Conversations with a 2-year old

Setting: Me driving our pimpin' minivan to the sitter's house. Ornery 2-year in back seat.

Daughter: "Mommy, I think I have a boogy on my finger."
Me: "Ok, just wait a minute, we'll be there in just a minute and I'll get you a tissue. Don't touch it ok honey!"
Daughter: "It's a really yuck boogy."
Me: "Ok, just don't touch it ok babe! Hold on ok!"
Daughter: "I will wipe this boogy off. It's really yuck Mommy"
Me: (wheels in head spinning... she is not near anything she can possibly wipe this thing on but her clothes, my upholstery or her car seat. Please God, don't let her wipe this monstrosity anywhere! *Pregnancy causes me to gag at the thought of finding a sticky streak anywhere...) "No! Don't wipe it anywhere Ok! We're almost there. Just leave it alone and Mommy will get it ok!"

Long pause

Daughter: "Don't worry Mommy, I don't have a boogy anymore."


Wonderful. Just wonderful. Those of you planning on riding in my van anytime this century- you've been warned...

I need a vacation

I've gotta say, I need a vacation. Ok yes, I just got home from a 4 day vacation, but THAT is precisely why I need a vacation! Sure, I had fun, spent time with my family, had some laughs and caught some rays on the lake. BUT, I also stayed up too late every night, slept in a cabin so small I had to sit sideways on the toilet sideways so my knees wouldn't hit the wall, waddled as fast as I could manage to chase my 2-year old around lakes and boats and swingsets and other mommy obstacle course items, and grumbled inaudible 4-letter words when my little bright-eyed baby awoke with the sun each day at 6 AM.

Here's my little swimmer sportin' her new water wings. And just because she has on a sunhat, sunglasses, swimming suit cover and SPF 70 to protect her from those mighty rays doesn't mean I'm overprotective people. Trust me, she's laughing under that grimace.

Here she is swimming in the lake for the first time. Well, by swimming I mean floating in an inflatable raft...with a life vest. She started with the arm floaties too but when I noticed that she couldn't bend her arms more than 10 degrees I decided maybe the arm floaties were overkill. See, whoever said I couldn't be flexible? Here she is flaunting her newfound freedom without the arm floaties. Don't worry, I have the vulcan death grip on the back of her lifejacket.

And this is a Minnesota sunset. I will say that few things five me the peace of being on the water. The sights, sounds and smells just wash over me and make me crave my next visit- fatigue and all!

Waiting...

We all know what it's like to want something so badly and to have to wait for it. I mean, I waited for years for my beloved gals from Sex and the City to make their movie. I waited for 9 months as a life overtook my insides and gave me heartburn that would make a grown man cry. I've waited for phone calls from boys, I've waited in airport terminals and I've waited for orders of french fries at my favorite restaurant (crinkle cut- side of ranch) when I was just certain that I was so hungry my stomach might devour my small intestine if it took any longer for my perky waiter to bring me my huge plate of trans-fatty goodness. One night I held my young daughter and rocked her, tears streaming down my face as I waited for the doctor to call me back to tell me that her 104 degree temperature was going to be OK. I held her warm body against mine and prayed and those 20 minutes felt like an eternity.

So I can't imagine how it must feel to wait for a chance at life. To wait for 2 years on a list with thousands of others, for an organ that will give you another chance. To wait, with your kids and grandkids, through 2 years of ongoing dialysis, doctors appointments and hoping. The wait must be excruciating. The days must tick by so painfully. You wait and wait and then get a call one morning so suddenly that you find yourself in a hospital bed 2 hours later, ready to receive your gift- a gift that someone else had to make the ultimate sacrifice in order to give you. After all the waiting, the miracle arrives. The rush of relief, happiness and tentative optimism must be palpable.

Which makes the disappointment even worse when the doctors utter the words 5 days later, "the body is rejecting the kidney." The wait is over but the result isn't what everyone was praying for.
This is the story of a family member who is fighting for his second chance as we speak. Please keep him and his wife and children in your prayers.

Twister!

Well, I am alive and well believe it or not. But I have been really busy. Plus, as many of you may have heard through watching the news, Iowa is under the wrath of Mother Nature these days. I think we're being punished for putting fried snickers on a stick at the state fair- that Nature Beeotch is saying "Listen here fatties- if you have nothing better to do with your time than come up with ways to make chocolate EVEN worse for you then I'll give you something to do with your time!" And alas- we're rowing our way down streets. We're doing tornado cleanup. We just keep getting pummeled again and again. More rain, more tornadoes- rinse and repeat.

It all takes me back to 15 years ago- the floods of '93. It was the summer before my freshman year of high school. Des Moines was flooded so bad that downtown Des Moines closed down and 250,000 people lost running water for 21 days. We were in that 250,000. At that age I thought it was kind of an adventure honestly. We'd throw on our bathing suits, and shower in the rain in the back yard. We'd use buckets for going to the bathroom. We'd eat lots of fast food. It was like summer camp but with a little more B.O. But, NOW, as a parent, as a grown up with a house and a family- I cringe at the thought of spending nearly a MONTH with no running water! I mean, cooking, cleaning, dishes, laundry, bathing, toilets... it all takes water. And trying to work full time and function without it sounds like misery. So I salute my mom and all of the hundreds of thousands of others that managed to do just that.

PS- Please pray for the thousands of people that have lost their homes and belongings and especially for those have have lost loved ones to the awful storms. He heart breaks for the 4 Boy Scouts killed in this weeks storm. Please keep them all in your thoughts and prayers.

At last...

At last... my life is a little more complete. After months, years even, of anticipation, the wait is over. I've been planning a weekend with my four close friends for so long that I made t-shirts to honor the event. That's actually not true, but man, I wish I had thought of it.

It was so good seeing them. We caught up on old times. 3 of use had babies over the years, one of us moved to a new state and one of us is still stuck in relationship limbo. Ahh yes, just like the old days. We sipped our cosmos and told our tales. Well, I mean, I'm preggo, so I just ate m&m's and listened.

It was goo good seeing you girls again!! Keep in touch!!

XOxoxo