Really?

Wow. That's all I have to say about my weekend.

Ok, maybe I have a little more to say.

We left late Thursday night to head up north for a dear friend's wedding. We thought we'd drive through the night so Wiggle Man could sleep. Not so much. He started vomited about 3 miles into the trip. And continued for the entire 8 hours, sleeping occasionally, only to wake up and vomit again.

I stopped changing his jammies after the third pair. Is that wrong? I only had 5 pair with me.

Since he stopped once we got to the hotel, we figured all was well. Friday he ate well during the day, and seemed ok, for the most part. Until the rehearsal dinner when he vomited all over the kitchen.

Hubba Hubba took him back to the hotel, so I could continue my bridesmaid duties. While I ran around doing last minute things, having last minute talks over Muddy Buddies (YUM!) Wiggle Man apparently continued to vomit, even while he was sleeping. Hubba Hubba broke down and called me just after midnight, suggesting we should take Wiggle Man to the ER.

You know, because my kid has never really been sick, it only makes sense that his first trip to the hospital should occur hours away from home.

Well, they ended up admitting him and putting him on IV fluids for the rest of the night, and all day Saturday. I had to leave him to go to the wedding (which I was ok doing since by that point they told us he was fine, just needed to re-hydrate) and was able to enjoy most of my day, with only occasional moments of break down on my part. The wedding was perfect, my friend was gorgeous, and Wiggle Man was released shortly after I got back to the hospital Saturday night.

I got some funny looks on the way into the hospital. Apparently most people don't go to the hospital in formal wear.

Not Me! Monday Once Again!

Ah, Monday morning. With only a few days to go before Christmas, I still have a lot to do. Here, however, are some things I, ahem, didn't do this past week:

*I did not go to Walmart in sweatpants and a sweatshirt, totally sans makeup, with questionable hair. I did not then run into someone I knew. I did not then decide to chuck it all, and stay in said sweatpants and sweatshirt for the rest of the day, even when Hubba Hubba and I went to the Chinese buffet and then to rent a movie.

*I did not skip workouts this weekend because I felt blarghy. I realised, of course, than working out would probably make me feel better, so I totally did them. All.

*I do not have laundry sitting damp in the washer from two days ago.

*I did not eat chocolate cake for dinner last night.

*Wiggle Man does not have a stinky diaper that I'm ignoring to type this. He does not normally poop first thing in the morning when I'm trying to blog.

And, drumroll please--my favourite from this week:

*I did not come home from church last night only to find a giant booger stuck to the side of my face. It was not likely left there from when Wiggle Man and I had a huge kissy fight where I tickle him and he attacks me with very slobbery kisses and the occasional booger. This means that I did not spend the evening trying to sell crafts from Africa, with a booger ON MY FACE.

If that doesn't fill your need for Not Me! Monday confessions, check out MckMama for the original NM!M queen, as well as a whole list of other bloggers making their weekly confession.

Out Of The Mouths Of Babes...

Well, our little family was out and about this evening, doing Christmas-y things. Wiggle Man sat on Santa's lap, though we couldn't coax a smile out of him this year. Then it was off to my favourite place--Target.

You can overhear the funniest things in a ladies' bathroom.

Girl: Mom, what's that box say?

Mom: Where, honey?

Girl: Right there. One side says 'tampon', and there's a funny symbol on the other side.

Mom: Um...it says 'exact coin only.'

Girl: No, I can read that. What's the symbol with the circle thingy?

Mom: I don't know.

Girl: Mo-om....

Mom: I don't KNOW.

******

The school I sub for had their Christmas concert yesterday. I was playing the piano for the chorus, and we rehearsed during the day. Afterwards, one little boy came up and this was the gist of our conversation. (Names have, of course, been changed to protect my reputation as a stellar pianist.)

Billy: Um, Mrs. Maroo, remember how I was saying it sounds like the piano at the church is lower than this one?

Me: Nope. We never had that conversation, Billy.

Billy: Oh. Well, I was saying that I thought it was lower, or maybe the other teacher plays it higher or something.

Me: Ok...

Billy: But, no offense or anything, but now I think it's you.

Me: It's me?

Billy: Yeah, I think you're just playing it lower.

Me: Well, Billy, I'm playing the music the chorus teacher gave me. If she plays it differently, she hasn't told me so.

Billy: When you play it, it kinda sounds like a horror movie that's starting to get good.

I didn't know how to respond to that. So I didn't.

Be Careful What You Wish For

First, a little background.

Wiggle Man is thusly named for a reason: he never sits still. Unless the child is in his carseat or asleep, he is never still. If you don't have a toddler of your own like Wiggle Man, you might be tempted to think I'm exaggerating.

I've timed him.

I've seen him sit still for 10 seconds.

Now, I of course, am what Hubba Hubba calls a love vacuum. You ever hear of that book, The Five Love Languages? It describes different ways of giving and receiving love, and how to figure out which ones you and your spouse are more receptive to, so you can express love in a way that best fits your mate.

Our pastor did a sermon series on that once. I'm all five.

Anyway, what this boils down to is that I love to snuggle (Hubba Hubba, Wiggle Man, the cat...I'm not over picky. Although I refuse to let Hubba Hubba hire a Snuggle Stand-In, like he's suggested several times.) So I love to snuggle, and Wiggle Man loves to wiggle. I always try to cuddle him, and he tries to escape.

Until last night.

The poor boy had an awful day yesterday. He got 3 shots at the doctor, had to get routine bloodwork done, and was teething on top of it all. By the time Jeopardy came on (his favourite show) he was miserable. He was on my lap by Wheel of Fortune. And there he stayed, until bedtime.

I got my snuggle on.

Not Me! Monday

It's the most wonderful time...of the week. That's because it's Not Me! Monday time! To participate, or to read the blogs of other NM!Mers, check out MckMama, the first and best NM!Mer.

This week:

*I did not get angry when I realised the super high electric bill was likely my fault, for using space heaters in our very drafty old farmhouse. I did not then ask Hubba Hubba what the point of having space heaters was if I couldn't use them. I of course realised right away I simply needed to be more diligent about remembering to turn them off when they weren't needed. I would never snap at Hubba Hubba like that over something that simply was not his fault. Especially not after he booked me for a massage, knowing the past few weeks have been super stressful and busy. I'm certainly a better wife than that.

*I did not seriously consider cutting the cooked part of my roasted chicken off and letting the rest cook last night when I discovered that, despite the correct temperature read on my thermometer, it was, in fact, not done on the bottom. The fact that I had my in-laws over, and was already serving dinner later than I had promised had no bearing on the impulse to carve off half the chicken. (Fear not, I really did put the whole thing back in the oven and make everyone wait for dinner.)

*I did not wake up with a giant, curly ball of mess on top of my head. I wake up polished and ready to go every day. I did not stuff that ball of mess into a ponytail until I can get it straightened.

*When Hubba Hubba asked what I'd like to do with some unexpected moolah that came our way, I did not tell him I'd like to take part of it and blow it at Target, just for fun. I'm much more frugal than that.

*I did not let Wiggle Man eat two bananas the other day, just because it was the only thing he wanted to eat. I did not give him the second one just to quiet him down because Hubba Hubba and I were tired of his screaming. I am a very consistent mother.

*I did not put Wiggle Man in his very first time out yesterday, only to have him giggle and enjoy it the whole time. Perhaps it will be effective when it's no longer a novelty. I hope.

There you have it, folks. A listing of some of the things I certainly didn't do this week. How about you?

You Like?

I got a little festive around here, I hope that's ok! I was inspired by our Christmas tree, which we finally got put up this weekend. Normally I put it up as soon after American Thanksgiving as Hubba Hubba will let me, but we got a little behind this year. I just finished the decorations a few minutes ago, so Wiggle Man will have a surprise when he wakes up!

I created my blog header using Scrapblog.com, which if you haven't tried out yet, you really should! I scrapblog for all kinds of things these days. I scrapblogged me some Christmas cards, I make headers, I've even made a presentation for our trip to Kenya.

They'll even print and ship your creations for you. This is what hooked me. I love the idea of scrapbooking, but I'm not into organising all those scraps of paper. This way, I do it all online, and order it when I'm done!

And, should you run into any problems, their customer service people are the best. I'm not kidding. I left a message one night at 5 pm when I realised something had gone wrong (it turned out to be a bug in the program) and Rebecca, one of their reps, was on the phone to me within a half an hour.

So if you're looking for something creative and fun to do with all those pictures on your computer, check out Scrapblog. If you order something by tomorrow, you can even have it by Christmas!

Number Eighty

In case you were expecting something profound having to do with the number 80, I'll let you know right now--this is my 80th post. When I first started blogging, I couldn't imagine that I'd have enough things to say to warrant that much writing. It turns out Wiggle Man always has plenty of new material.

Like how the other day, as I was getting ready to play in a recital. I'm a flutist, and I find that I need a good hour warming up on the instrument before I sound ok enough to perform. (This is my post-college warm-up. Back in the days of playing all day every day, I naturally required much less warm-up time.)

About half-way through my marathon warm up, Hubba Hubba walked in the room, carrying our son. He looked at me and said, "I think he's doing you." I didn't get what he was saying at first, until I realised Wiggle Man had a rubber stick in his mouth transversely, like you'd hold a flute. Apparently he'd been walking around like that, holding it like I hold my flute, and humming.

I'm a strong advocate for boys playing the flute. It's a great way for them to meet girls. Although, I still want him to learn the cello. Or at least go to enough Suzuki classes when he's 3 so that I can get adorable pictures of him playing his mini-cello.

***********

This morning I'm off for a dress fitting. Nothing like someone else measuring and analysing your body to lift the spirits.

***********

We're still waiting for paperwork from Kenya. The only new thing to report is that now they're saying they've emailed it. We still don't have it, of course. At least, not that anyone's told us.

***********

Since I can smell my son from where I sit, it's probably time to go change him.

So Sleepy...

Seriously, friends. All I need is one good night's sleep. At least, that's what I tell myself. One good night would do it. One night where someone snoring the cat Wiggle Man doesn't wake me up. Like many moms...I just want to sleep through the night.

Yesterday I broke down and took an afternoon nap. I never nap in the afternoon, because then I'm up til the wee hours of the morning. But it's been days since I got a full night's sleep, and I was exhausted and desperate.

It doesn't help that there were so many things I should have been doing instead of sleeping. There were presents to be wrapped, a Christmas Eve service to finish planning, projects to work on, not to mention Cheerios everywhere that could have been picked up.

At least I got most of our Christmas cards out. I ran out, of course, so I need to order more to finish out my list. If you're reading this, and are hoping for a Christmas card from me, but don't get one...it may very well be coming. Or I may not have your address. Or I may not be aware you lie awake at nights hoping I'll send you a Christmas card.

If it's the latter, let me know.

A Frosty Not Me! Monday

I'm telling you, the weeks just keep flying by. I woke up this morning, and was thinking of what to post about, when I realised it was Monday, and time for another NM!M. If my weekly confessionals aren't enough for you, go to MckMama's Blog for a whole lotta Not Me! Monday fun.

This week:

*I did not begin freaking out because the bridesmaid's dress I have to wear in NINETEEN days hadn't arrived yet. (Ok, so last week it was twenty-something days, but it's more dramatic to give you today's countdown.) I did not have to resort to being a total girl to get the postman to check to see if he had the package somewhere. He did. Apparently the note they left saying they had tried to deliver it got lost. In the mail. After a 5-minute, rather circular discussion, the conversation did not go something like this: (imagine it in a tone of voice bordering on hysteria) "Ok, listen. In that package is a bridesmaid's dress that I have to wear in LESS THAN A MONTH, and I still need to get it altered, and pressed, and...." "Ok, ma'am. This sounds important. Just let me go check."

*I did not laugh hysterically at my friend who was asked in Sunday School yesterday what a virgin was.

*I did not cheat on my diet the second day in because someone brought us lunch at the church yesterday.

*I did not have to decide which of a slew of outfits I was going to wear for the one song I played on in last night's recital. I, being a professional, was not distracted by the fact that Wiggle Man, who sat angelically with his Aunt and Grammy throughout the first half of the program, started crying as soon as he saw me onstage. I did not secretly enjoy it when my sister-in-law told me that he wouldn't take a bottle from her when she got him home, and that every time my picture came up on the digital frame, he would cry for me. I of course LOVED all the kisses Wiggle Man gave me when I did get home. (That part's true.)

*I am not cutting this short just to go shopping with my mother-in-law!

All quiet on the western front...

Nothing new has happened lately, in terms of our proposed work in Kenya. We're still waiting on paperwork to be sent to our church from Kenya. So we wait. I hate waiting. I had this conversation with a good friend last night...waiting sucks.

I am, however, learning things as we wait. I'm learning that I have much to learn. I tend to think I have a pretty open mind, and a good understanding of other cultures, but all it takes is a visit from a Kenyan friend to remind me that I'm still stuck in my own upbringing.

I'm learning to focus on what God has given me to do now instead of planning all the things I'll do for Him later. Surely He has more in mind for our family right now than just twiddling our thumbs waiting for Kenya. So, I look into the adorable face of my "mission field" these days--Wiggle Man--and teach him the things he needs to learn to grow into the man God has planned for him.

If we're living in the past, or waiting for the future, we can miss out on what God has for us today!

A Giveaway With A Purpose!

Most of you know by now that I'm a big fan of Mckmama's blog, My Charming Kids. If you're interested in photography, adorable children, being tv-less, and weekly confessionals/therapy sessions/laughfests, you need to check out her blog.

She's got a fabulous raffle/giveaway going on right now benefitting three worthy causes, with one amazing prize package! As much as I want to win that prize myself (and I hope I do!) I'm willing to tell you about it, so you can enter, too. Tell your friends, too, so that we can raise some serious funds for these organizations. (Ok...I'll admit...I'm also tempted by the bonus prize giveaway.)

So, check out her blog, get all the details on her giveaway, and check out her other posts for some good reading!

A Sleepy Not Me! Monday

It's been an amazing, eye-opening, Kenya-missing weekend for me. After all the Thanksgiving festivities (we're still eating leftovers at our house) we were so blessed to have a visitor all the way from Kenya! David has been traveling in the U.S. raising funds for his school, which focuses on orphaned and vulnerable children. I met David in 2006 when I was in Kenya, and consider myself privileged to have been able to sing some songs with his students. I have never enjoyed "Father Abraham" so much!

But, as so often happens, having visitors makes me sleepy. We always end up staying up later than we planned, talking and working on projects. And so, I offer you my sleepy Not Me! Monday:

This week:

*I did not lose my temper over a lost shoe. I mean, I have a toddler. He loses shoes. In the grand scheme of things, it's certainly not worth locking myself in the bathroom and jumping up and down.

*I did not let Wiggle Man eat a sandwich off the floor. That would be gross.

*I did not play more Tetris this week that I probably should have.

*I did not let Wiggle Man eat rolls for dinner last night simply to avoid a Dinner War in front of company. I am consistent in my parenting, regardless of who is joining us for dinner.

*I did not buy a "child harness" for Wiggle Man yesterday, something that I said I would never do. Of course, I said that before I became a parent and realised that some children are not content to sit in the cart, and will be very vocal in expressing their desire to explore.

*I did not eat more chocolate pecan pie than anyone else this weekend.

So, what about you? What did you not do over the past week?

Here's one thing you should do. Check out MckMama's blog to see the list of bloggers participating in this week's Not Me! Monday, and to learn how you can participate.