Jinkies!

I was going to tell you all about how we went to the Fair on Thursday and show you wonderful pictures of the petting zoo and CMan riding all the kiddie rides, but I'm a dork and I forgot my camera, so that post will have to wait a little bit longer. Instead, I will tell you about the potty-ing phenomenon that my son has become (oh great, she's talking about bodily functions again).

When we last left off, he was going to the potty once a day right before bed time and it had become a part of his routine. The daycare lady started letting him go diaper-less last week, so I decided that I would try and do the same. WOW...that's all I have to say. On Friday he had one accident (#1), but I guess that really grossed him out because from then on he told me when he had to go potty. A couple of times he sat and didn't go (and then wanted a sticker...oh he's a slick one).

Then on Saturday, he alternated between underwear and diapers (I didn't have any pull-ups or anything because this really caught me off guard; I didn't think he would actually tell me when he had to go) and he used the potty a couple of times in the day. On Sunday he wore underwear the whole day (except during nap time). In the morning he went to swim class (yes, he's started going again...pictures next time) and he asked to use the potty...and he did. After that we went to Chilli's for lunch where the same happened. Then we very nervously (wearing underwear in the car seat for a prolonged period!) we went to the Falls shopping mall where he also used the potty. He had one accident at home (outside thankfully) because he was too preoccupied with playing to care about telling us and the rest of the day was accident free. He went potty like 7 times that day alone!

Another thing I've noticed is that lately he doesn't want any help with anything. He wants to do everything by himself. He wants to get in the car by himself, out of the car by himself, off the bed by himself, put his shoes on by himself, pull his pants on/off by himself. You get the point. He has become Mr. Independent and God forbid if you should do something for him. He has a fit and makes you do it again (for ex. if he wants to get out of the car by himself and you help him, then he gets back in the car so that he can get out by himself...so funny). This morning he wanted to use the big toilet and not his potty. What is this? Did he outgrow the little potty already? Ha ha. Mr. Grown up is too mature for the little potty. Oh boy.

I am really amazed at how quickly he progressed from not saying anything ever to saying it almost every single time and in public places too! Wowserz Penny! I guess now I have to become infinitely knowledgeable about where all bathrooms are at all times. Joy.

Oh, I also have to go buy more underwear. We only have one pack because as I said...I wasn't expecting it to be so quick. I hope I'm not jinxing it now.

A small announcement

Although I wasn't going to find out what I was having at yesterday's ultrasound. The tech kind of blurted it out, so it looks like y'all got lucky.


Here is my small announcement:

Some of Christian's thoughts on the matter:

Me: Hey Chris, you're going to be a big brother.
Him: Yeah.
Me: Are you going to be nice to your little brother?
Him: Yeah.
Me: Are you going to play with your little brother?
Him: Yeah.
Me: Are you going to share your toys with your little brother?
Him: Yeah.
Me: (taking advantage of all the "yeah"s) Are you going to give up your crib and sleep in the big boy bed?
Him: Yeah?

Later he and my mom were talking:
Mom: Are you going to give your crib to the baby and sleep in the big boy bed?
Him: NO!

I guess he thought about it some more.

And here's one from the Where did THAT come from files.

Ren and I: Chris, mommy is going to have a baby.
Him: I want a baby, I want a white baby.

HUH?!!! Sorry bud this factory only makes Hispanic babies...here's your hood.
No, but really, where the heck did that come from? R and I looked at each other and I started laughing. I'm guessing he said this because they are learning about colors in daycare and perhaps he's afraid that people come in colors such as purple and green.

Bunny Pictures and Chimbo Eggs

So here are the bunny pictures that I promised.
On Sunday we went to Amanda and Eric's house to celebrate Eric's birthday and Easter. We had some yummy food and then all the kids went on an Easter Egg hunt. CMan was better at it this year than last. He didn't stop to examine and play with each egg. This time he actually continued to pick more eggs up.

After the egg hunt I brought out my secret stash of Salvadorean chimbo eggs (huevos chimbos) that my mom had made and started smashing them on people's heads. Fortunately for my victims, they aren't as bad as they sound.

Huevos chimbos are hollow eggs that are painted and have confetti in them. They are part of the Holy week traditions in El Salvador and are thrown during the processions. I had trouble finding any articles about them under that name because huevos chimbos is also the name of a candy in Venezuela (and other countries). This blog talks a little about them, and if you know Spanish you can read up on them here. They are really fun, but they make quite a mess; if you don't believe me, just ask Amanda (sorry!). They are also used in Mexico but there they are called cascarones. Under that name, you can find many more articles about the confetti-filled eggs. Here are some instructions on how to make them so you can trick your friends next Easter!

Mother Fucker! ***UPDATED***

I apologize for the blunt title, but that is exactly what came out of my mouth five minutes ago.

Take note of the following events that led up to it:

-I've been a member of the Pearl J@m (my most favorite band in the world) fan club for at least a decade.

-I was a member of said club because when they went on tour, I would supposedly get better seats (through presales etc).

- 2006-2007 Pearl J@m (my most favorite band in the world) went on a worldwide tour that apparently did not include Florida (we must be on another planet).

-Despite the fact that I was pissed at them for totally overlooking my lovely state. I still maintained my membership and kept renewing it in the hopes that they would tour again eventually.

-This year my membership expired in Feb. They sent me an email to let me know so I could renew it. They said you have 3 months to renew or else you lose your seniority or something to that effect. I was still kind of pissed about the lack of tour issue, so I let it go, I had three months to do it anyway...I figured it's not like they're going to announce a tour in the next month or anything.

-On March 3rd, I got another reminder email...I put it off...eh...I'll renew it later.

-Today, I just happened to check myspace and noticed a lovely little bulletin that said the following

3-20-08

Pearl J@m announced today a ten date East Coast tour, which begins June
11th in West Palm Beach, FL and wraps up June 30th in Mansfield, MA.

A ...[Fan] Club pre-sale for
eligible members will begin on Monday, March 24th at 9am PDT on
www.pearlj@m.com. You must be an active member of the [fan] Club by Wednesday
March 19, 2008 to qualify for the pre-sale ticket opportunity.

-Can we say major freakout?

-I instantly/immediately went online and renewed my membership and then I tried to get the tickets (cause the presale is today of all days) and I got this lovely message:

* Your cart was not updated because "WEST PALM BEACH, FL 6/11/08 TICKET PAIR" is
restricted
* You must have a membership that was active before 2008-03-21 to
purchase "WEST PALM BEACH, FL 6/11/08 TICKET PAIR"

- 3-21-2008?!!!!!! ; That was FRIDAYYYYYYYY!!!!!! You mean to tell me that if I had seen the stupid thing on Thursday (that's 4 days ago) I would have been able to get them????!!!!!!

-OK, scream it with me now...MOTHER FUCKER!!!

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Yes, I realize it's all my fault for being a procrastinator.

I'll be OK.

I'll be back with a cute bunny picture from yesterday to calm myself.

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*UPDATE*

The folks at the fan club are such reasonable people. I wrote them a lovely email explaining my situation and I am now a happy camper. I will be as big as a house in June, but I will be at the concert. Woohoo!

Crazy dreams and unfriendly pigs

Here I am, five days later, still sniffling away. What is going on people? This is the longest cold I've ever had. Ugh! Another thing about this prego thing that I didn't get last time that I'm getting this time are these crazy dreams. Oh my god, every freaking night! I don't know if I have always had them and I just don't remember them, but now I have one every night and I remember it every morning. Take last night for example, I dreamt Obama showed up at my parents house to try to convince my dad to stop smoking (um...he doesn't smoke). Huh? The night before I dreamt I was on the Bachelor and the stupid guy kept forgetting my name, so finally I just clipped my name tag on to his tie...that oughta do the trick. Crazy stuff. I keep saying I should write them down, but I'm just too lazy.


So after last Friday's surgery scare, Christian was feeling fine by the next day. On Sunday we had a play date with Tere and Amanda's boys at Pinecrest Gardens. It was quite fun and quite hot. The kids spent some time running around in the playground then we headed over to the petting zoo. They had goats and pot-bellied pigs, one of which was quite antisocial and made grunting noises whenever we got near it. Christian had a great time feeding them and petting them on the butt as usual. After that the boys discovered that the drinking fountain was a bit off the mark when you pressed the button, so they made their own splash and play area to cool down.

"Stomach hurts"

I am currently slogging through my fourth (or is this the fifth? I lost count) cold this year. What is going on? I hardly ever get sick! But nevermind my runny nose, instead let's talk about what led me to the pediatric ER on Friday.

If you recall from our last episode, Cman had an ultrasound appointment on Friday morning. It was at 8:30 am and my poor baby had to be fasting for it. That was a little hard for him because he usually has a bottle of milk as soon as he wakes up in the morning (anywhere from 5:30 to 7:30 am). Instead we had to dress him and put him in the car and promise him that he would get his milk soon (HA!).

Once at the hospital, he behaved like a champ and let the tech do the ultrasound. He didn't really like the gel ("no like the cremita") they were using, but he was really well behaved. Thanks in part I think to the TV screen above the bed playing cartoons and the endless amounts of stickers that he received. The tech scanned his upper abdomen at which point I told her that his stomach ache complaints were all below the belly button, so she should look at that part. She told me that this one was only for the upper abdomen at which point I thought we were wasting our time then. She got clearance from someone and came back to do the lower abdomen at which point she noticed some bubbles around his appendix. She then called the pediatric radiologist to have a looky and that he did. Poor Cman was fed up with having people probe him, but he remained calm, which was more than I could say for myself.

Basically the doctor said that there was some inflammation around his appendix and he should go to the pediatric ER to get it looked at by the surgeon to see if appendicitis is at work here and whether surgery would be necessary. I couldn't believe what I was hearing...we went from a little stomach ache to the possibility of my little boy going under the knife! Ren and I were a mess and my little man kept asking for food and water and cereal and milk and you name it. We couldn't give him anything as per the doc's orders...you know...in case of surgery.

Once at the ER he was given a gown (that didn't go over well) and blood was drawn and an IV placed. That was horrible. They had to pinch him twice to get the vein and he hated having that tube attached to his arm. It pained me to see him crying and calling out to me and the only thing I could do was hold his hand. How do you explain to a 2 year old that he has to have this done. It was heartbreaking. They also stuck a urine collection bag to his privates and he hated that as well. Every time they tried to console him by offering him a band-aid he would scream "don't wanna band-aid" (he hates them because they remind him of blood draws I guess). I can't even imagine what he must have been thinking...why did you people bring me here to get tortured? I promise I will never ever tell you that my stomach hurts again.

Fast forward several hours and the ER doctor finally came in and examined him and she said that she didn't think this was appendicitis, much less a surgical case for appendicitis, but that the surgeon would have to come and give his opinion anyway. This set us at ease a little bit; I hoped the surgeon wasn't one of those let's take it out anyway just in case types.

Finally at around 1:45pm the surgeon came and basically said what the ER doctor had said. He said that this was probably a virus that was causing the inflammation and that he certainly did not think an operation was called for. He gave us his card with instructions to call (and come back) if things got worse and sent us home. The IV and urine collection bag were taken off (more screams) and my little man finally got to have some juice (and yogurt and grilled cheese and fries and chips) after 17 hours of fasting.

When we got home that afternoon I was overwhelmingly relieved. Not only because we (he)had avoided surgery but because inflammation is the only thing that they found on the ultrasound. I thought about the fact that so many families of children get much worse news on a daily basis and I could do nothing but cry with gratefulness to God that that wasn't the case this time.

Cman is back to his old self now (no fever, no cold, eating so-so). He has not complained of a stomach ache since later that day. I wonder why...

Update on various Little Ones

The OB appointment went well yesterday except that I had a "full exam" that I wasn't expecting. I hate it when that happens cause I like to make preparations for those types of invasive exams. Little wiggly is doing great (HR 150-ish). I haven't felt any kicks/flutters yet, so (s)he's pretty well behaved. After 16 weeks the queasiness is finally gone. I was very lucky this time (and last time too) because the morning sickness was almost non-existent. The worst that I got was a car-sicky feeling whenever my stomach was empty which quickly went away whenever I ate.

I asked the doctor if I could ride the kiddie rides at the fair and she said that those were fine. I figure if it's gentle enough for a two year old, it can't be too bad right? And yes, THE FAIR is coming in two weeks and I can't wait. I'm salivating just thinking about all the yummy fair food.

I found out courtesy of bug guide that our little grassy friends from Monday are Eastern Lubber Grasshoppers. I need to stop touching (and letting Chris touch) little animals that I find out in the wild because those little guys seem to have "ample chemical defenses"...oops. I also saw these little parrots in the tree outside my office last week, but don't worry, I didn't try to touch those...I couldn't reach 'em.

Chris has an appointment for an abdominal ultrasound tomorrow. He's been poking his stomach and saying "stomach hurts" for almost a week now, so the doctor felt it was best to check him and see what the problem is. At first I thought it was a phrase he picked up at daycare, but he's been saying it for too many days now. It may or may not be related to whatever illness he had this week, so let's see.

Speaking of phrases from daycare, he definitely got this one there. Whenever he watches TV at home and a commercial for a toy (any toy, be it Barbies or My Little Pony, or Transformers) comes on he used to say "I want it". That was fine and dandy for a little while since he didn't really connect that you can find those things in a store and buy them. Lately though, he says "I like it...I want it...Find it mommy" and he goes into his playroom to look for said toy as if he has it already. Oh boy, this is only going to get worse huh?

Feverish times and ABC's

I haven't gotten much work done for the past 5 days because CMan had been sporting a runny nose/fever/vomiting spell on and off since Friday. A trip to the doctor on Monday revealed nothing concrete, so she had to order some blood work. Poor baby, I hate it when they order blood work. After the visit we stepped outside and discovered these cute little friends in the grass. They were all over the place and Chris was having a great time picking them up. I just had to make sure he didn't squeeze them too hard.

In other news, CMan surprised me by singing his ABC's in the car the other day. Since then, I've been trying to get him to do it on film, but every time he sees the camera he freaks out and wants to play with it instead of doing whatever he was doing. I finally got a little spy cam action going on, but I got busted at the end...check it out:



Amidst the fever spikes, he also managed to go #1 and #2 in the potty again on his own (before bath time). This time I had stickers on hand. Yay stickers. I bought a grab bag of small toys so I can give him one whenever he goes; hopefully those will be a bit more of an incentive since he's got lots of stickers already anyway.

At daycare they were focusing on colors last week, so he's learned his colors now too. Speaking of daycare, his fevers were gone yesterday and he should be ready to go back to daycare today, but R has the day off, so I think he's going to keep him home one more day just to be sure.

Last but not least, check out the drawing he did by himself the other day.

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In Little Wiggly news, I've got a doctor's apppointment today, so I'll let you know how that goes too.

Whatchoo talkin' 'bout Willis?

Hillary the Riveter

Girls Night Out 2008: Circus version

On Saturday night we gathered the girls and headed out for our 2nd annual girls night out. This time we went to the Seminole Hard Rock casino. Neither of us had been there and it seemed like a good place to go with one stop shopping if you will.

We were going to go to Tatu for dinner, but the 90 minute wait dissuaded us and we chose to eat at Tequila Ranch instead (which probably ended up having a 60 min wait anyway). They had some live entertainment which I'm sure is fun and wonderful if you're not sitting right next to the speaker. Fortunately I had my trusty Tylenol in my purse with me (that my doc said I could take), but when the ladies at the table started telling me that it was too strong and that I was going to irreparably damage the child by taking that dosage, I kind of felt bad and didn't take it.

The only good thing about being close to the stage was that we were also close to the dance floor where we witnessed a small old man getting frisky with whichever female was brave enough to step foot on the dance floor. During dinner I passed out some bachelorette dare cards (it wasn't a bachelorette party, but nobody else had to know that) that we could do throughout the night (to spice things up a bit...OK fine to entertain me since I wasn't going to be drinking), but unfortunately, half of the girls don't drink enough for me to persuade them to do the dares...and only a few of us are crazy enough to do them without the alcohol.

After dinner, the bull rides began...no don't think nasty, literally, they had a bull there. There was a bachelorette having a party and she was the first one to get on. I didn't really see any guys trying to ride the bull, but there were lots of ladies having a go at it. It seemed to me like each one was wearing fewer clothes than the last, but I think it's because the bull operator was making the bull shake in such a way that butts and boobs were being flashed at an alarming rate. It seemed like fun and I really wanted to go, but I didn't want to unhinge the child within, so I refrained. Boohoo. None of the old ladies that were with me wanted to ride the bull (and the one that would have, was wearing a skirt....I think she did it on purpose if you ask me), so we headed off to check out the clubs.

Our first stop was to chat it up with the door guy of one of the clubs to ask him about cover charges and which club plays what music and which clubs were good and by the way, have you done any modeling and do you have a twin brother...oh you do....and does he work here too and how old are you and I tuned out about halfway through the conversation because I couldn't handle knowing that there were two of him.....must walk away. I'm such a goody-goody.

So we went to Spirits first and that lasted a whole 5 minutes while we went to the bathroom en masse and quickly departed...we hadn't brought our fake grillz with us that day, so we kind of felt out of place. After that we headed to Passion where Lisa helped us get into the VIP section. We picked a lovely couch and sat down and later noticed there were some old decorations still hanging there from a baby shower (um...a baby shower in a club? erm...ooookay). They all thought it was a sign...I told them yes it was...it was a baby shower sign...they also have "it's a boy" signs too in the stores. I guess only time will tell because I've had about 3 dreams about little wiggly and demented as all the dreams are (oh my god are they crazy dreams...I don't remember having crack is whack dreams with Christian), it's always a boy baby...so isn't that a sign too?

Anyway, we partied like rockstars at Passion...well, if rock stars wear wigs, do the robot, the egyptian, the running man and the cabbage patch while partying that is. I guess we were 80's rock stars. Take note: the only one that hadn't had a drink is the one with the clown wig. Judging by the pictures it looks as if I'm the only fool dancing (no, but you were the only one dancing like a fool), but that wasn't the case, we were all dancing at some point or another. It just happens that Lilli (the photographer that night) was specifically very amused by my dance moves, either that or I'm a camera hog.

Around one-ish, 2/3 of the group decided to call it a night. I was in that 2/3rds because I was exhausted (from all that dancing perhaps). The following day though, I felt like a train had hit me. I never knew you could feel hungover without actually having had a drink. I need to accept that fact that I am no longer in shape for this sort of thing. Remind me to never go out and party while pregnant, or old, or pregnant and old.