9 months old

Maren had her check up last week. She is 28 inches long and 17 pounds, 11 ounces. That puts her in the 27th percentile for weight and 67th for height. That is about where's she's been for a while. Looks like she might be tall! She is such a joy! Did I mention she's crawling everywhere? She's finally starting to practice standing more. And she is a talker. Today she said Kitty. OK, so it was Didi...but I was not the only one to hear it. This morning I brought her in the living room while a mom was dropping her kids off. Maren saw Princess and said "didi". Before I said anything Breanne said "she just said kitty!" And she's been saying it all day long, very excitedly when she sees the cat. Even though she's number 3 I am STILL blown away by how smart they seem even when they are so little. That happens all the time with the daycare kiddos too. Finally can I just say that this little outfit I have her in here is one of my favorites and has been since I got it with Kelley....

Maren like Chocolate

This was a few weeks ago. Maren was just starting to be more mobile. Kelley had a chocolate cupcake after her soccer game, then we headed over to Tyler's game. She gave me the wrapper, which I just set on the ground next to me. Not thinking I set Maren down in the same general area. I looked over a few minutes later to find her devouring the cupcake wrapper. A girl after my own heart...

Do they really think we are that stupid?

Of I guess the scarier question is are we, as a society, really that stupid?

So I heard on the radio today that the Corn Growers of America (or something like that) want to change the name of High Fructose Corn Syrup to Corn Sugar. Apparently, since everyone found out that HFCS is really bad for you and is a major contributor to obesity, consumption of the stuff has plummeted. So they want to change the name. Really? Because do they really think that people will start looking at the labels and thinking "Oh....this only has Corn Sugar in it....well that's not as bad...." The sad thing is that I can see people, who are probably most likely to be consuming a lot of the stuff in the first place being the most susceptible. I believe there's a lot of research that says that people with lower incomes and in lower socio-economic classes tend to have poorer nutrition. Because the truth is when you can buy a can of Hunts Spaghetti Sauce for 75 cents, why in the world would you buy or grow your own tomatoes and make it yourself. And Hunts Spaghetti Sauce has...you guessed it...High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Another thing that made me laugh this week came off of the Apple Jacks box. OK, so I don't normally buy a lot of sugared cereal. But there was a big sale a few weeks ago and my kids love the stuff. So I buy it occasionally and call it Saturday Cereal...they can only have it on the weekends. In any event on the side of the current Apple Jacks is this quote "Family Life is Better when your kids are Healthy!"

Do you know what the first ingredient in AJ is? I'll give you a hint. It start with Shh and ends with -ugar. Yeah, that's before any of the flour ingredients. Ha ha! Anyway, the quote was referring to the benefits of Fiber. Then they have this quote on the bottom "Now Kellogg provides fiber to the great-tasting cereals your kids love!" That sentence doesn't even make sense. I can see what they are trying to say, but the way they said it doesn't sound right.

And I'm going to leave it at that. My kids are currently debating who pushed whom and who was putting sand in whom's pan...and it's dinner time. So the only question left is can I, with all my smartness and wisdom come up with something edible and healthy to put on the dinner table tonight? Or will I simply resort to the Hunt's Spaghetti Sauce I got for 75 cents a can on case lot sale last week. Hmm....

How I'm doing....

So I had my knee scoped on Wednesday. The nurses said that they just cleaned it out, instead of the more extensive surgery. So that's good. It's less recovery time. But on my paperwork it also says they did a Chondroplasty....which might complicate things a bit. From what I can find on the internet that's a procedure they do to resurface a damaged joint. When I went for the initial consult they said that could mean 6-8 weeks on crutches. But I never did get to talk to the doctor after the surgery. I tried to call him and the nurse told me that I could talk to him more at my follow up visit in a few weeks. I pitched a small fit and she talked to him and called me back. She said he said it was just the clean out. So I guess we'll have to "wait and see", which is totally annoying, but what can you do?

Anyway, people keep asking how I'm feeling. I'm doing good, I suppose. The first day was great. I walked out of the hospital on crutches and hobbled around the house quite a bit without them. Yesterday I was up quite a bit in the morning and feeling pretty good. I decided to take it easy that afternoon though and elevated my leg again. About 3 pm my leg (not my knee ironically) started to ache. It was like when you were little and got leg aches or growing pains. But I'm telling you it was INTENSE. It was almost as bad as labor. I took a lortab and then an hour later took 800 mg of Ibruprofen. 30 or 40 minutes later it finally went away, but kept coming back all evening. Joey and a friend gave me a blessing, but I was really concerned I wouldn't be able to sleep. Somehow I finally figured out that when it started to ache I just needed to stand up and the pain went away. Odd eh? In any event I started alternating the Lortab and Ibuprofen in earnest. I was able to sleep all right, but today has been crazy. I got up this morning to help with the daycare for a minute because Joe had to run in for work for an hour. I know, I'm a nut. People keep telling me to milk it for all it's worth, but that is not all it's cracked up to be. Sometimes it's easier to just do it yourself. Everyone has been great, but it's hard not to feel like a nag constantly asking for things and reminding when someone gets sidetracked. But at least I have people here to help. I am luckier than some I know.

Anyway, by the time Joey got back this morning I felt like I'd been hammered in the head and went back to bed. Every time I would try to get back up I would get nauseous again. So I ended up sleeping most of the day. I haven't taken any more lortab since earlier this afternoon (that's what's making me sick...) so I haven't really been sick to my stomach so much. I was at least able to get up and eat dinner with the family, but I still have a lingering drug head feeling. You know that one where it feels like your brain is just sloshing back and forth, kind of like a bobble head? Can you tell how much I like heavy drugs? Yeah....not so much. I hate how they stick with you long after they've "worn off".

In addition to the floating brain syndrome my leg is getting pretty stiff and sore. A lot of it feels bruised and sore. Not so much at the surgery site, although that I'm sure will get worse, but they have me wearing this TED hose. It's a really tight sock that goes all the way up to my thigh. It's supposed to prevent blood clots and pneumonia. But it hurts, especially at the ends of the bandages where it digs them into my skin. I have it off for a little bit, but will have to put it back on before I go to sleep.

And can I just say crutches hurt? My underarms and rib cages are just super tender. But I guess they will toughen up...I hope!

The upsides:

*I can sleep whenever I want without any excuses.

*I got a really cool ice machine from the hospital that I get to keep

*Joey gets a glimpse at what my life is really like

*I don't have to do laundry or dishes constantly

*I've had to wear nothing but my really comfy clothes for the past three days because nothing else fits over the bandage.

*I have a really good excuse as to why I haven't put on make up or fixed my hair

*Did I mention I can sleep whenever I want?

Oh, and I get to take this huge bandage off and take a real shower tomorrow. Wahoo!