It's all about the Lunchables

Saturday night, Tad and I talked about what we should do with our Sunday. All I knew is that I had two Lunchables in the fridge, a big treat for Coen and Lucy and I wanted to plan a day that would make those Lunchables necessary.  "So, you wanna plan our day around Lunchables?" Tad asked me, smirk on his face, gesturing towards the refrigerator.  "Yeah!" I said, indignantly.  So we did.

We went to Seven Bridges trail in Grant Park and walked down to the lake. We dug in the sand and threw rocks in Lake Michigan.  Coen balanced on a log and Lucy and I followed Tad down a risky, muddy, cliffy path.   We took a more reasonable path back to the car and took it to the playground for lunch.   It was a gorgeous day. Coen and Lucy happily ate their Lunchables on a park bench. And Tad and I got lots of lovely photos.

Happy family at the beach in February

Tad

Lucy throwing leaves and screaming "It's FALL!!!"

Coen with an incredible jump off the swing

Peace, everyone. Thanks for reading.

Before school educational activities

Tad takes the children to school most mornings and they like to go into his classroom with him and read books while he gets things ready for the day. 

Today they worked on making words with movable letters and Coen produced this sentence:

Well, at least it's educational!

I now pronounce you...totally weird kids.

Coen and Lucy were in the playroom the other night dressing up with costumes in their costume box.  They began as a prince and a princess.  I was in the kitchen cooking and Tad was keeping me company. Lucy kept running in over and over asking things like: "Do princesses have wings?" "Do princesses carry a shield?" "Do princesses have swords?"  (We said yes to all of it.  Princesses do what they want, right?)

Then Lucy changed into a bride costume and Coen and Lucy said they were going to have a royal wedding.  "You can come, Mommy and Daddy!" Lucy shouted (by way of a royal invite). 

Coen put on his  wedding garb which consisted of a cape, a hiking vest, a shield and a broom.  He acted out displays of courage and feats of strength for us, knocking over Lego structures and little plastic dinosaurs.    Lucy donned a wedding dress.   After much ado about how tight the sleeves were and yanking down the lace bodice while staving off a temper tantrum (in true bride...or four-year-old style) she was finally dressed   She put the veil on backwards and ignored all Coen's protests that she had it on wrong, finishing off her outfit with a purple beaded necklace. 

By the time they were ready to be wed, dinner was done so I clanged a fork into a glass three times and announced in a very regal voice, "It's time for the wedding feast!"                           Both kids looked at each other excitedly and Coen said, "Let's eat BEFORE we get married!"  And so we did.    The children enjoyed their dinner. Here's a photo of the bride, stuffing her royal face. 

After dinner, Coen rushed away from the table, saying this:

"Lucy! I will marry you when I'm done going poop. See you at the wedding!!"

Lucy followed him into the bathroom, leaving Tad and I at the table, looking at each other with great amusement. 

The wedding followed.  Tad did the proceedings, Coen waved his broom around, and Lucy continued to eat while standing at the "altar". As Tad officially announced them "Princess and Prince" Coen said, "Lucy, clean that ketchup off your mouth before I kiss you!" 

It was the best wedding I've ever been to.

The royal duo celebrated their nuptials by taking baths and having bed time stories read to them.

Capitalism...you want it you got it!

In my house we complain about Capitalism.  Tad even wrote a song about it.
I wish this blog could sing it to you.
It goes: Capitalism, you want it you got it!  Capitalism, you want it just buy it! Capitalism, just go on the internet. Capitalism, you already bought it!
(I will sing this to you upon request if you see me in person.)

Anyway, there is one time when I love Capitalism. And that is when I buy a product that is not as quality as it should be, I call and complain, and they send me coupons for several of that product.  Free stuff. I love it!!!

Me with the bag of caramel corn that had a strange chunk of what appeared to be caramelized hair.

Me after calling the company and getting three free coupons for more popcorn.

Sensitive and Vulnerable...

My family is made up of sensitive people.  I am no stranger to crying. I cry at commercials, at the end of almost every movie--happy or sad, I cry when I'm sad, frustrated, angry or any other number of emotions.  I cry anytime anyone else cries. 
Lucy takes great care of animals and people smaller than herself.
Tad kisses me on the shoulder every morning before he goes to take a shower and has incredible empathy for our children. 
This weekend, Coen watched his first real amazingly done special effects movie ever: The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  After it was over, he put his head on my chest and sobbed.  "Why am I crying?" he said.
"Oh Coen." Tad said, "I sometimes feel sad at the end of movies too."
"Me too." I said, stroking his hair. "That just means they did a really good job."
"You feel like you're one of the characters and all of that happened to you too." Tad added.

Coen got his cry out and I tucked him in bed.  The next morning I heard him say to Lucy, "I cried at the movie last night.  But that just means they did a really good job making it."

Coen was also amazed at the special effects.  This is his explanation about how they made the green smoke to represent the evil: "Maybe they took a bunch of round rocks and piled them up. And then someone who smokes, smoked all over them. And then they used a computer to color it green."

So with all this sensitivity in my house, you'd think a willingness to be vulnerable would come along with it. 

No dice.

I know, I know. It's hard to be vulnerable.  When you REALLY need help, it seems that's the hardest time to ask for it.
Sometimes, Coen or Lucy will fall down. And I'll say something like, "Let mommy kiss it!" and I'm met with a belligerent, "NO!"
I know I'm extra vulnerable.  And that sometimes my particular partner is not always the best at being vulnerable.  Most of our talks about it are amusing.  Some are serious.  I had a talk with a girlfriend this weekend about how it seems like our male partners have such a hard time being vulnerable. How sometimes it looks like this:

Of course it is not always like this.  The more talking we do in my relationship, the more closely our faces and attitudes match what's going on in our heads.  But I do know this: Vulnerability does not come easy for many people--men and women, boys and girls alike!

But man, I have vulnerability down.  Me? I don't wear my heart on my sleeve.  I wear it on my forehead, billboard size, in neon blinking lights.

Hypochondria caused by an excess of googling

When I was pregnant, my doctor wrote me a prescription and handed it to me.  It said:
NO GOOGLING THINGS!!

So on Sunday, I was kneeling on the floor doing a puzzle with Lucy.  When I stood up, my legs felt strange.  Not numb exactly but it almost felt like my legs weren't connected to my brain, like they were made of rubber and might give out.  I got totally freaked out. I was sure that I had Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

You should know 2 things:
1. The week before, I had heard a presentation on MS, signs and symptoms
2. I have had a pinched nerve in my lower back for the past couple weeks

Now, one who is in possession of her sanity might think of point #2, followed by point #1 and concur that I was overreacting and it was likely due to point #2.  No, not me. I am not in possession of my sanity.  I nearly hyperventilated. But I was home alone with my daughter so I got it together and shortly after a dear friend came over and talked to me and I felt better.
But not better enough to stay away from the computer. That night I googled 'numb legs' and 'symptoms of MS' and 'rubbery legs' and was propelled back into a panic.  "Look at this!" I told my poor husband.  "Oh my God! Look at THIS one!"  I got up for some water and when I returned, Tad handed the laptop back to me.  "Look at this one!" He said. 
He had googled "Hypochondriac"
URG! 
But he was right and I settled down again. 
But on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday I had tingling feelings in my legs which made me panic more until I wasn't sure if I was really feeling it or just thought I was feeling it.
I went to the doctor on Thursday.
I was incredibly worked up. I explained my problem to the nurse, self-diagnosing my MS.  She took my temperature. I had a fever! "A fever!" I exclaimed, beginning to freak out, "Why do I have a fever?!!"  My blood pressure, as you might expect, was rather high.
When the doctor came in, I burst into tears.  She and I had a chat and she told me
1. I most likely do not have MS
2. I need to stop googling ailments
3. It is probably due to the pinched nerve in my back but we'd do some blood tests for vitamin D deficiencies which also causes such sensations.
She also talked a lot about the mind-body connection (which made me very happy) and how these days we are all so stressed out, she's seeing more and more patients come in with physical sensations mocking illnesses and diseases and are really just panic attacks.  She told me to talk myself down when I get worked up like that.  And once again to stop googling things.

I left feeling two things: 1: like a huge ass and 2: much much much much better.

So since yesterday, I have felt back to my normal self.  And I will not do any more googling of any more ailments ever ever ever again. 

Tattoo Time.

I went out and got a tattoo the moment I turned eighteen.  This sun was my first and it was a picture I drew myself over and over again while sitting in classes. I chose the sun because I have always had a rather "sunny disposition" causing people to call me things like "Sunshine girl" and in Estonia "Vaike Paike" which means "little sun" Then I got the armband. The armband has two X's in it to symbolize how straight edge I was.  You can read about the straight edge movement here.  I'm really not (nor was I ever) that punk rock so I decided now that I'm in my thirties, I wanted my tattoo feminized a bit.  I went to several artists who gave me ideas like flowers and fairies and I didn't really mean that.  But then my son's art teacher Jesse began working at Mania Ink Tattoo and Gallery and I was very excited to have him work on my body art.  Below are pictures of the process and the tattoo.  I am happy! Also, I did promise my mother that I wouldn't get any more tattoos but as I pointed out, this was actually getting one less tattoo as I had two combined into one. Does this mean I can get another one? Mom?  

Prior to new tattooing



Post new tattooing

Here is me getting tattooed.  I feel really bad ass.

Another action shot.

And we're done! That's Jesse. My tattoo artist (also my son's art teacher--how cool is that?)