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!

Can you please share your choking hazards with your brother?

OK, so that's not really what I said, but that's what my kids heard me say.

Yesterday was Valentine's Day.  My oldest goes to preschool and they had a party where all the kids gave each other valentines and most of those included candy and other treats.  My youngest does not go to school (do you see where this is going???) and did not have a Valentines party.  Being the terrible mommy that I am, I did not foresee the fact that the baby would be heartbroken about not being showered with Valentines Day treats.  You see, I don't do Valentine's Day.  I think it's a "Hallmark Holiday" that makes roses and candy  twice as expensive than any other day of the year.  My husband and I don't celebrate it so I didn't even think about buying gifts or treats for my children.  So, when the oldest asked if he could have something from his Valentine's bag today, I told him yes, but only if he shared with his brother.

You must be wondering when exactly I asked him to share a choking hazard, right?

As he searched through his bag for just the right treat, he finally found a small bag of hard candies shaped like hearts and asked if he could have them.  I had told him he could have whatever he wanted as long as he shared with his brother.  (I know 2 and 3 year olds shouldn't really be eating hard candies.)  After I opened the bag for him he looked at me and said "Mom, this is a choking hazard." and then Mr. Baby said "Can I have a choking hazard too?"  So, that's how my kids heard me ask them to share choking hazards.

**No children were harmed in the making of the blog post.

Honey, don't lick the shopping cart!

You know those people who wipe the shopping carts down with sanitizing wipes? Well, I'm one of them.  But, I'm also the parent of the reason you should be one of them too.

My oldest son never outgrew the oral phase.  You know the one where everything goes in their mouths?  He has always been the one to check the texture and taste of everything with his mouth (and I do mean everything).  Today, in two different stores, I had to ask him to stop licking the shopping carts.  I knew people could hear me, I knew they were thinking "how disgusting!" and they were right.  What's the typical incubation period for winter kid-crud?  That's about how long I have before he's sick and he shares it with little brother.  It makes for a long winter.

So, the next time you see a mom wiping down a shopping cart, remember that it might not be because she's paranoid or neurotic, she might just have a shopping cart-licker...or might have read this.

I'm hanging up now. Do what you want with that information.

I find myself wondering what has happened to customer service.  The "service" is seriously lacking in some of these interactions.  Today has been a long day of generally poor service for me.  It seems that everywhere I went sales people were a little too stupid or self absorbed to do their jobs.

Stop number one was at the pet store.  I was purchasing a new carrier for our newest friend "Dave" (picture below) so he could take his first trip to the Vet today.

I had a "15% off cat supplies" coupon.  After the order was rung up, I politely pointed out to the clerk that the coupon was only applied to the cat toy I purchased and only $1.05 and not a full 15% off the purchase.  She mumbled something about not being good at math and that she'd already rung the coupon and an implied "oh well."  I then asked if she could just have the manager manually take off the discount and I was shocked to find out that she WAS the manager.  After assembling the entire store staff they managed to correctly, or perhaps incorrectly (but it was at least 15%), give me the discount.  20 minutes I won't get back.

Stop number number two was at Borders.  I know they're basically heading for bankruptcy, and I can see why.  A bunch of employees walking around browsing books, one apparently on break, drinking coffee and one making coffee - not especially good coffee either.

And when I got home, a call to my credit card company.  The main reason was I accidentally submitted two online payments and needed one of them removed.  That was resolved quickly.  However, I also thought I should point out that the reason I even had to manually make said online payment was because the autopay I set up for the 22nd of the month never actually paid.  She told me "it did pay on December 22".  I said, but it's January 25th.  I said, I'm fine, but another customer might not be.  I know I wouldn't have been if I were on vacation and checking that the payment had gone through today.  I pointed out to the rep (I don't say customer service rep because she was bordering on rude by this point and lacking all intent to serve) that there might be someone in the company who would like to know that the system failed and did not make a scheduled payment.  She said I was the only one that happened to - of course, because she's talked to EVERYONE, right?!  So, I told her, "I'm hanging up now.  Do what you want with that information."

It's a SIT and spin, not a STAND and spin

My youngest (the one who says "Wheeee!" before he goes down the stairs) got a sit and spin from Santa.  He refuses to acknowledge the "sit" part.

There haven't been any injuries (yet).

The New Siding is Wrong

This has been an ongoing saga around here and I've put off posting anything until I was a little less angry and little more sure of the situation.  I'll still hold off on naming names, but I assure you, I will badmouth the contractor if this doesn't get finished correctly and soon!

For those who don't know the situation, let me start at the beginning.  Almost a year ago, there was a blizzard - Snowmaggedon or whatever your pet name for last February was.  So, with a couple of feet of snow on our roof, our gutter gave way and fell right off the house.  On it's way down, it cracked a couple of pieces of siding.  Fast forward through insurance adjustors, siding matching process and quotes, I found someone to special order the closest matching siding and re-side 2 sections of the house for a price that the insurance claim would cover.

Just as they got the end, I noticed it didn't look right.

Apparently someone ordered "dutch lap" siding instead of the straight profile we needed.  Sigh.

So, we wait for the correct special order siding to come in and the crew to come back out and take it all down and put the new stuff up.  They finish long after dark and I head out the next morning to see this:

Need a closer look?

No optical illusion.  It's crooked!  Really crooked.  In fact, it's more than a half inch off level.

So, now we wait again.  Think we'll have the siding right before the next blizzard?

In case you're wondering...here is the little crack that started it all.