The Happiest Place on Earth

Here are a slew of pictures from our recent trip to Florida.

Pumpkin's favorite parks were Magic Kingdom and Universal Studios Islands of Adventure (b/c of Seuss Landing, which we unfortunately only got to visit for about an hour before closing). The other parks we visited (Hollywood Studios & Epcot) didn't have much for Pumpkin, and though we made the best of our visits there, we considered them a waste of money. Hopefully, we'll remember to read this blog before we return and not make the same mistake again. ;)

BTW, for purchasing multi-day "Magic Your Way" Disney park tickets, I recommend the Wal-mart at 4444 W. Vine in Kissimmee, which is just a few miles "down the street" from the Disneyworld entrance. The discount isn't great, but it's the best I found and definitely better than nothing, which is the discount one normally finds on Disney tickets, haha. It's also legit!

You have to buy them in person so you must be willing to slog through the throngs at Wal-mart as opposed to ordering the tickets online or by phone, but if you're buying for several people, I'd think it's worth it. Call (407) 397-0090 or (800) 669-0913 to confirm prices, hours and availability.

Last Weekend in Texas

The day after my surprise baby shower, we attended a "stars & hearts" birthday party for my niece Sophie. There were games, two playgrounds, face painting, dancing, pizza, cake, ice cream, you name it!



As you can see, the kids had a blast, and Pumpkin especially enjoyed this tune.



It's hard to believe that this is the same kid from last year's videos, huh? Anyway, we left for home the next day and spent the night in Wichita Falls, TX, where we visited beautiful...Wichita Falls! (ooh, aah) Yes, ladies and germs, as it turned out, our Hotwire-garnered hotel sat right beside beautiful Wichita Falls, and we were able to stroll over to the park to take a look. As it also happened, it was deathly hot out that morning so we had to hightail it back to our vehicle to avoid passing out from dehydration, haha.

It seems we do enjoy frittering away the time when we travel so we also spent a few minutes chilling out on the rocking chairs at the Cracker Barrel and then again on the grass with Sunshine before we finally hit the road again.

Surprise, Baby!

As it turned out, the reason my mom and Chela kept pestering me to buy "nice" maternity clothes even though I kept telling them that the only place I'd be going this summer was to the park was because they were planning a surprise baby shower for me.

Here's how it went down.

My sisters and I like to get together for a "spa day" whenever I'm in town. Since my younger sister Chela was going to be working the whole week, we were going to try to do it on Friday evening instead of in the morning like we usually do. Anne, my older sister, called one day and offhandedly remarked that she'd forgotten that she'd agreed to host a Mary Kay party for my cousin Leti (an MK rep) on Friday so we were going to have to do our "spa day" in the morning without Chela. Chela said it was okay with her so I agreed.

That same week, Chela took me to the mall to buy some maternity clothes then we joined our cousin Leti at the movies to see "Sex in the City." Neither of them mentioned the Mary Kay party, and as I hadn't really been invited, I didn't give it another thought. Back at mom's, though, Chela asked if I was planning to attend the party. She seemed surprised when I told her I'd probably just stay home and watch movies, but she argued convincingly that our sister put on pretty good parties and that I should attend if at least for the food. She sealed it by saying that both she and our mom would be there as well so I agreed to join them...again, without really thinking anything of it. I would've planned on attending anyway if Anne had asked, but I'd assumed it was just for her teacher friends. Besides, I needed a new tube of that super duper hand cream MK sells.

Here are some of the other clues I later missed:

**Friday morning, after my "spa day" with Anne, I asked my mom for her SUV. Oddly, Mom seemed a bit surprised by my request and somewhat reluctant to let me borrow her truck saying that she needed to run some errands. Then, she suddenly capitulated and said I could pick it up in an hour. I told her that I didn't really have any plans so she may as well keep it since she needed it, but that I'd call her if something came up. Actually, I was perfectly content to stay home in the cool A/C and watch movies all afternoon since my folks have all the movie channels, hehe.

**Friday afternoon, Juanita, my parents' housekeeper and cook, was folding my freshly laundered maternity clothes and brought one of the "nicer" ones to me suggesting I wear it to the party that evening. I don't recall what I told her, but I don't think I agreed, haha.

**When Chela came by later to pick Mom and I up for the party, she asked if I wasn't planning on wearing any sort of makeup. My sister knows very well that I don't normally wear any makeup, but she's always insisting that I, at least, brush on something for the "shine." Either way, I sure wasn't going to put on anything just to have it washed off at the party so she reluctantly dropped it.

**When we arrived at Anne's house, I thought I spotted a friend's car parked in the street outside and fleetingly wondered if she and my sister knew each other well enough for my sister to have invited her to this makeup shindig. The thought, however, left my mind almost as soon as I had it, and the 3 of us trooped to the front door and rang the bell.

**Anne answered the door herself and whispered urgently to us (or so I thought) that there were "a lot of people" there. Again, I sort of wondered why she seemed odd about it since wasn't it preferable to have a lot of people attend a product party as opposed to having only a few? Again, the thought was fleeting and disappeared from my consciousness as we entered the house.

**The lights in the kitchen/family room were off as we entered, and I watched in puzzlement (and a touch of consternation) as Chela boldly entered the room and flicked the lights on. I thought to myself that Leti must've been showing a short video on proper skin care techniques or something of that sort and wondered what had gotten into Chela to just go in there and mess it up like that. (BTW, those of you who know Leti would understand why I'd think she'd be showing a video, haha.)

**I walked in after Chela and beheld several old friends of mine sitting around the room. I briefly wondered how (and why) my sister would've invited my old friends to her Mary Kay party, but again, I didn't really think too much about it figuring they were also friends or acquaintances of hers.

Someone or other must've eventually called out "Surprise!" but it still took another moment or two of me looking around the room to realize that every single one of the guests was focusing on me and smiling widely.

Boy, was I ever surprised! The biggest surprise I've ever had I'm sure (aside from that of finding out that I'm pregnant probably). It's a shame that no one had their camera out because I'm sure it would've made for a great shot, haha.

So that, in a nutshell, is what happened. The reason my mom needed her truck was because they used it throughout the day to bring over a bunch of chairs from the restaurant's party room as well as decorations and dishes of food prepared by Salsa's cooks especially for this party. (The food WAS good, btw, just as Chela had promised ;).

It was a lot of fun catching up with so many of my old friends. I was very moved to see that they'd turned out to celebrate this latest development in my life considering that hardly any of us really stay in touch anymore these days. Even more startling was the fact that this entire party was apparently conceived and planned out in just 3 days including the invitations! Wow, those are some good friends!

Thanks a million to my mom and my sisters for doing all this for me. I was really touched. Thanks also to my aunt Ampere, who made many of the decorations herself and helped my mom put it all together. To those of you who came (even those of you who gifted me with shockingly pink baby clothes ;), I thank you from the bottom of my heart for being there for me. :)

Week 2: Time Flies When You're Having Fun

Our 2nd week in Texas was just as much fun as the first--mostly due to the fact that Lis was finally out of school and spent EVERY SINGLE DAY (and nearly every night) with Pumpkin (at his insistence, in fact).

Since Chela was still working that week, I took the kids to visit her library, where Pumpkin and Lis took turns "reading" to me and performing fantastic gymnastic feats in the library's reading room. ;)


The other days they spent in Beautiful Grandma's backyard splashing around in the warm water with Lily and Sunshine, relaxing in the grass, or visiting with their other cousins.


While Pumpkin was thus entertained, I took the opportunity to go shopping for maternity clothes with my mom and Chela (at their insistence, I'm afraid, hehe ;). I also went on a couple of "spa days" with my sisters. Pedicures and hair with Chela on Wednesday, massage and lunch with Anne on Friday. Ahhh.

Then, things really got interesting. ;)

The Happy-Haps (Week 1)

In a nutshell, here's what went down on our last visit to Texas:

The kids were in their last week of school so we spent most of our daylight hours playing in "Beautiful Grandma's" backyard with Sunshine (& Grandma's dog Lily, whom you can see in the bottom of the 1st shot. Also, note Pumpkin's before & after hair styles. ;). That weekend, we celebrated Lis's "actual" birthday and also attended the girls' dance recital.























The following Monday, we went to Lis's "Indiana Jones" birthday party, which was held at the local Children's Museum and was remarkable in that my sister forgot the plastic ware forcing us to eat our cake like this:

Actually, the party and the decorations were pretty cool. My sisters really know how to go all out, haha (not me!). Since our last visit to this museum, a retired priest had gifted them with a bunch of Union Pacific and Texas-Mexican railway model trains, books, and memorabilia, and the museum made up a separate "train room" to display their latest goods along with a huge wooden train table. Naturally, Pumpkin spent almost the entire party in that room coming out only for sustenance, hehe.



While he was out and about, Pumpkin also took the time to take a whack at the pinata and play a bit with his cousin D, who's the same age and also enjoys Thomas trains. (There's D, the tough guy, also taking a shot at the pinata.)














Lis, as you know, is Pumpkin's FAVORITE girl in the whole wide world so after the party ended, we drove her back home, where he even had a blast watching her open her gifts. So cute!

New from Pumpkin

"IAM rhymes with IAN!"

Also, here's a short clip of Pumpkin and the dogs (Lily & Sunshine) running around "Beautiful Grandma's" backyard.

Coming Home

The day I left Colorado, thunder storms moving into the Dallas area were apparently causing all sorts of disruptions at DFW. Naturally, I didn't know any of this when I arrived at the airport 2 hours ahead of my 10AM flight. I was just excited to see my little Pumpkin again!!

First thing I noticed upon entering the airport was that the earlier flight to Dallas had been delayed from 8:00 to 9:00AM. The 10AM flight was still on time; I had only a small carry-on, and I'd already checked in from home so I decided to kill some time by checking out the fancy airport shops. (I found the funniest little onesie that said "Nobody puts Baby in the Corner." Hilarious! Unfortunately, the damn thing was not only pink, it also cost $30 so I just gently set it back down and appeased myself by purchasing an "I Love Sushi" baby bib, haha.)

By the time I ambled over to my gate well ahead of schedule (or so I thought), info on the monitors had changed and was now indicating that the earlier Dallas flight had been moved back to 10AM while my flight was delayed until 11:30AM! My connection in Dallas was scheduled to depart at 2:30PM (1:30PM MST). I knew I wouldn't make it if I stayed on my own flight so I ran over to the gate for the earlier flight to see about getting on stand-by with them. The gate was deserted when I arrived, and I had to wait nearly 30 minutes for a gate attendant. By the time she showed up, I'd already contacted Frontier on the phone and confirmed that there were plenty of empty seats available for stand-by. When I asked the gate attendant; however, she rudely proceeded to explain that they'd gotten the flight out on time, the monitors must be wrong, and that I should really be elsewhere if I intended to go to Dallas (as if I was supposed to have divined that information from the sky).

By this time, it was nearly 10AM. I was worried that perhaps the monitors were wrong about my flight as well, and that they'd have started boarding so I rushed back to my original gate only to find...a scene of mass confusion. It seemed the plane was in, but departure was still going to be delayed until 11:30. What's more, they were asking for volunteers to reschedule for another day in exchange for $400 of flight credit. Though I would've loved to have taken the $400, I knew I'd end up losing money if I had to reschedule both this flight and my connection on American Airlines so I decided to work on alternatives. QT was supposed to be on his way to Wyoming that same day, and I further worried I'd be stuck at either DIA or DFW if I didn't come up with a plan before he left.

In desperation, I called my dad and asked him to talk to his friends over at their local American Airlines counter to see if they could possibly rebook me on a later flight (for free, of course ;). While I was on the phone, I looked over to the other side of the concourse and noticed that the earlier flight to Dallas, the one I'd tried to get on, was still posted on a gate across the way from us! Not only that, they were boarding passengers as I watched!! I ran over there only to discover that they had actually taken off on time but had to return to the airport due to some technical difficulties. They were just getting ready to leave again but were actually oversold and had no space for stand-by. Total bummer. At least, this explained why they were looking for people to rebook from my flight.

I sat down and got to thinking. All around me, I could hear snippets of conversation from other people on my flight who were also trying to rearrange their plans. I overheard one man talking on the phone about not being on time to visit his grandmother in the hospital. Yeek! I quickly borrowed a fellow passenger's pen and called info for American Airlines' 1-800 number. The AA service rep was really nice and explained that my 2:30 flight out of DFW had also been delayed due to bad weather so there was a chance I'd still make it. If not, the next flight out was only about half-full so I could take that one if necessary. He said if I handled it over the phone, there'd be a fee for changing flights, but it'd be free if I simply waited until I arrived at DFW and got on as stand-by. Kind of a risky proposition to fly into any old city on the off-chance that one will find a flight out, but I thought the odds sounded good so I accepted.

A few minutes later, I called AA again to find out when their last flight to my final destination was that day, y'know, j.i.c. I discovered that there were 2 more flights out that day, and both still had plenty of space; however, the 2:30 flight had just been canceled so now I'd be jockeying with the rest of those displaced passengers for the available space on those 2 later flights. Bummer. In my earlier wanderings, I'd noticed a Frontier service counter right beside our gate. I decided to go and try my luck with them. I wanted to see if Frontier would be willing to pony up the fee for rescheduling my missed connection. Since this was a weather-related delay, I figured they wouldn't, but hey, I wasn't doing anything else, right?

The Frontier rep was pleasant enough, and she even called AA to see what they could work out for rebooking my missed flight. In her words, AA unfortunately "wasn't playing well with the other kids in the sandbox" meaning, unlike most other airlines, AA didn't have any agreements to honor other airlines' tickets, so basically, I was out of luck. My best bet was to simply eat the rebooking fee myself, but I was hungry and tired and feeling kind of reckless by then so I opted to take my chances on stand-by...at DFW. After leaving the service desk, I had just enough time left to go buy myself a sandwich before boarding was set to begin. Finally.

Our flight left at 11:30 as promised, but we were forced to circle around the storm a few times before we could land so we didn't actually make it to DFW until about 3PM CST. Upon landing, I rushed over to the counter for the next flight and made my way into the line of people waiting to see the gate attendant. It turned out that there had been quite a few cancellations at DFW that morning, and all the AA gate attendants in our concourse were busily trying to reschedule passengers from the canceled flights. Having eaten, I felt alright again...calm even, but it was easy to see that tempers were beginning to flare all around me. I saw lots of scowling angry faces, heard lots of yelling and lots of heavy sighing, etc etc. One mom was yelling at her kid for daring to walk around in a circle while waiting in line (fortunately, the kids' dad was also there trying to calm the lady down, and she actually seemed to make a visible effort to chill out when she noticed I was watching her....I dunno...perhaps it's obvious I'm a social worker??...hehe).

The gate attendant was surprised that I hadn't already been rebooked on the phone since my flight was one of those canceled, but she wasted no more time in wondering about it. She quickly rebooked me for the later flight, handed me my boarding pass, and told me the new gate assignment. I was so relieved. I hadn't even realized how worried I was about getting stranded until I finally held that golden ticket in my hand. I celebrated my good fortune by buying myself a frozen yogurt cone. Mmm good!

I called my mom to tell her my new arrival time, then of course, I started to feel ill. Damn sugary yogurt cone. I'd been hoping to make it all the way home without having to eat again so that I could dine at my parents' restaurant that evening, but it was no go for me. I rushed over to the nearest restaurant and bought a turkey sandwich to go. It was dry and yucky, but at least it was edible (or mostly anyway). I conceded by eating only half so that I could still have something yummy at my parents' restaurant. :)

When I'd talked to my mom, I kept reminding her that I hadn't checked any luggage and would be ready to go right off the plane (i.e. please be on time!). My parents actually arrived at the airport on time, so naturally, my plane landed nearly an hour behind schedule! As I walked down the jetway from the plane, fuming, I realized that after 10 hours of delays and countless frustrations, I'd finally hit my limit. I didn't want anything to mar my reunion with Pumpkin so I called QT to vent. He was very understanding, of course, and I felt better just having said it out loud. As I rode the escalator down, I could see Pumpkin hopping around downstairs happily crying "My mommy's here! My mommy's here!" The look on his face was simply priceless, as I'm sure the one on mine was as well. He rushed over to me and gave me the biggest hug ever...still wearing that ecstatic look on his face. 10 hours? Frustration? Bah! I needn't have worried. All my troubles were forgotten and the universe righted the minute I held my little boy in my arms again. :)

Easy as Sunday Morning

You can all relax now. QT and I resolved our differences yesterday with our patented "pinky truce." That's where we link pinkies and agree to let bygones be bygones. We made that up when we were newlyweds, and it apparently still serves us to this day. :)

Sunday has thankfully gone a lot better for us so far. We worked well together this morning while cleaning our bathroom then we went outside and chatted with our neighbor for a while before heading to Jason's for a quick lunch. On the way home, we even stopped at PetsMart and bought the girls a brand spanking new kitty condo to replace the one we had to leave behind in Texas. We set it up in our bedroom, sprinkled some catnip on it, and voila! The cats LOVE it.

See, we're kinda sorta preparing for our trip to Disneyworld this summer so besides the new kitty condo, we also invested in a fancy-schmancy motorized self-cleaning litter box aptly named The Litter Robot. It's working well so far, and the cats haven't seemed to mind it (much). We're running a trial this weekend on the litter box so we'll see how the cats do with it. Hopefully, they won't decide to stop using it because it's great not having to worry about dirty litter boxes.

Stand Down, Men

I talked to my mom this morning. She said Pumpkin's been reunited with his favorite cousin Lis and is fine now, and she urged me to stay home and wait for my flight. I also talked to Pumpkin, and I have to agree with her assertion. When I talked to him yesterday, he stayed on the phone with me for a while telling me all about his day. His regular modus operandi is to talk to me for about 30 seconds before passing me off to whomever's closest. I assume he does this whenever he's too busy having fun to talk to me, and up until yesterday, that is how all our phone conversations have gone during his visit so far, haha. I pretend hurt, but in truth, I don't mind it one bit because at least I know he's having fun.

Well, when I talked to him this morning, he took an extra minute on the phone with me to tell me about his new train, but when he was ready to go, he passed the phone to Beautiful Grandma and ran off. Seconds later, I heard wild and happy shrieking in the background (which my mom said was him & Lis playing with the dogs). Funny anecdote time: When he first got on the phone, I could hear my mom in the background also trying to talk to him. I couldn't quite make out what he was saying so I asked him to tell her, "Grandma, be quiet. I'm talking to my mommy." Instead, what I heard him yell was "GRANDMA! SHUT IT!" LOL!! Don't worry, I could hear my mom also laughing in the background; she's a good sport.

So I guess QT & I are in for the weekend. Our day started out alright, but then QT being QT, an unfortunate gloom settled over us within a couple of hours of waking. When I first thought of spending the entire weekend together sans Pumpkin, I don't know...I guess I envisioned strolling hand-in-hand, having an ice cream cone, or going out to a nice dinner at a restaurant where they don't necessarily have to serve mac-and-cheese, haha. I couldn't quite remember what sort of things we used to do together before Pumpkin came along, but I assumed we'd be able to figure it out given the chance. I think now that perhaps we've gotten so used to always having Pumpkin as a buffer that we haven't really noticed that, maybe, we don't particularly enjoy spending time alone together anymore. I mean, we're still friends, of course, but we're not as friendly to each other as we once were. There's definitely a lot more sniping, growling, and complaining between us than I recall there ever being in our lives before. I'm sure it doesn't help that I'm overly emotional these days and also not remotely as patient as I may be when not pregnant so perhaps it's all just me. Still. I guess we'll see how this weekend goes.

Eastbound and Down

QT just found out that his office is shutting down at 1 today so we're considering just driving down to Texas to reunite with Pumpkin.

My mom called me this morning because Pumpkin was (finally) asking for me. She passed the phone to him, and he didn't sound as happy as he had been these past few days. "Beautiful Grandma" told me they were on their way to the mall then to Target to buy some new Thomas trains, which ought to cheer him up a bit. Plus, his cousins get out of school early today so he'll have company soon enough, and he'll probably forget all about me again. I hope.

Unfortunately for me, mommy guilt has returned in full force, and now I have to seriously consider trucking down to Texas earlier than planned (my flight is scheduled for Tuesday). Problem is that we haven't even had time to unpack from our trip to Houston. We haven't done laundry, haven't cleaned litter boxes, haven't done squat. The milk in our fridge is expired, and I'm completely out of clean underwear that fits. Today, I had to resort to wearing clean-underwear-that-doesn't-fit (at least it's clean, haha). I'm not sure I can be ready in time. In fact, given the list of things that still need to get done around here, I'm actually just trying to talk myself back down from this ledge. I'll keep you posted. ;)

24

It's been just over 24 hours since we dropped Pumpkin (and Sunshine) off with his Beautiful Grandma at Buc-ee's in Luling (more on that later). I've not done too badly on my first Pumpkin-less day, managing to get through with minimal amounts of crying and moping about. Naturally, the thing I missed most after we got back to Houston was having Pumpkin running his hands through my hair. Figures. ;)

I'm told that Pumpkin has been having a blast with the family, and that he's only kinda sorta cried for me once so far, which I consider a great success! (Not that he cried for me, but that he only did it once.) He spent most of today with his Grandma Toni, and as a special treat, they drove past the rail yard by the college to see some real live trains. Knowing Pumpkin, he was absolutely thrilled to see real trains up close and personal.

QT and I just got home a couple of hours ago, and I haven't had a chance to download any more of our trip pictures yet, but I will post some pictures of our Buc-ee's outing soon. Unfortunately, right now, I'm extremely exhausted and getting hungrier by the minute so I'd better sign off before I either start eating my computer monitor or say something really stupid, haha. You have my thanks and my apologies for slogging through this completely witless post. I promise to do better next time. ;)

I suppose I'd best start unpacking and start getting psyched for tomorrow when I will be volunteering at the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless all day. Then on Wednesday, it's The Cure LIVE AT RED ROCKS!! :)

The Kemah Boardwalk

Yesterday, we met up with my old Hogg Clinic buddies at the Kemah Boardwalk. Along with the Galveston Bay Foundation, the Boardwalk was holding a "Bay Day" to teach us all about marine life and how to take care of our bay. There were fun booths, activities, shows, etc. Despite his altogether newfound pre-teen-ness, my nephew Ron was good enough to help me on the scavenger hunt for a chance to win some cool prizes. (we lost.) There was even live music and a puppet show, which we missed because we'd gone off by then to ride the Kemah Express (or as Ron termed it, "another dumb train"). I guess he doesn't remember when he was a cute little pain in the ass like Pumpkin is now, haha. Now, of course, Ron's just a big slouching, scowling PITA, but at least he's still a good sport (we even got him to smile for a picture).



There's "Beautiful Grandma" enjoying one of the activities, Pumpkin having fun with his new friend Tyler, and me with my buddies Terri and Angie. I'm looking for a picture to use as a "before/after" shot, but those aren't digital so I'll have to scan it before I can post it (first, I'll have to find it, haha).

Houston, we have landed.

It's difficult to understand the feelings that swept over me as we drove into Houston. I was so happy to be back...unbelievingly happy considering that I completely disliked Houston when we first moved here back in 1995. The area around the airport is so lush and green and beautiful. I didn't even mind the humidity. Who knew I'd ever miss that?

In the evening, we even found time to visit the Wall of Water at the park formerly known as Transco (now Williams). Rather, we made time to visit the park. Sunshine behaved exceptionally during our entire trip not crying or whining once during our flight, and we felt he'd deserved a good old romp in the park. There were a few other families at the park, and both he and Pumpkin had a blast! Along with their new friends, they literally ran circles around me so that I had to stop watching them or get completely dizzy, haha. After his friends left, Pumpkin called his "Beautiful Grandma" to ask her when she was arriving. He's so excited to see her that he called her again this morning to ask her if we were going to Chuck E. Cheese when she got here, haha.

Today, QT is in Louisiana on business, and Pumpkin, Sunshine, and I are going to hang out at the hotel and rest a bit. We've had a rough past couple of days getting ready for our trip and doing all that last minute stuff that tends to pile up right before our trips so naptime is looking good to me right now. I'd planned to take the "kids" back to the park, but it seems to have rained overnight and I just heard thunder so we may be out of luck there. Perhaps Pumpkin and I will take a walk in the Galleria instead while we wait for our cousins from Louisiana to arrive.

It's now nearly 11am here so I guess we'll start by changing out of our pj's, hehe.

I miss my mommy.

That's it. That's all I really have to say, haha.

For whatever reason and despite the severe illness I went through with my last pregnancy, this pregnancy seems to be taking a greater emotional toll on me. Nothing much has changed from then to now. I mean, a lot has changed, of course, but I'm still kinda sorta doing the same things now as I was then. I was employed FT then, and I'm "working" FT now as part of my internship. I was in grad school then just like I am now (with less homework now in fact, but probably 3x the amount of stress). Granted, I live in a different state and I've got Pumpkin to think of now (and Sunshine), but that's it. I can't figure out what's wrong with me this time around.

Whatever the reason, the good news is that I'll get to see my mommy soon. She's decided to join us in Houston for the weekend, and she's going to take Pumpkin home with her for an extended visit with his grandparents (and myriad cousins, aunts, uncles, & assorted others). Goodie!

Intelligence?

Pumpkin received his very 1st school acceptance letter in the mail today. Woo-hoo for Pumpkin! It's from a fancy-schmancy (read: expensive) private school for gifted children. As pleased as I am about this, I'm torn about how to proceed.

Besides the price tag for this new school, which I'm still reeling over, I kind of feel like sending him to a school like this will be throwing too much at him too early in his life, and I'm worried that we won't be able to keep up the pace through his teen years when holding his interest matters most.

If Pumpkin is really gifted, is it better then to start him early and make sure he receives enough mental stimulation from the get-go but possibly risk burning him out or is it better to let him go at another pace and pray that the public school system doesn't end up failing him and cause him to want to drop out? Surprisingly, statistics show that gifted children (i.e. those in the highest percentile of intelligence) drop out of school at the same rate as those in the lowest percentile. I read this sometime ago so I can't quote any specifics, but it's a sobering thought nonetheless.

Well, by the time of this posting, we had finally decided to bite the bullet and enroll him. Actually, I finally decided. QT was for it all along. I suppose what finally nudged me into this decision was the memory of how my days went once Pumpkin was born. I'm talking about AFTER QT went back to work and the outside help had gone, and I was left at home...alone...with a tiny new baby. Eek!

Since he was a preemie, Pumpkin only "ate" about a 1/2 oz of milk every hour or so then he'd take another half hour to "burp" before finally falling asleep again. Basically, by the time he fell asleep, it'd almost be time to feed him again. I remember having precious few minutes in between naps and feedings to tear around the house scarfing a sandwich, washing bottles, etc in preparation for the next feeding and naptime. Some days, I'd actually get to take a shower! (Those days were especially blissful, haha.) I even remember snapping at poor QT when he'd inadvertently call during my "alone time" because every minute I spent on the phone was one minute less in which I could be doing something more essential...like pooping or brushing my teeth, haha.

Naturally, I won't be as ill this post-pregnancy as I was then, but keeping my previous experience in mind, I thought it might not be such a bad idea to give myself a few hours every morning to devote to little baby girl Beckham without having to worry about Pumpkin as well. Besides, his new classroom has a train table (YES, you read that right, folks!!). Needless to say, Pumpkin's already jazzed about going there. :)

Ladies and Gentlemen, heeeeere's Sunshine!

Since Sunshine was given to us by Jesse, our kindly Schwan's delivery guy, Pumpkin often asks whether Jesse "delivered" Sunshine to us. When Jesse first came by with the dog, Pumpkin even wondered if Jesse'd had the dog in the "back" of the truck (i.e. the freezer section). lol

(There's Sunshine playing with a foam ball bigger than him, and Pumpkin snapping photos of his new puppy.)

Before this dog became "Sunshine," he went through various names, among them "Buttercup" which is actually our cat's name. I believe that in Pumpkin's plan, Buttercup's name would've been changed to Arthur so that the dog could have her name, haha. Sunshine is the cutest little thing, and fortunately for us, he's not a barker like so many pocket dogs are. He is a biter though (Ouch!), but that's just a puppy phase. And, yes, Sunshine is still essentially pocket size, though, to me, he does seem slightly bigger than he was when we got him 2.5 weeks ago...at which time he weighed in at 2 lbs! So this little guy may grow up to be full-size yet (full Chihuahua size that is, which isn't saying much, hehe).

More Pics from France

Eclair du Chocolat

As I mentioned yesterday, QT is in France. He's there for some annual environmental meeting his company's parent company is having for their big wigs. And, no, QT's not a bigwig. He's just a minor wig, who was asked to sub for an actual big wig, who couldn't make it at the last minute. Regardless the route, QT is in Paris! Yay!

He's called home a few times since he arrived, and every time we talk to him, it seems like he's having just a grand old time. He's already strolled the Champs-Elysses, took pictures of the Eiffel Tower (at night), checked out the Louvre, and best of all, he visited this bakery and had an eclair du chocolat in my honor. How sweet is that!?



I do so love eclairs. In fact, that's all I asked QT to bring for me from France, haha. He said he thought the eclair wouldn't survive the trip so he had one in my honor instead even though he's not really a big fan of the eclairs.

Before he left for France, I tried to teach him a few phrases and numbers in French so that he could get by until a truly bilingual person rescued him. He said that his "Merci" and "Bonjour" have served him well so far. He's going to try and send me more pictures soon but hasn't been able to upload them to his computer yet since he doesn't have the correct cable for my camera (which is the one he's using over there).

Hopefully, he'll get that sorted out soon, and I'll have some snazzy new pics to show you. Stay tuned!

It's snowing!

Yes, it's true. The wind was pretty gusty too, and we ended up with a 2-3 ft snowdrift blocking our garage door. Figures this would happen the day after QT left for France, and me with a meeting to go to downtown!

Oh well. I missed my meeting, and when it warmed up outside, I even went out to shovel the driveway so that we're not stuck in here another day.

Right after I finished shoveling, we had a visitor, who brought Pumpkin a surprise. A puppy! I've been thinking of getting him a dog for months now but haven't had the guts to do it (b/c I know it's a lot of work). I guess this basically takes the decision out of my hands, haha. I also know that QT isn't going to like this. :(

We haven't settled on a name yet so Pumpkin's been calling it 'doggie.' I think he actually wants to call him Doggie forever, but I'm trying to convince him that the dog needs a real name. It's a Chihuahua mix puppy, and it's incredibly cute. I brought one of the cat cages up from the basement for the dog to use, and I'll probably take Pumpkin to PetsMart tomorrow to pick out some new dishes and a little sweater for Doggie since he was shivering when we were out earlier today.

QT took my camera with him to Paris so I'm not able to take pictures of Doggie right now, but check back soon for an update. :)

Another Ear Infection!

Yes, you read that right, folks. Less than a week after finishing up his latest round of antibiotics, Pumpkin has developed yet another ear infection. I don't know if it's a new one or the same damn one sticking around, but at least this time, his medicine isn't as yucky. He took his first dose just now and proclaimed it "okay." I'm sure it helps that every dose is immediately followed by a delicious Girl Scout cookie.

After our visit to the pediatrician this morning, I decided to take him out to lunch as a treat, and guess which restaurant he picked. He bypassed all his usual favorites (like McDonald's) and specifically requested we go to Carino's!

What an odd boy, haha.

Hands Off!

My friends, in your daily activities, should you ever come across a shirt for moms that says "Don't touch my tummy" or something along those lines, PLEASE send it to me!

Back in Texas, a shirt like that wasn't necessary because I'd known everyone around me for so long (and everyone knew me) that they all knew better, hehe.

We'll see how things go here in Colorado.

My last book

BTW, I just wanted to tell you unsuspecting readers out there that I do NOT recommend my last read "Dancing naked at the edge of dawn" so if you're looking for an interesting new book to read, pick a different one. I found this one a bit too... frustrating. And verbose. The author seemed to prefer using 4 adjectives where one would've really sufficed...and the characters....good lord! Who the hell really has a friend who lies naked on a beach with her breasts pointing straight up in the air whilst holding a margarita?? (Seriously, regardless of how sensually beautiful she is, what normal 40-50 year-old woman's breasts can even point straight up in the air when she's lying on her back anyway? lol)

Sure, I have my eccentric friends just like everyone else, but get real. I don't have friends like the ones portrayed in this book (who all also smack of latent lesbianism...not that there's anything wrong with that!). Or, maybe, it's a white thing, and I just don't get it (me being Raz and all). Because I recall to mind a scene in a movie I saw a few months ago where a mother and her 3 adult daughters go to a spa and are disrobing together in the locker room, and I clearly remember thinking that would probably NEVER happen in my family. Of course, the movie characters were white and high-strung, haha.

I just started a new book: Portrait of an Unknown Woman by Vanora Bennett, which I am enjoying much more so far and would recommend to those of you, who enjoy historical fiction. Like I said, I've only just begun the book so it may get worse, but the writing is good, the plot interesting, and nothing I've read so far seems to indicate any of that will change.

I did finish Dancing Naked, by the way, and I even appreciated the ending somewhat. I just tired of the whole "men are bad" and "women are not only good but all secretly bisexual" theme that the author seemed to be trying to pound into my head. ;)

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a....

Because of my (advanced) age, QT & I opted to have an amniocentesis done on Creature in order to rule out certain birth defects. Early results indicate that all is well on those fronts so that's a relief. Besides putting our minds at ease about the scary stuff, another good thing that comes of having an amnio is that we also get to learn Creature's gender...unequivocally.

Ladies & Gents, I am pleased to announce that Creature is officially a Creaturette!



As most of you know, foofy pink butterflies and flowers are absolutely NOT my thing so we'll have to see how it goes for poor Creature. I predict that she will be wearing lots of leftover baby boy clothes and playing with traditional "boy" toys (and I'm not referring to Madonna. I mean real toys like trains, lizards, baseballs, & fire trucks). Truthfully, I don't see why those things can't also be considered "girl" toys. I'm sure that, given the opportunity, girls would enjoy playing with trains and lizards just as much as boys do. Hehe. Well, I guess we'll find out.

Update II

It turned out that Pumpkin's ear infection wasn't resolved with the previous 2 rounds of antibiotics after all...hence the fever. Damn you, Augmentin! I trusted you!

We found out yesterday that the other kids at his babysitter's are all having the same problem with these recurring ear infections. Bizarre and a bit scary too.

Anyway, back in Texas, three days after his final dose of Augmentin, Pumpkin was started on another antibiotic called Cedax, and he finally seems to be showing some improvement on this one. The silver lining on this cloud was that his "Beautiful Grandma" bought him yet another Thomas train set so that he'd feel better (I think it worked too!).

I was worried that Pumpkin wouldn't be ready for our return flight on Easter Sunday, but since all outgoing flights were sold out for Monday, I decided to just stick with the original flight plan and hope for the best. As it turns out, we very nearly were stuck in Texas anyway. The flight coming in from Dallas was delayed, which delayed our outgoing flight to Dallas, which would've made us miss our connection to Denver, which also happened to be the last flight out for the night, which meant we would've been stuck overnight at DFW. No thanks.

Fortunately, our flight was only delayed an hour (as opposed to the 2 hours we were first told when we arrived to check-in) so we had plenty of time in DFW to make our connection.

Funny story here: when we arrived at DFW, we went off in search of food. (BTW, I have to say that I think Terminal D is now my favorite terminal in all DFW! They've got everything there, even a Cantina Laredo (yum!)). Anyway, we strolled around checking out the various restaurants, I picked up some sandwiches and yogurt, and we proceeded to our gate. When we arrived at our gate, the emptiness of the passenger waiting area struck me, and I wondered where everybody else was. Figuring that we'd arrived early, I picked a bench and started to set out our "dinner" when I noticed a woman walk up to the gate counter, hand over her boarding pass, and head down the jetway.! Yikes! We weren't early at all; all the other passengers were already on board the plane! I quickly stuffed our sandwiches into my backpack, and Pumpkin and I hightailed it to the gate counter. Sure enough, they'd already boarded the plane, and even though we were among the last to board, we'd arrived in plenty of time. Whew! Crisis averted. haha

As you could see in my previous post, we made it home safe and sound (except for the puking), and all's well that ends well.

Colorado Makes Me Sick

I mean that literally. I've been puking, gagging, and coughing since I got off the damned plane! What's THAT about?

Well, I suppose now's as good a time as any to tell y'all that I'm pregnant, which might have accounted for the puking etc. IF I hadn't just spent a wonderful puke-free week in Texas. So there! Take that, Colorado!

Anyway, so yeah, I'm pregnant...against all odds, and the creature (as QT & I lovingly refer to it) is apparently alive and kicking--as of my last ultrasound on 03/10/08. Here's a pic. See if you can spot the critter (oh, yeah, that's Creature's other nickname, haha ;)



QT & I think the higher altitude might be affecting me so, naturally, all I want to do now is go back to Texas, where I can eat all I want courtesy of mom and dad's restaurant AND, best of all, not puke. Not puking is always fun.

Sadly, there's no move to Texas in our near future so I've decided that I will simply move to Texas by myself...for the summer. Well, I'll have Pumpkin with me of course, and we won't "move" as in LIVE there forever. It'll be more of a really extended vacation or a reverse "Winter Texan" thing (aka "Summer Texans"). Truth be told, I don't know how long I'll be able to stand the heat, and even if I last, I'll still have to be back a couple of months before my EDD anyway, which sucks because I'd much rather have a Texan baby than a Colorado-born one.



Long live the Republic! Yee-haw! ;)

Update

I meant to get back on here with an update on Pumpkin's sudden fever, but busy with our travel preparations, there was unfortunately no time to post.

Pumpkin's fever spiked again later that night (3am to be more precise. ugh! why is it always at 3-friggin-AM?). So, of course, we were both awake at 3am trying to keep Pumpkin cool. Then, it happened again the following night (same bat time, same bat channel). QT stayed home on Monday to take Pumpkin to the doctor, and it turned out that he'd again developed infections in both his ears. I found it odd since he'd just finished a course of antibiotics for the same thing not a week prior, but I guess it is what it is. It's hard to tell with Pumpkin since the only two times he's had ear infections before this time, he also didn't complain until the infection was fairly advanced. Over Thanksgiving, as some of you may recall, no one was aware that he was sick until he woke up one day listless and with a raging fever that required a shot of penicillin in addition to the regular 10-day course of antibiotics!

So, anyway, he finished this latest course of Augmentin on Wednesday (ahh, Augmentin and I are like old friends now). He's doing better, but he felt a bit feverish last night and again this morning as well as being in a weird (read: whiny) mood, which is not really like him. He was acting more like himself in the afternoon (after a dose of Motrin) so I'm hoping whatever he's fighting off will pass without much complication. He's still game for our pre-Easter party tonight, where he's looking forward to eating cake so I'm hopeful that all's well. :)

Reporting to you LIVE from Texas,
Pine

Happy Easter!!

Happy Birthday QT!

It's QT's birthday today. Yippeee!!!!



Even though I've not been feeling too well lately, I wanted to do something special for QT's birthday b/c, well, gosh-darn-it, he deserves it! I even secured a babysitter weeks ago without even having an idea of where we'd go but knowing only that we'd definitely be going somewhere!

I figured we'd go out to dinner then wing the rest of the evening, but yesterday, by a sheer stroke of luck, I happened to be riding the bus downtown and noticed the marquee at the Paramount announcing that the Gipsy Kings were going to be there in concert on QT's birthday! I jumped off the bus and hightailed it back to the Paramount to get tickets, but the box office was closed. Ok, so no tickets yet, but at least I finally had a plan!

Birthday morning rolls around, and it's nice and easy so far. We have breakfast, sing happy birthday, and eat some cake before heading out for haircuts. We return home afterwards to shower, change, etc then QT & I tidy up the house and prepare lunch while Pumpkin naps. Y'know, typical family weekend stuff. All this time, QT still has no clue where we're going (but he decides to be a Grinch about it anyway ;). It's finally almost time to start getting ready for our big night out. Then, Pumpkin wakes from his nap and comes downstairs looking for us. I notice immediately that something's not quite right. His cheeks are flushed, he's moving sluggishly, and when he crawls up on my lap, I realize that he's a bit warm. One could almost say...feverish. Damn!

I hope against hope that he's just overheated from having been dressed too warmly during his nap while being bundled up in fleece blankets with a warm cat sleeping on top of him so I quickly remove his fuzzy pj's and wait a few minutes. Nope, still feverish, and now he's also shivering a bit. Damn! I quickly put his pants back on and give him a dose of Motrin and a frozen popsicle to see if that'll do the trick. Nope. Fever's actually gone up, and now, he's starting to whine. We rush upstairs to put Pumpkin in the tub while we start getting dressed (in the same room, of course). Pumpkin finally seems a bit cooler so we take him out of the tub and dress him in shorts & a tee. I've only managed to get partially dressed so far, but I'm still hopeful that we'll make it to the Gipsy Kings tonight. We check Pumpkin's temp again, and the fever's still holding steady. Damn.

It's 30 minutes before the babysitter's set to arrive, and we have to make a decision. Our babysitter is 12 years old, and even though I believe the fever will abate without complications like it usually does, I'd hate to leave her alone with a potentially dangerous situation. We concede defeat, and I reluctantly call the babysitter to cancel before truding sadly back to my closet to change back into my frumpy (but comfy) house clothes. Pumpkin's looking more lively, and his temp has gone down a notch to 100 so we at least have our silver lining.

Our big night out down in flames, QT runs to Saltgrass Steakhouse for some takeout, and that at least fulfills the dinner portion of our evening. Here, then, is a taste of what the rest of our evening would've been like:



Happy birthday, QT. Better luck next year.

Go Hillary!

My home state done me proud on Tuesday. :)

Granted, I'll support whichever candidate ultimately wins the nomination, but for now, I'm still rooting for Hillary.



Speaking of the nomination, I would so love to be a part of the Democratic Convention, but I hear that they've already got thousands more volunteers than they need and even have a waiting list! Wow. What they should do, IMO, is fan those excess volunteers out to the little places that often get overlooked like senior centers, homeless shelters, horse rescues, etc....and just tell them it's part of the DNC. ;)

Anyway, my Internet's been down and I've just reconnected it this morning so I'm posting mostly b/c I'm happy. Let's see how long this connection lasts. I'm about ready to toss the modem out the window. May not cause much damage since our office is on the 1st floor, but I'm guessing it would still feel pretty satisfying, hehe.

Gotta run!

This is hilarious!

I just saw this on Busymom.net, and I thought it was hilarious! (CAUTION: Videos not suitable for workplace viewing or for children.)



Brief background for those of you won't aren't aware, Sarah Silverman and Jimmy Kimmel have been "partners" for, I think, many years now, and she's appeared on his show a few times.

If you'd like to see how this began, here's Silverman's video, which aired on Jimmy Kimmel Live on 1-31-08.

BTW, about my reading list...

Even though I have a ton of new novels that I should or could be reading, and even though some of them actually sound really interesting, I have not been in the mood lately to embark on any radical new ideas.

So, I've been reading the same books over and over. Sometimes, I list them on my reading list and sometimes I don't. Partly because I'm going through them too fast and it would be somewhat akin to trying to list the names of every person I speak to on a weekly basis, but mostly it's because I think it's kind of like padding an essay with extra words. For example, in the case of Charlaine Harris' "Sookie Stackhouse" series, there are now, I think, 7 books in that series. To me, these short, funny, and lightweight stories are like Pringles in that I can't ever read just one so if I wanted to list them, I'd have to list all 7 titles each and every time I read them, and that's simply, well..."too many notes."

QT says he doesn't understand how I can reread the same books over and over (and over again). I tell him it's very similar to watching Apollo 13 or Bachelor Party or Moonraker or any other of his favorite movies a gazillion times. In my case, I suppose I enjoy returning to visit the people and places I've come to know and love (or love to hate). Suffice to say that I'm fairly comfortable hanging out with my fictional friends for now, and only the thought of an upcoming book club meeting finally inspired me to open a book I'd never before read. (Love in the Time of Cholera-and I was very upset with the ending!)

So, I just wanted to ask those of you who ever glance at my reading list to please bear with me while I wallow happily in my memories.

Hello Dolly!

Pumpkin and I have lately taken to running around the house doing our best impressions of Louis Armstrong singing Hello Dolly. Pumpkin even named his newest stuffed dog "Dolly." I haven't caught Pumpkin's Louis impression on video yet, but it's only a matter of time (then again, maybe not...remember the great Super Elephant incident of Mardi Gras, hm?).