Our Busy Weekend

What a busy weekend! My girlfriend Stacey sells Leah Sophia jewelry so to start the weekend off, Alex and I drove to her house so Alex could hang out with the boys and I could spend money I don’t have on jewelry. Alex LOVES going to Travis and Stacey’s house to hang with her three boys. Stacey’s husband Travis stayed home with the boys and off I was to accessorize myself. I purchased so many cute pieces and I can not wait to receive them so I can show off my bling bling baby! Then on Saturday, Alex and I were off to another party….this time a purse party at Amber’s house. Alex was HORRIFIED that I would take him to a purse party and he begged me to find a babysitter, but I was not about to pay for a sitter to come and watch him for 30 minutes. So, despite his resistance, we piled in the car and plowed over a heap of snow behind my garage. I had so much fun at Amber’s and I found two very cute handbags…one for practical purposes and one to use as a school bag for my books.
After the purse party, Alex had to get his haircut since the child grows sideburns faster than any grown man I’ve ever met. I had to laugh because Alex had to take an issue of sports illustrated with him when he was getting his hair cut. He is 110% boy!
Then later Saturday night, we went to the DSU girls basketball game and man was it an exciting one! The girls won by two points with a buzzer shot. This brings them to the championship game on Tuesday against the School of Mines. Congratulations and best of luck girls!!!
To finish off the weekend, Alex had a birthday party to go to, but wasn’t able to stay too long since he wasn’t feeling too well. We purchased the movie Flushed Away, ordered pizza, and called it an early night. Whew! Oh, and notice that I didn't say anything about homework this weekend??? I need to get crackin!

What A Morning

What a morning!! Alex had to do a school project where he picked a wild animal, read about it, then made a habitat for that animal. When he was with his dad this weekend, he picked a squirrel and finished the project. Then on Tuesday, he changed his mind to a mouse. I hate mice, but we went to the library, research mice, spent an hour looking at their beety little eyes and icky deseise infested tails, made a habitat full of grass, twigs, etc and called it good. Evidence that he is my biological child is exhibited here because he changed his mind again!! He then wanted to do a wolf but after looking around the library, he decided on a bear. So....we brought home some books, cut out another shoe box, cut out bear pictures from one of his book (Bear in the Big Blue House from the Disney Channel) and made a habitat for a grizzly bear. Well, apparently after sleeping on it last night, he decided that he didn't want "baby bears" in the habitat, he wanted real bears who don't talk. So at 7:15 this morning, we're surfing through the Internet, magazine, etc to find pictures of "real bears". Found some "real bears", cut them out, pasted them on their along with our toilet paper caves and off to school we are. Then as he's getting out of the car, mother nature decided to show her humours side by forcing a gust of wind to grab the habitat from his hands. He's freaking out so off we are...trying to control this grizzly bear habitat. We did save the grizzly bear's home and I'm VERY HAPPY THAT IT IS FRIDAY!!!!

Last night

We were on our way to church last night and I got so sick. It started with a headache and then I just felt so hot and weak. Well, I won't go into the details, but we ended up turing around and going home. Since I didn't feel like cooking, we swung through McDonald's drive-thru, set up a picnic in the living room, and I crawled to the couch leaving Alex to eat his cheeseburger while he watched Cars. When bedtime came, Alex apparently didn't feel that he received the attention he deserved and demanded that I build Lego's with him. After explaining to him that mommy didn't feel good and it was bedtime, he turns around and yells "I'M TELLING PASTOR BRUCE ON YOU" and stops off to his room. It was hard not to crack up laughing.

Lent

After much contemplation before Lent begins, I’ve decided that this year, I’m offering to God a terrible Coke habit that I’ve developed in the past few months. Don’t worry – it is the type that comes in a liquid form from a red can. But seriously, I never been one to drink a lot of soda, but my life has been pretty chaotic the past few months and I truly need at least a can per day. I was going to stash my supply of coke in the basement last night, but I have no will-power so I decided that it would be easier to just dump the remaining soda down the sink. I started doing the "one shot for the sink....two shots for me"...think and probably drank the equivalent of three cans of coke last night. I was so hyper that I read 2 chapters from my Macroeconomics textbook, cleaned my house, and re-calculated my taxes “just for fun”! Anyway – back on topic.

My second thing that I’m gong to give to God is my unattractive habit of thinking that I have more control over things than I really do. So, I’m taking control over the things that I have control over and giving the rest to God and trusting that his plans unfold.

Guess Who's Back?

I haven't updated my blog for a couple of days and I have so much to write about that it's ridiculous. So ridiculous that I woke up this morning talking to myself and I assumed it was because I haven’t put any of my thoughts down on my blog. Blogging is good and inexpensive therapy for me.
Well, the most important and significant thing to tell you is that Alex is home! YEAH! He traveled with his dad and his grandpa to Missouri last week to see his grandma. The kids didn’t have school on Friday or Monday so off he was. They traveled all the way to Missouri in a little car with 2 men, a 6-year-old, and a dog. Not my idea of a vacation, but whatever. Alex had a great time visiting his grandma, Aunt Amie, and his cousin Darreon. Alex even brought me back a little souvenir from Missouri. He found a snow globe with little dolphins around it and was so proud of himself because he bought it with his own money. Here is a picture of Alex with the snow globe – it’s a little difficult to see since I took the picture in black/white.
The first thing he did when he arrived home was chase the cat around. It’s so funny because as he is chasing the cat and the cat is running from him, he says “mom, the kitty missed me”! After Princess gave in, Alex is sitting there holding him and he looks at me and says “Mom, I think that I understand why Princess is sad sometimes. It’s probably because he misses his mommy”. It’s nice to have a break every now and then, but I wouldn’t trade him for anything in the world.

Mothering Guilt - Day 1

I woke up this morning in a quiet, empty house, drank my coffee, took a shower without hearing the word "mom" once (even shaved my legs!), and watched CNN undisrupted. My son Alex is traveling to Missouri with his dad to see his grandma and one would think that as much as I complain about how chaotic most mornings with Alex are, I would be in a chipper mood today. Instead, I'm feeling very anxious and guilty. All I could think about this morning was all of the times that I sigh and think to myself how nice it would be to sit and have coffee and actually be able to shower without hearing "mom" a thousand times. However, without these things, I'm pretty lost. I can't even begin to imagine the pain that parents go though after placing a child in Gods hands and not being able to hug their child or tuck him/her into bed every night. Alex is an extremely independent, strong-willed child who has a wonderful desire to please people and make them smile. With school, work, life, etc, I often take the privileged that God gave me to be Alex's mom for granted. I forget that I have so few years of being able to wake him up in the mornings and watching him open his eyes for the first time that day and then driving him off to school, giving him a kiss, and watching him as he runs off with a school mate into the building. Alex's dad and I are divorced and Alex goes to his house everyother weekend and I get wrapped up in the guilt of being divorced from his dad and the frustration of having to play the disciplinary, the nurturer, the doctor, the protector, and the leader all at the same time. I think from time to time, I need a reminder of how much joy he brings into my life.

It's Thursday Already?

Seriously - where does the time go? I have an Organizational Behavior exam tonight and I remember being told about it last week and thinking - hmmm, that a week away. Now it's here! UG, I hate the first cycle of exams in the semester. When is spring break? Alex is with his dad so I had better cram some study time in after work.

Princess the Cat - Part 2

So my friends Amber and Brandi made comments that my cat Princess looked "scary" (refer to the earlier post titled "Princess the Cat" to see Princess after Alex gave him a bath). I felt that Princess deserved the opportunity for everyone to see him when he has not just experienced a near drowning experience. I told the gals that I would fix Princess up and take another picture of him so everyone can see just how cute he is. It was pretty difficult to get him to wear the hat, but it worked. Scroll down to see the picture. PS Amber and Brandi - I bet you wish you wouldn't have called him scary now!!!! HA!

Sad day

Today is a sad day for me. Five years from today, my mom died of a massive heart attack in our home. I remember the day so vividly, but sometimes have to try really hard to remember anything else of my mom. I was home for the weekend staying in my parents home. She woke up Sunday morning and took my son Alex for awhile so I could sleep. About two hours later, she woke me saying that she was having chest pains. I tried to get her to go to the hospital, but she had been seeing a doctor for over a year regarding those pains and they couldn't figure out what was causing the problems. She collapsed about an hour later.

I feel a great amount of comfort knowing that she is in a better place and that she is happy and healthy. However, it seems that when this day rolls around, I feel sad that she is not here and that my son will never know what a wonderful grandma he had. She missed my sister and my brother graduating from high school and I feel terrible for the both of them that they didn't have her there for their ceremonies. I think about all of the other milestones she will miss like graduations, weddings, birthdays and just all of the other everyday joys that occur. My mom had a heart of gold and would have given away everything she had to make someone else happy. She was often take for granted by those around her, including myself, but one of the things I admired most about my mom was that she always tried to see the best in people. I feel robed of watching her grow old and be able to enjoy being a grandma but have to have faith that she is somewhere watching over us. I do feel blessed to have three wonderful aunts - Kathy, Joellen, and Jean who have watched over me and my family in my mother's absence, but days like today are still hard.

Princess the Cat

So...I was talking to my friend Julie on the phone last Sunday and Alex was in the bathroom. He is 100% boy so when he is in there, I usually don't ask questions. However, this time he comes out of the bathroom with our beloved kitty Princess and says that Princess smells bad so he game him (yes him) a bath. Seriously, I should have bought the child a dog! Can you tell by the expression on the cat's face that he cherishes all of the attention he receives from Alex?

Alex

Another reason that I wanted to start a blog is because my son Alex says the cutest things at times and I always try to write them down, but I must confess that I do not do the best job at it. So...here is his latest one.

We recently moved into a duplex-type home. I have a two bedroom apartment with a basement and there are two college kids who rent the upstairs level. Well, the college kids moved a few weeks ago and we could hear them shuffling things around. Here is the conversation

Alex: Mom....what is that noise?
Me: Those are the two guys who live upstairs
Alex: (With a confused look on his face) God and Jesus?

HA! Kids!

Is this on?

So here I am! I'm so excited to get started on this whole bloggin thing! I have family and friends who are ever so interested in my exciting life, but I'm terrible when it comes to sharing stories and keeping in constant contact. Thus....I thought this would be a good tool to keep everyone posted with what is going on with me and Alex! I love reading up on my friend Julie and Amber's blog so I thought I would join.