her off in the morning if she acts pitiful, complete drama queen style. But the daycare workers say that during the day she is having fun and playing. And Friday she got moved to her real room where they will be having short lessons each day. She's very excited about that! Cullen is having a harder time than Emerson but they did say Friday that as long as he was busy he was fine. And he's talking to the workers a lot which really surprised me because he is usually very quiet anywhere but at home. Tomorrow will probably be rough after a weekend at home but hopefully they will be soon get used to the routine.

One thing I was not looking forward to with daycare is the yuckies. I knew that the kids would get sick from being around other children all the time and you know how they are not concerned about sharing their germs with each other. So, after 1 week of daycare, guess what?! Yep, Emerson got strep throat. Apparently it's making the way around her room where 4 cases were confirmed before the weekend. Now it will be 5 when we add Emerson to that list. Thankfully I knew about the bacteria making it's way through all the kids immune systems and when Emerson woke up Saturday morning with a runny nose and crying that hair was stuck in her mouth (she was pointing to her throat) I went ahead and took her to the Dr who confirmed that yes indeed she was the newest victim of the yuckies! All I can think to say is THANK YOU DAYCARE!!! :-/

Day 2

The drama continues. Poor Tripp got the honor of taking the kids this morning. Emerson did well once again but Cullen was not so happy about being there. He cried when Tripp left him. Tripp called the day care back a few hours later to check on him and the director said she had been in and he had settled down and started playing. When Tripp went to pick them up this afternoon he asked his teacher how he did and her answer was "he's had a rough day". He didn't want to eat anything so they got one of the older kids to come to his class and try to convince him to work which worked (I thought it was actually a pretty good idea). Then he was the 1st to go to sleep again for nap time but the 1st to wake after only 30 minutes. Then he cried on and off the rest of the afternoon again. It breaks my heart to think of him wandering around looking for us and thinking we've left him with a bunch of babies and a couple of adults who he doesn't even know. :(

Fast forward to this evening: Emerson was riding with me to pick up pizza (yes, I didn't cook, I haven't worked out a supper system yet!) and we were having a conversation about her playing on the playground. She has decided that boys stink (yes, her words) and that she only wants to play with girls. So she doesn't want to play anywhere near boys because of their stinkyness and the fact that she says they could knock her down. I told her she could play with them and run around like all the other girls and boys but being the hard headed child that she is she told me she wasn't going to do that because girls should play with girls and boys should play with boys. Then she says this to me (and I quote with emphasis exactly where she said it)
"Well, you're not supposed to leave me at school all day anyway because I will cry for my Mama elsewhere."
Okay really, what 3 year old uses the word elsewhere? That child never ceases to amaze me with the things that come out of her mouth. And there I am just looking at her little face in the rear view mirror feeling the mountain of guilt that is piling onto my conscience and wondering how to respond. I couldn't think of anything great to respond with so I just lead the conversation in another, more positive, direction which was the promise that her Nena would pick her up early from day care tomorrow and she would get to play with her before I got home. That seemed to really perk her up since Nena is only 1 her most favorite people EVER.

So now that we're on day 2 of day care and day 3 of work for me things are looking bleak but I know things usually get worse before they get better. . .just like a bruise. I guess we'll just have to wait it out and just see how long this lasts. I sure hope I have enough strength to endure it.

Day Care Day 1

Well, we survived the first day. It was uncharted territory for both kids but they didn't cry when I dropped them off, hooray! And the most impressive thing is that I didn't cry either. WOW, huh?! I was amazed myself (at both things!). Emerson was so ready to get there and have me leave that she didn't want me to even kiss her goodbye. Apparently I'm already cramping her style at her age of 3! After I dropped Emerson off I headed to Cullen's room and he was already thinking it was a bad idea. He wrapped his little arm around mine, clung to my waist with his chubby legs and started saying "I wanna go home, Mama" over and over on the way to the room. I felt so bad and I just knew he would cry but he surprised me and when the teacher got him he just looked around. He didn't see me slip out but he was so overwhelmed by all the other very short individuals mulling around that he forgot to cry. However, the teacher said that he more than made up for it in the afternoon after nap time when he cried on and off and asked for his Mommy and Daddy. Talk about breaking my heart!!! Tripp and I went together to get the kids after work and Emerson was happy to see us and gave me an extra long squeeze but she's already excited about going back tomorrow. Cullen didn't cry when he saw us but before the teacher even told us we knew he had been judging by his swollen little eyes and the pitiful sniffle he does after he cries which he continues for an hour sometimes for dramatic effect! Anyway, I don't think I'll be getting away tomorrow morning without some tears from him but hopefully he will begin to adjust.
More to come. . .along with some cute pictures! :)

Winds of change

The winds of change have hit our house. I started to full time work on Friday and the kids begin daycare on Monday. I'm nervous about how these winds will change our family dynamics. Up until now the children have been with me since they were born. It is going to be quite an adjustment for them as well as myself. I would go into more of how I feel about the whole idea but I don't want to sound like a complainer and I'm just too tired to write right now. But just wanted to mention our little transition to let you know that the posts may once again become sparse as I learn to manage my new schedule.

As for now, the winds are blowing my exhausted body into the bed. I bid you all good night and sleep tight! :)