A Plague On Our House

I'll spare everyone the nasty details of Gavin's croup ER two weekends ago, but I am left to wonder if that original virus that seemed to trigger this croup will EVER leave our house? A few days later, and I've had some weird cold/sore throat/achy/fever thing going on, and it has continued on for practically TWO WEEKS. I feel like I'm going to cough up a lung. I've downed nearly a bottle of NyQuil in five days, dragging myself to work. Meanwhile, Gavin's getting better, and Tommy gets worse. He's complaining of the same thing. Luckily, Baeleigh seems oblivious - hmmm, might she be the harbinger again? She was originally the one coughing when we were in Florida, followed by Gavin then picking up this weird virus mess. Is it possible to spray her down with Lysol daily before school? No? Ok, bad plan.

Now, I have these persistent headaches. At first, I thought it was from my cough, or my visit from Aunt Flo, or work-related stress but now I don't know what to think. I'm downing pratically 1500 mg to 2000 mg in Tylenol (Excedrin, Midol, whatever) in a day and yet there it stays. A dull, agonizing good-luck-with-focusing-on-anything-let-alone-reading-something headache. Tommy thinks I should "have my cat scanned". Maybe I should. And, in the last two days this phlegmy, congested, sore throat thing is back. What the hell! Maybe it's swine flu...

Show Me Some Attitude

On Sunday, I got to be a Room Mom for Baeleigh's first dance recital. What is a Room Mom you ask? Well, it is the star role of helping to entertain, dress, primp, feed, take to the bathroom a gaggle of 5-7 year olds backstage during their dance recital.

Although I saw the whole show as a ticket-holder the previous night, Baeleigh was also performing on Sunday. Rather than pay another $16 to basically be there to pick up my kid. I volunteered as a Room Mom. As her number neared, I lined the girls up in the hallway. When it was our turn we filed in, and I figured I'd have to wait at the door until she was brought out again. But, No! I walked in right behind her and stood there waiting our turn behind the curtain, mixed in with several other dance groups all equally as excited to take the stage. The same curtain that I hid behind in my high school years for school performances and dance classes. Some of the girls were huddled together running through their numbers one last time. Instructors were tucked behind the front black drapes mimicking the dance numbers and exaggerately singing the words to the song for the little 2-3 year olds that were onstage performing to follow. The tech crew was swirling around all of us.

As we were waiting I said, "Show me some attitude out there!" And, Baeleigh looks up at me totally perplexed, "But Mommy, why do you want me to show you attitude? You want me to be MEAN!" OK, bad choice of words. I laughed, and said, "No, honey. Just smile and boogie your hiney off out there!" Then, one of the instructers said, "Alright, girls, show me some ENERGY!". Yeah, "energy", that's the word I was looking for! And, with that, her number was next and I touched her back to prod her to her spot behind the curtain and said "Have fun, honey! Smile! I love you!" She skipped herself out to her spot and did her thing. She did better even than the evening before. I was so proud! The lights went down and she came running back to me, I hugged her and scurried back to our backstage room. "You did great! Did you have fun?!" "YEAH!"

We went up to the balcony for the rest of the show, and she just sat on the edge of her seat watching almost the entire thing. I mean, come on, she's a five year old. Of course, there was some rough-housing and mischief!

So, do I play Room Mom again next year - 4.5 hours of action-packed responsiblity for about 3 minutes of wonderful...wow, that's a tough one! But, maybe...

What Little Girls' Dreams Are Made Of

As I'm pulling into dayare this morning, Baeleigh posed an interesting question. "Mommy, is Disney World in the clouds?" "What makes you think that?", I asked. "Because we have to fly on an airplane in the sky, so it's in the sky?" So that's what a 5-year old little girl dreams up when you tell her that she's going to Disney World! I was thinking back to all of the fairytales that I could remember where a castle is sitting on a puffy cloud in the sky with unicorns and fairies.

I'm not sure who's more excited at leaving for Disney World in two weeks, me or her. Never again will she see things with such imaginative, magical and innocent eyes. I wish that could still see things from her perspective. Maybe I'll at least get a glimmer of what it's like. Oh to be five again!

The "Low Singer"

You can't help but either giggle or gasp at Baeleigh trying to "sing" along to the radio. Sometimes I shocked to hear her spout out most of the chorus line of a rather risque song, like Flo Rida's Low, or Pink's So What. And, other times, I giggle to myself at how hard she trying to sing along because normally it comes out more like: "So, we -na-na-ba-na-now, yeeeeaaaah. Na, na, na, ana, suck with out you". In case you didn't figure that one out, it was Kelly Clarkson's My Life Would Suck Without You.

So, this morning, carpooling together as we normally do on Wednesdays. Both kids in the car, Tommy was waiting on me to hop in and Baeleigh was in full effect, attempting Ms. Clarkson's song again. Tommy, finding this amusing, decided he would mock her and "sing" along to the song as well. Baeleigh, taking offense to Daddy's rendition, pipes up, "You're making fun of me Daddy! That's NOT what I sound like! I'm not singing like that!", and juts out the magical drama queen lip she's so apt to apply nowadays. So much drama for a 5 year old! But that didn't seem to stop her from seranading me again in the car while Daddy took Gavin in to daycare about 10 minutes later. I guess that was so like 10 minutes ago.

Oh, what are we in for in the future! Yikes.

P.S. For my Seinfeld lovers, the title is reminescent of the "low talker".

Thud!

No mommy wants to hear that ugly sound. It's never good. Gavin is definitely my little daredevil. But when I'm working only three feet away from him while he's sitting in his chair attached to the island, it pains me to know that I could have prevented it. I had turned my back for just a couple of minutes and heard him wriggling (but he always wriggles). Since it was around dinner time and he had not really taken a good afternoon nap, he was fussy. Then, THUD! Playing it back in my head, I'm not exactly sure of the timing of it all. I just felt my heart skip and my stomach knot up to hear that sound. I peeked around the corner of the island to what seemed like a split second after the fall. And, I recall hearing swwzzzzip kind of sound. The one leg of seat pushed open wide. Gavin was face down on the floor and not crying. It was only a 2 1/2 to 3 foot fall, but it didn't matter. I grabbed him and he wailed, but he quieted quickly. "What had I done to my poor baby" is all I could think. Tommy was bathing Baeleigh and I told him what had happened and then sat down with Gavin in the rocking chair. He rested his head on my chest and began to go to sleep, which worried me after a fall like that. Tommy asked if he had any bruises, but I hadn't seen anything at first and was so wrapped up in comforting him that I didn't really look. But, as I made him sit up, there it was -- about a silver dollar size purple "goose egg" above his right temple, sprinkled with pin-sized blood blisters. So, rash decision or not, overly-protective mommy or not, I decided that we'd have to make an ER visit. Luckily, everything turned out fine, and maybe I over-reacted. A little. But, I would have never slept that night wondering constantly if he was OK, never forgiving myself if it was something worse. We still checked him frequently last night. He's such a shallow-breath sleeper.

I'm just glad that he's fine. And, believe it or not, the ER visit only took an hour! World record!

Easter Bunnies Don't Have Cell Phones

In an attempt to shoo away my daughter Easter morning for 15 more minutes of sleep, we told her that if she didn't listen we were going to call up the Easter Bunny to return for her basket. Her response, "Easter Bunnies don't have cell phones!" How is it that I can make her believe that some mythical bunny will come and bring her chocolate and toys in the same basket used every year, but I can't make her believe that he has a cell phone? Still trying to figure that one out.

Meanwhile, I'm munching on Starburst and probably eating my fourth chocolate bunny. I mean she can't eat ALL that candy herself, right? Who needs a five year old hyped up on sugar every day you come home? And, er, nutrition, she needs to eat a balanced meal and no junk.

And, I wonder why the last three pounds of pregnancy weight won't come off.

It's Not Easy Being...Catholic?

I wouldn't characterize myself as the most religious person, but I'm trying my best to rediscover my faith here and I don't feel like my faith is cutting me much slack. Take for instance Gavin's baptism. Now, I understand the underlying concept behind needing to have at least one Catholic in the mix of godparents, but practicing as in on a regular basis? Shaaa. Does the church really understand how hard that is to find? Meanwhile, it only unmotivates me to press on with becoming a "good Catholic". Sort of a Catch-22, don't you think? My intentions are pure. I want to baptize my son, but I have to run through so many hurdles to get it done, it only exasperates me. We ran into this problem the last time but luckily had one friend that met the prerequisites and stood in as godfather for Baeleigh. Unfortunately, we're so busy, we barely have time to see him. Again, we confront the same issue now with Gavin. Who do we appoint godparents that will continue to be a strong, continuous influence in our children's lives? Instead, the church makes me base this on how "good" of a Catholic they are. Although I understand their purpose, I don't really see that as fair. I'm just asking for a little leniency in the rules here - isn't it good enough that you are "Catholic"? Are you necessarily a bad influence because you aren't "practicing" (e.g., contributing, registered)? Maybe that might be part of the reason why fewer are practicing these days.