God!!! Why do you even HAVE a blog??????

Yeah, I know that's what you're thinking. So, sign up for Google Reader and move on with your life.

Jenna has "She Will Be Loved" by Maroon 5 stuck in her head. It's kind of cute, kind of irritating. Too bad their show in the Cities is sold out. I would almost take her to see them.

We went and met Lydia's teacher last night. I swear, if I could ride along to school with Lydia and spend the day in her pocket, I totally would. What is wrong with me? I control everything! EVERYTHING I TELL YOU!!!!

The meeting with the teacher went fine - she's your typically warm, smily educator with a Dorothy Hamill haircut. I was so nervous for Lydia to introduce herself to her, though. Last year, we paraded her in front of the teacher, and instead of a demure smile and maybe a handshake, she gives the teacher a full-on samurai bow - hands folded, bent in half at the waist. And if you expect me to believe that that little stunt didn't set a particular "tone" for the year, you're nuts.

This year's teacher announced that this will be her last year of teaching. Her swan song, if you will. Let's just hope she doesn't decide to take our daughter down with her. Does anyone know a smooth way to word an email to a teacher that basically says, "I know my kid might act like a shit sometimes, and be a little sarcastic, but those are just coping mechanisms because inside she's really sensitive and self-conscious like her mother, so if you could look past all of that and see the beautiful creature that is INDEED inside, that'd be great. K? Thanks. Bye."? If my readership could draft up something and email me the template, that would ALSO be great. I'd like to see something by the end of September, please.

When we left the open house, I congratulated Lydia on the nice job she did and also came clean that 2nd grade was a little tough for me since that was the year that I was really into stealing stuff. (I like to tell stories like that to the kids, I think it makes me seem more "real" to them.) Shell shared with us that he went to the store with his uncle (alcoholic) one time against his parents wishes, and the uncle stuffed a bunch of stuff in Little Shell's pockets. The police stopped them, and the uncle bailed. Shell and his friend apparently got in trouble with the police, and then he got a chinga from his mom and dad for hanging out with the bad uncle (alcoholic). Lydia was suitably impressed with both stories, but in the end decided that daddy's story was a little better because he went on to tell her that the uncle (alcoholic) was a poor example for his own kids, and 2 of them have since died (drug overdose, suicide). Apparently, she felt his story had more grit to it. She's so dark sometimes.

This weekend we're headed to the lake. I don't think we've been up there since some time in July. We're bringing a whole watermelon and a cousin to occupy the girls - the rest we'll figure out when we get there. I'm hoping a little of this. Possibly some of this, if the weather cooperates.

M*A*S*H*

Fernando & I had a great weekend in Grantsburg. We drank, we ate, we danced. I think I'm falling in love with him all over again!

On Saturday night, we saw Brat Pack Radio. It's an 80's band - they did an awesome show. A little Duran Duran, a little Patti Smyth, a little Run DMC - there wasn't a single song I didn't know by heart. The best part was their final set. They did about 20 minutes of TV show them songs from my youth. I'm looking forward to seeing them again.

Lauren stayed with the girls and the dog while we were gone. She took them to see Mamma Mia. Brave girl. But, she said they all loved it, so I guess it was money well-spent. Better her than me. It would never occur to me in a million years to take a 2-year-old to the movies, much less Mamma Mia.

Both of the girls are sick. Genevieve has a runny nose and a temp. Lydia called me this morning to report that her throat hurts. I may move in to a motel for the week. I absolutely can NOT afford to get sick right now. Hopefully this will be a simple virus that leaves as abruptly as it came. (I know - I'm laughing too.) In the meantime, Shell is at home running an infirmary ward. Lucky bastard!

I'm riding the fence about staying home or going up north this weekend. As of today, I'm just about to fall flat on my ass onto the 'stay home for one damn weekend' side. But that could change. But I'm thinking it would be nice to get to Como Zoo or the beach - something simple.

I got nothing else. I'm not pregnant, thank you very much, and my mood, after a weekend of doing whatever I damn-well pleased and the arrival of the menses, is on the upswing. Go figure.

No Good

Well, my slump continues. I was NOT a very good mom yesterday. (Pauly - you can cancel any pending appointments to have I'M A GOOD MOM tattooed on my forehead that you may have already made.) I stuck it out til about 8:15 last night, and then I just left. I had some errands to run, and ended up riding around with my friend Amy til about 10. I didn't do anything blatantly abusive or neglectful. I did miss a game of Sorry with Lydia, and also pushing Genevieve on the swings. I've had better moments. Although I consider it a personal triumph that I didn't scream at anybody.

Fernando and the girls took a field trip yesterday on the city bus. They have to walk almost a mile to catch it, but I think it's well worth it. Because once they hop on that bus and get to the mall, the world is their oyster. Yesterday's trip was a trial run, just to make sure that they were all well-suited for public transportation. (Fernando & Lydia used to do this from time to time before Genevieve came along, so I wasn't all that concerned.)

They arrived at the mall about 2, had a lovely lunch in the food court and then shopped and wandered for a few hours until I picked them up after work. My one missive to Lydia before she left yesterday, with her own wallet jam-packed full of $16 (assets that she obtained during a leveraged buy-out of a failed water bottle stand on the 4th of July - Grandma Dude took pity on her when sales dropped off) was, "Have fun, mind your dad, and don't buy CRAP!" She did reasonably well. She did make an unfortunate choice of a pair of earrings at Clair's that she won't be allowed to wear out of the house either until she's 16 or until her neck grows longer and the bottom of the hoops don't rest on her shoulders. Yes, they're that big.

I commented to Shell as we were heading for home that since Northtown is kind of a transit hub for MTC buses, I planned to check the website and see if maybe they could plan a bus adventure to Como Zoo. His eyes rolled back in his head and he emitted a groan of disgust.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Was today too much of an imposition for you? Never mind then!"

"No! It's not that! I was just kidding!"

"Huh? Listen here, you insensitive ass! What I would GIVE to be able to spend the day like you just did. Public transportation or not - I'd give anything to be able to spend that kind of time with our daughters!"

(this irrational tirade went on for some time - I eventually brought him around to my point of view)

So, there it is. All of you die-hard Fernando fans have now caught a glimpse of the darker, less pleasant side of my adoring husband.

Day #4 of this madness and still no sign of the menses. Heaven help us (me.)

Cherish

I'm very blaaaah lately. I have various explanations for this floating around in my head, up to and including the impending arrival of the menses. Which is to say, each time I entertain thoughts of writing off everyone of my friends because they're such a disappointment to me and what is WRONG with me anyway, I am mollified by the thought that things will be better next week. Won't they?

It's difficult for me to be a good mom when I feel like this. Actually, truth be told, it's difficult for me to be a good mom anytime, but even as I write this, I recognize the sentence for what it is. I swear, on any given day I'm about 2 irrational thoughts away from being completely incapable ever leaving my house again. (Please refer to paragraph #1 for an explanation of the origin of my morosity.)

And the hell of it is, I've nothing to complain about. No great source of anxiety, stress, unhappiness. Kids are good, husband is fine, house is clean, yard looks great. There's money in the bank, and Shell and I are headed out of town on Friday afternoon, ALONE, to spend the weekend with friends and enjoy the activities of Watercross. Life is good.

Lydia has been invited to stay at Grandma Dude's house for a week in August. She's going to vacation bible school @ Dude's church, and they may even be a day of horseback riding at Dude's friend Janine's house. I guess packing long pants for the past 6 weeks when we go to the lake in the hopes that she'll get to ride a horse is finally going to pay off for her.

Genevieve talks too much. Seriously. She's got a vocabulary of about 15,000 words, but she picks 2 or 3 questions each day and asks them over and over and over.....And then when you answer her, her response is "What?" We were riding home from the lake on Sunday night, and she happened to catch sight of the moon.

"Wassss sat, mama?"

"The moon."

"What?"

And then....

"Way seeee go-eeen, mama?"

"He's going to Genevieve's house."

"What?"

And on and on and over and over from Monticello aaaaallllllllll the way to our very own driveway.

At one point during this exchange, however, Lydia got her sister all set up with a piece of paper and some crayons, and the two of them sat back there, chattering back and forth in quiet little voices, and I smiled a little and thought to myself, "cherish this moment, they're so rare." We must be doing something right.

Father's Day 2008

Wow! Over 2 weeks since my last post. I know that my readership must be understandably disappointed. Part of the reason for the absence of posts and, more importantly, photo content, is that we are between cameras. I bought a Nikon D50 on impulse a week ago at the pawn shop. The pictures were ok, but it was missing the USB cord for uploading to our computer, and I found it difficult to find one. So, for $500, I thought it better to return it and start over with something new that has all of its pieces.

Meanwhile, I gave our camera to Lydia. As soon as we pulled into the parking lot of the pawn shop on Saturday to return the Nikon, she got a feral look in her eyes and she bared her remaining teeth.

"Does this mean I have to give you back your camera?!?" she said, ready to pounce on my head if need be.

"Calm down, Ansel Adams. I told you could keep the camera, didn't I?"

I'm always nervous about returns of that nature, though. A high-dollar item like that, I automatically assume that they're going to think I'm up to no good. But God bless them, they took it back without question or suspicion.

Anyway, the hunt is on for a decent camera for me. A friend told me that if you purchase a camera at Ritz, you get free lessons in using it. That sounds like the way to go to me.

We had a great weekend with beautiful weather. On Saturday, we were scheduled to go to a couple of grad parties, but Jenna became violently ill about 2 miles into the trip, so we instead spent a quiet day at home, which was nice. Yesterday when Jenna was feeling a little perkier, I washed and hung all of our sheets out to dry, and we washed the car and then ran through the sprinkler. Then we took Fernando out to dinner for Father's Day at Famous Dave's. Doesn't get any better. Well, there ARE better restaurants. I'm talking about the quality family time - doesn't get any better.

Coming up.....dance recital pics!

Happy Birthday 2 You! Get It? 2?

Well, here she is. Enjoying her favorite meal - taco in a bag. We spent Memorial Day weekend at the lake and had a small party on Sunday to celebrate Genevieve's 2nd birthday. Against my better judgement, we're having another gathering this Sunday for her "friends", the 2 children born within 5 weeks of her that she plays with most often. And I plan to shamelessly roll out the taco in a bag feast at that fiesta also.

Given that the jury is still out on potential damage to a child's psyche from internet posts about early childhood developmental milestones, I'll save the picture of her on the Dora the Explorer 3-in-1 Potty Chair for the montage at her wedding.

Lydia is down to like, 7 days left of school. And in the "keeping it real" department, I'm on a quest to find a good educational psychologist that can meet with us and help us figure out ways that we can help Lydia excel in school. Academically, we have no worries. She is bright, and learns quickly, as long as she can stay on task during school. It is mostly for our own peace of mind - her teachers have not contacted us about any signs of ADHD or other behavioral diagnoses. There is some impulsivity that on some days I think, "Wow, at nearly 8 years old, she maybe should have outgrown this by now!" and on other days I think, "What a card! Why, that's just her irrepressible 'lydianess' shining through!" Obviously, I need a professional's opinion to help tell the difference. My goal in all of this is two-fold: 1) I'd like to figure out some ways to help us help her to focus, be it at home, school, or anywhere and 2) I'd like to be able to advocate for our daughter a little, instead of walking into parent-teacher conferences next fall and having the teacher tell ME what we're going to do to keep her on track. I'll keep you posted.

We're off to the lake again this afternoon. My dad had his hip replaced on Tuesday and there's talk of him being discharged home today so we want to be there for the big event.

To Do List

So I managed to make it through the Brownie overnight without scaring anyone. I did give everyone fair warning. But then I just kind of laid there & dozed off and on with my ipod on all night. One of the other mom's said she couldn't really hear me at all. Shell was nice enough to take the Little Reyes Sisters to the park on Saturday when we got home so I could rest. I love him.

Jenna will be 2 on Sunday. I had her in for the 2-year well baby visit yesterday. She weighs an astonishingly slight 23.4 lbs. I relay this info to Shell, and he looks at me quizzically. "What does that mean?" he says. I tell him it means that 89% of kids that are turning 2 this week weigh more than she does. I also tell him that 61% of kids that are turning 2 this week are taller than she is. I tell him to add an extra dollop of lard to her refried beans before he gives them to her. Then I tell him that her head circumference is something like 19.2 cm. Again with the question marks floating around his head. I tell him that only 2% of kids turning 2 this week have a bigger head than his daughter. Oh, and maybe this guy. But seriously, considering where we have come from at the beginning of her life, I'm profoundly grateful, giant melon and all.

Lydia hasn't figured out yet that she should be counting down how many days of school she has left. (I haven't been counting either, but I know it isn't many.) She helped me plant all of the flower pots last night. I appreciate the help and love spending time with her, but worry a little that she'll be too personally invested in the success or failure of our patio pots and maybe take matters into her own hands with the garden hose, literally. I envision having to take money out of savings to cover the July 2008 water bill if we don't keep an eye on her.

I'm trying to convince Shell that he should take an active role in Lydia's life by attending track & field day on Friday. Initially his response was of course, "I can't." Huh? He seems to be warming up to the idea though. So if you should happen to talk to him, or bump into him at the grocery this week, talk up the idea of going, would you? I'm swamped.

Only 3 more days and then we're off to the lake for Memorial Day. I feel like we just got home, don't even have the laundry done. We're going to do a tiny celebration for Genevieve's birthday on Sunday afternoon, and then have a "friend" party on June 1st. But I've got to order a cake, prepare the meal, wrap her gifts, and try to acclamate her to her life jacket - all before Friday. Wish me luck!