Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Today's Lunch

Admittedly it's been a while since I've been to the grocery store. Part of the reason is that I've been too busy and the other part was that I spent our budget on groceries about halfway through the month and I'm stalling to get to May. _sigh_

So, today for lunch I had a piece of toast, half a leftover avocado smeared on top, with a breakfast sausage on top of that.
Delicious. Ok, really it wasn't as bad as it sounds.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that I had a naked 18 month old baby (naked b/c he has a really bad diaper rash) standing on my lap through the entire thing.

Doesn't make that even more appetizing?

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Yes, My Boys Are Wearing Pink.


Since I don't have any daughters to dress up for Easter, I decided to dress up my boys.

In matching pink shirts.

It's not a crime, at least not one punishable by law.

I couldn't get a good shot of them on Easter Sunday, so I took this at my sister Cami's open house on Sunday. (I spent all week working on getting a black dry erase marker stain out of Asher's shirt. I was successful)

Anyway, the pink looks good on my boys, especially the blonde ones. I hope pink stays in for boys for a long time.

The photos below are what happens when I ask Jaxon and Asher to hug Finn. As you can see, some hugs are more successful than others.





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Monday, April 20, 2009

Breaking the News

Despite repeated attempts to find the mice this morning, Jaxon managed to get to school without finding the empty cage.

I worried all day, but many of your comments helped me feel confident in my plans to explain to Jaxon how I killed not one pet, but all nine of his pet mice. (*I keep reminding myself that people intentionally kill mice all the time).

Luckily, the babies were asleep when Jaxon came home from school. I sat him down with a juicebox and told him I had some bad news.

"The mice were outside all day and I found them dead after the party last night. It was too hot for them to live."

Then I told him that they were in heaven as a family and that it was okay for him to be sad. I reminded him of the glove/hand lesson about bodies/spirits.

He was sad, for about a minute. I helped him do some deep breathing.

Then he asked, "Where are their bodies?"

So, I told him the truth. "Their skin and fur starts to break apart, it's called decomposing, and it smells bad, so I threw them in the garbage." He seemed satisfied with that answer. I think a funeral would have been overkill (pun intended).

As Nate suggested, I asked him if he was sad because he worried about their being in pain when they died, or that he missed his pets. He said, "I'm sad they're dead."
Yep, that's how a 6 year old thinks.

A few more tears and deep breaths and I brought up the idea of a new pet.

Suddenly, Jaxon jumps up with a smile and says, "I want a hamster!"

That was the end of mourning for the mice.

It couldn't have gone any better if I'd planned it. I don't know what I was so worried about. He was waaaay more traumatized when the mouse was crushed by the wheel and spasming and convulsing in the cage. This was cake compared to that.

Thanks again to everybody for your helpful suggestions. I'm sorry that so many of you were traumatized by pet deaths. Perhaps this will be a good reference when you go through this in the future with your kids . . .


Last thought. I can't find any photos I took of the mice. How sad. I take photos all the time. I can't believe I didn't take photos of them.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Mouse Update: Please Respond

First the good news.

Our White Mouse (Sammy, the one revived by the vet) had 9 baby mice exactly 8 days ago.

Mark and the children have been very excited about it. The mother would occasionally take her day-0ld babies out of the nest and leave them around the cage (remember, she had brain damage). Mark would warm up a spoon and scoop them back into the nest.

Both parents have been kindly taking care of the mice babies and Jaxon is counting down the days until he can hold them. He shows them to everyone who comes over and talks about them constantly.

So, all our research suggests we not clean the cage for a few weeks or the mice parents could EAT their babies.
Thus, the smelly cage has not been cleaned for 2 weeks (nearly a week before she had the babies).

And, this morning I couldn't handle the smell in the boys' room, so I put the cage out on the back porch.
Mark had just hopped on a plane to NYC for a business trip, and the boys and I spent the day at my parents' house preparing for my sister's wedding open house. It went really well, except it was so hot today, nearly 95.

When I got back tonight at 8:30, I put the kids to bed then remembered to check on the mice.

They looked odd. All asleep, and rather oddly stiff.

Yes, they were dead.

DEAD!

Seven babies (two had died the first day or two) and the mom and dad.

I freaked out and called a friend over as a reinforcement. She watched as I cleaned out the cage, yes, I did accidentally drop one of the babies on the floor. It was really quite traumatic.

And, I'm so glad Jaxon can't read and doesn't know we have a blog.

So, I did talk to Mark briefly, and he sounds really upset with me. We discussed telling the children the truth, but I'd really rather tell them that I left the lid open and the mice escaped. Jaxon was already in tears tonight because he lost one of his new Bakugons at the open house (oh, and I was telling him about the Secret Garden, which we listened to on the way home). He sniffled himself to sleep.

This will break his heart and I have no idea what to do.
My BFF Leslie suggested that I not tell him before school, so I cleverly hid the cage in the garage, well in the van to be precise, because he might go in the garage in the morning.

Some suggestions I've heard:
Buy a new pet before he gets home: a puppy, a turtle, etc.
Make a funeral treat to take the edge off the bad news.

Any other ideas? What should I do?
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Friday, April 17, 2009

Embarassing Personal Confession #4

This morning my friend, Teresa, and I went out with our kids.

She jogged and I roller bladed while we both pushed our kids in strollers.

I didn't have to slow down AT ALL. We were the same speed. Yep. Me, with wheels, and her with just her feet.

_sigh_

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Is That So, Jaxon?

Costume Comic

After school on Monday:

Jaxon: "Vincent and Zander told me the Easter Bunny isn't real. It's just a costume."

Me: "Oh, really? What did you say?"

Jaxon: Pointing to a picture he's colored of the Easter Bunny (in it's regular bunny fur).
"They're wrong, Mom. See, there's no costume on the Easter Bunny."

Swordfish Story
Today Jaxon wore a new shirt that was bright green with tiny embroidered swordfish.

Me: "Did anybody say anything about your new shirt, Jaxon?"

Jaxon: "Mr. West liked it, but River made fun of it."

Me: "What did River say?"

Jaxon: in a mock taunting voice "Swordfish? I thought nobody had a swordfish on their shirt."

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Deep Thought (though slightly depressing)


I was looking for a photo of me with red hair (October 2004, anyone?) and I came across this.
Jaxon and Baby Asher playing on the couch in early 2006.

I saw this photo and thought, "I loved this! I love being a mom!"

It gives me great hope to know that the dirty diapers and dirty floors, the screaming and fighting, the sleepless nights, and the needs to be held stresses of mothering will someday blend together to a nice fuzzy memory of motherhood.

But, then I remembered a study that shows that children remember more of the bad than the good. For example, some of my strongest childhood memories were about fear or disappoinment (some my parent's fault, and others not).

Thus the irony is that while I drag on day by day in the mire that is motherhood, I will one day have nice fuzzy memories to replace some of the agonizing daily endurances. On the other hand, my children, who live life mostly in ignorant bliss, will have nagging negative memories of childhood (hopefully with a few positive ones).

But perhaps I'm being overdramatic. Maybe there's more of a balance for all of us.
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Friday, April 10, 2009

A Little Perspective

Sometimes all I need to be happy, fulfilled woman is a little perspective.

Take today, for example (it's only half over, mind you).
Jaxon has the day off of school, so I took all the boys to the gym with me. On the way home we stopped and played at the park.

The weather was perfect 75 and a beautiful breeze. All 4 of us piled on the teeter-totter, and we giggled and played for a long time. Then the boys discovered the tire swing and I put all three of my boys (conicidentally wearing red shirts) on the tire swing and they had so much fun they would not get off. Lastly, we ended up at the twisty slide, making a four-person train (which was very slow, thanks to me).

It's easy during idyllic times like this to recognize what a wonderful life I have and how sweet my boys are. They are just adorable and I love watching them grow.

When we came home, I helped Jaxon and Asher color Easter eggs while practicing my photography. (Thanks, Nate for the recommendation. That book is awesome) Jaxon was absolutely thrilled. He's been talking about Easter eggs for months now.

Then Jaxon started talking about our pregnant mouse (remember the one who went to the ER vet?). He described the other mouse and how he was taking care of his wife because she was going to have babies. It was really sweet. He understands a lot about relationships and caring for creatures.

After getting my sister Cami off to the airport, we returned home to put Ash and Finn down for naps. Only Asher didn't want to go to bed.
So, he screamed and when I picked him up, he hit me with a metal spoon.
On the head.
Hard.
I cried and put him in his room (he was crying, too).

It's all about perspective.

Sometimes achieving good perspective is more difficult than other times.

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

For Heaven's Sake, it's a Mouse!

For those of you who missed this big change in our family, we recently acquired a mouse. (It was a wedding gift to Cami, some kind of inside joke from a friend). Well Cami didn't want the mouse and Jaxon did. So we got Sami, the mouse. Then we bought her a friend (no idea if it's male or female).

Last night, the mouses' wheel overturned on top of Sami, and when I took it off, she started convulsing and writhing. It looked really sad/disgusting. Mark was very upset with me (for ever consenting to allow animals in the house and for placing the cage in a child accessible location) and the kids (for bothering the poor mice). Jaxon was in hysterics because he thought the mouse was dying. He kept reassuring himself, "Her eyes are open, she's alive." It was really sad, but he prayed for the mouse's health that night. (he even prayed twice, to make sure he was clear on what he was asking for). It was really sweet.

Did I mention the new mouse escaped today? Well, I guess Asher let him out. But, we had to chase him around the room for 20 minutes until I finally caught him and put him back. It was really scary for me, I can't imagine how the mouse felt.

Back to the convulsing.
So, after I went to bed Mark took Sami the mouse to an Pet ER. No kidding.
The Vet told Mark it was a girl (we weren't sure before) and that she probably had brain damage, as she leans to the left when she walks. He gave her cortisone shots and some other treatment to the tune of $150.

Mark didn't get home until midnight.

He says that if we have to euthanize her, it will be $50.

Luckily, she's doing better today. She's walking around and has stopped convulsing.

Am I the only one who thinks that taking a mouse to the vet is crazy?

Mark says if we have a pet, we have to take care of it. And if he's going to do it, I guess that's just fine.