Unforgettable

Jack: "Momma, thank you for my T-Rex party. I'll never remember it."

Me: "Well, I am glad you had fun."

J: "Yes I did and I will never ever remember it."

M: "Do you mean to say that you'll never forget it?"

J: "Oh, right. I will never forget it."

M: "Me either."

Un-stuck

Jeff accidentally drove away this morning with Davis' rear-facing carseat in his car. So, I am stuck at home today. Yes, Davis is on the border of being old enough/heavy enough to use the forward-facing one in the garage, but I know how I would feel if something happened to him. And I have seen my driving record.

So, we are "stuck" at home.

Apparently being stuck at home was just what I needed to become un-stuck on my To-Do-Before-School-Starts List. I have gotten so much accomplished already. Aside from making my bed (which is quickly becoming a habit!) - I am on my third load of laundry, Jack's room is spotless, Davis' new motherload of diapers he just got from PawPaw are all put away, and my kitchen table is cleared. The neighbor boy is on his way over to play with Jack and I just put Davis down for his big long nap.

I still need to write the rest of the birthday Thank You notes. Heck, even the treadmill is calling my name. That's okay, I am sure if I turn it up, the volume of HGTV coupled with the sound of crunching on my Baked Lays will drown it out.

The Entertainer - 12 mos, 2 wks

Just before bed Davis becomes quite the little ham. It's probably because when he's exhausted, it's the ONLY time we can get him to sit still long enough to teach him anything. My favorite is when he thinks he is hiding his face for "Wheeeere's Daaaavis??"

Here we are trying to cram as many of his "tricks" into one short video as we can:



You can see that he is drooling like crazy and with that comes a new slew of slobber skills. In certain shots you can see his first top tooth coming in. He has been a late teether like Jack was. Sure doesn't keep him from eating!



Oh, and yes, his hair is ALWAYS this crazy. The jury is still out, but one of his parents is ready to cut it. For now, I will wait until the other parent is on board. It is pretty darn cute.

In the last video, taken after lunch today (but before nap) he shows off his growl/Transformer voice.



I'll give you one guess who taught him this. You can tell by the way it totally cracked him up.

I'm a fan of housework.

Okay, so what prompted my previous random housekeeping post? Here goes. A few nights ago, I fell into bed - which, conveniently, was already unmade for me - in a heap of utter exhaustion.

The past few weeks have been crazy... good crazy, and then bad crazy. After "In-Law-la-Palooza" (my pet name for the fun, eventful week that the whole Griffin family gets together each summer,) both boys' numerous birthday shindigs, home air conditioner replacement, the 'Griffin Geyser" (my pet name for our busted water main which required the removal-but-not-yet-replacement of our driveway), radiator replacements in BOTH of our Dave Ramsey "cash cars"... have I left anything out? Oh yes, all of this with a weaning/teething toddler and talkative hiny-wiper-in-training in tow.

Back to the explanation.

So, I look up at my ceiling and what do I see? At first, I can't tell exactly what I am seeing because these light bulbs are entirely too dim. (How many times have I told Jeff we need to replace these lights with higher-watt bulbs?!)

Oh, I see... it's the entire cast of "G-Force" swinging from my fan blades.

Yes, clearly each of our five fan blades is spinning with a full-size guinea pig clinging to the end of it. I turn off the fan, which runs year-round, of course, and stand up on the bed to investigate.

Holy Mother of All Things Disgusting.

"My bad," I immediately forgive myself, as I realize it's just a series of huge grey balls of dust and allergens that has collected on the fan blades and has been whirling over my sneezy husband for who-knows-how-long. I called Jeff into our room because he HAD to see it. In other words, this was going to be a two-person job.

It took one person to hold the fan still while pulling out fresh Clorox wipes (guess who) and one person to scrape a year's worth of dust off each blade while trying not to get shrapnel in her contacts. After fifteen minutes, twenty wipies and the employment of the vacuum's brush attachment, the fan was clean. The light fixtures were also clean. Turns out the bulb wattage is just fine now that I can see through the glass.

So, I started wondering if I was the only one who does not have an Outlook reminder set to clean the fan blades... or wipe the baseboards... I got curious about how my friends schedule their housework and started wondering if my expectations of myself were too high or too low. I mean, it's not that my house is disgusting (aside from the occasional rodent-sized dust balls which HAS to be normal), it's just that I sometimes treat it like I treat my Honda, only giving it real attention when it starts rattling, smoking, or dripping oil.

I want to be better and I have come a really long way. I have actually made my bed FIVE days in a row now. Well, not this morning, now that I think about it because we had to meet at the playground really early. Okay, so ZERO days in a row, but you get my point.

I find this to be true in several areas of my life. I am good about keeping up with the fun stuff. I mean, my digital pictures of my kids (and I have THOUSANDS) are so organized even I can't believe it. I am pretty good at making playdates, or remembering to record "Tori and Dean." But, when it comes to some of the more significant or difficult things in life that keep the family and the home running, I sometimes wait until the problem is so big it DEMANDS my attention. This can be with my tone with Jeff, my sleep, my Bible study, my weight, time on the phone... anything. I am seeking God's help to bring these things to my attention before they get so bad that we aren't sure how we'll be able to fix it.

I am not sure where this post was or is going. I guess I am trying to say that my life is a ceiling fan.

If I allow it to keep spinning all the time, I won't notice all the crap gradually building up on it. My light will not shine as brightly as it should. It I take time to slow it down... or better yet... actually allow myself to be still, I will be able to take care of the guinea pig on the fan before it becomes the elephant in the room.

REAL Housewives of _______ County.

Please answer (HONESTLY) in the comments section using the same a) b) c) format:

On a REGULAR* basis... how often do you:

a) Make your bed?
b) Vaccuum your main living areas?
c) Mop your kitchen floor?
d) Scrub your bathtub/shower?
e) Clean your fan blades/light fixtures?
f) Wipe down baseboards?

* I'm not talking about when you're hosting a party at your house, having your mother-in-law over, or nesting before bringing home a newborn.

Par-tee-Rex

This Mom-o-saurus is ready for the T-Rex party to begin. Seems like I have been planning it for months. Hard to believe my big boy will be five years old tomorrow. I remember thinking that five years off work would be an eternity. It's such a short short time, really.

We kissed him goodnight and reminded him that he'll go to sleep "four" and wake up "five!"

He replied, "I hope my pajamas still fit."

Onward, Christian Soldier

Jack: 'Momma, I couldn't sit "Criss-cross Applesauce" (the P.C. way to say Indian Style) in the circle for Bible Story today."

Me: "Why not?"

J: "I couldn't sit that way because my pee-pee was standing up."

M: "Oh... uh... what did you do?"

J: "I just told the Sunday School teacher that I couldn't sit down because my pee-pee was standing up."

M: "Great. What did he say?"

J: "He just told me not to touch it and it would go away."

M: "Perfect."

Change is gonna come...

Until I posted the Kindergarten count-down, I hadn't realized how much we have to change in such a short amount of time. They say it takes 30 days to learn a new habit. Well, that's about how long we've got.

Jack needs to adjust to the following life changes... and FAST:

1) Brush his own teeth in the morning. (Yes, we are a little neurotic about his pearly whites.)

2) Wipe his own hiny. (Gross, but I already confirmed that the teacher won't do this for him.)

3) Go to bed early.

4) Get woken up early.

5) Function with a super short nap every day.

6) Go through a school day without access to his own box of baby wipes. (He currently wipes his hands between strokes of chalk or fingerpaint, wipes his own feet after going outside barefoot, wipes out his Crocs if they get sandy or dusty on a playground, wipes his face and neck if he gets the least bit sweaty, and wipes the table surface before starting new artwork.)

Today we managed to get him to bed at 9:00pm. Believe it or not, that's a little earlier than normal, but it's a start. He has already come out of his room several times to tell us how "not tired" he is, so he's still going to be super sleepy in the morning when I get him up.

One day at a time... and only 28 more to go.

Sometimes you just have to rescue yourself.

No thanks, Jon Wayne. I tried, but you guys treated me like a hot wife instead of a smart cookie. In lieu of blogging the past five days, I have spent a few hours googling different brands of air conditioners (heat pumps to be more exact) while sitting in my own personal 1500 sq-ft sauna.

Between escalated phone calls and third opinions, I have been traipsing my kids all over town to mooch off the coolness of family and friends. Thanks to all who housed us, cooled us, fed us, babysat for us, and brought over SONIC drinks and portable fans while I navigated the HVAC run-around. Oh, and Melody, thanks for helping chase my dog to the next street when the A/C guys accidentally let her loose today. I was so glad to take an unplanned jog at noon in the Texas heat as if I was not hot enough already.

If you don't know the difference between an R-22 unit and a Puron 410 unit... don't understand SEER ratings... don't know about EPA regulations that are changing at the end of 2009... or are unaware of another one of Santa Clause's free gifts, er, I mean, Obama's government rebate...

... just ask this Hot Wife.

Shrinkosaurus Rex

Jack and I ordered an awesome "Gigantosaurus" pinata on-line for his T-Rex party and were so excited about getting it in the mail! I had it delivered to Mom's house because I wanted the huge box to be a surprise the next time we visited. Plus, she has more ROOM to store it for five weeks!

Well, when Mom finally got it in the mail, she didn't seem especially enthusiastic about the size of the box. When I arrived, I couldn't believe how tiny it was. As we opened it, I was hoping it required assembly and would be much bigger than it appeared.

Jack saw it and said... (as I crossed my fingers and held my breath a little... ) "I thought it would be bigger, but it's still really cool, right?" PHEW! Awesome - he still appreciates it. Now, what to do with all the candy I purchased to fill it... I could have filled three of them, lemme tell ya. I pre-stuffed the treat bags with the extra candy, so everyone would leave with plenty of loot whether they get in on the pinata action or not.

Here is a picture to give a little perpective... Davis with, (air quotes) "Gigantosaurus."

Oh well, now that I think about it... it WAS only $12.95.

As you can see, we went ahead and brought it home. Turns out we have room to store it after all.

Defensive Driving... notable quotes...

Actual lines from my on-line TX Defensive Driving course:

"Elderly children are among the most vulnerable pedestrians, so be careful in areas around schools, retirement communities, and recreation areas." (Those elderly children are the worst.)

"Don't let your anatomical gifts go to waste." (referring to the Texas Organ and Tissue Donor program.)

"Good drivers should adjust their speed according to their physical condition." (If I had known it meant I'd be allowed to DRIVE faster, I might have been better about using my treadmill.)

"Many collisions can be avoided before they even happen." (This sentence brought to you by the Department of Redundancy Department.)

"The eyes of experienced driver sweep sweep into curve serveral seconds before reaching it." (What?!? - and yes, that is how it was spelled.)

"Make sure the child seat harness is taut (not tight) over the child’s shoulders." (Interesting. I don't think I was ever taut the difference between the two.)

"Don't let your drinking do your thinking." (I actually liked that one.)

Doctor, Doctor...

11:04 am - I am on my way to the pediatrician with one hoarse, coughing sick 4-yr-old and one perfectly happy healthy one-year-old. The sad thing is, the 4-yr old will leave happy with stickers and a lollipop, while the one-year-old will get four shots and leave feeling like crap.

1:13 pm - Jack has croupe. Doc prescribed a steroid, sleeping at an incline, and cold air. Davis is a healthy 19-pound, 6-ounce one-year-old who wants to suck on the doctor's stethoscope, pull off his glasses, and grab his beard. He got three shots (can't get the others because of the egg allergy), which caused both of my boys to cry. Jack's heart hurts when Davis is upset, and I think that is the sweetest thing.

Let's hope these two boys will take a good nap for me. Since I skipped the actual class TWO Mondays in a row, I now have an on-line Defensive Driving class to take. *sigh*