New and Freaky With a Side of Hope

My mouse broke. It actually broke several months ago and I glued the piece back into place, but I really don't want to keep gluing it, now that it's loose again. So I got a new mouse, tonight. It's optical. It's also so much more sensitive than the old one that I can't get my arrow onto anything to click.

The mouse is awesome, but the real reason for going to the store was to test car seats. Again. This was Target, though, and not BabiesRUs. They don't let you test the seats in your car at Target. Even so, I think I might have found a winning combination.

Here's the infant seat we've got our eye on. It's the Baby Trend Flex-Loc and it's only 16" wide.
This is the most promising car seat. It's the Cosco "high-backed booster" and is 17" wide.

The reason the car seat looks so promising is that there is a ~1" overlap where the lip of the infant seat slides over the edge of the car seat's seat, effectively making all of the car seats 16" wide. The back seat of my car is ~48" wide. Follow the math and you'll see the light begin to dawn.

Target also sells this, the Cosco Pronto booster, but it wasn't in our store so I didn't get to test (or measure) it tonight. It's main bonus feature is that it starts at 30lbs and 34" (it fits Elena) but I don't know if the arm rests will flip up to make room for the infant seat.
We're going to see if we can have a discussion with a store manager to test the car seats out. If the manager lets us, and they fit, that's a $200 sale and a very grateful customer. Frances, you know people, right? Can you help?

The Laws of Frustration

We have two car seats. We're about to have three children. There's currently enough room in the car for only two car seats. We can spend $200 to replace both our current car seats with narrower versions and buy a third, or we can spend $15,000 to buy a larger car and a third car seat. We're opting for the first. The second will need to happen eventually but can wait for a year or two.

Here's my dilemma. I don't want to move Elena up to a belt-positioning booster (no harness, just seat belt) yet. She's still ten pounds below where most car seats max out and boosters kick in. All the car seats that include harnesses, though, are at least three inches wider than the plain boosters and I'm not sure that I can fit two of them, plus an infant seat, into my car properly. Every combination of car seat I have tried, so far, will "fit" in the car (the doors will close) only if the LATCH belts are loosened so the outside car seats sit at a slightly off angle. Legally, Elena is tall enough that she is not required to use any car seat at all (don't worry, I wouldn't do that) but if I choose to use a car seat I am required to use it correctly (height, weight, installation).

I want advice. Even from you lurkers and occasionals (this means you, Jess). Do I (a) keep searching for car seats that will sit correctly inside the car? Or do I (b) get a much slimmer booster that I know will fit? I know I should choose A, but I'm running out of time to look, here.

Progression

I feel like I've slacked off, not writing anything for a week. So, what have I been up to?

First off, the physical therapy update. My hip bone has rotated (most of the way) back. It's been hard to abandon some of the habits that got me that way, but for the sake of reduced pain I can deal with it. Now I get to do balancing exercises and some stretches to build up my core. My therapist's explanation was that since my ligaments obviously aren't doing their job to hold things in place, I need to strengthen the muscles to pick up the slack. I'm liking this program much better because it doesn't hurt. Muscle burn is way better than joints screaming in pain.

Jonathan and I have been pulled into helping crew for the Youth's play Savior of the World. He's off painting sets, right now, and I'm on the makeup crew. I'm pretty sure I get to do Zacharias and Elizabeth's aging. It was both fun and frustrating teaching ~150 teenagers the right way to put on makeup for stage. The girls were generally OK, but the boys (of course) were painting each other like clowns. We had to stop at each table and emphasize that if you don't do it right you don't go on stage.

Monday was a final get-together with Cynthia's family before they head off to Chicago, today, to start Stephen's grad schooling. We all went to Jonathan's parents' house to swim, eat and socialize. Elena discovered that if she folds her arms her arm floaties will hold her head up above the water and she had a great time swimming the length of the pool then climbing out, running back to the other end, then climbing back in and doing it again. She did at least four lengths of the pool, this way. She's been telling me all week that she can swim all by herself, now. After the kids hopped out to dry off and watch a movie, I borrowed Sarah's mattress float and just drifted around the pool without a care in the world. I ran out of direct sunlight (the shadows made the water too cold) right about the time dinner was ready, and we had a great time eating and chatting well into late evening.

Elena and I got to go out with my Mom, Thursday night. Jonathan got the night off from painting because it was pouring down rain every half an hour, so he stayed home with Joseph, who was super cranky because he had a molar half-way through. Since we were in San Marcos because of dad's meetings, we dropped by the outlet malls after we'd run a few errands. It was so good to hang out together and just be girls. Elena was really pretty well behaved so everything went smoothly and everyone enjoyed themselves.

We got invited to the Kyle Stake Pioneer Day party, last night. We had a lot of fun! There was lots of smoked meat (wild pig & buffalo!) plus ice cream, snow cones, watermelon and cotton candy (the only treat we didn't try). We got to ride the mule-drawn wagon--Elena went twice--and jump in the bouncy house--all but me, since Joseph insisted someone go in with him and the pregnant thing doesn't work well with bouncing. We had a great time dancing, the best I've had in ages, and the fireworks were awesome.

That's about it. I know that each of these could have easily been separate posts but I like to do them with pictures and I keep forgetting the camera. Ah well.

3/4

Today begins the official countdown. Today makes it 30 weeks, so T-10 weeks and counting, folks. The last two were both born three days before their due date, so my money's on the 21st (sorry, Spencer). You can voice your opinion, on the side, on delivery time frame and the sex of the baby.

*Update/Inside Info:* I've actually seen hints both ways, on the ultrasounds, but I won't say what order or when. Also, I did have pre-term labor at 32 weeks, with Joseph, and was later induced to get the birthdate he has now. Homemade cookies go to the winners of each poll.

Mommy Gets a Pool Doctor, Too

I talked to my OB, last week, about the killer back pain I've had for the last two months and she got me a referral to physical therapy. Today was my evaluation, and there's good news and bad news. First of all, it's not my back or my right hip that's messed up. It's the left hip. The ligaments are loose (yay, pregnancy hormones!) and the left ilium has shifted and rotated backward, putting stress on the rest on my pelvic alignment. The way I sit in my chair when I'm at the computer or the dinner table just makes it worse, too. It may have even caused the shift, but anyway... I now get physical therapy twice a week, one in the office and one in the pool, for the next month. I also have some leg exercises I get to do, plus I need to reorganize my computer desk and find a new sleeping position. If it makes the next ten weeks easier, though, then it's all worth it.

My Life, Right This Moment

Oh look! it's my 200th post!

Jenny and I traded memes, so here is my life, right this moment.

The rules are, take the picture--no fussing, no fixing it up--just a snapshot of your life, today, as is.

1) The kitchen sink:
Typical middle-of-the-day mess with dishes from lunch and snacks.


2) The inside of the fridge:
I think it's funny that we have more salad dressings than anything else when I'm the salad-eater and I only use one.


3) Your shoes:
The two I use the most frequently. I never wear shoes in the house, though.


4) Your closet:
Ok, so a lot of my excuses about cleanliness run out, here.


5) The laundry pile:
These are clean, actually. I washed them about three hours ago and only haven't folded them yet because I (and the kids) needed a shower from the 4-7 sweaty trips up the hill, in the heat and humidity, needed to get them clean.


6) What the kids are doing:
Joseph is out for his nap.


Elena was helping me take pictures for this. Just as I finished taking pictures, she decided she wanted to go outside with her "butterfly net."


7) Your favorite room:
The entry may or may not be a room, but it is my current favorite space. The pictures are fabulous, the keys are findable, you always know what time it is, there's a serious lack of mess, and there's no furniture that makes my back hurt worse than it did before I sat/laid down. The wood you see is what will become Elena's bed.


8) Your toilet:
Is this a check to see if I've scrubbed it recently? I can't think of any other reason someone would want to see this.


9) Fantasy vacation:
Spain, preferably with just my husband, though it'd be fun to take the kids, too.


10) Self-portrait:
Me! Freshly showered but glasses-less, in all my pregnant glory.

Since I have a weird curiosity, I'll tag Regan-at-work--closet can be desk drawers, kids can be the students, laundry can be... something. Tags go to Marin, too.

The Play's The Thing - Adventure #1

We finally got to the first of our adventures for the Summer Adventure Challenge. Last night we went to see Beauty & The Beast at the Zilker Hillside Theater, the 50th annual offering from the Zilker Summer Musical. The play, as always, was free, but they've started charging $3 for parking for big events like this. We parked at the soccer fields across the street because we only had a dollar with us. People show up about 5:30 or 6, so the hillside fills up fast for the 8:30 show. We got there at 8 and joined Stephen, Cynthia and Mackenzie. Our view was partially obscured by the lighting arch, but we were still close enough to gawk at the costume detailing.


The puppetry for the prologue was very inventive--I had wondered how they were going to do that. The flash you see is the old woman tuning into the lovely sourceress.


I loved looking at the costumes (blame the history buff in me), and the most curious thing I noticed is that the play was set a good 50 years before the movie. I haven't seen the Broadway version, so I can't say how this play differs from that one, but our costumes were definitely 50 years before the costumes in the movie. They were still beautiful, and delightfully detailed, though. The wolves were very clever, and my favorite servant was the sugar tongs.


The children were all entranced by the action on stage.


At intermission the cast members come out with donation buckets. It's a fun tradition--everyone loves getting to see a part of the play come out among us, and it gives everyone the chance to contribute what they can to the cause. (For those who are curious, it took $200k to put on this year's production.)


By the end of the play, Joseph had gotten really into it. When Belle left to go help her father, he kept asking "Where'd go, Lella?" I tried to tell him that it wasn't Cinderella, it was Belle, but eventually gave up and told him she went to help her daddy. Then, when the beast and Gaston were fighting, he would gasp and look at me with this funny little fish mouth every time something happened.


It was a late night, the play getting over just after 11. We took naps in the afternoon to get ready, but everyone was still wiped out.


I asked Elena, this morning, how she liked the play, and she said it was good. She liked the songs and the clothes, and thought it was cool that the actors got to play dress-up and pretend to be the people in the story.

I've Started Something

Joseph likes to play with the sewing machine, and I let him, as long as the thread on top is put away and the needle is down where he can't do anything with or to it. I guess he's seen a lot of sewing lately because he totally knows how to lift the presser foot and which way to put the cloth in. He was so proud of himself, right here. With the winning combination of Jonathan's ability to make any prop out of coat hangers and my sewing skills, this kid is set for designing and making his own costume every Halloween from now until he's 100. I'll be so proud when he's making his own kid's ultra-creative costume, someday.


In other funny Joseph news, at the end of Family Home Evening, last night, he leapt up as soon as the prayer was over and ran to the kitchen. Once there, he opened one of my drawers of cooking utensils, took out a beater and brought it to the living room so he could lick it. That's my boy!

Carrier #1

Apparently, I'm turning all the time I spend on the computer, anyway, into lots of extra posts.

I cut the fabric for my carrier a few days ago, but it was getting late (pins and scissors only come out when the children are asleep) so I didn't put it together. Sewing took place last night and it went together really easily. For all that the pattern is very specific about what goes where, how wide seam allowances can be (they're usually 5/8", but this one was 3/8" or 4/8"--it's hard to tell because it was marked on the pattern but never actually written out) and what order to put things together, it was still a very simple pattern and one that I wouldn't mind doing again, for myself or as a gift. As you can see from the pictures, you can wear it on the front or back, and I made the inside a different color so that it's reversible, too. I didn't stand up for my picture so I can't say anything toward comfort, but Jonathan said that other than the 30 lb child on his back it wasn't bad--no pressure points that he could feel.

Name That Movie

There we were, driving home from church, Jonathan and I are chatting, and I hear something about funny pants coming from the back seat. "What's that about funny pants?"

"There were funny walking pants in the movie."

"Which movie?"

"The one with the yellow funny thing that we got from the big, big library."

Utter confusion, so we try something. "What else was in the movie?"

"Ummm... There was triangle cheese." Still nothing. Prompt some more. "There was a dog and a penguin with a glove."

At this point Jonathan's lightbulb turns on. Mine is still having trouble connecting. He turns to me and whispers "Wallace & Gromit." Ah ha! There's a pair of robotic pants and a penguin wearing a glove on its head in The Wrong Trousers. Eventually, we decided that the yellow funny thing was the robot they found on the moon in A Grand Day Out. The dog, Gromit, and triangle cheese are, of course, in all of their films.

Superpowers, by Moosh's Mom

There's a blog that I Stumbled on, several months ago, and now read regularly. It's even on my sidebar if you want to keep up, too. Today was a combination super-sweet reminder to the moms of this world that we're awesome, too, and repository of hope to not-yet moms and moms of infants that it does get better.

"Can We Go To the Temple Today?"

Elena's been asking me all week if we can go to the temple and telling me that she wants to go to the San Antonio temple because "[she] went there when [she] was a little girl." This was not all that bad, in the way of semi-unreasonable preschooler requests, so Thursday evening I called the temple and asked what they had open on Saturday morning. 10:00 was full and 12:00 cutting it too thin to get back home before Jonathan had work, so I went with 8:00. No, I'm not insane (5am is really early for anyone in our house to get up), I just really wanted to go. It's the anniversary of my first time through the temple and I like to go back each year on this day. It's a little more special feeling, I guess. Since the kids wanted to go so much, Jonathan offered to watch them while they explored the grounds to see the flowers and touch the water. It was a beautiful day for wandering outside, too, with bright sunshine and cool breezes. They had so much fun.




It turned out to be a good thing we went so early because we acquired two (yes, two) punctured tires on the way down. Jonathan changed the worse for the spare while the kids and I explored the bookstore across the street. The blessings of the temple being what they are, there was a Firestone nearby and the tires were under warranty. After lunch and just $15 on a warranty for the new tires, we were on our way again with both children asleep in the back seat and just enough time to make a late lunch/early dinner at home before Jonathan headed out to work. A very good day!

Fireworks!

We're so glad that the symphony's fireworks show is back at Auditorium Shores. It's just a way better location on all fronts than Zilker could ever hope to be. (To be fair, Zilker had the Springs and picnicing areas across the street, but that's it.) We rode the bus up, since the 16 goes from our house to the auditorium. As always, the kids thought that the bus was a great adventure.


Once up there, we met up with Jonathan's sister and her family, plus we ran into a friend we hadn't seen in a while and invited him to join us as well.



We ate snacks and grooved to the radio station that was sponsoring the concert. At concert time, we could see the symphony pretty well and the sound system was set up so everyone (even the people on the other side of the river) could hear. Joseph rocked out to Leroy Anderson, dancing around the blankets, and loved being bounced on my knees for Sousa and the 1812 Overture. Elena somehow fell asleep during that last one (I told her, this afternoon, she needed a nap so she could stay up late) and missed ~95% of the fireworks.


Joseph, silly boy, had no problem with all the noise, but insisted on peeking through his fingers to watch the fireworks. The show was great (way better than New Year's) and as a bonus you could see the reflections ripple down the side of one of the new condo towers. It was a super cool effect.





For some reason (parking congestion?) our bus was taking a detoured route and was not running after hours to pick up the fireworks crowd (despite being advertised as such on the website) so we had to dash across the street to catch the very last bus home. It was packed but everyone was in a good mood. Joseph pointed out all the things he recognized (Moon! Star! Light!) and Elena slept, folded in half on my lap. I think everyone had a good time. I certainly enjoyed it. I'm already looking forward to next year.

Jammy Dress And More

I've been on this major sewing binge, the last few days. We'll call it the hormones because it's a serious compulsion to make stuff. First it was new PJ's for Elena. She picked out the fabric, the sleeve style, and the ruffle detail all by herself. The reason I needed more lace is that I ran out with four inches left to go on the bottom and I hadn't even done the neckline, yet. It came out really well, though, and Elena loves it. It's big, but that means she can wear it for the next year or two.


As soon as I finished that, I discovered a really cool tutorial for making my own cloth shopping bags. It was, of course, 10:30 at night, so I had to use something I had on-hand. I decided to use one of the fabrics that was donated to me by a lady in the ward, seeing as how it was free, sturdy and ugly as sin. I have no idea what's up with the seashells. It makes much better bags than clothes or cushions. Or anything else, really. I broke all my needles working on them, though, so I'll have to get more, today. If you want a time gauge, I made both--cutting to completion--while watching Batman Begins, with only a half-hour run-over. If you have lighter-weight fabric, or heavier-duty needles, it'll take less time since you won't be replacing needles every half an hour.


So, what's up next? Here's a preview. I hope to be able to make both, and maybe two of the strappy carrier.

Crabby to Exhaustion

I wasn't here for most of this story, so I'm relying on Jonathan's account. I was on my way out to the fabric store, Monday, to get more lace for Elena's new pj's (pics to come) and had planned on taking both kids with me. Joseph, however, was crabbier than I have seen him in who knows how long. He wanted to be no further than 18" from me at any given moment, but refused to allow me to put clothes on him. All he really wanted was to be picked up, but I'm not allowed to do that anymore, and he would scream if I sat down for him to sit on my lap. In utter frustration I left him at home with Daddy because there was no way I was taking that out in public. Joseph then proceeded to scream at the door (trying to pry it open, as well) for nearly half an hour after I left, ignoring Daddy and all Daddy's invitations to join him on the couch and explanations that Mommy wasn't right outside anymore. He finally sat down on the floor and yelled at Daddy any time Daddy called to him. Daddy quickly gave it up as a lost cause and went about his business until the sobbing was replaced by the sound of fingers being sucked. The finger sucking was soon replaced, in turn, by silence. Looking over to check in on him, this is what Daddy found.


Daddy scooped him up and popped him into bed and Joseph never even stirred. A very good thing I didn't try taking him with me, indeed.

Something Goes Right

I have many bureaucratic knots in my life, but we finally got one to work out. Aren't we cute?