Syd and Bec went to Maurisha's house for the weekend. She lives in South Sacramento... not the BEST neighborhood (but then, not the worst, either) Maurisha spent last weekend with us, so they figured Syd should come this weekend, and I guess Bec got invited too. I don't know if Shabree just wasn't invited, didn't want to go spend the weekend, or what. Shabree doesn't really care to sleep at other people's houses, she'd rather be with us, which is fine with me.

I changed the settings on the notes so you can leave an anonymous note without having to go through any hoops or hurdles, let me know one way or another if it works or not. Hopefully I don't get spammed as a result. Some people just have NO class whatsoever, but I know I need to make it easy for people to leave notes, otherwise I am not going to get any.

We joined Netflix, and have over 400 movies in the queue, lol. I added over 300 of them by myself. I am hoping basically to have a movie or tv show a day to watch. It's 17 dollars a month, which if we do watch one disc a day, will be half of what RedBox is. I guess we'll see how it works out. One nice thing is the movies come to us, and of course, we can keep them as long as we want, and the mailbox is across the block, so it's a nice close walk to return the movies. No having to worry about having them back by 9. Plus, I put a bunch of old Disney movies in the queue like The Love Bug, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Sleeping Beauty... stuff I can't get from RedBox. And I also queued up the last few seasons of The Dead Zone, all the seasons of Stargate SG1, and all seasons of The Simpsons, more stuff I can't get from RedBox, and don't want to pay to own. Next week we have High School Musical 3 and Prince Caspian coming... the girls are looking forward to those! I'll have to get Sydni to finish up her homework early.
Speaking of Syd, not sure if I mentioned, but she's been put on Ritalin, and probably has ADHD, not just ADD, but she's making herself concentrate even if we forget to bring her the afternoon dose, which right now we're supposed to be doing, because we have to have a note from the doctor for the school to do it.
Becca will probably NOT pass 7th grade. It's unclear whether or not she has enough credits, or with summer school could come up with enough credits, but right now she's flunking Algebra and Humanities, and has Cs in Art and P.E. I do NOT know how a kid can get a C in P.E. and you'd think since Art is her favorite subject, she'd have an A in it...
If she doesn't pass on to the next grade, she will be home schooled next year. She doesn't want to be home schooled, so hopefully it's incentive enough for her to get herself in gear... though I somehow have my doubts. Becca doesn't really believe that she has to study for tests, doesn't do a really great job on her homework, and basically does the least amount of work she ever has to do, and of course, this all adds up to her flunking. With her cavilier attitude, and her snottiness towards me especially, I have honestly about had it with her.

Well, my mind is wandering, dinner is about ready, and I'm tired of writing, so I'm going to post this. I'm not sure where the camera is exactly, and don't have any layouts for you, so no pictures right now... maybe later. Sorry for the number of days between posts.

New Layout to print

I decided to throw a layout together. There's nothing special about this one, IMO. I wanted a page for Alex's birth, so this is it. This is just the preview, but you should be able to click on the preview and be taken to the link. I guess when I post this, I'll find out if it worked or not.

Okay, if you're reading this blog, you need to know that you can leave comments, and if you don't have an account, just leave them anonymously, telling me who you are. I'm not seeing much in the way of comments, so I don't know if anyone is actually reading. I was THINKING I might make some new digital layouts for my family, upload them to some file sharing account, and then you could download them and print them on your end. I can make the layouts, I just don't have the cash to get everyone prints of them, that's all. If you could leave a yay or nay comment, I'd appreciate it. I may just do it anyway, and then send an email... I dunno. I'll have to think about that one. I'm still kind of working this one out in my head. It's not too complicated to put together a digital layout, and one good thing is that everyone could have their own copy... I could even upload all the pages I did before, I had to pick and choose who got what since I had too many layouts to fit in the books I gave for Christmas year before last. It's pretty easy to print them onto 8x11 photo paper and then trim them to 8x8. Then just put them in an 8x8 book, available at Wal mart or Target. Well, I'll work on it. I would still appreciate a yay or nay though.

It's GORGEOUS!!!

I doubt the picture does it justice... I just LOVE how it turned out... so beautiful. Yea, it's definitely much more striking in real life. However, it works. The red is velvet. It's soft to the touch. There are brads on the "Be my" part of the title and on each side of the "Valentine" title. There are two pieces of journaling and they read:

Saturday, February 14th, 2009
We debated whether or not to do Valentine’s on Saturday or do it on Friday instead. We decided to go ahead and do it the morning of the holiday. Instead of the parents buying all the kids a gift, we drew names, and took the kids to buy the person they drew a gift, though I’d already gotten Jerry something, so I traded for him. Becca got Alex, Sammi got Shabree Alex got Sydni So when Bec and I went shopping, we had to buy the gifts “from” the two youngest. Jerry and I got each other, and Syd got Bec, and Shabree got Sammi.

The bear I got was what I really wanted. I almost bought it for Jerry, but I realized that it would not be very cool for me to buy him a gift I really wanted for me, so I bought him some chocolates, a chocolate rose, some almond rocas, and a picture frame I put a picture of all the girls. However, when I got home, I mentioned the bear I wanted. I didn’t realize Jerry hadn’t gotten me a gift yet. In fact, Sydni TOLD me he hadn’t, and I told her, Syd, if you’re lying, you’re doing a pretty good job of it. Then Jerry told me he hadn’t gotten anything. Well, I was very surpirsed when I opened the VERY bear I wanted. I asked Jerry how he knew I wanted the brown bear (as there had been another similar bear that was white), he said that it was the bear he liked better. I told him we were on similar wavelengths, because I liked that one better too. All the girls got a bunch of chocolate, except for Sammi who got a bear, and Alex, who got some really cute bibs. Shabree and I both got Garfield boxes of chocolate, which we loved, Sydni got a box with a rose on it. Bec got “I heart you” chocolate, which she immediately traded Syd for her box of chocolates, minus about 4 pieces. Becca ate all of her chocolate within the next 24 hours.

TOO funny

Click on to read, it'll blow it up. This is HILARIOUS. This is Syd's Off Track report.

The girl Sydni had her arms around (and vice versa) is Maurisha, the other girl is Kristin. Shabree calls her KK. She's really great with Sammi... but they both seem to adore Alex.
Okay, this was just a quick post to get the pictures up there for ya all. I'm going to get to cleaning so I can finish up my layout (paper's missing, MUST find.)

Pictures tomorrow...maybe. It's especially crazy around here, because we have two girls, Syd's friends Maurisha and Kristin, staying the night, it'll probably end up being the weekend. Sammi woke up at 3 freaking a.m. and didn't want to do back to sleep AT ALL. I sang, and sang and sang, and finally laid down with her in Sydni's room, and there she was content to lie, without me, so I left. We had Papa Murphey's take and bake for dinner tonight, another "foodstamp" dinner "out" meal... hey, so long as I don't have to make it, it's all good. I don't mind sticking it in the oven, but I did NOT feel like cooking tonight. Tomorrow, we all make Chinese food for dinner. Yum. We just need to DO it, and not let it go. I've never cooked chinese food before, so it's a little scary.

I'm going to keep this one short and sweet, I've GOT to get to bed. It's crazy late.

I'm trying to remember to take pictures so I have something to upload... but a lot of times, it's just a snapshot of that kid on that day, not doing anything special. I hope that's all right. Shabree's wearing her High School Musical t shirt she got for her birthday... which I think they got her on clearance at Wal mart. Gotta LOVE clearance at Wal mart. Before we started seriously shopping at thrift stores, I used to buy pretty much ALL the girl's clothes from the clearance racks. Well, I tried anyway... jeans were another matter.
I'm putting together a really cute layout of this Valentine's day, using most of the pictures I posted the other day. I think I'm going to have to clean up first though, because the cardstock I need already went missing. Shoot. I hate it when I do that, misplace stuff that should be really obvious.
I've been fighting with Shabree to get her homework done so she can go to the park, and I'm really pretty tired of it already.
MUCH later... kids are in bed, I'm reading a book, the second book in the Maximum Ride series by James Patterson. VERY good book. I'm going to go back upstairs in a bit to read more. I'm pretty tired. Syd got into a fight at the park. She picked up some kid's rip stick, so he slapper her, well, she choked him, so he punched her in the stomach. Shabree rode home to get me. I made Syd come home. I told her that choking is NOT an acceptable way of defending herself (which is what she claimed she was doing.) Gees. She has gotten into a few fights, some where she was TOTALLY in the wrong. As usual with our kids, the other kids were black kids. ALWAYS black kids. This I do not understand. The kid even came up to me and told me what happened (except he left out the part where he slapped her.) Very uncool, the whole of it. They NEED to go to the park, they need the exercise. But I gotta say, I am not going to be in a mood to let them go to the park if this is what's going to happen. I love this house...but this neighborhood often leaves something to be desired.
Well, I think I'll get off the computer for the day, though I may read some email if there's anything worth reading in there.

I've been CRAZY with the video camera on my camera. Though I just realized, I probably didn't download it, using the program I have for getting the pictures off my camera, so it's lost forever. Oh well, it was mostly just video of these pictures.

Sammi was feeding Alex again, she really seems to delight in doing that, though she will give me the spoon just as often to feed her with.

I've been on Ebay, trying to buy Barbie clothes for the girls. Well, the younger girls, anyway. Sammi LOVES playing with the Barbies. That house went over better than I thought it would, actually. Still glad I didn't spent 1 or 200 dollars on it though, since it's already drawn on, etc.
Well, today was pretty quiet. Jerry went to the library, and Sammi wasn't too happy about that, but she didn't wake up too happy anyway, so I spent quite a bit of time rocking her and trying to make her feel better. Though sometimes I wonder if I am shooting myself in the foot doing that. However, I don't feel right just letting her cry, either. Poor thing hit her head on the banister just before Jerry left, he turned and she flipped herself out a bit, perfect timing for getting smacked in the head. Ouch. So I definitely didn't have a problem comforting her for that. Then she fell off my chair and hurt her elbow...not much I could do, because I had Alex in the other arm. Alex has FINALLY begun to roll from her front to her back, about time too. Now she's using it to get to things that she wants. I was having Shabree read to me tonight, and Alex was rolling herself over so she could grab Shabree's book (which was If you take a mouse to the movies... very cute, her teacher gave it to her for Christmas.) We couldn't let her do that though, because the book is paperback, and Alex has a very strong grip, so she would have bent that book really badly.
I got a call from the doctor today, and they re-prescribed Reglan for me... it brings up breast milk production, and for me, works better than a product called Domperidone (or Motilium) BUT it has a depression side effect, so I have to take it for short periods of time, and then I kind of watch my milk production go down. In fact, I'm supposed to be sending an email to Dr Jack Newman's breast feeding clinic in Canada to see if he has any advice for me. Basically, even though the Dom has no side effects, I can't afford it, and I can't really get a prescription for it, and even if I could, I am going to have trouble locating a pharmacy that can make it, because it has to be compounded... then they have to take Medi-CAL... if I order it from Canada, it's 50 dollars for 300 pills, which is roughly a 30 day supply, though I could possibly get away with less. But it wasn't working very well for me (someone sent me a 300 pill supply). However, it can take time to work. So I don't know, and I quit taking it, unsure of what to do. The Reglan works pretty well for me, but I can't take it long-term at all. And I'm not sure my doctor would allow me to be on it long term anyway, she's not a fan of drugs. NOT that I blame her, but I would do just about anything to keep the breast feeding going, it's so important to me. But it's all a balance. I can't spend 50 dollars a month, when I can get formula for free, and that money is needed elsewhere. So...
My life feels crazy! LOL...
Oh yea, no wonder I named this thing Crazy Around Here... because it IS! So my afternoon was spent feeding Alex, changing Sammi and Alex, helping Shabree with homework, helping Shabree FIND her homework first, making snacks... and I even managed to get a shower in there somewhere. Thankfully Jerry made dinner, I just had to put it together (burritos... yum. The man is QUITE a good cook, especially when it comes to Mexican food) Oh, and did I mention feeding Alex? That kid takes a LONG time to eat. And I have to watch her with the solids, because she just chokes way too easily on food. I basically wait, because she usually fixes it herself, though not TOO long, because you never know when she's not going to fix it. Sigh... she's given me a few too many scares. WHEN are those doggone teeth going to come in already? Shabree got her first tooth at 6 months, and the rest followed pretty quickly after. Sammi was 5 months, and the rest didn't follow until she was 17 months +. I think teeth just don't come in too quickly in my family... my last baby teeth didn't fall out til I was 12, maybe 13, but pretty sure I was 12. It was pretty late though. I don't know when my first teeth came in.

I may have to go to bed early... this whole thing of feeding the baby through the night is exhausting. Not my cup of tea, lol. And the only, the ONLY thing that ever gives me a second thought about quitting and switching to formula full time. I covet my sleep. I can make it the few more months though until she turns 1... then I'm hoping not to have to worry about it so much. Let us both sleep through the night, and feed her just a few times during the day, and before she goes to bed. I am not entirely certain SHE will give it up that easily though. She gets this LOOK in her eye and will move herself, grab my breast, and shove it in her mouth.

I have been standing her up, as well as giving her tummy time, and tonight, I noticed that she's a LOT less wobbly. I stood her up at the couch, and the other day, she just kind of collapsed, but tonight, she stood there, using the couch for support. She was SO tired though, but she did it. Nap times still aren't really happening with this "new" schedule, though she did fall asleep for a bit in her swing. Still, she was UBER tired tonigh, and when I woke her up to eat, she just wasn't her usual "energizer bunny" self, so I put her right back to bed, where she is now. I will have to go get her shortly for another feeding, which is why I thought I might go to bed as well.

I found two Barbie lots I want, though only one I could actually buy, and that's the one I want more anyway. It's got a dress that was on a Barbie I bought in the 80s, that is red with hearts all over it... my dress got eaten by a mouse or something, because it fell apart :(. I actually own two of the Barbies in this auction... but since I basically gave my Barbies to the girls, I somehow doubt that they're in any kind of shape... so far they've managed to break at least 2 dolls, and I don't know if they were my dolls, or their dolls. And Shabree... she took my dolls into the bath! Oh, I was SO mad! And another auction confused me because it said Item location Galt California, and I was thinking, I don't live in Galt anymore, then I realized the ITEM was in Galt...and I said, NO! As in No way... but yes, it was in Galt. I think it was another Barbie lot. I should have marked it as Watch this Item. I'll have to see if I can get these 80s barbies, or if I should just let it go... I haven't spent all of my scrapbooking budget...but then, it wouldn't REALLY be for me anyway, it would be for the kids. And I WOULD give it to the kids. What's the point of Barbies if you don't play with them?

Well, I've really GOT to get going, and as usual, I am rambling. I should find something new to talk about... but I do aim to talk about the girls. I'm going to have to look back to see if I talked about Becca's grades (atrocious!). Hopefully she goes on to the 8th grade! I don't think we're sure she will... sigh.

Thanksgiving layout

This is my layout from this last Thanksgiving's pictures. I'm pretty proud of myself... I'm NOT caught up to Thanksgiving, per se, but I am working on 2008 pictures, being pretty much done with 2007's. However, I STILL have yet to start on Alex's album, or finish Sammi's, so I've GOT to do that.

Journaling reads:

This year for Thanksgiving, we decided to invite some people over. We invited Ron and Sharyn, and Kim. Then Jane called Jerry, and asked if they might come as well, so we invited them too. We were going to invite them anyway, so it worked out. We had a really good time, Kim came first, then Jerry went to get Jane, Steve, Nik and Cassie. Then just about when dinner was ready, right around two, Ron and Sharyn showed up. We all had a good time chatting, laughing and remembering times past. Sammi was not too happy about having so many people here that were unfamiliar to her, especially Steve, whom she was VERY scared of. Alex was her sunny self, though she doesn’t much care for anyone other than Mommy holding her. The girls and Nik and Cassie all ran through the house playing together, banging on the piano, playing in the girls’ rooms, and generally they all had a great time. It was nice. As soon as dinner was over though, everyone but Ron and Sharyn wanted to go home, so I ended up taking Jane and Steve home, and by the time I got back, Ron and Sharyn had departed too, so I hardly got to see them, which was disappointing. However, I was glad for the time we had, especially with Kim, who we hardly ever get to see anymore.

Sorry about not posting yesterday. I suppose it's all right, but I do like to have something to say every day. I can go on and on about stuff sometimes. I really enjoy writing. Some day I'd like to write a book about my life... it could be interesting, lol. I always enjoyed reading books about people's lives. I began the full time nursing of Alex yesterday. I was nursing her full time before, except that I would give her a bottle of formula here and there, usually with cereal to fatten her up. I forget if I mentioned that she only gained 12 ounces of weight between December and Feb, which isn't a lot. Though she's sooo long. LOL... long. Tall, long, what's the difference? So anyway, she was sleeping 11-12 hours a night, and all the experts I was talking to said that's too much. I figured as much. They said she should be waking 3-4 times a night to eat. GAH. I nursed her from 12-1:30, 5:30-7:30, 10-10:30ish... that kid does NOT know when to get OFF the breast! She just enjoys it SO much. I did put her in her cradle instead of keeping her with me all night, but I had to wake her up for the 5:30 feeding, and she just lays there sucking, and she doesn't go to sleep, just dozes. I've got her down for a nap now, just hoping she's fallen asleep. I'm trying to get pictures together for a frame to put up on the wall, it's not an easy task because I haven't done it since 2002, just after Shabree was born, so I've got quite a few years to do. Finding the best pictures and weeding them down to the ones I absolutely want to print is really hard, because I've just got thousands upon thousands of them. This year alone, I'm sure I already have at least a few hundred, because I take some every single day practically. I think the most time that's gone by between picture taking is a week, and that's a long time for me to go. Just this morning, I was taking pictures of our little Valentine's Day celebration (happy Valentine's day everyone!!!!) The pictures are in backwards order from how they were taken. That's all right. I just couldn't choose, so I uploaded a bunch of pictures. They're SO cute. I don't look forward to the day when I have to start taking pictures down because I have exceeded my bandwidth limit. I'll have to post messages that if you want those pictures, get them now, or you won't get them at all. But I have a gigabyte, so it'll be a bit (though not if I upload 15 pictures a time every time!) We had a very nice little Valentine's Day. Jerry bought me my present last night, and I told him "Hey, I got you four things, so you'd better get me something GOOD!" LOL... and we were on the same wavelength, as usual, because, well, I'd mentioned I'd wanted this bear, the one you see in the picture. Well, his flower spins and it does a light up thing where it says "I love you" and "You're the greatest" and it also has light up hearts. Well, I'd been looking at them the other day, and I liked the brown bear better, but they also had a white bear. He picked the brown bear. I also called him asking him to get mint chocolate chip ice cream bars from Rite Aid, and he'd been thinking the same thing. Unfortunately, his timing was off by 15 minutes, they were closed when he got there and had been closed for 15 minutes... bummer! So I'm loving my bear, and I also got Garfield chocolates. Who doesn't know that I love Garfield? LOL... I also got Shabree Garfield chocolates, standing in for Sammi, I think it was, who got Shabree. We decided to do drawings this year to see who got who. Last year daddy and I just bought the girls stuff, but this year, they were pretty adamant about wanting to buy things for each other, and it was going to get crazy, so we all took a name out of a hat, and then went and spent no more than 5 dollars on that person. Well, except for daddy and I who ended up with each other (I got him, he traded Syd for me) so I got him a bunch of stuff. I might have traded too, come to think of it. Almond rocas are his favorite, and I'd already bought some, so I told them all I had to have daddy since I'd already started buying for him. So he took Syd and Shabree, I took Bec and she and I stood in for Alex and Sammi and bought their gifts for Shabree and Sydni. LOL... got kind of convoluted there. But we've basically decided we'll probably do all holidays from now on like that. Unless we end up with a LOT of money where it just doesn't matter at all, it's insane to have each person buy for every one else. We're getting to be too big of a family to do that. We already end up going to some extremes at Christmas, though I did pretty good this year. This next year, I'm going to have to look and see what's on clearance and what I can get for free and reduced. I got them a Barbie house last Christmas for free, and they don't care, they play with it constantly, especially Sammi. I'm GLAD I didn't pay a fortune for it, because they've painted it with wite-out, drawn their names on it...etc... it's still mostly intact, so that's fine. They really enjoy playing with it. It was a good gift, and they really don't care that it was used, so that's all the better. I'd like to get some nice Barbie dresses that I saw once on Ebay, but I'll have to look into it again and see if it's something I can budget for. Well, so far, I can't find the seller.

It's 8 p.m. now. Sydni dropped Alex on the carpet, fortunately, Alex is fine, easily pacified with some breast milk. Sydni, she cried for quite awhile after it happened, it gave her a good scare and she felt horrible about it. Alex simply flipped out of her arms and onto the floor. She cried, but no tears, and no red spots, and as I said, easily consoled.
I am having TONS of trouble getting Alex to sleep in her playpen, which we just today switched out with the cradle. This morning, she turned herself from her back to her belly in the cradle, and I said, That is the end of THAT. She sleeps in the closet, and the crib is too big. I'd bought the playpen when we went to Colorado and Nebraska so Sammi would have something to sleep in. That worked surprisingly well actually. Especially when NOT on the road. Anyway, Jerry suggested we use the playpen for the time being, and I thought that was an excellent idea. The closet is so perfect because it's very low light, and very quiet when the door is closed, so it's much easier to get to sleep and stay asleep. However, she's been dozing so much while feeding, that she's not getting anything CLOSE to a substantial nap. I'd been giving her a bottle before and putting her down in the cradle... so I've tried about 3 times today to put her down for a nap, and none of those times did she actually go to sleep. So I would guess that she's dozed for maybe half an hour... MAYBE an hour, since I ended up dozing off too. She's just not getting enough SLEEP. Boy, this is going to take some effort to make this work. Some things, bottles are just easier. Not that I would trade the experience of breast feeding, it's been SO worthwhile.
It's been a very nice day, but I think I'll concentrate on the picture project now.

The girls had a meeting tonight, even Sydni got to go... they came home with "fundraising" materials. Oh joy.
I was supposed to do girl scouts this year, and I seriously don't want to, but I can't help but think, Dang, it's Cookie time, and here I am NOT raising any money for my non existent troop. Oh well. I think I'll start up in the Fall, maybe with JUST Shabree. I really don't know. Anyway, their meetings are in MODESTO, so we have to take them up to Lodi to meet Renee who takes them to Modesto. I tried to get a hold of Kim to see if she wanted to meet up, but the number went unanswered, so I have no idea if I even HAVE the right number. It took me FOREVER to get into my email to even find that number. Stupid Yahoo. Anyway, it was after 9 before the girls got home. I think next time, only Bec goes. Syd can go when she's 10. Which isn't that far off, now.
Speaking of birthdays... Becca's going to be FOURTEEN next month! Oh my God, where does the time go? I've been with Jerry almost 10 years. Wow, that's cool. And I can say I still love him as much as the day I married him (though we've only been married about 8. WOW. That is SO cool.) She told me last night she wants to start planning her invitations. You know, as expensive as the ink is for this printer, I think I'll let her buy them this year. She usually ends up inviting about 25-30 kids, and 7 or 8 show up. Of course, now she's in MIDDLE school. All her friends are boys though... I'm NOT sure what to make of that, I'll tell you. They are definitely friends, you can tell by the way she talks about them. But she doesn't have girl friends. I think Becca just doesn't really get along well with girls. She doesn't want to give up control, EVER.
If she were here, she'd be saying "Hey!" and I'd just say "Well, it's true, isn't it?" And she'd say yes, but then tell me I don't have to say it. The doctor was getting after her about her weight. *I* have been getting after her about her weight. But the person she WANTS to listen to is her mother who says her weight is fine. Sigh... her weight is NOT fine. Well, it is if she wants a whole bunch of weight related problems when she gets older. She's not fat. She is, however, carrying too much weight for her height. She weighs more than I did at her age by about 4 pounds, when I was about 4 or 5 inches taller than her.
We are probably going to buy her yet ANOTHER bike for her birthday (the last two have been stolen), and a bike LOCK, and have her ride to school. That'll help with the weight issues, since it's 2 and a half miles to school. That'll mean 5 miles a day. Now, Jerry drives her to school (and I say he coddles her, when I was her age, I had to walk, and I lived in the opposite district from my school, so it was quite a walk or bike ride. But Jerry says he coddles me... hell, aren't husbands SUPPOSED to coddle their wives? Huh?) Anyway, we'll probably get a used bike. Wal mart bikes may be shiny and everything, but they do not have comfortable seats, and they sure do fall apart quickly. Which you don't care so much when your kids are outgrowing them anyway, but Becca needs a bike that'll LAST. So long as she takes her lock, so it doesn't get stolen. Hopefully, she's learned by now. Grrr... she'd better. I KNOW Jerry doesn't want to drive her to school for the next 5 years, but then, we can't buy her a bike every time she loses a lock (actually, the lock disappeared, and we can probably blame her sisters for that... it still hasn't shown up.) and the bike gets stolen. The previous bike wasn't locked up... Becca figured that no one would want such a crappy bike, but I pointed out, when you don't HAVE a bike, even a crappy bike is better than no bike.
I tried calling the Early Intervention people again today, but I still haven't received ANY call back. Not even a "we got your call" call. I also called Dr Jack Newman's breast feeding clinic in Canada, but I did that after hours, so hopefully they'll call me back tomorrow. I also called the lactation consultant at WIC, but WIC was closed, so I left a message. I expect they'll get back to me tomorrow. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, it was an hour before Jerry has an orientation with a company that helps people in foreclosure, how perfect is that, considering that's what he used to do? They go about it differently, basically going after the banks for errors in their paperwork... loopholes, if you will. Hopefully this is an actual job that pay actual money. It's still commission based, but with this economy, and the past few years of how mortgage companies put together loans... he should be able to make some decent money doing it. I sure as heck HOPE. That would be nice, having money again.
Speaking of having money, mom sent money for Valentine's Day and gave me permission to buy ink cartridges with it... which I am VERY excited about. I've been needing ink for my "big" scrapping printer for ages, now I'm going to be able to get it and print off 12x12 paper from my digital scrapbooking kits, of which I have a TON. I'm pretty excited about that. I'm looking forward to getting my scraproom better organized too. Dad built me some shelves that have come in REALLY handy, but I need more post thingys to hold up the shelves, and more shelves. It's VERY sturdy. I also need some iris carts to store things in. I am torn between getting one that holds paper, or getting a "Z" cart from Staples which will allow me to do hanging file folders for my paper. I would prefer the Z cart, but it's about 40, while the iris cart is 14. BIG difference. But the hanging cart, I could actually SEE the paper, while the iris cart I'd have to thumb through the paper and it wouldn't work as well. I'll probably spend the extra to get the cart from Staples. Just a matter of when.
Speaking of scrapbooking, I need to put the finishing touches on my Thanksgiving layout, which is GORGEOUS, and then I'll take a picture and post it online. I think I need to take a week, at least a week, and stay off the computer and just catch up on some scrapbooking.

Shabree showed me her report card from last quarter the other day... not sure why I didn't see it earlier, I guess she found it laying somewhere. It was still sealed, anyway, she's getting A's and C's, and her teacher says she's got some great ideas for stories, but struggles to put them down on paper (and I think to myself, Duh... very few kids are congnitively ready at her age for such things... it'll come later. They push kids SO hard these days, esp in California it seems. No child left behind is a big stupid way of leaving kids behind, or at least making them FEEL STUPID.) Shabree is a natural story teller, especially in the ancient way of oral story telling. She's quite a good song writer too. I sure as heck hope that "traditional" school doesn't kill that in her. I SO want to home school her, but when I have to help Sydni do her math, I realize there is NO WAY I can do this... I can barely help Syd. God, I hate math. Shabree surprised me though. She told me "Mommy, I have 41 cents." I said "Oh, how do you know?" She said "I don't know." Then she told me that she counted her pennies, and then counted her quarter, and her dime. Then added in the pennies. I told her that was pretty good. Especially since neither Becca nor Sydni could do that when they were 6. I think Syd was at least 7, possibly 8 before money really "clicked" for her. Of course, Shabree was there every time I was trying to teach Sydni how to count money. Math really does not come easy for Syd, AT ALL. It comes much easier for Becca, but not always.
So anyway, I am going to post. I think I have mostly been rambling, but that's okay. I enjoy writing so much. I really need to get over my extreme fear of not being "good enough" and try to write for some of the web sites out there that pay for writings. Hey, even a little cash would be better than no cash...especially if I could use it to buy scrapbooking supplies, LOL!

The girls got their first Valentine's cards in the mail today, from an internet friend. They loved them, even Becca. The cards were Wonder Pets, so the girls were singing the Wonder Pets song to figure out who they got. LOL... very cute. It's been a day for cute :). I always appreciate that. Everyone got their homework done quickly, so that was good, and they're all at the park except for Alex who is getting some tummy time right now. Yay for tummy time.

Wanna see something cute? These pictures are adorable. Man, that food looks like a black eye! It's not though, just Sammi feeding Alex, HA! Thought everyone might enjoy these.

I called California's Early Intervention to see if I could get some assistance for Sammi and Alex. Sammi for her speech, which I am seeing a lot of similarities with Shabree's, and Alex's seeming delays. I haven't heard from the doctor yet, but doubt that I would this quickly anyway. Other than that, not much going on around here. My milk supply dropped a bunch, not exactly sure what caused that. I'm working to bring it back up, but it almost seems like I can only hold an ounce at a time now instead of two, two and a half ounces. I hope I didn't damage the tissue, that would be very, very bad. I was using the heating pad on them to increase production, and I think it may have backfired. Hopefully I can bring it back up, but if the damage is permanent... sigh. Boy, do I really want to quit now. Though it has become almost easier to breast feed than to do bottles. I would miss it a lot, and so would Alex. I'm not really ready to give up on it. I would LOVE to get to a year, even 2 with her. I'm tired of battling it though. I really am. I'll probably keep going anyway. I can't seem to stop, not matter what happens. This is just ONE more hurdle to overcome, and there have been many of those in this journey. I just hope it's temporary. It NEEDS to be temporary.
Well, guess I'll post this and go see about the girls who should be home any time now and maybe get dinner strted. I'm STARVING, even though it's only 3 p.m. Maybe a snack is in order.

Alex's doctor's appointment

They're going to send her to an eye doctor, and possibly a neurologist. I met with a student PA (physician's assistant) and then the PA, the student basically got to do the "intake" herself, and then we went over it again with the PA. She says that Alex is definitely on the outside of the curve with the sitting up. She can sit unassisted... sort of. It's so short. They did comment how strong she is. I mean, it's SO hard to know if there is a problem, because there is so much she CAN do. Anyway, they're going to consult with Dr Vails, and decide if they want to send us to both concurrently, or wait to see what the eye doctor finds before consulting with a neurologist. It could just be a muscular thing, where the eye jiggles due to the muscle, which I do not believe, from what I've read, is correctable at this point in time. She just gets to live with it and adapt. So, that she can probably do. It won't affect her life much, if at all, especially since she's had it since she was a baby. I only noticed it a month ago because someone else pointed it out. You can BARELY see it. However, it could be, as I said, neurological, and if so, it may very well be linked to her physical issues. Her physical issues could just be a result of not getting enough tummy time, not enough sitting time. But lately, I've been trying to give her plenty of both.

Also, however, over the last three months, she's only gained 12 ounces in weight. I'm in a bit of a panic over that, actually. But the PA said it was fine, she's not concerned. But we'll talk about it at her well baby exam in two weeks. So I will wait patiently. I think I WILL change one thing though, and that's to get her up earlier in the morning so she's not sleeping 12 hours, and feed her first thing, without pumping first. Or I WILL pump, and then I'll give her that bottle.
Sorry about the lack of pictures. I just haven't really taken any. Mmm, we went to John's Incredible Pizza the other night, so I have some cute ones of Sammi feeding Alex, so let me post those. Oh, what cute kids they are! Sammi's so sweet trying to feed her little sister. I have to watch her though, because she'll feed Alex ANYTHING, including foods she'd choke on.
It was a good weekend, the girls have joined Job's Daughters, which is a Masonic organization for girls ages 10-18. Syd's not quite 10 of course, so she only gets to go to the functions. Becca has to go to meetings. The dues were 20 dollars a year for each of them. And they also want to do Girl Scouts... woah. I still have to go through the training and find some girls to have a troop with, especially for Sydni. I hated this part last time, too. Actually, I'm just NOT looking forward really to doing this on my own, and it seems like no one ever wants to help. Do I have a sign on me that says "Free babysitter" ? No, I think NOT. Anyway, joining will hopefully give the girls some "old fashioned values" Not that we don't have old fashioned values, but we're fighting society and especially in this area, man, I have I seen some "hookerish" looking girls! I think Bec's FINALLY getting a clue. She used to wear clohtes that were just way too tight, because they were her favorite clothes, but I don't think she likes the idea of ANYONE looking at her, including boys, so she's pretty much quit wearing tight clothing. Thank GOODNESS.
I think I am out of stuff to say, so I will post. Hope you enjoyed the pictures! I am looking forward to scrapping them... ha ha. Actually, I am almost done with my page for this past Thanksgiving, which is not too bad, and it's a good page. I'm not that far behind...though I haven't even done ONE page for Alex's book yet. Yikes. I need to get on the stick about that. Okay... more later.

Alex has a doctor's appointment in the morning about her listing forward when sitting (which actually the more I read seems to be fairly normal! She only does it after a few minutes of sitting, when she's getting tired.) and more importantly, because her eye jiggles. I should take her to a pediatrician optemetrist for that instead of the doctor, but it's kind of too late now, so I am going to take her to the doctor first. I will make her an appointment to have her eyes checked though. It'll be good to do anyway. From what I've read on the net, since her parents both have issues with our eyes (Jerry wears glasses and of course, I had lazy eye as a child) the baby should be checked by 6 months. So we're a BIT behind, but had I known, I would have. Oh well. Better late than never. I suspect it's nothing, because she can see. Though occassionally she crosses her eyes, so I am hoping that this isn't a pre-cursor to that. The eye doctor can tell better... It does it more when she's tired. There are times when it's not even noticeable at all.

Well, I'm going to make this a short post tonight. I've got to pump, and I've got to get to bed, I'm really tired.

Well, I guess I'd better cover a couple of days here. Today (Thursday) we cleaned. And cleaned. And cleaned.

Sydni... well, she paid so much attention to detail that it took her a LONG time to clean two rooms, the bathroom, and the pantry. She did a good job though. A really, REALLY good job. Though she did rearrange my pantry, and that kind of messed up the system I already had in place. Sigh. Oh well.
Oddly though... it only looks OK. Well, to me. I also made Oatmeal raisin cookies, and out of the five times I've made them, they've only turned out right twice... and tonight was one of those times, yay!
All of this because we may be having guests tomorrow night, hopefully they can stay the weekend. I tried to get a sleeper sofa off Freecycle today, but I wasn't quick enough. Darn.
And Becca and I got into it, and she told me to Shut up. I about lost it. Well... I DID lose it. I could not think of what to do or say, so I just started yelling. "Shut up? SHUT UP?" Jerry was really mad at me at first, because he thought I was telling the kids to shut up. He probably saved me, because honestly, I did not know what to do, and I'd have probably gone on something of a rampage...well, I don't know, honestly. That kid though. At 13, she thinks she can say anything she darn well wants to me, and this was one of those days I'd about had it with her attitude.
I think that's all I'll say about that. I've already talked about it enough for one day. I WAS shaking though.

Yesterday was pretty cool though. Sammi and I played fetch with Paula in the house down the hallway with a tennis ball. That was fun. Poor Sammi though, she was throwing up cereal. We think maybe it had sour milk or something. So I'd put her to bed, and she threw up, so Jerry brought her downstairs, and I watched her for quite a few hours, and she seemed okay. At midnight, we watched Barney on PBS Kids Sprout, and I put her to bed shortly before 1 a.m. She was pretty happy to go to bed. She'd had a REALLY late nap, so I'm not too surprised at how late she stayed up... and she's an Energizer bunny too. Though she's been known to go to sleep on her own at times.

I'm pretty crazy tired, so I'm just going to post some pictures from yesterday... hopefully the ones of the dog look good... think I had it set on macro by accident. Looks like they might be all right. I've GOT to learn how to format this darn thing... oh wait, I see a post options, maybe I should click on that... nope, no help. Darn