Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Hallowhine (er, I mean Halloween)

I was up much later than I expected last night thanks to the discovery of cat pee on my bed (on my side, on my pillow). After stripping sheets, de-pissifying (is to a word) the mattress and making the bed again it was about 11:00. This happened after I drove 30 minutes to get my haircut only to arrive and have them tell me they left a message at work saying that my hairdresser was sick. (Thanks a bunch.) And before Meghan had a conniption fit because she was itchy. I was in her bed with her until about 1AM. So, yes, I am tired. And, yes, it is Halloween.

Today I am supposed to find a babysitter for Tuesday so we can go to Meghan parent teacher conference, get my car inspected because the sticker expires today, carve a pumpkin, find our living room floor under the mine field of toys, continue to clean pee soaked bedding, go trick or treating, get dressed, keep kids alive (not necessarily in that order). Maybe I'll get about 2 or 3 things done and I'm okay with that today.

So what am I doing instead of all those things on the list? Sitting here in my pajamas writing a post. Lucky you.

In honor of the holiday here are some pictures of the kids in their costumes. We went to Baby Love Disco on Sunday and the kids dressed up. They looked so darn cute. It was a lot less crowded than the last time I went which was great. Ryan got to watch some football there which I am sure made him happy. The kids loved the balloons, egg shaker and bubbles. We stayed for about 1 hour 45 minutes or so. I was ready to go when Sean crawled into a tent and ate what may have been a goldfish cracker. It was gone before I could fish (Ha! No pun intended) it out of his mouth. Thankfully he had no reaction. So maybe it was not a goldfish cracker, or maybe it was and he is growing out of his milk allergy. Overall, it was fun to take the kids out of the house for awhile and let them run around.






More pictures available here.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

I'm getting better

Meghan never had any holiday treats or presents to give to her friends at daycare because I could never remember to get them.

Today I finally remembered.


And did you notice they are not store bought? Impressive, right?

I was also responsible for their Halloween snack today. Those, however, are store bought cupcakes.

I'm pacing myself.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Wordless Wednesday - Monkey!



Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Tuesdays are kicking my butt

But, getting a few videos of Meghan dancing makes them worth the chaos.



Happy Halloween Dance from Dorene on Vimeo.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Success??

I think the new site is finally working.

I had to do some jiggling to get it to work properly. If I knew if was going to be so wonky I would not have done it.

Some if the internal tools are still not pointing to the proper URL so I have a feeling there will still be a few things that need to get fixed here and there. Please let me know if you run across any errors.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Let Me Show You: Musical Distraction


So remember when I said I would mention the gifts Meghan got for her Birthday? No? Can't say I blame you, it was awhile ago. But, I'm here now.



Meghan received an mp3 player and some headphones. And she LOVES them. I think they are pretty great too. We downloaded a whole mess of Backyardigans songs for her. She will wear the headphones everywhere. Around the house, in the car, at Target.

Only drawback so far? She screams when she is wearing them. We've been out shopping and I've had to pull the headphones away from her ears to tell her she is way too loud.

Some nice features:

  • headphones have their own volume control that is difficult for kids to change
  • mp3 player has one easy to use button to start, stop and pause
  • songs can be changed by holding button and shaking mp3 player
So which mp3 player and headphones did she get. Here are some links if you are interested:




Saturday, October 25, 2008

Let's hope I didn't screw it all up.

I made a change. And, because I did it on a whim without any research, some things may be broken.

What did I do?

Well, you can now find this site by going to:

http://dorenecc.blogspot.com

Or

http://occasionalrambling.com

I know, all formal and stuff, right?

So I did this all through the Blogger interface so it is supposed to work all fine and dandy. Please let me know if something looks messed up.

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Ugh, this worked like 5 minutes ago before I typed this post but now I get a 404 error on the new URL. The old one still works so I am going to walk away a bit and see if it works itself out. Good plan, right?


UPDATE: Blogger is saying the transfer could take up to 3 days. Old URL still works.

Your blog is in transition

Your blog's new address is http://www.occasionalrambling.com/. Since it takes time for this new address to be available all over the Internet, you can still get to it at http://dorenecc.blogspot.com.

Your new address should work for everyone after at most 3 days. At that time we will redirect your readers from your old address to the new one.


Friday, October 24, 2008

Why are we still going?

Sean had another appointment with Growth and Nutrition yesterday. I was really hoping this would be his last visit. Yes, I know he is still little but he really has been eating better. When we first started going I was worried about his inability to eat anything but pureed food. He is well past that now and eats just about anything we give him. I think he is just going to be on the lighter side like Meghan.

So we headed to the hospital for the appointment. I made sure to leave a bit early because there is construction that throws off my travel times. I seem to always be stuck there for over five minutes. Meghan brought her Leapster game to keep her occupied during the appointment. I asked her to please not play with it in the car because she may get sick. Think she listened? Right, not a chance.

I just pulled into the parking garage at the hospital when I heard it. Bleech! Wonderful. So there I was trying to clean her up with baby wipes so we can get to the appointment. Poor kid. She was so wet. But, I don't travel with an extra set of clothes for her. We smelled great.

After doing my best to get the chunks off of her (sorry) we rushed into the hospital. Surprisingly we were only about 7 minutes late. They gave us a bag for her jacket which was the yuckiest piece of clothing and she also got a towel to use as a shawl on the way home.

Sean weighed in at 21 lbs 7 ounces. (Yay!) and I think they said he was 32.5 inches tall. He gained weight and grew taller since the last visit. Which, you know, is the goal.

I was pretty pleased with his progress. He is now back on the growth chart for his weight. Second percentile. Woo hoo! But, they were hoping he would do a little better. They like the kids to be in the 3rd percentile before they consider them safe to get through the winter. I swear if he did not take a huge dump before the appointment we may have squeaked an extra percent outta him.

What does this mean? Well, we have to go back. Again. In December. They really did not have any more suggestions on how to get him to gain more weight. His weight gain is in the average range but because he is below weight they like to see above average gain. All they offered is add vegetable oil to all of his food (which they said before) and give him more soy milk (which is the the exact opposite of what they said before).

I'm not sure I can do anything more than I already am doing. I basically let him eat whenever he wants. If he refuses to eat what we are having for dinner I keep giving him alternatives until he does eat. I let him walk around with his soy milk so he can drink whenever he wants. I always have snack cups when we go out. I supposed I can just search out more fattening food and let him eat more of that junk than he does now. Silly me for filling him up on veggies.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Wordless Wednesday - Unfinished Church, Bermuda

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Monday, October 20, 2008

I could name a few people who would disagree with the lyrics


Customer is Always Right from Dorene on Vimeo.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Missed Expectations

Meghan and Sean both had appointments at the doctor's office today.

I expected:

  • 1 (hopefully 2) flu shots
  • 4y checkup
  • 4y shots
  • home 15 minutes past nap time
I got:
  • 1 flu shot
  • 4y checkup
  • 1 nebulizer treatment
  • another nebulizer tube
  • prescription for albuterol
  • another appointment for a week from Monday
  • home 1 hour and 15 minutes past nap time
  • headache

How do girl pretzels fight?

Meghan is eating her snack. Or, rather, playing with her pretzels.

Me: Meghan, what are you doing?
Meghan: The pretzels are having a fight.

Pretzel 1: Your hair looks silly.
Pretzel 2: Your hair looks silly.
Pretzel 1: No, your hair looks silly.
Pretzel 2......

You get the picture.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Meghan's Gallery - 4

It's been a long time since I did one of these posts. We have a pile of art that Meghan brings home from preschool and while I was taking an Internet break yesterday, I took pictures of them. My way of preserving them and tossing them at the same time.

Meghan provided the name for each piece.


"Flying Dinosaur" by Meghan



"Circles" by Meghan



"The Dragon" by Meghan



"Circus" by Meghan




"Leaf" by Meghan



This is her attempt at writing her name. I believe she was shooting for "Meg".

The "Circus" one seems a bit disturbing. Looks more like "Blood Bath at the Circus".

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Wordless Wednesday - I'd rather be here



Monday, October 13, 2008

My BlogHer Boston Recap

Okay, I am attempting to write a BlogHer Boston recap. I will tell you that Meghan is right now banging on the floor under the table like it is a drum and I am dangerously close to the end of Sean's naptime....But, here it goes.

This was my first blogging conference so I was not sure what to expect. I tried to gather as much info as I could from recaps of the last conference and chatter on Twitter. What I learned was that business cards were a good idea and to try to reach out and meet as many people as possible.

I got there a bit early because I am always afraid I'll get lost. So I spent that time walking around to the sponsors tables.

I don't think I captured everything here. It has been a few days and I think some of it got sucked into the black hole that is my house.

There were two tracks to follow. One was geared towards those relatively new to blogging. The other examined the Social Media aspect of blogging. Even though I an not a complete newbie I decided track 1 was better for me. I was not disappointed. I learned a few technical tip (note the recent comments section now on the right) and heard some great discussions. There are some things I know I need to change about my blog and I learned a bit on how to attract new readers.

I would generally sit and quetly take all of this in with little interaction with other. That's just me. But, in the spirit of the social piece of the event (and in part to an initial getting to know you exercise), I met some interesting people. I got to meet a few ladies who's blogs I had read before (including Chicky Chicky Baby and Fairly Odd Mother) and a whole mess of new ones to check out.


Look! Proof that I attempted to socialize.

I started this blog originally with no real intention that it would be anything but a place for family to check in on our lives. But it has since grown into something a bit more. Now I am at the point where I am trying to take a closer look at what I have. Do I like the name? (Um, no, but I cannot think of a better one yet.) Do I like the layout? (It's okay. But I need to do some housekeeping.) Do I want to spend more time making it into what it should really be? (Not sure.) Do I want to keep this one and come up with a less personal site that covers a topic that I might know a bit about? (Perhaps, but the time it would take to do that? Not sure.)

So as I go off and try and figure out my life, I will leave you with links to some of the people I met this weekend. Enjoy!

Tania at Chicky Chicky Baby
Christina at Fairly Odd Mother
Liz at The Power of Educational Technology
Dawn at Coming to a Nursery Near You
Chester County Moms
Roxanna at Miguelina
Sassymonkey
Kimberly at LadyGypsy.net
Alicia at Oh2122
Renee at almost foodies
Megan at Megan's Minute
Melissa at the collection space

Sunday, October 12, 2008

See you in Spring

I'd just like to point out that my Currently Watching list over there on the left is getting scary long. I believe I may not be able to leave the house, like ever, if I plan on keeping up.

This is what it looks like now:

Currently Watching

  • Dirty Sexy Money
  • Two and a Half Men
  • Survivor Gabon
  • The Office
  • Desperate Housewives
  • My Name is Earl
  • It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
  • How I Met Your Mother
  • Heroes
  • CSI: Miami
  • Law & Order SVU
  • Fringe
  • Bones
  • Prison Break
  • Mad Men
  • Jon & Kate Plus 8
I'm pretty sure Mad Men only has a few more weeks so that will drop off. But, I just set up the TiVo to record the new Christian Slater show. I also have not yet included The Real Housewives of Atlanta. And I'm pretty sure I'm missing a show up there. Oh, that's right CSI. I have not watched the first one yet so that is why it is missing. Sigh. So much to watch, so little time.

Another sign I'm getting older?

As I mentioned before, I attended the BlogHer Boston event yesterday (and let me just say, for the record, Burlington is not Boston). I thought the event was great, I met a bunch of new people (Hi new people!!!), learned some new techniques and spent the entire day not chasing after my children. I'm sure to have a full post about this later. But, right now, I am recovering from the lack of temperature control in the hotel. I think my brain is frozen and I am still shivering.

Because I am unable to wrap my partially functioning brain around the more technical and thought-provoking aspects of the event, I'll discuss something that requires very little thought. Cocktail receptions.

When you hear "open bar" a lot of people immediately think "sweet", right? I know I used to. But now? Ugh. My first thought is, okay, do I have to drive? Last night that answer was yes so obviously that ruled out taking full advantage of the free booze. But even if I do not have to drive my thoughts immediately go to the next morning. What time are the kids going to wake me up? How am I going to feel in the morning? And, you know what? I really do not want to feel icky anymore. I don't want the headache. I know I can no longer sleep until noon and head to the dining hall for my standard next day meal (ham & cheese on a bulkie roll with spicy mustard. yum.). I know I will have to get up and make it through the day.

Not only that but, when I am around others who have had too much to drink, they annoy the hell out of me. They act ridiculous, immature, sloppy and loud. And I just don't want to spend time with that.*

So does this mean I am more responsible? Or does this mean that I am getting to old for this stuff? I don't know. All I know right now is that my fingers are icicles and I need to find some mittens.....

*Which in no way implies that I saw any of this last night. I left an hour early to drive home. As far as I know everyone was being responsible, non-sloppy and very mature.

Friday, October 10, 2008

Brain Dump

I'm having trouble coming up with a topic for today's post. And, since I'm headed to BlogHer Boston tomorrow, I'm not sure when I'll get another one up.

So, I decided to catch everyone up on some random tidbits that have been happening around here. It may sound like I am rambling a bit but, that IS in the blog title. So, you know, it is to be expected. Oh, and to make it extra special, you get it in bulleted form.

  • I still have apples left. After making an apple cake, apple muffins and apple and spice cookies. I personally am a bit appled out. But, I think I'll try and make apple crisp today to kill some more of the bag.
  • We finally settled on Halloween costumes for the kids. Meghan kept changing her mind but we ended up settling on a bumble bee costume. Of course she has said about 5 different things since their costumes arrived in the mail. Sean will be a monkey.
  • In a few weeks we will be headed to Baby Loves Disco in Boston. The kids get to wear their costumes there so it should be cute.
  • Meghan is in a "look at me - watch me" phase. All day. Every day.
  • Sean tries to steal the spotlight. If Meghan is singing, he will sing. If she is sitting on my lap, he squeezes in between.
  • Sean absolutely worships his sister. He follows her everywhere and imitates her every move.
  • Meghan is suddenly afraid of being tossed around. She used to love being held up high and swung around. Now she is afraid of getting dropped.
  • Sean, on the other hand, is an absolute daredevil. He will leap off furniture without a care in the world. He has landed on his head, only to get up and do the same thing again.
  • Sean is also freakishly strong. If he has a grip on something it is almost impossible to get it away from him. He will also grab onto a window sill and pull himself up, like a chin-up, to look out of the window. I'm surprised he has not climbed out of his crib yet. I'm sure a toddler bed is in our near future.
  • I've started to create Christmas wish lists for the kids. We have always used Amazon.com. And now Amazon lets you add items from other websites to your wish list so that should make things even easier.
  • I've been looking for a Wii for about 2 months and I know it is only going to get more difficult.
There you have it. I may be back this afternoon with more.

Thursday, October 09, 2008

We interrupt this blog for a musical interlude

Meghan (sort of) learned a new song.


The Witches Song from Dorene on Vimeo.

You may now return to your regularly scheduled surfing.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Wordless Wednesday - Kitty Comfort

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Tuesday, October 07, 2008

A new first at age four

Thanks to our weekend outing, I am up to my eyeballs in apple based baking projects. So, instead of a long post, I am going to toss a bunch of videos at you.

Friday Meghan got her haircut for the first time. Yes, you read that right. Her first haircut. At age four.

Apparently her hair was in very good condition because the hairdresser questioned me over and over again about this being her first cut.
"Are you sure it is her first cut?"
"She never got it cut before?"
"Not even you at home?"

No. No. NO! My lord. What did she think? That I forgot her first haircut? Jeez.

Anyway. I don't have any before and after shots. She really only got the ends trimmed off. But I do have some videos posted for your viewing pleasure.


Meghan's First Haircut 10/3/08 from Dorene on Vimeo.

Meghan's First Haircut (More) 10/3/08 from Dorene on Vimeo.


Sean Haircut- 10/3/08 from Dorene on Vimeo.

Sean Haircut (more) - 10/3/08 from Dorene on Vimeo.



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I'd also like to welcome all the twitter moms who have stumbled upon this site. Feel free to stay awhile and look around. It's good to have you!

Monday, October 06, 2008

Really? Is it just me?

I was catching up on my email when I came across my Daily Candy email. They were recommending purchasing Black Lace Arm Warmers. Seriously? Seriously?

I loved the 80's as much as the next gal but this is waaay too much for me. I will gladly sing along to the many 80's pop songs currently found on my iPod but 80's fashion can stay where it is as far as I am concerned.

But, maybe I am just not up with the current trends. Perhaps I am totally off base on this one. Maybe watching hours upon hours of The Backyardigans has effected my fasions sense. Because when I clicked on the product link provided to find a nice image for you....it was sold out. My only guess is that there will be a lot of Madonna's running around this Halloween.

Saturday, October 04, 2008

A bushel and a peck

Today we went apple picking at Davis' Farmland. We still had a gift certificate so this was a perfect opportunity to use it before it expired.

After explaining to Meghan that we pick the apples off the tree, not off the ground, we had a great time. Sean kept picking the apples up off the ground, saying "ball", and then throwing them. But it kept him happy.

The tree were loaded with apples. It took us no time to fill up our bags. We probably could have picked them all off one tree if we wanted.


Next time we will definitely bring our wagon instead of Sean's stroller.

Now I am off to figure out how to use all of these apples in recipes that do not contain butter or milk or cheese. I definitely plan to make this one and will do so as soon as I can go buy some more eggs.


Thursday, October 02, 2008

I know it won't always be this easy.

Meghan's room was a disaster (surprise, surprise) and she wanted to pull out her dress up trunk and play with it. I told her she needed to clean up the other toys before she played with something new.

She was in her room for awhile before she came out to find me.

Meghan: I cleaned up my room. Can I go downstairs and play my game?

Me: It's almost bedtime Meghan. I thought you wanted to play in your room?


Meghan: Please. please, please can I play my new game? Just for a little while?

Me: Okay, but lets get your pjs on first.

I start to walk to her room.


Meghan: Um, I don't think I told the truth. I don't think I cleaned up my room very good.

And, yes, sure enough her room was still in the same state I saw in in before.

Me: Meghan, why did you not clean up your room.

Meghan: I didn't want to.

Me: Well you cannot play with anything else until your room is clean.

Silence. I assume she was mulling over her options.

Meghan: Momma, I sorry I say no to you. I'll go clean my room.

She is now cleaning her room. Score one for Mommy.


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In other news, I've been updating the Currently Watching list on the left as I get to the season premiers on my TiVo.

Also, I added the BlogHer Boston '08 badge over there on the right. I will be there next weekend.

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Four? Already?

Today our little girl turned four. And, although sometimes I think she has skipped right to her teen years (attitude-wise), I still cannot believe she is four already.

We decided to skip a big birthday party this year and instead opted for a small party last Saturday with just the family. I had planned on making the food but then came down with a nasty cold last week. On Thursday I went online and ordered a bunch of food platter I could just pick up the day of the party. Small party + no cooking = great idea. Especially because it rained all day Saturday and our power went out for about 1-2 hours. The 1-2 hours where I would have been cooking.

Meghan had a blast at her party. She loves Birthday's. The cake, the presents, all of it. And she has been playing with all of her gifts. She got some really great ones this year that I will show you over the next few days or so.

Today, 10/1, is her actual Birthday. She had preschool today so they let her bring in a special Birthday snack. We backed chocolate chip mini muffins this morning for her class. Once she arrived she got to wear her Birthday crown. I am told they also sang Happy Birthday.

After school I promised I would take her to the store so she could pick out a special cupcake for tonight. She had her favorite, mac & cheese for dinner and then got to eat the pure sugar cupcake goodness.

Every year she keeps getting more and more amazing. The things that child says and they way her brain works keeps us wondering what she will come up with next. There are some days where she reminds me of the baby she used to be. But more and more she growing into a wonderful little girl.

Happy 4th Birthday Meghan!







Meghan’s 4th Birthday

Wordless Wednesday - Still my baby girl