Little V is growing up!

Violet hit another milestone today! She started cruising! She's been pulling up for awhile now on anything and everything but not really moving. If she wanted to get to another area, she would lower herself to the ground, crawl to where she wanted to go and then stand back up. Today, the physical therapist was here and decided Violet was ready to start working on cruising. Ms. Dee (the PT) put some toys along the couch cushions to entice Violet but she didn't want anything to do with them. So we tried another strategy – food. Of course, that worked like a charm. We placed popcorn all along the cushions and she motored like she had been doing it for weeks. It was very exciting.

Last night, when we were at my mom and dad's house, she climbed the entire flight of stairs effortlessly. She's climbed them before but never so well. But that's not the best part. All by herself, she figured out how to climb back down. It was really amazing. We were all so proud.

Violet has added a few new words to her vocabulary as well. She says book and block and can sign "please" but only does that when coerced. She's really come a long way!

On another subject, it is 82 degrees in our house. The air conditioner stopped working. It is stifling. What a pain. I hate to call anyone about it because we probably won't need it but for a few more days. I'm going to try to hold out and have it looked at next spring.

Jonah and I had a funny conversation tonight. He asked me what "Bradley" stood for (as in The Bradley Method of Childbirth). I told him it didn't stand for anything, it was the name of the doctor who invented it. Then he said, "So Dr. Bradley invented Natural Birth Choices?" I said, "No, that is the name of my company and I teach The Bradley Method." "You own a company?" he said very surprised. He was very impressed! I've only been doing this for five years now, you would think my own kid would know what I do.

Politics and Ice Cream

I watched the debate last night. I was not overly impressed with either candidates' performance. I thought Obama started out strong and did a decent job throughout. McCain had some good things to say but he looked like he was going to fall asleep a few times which is understandable given the fact that he's 100 years old. Also, he had a few senile moments when he said that he was "not Miss Congeniality" more than once. Perhaps that is why he chose Miss Tundra USA to be his running mate. It's too bad too because he would probably make a decent president but he will never get my vote because he will probably die in office and leave us with the PoDunk Prom Queen as president...Scary!

Today is Ice Cream Saturdae! After a few weeks of having to cancel because of conferences and birthdays, we are back on. Come one, come all!

I am getting ready to go to Weight Watchers and not looking forward to it. I have not had a very good couple of weeks. I must get back on track!

Peace out!

I have friends!

I finally joined the world of facebook. I am so hip. And I actually have 16 friends already! I was kind of afraid that no one would be my friend. I'm so glad I was wrong. Now I'm addicted. Just one more thing to spend my time on!

Also, I'm thinking about growing a garden. I have a black thumb so I'm not sure how that's going to work out. Only time will tell.

Jonah is sitting here next to me reading this out loud as I type. I guess I better watch what I say. Jonah is the cutest boy in the whole wide world. I especially love his freckles. He is a turd sometimes but I still love him. Earlier Michael and I were talking about selling the kids and I told Jonah I wouldn't sell them for anything. He was surprised and said, "Even for two thousand kadrillion dollars?" And I said, "Not for all the money in the world!" That's love! But he did have a good point. He said that if I had all the money in the world, I could buy him back. So now I just have to wait for someone to offer me all the money in the world.

P.S. I just scooted Jonah off to bed. He said very excitedly, "Guess what Sadie? I have my own blog!" Sadie replied, "What's a blog?" To which Jonah said, "I don't really know."

Ahoy Mateys

Mad Mary Flint here wishin' ye a very Happy National Talk Like a Pirate Day! Arr! If yer jealous of me cool pirate name, ye can go and get yer very own! Me and me hearties Captain John Bonney (Jonah), Bloody William Read (Michael), Calico Anne Bonney (Sadie) and Dirty Ethel Bonney (Violet) had a great time bein' pirates t'day. We grubbed on pirate pancakes with whale blubber (butter) and shark blood (syrup) then we swabbed the deck t' get ready fer the birthday bash t'morrow. Me crew is all in their bunks now and I'm gettin' ready t' go an' walk the plank with me matey Angela.

Fair winds me buckos until we meet again...Arr!

It's Good to be Back!

How did people live before tv and the internet? I've been lost – completely cut off from the civilized world for days. I felt like Caroline Ingalls from "Little House on the Prairie." OK, so I didn't have to churn my own butter, sweep the dirt floor, wash my clothes in the stream, mend socks by candlelight or get water from the well, but still, I felt like a pioneer. Or is that prisoner? It's only a few letters different so I guess it's the same. Sure felt that way at times.

My kids have been home from school all week. They are finally going back tomorrow! They haven't driven me as crazy as I thought they would. Luckily, we were only without power here at home for about 7 hours on Sunday. But the cable/internet just came back on last night.

We didn't have as much damage as many of our neighbors either. Our tree is in tact minus a few leaves. Our house is still standing minus one shingle. Other than some debris and the mangled canopy on the deck, you might never know a quasi-hurricane came through the middle of Kentucky.

Let's see, what happened while I was cut off from the world...

I attended a 4 day childbirth conference that was very fun and energizing. Being around 400 other women who are as passionate about birth as I am was inspiring! Plus I scored all kinds of really cool birthy stuff and free loot for my students!

The remnants of hurricane Ike whipped through the area on Sunday and left 300,000 people without power. We are very fortunate that our outage only lasted 7 hours! We packed up all our food Sunday night and took it to my parents' house because we thought it may be days before our power was restored. The kids and I spent the night there too, preparing to live there for the time being. But when Michael went home that night around 10:00, he called and said we were back up and running. It could have been so much worse. There are still over 150,000 people without power and likely will be for several more days.

Jonah turned 9 yesterday!!! I can't even believe I have a nine year old child. Holy cow, where did those years go? I swear he grew 3 inches overnight. When he woke up yesterday, he really did look older and bigger. By next year, I believe he will be looking me eye to eye. That will be scary! We gave him a green iPod shuffle, a watch and U of L bed sheets. He was thrilled! Today, I loaded him up with songs. We are having a party for him on Saturday. The theme is 'football' so we are tailgating in the backyard!

Friday is 'Talk Like a Pirate Day' and I have some fun surprises in store for me hearties. Check back later in the week for more details! Should be a jolly good time. Arrr!

Sick Day

The kids are home today. Jonah is not feeling well. He woke up at 4 a.m. and couldn't breath. His nose has been stopped up from allergies/cold for a few days and then his throat swelled up last night making it very difficult for him to breath properly. He's better now but tired from being up so early so I decided to keep him home. I also kept Sadie home so I wouldn't have to take her to school.

Crazy Cat Lady

Every neighborhood has one, right? Well, mine has a Crazy Bird Lady. My Crazy Bird Lady (CBL) lives across the street and down a few houses. Every morning, there are a jillion (literally) birds in this woman's front yard. I don't know what she feeds them, but it is like crack for birds. Ducks, geese, little birds, big birds, you name it, every bird within a 10 mile radius all flock to this woman's yard. It is totally out of control.

The ducks are the craziest. Several times per day, a bevy (the word of the day is back) of about 50 ducks fly in a circle over and over again and they pass right over my house. You know what that means. Bird poop. All over my house. I just had to have my windows cleaned last week because of all the duck poop. I keep waiting for more poop to be flung on my windows every time I see those damn ducks fly over. As soon as they ruin my clean windows, I'm going to egg the CBL's house (not really). Or maybe I could start throwing Violet's poopy diapers at her windows. ;-)

If you know any way to get rid of birds (without killing them of course), I would love to know. For now I will have to settle for blaring my horn every morning when I pass by! This morning her lawn was covered with the usual assortment of birds and I maniacally yelled, "Jackpot!" like a raving lunatic when I saw them. Jonah said, "What are you talking about?" I literally laughed out loud at the absurdity of my behavior. I've now become a Crazy Bird (Hating) Lady.

Karma, I'm waiting

Today, I found a $20 bill in the parking lot at Whole Foods. I debated in my head for about 2 minutes whether to turn it in or go spend it at Starbucks. Then I wondered, what if I'm on one of those hidden camera specials where they see how many people actually do the right thing. I turned it in like a good citizen even though I doubt the person who lost it will ever claim it. Maybe I didn't exactly do it for the right reason, but at least my conscience is clear!

My husband had a good idea. He said I should have donated it to a charity. I wish I had thought of that because then I would have known that it was going to a good cause rather than the check-out girl at Whole Foods.