Best Compliment Ever

I know many of you who show up to read what I post here are mothers of young children.  I sort of feel like I have two separate families.  My younger two, and the older two.  I'm sure to some, we look like a blended family.  Like maybe the older two were from my first marriage or something.

For those who only have younger kids, I know exactly what you are going through. 

I know how hard it is to deal with young kids all day, every day. 

There's the terrible twos and temper tantrums. 

Potty training and deciphering the babble of a kid just learning to talk. 

There's breast feeding and diaper changing. 

There are sleepless nights, teething babies and messes everywhere you look.

Those of you who only have younger kids may not want to read the next sentence.

THOSE ARE THE EASY YEARS.

In the pre-teen and teenage years there are so many bigger picture things to worry about. 

Are they making the right kinds of friends? 

Are they making the right decisions? 

Are we being overly protective or not protective enough? 

When is it time to let them stand on their own instead of holding them up? 

I think every parent fears that they aren't doing their job to the best of their ability.  I know I have those fears from time to time.

Today, I was talking to The Teen about a friend of hers when she said, "I don't think her mom is very responsible." 

When I asked what she meant by that, she said, "Well, she's not home very much, and when she is home she leaves after a few minutes.  When (insert friend's name here) asks her where she's going, she says she's going out with her friends."

And then.

AND THEN!

She added, "I don't realize how good my parents are until I go to a friends' house, then I'm like, okay, I want to go home now."

WOW. 

That's all I have to say.  Now I need to go find the tissues.

Happy Memorial Day

We don't have any big plans for today. 

Not even a cook out.

Actually, my husband is working today while I'm home with the kids.

But, we live in a Navy town, which makes Memorial Day seem more relevant than it ever did when I was a kid.

I love seeing and hearing Navy planes flying over my house as they practice maneuvers...or whatever they call it.

I love driving over the river and seeing Navy helicopters hovering above the water.  It's a bonus if we actually see someone jumping from the helicopter into the water.

I love logging onto Facebook and seeing that my friends (both Navy and other branches of the armed forces) who are currently serving overseas are safe.

One of those friends has three little girls back home. 

My thoughts and prayers are with him and them today.

Could you please add yours too?

Resident Comedian

My son is hilarious. 

One of the benefits of twice a week speech therapy is that we can understand the funny things he is saying.

The other night as he was helping me cook dinner, he watched as I opened a can of chili for our hot dogs and put it in a bowl to go in the microwave.  Granted it didn't look very appetizing as it plopped in it's semi congealed state from the can into the bowl, but he cracked me up when he said, "That looks like poop."

I assured him it was not poop. 

Later, as his daddy was about to take a bite of his fully loaded hot dog, The Boy said, "Daddy, you like that poop?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Boy:  "Mommy, your head hurts?"

Me:  "No."

The Boy:  "Not yet."

That one had me concerned for quite some time about what exactly he had planned for me and my head later in the day!

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I had my hair pulled back in a ponytail.  The Boy was hanging  over my shoulder, his head right beside mine, when he said, "You got Grandma's hair?" 

It took me a minute to realize he was talking about where my hair is growing out at the temple, and my grey is showing.

Time to buy a new box of hair color!

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I was in the kitchen, getting out ingredients to mix up some cookies.  The Boy loves to help me cook, but I was in a hurry and he really just gets in the way and slows me down.

I tried to tell him that I didn't need his help.  His response was, "I a big boy.  Big boys cook cookies."

Guess who got to help bake cookies that day?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And just now, as he's sitting on the floor playing with toys:

 

The Boy: "Mommy, this is broken."

 

Me:  "Oh, it's broken?"

 

The Boy:  "No, it not broken, it's fixen."

 

The Two Hour Haircut

Before:

After:

Photo credit: The Teen herself

The Love List 41 ~ 50

41.  Bacon.

42.  ZZ Top's "La Grange" (mostly due to memories of being a Kappa Sigma Little Sister Rush Hostess).

43.  Sweet Tea.

44.  Lifetime Movies (and a few quiet hours to watch them).

45.  Freebies.

46.  Wisteria.

47.  Cell Phones (because I'm old enough to remember life without them).

48.  My bed.

49.  The smell of crayons.

50.  Being able to explain how to use the greatest common factor to factor polynomials to my daughter when her teacher and several friends couldn't.

Breaking News

We interrupt our regularly scheduled posting to report this breaking news. 

Baby Girl is now a crawler.

Yesterday afternoon, she went from lying on her tummy to sitting up for the first time.

Last night, she crawled!  She didn't go far, and she was pretty slow.  I think the footy jammies slowed her down a little.  But it was definitely a crawl. 

I am both happy and very sad at the same time.

My baby is growing up much too quickly.

We're Still Here

The world did not end Saturday at 6:00 PM Eastern time.

I know this because my nine year old daughter, who was at a friend's house, called at 6:30 to inform me that the world did not end.

I was at the mall with The Teen, getting her hair cut.  Judging by the number of police officers now required to patrol our mall on a Saturday night, I'm not sure we would have noticed if the Rapture did occur.  Apparently most of those people wouldn't have made the cut.

By the end of The Teen's TWO HOUR hair cut.  Seriously, two full hours, and she wasn't getting color or highlights or anything, just a cut!  I thought maybe we were in some kind of cosmetology purgatory.

The Tween also told me that her friend had told her that the people called up in the Rapture would just vanish from the earth, leaving their clothes behind.

She asked me to check and make sure Baby Girl was still with us.

Apparently, she's the only one in our family deemed worthy.

I guess I have some repenting to do.

Easter (Finally)

I guess I pretty much summed up our Easter in my card reader post.

But if you're wondering how we all looked, here you go!

Every year, I plan to get individual shots of my kids.  Every year we get to Nana's after church and everyone is tied and hungry and ready to be in their "street" clothes, so I never get my individual pictures.

I think next year we'll have a dress rehearsal!

I Have No Words

Well, except that I think he gets it from his Grandaddy.

The Case of the Missing Card Reader

I feel like Nancy Drew.  Or maybe Trixie Belden.

The night before Easter, in a fit of organization, which trust me does not happen often, I found my card reader, took my memory card our of the card reader and put it in my camera.  I am notorious for leaving my camera at home or taking my camera and leaving the memory card in the card reader on my desk.  I wanted to be sure I was ready to go on Easter morning.

Easter morning came.  My kids got up and tore through their Easter baskets.  I took pictures.  Then we all got ready for church. 

I had a new dress to wear to church.  My sister saw it in a store, it didn't work for her, but she knew I would like it, so she bought it and mailed it to me.  I know, sweet, right?  I had tried the dress on a few times, but I guess I had never moved around in it very much.  When I got it on that morning and was rushing around trying to get everyone else ready, the front of the dress started to open up exposing a little a lot more of me than was appropriate for church. 

I spent the next ten minutes searching for safety pins.  Since moving at the end of February, I have not been able to easily lay my hands on anything I need.  I find things eventually, usually after I have given up and bought a new one of whatever it was I couldn't find.  So, I sort of knew I wasn't going to find safety pins in time to get to church on time.  I was about to give up.  I told my husband to go on without me because I was not going to go to church and flash the preacher.  Then I decided I could just grab a needle and some thread and tack the front of the dress together in the car on the way to church.

I got down my sewing box, rummaged through it looking for some thread that would work with the dress, threw the fabric scraps, etc. back in the box and rushed out the door.

We went to church, then spent most of the day at my in-laws.  When we got home, I wanted to upload my pictures, but I couldn't find my card reader anywhere.  I was exhausted, and I had a family to feed, so I didn't spend too much time looking for it.

The next day, I still couldn't find it.  I knew it was on my desk.  I knew someone had moved it.  I knew that someone was a three year old boy.  I knew he knew where it was, but didn't know what I meant when I said "card reader". 

I sort of haphazardly looked around for the thing.  I had each of the big girls take a turn cleaning up the room where I thought it must be in the hopes that they would find it.

I gave up.  I was ready to just go buy a new one, even though I hate buying things I already have somewhere.

Tuesday morning, I woke up at 4:30 a.m. when my husband was getting ready for work.  I realized I hadn't ironed a shirt for him, so I stumbled out of bed and got a shirt.  Just as I was finishing the ironing of said shirt, I realized that it was missing a button.  The part of me that wanted to climb back in bed thought maybe he wouldn't notice.  The part of me that wanted to have a happy husband decided to sew the button back on the shirt. 

I got out my sewing box and started rummaging through it to find the right thread.  I was pulling scraps of fabric, etc. from the box when something caught my eye. 

There was my card reader!

I stood there all by lonesome and said, "Really?" right out loud to myself. 

There is absolutely no way anyone else put the thing in that box.  There is positively no way that the three year old terror could have possibly reached it.

Case solved.

I don't remember Nancy or Trixie ever being the villains in their own mysteries!

The Love List 31 ~ 40

For more on my awesome nephew and how he inspired my quest to list 230 things I love, go here!

31.  Nutella.

32.  The Boy's speech therapist.

33.  The smell of fresh ginger.

34.  60 degree mornings in mid May in Florida!

35.  My blog design.  Sorry, but it's bright and cheerful and summery, and it makes me happy.

36.  Hot showers with good water pressure.

37.  Crushed ice.

38.  Finding something I lost. (Memory Card Reader!!!)  (Or my son at the zoo!)

39.  Coupons.

40.  Free cookies for my kids at Publix.

I FOUND IT!!

My card reader, that is!

It was somewhere only I could have put it.  I had accused The Boy of moving it. 

Now I have guilt.

But not really!

So, when Princess Cranky pants decides I can put her down, I'll post some pictures.

Hopefully there is something better than this on there!

In Which I Lost My Son....Again!

My son, The Wanderer, The Great Escape Artist, did it again.

My sister and I took four of our seven kids to the zoo yesterday.

Everything was going great.  The babies were (mostly) happy in their strollers for most of the day.  The "big" kids, my three year old boy and her five year old girl, walked right with us and used their very best listening skills.

Then we stopped to eat lunch. 

Our table was right beside the entrance to the bathrooms, and as we were finishing up, The Boy told me he had to go potty.

I got up to take him, then handed Baby Girl off to my sister.  When I turned around, The Boy had vanished.

I assumed he was in the entry way to the bathrooms, but when I looked, he wasn't there.  I opened the women's bathroom door and called his name but didn't get a response.

At that point, the panic started to set in....again.

I went back and asked my sister if she saw where he went.  She said no, but he was walking toward the bathrooms when she saw him last.  I went back into the women's bathroom and looked in the stalls. 

He wasn't there.

Then I opened the door to the men's bathroom and called his name.  I got no response, and started walking in to check the stalls in there.  I didn't think there was anyone in there, but honestly, at that point, I really didn't care.  Just as I stepped in, a young guy, probably in his 20's, was walking to the sink.  He looked a little shocked to see me.  I asked him if a little boy had come in, and he just shook his head.

I think I stopped breathing at that point.

Just as I ran back out where I could see our table, The Boy was walking up from the opposite direction.  He tapped my sister on the shoulder and said, "Where's my mommy?"

I have no idea where he had been, and he was only missing for about 90 seconds, but I think he took another few years off my life.

I may have to invest in one of those little monkey backpacks and keep the child on a leash.

**I'll post more about our zoo day as soon as I can upload pictures!

8 Months Old

My precious baby girl is eight months old today.

She is seriously the sweetest, calmest, most easy going baby I have ever known.  And I have known a lot of babies.

She fusses a little when she is hungry or tired, but only cries if she is hurt.

She LOVES bath time.  No matter how tired and fussy she is, she perks right up when she gets in her duck tub.

She eats like a champ, and we have yet to find any baby food flavors she doesn't like.

She sleeps around 12 - 13 hours every night and takes a good two hour nap each morning.  She doesn't always get an afternoon nap, but I hope that will change once the big girls are out of school, and we aren't in the car most of the afternoon.

She still thinks her big brother is the funniest person on the planet.  All he has to do is look at her and she laughs.

She gives big slobbery kisses, and if I blow her kisses from across the room, she will smack her lips together like she's trying to kiss me back.

She loves to scratch our faces and has the fastest growing fingernails I have ever seen.

She has amazing blue eyes and a beautiful toothless smile.

She was a completely unexpected gift, and I am so thankful God chose me to be her mommy.

Randomness

*  I bought some fresh basil at Publix yesterday afternoon.  I took one whiff and said, "Basil makes me happy."  Then I thought, "Hey, I should add that to my Love List."  Then I realized it already holds the number four spot on the list.  So I guess I really love fresh basil.  A lot.

*  I went to a thirty~one party last night, and now I'm considering becoming a consultant.  Anyone out there who has any knowledge of this company, please let me know what you think!

*  I'm having my very first mammogram this afternoon.  Yes, I should have already had several.  I kept planning to, then I kept getting pregnant.  The ladies at the party last night got into a conversation about all the women they know who have breast cancer, including one who was given three weeks to live....three weeks ago.  I am now a little freaked. 

Pray for me!

*  Baby Girl had a fever Tuesday and yesterday morning.  My first instinct was to call the doctor and take her in to have her ears checked.  She and The Boy have been passing a cold back and forth for a few weeks now, so an ear infection is definitely possible.  But by last night, the fever was gone, and she seems fine now.

*  Along with the fever came some nasty green poop which made me very grateful that the hubby never took his dress shirt from Easter out of my car.  He had changed into shorts when we got to his mom's after church.  I sat through The Boy's speech therapy session wearing my husband's shirt and feeling the need to explain myself to each person who entered the lobby.

*  I guess I'm going to have to go buy a new card reader.  I hate buying things I know I have but just can't fine.  But I also hate not being able to upload any of my pictures!

*  After today, my big girls have 18 days of school until summer vacation.  Not that any of us are counting or anything!

*  It's now nap time for the baby, and then I have to set up The Boy's bowling pins for the 456th time today while stressing about my mammogram!

The Love List 21~30

 To read more about what inspired my quest to list 230 things I love, click here!

21.  Air conditioning.

22.  My pink plaid rain boots.

23.  Ice cream.

24.  Old men in slow moving pick up trucks on country roads who wave at every car they meet.

25.  Flip flops.

26.  Target.

27.  Bethenny.

28.  My old, raggedy, fuzzy, brown blanket.

29.  Breakfast in bed.

30.  Buttered popcorn flavored Jelly Belly jelly beans.

Where Is You?

The Boy's speech therapist has asked that we work with him on his pronouns.  Personally, I think it's adorable when he says, "Me need a go potty", or "Where us going, Mommy?"  But I understand that he needs to learn the correct way to speak to other people. 

Frankly, it just does not feel comfortable or natural for me to have him repeat his sentences using the correct pronouns, so I was a little relieved to realize we had accidentally stumbled upon a game that was helping him with his pronoun issues.

You see, The Boy asks a million questions each and every day.  Some of his questions are legitimate.  Others, not so much.  A typical conversation goes something like this:

"Mommy?"

"What?"

"You Mommy?"

"Yes, I'm Mommy."

"You my mommy?"

"Yes, I'm your mommy."

"Mommy?"
"Yes?"

"You home, Mommy?"

"Yes, I'm home."

The other night, I finally got a little tired of that game, so I replied by telling him that no, I was not home.  I was at the beach, then at Nana's house, then at the store, and so on.

He really got a kick out of that, so now he asks me where I am several times a day, or an hour.

"Mommy, where is you?"

"Where am I?  I am at the zoo. Where are you?"

"Me is at the zoo, too.  Where is you?"

"I am at the North Pole having a snowball fight with Santa. Where are you?"

"I am at Grandma's.  Where are you?"

!!!!!!

It takes a while for him to get his pronouns right, and he usually slips right back into his normal vocabulary, but the really cool thing is when he gets it right, he doesn't even realize he has said anything different.  It is starting to come to him naturally.

Now I just have to keep the creative part of my brain going strong.  I'm running out of places to visit!

My Mothers' Day

 First of all, I have to note that I still can't find my memory card reader or the USB cord for my camera.  Therefore, I am still only able to post crappy cell phone pictures.

I am getting frustrated about not being able to find my stuff.

I even offered The Tween $1 if she could find either item.

She's normally coin operated, but even she gave up.

On to Mothers' Day.

I awoke to breakfast in bed:

Scrambled eggs prepared by The Teen.

Toast with Nutella.

Grapes.

Sweet Tea.

Next the kiddos presented me with their version of a Mothers' Day card.

A poem and pictures on their white board.

My big girls LOVE writing on a white board.

The poem:

Mother you do everything for us.

So we don't starve you make us dinner.

I now present to you a breakfast made from just a beginner.

Too cute, right?

Other notes:

Thank you so much for making my life safe. (The Tween)

Thanks for all the stuff u put up with. (The Teen)

Who's hand is that on the left, you ask?

She was so cute sitting there, holding that board like it was all her idea.

After my breakfast and a choreographed dance by the big girls, The Hubby took all four kids to the zoo for a few hours so I could have some time alone. 

It was heavenly.

Don't get me wrong, I adore my kids, but I am a SAHM.  I am with them 24/7.  I needed some time to recoup.

They got home late in the afternoon, then The Hubby picked up takeout from Sonny's, and we went to his mom's for dinner.

The men and kids set up the food and cleaned up after we ate.

The moms sat on the screened porch and did a whole bunch of nothing.

When we got home, The Hubby pointed out that he had to be at work at 4:00 am and that his clothes weren't clean.

Thus ended my day.

But it was perfect while it lasted!

The Rest of the Story

A few weeks ago, my eldest child asked why I was only blogging about the little two.  If this was her way of making the blog, I can think of much easier ways to go about it.

On Sunday afternoon, The Teen told me her right side was hurting.  I really didn't think too much about it.  She wasn't in a lot of pain, but she did have a kidney stone when she was ten, so I don't completely discount her aches and pains. 

She told me it was still hurting each day, but she never really complained, and she didn't try to stay home from school. 

Wednesday morning, she got up to get ready for school, then came to me, holding her side and sort of hunched over.  She said it hurt too bad for her to get ready.  I sent her back to bed. 

At that point, I decided she needed to be checked out, so I got her in to see our favorite pediatrician.  Dr. McCutie checked her out.  He pressed on her abdomen, moved her legs around and made her hop up and down.  Then he said we needed to take her to the ER because "that's where the surgeons are".  He said because of the location of the sensitivity, he couldn't rule out appendicitis.

He also said not to let her eat anything just in case she needed surgery later.  Which meant I didn't eat anything because I thought eating in front of her would be sort of mean.  I did stop at "cheeseburger's house" aka Wendy's to get The Boy a cheeseburger.  He sat in his car seat munching away and said, "My cheeseburger is dummy (yummy).  Is your cheeseburger dummy?"  Brat!

I made arrangements for the other three kids, went home, packed up enough of their stuff for an overnight stay at Nana's if need be, and took The Teen to the ER. 

We only waited in the waiting room for about three minutes.  Then we sat in the exam room for an hour waiting for a doctor.  When the doctor finally came in, she pressed on The Teen's abdomen, asked a few questions, and said she needed a CT scan and then possibly an ultrasound.

And we waited.

After another hour, we were taken for the CT which is when I snapped the picture from yesterday's post. 

And we waited.

After another hour and a half or so, the doctor came in to tell us that the CT scan showed that her appendix was fine, but her right ovary was swollen.  They needed to insert a catheter so they could fill her bladder with water, and she needed an ultrasound to see if she had an ovarian cyst (no big deal) or if her ovary was twisted (BIG deal).

And we waited.

The nurse came in to insert the catheter.  After that, I thought I might need an x-ray of my hand.  I literally had finger prints on my hand from all the squeezing.  Not that I blame her.

And we waited.

Once we were finally taken for the ultrasound, I watched as her bladder (or actually the balloon on the catheter) filled with water.  I thought it was cool.  The Teen?  Not so much.

The ultrasound tech was very thorough.  She spent almost an hour measuring and recording sounds.  She told me that while she wasn't supposed to tell me anything, she could tell me that there was good blood flow.  That was such a relief!  As she was finishing up, she said she wondered if there had been a cyst that had already ruptured.  I took that to mean she didn't see a cyst.  We were taken back to our room in the ER.

And we waited.

The picture she doesn't know I took and may kill me for!

Finally, the doctor came back in and told us that while her right ovary did measure bigger than her left, they couldn't find anything wrong.  She said we'll never really know what caused the pain.  It's possible that it was just pain from ovulating.  We were sent home with orders to give her Motrin every six hours, push fluids and make her rest.

By the time we left, we had been in the ER for 7 hours, 15 minutes.  We were exhausted and starving.  Neither of us had eaten anything all day.  We ordered pizza when we got home, and I'm surprised we didn't attack the poor pizza dude when he showed up at the door.

The next time she wants to make it on the blog, maybe she'll just offer herself up for a photo shoot!

Yesterday/Today/Tomorrow

Yesterday:

Today:

We are all fine, but tired.

Tomorrow:

The rest of the story.

The Love List 11~20

To read about why I'm composing a list of at least 230 things I love, go here.

11.  Bon Jovi (Jon is my boyfriend).
12. The zoo.
13.  Movie nights.
14.  Steak cooked on the grill by my husband or my daddy.  (I'm picky...most restaurants don't get it right.)
15.  Knowing My Nephew has been here and liked what he saw! :)
16.  Magnolias.
17.  Cooking for my family.
18.  Flip flops.
19.  Hearing my nine year old telling her little brother to leave her alone because she's stressed. Really?  And really cracking up when she asks me what stressed means!
20.  Sonic Vanilla Coke.  Especially during Happy Hour.

In Which I Am Freaked Out. And Also, I Am Old.

One day last week, my oldest daughter came home from school with paperwork to fill out her course selections for school next year.  We have done this twice already, but this year, she's entering high school.

Last night we attended an open house at the school she will be attending.

To understand why this is freaking me out so much, you need a little back story.

I grew up in a small town in south west Georgia.  I didn't attend the "large" public school.  Instead, my parents opted to send me to the local private school.

My graduating class was made up of 36 students.  The school enrollment (K~12) was a little over 400 students.

Everyone knew everyone.  And their mama and daddy.  And where their grandparents lived.  And what their dogs' names were. 

It was small and safe.  The biggest discipline threat was, "I'm going to have to call your daddy."  Parents were involved with their kids and with the school.

I readily admit I was both spoiled and sheltered.

Three of my nephews and one niece attend my old school.  Some of their teachers were my teachers back in the day.  Many of their teachers were my school mates.

When I visit and have the opportunity to go to football games or school functions, I can look at the kids and know who their parents are.

Now I live on the outskirts of a city with over a million residents.

My daughter will be attending the high school my husband went to. 

When we arrived for the open house, which was my first time on campus, he was pointing out things to us and using words like 'main campus, east campus, west campus'. 

My school had the elementary building and the junior high/high school building.

He talked about how much time she would have to get from one class to the next and how, on rainy days, it would be difficult because everyone would be crowded under the covered walkways. 

We only left our building to go to PE or lunch.

So, I was feeling a little freaked out before the program even started.  This school is HUGE.  And also, how is it possible that I have a child old enough for high school?

I have to say, I loved everything the principal and other teachers had to say.  They all seem to care about their students and have programs in place to help them succeed.  This school has 20 A/P classes that count as college credit.  And my daughter, who has not always been a go-getter, is showing interest in those already.

Then, when one of the speakers announced that the projected enrollment for next year is 1800 students, my heart stopped for a minute.  I looked at my husband, who also looked shocked. 

He said, "Did he say 1800?" 

"YES!!" 

Then he said, "That's it?"

Seriously? EIGHTEEN HUNDRED KIDS?  And he's saying, "That's it?"

Apparently enrollment was twice that when he was there.

I think I aged a few more years right then and there.

After I got home I thought about how old I'll be when Baby Girl starts high school. 

I'm betting people will think I'm her grandma!

Happy Monday ~ Flowers

This is my first time linking to Allie Photography's Happy Monday Photo Challenge.  This week's theme is Flowers, and as I triple heart taking pictures of flowers, I just couldn't resist!