How's Your Self Image Doing?

Have a daughter? Know a daughter? Love a daughter? Then watch these. (There are three different ones. Make sure to watch them all.)

I have been so impressed by Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty. Spread the word.

If I had time, I would write about...

1. ...how since last Monday night, Violet has been sick with the croup. The sickest she's ever been, I tell you. Fortunately, she's on the mend.
2. ...that we've recently seen Little Miss Sunshine (loved it) and Bridge to Terebithia (didn't love it).
3. ...that today, if Linus is awake and not eating, he's crying--the until-he's-purple kind of crying.
4. ...my struggle with how to entertain/play with a 3-year old and a 1-year old at the same time (while caring for a two-month old). Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
5. ...Amelie's incredible imagination.
6. ...that I've been staying up far too late.
7. ...that I usually only take a shower every other day.
8. ...that the girls have been watching far too much t.v. and I feel terribly guilty about it.
9. ...that I feel extremely inadequate and in way over my head a lot of the time.
10. ...that I've started counseling to try to get at the root of and to learn to cope with my anxiety.

Perhaps my next post will be more upbeat.

Just Cuteness, That's All

Linus has begun taking naps in the crib. As I've said before, I'm always a sucker for a yawn picture, which is what he was doing this morning. Oh, and do you like the swaddling job? This was after his nap. He MUST be swaddled if he will sleep. That is so different from both of the girls that HATED to be swaddled. What's your swaddling experience?
Linus has been working on holding up his head. He's taking a break in this picture.





I reorganized the toy closet and Amelie rediscovered the hats, mittens, and scarves. The girls have been having fun with them lately.

Bunk Bed

Violet recently moved into the bottom of the bunk bed. She and Amelie are both quite pleased.

A Shutterfly Shout Out

Yeah, so this ISN'T a sponsored post, but Shutterfly is going to get some free advertising here.

Amelie has recently gained control of the mouse. (she's been having a great time on Starfall, by the way.)I bought Linus' birth announcement from Shutterfly last week. Amelie wanted to see them, so I pulled up the website and signed in. I must have walked away at that point.

Fast forward two days. I sign in to Shutterfly to track the announcements--to see when I can expect them to arrive. The tracking thingy isn't working, so I check my order history to make sure everything is hunky- dory. I notice not one, but three orders in my order history. Huh? I just placed one order, right? Apparently, two orders for 200 prepaid prints (at 12 cents each which is a fabulous price, by the way) have mistakenly been charged to my account.

Yes, you read that correctly. TWO orders for 200 prepaid prints.

Let's see...
200 times 2 is ...
400 PRINTS!!
WHAT?!?!?!
I most certainly DID NOT make those purchases.! I sent an e-mail immediately to customer service stating just that as well as asking what they were going to do about crediting my account. Humpf. I most certainly will never use them again!!

And then, AFTER I sent the e-mail, over the next day or so, I thought about it. I think you can probably tell where I'm going with this. You've got it. Amelie, my non-reading three and a half year old, unknowingly purchased 400 prints. I received a reply from customer service. Here's an excerpt:

"Placing an order is not something that is easy to do accidentally as the items have to be added to the cart then you have to click on check out, enter your credit card info and then click one more time on a Place order now button. Might another member of your household have placed this?"

"not something that is easy to do accidentally" That was my favorite line. Pretty funny. I've tried to duplicate what she did and haven't been able to do so. So I replied and explained my situation. Duncan and I had talked about how we probably haven't purchased 100 prints since Amelie was born and that it was unlikely that we'd use 400 over the next two years. (yeah, so there good for two years which is a good thing) We decided to ask that they cancel only one order, since I can use some prints to finish their baby books and others to send to relatives. (and 12 cents a print IS a great deal!) I also included an apology for my tone in my original e-mail--assuming that it was their fault and not mine, which, in reality, couldn't be further from the truth!

So here's the free advertising. Shutterfly graciously agreed to remove one of the orders. I was very thankful that it was as easy as sending a few e-mails. And yes, I've learned my lesson. When you teach your child to use the mouse, don't abandon the computer when you're signed into websites that house your credit card number. Fellow parents of small children, please take note and learn from my mistake--even if your child has demonstrated a knack for knowing a good deal when she sees it. (I'm so proud.)

Disposable Diaper Review

Since we are nearing the end of our exclusive use of disposable diapers, which started on August 6th, I find it appropriate to express some opinions about diapers of the disposable variety. First, allow me to offer a little back information. We were given excellent advice before Amelie was born. We were encouraged to wait to start using cloth diapers until the baby was two months old. It was pointed out that babies poop constantly until they are about that age. At that point, they slow down and poop only two or three times a day, in general. (This is for breast fed babies, by the way. I don't know about those fed on formula.) The thinking is also that so many people start out using cloth enthusiastically and then stop quickly because they are so discouraged by the amount of laundry they're doing.
Once I had a c-section with Amelie, the decision was made to start using cloth diapers when she was around two months old, which is what we did, and it worked out really well. She was in cloth diapers exclusively except for vacations, the occasional lapse in laundry, etc. until Violet was born. When that occurred, they were both in disposables until Violet was two months old, when we resumed using cloth. That was the plan when Linus was born, but since I was in the hospital for the month before he was born, Violet has been in disposables for an extra month. I'll also add that when our children are in disposables, we have exclusively used Pampers. We felt that they were superior over the other major brands.
Upon Linus' birth, we were given some of every variety of disposable diapers--Huggies, Luvs, and Especially for Baby (the Babies R Us generic version). When Linus was in all of those varieties, he consistently had leaks. When he's in Pampers, leaks simply don't happen! Now I've heard the same thing from other parents, only with a different brand of diaper. Their children only stay dry in a particular brand. I find this so interesting. Is it because of how the child is built? For example. my children's body type best fits in Pampers, while my friend's child fits best in Huggies. What has been your experience? Do you have a favorite brand of diaper?
Oh, and the above picture? An 18-month old Amelie with a disposable swim diaper on her head, of course!

Just for Fun--Comparisons at One Month

In order of birth--Amelie, Violet, and Linus. Anyone see any resemblances? If they are there, I have a hard time seeing them.

Road Trips and Field Trips and Trips to the Potty

Thanks for your prayers for our trip this past weekend. The kids did well on both the trip up and the trip back. On the way there, however, we hit major traffic trying to get out of town. It took us two hours to get an hour away--ugh! It's so discouraging to start a trip like that! After we got an hour away in two hours, we stopped for dinner. When we started up again, it was a relatively uneventful and productive trip.
(Oh, and Lisa, we were headed to Central PA, not Western PA. Next time we're headed your way,however, we should try and hook up!)

Yesterday was Amelie's first field trip with her preschool class. They went to a local farm to visit their pumpkin patch. I went so I could experience this with her. It killed me to think she'd experience something like this without me! It was also fun to get to know the nine other children in her class, the teachers and some of the other moms. Grandma babysat Linus (along with Violet) for the first time (for about three hours) and he did just fine! She didn't even need to feed him. I fed him right before I left and right when I got back. It worked out really well.

In other exciting news, Violet seems to be potty training herself! I don't think I've changed a poopy diaper of hers in over a week! She lets us know when she has to go by saying "poopy potty." Sometimes she also pees, but that hasn't been her focus, so to speak. I'm certainly not deluded into thinking this is it, but I'm excited at the possibility that she'll be trained by her second birthday which is in February. I'm also not doing anything active about it (ie. putting her in underwear) since I have a six week old. Any advice from anyone about this topic would be much appreciated.

Linus Update

I know you're all dying to know how much Linus weighed at his one month check-up today! (Not really, this is just the only place I have to record it that I know I won't lose!!) He weighed 9 pounds 6 ounces! Woohoo!

In other news, Duncan's grandfather, Linus' namesake, is not doing well. We're making a last minute trip up to PA so Duncan can see him. Linus will also get to meet some more of his aunts, uncles, and cousins. If you read this before the weekend, please pray that our first trip with three children (much sooner than we anticipated!) goes well!