A Visit To SciWorks

I have taken the week off of work (for the most part) since Eliza Grace is tracked out of school this week.

She and I drove over to Winston-Salem today to spend time with Grandmommy and we went to SciWorks.

It was fun because Eliza Grace had fun, but the displays are getting beyond worn out and many of them do not even really work.
Still, we all enjoyed the planetarium show and we got some good pictures.
Eliza Grace is learning to work the camera these days :)

Update on my earlier post

Ask and I shall receive:
Man, is it tacky - I love it!

Tonight's culinary masterpiece

Eliza Grace loves to make her own pizza. It can never just be a simple pizza. Tonight's request included onion, mushroom and grilled red peppers. What sophisticated tastes for a six year old...not to mention expensive. Here are the pre and post cooking shots...she allowed the pepperoni solely for the purpose of making the smiley face. She came up with the mushrooms as the cheeks :)

this looks kind of cute

and this looks a little scary...but it tasted good!

Just when you thought...

...there was no way we could fit any more stuff in our den, we did. Well, Scott did.

I think this is payback for my begging that he remove his ridiculously massive recliner from beside the couch. He did eventually remove the giant-sized chair on his on volition but mostly because he got tired of watching Will nearly snap off a limb while playing with the leg rest part.

Still, I knew the extra space could not go unoccupied for long - it was just too temping for my hunter/gatherer. And so now, as of last evening, we have this...
Yep. Apparently it was too good a deal on craigslist to pass up. It came with what you see here, 12 fish (one of which already got to go on a field trip down the toilet - wink,wink) and lots of other accessories of which I plan to have nothing to do with. The one item it is missing, in my opinion, is one of those treasure chest thingies that opens up with air bubbles - Scott assured me that he will put one in there for me. 

I have to admit the kids love it. This morning Will came down and saw the one larger fish (about 1 1/2 inches long) and started screaming excitedly "A shark, a shark...look Mommy a shark!"

Goodbye once again, nice clean corner. Sigh. It was nice to have known you for a while.

You know Easter is near...

...when the Hughes' family Easter tree appears. Mind you, this is the tree that manages to retain its Christmas lights year round. Needless-to-say, it is a tree for all seasons :)

Despite a slight fever, Eliza Grace persevered and decorated the tree all by herself this year.

Barf Magnet

Ok, seriously, how is it that I am ALWAYS conveniently in receiving range every single time my children throw up? They have just as much genetic material from Scott - probably more given they look just like him - and he is never nearby!

They say men have extra metallic material in their noses that give them a greater sense of direction by allowing them to find true/magnetic North. Women apparently have a barf magnet. Oh joy.

I love my little girl's heart

Well, those of you who know me know that I am sometimes pretty hard on Eliza Grace. It is not that I am a tyrant or a "mommy dearest" type. It is more that we have such similar personalities and, as is typical in human nature, all the flaws I see in myself seem magnified when I see them in her. So yes, up front, I am dealing with a pride issue here - I totally get that and know that the problem is mine. Still....

I find myself begging her to please stop talking and just listen (like I have learned that lesson yet.) I ask her over and over again not act so desperate for a friend's attention. I see social faux pas in her that actually cause me physical pain because I remember a time in my own life where I did something similar and opened myself up for ridicule and embarrassment. How many times I have put my foot in my mouth....ugh, I cannot even think about it.

And I experience the same old paradox. As a parent, I want to spare her all of the hard lessons that I have had to learn. Yet I know she has to learn them for herself so she can grow and mature into the person that God wants and needs her to be.

I know that so many of her characteristics that bug me now are what will make her an exceptional adult: strong willed convictions, the ability to speak her mind, creativity that knows no bounds, a desire to meet everyone and do everything, the ability to argue with a wall - OK, had to throw that last one in - she would make a great attorney. Scott and I are convinced she will either be a lawyer or end up on a stage somewhere - same difference, right?

I wish I knew why it is so easy for me to focus on what frustrates me about my child instead of what is so beautiful about her. This is definitely where our personalities diverge. Despite my hen-pecking and nagging, this sweet angel is so kind, so loving, and so caring about others. Her ability to show compassion is way beyond my own. Some of this I know is due to a child's innocence. But a big heaping helping is her gift to recognize someone in need, someone who is left out, someone who lost. I am not surprised when her Sunday school teacher tells me how Eliza Grace, without any provocation, asks a new child to join their activities, hugs her and says, "Hi, I'm your new friend. Come play with us!"

Or when I mention that an adult friend has not been feeling well and she comes to me 10 minutes later with a get well card she just made and asks if she can mail it.

And when she complements her brother on the block tower he just created, as if it was the most magnificent structure ever completed.

And really, how angry can you be when your little girl climbs in your bed at 3am and says, "don't worry Mommy, I didn't have a bad dream, I just wanted to snuggle with you because I know it makes you happy."

Her natural ability to support and uplift others is something that I pray my nagging will never curtail.

She may have inherited some of the worst of me, but she is absolutely the best of God's love. I love my little girl's heart.

Eliza Grace "performing" in her paper gown at her 6 yr old check up

Sissy & Willby loving on each other

Eliza Grace and her friend Jadon having lunch before roller skating

Might as well face it...

...I'm addicted to blogs (you have to sing it Robert Palmer style to get the full effect)

So I am a blogging novice but I have learned much recently about the blog-o-sphere, as I have heard it called. I now do what is known as "lurking."

It all starts fairly innocuously. You are invited to visit someone's blog and while there you inevitably see their list of recommended blogs, so you check those new ones out, and so on and so on and so on - I bet you repeated that last part JUST like that shampoo commercial from 1975 - come on, admit it! Well, you did if you are over 35.

Anyhoo, I have become a blog "lurker" for sure. Admittedly, when I first visited a site of someone I did not know, it felt a wee bit voyeuristic. In some cases I am reading details of a person's life that were obviously directed to their good friends and family - lots of inside jokes that I didn't get. Others are written for more general consumption. Some of these people should be getting paid for what they write - smart, witty and full of thought provoking observations. Some are amazing stories of daily struggles with fatal illnesses, wrapped in faith, family and lots of love.

The ones I visit most are done by your basic run-of-the-mill mom, like me, using their blog to vent, share and seek encouragement, often times for their perceived short-comings. A consistent theme in these is a desire to know that they are not the only ones that let their children watch TV during dinner too often, hate doing laundry, have yelled at their children that day and cannot remember the last time they used the bathroom in any kind of privacy 

These are the ones that I truly connect with as they all elicit a universal camaraderie of motherhood that makes me feel normal. Some days, their lives seem a lot more fun than mine. Other days, I think, "whew, thank the Lord I do not have three kids with the flu and a dead car battery all while my husband is away on business!"

There are some that I just find unbelievable. I mean, this one mom has 4 kids, another on the way, home schools two of them, has a side business making jewelry, a couple of off-shoot online magazines and not only posts really fun, hilarious items once or twice a day, but, from what I can tell, reads all of her posted comments and replies to them frequently throughout the day with comments of her own! Lord save me from over-achievers. Seriously, does she ever sleep, do laundry, or go to the grocery store?

Oh well, I can say that one good thing that has come from my becoming a blogophile: I have finally broken my addiction to those cheesy romance novels :)

Fear & Croup(ing) in North Carolina

Poor Will.

Lately, I feel like this kid rarely gets a break. Over the past 13 weeks he has had 2 week-long bouts with hives, 2 visits to the ER (one in full anaphylacsys reaction), 2 rounds of steroids, 2 rounds of antibiotics, allergy scratch testing, confirmation that he is allergic to tree nuts AND near confirmation he is allergic to the antibiotic Omnicef, at least 3 colds/viruses and somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 visits to a doctor's office of some variety. Needless-to-say, my anxiety and fear level regarding his health is pretty high.

This week it's croup. Which in reality is just another virus that happens to begin by causing his throat to swell so that he emits that horrible bark-like cough and, in the past, has lead to 2 ER visits, one of which included an over night hospital stay. Thank the Lord above that 2 year olds are so resilient.

I cannot say the same for 41 year old mothers.

Ok, ok, so not THIS 41 year old mother. I do not seem to bounce back well from all of this. Especially this morning when, after about 2.5 hours of sleep for the night, I try to steam the bathroom to help Will breathe, but since we keep our water heater temperature so low, I could not even get my glasses to fog up.

So then I bundled him up and take him outside at 6am because the cold air is supposed to help........and it is too warm! Now I will say that we both enjoyed listening to the birds as the sun came up while we swung on the back porch, but I was kind of hoping (this one time, mind you) that going outside at 6am in February we would at least see our breath!

Next stop was the freezer. At this point Will is looking at me like I have lost my mind. "Put your face in there honey. Come on, sweetie, breathe in and out through your mouth while I fan the freezer air at you."

I know he was thinking, "this chick has lost it." He actually laughed at me. Thankfully, by this time he had spit up a bunch of mucus (sorry, TMI) and was only "barking" every couple of minutes, so we could stop the shenanigans for the morning. Within 2 minutes he was happily singing and dancing with Shane and David (The Upside Down show) on Noggin. I wanted to scream/sleep/cry.

So who bears the brunt of all of my pent up frustration and exhaustion, you ask? Well, let's just say I should have started this post with "Poor Scott." Man, I was witchy (with a "b") and he could have been nasty back, but instead he calmly asked me what I needed and listened to me vent. Fourteen and a half years of marriage and he is more my love than ever. I think it would be wise if I actually cooked dinner tonight.

Say a prayer for both Eliza Gracie (who also has a cold) and Willby for their health..and for me for my attitude...and for Scott for his sanity :)

(pulse oxygen meter on Will's big toe during a recent visit to the ER - sorry for the poor phone camera quality)

(Despite shots, icky tasting medicine, breathing treatments, and strange people in the ER, Will musters up his winning smile!)

Finally!

Hallelujah and praise the Lord! The snaggle tooth finally came out this evening during pizza dinner. Of course, the one right beside it is not far behind. She is so cute, isn't she?

Why is 5p-8p, Monday-Friday so hard?

So up front, NOT looking for advice here, just baring my soul...and it isn't a pretty view right now.

I really love my children. I really love my husband. And I am pretty darn sure they really love me. So why is it that the largest chunk of time that the 4 of us are together on any given weekday is so difficult?

I know, I know...I can list all the obvious reasons: long day, everyone is tired, everyone is hungry, Mommy hates having to decide what's for dinner (and prepare it and clean up after it)and thus she is often a grump about it, blah, blah, blah. I know this. We all know this. So how come night after night we fall into the same trap?
Tonight it tipped the scales into an all out screaming match (please do not send me parenting books - again, we know better, frustration just got the better of all us this time). Regardless, disobedience results in damage, I begin shrieking at Eliza Grace, Eliza Grace shrieks back...big mistake because...Scott swoops in and bellows at Eliza Grace, Eliza Grace goes into FDM (full drama mode). Meanwhile, Will is in the other room bonking his head on something and is crying. Sigh.

Now don't get me wrong. I know full well that in the scheme of life and all the things it could be, there are those who pray and plead for such an evening in a beautiful home, everyone in near perfect health, with more than enough toys, food and love to go around....and you know what, I think I will leave it at that. My attitude check has just been completed.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for this amazing evening. We are so very blessed!

Yum!

Apologies to Heidi, but I had to post this picture. It is such a typical scene when a Cavanagh girl is around. The bird was not out of the deep fryer for more than mere minutes when we stripped that baby clean of every inch of crispy, delicious cajun-seasoned goodness in no time.

Is it the full moon?

So is it the full moon tonight that caused my 2 year old to be more bi-polar than normal? Or my 6 year old to go "full drama" over a loose tooth?

After a rather long work day, which included no fewer than 4 one-hour long conference calls, I just wanted to pick up my children and head home. Of course it was now 5:25pm and I had absolutely no clue what I was going to feed my family - looked like another night of saffron rice mixed with sour cream, fish sticks and broccoli - oh yum.

So we enjoy the magnificent feast before us in near harmony (thanks once again to Blue's Clues -sad state of affairs, I know). So much so that I actually offer ice cream as a thank you for the decent behavior. And shortly thereafter is the point at which bi-polar behavior sets in.

What switch is thrown in the mind of a toddler that causes an all out, writhing on the ground crying fit over the placement of the humidifier tank back in its spot? I mean come on. And how can a six year old stand to have a front tooth hang on by a thread for weeks on end?? It is driving me crazy. Why, it bothers me so much I have no idea. Oh, but the tears, promises and drama that comes with the thought of getting it out.

Could I have ever been this exasperating as a child? Well, maybe once or twice, but I am sure it was only during a full moon.

(Proof below that despite it all, they are my sweet angels)

Here I am!

Well, so now I am officially one of those... a "blogger." What an odd word. Anyhoo, I have always had this desire to keep a journal, you know, a legacy of my life...yadda....yadda. 

Apparently I am too lazy for the actual written word but obviously it does not affect my ability to find time to type. So, here I am. Blogging to keep a journal (of sorts) of my life - at least from the age of 40 (yikes - am I really 40?!) Perhaps to also some day provide fodder for that novel that I secretly desire to write -wait, did I say that outloud?

I have no idea what I could possibly post here that anyone, other than maybe my mother, would enjoy reading, but oh well, here I go.