We have a mouse

At least one.  There might be more.

A few weeks ago my husband and I  were in the kitchen getting dinner ready.  I have some 5 gallon buckets that I keep flour, sugar, wheat, powdered milk, and rice in on the floor of my pantry.  I had pulled out a bucket or two that day for some reason, and as I pushed it back in I noticed what looked like some grains of wild rice, or rodent dung.  I pointed it out to my husband and asked him what he thought it looked like.  His response was also rodent dung.    We figured that if there was a rodent problem we would see more signs, and we cleaned it up like it was rodent dung. Then I noticed what looked like some other types of rice grains on the floor.  We had had wild rice a few days earlier, and I just wrote it off as being rice. 

Also lately our refrigerator has started making this really annoying squeaking sound.  One day I had what I thought was a joke run through my mind.  I wanted to tell my husband that I had found the mouse that had left it's droppings in the pantry.  It is hiding behind the refrigerator and that is what is making the sound.  Well I never told him, and promptly forgot.

Until last night.  My husband and I were sitting in the living room talking while we were waiting for the kids to settle down so we could go to bed.  My husband was facing the stairs, and suddenly his eyes got big.  I was thinking it was something to do with the kids, but then he turned to me and said, "we have a mouse."  I was still confused, and thinking of the kids.  I think I asked him something about which kid he was talking about, when he said, "I just saw a little black thing come down the stairs and under the fridge."

Yuck!  So he pulled out the fridge and found a ton of mouse droppings.  But of course no mouse. 

Today I decided to really clean the kitchen floor and get rid of any food remnants I could find.  I started pulling stuff out of the pantry, and found a ton of droppings in there too.  So now we have to set traps, and keep our kids out of them, and try to keep them from coming back.  I hope there is just one.  But there might be more.

Childrens and infant Tylenol and Motrin Recall

So this morning I was at the grocery store and while I was there I went to get some new infant Tylenol drops.  Well there weren't any on the shelves, of Tylenol or generic brands, and there was a sign saying that children's and infant's concentrated drops have been recalled. 
So I did some research and found out that it isn't only Tylenol, but pretty much all children's pain medication, and antihistamines.  I'm glad they catch things like this because I don't want to be putting harmful things into my children, but still it is a little frustrating when you have a baby who is screaming because she is teething, and Orajel only works for a short time.  Oh well I guess it is better than nothing.

There's a baby in my belly.

While this is an announcement of sorts, child number four will be joining our family sometime around the end of the year, this blog post is more about my children's reactions to this news.


One day, before I had told my children we would have a new baby but my waist was already starting to expand, Cinderella declared herself "Captain Diaper Change."  Of course something like that was too good to miss, so seeing as how Aurora needed a diaper change at the moment, I let her do the job.  She loved it so much she started claiming the right anytime a diaper needed to be changed. 

Currently we are working on potty training Guy, but he still wears pull-ups some of the time, and when he does a number in them, it is a big mess.  Anyway, Cinderella wanted to change him too.  I told her that probably only Mom or Dad should change Guy.  She then asked if she could only change Aurora's diapers.  I said "yeah, but when we have another baby in our family maybe you can help change it's diapers."  Her response to that was, "I hope there is one in there right now, because your tummy is getting big like there is one."

Well I didn't break the news to her at that point, but one day a few days later, we were having a girls sleep over at grandma's house while the boys  were at a fathers and sons outing.  I've been needing to take a progesterone supplement with this pregnancy, and I have been instructed to take it right before bed.  So Cinderella happened to still be up when I was getting ready for bed, and asked why I have to take medicine, and if all mommy's have to take medicine.  I then told her that I have a baby in my tummy.  She got a confused look on her face, and then said, "but you have a baby out!" 
"That's right, I do.  But I have one in too."
"You have a baby in and a baby out?!  Wow!  I hope it's a girl, what are we going to name it?......."  Yeah she was excited. 

Guy had a little bit different response.  He didn't say much immediately.  A few days later, we were all sitting at the table eating a meal, when Cinderella said something about the baby in mommy's belly.  Guy then responded with, "there is a baby in MY belly."  pulling up his shirt and sticking out his tummy.  I asked him if it was a big baby.  "It's a big baby, and it's a BOY. We are going to have lot's of babies in our family.  One of their names is Aurora, but I don't know the other's names."

Aurora of course hasn't really had any response, because she is still to little to know any different.  However her response in the end is the one I am the most concerned about.  She and her younger sibling will be about 20 months apart.  And she is a total mama's girl.  I don't think she is going to be too happy about another baby taking mom's attention.  Oh well I guess only time will tell.

Staying dry all night long

So Cinderella has been potty trained in the day time for about a year and a half, but she still has accidents at night.  So up until about a week ago she has been wearing a pull-up at night.  We ran out of pull-ups and I told her I wasn't going to buy any more.  Because as long as she had a pull-up on she made no effort to stay dry.

Since she has stopped wearing the pull-ups we have had an alarm set for 2:00 AM and we go in, wake her up, and help her go to the bathroom.  It has worked really well, and she has stayed dry all night.  Until last night.

Last night she came into my room at 1:30 wet.  We cleaned her up and she asked for a drink.  I was a little hesitant, but I also don't want my kids dehydrated, so I gave her a small one.  She came in again at 5:30, wet again.  I have given her drinks before in the night, after she has gone to the bathroom, and we didn't have any problems.  I don't think the drink she got before she went to bed, was any bigger than it usually is.  I don't know why it happened, but I would love any suggestions on helping kids stay dry through the night.

I am frustrated with Blogger

So if you take a look at my blog, you will probably notice that my cute pictures of my kids that were on the side are gone.  I removed them thinking I would easily be able to put them back.

When I try to edit the layout of my blog, it only shows me part of the layout.  The bottom part is cut off.  And there is no scroll bar.  Frustrating.  Well I got tired of my blog still looking like St. Patrick's Day, so I tried to change my background.  However that was on the bottom of my layout, so I couldn't get to it.  I removed the pictures to bring everything up, and was able to change my background.  But then I realized that the "Add New Elements button" must be at the bottom of the screen, where I can't get to it.  So I can't bring the pictures of my kids back.  Right now it is pretty frustrating to me.

We Like Books!

This is what I found my kids doing this morning.  I just couldn't resist taking  pictures.

 

Sewing

Sorry I haven't been blogging much this year, I've been a bit busy.

My brother got married in March, and to help I made some of the outfits for the reception.

I made Aurora's dress and shrug. The other polka dot dress that my niece (one of the other babies) is wearing. Cinderella's shrug. My skirt, and my sister one of my sister's skirts.
Then I also made another shrug for Aurora, while I was trying to figure out the pattern before working on the satin.

I also made one other shrug for Aurora, and one for Cinderella in my practice run. Those ones however didn't match the dresses. Well at least not Aurora's. So I felt compelled to make them Easter dresses that matched those shrugs as well.


That wouldn't be that much sewing for some people. But I haven't really done that much sewing in that short a time before. And for me, it was a big task. I'm pleased with the job I did. And it didn't really stress me, that much. But it did keep me away from the computer.