Because I Said So - That's Why!

I was just in my bathroom putting my make-up on when I heard my door open. Claire came walking around the corner completely nude, carrying her wet diaper. Tyler was not far behind, carrying an empty box of Huggies & said "Mommy there's no more diapers." What a sight! Best I can tell, Tyler was trying to help Claire change her diaper but couldn't find the diapers that I just put into her drawer. I took Claire to her room & got her all diapered up. At least there was no mess on the floor to clean up. Oh these kids are so funny!

Halloween is always a fun holiday for children with food allergies and their parents. (I hope you catch my sarcasm.) Tyler is beginning to understand that he can't eat most of his Trick-or-Treat candy because it has "bad milk" in it - but that doesn't necessarily make it any easier for us.

Our church Halloween party was a couple weeks ago & included Trick-or-Treating. Tyler was pretty good about asking which candies he could eat. He gave a tootsie pop to Grandma, Grandpa, Jeff & me since he couldn't eat them himself. I ate my tootsie pop that night & my parents took theirs home with them. Jeff, not a huge candy eater, left his on the counter. Well, a couple days later, I came out of the bathroom & Tyler told me, "Mommy, I ate that sucker I gave to Daddy." I couldn't believe it! Those aren't just made on shared equipment with milk! They actually contain whey and condensed skim milk! I hurried & gave him Benadryl. Then I called Jeff at work & told him to be prepared to meet us at the Emergency Room. Amazingly enough, Tyler didn't have a reaction to the milk in the tootsie pop! He didn't even get hives! I'm hoping that means that he's beginning to outgrow his allergy - either that, or I gave him the Benadryl fast enough. Who knows? I know I shouldn't get my hopes up. Especially since he had hives all over his face and neck at the end of church on Sunday. But this is a really good sign & I hope that his next blood test will show some improvement. In the meantime, we just have to survive Halloween this Friday & I think we'll be OK.

*An added note after the questions in Krista's comment:
Tyler did eat the entire tootsie pop, but it was one of those mini-sized tootsie pops. I found the wrapper on the counter & I dug through the trash to find the stick, because I wanted to see if he'd really eaten the whole thing. It took a while to find the stick because it fell into the bag from our frozen burritos. There was no candy left on the stick & I could see the different colors on the stick from the sucker part & the chocolate part. He really did eat the whole thing. I asked him if he liked it & with a great big smile he said, "Yeah, it was good." And now, we just got home from being out & about and Tyler had horrible blistered hives all over his face & neck. So I had to give him a bath & Benadryl. I wonder what he touched!?! Maybe we were just really, really blessed last week when Tyler ate the Tootsie Pop. Heavenly Father was protecting him when I wasn't there doing my job.

How annoying is it that somebody stole the Yes on Prop 8 signs from our front yard? Another family across the street had a Prop 8 sign & it is gone now as well.

Oh well, little does the thief know that we can replace our Yes on Prop 8 sign a couple times a day until the election if necessary. We only have 100 of them in the back of my car, waiting for us to deliver them to about 80 homes tonight. I guess we're supposed to report it to the police when the signs are stolen. You can bet that the next time it disappears, I will be calling the Fontana Police Department. Many people around the state have been having similar problems.
http://protectmarriage.com/article/opponents-of-traditional-marriage-engage-in-dirty-tricks

The most incredible is the man in Modesto who was assaulted while working on the Yes on 8 campaign. http://protectmarriage.com/article/prop-8-supporter-violently-attacked-for-distributing-lawn-signs

This is a very heated issue with very passionate supporters on both sides. Thankfully, we are on the Lord's side, so I know that we will be blessed for our efforts.

Hello friends. It's been a while since I've written on my blog. Sorry, I guess I've just been lazy. Here's a quick update.


Claire -
A couple weeks ago we were just finishing lunch. There was a tortilla on the counter that might possibly have touched some "bad milk, " so I threw it in the trash. Then I put the package of remaining tortillas back into the fridge. A few minutes later I found Claire walking around in the family room, snacking on a tortilla. I wondered, "How did she get that? I thought I put those away." Then it dawned on me. . . I checked the trash can and sure enough the tortilla I tossed out was no longer there. Yes my friends, my little Claire was eating food out of the trash can!!! Yuck!!! I guess I can safely say that Claire is not a picky eater!

Tyler -
Earlier this week, I was at my Grandparents house with my kids. Tyler was at the kitchen table drawing pictures with my Grandpa. I overheard him tell my Grandpa, "W starts with D." I thought for a second, then I realized he was correct. "Double-U" does in fact begin with the "D" sound. What a very clever & observant boy I have!

Jeff -
Jeff is funny. He has certain articles of clothing that he refuses let go. A few years ago I had to order him a purple Eskimo Joe's T-shirt for Christmas so that he could get rid of the one he had & loved. It had so many holes, it was barely hanging together. He reluctantly replaced the old one with the new one. Last Sunday, Jeff asked me if I could wash a load of dark clothes because he left his fleece jacket in the laundry room for me. Then he asked me if I could repair a spot on it that was falling apart. When I realized which jacket he was talking about, I told him that maybe the hole in it was a sign that it was time to say good-bye to it. He just couldn't believe that I could say such a thing! It is his favorite. It is so comfy (his words, not mine). I think it's ugly. It was out of style before we even met (seven years ago). But he's been wearing the thing the entire time I've known him. He bought it while he was in college & absolutely loves it. He even wears it with his dress slacks, a white shirt & tie to church! Yikes! So, as the dutiful wife, I washed it for him & he wore it to work on Monday - even though I have not yet repaired the spot that's coming unstitched. I guess I'd better fix it so that he's only going to work in an ugly coat, instead of an ugly coat that's falling apart.

Colleen -
I'm still here, getting more and more pregnant. I'm due 3 months from tomorrow! Hurray! My Grandpa & I painted Tyler's bedroom last weekend. It turned out so nice. It looks so clean and fresh! I'll post pictures when I finish decorating. Now I have to figure out how to fit all of Claire's stuff in there too. Once the baby is born, Tyler & Claire will be sharing that room. (That's the joy of living in California - small houses, small yards, and formerly huge price-tags so we can't sell for more than we owe!)

Baby Cosme -
We now have a name picked out for our baby boy. We plan to name him Matthew Gordon Cosme. Matthew because Jeff & I could both agree on it. It means "gift from God," which I truly believe he is after my experience getting pregnant with him. I've always liked that name. When I was a sophomore in high school, I had to do a project where I carried around a 5 pound sack of flour strapped to a doll. We were required to name our flour baby & I named mine Matthew Austin. I guess the name Matthew has been on my list since then. The middle name we picked, Gordon, is my Grandpa's name & we wanted to name our baby after him. We actually had the middle name picked when I was pregnant with Claire, but she needed a more girlie name, so Gordon had to wait for a baby boy.
I can tell that Matthew is getting bigger. Mainly because I am getting bigger. Today I could feel his bum pushing out toward the top of my belly for a while. I guess that's a good sign that he was facing the right direction. He has now shifted & I can't tell which way he's facing. I just hope he stays with his head down. Last night I had one hard contraction. It really hurt! Good thing it only happened once. I don't need to feel any more of those for a while.


The Kitchen -
I finally finished the curtains for the kitchen! Remember all of the drama getting the fabric back in January and February. Well, here is the final result! It sure feels good to have those done! Now I'm working on curtains for the family room. I've finished the valances for the 2 small windows. I just have the 2 panels for the sliding glass door left to finish. I can't wait to get those done, but they are so big, I'm dragging my feet on starting them. They'll each be 90 inches long, 52 inches wide, and have 8 grommets on top. They're a little bit overwhelming to me. Plus, I cut each panel 4 1/2 inches too long, so I need to cut them again. I'm not looking forward to that. I guess it's good that I cut them too long instead of too short though.


The Whole Family -
We've been busy helping with the Yes on Prop 8 Campaign. Prop 8 is an ammendment to the California Constitution that states, "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid and recognized in California." Since the end of July, Jeff has been out canvassing precincts and taking opinion polls. This week our whole family has been out every night delivering yard signs to people who have requested them. I drive, Jeff delivers the signs, and the kids watch movies in the backseat of the van. It's actually been a positive experience for us. Tyler & Claire are both so excited to go deliver signs. I don't think they understand the importance of what we're all doing - but that's OK. It's really for them that we're doing this. This is such a significant issue for the state of California, and it makes me feel good to do my part. I hope that any of my California friends who read this blog will really think before voting on this issue. There are so many negative long-term effects if Prop 8 doesn't pass. The loss of religious freedoms, and the changes in public education in California are two of the biggest! We are optimistic that our side will win. Recent polls show that it is likely that our side will win in this election. Just remember VOTE YES ON 8!
*Just an added little note. I just went out in my front yard to take that picture of our yard sign. Someone had taken it down & left it sitting flat on the sidewalk! How annoying is that? At least they didn't steal it or destroy it. Some friends of ours had their sign ripped in half by one of their neighbors. I hope nobody does that to ours!