Category Archives: Scorch

Jun20

Milestones…

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Scorch has them in spades this week!

First, we had his Kindergarten graduation on Monday night.  This may have been the cutest thing ever with the boys in their shirts and ties and the girls in their party dresses. You could tell the kids (and teachers) put a lot of time into this- there were 5 songs, 3 prayers, some speakers. It was simply amazing!

And tonight Scorch lost his first tooth. This sucker has been loose for over a month- so it’s about darn time. I’ll spare you all the pictures he insisted I take- but the boy is beyond excited! Me? I’m just glad I don’t have to see that baby tooth sitting precariously in this mouth grossing me out at every meal.

There is no way next week can top this one!

Jun11

A Banner Day..

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It seems like every time I sit down to write, life gets busy. We’re dealing with everything from the end of school craziness, to Little League, to simply enjoying the gorgeous weather. We spent 4 hours in my parents pool yesterday- I think my kids are part fish! Tonight we had a baseball game where Scorch caught a pop fly and threw it to the 2nd baseman who turned it into a double play. Not bad for a bunch of 6 year olds! I have to admit I kinda dreaded becoming a sports mom, but seeing the joy on my kid’s faces when they play and do something right is the best.

We also had the Bean’s first experience with puppy love today.  There is always this quiet little boy that comes up to the Bean every day when I drop her off. He isn’t nearly as loud or demanding as some of the other kids- he just stands there and smiles at her.   This morning when I was helping her put things in her cubby he walked over with the Teacher’s Assistant (TA) and handed Beaner a penny.  The TA then took the kiddos into the coat room and had Beaner put her “extra special penny” in her backpack and asked me to wait as she walked the kids into the classroom.  All this between the kids was done without either one saying a word- they just smiled at each other and the little boy blushed to high heaven.

The TA came back out and told me that this little boy came into school that morning with the penny. When the TA told him that coins aren’t allowed in the classroom he got every upset and he said he had to hold on to it because it was a present for the Bean. When she asked him why he had to give her the penny, he simply replied that he loved her.  I almost melted right then and there. 3 year olds can be the biggest pains in the butt, but when they are cute, they are really cute.

So glad I decided to have these kids- I can’t imagine how much I’d miss out on without them around!

May23

Six.

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Dearest Scorch-

Happy, happy birthday my sweet boy! You’re 6- an age I can barely wrap my head around. 5 still seems like a little kid to me- a child closer to baby then big kid. But 6? 6 seems so old, so huge. 6 means you can read, you can almost tie your shoes (more our fault then yours that you haven’t figured it out yet), that you can swim by yourself and that you’ll soon be learning to ride your bike without training wheels. You play Little League now – and you have a to wear a cup. Babies don’t need to wear a cup- therefore, you’re not a baby any more. That is a fact you love to remind me of even as you’re still asking to sit in my lap (a request I don’t turn down, ever).

You are one of my favorite people on earth. You’re funny and sweet and friendly and oh-so-very talkative. The biggest problem you’ve had in school this year has been your lack of focus because you’re too darn busy talking. You come by that trait honestly, Bud. 😉 You are a good friend and a sweet soul- always quick to laugh and smile.  Your bad moods and anger pass by quickly and once you’re over it, you’re over it. You don’t hold on to grudges or slights, which is one of your very best traits.

5 has been such a crazy mixed bag for you. Thankfully the good has way outweighed the bad. You *love* kindergarten and you have made some amazing new friends. You’ve learned to read- READ!!- and I can’t even tell you how much I love watching you curl up with a good book. You’ve learned to compromise and take turns and that losing doesn’t mean the world is ending. You learned how to play- and love- football (something that thrills your father!). We’ve also had to deal with your anxieties and fears and it hasn’t been easy for you. But you’re doing it. You square your not-so-little shoulders, take a deep breath and face your fears- whether they are in the shape of a hairless cat or going to school in the morning.

This morning you were way nervous about going to school because during morning prayers the whole school was going to sing you Happy Birthday. I could see you wringing your hands and getting more quiet as the time to leave drew closer. But you didn’t cry and you didn’t fuss- you just put one foot forward and kept going. I held my breath the whole way to school wondering if you were going to melt down, but you didn’t.  And the look on your face when we got to school and you got your crown? It’s worth every single sleepless night and worry we’ve all had.

Dad and I dreamed about having kids long before you came into out life. We talked about what we wanted our future kids to be like- how they’d look and act. Which personality quirks you’d get from each parent- would you be laid back like me or stubborn like your father? A born reader or one who’d pick a book on tape any day. A competitive athlete or the kid on the bus more excited for the dinners out after the game then anything else? Some of the question still remain unanswered, but all we do know is that you’ve exceeded all our wildest dreams. We are the luckiest parents in the world simply because we have the privilege of loving you.

I love you little boy- with my whole heart! Here’s hoping year 6 is just as magical as the past 5 have been!

All my love,
Mommy

May22

Now I Remember

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We had one of those nights where I felt more like a referee then a parent. I didn’t talk to my kids about their day or enjoy funny conversations over dinner. Instead, I listened to tattletaling and bickering. I broke up arguments and fights- sending each kid to their room at least once. I mopped up tears, yelled loudly to be heard over their yelling and counted down the minutes until bedtime.

When the blessed time finally arrived, I asked to the kids to get out the books they wanted to read before bed. Scorch quickly grabbed the Star Wars book he got from the library at school, eager to see what Anakin was up to. We didn’t have time to read the whole book, so Scorch gave me the bookmark he made to hold our place.

Scorch’s bookmarks are usually decorated with dinosaurs and super heroes- so I was surprised to see Tinkerbell gracing this week’s place holder. When I asked him why he picked Tink this week, he simply told me he knew it would make the Bean happy.

Now I remember why I wanted two of them.

May17

Home Again

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After a whirlwind trip down to VA, I’m home again! It’s always fun for me to travel for work, especially now that I’m working with folks that I haven’t met before.  I love seeing if my mental picture lines up with what people look like in person. On this particular case, I was only close with one out of the five people I met. Clearly I’m losing my edge.

From the plane on the way home…

I got home yesterday around 9:30, so it was perfect timing. The kids were sound asleep, but I still had enough time to before I had to hit the sack to catch up with the Hubs.  The Hubs did a wonderful job while I was gone, but I have to admit to being more then a little pleased when he copped to how frazzled he was yesterday morning.  It’s not easy trying to get yourself and two little people out the door in the morning between breakfast and getting dressed and teeth and vitamins and making lunches. Throw in a dog who needs two different kinds of medicine, to be fed and to be let out twice and it’s easy to go from frazzled to crazy in no time.  After he was done telling me about his morning, I told him how nice it was to sleep 9 hours straight and to shower in peace and quiet for as long as I wanted.  He didn’t find it as funny as I did.

Flying into some cloud cover over Philly.

But now that I’m back, the real craziness begins. On top of my page long to-do list from my meeting, we’re gearing up for a weekend full of birthday parties for Scorch.  Saturday we’re hosting 25 family members at our house and on Sunday we’re heading to a party location so Scorch can celebrate with 32 of his closest buddies. It’ll be a mad house- so say a prayer for us!

May8

Brain Dump

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I really hate those nights when I sit here and just stare at my blank screen, wondering what to write about. I know I had a million ideas pop into my head during the day today but by 8 pm, they are gone. So tonight, I’m taking the easy way out and scatter shooting my thoughts. Here I go…

Scorch’s has his very first loose tooth! The boy swears and declares he’s the last one in his class to have one and he can’t wait for it to fall out. I think he thought that we’d find a loose tooth one day and it would fall out the next. He wiggles it all the damn day trying so hard to hurry the process along. I try not to gag when he does.

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We’re almost two full weeks into Little League and it’s awesome. I had a lot of worries about this. While this league doesn’t follow strict baseball rules, it’s closer then Scorch has ever played before with outs and actual plays and a 3 strikes rule.  So far he, and the rest of his team of 6- 8 year olds, have handled the transition from t-ball beautifully! The games are fun, the parents are all supportive and the kids are having a blast. We were all actually disappointed when his game was rained out tonight.

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I started meeting a friend at 5 am to run. It only gets me up 15 minutes earlier then normal, but I’m exhausted. The good news is that knowing a coyote is in the area is damn good incentive to pick up my pace.

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I was just thinking the other day how nice it is that the Bean is watching such gentle shows like Blues Clues and Wonder Pets. Annoying, but sweet shows where there are no bad guys or fighting.  Then she discovered Power Rangers thanks to Daddy and now that’s all she wants to watch.  I don’t get it.

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We decided to do a Big Party for Scorch’s birthday.  I think there are something like 29 kids invited.  To keep it as stress free as possible, I’m doing everything at a play place for kids- so all I have to bring is the cake and decorations.  I also solved my gift / goodie bag worries by requesting in the invites that everyone bring a wrapped book suitable for kids ages 5 – 8 so we can do a book exchange. Every kid will go home with a new book, including the birthday boy, instead of a goodie bag.  Win/win (I hope).

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The Hub’s grandfather’s health is very quickly declining.  He’s a wonderful, sweet, smart, funny, vibrant man who’s slowly been stripped of his health for the past 4 years and it’s been the saddest thing to see.  His health and the health of those taking care of him, including his wife and daughters (including my mother-in-law) weigh on the Hubs and I a lot.   I’m open to any suggestion you all my have on discussing death with kids.

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We met with a financial adviser today for the first time! Over all it was a great experience until he told us we’d need to save almost $667,000 over the next 11 years to finance 4 years of a state college for both kids.  I sure hope they like Boot Camp when the time comes to ship them off!

And that’s what’s on my brain. Perhaps I’ll be more coherent tomorrow….

Apr24

One more thing…

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Last night I didn’t set out to write a “Don’t Ignore” post for National Infertility Awareness week.  I had planned on jotting down a few sentences and linking over to one of my all time favorite posts that talked a bit about our journey to having kids and calling it a day.

But the words just kept coming.  I surprised myself- as crazy as it sounds, I didn’t know I still harbored all those feeling. The anger and insecurity and fear and sadness.  9 years and two kids later, you think I’d be over that. I guess not.

So today I will leave you with that post I meant to share yesterday. Tomorrow, I’ll be back to kid’s antics and potty humor.

*~*~

This was written on Sept 23, 2010.

It was 5 years ago this week I found out I was pregnant with Scorch.

We started out trying to build our family feeling excited and nervous and oh so very confident that a pregnancy would just happen. We’re married and in love and have always gotten what we wanted by working hard and following the rules and that is whats supposed to happen. Only sometimes, it doesn’t.

6 months into trying, my very awesome doctor ran some tests on the Hubs and I. He was fine- all systems go. I had PCOS- I didn’t ovulate on my own which is must have when trying to get pregnant.

Enter the fertility drugs. One to manage the PCOS. One to stimulate egg growth. One to force me to ovulate. It took three cycles on Clomid- three months of hot flashes, mood swings and pure nerves to finally get pregnant a year and 3 months after we started trying.  You have never, ever met two more excited people! We were bursting with the news and picked out a gazillion different ways to tell our families each one more fun and creative then the next.

We told everyone right away never thinking things could go wrong. We’re married and in love and have always gotten what we wanted by working hard and following the rules and bad things aren’t supposed to happen. Only sometimes, they do.

After our 2nd miscarriage, we pulled out the big guns. We saw a specialist and got tested to see why we were experiencing repeat pregnancy loss. Again, the Hubs was perfect. I, on the other hand, have a blood clotting issue as well as a problem with my anti-bodies which made carrying a pregnancy to term next to impossible without some serious medical intervention.

Our 3rd miscarriage came after a few failed cycles using injectables and IUIs. I had given myself daily shots of Heparin, a blood thinner,  and still I lost that pregnancy.  I. Was. Done.  My life for the past 3 years had revolved around making babies and it had consumed everything- my thoughts, our marriage, my outlook on life. No more.  The Hubs and I had a long talk and sent away for adoption literature because I was not getting on the reproductive roller-coaster again.

God had other plans.

A month after my 3rd miscarriage, a good friend (hi, Cheri!) and I were spending the weekend shopping while our husbands were away on business.  We had big plans that night to go out to a great Italian dinner and split a bottle of wine- I couldn’t wait.  I had been having a few pregnancy symptoms and although I chalked them up to the miscarriage, I thought I should test. Just in case.

I found out I was pregnant with Scorch in the bathroom of Target.  Classy, no?

This time around we switched up the blood thinner I used (thank you, Lovenox!) and tried IVIg therapy to help with my auto-immune issues.  And miracle of miracles, the pregnancy stuck.

Which is a good thing because I cannot imagine life without this kid.

Apr17

Big or Little? That’s the Question.

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Let’s talk birthday parties.

Scorch is turning 6 soon- a fact I still can’t wrap my head around. For the past few birthdays we’ve been able to get away with small kids birthday parties. We’ve taken his BFF to a ball game or taken a few friends mini-golfing and then out to dinner- that sort of thing.  We do have a big family party with 30+ people where we include his BFFs and their families, but we’ve never done a big kids party.

But this year, Scorch is asking for one. He wants a party for all his classmates (20 of them),  plus some other friends. Me?  I am cringing at the thought.

I don’t know why I don’t like them- we’ve been to a ton of them where my kids have had a blast, but they seem like so much work. And I’m lazy. The planning, tracking down addresses, mailing invites, setting up, getting the supplies, supplying the food, getting a cake, unwrapping 20+ gifts that Scorch doesn’t need, sending out all the thank you cards. And don’t even get me started on the goodie bags.  I’m exhausted just thinking about it, quite frankly.

On top of that, I think smaller parties and experiences are just plain more fun. There is no worrying about if Suzy is having fun or if Johnny got his feelings hurt.  Scorch can spend time with the kids he’s really close with and we can make the whole thing so much more personal for him and his guests.

But my kid is an awesome little boy and he really doesn’t ask for much. So I struggle- do I plan a big party for him or do I try to lure him to my way of thinking with the promise of a special small outing for his besties at the zoo or dinosaur museum? When does my opinion stop mattering more than his?*

What do you guys do for your kids birthdays? Do you have a big blowout with 25 of his/her closest friends? Or do you keep it small like I’m trying to do?

*Hoping the answer to that is never.

Apr11

5 Good Things

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Given that I don’t actually have anything of substance to talk about today, I’m just going to share 5 good things going on in our lives:

1. The kids and I read a new book today that made us laugh called Hattie the Bad. Hattie is a little girl who thinks being good is boring, so she decides to be bad- she put frogs in the fridge, likes to scare people and tries to sell her brother at a garage sale. Hattie is so naughty that while the kids all love her, the parents tell them they can’t play with her any more. So Hattie decides to be the best she can possibly be- only that is a little boring. None of her friends want to hang around her anymore since she’s so very good. So Hattie has to figure out what is the mix that makes her her. While I’m not entirely sure how I feel about a book that portrays a child being super good as one with no friends, the book itself was funny, beautifully illustrated and it prompted a great conversation between Scorch and me.

2. Finally, finally, our grocery store has amazing watermelon in stock. I don’t know where it was made- it could have been dipped in all sorts of crazy chemicals for all I know- but it was amazing and that makes me (and my kids!) happy.

3. I found a way to download all my old Facebook posts!! I’ve been wondering how to do this for quite some time as some of my family’s funniest moments and greatest memories are written there and I was thrilled to find out how stinking easy it was. Formatting isn’t perfect- but at least I have something.

4. Little League starts this week for Scorch. We’ve been talking about this forever so I’m beyond happy that the season is finally starting. I’m a little nervous as Scorch is on a team with 6, 7 and 8 year olds, but the Hubs is coaching along with 2 great friends and long time baseball coaches, so I’m sure we’ll be fine.

5. I’m off tomorrow and Friday for the last 2 days of the kid’s Spring Break. I have no idea what we’re doing or how we’re going to pass the time, but I’m excited for a 4 day weekend with the family!

 

Apr4

The Other F Word

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Dear person who taught my son the word “fart,”

I don’t like you. At all.

*sigh* Like a lot of words, I’m finding that some sound very different when coming out of the mouth of an adult versus that of a child. And lately that word for me is fart. We have always used the word “toot” before- it just sounded softer and kinder.  But within the past few months, Scorch learned the word fart and I swear to you he drops it at least 2 dozen times a day.

He’s not using it to call people names or anything, he’s just simply saying it all. the.damn. time. to himself because the boy never stops talking. If he’s not talking to us, he’s talking to himself or his sister or the cats or the dog and somehow that word gets weaved in there. It’s a noun, adjective and verb all rolled into one given the creative ways this child finds to use it. We remind him a gazillion times a day that that word is Not Allowed and that may stop him for 5 minutes, but he’s at it again in no time. When we yell at him, he simply says that he forgot.

So, I’m trying to figure out when to let this one go. His friends use it. The older kids he knows use it. Heck, his father has been known to use the word in front of him before. I realize that on the scale of unacceptable words, this one is pretty low on the list but it’s like nails on a chalkboard to me. Think I’ll eventually become immune?