My Little Life

I have no idea if this story will play out as well in print as it did in real life, but I'm gonna give it my best shot! But first, a couple of backstories: Backstory #1: You know the whole "I love you/I love you more" game we play with our kids? Well, one day I told them I could prove it that parents love their kids more than their kids love their parents. I said, "Parents never leave their kids, but kids grow up and leave their parents. See? I proved it." And now it's part of our "I love you/I love you more game". Backstory numero dos: Hambone is HORRIBLE with his money. Super generous to others, which is good, but can't hold onto money for nothin'. He'll buy treats for his siblings, he'll buy eggs from his sister (and no, I don't make my kids buy their own food...he just wanted in on the egg business), he just can't hang onto it...and I'm frequently telling him to spend his money wisely. So...last night at b...

Yesterday we celebrated Hambone's First Holy Communion. It was a day filled with family and focused on our sweet (goofy) boy. We had an awesome brunch with loved ones, followed up by mass...have I mentioned how wonderful our priest is? He's amazing. He captures your attention and gives his homilies in a way that is engaging and relatable. And, he looks like Jesus. OH, and, he thumps kids with his hymnal when he recesses out after mass...this has sort of become legendary and the kids clamber to the aisle seats to get smacked by Father. :) It's hilarious. While we were snapping photos of the boy of honor with various relatives, it dawned on me that the last First Communion that we celebrated (whoa...the "last first", 'cuz that's not confusing), which was 2 years ago, looked like this: See all that green? Yeah, we're still battling with a decent amount of snow on the ground...that is dwindling by the hour with the warm temps we...

Edited to add:  I thought this post had published last night...clearly, I was wrong. (Sheesh, that NEVER happens...you know, ME being WRONG.) ;) So, without further ado, last night's post: 8 years ago, at approximately this very minute, I was pelting my sound asleep and snoring husband with anything I could reach from my hospital bed. The baby boy I had given birth to not quite 24 hours ago, super speedy like, in the middle of the night, was finally asleep...but the radiator in my room was clinging and clanging and hissing and sputtering and I JUST COULDN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE. So, I chucked a bottle of lotion at him and pleaded with him to please wake up and fetch the nurse cuz MAMA WAS GONNA LOSE IT. And soon. I was exhausted. Elated, overjoyed, madly in love with the tiny bundle in my arms, but exhausted. I pulled the "difficult patient" card and we scored a great new room. That baby...that sweet, tiny, wise old soul of a newborn, was my Hambone...

After preparing and packing for a vacation...we NEED a vacation!! Holy man. This is a lot of work! The pink eye saga continues...last evening the 4th of 5 children fell victim. Thank you to whomever recommended the tea bags (I'm too lazy to go look right now!)...while they don't seem to be shortening the course, the kids all say they are super soothing to their irritated eyes! On Day 4 for Hambone, his eyes are not quite as fiery red, but still swollen and goopy. I'm now certain that we're dealing with viral pink eye...the doc said Hambone had "hemorrhagic conjunctivitis" (sounds horrible, huh?!) which is most commonly caused from a virus. Seeing as how the drops aren't really helping one bit, I think she's spot on. Call me a horrible mother, but I was actually HOPING that we were dealing with a bacterial conjunctivitis, 'cuz then the drops would've helped quickly. Instead...we're left to run the course. Boo. I'm bustin...

Last Tuesday, at a baseball game, I noticed my baby girl's eye was awfully boogery. By the time I had wiped away said eye boogers for the gazillionth time in approximately 15.3 minutes, it dawned on me that, perhaps, something  was going on with her eye. As in, PINK EYE. Never had that before, round these parts.  I watched it, it didn't seem to bother her, so I decided to just wait it out. Then, Saturday afternoon, I received a text on my lunch break at work that said, "Hambone has the same thing in his eyes that Baby Girl had"...and I shrugged my shoulders and continued to snarf down my lunch. What I wasn't prepared for when I saw my baby boy was how bad his eyes looked. Already, on Day 1, his eyes were worse than baby's had EVER gotten. I, however, being of the "nurse mom" variety that refuses to visit the ER unless it's for a heart attack or missing limb (well, and for abdominal pain, too, I've learned) dug my heels in and knew w...

For whatever reason, I was going through photos on our external hard drive, when I stumbled upon a few pictures that made me want to grab my 7 year old boy and snuggle him right up. Haven't seen these pictures in ages...dumped them onto the hard drive after our old Dell made me fearful of losing them all, and promptly forgot about them! Have a little look: The last one is like a glimpse right to the future Hambone! That is a look we still see today!

This kid, is too stinkin ' cute for his own good. Last week, the "girlfriend" subject got brought up again. He smiles ear to ear, like a typical dude talkin ' about his sweetie. Only, he says adorable Kindergarten things to accompany that smile... Things like: "So, Hambone , tell us about Claire." "Well, she's nice. And cute." *Pause* And then he adds, ever so sweetly, "And she always brings her smile." How can you not smile at that?

So, our Hambone? Yeah, he's pretty hilarious...and I'm pretty sure he doesn't even know it! He came home from school on Tuesday, his first day of school EVER, and I heard smatterings of "girlfriend" here and there from the kids. Finally, I asked him, "Hambone, do you have a girlfriend?" His reply, "Yup!" *big cheesy grin* Me: "Well, what's her name?" Him: "Hmmmmm...I dunno!" With that response, I figured we were safe. No need to start looking for reception halls just yet...until I spied him with a Ziploc bag. Me: "Hambone, what's that?" Him: "It's a piece of gum...FOR MY GIRLFRIEND!" Uh oh...is a piece of gum the new 12 carat diamond?! Later, at supper... Me: "So, Hambone, tell Dad about your girlfriend." He: "I have a girlfriend!" Mr.: "Really? What's her name?" He: "I dunno!!" All of us, chuckling: "Well, what does she look like?!" He: ...

*Grabs air guitar, starts jammin'* "Nah nah nah nah nah nah nah" 6 years ago, a mama gave birth to the most incredible little being. He came rip-roaring into this world 2 1/2 weeks early...making that mama rather happy to have gotten to "sneak out" of the last bit of pregnancy! All wise, old soul/little old man looking, he won his family's hearts...well, all except the heart of his big (not biggest) brother, who really thought his life had been rather inconvenienced by the baby that took up all of his mama's time. He has grown into such a fun little character. Full of movie quotes, spunk, and still a little bit of "baby boy", he is quite the kid. His baby sister's best bud. His biggest brother's biggest fan. His biggest sister's baby brother, and his big (not biggest) brother's arch nemesis. Okay, not really on that last part. Well, okay...maybe a little. ;) He's the kind of kid that other kids are drawn to...

Yesterday, the Mr. was driving Baby Girl and Hambone home after The Pal's baseball game (while I and the other kids stopped at the DQ, where I proceeded to realize I forgot my purse AFTER I had already ordered our treats at the Drive Thru. Ugh...), when he heard Hambone pipe up, excited and proud: "Dad! Baby Girl's makin' really good A's!" I wasn't there, but I'm guessing the Mr. gave a distracted, "Mmmmm hmmm..." Then, when he came to rescue us and our treats from the DQ, he turned around and saw this: And he exclaimed, "Hambone!!! Why didn't you tell me she was writing all over herself?!" Hambone: *pause* *exasperated* "Well, I TOLD you she was makin' really good A's!!" Score: Hambone 1, Daddy 0

He cracks us up. Daily. Need a movie line? Ask the Hambone. And don't bother arguing with him about it, 'cuz he'll be right. He has goofy sense of humor...silly, a little off beat, dry. The other day, he was sitting at the table, eating lunch with his buddy, while I was nearby enough to listen in on their conversation. Hambone: "Jesus came from Mary." Friend: "Jesus is God." Hambone: "Yeah, and Mary and Joseph got to hold Jesus." Friend: *pausing...solemn* "I wish Jesus didn't die." Hambone: *chipper* "Oh! He didn't...'cuz on the third day he was *insert whispery, mysterious, kinda freaky Hambone voice here* alllliiiiiiiiive!" O.M.G. Stick a fork in me, I'm done. I just about died, right there on the kitchen floor, from fits of stifled laughter.

It's being able to have conversations like this: Hambone: "Mama? How come dragons like to eat fish?" Me: "Because they're fishatarians." Hambone: "Ooooooh, okay!" And totally be taken seriously. Motherhood: It's all about makin' stuff up.

Hambone, out of the blue, and in complete seriousness, to his brother and sister, "I ate a wormy when I was a little baby." (Which, for the record, he did not. At least, not that I know of.) *Stunned silence* E. Dubs, all aghast: "What did it taste like?!" Hambone: "It was all juicy and yummy!" And he bounds out of the room, leaving his siblings vomiting in their mouths a little. And that is the end of your mid-afternoon randomness for today.

Was going to delete all 5(+) of these posts (yes, there were MULTIPLE posts...of the same thing...not created by me...)...then thought, what the heck...I'll leave one up for memories!

Last night, at our parent/child ECFE class (how many of you do these?), it was "Pajama Night". Hambone was crazy excited, and put his jammies as soon as I would let him. As our departure time got closer, he started asking me, "When are you gonna get your jammies on?!" To be honest, I was a little scared. Even at 34, peer pressure was getting to me. I wondered how many other parents would wear their jammies. I considered calling one of my friends that was in the class with us to see if SHE was wearing jammies. Then, I realized, "Oh fer dang sake, Mama!! Just put on the darn pj's that your boy wants you to wear so badly and GROW UP!!" So, I did just that. I threw caution to the wind, put my jammies and slippers on, and decided that I wasn't gonna care what people thought of me. *gulp* Then I started sweating...'cuz I'm a people pleaser and I ALWAYS care what people think of me. I arrived at ECFE in (now soaking wet...this sweating business is...

Last night, we had a battle of wills. Our babe, who has been getting a warm body to fall asleep next to since we put her in a big girl bed, was proving to be indecisive. Daddy, mommy, daddy, mommy...it's a game that was beginning to be played with too much frequency. So last night it was: Daddy vs. Baby Girl--Round One. He decided, once and for all, that for one cotton pickin' gosh darn night, she was gonna go to sleep in her own bed...BY. HER. SELF. (Although, I'm not so certain his foul mood was so much about teaching her better "sleep hygiene" as it was related to a broken heart.) :( Cue tears, "I want mama", and much carrying on. All the while 4 other children were trying to go to sleep. Next thing I know, Hambone says ( all serious and exasperated) to the Pal: "I can't take this crying any more...I'm sleepin' with you." And he marched himself downstairs to sleep in the relative quiet of his big brother's room. Hambone...o...

When I had my last baby, there was a part of me that wanted a girl (for our eldest daughter) and part of me that wanted a boy (for our youngest son). There was nothing I wanted more, than for our (at the time "only") girl to have a sister. I know I've mentioned before that I have no sisters. Well, I do. Now. (Thanks, Big Bro!!) But growing up, I didn't. And I feel like I missed out. On the flip side, with our youngest being a boy, I thought there'd be nothing better than for him to have a baby brother, a playmate when it was just the two of them at home. Well...it is just the two of them at home during the day now. Baby Brother and Baby Sister. And they're two peas in a pod! The laughter and the fun (and the fighting and the tears and the tattling) and the joy that the two of them have together...well...it just makes my heart happy. They're currently playing "shoot the deer" (yes, we're conservatives)...and taking turns laying on the ground...

I come from a family of a bunch of weirdos. I include myself, as one of those "weirdos". We do weird things like eat peanut butter and pickles (yes, together), play no holds barred games of football (for prizes like framed photos of G-Dub), and lick things (to mark our territory). No lie. We lick. It's how I claimed the Mr. as mine. Went right up to him, in that smoky bar, and licked him right across the face. Okay, that's a lie. He licked me first. It's how we roll around here. Want a cupcake? You lick it. Have your eye on that last S tarburst ? Lick it. We don't do any of that "Jack, jack, seat back" crap around here. Nope...when we get up from a coveted spot, we just lick it before we leave. Dogs may pee to mark their territory, but we lick. You should see us shop for cars. But anyway...leaving my parents house the other night, Hambone (formerly known as "Little A.") nabbed a pop (aka "soda", to those of you that don't kno...