My kid says the funniest things

I feel like I should be writing to Bill Cosby about the funny things Isabella says; her little mind works in mysterious ways...

Bathtime for Daddy

Matt and I were busy this weekend working on the house, and at one point we both decided a break was in order. We were both in the living room and Bella decided to crawl onto Matt's lap for a cuddle; once there, she leaned over to give her dad a kiss and quickly drew back - she then said in a very loud voice "Daddy, you need a bath!" Apparently, it was hot work and Matt had gotten a little sweaty! Matt looked at me and we both laughed - kids do tell the truth.

Car Picnics

After all the work was done, we decided that we should take a break and head out to Williamsburg, since we still had some school clothes to buy for Isabella. Once we were on our way, Isabella asked if we were going to go to Sonic for dinner, and we said OK. Well, once we got to Williamsburg, the heavens opened up with the most spectacular thunderstorm! Not like that was going to stop us -- we still went to Sonic and got some dinner. Isabella was very excited because we were having a 'car picnic' -- she absolutely loved it, and has decided that we should have car picnics more often.

Bella Arnone, Time-Out Patrol

Another day, Bella, Ben & I were at the UPS store and there was one other person in front of me who was taking an annoyingly long time to get her package shipped. This woman kept asking more and more questions until even the lady helping her was becoming exasperated. Isabella was playing with a puzzle that they had there, and Ben was chewing on a teething toy, and behaving quite well for the amount of time that we had to wait.

After what seemed like hours, the lady's transaction was being totalled, and she then began complaining about the price. I sighed loudly, and Isabella looked over at me and said, "She needs a time out Mommy, she's not nice!" If I could have turned bright red, I would have -- honestly, the lady was being a bitch and did indeed need a time out. I looked at Isabella and explained that since there was a wait, would she like to go to Panera now instead of later; of course, she said yes, and I was able to escape a very embarassing situation.

When we went back, the sales ladies told us that Isabella's perfectly-timed verbal smack down made their day, and Isabella was rewarded with a lollipop!

Ow, you might want to have a doctor look at that...

As you know from previous posts, Matt and I have had on hell of a month, and I for one am glad that our house is almost back to normal. Since we have been working really hard on repairing the house and Matt is also putting in long days with work, we both have not been getting a lot of sleep either because Ben has been sick and teething for the past six weeks!

Keeping this in mind, imagine Isabella going upstairs to tell her father last Friday that lunch was ready. When Matt came down, he told me that she sat on his lap, looked into his eyes, and informed him that his eyes were cracked! (They were bloodshot from looking at a computer screen for a couple of hours and lack of sleep).

Got Neck?

Bella and I were putting together a puzzle on the floor of her room, and she had her chin resting on the top of her chest. At one point, she sat up and touched her chin, and then her chest, and said "Oh no! Oh no!"

When I asked her what was wrong, she said, "I lost my neck!"

Once again feeling her chin and then chest, I explained that her neck was still there just that it was hidden when she touched her chin to the top of her chest. I helped her feel her chin and chest and then her neck, she looked at me and said "Mommy, you helped me find my neck!" (LOL - supermommy to the rescue)

The search for stewed tomatoes

You would think that living in the south, we would be able to find these at every grocery store; not so, I tell you!

These have become my new culinary obsession, and it all started a month ago with a visit from Isabella's godmother Lesley (this was just before the water pipe incident). We went to Michie Tavern in Charlottesville to have lunch, and for those of you who have not been there, it's an awesome place to visit and the food is delicious! When we were there, we tried some of their stewed tomatoes, and it was the best thing I have had in a while. Needless to say, I have been searching and searching for a recipe, and have yet to find one that can even come close to what they make.

Matt has been my test kitchen; I have been trying to recreate this recipe, and he is great about trying the results and offering comments. I am currently of the opinion that I have to go up there and see if I can find a cookbook that would explain how to make it; or barring that, get them to sell me some of that stewed tomatoes, its not a tough trip to sell because there is a great apple orchard there that makes the one of the most delicious apple pies I have had, you know come to think of it... I see a trip to Charlottesville in my family's future

We're back

Its been a while since I posted anything and this was my original post:

Everyone is finally germ-free and our house is coming together; we even had a good friend, Chris from San Diego, visit. Things upstairs are still a bit of a mess, but I am using this time to get rid of things that we do not need -- the Salvation Army is going to benefit from our 'purging" LOL. In the midst of all the cleaning, painting and laundry, Benjamin's other tooth cut and Isabella decided to give her self a 'princess haircut;' luckily, she cut her hair of one side and not in the front, and I was able to repair the damage. She also is blessed with thick curly hair, so no one can tell what happened :). Hopefully, we succeeded in getting across that it was not a good idea to cut your own hair; I can't see us buying her one of those Barbie dolls that lets you trim and style their hair for an while.

Now, my revised post is apparently we are not germ free - the bloody things keep lingering in our house, but the rest of the stuff is almost all done, just a couple more things to fix up. We are now tackling chores that should have been accomplished a month ago, including the jungle that is our backyard; even our dog had become an expert at swinging a machete to clear a path to her favorite spot in the backyard! But on second thought, dogs with machetes is probably not a good idea, especially if she becomes interested in getting other kinds of bones (yikes!)... ;). We also found out that Ben had developed an allergy to our dog and so now we are trying to find her another home :(. Matt and I are really heart broken as Jesse is a fantastic dog and we have had her for 51/2 yrs but Ben has been really sick and having problems breathing. So, the search for Jess's new family is on, I will keep you posted on how it plays out

The Potty Diaries - pt 2

Yeah, finally some success with regards to potty training. Isabella has been using the potty like a pro, but the automatic flush feature on the bathrooms in most restaurants and at the mall still scares her!

Apparently (like her parents) Isabella needs to do things on her own time table, and that includes going to the bathroom when she wants to, not when she is being nagged to do so. As a matter of fact, our secret weapon was not candy or cake or even m&m's, but new Dora underwear and Dora sheets. She is determined to be a big girl like Dora. :)


We have had accidents, but overall our average is improving! She is so much better at it, and I think she's going to be ready for school in less than a month's time... so the end -- or should I say beginning -- is in sight.

Under the weather :(

Our family has made the acqaintance of the Adenovirus, which if you have never had it, is a nasty, very adaptable little bugger. Between the four of us, we have every permutation of the virus known to man: Ben has the conjunctivitius and rash, Bella the congestion and cough, Matt the achy head and sore throat and me, well, I have bronchitis!

In a way, it's good that it's happening now, because, you know, we don't have anything else going on right now. HA!

So, not surprisingly, we are not a lively bunch, and the kids are being quite good considering that we know they feel awful. We are keeping away from people with kids because we would feel very bad if they got it as well, and in general because of all of the work on our house we are keeping out of trouble :). I promise to write more later once I make yet another run to the pharmacy for more good drugs; for now, things in our household has settled down. Bella is happy with ice cream and Finding Nemo, and Matt and Ben are taking a nap.

When I get a chance, I'll write more.

~~~~~ Heat Wave ~~~~~~

It is unbelievably hot here today, and I remember hearing some people say, 'This is Africa hot!"

News flash people - I have lived, worked and played in Africa, and it gets hot there, but not steamy and uncomfortable like this. It's so hot here in Richmond today that the temp reading in my car reads 105 -- in the shade! I long for winter, not autumn, winter with lots and lots of snow and if you get cold, you can pile on more blankets, another sweater or have some gluwein (that's German mulled wine for those who don't know what that is. It's very good and goes down smoothly and before you realise it, you don't feel cold anymore, just toasty (LOL)).

On a more serious note, I was reading Yahoo! news a couple of weeks ago, and I saw an article about people who forget their children in the car. It was an awful article and my heart was breaking for those parents who have gone through it. It brought about the question of what one should do should you happen to see someone do that; I have often waited to run errands with Matt or the babysitter, so that they can wait with the kids in the car, because sometimes you can accomplish things much faster that way. I prefer to not have to drag them around when it's so hot or cold that it makes the trip unpleasant for everyone.

So, what do you do if you see this happening? Do you call the police? Do you say something to the parents? What about parents who leave their kids alone at night (when the kids are asleep) and go over to the neighbors for a drink? Is that legal? Should we say something? I would be interested in hearing what people have to say about this and if there is a law about this somewhere out there?

Breastfeeding advice

Uh oh, I'm about to jump on my soap box again. RANT ALERT! RANT ALERT! :)

Picture this: Bella, Ben and I are all in the midst of a nasty virus that makes your throat feel like it is on fire and has you thinking if you swallowed anything, your head would explode from the pain! So, I elected to sleep on the couch last night downstairs while everyone else slept upstairs; post nasal drip can be a bear sometimes.

So, I was awake, and I was watching the local news, because in case you don't live (or should I say roast) on the East Coast, you might have heard we are having this little heat wave. Needless to say, as I was watching the weather, an advertisement came on where there was a kid standing there with his back pack on and the little caption says, "No earaches, no drippy nose, guess who's going to school today?" Then his TV mom walks up and hands him his lunch bag. So, you're wondering why I object to this? Well, the next caption says, "Breastfeeding helps with your child's immunity and enables them to fight infections better," and then there are a couple more commercials with beautiful children, with the clear implication that it's all due to breastfeeding!


(THAT'S RIGHT, SPORTS FANS, HERE COMES THE RANT...)


As a mother who had the flu when I delivered my first baby and pneumonia the second, I OBJECT to those statements about the supposed superiority of breastfeeding over formula. Due to circumstances beyond my control, my babies did not breastfeed beyond the first couple of days, and as far as I can tell, my kids don't have half a head. Additionally, every child I know, whether they were breastfed or not, gets ear infections. As a matter of fact, one kid I know who was breastfed for 9 months has chronic ear infections and gets the same, if not more, colds than my daughter, who's a smart, strong, beautiful formula fed baby.

So take that, breast feeding Nazis! Yes, it's not a term I use lightly, but that's how strongly I feel about it!

A mother with a newborn baby should make decisions that work for her and her child/children, and we should not be treated like bad parents because we did not breastfeed. If you can breastfeed your children, good for everyone involved; but if you can't or choose not to, you should not be ostracized by others for making that decision. When I was in the hospital after having Isabella, I had a breast feeding counselor tell me that if I did not breastfeed Isabella, then I would not bond with my daughter -- what utter nonsense!

Along that same line of thought, one can say that parents of adopted children can never bond with their children. I happen to know that that is bullshit (pardon my language), as my husband and his brother are adopted, and their parents are wonderful and love them as much as any other parents would.

So, I say to anyone out there watching these commercials - like most things in life, you need to take it with a pinch of salt and slug the shot of... oops, old habits showing up there - you should listen to what people say and then make the decision that best suits you and your family.

Bella, Ben & Basic Anatomy 101

Isabella and Ben were getting ready to take a bath, and Ben lay on the bath mat naked, enjoying being without a diaper. I have a feeling he will be taking after his sister, who is always willing to shed her clothes and take a bath. I hear her talking to him, and she said, "Don't worry, it will be OK!" Hmmm... I wondered what she was talking about, and I walked into the bathroom where Isabella was patting Ben's arm. She looked up and said "Mom, we have to take him to the doctor!" Since I did not see anything wrong with him and he is not one to suffer in silence, I asked her what was wrong with him? "He's sad!" she said. Okay, I thought, and asked her, "Why is he sad, Isabella?" Without missing a beat, she said,"'cause he has a broken bagina and he wants it to work!" she said, gesturing to his little penis. When I could not contain my laughter and burst out laughing, she looked and me and scowled. I laughingly explained to her that boys don't have vaginas, they have penises; she looked and him shrugged. Later on she commented that it was a 'nice bum' even if it was broken.

The tale of two teeth, and then another two, and then...

In the midst of all the stuff we have going on, Benjamin finally cut his first two teeth! With the top two looking like they might grace us with their presence at any moment -- PLEASE PLEASE -- the prospect of these teeth joining us in the real world also suggests he might start sleeping through the night once again.

He's got this really cute toothless grin going, where he scrunches up his nose & eyes and pushes out his little lower jaw so you can see these two little rice grains poking up through the gum. Make no mistake, one of Matt's ancestors was a piranha, because those little teeth are sharp! He's been biting everything in sight, including fingers, chins, noses, and his sister's hair -- oh, yeah, she loves that. Whenever he tries that, she pulls away and says, "You're not nice, you're a bad BOOOY, you need a time out!" To which he replies with the aforementioned goofy toothless grin. She protests at that, but this is the same girl who will lean in and offer him her hair to pull on if he's upset about something and she doesn't know what to do to help him out. They're really beginning to become devoted to each other, and it's really sweet to see.

Code Orange Day

Code orange?!? As in a Motrin day, lots and lots of Motrin.

Why you ask? Great question...

We had a water pipe burst open at 1:30 am on Tuesday morning. Yeah, for those of you who have had that happen, it was the whole schlemiel. :(

Matt & I woke to Isabella yelling, "It's raining in here!!!!" Matt and I sprang into action when we realised that a water pipe in our new bathroom burst and it was raining over most of our house. Within the first five minutes, we got the kids into the living room where it was dry, shut off the water, and started to use every towel or container that can hold any water whatsoever to try and contain the damage.

From about 2-4am, we started to clear up stuff so we could at least get the kids back to sleep while we work, and I then called the insurance company (the reason I have time to write this is because I am waiting for them to get back to me -- the usual story, right? You pay your premiums on time, but you have to wait for them to get back to you for everything else). In the course of the action-filled night, we managed to get loads and loads of laundry started and get stuff out of the wet bedrooms.

Eventually, the service master guy got here around 10am and told us that we need to clear out the rooms because the ceilings need to come down! Yikes!! We work at a frantic pace, and eventually with the help of our Superbabysitter Katie, we manage to get the most of the furniture out of the bedrooms and into the living room. The second bunch of service master guys arrived in the early afternoon, and then began to demolish the house -- three plaster ceilings partially busted out, with insulation, splinters & all kinds of crap everywhere.

We are trying to find stuff to pack up and move out to a hotel for the duration of this unplanned "renovation," which I was told can be anywhere from 3 days to 6 months. :( This morning, we ventured back to the house to see how the rafters are drying, and to work toward our goal of finishing up our piles of laundry, so we don't have wet clothes sitting around in piles.

Thank heavens Matt's work load is light enough for the moment that we can take the time to do this, not what we had orignally planned on doing mind you. We were in the midst of planning a trip to Disneyworld, the happiest place on earth; I guess we missed the left turn at Albuquerque and ended up in "Renovation Hell-O-Rama," currently occupation 4. I'm sorry if this is sounding like a "Boo hoo is us," thing; "Grrrr" is more like it, because, as frustrating as it is, Matt & I refuse to let this complete pain-in-the-ass be anything more than an inconvenience. We're OK, the kids are OK, and the house will be OK once we get it back into fighting shape. Who knows, maybe we'll do a few minor upgrades we've been discussing while we've got the place under construction

More to follow, tune in next time when you'll hear Ushan say, "F*** this, let's head out to the Outer Banks!"