Country life

On Friday we went to my parents' house, about 10 miles out of town. They have a fire pit and a nice little building we all call the "cabin." I was actually planning on having people over on Friday at the cabin, but when that fell through we decided to go anyway. My parents are on vacation so it was just my family. We lit the fire and had kabobs. The boys ate good because they wanted s'mores. We stayed until almost 11:30pm. It was a perfect night with no wind. We are not campers, but it was so nice around the campfire. Actually, I'm not sure I would like being at a campground, because just like living in town, there is someone right next to you. At the cabin, it was just us. Fred and I actually got time to ourselves to talk. I can't remember the last time we had a conversation that didn't get interrupted repeatedly. We let the boys runs all evening and didn't have to worry about them once. About 11:00 I asked Rion if he was ready for bed and he said, "yes." I hated growing up out of town. Now I dream of having a house with some land. It was so quiet there and having some more room for the kids to play would be so nice. Someday.

Conversation only a mother would love

After you bring your newborn home from the hospital there is nothing more interesting than your baby's bowel movements. Who knew poop could be so interesting? Is it suppose to look like that? Is that color normal? And yes, it's true. Moms love to talk about it. So here I go. For the past few days, we've been dealing with Cordelia's abnormal bowel movements. She's been a bit constipated. And she has a little diaper rash that just won't go away. I thought she was getting better, but today she threw up for the second time in three days, so I called the doctor. I really like the kids' doctor, but I get so frustrated at the time it takes to get a call back. By six o'clock I had given up hope for a callback. I know doctors are extremely busy and there are children with more serious issues to attend to, but when your child isn't feeling right, it's easy to go crazy without any answers. Shortly after six o'clock we found ourselves in the basement after hearing tornado sirens. We emerged a few times only to hear the sirens again. Finally, the weather cleared and at nine o'clock the boys were settling into bed. Then the phone rang and a private number came up on the caller id. I was getting ready to whip out my "I'm not interested in whatever you're selling speech," but it was the doctor. He was probably calling from home, which then made me feel guilty. After a conversation about poop and feeding habits, the doctor reassured me that she was fine and gave me some tips to get her back to normal. I felt bad that he had to call me from home so late at night, but I'm really glad he did. He's a really good doctor and he keeps proving it.

Soccer. Day Two.

Tonight was only Rion's second night of soccer because last Wednesday got rained out. Rion liked soccer much more today. Although I know he only wanted to go to soccer because he knew he got to play at the playground later. During one of their drills Rion was in line and he looked back at me. "I see the playground mommy." Rion gets distracted very easily. A couple of times the coach had to get his attention because he was watching the team on the next field practice. They did get their team shirts today. Rion is on the black team. A nice color to be wearing in the middle of summer.

Happy Father's Day

To all the dad's out there, Happy Father's Day. In honor of the day, today's blog is dedicated to my husband.

It's seems like I've struggled with the home/work balance since the day Rion was born. I've tried it all. I've worked full-time (while also trying to breastfeed) and didn't like that. I've stayed home full-time, but money got tight and some days I really wished I had a job to flee to. I've worked out of the home part-time and right now that is working really well. No matter what I've wanted to do, Fred has always supported my decision. Right now I'm working mornings during the week, while he is at home with the kids. Rion is attending a summer school program at his school, which means Fred has to take him there and pick him up. On the first day of class, Fred ran into another dad that took Lamaze with us. Now our kids will be in Kindergarten together in the fall. This other dad also has another child that will start Kindergarten in 2009 with Torii. This scene, of Fred talking with this other dad, while they drop their kids off at school makes me smile. A lot of dads are doing the stay-at-home thing while their wives work. I know a few couples that juggle their work schedules so one parent is always at home with the kids. For most of these couples, the dad is the one at home during the day. So instead of mom getting the kids dressed in the morning, making lunches and getting the kids to their activities, it's dad. While I may give Fred a hard time for not knowing which clothes belong to which kid or getting upset that he let Rion watch the bad parts in Temple of Doom, he does a great job. Our family is doing great in a large part to him. Happy Father's Day, Daddy.

Commercial break

I admit, I'm addicted to TV. I've threatened to pull the cable for the summer, but I just can't do it. New Mad Men episodes start next month! And it's just not television programs. I like commercials too. Fred's stepfather thinks it's funny. Some of the best commercials are during football games and they are some really great Peyton Manning commercials in Tenn. that don't get national airplay. When he sees a good commerical he says he thinks of me because he knows I would like it. I love football, but when it comes to the Super Bowl I would rather get up during the game instead of the commercial breaks. I mean unless the Broncos were playing of course.

On the way to work each morning I always hear a couple of McDonalds commercials. I love that the commercials say that their biscuits are "homemade tasting." It makes me smile every time. The biscuits aren't homemade, they're "homemade tasting."

Another one I heard on the radio was from Home Depot. "A sponsor of Father's Day," it said. How do you become a sponsor of Father's Day? I understand how you could be a sponsor of The Olympics, but Father's Day. It's not like they have a national headquarters where you can send your check for your sponsorship. What next? Chevrolet an offical sponsor of Thanksgiving. Or worse, Budwieser, an official sponsor of Christmas.

Here's a commercial I would like to see. Have you seen the commercial for one of the cell phone companies and everyone is talking in text abbreviations, even the grandma? I would like to see the mom come into the room and just say, "WTF".

At the movies

I've been debating whether or not to take Rion to the new Indiana Jones movie, but he kept bugging me so we went today. The only other movies he has seen in the theatres is Cars and Meet the Robinsons. He wouldn't sit still in either movie and I wasn't sure he was going to like the new Indiana so I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into. The movie was at the Grand Theatres, by far the best theatre in town. The moment we got there Rion was taking it all in, eyes wide and mouth dropped open. When we got our tickets I told Rion to tell the ticket girl what movie he wanted to see. "I want to see the new Indiana Jones!" I thought he would say it quietly, but he really spoke up. We got some popcorn, candy and pop and then Rion gave our tickets to the ticket collector. As we made our way to our theatre, Rion was busy looking at everything. "Wow, wow, wow," he kept saying. One hallway we went down was filled with movie posters. Suddenly Rion stopped. "Raiders!" He had spotted the Raiders of the Lost Ark poster. Rion picked out our seats in the theatre and we ate our popcorn while we waited for the movie to start. Then the lights got dark and Rion sat still. He stopped eating and stared at the screen. He got a little fidgety during some scenes, but then the Indiana Jones music would start and he was still again, a big smile on his face. I looked over at him quite a lot during the movie. He was really enjoying it. He even noticed the ark at the warehouse and knew that was Marion from Raiders. After the movie he said he wanted to see it again. I think I also enjoyed it more the second time. I forgot their was some swearing in it, something I didn't notice while watching it without a kid present the first time. It's was fun to watch it through Rion's eyes and Indiana Jones is a great movie to see in the theatres. I'm glad he liked it, but now he's mad he can't watch it on his computer. I told him we will buy it when it comes out on DVD, but as he's so fond of saying, "that will take forever."

The classics

Over the weekend Rion and I caught the last hour of The Goonies on TV. I told him it was basically Indiana Jones, but with kids. In fact, Short Round from Temple of Doom is in it. He really liked it. I really need to find that movie on DVD.

I have also started building their library of my favorite books. I have a huge list of books that I want to find. I am also trying to be thrifty and environmentally conscience by buying used books. So far I have found a good stack of Beverly Cleary, including all the Mouse and the Motorcycle books, Where the Red Fern Grows, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian (which I am currently reading), all the Harry Potter books, Sideways Stories from Wayside School and a bunch more. It's fun hunting all these books down and exciting when I find one on the list or one I forget about. And now that I have my little girl, I can look for all those great Judy Blume books too. Although, I don't think I will read "Are you there God, it's me Margaret," to her. That one can be on her own.