Beloved Bunny

This is Bunny. He is very near and dear to Caitlyn's heart. When she was 2 days old, my girlfriend, Suzi, brought him to the hospital for her. It was the first time Suzi had seen Caitlyn. It was also the first time that I ever touched Caitlyn.

Bunny stayed with Caitlyn for the duration of her NICU stay. He travelled from warmer to warmer, isolette to isolette, and crib to crib with her. When it was time for Caitlyn to come home, Bunny came home a day or so earlier as we were taking most of her belongings home. We knew we would have a load to carry with us the day she was leaving, so we figured anything we could get home early, the better.

Once Caitlyn was home, Bunny lived in her crib with her. She paid no attention to him being there, she was too little. But he was there none the less.

Until Caitlyn was nearing 4 years old, she wasn't too concerned with Bunny. However, all of that changed right before her 4th birthday. Since that time, Caitlyn has not been without Bunny in bed with her. Until this weekend that is.

Friday morning, Caitlyn got into my bed just like she always does when Matt heads off to work. But this Friday, she didn't bring Bunny in with her. It was decided that afternoon that she was going to have a sleepover at Grandma's house. I came home to pack up her clothes, and of course get Bunny and snuggle blank (a receiving blanket she has had since homecoming as well, but that's another post and picture). I found snuggle blank easily. Bunny on the other hand, was nowhere to be found. Nowhere.

I called her at my mom's and asked her where he was. She insisted that he was either on her bed or in my bed. Which is where he always is. (We don't take Bunny out anywhere except for sleepovers to prevent him from getting lost.) After looking for 15 minutes with no luck, I went to drop her things off and told her he was somewhere in the house but I couldn't find him. Her response...

"He is probably hiding from me."

For the entire weekend, I looked and looked, and then looked some more, for Bunny. I couldn't find him anywhere. And Caitlyn couldn't find him either. And no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't think of where she last left him.

I was completely devastated by last night. I was convinced that Bunny was gone from our lives forever. Caitlyn was upset. She took another bunny into bed with her last night. When I went to wake her this morning, that bunny was placed neatly on the pillow....far away from her. When she sleeps with Bunny, he is always tucked under her blankets with her, to make sure he stays warm at night. I have seen her in her sleep feel around her bed until she has located him, with her eyes closed, and pull him close to her.

I told Matt that my heart was broken for her. I really thought that this would be the stuffed animal that she has all her life. We all have something that we have had since childhood that we hold very dear to us. And this is what Bunny is for Caitlyn. When she cries, she cries to Bunny. When she plays, Bunny also has a role in whatever she is playing. No he was gone :(

When I was trying to wake her this morning (she is a beast to wake up), I figured I would look some more in her room. Because I figured that the 763 times I looked over the weekend, I hadn't done it efficiently enough. As I was picking up her sleeping bag to fold and put back on her bed, Bunny fell out!

I wanted to scream with excitement. Instead, I put Bunny on her chest and told her to open her eyes because she had a surprise visitor. When her eyes opened, they were the happiest eyes you can imagine! She pulled him so close to her and gave him the biggest hug. Then she rolled over and tried to go back to sleep much to my dismay.

When she asked me where he was hiding, I told her I found him in her sleeping bag. Her response....

"I put him there Friday night to make sure he stayed warm. I remember now Mommy."

Remembering now didn't do me any good all weekend. But I am almost certain that we will all be sleeping a little better tonight now that Bunny has returned safely.

Her First "Real" P*unishment

Caitlyn got her first real p*unishsment yesterday night. I say real only because up until now, she has only ever recieved time outs and an ocassional spsanking here and there. And by spsanking, I mean that she has gotten her butt tapped one time on only a handful of ocassions.

Last night as I was cleaning up toys, I was putting the bazillion pieces of Polly Pocket Dolls in the Polly Pocket suitcase that had to be purchased to contain the bits that are in fact produced by the devil (that sure is one hell of a run on sentence isn't it???) As I was cleaning up the pieces from hell, I discovered 2 heads of the dolls in the suitcase. The heads were certainly not attached to the bodies they belonged with. Flashes of serial killers immediately run through my mind. I mean, isn't that how they all start out? Ripping the heads off of dolls, or torturing small animals. I quickly scan the room to make sure that the cats are still alive. (Yes I know, Marten is anything but a small animal...but he's smaller than her finally.) Both cats are alive and well.

I turn to Cate and ask her how this happened. Of course she blamed it on Kelly. Who in their right mind wouldn't blame this act on another child. I call my mother and tell her what Kelly has done. I also tell her that I am not so much concerned with the act of ripping the heads of, but I am more concerned with the lack of respect for toys that I spend my hard earned money on (sounds grown up like doesn't it!). I tell my mom that she needs to let Kelly know that if I ever see anything like this again, they will not be getting toys from me...ever!

After I hang up, I ask Cate what happened with the toys. She retells the same story that Kelly gave. Well, to an extent. Only she leaves herself out of the bad parts. Kelly said that they were playing with them together and she was pulling the heads off. Which resulted in Cate's hysterical laughter. Cate says that Kelly just pulled the heads off. Here's the troubling part of the conversation:

Mom: Did you ask Kelly to stop doing that to your toys?

Cate: Yes (nodding hesitantly)

Mom: Were you laughing when Kelly was doing this?

Cate: No (shaking head hesitantly)

Mom: Are you lying to me?

Cate: blank stare with tears welling in her eyes.

Mom: Answer me. Did you ask her to stop?

Cate: Shakes her head no.

Mom: Were you laughing?

Cate: Nods her head yes.

Now, I have no patience for liars. Really, I don't. And this isn't even something major that she needed to lie about. She wasn't going to get in any kind of trouble if she had just told me the truth. Add this to the fact that she lied to me a couple weeks ago and got caught. It makes for one pissed off mother.

I tell her that she needs to come and sit next to me on the couch so that we can talk some about this. I go through the whol "boy who cried wolf" scenarios and tell her why it is bad to lie and how I may not believe her one day when it is really necessary for me to believe her. Now the tears come....fast...furious! Heavy breathing, the kind where I am almosst certain she is going to hyperventilate and pass out in 8.7 secondss flat. Before we continue the conversation, I make her calm down.

After she calms, I ask her what she thinks her p*unishment should be. Man I used to hate when my mom asked me that question. The most obvious answer is no punishment at all, that I will never do the stupid act again. But I find myself asking anyway. To which she prompltly responds.... "A time out."

I tell her no. To which she is utterly shocked. I let her know that this can't be her p*unishment as it was the p*unishment that I gave when she was caught lying a couple of weeks ago and obviously that doesn't stop her from lying.

At this point, I am at a loss for what p*unishment I really should give her. Whcih kind of made me giggle on the inside. So I call Matt into the room. While he is aware of the situation, he has not participated in any of the discussion. I ask him what he thinks the p*unishment should be. He immediately has an answer (which impresses me tremendously!). He says that she should take her bath without playing and go straight to bed. Not a big deal really, until he said this..."And she isn't watching her shows before bed. She can just go straight to sleep."

Now, asking Cate to go straight to bed without watching some Spongebob is like ripping her toenails out one by one with pliers. When she hears this, the sobbing begins all over again. Once again, I get her to calm down and she asks me if she can at least have music on. There's that need for noise that has been with her since the NICU that appears it will never leave. I agree to it, Matt is a little peeved that I do, but I explain to him that she has never liked silence in bed. He agrees.

For the remainder of the evening, she is repeating how she wishes that she could erase this and she wishes it never happened, etc. To all of these comments, my response was

"The next time you think about lying to Mommy, I want you to remember exactly how you feel this very moment. Maybe that will stop you from doing it again."

(Nice huh!)

I must say that I felt like complete shit the entire evening for doing it to her. And I was on the verge of just talking to her and giving in several times. Thankfully, I had to drive mom to work so Matt was home to put her in bed. He had to be the one to enforce it. And he was fantastic at it!! I thanked him profusely for being the one to "stay sstrong" in the situation as I was so ready to cave in.

Hopefully she has learned her lesson. Although, I am still going to zing her the next time we are shopping and she asks for a toy. I will quickly remind her that she enjoyed destroying her toys and tell her that I am not sure I sshould buy them for her. And then, if Matt isn't with us, I will probably cave and buy her the stupid toy anyway!

Happy Birthday Matt!!!

Happy birthday to my sweet husband!

Caitlyn was very excited to give Matt his gifts, which consisted of a big bag of Twizzler's, a Mr. Wonderful Doll, and a card. All of which she picked out herself. And then she suggested that we take him out to dinner. Where else? Pizza Hut of course. Cause she knows how much Daddy likes their pizza. (the fact that it's her favorite place on the planet really had no impact I'm sure)

I got matt this nifty little "bouquet" from Edible Arrangements. Nothing too feminine, just manly enough ;] Unfortunately, it's not the Charger that he wanted, but it will have to do!




Happy Birthday Matthew!!! I love you :]

The Report Card

I have decided that I just don't like Caitlyn's teacher. I have also decided that I am not going to fight anything the woman says anymore. The only saving grace she has at this point in time is that she is a phenommenal reading teacher. That is the only positive thing that I can say about her at this point in time. Part of the reason that I won't be arguing with anything she says anymore, is the fact that there are only a handful of school days left in the year, and I just want (read, need) to be done with her.

The parent teacher conference was, as usual, a huge pain in my ass. Let me just run down a list of things that she said about my kid:
1. She wishes that Caitlyn would smile more.
2. She thinks Caitlyn has a tendency to be too sensitive to things.
3. She says Caitlyn is very/easily distracted when she is working in class.
4. She feels that Caitlyn is fully prepared for first grade and will have minimal difficulty with transitioning to first grade.

Now.....number 4 is all that is keeping me sane right about now.

Let's break some of these down a bit shall we?

1. Are you telling me that my daughter is frequently unhappy? "I often have to tell her to smile and be happy," says the teacher. When I question if Cate smiles while playing, while chatting with other kids, while being read to, etc, I am assured that she does. Well, then, when isn't she smiling? "When she is working on a worksheet," says the brilliant one. Well, hmmm, maybe she is concentrating? Or better yet, maybe she doesn't smile for you because she likes you about as much as I do???? Get bent lady, my kid is happy and smiles all the damn time when she is home. Of course, when it is appropriate to do so, not just because I think she should be smiling.

2. Caitlyn is very in tune with the feelings and emotions of others around her. Very often, she mirrors what others are feeling. Caitlyn has always been the kid to cry at the drop of a hat. I don't discourage this, if it is appropriate to cry in a situation, then by all means, I am going to allow her to cry. If it isn't appropriate, say for example when the lead on her pencil breaks, then we will discuss why that is nothing to cry about. But when she has done something wrong in class, like wrestling, and she is reprimanded for it, is it wrong for her to feel guilt and then cry? I don't think so. She has disappointed an authority in the classroom, so cry, feel better, and move on with the day. But apparently, this goes hand in hand with my kid not smiling enough.

3. Saying that my daughter is easily distracted means something entirely different to me than it does to other moms. I work in special ed, and I hear "easily distracted" thrown about no less than 10 times a day. And every time that it is mentioned to me, it needs to be explored whether or not this distractibility is interferring with their ability to learn. More often than not, the answer is no, but it bothers the hell out of the teacher that the kid isn't sitting still all day. I pose this very question to Caitlyn's teacher. "Is it impacting her ability to learn and complete work in the classroom?" Teacher responds with a very quick no. She also is very quick to tell Matt and I how perfectly normal it is. Really? Then why the fuck is it noted on her report card if it is something that is within normal limits?????

Here's the scenario of Caitlyn's distractibility:
Teacher: When Caitlyn is working on a worksheet, if the child next to her starts talking, she stops what she is doing and pays attention to that student.

Classroom environment:
All children sit at circular tables.
All children are within 1 foot (12 inches folks) of each other.
Teacher has said in the past that she encourages socialization (it is after all kindergarten)

Now tell me this, if you are sitting next to someone, 12 inches from them, and they start talking, and they are your friend, do you not pay attention??? Does that make me distractable because I do?

And finally, did the kid who started talking thus distracting my kid have anything said to them?? Probably not, as I am most certain that this has escalated to nothing more than a personality conflict at this point.

Because of this personality conflict, my daughter now has 2 checks for this marking period. Making a total of 5 checks so far for the year. Kindergarten!! 5 checks!!! What is wrong with that picture.

I ask the teacher why is it that on the behavior charts that come home every day, there are smiley faces for the majority of days. These marks on the report card certainly are not reflective of those behavior charts. To which she has no answer. Rather she dicks around and beats around the bush trying to convince me that the two are unrelated. Maybe in your world lady, but not in mine.

It is at this point that I have decided to just finish out the year as peacefully as possible. It is obvious that this woman can't give explanations for marks she gives on a report. And certainly does not approve of parents asking her questions, or should I say, calling her out on her bullshit. I am almost positive that my name has been mentioned to the first grade teachers. Which should make for a fun filled second year of school. But I know that I have to go into that year without any preconcienved notions.....at least that's what I keep trying to tell myself!

On a positive note....I am super proud of my little girlie who has mastered several of the skills that are on the report card. And when she told me that she was upset about the checks, I reassured her that I didn't give a hoot about those silly checks. That they mean absolutely nothing to me and I am just happy that she is learning and thriving in that classroom.

Just Some Random Thoughts

At the playground today, Caitlyn went to run towards the slide and hit her head right on the bar used for chin ups. It would appear that she has gotten taller by about an inch since the last time she was there. She is fine, and went right on running.

My wedding video is getting more play time now than it ever has in the past. She absolutely will not stop watching it. Over. And over. And over again. I seriously need to get that thing burned to DVD before it won't play anymore.

Polly Pockets are in fact the devil's creation. No child should be allowed to want to play with these damn toys. The shoes for these dolls....yeah they're about half the size of a small pinky nail. And God forbid if Polly doesn't have matching shoes because one is missing and there is a possibility that the damn cat ate it. I refuse to look through the cat litter box for it. There are just certain things at which I draw the line.

Report card pick up is Wednesday. Typically, parents look forward to these. Me? Not so much. It would appear that I am way too critical of this goofy teacher. Really, she is goofy. It's not just me. I have asked people.

I go in on Thursday to sign my contract for next year and negotiate salary. Not looking forward to this as I have a feeling that they don't want to give me any credit for my 10 years experience. Damn the TRS to hell right now.

Do I win money at Bingo? Hell no. I win ridiculous shit like this.

The Birthday Party

Today Caitlyn went to a birthday party. Nothing unusual about that really. However, I didn't stay there with her. It was the first time that I have done that. The opportunity has arisen in the past, but I have never taken advantage of it. But this time, I decided to bite the bullet and let it happen. We've had moms drop their kids off at her parties in the past, and I would think how strange that was. To just leave your kid there, and then come back a couple of hours later to get them again.

But when I talked to the mom when I RSVP'd, she had assured me that Cate would be fine there. That she had a fenced in yard and she had a large basement that the kids would be in if they weren't outside. She also mentioned that there were going to be a lot of adults there from her family. So it was almost as if she was telling me to not come along with Caitlyn.

When I told Cate that I wasn't going to be there with her, I expected a different response than I got. She promptly simply said...."Okay Mommy." I was baffled. This child that I call my cling on, could have cared less that I wasn't going to be there with her.

I guess I should be ecstatic about that. Right? Well, it makes me a little sad to be perfectly honest. Just demonstrates to me once again that she is getting older. Not like I'm thinking she doesn't need me or anything anymore. But it's just one more step of her pulling away from me and doing things on her own.

Matt had to pick her up because I was out doing some things with Mom. And she was happy as could be when I got home. Telling me about all the wonderful things she did. Oh, and she fell down the basement stairs. She just kind of threw that in there mid sentence. See, had I been there, that wouldn't have happened! But she was quick to tell me that she didn't cry and it hardly hurt as she only fell on her butt.

Later when I was giving her a bath, I immediately started thinking about all of the things that could have happened to her because I wasn't there. Things like an overly touch unlce, or a not so nice to play with cousin. All horrific things to me. I figured I couldn't come right out and ask her if anyone was "overly nice" to her or mean for that matter either. So I tried to beat around the bush. And all of her answers were perfectly acceptable. Which put my mind at ease.

So I guess this is the start of a new trend with the girlie. I would imagine that after a few parties I will start to look forward to the time by myself. Right??? Right????




.......and as a side note, I only drove by that silly party once to check on her in the backyard and she was having a ball. Despite not wearing her jacket like I told her to.

I Forgot

Silly me! In all the excitement about posting about my new job, I completely forgot to post pics and tell you about the girl's Easter. This year, for some reason, I didn't take pics of her coloring eggs. Not sure why I didn't, but I think it's because she was so into coloring the eggs with me, that I was completely engaged in the activity with her and never even thought about anything else. Or I am just a bad mom for not thinking about it. But I certainly do like the first explanation better.

Caitlyn loved loved loved coloring the eggs this year. She was all creative as far as what colors she was going to use and how she was going to mix the colors and precisely what color should be put on the egg first. She colored a total of 18. Normally, there aren't that many, but this year there were no casualties in the boiling process. So she got all of them, and no complaints from her about that.

When we were done coloring eggs, she decided that she wanted to write the Easter Bunny a letter. Which went a like this:
Hepe Estr
Luve Caitlyn

Nothing better than inventive spelling! If you need translating: Happy Easter Love Caitlyn. But it looks pretty much like it sounds I suppose.

Easter morning, Caitlyn woke up to a basket filled with goodies and ann empty egg carton. It didn't take her long to find all of the eggs. She had some trouble with a few of the more difficult ones, but she was able to find them all on her own. I am thinking that it's going to get increasinglly difficult to find new places to hide these eggs. We may have to expand to more rooms that just the living room and dining room.

For the next 4 hours or so, Caitlyn hung out watching TV and eating far too much candy and chocolate. But hey, that's what holidays are all about I suppose. She got to eat the goods and chill out while I cooked and finished up the cleaning. Once that was all done, it was bath time. And then she was FINALLY able to get into her dress. Which I do think that she asked me every 7 minutes if she could get dressed. From the time that she woke up until the time that I actually got her dressed.

And here is the end result:


You see, everything is a super model pose these days. She can't just stand there nicely for me to take a picture. She has to pose for it. Very often I have to tell her to just leave her hands at her side and let me take the damn picture. But she insisted on modeling the dress for me. And nothing I said could convince her otherwise.

I Got It!!

Stunned. This is what I am. I got the call from the assistant superintendent yesterday evening that I was the team's number one choice of the interviewees! How's that for spanking my ego ;) He said he just needed to call and check my references and that he would get back to me today to officially offer me the position.

Did I talk to him today? Well of course I didn't. I was helping Tutti clear up some bullshit at work that she is encountering. So my phone was on vibrate, and I had no idea that he called. So I called to leave a message to call me again tomorrow. Hopefully it doesn't make me sound like too much of a fool.

The one thing that needs to be squared away is how many years of experience they will give me. They are able to give up to 8, I have 10. However, none of my positions have been in "certified" positions. Basically what that means is that my certificate has been in an "exempt" status for the last 10 years. Current, but inactive. Which technically really isn't the case, but on paper that's what it looks like. So I am not sure how much negotiating on salary I am going to be able to do. Even if they can't give me the full 8 years, I would like something. Cause 10 years is a lot to just toss out the window.

In other news, Caitlyn is celebrating her "fake birthday" tomorrow at school. Because her birthday falls in the summer, she won't be in school for it. So like last year, the teacher puts on a little production for them so that the kid can experience what the other kids whose birthdays occur during the school year experience. Which is wonderful....unless you're a mom like me who completely forgets that this will be happening tomorrow. And you haven't purchased any cupcakes or anything for the kid to distribute. But fear not, Tutti ran right out and purchased 30 mini cupcakes for the girl. So all is right in her world now. And she has forgiven my ignorance ;)

It's gone!

So the antibiotic coupled with the inhaler has done the trick. The girlie is feeling much much better. And she is coughing so infrequently now, back to normalcy and niceness :)

Danny has made his way home and is on the road to recovery. Amazing how quickly kids can bounce back from major surgery isn't it?

My second interview is scheduled for this coming Monday at 1:30. I believe that there are 2 other people interviewing for the same position. At least that's what it seems since the girl who called said that she has 2 other people to schedule on that day. Or there are more and they have scheduled them on another day. Or I am just thinking way to much into it and I shouldn't worry about how many other people are interviewing?

It has been decided that Easter dinner will be at my house this year. Typically it is at Mary's house (Danny's mom). However, due to the recent events of surgery and Jack developing pink eye, it would seem to be the wisest option to just have it here. Which is kind of nice. Then we don't have to worry about leaving the house at all. So that's nice. The downside, I need to clean the hell out of my house. It really is quite the scary sight. And I do believe that the dust bunnies are rallying to overthrow me.

The 6 hour ER Stint

It would appear that the cough I thought would just go away, isn't. Last night around 6ish, Caitlyn started with her uncontrollable hacking again. Which of courses prompted vomitting, always fun. I tried calling her doctor to see what we shoudl do, and his phone was busy...for over 30 minutes! I am thinking that there was something really wrong with his phone line? So I told Matt that we were just going to Lutheran General and calling it a night. Caitlyn's doc is not out of that hospital, but they do have a pediatric emergency room, which is why I go there instead. Not to mention the fact that her doc is out of Christ, which would mean going 45 minutes away to the ER....seems silly to me.

They did get us in right away, which I was thankful for. But of course, in true Caitlyn fashion, she didn't cough a bit for the first hour that we were there. And why would she really? There is nothing near as fun as making your parents look like complete fools in front of medical experts.

The first person to see her was a student. He couldn't hear anything strange going on in her lungs, and figured she was just beginning the flu. Then the "real" doc came in the follow up his exam. Hmmm...different story from him altogether. Seems he could hear the wheezing and also noted that she had some coarse sounds on the right side, more than likely beginning stages of pneumonia. So we headed down for a chest xray. Which Caitlyn thoroughly loved. And the fact that the techncian let her see the images was certainly an added bonus.

Once back in the room, she was given a neb treatment. Through our rose colored glasses we were fairly certain this was going to be the cure all. Not so much. It helped. For all of about 7.2 minutes. Then began the extreme hacking again. Shortly after, they decided another neb treatment would certainly do the trick. But see, they don't know how my kid loves to skew the odds.

The second one seemed to be going along nicely. Well, that's until she decided to throw up from the either the taste of it of the plastic in her mouth. Not sure. Either way, she now how vomit ladden clothes and was still coughing. This spurred some interest from the doctors though :P After cleaning her up, we finished the treatment and were told we needed to hang around some so they could watch her.

An hour later, the doc comes back in and says that he is prescribing an antibiotic because he is worried about the coarse sounds on the right side turning into pneumonia. He also prescribed some more albuterol. Which I won't be filling, as I just refilled one for her since her last canister expired.

She sounds the same this morning, hopefully the abx will kick the hell out of whatever is going on. If not, she may just cough for the rest of her life. She is terribly sad not to be at school today though, as it was supposed to be her fake birthday celebration. Since she isn't in school for her actual birthday, they do a fake one for the summer kids. I have reassured her that she will have her fake birthday after spring break though and she seems ok about that...only slightly pissed off I guess.

I must mention though, a funny that occurred in the hospital. Typically, doctors seem to talk to moms like they have a significantly lower IQ than the rest of the walking upright world. This doc however, whom I adored, spoke to Matt as though he were certainly learning disabled. At first I thought it was a fluke, but everytime the man spoke to Matt, he looked at him like Matt could barely understand the English language. And it wasn't just me noticing it, Matt asked me as well if it was just his imagination that this was happening. I reassured him that it was not! So now when I talk to Matt about Caitlyn, I am making sure to speak in slow sentences with easy to understand words so as not to confuse him ;]

Danny Boy

Caitlyn's cousin Danny has Biliary Atresia He was diagosed with it when he was about 8 weeks old. I would go into the entire story of it, but I would do it no justice. Suffice it to say, danny can get sick very quickly. Luckily, with lots of prayers he has managed to do outstanding for the past almost 7 years. Up until this weekend. His mom took him to the emergency room because he had been throwing up quite a bit. To make a long story short, it turns out he had a bowel obstruction. Which I know now is not uncommon in children with this condition.

Danny ended up having to have surgery the other day and is since doing much better. Caitlyn on the other hand is beside herself that he most favorite cousin on the planet is in the hospital. To make matters worse, she can't go see him. She is just too sick to be around a kid who is sicker. So I told her what she needed to do was say lots of prayers that Danny gets better soon.

I have never asked Caitlyn to pray for anyone, or anything. And I never thought that I had to explain to her how to do it. I just figured she would know how I guess. Well it would appear that she doesn't quite understand the process based on the barrage of questions I got regarding the topic. To name my favorite questions:

1. How can God hear me when heaven is so far away?
2. Is God watching over Danny in the hospital?
3. Did Grandma rita pray for me when I was in the hospital?

After some lengthy explanations regarding prayer, explanations that a 5 year old can understand, she assured me that she was in fact praying long and hard for him. When I found out that Danny is getting better and stronger, I let her know that her prayers must be working.

Now that we have the prayer business out of the way, I just wish there was a way to control the sudden outbursts of crying that occur. She is so worried about him, and no matter what I tell her, I don't think her fears are going to be put to rest until she sees him at home and comfortable....I guess that's the case for all of us though.

Inhaler or Over the Counter Meds??

The girl is doing well. She seems to be battling a cough right now. I am always so torn as to whether I should go with the over the counter cough medicine or start with the inhaler. I try to "treat" and be invasive as little as I possibly can. So for the first couple of days of the cough, I usually stay away from it. Hoping that it will just go away on it's own. It's when it starts interferring with the sleep that I have a tendency to intervene. Cause interferrance with Cate's sleep equates the same for me. And we all know that I am not a big fan of that.

Either way, I started with the inhaler for a couple of days in the hopes that maybe it was just seasonal. After 2 days of the thing not leaving and the inhaler not helping so much, we moved to the night time, make me sleepy, cough medicine. And now that is seeming to help. So let's just hope that it isn't a recurrence of the crap that she had last month.

Her cough seems to be getting a little wet now, not so much the dry barky cough that she had. So whatever is in there is loosening up. I just wish now that she would learn to spit the crap out versus swallowing it back down. But that is a skill that must be learned it appears.

The interview went very well. At least I think it did, I guess the guy interviewing me could have a completely different perspective on it huh? I did find out though at the very beginning of the interview, that it isn't a position like I currently hold. Rather it is more of a supervisory position. Very strange to me, but what the hell, I'm game! I'll give it a go if offered the opportunity.

The person also informed me that having the references that I did have, carry a lot of weight. Which I kind of knew, which is why I asked one person in particular for a letter of recommendation. Having her speak highly of you means a lot to prospective employers. So I was very grateful that she was willing to write a letter for me.

I was assured that I have made it to the next round of interviews. Rounds? Didn't know there were rounds, but I guess I am glad that I have made it to the next of the said rounds. Would have been much nicer if I had been offered the job right there on the spot right? But I will take what I can get. So another week or so of my being horribly nervous!

Tomorrow is the day

First off...I am officially on spring break....woooohoooo! Technically, it is supposed to start tomorrow, but I took a personal day. The nice thing is, Caitlyn and Matt aren't off next week, so I get the house to myself. ALL.DAY!! Sweet :)

My interview is tomorrow at 2:30. I am really nervous about this one for some reason. But I am thinking that I will be fine once I am in there and not having to dwell over what they will be asking me or anything like that.

Fingers crossed it goes well!

I am getting used to the hair. It's hard, but I am coping. I am fairly certain that in a few weeks, it will seem like it has always been like this. Until then though.....

The New Hair

I went to get my haircut today. I also got it relaxed. There is nothing relaxed about it....it is straight! Which is so strange to me, having had wild curly hair my entire life. the bangs are also gone. GONE!!! they blend in with the rest of my hair now. Which is even stranger than the straightness as far as I am concerned. I have also noticed that I have a very large forehead. Not sure if I really thought this whole change of hair thing all the way through really. Or if I just need to get used to the bigness of my head. My family likes it. But can they really say that they don't? I mean, aren't they supposed to say it's nice no matter what it looks like??

Here's the conversation that took place with Caitlyn upon my arrival home from the salon:

C: You look like a whole new Mommy!
N: Do you like it baby?
C: It looks very nice Mommy.

.......several hours later as we are sitting at home:

C: I might get confused Mommy.
N: Confused about what?
C: Cause I am used to you with curly hair and bangs.
N: Well I'm still Mommy just with different hair.
C: (crying now) But I like my old Mommy.

Yeah....I feel much better about the hair after that damn exchange!

Visitors

My cousin and her husband along with her 2 children were in over the weekend from Alabama. We haven't seen them in about 2 years so it was wonderful seeing them. Caitlyn loved playing with her cousins and we all hung out for a few hours befor they had to head out again.

Caitlyn asked me later why Stephanie "talks like a cowgirl." LOL Even after I tried to explain to her that it's because of where she lives, it still wasn't making sense to her. But she did tell me that she wanted to be able to talk like that as well. So I am almost certain that within the next few days she will suddenly develop a southern accent.

She is getting a cough again, which irritates me to no end. Hopefully though it is just the change in the weather and some seasons allergies. I am going to give her some of her inhaler for the next few days and see if that helps. I am thinking it's related to the weather because there are no other symptoms at all. Fingers crossed the inhaler does the trick and we aren't heading back to a cold like the one that she had a few weeks ago.

Matt took me shopping yesterday for a new suit for my interview. He was so wonderfully patient with me the entire time. I was really preparing myself for a battle before the trip was over, but that didn't happen. He was actually helpful by looking for the right size for me and picking out ones that he thought I would like. To say the least, he shocked me with his patience. He even helped me pick out shoes! Stunning!

Only 3 more days of work until Spring Break!!!

A very long overdue update

So there has been much going on here in the land of the Walshes. The reason for the recent hiatus from the blog has been more personal than anything. Matt and I have been doing some "housekeeping" so to speak. And in order to focus on that entirely, I had to forego the computer. And now that we are done cleaning up our house and things are starting to get back to normal, I think I am ready to begin telling the tales of my girlie again. Of which there are many as usual.

For starters, we have lost another tooth. And the tooth fairy came to visit again, leaving another $5.00. It's the tooth right next to the one that was lost first. So she is now missing her front 2 bottom teeth. And it is funny to hear her pronounce certain words, cause her tongue slides through the gap now. It's funny, you never really think about how much your tongue really does when you pronounce certain words. So when she is trying to sound out words when she is reading, they don't always sound right :P I am sure once she gets used to it, she will compensate for it. At least I hope she will.

She is still loving ballet and is now saying that she wants to be a ballerina when she grows up :) Her recital is the first weekend in June and we got to see the costumes that they are wearing....OH.MY.GOD are they adorable!!! Little pink fitted bodice and full tutu! Expect loads of pics for that!

Some interesting news for me, I filled out an application online on a complete whim. I really only did it because they weren't asking for a resume to be submitted at the time of applying, so I figured what the hell? Well, 16 minutes after I hit the submit button, the assistant superintendant was emailing me asking me to come in for an interview 2 days later! I couldn't do that since I was doing a training that day, but we were able to schedule it for the 23rd! And I am starting to think that it was a blessing in disguise, because there are huge changes happening at my co-op right now. So, hopefully this will work out for me!

Matt is in his master's program and it is in full swing now. It monopolizes a lot of his time, but he is hanging in there and doing well. I haven't had to "help" him out too much, which is good for me. I do worry though about what will happen during football season. He is always so crunched for time anyway during football, and I worry that he will end up falling behind in the classes. But I think he is determined enough to do well and finish the program, so he will certainly be giving it his all.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming now, and hopefully no more month long wait for updates :)

The BIG Question

It happened today. And it stopped me in my tracks. Here's the scene:

C=Caitlyn, M=Mommy

Caitlyn on the floor coloring a picture for her teacher.
C: Mommy, 2 T's mean you're pregnant right?

M: (Very confused) What do you mean Cate?

C: (obviously frustrated with my ignorance) Mom, when there are 2 T's on the scale it means you're pregnant! Right?

M: Who taught you that?

C: You did Mommy.

M: No Cate, I didn't. When do you think I told you that?

C: You told me Mommy, remember?

M: I really don't remember ever telling you that Cate. A scale tells you how much you weigh, not if you're pregnant or not.

C: You told me that 2 T's on the scale is how you get pregnant mom.

(Mom....very frightened with the conversation that I see coming my way)

M: No hunny, you don't get pregnant that way. (The second I said it, I knew the question was coming and I wanted to kick myself right in my big ass for saying it.)

C: Then how do you get pregnant Mommy?

M: That is a conversation that we will have when you are in the bathtub tonight. (This way I could think of a good explanation that I think she will understand.)

Caitlyn knows that she was in my belly before she was born. She knows that they had to cut Mom's bell because I got sick and they had to get her out. She knows that she was very sick as an infant and had to stay in the hospital. She knows that Mommy can get sick again if she has another baby in there.

Up to this point, when Caitlyn has questioned how she got into my belly to begin with, I have always told her that od put her there. That she was a miracle and a gift from God to me and Daddy because he knew that we wanted a baby. So he decided to give her to us.

I'm not so sure that she is buying this explanation anymore. I am thinking that she wants more. How much more is the question? I am mulling it over and when she is in the tub tonight (in about 15 minutes) we will be discussing it. God help me!

I am thinking that she is talking to dear Kelly a bit too much about things that just aren't appropriate for a 5 and 10 year old to be talking about. She told me today that Kelly told her that as a baby she was dying. So Cate wanted to know why she was dying when she was only a baby. I had to assure her that she wasn't dying, that she was just very sick. Which she already knew, but Kelly went ahead and threw in the word dying which makes it that much more scary to Caitlyn. I may need to have a chat with my mom and with Kelly about what they are discussing when they are together.

Can't wait to see how this one pans out!

Rambling

Caitlyn seems to be feeling better this morning. She went back to school yesterday and she is there today so I am thinking that it was a short lived cold. Fingers crossed! She doesn't have school tomorrow so she will be able to sleep in, provided she gets to have a sleep over at my mom's. That's one of the added benefits of living only 3 blocks from your mother ;) It is wonderful when she can spend the night there and I can get up and only worry about getting myself ready for work. You completely take that for granted before you have children. Then when they come along and you find yourself rushing like a maniac every single morning, you realize just how wonderful it was to only have to worry about making sure you were ready in the morning!

Wow that was a tangent....so she is feeling better and I am hoping that the cough is not on it's way. I get so scared whenever this child gets a cough. I am convinced that she is going to end up in the hospital needing assistance for breathing! Not that it has ever happened, and we have only ever been to the emergency room once for breathing since she has been home from the NICU. But the second this child starts coughing, I imagine vents and tubes and blah blah blah. Matt thinks I am crazy, I don't think so, I think he is too lax....whatever. So hopefully there will be no cough since one hasn't started yet!

So 2 weeks ago at ballet, there was a lady there taking measurements for the girls' costumes that they will be wearing for the recital in June. Because Caitlyn has always been so skinny, I wanted to chat with her about the size charts that they provided for us to choose from. Technically, Caitlyn's waist is about a size 3 or 4. However, he length is a size 6 at least! Not too easy to buy clothes for. So I asked the woman and she said that she was certain bassed on Caitlyn's measurements that she would fit in a size 4-6. So we will see. I am hoping that I don't have to have it altered before the show.

There was a grandmother sitting on the bench next to me when I was talking to the measuring lady about Cate's measurements. After the measuring lady left (yes measuring lady is a technical term), the grandmother leans over to me and we have the strangest conversation that I have ever had with another parent! (we'll call her G for Grandmother)

G: My granddaughter is smaller than your daughter??
She says this with such disbelief in her voice that I was really quite shocked by it. Only because she made it seem as though Caitlyn was abnormally small...which she is not.

N: (looking at her sheet with the numbers written on it) It seems that way.
It is then that I realize that I don't want any part of this conversation....I can see where it's going and size conversations with people who have no idea about Caitlyn's history are just not worth my time anymore.

G: Well my granddaughter doesn't look smaller than your daughter. Your daughter looks much skinnier than her.

N: (somewhat of a giggle as to indicate that she is acting like an ass) Caitlyn is skinny, but she is tall. It has always been that way. I am sure that your granddaughter will fit nicely into the costume.

G: How old is your daughter? Cause my granddaughter is 4, almost 5, so I don't think she should be smaller.

N: My daughter is 5, almost 6, so I am pretty sure that it's ok for your granddaughter to be smaller than a child who is over a year older than her. And really, my daughter started out her life very tiny at only 18 ounces, so considering that starting point, I think she is doing pretty well in the size department.

It was at that point that I got up from the bench and walked away. The grandmother has not been back. I don't know who the little girl's mother is as I sit there and actually enjoy reading a book for leisure while I am there as opposed to chatting it up with the other mothers. But I do hope that I offended that woman a fraction of how much she offended me. I was very confused as to why she was so upset that her granddaughter, at over a year younger, was smaller than Cate. I mean, she should be smaller right? I think I was more upset by the fact that this woman must have thought that Caitlyn looked ridiculously skinny in her leotard. Which pisses me off even more! Cause frankly, the kid looks damn cute in the thing :P

You can look at Caitlyn and think that she is quite slim. But I don't look at her anymore as though she is underweight. I used to, but I haven't for quite some time now. She is on the charts, well near the 40th percentile now, so she can't look too different from her peers I suppose. And for height, she is way above that on the chart. So I don't think that people could look at Caitlyn anymore and wonder why she is so thin like they used to.

Either way, the woman was a complete asshole if you ask me. And hopefully she will not be returning to take her granddaughter to ballet. Even more so, if she does return, I do hope that she doesn't want to have a conversation with me about anything. Cause I certainly have no intentions of being polite to her.

Will get some pictures of the girl in the leotard soon. Here is one of my new faves of my girlie



We are going to see Dinsey on Ice Princess Wishes tomorrow. The girl is way excited about that. And I am way excited to go and take pictures with my fancy new camera. It is amazing the features that you get in a camera when you spend a little more (or a lot more) money on it! The software that it comes with is so easy to use! And it has some really fun features for photo editing. So I am excited about it to say the least. I am trying to teach Caitlyn how to take pictures with it as well. Not sure if that's a good plan or a bad one yet!

Sick Sick Sick

Poor girl :( She is so stuffy and runny. I don't understand how one so small can produce so much snot? It truly must be one of the great mysteries of the world. Perhaps up there with the 7 wonders, no?

I saw it coming on Sunday. I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. No such luck. We are home from school today because of it. Normally that would be a splendid thing. However, I have such a busy week this week and now I have to cram it all into only 3 more days. I tried doing some of the work from home today, but there is only so much that can get done with a 5 year old constantly asking for juice, or something to eat, or for me to change the channel on the television. I am trying to get her to "rest" on the couch...no such luck. I could tie her down I suppose to keep her there, but I hear that the authorities frown upon that?

Part of the reason that I want her better quick is becaue we are going to see Disney on Ice Princess Wishes this Friday. Naturally I pay out of my ass for these tickets for the better seats. So I don't want her to miss it (nor do I want to lose the money). Though I suppose if I had to, I could get close to the same amount for them that I paid if I sold them on eBay? But I am fairly certain that she will be better by then. So send as many get well vibes to the land of the Walshes if you would please ;)

Go Bears!

Onward we go to the Superbowl in a few weeks!!

Caitlyn left her tooth in the pocket of her "Tooth Fairy Pillow" and is now the proud owner of a crisp 5 dollar bill :) She wants me to take her to the Disney Store so that she can buy a new toy. Normally, she puts her money in her bank, but I figure that she can spend this and future tooth fairy money on herself. So this week we will be heading to the Disney Store so she can spend her new found fortune. Can you even buy anything in there for under $5??? I am sure this will end up costing me more money in the long run.

Matt had the opportunity to go to the Bears game today with access to the Cadillac Club at the stadium. However, he turned them down. Nuts you say? well so do I. But he had his sports banquet this morning and didn't want to not be there for his players. Dedication is the only word that comes to my mind. The banquet was wonderful and we all had a good time. Hopefully he won't be too remorseful in the morning.

It Finally Fell Out!!

Well, I guess fell isn't really the right word...since Daddy pulled it out. But it was ready and hanging on by one of those little gummy threads (eww I know). Caitlyn wasn't too scared when Matt was going to pull it. I had reassured her that it wouldn't hurt and she probably wouldn't even feel it. I had to let her know that there was going to be a little blood, cause she gets freaked out about blood. I guess I don't see a medical profession in her future huh??

Matt gave it one little tug, and out it came. There was MINIMAL bleeding, thank God, and no tears what so ever. Once it was out, she didn't even realize that Matt had pulled it out ;) She is so psyched!

We had to clear up a couple misconceptions though. She was under the impression that she would be able to see the new tooth immediately. I told her that it wasn't underneath it just yet. To which she promptly replied that the Tooth Fairy would just "zap" one in there with her wand tonight when she makes her visit. Ummm, no. So we had to have a discussion about a new tooth needing to grow in there. She is a little bummed about that. But as soon as she sees the new one coming in I am sure she will be able to understand it a little better.

Here are some pics of the new gap in the pretty smile of hers:

Musings of a little girl

Several funnies that have come out of her mouth in the past week:

On making cotton candy
C: Mom how do they make cotton candy?
N: with lots and lots of sugar.
C: I think they use cat fur and add sugar and water. And it tastes so good that you don't even know it's cat fur.

(yuck!)

On Fathers
N: (to Caitlyn while hugging her) I am so glad that God gave you to me for a daughter.
C: (hugging me) I am so glad God gave me you as my mother.

.....pause as she thinks for a moment.

C: I am so glad that God gave me Daddy as my father.

.....pause to think again.

C: (pulling away from me and putting her hand by her mouth as though she is trying to whisper) You know Mom, God is really everyone's Father though right?

Switching things up a bit

So I upgraded my account...pretty much because they tell you to. So I figured I would get a new template as well. Well now, all of the fun little things that I had added are gone. But see, I anticipated that. So I quickly copied and pasted all of the html into a word document first. Sounds brilliant right??? Yeah well I thought so too. Until I discovered that this fancy new version of Blogger no longer requires html to add all those fun little things I had. So now I have to figure out where in the hell to add them with this new version. All the fun is mine. If it can't be located easily, well then let's just say that there will be nothing added ;)

I am not thoroughly convinced that this is the template that I am going to stick with either. So don't be surprised if in the next few days it changes about 400 times. So I guess it's a good thing that I can't figure out how to change anything cause if I change or add a link I will probably change templates and lose the damn thing again. It all balances out I suppose.

The silly tooth of Caitlyn's still hasn't fallen out. It's been over a week now. And she won't wiggle it, with her finger or her tongue. She says it feels funny. Love those sensory issues huh? But she will let me wiggle it, and it is getting looser...slowly but surely. By the time this stupid tooth falls out, there will be another one right behind it ready to come out as well.

Ballet

Caitlyn started ballet today at the park district. And she absolutely loved it! The best part of the entire thing was that she got to wear her leotard and tights and ballet slippers. After all, isn't that what really matters when you are participating in any sport???

She wishes I was an octopus

I was cutting Caitlyn's dinner this evening. And in true Caitlyn fashion, she was asking me to take her sweater off while I was cutting. After telling her that she needed to just wait until I was done with what I was doing she leaves the room. That's when I hear:

"I wish you were an octopus. Then you could take my sweater off and cut my food at the same time."

As opposed to her taking the stpid sweater off by herself???

A loose tooth

It's official! The days of toddlerdom are gone now. Caitlyn has her first loose tooth. It's one of the bottom ones. Surprisingly enough, it's actually her very first tooth that came in as an infant. Since the day that Cate has turned 5, she has been asking me when her teeth are going to start falling out. So needless to say, she is very excited. Although, I do think that I am tad bit more excited than she is ;)

She had a sleepover at Grama Rita's last night and when she was brushing her teeth this morning she told Grama that her tooth was hurting her. Lo and behold, Grama wiggled it...and it is really wiggling in there. I think it's hysterical that she didn't even realize it and had to be told that she had a loose tooth.

So now my biggest fear is that it will fall out at school and get lost or she will end up swallowing it, or some other tragedy to ruin the perfect goodness of it all. So I am thinking that in about 2 days I will make her eat an apple to help things along :)

Some Christmas Pics

Just realized that I didn't post any of these, so I will take care of that now. The girl had a fantabulous Christmas...receiving an obscene amount of new toys. She got a few boardgames that she absolutely loves (and mom doesn't mind playing so much either :P), she got her Barbie guitar which was a huge hit, the moonsand came, which she promptly said looks much easier to use on tv than it really is, along with a slew of other toys that I am certain will be forgotten in a month's time.









And finally, the Christmas dress. She looked like such a little angel in it this year. It's hard to believe just how grown up she is looking these days. Long gone are the baby pudgy cheeks and such :(

Matt's Christmas Present to Himself

Last night while Caitlyn was at Grandma Rita's, Matt and I headed over to Jade Dragon Tattoo to get this little goodie. It is something that we had been thinking about doing for a year or so. And the other day Matt finally decided that it was time.

It is an exact replica of her footprints that were taken when she was about 2 weeks old. Everyone in the place was in awe that her feet were so tiny. We had people coming up to us and asking us if we really had a 1 pound baby, I guess it is a little shocking if you have never come across such a teeny one :P

Caitlyn is absolutely thrilled with it. She keeps asking Matt if she can look at it and she just stares and stares. Both Matt and I are very pleased with how it came out. So pleased that he is already talking about getting another one :S

Merry Christmas to you

Merry Christmas to my girlie and my husband! It has been a wonderful morning and I am sure the day is only going to get better. Caitlyn is so very excited this year and it is such an awesome thing to watch! Christmas is now meaning something so very different to me than it ever has before as I watch her excitement.

I hope that everyone has a fantastic day celebrating their own miracles today.

The Winter Assembly

Caitlyn had her winter assembly on Tuesday. Her class sang "Must Be Santa" and I must say that despite all of the words in the song, they really did a fantastic job.

Caitlyn wore the cutest little jumper (that I snagged at Kohl's at quite the discount). I think she was more excited to wear the dress than she was about singing on stage. The teacher also had santa hats for all of the kids.

We have also finally signed up for ballet. Which the girl is wayyyyy psyched about. She prances around the house on a daily basis telling me that she is practicing for dance class. She has also made it a point to tell anyone and everyone who will listen that she is starting dance class in January. In June, they have a recital, which I can't wait for ;)

Here are some pictures from the assembly....Christmas pictures to follow after the holiday.

Before we left the house


In line to go on stage


Singing "ho ho ho" with her arms out as Santa's belly (can you even find her in the middle there??? I really need a camera with a better zoom)

Zoo Lights

The weather here has been unseasonably warm again. So this past weekend we took advantage of it and headed off to Brookfield Zoo on Saturday. Every year, they decorate the entire zoo with tons and tons of Christmas lights. Of course, it was terribly crowded, because everyone in the city and surrounding suburbs had the exact same idea as us. But a fantastic time was had by all.

On the lion at the entrance (don't all kids who live in Chicago have a pic of themsselves on this lion???)


In the belly of a kangaroo


The giant ornament


And of course they had tons of "creatures" to take pictures with


On the buffalo


Even Uncle Bobby wanted to get on the buffalo (yeah, he's an adult?)

Deck the Halls

Caitlyn is singing Christmas songs like mad these days. Yesterday she was singing Deck the Halls. It went a little something like this...

"Deck the hall with balls on journey."

I will never hear that song without thinking of the incorrect words again.

Learning to Read

Caitlyn is learning to read this year in kindergarten. And I have to say, it really is an amazing process to watch unfold! Before she started school this year, she was able to read and spell a few words. But now she is really making the connection between letters and sounds. Everytime she says a word or gets a pencil in her hand, she is trying to sound out words and spell them on her own. And it's even more amazing when we are out and about and she sees a word thst she knows and she gets all excited cause she can read it. So everywhere we go now, she is looking for words that she can read.

Here's an example...I put on a shirt yesterday that said "let it snow." And when she was standing in front of me, she yells out "IT!!!" All excited and proud of herself cause she read what was on my shirt.

In school, they are allowed to sign up to bring in a book and read it to the class. Naturally, being who she is, Cate had to be the first to sign up. SO she brought in one of her phonics, I can read, books. And sheh most certainly did stand up there and read the entire thing to the class! Now she is on the hunt every night for a book that she can take to school and read to her friends.

Painting the Town

Caitlyn is so very excited about Christmas this year. And not just the getting gifts part, she is truly excited for all of the decorations and the parties, and basically everything that encompasses Christmas. Yesterday we were driving to the store and from the back seat I hear "Oh my God!" in this squealy sounding voice. She tried telling me something and I couldn't even understand what in the world she was saying through all the giddiness in her voice. Finally I told her to slow down and tell me what she was so psyched over.

"Mommy they are even decorating the town for Christmas!"

With the largest cheesy ass grin I have ever seen in my life, she was in awe of the lights that were on the trees and lamp posts on the busy street! Now mind you, we were right outside the mall, and they always decorate those for the holidays. However, when we pulled away from the mall and into the suburb across the street, they too had decorated their trees and lamp posts. So in her mind, she now thinks that Chicago decorates the "town."

So we here in Chicago are under a winter storm warning. The funny thing is, besides the fact that it was near 60 out for the last 5 days, is that my mother said this was going to happen. And not just because she was being pessimistic or anything. When we went to bingo on Monday, she had mentioned that this is the same exact weather pattern that we had before the blizzard of 1967. Well, if you know my mom, you know that she can sometimes spew information that she really has no idea about. But it had me curious. And lo and behold, upon googling "blizzard 1967" it was, in fact, damn near 60 the few days prior to the storm. Hmmm. Either or, I am thinking that we are going to get a punch in the face with this snow. We have had some pretty mild winters here the last few years and I am thinking it's time for that wonderful woman we call Mother Nature to once again let us know exactly who is in charge.

Mother of the Year

This would be the award that I would not be getting! Besides the fact of being horribly neglectful here, I am awaiting the call from DCFS.

Caitlyn comes into our bed every morning. And really, this isn't a big deal to either of us. She isn't allowed to come in until the sun is up (or she would be in there as soon as we were). If she comes in before the sun is up, I can usually shag her back to her own room. Typically, she comes in around the time that Matt is getting up for work, so it works out nicely.

Sunday morning she comes in as usual. I hadn't gone to bed until almost 4 am, apparently some insomnia issues going on. It must have been somewhere around 6 or 7 that she came in asking to get in bed with us. Now, I don't know what I was dreaming about or how deeply I was sleeping, and at the time, I wasn't fully functional. Though, I can see it all very vividly now.

Caitlyn: Mommy can I get into bed with you?

Mom: leans out of bed (had to really stretch) and slaps child square on the cheek. Then lies back down to resume sleeping.

Caitlyn: Look of horror and shock, graps cheek, begins crying.

Mom: Realizing what I have just done to my poor girly, swoops her up and starts kissing and hugging and apologizing....profusely.

Joke of the entire day (by Matt of course)....

"Caitlyn don't _________ or Mom might slap you in the face."

(asshole)

Soccer Banquet and a Halloween Party

Caitlyn has finished the soccer season. They had a banquet on Saturday and the kids were allowed to wear their Halloween costumes. It is supposed to rain here on Halloween so I am glad that she was able to get another chance to wear the costume without having to worry about wearing a coat with it.

The coach gave all the kids trophies. And Cate is chatting nonstop about getting her very first trophy. Anyone that will listen to her gets an earful about how this is her first trophy and how excited she is.
Here she is with her trophy and Maya (her new best friend).


Here she is in her costume. Notice the smile. Her newest "thing" is that she doesn't want to show her teeth when she smiles. And when I ask her to, I get this weird looking face. Not sure what is going on with that, but hopefully she is out of it by the time school pictures roll around.


We also went to a Haunted House after the banquet. She was just dying to go to one...so we finally caved and took her. I picked one that I knew would be short, both waiting in line and walking through the house. So we chose the one at the police station. It took all of about 37 seconds of her being in there before she cried and said she wanted to leave. Luckily, the entire thing was only 2 minutes long. So I held her and kind of stayed back from the group so that everything coming out would scare them and not us. When it was over, she said it wasn't that bad, But I don't think that she will be asking to go to another one anytime soon.
Here she is outside in line for it (again with the goofy ass smile).


Other than that, not a whole lot going on in our worlds right now. Parent teacher conferences are coming up in a couple of weeks. That should be loads of fun. We got the note to sign up for them telling us that each will last about 8 minutes??? Most ridiculous thing I have ever heard in my life. But I will go along with the program and if my conference "just happens" to last longer than the 8 minutes, oh well.

Courtesy of my Papa

REVENGE

An old man and woman were married for many years, even though they hated each other. When they had a confrontation, screaming and yelling could be heard deep into the night.



The old man would shout, "When I die, I will dig my way up and out of the grave and come back and haunt you for the rest of your life!"



Neighbors feared him. They believed he practiced black magic, because of the many strange occurrences that took place in their neighborhood. The old man liked the fact that he was feared.



To everyone's relief, he died of a heart attack when he was 68. His wife had a closed casket at the wake. After the burial, she went straight to the local bar and began to party as if there was no tomorrow.



Her neighbors, concerned for her safety, asked, "Aren't you afraid that he may indeed be able to dig his way up and out of the grave and come back to haunt you for the rest of your life?"

The wife put down her drink and said, "Let him dig. I had him buried upside down......."

Mr. T

This has got to be the funniest thing I have seen in a loooong time.

Catching Up

Well, I met with the teacher the day after the "incident." Without rehashing everything, let's just say that she now knows to take my daughter's complaints seriously from this point on. I also think that I scared her just a little bit. A few days after I met with her, I emailed her a question and also wanted to let her know that Caitlyn would be going home with one of her friends and her mom. The email that I got in return was disgustingly nice. Over the top nice. The kind of nice that when you read it, you know the author made a conscious effort to be nice. But I am so okay with that. As long as Caitlyn is reaping the benfits of my visit, that is all that matters to me.

We dog sat for Magee a couple of weeks ago, and I am just now getting around to uploading the pics from his visit. Caitlyn loves when he comes to stay for a couple of days. Matt on the other hand....well, let's just say it makes him thankful that we have cats and not dogs.

Here's the girl with Magee doing what they both do best.


Matt's football season is almost over, so he will be home in the evenings again. Which is good? I get so used to him not being home that it is strange when he finally is home before it's dark.

Caitlyn is gearing up for winter. We had some snow showers here last week and she was convinced that there was going to be no less than 8 feet of snow. See for yourself....she is all ready to go and frolic in it.....

The Kindergarten Teacher

So I figured when Caitlyn started school that I would have a leg up on most situations because of my profession. This hasn't proven to be true so far this school year. Let me just say that I am less than pleased with the kindergarten teacher. We'll take this point by point....the last, which happened today, has completely pushed me over the edge.

1. Caitlyn learned to write her name in all capitals. Now I know, I shoudl have taught her to write it using lower case letters. However, capital letters are easier for children to write. Incorporate Caitlyn's weakness in fine motor skills and it is no surprise why she learned capitals letters first. The teacher wants their names in all lower case. Fine, agreed. When my child writes her name at the top of the paper in all capitals, what purpose does it serve for the teacher to circle it and write her name in lower case letters OVER what Caitlyn has already written? Here's my thinking, since you're rewriting it anyway, just write the damn thing yourself. Secondly, how can she see the way it's supposed to be written when you have written over what she has already written and now it looks like a bunch of chicken scratch??? But this I can get over...we are working on it at home.

2. There is an assignment that is completed a few times a week. The children are to cut out squares with pictures on it and paste them in sequential order. Fantastic activity. Unless you're Caitlyn. She cuts fine. However, the pictures that are on the edge of the page, she doesn't cut that edge out. The piece of paper is still in a square, just has a little bit of the edge of the paper left attached to it. She hasn't cut the heads off the people in the pictures, she hasn't torn the paper, it's nicely cut...all but that damn edge. Teacher's note on every friggin one of them...."poor cutting skills." Actually my child has saved herself some time and been very resourceful if you ask me. Not to mention, the goal of the activity was sequencing, NOT cutting. Were the pictures in the correct order? Yes! then let's move on please. But okay, I will work on that issue as well.

The next 2 points are warranting an email to the teacher, cause I don't see how I can work on them at home without the proper information from the woman.

3. There is a behavior system in place in the classroom. Fan freaking tastic. All classrooms for the most part have them. There is an incentive chart in Caitlyn's folder and she gets a smiley face, sad face, or in between face each day depending on how her day was. Now we got this beautifully written note about carrying this plan over at home and helping the children to get smiley faces, etc. Caitlyn got an in between face yesterday. When I asked her what it was for, she had no clue why she didn't get a smiley face. She did know that she didn't have a good day, but couldn't tell me why. Now I ask you this, how in the hell am I supposed to discourage whatever behavior warrented the in between face when I don't know why she got it??? Yeah that part about the communication between home and schools regarding behavior wasn't in that beautifully written letter.

4. This is the one that has me the most pissed off. Caitlyn woke up this morning and told me that she had a headache. I figured it would go away a short time later and she would be fine. I left work early today, cause I am feeling liek shit courtesy of Matt and Cate passing their germs to me, so I went to pick the girl up from school. She came out and right away told me that she still had her headache. I asked her if she told her teacher. "Yes." I asked what the teacher said. "Oh now your head hurts?" Which I thought was an odd response, so I asked Caitlyn if she had told her teacher that something else was bothering her. She said she told the teacher that her stomach hurt her, to which her teacher replied she shoudl try going to the bathroom. Fine, would have probably been my response as well. But when she mentioned that her head was hurting shortly after she said her stomach was hurting, your response is snarky like my kid is lying???? And here's the kicker, she came home and threw up and had a temp of 102!!!! So needless to say, my child expressed her issues and wasn't taken anywhere near as serious as she should have been.

I am fuming about this last one. Why in the hell would the teacher, at the very least, send Caitlyn to the nurse??? What in the hell do they send kids to the nurse for if not an upset stomach and a headache? I guess if Cate puked all over her damn room, she may have thought twice about being so quick to assume that my child was lying to her.

So needless to say, an email has been sent, and if no response is given within 24 hours, the woman is going to have an irate parent on her hands.

Ahhhh the joys of being "that" parent that usually irks the hell out of me during the school year.

PTA

Caitlyn was very worried when I picked her up at school today. It seems that the teacher has mentioned to the children that not all the moms have joined PTA....and they need to. So Caitlyn desperately wanted to know when I was going to sign the form and send it back. (Joining PTA doesn't mean being involved in any of the activities. Basically, give them your $5.00 and shut the hell up while they do their jobs.) So I told Cate that of course I would fill out the form and send it in.

She is sitting at the table right now, finishing her lunch that she didn't eat in school and she says to me....

"Mom, are you really really going to join the PTA? Cause it's a lot of work and you are going to get really tired."

(leads me to believe that the teacher let them know just how much work the PTA moms do)

I assured her that I was going to join.....again.

"But mom, it takes a lot of time. Will you still be my mommy even if you join the PTA?"

They actually won a game!!

Yesterday Caitlyn's team won their first game!!!! There is a new kid on the team. He hasn't been to practice all summer (not that we have had that many, see previous post) because he has been out of the country. He is from the Ukraine. Well, the rules state that regardless of attendance at practice, kids are to play 2 full quarters at each game. Our coach complained about it all damn summer, that the kid shouldn't be allowed to play since our kids have worked so hard at practices, etc. Well, onto the field walks this little man who speaks hardly and english, and manages to score 3 goals for us. I am pretty sure that the coach is now thankful for that rule that he hated so much all summer.

The girl still has this cold, it's been over a week now. But it is progressing, went from a barky cough, to a wet cough, and now a runny nose with a cough. So we should be nearing the end stages of it very soon. At least I hope that we are.

Mommy and Daddy sitting in a tree....

Ah the joys of being around our peers. Imgaine this....

I pick up the girl from mom's and we are in front of the house. I am gathering up bags and crap before opening the doors. I hear Cate singing in the back seat....

Mommy and Daddy sitting in a tree.
K-I-S-S-T-U-V.

I think I may have even peed a little in my pants with that one.

First day of school....and some other things

I have tried to make this post on about 4 different occasions. However, blogger decided that I shouldn't be allowed to post and my computer kept crashing on me. So here it is now...let's hope it works.

Caitlyn started school last week, only half days though. Today is her first full day (9am-2pm) and her first day of eating lunch at school. I am a little concerned about the whole lunch thing only because her fine motor skills are nothing to brag about. So I have tried to make everything in the lunch box as easily accessible as possible. We'll see how that went when I pick her up from Mom's this afternoon.

Here she is on her way to orientation with me last week...

It seems that it is all about the clothes even when you are only 5 years old. She wants to look perfect every single day. In which case, I told her that if that is her wish, then she needs to not be so damn crabby in the morning. Yeah right!

Soccer is going along nicely. I, however, am about to lose my patience with the coach. he is a wonderful man, really. He's great with the kids and has a load of fun with them. However, these poor kids are getting their asses handed to them at games. And I don't so much mind that they are losing, neither does Cate. Matter of fact, I don't think that she even realizes that they aren't winning. She is really just pleased to be wearing a uniform of any sort and be part of a team. But my rant comes in when they haven't practiced in over 3 weeks. Every week the coach calls and cancels practice on us. Some days he doesn't even call. We go there and we wait, no coach, no practice. It's really starting to irritate me to say the least. If the trend continues through this week, there will be a phone call made to the park district.

Regardless of winning, losing, not having practice, my girl looks way cute in her soccer uniform.
Here she is with her new friend Maya....


And here she is doing her thing and running after the ball. Which let me tell you, is a rarity. She really does prefer to play with her hair while she is out on the field. Another favorite past time is walking on the lines that are drawn on the field. So we have decided that soccer may not be her forte. We will be trying out dance, and that starts in December. I think we will have better luck there as there is no physical contact so she doesn't have to worry about being knocked into by some other kid....

Her head in the trees

How cool is this picture??? I was outside playing with the girl the other day and we decided that she should stand in the tree to take a picture. I hadn't even noticed the sunset behind her until I uploaded the pictures to my computer.

(it also shows very well just how long this child's legs really are)

Don't thank me

Me: Cate will you grab a soda for mommy?

Cate: Sure mama.

Me (upon her bringing it to me): Thank you my lovey.

Cate: Don't thank me, thank technology.

Moral of the story....apparently too much TV.

The Porch is finally done

All safe and secure now. I no longer have to worry about the thing collapsing around me when I walk up or down the stairs. It actually turned out to be a pretty painless process. I kept the windows closed the entire time so as to escape the massive amounts of dust that was created from the project. And the workers that were here doing it get a big high five from me. They worked non stop and through the horrible heat that we had.

Here are some before pics



Here is the after pic


(ignore the girl in her jammies on the stairs...it was morning and we were on my way to mom's and sometimes she doesn't want to get dressed before going there)

The men who did the cement work were even kind enough to let us get Cate's handprints in there. She is beside herself with glee knowing that they will be there forever ;)


Now I just have some serious landscaping issues on my hands to say the least. I am the proud owner of that large pile of rocks and dirt. I have not the slightest clue what I will be doing with that space. But something certainly needs to be done with it soon.

I have managed to survive the first week back at work. It was complete hell waking up in the morning, but I lived. We are all getting back into the swing of things now.

Scary Stories

The baseball game was tons of fun! Caitlyn thoroughly enjoyed every little bit of it. The fact that the Sox managed 8 runs in one inning, a couple homeruns, and lots of cheering, made her having to sit in a little chair so much easier.

The first soccer game that was supposed to happen on Saturday has been cancelled. Seems the park district hasn't drawn the lines on the field as of yesterday. I can understand why they haven't though. It's not like they didn't know about this all summer or anything.

Now on to the scary stories bit. It seems that Caitlyn has enjoyed a few episodes of telling scary stories with Kelly. The problem is, she is only 5 and Kelly is 10. So Caitlyn's stories are nowhere near as frightening as Kelly's. So Kelly plays it off as though she is scared. Caitlyn....she isn't playing, the child is scred shitless when she gets into bed these days. No matter what I do I can not convince her that there are no zombies waiting for her, no monsters, nothing in the closet, and that I am one room away from her if she needs me. For the last week, going to bed has been hell. It's either too dark, or too quiet, or she heard a noise, or she can't stop thinking about the things that are scaring her.

I really am hoping that eventually this will just go away. If it doesn't, then she is going to be one sleepy girl when she does go back to school. Cause now it is taking her at least an hour to fall asleep.

One more day

of sleeping in :( Caitlyn is going to feel the ramifications of my going back to work as well. She has gotten into the habit of sleeping in later than I do. I woke her up at 9am on Thursday because we had to be somewhere at 10. I heard bellowing from the bedroom within 10 minutes that she wanted to sleep longer as it was "too early to be awake" according to her. (side note....man I love how my child loves to sleep in)

On Tuesday, she will have to be up and out of the house with me by 7:30ish. Can't wait to see the demon that surfaces in place of my child when that shit happens.

We are going to the Sox game tomorrow, it's Cate's first official baseball game. I'm sure that she will have a ball even though she fights with Daddy all the time about who the better team is....the White Sox or the Cubs. Hopefully she won't start that up at the game. If she does, look for us on the next season of Cops.

Her first soccer game is on Saturday. Can't wait for that. Nothing like a pac of toddlers running back and forth after a ball and every now and again accidentally kicking it into the goal. Though I must say that there are some really athletic kids on her team. It's amazing to me how you can see athleticism in some children even at this young of an age. It also brings to my attention just how not athletic Caitlyn really is :P No biggie though, she loves playing it and loves even more that she is on a team of any sort.

I am also freaking out about kindergarten already. I'm not so worried about her being there all day, I am sure she will adjust fine to that. What I am worried about is her ability to do certain things while she is there. Things like open up her fruit snack or her applesauce, or get the straw into the juice box, or even something as simple as opening up her pencil box. These are all things that I could have worked on this summer had I even thought about them. Unfortunately they never even crossed my mind. So needless to say, we have been working on them for the last couple of weeks. And even though she is getting better at some of them, they are still pretty tough for her to do. When we go for the orientation, I am going to have a chat with the teacher and hopefully she will be able to calm some of my fears.

Back to work

Only 7 more days left to my summer vacation :( Was wonderful though. The girl and I spent loads of time together and mainly just relaxed. Nothing too stressful which was wonderful. Of course I didn't get nearly all of the things completed that I had wanted to. But oh well....there's always next summer right :P

Caitlyn is loving soccer! She looks oh so cute in her shin guards and cleats. (of course being the fashionista that she is, the outfit is the most important part of being on a soccer team.) Her first game is the 16th I belive. We don't have the schedule yet so I am not exactly sure about that. Though I am sure when I do know, she will have a huge fan base at her games.

Matt has begun football practice again. So I am a widow once more. But that's ok...some days I think I prefer being in the house with just Caitlyn. There's not a lot of dinner cooking that goes on either which is always a bonus.

Other than that, not too much going on in our lives. The porch is nearly finished. I was awoken today to the sound of a jackhammer tearing up the walkway. And the concrete people are the final phase in the project. So hopefull that will be completed by the beginning of mest week sometime :)

Catching Up

Caitlyn's birthday was wonderful. We had a little surprise party with immediate family here at the house for her. She was absolutely thrilled with it. She had some balloons and cake and got a few presents.


Then there was the big party at Caesarland. She had a couple of her friends from school there and pretty much everyone in her family. She got loads and loads of really great stuff. She even got the Lightening McQueen car from the movie Cars. But most importantly she got her Cabbage Patch Doll with brown hair and blue eyes like she wanted.



About a week or so after the birthday, we went to Wisconsin for a few days. Caitlyn was like a fish in the water, even going under on her own a few times. She absolutely loved being up there with the family!





All in all a very busy few weeks for all of us. But we are enjoying the good weather and doing lots of fun things. More to come on the soccer front very soon!