To Say That I Was Sufficiently Warned...

I was trying to think of what to make for dinner tonight, and I admit I was being awfully slothful about it. Chris was taking a snooze on the couch, and the kids, who really should have been starving, were happily playing together in their room. I felt no pressure.

A little while later, I managed to get the kids to emerge from their room and I began probing them for some easy dinner ideas since, clearly, nobody seemed to really care WHAT I made. I asked the kids if they would like corndogs. The only problem with corndogs, or so I thought, was that Ashley will only eat the breading part. And on a day like today, if all she wants to eat is corndog breading, well, so be it.

Zachary piped up, "I want to eat a frozen corndog!"

Well, I have heard this a number of times before, and I have always been opposed to the idea. I'd kind of think that CPS might rightfully be called if I knowingly fed my kids frozen meals without preheating them first. I would never do such a thing, because I do *try* to be a good mother...even on my lazy days (like today.)

I speak only for myself when I say that I was doing what any lazy mother ought to be doing and was checking out Facebook instead of making dinner for my family at 7pm. So, it was no surprise when I heard my kids scrounging around in the kitchen for something to eat. I wasn't going to be on the computer for much longer, and kids in the kitchen (at least at MY house) always warrants an inspection and a quick one. That was going to put a hasty end to checking out my friends' status updates.

Just a few minutes earlier, the kids had been asking for Pillsbury Toaster Strudels for dinner...or in Ashley's own words, "Toaster Noodles." I had rejected that proposal, so when I heard the opening of refrigerator/freezer doors in the other room, I figured they might just be helping themselves to those anyway...or maybe they were after the tub of Cool Whip in the fridge. I knew it wasn't the parmesan cheese they were getting into, because I recently placed that on the list of "Foods That Are No Longer Welcome In My House" after the fourth container (in about 6 months' time) was emptied onto the table and eaten fingerful by fingerful. I wouldn't have been surprised if they were munching on chocolate chip cookies. After all, there was a tray of those sitting out unattended on top of the stove. But no...

What should I find when I emerged from my momentary Facebook stupor but Ashley with a corndog in each hand, frozen ones of course, with polk-a-dot-sized pieces of breading missing from each of them. In the kitchen, Zachary sat at the table with 3 frozen corndogs in front of him--two of them already half-eaten and the third one mostly unscathed. After initially being grossed-out, I wrestled the corndogs away and popped them all into the microwave and, voila!, "It's what's for dinner."

So today wasn't a stellar day for me in the balanced meal department. In my own defense, however, this is definitely not typical, so please don't call CPS. (After giving it some thought, I really wasn't very lazy today, either, because I got a lot of cleaning done.) You win some, and you lose some. But just where my kids get their crazy appetites, I think I will never know!

Ring in the New Year!

Happy New Year to you all! I haven't really been setting goals, have you? I like to think (or, perhaps, pretend) that I set mini-goals throughout the year so the New Year doesn't prompt me to get serious about goal-setting. If you have set goals, good for you! I would love to hear about them.

As for me, instead of listing my goals for the New Year, I have decided to compile a different sort of list:

12 Months of Things I'm Looking Forward to in 2009:

January: I am soooo enjoying having Chris off school for winter break! He doesn't have to return to classes until the day after Martin Luther King Day, so I'm lovin' that!

February: Hmmmm... OK, here's one: Chris will, of course, be BACK in school (that brings other untold blessings, like getting more of my own computer time back...ha ha) BUT he will only have Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday classes. How nice is that?! I intend to enjoy his easier schedule along with him.

March: This will be the month of finding out fun stuff, I think. If not, then the fun stuff will have already been found out and I'll be celebrating the knowing. Also, Spring Break! Maybe we'll make some fun plans for that.

April: There's always something to look forward to in April...nice spring weather, and Easter falls on the 12th. Also, I look forward to listening to prophets and apostles speak in the Church's semiannual General Conference at the beginning of the month.

May: Ashley turns 3, and I am so excited about that! Aside from celebrating her birthday (which I always enjoy), it means that she can start taking gymnastics and swimming lessons just like Zachary has gotten to do for the past year or so. She will no longer have to be the spectator. AND HOW COULD I POSSIBLY FORGET ABOUT GRADUATION?????? I keep forgetting that Chris will not be in school forever. He'll finish his finals around the 15th and officially graduate on the 23rd!

June: Zachary turns 5! June will mark the beginning of summer and that's always fun. Grandma will finish working so we can hang out more with her. Swimming lessons will probably start in June and, for the first time, both of my kids will get to take them.

July: Summer fun continues and the month culminates in some very important and exciting events. Chris takes the Bar Exam from July 28-30, which means that (presuming all goes well) our *new addition* will be born sometime the week before. We could just end with that, but I guess we'll probably celebrate my birthday, which falls on the 31st. With Chris having finished the Bar by then, we'll all have reason to party.

August: Chris can take this entire month off, but we haven't set any firm plans yet. Having a new baby at home, this will be especially nice if he can be around. Also, if we haven't done so already, we will probably be replacing my car with something bigger and more accommodating...or else I'll have no choice but to be sit at home and just take it easy until that happens. Call me crazy, but that sort of sounds nice to me, actually.

September: Chris will have started his new job by now! We are so thankful he was able to get the job he had been hoping for and that it's with a great place here in Austin. I hope that he will enjoy it (after all, that's the biggest reason he went back to school in the first place) and that we'll be able to count on it providing us with steady and stable employment and, oh yeah, something better than student benefits!

October: Fall finally kicks in, I guess, and that means cooler weather. Once again, General Conference takes place at the beginning of the month. Chris' birthday is on the 18th, and preparations for the holiday season can begin. Hopefully by then, I'll be getting more sleep at night!

November: Our anniversary falls on the 9th and Chris won't be getting ready for finals! Instead, he will find out this month that he (cross your fingers!) passed the Bar. And for that, among other things, we will be giving much thanks.

December: "Christmas time is here...Happiness and cheer..." I love enjoying the Christmas season with my family and friends. It's a busy month that gets stressful at times, but it is ultimately a season of peace, joy and unity as we celebrate the birth of Christ and give gifts to Him and to each other. Sharing this season with a new baby in our home will be one of the greatest gifts of all.

I hope that you, too, will enjoy many blessings throughout 2009. Happy New Year!

Dear Friends and Family...

I had no idea that you were still reading my blog while I have been off on some deserted (imaginary) island neglecting it! For the first time in months (or since the last time I posted...however long ago that was), I have come to visit the blog of my youth. I have aged slightly since the last time I visited, so this is bringing back some fond memories.

I also discovered that some of you have posted comments that I was not aware of. Seems like I used to have comments sent automatically to my email inbox, but for some reason, that has not been happening. So, if you felt snubbed by my lack of acknowledgement, I do apologize and assure you that it was nothing personal.

Finally, I have a bit of sad news to share. Our second computer (the one with all of our pictures stored therein) had to be disassembled and removed to make space for our old bed in the computer room. Why would we want a bed in the computer room, you ask? So that Chris can simply lie down to sleep once he has finished his gaming raids at all hours of the night. ;) Just kidding. The real reason is that we finally did get all of our new bedroom furniture, including a nice new king-sized bed (so we never have to sleep within arm's reach of each other again--Woohoo! just kidding) but we did not want to part with our old bed, either. Someday we hope to have a guest bedroom and will need a bed for our guests to sleep on. So, the moral of the story is that I am currently unable to post any pictures on this blog unless they come from our main computer. I might be able to expend a little effort to figure out how I can start dumping the pictures from my memory card onto that computer, but seeing as Chris is enjoying a well-deserved break from school right now, I might have to wait on that.

In the meantime, I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas and New Year's holidays. We did, indeed, enjoy ours and are doing well. We love getting to have Chris/Daddy/whoever that man is ;) at home for 3 weeks, so we are taking advantage of our time together (relatively-speaking since he does need a rest.) I have more thoughts to share with you but will wait until another time, since it's 2:12 a.m. and, darn it, I have to get up before noon tomorrow. ;)

Thank you all for your love and friendship and for continuing to look at my blog even though I've been lame in not posting. I'm still glad that there are people like you who stop by to read it. I hope to write more in 2009--because this is going to be a very exciting year with much to blog about!

Happy New Year, y'all!

My Kids Converse About Christmas Clothing

Last night, after enjoying a meal with their grandparents, my kids wanted to go back to their house. But it was late, so I was taking them straight home to go to bed. I told them that we would see Grandma and Grandpa another day. In fact, I told them, we would see them at church on Sunday since they would be attending Zachary's first Primary program.

Ashley responded, "O-kay, I wear my pwincess dwess! O-kay Mommy?"

I told her that her that, yes, she could certainly wear her princess dress (which actually is her Christmas dress from Grandma--not some sort of Disney get-up) and that Grandma would think she looked beautiful.

Zachary replied, "And I will wear my Christmas shoot!" (That would be his Christmas SUIT.) Unexpectedly, he continued. "And I will bring my guns and shoot all the bad police guys at church."

Ashley, knowing exactly what her brother would be wearing, said, "No, Zachary, you be a PWINCE!"

Jesus is my Autopilot?

After ignoring Ashley's pleas for me to put on It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, I reluctantly accepted the fact that my nap on the couch was over. I might as well let her watch it since continuing to endure her climbing all over me was not the better option. So, I put the DVD in the player and went into the kitchen to check on some brownies that were in the oven. I washed some raspberries and returned to my spot on the couch. Zachary and I were enjoying the raspberries when the DVD stopped on the menu screen. Both kids began a little chant for me to go start the movie for them. My mouth was a little full at the time, but I told Zachary to go press "play"...only it sounded more like, "Pless play!" They thought I had said, "Let's pray," and before I knew what was going on, both kids bowed their heads, folded their arms, and began, "Dear Heav'y Fodder...Jesus Cwist...Amen!"

See? They ARE learning!

Silly Mommy, Clips are for Kids!

(Zachary decided to experiment with his sister's hair last week. I pulled out 18 of these tiny clips, and you can see there are only about 6 in the front. I can't believe she let him do that to her!)

Meet My Kids: "Crash and Burn" and "Sick and Twisted"

We had quite an eventful weekend at our house, and since I have been neglecting my blog again, I figured you all (all 2 of you?) would want to read about it. I don't have any pictures this time, but maybe that's why I'm not putting it off like I usually do. So here goes!

Chris spent all of Saturday at school putting in his hours for Law Review after discovering, Friday night, that his project deadline was this weekend and not next weekend. Fortunately (fortunately?) the kids and I were all suffering from colds last week, so we didn't have any plans we were intent on keeping. Though Zachary and Ashley didn't seem to be lacking in energy, I certainly was, so spending the day at home and recuperating was fine by me. I really don't know what I did all day other than try to keep up with them, do a little cleaning around the house, and, in general, move at a snail's pace.

I had no idea when Chris was planning on getting home, but as the day grew longer, I was feeling a little better and was itching to get out of the house. I decided to make a trip to Target to pick up a couple of things. I just needed to summon my inner Executive Director in charge of Ever Accomplishing Anything to get my body moving...and I needed to feed the kids dinner. So, I put a pot of water on the stove with plans for something quick, easy, and gourmet: good ol' mac & cheese. Well, I disappeared for a few minutes to check some email or do something else equally necessary, and in those few short minutes I was neglecting my children, Ashley decides to advance her education in the field of What Happens When I Touch the Hot Stove? This was the first time either of my kids had ever had a burn (Zachary was more of a scholar in the field of Testing the Effects of Gravity on Various Parts of the Body as you might recall.)

Having been inexperienced in childhood burns up to this point, I went in search of my trusty little book full of helpful advice and written by our very own pediatrician, Toddler 411. That might as well be the doctor's name, since all of her expert medical advice is contained therein. It sure comes in handy when I don't really want to pay for an after-hours call or actually have to make an unnecessary appointment. During this time, Zachary was being a great big brother and announced, "Hold on, Ashley, I'm going to go find out about burns! Zachary to the rescue!!!" He was in the computer room, so I half expected him to google it. After leafing through the book, I still wasn't sure what I needed to do. She had burned just her fingertip (perhaps 4 fingertips, but only one was obvious.) The skin was red with a layer on top that appeared a powdery white. (Toddler 411, p. 346: [Third degree] burns may look white.) Was this a third degree burn?!? I was almost convinced it was...but only because it was my kid and I had to be a little paranoid because of that.

Remembering that the doctor's office had recently extended its hours, I made the call. It was closed after all, and I was instructed to either call 911 (if it were a real emergency) or call the nurses at the hospital and pay a $12 surcharge. No way I'm going to pay $12 bucks to talk to a nurse! Those people should be happy to have someone like me to entertain them with my (OCCASIONAL) motherly cluelessness! That is why it's great to have a nurse in the family. I called my sister in Boston to find out if Ashley was going to need a skin graft, or if perhaps she was going to succumb to this macaroni & cheese burn. It took awhile to get a response after being put on hold for what seemed like forever. It was so exciting--like talking to a real nurse! (Insert big smiley face here just for you, Wendy!) My sister had to first consult the internet and then my cousin who works in radiology (both experts in the field of stove-top stuff, I'm sure.) It was nice just to have the moral support on their end, but my sister finally recommended that I just pay the $12 to be told that, no, Ashley did not need to be rushed to the ER where the charges for talking to triage nurses skyrockets from $12 to about $112.

I can see the ridiculousness of my plight now, but it seemed serious at the time. I watched Ashley practically begging me to amputate the burned appendage to ease the pain. Oddly, she was slapping the effected hand with the other. She wanted the pain to go away that badly. I did run the finger under some cool water for about 5 seconds until I decided she didn't like that. My sister convinced me to get a backbone and get that finger back under the cold water. I was glad I took her advice, because it seemed like some relief came the second time around. While she might not be as experienced in critical pediatric finger burns, she is a great cardiac nurse and, over the phone, mind you, single-handedly saved me from having my very own little heart attack. How can I ever repay her? (Feel free to humor me by sending suggestions to my comment box.)

After Ashley had had enough of the cold water, she was still pretty upset. Somewhere between touching the stove and this point in the story, she had also managed to trip over my leg and fall on her face...on the wood floor. Hence the name: Crash and Burn. Blood was coming from some inconspicuous part of her mouth, as I learned only after cleaning up a previously unidentified spot in the bathroom. She'd had a hard night. I held her in my arms and rocked her until she fell asleep and I could no longer leave to go to Target.

Around 8:30, Chris finally got home. Ashley was so fast asleep, I noticed, that she had rolled off of the bed and onto the floor and went right back to sleep. I took the opportunity to take Zachary out for some special one-on-one time with me at Target. What is so special about that, you ask? For one, it occurred when he normally should have been in bed. For two, I made up my mind that I was going to let him walk instead of ride in the basket, and for three, I wasn't going to yell at him for touching things. I was going to let him just enjoy being a kid with a fun mom instead of a grouchy one this time. (In my defense, I think I AM a fun mom usually, but shopping with kids?... Need I say more?) For, like, the ONE thing I really needed to get (which, by the way, I didn't end up buying), we stayed until closing time. He got to peruse the toy aisles almost to his little heart's content. When I was ready to move on and he didn't follow, I didn't have a cow. I stayed fairly nearby so I could hear him when he called out for me, "Mommmmmmy, I'm lost!" This happened quite a few times, so I figured as long as I was within earshot, it was time for him to learn how it feels to be separated from me in a store. All kids need to experience that once or twice before they can genuinely appreciate not being lost.

After our shopping adventure was over, we made a late-night run to Sonic on the way home. That was at Zachary's request, and I knew that, to him, it would mean the difference between a fun time with mom and a truly special time with mom. There are so many things that make this special for him: 1) getting to push the call button, 2) getting to sit in the front seat with me, 3) getting to order just what he wanted (a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Blast this time), and 4) getting to throw our trash away all by himself like a big boy. Seriously, he jumped at the chance to do that for me. That aside, Zachary really is a special boy, and I enjoyed every moment I got to spend with him that night.

Fast forward to Sunday. Except for oversleeping by about 45 minutes, everything seemed completely normal. Thanks to Chris who always gets the kids ready for church, we actually still made it there on time. The kids were even a little better-behaved in Sacrament Meeting than they most often are. They didn't really fight over snacks or get upset about who had which book. (The key, I learned, is just to forget to pack any at all.) Afterward, they went to their classes and I went to Sunday School. Halfway through, Zachary's Primary teacher came and told me that Zachary was not acting like himself. He wanted her to hold him during Sharing Time, and he was crying a little and saying his ear hurt. He didn't want to leave Primary, so I sat with his class and held him on my lap. Otherwise, he really didn't want to participate. When it was time to go to his class, I gave him the option of coming with me to Young Womens or going by himself to class. He ended up choosing his own class, but there was a period of musical classes where Zachary went to Chris, who brought him to me, and back to Sunbeams when he got sick of YW after about 2 minutes.

As we were driving home, it occurred to me that I could take Zachary in to see the doctor that same day instead of waiting until Monday morning. He was really looking miserable, and after having been out late the night before, he was also sleepy. I called and we got an appointment for 2:00. I had to wake him when it was time to leave, and he was not happy about me taking him to the doctor. I packed him into his carseat along with a blanket and his favorite stuffed bunny for comfort. About halfway there, he started throwing up in the backseat. I might have been pulled over for wreckless driving, but I had a pretty good explanation ready just in case. Luckily, it wasn't "bad"...well, not nearly as bad as it could have been anyway. We made it to the doctor's office and I got one of my "green" grocery bags out of the trunk and put his blanket in it. So handy! I left the bag there so he could use it if he needed to on the way back. (He did.)

Zachary was so upset about having to go to the doctor. He isn't always that resistant, but this time he was especially so. While we waited to go back, he was crying and pleading with me to take him home. "But, Mommy, I want to go home. I'm scaaaaaared!" On and on with that one for a minute. Seeing that it wasn't working, he changed his tactics. "I want to go hoooooooome. This place is BORING!!!!" On and on that went for another minute. I couldn't keep myself from laughing. When that didn't work, either, he tried to tell me that the office was closed so we had to leave. (I'm afraid my boy is getting pretty good at manipulation.) Alternating between tears and wails about being scared or bored, Zachary reluctantly followed when the nurse took us back to a room. We waited and waited. We waited until we BOTH fell asleep. After almost an hour, Zachary was finally seen by the PNP. Sure enough, he has a bad ear infection. Luckily, this is only his second ear infection (and Ashley hasn't yet had one.) So, yes, I really AM lucky and so are they.

I took Zachary home so he could sleep while I went back out to fill his prescription. When I returned, Chris woke him to give him his first dose. That's always torture...for parents and kid alike. It took forever to get the medicine in him, and no more than a few minutes later, he threw it up all over his bed. Ugh. Time to start a load of laundry. Time for Chris to take a shower because a little barf touched his foot. :) While all this was going on, Zachary burst into laughter and repeatedly announced, "Barfing on my bed is FUNNY! Barfing on my bed is FUNNY!" Hence the name: Sick and Twisted. Delirium, you think?

After soaking in a warm bath for awhile and put in fresh pajamas, he slept the entire rest of the day. He slept until 4 a.m. and then woke me just for a drink of water. He seemed to be feeling better and is happier today. After a huge struggle, I got him to take his medicine. The next 10 days of this will be so fun! :)

Happy Monday! (If you aren't happy it's Monday, just be happy for me, because I'm glad this weekend is over!!!)