Back to blogging

We've been home from vacation now for a week and I have yet to blog! Currently, I have SEVEN posts started but none completed. Ugh. I hate that unfinished feeling.

Lately I sit down to blog and even though I've already envisioned what I'm going to write, I inevitably lose my motivation.

So, in an effort to jump back into blogging and breathe some new life into the horn family chronicles, I'm stealing borrowing a play from my pal Jenny's playbook.

Instead of posting a detailed entry on a single subject, here's a smattering (great word, eh?) of our recent activities and endeavors.

1. Jam making: I've impulsively entered the world of home-canning! Unfortunately, I made a big mistake and left too much head space in the jars. So, now I have to re-can it. Shouldn't be too difficult though (famous last words). Thus far I've made 9 pint sized jars of luscious homemade strawberry jam from fresh-picked locally farmed berries. I simply can not describe how much yummier this jam is compared to store bought stuff. I have visions of canning much more yumminess this season!
   
2. Picking, picking, picking: No, I'm not referring to my children's dirty habits of booger removal. Lately I've been picking local farm fresh produce and LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF IT! Picking, shelling, cleaning and EATING our food straight from a local farm has been highly addicting. Thus far I've picked strawberries, peas, and two varieties of raspberries. Blueberries are next on the picking agenda.
   
3. Solomon: He's growing fast, folks! Coming up on his 10 week birthday tomorrow already and weighing in at 13 lbs 7 ounces. Solly is quickly transitioning from newborn to a full-throttled infant. He's cooing and smiling up a storm. I'm a sucker for his grins! Not sleeping consistently through the night yet but I'm hopeful that milestone is around the corner. He's had several 5, 6 and 7 hour nighttime sleep stretches but our recent vacation messed him up nicely. Grrrr.
   
4. Gardening mania: We are gardening full-force this year and I couldn't be more excited about it! Since our backyard soil is awful, Matt built 11 raised garden beds. Five big beds and six smaller ones. One of the beds is exclusively Chloe's and she's growing carrots, beets, radishes and peas. The rest of the garden is planted with leaf lettuce, zucchini, squash, cucumber, strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, green onions, broccoli, cauliflower, garlic, eggplant, blueberry bushes, asparagus and I don't know what else. I was in the throes of post-partum zombieland when the garden needed to be started so Matt was the motivated sower and chooser of seeds. I also have a small potted herb garden which includes basil, oregano, mint, thyme, and cilantro. It is pure delight to pick fresh basil for quiche, pasta sauce, or caprese salad (one of my summer faves). I feel like a moron for not knowing what the plants look like which yield the foods I've eaten for 30+ years. It's educationally liberating and empowering in a weird way to be able to identify the plants, leaves, flowers, and fruits which give way to familiar veggies. How very sad that the process of growing, planting, and cultivating has been so completely removed from food consumption! I'm certain the average American kid thinks food comes from the grocery store and is clueless regarding the steps necessary to produce said food.
   
5. Summer schedule: Matt is a teacher. You know what that means, don't ya? THREE full months off each summer!!! WOO-HOO! Having Matt home most weekdays is an incredible and indescribable blessing. I am so spoiled. And thankful.
6. Potty training: Clive is potty-trained! Mostly. He's still working on going #2 consistently in the right place. Somehow, our vacation to Wisconsin helped rather than hindered our potty-training efforts. Though he had his share of accidents while we were away, Clive did surprisingly well. And now he's in big boy undies all day long and rarely has an accident! Still doing diapers for naptime and bedtime of course. I realize we're still a long way from Clive being fully trained but this is an encouraging and positive step towards that end!
7. Vacation: Had a spectacularly enjoyable time visiting the family matriarchs in Wisconsin. We were away for two full weeks and I am amazed at how well the kiddos adjusted to new routines and settings. Loads of pictures chronicling our visit in FB.

So now we're all caught up! Ah. And now I can retire to bed in peace. :)

What have you been up to in the month of June?

Mommy Hair Salon

Today as I noticed again the heavy mop of hair dampening Chloe's neck with sweat, I was moved to do something drastic. Poor Chloe has inherited my hair to a tee. Thick, slightly wavy, and a dark blond/light brown in color our shared hair color is known as "dishwater blond".

Though I've tried somewhat to keep Chloe's hair off her neck during these sweltering summer days, it's to no avail. Braids, ponytails, and pigtails (with accompanying barrettes) are almost never strong enough to keep her hair away from her face and off her neck. By the end of the day, "scraggly" and "ragamuffin" are apt adjectives for Chloe's appearance.

So, this afternoon we set up an impromptu mommy hair salon on the front porch. I know, I'm impulsive. And you already know I'm cheap. Dishing out $10 for a kid haircut is not even a consideration to me. Sometimes my impulsivity (is that a word?) leads to really stupid decisions and mistakes.

Don't worry, this haircut doesn't fall into the stupid category. :)

Thankfully, the one time I previously cut Chloe's hair was a huge success. Ergo, I went into this haircutting venture with confidence. Ironically, because of Chloe's hair texture, it's very forgiving to the amateur hair cutter. Choppy cuts and slightly jagged lines look good in her hairstyle.

Let me tell you, Chloe LOVED every moment of the home hair salon experience! She set everything up and helped me think of all the tools we needed. We even included the small talk banter typical of a regular hair salon experience.

After much cutting, trimming and fixing the finished product is a hit! I was trying for a nice short bob that would lie above Chloe's neck and keep her cool during our humid midwestern summer.

Whew! Thank the Lord it turned out well! Chloe loves it, I love it and so does Matt. (Before and after pictures posted below).

When Chloe asked if she could have a turn cutting my hair I politely declined. :) Let's hope when she plays hair salon in the future she doesn't do any real cutting. Then I might have to put away my mommy shears and chalk this one up to a "live and learn" mommying moment.

Where do you get your kids' hair cut? Or do you trim their locks at home?

Solomon Asher Horn

Thursday, April 15 God blessed our family with a new and precious addition. Solomon Asher Horn was born via c-section at 10:30 a.m. weighing in at 8 lbs. 15 oz. and measuring 21 inches in length.

The c-section went smoothly though there was some serious yanking going on to evict baby Solomon. Besides being a large fella (typical for our bambinos), Solomon was residing fairly high and required the efforts of several medical personnel to bring him out. Of course I wasn't feeling any pain due to the powerful spinal block administered but the pressure was crushing on my lungs and chest. Kind of like having the wind knocked out of you continually by a Chicago Bears' linebacker.

Solomon was obviously not happy about being evicted and let out a LOUD cry of displeasure. :) Conversely, I was VERY pleased and instantly burst into tears with joy at hearing his strong healthy lungs.

As is usual per our c-section experiences, the anesthesiologist was incredibly kind, knowledgeable, and chatty. I'm sure it's part of the anesthesiologist's job to keep the patient distracted from the fact that her major organs are being removed and both Matt and I very much appreciate the distraction. (He's not one to enjoy looking over the sheet to gaze in wonder at the surgical procedures. He tries his best NOT to see anything!) Our thoughtful anesthesiologist even took a picture of Solomon with her iphone and emailed it to my mom right after surgery.

Even though I often think of c-sections as routine, they are indeed medical marvels. It's just amazing to consider what happens during the procedure. And now that I'm two weeks out from my Solomon-induced c-section, I'm awed to see how quickly my body has healed and bounced back from such a major surgery.

We are inexpressibly thankful to God for His protection of me and Solomon during the surgery. I know that health is not to be taken for granted; we are exceedingly grateful to have three happy and healthy children!

If you've not already seen our cutie-patootie baby Solomon pictures on FB, below are some coo-worthy photos for you. Enjoy!

Freezer cooking MANIA

As the baby countdown gets lower and lower, I am feeling unusually prepared. Especially in the freezer cooking department!

Ever since receiving our new deep freeze, I've been dreaming, planning and cooking. It's as though my nesting hormones have been channeled into freezer cooking. And now my freezer is filled and ready. (So come ON baby and make your appearance already!)

Today I did a freezer inventory and printed out cooking instructions for whoever might be using my frozen goodies to feed me. :)

I'm slightly appalled at how much stinking food I've stocked. Let me tell you I'm very excited about NOT cooking for awhile.

To accomplish this huge stockpile of freezer goodness, I never did an official "Freezer Cooking Day" as I intended. Instead, I did the extra cooking a little bit at a time. For some recipes, I simply tripled or quadrupled an entree I was already planning to make for lunch or dinner. Over Matt's spring break, I devoted a few mornings to freezer cooking and prepping.

I'd been watching Money Saving Mom's blog as she chronicled her freezer cooking days. While she certainly is ambitious and supernaturally productive, her recipes don't always sound appealing to me. So, I started with Money Saving Mom, used some of my own tried-and-true faves, and then supplemented with some marthastewart.com searching to come up with a good mix of recipes for our family's eating habits.

Here's the final tally:

• Spinach pie (x 2)
• Butterhorns (x 3) (I did one part whole wheat flour to 3 parts all-purpose)
  
• Turkey/Beef Spinach Meatloaf
• Honey Curry Chicken Thighs
• Teriyaki Marinated Chicken Breasts
• Meatballs (added spinach)
  
• Falafel (I added additional spices)
  
• Whole Wheat Pancakes (I used whole wheat white flour instead of all-purpose)
  
• Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Waffles
• Turkey Cheese Burritos
• Japanese Tofu Hamburgers
• Mashed Potatoes
• Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies
• Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Cooked Brown Rice (x 2)
  

Whew! Can't wait to start eating from the freezery goodness!

How many of you freezer cook to save your sanity come dinner time?

Relying on Dunkin' Donuts

Sleep is eluding me. For the past three consecutive nights I've been incredibly wakeful even though I'm completely exhausted and longing for rest.

Today and tomorrow are both necessarily busy days for us so there are no naps on the horizon for me. Sigh.

Driving around with the kiddos this morning to run some errands and visit a park, I found myself dizzy and in need of some serious caffeine. I'm afraid I've gone well beyond the recommended caffeine intake limit for pregnant women today.

When I'm a zombie like this, coffee and sugar are my mainstays. I ate through an entire nutella jar all by myself in a record-breaking 4 days. What do you run to when you need a pick-me-up?

God's Wonderful Surprise

In preparation for tomorrow's big celebration, check out this fabulous video based on the Jesus' Storybook Bible's rendition of Jesus' resurrection. It's a captivating and encouraging little video -- what power our God has!

God's Wonderful Surprise

Songs for Good Friday

These songs are rolling around in my brain today as I think about the immense love of Jesus for my wayward soul. Thank you, Jesus for being obedient to death, even the death of the cross.

The Power of the Cross




The Criminal on the Cross




How Deep




The Gospel Song


By His Wounds

Preparing for Easter

Easter is coming alive in our household this year!

We made an Easter mountain again this year following Noel Piper's instructions. The kiddos painted it, we found sticks and a tomb-closing rock in the yard, Chloe dug up some toy pirates to be the guarding soldiers and I fashioned disciples out of pipe cleaners. We've acted out the events of Easter week several times now and it's brought the story to life!

Tuesday evening we observed a very simple passover. Very simple. I'm talking wheat pita bread and cups of grape juice here. The kids ate while I read a short account of Jesus' celebration of the passover with his disciples in the upper room. Then Matt and Chloe used various blocks to build an upper room for our pipe cleaner people.

Though our homemade visual aids have been almost silly in their simplicity, I know through our kids' eyes the immense truths of Easter are becoming slightly more comprehensible. And these family traditions we're creating are not only enjoyable but invaluable as we plant seeds of faith and truth.

This year we added another element to our Easter preparations. We made an "I'm Sorry" box using Ann Voskamp's idea which she posted over at A Holy Experience. Each time one of us does something worthy of saying "I'm Sorry" we write it down on a slip of paper and insert it into the box.

I envisioned this exercise as a helpful one for Chloe. Most times she is truly a sweet sweet girl and we often praise her for her good behavior. I thought this box would be a much-needed reminder to Chloe of her short-comings and need for a Savior. But in the process, God showed ME my own faults. Pride, impatience, anger, and lack of compassion reared their heads as I wrote out my own "I'm Sorry" slips. As a mom, it's ridiculously easy to identify the mistakes in my children and to correct them forgetting that I'm just as faulty.

Of course the crowning lesson will come on Easter morning. That's when we toss the box full of our mistakes into the garbage can symbolizing Jesus' complete forgiveness and washing away of our sins. Hallelujah!

"I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins."
(Isaiah 43:25)

Since Chloe loves to sing with me (and I realize music is a stellar way to teach) we've been learning a hymn together for Easter. She and I sing it together most nights together before bed. The Power of the Cross, written by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend, is vivid with imagery in its telling of Jesus' death and implications.

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And what holiday would be complete without sugar cookies?

The princess girly-girl in me thrives on the extra-special pageantry involved in preparation for Easter Sunday morning at church. Unfortunately, we can't afford to go dress-shopping for a big foo-foo Easter dress. Instead I've taken to making Chloe a new dress each year for Easter.

And this year CLIVE gets a matching tie. We'll see how long he keeps it on . . .

And yes, I realize I'm a huge cheesy nerd for forcing my kids to wear matching outfits.

If you're still with me after that monstrously long post, answer me an Easter-y question. What family Easter traditions do you have and/or how do you make Easter meaningful?

Happy April Fool's Day!

Let me be the first to wish you a very foolish and fun first day of April!

Last year I didn't initiate many traditions for celebrating April Fool's Day. I tried this "magic milk" bowl trick for our morning cereal (pictured at left) and that was it. Chloe L.O.V.E.D. how her milk turned from white to blue as she stirred up her cereal. She still talks about that magical morning meal. Didn't take much to impress my then 3 year old, eh? :)

This year I'm stepping it up a notch. And of course, because holidays in our family revolve around food, my trickery will all be food-based.

Check OUT these super fun ideas from Family Fun Mag! Since we'll be out until the afternoon, I'm planning the faux fish sticks, peas, meatloaf cupcakes and jello drinks for supper.

That's my plan. We'll see if my concoctions look anywhere near as cute and deceptive as these pictures do.

Shhh! Don't tell my family! (Don't worry, they don't read my blog.)

How do you plan to celebrate?

The end of an era

For the past 4 1/2 years, Matt has been in school. It seems odd that for all of Chloe's life to this point, her daddy has been a student.

Uprooting and moving blindly to where we then unlovingly called "Nowhere, Ohio" was simultaneously frightening and exhilaratingly exciting. We moved here with the express purpose of Matt studying and earning his phd in English at Kent State University. Now that we've been here for so long, life pre-doctoral studies (and pre-kids) seems like a distant dream.

Matt and I had no idea how much we'd actually like living in "Nowhere, Ohio". :) God has graciously given us a wonderful group of fun, encouraging and supportive friends. And we've never enjoyed and thrived in a church as much as here at Parkside. I'm afraid all future churches we attend will inevitably be compared to our fantastic experiences at Parkside.

The student chapter of our lives is now closed (until I go back for my masters that is) and it has been liberating to have Matt fully present again in our family. Of course, my husband is not the type to just sit around and be lazy with his new-found extra time (though a new baby in a few weeks will certainly fill in those leisure-time gaps). Matt is already working full steam on new projects around the house and has dreams and schemes of more.

Matt has worked tirelessly throughout the phd process and we couldn't be more proud of him! Congrats to our dear Dr. Daddy! :)

Pregnancy update

I'm 35 weeks along now and I suppose a pregnancy update is in order!

As is usual for my pregnancies, everything is going smoothly thus far. I'm getting pretty big these days and starting to feel the discomfort which accompanies this stage of pregnancy. (This is an old photo -- I'm way huger than this now. Starting to get the annoying comments from strangers with by bulging eyes when I tell them I still have 4 weeks to go). Lately I'm dealing with some reflux at night and having to use the bathroom countless times as this darling baby pushes on my bladder mercilessly.

Since both my kiddos arrived via emergency c-section, it's not suggested I try a vbac again. So, I'm slated to have a scheduled c-section on Thursday, April 15 (tax day).

Having gone through two c-sections already I'm actually kind of looking forward to it. That probably sounds completely wacko. But knowing that I'll ONLY have to recover from a c-section and not from both labor AND a c-section is a comforting thought. My second c-section recovery was much easier than the first. Let's hope that the third c-section yields an even quicker recovery!

Also, there are loads of benefits to knowing that the baby is coming definitely on or before a specific date. If he doesn't appear early, April 15 is a sure thing. I'll be able to get a full night's rest before-hand, eat a good supper, and have a baby by 10 a.m. the next morning.

I've done a smattering of baby-preparation reading including tips for nursing, sleeping schedules, and soothing techniques. I'm hoping at least some of what I've read sticks in my brain!

The bassinet is in our room and ready. Blankets, bibs and baby boy clothes are washed and put away. Still have a few other projects on the baby to-do list but nothing super urgent. Maybe if I pack my hospital bag the baby will be more prone to arrive early? :)

No one is more excited to meet this baby than I am! But there's also some sadness mixed in with our joyful expectation. We've been so enjoying Chloe and Clive lately and even getting into a groove with our routines and schedules. It's also scary knowing things are going to change so drastically so soon.

Doesn't help this mama's heart when Clive says, "No thanks, baby". That's his Clive-ish way of saying he doesn't want the baby. We'll see how that attitude develops . . .

Any tips for me as we transition from a family of 4 to 5?

Freezer recipes

My girlfriends are the absolute BEST!

A few weeks ago they held a baby shower in honor of baby Horn #3. But this was no ordinary baby shower. Besides the fact that 3rd babies don't usually garner a party, my girlfriends went out of their way to make this baby shower unforgettable.

Instead of giving lots of little gifts, the gals all pitched in to get us a gift card to home depot towards the purchase of a deep freezer! ! ! I was speechless (and believe me, it's not often that I'm speechless) when they first told me the idea and I'm still in awe at the depth of the generosity, thoughtfulness, and love reflected in such a gift.

(The rest of the shower was awesome too -- we partook in paraffin wax dips, turtle cheesecake, and a scrabble tourney. And yes, I won at scrabble. The girls were so nice to let me win.)

I just ordered our new freezer this afternoon; since we don't have much space, we chose a 5 cubic foot model as shown at left.

So, now my task for March is to fill up this bad boy! My friends are all going to provide at least one meal for the new freezer (aren't they amazing?!?) but I'd like to do some of my own stock-piling as well. I anticipate that the first few months of caring for three children will be more than overwhelming. The mere idea of having frozen dinners ready-at-hand is heavenly.

Here's where you come in. I am a firm believer that the best recipes come from other experienced cooks. I'm looking for economical, tasty, healthy, and family-friendly freezer meal/entree recipes. Any stellar recommendations for me?

Ear Infection Forum

Blog? Do I have a blog anymore?!? I am constantly amazed at how life swallows me up and the days fly by in a blurry haze.

Anyways, the recent issue in our family (besides debating over possible baby names) has been in regards to ear infections. Truthfully, I know little about ear infections -- what causes them, symptoms, etc. I have a vague misgiving about using antibiotics too quickly (or any medicine for that matter) for ear infections especially because of the potential of creating anti-biotic resistant strains of bacteria in my kids. Besides the fact that I hate the generality of antibiotics. Good bacteria in our bodies are good and I hate having to kill the good germies along with the bad ones.

Last week Clive came down with something. At first it seemed like a simple runny nose/cough thing that we thought may have been teething related. He woke up several nights coughing so we fired up the humidifier, gave him lots of honey throughout the day (which Clive ever-so-cutely called his "honey medicine"), and propped him up in bed with pillows so his head was elevated. We even resorted to tylenol a few nights when nothing else was cutting it. Believe me, after one extremely long hour of trying to get him to sleep on me and my bulging baby belly I was ready to try anything!

He improved after 3-4 days and eventually his cough dissipated and his runny nose dried up. BUT the weird aspect was that Clive started sucking his fingers. Continually. So much so that I gave up trying to prevent his finger-sucking ways he was an unsightly drooly mess.

Matt insisted on taking Clive to the doctor a few days ago even though Clive's symptoms were almost totally gone. The doc confirmed that Clive had an ear infection. What I HATE is that the doc didn't qualify the infection. Having an ear infection is one thing but was it bad enough to warrant antibiotic use? Apparently so as the doc sent Matt home with a scrip for Amoxicillin.

You can probably sense the conflict which arose between Matt and I on this subject. After doing a tiny bit of research, I found that it's good practice to wait a few days to see if the infection will clear up on its own (hence proving it was a viral infection and not bacterial). I won't go into the gory details of our confrontation but I successfully convinced Matt to wait a few days before filling the scrip.

Today was our agreed-upon day of reckoning for Clive. I took him into the doc for one more check of his ear to see if it was truly worthy of anti-biotic pummeling. By today, Clive was totally himself. Absolutely no symptoms and he's even stopped the dreadful finger-sucking.

The doc confirmed that Clive's ear is healed! Only a tiny bit of fluid still remains and the doc commended me for NOT treating the infection with meds. ! The doc also told me a surprising fact -- that 2/3rds of ear infections will clear up on their own without anti-biotic intervention.

What's your stance and experience with ear infections?

Belated Valentine's Day Wishes!

We've had a busy eventful week and hence, I've been neglectful of my blog yet again. My mom was here visiting this weekend and we thoroughly enjoyed her (and her new iphone).

Our Valentine's Day was rather busy as we were scheduled to serve in our church nursery. Since our church is so massive, that means we serve once every 5 weeks and we work during two back-to-back services. It also means we have to leave earlier than usual. It's always a stressful race to beat the clock on Sunday mornings!

I had little v-day gifts on waiting on the table for everyone in the morning. I had some leftover pancakes so I cut them into heart shapes and warmed them up for the kiddos. Matt also surprised me with roses, new crayons for Chloe, a new dino for Clive and a box of chocolates for my mom.

When my mom comes to visit she always pushes us out the door for a date night. :) Believe me, she doesn't have to push us too hard. And the kids are getting old enough that they remember Gramma's special babysitting nights and they do a great job! This past Saturday night, the kids didn't even bat an eye when we exited for our date. I felt as though I was interrupting just to give them goodbye hugs and kisses!

Needless to say, we ALL had a great date night. Matt and I used a gift card for dinner out, browsed World Market (I love that place and never get to wander through it's interesting aisles), and then we went to see the highly-acclaimed movie Avatar. Excellent flick! Much better than I expected it to be.

Since our family holidays always revolve around food, my mom and I planned a special v-day feast for dinner. We attempted to cook a london broil steak (turned out rather chewy but still good), mashed potatoes, cheddar cheese puffs (INCREDIBLY YUMMY), salad, and tiramisu for dessert.

How did you celebrate Valentine's Day?

How do you hot cocoa?

For the last week our corner of northeast Ohio has gotten a goodly amount of snow. Yes! Finally!

In my opinion, if we're going to endure the cold temps of winter, we might as well have some nice clean white snow cover on the ground instead of dirty looking slush.

In a blast of unexpected motivation, I bundled up the kiddos twice yesterday for some outdoor snow romping. Thankfully, Chloe can get herself almost totally bundled. Whew. Clive on the other hand is a squirmy wormy and I have to keep dragging him back to don him with the next necessary piece of winter wear.

Anyways, after some hard core snow playing (after which Clive balled at having to come inside) we warmed up with hot cocoa. To my shame I must admit I've never made hot cocoa from scratch until this year. It's delicious and far superior to those sad little instant cocoa packets!

Last night I strayed from the standard cocoa recipe and added some crushed peppermints to the cocoa pot. YUM!

I'd like to do some more hot cocoa experimenting . . . . especially with the mexican chocolate sitting idle in my cupboard (it's a hard chocolate wedge mixed with cinnamon and sugar).

How do you make your hot cocoa? Any interesting variations you'd like to share?

Chloe's Disappointing First Dental Visit

This morning the kids and I headed to the Small Smiles dental clinic for Chloe's first ever dental visit. We had read some dentist-type books and almost every mom I talked to (or that commented on FB) reassured me of what would happen on the first visit. According to them, the first visit would be a simple tooth-counting and comfort-building chair sitting experience for Chloe. And of course a brand new toothbrush to culminate the event. Sounded pretty non-threatening and even sort of fun!

This morning at breakfast, I was giving Chloe the expectation run-down again so she'd know exactly what would happen. Chloe is a sweetie but she is a girl that doesn't roll with the unexpected well. She needs time to feel comfortable and letting her know exactly what will happen seems to ease her fears.

Anyways, Chloe was excited about the dentist visit and said animatedly, "I sure hope I get a new princess toothbrush at the dentist!" She even dressed up her favorite teddy bear in baby clothes and brought him along for the occasion.

As soon as we walked into the clinic door, I had a foreboding feeling. The lobby was VERY crowded and felt more like a daycare center than the comforting low-key lobby experience I had envisioned. Nonetheless, the kiddos settled in to play while I filled out the paperwork. And then we waited. And waited. And waited some more! It was 45 minutes before Chloe's name was called.

After a brief introduction, the dental hygienist took us back and instead of asking us anything curtly stated she would start by taking x-rays of Chloe's mouth. Sphincter say what?!? I tried not to let my hyper-mommy-alarm bells go crazy and decided instead to go with the flow and see how Chloe did. My girl was all smiles until the hygienist shoved the x-ray slide into her mouth. And then Chloe lost it -- with good reason too. The hygienist did NOT prepare Chloe for what was happening and I tried my best to comfort her from out in the hallway. Needless to say, the x-ray photography session did not happen. Chloe kept crying and was obviously scared.

The WORST part was the hygienist's impatience and obvious frustration with Chloe's meltdown. She just kept telling Chloe to stop crying and to be a good girl or she wouldn't get a toy. Hello?!? What 4 year old is going to stop crying on a dime for a stranger who is doing foreign things and is telling her she's not being good? I was starting to get seriously ticked off. I asked the hygienist to stop and that we'd have to do the x-rays on our next visit.

Moving on, the hygienist brought us to a huge room with about 8 dental chairs all filled with kiddos having various procedures done. Again, the mommy-alarm-bells started ringing like crazy. Talk about a distracting, loud and scary place! Chloe, unnerved and whimpering by this point, was not trusting this hygienist chic. It didn't help that the lady lowered Chloe in the dentist chair without warning. Chloe's tears started again (and so did my tears - I hated seeing my baby girl fall apart) and I quickly saw that wisest course of action was to split. I told the hygienist we were going home and we'd reschedule.

UGH. What a yucky experience! I truly think the worst part of it was the hygienist's use of bribery and her scolding impatient manner. I spent the entire ride home reassuring Chloe that I was not mad at her and she was not "bad" for being scared. I think it was perfectly natural and reasonable for Chloe to be frightened given the circumstances.

We will NOT be going back to that crazy clinic again. We're taking my little girl's teeth elsewhere!

What have your kids' dental experiences been like?

Baby reading list

As I prepare for baby #3's arrival, I'm starting to gear-up mentally. Because my brain is more like a sieve than a bowl, I'm finding most of the baby stuff I once knew I have forgotten. Or maybe it's just that the currently unnecessary baby information is stored away someplace and will return when I need it. In any case, I've learned NOT to trust this old brain of mine.

Instead, I've compiled a reading list and am plowing my way through to get my mind back in baby-mode. Here's what I'm working on:

• Babywise: I'm not a hard-and-fast Babywise advocate but I DO relish the structure and scheduling principles therein. I messed up Clive's sleep badly because I abandoned Babywise tenets and my aim is to intentionally regulate baby #3's sleeping and feeding patterns. I also truly appreciate the premise of Babywise -- namely that our children are NOT the center of the universe. And that my relationship with Matt is priority numero uno.
• The Happiest Baby on the Block: I've received rave reviews of this book so decided to see what all the fuss was about. Inadvertently, I requested this book as a dvd from my library. And boy am I glad I made that mistake! I watched the dvd last night and was completely floored, enlightened, and awed by Dr. Karp's consistently successful calming techniques. They showed him with several crying, fussy, screaming babies and every single time he used his 5 calming techniques and the baby INSTANTANEOUSLY stopped crying. Seriously, the man and his techniques are magic. His techniques weren't rocket-science; most were common sense. The one that totally threw me was the "shushing" technique. He literally put his mouth to the baby's ear and did a LOUD shushing sound. According to Dr. Karp, the baby's first 3 months are super hard on him because of the shocking change in environment. If you can mimic the womb environment, you can trigger the baby's calming reflex and fussiness stops. Great stuff. Will certainly put those techniques in my arsenal!
• Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child: I read this book on a friend's recommendation after struggling many weeks with Clive's sleeplessness and fussiness. It's an excellent read especially due to the medical studies and research it's premises are based on. The huge concept I remember from this book is the overstimulation factor. With Clive we never realized that our incessant rocking, holding and cuddling were actually doing more harm than good when he was tired. After reading the book, we saw clearly in Clive that he was entering the never-ending cycle of fatigue, over-tiredness and over-stimulation. What he needed was to hang out alone! When we finally picked up on his sleepy cues (as detailed in the book) and put him down during that sleepy window, he slept like a champ. And when we finally took him out of our room and put him in his own room to sleep, he immediately began sleeping through the night. Can't wait to read this treasured book again!

That's my list thus far. I've heard The Baby Whisperer is another good one. Any other recommendations for me? What resources have been helpful to you during the newborn baby months?

I'm also determined to try nursing baby #3 (didn't go well with Chloe & Clive). Any nursing resource recommendations are welcome!

The Allure of Facebook

Boy, I have completely neglected this blog as of late. There are many valid reasons for my delinquency but I find the most pressing one is Facebook.

Facebook is so easy, immediate, and rewarding that I'm finding it harder and harder to come back to my first love, blogging.

How do you all keep blogging and Facebook separate? Or have you abandoned your blogs whole-hog in preference of Facebook?

Saturday Traditions

Since Sunday mornings are crazy busy as we race around getting ready for church (and we inevitably leave late despite our efforts), Saturday mornings have become our family lazy time. Of course the kiddos don't understand the phrase "sleeping late" but we move slowly and linger in our jammies until late morning. It's leisurely just knowing we can chill and not rush out the door to be somewhere.

If I'm awake enough I make a special Saturday breakfast of some sort. Usually it's scrambled eggs with toast and fruit or pumpkin pancakes with bacon. Then we nosh our yummy filling breakfast while the kids and I listen to "Wee Kids" on the radio. (My husband DOES know the meaning of the above mentioned phrase and usually eats his breakfast much later when he rolls out of bed.)

Wee Kids is a cute little radio show with songs and Bible stories and the jovially-voiced Mr. Nick. Jungle Jam is another fun one we enjoy listening to. I just love the idea of the kids listening to a radio program rather than watching a mindless cartoon.

Honestly, I wish I could put a kabosh on our tv/video watching all together. As of late, I let the kids watch one movie per day. 1-2 per week would be better for them I fear. It's a bit embarrassing that Clive, just turned 2, already knows many animated characters by name! But, as I'm sure most moms know well, sometimes popping in a video is the only way to keep little ones occupied and out of mischief while preparing supper or showering.

Those are our Saturday traditions. Yummy big breakfast and radio programs. Today will also include some playoff game watching (so much for cutting down on our tv viewing). What does your family do on Saturdays?

Riding the potty train again

Clive's 2nd birthday has come and gone and I've yet to truly dive into potty-training. Isn't it funny how your perspective changes on parenting issues with the second child? I imagine parents grow more and more laidback with the addition of each new kiddo to the brood . . .

When Chloe turned two I was stubbornly determined to potty-train her. I was intense. We embarked on 7-10 day stretches where Chloe sat on the potty for most of her waking moments until her body was forced to eliminate. Looking back, I'm certain my intensity level and the pressure-filled ambiance I created made Chloe fearful of the big transition from diapers to potty. It took 4 long months of on-and-off training before Chloe was consistently tinkling in the potty. It took almost a year for her to be fully training (including undies at night).

That is an experience I do NOT want to go through again. I'm convinced that potty-training can be one of the all-time worst aspects of mommyhood and can seriously threaten this mom's sanity and patience-level.

Fast forward to Clive. We've talked up pottying and given all the explanatory talks to him about human excrement. Both Matt and I often take Clive with us so into the bathroom so he's definitely aware of the process. Even before Clive turned two we began sitting him on the potty regularly. He's had 4-5 successes but what usually happens is Clive alerts us when he needs to go, we race him up there and inevitably, we're too late.

Today we had a quiet day at home with nothing on the agenda. So I took the opportunity to break out his new big-boy undies. Even though I've often let him play sans-diaper (forgive me if that's too much information -- it's supposedly a sure-fire way to train), he's still not going consistently on the potty. I hoped the transition to big-boy undies might do the trick today.

Clive did great! While he wasn't successful on the potty, he didn't have ANY accidents even though he was in big-boy undies almost all day long. Let's hope this is a sign of good things to come!

The added and unexpected blessing of this potty-training experience is Chloe. She's incredibly helpful and patient with Clive, often sitting with him and showing him books to keep him occupied.

What's your stance and experience with riding the potty train? Any good boy tips for me? Any and all encouragement and tips are welcome!