The Queen's Rambles

*We are in need of a new dining room table. Ours is ugly, chipped and gross. Our chairs have built in padding that is completely shot. We could probably do something to fix them if we knew what we were doing, but they are still crappy particle board with chips all over. Mike said we could get a nice, new table if I didn’t spend any money in May.

So I went and bought a new camera.

Guess I didn’t want that new table as badly as I thought I did.

You can’t have kids and live without a camera, though. I had a small budget, but then I decided to go to Ritz and talk to actual human beings instead of ordering online. I was talked into a camera a little above my budget, a protection plan, a fancy card and suddenly my budget was about triple what I intended to pay.

The pay off?

Beautiful pictures. I’m so happy to finally have a camera that takes nice pictures. No more blurry photo books! It’s a Sony Cybershot in case anyone cares.

*I have a head cold. I thought I was having an allergic reaction to something in the air, but after 24 hours of constant snotting, I’m pretty sure it’s just a cold. I guess that’s better than allergies since it will go away, but I don’t know how I’m going to sleep tonight. I did take a Sudafed since I don’t care if my milk dries up so I’m hoping that will help.

*I don’t care if my milk dries up. Sob! I nursed Erik till he was almost 3. Elsa is only 13 months, but she’s a biter and she has other issues. She severely iron deficient and needs to learn to eat real food, so I’ve only been nursing her at night and before naps. She’s finally starting to eat more food, though I still can’t get a fruit to cross her lips no matter the form.

*I’m supposed to be giving her 4 ml of iron supplements a day (260 mg elemental iron). We haven’t worked up to that much, but she is getting some. I was so worried at first, but now that I know she’s getting about half the doctor recommended dose every day I’m relaxing. We never could get her to take it in juice. Instead, we slowly built her taste tolerance in just plain water. The water starts out clear, but an hour later it looks like apple juice. I guess my baby is drinking rust water. Gross.

When she spills it or spits it all over it smells really rusty. I’m just hoping that since it is in water it will clean up nicely. I had a bunch of baby clothes from a formula fed baby and they were covered in iron stains. Apparently you don’t notice the stains at first, but eventually they come out. I’m telling myself the fat in the formula makes the clothing and carpeting hang on to the iron. If not, we won’t be able to pass on a single outfit from her and we’ll have to have all new flooring. I’ll also need a new wardrobe.

*Erik is obsessed with Beyblades, a really dumb toy for boys. Basically they are tops that do battle. Instead of spinning them with your fingers, they go in a launcher and you rip a cord and they spin super fast. I bought him two when the neighbor kids first got into it, then my mom bought him one when she was here.

He lost one down a storm drain (since recovered by an old man with a crowbar and a friendly teenager. I love our neighborhood.) and was begging for a new one. I refused because they are $8 each, he has two others and he needs to learn to be more responsible.

He kept begging and whining and begging and whining and complaining to me about the cost of the stupid things. In a moment of truly inspired parenting I told him not to complain to me about the price, since I didn’t set it. Complain to the Beyblade people. I then looked up their customer service number and had him call them.

They were a little surprised, but he clearly stated his complaint and they thanked him for his comments but said that is just how much they cost. He said he was mad at them and hung up. He hasn’t complained to me since.

I may have created a monster. I’ll be on the look out for “customer’s suck” stories about a little kid that calls in and complains about everything. He loves to talk so much that it will be brilliant to have him call other people and leave me alone.

Do you know when Erik was a little baby I was making plan to homeschool him even though I am not a fan of homeschooling (for us and our family, I don’t care what you do)? I was so worried that he would be bullied and picked on and life at school would be so hard for him. I was projecting a lot of my own past on him, of course, and then adding regular mama worries on it. It’s so hilarious though. I look at this boy and wonder where he came from. Bullies might try to take him down, but I am very confident that he can stand up for himself. In fact, I am much more worried that he will be a bully. I am trying my best to make him a kind, compassionate, polite human being but it’s tough work. He is nothing like I imagined he would be. He’s so much more. I am going to be so sad when he’s away from home 7 hours a day this fall. I am going to be happy for him because I know he’ll love school and I’m going to be happy to have some free time with just Elsa, but 7 hours seems so long. I suppose we’ll get used to it rather quickly and it will all be fine.