mindaTHINK

Mom, How Does it work?

seriously, never did I think I'd be teaching my son how to use a dial phone.  sure sign that the times have changed.  He was fascinated.

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Having kids is HARD! I mean WAY hard!

This week I've had a scare with my oldest, worrying about things that I can't go into, and today I had a horrible time with my youngest. 

No one tells you about the hardest part of parenting.  The part where if you spend 90% of your time with the little critters they are gonna become a part of you, a part you love more than your self.  A part you will seek to protect from harm, even facing your fears.

Today I thought I had the easy job.  Sit by Andrew's side while Andrew and Scott had dentistry work done.  I wasn't in the room 5 minutes before the full horror hit me. Me, the one who hates dentistry above all else, who would rather give birth every six months than visit a dentist every six months was going to watch while our sweet dentist yanked three teeth out of my baby's mouth.  Um.  Wait.  How about you take my teeth.  It'll be okay.

Andrew cried, "It hurts, it really hurts" and I felt like dying.  We have been home three hours and I'm still curled up in a ball, hardly able to function.  I dont' ever want to watch him suffer like that again.  I don't ever want to sit idly by while tears run down his face. 

He on the other hand seems to have bounced right back.  I think his pain got to the dentist too, who kept apologizing for the noise (a loud cracking sound that turned my bones to jelly) and afterwards, white as a sheet, he looked me in the eye and told me in front of Andrew that he felt having three teeth pulled translated to BIG MONEY.  Yes, he actually said that!  I wasn't sure if that meant he was going to charge us double or if that meant the toy we were to buy Andrew needed to be amazing, but I opted for the big toy and right now Andrew is painstakingly putting together his Indiana Jones Temple Lego set. 

But I hate that it ended up all being a lie. I was sure the novocaine shots wouldn't hurt.  I was sure the teeth coming out wouldn't be painful.  Apparently I was wrong on both counts.  And when he came through it all with a mouth full of bloody gauze I felt like I had betrayed him.

Scott said he felt like rising up from the next chair over and punching the dentist.  And we have a great dentist. 

Sigh.

So I'm pretty out of it tonight, Andrew is fine and Scott and I are looking at each other across an adult beverage with sadness.  I remember when I was in the midst of labor with Andrew and it had gone long and painfully, and without much progress.  I remember saying, "I dont' want to do this, I want to stop!"  Of course, everyone ignored me because yeah, turns out you can't stop that whole labor thingy with very good results.  Anyway, that is how I feel today.  I need off this merry-go-round.  Its too scary. I want my figurative mommy.  Or at least I want to not be the mommy.  At least for a few hours.  It hurts too much!

Horror Story

Three tooth extraction appointment: next Wednesday

Next step: wait for permanent teeth to grow in: two months

Molds and the sitting down discussion of the cost of 2x4 braces for one year: shortly thereafter.

Sigh.

Successfully kept alive for 8 years

Someone Wished for a Wish List

I updated our Wish List on Amazon today, taking out things that are already purchased and adding new things for Andrew.  There is some random stuff for Scott and I on there from last year, but I think its pretty clear which things are Andrew related!

Happy Shopping person who asked me for this!

Christmas Cheer

So last night I revealed that our Christmas tree has been put up.  DANG early.  Well even though Andrew was gone all day until 4pm, he came home wanting to do more Christmas decorating. 

As soon as he walked in the door with his friend in tow, he asked to put up the Nativity Set.  At this point I'm in full on surrender, so I said yes.

Here is the conversation that ensued:

Andrew: "Want to put up the Nativity Set with me?"

Friend: "What's a Nativity Set?" 

Andrew: "Don't you believe in God?"

Friend: "Do you?"

Andrew: "Of course.  If you don't believe in God you are gonna go to hell and you don't want to go to hell, its much worse than heaven when you die"

Friend: "Well I don't believe in heaven OR hell!"

A little later on as they are setting up the Nativity set...

Andrew: Now this is Mary.

Friend:  Is it Mary Queen of Scots, because I hate her!

Andrew: No, its Jesus mom Mary.  You know the weird thing about Jesus? He IS God, even though he's God's little brother too.

Just another day at the Shultz household!

See there in the white hat?  Mary!

We like to call this one "other Mary"  She was mean.

I also have a friend named Mary, but she doesn't like me to call her that.  In fact, she forbids it!

Sk8tr Dude and Scrap Pages

Well, the first skating lesson for this year is over, and he did better than I expected.  He is a year older than the other kids in his class, and he was "back of the class" the whole session, but he stayed on his feet more than I expected and really tried hard. 

More importantly, as soon as class was over he was begging me to take him to Centennial Lakes for some more practice.  Scott took him to a local pond instead, and in a few minutes we are off to the open skate time at BIG.  He really is wanting to get back into it full swing and I love his enthusiasm.  Here are a few pics, not good, but they had the overhead lights turned off the whole classtime.

There was a buncha pages being thrown down over here in the last couple of days and I hope none of these are a repeat but here they are:

This is my little unimportant rant about scrapbook manufacturers these days.  How many companies can you name that have used a birdy in their lines?  Well, there is a whole lot more jumping on the bandwagon this winter, according to the previews.  And it got me thinking.  So I scrapped.

just a fun little one with an old picture of Erin that I photoshopped to death.  Gotta love photoshop.  There actually is one more small copy of the picture on this layout that fell off before I took the picture, that goes on top of the two darker brown rectangles on the page.  I'm too lazy to take another photo of it now that I've fixed it!

I would like to go on record as saying that I did NOT get my hair cut because Cathy Zielske got hers cut on the same day, and I did NOT do this layout about his rocker tendencies because her son who is just slightly older has the same tendencies.  We just happen to be living mildly parallel lives on different plains a few miles apart.  Seriously.

The first page Erin designed entirely on her own without and magazine or idea book inspiration.

THe picture does not do the colors in this justice, this is a lush layout.

Erin is doing a Book About Me, which delights me to no end, and this is another page from it.  Its all about how much she loves her great grandparents.  I love this picture of my grandfather, who passed several years back.  He looks so happy.

The heartfelt journaling on this one really shows Erins maturity.  I love the way she matches colors, so bold and so perfect.

The tag pulls up to reveal the journaling.

We are having a big ole mutual admiration society thing happening over here.  Lisa does a page about me.  I do a page about her.  I do a page about Erin.  Erin does a page about Lisa.  Lisa takes home a picture of Erin.  So you can guess what that means next.

Again the picture doesn't give you the full wow on this layout.  The colors are beautiful and rich.  And they perfectly match the photo.  Amazing!

Well, its time to go strap on some skates, wish us health and safety!

Literary (?) Genius

This morning at brunch, Scott grabs a grapefruit.  He holds it out in the palm of his hand, M. C. Escher style.

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I laugh and pretend I thought he was posing like Rodin's The Thinker.

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Andrew grabs the grapefruit from him holds it high, and recites,

"He held it to the light,

so I snatched it all away from him,

and showed him how to do it right..."

Yes, in context, in the spur of the moment, several weeks since he last heard the piece, Andrew was reciting poetry.  He's six.  I'm proud!

What?  What is that you say?  What is the reference?  Oh, well, is it important?

Really?  Well...okay...it's eh hem, Frank Zappa Cosmik Debris

Still, impressive!

So Andrew walks up to his mother and says...

"Yesterday is just a wrinkle on your forehead."

No really, he did.

Oh, and he spit a tooth down the drain of the sink yesterday morning. 

Tomorrow, he'll take over Wall Street.  I'm sure of it!

Mama, would you be proud of me...

Mama, would you be proud of me if I invented a device to capture wasps and bees?