Prayer

I'm pretty sure the actual pronunciation is:

God is great

We are fed

Give us all our daily bread

Amen

Thank you Jesus.

Interesting commentary that Addie believes we are all fat.  I'm very confident that "Cheezus" is the God of Cheez-its, which explains why Addie is thanking him/her. 

And Benjamin, bless his heart, cannot consistently sign I Love You.  He's really good at signing the letter F instead. 

Phone call

Anyone who has ever had their children being watched by someone else knows the feeling when the phone rings and caller id says it's daycare/babysitter/watcher/whatever. Today that happened while I was in a meeting and I excused myself to answer my cell. As I held my breath and said "hello?" here's what I heard:
T: Hi this is Tammy at the Eagles Nest.
Me: Uh huh.
T: I just wanted to call you to let you know something that happened. Everyone is fine.
Me: Phew, Ok. Go ahead (exhale my breath)
T: Addie was playing in the dramatic play area, where the wooden washing machine and dryer is. She was playing beauty salon and apparently decided to use the dryer as a hair dryer. She stuck her whole head in (you're envisioning this, right?) and apparently stuck it in too far, because it made the dryer fall on her body. She is ok. She was a little shaken up by it all, but seems fine. I just wanted you to know, in case she mentions something to you tonight.
Me: Ok, thanks Tammy.

I guess she was crouched down with her head in the hole, and it made the dryer go off balance? I'm pretty sure I'll get a full demonstration when I pick them up this evening. I'll keep you posted... :-)

Lemonade

I am so not the type of person to whine or complain about woe is me or my life, etc. Most people would say that I'm annoyingly optimistic, but very grounded in reality. Sometimes I just have to sit back and laugh at how life goes, you know? Nothing majorly horrible, but just enough at one time to make me go, "This is hysterically chaotic."
Two weeks ago I sprained my back and was totally incapacitated. Brian had to take the day off of work to take me to the doctor. I literally couldn't move. After muscle relaxers and the best invention ever- the heating pad- my back eventually felt fine again.
The following Sunday as I was preparing for bed, I told Brian I felt sick. Once I started throwing up, I couldn't stop. It got so bad that by 5pm on Monday Brian said if I vomited again he was taking me to the ER. Out of the blue at about 830 that night, my stomach went "ahhhh, I'm all better."
The rest of the week I've been dealing with stomach issues. I didn't eat dinner any night last week, because I felt queasy even looking at food. Over the weekend I kept getting sick again and again. Ah the joys, right?
Yesterday I had a meeting with some collaborators about a new project for work, and once I got on the interstate, I heard something weird. Having never had a flat tire before, I took my hands off the steering wheel, since I had always heard that a flat makes you veer one way or the other. My car kept on straight. The sound was persistent though, like a helicopter was over my car. Eventually I started smelling something bad, so I pulled over. Low and behold, a VERY flat tire. OMG, I thought, I hope I haven't ruined my rim. Thank goodness for Mr. AAA, who arrived and changed my tire with his back on the shoulder of I-95 in the freezing cold wind, with cars zipping by at 75 mph! Not a job I would want!
Then last night as I was getting Addie and Ben ready for bed, I started itching. By bedtime I had little hives randomly on my body. By midnight I was covered and itching like a madman! It got so bad that I went to the medicine cabinet and took Children's Benadryl (bubble gum flavored- BLECH). It had the dosage for an adult on it, so I thought it couldn't hurt. After about an hour, the itching stopped and I was able to go back to bed.
Isn't that a lot of random "what's the chance this all happens in close proximity" events? I just have to laugh.

On a better note, Benjamin's GE scan came back 100% normal. The pediatrician assured me, "He's one of the few children who has ever been on that table at the hospital for a GE scan, that found NOTHING." (That's a good thing, by the way!) So it seems like he might just be a child who when there's some strain of a cold going around he catches it in his chest first. I'm ok with that.

Some fun things about Addie and Ben right now. Addie and Ben both LOVE Mamma Mia, the musical. They also both love Taylor Swift songs. Addie's current favorite is "Juliet" which is actually called "Love Story," but the song is about Juliet, who in the video is dressed in renaissance princess clothes, which therefore makes her a princess and therefore is amazing. Ben's favorite cereal right now is "Frosty the SnowFlakes" which really are Frosted Flakes. (Yes, I know the sugar content of them.) I love how he has morphed the names together.

Benjamin wins

Working in a childrens hospital lends itself to my observing different children and their behavior A LOT. This past week Ben has had two tests done, trying to figure out why he's got the junky lung cough/respiratory infections so much. Both times the technicians have commented on how chill and calm and just go-with-the-flow he is. This morning he had a scan of his stomach for ONE HOUR, after drinking chocolate milk with radioactive dye in it. He had to lie flat on his back, while "strapped in" with athletic tape across his waist. We watched Cinderella and he squirmed maybe four times. By squirmed I mean, slightly rolled to his right towards me. That was it. The technician was floored by him. He is so willing to try what people ask him, if it seems genuine and like it won't hurt him.
The technician warned me that most time for the first 20 minutes, the kids are twisting and turning trying to get out, then 20 minutes they get used to it and the last 2o minutes are "pretty rough." Well luckily for me, not my Benjamin.
He got his stickers, which he proudly put all over the wagon (that's how kids get around in childrens hospitals). We went to the cafeteria and had breakfast when we were finished. Then we did a quick stroll around the floors, saying hi to my coworkers. It was so nice to spend some time with just him and he's such a good boy.
Benjamin, hands down no question about it, wins the award for most chill 2 year old boy.
*Disclaimer: This is not to say that we don't have our moments of 2 year old melt downs. Boy do we, for instance over eating more than one Tagalong girl scout cookie in a seating. But by and large, he just likes to live life happily and enjoy it.

Daycare the saga

Ok, long long long story short: we switched daycares on February 3rd.  On Feb 10th I was greeted by a nice woman outside of the new daycare saying that she is the new owner, that the current daycare is closing on the 13th and that the owners have notified no one, not parents nor staff. Stunned and shocked and desperate, I started planning where Addie and Ben would go for care.  I had it all figured out and ended up speaking with the new owner about her plans, etc.  She's doing renovations to the building (a good thing!) and will not be open until mid March.  The current owner denied all rumors of closing, even telling parents via the teachers on Thursday that all has been taken care of; there was a misunderstanding and all is well. On Friday morning I still wasn't satisfied with the lack of answers, so I called the company that owns the building to get the truth.  He called me back and explained that the current owner begged to stay open through Feb 20th so he could give his employees five days notice (nice, huh? No mention of notifying the parents, who PAY for him to operate his center).  The landlord agreed, after checking with the new owner.  So Friday afternoon I asked what the employees knew and they assured me that all was well and daycare was open as usual.  I had to break it to them gently.  Needless to say, the two teachers there were devastated.  Monday was President's Day, so they were closed as scheduled.  Yesterday a teacher met me at the door explaining that after business on Friday, they would be closed.  Because of the short notice, they're willing to give one week of free care at their other location which is about 30 miles south (ie not convenient, and seriously would anyone do business with this creep again?).   When I asked about their jobs, she said they have to find new ones.  When I went to the front of the building, the owner was there and I said how shocked I was, to which he replied, "We are too- we just got notice this morning."  So the man point blank lied to my face!!  Isn't that outrageous? I wanted to call him on it, but I wanted to make sure Addie and Ben weren't retaliated against while there the rest of the week. I'm drafting my letter to the newspaper now...

Some other things about this center that make me laugh:

• Yesterday Addie informed me that she watched Horton Hears a Who at daycare, and when I went to pick them up, they were watching a movie.  They were watching Bedtime Stories, the Adam Sandler movie.  Um, I'm pretty sure it's out in theatres still, so that would make it a bootleg copy! Oh my God, my kids are watching illegal materials!
  
• Unbeknownst to me, it's a "Christian academy."  The only way I know this is that Addie came home to tell me that before we eat, she needs to say her "thing."  I'm going to try to video tape it, so you get the full Addie effect.

Gross combos

Sometimes children combine foods in really gross ways.  My two have successfully achieved this now.  

The current request is "chocolate milk and apple juice."  I refuse to put them together in the same cup, but that surely doesn't stop them from swishing the two together in their mouths.  The way it just rolls off their tongues, you'd think chocolate milk and apple juice was as common a combination as peas and carrots.  Blech! It's really quite disgusting to see one sip from one cup followed by one sip from the other, and back and forth.  Gross. Or as Addie and Ben would say, "that's disgusting." 

Video of Muddy's reaction to Wendy's surprise

Finally it loaded!!  You can see Muddy's reaction to Wendy's surprise on Christmas Eve morning.

Game time!

Can you think of a caption for this picture? It's a blog game I just created. I think this particular photo has lots of possibilities. Just leave your ideas as a comment.

Happy Birthday Uncle Jeremy

Brian spent an hour on the phone last night with the Comcast people and got the internet back up to speed.

Moments when there aren't answers

Addie is a very curious child. She loves to investigate and understand things. We have conversations at length about her "observations." She's really into observations. At dinner on Monday night after our long trip from Vegas, Addie looked at me directly and asked, "Mommy, what's a booty call?" Muddy laughed and said, "I told her she had to ask you." My answer, "Something some grown ups say, but it's not very nice, ok?" That sufficed. Where did my 3.5 year old get the term booty call from? The ad for the movie "He's just not that into you." Put any term tacked onto booty and you can pretty much guarantee Addie wants to know about it, and say it frequently. It's right up there with "poop."
After her first day of the new daycare, she told me there was a bad girl in her class. I asked why she was bad and Addie explained she had glasses and earrings. (Uh oh, so do I!) She also said she had a scary voice. I asked her to describe it and she tucked her chin down to her neck and said "Aaaaddiieee" in a Darth Vador-esque sound. Then she laughed her head off. I thought she was kidding.
Fast forward to me picking them up on Wednesday and Addie is quick to show me that the bad girl is right there. Yup, indeed there's a girl about Addie's size with glasses and earrings. Addie informed me, "she's the one with the scary voice." Just as she said that, I looked at the little girl and realized that the poor kid has the telltale scar of a tracheotomy!!! I couldn't believe my eyes and my ears as I processed it all together. Here I am the social worker all about treating people with disabilities like everyone else; the same mom who has put her kids in the laps of people who use wheelchairs from early on; the same one who preaches the value of acceptance and my own daughter has identified a difference in a peer and is scared?! Talk about being nominated for mom of the year. I explained to Addie that her voice sounds different because when she was a baby she was sick and it made her voice change. We had a long conversation about how that doesn't mean she shouldn't play with her and how she wouldn't want kids to not play with her because of her seizures. We'll see how she does. My heart just sank for that girl though, who is going to be picked on for being different forever and who hasn't found her "voice" to explain to other kids.
I am pretty damn sure if Addie or Ben had a tracheotomy and the lasting effects of it, that they'd be coached early on about how to address it with their peers, teacher and strangers. Really, Addie even will quip "I have a history of seizures when I have a fever," if someone mentions fevers. My little self-advocate in the making, who is scared by other kid's voices. (Yes, I realize she probably thought the girl was purposely sounding scary and being weird!!)
A special mention to Uncle Jeremy:I'm trying to load your birthday video, I promise. I might end up mailing it to you, if I can't get my internet to load properly from home.

Videos of the Grand Canyon

Take off (remember we have our headphones on and can hear the pilot the whole time. You miss out on that via the video camera.)

Hoover Dam

Arriving at the Grand Canyon

Landing in the Grand Canyon.

I'll put more on another post...not sure how much is too much.

Vegas, baby!

For Brian's big 3-0 birthday, I surprised him with our first trip to Las Vegas. He had no idea where we were going. We left first thing on Saturday morning, and had a layover in Atlanta. At that point, he still didn't know where we were going, since I checked us in online and only gave him his first boarding pass. Finally in Atlanta I walked him to the gate and he saw that Vegas was our destination. I think he was a little disappointed, because I had led him to believe we were going someplace tropical, but nonetheless he was excited to go to LV.

Here we are on the plane- destination unknown.

Just after arriving in our hotel, the MGM Grand.

The view from our room on the 28th floor. You can see the Tropicana, Excalibur and Luxor.

My co-worker Jennifer recommended we have dinner in the Italian restaurant in the New York New York. It was a fabulous meal!

Sunday I had planned a special trip for Brian. It was a helicopter ride and tour of the Grand Canyon, including landing at the base of the Canyon for a champagne lunch.

On board the helicopter. We were in the front with me between Brian and our pilot.

After landing in the Canyon, while lunch was being set out.

Brian with our helicopter and the other. We were the only 12 people in that part of the Canyon.

Our picnic lunch with our helicopter mates.

Our personal helicopter.

We brought our coats with us, because it was supposed to be 45 in the canyon, but it was sunny and approximately 70 degrees.

On board, for the trip back. On the way to the Canyon, our pilot had classical music playing while he gave us toury information. We flew over Lake Meade, the Hoover Dam, the Colorado River, etc. On the return flight, he had the fun soundtrack playing, which included songs from Top Gun, Sweet Home Alabama, Hotel California, Lenny Kravitz's Fly, and a bunch of others.

We made a pit stop for gas at the top of the Canyon. We got to climb out while the propeller was whirring around and had to stand back a certain distance while we got fueled up.

I have tons of videos which I'll load up in the next post. Overall, if anyone has the option to see the Grand Canyon via helicopter tour Brian and I give it two enthusiastic thumbs up. It ranks as one of the coolest experiences of my life. Riding the helicopter alone was awesome, but adding to it the scenery and then landing and lunch, it was phenomenal. The company we used is called Papillion Helicopters. Honestly, FANTASTIC.

We got back on Sunday in time to watch the Superbowl, which was fun to be in Vegas for. People were shrieking left and right. The MGM Grand is also where the UFC Champion match was fought on Saturday night, so we saw lots of UFC people (including some who rode in the plane with us from Philly). We also saw Criss Angel and Cirque du Soleil's show "Believe," which was cool.

We were both shocked at how many little children were there with their parents. In my opinion, it is not family friendly at all. Every casino was filled with cigarette and cigar smoke. It was actually so bad that Brian's and my eyes got irritated and bloodshot from the smoke. Blech. We also weren't so fond of the almost naked young women dancing on platforms in the casinos. I can't count how many times we mentioned to the other "imagine her parents." It is sad to see that. Finally the public drunkenness is funny to a point, but after a while it's rather tragic to see. One guy was literally slithering across the lobby of MGM the morning we left. He couldn't stand up at all and he couldn't even crawl on all fours. Also on Sunday morning we had to go up to get our coats for the Grand Canyon trip and got on the elevator with a young couple. They were in their own little world and I had to actually ask them which floor they were going to, since they hasn't pushed a button. When the doors opened on their floor, the girl walked into the foyer and exclaimed, "Why is it so bright? Oh my God, is it morning?" It was 10:00am. She had no clue.