New Year's Quiz

Linda has asked that we all take part in this quiz. I haven't done it before, but here you go:





1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?



Aside from taking this quiz? Had a c-section.


2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?



I didn't make any resolutions. Normally it's to get in better shape, but at this time last year I was just trying to enjoy my last pregnancy.



3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Aside from myself? No




4. Did anyone close to you die?

Not sure, does my husband's grandfather count?





5. What countries did you visit?


St. Thomas - yeah I know it's technically part of the U.S., but they drive on the other side of the road for pete's sake!



6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?

Sleep



7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?


June 1st, the day my second son was born.



8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?


Getting promoted, while on maternity leave.



9. What was your biggest failure?


Breastfeeding



10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Uh, aside from the c-section? Thankfully not.



11. What was the best thing you bought?


Plane tickets to St. Thomas



12. Whose behavior merited celebration?


My husband's - I would not have made it through the fiasco with my parents without him.



13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?


My parents



14. Where did most of your money go?


Mortgages, then daycare



15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?


Duh - the new baby! Oh yeah, and the new guy we have for president.



16. What song will always remind you of 2008?


I have no idea, I don't really listen to much music.



17. Compared to this time last year, are you:a) happier or sadder?b) thinner or fatter?c) richer or poorer?


a)a little sadder (the parent situation)


b)the same

c)the same - surprisingly. Thankfully, the promotion took care of the added daycare costs.



18. What do you wish you’d done more of?


Excercise



19. What do you wish you’d done less of?


Bottle washing



20. How did you spend Christmas?


At home, with my three boys - hubby, the monkey, & the chipmunk



21. Did you fall in love in 2008?


Absolutely - wouldn't you have fallen in love with these two guys?




22. What was your favorite TV program?


So You Think You Can Dance?


23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?



I don't know if I would call it hate, but I have a strong dislike for the two people who raised me.



24. What was the best book you read?



I've only read fluff this year



25. What was your greatest musical discovery?



Does the Yahoo customizable radio station count?



26. What did you want and get?



A Roomba



27. What did you want and not get?


More time to sleep



28. What was your favorite film of this year?


I saw I Am Legend this year



29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?



I turned 31 this year. I went to work.



30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?



Having breastfeeding work out



31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?


Pregnant, and then sleep deprivation.



32. What kept you sane?



My DVR



33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?



Barack Obama



34. What political issue stirred you the most?



Isn't that obvious?



35. Who did you miss?



Quite a few people



36. Who was the best new person you met?



The Chipmunk



37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.



That I've gotta take care of me first.



38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.



Help by the Beatles - the entire song


Now it's your turn. I especially want to hear what you & you have to say

Thinking

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about how thankful I am that the baby turned out to be a boy (much to everyones surprise in the operating room*). I wouldn't even have the slightest idea how to raise a girl (not that I know what I'm doing with the boys, all I can say here is I am definitely not a girly-girl). And it's not like the relationship with the woman who raised me leaves me with the warm and fuzzies, so the thought of not having to deal with the mother-daughter dynamic is quite relieving - although I would have loved a girl as much as I love the boys that I have, I would have been terrified of the outcome (Mr. Lady says it better than I can).

However, I'm not the only one that only has the y chromosomes to deal with.

Linda has been lamenting the presence of so many pensises, and Mrs. Glamore has more than opened my eyes to what life with the boys will be like when they get older (omg, Hubby and I have got to relax if we're going to come close to dealing with what's been thrown her way with anywhere near half the grace that she has).

In fact, it looks like Julie, Linda, Mrs. Glamore, and myself should start a support group or something. I mean, we're tasked with raising men! Nice, considerate men who might some day grow up to be your daughters husbands (if that's what they're into, that is) - what have I gotten myself into?

Wait a minute! Who said my kids were going to be allowed to have sex?

On second thought, maybe I should have stuck witht he four legged variety of children - at least I was able to get them "fixed". I don't think I'm allowed to do the same to my boys - darn it!

*we didn't find out what the baby was before it was born. Hubby was convinced it was a girl because he saw the ultrasound tech write the letter f (for female?) on the screen before turning it away from him. I was convinced it was a girl because the pregnancy was so very different from my first. I should have know better though - the next door neighbor has five girls, the law of averages was against us from the word go.

PSA - Insuring the kids

We had our insurance agent over a few days ago to go over our life insurance policies. We've known for quite some time that we don't have enough, but didn't really have the energy or the money to anything about it.

We've had an insurance policy for the Monkey since he was about six months old. The reason for insuring the Monkey is not a morbid one, but a practical one. At the time that we started the policy I knew nothing about my biological health background, but we knew what Hubby's past could tell us.

Hubby has really bad asthma. One of his grandmothers died of cancer. One of his grandfathers died from heart problems. Forgetting about what my side of the family had to offer, the future of possible problems did not look good. Based on the information we had garnered, it would be extremely easy (and cheap) for the Monkey to increase the policy we purchased for him as an infant than for him to start one of his own should any of the above become a factor for him. So that's what we did.

Since the Monkey had a policy of his own, it was only right to get one for the Chipmunk. While were at it, we may as well see about increasing our own policies.

We went over what we would absolutely need and what we would like. We got quotes for all four of us. Then, the insurance agent (who is actually our neighbor, good friend, and father to our babysitter) informed us that for a mere $5 a month added to both mine and my husbands policy we could insure both of the kids for about the same amount as we would have insured them for individually - this worked out to be much less than had we decided to get them individual policies.

Why weren't we told about this when the Monkey was a baby?

Probably because insurance agents are greedy and don't want to divulge this information (we had not yet met our current agent/friend/neighbor).

So, consider this my gift to you.

If you have children (or will have children in the future) and your own insurance policies, you can add all of your children to your policies (they call it a rider (sp?)) for a fraction of the cost of getting them their own policies.

You're welcome.

Not So Doomed Afterall

So, it seems my vote did count for something. I was astounded to see that my very conservative state went to Barack Obama, even though my county did not (not a huge surprise to me).

Also, although changing the temperature of the Chipmunk's bottle was a little painful in the lack of sleep area, things seem to be getting back to normal now. He still hates it when I've left the bottle of water to mix his formula with out overnight, but that seems to have worked in my favor.

The temperature in the house drops overnight, therefore the temperature in the water left out for his bottle drops overnight. He woke up a few nights when he wasn't eating enough during the day due to the change in protocol, but then he realized that the formula was even colder. I think he decided that it just wasn't worth it to him to wake up for a really cold bottle. He would take a few sips and realize his error and then insist on going back to sleep. Now, he's slept through the night the last two nights (if you count only waking up this morning at 4:30 as sleeping through the night - it's early, but I'm counting it). I hope things continue this way, because for a week or so of torture with him refusing to eat every now and then things are getting better (and he seems to be getting heavier).

Now I just have to work on introducing him to real food. Wish me luck!

Doomed

I must be psychotic or something. It's either that or I can't leave good enough alone. I mean, why else would I have responded to the Chipmunk sleeping through the night twice last week by pissing him off with cold formula?

You see, we're going to St. Thomas in a few weeks. We've been preparing Chipmunk's bottles with warmer than warm tap water since he was about four weeks old - even though we had sworn to ourselves that we wouldn't do that if we ever had another child who needed to have formula when the Monkey was a baby. The Monkey liked his bottles scalding hot - which, by the way, is a pain in the ass when you leave the house and his bottles were made ahead of time with boiled water (yeah, we've thrown caution to the wind this time around - doesn't the second child always get the shaft? We're even using generic formula (gasp!)).

Anyway, we thought that using warmer than warm tap water would be ok since that would be available whereever we went. We've known since before the Chipmunk was born that we would be going to St. Thomas next month, I guess we just never thought that the tap water there would not be drinkable (at least that's what we've been told). So, to avoid a miserable vacation with him refusing to eat (which might happen anyway), we started giving him room temperature bottles this past weekend since we will be using bottled water to prepare his bottles while in St. Thomas. We don't want to use a bottle warmer - which was how we got the Monkey's bottles so scalding hot - because of the whole BPA issue.

To say the Chipmunk doesn't like them is an understatement - he is more than pissed. He went fourteen and a half hours on Sunday without a drop. He woke up four or five times last night (I lost count) and refused to eat anything except for one of those times.

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, I'm the only one in this house that he'll let feed him so I don't get to share the sleep deprivation with Hubby.

I know if we keep at it he should eventually get used to it - right? At least that's what I need to keep telling myself. Otherwise, we're doomed.

***

Unrelated - I voted today. Unfortunately, Ted Haggard was right in front of me. I'm pretty confident we cancelled out each others votes. This wouldn't be so bad, except he brought his entire family that is of voting age with him. I'm guessing his family voted similar to him.

Yep, we're doomed.