Wordless Wednesday - A baby & red velvet cake

This is what happens when your parents come over for a birthday dinner and share red velvet cake with your 8 month old son.

 

Wordless Wednesday - Washington D.C.

In April of this year my daughter took a trip to Washington D.C. with her 8th grade class and after participating in an essay writing contest she was chosen as one of the student to take part in the wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

To take part in this is a once in a lifetime event and as parents we were extremely proud of her. My only wish was that we were able to go and see it.

Bugs, Walmart, & My Rant!

Okay, kids! The word of the day is "Craptastic"! That's the best way to describe my day yesterday. Craptastic.

To start the day I had a meeting at work that was totally pointless and a waste of my time. The outcome for priorities was exactly as it was before we went into the meeting. I just don't understand why we had to go through that meeting that was more than an hour (scheduled for 30 min) to come to something we agreed upon a mere 3 months ago! Craptastic!

Fast forward to the afternoon. Looking at Twitter I found out that there is a recall on Similac formula due to insect parts and larvae being in the formula. Craptastic! My son drinks that brand. So, after work I went home and pulled up the site. It was slow. Terribly slow. I got the phone number and called and of course I got the automated system which went on about this and that and finally told me that due to weather they weren't available to take calls. Really?!?! Craptastic!

Back to the incredible slow website. I entered the lot number of the first container that I had. Recalled. Entered the second one. Recalled. Craptastic! What was even better was that the second one was EMPTY! Yes. I fed my son bugs. Way to go mom!

Here's where my level annoyance went from 1 to 2, maybe 3. I called the husband to let him know what was going on. And he tells me that if I breastfed we wouldn't have this issue. Really!?!?! Don't. Judge. Me. I went on to inform him that I could if I was able to stay home. But I can't. I have to work...full time. I'm gone from 7am until almost 5pm. He told me that I could just pump in the bathroom and store it in the fridge. I barely have time to go pee while at work let alone take the time to pump as often as would be required! 

Moving on. I gathered my son, the formula, the receipt (yes, I had one!) and we were off to Walmart to get something new and bug free. I wasn't concerned Walmart always has the recalls posted and I even called ahead of time stating that I had a recall about formula. They just told me to go to the service desk and they'd take care of it no problem. Do you have any sense of where this could be going?

I made my way to the service desk and waited. And waited. Because they only have one person there to help the long line of people. My first warning was that I didn't see the recall notice on the board with the rest of them, but I could've missed it.... it was sort of far away. I was very happy that my son was happy and not yet starving.

Once it was my turn I explained in complete detail everything that I read on the website about the recall and that both containers were recalled, showed them my receipt, and from here things went down hill. Fast. The guy at the service desk needed to call up a manager and luckily for us she was walking up there! He then explained that there was a recall and she proceeded to tell me that they know nothing of a recall basically telling me that I was a liar. I told her that I didn't know when the recall was released but that I had just heard about it earlier. She wasn't nice. She did check the computer and came back to tell me that there was nothing that they could/would do. Annoyance level had now reached at least a 7 on a scale of 10. Double Craptastic!

Here was the deal. They were doing nothing to help me. Nothing about the bug infested formula that was on the shelves. Nothing. At. All. I guess they don't have the internet on the computers at Walmart. Jerks. I left.

I left and went to another store down the road. Kroger. Kroger is AWESOME. But wait.... I'll get to that in a minute. I was annoyed so I called Walmart and asked to speak with the store manager. I then explained the situation to him and then he put me on hold for close to 5 minutes. When he finally came back he let me know that if I went home, printed off the page(s) with the recall info on it (actually he wanted a list of all the affected lot numbers), brought it back to the store he would then take my bug formula and exchange it for the exact damn thing. Why you ask. Because that's their policy. I explained that the site has a form, you enter the lot number and it'll tell you if it's recalled or not. There's not a list of all the lot numbers and that if they give me the exact thing I'll go home, look to see if it's recalled and have to return it too. He told me that's their policy. Annoyance level 9.

Okay, on to the Good Guys at Kroger. I needed formula. I went in and out of curiosity I went to the service desk to ask if they knew about it and they didn't, but guess what? They have the internet on the computers there at Kroger! Amazing!

To make a really long story short, they looked up the recall, looked up the lot numbers on my containers, gave me money back even though I didn't buy it there, and they pulled off all of the powered formula from the shelves!

I won't shop at Walmart anymore and I will shop at Kroger more than I did before. They exceeded every expectation that I had. They were polite, courteous, and willing to look into it. I left there with my annoyance level lowered back down to a mere 2.

Moving on.... I went home and fed my now hungry son some bug free formula and the girls some pizza rolls because that little field trip too an hour and a half.

Hour and half after that... we lost power. No storm. No wind. No rain. As a matter of fact there wasn't a cloud in the sky, just the beautiful, large full moon. I was thankful we have a generator.

Wordless Wednesday - September 21st

Niagara Falls - September 2010

View from our hotel room

The girls after the Maid of the Mist boat ride

Probably the best shot of the falls I got!

My kids!

On cookies and frustration.

Not that long ago I set out to find someone who was interested in doing a guest post for me. I posed the question to all the great people who are part of the Crayon Wrangler's Blog Frog community as well as on Twitter and was able to get an immediate response from my new friend, Maryline, from Franco-American Dream! Needless to say I was excited... and still am!

Do you have kids? If so, you can totally sympathize with Maryline! I know I went through it with my girls and am going to be going through it with my son! Wonder what we're talking about? Keep reading! 



This past month has reached new heights in dinnertime struggles with my now 17-month old.

Two nights ago was the perfect example of the doomed 6pm disaster…

And I mean it. Food everywhere except in his mouth. Constant screaming, crying, and kicking, with some head-throwing back against the high chair – just to spice it up. Me? Starting to scream back and lose my mind. Oh yes.

To the untrained eye, this baby is in excruciating pain from teething, it's so obvious. He's shoving his fingers all the way in the back of his mouth and literally screaming bloody murder. I was surprised none of the neighbors knocked on the door to check in on us.

But in reality, set him down, and all is fine again. So, now I know better.

Except this past night? Much worse. Screaming at the pasta which he normally loves, screaming at the applesauce... Come on, who screams and rejects applesauce, at 17 months old?

Do I really make food for him to just decide he will not eat? Hell no!

Food, I swear, is everywhere. He first spits it out, slowly so that the food slides down his chin and neck. He then rubs his face with his fists, slowly painting his cheeks, eyelids, and forehead with the edible body paint of the day...

Bibs at that point are WAY useless. In fact, I don't even put them on. Why add to the laundry? The clothes were going to get washed anyway!

In the past moments, I've been fuming and cursing inside; at my husband, who should give it a try once in a while to give me a break; after my son who's clearly not understanding I am feeding him THE very best; at the dog for not being able keep up with the nutritious projectiles covering the hardwood floor, the legs of the high-chair, and the tip of my toes.

By the way? Don't wait for your kids to beg you to get a dog, get one the day you start solids with your first-born. It's a win-win, trust me! (Actually, make that happen from day one if you can, as it turns out, dogs also crave wet burps. Gross? Not really, just convenient.)

And so that night, I felt like my son was going to bed on a nearly empty stomach. But soon after, realized I did not have a choice. Let me confess, just between you and I, I briefly attempted the force feeding thing (yes, the one thing all parenting books will tell you not do), it did not work well at all. The screaming was getting louder, the mess just bigger and my sanity was NOT saved.

And so tonight, I changed my approach, I filled a few small bowls with different foods he likes – Goldfish crackers, cantaloupe, raspberries – on the ottoman, and let him play/eat for a bit. Then I sat him in the chair, with a bowl of food (pasta, red sauce, beef – homemade!), and two spoons. With the dog in stand-by to clean up after him, always.

And I? Stepped away. Still there, just not by his side holding the fork or trying to entertain him as I always have done.

He actually ate at least as much as he would have with my intervention, not necessarily much more. However I’ll admit it was far less hectic.

I would not say quiet. But sustainable. And that is good news, because I have about 18 more years of dinners to go.

And this is how I realized my son is making his way through life, learning independence. Just like I've learned to let him play with the front door until he gets tired of it. Because a tantrum over a door isn't worth it.

Conveniently, my son just learned a new word over the past few days: cookie, and with the French accent, please! It's so cute, it actually sounds like ka-ki.

Tonight when he was pointing at the pantry chanting ka-ki, ka-ki, I did let him have a little piece so I could strategize on the dinner plan. At least I knew he would not go to bed on an empty stomach!

Sometimes cookies are better than nothing. No doubt the next lesson my son needs to learn is simply “no”. I will wait for my husband to come back from his business trip to get started!

When it comes to our children, don’t we all lose our mind over battles not worth fighting?

"Testing mommy's boundaries, one meal at a time."

First Day of School - Not So Wordless Wednesday

First of all I have to say that I can't take a decent picture! I'm so annoyed that all of the pics that I took for the first day of school are blurry!

From the left is Lauren who started the third grade, Caitlin whose a freshman, and then Natalie who started middle school this fall as a 6th grader. Yes, I have kids in three different schools and driving them to school daily can be a challenge especially when the two oldest start at the same time!

Another Bad Mom Moment....

So, needless to say I won't be getting the Mom of the Year Award anytime soon! I seem to have these moments every now and again. And they're more often than I'd like them.

Here's the story....

I work full time and my day starts at 5:30 am and usually ends around 9pm when I finally get to sit down and relax. That's a long damn day! This past week at work has been one challenge after another and more meetings then necessary! There were interruptions, changes to priorities, and confusion added to my projects. Honestly it sucked.

Today wasn't the best day. With the holiday weekend coming up we're planning on going camping for the weekend which adds a bit more work for me which isn't to bad since the camper doesn't get fully unpacked till the end of the season. This was supposed to be a family thing. Today my daughter calls and says she wants to go up north with her friend and that she really wants to go because she hasn't been able to do anything with this friend all summer. I understand. Really I do. When I was her age I would have rather gone with a friend instead of my parents too. But it kind of upset me because I was hoping for a nice weekend with the whole family.

With all the frustration I ended up taking it out on my daughter. I snapped at her and wasn't very nice. And it all came up before I knew it and then it was to late. I feel horrible. I tried to talk to her. I tried to apologize. But she was mad/upset with me and didn't want much to do with me.

I have to get better at not taking my frustrations out on my kids. They don't deserve it. They didn't do anything wrong (ok... sometimes they do) and it isn't fair to them.

The question is how do I do this? What can I do to change things so I don't take my frustration out on them? I suppose that like any change that you make in your life it takes time and effort.

Wish me luck! And maybe someday I will get that Mom of the Year Award!!

Wordless Wednesday - August 25th

I know it's called Wordless Wednesday for a reason, but I have just a few to explain the situation.

So, the kids were starving and Andrew wanted my undivided attention and of course my super mommy powers had dwindled for the day so I couldn't deal with him and make dinner. I asked the girls to keep an eye on him and entertain him.

When I came out to check on them this is what I found......

They told me that he wasn't happy doing anything until they put him in the basket. Uh huh....

 

Wordless Wednesday

And here's my first Wordless Wednesday post! Enjoy.

My Kids & their Baby Blues

The most unbelievable blue eyes you've ever seen...

I think doing these writing workshops have to be my favorite thing to do!  So setting aside all of the tasks that are building up for the #31DBBB I'm here writing from one of Mama Kat's prompts.

When I think of the prompt that I chose I think how many people are going to write about their kids, that one guy, their husband, or something else. For me the first thing that came to my mind was my kids. Honestly, I don't spend much time gazing at people's eyes! That'd be pretty damn creepy!

My children are amazing creatures. They can be funny, loving, intense, annoying, and challenging all at the same time. There are times I wonder if I'm totally screwing them up or if they'll be well adjusted adults. Guess time will tell!

There is one thing that my children all have in common, and that's the amazing large, blue eyes. And I love it. Each of them has a slightly different shade than the others too and in this respect a bit different.

My oldest, Caitlin, has always had these BIG blue eyes. They're a bright blue and really stand out in contrast to her dark hair and skin.













Natalie is my little blue eyed blond baby. She's the only one who has blond hair, although the jury is still out on what color Andrew's will be. Her's are a light, crisp blue.

Now, Lauren looks similar to her older sister Caitlin in that they have the same skin coloring and hair color. But her eyes are a blue-gray color that seem to change depending on the weather.

My youngest is Andrew and the baby of the family (really he is... he's only 6 months old). By now his eyes would have changed colors if they were going to and I'm happy to say that they stayed blue! He has such a serious look for someone so small.





Of course they got those amazing blue eyes from me! 

Andrew's Monumental Meltdown Moment

Yesterday Andrew did not have a good afternoon. His nap was not long enough to make him a happy baby... instead he was frustrated with all the things he couldn't do and cried about it.

He had plenty of things to play with as you can tell by the mess all over the floor! But that didn't make him happy. Oh... sorry about how blurry the picture is, he wouldn't stop moving!

And then I tried to talk to him thinking it'd make it better and that there was really no reason for the fit that he was having.

Nope.

I was very wrong as this picture proves. He turned away and cried harder.

Needless to say this went on for barely a minute.

Because moments after the crying he found that toy he must have really wanted but didn't see in front of him.













And then he smiled. Life was good again!

My Kids

These are my kids and they are the world to me. Caitlin is the oldest (14), then Natalie (10), Lauren (8), and finally Andrew, who in this picture was about 3 months old. I'm sure that Caitlin will complain about posting this picture because she doesn't like the way she looks or something, but look at them! They're all smiling, laughing, and looking at the camera (mostly). It's one of my favorites.

They're all unique and special to me in their own ways and there is nothing that could change how much I love them. Now, don't get me wrong they are not angels by any means and there are times I wonder if I was ever as annoying as they can be.

They're all mine, I love them, and wouldn't trade them for anything.

That's it for now... just a quick post.

Photo Booth Fun

My kids have found the fun and excitement of playing with Photo Booth on my Mac. Any time that I leave it unattended you can be sure that at least one of them will be playing with it.
For me it's a surprise to open it up and see all the new photos and videos that they've done, some are cute and others are just weird!
This is a really good one that Natalie took of her self.

And this is my oldest Caitlin, posing for the Mac camera! You can see that they always use one of the special effects that are available.

And here we have Super Baby! Or my youngest, and only son, Andrew. I was actually present for this 'photo shoot' and there were many pictures and videos taken that afternoon of Super Baby.

As I went through the pictures I realized that there wasn't one of my youngest daughter, Lauren. And then I figured it out.... she just takes long videos of herself riding a roller coaster or swimming in the ocean with the fish!