Smoking and children

I am a past smoker. I understand the urges that smokers have. I understand how smokers feel like they need to smoke 24-7. I truly do understand....BUT i also feel like our children have the right to clean air--- as do people like myself who are non-smokers! So days like today make me very, very frustrated! Let me start at the begininng...
My biggest pet peeve is going to a public place and having someone blow smoke in my child's face. I try to aviod situations like this at all costs. Days like today make me wish i was a lawmaker and could make cigarette's illegal. During the Halloween season??if that is a word...we usually have lots of local events that are great experiences for our kids. Ways to get out and do some trick-or-treating in a very public place with hundreds of children present. Usually these activites last between 1-4 hours and have places away from the main events for smokers to go and enjoy a cigarette if them must, but many of them have signs that strictly say NO SMOKING!!!! Very clearly shown...
Today unfortunately there was not a sign but there was 1000000000000000 (i think you get the picure) children. It was our mainstrees trickor treating downtown. We have never been before and will never go again. EVERYONE was smoking all crowded down this narrow street in front of all these small children. There was no where else for us to go to get away from them.
The worst part was one lady behind us whom i did not realize was smoking was holding her cigarette down towards the ground.
Sure enough Grant was walking around(within two feet from me)..since we had to wait in lines an hour long..and the woman almost burnt his face with it cause she wasn't paying any attention. Luckily it was only ashes on his costume and on his hair but i was livid. I made a comment a little loud that it would be polite if people would not smoke at an event where lots of children were located so incidents like this did not occur. The women had the nerve to give me a lecture on her rights and how i should be watching my child better. Then her friend kept saying i better walk away..like she wanted to fight. I got very frustrated and almost left at that point...it was crazy, i am like this is a kids event-we are adults-fight-are you crazy-that is so high school!!! They didn't even apologize instead just acted rediculous abou the whole incident. Within about 10 minutes it seemed like every person we encountered smoked so we ended up leaving.
I guess i just don't understand why you can't go an hour without smoking. Even when i smoked i have a little consideration for others who didn't smoke. I think it is all about manners and thinking about others over yourself. I was so frustrated. Do you think i overreacted? What would you have done? Would it bother you to have your kids around all that smoke, why or why not?

Today is the day my son must grow up!

I hear him scream and i hate it but i must let him go...i know it sounds mean BUT he bit off two nipples yesterday and i decided it was to dangerous to let him have another bottle ever again. He had been starting to bite little cracks in them but never before had he bit the top completely off, TWICE!

Hailey was never addicted to bottles like he is so at 1 year old we switched her to a sippy cup without much of a transition. But with Grant i have babied him...partially cause he was so little and sick around the year old mark and partially cause he is my baby and he begged for them, so i gave in.

Well today is a transition for us both. He still has a sippy cup full of milk in his bed but it is not a soothing bottle...i don't think that is enough. I am fighting hte urge to run to target and buy up more nipples and just chance him doing in again....he is still screaming after 35 minutes of laying in bed! I am praying for some peace for him and me.

I know my little boy is growing and he isn't so little anymore, he is a toddler. I know i must let go of my need to keep him little and let him grow and learn! I also know that it is just as much my need to make him happy as it is his need to take a bottle for comfort.

Holy moly.......the crying has just stopped.

Has God heard and answered my prayed...i think he did!

Woohoo...our first nap bottleless....

How many faces can you make??

I think these speak for themselves.

BUT. BUT. BUT

I have been starting the dreaded job hunt...well sorta...i am getting antsy to start my career. I have applied for a few select jobs that look perfect. Our goal is to wait until next Summer/Fall when i finish school, to then start back Full-time, but if an opportunity comes i will take it! I want to work so bad but i also want to be home with my kiddos. I wish life was that easy where i didn't have to go to school or work.

BUT. I wish i could just play with my kids all day and be there for every new milestone. I have been home for seven years and i feel the timer slowly ticking down and i am scared. I am scared that my future employers won't want a stay at home mom/student almost in her thirties...who is just starting to work outside of the home. I am worried i haven't networked or volunteered enough and that no one will want me. I worry that i don't have time for an internship and that the lack of experience will deter many new possible opportunities.

BUT i know i have done my best. I know that i have been working hard 24-7 trying to balance my home and school life. I have gotten good grade, volunteered my eyeballs out, and enjoyed keeping busy with my family. I am dedicated to finding a job that wants me as much as i want them and in return i will give them my soul. I am a hard worker. I am willing to do what it takes to get the work done right. I can do anything!!!

BUT.BUT.BUT. I am still nervous. I am still scared. Not as much about working, but about leaving my family. I like taking my kids to school. I like volunteering for PTA and seeing Hailey with her friends and teachers. I like helping Hailey with her homework and making her an afternoon snack. I like giving Grant a bottle and putting him down for a nap...so that when he wakes up i am the person who can see his happy little face. I like meeting Hailey at the bus stop and seeing Grant's excitement knowing she is home and hers knowing we are there to see her. I just like spending every minute possible with my kids. I don't want someone else raising them!!

BUT. I am having a major complex about what to do with Grant when i go back to work. Do i do a Daycare, Preschool, Grandparent...what are my options??? I don't trust others with my children. Especially the daycares...i worked there i know to much...i like preschools especially our churches but i would still need part-time care from someone. My mother-in-law is retiring in December but i have no clue if she would want to watch him for a year or two??? I don't want to shove the burden on a family member..unless she wants too do it!

BUT. Another completely different issue revolves around the idea of having another baby. I desperately want another.. Jason has said that he "MIGHT" be fair game but that he wants it done soon. That would mean that if we decided to try for another we would most likely be pregnant, very pregnant, during my job hunt. Yeah, that should go over great with a new employer! And then i need to find childcare for a new infant which is even harder for me to fathom....i raised my first two and swore i would never use daycare for any of my children under two years old...so what then??

BUT. I think i am off on a tangent. But the point is that i am freaking out a bit. I am torn. I am sad. I am happy. I want to work BADLY. I want to stay home even more badly!! I am just confused and optimistic. I know it will all work out in its own time. Right??

What has Grant been doing??

Uh Oh! Mom caught me playing with the tackboard! I better get away and fast.
I didn't do it!

Awww mom another picture!

Do you care if i take the car for a spin real quick??

Grant has been a handful lately. He is contantly on the lookout for another gadget to play with or something more interesting than what he is supposed to have. He does not like any of the 10 billion toys we have here but loves tvs, remotes, playstation 3 controllers, x-box buttons, computers, laptops, cell phones, lasers, flashlights, microwaves...i think you get the picture!

In addition to embarass my son in the very distant future he is in love with lipstick. The child would wear my lipgross or lipstick every minute of every day. He knows where it is and if he can't get it he wil get in his sisters drawer and get hers. He also loves all my lotions and hair products. Unfortunately he doesn't know the difference so many times hair gel is covering his legs or lotion is in his hair. Hmmm...at least he likes to look and smell good, right?

He is doing well in his speech therapy. I think his therapist likes to talk to me more than work with him but overall he loves her and has a great time "playing" with her. She is actually a developmental specialist so she works on all areas with him not just speech. He loves all of her toys since they aren't ours. He has said a couple of words with her and seems to be making baby steps worth of progress. Lately i haven't noticed a huge difference in vocabulary but alot more humming along with things and trying to do the different changes in pitch sounds have.

He had his 6 month check-up with Dr. Logan-Ear, Nose, and Throat Dr., this morning and he said he is doing great and tubes are still in place. He said that is good with Winter approaching and in six months we will check to see if they are still in place. He said they might come out before that but you never know. I am hoping they stay in as long as possible so we don't have to worry about those darn ear infections for awhile if ever.

Other than that he is growing well. We have his 18 month check-up next week even though he is going on 20 months old. Long story but basically with the change of insurance it pushed us back a month then i totally missed his apt last month...never done that before but schedule was so full i just overlooked it, woops!!! I am excited to see where he is on the growth chart. He has ben running aroung the 20% for height and 50% for weight until now so we will see....i would like for him to be aoud the 50th for both weight and height but i doubt it.

I ended up having to go and buy him smaller clothes for this winter becuase everything i bought last year is enormous on him. He is just barely wearing 12-18 month pants...most are to big on him in the waist and around an 18-24 month shirt. Hailey was wearing all 2-3T clothes at his age...not that i want him to grow or anything. Also he doesn't look scrawny or anything. He looks healthy and normal and that is exactly how we want him.

He was but is no longer a very good eater. He has ben just picking at his meals for the most part.
I think he has realized that snacks come after meals and he likes snacks. So i have been starting to introduce less snacks and give him less milk and reoffer lunch to him if he doesn't eat it. I think it is working a little. Guess we will see what happens!

Rain + Headlights=Proper Driving Habits, Rain-Accident=Possible Death, You Decide

Nothing makes me more upset than driving through rain, or sleet, or snow and seeing only a handful of drivers using their headlights....but it isn't night time you say....that does not matter. It is said at the DMV when you get your license at a ripe young age of 16 that you should use your headlights anytime the conditions are not perfect....that would mean at dusk, dawn, fog, rain, snow, sleet,.......ANYTIME it isn't perfectly sunny and gorgeous! Why does this irritate me so much you say...well mainly cause i have children in my car and when it is raining so hard you can barely see the front of your car it is IMPOSSIBLE to see a grey car without headlights on in front of you until 2 seconds before they turn in front of you and almost cause a head on collision. BUT if they had headlights on i would have had more of a warning that someone was heading my way and maybe could have saved a life of myself, my children or for Gosh sakes maybe even the driver or the children of the person who was driving...without their headlights on....USE YOUR HEADLIGHTS..it won't waste more gas or deplete your battery. It doesn't take more than 1 second to flip the switch. Why is it so hard to do?? What do all you people have against using your headlights?? Do you know that many cars have been designed to have headlight son 24-7 because it is so dangerous in certain cities not to have them on...that is even more of a reason to USE YOUR HEADLIGHTS. PLEASE.please. please.please. For gosh sakes, please!!!!!!!!!!!!

My beautiful daughter got her first sting!

I was polite enough not to stick the camera in her face after her encounter with the lovely hornet or wasp that decided to attack her thumb. As to not be cruel i restrained myself and just helped her the best that i could.

If you would have heard her scream after the sting you would have thought the wasp bit her thumb off...it was a yucky looking HOLE right on her thumb close to the webbing. Since she has never been stung and others in my family are highly allergic i was a wee bit freaked out when it started swelling and was very red all over her hand. But i tried to stay calm since she was freaked out enough for the both of us.

Digressing a bit, she had received some fake flowers from the neighbors as they cleaned out their flowerpots and she was so excited about having them. She had wanted to bring them in the house but i declined (luckily) and told her we needed to keep them outside it our flowerpots. She was walking around the culd-e-sac when i assume the wasp who had been napping in the flowers woke up and became irate that she had disturbed him so he found her thumb to punish.

I carried her to the table and remembered from my childhood them making a past from baking something....so i searched the cabinets for this mysterious substance. Soon, finding i had baking powder but not soda and hoping this was correct i made a paste and rubbed it on her wounded thumb. I am still unsure this was right but it was a start i figure.

Next i got cold water, ice, Tylenol and diet coke(the first two go together as do the last two) and applied while i tried to go online and figure out what to do next. It was just as i assumed. Give Tylenol for pain, Benadryl for itching and swelling, and watch for an adverse reaction. Usually occurring immediately but can happen in the first couple of hours. Luckily within an hour or so she was basically back to normal will little pain. By the time i got out of school 5 hours later she was sleeping on it and in no pain at all.

One thing she kept saying in the beginning was that she was never going outside again or playing with flowers....then she compared it to her jellyfish sting over the summer and was not happy this was all happening in the same year....luckily she played outside all night or i might have been worried that i would need to come up with fun things to do with her everyday...i am just not that creative.

On a different note, she has been doing amazingly well at school. She started out doing well but was having some issues with focusing. She would get A's on everything she did if she answered the questions but then sometimes she just wouldn't answer anything even when the teacher told them the answers. We talked about the importance of school and last time i saw her teacher she said Hailey was fabulous and how proud she was.

She has had four spelling tests so far this year and she has gotten 100%'s every time. I am so happy for all her effort and not complaining every night when we sit her down to practice and finish up her homework. I am hoping we will instill a love of learning. Also since i am in school i hope she will see how much effort i put forth and she will want to do the same.

I feel like she is growing up fast and it is scary. She now wants me to just drop her off so she can walk in the room by herself. It was so hard for me to give up that little part but reluctantly i did and she is doing fine. She continues to ride the bus only three afternoons a week and no major problems. We have some new neighbor kids that are just darling and Hailey has become very close to them both. It makes me feel much better about her riding the bus knowing other nice kids are close by...does that sound silly??

I added these pics cause i haven't been shooting my camera much and it seems like Grant has been the focus of my pics lately. My daughter is so beautiful and on this day she just lit up the room. It was before school and when i told her i wanted pics cause she looked so darn cute she just giggled and gave me the cute little funny faces about. She is growing and not a baby anymore. No more doing everything mom says...starting to push the limits...starting to have her own ideas and thoughts...she is beautiful inside and out!! I love my baby girl!!