My husband is so cute... This is his status message on Gmail: "How is my kid 4 years old? It seems like I was just cutting his umbilical cord yesterday!"... So true, dude... So true! (Except that I was all working on pushing him out of my vagina and stuff)... But, still... Time goes way too fast! Later days...
How could this have happened?????? Teeheehee... Can't believe my baby is officially 4-years-old now... Or that the playset if finally finished! (With real flowers in the flower box, thanks to Clark!)
Happy birthday Boogie! Later days...
But not quite done yet...
Boogie was thrilled that he was able to get on the swings and glider... It almost sent him over the moon when we let him test out the ladder and the rock wall so he could check out the play house... Still, I cannot wait until tomorrow night... Clark has the day off, so he will be doing the stuff that is easy enough for one person -- i.e. attaching the side chairs and canopy, filling up the sandbox, and filling the playset area with wood chips... And then, when I get home, we will put together the last few pieces that require "team work"... As much as Boogie loves it already, I am pretty through with this project... I think my poor thumb is about to call it quits, too... It's throbbing right now, since it ended up getting slammed between a socket wrench and a 2x4... And got a sliver in the middle of the pad part... And has a split cuticle... And is getting over a hangnail... My poor freakin' thumb! Anyhow... Just thought y'all would be amazed to see what we accomplished thus far... Later days...
Much more disturbing/funny (depending on how you look at it)... I made this one for my MIL -- since she is a regular reader... The guys in the video are all from her family -- her dad, her sons, her soon-to-be son-in-law, and her grandson... It doesn't get any more dysfunctional/hilarious than that!
Later days...
Man, I love the people who created this site! Teeheehee...
There's no such thing as a day so bad that this video won't make you laugh! Later days...
If: the people who designed the Crestwood Lodge playset are sadists, And: I plan to go back to construction of said playset until assembly is complete [despite the fact that I am already sore and limping], Then: I must be a masochist... The logic seems to work out, even though I don't necessarily like the answer! Teeheehee... Later days...
I forgot to post that we made a decision... The Crestwood Lodge has been purchased and picked up... It is now awaiting assembly... We're starting tomorrow... Who knows when we'll finish?!? Wish us luck! Later days...
Boogie is really big on going to the playground, but Clark and I both work full time... Most days, we don't have enough time to go to the playground if we want to be able to cook dinner, eat, and actually get him to bed on time... Maybe if one of us took him to the park and the other went home to make dinner... But that would be a pain... Buying a gym set for the back yard, however, would be an excellent alternative... We were hoping to get one of the Rainbow systems that they install for you, but they are really big, really expensive, and booked pretty far out -- let alone the fact that they never seem to be open when Clark and I can get there... We went to Toys R Us tonight to take a look at some alternative gym sets, and we found a few that we liked... After getting some initial ideas, we did some research online... We now have it narrowed down to 2 choices...
We plan on asking Boogie which one he thinks he would like best, since it will be his and everything... I think I will show him the pictures first thing tomorrow so that we can order it right away... Clark doesn't seem to think that we would be able to get it in time to set it up before his birthday party, but I think we could do it... We have plenty of friends and family members, and I bet we could all hustle it up and get it done on time... Grrr... I dislike his negativity so much sometimes! What do you think, peoples?!? I think I would do most of it my damn self if I had to -- although I know that would not be too fun... Later days...
It's a great way to waste some time when you can't seem to fall asleep... It's also a great way to fall asleep with a laptop on your lap and a mouse in your hand! Teeheehee... I totally fell asleep in the middle of a game of Scramble... When Clark finished playing WOW, he came upstairs and found me... It was pretty funny! Too bad he didn't have a camera... I would have liked to see how crazy it must have looked... BTW -- sorry I didn't end up seeing/responding to your IM Rookie... I must have actually been asleep by the time you wrote, but the laptop was still on and logged in to Facebook! (I just saw your message when I opened up the laptop to check my e-mail before getting ready for work)... Oops! Later days...
So, there has been a lot going on lately... And I keep thinking that I need to post things, but I don't ever get around to it... For this reason, I have decided that I will do a mash-up post... It may end up really confusing and a bit bi-polar, but y'all should probably expect things like that from me anyway! Teeheehee... Where to start?!?
Oh! I went back to my therapist for the first time since my surgery... She was shocked to see me up and mobile... Happy to hear that everything went so well, but amazed that I was already back to "normal"... I told her that I was doing great physically, but that I was having a rougher time, emotionally, than I would like... I told her about the fact that none of my family came to visit me and how hurt I was that they didn't think it was important enough to make time to come and see me... My therapist apologized that she didn't think to discuss my "post-op expectations" ahead of time, since she would have recommended that I tell my family, up front, about my desire for their presence... Since she knew that I had "an amazing husband and a great support base of friends," she didn't even think twice about how I should deal with my family... Oops! She said that they might have thought less of my surgery because it was a "female problem," and many people make light of surgeries like that or just plain get weirded out by it and try to avoid the person on whom the surgery was conducted... She said that it didn't excuse their behavior but that it could be one possible explanation for my dad avoiding me, at least... Kinda makes sense, but it still sucks... So, then, I told my therapist about the e-mail that I sent my dad and asked whether it was appropriate to ask him, flat out, whether he received the message or if my mom may have deleted it before he saw it... She wanted to know how I knew that my mom read it, even, so I told her how my mom replied to me -- "Sorry I couldn't be there for you. I love you, Mom"... That was, literally, the entire response... My therapist was all like, "So your mom gets this e-mail where you pour your heart out and say how hurt you were by their ambivilence after you had major surgery and she WRITES A FREAKIN' E-MAIL instead of picking up the phone, immediately, and calling to apologize?!? That is just plain unacceptable! It's crap!" I asked, "So it doesn't mean that I am a self-centered brat because I was so upset about everything, including her minimal response?" In her opinion, "Not at all." I am so glad to hear it from a professional... She thinks I need to re-evaluate my relationship with the members of my family... She said that I should re-adjust my expectations and re-think the ways that I will interact with/respond to them... Basically, I should stop counting on them for anything at all, I should stop inviting them over if they never take me up on offers anyhow, and I should stop bending over backwards to help them [with computer problems, for example] or to come and visit them when they ask... It seemed a little harsh at first, but it will certainly stop setting me up for disappointment all the time... We shall see...
Easter got even more interesting, btw... Right after my therapist and I finished discussing my family dynamic, and how I should go about making it less distressing to me, I returned a "missed call" from my mother... I don't remember if it was immediate or not (although I think it was), but my mom started in on asking why the Easter Bunny doesn't come to our house... I tried explaining it as well as I could, but I am sure I sounded like an idiot because I was blind-sided with the question... I got into the fact that we don't make a big deal out of Santa or the Easter Bunny partially because we would rather not focus on that aspect of either holiday... I also explained that Christmas and Easter are religious holidays which are attached to a religion we no longer "practice" and that making a big deal out of a holiday for a religion we don't practice seems a bit hypocritical, even though the holidays have become largely secularized (is that a word?)... I explained that Clark and I discussed holiday celebrations and traditions at length -- with each other and with friends who became parents around the same time -- and that we made a conscious decision to make the holidays more about family togetherness, goodwill, etc... My mom's response?!? ::choking back tears:: "Didn't you enjoy Christmas and Easter when you were a little girl?" WTF, dude? I wanted to scream into the phone, "THIS IS NOT ABOUT YOU! NOT EVERYTHING IS ALL ABOUT YOU!" Although, truth be told, there is that whole "you traumatized my sister and me" when we found out the truth about Santa, et al in 1987... Yeah -- I guess it's a bad sign when you remember the year it went down... But, still... It is not so much about wanting things to be different from when we grew up... It is more about doing things the way that we are most comfortable; the way that we feel right doing them... I get that she may not understand it, but I am not sure she realizes that her opinions and methods need not apply... I told Clark that it was oh so tempting to start rattling off a list of things I do differently, but I didn't want to be a vindictive bitch by spouting off the fact that -- in addition to changing the Christmas and Easter traditions of my childhood -- I have also "chosen not to (1) engage in corporal punishment, (2) contribute to my child's asthma by smoking [at all, let alone in the house and the car with my child present], (3) partake in illegal substances in front of my child, or, especially, (4) put expensive habits of smoking and substance abuse above the other financial obligations of my family so much so that my husband and child[ren] have to sacrifice both luxuries and necessities." I'm just sayin! I guess I am just a damn show-off with my whole not smoking and doing drugs thing... Whatever...
Now, on to more fun/funny/happy stuff (before the depressing stuff makes me want to stab my own eyes out)...
The other night, at dinner, I was drinking grape juice... Since Boogie hadn't had much milk that day, we tried to hide it from him by pouring my juice into a purple cup... He instantly recognized it as juice and started asking if it was juice... I didn't want to lie, but I also didn't want him to start asking for a sip, so I just said not to worry about what I was drinking and to drink his milk... He then asked if that meant it was "actually soda"... I repeated my earlier noncommittal reply... When he asked, yet again, what was in my drink Clark replied, "It's mommy's drink. You can't have any. Please drink your own drink." Boogie's eyes lit up with a gleam of recognition, and he asked, "Oh! Is it a margarita?" Umm... Yeah... That didn't make me sound like an alcoholic or anything! Geesh... After we stopped laughing so hard, we explained that it was NOT a margarita and that he was right when he had first guessed that it was juice... We also reiterated the fact that we are the adults/parents and do not always owe him an explanation and reminded him to just drink the [damn] milk! Teeheehee...
On Wednesday, Clark and I both had the day off... I had already scheduled Boogie's 4-year-old birthday portraits for that morning, and we didn't have plans to go see a movie or anything, so we decided to keep Boogie out of school and have a "family fun day"... We got his pictures taken, took him to get his traditional summer mohawk, brought him to the library so he could pick out his own stories, took him to lunch, brought him to a museum/planetarium, took him to a playground that was near that museum/planetarium, and then went out to dinner... It was exhausting, but it was a really fun day... For pictures of the 'hawk and the trip to the playground, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/jewjewbee/sets/72157616837835541/...
Flower has started to tell people that she will be having a baby in December... Eeeeeeeeee!!! I am so super excited for her -- and happy to live vicariously through another pregnant friend as I hope and pray that I will be able to have another baby someday... Since my "bad" (read: worse) ovary was removed, it may be less difficult to conceive another baby... One can only hope! In order to help Mother Nature, I have invited Murphy along... Murphy who?!? Murphy as in "Murphy's Law"... As in, I gave all of my maternity clothes and baby furniture to Flower, so [of course] I should end up needing them before she would be done with them... Teeheehee... I would be more than happy to get new stuff if it meant having another baby, though... We will see... There's no guarantee either way, so I will just have to try to kepe myself from getting too optimistic or pessimistic... Keeping an open mind -- and making an appointment with a Reproductive Endocrinologist -- will have to do for now...
And, since this post is so long that my fingers are getting tired, I am thinking I should probably wrap things up and just write more another day... Congrats if you made it all the way to the end of the post... You definitely deserve a cookie or something... Teeheehee... Later days!
