Wonderful Weekend

As with most weekends, we were very busy.  I think a good time was had by all.  I even heard from Gabby on both Saturday and Sunday that this was "the best day ever!"  High praise from a seven year old.

Friday night wasn't overly eventful.  An appointment we had was cancelled  so we decided to go out to dinner at Smashburger. Quite honestly, I don't like their food.  I don't see the point of smashing a burger (or chicken!) and then piling it high with toppings.  By the time you're done, you can't even taste the meat.  What's the point?  Any way, the kids were great.  Jack got to eat a sweet potato fry or two (don't hate!) and Gabby ate everything in sight.

Saturday morning started as all of them do lately, up at the crack of dawn with Jack and then off to Zumba for an hour at 7:30.  Boy do I sweat but it feels so good!  Our teacher added 4 new dances this week and I was just getting used to the originals.  Then, we headed off to Ikea for amazing cheap breakfast-- a plate of eggs, potatoes and bacon with coffee for $0.99?  Yes, please!  We feed the whole family for less than $10.  Even Jack loves Ikea breakfast.  Before leaving, he had had pumpkin and apple puree and half of a graham cracker.  Then, when we got there, he ate scrambled eggs and almost 2 whole french toast sticks.  He is going to eat me out of house and home!  After breakfast, Felipe and Gabby head off to roller skating lessons.  Aunt Kelly bought her skates for Christmas and she really seems to enjoy them.  Jack and I took a glorious 2 hour nap.  After all the busy Saturday morning stuff, we took the kids sledding.  Yes, this was Jack's first time.  I think he kind of liked it.  Or, maybe, he just liked driving daddy's car later.  No need to call CPS, we were parked and the keys weren't even in the ignition.  Saturday night was quiet with a free Redbox rental and Little Ceasar's pizza.  As Gabby said, "best day ever!"

Sunday morning was rushed as we hurried to get everyone fed, dressed and off to Church.  Gabby goes to Religious Ed while we go to Mass in preparation for her First Communion in May.  She's getting so excited and I'm so proud of her for all the things she is learning.  After Mass, we rushed to do laundry and clean up the house because my in-laws were throwing a last minute birthday party for one of the kids.  So, the rest of Sunday was spent at their house until it was time to take the little ones home and get them to bed.

All in all, I love busy weekends but being able to curl up on the couch and read a book would be nice too!  I don't think it's in my future given that I have two active kids but a Mama can dream!  Today is back to the grind and the busyness that a week holds: daddy's fitness class, daddy/daughter date night, gymnastics, homework, and going to work for the grownups.  It's so hard to find time to enjoy the little moments that make my kids so happy but I think we need to spend more time enjoying them and the insanity that they bring because one day, they'll move out and our house will be quiet.  Then what?

Review: Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler

(via)

This weekend I was reunited with an old friend-- Chelsea Handler.  And, by reunited, I mean I blew right through "Are you there, Vodka? It's me, Chelsea."  I love this book.  I read it over the course of the long 4 day weekend and once again loved every moment.  This is definitely not a book that goes immediately into the Goodwill pile.  I will save this for future savoring on it's place on my bookshelf.  

This is yet another book of Chelsea's telling stories of her adventures with friends, family (including Bitch Tits a.k.a. her father) and lovers.  Most stories involve copious amounts of alcohol and/or drugs (both legal and otherwise).  I laughed out loud many times while reading this.

This highlight of reading this book?  I accidentally left it on the coffee table and my father picked it up and read the first chapter.  While the first chapter is innocent enough (it's about a time in her childhood), it's a gateway into a world of insane antics and relationships-- not something my innocent father should be introduced to.  Needless to say, he did not continue past the first chapter.

SILENCE

Silence and Support

On Friday, something completely devastating happened.  The scariest part for me, some of those children were Gabby's age.  It breaks my heart to imagine what those parents are going through.

When you have a platform of any kind, I feel it's your responsibility to use it for good. We knew we wanted to help and we came up with this:

On Tuesday, December 18th, there will be a blogger day of silence. We will post the button and that's it. Please try to not post anything else that day if possible.

 We are also raising money that will go to an organization in the memory of this tragedy. The organization is called The Newtown Family Youth and Family Services.

Here is the official description of the support service we are donating to:

"Newtown Youth and Family Services, Inc. is a licensed, non-profit, mental health clinic 

and youth services bureau dedicated to helping children and families achieve their

highest potential. NYFS provides programs, services, activities, counseling, support

groups and education throughout the Greater Newtown area.

ANY DONATIONS MADE TO NEWTOWN YOUTH AND FAMILY SERVICES WILL BE DONATED DIRECTLY TO THOSE EFFECTED BY THE SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SHOOTING."

Please visit THIS PAGE to make your donation.

 We can't imagine how they must be feeling, especially this close to the holidays. We would love for you to spread the word on your own blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Let's make a difference and use blogging in a positive way.

Thank you in advance for participating.

 Love,

The Blog World

p.s. If you would like to, copy-paste and repost any part of this, please do. Share on.

(A special thank you to Neely, Michelle and Meg for putting this together for us)

Work From Home

Tired Mama got a treat from work.  One day each week I get to work from home.  What does this mean?  It means that after getting up 4 times in the middle of the night with that handsome baby, I get to shower and put on yoga pants and a tank top, drop off the kiddies at school and daycare and then come back home and work all day.  Can I just say that, surprisingly, I have focused better and worked a hell of a lot harder at home.  I like this and would certainly love to see them expand the program to 2-3 days at home.  This rocks.  Back to work...

Don't Wake the Sleeping Baby

I never imagined that I'd have a baby that refused to sleep.  When I was pregnant, I had these visions in my head of a beautiful baby boy all snuggled up in his crib sleeping sweetly while I looked on from his doorway. Fast forward to now, I have an almost 9 month old who refuses to sleep.  Granted last night was bad but this is how it went:

8:00p - Complete meltdown leading to bath, pj's and a story
8:30p - Tylenol (he's teething and I was hoping for a good night's sleep), bottle and bed
9:30p - Fussing baby who was put back to sleep when his mobile was turned back on and I patted his butt
11:00p - Screaming baby. Daddy was sent in with a bottle.
1:30a - Screaming baby.  Mama went in, changed his diaper (made him scream louder), nursed him and put him back to bed
4:00a - Same story as above.
5:30a - Screaming baby. Mama went in and did everything except change the diaper (it was dry!).
6:15a - Screaming baby who is wide awake and ready to start his day.

All would be well, but I work full time.  I can't handle this up all night non-sense when there is no particular reason to be up.  He won't take a pacifier but they're in his crib on the off chance that he decided a pacifier will do.  He has stuffed animals in his crib because no one likes to sleep alone.  He has his blanket which he always sleeps in and buries his face in to.  He has a space heater that has a thermostat to keep his room a nice 69 degrees.  He has everything he could possibly need and yet he wants to be rocked all night long.  I can't do it.  Amazingly though, if he isn't asleep after one of the times I nurse him, all I have to do is turn on the mobile and put him in his crib and he goes back to sleep.  When he wakes himself up and is screaming, the mobile isn't good enough though.  He makes me crazy.  And very, very tired.

TIMING

You're right. I stopped.  I crashed.  I hid. I froze.  I couldn't help it.

Two days after I found my way back to bloggy land, I got shitty news.  The kind of news that makes me want to crawl into a ball and cry.  It's not that the Mayans were right.  They weren't.

Two days after I found my way back here, I got a text from my sister saying that my mom's doctors found a spot on her diaphragm.  Later, I would find out that this spot has been there for a while and that the spot has grown.  Mom has stage 3c ovarian cancer.  M.D. Anderson puts a line through cancer and I like that.  It makes me feel powerful in a situation in which I have no power.  She has been fighting this ridiculous disease for almost 5 years.  She's a bad ass and she'll tell anyone who will listen that her reason for fighting was to see me graduate college.  She did.  She also watched me meet a man, fall in love and have a baby.  We aren't done with her yet and she's going to have to keep fighting.  She goes back to the hospital in February for further testing.  I guess the spot is in a tricky spot.  [Pun not intended]  I'm scared.  The day I got the big news of a spot, I burst into tears at work... twice.  I didn't have many details at that moment but I was scared.  Then, on the way home from work, I called my sister and we had a good cry on the phone.  Yes, a cry can be good and healing and a great release.  So now, we wait.  We wait for February (or early March) to see what happens.  To give the spot time to shrink because that asshole should shrink-- it has no right to grow.  Not now.  Not after everything she's been through.

In the meantime, we celebrate and we prepare.  Christmas is a beautiful time of year.  A time for love and family and generosity.  Maybe Santa will be super generous and make the spot disappear.  It's time for a Christmas miracle around here.