Fresh Prince

Good morning! What a crazy night it was, and not the crazy nights of college. Not crazy in a fun way. My son, who seems to be taking after his father in the allergy department (ie., allergic to EVERYTHING), got bit by a bug yesterday. Behind his ear. Being the sympathetic mom I am, when he told me his ear hurts when he bends it - my reply is, don't bend it! Duh.

Anyways, four hours later, we're sitting at Chili's and I look at his ear - he looks like Will Smith in Hitch - his little ear is sticking out from his head by like, four inches! And, his nose starts running like a siv. MMMMM, want some chips with that?

So, I drive like a mad woman to get him home and pump him full of Benadryl....changing lanes (with no signal, of course) right in front of a sheriff's officer. Brilliant. Lucky for me, he was in another world and not paying the least bit of attention to moi.

We get home. I get him the meds. I get him situated in MY bed, with video games, movies, water, tissues, all the necesary items. After about four hours (yes, even with 2 tsp. of Benadryl) he falls asleep. Sweet relief.

I get on my laptop and try to get some work done when he starts kicking at me, screaming, rolling around, almost falling out of the bed....he's crying hysterically but is half asleep so he doesn't know exactly why. I take him to his bed becasue I don't want him to wake up the princess lying next to me on the other side (yes, they're both in my bed. Shhhhhh, it's a secret!). So, I put him in his bed, had to actually YELL at him to get him to stop crying. By yell, I mean SCREAM to wake up. Then he woke up, let out a little gas (tooted, in our family) and started laughing. Oh, good, he's fine. BUT, his ear is still huge. I give him some more Benadryl and he's off to dream land again.

After all that drama, of course, I can't go to sleep! Hmmm, what should I do? Let's what nine episodes of TLC's What Not to Wear. What a complete waste of time. I actually felt myself getting dumber by the minute but did I turn it off?? Heck, no! I had to see the end result (which, by the way, was amazing!). So maybe at four when the prince returned back to my room, I turned the TV off.

So, now it's 11 AM Saturday. I am exhausted because I didn't get any sleep, or rather, any restful sleep. Have so much to get done in the next three hours since the hubby gets back today from a four day business trip (Hallelujah!!!!!). The kids are watching Bob the Builder and eating leftover noodles for lunch. I have to be at church in two hours and little guy is fully congested, snot just pouring out of his little face. His ear is looking a little bit better, but yes, he still looks like the Fresh Prince.

Conversion? (Ran on MySpace on 9-17-07)

hard work!!
I thought real estate was hard.
I thought preganancy and delivering a child were hard.
I thought exercise was hard.
They have nothing on this!!
I have kept my house CLEAN for TWO weeks now!!!
I've turned into a raging psycho in the process, but anyone who wants to stop by my house with no notice CAN.....I wouldn't be embarrassed with the amount of toys, underwear, laundry laying around becuase there would be NONE.
My laundry is caught up, the toys are put away, the beds are made, the toilets scrubbed.
I know this isn't exciting for most of you, but for ME, the one of the sloppiest people on planet Earth, it's VERY exciting!!
Amazing how a clean house can impact the rest of your life, though. I am feeling completely organized in all aspects (except maybe career, as I try to figure out what I want to do).
When asked "where is XXXX??" - I now know the answer! Quite invigorating.
Anyways, that's it. Have a VERY HAPPY MONDAY!

Dull Women Have Immaculate Homes (Ran on MySpace on 9-11-07)

Well, I must pat myself on the back!
It has been EIGHT whole days!
My house has been CLEAN for EIGHT WHOLE DAYS!! Can you believe it??!!!??
I have a plaque in my kitchen that says "dull women have immaculate houses" - I think that's true. I strive for a clean house, where all toys are put away nicely in those cute boxes and totes that all match from Pottery Barn....I strive for carpeted floor with no stains. For an entertainment center with no dust or DVDs strewn about. I'm striving. I think I'm going to be striving forever though.
The past eight days have been exhausting! I have been doing two loads of laundry each day! I've made the beds every morning. I've had dishes in the sink for no more than an hour! I have been on top of everything.
I think I may have to increase the dosage on my meds though, because I feel like I'm going crazy!
How long does it take before something becomes a habit??
As much as I want a clean house, I do not want to become DULL in order to do so. I want my kids to know they can play without fear of mommy having a panic attack! So, I'm trying to strike that balance.
In the meantime, I'll be folding the last load of towels.

Firetrucks in Heaven?

This is a note to all those Sunday School Teachers out there who spend countless hours with the children of the world, teaching them about the love of Jesus, Noah's Ark, Adam and Eve, Daniel and the Lion's Den and all the great stories of the Bible.
Can I make a request of you?? From here on out, could you please not teach kids under the age of, say, eight, about heaven??
Let me explain.
Since your talk about heaven a few weeks ago, a trip in our car goes like this: (MC is my four year old Mick)

MC: 'Mommy, are there firetrucks in heaven?'
ME: I think there'll be firetrucks in heaven, sure.
MC: 'What about race cars? And trees?'
ME: Yeah, definitely!
MC: 'when do we get to go to heaven?'
ME: Not for a long time
MC: 'Is it 2 or 3 plane trips?'
ME: We don't take an airplane
MC: 'Oh, do we take a rocketship?'
ME: (giggling) No, Jesus is going to come down from Heaven and take us up
MC: 'like on a cloud?'
ME: Yes, on a cloud!
MC: 'Like Mary Poppins!!"
ME: (laughing) Yes, just like Mary Poppins
MC: 'but if you die do you go to heaven?'
ME: yes
MC: When are you going to die?'
ME: Not until long after you've grown up, I hope. A very long time from now.
MC: I don't want to grow up, I want to stay four years old'

silence for about two minutes, me on the verge of tears! then he says this:

MC: If you're in heaven, who is going to be my mommy?

Let's just say I couldn't answer right then as the tears were flowing down my face!!!

The above conversation has been taking place 9 out of 10 car rides in some shape or fashion....I'm going to have to go to seminary just so I can have a conversation with my four year old!! Last week he told me that he didn't want to go to heaven because daddy said puppies aren't in Heaven!! Of course, I had to tell him that daddy was mistaken, and that puppies are most definitely going to be in heaven!!

So, as much as I appreciate all you do for our kids, my family and all the kids who come to Sunday School week in and week out....could we keep the stories to something I might be able to explain. How about next week you discuss the Trinity? :-)

Costa Rica Vacation

Here are a few pictures of our recent adventure to Costa Rica with our good friends, fred and melissa. We had such a wonderful time!! We stayed in a lovely villa "villas nicolas" (http://www.villasnicolas.com/) Highly recommend this place!! We had incredible views, a fantastic pool and were close to everything we wanted to be close to! Had we stayed an extra day or two, I'm sure we would have all been fluent in spanish...had so much fun practicing and using our very rudimentary spanish skills!! We were there during rainy season (i.e., cheaper and less crowded!) and were very glad we went then....we never had to wait anywhere, the locals were super friendly and it was just a wonderful time! It did, however, rain all but one day, which we took full advantage of by getting burnt to crisps!! Ugh....weird thing, we did not feel the burn happening , like we do in florida, so we didn't realize the burn until it was way too late!! I posted over 90 pictures on my myspace account, if you're a member, check them out. Anyways, we give CR ***** five stars!! It was nice just to be away from everything - no phones, no computers, we even were without children this time!! Wow. :-)