Off to cheer!

We'll be headed out in a couple hours to cheer for the Hubs alma mater. It's HOMECOMING! The Hubs invited the Princess and myself to attend the game with him.

We'll be dropping off the Bear with my ILs. He just loves my FIL so he'll have a great time. When he finds out we're going to visit my ILs? He'll just continue to refer to my FIL. Over and over again. The Princess used to do the same thing. Both my kids adore him. No mentions of my MIL though. Interesting, don't you think?

Anyway, it's going to be an afternoon game. It'll be nice. Not too hot. Hopefully a breeze will kick in. I'm sure they'll be handing out SOMETHING for attending the game. I think one year the fans received pom-poms. Another year plastic cups. This year? We'll see.

And yes. We'll be driving on back home after the game. It'll be a long day. But the Hubs wants to watch his team. And we want to spend some quality time with the Hubs.

Excuse me?

The other day we had a playdate at our house.

Actually, on Monday the Princess asked if her friend (YC) could come home with us. To play. After school?

Well, I called YC's mom up that day and found out that Wednesday would be a good afternoon for the playdate. I let YC's mom know that I had an extra booster. That way YC could come home directly with us from school and the mom could have some extra time to herself to do whatever. We arranged for a 5pm-ish pickup.

Wednesday came around and we drove home. The girls giggled about goodness knows what. They sat side-by-side in the 2nd row buckets. When we got to the house, my kidlings immediately took off their shoes and socks. They know to do this. We don't wear shoes in our house. Plus, their shoes & socks are ALWAYS filled with sand/dirt/rocks from school. So most of the debris piles up in front of the garage door for easy sweeping & vacuuming.

Seeing my kidlings remove their shoes prompted YC to do the same. Fine, right? The girls tore upstairs and started to play. This is the point where I began to appreciate my kids.

1. YC tried to bring toys downstairs - we have the toys upstairs in the loft area. **
2. YC tried to bring BIG toys (like a baby pack-n-play) down after I told her nothing was allowed downstairs.
3. YC threw a ball down the stairs. ** We don't throw anything from the 2nd floor to the 1st. She did it a second time. **
4. When I served a snack (saltines with peanut butter and slice bananas on the side), YC kept on getting up from the nook table and running upstairs. This prompted the Princess to follow her. ** We eat our snack. We don't run around when we eat. **
5. When YC's mom came to pick her up, she brought their new puppy with her. YC promptly put the puppy down on our floor. Umm....PICK THE DAMN DOG UP! No, I didn't say that. But I wanted to. YC's mom had to keep on telling her that about 10 times to pick the puppy up. I guess I know where she gets the habit of not listening....

When I served the snack, YC came over to me and we had the following discussion.

YC: "What can I eat?"

Me: "Well, I made that snack over there."

YC: "Oh."

Me: "Why?"

YC: "I want cereal."

Me: "Cereal?"

YC: "I eat Cocoa Puffs."

Me: "We don't have that kind of cereal."

She looks up in the pantry. I take down the boxes. Shredded Wheat. Fruit Harvest. Nothing sugary. She looks disappointed. She looks more closely in our pantry. She points.

Me: "I'm not making that. That's not for a snack."

You know what she was pointing at? Not the rice cakes. Not the dried cranberries. Not the Nutrigrain bites. She was pointing at the Chef Boyardee spaghetti can that was ALL the way in the back. Our "emergency" rations.

She ended up eating nothing.

And that prompts me to recall the conversation in the car on the drive home.

Me: "Prin, do you want water or milk with your snack?"

Prin: "Water please."

Me: "You feeling a little dehydrated today?"

Prin: "Yeah. I didn't drink enough water at school."

Me: "Okay. YC? What do you want to drink? Milk or water?"

YC: "Water."

Me: "Two waters. Got it."

YC: "I'm only allowed to drink soda when I'm with my mom."

I let that comment go without an answer. Did she think I was going to serve up soda? My kids don't drink soda. The Princess gets a tummy ache from drinking Capri Suns. She only likes to have orange juice that's diluted in half with water.

I guess YC is used to getting her way at home. Who knows if she'll ever want to come back to our house for a playdate. Maybe I'm too strict for her. I definitely don't have the stuff she likes to eat stocked in my pantry.

But my kid? I hope they follow the rules of conduct we instill in our home when they are out and about. The Bear is still a little young to figure it out. I know that the Prin is good about it. Today her teacher said "Gabrielle is a joy to have around. If all the kids were like her, then teaching would be a breeze." That was the best compliment for my daughter's behavior. That she's respectful of her friends and her teachers. That she listens to directions. That she can follow rules. That she lets people have their space. That she doesn't have to act like others who are not following the rules to remain their friend.

I hope that when your kids have a playdate...you don't have a 'guest' like we did.

---

** This mark? Indicates that I told the girls directly what the rules are. And wehre I have it twice under the same number? That means I had to say the rule a second time. It's not that the Princess forgot the rules. She didn't want to reprimand her friend. She and I have since had a discussion that if she has friends over that she can say "We're not allowed to do that in our house. My Mom & Dad said so." This way she's saying what the rules are in OUR house. She's not being the bad guy. She's just the messenger. Mom & Dad become the bad guys with her explanation.

Misunderstandings

Lordy people!

My head would be lost if it wasn't attached to my neck!

Yesterday, the Princess' teacher told me that her class brought in the most candy for the school. To reward the class they would be having an "E" party. "E" is a local sandwich shop. My assumption was that the kids would be getting a LUNCH party.

I packed her the required two snacks for the day this morning. I was kind of wary about not packing her a lunch but it was an "E" party, right?

Thankfully, I called the school just now. The party? It's at 2:30pm. Yeah. It's a snacktime party. Not a lunchtime party.

So me? I've got to get out of my comfy at-home work outfit (a tanktop dress that I use for sleeping) and get back into some jeans & a tshirt so I can drop off the Princess' lunch at school.

DANG IT ALL!

He knows how to push

I am ever so proud of my little Bear.

HE KNOWS HOW TO PUSH!

The last two nights he's been able to squeeze a few bits of urine out of his penis. It's amazing. You can actually see him working his muscles. This is a totally new development. Last week we discovered that he can push little toot-toots out of his bottom. But pushing from the front? That is a new one on us.

Now we really have to be consistent with toilet time. Get him some sitting time reserved on the throne. Having him in daycare is really helping. I think a couple boys in his class are able to urinate when they have toilet-time, so that's getting him interested in 'performing' as well.

Who knows? By mid-spring, I may have a little guy in underpants???? [crossing fingers & toes...]

What would you do?

This past Saturday, we had dinner with the Hubs' immediate family at a restaurant. Well, most all of the Hubs' family.

My FIL and MIL were not there when we arrived. What was odd about that was that they had left before us to get to the restaurant. So we were pretty surprised not to see them sitting there when we arrived.

Hubs: "Where are Mom & Pops?"

SIL: "They left."

Hubs: "Why?"

BIL: "Her boss is here. With his girlfriend."

Hubs: "Oh....what?"

SIL: "Remember? He's married? He's here with his girlfriend!"

Hubs: "Okay."

Me: "So your parents walked in and saw him and left?"

SIL: "Yup!"

Just because her boss was there was his girlfriend, my ILs bowed out of dinner. REALLY people. The boss was out in public with this lady. If he got 'caught' with her than it's his own fault, you know?

Later on...

Me: "Doesn't he live alone out here? I remember your mom mentioning that he had that big house all to himself."

SIL: "That sounds right."

Me: "So then his wife lives somewhere else."

SIL: "Yeah...."

Me: "Then maybe the two are separated. Even if they are still legally married."

SIL: "Maybe."

Me: "Or else they have an open marriage."

BIL: "Oh sick!"

The Hubs and I spoke about this on the drive home while the kidlings were passed out.

If the Hubs were in that situation, he would have left the restaurant. Just like his parents. Why people? Why?

If I were in that situation, I would have gone in and had dinner. I would have even stopped at the table to get 'introduced' to the lady. That way I would be calling him on it. Let's just say I'd use it as leverage if needed. Then again I would find out if he was legally separated or not. I would use it as an opportunity for information.

What would you have done if you were out and caught your boss out with a lady or a man (not the spouse)???

Kick on in!

It's about 12:05am. I'm awake. I wasn't. Until an hour ago.

That's when the HIVES took over. I felt so itchy. All over.

Once I woke up. I got out of bed. I logged onto the web. Surfed around to find any store that was still open.

AHA! The one that's only 3/4 miles from my house was open until midnight! Halleluia!

I threw on some clothes. I whispered to the Hubs that I was going to the store.

"But they're not open until 6am...."

"They're open until midnight."

So off I went. In the dark dark night. Itchy as itchy can be. The hives were spreading. That's why I woke up. All around my neck. Over about 60% of the trunk of my body. Sweet goodness I needed some relief.

I ended up with some "Claritin - Hives Relief". It's non-drowsy 24-hour relief. It's supposed to take about an hour to kick in. I took it almost 30 minutes ago. It's got loratadine in it. Supposed to be a 2nd generation antihistamine that doesn't cause drowsiness like the stuff that's in Benadryl. We'll see if this stuff works. And for those of you who have used the Benadryl? How long did it take to kick in? Did it really make you drowsy?

itchy-scratchy-itchy-scratchy

You know how go through your day and scratch when the urge hits?

I had worn a sports bra to bed last night. This morning, I was itchy around the left side of my breast. No biggie. Just scratch and put on a daytime bra. Go on with my day. I absently scratched my skin th rest of the day.

When I went to pick up the Princess and the Bear this afternoon, I noticed that I was itchy. I figured it was due to the fact that I failed to put on moisturizer after my shower last night. Good reasoning, eh?

People? I've got HIVES!

I noticed it just before the Hubs got home this evening. I actually looked and saw raised red skin. And you know what else? The raised and red skin is...ALL...OVER...THE...PLACE!

It's in that spot that I noticed this morning. On the left side of my breast. Around the bra-band area on the left. Under my upper right and upper left arm. A couple spots on my tummy. The front of my neck. And on the front of my thighs.

I found some Calamine lotion. I've got streaks of it in all the right places. Thankfully, it's helpful alleviate the majority of the itchy feeling. But there's that underlying urge to scratch away. You know?

Now how long does it take for hives to go away? Is there some other ointment that I should be using? HELP!

Remembering balloons

Friday morning on the drive home from dropping off the Princess & the Bear, I saw a hot air balloon in the south sky. It looked so lonely. All alone. In the sky with the grey clouds behind it. The sun just starting to peak over the clouds.

It reminded me of some memories of hot air balloons.

When I lived in San Diego, there were a ton of hot air balloons. Every Friday and/or Saturday evening there would be 4 to 6 hot air balloons in the air just before sunset. These people had a business of bringing customers up to watch the sun set over the ocean. I'm sure it was a beautiful sight. I never was able to make my own arrangements to get in one of those things. But it was a wonderful sight to see.

One time I got really close to a hot air balloon. An unexpected encounter. It was a Friday afternoon. I was at home in my 2nd story condo. I happened to look out the window. I saw a hot air balloon a block away. It was maybe 20 yards above the rooftops. It was WAY off course. It was way too low also. I'm sure they had a malfunction of some kind. The balloons didn't come around our neck of the woods (about 10 miles inland). I watched. Mesmerized. I couldnt' believe that the balloon was right there! I watched as it continued to sail slowly eastward. I remembering praying that it wouldn't hit any of the homes. That it would find a safe landing zone in this huge community of homes. Then I remembered. There was a park about a mile east. I watched. And Ii watched. Finally I saw it go down. Right about where that community park was located. AH...I'm sure we all sighed in relief.

But I tell you. Hot air balloons are beautiful. They seem so serene. Have you ever been in one? When? Where? One day I hope to take a ride in one with my Hubs.