The start of a beautiful day:
Me:Speedy, are you ready for breakfast?
Speedy: No, I’m not hungry
blah blah blah conversation continues for ten minutes or so.
Me: Come on, Speedy, let’s go get breakfast
Speedy: Remember? I said I’m not hungry?
This whole potty thing is getting a little dangerous. While he did very well, yesterday, with only one accident all day long, he started with an accident this morning. HOWEVER, I believe it was quite intentional. I sent him to his room for a time out and came out 30 seconds later saying he had gone pee pee. And, he had. But it wasn’t even enough to make a mess, just enough to require a change of underwear. I really think he thought that was the fastest way to get out of his room. Little stinker. So I changed him and sent him back to his room for a few minutes.
Overheard in our house Monday morning:
Daddyo: Look, it’s already raining.
Speedy: Awwww, SHOOOOT! it’s raining today.
Overheard several times yesterday:
Me: Speedy, do you want [insert any random item here]
Speedy: sure, baby
I call him baby a lot and he’s picking it up now and calling me baby. It’s hilarious.
The hell that is potty training has seriously begun. Why didn’t anyone tell me that pull-ups were supposed to be a short term thing? Speedy has been in pull-ups for about 2 months, and we’ve encouraged him to potty off and on as we have remembered. I guess my hope of him just waking up one day and already potty trained isn’t going to happen. 
So he’s been in big boy underwear for three days now. Yesterday, he had no accidents! So far today, he’s only had one small one. We’re doing M&M’s as rewards on some days and stickers on others. The stickers encouraged him to take the initiative this morning but only once. So here is my question. For those of you potty training veterans out there, should we be constantly reminding him all day long or should we give him the chance to notice on his own that he needs to go? I mean, we’re taking him to the potty every 15 – 30 minutes now. Should we keep that up until he starts going on his own? Please, some one just give me step by step instructions on this. Preferably something that will work yesterday.
In other news, we can’t get Speedy to even agree to want to poop on the potty. He can tell when he has to poop but he’s just not going on the potty. He pooped in his underwear yesterday but didn’t seem all that phased by it. Today, when it was time, we put him in a diaper. I know, that’s cheating. ANyway, guess who did poop on the potty this morning? No, it wasn’t me. Not yet, anyway, Princess pooped on the little potty! I could tell she was ready to go so I just stuck her on there and off she went. I was hoping that might encourage Speedy – you know, a little sibling rivalry. He was so excited for her – but had no interest in following suit.
Potty training
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SUCKS
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Filed under: foster care
It’s so easy to hear a story on the news about a foster family and something that went wrong and just sit back and shake our heads. A local news station did a story a while back about the atrocities taking place in one particular foster family. I’m not talking about abuse and neglect, I’m talking about not following procedures and “allowing” something to happen under your roof. Really, it’s neither here nor there.
Here’s what you won’t hear on the local news station about foster parenting. All of what I’m about to tell you comes from reading real case files (not Stella’s) and talking with real foster parents and case workers. It is not a “true” story but is an accurate representation of what happens.
What the foster parent is told by the caseworker:
Missy is a 13 year old caucasion female. She has been in two other foster homes and has been in care for one year. She is basic level of care and does not require special medical care. She does receive therapy twice a month and has a monthly visit with her parents and siblings.
What the caseworker knows:
Missy has been in and out of foster care for the last 5 years. Missy has allegedly “s@xually touched” a child a few years younger than her. She often steals from her caregivers and has been picked up a few times for shoplifting but never been charged. If Missy is not placed in a foster home today, she will be moved to a horrible shelter where she will have only a cot for sleeping. If she tells perspective foster parents everything she knows about Missy, they will never accept the placement.
The reality:
Missy is placed with a foster family with 3 other girls – a 16 year old, an 8 year old and a three year old. After an initial “honeymoon” period, Missy begins to act out. She propositions one of the foster father’s friends, is caught having s@x with a boy in the library at school and then perpetrates on the 8 year old. The foster parents are blamed for not being more diligent with rules and boundaries. Missy endures yet another move.
While you may be thinking that the foster parent should, in fact, have been more diligent, stop and consider everything else the foster parents are dealing with. There are four foster children in the home. Each child has at least one 1-2 hour visit with family once or twice a month. (sometimes more depending on age and where they are in the process) Let’s call that six meetings. The CPS office where the meetings are held are all in different locations so none of the visits can be scheduled at the same times. Oh, and they have to be during regular business hours. And it takes you 30 minutes or more to drive to the CPS office. Think of it as 6 mornings taken up with visits out of 20 business days in one month.
That’s just the visits. Each of the older girls should be in therapy at least twice a month. So that’s 8 hours if it is individual therapy and only 4 if it is group therapy. Again, between driving there and back that is another 2 mornings or afternoons of those 20 days gone. And then there are the PPT meetings. Every 3 months, each child or sibling group has a staffing where all interested parties get together to talk about the case and foster parents are strongly encouraged to attend. They usually last about 2 hours. OH yeah, and then there’s court. That happens about every 3 months as well. For each child. And that can take a whole day. Then you have doctor’s appointments – not including if any child happens to be sick. There are all kinds of appointments and such that have to be kept for these kids.
Oh wait, we forgot one small detail. 3 of your 4 kids are in school from 8-3 every day so appointments have to try to be scheduled after school. The last thing these kids need is to be missing more school. And did I mention the monthly visits from caseworkers? Each child has his/her own caseworker who should be coming to visit the kids in your home once a month. And every quarter you have to have a major visit to review all guidelines and make sure you are following all procedures. And while you are doing ALL of that, feed, clothe, transport and most of all love and parent these kids as though they were your own. And be sure to get your 30 hours of training in every year. And if thermometer you are required to have in your refrigerator happens to break and the caseworker notices it, you’re going to get written up.
Oh, and there is one more thing. If one of these kids you are caring for doesn’t like your rules or a decision you make, he/she can call his/her caseworker and gripe and complain and may even talk the caseworker into speaking to you about it. And, if they get really mad at you, they can tell their caseworker that you beat them with a belt which would result in a full fledged investigation on you and your family.
Oh, and another thing. the three older kids are robbing you blind. Your home has turned into a place where you have to lock up anything you want to keep. Neighbors? Yeah, they don’t talk to you anymore because your kids keep stealing things from their kids. Or lying. Or bullying.
Tell you what. If you like the job description go ahead and sign up. The pay is excellent. You’ll get a whopping $8 – $12 a day for each child in your care, depending on where you live.
Obviously, the descriptions above deal mostly with older foster kids. But it is a very sad reality in our society. Some people say that foster parents shouldn’t be allowed to have more than one or two kids. I think that is a great idea. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough people willling to be foster parents to even cover all of the kids who are currently in care – much less the ones who are above and beyond the two per house we imagine in an ideal world.
I can’t imagine too many people signing up for that job and sticking with it for the pay. It’s a passion. It’s a service. It’s a sacrifice. It’s a mission field. “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13
Well, forgive me for being so vague in this post but you know by now that I have to be. If you remember, the last time I shared about Stella she had run away from her foster home but was in a safe place with family. She returned to a local shelter for teens where a lot of CPS kids go when they can’t find foster homes. It’s where she wanted to go and it’s a great facility but it’s almost too good. For kids like Stella, anyway. They do a lot with them and they go on outings and stuff. Most shelters aren’t that way – in fact, they are far from it. Stella likes it there. The shelter won’t let anyone stay longer than 90 days, it is a short term facility so it isn’t a long term option for anyone. Unless they keep running away from foster homes and going back there. ha ha That would eventually stop working.
Anyway, Stella needs your prayers now more than ever. Her current residence is another “should be” short term facility that probably isn’t a lot of fun but is VERY necessary for her. In fact, because she is there she will now receive two of the services we have been advocating for from the beginning. So all in all, it’s not a bad thing. It just continues to frustrate me how these kids come into “the system” and don’t get the help they need.
It’s no one’s fault in particular. I don’t blame the case worker or any of the workers – they do the best they can with what they have. But someone down the line is determining how much money is alloted to help these kids and it just isn’t enough. IT’S NOT ENOUGH. See, this is when I start to get really irritated with all the tree huggers. Now, forgive me if that particular term is offensive to you. If it is offensive, then my guess is you probably have a little tree bark embedded in your arms. ha ha ha Come on, you know that was funny. 
I’m all for saving the environment and stuff like that but some people really go to severe extremes with plants and animals. Hey, I’d like to see dogs treated better by owners also but I’m not giving you a dime towards that cause. Not when there are children out there who don’t have the funds to get the help they need to overcome obstacles they don’t deserve.
Sometimes it just feels like there are more people out there willing to DO SOMETHING about Rover being starved and beaten by his owner than they are about Sally being abused and neglected by her parents. I love dogs. I love humans more. I know there are those out there who put dogs on the same level with humans. And I think that is just NUTS.
Anyway, back to Stella. Two things are currently happening that we’ve been fighting for from the beginning so that is a good thing. The sad thing is that both of these are things that were recommended for her by a doctor who evaluated her upon entering care several months ago. But it was decided by non-medical workers that these things were not necessary.
We can do better than that, can’t we?
Filed under: advertising
I have to tell you that along with other gaming addictions I have mentioned here before, backgammon is probably one of the worst. I have spent more hours than I’d like to admit playing backgammon online.
I guess I like that playing backgammon really does require a certain level of intelligence. Unlike solitaire, which I also play way more often than I should, in order to outwit your opponent you have to plan ahead. You also have to be willing to take some risks. Anyway, I write all that to say that Backgammon is a lot bigger than I thought it was. Evidently, there is worldwide interest in playing some serious backgammon – an oonline backgammon gaming company is now even focusing its attention in Latin America.
So if you find yourself bored at work just log in and you could end up playing backgammon against someone who speaks a different language and is in another part of the world. Like I need any kind of excuse to play backgammon. Hey, maybe the secret to world peace is in backgammon! Everyone can speak backgammon and it can unite us one and all……okay, sorry. I couldn’t resist. I realize I’m really reaching here.
I need to go back and find all my posts with links to random games on the internet so those of you who have misplaced them can once again be fulfilled. Remember the egg basket game? Geez! I wish I could find that silly link. It was my favorite, followed closely by the helicopter game. Maybe I better not go linking for any of those links. It’s not like I have any extra time on my hands these days.
Speaking of games, I sure wish I could find a good online version of Q-bert. Do you remember Q-bert? We used to play it on our Atari. Man, those were the good ole days, weren’t they? Pole Position was another favorite. Ahhh….the eighties. I think if I ever win the lottery one of the things I’m going to do is throw an amazing eighties party. Complete with parachute pants, Atari games, Cyndi Lauper songs and reruns of Different Strokes. I might even have to serve YooHoo and Poprocks.
Ah, I’m digressing! Back to the backgammon thing. Check out this press release:
“http://www.BackgammonMasters.com online game company is expanding worldwide, placing its attention and resources on Latin American markets. By being the first-ever and only company to introduce an online version of the popular Spanish dice game, Perudo, (in addition to their poker and backgammon) BackgammonMasters has now established itself as an industry leader in most, if not all, of the world’s major online game playing regions. This increased activity in Latin markets has resulted in the need for the company to open a branch office in Central America.
By studying and listening to the demands of Latin audiences, BackgammonMasters is able to provide the most desirable and popular community games of particular world regions as part of their global strategy to maintain the world’s largest community game network. In addition, the BackgammonMasters animated series starring their tiger mascot, Jean-Claude, has drawn viewers from all over the world, including those from Latin Markets.
What is unique about BackgammonMasters’ software and all-in-one game concept is that with only one download from one site, players enter one game lobby and select from any number of games whether it be backgammon, perudo, poker and soon to come, blackjack. All of BackgammonMasters games are developed in multi player variations as part of their community concept, and the company has stated that more popular games for the Latin Markets are already in the works.
BackgammonMasters.com, the World Backgammon Network, has a revolutionary approach to online backgammon. BackgammonMasters.com owns and operates its own proprietary backgammon software that delivers a realistic experience, with first-rate graphics and unrivaled usability, in a fully-supported playing environment. BackgammonMasters.com supports all popular payment methods in Latin American countries such as Visa/MasterCard.
Report by Gammonish.com – backgammon online resource for news and information. More about backgammon online and online backgammon game rules can be found at http://www.gammonish.com.”
What’s funny about the whole potty training thing is that I’m really not frustrated by it at all. It’s not like I’ve really been trying – I put the kid in a pull up and then forget to take him to the potty. I did put him in underwear for a while today and he did fine until dinner time. He peed and was very bothered by it – so maybe we should say audios to pull ups and just deal with the mess for a while. I guess I need to plan a week when we can stay home a lot. Ugh.
We did buy him some adorable boxer briefs today at Target. His little butt is soooo cute in those things. They are “just like daddy’s” and he actually picked them over the Thomas the Train underwear. Now that you all know what type of underwear daddy-o wears, I’m sure you’ll sleep better.
From what I’m hearing from other mom’s it looks like I’m going to be cleaning poop out of underwear before it’s all said and done. Nice. Guess I better go buy more underwear. Ick.
Filed under: Speedy
We’ve been talking a lot about the difference between truth and lies, “on purpose” and “accident” and I think Speedy is starting to get it. Maybe.
Eating a snowcone in the car…
Speedy: Uh oh, mommy, I spilled
Me: that’s okay, Speedy. Accidents happen.
Speedy: (quiet, with a pondering look on his face) Mommy? Does purposes happen, too?
On the potty training front, he is definitely able to tell when he needs to poop. This morning, he went to the playroom and hid around the corner. When I started walking that way, he said, “no mommy. stay away. Speedy is pooping.”
I think i’m going to try some reverse psychology. I’m going to take his potty chair away and put him back in diapers and tell him that I don’t think he is quite big enough to learn to use the potty yet. When he starts asking, I’m going to say no for a few days and then see if we can try it again.
Outsmarting a toddler? Never gonna happen.
Filed under: advertising
Surely you all remember my rants about Time Warner Cable and how much it sucks. Well, maybe the poor people over at TW could benefit from better CRM software. Sure, their biggest problem isn’t in getting customers but in keeping them, but maybe AIMPromote could help them, anyway.
See, the way I figure it, if the sales team is happier and more efficient, then they’ll share some of that contentment with the customer service department. I have no hope for the Customer Service department on its own, so we have to start somewhere. Lead management is the focus of AimPromote and since the guys over at TW don’t seem to be so smart, they’d really appreciate the opportunity to spend more time on making sales and less time on learning software.
There’s even a 14 day free trial!
I’m not bitter about TW. Really, I’m not. Okay, maybe I’m a little bitter. I still giggle every time I see one of their repair vans in the neighborhood – which is quite often. And for the record, I’m very happy with my satellite. And my DSL. So take that, Time Warner.
The $%^# really hit the fan today, folks. Literally. Well, almost literally. You’ve heard my poop stories before but none compare to this one.
It all started when i tried to have a conversation over the telephone with the gymnastics coach. I know… I know. ALL of these tormenting stories seem to start with, “When Speedy was in the playroom…….” I promise my kids do not spend the entire day locked away in the playroom. In fact, they really aren’t there very much out of the day at all – it’s just that when they are is the only time I can usually talk or write or think or breathe…you get the picture.
Anyway, so I’m on the phone with Coach when I hear Speedy running towards my office saying, “mommy! I have poo poo!” It’s not at all uncommon for him to let me know it is time to change his diaper. (just shut it. I KNOW he is ready to be potty trained. I am really almost ready to get serious about it.) It is, however, uncommon for him to run into my office saying that WITH NO DIAPER ON. Oh yeah, you read that right. My sweet little angel comes running into my office, declaring he has poop but he has no friggin’ diaper on. You see where this is going.
I’m on the phone with the man I want to be willing to teach my son how to not break his neck when he is climbing and jumping off of things so I’m trying not to react too much. I get a pull up on Speedy and put him in time out. Alright. For all of you thinking, “why didn’t she hang up the phone and take care of things?” Where the HECK were you when this was happening? Again, SHUT IT. You just had to be there. Honestly, I don’t know what I was thinking.
Anyway. So I’m trying desperately to get off the phone with coach and I turn – FOR A SECOND – to write something down and when i look up Speedy is gone. Hence the name, Speedy. Not to worry, though, because he is back a few seconds later kind of running and kind of hopping on one foot saying, “mommy! Please get the poo poo off of my foot.”
$#&^%#&^%#V #&^*#&^* V# *^#%^%$%@%$
At this point, I know I’m screwed. Because if it is on his foot and I can see him but can’t see the poop then I know the poop is also everywhere he has been. I pick him up and put him in his chair and I’m trying to clean his foot with a wipe while at the same time trying to cordially get off the dang phone. FINALLY, I get off the phone and realize that Speedy must have had crap on his fingers at some point, too. Because he wiped it off. ON THE FRIGGIN’ WALL. Next to the time out chair.
As I’m cleaning it off the wall and washing his foot (keep in mind I still have not investigated the original crime scene) it suddenly occurs to me that Princess is still in the playroom. Why that tiny fact eluded me from the beginning I will never know. All I know is that by the time I get to the playroom to save the Princess from the poo she is sitting next to a pile of crap with a turd between her fingers. And she thinks it is the coolest thing ever. She is laughing at the turd in her hand. And I’m praying it doesn’t get into her mouth before I get it away from her.
I got there before she thought to eat it (i hope, anyway) and there was no way in heck I was checking inside her mouth for traces of poop. Let’s face it, if she ate it there wasn’t a thing I could do about it. And if I saw a little poop on her tooth I was going to puke and have an even bigger mess to clean. I scooped her up, cleaned her up and put a screaming Princess in her crib so i’d know she was safely hiding from the poop while i went back to cleaning.
There was poop on the floor. Poop on a few toys. Poop on the bean bag. And plenty of poop on the carpet. Ironically, there was NO poop in the diaper.
All of this happened before lunch. And who could eat after that?
Needless to say, I am …..pooped.
I took Speedy to a “preview” class in gymnastics this afternoon and he loved it. He was, however, the ONLY kid running around and leaving his group when he was supposed to be paying attention. Once they got him focused on something he did pretty well, but he was always interested in what was going on around him, too. I think he’ll get the hang of it after a few weeks. I hope so, anyway.
The cutest thing was seeing Princess clapping for him (or for some random kid, who knows) and yelling, “yaaaaay!” at one point during the class. It was really funny.
Overheard:
Daddy-o: C’mon, Speedy, get your shoes on so we can go.
Speedy: (in a VERY excited and animated voice) “are we going to do man things, daddy?”
Daddy-O: We are now.
Filed under: RANT
The last few days the weather has been absolutely beautiful – sunny, nice and breezy. We went to the zoo today and rode a little train that goes all through the park – Speedy LOVES the train. A man sat behind us with his son who couldn’t have been much older than Speedy. The guy was on his cell phone the whole time we were on the train.
I felt so sorry for the little guy who just kinda sat there with no one to talk to about what he was seeing. Dad or Uncle Bob or whoever this was (i’m assuming it was dad) may as well have not even been on the train. I’m the first to admit that I’m bad about being on my cell phone in the car and when the kids are playing. Sometimes the car is the best place for me to get a quick conversation in with a friend. I try to be concious about not being on the phone when I’m intentionally spending time with the kids. Especially on outings and such. It’s not even that I have to try to not be on the phone at times like that – there’s nothing I’d rather be doing than watching my kids enjoy themselves.
I know that sometimes people get aggravated with me when I don’t answer my phone at home – but this is one of the reasons I sometimes don’t jump up and run to grab the cordless every time I hear it ring. I want my kids to know they are more important than a ringing phone. When we’re doing something together at home, I often won’t answer the phone unless it’s Daddy-o. They grow up so fast and we miss so much I just like to give them my undivided attention whenever I can.
speaking of, here’s a guest post by Speedy:
ccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccxxxxxx ttyyrdtygrtygyt6nnhnnt6nynt6ynty6nt6yn.0.20.0323.02
415554154121424124124135524120525y 54645y 54610750765575720 7775555555555555555555555555555 dictated by mommy: “Hi. Where are they? Hi. “
Anyway, it just really irked me that this guy was on the phone THE WHOLE time we were on the train.
Whatever. Guess I need to get over it.
Filed under: Day after day
Some people may think we’re nuts and they may be right. We just put a deposit down for a vacation we’ll take towards the end of summer. Just in case there are any home burglars reading my posts I won’t say exactly when we’ll be gone.
We debated and tossed around ideas about where to go and what to do with two toddlers. We decided someplace close would probably be best, even though the kids do great in the car. We also decided we should probably make it a long weekend rather than a week’s vacation since we aren’t sure exactly how it will all work out. But those decisions were made when we were being rational. The deposit we put down is for a seven night, yes I said SEVEN NIGHT stay and an ELEVEN, YES ELEVEN hour drive away.
And i couldn’t be more excited. We’ll be staying right on the beach and the kids will have a blast. We’d like to take someone with us to help with the kids but I don’t know if that is going to work out. It’d be great if someone else were there so they could stay with Princess while she naps and we could take Speedy to do something fun that Princess wouldn’t enjoy. And, of course, so daddy-o and I could have a few quiet evenings on the beach. Ahhhh….the beach. Sigh. In my mind, I am already there.
I can hear the sound of the waves crashing into the sand and I even smell the salty air.
Anyone want a free week’s vacation? Well, almost free. ha ha ha
Filed under: advertising
So i’m not really a Lost fan, but I thought that was a clever title for this post. I recently lost everything thas was on my external hard drive because I hadn’t been very diligent about backing up. Who hasn’t been there, right? It gives the reality show “Lost” a whole new meaning.
I’ve been thinking about using an Online Storage service and came across Ibackup. It gives you the option of mapping online data as a drive or as a webfolder you can easily drag and drop or edit files.
You can also use it as a backup service with a desktop scheduler ibackup for windows! Can you beat that? It makes me feel good knowing that PCWorld and PCMag lists ibackup.com as the editor’s choice.
I think I might check them out – especially since I work from home and have all of my work related files on my pc. It looks like a great option for small businesses!
Filed under: Speedy
Banking has really changed over the last ten years; I’m so glad I don’t have to have a deposit slip or even my account number to deposit checks. I usually use the ATM machine because it is fast and easy and there is rarely a line waiting on Friday afternoon when everyone else is trying to make deposits as well.
Speedy has always been facinated with the ATM machine – especially the “Beep beep beep beep beep” sound it makes when it is ready for me to insert my envelope. He can often be overheard asking, “mommy, where’s the beep?” when I’m pulling up to the machine.
Yesterday, i told him we were going to put a check in the bank and he said, “Mommy, I don’t want to go to the beep beep bank.” I was perplexed because he’s always been fond of the beep. I said, “speedy, you like the beep beep.” To which he responded, “no, mommy. I don’t like the beep. I want to go to the swooooss bank.” (swooooss = the sound you make when you are rapidly sucking in air through your mouth) I said, “what bank?” And again, he said, “the swoooooss bank.” Then I cracked up laughing. A few days back we had to use the old fashioned drive through because I was making a cash deposit – ’swooooosss’ is the sound it makes with the little thermos looking container is sucked up the tube and delivered to the tellers. Evidently, Speedy prefers the ’swoooos bank’ to the ‘beep beep bank’.
That kid.
It’s only 11am and I’ve already accomplished more this morning than I normally do in one whole day. Don’t you just love those kind of days? The ones when you are super-productive and get a ton of things marked off your to do list?
I’ve already made dinner for three different nights this week! I’ve been reading up on various food clubs that let you come in and prepare twelve meals and then you freeze them until you use them – you know? Well, i decided I could do that right here in my own kitchen. So I have three meals that are basically ready-to-go and all I’ll have to do is dethaw overnight in the fridge, pop in the oven for a few minutes and voila! Dinner is on the table. Don’t ask what I cooked because it isn’t anything fancy, just kid-friendly and E-A-S-Y!
Other than cooking, I’m also recovering from my first blood related injury from a child. I know what you’re all thinking….”what did Speedy do now?” but it wasn’t Speedy. Princess caught the sensitive cartilege (sp?) inside my nose with her very sharp fingernail and I went through about 4 paper towels trying to stop the bleeding. And in case you are wondering, it freakin’ hurt. It is still a bit sore today but at least it stopped bleeding.
Well, I have a few more things on my mind but since I can hear Speedy chanting “eat it eat it” from the playroom, I better go rescue Princess and feed them lunch.
All of you Mother’s out there have probably been wished a happy day a hundred times over already so I’m not going to mention it here. I want to offer a word of encouragement for all you who are longing to become mothers – either through conception or adoption. Hang in there. There is hope and your day will come. I promise when you get there the wait will have been more than worth it. As someone’s who’s been there, I haven’t forgotten you.
Several people have suggested that today must be monumental for me – being my first “legal” Mother’s Day and all. But it doesn’t feel monumental at all – just normal. Last year was a big day for me and I guess i knew deep in my heart that even though it wasn’t legal, they were mine already. Speedy woke me up this morning with “Happy’s Muthas Day”. It was very sweet.
Right now it is raining and this is what I can hear from the playroom:
Speedy: HEY! Stop it! Stop waining on my caar! Stoooop! Stoooop dat! don’t wain on my car. Daddy, i said to the wain to stop it!
Filed under: Day after day
As I type there are roofers banging away above me. Our new roof is close to being finished and I’m ready for the noise to subside – but it isn’t even phasing Princess. She is sound asleep in her bed.
LOL. This message just popped up on my other computer where I have msn mail, “New Email : Special Hot Offer from Girls Gone Wild DVDs…..” That just made me laugh.
Here’s something exciting. I’ve recently noticed that I have sun spots (TWO) on my face. Nice, huh? SUN SPOTS. Guess all those summers of laying out with baby oil are finally catching up to me. I’ll have to thank my sister for teaching me that trick. 
I’ve never given much thought to looking older or even to growing older – not from a physical perspective, anyway. All of the sudden I’m buying special moisturizers and self tanners to make me look younger. Those of you who know me IRL are laughing your butts off right now because you know how rarely I wear make up or even dress in something other than tshirts and shorts. I’m sure if I’d pay a little more attention to those details, I’d look a little younger, too.
Why do I suddenly care about this? I mean, I’m not worrying or calling plastic surgeons or anything – it’s just that I’m noticing it more and more. I started to notice it a while back in my hands – they are getting more and more wrinkly and old looking.
Is this a mid-life crisis? Tam? Am I old enough to have a mid life crisis? If so, do I get to buy a convertible and get implants? Just kidding. I gotta go exfoliate.
Filed under: advertising
Is it possible to survive in this world without credit? Is it possible to go one day without receiving emails or other advertisements for “no hassle loans”?
Mortgages and home loans seem much to easy to obtain these days. Applicants get a secured loan and then somehow feel secure even though there is no way they will be able to make their payments. I don’t know what the answer is, but it just seems like society, and the financial industry, is making it too easy for people to get loans they can’t pay.
Everywhere you look is another advertisement on refinancing your mortgage – do people really change mortgage providers to take advantage of lower rates? Seems to me you’d have to be saving a LOT of money to justify the dollars you’d spend to remortgage.
I just don’t get it. Everyone wants something they don’t have and can’t afford. And companies are giving it to them. What’s wrong with this picture?
So the boys have been gone since yesterday afternoon – off to the “deer lease” they went to do “man stuff”. I say “deer lease” because it isn’t actually a lease, it’s property owned by one of daddy’s friends and it is in no way what one might think of when hear the words “deer camp”. There is an old house that is fully furnished and I believe even has a big screen tv now. So they aren’t suffering.
This was a spur of the moment trip and Speedy was so excited to finally be going there with daddy that he could hardly contain himself. He’s had daddy’s undivided attention for the better part of 24 hours and still has 12 or so more to go – he is in hog heaven. I tried to talk to him on the phone tonight and he covered his ears with his hands. Nice, huh? If I hadn’t seen him do that before to other people, it might have made me cry. But he is very opposed to using the telephone these days.
Speedy has played with cow poop (if you’ve never done this, you have no idea how much fun it can be for a kid), chased cows, ridden a four wheeler, ridden a tractor, collected all sorts of bugs, seen a 4 1/2 foot snake and caught 3-4 fish (with some help, of course). To say he’s having a ball would be putting it mildly. I’m so glad they are both having a great time and I’m glad Speedy isn’t missing mommy, but I’m also glad they are coming home tomorrow. I’m ready to hear his loud little voice vibrating throughout the house again – it’s been eerily quiet around here, especially when Princess is asleep.
It’s also been wonderful to just hang out with my Princess. I can give her my undivided attention which is often difficult to do. She is walking or attempting to walk all the time now. She’ll take a few steps then fall and crawl the rest of the way, but she always attempts to walk first. I took her to a store this morning and let her walk a bit as she held my hand and every person who walked by us was greeted with a toothy smile and a “hiiiiii”. It’s funny, because when I carry her she doesn’t talk to strangers but when she’s walking it’s as if she’s saying, “look at me! I’m doing it! I’m really doing it!” We’ve had a good time just playing and giggling and talking. The little Princess is repeating almost every word I say now – though I can rarely get her to do it when someone else is listening. Just because I have to, here are a list of all her words that I can recognize:
ma ma
da da
nay nay (that’s for Speedy)
wa wa (water/drink/milk)
wawk wawk (walk walk)
hi-eeeeeee
whoa – hello (usually when the phone is by her ear)
ni ni – night night
bye bye
lye – light
chhh – cheese
boo – bear
uh – up
hat – oddly enough, this is one of the words she says most clearly
uh – uh oh
raw raw – rock rock
yay – said while clapping her hands
pat pat
mmmmm – when she eats something yummy
She is really developing quite a little vocabulary. It’s hard to believe that she can communicate what she wants now using words.
They really grow up too fast, don’t they?
Filed under: advertising
I’ve tried several different websites that offer recipes and I’m pretty impressed with the variety offered at CookingSpot. As I perused the kids’ section I found many recipes I hadn’t seen before and most looked pretty easy to make. They have thousands of free recipes you can search through.
So who knows? Maybe I’ll become a chef afterall. Yeah, well, don’t get your hopes up or anything. I only go for the simple recipes, and when I find something incredibly delicious and impossible to screw up, you will be the first to know!
Oh my. Speedy is definitely ALL BOY. I never realized how early the obsession started in boys. Here is this morning’s conversation:
Me: Okay, Speedy, take your hands off of your wee wee; remember, when you sit down you don’t touch it so the pee pee can go down in the potty
Speedy: I have a big wee wee
Me: Alright, baby, come on – see if you can pee pee now
Speedy: Mommy, my wee wee is BIG.
Me: Do you have to pee pee, Speedy? Or are you all done?
Speedy: MOMMY!!!! LOOK at my big wee wee. It is REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEL BIG!
Me: Yes, Speedy, you do have a big wee wee. Does your big wee wee need to pee pee?
Speedy: Speedy’s wee wee is sooooooooo big. I a man!
Me: Okay, I think we’re done here. Let’s go put a pull up on.
I mean, really. Could it be that the boys in Mother’s Day Out are already having these kinds of discussions? Surely not. Where is this coming from?
Filed under: Child Advocates
Thanks for your prayers. Stella is safe and back under the watchful eye of CPS. I’m praying for amazing foster parents to become available for her to be placed with – ones who can give her the attention she needs and the care she needs.
What’s cool about all of this is that Stella called me to ask me about a possibility for a future placement. Sorry I’m being vague here, but I can’t share much information even though I’m not giving you real names. Anyway, she did call me to ask for my help in making arrangements so that’s something. What’s even better is that I really feel I have connected with some of her biological family who are still in the picture. They, too, have called to give me information and to ask to be kept updated.
It’s a very interesting situation and one that I’m glad I’m in the middle of – for Stella’s sake. I hope I can help move things along so that she can get what she needs. Please add her caseworker to your prayer list. As much as I was concerned for Stella over the weekend, her poor caseworker was RESPONSIBLE for her safety and well-being. And responsible for finding another place for her. That’s a burden I’d hate to carry. Sigh.
I’m hoping I’ll get to go and visit Stella in the next few days to see how she’s doing and start talking about what to do next.
For her, it’s just one more move in a long line of moves.
