Bad Hair Day
Getting More Alert
With Grandma K
Over the Shoulder
Bright-Eyed
Taken Care of by Daddy and Big Sister
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Week 2 in Review
Bad Hair DayGetting More AlertWith Grandma KOver the ShoulderBright-EyedTaken Care of by Daddy and Big Sister
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Brood XIII
For those of you thinking of coming to the Windy City, you may wish to hold off between now and June 1 (sorry Rudi and Errin)....
Swarms of cicadas emerging in Midwest
By TARA BURGHART, Associated Press Writer
CHICAGO - Coming soon: Brood XIII. It sounds like a bad horror movie. But it's actually the name of the billions of cicadas expected to emerge this month in parts of the Midwest after spending 17 years underground.
The red-eyed, shrimp-sized, flying insects don't bite or sting. But they are known for mating calls that produce a din that can overpower ringing telephones, lawn mowers and power tools.
Brood XIII is expected across northern Illinois, and in parts of Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana. Cicadas live only about 30 days as adults, and their main goal is mating.
They don't harm humans, although they are clumsy and might fly into people. Birds, squirrels and pets, especially dogs, love to eat them, and they are high in protein.
"They're going to have quite a meal. It's going to be like Thanksgiving for them," said Tom Tiddens, supervisor for plant health care at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
They are periodical cicadas, which are only found in the eastern half of North America. The annual, or dog-day cicadas, that appear every summer are common around the world.
The last massive emergence of periodical cicadas was in 2004, when Brood X emerged after 17 years underground in parts of 15 Eastern states. Some broods emerge after 13 years.
As nymphs burrowing underground, cicadas suck sap from tree roots. Almost all members of a group, or brood, burst from the ground within a couple days of each other.
They quickly climb the nearest vertical surface to molt and unroll their wings. In some heavily wooded areas, as many as 1.5 million cicadas per acre will crowd onto trees, expert say.
"It's one of the greatest insect emergences on Earth," said Daniel Summers, an entomologist at The Field Museum.
A single male's shrill courtship call can reach 90 decibels, equivalent to a kitchen blender. That could sour plans for outdoor events over the next few weeks.
Ravinia Festival, a 103-year-old music festival held north of Chicago, revised its schedule to avoid classical musicians having to compete with the insects, said festival president and CEO Welz Kauffman.
June will see more pop bands outdoors, a few concerts moved indoors and a visit from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. "With 350 voices on stage, they can hold their own against the bugs," Kauffman said.
At the Chicago Botanic Garden, spokeswoman Gloria Ciaccio joked that her advice for brides holding outdoor weddings there will be to put the tent flaps down and turn the music up.
An Illinois company that provides ice sculptures has turned down several outdoor parties over the next month. That's because of what happened when Nadeau Ice Sculptures owner Jim Nadeau delivered a swan statue to a wedding in 1990, during the area's last emergence of the periodical cicadas.
"We put our tray down and immediately the cicadas came off the ground and attacked the ice. Literally, it was a moving sculpture, this big black ugly mass of cicadas constantly moving," said Nadeau.
"I don't want to talk myself out of work, but that was just too gross," he said.
Exactly when the cicadas will emerge is a subject of debate, although there is agreement they emerge once the soil temperature is consistently 64 to 65 degrees for several days. Biologists and insect experts predict the cicadas will emerge between Tuesday and June 1.
The best place to see — and hear — the cicadas will be forest preserves, golf courses and any land where there are older trees where the soil has been undisturbed since 1990.
Freelance writer David Hammond runs the LTHForum, a Chicago-based Internet site devoted to culinary matters, and his "foodie" friends want to see what the cicadas taste like.
The insects are eaten in other parts of the world, with descriptions of the taste ranging from shrimp to canned asparagus to not much at all.
No recipe has been decided upon yet, but Hammond assumes they will be fried and perhaps accompanied by a dip or salsa.
"Honestly, they'll probably go down easier that way," he said. "Who knows? Maybe we'll love it. We may have to travel around the country as infestations occur."
Swarms of cicadas emerging in Midwest
By TARA BURGHART, Associated Press Writer
CHICAGO - Coming soon: Brood XIII. It sounds like a bad horror movie. But it's actually the name of the billions of cicadas expected to emerge this month in parts of the Midwest after spending 17 years underground.
The red-eyed, shrimp-sized, flying insects don't bite or sting. But they are known for mating calls that produce a din that can overpower ringing telephones, lawn mowers and power tools.
Brood XIII is expected across northern Illinois, and in parts of Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana. Cicadas live only about 30 days as adults, and their main goal is mating.
They don't harm humans, although they are clumsy and might fly into people. Birds, squirrels and pets, especially dogs, love to eat them, and they are high in protein.
"They're going to have quite a meal. It's going to be like Thanksgiving for them," said Tom Tiddens, supervisor for plant health care at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
They are periodical cicadas, which are only found in the eastern half of North America. The annual, or dog-day cicadas, that appear every summer are common around the world.
The last massive emergence of periodical cicadas was in 2004, when Brood X emerged after 17 years underground in parts of 15 Eastern states. Some broods emerge after 13 years.
As nymphs burrowing underground, cicadas suck sap from tree roots. Almost all members of a group, or brood, burst from the ground within a couple days of each other.
They quickly climb the nearest vertical surface to molt and unroll their wings. In some heavily wooded areas, as many as 1.5 million cicadas per acre will crowd onto trees, expert say.
"It's one of the greatest insect emergences on Earth," said Daniel Summers, an entomologist at The Field Museum.
A single male's shrill courtship call can reach 90 decibels, equivalent to a kitchen blender. That could sour plans for outdoor events over the next few weeks.
Ravinia Festival, a 103-year-old music festival held north of Chicago, revised its schedule to avoid classical musicians having to compete with the insects, said festival president and CEO Welz Kauffman.
June will see more pop bands outdoors, a few concerts moved indoors and a visit from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. "With 350 voices on stage, they can hold their own against the bugs," Kauffman said.
At the Chicago Botanic Garden, spokeswoman Gloria Ciaccio joked that her advice for brides holding outdoor weddings there will be to put the tent flaps down and turn the music up.
An Illinois company that provides ice sculptures has turned down several outdoor parties over the next month. That's because of what happened when Nadeau Ice Sculptures owner Jim Nadeau delivered a swan statue to a wedding in 1990, during the area's last emergence of the periodical cicadas.
"We put our tray down and immediately the cicadas came off the ground and attacked the ice. Literally, it was a moving sculpture, this big black ugly mass of cicadas constantly moving," said Nadeau.
"I don't want to talk myself out of work, but that was just too gross," he said.
Exactly when the cicadas will emerge is a subject of debate, although there is agreement they emerge once the soil temperature is consistently 64 to 65 degrees for several days. Biologists and insect experts predict the cicadas will emerge between Tuesday and June 1.
The best place to see — and hear — the cicadas will be forest preserves, golf courses and any land where there are older trees where the soil has been undisturbed since 1990.
Freelance writer David Hammond runs the LTHForum, a Chicago-based Internet site devoted to culinary matters, and his "foodie" friends want to see what the cicadas taste like.
The insects are eaten in other parts of the world, with descriptions of the taste ranging from shrimp to canned asparagus to not much at all.
No recipe has been decided upon yet, but Hammond assumes they will be fried and perhaps accompanied by a dip or salsa.
"Honestly, they'll probably go down easier that way," he said. "Who knows? Maybe we'll love it. We may have to travel around the country as infestations occur."
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Laundry Problem
Yesterday was our first day home without Paul (i.e. just me and the girls). I was very nervous, but apparently didn't have much of a reason to be. Elise was a star (minus a couple of defiant spells). She was very helpful with Julia and even reported to me that Julia spit up all over herself in the baby bed. Enter the laundry problem.
1) There was a perimeter breach to her morning diaper and Julia peed all over my leg first thing in the morning....my first change of clothes. My second change of clothes occured after being spit up on....badly (see #2). My first load of laundry.
2) Julia spits up a lot, more than I remember Elise ever doing. We went through several onesies over the course of the day from Julia declaring it "Let's see how many times my Mama can change my clothes" day. Add the burp clothes and receiving blankets and you have another load of laundry.
3) Julia has a bad case of diaper rash. It popped up suddenly and is causing her a lot of discomfort. So, everytime she poops (which is more than I care to share) she's had screaming fits, requiring an immediate new diaper. In an attempt to alleviate some of her pain, I left her diaper off for a few minutes so that she could air dry. What I failed to do was put a waterproof pad underneath her....she was on our bed and peed all over herself. Another load of laundry....sheets and a blanket.
4) I was changing Elise's diaper just before putting her down for a nap. Usually this is done on the floor, but I was tired and didn't want to get down on all fours. At any rate, just before putting a clean diaper on, Elise announced that she needed to use the potty (yes, we're still working on potty training). She scooted herself off the bed and left a nice skid-mark on her sheet. Yet another load of laundry (but she did go pee-pee on the potty)!
Who would have thought two little girls could cause so much extra work in one day! It really is job security.
1) There was a perimeter breach to her morning diaper and Julia peed all over my leg first thing in the morning....my first change of clothes. My second change of clothes occured after being spit up on....badly (see #2). My first load of laundry.
2) Julia spits up a lot, more than I remember Elise ever doing. We went through several onesies over the course of the day from Julia declaring it "Let's see how many times my Mama can change my clothes" day. Add the burp clothes and receiving blankets and you have another load of laundry.
3) Julia has a bad case of diaper rash. It popped up suddenly and is causing her a lot of discomfort. So, everytime she poops (which is more than I care to share) she's had screaming fits, requiring an immediate new diaper. In an attempt to alleviate some of her pain, I left her diaper off for a few minutes so that she could air dry. What I failed to do was put a waterproof pad underneath her....she was on our bed and peed all over herself. Another load of laundry....sheets and a blanket.
4) I was changing Elise's diaper just before putting her down for a nap. Usually this is done on the floor, but I was tired and didn't want to get down on all fours. At any rate, just before putting a clean diaper on, Elise announced that she needed to use the potty (yes, we're still working on potty training). She scooted herself off the bed and left a nice skid-mark on her sheet. Yet another load of laundry (but she did go pee-pee on the potty)!
Who would have thought two little girls could cause so much extra work in one day! It really is job security.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Elise Learns to Ride Her Trike
Up and down the sidewalk she goes.....where she'll stop nobody knows!
Big Sister Elise
Elise has really taken a shining to her little sister. She doesn't like to hear her cry and is learning to help Mama. We're thrilled that she hasn't asked us to return her to the hospital yet.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
She's arrived
Introducing....
Julia Alexis
Born Monday, May 7, 2007
9:25 pm
8 lbs, 6 oz
20 inches
Mama and baby
are doing well.
Friday, May 04, 2007
Roti
Paul and I have been trying out some new places to eat in the area as of late. Tonight's location was Roti Mediterranean Grill. This is a newer restaurant in town (the only other location being in the city). They consider themselves a 'fast-food' restaurant....the set up is similar to Chipotle or Noodles & Co. For those of you in southwest Michigan, it's a fast-food version of LaShish.Paul and Elise shared the grilled chicken kabob platter, served with rice and tomato, onion and cucumber salad. They ordered the "Slightly" Spicy Roti Sauce with their dish, which was a very tasty tomato base sauce with some zing (spicy is supposed to bring on labor, right?). I had the Flatbread Pita Wrap with Fire Roasted Chicken Roti and chose the Dill, Yogurt and Cucumber sauce. They piled on salad greens, cucumbers and tomatoes (though you can also choose hummus, feta cheese and a number of other veggies). All of the food was delish!
Yum, yum, yum! We may just become regular customers. Here's the review from the Tribune.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Stay-at-home mother's work worth $138,095 a year
Encouragement for all you stay-at-home moms (and dads):
NEW YORK (Reuters) - If the typical stay-at-home mother in the United States were paid for her work as a housekeeper, cook and psychologist among other roles, she would earn $138,095 a year, according to research released on Wednesday.This reflected a 3 percent raise from last year's $134,121, according to Salary.com Inc, Waltham, Massachusetts-based compensation experts.
The 10 jobs listed as comprising a mother's work were housekeeper, cook, day care center teacher, laundry machine operator, van driver, facilities manager, janitor, computer operator, chief executive officer and psychologist, it said.
The typical mother puts in a 92-hour work week, it said, working 40 hours at base pay and 52 hours overtime.
A mother who holds full-time job outside the home would earn an additional $85,939 for the work she does at home, Salary.com.
Last year she would have earned $85,876 for her at-home work, it said.
Salary.com compiled the online responses of 26,000 stay-at-home mothers and 14,000 mothers who also work outside the home.
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