What a week! Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday!!
Evan earned 5 smiley faces by not throwing a fit about going to camp for 5 days and was rewarded with a pair of swim shoes. I have learned some valuable lessons since the backpack episode and went out and bought the swim shoes myself. At Payless. Much better deal. Hell, I bought Eric a pair and Evan a new pair of swim shoes for half the price of that backpack.
Did I mention the backpack broke earlier this week? Apparently you are not supposed to leave the straps out when you're wheeling it around. The up side is that we convinced Evan to pick a different color so he doesn't have the exact same backpack as 2 other kids in his class. Now we have a black one with a green spider. Awesome.
Our bathroom renovations are well under way. The master bathroom is functional and the kids bathroom will probably be functional by this time tomorrow. We had a minor detour when the shower in our bathroom worked so well it poured all the way into our dining room, but it's all good now. Evan is a rock star child and came running upstairs to tell me there was a problem before my laptop and purse were destroyed. Why does it have to be my stuff that gets rained on??
My job continues to be a hair-pulling experience (case in point, I pulled out 5 gray hairs earlier this week). But we leave on Saturday for a week at 2 different beaches and I will not spend any time worrying about what's going on in the office. Especially because I'm turning in my resignation tomorrow morning...yes, that's right, I am re-employed again!! Hopefully this goes better...my commute is 1 mile less each direction and has some kick-ass benefits, so at least there's that.
My husband is playing Mario Kart against Emily's husband. I'm guessing this is a good indication of what life will be like when Evan is a teenager. Lots of "awesome" and "dude" and "kicking ass."
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
More potty talk
If you're not a parent, and possibly even if you're not a parent of a young child, you might want to skip this one (ten bucks says my husband is contemplating not reading this one).
I thought my poop-talking days were over for a while. I mean, it's expected when you have a baby and there's obsession about the frequency, consistency, quantity, appearance, odor, and everything else that is currently grossing out the non-parents who skipped my initial warning. And then it occurs again when solid food starts and you have the "oh good grief, who knew corn looked exactly the same coming out as it did going in?" and "holy smokes...purple pedialite makes kryptonite green poop!" moments.
Wow...writing about poop is kind of fun. Maybe I should start a new blog devoted to poop stories...I bet it would be pretty popular!
Anyway, soI thought my poop analyzing days were over for a while and alas, they are not. Evan has been having some sort of stomach issue for several weeks and for whatever reason, we've narrowed the problem down to milk. Hopefully just a temporary issue, but right now he can only have milk on his cereal in the morning (if he insists on cereal instead of oatmeal) and juice/water to drink. Otherwise he is in the bathroom about 30 minutes after each milk drinking episode and it's not pretty. Like, really gross.
The worst part? It's like we're back in the potty training days and he yells for someone to come check things out every time he poops. "Mom!! This one's a really bad one!!" And I go see and find out things are actually normal, which makes me a little sad because imagine how long he has been dealing with this for him to think normal is bad??
And for those of you STILL reading, just to prepare you:
I thought my poop-talking days were over for a while. I mean, it's expected when you have a baby and there's obsession about the frequency, consistency, quantity, appearance, odor, and everything else that is currently grossing out the non-parents who skipped my initial warning. And then it occurs again when solid food starts and you have the "oh good grief, who knew corn looked exactly the same coming out as it did going in?" and "holy smokes...purple pedialite makes kryptonite green poop!" moments.
Wow...writing about poop is kind of fun. Maybe I should start a new blog devoted to poop stories...I bet it would be pretty popular!
Anyway, soI thought my poop analyzing days were over for a while and alas, they are not. Evan has been having some sort of stomach issue for several weeks and for whatever reason, we've narrowed the problem down to milk. Hopefully just a temporary issue, but right now he can only have milk on his cereal in the morning (if he insists on cereal instead of oatmeal) and juice/water to drink. Otherwise he is in the bathroom about 30 minutes after each milk drinking episode and it's not pretty. Like, really gross.
The worst part? It's like we're back in the potty training days and he yells for someone to come check things out every time he poops. "Mom!! This one's a really bad one!!" And I go see and find out things are actually normal, which makes me a little sad because imagine how long he has been dealing with this for him to think normal is bad??
And for those of you STILL reading, just to prepare you:
- kid poop does not smell any better than anyone else's poop
- kid poop is rather impressive at times...I'm convinced Evan loses about half his body weight in a given day just from pooping
Friday, July 18, 2008
A bright shiny day
Yesterday was not a bright shiny day...I got a flat tire on the way to Evan's camp (luckily I made it to camp), our contractor called at 7:20 AM to ask if he could start tearing up the 2nd bathroom (hell no, 1 functional upstairs bathroom was part of the deal!), and my work day went progressively downhill from there, at a rapid pace. I won't go into gory details, but I came home and put on a movie for the kids, which almost never happens. Then I had a margarita and made some awesome garlic-lime shrimp for dinner, and was able to enjoy the evening.
And today? Today my house is sparkly clean, I stayed home most of the day except to go to an interview which went pretty well. Not quite the knock-it-out-of-the-park sensation I get sometimes, but the hiring manager is hiring for 3 different positions and they're all called almost the same thing, which just gets confusing. So it went well enough.
But the happiest part? We heard back from the allergist and Eric only scored a 12.9 on the nut allergy test. Out of 100!! And, to educate you, if you don't know, 12.9 rocks. It means we can't give him peanuts or other tree nuts, BUT it puts him in the pool of kids that can outgrow the allergy (20% do). So yay. There is hope that he will someday get to enjoy the joy of a PB&J, so I'm happy.
And I think I'll skip posting tomorrow because I have to get a new tire and Ethan's truck needs a new compressor and no one is going to want to hear me moaning and complaining about those ordeals!!!
And today? Today my house is sparkly clean, I stayed home most of the day except to go to an interview which went pretty well. Not quite the knock-it-out-of-the-park sensation I get sometimes, but the hiring manager is hiring for 3 different positions and they're all called almost the same thing, which just gets confusing. So it went well enough.
But the happiest part? We heard back from the allergist and Eric only scored a 12.9 on the nut allergy test. Out of 100!! And, to educate you, if you don't know, 12.9 rocks. It means we can't give him peanuts or other tree nuts, BUT it puts him in the pool of kids that can outgrow the allergy (20% do). So yay. There is hope that he will someday get to enjoy the joy of a PB&J, so I'm happy.
And I think I'll skip posting tomorrow because I have to get a new tire and Ethan's truck needs a new compressor and no one is going to want to hear me moaning and complaining about those ordeals!!!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Like a scene from a romance novel...
He stood before her, his blue eyes shining and his face lit up with a wide grin. She turned her head to the side to peer up at him under the shadow of his baseball cap and, with the smallest smile dancing on her lips, moved towards him. Never losing sight of his adoring gaze, she slowly moved closer until--just barely--her lips met his, leaving a soft kiss on his smiling mouth.
I witnessed this very scene today...between Eric and a girl in his class. My two year old son and a little girl who just turned two.
Sometimes it's good to have boys. Or not to be the father of a girl.
I witnessed this very scene today...between Eric and a girl in his class. My two year old son and a little girl who just turned two.
Sometimes it's good to have boys. Or not to be the father of a girl.
Potty talk
I'm thinking of calling into work tomorrow because there's a bathtub blocking my closet. Seriously. Our bathroom is being renovated and our bedroom is suffering because of it.
Because of the bathroom renovation, there are 4 of us sharing a small bathroom. Yes, I'm spoiled, one of them only comes into the bathroom to brush his teeth, but still. They are BOYS. Boys are not the cleanest things, especially not in bathrooms.
Since we're one happy family in one happy bathroom, I no longer get to shower in peace. Evan feels the need to come into the bathroom every 12 seconds or so while I'm in the shower. To use the bathroom. To brush his teeth. To wipe the steam off the mirror. To leave the door open. To discuss the difference between boys and girls (now that conversation woke me up!!)
We received our stimulus check today. I promptly went out and stimulated the economy by purchasing new lights and hardware (towel racks, tp holders, etc.) for all of our bathrooms.
Did I mention there's a bathtub in front of my closet? And a toilet next to the bed?
Because of the bathroom renovation, there are 4 of us sharing a small bathroom. Yes, I'm spoiled, one of them only comes into the bathroom to brush his teeth, but still. They are BOYS. Boys are not the cleanest things, especially not in bathrooms.
Since we're one happy family in one happy bathroom, I no longer get to shower in peace. Evan feels the need to come into the bathroom every 12 seconds or so while I'm in the shower. To use the bathroom. To brush his teeth. To wipe the steam off the mirror. To leave the door open. To discuss the difference between boys and girls (now that conversation woke me up!!)
We received our stimulus check today. I promptly went out and stimulated the economy by purchasing new lights and hardware (towel racks, tp holders, etc.) for all of our bathrooms.
Did I mention there's a bathtub in front of my closet? And a toilet next to the bed?
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Picture pages
After a fun-filled morning in the sprinkler, I realized I actually had some 'old' pictures in the camera...
Evan shows Eric the fun of sitting on the sprinkler...
I can't even begin to explain...
I only hope that others (especially those of you with little boys) understand
I can't even begin to explain...
I only hope that others (especially those of you with little boys) understand
My hubby and his 'come hither' look...
Is Eric old enough to have a 'come hither' look?
The pre-allergic reaction sandwich--look how happy he looks!!
Put down the kid and nobody gets hurt!!
Friday, July 11, 2008
Our new arrival
Weighing in at 4.7 ounces, measuring 4.5 inches it's...
the iPhone
3G
3G
Yes, my crazy husband joined the other crazy people and got into line very early this morning to roll the dice. Luck was on his side, as he has one of the little gadgets which--I have to admit--is pretty cool.
There are probably a billion pictures of the iPhone on the internet already, but here's some pictures of when the boys and I went to check in on the progress this morning.
Hubby and Eric, having a little breakfast
There are probably a billion pictures of the iPhone on the internet already, but here's some pictures of when the boys and I went to check in on the progress this morning.
Hubby and Eric, having a little breakfast
Evan surveying the line after AT&T announced they only had 40 phones...
still a lot of people that stuck around just in case!!
still a lot of people that stuck around just in case!!
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Was it enough?
Eric did beautifully at his appointment, although it didn't quite go as expected. Longer wait, blood test instead of a skin test, didn't actually get the blood drawn because they couldn't find a vein, big detour on the way home to avoid traffic on the highway...
But the doctor was great, as usual, and even though we still spent over an hour in the office, I'm kind of glad we didn't have to see if he had some sort of horrible reaction the skin test. Doctor was pretty optimistic about the severity of the allergy, based on how much PB he ate and how long it took for the reaction to occur, so here's hoping. Most likely he'll be stuck at a 'peanut free' table until he's old enough to know not to touch the stuff (and with boys, isn't that forever??)
We went through all of our material while the nurses tried (unsuccessfully) to find a vein in his arm, and all the food on the very long backroads home, but oh well.
And next time? Remind me to pack some stuff to keep my husband occupied. Yeesh! I think I'll wait to talk about that until he has cooled down over the fact that I didn't want to call for directions when we didn't see the building the first time (buried in a shopping center, never even had to make a U-turn!). I bet if I had brought him some snacks and toys, it would have been much happier ;-)
But the doctor was great, as usual, and even though we still spent over an hour in the office, I'm kind of glad we didn't have to see if he had some sort of horrible reaction the skin test. Doctor was pretty optimistic about the severity of the allergy, based on how much PB he ate and how long it took for the reaction to occur, so here's hoping. Most likely he'll be stuck at a 'peanut free' table until he's old enough to know not to touch the stuff (and with boys, isn't that forever??)
We went through all of our material while the nurses tried (unsuccessfully) to find a vein in his arm, and all the food on the very long backroads home, but oh well.
And next time? Remind me to pack some stuff to keep my husband occupied. Yeesh! I think I'll wait to talk about that until he has cooled down over the fact that I didn't want to call for directions when we didn't see the building the first time (buried in a shopping center, never even had to make a U-turn!). I bet if I had brought him some snacks and toys, it would have been much happier ;-)
Will it be enough?
Eric goes in for his peanut allergy tests today and I have been advised this will take about an hour. The diaper bag is bulging at the seams, and I'm still not sure it will be enough to distract him from the pricking and itchiness...
New coloring book with stickers and crayons
3 favorite books (Stinky Face, Bee-Bo, and Personal Penguin)
Magnetic drawing thingy
Bubbles
Cars/trucks
Boo the blue moose
Goldfish, teddy grahams, grapes
Cup of ice water
3 diapers
1 change of clothes
Benadryl (technically for him when it's over, but I figure I can take a few nips off it if things get too rough)
Will it be enough to survive the hour? Stay tuned...(insert suspenseful music here)...
New coloring book with stickers and crayons
3 favorite books (Stinky Face, Bee-Bo, and Personal Penguin)
Magnetic drawing thingy
Bubbles
Cars/trucks
Boo the blue moose
Goldfish, teddy grahams, grapes
Cup of ice water
3 diapers
1 change of clothes
Benadryl (technically for him when it's over, but I figure I can take a few nips off it if things get too rough)
Will it be enough to survive the hour? Stay tuned...(insert suspenseful music here)...
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
PSA: Hug your kids today
My husband says my blog is getting a little dark and stormy lately, and today will hopefully be rock bottom and tomorrow will be back to happier things.
We attended a funeral this morning. For the son of one of our neighbors, and technically, for several years, he was our neighbor as well. He was 25 years old, smart, friendly...not a guy that should have only spent 25 years in the world. Not that anyone should only get that long, but especially not someone you know. Not someone you say hello to when you're walking dogs and getting mail. Not someone who comes to your house to play poker and dog-sit and ask for your help as a reference in getting a job. Not someone who has a good family and friends that are devastated without him around.
It wasn't a fun day, and I hope to never have to experience one like it again. And while it sounds a little "World Peace"-ish, I wish no one would ever have to experience that. Because the crappy feeling that is sitting in the pit of my stomach and crushing my heart is nothing compared to what our neighbors are going through.
So hug your kids, tell them you love them, and try and do it while they're sleeping so you don't have to explain the tears in your eyes when you're doing this. And pray for our neighbors, because they need all the help and prayers they can get right now.
We attended a funeral this morning. For the son of one of our neighbors, and technically, for several years, he was our neighbor as well. He was 25 years old, smart, friendly...not a guy that should have only spent 25 years in the world. Not that anyone should only get that long, but especially not someone you know. Not someone you say hello to when you're walking dogs and getting mail. Not someone who comes to your house to play poker and dog-sit and ask for your help as a reference in getting a job. Not someone who has a good family and friends that are devastated without him around.
It wasn't a fun day, and I hope to never have to experience one like it again. And while it sounds a little "World Peace"-ish, I wish no one would ever have to experience that. Because the crappy feeling that is sitting in the pit of my stomach and crushing my heart is nothing compared to what our neighbors are going through.
So hug your kids, tell them you love them, and try and do it while they're sleeping so you don't have to explain the tears in your eyes when you're doing this. And pray for our neighbors, because they need all the help and prayers they can get right now.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Serenity now
Today I woke up to the sweet sound of nothing. And by nothing I really mean no whining. Evan got dressed with little prompting and the only school-related words I heard out of his mouth were "Mom! I could put my sandals in this pocket and my goggles in that pocket and have lots more room!" Yes you can, my son. And on the way to school, he thanked me for his new backpack and said "it makes me very happy because it doesn't make me cry" which made me so happy I wanted to cry.
Ahhh...success. For one day at least, but it's one day longer than we've had in a while.
And apparently there's an alligator chomping on my husband's ass (his words, not mine). He "accidentally" ordered the Indiana Jones Lego game for the Wii off of Amazon. At least I have the sense to blame it on Evan!!
Ahhh...success. For one day at least, but it's one day longer than we've had in a while.
And apparently there's an alligator chomping on my husband's ass (his words, not mine). He "accidentally" ordered the Indiana Jones Lego game for the Wii off of Amazon. At least I have the sense to blame it on Evan!!
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Everyone has a breaking point
For seven straight days, Evan starts his morning with "I don't want to go to school" or "I don't like my new school." No "good morning Mom" or snuggling quietly. Instead, these dreaded words which, some days, lead to awful awful breakdowns (from Evan and me) as he ultimately goes to school. Well, until Thursday, since clearly there was no school on Friday.
Monday I tried to 'bribe' him by promising a visit to his old school on Tuesday afternoon. This sort of worked, but Wednesday morning the "I don't want to go to school" resumed and Thursday was even worse.
We tried bribing/threatening him with swimming (you can go swimming 2 times or no swimming) and he doesn't seem to care if he goes swimming because "all the kids go under water and I want to be the only one that goes under water."
His backpack has a broken zipper, so I offered to take him for a new backpack if he would go to school without whining. I must have the word 'sucker' tattooed across my forehead, because we came home from L.L. Bean with a bright red backpack that has a shark on it with a handle and wheels that light up and even Ethan's mouth fell open a little when he heard how much I had paid for a chance of regaining my sanity.
But if we get through a couple of days without hearing "I don't want to go to school" as the first words of the morning, it will be worth it. And if not, Evan has agreed we will take the coolest backpack ever back to the store.
Monday I tried to 'bribe' him by promising a visit to his old school on Tuesday afternoon. This sort of worked, but Wednesday morning the "I don't want to go to school" resumed and Thursday was even worse.
We tried bribing/threatening him with swimming (you can go swimming 2 times or no swimming) and he doesn't seem to care if he goes swimming because "all the kids go under water and I want to be the only one that goes under water."
His backpack has a broken zipper, so I offered to take him for a new backpack if he would go to school without whining. I must have the word 'sucker' tattooed across my forehead, because we came home from L.L. Bean with a bright red backpack that has a shark on it with a handle and wheels that light up and even Ethan's mouth fell open a little when he heard how much I had paid for a chance of regaining my sanity.
But if we get through a couple of days without hearing "I don't want to go to school" as the first words of the morning, it will be worth it. And if not, Evan has agreed we will take the coolest backpack ever back to the store.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Catching up
I had all intentions of blogging from an unusual place, but it suddenly got very dark outside, so I'm stuck at the boring old dining room table. Ah, well, the weekend has been anything but boring!
Enjoyed a lovely vacation day on Thursday, which was cut short by a recruiter asking for a last minute interview with a guy who had been out the previous day. Even I am amazed at my transition time...20 minutes before he called I was outside sweeping the patio and watering the grass, and 20 minutes after his call I was sitting in the guy's office, doing my interview thing. Went well, but we'll know for sure next week and in the meantime I guess I should start thinking about whether or not I really want the job!?!?
We had some family visiting Thursday night, which turned into more family on Friday morning, but Ethan was on the ball with chocolate chip pancakes and neither of my children melted down until everyone left the house, so it was all good. Well, the melting down pat was downright miserable, but at least no one else was here to witness it because it was BAD. Very, very bad. But the day improved and we spent some time in the pool (in the rain) which confused the heck out of Evan, although Eric never noticed. And we passed on fireworks and instead opted to watch an early fire show at the local Japanese steakhouse. Yum yum YUM. I especially love when they toss the shrimp for you to catch in your mouth because Eric thinks this is the funniest thing on the planet.
And then today, Evan and I went to see 'Horton Hears A Who' which was pretty cute and a good way for everyone to get some quiet time (i.e. children not fighting and screaming because someone took a toy that the other one was not actually playing with, but thinking about playing with, which therefore results in dueling tantrums). And then we headed to MD for some more family visiting time (and crabs!!), which was nice. Evan was happy to play with his cousins and Eric was happy to have someone hand him grapes and strawberries from the food table. By the end, he was even giving out hugs to a few people. Some pictures from that outing...
Margaret the monkey
And now my husband is trying to make the foghorn noise into his beer bottle, but he doesn't possess that skill so is instead just whistling into his beer bottle. Sigh. You can dress him up, but you can't take him out.
Enjoyed a lovely vacation day on Thursday, which was cut short by a recruiter asking for a last minute interview with a guy who had been out the previous day. Even I am amazed at my transition time...20 minutes before he called I was outside sweeping the patio and watering the grass, and 20 minutes after his call I was sitting in the guy's office, doing my interview thing. Went well, but we'll know for sure next week and in the meantime I guess I should start thinking about whether or not I really want the job!?!?
We had some family visiting Thursday night, which turned into more family on Friday morning, but Ethan was on the ball with chocolate chip pancakes and neither of my children melted down until everyone left the house, so it was all good. Well, the melting down pat was downright miserable, but at least no one else was here to witness it because it was BAD. Very, very bad. But the day improved and we spent some time in the pool (in the rain) which confused the heck out of Evan, although Eric never noticed. And we passed on fireworks and instead opted to watch an early fire show at the local Japanese steakhouse. Yum yum YUM. I especially love when they toss the shrimp for you to catch in your mouth because Eric thinks this is the funniest thing on the planet.
And then today, Evan and I went to see 'Horton Hears A Who' which was pretty cute and a good way for everyone to get some quiet time (i.e. children not fighting and screaming because someone took a toy that the other one was not actually playing with, but thinking about playing with, which therefore results in dueling tantrums). And then we headed to MD for some more family visiting time (and crabs!!), which was nice. Evan was happy to play with his cousins and Eric was happy to have someone hand him grapes and strawberries from the food table. By the end, he was even giving out hugs to a few people. Some pictures from that outing...
Aunt B & Charlotte
Aunt Jace, Grandma Donna, Nicholas, Aunt Keri, & Margaret picking some crabs
Margaret the monkey
Eric the cookie monster
And now my husband is trying to make the foghorn noise into his beer bottle, but he doesn't possess that skill so is instead just whistling into his beer bottle. Sigh. You can dress him up, but you can't take him out.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
It's Friday!!
Okay, not quite...but I have tomorrow and Friday off for the 4th, so it seems like a Friday!! Looking forward to lunch with Lydia and picking up my Pampered Chef 'loot', followed by a visit with some out of town family members!!
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