I miss my grandma

Over a month ago, the day of my sisters baby shower I was getting ready to go when out of no where, I was hit by an overwhelming sadness.  It happens to me every once in a while, but it was one of those moments where I really missed my grandma.  I wanted her to be at my sister's shower, to see the gifts and the excitement, and eat the food.

She wasn't going to be there and it made me sad.  I started to cry.  I rushed into the bathroom so no one would see me and forced myself to get my act together.

I was being dumb. 

At the shower, as my sister was opening gifts for little Miss Molly, she got to a gift from my aunt Karen.  As part of the gift, my dear sweet aunt had finished the edging on a blanket my grandma had started for a future great-grandchild.  My sister started to cry.  I started crying, too.

It was a bit serendipitous for me that day.  I had been missing my grandma terribly and then all of a sudden, she was there. She made it to the shower after all - just like I'd hoped she would.

Ode to a working mom

Shavy Jones opens tomorrow, May 29

I work.

Part-time from home with VERY flexible hours.

I work because I want to; because the extra money is nice and I enjoy padding the savings account and college funds.  Every once and a while before going to bed Ross and I have late night discussions about my job, why I think I might want to quit, and why I can't quit.  Basically I get paid too well for what I do and I love keeping my foot in the door of education.  It's my career and my passion (sort of) and I just couldn't really deal with not being involved.

That being said - part-time is my thing.  The set-up I've got now really works for me, my kids, and my family.  We've got a good rhythm and flow these days and even though it's hard, I manage to keep our life raft a float in varied waters.

This past week I had to attend two full days of meetings for work.  I pulled two 8 hour days - with a one hour commute each way.  That's 10 hours of work on a day when I'd normally work 4.  Arranging child care, getting myself up (only with the help of my early rising husband), getting the kids stuff ready, writing page long notes about schedules and preschool, finding something to wear that doesn't involve stretchy pants, combing my hair, putting on make-up, driving on the freeway and turning my brain on for 10 full hours a day.

Holy freaking cow was that hard to do.  Staying focused on work discussions instead of what my kids were doing, what they were eating, and whether or not they missed me was an immense challenge.  Keeping my energy up to play and be fun, still trying to fix dinner and exercise at night and meet all of my other commitments (laundry, vacuuming, making beds and all that jazz) just about completely wore me out.

I had a nap today.

Seriously.  A nap.  I got the boys to sleep and sat down to work and I just couldn't hack it.

My mom worked (still works) my whole childhood.  My aunts work.  My sister will start work again in the fall (what good timing for a math teacher to have a baby in the middle of May).

I.  DON'T.  KNOW.  HOW.  THEY.  DO.  IT.

It is a strong and noble woman to raise a family and have a job and get done all there is to get done.

I suppose if I had to, I could do it.  Be supermom and wonder woman all at the same time and still pick the kids up from school on time and do the Valentines day party.  I'm very lucky that I don't have to.  That I have a life that lets me be with my nutty and funny and really great kids and still be connected to the outside world.

For that, I am truly grateful.

And to all you moms out there in the workforce each day.

You totally rock.

And make me really, really tired.

Back in the public eye

2 months of hiding can really clear a blogger's head.

And diminish the desire to blog.

So I guess that means I'm back?

All about me....

Yesterday was my birthday.

I spent the whole day in meetings.  To say that I was bummed about that is the biggest understatement of the year.

I WAS BUMMED ABOUT THAT!

I did get a small present from fate though while walking to my meeting all because I chose to use the crosswalk instead of jay walk.

Once across the street I looked up to see a tall gentlemen headed my direction. Wearing a backpack, talking on the phone.

The closer he got - the more familiar he became.

It was Michael Doleac - the former center for the Runnin' Utes - during my years as a college student.

I was in love with him then - I've still got a crush on him now.  I had goosebumps and an increased heart rate.

I love my husband.  I love my boys.

I still have a crush on a  6'11'' center who my sister and I lovingly called, "dork attack".

Happy Birthday!

Hello everybody.

In addition to being an Argentine national holiday, today is Annie's birthday.

She has to go to work meetings all day and will probably have to cook dinner tonight, which is a bit of a bummer, but we have some nice presents for her to open.

If you see her today, wish her a happy birthday (and remind elliott that he is supposed to be good today because it is his mom's birthday).

The Squirt: 1 year stats

I guess he's officially a one year old since we had the 12 month well baby visit today.

At two weeks old he weighed in a little over 9 pounds and was 21 inches long.

Today at the doctor he tipped the scales at 25.13 pounds and almost 31 inches in length (30 and 3/4 inches).

I guess it's safe to say that over the last year, the boy has grown.  He is however, still on the chart sitting nicely at the 90th percentile overall.

At the appointment, our wonderful pediatrician asked all kinds of questions about Chickie's development.

How long has he been walking?  about 6 weeks.

Does he say a few words?  Yes.  He regularly says: mama, dad, Elliott, ball, duck, quack.

Can he put small objects in a container?  Yes, if dumping out the barrel of monkeys and putting all the monkeys back in the barrel counts.  He's been doing that for months.

There was more, but I cannot remember.

We have concerns about sleep (the fact that he doesn't ever sleep) and about a potential milk allergy (the pediatrician suggested that we get a prescription for an eppi pen just in case) but otherwise, this chubby chickie is perfect.

If only he'd stop getting into the bathroom drawers.

Your "glee" moment

Obsessed?

Maybe.

I'm in no way a fan of Les Miserables. For me, it is, well, miserable. I went once to see it with my cousins and I fell asleep and missed the whole middle. The high school I taught at did the abbreviated version. It was okay.

I have however, always loved the song "I dreamed a dream." It's beautiful when sung well. This week on Glee, it was sung very well.

Enjoy!

The Griswalds AZ tour

We'd decided a few weeks ago to make a trip to Arizona to catch-up with Ross' family.  We hadn't been in over a year, lots of people had never met the Chick in person and Ross' brother had just opened his new dental office.

Plans were made, visits were scheduled and we were ready to go.  And, as luck would have it, within an hour of needed to leave the oldest of my klutz's tripped and fell outside managing to cut open his top and bottom lips in the process.  He was screaming and bleeding everywhere.  His screaming caused the other one to start screaming and when our dad walked through the door we had a whole big mess of boogers and blood and tears going on.

Good thing I had not yet put on my travel clothes.

We managed to get both boys calmed down and ironically, to sleep, 15 minutes before we needed to head to the airport.

The flight was (thank heavens) uneventful.  The boys were angels.  Yeah boys!

Our quick weekend was also uneventful - which is pretty unusual for us when we travel.  Minus leaving bottles in the fridge in the room we'd just checked out of and having to return once we'd realized we'd left them behind, everything was okay.

We got to see great grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins galore.  The boys had a blast playing with everyone and Ross and I had a great time catching up.

Thank you family for humoring us on our visit.

My baby girl!

I knew, the minute I went out of town last week (more on that later) that my very pregnant sister would have her baby.

She did. 24 hours after I left the state.

It's okay though.

I had to wait a couple of days to see her, but last night I got to hold my baby girl.

Oh, I love her! She is absolutely the cutest thing in the world and has beautiful skin and hair and was wearing an adorable green bow in her hair.

My boys just went "ga ga" over her. Elliott held her and kissed her head and Wyatt tried to eat her. It was precious.  And, my husband held her - doesn't he look good holding a baby girl?  On the drive home last night I asked him if i could have one - a baby girl - he told me no, not right now.  Rats!

 Before we left, hoping there was a chance, I asked my niece if she wanted to come home with me.  My mom was there and she laughed - she and my sister had apparently been talking just before I got there about the fact that I would want to take Miss Molly home with me.

My sister told me no.  But that I could come and visit.

Before I left though, my girl and I had a quiet talk.  I told her that I love her and she smiled.  Two days old and she knows what's up.

Or...she was mocking me.  Just like everyone else in the family. 

The Squirt:: ONE YEAR!

Hi Baby Boy.

Today, at 1:39 pm you turn one year old.

You are the best boy and I love you so much.  I love your energy and your enthusiasm. I love that you are tentative about new people and new places.  I love that you are sneaky and quiet and surprise me.  I love that you cuddle with me all day long and that you like to be around me.

I love how you dance, your sense of humor, and watching you walk all over the house.  You have the widest baby stance I've ever seen.

I love that you love your brother, yell "Elliott" all day long and that your favorite thing to do is play with your brother - on the bed, outside, in the stroller.  He is your best friend.  That's awesome.

I love that you say "ball" and that when we say "pass" you know what to do.  I love that when we went to Wheeler Farm in less than 10 minutes you figured out that the animals making all the noise were ducks, you started to say duck and then you started quacking.  You've been quacking every since...even if you think the stuffed chicken is a duck.



I love to watch you climb and figure things out.  That brain of yours is a machine.  You are so busy during the day that I can only imagine what you think about at night - I bet you have the most vivid dreams.  In the last week you figured out how to blow a whistle - it's pretty amazing and you know just how cool you are to be able to do it.

It doesn't happen often, but I really am at a loss of words.  The last year has flown by.  Really.  JUST FLOWN BY.  Thanks for being the cool, kick back little buddy that you are.  I've said it over and over again this past year but you are the calm in our storm.

We love you lots and lots.

(now, watch the giant video with pictures from the last year that I was too frustrated to resize.)

a day for mom???

Yesterday was like any other day.  It's always a bit sad to me when for some convoluted reason I have really high expectations for something and then nothing happens in return.

I probably ought to stop doing that.

Yesterday morning however my boy gave me a present.  He made it at preschool all by himself.  I was so proud of how proud he was to give it to me.  The flower pot with pens and "bean dirt" came with as much love a three year old could muster on a Sunday morning when he just wanted to stay in bed (his words, not mine.).

And I'm pretty grateful for that.

CongratUlations

This is Elliott's favorite Uncle James.

Whenever he sees my sister he says, "Haley, where is Uncle James?"

Yesterday James graduated with his bachelors degree in nursing from the UNIVERSITY OF UTAH.

Go Utes!

Go James!

I was so happy to be able to attend the commencement ceremony and join everyone for burgers afterwards.

James, we are so very proud of you and so happy to have you as a member of our family.

Icky, icky, ick!

I've mentioned before that we hired a handyman.

To do handy things around the house.

Like install an additional light on the stairs that go to the basement so they aren't so dark.

The boys and I were eating a snack when "Nathan, the handy Manny guy" was doing his thing.

Suddenly and without warning he said, "Whoa, look at this!"

I looked.  And then I shuddered and got wigged out and babbled some incoherent scaredy cat dribble.

There was a mouse in the plug outlet box thing.  A dead mouse.

See

As you can see from the picture it wasn't very big nor was it very decomposed.  Which means that it hasn't been in the house (in the walls?) for too long.  Which means that I might have mice in my house.

Which basically means that I want to move.  We've got no idea how the little vermin got in there, figure that it was probably electrocuted to death, and it was in the plug box that the Chick plays with all the time.

Lovely.

Plague!

I might itch my skin off.

You got me! I wish I were a choir nerd.

Okay, not really. I never wanted to be in choir. We didn't even have a glee club in high school and the madrigals were super weirdos.

Seriously. Weirdos.

That being said, I am a fan of music. I think that most of us have a soundtrack for our lives. You know you do. There is always music in my head, on my ipod, in the car. Secretly, I think that I've always wished that I had music playing as part of my life all day long - my own live soundtrack. Like, if something good was going to happen, the background music would Que something sweet and beautiful. Or, if I was about to do something fun, a song with a good beat that I could dance to would start playing for all to hear.

You get the idea, right?

Anyway - I've started watching Glee on hulu every week. Letting out my inner concert choir-er and sitting on my bed, in the dark, so no one can see me sing along, smile, and have flashbacks to when I wished I was Sandy in Grease.

Or Samantha Baker from 16 candles but that's another story.

The show is cheesy and a bit irreverent with some one line zingers that are absolutely hilarious. I'm enjoying myself a bit too much. Especially this week when the music was campy and old top 40's. Vanilla Ice. MC Hammer.

And Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart".

I watched it four times in a row.

And now, you must watch it too. You can thank me later.

Happy Birthday!

DSCN2870, originally uploaded by bookemdano1978.

Yesterday was his birthday. I forgot to post.

Sorry Ross.

I think I made up for it with dinner (A honey baked ham) and a birthday card about boogers and a really awesome birthday gift (An amazon kindle).

I love you! The boys do too.

Happy Birthday.