Re-joining the world of technology

So for those of you who know, I got rid of my cell phone last winter when I was on bedrest. I didn't leave the house, so there wasn't much reason to have a cell phone. I actually quite enjoyed getting rid of it. It was refreshing to leave the house without people bugging me when I was out. And when the baby came, I had to strip my life down to complete simplicity in order to survive. This was one less thing to worry about.

When school started I felt guilty to not supply the schools with cell phone numbers to get a hold of us. I realized I needed to re-join the technology world and get a new cell phone. Ultimately I didn't want any other cell phone than the iphone. But I just couldn't rationalize the monthly cost of that. I found out that Sprint had a pretty sweet new plan with unlimited text, internet, and tv. I like that idea, so we took the plunge. I planned to get the free phone, but decided to get the Palm Pixi instead because it is so much like the iphone. I'm sure the iphone is better in some ways, but I actually found out some pretty cool features that the Pixi has that the iphone doesn't. In the end, the really selling point for me was the Disney channel. My phone gets the Disney Channel live and has recordings. It is awesome. It kept my kids captivated at a doctor's appt, which was fantastic.

The Pixi has a touch screen and apps and works very similarly to the iphone. It is actually the smallest smart phone on the market at the moment. One thing that it does better than the iphone is you can have multiple apps open at one time. It has a flash on the camera, and the internet looks just like it does on a computer. But of course, I know nothing about what is really cool on a cell phone anymore, I have been so out of the loop. But now I am re-joining with a top of the line cell phone that will be obsolete in about 1.3 months. Then I will fall behind again and become totally clueless in what the latest cell phone technology is. Oh well. For now, I am having lots of fun with my phone, and learning how to text message. And when these stupid things go on sale, I am going to buy one of these.


Unlike skins for most phones, this IS the back of the phone. Not just a skin that you put on top of it. It's made out of a cool rubbery material, and fits on seamlessly. It's a sleek little set up, and I really want a back like this so I can tell the difference between my phone and Dave's (he got the same one)

FHE

Last night we went to Angies for FHE with some of our friends, the Allens. Stanton Allen is our dentist, and definitely the best Pediatric dentist in the valley, check him out at ABC Pediatric dentistry.

They are a fantastic family with the cutest kids that are all super close in age, just like ours. I remember when I met them their little girl Chloe was in nursery with Isaac. She was one of his first biting victims, which was so sad because she is sweetest little blond girl, so innocent. I also remember doing the math when I realized that they had an 18 month old when they were blessing their second daughter in church, maybe 14 months apart? In my naivety I assumed it was an accident, who could possibly want their kids so close together? They had their third child right after I had my second. How did they do that? Then I learned. They were actually quite inspiring to me, and suddenly I was lucky enough to PURPOSELY have my children 16 months apart. It is awesome. Crazy, but awesome. I'm grateful that she showed me it was possible and fun.

So there we were at the restaurant, 4 adults, EIGHT CHILDREN. It was insanity. But so much fun.

Their kids are better behaved than ours. Henry wandered around the restaurant playing blocks with the jam packets, and intruding on other families. Somehow, I just ignored him. And at one point, Dawson flew a paper airplane across the restaurant. I learned a few things.

1. Our lack of courage to take our kids out to eat has created restaurant monsters who have no idea how to behave.
2. Dinner is way too long for their attention span. Driving through McDonalds is better for their need to be Power Rangers
3. Don't show your kids the Power Rangers movie right before taking them to a restaurant.

But really, it was so refreshing to have some one else clean up my kids dinner mess, and socialize with some people that we think are incredible and as Julie said, "get" our family.

And Isaac and Chloe got along great. She handles his boyish nature so well, and thankfully has forgiven him for the biting incident. He can't wait to play with her again.

Dear Accutane

I just wanted to drop you a quick note to say thank you. My face is completely clear at the moment. And now that it is, I realize that it hasn't been that way since I was about 11 or 12. I thought not having zits was the same as clear, but now I have a whole new definition of clear. My skin is completely smooth, you could say it's as smooth as a baby's bottom, my pores have shrunk, and my blackheads have disappeared. My skin has a much prettier color to it than it used to. And the best part is I feel so much more confidence. A quick dusting of mineral powder, some mascara on the lashes, and chapstick in my pocket (because you definitely have dried my lips out) and I'm out the door feeling great. I love it.

Since I started taking you, I have suddenly learned how many of my friends and family have issues with acne, I honestly thought I was the only one. I thought I was the only freakish individual with zits in their late twenties. Knowing that you are the only possible treatment for acne that can be permanent has made a lot of people that I know very interested in you, I'm sure you will get to know many of my friends and family. Please take good care of them as you have for me. And please keep up the good work!

Many thanks,
Erica Low

Book store

Just kidding, they aren't going to open until next Friday, the 20th. Friday the 13th is no good anyway. :)

To everything, turn, turn, turn....

There is a season, turn, turn, turn. It seems like I titled another post that once. Oh well.

We are seeing our family in a new season of life right now, and loving every second of it. When we had Isaac we were so worried about how our life was going to change. It scarcely seemed to change. We hung out with our best friends and their little boy who was a few weeks older, all the time. We stayed up late, we forced that little guy to be flexible and sleep wherever he was.

I remember one night we were driving home from the Kirks house at 1:00 am. We got pulled over by a policeman. Dave had forgotten to use a turn signal. Lame, right? The police looked in our car, saw the carseat in the back and said, "I was looking for drunk drivers and you turned out by the bar without a turn signal. I don't think you've been drinking, have you?" No, sir, but you can ticket us for being irresponsible parents and keeping our infant out until 1:00 am if you would like.

Every vacation we took, we declared our last. We hung out with friends and contemplated at what point we might grow up. 2 kids, 3 kids? Every time we got pregnant again we waited for life to really change. Well, it hardly seemed like it changed right up until this August when our kids were still frequently up at 10:00 pm.

Then school started. If Isaac is even up until 8:30 I have a hard time waking him up in the morning. It's terrible. "I ALWAYS have to go to school. FOREVER! Every single day I go to school. How come DAWSON doesn't have to go to school? School's not that fun." Those are some of the things I hear.

The whole morning goes differently if he goes to bed early. We try now to get him to bed at 7:00. Then he wakes up around 12 hours later. He plays for awhile and then he easily gets ready for school and leaves. He comes home from school, does homework, and reads for 20 minutes.

I feel like a grownup now. It's a new stage of life, one that I have to take a little more seriously. I have responsibility towards a schedule. I can't just disappear for the day, I have a little boy coming home at 12:30. I am enjoying myself so much though, I'm loving the change.

Isaac is handling school like a champ. His reading has really improved once he started the Book-it program of reading 20 minutes a day. It was amazing to me. Here is an example of a book he soars through.

Bats, Bats, Bats,

Bats have wings. Bats can fly.
Bats have fur.
Bats can live in a tree.
Bats can live in a cave.
Bats sleep all day.
Bats eat at night.

Not bad right? I sometimes have to remind him about the silent "e"s but he read that book right through without hesitation. (This was one of the books from my friend's store. We are LOVING all these new books)

Isaac was extremely upset with me about the 20 minutes of reading at first, but he improved so much and as it got easier, he enjoyed it more. The other day he told me he had a secret for me. He whispered in my ear that he loves to read. That made my day! I can't wait to see him keep improving, I think he'll be great.

Isaac's homework has around 7-10 pages in it for the week. I try to make him finish all the pages in 2-3 days because I don't like procrastination. Then I would know it was done by Wednesday or Thursday and it didn't stress me out. We have now decided that the math in Kindergarten (practically non-existant so far. Just grouping and counting and stuff.) isn't stimulating enough for him, so after his homework is finished he will do supplemental math homework that I print out.

If you google "addition worksheet" or subtraction, there are all kinds of printouts. I printed one out that was pretty hard, it had equations such as 9+7, that have double digit answers. Isaac has never done those before. He took quite awhile to finish the worksheet, but he did it with only 2 problems he needed to fix. It looked really messy. I looked a little closer and saw erased tick marks. I asked him what those were, and he sheepishly told me that he counted them. I was very impressed that he came up with that idea, and I'm sure in time he will memorize the answers so he won't need to do that anymore. I just need to keep him doing this supplemental math, and maybe he'll love math like me!

Another thing that was a big change was Dawson going to preschool. He has to leave early like Isaac, which was hard at first. I'm really pleased with his schooling though. He is really excelling in him tumbling and swimming. The swimming teacher even said he was the best floater in the class. He comes home with fantastic tumbling skills, and can even do a cartwheel.(Well, for a 3 year old BOY it is a great cartwheel, KWIM?) As far as academic, well preschool isn't exactly rigorous. I've spent a lot of time comparing it to the joy school that I did with Isaac. I don't think the curriculum is any better than joy school at all. I do think Dawson's preschool is outstandingly creative (which impresses mom way more than student and probably doesn't matter that much). The biggest differences that I see in the Sports Academy experience is the independence that they learn and the structure. This is really important for Dawson. They have a perfected little schedule and they do require them to do a lot of things on their own. I'm sure it's a little different for Dawson's class than the class that I teach (4-5 year olds), but I just see this as such good training for Kindergarten, and of all my kids so far, Dawson will benefit the very most from this.

Wow, that became a long post. I'm just fascinated by the changes and new things we are experiencing. The only thing that is constant is change. Or so they say....

Note to self

Note to self... and pretty much any other mother or grandmother that might read this.

No one wins the lottery without buying a lottery ticket.

No one profits from growth and appreciation without investing.

No one catches a fish without some bait.

No one reaps a harvest without first planting a seed, and then nurturing that seedling regularly.

This is my mom. She has bought an uncountable number of lottery tickets, invested more than she should have, searched for creative forms of bait, and planted and nurtured seeds in my kids (so to speak) more than most grandmothers could even comprehend .

And consequently, my kids adore her.



Well I do too. She is the best example to me of unconditional love and of a person who would never, ever dream of making you feel bad about yourself or your life. I have only ever heard from her how wonderful my husband and children are, and of course how exceptional she thinks I am :).

My kids think the Biada household is greater than or equal to Disneyland. Nothing is ever a problem there, everyone is happy to see them, it is all-you-can-drink chocolate milk, play all day, and then crash in front of a movie in the rocking chair snuggling with whoever won that privilege. My kids are showered with love and attention from Grandpa, Grandma, 2 aunts, and an uncle.

But the point of my blog post really wasn't to showcase the best example of a grandmother I know. (Although I wanted to do that obviously) The point of my blog was to remind myself now and in 20 years that you reap what you sow. So many people are curious and frustrated when they aren't given the attention they desire from other people. Why don't they want to be with me, why don't they like me? I sometimes forget this principle, that you reap what you sow.

We have some friends in the neighborhood who just moved in within the last two months. They invited us over for dessert last night. I felt a little flustered when they called that I hadn't invited them over first. What a great example to me of this principle. They don't sit at home feeling sorry for themselves that they moved again and have no friends. They don't complain about unfriendly neighbors and cliques. No, they buy lottery tickets. They throw out some bait. They MAKE friends. Brilliant people!

Why liken this principle to my mother? Well one because I am so, so grateful for her and the relationship she has built with my kids. But also because I frequently hear mothers from my club... you know the boy mom club- moms of 4 or more boys- yep, it's a proud little club!.... that they are worried about all of their daughter-in-laws. I don't subscribe to the theory that girls don't like their mother-in-laws because they aren't blood. I think that girls who don't like their mother-in-laws don't like them because they don't treat them like daughters, and don't build relationships with the whole family, especially the grandchildren.

Am I worried about my four future daughter-in-laws. Not if I can remember this principle. If I invest in them and their children, the growth and appreciation of my love will be mine to keep. I can have wonderful relationships with them and my grandkids, I just have to "buy their chairs" (ever see Phenomenon?). I'm sure with four different daughter-in-laws, coming from different backgrounds and different cultures potentially, there will be things I won't love about them. But I solemnly swear to keep those to myself. I'm going to be the best mother-in-law in the world. And I'm going to have fun with it. I love being a boy mom. I would never trade it. I love being a member of "the club."

Note to self: pull this post out in about 16-25 years when your kids start getting married. In the meantime, share these thoughts with others in case it might bless their lives. These kinds of semi-intelligent thoughts are few and far between to this brain-dead mother of four.

Best Friend

Henry has a new best friend. Her name is Kate and she looks just like her aunt Kate did when she was 2. She has a lot of the same spunk as his auntie Kate too. I've never seen him play like this with anyone. They were like two peas in a pod. I think they are soul mates.

BOOKS!!!!!!

Our friends are opening a book store. Jensen's Books. Every month they will get a new shipment of books and sell them. Pallets and pallets and pallets of books. They have everything. Seriously, you name it, they have it. Self help, biographies, novels, trashy novels, text books. And then there are the children's books. Board books, puzzle books, pop-up books, Golden Books, coloring books, hardcover, softcover, Scholastic, those obnoxious books with buttons that make noises, early reader (Just what I need for Isaac), yeah, everything you could want and more.

See these two bags FULL of books. Guess how much that costs? $7 for all you can fit in a bag. I'm not kidding. I spent $3.99 a book at Borders for a few early readers for Isaac. I thought that was a decent deal. I got 20 early readers that he can read right now, and some Level 2 for the future. Not to mention the 4 Nemo books I got for Henry, 2 Star Wars, 1 Jimmy Neutron (thanks Trisha for finding that one), two Cheerios books for church, a couple of Disney's version of "Where's Waldo", and tons of fun little books to read with my kids.

So for $14 I got two full bags of books for my kids. I can't wait to go back. I wanted to take ALL the books there.

They officially open on November 13th. You gotta go! It's located by SEI in Logan, and if you need more info let me know. I'm so excited for them. And for all my new books.