It's M-O-U-S-E...

As in Mickey Mouse and not "Mickey Louse".  I'm glad my kids have discovered Mickey.  He's cute, he's classic and hopefully now they won't be afraid when they meet him next summer :)

So they've been watching "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse."  Since neither can read or spell much other than their own name, don't really know what they're singing when they say "M-I-C-K-E-Y  L-O-U-S-E."  I can't convince them otherwise, so I guess I'll just keep giggling.

Even if he is sleeping in your sink, don't spit on the cat!

The other night, the kids were brushing their teeth and I noticed Alexander was standing at his sink brushing as usual, which includes spitting (of course!).  But, he had company...

Meet Dave (yes, our cat is named Dave...that's a different post entirely).  He likes water.  He's not a typical cat.  As the vet said, "those red-haired cats like get into trouble."  He wasn't exaggerating.  In the few months since he joined our family, he has nearly fallen off the second floor walking on the outside of the rails to the open foyer, burned his paws on the hot stove and escaped the house to walk outside in flooding rains.

Even after Alexander spit toothpaste on him, the cat didn't even leave the sink.  "Silly Dave!" is a common refrain in our house.

Don't lick the car

And we're not talking about the inside of the car either.  We're talking about the mid-summer, just back from a road trip and not-yet-through the carwash, kind of filthy, outside of the car.  I could see the place where he had licked it.

Is this what it means to be the mother of little boys?  Constantly saying things like "Don't lick the car? Don't eat your shoes? and Bugs aren't lunch?"  It is - at least for me - because in the past week I've said all of those things and some, more than once.

Women who have had Preeclampsia have double the risk for heart disease and stroke over their next 5 to 15 years

I hate this statistic.  I'm only 4 years out from my experience with preeclampsia, so I've still got 1 to 14 years left of this increased risk.  Blah.

Did you know May is Preeclampsia Awareness Month?  If you're expecting or know someone who is, please  visit http://preeclampsia.org/ and take a few minutes to learn the signs and symptoms.  I wish I'd known more.  I was fortunate to have great doctors paying close attention to me.  Some women and babies aren't so lucky.

Back in November, I shared that my baby was born  2 months premature. Preeclampsia was the reason.

3lbs 2oz

Here is that story:

Three months before my due date, my hands swelled so much that I couldn't wear my wedding ring.  My feet were so big that I could barely wear shoes.  The pregnancy books said "swelling was normal" so I ignored this symptom.   More than 2 months before my due date, I experienced contractions that required a visit to Labor and Delivery.  While being monitored and treated, my doctors grew concerned about my blood pressure.  I was sent home in the middle of an ice storm and told to rest and return in 24 hours for an ultrasound and further monitoring of my blood pressure under less stressful circumstances.

When I returned to the hospital, they took my blood pressure and then immediately told me to lay down.  Then the doctor came in.  When I asked if I could sit up to talk, he told me, very sternly, "No."  He told me that my blood pressure was dangerously high and that I wasn't leaving the hospital.  I was scared for my baby.

I spent more than week laying on my left side with constant monitoring of my blood pressure and the baby until they determined that one or both of us was too sick for me to continue to be pregnant.  It was the baby - he didn't have enough fluid at 32 weeks and I was quickly sent to the operating room.  My husband rushed to the hospital.

The next 24 hours are a morphine and magnesium induced blur where I was so ill that I repeatedly forgot that I had delivered a baby.  My husband was torn between a sick wife and a sick baby in the NICU.  My mother took care of us both.

My story has a happy ending, today, we are both happy and healthy.  But, still I wish there were no stories like mine.  I wish there were no stories without happy endings.  I wish there were no preeclampsia.

Me - the day after my son was born.  (My face isn't usually that puffy!)

While you're looking at http://preeclampsia.org/, please also consider making a donation to The Promise Walk to help promote awareness and support research to find the cause and eventually a cure for this disease.

It's fine if he likes to wear pink!

My son's favorite color is pink.  He loves vacuums.  He likes to dress up like a princess.  He also likes to run around screaming and pretend he's shooting a gun. He's four.  He doesn't care what anyone thinks.  I love that.

But society cares and people judge.  I don't think it's fair.  Particularly, the double standard.  Girls can be tomboys. People fight for girls to be able to act like boys and even cheer them on, but I have to try and explain to my four year old boy why he should probably choose something other than a dress to wear to school.  I really liked this article that looked into the differences of acceptance between Princess Boys and Star Wars Girls.

He is who is and I love him no matter what.  Perhaps I love him even more because the likes to play construction worker in a dress - that takes imagination!  It does make me angry that I have to defend him (or myself) to anyone.  I shared this article Why Should Pink Have Us Seeing Red? with my family and although it sparked interesting conversation at Easter dinner, it didn't change any minds.

This has been in the news lately and all over the web.  It's got me thinking, how about you?

I think that guy is texting and driving!

I hate I-95 on Sundays - it evidently draws the dumbest of drivers out.  We kept getting slowed down into stop-and-go traffic for no good reason with no warning.  When I was a teenager, I was hit by a driver who didn't stop when I stopped (technically he did stop, but only because he hit me) so I always watch my rear view mirror very closely when I suddenly slow down in traffic.  Yesterday I was stunned by what I saw when I looked back.  The guy behind me was looking down and smiling at his phone and not looking at what I was doing.  I moved out of that lane as soon as I could and said to hubby "I think that guy is texting and driving!"

I was happy when, shortly up the road, we saw that driver getting pulled over by a state trooper.  I'm not certain texting is a primary offense, but either way, he got caught doing something and I smiled about it.


*Photo from http://peopleagainstdistracteddriving.com/2010/06/texting-while-driving/

No, you may not wash your hands in the toilet

It's a beautiful spring preview day here in Virginia.  It's already 62 degrees and it's not even noon.  So, my boys have already had some fun playing outside.  We came inside to get ready for lunch and both boys were anxious to wash their hands.  Mr. Baby got to the sink first.  Mr. Mischief got right to problem solving how he could wash up at the same time.  He looked at me with his solution "I'll wash up in here" to which I replied "No, you may not wash your hands in the toilet."  Then, I had to answer the next logical question.  "Why not, mommy?"

Boys!