Slave to the Mommy Trade

This is What You Get When...

2009-07-14T12:15:00.002-05:00

You take the kids putt putt golfing with a couple of friends,
and at the end of the game Jeremy and Kyra pick out the prizes.

At least she makes a pretty darn cute pirate.

Sweet Cheeks

2009-07-10T20:12:00.005-05:00

If you ever want to know how Lydia got those fat, chipmunk cheeks,
Its not like we feed her anything out of the ordinary.

She consumes all the same kind of foods any other 6 month old would munch on.

But her cheeks?

They still look like we stuffed them with marshmallows or the fluffiest white cake you've ever laid eyes on.

Don't you just want to devour her? I sure do.

Looking at those cheeks makes some people have the overwhelming urge to pinch them. For me, it makes me want to go back for seconds at the dessert table.

Maybe that's why I haven't lost the baby weight, yet?

As Luck Would Have It

2009-07-09T12:01:00.002-05:00

Both girls are not under my feet at this very minute.

Lydia is peacefully asleep in her crib while Kyra is peacefully listening to her nursery rhyme book/cd in her own room.

This leaves me with an unknown amount of time by myself and, well, I'm just not sure what to do with myself.

It's not that often anymore that Kyra actually goes down for a nap. Something that seems to have changed almost overnight. While I'm glad to give up the fighting over when and where she will go to sleep, some days, though fewer and fewer, we still end up fighting by the evening over Kyra's attitude or frank unpleasantness. I've started to implement "quiet time". A thing of which I've held off as long as possible. But here we are. And it's working for us much better then the last 18,000 times we tried it before. And for that, I will not complain.

As luck would have it, I had a free moment to sit and blog.

As luck would have it, I had a free moment to gather my thoughts.

As luck would have it, I have managed to keep my sanity despite one child leaving a nap behind and another child leaving colic behind.

As luck would have it... I'm a happy Mommy. And I still wouldn't mind adding one more babe to the chaos.

Wounder what Jer's take on THAT would be!

Life...

2009-07-08T21:01:00.006-05:00

It gets in the way of blogging some times.

Sunshine and reasonable temperatures drag us outside. Though the scattered showers pop on through every day.

Husband had his first day back to work in what seemed like ages on the 4th. There is nothing more distracting in life then having Jeremy home. He's like this planet for which our entire family orbits around when he's here. We follow him from room to room, each seeking our own attention. Guess that's what happens when he's not always home. Though, this "vacation" was brought on by sickness. A sickness where he was actually sick, but, yet, I couldn't stop poking fun and mocking his patheticness all over the house. Some days it's the only way to get my jollies.

School. A few posts ago, I mentioned picking up some school books for Kyra at Target. Well, the next day, we started home schooling. Kyra was and still is beyond thrilled to start school every day. We started out working for only 15 to 20 minutes at a time. But as the days wear on, Kyra shouts MORE! MORE! because she wants to do another page of this or start on that book. I never knew school could be so fun. I hated my school days, but maybe, Kyra will have a much brighter outlook on school then I did.

Lydia. She's now crawling. Like, on all fours all the time. Each day getting faster and faster. And not only is she crawling, she can now sit for a time on her own. She's trying desperately to put herself in that position but isn't quite there yes. She's also eating solid foods, now. We had to start giving her actual pieces of sliced peaches, whole strawberries and bites of banana to get her to this point. We went with the whole, if it's in her hand she'll stick it in her mouth, technique. Before then she refused to eat anything that didn't come through a bottle. It's worked wonderfully!

And, lastly, Lydie Kate turned 6 months last week and I think I nearly lost it. How can it be 6 months already? I remember when Kyra turned 6 months it seemed like an eternity had passed by. For Lydia? I can still recount the vivid details of her day to day existence, like it all just happened last week.

Life. It's busy even when it's slow.

Can't Talk...

2009-06-25T20:53:00.005-05:00

It stopped raining Sunday and the sun started to shine on Monday. Do you get that? It has been BRIGHT and BEAUTIFUL for a record 4 days! That's the better part of a WEEK! And we have been outside EVERY SINGLE DAY. And there has been LITTLE TO NO TELEVISION viewed. And I'm only on the computer long enough to HARVEST MY CROPS. And thus have totally blew the whole I'LL SHOW YOU MY REAL LIFE CROPS because I'm too busy weeding them versus talking about them.

Not to mention Jer has come down with the FLU and is currently on his DEATH BED. Though, he seems to somehow still be alive. He was actually AWAKE and INTERACTING with us for the better part of today. Progress, no?

AND! Just to let you all know, the whole cry it out thing with Lydia has taken an unexpected turn. While she "sleeps through the night" now, with no problems, she also now sees the hours of 5 and 6 in the morning to be her waking hours. Most of the time I can give her a bottle and change her butt simultaneously while she's still lying in her crib. And when she's finished eating I snatch the bottle and dirty diaper and run like mad out of her room hoping she doesn't notice. She plays for for a bit and usually, but not always, goes back to sleep after some time. Though that leaves me wide awake in the process.

Kyra's new thing to learn is how to stay her little ass in bed when she gets up in the morning and to quit waking up the entire house. We'll see how that goes.

Until then, here's a picture of one of the green pepper plants:

I even went out IN THE RAIN to get this picture last Friday. Just for YOU. I had the best of intentions, things just went south with Kyra for a few days before the sun made every thing better. And now it's going to start raining again for another week. That guarantees I'll be back to my old, yakking about nothing important, self.

Don't get too excited, now.

5 Questions, 5 Answers

2009-06-19T11:27:00.005-05:00

Today we're playing 5 Questions with Erica of The Four Apostles.

1). You find out you've just won an award for "Most Dramatic Actress" (yay you!). What was the movie and what was your role?

It would certainly be for my portrayal of MOMMY IS PSYCHO WHEN SHE DOESN'T GET HER 8 HOURS OF SLEEP. That's right, 8. Jer? The navy has done a WONDERFUL job at teaching him that he can survive and help pull a family back together on a mere 3 hours of rest. Me? I need 8 or else the drama will be fierce. And not to mention I'd be completely useless.

2). How do you really envision a battle between Superman and Batman going down?

Um, wow, that's a hard one. I'm envisioning this to be a battle of Who's the Better Dresser? Being that Superman wears his underwear on the outside of his tights, um, I'd have to go with Batman wins. I mean, he has the big muscle-y protective contraption strapped around his chest and a butler. There's nothing more fashionable then fake muscles and your very own butler.

3). If I was to say, "Alicia at age 15", what would you say to that?

Wouldn't do it again in a million years. Even if you paid me a ba-jillion dollars. I choose to forget as much as possible between the ages of 13-19. Those years, well, they sucked. And not JUST because I was a dramatic teenager. They sucked that bad.

4). It's the Big Dance and your hairspray isn't your regular hairspray at all, but instead your bitchy, self absorbed neighbour girl has swapped it out with sparkly mousse! What EVER do you do?!

I'd wear that sparkly mousse with such style and class I'd make ALL the bitches wanna be me! Or I'd beat the crap out of that delicate flower of a neighbor girl and take my hair spray back. Depends on what mood I'm in at the time, I guess.

5). What is your favourite jungle animal?

Hippos. Think about it. They get to lounge in the water ALL. DAY. Ah. Makes me jealous. How'd they get so damn lucky in the lounging around department?

*****

Tomorrow we'll take a look at my real life garden, per Chick With Sticks request. She is, apparenly, shocked that I'd cheat on FarmTown with my own, non virtual, garden.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

2009-06-18T17:40:00.006-05:00

It's been raining here for the better part of six weeks. I was completely unaware that in moving to the Artic Tundra, we might as well be moving to Seattle, Washington.

Thanks to all the rain, Kyra has become atrocious. Most days leave Jer and myself shaking our heads with the thought of "where did our perfect child go?" And then we remember, oh ya, it's raining and she, too, has cabin fever. So we breathe deeply, count to ten over and over again and try to understand that what she needs is something to do, something to keep her mind occupied. We try to focus REALLY hard on not chucking her skinny ass out of her 15 foot high window into the cold rain outside.

And Lydia. Whoo, boy! This teething thing is something fierce with her. Kyra was never like this. She'd pop a tooth in over night that you'd never know was there. But Lydia? I think she might have a pack of wild hyenas gnawing at her chubby thighs for all the screaming and crying she does. I've taken to frequently wearing her around the house in my Beco carrier again. (Have I told you guys lately how much I LOVE that thing? Because I do. I love it a lot.) Some days it's the only way to save my sanity while trying not to off both of my beautiful children.

We're muddling through this, though. With Kyra we've managed to find a TON of school related things, from flash cards to work books and maps, in Target's dollar bin. She is thrilled to have them. The whole way home she was rummaging through a box of insect flash cards, quizzing Jer and myself on each bug in the pictures. These new things should last her, oh, about a week of playing by herself.

You all were right about the teething tablets for Lydie Kate. We've been alternately shoving those into her fat cheeks and dosing her up with Tylenol, too. One or the other works okay for a while, but alternating them both seems to be our best bet. When one wears off, oh!, she won't hesitate to let you know.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, I don't have a lot to say. Unless you want to hear me bitch about my WONDERFUL children being absolutely HORRID thanks to an ass load of rain and a couple of teeth.

Funny, those curve balls life throws your way.

Can you all think of something you'd rather hear me talk about? At this moment, I've got nothing.

We're In For It

2009-06-15T17:58:00.004-05:00

I found Lydia testing out her new trick in her crib today. And I think we just might need to start baby proofing the house.

We're on to you Half Pint.

Not even your toxic drool that has seemed INCREASE overnight is going to stop us from baby proofing all the fun stuff you want to play.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go harvest my crops on FarmTown.

What? Did you think I was going to say something like install baby gates or outlet covers?

She's Not Topless, Per Se, She's Getting Dressed

2009-06-14T19:52:00.002-05:00

For those of you who always comment on how L-O-N-G Kyra's hair is, this one's for you.

It's Official- Teeth

2009-06-13T14:37:00.003-05:00

I'm calling it for official this time.

Symptoms:
Cranky as all get-out.
Loose stool.
Occasional rash on either girl parts or bottom.
Chomps on anything and everything that comes into her mouth.
Random feeling of warmness but not quite fever worthy.

Symptoms we're lacking:
Extra drool.
Red swollen gums.
Chapped chubby-cheeks.

What we're doing for her:
Letting her live. (with all the excess screaming, this mark is worth noting)
Giving her Tylenol in this handy device. (without it, she spits out anything that does not come through a bottle nipple, food included)
Letting her live.
Giving her anything short of sandpaper to shove in her pie hole.
Letting her live.

Any suggestions you may have? Speak now or forever hold your peace.

The Many Faces of Lydie Kate

2009-06-12T13:24:00.003-05:00

The Seriously? Are you going to take another damned picture of me? Know you that flash is going to make me go blind one of these days...
The Ohh! Look! Shiny object at 3 o'clock!

The Fine, fine. If I smile will you be done, now?

My favorite, the I thought you said there would only be one more picture? That's IT. NO MORE. I'M DONE!

And, lastly, the Fall asleep mid cry.

At least we have more smiles then we did in February. Right? Progress is good...

It's Official

2009-06-11T09:56:00.002-05:00

I'm on Facebook and I'm lost. Technology just isn't my thing. I feel as if I'm posing as a sheep to find out what is so damned exciting that everyone is walking off the same cliff, together.

Apparently you guys were quite convincing, though. I've managed to find the only two people who commented they weren't all that into Facbook, um, updating their thoughts and actions on FACEBOOK.

What's the world coming to?

Go From Strawberries to Jam and Shortcake For Dessert

2009-06-10T11:37:00.009-05:00

First, you must go out and pick the goods strait from the fields. Because, lets face it, if the strawberries are bought in the store and were shipped in from the opposite side of the country, or, ANOTHER country all together, they probably weren't at their peak of ripeness and just wont do. Find a few minions

and promise them they'll get ice cream when the jobs finished.

This way, it won't be any trouble getting them to do your dirty work. Now, on to the kitchen.

Next, tell the female minion to go find her RED apron so the strawberry stains will just blend in to the fabric color. You'll need this person to do the physical, dirty work to make the jam.

She'll be required to do things such as mash the strawberries,

And whisk in all the other ingredients over an open flame. This not only keeps YOU from having to stand over a hot pot, but teaches the female minion how to cook safely if she doesn't want to catch on fire.

Once YOU fill all the jars because, lets face it, the female minion will try to stick her finger in ever one of them to "taste test" the jam if she is allowed to fill the jars and we already fed the minion ice cream, she doesn't need any more food right now unless we'd like her to eat us out of house and home.

Once the jars are properly canned and sealed, you've now made yourself 16 jars of strawberry jam.

But don't put those jars away, yet!

Make certain the female minion does a through check of the seal and durability of the jar. Better if the jar isn't sealed properly that it leaks out on her and not you. And now, your strawberry jam making day is complete!

Next on the agenda with the left over strawberries? SHORTCAKE!

Make yourself a great big bowl of strawberry shortcake. Mmmmm....

And then watch how your underpaid, overworked, female minion steals your bowl and eats it right in front of you.

Watch how she taunts you by licking the whip cream you so carefully spooned on top of the berries.

Watch how when she's done with that spoon full

She'll go back for more. MUCH MORE.

And she'll clear that great big old heap into her pie hole with no complications.

Easy peasy.

And watch how your female minion finishes off the entire bowl in front of you and doesn't even offer you a single bite to share. Isn't she just a doll.

***Oh, and what's up with you guys? I ask you about Facebook and you're all WOO-HOO! FACEBOOK ROCKS! I ask you about making homemade jam and you're all *crickets*. Now I see what you guys do all day, and it doesn't involve kitchen utensils in the slightest.***

Crazy Few Days

2009-06-09T10:41:00.005-05:00

It's been a crazy few days, between the Cry It Out nights, the do I or don't I Facebook, and then to top it all off, the ever bitter but still loved Nanny has been teetering between life and death since Friday and, yesterday, finally succumb to death.

To start things off, the whole Cry It Out has been going quite well! Day 2 she cried for a half hour solid and then the next half bitched for a few seconds before loudly sucking her thumb before she fell back asleep. Day 3 she cried for 15 minutes before the bitching and sucking that lasted another 15 minutes. Day 4 she slept through the night. Yea! And day 5, last night, another 15 minutes of crying 10 minutes of bitching/sucking. So, it's going well! I'm pleased and am hoping that by this time next week we'll have fully accomplished sleeping through the night EVERY night.

Next, boy oh boy are there some serious Facebook users out there! I never knew it had such a cult like following. And the farming game? I've read about it numerous times over at Chic with Sticks, but good golly, are you guys a dedicated following. I'm still a little up in the air about jumping in that barrel of fun, mostly because of the days I've had as of late, but man, you guys are convincing.

And finally, Nanny. I wrote about her once here. (click on the word "here," I know it's not highlighted, but I can't figure out how to do so) Anyway, she suffered from COPD and has finally left us for a better life in Heaven. I've been back and forth about whether or not I should go down there to say my goodbye's and I totally set myself up for being stuck here without realizing it.

Friday night, before I knew what was going on, I transferred nearly all of our money out of the checking account and into various other accounts, a transaction that I knew wouldn't go through and be available until Tuesday morning. I do such things so we don't spend excess money over the days Jer is off. So, basically while we have money, we were essentially broke until today.

Then there is the question of flying or driving. Flying would take 5 hours of my day and cost an ass load of money because it's so short notice. Driving would take 2 days and cost me my sanity. And either option, I'd be doing it alone with both the girls in tow.

I learned my lesson driving to the Land of the Country Bumpkin with Jeremy's help. I would rather fly.

BUT! I have this Gogo Kidz Travelmate that I use with Kyra when flying. (by the way, HIGHLY recommend anyone coughing up the money for one of these things. TOTALLY worth it's weight in gold.) The thing is, I only have one. If I fly I will need a rental car, thus I will also need car seats and while rental companies have them available, I don't trust a car seat that I did not buy and assemble in my own home. So. I would need another one of the Gogo attachments. They're sold in Babies R Us stores but when we called to make sure they have them in OUR store, um, they don't.

So. Can't fly. Won't drive. Will have to say our good bye's from our bedside as we pray. Hopefully she'll hear us.

Now. To end this, we have 9 pounds of strawberries sitting on my table. We had plans of making jam out of them with my mother's recipe, but my mother is dealing with funeral arrangements at the moment.... so... um.... so any of you have a good recipe to share? What about your mother or grandmother? Come, on! Doesn't anyone in your family make homemade jams?

Where's That Bandwagon?

2009-06-06T18:01:00.002-05:00

Okay. So I jumped on the bandwagon. For like, half a second.

I've been harassed enough about how much "cooler" Facebook is then MySpace. So I joined, just to see how cool it is, and then I quit. Honestly, I'm lost. I don't know one single thing to do to get myself going and I'm really not certain I care all that much anyway. But that still leaves the curiosity of what I might be missing.

Sooo... How many of you are Facebook users and what exactly am I missing?

Cry It Out- Night 1

2009-06-05T19:46:00.002-05:00

There I was, with grandiose plans of how I was going to survive the night of crying to come...

And she sleeps through the night.

Think she reads my blog?

Cry It Out

2009-06-04T21:31:00.009-05:00

It's safe to say, when Kyra decided to sleep through the night at 6 weeks and consistently by 8 weeks, Jer and I knew we were lucky parents. Spoiled was an understatement.

Lydia first slept through the night at 4 weeks and has randomly had spurts of sleeping through the night. The longest being 6 days in a row. But for the last month she's been up at least once and usually twice a night and I'm the only one getting up with her. To put it mildly, I'm exhausted. So exhausted that a few nights ago I had an urge (an urrrge, people, not a fleeting, joking comment to lighten the situation) to shake her and scream WOULD YOU JUST FUCKING SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT ALREADY! and that scared me. Sleep deprivation does some strange shit to a Mama.

Tonight we're going to explore the Cry It Out method. I'm certain it's going to be rough. I have no doubt we'll probably spend more time crying then sleeping (because Lydia is a stubborn little termite like that), but I'm hoping we'll make some kind of progress and tomorrow night might be just a smidgen better.

I'm an optimist, so I think even my bull headed daughter will figure out pretty quickly that if she's in the bed for good, she might as well shut her pretty little mouth. And I'm exhausted, which makes me desperate to try anything.

So I'm going with it. Wish me luck. I'm gonna need it, that I hold no doubt.

Feel'n the Love

2009-06-03T15:06:00.003-05:00

This is what you get when, yesterday afternoon, BOTH girls decided to boycott their naps.

This is also what you get when, this afternoon, BOTH girls decide to take very long naps. At the same time, no less!

Besides, my brain is still a little squishy from the mental drain that was television last night.

Dumber By the Minute

2009-06-02T19:11:00.002-05:00

I am currently watching I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!

I think my IQ might be dropping by the minute. Why can't there be anything better to watch on television tonight?

Though, now that I've channel surfed, CW's Ditched or Hitched isn't any better.

One Picture Says It All

2009-06-01T19:44:00.004-05:00

Last night, after the girls were tucked in bed, snug as a bug in a rug style, I wandered through our living room and had to capture this scene on film. This is my life. This is OUR life.

Every day there are dirty shoes mixed in with Lydia's chew toys and one of Kyra's thousands of books within arms reach. I love my life, my family and our mess.

Is She Teething?

2009-05-28T13:57:00.004-05:00

I think Lydia is teething. But lets have you tell me what you think.

-she's not red or swollen in her mouth
-she's not drooling anymore then usual
-she's not really biting, either
-she IS a cranky ass baby today
-and clingy. Whoo boy. I think we've regressed to when she was a mere infant again.
-she has a red pee pee, not her bottom, just her pee pee (and, no, I am not mature enough to use the correct terminology)
-she is not pulling at her ears
-she is not snot nosed

Based on that there, I have no other thing to think then then maybe she's teething? But I'm not certain. So I've shoved Tylenol down her throat anyhow and I'm SEVERELY against shoving medicine into my children when there is no proven medical reason.

What do you think is wrong with her? I've been out of this baby loop a few years and frankly, I don't know what to do except let her cry it out, but then it makes it hard for Kyra to hear the television over her sister's screaming.

That's right folks, television! It's ALL TV ALL DAY over here! Between the RAIN still falling from the heavens and the constant screaming from our fallen angel who REFUSES to be put down and if I both put her down AND leave the room, oh, holy hell, I just don't know what else to do with poor Kyra then to reward her with ALL TV ALL DAY!

So, what's wrong with the half pint?

A Day of Semi-Suckiness

2009-05-27T15:23:00.002-05:00

First of all, it really sucks ass when you're walking in the rain with your two children while wearing your glasses because you felt the need to take your contacts out this morning and your feet are sloshing in water even though you're wearing shoes. All the things wrong with that sentence:

1) it's fucking raining. Again. You'd think we lived in Florida or something with the four days of rain here, two days of partly sunny!/BRING ON THE SUNSCREEN! there, kind of weather we've been having for 2 months now.

2) trying to QUICKLY haul 2 children when it's raining is like an oxymoron, or something. The baby suddenly wants to sit up instead of sit still while being strapped into the stroller and the preschooler thinks the words MOVE QUICKLY means RUN CIRCLES AROUND THE STROLLER LIKE A CRAZED MANIAC!

3) it's really hard to make sure there are no stray cars driven by idiots trying to randomly run you and your children over when you can't see through the your rain spotted glasses.

4) what a really sucky time to find out the soles of your shoes are cracked and thus letting water soak your feet from the bottom up. There is no where to remedy this when you're in Barnes and Noble for story time.

And secondly, this better be a different mouse then earlier this month. I think it is because it appears a smidge smaller. I said before that if another one came into the house I would KILL it, but Kyra was watching. Again. And this time she wanted to feed him! She shared her strawberry with it.
I think we ought to tell the landlord that IF we had a CAT we might not have MICE!

Memorial Weekend Festivities

2009-05-26T07:46:00.004-05:00

Since the last time I wrote we have:

Bought Kyra a Slip 'N Slide that she doesn't understand how to use. She starts out on the grass, runs two feet onto the slip 'n slide, plops down and demands to be pushed.

And if you push her too hard and she ends up over the stopping point and face first into the grass, she'll stand up and glare at her mother who is steadily taking pictures instead of yelling at her father who is pushing her so hard.

And when she realizes that no one is going to help her take out her father, she plays in the spray with Mouse and Froggy instead. Lydia, during the whole slip 'n slide episode, happily played in her exersaucer.

And the babies played happily too, until it was time for their bath. Bishop and Cricket were none too amused.

And while the snails were happily climbing the apple tree, once a little girl noticed them, this snail was happily exploring her arm.

Lydia was not all that excited when we told her she could neither have escargot for the first time

or the made from scratch blueberry muffins Kyra and I whipped up together the next morning. Lydia decided if we weren't going to feed her, then she'd just go ahead and eat her hand. Or, really, she's sucking on her fingers in hopes there's a few drops of smeared milk left under her nails.

What Lydia REALLY wasn't too thrilled about was having olive oil smeared over her entire head to combat the beginnings of cradle cap. (we didn't have any baby oil and if fancy spas can use olive oil for a moisturizer, then so can we)

When the olive oil adventure was over with, she buried her head under her toy and cried herself to sleep.

Yesterday was TRULY exciting for Kyra because she had her first riding lesson! Kyra can now steer a horse all by herself.

The saddle she rode with yesterday was too big, but her riding coach says next week she'll dig out her wee little bitty saddle so Kyra can actually use the stirrups.

And Kyra's riding coach was so nice, she even gave us a kitten! Which when we finally got a hold of our landlord, no matter how much we begged, said he hates cats and we can't keep her.
Jeremy took her back to the barn she came from last night where, today, with the rest of her brothers and sisters, she is heading to the pet store to be sold. Jeremy has suggested buying the house we're renting (it was for sale before we moved in but since has been taken off the market) and getting the kitten for free! I think that would be a totally wise trade off, don't you think?

For Those of You Keeping Up With Kyra's Prayers

2009-05-21T19:22:00.003-05:00

Today she rambled on a mostly inaudible prayer. But at the end, she spoke clearly, "and God, please be gentle and don't fire anybody."

And by fire she doesn't mean YOUR FIRED!, she is referring to flames. She doesn't want anybody to catch on fire.

Everyone Has A Right to Change Their Opinion

2009-05-21T18:19:00.004-05:00

Once upon a time, about 9 months ago, I was shopping off a baby registry for a very dear friend (we'll call her Meg, because that's her name). She was having her first child and had EVERY thing ever imaginable on the registry. If it was made and produced with a baby in mind, it was probably on her registry.

As I said, I was shopping and pondering with another friend (we'll call her Candace, once again, because that's her real name) of mine who was also buying for Meg. Together we laughed and giggled at the site of her registry list. So many things that weren't really necessary, but, you know, if ever planning to run a day care these things would come in handy. Meg had mentioned she still didn't have a Bumbo seat and really wanted one and sure enough, Bumbo seat and tray accessory were still on the list.

Candace and I laughed and giggled over the thought of who in the world, having their first child would need a Bumbo seat. The things are pointless and stupid and why place your child in a pint sized chair when you could actually hold and cuddle your sweet new babe.

To this day, I still hold strongly to that thought. If someone is having a first child/only child/ second, third, whatever child MANY years later (we're talking 15+ here), there is absolutely no reason in my opinion why you need one of those stupid contraptions. Just stop what you are doing and HOLD your baby when they need to be held. Even if they only want you to hold them for the purpose of them sitting up all over your lap while playing with their toys. Lets face it, this is probably going to be the ONLY time you'll ever get to hold them that much in their lives and when they learn that mom and dad are truly lame and hate spending time with their lame-o parents, you're gonna miss those days when you could have held your baby but didn't because the seat was so convenient.

Neither Candace nor myself bought her the Bumbo seat.

Lets face it though, we all have the right to change our minds and, well, I've changed my mind, slightly. I've had it in the back of my mind lately that one of those things just might come in handy on days where Kyra wants me to read 30,000 books to her AND Lydia.

Lydia, lets just say, is a wiggly ass worm. Any time you try to set her in your lap she immediately arches her back, exaggerates a grunt and wiggles until she slides out. And then gets PISSED because she is no longer included in the activities at hand.

Yesterday we found a Prince Lionheart thingy (very similar to the Bumbo) at a consignment shop. And Lydia likes it. And I like it. Because now I can read to Kyra with Lydia right next to me and both children can enjoy the same story together.

It's also kinda cute when you set her inside. She instantly thanks you with her arms spread wide, a great big grin and a shiny stream of drool to boot. It's her way of saying she appreciates the things you do for her.
Then she looks down and notices that there is this clean, slobber free object in front of her.

That, as far as she can remember, is NEW and has never been TASTED and SLOBBERED on before.

So she finds it to be her civic duty to not only taste the new object, but to shove it as far into her mouth as humanly possible just so she doesn't miss a corner or make one side of the toy feel more loved then the other.

'Nuff with the cute kid, back to my point...

While I may not see why a parent of an only child needs a Bumbo seat, or their counterparts, I can now see why a parent of multiple children, children who still desire their mother's attention as well as the accompaniment of their sibling AT THE SAME TIME might enjoy the convenience of having one of these seats.

Lydia may not be listening to the story we're reading as she happy chews on her new found toy, and even though Kyra may not realize Lydia could care less about the book at this point, she is happy to have both her mother and sister at her side. In these certain cases, I accept the damn Bumbo seat.

And who knows, maybe Meg was simply preparing for her future children, or daycare, and Candace and I were utterly unaware of this thought process. Farther fetched things are possible, right?