Houses for Rent in Kansas City

So the neighbors who were renting next door have moved out and the house is now ready for the next set of people. It’s a very nice house and is across from an elementary school, so lots of people have been stopping by to look at it.

If someone looks too hoity toity to live next door to me (meaning someone who is not exactly like me as far as being the coolest person on the planet), I send the kids out to the deck to yell things in a backwoods accent like, “Welcome to Hillbilly Homeschool High.”

Or

“Are you renting because of a bankruptcy or a fear of commitment?”

Because I never know who is reading this blog, I have to say to the landlords of this house that I am partially kidding, but that someone who lives next to a house full of kids needs to be able to handle it. And I have to say to people who are over 40 years old and renting houses that I have nothing against you and don’t feel superior to you. In fact, someone once said something to me about how there are many benefits to renting instead of owning. If you are that person, please expand upon that sentiment in the Comments section, please, because I’m nothing if not open-minded!

Hoppy Easter, by the way!

How to Make a Baby Book

Holy crap, I found a few minutes to myself where I wasn’t taking care of someone else, nursing or writing. Well, not exactly to myself. Sam was in the bouncy seat next to me and Eva was looking at her baby album next to me and the other kids were playing in the March 20 (first day of spring, my arse) SNOW with a friend.

So I did this:


I started Sam’s baby album! I ordered it from Creative Memories forever ago. I have the same 8 ½ x 11 albums for each of the kids, and am fairly caught up. Sam’s will be hard, and I suppose I’ve been putting it off. I mean, I’ll have holes where he wasn’t at the hospital with me, and I’ll have extra pages of NICU photos, but it will still be his baby book.

And it doesn’t have to be perfect. If you’re still wanting to put together a baby book for your kid(s) and are afraid it won’t look amazing so you haven’t even started, just go for it. Whip it together … get the pictures on pages and write some stuff down next to them that you remember.

Baby Powder: Evil or Funny???

If you’re a recent parent, you know baby powder is evil. It can get in the kid’s lungs and kill him or her on the spot.

Just kidding.

I actually still use baby powder sometimes. I hope it doesn’t cause lung cancer or infertility or anything like that.

So I’m putting some on Eva the other day and Michael says, “Why are you putting powdered sugar on her? Are you going to eat her?”

I said, “That’s now powdered SUGAR; it’s powdered CHEESE. I’m putting it on her TACO.”

We are so weird at my house. Couldn’t get through this parenting journey without a sense of humor.

Self Potty Training

I love when Eva takes off her diaper and brings it to me for review, like a cat brings a dead mouse or bunny or bird to its owner.

I’m like, “Just throw it in the trash! I don’t need to check it out first. What, do you want credit for it or something?”

Serotonin Deficiency Linked to SIDS

So the whole Back to Sleep campaign was a bunch of crap it seems. The most recent studies say SIDS is linked to a serotonin deficiency in babies.

Sleeping on the belly got a bad rap, even though 9 out of 10 babies surveyed prefer it. Sleeping on the back only worked a bit better to save a few babies because babies don’t like being on their back and wake up easier because they’re uncomfortable.

The Family Bed also got a bad rap, even though most parents who do it are totally responsible and not drunk or fat and actually wake up if they hear their kid having trouble breathing.

Do should we screen for serotonin deficiency at birth? If a kid is deficient, do we give them a shot of it? Interesting turn of events.