Bad, bad, mommy

Tuesday was our first morning trip to the pool with Terri and her kids. We've been in the evenings a couple of times...Let's not beat around the bush, I forgot to put on Abbie's sunscreen. I got the boys before we left home but she had already gotten in the car. I got her face at the pool but then somehow forgot the rest of her. She got fried. I feel like the worst mother ever.

It may not have been quite as bad if we had left when we planned to-before noon, but we ended up staying until nearly 2:00. We had our friend Weslyn and her kids come too. All the kids were having so much fun, and since Weslyn had to pay $5 per person we wanted to make sure she got her money's worth.

So now, June is pretty much over, and we've made 1 official pool trip. I was out of service for 10 days from my wisdom teeth, then Abbie's camp. Now with sunburn to heal and Abbie's and Coop's T&A removal on 7/5 we won't be going back to the pool for a couple more weeks. I'm wondering if it was even worth it to join this year, oh well.

Also, when you put on your boy's sunscreen, go way down below their waistbands. Cooper ended up with a bit of a burn too. He has a red ring at the bottom of his torso where his swim suit slid down when it got wet. Better yet, just slather your kids up from head to toe then get them dressed. That way your sure not to miss a spot :)

Silver Lining: Abbie now knows the purpose of sunscreen, and she says she will never again complain about having to put it on.

9 days and counting

Tim has 9 days left at work. He is going into business for himself; he and his step-mom. She's been in taxes and accounting for 20 years and Tim's the IT guru. They are combining their areas of expertise to become a finance and technology support source for small to medium businesses. It's a scary step for us. We've never been without a guaranteed paycheck and company benefits, but somehow I know this is the right thing for us to do and God will take care of us. I am so at peace with the long term outlook. Mostly because I know how Tim ticks. He's in his element. This is what he's been preparing for for a long time. The hard part is going to be getting used to the transitional phase. Harder still may be writing the check each month to the insurance company. I think it's going to be in the neighborhood of $800/month. Thank goodness the baby-making days are over because a maternity rider would be even more.

On top of all this, he is starting his MBA in August, one week after our 14th anniversary. Every other Friday and Saturday for 18 months. I've heard the horror stories about the toll it takes on a marriage. One college friend couldn't fix the problems in her marriage that began during her husband's pursuit. Maybe hearing the warnings is a good thing. Maybe it has helped prepare me a bit. I know it isn't going to be easy for either of us but I think it is part of my job as a wife to support the personal goals of my husband and in extension our goals for our family. On the tough days and late night study sessions I hope I can remember to fast-forward to Graduation Day when he has achieved one of his most desired goals and imagine how proud I will be.

Abbie's turning 7

Abbie's birthday is a week from tomorrow. I can't believe she is going to be 7. She's such a big girl now. I can't pick her up anymore. She doesn't really fit on my lap. There's no "baby" left in her face. It makes me so sad. But I also like that she's old enough to talk to. At least once a week we sit together in the big chair and stare at each other, nearly nose to nose, and just talk. I can't even remember what we talked about last time. I just remember staring into her big, bright, blue eyes and thinking how beautiful she is and how inquisitive she is. I know I'm her mom, and I have no problem letting her know it, but I am also enjoying having a friendship with her.

Flashback Friday

Being a newbie blogger, sometimes I just sit and click the "next blog" button to see what's out there. It usually takes several tries to get one in English but then I'll come across something pretty fun. One thing that I've started seeing a lot of is "theme day" posts. They're a day of the week when the post will always be about the same subject. I've seen an artist that always posts a new piece on Fridays, a mom that posts a new recipe every Wednesday. It's also a good way to post without having to think too hard about what to say.


This morning I was driving Abbie to Nature Camp @ Reynolda Gardens and I had a funny thought. I could do "Flashback Fridays". Scan in some old pictures and make fun of my friends, family and of course, myself. Maybe jot down an old memory or funny anecdote that I don't want to forget.


So here is the inagural "Flashback Friday" post. I had just the picture in mind: If Terri sees this she will probably kill me.


This was around 1987. Nice feathered hair and "mullet" cut :) Have to love the 80's make-up too. Pepto pink lips and purple eye shadow. Work it Baby! I have no idea where I got that shirt, but at least I had the collar up, well sort of. I'm sure we were going to, like, the mall or something. Awesome, dude.

I have no problem at all saying that I look way better now, 20 years later. Never would have thought that back then.

I'm going to find some of Tim's old mullet pictures. His was way prettier than mine!

Who am I?

I read my cousin's latest Post and it got me thinking about my own life. Let me start by saying that I feel incredibly blessed to have the life I live. God has been good to us. I am absolutely not complaining about any of it, except maybe the mounds of laundry that never get any smaller no matter how much I try.

I am an Oprah fan and she often asks her guests the same basic few questions:

"Who are you?" She usually presses for more if the guest responds with the standard "mother, wife, sister..." answer. Well, for me, I don't know any other answer than that. Why isn't that answer good enough.

"What is your bliss, what nurtures your spirit?" At this point in my life it is my kids. Hearing their laughter, watching them discover new things, experiencing their pride in accomplishment. Everything else pales in comparison.

"What do you know for sure?" I was meant to be a mother. So far in my 34 years it seems to be why He put me on this Earth. It's the oldest memory I have, the only thing I truly remember ever wanting to be.

I'm sure there are those people out there who don't get it, who think it is pathetic to have your entire identity defined by what you do rather than who you are. Well for me, what I do-raising our 3 kids-is who I am. Maybe one day I will go change the world, maybe, through my children, I already have.

Happy Fathers Day

Abbie and Cooper made their crowns a few days ago but in honor of Father's Day, they decided Tim needed one too.

I was feeling so pretty...

This morning was going so well. I had my follow-up appt. for my wisdom teeth @ 9am. I was up at 6:00 to start the morning rush. It is the first day in a week that I've put on make-up and fixed my hair, sorry honey, at least I did bathe several times. I even put on clothes that I couldn't pass off as pajamas. I had on my brand new shirt and even got a "Wow" from Tim as he headed out the door. Abbie and Coop were dressed and fed. Cam was next. So far so good. My goal was to leave the house at 8:00 so I could drop the kids off at Terri's with plenty of time to spare, maybe even stop to pick up some breakfast for everyone on my way over. Just have to grab Cam's passy and blankie and we're off! I can't believe it we're actually going to make it right on time! Pick up Cam to carry him down to the car... what's that noise, wait--what's that warm, moist feeling in my bra. What the @$&# is that smell?!? I can't believe my son just threw up down my shirt. I am completely, absolutely NOT believing this. Can I just wipe it off? NO. Do I even have any more clean shirts? Yes, thank goodness. Where's my other bra (because of the 12 in my drawer I only have 2 that fit). Whew, found it. A quick "Ho" bath, change of clothes and a squirt or 8 of my favorite non-perfume perfume Amazing_Grace and clean up Cam and then we can go. But of course, not a drop on Cam. His blankie saved him.

I'm sure there's a moral in this story somewhere. The cynic in me wants to say:

"Why bother, the world is just waiting for the chance to vomit on you".

But I think this is better:

"Sometimes all it takes to save the day is a blankie"

Summer has begun...

I decided to start off the Summer by having my wisdom teeth pulled. It was now or never since we may not end up getting dental coverage once we are paying for our insurance ourselves. I'm so glad I didn't take pictures. It's been 5 days now and I'm still pretty miserable. I can't imagine what a facelift must feel like. I'll never be finding out. I just want to eat something besides mashed potatoes. I'm out of the Vicodin they gave me and Ibuprofen just isn't the same, even when you take 4 at a time. I'm getting ready to send 2 kids outside to play and 1 to take a nap.

On the bright side, I've lost 3 pounds!

15 months

Cam had his 15 month checkup today. He weighs just under 25 lbs (50-55%), he's 33 inches long (95%), and 19 inch head circ. (75%). So I have a long skinny boy with a fairly large head. Sounds about right. I wish they had some tangible way to measure the daredevil factor. Every time I look in the playroom he's standing on top of something. We took out 2 of the chairs. I left a kid rocker in there but I'm not sure if that's wise.

This is Abbie's last week of school. Yeah! I'm looking forward to the Summer. Let's see what I say 2 weeks from now when the arguing and whining has already put me over the edge. We do have quite a bit planned so hopefully it will go smoothly. We joined our neighborhood pool so we hope to be up there at least twice a week. We're heading to Philly to see family. Tim will be out of town for a week in July. Abbie has a couple of day camps planned, one is the Young Naturalists camp at Reynolda Gardens and then Mad Science camp in August. I'm thinking about looking into piano lessons. One of my neighbors teaches it out of her home.

I need to find something for Cooper to start doing. He's ready for some kind of organized activity. He started kicking a ball around with his buddy last Sat. at Abbie's t-ball game. Maybe we'll try soccer for him soon. We wasted a lot of $ on activities for Abbie before she was really ready so Cooper is benefitting from wisdom I've gained after the first kid, ha-ha. It's a good thing Abbie's tough; I don't feel as bad about making all my mistakes on her.