BetsyPage's Xanga

New blog!

Mon, 22 Jan 2007 01:34:25 GMT

I have a new blogging home on the net!!! My own domain name and everything...

www.dogwoodmama.com

Check it out! I haven't written much yet, but in my defense I do have a cold at the moment and I'm quite groggy.

I do not plan to move posts from this blog over, btw... I will be archiving this blog for my own personal record and taking the blog down eventually.

It's official.

Tue, 28 Nov 2006 19:45:27 GMT

We can now move back to NC. Trader Joe's has arrived in the Triangle area, and several are opening in the Charlotte area. Yay!

Thanksgiving Hiatus...

Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:18:30 GMT

I just wanted to say that I'm officially on Thanksgiving hiatus. I'll "see" everyone in a week or so!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

15 blocked users...

Sun, 05 Nov 2006 00:53:03 GMT

I do wonder whether Xanga is the right place for me to be blogging. Does where you blog influence the content of your posts? Sometimes I feel like Xanga is more a chatty, hanging-out place so it's hard for me to make my blog more than that. But I know that some blogs (TheologiansCafe) are much more than mine. *scratching head.* So I guess it's me, not Xanga. But I do have 15 "teen girls looking to party" blocked from viewing my blog- I have no doubt that they are not what they seem and if they are that, then they are being exploited in some way. I just can't figure out how or why. I wonder if other places to blog attract less of that sort of thing?

Other Xanga users...

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 21:11:22 GMT

Do y'all get random hits from blogs with a picture of a teen girl and some random comment indicating they are basically party animals and want to chat? (On their blogs, not mine.) There is obviously one person/group behind them because they are so similar, but I have no clue what it is. I have started blocking them, after I noticed a few kept repeatedly hitting me (but not commenting, guess I'm not their target audience.) And now there seems to be new ones popping up. Very odd. I always go check because I don't want to accidentally block a legitimate reader.

First snow...

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 14:33:14 GMT

Our first blustery, snowy day yesterday... the first of many I'm sure.

I discovered Charlotte loves to eat snow... "It's so yummy Mama!"

Gwendolyn toasty in her fleece bunting.

Pictures from our trip to Quincy, IL

Sat, 28 Oct 2006 15:32:02 GMT

We went to Quincy, Illinois to visit family earlier this month... The following pictures are from the cabin in the woods outside the tiny town of New Canton, IL. The cabin is built on land where my dh's great-grandparents had a small farm. It's in the "bluffs" of the Mississippi River. The farm is in a tiny valley of sorts and there is a high ridge on both sides. There is a creek and several "springs" around. The cabin which my FIL's cousin built (after he sold her the land for a second time- they kept selling to each other to keep it in the family apparently!) sits roughly where the old barn sat. The actual farmhouse long since disintegrated! They did get electricity, but never got indoor plumbing! So the cabin is less rustic than the original homeplace, lol. Oh, the barn is Amish-built. They like to hang out and visit at the barn in the evenings, enjoying being outside and seeing the donkeys, Liberty Bell and Chuckles.

Charlotte really enjoyed feeding the donkeys apples and carrots through the fence... she did this several times a day! Holding Charlotte is Sandy, my FIL's cousin built the cabin. A very nice lady, Charlotte really took to her!

This is a different day, but that is Charlotte's great-grandma- can you believe she's 88 years old???

An Amish man who is a friend of the family (he is helping train the donkeys and built a deck for them) came and took everyone for donkey rides. Here are both of the girls with their grandpa.

This is a picture of the cabin... it was "custom built", not from a kit or anything. It's really neat inside- lots of antiques, etc. Charlotte had a ball playing with all the dolls and antique doll high chair, etc. A creek runs in front of the cabin- they have stairs leading down to an area where you can sit and have a campfire. Behind the house is a high ridge, and they have a deck built up there, sort of like a treehouse. There are lots of whiporwhills and deer in the area.

We had a cook-out one evening and roasted marshmellows. Charlotte really enjoyed it. I have decided that I want to be able to have a firepit at my next house! It's so nice on fall evenings to build a fire. Charlotte is fascinated by the smoke below.

We also did some sight-seeing in Hannibal... We went to the Mark Twain stuff downtown, and ate lunch at the Mark Twain Diner (known for its fried chicken and rootbeer, though I was thrilled that they served Starbucks coffee, lol.) Here we are at the "famous white fence."

We also visited the Mark Twain Caves. Gwendolyn did great- she napped most of the time in the Kozy. Dh ended up carrying Charlotte for most of the tour, it would have been nice to have another carrier! But it was a nice, non-scary introduction to caves for C.

After this, we drove on the scenic river route down to Louisana, MO, then stopped at a river park to play. Then we crossed back into IL and went back up 96 to the cabin in New Canton. It was really a great vacation- so nice to have lots of opportunities for Charlotte to play, and I had time to take care of the baby as needed since we weren't rushing. Also we enjoyed lots of home-cooked food by Sandy, who is just a fabulous hostess and wonderful lady. I would love to go back there again! And one last picture of Charlotte that I liked. :)

Respecting your child's limits

Thu, 26 Oct 2006 18:59:54 GMT

Every time I get really frustrated with Charlotte, after reflection the finger points back at me.

We've been really on the go this week, out every morning and then I've been adding on some shopping (day before yesterday and today.) This is a lot more time out of the home than we have been accustomed to, since I usually limit our activities because of the baby. They are all things that I know she is enjoying (playgroups & LLL meetings where she gets to play with friends) but still they take a toll.

This morning we woke up and she seemed to be pretty chipper. She's had slight cold symptoms for oh a couple of weeks now, but I no longer feel that she is contagious or bad enough to keep home. So we headed out to my second LLL meeting this week and she seemed fine.

She had a really good time playing at first, but then we had an incident shortly before we left (we were there about 2.5 hours) where a 1 yo had taken a toy she was playing with (stethoscope). She came into the room where all the moms were and looked around with an "evil eye" I swear! I said, "Charlotte, Charlotte" because I thought she was looking for me. Oh no! She finally saw the 1 yo with the stethoscope and YANKED it away from her. The baby wouldn't let go, her mom finally pried her fingers lose and C ran off. I was shocked and horrified, honestly!!!

I went and found C and asked her to look at me... she was busy putting the stethoscope back in the case. I finally made eye contact, told her that it was wrong to take it away like that and that she needed to apologize (make amends.) She was agreeable about doing so, and of course I apologized to her mother as well.

But did *I* learn my lesson from this? No! I did note as we were leaving that C's eyes had become more watery and gunky. But we were near the Hallmark shop, and today is my dh's birthday, so I wanted to stop and get his card and present (Christmas ornament.) And I wanted to check out the local toy store because I've been looking for a Haba trix for the baby and thought they would have it. I also wanted to see what toys C showed an interest in... sometimes I think she'd like something, but she ignores it, etc.

Charlotte does great at Hallmark so we head over to Tree Town Toys. There she meets up with a 4 yo girl, and they have a fun time together. So really she was doing great. I decided to let her have a "few more minutes" because she was playing with a Calico Critters display. We should have left right then, though. No, actually I shouldn't have taken her in the store, probably!

Another younger toddler wandered over and picked up one of the kitty figures. I was standing 5 feet away and watched Charlotte SHOVE the boy, with both hands, on his back, and he stumbed forward and bumped into a wooden wagon on a shelf. Once again, I was shocked and mortified! I was really angry. I told her that was not OK, and that she needed to apologize to the boy, and that we were leaving immediately. She apologized, but then of course didn't want to leave and collapsed on the floor. I told her we were leaving, and she could chose to walk or I could carry her out. Thankfully she chose to walk (I would have carried her but had Gwendolyn in the sling.)

I was so angry with her, and told her I was angry and upset about her shoving the boy. But then it hit me- both incidents came at the end of a period of time where she was in a stimulating, exciting environment, and she was likely hungry and tired. I put her in a situation where I had high standards for her, and she came through most of it fine, but there is just a limit to what she can do.

Of course hitting is not acceptable. Shoving is not OK. Snatching toys is not OK. But how can I have great anger and disappointment in my child when I failed to respect her limits? When I think about it, nearly every time that I have been "horrified" or truly embarrassed by her behavior it was a physical issue- overstimulation, needing food or sleep, or even just to reconnect with me in a calmer environment.

As soon as we got home, we went upstairs to bed. She's been napping for 2 hours, I didn't even fix her lunch. (She ate a banana in the bookstore.) She lets me know what her needs are, even if I don't always appreciate how she communicates them.

I think I owe her an apology when she gets up.

"Mommy, I put your lips on so I will look pretty when Daddy comes home!"

Wed, 25 Oct 2006 20:22:53 GMT

Gwendolyn was sleeping on me, and Charlotte was off roaming. She just came charging downstairs, "Mommy, I put your lips on so I will look preeee-ttyyyy when Daddy comes home!" Note the corner of her mouth. ;)

She is SUCH a girly-girl, and I am NOT a girly mama! She loves it when I wear make-up, which I only do infrequently. I never have any problem getting her to wear what I want her to wear- I just have to point out what matches and she's excited to wear it. She will sometimes look at herself in the mirror and say, "I look so STYLISH!" (I'm sure I said that once and she remembered it forever.) Self-confidence is not something that she lacks... and to be honest, I'm a bit envious of that!

There's a woman at our church who taught the nursery this summer. Charlotte was lamenting that she's no longer teaching it, and wondered if she would teach again next summer because "I like her soooo much." I took the bait and asked her why she liked Miss C so much. Her reply? "She looks so nice in her clothes!"

I had to laugh, but honestly I sometimes wonder what it will be like if she remains this obsessed with her appearance when I'm not. I don't think I look that nice in my clothes, and honestly my clothes are not that nice unlike Miss C.'s from church. I feel like I should start making a more concerted effort to lose weight and take care of myself because I'm her mother... and it bothers me when I see other mothers who look really ragged but their kids look great. And I don't want to be like that, even though appearance honestly isn't the most important thing on my priority list. It just takes too much energy at this point. I guess vacuuming so the baby doesn't eat cat fur is more important right now.

*sigh* Lots of mixed and big feelings about this right now.

Isn't she precious?

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 22:58:40 GMT

In the Kozy at the Apple Orchard this past weekend. She's 6 months old!!!