the makings of a really bad day

monday night our network at the office had some sort of virus problem that kept it down until after business hours on tuesday. as i am approaching my maternity leave - very quickly - every day counts and it was difficult for me to have a day down. i did what i could with calling folks on my cell phone (my office phone runs through our network and therefore did not work). once everything came back on line last night i got to work and got in 3 to 4 good hours. and that was really, really lucky...

i did a few quick emails before taking madelyn to school this morning. i did the unusual and made myself a large iced coffee to get me going for my day hoping to make up some work missed by being down the day before. and that was my mistake. my large coffee found its way to my laptop keyboard, iphone, remote keyboard, expense report receipts, notebook, files, etc. almost as soon as i sat down to work after dropping madelyn off. (it might have had some help from mason...)

my reaction was so quick that i scared mason. he laid face down on the floor crying the entire time i cleaned up the mess. it took an entire roll of paper towels and about 15/20 minutes to get everything cleaned up. i quickly undocked my computer, removed the battery (it has already turned itself off - almost instantly), and turned it upside down. i used our personal computer to search for tips on what i should do. i was actually feeling nauseous at the idea of damaging my computer that had just been repaired and returned to me a few weeks ago; not to mention having more down time.

my computer is still not working. i spoke to our m.i.s. director after two hours to see what he wanted me to do. i hated to even call him about this after the past few days he had dealt with but it actually gave him a great laugh which actually did make me feel a little better. he has overnighted me the replacement computer again (the same computer i just returned to him a few days ago) and we are just hoping that my regular computer is salvageable - or at least that the data will be.

and it wasn't just my laptop, my iphone got some of the spill and would only work on speaker phone all day. i am happy to report that it seems to be working properly again this evening. whew!

to post about this now does not even begin to capture how stressful all this was today. i still just can't believe that it ever happened and feel horrible. mason just cried and cried the rest of the morning until i finally just put him down at 11am when he wouldn't touch our early lunch (i was taking a mental break from my office with lunch). it occurred to me this afternoon that he was probably such an emotional mess because of all the shots he got yesterday. madelyn always had a day or two where she was just 'off' and more emotional after shots.

when i went to pick up madelyn from school this afternoon i learned that her teacher was at the hospital getting her water broken after being 6cm dilated at her check up this afternoon. she was due 2 weeks before me. i am flying to kansas on sunday afternoon for work and have to go to the doctor's office tomorrow to get cleared to travel, a letter for the airline, and my medical records - just in case. after the week this has been i am starting to be a little nervous... (really i am not worried but my doctor is on vacation so i am meeting with someone i don't know and that makes me a little nervous.)

but then i was able to keep it all in perspective after hearing that baby jake was born last night and went to be with God shortly thereafter. there are worse things in life than some ruined electronics or the risk of a missed business trip. i just kept praying for terri and austin all day.

on a lighter/happier note, here is a video of mason 'dancing' and 'nodding'. madelyn adds in her own wacky dance at the end. (she was feeling fancy when she got dressed for school this morning. i think the selection might have been influenced by letting her sleep in a dress-up gown last night.) they love to dance together and daddy joined in the fun after dinner. such a happy way to end this day. love.

15-month check-up

what a morning! mason had his 15-month check-up this morning at 9:30 so of course he started his day around 5am. that way he could be nice and cranky right around the time the appointment would start. he must have quieted back down because i fell back asleep until he got into madelyn's bed a little before 6am and she called me in to ask if he could sleep in her bed. since she obviously wanted to go back to sleep and mason didn't, mason was taken to the toddler bed in his old room to finish out the early morning. i was determined to get him to sleep a little more and he did for at least another half hour. he and madelyn both woke up again a little after 8am. we had to hustle to get breakfast, dressed, and out the door but we made it to his appointment on time.

mason started crying as soon as i put him up on the table to be measured. here are his stats:

height: 34 inches (98.7 percentile)
weight: 26lbs. 7oz. (75.5 percentile)
head: 50.3cm (99 percentile)
bmi: 39 percentile

he perked up as soon as the nurse left and did great for the doctor. she is just thrilled with his diet and growth. she said that he could really weigh more for his height but i don't think that there is any way to get more food into him. she was impressed with his crayon skills and his willingness to clean them up.

now for shots. both kids ended up getting flu 'shots' and mason got two other vaccinations. madelyn choose to have the inhaled flu 'shot'. i say that she chose because i let her. i didn't want her to be left out of getting an actual shot because she talks about them a lot. the nurse was kind enough to give her a band aid anyway because she asked for one after getting the squirts up her nostrils.

and then we were told that both kids needed to get their iron levels tested again! i knew that mason would most likely getting retested but i guess that when we brought madelyn in for her abdominal pain over the summer they drew blood and she tested slightly anemic. we went over to the lab and waited for over an hour. thankfully, i had enough snacks and toys to keep them mildly entertained and contained in the very crowded waiting room. both kids did really great with their blood draws. they missed madelyn's vein and had to move the needle around for longer than made me comfortable. she took it like a champ. i know that it hurt but she held still and was patient with them. as a thank you they gave her juice, graham crackers, and stickers. we finally left around 11:30 and went straight home for lunch.

this picture is from yesterday while madelyn was in school. mason likes to play on our personal computer while i am working and for some reason he kept laying his head down on the keyboard. it was cracking me up and i had to take a picture (actually, i took several). this one is going to be my new wallpaper! so funny. love,

princess party

this afternoon madelyn attended her friend ava's fourth birthday party. the theme was princesses and prince charming/superheros. all of the boys came as superheros and the girls were delighted to be twirling princesses.

after playing a bean bag toss game everyone got to go on a treasure hunt. it was very cute. ava's mom would read and clue and all the kids would guess the answer before running to find their 'treasure' to take home. madelyn found a fruit snack (for energy at the start of their hunt), a lunch box, a puzzle, and an ice pack (for the lunch box).









pinatas are now low risk/violence. instead of beating them with a bat the kids take turns pulling ribbons until the bottom opens up. today was the first time i had actually seen one in action. honestly, the kids seemed to enjoy it just as much. instead of candy, the pinata was filled with pennies. again, it didn't seem like anyone was too disappointed. actually, one of the kids said that he could take the money and buy some candy.

and now it was time for cake and ice cream! ava had a pink barbie cake and it was gluten-free. this was my first gluten-free birthday cake and it was really good. ava's mom generously had 'real' cupcakes for any of the kids that complained about the texture but i don't think that any of them even noticed. madelyn told me on our walk home that the cake was her favorite part of the party so it definitely didn't bother her.

after cake and ice cream it was time to open presents and some of the kids (including madelyn) started without the birthday girl. i think that is one of the drawbacks of gift bags at children's parties. the party balloons began to lure the kids away from the gift opening. and towards the end none of the kids were really watching the gifts be opened. instead they were bobbing the balloons up and down. one of ava's gifts was a pretty nifty see-saw from her parents and the kids got to try it out in the backyard before heading home. here is video of madelyn taking her turn:

and i had to take a picture of the card madelyn made for ava. madelyn isn't really in to coloring or writing but she very willingly wrote this out to ava. i only helped with some of the spelling. i think this is the most she has written in a single sitting and i was so proud of her. i think she was pretty proud of herself too. love.

my notes from the past week

i have been taking very few pictures but i have been trying to keep notes on the kids. here is what i have from the past week:

- mason has started to make an 'o' face for his own amusement. it is kind of funny because it is a long 'o' face.

- mason loves to dance, i have mentioned before, but now he spins in circles as part of his groove.

- mason is adding more signs and using them more frequency without my having to remind him. the newer one is 'water'.

- he has also started his own version of nodding. he sort of tucks his chin to his chest and tilts his upper body almost as a nod. he also adds a high-pitched affirming sound. and it has been extremely helpful for him to answer our questions. tonight, as a joke, i asked him if he was going poop in his diaper and he 'nodded' yes while grabbing his pants and started to walk towards the changing table, gesturing for me to come too. sure enough, he had pooped.

- related to the dirty diaper above, mason was trying to pull his pants down in our bathroom while backing up to the edge of the toilet. he was trying to get on and nodded when i asked if he wanted to go potty. if we weren't running late for church i would have let him try it out.

- we were playing in the playroom and mason found some coasters he had brought in the day before. he picked them up and took them back where they belong in the living room - all on his own! i was so proud of him. this wasn't the first time he has done something like this but this was the only specific one i jotted down.

- as a sign of approval we have been giving mason high-fives. he comes running to you with his hand up and ready to go; very cute.

- mason loves his shoes. as soon as we get him dressed (or sometimes before we get him dressed), he heads over and picks out a pair of shoes. he tries to put them on himself and then brings them to me for some help. he is also getting better at sitting down to take them off when we come back home.

- madelyn mortified me this week when the internet/cable guy was working in my office with us to fix our modem and she said, "mommy, i am scared of that man." did i mention she was less than five feet from him and he was black? (i might have been more sensitive about this because all summer we have been doing racially charged readings in our book club.) i suggested that she tell him hello and tell him her name. he was so nice to her and introduced himself. she obviously felt comfortable with him because when the stink from mason's diaper could be ignored no longer, madelyn chose to stay in the office with the internet/cable guy. when i came back they were chatting away like old friends about the picture she was coloring.

- on one busy and exhausting day of parenting this week madelyn and i took some time to just color together before bed time. she and i had some confrontations about behavior that resulted in her spending time alone in her room more than once. i was asking her about how she enjoyed her day (we had gone to the library, etc.). i asked her what her favorite thing was from the day. she said that she didn't know so i started to name off some of our highlights. then she said, "mommy, you are the best part of my day" and gave me a big hug and kiss. that was the best part of my day!

- mason is obsessed with belly buttons. if he is with me when i am getting dressed he can't resist my outtie. i finally have to cut him off and cover it with a shirt because otherwise he wouldn't stop pushing it in. and he goes after his as soon as his shirt comes off. the funny part is that he tries to see his belly button but can't quite bend enough over his belly to see it.

- madelyn is convinced that only one person can sing a song at a time. even if she asks you to sing a song because she can't remember all the words, you can't sing when she starts singing. it has kind of put a damper on car trip sing-alongs. i figure she will have to get over it once mason can join in.

- out of no where madelyn came to me and said, "mommy, i tell the truth and you don't." apparently "truth" falls into the same category as singing - only one person at a time. she was unable to give me any example of when i didn't tell her the truth and i couldn't think of any instance where i have told her even a 'white' lie.

- other recent expressions are "you hurt my feelings when..." and "my eyes were starting to water". each of these usually comes into play when she doesn't get her way or gets into trouble.

- her "eyes started to water" and her "feelings got hurt too" when i was trying to comfort mason after madelyn had unintentionally slammed three of his fingers over and over and over in a door. it must have been almost 10 times. she had opened up the door to the storage part of the basement while i was working on friday and i told her that she needed to get out of there (it is where the toys that aren't taken care of end up). i realized that she was having trouble closing the door and that mason was crying. i asked if she was getting his fingers in the door and she told me no. another minute or two of door slamming and crying and i got up to investigate. i thought that mason was just crying because he didn't want the door closed. she had left the light on so i opened the door and turned it off. that was when i saw how mason was holding his hand perfectly straight. his fingers were being pinched in the hinge side of the door. i would have taken a picture of his fingers because it was dramatic, but he didn't stop crying for almost an hour (well, it was off and on once i got him calmed down and eating a little lunch) and i just couldn't justify a picture. i am happy to report after lunch and a nap he was perfectly fine. he has no discoloration either which is truly remarkable after seeing the initial injury. there is just a faint red line where the fingers were actually pinched - no knuckles or nails were caught. having had my fingers slammed in a van door as a child, i knew how bad his hand hurt. madelyn felt just awful about the whole thing and i had to assure her more than once that i knew it was just an accident. she was really scared when she saw that he was really hurt.

i am going to do a separate post about their sleeping in the same room tomorrow. love.

more ballet

madelyn was really excited to be going to ballet class this week. it is a challenge to get us there on time. besides the normal get everyone dressed and out the door madness there is little to no parking near the dance studio.

i didn't bring the stroller this week as an experiment to see if mason would be quieter (he fussed in the stroller towards the end of class last week). he loved it! he was so good. we will definitely try this again next week. i had to hold him a little bit when he started crying inexplicably while i was standing up to try and see madelyn through the doorway (the video gets a little wobbly there).

madleyn was in a particularly talkative mood for class and was cracking up all the parents sitting in the lobby - because of the open concept we can hear everything (pretty much everything you hear in the videos that isn't the teacher is madelyn). i tried to get some video over the heads of the folks that stand directly in the doorway because madelyn was the 'line leader' this week. she keeps getting distracted by her own reflection in, what i am assuming is, a mirrored wall and by seeing me watching (i missed it with the video, but madelyn was announcing, "i can see my mommy!" over and over until i quickly took a seat so that she couldn't).

this one is of them practicing position number one. madelyn is upset that she can't see herself in the mirror because she is at the front of the line.

in hope you enjoyed the peek into her class. love.

mason's first year in pictures

obviously, i am a few months late on this but i just ordered all the prints for mason's first year picture frame. here are the pictures selected:
and there you go, the first year of mason in review. love.

movie night - horton hears a who

after church we stuck around for hot dogs and popcorn for movie night. tonight's feature was horton hears a who. at first mason was great sitting, eating his hot dog and watching the movie. i had actually never seen him sit so still for so long (and be awake). after that he got to wandering around and climbing into every chair that he saw - his dream.

at some point some pre-teen girls started playing a game of running up and down the aisle on the side with him. i think that this was a great help to daddy while madelyn and i watched the movie. at some point madelyn declared that she was tired and wanted to go home (it was only 7:10pm). the end of the movie got a little too scary for her. she was very upset by the monkeys poking horton with sticks - and rightfully so. we left as soon as all the other animals heard the whos on the spec.

madelyn's mood perked right up when she was given a goodie bag on her way out with candy, a green pencil with a pink pom-pom glued on top (a la a horton hears a who clover), and a devotional book. she did ask about the monkeys poking horton with a stick the whole ride home. we didn't have much in the way of a satisfying answer for her - they thought that he was a liar and weren't being nice.

before church madelyn drew "the new baby on her hand" because she "loves the new baby very much" and then proceeded to hug and kiss my belly (aka the new baby). how sweet is that? love.