Snacking in the rain

I am doubting that Ethan's choice in snack would be top on his doctors list of diabetic snacks, but oh well. The kids gotta live life and have a Push-Up every once and a while. While snacking the skies opened up with a serious downpour. Ethan chose to stay outside and play with his buddy Van. Van is our heaven-sent neighbor who very kindly tolerates Ethan. See, Van is 9 (6 years older than Ethan). Luckily, Van hasn't filed for a restraining order due to Ethan's stalking habit. The kid will watch out the window for Van's school bus to drop him off. I even caught him outside looking in their windows at one point. Ethan is obsessed, and I am ever grateful.

No, I don't own blue eyeshadow...

...it's sidewalk chalk.

Pomp and Circumstance

Today was Ethan's Preschool Graduation Party, one of many graduations to come. Next year he will be in the same preschool...therefore, I will probably be posting about this same event a year from now. Please bear with me. After next year I can only imagine that Kindergarten graduation will follow. Then comes grade school graduation. Middle school graduation. High school graduation. Seminary graduation. College graduation(not BYU)..... and who knows after that. I don't remember having any of these besides the last three. Why oh why do we have them now? I think Pink Floyd was onto something.

A Bug's Life

Ethan is a shopper. Every morning the kid asks me "mom, what's on your list today" or "mom, where do we need to go today". So today, among the doctor appointments I made my way to Target to look for a few things we need to bring camping this weekend. P.s. I just looked at the weather report and it calls for rain all three days. Let's hope that changes. Anyway, so we get to Target and Ethan heads straight for the dollar bins right by the carts. He knows at this point if he's getting anything it's coming from there because the other toy section is pretty much off limits unless Grandma Diane is in town. So he finds a bug catcher for a whole $1. I say great, you can bring it camping this weekend. He loved the idea. So we get home and he has to open it right away, just to test it out. Unfortunately, he hasn't quite grasped the concept of catching the bugs without killing them first. As you can see, it's more of a coffin than a home. I think two out of the group survived. RIP little bugs, RIP.

Enough already

I think I should start a new blog that is solely for the purpose of discussing my kids colds. I could write a novel alone based on Ethan's diabetic life, but for someone with an immune suppressed disease he sure seems to be healthy. Cohen on the other hand is my doctors new best friend. He has been sick since April and I am at my wits end. First it was a double ear infection. Great. So he takes the amoxicillin with no problems and the infections go way. We head to California for two weeks where the symptoms come back and he's seen again, but the doc says he's for the most part ok. We make it back to Milwaukee where again, the symptoms return. We go to the doc and he says he's fine. UGH! We go to the doc 4 days later and bam, another ear infection. So once again, amoxicillin. Well last night the kid wakes up at 3am with a 103.5 temp and hives. Great. He's only 7 months and he's already allergic to the most commonly prescribed antibiotic. What's next....diabetes? Knock on wood a million times over.

Memorial Day

Spring is probably the best time to be in Wisconsin other than the Fall, but unfortunately neither seem to hang around very long. Spring turns to a hellish humid summer in no time and fall follows suit by becoming that dreaded winter all too quickly. Of all the things I will miss about Milwaukee, the seasons have to be top of the list. It is so green here in the spring, unlike California which seemed so brown the last time I was there. So today was one of those nice spring days. Although we had bbq's to go to we decided to stay home and do a few things around the house and let Cohen rest. It was a good day!

Lost in Translation

Anyone out there know French? We sold something on ebay to this guy in France and he sent me this email...does he not know that I am in the US? AHHH!!!

Je peux payer immediatement par Paypal but je souhaite n'être livrées qu'après le 20 juin car je pars to morrow à la montagne loin de chez moi ! Merci de m'informer de la marche à suivre !
Sincerly
Martin

Photo Booth Pics

Ethan loves playing with Photo Booth. Here are just a few examples of the nonsense.

Serious withdrawls

Is it just me or is everyone out there missing their Primetime shows? What good is a DVR if you have nothing to record? I think this Tuedays House episode is the last show that I have to look forward to. Then there is 3 long months of nothing. I guess the next step would be to um, what do they call it...um, read! I'll let you know how that goes.

For more information...

...please contact Labiszak, Inc. (Scroll down to Thursday, May 24th)

re: This is for you Karen...

I am rethinking the title of that post. It really should have addressed it to myself, considering I am the one with the potty mouth and the swearing toddler.

This is for you Karen...

Clean up your child's potty mouth.

"Keeping bad language out of your child's vocabulary is as easy as watching what you say." (imagine that!)

"...The best way to teach kids not to use bad language is to set an example by curbing your own vocabulary. But when you accidentally curse in front of a small child, there are steps you can take to lessen the blow.

Backtrack — As soon as the offending word is out of your mouth, replace it with another that's likely to catch those little ears. "Peanut butter!" "Scooby-dooby-doo!" "Sugar-booger!" Anything that's going to sound more fun and interesting. Now is not the time for muttering. Say your replacement word with just as much feeling.

It's rhyme time — Damn it, bam it, slam it, glam it. By taking the offending word out of context and burying it in rhymes, you can take the emphasis off the meaning. This may seem like a means of deliberately confusing your child, but it's harmless and may even be good for him."

Yum!

Crystal Light popsicles, Ethan's new favorite. Notice his shirt...squirrels gone wild! He makes me put a plate under his popsicle because he hates it when it gets all over his hand, but notice how it just melts onto the plate and then drips all over his shirt when he goes to eat it. I need a better system.

No more shots

Ethan's getting an insulin pump! Say goodbye to the needles. He has been okayed by his doctors to start pump therapy at the end of July. Right now we are in the process of picking the one we want, but we are so excited. This is what the pump will look like on his body. It's the size of a pager and connected to it is a thin plastic tube that is inserted into his tummy that dispenses the insulin. Hopefully it will come through with it's guarantee to better control his blood sugar highs and lows. Just recently Ethan has started objecting to getting shots so it couldn't come at a better time. More to come...

Hellish night!

Cohen has only two of twenty baby teeth at this point and after last night I am ready to have Eric bring home some novocaine and numb his entire mouth before bedtime. I was out of my bed at least a dozen times last night. Not only is he teething, but he has a chronic runny nose and cough that wakes him up and prevents him from sucking on his binky which helps him fall asleep. Only 18 more to go!

Happy Birthday to Anne!

Happy 26th Birthday! Let's see...when I turned 26 I was pregnant with Ethan, living in Whitefish Bay, and still working. That seems like forever ago. You're still so young it seems...why did I choose to grow-up and be a parent so fast? I hope you did something fun for your birthday. The boys send their hugs and kisses. Love you, Jos

""""ETHAN""""

- See mom, I did a big dinosaur poop. 5 min later: mom, that poop was amazing.
- Me: watching 24 on tv. Ethan: Mom...look, it's Jack!
- Mom, why did you say damn-it?
- Scene: Ethan and I walking in the front door of a lady's house that I visit teach. Ethan: Mom, this house is a mess!
- Mom, you are wack.
- Scene: Ethan picking up a tampon(in wrapper). Ethan: well, well, what do we have here...?

What the?

I do all of my blog posts/uploads from a Mac and I just looked at my blog on a PC/Internet Explorer and it looks jacked up. What's that about?...anyone know?

Baby Armstrong, cont...

TOO CUTE!

Pics from CA

Ed aka Big guy papa w/ the boys, Ethan chugging a diet coke, Tubtime!, Cohen being extra smiley, and Eve aka Beach Grandma w/ Cohen. Somehow it always turns out that either me or Diane are behind the camera...I need to work on that.

Clean Sweep

Diane is a great seamstress, but she didn't have a specific, organized place to sew until this past week when we did a Clean Sweep on what used to be her sewing room/office/library. Here are some pics from the project.

BEFORE:












AFTER:

Mother's day do-over

I am demanding a do-over. Yesterday was spent flying home from CA with the boys all by myself, something that should never take place on Mother's day. Mother's day is supposed to be spent lounging around (after church of course) while Eric does all the "motherly" work. That did not happen. We were gone for almost two weeks while Eric stayed in WI for school. And for some reason I had it in my head that because of the long separation and the holiday that maybe, just maybe he would surprise me with something upon our return. What was I thinking? Aren't flowers like the easiest, most thoughtless, obvious, standard gift? And yet Eric still can't produce. For some reason he has no trouble remembering how many times he's had sex in the past week (and for every week that came before), but can't remember a simple holiday. Is this all guys? Until something is done about this his tally is going NOWHERE!!

JAZZHOLES

Because my friend Paige has a post pretty much everyday about the Utah Jazz and how much she loves them, I figured I would take this opportunity to bag on them. There has to be some equality in this matter and I feel they are getting way too much praise from Paige. I think my attitude toward the Jazz stemmed from the obnoxious infatuation that many Chi Omegas (they will remain nameless- hint:rhymes with Muckworth) had with Bryon (yep, it's spell B R Y O N) Russell. It was beyond annoying. Then came the Karl Malone Honda dealership, the Karl Malone Chevy dealership, the Stockton Jeep dealership, the Stockton-Malone Ford dealership, and the Malone-Stockton Pontiac dealership. The Jazz players were treated as Gods in a town of members instructed to "worship no other God". And for what? It's not like they had any Championships to speak of. They came close though, but I guess even the faith and prayers of their loyal fans couldn't get them that ring. Shucks. Now fast forward to today...those bandwagon fans are coming back. Case in point, my parents. Now my parents haven't lived in Utah since college but yet they cheer for the Jazz. I don't get it. My dad has two perfectly fine Southern California teams to cheer for and yet he cheers for the Jazz. He could even cheer for the two Northern California teams, but no. I think he does it to bug Eric since he is such a die hard Laker fan, and I guess that is his prerogative...but Eric will always remind him that in the end, BOTH Bryon Russell and Karl Malone left the Jazz for the LA Lakers.

Strength test

Cohen has been taking strength classes at our local YMCA in Milwaukee. He scored top in his class last week based on his ability to hold the plank position the longest of any of his 6 month old classmates. We were a little disappointed that he could only do three push-ups. His friend Matthew was able to do four, but he's almost seven months so we got over it. Cohen's been practicing though and is confident he can pick up the slack. We'll see who takes the prize next week.

Yo, Tyra...

I've got your next Top Model.

FootPRINTS

If I NEVER hear that poem again it will be too soon. I am not exaggerating when I say that I have heard it every Sunday for the past 4 weeks. Enough already.

Baby Armstrong

Emily and Jonas Armstrong had their baby today! I'm not sure what time but I think it was pretty early. Addison Malea Armstrong was born 7 lbs 12 oz and 19.5". Em will be going home on Sunday. I will post pictures when she gets around to sending me some...GOOD LUCK EM & JONAS - CONGRATS AGAIN!