Thursday, September 16, 2010

Bad name

Jake: What is Hannah's bad name?

Me: What?

Jake: You know.....mine is JACOB DANIEL SNOW!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

New season, new color

SPRING / SUMMER:



AUTUMN/WINTER:


And a picture that was just too cute not to post:






He's determined to find a way around this

Jake: Mommy, can I watch TV in my head?

Me: Sure.

(Zones out, smiles, laughs)

Me: What are you watching?

Jake: Phineas & Ferb

Okay, seriously, WHAT are we going to do with this kid

If you haven't already read about Jake's punishment this morning click here before reading this post.

This kid is certainly working all the angles on this punishment. It's almost scary how creative he is. I can see a career as a defense attorney in his future.

Jake: Can I watch TV at Grandma's house?

Me: No.

Jake: But it's not our TV.

Me: Doesn't matter. It's still TV.

Jake: What can I have to drink?

Me: White milk or water.

(pause)

Jake: So, I can still have regular milk?

Me: Yes.

Jake: Ok. Then I'll have chocolate for dessert. You know, chocolate in a wrapper.

Me: Ummm....not necessarily.

Jake: Why not?

Me: You'd still have to have permission to have chocolate for dessert and the way you're going that isn't going to happen.

Jake: Can I use my computer?

Me: Yes, we didn't ban you from that....yet.

Jake: Ok.

(pause)

Jake: Can I watch YouTube videos on my computer?

Me: No.

Jake: Why?

Me: Because it's too much like TV.

Jake: But it's not like TV. It's smaller. And on the computer.

What are we going to do with this kid?

This morning Lincoln and Jake walked Hannah up to the bus stop. When they came back to the house Jake came into the room and confessed to me that he had been thirsty and since Hannah had a water bottle and he didn't he punched her. WHAT? Apparently, while she had it up to her mouth, he punched the bottom of the bottle so that it went into her teeth. Overall she wasn't really hurt but of course it was sore and she started to cry.

When Link and Jake got back to the house, and after Jake's confession, Jake was sent to his room to come up with what he thought was a suitable punishment while Daddy and I discussed it.

Jake (calling from his room down the hall): I know what my punishment should be!

Link: What?

Jake: How about no books read to me at bedtime for three days?

Link (shaking his head no at me): No Jake. That's not good enough.

(pause)

Jake: Well, that's all that I've got.

(Thank god he was in the other room because this is when I buried my face and started to laugh uncontrollably.)

Link: How about no TV all weekend?

Jake: I thought about that but then my brain said "no".

(More uncontrollable laughter.)

In the end, due to the severity of the crime, he received a four part punishment. No TV until Monday. No chocolate milk until Monday (he can have white milk or water). He has to clean the kids playroom all by himself with no help from Hannah (they usually have to do it together) and he's not allowed to whine or complain while he does it. And finally, he doesn't get to have Mommy's "best ever" Mac 'n Cheese that he had requested for lunch today.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Into the Lion's Den

Yes, I have apparently started naming all of the rooms in our house. I'm a dork, what can I say?

This is the room that used to be Jake's nursery (and Hannah's before that). It is now my library. I can't tell you how much I love this room. And of course since I decorated it with all of my favorite lion stuff, we call it the Lion's Den.

The ladder - my favorite touch in the room - was a gift from my friend Rachel. I'm working on getting a little plaque to put on it. LOL.









Welcome to the Treehouse

Here are pictures - FINALLY - of the mother-in-law apartment we put above the new garage this spring. We're not done yet. We still have to do the baseboards, door and window trim, put on the toe-kicks for the kitchen cabinets, glue down the counter top, etc, etc, etc.....

I didn't intentionally set out to decorate it with all trees but I bought the comforter and then the shower curtain and it all just went from there.

It's a wonderful space to have and I'm very proud of it. Now all of you out there need to come and visit us!


















Sunday, September 5, 2010

Still alive

Wow, it has been two and a half weeks since I've posted last. Is anyone still out there?

So, let's see, what has happened in those past two weeks?

Oh.....

Right.....

I committed myself - at my doctor's suggestion - to a psychiatric hospital.

The good news is, it was one of the top three psych hospitals in the country with such famous alumni as Sylvia Plath, John Nash, Steven Tyler, and pretty much the entire Taylor family including James Taylor (at least according to Wikipedia).

So I spent roughly 48 hours in a locked facility that, once admitted, I wasn't allowed to leave without a doctor's approval. And if I wanted to force said approval I had to put it in writing and then they had three business days to approve my discharge or petition the court to keep me there.

Wow.

That's some serious business.

So how did I end up at McLean?

Well, it all started by chewing on the inside of my lip.

Which evolved into me biting on my tongue until it was so sore I could barely taste my food.

Which then evolved into me using a scissors to scratch - not cut - a couple dozen marks on my left arm. Some drew blood, most didn't, but it didn't matter. It looked like my arm lost a battle against 100 angry kittens.

And all that got me a round trip ticket to the Nut Hut.

Luckily I was the least nuttiest nut in the nut hut and I was released after 48 hours. I didn't spend much time with the doctors or attend a lot of therapy sessions but I think it did the trick none the less. I like to think of it as the "Scared Straight" program for crazy people. Because as much as I know I needed the help - and the adjustments they made to my meds were possibly life saving - the worst part was knowing that I could lose my freedom, my ability to see my kids whenever I wanted to, and that there were people - of all ages - that have it a lot worse off then me.

So now I'm home. I've had a really good week and I'm starting to feel like myself again. Am I cured? No. But when I start to feel overwhelmed I sit down, think about what is bothering me and why, and come up with a game plan to tackle it so that I never, ever end up back there.