50 Random Things About Jen

Jana has a list of 100 things about her which I love to read! See, Jana is my sister's BFF and someone I have gotten to know a bit thru Kim but she is also someone that I would probably pick out to be friends with. And alot of that "knowledge" has come from reading her blog. So I decided to do my own list. And being that I have nothing new to talk about most days, this will give me some ideas! :-)

1. I am the oldest kid in my family.
2. I have a degree in Communications.
3. I am one class short of a degree in Political Science.
4. I do not drink enough water.
5. My first job was at County Seat selling Guess jeans.
6. My CDs are alphabetized.
7. So are my cookbooks~by genre and then author.
8. I love the Food Network.
9. I can not work my flat iron.
10. I love Wendy's.
11. My mom died of breast cancer when I was 30.
12. U2's "The Joshua Tree" is my favorite album ever.
13. I want to be a writer.
14. I want to be a caterer.
15. I love 80's movies.
16. I love the process of choosing names.
17. I adore Ebay.
18. I want to dress like a hip cool mom, but I fail miserably.
19. I once baked a 13x9 pan of bronwies and ate the whole thing in one day.
20. I spent 6 weeks after high school in Canada on a mission trip.
21. My first car was a 1987 Mercury Sable that was the color of dirt.
22. I love Ronald Reagan.
23. I do not like bananas.
24. I am learning to like wine~a lot.
25. I swore I would never dress my kids alike. Then I had 3 really cute girls.
26. I did not like being married for the first 3 years.
27. I have a crush on Alfonso Ribero~Carleton from "The Fresh Prince".
28. I also have a crush on Brit Hume.
29. I am terrible at sticking to an exercise regime.
30. My favorite color is aqua blue.
31. My favorite singer ever is Billy Joel.
32. I have re-decorated my bedroom 7 times in the past 12 years.
33. Unreliability is my biggest pet peeve.
34. And lateness.
35. I am terrible at writing thank you notes~~though I think they are important!
36. I am a closet Guns and Roses fan.
37. I watch "Days of Our Lives"
38. I sometimes buy TV dinners for my kids.
39. I am an avid scrapbooker. At least for my oldest daughter's book I am!
40. I make dinner at 10 am.
41. I love old cheesy Christian "rock"
42. I visit consignment shops on vacation.
43. I hate to make dinner.
44. I love to cook.
45. I had never set foot in Walmart til I was in college.
46. I was 24 the first time I tried a cigarette.
47. I once threw a shoe at my sister and gave her a black eye.
48. My first boyfriend is married to my best friend.
49. I am not good at arts and crafts.
50. I do not put batteries in my girls' noisy toys.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. . .la la la la. Good news from the doc today. I had an ultrasound and placenta has migrated north just a wee bit. .7 centimeters to be exact. Which is JUST enough for a regular old delivery. NO C-section!!!! I almost cried with joy. I still have to have one more U/S in 5 weeks to re-check but all looks good. I also have an "official" induction date. Baby #4 will be joining us on July 6. I get to have steroid shots next week to move the lungs along and an amnio on July 5. If all is good, we get to meet the last Lampen baby on July 6!

And no, I did not find out the gender. :-)

Summer Friday Five

BEST SUMMER SONGS
1. Summertime~DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince
2. Magic~The Cars
3. Anything by the Beach Boys
4. School's Out~Alice Cooper
5. The entire "TOP GUN" soundtrack

BEST SUMMER MOVIES
1. Top Gun
2. National Lampoon's Vacation
3. Dirty Dancing
4. Shag
5. Say Anything

BEST SUMMER BBQ FOODS
1. Tim's steak on the grill
2. Potato salad~LOVE potato salad when I'm preggers!
3. Anything served at Mommy Brain's poolside
4. Spiked watermelon~once when Caroline was 3 she ate 4 pieces at a party before we learned it was spiked!
5. Chips and guacamole


BEST SUMMER DRINKS
1. Sweet tea
2. Ice cold beer in a bottle
3. Watermelon martinis
4. KoolAid
5. Homemade lemonade

Greta's 2yr Photo Shoot

She had so much fun! I was really glad since Amelia's 2 yr session was a nightmare. Greta hammed it up a ton. This one is my favorite but you can go here and see them all. Try the link again. User is lamp93@yahoo.com and password is jen372. :-)

Is It Really Summer?!

It was actually warm enough last week for running in the sprinkler! And boy did we have 3 happy little girls. They could NOT wait to get outside in the sunshine. We also broke out the first box of popsicles. Greta was a hoot trying to figure out how to eat one and finally just laid it down in the grass and went to play. She came back about 10 minutes later to finish it and could not figure out why all that was left was a stick. Here's some fun "summer" pics. Enjoy!
Greta Boo and her popsicle.
Amelia was SO excited about her new pink flower bathing suit that she would not sit down. "No drips on my bathing soup, Mom!"

And Caroline has officially entered the "DO NOT TAKE MY PICTURE MOM!" phase.

All About Caroline

In honor of Mother's Day (and b/c Caroline was reading this over my shoulder) I decided to do this post for her. Amamda did one for Luke so here's my tribute to my firstborn!

1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED?
Yes, with the precision of a space shuttle launch.

2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME?
Yes

3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS?
Me- total excitement. Tim-on a cell phone "I'm pregnant!" "You're baking?" "I'm pregnant!" "You're baking?" "Never mind."

4. WAS ABORTION AN OPTION FOR YOU?
No, never

5. HOW OLD WERE YOU?
25 (26 when she was born)

6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT?
I was on fertility meds but had had a lot of hoping and disappointment. I was seeing the doc weekly to monitor the meds. She did a PG test when I was one day late and it was negative. So I went home to mope for the week. By Thanksgiving Day I still didn't have Aunt Flo so I took another test and it was positive.

7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST?
Tim and then my mom.

8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX?
I did but Tim didn't. So we didn't find out.

9. DUE DATE:
July 30, 1998

10. DID YOU DELIVER EARLY OR LATE?
Late - Aug 6 1998

11. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS?
All. Day. Long.

12. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE?
Tombstone pizza and hot dogs with ketchup and onion.

13. WHO IRRITATED YOU THE MOST?
I feel terrible for saying this as she's was only here to irritate my with one of my four pregnancies, but my mom drove me CRAZY! :-) Right now I wish she was here to drive me loony again.

14. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD'S SEX?
Girl

15. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING?
I don't now but then I really wanted a boy. I had images of the first born son, big brother, yadda yadda yadda

16. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY?
About 30-35. Same amount with each kid no matter what I do!

17. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER?
Yes

18. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW?
I knew about it and forbid the playing of games. I hate games. :-)

19. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY?
Not with Caroline.

20.WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH?
Chicago Heights IL

21. HOW MAY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR?
Induced~Started the Pitocin at 11 pm and starting pushing around noon the next day. She was born at 1:04 pm.

22.WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL?
Tim

23.WHO WATCHED?
Tim, my sister Kim, OB and 2 nurses.

24.WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION?
vaginal~nothing "natural" about a baby coming out there :-)

25.DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN?
an epidural from Dr Angela Scott. Almost named Caroline Angela.

26.HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH?
7 pounds, 10 ounces

27.DID YOUR CHILD HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS?
Her body temp wouldn't stabilize so I didn't get to keep her in the room til she was about 8 hours old.

28.WHAT DID YOU NAME HIM/HER?
Caroline Rebekah

29. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY?
8, she will be 9 in August.

Friday Five

FIVE BEST QUOTES FROM MY FRIENDS
1. OB: How are you at remembering to take your prenatals?
FRIEND: About as good as I am at remembering to take my birth control.

2. CHILD: Mommy, I can't sleep.
MOMMY: Why not?
CHILD: Because Texas is the Lone Star State.

3. I need to clean my house in case DCFS shows up.

4. Those were my drunk-and-naked years.

5. The TV does not watch itself.

FIVE BEST SONGS TO LISTEN TO WHEN YOU'VE BEEN DUMPED
1. Every Rose Has It's Thorn~Poison
2. I Hate Myself for Loving You~Joan Jett
3. Anything by Alanis Morrisette or Avril Lavenge
4. All Cried Out~Lisa Lisa and Clut Jam
5. Could've Been~Tiffany

FIVE BEST ALBUMS YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF
1. El Camino Yes Maybe~Emitter
2. Romeo Unchained~Tonio K
3. Swimming in a Human Ocean~Servant
4. The Turning~Leslie Phillips
5. Naked~River Sevens Well

Let's Take Back Preschool!

Awhile ago Jana had posted some observations about her daughter's preschool and I was so happy to see that I was not the only one who wondered WHEN did preschool become so *much*? When Caroline was in preschool parents were in charge of everything except the actual teaching. Holiday parties (and I use that term loosely as there was a "holiday" every other week!) seemed to get bigger and bigger until Easter when they~meaning the parents, not the teachers~wanted each family to fork over $30 so the "Easter bunny" could come to the class party. Um, no thanks.

When choosing a preschool for Amelia, one of the questions I asked was what is the expected level of parental involvement? Don't get me wrong, I am all for being involved at your kids' school, but I did not want to spend hours per week decorating cupcakes to look like Christopher Columbus. Amelia's teachers told me right off the bat that they would plan all the parties. Parents are welcome to attend but it is not mandatory. Well, sign us up! All was going according to plan til this weekend. Amelia's preschool class has a stuffed frog that visits each child over a weekend. This weekend was our weekend to have Speckles the Frog visit. Great fun for Amelia, not so much for Mommy. See Speckles has a journal that we must document the fun of the weekend visit. As I page thru Speckles journal, it is crazy! Each page features tons of pictures and very elaboratly decorated scrapbook pages for each child. My heart sank. I am even someone who enjoys scrapbooking but I do not wish to spend hours on a scrapbook for a stuffed frog. I began to wonder. Is this because every other mom loves to spend her precious "free" time doing these things? Is there something wrong with me that I forgot until the middle of "American Idol" last night? Or is this a new form of junior high peer pressure? After all, no one wants to look like a bad mom! Each child also sends home huge candy treat bags for their birthdays. I sent cupcakes for snack time. Store bought cupcakes. What must the other moms think of me? So Speckles went back today with a few lines of truth about how he spent his weekend~mostly in the middle of a tug-of-war with Amelia and Greta~and a pathetic picture printed from the computer of Amelia in her PJs with Speckles before breakfast. And I feel liberated!

Friday Five~~The 80's

BEST MOVIE QUOTES(Extra points if you can name the flick)
1. Baby fish mouth!
2. I love my dead gay son!
3. I am opposed to any -ism.
4. Take me to bed or lose me forever!
5. I want my $2.00!!

BEST 80's CHRISTIAN "ROCK" ARTISTS
1. Russ Taff (before he went all Gaither)
2. Whiteheart
3. Petra
4. Leslie Phillips
5. The Choir

BEST STORES TO SHOP IN THE 80's
1. County Seat
2. The Limited
3. Deb
4. Merry-Go-Round
5. Ups and Downs

BEST TV SHOWS
1. Family Ties
2. Growing Pains
3. Cosby Show
4. St Elsewhere
5. LA Law