for future consumption

So this upcoming year is slated to be a rather boring one at the Daniels- no big changes. Except that I have this overwhelming feeling that this is going to be a BIG year for us, like huge. I have no reason to feel this way but I can't get it out of my head. Nothing is planned and many things are being actively prevented. I am posting this just in case I turn out to be right and more than just my hair is psychic. If not, I hope you will forget all about this by the end of 2009. And don't mention it ever again

yes,they can

Last week one of my favorite friends (who shall remain nameless to protect the innocent) wandered into playgroup and asked, in an exasperated tone, " Can men do anything?!" To which all four of us promptly replied,"No." She then proceeded to tell us the tale of her husbands thwarting of her plans for the day just by being himself and a guy. Don't get me wrong- she was totally right about that particular incident but something that happened to me a week or so later got me thinking. Tommy spent Thursday night up vomiting and with diarrhea, I stayed up with him. It was highly unpleasant for all involved. In the morning I slept later than usual, assuming that everyone, including my various house guests were doing the same. I was not correct. Tommy and his cousin Reese had gotten up and my brother-in-law, Dylan found them. Tommy was lying on the floor feeling miserable and Reese was hugging him trying to make him feel better. Tommy told Dylan he was cold. Dylan made him a hot drink and when that didn't do it he put him in a bubble bath and sat pouring water over his shivering back. That's where I found him thirty minutes later. To my knowledge Dylan has never put his shoes away upon walking into the house and while he was here he almost set my house on fire and lost the baby at the museum but oh how he took care of my boy when it was needed. They certainly can do the important things just right.

lighting changes everything

As many of you know my boys are fighting some pretty nasty problems with their asthma so last night I got up at about 3 with Johnny. An hour and a half later as I walked down the staircase back to our room I noticed that the light was different. I looked out the high windows along the back of our home and saw the golf course covered in clean snow. I forgot how snow reflects every little piece of light and changes it's nature. It was lovely. It was still beautiful this morning when we all woke up. The boys are entranced. As am I.

i have great taste in friends

My dear friend Erin just had her first column published in the Augusta Gazette-I am soooo proud of her. Read it here.

great lungs breathe alike

"Say cough!", Tommy said to his brother when I took this picture. When Tommy was a baby he was allergic to everything. Eggs, berries, sugar, and all sorts of other things would have him in hives in only moments. When he had his first asthma attack at 16 months our doctor was not surprised, he'd had all the warning signs, allergies and eczema. Johnny has been a horse of a different color. He had colic and frequent ear infections but colic went away and he received tubes a couple of months ago. He still gets ear infections but has been otherwise quite healthy. I was really hoping that their little immune systems were different enough that Johnny would escape the Daniels family curse. On Thursday afternoon at playgroup he had his first attack. I watched him for a good thirty minutes before I could admit to myself what I was seeing. I was mightily disappointed. It was just the beginning. We spent the weekend in a cloud of albuterol. Ty was working so it was just the three of us. Poor John had a fever and a champion cough which his big brother has now picked up as well. I hate urgent care so I spent the weekend trying to keep Johnny's fever down at 102, after about three hours it would creep back up to 104 and we'd redose and start all over again. I took Tommy to a birthday party over the weekend only to have my friend call and inform me that he was miserable. I had been so busy trying to keep Johnny's fever down that I missed how terrible poor Tommy was feeling. I felt like a super competent mother, let me tell you. Hopefully my friends will forgive me for exposing their children to whatever plague my children have. We're off to the doctor this morning to see if he will give us some sort of a steroid to get these poor boys breathing again. So today I feel worn and pale and oh, so grateful for health insurance and pediatricians and nebulizers.

i thought i was a nerd...

Today while out driving I saw a grown-up man with vanity plates that said "aragorn". I hope that this man already has a wife because he will never get a girl with plates like these, not even in Kansas.

dear santa

Can someone please explain to me why Santa has purchased all sorts of fancy toys for this child when his favorite pastime is building cities out of cans? If Santa was smart he would have just wrapped up a case of green beans. Maybe if he had his own cans I would spend less time rearranging my pantry. Hmmm- is it too late to add a postscript to the Santa letter?

i think my hair is psychic

This morning my bangs were not obedient. As you can see from the photo they did this weird flyaway thing and I just didn't have time to address it before I went flying out the door. As a result I looked frazzled from the moment I left the house. Coincidence? Random occurrence? I think not. I will explain. We drove to preschool too fast because, as always, we were about three minutes late. After dropping Tommy off we ran to the fabric store to pick up my new roller cutter and mat. We hurried because I (as did everyone else) had a 50% off coupon and they sometimes run out of the more popular and relatively big ticket items. From there we raced to My Gym for Johnny's class. After class we went home for 12 minutes to feed Johnny lunch and then back to preschool to pick up Tommy. Took both kids home for a quick nap for Johnny and to wait for the garage door man. Garage door man is late- we wait until we are late for Mommy's doctor's appointment. So late in fact that we have no time to run the kids to a friends house and so must bring them with. The appointment is a podiatry surgery consult and will involve x-rays- this will go well. Get lost on the way to office, go to wrong office, arrive 20 minutes late. They will still see us but we must wait a while. 90 minutes later after exam and x-rays (with lots of effort on my part) we head home. On the way home get call from a friend to make social plans this evening- sounds great. Call Tymon to confirm plans to have him mention tonight is the company Christmas party. Curses. I have that on the calendar for tomorrow! Call sitter- cannot find sitter. All the while running around trying to feed children, get fancy and straighten house for babysitter (assuming I can get a hold of her), also making calls trying to find back-up childcare just in case. Sitter calls back and all is well. At the party Tymon won an empty box (booby prize) and it was the perfect ending to the day. Next time I am listening to my hair and going back to bed.

blow job

Remember my lovely maple tree? Well about week later it unceremoniously dumped all of it's leaves on my front lawn. My retired neighbors all raked weeks ago. Me, I have been hoping for a really good windstorm to blow them all away. I had almost lost hope and resorted to raking but today Mother Nature did her part and now my leaves are all over the neighborhood, but there are hardly any in my front yard. Being patient totally pays off.