April's Toe (0) vs. The Door (1)

Yes.. I lost a face off with the door.  For about the 1000th time, I caught my little toe on the door.  This time, the door won.  Besides being black and blue, it hurts and it is really swollen. Seriously, this stuff only happens when I'm by myself.

Things I've Learned Recently....

**Check your credit reports... you never know when your report will be "meshed" with someone else's.. and obviously, the ones they're pairing you with will have horrible credit. I am dealing with that and I think I'm about 80% through the process. No one stole my identity, thankfully.. it just seems like the data entry folks at Experian were careless. Of course, they didn't screw up their credit, just mine.

**Wine, cheese and dessert tasting is a new and innovative way to celebrate an upcoming birth. Who would have thought? I went to a baby shower for a friend up here yesterday and it was a blast. Of course, you put 20 wives whose husbands are away from home (between 3 months and indefinitely) in one room with lots of wine, cheese and fruit..you're bound to have a good time. And we are very congragulatory to Aree on her soon-to-be-here son ;)

**Apparently, you DO have to tell your 3 year old son not to use the trash can in the bathroom as a urinal. I did not know this. Clay tells me that he will "try" to remember to pee in the potty.

**Gone is gone. Whether your husband is gone for the work day, 24 hours or 3 months, the single-mothering can be greuling during that time frame. Yes, we're glad our husbands aren't gone to Iraq for 18 months with the Army. Sure, we're glad he's coming home in the next 18 hours/2 weeks/2 months! Of course I'm glad he has a job. But, it's still hard and not all of us signed up for these absences. (smile...smile)

**God is good... even in the middle of the large and small dramas. I'm trying to force myself to sing the "This is the Day that the Lord Has Made" song even as I type. Some days are better than others. This day is not so bad :)

Eventful

We've had an eventful last couple days home in AK... Clay woke up on Thursday morning with a fever close to 105.  To top it off, he started vomiting.  We went to the pediatrician who gave me the predictable news of "virus".  I hate viruses.  It's so ambiguous... it's code for "Suck it up and wait it out".   Viruses can last from 1 to 10 days (in our personal experience).  Thankfully, thus far on Friday morning, Clay seems to have returned to normal or some close approximation thereof. How do I know this?  Gee, you be the judge (considering his temperature is 100.5)...

Clay:  "Mom, my tummy is asking for chocolate milk.  Now"

Clay:  (sitting up on the couch) "Mom, can you get me some Sprite in a cup with a straw?  And can you pull the coffee table right up to the couch so I can put my Sprite on the table (so he doesn't have to actually move more than necessary)".

then.. Clay:  "Hey, Kara.  I'm having Sprite already this morning"

Kara:  (no words, just shooting death rays to Clay)

Mom:  (thinking.... he's better)

Clay:  "Mom, do you want me to eat a popsicle right now?  I think you want me to eat a popsicle right now like yesterday"

Mom:  "How about a piece of toast instead?"

Clay:  "No, I think I just want a popsicle".

See?

Indefinitely

Here's a word I've heard a lot of lately...  "indefinitely".   I absolutely HATE this word right now because it's the answer I'm getting to the question of when Clayton will be able to come home. Well, it's actually the answer I get when I ask how long he's going to be gone.   

I looked up the definition.  Here's one I really like:

indefinitely

adverb endlessly, continually, for ever, ad infinitum, sine die (Latin) till the cows come home (informal)  

Arizona Adventures

Well, we're back in AK after a super-fast, hectic, bittersweet week in AZ.   We had lots of family time in Phoenix and Duncan.  The kids utterly enjoyed the time with their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.  We got to meet Grayson and Hugh for the first time in person which was also great.  Thanks to everyone for putting their regular lives on hold while we were in the state.  I'd also like to ask you to pray for my Granddad Harold.  He was in the hospital for about 10 days and is now home with hospice services.  

Would you believe it snowed in the Superstition Mts. just before we drove to Duncan?  Snowy cactuses.  Beautiful.

Clay-Clay and the sheep at Gram Boyd's house.

Kara, Parker and TJ at Davis and Parker's birthday party.  Kara loved being the queen bee with all her boy cousins.  

Parker, Kara, Davis, Clay, Hugh, Eli, Grayson, TJ and Logan.

Clay-Clay, Uncle Jake and Snakey at Grandma's.

Congratulations, Kara!!!!

Want to give a shout-out to our little girl... she has been working really hard at AWANA and tonight she earned her first 2 jewels. Yay, Kara!! We are so proud of you, Lukie :)

And here are Clay-Clay and I while we spend yet more time alone together while Kara is off at AWANA and Clayton is off in Vegas.  Yay.

That Stuff That's In Wine....

Well, first and foremost, no volcano eruption yet.. some of my friends here are getting fairly excited about it. I'm sticking with the original non-preparedness plan. It's working so far :)

Now for the good stuff... Clay-Clay and I picked Kara up from school today and she wanted to tell me all about what she learned in Health. I would like to interject that I'm not a huge fan, so far, of her "health class". She came home one week going on and on about healthy foods and what her Health Teacher said was healthy and what was fattening. I put up with it until about Thursday and then I had to tell my daughter that I was, in fact, a registered dietitian ("Repeat after me, Kara: 'My mom is a registered dietitian'"). That, believe it or not, I actually was aware of which foods were healthy or not; which foods were "fattening" or not. Shocking, I know. So, when she gets back on her "health class" bandwagon, I'm feeling a little defensive. She's going "Today we learned about cigarettes.. no, we learned about the bad stuff in wine". I said "Alcohol?" (hoping that they weren't talking about booze to kindergartners). "No", says Kara, "They talked about drugs".

What is the take-home on this little story?? I guess I need to stop calling my occaisional glass of wine "Mommy's medicine". UGH!