Minor Rewind

OK, in my months of blogger constipation I missed some important posts that I don't want to let slip by, so I'm going to be taking the next few days to get caught up. The past week and a half I have gotten a lot accomplished in the 2 Tater-free hours I have per day; my list of 16 to-do's has dwindled to 4 and I can sacrifice those if need be. So here's what's to come.

Twilight
Siblings
Tater Talk
Tater Silliness
Twere the nights before Christmas
Christmas (waiting on one very important pic)

Goodbye 2008

Gotta say, I'm not too sad to see you go. You didn't start well, and you got rather difficult to handle at times.

There were good moments. I watched my baby grow and change and learn and develop. Because of you, I love my family more and more ever day. You taught me more about myself than any of your predecessors.

But I'm ready for the new year. The new start. The new chance to make things better.

Bring it on.

Tired

I am just plain tired. Tired from the time change (I thought I was supposed to be getting more sleep???), tired from adjustments, tired from school, tired of drama (at work - not home, surprisingly enough), tired from sleeping half the night with a 2-year-old in my bed, too tired to invest the necessary time and effort to correct that problem.

Just tired. And feeling sluggier than ever. I haven't run in a month now. Not that I was really considering myself a runner before, you know... in the whole 2 1/2 weeks I was running. But I really need to start over. I need some time to myself and I REALLY need to get off my butt and get moving. Maybe tomorrow. Like the minute I walk through the door, since it now gets dark at 6:30. Which makes me tired.

Halloween Fun

What fun was had on Halloween! Samm and I dressed up that morning - she had Hippie Day at CFC and I dressed in a silly disco outfit - had to do the 70's thing of course!

At school, I ate entirely too much junk food. Curses on the Spanish classes and their party leftovers! My advisory class did win the door decorating contest with their groovy tie-dyed door, so that was cool.

Finally it was time for the official Halloween festivities to begin! Tater got all dudded up in pirate gear, thanks to Auntie Carey, who came to our rescue with an adorable costume to borrow. Tater had been running around all week hollering "Arrrg!" or "Arrrg Applesauce!" (I think from the Scooby Doo pirate punch applesauce we got one time) or "Arrrg Fee!" (I have no clue). He was very into being a pirate.

Before we left Nana's house, Caleb and Connor came by, so we got the chance to do a photo opp with all 3 boys. They were just too cute!

Then it was off to do a little trick-or-treating. Only a little though. I've never been that big on the trick-or-treating part; not sure why. In fact, even though this is T's 3rd Halloween, he's never really been "for real" trick-or-treating. This year, we went up to Southland's trunk-or-treat, and it was more to see Grandma than anything. Tater wasn't sure what to think of it. He would say "Trick or treat!" but only when prompted. He just kind of walked around in a daze. He was way more interested in what was already in his bag than what people were holding out to him. We found a dog in one car - he promptly dropped his bag and ran over. Who needs candy when there's dogs around!

We made an abbreviated pass through and then headed over to D-pop and Grandma's house. Tater helped D-pop pass out candy to the kids and then spent the night while Samm and I went home to stuff our faces with Chinese food and scare ourselves silly with horror flicks - The House on Haunted Hill and, of course, Return to House on Haunted Hill. It was past one when we went to bed.

All in all, it was a fun night. But I gotta tell ya, I'm looking forward to next year, when Halloween in on a Saturday. Then I can rest up before the festivities.

Mommy the Procrastinator

Heaven help me.

Tater wants to be a pirate for Halloween. I have known this for at least 2 weeks, but when did I go shopping for his costume? Today. 3 days before Halloween. Did I find a toddler sized pirate costume? Ansolutely not. So... yeah. I have 3 days to get creative and throw together a great costume.

Or at least one that passes for a pirate.

All quiet on the western front

It is 2:30 on a Saturday afternoon, and my house is quiet for the first time in a week. Well, except for sleeping time. But half of my family is at the roping fiesta, and the smallest 1/4 is sleeping. Ahh... peace.

This has not been a quiet week. It's amazing what the addition of one person to a family can do for the noise level. Even though Sam doesn't make a lot of noise, Tater has decided to make up for it. He is not adjusting well to sharing Mommy and Daddy's attention. In fact, she's adjusting a ton better than he is... outwardly anyway. She has made a couple of friends and we're getting to see her beautiful smile more often than not, so that's a good thing. I'm so glad to have her here.

Tater, on the other hand, feels as though he needs to be in the middle of every conversation and between anybody who might be sitting on the couch, and must be touching one of us at all times. He has upped his whininess level about 4 notches the past few days. In fact, the second day Sam was here, he tilted his head, looked at her thoughtfully, and said, "Sammie, you don't have to live here anymore; you can go bye-bye now." If only two-year-olds had filters! But we laughed it off; she thought it was hilarious. They're both just going to have to get used to not being the only child.

But I think they're going to be ok.

Now their daddy and I may age 20 years in the next 4, but that's just the way it goes, I guess.

From now on...

From now on...

• the entire Davidson family is under one roof
• when someone asks how many children I have, I can officially say "Two"
• I am no longer outnumbered in my household
• I have someone to shop with who doesn't get bored after 20 minutes
• we raise a high-schooler and a pre-schooler at the same time
• twice as many prayers are sent up... actually, make that thrice
• my heart is a little more full

Sam is here. To stay. So many emotions have come and gone over the last two weeks... Joy to have her here with us. Apprehension and inadequacy regarding my ability to give her everything she needs. Fear that I'll fail her. Heartbroken-ness for the heartbreak she feels leaving everything behind. Hope that she will take advantage and bloom in this fresh new start she's been given. Excitement for everything our family's future together will hold. Mourning for what it won't. Prayerfulness for the protection of my entire family from attacks from the Evil One. Faith that The Father can heal. Will heal.

Above all, there is love. My heart just spills over, along with my eyes now, with love for my family. My prayer is that she can see how much she is loved here. And that our love, and His, will be enough.

October is here!

This morning on the way into town, I realized it was the first day of October. All at once a little twingle ran down my spine and I got a chill of excitement. I absolutely love fall! I know it's officially been fall for several days, but it doesn't really feel like fall 'til the calendar says "October." My absolutely most favoritest time of year is Christmas, but fall comes in a close second - maybe because it leads up to that magical holiday. But in honor of this season, a bullet post of my favorite things about autumn:

• Mornings just crisp enough to need a jacket
• Gorgeous cool evenings
• Pumpkin decorations
• Pumpkin pie
• Pumpkin bread
• Cinnamon candles
• The smell of fireplace in the air outside
• The fireplace going inside
• Prettier sunrises
• Thanksgiving - and family
• football on TV
• Reds, oranges and yellows in the trees
• Sweaters
• Air that just smells "cold"
• Pictures of my cutie in the pumpkin patch

Ahh. October. Autumn is here!

Pet Peeve

My biggest pet peeve with my students is when they talk back to/argue with me when I tell them to do something. For example: "Johnny, please stop talking; you're distracting people around you." Johnny's response? "I was just asking her if I could borrow a pencil." No, you weren't just asking for a pencil; I've been watching you yak for the last five minutes!
I just hate the excuses and justifications and back-talk and flat-out lies. All I want is a simple "Yes ma'am" or even an "OK."

Well, somehow my child has discovered this, and is exploiting it for all it's worth.

"Tater, don't smack your daddy in the head like that! It hurts!"
"It's ok, I'm just patting him!"

"Tater, please sit down in your chair."
"I am sitting down, Mama!" (when in fact he's standing... in the chair)

And it just goes on and on! Every little thing I ask him to do, or to stop doing! Augh!!!

We'll be nipping that little habit in the bud. He's going to learn very quickly what arguing is and what is going to happen if he continues to argue. And he's gonna get a lot of practice with that "Yes ma'am."

Addendum: We had that conversation about arguing not long after this. I laid out this whole discussion about what arguing is and why we don't do it. He looked at me with a puzzled expression and said, "I not a pirate mama." (Now Mama looked puzzled) "I not a pirate. I not go 'arrg.'"

Oy vey.

Silly Boy

I may have mentioned this before, but this kid of mine cracks me up daily.

On the way home from church tonight, I was asking him what he did. He told me about playing with Miss Liz and all his friends, and then he sighed. "I had a rough day, Mom." I had to laugh. And see what else I could get out of him. "You had a rough day?"
Sigh. "Yeah." (barely audible)
"Why was it rough?"
Another sigh. "Because."

And then in the next breath, he moved on to wondering where the moon was hiding.

Running the Race

OK, I'm making it official. As of Saturday, Sept 13, 2008, I am in training for the Capitol 10K in Austin in March.



I know - Jenni? Running? A 10K?



Yes. You can blame it on Jenny W. She's been training for this race that she'll run in memory of her dad, and I've just admired her dedication so much - even had a couple of "I should do something too" moments. Then a few weeks ago, she issued this challenge. And darn it, but she's so stinkin' inspiring!

But truthfully, this seed was planted a little over a year ago when I watched my awesome Fri cross the finish line of a particularly grueling triathlon... If she can do that, I can do this.

I am off to a slow start - it took me a ridiculously long time to run/walk the 2-mile loop around my neighborhood on Saturday. And then it took 2 minutes less yesterday... and no, I'm not posting times - they're too embarrassing. But I know now how long I can run (not long) without having to walk, and I know how much work I need to do.

My goal for now is to be able to run the entire 2 miles by the end of October. I will run (or run/walk) at least 3 times a week, even if that means 2 days in a row because of our crazy schedules.

I will have a goal for the 10k - just finishing it is not going to be enough... but I'm not ready to set that goal yet.

Why am I running? Good question. Randy's reaction when I told him what I wanted to do was, "I've just never really seen you as much of a runner." And he's totally right - I'm not. I'm a slug. I need to get off my ever-growing rear end and do something. I need to take care of my heart and my body. I need to have more energy. It wouldn't hurt to burn off a few pounds of flab. And I need to achieve something. So this will be it.

The Capitol 10K. March 29th, 2009.

My country bumpkin

This is just funny. He was swatting at flies and/or bubbles with the fly swatter. On the tractor.

And evidently my child never wears real clothes when he's at home - just jammies. Oh, and cowboy boots.

Big Boy Bed

I've finally had to let go of my baby. His crib is gone.

Well, not really gone, but turned into a toddler bed - "big boy bed" according to Tater. He was super excited about it! He even helped my take the screws out and put the new ones back in. Well, the new ones minus a screw, because... like I said, he helped - and one mysteriously disappeared.

But the whole rest of the day, he'd come up to me or Randy and demand we come see his big boy bed - even if we'd just seen it 10 minutes earlier. He even demonstrated how he would sleep in it - complete with snoring sound effects.

We did all this about 3 week ago, and it took a week for him to sleep through the night without waking up a little disoriented and crying, but he's totally used to it now. The best thing is that he still stays in there, even when he wakes up - he just hollers at me to come get him. I know the day will come soon when he figures out he really does have the ability to get up and come to me... I'm not sure how we'll handle that though, since the dog sleeps in our room at night and still does not have a handle on his spasticness, and therefore cannot be around T without jumping and knocking him over. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Now all we have to do is get rid of those diapers...

Just stuff

OK, I don't have a lot to say, but I'm tired of my gripy birthday post. And I'm sure you are too. So here are a few tidbits. I'll try really hard to post more real stuff this weekend. I do have lots to catch up on, but for now...

Tater is spending the night at Grandma and D-Pop's house. This is actually only the 2nd time he's spent the night away from us. We went to dinner and are now watching a grown-up movie. And we are going to sleep until after the sun comes up. What a concept.

Three weeks down in this school year. I think that is 1/12 of the year. Yay.

I'm wondering if I'm ever not going to be tired again... June maybe?

Yeah... that's all I got. Real posts tomorrow - I promise. Or maybe Sunday.

Birthday Shmirthday

Well, I'm officially 29. Yesterday was the ol' birthday-a-roo, and it was, well... not the best day. It started with tearful greetings from a certain 2-year-old at midnight, 3 and 5 am, when I gave up and put him in my bed. And it ended with coming home to a crateful of dog poo that I had to get out and Randy had to spend the rest of the evening cleaning up after, both dog and crate. I'll spare you the other not-so-greatness. There were definitely some good points too (especially with the sweet gestures from my Mommy!), but all in all, I'm just writing yesterday off.

Today is much better. And I have a feeling no matter how much turning 30 is going to stink next year, hopefully the circumstances of the day will go better. I'll have to just keep that in mind a year from now.

Day 4

Week one is almost over... Hallelujah! I don't remember being this tired the first week of school last year. And the kids we have this year are all saints and Rhodes scholars compared to last year's darlings, so I don't know what my problem is.

I really do like my kids this year. They seem so small and sweet. I even like the boogers, even though I can already tell they're going to be boogers. I can already tell who my biggest challenges are going to be too - a group of 6 boys in my Pre-AP class. Smart and smart-alecky. Cute but obnoxious. Loud but funny. Basically, they are Tater in 10 years. So I already love them, but I'm sure they're going to make me crazy. I do also have a couple of special needs kids that are going to be a challenge in making sure they get everything they need to be successful, but nothing like last year.

I also really like my team of teachers. I feel very blessed to be working with this awesome group of Christian ladies. There are some faces I miss A LOT this year - Jenny, Leslie, Bill, Coley... but I'm looking forward to getting to know some of the new folks.

It's gonna be a great year... or not. The choice is mine.

And I choose greatness.

Anybody want magazines?

For some reason, I have subscriptions to 4 different parent/kid magazines... I haven't renewed any of them in forever, but they keep coming. And the truth is, I don't read them. So anybody want some? I have several issues of Parents, Parenting, Cookie and WonderTime, which is put out by Disney (got that one for free, but it's good!). I will even deliver.

Otherwise, they will all go to school to be dissected and destroyed by 7th graders with scissors. But first I'll have to go through them to take out breastfeeding pics. :)

It doesn't get any better than this

• Sleeping til 7 and then bringing Tater back to bed for some giggly snuggles
• A lazy morning complete with vanilla caramel coffee
• Making brownies with a helper

• A 2 1/2 hour nap. For Tater, not me. I got a lot of scrapbooking stuff organized and actually watched a TV show that was not animated.


• A dust-free living room... the only cleaning I did today. And I'm ok with that.


• Playing outside with my "boys" while a lovely pork loin got happy on the grill


• A 3-dollar kite that actually flies pretty well


• Weather cool enough to require putting on jeans and a jacket in August


• Watching my husband blowing bubbles for Tater to chase and whack with a hockey stick


• Watching my husband climb up on top of his truck in order to get more distance out of said bubbles
• Tater deciding he would rather go to bed early than finish his supper and going down with no fight whatsoever, thus leaving me time to post this.

Thank you Father for reminding me what's important... reminding me to just slow down and take it all in every now and then. And for showing me that I really do have it all.

Tater's fun week

I may have not been having so much fun this week, but Tater sure did.
While Nana is in Odessa helping out with Grandma Peacock, Tater has certainly been making the rounds... and having a blast.

Tuesday he hung out at Auntie Carey's house and played his little heart out with Caleb and Connor. I made the mistake of telling him he was going over there Tuesday on Sunday, so you can guess what I heard all day Monday! They went to the pond, watched a bumblebee, and played, played, played. Tater just adores his cousins... and his Auntie "Cawee"!!

Wednesday he played with my fabulous photographer friend Jenny and her boys. Tater thinks Mason is the coolest! They played with trains and turtles and balls, and sweet sweet Jenny took a couple of pictures of my handsome boy - she texted me to look at her blog and I saw this...All I can say is wow...

Then Thursday was a double serving of excitement, since he spent the morning with Mom's friend Laura and her 3 grandkids and 3 dogs, followed by lunch and afternoon fun with Jessica and Kamryn (who is a whole day older than T). They play so well together! We don't get together with them nearly enough.

And finally, Tater got to spend Friday with his "girlfriend," Cheyenne, who he lovingly calls Shiny. She is a 7th grader, so he's definitely going for the older women. Her big sister Genna is now evidently his best friend too. That would probably be because they took him for pizza and snowcones. They are such sweet girls, and he had a blast with them.

But next week, our beloved Nana will be back, and Tater will be able to get back into his school-year routine. We have missed you, Nana! He said last night he wanted to go to Nana's tomorrow, and seemed disappointed when I told him he got to stay home with me and Dadddy fo the next 2 days...

I am so grateful to have such wonderful friends and family that is willing to take care of my little man! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for your help and friendship!

And what a week

Well we are back at work, and already going 80 miles an hour...

I have to admit, there is much less worthless, mindless, butt-numbing crap to sit through this year, and we seem to have a lot more time to get things taken care of, but it also seems like we have a lot more to get taken care of too...
Today was a "work day" in which I worked in my room for about 2 1/2 hours total. Of course, a lot of that was our team getting silly and spending time on unnecessary things like Hobby Lobby and tie-dye, but still. :)

I guess I'm ready. It has been hard leaving the little man this week, but I understand the greater plan - His, not mine. And I like my job. And I like my team.

It's going to be a good year.

What a day...

Today was my last official day of summer. SD starts tomorrow. So how did I spend my day? Playing, snuggling, enjoying and making memories with Tater? No. I wanted to, but that just didn't happen. He was in all-out terrible two mode, and I had a monster headache all day that I could not get rid of. The whole day was a battle, culminating in dinner, which became a full-blown war. Definitely NOT the way I wanted this day to go.
I'm more disappointed about going back than I expected to be. I cried a few times today, but not everytime was it because I didn't want to leave him. A couple of times it was because I did and felt guilty.
Ugh. And I dont' even get tomorrow to make it up to him. And here come the tears again. I'm going to bed.

One word answers

One Word Answers

1. Where is your cell phone? counter
2. Your significant other? Randy
3. Your hair? ponytail
4. Your Skin? freckly
5. Your mother? incredible
6. Your Favorite Thing? snow
7. Your dream last night? kids
8. Your favorite drink? DP
9. Your dream/goal? contentment
10. The room you’re in? living
11. Your ex? which?
12. Your fear? failure
13. where do you want to be in six years? here
14. Where were you last night? church
15. What you’re not? lots
16. Muffins? struesel
17. One of your wish list items? dishwasher
18. Where you grew up? here
19. The last thing you did? paint
20. What are you wearing? grubbies
21. Your TV? old
22. Your pet(s)? evil
23. Your computer? school's
24. Your life? mine
25. Your mood? contemplative
26. Missing someone? coworkers
27. Your car? Ford
29. Favorite Store? Target
30. Your summer? gone
31. Like someone? yes
32. Your favorite color? Green
33. When is the last time you laughed? lunch
34. Last time you cried? Sunday
35. Who will/would re-post this? Sara
36. Whose Answers are you anxious to see? everyone

Wow, not very "big" words for an English teacher...

Ah, cool...

The a/c is all better. The repair guy had it finshed right before I left for VBS yesterday so it was nice and cool when I got home. Yay.

VBS has been going great. Our church does "Fuel Week" for middle schoolers at the same time as VBS but separate, and that's who I've been working with. Gosh, these little goobers make me crazy, but I love them. I'm also finally getting to know more people at church, which is good. Only bad thing is that it's over at 9, so getting Tater wound down for bed has been a nightmare. I'll just have to accept that 10:15 is bedtime for this week. And it meant I missed girls' night last night. :( But, it's 8 AM and Tater is still sleeping. I think this is a record.

I had wanted to make a last ditch effort at a play date this week, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen. I am trying to get my new old bedroom furniture (THANK YOU Ang!) sanded and repainted and into my bedroom so I have a relaxing place to retreat to once school starts. So that's taking all my free/naptime time, which means my house is beyond filthy. As in my floor's probably actually too gross for my own kid to walk across, much less yours.

We only have a week left! Waaah! I haven't even been to my room this summer. So I guess my stuff stays unorganized for one more year. Oh well... I have learned to thrive inside my chaos.

I can't believe it's already August. Wasn't it just June? Pooh.

OK, I'm gonna go make coffee. Maybe that will perk up my mind and my mood. Happy Wednesday!

Satan's a booger

I know what he's doing and he's not gonna win.

It is now 88 degrees in my house, the a/c guy was supposed to be here 3 hours ago, and I am past cranky. I'm getting a headache and I have no energy or motivation to do any of the things I need to get done today. Plus VBS starts tonight and I'm working with a small group, therefore hopefully building some connections with some middle school girls.

Therein lies the evil one's plan. He wants me to stay tired and cranky and headachy so absolutely no good work can happen through me tonight. But I'm onto him.

The rejoicing starts now. I'm going to worship my Father regardless.

Screw you, Satan.

The Pit

Our air conditioner went out again last night. The air conditioner that is not even a month old. This coming right after the security light outside (think street light) went out early last week, making our property eerily dark at night. And after the water pressure took a scary dip yesterday making us wonder if the well pump was broken for the 3rd time in 2 years or, worse, the well was drying up. Thankfully, the water issue was temporary. But the air is not. We spent another lovely evening sleeping in our 85 degree money pit of a home with fans blasting us, since opening the windows isn't an option until at least 3 in the morning. Oh and that's plug-in fans - not the ceiling fan in our room, which, of course, broke a couple of weeks ago.

So now I am at home waiting for the air people to call. I need to go grocery shopping, but will definitely wait until that phone call comes... I really don't want to spend another night in the pit of hell. Ok, I'm being dramatic. But that's my mood this morning. Good morning!

His plan... I think

I took a big step of faith today, and now I'm not so sure it was the right decision... let me give you the back story.

As most of you know, I have not been a faithful servant of Christ my whole life, like I should have been, being raised in the church by godly parents and grandparents. There have been (too many) phases in my life where I've decided that I knew better than God what was right for me, and I proceeded to go with my own plan. Or just go with no plan at all. I have been so far away from God that it hurts to think about now. I have been the prodigal again and again - I have turned my back on Him, and my sins have been so great that I'm still trying to grant forgiveness to myself and accept His. Right after R and I got married, some major changes happened in our church: several close friends who had been our rock moved away, the pastor who had led R to Christ moved, the direction changed to a place where we weren't comfortable, and trust was betrayed by a friend. We let those circumstances get in the way of His direction, and we drifted away from the church entirely.

For four years, God tugged and I ignored. Until I became a mother and witnessed His greatest miracle. I felt such a sense of responsibility to give this perfect gift back to God and raise him in The Father's house. Soon after Tater turned one, I finally let go and let God. Oh, His absolutely amazing grace. He in his infinite, unconditional love took me back without hesitation, without judgment, without scorn. Tears still flow as I think about His undeserved love so freely given...

So after a couple of months of trying to walk with Christ without any support and fellowship, I went back to church. By myself. For his own reasons that I partially understand and completely respect, R was not ready. I will admit, I was disappointed and angry at first - at him and then at myself. But I'm not now - just prayerful... there are a range of emotions and thoughts that are hard to describe, but I do know this - I love my husband, and so does God. I know that He has a plan for both of us...

And I think he's shown me what part of that plan is. He's really put this issue on my heart lately; I've been reading a book called "Surviving a Spiritually Mismatched Marriage" by Lee Strobel, a former atheist who has written several books "evidence" for Christianity. I know there are many Christians out there, mostly women, who are married to non-Christians or Christians who have fallen away. And I know firsthand how hard it is to go to church alone. To sit in the pew seeing all the husbands and wives together around you. I know the feelings of guilt and thoughts of inadequacy as a Christian that my husband is not there: "If only I were a better witness and example..." "If only I prayed harder..."

And I know that for many, small groups are even harder because it makes it that much more obvious that you're only there as half of a couple. I have to say though, I was so incredibly blessed to have been in the small group I was in. I could not have felt more loved and accepted and supported... but I am also a pretty open person, and not everybody can feel comfortable in a mixed environment. Church should not be a place where anybody has to feel uncomfortable. I really feel that God wants to use the situation I am in to reach out to other women in this same boat. Maybe together, we can find some oars.

Our church has Community Life Groups rather than Sunday school classes. There are several that meet at all different times during the week, many on Sunday and Wednesday - pretty informal and very intimate and comfortable. Today, I spoke to one of our pastors about creating a new CLG group for married women only - halves of couples who are not singles but not a wholly Christian couple. I told him I would lead it even though I totally don't feel "qualified" as a Christian. He said that in his experience, if God puts something on our hearts, he usually wants us to take the lead in it. Can't argue with that... :) He said he would pray over it and bring it to the staff.

But as I left, lots of doubts started creeping into my head... is this really coming from God, or from me? Is my heart in the right place? Is it even a good idea? Is there a reason there isn't already a group like this in place? My vision for this group is one of support and affirmation and prayer - the last thing I'd want it to become is a place to gripe about husbands, but is that a possibility? And is all this doubt just coming from Satan? Yes.

My prayer is that God can use me and this group to touch women's hearts - to strengthen them and to draw more women closer to him, no matter what the cost at home. I know how lucky I am that I have a husband who accepts my faith - not everyone has that even...

So I said all that to ask for prayer. That if it's His will, that this group will happen, will flourish, and will be effective. And that I will seek out His will, and hear and heed His voice as He directs.

Levi's stories

We had such fun in Houston with Dana and Levi! Tater just adores them both, and I guess I like them ok too... :) The first night Levi was home for dinner, Tater asked him what he did today. So Levi launched into this long story about his day, complete with any detail you would (or wouldn't) want to know. Tater just sat there and listened, totally enthralled, or at least politely seeming to be so. He even laughed appropriate when Levi made a joke. I don't know how Levi kept a straight face - Dana and I were just rolling. The next night, same thing. D caught it on camera this time. I'm having issues getting it to upload, but hopefully it will be up here soon. It is just too cute. Hopefully it's as funny to everybody else as it was to us. Otherwise we're just big dorks...

Thanks again, Dana and Levi, for letting me and my mini tornado invade your home! I can't tell you how much I enjoyed it!

Houston Pics

...most of the time

So I made dinner tonight - stew. Yeah, I know it was 104 today... not exactly stew weather, but evidently stew meat was on sale and Randy wanted it, so I made it - per his directions since he usually makes it. His way takes forever but is totally worth it. So I started around 3 and spent all this time browning meat, chopping veggies and stirring, stirring, stirring and looking forward to the yumminess.

But then he decided to thicken it up and I mentioned I hadn't seasoned it yet. So he did. With Italian seasoning. This is not a usual addition. And it's one that I do not consider yumminess in stew. My beautiful stew. I was not happy, and he was rather amused with that fact.


Oh well. You win some, you lose some.

I love my husband

We're back already! I had planned on driving home today, but after talking to R on Saturday night, it was pretty clear (and pretty cute) that he missed us, so we came back last night after all. My hubby can be so wonderful. I came home to a restocked fridge and pantry, roses and a pink VS bag. :)

Of course, then we let Tater sleep with us, so that killed the romance and left us both tired this morning after being kicked in the ribs all night by Mr. Squirmy. But tonight I'm going to cook an actual meal for my poor guy who lived off of coffee and various take-out while I was gone.

If I can manage to pull myself away from facebook long enough, I'll get some pictures of our Houston fun up soon.

Howdy from H-town

We are having such a great time here in Houston! Well, really Spring, but it's a lot cuter to hear Tater say "Hoo-sun," so that's where Dana and Levi live.

We drove down on Tuesday after Mom's Day Out. Tater actually did a lot better in the car than I thought he would. He slept about an hour and then played and watched his movies with relatively little fussing. I have to admit, I was a nervous about the drive. Dallas is the furthest I've driven by myself, and I seriously hate driving in real big-city traffic. And of course, since I decided to leave at naptime, that put me going through San Antonio at 5. Stupid me. I may be almost 29 years old, but I turn into a 16-year-old small-town girl when you put me on a freeway. But I managed to get us here in one piece!

We have done some cooking, some great bargain shopping (I have my purse!), lots of playing... we had the best evening last night, but I'll let that be its own post later when we get some pictures uploaded. Today is lazy day - we all slept late and watched cartoons all morning, and now it's naptime. Dana, Levi and Tater are sleeping, but I guess I overdid it on the coffee, because I gave up after laying in the bed for 15 minutes. We'll probably head back to good ole SA Monday morning; I thought about going back Sunday, but I'm not ready to go, and I don't think we've driven Dana and Levi nuts quite yet... I imagine our welcome will last one more day without wearing out. :)

Pictures coming soon!

Only in summer

can I honestly say... I'm so glad it's Monday morning.

It has been a ridiculously enjoyable weekend, but I'm just plumb wore out! There is definitely a nap in my afternoon agenda for the day.

Bargain alert for little boy mommies!

Target has little boys' shoes on really good clearance. There are a couple of tennis shoe styles and some other leather-type ones... I just got T two pairs of the same style (diff sizes)... just basic white and blue tennis shoes with Velcro -- for $3.74 each! Regular $14.99 Can't beat that!

Thursday Thoughts

I just did something I shouldn't. I counted my remaining days of freedom. Only 25. Including weekends. And in that 25 days, I am planning to:

do the family reunion thing
visit Dana in Houston
hunt down 2 dressers to paint and overhaul my bedroom
organize pictures and scrapbooking supplies
finish Tater's baby book
finish reading the Alex Cross series
make my back porch usable
find a swing set for Tater

...and I'm sure I can come up with a few more things I want to get done "while I have time." Can I get it all done? Of course not. A few notes regarding my list...

Randy bought a new desk (at an auction - for $20... he hearts bargains too) to put in Sam's room that's primary purpose (for me anyway) is to give me a place to scrapbook. It's really the credenza that goes behind a desk, so it's nice and long - perfect for spreading out. In the process of moving stuff into the desk, I discovered a sad truth about myself. I am not a scrapbooker. I am a collector of scrapbooking supplies. I have very few actual pages made - and Tater's poor baby book is maybe 1/4 finished. I haven't done any pages since 2 summers ago. But I sure do have a lot of stuff! I guess dropping stickers and papers in a basket doesn't take nearly as much time and effort as the actual scrapbooking. But that will change, as none of my budget envelopes say "Scrapbooking" on them, and now I have a place to spread out where I can leave stuff and not worry about getting dinner all over it. As God (and you guys) as my witness, I WILL have the baby book done by September.

James Patterson is my favorite man on the planet. And my least favorite. Because I can't stop reading his books. Just this summerI've read all but 2 of the Women's Murder Club books and at least 10 of the Alex Cross series. Maybe that's why I haven't gotten anything else done. I'm a junkie. This may be the one thing I cross off my list.

I am in search of a swing set/play thingy for Tater. I would really like to be able to find a good used set from somewhere, but I bet the chances of finding one are slim. I was thinking of maybe putting a "want to buy" ad in the Thrifty... would that be a dumb idea? Anybody know anybody whose kids have grown out of theirs that might be willing to sell it? Crys, I adore the one y'all got Jacob, and I think I found it online. It may be my Plan B if I can't find one used...

I have found a new purse I want. It is the giraffe print that is so big right now, and even though I usually don't feel cool enough for the trendy stuff, I love this one. It will be mine. AND it's at Sam Moon, which is 1) cheap, and 2) a few miles up the road from my sister's house. :) Happy day.

Ok, back to Detective Cross...

Nothing Important...

...just a few bored ramblings.

This week I am filling in for my step-dad's office manager while she's on vacation. I'm doing little more than answering the phone, so I've had lots of free time to play on the internet, read blogs (why don't you people update every hour to give me something to read?). and read books. I've got 3 going at once now - a TD Jakes book about men's emotions, a Lee Strobel book about marriage, and a James Pattterson novel. I've given up on the Ruth book; the forward was the high point. Got boring and a little frustrating. The author's views of women and their place was a little too 19th century for me, which surprised me - the opposite of what I expected.

So I'm a little bored now. And I'm having a big-time chocolate craving.

I'm seriously bummed about our principal leaving us. He's the only principal I've ever worked for, but I know how good I've had it. He's always supported me on everything, gives us whatever we need... he's an incredible boss and friend. I've heard plenty of other horror stories about principals who don't back you up, don't care, aren't involved... I'm worried about who will take his place. Plus I'll miss him terribly. AND I can't go up there to talk to him this week and who knows if he'll even be at our campus next week... Pooh.

This weekend is our family reunion - Christmas style. Chrsitmas on Mom's side of the family was always a very big deal - everybody came home then. But now families are growing and spreading out across the country. So we decided that since it's easier to get everybody together in the summer, we'd just move Christmas to July. We have a tree, gifts, and turkey and dressing Christmas dinner. We did it for the first time last year, and it was a blast. I'm looking forward to it - I'll get to see my cousin's 9 month-old who I haven't even met yet. And the best past is that it's here in SA, so I can sleep in my own bed at night. Sweet.

The days of summer are dwindling... I have less than 4 weeks until I start back. And I'm still not 100% positive what I'm teaching. I'm really hoping bossman will finalize staffing before he leaves. If he even can. Ugh, I'm dreading a week and a half of staff development with anyone other than him. He manages to make it not boring or useless.

Ok, back to a book or two.

Thoughts

I just read a very thoughtful, insightful post on an old friend's blog - one that really bares her soul... and I wonder why I can't bring myself to write like that. To just write and not worry about if I sound stupid, or if I'm going to inadvertently hurt someones feelings or offend or tell too much.

I actually have a couple of drafts of "real" thoughts posts that I do want to finish writing and set free to the world wide web. But I haven't. Because I'm worried that someone might take my words the wrong way, and the last thing I'd ever want is to hurt feelings. And even though I'd like to consider myself to be an open book, having no problem talking about myself - even regarding my struggles and vulnerability, I realize I am not. And then there's my ultra-private husband...

But even so, I think I'm ready to be more open. I'm reading a book about Ruth and Naomi, and in the forward it talks about how women essentially live in two worlds - one public and one private. Things that we often know to be true in our private worlds are not always so accepted and acceptable in public society. But I know that my private world is not so different from the private worlds of many other women. And one of the things I'm tired of is having my private world so private. I need to learn to communicate my joys and even my heartaches without fear.

More on this later, but I feel God is calling me in a direction that would require embracing and expressing my vulnerabilities... so I guess I better practice. And what better place than the blogosphere. To quote a sweet friend-of-a-friend that I hope to meet soon, I may sometimes be "splattered. So bring a raincoat. You've been duly warned."

Tater Funnies

Tater fell on the playground at school Thursday and got a skinned knee. Being the drama king he is, he's been milking it ever since... yesterday he told me he needed an ice cream pack for his owie.

He found a calculator, and I was showing him how to make numbers come on the screen. He punched a few numbers and matter-of-factly said, "I talkin' on my email."


He has 2 new favorite songs. Here's how they go:

"Jesus loves me, I know!" (repeat this line over and over)

"Row, row your boat go down across the street!"

OK, be honest...

Do you like this layout? Is it hard to read? I really liked it at first, but now the blue on blue is starting to wear me out...

Even sillier...

Tater has a new game. I'm not sure of its origin or its logic, but it goes a little like this:

Tater: " I want a snack."
Mama: "Ok, what do you want for snack?"
"Um, I want a... um... bubby."
"You want a bubby? What's a bubby?"
"I want a moomah."
(Mama catches on)" We don't have any moomahs"
"I want a pppbbbttt (blows raspberry at me)."
"You want a pppbbbttt?"
"Yeah, I want a pppbbbttt."
"OK, you can have a pppbbbttt when you get up from your nap."
"OK."

And off he goes to play. Weird kid. :)

Silly boy

I'm trying to get out of the habit of holding and carrying Tater so much. He's too big, and I have to let him grow up sooner or later. :)
So this morning he's desperately attempting to get me to carry him to the pantry to find a snack, but I resisted. I told him he could walk and I'd go with him. He looked up pleadingly into my eyes and sighed, "But you love me!"
Manipulative little devil. It didn't work of course, but still...

I wouldn't have survived the 1800s

I know this because as I sit here in my 83 degree house wearing as little as possible, I am thinking of those poor pioneer women who crossed the plains in the heat of the summer wearing ridiculously long dresses with *ugh* tight bodices. I am so spoiled by air conditioning.

Except right now, I mean. Ours broke yesterday.

And considering the fact that it in now 3 pm on the Thursday before a holiday weekend, the prospects for being cool this weekend are getting slimmer by the second.


UPDATE: we are now the proud owners of a brand-new outside unit for the cooling and conditioning of air. They came to put it in at 6 pm on the 3rd. We were without air for less than 36 hours. Hallelujah! And with our home warranty, we paid very little towards the cost of the air conditioner. Now if I can just figure out how to "break" the inside unit too... :)

And the blessings just keep rolling in...

Oh my gosh...
Did I not just post this very morning that I found some sweaters on sale at Old Navy? And do you remember my post not too long ago about wanting to go shopping at Old Navy? Well, my sweet Daddy remembered... and sent me an "unbirthday" card with a gift card to - you guessed it - Old Navy. In the mailbox this afternoon. How cool is that? Included with the shopping spree are Tater-sitting services and ice cream, as stated in Dad's own voice on one of those recordable cards followed by the song, "You'll be in my heart." Tears. Thank you Daddy!

Of course, that's not all. I mentioned we paid off one credit card - well, we managed to get the remainder of the credit card debt transferred to that card at 2.9%. What a lot of interest money that will save!

And... this morning my step-dad called to see if I could fill in while his office manager is on vacation for a week. More money earned there! Thank you Kerry!

God is so good. And I am so blessed to have people who love me and take care of me - even spoil me!

I heart bargains!

The story of my bedroom:

In our old house, we had old, mismatched, and garage sale furniture, like most newly married couples do. We never got new stuff, but decided that we would do that when we moved into our new house out here. So I sold it all in a garage sale before we moved and we kept all our clothes in big Rubbermaid tubs until we got a new matching bedroom suite. Well, almost 3 years later, we're still living out of those Rubbermaids, and quite frankly, I'm tired of it!

Well, a new suite is not exactly in the budget now, but as a lover of paint and a devoted Trading Spaces fan, I figure I can make a matching set out of anything, right?

We were at an auction on Saturday, and we got 2 seventies-style octagon end tables that aren't all that pretty, but are real wood and in good shape for... get this... $12.50 total. I'm going to take the doors off and repaint them to use as night stands. So, yay! Bargain number one!

So yesterday while Tater was at MDO, I set off in search of Bargain number two - dressers. I went to Tennis Auction, Christians in Action, and another kinda scary resale shop on Chadbourne. They were all very proud of their ancient furniture, so the search will continue. I'll hit the garage sales this weekend - and maybe by the end of the summer, my bedroom actually will be decorated for the first time in this house!

Oh, but I'm not done yet - I went to Cato to see what kind of clothes they had on sale... because I do have a little money coming from the 2 days I worked summer school, so I wanted to scope it out. I walked out the door with THESE:


Cute, huh? And my grand total? $10.80. The brown ones were $2.99. Yeah, I may break my neck in them, but hey -they were super cheap! I found Bargain number two after all!!!

So if you need shoes, go to Cato! They had lots more in lots of styles. Oh, and I also walked the mall to do a little more window shopping, and Old Navy has lots of clearance stuff too - if you can bring yourself to buy sweaters, they have some cute ones for $4.99. Hopefully they'll still be around when I get that summer school check... :)

Owen update from Sara

I just talked to Sara after Owen's dr appts this morning, and EVERYTHING IS JUST FINE!!! She'll update her blog more fully when they stop for the night (they're on their way to Ohio), but she wanted to let everybody that had been praying for them know the good news. They ran 2 different tests, both of which Owen passed with flying colors - his kidneys are working just the way they are supposed to work. He's perfectly healthy! She said they'll go back in 3 weeks for a follow-up test, but the specialist was not worried at all.
PRAISE GOD!!!

Swimming Fun

Happy Animals Play Center from Walmart: 20 dollars



Tarps for under and over Happy Animals Play Center: 9 dollars



Swim Diapers: 6 dollars



Something besides TV that will hold this toddler's interest for at least 30 minutes at a time: PRICELESS

Taterisms

Translation dictionary:

Polly = potty

Nunik = music

My = I (i.e. No Mom, MY do it!)

Tubba Thomas = his "real name" (or as he once told Nana when asked what his real name is, "Tubba Thomas Time-out")

Bunny bonnet = rabbit

Manatanoes = mashed potatoes

and the dog is still Geeko rather than Nico, and Randy is and will always be Daddoo.


Some hilariousness from his mouth recently:

Saturday we made chocolate chip cookies. He was so excited - we pulled the chair up to the counter so he could reach, and he clapped his little hands together and exclaimed, "Let's DO this!"

Yesterday we were coloring with markers and found a dried out one. I told him he could throw it away, and he agreed, "Yeah, this one broken pretty much."

His favorite exclamation: "Holy cow!" Sounds way funnier from his mouth. Sometimes he follows up with "Oh my gosh!"

He got in trouble the other day. As I was fussing at him, he put his hands on his little hips and said. "Excuse me?"

Sometimes after eating, he'll say, "Ok! Now my tummy feel better!"

He teases us with the "high five" then pulling away before you high-five him to go "down low." Must always be repeated at least 3 times.

When you explain something to him, sometimes he'll respond, "OOOoohhh! I see!" Like he totally gets it now!

He lists things in this silly little sing-song voice that is hard to describe in type, but his voice goes up at the end of each item on his list, like, "I eatin' supper, and turkey, and manatanoes, and bean beans (green beans)..." or after the PBR, he talked for days about, " I go rolleo (anything horse or bull related at the coliseum or Spur is rodeo to him), and I see bulls, and see horsies, and see Shiney (Cheyenne Duncan, the love of his life), and see Daddoo..."

The child talks more than any boy I've ever met (of course, I spend most of my days with teenage boys, so they're not a fair comparison). He definitely doesn't have his daddy's quiet demeanor. Randy jokes that he got all my best traits - curly hair, allergies, big mouth...

Oh, I could go on and on. This boy cracks me up daily. He's been living up to the "terrible twos" stereotype quite a bit lately, but he manages to melt away any frustration with one goofy comment or sweet face. And I still just think he's the coolest thing ever. I am so incredibly blessed to be this child's mama.

Never Mind

I hate when I over-plan my day. I decide that I am somehow going to do the 352 things on my list in 4 short hours, even though there is no possible way it's gonna happen. And I know this about myself, and yet, I keep planning too much when I have some time to get things done. And then, I sabotage my own plan by adding even more things to the list~ For example:
Get home from taking Tater to MDO...
"Hey, I love this song! I'll sit in the car and listen real quick."
"Hmm, while I'm listening, I can go ahead and get all the trash out of the door pockets..."
"Well, since I'm cleaing out the trash, I can get all the other stuff out of the truck too..."
"Gee, since I've got everything else cleaned out, I might as well vacuum too - it really needs it..."

... and before I know it, I've lost an hour. An hour of the four hours I should have used to get the house clean. But I've decided that my friends will love me even if I have a dirty and/or messy house, so I wasn't too stressed over it. Plus we ended up postponing our play-date anyway, so never mind.

Ancient Chinese Proverb

for the girls coming to play tomorrow:

The true measure of friendship is how messy a friend's house is when you come over.

Lovin' every minute of it

Any tiny shred of regret I had over not being able to teach summer school is gone. I have had the best week with my little boy! Even though we haven't done anything monumental, we have done the park thing a few times, gone to the library, watched movies, had fun grocery shopping... and today we made play-dough. For one whole incredible hour he was fully occupied and engaged in the stirring and squishing, followed by the rolling and cutting and balling and more squishing. Too much fun!!
Then while we were eating lunch, it started to rain... a not-so-common occurrence around here lately. I couldn't drag him away from the kitchen window ("Watch that rain, Mom!"), so I pulled his little table over to the window so he could see. I just love watching the wonder in his little face...

Ah yeah... these days are the best.

PLAY-DOUGH UPDATE: Added Tuesday 6-25...
(I love that play-dough is the biggest thing I have to update about!)

If anybody's in search of a quick, easy, no-cook play-dough recipe, here's what we made:

PUFF DOUGH

3 c flour
1 c salt
1 c water
3 Tbsp cooking oil

Just mix it all together and then add food coloring if you want. I split it in half and made 2 colors. Super easy and I like the texture. Keeps awhile too.

Here are a couple of pictures. He decided that blue was his and purple was mine, and not five minutes later took over my purple. Little stinker...

I need to lay off the caffeine...

I can't seem to make myself get tired tonight. Perhaps it's the coke at lunch and 2 glasses of tea I had today. Perhaps it's the 3 chocolate cookies I had after dinner. Perhaps both. But I can't sleep and I can't turn off my brain, so here's a little randomness.

• My son has a new fascination with tattoos. He found some rub-ons and just had to have one. He picked the smiley face wearing headphones. I had to play along and put a butterfly on my foot too.
  

Randy is now worried that he will grow up and be covered in them. A tattooed bull-rider. That should be interesting.

• I went to a pretty cool workshop today about Web 2.0 stuff. I got some really good ideas that I will be able to use easily if I move to writing... will need some creativity to fit it into reading. I really have to integrate more technology though, no matter what I'm teaching. Randy went today too, so that was kinda cool to hang out with him. In the 3 years we've both been in education, there have only been a handful of times we've "worked" together.


• I have a new self-tanner that I really love. It's the Coppertone Endless Summer. It actually doesn't turn me orange.


• Tater was having issues with what blanket to use each night. It has been a toss up between Feet Covers (baby feet blanket from the hospital) and Tiny Covers (thin receiving blanket from Old Navy). Tiny Covers has been the favorite, but it's too short for this growing boy. So I took 2 other of the same type of blanket, cut them both in half, and stitched them back up in blocks. Sounded great in theory, but in reality, it's the worst sewing job I've ever done. Inexperienced me sewing thin, stretchy knit was not a pretty sight. The blanket may be ugly and Suessically long, but it serves it's purpose - for this summer anyway. Hopefully by next summer we can handle an actual sheet.

• This Sunday, Randy and I will have been married for 6 years. Funny, it feels longer than that... :)


• Tater and I are going to the park tomorrow morning. If anybody is actually up and reading this before 8:30 or so, feel free to come join us!


• We decided tonight while watching the news and seeing the forecast that we are moving to Montana. We'll FedEx a snowball.


• My project for next week: cleaning out Sam's room. When she's not here, it becomes the catch-all room (read: place to stash all my crap), and it really needs an overhaul. Plus if I plan to do any scrapbooking this summer, I must unbury my supplies.


• I got a flat tire Monday - evidently ran over a really sharp rock. Since I didn't go anywhere yesterday, it went unnoticed until Randy got home. As Tater watched him putting on the spare, he said, "OOooo, truck broken. Daddoo fix it." Then he looked at me with his brow wrinkled up, pointed his little finger at me and said, "You drive too fast."


• I want to have a play date at my house next week, maybe Wed or Thurs (need cleaning time - I'll be out of town this weekend). Anybody interested? I'd love to see how many kids we can pack in this house.

OK, that's all I got. Here are a few more pics of the boy for your viewing pleasure.

Stupid Nature

There is a bird. It resides in a sweet little nest just outside my window, where it likes to sing its sweet little song...
at FIVE O'CLOCK in the morning!!!!!

And it's not really sweet. It's freakin' annoying. It's piercing four-note so-called "song" reverberates through the entire house.

This bird became my mortal enemy about the next to last week of school. Many grumblings were aimed at this winged creature; but one day, all of a sudden, as if in answer to my prayers, it disappeared. Ah, relief. Sleep.

But no. Evidently, it just went on vacation to it's little birdie time-share in Florida, because it's back. Came back late last week, but somehow it seemed quieter. Or maybe my summer sleep frame of mind let me tune it out better, I don't know. But this morning, there was no tuning out to be done. I think the dang thing had a megaphone or something. It woke up me, the dog, and, unfortunately the son.

At 5 AM.

I naively attempted to get Tater back to sleep. After rocking, shushing, back rubbing, a disatrous trip in the dark to the kitchen for water that involved shinbones connecting with toddler chairs, and more back rubbing, I gave up.

So did Randy. At 5:30, he came out to let the dog outside. I smiled at him sweetly and gave him a warm morning welcome:

"That bird must die."

His plan, not mine

So I'm not teaching summer school, like I thought I would be. We got there on Friday, and the principal started out with, I really hate doing this, but..." and proceeded to tell us that due to low enrollment, 5 of us were without a job. Guess who was one of the "lucky" ones.

Now don't get me wrong, I was not totally heartbroken. The only reason I was doing it? The money. So I started wondering what God was trying to tell me. I had thought he wanted me to be responsible - do my part to bring in a little extra money to get rid of the bills that I'm always griping and stressing and worrying about... Oh.

Yeah, I love it when he smacks me on the head (like on the V-8 commercial) and says, "Duh!"

So... I am no longer worried about finances. I asked Him to take the worry and the pressure, and true to His word, He did. With my pay-off-everything crazy haze lifted, I see we're doing just fine. We're getting the hang of this strict budget thing (although I would die for just one Old Navy shopping spree). My poor nagged-to-death husband just sold his beloved bass boat and we paid off a card. I have let go of this weird desperate need to get the entire world paid off next month and have decided life is too short. There are definitely more important things. Like spending 19 more days with my son instead of a bunch of teenagers who'd rather watch War and Peace than to listen to me teach. We will continue to be diligent, and the bills will be gone when they are gone. It's time to enjoy my summer.

Ugh

Summer colds are the worst. I have had a cold since Saturday. Yep, my entire week off before leaping into summer school, I have been sick. Which means I have gotten very little on my list of to-do's checked off (poo), I have NOT gotten to see Baby Owen yet (double poo), and I am out of time. Tomorrow is in-service day at Lee. Ugh.
I did, however, manage to get 4 loads of laundry done this morning. And got in some snuggles with my boy, which is worth any day off. But for now, I sit here with a pounding head and over-flowing shnoz.
Ugh.

I promise my next post will not be so whiny. I need to put up pictures of the man-cub, which is always a happy occasion.

We don't need no stinkin' ma's...

My ever-growing child has finally left the last trappings of babyhood behind him - he no longer needs a pacifier (aka "ma") to go to sleep. For posterity's sake (read: bore warning), here is the saga of the "ma":


I was always "that person" who said ridiculous things like, "When I have kids, I will never..." insert any of those controversial topics here - use lots of drugs to ease childbirth (ha! That took an hour to change), use a walker, use a pacifier... But when Tater was three weeks old and I basically had a tiny leech (adorable leech though he was) attached to me 24/7 because he always needed to suck, I caved in and gave him a pacifier. It ended up being a wonderful thing - he was such a sucker. Always needed something in his mouth, and it wasn't always convenient for it to be me. Some babies just need to suck more - mine was one of them.

As he got bigger, the pacifier became known as a "ma" - not sure why, but I have a couple of theories, mostly pertaining to the fact that he started calling it that around the time he was weaned. And at around a year, the ma became off-limits except for at nap and bedtimes. There's no way he would have been sleeping through the night without it - but his decision to finally sleep through the night at 13 months is a different post entirely. At his 18-month appointment, I made the mistake of asking his doctor about it - when he should get rid of it. His answer? Now.

Poo. I knew Tater wasn't ready to give it up, and I wasn't ready for the sleepless nights I was anticipating without it. So we waited. A friend at school told me that her daughters gave it up when they turned 2, because "now they were big girls, and pacifiers were for babies." She said both girls totally bought into that, and were fine with giving them up, using that mentality. I was skeptical, but you know what? IT WORKS!!!

Last Thursday and Friday, I started talking up the fact that Tater was becoming such a big boy, and that soon he would have to go to sleep without the ma, because big boys don't need them. It was amazing to watch him sort of roll the idea around in his head... he really seriously considered it! He'd ask questions at random times like "Caleb need a ma?" and "I a big boy now?" But it still came as a bit of a shock when he didn't argue too much Saturday night when he didn't get one (of course, I'm sure that getting to fall asleep in Mama and Daddy's bed softened the blow a little). And he slept all night, even if I did go in the next morning to find him at the foot end of the bed with his animals and blankets spread all over the place and a puzzled look on his face. "Where my ma go?" He was pretty proud of himself when I told him he'd slept all night without it. The next day, same thing - very little complaint. In fact it wasn't until Tuesday nap that we had an issue (see previous post), and part of that may have been over-tiredness.

I am so proud of my little man. He is just so big. I almost miss seeing that pacifier in his sweet little mouth... he just isn't my baby anymore!

Naptime Fun

As I sit here typing, my darling son is doing everything in his power to avoid going to sleep for his nap. He's already switched out blankets twice, managed to make his water cup leak so I had to come in an remove it, cried for 10 minutes, and now it is booger time. Yes, booger time.

His words. Evidently he has resorted to picking his nose, because this is what I heard after 20 seconds or so of silence.
"Mama! It's a booger! BOOGER!!! There's a booger on my finger! Mama! Booger time!"
"Mama, get the booger off my finger! (more tears) Booger, booger, booger, booger!"

And it continues, but you get the point. And now we're back to the screaming and crying. This is the first naptime he's slept in his own bed without a pacifier (see the "Ma" post), and it is not going well. But I will not go in there. I will be strong. Even if I cry too.

Update: I did go in there. I was not strong. After 30 more minutes, he had worked himself into such a tearful frenzy that I couldn't stand it. I had to go hold my boy. I rocked him to sleep in 5 minutes, something I had not done in quite some time. I just watched his little face, shuddering with left-over sobs every now and then, in awe that this beautiful child is mine. Dangit - even in his sleep, the kid already knows how to make Mom forget she was ever mad at him.

I got got

Good morning to me!


So this morning, I was running a little late to school, and instead of my normal 1st and 2nd period conference/teaming periods to get myself together, I had an ARD meeting at 8:30 followed by the 7th period final, leaving me the 30 minutes before school to get my room and my self ready for the day. BUT... This is what greeted me at my door:

I may or may not have taken part in some paybacks for some other classroom "decorating", and I guess karma got me. Or a certain team that will remain unnamed.

But you know what? I wasn't mad or even annoyed. I'm totally flattered. I like it that I got got (I know, it's supposed to be gotten. Or said completely differently. It's called creative license, Mom. :) ). It means I have friends. Plus it wasn't too hard to clean up. I really gotta say, it totally made my day. Thanks, pranksters! I love you guys too!

Tidbits from the day

Thursday, May 22. The last full Thursday of the school year. Smiles.

It's almost 10 pm, which is the late end of bedtime, but I'm still up. Why? Because I'm a wuss who can't go to bed without her hubby being home. We're in round 2 of the rodeo committee saga of the year - the PBR - and I'm once again a single mom for the week. That's never a good thing. Somehow having 3 people here instead of 2 is motivation enough for me to fix a real semi-well-rounded meal. But if it's just Tater and me? Anything goes.
Tater's supper: an assortment of lunchmeat, Triscuits and Cap'n Crunch
My supper: Julio's and guacamole

Guacamole is my new favorite thing on the planet. I got 3 avocados on Sunday, made the guac, and had it completely finished off by Tuesday night. I got 2 more avocados today. I just couldn't help it. Then tonight I made the huge mistake of looking up just exactly how much fat is in an avocado. Ready for this? 25-35 grams on average. Holy guacamole! I mean, I knew they were good for you but were high in fat, but geez!! So I guess I'm gonna have to take it easy on the green stuff. Which leads me to my next topic...

I have found every last one of the 8 lbs I'd lost over the past couple of months. They made their way back home. But it's entirely my fault. I have been a total pig the last month. I've had major sweet tooth moments and seem to have lost my self-control entirely. Case in point:

This week is teacher appreciation at my school (During which our principal spoils us entirely). On Monday, we had breakfast... I was good and only had a donut and 2 glasses of chocolate milk. On Tuesday, it was freshly baked cookies all day long. I'm not gonna lie - I had at least 6. (Oh, and don't forget all the guacamole I was consuming when I got home at night!). Yesterday, PTO and our secretary's husband fed us a steak dinner, complete with this incredible lemon custard bar thing that I could not resist. So I had not one, not two, but THREE! What is wrong with me? I'm some kind of sugar addict or something!!

So sadly, the tummy that was starting to slowly dwindle is back up to it's looking-4-months-pregnant status. I'll just have to hope that this ridiculously hot summer will make me lose my appetite.

Today was the 4th day in a row we've hit 100 degrees - according to my truck anyway. And it's not even June. Summer is gonna suck... or, as all my kids who have just seen Shrek the Third as a part of our medieval unit would say, it's gonna totally sucketh.

Well, maybe not totally... Have I mentioned there are only 5 days of school left?

Sweetest thing

On our way home yesterday, out of nowhere Tater started screaming "Pay! Pay!" Confused, I said, "What, baby? Play?" and started looking around for some new park that had magically appeared by Home Depot or something...
" NO! Pay! Pay God!"
I looked back at him and saw he had his little hands clasped together.
"You want to pray?"
"Yeah! Pay God! You pay too Mom."
It took some time to convince him that I could pray without putting my hands together. Evidently, driving a car is not excuse enough to not pray properly. But I finally got him to go ahead and pray without me. So here it is. His first real prayer, said all on his own with no prompting from Mama.

"Dear God. Thankum day. Aaaannndddd, um... thankum food! Aaaannndddd, um... thankum... um... goats! And thankum sheeps, and thankum deers. Aaannnnddd, thankum... umm... hmm..."
"Are you all finished sugar?"
"Yep! AAAAAA-men!


Thank you Father God, for this unbelievable gift. This miracle of Your creation. This precious little boy that amazes me daily. Thankum.

Countdown

As of the end of today, there are only 6 days of school left. And... my favorite part... the last two of those days involve the kids leaving school at 12:45. I don't even care that we teachers have to stay til 4. I can actually get my work done!
I am beyond excited about this. Especially the time-to-get-my-grades-and-last-minute-stuff-done-without-kids part. And my kids have watched a movie the last two days, so I have already gotten so much accomplished. In fact, I just threw away a to-do list. Because I had done it all!

A few more tidbits about school:

• We got our TAKS scores back unofficially. And they are better than I hoped for. I am incredibly proud of our kids. Across the board.
• There might possibly be a change in my future. My sweet friend who abandoned me in 7th grade for 6th this year will be abandoning us all to stay home doing the mommy thing next year (still so happy for you J!). That leaves a hole in 6th grade writing. I told my boss I'd love to do it. The hole I'd leave can easily be filled - the people who are/will be in my department are great, and there is another person on our team who would be a great team leader. Best part? I'd only be dept. lead, not team leader. Fewer responsibilities, less stress, and NO TAKS TEST. Ok, maybe that's the best part.
• If I do move to 6th, I'd be going out on top, as our test scores are higher than they've ever been. If I don't move, the 6th graders coming to me are coming with even better scores, so I should have an easy time with them. They are a really great group, and I'd look forward to having them
• I have every quiz and test created and copied for the rest of the year. For anybody who is familiar with our 3-year-old copiers FROM HELL, you know how wonderful this is.
• I am teaching summer school this year. I'm not too excited about that fact, but it will be a really good paycheck. It's only 19 days, 8:00 - 1:30. Way easier than boot camp. I can do it.

This morning, one of the teachers on our team showed us the movie she and her daughter made with pictures of our kids throughout the year. I kinda started to tear up. As crazy as some of these kids have made me, I am really going to miss them. If I do move down to 6th grade, I only hope I can joke and play with those sweet babies the way I can with these goofy 7th graders. They really are a breed of their own, these middle schoolers. And I'm so glad God decided to stick me with them.

Tater Logic

Sometimes I really want to know what's going on in this child's brain. For example:
Q: What time is it?
A: Eighty dollars.

Last Saturday, he went to hang out with Grandma and D-pop. I made the mistake of telling him 5 hours before it was actually time to go and had to say "Not yet" about 300 times. But when I first told him he was going over to their house, he clapped his hands together and exclaimed, "Go D-pop's house! Go buy some money!" Um... ok?

Another example of his astounding ability with numbers...
Scenario: He's "measuring" my head with his own little measuring tape
Q: How big is Mommy's head?
A: Two.

And then there's tonight at bedtime. He wasn't really ready to go to sleep. He did the "Hey! Hey Mom!" shout from the crib a couple of times. When I finally caved and went in, he did some cute mumbling and stuttering, finally managing to get out a "My need sumpin,'" but he couldn't come up with what. I gleaned "juice," "raisins" and "potty" out of the garble and had to make a concerted effort to keep myself from laughing. He was definitely grasping at straws.

Gosh that kid's funny.

Comment on self-image

I was just going through some old pictures looking for something, and I came across some high school pictures and got lost in them. Especially proms and graduation... and something struck me. I was pretty. I mean, I came across jr. prom pics, and I hardly recognize me. In that dress, at that moment, I was gorgeous.

I wish I had known that then.

After I put them away. I wandered into the bathroom and stared at my image, frizzy rainy-day hair, smudgy mascara, and TAKS-bags under the eyes. And I wonder... in ten years, will I look back at the few pictures I have of myself now and think the same thing? And does it/will it matter? What I look like is not nearly as important to me now as it was back then. That's pretty obvious. :) But back then I was so absorbed with it, and I didn't see what was there...

Not really sure where I'm going with that, but I do know this. When I look in the mirror, I see ME. I know who I am, and I know what's important.
And I like me, frizz and all.

Two Year Stats

I know these are a little overdue, but for memories sake, here are Tater's measurements at his two-year appointment:
Height - 35 3/4 inches (80%)
Weight - 27 lbs (35%)
Head - 19 1/2 (71%)

So he's a tall skinny kid with a big ol' head. This I knew. I am glad to see he's closer to the "average" range with his weight. I always worry he's too skinny, that he doesn't eat enough... At his 18 month appt, he had just gotten over a stomach bug and hadn't eaten much for 4 days. He measured in the 9th percentile for weight - I felt like a horrible mother.

But now he's great. He is on track with everything he should be - has more than enough vocabulary for his age ("Does he say at least 20 words?" Um yeah, every five minutes!) and is even normal in his new sleep strike issues.

I can't believe my baby boy is 2. A toddler. A "biboy" as he says.

Owie Drama

Evidently, Tater hurt his knee at school today. He had a pinhead-sized scab on his little knee, but it must cause him great pain, because he fussed about it the whole way home from Nana's.

He carried on this toddler diatribe:
"Owie on MY knee, Mama! Owie right there"
"My fall down. Hurts, Mom"

"Look, my show you, Mom. Hurt MY knee"

"Problem MY knee - my show you (what) happened"

"Owie right... Ooo, another one owie MY leg. Kiss it Mama - my kiss it. Mmmmwah"
"Kiss other one owie. Mmmmwah"
"Need hair band (band-aid) MY knee Mom."

And it just went on and on... who knew a two-year old could come up with so many ways to tell me he'd hurt himself? He certainly can be the little drama queen... or king, or whatever.

Well, we certainly had to get that taken care of as soon as we got home. We got a hair band, I mean, band-aid and made it all better. So now he's running around showing us his hair band and demanding kisses every ten minutes.

Oh my.