pew-berty

Louisa is now 9 and one half. She'll be 10 in September and I still haven't had the "big talk" with her. I stated previously why. I'm just scared to explain how I, in God's eyes, sinned and she was the result of that sin. This will be so much easier with the boys. Mainly because husband is going to be the one giving the talk. Also, because it's easy to explain how they are a result of mom and dad's love for eachother.
I bought two books that I found online to help me talk with Louisa. She's already getting pimples and of course she needs to know why. And also, I may have gotten my period when I was 12, but other women in my family got theirs when they were 10 or 11. I hope to stay one step ahead of this game.
The books I bought to help me are, Growing Up, It's a Girl Thing: Straight Talk about First Bras, First Periods, and Your Changing Body by Mavis Jukes, and Girl Stuff, A Survival Guide to Growing Up by Margaret Blackstone. The first book is geared toward that younger tween crowd. The illustrations are good and it talks about what I want her to know right now. The second book may have to wait a year or so. The illustrations are a little too graphic for a 9 year old, but more appropriate for an 11 or 12 year old. In my opinion anyway. I may go through a few of the chapters with her in the second book when we're talking about pimples and boys and periods, but she doesn't need to see a complete illustration of a penis right now. She has two little brothers. She definitely knows the difference between a boy and a girl.
Yesterday Louisa saw the books and got very excited about reading them. I'm glad she has such excitement. She knows these books are to help her understand growing up and how her body will change in the next few years. And the covers are very girly and appealing, so she is naturally curious as to what is inside. I'll have to read them both and then decide what she needs to know now, and what can wait for later. Then we can sit down together and read and hopefully I can answer her questions.
For the rest of today and tomorrow, though, I have a little man's 6th birthday party to get ready for. So Louisa growing up will have to wait a few days. Let's hope she doesn't go off and meet the boy of her dreams between now and then! Really, I'm lucky because she's not into boys or crushes or anything like that yet. Although she is quickly becoming a gorgeous young lady, so I will have to worry some day. Just not yet.

How to Pick up Chicks, Toddler Style

I had to take Louisa to the dentist again today. She received the first of the two crowns she needed put on. Now she has this big silver tooth that looks completely out of place. Can't wait until all these decaying teeth fall out and her permanent teeth come in so we don't have to deal with her tooth trouble as much.
In the waiting room I watched Hunter, who is now 20 months old, toddle around and socialize with the other kids. A very pretty little girl came in who looked to be about two years old. Hunter took notice of her as well. I observed him as he did a type of toddler style courting ritual. I've seen him do it before. So here is Hunter's Tips on How to Pick up Chicks, Toddler Style!

1) When you see her from across the room, stick your finger in your mouth. She'll totally take notice of that. If she doesn't, then gradually move your finger into your nose. That gets 'em every time.
2) It's ok if she's a little older than you. If you're only 20 months and she's 28 months, that just means she'll potty train before you. Your parents may tell you that there's an 8 month difference and they just aren't sure about that, but it'll work out in the end. 5 years down the road, no one will even notice.
3) Check your shoes first before you start to walk across the room to her. You lose major coolness points if you trip on untied shoelaces. If your laces are untied, just take your shoes off cause there's no sense in trying to figure out whatever the heck your mom does to tie them now.
4) If you do trip on your way over to her, just get back up again. Your mom will want to make sure you're ok. Give her a hug in front of the chick cause chick's dig it when you're nice to your mom. And score some extra points by hugging your mom extra long and letting her kiss you.
5) Once you finally get over to the cute chick, do something to get her attention like pull her hair or push her off the chair. Chicks love bad boys.
6) If she cries and runs to her mom, it's still good. She'll come back to ya. They always do.
7) And if she does come back, she's all yours. You can go ahead and be nice to her now. Give her a little pat on the back or smoosh her cheeks like your mom does to you. Now you're home free and you've got yourself a new chick. At least until your mom says it's time to go home.

Oh My, A Cockroach!

Actually, what I really said was.... "AAHHHH!!!! There's a f***ing cockroach on me!!! Get it the F*** off!!!!!!!!!"
In the south it's inevitable that roaches will find their grubby, disgusting little ways into your house. No matter how spotless you keep it, they'll find a way in and they'll find something to eat. They'll go back and tell their nasty little friends, and they'll tell a friend and they'll tell a friend. Before you know it you've got Joe's Apartment right there in your living room. Ok, I've never really seen anyone have that many roaches and we only get one at a time here and there, but it's still gross.
Yesterday I had to wake up way too early for a Saturday to get ready for some Family Fun Military Appreciation day that we *had* to go to so that some mayor could make himself look good because he "supports the troops". So I am already not in a good mood. I step out of the shower, dry off, and grab my pants to pull them on. I feel something run up my arm. At first I figured it was a spider. We have several big, plump spiders running around here. I looked at my arm and saw some very large red legs running up it. A huge chill ran up my back and I kinda froze for a second. I brushed the red legged creature off and when it hit the floor it was the biggest roach I've ever seen. I mean, hugest, biggest, ugliest roach I have ever seen in my life. It ran under the towel I had plopped on the floor after my shower.
My whole body shook and I instantly freaked out. I yelled and cussed and screamed bloody murder. Very few things get that reaction out of me, so husband knew right away what was wrong. When he came in I told him to stomp on the towel because he had his boots on. Instead he picked up the towel and the roach ran under a crack at the base of the wall. No clue how they can do that. The crack wasn't even visible and he was a huge sucker.
The kids are still a little scared to use that bathroom. They keep the door open while they're in there. The fear will eventually die down. And they have nothing to be scared of, the roach wasn't crawling on them! Not sure how long the evil little beast had been in my pants, but it's disturbing. I had the creepy crawlies for a long time after.
Husband thinks it's funny that I was so afraid of a cockroach who really does nothing to harm people, but I wasn't afraid of a spider that could have been venomous. We have several species of venomous spider down here that we have to watch out for. I can't explain it, but cockroaches freak me out more than almost anything else in the world.
So, I dedicate this story to Earth Day and all of Mother Earth's nasty little beasties that we have to put up with.

Fear of the Unknown

Fear is one of those powerful emotions that make us think irrationally. I saw a picture of my little boy on someone else's website one day and immediately that pesky emotion took over my senses. I didn't know how to react or respond. My initial thought was that I was flaming pissed. How dare someone snatch my picture of my little boy!
After a few weeks I realized that I get what I ask for. I publicly posted pictures of my kids. I wanted a public blog to share with all moms. Not just a select few friends and family. I was sad that I no longer had the blog that I enjoyed writing on. I had fun seeing all the return readers. People that I didn't really know, but they still came back day after day to read what I had to say.
I've decided that I'm not going to let that pesky emotion take over anymore. At least not on this subject. I have a blog, I have stuff to say, I'm going to say it. Hopefully people will come back to read it. Part of what I have to say includes pictures. So pictures I will post. I'll continue to keep my CafeMom page "friends only" and my myspace page "friends only", but this is where I come to write about my mommy life. My mommy life sometimes includes pictures that help illustrate that life.
I didn't really know what I was scared of in the first place. A cyberstalker that no one really believes me about? A crazy lady on CafeMom who's had it out for me for over a year now? What's she going to do? She lives way up in Michigan, no I mean New Jersey, no I mean Pennsylvania. Ya, that's it, she's finally settled on Pennsylvania after changing her mind a few times. I'm not going to be afraid, and I'm going to continue to share my mommy life with whoever is interested enough to read it.

Needed a Little Break

Yep, I know what you're thinking, It's been FAR too long since this woman posted anything! I guess I needed a little break. I got discouraged by all that happened and I didn't feel like posting.

A lot has happened since the last time I posted, so here's the high and low-lights.

~My sister and nephew came down to our house for a nice visit. We found a cute little town in Louisiana called Natchitoches (pronounced Nakadish, I have no clue how, but it's a Creole town if that explains anything!) It's the oldest town down here, founded in 1714 and the downtown area was very quaint. Here are some pics, *without* any people in them!

We found this awesome little restaurant called Laysone's (I think!) and Louisa and I had red beans and rice with sausage that was out of this world, and my nephew Andrew and my son Andrew both tried catfish for the first time. My sister wished she had gotten it, so next time when she visits I know what she'll be ordering! I know my mom will love the catfish, so we'll have to get her in there some day.

Natchitoches is the town where they filmed Steel Magnolia's and it's just such a cute little place. There are several plantations to tour, but we didn't get that far. Maybe some day with husband we can do that.

~My mom spent a week in the hospital. She got an infection on her leg, so she had to stay at the hospital so long to get an antibiotic administered intravenously. She's home now and doing well.

~I volunteered to paint faces at a Cajun Festival that was here on base. The Cajun Fest turned out to be smaller than they hoped for because it rained all morning and people were afraid it would rain during the festival. However, our face painting booth was awesomely successful and I painted (and stooped over) for five hours straight. Drew and Husband tried crawfish for the first time. Husband will probably never eat it again, but Drew enjoyed it. He told me later that a soldier told him he was eating the poop, and that he needed to wipe it with a napkin first. Glad I didn't have time to try any!

I did really good at painting little faces, though. Much better than I thought I would. I could not get the hang of the Dora the Explorer face. A complicated dragon I had no problem with, but just could not do Dora. That's okay because I spent a big chunk of time just painting the dragon that I had become good at. The kids seemed to really like that one.

~I joined a playgroup here on base and a bunch of my online "Loopie" friends pushed me in to going to my first meet-up. Anyone who knows me knows I'm scared to death to try new thing, especially if that new thing has to do with meeting new people. But I couldn't "face" my Loopie friends with failure of not being able to go to a playgroup meet-up. And anyway, it was at the Buger King playland, so if no one showed up, at least Hunter would still get to play. But they did show up, and they were nice. Tomorrow we go to an Easter Egg Hunt and that should be fun, too. They all seem like a nice bunch of ladies.

(By the way, "Loopie" has to do with an email loop and I had never heard of that either before I was asked to join, but I guess it's a common thing.)

And so, for that past few weeks, that's what I've been up to. I hope to post more often and I still have to take the time to get all these pictures off so I can go public again.

I was picked to do a Meme, too, by my friend Nikki. So, Nikki, I'll get on that....soon... hopefully!