I Am So Important

No seriously. I would say that a good 70% of the time I am in my office, sitting at my desk. A few days ago I was out of the office at a meeting. When the meeting was over I checked my blackberry and there was a message from one of our assistants saying that "Mr. X" was waiting to see me. I was confused because I only know one Mr X and he wouldn't come by to see me - unless OH MY GOD - I had an appointment with him. I am now freaking out. I call the office and they confirm that it is indeed the Mr X I know, and thank GOD, he did not have an appointment, he just stopped by. Now I am really confused. This is a muckety muck. A big muckety muck. Think CEO of a HUGE company type muckety muck who, while I do know, and he does know my name, would NOT just drop in to see me. But, he has already left - not finding me there, so I head back to the office to see what is going on. I rush to our reception area and ask them if someone had been there to see me. They say, "yes, Mr. X was here" I ask if he thought he had an appointment, and they confirm, "no, he was at a meeting nearby and just stopped in". They hand me his card, assuring me it was indeed him. Just to check I describe him and they confirm. I am now baffled and kinda impressed with my star power. Let's just say I couldn't stop by this guys office and drop in to see him. At least I never would. That would be totally inappropriate. I sent him an email and apologized for missing him, and he said he was across the street at a meeting and thought he would pop in. Wow. At the very least it raised my status at work, and that can't be bad...

Bumbo Seat Usage for Dummies

They recalled the Bumbo seat. They recalled the bumbo seat mostly because kids were getting out of it and falling off counters and tables. What kind of morons put their kids in these seats on top of counters and tables. And, moreover, left them unattended when they did. The recall is here. Seriously. The Bumbo says right on it "Never use on a raised surface. Never use as a car seat or bath seat. Designed for floor level use only. Never leave your baby unattended as the seat is not designed to be totally restrictive and may not prevent release of your baby in the event of vigorous movement.” Its imprinted on the darn thing. And now they are recalling it because stupid-as# people put the Bumbo on a table and left their kid there to topple off. Do we really need to protect ourselves from this kind of idiocy?

Don't get me wrong, I have accidentally let more than one kid of mine fall to the floor from a high surface. And I have been VERY lucky that none of them have been hurt. But do I blame the table manufacturer for making a surface without rails that my child could fall off of?

This just burns me for some reason. I love the Bumbo. It is so adorable! My baby loved the bumbo before he entered the stage where he just wants to run around putting whatever he can find on the floor in his mouth. Hmmm..maybe we should recall my vacuum cleaner for failing to continuously pick up all those pieces from the floor (despite not being run)....

Red Sox ROCK!

YAYYYYYYYYYYY. For the second time in three years my beloved Red Sox have captured the World Series title. I only wish my mom had lived to see it. Not once in her life did she get to enjoy a World Series win, and now we've had two. So awesome. Mikayla even put on her Red Sox shirt this morning, and she didn't even know what was going on (as the game was WAY too late for her).

In other news, Mikayla lost her first tooth yesterday! She was upstairs "napping" (not) and came down and said, "Mommy look!", she had her tooth in her hand. I didn't even know it was lose! Luckily Barnes & Noble was open late last night and we grabbed a Tooth Fairy kit. Very cute -- book and pillow and cards and stuff for her to send to the tooth fairy with subsequent teeth. She was very excited to find a dollar under her pillow this morning.

YAYYY Sox!

Big Man's Movie

This just cracks me up everytime I see it. You can make your own one here.

Moms Have No Shame

So, I recently sent this picture to my friends and family for Halloween. One of them pointed out that she would never be so "brave" to send anyone a picture of herself as a superhero. It honestly didn't even occur to me to be embarrassed -- although upon thought, I certainly would NEVER have sent just a picture of me and dh like that. At least I don't think so. I think there is something about becoming a mom that takes away a whole level of inhibitions. There are certainly lots of things I do now that I would never have done before. For example, I routinely now will sing with the kids in the car regardless of who is watching from the road. Even at a stoplight, I just look right back at the person and keep on singing. I will also dance spontaneously with my kids pretty much anywhere - grocery store, walking down the street, mall, school, wherever. I think being with the kids lets you act like a kid yourself, and that's kind of liberating.

So there -- I posted this picture of me and my family as superheros for the whole Internet to see. Ha!

oh yeah, and GO SOX!

Simple Acts of Kindness

So recently my faith in humanity has been restored by some simple niceties by strangers. On Thursday I was coming back home from a business trip in San Antonio. I got to the airport early and got in line to get on standby for an earlier flight to DFW, where I had to catch my connection home. I had already tried calling to get on standby for the earlier flight out of DFW, but they wouldn't do it over the phone. Anyway -- while in line in San Antonio I started talking to a gentleman in front of me. He was getting on the stand-by list too. We both had our names added, and walked to a little restaurant across from the gate to wait and eat. We talked a bit more - we work in related industries. Anyway, the flight starts boarding and they start calling the stand-by list. The gentleman gets called and we bid goodbye - him wishing me luck with getting on. As he is boarding they announce that the plane is full. He turns and looks at me and I smile and wave bye. He walks up to the ticket counter and refuses his standby seat. He turns to me and says "you take it, all I have at home waiting is a dog, you can see your kids." I protest - I probably won't make the earlier connection anyway! But he insists and I get on. Isn't that the nicest thing??! Who likes sitting in airports?! It was so nice of him to do that and totally made my day (even when I didn't make the earlier connection in DFW).

On Saturday I ran into Target in the middle of the afternoon (always a mistake in our area as they are PACKED then) to get a copy of Mary Poppins, that I had decided we should watch with the kids that night. I got in the 15 and under line to pay and a sweet lady with probably only 5-7 purchases let me go ahead, since I only had one. So nice!

Things like this really make my day, and I have to remember to do them for others now and then and make their day too.

Just Call Me "Ma Mere"

Let me start off by saying I do not feel any guilt about sending my kids to daycare. I am a much better mommy for working, and they are more enriched then I could make them if I stayed at home (what with all the screaming, crying and tantrums - oh and they'd probably get upset too).
I also don't read "mommy war" or other "how she does it - type books". But this one was suggested by a good friend - who happens to be a sahm. The book is called "Perfect Madness" by Judith Warner. I am only about 1/3 of the way through it - but it has made me think. It makes me want to live in France. In the book the author talks about living there, and the completely different attitude about adult lives and parenting lives. From her description it seems as though the French culture emphasizes parents still leading adult lives while having children. Compared to the sort of frantic - must be doing something to enrich my kids lives every spare moment we have going on in the US today. People there certainly do things with their kids but they also do things without them - go out to dinner, read books, etc. They seem much less kid-focused. And not guilty at all about it. In fact, the author writes that the French would be perplexed by someone who was guilty about it. Very interesting, at least so far. Will probably provide bigger picture review when I am done.

Update - Big Man's ears, house

Big Man is fine. We talked to our Ped who assured us what was happening was normal (for a complication). DH brought big man to the ENT who was able to clear the tube. Apparently it took 2 people to hold big man down so the dr could do it, but he is fine now. So far so good. Course he has a fever for the last two days with an unknown cause, but that is just par for the course. Hopefully it was caused by the annoyance in the tube, and now that it is cleared, he'll be better. Least that's what I'm telling myself.

House is getting there..its the little things that take FOREVER. Deck is totally done (and we bought a new cap for the hot tub - builders lost it on day one), porch should be done today (maybe?), still waiting on delivery of the glass doors for the shower. I have a punch list that is about 35 items, we'll see how it compares to theirs on Sunday morning when we meet with them. Last night we went shopping and found our bed. I LOVE it. You can see it here - is that TMI? Considering this sofa as well, although not sure how it will coordinate with the existing one. Wanted a patterned one to fit better, but we'll see.

Fall is finally here!

Mean What You Say

So I have a friend whose kids are older - one is a preteen and one is a certified teenager. Whenever I have a weak parenting moment I remember a story she told me. About a year ago her 14-year old was copping quite the attitude (let me premise this by saying she is a charming, well-behaved girl!). Anyway, my friend and her husband had really had it. The husband said to his daughter - you will act respectfully or you will lose your right to privacy in this house. The girl, being a teenager, ignore him and continues with the attitude. The dad says - seriously, if you keep this up, I will take the door off your room. The girl doesn't change. Dad gets up, walks upstairs, takes the door off the hinges and gets rid of the door. The girl freaks out - I can't have no privacy! and gets a sheet to pin up. Mom steps in and says -- nope, dad said no privacy. Girl demands privacy - how will she get dressed? Mom points to the perfectly good bathroom next door with a door. The parents stuck with it for nearly a year.

I LOVE that story. Taking off the door -- how cool is that?! You KNOW their daughter thought that was NEVER going to happen. DH and I have always believed that when you make a threat or say you are going to do something while disciplining your kids (or whenever, really) you have to stick with it. Sometimes it is hard, when you say something crazy or that will be a major inconvenience - but you gotta stick with it. Whenever I get weak, I remember this story. You can always remove the door.

Real Quick - if you haven't yet - VOTE for HER!

This woman is amazing - raising three kids, going to law school, oh yeah, and fighting breast cancer. She is a finalist to win $10,000. Vote for her. You can only vote once per computer. Between now and October 28th. Go, do it now. Thanks.

Almost Home Free

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Originally uploaded by MBooth_98

So..we are almost done. The bathroom is tiled (as you can see), the plumbing is now working, as is the AC. (oh yeah, and we replaced the ugly light fixture in this picture with a nice one) The only big things are the installation of the gas fireplace, the ceiling of the porch, and the soffits all around the roof. Pretty much everything else is cosmetic - touching up paint, closing holes in the plaster from the central A/C, repairing (replacing) the ceiling in the basement, couple moldings here and there. Possible final inspection next week..we'll see!

Flowers for Those of Us with Purple Thumbs

So I love gardens, fresh cut flowers, the whole bit. But I am not a huge fan of gardening. I like planting stuff, but I HATE weeding. Hate it a lot. So I rarely do it. I will usually plant a bunch of stuff (bulbs in fall and some flowers in spring/summer), but I rarely weed. Now I have found an even easier way to plant, and I am so excited. Dutch Gardens catalog (and website) has biodegradable bulb trays. These are trays that come pre-loaded with bulbs of your choosing, and you just dig a big whole and put the whole shebang in there, cover it with dirt and water. They even have special ones made for big flower pots. This is so freaking brilliant. I cannot wait to try this. I haven't ordered them yet, because they are about to start landscaping my yard, so I'm afraid they would pull them up if I started, but I LOVE these. Actually I think I will buy one or two of the ones for pots and plant those. Then I can see if they work. Will keep you posted - I am so excited to try! I still doubt I'll weed, but I will probably plant lots more bulbs!

Baby I Was Born to Run

ok..maybe not, but I did complete my first 5k today! YAYYYY for me! I had three goals for today -- finish the race, do not walk at all, and finish under 40 minutes. I made 2 out of 3. I finished at 40 minutes, 20 seconds. Bummer...I wish they had put the clock somewhere you could see it sooner. I didn't see it until I was about 100 yards away at 39.57. Oh well..very close. We had a good day - not too hot, and there were lots of racers. Their megaphone wasn't working so the start was a little weird -- first I knew we were starting was when everyone ahead of me started to run. I hit the play button on my iPod, but it didn't start, and so my first 200 steps running I was fiddling with that, but after that it was pretty good. My first mile was 12.54 at mile two I was at 25.57...I really thought I might make it, but oh well. I am very happy with how it went, and my DH and kids were all at the finish line. I am very proud of myself - 5 months ago I couldn't run for 60 seconds -- now I did 40 minutes and over 3 miles.

And, what do you know..the scale is finally starting to catch up!

Countdown -- only 26 days left

So we LOVE Halloween. Its the one holiday DH and I have always been into. We nearly always have a party (costumes strongly desired), decorate our yard like crazy, and now that we have kids, try and do as many Halloween-related things as possible.

With all the construction going on, the yard will be a challenge this year. First, the yard itself is full of crap - discarded shrubs and other greenery, lumber, assorted other building materials. Second, when they put the new HVAC system in, they had to run lots of ducts through the attic. I can't imagine how they did it, although I am sure they were cursing us the entire time. But now, with all the stuff we had up there (Halloween decorations, Christmas decorations, sizes of clothes I hope to fit in soon, outgrown kids clothes, my stained glass materials, etc) - you cannot move ANYTHING up there or find anything. It is awful. But I intend to try. We may not have all the stuff we usually get up outside, but we are going to make some kind of effort.

We also go all out on costumes -- for the whole family. And we wear them as much as possible. Last year, I was Minnie Mouse, DH was Mr Incredible, K was Violet Incredible, B was a sheep (or a Baa, as she likes to say - after her favorite stuffed animal of that name), and Big Man was a fuzzy monster. This year I decided we were going with a theme. We are all Superheroes. I am Wonderwoman (complete with strapless costume that wouldn't stay up in a million years- I'll be wearing a t-shirt underneath), K is Batgirl, B is Supergirl (a pink costume - not the traditional red and blue), Big Man is superman, and DH is Zorro. Ok, Zorro is a bit of a stretch, but the costume was so cool. We all look great as you will see in Halloween Cards in your mailboxes soon (and I may post here closer to the holiday).

We also try and do as many events as possible. Last year we had our party and Boo at the Zoo (which is this great nighttime ticketed event at our zoo with trick or treating and everything), where all 5 of us dressed up. The kids also had a parade at their school. This year, we hope to have a party, we have Boo at the Zoo, the younger two have a parade a daycare, K has a parade around the neighborhood with her school, and our neighborhood is having a Halloween block party with parade!! Yayy! I can't wait.

I'm not sure why I love Halloween so much, but I really do. I may even take the day off so I can be sure not to miss all the kids in their parades. What are y'all going to be for Halloween?

Surgeons Suck

So, as previously reported, Big Man's ear tube surgery went great. Until he took a late afternoon nap. When he woke up there was blood all over and in his left ear. I kinda freaked out. I reread our post-surgery instructions - NOTHING about blood. The sheet says there can be some discharge -- but I thought that meant clear fluid or the like. Anyway, I call the dr's emergency line, and - to give him credit - he calls me right back. Now I have never been a big fan of this dr. The first time we met (it was only about a week ago!), he was very cold, examined my son for about 3 minutes, and declared he needed ear tubes. But, he was very highly recommended, so I was like, fine. Yesterday prior to the surgery he maybe spoke 15 words to me. "Any questions? It will be over in 10 minutes". After surgery I think there were less "you've already made your post-op appointment? Give him these ear drops 2x a day". So when he calls back and I explain the problem, there is a bit of silence, then a defense "I'm very surprised to hear that." -- I'm like, surprised in that you nicked his brain stem and he is slowing dying? or surprised because this sometime happens but you didn't expect it to? or surprised that I would call over such a little thing?. He goes on about how his ears were "bone dry" after the surgery and he is really surprised. I'm still freaking out about it and he finally says that worst case he may have to take the tube out and reinsert it if the tube is now stuck up with dried blood. The blood was not currently flowing, but had dried and after wiping it off the outside of the ear, it still looked gunky going into the ear. So, the Dr says to just call and make an appointment, and he would take a look - but, btw, he was in surgery the next 2 days, so it may have to wait until Friday. Now luckily, big man doesn't seem to be bothered at all. I am calling the Drs today to see if I can get the next available appointment - with either dr in the practice. I figure it should take 2 minutes for them to look and see if its a problem. Hopefully we don't have to do this all again.

Now, I watch ER and Grey's Anatomy - I get that surgeon's are assholes. This one fits the mold perfectly. It just really bugged me that he was more offended that something hadn't gone perfectly in his surgery then worried about the impact on my son.

UPDATE - just went in to see the Dr. The left tube is clogged with dried blood. We have new eardrops that we hope will dissolve it. We go back end of next week and see. If they have not fixed it, then the Dr will try and suction it out (something he said we would have to restrain Big Man for) or, at the extreme, he can take the tube out (also something done in the office, and I imagine involves restraints). Lets hope the drops work!

Post-op Happiness

So big man had his ear surgery this morning. He was a champ. Last night he couldn't even sleep in his room, cuz they had painted upstairs and I could still smell it, so we made him sleep in a pack n play in the den. Then I had to get him up at pre-dawn for the surgery at 7:30. We got the hospital at 6:15 (they wanted us there at 6, but I thought that was nuts)..we got checked in and by 7:25 they were taking him in. Before 8 he was back with me. The thing they don't tell you is that when kids wake up from the anesthesia, they are "inconsolable" for anywhere from 5 - 20 minutes. The dr said that it is just their brain trying to figure out what is going on and work its way out. Luckily he wasn't thrashing or anything too much -- just crying a weird cry. After about 15 minutes he calmed down and within another 5 was drinking juice and eating crackers, and smiling up at me. We are now sitting at home and he is playing with his toys - happy as a clam. So far so good -- Dr said everything went fine, but the gunk in his right ear was really thick and sticky so its a good thing we got it out. Hopefully he will be feeling better. He is such a happy baby, its amazing, really.