Merry Christmas, Jude!

Little Jude spent his first Christmas in a big-boy crib in the NICU being held by his parents, my cousin Josh and his wife Kate. He is slowly weaning off the oxygen and feeding tubes and at 8 weeks, he weighed in at 4 lbs, 7 oz!



Merry Christmas Kate and Josh and we are all happy you got to hold and snuggle the best Christmas gift ever! Praying for you and counting down the days with you until you can bring him home.

Merry Christmas...

... to all, and to all a good night!

Today was a wonderfully relaxing day at home filled with fun, loooong naps, and all four of us hanging out in our pajamas. It was JUST what the doctor ordered.

Tomorrow morning Jeff goes back to work while the boys and I head to Houston to continue Jesus' Birthday party.

Hope you and yours had a blessed day,

I had a feeling...

I had a hunch Davis might not love Santa but I'm not sure what made me think that...

I can't wait to show him these when he's a teenager.

Out of Pocket. Again.

After replacing my cell phone, oh, 17 days ago, I was having trouble getting used to my new one. I have not had a chance to re-enter even a third of the phone numbers from the old one, and am still mourning the pictures I had saved on it. Anyway, in a scramble to leave this morning (I wasn't running late, it's just ALWAYS a scramble these days) I strapped Davis in and had my purse, diaper bag, lunch on ice, soda, keys, bag of Target returns and cell phone on top of the car. I wrestled him in and gathered my things, filling the front seat with all the crap I carry around everywhere I go.

Whenever I am trying to leave the house, I have two options:

1. Strap the baby into the car and then go back in to get everything, leaving the kids unattended in the driveway (remember my garage door doesn't go up - at all.) Totally unsafe.

2. Load the car while Davis races to pull all of the laundry off the couch, pour out the dog bowl and carefully remove his socks, shoes, and pants. Oh, and did I mention every time I go toward the door he is trying to come outside with me and I can't close the door for fear of smashing his fingers?

3. Plan ahead and pack the diaper bag, lunch box and car the night before. Fill sippie cups and snack trap beforehand and have it ready in the fridge. Like I said, two options.

So, the inevitable happened today. Of all days. I gathered my things from the car trunk lid and drove away only to discover an hour later that I had driven off with the cell phone sitting on top of the car. The neighbors Jorge and Ballardo later helped me search the street for it to no avail.

I went on all of my errands anyway, which included my daily chiropractic appointment (during which Jack told the doctor "Mommy sits with a crunched over back and Daddy tells her to sit straight."), a pediatrician appointment (during which Jack was diagnosed with croupe, and after which he spilled hot chocolate down his dress shirt.), a trip to Bass Pro Shops (hence the dress shirts) to see Santa (during which Davis screamed his head off and pooped his pants. Literally.) and an unplanned stop at HEB (to buy diapers since I realized I left the entire diaper bag at the aforementioned pediatrician's office.)

When we checked out we had to pay for (I KID YOU NOT) an empty milk bottle, an empty chocolate milk bottle ("since that's not fair that HE gets milk and not ME") an empty Dr. Pepper bottle, an opened box of Honeycombs, a banana peel, an opened box of Pampers, and opened Baby Wipes. Oh and a sippy cup wrapper.... from the full milk cup in my son's mouth... that had not been washed. "You might be a redneck, IF..."

And, even though I thought of him several times today, I never called Dad to wish him a Happy Birthday. Man, I really hate that.

It is SO hard to recover from these days when my helper doesn't get home until 8:30 at night every night. This week has been stranger than fiction. I told my friend Victoria you just can't make this stuff up. And all of this after Friday...

... when I lost my keys at the school after Jack's class party. And Sarah had to come get me, Jack, Davis, stroller... and took me back that night to get the car only for me to discover that the keys were in the ignition the entire time. Not only did I never see them there, but the teacher searched, an announcement was made, the custodian searched the cafeteria... the whole nine yards. Think it can't get worse? Well, the keys were not only in the ignition, they were in the on position. As in, I was listening to the radio and running the A/C while getting the stroller packed before getting Davis out. And never turned it off. Meaning the car was dead. So, we had to go back to Sarah's to get Ken to come help me jumpstart the car. At midnight.

I drove it around for ten minutes listening to K-LOVE all teary-eyed wondering how long it would take for this to become a funny story and how exactly I was going to tell Jeff about this one.

I told him. A few days later. He was kind, but I wouldn't exactly say he thought it was funny.

So, all of this to say.... don't call my cell phone. Or my home phone for that matter... unless you are calling to tell me you found my cell phone. Or inviting me to Girls Night Out. Or coming to bring me dinner, clean my house, or babysit. ha

On the bright side, my back is feeling better and we were able to get this:



We are still focused on the Reason for the Season... through it all...

Where have I been?

I haven't posted an update because I feel that I need to write a really long post explaining everything that's going on. Because I have no time for said really long post, here it is... as Austin Powers would say, in a nutshell.

Jeff was finally required to leave the Training Manager position at Bjorn's and return to the sales floor "until the economy turns around."
This means long hours, weekends, and more importantly, 100% commission.
This means I need to go back to work full-time. Like, yesterday.
This means Davis will be in daycare. All day. Every day.
This also means I have to give up my awesome part-time job in the Children's Ministry at Gracepoint.
Amazingly, a former colleague (gotta love HR networking!) called me up to discuss a Staff Recruiter position at Methodist Hospital. Wow!
I interviewed, loved the team, and was offered the position.
I accepted the position starting January 4th, 2010.
Daycare is reserved at a cool $840 per month. Jack will take after-school van from Scobee to daycare every day (with a couple of his friends.)
Then we had our car accident.
The "investigation" is on-going, and our car is determined a total loss.
We have the rental until Friday. (meaning I have two days to clean the back seat since it's already covered in milk and crumbs.)
Thank goodness my Mom and Jeffry offered us their third car until I can get my first paycheck.
Funny (not funny) thing was, the day we picked it up from them, Mom got into a fender bender on the way home from work. Thankfully, her car is driveable... for now.
Then, in an instant, Davis had my flip phone in each hand. As in, tore it into two parts. As in, all information is deleted.
So, I finally got that all straightened out, but am SLOWLY restoring my address book. Manually.
My back is still killing me, but I am finally feeling some relief after my third chiropractic treatment today.
So, I am basically sitting under four piles of paperwork... one for injury claims... one for my new job... one for the daycare (thanks egg allergy) and one because I am the Kindergarten room Mom and the Christmas, er, Holiday Party is Friday.
We decided to nix the full-size Christmas tree since I knew I was pretty much flying solo this month and didn't have it in me to keep a dimpled blonde busy body out of it. So, we have our little three-foot table top tree up and strung some lights on Jack's bedroom curtain rod. Voila! Winter Wonderland at the Griffins!
Last night, Jeff got home at about 8:50pm (tonight it was 10:10 before he came home) and we heard this loud CRASHing sound in the garage.
It didn't take us long to realize the spring busted across our automatic garage door opener.
Great. We added it to "the list" right after the living room ceiling fan stuck in the ON position and the house phones which don't hold battery charge. *sigh*

So, it seems like it's just one thing after another... after another. I am trying to keep my spirits up and taking steps to avoid becoming totally depressed. I am determined not to miss the magic of Christmas. I realize that my trials are so trivial compared to those others are facing. I realize that I am so lucky that I usually have help from my husband every night. These few weeks of "going it alone" are just another huge reminder of ALL that he does for us and what he means in our lives.

I attended a webinar at the Hospital today about "how HR uses Twitter to recruit talent." It was exciting to get dressed up again and be in that corporate environment again. I enjoyed all of the tweet jokes and the corny HR humor. I had almost forgotten how much fun that is. I know deep down I am going to enjoy so much of it, but I know Davis has no idea how much his little life is about to change. There is no way to prepare him (or myself.) It will be incredibly hard dropping off the boys on that first day... especially after having Jack home all day every day over the holidays. I get all teary eyed just writing about it.

So this turned out to be a long post after all. That's okay. It sure beats paperwork!

I can't (with my back) sit in this chair any longer to correct the spacing and indentation. Oh well.

Oh yeah, and follow me on Twitter!

@MBGRecruitSA

So far I have one follower. My new boss.

:)

Funny strange or funny Ha-Ha?

There are many people on whom my humor is lost. Well, misunderstood, maybe. It seems that either the person doesn't "get it," the timing catches them off-guard, sarcasm is mistaken for insensitivity, or it's basically an inappropriate time for silliness.

That said, I am anxious to see how Jack's teacher likes her Christmas card.



I couldn't resist.

First Kinder picture

Given that he cut his own hair on picture day...

... I think Jack's first Kindergarten picture turned out pretty adorable. He said "Mrs. Brockman had to comb my hair in the front with her fingers. Two times."

God bless her.

What's in a name?

Jack: "Mom, how come you always write 'MBG' instead of your name?"

Me: "It's just faster than writing out my whole name."

J: "Yeah, it takes like one minute to write 'MBG' and like a hundred minutes to write 'Melissa Bethlehem Griffin.' [pause...] Wait, what's your middle name again?"

Jack and the box.

Homework Directions: Write a Christmas story that includes each of the five senses we studied this week. Be creative!

Jack: "I don't know what to write!"

Me: "Well, think about Mary and Joseph... what do you think it smelled like in the stable?"

J: "Mom, a Christmas story doesn't ALWAYS have to be about Jesus! Sometimes you need to think outside the box."

Sad SAD commentary.

Overheard at SONIC Drive-thru today:

Me: "I will have a large half-diet, half-regular Dr. Pepper and a white milk."

Employee over intercom: "Are you driving a different car today?"

The gospel according to Jack.

After I reminded Jack Everett that he would receive three gifts from us for Christmas:

Jack: "That's because Jesus got three gifts, right?"
Me: "Right."
J: "Because there were three wise men, right?"
M: "Right."
J: "And they just brought one gift, right?"
M: "Yes. And we give gifts to remember that JESUS was the REAL gift.... the GREATEST gift of ALL, right?"
J: "Yes, but do you know what I wish?"
M: {...thinking, "There's no telling..."}
J: "I wish there were a LOT more wise men."

"Let every heart...

... prepare Him room."

Tonight we began the season of Advent... twenty-four days of anticipation. I imagine back in history... people were awaiting the coming of the Messiah with child-like excitement.

I imagine they felt like Jack when he hung the first little camel and immediately said, "I wanna do another one!"