Well trained dog?

So is a dog well trained when he puts himself in his crate after taking food from the counter? You walk in the kitchen and you know he was on the counter because the dinner leftovers that were covered with plastic wrap are now missing the plastic wrap and most of the contents of the food. The dog is nowhere to be found. Until you walk by his crate and there he is looking guilty, peering out through the open door.

Happy Birthday Hilary

Have a Great Birthday.
Love B

Puppies like Starbursts

I know this because of the colorful Starburst wrappers surrounding the smiling, chewing pup. Yes, he somehow managed to unwrap them. Well, either that or he ate a lot more than it appears, wrapper and all. I suppose I should be glad he spared the kids the cavities. I was kind of looking forward to just one though.

A Mother's Run

So, I'm not always laughing. Sometimes, I'm running. This has been a string of days that I just haven't found very amusing. Even good subject matter, such as chasing the puppy around the house to get my shoe back...that would be the shoe that I was actually wearing before it was (and I'm really not sure how) puppynapped right off my foot; or the double sleepover that left my house in such disarray that I'm not even sure where exactly to start (a book of matches did cross my mind ever so briefly). But, alas, none of these things has inspired me with humor. And then it hit me, I've missed my run. "A Mother's Run" was the result of today's elusive run. While these words aren't funny, they capture my essence of the release we all need to keep our patience and respond with kind, loving words to the inevitable nonsense that is thrown at us throughout a day of parenthood.

Gluten / Wheat Free Diet

I'm having trouble finding funny things today. Unless, you count the evil glare the back of my head is getting from the hungry, puffy cat, whose name is Puff btw. His eyes are slits, from which he is shooting Feed Me!. I keep rolling my chair back and slowly getting closer and closer to his face, until he looks away as if he spotted something interesting on the floor. It won't be long before he'll be plopped on my keyboard, glaring Feed Me! directly into my eyes, at which point I will feed him. So, I don't have long.

I put a Reader's Poll on the site today. Very unscientific I know! This is not to pry or be weird or anything (well the verdict is still out on the weird thing). I have noticed that everywhere I go these days I run into people who are feeding their children gluten-free or wheat-free diets. Many of them, like myself, don't have any diagnosed reasons for this. Nonetheless, (like me) they know it is helping their little one with the frequent stomachaches, headaches, bowel issues, and some have even seen sensory integration issues improve. I, myself, realized that I don't tolerate wheat, after doing the Queen's Cleanse (more about the cleanse later). At the time I realized this about myself, I had one of the twins seeing doctors to determine the cause of frequent headaches and stomach issues. Nothing was ever discovered as the cause of his headaches and stomach problems; however adjusting his diet to a wheat-free diet has helped significantly. Neither of us has tested positive for celiacs. I would love to know what it is about the diet that is working for us, but hesitate to start with GI docs and invasive testing procedures and such. If you have experiences with this with your own family, I'd love to hear from you. If I get responses, I'll pull together a gluten-free recipies and tips page. The diet is really not as hard as it initially sounds!

Oh Crap

So I'm in the car with the kids, getting ready to back out of the driveway. Now, 'Oh Crap' is not something I like to hear, even on a good day. But, after cleaning orange juice out of practically the whole kitchen, it kind of seemed fitting. Especially coming on the heels of, "Hey boys! Watch I can spit all the way to the bushes". I close my eyes, because I'm pretty sure that his window wasn't open. I open my eyes slowly, one at a time, as if somehow this will change the outcome. As the wad slowly oozes down from the window glass onto the side of the door, my attention is caught by the fine line of spittle still attached to his lip, linking him to the window like a clothes-line to a tree. In a panicky voice, he exclaims, "ah, what do I do?", and I notice his eyes. The surprise and innocence that I seldom see anymore in those pre-teen eyes bring me back to him as maybe 3 years old, standing before me with his hopelessly broken toy asking me to "tape it". It is the twins' laughter from the back that pulls my attention back to the moment and the anxiousness of the spitter. I reach down and pull out a wet wipe from the console, hand it to him and say, "You missed the bushes".

It was time for a good cleaning anyway...

Ever wondered what it would look like if someone laid a full carton of orange juice on it's side in the bottom of the fridge and didn't put the cover back on it, oh, and immediately left the house for hours? Behold! It even drips down and pools underneath. But, now the kitchen has a nice fruity scent, and besides, it was time for a good cleaning. So far, it was either Daddy or Not Me. My bet is on Not Me.