Happy New Year

I am hoping our new year will start a lot better than this one is ending. Yesterday I stayed home from work because Cordelia wasn't feeling well. Later that morning I started to feel real sick and didn't feel good again until late that night. I just felt nauseous all day and didn't each much at all. This morning I was feeling much better, but Cordelia threw up again so I stayed home again. I needed the extra rest anyway. This afternoon Torii and I went to Wal-Mart and when we got home I started making supper. By the time I was done Torii had fallen asleep. That's unusual for him so I suspected he wasn't feeling good either even though he was perfectly fine at Wal-Mart. While I was making supper, Rion threw up and shortly after we were done eating Torii had gotten up and thrown up as well. Both boys continued to throw up for the next couple of hours until they finally fell asleep. Hopefully a good night's rest will help. It seems Cordelia and I only had the bug for a day so I hope it's the same for the boys. I hate it when the kids are sick.

Unforgettable Christmas

Over the past few days the kids have said and did many things that had everyone laughing. I kept thinking, "I have to put that on the blog," but now that I'm sitting here typing, I can't think of a single thing. They'll come to me later so I may post some of those funny stories later.

We had a very good Christmas. This Christmas will always be referred to "the one that Torii hit his head". We let the boys loose and they opened their gifts first. They went so fast that I didn't even see all the gifts they got until we were loading them into the car. After the boys were done everyone else opened their gifts. Rion was already at the table putting together a Lego set even though I told him to wait until we got home. I think someone said Grandpa let him open the Lego set. That bad Grandpa! Torii was being good and taking every one's wrapping paper and throwing it in the garbage. Towards the end he was getting a little too wild and fell off a stool and hit his head on the side of a chair. It made a loud thud, but he got up and seemed fine. Then his head started bleeding really good. Rion didn't like seeing the blood at all. He said he didn't want to talk about it. Grandpa got him cleaned up and after a consultation with a firefighter it was determined that he didn't need stitches. He did get a really good cut on his head and I thought for sure we would be going to the emergency room on Christmas. That night I let him sleep with me. I thought it would make him feel a little better, but really it made me feel much better.

A visit with Santa

Yesterday we finally got out to see Santa. I almost forgot that as it seems like I have been consumed by so much this Christmas that I am forgetting some important details. I asked Torii what he was going to ask Santa for, but he told me I would have to wait until he actually told Santa. I was nervous because I one point this month he told me he was going to ask Santa for the new Mortal Kombat game. I do not want to imagine the horrified look on Santa's face, as well as the other parents there, when my four year old asks for a video game he should not be playing. I did not want to go to the mall the Saturday before Christmas, but surprisingly the line to see Santa was not that long. The boys hopped up on Santa's lap and they took pictures first. Cordelia cried, but felt better after the photographer gave her a stuffed animal to hold. After the pictures were taken, I took Cordelia and the boys then told Santa what they wanted. Rion asked for Hot Wheels. Torii asked for bubblegum and an easy elephant puzzle. I have no idea where either request came from. I have already gotten the Santa gifts, but will have to pick up some Hot Wheels and bubblegum now too. Easy enough requests.

My favorite things 2008

I did this last year, but until I saw Oprah on 30 Rock tonight I had totally forgotten that I wanted to do it again this year. So once again I present My (less impressive than Oprah's list) favorite things. And unlike Oprah I am not giving anything away to my audience.

1. Etsy- Not only am I having a blast selling onesies on Etsy, but I've bought a few things too. I love buying gifts from Etsy.

2. Curb Your Enthusiasm- I finally got to see the show this year and then bought season one for myself for my birthday. Not only is that show brilliant, but it makes me laugh out loud even when I watch it by myself.

3. Phineas and Ferb- What'cha doooiiinnng? It's now a catch phrase in our house. As well as Curse you Perry the Platypus! Doffensmirtz makes me laugh all the time.

4. Sew Simple magazine- I'm a beginner when it comes to sewing and that magazine is packed with how-to information. There's also great projects that even I can do.

5. Facebook- My status update...Stacy is addicted to Facebook.

6. Environmental issues- I'm not radically changing my life for the Earth, (I will not give up my SUV), but I have started using reusable grocery bags. I love them! Not only do they look cool, but you can put so much stuff in them and that means less bags to carry into the house.

7. Wendy's breakfast- I'm trying to cut back on the fast food, but for those mornings when I only have time for something fast it has to be Wendy's. The frescuit breakfast sandwiches are the best.

8. Retailmenot.com- I've only used it once, but I know I'll be using it again. I used it when I bought Torii's Santa gift. With the coupon code at got from retailmenot, I got his present way cheaper than I could at any store around here. (Believe me I've looked). Plus I got free shipping so I got to avoid going out in the cold and holiday crowds. How great is that!

9. Blizzards- Fred is experiencing his first "real" ND winter and I'm loving every minute of it.

Strange

Last night I blogged about the book Rion likes. I had told Fred about the book quite awhile ago, but have never shown it to him. Well, this morning he came home from work and showed me the present he got for Rion. It was the exact book Rion likes. First of all, I couldn't believe he remembered me telling him about it. Second, it's so strange to be blogging about it and then the very next morning I'm looking at the book. I thought I might still be asleep and dreaming. Once in awhile we'll both say exactly the same thing totally out of the blue. It's so weird. I think we've been married too long.

Doctor visit

Today Cordelia had a second checkup since her surgery. She is doing great. The doctor joked that now she will have to go on a diet. She is up to 20 pounds. Her height isn't charting where her weight is, but the doctor told me that will catch up now. First comes the weight gain, then growth in other areas will follow. She will probably be getting more teeth very soon and her hair should start growing more as well. She also got a follow up x-ray. Rion was with and he got to stand behind the wall with me. Now he's seen Cordelia's ribs and Torii's arm on x-rays. He is so interested in the human body so he really enjoyed seeing the x-ray come up. When we go to Barnes and Noble he doesn't play with Thomas anymore. He sits down with a book about the human body and soaks it all in. The book has a human in the middle and as you turn the pages you see a different part of the body, such as the muscles, the bones, the digestive system, etc. He could look at that book all day. Since Cordelia is doing so great, she finally got her 12 month shots. The doctor had been reluctant to give them to her when her weight was so low. Having her healthy is the best Christmas present this year.

One of those days

Today was a day where nothing seemed to go right. When I got to work this morning I noticed Rion's gloves were in my bag. I had thrown them in there when we got home the day before because my hands were so full of other stuff. Fred couldn't find any gloves that fit him so he came by and picked them up so he could drop them off at the school for Rion. After school the kids and I went to Grandpa and Grandma's house. I was going to use the sewing machine to finish a Christmas gift, but forgot the directions at home. We visited awhile then headed home, but not before stopping at Walmart for a few things. While there I was going to pick up a rotisserie chicken for dinner. They were totally out. So I decided to get one of their take and bake pizzas. They only had cheese pizza left. I'm not a plain cheese fan so we went to Sam's Club. By the time we got home it was 7:00. As we were finishing dinner I noticed an empty glass on the table was missing a big chunk out of the side. Of course nobody knew how it got broken or where the missing glass could be found. Fred and I looked everywhere and we never did find any broken glass. After dinner I put the kids to bed and relaxed in front of the TV. We laughed throughout The Office and I thought my bad day was over. After The Office I sat down to pay some bills (ok the bad day isn't over). I had to get a pen out of my bag when I noticed the summer sausage I bought at Sam's Club was still in there. I had once again thrown something in my bag to free up my hands. It was still really cold so I'm saying it's ok. Tomorrow is Friday so it's got to be better.

Donut Tuesday

I'm not really sure how this weekly tradition got started, but in our house every Tuesday is Donut Tuesday. When Fred gets off of work in the morning he picks up some donuts and we enjoy them for breakfast. We've probably had donuts every Tuesday for about half a year now. I think Torii would be devastated if we ever stopped the tradition. When we were in Minneapolis we missed Donut Tuesday and were kind of sad about it. It would have been so nice to be home with all the kids and enjoying a donut. This tradition just happened on accident, but those are usually the best traditions. It will probably be one of those things the kids will always remember about growing up.

Eternal sunshine of a mother's mind

As I mentioned in the last post the kids and I were at my parent's house on Saturday. My mom had made chocolate chip cookies and had some for us to take home. Of course I forgot all about them and left without them. The next morning Rion was grumbling about something at Grandma's house and when I finally figured it out I realized he was talking about the cookies. That kid doesn't forget anything. I on the other hand can't remember anything. I used to have a much sharper mind. Then I gave birth. Since that day my mind has never been the same. Yesterday Torii and I were playing Fur Fighters on the Dreamcast again. The game is made up of little puzzles that you must figure out in order to save the babies. I remember it being pretty easy, but now I can't figure out any of them. I don't know if it's because I think differently as an adult or if I'm just losing it. Maybe a little of both.

Watching movies

Today the kids and I went to Grandpa and Grandma's house. Since Rion is such an Indiana Jones fan we decided to watch The Goonies because that's basically Indiana Jones with kids. For the most part he watched the movie closely. The best part was at the beginning of the movie when the kids break the mom's statue. Rion was really watching what was going on and then they show a closeup of what the kids are trying to fix on the statue. We were all watching Rion and then he looked over at us with a priceless look. He looked at us like, "did you see what I saw?" I wasn't sure he was going to understand that part, but it was pretty evident that he did. There were a couple of other potty humor jokes that Rion really enjoyed. I really like that movie too so I may have to get it for our movie collection too.

"Dirty" jokes

While we were in Minneapolis, Grandpa taught Torii a new joke. He told it to me when we got home.
Torii: "Do you want to hear a dirty joke, mom?"
Me: (very concerned by the way) "Ummmmm, ok."
Torii: "A pig fell in the mud."

Torii told this joke at Thanksgiving so Andy told another.
Andy: "Do you want to hear a really dirty joke?"
Torii: "Yes!"
Andy: "Two pigs fell in the mud!"
Torii: "I'm going to tell Grandpa that joke!"

"Dirty" words

I don't know what it is with boys, but they are born with a love of potty humor. Rion loves to say the word "poop" and says it all the time. This has been going on for a good couple of months and he still laughs hysterically every time he says it. The good news is that I have finally gotten him to stop saying poop all the time. The bad news is that he has replaced it with something else. The even worse news is it's my fault. Yesterday as I was about to walk out the door for work, Cordelia let out this monster fart and that of course made the boys laugh. "I think Cordelia has a poopy butt," Rion said. Just then Fred walked in the room and asked what was going on. "I think Cordelia might have a messy diaper," I said, "she just had a real juicy fart." So that's Rion's new favorite phrase. "Juicy fart." The house was filled with laughter today, but unfortunately it was always following that phrase.

Christmas time again

Ahh, my favorite time of year.... when I can threaten the boys by telling them Santa won't visit our house if they don't behave.

Yesterday the boys and I put up the Christmas tree. They weren't going to help until I mentioned that they wouldn't get a sticker on the "help out" line of their chore chart. Then they wanted to help. I told the boys not to put any ornaments really low on the tree so little Miss Grabby won't get them. They were really good about it. The boys kind of faded towards the end and I had to finish the decorating. Which was fine because I had to decorate the top half of the tree anyway. Rion managed to break one ornament. I have a fridge ornament and the doors open. The light inside even comes on when the door opens. Rion was fascinated by it and broke the freezer door. The boys did a better job of decorating this year than last. There are still some areas where there is a bunch of ornaments all together, but that's ok. Our tree is kind of silly looking. The bottom part is bare, which isn't stopping Cordelia by the way and there are clumps of ornaments in spots. Still, I'm not changing it because the boys decorated it that way. They also set up the Christmas village. It's not how I would have set it up, but I still like the way it looks.

Today I wrapped a few presents. I thought Rion would guess his present right away, but hasn't yet. It's kind of hard to disguise the sound of Legos. He has come up with some very interesting guesses. It is driving both boys crazy not being able to open their presents. I know I will have to put up with the nagging for a few weeks yet, but I find a little joy in being able to torment them a little.

The new classics

After Thanksgiving dinner Nathan showed Rion a new game on the computer. It was called Turkey Shootout and you're a pilgrim who shoots turkeys. Rion played it a lot that night and wanted to play it again the next day. After playing turkey shootout he looked around the website and found some more games he now likes. I was in the living room when I heard the undeniable sound of Pac-Man. I ran over to the computer begging Rion to let me play. Amazingly he let me. Then he found Donkey Kong, which I wasn't ever really good at so I didn't make it much further than him. I haven't looked much on the website, but it looks like there is a lot of classic games to play.

Then this afternoon Torii and I went downstairs and dug out the Sega Dreamcast. We had found Fur Fighters the other day and I told him I was really far in that game so he wanted to see it. We have it for Playstation, but I never got as far on that one. Torii loves playing that game and he wanted to see some new levels. We got it hooked up and we even found the memory card so we were set. Torii loved seeing the new levels, but I had a hard time playing it. I could not believe how grainy it was compared to the Playstation. We were at 30 Rock games the other day and they have some Dreamcast games, but I wasn't sure our console even worked so I didn't buy anything. Rion has been playing Sonic the Hedgehog on that new website so I might have to go pick one of those games up. I wish our Super Nintendo worked too. I would love to play Mario Cart with the boys.

Thanksgiving

This year marked a new milestone for me. I hosted Thanksgiving for the first time ever. It was a lot of hard work, but I think it turned out good. I also had a lot of help so that made it a lot easier. After eating way too much, everyone relaxed. We had to look through the ads to see what stores we were going to hit up on Friday. Then Torii, Rion, Nathan and I played Monopoly Jr. Meanwhile, many people were watching Christmas Vacation in the living room. Cordelia ate and ate and ate. (I weighed her tonight and according to my scale she's up to 20 pounds!) Towards the end of the night she seemed to get a little crabby and tired. After everyone left I got the boys settled down and then gave Cordelia a bottle. She drank it, but then got up and started crawling around again. She was in a great mood and didn't seem tired at all. Ten minutes later she crawled back up onto the couch and onto my lap and was out immediately. I've never seen her crash like that. It was a lot of work to host a big holiday dinner, but the end of the night was the best. We didn't have to load anything into the car. We didn't have to lug kids around. And then we didn't have haul sleeping kids into the house when we got home. That was worth all the hard work.

Thankful

Tonight our neighbor stopped by. He gave me a card and we chatted a little. He didn't say much about the card, only "you'll know how we feel when you read it." Then he said Merry Christmas and Happy Thanksgiving and he left. For a moment I thought maybe we did something to tick the neighbors off and they wrote us a note about it. I was shocked when I opened the card. Our next door neighbors, along with another neighbor and some family members decided to help someone out this Christmas and that someone was us. They wanted to help us with expenses from Cordelia's surgery. Inside the card was some money. I would have went right over to their house upon reading this, but I was close to tears. We had to use money that we had set aside for Christmas while we were in Minneapolis so I have been really worried about the holidays. This will help so much. I have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving and my neighbors are one of them.

Yummy!

After school today we had to stop by the grocery store to pick up some milk. I hate going into a store with all three kids for just one item. Although in this case not getting milk would have been worse because there wasn't a drop left in the house. When we got near the milk case, the boys saw that there were samples being given out so we had to stop. They were sampling some milk that is made in Sterling. We tried the chocolate milk. When Cordelia saw everyone else had something she wanted one too so I gave her a sip of mine. When I let her sip from my water glass at home she just takes little sips. When she got a sip of that chocolate milk she wouldn't stop. She put her face as far as she could into the cup. She had a big milk mustache and it was all over her new jacket. We did buy some of the chocolate milk. It was really good plus I like to support those small businesses.

A nice surprise

This morning while I was at work I heard a little voice outside my door. I thought I heard "mommy", but thought that voice couldn't belong to me and I felt a little sad. Then the door opened and it was Fred, Torii and Cordelia. They rarely stop by my office so it was a really nice treat. Fred said he would go crazy there because it is so quiet. I told him I love it. I used to listen to the radio, but I haven't for a long time now. I love the quiet of my office. I go crazy at home when the TV is on loud, the computer is playing music and the kids are running around. I feel like the Grinch when he says he can't stand the noise, noise, noise. It was good to see them, but Cordelia was mad to go. That short little visit made the rest of the morning go by fast.

Failure to thrive

I was reading something by another mom whose daughter has been sick and they aren't entirely sure why. She wrote about the doctor diagnosing her daughter as "failure to thrive." I really felt for her because we heard those words with Cordelia. It was like a kick in the stomach. It hurt to hear those words. Maybe I'm just so used to living in a P.C. world that I didn't expect to hear something so harsh. Everything else has changed so why not say, "growing challenged" or something. It's just hard to hear the word failure and your child's name in the same sentence. I felt like I should defend her. "It's not her fault!" "She's doing the best she can!" "I'm doing the best I can for her." When failure is connected to your child, you as a parent take part of the blame too. Really, nothing was her fault or mine or Fred's or anybody else's. Still, it hurt to hear failure to thrive. The good news is that she now has no problem "thriving." She's getting round and heavy. She's gotten a few more pounds on her and she looks healthier than ever.

Heavy subject

When we were at Cordelia's doctor's appointment last week, Torii saw a poster on the door about child abuse. He noticed the picture of the little kid on it. On the poster you could only see the kid's back and part of his face. It looked like he was sitting in a corner. Torii started asking me questions about the picture. He asked if the boy had been bad and why he was sitting like that. Wow, that's a pretty big subject for a four year old. I'm not good in these kinds of situations, but I answered it the best I could. Now that I've had time to think about it, I know how I would have answered it better. I did tell him the boy wasn't bad, but I didn't exactly saying anything about someone hurting him. I'm just not ready for my kids to know that sometimes people hurt kids. I know they'll learn about these things someday, but I want to protect them from those kinds of evils for as long as I can. I was totally ready to answer questions about sex, but this one really blindsided me. And really, I know I shouldn't shield them from things. It will do them more harm to put them in a protective bubble. Sometimes it is no fun to be a parent.

Movie date with the boys

Today I went to Madagascar 2 with Rion and Torii. This was a first for Torii. We took Rion to his first movie when he was 2. He didn't sit still and got bored. We tried again at 3. He was better, but still not quite ready. At 4 he really enjoyed going to movies and actually sat through an entire one. Torii is even more wild and impatient than Rion so we really weren't in any hurry to take him to a movie. He really liked the movie and sat through the whole thing. It was really packed, even though it was in three theatres. Torii said next time he would like to sit higher up. Rion would like to see the movie Bolt next and they both keep talking about seeing a movie with Aunties Kelly and Laurie. So make room in your Christmas schedules Aunties! The movie was good for the kids, although I thought it was just ok. I haven't even seen the first one so I think I missed out on some inside jokes. It was a good time and it was nice to get out with just the boys. I missed a lot of time with them while we were in the cities so they deserved an afternoon with just mommy.

Gaining weight

Today Cordelia had a checkup with her regular doctor. I think he was really impressed by how well she is doing. She has gained two pounds since her surgery! The doctor could tell right away she had gained weight. She will go back to the doctor in a month to get weighed again. She still hasn't gotten her 1 year vaccines so she may get them at the next appointment. The doctor just wants her to put a little more weight on before we catch her up on the vaccines. After the checkup the doctor gave all the kids a little pack of Teddy Grahams. He fed some to Cordelia and couldn't believe how she gobbled those down. She has always been a good eater, it's just now the food is actually being absorbed. Everything looked great and we just need to continue doing what we are doing.

Yes we can!

As we sat in the hospital all week we wondered if we would be home in time to vote. I had been waiting for four years for this election day so I was going to bummed out if we didn't get home in time. The weekend before election day there were non-stop election ads on TV. The local Minnesota ones were really nasty. Especially the Coleman/Franken duel. I'm not sure that one is even decided yet, I think it's in a recount. By the end of our stay I was pretty sick of all the campaign ads. (Really, I was sick of TV in general). On the way home we made one last stop at Jamestown to fill up on gas and get out and stretch. We were getting back into the car when a man stopped us to shake our hands. It was Duane Sand, also filling up and on his way to another stop in the state before the election. I guess he never misses a chance to shake a hand. Anyway, we made it home with a day to spare before the big election. I talked to Rion a little on election day about the adults he would see in the gym, but he didn't really seem to listen. I had never really thought about talking to a five-year-old about this historic election, but they must have talked about it in school. The next day after school he told me Barack Obama had won and that he liked Barack Obama. Know why? Because he likes his name. Rion does say Barack Obama really cute. Then he told me about the White House and he knew the president lived there. Then he thanked me for voting for Barack Obama. I told him he was welcome.

Home

The drive home went well. Cordelia cried some in her car seat, but I could tell she was much happier strapped in her seat than in the hospital. It was really good to see the boys when we got home. I had been trying for days to get Cordelia to laugh, but never could. It took Torii all of a minute after seeing her. I took the week off from work just to make sure Cordelia was going to be ok and also I was exhausted and wanted time just to be at home. Our first couple of days home, we got excited every time she would poop. It was good to know everything was working. Now our goal is to fatten her up. She drinks a lot of Pedisure because it has more calories than milk. Her appetite is as healthy as ever. She eats whenever we eat and snacks a lot too. We have so much Halloween candy in the house so she has been getting some candy. It's not often you hear a doctor give you orders to fatten up so she should enjoy it while it lasts. She seems to be back to herself, but more clingy than before which is understandable. Now we are just settling back into our normal lives.

Getting back on track

On Friday we gave Cordelia some Pedialite. We tried plain first which she didn't like. Then we tried apple Pedialite which she gobbled down. The doctors had told us that sometimes babies aren't interested in food right away, but she was. On Saturday we got to move on to more foods. We had talked to a dietitian about a game plan as far as food went. She was talking about feeding her formula, but I told her we were actually weaning her off the stuff before all this occurred and I really didn't want to go back to formula if at all possible. She had no problem with that so we started her on Pediasure and whole milk. She also got some Cheerios and baby food that day. On Sunday when we arrived at the hospital the nurse told us she had a big poop that morning. And she hadn't had any trouble with any of the food we had been giving her. Not long after the surgeon came in and gave us the clear to leave. We could have stayed another day to make sure everything was alright, but he was confident that she would be just fine. All the nurses would be doing for another day is checking her temperature every once in awhile and giving her Tylenol. We could do that on our own at home. After nine days in Minneapolis we were finally on our way back home.

Livin' in the big city

I've been to Minneapolis many, many times, but always as a tourist. The main purpose of going to Minneapolis is usually to see the Twins play and then a trip to the Mall of America. Or doing some other touristy thing like the zoo or Valley Fair. Never have I experienced Minneapolis the way we did last week. At one time in my life I wanted to live in Minneapolis more than anything in the world. Well, I got over that and I'm happy I did. Although it was quite interesting to kind of live there for a week. I love finding places that are big with the locals. One thing we really enjoyed was a place called the Global Market. It was in a building that Sears and Roebuck built in, I believe, 1929. I took a picture of it because I thought it was so cool. It looked art deco which I love. At night the Midtown letters on top glow in bright green neon. Now the building is used as loft spaces, offices, and the Global Market. The Global Market is made up of many different booth type spaces. Some places sell handmade goods, others are restaurants. It's kind of like an indoor street fair, but everything looks like it could come from Pier One Imports. There's also mini grocery stores with products from all over the world. That's what I would love about living in a big city. Sometimes I get frustrated because I subscribe to Cooking Light and sometimes they have ingredients that you just can't get around here. We ate at the Global Market three different times. The first time we had Mexican, the second time Greek. The third time Fred went back to the Greek stand and I went to a place called Andy's Diner. It looked like an actual retro diner. It was way cool. I ordered a hot roast beef sandwich with mashed potatoes and it was the best meal I had there. This was on the second to last day in the cities and this meal tasted like a home cooked meal. It really hit the spot. We also got some dessert at the Norwegian booth one day. Very good. I will not however miss the traffic in Minneapolis. I told Fred we had been there too long because by mid-week we no longer needed a map to get to where we needed to be. We only got kind of lost once. We were staying at my uncle and aunt's house and one day the construction crew decided to close one of our exits. We thought we had found the detour, but ended up going back the way we had just come. We saw signs that said "Exit closed use alternative routes". Not being from there we had no idea what alternative routes to use. We called my aunt and she told us the alternative routes. The hospital itself is in kind of a rough part of town. Although there are some nice places around the rough areas. We stayed at the Midtown Sheraton which is next to the Midtown building. Very nice hotel. The hospital put us up there for five nights. We saw the prices and they start at $250 a night. If I ever hit it rich I would have no problem paying that much to stay there. Those were the most comfortable beds I have ever slept in. One night we decided to relax a little and went to the hotel bar which was also really nice. And since we were in swanky hotel we decided to be goofy and get swanky drinks on our first round. I ordered a Cosmopolitan and Fred had a Martini. Then Fred talked me into a Long Island Ice Tea. I hadn't had a drink since before I was pregnant with Cordelia so those drinks really did me in. I sure slept good that night. Also around the hospital there were some really nice old mansions. One looked like a castle. I wanted to take a picture of it to show the boys, but we never got around to it. I don't want to say it was fun to see Minneapolis in the way we did because of our circumstances for being there, but it was interesting in experiencing the city in a new way. It really is a cool city and I look forward to finding some more cool non-tourist areas on a fun future trip there.

Long days

After we got back from the Mall of America I did get to hold Cordelia. Although it was a major process to do it. The nurses had to move two machines to the other side of the bed, then lift her over to me on the chair. Then we had to make sure all the cords weren't tangled or underneath her. It was pretty much like that for the next two days. Slowly things got disconnected from her. The first to go was the chest tube. I'm told she didn't cry much. I didn't stay around for that one. I'm pretty sure I had a chest tube when I had surgery on my chest and I don't have good memories of the removal. On Friday the epidural and catheter were taken out. By Friday being in the hospital was getting really old. We were pretty sure the epidural and catheter were going to be taken out that day, but it seemed busy all over the hospital and it was later in the day when those were finally removed. Since Cordelia was doing so great we were told we were also going to move to another floor that day. Up until then we had been on a critical care floor where the nurse to patient ratio is really low. We waited around all day until finally a nurse said that we wouldn't be moving that day. About 8:00 that night Cordelia started falling asleep as I rocked her. I was looking forward to leaving the hospital a little earlier than usual and getting a little extra sleep as well. Then that night's charge nurse came in to tell us that we would be moving to another floor that night. It would be sometime before 11:00, hopefully before Cordelia fell asleep. I looked at her with a very disgusted look on my face and said, "she's almost asleep now!" After venting to Fred he talked to the nurses and magically we got up to the 7th floor shortly after. By the time we got into our new room, the nurses checked vitals and Cordelia fell asleep, it was past 10:00. As soon as we got to the elevators I broke down and tears started flowing. I still hadn't had a good cry since the surgery and this was my breaking point. I was sick of the hospital. Sick of the nurses. I was mad that they woke Cordelia up to take her to another floor. I was mad at the loud nurses just outside our door who were keeping my baby awake. I was angry that Cordelia would wake up in a room that she was not used to. I was mad that I wasn't in bed yet. And now I was also out of my comfort zone. Out of the room and floor that we got so used to in our week there. Now we were someplace that we didn't know with nurses that we didn't know. And to top it all off it was Halloween. Cordelia's costume was laying at home, unused. And my boys were out trick-or-treating and I was missing it. It was the first and hopefully the last time. I know that when I keep things inside, it usually will end up exploding out in a not so good way. And that is exactly what happened that night. I thought I was handling everything so great and then the simple act of moving to another room was the final straw and I erupted. Fred reassured me that everything was going great and by moving to another floor was a good indication of how well Cordelia was doing. Still I needed to have my cry and get it all out of my system. After my cry I felt better. At least for a couple of days.

Security blanket

At home Cordelia likes to go into the laundry room, pull my shirts out and snuggle with them. On our way down to the cities Cordelia was crying from too much time in her car seat. On a stop I took a shirt out of my luggage and gave it to her. That was all it took to get her to fall asleep. After her surgery, she saw me and immediately wanted to be picked up. She kept her arms out and had the saddest look on her face because I wouldn't pick her up. Then I gave her my shirt. She grabbed it, put it against her face and immediately fell asleep. For the next week she would not let go of the shirt. When nurses came in to check her vitals, Cordelia would not let go of it. I once tried to get it out of her hands when the nurse was getting her out of the bed so I could hold her. Her grip was so tight that I could not get it from her. Now that shirt is hers. That's ok, she deserves it.

Day after surgery

The next day Cordelia was still very groggy. She would open her eyes for a little bit and then fall back to sleep. The first time she saw me that morning she extended her arms out towards me so I could pick her up. More than anything I wanted to swoop her up and snuggle her, but with so many things attached to her, I couldn't just yet. For a mother it was the worst feeling in the world. The floor doctor had come by that morning to show us the before and after x-rays. There was a definite difference. Her lung was now extended like it should and her heart was back where it belongs. Many people had told us to get out of the hospital and take some time for ourselves. After looking at the x-rays the doctor said this would be a good time for that. Cordelia was mostly sleeping and we couldn't pick her up so this was our opportunity. And for the first time in my life I was happy to have a cell phone just in case. I wanted to get a little something for the boys so we headed to the Mall of America. I knew I could find a little something at LegoLand for Rion. We also thought this might be a good opportunity to get some Christmas presents, but there weren't any good toy stores like I remember being there. We didn't buy very much at all. We did fill a huge Old Navy bag since we didn't pack enough clothes and there was some really good deals there. I did have one huge panic at Urban Outfitters when the cell phone rang. It wasn't a North Dakota area code so I searched frantically for Fred as I fumbled for the cell phone. Thankfully, it was my aunt wondering what we were doing for lunch. She then met us at the mall for lunch. It was nice to get away, but I missed the boys more than ever. We were already planning on catching a Twins game next summer and going to the mall. The boys will have so much fun at the Nickelodeon amusement park and Rion will go nuts over LegoLand. I was really wishing they were there with us that day.

The important questions

As we waited in the surgery waiting room we saw many parents talk to their child's surgeon. Most left the room, but as people left and more room was available many decided to just talk to the doctor in the waiting room. This was the case for one of the last sets of parents besides ourselves. They were sitting close to us and with the empty room we could not help but hear their conversation. There son had gotten his tonsils out and one of the first questions out of their mouths was, "When can he play hockey again?" A while back Fred and I had watch a mockamentary about hockey parents and these two could have been the basis for it. We must have heard the word hockey twenty times in the conversation. Then the doctor left and they got their laptop out and were figuring out how many practices and games their son would miss. It was all they could talk about. In the future if I ever get that crazy about my children's sports or activities I give permission to everybody to give me a quick swift kick in the head.

Day of surgery

On Monday surgery wasn't scheduled until 3:00 so it was a long wait until then. By then Cordelia was getting sick of her hospital room so we spent more time in the family room that day. After her nap and a bottle I decided to take her in the family room one more time because it would be awhile before she could play again. We were in there for about five minutes when the nurse came in and told us it was time. Once again, Fred was not in the room. He was down on second floor trying to get some paperwork done. We stopped there on our way to pre-op to get him. I think the wait in pre-op felt longer than the wait during surgery. I just wanted it to be all over with and that made it feel longer. Before surgery we had to talk to the surgeon, anesthesiologists, and nurses. Then the anesthesiologist came back to give Cordelia a "cocktail" which would relax her as they took her away from us and into surgery. It seriously took 30 seconds for the cocktail to work. Her poor little head started bobbing and she was smiling big and giggling. If I wouldn't have been laughing so hard I would have been crying as they took her away. I intended to have a big cry in the waiting room, but we were surprised to see how small and packed the waiting room was. Every other waiting room we had seen was big with not many people in it. So my crying would have to wait because I just can't cry with so many people around. We were also surprised by another modern convenience in the waiting room. A number was assigned to each child in surgery and on a big computer screen, each parent could keep track of where their child was at in the surgery. They updated the information when surgery started, when it was complete, and when the child was in the recovery room. They also made a couple of phone calls to the waiting room to keep us updated. The surgery took about two hours to complete. The time went fast because we kept our minds busy. I had a Games Magazine that I bought a couple of weeks earlier and still hadn't started. (I don't know why I thought I would have time to sit down and play games. Anyway, it came in handy that day.) Fred even helped me with some of the puzzles. I didn't know he was so good at crosswords until then. Since Cordelia's surgery was late in the afternoon, by the time the surgeon came in the waiting room we were the last ones there. He said everything went great and we would be going back up to third floor soon. There was the possibility of her going to ICU after surgery, but they were able to take the breathing tube out thus skipping out on ICU. This was a huge relief for me. We had a tour of ICU the day before and I was having a hard time there. It was almost too much to handle and it wasn't even my child hooked up to all those machines. It was really nice to be back in our private room. The rest of the day Cordelia mostly slept. When she did open her eyes, it wasn't for long. She had so many tubes and monitors attached to her. She had a tube down her nose that went into her tummy, two IVs (one from previously in her hand that wasn't hooked up to anything and one in her foot that was giving her fluids), a chest tube, an epidural, and a pulse oximeter on her toe that kept track or her breathing and heart rate. That night we spent the night at the hospital.

Minneapolis Children's Hospital

Not much happened our first weekend in Minneapolis. Cordelia's surgery was set for Monday afternoon and until then the nurses just monitored her and we tried to hydrate her as much as possible. She only threw up twice while we were there which was good. Although not much happened, the whole thing was overwhelming. We got a tour of the hospital floor we were on and we also did some exploring of the hospital on our own. I quickly learned that I did not pack enough for myself, but over packed for Cordelia. Everything was provided for her. Even toys and a stroller. There was also a free washer and dryer on the floor, which we had to use. We also used the family room often, which was stocked with toys and also gave everyone a break from the hospital room. There were also dvds to check out, which we took advantage of. As far as food there were a lot of options. The hospital cafeteria, a McDonalds, delivery and other local restaurants. The hospital also provided us with five nights at The Sheraton. The staff at the hospital was amazing. I am used to waiting forever to see anyone whenever I go to the doctor. Our first day there the nurse said the surgeon would be up to talk to us about the surgery. Thinking we had lots of time, Fred went out for a smoke. He missed half of the surgeon's explanation of everything. It was always like that. And when we asked the nurse a question or needed something, she got right on it. There was no waiting around for things there. I was also impressed by how modern and new everything looked. I guess that floor had been remodeled three years ago and it looked really good. We had a very nice futon couch in the room and the toys in the family room were all new and in good shape. It just made me feel like they really care for their patients.

Mr. Mom

Two days after Cordelia's surgery, my mom also had surgery, but this one was planned. I told my dad we could make arrangements for the boys so he wouldn't have them while my mom was in the hospital. He said that was ok, he could watch the boys. The day after my mom's surgery I made my nightly call home. I was trying to have a conversation with my dad, but he kept talking to the boys while talking to me. I could hear the boys in the background and my dad, "watch where you're going," and "don't do that boys." I had a deep satisfaction in hearing my dad trying to deal with the boys and have a phone conversation. Another night my dad told me he was exhausted. And I smiled. Big. Now I never want to hear him ask me why I haven't done such and such or when am I going to do whatever. And yes, I know my house is messy. Maybe now he has an idea why. And he didn't even have all three kids or a job to go to and then come home to another much harder job. My mom is also getting much satisfaction in the fact that my dad has to do laundry for the next six weeks. My mom is under doctor's orders not to do anything strenuous, including laundry. My dad is learning so much in retirement. So when I was feeling down at the hospital all I had to do was think of my dad taking Rion to school everyday, having to buy a birthday gift, taking the boys to the birthday party, and all of the other everyday things that he has never had to do. And it made me smile. Big.

Chaos

As I talked to Cordelia's doctor on the phone a million thoughts were running through my mind. The doctor gave me the names of the doctors he had talked to and where we needed to be. When he asked if I had any questions, I couldn't think of any even though there were a million in my mind. It was just too overwhelming to process anything. At that time as relatives were asking questions about what was going on, I really didn't have a good answer. I wasn't exactly sure what was going on with Cordelia. I didn't know how long we would be in Minneapolis. I didn't know when the surgery would take place. Now we know that Cordelia had a diaphragmic hernia. Basically, there was a hole in her diaphragm and as she got older, the hole got bigger and eventually all of her small intestines and some of her big intestine slipped up through the hole and into her chest. This was causing her to throw up and more seriously the intestines were taking up the room where her heart and lungs would normally be. She was lucky enough to not have very serious breathing problems or we would have been rushed to Minneapolis in an ambulance. Instead we drove down there. To add to all of this there was the issue of what to do with the boys. Normally they would go to my parents, but they were going to Fargo for the weekend. And on top of everything Fred's mom was in Fargo at Fred's aunt's house getting ready to drive to our house the same day we were suppose to go to Minneapolis. We ended up dropping the boys off with Fred's mom over the weekend and then my parents took the boys back to Bismarck on Sunday. Fred did not get to see his mom while she was here, but at least she got to spend some quality time with the boys. And as the weekend unfolded we got more information about how much time we would be spending in the cities. It looked like my dad would get to be Mr. Mom for awhile.....

An unexpected trip

As a parent I have come to expect the unexpected. Still, I was not prepared to deal with anything like this past nine days. About a month ago Cordelia started throwing up every night in bed. When this started her and I were just getting over a nasty cold so we didn't think much of it. When it just wouldn't go away I took her to the walk-in clinic. We got some medicine, but that didn't help. I tried to get her an appointment to her pediatrician, but he was on vacation. So again, we went to the walk-in. This time we got some antibiotics and for a week she didn't throw up once. Then the throwing up started again and more frequently. We waited until her one year appointment that was scheduled later in the week. The doctor was concerned about her weight and what he heard when he listened to her chest. We spent three hours at the clinic that day doing a sweat test for cystic fibrosis, an x-ray and a second visit with the doctor. The clinic was also super busy that day because there was no school and kids kept coming in for flu shots. After all the tests were in, the doctor said he knew what the problem was as we walked back into a room to see the x-ray. That walk seemed to take forever as all the terrible thoughts of what could be wrong with my girl filled my brain. We now know that Cordelia had a diaphragmic hernia and we would have to go to Minneapolis soon for surgery. A half hour after I got home, the doctor called to say he talked to someone in Minneapolis and they wanted us there the next day. What followed was a mad dash to get ourselves ready for our very unplanned trip. There are so many stories to share about this so it will dominate the blog for awhile. The computers available at the hospital did not allow blog access so I couldn't do any blogging while there. So I have a lot of catching up to do.

Crafty

I try not to buy anything Martha Stewart related (she must be stopped!), but I just can't help myself sometimes. Especially around the holidays. The other day I picked up a special holiday magazine of her's. There is so many good ideas in there and I want to do some handmade Christmas gifts so I had to buy it. I've been feeling crafty so I started on one project. It's an ornament, but I think I'm going to tie them onto presents. It's a piece of wire with beads strung on, then bent to make a star or a letter. So I made a star last night and after much bending, had the star exactly how I wanted it. Of course mine didn't look perfect like Miss Martha's, but it was still nice. Forward to this evening, when Fred asked Torii to show me what happened to my star. I made the mistake of leaving it on the computer printer last night and the boys found it. Now it was just a long bumpy line. When I asked what happened Rion said, "I thought it was one of those bendy toys."

You look familar

Yesterday, my mom and I took Torii out, while big brother was with Grandpa. Our first stop was at McDonalds and of course we had to go to the one with the play area. As we were eating, a girl from school walked by and said, "Hi Fred." And so it begins. People will get the boys mixed up just like they did with my sisters and I. Being the oldest, I don't think I got it as much as Kelly. And having gone through schools before her, I think she was probably compared to me more often than the other way around. Now I will probably hear those same complaints from Torii in the future.

People in the neighborhood

The other day when we came home from school the boys noticed our neighbor and their dog was outside. Of course, they had to go over and say hi. It didn't take long before Rion asked for a snack. I told him it wasn't very nice to ask that and he said "sorry.... please?" Well, that wasn't what I meant. Our neighbor said it was fine and of course they could have a snack. She loves to treat the boys.

Pop culture references

This cartoon was from a Reader's Digest. I've had it taped to the computer desk for awhile, but just got around to scanning.
I've also heard some other funny references on TV lately. The first comes from Spaceballs the Animated Series. After Scroob tells Lonestar his plan he says, "so what are you going to do about it?" Lonestar replies- "I'm going to blog about it! Then my family and friends and God willing 12 other people will read about it."

The second is from The Big Bang Theory. Not about blogging, but my other online addiction. The girl next door became addicted to an online game and is constantly bugging Sheldon with questions. Sheldon is so frustrated that she won't leave him alone. At one point he says, "I even changed my Facebook status to Sheldon can't get Penny to leave him alone."

Party!

Cordelia had a wonderful first birthday. She wasn't really sure about the cake. It took a little prodding before she started to dig into it. When she figured out how good it was, then she really got into it. By the time she was done she had a full beard of frosting. She got mad when I took the cake away and gave her a bath. I think there's still a couple of frosting marks on the tub from her trying to get out. Grandpa and Grandma also came by to watch the big event. After getting cleaned up, Cordelia opened presents. The boys were really good about trying to show her how to rip the paper off. She could have cared less so I let the boys do it for her. It was eating at Torii all day long. He knew what was in the presents from us and he couldn't wait to open them. He did rip one open while I was making dinner. Then he was so excited when the gifts were opened. Cordelia got new toys, but really so did the boys. Rion really liked the bowling game from Grandpa and Grandma. Of course, he invented new ways to use the pins. This morning the boys were eating breakfast when I noticed Cordelia standing up beside Torii and looking up at him. Both Rion and Torii had one of Cordelia's new toys and Cordelia had a look on her face like, "those are my toys." I tried to tell the boys those toys are for babies, but they still want to play with them.

Running into friends

Now that Rion is in school it's weird to see his social circle expanding. We keep running into his classmates while we are doing errands. It's just different to see him say "hi" to someone I don't know.

Another funny thing from school last week- as we were leaving, two girls from Rion's class saw him leaving. In unison they both said, "Hiiiiiii, Freeeeed." Oh great, the girls already like him.

Happy Birthday baby!

One year ago today I became a mom for the third time, but a first time mom to a daughter. The third baby is definitely different. I am way more relaxed with her and so is Fred. And being the only girl I think she may get her way more than the boys. Especially with daddy. She has been such an easy baby. Except for the time she broke her tooth. And this last nasty cold she has been fighting. Really she has been an easy baby. I'm not sure if it's because we are more relaxed as parents or because she is a girl. But she's been a delight in our life and I look forward to everyday with her.

Shopping with kids

Everytime I tell the boys we have to go to Wal-Mart Rion asks if I have to get a lot of things. The last couple of trips have been good because I've had short lists. Even so, we still spend an hour there. The kids want to see the fish, then the toys, then the video games and now the Halloween decorations. They spend more time shopping then I do. As soon I we are done looking at their things, it's off to get the groceries. Then they whine the entire time that they want to go home, they're done shopping. I've tried to explain to them that we would already be on our way home had we not stopped to look at all the things they wanted to look at to no avail. It's like a reoccurring nightmare that I can't wake up from.

Shopping with style

Today I was really bummed. We had to make a trip to Wal-Mart and I forgot my tote bags at home so I had to use plastic. I was being creative this weekend and wanted to use my new bags. A couple of weeks ago I bought some plain reusable grocery totes at Hobby Lobby. I finally got around to doing something with them this weekend. For two of the bags I made a stencil and then painted them. They turned out pretty nice. I wasn't sure what kind of design I wanted on the third. Then the lightbulb went off. I handed the tote and some markers to Rion and told him to put whatever he wanted on it. He drew on both sides and wrote his name on it too. Now I have his artwork on my tote. I will have to pick up some more totes the next time I am at Hobby Lobby. Torii has to make one for me too.

Control freak

After our visit to the walk-in clinic last night, we stopped at Target to pick up some Benadryl and a few other things. Torii has really been testing my patience lately and I almost lost it in Target. He is going through this stage where everything has to be his way and his rules. Needless to say we aren't getting along very well. Torii threw a fit in just about everything we did. It wasn't enough that I took a game off the shelf for him to look at. He wanted to be lifted up to see it on the shelf. Then he got mad because Rion pushed a button on a Halloween decoration before him. I told him to push it again, but he wouldn't until I walked back the three steps to that decoration and stood right beside him. Today we had a MOPS steering meeting and he was an angel during the meeting. Then we got home and he turned into a little devil. He was mad because I didn't let him roll his window down. Then he was mad because he didn't get to close the car door. So he opened the door back up and was waiting for me to come back and stand by him while he closed it. I stayed on the front porch and he finally closed it. He was still mad and would not come inside. Cordelia was hungry so I went inside and Torii followed, but only because I started counting. And it just went on and on and on. I was so happy I had to leave for work.

Flu and cold season

Cordelia has been battling a nasty cold for a few weeks now. Her and I both had it, but I have been able to get over it. Her problem right now is all the gunk in her nose and throat. She keeps swallowing it, which makes her tummy upset and then she throws up. For the past week and a half she has been waking up at night throwing up. I feel like I am constantly washing her crib sheets. I have also spent most of those nights sleeping with her, which is making me exhausted. We went to the walk-in last week and got some medicine to keep her from throwing up, but that only worked for a couple of nights. Today I called the clinic hoping to get her into her doctor, but he is on vacation. So I took her into the walk-in again after work and thankfully the other doctor that I really like was on walk-in duty. Her lungs are clear, but it's her sinuses that are the problem. We got some antibiotics and some Benedryl so hopefully that does the trick. The doctor said it may take a couple of days for things to kick in so I may have a couple more nights of dealing with baby throw up. I just want her to get over this. It's no fun when a baby is sick.

Tooth fairy visit

This morning as everyone was starting to get up, Rion lost his tooth. I told him to set it on that table so he wouldn't lose it. He got up and ran to the bathroom to check out his new smile. Then he went back to bed and said he couldn't find his tooth. He had already put it under his pillow for the tooth fairy. We had to search a little, but we found it. I put it in a baggie and put it in a safe place until tonight. He is so excited to see what the tooth fairy is going to leave for him.

Book order

One of my favorite things at school was when the Scholastic book orders came and we could order books. Rion brought his first one home on Friday and it was nice to see that some things haven't changed. They are still printed on that thin paper and books are plastered all over the pages in no real order. It's almost visual overload trying to look at the pages. I asked Fred if he also got those book orders when he was in school. He said he did and the Star Wars book that he has in one of his boxes downstairs came from school book orders. Rion looked through it and found some books they had read in class so we will be ordering those.

Board game mania

Torii has become my board game buddy. We have been playing Monopoly Jr., which he beats me at all the time. I don't even let him win, he flats out beats me. The properties on the game are amusement park rides and instead of a jail there is rest rooms. I always land on the space that says "Pay $3 to take the tramway to the restrooms." When I put my car on the restrooms Torii always tells me, "There, that will keep you busy."

The Olympics Part 2

Yesterday Rion told me he wanted to go to the Olympics again. I told him the event at school was a one time thing, but we could have our own Olympics at home. So last night I spent some time online looking for activities and found a bunch of printables. I tried to mimic the activities that were held at the school. The first event was a reading activity. I found a ton of printables online and the boys each did an alphabet sheet for the reading activity. The second event was a computer game. They made a calendar from www.starfall.com. Third they made books by cutting out things they liked from old magazines and catalogs that were laying around. Fourth, they completed a pizza puzzle I found online and lastly, they did a counting game with pennies using some number cards Rion brought home from school. After they completed each task they got a star on one of the Olympic rings just like at school. When they got all five stars they got their gold medal. (The gold medal was the lid of a frozen juice can with a ribbon attached). Rion loves his medal and wore it all evening. I think we will be playing Olympics again.

Kind of weird

Today I stopped at a rummage sale and picked up a Monopoly Jr. game for the boys. They have recently discovered board games and Torii was so excited to see it when I brought it home. I think Laurie had it when she was younger. Everything was there, but a dice and the instructions (which was ok because Torii makes up his own rules anyway). Actually, there was extra money from some unknown game and a regular Monopoly game. I have a Monopoly game that I got years ago from a thrift store so I went downstairs to get the dice from there and also to put the new stack of extra money with that game. I had to laugh when I opened the box. Inside was a bundle of Monopoly Jr. money and chance cards. Really what are the odds of that? Now we have a bunch of money for both Monopoly games and extra chance cards for the jr version. I also found the instructions from their website and printed that. Torii really likes the game. I couldn't get him to spend any money to acquire property until I told him he would lose if he didn't buy anything. Now he wants to buy everything, even if he doesn't land on the space. And I'm happy for this new interest in board games. First, it gets the boys to sit down and away from the TV and computer. Second, I love board games and finally have someone to play with.

The Literary Olympics

Tonight Rion's school held the Literary Olympics. I wasn't sure we were going to go, but Rion asked me about it right after school today. He was really excited about going to the Olympics. "Remember when we watched it on TV" he said, "I liked the swimming." I had to explain to him it wasn't that kind of Olympics. It was a such a beautiful evening so we walked to the school. Right away we saw many of his classmates. Which was good because the class with the most students participating is going to get a pizza party. It turned out to be a fun event. Each student got a piece of paper with the Olympic logo on it. Then they had to visit different stations, complete the task and then get a star for the task. After they got five stars (one for each ring) they got to pick out a brand new book. Then they also got a snack to take home. They also had a book swap, but I forget to bring any of the boys' old books. Torii also went with and he got to participate, although he didn't get to pick a book. They had fun and educational activities although many of them were pretty hard for Kindergarten students. I guess it's good to challenge the kids sometimes too. I think Rion had fun and he probably learned something. While we were there it had gotten dark out so the walk home was also an adventure. They were really excited by the lights around the movie posters at the video store we walked by.

Field trip day

Today Rion had a field trip to the fire station. Since they were leaving about 45 minutes after school started his teacher said Torii and I could hang out until they were ready to leave. It was really fun to sit in on his class and see their morning routine. Plus I haven't been in Rion's classroom much so it was good to sit in with the class and have more of a sense of what they are doing every day. Torii also sat on the mat with the class and answered questions with the class. They did flashcards with letters, numbers and the sounds letters make. He knows all of that already so he was able to keep up. He just didn't know the words the class is learning yet. I think he will be ready for Kindergarten next year. The kids in Rion's class were really excited about having a guest in the classroom. They were all very polite and nice. A couple of kids did debate on whether or not Torii looked like Rion. Before we left for the fire station the kids had a potty break. Torii joined right in and stood in the line as they made their way to the bathrooms. Then we walked to the fire station. It was a very nice day for it too. The walk was probably just as exciting as the fire station as we saw construction vehicles and a car transporter dropping off a vehicle at a car dealership. Apparently they had read about one in a book so the teacher stopped to point it out. The fire station was fun and everyone enjoyed it. I think they were most impressed by the pole. This fire station is the only one in town to still have the pole in their station. When we got back to the school they got a little recess time and many of the kids wanted Torii to play with them. I let Torii play for a little while before we had to go.

A Cordelia look alike?

Yesterday Rion was eating an apple when he informed us that he had a loose tooth. I didn't believe him, but Grandma checked him out and sure enough he has a loose tooth. His first loose tooth. It is on the bottom so when it falls out he'll look like Cordelia. And of course school pictures are next week. It's pretty loose so I'm not sure it will hang on until then.

I heart Jordan Knight

Tonight VH1 had Behind the Music-New Kids on the Block. I missed it, but no worries, it's set to record it when it's on later again. After the Behind the Music special VH1 televised the first three songs of their live concert from Boston. I now have The Right Stuff in my head. I love that they have reunited, have a new album and are touring. I told Fred if they get anywhere close to here, I'm going. I think the closest they ever got before was Minneapolis and my mean old parents wouldn't let me go. So if I have a chance to see them now I'm going. I think I will go downstairs and dig out my NKOTB tapes and listen to them too. My Blazer is cool enough to have a cassette player as well as the cd player. I could also dig out my box of NKOTB stuff I still have. I will wear one of those huge buttons if I get to see them in concert. Oh-and on the concert tonight when they sang The Right Stuff they also did the same moves from back in the day during the song. Cool. I should not be so excited for a boy band that is way too old to be a boy band, but I am. I guess it's fun to relive childhood sometimes. And dad, I told you so. I knew the New Kids would be around forever. :)

Quotable Torii

Today I finally started Cordelia's scrapbook while she was taking a nap. She was really tired and took a long nap. I guess it was too long for Torii because he wanted me to stop scrapbooking and play with him. I kept working on the scrapbook and then Torii told me, "It will be loads of fun" if I played with him. And it was.

Later Torii wanted to play football. Before we started to play he told me we had to pick teams. He told me, "Don't pick the Vikings. They lose in big games." He must be talking football with daddy.

Little bird

I've got another little bird in the house. I can't eat anything without Cordelia coming up to me to see what I've got. And she grunts until I give her some food. I still have a couple of jars of baby food for her, but I'm not going to buy anymore. She really likes table food. Her and Torii both really went for the table food quickly. She really liked the peas we had the other night. I think she really likes the things she can pick up by herself. Her favorite thing is powdered donuts, which probably isn't that good. I ate one in front of her the other day and she started crying when she didn't get a bite. Probably have another sweet tooth in the house too.

No rough housing!

Yesterday I was playing pretend wrestling/fighting with Torii. He was being really good about not actually hitting, but then I laid down and told him I had to take a break. Then he jumped in the air and elbowed me in the side. It hurt pretty bad and I told Torii not to do that. He was pretty tired and he started to cry because I got mad at him. Then he told me it was ok to play hard. "There's no baby in your tummy anymore," he said, "I can play hard with you now." When I was pregnant I had to tell him to be careful with me all the time. I can't believe he remembers that.

Now husband free

Fred left for his hunting trip this afternoon. He's says it's his vacation, but really it's mine too. I love Fred, but it's nice to get rid of him for a few days. One less person I have to pick up after. And one less person to whine around here. The best part of him leaving comes at dinner. Tonight we had meatloaf, which Fred doesn't like, and I have an awesome recipe for. The rest of the weekend I can make macaroni and cheese and no one would complain. I may try some other recipes that I've wanted to try that are meatless. If I made them for Fred he would complain about the lack of meat. The kids and I don't really have anything planned while daddy is away. The only thing I really want to do is go to Coldstone Creamery and get my free ice cream for my birthday. Torii wanted to go to DQ today, but I told him we were going to try a new ice cream place tomorrow. He is so excited. We don't get to Coldstone very often so they probably don't remember it. I really should live it up this weekend, but we will probably just relax at home which is nice too. For some reason I always do a big project while he is gone, but this year I'm not sure what to do. I should finish the top of my bench in the entryway and get that area cleaned up. I don't know. I'm sure I'll come up with something.

Hunting widow

This weekend Fred is going up to the farm to deer hunt. Since the season opens at noon on Friday, he will be leaving on Thursday to get up there. He went through the right channels and I approved this time off for him. However, he also wanted to take Rion and that request was denied. We have been "discussing" this issue for a couple of weeks now. First, I don't think it's an appropriate excuse to miss a day of school. Yah, he's only in Kindergarten, but that brings me to my next point. He is too young to spend a weekend hunting. He spent one night at the lake with Grandpa and Grandma this summer and he didn't like it. He said it was too long and he missed me. Oh, and he missed his computer too. If he can't have fun at the lake, why would he have fun in a field? So Fred got mad and said, "Fine. I'll remember this when you want to take him out of school for something." As if he has any say in it. There is no doubt that we will be going to Disney World during the school year. If he thinks I'm dragging three kids around a mega packed Magic Kingdom during the summer he has to be nuts.

Date night

Last night Fred and I finally went out for our anniversary. Between being sick and having a busy schedule we haven't been able to go until last night. Since I'm old, I wanted to go to the early movie so we wouldn't be out late. We did make it to the early movie, but still didn't get home until around 11:00. Today I was really dragging. (We also spent three hours at the pumpkin patch yesterday so I was tired before we even went out on our date). After the movie we went to Red Lobster as usual. They are nice enough to have endless shrimp every year around our anniversary. We were paying the bill and as I totaled it up with the tip I came to a startling realization. Our bill was cheaper than a tank of gas for the SUV. That is crazy. And I think I have been stuck in this married with children routine for too long. Fred just started getting Saturdays off again. It's been years since one of his regular days off was on the weekend. Because of that we don't get out much on Saturdays. I was amazed at all the people eating out so late (9pm, I know I'm old) on a Saturday. How quickly I have forgotten what it's like to be young without kids. I may have had a pang of jealousy of the girls out that night. They have freedom to do whatever they want, but really I wouldn't trade it for what I have now. An afternoon at the pumpkin patch and a date with my husband was way better than anything those girls did that day.

Pretty soon I can have a beer!

I've had enough of nursing and am trying to wean Cordelia. My goal was to go a year. By the time I've gotten her completely weaned we should be close. She is doing a lot better than I expected. I didn't think she would take a bottle from me, but she had no problem. We did have trouble at naptime today though. It was way past her naptime, but didn't fall asleep with the bottle. Later I nursed her and she fell right asleep. Naptime and bedtime are going to be the two hard ones to get rid of. Really it's probably harder for me to give up nursing than it is her. I would like to say it's because of that wonderful mother/daughter bond that has been created though nursing, but that's a bunch of hooey. It's just so easy to nurse instead of preparing a bottle and I'm lazy and I'm a busy mom that needs all the time she can get. Also, it will be sad to see my breasts back to their regular smallness. I know Fred agrees.

Be green

Recently, I started to save all the plastic bags from shopping for our rummage sale. I could not believe how many I accumulated in such a short period of time. It wasn't until then that I decided to go the reusable grocery bag route. It's nice that many stores have them for a buck each, but they are so ugly. And it almost defeats the purpose. Part of the green movement is to cut back on consuming. To me it doesn't make any sense to have a reusable grocery bag with the name of the store that wants you to spend and consume as much as possible. I did find some nice bags online and I can't wait to get them. I also got reusable produce bags to use instead of the ones they have in the store. I also found some nice grocery bags in the dollar section of Target the other day. I used them today and they were so nice. So much more stuff fit in the bags which was nice when it came time to carry them into the house. And they looked so nice too. I will definitely be green if that means fashionable at the same time!

Letting go

Usually Fred drops Rion off at school and I pick him up, but today I had the morning off from work so I dropped him off. Fred has been telling me for weeks how hard it is to drop him off. "They just want us to drop him off at the playground and let him play until the bell rings," he told me. "I'm just not sure about that." Oh, he's fine I told him. Then the other day Fred was going to walk him to the playground, but Rion told him, "I know where to go," and was off. "See," I told Fred, "he's fine." This morning we arrived at school and I got out of the car to give Rion a hug before he ran off. I told him to have a good day and he bolted for the playground. Halfway there, he turned, smiled big and gave me one last wave. I waved back and my heart melted. Every time I thought about that moment today I got a big smile on my face. My little boy has gotten so big.

A different world

Over the weekend we had a rummage sale. While setting up my mom came across some Smurf glasses we had as kids. She asked me if I wanted them and of course I said yes. Tonight at dinner I had the Smurf glasses out and Rion was looking at one of them. Jokey Smurf was on it and he was laughing because another Smurf had opened his exploding present. I told Rion that the Smurfs was a cartoon that was on when I was little. I told him Jokey Smurf was always giving Smurfs exploding presents as a joke. Then I thought about what I just said and quickly added that exploding presents weren't funny at all. Every once in awhile Fred and I will come across something like that from our youth. Things, like an exploding animated present, were never given a second thought by my generation when we were young. Now I don't think something like that would even make it to television. All of our children were born after 9/11 and the world they will grow up in is undoubtedly different than the one I grew up in. For as long as my kids have been alive we have been at war. Wouldn't it be nice if they could know a world at peace?

TGIF-almost

Today was just one of those days. We had our first MOPS meeting of the year and I was on fruit duty. I have a fabulous recipe for a fruit dip and got up early to make it. And also to cut all the fruit I forgot to do the night before. As soon as I got up so did the kids so my early rise became not early enough. I cut up the fruit and then started on the dip. Cordelia cried every time the beaters were turned on. Then I started to get anxious about time since this is the first time I've had to worry about getting a kid off to school before MOPS. With all this going on, I botched the dip and arrived with fruit only. MOPS was the most relaxing part of my day. I wish it would have lasted longer. After MOPS I ran home to get ready for work. I could have taken the day off, but decided with our short staff right now that I should go in. When I arrived I was handed a piece of paper filled with messages. I got to my office and suddenly realized I didn't put the stew in the crockpot this morning. The five o'clock bell finally rang and I was out. Since dinner wasn't waiting at home I decided just to pick McDonalds up on the way home. Not my ideal dinner, but heck, the kids will love me. I paid for the meal at the first window and started to drive away. I was looking at a parked car's license plate, trying to figure out what it said, when I suddenly remembered I just paid for food and I'm about to drive right past the pickup window. I had to jerked the car back to the left before I overshot the window. The young girl gave me a weird look. My car was at an angle and I could barely reach the bag she was handing me. It is truly amazing that I haven't been in any car wrecks. My mind is always someplace else and I'm usually thinking about three (minimum) things at once. After dinner I took the kids outside so I could start getting things set up for our rummage sale this weekend. Cordelia lasted about 20 minutes before she could no longer stand not being held. I am really glad today is done and I'm ready for bed.

Are you ready for some football?

Today is the first day of college football and Fred is of course glued to the TV. I have already had enough and it's not enough halftime yet. I love football, but prefer the NFL over college. Fred, having grown up in Tennessee, believes the only real football is played in college, in the south. I have already yelled at him for having the TV too loud. Torii was two feet away from me, yet I had to yell at him so he could hear me. Fred finally turned the TV down and he heard the last ring from a phone call. Then I finally got the boys settled down and off to bed and started to get Cordelia ready for bed. She probably would have fallen asleep except for the loud "Oh!'s" after big hits. So I am annoyed and looking forward to mid-January. Florida hasn't played yet and don't get me started on that. Fred takes out all the fun of watching a football game when they play. On another note, I find it so funny that Fred's southern accent comes on strong during SEC games. I don't notice it much anymore, but I think he has lost some of it since living up here for awhile now. But when he is talking to friends down home or watching SEC games, the accent returns.

Dear Kelly,

Congratulations! You're going to be a mom! Now you don't have to answer that question anymore: when are you going to have kids? Although there is a new crop of questions you'll have to answer.

When is the baby due?
Do you know if it is a boy or a girl?
Are you going to bottle feed or breast feed?
Do you have any names picked out?
Can I touch your belly? (Although this one is rarely asked. Women just do it).

Not only will you be asked these questions repeatedly, but whether you like it or not you will get to hear pregnancy stories from other moms. Apparently, not only does a pregnant woman "glow" she also gives off a vibe that says, "I want to hear your pregnancy story even though I have no idea who are and I did not ask."

The good news is that you only have nine months of this. The bad news is that when the baby is born you have a new set of questions and stories to deal with.