Swine Flu closed us down.

Damn swine flu! George's school closed. This bites!

Pics of My Babies to Make Me (and You) Happy

Swine Flu

There's a confirmed case at the junior high in my neighborhood. Lucky for us.

I'm back to being an idiot.

This is one of those days that reminds me of how much I hated being a new attorney. I despise getting the crappy research assignment. WTF? I guess we all have to look for random case law, but I hate not being able to find the answer. It sucks and it makes me feel like I've chosen the wrong profession. I need to talk to a law student so I can remind myself of how far I've come since I started practicing. I love working with ultra smart people but, damn, it makes me feel stupid some days.

He's a big boy

That may be the understatement of the year. The weekend before last, we went to a crawfish boil and one of my friends was there with her 8 month old baby girl. We realized that George (4 months old) and Conley are the same freakin' size so we lined them up on a blanket to take pictures. It's amazing. They were so cute and patient while we snapped their pictures for probably 15 minutes. Conley was all smiles and George just gave us his serious face the whole time. I might start calling him Zoolander. Anyway, they were so sweet! Adorable little things! They were even holding hands for a little while. It is precious!

Birthday Weekend

What a fabulous weekend! Luke and Savannah had their joint birthday party and it was a blast! There were soooo many kids there and I was so thankful that it wasn't at my house. (thanks for hosting, Ms. Chesapeake!) And the best part was that the rain stayed away for the whole party.

Here are pictures of the birthday kids. Aren't they good looking?

This is Luke's Star Wars cake. There's a Darth Vader (sp?) candle on there. He's such a boy!

This is the Lilo & Stitch cake (to match the bounce houses and the invitations):

We drank wine and beer and ordered pizza after most of the crew had left. It was a lot of fun. We finally packed up everything and headed home around 9:00. But, I had promised Luke that he could open his presents when we got home so we spent the next half hour tearing into all of the gifts people so generously bestowed upon the ungrateful (but greedy) five year old. And all I could think was, "damn, that's a lot of thank you notes I have to write!" And to top it off, I'm making him participate in the thank you note process which will probably make it take three times as long to complete.

So, Ms. Chesapeake (aka the hostess, Savannah mom, and the obgyn I always mention) had her coworkers and their children over to the party as well. Well, Ms. Chesapeake actually works with my own obgyn so my fantastic doctor was there and generously brought a present for Luke. She wanted him to open it before she left so I said it was okay. First, though, I asked Luke if he knew who she was. He said unabashedly, "no," of course. I rolled my eyes and introduced her to him and explained that she helped him come out of my tummy when he was a baby and that she helped get George and Evie out of my tummy too. He seemed unimpressed, so I went on to explain that she was the first person that Luke ever saw in his whole life. Again, he seemed unimpressed and was itching to open his present. Finally, I rolled my eyes and mumbled something about, "how the doctor was pretty special in my book, but whatever . . . " and then I told him he could open his present. As he opened it the doctor said, "Now, you're going to get a lot of fun presents, so this will probably be the boringest present you get." He opened it up and it was the cutest little sock money shirt from a little boutique shop in town that everyone loves. I gushed (of course) and Luke looked at it and said (and I'm not exagerating in the least), "That is the boringest present!" My face turned red, and I cringed and said, "Oh, my God, I'm soooo sorry." The doctor laughed and I died. Of course, it was pretty funny and she did feed him that line because I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have said that on his own. Don't get me wrong, he certainly wouldn't have jumped for joy about a t-shirt with a sock monkey on it, but at least he wouldn't have been flat out rude. Anyway, it is done, and I told the story all night. I'm not sure why I decided to keep reliving the embarassment, but geez, I did.

So, all in all a great party, and we continued on the tradition of our precious children sharing their birthdays. I don't know how much longer that will last, because that was a lot of kids, and Luke and Savannah have diverging interests, but for now, I'll be grateful that they are still such good friends.


Here are just some of the pictures of them growing up together:
First Birthday:

Halloween 2005:

Halloween 2006:
Halloween 2007:
Christmas 2007:


4th Birthday 2008:
Evie's Birthday 2008:

Halloween 2008:

Busy week = Boring blog.

Sorry everyone. I'm just now catching my breath this week. Kids are great. Luke is excited about his birthday party with Savannah this weekend. Evie doesn't want to go to her dance class. Luke has a soccer game tomorrow at the ungodly hour of 8:30 a.m. I hate early games. I don't think I have to work this weekend (that is always subject to change), but I definitely have plenty to do at home. We are even scheduled to have an open house during Luke's birthday party. Should be an interesting weekend. As for George - well, he's just plain huge. I will try to post pictures this weekend.

Chuck and I went to Spring Fiesta last night - a Young Lawyers event at Joe T Garcia's - and people were walking around with name tags on. Chuck noticed that a few pretentious attorney's had written the name of their law firm below their names on their name tags. Chuck decided to put a law firm name under his name. He chose Bendini, Lambert & Locke. He showed it to me and I immediately started cracking up, but only one other person got it all night. Click on the name of the law firm if you need a clue as to why that is funny.

SPRING FEVER!

I've got to get out of the office and enjoy this weather. Absolutely gorgeous! I just need a tan to go with it.

Spring Fiesta today at Joe T's! Whoohoo for Margaritas.

Three showings today.

Somebody's gotta want to buy my house, right?

It's freakin' gorgeous!

Seriously, I'm not even sure why I'm selling it.

Hair loss

My hair is falling out - yet another postpartum side effect. It's disgusting and Chuck gets in the shower after me and starts making Chewbacca noises when he sees all the hair that has fallen out of my head and landed in the shower.Here's the deal per BabyCenter:

Normally, about 85 to 95 percent of the hair on your head is growing and the other 5 to 15 percent is in a resting stage. After the resting period, this hair falls out — often while you're brushing or shampooing it — and is replaced by new growth. An average woman sheds about 100 hairs a day. During pregnancy, increased levels of estrogen prolong the growing stage. There are fewer hairs in the resting stage and fewer falling out each day, so you have thicker, more luxuriant tresses. After you give birth, your estrogen levels take a tumble and a lot more hair follicles enter the resting stage. Soon you'll have more hair coming out in the shower or on the brush. This unusual shedding will taper off and your hair will be back to its pre-pregnancy thickness about six to 12 months after you give birth. Note: Strands of hair can end up tightly wrapped around your baby's tiny appendages, including his fingers, toes, wrists, ankles, and penis. This is called a hair tourniquet, and it can be quite painful for your little one.

I can't imagine finding a hair wrapped around my baby's penis, but I guess it is possible. For now, I'm just trying to keep the hair out of my face, off my desk, out of my food, off my clothes, and generally in the trash.

1 Hour

I faxed the signed contract to put our house on the market over to our realtor yesterday afternoon at 1:30. At 2:30 I got a call requesting a showing that evening at 5:30. My house had been on the market only 1 hour! I looked at the phone incredulously (does anyone else do this? - as if the speaker on the other end can see me and know that I think they're insane). I replied, "WHAT?! Are you kidding me?!" The voice on the other end (a lovely woman named Francie) replied, "I know sweetie. I told the person that you had a little baby to take care of . . ." Me, "Yeah. (Pause) 5:30 tonight? Uh, nooooo. We can't do that."

Hell, I didn't think anyone would want to see it today. I mean, the sign isn't even up. I haven't given them a key. We thought we had a few more days to get the house in order. So I agreed to scheduled the showing for this morning at 10 a.m. Chuck and I hired a crew of cleaning women to come in and make the place look presentable and we busted our asses to get the place showable. the cleaning women came in at 7:00 and stayed until after 11 p.m. They worked their asses off right along side us. I am exhausted!!!! No word on the showing. All I could think as I hauled my ass all over the house cleaning up and straightening, was that this person better not be someone who just wants to come check out my house. It better be a serious person in the market for buying, not browsing.

Oh, and to top off the evening, I had to work on this crazy document and was up late trying to finish that up. I didn't finish, so now I'm busting my ass at work (as usual) trying to wrap it up.

Peace out. Hopefully, things will slow up by the end of the week!

Movie Quote 24

Things are still crazy at work so here's a quick movie quote just let you know I'm still alive:

Do you know what subject matter jurisdiction means?

It's easy, I know.

Tobin & Sharon

A friend of ours who works with Chuck (and has for years) lost his wife about two years ago. She was in her 40's and they had two teenagers (a boy and a girl). It was tragic and very sad, and we all felt so horrible that Tobin had become a widower. About a year later, Tobin's son and his son's best friend decided to hook up their parents. Tobin's son introduced Tobin to his best friend's mom, Sharon. It didn't take them long to fall in love. They are a beautiful couple and we were honored to attend a dinner with their close family and friends at which Tobin proposed to Sharon. It was beautiful. We were also blessed to attend their wedding a couple weeks ago, at which they became a family. Tobin and his two and Sharon and her four (the best friend, a daughter, and twin girls).
My friend Nell (Cowtown Camera Girl) took the pictures, and they turned out great! She has posted some on her blog. It is inspiring to see the joy in Tobin's eyes after having lived a difficult history. I'm so glad they found happiness and love in one another. We should all remember what a blessing it is each and every day to wake up and love life and the people in our lives. Cheers to Tobin and Sharon!

Private Parts Comparison

Apparently Luke and Evie have been comparing private parts, and now Evie insists that she has a penis because Luke showed her where hers is (maybe she thinks it will grow in eventually). I guess it is time to talk to Evie about her body, and maybe we need to start giving them separate baths. It seems to me that they're still young enough to bathe together and share a room. Anyone have thoughts on this?

Busy, busy, busy

So busy, I may not have time to pick up my kids this weekend. Lucky, Grandma.

Another sign I'm old

I can't remember if it was my brother Tom or my sister Joan who pointed out to me the words in Britney Spears' single "If U Seek Amy" but I have to say I was shocked at what he/she told me. (I'll assume it was Joan). Of course, I've heard the song all along, but I guess I'd never really listened to the lyrics. The whole song (except the chorus) is about looking for a girl named Amy (presumably at a party), but the chorus is "Love me, hate me / Say what you want about me / But all the boys and all the girls are beggin' to/ If you seek Amy" My sister had to repeat it to me when I didn't get it at first and then I repeated it over and over in shock. It doesn't even make sense if you read it as legitimately saying "if you seek Amy". For those of you who are as slow as I am, if you say "if you seek Amy" quickly it sounds like spelling "F-*-C-K me".

If = F
U = U
See = C
kA = K
my = me

Am I so old that I'm seriously appalled by the words? No. I am just appalled that they would try to be so subversive about it. Why bother? I mean, in the 90's they came out with "I wanna f*ck you like an animal." That's certainly got to be worse, but then again, there was nothing subversive about the song and the audience was not intended to be 13 year old girls. So, I guess, for now, I'm just a shocked middle-aged woman. How sad. Here's a link so you can hear it for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH2d_PlN0XU

Am I the only one that's too dense to have put this together?

Camera Ham

Where does she get it?




Oh . . .

Valerie looks amazing!

I find myself lacking anything witty to state. However, I saw this commercial for Jenny Craig last night in which Valerie appears in a bikini and OMG, she looks fabulous! Hats off to her.

I'm missing them

The two oldest are spending the week with Grandma and I already miss them like crazy!
Here are some pics of my little rascals.

Evie working on a drawing in her Cinderella costume.
Luke in Fly Eyes from his Aunt Mary.

Isn't she sweet?

Helping Daddy repaint the guest bathroom. The clothes are ruined, of course.

Movie Quote 23

Just a quick movie quote for you guys today because I'm SWAMPED! (Always a good thing - ha, I sound like Martha Stewart).

Mortimer! We're back.

An oldie but a goodie. And my mom can't answer because she watched it with Chuck and me last weekend.

Four Months Old Already

He's four months old and fabulous (except for the sleeping thing - up for 2 hours last night). George had his yucky shots this morning, but before that, we found out that he is 18 lbs adn 26 inches tall. He's in the 95th percentile for weight and 75th percentile for height. Here are some pics of my big boy from the last month.

Volcano Lightning

Never seen anything like this before. Check it out.

This is the first picture ever taken capturing volcano lightning.
Here's the story behind this picture.

Cool jobs

Two of my friends have the coolest jobs. One is an obgyn - Patty - and I've talked about her before. Seriously, how cool would it be to help bring little, teeny, weeny babies into the world? It's such a miracle. I don't know how she doesn't cry or throw up every time she sees that. I think I would do both. Still, it is totally cool. Plus, people call her "Doctor." Awesome.

My friend Em is in the marketing department at Pier 1 and her job sounds totally awesome too! She's always telling us stories about things they do at work. Marketing brainstorming sessions and parts of the trade that I would have never considered. It is amazing that she's probably going to start working on Halloween stuff sometime soon since they have to be prepared ahead of the season. She talks about how their international wicker orders might be delayed by a drought or heavy rains. It is amazing. And then, yesterday, she emailed to say that they were shooting a commercial at our local Pier 1 - and they were using an elephant. She even sent a picture.

Good thing, I don't have a picture of Patty in action - childbirth is beautiful, but disgusting (to me).

This just brings into focus the fact that my job is oh, so dull. But that's okay, because in some weird way, I help people. They may be people with money, but they have problems too, right? Sadly, there is nothing that I can hold up at the end of the day and say, "Look at this, I did this." Patty, on the other hand, can point to tons of babies and say that she delivered them into this world. And Em can point to tons of marketing products and say, "Look at this. I did that." So cool.

Singing a Song

I was singing with the music on the tv the other day and Luke politely asked me to stop singing. I asked, "Why?" and braced myself for the answer, knowing I had opened myself up for an answer like, "You hurt my ears" or "It is bothering the dog" or "That's not really singing." Instead, Luke replied, "It's not your job." He's got me there. There's no denying that singing IS NOT my job and never will be.

Miracle

Last night I went to bed and I thought my head was going to explode. It hurt so bad. I could barely even think. I thought sleep would help, but when I laid down it was worse. I swear the pain reminded me of the movie Mission Impossible III when they shoot the explosive up the girl's nose into her head at the beginning and then detonate it. I finally took a Sudafed (which I'd been avoiding because I thought it would keep me awake) and some Advil at 2:30. Then I begged Chuck to take care of George because my head felt like a brick being struck by a hammer repeatedly. Surprisingly, I fell asleep within a half an hour and when I woke up at 5:30 - to get George - I felt so good, it was like I had taken some miracle drug. At 2:30, I thought I was going to die, and then at 5:30 I was about 90% back to being well. It was weird, but I am so grateful. I had no idea how I was going to function at work in that kind of pain. So here I am. I going to the store to get more Sudafed (aka the miracle drug).

Candy Corn Song

I have the "I Don't Like Candy Corn" song from Noggin stuck in my head. An unfortunate side effect of having children who adore (semi) educational tv. Click here and you can put it in your head too!

Sick and Movie Quote 22

It's official. We're all sick. Now George is getting snotty and has eczema. Chuck and I are drippy and coughy (yes, I know it isn't a word). At least we're all in this together. So, until we're well, I don't imagine there will be many interesting blog posts. The height of excitement at our house is the fact that the kids got a new humidifier. They are fascinated by those things. Sadly, I can't make it work. Every time I turn it on all the water runs out the bottom of the machine. Without a doubt, it is caused by user error. The kids were horribly disappointed when I couldn't get it to work last night.

So, I have a movie quote for you that I got while we veged in front of the tv last night:

Smile and wave, boys. Smile and wave.

Cough, Sniff, Sneeze

They're all sick again. Luke and Evie have sinus infections and upper respiratory infections. George has some crazy rash on his arms. Heaven only knows what Chuck has because he refuses to go to the doctor. And I feel my sinuses starting to tickle. I took all the babies to the doctor this afternoon with the intention of heading off any fevers or crazy infections. I left with four separate prescriptions. Now George's school sent home a notice that pink eye is circulating. I guess it's just that season. Lucky for us, we were healthy from Christmas until now. That's a pretty good run for a house with three kids under the age of five.

Baby Announcements Finally

The announcement finally went out but I know there are a few people who have not received it yet because they moved (e.g. Lisa). So, here it is online. Forgive me for not getting all the announcements out. Sadly, I don't think I'll get the rest out since George is almost 4 months old at this point. Yes, I'm a slacker.

Soccer Pictures

A friend of ours has a kid that plays soccer in the same league as Luke but on a different team. Our friend is a photographer in his spare time so he always has a camera with him. We played against them and he was generous enough to take a bunch of pics of Luke and post them on his website. Here's a link if you want to see all of them, but the majority are below:

A real action shot.


Luke's usual pace on the soccer field:



Luke was complaining that his shirt was scratching him. You can see a sign behind him that says "Way to Go Luke." I made this for his first game and he INSISTS that I bring it to every game. You can also see our stroller with George, a bag full of snacks, and a case of water for the kids. I was a little loaded down that day, but Chuck was with us so that helped.

And my favorite - Luke, assuming the natural male position.

Movie Quote 21

For the CM crew:

Oh honey he's teasing you . . . nobody has two tv sets . . .!

This is truly a classic.

Uh oh . . .

It's stressful to be a woman with a three and a half month old child and have to take a pregnancy test. Nonetheless, we're expecting again, and couldn't be happier.



























April fools.