Goodnight Moon's MUSIC linkup, week 10

OK, after ten weeks of this awesome dance party, I hope you've chosen to participate at least once.  First time?  That's cool, too - just post a song you're "feeling" right now, and then go linkup at GOODNIGHT MOON for some fun!

This song is from The Tigger Movie, which I absolutely LOVE.  The song itself has more significance for me than I can even convey here, but I seriously hope you LOVE it.  Just listen to the words!  For some reason playlist.com is not being cooperative lately, so I am using YouTube again....and was thrilled to find this video, because it's set to pictures from Calvin & Hobbes, my favorite comic strip ever.

7 months old

I know I keep saying this, but I honestly don't know WHERE the time goes! 

Bobblehead is now 7 months old, and he cut his first tooth last week.  He also celebrated his first Easter, and tried his first 'real' table food this week.

I've been giving him some store-bought baby food and making what I can at home (peas, carrots, green beans, and apples are all SUPER easy to steam, then throw in the blender).  I freeze the homemade babyfood in an ice cube tray, then throw the cubes into ziplock baggies in the freezer, so I can always just thaw out a little at a time as needed.  Last night we had chicken, pasta, & green beans for dinner, so I just threw some of each of those into a separate pan to cook a little longer, then dumped the mushy mixture into my blender, and VOILA!  Pasta puree for baby.  Yum. Actually it was pretty gross, since his didn't get any seasonings, but he liked it!  Pretty soon he will literally be eating off my plate.

Speaking of which, I may start losing weight FAST if he keeps being so 'grabby'.  I am on the curious baby diet for now....which means I can only eat whatever I can safely keep away from baby, or can safely SHARE with baby.  That means no more ho-ho's, for one thing; and no more going back for seconds - baby won't let me! 

Here are some recent photos of Bobblehead:

HA HA HA Pruneface!

Thankfully he cleans up pretty well. :)

Chilling with Daddy (usually he holds his own remote just like Daddy - but Bobblehead's remote is from our old t.v. box, and doesn't actually work)

Wearling his new sunglasses - COOL, man!

song linkup (week 9)

OK you all know the drill by now, right? 

Post a song that you're feeling right now, and then

go linkup with Amber over at Goonight Moon!

I posted a musical theater song over on my deployment blog this week, so I figured I would stick with that theme and post a song here from my favorite musical of ALL TIME: "Wicked". The book was pretty awesome, though raunchy/bawdy.  Same with its sequels, "A Lion Among Men" and then "Son of a Witch".

But the play....

the play was freaking AMAZING! 

I laughed and cried the whole time, and I could

NOT believe the set....the props.....the costumes.....

The whole time we were there,

I could have sworn we were in OZ.

If you are not familiar with the story, it is a twist on "The Wizard of Oz", but it's about an unlikely friendship, and how we perceive good and evil....and this song is about choosing to triumph over true evil.  Makes me want to defy a little gravity in my own life!  Maybe I can, with the help of my blog FRIENDS.

COOTIES

Our household is under attack - by a pretty nasty cold virus.  The teenager came home sick after school last Tuesday, with fever, aches & chills, and a slight cough.  By Wednesday he was severely congested and his fever hung around all day, but he seemed to be coming through it around dinner time.  Thursday I let him try to go back to school, but he was simply miserable - the health office at school said he didn't HAVE to be picked up, but I did anyway. 

Throughout this time I was using Lysol on everything, and doing my best to keep Baby Bobblehead away from his big brother, but it was not enough.  Friday evening around dinner time, Bobblehead came down with a high fever (initially 103, but we got it down around 101 for the rest of the night).  His fever just wouldn't break, even when we switched from tylenol to motrin.  Finally, Saturday afternoon after a good sponge-down (which made Bobblehead SCREAM like you would not believe) his fever broke, and has not come back.  But that night his congestion began, and it is just getting worse every day.  This morning it turned to that glue-like mucous that is so hard to clean.  Poor baby.

Of course, it was not long before Mommy got the bug, too.  Now I am trying to care for a sick baby, clean my house for company coming this weekend for Easter, and fight this awful virus - all on NO SLEEP.

I want to call for reinforcements, but there's no one I can call!  Normally my sister would come to my rescue, since she lives only 15 minutes away, but there's no way I would ask her to expose her three little ones to this horrible cold.  And my mom lives about 20 minutes away; she normally could at least come hold the baby for awhile so I could clean/cook/rest/etc but she just had an angiogram 2 days ago and found out that she needs a double bypass, which the doctors are rushing to schedule ASAP - and in the meantime she's not allowed to do much of anything, because her heart attack risk is SO HIGH.

So, yeah, add the emotional roller coaster of facing my mom's mortality to my already overly long list of CACA right now.

UGH.

And hubby can't help right now, since he is out of town for work.  Not like he really helped that much when he was home on the weekend, but if he was here right now, I would MAKE him shoulder some of this burden.

I hate writing blog posts that are just complaining, but dang I am just so sick and tired of being SICK & TIRED!  YUCK.

Let this be a reminder to everyone, even though Spring is here and we are not all shut-in indoors sharing our germs as much as we did in the Winter, you still need to be extra vigilant with handwashing!

In fact, now that I have just spread all these cooties all over my keyboard, I'm gonna go disinfect my laptop and wash my hands AGAIN.  Then maybe I can squeeze in a short nap before baby wakes up coughing again.

where did you come from?

I am laughing SO hard right now, after checking my blog traffic stats.  It's always interesting to me to see how people find my blog.  Did you link here from another milspouse blog?  Or did you do a keyword search for 'baby fat', or 'pregnancy' etc.?

The funniest stat I came across just now is that my highest viewed post of all time over on my deployment blog was 'haircut before and after'......which featured pictures of me and my boys on haircut day.  I wondered what was SOOOOO fascinating about this particular post, and then found that people are reaching that page by doing a google or yahoo search for "Marine High & Tight Haircut".  HA HA HA HA!

So, where did YOU come from?  Post a comment below to tell me how you found me....or the funniest search phrase that others have used to find YOUR blog!

video linkup (funny)

OK everyone knows babies have different temperaments - a fact that I can personally attest to, since Bobblehead is my fourth baby.  I'm thankful that only ONE of my babies had THIS temperament:

If you enjoyed that, or know of a BETTER video that you'd like to share, head on over to Deployment(again) and link up!  Hurry while the linky is still open. :)

I miss preschool!

I've worked with young children in some capacity or another for 20 years. (since I was a teenager, for anyone who is now counting and trying to figure out just how OLD I am!  HA HA HA)

My favorite job EVER is teaching three-year-olds.  They just say the funniest things, and when they have a 'lightbulb' moment, you can actually SEE it happening.  Amazing. Three is also the last year before they begin to get all self-conscious.  They express themselves freely through art, music, whatever, without worrying about being JUDGED.

This song is always fun, but in my case it is also a little sad/nostalgic because it reminds me of a special little boy with Down's Syndrome who was in my preschool class for three straight years.  The first year I had him was rough, as he didn't yet know or trust me, had very few communication skills, and he thought it was HILARIOUS to either throw his glasses over the fence or to run away from me.  He was also still in diapers, which none of my other students were, and he was uncooperative with toileting/diaper changing.  Have you ever had to wrestle with a 50 lb kid covered in poop?  **ahhh, the memories!  j/k**

The one thing that always got through to him was MUSIC, especially Greg & Steve songs.  By his second year in my class, he would run over to LEAD 'circle time' if I started with this song.  Of course our third year together was the best, because he really bonded with me - AND he was beginning to get the hang of the whole toilet thing, which made my job a little more pleasant.  :)  His last year in my class was also my last year at that school, as we moved away - to our current home.  I miss that school more than I can say!  I've kept in touch with this sweet boy's family a little over the years, even bought our Puggle from their pet store.  At 12 years old, he STILL loves music - I wonder if he still loves this song?

Have you joined the dance party over at GOODNIGHT MOON?  Go check it out!

Viral Video Linkup, WEEK 2

Why, yes, as a matter of fact I am participating in my OWN video linkup again this week!  I'm shameless like that.

Wanna join the fun?  Just head over to my other blog,  Deployment (again) to link up and post YOUR favorite viral video.

This particular video is another 'oldie but goodie'.  This baby is throwing a massive tantrum, but only when mom/dad is in sight.  Seriously WATCH this:

I have told parents in a preschool setting SO MANY TIMES over the years, "he/she is only crying for your benefit, and will stop as soon as you are out of sight."  They never believe me, though.  Of course, their kids are excellent little actors.  The most obvious are the kids we call 'peel-and-stick' kids.  You know, peel him off of mommy (screaming and crying) and stick him on his teacher.  If done compassionately, this routine lasts maybe 5 minutes every day for 2 or 3 weeks, and then is over.  The child grows attached to the teacher, and as trust develops, he needs less and less reassurance that Mommy is, in fact, coming back.  Mommy, on the other hand, will hang around, drag this routine out, feeling guilty/anxious/etc, often not realizing she is simply prolonging this whole agonizing process.  Ask any preschool teacher how she/he feels about parents that 'hang around' and you're bound to hear some crazy and sometimes funny stories, much like what you see in this video!

Bottom line, moms and dads, SEE, I told you, the crying stops as soon as you are out of sight!

HA HA HA HA HA!

Music Linkup, week 7

Once again, I could not just choose ONE song for this week's music linkup, so I am adding a second entry here on my second blog!  :)  Have you linked up yet?  If not, go see Amber at Goodnight Moon and join the party!  Lots of great songs this week.

My second song choice for this week is by the same artist as the one I posted on my deployment blog - Pink.  I really heart her, but even if you are not a fan of her work, you HAVE to listen to this song!  My favorite part is the line where she says, "Oh I've felt that fire and I have been burned, but I wouldn't trade the pain for what I've learned"

Viral Video linkup!

If you want to participate in this linkup, go over to Deployment (again) to join in!

This video went viral awhile back, and still cracks me up:

Now go check out the other entries, and link up your own :)

Can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with!