I'm not eloquent like most of you and I don't have a fancy job or an exciting social life, but I have all kinds of thoughts (probably not of interest or value to JUs) that I might as well write down.  It's not like anyone's forced to read it, and there are other people *cough* who do the same.

My boys are off for Spring Break for 2 weeks.  That's a long frickin' time.  I love my boys very much, but when they are together 24/7 or when they are bored I begin to wish I could drink (more, LOL).

The other day they were grab-assing and Orian slammed the side of his head into a pointy ledge on the entertainment center.  He howled in pain and I was very worried.  I used the otoscope (yes, we have one) to look in his ear, but I couldn't tell what I was looking at since I'm not all that aquainted with the features of the inner ear.  I didn't see any blood or liquid so I took that as a sign that all was well.  I gave him some Tylenol and as soon as he gulped it down he proclaimed that he felt better, despite the fact that only minutes earlier I asked him to rate his pain and it was "the worst ever". 

I am hoping to plan some activities for them during Spring Break to break up the monotony and make things fun.  I think we'll work on some Cub Scout belt loops, too.  I should ask the boys which ones they want to earn most.

Today we've been playing Guitar Hero II and that game is hard.  Xavier loves it, though.  The MP3 player in my head alternates between Shout at the Devil and the music from Izzy's Jumperoo without mercy. 

Xavier tried the regular controller because he thought he could do better that way, and then he decided someone needed to design a controller that isn't "alien".  I told him he could do it and be rich and famous.  To which he replied, "I'm not good at that.  Mine would be, like, a sock taped to a stick."  We rolled on that one.  It's strange the kind of things that become funny when you're a parent.  My kids are just so brilliant with the humor.  Especially Xavier.

The house always seems to be trashed.  I'm not a particularly skilled housekeeper, but the boys are so hard to motivate.  I've been reading a lot of Dr. Sears and I think it's helped some.  Adrian read Kid Cooperation in Iraq and he's been emailing and calling me with ideas and tips he's gotten from it.  One of his examples for natural consequence was if Izzy craps her pants, she should have to do her laundry.  LOL.  Ok, I'm sure that's only funny to me.

I have charts for stickers for good behavior, a bulletin board for showing off good work, a green, yellow, red, blue card system for behavior, reminders of important things like the Cub Scout Promise and the Time Chant.  I have a suggestion box and a little hanging place for things the kids need to not forget to do or take with them.  I have a deployment chain.  Reminders on the mirrors in the bathrooms to do things like wash your hands and replace the toilet paper.  I think if the boys' teachers could see our house they would realize how hard I'm trying.  I get tired of hearing about every tiny infraction.  If my child calls another child a "banana" I really don't need to know about it.  If I'm not there to monitor and correct my child's behavior, it's all you, Miss Teacher.

Seriously, though, one time Xavier had to see the counselor for calling a kid a banana (like the fruit, no innuendo intended) and yet there's a kid at school who has repeatedly called him a "butt plug" without any punishment.

I just wish that the teachers could understand how awesome my boys are.  They act like little boys and they aren't perfect, but c'mon.  They are really cool human beings. 

I don't mean for this to turn into a school rant.

Isabella is growing up fast.  She rolls over and is trying very hard to crawl.  I wouldn't believe it except Orian crawled at 4 months.  She is so bald.  Poor baby.  But she has such a spunky personality.  It's funny how someone isn't in your life and that's ok, but then once you have them it feels like they were always there and you can't imagine your life without them. 

I'm just sad that Adrian is missing so much.  It's hard to watch her grow and become her own little person and reach milestones without someone to share it with.

And I hate making hard parenting decisions by myself.  Cause then I'm the only one to blame.

I'm so frickin' opinionated when it comes to parenting.  You guys have no idea.  And I play nice at the parenting website I spend time at, but I really have some solid beliefs about child-rearing and baby care.  I know I screwed things up before, but with experience and study I have come to form some concrete ideas about what should and should not happen and when it should and should not happen.  LOL.

And of course I'm a breastfeeding nazi.  Did you know Norway has a 99% breastfeeding rate?  I'm sure this is helped by their generous maternity policy, but I think it challenges the American idea that lots of women "can't" breastfeed. 

I think a lot of people think of human milk as being gross, but when you think about the fact that we drink milk from a COW, that's a lot grosser. 

And now I have a bowl of cereal to make because as we all know, anything that momma combines to create a food item is much more delicious and satisfying than anything a child might put together himself no matter how proficient he might be at it. 

Oh, and I didn't spell check this.