Mireya Ruesch » Lane Ruesch

Stay at Home Mommy

Lane Ruesch — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:47:32 +0000

Guest post written by my buddy Bernardo Graham

Well, we are down to one income now. I was a teacher, but we decided with three kids, it was better for me to finish out this year and stay home with them. We were spending almost my whole paycheck in childcare for three. Then the little bit we had left of my paycheck was going to pay doctor bills because they were always catching things from the other kids at their preschool. Not to mention, I used so many sick days that I started having to take days with out pay. So, by the time contracts came back around to be signed for the next year, we decided it was probably going to work out the same financially, sparing me the stress of all the things that teachers have to do in a week. We also looked to see if we could make cuts on our utilities. We decided we could do without HBO/Cinemax and our TiVo. We also bundled home and cell phones with our cable. With a little research at Just Energy Offers, I found that we could save by switching energy providers so we did! Hopefully, we won’t even realize that we’re down to one income with the little changes made and no childcare expenses!

Mommy, LISTEN!

Lane Ruesch — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 18:46:32 +0000

Mireya is so cute! She just came up to me and said, “Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!” I told her she had to wait one second and she said, “No! LISTEN! Mommy, LISTEN!” When I said ok she asked me a question. How cute is that!? My baby girl is growing up!

I am so PROUD of Mireya!

Lane Ruesch — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 06:14:59 +0000

Mireya started potty training today. We attempted it several months ago, but it quickly became clear that it was too early. Today we started again. SHE IS SO AMAZING! My sweet, baby girl….well… not really a baby….. anyway, she only peed in her pull-ups once and she started pooping in them once too. She peed in the potty a total of 7 times! One of those was at a restaurant even! She just turned to me and said, “Mommy. Mommy! Potty Mommy!” When I asked her if she needed to potty, she got all excited and we hurried to the bathroom. Without any hesitation she sat on the potty and peed! It was so cool!

I made her the potty candy jar that I have posted pictures of previously here. She gets some candy after each time she uses the potty. She also has a really cool potty chart that she gets to put one sticker on each time she uses the potty. (Thank you Dad and Ellen!) She is so excited about the whole process and I couldn’t be more thrilled!

I think it really helped to get her started this morning when I intentionally fed her a gazillion Saltine crackers and tons of juice. She was a peeing machine! I think that as long as Daddy and I stick to it, she will be potty trained in now time! I also realllllyyyy hope she doesn’t just find it a novelty today and then in a few days the fun wears off… that would just suck!

****FYI–I published a new video of her on YouTube.****

1st Dentist Visit

Lane Ruesch — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:48:43 +0000

Mireya had her first dentist visit yesterday. I have been concerned, because she chipped the face of one of her top front teeth a few months back and it has turned a dark color. I also recently noticed another dark spot on another tooth. I wanted to be sure they weren’t cavities. Well, they are. Sh*t.

I feel so bad! Apparently it is really common for kids her age to get cavities, because they are learning to brush and they don’t like to. It just sucks, because she hardly ever drinks juice, she was off the bottle by one and she never goes to bed with milk. She has been eating too many sweets lately with the holidays and I’m sure that made things worse.

Mireya has to go back when she turns two and have the two cavities filled. They will sedate her and I am trying not to totally panic about it. She is my baby and I don’t want anything bad to happen to her EVER. I keep trying not to think about all the “what ifs.” Stupid “what ifs” just need to go away.

The only positive about the entire experience was the office. It was a pediatric dental office and it was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. They had touch screens with all kinds of games, a whole little western “street” of sorts, toys, and other cool stuff. Mireya and Jason didn’t want to leave! Seriously! I had to pry Jason off a touch screen game (he HAD to enter his name in the high score box) and Mireya cried all the way out the door. Maybe I should just drop the two of them off there on days that I need a little peace and quiet…

Cute Mireya Photos

Lane Ruesch — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 03:47:39 +0000

Ok, so all the photos we take of Mireya are adorable, but here are some particularly cute ones:

Mireya had a cold a few weeks ago and I wanted to suction out drainage from her nose, so she could breath better. This is what she did to prevent that.

NO WAY Mom! Leave my nose alone!

Mireya Fell Asleep on the Couch

Mireya playing with hair ties just like I did as a child.

LOVE the pigtails!

Mireya wearing my boots.

Sweet Baby Girl!

Mireya thought this was hilarious!

Mireya and I had a tea party. She shared with her dolls. CUTE!

Mireya in her Christmas tutu!

Brush Brush Brush

Lane Ruesch — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 21:32:41 +0000

That is the chant we say every night while Mireya brushes her teeth. She has gotten so good about doing it happily! She brushes them without a fight and she even lets me help her to get them really clean. HOORAY! I am so proud of her!

Good job baby Girl! Good Job!

Privacy

Lane Ruesch — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 05:15:56 +0000

Thanks for the article from Laura Ryan

I was recently looking online with a friend of mine. I had just switched to one of the CLEAR internet service providers, and I was checking to make sure the internet was up and running. What I stumbled onto while checking the internet was mind-blowing. My friend and I were looking up homes online, and I decided to look up my own address. It was scary to see that a satellite picture of my house is online. Not only that, but you can find a full shot of the front of our house. My husband’s truck is missing from the driveway, so the picture must have been taken while he was at work. I may sound a bit paranoid, but it was disconcerting to see my home and address online for the entire world to see. You hear stories all of the time about people using the internet to commit crimes of all different types. I do not like the fact that my home is available for anyone to see. With two small children, I want to make sure they are protected and safe at all times. Sometimes too much information can be dangerous.

Healthy and Happy

Lane Ruesch — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 21:19:26 +0000

Well, not quite, but close. Mireya is steadily improving now and that is a huge relief. Her fever broke last night and has not returned since. She still looks tired and pale, but her congestion and attitude are improving too.

Jason and I are wondering if she is just a kid that runs really high fevers every time she gets sick. It is really bizarre, but perhaps true? Regardless, I am so glad that she is getting better and I cannot wait to have my happy healthy girl back. Her sassy spunk had been back this morning and it is great!

Sick Mookie

Lane Ruesch — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:24:27 +0000

Mireya starting running a low fever two days ago, but it was intermittent and she seemed fine. Unfortunately, each night she has had nightmare after nightmare and been miserable. By today her fever is getting more consistent and higher. She’s also feeling much worse. She has no real symptoms of anything, so I don’t know what she could be sick with.

Does this sound like deja-vu to you too? It wasn’t too long ago that we had the fiasco where Mireya had a really bad fever for weeks and weeks and the doctors had no idea why. It eventually broke and she got better, but we never got an answer as to why she was sick in the first place. It was very traumatic for all three of us and we have a huge fear of history repeating itself.

What do we do? Add to that the debate of whether or not to give her something for the fever and the misery. We’ve been alternating ibuprofen and Tylenol, but I hate to medicate her and doctors don’t recommend it. The alternative is worse though, because she clearly feels better after a dose of medication. Ugh.

I HATE this. I HATE that she is going to get sick as a child until she develops immunity to things. I HATE that she can’t tell us exactly what’s going on. I HATE that I’m her mother and I want to be able to fix everything and I can’t always. I HATE worrying that I might be missing something or not doing enough. I HATE the unknown, the unexpected and what I cannot plan for. I just want my sweet baby girl to feel well and be happy always.

Slamming Doors

Lane Ruesch — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 01:14:37 +0000

No, no one is angry or upset. The one slamming doors at our house is Mireya. She has decided that every door in the house needs to be shut at all times. She shuts the office door, no biggie. She shuts the pantry door with me in it, a little annoying. I open the pantry door, so that I can continue to get my baking ingredients set out on the counter and when I step away for two seconds, BANG, she shuts it again. I made cookies last night and she shut the door in between every ingredient until I put my foot in the door. That was the end of the world apparently, because then she threw herself onto the ground and screamed and wailed for five minutes! Joy.

She also likes to shut our two cats in various closets and rooms around the house. I will realize that I haven’t seen one of them in a few hours, which is highly unusual. I’ll look around and lo and behold, they are in the coat closet shredding my scarves out of frustration, because they’ve been locked in there for who-knows-how-long. I have also seen my daughter close doors on the cats. Poor Sparty will probably have a brain injury by the time Mireya grows out of this phase if she keeps slamming the door on his head. She even closed the shoe box he was sleeping in yesterday and then she SAT on top of it! It caved in and when I pulled her off, she threw a huge tantrum. Peachy. I opened the box and poor Sparty looked at me like, “What the hell just happened!? Are you trying to kill me!?” He avoided Mireya and the shoebox for quite a while.

Mireya also enjoys shutting the door on me and Jason. She shut it after he stepped outside and locked him out in the snow. He was thrilled, I tell you! She shut it on my barefoot recently too. OUCH! Oh, and she shuts herself in places and then FREAKS OUT when she can’t open the door again. If we put those handy little door stoppers for toddlers on the hinges, she tries to slam the door only to have it rebound back into her. They aren’t exactly a good baby proofing item when they smack into your child’s nose and knock them on their butt.

When will this phase end? Seriously people! I don’t know if I can take anymore doors slamming. She also throws them open and we have dents in the walls where the handles hit. She has really mastered the art of SCREEAAAMMING when we try to prevent her from slamming the doors.

WONDERFUL…

and FREQUENT.

I enjoy the screaming sooooo much. Speaking of which, I hear her now….