How Can I Get Mad?

A few days ago, I heard my kids yelling at each other in the other room.

"What's going on, guys?" I hollered over them as I poked my head in the room.

"Emily hit me!" was Lucas' reply.

"Emily," I said in a disappointed voice. "Why did you hit your brother?"

"Because...I love you." she said with a radiant smile on her face.

I looked at her not knowing how to reply.

"Because I love you SO MUCH!!" she added to sweeten her case.

It worked. I didn't send her to time out as I usually would have. I just gave her a hug and told her not to hit her brother anymore. How could I punish her with such a cute albeit suck up response?

I hope that I am not helping to create a future Eddie Haskel (the phony friend of Wally's on Leave It To Beaver).

2008 Family Portrait

This year instead of using the Target studio, we had our friend from church, Anna Robertson, do our family portrait. She is one awesome photographer and captured some great shots of us (a tough feat with 2 little kids and a husband that likes to shut his eyes in photos).













To see more of the photos, keep an eye out for your Christmas card that will get to you hopefully before the end of the year;-).

Little Miss Thing

Emily just got this new pink dream sweater in the mail for Christmas. Michael's Aunt Rosary crocheted it complete with a matching hat and purse. And to make it even more cute and perfect, it has these sweet bear buttons, too.

She has never gotten more compliments in a day...two people even took her to show off how cute she was to their coworkers.

I'm glad that it is a little big. Hopefully it will still fit her next winter. Huh, maybe I can try fit into it next year, too;-)?

By the way, my ultrasound is scheduled for January 9, so we will have to wait until then to know if we are having another miss thing or another little man.

Halloween Revisited

I never got around to posting a photo from Halloween this year. So now that Thanksgiving is almost here, I will do it.

My kids dressed up as Spider Girl (it was Lucas' costume but I added a red tutu and a bow in the hair!) and a firefighter. They had a great time this year and went trick or treating twice. That means LOTS of candy for mom, I mean them;-).

The first time was at a Harvest Festival at the church that Lucas goes to school. They had a Trunk or Treat in the parking lot with 50 or so cars and about 20 bikers for Jesus giving out candy. It was a cool community event that we hope to make a family tradition.

The second candy run was on Halloween when daddy took them out for a half and hour or so around the neighborhood. They would have gone longer, but it started to rain.

But the best part of the day for the kids was giving out candy to our costumed visitors. Lucas was opening the door, grabbing the big bowl and handing out the candy himself. He did great. "See you soon," he'd say as they left. So cute!

Keep On Growing

I ran today, yet my pants didn't fit afterwards. My shirts are getting tighter and starting to creep up. And is that a rubber band looped through the button hole of my corduroys? What is going on??

I think that I've got a case of the baby flu. A 14 week case so far. Luckily, besides the waist (etc.) expansion, I feel pretty fine.

Ouch!

I zipped my expanding belly into my pants today. Does that mean that I should quit kidding myself by wearing normal clothes and pull out the maternity ones already?

I know that after I do, I will wonder why I put it off so long. They are so roomy and glorious.

I am definitely starting to look like a hooch in my regular clothes. The "she really shouldn't be wearing that" look.

On a side note...what do you think of the name Jolina for a girl? Lucas made it up and it combines my mother-in-law's name-Jo with a great friend's name-Lina. A friend just told me it sounded ethnic. Your thoughts?

P.S. Photos of the big belly to follow soon!

Sucky Times

Today, I realized that something has got to give. There are times in my day that really stink and something about them has got to change.

The most trying times, I find are meals and attempting to get my kids ready when we need to be out the door. Yep, those are really sucky times. The times where I hate the sound of my bossy voice. Where I am trying to keep control of the situation and am grossly unable. What can I do different?

Do I expect too much out of a 2 and 3 year old? I want them to eat their meals in a timely fashion and exhibit basic table manners. They just don't care about eating and are screwing around at the table much of the time. It makes me nagging and miserable.

And getting ready in a time crunch is equivalent to poking out my eyes with a fork. So painful and darn near impossible with a good attitude.

How can I be more easy going, less stressed and still get my kids to do what I want?

Name Ideas

I am in love with the name Charlotte now. Is Charlotte Lomonaco too long of a name? Is it too spider? What do you think? Mike is not as much of fan as me because of the length (9 letters). At least it is only two syllables despite all of it's letters.

I think that I am having a girl. That is what it looked like to my untrained eye at my ultrasound this week, anyway. The technician thought so, too, though it is pretty early still. We will see.

Jacob Evan is our boy choice at this point.

Other girl ideas: Allison, Angela, Caroline, Hailey (it rhymes with Emily, though), Carys (it rhymes with Lucas, though).

So tough. I used my favorite all-time names already. And you don't want to screw this decision up because it lasts a lifetime.

P.S. There is only one baby in there. SHEW! I was a little freaked out at the remote possibility of having twins. Now that would really push me over the edge.

Spewage

I haven't felt like blogging latetly. I am too tired and too down to make the time and take the brain power to write much of anything.

These are some hard times. We still have not sold a vehicle after buying the minivan this summer. We didn't anticipate that it would take so long-3 months and counting. We had both other cars on the market (the Escape and Mike's 300-ZX) up until recently. Now we are just focusing on selling the Z, as we could never fit 3 kids in the microscopic backseat. Anyway, it is a small scale version of being stuck with two houses again. Thank goodness that a car is MUCH less of a financial burden. We keep having interest in the cars and offers made, but they have been really pathetic, low-ball offers. Like 3K less than asking price (and we have priced the vehicles pretty fairly and keep lowering the price each week). It's depressing.

I have serious sleep issues. Whenever I am upset or stressed, my sleep suffers greatly. It is rare for me to have a good night's sleep these days. I am up for hours tossing and turning and mulling things over in the middle of the night almost every night. And to make matters worse, Lucas is starting to give up his naps so I am hardly getting a break during the day. I am one fried mama. We are working on having quiet rest/play time in his room, but the trick has been to get him to stay in there. It's been pretty butt-kicking.

Our finances are beyond tight. Last month almost all of our bills were paid late. I am sick of getting calls from the mortgage company and threatening letters about turning off our power. Mike is working extra hours now, too, and getting paid more for it. Yet we don't seem to have any financial freedom. We have a roommate so that we can afford to live, that in itself is full of challenges.

I am finding that I am quite a bitter, angry grumbling person these days. I am not very tolerant of others differences. I am not very compassionate when my kids get me up in the middle of the night. I am very selfish. It has been a miserable way to live and I need to change things.

I had a thought yesterday when praying to God about how to handle this problem. I think that I need to Thank God for the challenges and growth opportunities. For the refinements. Thank God instead of bitching in my head all of the time. The bitching gets me nowhere but sick.

Fears

I am finding myself more fearful in this pregnancy for some reason. I think about miscarriage more. I worry that I am carrying twins. Lucas prayed this morning that there would be two babies in mommy's belly. That's just great! I wanted to tell him to shut up.

I worry that the baby (ies) will be unhealthy or have some sort of deformity. I have been so blessed with two beautiful, healthy and wonderful children so far. How could I have another one?

Will this new baby be a terror? The first two are pretty mild mannered and behaved.

Can I even handle another? I feel on the verge of insanity at times!

God please calm these worries and give me peace. I know that you only give us what we can handle/are capable of with your strength. Help me to lean into and trust you.

Cravings

• Sleep
• That my kids would sleep in past 6 in the morning (this morning was around 6:30 and I was praising God).
• McDonald's chocolate shake and fries
• A clean house (one that would be self cleaning, preferably)
• An end to my busy schedule (planning Emily's birthday party, preparing lessons for 5 more weeks of children's program at church, etc.)
• To finish season 3 of The Office before season 5 starts this week.
• Quiet (often when I attempt to nap our neighbor is outside doing yard work with power tools and his radio blaring or the kids next door are shrieking outside)
  
• Did I mention sleep?

Positively Growing

Well folks, it's a good thing that we got that minivan over the summer because we are going to be needing it in the next 9-10 months. I am positive of that!

I peed on the test stick this morning and got a strong plus sign. That means that our family of four is growing into a family of five. We are positively insane;-).

So hip hip hooray for a new little Lomonaco on the way!

Spit and Vinegar

Is the expression really piss and vinegar? Well whatever it is, my daughter is full of it sometimes.

Emily, my second child, is full of sass. She puts up with nothing, as her older brother tries to muscle her around. One of her favorite expressions is "Go Away (sometimes followed by mama, much to my delight)." She alternates this fun phrase with "Leave me ALONE." Often she says one of these while swinging her arm to knock over whoever is invading her space. And she growls it with this mean, raspy voice that you wouldn't imagine could come out of such a cute little thing. My little spitfire is not playing and will not be pushed around.

So here is an example of how her little feisty personality came out today...

One of my friends in my mom's group commented that Emily had such cute little sandals on.

And not knowing how to take the compliment my sweet 23 month old, yells (in her gruff, mean voice, of course), "NO!! EMILY'S SHOES!"

"Don't worry, Emily. I won't take your shoes." said the friend.

I am sure that Emily was saying "Go away" in her head, but I coerced her to sweetly say "Thank You" instead.

I have been trying to teach her that it is not ok to say "Go away" all of the time. And sometimes during these lessons, she whispers it to me.

What a stinker!

Future Ambitions

This week, Lucas shared some of his aspirations with me.

"When I grow up, I want to be an acrobat, a ballerina and a dentist."

Lately we play acrobats on a daily basis, rolling around on the floor, trying to stand on our heads, balancing him up in the air on my feet, etc. Ballerina??? We do have a ballerina puzzle. And dentist?? He does like to brush his teeth (and wants to do it all by himself, though I rarely let him and I always follow up with the paste myself, just to be sure).

Today he added a new one to the list after we toured a local fire station with my mom's group. As a side note: It was an amazing field trip as one of the mom's in the group got her husband, fireman Dennis, to give us the grand tour. We saw their bedroom, kitchen, big screen TV, got to ride in the truck and spray the hose, hold their various tools, the kids even got "Fire Chief" helmets. My kids, especially Lucas, were in heaven. Even Emily got a turn with the hose. So fun...

I was talking about our memorable day at dinner and Lucas then added that he wanted to be a fireman someday. Actually earlier in the day he had said that when he was bigger he was going to go into the fire station and say "Can I drive the firetruck? Yes or No?" He makes me smile.

Another thing that made me chuckle was when we asked Emily at the table what she wanted to be when she grows up and she said emphatically, "Spiderman" with a straight, serious face.

Trials (and Joys) of Motherhood

We've had a busy morning. I had to take Lucas into the Pediatrician because he had blood in his stool yesterday (the third time that I have noticed it this summer). He checked him out and decided to have a stomach X-ray done. I had to wait for hours in the office with two wiggly kids and then had to get my 3-year-old to lie still by himself on a table to get a tummy X-ray. This is very scary stuff, but Lucas surprised me by being super brave. He is really growing up!

After all of that, it turns out that my boy is constipated. The doc could see the evidence in the X-ray. Just as I suspected all along, my kid is full of #$%*;-).

After a lovely anniversary picnic with Daddy, we had to stop by the store and pick up all kinds of food assistance (prunes, apricots, pineapple). Later I have to go back and pick up a couple of prescriptions for him, too.

I also need to get one for Emily, whose diaper rash yesterday was so bad her diaper had blood in it. I had her wear underwear for most of the day and even let her walk around with a bare bottom for awhile. It was like we were potty training. And it was a long day full of accidents and messes. She even pooped on the carpeting when she was bare. It wasn't solid either which made it especially fun to clean up.

When I got home today, I called my friend, Becky, who is sitting for us tonight so that we can go out and celebrate 8 years of marriage. She had just come home from the Emergency Room with her daughter who is Emily's age to remove a Lego that she had shoved up her nose. Sheesh. "We just got back from stomach X-rays."

It is never easy to be a mom (what an idiot I was, when I thought that it would be!!). But when they hug and cuddle you and tell you that they love you, it makes it all the day's challenges and troubles melt away. And when I see their angelic, content faces sleeping serenely, there is nothing in the world that I would rather be than their mama. Nothing harder, but nothing better!

Reading Maniac

I have had an insatiable appetite for books lately. In the past month or so, I have read the following:

• A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
• Into the Wild
• Tuesdays with Morrie
• World Without End
• Authentic Parenting in a Postmodern Culture (this has been read on and off for a few months)
• The Bible (though not the whole thing in a month;-)

They were all most excellent, though World Without End by Ken Follett was the hardest to put down. And by far the longest. It was over 1000 pages and I finished it in a week and a day. That meant that I spent almost all of my free time with my nose in it's pages, stayed up entirely too late every night and fought harder than usual to stay awake every day. It was an exciting epic tale of corruption in the church, gay nuns and monks, cathedrals, knights, outlaws, the plague, love and loss in 14th century England. It was also the sequal to Pillars of the Earth which I read a few years ago when Lucas was a baby. WOW!

It is time for me to take a reading sabbatical for at least a few days anyway. I need to clean the house, talk to my husband and feed the kids again. Seriously, I sat down the other day with them and read while they played in the sandbox and later watched Bambi.

Any good book suggestions once my reading fast is through??

Vacation Highlights

Grody Head

So after 9 days of no real washing, my hair didn't look half bad in the end. Sure the greasy locks contributed to some enormous zits on my forehead that still haven't cleared up. But despite those and the fact that I felt grosser than usual most days, I found out that I really don't need to daily wash the hair.

A couple people suggested using baby powder to help freshen the head, so I hesitantly tried it. It left me with a gross baby butt smell, a funky texture and powdered looking, grayish hair. I do not recommend this method.

I also found that I could wash most of it if I was careful in the tub not to get the stapled part in the water. I did this several times. I also used a shower cap on the top of my head and just washed the bottom part a few times, too.

The ironic thing about the above mentioned shower cap was that we got it at a hotel the day before my accident. Michael picked it up in the hotel bathroom and said, "Does anyone actually use these things?" I reminded him about the time he had stapes in his head and how a shower cap would have been useful as I slipped it into our bag "just in case we need it sometime." Little did I know I would be using it the next night.

On another interesting (and somewhat disgusting) sidenote: I got a stomach bug the evening that I was supposed to get my staple out. As luck would have it, I ended up puking in the already filthy hair. Still feeling kind of sick, I decided that I had to go in anyway so that I could wash my freakin' hair already. I drove myself in and got the staple out and got myself home just in time to be sick again. Nice, huh.
It seems that I did attempt to partially wash or powder my hair almost every day. So I guess that is why it didn't look so very bad after 9 long days.

By the way, I am feeling better now and I have really been appreciating my showers again!!

Metal Head

I officially have metal in my head again. The last time I had this I was 14 years old waiting to get my braces off. The braces lasted 4 years (I think). This staple that I now have gracing my skull will be out in another week. Thank goodness for that because I have to keep my head dry until then. No washing the hair until it's removal, though I cheated twice, trying to keep the area hair dry and failed miserably. I even had to go back in the the morning the day after it was inserted to "get my head checked" and see if I had to have it restapled. The staple felt like it was pulling out. Probably because I got it wet the evening before. Luckily, it was ok that day. Just now, I was able to wiggle it like a loose tooth, though. Hmmm. Is that normal?

So, why do I have this staple in my head you ask?

Well, the afternoon after we returned home, I was in a frenzy of getting organized again. Dirty clothes were in sorted piles on the kitchen floor. Grocery bags were on the table waiting to be unpacked. Mike and I were talking and both started to start putting the groceries away in the kitchen cabinets. I looked down and noticed that the kid's laundry pile had their filthy white socks and decided to sort them into our load for bleaching. I didn't pay attention to the fact that the kitchen cabinets were standing open above me and bent to sort the socks. When I stood up straight, the cabinet door (which felt like it was made of petrified wood) went right into my head. I crumpled to the floor and cried. I am a tough girl, but it hurt that bad! I just knew that it was bleeding and sure enough I had an open wound.

That night, I took myself to an emergency clinic to get my head fixed. A tetnus shot and one staple later (they actually use a medical staple gun to put it in!) and I am doing better. Let's just hope my hair holds out for a week of no washing and that I don't catch the staple on the brush anymore. That really smarts.

Signed,
One Greasy Woman

P.S. I will post a photo of how bad the do looks on the last day! Stay tuned...

She'll Eat Anything (except real food)

We just returned home (Saturday night) from a road trip to Colorado for a week of camping. It was a fun time, but I am still recovering from the vacation. The car isn't fully unloaded, there are still piles of laundry to do and put away, etc.

Here is a funny story from our adventures:

Along the way, we stopped at a gas station to fuel up, get drinks and use the potty. I took both kids inside with me to potty while Mike pumped the gas. I had just sat on the bowl when I noticed Emily quickly bend down, snap something small and brown off the gas station bathroom floor and shove it into her mouth. Oh no she didn't.

"Spit that out! Yucky!!!!" I screamed. I was up in an instant, reaming out her mouth all the while gagging in my head. She began crying as I fished a brown M&M out of her pie hole. Gaaaaarossss!

I think that it was one that had fallen off of her clothes and onto the floor (we had been snacking on the treat in the car). Shew, at least it was a food substance and probably ours. Perhaps she was following the 5 second rule.

Sorry sweetheart, that rule doesn't apply in a public restroom!!

So my Emily hardly ate any real food on this trip. And we offered her some of her favorites. She just ate when it was off of a filthy, germ infested plate called the bathroom floor. Yuck.

Soccer Momin' it Up

Well, we did it. We bought me a minivan. And just in time for my birthday. We actually spent 3 stressful hours of my birthday signing the paperwork and bringing home my sweet new ride. What a gift!

I was actually too scared to drive it from the dealership, but I took it up the street to church the next day and was really impressed by the way it handles. I didn't notice it feeling like a huge vehicle and the visibility was great.

It is an awesome car and doesn't look half bad either...for a minivan. It's not my pre-kids, sassy red Miata, but maybe is the cool mom alternative. And boy, will it let us hold a lot of camping gear for our upcoming halfway across the country, road trip to Colorado. Much more than the microscopic Miata would have.

Dream Minivan

WHAT AM I TALKING ABOUT?!!?

I am actually getting excited about owning one of those mom mobiles that I claimed for years that I would NEVER drive. A minivan like my mom drove and I had as my super embarrassing car to borrow in high school. And we are on the road to buying one. We are in the market anyway and hope to have one before our road trip to Colorado this summer for a week of camping (the gear would be definitely be a tight fit in my Escape).

What does it take, though, to find something that is affordable, reliable, remotely cool looking, with low mileage and not being sold by someone trying to scam you (I have actually had two people try to get me to send them money in the UK this week on Craigs List)? My first choice at this point is a Honda Odyssey, but it is hard to find one that meets all of our requirements and that we can afford.

There I said it. I want a minivan. We will actually be able to fit our third child if and when we have one, and the visiting grandparents, and sometimes the roommate, too.

Any shred of coolness that I was gripping onto for dear life is now flying out the window of my SUV. Yes, a minivan...what a nice, practical ride!

Beach Photos

This weekend, we stayed with my cousin Landis and his wife Kat at their place in Richmond, just outside of San Francisco. To kill some time before dinner, we took a walk with the kids along the Bay Trail and enjoyed the sights along the way. The kids loved playing in the sand at the beach. Mike and I captured some cute shots there.

Our Freaky Fun Weekend

We went to San Francisco this weekend to take part in the Bay to Breakers 12K. The infamous road race was in it's 97th year. It is a wild and crazy event that is notoriously San Franciscan, complete with costumed runners and "uncostumed" ones, too (a.k.a. naked participants). Seriously. Our first sighting of a nudist, was actually a bouncing male spectator near the start. A weird sight for sure and we found it kind of hard not to stare. As the race progressed and we saw more flesh, we got mostly used to it. Not to mention that all of the streakers (that we witnessed) were older men who really should have kept their clothes on in my humble opinion. Oh well.

We ran as a family and were fully clothed, thank you. In fact, we all dressed up in costume: me as Wonder Woman, Mike in drag (just kidding, really as a cow), Lucas as a lion and Emily as Elmo.

Mike, my seriously strong husband, pushed the kids in a double jogging stroller for the entire 7.5 miles, even up a really steep San Francisco hill. And he didn't complain once. What a guy!! He and the kids were huge fan pleasers, too. Everyone was yelling "Hey cow!" and "moo" and telling the kids (who were just along for the ride, mind you;-) that they were doing great. Even giving them high fives. And me, nothing, except one drunk guy who beckoned me with a "Hey Super Girl!" I even went to slap a five to a person that had just given one to my husband and they pulled their hand down just before we connected. I was overshadowed by a cow and a couple cute kiddos. Perhaps next time I will push the stroller and get more support.

We saw some interesting sights, like a straight looking guy on our train into town wearing pink hotpants and a fuzzy, cropped sweater and a care bear headpiece (he was going to the race). A team of people dressed as salmon walking the opposite way of the racers (swimming upstream). A masked Hillary and Obama arm in arm waving at the crowd. And a shocking "Save the Boobs" float that was promoting breast cancer awareness.

Tonight, I received my race photos and noticed that a naked guy and I finished at the same time. Great, weird naked guy stole the thunder in my finishers photo, too. Dang it!

All in all it was a great time, despite the 2 hour bus ordeal where the driver got lost, being cold and exhausted and unable to nap afterwards like I always used to do following hard races. It makes a difference doing these things post kids.

A Little About Me

Where was I 10 years ago?

I was 21 years old and just about to graduate from college. I was pretty unsure about the future: I had no idea what I would do after graduation (no job lined up, not sure where to live as my parents were out of state, yet the boyfriend, Michael, was back home). I also had a nagging fear that I would be one credit short and unable to graduate.

5 things on my "to-do" list...

• Become more like Jesus and follow more fervently after him
  
• Get cracking and more serious with my marathon training
  
• Enjoy life more
  
• Keep the house cleaner
  
• Get to bed at a better hour so I am not tired ALL of the time
  

Snacks I enjoy

• granola bars
  
• yogurt
  
• dried fruit
• chocolate
• a cup of coffee, heavy on the sugar and cream
  
• teddy grahams or goldfish crackers (stolen from the kids;-)
  
• fresh baked goods
  

Five things I'd do if I were a billionaire...

• Pay off debt.
• Give generously to the church and other charitable organizations.
• Buy a minivan for me so we can all fit easier and an Evolution for Michael so he's not working on his dumb car all the time.
  
• Pay for my family and Michael's to move out here. We miss them so!
  
• Travel around the world (Italy, cruise to some exotic islands, maybe even live in different places for a while just to try them out).
  

5 bad habits...

• Craig's List
• Anger
• Pride
• Talking at inappropriate times or too much
  
• Saying idiotic things (mostly being accidentally rude, foot in mouth type stuff)
  

Places I've lived...

• Chicago, IL
  
• Casselberry, FL
  
• Orlando, FL
• Tallahassee, FL
• Roseville, CA
  

Jobs I've had...

• Fifi's Poodle Palace-I washed dogs, painted their toenails, put bows in their hair and perfumed them, too. Seriously! First job.
  
• Retail (County Seat, Circuit City, Petite Sophisticate)
• Food (Angel's Diner, Barnies Coffee)
  
• Cumulus Broadcasting-My college internship. I was the promotions assistant. The job rocked!! I got to do parades and other events, live broadcasts, even helped out with a morning show once.
  
• American Real Estate and Financial Services-Marketing Assistant. First job out of college. I was told that I was so good at making copies! That made me proud;-).
  
• Laser Institute of America-Marketing Coordinator. Got to travel around the country to do various trade shows and conferences.
  
• Campus Crusade for Christ-Marketing Manager and eventually Event Planning Manager which I loved!! Great place to work.
  

Watch What You Read

We returned our library books today. The large stack included a board book that Emily threw up on during a coughing fit in her bed recently (she now has asthema like her brother--JOY!). I cleaned it up as best as I could with wipes and Lysol. I told the librarian about it and said that I was prepared to buy the puked upon book. She looked it over and determined that it didn't appear damaged.

So...all of you locals, don't let your kids cuddle too much with the library book "Hugs." If you see it on the rack, maybe pass it on by...

We also let Lucas read his library books while pooping on the potty. Wasn't there a Seinfeld where George took a book into the restroom and the was forced to buy it/couldn't return it? Hmmmm...

The Haps

Today my butt hurts. We did squats yesterday and I am feeling it. I love (and hate) the pain!! Our new, somewhat lofty goal is to try getting up one morning at 5:30 am to work out, and hopefully one evening and weekend morning, too. I also want to get in 3 runs per week, one of them being a long run. I am really going need to start getting serious about this if I want to be able to complete the CIM (California International Marathon) with my sister in December and not walk (er...limp) away injured like I did last time. These workout goals are pretty lofty as we have had weeks go by with no gym workouts together and me only getting a run or two in, but I hope that we succeed. Maybe more exercise will help me not feel so darn tired all of the time. Such a catch-22, though, because I often feel too tired to be motivated to exercise.

We are planning on doing The Bay to Breakers 12K in San Francisco in a few weeks. It is a very unique event where most runners dress up in costume (and some even illegally don their birthday suits). I plan to be Wonder Woman and I think that Mike will be running as a cow.

Oh and we had a new roommate move in this weekend. Jeanette is Michael's age, sweet, quiet and great with kids. In fact, she now teaches at a Montessori school and was previously a nanny. Lucas was kissing her at dinner on the night that she moved in which is really quick for him to be won over. I think that it will be a really great thing for us and her.

Road Rash

Lucas was practicing on his big boy bike yesterday, a two wheeler with training wheels that our neighbor, Blake, gave him. He was doing great and looked like such a big kid riding it. Before I helped him climb on, I told him that we really need to get him a helmet. Of course, those were famous last words.

I suggested that he turn around in our neighbors driveway to head home. He did so, but went over the curb, lost his balance and flew from the bike, hitting his head and face on the street. I watched it happen from a few feet away. I heard the sickening thump of my child's skull connecting with the road. He started screaming and I ran to him and scooped him up in my arms. I was too scared to look at his face, for fear that he had knocked out a tooth or scraped up his handsome cheeks. I just held my screaming son to me and walked home, leaving the bike in a heap behind.

Emily was across the street in our driveway when it happened and walked into the street to help her brother. "Lukie, Lukie" she called walking across the street with her arms out. I hustled over to her to get her to safety.

I took Lucas home and realized that he was screaming now for his bike and his shoe that he apparently lost when he fell. I set him down to retrieve his things and was so relieved to see that some splotchy road rash was the only injury that he suffered. His mouth and teeth were intact and there was no blood on his face. Praise God!

And today one of the first things that we did was to buy him that darn helmet that I have been putting off.

Like a Sailor

My boy started cussin' tonight. It was bound to happen. I just didn't expect it until middle school or so. A drop of butter fell from his bread onto the plate and he said, "CRAP."

I wasn't sure if I had heard him right.

"What did you say, Lucas?"

"CRAP!!"

Yep, I heard him loud and clear that time.

"Where did you learn that word?"

"Grandpa."

So I will let Grandpa take credit for teaching my little boy to swear, but really he probably picked up crap from me. I do let the occasional crap or worse slip out accidentally.

And Speaking of That...

Emily went poopy in the potty today!! I don't want to get my hopes up, but maybe she will train early. She has been going pee pee periodically for a couple months, too. What a big girl!! It helps that she always wants to do what her big brother does.

All Because of a Coat

We met Michael for lunch yesterday at a KFC near his office. The man in front of me in line was wearing a Miami Hurricanes jacket. The Hurricanes were another arch rival of my college football team, the Florida State Seminoles.

It is always neat to meet someone from back home, too, so I said something about his jacket. We struck up an easy conversation about Florida and college football rivalries. He told us that he was in town for a Lutheran Pastors Conference.

"Oh, my best friend grew up Lutheran. In fact, her mother, Carol, works for a Lutheran office in Orlando."

"Carol, you know Carol?! I grew up with Carol in Fort Lauderdale. She used to be a dental hygienist and worked on my teeth."

What a fun small world experience!

So Carol...

Pastor Jim (I think that was his name??) in Tampa is visiting Sacramento, happened to run into your daughter's best friend at a KFC and says "Hi." If he is single, I think that you should consider marrying him!;-). Pretty coincidental.

Surprise Dinner Guests

The authorities paid me a visit again. This time they made a house call right in the middle of dinner.

Instead of it being a California Highway Patrolman racing after me on the freeway, it was the Roseville Fire Department, 3 firefighters and their shiny red truck all in our front yard.

We heard the truck rumble up and I hoped aloud that it might be UPS delivering a surprise package. WooHoo, what could it be?

Michael said that he thought it sounded like a bigger truck than UPS, maybe a even fire truck.

And Lucas excitedly chimed in, "Maybe the fire truck is coming to rescue me!" From what, we will never know? Hey, my dinner wasn't that bad;-).

Michael got up, looked out the window and confirmed that it was a fire truck. No package for me, but still kind of exciting. What is going on? My thoughts immediately flashed to the girls that I had corrected 30 minutes or so earlier for laying in the middle cul-du-sac (eating popsicles and lying in the road--so smart). "Girls, that is not a safe thing for you to do." I prayed that they had not foolishly laid back in the street and gotten hit.

We all jumped up to peer out and see what was going on and were shocked to see the uniforms coming out of the truck and heading up our driveway. What the?

They had received a call from a neighbor in the neighborhood behind us reporting smoke in our backyard. They had even given our address. Hmmm, no smoke back there and I hadn't even burned dinner. Weird. I wondered how neighbors behind us would know our street address, but shrugged it off.

I put it all together just now, hours later. I think that those girls played a prank on us to get back at me for scolding them. They called 911 and reported a disturbance at our house. Would a couple of 7-year-old girls do such a thing? I made lots of prank calls when I was a kid, but never one like that!

They both seem like sassy girls with little adult supervision or respect for authority. They walk around the neighborhood like they own the place, even sometimes peering in our windows, picking our landscaping (flowers) and playing in our front yard. I've corrected them before about these things and wonder sometimes if I am being a mean, crabby woman. The kind that yells at the kids to stay out of her flower beds, but I don't know, I feel like they should know better. I teach my kids to stay out of people's yards. It is not polite to trespass. And come on, we have flowers and pretty things in our yard to make it look nice and to enjoy. Not so that the neighbor kids can wear flowers in their hair and play flower girls by littering the rose petals all over the sidewalk. Pick your own darn landscaping! But I digress...

Well, if nothing else, the surprise fire department visit provided us with some dinnertime excitement! Lucas loved seeing his heroes come to our house.

Now what to do about the sassafras potential pranksters? Making a false 911 call is a pretty serious offense!!

Busted

I got pulled over and ticketed today for the first time since my college years. I was doing 80 in a 65. I had no idea what the speed limit was, but 80 seemed like a pretty good freeway speed to me. I was mostly keeping up with traffic, there just happened to not be a lot of traffic around when I was caught. Darn it.

And the stinky thing is, I was going to pick up another great Craig's List deal. I was saving $100 from buying it at the store new. I don't know what my ticket will cost me, but I would guess more than $100. Not such a deal after all.

On a positive note, the seller took pity on me and cut the price by 20 bucks and I got a message from Classmates.com today that they will be refunding me my $15.

On Dating

Here is a conversation that I had with my 3 year old last night:

Lucas: Bye Mama, I'm going on a date with Mary.
Me: What?! Mary who?
Lucas: She has a little lamb.
Me: Is the lamb coming on the date?
Lucas: Yes!

Sheesh! Kids are dating younger and younger these days. I couldn't help but smile that he wants to go out with a nursery rhyme. Not too baaaaaaaaaaaad. Could have been someone like Mary, Mary quite contrary or the little girl with the little curl.

Working Girl

As of May 2, I will officially join the work force again. Very part time, just one morning per week, but it still counts for something. I will be working in our church office as an administrative assistant--helping do the weekly bulletin, making reminder calls, keeping the church calendar, helping to plan events, etc. I am pretty excited as it will be nice to get out of the house for a few hours per week, be around other adults, and help out with our income, too. Serving my church is an added bonus. And I think that my new boss, our Pastor Brad, will be a good guy to work with.

I just received a social security statement and it was weird to see $0, no income for 2006. I wish that I got a paycheck for being a stay at home mom. It would be a fat one for changing all of those dirty diapers, making 3 meals per day, keeping the house mostly clean, playing with the kids, driving them to school and the doctors office, keeping up with laundry, dishes, etc. It is by far the hardest job that I have ever had, and sometime so thankless. But I wouldn't have it any other way!

One of the coolest things about me working is that Mike is going to take off Friday mornings to be with the kids. This way they won't have to go to a sitter and they will get some extra quality time with their daddy, which is so important.

Touchy Situation

Today I purchased the deal of the week from a lady selling her son's clothes on Craigs List. I tell you, I love that site. We also sold a loveseat on it today and I keep walking around the house trying to find more to get rid of. One of these days, Mike is going to come home and we will have no more bed...

Anyway, back to my find...I bought Lucas a ton of his new size clothes (3T) from her for just $15. It included 16 shirts, 1 shorts outfit, 3 pairs of pants, 2 sets of pjs, and a pair of shoes. All for the same amount that classmates.com took from me. See blog below. Pretty great bargain.

When the woman that blessed us with such a great deal answered the door, I noticed that she had a black eye. A pretty obvious one. I automatically jumped in my head to the conclusion that someone hit her and assumed that it was her husband--that bastard!! I didn't know what to really think, if I should say anything, etc. I don't know her at all. You don't want to assume... she could be in a martial arts class, or be a klutz and bumped into something, or.... You don't want to seem like you don't care either. I said nothing about it. And did the only thing that I could think of that was appropriate and might help her. I prayed for her safety and for God to bless her for helping us out so much. Was there anything else that I could have/should have done?

Disgruntled

I HATE being foolish with money. It is especially hard when money is so tight. Well, we just noticed an automatic withdrawl in our bank account from Classmates.com. I had joined 3 months ago for $15 to get in contact with a dear friend whom I had lost touch with over the years. She was even in my wedding, so I thought that $15 was a good price for finding her. I would not have joined had it been more than that. We can't afford frivolous purchases these days.

Anyway, apparently Classmates has a little disclaimer when you join that you will automatically be billed when you expire. So, I received no reminder, nothing. They just went into my account and stole my money. And that $15 though it doesn't seem like a lot was half of what we had left to last us all week.

I pleaded with them tonight via email to give me my money back. I asked for a manager to contact me. We'll see how they handle it. If they don't refund me, I will certainly never give them business again. I am fuming over this.

And that friend, that I joined for...she never wrote me back.

More Sleep Inhibitors

• That darn nightingale that sings it's stinkin' head off at midnight, 4 am, etc. How can you silence a songbird?
  
• The police helicopter that circled and buzzed our cul-du-sac and general area for 15 or so minutes during nap time recently and then blared an alarming message: "Attention on the ground...there have been a string of burglaries in the area...the suspects are traveling on foot...Keep your doors locked."
  
• The new flannel sheets on our bed that are too hot.
• And the old roommate's alarm that would go off starting at 4 am and then he would snooze it 3-4 times (or longer on weekends or during the early evening hours).
  

Not So Refreshing Honesty

This evening we took a meal to Lucas' teacher who had surgery this week. I loaded the food in the front seat and went to the back to strap Lucas into his car seat.

Lucas: Ooooo, Mommy. There is a stinky smell. Is that YOU?
Me: (Horrified as I hadn't gotten a shower yet) Um, no. It's the dinner that we are taking to your teacher.

Great, my dinner had a stinky smell. Just what an unshowered dinner donor wants to hear.

Photo Shoot

The weather was beautiful yesterday and we were outside enjoying a lovely spring morning. I often have a hard time remembering to take pictures of the kids (the camera is never around when I see a good opportunity and I don't want to miss the moment to leave and find it). I took advantage of the pretty lighting, landscaping and cute kids and snapped quite a few. Most of them turned out well. Emily does pretty great with the camera. Maybe she doesn't even really realize what I am doing (as she is so unused to me taking her picture). Lucas is fairly uncooperative. He wants to "ham it up" instead of acting normal or asks to see the picture while I am taking it. The pose of him looking up in the air was his idea. And the shot of the kids by the bushes is a favorite spot of Emily's to hide.

On a similar note, Emily now loves to play hide and seek, a game that Lucas and I have been playing for months. Emily used to just stand there and look at me, giving away wherever I was hiding. Dang her. They don't have the game quite down, though, because they always tell or show me where they are hiding. Come find me in the closet mommy!

Emily Unplugged

Brownielocks

I had a Goldilocks moment today. No I did not break into someone's house, eat their porridge all up and then take a nap in their bed.

I broke my son's guitar/drum set stool while sitting on it and reading him a book. Sure, it felt a little wobbly and unstable, but I'm pretty light and thought that it would be ok. Then Emily needed comforting and I picked her up and cuddled her on my lap. Next thing you know, PLOP, I fell on my butt onto the floor.

So, now I feel like a big oaf and my boy has no more cool stool (though we have 4 other stools in the house). I guess that I should avoid sitting on them.

And the answer is...

Here is the answer to the radio contest that I thought for sure that I had right last week.

Q: What is it that men do that drives 90% of women crazy??

A: Leave the cap off the toothpaste.

Dumb, dumb, dumb. I've never had this problem, nor have I ever heard a woman complain about it. So I am not a part of the 90%, nor do I know anyone in that percent. Oh well.

Anyone ever driven crazy by this?

Insightful

Yesterday we bought Lucas a Fisher Price doctors kit using a birthday gift card. Thanks Miss Christa, Mr. Demel, Andrew and Sam!! He loves it!

I showed him how it has all of the tools that the doctor uses: the stethoscope, the thermometer, the mouth and ear light. And then my little guys pipes up..."Where are the suckers?" I didn't know what he was talking about at first and then remembered.

The suckers are his favorite part of going to the doctors office. Our pediatrician has been handing sugar free suckers out for the past year or so to sweeten the appointment. In fact, Lucas often asks him for one the second he enters the exam room. It's a little embarrassing and cute all at once.

So Lucas naturally thought that his doctors kit should come with suckers. To him, that is an essential requirement of the visit. I think I'll surprise him with a dum dum the next time he goes to play doctor.

On a side note, Emily is not as fond of the toy as her brother has been chasing her around with the fake needle telling her come back and it won't hurt, etc.

Nervy

What up with people today? I think that technology has only assisted in making some ignorant people more rude.

Here is my example from today...

I received a piece of mail for our old roommate Matt, who moved out last week. I tried calling him, but got a strange woman's voice mail instead. I hung up and tried again, this time reaching Matt. I must have dialed wrong in the first place.

An hour or so later, I get this call:

Me: Hello.
Demanding Voice on the line: WHO IS THIS?
Me: Uh, this is Amanda.
Annoyed sounding voice: Did you call me?
Me thinking to myself: Who the hell is this?

Then it dawns on me, it is my accidental call. My wrong number. The lady whose voice mail I hung up on. That is who is calling me back now. Demanding to know why I called her.

Me: Yes, but I didn't mean to.
Voice: Sigh.
Click.

This is the second time in the past 6 months or so that I have received such a call. The last lady actually did yell something like "Why are you calling me?"

I don't get it. It is pretty easy to misdial and accidentally call someone. Why do some dumb people who have caller id think that it is acceptable to call back those who didn't leave a message? Obviously I didn't want to talk to you that bad. Get over yourself and stop bugging me!

Wacky Dream

I am in the process of looking for part time work and just blogged about lesbian kangaroos. These two came together early this morning in a strange dream.

It went like this: A friend offered me a job driving a cab for the Rainbow Cab Company. I asked what the company's colorful name meant. She told me that it worked in the gay community. I accepted the job and when I told Michael about it he said that he didn't know that there was such a thing as a gay cab company. Me either.

I woke up and told him about it. I was half asleep.

Me: I just dreamed that I got a job driving for a gay cab company.
Him: So, are you earning imaginary income?
Me: Yep, I'll buy you a little something with it.

Radio Contest

The question of the night on 100.5 The Zone was as follows:

What is it that men do that drive 90% of women CRAZY??

And crazy is meant in a bad way.

Well I called with the answer that I knew was correct. Of course, it is when men leave the seat up after peeing. Duh. 90% of women know that!

And I got through after dialing and redialing about a million times, all the while running on the treadmill and breathing heavily. The dj laughed at my answer and said that it was a good guess and even put me on the air. Perhaps it was because of my breathing. But I was wrong!

I now know the correct answer (or at least the lame one that he said was correct).

Anyone have any guesses before I reveal it?

Lesbian Kangaroos

Today we picked up the remaining animals for Lucas' Noah's Ark. A few were missing when I bought it used on Craig's List recently. Noah and his wife (Can anyone name her?? It isn't in my Bible) were MIA, too, but the sellers couldn't find them after an extensive search. So Robin Hood and Maid Marion it is...

"Noah" and his bride looking on at the bouncing beauties

Anyway, we now have some kinky kangaroos on his Little People boat. They gave us another mama in a pink bow with a joey in her pouch. Certainly this is not how Noah had it or there would be no post-flood kangaroos! Unless of course that the babies mated...huh. Maybe our kangaroos aren't so gay after all?

Just made me chuckle...

I hope that my blog isn't blocked from Michael's work with a racy title like this!

Party Hardy

My 3 year old son, Lucas, enjoying his birthday cake

This weekend, we celebrated Lucas' 3rd birthday. We had his party on his actual birthday (March 1) which fell on Saturday this year. It figures that on Friday, Lucas came down with a cold complete with snotty nose and horrible cough. Last year, we had to cancel and reschedule his party and finally cancel for good due to his and Emily's sickness. I was not going to do that again. He didn't really understand his party then, but this year he did and would have been really disappointed.

I called and warned all of the guests that Lucas had a cold. A couple families didn't make it to avoid his germs, but we still had a good sized party.

It was a fun time--the kids played pin the tail on the donkey, we all made our own pizzas, though Lucas refused to eat and asked to open his presents the whole meal. We took an intermission to open gifts so that he wouldn't explode with excitement (he's just like me in that regard). He got some fun things, too, including a bunch of puzzles, a Noah's Ark without Noah and his wife but Robin Hood and a hippie looking Maid Marion instead (what can I say...it was a cheap Craig's List buy;-), a stomp rocket, toy power tools, a lite bright, and a Lego construction truck set, among others. He was in heaven with all of the new toys.

After this we ate the cake I made him. He requested a boring vanilla cake with whipped cream frosting (he is NOT like me in this regard). I begged him to have at least a marble cake, or add something to the vanilla. Finally I convinced him to let me include a lemon layer. It turned out pretty great. Similar to my favorite birthday cake my mom always made me. He was enjoying it, the party was going smoothly. It was almost over...when he started to cough and was not stopping. He gets these fits periodically and especially when sleeping. The doctor says that his lungs tend to have an asthmatic response when he get sick. Yet the asthma medicine doesn't seem to help him. Hmmm...

Anyway, I picked him up and took him out of the room to try to calm him down. "Shhhh, buddy. Take deep breaths." And then he covered both of us with vomit. I don't know what he was throwing up, as he didn't really seem to eat anything but chips. Apparently he had eaten a whole lot of chips. So there you go. My most public dirty mom moment. This beat the time that he pooped on me as an infant in San Francisco as no one got to see that but Mike.

Happy Birthday, Luke. Next year, don't party til you puke!

Rethinking my Music

Today, while driving with the kids I had an old CD playing some fun, booty shakin' tunes.

"Tonight, I'll be your naughty girl..."

Lucas pipes up from the backseat: "Mama, what's this song about?"

Me: (Caught off guard because he has never asked this before) "Uh, it's about a boyfriend and girlfriend, I mean a husband and wife...and dancing...and being pretty and...stuff. "

I was really fumbling around saying completely stupid things.

Lucas: (Clearly confused) "It's says naughty girl."

He recognized the phrase from me labeling Emily as such when she is intentionally not obeying me or does something really bad. I guess that I can understand his confusion.

I went to change the song at that point, but Lucas said that he liked it and wanted to hear it. After all, it was a song about his little sister;-).

Perhaps, I need to start listening to less of my radio favorites when the kids are around and to more wholesome stuff like Raffi (70's folksy kids music singer) or Christian music. That way I don't have to sweat again when trying to explain a song's meaning to my two year old.

"The more we get together, together, together,
the more we get together the happier we'll be."--Raffi

Hmmm, that sounds a little spicy, too!

That's it, no music for you.

Why I Couldn't Nap Today

So today I could not sleep again during nap time. Sleep is eluding me more and more lately (both during the kid's nap times and at night), but today I had a good reason for my inability to snooze.

I kept hearing all of these banging noises and thinking that it was my kids up and hammering on toys, I was on edge and unable to relax. I got up, walked around to see if they were out of their rooms, listened at their doors and when I could tell that they were quiet, I dragged myself back to bed. I lay there unsuccessfully for over an hour, desperately trying to rest and silently cursing whoever was making all of that ruckus.

Turns out it was both of my neighbors...one was hammering a metal pipe (What?!) and the other was cutting down a tree right outside our bedroom window. I opened the blinds to take a photo of the tree cutting culprit, as proof. He saw me standing there and snapping away at him. Probably wondering, "What the hell?" Well Buster, stop chopping down your trees when I am trying to have a quiet, lazy Sunday afternoon. Hmph.

Eye Openers

Two things I learned this week:

1) Haagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream beats Bryers all natural vanilla hands down. This really surprised me because I have been happily eating Bryers with their real vanilla bean specks my whole life and thought it was pretty top notch. I am not normally into plain old vanilla ice cream, unless there is some homemade chocolate birthday cake or cobbler involved. We had apple strudel this time with the Dazs and both were tremendous. Thanks, Aunt Linda for the introduction!

2) And, you should never shut your eyes while running on a treadmill. I did this tonight for a moment to visualize myself running in a race and ended up flying through the air and landing in a heap on the floor. It was really pretty scary and my knee is still throbbing.

Off to shower and then eat some ice cream as a reward for my 9 minute jog. I really would have gone farther if I hadn't been such a klutz.

Little Cassanova

Here is a picture of Emily's first "boyfriend" Sam (my best friend, Christa's son who is Lucas' age). Apparently, he is really smooth with the ladies as you will note in the photo. He was super sweet to her the whole time we visited always making sure that she was included in playing. He has several other girlfriends though, so I suppose she was just another one to add to his list. Just like a guy. Hmmph. Anyway, how fun would that be for my little girl and my best friend's son to marry someday. Ok, so I am really getting carried away here and thinking ahead, but...aren't they cute together?!

Long Overdue Update

It's been a month and a half or so with no blogging. Though it has been mostly refreshing taking a break during the busyness of the holidays, I have been feeling a bit guilty about not writing, too. Hopefully I haven't lost all of my loyal readers.

So here is an update as to what has been going on in the Lomonaco household and in my life:

• that wretched pinkie toe never got better and after 6 weeks of pain and I finally I went in for an X-ray. The doc called me the next day and said that after reviewing the X-ray, the toe was in fact fractured and not to run on it for 4 weeks. Fast forward to 4 weeks later: I get back from being out of town after taking the running sabbatical to find a letter from the doctor waiting for me. It says "Good news! The toe is not fractured." What the hell? I don't know why it hurt so bad and for so long if it wasn't broken. And why did he call to say it was broken and then that it was not. Pretty frustrating.

• The kids have been sick 3 out of the past 4 weeks. I am so over wiping snot, putting up with fussier than normal kids, having Lucas repeatedly miss school and all three of us miss church, getting up to administer cough syrup in the middle of the night, and getting too little sleep because of this. I am sick now, too, and it is no fun.

• I have resolved to run in the Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco this October with my sis, Katie and my two dear running and blogging pals Karin and Jen. I will do it if my body--knees and that bloody, non-broken but still uncomfortably pinchy toe--will allow.

• Lucas has been potty trained since November, though we are still dealing with accidents and messy times where he misses the toilet altogether or forgets to put the lid up or squirts his shirt, etc. It has not been an easy process, but is sure is nice not to need to buy diapers so much (we still use pull-ups at night and on occasion).

• I think that I am going to be quitting my Pampered Chef gig. It hasn't been very fun or fulfilling for me and was quite harder to get into than I had imagined. When I mentioned to one friend months ago that I was now doing Pampered Chef, he said, "Who isn't?" I guess that the market is pretty saturated out here. I am also newer to the area with less of a friend network here to help me get started than if I had signed up a few years ago in Orlando. I hate to fail at something and this experience only made me feel bad about myself. Plus I could never quite get past my hate of these types of parties and not wanting to be pushy. It just wasn't for me!

• Emily is starting to speak more now which is really cute and fun. Last night when I got her up to give her cough syrup she held out her little animal to me and said, "Bear!" I can't wait to be able to have real conversations with her like we can with Lucas.

• In December, I traveled by myself for five glorious days to Ohio to see my family and visit my grandma who was having health issues. We also went as a family to Orlando for Christmas to see our Florida family and friends. It was such a fun time complete with a trip to Disney, which the kids LOVED!!
  

Enough already. I will try taking a blogging laxative to be more regular again. Gross.