Weekend

Friday night was our typical, go to violin practice with the kids, then come home and do nothing special. Saturday was Little Gym for the girl and Soccer for the boy followed by two hours of swimming at the Y. The girl actually took a nap on the couch while the boy played quietly. He went to his grandparents' for a sleep over leaving the girl alone with us. We called some friends with a daughter a little over a year younger than my girl. They played for a while. We ordered some food and then played a game while the girls watched a video. It's fun to play games unfortunately we always end up going home around 8:30 (bedtime). So, we end up doing what we always do, my husband plays on his computer and I play on mine or watch TV. Nothing terribly exciting. Sunday morning was slow going. The afternoon was spent with my husband running, my son at his friend's house, and my girl and I going out to see some puppies (a great hobby as long as you don't try to bring one home). At 4 o'clock was the kid's violin recital. My boy threw a few fits getting ready (he didn't want to stop playing with his friend). My girl just loved being in her "princess" dress. My boy did very well and because my girl can't stand being left out she was scheduled for a public bow. (We bought her a violin on Ebay for $50 including shipping, so that she wouldn't break the boy's rented violin.) Of course she wanted to do an assisted "Monkey Song." I couldn't believe I forgot my camera. I should be chastised somehow by some organization as a horrible mother. Hopefully I'll be able to catch other moments. My girl couldn't sit through the entire recital and ended up running up and down in the hallway. Afterwards we came home had dinner and crashed for the evening.

As a side note, this evening I put my kids to bed at 8:30 (standard time most nights). My husband had rock climbing this evening. My daughter has been up and down for the last hour until I finally just let her cry at the top of the stairs for 10 minutes. Oh, this wasn't any crying this was screaming and crying, quite dramatically, "DADDY!" After ignoring her it seems that she's finally decided to go to bed after all. I think I'll definitely sneak out as early as possible tomorrow morning (not really sneaking). At least now, I can turn back on "Sex in the City", I think I'm on Season Three on DVD. Of course, I'll go check on the girl to make sure she passed out from exhaustion.

17.5 hours of sleep and still tired…

I guess that meant I was sick and not just suffering allergies as first thought. So Thursday I was up a total of 5 hours (5:30pm to 10:30pm) before going back to sleep until the next morning. Though I was up Friday, having not eaten much (not to mention drink) the day before and not eating much that day I couldn’t get going. So I missed the Mother’s Day brunch with my daughter’s daycare. She graciously forgave me.

My son has been doing fantastic at school and it almost back to full activity with his class (still lunch and recess alone). He’s finally being able to control his body. The school councilor sent her report home. The first line states he has “an engaging smile.” That does seem to be my little man. He has that infectious charisma from my father’s side of the family. He also doesn’t seem to be phased in a negative way from the problems at school. His natural curiosity is incorrigible and he still likes school.

"Stupid Pizza"

Tonight my husband made pizza for dinner. My girl likes it cut up and eats it with the fork. The pizza wasn't cooperating with her fork. As she's trying to spear the pizza with the cheese side down, we hear an under the breath "Stupid pizza". It's hard not to laugh at things like this. As my husband said that's the first time he's heard her curse an inanimate object.

Oh, at a party this weekend, someone was mentioning that her daughter doesn't hold hands. I was trying to describe the thumb lock but without actually holding someone's hand I couldn't remember how I do it. After holding hands a few times, I realized I use my pinkie to lock under their thumb bone. It keeps them from pulling their hand out and allows me to "hold" hands without holding their wrist (which on particularly stubborn children, which I have oodles of experience with, keeps them from pulling free and dropping out). My girl still tries the drop on me as long as she's not going to get hurt horribly sometimes I let her drop (slowly). Maybe at some point she'll learn that I hold her hand to keep her from safe. One can hope.

I'm a big kid now.

I hope that jingle gets stuck in your head the way it did in mine. It's my baby's birthday. My little girl turned 3 today. She had a Barbie cake made by her aunt. She got to choose the meal Macaroni and Cheese and chicken nuggets. She got a couple of Barbies (her first, she's sleeping with the Birthday Barbie), Barbie clothes, a backpack to put all her Barbie stuff in, a pool for Barbie, Strawberry Shortcake, and dress up shoes. Her brother picked out a tiera and clip-on earrings and paid for them with his allowance. We're past the magical age where small things are no longer a choking hazard. Could someone please inform my little angel to stop putting small things in her mouth because she's not listening to me? Of course, she rarely listens to me. But she disobeys with a smile. Gotta pick your battles.

I love babies, so the next has nothing to do with them personally, but I am so glad to be done. I have kids now. They can fix themselves reasonably easy breakfast, turn on their morning cartoons, and let me sleep in. Yeah. Of course, by sleeping in I mean 8. My children are early birds (I have no idea where they get it from, not from me, you can ask my mom). It's really odd when my boy goes to play with his friend down the street. I feel anxious about him being out of my sight and therefore out of my control (sorry, I'm a control freak, my girl gets that from me, you can blame my mom). I've watched too many after school specials and various shows that deal with kidnappings and pervs. I've known kids that have been hit by cars while crossing the street and I've seen a kid hit while on her bike. I worry, but that's what Moms do. I cherish the special moments I have with my kids and sometimes wish they would still be babies for the sweet moments, but wish they'd grow up for the bad moments.

But I wish my girl the best birthday ever for every birthday.

Love and Death

First off for those that know I went to visit my Grandpa in the hospital next week. He is back at home. He’s doing somewhat better but not back to where he was.

When I was sixteen years old, my uncle died from cancer. I was in high school and had classes the day of the burial. Because I didn’t want to take a final (perfect attendance), I stayed for a class and I ended up showing up late to the burial. Family means everything to me. I grew up surrounded by my cousins and aunts & uncles and my grandparents. When I found out my grandpa was in the hospital on Wednesday, I debated going right away or waiting until the weekend so I could work. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t wait. What if this was my last chance. I have always made sure that when I go home (parents’ house) that I see my grandparents and always kiss them and tell them I love them before I leave. I know they’re old, I know they’re in bad health, I know that next time I go up might be for their funeral.

The other reason I needed to go up was the stress in my mom’s voice. She was being stretched so thin. My grandma is wheel chair bound after a stroke paralyzed her left side and needs help to do almost everything. Grandpa has been her caregiver, but with him in the hospital, the duty fell on my mom. She is the oldest and she was a nurse. She's retired but she takes care of my niece and nephew during the week. She and my father bought a new house and are working on moving into it. She was relieved by my aunts for a few hours a day.

My three year old and I headed up on Thursday. 4 hours in a car with a toddler with a DVD player. We stopped at the hospital first and then had to track down my mom for a key to the house. She moved around a lot so she was hard to find. During my visit, I helped with dishes and some laundry as much as I could. On Friday night, my girl and I went to visit Grandpa and were planning on going out to the Farm (Grandma & Grandpa’s house) after. My girl was being a spaz and after lying down at the end of the hospital bed promptly fell asleep. It was 6:30 pm. So, I sat and visited with Grandpa for an hour and then took the girl back to my parents’ house. (she continued to sleep) On Saturday, it rained and Grandpa was due to go home. I packed the girl in the car and we went to pick him up, so Mom wouldn’t have to take Grandma out in the rain. When we got there, the nurse just needed to remove his IV. He’s on blood thinners. She didn’t wear gloves!!! She got my Grandpa’s blood all over her. What was she thinking?! When his bandage was soaked I asked another nurse to change it. She didn’t wear gloves either!!!! Apparently these ladies haven’t been around for the past 20 years. Dumb a**es! So I got him home and stuck around for a while, talking to Mom and Doug (my uncle’s best friend). Then I took the girl back to the house. My Dad has been working third shift and had Saturday night off. The first night we stayed he left at 9 pm and didn’t get home until 1 pm. Pretty much the same deal the second night. So with Dad home, we called my brother and ordered pizza. No, he doesn’t work at the pizza place. We invited him to join us for pizza. The following day we waited for Mom to come home. She finally did around 1 and we left about 2. We drove through hail, though my girl can’t confirm that fact since she slept the majority of the way home (Thank you).

But we made it home. We were able to be with the people who helped form who I’ve become and mean the world to me. All things considered I hope never to miss the important things for the trivial stuff.