Really, this post should be another Note To Self because I know better.

Paul is in town because one of our high school friends is turning 40. The party was family friendly so I planned on everyone attending. Then the Baby Hulk got sick. He started puking Tuesday night and has puked once a day since then. And yes, we have been going slow on gatorade and dry toast. Lance left the show early yesterday because he felt bad. By the time I left to get Paul at the airport last night, he had puked his guts out. Lance was pretty bummed because I quarantined him to the bedroom with the Hulk and he wouldn’t be able to go to the party with us. You know, the surprise party which was the purpose of this short trip for Paul.

Kobra showed a small sign this morning that he might have caught the virus, but I shrugged it off. Maybe not shrugged it off, I did ask Paul if we should leave him home. We decided that he was fine. After driving forty-five minutes and with two minutes to go, Kobra puked all over himself and the carseat. There we were in the driveway cleaning him off, hoping the birthday girl didn’t arrive.

I left Paul and Goose at the party and made the trek back into the city while Kobra continued to puke. I got home, Lance took him and washed him off while I attempted to clean the carseat. What fun. Did I mention that it’s humid in Houston now? Finally, things were settled at home and I drove back out to the party. Although Lance and Baby Hulk were both feeling better, I felt so bad leaving three sick boys behind. But I had to pick up Paul. Thankfully, the baby slept while we were gone. After sitting in traffic, which made my trip more than an hour, I finally got there and was ready to enjoy myself. I figured I’d visit for a bit, then we’d come home and get ready for our dinner.

Five minutes before we were leaving, Goose told me he didn’t feel well. He then proceeded to puke all over me, the leather couch, and oriental rug. It was nonstop vomit. In order to save the beautiful furniture, I tried to “catch” it all in my dress. (I have three dresses from Nordstroms, this was one of them.) There was literally a pool of vomit in my dress. It was so bad, I had to take a shower at the party. As did Goose.

Here is the deal. I barely know the people who hosted the party, as in I just met the wife for the first time today. The husband is the brother of the birthday girl, a high school friend I haven’t seen in fifteen years! It was “you’re Nikki, right?” These two were so gracious to me and my Goose. I felt so bad for Goose, of course, but I was horrified at the thought of their house being contaminated by our virus and their stuff ruined.

After our shower, our hostess gave us some clothes to wear. Goose couldn’t comprehend wearing clothes that were too big and asked for a different pair of shorts. I am not lying. The nerve of that kid, right?

I’m home now and everyone is clean (for the time being). I am trying to spray and wipe down everything again, hoping that I’ll get my turn with the virus tomorrow as opposed to during the week and praying oh so hard that Paul doesn’t catch our virus and take it with him to Chicago.

You think these people want their clothes back? I am guessing they never want to see or hear from us again!

When your laundry comes out with purple markings all over the clothes, check out the dryer before continuing with four more loads. We now have purple on ALL our clothes, not just the first load. The culprit seems to be a purple crayon lodged into the crevice of the dryer. Any ideas on how to get this cleaned before ruining the rest of our clothes?

Today is Chelsea’s birthday! The boys are super excited about it. The Baby Hulk wants to make her a cake. He is thinking Spiderman or The Hulk will be cool. Goose is very concerned about getting to her party. Squirt just wants to make sure she answers the phone when we call this afternoon. Sadly, we won’t get to celebrate in person until Chelsea comes home from college.

We’ve watched Chelsea grow into such a beautiful young woman. I remember meeting Chelsea at age 11. Such a pretty young girl with a sense of humor. Even then I could sit and gossip, I mean talk, with her. Sometimes, she seems much older, but then there are others when she is definitely a college coed! Which is good. I love hearing the stories and remembering the fun of my college days!

I hope your day is wonderful, Chelsea. We are so excited about this summer. I am thinking lots of lunches at Niko Niko’s.

Remember dancing in the car to Justin Timberlake??? St. Catherine of Siena pray for Chelsea, today and every day! We love you sweetie!

For Today…April 27, 2010

Outside my window…Another beautiful day. Last Friday was a reminder of the weather to come so I plan to enjoy being outdoors as much as possible.

Is there anything worse than a sick boy? My little man is so pathetic right now. He doesn’t understand what is going on with his body. Dear God, please let him get well soon. I miss the rowdy boy in the picture below! (He is holding the cutest and easiest dragon craft in honor of St. George last week.)

Towards Rhythm and Beauty…Honestly, I can’t wait for this school year to end. I’m hoping that once I can really reflect and take some of the anger out, I’ll start to live with happiness again. It’s been a long time of being really unhappy and going through the motions. I think the kids are ready for a new season as well. I can plan all I want, but I want to live again.

Around the house…I found bunk beds for the boys. Yay! Is it really silly that my best friend just bought the same beds? Is this like naming your kid the same name? Let’s hope my friend doesn’t feel that way!

One of my favorite things…the show Castle. I randomly watched it one night, and it’s on my Tivo now. Plus, there are reruns on Saturday nights. Makes me happy.

To live the liturgy…the boys are still celebrating Easter. I admit it’s getting a bit long, but I love not having to read the same book over and over because we have 50 days! It’s been fun figuring out which books the boys really like. I wonder if it will change next year.

A few plans for the rest of the week

• Park, check
• lunch with Goose, check
• swim lessons…will be cancelled, I think
• hair cuts
• getting ready for Paul
• pedicure with my Baby

A picture thought I am sharing…

The 2010 public school rankings for Houston came out over the weekend. TH ROGERS is ranked number 1 for both Elementary and Middle schools! (This includes the suburbs which typically have better schools.) They are ranked 3rd and 2nd in the state respectively. I know these ranking aren’t the end all, but I am so proud of this school! (Although since this is a G/T school, one would hope the kids are doing commended work on standardized tests.) I have already admitted to Lance that sending Goose to school here might not have been a bad idea. Of course, I reminded him I was still the better teacher, but if you can’t have mom, then I guess this school is second best.

I am happy to know about the rankings, but also really saddened by the fact that so many other children don’t receive the quality of education provided at Rogers. All kids deserve a good education and shouldn’t be penalized because of their socio-economic status. We all know that parental involvement is important, but it doesn’t always happen. I teach my kids to read, but most of my friends haven’t done so. Does that mean they aren’t involved enough? No. Lucky for most of them, their kids are at great schools. These kids are our future, they all deserve the same opportunities so that they can succeed in life.

BTW, who the hell beat Rogers statewide?

I made it home from my weekend away from the family. It’s the first time I have ever left home without someone tagging along. A friend from law school was in Austin for a conference so I drove up to see her. She laughed all weekend because of how many calls I made and received. By noon today, I had been on the phone three times despite having a two hour massage in that time frame.

What is funny is that I wasn’t always like that. I remember thinking that I would always need to travel alone or have girls’ weekends, but then I met Lance. And then I had kids. And despite how much they can drive me up the wall, I hate being away from them. Lance and I travel together twice a year, and I am finally getting somewhat comfortable being away from the kids, but it has taken several years. I don’t see myself getting used to being away from all of them. Plus, everyone knows that I don’t fly anywhere without Lance. That means any girls weekend has to be within driving distance for me.

The kids had a blast with daddy…milkshakes, bouncy castles, late bedtimes and probably more television than mommy allows. The baby didn’t even come running when I came home today.

Thank you my dear husband for a couple of free days. I know this was the worst weekend I could have left. The draft and all…but you handled it. I love you!

I have been talking with a friend about having more kids, telling her about my most recent miscarriage and how that made me want another child even more. And she was totally against it. She thinks four is enough. I’m fine with people thinking four is a lot of kids. I know people with a lot more, (not all Catholic!) so four doesn’t seem large to me. What was interesting to me was the “why” I shouldn’t have more kids. It wasn’t the usual “how are you going to support them” argument. It was how can you love that many kids?

It’s an answer you can’t explain, you just know you can. Maybe when you have your first kid, you don’t think you can ever love another child more. But as you have more children, you realize just how much your heart grows. I only have four kids, but I have two others that I love and think about and worry about as if I had given birth to them. I think my kids would agree that they all feel loved. I don’t think your heart stays the same size your entire life. If it did, how can you explain the love grandparents have for their grandkids. I NEVER thought someone could take my place and boy was I wrong!

So, yes, I think there is room in our hearts for another, if that is what God wants for us.

HOWEVER, Lance has had the kids alone for less than 24 hours, and he has already told me he may get a vasectomy before I get home.

Have I mentioned that I joined Facebook? My excuse is Chelsea. 🙂 It’s the best way to spy on her, I mean, keep up with her while she’s away at college. Not really, she has me on limited access. Because you know, I was an angel while at college. I can’t imagine what she is doing up all night, what the pictures are about…okay, now I’m really about to have limited access!

Lance is hosting a draft show tonight. The kids were all in bed by 7:30 pm. AND I AM SO BORED. What did I do? Surfed around on Facebook for over an hour. And no, I wasn’t checking out ex-boyfriends, I did that the second I joined Facebook. I was checking out people I knew from an old church group, then checking out their groups, their friends that I DON’T EVEN KNOW. What is wrong with me??? This is why Facebook can be so dangerous for nosy people. I have literally wasted an hour of my life. I could have been packing for tomorrow, cleaning, sleeping, anything, but checking out people I don’t know, and quite frankly from their groups, don’t want to know!

Have I mentioned just how nosy I am? That just might be the most annoying thing about me. My curiosity has ALWAYS gotten the best of me.

I have finally fallen for Starbucks. So much so that I may be giving up Starbucks for Lent next year. I’ve graduated from medium to large coffee, and sometimes a cranberry orange scone. Twice a day. I used to bribe the kids with the Horizons milk they sell until I realized how much sugar it contained. No wonder they never behaved after their treat.

There are two problems with my addiction, and I am realizing that both problems stem from my cheapness. First…when I say “no room”, it means I want them to fill my damn coffee cup to the top. By my accounts, I have been ripped off an entire cup of coffee in the five visits I’ve made this week. Second, I have been paying cash so I don’t feel so guilty about spending money from the bank account. My tab is usually 2.22, but I haven’t had any pennies lately, so I have to give them a quarter. The cashier people haven’t given me any change this week. Okay, it’s three pennies, I know, but since they don’t give me my pennies, I keep having to use quarters and me not having quarters means I don’t have money to buy my Dr. Pepper at the swim club. (I buy them twice a week, my little treat, at the swim club because they are only 60 cents! You can’t find a better deal from a coke machine!) Maybe my cheapness will win out, and I’ll finally complain about my cup not being filled properly. I don’t think I can embarrass myself enough to ask for the three pennies though. Guess I’ll be using the money card from now on.

My husband, the natural born leader…last week at mass, Father used an exceptionally long Eucharistic prayer during the Consecration. So long that Lance stood up thinking it was over. There was still about four more minutes of kneeling left. Over half the church followed him and stood up. (He kept asking why I wasn’t standing, and I kept mouthing “because we’re supposed to be kneeling”.) The thing is we sit on the third to last row, center aisle, at the edge for an easy escape route in case Kobra acts fussy. It is amazing how he had half the church standing from that seat. I noticed that this week, Father recited the shortest Eucharistic prayer he could find.