October List

Some things Zeke and I like at the moment:

1. fresh apples dipped in crunchy peanut butter
2. seeing Petey the neighbor horse at the corner everyday. He loves the fall weather - NO FLIES to bother him!
3. this new pink colored Dove soap that smells soooo yummy
4. staying up late when the Phillies are on...even though we're bandwagon fans.
5. our parakeet's obsession with our chihuahuas
6. my lemon tree. even though he's been moved indoors, he's thriving.
7. all of the awesome candy choices in the Halloweenie aisles!


Some things that really stink:

1. the H1N1 flu mania
2. the fact that it seems to rain every single weekend
3. the fact that the wind blows down our super-awesome spooky Halloween decorations outside
4. dry skin
5. everyone seems to be getting sick

And finally, one thing that strikes me as really odd:

1. Zeke continues to stand on his head. A lot. And everywhere. At home, at school, at the park, in the playground, even at the doctor's office. It's just strange. What's even stranger is the fact that I'm the one who ends up with the headache.

I think you've got something in your teeth. Oh, nevermind, it's just a swing.

Things must have been getting too quiet around here. Craziness came a knockin' on Thursday as I drove to pick up Zeke at school. My celly rang and it was his teacher informing me that there was an accident on the playground and Zeke's mouth intercepted a swing. He was crying and only wanted to talk to me about it. I was only 5 minutes away at that point, but factoring in the "mommy lead foot" effect, I made it to school before the song playing on my iPod was over. I ran in and grabbed my little guy while simultaneously doing a once over...ok, ok, all fingers, toes, limbs, eyes and head in place...but then I noticed all of the blood on his sweatshirt. In my world it was bad. I told the teachers I could handle it from there and whisked him away in my car. Now, as my good old friend Weezie will tell you, I am NOT GOOD in emergencies. I freeze up. I choke. I panic. As I drove with my injured kiddo in the back, I wondered silently...where am I going??? Hospital? To my mom's? To Pauly's office? To the park so I can pretend that none of this happened??? As it turned out, I drove home, pulled Zeke out of the car and surveyed the damages a bit more closely. No cuts on the face, no bruising. I lifted his top lip and OH MY GOD...THE GAPING BLOODY HOLE was staring at me. His inner, upper lip was completely torn up and his top front tooth was bloody. My heart stopped and my mind went blank. I handed Zeke his school bag and told him to go inside for a minute. He was still crying a little bit and simply asked me "but what about my bent tooth?" Ummmm, yeah, what about it, I wondered. I stared into my cell phone for a minute and realized I had to GET MY SHIZZLE TOGETHER. Like now. Then it happened. I snapped into full-scale trauma mode and went into overdrive. I ran in and started treating the cut lip and "bent tooth" with one hand and dialed the doctor and dentist with the other. The doctor told me the cut would heal on it's own - no matter how grotesque looking it was. We had to ride it out. The tooth was a different animal tho. The dentist told me to get to the office - STAT. Two x-rays later and it was revealed that Zeke's front tooth had been hit so hard that the roots were fractured up above the gum line. There is no treatment for this type of trauma other than tooth extraction. I left there with a copy of the x-rays, a script for an antibiotic, and a referral for the oral surgeon. The next day, 8 am sharp, we were in the oral surgeon's office awaiting the extraction. By 10:30, my little baby boy was out of surgery and minus a front tooth while I was PLUS a migraine the size of the Ukraine. It was time to go home, pull the blinds, and snuggle up for the day as we both recovered.

This saga has been nuts. It has given me a serious look at how a sick kid can devastate your soul and make you rethink all that is important in your world. Zeke's mouth is healing and his swollen lip is receding. Soon all he'll be left with is a gap in the front of his mouth that I'll somehow find super-cute. I'm just thankful that a toothless smile is the biggest problem this has led us to...for that, I'm eternally thankful. Well, that, and the fact that school pictures were taken on Monday - 3 days before that smile got ransacked...

Small time and liking it.

Today has me thinking. Like "deep thinking" thinking. It all started when Zeke attended a gymnastics class with his friend Kyle. Kyle's gym had "Bring a Friend Day" and Zeke was invited to check it out with Kyle. Zeke was nervous at first and even shed a few tears when he realized I wouldn't be in the gym with him, but after he saw how much fun it was, he warmed right up to it. After the class was over, his teacher raved on and on to me about Zeke's athletic skills and how he could quite possibly hang with the older kids in the 6 to 10 year-olds. Now, I know she meant this as a complement, but it just spoke volumes to me about life in general. Everyone is in a rush. A rush to get somewhere, a rush to get ahead, a rush to MAKE IT. And here it is, starting in a preschooler's gymnastics class! Zeke wasn't bored in the 3 & 4 year-old class. He was smiling and running and generally having a great time. He never once said to me that he'd like to move on to something more difficult or challenging or older. In fact, he seemed to actually enjoy just PLAYING...with no huge competition. Just innocent play. It made me think about all the pressure that will be resting on my boy's shoulders someday. And it made me realize that that pressure isn't going to start now in a gymnastics class. For now, he's going to run around with 3 and 4 year-olds. And he's not going to have to excel physically or athletically to impress me. And most of all, he's going to laugh like he means it.

Retro wheels.

It seems that I've caused quite a stir for replacing my old car with the SAME EXACT make, model, and color car. I'm a little surprised and flattered by this. I didn't know people cared so much about what I drove. Here's the deal: I searched around for about 3 months for the perfect car for my needs. I drove a few, scouted out a few, and googled a few. Nothing seemed to fit. Some were too big, some were too small, and some were just plain too fancy. Pauly doesn't do fancy. Nancy does fancy. But Pauly reigns me in. Soooo sad. But, he's right...it's crazy to spend $60K on a CAR. So, after some thought, I realized...I like what I have but I just needed it updated. So that's what we did. The dealer added in a few extra bells & whistles and poof! I have my "old" car sitting in my driveway...but it's new. And I'm ok with that.