Solidarity with Mommy

The boys are getting so excited for the new baby. I had to share this photo, how cute!!!

Pink!! Maybe...

This morning at the midwife appointment, the nurse could not find the heart beat, so she pulled out the ultrasound machine. I couldn't see a thing because she had her acu'ed arm in front of the screen, but my husband didn't see a penis. He swears he saw the railroad tracks!!!

When I was pregnant with C we went to one of those ultrasound boutique places to find out the sex early and as soon as she put the ultrasound probe on my stomach, I knew it was a boy. So this morning I just had a girl feeling. The midwife said that this time we might get lucky. So we will just have to wait two weeks until the official ultrasound.

Color Wonder? Color Scary!

I was very eager to jump on the Color Wonder and Go Paint band wagon. I love to let the kids paint, but we frequently have quarters that have cheap beige carpet, which means it is impossible to clean. The kids have not been huge fans, mainly I think because it takes a second for the color to show up on the paper after you paint, color, or stamp. The best is by far the Color Wonder paint that comes inside the paint brush. I think the worst overall is the finger paint because it inevitably gets under their fingernails and has a very odd consistency, particularly smeared on the carpet.

One thing that concerns me about these products is the ability to melt plastic. A couple of years ago one of my boys left a marker on something plastic and it left an indentation in the plastic. More recently I purchased the Go Paint Stampers for an airplane trip. Of course the caps that came with the stamps were lost very quickly. I left one in a bag sitting on top of a plastic fork. Lo and behold, the ink in the stamper melted part of the plastic prongs on the fork.

I don't know about you, but I have serious questions as to how these products qualify as non-toxic if the ink can melt plastic. That is why I will no longer purchase these products.

Man in Canoe

Okay so this morning I was watching the footage of the terrible flooding in Indiana, and what do I see, but a man in a canoe paddling across the flood waters. Now this man is not a rescue person, not a firefighter, nope, he is an average dude who has kept his canoe in his garage for just this occasion. I imagine that he has not taken the thing out in years, but along comes a flood, and he just has to canoe around the block. Am I crazy or is there always that one dude in a canoe in flood footage no matter what state in the United States there is some kind of flood? Amidst the raging flood waters there is some guy paddling along as if he is out on a Sunday morning taking advantage of the fine day.

Day Care

I suppose it would be a lot easier for me to go back to work if I could find a good care provider for my kids. My experience so far has been with three different preschools and two CDCs on post. Only one of the preschools either of my kids have been to felt right. H and S are currently going to a "Camp." I am skeptical because it is $50 more a week than their preschool program during the school year. They made it half an hour longer to justify the price. I have some small issues that I can totally overlook because my kids are having fun, but I hate dropping my children off with people who are not enthusiastic about children. I could totally run a daycare out of the house, but I am not enthusiastic about other people's children, so I abstain. I wish others would do so. I realize there is a lot of money in watching children, but come on, try to enjoy it. You can tell the providers who love what they are doing. For instance in Germany at the CDC there was Ms Darla. She was the best provider ever, hands down. She had so much joy in her face when she talked about the kids. She was one of a kind. H had a great teacher this past year, unfortunately we moved and had to leave before the end of the school year. She was so excited to teach S next year. Ugh.

I cannot imagine how tough it is for working moms to drop their kids off. I just wish that providers in general could put a little more pep in their step.