And then along comes Polly...

I have moments of parenting where I realize I must take responsibility for the error of my ways. Sometimes, it's more obvious than others...such as when I hear one of my daughters utter a word they have heard me speak in moments of frustration. A recent example, when Miss A said, "I am FREAKIN' hot!" Oh, uh huh. She's 5. She did not learn "freakin'" from her father, nor I suspect, from her Baptist Preschool. Alas, that one is all mine.

Something else that is all mine? Miss A and E's current obsession with the Polly Pocket line of dolls (this picture is NOT our collection, but sadly comes kinda close). These dolls are almost 4 inches tall and are made with some sort of plastic that makes their arms and legs kinda bend...which is needed when trying to get them into the spandex-like plastic fashions that accompany them. Even Miss O loves these things, but I have to admit that I normally confine Polly Pocket playtime during her naps because at least Miss A and E don't pester me as much to change dresses every few minutes. That, and I needed to be sure that Miss O wouldn't try to EAT any of Polly Pockets and her vast assortment of accessories, which she didn't/doesn't. Happily, Miss O rarely tries to eat a toy...I'm rather grateful for that, and I chalk that up there with her rare back washes as something I really like about her.

Anyhoo...it takes a certain dexterity to manipulate these "dresses" and accessories on and off of Polly. And when I mean dexterity, I probably mean patience and a true desire to play with the goshdarn things (see? And I wonder where my girls get this from!). Frankly, it's HARD to do! I think this is one reason why the girls end up dressing Polly (and I should mention, most of our Polly's are from the Disney Princess line, which is it's own little slice of the hot place because they have the most obnoxious lump of plastic atop their heads...yes, yes, I know it's supposed to be their luscious locks of hair, but seriously, it makes getting the dresses on and off even harder!!!!) in very extravagant gowns (they are easier to change in and out of because they have bigger neck openings) or letting them frolic about in their painted on underwear (the latter being seen most often).

I don't know why I even gave initial approval for them, but if I recall, they were all prizes when we were trying to potty train one of the girls and then they seemed like nice gifts for Holidays and...well...as a parent, sometimes you just start to glaze over when reality and plastic toys combine. It's a scary moment and a scary thing to admit, but it's true.

I bring this up, Gentle Reader, because of an episode we "enjoyed" yesterday. As you can imagine, the accessories for Polly (who, remember, is less than 4 inches high and quite stick-like with almost non-existent feet) are intsy. Tiny. Very very small. You get the picture.

I was on my way out the door to meet some friends for a girls' night out, leaving the Misses A, E, and O in Super J's awesome care, when I hear shrieking. I walk into the "office" and see the girls are sitting in mourning by my Dyson vacuum, which has a container in which you can see all dirt, dust and debris you've sucked up. True confessions: I love love love to vacuum and love love love to see the result of this passion, but I also love to empty that part of the vacuum because, let's face it, it's pretty gross. Alas, I had not emptied it yet and (can you see where this is going????) I had inadvertently sucked up a single accessory (I think they identified it as a belt. Of all things. A belt.) from the Polly Pocket collection.

Let the weeping and wailing commence in 3...2...1...and it begins.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhholycow.

Super J shoos me from the house. I feel guilty for about 3 minutes (ha! Obviously a bit more if I'm blogging about it) until I get on the road, because seriously, I had NO CLUE I had vacuumed up that wee bit o'plastic.

When I get home, I hear more of the story. Turns out that the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth did not end for at least...half an hour, if not longer? And it took some tough lovin' from Daddy (and an escalation of events from being sent to their room to a swat) to finally get the girls to quiet down because Super J was not, based on the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, going to dig through the dusty debris and pull out Polly's belt. Nope. He did the opposite. He took the canister and threw it all away. Gone went the dust and debris. Gone went Polly's belt. Holler, holler, holler went Miss A and E (and Miss O, I understand, tried to squeeze out a tear or two in honor of her sisters' distress, but really couldn't maintain any semblance of sadness because...well, she could care less at this age what's going on, especially if it doesn't concern her directly).

Eventually, the tide of woe subsided and, so I'm told by all, they had a lovely evening together, even enjoying some Otter pops out on the deck.

And more interestingly still, today the girls have been quite fastidious about picking up all their toys. Go Daddy. True confessions? I'd have just plucked the belt out of the canister and called it a day. lol.

That's alot of baby...

Yet another reason NOT to grouse about my pregnancy:

'Big twins' tip scales at North Carolina hospital
2 hours ago

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — They aren't America's heaviest newborn twins on record, but they certainly tip the scales: Sean William Maynard and Abigail Rose Maynard weighed in at a combined 23 pounds and 1 ounce at birth this week, a North Carolina hospital announced Friday.

Freda Springs, spokeswoman for Forsyth Medical Center, said the twins were delivered two minutes apart by Caesarean section on Tuesday at the center's Sara Lee Center for Women's Health in Winston-Salem.

The boy weighed 10 pounds, 14 ounces; the girl, 12 pounds, 3 ounces. Springs said both babies are in excellent condition after their birth to parents Joey and Erin Maynard of Winston-Salem.

The combined weight of the twins is about four pounds shy of the combined weight of twins born in Arkansas in 1927, the hospital said. Those twins weighed a total of 27 pounds, 12 ounces, hospital researchers said, adding they could find no public record of any heavier twins than the Arkansas pair born since 1900.

They said the Maynard twins topped a 1997 delivery in North Carolina of big twins weighing a total of 18 pounds, 10 ounces.

Sean, tucked in a blue blanket, was held by his mother and his sister, swaddled in pink, was cradled by her father at a hospital news conference Friday. The infants slept quietly through their first public appearance.

Happy First Day of Summer!

In the news...

I know that the personal side of Zoo Peters is profoundly interesting. I mean, all the daily events and sneezing and coughings of our family...who WOULDN'T love to read that continuously, absorbing every fascinating morsal. Actually, (true confessions, Gentle Reader) I really appreciate all of you who DO like to read about all the stuf that is going on in my little world and still think I'm an okay person. lol. In fact...um...I kinda like going back and reading about what's happened in my family--and it's stuff *I've* written, so I guess I need to just shut my trap about all this and change topics quick.

ALLRIGHTYTHEN>>>>After that very clumsy and awkward beginning, the whole crux of this was to get here: I've been scanning my newsblogs this morning, as I always do...the kids watch Sesame Street and I read the news...and I thought, it might be worthwhile to let you know the things that have caught my eye about what's happening in the world-at-large! Because there's more going on in life than whether the girls get me up several times during the night. You know? However, never fear: Our regularly scheduled Zoo will resume later today after these various news bulletins.


1. This Flooding Business...we live close to Missouri, but not enough to have the flooding effect us in drastic ways. I mean, it might when Super J takes the girls to Nauvoo for the pageant (this is his birthday present/last getaway before the baby comes. I and Miss O are sitting out this trip and I am so OK with that). But it is amazing that this is the SECOND "100 year" flood to hit the Midwest. And what does this mean? Crops ruined. Houses ruined. Towns and cities ruined. This means spending more $$$$$$.

2. Oil prices...what is this about? I mean, talk about random sneezing and coughings affecting everything. I just read about how Israel's "military exercise" has sent traders and investors on Wall Street into a panic about oil, so prices have gone up, but people are ignoring the fact that Saudi Arabia has said that they will pump more because there's NO REASON the prices should be spiking like this. There is a huge conspiracy here, people. Someone is trying to push through their global warming/go green agenda (if gas is $x.xx, then people will have to take public transportation and won't drive so much...if only it were that simple!)

We totally saw it when we lived in Las Vegas and the housing market bubble was CRAZY! When we first tried to buy a house, a home would go on the market and you'd have 8 offers by noon that same day. CRAZY! It drove prices higher and higher and higher. And now that it's popped, look at the mess this is making, especially in California, Nevada and Arizona--states that were the hardest hit. I know there is a world situation with some of the oil, but not for prices to be sky rocketing like this. Because what does this mean? Yes. $$$$$$$$$, but not for us.

3. At least 17 Girls in a Massachusetts High School form a "pregnancy pact" and are now pregnant. Um...HELLO! Here's my problem with the "discretionary" doctoring that is now mandated in many schools. If my under 16 year old daughter went to the school nurse to get a pregnancy test (they gave out over 100 of them during the year! 100!!!!!!) and acted sad that it came back negative, YOU NEED TO TELL ME ABOUT IT! Firstly, heck, you need to tell me about the pregnancy test. Okay, let's even amend that: Let's hope that this never happens with my 4 girls. But there needs to be parental awareness and notification! These are still children, even though they don't believe they are when they are in those teenage years. UGH. They are NOT adults and have NO CLUE what it means to be pregnant and have a child. NO CLUE. Heck...sometimes *I* have no clue. Ohhhhhhhh, let's hope I can be a better involved parent and that my kids don't feel the desire to go looking for "unconditional love" outside of the home when they are UNDER 16. What does this mean? Scary scary parenting? School systems? I dunno. It just has me flabbergasted.

4. This political mess that is the Presidential Race. We all know that one of the reasons that I started blogging was because I read so many Mitt Romney blogs that over time, it was a natural that I start posting about my family and it's lovely laughs and drama...and isn't that just a smaller microcosm of This Political Mess that is the Presidential Race?????? Laughs and drama. OH. And this is sooooo frustrating to me because I don't like either candidate.

When Romney dropped out, I thought I liked Obama, but that was before I started getting educated on the man. He's NOT the candidate I thought he was and that's so disappointing. This latest, "I am not accepting public funding" garbage...yep, he's not accepting because he knows he can make oodles more from private funders. Like ALL politicians, he has a hard time keeping his word. And really, when you look, you realize that he does NOT have the experience needed to run this country. Ugh. Hope and change, indeed.

And I really was/am disenchanted with McCain because he also doesn't stand for what I stand for and I have issues with him...that are for another post because I seriously could go on and on about it. Don't care for him, and yet I'm a registered Republican and now feel that I must choose between two evils. I have no idea how I'm going to vote. And that's so frustrating to someone who started off doing this because I was so determined within my own political world. What does that mean? UGH! ARGH! OOOOOOOOF!

***************************

Anyway, sadly I could go on. But we'll now return to our regularly scheduled Zoo life which includes "watching" my remarkably well behaved niece and nephew this morning whilst their mom is at a doctor's appointment...who are, let's be honest, really watching my girls, which has let me go on and on about this news stuff.

Things they don't tell you...

As has been well established, this is pregnancy #4. The first time you're pregnant, you never quite know what to expect. It's new, it's surprising, it's an adventure. The second (and subsequent) time(s) you are pregnant, you experience, "Oh yeah" syndrome.

This syndrome is the remembrance of all the weird, unwonderful things that you experienced the first time around...things that people may or may not have told you, but that you honestly forget because they aren't really painful or embarrassing or tacky (like the Freak-Me-Out spotting in the first or second trimesters; that darn uncontrollable vomiting that makes you wet your pants; the irrepressible flatulence and/or drunken sailor-like burping (so disgusting!); ...or even the HIGHLY annoying PMS-She-Witch-like quality your life takes on). You tend to let those things fade from your memory, but you remember them...vaguely, and they do tend to factor in when one considers additional pregnancies.

No, I'm talking about things that aren't life threatening, but bug you to no end: like how your eyelashes stop curling like they used to...or, my most recent outbreak of "Oh yeah" syndrome: "skin tags". With each pregnancy, I've developed these little annoying things...they don't hurt and they are often teeny tiny, but it annoys me that they are now on my body.

For those of you not plagued with these, let me enlighten (from Skin Changes During Pregnancy if you want to do you more of your own research on such interesting topics)

What are skin tags?
Skin tags are tiny, floppy growths of skin that can occur anywhere but more often are found in or near the armpits or breasts. They are harmless. If they cause discomfort and do not go away after pregnancy, they can be easily removed by your health care provider with freezing, tying off with a thread or stitch, or cutting off.

Yep...mine haven't necessarily gone "away after pregnancy." And I have them in the MOST bizarre yet visible places...like near my eyes!!!! HELLO! NO, no weird little skin tags...go hide near the arm pit, thank you very much! NOT on my face. sigh. Not only are they tiny and floppy, they don't care where they sprout up.

I guess I have to tack some of this to my genetic make-up. On the plus side of being descended from good German stock,
I have great birthing hips and a favorable cervix (I've been told this by several OB-GYNs...I try to take it as a compliment because, well, it sounds like it should be one). On the negative side, when NOT pregnant with extra estrogen producing little feminine babies, I am one of the hairiest women I know and my legs get 5 o'clock shadow when shaved. AND I get skin tags. Nice. I guess this means Frau-hood is just around the corner. (I wanted to get a picture of a stereotypical German Frau, and all I found was this picture...hmmmm...maybe Frau-hood won't be so terrible. She kinda looks nice. And at least she hasn't given up reading.)

Happily, I am experiencing a great pregnancy for this last go around. I am blessed and I readily acknowledge that. I just wanted to record that I also dealt with some "ARGH!" things whilst incubating the last of my offspring. And as I tell my daughters, sharing with friends is one of the best ways to keep them.

The Comeuppance of Parenting Strikes Again

So, yesterday I tell you about Miss A's habit of waking up Miss E during the night, right? And how Super J had a chat with her and she now knows that she shouldn't be getting Miss E up when she wakes up regardless of how bored or lonely she may be feeling (I may not have told you that part, but I'm sure you probably put 2 and 2 together and came up with the right answer).

What does that mean? Well, that means that last night, Super J was visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past and Christmas Present. Er....I mean, Miss A and Miss E. Yes. Both of them. Several times. I know this because I woke up each time he had a chat with them. And then Miss O wakes up unusually early. OHHOLYCOW! I'm wondering what's in the air!!!!! Seriously. Comeuppance, indeed. With a dash of bleary-eyedness (is that a word? If not, it should be. When I did the handy dandy blogger spell check, it only caught "eyedness" and gave me the following options for correction: eyewitness, eyeliners, oddness, oldness, Edens. How funny is that. I do lurves me the spellcheck though.)

On the other completely illogical hand, I had a dream I was watching an Ugly Betty episode, and they were interviewing maids to clean their house. You should have seen these people clean! I mean, they were vacuuming the beds and the ceilings! And I thought, I sure wish *I* could have a maid that good. lol. And then Miss O woke up and that dream went the way of all good things.

And a nanny would be good right now, too, to take them to Playgroup at the park (or "Playpark," as Dora and now my girls would say) so I could just sit here and blog. Instead, *I* need to take them to Playgroup, so I must get up and get going.........sigh......Good times....just around the corner....if I get going....at some point.

teehee.

"Sisters, Sisters, there were never such devoted sisters..."

Okay, I just had to share this because it was too funny. Of course, maybe it's just me, but I thought it was funny and now I'm thrusting it upon you, Gentle Reader.

Ahem...For the last two weeks or so, Miss E has been praying at bedtime that Miss A won't wake her up. As parents, we usually roll our eyes at this because whenever they come downstairs after they have been tucked in, it's always because Miss A or Miss E has woken (or kept) the other up. But her prayers have been going like this: "Dear Heavenly Father. Thank thee for the day. Please help Miss A not to ever wake me up again." And then she closes. Well, we finally told Miss E that she needed to start praying about things she's thankful for, including Miss A.

So, yesterday, Super J comes home and is so tired he heads upstairs for a power nap. Of course the girls, who love their daddy beyond all things explainable, follow him up and so he's the one that told me the following:

Turns out that Miss E says to him, "Daddy, will you please tell Miss A to stop waking me up!!!!"

"What do you mean?"

"You need to tell her to stop waking me up at night! I'm going to go get her so you can tell her."

She gets Miss A.

Super J has Miss A lay down by him and asks, "Miss A, do you wake up Miss E during the night?"

Pause. Pause. "Sometimes."

"Why do you do that?"

"Because when I wake up, I'm bored and want someone to talk to."

This, Super J then tells me, is why the girls haven't been coming in as often during the middle of the night and waking *him* up. Miss A will wake up and start bugging Miss E with, "Miss E! Miss E! Are you awake???" over and over until Miss E wakes up.

This also explains why Miss E is getting so crabby in the afternoons and often falls asleep on the couch around 5pm (when she's not having an upset stomach, that is).

Ahhhhhhhhhhh, sisters. And ahhhhhhhhh, the parents who took probably a month to figure this out. lol.

So...Monday

Yay for a good Monday! This was one of the first of many many days that I didn't feel the underpinnings of PMS, which is so weird when you are preggers to have that rage and pissiness (that's French for "Not Feeling Like the Nicest Person Breathing in the Living Space One Currently Inhabits"...sorry if I offend) so infested within you, so I felt pretty at peace with the world. It was very nice, I have to say.

************************************************
Yesterday at church, I talked to Primary Pres about the sweet Sister who has been assigned to help out and I told her that I wasn't sure it was going to work out because if this particular sister is pregnant or gets pregnant, she'll be a high risk pregnancy from the get go. The Primary Pres agreed we needed to do something different...something more permanent (I could have kissed her right there...had a hard weekend with baby for some reason, so this was good news to hear). Sweet Primary Pres said that she was a little worried because the Bishopric is so good but so busy, she didn't know if they could get someone. I offered to go in and talk to them, crying and hysterical and she said, "Well, that might not be a bad idea. They are so busy, if they think something is working, they have a hard time taking action without a little guidance."

Ha. Hahahaahahahahaha. I've made the appointment. And I'm so happy we are on the same page again.

Still, I will have a hard time giving up this calling because I really have fallen in love with it. But it'll be nice not stressing about it as the due date gets nearer and the baby comes.

**********************************************
Today went to the doctor's...baby's head is down. Ah ha! This is why I had a weird weekend. I KNEW something was happening. I had some weird back pain and thought I was having preterm labor at one point, because I just did not feel fabulous this weekend, I must confess. Whew. Good to know she just made a big shift in the old Womb Room. We listened to her heartbeat...strong and wonderful to hear. Always, always reassuring.

Anecdote from doctor: I'm having a wonderfully boring pregnancy which is progressing very well. How does she know this? Because she is still on the first page of her notes, whereas with some patients (who are not as far along as I am), she is on page 5. Yegads! I'll take the simpler pregnancy, thank you.

*************************************************
Finished the third book in the Fablehaven series. Very very good. I think Super J would really enjoy this series. I don't know that he'll ever READ this series, but I think he'd enjoy the books if he decided to read "for fun" again.

*************************************************
Did you know that today, A&W's across the nation offered free Root Beer Floats? From 2-8pm as it turns out. We arrived at 8:23, but you know what? They gave us 5 of them anyway. Talk about good customer service. We took the floats to a nearby park where we had a F.H.E. lesson about how God gave us our eyes (thanks to Nursery Class yesterday where *I* got to listen this fine lesson) and we can see all sorts of things, like the colors around us and fireflies (aka: lightening bugs), ducks, deer, bats and the moon, amongst other things spotted tonight at the park. It was a GREAT time. So, thanks again to Jennifer for the tip about the floats. It turned out to be a very memorable trip. The girls can't just get over how they didn't think bats really existed and yet, they were able to see them! Wow.

We looked up bats that live in our area and found out that we probably saw a couple of Eastern Red Bats. Small, swift and ohhhhhhhh so real. In fact:

Eastern red bats are solitary, spending the day hanging like leaves from tree limbs. They rarely roost together except for a mother and her young. Males are orange-red and females are chestnut. They forage over fields and water in early evenings and swoop for insects around lights after dark, consuming up to half their weight each night. They migrate in late summer and hibernate in caves, hollow trees and buildings during the winter. Females have one litter of 3-4 pups usually born in June. Their maximum lifespan is 12 years.

There's a little something extra for your random fact file.

Happy Father's Day!!!!

In honor of my nephew...

...and his skittles and sprite extravaganza (click on image to enlarge it and, hence, make it readable):