I apologize in advance

I think this is going to be a long post. I have a lot of ground to cover! Chock full of kid cuteness!

We took our real first family roadtrip. We drove to Albuquerque for my cousin's wedding. Our longest road trip prior to this was about 4 hours. This trip was 7+. We had to make a stop about every 2 hours. It wasn't terrible, but I don't love being in the car for long periods anyhow. But when we really got into a groove, with the kids watching a movie, I got to knit for about an hour and that was nice (note: I obviously was not driving...knitting and driving not a good idea!). We got to ABQ and had just a bit of time to sit in the hotel before we headed over to the townhome my aunt and cousins were staying. They threw a little party for the bride and groom the night before the wedding. This was the first time I got to meet two of my little cousins...in addition to one of my cousin's children. Evan and Delilah really enjoyed playing with their many cousins. They ran around like crazy people for the better part of a couple hours. James and I got to hang out with my close family and my extended family. When it was getting late, Evan came to us and said he was tired and ready to go to bed. LOL. When we were getting into the car, Delilah told me that her "claw" hurt. (this conversation went like this. Delilah: My claw hurts. Me: Your what? D: My claw. Me: Your crotch? D: No, my claw.) When she started to point at her wrist I got what she meant. We thought that maybe she got hurt during the Mortal Kombat with her cousins. So, I told her that if it still hurt in the morning we would take her to the doctor. We gave her some ibuprofen when she really started insisting that it hurt.

First thing in the morning she was awake and complaining of pain. So after a couple of hours waiting and waiting for Kaiser to call us back, we scooted over to the Urgent Care. I thought for sure it was broken the way she was carrying on. They xrayed and it was not broken. So we hustled back to the hotel, just in time to get ready for the wedding. The wedding was beautiful. My cousin and his bride did a great job of making it a nice backyard event. It was lovely chatting with all of our family. We were plain exhausted from the day in urgent care, so we called it an early evening. Delilah was still in a lot of pain.

We drove home the following day, with Miss D still favoring her arm, crying whenever we had to draw it through a shirt or a seatbelt. I thought that if it was still bothering her on Monday, I would take her in.

Monday, when I picked Delilah up from her school to take her to the doctor, her little hand was very swollen and red and very sore. I was certain that they had made a mistake and that it was broken. I was very surprised when the doctor looked her over and said that she thought it was cellulitis and MRSA! There was no break in the skin, but the doctor was pretty confident that that was what was going on. She said it fit because it was red, swollen, painful and warm to the touch. She was pretty concerned (As was I!!!), but thought we could try some antibiotics and see how she reacted. I got 3 doses of medicine in her by our check up the next morning and it was a little less swollen already. Very scary. So now, it is 10 days after and she had her last dose last night. So we have to watch to see if reoccurs. So far though, her claw is as good as new.

My sweet girl has been very enthusiastic about helping me cook. She joins me in the kitchen every night. When our neighbor came to get Evan and her, she said very gravely, "I have to finish dinner first." It was only when we put the corn muffins in the oven, that she went out the door to play. Sometimes she is a little overzealous and flings things when she stirs. I have to say it is a delight to have a kid who wants to join me in the kitchen.

Speaking of imprinting, Evan has been coming home with drawings. What is he drawing? He draws computer screens, with buttons and characters. Yes, he is designing his own computer/video games. He even put a button with a letter "P" in it, for "Play." He also drew an iPad. When I told him that people have jobs where they design video games, his eyes lit up!

Evan is really enjoying Kindergarten. He told me recently that someone was there "pretending to be Miss Z___." I realized that he meant a substitute teacher. LOL.

Evan overheard James and I discussing someone changing their status on Facebook to "in a relationship." Evan said, "Oh, that's not good." I asked, "Do you know what "in a relationship" means?" He said, "No." I said, "It means that he has a girlfriend." Evan snickered and said, "Oh, did he get in love?" :)

Family life is really great right now. We are enjoying it. My work life is somewhat scarier. Just hoping that I keep a job. Things are really really dire at work and everyone is feeling it.

My not-so Baby Girl

Delilah has this cell phone that was used as a model in the stores. When we were getting our phones, they gave it to her to keep her busy. Her model has a slide out keyboard. She walked into the kitchen the other day and was busily pushing buttons on the keyboard. She said, "Mama, I tecting. I tecting." So cute and funny.

This morning I was getting her up out of bed and she was very interested in the built in necklaces my shirt has. "What's that?" "It's part of my shirt, see?" "Oh, I lub it."

*Sigh* I lub her.

So I didn't watch the Emmys

But I have watched some clips this morning and read up on what happened. Sounds like I didn't miss much. :P

I want to talk about Christina Hendrick's boobs. So unoriginal, I know. I think that is all that people talk about when she comes up in conversation. I think it is lovely that a beautiful, curvy woman can exist in Hollywood. And the show Mad Men supposedly encourages women there to not be super toned or super skinny so that it sticks with a more realistic portrayal. Which is great.

But this does not look comfortable. This also looks like someone who wants to make her boobs the subject of every watercooler conversation the day after the Emmys. These boobies are screaming for help!

(photo from The Superficial)

IIB or not IIB

So, I got promoted. I am now a Band IIB (as opposed to a IIA). It means very little except that I am now officially a supervisor (even though I have been supervising for 5 years), that I have a chance at an office (everyone in HQ has an office after BandII, but not everyone in my field office does). It also means a small increase in pay, and that I can ultimately cap out at higher number at some distant year in the future. It still feels nice to be recognized by my bosses.

But here we all are, still terrified that we are going to lose our jobs. The House passed their appropriation and our numbers for FY12 were $36 million less than this year. They were talking about reductions in staff then. Normally, the Senate appropriations are a little more kind...historically, we usually get a little bit more money from them. But this year, they are recommending $42 million less than this year. Ugh. I am sure this hit our agency's heads hard. Our agency isn't like DOD in that it can just quick making a jet or something and save $1 billion. We are 85% people costs. So people are going to lose their jobs. The calculation into who and what offices are way more complicated than we are privy to. But there is a lot of fear and worry here in my office.

I just hope that I get an opportunity to try this promotion on for more than a couple of months. :(

Bittersweet

I traveled with two of my sisters and my dad to my aunt's funeral this week. We left on Saturday and flew to California. It was lovely seeing everyone that we hadn't seen in so long. It was really bittersweet knowing how much my aunt Nan would have loved to have everyone there with her. We told stories. My dad played his guitar and sang. We looked at pictures. It was really touching to see that while we didn't get our families together often, Aunt Nan meticulously saved each photo we shared with her. There were pictures of us as kids, senior photos, photos of my kids... I got to meet my cousin's kids. They were a delight and reminded me of the ones I left at home. Family then...
Family now...

Saturday was a travel day and a little party at my uncle's house. Sunday, we went to the yacht club and beach. Monday, was Nan's day. It was a sad day. We had the funeral mass and then went to the cemetary. My heart really broke for my dad.
We flew home on Tuesday.

I am exhausted just thinking of my next month. James and I fly to Hawaii next week. Then my cousin's wedding in Albuquerque is at the end of the month. With a trip to DC likely before the month is over. Whew!

Firsts

A busy week of firsts. Yesterday was Evan's assessment day for Kindergarten. I kept him home with me in the morning. He was super excited to be able to have time to watch TV before we left. At one point, he turned to me and said, "Mommy, I love you." I said, "Why, because you get to watch TV?" He said, "No, because you're my mommy." So I guess he senses from me that something is different--that life is changing.

We packed all of his school supplies up and hauled them over to the school. His school does testing for the students before they start the year...I guess to get an idea of where they are lacking or excelling. As we waited, we put all of the school supplies away and then Evan found the paper owl on the wall with his name on it...he called it a Zombie Owl because it was green. Evan went off with a teacher-type to be assessed. Leaving me in this miniature-sized chair to wait for him. When he came back, I asked him if he got all the questions right. And he said, No, that he didn't know how to read the words. After that, I took him to daycare and went off to work.

Last night, the kids and I had a little McDonald's picnic in our neighbors' yard (with the neighbors... LOL). Then Evan and his Dad started having a sword fight (not a euphemism...but also not real swords obviously), Evan tripped and got his first real knee scrape. He has had a few little bumps and bits of blood, but this was hard core, about a quarter sized scrape and it was all bloody. I saw him go down and then screech. But when he saw the blood, he made a bee line to me. I chuckled with my neighbor about how *now* he comes to mom. But by then he was in my face SCREAMING bloody murder. SCREAMING so loud that I am sure people in a 4 block radius were concerned. SCREAMING so much that he had drool running down his chin. What did I do? My first maternal instinct? To cover my mouth and laugh my damn ass off. In fact, I continue to laugh every time I think of him screaming like his leg had been cut off. I got him all cleaned up and tried to tell him that this was the first of many skinned knees. He continued to howl until the very second that I placed that bandaid on his leg. Then he was fine.

He was walking with a limp this morning. LOL.

So today was the first day of Kindergarten. I am working from home so that I am able to take Evan and pick him up on his first day. He got to pick a movie to watch this morning (Toy Story 3...not a good choice for Moms that are sending their kids off to kindergarten today). Then we packed up his back pack and headed over to the school with what I thought would be plenty of time. WRONG. Every single parent apparently takes their kids to school on the first day. I had to park 5 blocks away and then we needed to run to make sure we got there in time. They have designated line up spots, but damned if the kids can tell where since there are so many 6 feet tall people standing around. By this time, Evan was anxious to go and kept asking why it was taking so long. He found the little boy he knows from day care (the Bully!) who will be in his class.

The teachers announced that it was time to walk in, I said good bye and that I would see him for our lunch date. He walked off.

He looked over his shoulder and said, "I love you, Mom." My sweet boy was trying to reassure *me* on his first day of school.

Unwanted Attention

Blogger finally got some stats enabled on the blogs, so you can see which of your blogs are getting the most attention. I continuously get hits for one blog entry that is about 4 sentences long. It was entitled Quit D!ck!ng around and Do Some Work. People from all over the world come and read this inane post that has really no point. Probably because it has the word D!ck in it. *eye roll* So I deleted it. There was no point to it really anyhow.

I am in the middle of what feels like the longest week ever. It is feast or famine with the work. I was super busy the last couple of days, and then today is much slower.

My aunt passed away on Monday morning. I am particularly sad for my Dad. I cannot imagine losing my sister. I am also sad for her husband and children. I was hoping to go to the service, but not sure I will be able to go because next week is such a mess. I guess we will see.

In the car, Evan overheard me talking on the phone about my aunt dying and he said, "Your aunt died? The one you told me about?" I told him yes and he turned to Delilah and said, "Delilah, our aunt died today. She had a terrible disease." She gasped and said, "Oh. That sad." There is no way she can even know what she is saying, but she knew enough from his tone that it was a sad thing. Love them. :)

James and I went with our friend, Christie, rafting this weekend. It was really fun. In our boat, we had the three of us, our guide, and another older couple. We did our paddling practice on land and then our guide said, "Ok, let's get in the water!" Christie and I looked at each other, terrified. Paddling on land wasn't enough?! But we got in the water and away we went. The water was very cold...as our guide said, "8 hours ago this was snow." I will definitely do it again next summer. Maybe a different run next time.

Next week, my Kindergartener will start school. I am curious how he got to be school aged already.