Snapshot

It is 11:30pm on a Friday night and I am downstairs with a very awake Momo. Momo doesn't go to bed very well for babysitters so I made sure she had a good, long, and late nap. It would have been the perfect scenario if we had actually used the babysitter. But sadly, my husband was called in early this morning and spent all day in the OR. Didn't get home until an hour and half after the Christmas party was supposed to start and was slightly tired after 4 hours of sleep last night. He goes weeks without being called in and I always get slightly annoyed having to pretend that he's not going to be around when he's on call (which seems like all the time except two weekends a month). But then you have a time when you make plans even though he's on call and get burned and it all makes sense. At least it was just an office party. I am pretty sure the other surgeons understand! : )

Bottom of the Barrell

I haven't gone grocery shopping this week (see below re: sick children) so we have no food. So....Beanie asked me what was for lunch.

"Mom..what's for lunch?"
"I don't know we don't have any food."
Beanie opens the fridge, "We've got food Mom. There's salami, ketchup, and Guinness. You're so silly!"


That's my girl.

The Grinch

Lately I have just been grousing about how much I hate the commercialism of Christmas. I am thinking that gift giving isn't my love language right now. I stress about getting the kids too much or too little or over emphasizing or underemphasizing gifts and Santa and baby Jesus. And I hate all the 80 million errands I have to run. Well, I don't really hate errands, I just hate running errands with a 20 month old who tries to jump out of the cart, hides in clothing racks, and screams when she can't buy every "rella" thing or pink purse she sees at TJ maxx. It just seems like we're either going strong, too strong, or sick at home and unable to run all those errands that need to get done. (we've had 5 sick days in the last two weeks!)

I AM trying to ramp it into high gear...we did a little baking (thank you premade sugar cookie dough, I am not afraid to cut corners), I let the kids wrap their own gifts (talk about abandonment), and sometimes I wear a Santa hat. HO HO HO!!

Truly, the kids are getting super excited about our upcoming trip. They are OBSESSED with the advent calendar and wreath and every day I find our nativity set in a different pose (sheep on the roof, sheep in baby Jesus' manger, conga line etc.. We even started listening to some carols in the car just to get pumped up. We still haven't decorated much but since the pink candle is lit I had better get cracking!!!

Have I told you that Momo's name for Beanie is actually "Me"? That sort of gets confusing after a while. You never know if she's talking about herself or her sister and they are together all the time.

In other news, I recently went grocery shopping on a Friday night. That was sort of sad....the two songs "All the lonely people" from the Beatles and Garth Brooks' "I am much too young to be this damn old" kept going through my head. To top it all off the next day the Conqueror asked me if I was alive during WW II and later that day Beanie asked me if I had ever seen a dinosaur!! : )

Scenes from the food warehouse

*Santa Claus in full regalia except hat was buying three large vats of candy canes. It was sort of an awkward moment for everyone under 5. He uses Mastercard by the way. Priceless.

*A mean man... why do people berate their spouses and children in public. I can only imagine what he does in private. For once I remembered to pray.

*Why at the store with the absolute biggest cart that can fit both little girls do they insist on not wanting to sit up front? The carts are much shallower here too, so basket sitting is discouraged. So essentially I walked the aisles with Momo under my arm.

Road Trip!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ah yes, how I love to travel with small children. Every trip it is the same cycle. I have a psycho streak about traveling. It stresses me out. I agonize about traveling, finally plan the trip, agonize some more but pump everyone up about it, "Won't it be so fun to go see ... (insert loving family member here)...?", and then stay up late the night before a trip figuring out exactly how to pack the van or the carry on bags for maximum efficiency and space. I mean doesn't everyone wake up in a cold sweat the night before a nine hour road trip terrified that the Desitin won't be readily available? God forbid there be a freaking Walgreens along I-95. Be prepared, it isn't just for the boy scouts you know.

But you know... there are some things you can never really be prepared for. Like everyone in your family getting a stomach bug over a three night span, ending with you and your husband the night before a road trip. It is a good thing I analogize travel with labor, because I know how to do labor. Sips of water? Check! Not eating for hours at a time? Check! Random stomach cramps? Check! Driving after not sleeping? Check (I mean if I can deliver babies I can drive through pain right? Right.) Kids vomiting? Ok, that never happens in labor but you get the idea. And nobody diss the 100 hour physician in training work weeks... that saved us. My man knows how to work under severe duress. He's awesome...packed the whole car and drove 5 hours on no sleep due to taking care of me and the baby and two other vomiting children. All so he could go on call as soon as we came home and go to work at 7am the next morning.

Seriously, our entire family decided to take this rotten economy thing to a whole new level and never stopped for food the whole trip home. We subsisted on water, saltines, plain white bagels, and 7up. I swear if I never take another sip of 7up it will be too soon. The four year old was the sickest child and our little Pollyanna morphed into some sort of angry alien. Talk about no filter. I remember moving in and out of consciousness to bits and pieces of the folowing:
"I am so angry that my brother has his own room. Road trips are no fun. I don't want to leave Grandma's. I am so angry we aren't driving to Chicago. I don't want to drive to Chicago. I don't want to fly. I am so angry that I can't have a Friday treat. My stomach hurts. I am so angry... (the kid apparently has a lot of anger.)" The baby was having a really hard time too...especially since the trip culminated in her being ignored for two hours and exploding a glow stick all over herself. Don't ask, at least it was non-toxic.

I post all this a)so you feel sorry for me b)so I remember to laugh about it 20 years from now when we are sitting around the Thanksgiving table as children wretch in the background. "Ahh kids, remember when..." and c)because it really shows how blessed a life I live that this is my biggest problem. Sometimes I need to remind myself of this. My kids were champs and offered up the road trip from hell for little kids and priests with cancer, other sick people, and for the sibilings among them the most affected. We are blessed.

The Bern.stein Bears and too much P.B.S.kids.org

We were at dinner the other night and Beanie announced: "I am going to tell a joke!" and then proceeded to wave her hands around saying "Loading, loading, loading" before she told it. Almost as good as Biki insisting we "pause game" in the middle of 1.2.3.Hushpuppy.

Things I never thought I would ever have to say:

"Please don't poke your sandwich with that crucifix." There, don't we sound crazy? It was just a little one that someone was playing with all day and made its way to the lunch table. Go figure.