... as a buggie in a ruggie.

Nope, we're not embarrassed. We love our Snuggies.

Jack's came with Snuggie socks. Perfect for bedtime stories. Well, story. After one, they get kinda sweaty.

So, we had to get matching Longhorn Snuggies for Uncle Trey and Aunt Tiff.



Then the clencher... Mel and I wore ours to see Avatar Friday night.

The guy behind us said, "This is the first time I have seen someone actually wear a Snuggie... IN PUBLIC."

Neither Jeff nor Van would take our pic, so we had to do it ourselves. It's such a relief to have reached a point in my life where I truly don't care what people think.

The only bad thing is, the four people in the row behind us started talking about their work in the ICU... rounding with doctors, etc. It was the perfect chance to give them a business card and offer information about Methodist's critical care openings.

However, a professional recruitment conversation hardly seemed possible in the blue Snuggie and big 3-D glasses. Maybe next time....

Out for a-pox-imately one week.

The little guy got the chicken pox after all.

That's right. RSV, a mystery fever/virus, and being bitten weren't enough for Davis' first three weeks of daycare.

Here is a picture of his little back, taken this morning (Chicken Pox, day two.)

He spent Saturday whining and moaning all day, never wanting to be put down. I enjoyed the rare one-on-one snuggle time with him, but have to admit I started to feel itchy all over after a while.

You can tell the warm extra-long baths are just miserable.

In the meantime, I might as well post his 18-month bear picture. Now that I am sportin' the mini-van, the "I Dig Soccer Moms" shirt is even more fitting.

Blog Brag.

I am fully aware of my own bias, but check out Jack's newest drawing of "rainforest pteradactyls." (click to enlarge.)

I am amazed at his artwork at age 5 years, 5 months old. I am even more amazed at his patience and attention span to create so much art outside of his bajillion art project homework assignments.

When he finished this one, Jeff reminded him to always sign and date his work. So, what does he write?

"From Jack Griffin to Miss Brockman. Jack Griffin 20010." Of course.

Jeff said, "Nope, Mommy and I are keeping this one!"

How in the world...

... do working Moms manage it all?

I just emptied the dryer (onto the couch), my hair is wet, baby is napping, kitchen is a mess, making grocery list, on my way to a birthday party, packing diaper bag, monitoring Davis' fever, checking him for Chicken Pox at each diaper change, both kids need lunch before we leave, and Jack and I need to get dressed. I have about fifty unanswered personal e-mails and voicemails from people who mean the world to me wondering why I am not keeping in touch. I hate that, but I am just staying above water.

Tomorrow is church and then Monday it all starts again. Thank goodness I love the job itself. It's been a lot of fun so far and will certainly certainly challenge me. A lot. Yes, I wrote certainly twice.

No time to blog I guess. Can't wait for my birthday present to myself. After the party, while the kids are napping, I am calling to schedule the housekeeper.

Cue the hallelujah chorus.

Houston, we don't have a problem.

Last night Jack asked me to call and check on Meemaw and Paw Paw because he heard there was a bad earthquake in Katy.

So there you have it.

Jeff and I decided to compliment Jack Everett on his awesome work and let Mrs. Brockman give any feedback.

Win-win-win!

Mommy is proud, Mrs. B is happy, and Jack's first-teacher crush lives on.

On the spot.

Sign on Davis' classroom door this morning at the daycare:

"We have Chickenpox!"

*sigh

Please pray that he doesn't get it, especially since he is not vaccinated against it. Neither Jeff nor I can afford to take a lot of time off work.

Silver lining: At least Jack has already had Chicken Box.

On another topic...

Jack's Homework Assignment (verbatim): "Cut out a snowflake! Color, glitter, or paint the snowflake! Pretend you are a snowflake and write a creative story about your journey as a snowflake. Be creative when you write your story. Your child's story should have at least 5 to 6 sentences! They usually write more than that in class with me, so I know your child can write at least 5-6 sentences independently at home! Make sure you have a beginning, middle, and ending. Remember to capitalize the beginning of a sentence and the letter "I", use the correct ending punctuation, spaces between words, all Word Wall words are spelled correctly, and you are staying on topic! Example: When I was a snowflake, I landed on a dog's nose. I think it tickled her."

Yes. Those were (all) the printed instructions.

So, I left for the grocery store and was thrilled to see a pile of snowflakes on the table when I got back. Jack Everett then told me and Jeff not to look until he was finished with his story.

He wrote and wrote and wrote....

then presented to us...

... in "Tah Dah!!!" fashion...

... this:

(My snowflak is white I think, bekus I cant deesid what snowflak To Pick. I now you dont like the word cant! But! I love all of my snowflaks.)

(That is wie I can't choose a snowflake. so all That is wie I cant choose a snowflake. I have a snowflak for You. it is priteyest one ever. it is light blue color.)

(The other snowflakes are colord steel blue, white and yours is Periwinkle That is the colors of The Snowflake colors. i like all my snowflakes. The End.)

(Look here. Here's Your snowflak.)
Notice how the art on the side spells "Miss Brock".

He told us he "ran out of room for MAN, but knows she'll love it anyway."

Okay. Put yourself in my shoes.... given the assignment...

If your Kindergarten son handed you this 100% independently-written "story," all proud of himself...

I want to know... how would you respond?

That's my boy!

The assignment was to sort 8 words into two groups - one for those with the short A sound, and one for those with a Long A sound. Then, on the back, they were to "use each word in a sentence."

Jack's response:



I can just hear ME as a sarcastic teenager, "Well, the instructions didn't SAY they couldn't be used in the SAME sentence."

It's a good thing.

I was soaking in a few minutes with the boys before bedtime and we all piled onto the recliner. Well, Davis starting tickling Jack under his chin, and they started laughing like crazy sending Jeff to get the camera.

I said, "I don't really want to be in a picture like this," to which Jack replied, "It's a good thing the camera can't smell." Wow, thanks.

Now that I am working, these times are even more precious. Jeff and I keep saying, "The housework can wait."

On that note, does anyone have a good housekeeper they can recommend? If so, e-mail me. Because, actually, the housework can't wait much longer.

Davis' Cool Daycare Craft

After I oooed and awwwed over how cute this craft was, Jack immediately said, "I bet he only did the hands part. I bet he did NOT cut out that penguin."

Geez, give the little guy a break.

The Kissing Game

Found this letter in Jack's backpack yesterday after receiving a call from Mrs. Brockman at work. She was letting me know that Jack and a couple of boys in the class were playing a game where they were trying to kiss each other.

Uh, yeah.

Wardrobe Malfunction

Per Mom's request, here is a quick pic of Davis who somehow manages to wake up with one arm out of his jammies.



His coughing has woken him up so many times tonight. However, I think our crying sickie boy has finally fallen asleep for good.

Goodnight, and pray for a good day for Davers as he goes back to school tomorrow!

Davis has RSV.

Yep. Poor little guy came home hoarse and congested from school Friday. Is now on nebulizer, antibiotics and fever meds.

I am going in late this morning, Lacey is covering the middle of the day, and Jeff is coming home early.

And so it begins...

First week at a glance...

Again, in a nutshell, here is a quick run-down of our first week in a new (and I use this next word very loosely) "routine."

Monday morning was exciting and I was not surprised by how easy it was to get up so early and get ready and leave on time. It felt like the morning of an early flight to somewhere fun. I took the bags and supplies to daycare, but not the baby. Jeff would take him later since he was off. I figured it would be much easier that way. They were very sweet when I got there sans baby and the director hugged me and said, "He'll get used to it. He'll do great."

I started to leave and another Mom said to me, "First day?" I wonder how she knew. "It'll get easier. We love this place. I have had three of my kids here, two since they were newborns and you will LOVE it here. Don't worry, he'll get used to it." That was so sweet and I know God placed her mini-van in front of my mini-van in the parking lot that day. [Side note: for something with the word "mini" in its name, it's rather long and somewhat difficult to park.]

I called my dear friend April on the way and blubbered about all sorts of things and she listened intently as she always does. She is so calm and soft-spoken and brings me a sense of peace when I feel frantic. She reminded me that I am not alone and wished me luck.

By the time I got to orientation I was excited, felt pretty, had it all together, was excited about my new spiral and new pen and happy to have found the parking lot on time. Then, the first speaker got up. Reverend Franklin. He started, "I am so happy God has placed you in this place today. You are here for a reason and He has great plans for you in this job and in this life." I so wanted God to show me He was with me and that I was doing the right thing, but I had no idea He'd speak so clearly. In other words, cue the waterworks. I grabbed the tissue as he went on to remind the nurses/medical providers in the room that they must never forget that "their faith in God is just as important to the healing and wholeness of their patients as any medical care they can provide." I had never been in HR in a faith-based organization and it was so comforting yet confusing at the same time.

Rev. Franklin continued, "You can convince me of a lot of things, but you will NEVER convince me that prayer doesn't work. I want you to know that our entire staff has prayed all week for each and every one of you by name." He began to call out each of our names (35 of us) with his loud Southern Methodist preacher voice. As each person walked up, he handed out his business card. I turned mine over to see "Melissa" hand-written on the back in blue permanent marker with a little cross. I just started crying at my seat and decided to quietly leave the room before people started to notice.

I ran into the Trainer, Amber, in the hallway and she saw me crying. I smiled, "First day with my baby in daycare. I know, it's silly." She said, "Every Mom in the room knows exactly how you feel. My two are in daycare and some days are really hard." She was so kind and I was a tad embarrassed knowing she was going to end up sitting two offices down from mine. "But don't worry," she added, "he'll get used to it."

I finally got myself together before the next speaker began. The 8-hour orientation went on to include a video on bedside manner which included a Mom and her newborn son in L&D, a video on medicine errors which included a Mom whose son was killed when he was given an IV with the wrong medicine, and finally, a video about a little boy with cancer. No, I am not kidding. Now, there were tons of other things in the orientation, but these were the ones that got me all emotional. I will have to write about the funny things too. Some day.

When I got home, I was exhausted. Jeff had taken Davis to school (I will join the Moms who call it that instead of daycare) around 11 and picked them both up around 4:00pm. We did dinner, bath, and bed at a rapid pace and looked at each other as we finally sat down around 9:40pm. Wow, we realized... this is our new normal.

"He'll get used to it." Everyone says that. I can't help but think, just because "he'll get used to it" doesn't mean it's good for him. Kids can "get used to" a lot of things... I decided not to think too much more about it.

I said, "I'll just have to blog about this tomorrow."

...... Okay so I guess this post turned out to be "FIRST DAY at a glance" instead.... and at like nine paragraphs I guess it was a pretty long glance.

Ay, ay, ay, ay...

Here is what happens when they get away from you after a bath...

...and big brother is waiting in the living room...

...with a sombrero.

Like Julie T. said, "It's not how much time you have with them, it's making the most of the time you have."

"While you were out..."

I wanted to take a picture of Davis' first day of "school" but when I got there I realized I had forgotten my camera. Naturally.

When I went to pick him up that evening I was disappointed but had resigned myself to taking a "second day" picture and pretending it was taken on his first day. As I buckled him in to leave, the Daycare Director came outside, "Mrs. Griffin, you left your camera here this morning!" and I chunked it inside the van.

Oh well.

So, when I got home, I looked on the camera and found this:



Turns out, when his teacher found the camera, she snapped this single shot for me. I just started sobbing. (Again.)

It has been a really hard few days. It's the end of a very sweet era with Davers.

It feels a lot like when I go to get another cookie and suddenly realize I have just scarfed down the last one. If I had only REALIZED it was my very last cookie, I would have slowed down and savored every single bite.

a note from jack I hope you like it‏

dear missbrockman I like all the fun acktividee's we have done .I like and love you. I thingk you are the best teacher ever. after this I will go to bed. merry christmas missbrockman and A happy new year. and good night missbrockman . and night night to me jack.

If each of his classmates completed the assignment, Mrs. Brockman will have 16 more of these adorable e-mails welcoming her back to school tomorrow morning. Smart lady.