Peaches and Pink-eye

Today was my last day of working part-time for the next two months (and I'm off on Fridays).  I am in absolute panic mode, which was compounded by today's events.

First though, we tried peaches after our morning oatmeal...  

'What the hell are you trying to feed me mama?'

'That is nasty, I'm not talkin' to you-where's my damn oatmeal?'

'Nope, still don't like it Mama'

So, we got cleaned up, got all our crap packed up to head out for our Friday errands.  These errands are no joke, they generally run from the hours of 9am-4pm and span geography from Ames to Waukee.  Fridays frame my life: complete insanity including screaming baby and road rage (which would include flying the bird. What?!  I have a license...). 

As I was pulling out of the driveway, a funny number showed up on my caller ID...I answered (which I don't generally do if I don't recognize the number).  Something told me I should, but I shouldn't have...  Sure enough, it was Biggest Sister's school calling.  Mom couldn't be reached, Dad couldn't be reached, so they were on to Evil Step-Mother.  Luckily, I could be reached...and I was on my way to Ames.  The school nurse says Biggest Sister has "Pink-eye"-GAH! SICK!  Super contagious and I am not a fan of 'eye-boogers' (on humans, dogs, or any other living thing for that matter).  They make me gag...really. (Note, Items that make me gag:  dentist office toothpaste, eye-boogers and loose teeth...)

So I tell the school nurse I'll be there in 8 minutes.  And I was.  In the meantime, I called her mom and left a voicemail that I had said child (and why) just in case anyone wanted to know.  Then I proceeded to call the Dr's office to get this girl an appointment.  So with Biggest Sister and GuyFace, in to the clinic we go.  I feel like I'm here every week!  Drumroll please: AND IT's: pinkeye! Ding ding ding!  After a sucker and a sticker, we're outta there!

On to the the Pharmacy for 'the stinging drops'.  I had a coupon, being the thrifty shopper I am (thank you Mickie), and made $6.00 on the transaction-I figure it paid for my gas to pick up Biggest Sister and run her around.  Plus, I needed to stop at Target anyway.  So then I dragged both children on the rest of my errands. 

We stopped by Daddy's office (to eat our lunch from Panera, change a diaper and get some warm water for a bottle).  All of this transpiring at like 130pm (why yes, I was trying to starve Biggest Sister, thank you for asking.  It's what Evil Step-Mother's do.). Then, one of the guys in the office told Biggest Sister that 'the only way you get Pinkeye is from licking toilets'.  Biggest Sister is much more sensitive than Big Sister and almost started to cry (Big Sister, @ 4 yrs old, would have told him where to go...she's funny! I'm convinced this is my influence-nurture, not nature baby!  That's my girl! Biggest Sister, not so much-she's nice, I didn't get to her soon enough.).  I'm sure she'll go home and tell her mom that, then I'll have to explain...

We got back to the house about 35 minutes before Step-Dad was to pick up Biggest Sister, so I decided to quickly dust and vacuum the house while I had someone here to distract GuyFace.  That worked well until Step-Dad showed up only after I had the main level completed.  I was moving so fast I was sweating when he got to the door.  When he came in, I said, "the maid comes on Fridays, she has this pesky little boy she brings with her, it's hard to get anything done, so it was nice to have someone to distract him" (as I'm holding the vacuum and sweating...profusely).  He just looked at me funny-guess he missed the fact that I'm 'the maid'... (is my humor that hard to get, or just not funny? Maybe most people just aren't so cynical or sarcastic and I'm weird.  I sure don't think I'm weird...)

Long story short, we don't have pinkeye, yet, peaches are not a good idea and I hired someone to clean my house starting Monday.  I am happy to be able to help now that mom got a new job that sounds like it will be taking more of her time.  That's part of the reason I was working part-time in the first place.  Sometimes I miss the 'power suit', but when these children grow up as successful, productive members of society, that will be when I receive my pay.  I do love them, ALL of them...

Invincible...(I was)

Hello, my name is Laura, and I'm no longer invincible.  I have realized this for 3 days now.  I'm taking it one day at a time...

Do we all come to a point in our lives where it is blatantly obvious that we are no longer invincible?  I have had 5 of these moments in the last 6 months.  Sheesh, I get the point already, you can stop!  They are as follows, be warned, not all of them are pretty.  In fact, I don't think one of them is.

1.  I had 4 cavities filled yesterday morning, FOUR.  1 of which I got filled with no Novocaine, yeah I was invincible, right?  GAH!  Wrong!  She said they were small, but they were there.  It was embarrassing.  And more embarrassing to admit, that I hadn't been to the dentist in 6 years (maybe more, but certainly since I moved to Iowa).  My reason: they never got anything when they scraped off my teeth when I did go, so the appointment was like 15 minutes in the chair.  A quick polish with that nasty, gritty, mint-type toothpaste (the smell of it makes me gag, in fact, the thought of the smell of it makes me gag) and I was out of there!  Not to mention the fact that my dad bartered meat for dental work (among other products/services around town) our entire lives and we never paid a penny to go to the dentist.  You want WHAT for a cleaning?!  Here, how about this, I knit, would you like a sweater or something? GAH!

2.  A ganglian cyst.  This isn't nearly as disgusting as it could be, but it still freaks me out.  It's a bump that stick out on my right index finger.  I attribute it to my excessive knitting habit.  Either way, on the internet (yes it is a self-diagnosis how else do you diagnose yourself?!) it says you're suppose to smash your finger with a book, the cyst will explode and you'll be fine.  Or, you can try to use a heating pad to soothe it.  I suppose I could just go see a doctor, but again, I would have to pay and my half Jewish (no offense if you're Jewish, I fully respect this sterotype!) step-dad taught me that we don't do that... (I know what you're thinking, "GREAT excuse".  I know, thank you! I appreciate your support.)

3.  Near death experience (you can take this for what is, if you're male, you might want to skip to number 4.)  I had complications with the birth of our son.  I was fine right after, then 5 days later, I was NOT OK.  I required another 3 days in the hospital and some reconstruction among other things.  I have NEVER been in so much pain in my life (thanks to the epidural when I had Graham!). It was the MOST HUMBLING experience of my life.  I didn't get to see my baby, my body wasn't working correctly (and I wasn't sure it ever was going to again-rest assured, I'm back in business now!) and I was terrified.  Honestly scared that I was going to die.  I laid there by myself for a long time (in between visits from my husband) reflecting on my life, what really mattered and the entire time, all I could take was regular Tylenol and Ibuprofen or the problem would get worse. At the time, I had not yet come to grips with the fact that I might just be a mere mortal. It was miserable.  But we did get to skip that whole 'post partum depression' thing, so I did catch a break there! =)  Who has time for that crap when you're already dying?

4.  When I get up, I can't just run and do things anymore, I need to stretch-who stretches?  Really, I'm 28, come on?  I get out of bed in the morning and crack and pop like an 80 year old woman. My ankles are usually sore, as are my hands (again, arthritis in them for years now).  I have a pretty good feeling that my fingers will be gnarly (and possibly more ganglian...) by the time I'm 40.  Does this change anything?  Why of course not!  I still knit, click away at the computer and do other things with my hands.  But one thing I do NOT do is crack my knuckles, so I'm going to be just fine (right?  Oh, that's just an old wives' tale? DANG!)

5.  Lack of Sleep-Oprah says that a lack of sleep makes you feel and look old (I swear, she said it on her show today).  I find I sleep a lot lighter now that GuyFace is around. Not that I always get up when he cries, but I still am awake and I hear him.  He's been sick, and when he's sick, he's like any guy with the 'Man-Cold' -miserable and he wants the closest female to hear about it! Incessantly. 

I'm normally not a complainer-wait, if you know me, that's not true either...  But these few moments have made me come to realize, I'm not invincible. I very well could be mortal.  I do need to maintain myself, so that I can take care of others (mostly my family, but not limited to Brady, GuyFace and the girls, oh and my dog Lou, too).  I hope you're taking care of you, and if you aren't trust me, these 'Ah-Ha moments' some of them hurt, so do try to avoid catastrophes and make time for you!  (What?! I'm pretending I make time for me, isn't that close enough!?)  =) 

OK, here's what you want to see new pictures of my guy...I won't make you wait any longer:

Little brothers ARE awesome baby!  Love that smile!

My first Easter basket...I wish I could show a picture of the girls too, they looked BEAUTIFUL!  Their outfits coordinated with GuyFace's outfit. I have the best picture of the three of them smiling-if you have more than 2 children, you know how difficult this is...

Grandma Jan sent me a bunny

This is Brady's Grandpa Fred, he's showing me (and my cavities and my ganglian cyst) pictures of his 'Lady Friend'. YEAH Fred! The secret to longevity: keeping up with the opposite sex at any age!  Go FRED!

GuyFace and his Great Grandpa Fred.  Aren't they sweet?!

Enjoy!

Someone special

Lou was a gift from my parents when I graduated college and moved to a tiny apartment in West Des Moines.  It was 1 bedroom, on the third floor with no elevator.  It was glorious...until you try to potty-train a tiny puppy.  She was 1 pound 10 ounces, we, as in my parents and I (we split her) she was worth her weight in gold, trust me, about $40/ounce... I had to feed her chicken baby food through and eye-dropper for 4 weeks and get up twice in the middle of the night to take her out.  It was worse than we brought our son home!

But she is worth every penny and all the effort.  I love her, even though she feels it's necessary to hump my husband's leg (I've been told she is trying to show her dominance over him...he's 6'4 and over 200, she stands about 10" off the ground and is a whopping 12.5 pounds. You get where this is going.)  She can't seem to keep her jowls clean, she sleeps under the covers like a human, will not hear of being bathed unless she gets a 'blow out' (with my blow-dryer) afterward-really, who air dries anymore???  She loves the sheep, but only if they are on the other side of the fence, if she's in the pen, she's not so tough.

She was very comforting to me when I first moved to Iowa, a sense of responsibility and certainly prevented many 'o night 'o shackin' (not shaking, shacking).  Someone had to be home to let her out!

She is very smart, I think we figured out she knows about 50 words, only 1 of which is a command, 'sit'.  Go figure, she's a Miniature Boston Terrier with her nose out of joint (she gets that last part from her mama, that would be me).  Even after GuyFace was born, my love for her has not changed.  And I like the way her feet smell.

'Salty Dog', on my parents' boat in Florida

She's like a cat, prefers to lay on the back of the couch

At my parents' house in MI, their Boston Terrier Pipsi doesn't think a whole lot of her...

When she was a puppy-look at that tongue

I've been asked not to show the girls' faces on the internet (albeit a long time ago, but I'm still respecting those wishes-hope this is not breaking the rules) Lou LOVES the girls.

Look at that face

Some winter nights in Iowa require a coat

I wasn't joking, she sleeps under the covers, with her head on the pillow...This is completely normal.

She loves the soccer games-Like the collar?  It's from Coach =)

Tallulah Lou, I love you!

Love

I love my husband, he loves mower.  The goal is to get our lawn to look like that of Busch Stadium, St Louis, MO...  And thus begins another season of mowing at least twice a week.  He usually has my pink iPod Nano plugged in and no hat and gloves.  But in mid-April, we'll let it slide...

Mow hot-stuff, mow!

Does it look like Busch Stadium yet?  Probably not, Lou has her 'favorite spot'...can you tell?  What do we do for this??

On a completely unrelated note, this is my GuyFace: 

He looks just like his Daddy...

and nothing like his Mama...

This is my sad face...  =(  My step-daughters look just like my husband too.  You must be thinking to yourself, "he must have very strong, dominating genes."  ...don't I know this!  =)

Confessions

You may not care, you may not even want to know but here are 'some things':

1.  I knit and I sew.  This gets better with each passing year, the older I get, the more 'normal' is seems to be.  At 4 years old, people look at you like you should be in the circus-no offense if you are in the circus...  Here are a couple of things I have done:

2.  I hate working out-this isn't a dislike, it is a deep-seeded hatred for getting my heart rate up.  I just hate it.

3.  I love vanilla lattes, cookies and bread.  This is not good, see #2.

4.  I didn't have one single craving while I was pregnant, not one, and I was SO disappointed.

5.  I always said I didn't want children, but I do, I can't imagine life without my little guy, I love him.

6. I tried to do a 'backbend' last weekend when the girls (6 and almost 4) were doing them and I almost killed myself. This is not an exaggeration.  My life flashed before my eyes.  This is not me...

7.  I love the Kardashians.  I do and I'm not ashamed.  I can't tell you what the attraction is, but I'm watching them now.

8.  I love red wine.

9.  I should read to our son more, 2 books a day is not enough. I feel like I am shorting him, but there are so many things I want to do with him, including hold him like a baby for as long as he'll let me...which isn't very long anymore, he's a mover. =(  I should probably bathe him more too and I don't know, feed him baby food, not just cereal.  Is motherhood guilt-wracked or what?!

10.  I can't keep an indoor plant alive to save my life.  I am incapable of it it.  No one, including my mother-in-law can talk me in to having one and keeping it alive.  No thank you, I like mine silk, or synthetic, or whatever it is.  Please and thank you.

Oh, and I love the smell of my dog's feet...weird, but I do.  And I can't even tell you what they smell like.  Yes, I am a freak but you have something weird too.  =)

Favorite

This is one of my favorite pictures.  Ever.  It was taken December 2007, Chicago, IL.  Just after we went to see 'Jersey Boys' with my parents.  We were engaged at the time.  I will never forget this trip, or the freezing cold, 2 mile walk up to my parents' friends' condo on the Gold Coast (from the theater district).  My parents took a cab, we wanted to be romantic and walk.  It was fine until we hit Lakeshore Drive,  where the wind blew us backward and the snow piled in our hair.  We were all but frozen by the time we reached our destination, but laughed the entire way.  This night is ingrained in my memory forever.  I loved him then as much as I love him today.  Maybe more, because he gave me the GuyFace (see right-hand column).

He is a wonderful, strong, loving man, who has only his family's safety, security and wellness in mind.  He is my perfect match.

But be warned, it's not all trips to the theater in Chicago, nice dinners out, sugar and spice and everything nice...  Because about a week later, this is us (also one of my favorite pictures).  All clad in Carhartt's baby!