Wednesday....

It was a day. Whoa, Nelly, was it ever a day!

For the last few days I've felt like I've been just completely thrown under the bus and just need to come up for air and sanity but the instant I start to head in the direction of the light... I get sucked right back down again. It's almost painful.

Today, I thought, would be somewhat of a "normal" productive day, but it wasn't. Everything I did, was undone by a little person who is the BUSIEST little person I have EVER.KNOWN. Holy frijoles the kid is into EVERYTHING!

It's one of those things that you just have to realize that when you step into the home of someone with small children... and their house is clean... the woman of the house either

1. has a nanny
2. has a maid... that came THAT DAY
3. cleaned and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned and then cleaned some more while the children were shipped off to someone else's house to play so she could give off the impression that her house is Martha-good but is completely hiding the fact that her feet are killing her and she'd rather you not stay for dessert so she can get out of those "so cute" shoes and lapse into a coma... as she smiles as you admire how immaculate her home is; or
4. There's someone like me.

I'm the person...

... that will really not bat an eyelash at the fact that I have a Pampered Chef medium scoop on top of my bathroom toilet tank...

...that both tubes of toothpaste from both of the bathroom drawers (mine and Andy's) are in the floor. Not in the bathroom floor, mind you. They're in the floor next to the garage door and I simply just don't feel like dragging them all the way back for the third time. So tonight, when I went to brush my teeth, I just opened a new box of toothpaste....

...that I have an entire sink and counter full of dishes more that likely because the second the little person hears the latch on the dishwasher, he's in a full-on toddler sprint to either grab anything breakable and try to launch it across the kitchen, grab any sharp utensil out of the silverware basket, crawl up on the door, or shut it while I'm trying to unload it which then means it's basically trying to shatter anything breakable on the bottom drawer of the dishwasher as it slams against the back wall.

... that has Moose-bunnies in almost every corner of the house (I seriously think Andy needs to sweep daily since he has the dog that produces these little friends) though I will vacuum them up at least every 3-4 days. Any more than that and it's just too much maintenance. Stupid dog.

... that has the contents of an entire bag of cotton balls scattered all over bathroom floor on a regular basis...

... you're getting the picture, right? It's crazy having toddlers. It just is. There's no other word for it and you love your kids but man alive it's hard to like them a lot of the times at this age.

I was up at 5:50 because I needed to run to QT to pick up a jug of milk. I knew I wouldn't have enough for breakfast for everyone so it was easier to just grab one early. Then, I thought to myself, "Self, get a treat for the boys." So, I made a quick drive to the donut store for the boys.

I got the boys up and eating. They thought that was a pretty neat treat having donuts in the middle of the week for no reason at all. Sometimes, it's nice to do unexpected things that bring people joy.

Drew was supposed to have free dress day but I didn't remind him. He left for school in his uniform. I remembered at about 8:15 and called Andy. I was going to take him something to change into up to school as soon as Ben woke up.

Ben slept until 9:20 a.m. today. I thought that would be a great start for his morning. He'd wake up hungry.... and realizing he had donut holes, actually EAT SOMETHING! WRONG. He ate the equivalent of one donut hole. That's it!?! Well, I just loaded him up in the car and to school we went with Drew's favorite Star Wars t-shirt and some shorts. I walked in and thankfully the secretary recognized me and I told her Drew earned his free dress day.. she grabbed his clothes and walked them down. I didn't have to do anything. So, he spent two hours of his day in his uniform, the other in his free dress day clothes.

We returned home. For the most part it was a typical day... but it seems like since Ben woke up late that everything else happened early. When I looked up at the clock, it was 11:40! Yikes! Time for lunch. I made a Lean Cuisine and then prepped my salad. Unfortunately, for lunch time, I can't eat at the table -- because Ben does NOTHING the ENTIRE time I try to eat lunch but try to crawl up on the table. I can't eat my lunch in the playroom with him on the floor because if he's not trying to stick his hand in it, he's trying to pull it away from me. So, I stand. Yes, I not only stand to prepare it. I stand to eat it and I stand to clean up. My feet HURT by about noon... hurt.

I make a quick trip to Hobby Lobby to get some supplies for the Cub Scout membership rally tomorrow night and then put Ben down since he fell asleep in the car on the way home. It's maybe, a five minute drive. It was about 2pm. Yes, he'd been up WAAY too long.

I put him in his crib and started on my project - making dice for the boys to play with to aid in learning their Bobcat requirements.

The boys got home from school and came in. Drew started off completely on a great note. He made a 100 on his AR test (advanced reading) -- the kid can read on a 4th or 5th grade level. He needs help with some words but he generally can still get an understanding of a story by the context clues even if he has to skip some words he doesn't know. It's amazing! Then he proceeds to completely forget where his brain is.

We have a little chart we go through every.single.day of a school day. 1) come home and empty your backpack and/or lunchbox; 2) eat a snack; 3) do your chores.

Every day we do this.

EVERY.SINGLE.DAY.

He just fell off the turnip truck today I guess.... it was annoying. I had to get onto him.

Then, Ben wakes up so I ask Drew to watch these wooden blocks I was letting dry on the porch and make sure Moose didn't eat them. My exact words. I went upstairs and got Ben and came downstairs. I changed his diaper and it was all of maybe 4 minutes. I walked back to the dining room and my blocks were all over the porch and he'd eaten one. In four minutes? I jumped DREW for it... where was he? Turning on the television. Grrrr...

He's grounded from the television now.

My throat is starting to get sore. I think I'm getting someone's bug.

Grrrrr...

Andy comes home. I take Josh, because he's sleepy, to Kroger with me. A Lady Gaga song came on and I told him that she went to the VMA's in drag. Then I explained that it means you dress like the opposite sex. I pulled up a picture on my phone once we were in the Kroger parking lot. At dinner tonight, Andy told Josh that that stunt was her "jumping the shark" moment. Has anyone else ever heard of that? He gave a reference to Happy Days and Fonzie, but I'd never heard of that. Josh thought it was kinda weird. I think she over did it a tad.

We had fajitas for dinner. I made fresh pico with lots of cilantro. It was good. I had bought some pre-grilled frozen chicken and a bag of onions/peppers to cook. Easy dinner, but one that I could eat with them. That's one thing about dieting that I really, really dislike... I'm not only making, cooking, serving and cleaning up for everyone else.... but then I have to make myself something completely different. That's why it's so hard to diet with a family. It sucks. DIE-T. Bleh!

Ben, I'm not sure he ate much of anything. I tried to give him a piece of chicken and you'd think I had given him nails to eat the way he spit it out.

Drew kept running through the kitchen while I was carrying hot things, holding knives and the dogs were getting excited which meant all kids of little feet were under my feet. He was told to stop or he was going straight to his room.

He chose to ignore me.

He ate alone in his room.

Moments like that I hate having to enforce my word.

Josh ate a bite of a fresh jalapeno.

A big bite.

I think he's dumb.

Kind of like those women that go through childbirth with no drugs... they're idiots too. You don't get a trophy for going through that with no epidural.

I head upstairs and sit with Drew while he finishes reading the last chapter of The Boxcar Children. Andy actually read it to him last night but for some reason, he paid absolutely no attention to him and couldn't remember how it ended so I made HIM read it. He acted like it was the worst thing ever (there aren't a lot of pictures). But at least we finished it.

He read his next AR book, too.

They're really, really too easy for him.

I went to put Ben down after giving him his medicine. Andy had entertained him in Drew's room while we read. Ben is a nightmare to put down right now. I think he's having separation anxiety because he does NOT go down easily anymore. You could (a week ago) just taken him to his room, said goodnight and he would roll over and go to sleep with his aquarium on. Now, he is crying, screaming, emptying the contents of his crib, then screaming because he has no blankie, bear, Elmo, binkie... yeah, it's pretty severe. Then you go in there and he's a snotty mess.... it's just so, SO hard on me emotionally.

Last night, I sat down in the bathroom on the CLOSED toilet while he was screaming his head off blood curdling screams and I prayed...and cried... and prayed some more for peace, for his ears to be pain free, for him to relax... and literally...

literally....

it was seconds after that prayer, he went to sleep without incident.

Tonight, I was so flustered I forgot to pray. I went back up there and glared into the media room where Andy (and Josh) were both sitting just watching television while Ben was screaming his head off. How they can sit there and do nothing is just beyond me.

I go in there, wipe the face, wipe the snot, put the crib contents back in the crib and off the floor, give him a much-desired binkie and try to lay him down while rubbing his leg/back/stomach/head.... ANYTHING to get him to chill out and calm down. Tonight, it was the belly... and half way through, he had a fixed gaze on me... and he grabbed my thumb and wouldn't let go. It was then that I realized.... nothing else I "needed" to do was ever as important as making sure this little man realized he was safe, secure and loved... that he wasn't alone and that I would stand there and rub his little belly for an hour if I had to, just so he knew everything would be okay.

I watched as his grip loosened on my thumb and his eyebrows raised while trying to hold his little eyes open. He was calm, he was relaxed. He knew he was safe, he had his blankies and he was asleep.

I snuck downstairs, took my vitamins, changed, brushed the fangs and immediately hopped into bed and right now am SO ready to lapse into a coma.

Good, productive day

Today was a good day. Today was a productive day. I don't believe that those two can't go together because when I'm productive, I feel good. When I feel good, generally, I'm productive. Today, it was a blessing of both.

Today is the last day of summer for my boys. Tomorrow Drew starts first grade. Josh begins his journey into Middle School. Shortly thereafter, my baby Ben will start his introduction to education outside the home at Noah's Ark. All three of my boys will be in "school" (in one form or another) for the first time ever this year. I think I need a tissue.

Last night I apparently had too much caffeine and was unable to fall asleep (besides having tunnel vision working on the MOPS blog so that it's up-to-date). Midnight rolled around and I hear a little miserable, teething toddler on the monitor let out a cry. I sat still waiting to see if it was just a whine in his sleep or if it was going to be an all-nighter. (I was praying for the whine/sleep.) He quickly went back to sleep so I was like, it's time to at least give it a shot.

Off went the computer. Andy went to sleep and within 8-10 minutes, snoring. I'm an EXTREMELY light sleeper. I mean, I hear my dog jump out of the chair onto the carpet if she gets too hot in her blanket. I hear every peep from the monitor that Ben makes throughout the night. I hear the ice maker from the kitchen as it's being productive. I hear it all. However, just because I hear it, doesn't mean that I can sleep through it. So, I lay there for about twenty-five minutes trying to fall asleep and realized I was fighting a losing battle. I moved my issues to the couch.

The couch really wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have a dog that felt the need to lay directly on whatever body part seems to be near her.... leg, arm, etc. which makes me very hot and very uncomfortable. 1:30 a.m. I'm feeling a little sleepy but then another whine comes from the monitor. It's enough to make you jump and stay awake because you secretly realize that you're screwed and will be getting up anyway. However, again, he immediately goes back to sleep. Me, not so much. I say forget it and try to go back to the bedroom. Luckily, the snoring has stopped but still I lay.

I play backgammon on my phone for a while. Finally, I felt a yawn coming on about 2:40 am so I put the phone down and attempt sleep. And, the last time for the night the little guy lets out a yelp it's 2:43 am. He went back to sleep again. This time, for the night. I looked at the clock for the last time about ten after 3.

My alarm went off at 6:15 am.

Can I tell you how badly that sucked?

It sucked.

Bad.

Badder than bad.

It was epic the amount of suck that alarm going off at 6:15 had.

I shut it off.

It was merely a practice run for a regular school day and frankly, we weren't going to school so at that very moment, I didn't care.

However, at 7am, Ben woke up anyway so my snooze button really only gave me a short reprieve. Booo!

I figure if I'm up, lets wake up the troops. I called Josh on his phone. He answered. "Get Drew and come down. Happy day before school!"

They both came down. I made cinnamon rolls and pigs-in-blankets per Josh's request. Drew wanted pancakes but that will be Wednesday. I started dinner in the crock pot because I knew what a busy day it was going to be.

I grabbed a shower. Ben fussed. The boys watched television. The boys got dressed and off we went.

First stop, Payless Shoe Source. We bought some new tennis shoes for Benji. Size 6 1/2. The little pitter-patter of his bare feet on the floor just makes me smile. Seriously, I sit here and can just hear him walking as if he has flippers on his little feet. It's so cute. we pull up to the strip mall and step out and I feel like we've entered some sort of B-horror flick. It's the plague of grasshoppers. Not little bugs but GIGANTIC 3" long grasshoppers. These things are RIDICULOUS! They're EVERYWHERE! They're on the side of the building. They're on the signs. After we left Payless, they were ON MY WINDSHIELD! Creepy!

Then we went to get some cashola.

From there we went to get my car washed (it was LONG overdue). I like one particular car wash in the area because they give you the $12 wash for $10, you don't have to get out of your car and they have microfiber spinning brushes. They REALLY get your car clean. I need that to feel good about my car. The only bad part is that then it shows up the three door dings and one scratch I have on my car pretty bad! Oh well. Maybe I should get 'em fixed, huh? One day. (Yeah, I know, not a chance.) The boys just love sitting in the car when you're driving through as all the stuff squirts everywhere. Ben slept through the entire thing wearing his new shoes.

Then we went to get the boys hair cut. BOYS as in plural. So, yes, Benji got his FIRST REAL HAIRCUT today! I drove to the Cool Cuts for Kids but it wasn't there. I called another store and was given the new location so went there. $18.95 for a kid's cut now. YIKES! Insane! Seriously? They went up $4 a cut? It used to be $15 for a hair cut for a kid. Now it's $20? Yikes! Benji sat in the fire truck. He was a complete wiggle worm. She did a great job. Yes, I kept the curls. I did get about an inch taken off, however so he would look spiffy for his start at preschool.

From there we hit McDonald's as a treat for their "last lunch" and came home. Benji even ate a couple of nuggets! Once we were done with lunch, we freshened up a bit and then headed to Fort Worth Christian. Today was also "Meet the Teacher." Drew got Mrs. Hendley's first grade class. We've heard great things about her and look forward to a blessed new year. Our neighbors' daughter who entered Kindergarten got Mrs. Powell who was Drew's teacher last year. We're keeping it all in our little carpool family!

Ben fell asleep on the drive home. Dad called about half-way home. He wanted to come pick up the boys and take them out for a back-to-school treat. I said sure. He was on his way.

We pulled into the garage and I carried a sleepy toddler upstairs for his one good nap of the day. I prayed he'd stay asleep and that it would be a good one.

I brought in Drew's school supplies that needed to be labeled and used our Mabel's Labels on them and stored them in Drew's backpack for school tomorrow.

Shortly thereafter, my dad then came by and picked up the boys. They went to get an ice cream at Carvel. He said he thought Drew ate more sprinkles than ice cream. He dropped them back off and left for home to take a nap through the afternoon so he could stay up for the Rangers' game. (It started at 9pm tonight... go Rangers!)

I worked on more MOPS website stuff, cleaned the kitchen, filled out some paperwork, did three loads (which consisted of all) of the laundry, picked up the playroom and the living room. I picked up my bathroom, too.

Ben woke up. We all played around. Then it was time for Josh to get ready for grass drills (football). I headed out the door with all three boys about 5:35 p.m. Dropped Josh off and talked to Andy on the phone. He was en route to the school to help out with football.

While he was there, we learned that Drew isn't going to be on the same t-ball team again. The split-up, get together, drama with kid sports I just will never understand. Stacking rec teams at 6-7 year olds I don't really understand. Letting the boys stay together and playing upon their strengths, I DO get.

I make Josh and Andy their dinner plates and leave them sitting on the kitchen island and proceed to clean up the kitchen. I send Drew upstairs for a bath. I call upstairs to make sure he's finished and then shortly thereafter follow Ben up the stairs for his bath. While I bathe Ben, Drew cleans his room, puts on his jammies, brushes his teeth and gets his clothes ready for tomorrow. Ben gets out of the bath, into his jammies and his teeth brushed and then we go to Drew's room for story time. We are reading The Boxcar Children. Book #1. This is the story that sets it all... it's a great series for young children. I'm just so excited that Drew is young enough to enjoy it, old enough to read it himself and doesn't have to be entertained with a zillion pictures but lets the words paint his pictures for him. There are some simple silhouettes salt and peppered throughout the book but pictures are used sparingly, at best, and I like it that way. Drew and Ben played in the Legos box quietly while I read. Every now and then I'd stop and ask Drew about what was going on in the story to a) make sure he was even listening and b) make sure he was following the storyline. I got him to work on foreshadowing without him even knowing. We're going to read two chapters a night. I figure have dinner ready early enough that we can enjoy time together with no electronics (they're banned in this house during the week) and get through the entire Boxcar series (I own it) one book at a time.

Once our two chapters were finished, Ben helped me put all the Legos back in the container that was then pushed back beneath Drew's bed. Drew grabbed Ben for a hug and said his bedtime prayer. I gave him a big hug and turned off his light. Benji followed me through the bathroom that joins their bedrooms and we grabbed Elmo and he, too, was ready to climb inside. He sorted his blankets around a couple of times and then rolled over. Mind you, he let his music box play for the better part of an hour, but he never cried to get up.

Andy and Josh got in a little later than expected from football practice so he and Josh ate together. It's funny, everyone eats well with you give them healthy choices. I know if I hadn't filled half their plates with fresh veggies, they'd have both gone for filling their plates with chips. Making a conscious effort to help your family eat well by not offering anything bad from which to choose -- smart -- and duly noted!

Josh generally has a hard time going to sleep the night before school. Nerves. I think after running an hour and a half of grass drills in 105 heat, getting a full belly and a nice relaxing shower, he'll sleep just fine. Now, what time he'll wake up is a WHOLE other story!

I'm excited about tomorrow. I need to get my camera batteries charged. It's going to be a busy day.

A new school year! Lots of change.

Bring it! I'm ready!

Testing, testing….testing my sanity!

I’ve decided to jump on the Windows Live bandwagon and give this baby a try for my blogging fancy. 

I almost didn’t make it, however.  I attempted to install the stupid program about 10 times yet I could never find it.  Madness!  I finally scoured through some on-line help forums to find it was just hidden for some stupid reason.

I seriously find it so hard to understand why companies get a loyal following of people who just figure out how to utilize a program and then they go upgrade the dern thing and make the learning curve so far removed from anything remotely normal that you just want to pitch the dern thing out the window!  Yeah, it’s perty darn severe when I say DERN TWO TIMES in one sentence.

This morning… a magical thing happened.  We actually got rain!  Don’t think that’s a big deal?  Well, YOU go without rain or relief for 40 plus days and tell me that you don’t consider it an amazing blessing.  I seriously just wanted to sit outside in it and just soak it all in.  We just need that to happen off and on for the next three or four weeks now to start helping our lakes, streams, creeks, ponds and lawns recover. 

I went to the Northwood MOPS planning meeting this morning.  It’s so refreshing to be in a room full of women excited about sharing the Word with other moms… we are all in “that season” of life (with preschoolers) so it’s so fantastic to be able to find moms that have a common ground with whom you really can relate.  You realize, too, that you are NOT going crazy…. that this, too, shall pass.

You realize after spending time with these gracious women that the hours and days are long, long, long… but the years they are so short.

Josh spent the day with his buddy Tink. They went fishing and caught a good sized catfish (he sent me a photo from his phone before they let it go).

I spent from 9:30 – 3 having some great girl time.

Andy spent that time here at home with the boys.  Why I feel guilty for doing these little things and leaving him here to “babysit” is beyond me.  And, he’s not babysitting… he’s being a dad.  Why I feel guilty that he doesn’t get any “me” time is just ridiculous.  I need to stop that.right.now. 

We’re gearing up for another busy year.  We’ve got Josh’s school activities, football, Scouts and he will be going back to guitar lessons.  Drew will have his school activities, speech, baseball, and Cub Scouts.  Ben will have preschool.  Ben and I will have MOPS and the Mom’s League activities together on Fridays.  I do the newsletter for Josh’s Troop so that’s a small labor of love.  I’m going to lead Drew’s Cub Scout den.  I’m also in the Grapevine Colleyville Southlake Mom’s League and we have a playgroup that will meet, too.  I’m also going to try to stay plugged into the playgroup in my HOA because that will let us meet local friends, too.  I realize that when I’m in this season of life (toddler, busy toddler, destructive busy toddler) it’s best for me to stay busy and immerse myself in all kinds of activities or I go into this funk of depression… been there / done that… no fun.  Ain’t gonna do it again.  I have decided that I will not sign up to be room mom again because that’s just too stressful when other parents just don’t really give a darn.  So, I’m going to help from afar and pitch in where needed. 

I’m also hoping that once I get a grip on these health issues that have stricken me, I’m going to go to the gym in the morning to lift and hopefully run.  My weight loss goals seem like they’re flying out the window right now.  It’s hard, too, when you have so many obscure things seemingly going wrong in such a short time span…. it’ shard to not wonder if they’re all related somehow.  I just honestly want some answers so that whatever the diagnosis is, we can find some type of acceptable course of action for me that will enable me to then move on with a plan of action in place…

but right now…. my joints in my fingers are hurting and swollen and tender in the morning….. that’s how it started but now it seems my knuckles pretty much stay tender throughout the day.  At first it was just the main finger knuckle but now it’s both of them.

My right elbow has some type of tender spot every few days.

My right hip has in the last 3 weeks hurt in the hip joint itself a total of four days. 

My feet PAIN ME to walk on them first thing in the morning…. or after getting up after resting for more than ten minutes or so.  I have to wear tennis shoes 24/7 which really sucks but I have to have the support.  Barefoot is not an option.  If I wear flip flops, I pay the price heavily as my feet kill me by 5-6pm.

I’m going to have to go back to the doctor about the mass under my arm and I fear that will lead to another mammogram or surgery to remove it. 

The headaches still happen with regularity…

And as much as I want to be the pleasant, loving, peaceful, smiling, doting mother, wife, friend, parent, daughter…. by about 7pm, it’s hard for me to want to do anything more than sit and put my feet up because they’re hurting…which means, I’m less than pleasant… it’s hard to force a smile.  And believe it or not, I hate complaining…. but I think, right now, having a documentation of my ailments… I ‘m hoping that it will help me keep track of what is going on with my body. 

The rheumatologist said since the hands and toes were on both sides, he suspected very early signs of rheumatoid arthritis though my blood work looks good…. (I had my aunt, an RN look at it).  Unfortunately, you can still have the disease and not have the markers in your blood.  It is all about how your symptoms present.  If it shows on your blood work, it seems that it’s typically more aggressive or you’ve had the disease for many years. 

He also suspected plantar fasciitis (sp?) in both feet so the podiatrist appointment is Wednesday and thank GOD for that! Hopefully I can get some squishy inserts to help my feet tolerate me.

Weight loss can only help matters so Monday since it’s school starting… back to regular eating…. that’s going to be the agenda now.  Eating healthy.  Low fat, low sugar, low carb, lean protein, kill the sweets.  I have to do it for me… I have to do it for my boys.  I have to do it for my stomach…. I have to try to be the best me that I can be.  I have to be a good example.  And frankly, I FEEL better when I’m eating better.  I get sick of fast food after about two days and just feel gross even eating it.  I’m also going to QUIT DIET COKE!  Yes, my one true addiction that I’ve ever had …. I’m quitting the diet sodas.  I’m just going to go cold turkey on all forms of caffeine.  I’m not even going to drink iced tea out of the house because I know it won’t be decaf. 

So, hopefully…. in the next few weeks, we will get some answers….. get a plan in place and just keep moving forward.  In the meantime, if you’ve even read this far… I would certainly appreciate your prayers for healing, patience and strength.

Back to School ... the countdown is on!

One week from today we go to Meet the Teacher for Drew. The following day, the boys have their first day of school. Drew is just a half-day. Josh is there for the whole enchilada!

It got me thinking.... what, if any, back-to-school traditions do we follow here at our house?

I always make a big back-to-school breakfast their first day, take the obligatory "first day of school" photos, but beyond that. That's really about it.

Well, other than the obvious, wear the kids out REAL GOOD so that they sleep well the night before. We also pack our backpacks and have everything ready to walk out the door in the morning. Which means, proper planning on mom's part of charging the camcorder, camera batteries, getting them all ready to walk out the door (for me) too!

This year, I'm thinking it'll be time to mix it up a little and start a new tradition.

This year, back to school tradition #1 will be recording the kid's height! I'll also draw their hands on paper (to later embroider in layers)

Another idea someone else told me about a couple of years ago was that she made "Kissing Hand" cookies for her kids and packed them in her kids lunches the first day. I love that book. I love that tradition. I think I'll do it too!

This year, too, we're going to bring a gift to Meet the Teacher. Generally, we do bring a little gift for the teacher on the first day of school. This year will be no different. I'm going to bake some blueberry muffins for the office of the elementary school and for Drew's teachers. I want their first day to be a great one as well, and frankly, my muffins are off the hook!

We'll see what else we strive to do.

It's hot.

It's hot. I say that not because it's hot but because it's like... Sahara Desert hot... it's Africa hot. It's beyond hot. It sucks. Any type of adjective you can insert that is negative in nature... you can insert to describe the intensity of this heat. We're on day 37 or something of days over 100 with no relief in sight. It sucks.

They're having rolling black outs....

It's 85-87 in my bedroom every afternoon...

The dogs hate being outside...

You can't run the oven in the house or it makes it ridiculously hot in the only tolerable portion of the house (the family room)...

Today, we decided to mess with the weather.... did three experiments

1) we made an outdoor oven and baked cookies in the sun

2) we put crayon chips into a silicone tray that's shaped for fun ice cubes and made big crayons

3) we scrambled an egg on a tray in the sun.

Yes, if you can do all three in the span of an afternoon, it is FREAKIN hot!

Bleh!

How to fix a bad morning....

... I thought this morning was going to start out on a great note. I was wrong.

Ben woke up at 7:30-ish in a great mood. He generally sleeps, stirs and then eventually presses the "on" button located on his battery-operated aquarium that is attached to his crib-side.

I heard it go off at 7am and he let it run once or twice before I went up there to get him. I like to sneak in and watch him as he's sleeping and/or starting to stir. It's those little moments that makes it all worth it... no matter what.

He woke up smiling. He woke up happy. He woke up, stood up, tried to grab every single blanket in his crib to take with him downstairs. We settled for his silky snuggle-bear, however.

We come downstairs. It's a good day.

Flash forward a bit.... I hear a weird nose... hear him inhale as if in fear... but I don't see him (I'm standing in the bathroom), but just a few moments pass and I see him standing in the open double doors between the bathroom and the bedroom and he is COMPLETELY SOAKED from head to toe, hair in his face, water dripping off his chin with a look on his face that said he didn't know whether to laugh or scream and, "... Mommy, what the hell just happened to me?"

I said to Andy, "He got your water."

"He didn't get MY water." He'd already dumped his in the dog's water bowl.

He got into MY water. Yes he did. I thought I'd drank it all but, obviously not.

We had a good chuckle...but Ben's morning was ruined from that point one, however. Seriously, it was like having a bad hair day -- literally!

It was about 9:30 and I'd had ENOUGH already. I just told Drew to brush his teeth, we were running an errand. Into the car we went for a trip to Shipley's donuts. Yes, it wasn't breakfast time. We'd all already eaten. We just had to make life better for this little guy.... and then I get there... AND THEY ARE OUT OF DONUT HOLES. I opted for the next best thing. I got a glazed and asked if they could just cut it into bite sized pieces. He wouldn't know the difference. We moms must improvise, adapt and overcome.

Crazy thing, he fell asleep in the car on the way home (the last 10 minutes). However, when he woke up he was in a GREAT mood!

Donuts, it does a momma good!

The Art of Toddlering

As the mother of a toddler, there are things that you work for and things you worry about... precautions you take and reactions you follow so often they become second nature.

For instance, any mother of a toddler knows that not only will she be unable to go to the bathroom without someone either trying to peek under the door, shove things under the door, open the door or join her in the loo, but also that if said toddler joins her s/he will begin the task of emptying the cabinets of any and all contents in the time she can drop trou, do her business, take care of things, flush and be off.

Any mother of a toddler knows that when the child has entered the loo zone, anything the child has in hand when she stands up to "take care of things" it's immediately going in the bowl. So, these mothers have learned to stand up, pull up and turn to close the lid/flush all in .32 milliseconds before all sorts of things get flushed.

Any mother of a toddler knows that unless cabinets are locked, their contents are fair game.

Any mother of a toddler knows the joy of naptime.

Any mother of a toddler knows, too, the importance of elastic straps to keep sippy cups from becoming projectile weapons in the car.

Any mother of a toddler knows that it's ridiculous to wear anything remotely "nice" since it's going to be covered with a) spit-up, snot or slobber b) whatever they've eaten or c) whatever they've decided not to eat but to throw at you instead.

Any mother of a toddler knows the value of a child-proofed house and why it's no fun to go anywhere that's NOT kid friendly.... even if they ARE your best friends. TOddlers know that they can make it to the third stair in 3.2 seconds. Continually chasing down a toddler when you're trying to enjoy conversation=complete ass whip.

However, moms know that while the days may be long, the years are short. Too soon, those crocodile tear filled eyes that now come running toward you when they need hugs, love and comfort will too soon retreat to their rooms running the opposite direction and learn to self-soothe and self-medicate with text messages and friends.