I don't know why it bumps our posts up to the front when we edit them. Sorry about that.

So, we made christmas cookies this weekend. With sprinkles. I mistakenly left the two containers of sprinkles on the counter today, and I mistakenly thought it would be a good idea for my kid to own a stepstool. When I noticed he was being too quiet for too long, this is what I walked into the kitchen to see. How did he get them open? How did he drag his stepstool from the other part of the house?

Look at the CRAZED look on his face!

Awwww...but look how happy he is...

Two lego babies. And a real one. OrangeWhip's "Sleepy globe" reminded me to take a picture of this, which I've been meaning to. My son made two "babies" out of legos and carries them around. He tries to get me to breastfeed them. He sleeps with them. They are not the nicest thing to roll over on at night. My bed looks like this: Lego baby, Lego baby, real baby, and I get a little space near the wall.

Me; my house has never been so clean and I taught my ten year old how to play rummy.
I'm setting seroius computer limits for myself now.

Quick, before it goes down again! I set up a message board for hipmamas to connect and ask each other "What the hell is going on with HM?" for when the site is down, since that seems to be pretty often lately.
Register now and bookmark it, so hopefully we won't feel so disconnected again!
http://hmisdown.proboards101.com/

I'm trying to fill out a job application. The application they provided is an Adobe .pdf file. Instructions say to save the file to my computer, fill it out, then email it to them. The thing is, I can't type on their adobe file. How am I supposed to fill it out? I don't want to ask the company or I'll sound like I don't know anything about computers, ya know?
I've tried and tried, but the adobe application doesn't seem to even have a type tool.
Can anyone help?

It's time to make the christmas pictures already. I slung a black sheet up tonight and tortured the kids by making them sit close together and act like they were enjoying it. There a few I need to decide between. What do you think? I'm probably only going to print one.

1)
I think this one is cute but the filesize is a little low for good prints:

2)

3)

OK, I probably won't use this one but I think it's funny:

Listed as a kids halloween costume:

...so many levels, I don't even know where to start.

We carved these yesterday. The big one cracks me up every time I look at it. He looks so excited.

For some reason this made me really happy to watch. Probably because I'm a drummer but my kids have never taken any interest in it. He's really feeling the music isn't he? Amazing.

We had parent-teacher conferences last night. I like my sons' teacher, he likes her, he likes being in school this year (which is a first), everything is good.

Background info: My son was tested with a high IQ, but his grades have always been not that great (he's in 4th grade). He doesn't turn things in on time, and sometimes not at all. He has always had horrible handwriting and is not good at spelling.

Last night the teacher told me that the school is doing a new program where the standardized tests are now being taken entirely on the computer. She showed me his scores, and it was not what I expected. He tested very, very high in every subject. Way beyond grade level. So, we discussed it, and the deal seems to be that he just has such trouble with actual writing things on paper, that he just doesn't do it. He's smart, he knows the material, but he can't seem to transfer what is in his head out through his hand and onto paper.

My son walked in from school today, and I realized he looked HUGE. I mean, grown up. He just turned ten, but is practically looking like a teenager; wearing his hemp hat homemade by his mama. I had to get a picture.

And just for equal time purposes, here is the little guy, playing in the bamboo forest.

Poll: Do you leave your lights on during winter days? I'm not really prone to depression, but a dark house on those short, dark winter days can get to me. I feel bad about wasting energy, but I need light!

Just wondering, because it's getting pretty cold here (in the 30's today) and I just turned the overhead lights on and felt guilty about it. I sure wish I had a fireplace.

I don't ever pass on forwarded emails, but this one made me happy.

You know you grew up in the 80's if:
1. You've ever ended a sentence with the word PSYCH!

2. You wore biker shorts under your skirts and felt stylishly sexy.

3. You yearned to be a member of the Baby-sitters club and tried to start a club of your own.

4. Two words: Hammer Pants.

5. You wore a ponytail on the side of your head.

I received my proof copy of the BF/pregnancy photo book today, and it printed fine. If you would like to order one you can do so here:
http://www.lulu.com/content/434543

If you'd like to make sure you are in it before ordering, just ask and I'll look up my file names for you to check. And don't forget to change the shipping method drop-down menu. They have it pre-set on UPS, which is $10!! The best choice is Media mail which should be under $2.

I like how it turned out, but if I do this again, I'd like to put some text in too.
Here is my boy reading our copy. He likes to see all the babies and booboo's.

There is this numbers game/psychic test thing that is freaking my 9yo and I out. It guesses our number every time. We have done it at least ten times, and every time it guesses correctly. We have tried tricking it in all different ways.
There has to be a trick. Help us, you geniuses.
http://www.milaadesign.com/wizardy.html

I just heard someone BANGING on the front door. Seriously pounding. I looked out the window and it was an lady, 50ish talking into a cell phone. Banging with her fist on the front door. She yelled: "I know you're in there! Open the door!" I thought maybe there was a car accident or something and she needed help, so I went ahead and opened it. She yells: "Are you Holly?" I said no. "Do you know Holly?" No. "Omar? Thomas? Bill? Tina?" she yelled. NO. "Well my daughter said that's her stroller and that I should meet her here!" She points at our new stroller sitting on the porch. "NO, that is our stroller, this is our house, I don't know any of those people". I say. She is still on the phone and says into it "She says it's her stroller!" I start thinking about that recent kidnapping case where the lady got into the house by asking to use the phone.

I feel bad for changing the focus of Gigi's new name thread, so let's list our pirate names here.

http://www.piratequiz.com/

I am Iron Morgan Cash.
Ahoy comely wench! How many leagues to yer barnacle-covered fleabag inn? Me dear ol mum, bless her black soul, tol me to have a bit of a lie down.

Anyone else?

Finally! I got the breastfeeding/pregnancy photobook finished. It is titled Madre Belle which means 'Beautiful Mothers'. It is avaliable for purchace and preview here:
http://www.lulu.com/content/434543

Actually...I just ordered my proof copy, so you might want to wait until I get my copy and make sure that it is going to print right. It turned out to be $12.48 + shipping which if you choose media mail should be under $2 depending on your location. Mine was $1.91.

I will try to get it up on mamarama a bit later after the proof copy is approved.

Thanks for being patient. I tried to include everyone that submitted a photo.

Earlier today I heard some soft singing in the other room, go in to check and this is what I see:

He totally did that himself. I didn't know that he understood the connection of sunglasses + guitar + microphone. It really made me laugh.

Is it possible to wean a two and a half year old co-sleeping boy? I'm a single mama so there would be no handing him off to his dad for the night, which is the only thing I've heard that seems to work.

I can't take it! He only breastfeeds at night, but it is ALL NIGHT. When I say no, he cries and wakes totally up and then we're both awake for hours. It is so much easier to just give him the boob and go back to sleep.

One night last month he had surgery the next day so no eating or drinking after midnight. When I told him no booboo's (what he calls it) I had to walk him around the house for an hour before he stopped crying out of pure pissed-ness. I sure don't want to do that every night.

I want to thank all of you who post your signature lines in color or in italacs.
The rest of you are freaking me out. I keep trying to figure out what the hell "I don't know karate, but I know KA-RAZY!!!" has to do with the rest of what Gigi is writing about!

Good golly, Bush's speeches have become so simplistic and repetitive. I just can't take it anymore. Help me. Somebody please help me.

http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/degraw/41563/

Click on the video.

I ran into a program online (myheritage.com) that scans a photo of your face and then lists what celebrity you look like. It requires a close-up headshot, and of course since I am the one that always takes the pictures, I don't have any of myself on my computer.
Anyway, I wanted to try this program so I ran it with a shot of my son. It told me he looks most like Condoleeza Rice.

Condoleeza? MY sweet baby? Oh...my...god...they ARE RIGHT!!!

Yesterday at the grocery store my two year old saw some of those little cocktail weenies and said; "Baby hotdog!" It occured to me that to him the word baby just means small. I realized he has no idea that he's going to grow bigger!
Toddlers probably just think that they got unlucky and are very small humans.
No wonder they get so easily pissed about the things they can't do.