Tampa Tales

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your eyes, I have finally returned from my weekend getaway with my pal Ayleen in Tampa!

I survived the drive up to Ft. Lauderdale airport and was able to navigate the remote parking and the shuttles. I had a few slight freakouts due to the excess amount of ramps, signs, road closures and detours that I encountered, but I was able to overcome those obstacles and make it on to the plane without having a nervous breakdown. Most people would think that I'm a bit dramatic, but I tend to get very nervous when I have to drive myself (by myself) to a new place that I have never been. I get very tense and feel like if I'm going to get lost. I start to think of crazy scenarios that might happen to me and then that just freaks me out even more. I think there's something my mom's not telling me. I must have gotten lost as a young child or something to warrant this strange behavior. When I first got my driver's license, it took me months before I dared to venture on to the highway....why? because I thought I'd get lost. I admire those people that can just take off to foreign lands by themselves with just a backpack and wander around without a destination in mind. Brave people.

Speaking of wandering, it appears I have wandered off of my subject. The flight was uneventful and we made it to Tampa in a jiffy. Fortunately Ayleen had warned me that there were trams in the airport...and that I would need to board one to get to the main terminal. Otherwise, I don't know what could've or would've happened. You can't throw a monkey wrench like that into my travel plans. I need to know what to expect at every turn! Ha ha. Ayleen was running late (actually, the plane was early) so she wasn't waiting for me at the trams like she had promised. I sat down and began to feel like a lost puppy in a strange city. Won't someone please adopt me? Then the brainstorming began...Where is she? Am I in the wrong terminal? Is this some cruel joke and she's not really going to pick me up? Is she asleep at home? Fortunately, just as the scenarios were getting more and more graphic (and not to mention, impossible), Ayleen came out of the elevator. Thank God! Once she picked my sobbing fetal position body up off the floor, we headed downstairs to baggage claim to get the kayak, ice skates, trapeze and racquetball racquet that I told her I would be bringing. We were half way down the escalator when it occurred to me to mention to her that I had not checked any baggage after all.

We spent most of the weekend chatting it up like 8th grade girls (which is coincidentally when we met) and laughed at long forgotten adventures from the past 17 years (oh crap!). We shared stories, talked about sexy beasts, went out to lunch, bought scrapbooking stuff, rented/watched two and a half movies and collapsed with great exhaustion at the end of each evening. I had a great time reconnecting with my old friend and I think the visit was quite therapeutic for the both of us.

On the last day, we were running late for my flight. I threw my clothes into my bag and we sped off towards the airport. I checked in quickly and proceeded to the special trams again. Since, I knew of them beforehand, my stress level remained in check. That is, until I reached the security station. Wouldn't you know it, there was a freaking long line. They were taking away everyone's drinks, toothpaste, makeup, liquids, aerosols and gels... how retarded. Anyway. I had a bottle of water with me that I hadn't even opened. It was still sealed from the factory and the fools took it away. Me thinks these security measures are a bit over zealous. I love feeling like I'm protected, but they're taking some things a bit over the edge. I wonder if at the end of the day, the employees have a huge trash picking piñata party:

What did you get?

Oh, I scored some great MAC cosmetics, just my shade too!

Aw, I just got some toothpaste this time, but last week I got a whole cosmetic bag. I had to fight Mary for it though, so I also got a black eye in the process.

Ouch. I heard Linda got a huge bottle of hair gel yesterday.

I'm thirsty, I'm gonna go check the counter, I heard some dorky girl brought us an unopened water bottle today.

Once I got over the loss of my costly water bottle, I managed to notice a machine that I had never seen before in the security area. It looked like a little phone booth and they were putting people in there and spraying them with air (one at a time). Grrrreat. Just what a nervous traveler needs. I noticed that not every one was being put into the Puffer machines though, only random terroristy looking types with facial hair and turbans: old burly men, young burly men, big burly women. I guess I qualified for the last group because guess who got randomly picked. That's right, you guessed it, yours truly. Perhaps I should've shaved my face and left my turban at home. Oh well, it was too late now. I stepped into the tank and the guy told me to hold my shirt down because otherwise it would fly up. Joy.

Girls Gone Wild in the airport! Order your video now through this special internet offer!! But wait, if you order within the next 5 minutes, we'll throw in a bottle of hair gel absolutely free!

I conquered the Puffer and went on my merry way to the Starbucks that was calling out to me. It was 11:45, so I figured I had time until my flight left (12:10). I took my time in the line, getting my coffee and leisurely strolled over to my gate, only to find that there was no one sitting there. I asked the nice ticket man if they had already commenced boarding and he said "yes, everyone is on the plane already". Ay ay ay. I stormed on to the airplane and was given the look-of-death by the passengers and flight attendants as if to say "so you're the one that's been holding up the flight". Hee hee, my bad.

The actual flight portion went well, until I had a mishap with my tray table that is. In trying to prevent the leftover coffee in my cup from spilling, I accidentally let the tray table come crashing down on to my diet coke. The soda landed right on my lap, in the book that I was reading. The book then funneled the drink right into my crotch, creating a cool chilling, sensation, only rivaled by the one I got that time I sat on a York Peppermint Patty.

Yes, traveling with me is definitely an adventure. I'm going to Orlando tomorrow. Anyone want to join me?

Go Libra, It's your birthday!

Am I the only dork that cries the night before her birthday because she's going to turn 31?
Oh, I am? Dang.

I don't like to complain about my age too much because then others that are older than me just roll their eyes and say "if you're old, then what does that make me?". I don't know, but I feel like I'm losing my youth here. It's like dang...I"m definitely in my thirties now. You know, 30 is still close to 29, but 31 is already "in the thirties". Crap. I guess if I just keep up my youthful ways then perhaps I won't feel old. Let's hope.

Ren woke me up this morning with a cake and a candle. That is so sweet. He's done that since we were dating. I remember one time when I lived in my parent's house he arranged it with my mom and snuck in the house and woke me up with a cake and candle. How cute is that?

After I blew out my candle. He told me to go get Christian out of his crib and change his diaper. I was thinking "dude, why do I have to do it? you're not doing anything and I want to keep sleeping", but I didn't say it. I figured, if he was nice enough to bring me cake, then I should just shut up and go change el niño. So off I went, shuffling into the darkness (we wake up early for work) and I turned the lights on in Christian's room and didn't even notice the big ol' gift bag on the rocking chair. I walked right past it and picked Christian up. Ren said "ooh look at what Christian got you for your birthday!". I looked at the giant Coach gift bag on the chair and said "Wow, I really need to find out what field of work Christian is in because he gives the best gifts!".

Bump in the night

Christian is at the pediatrician with my mom right now. Last night as I was changing his diaper I noticed a small bump under his skin, right in the crease area of his leg. I couldn't see the bump it was only a bump that could be felt under the skin. It was like the size of a marble, but softer. It seemed to bother Chris when I touched it. I only found it because I happened to be putting ointment on the creases of his legs because the diaper tabs had caused some irritation. Had he not had that irritation, I might not have noticed it since that isn't an area where I normally put diaper rash ointment and it was the slipperiness of the ointment that facilitated me feeling the bump underneath.

Immediately, Ren and I began to worry and think the worst. My mom has told me that it's probably an enlarged lymph node or an inguinal hernia. Unfortunately, an inguinal hernia would require surgery as that is what my expert Google researching has taught me this morning. I found this picture on the internet and I've circled the place where I found the bump.

His appointment was at 3:30 pm. I'm crossing my fingers and sitting by the phone waiting to hear from my mom. I'm really worried about this.

Let's hope for the best.

Update: The doc said that most likely it is a swollen lymph node. She told us to keep an eye on it. If it grows or hurts him when I touch it, we are to give him antibiotics. She will see him again on Wednesday. She doesn't think it's a hernia because those feel different and aren't usually round. I'm off to go do some Google research on swollen lymph nodes.

Jackbutt Starlight Crotch

The hubster and I finally got to go on a date this weekend. We went to the movies to see Jackbutt 2. Very funny, if you like that sort of thing. Fortunately, I do, so I had a good ol' time cracking up for an hour or two. I especially loved the pube beard, the bees in the limo, and the old man and old woman skits. I noticed that I laughed the most at the skits that involved falling or poopoo humor, but I guess that includes most of the movie. R isn't into rectal humor, so it was fun to look over at him and watch him wince when those skits were playing. Ha ha, and he's the one that chose the movie!

On Sunday, we went to The Miami Museum of Science to see the Titanic exhibition. I am enamored and fascinated with that ship/disaster for some reason. I don't know why, but it is very intriguing to me. Perhaps I was a passenger on that ship in my past life? Who knows. Anyway, the last day of the exhibition was on Sunday, so of course, which day do I pick to go? Bingo. On Sunday. Fortunately, we got there somewhat early (noonish) and the line wasn't too bad. Only about 10 peeps in front of us. They had several artifacts from the ship displayed and they had recreated some of the hallways and rooms for you to see. They also had a large chunck of ice an "iceberg" that you could touch so you could see how freakin freezing the water was that night. C-man was with us and he was a bit hyper and didn't want to be in his stroller so R and I took turns carrying him around. He wanted to be walking on the floor though and we couldn't let him because there were way too many people and he would've gotten stepped on. He was such a good little boy, but towards the end, he had a bit of a melt down. Fortunately, we only had two rooms to go. There was also a presentation in the theatre that explained the events and showed a sinking model ship demonstration. Cman had fallen asleep by then, so we got to see the whole thing. Very informative! They had a planetarium show as well, but we didn't go to that because C-man woke up at the end of the theatre show and I didn't want to find out what happens when you put a toddler in a planetarium. I'll leave that up to mythbusters to find out.

After seeing all the Titanic stuff, we headed over to the Wildlife Center to look at the animals. They had lots of tortoises tortosis torti turtles and they even had a butterfly garden (with one butterfly in it). It was very nice. I had been to that museum on countless field trips as a child and never knew that they had animals there. After we saw the animals we headed to the regular portion of the museum and saw this huge bear. After closely inspecting the pictures we had taken of him, Ren and I affectionately named him Mr. Starlight Crotch. Quite appropriate eh?

It looks like I'm working my way backwards here, so let me continue. On Saturday, we went to Sophia's First Birthday party. She had a little pool party and looked mahvelous with the foamy hat I made for her to wear. Chris was pondering whether he should go in the pool or not, but decided against it for the moment. The birthday girl looked adorable and had fun getting messy with her 3 cakes! Christian got to have his first piñata experience too! Except that he was more interested in the empty box than the actual loot on the floor. That's ok though because mommy dove in there and punched, kicked and elbowed some kids to get some candy for you too Christian. I came out of the piñata-circle-of-death with a black eye, a half wrapped kit-kat, someone's eyeglasses, a piece of gum and some dirt under my fingernails, but I was victorious because I managed to get that one piece of gum! If you're missing your eyeglasses and want them back, you'll have to trade me some candy for them.

Little Dylan made an appearance at the party and is doing quite well at 10 pounds! Chris discovered and was fascinated with Sophie's little push car. He loved pushing it around, playing with all the buttons and opening and closing the seat. Yes, I will be going to Toysrus shortly to purchase said vehicle. Anything that keeps his attention for more than 5 seconds is definitely worth looking into.

He's starting to be a little more brave and he lets go of the furniture sometimes. At the party I looked away for a second to take a pic of Sophie and when I turned back, I saw this coming towards me. Ready or not mom, here I come!

Freaky Friday

Today is one of my favorite days/dates. It's Friday the 13th...mmm...I can just hear the leaves and twigs crackling behind me in the woods
...chchchchch.... hahahaha....
Gotta love Jason!
Today is also my cousin's birthday. Happy Birthday Dario!

The last time he was in town (Dario, not Jason), we watched a marathon of Friday the 13th movies! Well, he did anyway. I started to fall asleep by the 6th or 7th one. I have a DVD set with all 8 movies in it. He had never seen any of them, so I did my good deed for the year and introduced him to this wonderful classic horror movie series. I like those darn horror movies so much, I'm surprised that I was able to restrain myself and not name my child Jason. The problem with that would've been that I would've wanted to name subsequent children: Michael, Freddy, Damien, Carrie, Samara and Reagan. Trust me, I would've done it; my hubby had other plans though. For starters, he doesn't want 7 children. He also didn't want people telling us that our children behaved like monsters. Ha ha ha...

Speaking of plans, we're going to Sophia's 1st birthday party! Her birthday was on the 9th, but she's having her little party tomorrow. It's going to be a pool party, so that should be fun!

Christian has two more teeth on the bottom coming through. He's also had a fever for the past couple of days. Is that supposed to happen? He's not sick or anything, so I can't figure out what the fever is from.

He watched TV for the first time this morning, like actually paid attention. He was drinking his bottle on the bed and we had a Noah's ark movie playing on TV. He was fascinated watching all the animals go across the screen. I was naming each one as it came out and he just kept his attention focused. That's a first. Perhaps because the animals were real and not animated? I can't wait till we take him to the zoo...he'll get a real kick out of that. Ren and I were laughing at the movie though because the tigers and lions and bears (oh my!) were passing by the humans so nonchalantly. All the animals were in the same room cohabiting so peacefully. Yeah ok, that'll happen. In reality there would've been fewer animals and humans at the end of the cruise 40 days. I'm just sayin'.

Another first was that yesterday he pointed to something in a book when we asked him about it. My mom asked him where the sun was and he pointed to the sun in the book. That same book also has a bear in it and we're trying to teach him to point to the bear. The thing is, my mom practiced showing him how to point to the sun so much that now, whenever we ask him where the bear is, he points to the sun. Hmm...we have to work on that a little bit more.

Cheater cheater pumpkin eater

Ren and I are hooked on this show called "Cheaters". If you've never seen it before, they spy on people to see if they can catch them in the act of, well, cheating. We love seeing the ho-down showdown when someone gets busted cheating on their significant other. Well, apparently, I've been watching too much cheaters and I need to cut down because last night I dreamt that R had caught me walking into a Subway to have lunch with an ex of mine. It was scary at the time, but now I just find it funny. Yeah, no more cheater-watching late at night, it's giving me nightmares.


The Halloween countdown clock's a tickin' and only 22 more days!!! I finally found a costume for Chris. He's going to be baby Jack Jack from the Incredibles. I bought myself a T-shirt too, so that I can also kind-of dress up too. Now, normally, I put WAY more effort into my costume than just wearing a t-shirt, but since I'll be doing the haunted house now, there's not really any opportunity for me to actually wear said costume, plus, I don't think spandex from head to toe would be a good look for me these days. I couldn't convince R to wear tights either, so only Chris will be fully incredible this Halloween. Ren and I will just have to settle for credible.

Speaking of the haunted house, it's still in the works. I'm making progress, slowly, but surely. I've got the path planned out already, all I have to do is some measuring and plastic cutting here and there. I made my asylum sign for the front of the house, and it came out really cool if I do say so myself. I'm noticing that it is much harder to pull off a haunted house this year because I've got the little man at home now, so I don't have all the free time in the world anymore. I usually only get to work on my HH (haunted house) stuff after Chris has gone to bed. Hopefully I'll get everything done on time. My other big issue is that I still need more volunteers because some of my previous volunteers don't seem like they want to participate this year (I won't name any names), so if you want to come and help out for 3 hours on Halloween night (and I actually know you in real life), then let me know! All you have to do is act crazy (and if you're my friend, you probably don't even have to act). I've got about 9 volunteers so far, but like my friends at the Haunted Mansion like to say, there's "always room for one more".

Which leads me to this, check out the cute little plaque that I got for my house! It's Amanda's fault because she found it online and sent me the link. Good going Amanda. Oh and I got this little t-shirt for Chris. Too cute, if you like skulls that is. ha ha. Well, that's my shopping update for the day. Stay tuned for my next installment where we try to figure out why I can't walk out of a Target without spending at least $70 bucks. Ta ta!

Plenty 'o party pictures

Ok, now that I have about a million pictures of C-man's first birthday celebration, it's time to share. Wow, aren't I generous?

When his guests first arrived, Chris offered them some food and then didn't offer them his toys (what a gracious host). Everyone happily put their party hats on and the party got started. Christian and Andrew played with the ball for a little while and then got ready to go in the pool.

At first, he was a little hesitant, but he quickly warmed up to it. We all had a great time splashing around with friends and family. He had such a great time that he didn't like it when we took him out, but a kiss from mommy made it all better!

After the pool, Chris was persuaded to lend his toys to his friends and they all had fun crawling around after the ball. Pretty soon, it was time for the cake and that made the birthday boy pretty happy.

He had a dinosaur cake for the guests and a personal cake to "eat" on his own. I sat him in front of the "community" cake and we all sang happy birthday to him. I had to give him one of the little tree decorations from the cake to play with because being the center of attention was freaking him out a bit. He I blew the candle out and then he stuck his shoe in the cake. We gave him his personal cake instead so he could trash that one all he wanted. He had fun with the icing for a bit, but didn't go crazy with cake in his ears and eyeballs or anything like that. Finally, after singing many "Happy Birthday"'s, we rounded all the kiddies up for some pictures.

In conclusion, I think we all had a great time and the party was just the right size. I didn't want too many people there since I didn't want him to freak out. I think when he's older he can have more kids at his party, but for now it's best to keep it simple.

Last but not least, you know I couldn't resist. Here's a picture of the fabulous four(L to R: Andrew, Sophia, Christian and Matthew)....and a big ol' HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our friend Lilli!

Toddler threads and travails

The frosting frenzy was not as bad as I anticipated on Saturday. Sure, his sandals ended up in the cake before we had even lit the candle, but that's what happens when you put the cake too close to the baby toddler. Heh heh, it feels weird to call my son a toddler now. Kind of like when you first get engaged to someone and you call them your fiancé(e) and then, just when you get used to that, you have to start calling them husband/wife. Yeah, like that, well, kind of.

So, you're probably wondering where the pictures by the thousands are, but I'm a dork, so there are none. Well, not none at all, but none right now. You see, I was uploading some pictures at my office on Friday and I left my digital camera memory card in the office by mistake. Yes, I know, of all days. So, I had to depend on my friends to take pictures of the gala event. Fortunately they complied, but unfortunately our "master in-house photographer" was not able to attend, so I won't have a thousand pictures to show off (only a hundred). How dare she take a vacation! Anyway, I'll save the post about the party for later, for when I actually have pictures to go with it.

In other news, I emptied out my garage on Sunday and took all my Halloween stuff out in preparation for this most magical holiday coming up. I realized that I have way too much stuff (10+ huge tupperware bins plus assorted large boxes) and started putting some stuff aside to sell in the yard sale we'll be having this weekend. I also sorted out the haunted house items, the decorations I was going to put up, and what needed to go back in the boxes.

I looked through my costume box to see if I could decide on a costume this year, but couldn't really make up my mind. I don't want to be anything that would require me to wear a wig, make-up, or mask because I don't want to scare Chris. I think I'll do the Titanic costume again. I will be dressing up as Rose, not the as the ship, by the way. I know I've put on weight, but not that much.

I still haven't really made up my mind about Christian's costume either. All the costumes that they have in the stores are so freaking hot. It's warm and muggy here in FL, I can't put those fleecy things on CM or he'll bake! I did find a Mickey costume in the Disney store that is sleeveless, but it requires that Christian wear ears...and gloves. Not gonna happen, not easily anyway. I have to try the costume on him to see if I can distract him enough to get them on and keep them on. Wish me luck. I also had a Batman costume, but that has a mask that goes over the eyes. I had an Eeyore costume, but that one had something that went over the head too. I have aDraculaa one that I was going to put on him last year, but that has a cape and he'll probably try and pull that off. I was going to do a Pinocchio costume, but I can't seem to find a yellow shirt or tyrolean hat..and forget about the prosthetic nose. Who knew outfitting a toddler would be so difficult? I hope it gets easier as he gets older, but by then I fear he'll be adding his own input.