7 Quick Takes Friday (4)
Posted by: erinmlee on: July 3, 2009
1.
I really, really, really, really, really want to move. But the thought of fixing up this house to sell is frighteningly overwhelming. I’m going to try to take it a room at a time and see where that gets me. I really do love this house, but our family has nearly doubled in size since we bought it, and it’s feeling a bit tight for the five of us. If we could find a place with all the elements of this place plus one or two more rooms (a family room, maybe a fourth bedroom), I would be a happy camper. It doesn’t even have to be updated – we are do-it-yourselfers.
2.
I wish I had found this years ago!!! Gone is the nasty late afternoon glare in the living room and kitchen. This is going to keep our house cooler and save us money. And it was only $20 and super easy to install. Awesome.
3.
I wish I had thought of this years ago!!! Since Kayla is a climbin’ fool, I devised this ingenious (if I do say so myself) way to keep her from scaling the living room bookshelves: sheets of clear plexiglass velcroed to the edges of the bookshelf. They’re nearly invisible, and the added bonus is she doesn’t sit and pull books off the shelf anymore. Score!
I would post a picture, but since it’s nearly invisible, you wouldn’t really see what I’m talking about anyway… 
4.
I went to the store tonight and bought David a 6-pack of beer.
They didn’t card me.
Phooey.
So I’m about to turn 32 and have borne 3 children. I don’t look like a teenager anymore. I get it. But could the cashier, a fellow female no less, not humor a gal?
Oh well, whatever.
5.
I had a dream last night that I was outside with the kids when I spotted a ferocious looking tiger, and I had to hurry the kids inside while wondering if the tiger had spotted and was following us. I dream this dream a lot, though the animal and our location may change. What is up with that? Is there some significance to dreaming that you’re afraid of being mauled (or your kids being mauled) by a large creature?
6.
A quick update on my vegetables: they are actually thriving!!! I’m so shocked. They look good enough to eat. (Compare this picture of my pepper to the one I took just over a week ago!) I just can’t believe nothing has died yet. Thank you, Miracle Gro!
7.
Happy Birthday to my niece, who turns 7 tomorrow on the 4th of July! What fun to have the whole country celebrate your birthday with you. I hope she has a very special day, and I’m looking forward to spending at least some of it with her!
Head on over to www.ConversionDiary.com for more quick takes. Happy Friday!
The ladder of success
Posted by: erinmlee on: June 25, 2009
Here is Kayla at the top of the elephant bed ladder. (I knew it was too much to hope that she could only climb the bottom rung.) She got here entirely on her own. The picture is taken up close because of course I had to be right there with one arm ready to catch her.
Fortunately, I can remove the ladder. Unfortunately, I cannot remove the couches.
I think it is time to wrap her in bubble wrap.
And by the way, can someone please, please, please remind her that SHE IS ONLY TEN MONTHS OLD AND HAS NO BUSINESS ENGAGING IN SUCH CLIMBING ACTIVITIES AS THESE?????
Lettuce rejoice!
Posted by: erinmlee on: June 25, 2009
I thought my pepper plant had died, but apparently it was just in a coma. It’s back, and it’s actually growing a little pepper! Isn’t this the cutest little pepper you’ve ever seen?
And my lettuce is growing…
And my green onions:
I have never had any interest whatsoever in gardening before, but so far this has been more fun than I ever would have dreamed. Stay tuned over the coming months to see if anything edible actually results from all this toil!
I’m in seeeeeeerious trouble…
Posted by: erinmlee on: June 23, 2009
I’m really not ready for this:
Or this:
Or this!!!!
Isn’t she too young to be climbing already??? Isn’t it wild enough that she’s already walking? What kind of crazily ambitious little dynamo do I have on my hands???
Sickness
Posted by: erinmlee on: June 20, 2009
Sad, huh? This is how Kayla looked most of yesterday. Her temperature was near 104 and she wanted to be held constantly. (I took this picture after putting her in the high chair to clean up after she threw up.) Can you see the tear on her cheek? She tried to cry because I wasn’t holding her, but she barely had the strength. Talk about heartbreaking. Carrie was sick too, although her fever didn’t get as high and she didn’t throw up.
They both still had fevers this morning but seem to be doing better this afternoon. It’s been an exhausting few days; I haven’t slept much since Tuesday night. And even though Kayla is feeling better, she still wants to be held constantly. She did wander off to the playroom for a little while (which is why I decided to snatch a little computer time), but it didn’t last long; I can hear her fussing and calling for mama.
But the good news is my roma tomato plants sprouted yesterday, and my lettuce sprouted today.
Very exciting! If I can manage to keep them all alive, we might have some fresh fruits and veggies in a couple of months. That’s a very big IF, though… I already managed to kill my bell pepper plant. 
Not such a teachable moment
Posted by: erinmlee on: June 17, 2009
I’m sitting next to Logan, gazing out the window at the clouds rolling by.
Me: Logan, did you ever wonder what clouds are made of?
Logan: No.
Me: Well, are you wondering now that I’ve asked?
Logan: No.
I am alone!
Posted by: erinmlee on: June 6, 2009
It may not last long enough even for me to type this sentence, but as of this moment, I am all by myself. The first moment of quiet alone time I’ve had for as long as I can remember. Everyone else in the house is asleep. Oh, sweet bliss!
No, you don’t understand. This… NEVER happens. Usually the baby wakes me up, so first thing in the morning I am caring for her. If I try to get up before her, she is awake within minutes. At bedtime, she falls asleep in my arms (or next to me) and won’t sleep long without me. To demonstrate, she has just awoken; my moment is gone. Still, this was amazing – she gave me enough time to shower, eat a bowl of cereal, start a load of laundry, and write a few sentences of this post. Which I’ll continue, even though she is awake.
Moments like this morning’s are rare, and I enjoy them quite a bit. However, having been through this twice before, I’m fully aware of how short this phase is in my baby’s life. To me, the moments that she sleeps securely in my arms are precious.
Now the only problem is that she has fallen back asleep in my arms, and it’s time to get everyone ready for Logan’s t-ball ceremony…
7 Quick Takes Friday (3)
Posted by: erinmlee on: June 5, 2009
- In: 7QTF
- Leave a Comment
1. With the way I’m posting lately, I may as well change the name of my blog to “7 Quick Takes Fridays.” Our days have just been very busy, and with Kayla working on 4 teeth at once, I haven’t had a lot of computer time. The good news is tooth #4 has now poked through, so I hope I will now be enjoying a happier baby and more computer time! Maybe…
2. Note the new picture of the kids on the right. I hadn’t taken any pictures of all of them together since December, so I decided it was time for an update, especially considering how quickly Kayla is growing. She’s walking now; have I mentioned that? See a video here. (I love how she purses her lips and grunts at the last second!)
3. I think I have a popcorn kernel stuck between my back teeth, and so far I haven’t been able to floss it out. It really hurts!! I guess that’s what I get for overindulging in the world’s most delicious kettle corn.
4. Our car shopping is done. I’m officially a Minivan Mom. It’s a very pretty deep blue-gray color. I did a terrible job negotiating the price and I’m sure we way overpaid. Oh well, live and learn. It’s only money, right?
5. We will soon be taking said minivan on a little cross-country vacation. At the end of this month we’re either headed to Philadelpha PA, or Milwaukee WI. I’ve never been to Philadelphia, and it would be an “ancestrally significant” trip (see #6). But if we go to Milwaukee we can stop in Chicago and visit my 94-year-old grandma. We haven’t seen her since last June, and I sure would love for her to meet Kayla. Kayla is her 15th great-grandchild, and the only one she hasn’t met yet.
6. If we do go to Philadelphia, we will be accompanying my parents on a rather exciting trip to pick up an old piece of our family history. My mom has found the people who currently possess the wooden trunk she writes about here (see the last sentence of the second bullet point), and they want to give it to her as they believe it ought to belong to descendants of its original owner. She just has to come out to Philly to pick it up! And as one of my mother’s descendants, I’ve already called “dibs.” 
7. It’s June, and I haven’t finished the school year with Logan yet. We’re behind on math. It’s not his fault of course; I’m the one who has been lacking in discipline all year long, and now I’m scrambling to finish. Luckily he really already knows a lot of the material, so it should be easy to finish by the end of the month or so. Speaking of which… I need to get off the computer and administer his chapter 4 test! (He’s going to ace it! )
Visit www.conversiondiary.com for more quick takes. See ya next week!
Car shopping…
Posted by: erinmlee on: May 23, 2009
Sigh… car shopping is SO not fun. I mentioned in yesterday’s 7QTF that I had pretty much settled on a nice, used, (relatively) cheap, bare bones Honda Pilot. I was kind of happy in a way that I felt so blah about the car. I mean, it’s just a car, right? We can’t really afford a new car, so I knew I needed to be satisfied with a used car (which we also can’t afford). So I was convinced that the Pilot was the way to go, and I felt like I was in a good position to negotiate, since I felt 100% ready to walk away if the guy wouldn’t give me the price I wanted. (I really didn’t CARE whether I bought that car or not!!)
Well, David convinced me to test drive a Toyota Sienna, just to see what it was like. So I did that today, and I really liked it. Much more than the Pilot, actually. I’m really not hot on driving a minivan, but it sure was nice and spacious and luxurious. Lots of features that I don’t need. Did you know the back windows open like in a regular sedan? Cool! I guess. It was $20,000. Did I mention how badly I do NOT want a car loan??? And I’ll have a terrible time negotiating the price since the guy knows I love it.
This is just not fun at all.
7 Quick Takes Friday (2)
Posted by: erinmlee on: May 22, 2009
- In: 7QTF
- 4 Comments
1. This edition of 7QTF comes to you from my bed. I am incapacitated today with a terrible bout of vertigo. I knew I was in trouble this morning when I went to get Logan a tissue, and the room started spinning around me. I called David in tears (how on earth would I take care of 3 young kids plus my sister-in-law, who is staying with us while she recovers from a broken leg?), and would you know he took a sick day and came home to care for all of us? I feel blessed beyond measure. I hope it goes away quickly, though.
2. There have been a couple of new additions to the household. Meet Logan Sorensen and Carrie Sennysen, Logan and Carrie’s imaginary friends! Logan recently became very interested in Lola’s imaginary friend Soren Lorensen, which led him to ask me many questions about my childhood imaginary friend (Jenny). Before I knew it, he was introducing me to Logan Sorensen. And of course when Carrie found out, she just had to join in on the fun.
And I thought the bed was crowded with the five of us…
3. Thanks to our crazy busy lives, I never had a chance to post about our very exciting Easter. This year I saw a clear and joyous answer to 13 years of prayer as my husband was baptized and received into the Church at our parish Easter Vigil Mass. What a blessed event! Too bad I missed most of it. (Why I ever thought it would be a good idea to bring all three little ones to a 2 1/2 hour Mass that didn’t even start until 8:45 pm is beyond me…) I did see his baptism, but I missed his First Communion and Confirmation. Well, at least we have ahead of us a lifetime (God willing) of attending Mass and receiving Communion together. There’s something special I feel about the fact that we are now officially a Catholic family. I can honestly say that in the 6 weeks or so since Easter, I have seen a real, tangible difference in our marriage (which is now sacramental). It is awesome. God is good!
4. I am a bad mommy. Last night when I cleaned up most of the mess from dinner, I forgot about an open can of olives, then I got busy with something and didn’t notice Carrie was playing with the can. She ended up cutting her thumb right along the quick of her nailbed. Good thing Daddy was here to take care of her. As he was cleaning her up, singing her songs, and asking her about her favorite color (pink, of course), it was completely obvious to me that his new career path is the right one – he’s going to be a fantastic nurse.
5. I found a car I suppose I wouldn’t mind buying. It’s a 2006 Honda Pilot. It is about as plain as they come, no bells and whistles, so it’s not terribly expensive, but it would do the job. I absolutely despise the idea of a car payment, though. It’s been over 5 years since we’ve had one, and I just don’t want to go down that road again. I’m trying to come up with an alternative. Maybe we could buy a cheapie car for David, and try to save up our money until we actually need a car that fits four carseats.
6. Logan’s t-ball team won their first game the other day! Go Orioles! I am surprised at how much I actually enjoy watching his team play. I also enjoy seeing how much he has improved from that first practice just a few weeks ago, when he didn’t even know how to put his glove on. At his first game, he hit the ball and ran straight to third base. On defense, he spent the whole game playing in the dirt. He had no sense of the game going on around him. Now he runs the bases like a pro, and he has fielded the ball several times. Most importantly, he really enjoys the game. I’m already looking forward to the fall season.
7. Kayla had her 9-month checkup this week. Everything went fine, except for some reason the girl is terrified of the doctor’s office. When I set her down on the examining table, she became hysterical – before anyone even did anything! When I put her on the scale, all she had to do was sit there and look at the pretty balloon, but she screamed as if we were torturing her. In a way, this worked to her advantage: when it was time for her shot, she was already so worked up that I don’t think she even noticed.
