Pondering
Topic: Weirdness
As I sit here holding a VERY heavy, sleeping and sprawled out Pru (AND HE'S SIX MONTHS OLD TODAY!!!), I just wondered how many people actually read this mumbo jumbo that I type out. Who are you? Where are you? What do you do? Stuff like that. It just seems odd to me that people read this. . .on purpose! LOL Of course, as a child it took a very long time to grasp the concept that other people all over actually continue their lives when not in my presence. I guess I thought they just showed up when it was their turn, much like The Truman Show. Who knows. Sometimes I freak myself out.:)

And the rest is history. . . .
If there's one thing that I'm known for, it's for remembering things that most people don't. Dates, times, what people were wearing. I'm odd like that, but I'm cool with it.

January 31, 1997. Today's date nine years ago. I was in my second semester of college and living it up. I was enjoying my new boyfriend, Michael, had just broken up with another boyfriend, Eric, and had ended a long term relationship with my high school boyfriend, Jason. I vividly remember walking down the hall of the Liberal Arts building and seeing Eric. He ran up to me, waving tickets and just beyond excited. He said, "I GOT US TICKETS!! GET DAVID & MICHAEL!! LET'S GO!!!" As an aside, yes, my friends in college were three guys, two of which I dated. I know. . .strange huh?? Back to my story. The tickets in which Eric was speaking were the tickets to go see the re-release of Star Wars and it was opening day. I ran down the hall, grabbed David, ran down the hall again, found Michael and tried my best to convince him to ditch with us. He would not so we left him :) We piled into my Saturn and headed to the theatre. We were the first group in and boy did we have fun!!

I went about my day and headed home after what little school I finished. I sat down, grabbed two sheets of bright red paper, and wrote a last ditch letter to the man that my heart truly belonged to. It spoke of how much I missed his smell, his voice, his big hands. How I wished we could try just one more time, because I knew we were meant to be together. I poured my heart out in the letter. Then I sealed it, and dropped it in his mailbox.

Back at my house, Michael met me, and, for the second time that day, I went and saw Star Wars again. As he dropped me at my house, I told him that it wasn't fair to him. My heart wasn't in the right place and I couldn't picture myself with him in the long run, no matter how much fun we were having. He didn't take it well, but we agreed to be friends, and we were.

I went to bed that night feeling surprisingly ok with the decisions made. A little before midnight, my phone rang. This was normal for me. My phone rang at odd hours all the time. . .usually Jason wanting me to get back together with him, or my best friend Bill, telling me of his latest girl. But this time. . .silence on the phone. I said hello again, this time more alert. I remember hanging over the side of my bed and reaching for the light when I heard the voice that I had been dreaming of. "HEY. . ." And my reply?? "Oh man. . .holy. . .is it you?" He laughed his big hearty laugh and said, "Who did you think it was going to be?" We talked for two hours that night and into the morning. The next day, we met and we've been together ever since.

Chris carried that letter in his wallet at least two years into our marriage. He said it took all night and lots of talking with his friends to make the decision to call me. To make the decision that would change the rest of our lives. I thank God every day that I had the guts to write out that letter, to drop it at his house, to tell Michael goodbye. It's a decision that I joke about regretting, but everyone knows I don't regret it. Not one single bit.

Nine years ago tonight. . .a heart felt letter and one phone call. And the rest. . .is history.

I've been inducted
Topic: Momma's Lover Dover
Yes, it's true. Tonight I was inducted into official motherhood. Yes, I've had two children, but never have I had to endure this. I made it 3 years 8 1/2 months without one spewing episode. But tonight it changed.

That's right people. Cale, momma's lover dover, puked all over the white rug in our living room. Chris almost followed suit, but I ushered the two of them to the bathroom and scrubbed for 30 minutes on my hands and knees.

Welcome to TRUE motherhood!!! And what a NaStY welcome it was!

*Sigh*
Topic: Momma's Lover Dover
I'm feeling rather. . .nostalgic right now. You know that feeling when you know time can't stand still no matter how much you want it to?? Almost a rolling in the pit of your stomach?? That's what I feel. Cale is now in a big boy bed. No more toddler bed. This I was fine with, but it's taking down all the stuff that matched his "Moo blanket" that killed me. I just took down his valance and boy howdy, I'm grasping at straws not to meld into a hysterical mess. I talked Chris into buying the more expensive quilt for his bed so that I could hold onto the stars on his wall and his lamp (albeit without the hey diddle diddle lamp shade). I also kept his "moo blanket" since it's his and I want him to have it. Everything else. . .gone. Totally and completely gone. *Sigh* WHY DO THEY HAVE TO GROW UP?? I'm glad it's over with though. And the silver lining? I get to go shopping for another window treatment and lamp shade! :)

What to do?
Topic: Momma's Lover Dover
I know that all moms think their child is the smartest child in the world and I also know that some children that grow up hearing that they are SO smart yada yada and that it puts pressure on them and that leads to other problems.

I grew up hearing how smart I was. . .sure. . .I wasn't Einstein, but I did well in school. However, I was smart enough to figure out that school was easy for me and that if I stuck to normal classes instead of taking the advanced classes, school would be fun and a breeze. I've just now admitted this to my parents who were shocked at my decision. :) Eh. . .what can I say? LOL

Here's my question. Of course I think Cale is smart, but I keep being told that socially, he's a little behind. To me, that's not breaking news considering his delay in speech. On the flip side, I keep being told that he is doing things that children his age should not be doing. I always thought that people were just being kind and saying it as an obligatory comment, but after talking to doctors and teachers, apparently he is a tad bit smarter. Do I push him?? Do I just go with the flow?? Do I try to get him to be a normal child?

So far, I've just let him lead. When he asks for confirmation on what a letter or word says, I tell him. But am I hurting him by not sitting down with him and teaching him all he needs to know about reading? Shoot!! He's only 3! It just seems overwhelming to me.

Then we have problems, not just with outsiders because we are guilty of it too, of forgetting that he is just 3. We expect more from him because he knows things he shouldn't know. Others expect more for that reason, but also because of his size. I just don't want to screw him up ya know? I battle with myself every day on this subject, but beam when he sits down and spells and writes his name and asks to be shown how to spell other words. Then the flip side catches me and wants me to push him out the door to go play. *sigh* I guess this is what parenting is about huh? Oh well. . .in about 14 years I'll know if I made the right decisions ;) But I'm still a proud momma regardless. . .and that's the bottom line.

Ugh
I know, I haven't written. . .I'll try to be better but you know how life is. I just had to share this story on the rising rate of c-sections. Don't even get me started. . .seriously. It's not something that you want to try to convince me is an ok thing. Why don't women educate themselves??? WHY?!?!?!? This just angers me to no end. . .but I'm going to bed now. Peace and easy deliveries to those pregnant and those praying for a VBAC and a huge high five to those reading that have had their VBAC. Spread the word :)

Merry Christmas
Just want to wish everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Hope it was as good, tiring, chaotic and "Griswold-like" as our's was!!

My day
Topic: Weirdness
Have you missed my witty and sarcastic blogging?? :) Yeah well, I'm feeling a bit feisty today AND both the boys are asleep at the same time for the moment so I'll tell you about my day and my thoughts.

First off, I am the farthest thing from a morning person. The phone freaking rings at 7:45am which REALLY TICKED ME OFF. They hang up. LOVELY! I drift back off and the phone rings again but this time it's 8:25am. It's mom. She tells me to call her back when I'm up. What's wild is the fact that she's the second person I call every morning so why did she feel compelled to call? First I call Bubba and then I call her. It's just the way my world works. So I hang up with mom and roll over to see Pruitt, on his back, arms and legs flailing and him smiling at me with his blue eyes sparkling. Then I hear Cale announce that he's awake and wants to see Pruitt.

I get everyone up, dressed and fed in time to get to Cale's speech therapist 5 minutes early. Here's where I get ticked off again. This woman, Mrs. H, told me that she would gladly come out to the car to get Cale and bring him back on his speech days. She was very nice about it and said she didn't want me to have to get the baby out of the car. I thanked her numerous times and we've had that arrangement since. I waited for FIFTEEN MINUTES and she never showed. Now, I know you're thinking, "Seriously, just get Pruitt out of his car seat and walk Cale in the building and walk back and it's all done and over with." BUT, Pruitt is sick and it was SNOWING and it was 30? outside. Those three things don't mesh well together. But I ended up getting them both out of the car and taking them inside. And it's not like me to be confrontational, but I let her know that I had been waiting out front for 15 minutes and now I was late taking the baby to his doctor's appointment and Chris would be picking Cale up because of it. *taking a breath* She was visually ticked off back at me. . .not my fault. If you say you're going to do something then DO IT. UGH!!!

So I go to take Pruitt to his doctor's appointment. They have valet parking and I am so not into this. I don't know why. . .it seems odd to me and I'm very particular over my stuff so to send a total stranger with my car bothers me. . .and then there's the tipping, which they say you don't tip, but we all know that you do or they curse you or voodoo you or something. I just don't like it, but I did it regardless. Now I'm at Pru's appointment. This was a re-check from his gastro appointment on 12/12. He's been sick since and so it's kind of hard to know whether the new meds are working or not. She heard him breathe, listened to his lungs and sent us to a chest x-ray to be safe.

We do the chest x-ray and he's such a trooper and tired and cold and I usually bring back up, i.e. mom or Chris, but we were solo this time. So I go to leave and I see this old dude with a shirt on that says "I'M COOL." My first thought was to laugh, then I thought, seriously, man, if you're so freaking cool, you really wouldn't need to proclaim it on your shirt. And it looked like a homemade jobby too. . .nothing against homemade shirts, but on an old dude, just not very becoming.

Then there's the whole, gotta get my car back from the valet and they sit there and hold the door open for you and wait for you to strap the kiddo in and wait for you to walk all the way around the big beast and they're so freaking nice and kind and give you the biggest MERRY CHRISTMAS. And yes, I tipped him, but it didn't make the experience any less painful for me.

Now I sit here, between phone calls from my mom looking for a train table and set and calls from my sister who is hitting rock bottom after "Having so much fun watching him [Easton] sleep that I can't sleep" and wondering what oh what will we do tonight. See how much fun my days are?? And I haven't even heard from my dad! LOL

Regardless, I love my life. There's never a dull moment and things turn on a dime. Maybe I should make my goal for the day to finish off that medium size bag of M & M's. Yummy!!

By the way, why do they have to label their bags like that?? Small bag, medium bag, large bag, then there's that 56 gallon bag that Sam's carries. Now THERE is a goal!!

Quick update
I sincerely apologize for those waiting to hear what's going on. Here's a quick timeline of events.

11/21 ~ Upper GI. . .showed DEFINITE reflux but with aspiration

11/22 ~ Appointment made with pediatric gastro doctor for 12/8

11/24 ~ Thanksgiving in Tulsa

12/3 ~ Baby shower for my sister

12/8 ~ Dad's birthday and appointment with doctor who told us to be prepared to send Pruitt for surgery ASAP. This is where breakdown occurred with Chris & I.

12/9 ~ After numerous discussions with our pediatrician, and after he had discussions with the pediatric gastro doc, another pediatric gastro doc at Children's Hospital and a surgeon, he makes us an appointment for a second opinion on 12/12.

12/10 ~ Surprise birthday party for my mom and dad.

12/11 ~ Surprise birth of my new nephew Easton. While at the hospital, the pediatrician stops by and we have a chat. He learned more info on the difficult upper GI and believes the aspiration was a mere fluke.

12/12 ~ Second opinion appointment with a new doctor who says the first doctor leapfrogged straight to surgery. She put Pru on 3 new medicines and we go back on 12/20.

Now, fill in the blank days with sleepless nights, lots of cake making, lots of planning, and now lots of time helping my sister and I've had NO time to do ANYTHING. . .including laundry so if you are near me, don't take a deep breath :)

I thank EVERYONE for their prayers and support. I sure hope these medicines work for him, but so far, he's been a lot crankier than before. We'll keep praying and trying. It means so much to have you all thinking of us.

I also hope to have more computer time, but between my two boys, Christmas, Carly & Easton and my 500+ emails. . .looks like it'll be more towards the new year before things even remotely calm down ;)

By the way. . .I now know what a 6lb baby looks like!! SO SMALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*yawn*
Topic: Weirdness
It's almost 7:45 am CST on Monday and I'M AWAKE!!! The thing is, I must take Kisser to the hospital for an upper GI in hopes that they can rid him of his vomitting/spitting up/hiccuping/reflux stuff. No. You're right. No one in cyber-land knows this. Why?? Cause I've just flat run out of time lately. Sorry. I deeply apologize. If you are really ticked and insist on finding out the latest, feel free to email me. I'll update you.

So while I'm killing time before I leave, I was reading one of my fav blogs. And from there, I skipped on over to another blog that I somtimes read. And now, thanks to good ole AB, I'm singing, "I've been working on the railroad. . .all the live long day" and that conjurs (Gretchen or Kristy. . .is that spelled right??) up images of summers in Tulsa at my grandparent's daycare center. Aren't you glad you took the time to read this? May it be stuck in your head all the live long day. :)