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.

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.

:)