"Where the Wild Things Are" (A 5 Year-Old's Movie Review)

So last night I took Zach, Ryan, and Ryan's friend Zada to go see "Where the Wild Things Are." I won't give you Ryan's complete take on it seeing as how he is an easily distracted almost 4 year-old, but I'll give you his brief opinion: "I didn't like it." It might be his favorite book, but the movie did not hold his interest that much. I'll give you my take on it after Zach's.
I had to wait until this afternoon to ask him since he was asleep when we got home last night, and rushed this morning, but I took the time to write down his answers, in his words for the review.
Did you like the movie we saw last night?
Wild Things? Uh huh, but it was kinda scary.
What did you like about it?
I liked the beginning when he built the igloo, and his fort. I liked when he was bad and made his sister's room wet, and when he yelled at his mom, but that is bad. I liked the wild things and when they ran and acted silly. And the clubhouse Max and Carol built was cool. I really liked when he ran back home to his mom and she wasn't mad. (But you'd be mad right mommy?)
What else did you think about the movie?
It was kinda creepy, and funny. Oh and silly.
How was it scary?
It was scary when wild things were angry at him when he helped Carol. And then, when that bird one said Max was just a boy and Carol tore off his arm I had to close my eyes, it scared me a lot then.
What was your favorite part?
Oh, I really liked when they had that dirt fight. It was so silly. (Can I have a dirt fight?) But then, it wasn't so silly. They were mean to that goat wild thing, and that made me sad.
Do you want to see the movie again?
Yes... but not til it comes cd (dvd) that way I can stop watching it when I get too scared.

I tried to go into it with an open mind knowing a lot would have to be added to make the 12ish line book movie length. I thought the wild things looked amazing, they extremely impressed me. However, the wild things did not roar their terrible roars, or roll their terrible eyes, or gnash their terrible teeth, or show their terrible claws at the beginning or end. Nor did Max's room turn into the forest where the wild things are. Some of the wild things are coupled off and in love, and the relationship between the two major wild things, the reason behind all of the wild things' unhappiness went way over all three kids' heads. So did most of the witty-ish jokes that one wild thing made, as a matter of fact, I hated the personality they gave the wild thing Judith. It really seemed like they took a wonderful children's book and tried to gear the story line more towards adults, or at least people older than the book's targeted audience, and that really upset me.
However, after saying all of the above, I did really enjoy the movie, and will most definitly buy it when it becomes available on dvd.

Ahhhh! The joy of a well-sized carrier!

Ok, Bella loves to be held and to be close. The boys also loved to be held, but both of them had a huge sense of independence and preferred more to be able to go and do on their own. Both boys hated every single kind of baby carrier I put them in. So, when I was pregnant with Bella I did not ask for or buy any carriers, but somehow did end up with one. Once we had her John occasionally used the carrier with Bella, but I didn't, my boobs were just too big for too long to wear it comfortably, and Bella didn't really enjoy having John wear it.
Since we've stopped nursing and my chest has gone down to ((below)) normal I try Bella out in the carrier every so often. And... she always hated it, and I hated it too. It had been regulated to the junk pile in my entry hall (doesn't get used).
Well, the city we live in holds a fair/craft festival/car show type thing every year that the whole county takes place in. Since there's not really anything of fun to do around us, unless you want to drive to Memphis, its a pretty big deal. We didn't go last year because it was too hot, but this year it was on a beautiful slightly chilly day. Our house is close enough to where it was only a 10 minute walk to get to Celebrate so John and I got Bella and Ryan together (Zach spends weekends with my mom) and set out. We got two houses down when John decided we should go back and get the carrier because it really sucks trying to navigate the crowded area with a stroller. I told him I'd rather not, Bella and I don't like it. And then he asked the question that left me feeling kinda stupid "Well, did you ever adjust the straps? They're adjusted for me and I'm 8 inches taller than you, plus wider than you."
Yeah the carrier, once my wonderful husband fixed it for me, was wonderful. It made walking through the crowds very easy, kept Bella very warm, and for once, allowed Bella to sleep while we were out and doing.

On our way:




At Celebrate:






On the way home:






And the only down side of it was when some cranky old man stopped me and announced Bella must be freezing since she wasn't in a stroller with a blanket. I told him, no between my body heat and Bella's that she's probably warmer than any of the babies with blankets. He then said it must be some "new hippy thing" and walked away muttering about young parents.

Here's to sucking up my pride.

Obviously I don't mind putting this out for any and all to see...
We're broke. Like super-no money-fighting-broke.
For the past two months I've put off contacting the Health Department and the Department of Human Services, and both my grandmothers. We were on Foodstamps, and then I made the decision that we would not renew them after John's grandmother's estate was settled. And Bella has been unable to get on WIC because you have to have shots to get it, and her doctor did not want her starting shots until she was 6 months. Well, we went in for her 6 month check up and he said she was good to start them up, which means we're good to start WIC. John has told me I have have have to get us set back up on Foodstamps. Oh, and if I could call one of my grandmothers and ask to borrow some money that would be highly appreciated too.
See, there's this issue of my pride getting stuck in my throat when I try to swallow it and go and ask for help. I really don't want to. I'm of the mind there has to be a family out there who needs it more than we do, John's response is "Show me a 5 person family making $13,000 a year, who own their home, and aren't on some sort of assistance." But still, this just isn't something a person looks forward to. Its like admitting not only can we not take care of it all ourselves, we so can't do it we're asking you for help. I wasn't even the kind of student who would ask the teacher for help, this just so rubs me wrong.
But I have to do it. For the sake of my children and my marriage. So, as the title says, here's to sucking up my pride (and asking for help).

Let me be pissy for a moment.

1. I don't give a flying you know what about Cody the cat! Why the heck was that national news worthy??!! Yeah ok, people lost their cat, people found their cat. Whoopity-freaking-do. The family's happy the cat is back, but its not national news worthy. You know what I want to hear on the news? THE GOSH-DARN-FREAKING-NEWS!
2. I miss cussing. (lol - noticable?) I'm tired of freaking censoring myself when I talk or post or whatever. I'm trying not to cuss because well, Ryan no longer accepts "Well, its ok for me to say it because I'm the Mommy." But darnit, sometimes no other word works like a nice good cuss word.
3. I'm tired of going on an emotional roller coaster over Bella's health. We went to her 6 month well baby Tuesday and her doctor is worried because she's only gained a pound and seems slightly delayed developmentally. She gained a freaking pound! AND GREW TWO INCHES! She was averaging about a 1/4 pound a month before this, and actually lost weight between 4 and 5 months. I understand worrying because she's small, I'm even ok now with the testing. But darnit, when I first saw she gained a pound I was ecstatic until the doctor opened his mouth.
4. I'm sick of strong political biases infiltrating all forms of media. If I wanted to listen to a bunch of Republican and Democratic bruhaha I'd watch CNN or Fox News. Listen up people, about 90% of the time, the government doesn't owe you jack. They don't owe you money unless its a tax refund, and they don't owe you answers to all of what they do. If you think you can do a better job get your butt in freaking politics.
5. Lastly, oh em effing gee to John and freaking Kate. Just get that sad train wreck off of the freaking tv.

(You can ignore this if you want, I'm just really not a morning person - but these are all things that have been bugging me)

Bella's Jumper (Pt. 1)

So after spending so much time looking around for a simple, yet cute, free pattern to use for her jumper I discovered something very unhelpful. My printer is useless, thus the site I found with the pattern is useless. I kept the site up, used a too big jumper, and all my Bella measurements to just create my own pattern.
Here is my pattern before I cut it out. I drew it on graph paper, cut it out, then applied to a paper that is slightly thicker than cardstock, that way I can use it again after this jumper.

(you can click to view the full size images)
The extra things on the second image are the strap, the pocket, a leaf, and the peices to the pumpkin I'm putting on the top of the jumper.
Since I was so excited about this project I started it after my last blog post. I got all of the pattern drawn and cut out, plus got the main peices to the jumper traced to the fabric. The next morning I I finished tracing the other jean peices and cutting them out. Then I got all of the cordouroy peices traced and cut. Let me tell you, I though the denim would be a pain in the butt to cut, oh no, old worn cordouroy SUCKS!
Here are all the peices just laid together. (Note: I did decide to leave off the last two pumpkin peices so its now just the middle three, and the skirt isn't going to be asymetrical)

The tab things on the ends of the strap, and tops of the pockets are where the denim is going to overlap the cordouroy to creat a more lasting edge since the cordouroy is worn and old.
After I did all the cutting I started peicing together the details an embroidering it. I'm doing this before sewing the big peices together because on the pocket and bib, where there will be the most detail, I'm putting another peice of denim behind it so that the stitching doesn't get damaged. I hope to finish the embroidery today and will post the pictures tomorrow.

Going to be getting crafty with it.

I love my little miss Bellarina, but I'm afraid I'm going to be having bigger clothing issues with her than I had with Zach-Zoo. Zach, like Bella, was long and skinny. However unlike Zach, Bella has been ripping her jammies. She's still so skinny 0-3 months bags on her, the waists are still too big so when she wears pants I have to safetypin them, but they're now about 1/2 inch too short. She ripped two pairs of jammies with her long legs, one pair last night and another this morning. But my vendetta is not just against jammies, I'm just flat out sick of clothes not fitting her right. Shirts bag on her, along with pants. I can't put her 3-6 months clothes at all because the pants are too wide to safetypin and the shirt collars hang to her baby boobies. Its getting colder so I can't keep putting her in 0-3 months because the sleeves and pant legs are too short.
See my problem?
So I've decided to fix this problem myself. I'm borrowing my mom's big box-o-sewing-crap (her name for it mind you) and taking some of mine and the boys' old clothes, plus some of the hand-me-downs we got for Bella that are out of fashion and I am going to attempt to make her clothes myself. I'm not investing any money into this until I find out if this something I'll even enjoy or be marginally good at.
I've decided on starting with a jumper and some pants that I'll be making out of some of my old jeans and a orange cordouroy shirt the boys have outgrown (that I love the color of too much to give away). It may seem a little pretensious of me as a start out project, but oh well. I'll be altering a sundress pattern I found at Make-Baby-Stuff.com and using her pants pattern as well. I hope to start tonight or tomorrow and I'll update y'all as I go.

Gah flippity gah!

I don't feel like going into why I haven't been posting. Let's just sum it up in one sentence:
"I freaking hate computers, all of them."