off to see the wizard

It's time to go. I'll be offline for almost a couple weeks. Wish me luck on the flight!

advice

A tidbit of advice for my readers (reader)...

When you are getting over a killer chest cold don't go crazy working your abs. Yago declared Saturday was my day to do whatever I wanted with the car and go to the gym if I so desired. (His car is still sitting in a parking lot at a garage somewhere, he won't let me see it.) I went for an easy (slow) two mile jog, did some crunches and then found the Nautilus ab crunch machine. I felt good when I left but the feeling faded Sunday when I was coughing and holding my sore belly. Not too smart.

dread

Yago and I are DREADING the plane ride coming up tomorrow. Oh my god. I just want it to be over. That baby is going to be the target of death stares the entire day tomorrow. He doesn't have a seat and will be writhing and hollering the whole time. Even Schmitty was difficult to contend with at that age. It's the worst because they want to be down exploring, not nailed to a seat for nine hours. He doesn't have an attention span long enough to distract with any activity.

We're leaving the house at 6:00 tomorrow with a bunch of stuff; luggage, carseat, pack n' play. Ugh. That means have everything ready tonight and wake up about 4:00. Yuck.

Easter was okay but uneventful. We got a bunch of snow and Schmitty spent the day playing outside. Seriously, from 8:30 until about 5:30 he was playing with neighborhood kids. They had a snowball fight out front and there are little clumps of evidence stuck to the house.

This morning was our last morning walking Isaiah to the bus stop, they're moving while we're in the states. It's a little bit of a relief.

The screaming meany woke us up at 3:30 this morning and didn't go back to sleep until 5:00 so I'm tired today. I'd try to sleep but I'm too stressed about all the things I need to pack.

I'd better go start...

fashion time warp

I'm in a fashion time warp these days but I don't mind much. It's because I lost about five pounds and can fit in to jeans that went out of style a few years ago. They were probably too young for me when I bought them but I've dragged them out years later for a revival regardless of how ridiculous I look. Given the rocky road situation I don't see this as I problem I'll be dealing with much longer.

Ralphie's discovered a screech that can only be compared to nails on a chalkboard just in time for our transatlantic flight next week. It'll be a good time.

Happy Birthday, Ralphie!

Just when I get used to my baby he has to change things up on me. We've had a morning nap routine for months now. It's when I relax, read, watch Oprah and do the sudoku. No more. He's decided he doesn't need a morning nap now that he's one. Sigh.

I made Ralphie a chocolate chip cake today and overcooked it a bit. I'm sure he'll eat it but I'll be glad to have a normal stove again when we move. I don't know if it's the celsius that causes my problems baking or what. Also? While waiting for the cake to bake I might have eaten the rest of the rocky road. (I did leave a bit for Schmitty tonight.) I have about 34 calories left to consume today. I'm sure they'll be tasty.

Hopefully, I'll be posting some birthday pictures tonight.

One more thought, I was extra nice to Isaiah this morning.

a rocky road ahead

Grrr. Tomorrow is my little diablo's birthday so I bought some ice cream today in preparation for tomorrow's festivities. Yago had a work thing to do tonight so I decided Schmitty and I should break it out a little early. Our little secret. I ate half the darn carton!!! And it was a big carton. I'm not sure who to blame here. (not myself, obviously) I could blame Ralphie for having a dumb birthday. Or Schmitty for being so enthusiastic about a special treat.

karma

Schmitty and Isaiah got in to it this morning and I lost my temper. Schmitty was telling Isaiah to get off the couch and Isaiah wasn't responding. (I almost daily have to tell Schmitty that he doesn't need to worry about correcting Isaiah, that I'll take care of it.) Anyway, the bickering began and I yelled at both of them to stop talking and go to the door. "Let's go!"

I could go on with the mundane story but finally, halfway to the bus stop, I realized Isaiah was having a hard morning because he missed his mom. Then I felt bad for being so rough on him because I remembered having to drop Sam off after a rushed morning when he didn't want me to go to work. I felt awful for not being nicer and more understanding, as I wanted Schmitty's caretakers to be.

That's what's been on my mind all morning.

eye eye

I had my eyes dilated today to test for glaucoma. They even took pictures of my cups! Talk about feeling violated... Yago couldn't stop making fun of me. We joked the whole way there about asking for a prescription for medicinal marijuana. Turns out I don't have glaucoma, darn it.

Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day and during the walk to the bus stop Schmitty told Isaiah his dad was out "fetching gold today." It was pretty funny. He also told Isaiah that he found a house leprechaun in the morning and put it in his backpack.

Well, time to go feed my little leprechaun.

Nearly One

I had a realization this morning. Sort of. Ralphie is almost a year old already, that means the big food transitions that come with turning one!

He won't need rice cereal and formula for breakfast anymore and I was thinking of what foods I used to transition Sam. I mean it's not like he can feed himself a bowl of corn flakes yet. I realized that I never really did a breakfast transition with Sam because he was in daycare. He got whatever the daycare ladies gave him, or my parents. I usually worked six days a week because I was in the Reserves too.

Lately, I've been thinking about how Sam wasn't much older than Ralphie when I applied to OTS. I can't believe I did that sometimes but it was the most stable job option I could think of. I'd do it for a few more years and then not have to worry so much... I'd be retired.

Well, Ralphie just slammed his hand in a drawer... Time to comfort.

poo

I feel like poo. This weekend has not been a good one.

My sister's favorite dog, her third child, died. I feel awful for her. It was so dramatic, I can't even imagine. I want to call her but the time difference thing again. From what I've gathered, someone that was doing an estimate at her house didn't close the gate and the dog got out. They found the dog drowned in a frozen lake shortly thereafter. Terrible.

Yago and I were going to go out to dinner last night. Yago was starving but took Sam to go stay at a friend's house and on his way home got in an accident. No one was hurt but his car is in bad, bad shape.

I worked out for the fifth day in a row on Friday and knew it was too much but ran three miles anyway. It felt awful the whole time I was fighting myself to not stop the treadmill. Now I just spit some green-yellowish stuff and my chest is killing me. I brought it on myself. I ran 4 miles Thursday and felt worn out on Friday but I wanted to earn enough calories to go out to dinner. Damn diet program. I'm sure that weakened my immune system and is why I'm sick.

I can't stop thinking about poor Mistress of MooMoo. Maybe I'll call and wake her up.

lonesome

The time changed in the states but it doesn't change here until the end of the month. That means my daily email and blog checks are off an hour, very inconvenient.

date to remember

I have a real problem remembering dates lately. I was at the gym talking to a mother with a similarly aged child, she asked when Ralphie's birthday was and I said the 25th. THAT'S NOT RIGHT!! And? I didn't even realize it until a couple of hours later when I was thinking about the conversation.

Add to that, most of the time I couldn't tell you when my anniversary is. I saw anniversary marked on the calendar and was trying to think of whose anniversary it was. It took a few minutes to realize it was mine. Duh. Yago's happy because that means he can't be faulted if he forgets.

false starts

This morning I layed in bed convinced it was Saturday. I was trying to think of what I could throw together for the Cub Scout bake sale at 9:00 and remembering I still hadn't picked up a gift for an afternoon birthday party. I was thinking of brownies and a trip to the toy store when I realized it was Thursday. Ugh. And raining. I had to get out of bed and walk to the bus stop in the rain. I hate days that start like that.

I've been doing really well going to the gym this week and have lost a couple of pounds. I know (recognize) most of the other mothers at the gym now. It's amazing how much better I feel if I get a little sweaty!

give them cake

I have had a terrible time resisting cake lately. I made a banana cake last Thursday and ate 2/3 of it. Then at the commissary today they were giving away cake samples at the bakery counter so I got one for me and one for Ralphie. Unfortunately, Ralphie didn't eat his fast enough so I had to eat most of his.

I'm not bragging, I'm just sayin'...

My baby can be cute and charming when he wants to be.

I went to the gym today and for the second time he played in the corral with the other kids. In less than half an hour, one of the girls had her skirt off. That's a charming boy that can get an older woman out of her skirt in 26 minutes. Shortly thereafter, he was laying on the mat with another girl laying next to him carressing his bald little head.

He's got some skills, that's all I'm sayin'.

i'm the cat by the bar toasting to the good life...

Yago and I went out for the first time in a long time without the kiddos. A girl from church came over and babysat for us, it was terrific.

We dressed up and it was like a real date! A little cocktail while drying my hair even... We went to a sushi restaurant because that's the kind of place you can't go with small children. It reminded me how much I enjoyed dating him.

I was going to post some "day in the life" pictures today but my camera is low on batteries so I decided against starting something I couldn't finish. (A bit unusual for me.) It would have been a good one because I went and talked to Schmitty's teacher today. You would have gotten to see his school, even though it's a series of boring government tan buildings.

He brought home a test on counting money last week and he did very poorly. I wanted to talk to the teacher and make sure it was an anomoly, not a new trend. Yago went with me and then we had lunch together at a little Turkish joint. I'm stuffed.

Tomorrow, I'm meeting a spouse from Yago's squadron and driving to some basket factory. Or something like that. I don't remember exactly but it involves a stop at a chocolate factory on the way home so it won't be that bad. Maybe I'll take my camera even though it won't be a typical day. It'll give the appearance my life is more interesting than it truly is.

It's snowing like cats and dogs here but it's not sticking. It's just ruining my hair. The baby's screaming which means he needs a little attention.

things to remember

There are a few things I need to remember in the morning:

1. It's light out when I take Sam to the bus stop now. I should check my face (cheeks) for yesterday's mascara before I head out. (And a brush wouldn't be uncalled for either.)

2. In case I want to talk to someone in the morning it would be polite to brush my teeth first. I'm not trying to scare people away with morning AND coffee breath.

3. Sometimes I should change it up and not schlup around in sweats all morning. Others may appreciate the effort of a clean pair of pants before I head out.

4. Housewife = Homeless is not the look I'm going for.

weekend travels

The realization that we're leaving Europe soon has set in and Yago wants to travel almost every weekend. We went to Strasbourg a couple of weeks ago and Saturday we went to Dusseldorf. He has some friends stationed up north and he called them to arrange our meeting at the Aquarium. They have a two and half year old son that Sam used to practice being a big brother with before Ralphie. We spent our day catching up and walking around. After the Aquarium we went to a park where the boys rolled down a hill and played. It was fun but very bad for my diet.

spankies

Over ten years ago my hair was overprocessed with a perm and fell out around my hairline. When the hair grew back in I looked funny because I had to wear my hair back for work and the little hairs would stand up straight. The rest of my hair was super curly except my short little hairs that stood straight up. My sister called them spankies.

I have spankies again, except the problem is inverted.

I lost a TON of hair a few months after Ralphie was born and it started coming in a few months ago. It's about an inch and a half long now and looks ridiculous, I hate it. This time it's not just along my hairline and it's curling at the ends. My haircut demands straight hair that I iron everyday but I inevitably get a curl crinkle about an inch from my scalp. I hate it but it makes me think of my sister calling me Spanky years ago.