Trick or Treat !

Daddy helping Batman get ready for the big night.

Batman Himself

Showing off the amazing muscles (yes I had to get the muscle chest costume)

Batman (Jack) and Batgirl (Allison)

The Caped Crusaders.

Little Mary Grace who scared her parents so badly a few weeks ago when she was born. Here she is as a pea pod. I swear Jack was NEVER this tiny. She just seems so dainty and Jack was never ever dainty.

This little monkey (baby Alison) was so cute with her baby monkey

The Neighborhood Moms with our kiddos

Happy Halloween!

I am sure all those with the little ones are going to be out trick or treating tonight. Jack is soooo excited. It is fun to watch because he totally gets it this year. He is even practicing his "Trick or Treat" speech he is going to make at every door tonight. And he is absolutely pumped to be batman and keeps singing the batman song and yelling "Batman" through the house. Ahhh this is such a fun age.

When I picked him up from school today, the boy was absolutely crazy with a sugar high from all the snacks at the halloween party at his school. Although they are not allowed to wear costumes, they did have a party and from the look on his face, it was pretty fun. He also got to bring home the pumpkin that he painted all green.

While I was at the school there was a bit of excitement from having four police officers in the office. After a few minutes, one of them walked out a teenage boy in handcuffs. I guess he did something that he shouldn't have done. Now mind you, this is a small christian private school and this kind of thing doesn't happen that often, not like the big public high schools anyway. So now I am waiting for Jim to get up and find out what that kid did. Inquiring minds want to know ya'll!

After school, I took Jack to chick-fil-a to burn off some of that sugar high. It has the best playland and is nice for the parents to just sit back and watch their child in the enclosed area run around like crazy people. As for those other parents, I am just shocked that some of them even have kids. I feel sorry for their kids. I overheard one mother talking to another mother while I was pretending to read the newspaper. Mother A was talking about Halloween and how she hated the holiday and she saw no reason for it and she was not going to let her precious child out tonight to go "beg for candy"! At this point I snuck a glance at Mother B who was trying very hard to NOT tell this woman off. She actually handled it very well and tactful by saying "well MY child is going to grow up normal with all the tradition of begging for candy" and let it be at that. Phew glad that I didn't have to deal with THAT mother from hell.

But I do have to admit that I am another kind of mother that I did not think I was going to be. When we got home, I was going through the mail and was reading the November newsletter from Jack's school. It listed the "students of the month". They give out three every month. One for the preschool (K3 - K5), one for 1st - 5th grade, and one for the middle and high school students through 12th grade. Well the one for the preschool was a little girl in Jack's class and for a split second (alright for about 10 seconds), I felt jealousy because I wanna see my baby's name as student of the month! Waaahhhh. I also want the cool bumper sticker that says "My child is a student of the month at X school." Yeah I am so that mother.

Bleh

I have not been feeling myself the last few days. Feeling bleh is a good description. I think Jack's week of sick threw me off kilter and I still have not climbed back to being on kilter. Being financially strapped right now does not help one bit, although we did get some news today that should help in that matter. I am hoping to be back on track by the end of the year - hopefully.

I have been walking at our local school track. I was doing it really faithfully before Jack got sick, but yesterday was the first day back to walking in two weeks. Jim and I did two miles together and then this morning I did another 3.5 miles. I do feel better with that.

I am also down to one day a week taking care of Baby Andrew. I told his parents that I just couldn't do the three days a week they were doing earlier. It was killing me. So now the one day a week is much more doable. In fact, he is here today and is napping very nicely.

We had a big and busy weekend. We went to the Spookfest that was held on the Navy base. Our neighbor told us about it and we decided to go. Jack was dressed in his batman costume and it was pretty fun. They had a haunted trail, but the first part was not really that scary (but freaked Jack out enough) and had the option to not do the second really scary part. We opted out of the really scary part. There were about a million kids there running around everywhere.

Another big highlight for me is Jack's first field trip ever! His class is going to the pumpkin patch/corn maze and I am chaperoning! It should be fun and how is it my baby is big enough to be going on field trips? Sigh.

The Tradition Continues

I remember watching The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and just knowing that the best part of the year was coming: Halloween, Thanksgiving, and especially Christmas. The show was like the start of the great season for me and I am sure for a lot in my generation. So it is with great joy to know that at this very moment, Jack is watching The Great Pumpkin absolutely mesmerized. In fact, when Jim went to leave for work tonight, Jack was so engrossed in the show that he didn't even acknowledge Jim yelling at him "goodbye!". Yep, the Charlie Brown torch has been passed. Of course, we are going to have dig out the Thanksgiving and Christmas Charlie Brown dvds also.

Back to School!

Yay! It was back to school today for the boy. I can tell you this has been one long week. I know he has felt really bad, and to be honest, he still isn't 100% today, but I pretty much forced him out the door because today was picture day at school. I know that was pretty selfish on my part, but I wanted those pictures! The pink eye is pretty much gone thanks to the second round of eye drops and he hasn't been complaining about his ear hurting, so the antibiotics must be helping the ear infection. However, he still has a pretty nasty cough that kept both him and I up last night. I got up three times last night to get him something for the cough. Poor thing.

The weather may just have something to do with the sickies also. It is hard to believe that just on Saturday it was warm enough to go swimming. In fact, I got a little sunburn on my face when we were at our neighborhood block party. And yesterday and today it has only been in the mid 50's. I guess summer is really officially over. And wow is Halloween really only a week away? Geesh. I hope that it isn't so cold that night because Jack's batman costume is kinda tight (even though I got the one size up). He is going as batman and Alison, the little neighbor girl is going as batgirl. Should be over-the-top in the cuteness factor.

Updates and Prayers

I am glad that we took Jack to the doctor today. I really had some misgivings as to whether he really needed to go about two hours before we went. He was looking like he felt fine and was sitting on the floor playing with his cars. But he started to go downhill shortly after that and after hearing what the doctor said, I was glad that I didn't listen to myself on this one.

Turns out that his pink eye is not getting any better with the current eye drops. In fact he has some long name that I don't even remember nor would know how to spell to google such a thing. But it is in his left eye, which was very pink, red, and puffy with goop oozing from it when we were there. And the pink eye has caused an ear infection in his left ear also. So if you combine the pink eye, ear infection, cough, and icky cold, the kid is just basically miserable. He came home and laid on the couch sleeping and whimpering for about two hours after I gave him the newly prescribed eye drops and the bubble gum flavored antibiotics. I love the smell of the antibiotics, by the way, it so takes me back to fourth grade when I had pneumonia and was on the very same stuff. Ahhh Memories.

I have also been glued to the tv for the past two days watching the fires in California. I keep thinking about our friends back there and hope and pray that they are alright. The fires haven't hit where we used to live yet (knocking on wood and praying) so most of our friends are safe. However, they are close. In fact, they have evacuated the entire town about 20 miles south of where we were and from what I hear hundreds of homes in that town were burnt down. I had friends in my old playgroup who live in that town and it hits kind of close. The town that my old boss lives in also was hard hit and again I hope he and his family are alright. It really is quite tragic. I remember four years ago this month, there were a lot of fires around us and just seeing that orange sky and all the smoke sure was not a good feeling. I was pregnant at the time and the thought of having to run for your life was so scary and what exactly would I put in the car to leave. Very scary. My thoughts and prayers are with all my old friends and everybody else in California tonight.

Biblical Proportions

It was quite a day here yesterday. I am surprised that we are not floating down the street by now. It rained hard all day long and then last night, it even rained harder. We lost power a few times last night and had the candles out burning just in case. According to the news New Orleans got 8 inches, but of course I can't find anything about how much we got. It figures since New Orleans is so much more important than the MS Gulf Coast (whatever). But anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if we got somewhere near that figure. It was quite impressive and another day of that and I would have been making plans to build an ark!

In the Jackaroo news, yes he is still sick. He did not go to school again today. The pink eye seems to be resisting the eye drops because it keeps clearing up, only to come back a few hours later. The cold has turned into an ugly thing with an ugly cough and now he is complaining about his ears hurting. Oh joy. So we are off to go to the doctor this afternoon to see whats up. This doctor is very anti-antibiotics, which is a good thing in my opinion, but that means these doctor visits usually end up with him just looking at him and sending us home saying "yep he's sick just wait it out". But with the ear thing going on, I figure I should take him in. Ya never know.

And all this Jackaroo sickness has made me stir crazy and feeling blah. I haven't been outside of this house since Saturday and it is driving me crazy. Jim is home today and I am thinking that I need to just get out to go and get some milk at the very least. It is the simple things in life that make ya happy - milk shopping. :)

Rainy Sick Day

It is a very rainy day here. The forecast calls for 2-6 inches of rain today and it is doing its job getting that done right now. Also Jack is home sick today. His first sick day this year. I think we have the pink eye under control at the moment. But let me tell you, giving eye drops to a squirming three-year-old is not fun nor easy. But the eyes look much much better. Now he is fighting some kind crud and has been up two nights in a row now coughing. It is a very deep kind of cough where he just about gags when he is having the fits. He isn't feverish, but I can tell he's pretty much miserable at the moment. So it is just us staying inside armed with the Disney channel and lots of movies today.

I am kind of bummed about the rain. I have been trying to walk between 10-12 miles a week at the local school track and have not been able to get out walking since last Tuesday. I was all set to go this morning, but alas I am not that dedicated to walk in hot humid rain downpour. Yuck. I guess there is always tomorrow.

If this isn't proof...

Whoever said that cold and cough medicine doesn't work in children under 6, should come to my house to witness the miraculous transformation in my child. This morning at 4 am, he was coughing and pretty much miserable. However, after giving him children's Vicks (and a dosage of eye drops for the pink eye), he is now running back and forth in my house like a caged animal, proclaiming that he is "not sick anymore Mom"! All this energy and I can't take him anywhere because he is contagious and since I think I got about 3 hours of sleep, I now feel like crud. Not fair!

I think we just maybe going to that soccer game this afternoon after all to get rid of this energy!

The First Case

It is official. Jack has his first case of pink eye. He woke up yesterday morning with some goopy stuff in his eye, but I didn't think anything of it. We went out running errands for a couple of hours and then came home to go to our annual neighborhood block party. It was really fun with the police department bringing this little train and giving train rides through the neighborhood for the kids. There was supposed to be a big jumpy thing, but somehow it never showed up. But it was fun and it was even warm enough for the kids to go swimming in the pool, which Jack did. He was not complaining of anything at this time, so I let him get in the pool.

So there I was talking to the lady at the police department who organizes all these events and up walks Jack and I had to look at him all of 2 seconds to know that he had pink eye. His eye was literally dripping the goopy stuff and it was pinker than pink. How in the span of three hours had that happened? And of course, being Saturday, his doctor was closed.

I packed us up and walked home with Jack complaining and crying the entire half mile walk home. I woke Jim up who was sleeping from working the night before and told him what was going on and that we were off to Urgent Care because there was no way I was going to wait until Monday. And the official diagnosis - pink eye. This was after the doctor put the glowing drops in his eye and shined the light showing all the bacteria - totally cool by the way. Now we are armed with the eye drops and instructions not to go anywhere for the next 24 hours, which means no church and no soccer game this afternoon. I haven't told him that we are not going to the soccer game yet, hoping that he is too miserable to remember he had one today. But the doctor said he could go back to school on Monday.

I also had to make about four phone calls because we were at our small group at church on Friday night with about 8 other kids. I figured it was the right fellow-parent thing to do by warning all the other parents about the possible pink eye breakout.

I let him sleep with me last night (and yes I plan on changing all the pillow cases) and it was plain miserable. He now has a nasty cold with a cough, which combined with the icky eye, kept both of us awake all night long. I finally called it quits at 3:30 and got us up to put him on the couch to watch Thomas videos. Oh and yeah, I am pretty sure, my right eye is now infected too. Nice little benefit of having kids with the infectious bacteria.

But I have to thank God because I know it could be worse. Like being the parent of the little 11-year-old girl who died locally last week with the staph virus. Makes ya want to keep your kids in a bubble I tell ya.

On a happier note, we want to wish Grammy A. a Happy Birthday! It is her last year of a decade. Hope you have a great day Grammy A.!!!

I need daycare ya'll

Jack's school has a cool little convenience attached to it. They provide after school daycare. You can pay the monthly fee for those working parents, but also you can pay $2.50 an hour to leave your kid there as long as you want. Well, providing you pick them up by 6pm. I just found this out and I must say that every day this week has been a huge temptation for me to use this little convenience. I know for a fact that I will be using this tomorrow because I scheduled a southern living at home party for tomorrow night. I scheduled it on a night that I thought Jim was going to be home and he would help me watch the boy. However, planning in this house doesn't help, as he has training tomorrow from 8 - 5. (Who knew that it takes 9 hours to learn how not to get bit?)

So anyway, I have planned to make a pumpkin cheese cake, some fancy brie cheese thing, some fancy cracker layout thing, and some fancy drink thing. And on top of all that making of stuff, I need to clean my house big time. And that includes giving my couches a shampoo because seriously, they are disgusting and embarrasing to have people sit on them. Yuck. I just don't have time to have the boy underfoot while I am doing all that. I was thinking that not that many people are coming, but no such luck, it looks like a houseful with at least 12 people.

Ya'll wanna come over also? The fancy brie cheese thing is supposed to be good. :)

My Own Personal Cop Service

I was sitting in my family room drinking coffee just a few minutes ago when I heard a key being used to open the front door. I figured it was Jim coming home a few minutes early and just wasn't using the garage door like he usually does. He opens the door and yells out "Dawn are you alright?" and I see him round the corner with his gun drawn ready to shoot! I guess dispatch said that there was an alarm going off in our house and he was responding. Nope no alarm here. Turns out the alarm was next door and it was a false alarm and dispatch just told him that it was at his house. I walk outside and I see two cop cars out there and our cop friend Todd made a beeline here also to see what was going on at "Jimbo's house".

Yeah I feel safe now. I have my very own personal police service :).

And Another Installment of Unbelievable Insurance Company

So let me see, since I last posted about my horrible-no-good-insurance-company, a few things have happened. I got yet another bill that they of course denied. This one was the office visit to the doctor for a routine physical. Not even the Gyn doctor, just the family care physician that I found off their list of approved doctors online.

I called yet again and yet again they wanted to put me through to too-perky-Tasha. I complained about her and what do you know this time I actually talked to her perkiness (which turned very sour when she heard it was me on the other end.). And the same old excuse was used as to why this bill was denied - possible pre-existing condition! What?!? For a routine physical? What a piece of crock!

So with Jim on one phone calling the insurance rep at his work and me on the other phone calling doctors, hospitals, radiologists and oh yes lovely insurance companies, we went to work fighting this. Well after talking to the doctor's office, I finally understood where they are getting this "Possible Pre-exisiting condition" crap from. It seems that all the doctor's offices put on their paperwork to the insurance was stating that I had family history of breast cancer (my mother) and heart problems (my father) and the insurance company took that to mean that I could have a "possible pre-exisitng condition" and flat out denied my claims. Again WHAT THE *(@$ !!!!!!!!!!!! How is it that just because my family had these conditions, that I am penalized with a crapload of medical bills???? Oh and the tests turned out that I am healthy! I have NO pre-exisitng anything.

Again, I totally and completely hate insurance companies and yes, we are fighting these bills. My credit maybe ruined because the first round are now going to collection, but I don't care. This is not right!!!!! And I just want to say that health insurance companies are detrimental to your health. My blood pressure was in danger zones yesterday I am sure!

A Perfect Fall Day of Soccer and The Farm

We started our morning out bright and early again with Jack's 8 am soccer game. Not to brag or anything, but I just have to say that Jack's team is awesome! Actually it is a little bit embarassing just how good they are. The other team scored only one goal today and our team scored about 20 or so. Seriously, it got so we were not even cheering after like the 15th goal or so. Just a weak Yay go team. I felt bad for the other team. But Jack's team is really that good and I am really impressed at how well Jack is playing. It is worth getting up at the crack of dawn on a Saturday, I guess.

After the soccer game, we headed over to Alabama to the corn maze. This place was really amazing and we plan to make it our fall tradition to go here every year. And since it decided to finally cool off to the 70's today, it was a perfect day to spend outside going through big corn fields.

Jack trying to milk the fake cow. He actually looked like he knew what he was doing. Go figure.

Going down the bumpy slide. You can only do that when you are young. All I could think about was my aching back when I saw that.

Feeding the baby piggies.

I tried to capture one of the hundreds of butterflies flying around the wild flowers.

Jack and Daddy on the "cow train" pulled by a John Deere of course.

My little corn stalk.

Jack inside the corn maze showing off the corn. Actually the corn maze was pretty neat and Jack thought it was really fun when we were letting him make the decisions of which path to go down. It took us about 10 or 15 minutes to get through only the first part of the maze. It was quite elaborate and pretty fun.

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.