If only we could hit the lottery.....

Truth is.... I would love to have a gaggle of children. Okay, maybe not a gaggle, but certainly a third child and maybe even a fourth. What holds us back, you ask? The fact that our mortgage and our daycare are the same. The fact that I pay the equivalent of 3 car payments a month in child care.

I know that we cannot afford to have a large family and I know that we are not willing to sacrifice and live below our means in order for me to not work and stay at home with our children.

Where is this conversation coming from??? Well, for the very first time ever I am hearing the proverbial clock ticking. I have several people my age who have recently given birth, are about to give birth, or have one coming around the bend pretty soon. Mike just turned 40. I am turning 33. Do I really want to have a teenager at my 50th birthday party??

So I find myself walking down a road of "maybes" & "what ifs" and the thoughts and ideas of our expanding family get further and further away. Baby things that are in the attic are being placed on the garage sale list. I justify it in my mind by saying, even if we had another child, I would want a different/newer version of that thing anyway so why not sell it now..... it hurts less to say that. Because I cannot tell myself, there will be no more babies. I just cannot go there.

Graduation season is approaching

So yesterday I received the flyer to order Max's cap and gown for the graduation ceremony next month. Yes, my baby is going to be graduating from pre-k and heading off to that big bad world of big boy school and kindergarten. I was explaining to him how proud I was and how I was going to cry and he very coldly stated, "Oh mommy... don't cry. I am just a big boy now!"

JUST a big boy now!?!?!?!

I am pretty sure I am going to embarrass myself grately when it comes to the ceremonial events in my children's lives. Just thinking of him in his cap and gown got me teary eyed. I can't even talk about what I am going to be like on the first day of school!!

This morning he was writing in his notebook with his pencil - MOOSE A. MOOSE.
"Do you see mommy? This is how you write Moose A. Moose's name...see... 'm-o-o-s-e...(etc)' And do you want me to write his friends name? 'Z-E-E'... see... just like that... this says both of their names."

I am not sure if it is normal to become dizzy with pride and want to pass out because your child has instantly become the smartest child alive.

The Festival of Rebekanukah

Yes, ladies and and gents.... with the arrival of the April showers, we enter the month of my birth. April - nick named Rebekanukah after my name and the Jewish festival of lights - my festival of lights this year will include 33 candles plus one to grow on. I wish I could say this was my clever idea, but no.... this named festival is merely a tip of the hat in homage to my dear friend, Todd, whose festival of Toddikah is celebrated 15 days prior to and 15 days after his day of birth in September.

In celebration of Rebekanukah, I have decided to attempt another NaBloPoMo - meaning I am going to attempt to blog every day during April. Here are some topics we have to look forward to this month:

- Well... Me... because Lord knows I like to talk about me and my endless journey to find "me"!
- The boys - Ben is having surgery, Max is graduating pre-k... oh so much to talk about!
- My grandpa, his fall, our experiences in the hospital and my soap box lectures to all of you on the importance of empowerment of the patient and caregivers in the medical industry.
- The arrival of Riley - Todd and Allison's sweet baby girl!

I am looking forward to this month and this challenge.... And no, this is not an April Fool's joke, I really really really am going to try every day!!

Speaking of April Fool's jokes:

Max: why is today april fool?
Mommy: I really don't know... but it is a day where you tell jokes and make each other laugh.
Max: Oh
Mommy: Do you want to make a joke?
Max: YES!!!!!
Mommy: Okay.... when we get home...(whisper whisper whisper whisper)
Max: (beaming and clapping his hands) okay okay okay!!!

Drive into the drive way and daddy is washing his truck - Max jumps out of the car and runs over to him

Max: Daddy, daddy...GUESS WHAT?!?!?!?! I am going to be a BIG BROTHER AGAIN!!!!
Daddy: (looking at me and talking to him) What did you just say?
Max: Ha Ha!! APRIL FOOL'S DAY!!!!

Daddy then excused himself to change his underwear.....

Just a tease...

Okay okay okay...... so I am way out of tune with the blogging scene right now, but I promise I will come back with avengence and tell you all about flu's and rodeos and baby showers and easter egg hunts, but quite frankly, most of you readers were there and already know about it so there......

But I gotta share this...... I lu-hu-hved this.....one of the best dancers I have seen in awhile.

40!!!!!!!!!!

40...40....40.....40.....40.....40

this man is 40!!!




TODAY!!

Can you believe it?!?!?!

I am married to a 40 yr old man?!?!?!?

What a cradle robber!!

Thank goodness your friends are dragging you out into the forest for a weekend of manly things being done in manly way, because I need some time to absorb this information!!


Happy Birthday, my sweet Ta Ta!!!

A New Earth: Chapter One

So I just finished watching the first class of the 10 week lecture series Oprah is hosting on her website.

Deep breath

I tried watching it live on Monday night. I was really quite amused with myself because as the minutes ticked away, closer and closer to the time I was going to be going up stairs and watching, I felt like it was the first day of school. I was so excited, I couldn't keep myself in check. I would try to just enjoy dinner with my family, but I found myself checking the clock and realizing only a few minutes would have passed. I got upstairs, started the class and was elated at the thought that I was apart of something that hundreds of thousands of people were doing at the exact same time. We were all focused and together and discussing and processing the same thing at the exact same time..... and guess what... technology has not quite caught up with mass consciousness. Within a few moments it was clear that my computer was not meant be apart of the process that night.

But that was okay.....because as it was discussed in the class, it doesn't matter if the collective group is present... it matters if I am present.

Anyway, I watched it tonight. It was great....it opened my eyes to some wonderful concepts, helped clarify some things that have bounced in my head for years, and validated some things that I have already come to embrace in my life.

I am being so vague here, because, well, in my mind, the thoughts are happening much faster than fingers can type.

The biggest moment for me, I guess, would have to be asking the following question:

What does life want of me?
What does GOD want of me?

...not what do I want out of life or what do I want from God.....

but

What does GOD want of me?

The answers are in the stillness and do not always come right away.... patience.....

From the very first time I heard "God is trying to tell you something", the gospel hymn sung in the movie "The Color Purple", my soul was shaken to it's core. Every time the movie was on, I would turn the volume up and weep. Two years ago, I found it online and downloaded it onto a CD and listened to it in my car or during my workout, over and over and over...."When you can't sleep at night, and you are sure wondering why, God is trying to tell you something......SPEAK TO ME, LORD"

In the quiet, in the stillness, I would know what was being asked of me. If I didn't respond - the voice, the urge, the thought, would grow deeper or get louder. When I would finally answer, doors would open wide and big neon signs would light the way and opportunity would come dripping from the ceilings.

Well.... last year, the same situation happened. The voice, the dreams, the pressure to follow. I did. I reluctantly did, but I did, and again, open doors.

But then, it got ugly. I got to a door and it was closed. It was closed, dead bolted, and sealed around the edges. Uhm, excuse me?!? Knock knock? Did you hear the song? I am here.... I did what you said.... Do you see all those doors swung wide open behind me?? I think you are supposed to be doing that as well.... would you be so kind to open up?

No answer

Hey... stupid door... did you hear me?!?!? I have purpose, I have momentum.....OPEN UP!!!!

No answer

Great... just great. I must have gone through a wrong door I must have heard the voice wrong this time... way to go.... you screwed this one up.....

Well, no... no I didn't. This door is not meant to be opened yet. It is not time to open that door yet. I am not ready to open it and the room on the other side is not ready to be revealed. God would like me to stay in this room.

What does GOD want of me?

The answers are in the stillness and do not always come right away.... patience....

The path to enlightenment is never an easy one.....

I have decided that I am going to participate in Oprah's latest adventure .

This is an online series for the next 10 weeks and it relates to a book called "A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle. Well... if I am gonna participate, I should read the book, right? Right....

Yesterday, I am out and about shopping at various places. Oh yeah... I gotta get that book! I am at Sam's wholesale wandering the book aisles but no luck. Oh well, perhaps it is more of an underground kind of book.

I stop at Borders books - ask the employee at the little desk - "Uhm, so sorry ma'm, I just gave her our final copy." Another employee sighs and says, "That is so weird, we just had a rush on those the past few days." I tell them about the Oprah webinar and then I head out the door.

Off to Barnes and Noble - "Well, ma'm... we can add you to the list to hold a copy for when it comes in..."

Crap... maybe more people are doing this than I thought would do this......

Half Price Books - Nope

Kroger - I see a small turny kiosk near the check out with best sellers on it. I start to look and I see a woman rush up next to me and search up and down frantically. I get up and head down the aisle where the rest of the books are and she follows and passes me. Clearly we are looking for the same thing. We are looking in the same places and sighing and moving on once we see that blank spot where you can tell the book used to be.

Think, Rebecca - Think.... where would they sell bestseller books...because apparently this IS a bestseller, can't keep it on the shelf, kind of book???

Walgreen's?!?!? Nada

Target? - I doubt it... if these other places were out, I am SURE Target would be out.....

WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!!! I could see the beautiful orange cover from 4 aisles away. I quickly grab 2 copies and call a friend who I think would be interested in reading this to make sure she had a copy. She has had a copy for awhile, so I can release my clutch and replace one of the books.

Anyway... I have the book... it is lovely... I am really looking forward to this journey and I hope to share some of it with you here. If you are taking the same journey, please let me know, I would love to discuss it with you! Here is a video about it just to give you a little idea about what it is about:

I, TOO, am training to be a superhero....

It was a foggy morning in metropolis. I was on my way to my undercover day job behind the desk. My super sensitive mommy radar detected a disturbance in the force as I was driving, and just ahead of me I noticed 4 beautiful dogs all attached to one walking leash running madly on the sidewalk, a cocker spaniel, a lab-like puppy, a beagle, and a chiuaua - all the same auburn and white coloring. I followed them slowly and looked around to see if there was an owner chasing from behind out of breath. I was hoping this would be an easy "save the day", but as a superhero, you gotta do what you gotta do.

At one point they realized I was tracking them and they reversed direction. I, too reversed direction, not bothering to use my radar to detect if anyone was behind me which they were. They managed to use their superhero honker horn to alert me of this potential fatal error. Luckily chaos was averted - and potential bumper damage. My new honker honker horn superhero friend stopped and offered aid in my quest. We grabbed the leash and while I translated care and concern through "Das a gud puppa.... good puppas..... gooooooooodd puuuhhhhhpaaaaaaahhhhhhs!!" she grabbed her cell phone and started calling the several numbers on the tags.

No answers anywhere.... dagnabbit..... foiled.... what to do?!?!? what to do?!?!?

We get a phone call back. "Ray" is supposed to be watching all the dogs. "Ray" lives near where we are. "Ray" is an elderly diabetic.

Okay... now there may be a bigger story here than just a puppy rescue. There is a potential sick man somewhere around here who could have collapsed while walking his dogs. We find out where this man lives. I call my office and have them direct me to his house. We will start there and try to figure out how the puppies got from there to where we found them.

Luckily, we did not have to. As we approach his house, we see him in his pajamas and a coat looking for the dogs, just in the opposite direction of where they went. He thanked us over and over and over again.......no problem sir... all in a days work....

Now I smell like wet puppy.....

I know you are here......

Oh L-a-u-r-e-n.........

I know you are here.....
I see you in the blogosphere....

You are hiding from me.........

Thank you, Pantene

I would like to thank Pantene for ruining one of the greatest "fight for life - don't give up" type theme songs.... I used to listen to Unwritten and sing at the top of my lungs with hope and enthusiasm.... now I just think about how much shampoo I have in my shower and start a mental list for Walmart.

Last night at our house.....

Last night was a night where everyone was in their own room doing their own thing kind of nights. I was in my bedroom watching television. Max wanders in and heads into the bathroom. He takes care of his business and the next thing you know he has gotten undressed and turned the shower on and gotten in. I am not exactly clear if daddy has sent him in to do this (which happens a lot) or if he has chosen to do this on his own. What is remarkable this time is that he was in his own little world the entire time. He did not even acknowledge my existance or request my assistance.

It happened to be at a crucial part of my TV show so I let him stand in the shower for a bit, and then I thought...he can do this himself. So I grab the towel off the rack and open the shower door:

Me: Buddy, you think you could take care of all of this by yourself tonight?
Max: (looks at me with this empty stunned expression)...uhm.. well... I can't wash my back....
Me: Okay, how about I wash your back, but can you take care of the rest?
Max: Uhm, ... yeah... Yes, YES I CAN!

So I leave him and go back to my TV show. The next thing you know, he has showered, dried himself off, put his PJs on, brushed his teeth and COMBED HIS HAIR!!! He then walks in front of me and presents himself with arms wide open in a "TA DA!"

Mommy: Max ... I am so proud of you!! That was a very big boy thing of you to do and I want to thank you for doing it so well!!
Max: Uhm, mommy... now that I am a big boy and can do it all by myself... can I take a shower by myself in my own shower upstairs?
Mommy: Yes, angel... this weekend when we go to the store, you can pick out the soap and shampoo for your shower.

He grins from ear to ear and high tails it out of the room - 10 feet taller and off to tell daddy all about it!

Did I mention Ben is training to be a Superhero?

Ahhhhh... let us back up a little then.....

Well, we have discussed previously that Ben has no fear... well he is scared of the dark, but that is different.... he has no fear in his physical limitations. He pretty much throws himself down slides, climbs the highest peaks and jumps off of them.... yadda yadda .....

The other night he was jumping on our bed. It was more like flinging himself onto the pillows he had stacked in the middle. The "good mother" part of me started to stop him because we do not jump on beds, but then I realized what he was doing. He wasn't just jumping up and down, he wasn't just falling forward, he was flinging his feet behind him, reaching his arms in front of him, pausing in the air and allowing gravity to bring him down. He did this a few times in rapid succession, and I got Mike's attention who was showering Max. I gave big eyes to Mike, like, LOOK AT WHAT OUR CHILD IS DOING!!!! He then comes closer and Ben realizes we are watching him. He doesn't stop, he proceeds to tell me exactly what he is doing " You see mommy..(pant pant pant), I haff to keek my feet like dis...(pant, jump)... and then I go down!

Okay... my child is trying to fly......

Today, he is getting out of the car. Normally he gets out of his chair and either jumps to the ground or sits down and wiggles out of the car. Today, he gives me his evil flirty eyes and the next thing he does is place both hands on the top of the door and flings the door further open with his force, dangles from the door for a moment then releases his grip and falls the floor.

Apparently this is practice for when he is dangling off the side of a building while saving the day.

I think I need to get this child into gymnastics classes.

I DID ask....

Let me preface this with, I DID ask if he was okay and if I needed to call 9-11 BEFORE laughing.......

So this morning I hear...BOOM BADDA BOOM BANG CRASH....coming down the stairs. I run from the bedroom out towards to the noise. Max RUNS into me like a chicken with his head cut off, "DADDY FELL ... AND HE FELL DOWN THE STAIRS AND AND AND AND AND HE BROKE THE WALL!!!!""

Okay, okay.... I come around the corner to see Mike lying on the floor, and yes, his foot was still in the wall.

Apparently he was carrying Max down the stairs and slipped about 1/3 of the way from the ground floor. I desperately try to wipe the smirk off my face and look concerned and ask about his condition while trying to help him up. I get him to a seated position and remove his foot from the wall. Max is still running around, so I ask Mike if he fell on Max - and he said - uhm, no.... I was carrying him in the front so he pretty much just surfed down the stairs on me!

Ben - quiet as a mouse slides his way down the wall to look at the hole..."Daddy, why you break da wall whif yur fut?"

Seriously, Universe?!?!?!?

There is nothing like a practical joke from God to kick start your morning.....

So I am running late this morning because I was packing for a weekend trip we will be taking. I get everything organized and we are off to school and work. I have to run a few errands prior to heading to work, like oil change, inspection done, get car washed, gas up, yadda yadda yadda....

I am BLOCKS from the place where I get my oil changed and inspection done and what do I see in my rear view mirror?!?!? Flashing lights! WTF?!?!?! I am NOT speeding! I am the queen of school zones and purposely slow down even more to slow the bastards that try to speed through zones... I KNOW he is not coming after ME!!!!!

Is there a problem officer?
Yes, ma'm.. you have an expired inspection sticker.
(are you serious?!?!?) Officer... I promise you I am heading to the corner of (X) and (Y) to the Kwik oil change place... we are heading out of town and I am going RIGHT NOW to take care of this...(panic look to the backseat at the kids) We are going on a trip, right guys?!?!
Max: Yes, sir, we are going to see Grandma and Grandpa Tula.....
Officer, I would not have my 5 yr old and 3 yr old lie about this.
Yes, Ma'm.... let me see your license and proof of insurance.
(CRAP CRAP CRAP...WHY IS HE GIVING ME A TICKET FOR THIS?!?!?!?!?)

He is gone, what seems like forever, and the next thing you know his partner is getting out of the car and walking around my car. Seriously, WTF?!?!? I see her glance towards the registration and nod to the officer in approval and she heads back to the car. He comes up and gives me a warning.

Thank you, sir.... thank you, thank you, thank you.....you can follow me right now if you want...
That won't be necessary, ma'm.

I spy with my little eye......

The above is one of our favorite games in the car... but I have already blogged about that before, so on to the story for today....

Mommy: I spy with my little eye...something.... yellow
Max: (pointing to the man on the sidewalk) His shirt!
Mommy:Good Job!
Max: I spy with my little eye something BROWN!!!
Mommy: That car?
Max: NOOOO mommy!!!! Your HAIR!!!!


Did you hear that???


That is the sound of a former blonde's ego being crushed with reality!!!

I don't need your help, Ben

Oh the hard times of two growing little boys.

One of the things that I am damn near pulling my hair out in frustration, is teaching the fundamental life long lesson of "following directions" to my oldest son, my sweet adorable boundary testing 5 year old.

His father and I have come to tantrums when trying to get Max to follow directions. We will not put the bat down and he refuses to stop throwing us curve balls. I know he knows the difference, because when threats are given, magically the behavior stops... but only temporarily. So in the grand picture these souls have been brought together to learn our lessons, his obedience and ours is patience.

Lately, this conversation comes to great melt downs on the way home from school. Mostly because we are all tired and unable to keep calm and collected. There is lots of crying and yelling and condescending talk... all things that I am not proud of, but I am getting to the end of my rope. And it does not help that I suddenly find myself on a board of executioners mid conversation when my brown nosing little 3yr old decides that when I am trying to collect my thoughts and count to 10, it is his turn to start in on his brother....Mommy says stop it... you unnnerstand?!?!?!? After I advise Ben that I am the mommy and I do not need his help, he Jekyll and Hyde's it to his sweet personality and advises me that HE is not doing whatever it is that I am currently accusing Max of..."Mommy... I no talk back to you" or "Mommy, I just sit here and catch a bubble."

Well last night, once again, we are faced with the same conversation. Max's teacher sent home a note asking that we discuss the importance of following directions in class.... great, what I thought was only a family battle has moved into the school. So I tell him what the note says and advise him we are going to talk about this, young man!!! I tell him to stand outside Ben's class, while I step in and get Ben. I come out and he is gone. I walk around the corner and see him in the lobby reaching into the snack basket. I advise him to get his hand out of there and get into the car and put his seat belt on, NOW. We get in the car and I inform him that he will eat dinner by himself at the kitchen table, go straight to shower time and straight to bed as soon as we get home..... he will learn this lesson even if it means he never sees TV again and he loses access to all of his toys. I start to go into a tirade that his teacher is upset with him, Mommy is upset with him, Daddy is upset with him..... and very loud from the backseat comes..."And BEN is very upsef wif YOU!!!!"

Thank you, Ben... but I do not need your help.

Going commando... not as easy as it sounds!

So yesterday morning as I was getting Ben dressed for school he asked me, "Mommy, can I go commando for nigh nigh tonight?" Now are around this house, going commando at night time means going to bed with only pajamas, no underwear and no overnight diaper pull ups. I blinked several times to buy time and responded with a detailed conversation in 3 yr old language. This means he cannot go pee pee in his bed because he would get all wet and cold, and he would have to get out of his bed in the middle of the night and go pee pee in the potty. He shook his head in agreement at all the arguments I had. I ended the conversation with him by clarifying even further - more for me than for him - so tonight you are going to bed with only your pajamas, no nigh nigh diaper, right......and with a huge smile Ben exclaimed - YES!!!

So we get home and he enthusiastically advised daddy of his new commando status post shower time. He WILL NOT be wearing nigh nigh diapers anymore. Mike looked at me with concern and I said we were going to give it a try. Now I am much more willing to go down this road because he has been waking up in a dry diaper for a couple of months now. He knows to go to the poty first thing when he wakes up, so he is probably ready to take this step.

Shower time comes, the pep talk is given again, and Ben puts on his pajamas without a night time diaper with great excitement:

8:15 - Off to bed they march
8:30 - Bed
9:00 - pitter patter of small feet in our bedroom - okay, let's go pee pee for good measure and send you back to bed. Daddy is upstairs and advises me he has already pee pee'd twice in the potty before this.
9:15 - pitter patter pitter patter....Ben? What is he problem? He squeals and climbs into bed with me...." I cannot close my eyes" Well - try!! Send him back upstairs
9:30 - see above
9:45 - alright Ben - that is enough!!! I start to threaten him with the fact that I was going to put his diaper back on him if he didn't stay in his bed. He nods yes. Wait a minute.... are you nodding yes because you understand? Ben, do you want to put your diaper back on? Slow nod yes. If I put your diaper on will you go to bed and stay there? Slow nod yes.

So I put the overnight pull up on, he sighs with relief, runs upstairs, and goes to bed.

Apparently going commando is harder than it seems. He might as well have been an adolescent teen sleeping on satin sheets for the first time. It was too much to handle and he needed the protection of extra padding just to get to sleep.....

Maybe next time......

I needed that talk

We needed that talk.

Last night in the dark of our bedroom my husband and I had a very serious talk. Probably not serious to anyone else but very serious to us... to me. I do not want to get into the details of the talk, what I want to talk about is the events and feelings that led up to the talk and the way I felt afterwards.

It was late. I had been up watching TV even though I was exhausted and should have turned the TV off and fallen asleep hours before. I am like my children in that, if the TV is on, we cannot sleep. It is a constant stimulus that keeps our eyes open no matter what. My mother had my boys this weekend and she even commented on the fact that they were up later than normal watching TV and kept saying they couldn't sleep. She finally turned off the TV and no more than walked into the bathroom and took off her contacts and they were already sleeping hard.

But back to me.... my point is that I was exhausted and exhaustion makes me weak and emotional and vulnerable to thoughts that may or may not be rational. I think they are always necessary, but I do admit that somethimes these moments might look differently after a good night's sleep. This can be a good thing or a bad thing, because sometimes a good night's sleep and different perspective gives me a great excuse to place issues back in my Pandora box and up on a shelf to fester and grow unattended.

Recently, I had been having issues and not been able to place my finger on it. I wasn't sure what my problem was and I couldn't see the forest for the trees. Because whenever I stepped back and looked at the entire forest, it was full of wonderful beautiful trees that made me very happy and fulfilled, yet these issues kept creeping in corners and leaving a light film of dust on the furniture. And it wasn't coming from one source, so I knew my problem wasn't with one person in particular, unless of course you consider that one perosn was me.

So here I am, in the dark, listening to the creaks of our house and the rain falling on our windows. All of a sudden, I am overwhlemed with thoughts and feelings that come rushing to the surface. Thoughts that act like a tumbleweed, meaning the one thought leads you to the next thought and the next thought and so on. The next thing I know, I have hit a nail on the head and at the same time that I am anxious and upset, I find myself taking these huge comforting breaths, almost like soul cleansing breaths.

I felt horrible and wonderful all at that the same time. I was laying there debating on what to do next. This is important. This is a big moment. I hate to wake Mike up, because that is not fair to him, maybe I need to get up and write about it, maybe I should wait and see what else comes up and, and, and, ........

In all this "thinking" I am snapped back into my body when I think I hear footsteps in the other room, maybe one of the boys walking around in the night. I touch Mike and he wakes up and I tell him I think one of the boys is up, and he walks around looking for them. He comes back to bed, false alarm. He rolls over to head back to sleep. This is when the tears start. He is up. Just start talking. He is up. Don't let this moment pass. But it is not fair to keep him up with MY issues. JUST START TALKING.

And I did. And then he did. And then there was a peace. Deep soul breaths and heavy sleep.

A Strategical Parenting Error

So I quite possibly may not have used the BEST judgement in regards to my children yesterday.

Let's just say yesterday was a day that I wandered out of my bedroom only to make sure the children had food and were not killing each other. I apologized to my husband for not being able to be a wife or a parent, but well... I just couldn't muster the gumption. The point being, the children spent alot of time yesterday watching TV or playing in their room, except for a short period where they did get outside to play in the yard with daddy.... this is not nearly enough time to release all the energy that a 5 and 3 yr old boys create in one day.

After dinner, I drew a bath in our bathroom (also known as the little pool) and aterwards, they snuggled with me in our big chair and watched yet more TV. Lo and behold, the new gladiators was on NBC.... You know, the remake of the old classic, early 90's, American Gladiators where poor contestants get the crap beat out of them with foam jousting sticks and oversized boxing gloves. I thought.... the boys would find this interesting and, bonus for me, it is not animated.

Big Mistake

The boys went wild!!! I mean, time to bring out the cage and pad the walls with pillows wild. The LOVED IT!! They, of course, immediately took color sides ( it is the blue competitor against the red competitor) and named daddy and I the gladiators (Wolf for daddy and Crush for me). They "wrestled" on our big king size bed and climbed their daddy like a mountain. The only way we could get them into their beds was to pretend our stairs were the mountain thingy the competitors climb and the hallway to their rooms was the gauntlet they had to wrestle past the gladiators (who were armed with pillows, FYI). It took a good 1/2 hour for them to finally settle down and fall asleep.

Perhaps American Gladiators is not a good choice for right before bedtime.

I plan to add this to our nomination reel for Parenting of the Year Award.

And a belated "Happy New Year" to all of you!!!

So, of course I have had grand plans to write deep thoughts about last year and hopeful thoughts of this year, but that ain't happening..... so I thought I would try the blog meme that has been going around were you post the first sentence of the first post of each month.... and I think it sums up the year quite nicely....

JANUARY – Man, I can be dark.

FEBRUARY – There is a SOLD sign in my front yard.

MARCH – So I have been sunbathing on the river bed of that big beautiful river in Egypt lately.

APRIL – It's not the GREAT FLOOD....but definitely flooding is a theme in my life right now.

MAY - A shift happened yesterday, it was subtle, probably no one but a mother would have noticed, but it happened.

JUNE – So we were evicted from my mother's over the weekend.

JULY – It's no longer a house being renovated, it is a home.

AUGUST – I am pissed to the point of tears.

SEPTEMBER – My sweet angel Benjamin.... it is time... this is the last 3 day weekend opportunity we are going to have for a while, so Daddy and I decided, we are tired of buying pull up diapers..... (see previous budget meltdown)...... this weekend, it is all about pee pee and poo poo in the potty.

OCTOBER - Thank you for finally getting here.

NOVEMBER – Because I am always one to accept a challenge, I decided to participate in NaBloPoMo this year.

DECEMBER - There are 2 questions you ask yourself when you are looking at a new home: 1. Can I make it my own? 2. How will I decorate it for Christmas?