Stop the Presses

For the first time in six years, I have experienced a sick-free January. SICK-FREE peoples. This is HUGE!!! (If you need a review of how January usually works for us, check out my post from last year.) I can not tell you how happy this makes me. I have almost eight days of sick leave saved up. Who knew that sick leave in the bank could make someone practically giddy!

I attribute this to a few things. First off, the boys are getting older and are out-growing their vulnerability to ickiness. Second, I LOVE the Neti-pot. I have been sick once in the past year. And the one time I got sick was when I wasn't regularly using the Neti-pot. Third, we changed William's meds and put him on Zyrtec daily. Instead of doing Pulmicort in the nebulizer every day, he now takes Singulair every day and Zyrtec twice a day. We give Seth one dose of Zyrtec in the morning. Maybe William would still be fine, and has just outgrown his asthma, but it seems like the allergy meds have really made a difference.

Of course, I have now doomed myself to what will likely be the worst February ever. But so be it. I can handle it. Anything is better than having to deal with one more sick-filled January!!!!

Right Now I Am

Marveling that both boys now eat rice!

Reading Where'd You Go, Bernadette.

Laughing at every page of Where'd You Go, Bernadette.

Mourning for friends who are dealing with loved ones facing cancer.

Hating cancer.

Praying for miracles, for strength for my friends, for peace and courage and healing.

Floating on a cloud (still) from Monday's experience.

Looking forward to book group on Friday night.

Anticipating the arrival of a new necklace I bought at a Stella & Dot party last night.

Fearing the very real possibility that my happy, comfortable world could come crashing down on me at any moment.

Trying so very hard not to take a single moment of my blessed life for granted.

Counting my blessings.

Thinking about ways that I can have a positive impact on other people.

Figuring out summer camps for William.

Wishing I didn't have to figure out summer camps for William.

Planning summer vacations in my head.

Missing my three best friends who have known me longer than everyone but my family.

Dreaming about girls' weekends ahead.

Longing for warmer weather.

Wondering why my boys have to call me twice before I leave my office to ask when I'll be home, then once in the car on my way home to see when I'll be home.

Marveling at how I am the center of their universe.

Knowing that it will not always be so.

Loving them so much, it makes my heart feel like it will explode if I even imagine anything ever happening to them.

Feeling so incredibly lucky to have two healthy, bright, happy, loving boys to come home to, to wake up with, to kiss and hug each night.

Once in a Lifetime Opportunity

This morning I woke up at 3:30 a.m., took a shower, blow-dried my hair, put on makeup, bundled up, grabbed a banana, some granola bars, and chocolate milk, and headed out the door. My destination was the U.S Capitol and the 57th Presidential Inauguration. My official duty was innter platform seating manager. My specific section was the Supreme Court Justices and House leadership. It was AWESOME!!!

The Capitol at 0'dark-thirty this morning

The carpet on the platform had to be re-stretched and stapled at 4:00 a.m., so they were just starting to put chairs back in place when we arrived. Last-minute changes to the guest list and seat adjustments meant plenty for us to do to get ready. We had to put name cards on each seat, along with a program and a blanket. By the time the sun came up, we had everything mostly in place. I ran inside to print a few more name cards. We all had a chance to take a quick break, grab a snack, use the bathroom. The time flew by quickly, and before we knew it, guests started arriving.

The view from the platform as the Mall begins to fill up

POTUS and VPOTUS chairs

The Blue Goose

The seating managers (myself and four other volunteers) helped the White House aides (the military escorts) guide guests to their seats. Although we each had a specific section, the two inner sections had PIC guests (Presidential Inaugural Committee) and Cabinet members and lots of Biden family members. Lots of people whose faces we didn't know, so we were scrambling to get them all seated in the right spots. As I helped seat a woman, she asked me where the closest bathroom might be. Ack! I had asked the coordinator what to do if someone asked to use the restroom. She said no one would ask--they should know once they got out there, there wouldn't be a chance to get back in. Well, this woman didn't know that. And she was a bit elderly and really didn't think she could wait. So I had to lead her back inside the main entrance, find a key to the bathroom, squeeze between the House Leadership and the Senators, who were all waiting to come down the chute, and get the woman to the restroom. Once we got there, I asked her if she'd be able to find her way out. She asked me to wait.

Which was fine, except the House Leadership was at that moment coming out of the chute and onto the platform. That was my section! I was supposed to help seat those guys! Oh well. I led the woman back through the crowd and came upon a couple in the chute getting their photo taken. Oops! I think I photo-bombed Newt Gingrich and Calista! After I led the woman back to her seat, I went back to my section and helped seat a few more guests. Out came Kelly Clarkson and her finace. Then out came Beyonce and Jay-Z. Jay-Z reached out and touched my shoulder as he passed and said, "Hey, how you doing?" Then I quickly made my way up the center aisle, hoping to get off the inner platform before the Supreme Court Justices came out, but instead, I had to tuck myself into a row as they all filed past. I made eye contact with almost all of them! And Sonia Sotomayer and Elena Kagan were last, and they were both grinning ear to ear. It was fun. After that, I got to my seat on the first row of the outer platform--the same row as Newt and the Daschles.

After that, my duties were done and I got to watch the show. It was so cool! When it was all over, we stuck around until everyone filed out. All the senators walked past us, and as Senator Gillibrand walked by, I told her how much I loved the picture of her and her son as she was sworn into office. She said, "Wasn't that hysterical? Doesn't matter what I tell him. He's not impressed by anything!" There was another senator beside her who laughed about it, too. I can't remember who it was, maybe Klobuchar? Anyway, it was awesome. And just reinforced my desire to hang out with her.

I didn't get great pictures, but they're enough to show I was there:

The Clintons

The President

James Taylor

The First Lady

The Carters

When I got home, the boys were happy to see me. (Once William came home from the neighbor's and Seth woke up from his nap.) I got about 10 minutes to myself before I was roped into playing 3 games of Busytown and 4 games of Zingo. And before I made homemade pizza for dinner (the boys rolled out their own dough and spread their own sauce and cheese). And gave the boys a bath and read to them and put them to bed. And now I'm utterly spent. But happy. I wonder if Gillibrand went home and did the same thing with her boys? I'm gonna pretend like she did. :-)

Oh yeah--and that woman who I escorted to the restroom? Turns out that was Dolores Huerta. She is a labor and civil rights activist who, along with Cesar Chavez, co-founded the National Farmworkers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers. Wow. Kind of feel bad I had no idea who she was. And I'm glad I didn't abandon her in the rest room!

I'll close with a picture I took Sunday afternoon. I had to go to the platform to count seats and help make sure all of the outer platform sections matched the seating charts. As the sun was setting, I took this picture.

I'm so glad I said yes to this experience. At dinner, William asked, "So Mom. How was the thing you went to? What is it called again?" I think he was sorry he asked because I launched into details about what the inauguration is and why it's important and about the peaceful transfer of power and about Barack Obama's speech. His eyes glazed over, but I'm secretly hoping he'll go to school tomorrow and brag that his mom was on the platform wiith President Obama. And I hope that the boys will get a chance to be this close to history one day. But more than that, if they get the chance, I hope they'll take it.

Where Things Stand

There's no good way to catch up when you go so long without blogging. So I'll just start from where I stand.

Things are good!

• William is currently obsessed with Minecraft. It's a computer game and I got the pocket version for Kindle. He likes "creative" mode, where you basically just build things. Out of squares. I don't get it but he LOVES it. And I figure it has to be better for his brain than Plants vs. Zombies or Transformers Prime or Power Rangers.
• William has had a huge growth spurt this past year. He's grown 3 inches in one year. Crazy! He's still super skinny, but all his pants are too short now. 
• William is still super picky about what he wears. Only athletic-style pants--nylon. But not swishy material. He's also picky about his shirts now. His two favorite shirts are his orange jack-o-lantern shirt and his black skeleton shirt. Too bad Halloween isn't year-round.
• Thanks to the growth spurt, William has started eating more. He's my carnivore and especially loves fish. But he'll eat steak, any kind of chicken, pork chops, pork tenderloin, bacon, sausage. He'll eat green beans, broccoli (prefers the stems, not the florets), and edamame. And lo and behold, he likes rice now! I've been making brown rice on the side, cooked in chicken broth, and he eats it up. This is game-changing for the dinner menus. He still, however, does not like pasta, casseroles, or one-dish meals where everything is mixed together. (You know--the stuff that would be easy to cook during the week!)
• We're signing William up for t-ball in the spring. He's excited about it. We're also signing him up for a weekly class on building executive function skills, which starts at the end of this month. And believe it or not, I'm already looking into summer camp and trying to figure out our summer plans.
• Seth is starting to read! He's taken interest in the BOB books, and also in writing letters. I'm very encouraged, although he does not like me to correct him, which can be challenging when you're actually teaching someone how to do something. But I'm pretty excited that it's starting to fall into place for him. 
• Seth is my game player. He loves Busytown Eye Found It, Zingo, Spot It, Go Fish, Trouble, Chutes and Ladders, and pretty much any game on my Kindle. He has figured out which games are "educational" (the ones that work on letters, numbers, shapes, words, and math) and which are "just for fun." He's really into Monkey Word School Adventure. And he likes Temple Run and Plants v. Zombies.
• Unlike William, Seth has pretty much sworn off meat. He'll eat deli ham and bacon. And pepperoni (although I haven't tried that lately). The only vegetable he'll eat is iceberg or romaine lettuce. Makes meals interesting! Fortunately he likes eggs and "white circle cheese" (provolone). So at least we have options. LOL.
• Seth still loves to clean and organize. On the weekends he wants to sweep, help fold laundry, clean the glass doors with Windex, dust, and vacuum. I know! A mother's dream. (Or in our case, a father's dream, as Ed is the neat freak in our household.) He also loves office supplies. I set up his room with a rolling cart containing notepads, pens, a stapler, folders, clipboards, tape, and paperclips. We hung a cork board on his wall and got him some pushpins and he's in business! He is also pushing me daily for a responsibility chart. I guess I need to get on it. LOVE that kid!
• The boys are fighting more than ever these days. Everyone knows how to push everyone's buttons. It's maddening!
• The inauguration is Monday and I am now an inner platform seating manager. INNER PLATFORM people. Look for me on TV! I've got the section wtih Supreme Court justices and House leadership. I'll be off the platform once those guys are seated, though. I'm excited, except it's going to be REALLY cold. Fun, but cold.
• I think I said it before, but I did not make any "resolutions" this year. There are always things I want to do better. Things that I want to do more of. Things that I want to do less of. Things I want to change. There always have been. There always will be. They don't change from day to day, month to month, year to year. I don't need to write them down. Writing them down and calling them goals does not help me accomplish anything. (Unfortunately) It doesn't mean I won't keep trying. It doesn't mean I'm giving up on anything. I've just got to figure out where my motivation and will power come from. 
• So where things stand is pretty much right where they should be, and right where I want them to be. Well maybe, right where I'm okay with them to be. Contentment can be be a hard state to find, and I'm happy that it doesn't take much to get me there!

Opening Day of Congress

Yesterday was the opening day of the 113th Congress. After the new and returning senators took their oaths on the Senate floor, they went to the Old Senate Chamber, where the vice president swore the members in again, one at a time. The senators get to have a family member or two with them, and then after the oath, their whole families come up for a photo op with the vice president. They can't do this on the Senate floor because cameras are not allowed on the Senate floor. So this provides an opportunity for family and loved ones to be present and to get a nice picture to boot.

I LOVE the opening day of Congress. Despite all the negativity surrounding Congress and politicians right now, the opening of a new Congress always gives me hope. My cynicism melts away and I find myself admiring the politicians who are sticking their necks out there, trying to make a difference, and believing that they can. I don't always agree with their ideas or share their perspective, but at their core, they believe that they will help make our world better. That's worth at least a little bit of respect.

I especially love to see the senators with young children. In 2011, I posted one of my favorite photos ever of Senator Rubio with his two youngest sons. This year, this is my favorite photo:

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, who has two young sons, hoisted one on her hip, had the other son hold the Bible, and still managed to put her hand (the one holding her younger son) on that Bible while she swore the oath. And then her son started messing with her hair. THIS IS MY LIFE! That could be me up there! The best part is her smile. She was cracking up. I immediately felt a bond with her, and now I want to hang out with her and talk about kids and working and dish the dirt on the other senators. It's not likely that this will happen in 2013. But it's possible. In the meantime, I send out my sincerest best wishes for all of those senators with young children at home. And I also want to say thank you--for taking on what is surely one of the most grueling, frustrating, at times heart-breaking, and pretty thankless jobs out there.

Making the Most Out of the Last Days of Vacation

As the end of our winter break approached, I wanted to end on a high note, since we had all started to get a little bit cranky from our, er, togetherness. We decided to divide and conquer, so Ed took William to the Natural History Museum on Saturday while Seth and I stayed home and put away all the Christmas decorations. Seth is such a homebody and loves nothing more than spending the day being busy--cleaning, organizing--you know, the usual four-year-old stuff. LOL. On Sunday, William had a friend come over to play in the afternoon. On Monday--New Year's Eve--we went to our local city's First Night celebration, which the boys loved. It was chilly, but not too cold. There were lots of inflatable slides and bounces and William hung out with a gang of his buddies from school. We had to drag the boys away at 10:00 p.m., when they started to melt down, but when we got home, we let them drink pomegranate-apple juice "champagne" from real wine glasses and snuggle on the couch to watch the ball drop. Seth fell asleep at 10:30. William conked out at 11:00.

The best day, however, was Tuesday--New Year's Day. William and I went to the Air and Space Museum at the Mall and he got to see whatever he wanted, for as long as he wanted. We stayed there for several hours, saw a planetarium show about stars, ate some ice cream, and then headed home. Then we got Seth and the three of us went ice skating. We skated for almost an hour and a half and the boys loved it. They got better and better each time we went around the rink. Seth fell a million times but it didn't phase him. We had such a great time. We finally got home at 6:30 p.m. and did our usual nighttime routine in preparation for back to school.

So far, back to school has not been too bad. Work is crazy for me (Hello new Congress!) but I like it. William seems happy to be back, and so does Seth. William's school does a reading incentive program for the months of January and February. They give out prizes and have weekly meetings with the whole first grade. William has to fill out a new weekly reading log and bring in a book once a week that he'll read to a volunteer. It's pretty cool. I'll be volunteering one or two days this month. I'm looking forward to it. And William seems excited about it, too.

Also on tap for this month, Obama's second inauguration! I didn't go to his first, but I'm going to this year's! Actually, I'm working it. I worked Bush's 2005 inauguration, and it was pretty cool. But I think this year's will be pretty awesome--even though I'll probably freeze my butt off. I'm helping to staff a seating area, which means I get to stand outside. For a long time. But it's a pretty sweet section. It's not on the platform, but it's still a nice spot. 

And finally--I was looking back at my Chippy the Elf posts and realized I never updated the post where Chippy brought some kind of seeds for the kids to plant in a bowl of sugar. Go back and check out the results!

So that's where things stand. I think 2013 is off to a decent start!

2012 In Review, Part 2

Continuing the year in review . . .

July
Celebrated the 4th, loved swimming and the beach, and visited Chucker Farm

August

Back to North Carolina for a visit with Baba, Uncle Chris, and the cousins. The Discovery Place Museum was a big hit again.

September

William started 1st grade and we went to the Book Festival on the Mall.

October

Fall Festivals, Truck Touch, and a trip to Florida for Baba's 70th birthday

November

The end of fall baseball clinic and a visit from friends

December

Santa, Chippy, and snow! (Funny how we ended the year the way we started.)

 

It was hard to pick just a few pictures for each month, but more than anything, this year in review in pictures makes me realize that I need to do a MUCH better job of capturing my kids on film. Or rather, on megabytes. Or however you describe digital pictures. Anyway, I'm not setting resolutions for 2013, but if I were, taking more pics would be first on the list!

2012 Year in Review, Part 1

January
A little bit of snow fell. A LOT of sickness fell.

February
Girls' Weekend at Laura's

And boys being silly

March
Apparently, this is the only photo I have from March--the boys with our next-door neighbors, Charlie and Jack:

April
We traveled to North Carolina for a Monster Truck Rally and Spring Break. Also had Seth's 4th birthday party at the zoo!

May
William's Mad Science birthday party, my 4-mile walk-run, and a trip to the Botanic Garden.

June

William's last day of Kindergarten, a trip to Florida to see the beach and cousins, and Girls' Weekend! (Not to mention, my 40th birthday--Ack!)