A Snapshot

What's at the top of my to-do list?
--Pack up last minute items for camping trip tomorrow. We're leaving for Meramec State Park for the Memorial Weekend. I look forward to getting away with my family, my sister's family and my parents.
--Catch up laundry before leaving

What have I accomplished?
--I sent out a volunteer schedule to 47 families that contained 205 shifts! It was a big job and I'm so glad it's DONE. I also sent out a family directory with e-mails and phone numbers if anyone needs to trade with someone.
--I packed up the trailer for the trip and brought it down to the campground yesterday. I caravaned with my dad and brother in law who also brought down their campers. We brought down our campers early and left them there so we were guaranteed a spot. We didn't register in time. This worked out great because it's only an hour and 15 minutes away. Thank God my mom watched the kids!
--Did my last Children's Liturgy for the season! Yaayyy! Now I get a 3 month break.

What's been bothering me lately?
--My long hair! I got it chopped off to shoulder length this week. She called it a Sha-bob (a cross between an shag and a bob). I really like it! It will be much better for summer.
--Another buggy computer. ARrgghh. We need to have my brother, the computer guy, check it out.

What's my latest obsession?
--Finishing that Swim Team volunteer schedule has cleared the plate for new obsessions! I worked on that thing around the clock!
--Starting to think about a dog again. I have settled on the Shih-tzu breed...although "settled" is a poor word for it...I really like the breed! They don't yap like the terriers. They are good for the alergy prone because of their low dander and non-shedding hair. They are small and easier to care for (as long as you don't mind taking them to the groomers). And they are CALM. Now we just have to wait for the right time. Which leads me to my next obsession...
--I started the process of purchasing the plane ticket for Australia. I got $1000 in gift cards through our Shop for Our School program. My next step is to get my cash rewards from my Capital One card and then purchase the ticket! Because of my trip, Ted doesn't think we should get a dog before then. So I'm holding on to this grungy, disgusting carpeting in my family room because I will NOT get new carpeting with dog that is not house broken. But can I wait over a year? I guess I'll have to. Either that, or get a dog sooner. But Ted won't go for that.

What's been making me happy?
--Mary finally going poop on the toilet!! Yaaayy! She's getting so big. Where has the time gone?
--School is almost out! Ben is graduating from preschool tonight. I'm really looking forward to the casual, non-scheduled (almost) summer. Sam has his last golf lesson tonight and then it's just Abby's softball for another month and a half.
--Looking forward to camping this weekend.
--Ted has been working from home more. This has been really nice...and we're saving on gas money!!
--The beautiful weather!
--Keeping up to date with my friends using "Twitter". Check it out at "twitter.com"
--I'm SO GLAD that David Cook won the American Idol Finals!!!

Ben and Mary at the Doctor's Office

This morning I took Ben and Mary to the doctor's office for their well exam. Ben needed his shots for Kindergarten and Mary needed a shot, too. I realized I would need to tell them this because I had forgotten to. We talked about the shots...we prayed for courage...and boom! They got them and all was well! I was so proud of them. They each turns on the examining table and when the doctor said that he could see they were fully potty trained because they were wearing underpants...I said, "Well...Mary won't poop in the toilet". He turned to Mary and told her she's big enough now and needs to poop in the toilet. The pull ups are gone now. I look at Mary, watching her take it all in and nodding her head.

When we got home, after eating lunch, Mary announced that she needed a pull up. I took a deep breath and said, "Mary, remember what the Doctor said? He said you are big enough now. Let's poop on the toilet." At first she protested, but then she went a long with it. I sat her on the toilet and out comes the poop!! Just like that!! My daughter had pooped in the toilet!! I called the doctor's office and left a message with the nurse that again, he had poop trained another child with his serious talk in the office! Praise God! I told Mary we could now pierce her ears. She was so proud and amazed at how easy it was. The next couple of hours she would say sporadically, "Guess what, Mom! I pooped in the toilet!"

I can't believe it. Finally. Both kids potty trained. Now if I can keep her dry at night.

"I'll Get You Moving!"

The title of my blog cracks me up because it is actually a slogan of a Real Estate Agent in our area. She has this pasted on every billboard advertising her services. Whenever I see it, all I can think of is BM's. You know...bowel movements? Is this just me? Does everyone look at that slogan and think the same thing? Is she our enema in the world of real estate? Of course, our family has often been accused of turning every conversation into one about the bowels. I don't know how it happens, but it takes someone outside of the family to make us aware of it, because we are so used to it, we aren't even aware it's happening. So this may explain why I look at this billboard this way. And you have to admit, the topic of this blog somehow gravitates to poop more than I would expect. I really don't want it to. Can you think of a lower form of existence than poop?

The above paragraph I wrote a couple of days ago. I don't remember where I was going with it...I know that Mary was constipated and I had to give her a suppository and now everything is operating correctly. So I'm just going to post this and pretend it was a full blog.

Loving the Outdoors!!

I'm loving this weather! This weekend Abby played her last two soccer games. The season was delayed because of rain, but it was worth waiting for the good weather. We celebrated Ben's 5th birthday on Sunday by going to Pizza Street and opening his gifts. He got a "new" bike (hand me down from Sam...with added training wheels), and a new race car Wii game. Lately, we've been enjoying the outoors whenever we can. Ben really enjoys playing wiffleball and has me pitch to him. And he loves his new bike! We are a corner house on a court, so we have the perfect street to practice bike riding (on the court side). I can tell Mary wants one now, too. Those tricycles were never popular with them. As soon as Ben got his bike, she said she wanted one, too....a Hello Kitty one. I'm thinking Abby's old bike will do. We'll see how it looks.

The only shadow cast on the past couple of days was Mary's constipation! She wanted to be held a lot and complained constantly. At Abby's last soccer game, I consulted the mom's and one was a nurse and suggested a suppository or enema. I tried a suppository on Mary last night and finally, with much pain, it came out! She refused to poop until this suppository and then she just didn't have a choice. This morning I had to do it again and since she refused to wear a pull up, I caught the poop with my wipe lined hands! What we do for our children! I think when we've gone to heaven and God shows us our life, He'll say to her, "And this is what she did for you here, and then she put up with this and look-she caught your poop here!"

It was all worth her glee when that devil was out! Does this remind you of another time in my life? It's all about poop I tell you.