Mom jeans and other random thoughts

Mom jeans. We’ve all heard of them. But what exactly are “mom jeans?” I asked this same question on my message board today and am waiting (sort of) patiently to see what kind of responses I get. So…. What do you consider to be “mom jeans” and if you’re a mom, do you own any?

On another random note (a random gross note), I posted a few weeks ago about having a molar pulled. It was healing fine, and then I noticed a sharp thing sticking out. Apparently a small piece of tooth was left and had worked it’s way to the surface. fuuuuuuuuuun! With everything that’s been going on, I just didn’t have time to go back to the dentist to have something done about it, so I decided I’d just hope it’d work itself the rest of the way out. First I noticed it wasn’t sore anymore, then I noticed it’d gotten rather loose. And then this morning when I was brushing my teeth I felt something small and hard in my mouth… and there it was! The nasty, offending, left-over tooth chunk! (I did mention this was gross!) And so now I officially consider my mouth to be healed!! Yay!

Aren’t you glad I shared that??? Muahahahahaha!!!

This morning, I shared a tasty double espresso with my 17 month old. So no mother of the year awards will be forthcoming any time soon. Hey – he liked it, it was cute watching him drink it, and um… he cried when I took it away. And in all honesty, I really don’t think a few sips of an espresso is going to do any real damage.

Long, busy weekend

You'll be happy to hear we're not under 10 ft of water. Actually by the time I got home that night it had receeded in most places. There are still many, many homes damaged, and the place we swim really got damaged, a friend of mine just emailed to tell me her basement is totaled and since her son's bedroom is down there all of his stuff is trashed too. She said her neighborhood flooded badly. More rain coming this week... I really would like some summer sun now, please and thank you!

Except for the time being, we have no place to swim.

But -- we had a nice time this weekend with my out-of-town relatives in for my little cousin's wedding. Still can't quite believe she's married! Wasn't she 12 just a minute ago?? I'm not a wedding crier, but this one got me. The minute my little cousin - the bride's 14 yr old sister - started up the aisle (and was she gorgeous!!) (all of my cousins were beautiful that day, as always) the tears started. And kept coming. I looked up and saw little Laura in her wedding dress looking just stunning, next to this handsome man (and I won't even mention the facial hair - haha) who she's marrying! Beside the glowing bride is her older sister, the lovely maid of honor who is on her own and all grown up, living in Alaska. When did she get to be such an independent grown up?? And Stephanie - is a MOMMY!! Wait - they're all too young for this! I'M too young for this! And then there's Charlie, looking for all the world like a beautiful young woman when I could swear she's my tiny tomboy cousin! Or she was just the other day. Look to my left and Megan is holding her daughter... and there's Shawn and his girlfriend who are all just way too grown up now... and next to me is my own handsome son. Who's becoming more of a young man every day (even with the rotten attitude). Eesh... who wouldn't shed a few tears? What a good looking, smart, fun, amazing group of "kids" they all are. And where on earth are all those little kids we used to chase around??

*Sigh* Anyway, the reception was fun, but about an hour into it my babysitter called and said Kyan was having teething pain and wouldn’t stop crying and where’s the Tylenol? Well, Kyan’s not teething right now, so that wasn’t it. Thing was, when I hired her, I told her he doesn’t like other people and he’s a crier and if she can’t handle that she shouldn’t take the job. So this phone call was not what I wanted to hear. I asked her if she wanted me to come get him and she said if I want. Well after that, of course I want! Good Lord!!! So I drive 20 mins to get home (missing the bride & groom’s first dance in the process) and find she’s walking him outside in the stroller, he’s not crying – he’s eating a cookie – and she’s on her cell phone!! All I could think was that she got a better offer. I don’t particularly care if she did or not, that looked bad and that’s that. I wasn’t planning on using her after Saturday for other reasons anyway, but this sealed it.

So I took Ky back to the reception with me and he had a ball dancing with all the pretty girls. The photographer even took a picture of him dancing with the beautiful bride. So in the end it worked out okay.

I brought the boys home early because they were tired and enough is enough. Besides, we had the breakfast to attend on Sunday, Jaben had his Cub Scout carwash/bake sale to go to, I had work, and we were all going to Cedar Point later with the extended family. The CP thing wasn’t the plan until Sunday morning when we realized everyone was going and we were the only ones who hadn’t planned to… so we manipulated some things and thought we’d give it a try.

I’m so glad we did! I’m not going to go into details because it’s more fun to live than to read about, but bottom line is we had such a great time we didn’t get home until midnight and were all dead tired the next day. Actually I’m still dragging a bit (it’s Tuesday now) but sometimes you’ve just got to go for the fun and deal with the consequences later.

It’s a pretty day today and I can’t wait to get done with work. I’m going to have to figure out when I can take a few days at a time off and have a bit of a break. I think we’re all about due for a rest.

PS I learned this morning that Kyan can now say puppy VERY clearly – and he can blow a kazoo like a champ! That was a fun discovery, let me tell ya!

Flood!

This is what's going on in my town right now. I don't know what's going to happen if we really do get storms for 2 more days. My sister just told me over the phone (I'm at work) that there are news crews and helicopters everywhere and it's all over the news.

PS Please forgive the use of URLs rather than links... it's a non-linking kinda day.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/wews/20060622/lo_wews/9409828

http://www.wkyc.com/news/rss_article.aspx?ref=RSS&storyid=53830

http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=53826&provider=top

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JABEN!!!

Okay everyone, post birthday wishes to Jaben! C'mon... I know you can do it! A boy only turns TEN once!

Happy Birthday, Jaben!!!!!

Random Friday junk

So it's Friday morning and I'm sitting here putting off trying to figure out what to have for breakfast. I have fed the kids healthy peanut butter sandwiches (healthy? convenient? same thing) and I'm pretty sure Kyan is pooping right now. He's squatting on the floor next to me and making pushing noises. Goes nicely with the snot running down his face. Jaben is getting ready to shower and I think I need to decide what we're going to do today. I need to clean, I want to go to the library and swimming, we're planning to finally do our tie-dying today (we've had the kit for weeks but no time to actually tie and dye) and I need to get Kyan a white shirt to do one for him. But what am I doing? Surfing and blogging. Yup... I'm hella ambitious today.

Did I just say hella? Geez... goes to show ya what kind of mood I'm in today.

** I've been meaning to mention the comments. The few I've gotten lately. *sigh* I started out trying to respond to all of them but it just isn't happening. So if you've made a comment and didn't receive a reply, I apologize. It's not that I don't read them or don't appreciate them - I do, I *love* comments... it's just that I don't always have something to add, or I'm short on time and it's all I can do to read thru what's going on that day. So please, keep commenting! I really do love getting them and I do read them, even if I don't get a chance to respond!!

** Jaben is going to be 10 on Monday. TEN. TEN. He's going to be TEN. Yes I know that to those of us over 21, ten is not a big deal. But it is to the boy who is turning 10 (thus the birthday camping trip, and yes it was early and yes it was necessary to have it that early) it is huge. Double digits, doncha know. What I want to know is, when did I get old enough to be the mother of a ten year old boy?? I know I'm chronilogically old enough (I know I just butchered that word, spell check be damned!) but mentally I'm stil 19. So how did that happen?? I pulled out baby books and photo albums the other day and can't believe how long ago all that was. And then I look at baby Kyan, and think about the temper tantrums and fits lately (teething, I think) and how hard it's been, and I realize this is such a short time in his little life and before I know it he'll be sleeping at friend's houses and going to school and rolling his little eyes at me and.... wow... In the blink of an eye, my baby is ten years old, on the brink of puberty and manhood and driving and girls and oh wow the next thing I know he'll be graduating college, getting married, having babies of his own... Everyone tells you it goes by so fast, but you don't really know what it means until you see it in your own children. Well...

Happy Birthday Jaben! I'm very proud of who you're becoming and you've got a good heart and strong self that will take you far... stay true to yourself and you'll never go wrong.

** Okay, enough of this sappy shit. I've got a poopy diaper to change and a pretty gross house to clean. Happy Friday, everyone!

*growl* I AM IRON-MOM!!!!

Heh.

Anyway, we had a blast camping! Have you ever taken 4-10 yr old boys on a 2.5 day outdoor adventure? If not, I definitely recommend it! I know, I know, surprising, isn't it? But I swear, the greatest joy in my life these days is watching my son with his friends, hearing their laughter and watching their minds at work. I had no idea 10 yr old boys were such clever, fascinating people.

When we first arrived at the campground, my sister had already set up all the tents (yay!) and was getting ready to construct the canopy I'd bought just for the occasion. I sent the boys to set up sleeping bags, etc in their tent and ran up to the camp office to check in. I ended up getting the boys tent for FREE! because they base their prices on 2 adults/children per tent, and since theirs was a kid's tent, they threw it in for free! SWEET! I love unexpected savings! By the time I got back, the boys were down at the river behind our campsite, fishing. But oh how they wanted to go to the pond up the hill to fish and swim! So once I was sure things were pretty well set up, I changed Ky into his trunks (he gets to swim too, y'know!) and off we went!

The pond wasn't nearly as nasty as I thought it'd be, so it was cool for them to swim. Not that they'd have cared if it was gross! They all ran out to the end of the cement dock and fished a bit, then took turns swimming. We only had 2 fishing poles for 4 boys, but they shared surprisingly well. There was only 1 who was a bit of a fishing-hog, but he's a nice kid and only needed to be reminded to take turns and would hand it over. So that was cool.

Soon enough the boys started getting hungry, so we headed back to camp. We were waiting for one more grown up, so we broke out the hot dogs and they made their own hot dogs, on real sticks, over the fire. Awesome - especially when 3 of the boys had never been camping before. That night we ended up having hot dogs, hamburgers, s'mores, chips... probably more but that's all I can remember. They turned the back of my Jeep into a store where things were free and kept trying to "sell" us stuff. Too funny! Except the back of my car got all wet and muddy. I need to find/make the time to clean it out. Seriously.

When we finally went to bed Friday night it was really cold. Not just cold - I mean cold. I shivered more than I slept that night. And we were visited by an animal in the middle of the night who not only got into our trash - responsibly hung on a tree - he also got into one of the coolers and got out the ketchup! Not a sophisticated raccoon, but an industrious one. Kyan's sippy cup also went missing and we never did find it. I figure the raccoon is using it to show off to his friends how cool he is.

Saturday is just a blur in my mind. Swimming, fishing, sunning, eating, playing.... my cousins came and brought Jaben a great birthday present. It's a badminton/volleyball set with the net and all! So that was set up and the kids all played with that too. They played in the river and found what, I swear, looked like an oyster! They wanted to open it and get out the pearl! They thought it'd make us all RICH!! I just had to laugh - they're just so darn cute! They also found natural clay and did some "sculpting" with it. They had a blast and we had a blast watching them. I absolutely love watching these boys run and play and be so imaginataive and creative in that muddy, natural environment. Video games begone! For today - we fish!

Saturday night the boys got glow sticks and these light necklace things that were pretty fun to play with. We tried to make Jiffy Pop, but it just burned, so that kind of sucked. But my cousin made these banana split thingys on the fire that were just wonderful! I remember them from girl scouts... You take a banana and split it, length wise. Then in the middle you put marshmallows and chocolate pieces, wrap the whole thing in foil and put it in the fire to bake. Oh is it GOOOOOOD!!! I was thinking, that'd be good at home too, in the oven, then put a scoop of vanilla ice cream right in the middle, while it's all still hot. Yummmmmm!!!

I ended up sleeping in the boys' tent Saturday night. They were a little freaked by the noises in the woods (twigs snapping, etc) and knowing there'd been an animal in our camp the night before. I didn't mind, except it meant going without my air mattress! Yikes! So that part kind of sucked. It was cold again so I gave one of the boys my spare blanket because his had somehow gotten wet. I would rather be cold myself than know one of those kids wasn't warm enough. So, I didn't sleep well either night, but I guess camping isn't really about sleeping, is it?

Sunday, we pretty much just got up, had a quick breakfast of donuts, bananas, hot chocolate, then packed up and went home. Everyone was tired, filthy and content. It was WARM in the car!

I got a bit of a nap in the afternoon yesterday, in between laundry and Kyan's fits. He's coming down with a cold now (and he didn't even stay at camp at night!) and so is Jaben. I feel like I might be getting it too, but it was worth it. Jaben said it was the best birthday party he'd ever had - even tho it was just over a week early. We'll still have cake on his birthday, but that's going to have to be the only gift he gets from me. I think it'll be enough. It was weird tho, hearing him call me "Mom" all weekend. I'm still Mommy, except in front of his friends, and sometimes I'd forget to answer him because I'm not used to hearing "Mom" directed at ME. He's just growing up and there's no way to stop it.

My car is a mess yet, too. Mud, mud, mud! And I found little marshmallow fingerprints on the back window a little while ago. That was kind of cute. I was not nearly as amused by the daddy long legs I found climbing up my arm as I drove to work this morning. I don't mind bringing the mud home, but the wildlife needs to stay where it belongs.

Hm... so much for Iron-Mom, huh?

Going camping!

We're leaving at about 4 this afternoon to go camping for the weekend, so try really hard not to miss me!! It's going to be me, Jaben, 3 of his friends, my sister and her gf, possibly my cousin (she's been grounded so we're not sure), and my mom and Kyan during the day. Like I said before, mom rocks, and she's bringing Ky home nights - she says she doesn't think sleeping on the ground would be fun for her and well, it'll be nice for me to not have to worry about Kyan all night. This is going to be a great time!!

And hey - how come nobody commented on Jaben's play pics?? Don't make me cry - COMMENT, PEOPLE, COMMENT!!!

Have a great weekend!

My son the Supa-starrrrr

This post was started on Monday, June 5. Sorry it took me so long to finish and post!

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OMG Jaben ROCKS!!

Oh and sorry it took me so long to get to this. I was so tired Sunday for some reason I barely managed to get our laundry done, so posting was definitely out.

Anyway... he was SO cute!! All the kids were and the play was so funny! They had added in a bunch of lines and a few asides to the audience that were genuinely funny - no fake polite laughs required!

And oh - he was so sweet in his King Zozar costume! I don't think I'll be getting pics on here right now (I might surprise myself, I dunno, not a great day here at work and I'm here late as it is because technical difficulties suck) but I will, I will, I will! I promise!! Hopefully.

There was only ooonnneeee little glitch... When they got to his BIG scene... well really his big song, it started out fine, then about 5 lines or so in... he froze. He simply forgot the words to the song!! I was freaking. Freaking. But, Jill, being quick and rather experienced in doing plays with children, restarted the song - as I said it wasn't that far into it - and gave him another chance. It wasn't that noticeable, actually. So, he started over and... forgot the words again! This time, rather than starting the song over, Jill began singing along - loudly enough for him to hear - and he was able to catch on and catch up. After that - he was fine. No more forgotten lyrics, no missed lines - he made me (all of us, actually) very, very proud.

At the end of the play, Jill announced each child and what part they played and they each got to take their own individual bow and get their own cheers. Jaben cheers were so loud it was awesome and you could see in his face how very happy he was. Then of course they took a group bow and posed for group pictures. We were lucky enough to get a halfway decent picture of the group.

And now it’s over.

I can’t believe it. It seems like we’ve been doing this for so long and so much work has gone into it that it’s hard to believe that’s it. At least until September (I think) when they begin working on A Christmas Carol. I’m a little bummed I won’t be able to do it with him (they need 2 parents from each class to be in the play) because of my work schedule, but I can’t wait to get him started again! He’s good. Maybe I’m all mommy-biased, but I think Jaben is good at this. Especially the funny parts. The comical asides, facial expressions, quips that sound spontaneous…. He’s dead on every time.

I have to say – this kid could not make me more proud. And I really, really hope he knows it.

Okay, now let’s see if blogger will let me post some pictures…

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First scene… Jaben as Montu… second child from the left…



Second Scene… Greece…



Third scene… Egypt… meet the great King Zozar!



Fourth scene… Rome… sing, Jaben, sing!



And finally, the cast picture…



This isn’t even remotely all of the pictures I took, but it’s a pretty good sampling of Jaben on stage.

And so… onward!! Next to A Christmas Carol!!

But first… a weekend of camping with 10 yr old boys. Good Lord what was I thinking???

The play is TONIGHT!!

It's tonight at 6pm! We're excited, all the kids are excited and amazingly enough, they're SO ready! I can't wait to see my baby up on that stage... and I'm going to cry thru the whole thing, probably.

I got him a gift for after the show. Didn't know what to get a boy - I know he wouldn't want flowers, so I asked the moms of the other 2 boys and one said she was thinking of a CD, so I got him a Greenday CD yesterday. It's one he doesn't already have, plus, it's got a lot of songs on it that I like - so, bonus!! I also got a card I need to write a note in - without sobbing - that says 'Superstar' on the front. I couldn't resist!

Send good thoughts to the boy today that things go well! I think I'm going to try to switch the class he's in for the next play so he can be with the majority of the same kids again... that's what he wants and if the teacher will allow us to switch him my mom said she'd take him. So -- we'll see!

After midnight...

It's after midnight and I can't sleep. I'm not sure of the exact cause but there are a few possibilities. Jaben had his first dress rehearsal tonight and it went wonderfully! All the kids knew their lines and it looked like things were great. I didn't sit thru most of it - it was a 4-hr rehearsal after all, but what I did see was excellent! They're going to do a fantastic job on Saturday.

However (there's always something) when I got there another child's mother told me Jaben had a nose bleed in the middle of the practice. He hasn't had one in a while so I hadn't even thought of it as a possibility. I'm not sure what brings them on, possibly the heat on the stage? I've no idea. My best bet is spring allergies. All I can think of to do is call the Dr tomorrow and see what we can do to prevent him having a nose bleed in the middle of the performance. I know the nose bleeds aren't dangerous, just inconvenient, especially in these circumstances. So we'll see what, if anything, Dr Chris can recommend. Without seeing him! We just don't have time for that!! Over-the-counter, please and thank you!

My house smells. We've been swimming a lot this week and there have been wet towels and bathing suits hanging in the bathroom for days. In this kind of heat and humidity, they don't dry well. Especially when you have to keep the bathroom door closed to keep curious little boys out of the toilet. So I'm going to have to do a ton of laundry tomorrow to avoid more than just a stink... mildew, anyone? I probably will need to hang a clothes line between the trees in the backyard to keep this from happening again. You would not believe how much a mildew smell can spread to the entire house and stink it up! Add on the faint stench of spoiled milk from a curious little boy who has decided it's fun to dump sippy cups and you've got one stinky abode. Ick... and I hate cleaning.

Ooh! Good news... I had a disappointing experience at Starbucks the other day (hard to believe, but true) so I went to their website and emailed them about it. I heard back today and they're sending me coupons to make it up to me! Yay for Starbucks!! It's not like a bad experience is going to keep me from going - far from it - but coupons is coupons and Starbucks is yummy! I think I have a frapuccino addiction.

Next weekend is the big camping trip. Jaben's 10th birthday is coming up (when did I get old enough to be the mother of a TEN YEAR OLD??) so I wanted to do something different. SO... we invited 3 of his friends to go camping next weekend. It's the week before his actual birthday because his best friend wouldn't have been able to go that weekend and Jaben really wanted him there. It's going to be me, 4-10 yr old boys, my mom (bless her), Kyan (yes, Kyan), my 14 yr old cousin who knows TONS about camping, and if we're lucky, my sister and her girlfriend. That will depend on work schedules, but I'm hopeful they can come. Two nights camping with all those kids is going to require some more grown ups. That's for sure!! Oh please let them be able to come!! I realize I'm insane for trying to do this, but the kids will have fun and I'll have the following week at work to recover. Ha. Ha. Ha.

I think I've rambled quite enough for one night. Plus, I've got a ton of stuff to do tomorrow and I'm going to be tired! 'Night!!