Author: Marcia

For unto us a child was born

Copyright2012 has arrived (5 ½ weeks ago), and he’s a BOY!

Hinckley Elias Thurman was born at 5:56 p.m. on 20 November 2012. He was 8 lbs, 4 oz and 19 3/4 inches long.

He is named for Gordon B. Hinckley and for his Great-Grandfather, Lern Elias Prickett.

All went well with labor and delivery.  If people are interested, perhaps I’ll tell our story, it’s not all that “exciting” of a story, but it is our story.  We were discharged from the hospital on the 22nd (Due Date a.k.a. Thanksgiving Day).  So, we had a pretty great Thanksgiving this year!

Now here are some of our favorite pictures since Hinckley came out:

family of 4

even Hin©kley stuck his tongue out

two hours old

Mar©ia wanted to participate in the bracelets picture

almost two

“Is he a doll?”

7:17am exactly two years old!

she asked for a white cake with color circles (sprinkles) and pink ice cream and to wear a shirt with hearts

we taught her how to climb in and out of the crib with a step-ladder while I recover from delivery

sleepy baby

happy baby

Hin©kley was crying, I tried everything to calm him, nursing, burping, cuddling, rocking, singing…nothing worked.  Finally I placed his “Happy” on him, and immediately he grabbed onto it and was asleep in 3 seconds!

after church

she loves her tongue in pictures

“Are we ready?”

“Mommy thinks I am Handsome”

“We are ready!”

Merry Christmas!

“cheese!”

just chilling

sister and brother

 

Someone forgot to tell the pickleciples not to make the pregnant lady angry

Disclaimer:  While I do not want anyone to be offended by my use of this long word, “pickleciple” is my word to replace the swear words I will not allow myself to say in front of children.  And should a certain individual find himself crossing my path again (okay there may be a second individual also) with no children present, he might get to discover just how many words this replaces.  Also, I am apparently horrible with paragraph structuring!

Now that you all know my personal “swear word” I will get on with the story.

 

Today is the University homecoming game and this morning was the parade.  The parade was scheduled to begin at 10:30 in the middle of town, and the parade route was probably no more than two miles long.  We placed ourselves towards the end.  My brother Ricky and his family live close to there, so he said we could park at his place and all walk together to the parade and get a spot.  We found a spot next to a telephone pole about 10 till 10 and made sure we were not blocking anyone behind us since we had two strollers.  We locked the tires and waited for the start.  We were there over an hour before the starting cars arrived, and the kids were doing well.  A few minutes, no more than 10, before the parade reached us, a few families arrived and crowded near.  This would have been okay if there had been room, however, in the space where one adult and one child would fit (1 ½ -2 feet wide) if the kid was standing in front/sitting on the lap of the adult, they tried to cram in six adults and 5 kids.  One woman, I will call her “Hedwiga” because it will be easier to give her a name to reference and it means “warfare”, tried to push and move my stroller over, and I made it clear that that was not going to happen, and she then proceeded to stand on the blanket of the people just on the other side of the “gap.”  In hindsight, I probably should have not left any gap there, or I should have sat down next to the stroller, which was my original intention until she crowded her way in there….  Anydangways, it was her intent to force someone who came early to give up a good spot one way or another.  And the blanket sitters (they will be known as the Blankets/Blanket family) had arrived even before we did, even more reason they should not have to move either!  Well, I didn’t hear or see if the Blankets had said anything, but Hedwiga got off the blanket and proceeded to lean against my stroller again.  So I reached and adjusted the handle on the stroller requiring her to stop leaning against it.  She gave mee the stink-eye for that.  Well, the lead cars came by and lots of kids appeared out of nowhere.  Originally they were not right in front of us, until Hedwiga told her daughter to stand in front of us and then, the male henceforth known as “Wolfgang” and means “wolf quarrel”, sent his two daughters up to stand in front too.  The girls put themselves right in front of the stroller where sat the not quite two-year-old.  I said, “girls would you please not stand right in front of the little girl, she cannot see the parade.”  I was ignored.  Then a few minutes later the university band stops and performs there, and again/still the girls are right in front of the stroller.  Fortunately there was a break where Munchkin could see a baton twirler dance, so she cheered and seemed okay, however the rest of the time we were there (we left early-I’ll get to that) because of the location of the only break in people in her way, all she could see was the backs of people in the parade as they walked by, or the butt of Hedwiga.  I took a picture that shows her, yes the adult, standing in front of the stroller; I have decided not to post that picture on here.  So, as the university band is trying to tell people to get out of the street so the band can march the parade, I again said, “please do not stand in front of the little kids, they cannot see the people in the parade.”  No acknowledgement from those around us.  There were a few floats that came by, Cute Monster didn’t get to see them, or get any candy from them…2 reasons 1-it is the end of the parade, so there is little to no candy left to toss (which is fine with mee because I don’t really want to take it home) 2-the bigger kids were blocking the way and took any candy that managed to make it to the end of the parade.  I saw that the high school band was coming soon, and wanted Mar©ia to be able to see her dad since we actually knew where to tell him to look, so again I said, “girls she cannot see the parade, will you please not stand in front of her stroller?”  This time the girls looked back to acknowledge they heard, but turned around and stayed put in front of us.  So, I mentioned that that was the third time I had asked and I was really getting tired of people standing in front of people smaller than them.  Hedwiga said that I should let her out of there so she can go up front, at this point the “front” is a third of the way into the street, clearly in the path of the parade floats and certainly in the way of bands or dancers or others walking in the parade.  So, I did not bite my tongue and said, “maybe you should control your kids.”  I perhaps could have bitten my tongue, but it really makes me mad when going to public events where kids are invited/encouraged to attend and there is a lack of common sense, especially when it is coming from adults.  (Why on Earth would I want to let my almost two-year-old run loose at a parade?  And what about not standing right in front of someone shorter than you when the event is a pick your own spot kind of a deal?  And why would someone want to teach their kids to behave like that?)  One of the women with Wolfgang, not sure if his wife or from the third couple, asked, “Did she just say that?”  I turned around and said, “Yes, I did.  We got her early and have waited a long time for the parade, and it really makes mee mad that people think it is okay to stand in front of little kids.”  So, Wolfgang called his girls back and told them to sit on a blanket that he put down right behind our stroller, and that they had to sit there, where he promptly  stood in front of them, with his son on his shoulders.  I turned and told them all I was asking was that they not stand in front of the littler kids and they are just fine standing next to the stroller, just not in front of it.  They wanted the girls to be martyrs and wouldn’t let them go down there.  While I do indeed feel really bad for the girls having adults like that in their lives, I was glad that for the first time Munchkin got to see her dad in the parade!  Sadly though, the camera was too slow and I didn’t see that it was not recording when I pushed the button.  A few minutes after that Wolfgang taps mee on the shoulder and asked if my daughter could “see the parade now?”, I told him, “no, because people are standing in front of her again.”  But he was not listening, he continued with “because I just want you to know that you have ruined this parade for them.  Look!”  I turned around to see one girl still sitting there with her face in her hands, which I admit made my heart ache, then when I noticed that he was standing in front of her still, I just became more angry.  Who in the right mind tells their own child to sit where they cannot watch a parade?  No one in their right mind would do that!  It is one thing to try to bully an adult so you can get your way (not acceptable by any means) but the pickleciple head is a bully to his own child!  So infuriating.  At this point I am so mad that I can’t think of anything to say to the pickleciple that didn’t involve swearing in front of my child or any of the children nearby, so I stopped talking or responding to Wolfgang, who was not listening because he was more concerned with being “right.”  That combined with the fact that Mar©ia can’t see any of the parade, I was fed up.  I was done.  So, I made sure she was buckled into the stroller, unlocked the tires and Turned around to tell him, “I’m leaving.”  He responded, “Good, you don’t belong here anyway.”  Again, I failed to bite my tongue and told him he was being a jerk.   I guess I did bite my tongue because what I really wanted to call him was a pickleciple!  I was so mad!  And the pickleciple Wolfgang had better hope I never run into him without any children around, because he might just get to hear exactly what I would have liked to have said to him.  And while I wanted to yell at him and tell him what a pickleciple he was being, what I did do was walk away crying.  Because you know when you make a pregnant lady angry, those are the two options.

Rick and Ginny were there after we left, and as I walked away I just hoped that Wolfgang did not choose to then talk to them the way he was talking to mee.  And I hoped that he would at least let his daughters get up and watch the parade.  What a pickleciple bully!

 

On the other side of humanity there was a young man walking the same way we were headed and he said “Hi” to the Cute Monster and after she responded in kind, he told her how “gorgeous” she is.  That restored a little bit of my hope for humanity. 

Not all people are pickleciples, but it is experiences like today’s parade audience that remind mee why I avoid public places most of the time.

My how time flies

So, here we are with time passing us by.  All around us we are bombarded by numbers and what they might mean to us. Sometimes we embrace the numbers and sometimes we abhor the numbers.

Today’s numbers that caught my eye are 26, 14, and 11:42.  26 weeks of pregnancy have passed.  14 more weeks (give or take) to go.  Which, by the way means that Thanksgiving and delicious Turkey are only 14 weeks away!  And it was at 11:42  pm that I realized that I had let yet more time pass mee by, and I wanted to get a belly picture.

Now for a couple of today’s antics from Copyright2010.  While I was making supper, by the way, I was reminded why I do not cook with tuna, I heard a crash in the hall, and a slightly panicked voice.  I looked to find the stroller tipped onto the back side.

As a result of using tuna in supper, “someone” decided it was better worn than eaten, (while I agree that it was not really worth eating, I still would not have opted to wear it!) it became bath time.  Marcia the younger has figured out how to turn the water on and off and hotter and colder, well she was trying to turn the handle, and it came off in her hand.  I don’t quite think she was pleased with that.

Happy Birthday Husband!!!

As the title indicates, today is Jacob’s birthday.

And his best present this today was when Copyright2012 cooperated and allowed us to see him!

In 3D!  It was really cool to see all the parts of the baby.  We even got to see an eye lens!  We do have a screen capture of that. 

Just in case I was not clear enough before the picture, it’s a BOY!!!

Boy or Girl?

We asked and we got permission to have our exploratory ultrasound in one weeks time.  So, while they are checking everything out and making sure all the parts are in the right places and working well, we hope to see if ©2012 is a boy or a girl. We invite you to make your guess now. After we find out we will reveal the answer.

In an effort to help you make a guess, you might like to know that I (Marcia) am a GIRL, Jacob is a BOY, ©2010 is a GIRL.

Is ©2012 a BOY or GIRL?

Other than everything, things have been going okay for the most part

Funny story, I have been keeping boiled eggs in the fridge.  Okay, so that was not so funny.  I keep them so that we can have a quick breakfast protein or cut some up for a quick chicken salad, or to add to a green salad…you get the idea.  This week one of the eggs I ate came out of the shell very easily.  The shell split in two clean halves.  I know I am one of the few that would take a picture of it, but I thought it was cool.


This morning Mar©ia picked out her clothes.  She got distracted after getting her socks and before putting them on, by the walker.  She asked to sit in it.  I think she thought she would put her socks on while sitting in that seat.  At first she was pleased that I let her try.  Then she realized she cannot reach her feet in it, and complained.  She did try to make the most of the experience by playing with the attached toys, though she was still not happy with the arrangement.

 

She found a sweater and asked to wear it, so I let her put it on.  Then she went and got two shoes, one left (white) and one right (black).  I figured it does not hurt anything so I let her do it.  Then she asked to go for a walk.  This is her new favorite object that is not a toy, a stroller we got from a yard sale for $5.

I guess I wore her out.  We walked past a koi pond at a nursing home-she likes to look at them and sign “fish” as she watches them swim around,  we saw lots of dogs and a couple babies, we took a stroll through the pet store so she could see animals-I want to make that a regular part of our walks (she liked the bunnies and the birds, the small dogs in cages confused her,  she liked to see the fish too, but the birds and bunnies were the big hit this time), and we got to see a friend out cutting flowers in her garden.

Way to go!!

The question has been asked, “What if he goes for his PhD?”  Well, if he does, we will cross that bridge when/if it comes.  If it does, it will not be for some time.  It would require us to move, there is not a program here for him, and we all know how we feel about moving.  If you don’t know, we hate strongly dislike moving.  Also, if he does decided to go for more school, I can put together a new image.  Easy fix.  But for now, he took his last test this morning and on Friday evening he will walk across the stage and get some fancy paper and a hood.  He has worked hard and it really is a great accomplishment.  Good job Husband!

 

 

 

Not that I want to sound whiny or anything, but that was disgusting

So a year and a half ago, a month before Mar©ia was born, there was a great baby shower.  It was fun, my sister put a lot of hard work into it and it was awesome.  Lots of people showed up.  I felt loved.  There were some much needed gifts and we appreciated them, we still do.  One of them was a Fisher Price Cheer for Me! Potty.*  We left it in the box.  Not because we didn’t want it, but because a newborn does not need it yet, and it takes up less space in the closet when still in the box.

For the past weeks (months?)  Mar©ia has been curious about mee using the toilet.  She likes to walk in the bathroom while I go, she seems excited to hear my pee hit the bowl, and wants to look in there after I stand.  I narrate what I am doing and am trying to be candid about the fact that this is just the way we do it when we do not wear diapers.  Sounds kind of like this, “First I lift the lid, then I pull down my pants and underwear and I sit down.  Listen, that is my pee.  I pee in the toilet.  Right now you wear a diaper and that is where you pee.  I do not wear a diaper, so I pee here.  (If I have to poop, I talk about pooping in the toilet too, same basic phrases.) I am done peeing (pooping).  I will use toilet paper and wipe so I don’t drip on my clothes.  Now I pull up my pants and flush the toilet with this handle.  I can watch the pee (poop) go down the drain.  Now I wash my hands with soap.  I am all done, now it is time to get out of the bathroom.”  She is curious and I am happy to have her learn.

Mar©ia has also been doing OKAY about telling us when she has pooped.  She in the last couple weeks has said “poop” to mee, I take her to change her diaper and she has only peed, then in a couple minutes after changing her diaper, she poops.  She tries to help clean her bottom when she has a poopy diaper, not that it really helps, at all.  She will grab a diaper or say diaper and go right to the changing station.  Most of the time she is cooperative.  I am glad she stopped trying to get away EVERY time we had to change her.

I am not saying that she is ready to be toilet trained.  Time will tell.  But she is interested in learning about it.  So, Monday I got out the box with the training potty.  I figure it won’t hurt for her to become familiar with it.

I told Mar©ia that we were going to open the gift from the baby shower for her.  She came over got excited and I got through the tape on the end.**  She started to reach in and at first I let her.  Then I noticed that it looked dingy.  There was dust and scuff marks.  I figured it would be no big deal if it had just been on display and I wiped that off.  Then I noticed there were some other “stains” on it that took more elbow-grease to wipe away, so I left the rest.  I pulled the box out of her reach and pulled out the toilet.  Sure enough, there are scratches on the lid and seat where they have been worn.  The paint is worn off the handle where it has been “flushed.”  There are urine spots on the inner rim of the seat.  There are “stains” on the underside of the seat, which I can only assume is poop.  The removable bowl is grimy looking.  Obviously this has been used with some kid and returned to the store, which they then put back on the shelf!***

         

There is no way I am letting her sit on a stranger’s pee/poop.  There is no way my friend would be comfortable even knowing that this seat came used.  If you are reading this story, I apologize; please do not puke on your computer.  I almost did when I opened it.  (Pregnancy can have that effect on a person.)  We decided the thing to do is take it back to the store; we still have the gift receipt.

I called the store to explain what happened and to see if the gift receipt is still acceptable.  There are no notes on the gift receipt with an expiration date, or anything to indicate there would be a problem, however it is 18 months old, so I wanted to check.  The lady on the phone said that they will not take it back if it is over 90 days old.  My “only option at this time is to call the company”, Fisher Price.****  I almost laughed, that is ridiculous.

I rolled my eyes and did what any other person would do, if they had the “connections,” I asked one of my friends that works at this store and is a little more in the know, and a whole lot friendlier, for advice.  I explained the whole situation and she told mee how to go about it.  So later after we were fairly certain it was a different service desk person, we went in and exchanged it for a new, never-been-opened-clean one.  And we made sure they took note of the used-ness of it and mark it down, I hope they do not try to re-sell that thing, again.  It is just nasty!

After we got it home and opened  we realized that a few things were missing from the dirty one.  There was no instruction manual or warranty card, the sound system (it plays songs and cheers when peed in) was missing, and the splash guard was missing (which may come in handy if our next one is a boy).  It was obvious that whoever did this had had the potty for a while since they could not remember how it was packaged, they had the parts disassembled, whereas the new one came mostly assembled other than the sound system had to be attached and the back had to be inserted.

 

*This was a fun gift because at Girls Camp I was so grossed out by our toilet options that I took a bucket and an emergency preparedness toilet seat with bags to camp.  I may have been made fun of (maybe not) but I had a clean place to sit, free of bugs, when I had to go.

**The friend that got this normally would only have purchased the perfect-never-been-opened box, but it was the only one on the shelf, and was led to believe that it was just a display model that was put back in the box and taped closed.

***What makes a person so dishonest to use a toilet, even a training kind, not clean it and then return it as if there is nothing amiss?  I really do not understand.  And what possesses a store to let that go back on the shelf and be resold?  I know they want to make as much money as they can, but com e on have some decency!  I can only assume it means they do not look over the items that are returned to make sure they are good before selling them again.  (My friend that told mee how to go about the return told mee another gross story about how someone came back mad because a diaper disposal system they had purchased came with a dirty diaper already installed…that means it was on the shelf with a dirty diaper inside it!  She said she wishes she could make all the returns people check over the items before they let the products go back on the shelf.)

****I have yet to understand why I would need to call Fisher Price and have them do anything with a product the store allowed to be returned, with poop and pee still on it, and returned to the shelf and re-sold.  I can only imagine the person on that call telling mee that they cannot do anything about it because it was not used when shipped to the store in the first place.  And I would agree.  I have not called Fisher Price, I do not know how their customer service is, and they may be wonderful for all I know.  I would like to believe that since they make stuff for kids.