Lighter Notes

The only TV show we let Samuel watch regularly is "The Price is Right," or "Dew" (Drew Carey), as he calls everything on TV. It gives me a little break from chasing him around the house and makes it much easier for me to do things like feed Audrey or clean up a little. Anyway, as we were watching the other day a thought I've had many times before came back. When people who are not from Los Angeles win trips on that show, do they have to pay their own way back to LA in order to go on the trip they won? You know how the announcer always says, "You and a guest will fly round trip from Los Angeles to beautiful...?" It's a subject on which I've never reached a definite conclusion.

For the life of me I cannot remember what else I was going to put here, so I'll have to update later if I remember. My poor brain. I don't think I can afford to have any more children, or I won't even be able to take care of myself anymore!

Scary phone call

My cell phone rang around 4:45 PM yesterday and the number was our pediatrician's office. I knew the only reason they would be calling was if Audrey had an abnormal result on her repeat newborn screening, but I tried not to freak out before the nurse could tell me what was going on. She said that Audrey's PKU sample was "unsatisfactory," so we'd have to come back and get another sample. She assured me that it doesn't mean Audrey might have PKU, but I added that it doesn't mean she doesn't have it, either. In the logical, thinking nurse part of my brain, I knew that there was no reason to be concerned yet, but in the mom part of my brain, I was about to panic. I didn't remember much about PKU except that you have to avoid all artificial sweeteners, and then when I started reading about severe mental retardation and limited breastfeeding, it didn't make me feel any better! I know Audrey's in the Lord's hands and I'm trusting Him for the result, but the waiting is certainly not fun. I don't know how long the result will take.

I did find out some interesting things while doing my research on PKU. The CDC had a couple of presentations on unsatisfactory samples and it turns out that the state of Alabama is second in that nation behind West Virginia for percentages of newborn screening samples that turn out to be unsatisfactory. In addition, Alabama is second behind West Virginia for states that "run" unsatisfactory samples. So, Audrey's was so unsatisfactory that it couldn't even be run on the machine. I feel badly because I remember the nurse tried so hard at her 2 week check up to make sure that she had every little circle saturated exactly right so we could avoid this! This also marks the first time I will be out of the house by myself with both children, so it should be an adventure.

In other news, The Office was pretty funny last night. Audrey did exactly what Samuel did as an infant and started crying as soon as the show started. Needless to say, we have come to rely heavily upon closed captioning ever since having children. Anyway, I learned once again last night how naive I am/was because when I read the lyrics to "Let's Get Physical" thanks to the closed captioning, I was shocked by how "suggestive" it is! I haven't exactly ever been a huge Olivia Newton John fan, though.

We also watched the SNL Election Update after The Office and I was not surprised to hear that AIG blew a bunch of its "bail-out" money on a retreat. I know it's extremely sad that I received legitimate news from SNL, but it's the truth. I read an article that talked about how the supposed "bail-out" plan was setting companies up for this sort of behavior, because they knew that they could get more money from the stupid federal government (i.e., taxpayers - why does no one understand that?) than from anyone in the public sector. They held out on selling, which is why the stock market fell so markedly the day the first bill didn't pass, and then they go whoop it up to celebrate when the second one did! I'm sure those who supported and voted for the bill will express their shock and disgust at AIG's behavior, but again, we should not be surprised.

On a totally different note, I am so tired of dealing with the same disobedient behaviors from Samuel day in and day out. I definitely understand sin nature much more since having children. This morning I lagged behind Samuel for about 30 seconds and ended up finding Audrey's mylicon drops poured out onto the floor next to our bed. This marks the third time Samuel has done this in about two weeks. I know there are a lot of things he does not understand, but I know he understands that he is not supposed to do this. As soon as he knew he had been caught, he ran away from the scene as fast as he could and started crying. Of course the question in my mind was, "Why don't you just not do the bad behavior, and then you wouldn't have to suffer the consequence?" It made me extremely upset this morning and as I sat on the bed, holding Audrey and crying, I realized that this is exactly what I do day in and day out, and God must be thinking the same thing. It certainly makes "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us," hit home a lot harder. I am so thankful for His mercy and grace; however, I also really want to do better with discipline and our children. Any tips would be appreciated. We did a study on "Shepherding a Child's Heart" by Ted Tripp while I was pregnant with Samuel, but a lot of it didn't stick due to the fact that we didn't have a child outside of the womb in our house yet. I need to read it again, but time goes by so fast when you're working and have an infant/toddler, and now it's going by even faster!

I'm thankful to report that Audrey slept much better last night, when compared with the previous four nights. She still fussed a good bit and was quite unhappy until about 9 PM, but then she went to sleep for the night. The other nights she had been staying up until as late as midnight fussing. She still would be okay once she actually went to sleep, but it was quite a fight getting her to that point. I'm also trying very diligently to put her down while she's drowsy and not fully asleep, as "they" recommend, to try to avoid the problems we've encountered with getting Samuel to sleep. Any tips on getting him out of his crib and into his toddler bed would also be greatly appreciated.

Praying for a quick and not too painful visit for Audrey and fast turn around on the results.

Think Twice

I've had lots of ideas for posts in the past few days, but no time to post them! Anyway, my title relates to the fact that I am going to think twice before ever telling anyone I have an "easy" child again! I finally had the nerve to share with some people at church this weekend that I think Audrey is closer to the definition of an "easy" baby than Samuel ever was. This impression grew from many parts of her personality, but mainly from the fact that she is a better sleeper at this age than he was at six or seven months! Anyway, I'm not superstitious, but maybe I should be, because Audrey has had some of her worst nights to date ever since I "bragged." I wasn't really boasting about it, I was just expressing how nice it was to have a child who slept! She's also been much more fussy, which is weird, because everything about her is more "mature" since the day she was born, and she seems to be having more problems with gas and such. I am praying that this is just a temporary thing, because it is very hard to function on this little sleep, especially with Samuel's high energy levels!

I cleaned off our screened-in porch on Saturday (it had a lot of pollen that had accumulated) and put some of Samuel's plastic toys out there and he's been having a ball playing out there every day. I try to let him go out when it's cooler, in the morning, and he just plays and plays. I haven't let him go out this morning yet, due to the rain, but I'm sure he'll be up to it as soon as I mention it!

We made it to the morning service at church finally this Sunday. I had contemplated going the week after she was born, but that wasn't really feasible, and the week after that was still a little too early. I kept her in her car seat when people were around, to avoid having to deny anyone the opportunity to hold her. I think people wanted to hold her, but I just feel like they should ask and not just expect me to hand her to them! Anyway, we even made it to the evening service, too, and she did fairly well both times.

People have been so generous in bringing us meals, and that has really helped, especially since Brad went back to work. He has the option of doing 4 longer days a week rather than 5 eight hour days, so I'm looking forward to when that starts. I'm still praying and hoping that something will work out and I won't have to go back to work, but I'm also trying to stay realistic. It's hard to think about, though. It makes me extremely sad.

Who won?

I had a hard time watching the debate after the first 45 seconds, when Biden claimed that our current economic situation is the result of "8 years of the worst economic policies this country has ever seen" (my paraphrase). Anyway, am I the only person who learned in economics class (in high school and college) that it takes years and years for the full effect of changes in economic policies to be felt; i.e., maybe Clinton's policies just might have something do with the impending "collapse." I just get so sick of the Obama campaign's focus on "Bush is a failure, so vote for me!" I don't think Bush is as much of a failure as the media makes him out to be, and even if he is, he is not running for re-election, so that shouldn't be the main point! I am also a big believer that anytime the government gets more involved in anything, the end result will be worse than where we started. I think this is true in pretty much all areas of our lives - education, religion, the economy, etc... I just cannot believe how many Americans believe that further government involvement will improve anything! I do not want my freedoms taken away and my life legislated by the federal government! Biden said that Obama thinks the taxpayers should be considered investors in our government system - are you kidding me? I do not want to invest in further bureaucracy and waste! I also love how Biden corrected Sarah Palin and said that it is not "redistribution," it's "fairness." As if calling it something different changes what it is! Also, I have learned from being alive for the past 20+ years and was also taught by my mother that life is not fair! Do people not get that? I'm stopping my rant now, since it is just making me upset all over again, but I wanted to post the explanation of the different forms of government that Dear Abby gave a few years ago that I think are quite accurate:

COMMUNISM: You have two cows. The government takes both of them and gives you part of the milk.
SOCIALISM: You have two cows. The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.
FASCISM: You have two cows. The government takes both cows and sells you the milk.
NAZISM: You have two cows. The government takes both your cows, then shoots you.
BUREAUCRACY: You have two cows. The government takes both of them, shoots one, milks the other, then pours the milk down the drain.
CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell one of them and buy a bull.

Smartie

I have to post this to remind myself of it in the future, when frustrations arrive. I guess I don't give our precious son enough credit, because though he is mischevious, he is also a pretty intelligent kid. I replaced the batteries in his old (Audrey's new) baby gym this morning so that Samuel could help Audrey play the music - we spend a lot of time getting him to "help" with things, so he feels involved and feels good about it. Anyway, I had to use the screwdriver to open up the battery compartment and I put it back in the drawer after I used it. When I was feeding Audrey a little while later, I heard a drawer opening in the kitchen, where I knew Samuel had gone, but I figured it was the utensil drawer because he loves to take the can opener out and put it back. I didn't see anything out of place when I finally got to the kitchen, so I figured he had replaced whatever he had removed. Later on, I needed the screwdriver again, to replace the batteries in another toy, and I couldn't find it. I was very sure that I had put it back, but I question my memory nowadays, as it's failed me many times since having children. Samuel came in the kitchen while I was searching for the screwdriver, and I asked him if he had gone in that particular drawer, because I needed the screwdriver and I was pretty sure I had put it back in there earlier. He said, "Where'd it go?" which is his favorite phrase to say when something's missing or hidden, and then he went into the living room and said, "There it is!" and brought the screwdriver to me! Although I wish that he wouldn't have relocated it in the first place, I was really impressed that he did that, since he loves to pretend that he doesn't understand me in situations like that. I guess I shouldn't be too terribly surprised, since he does understand what we're saying to him even though he doesn't choose to speak that much. He's my sweet boy.