Cabin Fever

Well, it's winter and we live in Maine so it's pretty damn cold out and there is plenty of snow on the ground. Sounds kind of pretty right? It is, but it's getting old for me and I fear that I'm the only one. The boys seem content to hang out at home. Ben's playing Legos almost eight hours each day and building bigger and better things than the day before. Nate is riding his rocking horse plenty (training for a career as a jokey?), playing with his new train table and stirring up mischief with his brother.

They're both also watching plenty of tv and this makes me a little bit sad and relieved. I had always wanted to be the mom who didn't let her kids watch tv at all and they would be wildly creative and inspired constantly and never crave the tv. We would spend our days making elaborate craft projects, home science experiments and reading huge stacks of books from the library. Well, that sounds wonderful and I know there are families out there (many of my friends' families) who enjoy this lifestyle - we just aren't there yet and I'm not sure that I care to be. Yes, there is a ton of crap tv on, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that my kids are watching just PBS or Discovery Channel. They watch Spongebob, Nate is obsessed with Dora, these are simple facts of our life. But there's actually some decent stuff out there and you know what? TV hasn't ruined my kids. Plugging my kids into the tv and ignoring them for the day, yeah that would ruin them. Letting them make choices about what they want to watch and roughly how much they watch...I think that's letting them express some free will and that's a good thing.

So, for now we're just doing the best we can to get through each day here. We are getting our snow tires put on tomorrow so there is hope that we'll be a bit more mobile in the remaining winter months (there are at least two full ones ahead of us) and that should help to shake off the cabin fever. But, if we are to remain stuck inside until the spring thaw there are worse people to share the days with and worse ways to spend the days than curled up on the couch watching a movie under a comfy blanket.

Parody's Are Funny - (and they get stuck in your head)

These make me laugh, in a good way. I'm attaching the links to the original song from the Beyonce one because I think they did a good job sticking close to the rythym of the lyrics and all.
Also, this guy does a great impression voice-wise.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrnNC5toyeo - Original. Embedding has been disabled but if you follow the link you can get to it.

Tuesday's Tunes - Inauguration Edition

Ok, so I don't dare to say anything about what an incredible day this is for fear of not doing it justice and not adequately expressing what I feel, think and hope for our country now that this day has come. SO, I'm going to stick to the music theme for Tuesday's and share some clips from the performance piece of the inauguration this afternoon. Not surprisingly, U2's performance is my favorite, but not simply because it's U2 but because of what they performed (and because they didn't play their new single). Look for President Obmama's reaction to Bono's dedication right before City of Blinding Lights....ahh, it's priceless!

Next up is The Boss singing The Rising - if you haven't listened to the album you should get it, buy it, borrow it, whatever you need to do. It's an incredible piece of art. It was written after 9/11 and it's clear to hear those overtones when you watch the lyrics. Yet, I found it bitterwsweet that it still had such validity today. It's been a long, rough eight years hasn't it? Well, it's over now and things are going to change. I'm not one to think that we can expect or even hope for a change to occur quickly, it's taken us a while to get into the situation we're in now as a country and it will take time, patience, money, resources and hope to get us out. But at least now we have a President who is in touch with the majority of the country and who listens to advice from a variety of trained, experienced peers. There's hope now, and that counts for a lot.
Anyway, enjoy and congratulations President Obama, congratulations America!!!!

Tuesday's Tunes

Trying another new theme with a day of the week. Really, I just borrowed a DVD from the library this weekend and am on another Neil Young kick (yes mom, you read that right, Neil Young) and I feel like sharing. But I also think I can muster up enough sense and time to make a quick post like this once a week to share a song that I'm enjoying.

The DVD is called Heart of Gold and it features songs from his Prairie Wind CD which was written as he was dealing with a brain aneurysm. This video is for Far From Home and yes that is the amazingly talented and gorgeous Emmylou Harris singing backup. Enjoy!!!

Sorry for the two videos, not sure how/why it did that...


PS
Only 7 more days!!!!!!!!!

Snow It Goes

We got hit by another snow storm this weekend, as you can see.

Seriously, what the eff?

WARNING - Discussion of Nate's bodily fluids and part 14 of the Stomach Virus Saga

- It's gross people, read at your own risk -

What a way to wake up. I was snoozing away, enjoying the third night in a row that Nate has slept from about 11 - almost 7 or 8 like an average toddler and bam! I'm instantly awoken by the sound of a little boy throwing up - all over my chest. Good morning sunshine!!! Not to say that Nate was enjoying himself, but he at least had a little warning of what was coming. I was blissfully unaware. Such is the life of a mom and I'd much rather change just my pjs and Nate's than have to strip a crib or toddler bed and do that load of laundry so I can't complain really. Except that it's been happening a lot lately, this puking thing, and I've had enough!!!

I'm at a loss. He coughed a little bit first and then was sick, but not too badly. SO, I was convinced that the dry air in the house is making his nose/sinuses worse and causing him to cough and then puke. We moved into the other bedroom to let Ben keep sleeping, and I put on the humidifier (all of this after changing Nate and I out of pukey clothes of course) and we settled in to watch a little Pooh Bear and feel better. Ten minutes later the other end exploded. One of the scarier sounds I've heard recently. Nate didn't seem phased by it but then again he didn't have to change it. I don't get this. Nate has been fine, he's been playing and running around and being his normal little self and then wham! he gets hit again like he's sick but he's not. No fever, no crabbiness, no food aversions, he's snacking as I type this.

My best guess is food allergy. That has to be it right? Cause see, if it's food allergy I can figure that out, I can deal with it. If it's a phantom virus that keeps tricking me into thinking it's run its course and then hits me with a left hook of my child puking on me while I sleep again I'll lose my mind!

For now, I'm keeping an eye on Nate. He seems fine now and is eating breakfast and talking about going to music class this morning. That's the other kicker, today is the first day of our 10 week Music Together class. It's held just up the road from us so we can walk there and it's an all ages class so the boys can go together and we got a discount thanks to the awesome teacher, who also hosts our LLL meeting in her Portsmouth facility now. So, the idea of having to cancel because Nate was sick is not appealing. Now, if he had a fever and was still sick now and not eating I wouldn't take him - so calm yourselves, for those thinking I'd risk other kiddos health so my sons can sing the Hello Song and bang drums - I'm not that cheap.

The Season I Dislike

I didn't say HATE for a reason, simply because I don't want to incur more of Mother Nature's wrath via snow, sleet, freezing rain and other fun winter weather. It's also the season that brings us countless strains of sickness. At the moment we're making our way through the nastiness that is the stomach bug. Nate had it last week but really did very well with it. I'll spare you all the lovely details but suffice to say that besides some obvious indicators that his stomach was unwell he seemed like his usual self. No major fever, no crankiness (in addition to normal cranks that is) and he wasn't avoiding food either so not a huge deal. I thought we were safe - this is the mistake every parent makes when one child gets sick and then three days pass before another becomes ill. Alas, I thought we were safe and then last night it hit me. I feel better today, considerably healthier than I did last night at 11pm as lay on the linoleum of our bathroom floor but still not great. That said, I'm now waiting and watching to see if Ben or Tim get sick too. Ben took an especially long time in the bathroom earlier today and I assumed he was feeling badly too...not the case, he was playing with tub animals in the sink. So, the bullet is dodged for now and I hope for a while. At the very least, I'm thankful that this malady hasn't hit us all at once and instead appears to be staggering things so I'm able to take care of who is sick and not be a mess myself. So, here's hoping that I feel totally back to normal by tomorrow and that the illness skips Ben & Tim all together or if they get it it's one at a time and not a tidal wave of sick. Here's hoping! And wishing you and your family are healthy and happy.

Picture Post

Another Picture Post thanks to fatigue - having a 2 year old with a stomach virus, who doesn't like to sleep at night when healthy, is just a recipe for sleepiness.





Purple hair is back, with pink this time just because.



Candy cane or lightsaber or gun - a very versatile piece of candy.




Nate in mid-yawn.



Boys getting into the food before guests arrived.



Fresh Ink! My new tattoo on my left inner wrist. Thanks Sarah!!!!!

To Sleep Perchance To Dream....

Nate, I love you dearly but I wish you were doing this right now. I wish for it very badly, with all of my being. I love sharing my days with you and I don't mind sharing my nights with you either, but can we spend them cuddled up sleeping not half awake at 3am watching Kipper thanks to OnDemand? We've watched the sun come up together a bit too often lately....can I interest you in a warm bed?

(Nate's cute sleeping bag/bed with built in monkey blankey and pilllow-low, thanks to Papa and Grammy. If only it'd be used like this again soon! The boys have been building forts out of them most recently. Ben's is a lion set just FYI)