It’s no secret that I like video games. It’s also no secret that Big Guy loves them more. So, I’m thrilled to see that Literary Illusions is giving away a DS Lite and some games. I hope I win!
You can also enter the contest if you like. It ends at midnight on July 3. Let me know if you win!

It has been a year and a half since Bug (aka Little Guy) was diagnosed with food allergies. It has been scary, stressful and frustrating (largely thanks to certain relatives who were uncooperative/unhelpful during the food trials). He’s added asthma to his bag of tricks, so that’s nerve-wracking as well. Next week Bug has follow-up skin tests to see how his allergies are progressing. I am hoping to remove at least the egg allergies and possibly the soy allergy. The loss of those two allergies would feel like a “return to normal” for me. It’s not, really, since avoiding peanuts and most tree nuts isn’t a walk in the park, but nuts aren’t central to many recipes. Of course, we’d still be toting the twinject, benadryl and a high level of anxiety around with us, but cooking would be simpler at least.

Lady Bug (aka Little Lady) is turning one next week. Pretty crazy! Because of the family history of allergies, she’ll be tested at a year whether we think she has allergies or not. I wouldn’t be surprised since she has had some eczema and some spit-uppy issues. I have to admit that I’m getting a bit nervous.  I’m trying not to worry, but I can’t help at least a little concern. If she has the same allergies as Bug, it would be sad and frustrating, but it would probably be just as easy to be consistent. I know that the odds are slim that she’ll have exactly the same allergies, so I worry that she’ll have a milk allergy (Bug actually has a mild one, but drinks the stuff anyway) or wheat or something else that will push me over the edge.

Here’s the thing… I adore my kids. I want them to be happy and healthy. I want them the feel special, but NORMAL. I don’t want them to feel left out at birthday parties and special events. But behind all of that concern for the kids, is also just a bit of annoyance for me as well. It’s stupid, I know, but I miss walnuts like nobody’s business. Hubby eats peanut butter at work, but I’m home with the kids, so nuts are out (except for occasional desserts at a Girls’ Night Out). It’s tedious reading labels and exhausting trying to make sure we’re attending activities that are safe for my son. Our families have been incredibly supportive overall, but there are particular family members who I always feel are battling me on everything. I guess I just feel like it’s inappropriate to battle me for control over food when my kid has potentially life-threatening allergies. That’s just me. So, there’s the selfish side of being a food allergy mom!

I’m writing this post in WordPress, rather in Windows Live Writer which I prefer. My web host did something that broke my Live Writer access and I’ve put off posting ever since. Today I took some time to figure out the problem, but it’s still not working. I thought I had fixed it and wrote a whole post about how my web host keeps screwing things up (yeah, I’m too lazy/busy to change hosts right now) and I hit submit… ERROR.

Blah again.

I just finished watching quarterlife on NBC, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I never caught any of the webisodes because I’m not a big fan of watching TV on my laptop. Mainly because I’m typically using my laptop while watching TV. And the sound is off to fend off websites that emit unwanted sound effects without my permission. Ahem.

Anyway, it was a pretty good show and, of course, I think Scott Michael Foster is a doll (loved him on Greek, too). I am, admittedly, a sucker for shows that focus on the stress and strife of a particular age group… it doesn’t matter if I’m in the group or not.

Ok, I lied. It matters a little and I’m kind of annoyed with Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick (creators of quarterlife). Here’s why:

I was a teenager when they came out with thirtysomething. I loved it, but couldn’t at all relate.

I was in my twenties when they did My So-Called Life. I didn’t watch it much because I was too self-absorbed to look back at my teen years.

Then, as I entered my 30’s, they did Once and Again, a show about folks in their 40’s. It was just OK. Once again, couldn’t relate.

And now that I’m in my 30’s, they’ve decided to go back focusing on people in their 20’s. C’mon folks. You’re missing an ENTIRE generation, here in between! We’re interesting, too… oh, and we watch TV!

Jeans. I live in jeans and, yet, they’re the bane of my existence. I’m a curvy woman, what can I say? Is it so hard for clothes designers to understand that some of us have hips and a butt? Even when I was a heck of a lot skinnier I had trouble with jeans.

Anyway, Lane Bryant has come up with some new pants sizes for women with fewer curves, women with medium curves and women with lots of curves. I’m all about curvy jeans so I decided to check them out. These are the best fitting jeans I’ve ever owned.

They’re probably not right for everyone, but if you regularly wear at least a 14 and can’t find jeans to fit, drop by your local Lane Bryant. The sales person will measure you and help you find the right style for you.

I was concerned about Bug’s (aka Little Guy) reaction to getting a new baby sister. He was used to being the center of the attention and all that, plus, he was pretty young when she was born (20 months). She’s 8 months old now and he has been the most loving older brother you could ask for. He talks to her and hugs her and brings her toys.

That is, until about a week or two ago when he started a new “game.” LadyBug spends a lot of time sitting on a blanket on the playmats in our living room. She doesn’t roll over yet (sigh, just like Bug), but she loves to sit there and play. Anyway, Bug’s favorite thing to do is to walk up to his sister and push her over. He then runs away, laughing. Both Big Guy and I are consistent in our reaction’s to this… Bug immediately ends up in a timeout in the crib. This is the most serious of all timeouts because it means he’s away from the action. I hate to do it, because I don’t like him associating his crib with a punishment, but I just can’t wrestle to keep him on the couch. Meanwhile, his poor little sister, who is really the wronged party, gets completely ignored.

I hope this phase ends soon… I keep waiting for him to realize that he hates timeout, but it doesn’t seem to be helping.

We finally bought some sleep books because, at nearly 8 months, our LadyBug (previously known as the Little Lady) was still not sleeping through the night. To give you a bit of context, she’s bottle fed and now on solids, so there is absolutely no reason she should be waking up 5 or more times a night. She’d start fussing and if someone didn’t zip in with a pacifier recovery, all hell would break loose.

So, I bought some books and Big Guy (who may get renamed Our Hero), decided that she needed to go to bed earlier. We had tried a bit of “crying it out” but she got so worked up, and I got so upset, that it just wasn’t worth it. So, one night Our Hero read her a story and put her to bed AWAKE and walked out. She cried for all of 5 minutes and then went to sleep. And guess what? She slept through the night.

And that, my friends, is the magic that you get when you spend $50 on sleep books and decide to put your kid to bed a half an hour earlier.

We now know four couples who are expecting babies between May and July. Not random acquaintances… these are friends. We’ve attended their weddings, etc. It’s so weird. We had our littlest (and probably last) in June 2007, so she’ll be a year older than all of the other kids. Anyway, just random babbling, but it’s weird to have so many other people I know pregnant!

My web host has been giving me issues again (hi, guys!)… they make updates that break things and don’t warn us that it’s coming. Now, they’ve cut back their customer support. I really hate that transition between webhosts…

Well, we enter the New Year a bit sleep deprived, but over all in good shape. As you know, I’ve been busy working on my site at About.com. It’s hard to balance work and family, especially since I tend to need some serious quiet time to write.