The desire to read

Trent is my sweetheart. Smart, funny and totally cute.
Lately, he has been going around and pronouncing words and telling me what letter they begin with. I asked him if he would like to read. He informed me that he knows how to read already. I had to bust his bubble and tell him that memorizing his story word for word is not reading....it is memorizing.
His face had many looks just then...confusion, doubt and disappointment.

I could not stand to see him like that so, I bravely told him that "Mom is going to teach you how to read!" Well, the happy face came back and was thrilled to learn that he would be the only one in his K1 class to be able to read.

As I turned the lights off and tried to drift off to sleep, I was haunted by the thought of me not being able to teach him how to read....not that he would not be able to do it but I have NO IDEA HOW TO DO IT!!!!!!!

Flick goes the lights and I take my hot pink pj's with lipsticks and lips all over them and jump on the computer and I do a Google search on "How to teach a child to read". It took me forever to get through the lists of what to do, what not to do and what books I had to purchase in order to teach my very eager boy how to read.

The suggestions were from people who home school their children and they already have the supplies and the time slotted for this stuff. I was trying to make this fun and do it at his pace...and he is only 4.

Off goes the lights and I get some sleep.

The next morning I get him to school and I ask his teacher if it is a good idea or will it set him back, blah, blah....she said it would be great if he has an interest and not to force it. I asked her professional advice and she told me that she would consult the K2 teacher.

I am grateful for the teachers who really do care and I am happy I made the choice to send him to this school. I will wait for the advice from the teacher and I will use his chalk board in his bedroom to do some simple phonics and make it fun. But if anyone who has any advice or experience with this...I would love to hear from you.

so much going on but nothing to talk about

I read blogs and think wow, these people have a lot going on in their lives. Some interesting, some strange, some boring but at least they have something to talk about.

I have a lot going on in my life but nothing to talk about. How weird is that??

I have a new baby, but you all know that. I have a hysterical 4 year old...again you all know that. My husband has been away for six months and just got home...but I don't feel like talking about that...work, well work is work and not matter how much sugar you put on it, it still stinks having to figure out what you are going to wear in the morning.
I have a christening for my baby this weekend but I have a caterer doing the food, so I have no good recipes to share.
I am dealing with trying to lose the baby weight but who wants to hear me complain about tight jeans and my butt giggling up the stairs after me when I run up them...nah, that is too boring.

So as I sit here at my computer chomping on my Swedish fish, listening to " Doing the Butt". I will think of something crafty or funny to right about...but for now I have a small case of writers block.
Do the professionals get this??? hmmm, that could be a good topic.

Do you sometimes.....fake it?

Ah ha, you all thought the title was meaning something fresh...but now what I want to know is sometimes do you fake paying attention when your spouse or partner is talking?

I had a phone conversation with my husband who LOVES to talk about the military...which I really don't have an interest in. He was going on and on about something to be quite honest, I really don't remember. Anyway, he was talking a mile a minute and something distracted me...the baby crying or Trent pulling at me for attention...could have been anything, but anyway I did not even remember he was talking about it and I changed the subject and he got real quiet and I said ok well I gotta go and get Trent ready for bed and he was like ok, real short and I said, what is wrong and he was like....I was talking about blah, blah and you just cut me off.
Now this is coming from a guy who was not hear for the end of my pregnancy or the birth of his child and I actually felt guilty about being rude. I am a sucker so I acted interested and asked questions and kept the conversation going until the call got dropped..gotta love cell phones...
I tried to call back but went right to voice mail...I had more important things to do than listen about his friend going somewhere in the world...
Most of our "exciting" conversations are always about him.......hmmmmmmm, is this a selfish person or am I just boring?

I may not be Martha Stewart, but I tried!

Life is crazy...in a nutshell!
I have a 4 year old who is awesome and now a three month old who is just starting to become fun.
I have no time to shave my legs, style my hair or iron my shirts but I did find the time to make my sons halloween costume.
He loves sharks. Ok, loves is an understatement...he is obsessed with them. So the only obvious solution is to make him a shark costume. hahahahahaha...I could have purchased one online and still would have done it cheaper.
I got the material and supplies for this disaster and spent about what I could have gotten it for but NOOOOOOO I wanted to be a freaking June Cleaver and make the damn thing. Stupid girl, I lived the stupid blonde joke life!
It took me HOURS...bloody finger tips from sewing through tough material, blisters from cutting the material and the frigging thing came out looking like a sting ray. Trent liked it, did not love it but it was an ocean creature to say the least.
No one wanted to hurt my feelings except my darling husband. I sent him a photo of it and he laughed and said that is the ugliest shark I have ever seen....go buy him one so he is not the laughing stock of the school and neighborhood.
I made the poor kid put it on and laughed and said, Dude, mom is going to buy you one. Well, no sharks are anywhere to be found so we settled on Mr. Incredible.
He is so cute with the mask and the fake muscles.
I guess I should stick to things I do best....sewing, not so good!

Sleep. Is it really needed anyway?

Well, I have been gone for some time now and I feel I should offer an explaination.

I had a baby.

I had a baby boy on August 4th. Maybe you read my previous post about how I was going to get him out. I was on the fence with doing another c-section, planned of course or a vbac (vaginal birth after c-section). Anyway my little bundle was 15 days early and they did not anticipate him being very big so I did the vbac. He was only 7lbs 4 oz. Everyone says that is a good size but my first son was 10 lbs. so anything under that seems small to me.

His name is Dashiell Luke but we call him Dash.

My son Trent named him...and he is named after the Disney character from the Incredibles. I tell strangers that he is named after the author.

With my husband still away it is tough for me to have anytime for myself, or even using the computer, which requires two hands.

So sleep is not happening very often on my end...but my poor husband has not even met the baby and that is so sad for him. So I may be sleep deprived but at least I am home with my kids. He will be home in November and then will be leaving for Iraq sometime in January. The baby will have to wait a couple of years to know his father. Sucks!

I will be sharing my stories of boogies, poops and puke in blogs to come. I will be going back to work so blogging will be a lot easier :-)

Tick Tock- tick tock....

So I am down to the wire and I have 9 days until the baby is born. 9 days!!!! 9 days!!! Am I repeating???
I was on the fence up until about 3 days ago. My doctor suggested that I try a VBAC...um I entertained it and then I found myself questioning everything. Complications, uterine rupture, failure to progress, baby not fitting...you name it I had it in my mind.

Then I had a conversation with TC and we discussed it. If I went the VBAC route, there is a 40% chance I am going to need a c-section anyway. Trent was 10 pounds and would not fit, hence why I had the first c-section. Oh and the drugs did not work!!!
This baby's weight is unknown so the doc wants to get an ultrasound to see. Well, technology is great but they told me that Trent would be just about 8 pounds. WRONG!!!

Plus, if I try it the natural way.....I will be alone.....all alone. It is bad enough that TC will miss the birth. But to do it alone, just is too much of a downer. I am so grateful that my sister is going to be with me for the surgery. She will calm me down.

I read so much stuff about VBAC and it seems like 50/50. Some doctors are all for it and some no. The stats say that I would only have a 1% chance of complications....um did you ever hear of Murphy's Law? Well, I am Murphy!!!!!!

So with all that in mind. I am scheduled to have my baby on the 9Th of August at 11:30 am. Which I think the doctor is punishing me for not wanting a VBAC...11:30 am...no food or water!!! I will be a bear!!

Well, the 9th it is....unless if these backaches are telling me I will go earlier?!?!?!?!?!?!

A higher power

Science or a Higher Power?

My dad was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma this past winter. His once massive structure has become that of a small, 74 year old man with "chicken skin" under his arms. His frame is so petite it is scary.
It was a stage 4 cancer, which I guess is a tough fight. However, he accepted the terms and entered the world of an oncology patient with grace. His chemotherapy has been a rough road but compared to some, a breeze. But seeing a loved one ill and weak is no easy sight.

I learned a lot about my parents and siblings through all of this. I see how a family of 6 can break up, get closer and be honest. I see that my father is not as strong mentally as I thought he was. I had him on a pedestal forever...well, my mother is the one that is a rock. Her physical strength at 70 is amazing. Her need to keep him clean, fed and healthy has been cool to see.

My parents just celebrated there 50Th wedding anniversary in May. 50 years!! I asked her in a joking way how can she love the same person for that long of a time....she said, it evolved into a different kind of love. A true unconditional love. Pure and at times complicated.

I hope my marriage will survive the ups and the downs like theirs does. I wonder if I have the patience that my mother has?? One shall see.

The strength my mother has given to my father makes me question the presence of a higher power? Why?

The latest test results indicated that the cancer is in remission. Wow, we thought, that was fast. I attribute it to the technology and the chemo recipes that have been administrated to my father. But my mother said, it is because they lead a clean life and have faith.

Now I question it....