You're Gonna Need to Pee First

Do you even remotely have to go to the bathroom? If you do, you'll need to take care of that before you watch the video.

Done? Did you flush and wash your hands? Okay...

I was introduced to this video a few days ago and have watched it ad naseum ever since. It never ceases to make me roar with laughter.

Even if you don't remember the video for the song, "Total Eclipse of the Heart," you'll still find this to be hysterical.

Enjoy!

It's Been a Rough Few Weeks

I swear, I have had plans to make sure I update my blog regularly. And I continue to intend to do so. But we've had a few curve balls thrown at us lately that have kept me away.

I'll try to explain.

On Tuesday, May 19, my little devils-in-disguise turned three years old. It was a school day, so we left the house early to hit Krispy Kreme as a special treat for their class.

We had a great day at school and that night was their favorite dinner -- enchiladas! We opened gifts that night and both girls got new bathing suits, new cover ups and a slew of hair doodles and bows. It was a lot of fun and both girls felt duly celebrated.

On Friday night, my parents came into town for more festivities. That Saturday morning was sports galore, as Dad and Jean spent their time between Devin's soccer game, niece Presley's soccer game, nephew Brendan's t-ball game and niece Addison's swim meet. Somehow, during all of this, Todd managed to disassemble both cribs and arrange the girls's room as official "big girl" abodes.

That afternoon was a rockin' celebration at Chuck E. Cheese. Devin had his third birthday party there, as have nearly all of my sister's kids, so it was a pretty easy fit.

The girls had a blast, although the larger-than-life-size Chuck E. was a little more than they wanted to deal with. They were fine keeping the rat at a distance.

After the party was church and then further celebrations at our home.

This is where it got ugly.

As you may remember, less than two years ago, the Pruetz family gained a new member -- Welsh Corgi named Zoe.

Well, Zoe has been a huge part of our family now for two years. She's loyal, sweet, outgoing, good on leash, excellent with the kids and totally obedient. We just knew she'd be ours for years and years to come.

Well, that all changed the night of the twins' birthday party.

The whole family was over here -- the five Pruetzes, Dad, Jean, ZZ, Brian and their four kids. When we're all together, we are a force to be reckoned with.

The kids were all outside playing in the nice, cool weather and Zoe was her usual, silly self, chasing after the swings on the swingset or roughing it up with one of her chew toys.

All of the adults were inside, and Todd just happened to look out the window.

"What's wrong with Zoe?" he asked. I told him probably nothing, but then noticed myself that she was hunched over and throwing up. We figured she'd probably gotten a hold of a bug or something and just brushed it off.

But moments later, we realized that she was really struggling. By the time Todd got out to her, she had collapsed. She died in a matter of minutes.

We're not sure what happened...was it heat stroke? Shock from a bug bite? Was she poisoned? We weren't willing to spend the money on an autopsy, so we may never know.

Needless to say, for this animal-loving family, it's been a hard week-and-a-half. Even the girls intermittently ask, "Where Zoe?" Devin misses her tremendously and when he got to make a wish book in his Kindergarten class, his only wish was "To have Zoe back."

That just about broke my heart.

We're muddling through. In perspective, I'd rather lose a dog than a child, but she was still a very dear and loved part of our family. We just really thought we had so many more years with her. It's hard to let go of that.

But we're moving on and continuing with life as usual. We finished up Devin's soccer season last night (Todd was his coach and loved it as much as Devin did!) and are gearing up for the last day of school this Thursday. It's just so hard to believe that my little guy will be a first grader in only a few days.

And then I think to myself, "What am I going to do with these kids all summer???" Thank goodness we have a fantastic neighborhood pool...otherwise, I'd be pulling my hair out by the end of week one.

And Finally

Now that the girls are finally speaking in sentences, I realized that Devin's Doozies aren't really going to cut it anymore. I'm going to need Gracie's Gaffs and Faith's Foibles. This outta get good. Maybe I should start a whole new blog just for this sort of stuff.

So, without further ado, here is my first of what I am sure will be a long list of sill things.

(Picture this, the girls are in their rooms, which are next to one another. I can't see this exchange, but I can hear it from the living room).

Faith (whispering): Gracie?
Grace (whispering back): Faif?
Faith (whispering a little louder): Faif here.
Grace (now in a totally loud voice): Faif...I love you.

Gratuitous Mother's Day Post

As a mom, it's my duty to document all of my Mother's Day activities and top the post off with a zillion photos of my kids. And so, I'm going to do just that.

I got to sleep in yesterday, and was awoken around 9:00 by Todd who said, "Breakfast is waiting!" I went into the kitchen to find my favorite breakfast waiting for me -- Eggs Benedict with lump crab meat and Mimosas. YUM!

All five of us ate breakfast (yes! My kids eat Hollandaise sauce!) together and then hung around in our jammies, watching movies and playing.

Around 11:00, we packed up our cooler with lots of goodies and headed to our neighborhood pool. At first, there weren't many people there, but as the afternoon moved forward, more and more friends began to show up. Our across-the-street neighbors, our next-door neighbors, the neighbors behind us, the ones up the street. Pretty soon it was a party atmosphere, with the kids splashing around, the dads doing cannonballs and the moms enjoying some yummy peach and mango bellinis. It was paradise!

We all became hungry and realized it was pretty late, but instead of packing it in, we just ordered pizza to the pool! It was delivered and we all feasted on a Texas tradition, Double Dave's Pizza. Yum!

By the time we'd eaten, had let it settle and had taken a final dip in the pool, it was 6:00! We'd been there for SEVEN HOURS! Holy cow!

We brought three very tired kiddos home and they all fell asleep within minutes and slept a good 12 or 13 hours each. They were exhausted and so were we!

It was a fantastic mother's day, with much to celebrate. I am honored to be a mommy to this incredible family.

And now, without further ado...here are the pictures of my kids that we had taken a few weeks ago. Major Pruetz-kid overload!

Faith is in pink, Grace is in Green









Pretending to like one another :)


This one would have worked better if they had been dressed in the same colors...but you get the picture (pun not intended)





My little boy is getting so big


My three part-time angels


Love these kiddos

Happy Mother's Day from Who?

I just got what may be the most ridiculous email subject line I've ever seen (save only the spam mail I get every once in a while, offering me a way to enhance my male genitalia). Get ready for it...

Happy Mother's Day from Chuck E. Cheese

Are they kidding? Unless the email said, "Bring your kids in and we'll feed them and entertain them for free while you go home and catch up on some sleep," (and I imagine that such an email would hardly be considered a sound marketing idea) I don't think there is anything that would make me want to celebrate Mother's Day at Chuck E. Cheese.

I didn't even open the email. I checked it off and hit "Delete."

Worst. Idea. Ever.

Devin's Doozie

This afternoon our church held a reception for our priest who is retiring from the priesthood after 22 years at our parish alone (that doesn't include all of the years he spent at other parishes). He founded our church in 1987 and has been the only priest Holy Trinity Catholic Church has ever known. To say his retirement is a big deal would be an understatement.

The reception today was a nice, classy affair with white linen table cloths, catering and professional decorating. It was held in our banquet hall, which can comfortably hold around a thousand people. The reception went on for three hours, in an open-house style.

Anyway, we got to the church shortly after the reception began. We signed our names to the guest book and then waited in line for 45 minutes to speak to Monsignor Fater. As we were getting close to the front of the line, I told Devin, "I want you to shake Monsignor's hand and tell him, 'Congratulations,' okay?"

Devin turned to me and said, "Okay, but I need to wash my hands. I've been picking my nose!"

You're NEVER Going to Guess What Happened...

So it's been six months since my last post and I doubt you'll believe it when I tell you what happened to me.

Well it seems that our Wi-Fi connection is somehow connected to a distant planet named Xargon. Apparently, when I hit "Publish Post" after my last entry, a signal was beamed to Xargon and moments later their space ship arrived on my front lawn. Todd and I invited the little green men into our kitchen where we had a couple of beers and discussed intergalactic politics.

It turned ugly, though, when the aliens started asking Todd to please come with them back to Xargon for a few months, as a sort of foreign exchange program. Todd argued that he was just too busy to leave earth for that kind of time, but I volunteered to go after I found out that it would take six weeks alone to get to the distant planet. I figured, "Finally! A chance to catch up on some sleep!"

I've been sworn to secrecy about my trip to Xargon, but let's just say I'm a better person for the experience. My long distance bills are outrageous now, though, and T-Mobile has yet to establish coverage 60 million light years from Earth. When will they ever catch up?

So I'm back on Earth now and back to blogging. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

So I'll give you a recap of what went on when I was away.

1. Devin has successfully come through his Kindergarten year and will be classified as a first grader in only a couple of weeks. Where the heck did this year go??? He's playing soccer this season and Todd is his coach. So far, it's a lot of fun.

2. The twins are potty trained (mostly) and are working on life outside of crib sleeping. They have big girl beds set up in their respective rooms, but insist upon sleeping with one another. We saw it coming, though, and set them both up with queen sized beds. May as well have room for guests when they come.

The transition to big girl beds hasn't been easy, though, as it's sort of like a slumber party every night to them. After about the sixth night in a row of finding the two of them awake and playing with the dog and cat (see #3) at 3:00 am, we decided to go back to cribs and try again in a few months. We'll see.

3. We got a cat. She's black and white and her name is Lola. She and Zoe get along famously and she puts up with all of the abuse three little kids can dish out. Can't ask for more than that.

4. I am nearly done with my first year of teaching and I can't believe how much I've loved it. I had no idea that I would enjoy it this much and I am looking forward to many more years in my new career. I'm considering getting my teaching certificate, but I may just stay in the preschool arena, because I like the age so very much. I also like that I am home in time to get my kiddos off the bus.

5. As for health, as of today we are all well. I've had a heck of a year battling strep, a sinus infection and even pneumonia. Dev's been fine and it seems that the girls managed to keep any major respiratory issues at bay this past season. They are still tiny, though, only weighing about 26 lbs. apiece. I'm certain we will address that issue at their three year appointment (see #6) in a few weeks.

6. The twins turn three in 19 days. HOLY COW.

7. We're settled into our new home and just loving it. We miss our old neighborhood a lot, as we had neighbors you just can't beat. We're going back there for a block party this weekend and are looking forward to reuniting with everyone. But the new house is great -- we have gotten some paint up (red in the family room, green in the kitchen...about to do metallic mint green in the formal dining) and are working on drapes and such. It's a work in progress.

Certainly there's been a lot more since then, but remember, I was in another galaxy for the lionshare of the past six months, so I have an excuse for not recalling every single little thing that happened.

So in the immortal words of Gloria Gaynor (with a little artistic license thrown in for good measure): "So now I'm back...from outer space!"

More to come soon...I promise.

Trying to Catch Up

Just when you think things are settling down...BAM! You get hit all over again.

After my last post, in late September, we thought we had it all under control. Life was going to go back to normal and we were going to get settled into our new home.

Hours after posting, though, Todd's dad ended up in the emergency room again. He was transported back to San Antonio where he spent another week in the hospital, recovering from a second surgery to stop the bleeding from the subdural hematoma. Todd spent much of his time up at the hospital and I played single mom for a number of days. Time was a luxury I didn't have.

Orville went home again, but ended up, only 48 hours later, back at the ER again, this time with a high fever and the complete inability to utter a sound (his speech had been affected by the first two surgeries, but he'd never completely lost the ability to speak before this). Another trek to San Antonio and more time in the ICU with lots of tests and a scary few hours when a possible stroke was considered.

Luckily, MRIs and CAT Scans ruled the stroke out and it was found that Orville had some considerable swelling on the brain, causing the speech problems. Luckily, the swelling was not deemed to be dangerous, though it certainly wasn't something that they didn't want to get in check. Orville spent another week in the hospital while medicines were tested and adjusted and he was given strict instructions to not go up and down any stairs, to not bend over and to not even sneeze or cough too hard. Hmmmmm...I'll see what I can do, Doc.

Orville finally went home two weeks ago and, with fingers crossed and with many knocks on wood, he has stayed put, doing well and regaining a little bit of speech ability every day. He and Todd's mom, Dorothy, will be coming to San Antonio this week for Orville's checkup. Here's to hoping for more good outcomes.

So that's what's been going on with us. And, because of all of this, we're still living out of some boxes and looking for missing items around the house. Now that we've had a couple of uninterrupted weekends, we're really feeling settled and getting into the swing of things. I'm hoping to have a little more free time to get back to blogging a few times a week. *Knock on Wood* *Again*

Last night was Halloween and we had a great time in our new neighborhood. My dad and stepmom are in town and they split the difference between our house and my sister's house. Dad stayed here and handed out candy to the neighborhood beggars while Jean did the same at ZZ's house. That afforded us the chance to go and do a little begging of our own as a family.

Last year, the girls didn't quite catch on to the idea of trick-or-treating, really just wandering around, wondering why they were dressed so silly.

This year, though, in their matching witch dresses and hats, they approached the first house and followed Devin's (aka - SpiderMan) lead in putting their little bags out in front of them when the homeowner opened the door. Once the goodies had been put in their bags, they just stared into them.

"That person just gave me candy. I must eat it now." And they did.

On to the next house. Again, they followed SpiderMan to the door and held out the bags. More candy.

"Hold on here. That person just gave me candy, but I'm not finished with my first piece. I guess that's what this bag is for."

Next house.

"This is the third time I've gotten candy for just ringing a doorbell. Is everyone doing this?"

Fourth house.

"Now I'm getting the hang of this and this is the best day of my life!"

From there on out, there was no stopping the dynamic duo. They rushed from house to house, as fast as their little, short legs could take them, and charmed the socks off of anyone who opened their door. They got "Trick or Treat!" down pretty well, as well as "Thank you," and "Happy Halloween." Being the efficient little things that they are, though, by the end of the night, they were just saying, "Happy Treat!" to those who answered their doorbells for the umpteenth time.

The five of us had the best time together. We went up and down just about every street in our neighborhood and finally said, "We're done," when we noticed that the majority of houses had their porch lights turned off. We shut down the 'hood!

Devin did great as well and got to see quite a few kids from his class. He was great with his sisters and didn't complain at all about having to go slow for them. I have three little girls from my class who live in my neighborhood and I got to see each of them, all dressed up and having a blast. It was awesome. Definitely one of the best Halloweens to date.

It's been great, too, that we've started to make friends in the neighborhood. It was nice to see familiar faces and hang out with some of our new found companions. We just couldn't be happier with this neighborhood. We couldn't have asked for more.

Here's to hoping for more time for more updates and a found USB cable with which to connect my camera to my computer.

'Till next time...

Settling In? Ha!

It's been nearly two weeks since we moved into our new house and things have been going swimmingly. We've gotten most of the important stuff unpacked and have hung quite a few things on the walls. It's really starting to feel like home around here. By the end of last weekend, we were starting to feel as though things were really starting to settle down, giving us back our much-needed "life as usual" status.

Until Monday night.

As Todd and I were sitting down for a comfortable night of television when the phone rang. Caller ID said the call was from Todd's sister, Jill, and we, of course, happily answered the phone, anxious to talk to our favorite Anthropologist.

But Jill wasn't her usual perky self. In fact, she was downright upset. She'd just gotten off the phone with her mom and had gotten some bad news about her dad, Orville.

Apparently, my mother-in-law, Dorothy, had noticed some strange behavior from Orville in recent weeks. Withdrawn, lack of interest in favorite hobbies, etc. But Orville recently lost a sister, and his melancholy attitude was attributed to his loss.

But on Monday morning, Orville announced that it was time to go. When Dorothy asked where they were going, he said, "To the park. The kids are getting off the school bus." Now Dorothy and Orville's youngest child -- Todd -- is 40 years old and no one in their family (with the exception of Devin) has ridden a school bus for 30 years. Dorothy tried to question Orville about his expectations about this, but he couldn't give any details. He just knew they needed to get to the park.

So Dorothy made a call to the family doctor and got an appointment for Orville. When they got to the doctor's office, though, Orville offered to wait in the car while Dorothy went in and had her appointment. Dorothy had to remind him that he was the patient that day.

A test of cognitive awareness led to CT scans and those led to hospitalization. Turns out, Orville had a subdural hematoma. Essentially, bleeding on (but thankfully, not in) the brain. Pressure was building up and causing his confusion. The pressure needed to be relieved immediately -- using a drain -- and once it was, Orville would be back to himself.

That was the good news. The bad news was that Yoakum Community Hospital was not set up for this kind of surgery. Orville needed a neurologist and those aren't exactly a dime a dozen in rural Texas.

Because of the extent of the hematoma, Orville was life-flighted to San Antonio early on Tuesday morning. Todd got to the hospital just after he landed and was with his Dad until the surgery at 11:00 that morning.

The surgery was a success and I'm happy to say that Orville went home today. It's been a scary few days -- while we were assured that as long as the pressure of a subdural hematoma was relieved quickly, a full recovery was expected -- it's still brain surgery and those are words that strike fear in the heart of any family. God is good and has given us more time with Todd's dad. We're thankful that our prayers were answered.

So here's to another week, hoping that things will settle down for good and that "life as usual" will be attained.

The Big Move Debacle

It's been a long time comin', but I've finally got a few moments to sit down and chronicle the craziness that has dominated the Pruetz family for the past month.

Grab a snack, folks...this won't be short.

So, back in late July, our house sold and we started looking for a new home in which to move. Within a few days, we had found the home we knew was for us -- four bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths, a game room, and a study, in a still-under-construction gated community. It looked brand-new, as though no one had ever lived in it and we jumped at the chance to put an offer in.

So we sat down with our friend and Realtor, Monique, and went through the whole process. The reason the house looks so new is because it's a foreclosure -- the previous owners moved in, never made a single payment and were promptly thrown out on their rear-ends. They barely had time to move in, let alone paint or hang picture. The house had been sitting vacant since May.

We were warned that buying a foreclosure could mean a long, drawn-out escrow process and that there would be lawyers and government agencies involved. We were told to expect stress.

We listened to Monique's advice, but behind closed doors, Todd and I looked at one another and said, "What could be so hard? A bank owns a house and needs to recoup its money. What's the big deal?"

Famous last words of a fool.

All went well for the first few days -- our offer was accepted and our former home did well during the inspection and appraisal. The inspection at the new house came back with only minor issues (the doorbell would "dong" but not "ding," etc.), most of which were still covered under the builder's warranty since the house is less than two years old.

With it looking as though the green light was on for all parties, we started to pack. Boxes upon boxes, upon boxes filled our home and we started to live with less and less.

We started discussing finalizing the closing dates for both houses and it looked as though all of the documents for both homes were ready to arrive at the respective title companies and be ready for our signatures.

Suddenly, though, there was a glitch. The deed for the new house was missing. It needed to be prepared by a bankruptcy lawyer (something that should have been done in May when the house was foreclosed upon), and then needed to be routed to Countrywide for signatures and then to Fannie Mae for signatures. After that, it would be sent to the title company for final recording and the closing could commence.

The process seems pretty simple, but going through a title company, two mortgage companies (one of which is run by the government!) and a group of high-priced lawyers in Dallas proved to be an experience we would not soon forget.

With the closing of our former home fast approaching, we had to so some fancy footwork and ask for a lease-back so that we could have a place to live if our new home didn't close in time. Luckily, the woman who bought our house was very accommodating and allowed us up to three weeks to lease the house from her.

For about a week, every day was a new story from the title company -- the deed is here, the deed is there, we don't need the deed, we do need the deed, what deed? who said anything about a deed? The list went on and on.

We were getting extraordinarily frustrated and stressed out. It looked as if we might not get this house, as time was running out. Monique spent countless hours on the phone with the title company and the Realtor for the selling party (who was on our side from the beginning, thankfully). She went to church and petitioned prayers on our behalf. We couldn't have asked for a better advocate.

But despite the nudging, arguing and downright ugliness, the deed was still nowhere to be found. It seemed that the title company, who is supposed to be the mediator between the two parties -- a unbiased third party who facilitates closings and the documents that go along with them -- was somehow connected to the lawyers, Nationwide and/or Fannie Mae. It was almost as though they didn't want this house to close because the longer it took, the more money they got.

One afternoon, though, it finally happened -- the deed was found. It was only an e-copy, but the bankruptcy lawyers all agreed that it would suffice to go ahead and close.

So we closed on our former home and went ahead with the final preparations to move out. We stayed in the old house for about five days and planned to close on the new house on the 11th.

Thursday, September 11 came around and an 18-wheeler arrived bright and early. It was a long, hot day as four men loaded everything we owned into a truck. The kids were upset at seeing their belongings go away, but we explained to them over and over again that they would be at the new house waiting for us. We were confident that we would close late that afternoon and move into our new home the next day (my sister graciously opened up her home to us!). We wouldn't have to live in a hotel for a week, as we thought we might have to do. And what a blessing! Hurricane Ike was heading straight toward Houston and a million people were trying to get out of its path...many venturing to San Antonio. There was not a single hotel room left in the city.

The morning turned into lunch and lunch into afternoon, and still no closing. We were starting to get worried. Around 4:30 in the afternoon, Monique showed up at our door. She did not look happy and was on her cell phone, having a very heated conversation with someone. Yikes. I would hate to be whichever client was getting screwed on this deal. Whatever it was, it was bad.

And then I realized the client of whom she was speaking was us. She got off the phone and said, "The lawyers have changed their minds. They want the original deed to be found before we close."

That was it. I completely lost it. Tears started flowing, as I watched my furniture, belongings, memories, clothing, keepsakes and personal items being loaded into a truck. Our lives where on hold with no way to move forward. Our kids were freaking out and we had no place to go.

As I was sobbing, Monique called the title company and demanded to speak to the highest-up person available in the office. She out-and-out accused them of taking some sort of kick-back, attacked the escrow officer's ethics and abilities and let a few choice words fly. And then, she pulled out the stop and did the ultimate...she handed the phone to me.

I lit into the woman on the other line. Tears of anger, frustration and exhaustion poured down my face as I gave her my sob story and when she had the audacity to tell me she understood, I ripped into her like I've never done. Don't you dare tell me you understand, when everything but the clothes on your back are on a truck and you don't have a destination for them. Don't you even venture to think you know what it's like to explain all of this to a five-year-old and two two-year-olds. I informed her that we had no place to go, that there wasn't a hotel room to be had and asked if she had any extra room in her home, because we needed shelter.. I invited her to come over and see our home for herself and experience our lives for one minute. I informed her that her company "would pay for this."

Once the woman could get a word in edge-wise, she apologized over and over again and said that she would right the wrong. She promised me that we would close on this house and that we would be in it on schedule.

After I got off the phone, Monique and I talked and I called ZZ to ask if we could stay for more than one night. In fact, we didn't know how many nights it would be. My wonderful sister and her equally as wonderful husband welcomed us with open arms, never asking how long we'd be there. At least we had a roof over our heads.

Monique had an event to attend that night, but informed us that she'd be back at the house later that night to help us clean. The movers finally left around 7:30 and I took the kids to my sister's house for baths and bed while Todd scrubbed the old house for its new owners.

After the kids were tucked in, I headed back to our former residence to help Todd and sure enough, at 9:30, Monique showed up, ready to scrub. How's that for service?

We were done with cleaning the house, though, so we took a moment to sit down (on the floor, of course, since the house was empty) and discuss what had happened earlier. Apparently, Monique had spent her whole event on and off the phone with the title company and the seller's agent. They were all burning the midnight oil after my little fit. She couldn't tell us when we would close, but she assured us that, for the first time since we'd started this process, she was certain that everyone was working on our account and not just giving her lip service.

So we loaded up the car with our final belongings and handed the keys to Monique. We said our goodbyes to our home of six years and tearfully drove away, exhausted and questioning everything. I sobbed the whole way back to ZZ's house. I needed a good emotional outburst and I got it.

Our night was fitful, to say the least and Todd left for work extra early, having barely slept a wink. I got Devin off to school and got the twins up and fed. I hopped into the shower, but checked my phone just after getting out. Sure enough...there was a call from Monique.

I listened to the message -- the deed was magically found and we were closing at 1:30. I called Monique back, talked to Todd and had it all arranged. It was really happening.

Sort of.

Around 12:15, I got a call from Monique, asking about our wire transfer. I informed her that I had authorized our financial advisor in Houston to send the wire to the title company the day before and that it should be at title company's bank. After a thorough search, though, it wasn't there. Our down payment had never made it.

So I called my financial advisor, thinking this would be an easy fix. That is until I heard her voice mail.

"Thank you for calling Morgan Stanley. Our office is currently closed, in preparation for Hurricane Ike. Please leave a message and I will respond as soon as our office reopens. Or you may call customer service."

Oh my Lord...is this a joke? Can anything go smoothly for me? Our transfer never made it and the only person who can make the transfer happen has been ordered to leave her office building!

So I called customer service and explained my situation. I needed a large sum of money to be sent to my title company's bank ASAP, as we were closing in an hour. They informed me that they didn't know how to get in touch with our advisor and that maybe I should contact the nearest branch office for a cashier's check. I asked them to please look for any method of getting in touch with Julie, our advisor, while I called the only Morgan Stanley branch office in San Antonio on the other phone.

So they put me on hold and I called the branch office. I asked for their hours and directions to their offices. Just as I was about to hang up, I said, "Thank you for your help. I'll be there shortly, as I'll need to order a cashier's check."

I'm so glad I said that, because the woman responded, "I'm sorry. We don't issue cashier's checks at this location." Grrrrr! Another set back, but thank goodness I knew not to go all the way downtown to get a product that wasn't available to me!

Meanwhile, I was still on hold with customer service, who finally comes back on the phone and says that they'd located Julie and to please continue to hold. By this time, Todd had made it home from work and was walking in the door, ready to go to the closing. I explained the whole thing to him and we called Monique from the home phone to give her the update. She told us to stay on hold with the bank, but to get in the car and start driving to the title company for the closing, just in case we could get the transfer to go through.

So we did just that...while holding the cell phone for dear life, hoping to hear anything at all. Customer service finally came back and told us that Julie would be calling ASAP. We confirmed both of our phone numbers and hung up. Sure enough, the phone rang moments later and a very sorry Julie was on the line. She was in her car, heading toward the office. She had already called her boss who was going to meet her there because he needed to authorize the wire. They had to all but bribe the building security to let them in, but they got it done (and even managed to pull a few strings to get it though more quickly than usual).

By the time we got to the title company, everything was in order. We had a confirmation number for the wire transfer, the bank knew to send their portion of the payment and we while we were looking pretty ragged, we were ready to sign.

We walked into the title company's office and were greeted by the woman at whom I had yelled the night before. Fully expecting her to give me the cold shoulder, I was astonished when she greeted me with a hug and apologized again for everything we'd been put through. She assured me that she would be handling our closing and that the escrow officer who had been so difficult to work with would not be present. That escrow officer has no idea what she dodged in not being there, because I had more than a few words planned for her.

So we signed our lives away, as anyone who has ever signed for a mortgage understands, and walked out of there owners of a new home. It was hard to believe, considering all we had done to get to that point, but we had it. The house was ours. We just had to wait for it to fund and we could move in.

Because of Hurricane Ike, though, the movers weren't able to get us in that weekend, so despite the fact that we were fully funded within hours of closing, we didn't move in until last Tuesday.

We spent the interim days at my sister's house. It was quite an experience, as ZZ and Brian have four kids and Todd and I have three. And, of course, Presley's 6th birthday party fell during the time we were staying there, so that added an additional five six-year-olds on Saturday night. Oh, and ZZ's friend Tiffany had to evacuate from Houston and stayed there too.

Can you keep up with that? Let me help you.

5 adults
12 kids
2 dogs
2 fish
1 cat
1 rabbit
____________________________
Total Chaos

It was a mad house, but ZZ and Brian never once complained. They were so accommodating and loving that we couldn't have felt more at home. Thank God for family. Thank God for good family.

Tuesday rolled around and again, the movers were here bright and early. The move in was much quicker than the move out and by Tuesday evening, we were all settled in our own beds, ready to spend the first night in our new home.

Since then, it's been a whirlwind of activity around here. Unpacking boxes, putting stuff away, wondering what happened to certain items (we didn't find our silverware until this afternoon!) and finding places for every little thing we brought with us.

It's tiring work, but there's something about setting up your new home. The kids are loving it and have already met some of the neighborhood kids. Devin has successfully ridden the bus to and from school and we're all settling into our new lives. We miss our neighbors and our old neighborhood, but this was a change that truly needed to happen.

Well, it's taken me over an hour to write this and if you haven't fallen asleep yet, then there must be something wrong with you. It's not exactly thrilling. But in 20 years, when all of this is a distant memory, I plan to look back, read this and laugh. I seriously doubt that the laughter will come any earlier than 20 years, though. I have a feeling we'll have a pretty bad taste in our mouths for a long time to come.

I'm off to bed. Nighty night...

Still Breathing...

Hi! I don't have a lot of time right now (of course, when do I ever?), but I wanted to give a quick update to say that yes, I am still alive! We finally got moved out of our house and into our new one and while we are happily here and loving it, the move was not without drama. As soon as I get a few minutes to myself, I'll be sure to fill you in on the details.

Thanks for bearing with me!

Our Neighbor's Weeds

Last night was the Kindergarten parent orientation night, so Todd and I went to Devin's school to hear all about things like core knowledge, D'Nelian handwriting, self-managers and how things are done at his elementary school. It was very interesting and I feel like a (mostly) prepared mommy of a Kindergartener.

On our way home, though, Todd and I had quite the encounter. As we were driving through our neighborhood, we began to smell smoke. As we rounded a corner, we saw a house on the main street that had smoke billowing from the backyard. I mean just pouring out of there. It was incredible.

Todd slammed the car into park and jumped out to run around to the back of this house. While he did so, I grabbed my cell phone and dialed 911. But as I was directed to the correct department, Todd came around the corner of the house, waving his arms as if to say, "False alarm." I apologized to the 911 operator and told her that no, indeed, there was no fire.

Todd got into the car and informed me that there was just a man sitting in his back yard, burning stuff in his chiminea. The man had told Todd that all was well, that there was no out-of-control fire and thanked him for checking on the situation.

So we pulled down our street and walked into the house (Todd's parents were watching the kids). We told Grandma and Grandpa about what had happened and Todd said, "There was so much smoke, I even reek of it!"

I walked over and took a sniff of my husband's shirt. As I sniffed, he sniffed too, and we both just sort of stopped and looked at one another. That wasn't just any kind of smoke coming from that backyard.

I am not, and never have been, a drug user. I've just never understood the allure and even through innumerable college fraternity parties, I never tried any sort of illegal drugs. I felt like a real wild woman when I bought a pack of cigarettes once. I'm pretty mild, to say the least.

But just because I don't smoke weed, doesn't mean that I don't know what it smells like. There was plenty of it at the aforementioned frat parties, as well as pretty much anywhere along fraternity (and even sorority) row.

And if I had never smelled it before, then I certainly smelled it a lot on our honeymoon in Jamaica.

So I am familiar with the odor and I knew what it was as soon as I took a whiff of Todd's shirt. Holy smokes (no pun intended)! That guy was totally burning out his entire backyard!

Todd and I laughed so hard that my hysterical spouse even went over to the next-door neighbor's house (who happens to be a police officer) to ask for his opinion. Billy confirmed that, indeed, that was the small of marijuana and suggested that this guy may have found the drug in his kid's backpack and was "teaching him a lesson" by burning it in the chiminea. In doing so, though, he was managing to get the entire block stoned.

I couldn't resist writing this down -- it was just so funny and so typical of something that would happen to us. Despite our living in suburbia USA with homeowners' associations, minivans and disposable income, we still manage to live a few houses down from the guy who believes everyone should be enlightened by the use of a controlled substance.

I'm outta here now...I have a sudden craving for Doritos.

PS - No, we haven't moved yet. I'll upload pictures as soon as I unpack the USB cable for my camera. It might be awhile, so don't hold your breath (unless you're sitting outside with my neighbor...in that case, take a deep breath and hold it in as long as you can).

Self Discovery...Sort Of

I've been wondering when this was going to happen...and today it finally did.

This evening, Faith and Grace were standing in front of a mirror. I walked into the room to see what they were doing, and they were admiring themselves, being typical girls.

When I asked them, "What do you see in the mirror?" they each pointed toward their reflection. Faith said, "Grace!" and Grace said, "Faith!"

I'm not sure they are 100% aware that they are separate people!

History in the Making

Tonight, as I was making dinner, I turned on the news...just as I always do. Despite the fact that the six o'clock news has been broadcast from the Democratic National Convention in Denver for the past three days, I still turned my head toward the television set to see why Katie Couric sounded so different. Oh yeah...the DNC.

I haven't paid much attention to the DNC and, next month, I doubt I'll pay much attention to the RNC. The truth is, these conventions are just a bunch of pomp and circumstance from which no real news is generated. But they do serve to unite and rally their respective parties and there is something to be said for that.

Regardless, though...it's not very interesting to those of us who aren't there.

Tonight was different, though. The news was being broadcast just as the roll call vote was beginning. If you're not familiar with it, the roll call vote where each state takes turns announcing who their delegates and super-delegates have voted for in the primaries. No...you're not wrong that this information was available months ago. This is what I mean by a lot of pomp and circumstance.

The roll call vote was interesting nonetheless. I'm a sucker for all things American. My heart swells at the sight of Old Glory waving in the wind and rarely is the Star Spangled Banner played without bringing a tear to my eye. These conventions, as well as a lot of other things in our government, may be antiquated traditions that truly serve little points today, but that may be what I like the most. It's a link to the history of our country.

But today was even more special. Today, for the first time in United States history, a minority was given the Presidential nomination.

I truly don't believe that it matters if you are Republican, Democrat, Independent or certified Wack-Job...seeing Barack Obama get the Presidential nomination is something everyone should take pride in.

Look how far our country has come! Only forty years ago, African-American citizens weren't able to vote. They drank from different water fountains, sat in separate areas of restaurants (if they were allowed in at all) and were given lesser educations than white kids. Their churches were bombed and they feared for their lives at times. And all of this in a country that touts, "freedom and justice for all."

Wow...with friends like that, who needs enemies?

Racism (against any minority) is still alive in the US, but to think how far we've come in such a relatively short amount of time is truly awe-inspiring and today, as much as any other time, I am especially proud to be an American.

Another Milestone

Today, I took my first born and dropped him off at the local elementary school where he started Kindergarten. That little bundle, who came home from the hospital what seems like only days ago, is now in "big boy school." It was a momentous occasion.

The day started early for us, but Todd was home to celebrate the big event and we managed to get all three kids out of bed, dressed, fed and out the door by 7:20. We arrived at Devin's school and ended up parking in the grass, amid a sea of minivans and SUVs. We marched straight into the cafeteria and found the table at which Devin's class would meet.

We met Devin's teacher, Mrs. S., last week and so he spotted her right off the bat. Luckily, one of D's friends of his Pre-K days last year was also in his class, so he sat right down and began chit-chatting. Todd, the twins and I sat back and watched, snapping pictures and even taking a little bit of video.

Soon it was time to go back to the classroom and we followed 22 five-year-olds down the hall. We were behind the class and by the time we reached his room, Devin had already found his cubby and put his backpack away. He was looking for his seat and promptly found it. And there he sat, a Kindergartener among many.

There was a little ceremony at the flag pole shortly after school started, so we waited outside Devin's classroom while they talked about where they went this past summer, told a little about themselves, etc. I loved being able to peek in and see my son's interaction with his friends and teacher. I got a warm-fuzzy inside and felt very good about where Devin was.

We weren't able to stay for the ceremony, so as D's class walked down the hall, we said our goodbyes and gave our final kisses. I told him how proud I am of him and that Daddy and I love him very much. And then Devin looked me square in the eye, hugged me and said, "I love you, Mommy. I'll miss you, but I'm going to have a good day."

And with that, he was gone. Down the hall, in a straight line, remembering to be quiet and use his manners. My son, the elementary school student.

Todd and I were left standing there. We looked at each other, shrugged and said, "Well...I guess that's it."

So we shuffled out, quietly, and loaded in the girls into the car. Neither of us cried, though neither of us said much, either. We both sort of took in the surreal morning in our own minds, and dealt with the bittersweet feelings of letting go by ourselves.

I've had a good morning. I've enjoyed the quiet and not battling over who's watched too much TV or what we're going to have for lunch. I'm enjoying some one-on-one time with the twins and am getting some more packing done.

But as I type this, the whole event is sinking in and I'm getting a little misty-eyed. Devin is my true love -- I doodle his name in the margins of pieces of paper and my tummy gets all fluttery when he gives me a kiss. I still go into his room at night, after he's fast asleep, and run my fingers through his soft hair, whispering, "I love you," one last time before morning. I have joked for more than five years now that I have a crush on him -- I want to be his prom date.

But life goes on and I will let go just like my parents did and so many other parents have done. Devin will do great, will share his own personality with others and will learn life's lessons. It's sad that not every lesson is from me, but then I remember that I didn't learn everything I know about life from my mom and dad -- I learned them from the world and people around me.

So Devin, the world is yours. Go explore it, love it, learn from it and teach to it. I love you, son, with all my heart.

Whirlwind of Activity

I know...I know... I am painfully aware of how long it's been since my last post. And I won't lie to you... it's not likely to get better anytime soon. Allow me to explain.

As you know, per my last post, our house sold. This means that we've been on a mad-dash to find another house, lest we be homeless at the end of this month.

Well, find a house we did! We found a great home that fits all of our needs and that is brand new. Apparently, it went into foreclosure before the residents could live in it for more than a few days. I'm not exactly sure how that works, but if you could see this house, you'd know that no one has lived in it -- no nail holes in the walls, no traffic wear in the carpet, no paint on the walls. The microwave even still has some of the original package left around it. It's a gem! And being a foreclosure, it's also cheap. About $30K less than we should have paid for it!

But you don't get something for nothing and buying a foreclosure comes with its own set of issues. There is about three times the amount of paperwork (if you can imagine, since buying a house is already paperwork-laden as it is) and every process takes about three times as long. Todd and I signed the contract nine days ago. The selling party just signed theirs today. Fabulous.

In all of this, too, is the issue of elementary school. Since early spring, Devin has been enrolled at the school nearby our current home. The new house, though, is in another elementary school's attendance area. That means that I have to go down to the school district's central office, bring my buyer's contract and get a letter stating that we are, indeed, moving into a house in the new school's area. Then I have to take that letter to the new school and get Devin enrolled there.

Sounds like a pain, huh? It is. And to make matters worse, school starts next Monday, so I need to get this worked out by then and somehow convince Devin that going to his new school is way cooler than going to the school I've been talking up for over a year now.

He's not buying it. In fact, the poor kid is really having a hard time with all of this. The timing is great for making a clean break -- new house, won't have to change schools, etc. But the timing is terrible for a kid who doesn't like change -- new house, new school, etc. I guess it just depends on how you look at it.

So, with all of this comes the craziness of moving -- packing up five people and six years worth of stuff, shopping for homeowner's insurance, doing mortgage paperwork, running around looking for special boxes in which to pack the good china, changing addresses on statements and bills, transferring utilities from the old house to the new one, get the old house ready for the new owner, finding a mover... The list goes on and on. Needless to say, our days are long and our patience is thin. We're looking forward to being settled in and into a new routine!

If you were in the middle of all of this, what would you do? Why, take a vacation, of course!

Late last year, long before we ever put our house on the market, my parents decided to rent a house in Flagstaff, AZ for the month of August. Not knowing much about Northern Arizona, I couldn't figure out why my parents wanted to trade summers in Houston (where it is 95 degrees and 99% humidity) for a summer in Arizona (where it's 110 degrees and 0% humidity). Weren't they just substituting one extreme for the other?

Apparently not.

Flagstaff is an oasis of cool weather and summer storms in what is believed to be the hottest, driest state in the country. Near the center of the state, Flagstaff sits at 7,000 feet elevation and looks like something right out of a coffee table book about mountain towns -- towering pine trees, crystalline lakes, soaring mountains and breathtaking views. The highs in August are in the high-70s to low-80s with brief summer storms almost daily. For a girl who grew up in the flatlands of Texas, hearing thunder rumbling from one mountain to another is a sound that won't be soon forgotten.

So the call of cool weather and a pre-Kindergarten getaway was too much for me to pass up and I booked a trip for Devin and I to go visit Nana and Papa during their time in the Southwest. If I had known it would fall during the middle of all of this, I would have never done it. But since I haven't yet learned to see into the future, I booked the trip during the worst possible time (in our lives, anyway) to do so.

Oh, but I am so glad that I did. Flagstaff, and all of the surrounding areas, was amazing. Simply beautiful and not easily described in words.

Devin and I arrived in Phoenix at 8:30 on Wednesday morning. It was already 95 degrees outside and I just had a hard time believing that a two hour drive could really make that much of a difference.

Lo and behold, though, it did and by the time we arrived in Flagstaff, around noon, it was 78 degrees and perfect. Oh it felt so good!

We pulled up to the mountain retreat that my parents rented and Devin and I both drew a breath. Picture in your mind what a luxury house in the middle of the mountains should look like. Are you seeing log-cabin detailing? A huge front porch and an even bigger back porch? Wood floors and soaring, beamed ceilings?

Well add to those things a gourmet kitchen that is about twice the size of my current kitchen, three bedrooms, three-and-a-half bathrooms, a huge loft, an enormous laundry room, a dedicated study, high-speed internet access, big screen TVs, and upgraded and custom amenities and you've got quite a retreat. It was fabulous, all the way from the in-suite bathroom to the 400-count cotton sheets on the pillow-top king bed. San Antonio? What San Antonio?

We were pretty exhausted when we arrived, so after a quick lunch we took a nap. Not long later, we were refreshed and ready to go. Dad and Jean took us out to Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument where we got to hike (I use the term loosely -- it was more like a walk around a park) around the base of a volcano that erupted about a thousand years ago. The path that the lava flow created is still more than visible and you can even see the cap that blew off the mountain about a mile-and-a-half away from the mountain itself. The park was beautiful and we had a great time peeking into caves and looking at different types of lava rock.

We were pretty tired that night, so after dinner and some good conversation on the back porch, we hit the hay.

Arizona is two hours behind Texas, so Devin woke up on Thursday at his regular time -- 7:30. Only it wasn't 7:30. It was 5:30. Good morning, sunshine. *Sigh*

We got ready pretty quickly, as Devin was excited about the day's adventure. We drove to nearby Williams, AZ, where we caught the local steam locomotive to the Grand Canyon.

The ride was about two hours long, during which we saw incredible landscape, were entertained by musicians and actors and learned about the Grand Canyon and its surrounding area from our tour guide. It was fantastic!

We arrived at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon around 11:30 and headed to the Arizona Room for lunch on the rim.

This was my first trip to the Grand Canyon and it's far more than expected. As with everything else in the world, pictures just don't do it justice. The enormity of the expanse, coupled with the peace and profound beauty was enough to bring tears to my eyes.

After lunch, we hiked along the rim of the canyon, up to Yavapai Point, where the view was spectacular. Of course, there's not a bad view of the canyon, but this was certainly something special. Again, words just can't explain.

After our trip to Yavapai, we took the bus back to the train station and after a little shopping, boarded the train back to Williams. Along the way, we were "robbed" by bandits and the town sheriff came on board looking for them. It was very entertaining and something I doubt we'll soon forget!

Our Grand Canyon day was a long day, so after a quick pizza dinner, we all folded in for the night.

Friday's wake up call also came nice and early - 5:45 a.m.

After a yummy breakfast at a local Flagstaff eatery, Dad, Devin and I drove to the Arizona Snow Bowl, which is the local ski park. During the summer, they run the ski lift and you can take a ride up to 12,500 feet and get a bird's eye view of the whole region. You can even see the Grand Canyon from way up there!

It was a fantastic sight and Devin even got to use the highest toilet in Arizona. What a claim to fame!

After the 35 minute trip back down the mountain, Jean picked up Devin and Dad and I got to do some father-daughter bonding on a hike down Kachina Trail. Hiking is one of my favorite past times, though I admit I haven't done any serious hiking since high school. There is something about being able to get out there, with the trees and the rocks and the wildlife and just walk.

The trail started off pretty easy and pretty typical -- dense trees and underbrush that would suddenly open up into a field of yellow sunflowers. A way into it, though, it became very rocky and Dad and I found ourselves clamboring down boulders and slides to follow the trail.

We knew we needed to turn around and had back, as clouds were rolling into the area and there was thunder in the distance. But the trail just kept getting prettier and prettier, so we kept saying, "A little further... a little further..." Finally, we couldn't deny the approaching weather and turned around to go back.

What we found, though, was that those rocks we'd climbed down a few minutes earlier now had to be scaled up. It wasn't easy, but it was a lot of fun. My stamina kind of surprised me, as the inclines didn't do much to phase me, but the rocks really made me huff and puff. I had to make my poor dad stop more than a few times so I could catch my breath. I couldn't figure out why I was having such a hard time until my dad reminded me that I am used to a 650-foot elevation in San Antonio while we were hiking at nearly 8,000 feet. Oh yeah! The air is much thinner up there! Whew! I thought I was losing my mind!

We were pretty tired upon our return, but true to his word, Dad took Devin to the local fire station where the owner of the home they are renting works. He took Dev on a personal tour of the station and Devin came back with the dreams of being a fireman. Keep dreamin' kid...keep dreamin'.

Saturday came with another trip to Williams, this time to see the classic car show. Everything from 1930s roadsters, to 1950s Chevy Bel Aires and 1960s Ford Mustangs lined the Mother Road, Route 66, as old coots and young fanatics alike gazed at the cars of their dreams.

We ate lunch at a classic 1950s diner Cruiser's and headed back to Flagstaff for a nap and relaxing afternoon. Dinner that night consisted of Thanksgiving dinner, with a roasted turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, green beans and two pies - pumpkin and pecan. Yum!

We went to Mass on Sunday and then just spent some time hanging out before having to head back to Phoenix (where it was 106 degrees) to go home to San Antonio.

This was such a fantastic trip and I loved having one-on-one time with Devin. He loved being the center of attention with his Nana and Papa and I loved watching him discover a part of the country he didn't even know existed. Pictures will follow soon.

So there you have it -- that's what we've been up to. Sort of sorry you asked, huh?

I apologize for the long post, but like I've always said, this blog is as much for me as it is for everyone else. I want to make sure I write down every detail before the memories begin to fade, so that one day, my kids can look back and know what my thoughts and recollections were at the time.

Forgive me for what I am certain will be a long time before I post again. Life is crazy and I just can't seem to help it. :)

PS - Todd re-synced our Internet browser with his browser at work. So now we have all of his favorites bookmarked, but managed to lose all of mine. That means that if you haven't gotten a comment on your blog from me recently, it's because I lost your link and haven't memorized your URL. I'd love to have your pages back, so please leave me a comment with your URL or send me an email.

It Was All Worth It...

Yesterday's post all about my crazy day of scheduled, reschedule, re-rescheduled and re-re-reschedule showings has all paid off:

Our house sold!

Here's to the next ten days, a good inspection and buyers who don't exercise their option period!

Seriously?

Today started out with a phone call from Centralized Showing Service, the company that schedules home showings in San Antonio. Our house was scheduled to be shown between 9:15 and 10:15.

So I raced around, cleaning, vaccuming and mopping, only to get a call at 9:10 that said, "The Realtor would like to reschedule from 5:30 to 6:30 tonight."

Fabulous. Okay, fine. Whatever. I'll hold off on the rest of the cleaning until this afternoon.

11:00 came the phone call, "The Realtor would like to re-reschedule for tomorrow morning between 9:30 and 10:30.

Grrrrrrr. FINE. I'll clean tonight and shuttle the kids out the door first thing in the morning.

At 1:00 the phone rang again.

"The Realtor would like to re-re-reschedule for today between 3:00 and 4:00."

Okay, that is IT.

I okayed the showing, but I flat-out refuse to leave this house. The girls haven't been feeling well for two days now (Grace had a 102.3 fever!) and Devin woke up with a horrible cough this morning. There is no way am waking up my kids just to leave for ten minutes.

Please pray this house sells soon.

A Mystery Solved?

I think we may have solved the mystery of Grace's strange finger injury. But before I get into that, I'll update on the injury itself.

Luckily, we've got a real trooper on our hands. Todd and I both held our collective breath as we had to keep Gracie's right hand (her dominant hand) clean and dry until the stitches dissolved. Neither one of us quite knew just how this was going to happen.

It seemed, though, either through her own trepidation or the Grace of God (or both), Gracie has learned to use her left hand a lot. She eats with it and picks things up with it and has really favored her right hand, allowing the wound to heal nicely.

The stitches completely dissolved earlier this week, so we took the bandages off and started letting her bathe again without a baggie over her hand (believe it or not, she even held her hand out of the water during bath time!). For the first time, I really took a look at the scar. I'm not usually squeamish about this kind of stuff -- as a mom, you just can't be. But this one hit me right in the heart and I couldn't really bring myself to look directly at the wound.

But I've taken a closer look at it now and it's pretty amazing, really. The cut goes a good two-thirds of the way around her right ring finger and is obviously very deep. It won't be a scar that will ever completely fade, though her young age does lend itself to a pretty complete healing. For now, we call her Frankenbaby.

I worry a little about how much she's still favoring it, though. Today, for example, she was getting herself to a standing position from sitting on the floor. As she leaned forward to place her hands on the ground, she put her left hand down flat, but put her right hand down with her palm up, using her wrist to pull herself up. Hmmmmm...

Devin has his five-year-old appointment tomorrow, so I plan to ask the pediatrician if she wants to see Gracie or not. I suspect I know the answer to that.

Anyway, onto the point of my post...

Yesterday, the girls were playing together, babbling in their own little language. I'm usually able to pick up every third or fourth word and get the gist of their conversations. This particular exchange was about bites they had gotten. Faith pointed to the one that Grace had laid on her this past weekend. Grace pointed to the area where an ant bit her a few weeks ago. Faith then showed off the part of her heel where our herding dog, Zoe, had tried to get her to go a certain direction (by the way, before you call Child Protective Services on me, Zoe is very gentle and only herds the kids away from danger).

Then Gracie put up her injured finger, pointed to it with her left hand and said, "I bite!"

Well...I guess Todd's assessment was right. Grace must have fallen onto her own hand, with mouth open and, CRUNCH! Nearly bit off her own finger.

There's one for the family album, huh?

The Preferred Pacis

We are a pacifier household. When Devin was little (little-er, really), he had to have three pacifiers at a time -- one in his mouth and one in each hand. It took an act of God to get him to give them up.

But he did give them up, just in time for the twins to get addicted to them.

Luckily, they aren't nearly as dependent upon them as Devin was. They don't walk around all day with them in their mouths, they don't care to take them places with them and if they need one because of some injustice that's been done to them during the day, any paci will do in a pinch.

But bedtime is another story.

We have four pacifiers that will do at bedtime. And they are the only pacifiers that will do at bedtime. We call them "The Preferred Pacis."

They are just Gerber brand pacifiers, so you'd think they wouldn't be hard to find. But they aren't the NUK pacis, which are the most easily found. Instead, we somehow got hooked on the Gerber, soft-centered latex pacifiers.

Okay, no big deal, right? They're Gerber -- they can't be that hard to track down.

Wrong.

It seems that Gerber has discontinued making these pacifiers. They are still making the smaller sizes, but my girls won't have anything to do with those small ones. They have to be the larger sizes (6+ months) and these are the sizes that are no longer being produced.

I'm stressing about this. I can't imagine the girls' reaction if we ever lose all four preferred pacis. There will be a lot of sleepless nights on our hands.

I've sent a strongly worded email to Gerber, asking about getting my hands on some of these now-worth-their-weight-in-gold pacifiers. I've bid on a few on eBay ("Ewwwwwwwww!" I know, but I'm at my wit's end!) and even won one of the auctions in which I will be paying nearly $14.00 for two pacifiers.

Desperation has set in.

Despite completely different subject matter, I feel a lot like this:

Devin's Doozie - A Visual Journey

Tonight, Devin got himself ready for bed. He walked out of his room in the following get up:

Cars jammie bottoms
Space-themed jammie top
An Ace Bandage, wrapped around his lower left leg
Spider Man house slippers
One Spongebob Squarepants gardening glove

Unfortunately, he disrobed before I could grab my camera.