Fatter and Fatter

Today was a productive day. My house is clean and I got a scrapbook page done. Sam and I went over to Sarah’s house this morning. She played with Parker while I scrapbooked with her and some of her neighbors. We had a lot of fun, laughed a lot and got some stuff done. The boys will be home from school soon and the driving back and for to scouts will begin. I don’t have too much to say, so I will share an incident that happened a week or so ago.

I was just getting out of the shower when Sam walked into the bathroom. She looked at me and said, “You are just getting fatter and fatter.” At first I didn’t know how to react. I knew I needed to say something, but I couldn’t think of how to word my response and not over react. Strangely, it hurt my feelings (I shouldn’t be taking a four year old seriously, but they always say “from the mouth of babes”). Finally, I responded, “Sam, that’s not a very nice thing to say (profound I know…).” She looked at me with her shoulders shrugged and replied, “Well, it’s true.”

What am I going to do with her? I am not sure I can let her loose in the world just quite yet, they might not be as understanding as her own mother.

Vexation

It poured rain for most of today and that has set the tone for my day. First thing this morning I noticed Josh had forgotten his homework, so I rushed that up to the school before dropping Sam off at preschool. Sarah, Jordan and I then went to Wal-Mart to pick up our pictures. Of course they were not done. The clerk tried to give us a sob story about the machine and getting kicked off network, blah, blah, blah…get my pictures done when you said they would be done.

We then spend the next hour and a half driving through horrible rain and traffic trying to find the building for Jordan’s dermatology appointment. Sam has been in a bad mood since I picked her up from school and is causing all kinds of mayhem. Helmut left today for Borger and won’t be back until Friday and I am wondering if my sanity will last.

I am reading Pride and Prejudice and came across this great quote. “A scheme of which every part promises delight, can never be successful; and general disappointment is only warded off by the defense of some little particular vexation.” Great words to live by, expect the worst and you won’t be disappointed.

Crazy Weekend!

What a crazy weekend we had! It started out pretty normal with two ball games on Saturday. Helmut played basketball in the morning. His team started out slow, but started to get things back together around the 3rd period. By that time we were already behind by about ten points. The other team was quite a bit shorter than our team, but very aggressive (they fouled a ton). Their littlest player, who couldn’t have been much taller then Sam, fouled out! We rallied back and by the time we only had about two minutes left in the game, we were tied. We fouled the other team and he made the free throw, but stepped over the foul line. We got the ball back and dribbled down to our goal. We shoot, we miss, we shoot, we miss, we shoot, buzzer goes off, we miss. We get fouled on the last shot before the buzzer. This poor eleven year old has to shoot two free throws after the buzzer. He misses the first one and looks like he may get sick to his stomach. He puts the next one up and makes it! The crowd went wild (everyone but the other team and their parents that is). Helmut was so thrilled.

Next stop, Josh’s baseball game. They did great the first two innings. They were ahead by five runs. In the third inning we fell victim to some bad pitching on our team and really good pitching from the other team. They weren’t playing as well as they could have. It came down to the wire with time expired and we are last up to bat. Bases are loaded and we need one run. Josh comes up to bat. He swings, he misses, strike one. Ball one. Ball two. Perfect pitch, strike two. Ball three. Ball four. Josh starts to head back to the dugout thinking he has struck out. Once we turned him around he walked to first and our winning run came home.

Now the day gets interesting. Judy had been at a birthday party for an old friend that morning. On touring her new home, she noticed they had a pet corn snake. She mentioned to her friend that Little Helmut was really interested in corn snakes. At that point her friend, Darlene, begged her to take the snake off her hands. She had found it at her old house and had been raising it for six years. All her kids are grown and out of the house and she didn’t want the snake any longer. I wish I had a picture of the look on Helmut’s face when I told him about the snake. After Josh’s baseball game, we drove over to Darlene’s house to pick up the snake. It is an Albino Butter Corn Snake that Helmut named Argos (Greek word for white). I am actually thrilled. It makes Helmut so happy, stays in its cage and doesn’t make any noise. He is the perfect pet. Stay tuned for the first live rat feeding!

Education

I feel like we are constantly being told that children these days are watching too much television. I am not sure I disagree, but I’m not sure it’s such a bad thing (bear in mind that I am a self proclaimed TV addict). Case in point…

I picked Sam up after preschool today and our first conversation went something like this.

Mom: How was your day?
Sam: A boy in class pooped in his pants and it was so stinky. It was such a bad stench.
Mom: A bad what?
Sam: A bad stench.
Mom: Where did you hear that word (thinking she was probably just repeating what a teacher had said about the incident)?
Sam: SpongeBob

Too much TV or just down right educational? You be the judge, but I am thinking the word stench is at least marginally advanced for a four-year-old’s vocabulary.

Snake Boy

So, the quest has begun. Little Helmut has been into snakes and reptiles for quite some time now. I believe it all started when he went to camp at the Heard Museum one summer. He has begged me on and off since then to get him a pet snake. This year his teacher, Mrs. Pruitt, has a pet corn snake named Solaris she keeps in the classroom (and wears around her neck most of the time). A few days ago, Helmut came home from school very excited because Mrs. Pruitt let him hold Solaris during class. I couldn’t resist his sweet science nerd face any longer. I told him he could get a snake (sorry Mom, I hope you will still come to visit if we promise to keep it in the garage while you’re here).

As a stall tactic, I told Helmut he had to earn all the money for the snake, habitat, food, etc. I also told him he was in charge of doing all the research about what he needed to buy and how he needed to care for the snake. I didn’t realize what a genius move this was until I looked on the Internet and found a corn snake hatchling costs between 75 and 100 dollars (not to mention the habitat cost around $100). In the meantime he walks around all day with a stack of 3 X 5 cards that contain all the information he had gathered so far. His goal is to earn all the money by the end of the year. How can I resist such a cute snake nerd boy?

Set back

We have had a temporary set back. No, the abscess is fine and about 99.9% healed. This set back is far more serious. It all started yesterday afternoon. I was in the car with Sarah, Jordan, Parker and Sam when we decided to kill a few extra minutes getting Jordan’s hair cut. On a whim, I decided Sam’s hair could use a trim as well. It had been looking a little stringy lately. I showed and explained to the nice hairdresser about the large hunk of hair missing out of the back of Sam’s hair. I told her, I wasn’t quite ready to go short enough to be completely rid of the missing hunk, but could she do anything else with it (while taking off about an inch in the back). She assured me it was no problem, a few layers, good as new. Once Sam hopped out of the chair it was looking really short, but I was trying to tell myself it looked just fine. Then Sarah piped in with something about a “baby mullet.” My dream seems almost out of my grasp at this point. I know it will grow and I know it will grow on me. I was already feeling better about it today. I have included a picture so you can weigh in. Is she Billy Ray Cyrus or Sean Cassidy?

Josh is working on an autobiography for his 4th grade Language Arts class. He kept pestering me yesterday to look through his baby scrapbooks so he could find a “baby incident” to write about. I gave him the speech about how you have to write about things you know and remember yourself so you can include your own thoughts and feelings. I thought I would share with you what he wrote as remembered by his nine year old mind…

Jonah’s Reception: My Most Embarrassing Moment
“Time to go to Jonah’s reception,” yelled Mom while she was wrapping the snow-white coleslaw. We all ran down the stairs and into the kitchen. Our mom said we should be on our best behavior (if I did what I did on purpose, she would have taken away my allowance for a year). We got in the car and drove to my grandma’s house to start the reception. As a family tradition we had an ice cream man serving four flavors of ice cream: lemon, chocolate, strawberry, and my least favorite vanilla with double almonds. I watched as the black and white dressed people walked through the gate. The water in the pool was so smooth it was like glass. So when my cousins and friends arrived we went inside to have dinner. After dinner, Jonah announced that he was going to join the army. Everyone was shocked, especially my grandma. I thought she was going to cry. After the announcement, we had chocolate cake with chocolate ice cream. As everyone was leaving, we asked if we could go swimming that night. The parents said yes, so to celebrate, we had one more cup of ice cream. After all of the kids got their ice cream, we started talking. What I did not realize was, I was facing backwards to the pool. We started gradually moving towards the pool and SPLASH; I landed right in the pool. I was planning to stay down there forever, but my suit, tie, and shoes were weighing me down. I grabbed onto the ledge of the pool and pulled myself up. I went outside the gate and strained all the water out of my tie. Luckily I had more clothes to wear, since I had left my suitcase at my grandma’s house. I could change out of my soaking wet suit and into my dry clothes. After that day people that were at that wedding say, “Remember that crazy old boy who purposely jumped into the pool just to get attention,” but I say, “IT WAS NOT ON PURPOSE!” A lot of people still think I jumped in, but I did not.

Hmmm…how do you remember it happening? Do we have another James Frey on our hands or what?

Manic Monday

Mondays are my worst day…the weekend it over and it takes me all day to get my house back from landfill status. It is also the day I recommit to myself that I will eat better after a whole weekend of eating junk. It is also the start of the exercise week. I always have high hopes for my exercise week, but the second I start running, my legs hurt and my lungs can’t keep up. Two steps forward 1.75 (or more) steps back!

We had a very busy Saturday. We were out the door by 9:00 AM and headed to the Shipley’s Donuts for some breakfast (see paragraph one, section “eating junk”). We ran to Costco to get refreshment for a Ward Adult Dance I was in charge of that night. Josh had team pictures at 12:30 and then a baseball game at 2:00. Helmut had a basketball game at 1:30. It was a very victorious day. Josh pitched two great innings and hit a single. His team won 11-10. Helmut’s team won 35-11. He scored six points with a lot of rebounds and a few assists.

Sam starts preschool again tomorrow after a two-week spring break. Here’s hoping for a better day tomorrow!

Murderball

I watched an amazing documentary last night called Murderball on the A&E channel (also available on DVD). It tells the story of the 2004 USA Paralympics wheelchair rugby team as well of the lives of the players. Their stories were amazing and inspiring. There are so many misconceptions about what a paraplegic can and cannot do. It made me really grateful for my healthy body and rethink how I look at other people at the same time. It is a must see!

Fulfillment of a Dream

To most of you this looks like an ordinary ponytail with a bow…but to me, it means more. My mom did Sam’s hair in a single ponytail while I was at the hospital with Josh this weekend. When I saw it, I was surprised that it looked good and actually stayed in. Since then we have been putting it up everyday. She has been growing what little hair she has her whole four years (plus three months and a few days) of life, minus two small self inflicted haircutting incidents. I have always dreamed of her hair being long and full because mine never was (and it will never be full). I see this ponytail as one step closer to that dream (even if it is a vain dream).

In other news Josh’s foot didn’t give him any problems at his practice today and he had a great practice.

Abscess Update

First, I am including a funny picture of Sarah for everyone's enjoyment!

I don’t have too much to report for my day…you might even say it wasn’t super constructive. So I will give an update on the abscess.

Josh seems to be doing much better. He didn’t even take his crutches to school today. I am sure he is doing quite a bit of limping still, but I am sure his confidence will grow each day. He went to his baseball game on Monday night on his crutches, sat in the dugout and watched his team lose by one point. The catcher was having some trouble with the pitches getting by him, which resulted in a lot of stolen runs. I am not saying Josh could do better for sure, but I know he would like to give it a try as soon as possible. I took him to the batting cages last night and his foot didn’t seem to be a problem. They have practice tomorrow night, and he will be practicing. I will take a picture of the healing abscess for you tomorrow if I remember.

Sam and I were watched a “Mom” show tonight and she was full of all kinds of funny things to say. When the couple on the TV were fighting she said, “They are mean at each other because they love each other.” I am not sure were she got that notion from; we will have to work on that perspective before she hits dating age. Later she asked me, “Mom, why do moms and dads come down to earth and get married?” I wish I could crawl into her head sometimes and hear what other crazy things she is thinking about sometimes…

Galveston

On Saturday morning we decided we would still go to Galveston despite Josh’s foot (sometimes I can let my good time girl attitude get in the way of my good mother decision making abilities). We borrowed some crutches, had lunch at Del Pueblo and were good to go around 2:00 PM. Traffic was horrible! Spring Break weekend was starting and ditzy teenage girls breaking down on the road made matters even worse. There were a few times I considered doing a U-turn and heading home. We persevered and made it to Galveston Island around 4:00 PM. The weather was hazy and cool so we decided to just park along the seawall and let the kids play on the beach for a few minutes. We found a spot without a lot of people around and jumped out of the car. We soon figured out it was only empty because the tide way so high, there was no beach left (just huge rocks and a crashing tide) and there was a 8-foot dead rotting porpoise carcass strewn across the rocks. The smell was horrible, but the kids were morbidly engrossed in the sight of it. We walked a little further down (Josh struggled on his crutches) and found a bit of sand. The kids played in the sand and waves until they were completely wet. Lucas stripped down to his birthday suit and had a grand time. Josh sadly watched from the sidelines thinking maybe having crutches and an injured foot wasn’t as cool as he thought it might be. We fed the seagulls some bread and flew a kite until the sun went down.

We drove into the “city” to find Colonel Bubbie’s Military Surplus Store for old time’s sake. I have many memories of going there as a child and my brother having the time of his life looking around at all the mothball smelling military goods from around the world. The store was already closed and everyone was getting hungry. At that point we realized Josh had reached his crutch-hobbling breaking point and we needed to find someplace close by to eat. With great fresh seafood completely surrounding us, we chose Fuddruckers. The kids loved it, and that all that matters, right?

In the end, I was glad we went. I was even happier I had driven on the way there, so I could sleep the whole way while Helmut drove home…

Oy! An Abscess

I am totally exhausted and should be in bed…but I wanted to blog my weekend before the details were gone.

I woke up Friday morning a bit frantic in anticipation of my family’s arrival. I only had about four hours to get the house looking as clean as I want them to think I keep it. I quickly put all the kids to work with chores around the house. Josh was “Sharking” the stairs when he fell down the stairs onto his hurt foot…let me back up. Josh came to me Wednesday night and told me he could feel his heart beating in his foot (insert eye roll). I told him to go to bed! The next morning he told me his foot was hurting and showed me a very small bump. It looked a little like a planter’s wart to me…back to Friday morning, falling down the stairs, etc. At first I am annoyed (insert another eye roll). Then when he doesn’t stop crying, I take a look at his foot. It has doubled in size to almost the size of a quarter and has turned black! I immediately called the doctor and got an appointment for an hour later. In the waiting room, small red stripes started to radiate from his bump and crawl up his ankle. We weren’t in the doctor’s office for 2 minutes (and 60 bucks I might add) before she rushed us off to the hospital ER to meet the pediatric surgeon. It was all happening so fast I wasn’t really thinking it was a big deal or necessary that we go to the ER.

Houston, traffic, traffic, traffic. We get to the ER around 1:00 PM and they quickly get us checked in, triaged and in a room. A male nurse (that is kind of sexist to point out it was a male nurse, but he was a male nurse) came in and started an IV and put him on IV antibiotics. A research nurse comes in and asks if I would be willing to participate in a study about why there is so much Staph infection in Houston…At this point I think, I guess it’s a Staph infection. The waiting begins…in the meantime, no cleaning is being done at home and my guests are arriving any minute. I am still optimistic I will be home to greet them shortly. More waiting, ER doctor consults, more waiting. More waiting, nurses, orderlies, doctors come in, more waiting. Finally around 6:00 PM the Pediatric surgeon (we’ll call him Dr. Oy) comes in. Dr. Oy tells me Josh has a Staph infected abscess that needs to be removed and since he already has an IV, we should just put him under. He says we need to be admitted and stay for a couple days so we can make sure everything is okay. WHAT! I was truly worried about Josh, but at the same time I have all these people at my house and I don’t want to spend the next three days at the hospital. I asked Dr. Oy if we could possibly go home that night and he was not pleased with my lack of respect for his MD. We negotiated back and forth for the next 30 minutes and finally after a few tears (from Josh, I was holding mine back) and a pinky swear (Josh also) that we would come back if it didn’t get better, I won. The later it got, the more upset Josh got. He was sad because everyone back home was “having fun” without him and he was really nervous about how bad the surgery was going to hurt. The “childlike” specialist came in with her kid speak and her pictures, and I think it actually worked. He seemed to feel much better after she explained it all to him.

More waiting. The whole gang came up to visit and Dad stayed with Josh while I went to get something to eat.

MORE WAITING!!!!

At 10:30 PM we finally got into surgery. It was hard to watch them wheel your child away for surgery while you just waited in the hall. I tried not to think bad thoughts, but they pushed their way to the front of my mind a few times. You always here those horror stories about the person who didn’t know they were allergic to anesthesia until it was too late. Luckily, the surgery only lasted about 20 minutes and then we got to be with him when he woke up in the recovery room. The doctor stuck to his word, and let us go home about an hour later. We finally arrived home around 1:00 AM with only a couple barf bag stops on the way home. Josh slept like a rock. I am not sure if it was the left over morphine in his system or the effects of his traumatic day.

The weekend didn’t stop there, but I am going to have to wait until tomorrow, my bed is calling me…

Zoo Pics

Just
a few
pics
from
the Zoo.

Eight Below

3.9.2006
Yesterday Sarah and I took the kids to see Eight Below in the continuation of “Stay Sane Spring Break 2006.” It took us a long time to decide on a movie, since the oldest of our kids is 12 and the youngest is 4. Either way, someone wasn’t going to be 100% happy. We didn’t feel like chasing the little ones up and down the aisles and stairs in the movie theater, so they won out. Even still I am not sure it was the best choice for everyone involved. Disclaimer: Do not read on if you haven’t seen the movie and don’t want the ending spoiled. I always feel pretty safe taking my kids to see a PG Disney movie. This one didn’t have anything horrible in it, but it wasn’t the feel good I was looking for. No one wants to watch two dogs die! I am not sure we will be able to go back to Sea World again after watching some dogs eat off a dead Shamu carcass. If we do make it back we will definitely be skipping the “The Cannery Row Caper” starring Clyde and Seamore the seals! The big kids seemed to like it okay…it received a 7 (Josh) and a 6 (Helmut) on a scale from 1 to 10. Maybe not worth the 20+ bucks it cost to get in.

Today is a clean up for visitors day. My mom and dad are coming down from Dallas and my brother and his family are coming in from San Antonio. Sarah and her family headed off for a camping trip, so I look forward to the family keeping me sane over the weekend. Weather permitting, we plan to head to Galveston on Saturday afternoon for some “beaching” and dinner.

Houston Zoo

3.8.2006
Sarah and I took Sam, Parker and Sofie to the Houston Zoo yesterday as part of our “Spring Break 2006” attempt at staying sane. I do have to say that of all the zoos I have been to in my life, the Houston Zoo ranks pretty close to the bottom. Zoos with cages and observation windows thick enough to stop a bullet (and definitely think enough to obscure any realistic view of an animal) went out with the 70’s. Every time I go, I am instantly transported back in time to 1978. I am at the Dallas Zoo feeling traumatized by the metal bars and 8-feet concrete walls the poor giraffes seemed forced to live in. It may not have actually been that bad, but it wasn’t good either.

To make matters even more “bitter,” it cost us an arm and a leg. Granted we didn’t show a lot of parental self control, but once we paid for the entrance fee, cotton candy, popcorn, peanuts, kettle corn, “save the zoo” bracelets, the train ride and a wagon rental, we were broke.

There were so many people at the zoo and it was a Tuesday afternoon! I saw some crazy outfits. Whoever designed acid-washed jean Capri pants that lace up the side ought to be shot (and certainly that said designer did not intend them to be worn to the zoo in the middle of the day coupled with a plunging blouse by a somewhat squishy mom pushing a stroller).

Big Momma took all the older kids to the Holocaust Museum. I made sure my boys read over some Holocaust FAQ to get a sense of what really happened. My biggest fear was one of my boys acting goofy or making some off color remark. Big Momma said they all did great and got lots of comments on their good behavior. She was proud of them for staying calm and collected around the naked pictures. As soon as she was out of earshot, Josh and Rebecca both said how horrible the naked pictures were and thought for sure it would give them nightmares. At least they were smart enough to save their remarks until an appropriate moment.

We wrapped up the perfect day with a picnic lunch at Hermann Park…a few homeless people and us. I have nothing against the homeless, but it is a little unnerving to a suburban mom with three small kids to keep track of.

All in all it was quite the urban experience. And the attempts at staying sane during “Spring Break 2006” continue (with some successes and many failures).