It’s been a bit

Wow, it’s been a little bit since I last posted anything. Sorry about that, we’ve had a busy week. Let’s see…last Monday, we kept Tank home from school because he wasn’t feeling well. That night we noticed a raised rash of red bumps all over his chest and back. In the morning, there were more, and even more appeared when I stuck him in the bath. It looked for sure like we had a case of chickenpox on our hands. Fortunately for all of us, but especially the Mr, it was not chickenpox. About 2 or 3 weeks before, Tank had a whole bunch of vaccinations he had to catch up on. When we switched him from the old doctor to our family doctor, they either misread his chart or something, and told us we were all up to date on everything. Long story short, in order to continue with school, Tank had to have 6 shots. Apparently 2 of those have side effects of causing rashes a few weeks after injection.

We didn’t find out it wasn’t chicken pox until the end of the week, so he stayed home all week. Let me tell you, I about went crazy. I had to be careful not to take him anywhere, because I didn’t want him getting any other kids infected, which made getting him out to run off his energy quite a chore. Luckily he’s going back today, so yay! He’s been upset about not going to school this week and I could REALLY use the 2 hours to myself.

In other news, we got our tree put up this weekend. It doesn’t sound like much, until you count the fact that I had to take all the kids toys, and cut that in half. I’ve got a pile of toys and books I need to take to Good Will this week. Tank was a big help for the tree. The Mr and I put it together, and put on the tinsel and lights, but Tank did the star about about 1/3 of all the ornaments. Our tree may not be the most elegant looking tree ever, but it was decorated with love. I usually unplug the tree before I go to bed and plug it back in when I wake up. This morning, I was doing some other stuff and simply forgot to plug it in. About 30 minutes after we had woken up, Tank comes up to me saying “I want Christmas tree, please!” He loves that thing. Yesterday, he woke up from his nap, came out, grabbed a box of crackers, and plopped himself down in front of the tree while munching away. Not the tv, the tree. The lights aren’t even the twinkling kind, they just stay on. It’s adorable.

Alright everyone, I have some stuff I have to get done before it’s time for Tank to go to the bus, so I have to go. I’ll be back later. I promise I’ll be better at this now.

I’m Back

Sorry it’s been a bit since I posted. This week has been a bit crazy. Our internet was down for a day, from Thursday to Friday thanks to a mix up. Then we had our show on Friday, ran around on Saturday, and yesterday we were kind of just catching our breath.  It doesn’t help that Tank is fighting a cold. He’s got the fever, cough, all the fun things that go along with being sick, especially this time of year.

We’ve spent the weekend trying to get Tank to a point where he’d be well enough to go to school, but it just isn’t going to happen today. I’m actually about to go call him out .

We also spent the weekend trying to decide if we were going to add to our family. As you may or may not know, we’ve got 1 cat and 2 rats right now. This weekend we were trying to decide if we were going to adopt a cat.  We found one we fell in love with, but decided to hold off for the moment. We’ll think about it for a week or so, then make our decision.

Alright, I’m going to leave you for now. I’m working on my post regarding the show we went to, so stay tuned!

Christmas Elf

So the morning show we listen to, Tim and Willy on KMLE 108, are doing a breakfast show at night this Friday. This is the last year they’ll be doing this, so they’re really trying to make sure those who want to go get to go. Well, one of their listeners, who has been to every BSatN, bought a bunch of tickets and was giving them away for free. Well, the Mr and I have been chosen to receive a pair of those tickets! So on Friday night, thanks to an anonymous Christmas Elf (as she calls herself), we’ll get to go to this show. We’ll get to meet Tim and Willy, David Dean who does the second shift and with whom my husband has a total bromance with, as well Twitter Kim. She’s one of the Twitter friends we have that we’ve never actually met in person. Well, we’ve never met Tim and Willy or David Dean, either. We’re pretty excited! Jordan Sparks and Lauren Alaina will be there, along with a comedian my husband knows of. Apparently it’s all kinds of fun, they’ve got skits and things they do. Most importantly, it’ll be a night the Mr and I have off from the kids, where we can do something outside the house.

Tonight we’re actually doing something, too. If you’re from Arizona, you’ve probably heard of Booksman’s. It’s a local bookstore that buys and sells all kinds of things, like instruments, sporting equipment, music, movies, books, games, etc. Anyway, they’re on Twitter and tonight they’re holding a Tweet-up at their Phoenix location as a thank you to their customers/followers. I’m not sure how many people are actually attending besides the staff, but the Mr, Tank, and I will definitely be there. One, it’ll be nice to get more involved in the Twitter and local community, and two, their our favorite bookstore ever, so of course we want to support them.

Outside of those two things, this week and weekend will be focused on doing a deep clean. You know, one of those where you scrub the walls, the ceiling fan, and the blinds. Yeah, one of those. Anyway, the apartment definitely needs it, especially if we’re going to put our big tree up. I’ve still got to figure out if we’re going to put that up or not. Here’s the thing…I’ve got an area it could go, except there’s a dead tv there. Yes, we’ve got a broken tv taking up a part of our dining room. It died a while ago and, if it was smaller, weighed less, or we weren’t on the second floor, would have been gone long before now. I’m hoping we’ll be able to get it out of here this weekend. We’ve got it sitting on an old comforter that needs to be thrown out, so maybe we can use that. What we could really use is 2 really strong guys to get this out of here. Hey, you know anyone that can help? Ha ha. I’m actually going to see if the complex has a moving dolly we can borrow. With that, we might be able to get it taken care of with just the 2 of us, though both of us will certainly be hurting after moving it.

Question of the Day: What do you have planned for this week and weekend?

Thanksgiving

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, yay! It’s one of my favorite holidays, wouldn’t you know? My absolute favorite is Christmas/Yule with Thanksgiving being right behind it. I love getting together with my family, and just hanging out. This is the first time since 2006 I’ll have actually celebrated Thanksgiving with my parents. In 2008, after Tank was born, we went to their house for pie, but I don’t count that as having Thanksgiving with them. The problem comes from usually having to share the day with my daughter’s dad and my parents usually go to their parents house for part of the day. It usually throws our day all off with timing and just doesn’t work out. This year, however, we’ve got my daughter the whole day!

Thanksgiving has become more laid back for my parents, especially since my sister and I moved out. This year, my parents took their camper up to the lake and that’s where we’ll be having our Thanksgiving. No TV for my hubby and step-mom to  watch the game on. Of course, downside means no TV to help distract the kids, lol. I’m not even entirely sure if we’ll be sitting at a table or in a circle on camping chairs. The Mr has to work on Friday, and Princess is going to her dad’s Thursday evening instead of Friday like usual since he has the day off, or else we’d probably wind up camping up there for the weekend.

This weekend I’m going to do some cleaning and figure out where our tree is going. I’m one of those people who just can’t bring myself to decorate or listen to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving. The spot where we normally put it? Yeah, our desks now occupy those spots. The space where the desks used to be? That’s where the rat cage is. It’s entirely possible we’ll just be doing a table top tree this year. Princess was given this tree a few years ago, it’s about 3 feet tall, has some lights, is purple, and has Tinkerbell ornaments for it. If we can’t find a space for our big tree, we’ll just use that one. It’ll work, lol. If we do that, it’ll give me 2 more strings of lights to decorate the house with. Win-win either way!

Question of the Day: How are you spending your Thanksgiving? When do you normally decorate for Christmas/Yule/Chanukah?

First days

So on Thursday Tank had his first day of his new preschool. I stayed there for the first 30 minutes, which is pretty much where they take everyone potty, then get settled to eat lunch. Tank was all about exploring the room and didn’t really care if I was there. Well, until his teacher made him actually stop what he was doing. It was time for him to put up his backpack and sit down for lunch. Well, he wanted nothing to do with it. It probably didn’t help that I chose that time to leave. According to his teacher, he actually did pretty well for a first-timer. He’s never been in daycare or preschool before. The first 30 minutes after I left he cried, then he fell asleep. After a quick nap, he was joining everyone in their activities. So while the first half of the day was kind of a disaster, the second half went much better. On Friday he went again. This time I dropped him off at the gate, like the other parents. I gave him a hug and a kiss and sent him on through. He went on just fine, grabbed his place in line, and went off with the other kids like he was an old pro. When I picked him up that afternoon, his teacher said he’d had a good day, so he seems to have adapted to school pretty easy.

Today is Monday and not only does he go back to school, he’s taking the bus, too. Here’s where I start getting really nervous. See, the thing is, Tank hates, hates, HATES SUVs and trucks. I mean, like screaming bloody murder when he’s in one type of hate. They scare him so bad. Usually, if I’m riding with him, I can get him to calm down after like 5 minutes. If I’m not riding with him, it takes longer, sometimes 20. His bus ride is a little under 30 minutes, so I hope, for the driver’s sake, he doesn’t scream the whole way there.

Ms. A, his teacher, said the driver is really good and plays all sorts of silly music. She also said it may take him up to 2 weeks to get used to riding the bus. I’m hoping, since he’ll be riding it 2 times a day, 4 days a week, that he’ll get used to it pretty quick. My other hope is, he’ll see the other kids from his class on board, notice they aren’t having problems, and take a cue from them. Of course, he could surprise us all and not even be bothered by it, though I’m pretty sure I’d faint if he did that.

We’re T-minus 2 hours until pick up. I keep going around saying “Yay school! Yay bus!” hoping to kinda get him in a “oh this is fun!” mind set. We’ll see what happens. Wish all of us luck!

Preschool

So Tank (I didn’t like the way Goat sounded) starts his developmental preschool tomorrow. He’ll be taking the bus to and from preschool every day he’s there, except for this week. See, when I was getting him set up for daycare, I was supposed to call the transportation number to get the bus all set up. With the thousands of things I was doing that week, it completely slipped my mind. This is kind of a win-win. I’ll be able to drop him off, which will help my momxiety, and his teacher said I could stay for a few minutes, see the class, that sort of thing. I’ll be taking him and picking him up Thursday and Friday, possibly Monday as well, but he should be taking the bus by then.

Last night we went and picked his new backpack. We found him a Lightening McQueen one. We put it on him, to make sure it wouldn’t be too big, and he wouldn’t take it off. He kept it on throughout the store, even through the checkout lane. Thank the Gods they have scanner guns, he was NOT going to take that off until he had to. As soon as we got home he put it back on. It’s just too adorable!

See what I mean? He just loves it!

Tomorrow will be an interesting morning. I’ll have 2 1/2 hours to myself, though I’m not sure what I’ll do. I’m thinking about heading to the gym, take my mind off him being in class. I’m pretty sure there will be tears, on my part for sure, possibly on his part.

Either way, it’s part of him growing up. As I’ve said before, it’s possible he’s the last child I’ll have, so I’m extremely aware of all his milestones. I may never go through this, again. Oh, well I’m a bit of a mess this morning, aren’t I? I’m going to sign off for a bit, get some stuff done to keep my mind off everything, plus to try to clean up. Oooh, that’ll be another upside to having no Tank for 2 1/2 hours. I can clean, uninterrupted. Obviously I’ll still have Princess when she’s here, but the time Tank is gone is during nap time, so most of that time she’ll be asleep.

Alright ya’ll, I’ll catch you later.

Birthday Girl!

Today my beautiful daughter turns 5! I remember this day, in a combination of clarity and haze. I had a normal pregnancy with Princess until I hit about 34 weeks. At 34 1/2 weeks I was admitted to the hospital with complications resulting from preeclampsia. At 35 weeks, I was induced. At 12:46 pm, weighing a whopping 3 lbs 11 oz, she made her way in to the world. She was small, and had no fat on her, but otherwise we were very lucky, she was healthy. I stayed for 2 days, while the doctor made sure my blood pressure went back down. Princess was released the day after I left, much to everyone’s relief.

Other than a slight hiccup regarding jaundice (which is quite normal for preemies), she did great! She ate and gained weight like a champ.

Before I knew it, she was a year old!

Here she is, on her first birthday, eating her ice cream cake.

We got really lucky. Some preemies have severe delays, but once she hit a year old, she was right along side her peers in development.

I got pregnant with Tank when she was 15 months old. I was so worried about how she would react, being a big sister at 2 years old.

This is her second birthday party. She just loves being a big sister.

She has become such a smart little girl. She’s so loving, has a great imagination and sense of humor. She is a wonderful helper, who loves to cook and give great big cuddles.

Here’s her 3rd birthday party, getting ready to teach her brother the ropes on blowing out the candles on a cake.

Showing off her present on her 4th birthday.

She’s a wonderful girl, who wants to be a doctor, rock star, astronaut when she grows up.

She came in to this world on her own terms, when she wanted, how she wanted, and it’s pretty much how she lives day to day.

She’s my baby girl, always will be no matter how old she is. I love you, sweetheart, happy 5th birthday!

Have you started making plans for the upcoming holiday season?

I love the holidays. I’m very much a family person and love that holidays are another time for us to all get together. I love helping my mom in the kitchen at Thanksgiving, and waking up to coffee and cinnamon rolls at her house on Christmas morning. Yes, I still enjoy going to my mom’s house on Christmas morning. Since we’re in an apartment, it’s a bit hard to get everyone over here for the holidays. We’ve been there, been cramped in for that. Normally, I’m one of those people who doesn’t plan far in advance. For years, I had a schedule with my family that worked well, and we stuck to it. Having kids changes all of that.

It’s especially difficult when you share custody of a child. My daughter spends half her time with me, half with her dad. We split all holidays (we each get her for part of the day) and her birthday (generally). Being married introduces a whole new set of people to visit. We only get Princess for half the day, so we have to make it count. Take last year for example. We had her for the beginning of the day, had to have her back to her dad’s by 2. My parents were spending their morning across town and wouldn’t be back until the afternoon, so we couldn’t spend Thanksgiving with them. We were able to join my grandparents and extended family for part of the day, so at least we got to celebrate some of Thanksgiving, even if it wasn’t the celebration we initially wanted.

If you think Thanksgiving is fun, then you’re going to love Christmas. We’ve got to get time with my grandparents, my parents, the Mr’s family (if they’re in town) and have to make sure Princess has time with her dad and his family. This year will actually be pretty easy. We’ll schedule Christmas with my grandparents for a weekend before or after the actual day. We get her in the morning, so we’ll probably spend the night with my parents so we can have our morning there. Then she’ll go off to her dad’s in the afternoon and we’ll relax the rest of the day. This will only be affected if any of the Mr’s family decides to drive up for the holiday. They’re all about 2-3 hours south of us. In that case, we’ll have to try to schedule something with them, too.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to try to figure out everything for the joint birthday party we’re holding for the kids next weekend. Yes, it’s a week away and I’m not entirely sure what’s going on with it. Hey, not my fault, I was waiting to see what the weather would be like.

Question of the Day

How do you spend your holidays?

Think Before You Speak

Okay, so I’m working on a post right now, but in the meantime, I want to share something funny I got in my email today. Here you go.

Here are six reasons why you should think before you speak! Have you ever spoken and wished that you could immediately take the words back…. Here are the Testimonials of a few people who did…. FIRST TESTIMONY: I walked into a hair salon with my husband and three kids in tow and asked loudly, ‘How much do you charge for a shampoo and a blow job?’ I turned around and walked back out and never went back My husband didn’t say a word.. he knew better. SECOND TESTIMONY: I was at the golf store comparing different kinds of golf balls… I was unhappy with the women’s type I had been using. After browsing for several minutes, I was approached by one of the good-looking gentlemen who works at the store. He asked if he could help me. Without thinking, I looked at him and said, ‘I think I like playing with men’s balls’ THIRD TESTIMONY: My sister and I were at the mall and passed by a store that sold a variety of candy and nuts. As we were looking at the display case, the boy behind the counter asked if we needed any help. I replied, ‘No, I’m just looking at your nuts.’ My sister started to laugh hysterically. The boy grinned, and I turned beet-red and walked away.. To this day, my sister has never let me forget. FOURTH TESTIMONY : While in line at the bank one afternoon, my toddler decided to release some pent-up energy and ran amok. I was finally able to grab hold of her after receiving looks of disgust and annoyance from other patrons. I told her that if she did not start behaving ‘right now’ she would be punished. To my horror, she looked me in the eye and said in a voice just as threatening, ‘If you don’t let me go right now, I will tell Grandma that I saw you kissing Daddy’s pee-pee last night!’ The silence was deafening after this enlightening exchange. Even the tellers stopped what they were doing. I mustered up the last of my dignity and walked out of the bank with my daughter in tow. The last thing I heard when the door closed behind me, were screams of laughter. FIFTH TESTIMONY: Have you ever asked your child a question too many times? My three-year-old son had a lot of problems with potty training and I was on him constantly. One day we stopped at Taco Bell for a quick lunch, in between errands It was very busy, with a full dining room. While enjoying my taco, I smelled something funny, so of course I checked my seven-month-old daughter, she was clean. Then realized that Danny had not asked to go potty in a while. I asked him if he needed to go, and he said ‘No’ . I kept thinking ‘Oh Lord, that child has had an accident, and I don’t have any clothes with me.’ Then I said, ‘Danny, are you SURE you didn’t have an accident?’ ‘No,’ he replied. I just KNEW that he must have had an accident, because the smell was getting worse.. Soooooo, I asked one more time, ‘Danny did you have an accident ? This time he jumped up, yanked down his pants, bent over, spread his cheeks and yelled ‘SEE MOM, IT’S JUST FARTS!!’ While 30 people nearly choked to death on their tacos laughing, he calmly pulled up his pants and sat down. An old couple made me feel better, thanking me for the best laugh they’d ever had! LAST BUT NOT LEAST TESTIMONY: This had most of the state of Michigan laughing for 2 days and a very embarrassed female news anchor who will, in the future, likely think before she speaks. What happens when you predict snow but don’t get any! We had a female news anchor that, the day after it was supposed to have snowed and didn’t, turned to the weatherman and asked: ‘So Bob, where’s that 8 inches you promised me last night?’ Not only did HE have to leave the set,but half the crew did too they were laughing so hard! Now, didn’t that feel good? Pass it on to someone you know who needs a laugh and remember we all say things we don’t really mean, so think before you speak!!!

Helicopters, K-9 unit, and guns, oh my!

Two nights ago, after the Mr went to sleep, I moved back in to the living room. My laptop battery was getting low and my ears were hurting from my headphones, so I decided to watch the movie on the tv. Not long after I sat down, I heard a helicopter fly over head. Now, we don’t live in the “ghetto” or anything, but we do occasional have a police helicopter flying around. We’re near a mall AND a freeway, so it’s to be expected. Instead of just flying over, this chopper was flying in circles around our complex. I wasn’t too interested, until I heard someone shouting instructions over a megaphone.

Deciding to see what was up, I grabbed my jacket and stepped outside. From what I heard, someone had been running from the cops and had decided to hide, either in our complex or the little townhouse community right behind us. The guy on the megaphone was telling the criminal that they had police dogs and would be releasing them if he didn’t obey, that he would get bit by the dog, you know how it goes. I stayed outside for a few minutes, but then came back, mainly because the Mr woke up and came to see what was going on.

I tried to see what was going on through our bedroom window, but there’s a tree right outside it and you can’t see. I watched the chopper fly around for a bit, then eventually it went away. It was overhead between 30-45 minutes. Since it went away, I figure either they got their guy or he slipped through their nets and they were chasing him. I’m going with the “got him” theory because it scares me less.

I wish I could say this was the first time something like this happened…but it’s not. About a year ago, or so, something similar happened. We heard them yelling through the megaphone, wasn’t sure what was going on. We stepped outside the door, stood on the patio trying to figure out what was going on. As we were outside a swat/cop team walked past our building, obviously headed to where the criminal was.

It was both scary and exciting.

Question of the Day:

Have you ever been close to a police situation?