Not Me! Monday...L is NOT sick again!

Logan did NOT start telling me last night that his ear hurt. And even if he did, he did NOT wake up in the middle of the night, burning up. Because everyone knows that we are one of those families that does NOT get sick all. the. time. I mean, I do NOT work in a germ-ridden elementary school. And L does NOT go to school at a germ-ridden day care. That's disgusting. Ew.

Even though I got an ear infection about a week after my H1N1 ended, and several people at school also got an H1N1-induced ear infection, I was NOT hoping against all hope that L's ears would steer clear. Duh. Everyone knows that if he can get sick, he will.

I did NOT finally put my foot down and tell B that he had to take the morning off of work and take L to the doctor by himself for the first time. And even if he did, I would NOT ask him a million and one questions about every detail of the visit. I am sure B can handle it and I am not that big of a control freak about my kid that I need to know if L said hello to the doctor. Ugh. Only crazy moms are like that. I also did NOT call from my cell phone to get every detail rather than waiting another hour until I came home from work. Who does that???

Once I got home to take over the afternoon shift, I did NOT take L to the store to pick up his antibiotics and did not walk ever-so-slowly around the store to keep him up an extra hour so that I could give him another dose of Advil before putting him down for a nap. Seriously...of course I know my kid needs immediate rest, even if he was getting hot again. What kind of mother do you think I am?

Right as I started to get sad that L was sick again, I did NOT realize, upon checking MckMama's Twitters, that I am extraordinarily lucky that all I am dealing with is an ear infection. MckMama created this blog carnival and needs lots of support right now. Please pray, think positive thoughts, and/or send good vibes to her and her family right now, as her little man is in heart surgery as I type.

5, 6, 7, 8!

In this post, I mentioned that I coached the dance team when I worked at the middle school a few years ago.

A few of you left comments about your surprise that I was a pommer coach, but before you start watching for me on So You Think You Can Dance, let me clarify.

I. Can. Not. Dance.

Girls, I can barely walk. At any given point, I have several bruises on my legs in varying shades of black, blue and green. I walk pigeon-toed and my knees turn in. People giggle when I run, as they should.

When I do have a few too many cocktails gather the courage to hit the dance floor, I am typically compared to Elaine on Seinfeld. It's not pretty.

So how did I become the Dance Team Coach? Well, my good friend was let go from her teaching position at our school. (That's a long story, neither here nor there, and not nearly as juicy as you'd think.) She was the coach of the 8th grade dance team. When she left, she begged me to take over the squad. No one else was even remotely interested, so I reluctantly agreed.

And I immediately changed my title to Dance Team Sponsor. I indeed, took over the squad.

I made them sit out of games (and called their distraught mothers) when they came in on game days with huge hickeys on their necks.

I counseled them on arguments...on boys...on cutting themselves....on bad grades....on bad hair days...on home issues...on what was appropriate to put on their Myspace profiles.

I suspended them from the squad when their grades didn't make the cut.

I held tryouts, and dealt with the drama (and oh, was there drama) before, during, and after tryouts.

I held girls' in my arms when they didn't make the squad. When their grandmothers died. When their parents got divorced. When their boyfriend didn't bring them roses on Valentine's Day.

I bejeweled black leotards because we didn't have the funds to buy cool flashy uniforms.

I collected money from the girls and ordered pizza before every game (and ate so much of it that even the thought of Domino's pizza makes me nauseous).

I applied makeup. I did hair. I told them they looked beautiful and to quit primping because we had to go NOW.

I listened very closely to the lyrics of the sometimes rated-R music that they begged to accompany their dances.

I gave them gifts and superlative awards at our annual end-of-the-season parties.

I pushed the play button on the CD player over and over and over at after-school practice, squished in the hallway, because all other areas were taken by the basketball team and cheerleading squads.

I critiqued their dances. But I didn't choreograph their routines. They did. And when I did try to show them how to straighten their arms or put oomph into their kicks, I was greeted with snickers, albeit loving ones.

I coached sponsored 8th grade pommers for four years. Because once I started, I fell in love with them and their adolescent drama that ultimately came with them. My heart pounded every time they performed a dance that they worked so hard to learn. I cheered as loud as their moms, feeling pride when they hit those steps at halftime. I cried every year when I watched my sassy teenage girls pull away on the buses on the last day of school.

Since I couldn't build their dance move repertoire, I built their self-esteem. My goal was to make every one of my girls believe that they were amazing dancers, even if they danced like...well, me. And I am proud to say that every one of them who tried out for the high school dance team made it.

I loved every exhausting minute of sponsoring those girls.

Yet I have to admit...when I transferred out of the middle school and discovered that elementary schools do not have dance teams, I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Who needs a baby book when you have a blog?

I have two funny Logan stories that I've been telling everyone who will listen, and I want to document them here since I totally suck at at times, get a bit behind in filling out his baby book.

We left for Texas last weekend at about 10:15 pm, which is well past his bedtime. We kept him up in hopes that he would sleep better during our road trip (which he absolutely did!) and he was very excited as we were getting him in the car.

"We are going to Texas, and Ronnie is going to play his guitar, and we are going for a long car ride, and we are going to watch Harry Potter, and eat snacks, and...." he suddenly trailed off. I turned around to look at him and he said, "Actually, I'm kinda tired."

Actually! I love it!

My mom also told me that she had a cartoon on her In Demand about a cat and some mice. Apparently, the cat goes to the mice's house, and at first, they are very scared of him. However, the cat brings them cheese and they become friends. After they play together, the cat leaves, and as he does, the mice give him milk as they wave goodbye. Every single time the show gets to this point, Logan cries. This day, he asked to watch it again, and when he did, he cried even harder.

My mom tried to explain that the cat had to go home to his wife and his baby cats.

Logan's response, through his tears..."I know, but it still hurts!"

I love that kid.

An award just when I needed the love!

So for the first time, I lost a follower today. That smarts more than I thought it would. Fortunately (or unfortunately?) I am not sure who it was. Thanks to all of you for sticking by me, though! And thanks to Brittany at Molly Lou Gifts for giving me an award today. Obviously, I needed some bloggy love, and it's extra special coming from her! I love her to pieces, and everything from her site too!

What a cute name, right? Anyhoo...I am supposed to list ten interesting things about me. I feel like I have spilled my guts so many times on this blog that I don't have anything interesting left to say about me, but I'll try to think of a few more things you don't know about me...

1. My hair is baby fine and I am a bit obsessed with wanting it to be thicker. I know, I know, everyone with thick hair tells me that my stick straight hair is so much easier to tame, but what I wouldn't do for a big pretty ponytail!! I covet thick hair so badly that I will complement perfect strangers on their pretty curls or stroke acquaintances' luscious locks.

2. Ever since Katie at Loves of Life had her scarf swap, I've been LOVING scarves. After I received my scarf from Erin, my mom brought me and B scarves back from her trip to Paris. The funny thing is that I liked B's better than mine, and B is so not a scarf-wearing kind of guy, so I somehow accidentally happened to inherit his too. I'm nice like that, taking it off of his hands. If I would have known that wearing a scarf all day is like having a miniature blanket to snuggle, I'd have hopped on that scarf train years ago!


3. I am notorious for starting projects and not finishing them. I am talking about getting to the very end of something and poof....just walking away. If it is something that I have to complete, like work projects or oh, I don't know, a Bam-Bam costume....when I am scrambling to finish it, I am absolutely miserable.

4. I am petrified of roller coasters. My mom took me on the Screamin' Eagle at Six Flags when I was about six and I've never been the same. She really ruined all carnival rides for me. I can't ride those spinny swings or even little tiny roller coasters, much to B's dismay.

5. I went through cognitive-behavioral therapy for my anxiety (that at that point, was turning into depression) and I believe it definitely changed, and possibly saved my life. I think it's the best thing out there for mental health issues, hands-down.

6. Before I worked at the elementary school, I used to work at a middle school. I loved my big kids, and had a blast coaching the dance team. When I moved to the elementary, it was quite the culture shock. It was rainbows and butterflies and huggy love and I couldn't quite call my students "friends" like all the other teachers and make it sound natural. That was four years ago, and now, I cannot imagine leaving my saccharin sweet workplace. "Is that a good choice, friends?" rolls off my tongue quite naturally now.

7. When someone calls me a "hippie Earth momma" like one of my coworkers did today, I consider it a very flattering term. I am always a bit surprised that my hippie side shows at work, though, especially considering I think I reign it in. If it was up to me, I'd be wearing bell bottoms and peace sign headbands across my forehead.

8. I am fascinated by The Girls Next Door. I am pretty sure they have lower-than-average IQ's and are just using Hef to get famous, but they still are so interesting to me, and I hope I'm wrong about them. I am constantly asking myself if the twins have sex with each other and Hef? If so, that is just wrong on so many levels...and sexual encounters with an 83 year old man might disgust me more than the familial lovin'. Sorry. That's probably not the image you were hoping for in this post. I think I better move on.

9. B and I have finally decided on our future babies' names and I couldn't be more thrilled with them. I will share them when I am 20 weeks pregnant. Hopefully that will be sooner rather than later. We shall see.

10. My stupid effing laptop died for the third time and I will never ever ever again buy a Dell laptop. I am now stuck blogging in my frigid basement and although I am very glad that B has a desktop computer that I am able to use, I still want my baby laptop back.

I am tagging:

Karen at A Peek at Karen's World
Abby at Babbling Abby
Toni at Craw Digger
Jillian at It All Began with a Man in a Black Jeep
Little Woman at Little Woman, Little Home
Katie at Loves of Life
Brittany at Notes from the Grove
Erin at The Queen of Clearance
Brittany at Living in the Moment
Laura at Wringing Out My Sponge

I'll link you girls up later but it's cold down here in my basement and L is spending the night at his Paw-Paw's tonight. (B's dad actually texted me at work today to ask if he could have L for the evening! SCORE!) So I don't want to spend any more time this evening freezing my tail off when I could be snuggling with B. Peace out!

"In my cousin, I find a second self." -Isabel Norton

My cousin (and L's godmother) lives waaaay too far away from us. Texas is a 12-hour drive, but we braved the road trip with a two year old over the weekend. I just had to meet her little girl, who might just be the cutest thing ever. I know I'm a little biased, but seriously...look at her.

Gorgeous...right? I know. Needless to say, I fell madly in love with her upon seeing her for the first time. I spent a lot of time telling her that, too.

Unfortunately, she had her first fever the whole time we were there, so she wasn't quite herself, but I wouldn't have changed a thing.

You see, L had the worst bout of asthma he's ever had while we were down there. And it was nice, in a very weird way, for my cousin and I both to have kids under the weather and be able to console each other. Saying we are both worriers is a bit of an understatement, so having someone who actually understands me and knows exactly how to help me was priceless.

When my cousin and I were little, every single time we got together, it ended in a blowout fight. She was bossy and I was wussy, and we both desperately wanted the spotlight.

Now that we are older, we have discovered our similarities and they have brought us incredibly close. The ways we are alike, including our love of avocado and Haribo gummy bears, addiction to hot baths, anxiety, extreme clumsiness, penchant for drama, guilty pleasure of celebrity gossip, thoughts on God, organized religion, politics, parenting and legalization of marijuana, a pet peeve of righteousness, right down to the way we talk, is amazing. I don't know many siblings who have as much in common as we do.

I can't say that we have completely lost our bossiness and wussiness, but we've guided those traits into positives now. She owns her own business and I really admire her confidence and grit. However, my big heart and ability to sympathize works well in my own career and I've learned to let her take the lead in our relationship...and enjoy it. On the rare occasion when I don't agree with her ideas, I tell her, and she accepts it. It took long enough for us to get to this place. But it was worth it.

Seeing her play with L warms my heart. Fortunately, I got lots of that this weekend.

Thank goodness L's asthma (which was apparently induced by last week's H1N1) didn't keep him down. He played HARD and loves my cousin and her husband as much as B and I do!

But considering that her husband is also quite similar to B, maybe he just felt like he had two sets of parents all weekend.

One way my cousin and I are NOT alike is in our sewing ability. She made her little girl's costume by hand and it was the perfect companion to our little....

Bam-Bam!! (Take pity on me. I literally don't know how to sew a button on. That bad boy was made with safety pins, Velcro, and Stitch Witchery.) Pebbles and Bam-Bam were not exactly thrilled with their costumes. But we got enough giggles to make it worth it!

Besides the asthma, I had one other worry about L this weekend. He absolutely adored the creepiest Halloween decoration ever...this clown that took his head off! Just...ew. I might have run every time I had to get past that clown. Just sayin'.

The boys went trick-or-treating while my cousin tended to her sick little girl and I (wo)manned the door. I sent the camera with strict instructions to get some good photos of L's first time trick-or-treating. Apparently, L loved saying "Twick oh tweat" and "Happy Hawwoween!" And my cousin's hubby came home giggling about how after every house, L said, "Wook...I got sooo much candy!!"

On our last night there, we all had to get out of the house for a while. The fever and asthma attacks were starting to drive us bonkers. My mom's sister, affectionately known by the kids as Gigi, came over to rescue us with a gift of babysitting while we went out for the best sushi I've ever had. My cousin and her husband have been to Nobu in London and they say this is better. I can't imagine any sushi tasting more fantastic than what we ate that night. I actually took pictures of it to show you all......

This salmon was cooked in vinegar and was ridiculously delicious. The fact that it wasn't cooked in heat wigged me out a bit until the first bite. After that, the lack of heat was not an issue.

But my favorite thing was the edamame. Salty and warm...I could have made a meal out of them. I've been craving them since I ate my last one that night. Sadly, that's not an exaggeration.



Although maybe the meal was extra enjoyable because of the company. Eating with one of my favorite people who I haven't seen in almost a year and a half makes any meal fabulous.

We returned home to find that my little man's coughing had finally let up. He gave me the best possible gifts...snuggles that are few and far between these days. Don't get me wrong...I get lots of hugs and kisses, but he doesn't let me hold him nearly as often anymore.

The next day, we said our sad goodbyes, packed up the car and made the 12+ hour trip, and L was absolutely perfect. I still haven't really gotten over the shock. We did have a portable DVD player, but at one point, he told me, "Mommy, I just sit and listen to your music." We literally had no tears for the entire ride. He napped, he ate, he went to sleep for the night without any fuss. I actually had a more difficult time than he did.

Yeah. I'd say it was a pretty darn good weekend.

Another giveaway to detract from my slacking

I had such good intentions of posting about my wild weekend last night.

But then my H1N1-induced sinus infection that I've been fighting since Thursday got the best of me. I called and begged my doctor to send out an antibiotic, and guess what he said.

"It's a virus."

Seriously. My arm could be falling off and he would tell me it's viral. But it doesn't even matter anymore. That was the last time I will hear those three words from that man because I made a wonderful discovery last night...a walk-in clinic in a local grocery store. A coworker recommended it to me and I owe her big time. A retired ER doctor bought this clinic and she now works there full time. It's open till 6 during the week and on Saturday AND Sunday!!

After paying my normal co-pay, I was checked out by this doctor who had a fabulous bedside manner and quickly diagnosed me with...shocker...a sinus infection and prescribed me an antibiotic that I could pick up right there in the grocery store.

Love. It.

I didn't get home in time to upload my cute pictures, but I will tonight.

However, in the meantime, I have another awesome giveaway for you all. Molly Lou Gifts, who has quite possibly the most adorable things in the entire blogosphere, is giving away some darn cute notecards. In fact, she is doing a giveaway every week, with what she calls a "birthday explosion giveaway" in honor of her turning 29 (love ya, MLG) this month.

So go check her blog and store out. Trust me...you'll love her. And please cross your fingers that I can avoid any other minor (or major) catastrophes so I can get to my mini-vacay post!

Home Sweet Home.

I am home after a 12-hour road trip to Texas.

For a while there, I didn't think I'd say those words. It was quite the journey getting home.

The whole weekend was interesting. Stress, tears, heart-to-hearts, fever, coughing, inhalers, time-outs, hugs, love, sleepless nights, laughing, music, tantrums, sushi, personality tests, costumes, trick-or-treating...all in three days. When you put two eerily similar cousins, their also similar husbands, and their two littles in a house together for a weekend, I guess the madness was to be expected.

And I wouldn't have given any of it up for anything.

I'm too exhausted to blog about it tonight, but be prepared for lots of fun Texas stories...and even more photos...this week.

In the meantime, go check out this awesome giveaway from one of my favorite blog-girls, Heather.

Peace out...my own bed is calling!