Happy 6th Birthday/12th Anniversary

Saturday Mason turned 6. Sunday Jas and I celebrated 12 years of pure marital bliss. The birthday party was at the new community center pool, complete with cake, balloons, family, friends, and presents. The anniversary celebration was a quick "Happy Anniversary" in passing as we prepared for the birthday party. Check out Carter's blue hands from digging into the butter cream icing, which was melting fast in the over-100-degree heat. Once the sun went down a little, though, the temp was perfect. And you can't beat having an entire community pool - with diving board and water slides - all to yourself. Mason absolutely loved every gift he got (like the outer space habitat for his beta fish - too cute!). But his favorite was the Sponge Bob wallet that Mimi gave him - with money in it, of course. He's been wanting a wallet for months. He's also been wanting a storm shelter for months, but nobody gave him one of those...go figure.

Seriously Busy

I'm having one of those weeks when it's just not humanly possible to get everything done in one 24-hour period that needs to be done. If I didn't have to sleep, and if businesses were all open at midnight, I might come closer to meeting my daily goals.

• Busy Situation #1 - We're selling our house For Sale by Owner. It probably would've been a good idea to get it ready to sell before we listed, but I like to make things as stressful as possible for myself. It took me an hour just to get the kitchen clean enough to take pictures. I have to finish painting before I can take pictures of the master bedroom and backyard.


• Busy Situation #2 - I've decided to apply for part-time preschool or Mother's Day Out jobs that will allow me to take Carter with me. The idea is to work in the morning and write in the afternoon - we'll see if that actually works...


• Busy Situation #3 - Carter has decided it's time to potty train. He runs around without a diaper and says, "Mommy, pee-pee!" every ten minutes. It's pretty much impossible to get any writing done when he's awake because I spend half my day in the bathroom, watching him sit on the potty. I tried taking my laptop to the bathroom to work while I sit on the edge of the bathtub...much better in theory than in reality.

Fun Times

God really knew what he was doing when he designed babies. If he had made them toddlers from day one, nobody would ever have kids. So He made tiny little irresistible infants, and then supplied women a few hormones to give us the overwhelming desire to have one. Wasn't that smart? A little tricky, maybe. But smart.

Can you tell what kind of day I had yesterday? Carter's ear-piercing scream every five minutes - including at the store when it was time to get out of the little "car" cart. Have you ever tried to buckle a kicking, screaming, hitting, very strong little person in a car seat? If you have, then you know it's followed by a very loud ride home.

And I'm not even going to mention the older kid fits Mason threw all day - or the fact that he bit Carter's finger - or the smartie-pants remarks he now throws out every few minutes - OR the creative ways he finds to disobey.

Mom: That's enough of the word "poop." Do not say poop again.
Mason: I think Carter pooped in his pants.
Mom: That's one point off of your chart.
Mason: What?!?! I was JUST saying that Carter needs his diaper changed because he pooped. What's wrong with that? (FYI - There was no actual dirty diaper in the situation.)

When does school start, and do they take two-and-a-half-year-olds?

Food...and Other Stuff

Brownies...Almost
I made brownies yesterday that had whole wheat flour, milled flax seed, and natural applesauce instead of vegetable oil. Mason ate one and then said, "Can I have another one? Well, actually, they kind of taste like poop. But can I have another one anyway?" Carter didn't have any complaints - he ate three.

Sneaky Chef vs. Deceptively Delicious

I'm trying to decide if I want to buy Jessica Seinfeld's book, her competitor's book, both, or neither. I love the idea of cooking with veggie puree to add some nutrients to our food. Mason eats quite a few vegetables, but Carter only eats carbs - willingly, anyway. The poor kid takes after his mom - I have a serious addiction to Cheez-Its and homemade mac 'n cheese (which I now make with whole wheat pasta). So adding cauliflower puree to mac 'n cheese intrigues me, and I want to try it. If anyone has tried one of these books, please let me know what you thought about it. I don't want to waste my money!

Couch Potatoes

We switched our TV and internet service to AT&T U-Verse. It's all wireless - not satellite. We got the premium package free for the first month, and then we can downgrade to a cheaper package once we have to pay (there are no contracts - it's all month to month). I see why they give the premium package free for a month, though. We're hooked. We've always had the bare bones, least expensive packages (and even went without cable for several months), so there are tons of channels we've never had before. Our DVR has 4 lines, so we can record up to 4 shows at once - and schedule them to be recorded from the TV or from the computer. And the BEST thing: Video on Demand. Shows and movies galore that we can download for viewing at any time. Barney, Diego, Caillou, and all of their friends can be on our TV with the click of a button. Charlotte's Web, Night at the Museum - click, they're playing in HD. I wonder how much this package costs in real life.

See you in 6 months...

...is what Dr. Kimberling told Mason today at his first post-op visit. He said everything looked great, and he told us to stop the Lasix that Mason takes every day. We're down to ONE medicine (not including Claritin) - YAY! Added bonus: Mason has finally decided, after almost 3 years of echos and EKGs, that he's not afraid of the "stickies" and there's nothing to cry about. Finally! I used to have to bribe him to get him to quit crying and lie still during the tests. He scored a lot of Thomas trains out of the deal.

Carter has decided that he should say our family bedtime prayer. He actually throws a fit if Jas starts the prayer. I wish I could get it on video, but it's dark in the room... and he would stop if he saw the camera anyway. Here's a rough transcript:

Dear God (silent 'd')
I of you (love you)
Tane you my fwends (thank you for my friends)
Jee nay (in Jesus' name)
Amen (emphasis on the last syllable - usually more of a yell)

Let the children come to me...for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children. Luke 18:16

The Week in Review

• Pics 1-2: Mason and Carter in their matching shirts (The photo shoot was actually a disaster - 28 pics of whining, blinking, picking noses, etc. - 2 decent ones)
• Pic 3: Gigi and the boys on the couch watching Globe Trekker in Tunisia (Part of Star Wars was filmed in Tunisia, and the set is still there - who knew?)
• Pic 4: Mason watering Gigi's plants
• Pic 5: Mason ringing the bell at the Square House Museum in Panhandle (Carter calls it the 'doorbell')
• Pic 6: Mason and Grandad in the little pool
• Pic 7: Carter and Tigger having a chat under the truck
• Pic 8: Uncle David showing Mason how to play Wii Bowling
• Pic 9: Carter eating an eggroll and pancit (a Filipino noodle dish) at the Maza's house - he LOVED it (And so did the rest of us - it was delicious!)
• Pics I didn't get: The family playing Wii; My dad doing the Hula Hoop challenge; David and Jennie; Our 10-minute picnic at Lake Meredith, where there was too much wind and too many red ants; Mason's face when Gigi and Grandad gave him a brand new Wii to take home with him (It's the birthday and Christmas gift for all of us...we don't get another gift until at least 2009)
  
  
  

Contact Dermatitis

Mom and I have been scouring the internet for days, trying to figure out what might be causing Carter's mysterious rash - and the swollen bump on his knee. Internet diagnosis is usually a recipe for disaster - at least for me - but I do it anyway. As usual, we read about enough rash-causing, terrible diseases to decide that he had either scarletina or German measles. So we took him to a clinic in Amarillo just to make sure he wasn't contagious. One hour and $50 later, the doctor assured us that a child with no fever and no other symptoms at all, besides a rash and a bump, does not have a terrible disease. He has "contact dermatitis" and a mosquito bite. I feel better.

It's raining today, so I worked out with my Wii Fit trainer instead of jogging outside. I felt a little silly jogging in place in front of the TV. But there were other Miis jogging with me, so I wasn't alone. I also did some fitness and strength training exercises. I may have to steal Gigi and Grandad's Wii Fit when I go home tomorrow.