That’s what this dog must have been thinking. This is a great video-just saw it on Dooce‘s website.
I want one!
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This morning, my friend, Steph, and I ran the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. We did the untimed 5K, so there wasn’t any pressure. We started on the Summerfest grounds and ran to Veterans Park along the lakefront. It was a cool morning, and overcast, but it was perfect for running. The time passed quickly as we chatted our way through the race. And we loved being part of such a great cause. Steph ran in honor of her mom, who is a 29 year survivor! I ran in honor of my aunts, both of whom were diagnosed with breast cancer several years ago and are both survivors, and in memory of Barb McCarthy, the mother of my friend, Chris, who died in February after a long battle with the disease. Here are some pictures from the race: I’m so glad I finally did this run. I’m hoping it becomes an annual event for me. I’m also hoping to participate in more 5K’s. It’s great motivation to continue my running! I wasn’t going to write about this***, but since it happened TWICE tonight, I had to get it out. Noah has been potty trained for 2 years now. (Now you know where I’m going with this…) He’s (usually) dry all day and all night. I don’t have to help him in the bathroom, at home or in public (though I get a little nervous about him in a public bathroom alone!). He has his moments where he has to hurry to the bathroom. Usually it’s because he’s busy doing something and he waits until the last minute. Tonight, he waited until after the last minute. We decided to go to Best Buy tonight so Andy could spend his $50 gift card (on a $150 iPod) and to Famous Footwear so I could get a new pair of running shoes. At Best Buy, Noah and Caden made a beeline for the Wii demo, and Noah immediately began playing baseball, then golf. Andy was being wooed by the 8-year-old salesman talking iPods as I milled about dreaming of a Smartphone. Noah started whining my name, and I thought he was upset about something on the Wii. Then I realized it was an entirely different whine. And then I noticed the growing puddle between his feet. What the HELL?!?!?!?!?!? (Mind you, I asked him specifically, before we left home about 10 minutes earlier, if he had to go to the bathroom, and he said no.) I frantically tried getting Andy to come over without making more of a scene than Noah cry/screaming. It took Andy a bit, and it took me all I had not to yell, “HE JUST PEED ON THE FLOOR!!!” At the same time, I’m trying to calm Noah down so he doesn’t attract more attention than necessary, and it took me all I had not to yell, “WHY THE HELL DIDN’T YOU GO POTTY BEFORE WE LEFT LIKE I ASKED YOU?!?!?!?” Andy let our child-salesman know about the puddle, and we tried to make a family trip back to the bathroom. Noah didn’t want to walk, so Andy picked him up, and Caden and I made for the car to go home to pick up some dry underwear and shorts. (For the first time in his life, Caden hustled to the car-he’s usually very putzy! I think he recognized the direness of the situation.) All done, no more problems, right? Wrong. We spent our evening as usual, actually made it to the shoe store, ate dinner, played some basement baseball, took baths and got ready for bed. Andy was running on the treadmill and I was sitting with the boys in the chair in their room reading bedtime books. Suddenly, Noah looks at me, gets that little whiny voice again, and then I feel the warmth on my leg. Yeah, that’s right. He peed AGAIN!!! And this time it was on ME!!! This time, I couldn’t keep it together. I threw all three of us off the chair and stormed into our bedroom to show Andy the carnage (my capris) and started ranting about what the HELL just happened. Somewhere in there I was yelling at Noah, he was crying, and Andy was trying to get me to lay off. He calmed Noah down, and suddenly Noah was fine. But I have a problem with grudges, and I had to get to the bottom of this issue with Noah. He claims he knew he had to go to the bathroom before we started reading. But somehow it wasn’t that important. SERIOUSLY?! Here’s the kicker: Caden had a completely dry day (and night last night) and Noah had two accidents. AUGHHHH!!!!! ***My mom is worried that someday Noah will be trying to get an important corporate position or will be running for office (God help us!) and this will come up in his background check. So, to those of you in 2030 or so who are reading this to get some dirt on Noah, give him a break! This has nothing to do with his ability to perform a high-powered, job! He’s not even 5 yet!!! I just had my first test in my photography class tonight. I was really nervous about it. It’s been 7 years since I’ve had to take an exam! And the last one I took was a doozy-my PT board exam. I wouldn’t wish those four hours on my worst enemy! Turns out I had nothing to be too worried about. It was on one sheet of paper, 10 questions, with about 4 multiple choice questions, a few fill-in-the-blanks, and a couple of straight answers. It took me about 10-15 minutes to finish it. I messed up a couple of questions, but nothing major. Just a mid-term, another test like this one, and a final left! BTW, here’s a picture I took last week to demonstrate how to blur an image with a longer exposure time (keeping the shutter open longer): Watch for some depth of field shots coming soon! Tonight, I had a momentary lapse of reason. We were at a 40th birthday party for Don, a co-worker of Andy’s. Don and his family are very much into hunting. The front room of their home has about 5 deer heads, a goose, a fox with some bird in it’s mouth, a duck, 2 bears, and a few fish mounted on the walls-and it’s not that big of a room! When we first arrived, Don’s 8-year-old son was motoring around on a small ATV. Don asked Noah and Caden if they wanted to go for a ride, and they laughed and said no. I think they thought he was kidding! I was secretly very happy the boys declined. We went off to eat some chips, cheese, and venison sausage (yup, homemade!). Later, after an intense game of balloon passing for Caden and me, and a tough game of basketball for Noah and Andy, the boys progressed to non-motorized scooters. We are really thrill-seekers! Noah was introduced to a two-wheeled scooter, and Caden was thrilled to hear they had a three-wheeled scooter for him to ride. Noah was having a great time watching the “big boys” riding their bikes over a portable ramp, but staying a safe distance away. We all went back into the garage for cake, and Caden and Andy finished before Noah and me, so they headed back out to see the other kids out by the extra garage where the scooters and other ATVs were. Yes, multiple ATVs. By the time Noah and I got out to the garage, I could see through the window that Don was sitting on one of the ATVs with Caden on his lap, putting a monstrous helmet on my baby’s head. Trying to control my panic, I calmly walked over to where Andy was standing, only to realize Don was seriously going to take my baby for a ride. Yes, my baby rode on an ATV tonight. After a couple of laps around the backyard, with multiple other ATVs cruising around (and it was getting dark-still trying to control any panic!), Don headed back with my baby, and my older baby was ready for a turn. O-o-o-o-kay… It looked like my baby had fun, and Don didn’t go too fast (although he did pick up the pace a bit at the end-ehhhhh!), so, sure my older baby could go for a ride. Again, Don drove very safely (getting darker still…), and I think my older baby had a good time, so no reason to panic, right? I think the panic will kick in when the boys start asking to go out to Don’s house for a ride. Or worse still, asking for their own ATVs! Finally! School has started for the boys! After most of our other friends started last week (and the week before for a few (unlucky :)) friends, it’s been a bit of a waiting game for us. The boys love school, so they’ve been asking, “How many days now?” for a while. Monday was Caden’s first day at Mother’s Day Out (MDO). Last week we had the open house to meet his teachers and some of his classmates. We’ve lucked out. One of Caden’s teachers from last year has moved up to his new class, and the other teacher is the slightly more loving of the two Noah had two years ago. Monday was a breeze. Caden was so excited to carry his Nemo lunch bag (like last year), and once we got to his class, he was off playing before I got his stuff hung up on his hook! There are 12 kids in the class, and 10 of them are boys! Heaven help those teachers! Also, there’s Aeden, Brayden, and Caden-ABC! Again, good luck to the teachers! He had a great day. Here are some pictures, including ones from last year to compare! It’s crazy to see the change! After we dropped Caden off on Monday, Noah and I went to his school to find out who his teacher will be for the year. We were pleasantly surprised to see he has the same teacher as last year, Ms. Bruders. He’s in the same classroom, too. And his good buddy, Nathan, is in his class as well. I really like Ms. Bruders, but I would have been interested to see how he would do with a new teacher and new teaching style. Noah was instantly back in the groove, though! Noah’s first official day was today. He’ll be going Monday through Thursday for three hours. We were miraculously on time, and actually the first ones to the classroom! I can pretty much guarantee that won’t happen regularly! Noah ran right into his room, found his name by one of the squares, and sat down, quietly waiting for class to start. No problem! The most I could get out of him about today is that he didn’t do an art project, and he drank all of his water for his snack! We worked on figuring out the names of his classmates. He’s in a class of 10 with 6 boys and 4 girls. There are two Nathan’s, and Noah and his buddy Nathan are practically twins, so it could get a little confusing at times. Here are Noah’s pictures from today, and last year. Notice the practically identical outfit, but the sweatshirt fits much better, and the bag isn’t as big as him anymore! It’s going to be a great year! I just got done watching the new “90210” on my DVR. Is it weird that I’m totally into it, and I can’t wait until next Tuesday? But I miss Dylan and Steve and Janet and David…not so much Donna. It’s nice to be back in the old zip code! On Sunday, we took a family bike ride, and Noah insisted on riding his bike. His left training wheel doesn’t hold very well. We had raised it so he had to balance more, but the screw is loose or something, so the wheel slides back down so he’s riding on it almost constantly. So I suggested we take the training wheels off. He was pretty fired up! To practice, we pulled out the elbow and knee pads that came with his helmet, and started out on the grass. He tried a couple of times on Sunday, but Andy never let go. Noah wanted to try again tonight after dinner. This time, Andy let go. It wasn’t all smiles and jumping back on all the time, but he doesn’t want to throw the bike away! Pretty good for an almost 5-year-old! BTW-I don’t think he had pink eye. If he did, it’s the quickest recovery, sans medication, ever! This morning, Noah woke up with a very red eye and a crusty nose. I’m fairly certain he has pink eye. Ugh. Of course it would happen on a holiday! My kids don’t get sick or hurt on regular days, just weekends, after hours, or holidays. Anyways, I wasn’t going to do anything about it, but then I consulted my American Academy of Pediatrics “bible” that gives me the long and short about most things health related. It said he should see a doctor immediately. Ugh. Okay, let’s get dressed and head to the nearest “doc-in-a-box.” Thankfully, there’s a new walk-in clinic at Walgreens, so we headed there. I started to check him in, using the touch screen, and got to the screen asking if I wanted to bill my insurance or pay out of pocket. It’s like $25, right? No, says the nice lady there helping. Rates start at $59-$79, not including any testing they may do. Um, okay, check my insurance. Oh, yeah, my husband works for QuadGraphics, which has its own medical plan, QuadMed. Huh? Well we can check it to see if it’s covered. Um, no. Ugh. We’ll take our chances and head to the mall where there is an Aurora QuickCare (just like the one across the street, but it’s closed because of Labor Day). Off to the mall we go. Thank goodness it was just Noah and me, and not Caden too. We get to the mall and head to the QuickCare desk. Yeah, it’s closed. Ugh. Okay, decision time. Do we head back to Walgreens and fork over the cash, or do we wait it out. His eye wasn’t nearly as red by this time, and it never had any drainage. Noah said it doesn’t even itch. Maybe it’s not pink eye! Except his eye is a little puffy, and still red inside. But if we wait, we pay $6 to see his pediatrician (or another in the practice) plus a bit more if he gets a prescription. Decision made! We’ll wait it out. Am I a bad mother? He’s not complaining, he’s eating, playing, and annoying his brother just like any other day. I think I’m being frugal. Done. Ugh. I made it through a whole month of NaBloPoMo! Some of my posts left a lot to be desired, but I wrote a post every day for the whole month. And it was a month with 31 days! Yeah me! But now I think it’s time for a little break. I won’t be gone completely. I just won’t be here daily. I’ll be back soon. |
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