Children are like…..

Popsicles…they can melt in your arms.

Sandpaper…they can rub your patience raw

Dynomite….they can blow when ignited

The Sun….they can light up a room

Breaking The Sound Barrier…when a few of them are gathered their voices combined if harnassed could travel around the world a multitude of times

Rainbows….they come in many different colors which put together are all beautiful and compliment each other

Nails On A Chalkboard….their whine has the same effect on me

The Energizer Bunny….”they keep going and going and going”

Snow On The Mountain (it’s a flower)- their lives start so small yet they seem to overtake without anyone noticing

Lucky Charms - The privilage to have them is so rare that it isn’t taken lightly!

Think of your own and add them!

This last year my husband’s sister received the ultimate gift for her. She was given a kidney. Before that Auntie K did dialysis 2-3 days a week. It basically took away her freedom. She herself is a very independent lady. Yes, she is physically handicap and may be a touch simpler than most but you would understand if you met her that she did not let that stand in her way.
Years ago she had a kidney transplant that did not take. We were worried about this one. As I sat in her hospital room talking with her I asked her what she wanted to do the most if the kidney transplant took and she could have her life back. She told me without question she wanted to go to Disney World. Kind of a tall order. Yet, I promised her that if she recovered and there weren’t any problems that we would go in the year 2009.
She called me over the weekend and asked me how serious I was about the promise. I told her that I try to always keep my promises. She wanted to know if she saved $20.00 a month if that would be enough to go to Disney. As I did the math I knew it would not be enough. She lives on very little that she gets from Social Security. I just told her that it would be enough and we would make it work. She started to cry. I asked her what could possibly be wrong. She referred to the song from Disney, “A dream is a wish your heart makes when you’re fast asleep.” I did not quite get it. She explained that she had a dream from the first time she went when she was a little girl that she would go back. When she fell asleep to have her surgery, she drempt of Disney World.
We have to take her. I can’t wait to take her. Unfortunately it won’t happen until 2009. The money to do it won’t be available until then. It’s not something we can afford at the drop of a hat to take our family plus her. I know that we will need to pay for most of the things she will do. It honestly doesn’t matter though. We would do it regardless. If Disney was what got her through surgery and recovery then her wish is our command. She will be the Belle of the ball next year. I can’t wait to take her.

A. Rush them through a cycle in the washing machine and hope to God their dampness won’t give you a rash

B. Sniff everything in the dirty clothes and beg the skivies almighty that you accidentally threw an extra pair of clean in the dirty for kicks and grins

C. Look briefly at the fact that your husband has 10 pairs still in his drawer and think long and hard about sneaking a pair.

D. Ditch C….you don’t even want to go there

E. Go Comando!

F. Go Comando to the store to get new underwear. Get pulled over by the cops because your license plate is not properly displaying when you renewed your plates. Pray to God that you don’t get frisked. Officer asks you to get out of the car toview plates. You chose to wear gouchos and there’s a funky breeze up your pant leg. Officer notices that you are fidgety and asks if you have been drinking. You fess up that you are just merely embarrassed because you can’t lie and spill your guts that you have had a rough underwear morning. Officer can’t quite compute the story. He can’t keep a straight face. His brain short circuts. Asks to be excused. Lets go with warning.

Tried all 6. Still think the officer is somewhere getting oxygen from splitting his side in laughter. I think it was the best story he’s heard in ages. I wonder if he thinks it was an excuse. If he only knew it was the truth.

Ever heard of Hyperspastic Sickness? I am convinced that HB has it. If he gets the green light to stay home from school because he’s sick, he celebrates by doing laps around the house. How is that possible? He didn’t even drop when nap time came. He was up singing with the birds this morning. His nose was just nasty yesterday so I didn’t send him to school. I kind of regretted it after about 5 minutes. I started using the, “School isn’t out. I will take you if you don’t calm down. You seem to be fine!” So the little bugger was watching the clock. When it hit 3:30 his comment was,”Now I can run around like a wild chicken, because you can’t take me to school. You know…I’M SICK!” Then he followed up that comment with running nearly 100 laps around the kitchen. The celebration was cut short with my comment, “There’s still after school care.” **blink blink…..”You wouldn’t do that would you?” OH, Temptation Island has nothing on a little peace and quiet!!

We have a new term in our house for passing gas. Just so everyone knows…it’s now Gadacious Gollywhopper. Consider yourself informed. I was…this morning. I personally think it should be gagacious gollywhopper. He does not agree.

We made a vow to ourselves as we held our little baby girl that we would not have her sleep in our bed. HH traveled all the time and when he came home it needed to be our time. This went well with HG because she liked to sleep in her own bed, her own terms and on her schedule. Then we had HB. HB had his own set of priorities. The first one on his list….to not be like his sister.
HB wanted to snuggle at all costs. His lungs were made of steele. He could have yelled for hours if left to himself. I loved to snuggle with him, but there were times I just did not want to be touched. I can’t explain it. I just wanted to left alone at points if only for a moment. I felt like a terrible mom. How could I not want that all the time? I realized that no one that I knew wanted to have a child attached like glue to them at all moments of the day.
HB has made it a habit to try to come into our bed at dark thirty in the morning on Saturday mornings. This bugs me to no extent especially because HH will have just gotten into town the night before. He’s normally exhausted so we just go to bed. There’s no time for anything because we are pooped beyond belief. Early Saturday mornings we wake up just in time to hear the little footsteps coming down the stairs. I generally give in and let him come in, but no more. The defector had to be dealt with and returned to his own bed this weekend. He tried to join us at 3:30 AM! I don’t know what rooster in his head went off to even think that 3:30 was the time to wake up and try to come to bed with us. He was quickly dealt with and given his packing slip back to his own bed.
When we finally did get up on Saturday at 8:00 he was a bit put out that we had sent him packing. He informed me that he would not be joining us any longer. This was suppose to be a punishment. I’ll take that punishment!! May be I’ll get some sleep and a little more!

Someone asked me the other day what they really needed when they packed their bags for the hospital when having a baby. Considering with our first one we forgot the bag completely I knew the difference between being prepared and not prepared. The lists people have go on and on so you tend to bring everything but the kitchen sink. A simple list is really all that’s needed to go to the hospital in a pinch.
1. A loose fitting outfit to wear holme - this is just in case you end up with a c section. Never fun to wear tight stuff home with an incision.
2. An outfit, a few diapers, wipes and a blanket for the baby. If you are nursing then don’t worry about a bottle. If you aren’t nursing then a bottle with formula. Enough for one may be two feedings. Don’t pack like I did and have enough to feed the nursery!
3. If you must bring a curling iron, blow dryer and limited makeup then go for it. Definately a brush.
4. If you are doing concentration points then bring the object you are focusing on.
5. Music if you want it. CD
6. Something to do while you wait in labor.

Bring as little as you possibly can. Here’s the reason. The more you have the more responsible you have to be for your things. Why not have more fun consentrating on the baby?

I haven’t been around. Have you noticed. Oh I am sure you have. I have in fact been dealing with a situation and HG’s school. I am not happy about it at all. In fact I am so unhappy about it that I am going to let you in on it. It deals with a dead mouse, mittened hands, and bullying.
HG came home on Monday quite pale. When I asked her what was wrong she started to cry and of course told me nothing. I reassured her that everything would be ok. I had hoped that she would let me in, but I could not get through. Monday evening she finally confided in me. She started with explaining that she hoped I wouldn’t be upset with her. I told her to just let me know whatwas wrong. Then the floodgates were opened. She explained how at school the group she hangs out with came upon a dead mouse on the playground. She went to go tell her teacher about it but one of the girls picked it up with her glove and explained that it was so cute and how she had to keep it. She then made a bed for it and put it down. One of the other girls (that generally picks very hard on HG) picked up the mouse and gave it a little squish. She then got grossed out and threw it over the fence behind them. After that she proceeded to wipe her mittened hands on HG’s face. HG is EXTREMELY germaphobic. In complete horror she stood there and took the abuse. She did not know how to react. She did not want to be a tattle tale. She wanted to do the right thing and just take it. She’s a by the book kind of gal.
As she was explaining thing I felt my anger get hotter and hotter. The girl that picks on her is the principal’s daughter and is generally untouchable. That HG also knew. She felt embarrassed and horrified. I told her that we would handle it but we would wait to see what came of it.
The next day she was a little grey, but I kind of figured she would be. The day after that she was definately not feeling well. I was volunteering in the lunch room that day. I explained to her teacher that I would probably be taking her out early. I needed to get her to the doctor. I felt that it might have something to do with what had happened. I then explained to her what had happened. She was mortified.
I took HG to the doctor and as it turned out she had strept. The short term test showed nothing but the long term test showed she had it. They also took samples from her nose, ears, throat, and then drew blood. Because of the rodent issues in Colorado with diseased rodents they decided to error on the side of safety. This of course was a horrible experience for her. They wanted to rule as much out as possible.
Today the teacher pulled me aside. She informed me that she addressed the situation with the parents in question. The children were given in house suspension. This meant that they had to go to school and do their work but all by themselves in the detention room. The teacher took it seriously and wanted to make sure that I knew that it had been addressed.
So, what did I do this last week? Nothing fun that’s for sure. Thinking about a dead rat gives me the willies.

HH’s birthday is Saturday. I never know what to get him. He never wants anything. I am once again clueless on what he wants. I thought about an Amazon Gift Certificate since I am forever getting books delievered to the house. I thought about a new gadget. We are going to Europe this summer so I may not get him anything.
May be I will enroll myself in Weight Watchers. He’s been trying to convince me of that since before the surgery. A healthier me. Is that a selfish present?

After the week like last week I had to take a moment to breathe. As I was relaxing I looked over and saw HB playing with his cars on the kitchen floor. I promptly went over to my computer and looked at on old video I had on my computer from when the children were tiny. I realized as I heard my chubby cherub faced little boy say, “SHEESE” for the camera that I miss those moments. I miss that time when they were just babies. My children to me are the most beautiful little people on this earth.
Trace Adkins just came out with a new song that says it all. There are moments that I wish my life away by dreaming and planning. In those moments I fail to see the beauty of the second that is sitting in front of me. There that second was sitting there playing on the floor with his cars. That beautiful second that just a day ago I was so frustrated with that I could have screamed.
I’m counting today. I am counting the hairs on their heads, the freckles on their noses, their fingers and toes and the fact that in fact they are wonderfully healthy. I would miss this if I did not savor every moment with them. I use to giggle when the old ladies would snuggle me as a child and sniff my hair while they were rocking me. I would hear them over and over say, “I miss my babies” and “Where did the time go?” I now understand that I should not have wished their time away. I use to want the time to hurry until they were potty trained, sleeping through the night, off the binki, and not carrying around their blanket. Those moments for me are gone. Now I don’t so much mind. I can wait. I can definately wait.

*HB and HG should you ever read this…..I love you move than my words can explain.