You've got a great smile!

I went to the last preschool meeting for Spunky Girl's school last night. It was a feel-good kinda meeting...passing out end of the year gifts for the teachers and for the Board members, remember when moments, and "let's appreciate each other" activities. One such activity went as follows: everyone got a piece of paper taped to their backs and then all of us moms went around and wrote something nice on all the other mom's papers. I was looking forward to reading my comments. I was mystified to see that 13 of the 15 moms commented on my nice smile. Huh?

I've been through this preschool before with my Sweetness (eldest daughter) and I know that I made much stronger connections with the mom's in that previous class than this one, but come on...13 moms had nothing more insightful to say about me than "You are always smiling"? What about my amazing wit? What about my sympathy's for bad days? At least they could remember all those Alligator-pushes I gave their kids on the swings. But nope...apparently I'm always smiling. Anyone who knows me knows that I am the first person to tell you about whatever personal crisis I'm having that day...always smiling? I just don't think so.

I wish I could see the other mom's papers. I know that I tried to write fairly personal comments for the other moms, but maybe "you've got a great smile" is as creative as some of the moms got. Regardless, it is time to push it out of my head and move on. It was a great year and I enjoyed the other moms and the teachers. The mom that I liked best will be sending her daughter to the same Kindergarten class that Spunky Girl will attend, so that is a Yippee for me (and she was one of the moms that DIDN'T write a "nice smile" comment). Oh yeah, I'm supposed to be past that. =)

I am not going to blog about my kids

Darn it. This blog is supposed to be about my forays into the outside world, but all I talk about is motherhood and my kids. Enough. I am going to blog about me.


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Hmmm...........



Hang on...I'm getting there.


Just wrote a blog about my desire to stay hip and then erased it. It was boring. I'm not hip...never really was. Nothing else needs to be said about that.

Any Celebrity Apprentice fans out there? I love Jesse James. I love his bulk. I love his silence. I love his blue-collar vibe. I love his unwillingness to trade on his wife's fame. He comes across so strong. He says little, but people listen (except Clint Black) when he talks. I know the Trump-meister wants to capitalize on the Joan River/Annie Duke fued, but I sure would have liked to watch Jesse James for one more episode. Sigh...

Oh yeah, and the Rivers are both CRAZY. Why do crazy people sign up for shows? Don't they know that the whole world is going to find out they are crazy?

Well, I got no inspiration tonight, and you don't want any more commentary on the shows I'm watching, so I'm signing off. G'night all.

Kids: the joy, the tears

I've had two spectacular meltdowns this week. It is a crazy busy week for me (Spunky Girl's birthday, getting all set for multiple Mother's Day events this weekend and hosting a bachelorette part on Saturday night...on top of the usual craziness of school, soccer, swimming lessons, and bible classes/worship services) and the Big Guy is sick. I would have been stressed anyway, but the Big Guy wanting to be held by mommy every second of the day really pushed me over the edge.

Earlier this week, I was feeling critical of myself for being overwhelmed because my situation is really not-so-terrible. After all, none of my kids has a life-threatening disease and my husband is secure in his job. But why do I feel the need to berate myself for having a hard time with life just because nothing truly awful is happening? The lack of a disaster doesn't change the fact that it has been really difficult to handle all of my responsibilities this week. I have really worked long and hard and am still falling behind my responsibilities. What I really needed was just a bit of perspective, something that allowed me to recognize a hard week but also something to keep that recognition tied to the overwhelming blessings I feel by being a mom.


I got just that. At the moment when I was feeling overwhelmed by the responsibility of caring for these kids, I was also given the greatest gift. There was a Mother's Day celebration at Sweetness's (my eldest daughter) 1st grade classroom. I was a total stress-ball trying to get there this morning (getting the house ready for my MotherInLaw to watch the younger kids, getting ready while the Big Guy cried and wanted to be held, etc.). But when I got there, it was so worth it. For an hour my daughter hugged me, gave me handmade gifts, read me poems she wrote about me, and her teacher retold nice things she'd said about me. I don't think I can put into words how full my heart felt at that moment. It made every difficult moment (including 49 hours of hard labor with her) pale in comparison.


Now if I can just remember that feeling during my next meltdown...

Why did you say that?

Not surprising to anyone that knows us, hubby and I don't have the same perspective on everything. One thing that keeps coming up in our parenting is "Why did you say that?". Hubby hates it when the kids start begging for something just because I mentioned the word. For example, I could say "I'm going to go take a shower" and the Big Guy will start saying "shower, shower" and he'll start running for the stairs. Hubby will look at me and sigh because he thinks I've created the situation that we have to tell the Big Guy "no" when I could have just kept my mouth shut instead.

So today, I mentioned to hubby (in front of Spunky Girl) that one of us needed to take Spunky Girl to the doctor for her checkup after her swim lessons. Spunky Girl looked at me and said "am I getting shots?". Hey...she asked. "Yep". Cue the crying and hysterics. About 40 minutes worth. Hubby didn't think it was necessary to bring up the doctor visit at all in front of her. He thought it was only fair that I should take her to the doctor since I was the cause of her trauma.

So I took her to the doctor. She was so freaked out. It has been awhile since I've cried when one of my children got a shot, but I had tears in my eyes by the time she got her 4th shot. Thank goodness that nurse MiMi allowed us to do the shots at the beginning of the visit instead of waiting till the customary visit-end to do it. I don't think she would have made it. She told me afterwards that she thought about running away when the nurse brought out the needles. That would have been a first for me...actually chasing my child down the halls of the doctor's office. But if any child would do that...it would be Spunky Girl.

Spunky Girl (before she got 4 shots)

Am I reformed? Nope. I will continue to mention things in front of my children. I just can't add the pressure to my life of having to watch what I say in case one of them might get upset. My children will learn to live with the disappointments of the real world. They will learn to deal with knowing that a trip to the doctor is in their near future. And they will learn that they are strong enough to survive those situations.

What a blessing she is!

Spunky Girl is 5 today. She has loved every second of her birthday, and I have enjoyed watching her revel in it.

What do I love about her? My Spunky Girl has such a zest for life. She delights in capturing the attention of others. She has burped on demand for people we don't know at restaurants. She has run naked through the room. She has dressed herself in my bra and panties and put on a fashion show (without permission, of course!). Oh how I adore her. She has a flair for the LOUD, both in her volume and her clothing. She likes her clothes to have stripes or jewels or polka dots. When she picks out her own clothes in the morning, I always have to send her back upstairs take off one item and replace it with something solid colored.

Every morning, she comes and gets into my bed around 6 am for her personal snuggle time. She just wants to be held. I can't tell you how many times a day I tell her to "get off me" when she is trying to climb me like a jungle gym. 6 am is the time when she can officially crawl all over me and I'll neither complain nor move. I've started to look forward to her early morning visits and make room for her to snuggle in next to me.

It was so fun to watch her open her presents today. She exclaimed "Oh, it is just what I always wanted" at every gift. She tried on every clothing item she got (reminds me of ME!) to see how it looked on her. Her dad and I got her a pair of Sketchers that she's been asking for. She has seen them on TV, so she thinks the name of the shoe is "Twinkle-Toes-New-From-Sketcher" so that's what she keeps calling them. "Papa, did you see my twinkle-toes-new-from-sketcher?"
She just makes me happy. I can't wait to see who she'll grow up to be.

And the Award goes to...

I am exhausted, but what a great day. This afternoon we held Spunky Girl's 5th birthday party at a nearby park. Blessedly, the rain waited till after the party to come down and we had nice weather. I don't know how I would have made it through today without all the support I had. I just have to give out awards...

First, to my husband who gave up his usual post-firehouse-shift sleeping time to help me today, I give the Oscar award.

Second, to Halcyon who helped me get everything I needed to the park and helped me set up for the party(and cleaned up my kitchen before we left), I give the Grammy award.

Third, to Amber and Keri who turned out to be the best-darn-face-painters-and-friends a girl could have. For your time, energy and surprising amount of talent, I give to you the "Star of the Party" award. Seriously, they were GOOD. Check out some photos of their work:







And finally, to my sister Tory, who watched the Big Guy for me all throughout the party. What would I have done without you? You are the best. I give you the chocolate award; you deserve it!



2 kids down, only one birthday party left to throw this year. Yippee!

P.S. A little "shout out" to Glen. Hey! Glad you read my blog. It was great to see you pop up in the comment section. Hope to actually see you someday soon.

This will not be a post that men will enjoy

This will not be a post that men will enjoy, but I don't think I have any male readers to complain...

I've been a lucky girl in the period department for most of my years. My periods were super predictable (Tuesday around 2 pm start time every 28 days lasting for 3 days) and were nothing more than a slight nuisance. I didn't have much cramping pain, or breast soreness, or any other horrible symptoms. I could count on an emotional day the Friday before my period, but who doesn't need a good cry once a month? Plus, it keeps hubby on his toes.


I think I must be entering peri-menopause, though, because times are a-changing. Period pain sucks. I feel like every organ in the lower half of my torso is bruised. I can feel them bumping into each other and feel a dull ache pulsing throughout the day. I've been whining more and more about this and every month hubby asks why I don't take something, something like a Midol or Pamprin, something designed for period relief. I don't really like to take stuff unless I REALLY need to, so I kept putting off buying anything. Finally hubby came home with a bottle of Pamprin for next time.

So, I finally took the Pamprin today. Yeah, the dull ache is blessedly gone, but I feel like my body is asleep. Every muscle feels fatigued and hard to move. Is that what it is supposed to feel like? I'm not sure what I'll choose if this is my choice: achy or exhausted. Maybe Midol feels differently?

Another little side affect of my changing cycle is that hubby cannot predict my cycles as easily. He can't necessarily know that I'm "overacting" about something because I'm about to start my period. He might just have to take me seriously just in case. He also planned out our 15 year anniversary trip for next March around my cycle, but I've been running shorter than 28 days for the last few months. That will probably set my period for right during our vacation. Wouldn't that be a bummer?

Sigh...I'd better go munch on something as period therapy!

P.S. I have no idea what is wrong with the girl's hand in the picture. I didn't care to spend any more time searching the web for a "woman with stomach pain" photo, so you this one.