Ok.. so I meant to type "End of the month" for the subject.. but it came out "End of the mother".. hmmm.. I think that might mean that I've had enough of November and all of the loveliness that has come with it. Bring on the snow!

December will be filled will holiday preparations and celebrations, visits from family, a certain red head's 2nd birthday, memories of that certain red head's arrival 2 years ago.. presents. It's a good thing. Hopefully work will be less stressful and Shiela will stop coughing before her mom gets here. Hopefully Ben's sleep schedule will go back to normal (he's still up... and he's been sleeping until 10am.. the stupid anti-seizure meds do a number on him.. ugh!)..

The good news for all of YOU is that NaBloPoMo is FINALLY OVER. I enjoy blogging and most of the time was ok with posting at least once a day.. but it really is tough when you don't feel like struggling with your virus-ridden home computer on a weekend. Things changed from me staying up until after midnight on 11/1 to publish my first NaBloPoMo post to last night when I realized shortly before midnight that I had forgotten all about it just in time to grab my cell phone and send in a short post... I may take a few days off!

I gave up on the thankful crap.. that whole idea that I was going to post something each day that I'm thankful for. It turns out that I'm still thankful for my family, which was my first idea... but I guess I haven't taken the time to smell the roses lately because I forgot I was supposed to be thinking about being thankful.

At the moment, I'm thankful for good friends, a sleeping baby, and ice cream.. OH.. and Ben's binky. We're entering the final stretch.. stay tuned for posts from a frantic mom (or moms) trying to break the binky habit! yikes! I think I'm looking forward to potty training more than this!

Seriously.. it's just too much.

I swear.. my internal calendar is all out of wack. I have a seriously hard time believing that Thanksgiving is over and we're in the home stretch toward Ben's birthday and Christmas.

The days leading up to Thanksgiving were less than fun. The baby was sicker than he's ever been (well.. I joke about it.. but it was definitely the highest his fever ever got and then you throw in the anti-seizure meds which make him walk around like a 34" tall drunk.. it's a rockin' time.). The little dude is better now.. *whew* We're recovering.. *whew*

We stayed at home for turkey this year.. it was actually incredibly enjoyable. We slept in.. didn't drive ANYWHERE.. enjoyed the Macy's parade on TV (ben liked the marching bands).. had a great turkey dinner (the turkey was from a local farm and was bleepin' delicious.. crazy good.. i didn't know turkey could be that good..).. we capped it off with a nice walk around the neighborhood with Ben all bundled up in the quilt that his great-grandmother made for him. Benji went to bed and Shiela and I busted out the pumpkin and blueberry pies.. awesome.

Oh.. and Benjamin absolutely LOVES egg nog!

ok.. the little dude has learned that Thomas the Train also lives on the computer.. so I have hit my limit of "mom only on the computer" time.

Jen

This chain of emails was sent between my wife and my sister prior to last Thanksgiving. They were trying to plan.

11/19/07 (Shiela)

hi

between the guitar hero marathon and hauling things out of your mom's house, we never got a chance to discuss the meal like we'd planned. so without further adieu ...

your mom was reading saturday's paper and it had some recipes in it that were interesting - one in particular that i'd like to try if you think it would be ok. it's for corn pudding baked in a pumpkin shell. it reminds me of the corn stuff that Chi-Chi's used to serve .. even jen liked that. what do you think? if no one eats it, maybe it will serve as visual interest .. :)

i'm game to cook whatever ... i believe all the deserts have been planned .. i.e., i heard your mom ask ash & jen what pies they want and gathered that she'll bring a blueberry cream cheese and pumpkin and ash said she's making an apple.

we can do things as traditional or un-traditional as you'd like. i like to mix things up a little (see note above re: corn pudding in a pumpkin).. but that's my adventurous personality peeking through *laff* ... me ... adventurous ... *LAFF*

i mentioned making butternut squash soup and your mom almost fell out of her chair exclaiming "Yes!" .. but i believe she & I were the only ones to touch it when i served dinner at our place a couple years ago. It's super yummy, but only if you like squash.

oh, btw, i have a tendency to try and feed armies during holiday meals so you can rein me in at Any time here ...

and don't let your mom tell you that i have no idea how to make mashed potatoes ... i'm a texan, it's a staple where i'm from ... along with the gravy ... but for some reason, after the spinach ball appetizers, homemade cranberry dipping sauce, orange-glazed turkey and butternut squash soup ... i, #1 used BABY red potatoes (which are like baby rattlesnakes who are more poisonous than their parents, in that they contain a TON of starch - ever mix flour and water??) and, #2 i forgot the damn things AFTER i drained the water from them and ended up making a wonderful, stretchy glue. however, if you feel that after suggesting baked corn in a pumpkin, that i may be a little too whacked to handle the potatoes, i will understand.

so .. jen and i plan to drive down on wednesday night so i will be available to help start this thang as early as you'd like (jen informed me that we weren't allowed to have the meal for anything but lunch ... something about your mom getting pissed off at the illicks or something ... for serving at 4 .. *shrug*) anyway, i'll be there!

i was hoping that maybe we could do something fun, too ... like crafty stuff ... maybe make stuff with the kids ... fingerpaint with ben ... well .. not WITH ben but let him fingerpaint, too ... i realize we'll have to compete with guitar hero .. but maybe?

okeedokee ... your turn

s





11/19/07 (Beck)

You absolutely kill me…


Ok- so this is what I have on deck- turkey-lovely 14 pounder- hope I don't %^&* it up- mashed potatos (no prob- I got those covered)-corn/green beans stuffing (w/sausage)- rolls.

Anything else you wanna do is perfectly fine with me. Mom is doing the pie- ash wants to do an apple pie- I've never done one myself- so that should be a treat (make the crust from scratch????? She said something about buying yeast that doesn't have to rise for 24 hours before- she's gonna have to come with me to the store LOL).

You are so funny…

And we should f with them all and have dinner at 9am….

HA HA HA HA

BTW- I will have bud lites waiting for Wednesday night…. That will be EVEN more FUN- half %^&*-faced. Ha ha ha ha ha ha hah ahahhah

I'm all for the craft thing- I will threaten adam that he has to do it and have fun or he can't play x-box 360.
You kill me…. I just read your email again.

Back atcha-babe- make me laugh again. LOL



11/20/07 (Shiela)

howdy!

bud lites sound simply ambrosial .. especially after working all week, trying to get in a couple loads of laundry so our jeans aren't standing up in the corner, packing the car so i can fit a WAGON in it when we return, and attempting to keep the boy strapped in his carseat for 2 hours (hopefully it will only be 2 hours - damn holiday traffic).

Re: the crust-from-scratch thing .. Ash is talking about quick rising yeast ... kinda like 1 minute oatmeal ... but yeast (it'll be on the baking aisle). A little secret: put a couple Pillsbury readymade pie crusts in your basket without her seeing so if things get ugly (and believe me, crust can get Very ugly), you'll be the ultimate hero when you whip out the Pillsbury. The best part is, no one has to be the wiser.

btw, the readymade stuff is in the freezer aisle in a box ... easily hidden by the stoffer's family-size turkey dinner in a box. (just a contingency plan)

i will try and think of some cool crafty stuff .. i'm just feeling creative lately and haven't had a chance to sit down and do anything about it. jen has been trying to make a box thingy to cover the radiator in the livingroom and i've been moving her plywood all over the apartment ... it's fun to watch her drag it back out again ... *grin*

i'm going to attempt the corn pudding thing and bring a salad. and i will help with the turkey if you'd like. did you want to do anything special with it?


:)

--

I have big plans for my turkeyday post. Given that the week has sucked so... all I've got for you today is a quick hello.

The child WILL sleep!

The big guy is currently thinking about taking a nap. He's in his crib, with a truck.. he doesn't look tired at all. He's going to rest because Mommy needs to rest.. hopefully he'll actually sleep for a bit.

Did I mention that the truck is a Builder Bob toy that talks.. it actually whines.. because THAT is what every parent needs.. a whining toy truck.

Anyway.. things are going better today.. the light of day will do that. Ben slept well last night and his temp didn't climb back up too high with the Motrin and Tylenol. No seizures! This morning, he slept until almost 10am.. if I had been able to sleep at all, that would have been nice. He did just fine... I had nightmares about work and hospitals and vampires (I really need to finish the Twilight series)..

Did I mention that I changed the battery in my keyboard and it is STILL not working right? UGH. I have one of those old-fashioned keyboards that actually has a cord.. I wonder where that wound up?

OK.. So Ben and I went to see his pediatrician, Dr Pangburn, a bit before noon today. Keep in mind that the ER sent him home last night with a relatively clean bill of health.. clean chest xray, no ear infection, no infection at all really, and just a high temp that was probably a virus. Yeah.

So Dr Pangburn, who I will refer to as House for the remainder of his post because Pangburn is too hard to type on a broken keyboard, came in and looked Ben over. Ben is a total pro at going to the doctors. He knows how all of the equipment works and he even will talk to the doctor. Crazy for a kid who isn't two yet.

It turns out that he, in fact, DOES have an ear infection. He also still has an eye infection and his sinuses are spewing out a colorful array of snot. Somehow the ER doctor missed this. *roll eyes*

In the end, we have a name for it. It's hippo-something-fluenza. Well.. that's what it sounds like anyway.

I have to go do a binky search and rescue.. brb.
OK...

Little dude just isn't going to sleep.. he's playing my little backpack guitar.. that requires adult supervision. We've got some superduper antibiotics and he'll hopefully be back to himself in a day or so. If we can get through this evening without a seizure, we should be in the clear.. *cross fingers*

That was the high point for his temp (hopefully forever). We just got back from the ER. Ben's temp jumped over 105 degrees around 9pm. We took him in by ambulance. It sucked, but he was a trooper. Chest xrays and bloodwork came back ok.. so we know he isn't brewing an infection. Damned viruses. We are "happy" to report that we dodged this one without a seizure. Hope that trend continues. His temp was down to 100.9 when he was discharged about a half hour ago. He's singing right now. Not exactly how we hoped to spend our Sunday night.. but I'm glad that his temp is down at least for now. *cross fingers* The alarm is set for 3am, when he's due for his next tylenol and anti-seizure meds. I'll be crashing on the twin bed in his room tonight. Party in Ben's room.. 2am!

Yep.. that's i degrees Fahrenheit. Mr. Benjamin is a little toaster oven tonight. When he woke up from his nap this afternoon, he had one pink cheek. That's never good. We were down at my sister's house in CT. The original plan was to get the kids' pictures taken this afternoon, but that plan bit the dust when Ben started looking .. well.. pink... and snotty.

After a hit of Motrin.. he was back on his game and we had a nice day playing with his cousins before heading back home. We almost made it.

We go to Natick on the Mass Pike before seeing that Ben's fever was jumping up. We got to the rest stop and got him his next hit of Motrin and his seizure meds before continuing on our way home. The 103.4 temp is an hour AFTER the Motrin.. that doesn't bode well for tonight.

That's all you're going to get from me tonight because my wireless keyboard's battery is low and it skips every other letter that I type..

This is wat t would look ike it I didn't edit absolutely every line of what I type.

Anywho.. Shiela is sick too.. so wish us luck!

Blogging on the weekend is challenging...

One of my loyal readers is thinking about naming his future blog in the same refreshing approach that I used to name this blog...

Atmah3katwhlahtkahhahwsahtmaabb.com

I won't tell you what that stands for, but it starts with "A" and ends with "Two Moms And A Baby Blog"!

Hey Moo... We totally have to find a way to get our kids together to play. The more I learn about Grayson, the more similarities I see between him and Ben. The drum thing is over the top! Shiela and I have been talking about getting Ben a drum set. Losely talking about it, given that 1. we can't afford it and 2. it's a drum set for a 2 year old.. seriously. Seriously! It's hard not to when he gets such a kick out of it (and he's SO good)!

This is our current trap set...




It's called Finger Drums and I've had it for about a year on my desk at work. Ben saw it last Friday when he and Shiela came to pick me up and he hasn't put it down since. I have to get take a video to share! I think we may be visiting the local Pottery Barn Kids too! (we'll be sure to bring our own sticks!)

In other news.. do you have Tub Drums? This is one of Ben's all time favorite tub toys. The drums also double as good buckets to dump water over his head to wash soap off. :)

Well.. it may be a long winter. Or a cold one.. for a certain red headed toddler that I know and love. We've never had trouble with jackets in the past.. last year was a breeze. This year.. we HATE wearing our jacket! I can't blame him.. it is bulky and somewhat irritating. I felt a bit hypocritical last night when I was fighting him to get him into his jacket while mine was bunched up on the floor boards in the car.

Anyway.. I digress..

I've been trying to figure out a way to make wearing a winter jacket a bit more appealing. He doesn't have to like it.. but it would be nice if we could avoid an all out temper tantrum when he just SEES the jacket.

Attempt #1

We are going to pick up a Thomas the Train embroidered patch to sew or iron-on his jacket. It may be wishful thinking.. but maybe, just maybe, this will do the trick. I'll let you all know!

Click for more..

So.. I've about had it with this NaBloPoMo thing.. I just like saying the word. I'm irritated at the idea of "having" to post when I just don't feel like posting. When I blog, it makes me think of the camera that I don't have.

On that note.. I'm selling a brand new Nikon S550 digital camera complete with original packing, manual, cables, software, etc. It's "plum" (i.e. the color). It's a great camera that would be perfect for 99.9% of the population.. but I'm a snob and the processor just isn't what I was hoping for. I'm back to using my old Canon, which has its issues (like how the lens cover gets stuck half open).. digital processing capabilities of this old 2 megapixel camera still serve me well. The new Nikon is a 10 megapixel with all of the bells and whistles and I'm selling it for $175. If you're interested.. leave a comment with your contact info or send me an email or something.. I'm desperately trying to sell it so that I'll have a little extra Christmas money this year. I used it about 5 times and took about a few dozen photos.. I'll have to see if I can find some to link to..

anywho... that's as exciting as things get for me today. I need fish tacos from Ixtapa.. it's the sauce man...

I wonder if a time will come where I don't celebrate Ben's monthly "birthday". The big guy is 23 months old today. I can't believe that in just a month, he'll be TWO. Crazy!

This was taken last November (07):

What could be better than sitting in a Rubbermaid tub full of Thomas and Friends engines and trucks..

This morning was one for the record books. It could have been much worse if I was a single parent.. but thankfully, Shiela and I can tag-team it once in a while.

Ben woke up at about 4am. He did this yesterday too, but he went right back to sleep after a quick hug. Today.. he was up. Shiela got up with him (THANK GOD). I can't say that I slept well from 4am - 7am.. but I did nod off a few times. At 7, Shiela called in from the other room saying that she had to start getting ready. I took the pillow off of my head and mumbled something about "bring him in here".

Her response? "He won't stay.." I grumbled something like "I know".. ::grumble::

Surprisingly, Ben snuggled right in. He had his bink, we put Thomas on, and he was asleep before the end of the episode. Snoring.

Around 7:45, I dragged myself out of bed.. actually.. I vaulted and did a kung-fu move trying to get to the alarm clock before it woke up Ben. He didn't budge.. binky half-hanging out of his mouth. Snoring.

I took a shower and got ready for work.. then packed up my things and packed a lunch for Ben.. it was now 8:15 and he was still out cold. Snoring.

I decided to put his pink eye meds on his eyes while he was sleeping instead of having to battle him when he was awake. I smeared some of the cream on each eye.. he rolled over.. put his bink back in his mouth.. and kept sleeping. Snoring.

It was a tough debate.. I was very tempted to grab the next Twilight book (i finished book 2 last night) and read a few chapters while letting him wake up on his own. The responsible adult in me made the decision, knowing that I had a stack of things waiting for me at work along with a meeting downtown today.

I woke him up.

Yeah.

Bad move.

Stupid Mommy.

Ben proceeded to SCREAM his little red head off for the next 20 minutes. Not just scream. He screamed and thrashed and gagged and hit and... well, you get the idea. It wasn't pretty. My peaceful little angel of a child.. yeah. not.

So I quietly sang the ABC song while changing his diaper.. trying to hold his lanky little body so I could put his new diaper on.. easier said than done. The whole time he was shrieking and yanking at whatever I was trying to do. If I was trying to take off a shirt.. he was trying to pull it on. If I was trying to put on a shirt.. he was trying to pull it off.

A B C D E F Geeee....

I managed to get him completely dressed. Quite thankful that I had already packed up his lunch and that all of our things were stacked by the door. I picked up the puddle of a child, who proceeded to wipe snot and tears all over my sweater, and tried to carry him into the living room without either knocking his noggin against a doorframe by accident or tripping.

H I J K Elemenohpeeee...

I put his jacket on. It was about 24 degrees outside. I put his hat on. He hit the ceiling. The hat. He went nuts. I told him he didn't have to wear the hat, but he had to wear the jacket. He was still going nuts. I took the hat off of him.. he yelled and tried to put it back on. I tried to help him put it back on.. he yelled and threw it.

Q R S....

I put my laptop bag over one shoulder and his diaper bag over the other shoulder (after putting on my own jacket and making a big show out of not screaming when MY jacket was put on me.. yeah.. like that helped). I threw him over my shoulder picked him up and grabbed his backpack and stumbled to the door. As I was trying to get the two of us out of the door without dropping anything, the cat made his move.. there is nothing that an indoor cat loves more than the brief escape into the stairwell.. it's almost like getting all the way outside, but not as scary.

T U V...

I was making up my own curse words at this point. Ben was still screaming and gagging. I had closed the door trying to block the cat in and the little crap bag made it out just before I closed it. Unfortunately, my keys were buried in my jacket pocket under the boy and behind a laptop bag. I had to put all of our bags down (and a screaming baby.. who proceeded to lay on his back on the floor and kick at me) so I could dig out my keys and open the front door. At this point, the cat was worried about the screaming child, so he actually came back up the stairs by himself. I threw him inside.

W X...

Before closing the door again, I remembered that I hadn't grabbed my cell phone. I scooped up the baby, went inside.. put him down on the couch, where he proceeded to reach for anything he could grab and throw across the room while kicking his feet.. and ran around looking for my cell phone. No dice. I gave up.. to hell with the phone.. it's never charged anyway!

Y Zeeeeee.....

I scooped the baby back up.. ducked before being hit by a flying remote control.. and headed back for the door. I had the boy hanging from one arm.. flailing... and our bags dragging behind us as I stumbled down the stairs and around the house to the car. There was ice on the driveway. Lovely.

In the car.. I put El Jarabe Tapatio on "repeat" (mexican hat dance) and started to sing "I love you.. you love me.. " from Barney... The screaming kicked up a notch.. as did the gagging and heaving and coughing. Just a half hour earlier I was sitting on the edge of the bed watching this peaceful baby sleep. and snore.

We got to daycare and stumbled in. All three of the women come rushing over. Ruth said something in spanish in a sing-songy voice and Ben reached for her. He gave her a big hug and then proceeded to give me the silent treatment. I explained the morning asking her to call me if he doesn't settle down and also filled her in on the pink eye thing (turns out another kid had it too.. go figure).. and then headed out the door.

I sat in the car.. it was silent. I turned the key.. turned off the stereo.. and slowly backed out of their driveway. All of a sudden there is this roar from the back seat.. it's followed by "I know I'm every hippos dream" in a raspy electronic voice.

It repeated every time we hit a bump.. all the way to work. A little plastic hippo from a McDonald's happy meal saying "I know I'm every hippos dream" over and over again.

I need a nap.

Here is an update from my sister, Becky.

#########################################################################


SO-LET’S RECAP THE MOUSE SITUATION. I HAVE HAD A GLARINGLY OBVIOUS MOUSE PROBLEM SINCE OCTOBER 1ST. I CHOSE TO IGNORE IT FOR A WHILE HOPING (praying) THE PROBLEM WOULD SOLVE ITSELF. WELL WE ALL KNOW THAT NEVER EVER EVER HAPPENS. SO I TRIED TO BE HUMANE-AND GET SOME CHIPMUNK STUPID RAT TRAP THAT MY SON COULD DANCE ON AND IT STILL WOULDN’T TRIP. OK, OK- I SAVED THE RECEIPT. I LEFT IT OUTSIDE IN THE RAIN SO I HAVE TO WAIT FOR IT (THE TRAP) TO DRY AND HOPE TO GOD IT DIDN’T RUST-SO I CAN GET MY 20 BUCKS BACK.


I digress….


OH YEAH-SO THEN MY (other) SISTER BUYS SOME TRAPS- THESE STUPID MICE ARE LAUGHING I KNOW THEY ARE. BECAUSE THAT TRAP SAT FOR A WEEK AND NOTHING. MY SON WAS PLAYING WITH THE OTHER TRAPS SHE BOUGHT-SEEING HOW FAR HE COULD LAUNCH A PEN ACROSS THE ROOM (it was pretty impressive actually-it did fly all the across the room). SO I HAVE NOW OFFICIALLY HAD IT. THESE RODENTS ARE GOING TO DESTROY MY HOUSE. I GO BUY THE GLUE TRAPS. EACH PACK CONTAINS 4 TRAPS. I BOUGHT TWO TRAPS. I GOTTA SEND THESE GUYS AND THEIR PEEPS A MESSAGE MAN. GO TO SOMEONE ELSE’S HOUSE- BEAT IT!!


So- ok- because my teeth are ground to dust right now- and I really am trying to take a breath and not blow a blood vessel….I put them up yesterday. Ok, Ok…for those of you keeping track- it’s been more than a month and a half of the known mouse issue.


So let’s fast forward to tonight. I’ve just been Christmas shopping. It’s 9pm- I’m tired- I am 12/16ths of the way through the final book of the twilight series (coincidentally I began reading on October 1). I was hoping to keep my eyes open long enough to read a chapter since I have been passing out early each night lately.


So I walk through the door- the cat (my fearless hunter) is meowing- crap I forgot dry food. SORRY ZEKIE. He looks a bit odd- but I figured he was pissed about the food. Meow Meow Meow.


For those faint at heart- please stop reading.


I get changed- cozy in my jams- come out and see something strange that immediately catches my attention on the floor.


I think my heart actually might have stopped as I processed what I saw. I didn’t fully understand of course. Because I had to call Jen Alt for that to happen.


On the floor….upSIDE down was a glue trap.


Now, please understand. I did not put these in my kitchen cabinets (where I previously kept the other traps). I put these in the basement- up along the studs that run along the ceiling.


AND HERE IT WAS UPSIDE DOWN ON MY KITCHEN FLOOR- WITH A VERY GUILTY LOOKING CAT.


So I am on the phone with Jen processing why it could be there (a) and how it fell so that the cat could get it (b) and how the HELL he didn’t have any of it on him (c).


When she says- well there can’t be one on there- it would be partially lifted off the floor- it wouldn’t be flat.


Good point……


So carefully….i reach over…


And lift it


Actually you can’t really even call it lifting it- I TIPPED it so that I could see under it.























AND THERE WAS AN ARM ON IT. A MOUSE ARM. IT WORKED IT CAUGHT A GD MOUSE BUT THE GD CAT ATE THE GD MOUSE OFF OF THE GD GLUE TRAP.



ARE.

YOU.

KIDDING.

ME.




Honestly zeke- did you have to???? So he finished his WET cat food- licking his chops and I kicked him outside.


I SUPPOSE it could have been worse……(it could have been on my bed).




AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

There is nothing better for an almost-23-month-old than to make a fort by throwing an old bed sheet over the kitchen table. Actually.. it's pretty fun for a 34 year old too..