A Blanket! With Sleeves!

Quinn opened his present from us on Wednesday.

"I've wanted this my whole life! It's a blanket with sleeves! And fun socks!"

I'm not even kidding you.

Oh - and as a side note - I followed all of my Black Friday rules (except I did visit Best Buy, but later in the day) and I managed to get all the things on my list. And then some.

Rules for Black Friday

A few years ago I started doing all my Christmas shopping on the infamous Black Friday.

Here are a few of my own personal rules:

1. Do not go to: Walmart, KMart, or Best Buy. Those stores are all well and good on any other day of the year. But I refuse to wait in a line that stretches around and around or worse, I refuse to be a part of a stampede. Those three stores always seem to have some sort of crazy door buster, that will literally, cause people to bust the doors down to get at 'em. No thank you.
2. Do not stand outside waiting for the doors of a store to open. Sit in your car. Drink your coffee. Eat your power bar. Whatever. Listen to some Christmas tunes. Unless you live in a warmer part of this country - do not stand outside in the cold waiting.
3. Be nice: The past few years I've learned something - if you're nice to the people working - they'll be nice to you. If their computer system is not working quick enough, it is NOT the fault of the person at the register trying his/her best to get through the morning. Being grumpy will do you no good. Take some deep breathes, relax, and think about how crazy it is that you and all these other people are out in the madness - that should make you smile - and if it doesn't - go home and go back to bed.
4. Do not fight over the last whateveritis: I don't care how good the deal is - it is not worth fighting over. Try the "nice" approach - even if you have it in your hands first - if you see someone who wants it - offer it to them. Last year I had the last king size bedding set at Carsons - I heard two people talking and trying to find a king size of what I had. I offered mine up. Yes, it was a good deal, but really, we didn't need a need bedding set. It was hard for me to convince them to take mine, but eventually they took it and thanked me.
5. Smile at other shoppers. Offer them extra coupons that you won't be using. Tell them about good deals you saw at other stores. This is my favorite part about Black Friday.
6. Last, but not least, go with a list and a plan. Tomorrow I'll be going to Carsons, Target, the Mall, Costco, and breaking my first rule, I will try to go to Best Buy to see if they happen to have any receivers left - if they do - great, if not, oh well, and then Kohl's. (Note - if getting into Best Buy is crazy later in the morning I will just skip it. Nothing is worth that stress. Nothing.)

Six Years Ago

I'll never forget six years ago.

We knew we were having a baby boy. We knew his name would be Quinn.

Since I had high blood pressure, I was induced the day before Thanksgiving. I thought for sure I'd have a baby in about 8 or so hours.

Boy, was I wrong.

After 23 hours of labor and 3, yes, THREE, hours of pushing - I finally got to meet my first baby.

Thanksgiving morning, 2004 - I met the boy who made me into a Mom.

Since then, he's had me laughing, crying, giggling, sighing, jumping, chasing, singing, and dancing.

As frustrating as it is at times, being his mom, I need to admit - he is such a good boy. He tries so hard to do everything. Sometimes I wonder if I push him too much. He wants everything to be "just right." Today I saw him taking turns with the bell on the train at the mall - no adult in there to prompt this - just him saying, "here, it's your turn this time" as the train rounded the corner.

I had the true pleasure of seeing him in his prekindergarten classroom last week. He was so excited to have me there. He had quite possibly the biggest smile on his face. He did so good that morning - showing me all around the classroom, remembering to tell his classmates "thank you" when they gave him a picture they colored or wished him happy birthday, and most importantly, he was so polite to his teachers. "yes please" "thank you" and "your welcome" were flowing out of his mouth so naturally. He was happy to be there, with me, at his school.

Sometimes I feel like I'm muddling through this parenting gig, especially with him, my oldest son. My first baby.

Stressed

I woke up this morning, after yet another funky dream, feeling nauseous, hot, cold, sore throat, headache, and just all around crappy.

I don't want to go into too much details, but I've found myself in the position to need to defend the preschool program I've taught for the past 8 years.

So, these feelings of mine all revolved around speaking in front of a school board, as well as a room full of community members. Some who clearly support what I would be saying and others who are just there to make sure their taxes don't go up any more than they need to (and trust me I don't blame them.).

I did my research and was armed with 2 full pages of notes. All proving that most districts are offering more in regards to providing preschool - not less.

Still, even with a very well written "speech" I was nervous. Speaking in front of parents? I love it! Speaking in front of a school board? And community of tax payers? Not so much.

But I did it. And it felt good to be over with.

And all those feelings I woke up with are gone.

Except now, my back and shoulders hurt. I totally blame the stress of it all.

I'm glad all the extra budget board meetings are over with. I've been away from my boys too many nights attending meetings, taking notes, and talking with community members. I've skipped too many nice running days because of this.

With all this stress, though, I am happy to report the things I am craving the most: running, yoga, and kickboxing. It used to be I would crave ice cream or bread - but something has happened to me in the past, oh I don't know how many, maybe five? years.

Now that I've done pretty much all I could, I'm really hoping these funky dreams, or rather, nightmares, are over with. They only started after the first budget meeting when I decided I would need to speak.

There are people who have much more stressful jobs than I do. Much more stressful lives. And I really do feel for them. Seriously, how do you all handle your stress?

Now excuse me, a very long child's pose is calling my name...

How to throw a baby shower for someone who hates pink.

And is having a baby girl.

You throw her an all pink baby shower, of course.

Request the guests to wear pink. Wrap their gifts in pink. And offer pink cookies as favors (thanks to Taste of Stepford).

Of course, there are pictures...

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Probably the best part of the day was the "Guess the poop" game - in which you prepare several diapers each with a different mini-melted-chocolate candy bar and the guests guess what kind of candy is in each diaper. As one guest said, "That game was seriously grotesque, but fun."

I love it...

The nights that Liam actually rests his head on my chest and relaxes while I sing and rock him before laying him down for the night seem to have become the exception, not the norm. Lately, he's been kneeling on my lap, looking at me, and singing along. Usually to "Elmo's World." You'd crack up if you saw how much "gusto" he puts into the last line, "elmo's Woooorrrrllllldddd" and his arms go out to the side and his head shakes and his voice, oh his voice, so loud and excited. It's all I can do to not just burst out laughing.

Anyway, last night was one of the exceptions to the new norm. Liam actually laid his head on my chest and relaxed as I was singing "Baby on a treetop" (as he calls it). After a few verses he looks up at me, grabs my hand, and puts it on his back, "mama, pet me." That's right - he asked me to pet him. Once I started "petting" him, he looked up and smiled, "like that mama, like that."

Then, last night as I was tucking Quinn in I asked what song he'd like. And you know what he said?

The song about cars for kids.

You know it. "One, eight, seven, seven, cars for kids. K - A - R - S cars for kids. One, eight, seven, seven, cars for kids. Donate your car today."

Right. And so I sang it.

These guys crack me up sometimes.