i received an email this morning saying that today is national fight cyberbullying day? has anyone else heard about this? the email had stories about how blogpeople get harassed by “internet trolls” who are big meanieheads who leave nasty comments on their blogs about, i don’t know, whatever will tick them off. maybe stuff like “your kids’ heads are as big as pumpkins but with hair” or “your blog layout totally does not rock my socks off and the colors remind me of the institution walls.” the bottom line of advice/wisdom they had was “ignore them and delete their comments.”

i don’t know about you but it would be a big thrill if somebody even took the time and effort to leave me a nasty comment. i would feel so special if somebody took the 60 seconds out of their busy day to actually click and type a comment, any comment.

PLEASE DON’T GET ME WRONG -i have 110% love for those people who leave me a comment EVERY TIME THEY READ MY BLOG. ok so that’s only like 3 people, but how glad i am to have those few treasured blogfriends who know how exciting it is to get a comment, any comment. and then i have some loyal cyberamigos who stop by on the regular blog-rounds and leave a comment. and when someone new leaves a comment- oh the joy, the sheer joy!

but i was just having a mental debate the other day about this kind of thing. i was thinking about how back in my blog heyday i was regularly racking up like, 20-30 comments per post. (btw i also just realized i hate the word heyday.) then i went to a scary mental place I call k8 self debate mode:

“well you started this blog so friends and family could keep up with the girls. nobody ever promised you a blog rose garden.”

“shut up, i know. but then i kinda liked it when other people outside of my family gave me attention too. it made me feel appreciated. loved. wanted, even.”

“well you stopped blogging for a while so people got sick of coming here and getting no action. plus you don’t leave as many comments on other peoples’ blogs as you used to. don’t you know that commenting is reciprocal? you scratch their comment back, they scratch yours.”

“but i’m busier now. i don’t have the time like i used to at my old job. i try to evenly divide my blogreading/ commenting time between my blogroll and other new blogs i like.”

“so WHAT? you leave fewer comments you get fewer comments. stop whining. besides, remember how you said you were going to blog on, regardless of whether you got comments or not? it’s not about the comments it’s about the freedom of self expression. anyway, your blog used to be funnier and wittier. there was more stuff to comment on. maybe you’re boring people.”

“great. now i’m fat, pregnant, and boring. thanks a lot.”

“well, there’s just no other explanation. if the same number people of people are reading it, but less are commenting, it means you’re not provoking any thoughts. there’s only so many ways people can tell you how cute your kids are. get some real material. get some excitement happening.”

“oh yeah like when i got blogstalked by that angry group of lesbian twin mothers off of a message board and i had to block their ip addresses, then one even went so far as to go to somebody else’s house to leave me a nasty comment?”

“yeah. (sighs a happy, satisfied reminiscing sigh) those were the days.”

the Good Lord knows i cannot survive without carbohydrates or some reasonale facsimile thereof. so just in time for my diabetic pregnancy he created sugar free Tastykake products. I am so addicted to the cream filled coffee cakes. of course you can't eat a whole box at a time but for those nighttime carb cravings you can't beat em. they say not for weight loss on the box but i certainly will continue eating them after the baby when i'm dieting. the orange finger cakes are delish too. i'm not sure if they sell tastycakes everywhere or just in certain parts of the country.

dreamfields low carb pasta tastes like real pasta, not real tough and chewy like the old school low carb pasta. it can even trick my husband who has a built in diet food detector alarm. i make macaroni and cheese with the elbow pasta and 2% cheese and it tastes just like regular.

lastly but not leastly russell stover's sugar free candies are made with splenda now instead of the sweetener that gives you, um, bowel issues.

the coconut ones taste like mounds candy bars but any of them are good.

this is making me hungry. hmmm, what's for lunch today?

click picture to read ava's thoughts


yes, ava e. used to be the baby of the family but now she's a big girl. (this picture has always cracked me up. when the kids were little my sister and i used to try to get them all to look at the camera at once and not scream. this was usually the kind of result we got. i do believe the look of sheer terror on her face says it all. my sister will call me tomorrow and shout 'i hate that picture! i can't believe you put that on your blog!' if i had a nice recent picture of her i could show you what she looks now that she's almost 3 but i don't have one, sister dear.)

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyways, i have been keeping a big secret from you.

drumroll please...

travis will not be the only familial offspring exiting the womb in june. my sister is also pregernated and her bambino will be arriving just a week afterwards!

his name is griffin but you can call him the griffi-nator. travis will have a boy cousin almost exactly the same age as him. how cool is that?
at family gatherings they will be standing alone in their manliness against the gaggle of 3 giggling girls who will try to make them wear fairy costumes and drink pretend tea.

let the games begin!

mimi and poppy (my parents) got the girls these john deere tractors for their bday. it hasn't been nice enough here til yesterday to bust em out.





dad brought them over and the girls got to terrorizing small animals driving them crazily around the yards right away. luckily we have a big area to roam. dad started them out on the slow setting, then after they figured out how to steer and maneuver, he kicked em up to the fast setting. yikes!

note:this is not my yard you see here it's my neighbors'. i would not lock my dog up 23/7 in this little pen and listen to him scream all the time. but this is the same neighbor who likes to have a few brewskies then climb on top of his garage and shoot arrows at plastic deer so what can i do? (note target on hay bales.)
scott was trying to follow them around bc they kept ramming into stuff (trees, cars, bushes) but on the fast setting he could barely keep up with them.

they had a rip roaring good time. only one injury was sustained (poppy's toe.) but good lord you should have seen the explosion when i told them it was getting too chilly and we had to stop.






for some sick reason when they're whining i like to take their picture bc they don't like it and they scream even louder and try to hide their faces.

wrong, i know. but they're so cute when they're angry.

I approximate the distance between the bottom shelf of the cabinet and the top of the toilet to be about 22 inches. Yet, did you know it would break my husband's arm to return the deodorant to its proper location in the cabinet? Magically he finds it returned to the cabinet shelf every morning. For a while I left it out in protest but then it bugged me too much and I had to put it back. (i just noticed the wallpaper is peeling- must repair that.)

Not only does he leave it on the toilet but he also leaves the cabinet door open.

I have given him several demonstrations on how to put the deodorant back after use. Sometimes it reflects off his brain cells, other times it works for a day or two. I have given similar demos on things like "how to turn off lights when exiting the domicile" and "how to hang up one's towel after bathing."

Maybe a sublimal message tape I can play while he's sleeping.

it's my fault i'm awake at 2am. i have been fighting a sinus infection for almost 2 months. i really really don't want to take antibiotics even though i know it's ok bc i took them when i was pregnant w the girls but i've been trying to keep this kid all natural.(instead of the prescription prenatal vitamins i have been taking these organic ones with a bunch of other healthy schtuff in them. i dig them bc they don't leave a taste in your mouth & they don't make me sick at all even on an empty stomach. all that extra probiotic/ superfood chitter chatter may be a bunch of hooha but it does make one feel better psychologically. )

anyways i have been irrigating my sinuses and using those breathe right snoring strips at night so i don't suffocate but today the pollen count went sky high and ay mamacita the agony. and the multiple blowings of the nose, oy vey.

i work at 2 schools and this morning i had to leave the first one early after teaching only 1 class bc at 8am when i got there (sick as a dog) the whole place smelled like the world's' strongest onions they were cooking for lunch in the caf. it made me so everloving nauseous and you know it had to be strong bc my nose is super clogged man. that in combo with the sinus/allergy thing put me over the edge and i came home and slept for an hour then i made myself get up and go to the second school.

so before bed i gave in and took one sudafed so i could breathe which has since then had the effect of a double dose of adrenaline. it has never affected me like this before so it must be the prego hormones. at 12:30am my eyes popped open with a boinging sound and they refuse to shut some 3 hrs later. i'm trying to save my sick days but now i'm gonna have to take off tomorrow at least a half day bc when this medicine wears off i will crash hard.

this is the reason i am listening to my husband snore over the sound of sirius easy listening channel.


so, the part about my kids.

as you can see in the sidebar they are the world's smartest and cutest children besides yours. these days they are so eager to learn how to read, lily especially. they have been able to identify some short words for a while but now they are recognizing sight words like the, and, it, if, etc. plus i set up an old computer with windows xp on it that bob and sue gave me bc the modem doesn't work anymore as their computer for learning games. my sister gave me that idea bc she was telling me how much ava loves the computer.

i ordered one homeschool preschool game from ebay with a bunch of different games on it. it's unbelievable how quick they caught on and now they're always calling me to come see what else new they found out the games can do that i had no idea about. so today i ordered three more- reader rabbit, sesame street, and little bear. they love it and i figure it's better than tv. but i also set the timer so they don't get turned into little game fiends. hannah is better with the mouse so lily calls her to help when she gets stuck on something. it's freakin adorable.

the poor darlings have been sick since sunday with pinkeye and allergies and hannah has had an ear infection on top of that. try keeping track of 3 medicines three times a day and one once a day. we got ointment, drops and syrups here at the primate pharmacy folks, and lots of em.

they will miss swimming lessons both times this week.

oh yeah, have i ever told you what good little swimmers they are??

my ob/gyn’s office is not that big, so while you’re waiting you can hear the people who are coming out of the back after their appointment and checking out. keep in mind monkeyville is a rural area so you’re likely to run into people you know everywhere you go. i heard the voice of this chick i know- let’s just say she’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer- and she was simultaneously running into someone she knows.

she said ( in a loud high pitched surprised voice) “Hey girl! What are you doing here?”

(pause)

um, hello, you’re in a gynecologist’s office.

do you really want to know the answer to that question??? it’s not as if you’re running into someone you know like, at the grocery store, or a social event.

the other person did not answer (or else she secretly whispered it.)

too bad she didn't come up with a witty response like "well i have this red and purple oozing rash... wanna see it?"

i can finally see a little light at the end of the tunnel that is the baby's room. it is the junk room- the room where everything gets chunked when i have nowhere to put it and it has been that way til today. my mom came over and started helping me clean up and go through boxes of stuff that have not seen the light of day in a long long time.

gee, you ask, are ya waiting til the last minute? um, yeah, i am the queen of procrastination

also i ordered the crib set i finally decided on. only those who have plotted the theme for a baby nursery can understand the agony of getting the crib set just right. so many choices. oy vey! i definitely am not into cartoon characters or the typical stuff they have for nurseries. i knew i wanted red and blue and something gingham- i'm a gingham freak when it comes to baby stuff. nothing too cheesy nothing too plain yada yada.

the set looks like this





















and you can see more detailed pics here if you're into that kind of thing.
i just got the basic set and i'm going to accessorize on my own. the matching border and stuff is a little overkill for me. i did get the pillow to put on the twin bed that's going to be in the room so it coordinates. i will just put a red or blue -you guessed it gingham comforter- on it. curtains to coordinate will be easy to find too.

and i haven't gained any more weight- the doc said if i keep it up i might weigh less or the same as when i got knocked up- hoo-rah!

tonight before bed we were doing these new brainquest cards i got today. i was reading the questions out loud. the bottom question says

"which bottle is safe to drink from?"
right away they piped up with the correct answer. "that one."
"why?" i ask.
"because it has apples in it."
"very good!" mother exclaims "and why shouldn't we drink from the other one?"
"because it has pirates in it."

the last time i went to the doctor my blood pressure was elevated- the highest end of normal. he told me we "need to keep an eye on it" because we "might have some excitement towards the end."

um, repeat, por favor? my idea of excitement and his idea of excitement might not line up exactly.

"whaddaya mean?!" i asked in a high pitched whiny tone. "will i have to take medicine?"
"well, that's one option."
i kicked him in the crotch and screamed, "spill yer guts buddy. or do i have to squeeze it out of you?" just kidding.

"what is the other option?" i calmly inquired while picturing my hands in a deathgrip around his skinny little neck. (this is a new doctor who looks like he stepped out of a 50's tv show - tall, thin, black rimmed glasses, white hair, white jacket- and has the personality of a boiled turnip)

"we have a baby early."
oh. i have to go back next Monday. luckily that appt. is with my old ob/gyn who was my doc when i was preg with the monkeys. i will beg him not to schedule me with 50's doctor anymore.

so now in addition to all other baby related worries i add high blood pressure. this morning i had a headache that came on suddenly and the first thing i thought was "oh my lord- it's the blood pressure." luckily since i work in schools i can always go get it checked in the nurse's office and it was normal.

i didn't tell you but since this pregnancy has been so easy and normal i'm worried that things are too good to be true and i keep imagining that something horrible is going to happen at the last minute, or that something will be wrong w/ travis when he's born. so far i have had no swelling, no bad carpal tunnel, no other extreme issues- i have only gained 17 pounds! plus my blood sugars have been normal w/ the diabetic diet so i don't need insulin- yet.

Recently I have come across 2 different pro-life issues that are really thought provoking. By looking at this blog you can see I'm pro-life. When related issues arise in the news I always read them and think. And analyze. Alot.

However I am not of the close-minded sort- I really try to think about all sides of an issue and put myself in the other persons' shoes. I am willing to listen and consider others' viewpoints.

The first thing has to do with the baby that was born in Florida at 22 weeks gestation and survived. You probably heard about her on the news. This is a very unusual case. Of course not all babies born this early would survive. Pro choice folks can very well say stuff like- this is a rare thing, she will probably have brain damage, she will never be normal, etc. etc. but the bottom line is- she did survive. The outlook is positive. But...

Did you know that she could have been legally killed (aborted) in 49 states the same day she was born? This is how she would have been killed.-->Warning- don't click this link if you are in denial about abortion and want to stay that way.

The second article I read today. A lady wants to sue a bunch of people for money to raise her 2 year daughter whom she tried to abort unsuccessfully. This makes me wonder what kind of life her child has. Does this woman look at her daughter every day and think, "What a burden. I wish she was dead."If she didn't want the kid anyway, why didn't she just give it up for adoption, then sue the people? And if she decided after giving birth that she loved and was going to keep the baby, why would she do this to her child? What will the child think when she gets old enough to understand what happened to her and that her mom tried to kill her, then sued for money to take care of her?

She says she wanted the abortion for financial reasons. Ok. So then I keep asking myself, why didn't she give the baby up for adoption after it was born? Why does she still have this child? How does she treat the child? Did all the people around her know (before the lawsuit) that she tried to kill her child? What do they think? When the girl gets to school will she get taunted with stuff like "You mom didn't want you anyway!" ?

I want to imagine that the mother is a loving caring woman who now regrets what she did. But then, why would she sue? For money she says. If she can't take care of her daughter, couldn't she give her to relatives to raise if she didn't want to give her up for adoption outside the family? If her financial situation is this bad, I'm assuming she's on public assistance and I'm sure it's not alot. So she would rather sue and put her daughter in the national spotlight and stigmatize her for the rest of her life?

Sadness.

they're super low res proofs, but i got the girls' 4 yr pictures taken yesterday and you can kind of see them here.

i don't know if you remember my horrible experience w sear studios. it has to do w crummy service, waiting 3+ hours, and more. i would link to it but i can't remember when it happened. so since i complained and got a ton of free pictures i am kinda liking them again and this time we got a very patient young girl who did great job.

the only thing i didn't like was the cheesy moon background- i dunno if you can see it in the proofs or not. she put it down when i stepped outside to get a brush for a quick touchup and she had already almost started when i got back.

i wanted to ask her to change it but it's a pain- they don't pull down, you have to unroll and hang them- but then she says- "i love this backdrop. it's my favorite!" yikes. bc earlier she had asked if she could put these pics in her portfolio. turns out they had actually been talking about the girls since I made the appointment. when you complain so effectively that the CEO of the company calls you on the phone you tend to have that effect on people and they remember your name. the girl who took their last one had gotten famous in the studio for this shot and had busted it out again to show the new people-and this girl had planned several poses she wanted them to do before we even got there.

when we arrived i started timing them. i had heard the girl tell the lady in front of me they had alot of walkins today and couldn't give any more guaranteed appointments. oh lawd i looked around at the number of waiting people, whiny children, and screaming babies. packed.

however the manager who i complained about is still there and i heard her whispering to the other girl "get the twins in next" and something else i couldn't hear. probably "this lady is a big ole (insert bad word here) make sure you don't screw up." i really didn't care how she felt as long i didn't have to wait. my appt was 3pm- we got there at 2:55- and they took us back at 3:10.

of course the girls win everyone over and they were so good- like little barbizon robots even. i was watching nervously from the wings like a good pageant mother and when they wouldn't smile i would say "where's the pretty baby?" or "who's not going to chuck e. cheese if they don't cooperate?" and they would snap to it.

i'm so ill, i know.

(In the middle of reading a book before bed)

Hannah: Osso-pits, mommy!
Me: What is it babe? Ostriches?
Hannah: Noooooooooo! They're osso-pits mommy. (like, duh.)
Me: What does that mean honey?
Hannah: You know, mommy, like asleep and awake. Osso-pits.