My Phobia

So I'm going to preface this blog post again saying that I am a bit of an oddball...but here is my thing...I have become a germaphobe, and it has escalated since we have had kids. I wasn't much of one as a kid, in fact I used to run around all summer barefoot, and had black soles until school started up in the fall. I know I never liked using public restrooms as a kid, and would try to hold it all day at school. But, I never really worried that much about germs until I started doing animal rescue. I saw how easily the animals would catch things, even after being so careful. I spent a lot of time reading up on diseases and such, and proper disinfecting techniques. Then it got even more crazy when we had a baby, which also coincided with people using Purell and disinfecting wipes more. And then when I was pregnant with Rowan, the swine flu broke out, and now I am even more conscientious about germs. I'm not as bad as Monk, and you won't see me on that new show on A&E 'Obsessed', but I am enough of one that I drive my husband crazy!

Anyway, Rowan is now at the age that she is going to be crawling around, and putting more things in her mouth and I have this urge to get the carpet cleaner out now, but I am going to wait till after our party this weekend : ) Anyway, if it were up to me I would ask everyone at the door to please take their shoes off, but I find it a bit awkward to do so, but I do try to have people take them off when they go up to our second floor which is where the kids mostly hang out and play. I know I am a little weird about this, but I did a little google search on 'shoes and babies' and came across a blog 'Etiquette with Miss Janice' and she had a post titled: "How Dirty Are Your Shoes?"

She had a few interesting points:
There are several benefits to removing shoes at the front door:
~Children play on floors...think about all the dirt, pet excrement, insects, pesticides and others chemicals that are tracked in with shoes; it's disgusting!
~You will not have to clean your floors as often.
~Shoes can scratch wood floors.

The first point is my main concern now that Rowan will be crawling...anyway, she (the blogger) was interviewed on the subject by Good Morning America, and after reading that article and finding out that shoes do in fact carry all sorts of bacteria, it made be feel that maybe I'm not as much of an oddball after all ;)

Snips and Snails, and Puppy Dogs Tails

OK, I need to preface this story by saying that I do know that I am a bit of an oddball, but hey that is what makes me, ME. Last night after Rowan had just gone down for bed, we took Liam outside for a bit to play. Mike was watching after Liam, so I decided to get the cushions out for our lawn furniture. We had put the covers in the storage bin the night before because I had hosed down the frames. Anyway, after Liam was in bed, Mike ran to Lowe's to get some new shades for the pergola and pick up dinner since it was so late. I went back out to cover all the chairs and one of the covers had a snail on it! It startled me a bit, and I didn't know what to do with it. I didn't want to kill it, but I had remembered Mike saying they were not good for gardens. I thought of putting it in the bug jar for a while, but I didn't know what they needed and didn't know if it would survive. I walked it down the road to an area that no one really takes care of...There are 2 large trees and some weeds. After Mike got home, I had mentioned it to him, and then he told me it probably wasn't a great place for it because it's really dry over there, and it would probably dry up. I felt kinda bad, and decided to go back to see if I could find it. Mind you, it's 10:30 pm. I took a flash light with me, and as I was looking around, I realized this area is where all the dogs and cats crap! POOP is everywhere! And the ground is pretty sandy, and the weeds are dead. I look for quite a while trying to be careful not to step on the poor guy or the poop. I was about to leave, but I shinned the light under one of the trees and see him! I can't believe I actually found him, but he was all sandy, and I thought he might have died already, but I placed him in the container and as I was walking home he started to climb around again. I found a place for him in the flower bed away from the garden. Anyway, I tell this story because I am trying to teach Liam to be kind to creatures big and small. And I also think stuff like this can be a fun learning lesson for kids. So next time we come across one, we can let Liam look at it and teach him some interesting facts about them. I did a google search on them, and learned a few things myself!

Snails can live up to 5 to 10 years. Some have been known to live up to 15 years.

They have the reproductive organs of both males and females which categorizes them as hermaphrodites. However, the myth that they can create offspring on their own is false. They must mate with another and then both of them will have the ability to lay eggs.

Snails don’t see very well so they have to rely upon their good sense of smell to help them find their prey. They also aren’t able to hear.

Garden snails can move about 55 yards per hour. While they don’t move fast, they do move at a very steady pace. They are believed to be one of the slowest creatures on the entire Earth.

They are nocturnal animals which means most of their movements take place at night.
http://www.snail-world.com/Snail-Facts.html

I also found a series of 'Back Yard' books on Amazon that teaches about all sorts of backyard creatures like snails, bees, ants, etc. I'll have to get some for Liam because he is so interested in those kinds of things right now...cause that's what little boys are made of : )

Kiddo's Update

Liam's new favorite word is 'Nope', and he is starting to want to pee in the toilet now. He has done it a few times in the big toilet, but tonight he actually sat on his Elmo toilet. He has a hard time relaxing enough to let it out, but hey it's a start!

Rowan had her first taste of fruit. It was Mango...she had finished her Rice cereal, and was still hungry, and I know it probably wasn't the best idea to start off with Mango, but that is all I had in the house that was left from our previous baby. Anyway, this is a video of our little girl trying a fruit for the first time...she has only had mama's milk and rice cereal until now. This was taken on 6-17-10, she is 6 months. Her expressions are priceless!

CLICK HERE FOR THE PRICELESS VIDEO OF ROWAN EATING MANGO:

I also have uploaded a bunch of video's of the kids on my Vimeo site,
CLICK HERE FOR THE LINK.

Update on My Foot

Well, my foot is feeling a lot better this week, and I don't need the crutches anymore, thank goodness!! I went in this morning to get the stitches out, but because of where the stitches are, the Dr. felt it would be good to give it another week before taking the stitches out. I'm a little bummed, since I was looking forward to having them out, but I would rather play it safe, and make sure it is good and healed before they come out. He also said to start using my foot, and stretching it as best I can, so that when the stitches do come out that it doesn't split open...yeah that would really suck. Anyway, while I was there I had him take 5 more moles, leaving the grand total to 20! I have to admit it was starting to become a bit of obsession because each time I went, I found new ones (or rather ones I hadn't noticed before), and then Liam would also point them out, but I think it's a good idea that I take a break for while and give my body some time to heal. The remaining ones are really not a big deal, and they are what the Dr. calls 'Angel Kisses', meaning they are harmless. (I will post some progression pics of my foot as soon as I can download them to the computer).

Privacy Issues

Dear Friends and Family;

I was on whitepages.com today, and I was totally shocked to find that they have a new feature that links your name, address and phone number to your personal profile page, like Face Book and Linkedin! Even if your name is not listed in the phone book, it still links to it. So I had to sign up to whitepages to edit my account. Originally I just wanted to take off the link to FB, but it would not allow me to. So, I ended up having to remove my name and # completely, but the FB link still remains. I sent them an email requesting that they remove that link, but I am not sure if they will, and who knows what other phone listing sites are doing the same, but I feel that this should be completely illegal!

Anyway, since our family has an uncommon last name I am a little more careful about not using my last name on public sites...I DID (past tense) use my last name on FB, but that is because it was a private account where only my friends could see it...but now that phone book listing sites are linking to it, it's not so private anymore. Anyway, I really would like to keep this blog public so that people do not have to sign in to read it, and I think I will still keep it public for now, I just ask that if anyone wants to link to it to please not use my last name. I am really flattered and honored if you do link to it, or would like to but please just use first names, or the name of my blog 4fayz...I guess I'm just a little more paranoid about it now since finding that information on the white pages site. Thanks!

Whack-A-Mole

Thankfully, I am not talking about this kind of mole! But, I do find the irony in that game 'Whack-A-Mole'...you find one, then you notice another one pop up, that you never noticed before. Anyway, so last summer every time my mom saw me in a tank top she would tell me that I should really have the moles on my shoulders taken off. I was pregnant at the time, so I knew if by chance anything came up malignant, that I would not want to start any Chemo, so I put it off till after Rowan was born. I finally made my first appointment at the end of April. I started with the first 5 biggest ones, then went back a couple of weeks later, did 5 more then asked the Dr. about the one in the arch of my left foot. Of ALL of them, he said that one SHOULD be removed! He also said that it would need stitches, but I would be able to walk still. He said to come back in a month, so last Friday I had the one on my foot taken off.

I think the thing I was most nervous about was the injection in the arch of my foot! And I was right to be nervous, it was very painful! It even stung more than the one in my back when I had an epidural, but really that is not a fair comparison because being in labor really throws your whole pain tolerance out the window. Anyway, they numbed it up really good, and I didn't feel much else except a little pulling when he was stitching it up. He said it was pretty deep and that they had to do internal stitches as well as external ones. He also figured I had it most of my life, since it was so deep. I do know that I have had it since I was a kid because I remember that my brother has one in the same spot, but on the opposite foot. So for the rest of the day I was able to walk OK, but just with a limp. However, the following day all the numbing medicine was gone, and I could not walk on it AT ALL, even with the pain medication! The arch of the foot stretches if any weight is put on it at any point, and anytime I tried to put any weight on it pulled on the stitches, and was very painful. Thankfully, my mom had lent me her crutches because I don't know how in the world I would have done anything! Mike took over everything the whole weekend, the kids, the house and me! He is a Saint!

Then on Monday, I just didn't feel healed enough to go to work, so I took a sick day. My mom and Mike's mom came over to help with the kids. I am very grateful to them for their help. Then on Tuesday I decided to go to work, and man was it a LONG day. I usually leave work around 2:30-3:00 pm, but since I can not carry the kids inside the house, I have to work late the rest of this week so that Mike will be home to get them. I can tell that it is feeling better each day, but I still try to not put too much pressure on it because I don't want to pop any stitches out, plus I think the less I use it, the quicker and better it will heal. This experience has really given me a lot of sympathy and empathy for others that have to use crutches, or a wheelchair. My upper arms are pretty sore, and the leg that I am using is sore,and my hands are sore from holding onto the crutches too! And my knees are bruised and sore too from crawling on the floor! Everything is 10 or 20 times harder to do, and it wears you out pretty quickly too. I will be so glad to get the stitches out at the end of next week!! I really hope that it is benign, and that my foot heals OK...there are just so many nerves and muscles in your foot...I appreciate the arch of my foot so much more now.