Feeling the Burn

What makes this mom's eyes burn with unshed tears?  Well, for starters you can send her to the flower shop to pick up the flowers for tonight's Homecoming Dance.  Tom says he can't wait to see what happens when Corey gets married (he anticipates that he and Mad will each need a tissue, but that they'll each carry giant boxes of them just for me).

It's pretty typical in my family to mess around with one another.  So when we went to order the flowers yesterday (yes, I know we should have done it sooner but when you have a Corey, the wise parent waits to expend any money until it's practically a lock... we bought his outfit today), he immediately texted Lisa and told her that all they had were pink (her least favorite color) and a mustardy orange. 

If I didn't already think Lisa was pretty sweet, her response sealed the deal, "Oh, sounds pretty."

Also pretty typical for us, Corey couldn't keep the joke going.  He immediately let her know that they were getting red roses and black ribbon.  (Yes, the girl traditionally gets the boutonniere, but all the places around here do a low-priced two-fer bargain.)

And here's where I knew Lisa was the girl for me... erm... I mean, the girl for Corey, "Hooray.  I'm gonna kick your A$$!"

Yeah, she's gonna be just fine around here.

Here's another way they fit well together:  They both neglect to give accurate, up-to-date information to their parents.

Last week when he bought the tickets, Corey told me that the dance started at 6:00.  Today we invited Lisa's parents to bring her over at 4:00.  That'll give us about half an hour to fumble with flowers, giggle and have lots of pictures taken before Tom chauffeurs them to dinner.  When they're done, he'll pick them up and take 'em to the dance.  Dinner's about 15 minutes away from us and 20 from the school.  Nice relaxed pace, but not too much extra time, right?

This afternoon Tom asks Corey when the dance starts.  "I think it's at 6:30."  He continued on in what I can only assume was an attempt to hang out later than the kids are supposed to, but I'll spare you those details.  Suffice to say that Chauffeur Tom will be asking when the dance is really over.

Back to the time... I called Lisa's mom and said they should come a little later if the dance isn't starting at 6:00 like we originally thought.  Shirley had heard it was 7:00.  So she and I have settled on 4:45 with the possibility of their being a little later than that. 

This is a shot of the flowers.  I was afraid to move them too much, lest they fall apart and I become the worst mother in the world.  Again.

Finding the Funny

Let's be honest, shall we?  There isn't a lot of hi-larity when it comes to my in-laws.  They're just great people.  Of course it goes without saying that they're completely unlike MY family.


***I spoke with my (beloved) Wicked Stepmom today.  She was telling me about some of her nieces and nephews from one of her sisters.  The good one is in jail for "a few years" for failing to report to his parole officer.  So maybe I'm a little intimidated by Tom's nice, normal, well-educated 'rents.  My main goal in any interaction is to not make them feel bad for their son's choice of partner.


Here are a few basic facts:  Judy is a nurse.  A pediatric nurse.  She could be entirely pushy and overbearing about the decisions we make with the kids, but she isn't.  Larry does not work.  He's had MS for about 30 years.  Although his case is relatively mild and progressing slowly, he's told me that he often wakes up feeling like he just ran a marathon: tired and sore.  So the man naps.  I think during their regular life, he probably takes a couple of naps a day.  On vacations, and especially with us, he pushes himself.  Still, a nap a day was in order.


The great thing about our house is that we now have room for guests.  However, we don't have a room.  The sleeper sofa is in the loft.  At the top of the stairs.  Right outside of our room.  From any of our bedrooms, you really can't hear what's happening downstairs.  You can from the loft, although it's muted.  A few days before they arrived, I found a screen that would be perfect to block out sound and give some privacy.  However, the couch wasn't really in our budget, so the screen was out.


Ever wished you'd gone ahead and splurged, even if it seemed wiser not to in the beginning?


First night?  Great.  No problems.  First morning?  The same.  Second night I couldn't sleep.  In fact, I messed around on the computer until nearly 1:00 in the morning.  The baby gate at the foot of the stairs squeaks.  The one at the top is different and clicks loudly as it locks and unlocks.  Five feet from the fam.


Second morning, no surprise, I overslept.  Larry also slept later than usual.  When I came out of our room, there he was, standing (thankfully, with his back to me) in a shirt and his BVDs.


***So maybe a little shiver ran down my spine just now.  It could be cold, right?


I jetted down the stairs, made the coffee and did whatever for what seemed like forever.  Something (it seemed very important at the time) called me back up the stairs.  Only to find Larry still in his unders.


***Brrr.... chilly here!  What is it?  Like 68 degrees outside?  70?


In other, fully-dressed news (please let this be fully-dressed news), Corey has a girlfriend.  His first "real" girlfriend (no, I'm not talking "Lars and the Real Girl"... just that a couple of girls in middle school were girlfriends with whom he did nothing aside from chat during class).  The boy has worked exceptionally hard to get one.  ANY one.  Nearly a month ago I had to block several girls' numbers from his cell.  Instead of toughing it out, he found new girls to text.


Said girlfriend is Lisa.  She looks cute.  Lisa beat out Celina (as opposed Selina... keep 'em straight, wouldja?!?) merely because of timing.  Celina said she just liked Corey as a friend.  She probably wasn't up for his lightning speed getting-to-know-you ritual (which I have overheard on the phone... it goes like this:
"So what kind of car would you like to drive?"
"What's your favorite color?"
"Do you watch G4?"
"Ever have sushi?"
etc., etc., etc.)... or at least not until she found out about Lisa.  But Corey has apparently played it straight.  Anyway, Corey and Lisa are going to Homecoming together.  I have been trying to give him as much dating advice as he'll tolerate.


Madelyn finally had her EEG to rule out any seizures.  The neurologist agreed to schedule it around Mad's naptime so she could just sleep naturally and not be sedated.  In fact, she suggested it before we could say, "Hey, we're all for checking her out, but we are not up for putting her to sleep.  Thanks."  One of the nice things was going back to the hospital where Mad was born.  As with each of the times we've had to go there, the staff were fabulous.  They were very patient with us as we tried to get Mad to sleep. 


Our usual naptime routine is this:
Ask Mad, "Do you want to go upstairs and have a nip-nappy-snip-snappy?"
"No!" (You have to imagine this being said gleefully as she runs over to the stairs... she means "Heck yeah, I want a nap!")
Go up the stairs with Mad in my arms, but in a position that allows her to use the hand rail.  Do a little looby loo.  Check her diaper.  Read a story (unless we've waited too long).  Get Dog.  Get Frog.  Let Mad turn on her music and shut the door.  Kiss everybody and put them all in the crib.  Mad might sit there for a second to get an extra smooch.  Then she folds the animals in her lap and flops over on them.  She stays pretty much in that position with her butt high in the air for 2-3 hours.


In the neurology lab, there was a hospital bed and a whole lot of computer equipment.  Since Mad doesn't use a bottle, sippy cup or binky and she doesn't nurse, we had a small test of willpower to get her sleeping.  I tried sitting in one of the office chairs and spinning slowly to one direction and then the other.


Screeeaming baby.


Singing mama.


Screaming, fighting baby.


Want to go to Dada?


Yeah... NOO!!!  This at least resulted in her face being buried in my shoulder.  Every time she did that, her crying mellowed out.  We probably attempted the hand-off (at her request, not because we're mean) half a dozen times.  Eventually I was able to sit down and snuggle her.  Too soon I tried to lay her down, but it only added a minute or two to our temporary pre-sleep ritual.  She was pretty tired.  We'd gotten her up about two hours earlier than normal.  Getting her to sleep took about 15 minutes, but once Mad was out, she was out.  The only problem came when, halfway through getting electrodes attached to her head with conductive paste, Mad decided it was time to go butt up.  Everything got fixed and the testing went off without a hitch.  If I had to go through it again, I would mention to her that it was naptime, and we would have brought her special sleeping music. 


We get the results tomorrow.  Not sure why the doc wants Mad there, too.  I'm hoping it's just because the receptionist didn't know to mention that Mad's only 18 months old, it's not like she's going to understand the concepts of our conversation.