My Good Boy

Today after the news from my "lovely" insurance company (see previous post), I just sat in the kitchen feeling totally defeated. The past couple of months have beaten us up financially. I can't even begin to fathom the bills that have come our way, almost to the point of being ridiculous. Yeah there was the planned ones like insurance and whatnot, but the unplanned ones like stupid insurance companies not paying for what they should, just knocks ya for a loop.

And that is how I was feeling when all of a sudden, I just started to cry. I haven't done that in so long, probably since Jack's infant days. But I just felt so beaten down. It has been so bad financially, that every last dollar we are spending lately, I have scrutinized. And I was just feeling good in the fact that the last big bill was paid yesterday and we could maybe start to breathe just a little again come next payday. And then wham, I am hit with $386 worth of mamogram expenses.

So there I was crying in the kitchen and Jack comes into the room. He looks at me with a really worried look, probably because I don't think he has ever seen me quite like that before. He asked me if I was sad and I told him that I was a little sad. And then he asked me a question that just about broke my heart and made me realize how personal kids take everything. He asked me if I was mad at him. Which of course made me want to cry even harder for making him think that. I gave him a huge hug and told him that I was so not mad at him and in fact, he is the one that makes me very happy. And then he told me that he wanted me to be happy and I said I was because I had him for a little boy and that made me the luckiest Mama in the world. And the big hug he gave me was worth every penny that lousy insurance company is taking away from me.

Then I decided to take Jack to the Discovery Center, where Bob the Builder was visiting for the next three days. He was beyond excited and we had a great time there and it was wonderful to just watch my little boy sing and dance and have a great time. I realized that is why we are struggling financially, so that I can be home and take him to these things and just be there for him. We will make it and it is worth it. I just needed to be reminded of that fact again.

A Huge Huge Rant

Alright I just want to start off by saying that I HATE insurance companies. I had the two mamograms back a few months. The first one because I am now 40 and that is what you do when you get to this advanced age. The second one because they found a suspicious area in the left breast that needed further review. Thank goodness everything turned out fine.

For the past couple of weeks, I have been getting bills left and right for these two mamograms. The hospital bill, the radiologist bill, the doctor bill, and oh yeah the bill for the actual mamograms. Our lovely insurance company did not pay for one red cent of these bills.

So on Monday I started to call our lovely insurance company. I kept getting passed through to a voice mail of a too-perky-person named Tasha. I would give my info and number to call back. Nothing. Too-perky Tasha would not return my phone calls. Finally today, I got mad and demanded to talk to somebody. And boy oh boy did I get even madder.

Turns out that they are refusing my mamograms because of a "possible pre-existing condition" and we have only been on this insurance since January. It doesn't matter that the "possible pre-existing condition" is a NON-CONDITION! No, just the fact that it may have found that I did indeed have breast cancer and it meant that it was there BEFORE January, then they are refusing to pay. So I asked what do I do. And the woman said that I could get in touch with my previous insurance company and get them to write a letter to my "lovely" insurance company proving that I was covered by insurance, then they would switch it to the "wellness" status and cover it under my "wellness" policy. Fine. Just one problem, it seems that they only cover $200 of wellness care and it also seems that the doctor visit with the pap and all that fun stuff was a total of $195. So even if I went through all the hoops they want to me go through, they would only pay $5 of the more than $350 bills!!!!!!!!!! Oh and we have the luxury of paying over $300/month for this piece of crap insurance.

So now - I am SCREWED! I HATE insurance companies!

The Big First Game

Jack's first soccer game was on Saturday morning bright and early at 8 am. Geesh they expect a lot out of us parents! Anyway, Jim came home from work and came with us, so he could see Jack's first game. A lot of coffee was consumed by all.

I have to say that it is absolutely adorable watching these little ones play. It is hilarious to see such concentration as they are trying to listen to Coach Mike about what to do and then after the kick off, to see the ball just sail by them with them just standing there. It takes a full five seconds for them to realize that they have to run after the ball. Too funny and too cute.

Jack actually did pretty good and I was amazed that he was one of the few on both teams that did NOT cry. I am sure his time will be coming. I don't think you can get out of soccer without crying at the age of three.

And being the type of mother that I am, I just have to go buy Jack some black shorts and the sock type shin guards to match with his team mates. I know I know it is shallow of me, but I want him to be like the others hehe.

I also think that Jack has the best soccer coach in all the Y soccer league. He is awesome and even has bought the team soccer patches for their shirts out of his own money. Which reminds me I need to put them on Jack's shirt before his practice on Tuesday. Yeah I could get into this soccer Mom thing.

Short video of the game. Click the > button. (This new blogger feature of adding video is pretty neat I must say)

We're Back!

We are back from our trip to Michigan. Jack and I had a good time. I took him to my high school's homecoming game. He was pretty enthralled with the whole thing and was so cute when he shouted "Go Pennfield!". He thought the coolest thing was the Corvettes that drove the homecoming court onto the football field. And when the football players ran right by us at halftime, he told me that he wanted to be just like them. Yeah I can see my future Friday nights sitting on bleachers. It was good to see the old school and yet surreal at the same time. I am sure that there were people there that I knew, but ya know 20+ years changes people and the only person that I knew I recognized was Steve G. who now is a coach for Pennfield. And poor Pennfield lost really bad - something like 42-12. Ouchie.



The rest of the time we spent with Grammy and Papa. We went for a hike in the woods across the street from my parents. It is kind of sad that the pristine 300 acres of woods that I remember are going to be developed in the very near future. Hopefully they keep the natural beauty that is there. We took this one last chance to hike back in there for a couple of miles. Jack of course loved every minute of it and tried to carry out half the rocks. Every pocket was filled with rocks by the time we were done.



It was good to get back to Michigan. Jack was spoiled of course by Grammy and Papa.

Michigan Pictures

Grammy and Jack

Jack and Papa

Papa and Jack walking.

The pretty backyard at Grammy and Papa's.

Jack and Papa out for a walk.

Me trying to be all fancy with my camera. I thought this turned out pretty good. One of the flowers in my Dad's garden.

Papa and Jack on the hike in the woods. I love this picture.

Jack and Papa inspecting a hole in the tree. I think Jack was expecting to see Chip and Dale in there.

Picture of a fallen tree in the woods.

Picture of Deep Lake in the woods.

Picture of Goose Lake in the woods. If you walk up a hill you can see both lakes at the same time on both sides of the hill. Very beautiful.

Jack in the woods.

Jack inspecting something in the woods.

Jack and Grammy walking up the driveway.

Jack, Grammy and Papa swinging at the park.

Jack on the scary steep stairs to the twisty slide.

Grammy and Jack at the Bridge Park. Cute picture.

Jack at the Bridge Park.

Papa and Jack at the Bridge Park.

Grammy and Jack on the bridge at the Bridge Park.

Throwing sticks into the river.

Jack plays with the blocks that Papa made for him.

And We Are Off

Jack and I are off to Michigan tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, Jim has to stay home and work. The life of a cop. And somebody has to take care of the gazillion animals we have!

I am hoping to meetup with some high school friends (Amy and Stef) and even catch my old high school homecoming game. I think Jack might get a kick out of that.

I do have to say that I am actually sorta looking forward to this plane ride with Jack. I think I brought enough stuff for him to do that he won't get too bored (dvd player and a bunch of movies). It is so much easier to take off with him these days than when he was a baby. I still remember going back to Michigan with him by myself when he was seven months old and having nightmares for weeks beforehand about the whole plane ride. And then there was the time when we were coming home with him having a 102 fever - that was the worst ever. So dare I say I might even be able to sit back and read a magazine?!?

One of Those Days

I can not believe how bad the boy has been today. You know there are days when you just want to run from the house screaming? Yeah that was me today.

It all started out early this morning right after Jim got home from work. Jack had a couple of small cars that belonged to another little boy who was here Friday night. I told him that we would have to give them back when we went to church today, but he didn't like that answer. Then he went to his room and brought out a baby bottle belonging to Baby Andrew. I got mad at him and told him to give me the bottle and the cars, but instead he took off for his room, running down the hallway. Jim yelled after him to stop, but we were met with the sound of the door being slammed and locked! Jim said "oh no he didn't just do that" and used the little key to open the room. I rounded the corner to see Jack getting the spanking of his life and I took back the bottle and the cars. I then just walked out of the room because I really did not want to deal with the boy at that moment.

Now you would think that after the spanking of his life, he would have straightened up. Ha! Nope. He has been on my last nerve all day long with the not listening to me, the whining, saying "NO" to me, and basically being a little brat. And yes, he has had a couple more spankings today. This kid is gonna kill me!

On a brighter note, my neighbors brought their baby home today and she is absolutely beautiful. My other neighbor and I decorated her house and put a big banner saying "Its a girl" on their garage. And to say that Erin and Ben are glowing would be a huge understatement. It has been a week from hell for them and I sure hope that it goes much smoother for them from now on.

Ahhh I remember when Jack was a sweet baby. Now he is just a pain in my rear end today!

I need to learn the word No

Yeah so I am a bit tired at the moment. It has been one whirlwind of a day. I started out bright and early right after Jack went to school by cleaning my house. I had to do the cleaning early because a) Jack was gone and b) I didn't have Andrew yet. I was able to finish around 11:00, right when Andrew was getting dropped off. He went to his 2-month doctor visit and got the shots and was sleeping.

So then I jumped in the car to pick up Jack from school. I had promised him that if he got a smiley face today at school (he has received two "mean" faces this week) then we could go to Chick-fil-a (they have the best playland in town). He got a smiley face and we went to Chick-fil-a. Andrew was still sleeping, so all was well. Jack played for about an hour. Had a great time.

Then I made the mistake of going to Walmart. See previous post.

Then Andrew woke up on the way home and started screaming and he really didn't stop screaming for more than a few minutes for the next three hours. Fun times.

Then I told our small group from church that I would host the small group tonight at my house, which is 7 couples and about a gazillion kids (give or take). So in between Andrew screams, I made chicken enchiladas and got the house ready for all the company. They just left and I am tired. I really need to learn to say no every now and then ya know.

Oh and that horrible, horrendous storm that we were supposed to get? Yeah nothing, nada. It went to Florida and was nothing at all. But let me tell you, this area was prepared. Jim said they even added a bunch more police officers tonight. All for nothing.

What Was I Thinking?

I know I have more sense than this, but for some stupid reason that I can't think of at this moment, I decided to go to Walmart with a three-year-old and an 8-week-old. Now that in and of itself is a pretty stupid thing to do, but throw in the mass hysteria of the area because of the Tropical Depression that is out there in the Gulf and people stocking up on EVERYTHING was downright stupid. Note to self, never ever go to Walmart ever again the day before a storm is supposed to hit - especially with two kids! Stupid idea!

I Guess It Is Coming

According to the weather reports there is a "tropical disturbance" in the Gulf of Mexico that is causing a disturbance in this area. I guess it could form into something and even if it just forms into a "tropical storm" that it could be pretty bad with winds up to 70 mph and we all know what a hurricane means if it continues to form on its way here. So Jim is officially on "standby" and all of the area is on alert. We even got a recorded phone message from the govenor last night telling us to be prepared. It may make me pack up the animals and go North to Grammy's house with Jack. Ugh. This is the part I hate about living in this area.

Just Call Me Soccer Mom

Jack is going to be playing soccer for the local Y. He started soccer practice last night and from all the smiles and giggles, I take it that he was having a lot of fun. He has a really great coach who is great with the kids. One thing that Jack either couldn't grasp the concept or wasn't listening was not touching the ball. He kept picking up the ball and taking it where he thought was a good place to kick it into the goal. Of course the coach kept telling him and I kept telling him that you can't use your hands. But it was so cute to see a bunch of three-year-old little boys running around the field kicking soccer balls.

His "season" is only 4 games in October with weekly practices thrown in, so it was not a huge time investment. I know that if he really enjoys it, I will be standing out on the field many a day in the coming years. I went and bought him some shin guards and a cheap pair or cleats and he was soooo cute with them on. He kept walking around the house wearing his "uniform" and saying "I am a soccer star!" Too cute.

Update on Mary Grace

I heard from my neighbor, Erin yesterday. It was amazing that she was in as good spirits as she was. Little Mary Grace is still in Children's Hospital in New Orleans. She is now down to taking 30% oxygen, down from 100%, so that is a good thing. They are concerned about pneumonia since they found a small spot that could turn into pneumonia. But things are looking up for her. Erin and Ben are spending the entire time over there and she told me when I see her car in the driveway to go on over and she would fill me in on all the details. But the one very important detail I heard is that she is a beautiful little girl, weighing 7lbs 10 oz and 21 inches long. Poor Erin and Ben, what a way to be welcomed to parenthood. Please include them in your prayers again if you find yourself praying today.

The Principal's Office

It only took less than three weeks and I already had a call from Jack's Principal. That's right folks, I got a phone call this morning from the Principal's office telling me that Jack bit another little boy today. I honestly didn't know what to say to the woman because I was so stunned. He is normally a very sweet child, but here was this woman telling me that he, for no apparent reason, bit another little boy. I guess they were sitting in the classroom listening to Ms. Nix read a story and he just decided to turn around and bite a little boy named Jaxson. I am sure there is more to the story and I am sure that it wasn't totally unprovoked, but in the teacher's eyes, it was. So, my child at the age of three was sent to the Principal's office. There was a little pink slip in his folder explaining the details that I have to sign and send back. Aye Aye Aye. Is this just an omen of what's to come?

And I guess he also got a time out for not listening to the teacher when she told him to sit in his seat. He was climbing underneath the table! My child is the troublemaker?!? Needless to say that he did not get a smiley face in his folder today, which I think was more devastating to him than being sent to the Principal's office! Go figure. He keeps saying that he won't get a "mean" face tomorrow. I told him that if he did get a "mean" face tomorrow, I would take away all his trains and that prompted many tears of course.

We have had the talk about how you don't bite people no matter what and about listening to the teacher. He was crying pretty hard through it all, so maybe it sunk in a little bit. I am not sure what is going on with him lately. I don't know if having Baby Andrew around is affecting him and he is jealous, but he seems alright when the baby is here. And he always asks where the baby is when he is not here. Or is it just a "naughty" phase he is going through?

This parenting thing is hard ya'll.

Prayer Time

Our neighbors Erin and Ben had their baby girl. Her name is Mary Grace and she needs all of our prayers. She was born with an enormous amount of merconium in her lungs, so much that it deflated her lungs. They got her lungs inflated again, but she is still in bad shape from what I heard. They had to take her to the New Orleans Children Hospital by ambulance yesterday and the hard part is Erin had to stay back here because they have not released her from the hospital yet. Ben is over there right now and hopefully Erin will be able to go over sometime today. Also poor Erin couldn't even see her baby for almost five hours because they were working on her lungs. Then when she did get to see her, it was only for a few minutes before little Mary Grace was whisked away.

So if you do find yourself praying today, just say a little prayer for little Mary Grace and her parents.

How Should I Take That?

Alright, how exactly should I take this? Maybe I am too sensitive and maybe it was not that bad. I was just in Walmart with Baby Andrew, who by the way is an excellent shopper. When I went through the line, the cashier looked at me and asked "Is he yours?". Now why did she not just assume that the baby was mine? My impression is that I look too old! I know 40 is a bit old to be having an 8-week old baby, but geesh, give me a break. I am not ancient - yet. Seriously, I can't see any other reason why that blonde perky 23-year-old who probably thinks 40 is ancient, would think that the baby is not mine! Do I really look that ancient? Okay, don't answer that!

In other baby news, our neighbor, Erin, probably gave birth sometime in the last 12 hours or so. Last I heard any news was at 8pm last night and she was 4 cm. I am afraid to call and disturb them, but the not knowing is killing me. So Congrats to our neighbors Erin and Ben or at least I hope so!

A Must Have

A friend was telling me how great this dvd was for her three-year-old son and I thought I would buy it and see if it really was that great. I really didn't think that Jack would be that interested in it at all, mainly because it doesn't have any talking trains. But imagine my surprise when he sat there watching the whole thing totally engrossed and wanted to watch it again and again. It is great learning tool. After watching about three or four times, Jack can sound out all the letters now! Simply amazing and a must have for preschoolers.

I also want to give even more praise to Baby Einstein Baby Mozart. The video that gave me a much needed break when Jack was a baby is now giving me another break with Baby Andrew. I put that on this morning when he was fussy and put him in his swing and he sat there watching the thing twice (love the repeat play!). A whole hour to pay my bills and clean up my kitchen! Love that video and it was money well spent over three years ago!

The Experiment

Yeah so on Tuesday, we hosted a little get together with our neighbors. Jim is trying to get certified in field sobriety testing and he needs to test random people who have been drinking. He needs to do 30 tests to get his final certification. And well he decided to host a little "lets get drunk" party so he could test us all. And I learned a few things from that experience.

1. It is really scary how drunk you have to be to be "legally" drunk. I was first tested after 2 margaritas and 2 Bailey's. I would not have driven at that point, but he gave me the test. Made me walk the line and stand on one foot while counting (that is hard for me while sober). Then I blew into his intoxilizer and only blew a .025! He would not have arrested me and I thought that I had a good buzz going.

So to make a long story short, I wanted to see how drunk is too drunk and proceeded to drink some more. An hour later, there was absolutely no way I could walk the line nor stand on one foot. In fact, having six people stand there laughing their a$$s off, made me get the giggles so hard, I was basically useless for doing any of the field testing. Then he made me blow into the thingy again (just realized that sounded perverted hehe) and I blew a .092. Yes, folks I was legally drunk, but just barely. And that is scary because I was so far gone, there was no way I could get behind a wheel.

Our neighbors who were drinking straight shots for awhile, only blew .05 and they admitted that they were too drunk to drive at that time, but still that was below the legal limit. I just have to say that it is scary when Jim says he picks up people with a .24!!

2. My other observation is that partying at the age of 40 is a lot harder than oh say 20 or 30. Seriously people, I haven't drank like that in about 10 years or so and to say that I was sick yesterday would be the biggest understatement of the year. Never again will I be a guinea pig for Jim's career like that. Oh my gosh! I think I threw up my lungs along the way. And even today, I am still not back to normal. Dry toast for me this morning!!

So there you have it. To sum it all up: Legally drunk is drunk! And 40 is way too old to drink like that!

Sept. 11

I don't know about ya'll, but I don't think I will ever go through another Sept. 11 for the rest of my life, without shedding at least a few tears. I hope and pray that all those families are moving on with their lives. It must be so hard to revisit this every year for them. May God bless them with the strength and courage to go forward.

That Did Not Take Long

It is only the second week of school and already Jack has been in time-out. Jack informed me of this fact as we were walking out of school today. He said "I was in time-out. I was naughty and sad today." But he wouldn't tell me what he actually did to get put in the time-out. Everytime I ask him what he did, his only response thus far is "It is nothing Mom. It was only an accident." Sigh. I guess I have to talk to the teacher tomorrow about what happened. It didn't take long for that to happen. And to think he went all last year at school without any time-outs! Sigh.

Picture Day

I thought I would bore ya'll with some pictures I have taken lately.


He took a bad tumble off his bike last night on our nightly walk/bike ride. It was mostly my fault because I was chasing him and he was really going pretty fast while giggling and before I knew it, he was down with his bike on top of him. He was not a happy camper and it scraped up his nose and forehead and hands pretty good. But he is tough and got back on the bike and rode home.

The Jack Room. I already have plans to upgrade his bed to a twin size by his fourth birthday. He will be getting Laura's bedroom furniture and Laura will be getting a new full size bed. I am afraid to say that he is close to outgrowing the toddler bed that he has been in for the last year and a half!

Love the little coat hanger with the baseball jacket I just bought him. I can't wait until it gets cold enough for him to wear that. Of course it won't happen until oh November or December around here.

The shelves full of trucks. Actually the big fire truck is missing from the bottom shelf. It was in my family room at the time of this picture. But this is the shelf that Jim built and I painted.

Playing hide and seek. His hiding spots are getting better these days. Here he is hiding in the hamper in the bathroom. Before, his hiding spot would be 5 ft away from me and he would yell "try to find me". Then I would have to go through the exaggerated process of looking for him in plain sight. He's getting sneakier.

And because we were fooling around with the camera this morning, I snapped this one of the two of us.

Room Clean Out

It took me four hours this morning to clean out Jack's room. I did it in a big way. I took everything out of his closet and bagged up about half of the clothes that no longer fit. Then I organized it all over again with his "school" clothes front and center, then the t-shirts altogether, and the semi-dressy shirts altogether.

Then I tackled his dresser drawers and again bagged about 5 pairs of perfectly good pants but are a couple inches too short. Now his drawers are all organized with the pants all folded in one drawer and all his jammies folded in another drawer and the third drawer has misc stuff.

Then it was time to tackle the BIG project. THE TOYS! I cleaned out the toy chest and again threw out a ton of crappy toys. I am proud to say that all the puzzle pieces have been found and all the books are in one spot, and all the trucks are up on the shelves and all the trains are put away.

I know I know, it will only last five minutes, but at least it was good for five minutes!

I may just take some pictures and post them later today. But right now the boy and I are off to Barnes & Noble for storytime reading of Curious George. Fun times.

What a Week ... Phew

What a week we have had here at the Jackaroo World. Let me just try to numerate what was going on this week.

1. I was trying to get over the cold/crud from the weekend.

2. Trying to figure out Jack's school issues and finally settling on the school close to home. Getting him all enrolled and settled there. Calling his old school to notify him that he wouldn't be going back there. I didn't go into any reasons. I just didn't want to deal with it all at the time.

3. Started to take care of baby Andrew this week. Trying to figure out how to deal with a newborn again and with a three-year-old at the same time. Bottles everywhere in the house! And 10 diaper changes a day! Egads!

4. Trying to outfit Jack for the new school in the proper "uniform" colors (blue, white, khaki). And then getting a notice the second day that he is supposed to wear a red shirt the next day because of some picture they are doing for the yearbook (I guess all the kids were in the shape of a star or something to that effect). I had to make an 8:30 pm run to the store (after a 12 hour day with baby Andrew) to go get the required red shirt since the only red shirt he owned was a t-shirt with dinosaurs (big no-no).

5. Having a three-hour root canal performed yesterday. Fun times there.

Thankfully Jim was a huge help to me this week taking Jack to school every morning and dealing with him yesterday after my root canal. Thanks Honey.

But I did have a good ending to the week when Jack came home from school with his backpack full of goodies he did over the week. And I have to brag that my son got a smiley face sticker today because he was a good boy at school. Made my day right there. But now if you will excuse me, I am gonna go crash for the night while the boy watches Curious George. Night Night.

Root Canal Aftermath

Well I had the dreaded root canal yesterday. I do have to say that it wasn't as bad as I had imagined it to be. I must have gotten some pretty good numbing stuff because I really did not feel anything much other than a lot of pressure. However that drill sound is enough to drive you crazy and think you are feeling something when you really are not. Ewwww. I didn't think that it was going to take over three hours to complete and let me tell you three hours in a dentist chair is really not comfortable at all. My back hurt worse than my tooth.

So now I have a new temporary crown on the remaining stub of my tooth. It is my first crown and it does feel weird. Oh and this morning when I tried to bite into an english muffin was not fun at all. In fact, it hurt so bad, my eyes started to water up and felt faint for a second. Yeah not going to be chewing much today, I can tell you that much. I decided yogurt was a better breakfast after all. But all in all not that bad of an experience. It isn't something that I would want to do everyday, but not the pain torture that I thought it was going to be. It was not anywhere near as bad as when I was 16 and had my wisdom teeth dug out. Now that pretty much ruined my 16th summer!

Things I Have Learned

While taking care of baby Andrew for the last two days, I have learned a few things.

1. Dealing with a baby on a good night of sleep is immensely better than on two hours of sleep.

2. I know that I am done done done having any more kids of my own. Just the thought of doing all that over again, makes me ill. I am too old!

3. All babies are different in the own little way. While Jack did not like car rides and usually would scream at the top of his lungs making me want to crash the car, Andrew is the total opposite. Andrew will cry when the car is NOT moving. It makes red lights seem really long.

4. And finally, it doesn't matter if you have had a good nights sleep, 12 hours of dealing with a 6-week-old is hard work. I had him yesterday from 7:30 am to almost 8:00 pm and it was one very long day, especially considering he fought sleep from noon time till about 5:00. Thankfully, Jim got up around 4:30 and had Andrew asleep soon afterward.

So that is my observations of having a new baby around the house. Jack is so good with him and is showing absolutely no signs of jealousy toward Andrew. He loves to hold the bottle and feed him and will help me get a fresh diaper and will even throw away the stinky diapers for me. I just can't believe how good my son is turning out and how great he is lately. I think we turned a corner from the terrible threes, which were so much worse than those terrible twos in my opinion.

To update on the school issue. Jack is absolutely loving his new school. He came home and showed me what he did yesterday. He was so proud to pull his folder out of his backpack and show me all the work he did. My son has a school folder and a school backpack! He is growing up way too fast. I really believe now that his getting the "bad" teacher at the old school was a blessing in disguise. I am really happy with the new school and how Jack is loving the whole experience.

And in other news today, I get to go and get a root canal today. How fun is that? Yeah I have had for years and years a problem gap in my teeth and if I don't floss like 6 times a day there, I get bad decay. And that is what happened and it just has gotten worse over the years, so today I get to fix it with a root canal. I have never had a root canal, nor even a cavity in years, so not sure what to expect today. They told me that root canals are not as bad as their reputation. We shall see about that.

Three and a Half Years Ago Today

Three and a half years ago today, this little boy came into my life and completely changed it for the better.



And now, how is it that he is this big boy now going off to preschool?


My oh my how the time flies!

Holy Cow!

What a day it has been today.

First off, Jim took Jack into the new school to get him all signed up. He wasn't dressed in the "uniform" so I didn't think they would let him start today, but he did. And what a big OUCHIE that was to the wallet! $575 later, Jack is now a student of the school. Yes, I know, it is a fortune. They seemed to find a fee for everything and then they add another fee on top just because. The tuition is $235/month, but all the extra fees added up big time.

So while Jim was taking care of that, today was my first full day taking care of baby Andrew. And I ended up lugging him through four stores today trying to find the proper uniform for Jack. Who knew looking for white polos and blue or khaki shorts would be so hard? All the schools started a couple of weeks ago (including Jack's new one) so the pickings were slim. I found three polo shirts in his size, one pair of blue shorts, and two pairs of long pants for the kid. I think an internet search for uniforms is in my future tonight. Oh and all that cost me $90!!

Then Andrew and I went and picked up Jack from school. He came out all smiles and didn't seem to miss his old school, thankfully. He said he liked his teacher and had fun playing on the playground. So far so good with the new school. Then his new teacher handed me a list of school supplies I needed to buy. Oh my gosh. It had 25 items on it ranging anywhere from crayons and paint to wipes, paper towels, hand sanitizer and even q-tips! Sigh. A trip to Walmart was in my future.

So back home we go and I feed Jack and Andrew. Change Andrew two (or three?) times. Turn on Thomas for Jack. Andrew goes to sleep (yay!). Then I get to get my dirty dishes cleaned up. Andrew's Dad picked him up at 6 tonight. He really was a very good baby today and not sure, but he seems easier than Jack was at that age. I am sure it will come back to bite me once I just said that.

So as soon as Andrew was picked up, Jack and I headed off to Walmart for the school supplies. And yes, I got every single one of those 25 items! Well except the first one - backpack and he already had that. And the grand total of the school list? Another $44!

So to recap today - Baby duty for 9 hours and total spent on preschool stuff - $709.

I will take the official "first day of school" picture tomorrow and post. He looks so grown up in his little uniform. Waahhhh. Where did my baby go?

Sickening

It happened again. Right here. A 9-month-old baby died in the backseat of an SUV a few days ago. The father was supposed drop the baby off at daycare, but instead forgot and went to work at the bank. I guess the baby was trapped in the car from 9 am until 4pm! And the sickening part of all this? I drove right by that car four times that day! I was in that area that day and had no idea that a poor helpless baby was dying right there. Nauseating to say the least. I am sorry, but there is no excuse for forgetting your baby!

On another note, I skipped church today. I have been fighting the crud and it has been fighting back. This stuff has knocked me on my butt with the latest wonderful symptoms being throwing up and diarrhea. Yay! Jack and Jim are out doing stuff together so I could have the house to myself. But I have basically been going from bed to couch and back to bed again all morning long, with side trips to the bathroom. Exciting stuff.

It Should Not Be So Hard!

I never knew that preschool could be so hard. I am really torn up about Jack's preschool issues. You see, we went to the "get acquainted day" and I went in there with a wide open mind about his teacher. I really wanted to give her a chance and boy did she fail miserably. First off, this woman has been to our home only two weeks ago and met me, Jim and Jack. You would think that she would kind of remember who we were when we walked in. But she did not know us and had to ask Jack his name again and then me. So strike one within 30 seconds.

The other strikes came when the teacher just stood off in the corner and did not interact at all with the kids. I mean not once did she go up to them and want to play with them or show the room or anything! She just stood there. And she didn't even talk to us parents unless somebody walked up to her to ask her a question.

The final blow was when I found out that one little boy named Kamden from his class last year was not coming back like I had thought, mainly because of the teacher. And two other little boys, were being dropped also, again because of the teacher. So that meant that Jack would of been in a room with 6 girls and one other boy who was moving away in November. Now, that just don't cut it for me. Jack is all boy and he needs boys to play with. When I brought this observation up with the director, all she told me is "Jack will make friends with the girls", meaning she was not going to change the classes around. But he wasn't making friends that day because he was sitting in the corner by himself and none of the girls would play with him. My very social child was relegated to the corner by himself.

So with all those strikes, we have made a decision to pull Jack out of that school. And believe me it is tearing me up inside. If he had gotten the good teacher with his two good friends Kyle and Seth, I would have been one happy mother, but I am not going to keep him in a school with a teacher who should not be teaching three-year-olds and where he has no friends! I know this is tearing me up more than it should, but I guess it is because I was really looking forward to this school year with the other mothers who are now really great friends and the great teacher I so wanted him to have. But it all blew up and now he isn't even going to that school now.

So Jim and I went and checked out a Christian academy that starts out with PK-3 and can go through high school if we wanted to keep him there. It is more money, but I do feel he will be getting an actual education versus three hours of playing, they are a bit strict, but I think that is good, and they wear uniforms. The uniforms are just polo shirts with either khaki or blue pants. I feel bad because I know Jack is going to miss his old school and his old friends, but I do think he will flourish at the new school, or I hope so. The school for the Pre-K is half day everyday, but as they told me, if I am not ready for the full five days a week, I don't have to take him everyday, but I do have to pay the full money of course :).

I honestly did not know that it would be so hard and that the decision to put him in the new school would upset me so much. Argh! This parenting thing is hard with all these hard decisions. Geesh. Oh and I caught the crud that Jack had for a few days. My sinsuses are about to explode with the pressure and basically feel like total crud right now. Fun times!

It Is Getting Closer

To School Time! Next Tuesday, I get to pack Jack up and send him to preschool for three precious hours. I really do not know what I would do if preschool was not available, because I know he is getting tired of me and well quite frankly I am getting tired of trying to keep up with his endless conversations that go on and on and on. Seriously, he will start off with talking about a dump truck and pretty soon it is a full blown conversation involving bulldozers, trains, pickup trucks, sports cars, and the difference between diesel and gas fuel (yes he knows the difference). And all these things have their own personalities and I have to know the intimate details about those personalities. It is exhausting. He seriously NEEDS more kids his age to share in these conversations!

So today we are off for the "get aquainted day" at school. We missed all these activities last year because he didn't start school until mid September. So this is all exciting to us, especially knowing that he really is going back to school in a few days.

Then we are going to Kyle's house so Jennifer and I can have adult conversation and the boys can talk about the personalities of every moving vehicle ever created. I call that a win win situation.

Passages of Time

It was 2 years ago today that Hurricane Katrina swept through this area and changed the lives of many of my friends forever. It upsets me that the media forgot that the hurricane actually landed in Mississippi and not New Orleans. Yes, I will admit that N.O. was and still is devastated, I have seen part of the devastation myself. But so much of the media is focused on what the flood did over there and forget that entire TOWNS were basically wiped off the map. You drive anywhere near the beach and in a lot of places, all you will see is empty concrete slabs that used to be somebody's house.

I will never understand what these people really went through, and hopefully never will (knocking on wood). I have talked to countless people, including Jack's preschool teacher last year, who lost their house. But what makes me so proud of my fellow-Mississippians, is that they are picking themselves up and moving on. Nobody will tell you that it isn't hard, but it is being done. And that is something that New Orleans doesn't seem to understand, that they just need to pick themselves up and move on and they don't need to rely on the federal government nor President Bush to do that.

Last week, I was talking to my dental hygienist about what she went through. It was really tough two years ago. Her house was one of those empty slabs. They lost everything! Her church was a beautiful old church near the beach that was destroyed beyond repair and just recently was torn down, saving the old steeple, though. Even her place of employment, the dental clinic was destroyed. But she and her husband, two kids, and two dogs lived in a Fema trailer for months until they found a house to rent, which they lived in for almost a year. Only just in the last 6 months, did they get to move back into their newly re-built house. Yes, everybody who was here was changed forever, but they are stronger for it. And I am proud to call myself a Mississippian because of it.

Also, it was one year ago yesterday that Jim, Jack and I left California for good and embarked upon our crazy cross country drive that included two cars, four animals, and one two-year-old. The best decision we ever made!

Big Happy Dance

We are refrigerating once again in the Jackaroo House. Yes folks, after 2 1/2 weeks of being with absolutely no refrigerator, we are able to keep cold milk once again. Big Happy Dance! Of course the technician was supposed to be here between 1 and 5 yesterday and of course, he showed up at 4:30 pm! What a shocker! Do they ever show up at the early time suggested?

So you all know what that means don't you? I get to go on the biggest grocery shopping trip ever. I do believe that I am going to have to take out another mortgage to cover this today! Oy! And the thought of carrying all those groceries into the house and putting away, let's just say that mere thought makes me sick.

Oh and to update my social calendar with all you folks, I have yet another pampered chef party on Thursday to go to. My neighbor is having one - of course. So to sum up my social calendar this week - Southern Living party tonight, Pampered Chef party Thursday night, Girl's night out at the movies (Nanny Diaries) on Friday night, Pampered Chef party Saturday afternoon, and finally another Pampered Chef party on Tuesday night. Got all that?

Parties and Buying Stuff

What is up with Pampered Chef? It seems that everybody on the Mississippi coast is hosting a pampered chef party. I am invited to three parties in the next week! Of course, there is Jennifer (aka Kyle's Mom), who actually is a consultant and is always on me to either host another show or become a consultant myself, is having a "host appreciation night" at her house next week.

Jim also called me and told me his Sergeant's wife is having a party on Saturday and he said that I would go. Considering it is his Sergeant and all, I am thinking that I should go, ya know?

And then just last night, I called a friend from church who has been missing for a couple of weeks just to see if everything is okay, and she mentioned that she was having a party tonight and I am invited to go over to hers! I told her that I might not be able to make it since the other two parties are coming up.

Oh yeah and tomorrow night Jennifer (aka Kyle's Mom) is also hosting a Southern Living party! Geesh people, I am going to have to get a whole separate calendar for my social/buying obligations!

The Blog Curse Strikes Again

I should have known better. I wrote this morning about how great Jack has been lately and sure enough the blog curse struck me down. You know the one that if you write about whatever good thing your child does, the blog curse fairy will come and turn your child into the very opposite thing of what you wrote about. Jack was THE whiniest today that he was in a long time. Nothing would make him happy today. He had to complain about everything, including the size of his ice cream cone when we went to get ice cream after church today. I sure hope tomorrow is a better day and this isn't the start of some new whiney phase all because I happened to post that he was good!

My Good Boy

Not too sure what is going on with Jack these days, but he has been amazingly well behaved. I took him to the Discovery Center Museum (aka "the big playland") and let him play and run wild for about two hours. When it was time to go, he did not make a huge fuss about not wanting to leave and did not scream and throw himself down on the floor. Yes that is the usual way that we leave that place. And because he was such a good boy, I took him to Chickfila for lunch (they have the best toddler playland in the city) and let him play there for another hour. And again, when it was time to go, he was a perfect little boy! He just put his shoes on and said "bye" to all the other kids there and off we went! Purely amazing!

I have been trying to instill the chore thing and plan to buy that chore system I posted on earlier when we get past this month of super big bills (house insurance, car insurance, and car tags all due at the same time!). So Jack has been making his bed, with a little help from me. He also has been setting the table for dinner by getting out the silverware and the placemats and he is so proud of himself when he puts them just so on the table.

Not sure how long this good behavior is going to last, but I am loving it while it does. He has been so much fun to be around lately! My good boy.

Our Newest Part-Time Resident

Meet Andrew. He is our new part-time resident of the Jackaroo house. He is almost 5-weeks old and the son of our friends Stephen and Holly. I am going to be watching him two or three days a week when Holly goes back to work in a couple of weeks. Yesterday, Holly brought him over so she could go to the doctor baby-free. He is a really good baby and I was absolutely shocked how well Jack took to him. Jack was so gentle with him, except for the one time when he wanted to show Andrew his train and he bopped him over the head with the train. But other than that, Jack was so good and showed no jealousy at all. He was even willing to put on hold our very intriguing game of The Hungry Caterpillar Game so I could feed Andrew.

I do have to admit though, that I do suffer from Mommy amnesia. Wow, I forgot how much work babies really truly are! But it should be fun and interesting at the same time trying to juggle both Jack and Andrew. I understand now what all you mothers of multiple children have to deal with! Phew!

You Have to Check This Out!

For all my fellow Mommies out there - you have to check this site out. It has a great system for getting your child to do their chores. I found out about it yesterday when I went over to Jennifer's house so Kyle and Jack could play. Jennifer told me that she heard about it from Katie, another mother at Jack's school, and she saw the proof that it works first hand.

Anyway, it is basically a board that you put up on your wall and you hang these cards with chores printed on them and when your child does the chore, they put the card in the "I did it" slot. At the end of the day or week, you with your child count the cards in the "I did it" slot and they get the same number of tokens as cards. They can either spend their tokens for something small, like candy, right then or save them for something bigger in the future. It teaches them responsibility, counting, and the idea of saving.

It is called "I did My Chores" and I am very excited to start this system. I kind of started it last night when we were getting ready for dinner (spaghetti - no refrigerated items needed) and I asked Jack to set the table. He went and got the placemats out of the drawer, then he got the forks out of the drawer and set them oh so neatly. It was so cute and he was so proud of himself for doing that. I let him have a piece of candy after dinner.

I will let you know how it works out. I need to sit down and figure out what chores and what rewards he gets. Jennifer had an idea for a big reward to go to the Big Rat's house aka Chuck E Cheese. Considering how much I hate that place, that will be a huge huge reward!

Shave Time

Refrigerator Woes Update

We finally got a real live honest to goodness human being to come to our house today to look at our refrigerator. The one that is not refrigerating. The one that turns gallons of milk into solid smelly pieces of sludge (hope you weren't trying to eat :) ). And of course, he looked at it, plugged in the computer (who knew that you can plug a computer into a refrigerator? Not me) to see what was wrong. He did a few grunts and "ahh ha" and came to the conclusion that the fan is broken and not working. (No, really, you think?) And of course, as is our usual luck, he did not have that part with him and will have to order it. So we get to be without a refrigerator for at least another week! Oh Joy!

Well there is one small silver lining in all this - it is extremely hard to cook without refrigerated items and I have given up trying. No cooking for the next week!

Weekend Recap

Well it looks like Dean will not be coming our way, although we are still watching closely and are ready to run north if need be. I feel bad for those who are in its way and will be praying for those folks. It is no fun to be under the fear of hurricanes, I am learning.

This weekend was fun. On Saturday, we met the part of the family in Hattiesburg and had lunch. Our niece is starting her freshman year at Southern Miss in Hattiesburg. I think her mother, Jim's sister Carla, is not handling the separation from her baby. From what I hear many tears have been shed by Carla. I wonder how I am going to handle that in 15 years?

Yesterday was a full day with church and then meeting Kyle and his mother at the waterpark for some fun in the very hot sun. I am so done with the fun in the hot sun right now. Summer can be over for the year as far as I am concerned. Of course Jack and Kyle had fun while I got to do some girl talk with Jennifer. But I do believe that was the last waterpark visit this year. They are only opened a couple more weekends and to be honest, I just am not into splashing as I was back in May. Bring on the cool weather! Unfortunately, the cool weather around here just doesn't start until November!

Oh and very soon, we can look forward to the love bug invasion. They were here last year when we were moving into our house, and I just remember the swarms upon swarms and really and truly wondering why we were moving to this place. No, I do not like those love bugs! They are nasty, very nasty little creatures. And I didn't even know they existed until last year!

Living On The Coast

Thanks to Dean, we have our first real hurricane threat since moving here. I don't like that feeling of wondering whether or not next week we will have to run north to Grammy's house. I guess it is all part of living on the coast and the downfall of living in such a beautiful part of the country, but it doesn't mean that I have to like it. I am just glad that we decided to live seven miles inland and not blocks from the beach.

So, Mr. Dean, just stay away from my house!

Met The Teacher and Other Fun Times

Jack's new teacher, Miss Brianna, came to the house yesterday for the "home visit". She was exactly as I expected, she did not raise my expectations any further. She was cool and reserved, but also friendly. I do think a lot of her problem is that she is shy and doesn't know how to express herself very well. So we are going to give her a chance.

She brought Jack the new t-shirt that he is to wear on Thursdays to chapel, which he thought was really neat. She also brought him a small bible that he also is supposed to take to chapel every week. And the boy absolutely LOVES it. He loves his bible so much, that he had to take it to bed with him last night and fall asleep with it. I asked him whose book is the bible and he answered me "Jesus's book". So I think he understands.

So I am entirely stoked about the upcoming school year and can't wait for it to finally get here. He starts back on September 4th and I already have all the important dates written on the calendar.

In other news, it seems that broken down refrigerator is really completely dead. The freezer side is not working either and while it is still freezing in there, the temp keeps going up daily. And of course, we have to wait until Monday before the repair guy can get here from the land of "no real people" at the GE service center. I have been using my neighbor's refrigerator to keep our milk because they are away on vacation and I have a key to their house to look after things.

The fun times just keep coming here at the Jackaroo house!

Heart Breaking

I have been trying to introduce the concept of Jesus and prayer into Jack's life. We have our nightly prayers where we say thank you for everything (including the doors and windows) and we ask that Jesus looks over sick Papa and Daddy at work, etc. Well I could tell that it has made Jack think and yesterday while driving in the car, he came out with this little gem.

"I asked Jesus to go pick up my Sissy in California and bring her back here." Broke my heart right there. He misses her so much and how do you tell a three-year-old that Jesus can't do that right now and his Sissy has to be in California right now? So sweet my child is.

Scary

You know what is really scary? Going 3 months in between hair color jobs and seeing how you really would look all naturale. The gray! Very Very Scary! Thank Goodness Friday is a coming and I am going to be sitting my butt in the salon chair.

School Issues ... Already

I found out yesterday that Jack did not get the teacher that I wanted at his preschool. There are two teachers for the 3-year-old class and one of them is absolutely phenomenal. Miss Jackie is the perfect preschool teacher who is bubbly and energetic and oh-so nice. She and I formed a friendship last year when I would help out with the parties and other things. I absolutely heart her. And I was not shy in letting everybody know, including the director of the preschool, that I wanted Jack in Miss Jackie's class. In fact that is really the one reason why I signed him up to go to this school again this fall, and not try to find a school closer to home. As it is, I do drive 20 miles to this school.

But, alas, Jack got into Miss Brianna's class. Miss Brianna is about as opposite of Miss Jackie as you can get. I have spoken with her a couple of times and there is no energy, no enthusiasm, no life. She is the equivalent of a wet noodle, so to speak. In fact, one of the other mother's said to me that if her son got her this year, she was going to pull him out of that school. But she doesn't have to worry, because she got Miss Jackie. Supposedly, they put the older threes with Miss Jackie and the younger threes with Miss Brianna, with February being the cut off. Jack got shafted being born 5 days into March. I even called Kelsey, Jack's awesome teacher from last year to see what she had to say about Miss Brianna, but she really couldn't say anything. But she told me that I was not the only one who was concerned and she understands my feelings.

So now I am really wondering about the whole thing. Is she really as bad as all that? Will Jack still thrive in her class? His two best friends are going to be in the other classroom, how will he take that? Should I look around at the preschools closer to home? I love the christian-based curriculum they have, but I know there are two other preschools near here that are run by churches.

Miss Brianna is coming tomorrow for the home visit that all teachers do before the school year starts. I am going to see how she is and how Jack reacts to her before I make up my mind. I may just go visit the other preschools today and maybe get on their waiting list, just in case.

Argh, I did not think that school issues would come at the age of three! But I guess they do.

Monday Stuff

I hate GE appliance service center! When I made the appointment for them to come look at our refrigerator, I made it for Monday between 8 - 12, thinking that it would be today. Silly me, it was for NEXT Monday! I tried to call them to see if I can get another one for oh say sometime THIS week, but you literally can NOT talk to a human being. There are no options at all for talking to real live people. It only gave me the option of the appointment that I already have. So I tried to call Sears, where we purchased the stupid thing, and they told me that I had to deal directly with GE, the land of no-real people. I don't know how we are going to go all week without a refrigerator. We have already lost everything that was in there, but we need milk! The boy thrives on his sippy milks!

I also have a HUGE HUGE headache, bordering on migraine today. So thinking at all is pretty much out of the question. Jim is off to some training class today, so no help dealing with the boy who is insisting on we play hide and seek. The mere thought of playing hide and seek makes me want to vomit - literally.

And I don't know about you, but I am so ready for summer to be over. You know when it is April or May and you are all excited for the warm weather to be here - that feeling? Yeah that feeling is so over for me right now. I took Jack swimming yesterday and our pool was the temp of a hot tub - literally! It has been consistently over 100 degrees here with the heat index around 110 and I am just saying this - I do not like it!

So that is my Monday, how is yours going?

I also want to congratulate Jane from the Moose Family. They finally received their referral for their little girl from China! I am so happy for them because I know how long they have waited for this to happen. Go on over there and congratulate them!

Now I am going to lay down and NOT play hide and seek. The boy is going to watch Tom and Jerry and play with his trains. He may not know that right now, but that is what is happening.

Yep It Is Hot

Of Course

Our refrigerator is not refrigerating. It is not working at all. And of course, it is very well stocked at the moment (a rarity). And of course, it is Saturday and I can't get a repairman to get here to look at it until Monday. And I am not sure if it is still under warranty. If they go by the date that we purchased and paid for it, then it is not. However, if we go by the date that we took possession and was delivered to us, then it is still under warranty - by like two weeks. Of course.

1 1/2 To Go

I only have 1 1/2 rooms to go before my entire house, as in every single wall, is painted. I have been painting all morning long and have finally finished my bedroom and half of my bathroom. I only have the other 1/2 of my bathroom and the guest bedroom left to paint! Yay! I chose a soft sage green for my bedroom and bathroom and I am thinking of a gray/taupe for the guest bedroom.

I told myself at the beginning of the summer that I was going to get the rest of the house painted by the time we were here a year. Well that year is up next month. How that is possible, I do not know. But hopefully, I will make good on my promise and actually get it done.

But right now, I am tired! Four hours of painting and my neck is seriously needing a trip to the chiro! I really want to crawl to the couch and watch tv right now for oh about 10 hours. But there is a problem. Jack is bored and wanting to "do something." I guess motherhood comes first before comfort huh? I am so not going to be able to walk tomorrow. I just know that right now.

Is It Wrong?

Is it wrong to let Jack trash his bathroom by letting him play in the water just so I can have 30 minutes of "me" time?

Jack's favorite activity as of late seems to be playing in the water. He will take about 250 toys into his bathroom, use the toilet to get himself up on the counter and proceed to get water all over the bathroom, all in the name of playing. And when I say all over, I mean down the sink onto the floor, on the door, on the ceiling and soaking his rug. And the thing is, I let him do it, just so I can get something done. You know something important, like looking online for new window treatments for my bedroom.

Big Boy Sizes

I started shopping for school clothes for the boy today. He has absolutely NO clothes that fit him anymore, except for a few shirts and some shorts. And that includes shoes. He has a pair of crocs that he has been wearing all summer long because he basically has no other shoes that fit.

So off we went to start this massive undertaking to outfit the boy again. I measured his feet and he is now a size 11! I am guessing the size 9 1/2's from last year are not going to cut it. So he got a brand new pair of sneakers ala Spider Man that light up. And of course, now he won't take them off his feet.

My next mission was to get some long pants, even though it is now 189 degrees outside. I started with the 4t's and soon realized that these were not going to work at all. I had to go over to the big boy section! He has outgrown all the toddler sizes! I bought him two pairs of pants - one jeans and the other black jeans sized 4. The problem is, that while he maybe in length be a size 4 because the length is just about perfect, his waist is NOT a size 4. Next shopping trip will be to buy some belts to keep the pants up!

I am by far not done with the shopping. I figure I need a minimum of three or four more pants and more long-sleeved shirts. I need to do this in stages so the money leaving my pocket won't feel quite so badly. Oh and while putting socks on the boy for the first time in months, I realized that all his socks are way too small for his feet. Add that to the list!

Oh yeah, there are 27 more days left until his school starts. Not that I am counting or anything. :)

Yep It Is August

It is soooo hot and humid here right now. Yesterday it hit over 100 and the humidity was give or take a bit right around 5000%. My hair? Has not been straight and without friz since May. I gave up on in a long time ago. And last night, Jack and I went walking with our neighbors and after an hour of walking, we all were drenched in sweat. Literally. And it wasn't because of the hard walk we were doing since we had two three-year-olds with us, no it was because of the ungodly oven that we presently live in. And when we got home from the walk, all of our windows were steamed up and could not see through them. Yes it is hell here.

I am thinking it is too hot even to go swimming at the moment! That is hot.

The First Time

Jack had his very first dentist appointment this morning. I am SO PROUD of him. He did so good. I was quite amazed at just how good he was. First off, the place is totally geared for kids. He is a pediatric dentist and it is a very fun place with a huge mural of fishies on the wall. When you walk in the back, they have all the tables arranged in a circle with tvs installed in the ceiling for each table! How cool is that?

They started off with xrays and he did good for the first two, but did NOT like the ones in the back and kept spitting them out, so we settled for just two pictures. Then he went over to the table and he got to pick out which color table he wanted. Of course, he picked orange (his favorite color ya know). He did really well with the whole procedure and let the hygienist clean his teeth and even floss. I was told that I should be starting to floss his teeth, especially the back molars. Um yeah okay. Do they pay for my fingers that are going to be bitten off?

The dentist did the exam and he said everything looks perfect. He has all of his baby teeth in and they are spaced really nice and even. If he keeps this up with his big teeth, it will mean no braces! Yahoo! Save a small fortune there. He also had no cavities.

After it was all done, they gave him a new Diego toothbrush, new toothpaste, a pencil and he got to pick a toy from the treasure chest. He was so proud of all his new stuff. I can say that his early childhood dentistry is going to be sooooo much better than mine ever was. I had Dr. Dodge, who did not believe in Novocaine to fill cavities! I probably had five cavities filled with no Novodaine whatsoever. I was literally in college the first time I had Novocaine! And he was sooo old, he had shaking hands and I would call his technique the OPPOSITE of gentle! I was so happy when I heard he died hehe. Is that wrong? Anyway, I am just very happy that Jack doesn't have to go through that and maybe he will have a better outlook on going to the dentist than I do!

The Bullet

There is nothing like getting a phone call from your doctor with the words "the doctor found something in your left breast and we need additional mammogram views. When would you like to schedule an appointment to get another mammogram done?" Those words can put dread and fear into you like nothing else. And those are the words that I received two weeks ago. And the soonest they could get me in for the additional-very-powerful-all-digital-can-see-any-little-speck-of-something-wrong-mammogram was last Friday. I had to go to the hospital because of their super duper machine there, as opposed to the not-so-super-duper machine at the doctor's office where I had the first one done. They even had my previous films on the wall with the "problem area" marked out for the tech to zero in on. Of course she could not give me any information or clues as to what she saw. Talk about aggravating.

While I was at the hospital, I was talking to another lady who was called back for "additional views" also and she was not handling it very well. She was breaking down crying right in front of me. I felt really sorry for her, because I know only too well what she was going through. I hope she got good news today.

But after calling the doctor bright and early this morning, I was given the all-clear. There was no abnormalities at all in my left breast, which by the way produced hardly any milk when I needed it to. After hearing the news, I feel like about 3 tons of weight has been lifted off my shoulders and can actually breath normally for the first time in two weeks. The bullet has been dodged...this time.

I just wonder, however, do these doctors have any idea what they put us through when they do this?

It's going to be quiet around here

It was a sad day for us today. Laura left to go back to California today. We are going to miss her. She just kind of fills in our family when she is here. Jack practically worships his sister and it very nearly brought me to tears when he had to say goodbye to her. She really is a great girl and a huge help to me when she is here. She helps me clean and watches Jack whenever I need her, all without complaining once. I sure got lucky in the stepdaughter department. And it just isn't the same without her. The last 7 weeks sure flew by fast!

We also had a little get together here at the house with the family. It was Uncle Dan's birthday today so we combined his birthday party with Laura's fond farewell party. So that helped ease the transition for us, but now that everybody is gone, we are all feeling the loss of Laura. :(

Again?

The Duggers have done it again! They just had their 17th child. I remember she had her 15th child a couple of weeks after Jack was born. I remember sitting at home in my bedroom watching tv while trying to pump what little breastmilk I could and being in total shock that a woman MY age just had her 15th child. I can't even fathom. And she home schools them all! And here I am counting down the days until my one child goes back to preschool in the fall!

One of my many questions about this family is, how do they find the time to actually do the deed that gets them pregnant in the first place?!?

It Is Sad This Is Needed

I saw a piece on Good Morning America this morning about children dying in hot cars when they are left alone. They mentioned that there is now a devise that you can hook to the car seat and it will go off if you get more than 10 feet away from your baby!!! Is this really necessary? Do people really just forget they have a child in the backseat??? Do you really need a reminder when you just happen to forget you have a child? Sort of like when you forget you left your headlights on? Sadly and obviously there are people out there that need this since there are so many deaths per year by people just walking away from their cars with their babies left to burn up - literally. Are they really that busy?

Now I don't know about you, but whenever Jack is in the car with me (99.9% of the time), I have never ever forgotten he was there. When he was an infant, I kept looking back in my rear view mirror to see his little face in his little mirror, just to know that he was alright. I never for one split second forgot that I had a child back there. And now, with his constant chatter about trucks, trains, planes, and pretty much any other mode of transportation, it is just impossible to forget that he is there. I even find that I drive a lot more carefully with him in the car than not. I am more willing to be more patient and wait for traffic a few seconds more, just so that my child is safe.

And for those who leave their children INTENTIONALLY, well I have to respect for them at all. They know better and unfortunately the small ones have to pay the price for the adult's stupidity.

I think it was a sad day when this alarm was created and that it is at all needed.