No cause for alarm

Okay. People are getting worried about me. All is well on the Stroud ranch. Things have been busy, busy, non-stop for the past several days. I have stories to share, just need the time to sit down and post them. I ran into Bethany at the gas station the other day. So, she can vouch for me. I am alive and well. Never fear......Heather is here! (That was the cheesiest statement from me yet!) (Hope someone out there smiled)

What a difference a year makes

Yup. A year ago we were just a bunch of OB nurses waiting on our babies to arrive (and causing a stir on the unit as everyone fretted over staffing when all of us would be on maternity leave). Now look! Babies galore! (healthy babies) : )
Thanks, Megan, for the video footage. It is priceless. It was great to see everyone again. Let's do it again soon.

What can happen in a year

~Meg~

Yippee Skippee

My follower family just grew to 17! I am so excited. I was starting to think there was no hope for me to grow a big following but now my hope has been restored. (See I'm easy to please). I don't know who #17 is yet. My silly little blackberry won't give me that info. I'll have to wait and use a real, grown up computer to find out your identity or alias (whatever the case may be). Whoever you are, welcome and thanks for making my perfectly peachy day just a little sweeter! Tell all your friends and neighbors how much you love to read my blog and how I get a strange (but not creepy) kick out of new followers. Okay, but don't tell any psycho, crazy people about my blog because then my husband would say 'I told you so' when we had to change our identities and move to Yugoslavia.

Its One Mess After Another Around Here

I usually don't take pictures of no-no's but my sister was over and snapped this while I was lecturing.
Here's what happened...I told Trey it was bath time. He went to the bathroom to start getting undressed. I got to talking with my sister and we noticed after a while that Trey was very quiet. This is why. He had completely emptied my fairly new economy sized bottle of baby powder. What a mess. There was actually a haze in the bathroom from all of the powder in the air. There was so much powder floating around you could taste it! Aye!

Rice Cereal...Veggies...Pancakes?

Lately I've had trouble with Trey not wanting to share with Kayelynn. He will take her toys away from her, even a rattle or teether. So I have felt like a broken record lately preaching on share, share, share. This morning I fixed him a pancake. Sometimes he likes to eat them plain. He calls them "pancakes I can hold in my hand". So I left him in the living room watching PBS and nibbling his pancake. Kayelynn was very happy, scooting all over the living room. I took this opportunity to fix myself some breakfast. Can you guess what happens next?
I came back to the living room after toasting myself an english muffin. There was Kayelynn, still happy and cooing (actually growling, my baby doesn't coo). She was surrounded by shredded pancake. When she saw me she gave me a big toothless grin which revealed bits of pancake in her mouth. I tried to fish it out but she had gummed it into mush and swallowed most of it. She seemed okay (very pleased with herself actually). So I turned to Trey.
"Why did you let Sister get your pancake?" I asked.
He very honestly answered. "She wanted it and I am supposed to share". Ughh. He chooses now to remember what I've said. So now we have a new lecture...No feeding Sister!

paint colors

For the curious: here are the colors I am going to use to paint Kayelynn's new room. Each wall will be a different color; glad yellow,hyacinth tint, lighthearted pink, and jocular green. Paint color names are silly. Anybody know what jocular means?

just 'cause she's cute...

...and I don't really have much else to blog about tonight. Here is my lil darlin' getting ready for bed and sitting up like a big girl. Check out that belly!

My thoughts today...

My thoughts today are on my babies. Not my babies who are here with me. But, my two November babies who are in heaven together. I am glad they have each other now. I imagine my other family members who have passed on looking after them. Rejoicing with them daily. I am not sad. I am hopeful. I will see them again one day and they will be perfect then, as will I.

Sharky

Nana Easter Bunny put this toy in Trey's easter basket. Its kind of a dump truck but (as you can see) it also looks like a shark. Thus it got its name, Sharky. Trey really seems to like this toy and has spent a considerable amount of time pushing it around and loading it up with odds and ends around the house.
Every night Trey gets to pick a toy (within reason) to take to bed with him. The day after Easter Trey picked Sharky to take to bed. Sharky listened to stories and got all tucked in. Then Trey changed his mind. "I think Sharky be too noisy for bedtime", Trey explained. I told him Sharky would be fine (he doesn't make any noise). But, Trey insisted I should take Sharky out to the living room.
I ended up getting sidetracked with Kayelynn. While I was nursing her, I heard Trey's door open and close. I listened but didn't hear him. As soon as Kayelynn was finished I went to investigate. I found Trey's door shut, just as I'd left it. But on the floor right outside the door was Sharky.
What a Stinker! I had forgotten to take Sharky with me so Trey had taken it upon himself to throw him out.
The next night after I put Trey to bed, I heard his door open and close again. There was poor Sharky, abandoned outside Trey's room again. So, the next night while I was putting Trey to bed I noticed that Sharky was in his room again. I didn't say anything but left him where he was. Within 5 minutes after shutting off the lights, I heard the door open and shut again.
Hmmm. This was getting interesting to me. What did Trey have against Sharky? He still played with him by day. Rex thinks that when the lights go out, Sharky begins to look sinister. I can't resist testing this. Every night now I make sure that Sharky is somewhere in Trey's room. And every night with in a few minutes of putting Trey to bed Sharky gets tossed out in the hall. I am wondering how long this will keep up or if Trey will ever tell me why he does it.

Painting with Dad

I have solved my bedroom dilemma for the kids. To my luck and my husband's dismay, our wood burner broke. After much deliberation we've decided to do away with it for now. I see us getting another one (in the garage or outdoors) after we build on. I am ecstatic for two reasons. #1 it made a huge mess. I was forever cleaning up little wood chips and bugs. #2 the wood burner was housed in a little 8x8 room that I am now fixing up for our desk, filing cabinets, and bookshelves. If I am really good, I will be able to fit my scrapbooking supplies in there too and we'll have a decent office/work space. So, that frees up our other room in the house for Kayelynn.
Wooo, I'm worn out just typing all that. But now my mind is a frenzy of paint colors and furniture arrangements. I enjoy it though. And I'll be a much happier mommy when this task is complete.
To get towards the point of my story...I was shopping for a good deal on some used furniture to add to the kids' rooms. I found a bookcase with cabinets that I could picture in Kayelynn's room filled with toys and books and baskets of tiny shoes and hair bows. I also found a small cradle that I envisioned her dolls in. Both of these items were a bit ragged but I had a vision forming in my head. It was nothing that a couple coats of paint couldn't fix.
I needed a place to paint... that's where Dad came in. I invited myself to his garage. Because he loves me, he let me drag my project in and take over a good portion of his garage. But, he also helped me paint. I told him he didn't have to. He said he was just 'tinkering'. We didn't have any deep talks, just listened to the radio and painted. It was nice to just be with him. Its not very often that he and I work on a project together. At one point he made the comment, " Good thing ole dad taught you a few things about painting". We chuckled because I have been painting a lot lately. I was also thinking that there were many, many other things that ole dad has taught me and I'm grateful for every one!

cops & robbers

Trey has been having quite the time tonight pretending to be a police man. I got ' locked up in jail' while feeding the baby. For the most part he ran around the house yelling "what's up Duck". Sure is interesting around here.

Something's gotta give

Last night turned out much like the night before. I put Trey to bed then later when I went to lay Kayelynn down, I found the door to be locked again! This time he was awake and we had another talk about locking doors. Kayelynn didn't sleep well. She was paging me at 0130. Trey had been woke up too and was begging me not to bring Sister back to his room. At 0330, Rex woke me up because I had fallen asleep in the rocking chair with Kayelynn. At 5, I heard Kayelynn crying again and Trey yelling at her to be quiet. By 6 I had just fallen to sleep again when I felt Trey climbing over the top of me. Trey kept giggling and whispering "I see you mommy". Rex,of course, was sawing logs. I don't think he'd hardly moved all night long. How are men so oblivious to their children? He didn't get the dirty look I gave him when he commented that I didn't look very awake this morning.
So that's it! I can't go on like this. I am grouchy and Trey is insane from sleep deprivation. I have decided. The kids are going to each have their own rooms-and soon! I haven't figured out exactly how this is going to work. But it will work. I will make it work. It has to work.

We got more problems than pooping.....

Trey was sleeping in bed with us when we woke up this morning. Neither of us know when we came to bed with us. (Sometime after 0530 because that's when I put Kayelynn back in bed after nursing) Its nice to cuddle with Trey but this is not a habit I want to start. Our full size bed is hardly big enough for Rex (the jolly green giant) and me.
Tonight after tucking Trey in, I told him to get to sleep because I would be bringing Sister in soon. I was surprised at his response. "NO! I don't want Sister in here!" He sounded very hateful. He was usually excited about doing things with his sister. "She too noisy. I don't like to hear she cry" was his answer. I tried to reprimand and reassure at the same time.
It was 2 hours later when I got K to sleep. I padded down the hallway and carefully and quietly went to open their bedroom door. I did not want to wake Trey. The door knob seemed stuck a little. I tried to jiggle it without making any noise. Wait....its not stuck........IT'S LOCKED!!!!!

Good grief.
At least the lock was easy to pick and I did not wake either child up. Now I have my nightly quiet time to think about the "talk" we're going to have with Trey tomorrow.

I should have never asked 'what next...'

Losing my skills

Something happened to me this weekend. It was very strange and made me feel a little sad.
I think I mentioned that I went to my friend Megan's baby shower this weekend. I got to hold her daughter for a bit. When Megan put her in my arms, she felt light as a feather. I asked what she weighed. The answer was over 7 lbs. I couldn't believe it. If my eyes had been shut I could have believed that I was only holding the baby's blanket. I know my perception is off because I am used to the feel of my 18 lb. baby. But, I used to be able to tell the difference between 6 lbs or 7 lbs of baby. After years of labor and delivery I was becoming a pro at guessing baby weights just by feel. What has become of me?
Now I tend to gravitate towards tv shows about labor, magazines about pregnancy, books about obstetrics. I am even reading multiple blogs about L&D. Before those sorts of things didn't hold my attention long. If I wanted babies, labor, whiney pregnant patients or doctor attitude I'd just go to work or think about the last time I was there
. Now I can't remember the last time I attended a delivery, washed up a newborn or did a fundal check. I don't remember the last time I clocked out and ambled out to the parking lot with co workers; friends. I don't remember any of that because I didn't know then that they were all of my 'lasts'.
The last few nights I have fallen asleep titrating pitocin in my head for labor patterns I've made up. I have practiced the calculations for running Mag. I've thought about doing a physical assessment on a sick pregnant woman. What would I look for? What signs would I not want to miss? I've even daydreamed of that feeling you get from sinking an IV on a patient who's a hard stick. (Now I am probably freaking a few readers out. Sorry)
I knew since high school, maybe earlier, that I wanted to be an OB nurse. I guess that gets under your skin. It doesn't seem to be easy to let go of. I don't want to let go. I always felt like I was a pretty good nurse. I hate to lose that. I wonder if I'll ever deliver a baby again. I kind of hope so. No matter what, I think I'll always be an L&D nurse at heart.

Roomies

So, rooming the kids together was not the smartest move....
I started putting Kayelynn in her crib with Trey a few weeks ago. Sometimes it goes well. Sometimes it doesn't. She does good but she tends to wake Trey up at times.
Tonight I put Trey in bed around 8. Then Kayelynn at 9ish. I thought she was sleeping soundly but she opened her eyes when I laid her down. I left her hoping she'd go back to sleep on her own. She didn't. I could hear her stirring. Then the fussing got louder and louder. I didn't want to go get her. I want her to learn to comfort herself and fall asleep on her own but I didn't want Trey to wake up either.
I was still debating what to do when Trey comes to get me. " Sister is being berry loud. " he says. I told him I'd go get her. As we're walking to their room he tells me. "I gave she she's toys but she's still crying" (his lingo cracks me up). He wasn't kidding. When I went to lift her out of bed, I could hardly find her. Trey had piled every stuffed animal in their room and various other toys in her crib. That could possibly explain the excessive crying.........

Hi-Ho the Dairy-O

We were listening to this song in the car today. The version we have goes something like this: the cows give us milk, the cows give us milk. Hi-ho the dairy-o the cows give us milk. Then, the chickens give us eggs and so on. Trey loves it and often wants to hear it over and over. Today when the song ended Trey kept singing. He made up his own verse: the combines give us corn, the combines give us corn....
Clever, huh.

I used toilet paper off of the floor

Okay. Before you read on, this story is not as gross as the title makes it sound. I was just trying out the use of misleading titles to see if it would get ya interested. But this is another story about poo - so brace yourselves.
Rex and I were laughing the other day that we would have Kayelynn potty trained before we were done with Trey. That may not be too far from the truth.
Our happy McDonald's poppy party is just a distant memory. For the past few days I've had to struggle to get Trey to poop in the potty. He has no qualms with putting pee pee in the potty but just try mentioning pooping in the potty.....
Today I left him in the bathroom for awhile screaming like there was some sort of medievil torture involved ( him screaming not me ). After what seemed like an hour, the wailing ended and a little voice called to me, "I'm dooooone". Trey met me outside the bathroom door. "Now mommy," he said in a fake grown up voice meant to calm me down. " I sorry I did dat. I did not mean to do dat. "
Do what? I wondered. It didn't take long to figure out. My bathroom rug was somewhere under a massive pile of toilet paper. A flash back of our recent kleenex misadventure ran through my mind. I turned to look at him, ready to raise my voice to him. And there he was, standing with his hands over his ears, squinting a little, bracing himself for my eruption. He looked too cute. So, I took a deep breath and knelt beside him, pulling his hands down away from his ears.
"Why did you do this?" I asked quietly but sternly.
"I haaad to." He answered. " I sorry I do this mommy. I haaad to" he repeated. (Had to? Three year olds appear to be just as bizarre as two year olds. ) Oh and he had NOT pooped! Infuriating!
It was almost nap time so after a brief discussion on not wasting toilet paper he went straight to bed (no story!) and looking quite sullen.
I returned to the bathroom. His little voice still echoing in my head. "I haaad to mommy" Yes, some strange toddler instinct had 'made' him completely unroll the brand new, super sized roll of toilet paper I had just put out this morning. I started to try to clean it up but it was totally tangled and I couldn't for the life of me find the end to start re-rolling. I scooped the mound up in my arms to throw it away but that seemed wasteful. Charmin isn't cheap ya know.
So...I have been using toilet paper off of the bathroom floor. That thought made me laugh this afternoon. What is next?

Don't answer that........

Too much easter

How our morning went

0645: bright and early egg hunt at home

0830: one dressed, one to go

0900: time for a little train fun.

0930: quick photo shoot before church - see why

i had professional shots done earlier

Just like old times

I find that holidays are much more draining as an adult than I remember them being as a child. As a kid everything was fun and games, playing with cousins, feeling carefree. I still love holidays with my family but I find things... different now.
But while Trey and his cousins were hunting easter eggs, I got a flash of that carefree spirit again. It was almost like an out of body experience. I felt like I was watching myself run through the yard with my cousins. I heard the same laughter and squeals of excitement. The eggs were being found in familiar hiding spots. But the smiling faces were not my cousins'. They were my niece and nephew and my cousin's children.
I was sad for a moment to realize that we adults had lost that reckless abandon we used to possess. But my sadness quickly dissolved into joy as my eyes locked with my husband's and we shared a smile while Trey announced "I found another one!" That shared joy was not the same as a child's but much better, much deeper.

P.S. I like this picture of the kids with their baskets after the egg hunt. Each of their personalities and quirks seem to be shining through perfectly. -Notice my little anti-social man standing off to the side looking smug.- Mommy wants to brag that his easter basket was just as full as the big kids!

I liked this action shot. Trey was very

in to looking for eggs.

Nothin like a huge marshmallow bunny!

kayelynn all dressed up for our "first"
easter with the strouds on fri.

trey's first egg hunt, saturday evening at grandmas

"this one must be empty" he said after it

didn't rattle when he shook it. when he gets

older he'll find out that those are the best ones.

trey's first time coloring eggs - he

loved it !!

inspecting his eggs before bed

Greetings

Happy Easter everyone! I am getting ready to leave for my family Easter at my grandmas. I am sure I will have many stories to tell by the end of the day. (I already have a few) I hope everyone has a great Easter!

Thomas's Bridge

After a fun outing today to meet Baby Claire (who is downright adorable), Trey requested to go to the "suspension bridge". It took me a while to understand what he meant. Finally it dawned on me that he was remembering the bridge at the park. Although this is not truly a suspension bridge, it looks very much like the bridge in one of Trey's Thomas videos. He was so excited to see the bridge close up. It was warm enough that I let him get out and walk over the bridge too. And of course, we had to feed the ducks our french fries. (Those poor ducks are going to have cholesterol problems and it will be me and Trey's fault). When it was time to go, Trey was a little disappointed. He told me that he hoped "Thomas would arrive from the station to chuff across the suspension bridge". I thought that was quite a concept. Reluctantly, Trey got in the car after I explained that Thomas wouldn't be
coming through. I smiled to myself because just this week I ordered tickets to go on a "real" Thomas train ride in June. I can't wait to see how excited Trey will be to do that!

Picture Palooza

Trey and Kayelynn

These are the kids in their easter clothes!

kayelynn's 6 mo. Pictures

Technology.....Yuck!

Yes... I love to blog. I love ebay, facebook, online shopping, news, weather,directions, etc. HOWEVER, when my computer won't do what I want, it makes me so mad I could spit! (How mad is that you ask. I'm not sure. My mom used to say that when we were kids and she was pretty darn mad when she'd say it!)
For the past two days I have been trying to upload pictures from my camera to my computer. TWO DAYS. If I had an actual roll of film I could have had it developed by now. (Twice)
Yesterday my efforts were futile. All I did was hook up the camera to the computer's USB port. Then the computer would make a clunky noise that meant nothing was working. I hooked and unhooked, over and over, in every possible way I could think of. Nothin'. The kids got up from naps and that was the end of that.
Today I spent at least two hours, possibly three trying to use the help box on my computer to troubleshoot. I finally found that I needed to update some software. I'm not exactly sure what I downloaded but it took two thomas videos to get it finished. Then... presto! My pictures uploaded in about ten seconds. Great! Now I'll just post some pictures on my blog real quick and that will be that. Right???? WRONG!!!!
I have no idea how to work this new software. (Easyshare...that's a laugh!) I try and try but no bananas. Trey is running in circles making obnoxious noises ( when he's not trying to climb all over me). Kayelynn is fussing and very irritated because I won't let her chew on the mouse. My mother in law is probably wishing she never asked us over and I am beating my head against the desk mumbling "ayudame, ayudame" (I've watched too much Dora)
So, you will all have to wait an indefinite amount of time to see the darling new pictures of my children that my computer is currently holding hostage.
*SIGH*

Funny Picture

Here is Kayelynn sucking on her elephant toy that dangles from her carseat. She caught it with her mouth and sucked and chewed and sucked some more until she put herself to sleep.

Flashback

I heard Garth Brooks singing "Shameless" today on the radio. My mind went back to when my little sis, Ashley, was 2 or 3. She was adorable, like a little pixie. She was in my room wearing a neon colored cap and sunglasses. She was using my comb for a microphone, singing her heart out to that same Garth song. Only in her version the words were "I'm shavin'". She was too cute as she belted out those lyrics with her best country drawl. Wish I had the picture of her to post with this.

Things I learned today...

1. I should have told Trey how to eat a Cadburry Egg before giving it to him in my car. (He stuffed the whole thing in his mouth. There was chocolate dripping from his chin and squirting through his lips as he tried to chew it up)
2. Good friends never really go away. They always know what to say.
3. There is no need to spend hours raking your lawn clippings and using them to mulch around your baby trees. Within a few days your free range goats will have eaten all of your neat little mounds of grass.
4. Ice Cream is a good bribe for pooping on the potty in a public restroom.
5. A 3 year old (named Trey) will not take a nap while watching Dora. (Even if he promises he will...)
6. Just because the baby will sleep all night in her bassinet does not mean she'll sleep all night in her crib.
7. You can make it from Otwell to Jasper with your low fuel light on.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST...

8. A bouquet of wildflowers gathered with your son is better than a dozen roses!

#16

I was going to post a woe-is-me note today. I was feeling frustrated-like I have the worst luck- the world is out to get me- how can this be happening type stuff. But I see that I am now up to 16 followers. So, I'll just suck it up. Maybe there is good karma headed my way.

This is for my OB/breastfeeding pals

Mastitis = nasty milk (And no fun!)

Gonna have to be sneakier

I was putting laundry away today (loads and loads of laundry....) Trey had been following me around from closet to closet. I hadn't noticed that he wasn't with me anymore until I heard him say in amazement "oh my goodness". I wish there was a way to explain the intonation in his voice as he said this. It was kind of funny to me but obvious that he'd found something that he considered to be very amazing. I decided I better look for him. I've learned that sometimes amazing for him actually translates into trouble.
I found him sitting in our hall closet surrounded by every last gift the Easter Bunny was planning on giving out next week, even Kayelynn's things! "Trey Stroud!" I said disapprovingly. ( I say this quite often) but Trey missed the edge to my voice this time. And his voice was full of awe " A train mom...and a signal track, and look a winnie pooh color book!". I had to smile. At least he seemed to like what the Easter Bunny had picked out. "Trey, we can't be in here" I told him as I started stuffing the toys back in the sack they'd been hiding in. He, of course, was protesting and couldn't imagine why he couldn't keep the train he'd found.
I finally came up with this fabrication, "The Easter Bunny left these here for us. But, we aren't supposed to see them until Easter. If the Easter Bunny finds out he'll come back and get these and take them away...". I wasn't sure what else to say. I studied Trey to see if he was going to buy it. He started helping me to tuck the toys away. "Hurry Mommy, hurry!". He took me by the hand and drug me out of the closet.
Now every few minutes we have to discuss how many days until Easter!

Doctor visits and such

Today was Kayelynn's 6 month well baby check up. I'm pleased to report that she's perfect. (I had no doubts, did you) She is in the 90th percentile for ht and wt. (Guess she did ok on "just" breastmilk!) Also her head circumference is in the 95th percentile. I seem to produce babies with big heads. We used to joke and call Trey Elmer Fudd because his head was so big. Looks like Kayelynn's not too far behind her brother.
Things are going to get messier around here as we will start trying some veggies in the next few weeks. She still likes her cereal at night but thinks she is supposed to eat it with her fingers.
I'm glad that we don't still live in the times of the plague because I've decided that me and mine would all be dead. Trey and I have been sick off and on for the past 5weeks. I thought at the start of this week were getting back to normal. Then Rex came down with the lingering cold we'd had. He has felt miserable for the past few days now and his work schedule doesn't allow for sickness.
Last night Trey informed me that he was too sick to spend the night at Grandmas. I knew he must really feel bad to give up a night of eating candy, jumping on the couch, watching movies in Grandmas bed, and pretty much getting anything he wanted. I asked him what was wrong but he didn't seem to know how to tell me, "just sick" he'd say. How could I make it better I inquired. "I jus need my bed". Now I knew he was sick! He didn't put up a fight at all getting ready for bed. After getting cleaned up he just walked to his room and climbed in bed. "Take care of me Mommy" he said quietly while I tucked him in. I was so glad I didn't have to leave for work. That would have broke my heart.
Trey continued to have a pitiful day. He ended up with a fever and crying that his ear hurt. That was a first for him. Its good to have a doctor around at times like these. Rex checked out Treys ears and ordered an antibiotic for him.....and one for me.
It seems I am trying to develop mastitis. So far it has not been a pleasant experience. Its made worse by the 3 year old who has become incapacitated with ear pain and the baby who I swear is teething. So here I lie in a semi feverish state blogging away. It is my relaxation for the night. But I must go now because I think my eyelids are nearly closed.

Kayelynn and her monkey

I (being her mother and biggest fan) found this adorable. One minute she was wrestling the monkey, chewing on it, growling at it. Then a few minutes passed and I heard her sigh. I looked over and found her and monkey had called a truce and fallen asleep!

15

I am still not sure why I get so excited to find new followers. But I do. I usually check my blog in the morning while I feed Kayelynn ( I tend to get lots of hits during the wee hours of morning ) -you people know who you are : ) - Anyway.....I enjoy finding new followers and new comments. Its something fun for me in my world of toddler poo and baby spit up.
So, I am very excited to be up to 15 followers now. And I wonder, how many followers could I actually have? So everybody out there: stop lurking and follow! Followers make me happy and the happier I am the more I want to blog. So this should work out for everyone. : )