my reaction to last night

{Created by Jennifer at Conversion Diary}

twentieth

GAH I'm so glad there are only ten more days of this daily posting... Today's events of note:

• Maria was well enough for daycare! YAY! She seemed excited when she got there, and when I brought her home after naptime, she slept for another two hours. I guess she had fun.
  
  
• Timon and I ate lunch with Henry at school today - that means two cafeteria meals in roughly 18 hours. Let's just say last night's turkey dinner was FAR SUPERIOR to today's mexican pizza.
  
  
• In the last two hours I ripped one of the two pairs of pants I feel good wearing and look decent on me... I am NOT PLEASED; and locked Maria and me out of the house. Well, I guess technically it was Timon who locked the door, but it was me who went next door to movie night at church without my house keys. The beauty of living in a church-owned home? The extra key kept by the church.

Up tomorrow: pancakes! House cleaning! Praise band practice! Nap! Blog! I wouldn't mind if SOME BABIES WOULD GO AHEAD AND BE BORN ALREADY, either.

sixth/sickth

I AM SO OVER THE SICK. I got a call from Henry's school asking me to get him since his ear hurt. He doesn't have a fever but this should be a fun few days. Both Timon and I are coughing and congested. We're ready to be healthy, for real this time.

super-fun thursday

Most of you’ve heard from me or from FB already, but if you haven’t, I was in a wreck Thursday night. I’m physically mostly fine – soreness and one tender spot on my left shoulder where I hit the door frame. Most of my damage is psychological… I’m really still not all together yet. I relive the crash over and over all day and night, especially when I close my eyes. I did just come back from my first post-accident drive and other than my palms sweating and my shoulders being up to my ears with tension, I seem to be ok. I went to see the car and took photos, and I came home through the intersection where it happened, albeit coming from a different direction. I’m sure there’s going to be many, many headaches involved with the fallout from all of this, and I’ll fill you all in later about that. For now, I present my (likely totaled) car, from which I walked away (physically) unscathed. God is Good.

talk about dramatic

Well, I feel like after that tragic haiku I should clarify some things...

1. I work across the street from my house.
2. My wonderful husband is home this week and was really wanting to take care of Maria instead of me having to juggle her and my first night back with the youth group.
3. I'm not actually back to work full-time - I still have about 60 hours of leave time left, and I'm just trying to spread that out by doing what is manageable at this moment.
4. Being back with the youth group tonight was really nice. (Hi, Amber! Thanks for reading! Now go do your homework.)
5. My job is very flexible - I can bring Maria with me most of the time, at least for now. I really have no right to complain about that situation.
6. Um, my baby is flippin' SIX. WEEKS. OLD.
7. I admit to melting down here in my house when I came home to nurse Maria this afternoon. I haven't had too many post-partum meltdowns, so I figure I was due. 'Cause, seriously, people:


Who would want to leave this? I mean, ever?


Oh, and Uncle Phil? Henry saw Maria wearing this hand-me-down shirt, and wonders where his SECOND Purdue shirt is. You other moms might be interested in the Thirsties cloth diaper cover she's sporting. Cute, eh? We've been doing pretty well with the cloth diapers. I'll post more on that another time.

So, in conclusion: Thanks for your sweet remarks about this afternoon's over-dramatic poetry. I will slowly but surely get back to work, and Maria will be just fine. I guess I will be, too.

coming attraction ***updated***

since i'm reduced to typing in a sad, tedious, one-handed manner, forced into an economy of words due to my current hand/wrist/arm pains, i'll be attempting to return to photo posting for the foreseeable future. i've decided i will follow the lead of our alphabet whilst looking for subjects. look for at least letter a, maybe b, tomorrow. who knows, maybe i'll just go wild and crazy and do c as well. you just never can tell what i'm gonna do. keepin' it real.

p.s. apparently steroids don't make me super-buff, neither do they cause be to be 'roid raging... but i am hot flashing and sweating like a... well, like i usually do during the highest heat and humidity of the worst of summer. even with two fans and the a/c on. nice.

**********UPDATE**********
yeah, remember those photos I was gonna post? too bad the camera I was gonna use is MISSING FROM MY WORK DESK. grrrrr.

oh, please.

Sorry I've been absent - my right wrist has been experiencing a very bad flare-up of tendinitis over the last few days. The strength needed for typing has been reserved for work whenever possible. Speaking of work - this last Sunday was Youth Sunday at church, and the kids were phenomenal, which was not a surprise to me. I am beyond proud of the kids who learned to be a real praise band, and the ones who took the challenge to write a sermon seriously. I have had lots of folks come up to me and tell me how great Youth Sunday was... and then they inevitably follow that up with, "it's just a shame that the praise band didn't play in the 2nd service," or "... it's too bad I've never seen any of those kids before," or "... where are their parents?", or "I think it's terrible that they had to go all the way to Tennessee to do any mission work instead of doing it here" and many, many other critical comments in the same vein. I started responding with things like, "Yes, they did great, didn't they? Would you like to come spend some time with them on Wednesday or Sunday and get to know them better/volunteer to be a mentor/volunteer to lead a mission project?" That usually was met by a sheepish or blank stare and a stammering NO. I've been alone in this job more than I've had volunteer help. I've prayed over and over for... well, another me. Or at least a Chad. I guess after 3 years I've finally come to terms with the fact that Chad's not moving back here to get back in ministry partnership with me. We'll see what comes next. I really do love my job - just not the fact that many seem to think they know how I could be doing a better job but aren't willing to do anything to help me with these kids. Okay. Off to ice my wrist now.

movies and mayhem

Okay, first things first... why does it take a picture of my sister to get all you commenters out of the lurk-o-sphere? Huh?

On to the mayhem: Today during story-time at the library, I couldn't help noticing how many moms were either conversing full-volume to the mom next to them or were talking full-volume on their cell-phones during all the stories and songs. It was almost so loud that the kids couldn't hear the stories, songs, and fingerplays. I know I was totally distracted, so you know some of the kids had to have been. Henry was bored because he couldn't pay attention to the sweet librarian, and I couldn't wait to get out of there. I understand that this is the only adult interaction some of these women will get during the day, and hopefully the moms spend a majority of their day putting the kids first, but I think the point of these 30 minutes is to encourage the kids to enjoy the stories, to sit or kneel quietly and pay attention, and to respect the librarian who is trying with all her might to maintain the tiniest sliver of control over the 20 kids in the room. I'm not sure we'll go back, which is unfortunate. I've been bringing him off and on since he was about 10 months old.

We recently joined Blockbuster Total Access movies. This is a service similar to Netflix, but WAY better. For $18/month, we can get unlimited movies, shipped 3 at a time practically overnight. Our first movies shipped Monday and we got them Tuesday. I mailed back Breach (an excellent movie) yesterday and just checked the website and they have already shipped the next movie in our queue (The Secret of NIMH)! Plus, unlike Netflix, you can return these movies to any Blockbuster store, and get another free rental there for each one you return, essentially doubling your movies. They have a great selection (the one disappointing omission: Peter Pan, the Mary Martin tv special) of both movies and tv shows. For the cost of one trip to the movie theatre, we have essentially unlimited movies at home. I'll be much more likely to let something in the theatre go by now that we can get it at home so cheaply and easily. They should hire me to advertise.

Henry has been loooooving swimming lately. Our friends have been away for a couple of days and when we go let the dog out and give him his dinner, we've been taking a quick dip in the pool. He has started holding onto the step, putting his face under water and sort of floating while moving his arms around. It's really amazing to see his progress from last summer (completely clinging onto me in the water) to now. Yay!

this and that, the musical

Act I: The smoke has stayed away for a few days. But, now it's hot. So, I'll stay indoors if it's all the same to you.

Act II: Henry continues to amaze me with his memory. About a month ago, we took him to see a play in a park put on by the T-H-E-A-T-E-R company my husband works for. Last night at bath time, Timon quoted a famous line from this particular musical - "FEEEEEED ME, Seymour!", to which Henry replied, "No treat for you, plant!"

Act III: We're looking forward to a visit from my folks, a.k.a. Nana & Papa, tomorrow! Although it means I'm going to have to clean up my house. Good times. Yeah, remember that New Year's Resolution #5 I made? Oh well. But I have accomplished 2 of the goals! I'll let you guess which two in the comment section. Those who guess correctly might just win something (and here's a hint) "cute". Cryptic enough?

Act IV: ACK! My camera quit on me during the middle of Henry's birthday party! I have tried 2 sets of fresh (and expensive!) batteries, but it seems to be fairly dead. I can't even rewind the half-roll of film that was in there at the time. Looks like a trip to the camera repair shop and a bunch of $$ is in order. Grrrr...

Epilogue: I finished a book yesterday, written by a friend of a friend. It's called Here's To Hindsight and I really recommend it. You can get it here, or at her website. Help a sister out!

sputter, sputter, cough, cough, choke **updated

The smoke is back. Doesn't it figure, as soon as Timon gets this awesome playset for Henry (courtesy of his VERY generous grandparents) put together, and Henry's home all day to play outside on it, the National Weather Service recommends children, elderly, and those with respiratory problems to stay indoors. It's thicker than on Tuesday and I can smell it indoors this time. Thanks a lot, former-Tropical Storm Andrea, for sending this loveliness our way. They don't anticipate relief until Sunday. So Henry's outside birthday party tomorrow should be fantastic! Pray for the air to clear! For now, just imagine the kids on this playset are Henry and his friends, and the adults are me and Timon.

***update: When I went over to the church just now, I noticed ash all over my car. It's hard to breathe and now I completely stink from 5 minutes outside. GROSS.

not the best idea i've ever had

Before I remembered that I have a cholesterol test tomorrow morning, I ate a Big Mac and fries for lunch.

Smart.

a sad day for huskies fans

Poor UCONN. Losing to Rutgers must feel pretty crummy, especially since 8 days ago you whupped up on them by 26 points. I hope you'll fare better in the tournament, even though you're such young ladies. And as Henry said last night, "Goooooo HUSSIES!" (That in no way implies that the Lady Huskies are at all promiscuous. It's just how he pronounces it.)

In Henry news: This morning he brought Timon's binoculars (in my next post I'll explain the fascination with the binoculars) into the bedroom and strapped them on as he has seen our friends do with their guitars. He then said, "You ready, guys? One, Two, Free, Go! Twinkle, Twinkle Wittoo Star, how I wonder ut you are..." It was hilarious. The other night, he had eaten all of his dinner without incident (usually it takes some persuasion), so we let him pick a treat from his treat bag. He chose a red, heart-shaped lollipop and was very happy with himself. He gave it one lick and said, "Oooo-hooo-hoo! Yummy!" We asked him if it was good and he replied, "Yes. I LOVE it."

On another note: We've been having some issues with a girl in Henry's preschool class. He's come home with a bite mark and two scratches over the last month or so. Henry has told us that it's this girl by name, several times - although we certainly realize that he might not always be able to understand how to tell us the whole truth and all the details. The good news is that the school does realize that there's a problem, even though they can't really talk to us about it because of some privacy policies they have. I know that the girl must have had a terrible home situation since she uses quite a colorful vocabulary in her sweet little voice. She's getting some kind of therapy (I happened to witness some folks working with her the other day) and I just feel bad for her that she can't express herself in other ways. I just don't want my son to keep getting bitten and scratched! Yesterday the aide in the room didn't even notice the scratch on his face, which bothers me and Timon quite a bit. But we told the director of the school about it and I hope she'll stay on top of things the way she should. We are definitely considering the reality that we might have to change schools - although we REALLY don't want to... we love the main teacher in his room and how close it is to Timon's work. Right now we're just praying and hoping that this poor little girl can get the help she needs and that she'll quit hurting my son and any other kids.

vomit, and other interesting topics

Hey kids! Aren't you just intrigued by the title of this post?!?

Anyhoo, last night I awoke to a loud cry from my son. I shot out into the hallway and my foot slid in a spatter of lovely stuff on the floor. Timon had not come to bed yet and was already on the case, having discovered Henry standing in his room crying over a pool of the stuff on his carpet. (BTW, this is virtually the ONLY carpeted area in the house. Of course he upchucked there.) This was the most foul-smelling substance I've ever experienced, even worse than "our" cats. I'd rather have my head up the rear of a bull elephant with diarrhea than smell this again. Whilst my wonderful husband took care of our traumatized baby, I decided to rid the house of the smell and clean it up off the carpet. I know, I know. I'm a saint. This morning I used this amazing product and I am completely satisfied with the results - his room smells totally vomit-free.

Today Henry laid pretty low. He never got sick again, but he didn't want to eat much today - only had about 10 crackers and 4 Fig Newtons, and a couple of glasses of ginger ale - he kept crying for a glass of milk. Poor thing.

Also, tonight was one of our church's movie nights. It went really well and we had over 120 people there, which is incredible. There were a LOT of folks from the neighborhood who do not attend the church, which is exactly the crowd we're doing this for. We're not doing this as a hard-sell - it's not a proselytizing effort. All we want is to establish credibility within the community so that their hearts and minds might be open to learning more about the blessings God has for their lives. I'm excited about these type of events. This movie night went much smoother than the last and I'm sure they'll get even better as we continue. I wish I could just put the title of the movie in this post but there's some licensing issues. I can tell you that it's an Oscar nominated film and did well in the theatres. Go through those movies and guess which one was for families and was rated G. That's the one.

Pray for a vomit-free night!

chump

Wednesday night, Henry didn't fall asleep until about 9:45 - about 2 hours later than usual. He was up at 6:15 the next morning, rarin' to go. Last night I put him to bed at 7 - he was cranky and not very cooperative. He was up 3 times in the night, standing next to my bed and looking all pitiful; each time I escorted him back to his bed where he quickly fell back asleep. He was up for good around 6:30. Everything today has been "interesting"... and by interesting, I mean difficult. He has been fussy and whiny, stubborn and disobedient. I know, you're saying... "But Maresi, he's 2 1/2, right? Isn't that normal?" And you'd be right - most 2 year olds act like this every day, not once in a blue moon. And it's precisely because of that that I'm at all frazzled... we've been blessed (okay, spoiled) with a good-natured, happy, and compliant child who almost never tests our patience. I guess the straw today was the fact that dummy me left my almost empty glass of tea in the living room, and somehow the tea ended up all over my cell phone, rendering it D-E-A-D dead. Then we went to story time at the library, where he pitched a fit and refused to leave the puzzles, or get down off that bookshelf!, or follow me to the check-out desk!... and on and on.
Right now, he's sleeping and when I look at him I forget most of the last 6 hours and their troubles. Thank you, God, for naptime. Hopefully we'll start fresh here in another hour or so.

Oh, and my friend Stanny-poo had emergency surgery on BOTH knees this morning, and is already at home, emailing us to make sure we're at his movie shoot tomorrow morning. Sort of makes me feel like a chump for being so impatient with my son!

musings

1. Today I was told that our homeless meal ministry would be cut to once per month, instead of twice as it's been for many years. I'm still not sure if this is due to low funds or low manpower on the cooking end. (The serving end has been taken care of.) Instead of looking for solutions to either of those problems, the men's group at church voted to cut back to once a month. Boy, that sends a real message that St. Luke's cares about our struggling brothers and sisters, doesn't it? Warms my heart just thinking about it.

2. Migraines really stink. I was laid low for almost 3 1/2 hours today.

3. Really, only 7 comments on that post requesting them? Do I really only have 7 readers in all of "the internets"? It's not too late, you who have not commented. You don't even have to leave your name, but it's nice if you somehow identify yourself if I do in fact know who you are. Don't be scared. The dots don't bite.

4. When is it appropriate for us to stop rewarding Henry for going #2 in the potty? He seems to be (*keeping our fingers crossed*) completely potty trained, even at school, even during naptime... but still asks for "choc-wet" after each successful deposit. I don't know how long to keep this up. I guess we could just tell him no more choc-wet. "But Mummy, choc-wet keeps me regular - just like prunes!"

5. Anyone who hasn't tried Dawn Direct Foam dishwashing soap is really missing out. It is awesome, as I can attest to from the last 2 months - washing dishes almost every day with one bottle!

6. I cannot believe that I have reduced myself to reviewing dish soap on this blog. I really need to get to Greece so I can have something far more interesting to write about. Or Henry needs to start doing more funny things... whichever comes first.

why, o winter, hast thou forsaken me?

There's a week till Christmas.

It's currently 80 degrees outside.

meh-cine

Great. Now I'M sick. Right now, my entire skull is in a vise-like grip of some sort. I feel like I need some kind of suctioning device attached to one of the openings on my head and turned on for a few minutes. Any takers?

Can't take meh-cine (as Henry says it) 'cause for some reason, any kind of sinus medication drys my throat so badly I won't be able to talk for three days. Yes, even the "non-drying" kind - what a gyp, eh? And I need to be able to sing on Saturday for a gig at the Albert Whitted (SAVE ALBERT WHITTED - remember that, St. Petians?) with the John Kelly Band. It would be my first official gig, and I'd hate to miss out.

If you are feeling well, than rejoice! REJOICE! If not, then I'm feeling your pain, my sisters and brothers of the world wide web.

mama called the doctor and the doctor said...

Henry has a raging ear infection! He's on antibiotic for 10 days, and has to stay home again tomorrow. His fever was 102.3 this morning. Poor kid. He got a cool Spiderman sticker out of the deal, though. And he's good about taking medicine, so that's no problem. Now if I could just stop the world for a couple of hours to sleep...

someone find me some small twigs with which to prop open my eyelids

Poor poor Henry. He didn't sleep most of last night cause he had a pretty high fever. And thusly, none of us slept. To make matters worse for me, I hadn't slept much at all the past 2 nights, but last night really has sent me over the edge of fatigue. I can barely lift my fingers to type, let alone be a very good caregiver for my sick baby. (He'll always be a baby when he's sick) So this afternoon, Henry started acting fussier and less like his normal self. One of the wonderful things about him growing older is that he can tell me what hurts. I did notice his fever had returned, and then he said, "OWIE!!" while rubbing his left ear. I asked him if his ear hurt and he said, "yeah" all pitiful-like. So it's off to the doctor tomorrow first thing, and another day at home with Mommy. All he wants is applesauce and to watch his new favorite show, "Handy Manny" - or as he calls it, "manny an tools". (thanks for that, a.m.) In the meantime, I am really looking forward to some rest - whenever that might ever happen.

and ANOTHER thing...

Even though I always said I didn't want to be this way, I am. I am one of those Florida people within 15 minutes of several lovely beaches but I never go. I have been to the beach only 3 times in 2006. Starting in May, it's too hot to go sit on the beach, the water is over 90 degrees (too bathlike for my taste, and not at all refreshing), and all the vacationers are crowding it up.

The heat's getting to my head and I'm getting whiny. I guess I need to also state that I love my friends, my job, my house, and most other aspects of my life here in Florida. Wish my family were around, but otherwise it's just ducky. You all need to know that I DO count my many, many blessings and thank God for each day I get to spend with Timon, Henry, the kids, and my homies. You guys have a good day, now.