pet peeve alert

I'm sure we all have them...those things that drive us batty. I have quite a few, but this time of year reminds me of one of my major pet peeves. The word is ValentiNe, not ValentiME.

I was watching TV as I nursed Jay this afternoon and I had on Judge Alex. A TV commercial came on for the Gold & Diamond Source. It's a local commercial (the company is based in Clearwater), so can any of my Tampa Bay area friend confirm for me whether or not they actually used the word ValentiME in a paid TV ad? You would have thought SOMEONE would have let them know that this was a no-no. Perhaps my ears deceived me. I did rewind it, but I couldn't turn it up loud enough to hear without waking Jason.

My TV ad rant reminds me though, is anyone as thoroughly disturbed by the 1-800-ASK-GARY ads as I am? They usually feature an actor/actress promoting the company, instead of the lawyers themselves. That's fine, not everyone is ready for the TV, but who in the world is casting these commercials? Or are they particularly trying to gear themselves towards a certain clientele? Seriously, how can you promote a company by starting off the commercial "Hey y'all, it's Razz here. I'm no lawyer, I'm a spokeperson for 1-800-ASK GARY". No kidding, you aren't educated enough to be a lawyer? Shocking. It's bad enough that they used "y'all", but "I'm NO lawyer"? Geez. The same commercial also states "call 1-800-ASK-GARY. You MIGHT be glad you did". I'm sorry, I'd prefer to call a company where my chances of satisfaction are greater than "might". They have another equally annoying commercial, but the details escape me right now.

Okay, I'm glad I have that off my chest. I will now do my best to cease judging people.

torture

Is it wrong of me to put my child in clothes which clearly aren't comfortable? With Tyler I think I was more into the outfits. This time I'm more about the comfort. But sometimes I just can't resist putting him in a fun outfit. This one lasted maybe 10 minutes, but I enjoyed myself. Then it was back to regular clothes. Poor child though might develop a complex because even Tyler's preschool realizes that he's never really "dressed to impressed". The other day Jason was in little cotton pants a long-sleeve onesie and they said "awww, look, he's dressed today". I promise you he's "dressed" everyday, but many of those days his "outfit" could pass for a sleeper. LOL.

rolling, rolling, rolling

He desperately wants to roll back to belly, but has yet to accomplish this.

Belly to back, however, is going quite well!

decisions

Tyler had his first taste of rice cereal at 4 months and 1 day old...I remember this because it was Christmas Day. At the time I wasn't really aware about the recommendations to try to wait until closer to 6 months old. All I knew was that he was a large baby, to put in mildly, and the doctors thought it might cut back on the amount of formula he was drinking. Plus, he had reflux and they thought it would help him keep his food down. He did well and I think it was the right decision for him.

But when this baby came along I couldn't fathom the idea of giving him baby food at 4 months. Maybe it's my fear that he's my last baby and I don't want him to grow up? Or maybe because I know he's already getting all the nutrition he needs from my milk and I'd rather stick with a natural diet for now (whereas with Tyler he was on formula so I didn't feel like I was introducing anything too foreign, whether that opinion was right or wrong).

Anyway, today, for the first time ever, I'm second guessing myself. Jason had his 4-month appointment today. They said that they don't think any of his current issues were due to food allergies. They said it could be environmental allergies, his reflux, or that he's just the kind of kid who is perpetually "snotty". They absolutely agreed that he did have a milk protein allergy and said I should continue to follow that dairy-free diet and stick with breastfeeding. His lungs are clear, so whatever is bothering him isn't hurting him, at least from a breathing standpoint. His weight is increasing, so basically they don't really intend to do anything at this point. They did somewhat increase his reflux medications, which I'm thankful for and keeping my fingers crossed that it helps. However, because of his reflux and frequent eating, they would prefer I start him on cereal. Right away I thought "NO" (only in my head) because I was afraid to introduce anything new, but (as my mom pointed out) I'm already drinking rice milk, so it's unlikely that he'd be bothered by it. He's been spitting up a ton more and he seems constantly hungry. He grabs at my food (although he grabs at everything) and he holds his head up well, so physically he's got the prerequisite skills. Hmm, decisions, decisions.

Oh, he weighed in at 16lbs 11oz (whoa) and 26 inches, which apparently puts him at 71% for weight and 75% for height. I'm 100% sure they mis-measured him. For one, I don't have long babies. And two, if he was proportionately in the approximately 70th percentile, wouldn't he seem less chubby? Whatever, I measured him at home and got 24 inches, so I'm pretty sure they are wrong. I guess we'll see at his 6 month appointment though, because if he shrinks according to their records, I guess we'll know I was right. LOL!

Oh, and my letter writing campaign worked. Jason was seen today by a civilian provider (Tyler's doc), which means NO MORE CLINIC! Yipee!!!

Oh, and he rolled over again today, belly to back.

team sports

Grandmom and Pop-pop John had purchased this adorable t-ball set for Tyler for Christmas. While we were in NJ it was too cold to use it, but when we got back to FL it went right in the garage and I had temporarily forgotten about it. When my playgroup recently started talking about signing our kids up for t-ball, I suddenly remembered it was there. So yesterday we broke out the t-ball set and Tyler LOVED it! Surprisingly, even after me trying to show him right-handed (which he is right-dominant with fine motor skills 100%), he kept reverting to his left. Interesting, huh?


Sometimes he missed.

But 95% of the time he was right on.

After rest time today I'm off to sign Tyler up for the team. I'm excited for him to have his own activity, since we've sort of abandoned most of our extra-curricular stuff since school started and Jason came along.

some random thoughts

Little kids in overalls will never cease to entertain me. This was one of Tyler's outfits, which was a hand-me-down for him, but I just think overalls are classic.

This is why we didn't take away Tyler's pacifier sooner than we did. He would have been a regular thumb sucker for sure. Now he just does it on rare occasion.

My mom got Tyler a subscription to High Five for Christmas, basically like a junior Highlights magazine. He loves it! Highlights has an awesome website, which can be found here.

Cute shoes are about the best "accessory" out there for boys. These are my first experience with Robeez, thanks to Andrea. Aren't they adorable?

things that make you go hmmm...

1. Why is it that the MORE time I have to spend with Tyler, the LESS time he wants to spend with me? I'll ask him to play, he'll say no. So if I then start to unload the dishwasher instead, 1 minute later he's asking me to play and I'll respond "well, now I'm unloading the dishwasher, but I can play in a few minutes". I now occasionally get the response "don't you love me anymore?". Talk about heartbreaking.

2. Why is it that I don't have any ants in the house UNTIL I mop my floors? I swear, it's not like they were so dirty that I just didn't see the ants before. They really weren't there. Now they are. This isn't the first time this has happened.

3. Why is it that it took Jason 3+ months to outgrow his 0-3 month clothing, but now he's been in the 3-6 month clothing for less than a month and is already outgrowing that. And of course 3-6 month clothing is what I have the most of.

4. Why is it that we can send people to the moon, but they can't invent a freakin' breast pad that isn't visible under 90% of my shirts?