Ahhhh.....reasons I'm thankful I only have sons

1. Not having to get creative with names for genatils - it's Penis and Balls (or nuts)
2. They fall down they get back up - only cry if seriously hurt
3. Can entertain themselves by wrestling in the living room for a good 45 minutes before someone gets hurt
4. Cars, bugs, superhero's and dinosaurs are much cheaper than Barbies, make-up, dress-up clothes, and that Disney Princess crap
5. No bathroom in sight - just drop trou and pee on a tree
6. Playing outside does not mean just swinging on the swing - it means getting dirty and having fun
7. I get to shape 3 young boys into great husbands (or wives) for someone someday

15mo old son with shoe fetish

How do I know this there are many reasons:
1. Lovingly walking around the house chewing on a Croc or two
2. Making sure he has a matching pair and putting them on his hands
3. Throwing them all outside when Daddy's not looking
4. Carrying them to unknown parts of the house to watch the adults go looking for them
5. Bringing the correct person their shoes - a suttle hint he wants you to go outside with him
AND
6. Mom getting to work this morning and noticing teeth marks on her sandles

At least it's not the usual twigs, dirt, leaves, or crumbs from his meal off the floor - see it could be worse.

Being too good at what you do can be a curse

And for those of you with dirty minds - get your mind outta the gutter!! (However, I do appreciate finding a kindred spirit!)

Anyhoo - back in January 2006 I took on a new role/job here at dUMB Bank. Got a new boss, got a bigger desk, still kept my flexible hours as long as I put in 40 hrs a week, did lose my work from home one day a week and didn't get a raise, but I actually had a job to do and I knew I would like it.

After two months in my new job I found countless errors of overpayments and even some underpayments of incentives for one division (7 different plans). So, not only was I doing the monthly and quarterly incentive payments I was doing research and analysis. Then after 1st quarter my boss adds another division to my calculation list. Things are going okay - I have just enough to keep me busy as most of the problems from division #1 have been resolved.

Then for the 2nd quarter I get another division added - so now I'm up to 3. Division #2 has major problems that are taking all of my time. Division #1 has new problems popping up all over the place and Division #3 is just a problem in itself.

As you can see I'm slowly running out of time and my request for help the last couple of times I've meet with my boss have seemed to fallen on deaf ears. Now we do get a management rotation program peon - but that person will only be here 3 or 4 months at a time. So by the time I get someone caught up to speed I get to start over.

Here's where the title of my post comes into play. My boss thought we were going to need to hire someone full-time back in May, but since I was doing such a great job and got more accomplished than he expected he cancelled the request. Which now makes it difficult to get us anyone else. The word DUMBASS comes to mind.

Then the icing on the cake is that I need to work with our computer/programming geeks to get all of this automated. When the hell am I to find the time?!?!?! You see this was to be a temporary assignment until things were automated but that too has taken longer than expected.

So - doing my job well and getting recognition has come back to bite me in the ass big time. However, I know in the end I'll be looked down upon when things don't get done even though I did ask for help. I'm a smart woman and I know my limitations - and pretty soon (oh in about a week here) I'm going to drown.

Can someone send me a cute male life guard to do CPR please?!?!?!

I'm waaaaay to comfortable with this!!!

Labor day weekend we went camping one night. Of course we went to a place that was geared towards riding 4-wheelers/ATV's. We used this as a practice run, and it didn't go to bad. Especially after we got Stephen on the little 70cc ATV. He absolutely loved it. He loved it so much we were able to use that as a bribe for him to not hit/kick/push or basically hurt anyone for this last week and it WORKED!!!

What's weird is that S's father is concerned and so are my parents that he'll get hurt. Which is true he can get hurt......but can't he get hurt just riding his bike or playing in the yard?? Plus I will admit I was a little nervous about letting him ride, but after watching him ride I just knew this was the right time and thing for him. Seriously, he watched to make sure he had enouch room when the other kids passed him. He knew to slow down at the corners. When other kids approached from behind he would look back while he kept the ATV on the little track. And after 30 minutes we has asking to go faster. I should mention that even though this thing has 4 gears and can go 30mph we can restrict the gas so it only goes so fast, plus we haven't taught him how to shift.

I'm assuming that all of the practice he had driving his power wheels dune buggy around The Farm, and all the rules of driving I and/or Keith drill into him when we go for walks have paid off. Plus he's not the fearless kind of kid........that is until he has mastered something and his comfort level is at high.

However, even knowing all of this I wonder if I'm being tooooo blase about all of this. Then again I was 7yo and riding a motorcycle (80cc) around the pastures at The Farm.......so isn't a 5yo on a ATV safer?? Everyone just agree with me or just agree I'm nuts!! :)

Addictions suck!

Tyler, the cutest toddler currently on the face of this Earth, has a serious addiction: his Bottle. He never took to a pacifier.....but the Bottle is it's substitute and is just as addicting.

Lately we've really been working on getting him to put himself alseep, but he needs the comfort of Ba-Ba. Being the good parents that we are we do cave and give him Ba-Ba, but with water. Crying it out just don't work.......plus this was one of the downfalls of breastfeeding him.....he was a snacker and would only fall asleep at the boob.

We've tried getting him hooked on sippy cups - but that doesn't really work either. He doesn't want a sippy of his own....he wants his big brother's cup. Oh, and we've tried water, milk, and juice....it really doesn't matter he wants his brother's cup!!!

We really should just tough it out and give him sippy cups more.....but seriously is it really worth the aggrivation and added stress to our lives?? Will Tyler be scared for life if he keeps his Ba-Ba 3mos longer?? We've got a plan in place to slowly substitue Ba-Ba for a sippy so that maybe by the time he's 18mos old he'll be weaned from his Bottle addiction! I don't think so!

However, I do admit I dread the day we have to tell the boy that he can't take blankie to preschool. S and R already wonder why we (his parents and grandparents) call him Linus.

Benefits of small town livin'

I'm serious here - I'm not being sarcastic. When we lived in Lawrence I always felt clueless on how to get involved and how to get my children the services they needed. However, now that we're in Baldwin I just feel more connected to the city and the people there.

Here are examples of what I mean
1. When we were in Lawrence we knew who our neighbors where, but we did not KNOW them. Here in Baldwin I can tell you the names of everyone living around us, and if we or they need help we or they know that all you gotta do is ask.

2. Stephen's speech therapy: Lawrence Sch Dist was ready to dismiss him however I and others felt that was a little premature to be doing this. Had him evaluated through the Baldwin Sch Dist and not only did he qualify for speech therapy they got him enrolled in the school district sponsored preschool program. (It's grant funded!)

3. Stephen's tree nut allergy: OMG the Baldwin Sch Dist has been awesome. They had us fill out a ton of paper work, but in the end it was worth it. They make sure that all teachers, regardless of whether they actually come in contact with Stephen, know about his allergy and what to do. Not only that, but they sent a letter home to all the parents explaining in detail about the allergy and what not to bring to class for snacks. Then his teacher was very accomadating when I told her I had a box of tree nut free snacks for Stephen as a "just in case".

4. Stephen's behavior issues: Not only is his teachers willing to work with us, but so is the school. Heck his teacher is even having Stephen help her fill out daily reports. (Just basic reports on whether or not he had a good day or bad day.)

5. Developmental evaluations: Voiced my concern to our PAT (Parents-As-Teachers) gal that Tyler might be delayed in speech. She got us an evaluation with in a week.

6. The community: We don't have to really worry about anyone stealing anything from our yard (kids toys), and there's hardly and crime.


I know Keith would love to move closer to Raymond, but he's beginning to see why I don't want to leave. I know that if any of the kids would need any type of special services that these people will do what they can. Our kids are people - not just another number or file. I know he's presented the idea to his Ex-W that with him staying home with the boys that maybe their rolls should reverse: he have Ray during the week and she could have him every other weekend. Heck he even offered to continue to pay child support.

Oh well - guess only time will tell.

Stay-at-home-Dad Land

Well, Keith finally decided that since he can't find a job close to home that makes decent $$ he's going back to school. However, without him working we were in a finacial bind. Through my creative genious and some help from our family bank we were able to refinance our debt so that we're making a 40% less payment each month. So, he gets to stay home with the boys (S & T).

This is not a job to be taken lightly by any person - let alone a man. Personally I couldn't do it - hence the reason I'm working. By nature men are not quiet as nurturing as women - let me rephrase that men are not quiet as nuturing as mothers!

He's been at his new job for a few weeks now and him and the boys have settled into a nice routine. Helps that they don't get up until 7:30am, S goes to school at 11:50 and doesn't return until 3:30pm, and since S doesn't get a nap he's in bed between 7:30pm-8pm. He really does have it easy. However, since Keith can't start school until this spring he's trying to get a job working the evening shift so we can save some money.

There's an added benefit to all of this - with Stephen's current diagnoises of ADHD and ODD the boy could use some one-on-one and Keith is able to provide that as well as a schedule each day. I love coming home to happy kids, a clean house, and laundry that just needs to be put away. ;)