Scattered

Since my brain (from now on simply, Brain) has packed up and left for Tahiti, I better get this all out while I am feeling a moment of clarity.

Some Kiddo Speak from this week (for your reading pleasure);

In the car with Hubby:
Kiddo (6yrs old): "What if someone put some gunpowder in a cannon, then put me in the cannon and shot me out of it, and I flew through the air over there to that Jack in the Box and crashed through the roof? I would order a lemonade.  And a cheeseburger...because I found some money and it was enough..."

Last night at Dinner:
Kiddo: "Mumma, for my birthday dinner I would like to have pot roast and split pea soup."

(um....)


So yeah, my brain has left indefinitely. I have a feeling all the sugar I have been feeding myself lately has something to do with it - Brain just can't handle the stuff and has gone on extended vacation until I do myself a favor and detox. Sorry, Brain, that probably won't happen until after the holidays.

On Tuesday I got pulled over on the way back from the grocery store.  47mph in a 40mph zone. "So Mrs. Fry, was there an emergency?"

I realize this is a standard question, but I really have to stifle a snicker when they ask it. Do they honestly believe that 1) if there was an "emergency" I would *only* be driving 47mph and 2) if there was an "emergency" and suddenly a cop was following me, that I would stop to chat??

Ah well. Counting my blessings that it was only a warning (and I didn't even have a valid insurance card on me) so many thanks to the police dept.

Yesterday, not only did I whack the top of my head (on the bottom of a kitchen cabinet) so hard that it made me see stars, but I also loaded up Port and headed up to the school to pick up Kiddo an hour earlier than I was supposed to.

The two certainly are not related in the least...

I hope Brain is enjoying the beach.

Until,
D :-)

A little number to get you (and hopefully me) moving this morning. Turn it up!

Today Is the Day

Happy first day of NaBloPoMo!!

It is the first of November and also the first day of National Blog Posting Month. For those participating, the challenge is to write a blog post every day for the month of November. It is a great way to find writing inspiration, gain followers, get more comfortable with your own blog and to drive yourself crazy when the holidays roll around and you can't think of anything to write because you are so busy doing other things..

Ahem

Seriously though, I do love NaBloPoMo - I participate every year. It does drive me a little nutty sometimes, but it also makes me fall in love with blogging all over again each year.

Another thing I love about it is discovering new blogs. If you are participating this year, send me a friend request through NaBloPoMo. My screen name is Photomomma. I am hoping to highlight several new (to me) and tasty blogs throughout the month of November.

In other news, I was just starting to feel sort of normal after 2 months of sinus infection and yesterday the mold count jumped up and I was miserable again. I sneezed all day yesterday and this morning I woke up with that awful raw throat and itchy face that plagues me when my allergies are bad. I am off now to pour a ton of vitamins and remedies down my throat and pray I don't get sick again. I am too busy and have way too much going on this week to deal with this.

I had two awesome photo sessions this weekend; one all afternoon, multiple location, senior session and a family session. The senior was awesome - she is a beautiful girl so it was so easy to photograph her. The family session was a little more challenging (as they usually are when you are dealing with more than one small child) but it was still fun. 

It turns out Sunday was a bit of a blunder day for both Hubby and I (at least in the morning anyway). I had my session so Hubby took the boys to church. First, he couldn't get out the door in time. Then, he not only mixed up the boys' security tags, but he dropped Port off in the wrong room. Port had to play with kids about a year younger than him during his Sunday school time. And in my corner, I was shooting a session with a wonderful family at a small yet beautiful park with

about 20 other photographers and their clients. :-/

It was pretty interesting to say the least. We all had to shoot around each other and watch the other groups to know when to move and claim your next spot. During the session, 3 out of my 4 camera batteries died.  That was fun. And, at some point, I managed to kneel down in a pile of animal poo. I didn't even notice it until my client started fishing for a wipey for me. Embarrassing!  But, it's all part of the job I guess.

I did briefly make small talk with a local photographer I blog stalk - that was kind of cool. :-) She seemed really nice.

Halloween pics to come. I haven't had a chance to pull them off the camera yet. I didn't get any good shots of the boys, of course. Because I am like, a really awesome photographer and all.

Ugh. lol!

Until,
D :)

That's Not My Name

I started out yesterday's post and so did not intend for it to go that direction.  As I wrote, my thoughts just went in that direction and I had a huge, pitiful moment.  It's been a long week. I am sorry.

Tonight was Kiddo's Kinder Camp at his school.  We waited for Hubby to get home so that Kiddo and I could go without the distraction of baby brother. Hubby literally got out of his car as we were all walking out the door; he scooped up little Port and carried him kicking and screaming back into the house and we screeched out of the driveway.

We walked into the school a couple of minutes late, but lots of people were still arriving. The school had posted all of the class lists on the wall. We were instructed to find out who our teacher was and then sit at her table in the cafeteria. I scanned each list carefully. Again. And again. And people crowded around me all looking for their child's name. And I look, and look and scan and scan.

I couldn't find Kiddo's name.

Now, this is where I have to say that for someone like me this is a very bad situation.  Not finding his name meant that -
ohmygoodnessIhaveto TALK tosomebodyandtheyaregoingtothink I.am. an. IDIOT.

Yes, this is what runs through my head. My stomach flip flops, I start to sweat, and I pray to God to please, please don't make me have to talk to someone! Please!!!

But I couldn't find the name. *sigh* So I walked over to the nearest official looking person and asked him what we do if we are not on the list. He looked really surprised and stumbled a bit before heading out to look for the registrar. Meanwhile, I went back over to the lists to take yet another look.

Aaaaannnd there was his name.

See, with a last name like Fry I would never expect for him to be the first on the list. But he was. And of course I missed it because I automatically started around the middle of each list. GAH! The guy returned and I sheepishly let him know I had indeed found the name (and was indeed an idiot) and we scurried away toward the cafeteria. By the time we got to the doors, the troops had been alerted and the registrar and another staff person found me and were trying to help. I politely explained (that I was an idiot) that I had found his teacher and breezed past them on the way to the cafeteria. Things had already begun inside as the last of the latecomers filed in. I shuffled Kiddo to the back of the room, thinking I could take a good look and get an idea of where we needed to go from there. They had hung a sign with the teacher's name on the end of each table. However, the signs on the tables on one side of the room had been placed on the door end of the table, making it impossible to read from the middle of the room. Of course, I couldn't find the name we needed, so I turned Kiddo toward the door so we could head out and look at the other tables from the doors. On the way out a school staff person offered to help, and while she was trying to help me was actually introduced by the speaker in the front of the room. I had to basically duck and run while she waved to the crowd who was ALL looking in that direction.

You have to understand how incredibly painful and embarrassing all of that was.

We thankfully found the table and sat down. On each table they had a sheet of stickers and each child's name was inscribed on a sticker for them to wear. I looked at the sheet and Kiddo's name was not there.

However, there was a Robert F.

Now, Kiddo has 2 middle names, and one of them happens to be Robert. After the list debacle though, I wasn't about to take the sticker and assume it was for him and was just a mistake. So I left it there and listened to the presentation. At one point the staff took each class for a tour of the school while all the parents stayed in the cafeteria. Not wanting Kiddo to go off without a name tag, I took a deep breath, found a pen in my purse and scratched out Robert and wrote Kiddo's name. I slapped it on him and sent him off with his class.

And the staffer leading them was the same guy I had asked originally about not being on the list. Kiddo jumped to the front of the line with his scratched out name tag. *smacks hand to forehead*

I am sure the guy thought I was trying to pull a fast one - couldn't find the name, suddenly found the name at the top of the list, making my own name tag....uh huh It's all very suspicious, isn't it?

The parents eventually ended up in their kid's classrooms and the children joined us after a few minutes.  Kiddo was excited about his class and his locker, and especially the goodie bag inside. He was the first kid to open the locker and find it. 

He thanked his teacher, I filled out all the required forms and we left. After walking out, Kiddo noticed his name tag was missing.  He wanted to go back in and look for it, so I let him. I walked in after him and when he couldn't find it, we turned around and walked out again. We walked through the entire school and then back to the van, got in and I drove home. When we got home, we met Port and Hubby in the driveway. I was talking to Hubby about how everything went when Kiddo suddenly exclaimed,

"THERE IT IS!! My nametag!"

It was securely clinging to my rear end.

Oh yes, not only am I an idiot, I am "that mom".

At least they won't forget me, right?

Until,
D :)

Win

Happy Friday everyone!

I am just trying to catch a quick moment here before the beastie wakes from his nap to chat with you some before the weekend. I am in a particularly good humor, so I thought it best to write something positive for a change. lol!

This morning started off bright and early just before 5AM when Port woke up screaming. His diaper was over capacity and he had wet himself and the bed. I got up and changed him and cleaned him up, but I couldn't put him back to bed because everything was wet and there was no way of keeping him quiet while I changed the sheets. So, we went to the couch, and within about 30 minutes he had raided the refrigerator 3 times for hot dogs and chicken nuggets. He is always soooo hungry when he wakes that early. It is weird. Then after round 2 of nuggets, he wanted me to get out the train tracks (his new obsession). The problem was, it was only 6AM and everyone else was trying to sleep. He got away from me when I dozed off for a second and busted into his room and began to dig out the trains. I ran in after him and tried to get a few out quietly so he would be satisfied, but he kept talking to me and we woke up Kiddo. So, by the time Hubby got up at around 7, the whole house was alive with people.

*sigh*

So, today I am taking caffeine intravenously and trying not to nod off every time things get peaceful around here. I had to deliver a print order downtown this morning, so on the way back we stopped at Costco to pick up a few things (and I spent UNDER $100!!! I don't think that has ever happened!). It was a disaster from the moment we pulled into the parking lot. Port was exhausted from being up so early and Kiddo was whiny because we didn't stop and play on the playground that we stopped at to deliver the print order.

I got them in the door and suddenly Port refused to go anywhere. He wouldn't help me push the cart, he wouldn't walk with me and he wouldn't ride. So we had to go out of the store and then in through the exit so we could make it to the concession area. I got the boys each a hot dog and we had an early lunch. Port seemed to be in a better humor so we went back out and then in the entrance and tried again. Kiddo wanted to ride so he was in the cart and Port was helping me push. When we got to the back of the store, Kiddo exclaimed that he felt like he was going to throw up (we are all still experiencing nausea from last week's sickies) so I got him out of the cart. Of course, the bathrooms in Costco are in the FRONT of the store, so I took a chance and just let Kiddo walk slowly while we picked up the rest of the items we needed. In the frozen section Port decided to scream and not walk again so after trying everything I could think of I just put him in the cart and strapped him in. He did not like that one bit. He screamed the rest of the way through the store.

These days I am so frazzled that when something like that happens I have a hard time maintaining my cool. Port was screaming and Kiddo was fighting me with the shopping cart. I asked him several times to walk beside the cart and hold it with one hand. He has a tendency to try to hold on with both hands and it makes the cart very hard to steer. So after telling him several times to let go, he again pulled sharply on the cart with his "free" hand. My back is acting up again right now, and the automatic response I had in correcting the wayward cart made a pain shoot down my leg. I swatted at his hand, which of course caused him to let out a shriek (even though I missed). Port was already crying so at that point everyone in the area looked up at us.

What a great mommy I am!

We made it to the check out with no vomiting but lots of crying. While waiting in line I reined in my anger and tickled Port until he laughed, which thankfully cheered up Kiddo too. But by the time we got through the checkout Port had enough tickles and was screaming again and my blood pressure shot right back up. It's so hard to not feel judged when your kids are acting like that, and swatting at Kiddo like I did was not something I would normally do, especially in public. We made it home after a few more detours and I put Port right to bed for a nap.

And then I saw it.

I won a contest!!

I won a very cool Second Skin Baby Wrap through Custom Photo Props and Shuttermom University! I am so excited! I enter stuff all the time and never win anything! I can't wait to get it and try it out on a newborn! YAY! So, if you or someone you know is expecting, I am currently offering no session fees and a $100 print credit for newborn sessions! This deal is only available for a limited time so contact me soon to take advantage!

Whoa, that sounded like an ad. Sorry. I am just! so! excited!

And if you are in the child photo biz, I urge you to check out Custom Photo Props' website. She has so many yummy, yummy things to make beautiful images with. I have a wish list for her store that is a mile long!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Until,
D :)

Treat Me Nice

We sort of have an open snacking thing going on in our house.

As in, short people are constantly eating.

The little one, Port, is at the pantry or the refrigerator every 5-10 minutes sometimes. For a long time I was ok with it because I wanted him to feel comfortable checking out what foods we have and trying out new things. He is a terribly picky eater, and getting him to eat anything was a struggle for a long time.

Getting him to eat is still a struggle, unless the item is made mostly out of sugar.

Things have gotten out of control. One good thing, he has dropped the 20 hot dog a day habit (kidding! sort of) but now instead he still eats nothing but junk.

And the begging and screaming for junk just got worse and worse and worse.

And Kiddo, who is usually pretty good about listening to me and minding my rules about when and what he can eat, has snuck food he knew he couldn't have, three days in a row. Yesterday it was particularly bad when he didn't eat his lunch or dinner because he had snacked too much throughout the day. Needless to say, I was a wee bit ticked.

So, today I became the food Nazi. Sort of.

No junk food today - well, at least, no candy or suckers. I redirected several requests to healthier options. We had cut apples and lots of fresh cherries, watermelon and pear. I was hoping to tame the sweet cravings with fruit instead of sugary things. I also let them have a frozen Simply Gogurt after playing out in the heat. They looooooved that!

And I have to say, thank you God for giving someone the idea to invent a cherry pitter. Best money I've spent in a long time! The one I have pits 4 cherries at a time. It. Rocks.

There were lots of tears from both boys, but I distracted them by forcing them to go outside and play (a little break for mom's sanity too!).

It was also a bit rough because our dvd player is dying. So there was no Veggie Tales to entertain during the evening dinner prep time. I had to be the tv Nazi too - I wasn't about to be subjected to Barney because our dvd player wasn't working. {note to self, purchase a new dvd player pronto!}

But, we somehow made it through.

Here is hoping tomorrow will be even better.

Until,
D :)

Something Special

Special needs, special needs, special needs...

Apparently I am an idiot.

I can't believe that when I filled out the special needs portion of the teacher request form for Kiddos kinder class, I totally forgot about his hyperacusis. What is wrong with me??? Perhaps I am the one with special needs.

I am so mad at myself.

Did I ever mention here that in Sunday school, they now give Kiddo a set of headphones during the music/worship time? I guess he was still freaking out a lot when it got really loud, and so now they let him wear headphones and he stays calmer.

My poor boy.

I don't know if I should call the school or just wait until I have to go back up there in August to turn in the medical forms or what. This is just so overwhelming. Hopefully I can get him evaluated by the school and they can do something to help him. Eventually he is going to realize that his "different" is not something the other kids will admire. Eventually he is going to be made fun of. Eventually someone is going to break his heart. I know it would happen anyway, problems or not, I just wish it was for the normal things, not these uncontrollable things he has to deal with. He can't help that his ears are different. He can't help that he is allergic to peanuts.

If we ever have to get him braces - Lord have mercy.

I am still having ups and downs with this whole school thing. I can't even picture it without getting teary, and the whole thing just scares me to death. I've come to realize that what I am the most scared of is the peanut allergy.

I am not afraid of him gaining independence, I am not afraid of him being away from me in the normal sense; he does all that at Sunday school and I love that he loves it so much. But that is a pretty controlled environment where I am only 30 seconds away if something happens.

I am afraid he will come into contact with peanuts and have a reaction and no one will know how to help him. I am afraid he will be scared and hurting and needing me and I will be unaware that anything is happening. I am afraid that some kid won't understand the consequences of what could happen and shove a peanut butter sandwich in his face just to be funny or mean. I am afraid a child will have some on their hands or clothes and he will come in contact with it. I am afraid a child will lie to him about it and he will believe them and eat some and not realize what it is until it's too late.

I am afraid.

I know that he can overcome the limitations of the hyperacusis. He can cope. But the peanut allergy - the stuff is everywhere and he is so trusting that others won't give him something with peanuts. I tell him all the time to never ever take food from another kid without asking me first if he can have it, and yet he still does it. He will just ask the kid if it has peanuts, and if they say no he will eat it. What happens if someone tries to give him a butterfinger? reeces pieces? a nutter butter? There are so many things that a child wouldn't think has peanuts (or peanut butter) in them. What if they have a cookie that was made in the same place as a peanut butter cookie? It could be contaminated.

I may just make myself crazy thinking about all of this. How do other parents cope? I don't want to hide him in the house forever. I just don't fully trust the outside world to look out for him; or for him to look out for himself. And if you get on any forum or place where people are talking about peanut bans in schools and readers can leave comments - just spending about 5 minutes reading the "opinions" is enough to make me want to withdraw his registration right now. I never thought so many people could be so cold and uncaring about a helpless child.

I may need therapy before long.

Until,
D

Empty

Hello my lovies!

I am sorry I didn't blog yesterday, but well, to be honest, yesterday totally sucked. It started with being up with Port for over an hour in the middle of the night and then weird and scary dreams before I even woke up. Then I woke up to Kiddo messing with me while I was trying to catch the lat few minutes of sweet sleep. I was cranky, and I told him if he couldn't be still he needed to go back to his room. Of course, asking a 5 year old to be still is like asking...well it's like asking a 5 year old to be still! It isn't going to happen! So I fussed at him and he burst into pitiful tears, wailing that he only wanted to cuddle with me. Of course the HUGE, GINORMOUS Boulder of Mommy Guilt crushed my chest and so I apologized and snuggled with him for a while before his brother woke up. Then I kicked myself for the rest of the day for not being a normal mom and a nice mom and cherishing every little moment I have with him because in a few short months he will be off to school and cuddling with him in the mornings will be something I will most likely never be able to do again (and probably not something he would want to do anyway). Why can't I ever remember these things in the moment? Why do I have to make him cry to trigger my brain that maybe he is still a little guy that loves me and just wants to be near me? Ugh.

So...I am PMSing. And of course the whole day just kind of went down hill from there. It wasn't that anything really was bad, there were just a million and one little annoyances that added up and by 5PM I was done, done, done. Port is teething and so he is dealing with constant (seriously like every 10 minutes) nasty diapers that are burning his little hiney no matter what I do. So I had to chase him around all day and check his diaper every 5 minutes, and every time he needed to be changed I had to wrestle him to the changing table and deal with him fighting every move I made. We went to the grocery store and I bought way more than I expected (hello! they finally have peppermint mocha creamer in the store!!). I was standing in the check out and I realized that I forgot to pick up one of the free items from the meal deal I was buying. It was a loaf of bread that I could have received for free and I totally forgot it. And of course, I am too weird about these things and the boys were right on the verge of going insane so I didn't bother asking the checker if someone could go get it for me. So I kicked myself all the way back to the van for not getting the free loaf of bread, and then opened the van to find that I had a shopping cart full of groceries and a van full of bicycles and gear. So I had to move everything out of the way and load up the groceries while the boys were losing their minds.

Then there was the usual nap time struggle and dealing with Kiddo during nap time when I am trying to get work done and all he wants to do is play with me. He likes it when we have time for just the two of us and I totally understand, but I really needed to get some things done. And once again, I told him "no" one too many times and he burst into tears and the Mommy Guilt Boulder found it's way to my desk chair. And then I fought with the boulder and the angry woman in my head who was yelling at me for feeling guilty. So there is part of me that wants to teach him to play independently and part of me that is sad that he will be starting school soon and part of me that just wants to enjoy having him around while I can. And none of my parts knows how much to give or take and what is healthiest for him and they are all angry at each other.

Confused yet?

Oh and when I was at the grocery store I bought some yogurt specifically to help little Port with his issue and when I unloaded the groceries from the van I somehow managed to leave one bag in the back.

The only thing in the bag was 5 containers of yogurt. *sigh*

Beyond that I am dealing with other things I can't discuss on here - actually anywhere, and dealing with them internally is just eating me up right now. And most of it is petty and ridiculous and blown way out of proportion by hormones and some lingering, insecurities that I really wish would go live with my 16 year old self because that is where they belong. And yesterday I was just wishing I had 1 friend that I could be incredibly selfish and whiny and a big cry baby with so I could get all of the "dark and twisty" out of my system and be done with it. But that's just not going to happen and so I was mad at myself for wanting that and feeling that way.

And then right about the time I was teetering on the edge, Hubby changed his plans and, though it was nothing at all it tossed me off the ledge. Add to that a couple of other well timed bits of information coming across my desk and by the time Hubby got home, I was a lunatic.

{welcome home Dear!}

So yeah, the day was not so hot. I wasn't planning on writing it all out like this, but I kind of feel better for doing it. One highlight was getting a phone call from a dear friend.

Today was not much better - more poop, more screaming Port, more wrestling with him every 5 minutes when I had to change his diaper, more PMS. Thankfully my sweet, dear, wonderful friend Kim made a trip to the store for her own family and offered to bring me some yogurt for the boy on her way back. Sadly, I couldn't get him to actually eat any of it until late afternoon, but I was very grateful I didn't have to go to the store myself to get it.

The day has had it's bright moments; a couple of encouraging phone calls and a semi-encouraging email, another call from another dear friend and some nice moments with the kids.

Things are starting to emerge in the garden. I have cucumber, zucchini, peas, black beans and basil sprouting. I am still waiting on green beans, corn, tomatoes, peppers, lima beans and okra. I think it has been too cold for them until recently. Hopefully they will make their way through the dirt soon.

And hopefully tomorrow will be better. Though, the weather is supposed to be yucky, so I am not getting my hopes up. And I have to do taxes. Joy.

I will try to think of something more positive to talk about tomorrow.

Until,
D :)

Can't Sleep

Happy Friday everyone!

Come on in, have a seat, please ignore the mess. It's been a weird, sleepless week and I am just too beat to pick up around here. But you understand that, right?

I replaced my poor, tired, messed up coffee maker today, so fresh coffee is on the way! Thank goodness for store credit. I returned something I was never going to use and it covered the new coffee maker I needed and supplied me with 21 cents to take home in my pocket! Yes! So, grab a cup.

I did not sleep a wink last night. After 2 nights this week of being up all night with Port, I really needed a night of rest. Amazingly, Port slept through the night and I didn't sleep at all. I hate it when that happens! It started out that I just couldn't fall asleep. My mind was racing (I think I must have OD'd on caffeine or something) and I could not shut it off. I was thinking about all the things I needed to do, emails I needed to write and then at one point I had a major panic attack. I started worrying about the "what if" of something happening to me during the day while I am alone with the kids and them not knowing what to do or how to get help. I freaked out that I haven't taught Kiddo how to dial 911 or use my phone. I was trying to figure out how to relay that information to him without scaring him. Then my mind went into all these scary scenarios about what might happen.

I. Was. Freaking. Out.

In the dark; crying, praying, scaring myself to infinity for what seemed like hours, then without notice my mind went off to something else entirely. I started drifting in and out of a light sleep, dreaming weird dreams and having scary thoughts. Hubby began to breath funny and every time he took a breath in I thought it was Port crying in his room. I laid there listening; straining to hear every sound in the house and making sure it wasn't him.

Then my stomach started to hurt (no doubt from all the crying and freaking out). Once that subsided, my allergies charged full steam ahead and I spent the rest of the night drifting in and out of sleep, waking myself up every few minutes scratching the roof of my mouth with my tongue. But I wasn't waking up enough to actually get out of bed and find the allergy meds. I woke up several times scratching the roof of my mouth and the inside of my ear at the same time. I was miserable.

So, this morning I was not the most pleasant person to be around. I hope the kids forgive me.

The roof of my mouth is raw and I can't stop sneezing today. I really, really need to get to the store and get some more oregano oil. I haven't sneezed this much in months.

Poor little Port is having allergy trouble today too. His lips and face have been red and splotchy, and he's been sneezing a lot. Our Ash trees are blooming out front, and the pollen is everywhere. I think they may be part of the problem.

In other news, I managed to get the garden all planted this week. I am starting everything from seed, so I am praying it all works. In one of the 4x8 beds I planted black beans, peas, okra, basil, cherry tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers and dill. I have some additional pepper plants that I started in the house a few weeks ago, and when they are big enough I will transplant them there as well.

The other 4x8 already has broccoli, spinach, carrots, onion, lettuce and garlic growing, and I planted cucumbers and lima beans in the empty space.

In between the 4x8 beds I have a row of zucchini and along the fence line I have green beans and corn planted. I have individual pots containing strawberries, chives, parsley and more dill, and today I bought a few more herbs to go in their own containers as well (lemon balm, peppermint, oregano, and another mint variety). I also have my blueberry plant from last year, a new blueberry plant for it to love on, and a blackberry plant as well.

I am so excited! The soil is amazing and I am hoping everything gets a good start. I just need to find pots for the new blueberry and blackberry and one of those multi-holed herb pots for the herb plants I bought. Then I should be set! I need to also build a climbing structure for the cucumbers and the green beans (though some will hopefully climb the corn). And I need to put up cages for the tomatoes, peas and black beans when they start popping up.

I can't wait! Are you growing anything this spring? Please share your progress!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Until,
D :)

As A Blonde

I don't know if you all know this, but I am was a natural blonde.

{That's me on the right. I have no idea who the other 2 are. Sorry girls.}{my mom and I, circa 1976 - 1977ish. check out that big bottle o' alcohol in front of me! lol! oh stop, I was helping her with the dishes. I think...}

I don't know what color my mom's hair is/was naturally. She dyed it jet black for most of my young childhood, then started dying it a different color every month for a few years. Eventually she settled on a "frosted" look and hasn't really deviated from that since. My dad has always had blonde hair.

I didn't start highlighting my hair until high school. As I got older, my hair turned darker shades of blonde, and I enjoyed having a few lighter pieces in it to brighten it up. My roots were always darker though, leading many people to think my hair was not natural.

But somewhere between 30 and now, my two pregnancies, lots of yummy hormones and age have made my "natural" color a lot darker than I care to see, and so I regularly dye my hair. Sometimes I bring back the blonde, sometimes it's red, and others, a richer, warmer brown.

All of this is to say that while I spent most of my life blonde, I never really identified with the whole dumb blonde stereotype. My friends might say otherwise, but I don't know.

However, yesterday I had a huge "blonde moment".

I can't believe I am going to admit this. This is how much I love you, my friends and readers.

So yesterday I was in the garden, planting seeds. I was tilling up the dirt and mixing in some compost and with every scoop I was turning up earthworms. Big, small, fat and skinny, they were everywhere. Sometimes I would pull up a scoop of dirt and there would be 5 or 6 of them squirming around. So at one point, I was mixing dirt and I came across a little piece of egg shell. I often add egg shells to my soil to ward off slugs and to feed tomatoes, but I hadn't done that in a long time to this particular bed. I figured it was a piece of bird shell (we have lots of birds and nests in our trees) and moved on. I was churning up the dirt about a foot away from where I found the egg, and out popped a worm. It flipped rather rapidly and began to slither much faster than the lazy worms I had been digging up before. I commented to it (yes, I am the crazy lady that talks to the animals. I talk to plants too, so think what you want about that.) "wow, you're kinda moving like a snake there little fella." (yes, I do occasionally say fella too. Sorry) I watched him slither off and I noticed he had two little dots at the "front" end of him that looked like eyes. I thought to myself that I had never noticed a worm with eyes before.

(oh Lord, I can't believe I just typed that)

So...that was at around 3PM yesterday afternoon. I didn't think about it any more after that, but you know how sometimes your brain processes things without you knowing, and then suddenly, at a random moment, the answer will explode in your head. Like, when you can't remember somebody's name and then in the middle of the night you shoot straight up in bed???

Yeah, so at about 11:30, in the darkness of my bedroom, I finally put 2 and 2 together. I'm quick like that.

It was indeed, a snake.

I guess I never expected to find a snake in one of my raised beds. I mean, it's just dirt. I thought snakes liked the cover and protection of leaves and dark places. But thinking about it now, I supposed the soft, fluffy, warm dirt was probably the perfect spot for a nest of snake eggs.

It's a good thing I like snakes, or I would probably never work in that garden bed again. lol.

After doing a bit of research, it may have been a Texas Brown Snake, but it didn't have any dark markings on the head like what I saw in most of the images. It was uniformly brown, with little black dot eyes. I think it was lighter on the belly, but I don't really remember.

I think I need to start taking my oregano oil again. It really helped with my mental clarity.

And I need to go buy some more red hair dye.

Until,
D :)

Ah never mind, it most likely was a Rough Earth Snake. It looked a lot like this, except smaller. {not my image. I found this here.}

Cry Baby Cry

Today was not a good day for the neighbors to replace their roof.

The banging at 7:30 sharp was enough to almost make me call the men in white coats to take me away.

It all started with a huge parenting FAIL we had last night.

For a while, we've been toying with the idea of putting the boys together in the same room in bunk beds. Port is still in his crib, and we thought we could fit both beds in one room, but it will be really tight. And if we do, all the toys will have to go in the other bedroom, making it a playroom. But since they boy's schedules have been different (Port goes to bed around 8, Kiddo around 8:30 or 9) I haven't really pushed it.

Lately Kiddo has been bringing it up again. He wants Port in the room with him. Actually, he wants anyone in the room with him. The kid is desperate for a sleep over.

So last night the boys were getting ready for bed (or rather they were supposed to be) and they both ended up in nothing but underwear/diaper in Kiddo's room. They were jumping on the bed together (yes, I know, but think of the gross motor skills they are developing!) and having a blast. I brought Port's pajamas into Kiddo's room and they got dressed together. They were seriously bonding over this whole night time routine thing, and just enjoying eachother's company for once. I didn't want to mess that up! After they got dressed, they went back to jumping on the bed. I walked out to get a sippy for Port and get his bed ready and when I came back into Kiddo's room, both boys were in Kiddo's bed. They were laying side by side, and Port even wanted the blankets up over him. (He is NOT a blanket kid - he hates them!)

Kiddo asked if they could sleep together in his room and I kind of hesitated, but Port looked so content to sleep there. He knew he was supposed to go "night-night" and he nestled into Kiddo's bed like he sleeps there all the time. I turned out the light, we said prayers and all seemed well.

Then I tried to leave.

oops

Apparently that was not on the menu and Port started to wail. He was fine when I was standing next to the bed, but he didn't want me to leave and he didn't want to go to his own bed. After standing there for a few minutes watching him rub his eyes and get even sleepier (and the clock in my head was tic-toc-ing even louder by the second) I tried leaving again but he pitched another fit. So I got him out of Kiddo's bed and tried to take him to his crib in the other room and he pitched an even bigger fit. I asked him if he wanted to stay with brother and he said yes so I brought him back to Kiddo's room (FAIL). He nestled back in but again he didn't want me to leave. Finally I had enough and I picked him up and put him in his room in the crib.

He was not happy.

To say the least.

He screamed in the way he screams when he is extremely mad or when I leave him. He screamed like that for a good 30-45 minutes. We thought at that point that all was well and we went to bed. At about midnight, the screaming began again. After listening to him cry off and on for about an hour, I got up to check on him. I changed his diaper and put him back to bed. He screamed some more. I got up again and took him to the couch. He settled down a bit and slept on my chest for about 20 minutes, then decided he wanted to get off the couch. The house was pitch black, yet he managed to find the tv remotes anyway. I put them away and he found Kiddo's Leapster and began to lay that. I allowed it in my hazy half asleep state and the next thing I know he was rummaging through the refrigerator looking for a hot dog. He ate a hot dog (at 2 AM mind you) and then wanted to play. I was done and not going to tolerate that, so I put him back to bed.

He screamed and cried All. Night. Long.

And, then at 7:15 the crying stopped.

At 7:30 the hammering next door began.

Thank God for coffee.

Until,
D :)

No Such Thing

"...I wanna scream at the
Top of my lungs
I just found out there's no such thing as the real world
Just a lie you got to rise above"

Today Port slept in until 9:15. Of course, it was one of the rare days I was trying to get somewhere before 10AM. And, I thought because he slept so long he would be in a great mood today. On the contrary, he was quite a turd most of the day.

We made a visit to Julia's house. She wanted me to come by to have a look at some things she had been gathering to give away - tons and tons of gorgeous blankets and things I could use for newborn photo sessions! I couldn't believe it - I now have more props and blankets and fun stuff than I could imagine. I am so excited to get to use it all. Julia ROCKS!

Little Port was not too happy when we walked in her house. I think he had a flash back to last week when I dumped, er uh, left him and Kiddo at Jen's house. He clung to me like a sticky booger and would not let me go for the first 15-20 minutes we were there. Poor little guy just trembled the whole time. Once he realized I wasn't going to leave him, he relaxed enough to play with the kids for a few minutes. When it was time to leave he was great; he walked out to the van and got in without any complaints. But for some reason, he did NOT want to get in his seat. He kept trying to get into the drivers seat, and after asking him several times to get in his chair with no cooperation, I had to drag him back and put him in myself. He screamed and fought me and then did the dreaded arching back thing. Ugh. That boy is so strong. When he arches his back like that it is soooo hard to get him to bend! I am afraid I am going to hurt him when he does that. Once I got his back side in the seat, it still took me 5 minutes of wrestling with him to get him clipped. He kept sticking his fingers in the wrong places and I was terrified I would pinch his fingers in the clips.

He screamed the whole way to the bank.

He calmed down once we got to the bank and was fine at the post office and all the way to the grocery store. He did well in the store as long as he had a snack to eat. He didn't even fuss when there were no balloons with suckers waiting at the entrance! But when we got to the check out line that all ended. He wanted to help me unload the basket and put things on the belt. Fine. He wanted to run the card for me and push the buttons on the machine. Fine. He wanted to go play the HEB Buddy game - no way! So the screaming began and he fought me all the way to the car. I had to force him into the seat again and he screamed the whole way home.

He was great when we got home; super sweet even, so I let him stay up a little longer than I normally would before nap time. Then the next thing I knew it was after 3PM and I totally forgot to put him down. He was playing so well it just completely slipped my mind. So I decided to forgo the nap -

ok people, that was soooo not a good idea.

Bed time was awful, horrible, maddening. He fought me tooth and nail to get jammies and diapers on. He screamed all the way to his room and for a long time after I left him there.

He is so not ready to give up naps. He just doesn't know it yet.

Until,
D :)

PS. I need to add one more "Gratitude" to my Gratitude Monday list - I know I mentioned my friend Jen and what a saint she is for watching the boys last week. But I also need to mention her again because I am so truly grateful for her. Not only is she one of the sweetest people I know, she is always willing to help me out when I am in a jam. And, Jen is the one who introduced me to the wedding photographer I second shoot with. If it weren't for her, I probably wouldn't have met him and had the amazing experiences I have in wedding photography. So thank you Jen, I am so grateful for you!

Night Fever

Kiddo-speak for your Friday enjoyment...

After being house-bound with a sick Port all week, we were finally feeling well enough to get out and run some much needed errands. I was ready to go just as the PBS show Dinosaur Train was starting. It is one of Kiddo's favorites right now, and he was pretty upset that I was making him miss it. He pitched a mini fit on the way out, but seemed to forget about it by the time we got in the car. After hitting the bank, we pulled out of the parking lot and the whimpering began.

"Mommy I am crestfallen." {thank you Word Girl}
Why are you crestfallen?
"Mommyyyy...I am so crestfallen!" (whimper, whimper, whine)
Yes Kiddo, I heard you. I know you are upset and I am sorry but we have things we need to do today and we couldn't wait for your show to be over.
"But you made me leave! Now I am going to have nightmares!!" (much wailing and fake crying for several minutes; during which time I am trying not to sigh too loudly as I roll my eyes.)
Then suddenly it is quiet. A long pause and then...

"Mommy, what is a nightmare?"

~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~**~~

I hit a wall today. After another sleepless night with Port, a 2AM scream fest from ear pain, and an extremely tired, upset, screaming boy all day today, I am just done. I have spent most of the day crying myself; feeling helpless to make the baby feel better and feeling like a bad mom for constantly brushing off Kiddo so I can try to care for Port.

Kiddo is really acting out about the lack of attention. All week I have been pushing him away and putting him off because if I am able to get the baby settled and off of me for only a minute (and it is never longer than that) I certainly don't want Kiddo all up in my face. I haven't slept all week and I am exhausted and worn out and I need a break. For most of the day Port wasn't eating, he was refusing pain meds and he was still running a 102+ fever. I am forcing him to take the meds, and the screaming and crying that task incurs prolongs the fussiness. He won't nap unless he is on me and I just know this is creating new bad habits that are going to be so hard to break.

After trying different foods all day in an attempt to get him eat and cursing every time he refused and I had to throw something out - I finally found something he would eat.

Mac-n-cheese.

Seriously! Why didn't I try that first?!? It's quintessential kid food! He gobbled it up.

Thank Goodness!

About 30 minutes later he was energized; running around and smiling! And then he ate everything in the house. I guess after not eating for a few days he had some catching up to do.

This evening has gone much better, but he started to crash again just before bedtime. I am hoping for a peaceful night, but I am not holding my breath.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

Until,
D :)

Remember Me This Way

Hello Company Girls and Readers who haven't dropped me from their feed... I know, this blogging once a week thing isn't working for you. It's not working for me either. I really, really, really will try to get back going with this. No excuses, I should be able to do something a few days a week.

*sigh*

So last weekend was a total blast! I had a family session on Saturday morning. I pulled into the park that we were meeting at and couldn't believe my eyes! I have never seen so many people there! There was a horse show happening on one side and some sort of physical fitness training thing on the other. I couldn't even drive down the main road properly because of all the cars parked on the sides. And of course, I forgot to bring my client's phone number with me. So I called Hubby and asked him to look it up, got a hold of her and we eventually found each other. The park was so full of people there was just no way we were going to be able to do a proper session, so we decided to move to another park down the road.

On the way there, I got turned around while they were following me, and then they missed a turn when I was following them, but we finally made it to the park. After that the session went well, except for the part when the 2 year old almost fell in the creek!

I got home just in time for Hubby to leave for a project of his own. I fed the kids, put the baby down for a nap, scarfed some food down for myself, took a shower, got the baby up, repacked my gear and then when Hubby pulled in I took off again for a wedding.

I left a little bit later than I had planned and of course, being late I got behind all the slow people and caught all the lights. I had to stop for gas and a big Dr. Pepper, and when I got out of my car at the gas station I realized that my black pin stripe slacks were actually navy blue. doh! So much for my professional, all black photographer ensemble. I got back on the road and called Hubby when I got on the freeway to make sure the baby wasn't still freaking out from my departure. After I hung up, I zoned out for a few minutes (actually about 15 minutes) before coming to and realized I wasn't even supposed to be on the freeway!!! ACK!

So I drove 15 minutes out of my way. *sigh*

Thankfully, I pad my time enough that even with all the hangups I was only about 3 minutes late. Thank goodness. I called Allen (the photographer I work with) on my cell to find out exactly where he was.

Allen: Hello?
Me: Hey Allen it's Dawn
A: Oh hey Dawn!
Me: Hey! So where are you?
{long pause}
A: uh, well I am at the zoo with the kids.
Me: ha ha! No really, where are you?
A: I am at the zoo with the kids.
{kids screaming in the background}
Me: *blink* *blink* {brain trying to process information.}
{really long pause}
Me: Oh ALLEN!!! I am so sorry! I dialed the wrong Allen on my phone!!

The Allen I called was a friend's husband, and unfortunate recipient of many an unintentional phone call from me.

Sorry Allen.

A quick call to the right Allen confirmed I was indeed in the right place and at the right time (thank goodness) and so I gathered my things and headed to the ceremony site.

The wedding was a blast. The people were sweet and friendly and so much fun and the location was gorgeous!

While everyone was eating dinner, Allen, the wedding coordinators, the DJ and I gathered in the dancing room (it was separate from the dining area) to eat and sit for a minute. I had recognized the DJ from some events we had at the country club I worked at long ago (before kids). We were all eating at a table and the coordinators and DJ were discussing other events and other coordinators - apparently they all knew each other and worked together frequently. I usually don't talk much in settings like these, but I was curious so when the conversation lulled I asked if any of them had worked at the country club recently.

The coordinators both replied "no". The DJ said, "Dawn Fry!!"

lol

I had to laugh. "You remember my name?"

Shaking his head, "Dawn Fry!"

The coordinators: "Who is Dawn Fry?"

uh, that would be me.

We all talked for a minute or two after that about what I did in my past life and they asked me what I was doing now. I couldn't believe the DJ remembered my name. Suddenly it was time to get back to work.

A little later I got to thinking that I didn't ask him why he remembered me exactly. I mean it could have been because I was mean or because I really sucked. So when we had a moment, I walked over to his table and asked him.

"No, no," he said. "You didn't suck. I worked with Sloane a few times after you left." (Sloane was a girl who was brought on while I was there, then took over the department when I departed)

Smiling, he said, "And well, she was no Dawn Fry!"

I guess I can take that as a compliment. ;-)

******************************

At times I wonder if my contribution to the lives of the people I come across is a good one or a bad one. Sometimes I definitely know the answer. Other times, like in the case of the country club job, I felt like I was doing a good job and being nice to people, but it ended so badly that even though I feel like I did a good job, I still kind of wonder. But, getting that reaction from the DJ made me feel better about my time there.

I just hope that I make as good an impression on people in my life now. Though, if I think about it, I am not the same person I was then.

I guess only time will tell. Perhaps someday I will have another chance to ask someone how they remember me.

It kind of makes me sad that people only really express how they felt about someone at their funeral. If only we were so forthcoming with our feelings about our friends, family and even acquaintances when they are with us and can hear those good words, maybe so many of us wouldn't be living with depression and self esteem issues and the like.

So, tell someone how you feel about them this week. Even if it's a coworker, an acquaintance or someone you just met. Give them honest feedback - I think good or bad (as long as you are tactful), it just might make someone feel better about themselves.

I want to know how I come across; what it's like to know Dawn Fry. I want to know if I'm weird or witchy or sweet. I want to know if people actually value my opinion or if they think I am blowing smoke.

I want to know who the person in the mirror is to the world around me.

I think it would be interesting at the very least.

Thanks for stopping by!

Until,
D :)

Mess

I am trying to get back in the habit of blogging again so forgive me if the next few posts are rather, uh, boring. I just need to try to get back into doing this on a more regular basis - good, interesting post or not. I really just miss talking to you all.

So today was not entirely great either. After yesterday's all day scream fest, I was hoping today would be a bit more mellow. However, my promising morning quickly turned sour right after my first cup of coffee.

I've been having some trouble with Kiddo lately in matters related to the potty. For one, he has a problem with sitting down to do his business and being in there forever because he easily gets distracted from the task at hand. Add to that a curious 17 month old toddler who is discovering that if he reaches out to try to touch, uh, certain parts that he shares, he get squeals and giggles from his older brother. So of course, potty time is a fun time in my house for the boys, and I find myself either having to supervise the whole event, or wait endlessly for the "business" to get done. This morning, *sigh* the business got done I guess, and the sound of the door closing and the water being turned on didn't strike me as odd.

At first.

See, little Port is also now our Master Door Closer. You've got a door ajar? He's on the case. Left a drawer slightly open? Port is your man. He will close everything you touch as well as do a check on anything else that looks askew. So potty time often ends in a closed door at least once or twice.

When the door closed this morning, I just chalked it up to The Closer doing his duty and the Kiddo was still inside washing his hands.

Sadly, I was mistaken.

After a few minutes of listening as the water ran and then stopped and then ran again and stopped, I decided I better investigate. I certainly didn't like the fact that they were both in there with the door closed.

Now I have to give Kiddo props for at least trying to do something about this, but sadly it was no match for him.

The poopy had won this battle.

Kiddo is not the best wiper in the world yet. (and believe me, I know the possible future therapy this post may cause) He has months where things go well, and then suddenly he loses the ability to take care of himself. So recently we have been trying to once again reteach him proper technique. But I guess today was just to messy (sorry!) and he managed to get it everywhere. He said he got it on his hands so he was washing them, but somewhere in the "clean up" he bombed a towel, the toilet seat cover, the counter, the floor, his jammies and himself.

ugh

I didn't handle it well.

Being one of my more, uh, emotional days, I kind of flew off the handle. I managed to get Port out of there unscathed, but the clean up was more than I was mentally ready to handle.

After I scrubbed everything down (Kiddo included) and I was able to settle down a bit, we had a nice long talk and he is now under strict orders to call me when he does his business. We are starting over from scratch.

double ugh

The rest of the day was ok; my shower got scratched from the to-do when Port woke early from his nap. Then Kiddo had an accident when he couldn't get his Spiderman costume off in time to pee.

So our bathroom got a double cleaning today. Come on over!

Tomorrow is Friday, right?

I think we are going to hit up a new farmer's market tomorrow. I hope to score some super cheap fresh veggies, and maybe some sort of vitamin. Mommy needs an immune system boost.

Until,
D :)

Head Over Feet

Well I am sort of starting to come up for air around here. I took a mental health day on Saturday and didn't do any work at all. It got to the point that I was just staring at the computer and zoning out anyway. So after a day of rest I felt much better - but of course was quickly reminded that there really is no time to rest from now until after the holidays!

So back to the grind...

lol! You know I love it!

Anyway, my poor little Port has had a traumatic couple of days. Sunday night I had the boys in the bath. Port loves baths - no matter what he's doing, if I even mention taking a bath he drops everything and makes a bee-line to the bathroom. He dances while the water flows into the tub and he screams if I don't get him undressed and in the water fast enough! So the boys were playing and Port had a cup that he was filling and pouring out over and over again. He would fill it up, hold it up higher than his head and pour it towards himself so the water flowed down his belly. I decided it was time to scrub, so I grabbed a washcloth and started on his face. When I put the washcloth to his face, he instinctively leaned forward into it; unfortunately, he was in mid pour with the cup of water and he put his face into the stream. The washcloth was over his eyes, nose and mouth and when it got soaked with the flowing water, he gasped and sucked water into his mouth and nose, practically drowning himself. It all happened so fast; he instantly started coughing and sputtering and flailing around in the tub - I had to grab hold of him quickly and pull him up because he kept trying to put his head down, which would put him right back into the water.

It scared. him. to death. And me too. I felt so bad for him. And he was done. Done with the bath, done with the water, done, done, done. I had to get him out and dry him off immediately. Poor little guy.

As if that wasn't dramatic enough, yesterday he fell off our back porch onto his head. Ugh. We were enjoying this amazing weather we've had the past few days and playing out in the back yard. Port can climb up onto our deck from the yard, but for some reason he hasn't figured out how to climb down. Never mind the fact that he climbs down from chairs, couches and beds...he just can't get in his head that all he has to do is turn around and back down.

But we had been outside all morning, and it was almost time for lunch and then a nap and so I was picking up things and bringing them into the house. Port had been playing in the dog water bowl and was completely soaked and covered in dirt. I walked into the house to set something on the counter and I guess he decided in that moment to step off the deck. He missed the step and went head first into a concrete step stone at the bottom of the steps. I heard him cry and I ran out there and scooped him up and ran into the house. Because he was such a mess, I took him to the tub and set him in there so I could get a good look at him. His nose was covered in blood. I tried not to freak as I wiped it up and in that discovered that it was only a tiny scratch on the side of his nose that was bleeding profusely. Breathing a sigh of relief, I checked his limbs and then in my soothing I brushed the hair back off his forehead. That was when I saw the gigantic scratch/indention in his head and the golf ball sized goose egg beginning to develop.

ugh!

So then I freaked out.

He is fine. I made him stay up a little longer than normal and then checked him every 30 minutes as he took his nap. I think he had a headache for the rest of the day, but a little dose of Tylenol seemed to take the edge off. Today the swelling is still there, though not as bad, and it doesn't appear to be bruising, yet. We shall see.
Here he is after I got him calmed down and out of his wet clothes. It's hard to see the goose egg - I had to use a flash. It actually looks a lot worse than that.

I was going to cut his hair this week, but I may hold off on that until his head heals. I wouldn't want a random stranger in the grocery store to call CPS on me! ;-)

Until,
D :)

Back and Forth

Welcome to Company Girl Coffee, the weekend edition!

Sorry I missed coffee yesterday everyone! Most of the day I was gabbing it up with some of my oldest, dearest friends and the rest of the time I was on the road driving home from Houston. I had gone to Houston mid week with the hopes of being able to photograph the labor and birth of a friend of mine, but sadly her soon to be newborn daughter had other plans. But it was still a good trip though - the boys got some great Happy and Grammy time in and I got to visit with them and my good friends.

In a way I guess I did participate in Company Girl coffee - with my own company girls from high school. The coffee and conversation was very good!

So, I drove up on Wednesday and back on Friday. It was an interesting trip for sure. I swear, most of the time these things just don't happen to me, but this trip - it was one thing after another.

What kind of things you ask? Well let me tell you...

1. Like I said I was going to Houston for a shoot. My mommy friend was due with her baby, and had scheduled an induction for Thursday morning. If she didn't go into labor before, she would definitely have the baby sometime on Thursday. When I got about 2/3rds of the way there, she called me to tell me that her induction got bumped from the schedule. Since I was almost there, I decided to go ahead with my plans and hope the baby decided to come on her own.

2. After putting the boys to bed, I discovered that once again I had left all forms of cell phone charging device at home. And of course, my cell phone was almost dead. I had to make a run to the 24 hour Walmart for a new charger (I did the same thing just a few weeks ago, the last time I went to Houston). There was only one left at the store that worked with my phone. I had to sit in the car for 20 minutes and wait for it to charge enough to last the night.

3. I hooked up my computer to check my email and do some surfing and discovered that my wireless mouse was broken. I have no idea what is wrong with it, it just doesn't work any more. And yes, I checked the batteries.

4. After finally crawling into bed a little after 11, I woke up to the sound of my 4 yr old sniffing and moaning in the pallet on the floor next to the bed. I turned on the light to discover him having a gusher of a nose bleed; all over himself, the bed, the blankets....it took about 30 minutes and half a box of kleenex to get it to stop, and he slept through the whole thing.

5. He woke me up at 6:30AM bright eyed and bushy tailed. He played soccer in the room until I couldn't take it any more and let him out at 7:30.

6. When I offered to let him climb into bed with me, he grabbed his pillow off the floor pallet and it knocked a glass of water off the dresser. My cell phone, the alarm clock and the wall behind the dresser all got drenched. Thankfully nothing was ruined.

7. After breakfast, I knocked over a glass of water onto the table.

8. When in the bedroom changing the baby's diaper, Kiddo took my empty water cup off the night stand (the one he knocked over hours before) put more water in it, brought it back down the hall, turned around and proceeded to sling the contents all over the wall and floor in the hallway.

9. That night every little sniff from Kiddo woke me in a panic. He talked in his sleep all. night. long. At one point he was pointing up to the ceiling, jabbering about something I could not understand, and getting louder and more animated by the second.

10. The next morning I took the boys to a friend's house to hang out. On the way, Port pulled his favorite party trick and poked the nipple from his bottle down into the bottle and then poured the 6 ounces of formula into his lap. When I got to the friend's house, I had to strip him completely nekkid. Of course, I did not have a spare outfit in the diaper bag.

11. Just as it was time for Port's nap and for me to leave my friend's house, the sky opened up and dumped more rain than I have seen all year. We were trapped there for 3 more hours waiting for the rain to let up. That was actually a blessing (more time with my friends) but I knew it was really going to mess up Port's sleeping schedule.

12. Port and Kiddo instantly fell asleep in the car when we left. And woke up almost exactly 30 minutes later when we arrived at Grammy and Happy's house. I loaded up the car to head home, thinking Port would finish out his nap on the way. He has never cried so much as he did on the way home.

I do not need any more stressful trips like that any time soon. Even with all the problems though, it was still pretty great.

I hope your weekend was great! Thanks for stopping by!

Until,
D :)

Iron Man

Is it Friday already!?! Welcome Company Girls! Sorry I missed you last week. I still visited your blogs, but didn't have a chance to post one of my own.

How are things with you? The next few weeks are going to be busy for us. This weekend is chocked full of things to do and next weekend we will be visiting the inlaws. Somewhere in there I have to fit in a couple of photo sessions, plant a whole new additional garden and keep up with the kids at the sprinkler park (it opens this weekend, yay!!!). Thanks so much for stopping by my little blog!

Yesterday Kiddo was bugging me to take him to the park.

please, please, please, please, pul-eeeeeeeeeeese!

ugh

I really didn't feel like going to the park, and I needed to run some errands anyway so I told him if he was good while running errands we would stop at Sonic for a drink after we were done.

We went by the post office then on to Walmart. Joy!

And as soon as we got into Walmart Kiddo started asking me about what I was buying for him.

Because you know, it is always something. *eye roll*

He goes through phases like this, where if I don't buy him something, anything on a shopping trip he gets terribly upset. So I immediately stopped the cart, got right down on his level and told him very sternly that he needed to stop asking me - that just because we were in a store, it didn't mean that we were going to get him anything and if he continued to pester me about it I was going to take him home and he would not be allowed to shop with me anymore. He immediately stopped asking me for things.

Oh yeah, I'm good. ;)

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Kiddo has this thing for dressing up in his Halloween costumes and running around playing "superhero". He has a Dash costume, a Mr. Incredible costume and a Spiderman costume that have seen more use and wear than most Halloween costumes will ever see. I suppose his love is equivalent to a little girl dressing up in princess gear...

So because of this, I am always keeping an eye out for costumes on clearance - because honestly the costumes he has are about to fall apart.

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I hate it when I have to put my foot down about something and then have to eat my own words. It totally sucks. And I suppose I could have handled this particular situation differently, but...

Mere minutes after very bluntly telling Kiddo he was not getting anything from this shopping trip, I round a corner to see a small display of clearance merchandise on the shelf. And sitting at the top was an Iron Man costume set, complete with mask. Normally $20, it was marked down to $7. And it was the only one left.

I very discretely grabbed it off the shelf and slipped it into the cart when Kiddo wasn't looking.

A good five minutes later he spotted the huge box in the cart. He asked me who the costume was for, and in a moment of weakness I told him that it was for someone's birthday.

{I know, I can't believe I lied either. ugh}

Well, even with the lie it still opened up a whole can of worms - Who's birthday was it? How old were they going to be? Was it a costume party? What was he going as? Can he buy a toy? "but I have a dollar, what can I get?"

ugh, ugh, ugh

I told him we would talk about it in the car, so of course he remembered and asked me first thing. I told him that I did buy the costume for him to have eventually and if he could be good for me for the whole day (mind you it was almost 2pm, but I still didn't think he could do it) with no time outs, no getting in trouble, no whining or fussing; if he could be nice to his brother and nice to me and his Daddy and not give us an attitude for the rest of the day, then he could have the costume. But if he got in trouble, got a time out, didn't listen or was rude or mean to his brother the deal was off and we would have to start all over today.

I just knew he wouldn't make it.

.
.
.
.
.
Guess who's been wearing an Iron Man costume all day?

Ah, the power of the superhero!

Until,
D :)

Oh, and of course, Episode 6 of Musing Mommies is available! Our topic is going green, and this week - we are doing our very first giveaway! Just leave a comment on our Musing Mommies Blog to be entered into the random drawing!

Shattered

{no, I did not take this picture. I just thought it was neat}

Last night as I was cleaning things up and winding down in preparation for bed, I noticed that one of the socks I was wearing had something sticky on it. I kept sticking to the floor in various places. I took the sock off and inspected it and saw nothing that would indicate there was anything sticky. I checked the floor and saw nothing as well. Our kitchen floor is still torn up in certain places, so my feeble mind chalked it up to the sock catching on the rough spots. I took the socks off, put them in the hamper and went to bed.

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Yesterday we had to go register the van and do a title transfer and licensing as well. I gathered all the paperwork I needed and loaded the kids up. After finding the building and taking a number in the waiting area, I thought we were in for the dreaded government building wait. Surprisingly though, the whole process took only about 15 minutes (wait and all) and we were happily on our way. I decided to stop at the nearest HEB (grocery) to pick up a few much needed items.

[why is it that even when I go in with a list of only a few things, I still end up spending 50-100 dollars?]

The HEB was not one that I normally shop at because it is very old and small and dingy. Directly across from a WalMart, it is usually pretty crowded as well. I don't like the parking, the smaller shopping carts or the arrangement of the isles, so I only go to it when absolutely necessary. Or in this case when going to one of the other locations was ridiculously out of my way.

So we went, and I squeezed my poor Kiddo in the basket behind Port and hoped the few items I needed would fit in there with him.

As usual, the people were cranky, the shelves were a mess and they were out of a couple of things that I needed. We got into the shortest check out line I could find and I was pleased when the cashier started playing peekaboo with Port while she was checking out the lady in front of me. When we got up to the front of the line, she gave Kiddo a Buddy Buck (it's a little fake dollar that the kids can use to play one of those annoying grabber games) and then pulled out her cash drawer. Her shift was over. The kid that replaced her was nice too (unusual for this location) so I didn't mind; though Kiddo was sad that she left. Generally if someone engages him in conversation he is in love with them. When we were almost done, she suddenly appeared with two red balloons for the kids. It was very sweet.

[of course, Kiddo instantly remembered what happened the last time he had a red balloon from HEB]

When you get a balloon at HEB, it is weighted at the bottom of the string with a sucker. When we got home, I let Kiddo eat his sucker and I popped the balloon it was attached to and threw it in the trash. Kiddo got upset that I tossed the balloon, so I told him he could play with Port's balloon instead. He proceeded throughout the evening to use the balloon as a punching bag; beating it all over the living and dining room of the house.

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This morning I was sitting on the floor with Port and in front of me I noticed a little purple shard of something glistening in the morning sunlight. Several inches from that, another, bigger shard glistened and sparkled as well. I moved closer to inspect these foreign objects, and the aroma of grape sugar teased my nose. I touched one of them, finding it stuck to my still somewhat new wood floor. I pried it up with my fingernail and figured out what it was.

HEB grape sucker.

The sucker I gave Kiddo the day before was green. I quickly turned to inspect the anchor still holding the now semi deflated balloon that Kiddo punched around yesterday and my heart sank when I saw it. The purple sucker that once held weight in it's plastic bag was nothing more than a stick and a few chunks of hardened sugar. I lowered my gaze and my head level with the floor and what laid before me were thousands of microscopic shards of shattered sucker.

Stuck.

All

Over

My

Floor

*sigh*

Parenting tip for today. Do not ever allow your child to bat around a balloon from the grocery store on a hard floor if the said balloon is attached to a cheap piece of candy.

Aren't you glad I'm here to help you learn from my mistakes?!

Until,
D ;)

Lost and Found

Things the baby may have eaten in the past week:

the sponge part of a make up applicator

crayons

dust bunnies

string

pieces of the kitchen floor (home remodeling sucks)

What I KNOW the baby ate: (if you have to ask me how I know, you probably don't really want to know that bad)

See those little disks? Tiddly Winks. 3 of them. Where they should have never been. One is still missing.

Oh yeah. I am the best parent eh-vah!

Though, I have to say, I wasn't even home when the feast occurred. So technically I could blame it on someone else. But, I am the one who has to clean them. Ick. Moving on...

I took a picture of Port's fat lip last night with our point-n-shoot camera. It is posted in the post from yesterday. The swelling is almost gone today, though it does still bleed a little every now and then. Anyway, I was uploading all the images from the camera and came across a bunch of shots from Kiddo. He is a budding photographer you know. I thought I would share his "vision".

Of course, there are images of Cars. I would be worried if there weren't.
And then there is Hubby. Interactive Parenting at it's finest...
a little closer...shew! No ear hair! Yay!
One of Kiddo's favorite Christmas presents. Most. Annoying. Game. Ever! But, he has learned about healthy food vs. not healthy food, so I guess it is worth the annoyance.
Another Hubby shot. (these are in no particular order by the way)
Hubby changing the channel on the TV. Port about to steal the other remote. His favorite pastime - aside from eating random objects he finds on the floor...
Big Daddy at Christmas.
Kiddo drawing of Wall-E and Eve.
Kiddo drawing of Spiderman vs. Venom. Spiderman is on the right.
Decorating cookies for Santa at Christmas. I think I took this one. Kiddo is not that talented to be able to eat sprinkles and take his own picture. (did you notice that this is not actually Kiddo, but black Spiderman?? hee hee)
Port in the dog water. This was a good parenting day too!
He's just so dang cute!
I'm holding Port in this one.
Pretty sure I took this one too - My Boys!
Kiddo drawing of all his Super Suits hanging in a closet. I believe this is the Incredibles Collection.
Rocket (from the Little Einsteins) vs. Big Jet
So, I hope you enjoyed this little display. I have one final picture for you. It's not very good (again with the p-n-s camera) but I wanted to get a picture of my new 'do. I'm not sure if the color is going to look right either; my lap top is in desperate need of a monitor calibration. My hair is kind of a brassy blond - trying to get the brassy part out, but it's gonna take some time. Anyway, here it is:

Waddaya think? I really LOVE it.

Until,
D :)