Julie's Ramblings

Old Navy people, Old Navy. They have a crazy sale right now. I bought some things yesterday, and asked today if they'd do a price adjustment on whatever is on sale now that wasn't yesterday. I was thinking I'd get a dollar or two. NO! $15! Hello! If you need sweaters, PJs or kids clothes, Old Navy is the place to be! I was floored by the deals!

Amazing how quickly time goes by! Yikes! Christmas is 10 days away, how did that happen? I miss my blogging. I am so far behind reading blogs, too. I just checked in on the triplets, and holy cow, they walk!!! That's how long I've been gone.

I'm going to touch on the goings on in our humble abode.....

Milestones:
Matthew is potty trained except for staying dry overnight
Ellie is walking along furniture. She even looked like she wanted to walk yesterday. Almost!
Ellie is talking (in that baby way) and waving hi and bye
Trust me, it's a milestone, I finished decorating for Christmas! I gave up on fixing the mess first. That just isn't going to happen. Face it.

Things I'm happy about:
Christmas concerts are DONE!
We're almost over our colds
The entire family will be present at Christmas. That's a huge deal. I think it has been like at least 6 years since my brothers have BOTH come and at the same time, and actually at Christmas, not the week before or after. I feel like a kid again!
Let's Dish saving our lives. They prepare meals FOR you and all you have to do is pop them in the oven and follow the directions. Love. It.

Cuteness:
Ellie waved at daddy out the window when he left all on her own for the first time! I almost melted.
Matthew talked to his grandma on the phone for 10 minutes all by himself. WOW. He even walked around doing stuff while holding the phone and conversing. It was really quite remarkable.

And the not-so-cute-ness:
The washing machine quit on me. Mr. Fix-it (the hubs) ordered a part and is going to try his hand at washing machine repair. We think it's a simple and common problem.
Whining. To be picked up, to not let us out of sight, to eat, to not eat, to get a diaper change, to get dressed, etc. You name it. It could involve whining at any unsuspected moment.
Skid marks. I refuse to explain any further. (think underpants)
Toys. Toys. And more toys. Taking over the house. And that's even before Christmas. We're in trouble.
95 minute drives to work in the snow. Stupid snow. I'm trying to be positive, you know, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas and all that. Ho ho ho!

Things I'm thankful for:
Love
My husband
My kids
My cat (I'm only saying that out of obligation)
Family Christmas stockings
Did I say Let's Dish already? I'll say it again!
A furnace
Down comforters
Coffee
Loved ones recovering from health issues
Online shopping
People that keep checking back here for an update
My job
Falling gas prices
The country I live in, its issues and all.
CHRISTMAS AND THE BIRTH OF OUR SAVIOR!!! Let us not forget!

I actually did write this post on the 8th, but still had a little bit left to finish on it....

December 8th is a day I dread every year. Today is the 2nd anniversary of the death of my friend, Holly. The beginning of December for me now brings with it a weight. I have felt it both years now, and I don’t realize why until the date hits me. About Thanksgiving is when it starts and around Dec. 1st is when I realize the 8th is around the corner. The odd thing is, I dread it, but usually when the 8th arrives, I don’t think about until the day is half over. Weird how the mind works. Anyways, rather than being all somber and sad, I thought I’d share some memories of Holly in honor of her on this day.

Holly had the cutest giggle, and she giggled often.
We used to scream together while watching NKOTB video tapes. You know, the kind you actually went out to the store and rented that showed footage from while they were on tour and such. Dorks.
Not only that, we knew the moves to Hangin’ Tough.
We were considered “block heads” as in, New Kids on the ‘Block.’ She was Spiral Blockhead and I was Freddy Blockhead. Why? I don’t know.
We sat in the back in 1st grade and always got in trouble for giggling and talking.
We once giggled an entire day in 2nd grade about the color someone colored an elephant tusk.
We went through the grunge phase together. Plenty of flannel to go around.
Holly was THE WORST student driver! I had some good laughs in the back of their suburban while she was behind the wheel. I mean, confusing-the-brake-and-accelerator-type bad.
Holly was supposed to do a reading at my wedding, but the pastor accidentally blew right through it and all we could do was giggle about it afterwards.
Holly and I spent most Friday nights having sleepovers. One such sleepover got us in a lot of trouble and we never forgot my mom telling us “THIS ISN’T FAIR.” Of course, followed by fits of hysteric laughter!
We perfected tall bangs together. Sharing our tips to get them even taller along the way.
Our freshmen year we both decided to drop out of marching band for the fall. We went to the indoor show together and cried our eyes out because we wished we were in it SO bad. (oh, the drama :)

It seems so surreal that Holly is gone. I can't quite wrap my mind around that. Maybe I never will, but I hope to never forget the silliness from our friendship which started in kindergarten. Holly was a big part of my life growing up and I'm blessed to have had her in my life.

Hooray! I hardly have to think about my son and the potty anymore. He can now keep his undies dry all the time! He now is not afraid to go #2 and does it often, and without even telling us most of the time. He just gets up and goes to take care of business.

Remaining obstacles: wiping. Need I say anything? All you venturing into potty training beware. Obstacle #2: not going #2 in his sleep. Yuck. Obstacle #3: staying dry overnight. I am perfectly happy sending him to bed in pull-ups for the time being. Life has improved IMMENSELY. We have a sweet 3 1/2 year old boy! The sweetness has returned.

Now if I could just gear up for work in the morning....

#1 - Me. Twilight. I'm a Twilighter. Somebody help me please. I've mentioned before that I started reading the Twilight series. Well, it didn't take long before I read all 4 GIGANTIC books! Now the movie came out, and on the opening day, that's right, I ran out to see it. I swear there is something addictive about this darn Edward Cullen, the main character. Not the movie version necessarily, but the character himself. These books suck you in and you become obsessed with what happens next, and you never want it to end. But it always does, and you're left with a bizarre emptiness. Hence the reason I ran out and waded through the sea of teenage girls to see the movie! I figured the only way I could see it was after the kids went to bed. Well, that showing didn't play till 10:15pm. Did that stop me? NO. Did the fact that the short notice left me with no one that could come with me stop me? NO. That's right. I went out at 10:15pm, by myself, and saw Twilight the movie. I happened to be the first one in the theatre because there was no one manning the line, and I didn't realize the line was for Twilight. I probably should have, given they were mostly teenagers, but there were too many guys I thought. So I innocently passed the entire line. I decided to just sit down anyway rather than turn back and face the daggar stares I would no doubt get when they realized I passed them all. All of a sudden they were let in and I heard this growing murmur turn to screams and fits of teenage irritating giggles as they entered the theatre. yikes! And can you believe, these darn girls actually ruined the 1st kiss by cheering?! Seriously? Oh well, despite the teenageness, I enjoyed the movie, and my Edward Cullen and Bella Swan fix. Sure, it wasn't the best movie ever, but I like to picture what I read, and it followed the book for the most part, cutting out lots of details of course. I wish they had played up a lot of key personality traits better, and hadn't rushed the climax of the movie so much. Besides that, I actually didn't mind the cast selection of the 2 main characters. I wasn't sure at first, but they grew on me as the movie went on.

I would just like to point out that I am STILL obsessed. HELP!

Obsession #2 - Quite literally #2. My son has become obsessed with performing #2 in the toilet! Hooray!!!! The long awaited "click" in his development happened, the one in which it finally clicks what he's supposed to do. I swear he's gone poo 15,000 times in 8 days. I am thrilled with this obsession! Though it brings with it a new round of getting out of bed after he's been put to bed. Because of course, he wants to poo again. He's a funny guy. Anyways, in 8-10 days (not sure exactly how long now), he's had one accident, and it happened while he was napping, so in my mind it doesn't count. He rarely has pee accidents now, wears underwear during all awake hours, and for the most part does all the bathroom stuff on his own. Overnight will be a whole other process, but that doesn't bother me now that #2 seems to be mastered. Oh my gosh, what a sweet relief for the WHOLE family. I know, how pathetic. But it's true, potty training has been tough on the whole family. It has been a LONG process. Anyways, join with me in a bursting with pride moment!

And here's a little something I jotted down a while ago and never posted.

The side of me I never want to lose is the side that…

LOVES the Wii and Guitar Hero
loves amusement park rides
takes road trips
goes camping
makes people laugh
is silly
craves relaxation
doesn’t always worry about the pile of crap messing up the house
tries new places/new things
's heart breaks for others and wants to help, though sometimes I do want to lose this side of me
supports my hubby’s dreams
wants to keep up a relationship with God - always a challenge for me
wants to learn more
plays music

And here he is at his first candy stop - Dad.

The award winning red mohawked pumpkin won my office park's carving contest in the funny category. They drew my name out of a hat to take the winner home after the contest. The others? Well, I didn't have time to carve. Matthew painted the little one, though.

And here's the poor sick angel (and you can't even see the puke on her costume from the clinic). It's not too often you'll see an angel with a pacifier.

I am beyond thrilled to report that I'm the mother of a son who pooped in the toilet. And I mean really pooped. Sorry for this next bit of TMI (too much information), but I'm telling you it was a log. And it was a party around this house!!!! I know we've still got a ways to go before it's a regular ocurrence, but tonight I don't care. We're going to Applebee's this weekend, his long anticipated reward for doing the deed. The good news is, even though he was VERY apprehensive beforehand, as soon as it happened, he looked down and exclaimed "oh! there's poop!"

I know I've talked about this on here an outrageous amount, but bear with me folks - we're 10 months in on this process. Believe me, I can't wait for this to be a non-monumental occasion!

So my poor little girl woke up with a fever today. And tugging on her right ear. A number of things didn't seem right this morning, but I brought her to daycare thinking she was just mad to have been woken up, and was just warm from sleeping buried in blankets and in a fleece sleeper. Those things get hot! But when I handed her off to my daycare provider, Kelly, she almost started to cry, which she NEVER does with Kelly. I called to check on her shortly after I got to work, and Kelly was about to take her temp, and when she did discovered 101.2 after only a short read since she wouldn't hold still. Off to the doc again we go. But not till 3:30, thank you very much pissed nurse who hates her job! I'm SO sorry I had the audacity to see if my primary was available. Sheesh!

So the biggest, latest, most exciting development in these parts is none other than the release of the Toys R Us catalog. Matthew has not totally grasped the concept of Christmas presents until this year. Well, I was looking through it while he was eating breakfast and I kept catching him in my peripheral vision, peeking up and over into the Toys R Us ad while I was paging through it. Finally, after this had been happening quite a few times, I told him he could look at this when I was done and after he finished breakfast. (as incentive always helps get through a meal at faster than snail pace). So I brought it downstairs by his toys when I was finished with it. The next time I came down the stairs, I found him on his tummy paging through this catalog with his serious studying face on. I went over and asked if he wanted to show me the things he likes, and he started paging backwards to show me the Thomas and race cars that he likes. That released his inner Ralphie. Don't you think we all have an inner Ralphie? You know, from A Christmas Story? Where he window shops in front of the toy store and stops dead in his tracks when he sees the object of his Christmas desire? I wish I could come up with the exact way he describes the toy gun that stops him in his tracks. Matthew has now hit Ralphie age, and is it ever funny. I love it! Last night we finished looking through the catalog, and he was selective, showing me he wanted this and that, "mommy, I want THIS, and I want THIS," while he put his hand on each thing he wants. As we were turning a page, he caught a glimpse of a page further in and exclaimed with a gasp "I WANT THESE!!!!" Hulk hands were the thing that REALLY caught his attention. I could not stop giggling. He was so funny about all of it. I think his favorite, though, is still Thomas. Of course. Just call him Ralphie! And don't forget about your inner Ralphie! He's in there somewhere!

Simone is back at home!! Her family is now matter-of-factly saying she's not going back to the hospital, and I think given how positive they are about it, that it's got to be true. So we're all believing she's past this. We even saw her and the family on Saturday. We went and picked out pumpkins together since they were in the area anyways. And Matthew jumped around like a total fool in a giant pumpkin bouncy while we were there! And he absolutely couldn't get enough of his grandma margaret. If she walked to a different area he'd suddenly say "hey, where's grandma?" and he'd take off running in her direction. And I am very proud to say he was in underwear for this outing and didn't have any accidents!!! I plan to update The Potty Chronicles, so I will spare the extra details on that for the moment. Ellie just chilled in her stroller - maybe literally, since it was so cold outside.

Well, our niece is back in the hospital again. The fluid buildup is back. What a HUGE bummer. They happened to have a cancellation on a procedure I can't spell, so they squeezed her in to that spot to have it done again. It's basically like putting a hole in the heart, and I can't explain exactly why except that her pulmonary artery was too small. A blood clot formed in the hole, so they had to go in and re-do it today. This is a really sad thing, since she finally got to go home and again had to return. They get a day or two at home, and are back again. This little girl has been opened up so many times to have different procedures done. The good news is she is awake and was eating this evening, so all in all she's doing well. I'm so sad. Let's all pray they can stop living in the hospital soon and they will find the solution for Simone! Jeepers! They don't think she'll be in the hospital very long this time. Oh please, oh please! Let it be true.

I don't know.

I've been scarce, and let me list the reasons why:

1. Ellie has a cold with ear infection
2. I just HAD to finish my Twilight obsession. That's right, I read all 4 books!
3. Appointments, appointments, appointments. I have had so many medical appointments for children that I spent all my spare time working to make up all my time away from work.
4. Exhaustion.
5. I've nearly lost my mind trying to balance the many facets of life.
6. Laundry. Load after load after miserable load.
7. Political debates. Why even bother? I'm glad there aren't any more. If you ask me, we're screwed either way. In truth, I believe what we should do is transplant Washington D.C. to a remote island somewhere and start over with all new leadership.

And here's just a random list of things going on in our lives:

1. We went to Veggie Tales Live, and Matthew fell asleep. :)
2. Sean FINALLY started a facebook account! (trust me, this is a big deal - he can stop mooching off my account now)
3. We spent last weekend (the 11th/12th) with the 'rents and had a great time.
4. Matthew took another step back into pill-dom. (aka - he's being a pill again) It is getting easier to deal with, however.
5. Ellie has become a stair-climber, master crawler, and master stander.

By the way, I'm aware I've been a whiny whiner in need of an attitude adjustment for some time now. It makes me feel bad that I can't snap out of it. Life is hard, and I need to accept it and move on. We have so many things to be thankful for. I'm just being run ragged lately. Maybe I need to start going to bed when the kids do.

And best of all, to end things on a good note, our niece is finally home from the hospital!!!! Hooray!!!!! It was nearly 3 months she was away from home, so yikes, what an adjustment for their whole family. Good luck, you guys!

Our son sat on the toilet for TWO HOURS last night, and never did the deed. He waited all the way till naptime today to do it in his pull up. And it was the motherload. Breathe....breathe.....serenity now

We've hit a new level of desperation. Making our son clean out his own underwear when he does a #2. If you don't like hearing about poop, I suggest you quit reading now. That's right. If he poops in his underwear, he's the one who has to dump it into the toilet. The logic behind this is grossing him out to the point where he gives in. Best idea? Probably not. Best at the moment? Yes. Which is all any of us can do. I tell you, you reach a point where you reach for anything that might help. The point where potty charts and rewards and new cool underwear do nothing to help the situation. We are almost completely out of diapers, and have been counting down. Matthew knows when we're out of diapers, we're out. I'll put him in pull-ups for sleeping, but we are switching to mostly underwear, and no more diapers. (check back in another couple chronicles, and we'll see if we've changed our tune by then)



I should point out he does pretty well keeping dry, but you have to really keep track of when he last peed and make him go again about every hour, before and after any meals, and before leaving for or from anywhere.



I do see a light at the end of the tunnel. Clouds keep moving over it, and then dissipating, then moving back in. I sure hope the cleaning-his-own-underwear approach doesn't backfire.... no pun intended....



On a happier subject, we made it a whole work week with no tantrums in the morning, and Matthew was given the glorious prize of a mini Tonka cement truck, to which he said "cooooollll," and "I LIKE my cement truck" in all seriousness. I wish I could write it the way I heard it. He's so serious and so emphatic on the I-Like when he tells me he likes something. It cracks me up every time.

1. 4 mornings free of tantrums

2. PIZZA NIGHT!

I don’t know if I’m going to have to start a regular column of my beloved husband’s Sean Stories or what. I’m starting to wonder, since a couple things that make me wonder have happened recently. And he has been saying some strange things. Like today, we were on the phone plotting where to meet for our once a week lunch date. Too bad I couldn’t hear what was going on in his mind, since he suddenly blurts out something about a smelly taco. And if you don’t know the double meaning taco has, I’m not going to tell you, and don’t ask. Use your imagination.

Here’s how it went down:

Julie: I’m available for lunch today
Sean: cool
J: so when and where?
S: same as usual. I’ll call you.
J: okay, but where do you want to go?
S: how about a smelly taco…oh...

DEAD SILENCE

J: Ummm….excuse me?
S&J: Childish laughter
S: continuing to giggle “I was thinking taco bell, and was going to say taco smell.”
J: fumble for words, fumble for words, fight back fits of giggles

And a few nights ago….

So I’m lying in bed, peacefully sleeping, when all of a sudden I wake up to Sean chomping on my shoulder. I jolt up and say “what ARE you doing?” He gets a major case of giggles and manages to tell me in splurts that he was dreaming he was giving our son a tickle attack. And there I am, wondering “what the hell?” to myself, and growing ever more irritated that he won’t stop giggling. What a nut. It might be good at this point to mention that Sean does strange things in his sleep. Let’s just say he has a history. And I’ll leave it at that.

• I am still late EVERYWHERE I go, I’d say at least 90% of the time.
• I have no vacation time at work due to sick kids LAST year and have to make up any time off these days. This means a lot of work from home, work on Saturdays, etc. Yuck!
• I have seen myself angrier than I knew I was capable of, compliments of a 3-year old having terrible 3’s instead of terrible 2’s. 3’s are much worse!! If I had known, I would have been praying for terrible 2’s right from the start. At least you’d know with 2-year-olds that there’s no point in trying to reason with them. With 3’s, you never know when it is better to reason with them, or when it is better to just let it go.
• At work I have an official Office Space stapler. This has absolutely nothing to do with motherhood, but I thought it was worth mentioning anyway.
• I can’t remember the last time I vacummed.
• I have a shopping bug. Bad. I want to shop and shop and shop. Luckily, we’ve needed enough things to keep me occupied shopping for those that I haven’t gone crazy. Yet. I hope I don’t lose willpower.
• I have piles and piles of things “to be filed.”
• I have 2,000 different ways to talk about poop and pee and using toilets, and a collection of 2,000 potty training methods that don’t work.
• I am completely, 100% addicted to caffeine. Making matters worse, a friend recently confessed that she makes a big pot of coffee, puts it in the fridge, and can pour an iced coffee whenever she so chooses. Unfortunately, this sounded like a great idea to me.
• I still cannot master the whole dinner issue. It is almost never ready before 6:30, and that’s right when the bedtime routine starts for the 9-month old, and by the time dinner is done and cleaned up, it’s time for the 3-year old to get ready for bed. I keep trying to turn a new leaf and get prepared in advance, but that means I have to do prep AFTER dinner, and I have a hard time getting myself to do anything at that time. This week, I’ve attempted to plot out the whole week, complete with lists of things to do the day before. Anal, perhaps, but I’ve got to keep myself focused somehow. (and yes, I even plotted in a lazy pizza night…)

Because that's what I want to say a lot. Especially now while I am currently watching the vice presidential debate.

Today's ayeyayyay factor (scale of 1 to 10 - 1 being low, 10 being about ready to bang my head on the wall): 10

Influences on my rating:

• work has been insane this week
• my son fought with me a lot after dinner
• my daughter is hyper (please say it's the antibiotics)
• I don't know where Biden is getting his stats - they seem to be coming out of nowhere
• my cousin's stupid mother is ruining him
• my niece is STILL in the hospital
• my brain has been dead all week
• i'm wondering when i became such a whiner

But the good news? Tomorrow is Friday!!!!!!!! I get to wear jeans to work!!!!!!! We had McD's for din din. Yum! I finally gave my son a bath! I'm sitting!! The kids are sleeping (I think)! We have a fun Saturday with friends on the docket! And I'm going to be playing with an orchestra again! And my husband rocks! How's that for positivity?

Okay, back to my 10, just for a little while...

I'm starting a weekly update called The Potty Chronicles, until my wonderful 3-year old is fully trained.

This morning, Matthew peed standing up again. Hooray! That's right, until last week, he had not worked on this feat in ages. There was an incident early on where he tried it, leaned over like a real man would, only he leaned too far, and fell against the toilet. Once, he almost fell all the way in, except that I was there to catch him so that only his arm went in. It was pretty comical, though he didn't seem to think so. Now that another boy at daycare - a younger one - has gotten near or fully potty trained, Matthew slowly has gotten braver the last couple weeks. He kept saying he wanted to and he'd stand up, almost do it, and then chicken out and sit down on the potty. I didn't push the issue, and finally last week he actually did it. He must have decided he likes it, because he hasn't stopped, and made it almost the whole day dry yesterday. This morning, while he was going potty, he actually asked if he could wear underwear today. HELLO!!! Yes, of course you can!!! I didn't hesitate. Daycare maybe felt differently, but honestly I didn't care. He's never asked me before!! (sorry, Kelly, hopefully you were free from incident today... :)

Woo hoo! I hope to have a really good update next week!

I have been waiting for this moment all night - to sit down with my laptop, put my feet up and say ahhhhhh. I have a tendency to think I need to get it all done all the time, and I work myself to the point of exhaustion. Well, this weekend I had yet to clean our master bedroom. Why I'm calling it a master bedroom, I don't know, since it's the size of a normal bedroom and doesn't have a bathroom or even a walk-thru... Not the point. Not the point. For some reason I decided 6pm on Sunday night was a good time to take on this task. Besides that, I was already working on laundry, cleaning the kitchen, etc. And the room cleaning involved other things. You know how doing one thing means you have to do this other thing first and that thing means you should probably do this other thing too. So the MOUNTAIN of maternity clothes piled on the floor (please don't think about my baby's 9 month age) required me to rid myself of bags of a friend's maternity clothes she lent me. The result, however, is that I no longer have a mountain of these clothes in my bedroom. YAY! Then I got it in my head I should rearrange a couple large pieces of furniture. Yeah. That meant hauling out the file cabinet that was erroneously placed in our bedroom when we moved in. When you're moving, never say "oh let's just put it there and figure it out later." That's what happened with our bedroom. And it was over 2 years ago, and we had not touched the large pieces of furniture or file cabinet. Man, we're pathetic.

I feel like I've finally begun to sort out my life. It's been a long time coming. When do people find the balance? For a long time, I had been overworking myself each night, then I had kids and decided to heck with all the household responsibilities. Well, I gave up those responsibilities in a small townhouse. Now in a normal size house, your junk accumulates and spreads out. I'm not complaining about being able to spread it out, mind you. I love my house, but I never took the time to really organize all the storage areas. They are kind of odd areas. Anyways, this period of deciding time with each other was more important than having a clean environment has gotten out of hand. We live in a cluttered mess all the time, and the last few days I have been attempting to work like crazy. A lot of nights I fail because of exhaustion, and I collapse on the couch when the kids are finally successfully down for the night. My mom tells me she still hasn't found the balance between getting things done and enjoying life. Is there any hope for any of us? I should just shut up and be thankful, right? So okay fine, here I go, attempting to do just that. Shut up and be thankful I have a house to maintain.

Since I have been so absent to my blog lately, here are some bullet points of life lately

• Ellie's cast is off. It's been almost 2 weeks, and her hand is looking great


• Ellie started physical therapy


• I've been off to a great start making the last 3 months of the year our medical quarter, and have been in for Matthew's checkup, a bunch of Ellie appointments, another one coming in a couple weeks, I need dental checkups, and Ellie is going to have probably 12 weeks in a row of occupational therapy


• Ellie went and got an ear infection to top off her terrible cold


• I have no vacation time left at work (let's not exaggerate, people - I have -27 hrs of vacation time, I'm not kidding), and so I have been working A LOT, trying to cram in all my hours to end the year with a slightly positive balance


• I've become 2 employees in 1 recently at work, and while it's crazy at times, I am happy to be busy and needed


• My son has finally started going #1 regularly in the toilet, even standing up now!! This is the hugest news ever! He has even gone on his own without us telling him to a few times. We're getting somewhere. Last week he did a #2 in the toilet, but hasn't since. That's okay, I can handle it. Barely. :)


• We went to a b-day party for a 3-year old today, and Matthew had a blast. It was so fun to see. They had a DJ, which might seem bizarre, but it was great for every age of kid there. Matthew just stood watching for the longest time, warming up to the situation. And I mean THE LONGEST TIME. You could tell he wanted to join in, but just couldn't make himself do it. All it took was the right music. I have no idea what song it was, but all of a sudden he couldn't hold back and started shaking it up!! It was hysterical. The next song after coming out of his shell was who let the dogs out. He tore up the dance floor. It was just so funny. There aren't words for it, and we just sat back and enjoyed watching it. He had such a good time. Though he says his favorite part of the party was eating cake.

Here he is at the party, for now, until I get the dancing shots uploaded


• Some of you may have been following enough to know we've been having some serious tantrum issues with Matthew, but I am happy to report he has been very good the past couple weeks, with a few exceptions here and there.

So I have a couple posts in the works to look forward to soon, including another confessions of a working mom, and something to do with Matthew quotes. He has a lot lately. I can't wait to write more. Hopefully I'll get back into a good routine. I really enjoy writing, but it gets hard to find the motivation. Soon, people, soon! Till then, ahhhhhhhhh, I'm still sitting. Ahhhhhhh

Did you know babies cry because they are mad that they are crying? Mull that one over for a minute. Yes, I learned this lesson from 3:49am-5:19am this morning... 'nuff said.

I wanted to quickly update because a major development occurred yesterday. My 3-year old went #2 in the toilet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was only EIGHT months ago when he last did it. I should probably say it was kind of an accident, since he had been holding back his big jobs most of the day. Where is my brother now, to give his advice to not hold back big jobs? How does that work? He can tell everybody that pearl of wisdom until it actually needs to be said? Hmmmm, must correct this problem... I digress. Share in my joy for a moment, would you please? This might be a major breakthrough, since he was actually excited to tell his daycare this morning, instead of dying of embarassment like what happened 8 months ago.

The other update is that Ellie's hand is starting to look much better, and she even opened it up all the way on her own this morning! Hurrah! (pictures to come, I promise) Only one of the stitches remain now, and the puffiness is much better except in her index finger. She has also figured out how to sit up from a laying down or crawling position. She looks very proud of herself whenever she does it. The 1st time she did it we didn't even realize and all of a sudden thought, wait a minute, she's sitting up and wasn't a second ago! And as soon as she knew we realized it, you should have seen the grin!

I just wanted to quick post and let everyone know the cast is GONE!!! I will post pictures of the new hand later, after some substantial cleanup and nail trimming is done.

The morning was nothing like we expected. First of all, she had her cast taken off, or rather, sawed off, while being held in Daddy's arms and producing a large amount of pink cast dust, and screaming her head off. They didn't take the bandage off the hand until we were in to see the doctor. When they started peeling off the bandages, I was amazed by the amount of crud inside. As they were unraveling, I was just sure they would come off to reveal a black hand. And then the moment of truth came. And, to tell you the truth, I'm sure our faces dropped a little. I don't know what I was expecting. Well I do know, and I had a picture in my head of a normal hand with 2 fingers shorter than the rest. Instead what we saw was a puffy, crusty, long-jagged fingernailed thing resembling a hand. The good news, though? There are now 5 distinct fingers!!! The surgeon is very happy with the results and especially with the skin grafts. I have quite a bit of cleaning to do, and her first real bath in 2.5 months. That I am planning to do very soon, probably right after posting this. So, all in all we are happy, but the initial impact was a little shocking, I'll admit. Moral of the story: don't set your expectations too high. The puffiness is supposed to go down once her hand has been in use a little bit, and the stitches remaining and the crusty stuff will dissolve in the bath. I PROMISE I'll post pictures later, after we're cleaned up and have had a chance to let Ellie discover her hand again. She is not moving it very much, and it is a little tender to the touch. She is not liking that very much. Okay, until later, wish me luck. This part is a little tougher than I expected... But thank God for 5 fingers!

2 days left!! This puppy comes off on Tuesday!!! Hoorah!

10. Wondering what that banging sound is coming from the crib
9. Cringing every time that arm bangs the high chair
8. Sponge baths
7. Tying plastic bags around Ellie's arm to keep the cast dry
6. The fuzzy socks over her cast to keep her from scratching her face off.
5. Watching her topple over her jumbo club of an arm
4. Holding her arm over her head while she throws up to keep the cast free from debris.
3. Wondering if she'll club her brother to get him to leave her alone
2. Sleeveless shirts
1. Getting knocked in the chin, cheek, or mouth, wincing in pain each time.

That's the story of this week. The kids have colds that demand frequent de-crusting. Bummer! And indeed, it's making me late everywhere I go. Yeah thanks. But on the bright side, we're 6 days away from being cast free! SO.....EX.....CITED....

The funniest thing Matthew has done this week is to tell me he was sad because "daddy came in my room and said angry words and locked the door." But let's back up and talk about why. 3-year olds apparently don't like to stay in bed once they're put to bed. Before you go all crazy about what I'm about to say, realize we've tried many different strategies, but just every now and then we have to resort to locking our boy in his room. Such was the case early this week. I was getting ready for work and kept hearing a strange noise upstairs. Here, I come to realize it is Matthew attempting to open his door. hehehehehe. so i unlock it and he comes downstairs with me. I can just tell he's kind of sad so I ask him why he's sad and he says "daddy said angry words in my room last night." The funny thing is, daddy every so calmly talked to him about what it means to go to bed, why he has to stay in bed, etc. Not angry at all. But how cute is that? "Angry words?" I probably would have rolled on the floor laughing if it weren't 7am at the time.

And yes, pick your jaw up off the floor. You heard me right - we occasionally lock the door. But before you knock it, it's very effective, let me just say. It's not like it's the attic, and our bedroom is right next to his.

I won't tell Ellie stories from this week, because they mostly all involve snot and gagging & puking on said snot.

Alright, I just wanted everyone to know I'm still here. Rock on with your bad selves!

I’ve been tagged by my beautiful SIL. I’m a lazy tag responder, so I suppose I should jump out there and actually fulfill an assignment. So here is my Bucket List. Name 8 things that you would like to do before you “kick the bucket”. So here I go….

1. Swim with a dolphin
2. Take a Mediterranean cruise
3. Travel: At a minimum, these are the places I want to see (and some can also be fulfilled by #2): Greece, Italy (including Venice), Australia, Hawaii with my husband, Disney World, US Virgin Islands again, Africa
4. Get really good again on the flute and piano
5. Have a house on a lake
6. Start a business in Door County, WI (5 & 6 would go together nicely)
7. Take family roadtrips with MY family, like I did growing up. Better start soon!
8. Have a big party for ME

I tag anyone who wants to be tagged!

I intended to post on this blog way more than I have been lately. Where the heck does the blogging time go? I can't get over how 5 or 7 days go by like nothing! Is time really moving that fast? We had ordered baby gates a while back (and I posted about the fabulous deal I got). The gates have been sitting on the floor, boxed, since they arrived who knows HOW long ago.... You want to know why I have no concept of time lately? It's called a 3-year old. God bless him, he's a wonderful child, but OH MY GOSH! 3 is the most insane age imaginable! I bought a book about 3-year olds today, called Your 3-Year Old: Friend or Enemy, that's exactly the right title for what happens in our house these days. 3 year olds can flip this switch, where one minute they're perfectly happy and willing to do what you tell them, and the next minute? A kicking, screaming little unrecognizable monster. This new development has really made life a blur lately. Not to mention having a 2nd little one. I am so very relieved and thrilled that Ellie is an easy, happy baby. There could be a thunderous tantrum going on in the same room, and Ellie is usually just happy as can be in spite of it. What a doll. I am so very very fortunate. I have admitted before that I have a bit of a temper, and if I had multiple crises going, I could/would be in trouble. You've heard before that God won't give you more than you can handle? I think he knows what he's doing these days...


Even though 3-year olds make you tear your hair out, they are amazing little creatures. Over the weekend we took Matthew to the state fair. He absolutely loved it! I haven't seen him that happy! I'd say even more happy than when we went to the Day Out with Thomas, and that's big!




This is Matthew's very first ride ever. We're riding airplanes if it's hard to tell...

I've been tagged by fellow band geek, friend, and mother of 4, Jamie. I didn't forget about you jamie!



As with everything in life there are rules:


1. Link the person who tagged you

2. Mention the rules on your blog

3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours

4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them

5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged




The 6 UN-spectacular things about me...


1. I have this pet peeve of people saying "have I told you this?" before you know what they're about to tell you. I realize this is usually a rhetorical question, but still. It just bugs me.


2. I wait anxiously for the Sunday paper, and never actually read the paper, but I just HAVE to look at the ads. I don't know how this started, but it's been my thing for a long time. I'd even venture to say it's my favorite thing about Sunday. How pathetic. No, not the fact that it's a day to worship the one who gave me life. No, I'm excited about the Sunday ads.


3. I ALWAYS sing in the car. When I'm alone, I should say.


4. I scrapbook. I know. What mom my age doesn't? But I'm a total dork and even go to conventions for it!


5. I was an ultimate band geek. or updated term: bando rambo. I was in all kinds of bands in high school, a big-10 marching band in college, I majored in music education and know how to play almost every instrument, though my primary instrument is flute.


6. I go through extremes with my hair. I'll grow it, then chop it, then grow it again, etc, etc. I'm never happy with it for too long at a time.



TAG! You're It! (This is the part that always stalls me. If you want to be tagged, then feel free to play along. Such a rule breaker. I know.)

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Today started out in a bad way with my 3-year old. I swear, 3-year olds are the biggest tester of your will. 2 was nothing compared to some of the stuff we're dealing with right now. For that reason I decided The Cuteness Factor was in order, to help me look for the positive. For all the negatives, there are WAY more positives, and sometimes I need to remind myself.

Matthew
I was thinking about something that started a little while ago. At his grandparents' house, there is an animal bingo game that Matthew loves to play. Only he doesn't want to play, he wants to be the bingo caller. It is the cutest thing ever. And I almost don't want to ever play it again because I just think it will get less cute the better he gets at talking. And I have this perfect recording of his voice in my head that I just don't want to lose. He hands out the round bingo cards, and proceeds to begin pulling little animal chips out of the bingo big. He'll pull one out, and say "adybody have a goat?", and he waits for someone to raise their hand and say "I do!" Or he himself says, "oh, oh, I do!" Repeat. (and some of these are difficult animals) "adybody have a wiraffe?" After a while he gets bored with waiting for someone to say "I do," and he becomes the master of the game, aware of who has what animals on their card, and starts handing out the piece before they can answer.

One of the times he played animal bingo was funny, because the night had started out rough, and first he had run out and collapsed into a crying heap when he realized how many people were looking at him, then a few minutes later, someone meaning really well tried to be silly and say "boo" from around the corner, and he then screamed, had a flight or fight response and ran head first into the stairs to hide, hurting himself and commencing into a scream sob routine. By the time we were about ready to leave, he became this master bingo caller, and while in another part of the house, I could hear him lighting up a whole room of adults with laughter. This kid has an amazing ability to light up a room, when he overcomes the shyness. I hope he keeps that trait because I absolutely adore the people that can animate a room full of people.

The past two days when I've come home from work, as I am now the last to arrive, the instant I open the door I hear "mommy's here!" and Matthew comes running to hug me. I was very thankful he did it tonight after the rough morning we had. And do I mean rough. That's another story. The funny thing with kids is their inability to hold a grudge. Another great trait!

Ellie
Ellie has started to crawl in spite of her giant casted arm. It is the cutest thing ever. At this point, it's more like she gets up an all fours, and pushes herself forward with her toes landing back on her tummy while moving forward. Sometimes she gets carried away and kind of topples over her cast onto her face. She takes a licking and keeps on ticking though. I haven't seen her even cry when that happens.

She has started this thing where she looks like she's talking to you, but doesn't make a noise. She just opens and closes her mouth, with a big gummy grin. I just love their gums as the get closer to getting teeth. She still doesn't have any, and I'm trying to memorize that gummy grin of hers before it's gone.

Last night, while Daddy pulled off Ellie's socks, he did it in such a way that she burst into a fit of giggles. Naturally he exaggerated the 2nd sock and dragged out the suspense even longer, so that even though she wasn't watching, she absolutely burst with excitement and a new fit of giggles. Baby giggles are the best sound ever created!

Mission accomplished. I am now fully aware of the good points of my children and can overlook that hideous morning. Thank goodness.

I've been meaning to write about my day in Duluth I spent recently with my fabulous friend, Britt. First of all, she rocks, and we had so much fun! Second of all, what's better than a near death experience? DOUBLE the near death experiences...


So I'm rummaging away for the camera, not thinking about the fact that I'm the one steering, and all of a sudden Britt is yelling at me and then thunk, we fall off the path. You should have seen the look of terror on her face. That made me laugh even harder. Her biggest fear, and nagging point might I add, was tipping the deuce coupe. I kept rolling my eyes at the ridiculousness of that, and here we were, almost tipping it. Or here I was, rather, almost tipping it. HAHAHAHA, it still makes me laugh. And judging by her reaction, it was the 2nd near death experience of the day. Honestly, I think she was more scared by this one than the 1st.

This day was so much fun for me, my little escape! Plus what better company to spend the day with! Awesome. I want to go again. I, for some reason, am in love with Duluth. Every time I go, I think I want to live there and by the end of the day decide that I couldn't. As cool as it is, it's still a small town, and it is so isolated. And imagine a Lake Superior winter. Yuck! The bitter wind and gray sky. What I love about Duluth is the sunny, breezy day in the 70s - it's my absolute favorite - needing a sweatshirt in the morning and at night, but being able to get hot in the mid-day. But never too hot. And at night, I absolutely love the sound of the lake and the wind. It is heavenly. The perfect place in the summer for shorts and sweatshirt weather. I know. What a dork. It's the little things, people!

I feel obligated to mention one discovery I made, and unfortunately I don't have the proof right now. But Britt apparently likes photo ops. "Hey, julie, climb back in there in the middle of the field of flowers." "Hey, julie, do this." "Hey julie, do that." "Hey, julie, stop the car by that giant Paul Bunyon so we can set the timer and get a picure with him." "Hey, julie, stop by that giant chicken that looks like foghorn leghorn." See what I mean? It's unforunate not to have the proof and share these lovely photo creations.

A day in the name of fun.

Do you ever get the feeling you might be going crazy? You get something in your head, and just can’t shake it, no matter how much paranoia may be involved with you getting that something in your head. Well, so for some reason I have had this growing feeling something is just not right with my two very best friends, who happen to be sisters. A couple of issues here. First of all, they are very close sisters. Second of all, it’s friends in 3, and we all know 3 can be a difficult combination. I don’t want to delve into it too much, but I finally decided I couldn’t wonder any longer and sent an email to see if something is wrong. And before you think how impersonal an email is or something, know that at least 2 of the 3 of us feel funny talking on the phone. Not to each other, but just in general. So I’m pretty sure they are now thinking I’m totally insane, but being deep in paranoia, I probably really AM insane. I hate dragging this out into the open, but I have a nervous pit in my stomach and need to ramble about this (hence the title Julie’s Ramblings). Welcome to my crazy brain. It takes a lot of work to get this brain through the day sometimes. Plus now I’m sitting here completely anxious and scared of the reaction. Oh, brother. Somebody help me please. Why is it so hard to stay connected when we’re in adulthood?! I ABSOLUTELY hate that! Can’t we just be in college again? Not having to pay yet for our education, not having to work or care for children, having hardly a care in the world besides what to do on Friday night with your friends. Ahhh, that sounds like the life. But then, of course, I’d be devoid of my wonderful husband and silly, beautiful children. We have here, what you call, a moot point.

We are home already from Ellie's stage 2 procedure. She now has 5 seperate fingers on her left hand! We haven't seen them, because now they are wrapped up in a bright pink cast. She was out of surgery about 3pm, and we got home shortly after 5 and she has been sleeping ever since. She is one VERY tired girl! But thank God we're done. We go back in 4 weeks to see the surgeon and get the cast removed. The surgeon said the skin grafts look really good from the 1st time around. They removed the pin from her thumb, which had actually moved a bit, so they opened the thumb again and stitched it back up.

Whew, what a relief!

Stage 2 Operation

Ellie goes in for stage 2 of syndactyly correction Friday. The surgery is at noon. This procedure is the same as the first, except this time it is less complex. They are separating skin webbing only on the 2nd & 4th web. The procedure is much shorter – about an hour & a half, and no overnight stay this time. Yay! Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t mind the overnight stay last time, but it will just be nice to let her sleep it off in her own surroundings. She will again have a cast for 4 weeks afterwards. I cannot wait to be done with that thing. I think it is really starting to irritate her. Especially since she’s trying to crawl these days. I know she’s going to find a way. Hence my previous entry about baby gates…. I am really hoping they will let us see her hand before casting it again, but I doubt they will. I’m pretty sure they’ll cut the cast when she’s already asleep. I mean, it’s complete torture to remove the cast anyway. And I doubt they’ll let us in the O/R for that.



Obsession

I have begun a new obsession with the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. I have been hearing about this book series for the longest time, so I finally decided to pick up a copy of the first book in the series, and I am absolutely hooked! For me to finish a book in a week’s time is incredible. I have less than 100 pages left! Be proud, this is a rare occurrence and I am very proud of myself. But you can hardly help it once you start. It’s technically teenage fiction, but it doesn’t read that way. Last night while I was reading, so much was happening in the book that I don’t think I’ve ever read faster. I love it. So thank you for the non-stop talk about this book and sucking me in. Now I have 4 books to read, and these aren’t small books either people. The 1st one is 500 pages!

The Potty Saga

I am so proud of my boy! He has been keeping many diapers dry this week, since Sunday or Monday, and we started a potty chart with stickers to track his progress. He is very pleased with himself, too, which is a HUGE development in the right direction. YAY!!! Still no #2 in the toilet, but I have a feeling it is coming. Is it possible? Might we actually get rid of ½ the diaper changes in our house?!!! Oh please, oh please, oh please!

Okay. I finally just ordered a baby gate suitable to our house with weird stairways and 4-level split - lots of stairways - lots of needs for gates. Anyways I got the Kidco ConfigureGate, and I just have to share because it's on sale at a lot of sites right now for around $139, and I found it for $96, added a couple extensions, and it all ships for $7.95 flat!!! So, consider Happy Mothers for your baby shopping needs, or at least for price comparison. Just had to share, since I have a lot of people in my life with new babies or babies on the way.

Never in a million years did I imagine I would get to ride the Thomas the Train! Well, I sure did though. And could this kid be any happier about it? The place was packed. A lot of boys in their engineer caps looking pretty much like this were the majority of the kids there. There were a ton of girls too of course, and lots of babies. I think they knew what they were doing making the train ride 25 minutes. Get a bunch of kids and babies in a train and send them off down the tracks. It sounds like the making of a disaster, right? Just about the time we were almost back to the drop-off spot, is when a bunch of kids started to seem like they were about ready to get off the train, if you know what I mean. Many kids seemed close to that edge, you know the one, just before a meltdown. We managed to avoid it until we tried to do just one more thing. famous last words. As usual, we left somewhere with a crying child! Ha ha ha. It didn't matter though, we got to see Thomas. Matthew kept saying thomas thomas thomas and singing made-up songs with thomas as the sole lyric the whole way there and the whole way home. I have a feeling he'll be talking about this for a while.

I have a friend at work and she and I lovingly refer to our office as dullsville. I really hope no one from work is reading except the few I selected for the prize of such reading pleasure…. Oh, even if they are, they all know it’s true. I have been here going on 2 hours and it feels like about 12. This is going to be a looong day! Well, here’s the scoop. About a year ago, ½ our company split off and started their own company. That left us with ½ the crew. And ½ the crew = ½ the fun, ½ the noise, etc. By Friday, the forces dwindle even more, and it becomes this eerie, quiet place where nothing happens. Hence the term dullsville. I guess it’s better than the alternative – having a super stressful job with deadlines shoved down your throat. So Friday, as great as it is, always feels like 3 days. Thank God we have the weekend to recover.

But check this out, I’ve been meaning to mention this all week. Did you know you can ride an actual Thomas the Train? I was shocked to find this out. So I am linking to it for anyone interested, it’s a Day Out with Thomas tour that happens in many states. Of course we’re bringing our son, the Thomas fanatic, to it. I can’t wait! He will be so excited. Thomas, of course, will be there, and so will Sir Topham Hat. Does it get any better for a 3-year old boy? He better remember this! At least it’s not Barney or SpongeBob.

So I apologize. I have been a little scarce on here the last couple weeks. For no good reason, except sickness. I've been feeling sorry for myself about this latest round of illness, and I've been collapsing when I get home from work and have finished getting kids to bed. The latest is that I had that cold accompanied by ranting blog and it went away, I went to Duluth and had a fabulous weekend, I woke up Monday morning and it was back! WHAT?!!!! It's only been getting progressively worse this week, and today I am actually at home from work. Even though I don't have the time to take off. I didn't even care this morning, as I just lay there wide awake propped up on my pillow with my mouth a gaping hole so I could breathe. Sean even laughed at the sight. Let's just say I'm not in the best spirits this week so far, but I'm going to the dr today to beg and plead for drugs. They're going to have one upset mama on their hands if they try and tell me it's a virus. I'm sorry, but a virus doesn't give me the aches and make my glands hurt all through my neck, the back of my neck, and my ears. Aren't I lovely? I'm very attractive these days. Especially with the lack of affection for anything. I can pull it out and show the kids some love, but unfortunately Sean hasn't been so lucky. And it's a big week for him, starting a new job. Sorry babe. It's not you -- it's me. :) I promise I'll return to normal soon.

Anyways, with all that loveliness, I feel I should change directions and start...

The Cuteness Factor, and added bonus this time - the not-so-cuteness factor!

Cuteness:
Matthew
Every morning when I leave for work, Matthew likes to look out the window and watch me leave. He waves the entire time I’m in view. It is so darn cute! He does it when other people leave too. It’s such a fabulous way to keep him from getting upset by someone leaving. Now that I'm on daycare drop-off duty in the morning, he has now shifted to standing in the doorway and waving at me when I leave from there. Talk about making a mommy melt.

Last week, Sean had sent Matthew down to start brushing his teeth. He went on his merry way, and after a bit Sean hears a voice calling him from downstairs, saying “daddy, I’m done with your toothbrush.” Naturally the first thing a parent would fearfully think is uh oh. What did he do to my toothbrush? He had gotten daddy's toothbrush ready for him and put toothpaste on it and put water on it.

And my favorite thing he recently said, while sitting on the toilet upstairs and pointing to the shower, was “is that where you and my daddy take some showers?” (No, people, he did not mean together... sickos) The way he worded it cracked me up, not to mention he's got a bit of a stutter right now and it takes him 5 hours to spit out a sentence. That just added to the hilarity of it.

Ellie
She was so excited to see us after our weekend away. Our kidless weekend? Yes, the kids were amazingly cute and excited and happy to see us when we picked them up! Makes a parent feel so good! Well, Ellie was just staring at us and grinning, looking from one of us to the other, and when Sean picked her up she started bouncing up and down with excitement!

This girl is so in love with her brother. Everything he does cracks her up. Perhaps when I attempt a video on here, I'll put up a clip of him making her giggle. She just eggs him on. And trust me, he loves it and lives up to the challenge.

And the not-so-cuteness factor:
Matthew
While riding bikes, Matthew suddenly grew concerned and said to Grandma, "I have a problem." She stops and asks what kind of a problem, and he grabs at his rear end and says "a poop problem," and proceeds to ride the rest of the way sitting on his hand to feel better. Gross.

Also last week, he began whining “I want to throw up.” At first I thought he was sick, but as the week continued, he seemed to be doing it whenever he didn't want to do something we told him to do. I keep telling him nobody wants to throw up, but I don't think he believes me. Never did I think I'd hear my child say I want to throw up. What's the deal?

Ellie
Last week, oh did I mention the kids were sick too?, Ellie had a 3am wake-up which lasted till after 4am because she wouldn't fall asleep without a pacifier but couldn’t breathe when it was in her mouth because of her cold – so commenced the snort, choke routine, and the only thing that finally got her back to sleep was being held/rocked/bounced.

So everyone has names they like to call their children. I am no exception. I like to think up things to call my kids. And some of the names that aren't so clever are things that popped up out of nowhere because they just suit them, especially Matthew, my super silly child.

So here they are:
Matthew

Matso
The Mattster
Matty (until hubby objected to it sounding girly)
Peanut
Goofball
Silly goose
Nut (as in, what a nut)
Matt-o
Turkey

Ellie

Ellie Belly (I especially like to lovingly refer to my stretch-marked, loose-skinned, gaping-hole-of-a-belly-button stomach as my ellie belly)
Ellie Bean
My little Ellie Bean
Miss Ellie
Elliot (in an E.T. voice)
Lady, because I love to say “hey lady” like that one irritating actor does
Peanut
Sweet pea
Ellie bo bellie
Elsa

I have to also mention my friend, Tracy, who comes up with the craziest names for her son, of which my absolute favorite is hunkerdoodle. Have you ever known anyone that called their son “hunkerdoodle?” What a funny gal that Tracy is! She needs to start a blog. Haha, yes I know you’re reading. mwah ha ha ha ha

That’s me. Just a regular old ray of sunshine. …..er not. Today I’m a crab. I’m sick. I have no patience for sickness right now, and I’m a whiner. The it-could-be-a-lot-worse mantra is not working today. I feel like crawling in bed and hiding from the world. Even from hubby. (sorry babe) Usually when I’m sick I want to be cuddled, but this time I’m just crabby about it. I don’t want to be touched. I don’t want to do any parenting. I don’t want to be at work or do any work. I don’t even want to be awake! Away from my warm, cozy bed. If my children didn’t use up all my PTO time, I would SO be at home from work today. I think the reason this round of sickness is so insulting, is that we had 5 complete months of sickness starting in January. Honestly, there were 3 weeks in the whole 5 months in which we weren’t at the clinic for some illness. So the last 2 months of relative good health were such a relief. Apparently I’m still bitter (you think?), this new round of illness is showing me that. Adding to the insult, this is the kind of cold that really hurts in the glands, even into the gums and teeth, I was awake almost all night long, and I’ve been sleep deprived with the exception of the recent kidless weekend, and I’m just plain tired of it all. No more clinics. No more hospitals. No more sickness. No more responsibility. No more thinking. No more adulthood. Can I get away with that please?

So I am realizing maybe I should talk a little about our niece's heart condition. She was born with a birth defect called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, in which the left side of the heart is severely under-developed during pregnancy. It is a rare condition with no known causes. If you click on the link, you will find plenty of additional information. Our niece just had the 3rd and final operation, and is doing very well.

Okay, don't get me wrong. We adore our children, but sometimes you just need a break. We realized we had not had a kidless weekend since before Ellie was born, last year for our anniversary. This year for our anniversary, we checked with the grandparents and they were willing to take the kids for the WHOLE weekend!! We were like kids again. And I truly believe a weekend away is good for everybody. Good for hubby and me and our relationship, good for the kids because their parents are rejuvenated and appreciate their kids more, good for the grandparents who get plenty of bonding time. And it was such a happy reunion! Both kids were so happy when we arrived to pick them up. So sweet. Of course, Ellie developed a cold, however, so that is an interesting development to deal with right away. A slight fever too, but not high enough to keep her out of daycare. Cross your fingers it stays that way and doesn't elevate any higher or turn into an ear infection. Yikes. Maybe teething? Who knows - it's always a mystery to solve, isn't it?

Anyways, being kids again ourselves looked like this.

I picked Sean up from work Friday afternoon and we headed over to the hospital to visit our niece. This was our last responsible thing to do... :) She is doing very well and was happy to see us. She did have one minor setback and had developed fluid around the lungs earlier that day, and had to be put to sleep again so they could put a tube in to drain the fluid. That has been going well so far. So she was very sleepy and napped most of the time we were there. She had just been turned in bed and was upset, so hubby held her hand and I kept my hand on the top of her head stroking her hair. She relaxed when she saw us, and just before we left she woke up and was answering questions. It was wonderful to hear her voice after all she had been through. Children are incredible how quickly they recover!!! She was to be in the hospital 6 days and may be there longer because of the fluid around the lungs development, but in spite of that she is doing great. And her parents are exhausted but managing.

From there we headed to Sonic and did the drive-in thing. Holy cow - go there, people, and get the banana split blast! Yummy!!! From there we headed to our college campus, where we met, and walked all over the place reminiscing about the good old days. It was fun, and we arrived home about midnight and collapsed for the night. Neither of us slept as well as we had hoped, but it was such a relief to wake up and not have crying, screaming, any noise of any kind.

Saturday we arose and went to Perkins for breakfast.....no brunch. That's right - we didn't even get our acts together until about 11 for breakfast. It was SO GOOD! We tried to go to a museum exhibit after that but found the earliest entrance time was about 3 hours later, and that wasn't going to fit in our schedule. So we pouted and instead got our shopping done. Target and the grocery store, oh, and home depot. Yeah, we know how to have a good time. Since Matthew wasn't here, I decided to finish up painting his room. I had the majority completed a few weeks ago, but had some squares around the room that I painted blue green and red. As I went, I discovered it was going to take multiple coats because of how saturated those colors were. Grrrr. I did one coat, and then we headed off to dinner and the drive-in movies!!!

We saw The Dark Knight and Hancock. They were showing a third - but the idea of getting home after 4am wasn't too appealing. Both movies were good, but I was a bit let down. Shhh, please don't shun me. Yeah, Heath Ledger had a great performance, but still as a complete psycho. Yikes! It was creepy. I'd say more, but I'm sure many of you out there are planning to see this still, so I'll hold off judgement. Hancock was pretty good, but got really strange in the last 1/2. Pretty funny, though, to see a superhero be a total jerk! It was good for some laughs.

Sunday we got up and I jumped out of bed and went straight to painting. Unfortunately it became clear it was going to take even another coat after that. Grrrr x 2. I called my parents to see if they minded keeping the kids for an extra couple hours so I could finish that painting. So we went to the museum and saw what we had planned to the day before, then came straight home so I could do a final coat. And it had to be a final coat no matter what since I ran out of paint... The coverage was good, though, so it all worked out. We put the room back together and were off to pick up the kids.

Boy were they happy! It was so nice to see them! And it was great getting butterflies in our tummies on the way there, just excited to see them! And they were excited to see us. Even Ellie started smiling away at us and bouncing in our arms when we held her. Too cute! Matthew could hardly finish his dinner he was so excited.

Thanks, Mom and Dad for the much needed break. We had a great weekend, and are ready to be non-disgruntled parents again!

Our niece got through surgery very well yesterday. What was supposed to be an 8-hr surgery took about 5.5 hrs. That's what I understand anyways. When we were called, she was still sleeping and was due to be taken off the respirator in a couple of hours. I have not heard anything since. I'm sure it is a crazy time there! We are planning a visit this evening. Thanks for all the support!

My twist on a staycation? Giving the kids to their grandparents for the whole weekend! Yeah baby!!!! That’s what my husband and I have to look forward to this weekend. Oh my gosh. A whole weekend – what ever shall we do with ourselves? (don’t answer that, you sickos)

We have this ever growing list of things we think we can fit in – humanly impossible. For sure, our plans include going to the drive-in movies (there’s 2 left around the area), and going to Sonic. We’ve never been. I know, I know, that’s probably sacriledge, but we have never had one nearby until recently. Our list includes things like the museum, taking walks at night since we never get to, bowling, outdoor concerts, restaurants (we’ve already talked about 4 restaurants). Like I said. Humanly impossible. We feel like kids again, and this weekend will be so fast. But it will be SO FUN!!!! Oh, and did I mention SLEEP? That is first and foremost on the list. Sleeping in. Which to me, would even mean 7am. Even that sounds glorious! I can’t wait to wake up without a monitor in my ear to the sound of a baby waking up before she’s ready to wake up. Those of you with kids knows when they wake up before their bodies are ready, the word cranky comes into play. Add a cast that makes them unable to get themselves comfortable, and it’s a winning recipe for a 5 or 6am start to the day. UGH!

Moving on,
Why did this not shock me?

Apparently one of my SILs (sister-in-law) went to the county fair in the town I grew up in. Well, this town has a bit of a reputation for having a lack of ‘diversity’ to put it nicely. But let’s read between the lines – it’s full of racists! Case in point: so my SIL and her family are at this fair. There is a black family close to them, and some guys shout “get out of here, you niggers. This is a white town!” Ummm, huh? What year is it? Where do we live? Keep in mind here, that my SIL is half black herself, and my husband is black. Nice. SIL has asked us so many times why we don’t move up there – now hubby has plenty of ammo. Did I mention there was a group of skinheads at my high school? Nice.

In other news,
my niece is having heart surgery AS I WRITE THIS. Please, please, pretty please, pray for her. Her last of 3 major heart surgeries! This girl is a trooper - pray she will continue to be and for the doctors and all medical staff involved to be at the top of their game today. And let's especially pray for her parents to be able to get through this. We love you guys!

Just to let all my loved ones know, Ellie had to have her cast replaced. I took her in last Monday because her cast had slipped down her arm a bit - like a 1/2 inch or more! When they heard that, they told me to come in that day and that we'd have to wait a long time because the cast room was really busy.


I was expecting to be there all afternoon, so I had prepared bottles ahead of time, and brought plenty of distractions/change of clothes/etc. I was amazed when 2 minutes after I sat down, the girl that checked me in came to tell me they were ready for me. I hadn't even heard them call our names because I assumed it would be a long time! How amazing! I went to check in and was immediately sent to the cast room where they were waiting in the doorway for me. Did I mention I love the hospital where everything related to Ellie's hand has taken place?! About a minute later, they were sawing away at the cast. That's right - sawing! What a horrible thing that was - pinning your baby down while she's screaming because the saw is the loudest thing ever!! She recovered quickly though, and they put a new cast on. They left the bandaging around the hand intact, so I didn't even get to see her hand. Huge bummer! September seems so long from now before we can see her hand.

We were in and out of the hospital in about a half hour total, with brand new purple cast in tow. I'm still hugely amazed by the fact we got right in and out! The validated parking did me no good because we were there such a short time, it was only $2 instead of the validated $3!

Ellie

Ellie is rolling all over these days. I think she'll be crawling soon if she can figure it out with the jumbo arm. She has figured out how to stay sitting up with that arm now. In her crib, we'll find her wiggling to get comfortably with her butt so high in the air. Once she figures out that she can go up on her arms at the same time, watch out world.

After Ellie ate yesterday, we put her in a little rocker recliner seat while we ate or cleaned up or something. We often put her there to watch us in the kitchen. As she was sitting there, she all the sudden stopped all movement and got serious, and I asked if she was okay. About 3 seconds later, she had a huge shiver. For some reason, it really struck us cute to see this little thing shudder because she got a chill.

Matthew

We were on our way to pick up Sean from work downtown and head to my parents' house. I was explaining downtown to Matthew. He kept bringing it up during the car ride, and at one point said "mommy, know what downtown means? it means downtown." He is full of these statements, and I think it's precious every time. whenever he says know what something means?, I'm always prepared to hear it means whatever the something is.

One more. This week Matthew started saying "I love you mommy" all the time. I just about melt every time. I can see in my near future that he'll be using this to his advantage, but for now I just enjoy it and say "I love you, too."