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.

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.

Today I really like my kids :P

I have nothing but warm fuzzies for them today....that will likely change around 4:30 when we walk in the door and immediately I am expected to comply with requests for tv, game, snack, juice simultaneously. But right now, I am thinking of how sweet and cute they are.

Last night, we did my latest meal from the Six O'Clock Scramble...it was Mini Pizzas on Tortillas. I had done versions of them years ago. I had the kids make their own pizzas. Evan was especially into it. Normally, he doesn't like pepperoni because it is "spicy." But I bought some turkey pepperoni that he really liked. He made quite the pizza for himself. He kept saying, "This is going to be soooo yummy for me to eat." Then, Delilah actually made a pizza for her daddy (because I had already made hers thinking she wouldn't want pepperoni...I was wrong). I think this is the first time she has ever helped me cook. She got a real kick out of it. And while we were eating, she kept saying, "I cooked a pizza." Both kids ate a ton.

I had to have Evan sign some paperwork for his school (agreeing to use the computers in the correct way....as James said, "Yeah, I am sure that will hold up in court."). So then Delilah wanted to write her name. So I got her a paper and she made all these precise little squiggles and would say random letters that she thought she was making. She looked at her pen and realized that there was this little button on top. She pushed it and the pen part disappeared. And then she laughed. It was so neat getting to be a part of her discovering something that we take for granted.

I had to go to Evan's Kindergarten today to get some papers signed and pay his fees (Sidebar: Yes, FEES. In kindergarten. I am not sure when this started happening. I checked with my mom and she doesn't remember having to pay fees. It was public school...shit is free. Even the bus costs extra money. Craziness. I guess school funding doesn't go as far as it used to. And I did a non-scientific poll of my internet friends who live across the US and the majority of them were astounded as well. In AZ, you dont' even have to pay for school supplies. End Sidebar.) My little guy is growing up. I just can't believe it. I was so nervous walking in there to get everything taken care of. Like it was my first day of school. Life will be a-changing in about 2 weeks.

A couple of nights ago, James and I were watching tv and Evan hollered from his bedroom, "Mom, I am really getting bored of all my books." LOL. We bought a couple new ones for him, but it hasn't been enough. He has been coming down nightly to ask James for comic books. I feel iffy about it because I don't like the graphic images of sex or violence. James swears these are ok for Evan to look at. Last night, I tried to put Evan off by saying, "I think your dad is running low on comics for you." Evan said, "No, he has millions of them."

The other things going on my life: My aunt is very ill. This is my dad's oldest sister. She was always the best aunt to have growing up. She was one of those grown ups who always was (or pretended to be) super interested in what you had to say. That was so important to a kid like me. I wanted grown ups to take me seriously. Sadly, it seems as though she will not make it much longer. I hope that she can be without pain or fear. I am really sad that my kids will never know her.

We had the head of our agency to our office on Monday. Nothing really new was said. But it was clear that he really is trying to do what is best for the government and our agency...and trying to lessen the pain on the individuals. I guess we will find out more by October.

Pee and Pennies

James' facebook post today had me giggling. It was something that Evan said this morning, "I have to wash my hands. They smell like pee and pennies."

I love that kid. He makes me laugh.

Yesterday, I went out with a friend that I have known a long time but hadn't met in real life until last night. ;) She had just finished her bar exam. We had a drink and dinner at a really nice place with good food. Mmmm. Sliders. Delicious.

After I got home, I went to say good night to Evan. He was disassembling his Cars Legos. I guess to see how they go back together. They are meant for 7 year olds, so I put them together, but he is learning now how to take them apart and put them together.

Per usual, I am trying to lose some weight. I am not a fan of WW's PointsPlus. I used WW for years, and PointsPlus is really hard to get used to. So I have been using MyFitnessPal. One thing that MFP has over WW is an Android app (WW has one but it is huge...40 MB) that you can scan bar codes and add food items using just a bar code scanner. Love. I will weigh in tomorrow to see how it went this week. I really would like to lose some weight before I go to Hawaii! I have been working out 3 days a week for a while.

And speaking of Hawaii. Our kids are going to start to think that they don't allow children there. Because we are going kid free. The idea of that red eye flight home with them makes me twitchy. But my wonderful friend Lori is getting married on my birthday. I better be honored in some way ;)

It has been exactly one year since I had my breast reduction. You can barely see my scars. I love my smaller frame.

I am fascinated with Evan's comments on God. He has so many questions. He knows a lot of Bible stories since he goes to a Christian day care...and I can supplement with my own religious training. I really want him to know about many religions, but I have to admit I don't know as much as I could about the others. Evan came downstairs while I was watching Grey's Anatomy today. During this episode, the doctors were taking care of kids from Africa with medical issues. One particular child had a deformity where his heart formed right next to his skin and you could see it through his skin. Evan was concerned about the little boy and asked me why he had that problem. I told him, "Remember we talked about how everyone is born differently? How God made us all a little different? Well, that little boy was born like that." Evan said, "Oh. Why are they fixing it?" I said, "Well, it is dangerous to have your heart close to your skin." Evan said, "Did God know that it was dangerous when he made the little boy like that?" .............. "I don't know, Evan." My little philosopher.

Keeping Busy

I am fully aware that I owe a blog or two. We have been drafting at work and are very busy...and I can't seem to bring myself to write much else on those days. Tonight Evan was giving me the "I'm Bored" speech. He kept asking to play different video games. I told him, "You don't always have to play a video game. Find something else to do." He said, "Like what?" I said, "Play with your Batman ["No"], Play with your trains ["I don't wanna."], You can help me fold laundry ["nooooo...."], I have toilets you can scrub." He then said, "Ok." I said, "Ok, what?" He said, "Ok, I want to scrub toilets." LOL. So I set him up with a rag and scrub brush, and sprayed down the toilet myself. I, then, gave him some instructions on what to do. He very seriously told me, "I know. I did this when I was 4." After the toilet, he vacuumed the living room.

Embarrassment

Tonight I was doing my best parenting (i.e. letting Evan play his Wii game and letting Delilah watch a DVD on the little DVD player so I can cook dinner). James came home and we were chatting about the day. I could see Delilah dancing and trying to sing to the DVD. She hasn't really done this before, so I called James' attention to it. I should mention that she is obsessed with The Chipmunk Adventure. This is circa 1987, and my sisters and I recorded this movie one of the times we had free HBO and/or Disney Channel. It was also one of the first times I ever made my own soundtrack to a movie (by holding my tape recorder up to the tv and praying that no one walked into the room and spoiled the awesomeness). So, let's just say that I have all the words memorized to the songs. Anyhow, so Delilah got to this part of the movie and was singing and dancing along: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7YQhYYVPO0 (I would embed, but Blogger is being a DB). She put her fist in the air and said, "Rock!" just like Brittany does in the movie. James and I were smiling and saying mouthing how cute she was before this, but when she did her "Rock!" move, James imitated her. She turned around like she was busted, and burst into tears. She cried for a good 10 minutes. I think she was embarrassed. It was so funny and sad at the same time. And then we sat down to dinner, and Evan, who had been complaining of a headache, threw up onto his dinner plate. As you can imagine, dinner just wasn't the same after that.

Just for you, Jen ;)

This morning, I took the kids to school, and we were jamming to Lady Gaga's Born This Way. The hook goes: "I'm beautiful in my way, Cause God makes no mistakes, I'm on the right track baby, I was born this way"

Evan pipes up from the back seat, "God makes no mistakes?"

I said, "That's right. The song means that no matter what color you are, or what you look like, you are perfect in your own way because God made you that way." I was sort of impressed with myself, being able to impart my child with such wonderful wisdom.

"Yeah, God made my Batman game, too."

*sigh*

Heh.

Tonight, Evan was tormenting his sister as usual.

I told him, "God doesn't like for you to push your sister."

He says, "God doesn't even know me."

Work has been busy again. We are trying to get this report issued by the 9th. And I am simultaneously starting another. This new job has me worried for a couple of reasons. I am going to still be working for my long time boss, C. But I will not be in charge of this job. My friend will. So I will be working for my friend. I hope we are still friends when we are done. :P Plus, this job seems to have a life of its own, and is growing out of control. Apparently, the PTB (powers that be) decided to try to kill two birds with one stone with this job. Unfortunately, it is going to take more than one stone. A whole bunch. And lots of crying and rocking in a corner. Oh well. (I also have to say that this job was sold to me as a "quick hitter" and "6 months tops." yeah right. Remind me not to believe the PTB again.)

I am getting excited for the 3 day weekend coming up. I get to spend time with my great little family. I am getting such a kick out of watching the kids grow up. They are such fun little people. And also we are headed down to a family wedding (my uncle's) on Sunday. Evan is really excited about the wedding. He talks a lot about marrying his friend Riley. (And Riley apparently approached James recently about marrying Evan). Evan asked me the other day if I got married twice. I guess in his mind, since you get married and then you have a baby (ideally, anyhow...that is what we talk about), I must have had two weddings. So, if the two concepts are so linked, perhaps he expects my new aunt to have a baby immediately following the wedding? hm.

Irritable

Back at work today. It is always hard to go back after a nice weekend. Saturday, we went to the zoo with the kids. I thought Delilah would enjoy because she is so into animals. And she really did enjoy it. Evan wanted only to see the alligators. Unfortunately, we only have crocs at the Denver zoo, but they did in a pinch. It is funny because that is all he could talk about, all day. But then we see them and he is like, "oh neat... Look at the spiders!" They also have this cave you walk into and you can see bats flying around. Evan FREAKED out. I told him, "Don't worry, they are behind glass." LOL. So then we get to the snakes and he tells me, "Don't worry, Mama, they are behind glass." He also has been saying, "Oh really?" to us. Like, "Evan, you have to get ready for bed." Evan: "Oh Weawwy?"

We also had Landon and Christie over. Landon removed our dead bush for us and then James grilled for us. It was a nice night.

Before I got pregnant with Delilah, I was dealing with some, what the doctors ultimately called, IBS. Basically, every so often I get really sore stomach. :( I was in major pain from sometime early Sunday morning...until really now. I didn't really have any energy yesterday. Eventually, my sweet husband had me go lay in bed and watch DVDs and he handled the evening stuff. I really didn't feel good at all. Better now, but not much.

Anyhow, I missed the Emmys last night. I watched a few clips this morning and this one really made me smile. I think I love everyone in it. :)

One Toe in the Water

I have been trying to get back in to blogging again, but gah! I am always so tired. And work has been busy. But I am back on the weight loss wagon again, so I am going to be blogging again about that.

I had my breast reduction almost 4 weeks ago. I am still not cleared for exercising, but I want to get the weight going back in the right direction. Since making weight for my surgery, I have gained 5 lbs. So half of what I lost. It is too easy to gain! Plus, I haven't been feeling fantastic because of the surgery, so I have been comfort eating.

The kids are doing great. Evan is a crack up. Last night, we were watching America's Funniest Home Videos with Emily and Brandon. A little kid in the video ran into another kid and we all laughed and groaned. And Evan laughed and yelled, "Holy $h!t!" LOL. We tried not to laugh, but it was very funny. I think he just gets caught up in wanting to hang out with the "grown ups." I am sure there are language slips, but I don't really notice them.

And little Delilah "shushed" Emily last night. It was the first time she had shushed anyone. Emily asked her, "Are you ready for bed?" And Delilah turned around and said, "Shhhhh..." Finger up to the lips and everything.

Yesterday, I had some downtime where I watched Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. It was really cute and funny. I enjoyed.

Quick Bloggy Blog

I have a bunch of Evan stories to share. So first off, today while picking up the kids, I was chatting with Ms. Jesica, Evan's teacher (no spelling mistake) who is Jackson's mom. Jackson and Evan are BFFs. And they get into so much trouble together. She was telling me why Evan was in the Yellow today, wrestling with Jackson at circle time. And we were chatting with another mom who has two boys about how you sometimes have to pick your battles. Apparently, this Tuesday, when Evan and Jackson went to karate class, they both smuggled cars with them in their pockets and went off to the corner to play cars together. The karate instructor could not get them to re-engage.

This led to a discussion about Evan stealing this one truck from daycare a couple of times. Ms. Jesica says that he calls it "Mater" and it is "his" truck. She said the other day that Sergio tried to play with Evan's truck and Evan and Jackson freaked out on poor Sergio. Sergio gave the truck back. *sigh* I am not equipped for this. LOL.

At this point, the other mom said, "You are Evan's mom? I am Sam's mom. Sam is in love with Evan. He talks about Evan nonstop." Aw, sweet. Evan likes Sam too. Just not as much as Jackson. LOL.

Then tonight, Evan was playing World of Cars online. He has actually gotten quite good. It is a virtual world. You create your own car (Evan's car is Fearless Diamondshow) and drive around and race and tractor tip. There was this one car who was following Evan around and "friend requested" him. Evan was delighted. He kept saying, "He is my friend! We love our-chother!" And then to the screen, "Hey, do you want to go tractor tip?!" So sweet. Too bad it was probably some 50 year old man (Quickstick Chomo is what James called the car). LOL.

Drip, drip, drop

A week or so ago, the neighbors brought Evan some toys and books that their son was going to give away. (Just what we need! More toys and books!) Anyhow, one of those books was a Little Golden Book of the story of Bambi. It was tonight's bedtime story. I was a little concerned about how he would take the death of Bambi's mother (as I once had my own traumatic experience with that story in a movie theater)....but he didn't seem to question that at all. (After all, Bambi got to go off with his daddy!) But when we got to the end of the book, there was a picture of Bambi grown up, looking over the hill at Faline and his fawns.

Evan said, pointing to Bambi, "That's Bambi's dad." I said, "No, that's Bambi. See he is all grown up now and that is his wife and his babies." Evan wasn't quite buying it, so I tried to explain further, "You know how you will get grown up like Daddy?" He said, "I will have babies?!" (Oh, dear, now I have really confused him...but it gets worse.) I said, "Well, no, you will not have them in your tummy. The Mommy will have them in her tummy." Evan said, "You will have the babies?" (Oh boy.) I said, "No, when you get big, you will find someone you love and she will be your wife and you guys will have babies." (and then just because I want to be an equal opportunity parent:) "Or you could marry a boy. Some boys marry boys." (Probably should have saved that conversation for another day because he just laughed and said, "That's silly!" LOL.)

Then his eyes widened in horror and said, "When I get bigger I won't be your son anymore?" (real tears here on my part...stupid hormones) "No, of course, you will always be my son. Even though I don't live with my Mommy and Daddy anymore, they are still my Mommy and Daddy." He seemed happy to hear that.

Ah, the circle of life. Wait...that's another Disney movie.

So close!

I weighed in today. 129! One pound to go. Actually if I get in the 128s I will be in range. The problem now being how much is my scale off from the dr. office. It is a new scale...digital. I wonder if the dr. office will let me get naked to weigh in. LOL. The sad thing is since I am down below 130, they took another point away from me. I only get 18 measly points a day!

So James and I had big plans for today. Since I worked overtime last week in DC, I have some credit hours to use. We were planning on a movie or some general time together with no children. Well, if you have been following along on FB, you know that both kids have been sick.

I was called to come get Delilah on Tuesday morning because of a fever. So I went to get her and she slept most of the afternoon. During her nap, daycare called again to come get Evan; he had a fever. I asked whether I could wait until Delilah woke up to go get him. They agreed since it was nap time anyway. So around 2 we went to go get Evan. He started crying the second he saw me..saying that "it hurt." Then he went by the door and threw up. They took him to the bathroom where he threw up some more and wet his pants. My poor boy. He was really lethargic. So I was trying to get him dressed and clean him up...all the while holding Delilah who wouldn't let me put her down because she thought I would leave her there. We finally got out the door, but not without majorly disturbing naptime. Whenever Evan gets a fever, he acts really sick. Like can't move, won't listen, really pale, throws up. It is weird. So anyway, the kids were both home sick with James on Wednesday (Bless him!). Then Delilah was well enough to go to school on Thursday. So James was with just Evan yesterday. I do think that Delilah has a very mild case of the Hand Foot and Mouth Disease. She had one little blister on her lip and one or two on her hands and feet...but I did catch a glimpse of an ulcer in her throat. Nothing like Evan had that one time.

Wednesday night, James heard Evan cry out in the night and then checked on him to find him choking on his vomit. Poor kid. So we had to do the late night bed stripping.

So this morning, we were prepared to take Evan to the doctor, but his temp was normal. He was PISSED about having to go to school though and we had to do some major bribery. So James and I were back to being able to have a day together.

EXCEPT...that forking presentation I mentioned a couple of weeks ago is rearing its ugly head. We were supposed to get this to the head honcho today...and have been waiting for comments from my boss's boss this whole week. Well, boss's boss is taking his sweet time...and supposedly has comments but no one can get them from him. So I am working at home waiting for these comments to come in so that I can whip up a presentation to get to the head honcho by COB today. Why people have to wait until the last minute, I will never know.

We are still hoping to get to a movie today. Date night. Really frustrating.

I have just a few minutes

while I finish my breakfast (3 pt. breakfast burrito and a large diet coke).

It is going to be a VERY busy week for me. I received the "opportunity" to create a presentation for the guy who is our equivalent of the CEO. He will be giving the presentation to a very well known state IT group. I am working with my director to do this....but it is a total "Better not F--- it up" situation. GAH! I have to have a first draft to him by tomorrow COB. Wednesday, I leave for DC. I have a meeting with the agency on Thursday. Back home on Friday, and I have to work on this presentation in between times.

Still trying to lose weight. This week will probably be a wash since I know I have to travel. Traveling is always really hard on the waist line for me. I will show restraint not get Ben and Jerry's at the airport though.

My kids are doing great. Always entertaining...always trying. Yesterday, I was quite certain my head was going to explode.

Delilah is so sweet (most of the time). In the morning, the past few mornings, when you come to get her out of her crib, she hands you her baby. You have to get the baby out of bed too. This morning, it was the baby, a book, her paci, and a blanket. But then she didn't want them after all, so I threw them all back in. D is within days/weeks of walking. She could totally do it, but she is so cautious. She has taken a few steps to or from me and her daddy.

Evan was cracking me up this morning. First, James was teasing him about leaving him at home (or something! I lose track of all the teasing that goes on at our house!) and James said, "It's ok." Evan said, "No, it is UN-okay!" LOL. Good use of "un." Then I guess watching Delilah get a catheter in last week made a big impression on him because as we were driving to daycare, Evan said, "Delilah doesn't have a penis." I said, "Yes, that's right." He said, "She has a hole. And pee comes out of it." I gave him some medical terms for what he was describing and then we went through several iterations of, "Daddy has a penis. You don't have a penis." Then, "When I was a baby, did I have a penis?" I said, "Yes, you have always had a penis, even when you were little." He said, "Now, I have a BIG penis." Ah, yes, and a healthy sense of self esteem too.

Happy Easter!

Man, losing weight gets a lot tougher as you get older. I used to be able to drop 2 pounds a week no problem. Now it is hit or miss. And I know I am only eating my alloted calories. Gah! Lost .8 lbs. this week. It is still a loss, I guess. But I am still at least 2 weeks away from my goal. I have to make this weight by June at least. To be able to schedule in July/August. I need to recheck my work schedule to make sure of which dates I am looking at.

We have had the Easter activities this weekend. Egg coloring yesterday, Egg/Candy hunt in the neighborhood yesterday...today was the Easter bunny's visit. James came upstairs this morning and said to Evan, "I think the Easter Bunny came last night. There are some Easter baskets filled up on the table." Evan gets really excited and yells, "Oh shit!" I shouldn't laugh...but it is pretty funny. He really got into finding the eggs this time.

Delilah was just along for the ride for the most part. She found some candy yesterday and got to play with some toy eggs today. I think she enjoyed herself. She is sick again. Has a fever that goes between 99* to 101.8* last night. Hovering at 100.8* now. No other symptoms...so I guess we wait until she has something else going on.

Evan played with his easel today. One of his birthday presents. He really got a kick out of it. He really liked using the chalk and the dry erase markers. I asked him to draw me a cat and he said he couldn't. So I drew one for him first ("A circle for a head, triangles for ears, circles for eyes...", etc.) And then he drew one very similar to what I drew. I get a kick out of seeing him make his first letters.

Anyhow, I need to get into the shower. We are meeting Emily and Brandon for Easter Dinner at a restaurant.

Tired.

Delilah decided to wake up at 4 am this morning. SCREAMING. Poor baby. Don't really know what is bothering her, but it gets better with Motrin. So James stayed home with her today. I have to save up all the sick leave I can! Here's hoping that tonight is better!

Today was free pastry day at Starbucks. Can't pass that up. So I went and got a 2 point skinny caramel latte and then asked what the reduced fat pastry selections are. She had me at "RF Chocolate Chip Banana Bread." She also had Evan at it too. So I shared it with him. Which is a good thing because the whole slice would have been 8 points!! (as a reference, I only get 19 a day!!!) So now I am HONGRY. Only 2 hours til lunch.

Evan had some gems last night. First, while bathing him and Delilah, he put this little stacking cup over his crotch and said, "Mom, I have a chocolate penis!" Not really sure what that meant. But the possibilities are endless. Also, later around bed time, I was standing in the bathroom while he peed and he turned to me with the biggest grin and whispered, "Mom, I need PRIVACY!" Touché.

Today, I am just trying to stay awake. I have lots of little things to do. We are looking at another 6 to 12 inches of snow today and tomorrow. I am soooo ready for spring!

Everything else

I wanted Baby D to get her own birthday post...but there is soooo much going on.

I am going to talk about my baby sister...I hope she doesn't mind. She got some news that she has a skin cancer spot. She had most of it removed, but needs to go back to have more removed. I hope this is just a one time thing for her. I love her so and it worries me to think of her going through problems. Not that she isn't capable. Because believe me, she is. She just started her new job out in the middle of nowhere. Living on her own in her own rented house. What a grown up! We will miss seeing more of her.

I am still trying to lose weight. I really hope I can have a loss this week. I shared a brownie a la mode with my coworker yesterday. I tried to be really good the rest of the night. Today, I had a plan to get a coffee on the way in, but McD's sabotaged my efforts by putting whipped cream on top of my mocha. 5 points. That is a meal in itself. :( So Greek for lunch. I think I did ok. I will have to eat only the points I have allotted the rest of the week. I weigh in on Sunday.

This weekend, we took the kids to the mall. On the way there, Evan kept trying to break into our conversation. Finally, he yelled, "Mama! Listen to my words!" LOL. At the mall, we went to this Lego store. He really wanted this Thomas the Train Lego set. I explained that he could not have it because he already got a car from the grocery store. He was very very sad. So I stopped and talked to him, told him that I wished I could buy him everything he wants, but that we don't have all the money in the world to buy everything that we want. He cheered up a little when James put him on his shoulders. We got to the fountain, and I handed him a penny and said, "Ok, make a wish and throw it in!" Evan said, gravely, "I wish I had the Thomas Legos," and tossed his penny in. He is desperately hoping his birthday gets here soon.

James and I are going to take tomorrow off together. We have plans to get some stuff done around the house...but after that possibly a movie or something!