A Plea

Tomorrow is J. Hogan's first day back to Mom's Day Out. Please Mr. Weatherman, tell me it won't snow until after 2 p.m. "He" will be VERY upset if school is closed all day tomorrow.

Sincerely,

Dana

A Mom with a Long To-Do List

Who?

My blessings, my inspiration, the keepers of my heart, my smile, my laughter, the apples of my eye, my comics, my world, my rock stars, my love of today, my hope for tomorrow, my answers to prayers, my huggers, my kissers, my silly boys, my sweet men, my team, my family, my fans, my happiness, my loves.

Happy New Year! May 2010 be filled with greatness.

Return of the Mack

I just got Peanut to sleep and since this is the first time in four days I have been more than like two feet from him, I decided I would blog. J. Hogan has been a little under the weather this week and therefore VERY clingy to me. I am little exhausted, but really, I'm okay with it. He will be asking me to drop him off around the corner before I know it.

I thought I would fill you guys in on our week last week. I had not mentioned it on this blog due to my crazy safety OCD and did not want many people knowing we would be out of town. These feelings were only exaggerated since our beautiful cousin Lauren was house/pet sitting for us and I did not want her to be bothered by having to report a break in.

So last Saturday morning, Chris, J. Hogan, and I picked up our good friends Chad, Debra and their six year old daughter and began vacationing... or fleeing some sort of danger. I'm just not sure. Why else would you leave at 3:00 a.m.? But, we had more fun than you can imagine. The kids were awesome and I do believe J. Hogan will forever have a certain kind of love and admiration for that six year old sweetie pie.

I won't go into too many details... right now. I mean I could tell many tales on this blog and I might just continue this for weeks to come. I'll just give you some of the highlights.

First we spent one night in Cocoa Beach, Florida. That evening we gathered the crew and ended up at a place called Fishlips. Hmmm... That was my first thought too. It was great. We ate upstairs on a covered porch and had some wonderful seafood and ice cold beverages and all the while a great band entertained us. It was a lot like college minus the wonderful seafood, oh and I now have a child to chase. So here is the highlight - J. Hogan picked up his first girl. I mean THE BOY PUT THE MOVES ON A LITTLE GIRL AND WON!!! Here is how I think he will remember it -

"It was a cool fall evening at the beach. The band was playing "Brown-Eyed Girl." She was an older woman (a mere two days come to find out). I spotted her from across the room. Her dance moves were irresistible. I casually danced my way to her and once our eyes met, she never wanted me to leave her. Parting was such sorrow, but I will never forget her"

And that is pretty much how it went. I have it on video and thought about posting it, but I need to do some editing first. We all laughed so hard. He is such a mack daddy.

So on Sunday, our 12th wedding anniversary mind you, we hopped on board a cruise to the Bahamas. This is our sixth cruise, but the first for our friends and J. Hogan. Honestly, the week leading up to our trip, I began to panic about taking a 20 month old on a cruise, but I just reminded myself that we love to travel and will not be the "leave the kids at home" kind of parents. Well, not all the time... maybe a few trips a year.

So the verdict - IT WAS AWESOME. Well besides the last night feeling like the boat was going to tip over from the rough seas. No really, I was actually in bed with J. Hogan and I suddenly found myself thanking Jesus Christ that we had a balcony room and asking him to give me the strength to swim through the door and to the surface with Peanut in my arms. Needless to say, the boat was arockin' and not in the good kind of way your mind just went to.

We had a blast. We visited Port Lucaya just outside of Freeport and had the BEST conch salad ever known to man or beast. We then went to Atlantis in Nassau which all I can say about is PURE PERFECTION. Chris and I promised all of the staff and the many pools and water slides that we would be back next year for a long stay. And that is a promise that I am just not comfortable breaking.

Other ship highlights included a great little Halloween party for the kids where J. Hogan won his very first trophy by winning the costume contest that might I add, he was technically not even old enough to be in. But he won - of course, because he is a mack. All in all, it was a great cruise - great cruise, great entertainment, great food, great ports, and most of all - great friends.

So Thursday we got off the ship and headed to the mecca of all happiness. No, I am not talking about the Burberry Store, but that place does make me cry a little every time I visit. There's just so much goodness. No, no... we went to Disney World!!!! We got to the resort around 12noon and tried our best to get the kids to rest - Chad and Debra 1 Reeves 0. Then put on our Halloween costumes and headed to the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. It was magical. I think I actually cried at one point. I mean not every kid gets to trick-or-treat for the first time at Magic Kingdom. I know he won't remember a thing about this trip, but we will, and the memories will be incredible.

If you are not familiar with Mickey's Halloween party, I urge you to go immediately to the website and book your next trip. The best way to describe is it is what you imagine Disney World to be like. They only allow 1/4 of the number of guests into the park during this time and therefore there are no lines. Did you hear that? THERE ARE NO LINES!!! We met tons of characters and walked on almost every ride. Chris and I have been to Disney many times, but never with kids. We were so surprised to find out that J. Hogan could ride almost every ride at Magic Kingdom. He had a ball... and a power nap... then another ball.

We played at Magic Kingdom on Friday too and then headed back to reality on Saturday. BOOOOO (I am using way too many CAPITAL letters in this post). These are just a few photos I thought you would enjoy out of the 393 I took... and I think the Debra took twice as many as I did. I will post more later. They are just that good, and I want to tell you so much more, but "The Mack" just yelled for "Ma-mee". That would be me - proudly me.

Recycling

J. Hogan has decided he is a big boy and will only sit in a regular chair. Unfortunately, that poses a problem when you are less than four feet tall. His booster seat was in the car and I was just too distracted to get it, so I came up with a solution.

It worked and it made me feel good about finding a use for the phonebook.

Speaking of recycling (random lead in), J. Hogan gets the "Earth Friendly" award. We always recycle in our house so it is just a part of his life. So now, you can give him a piece of trash and he will take it to the garbage can and you can give him something like paper and he will take it to the recycling - without prompting. So readers, no excuses for not recycling - even a toddler can do it... and his mom... with a phonebook.

Just a Little Off the Sides

J. Hogan had his first haircut.

I'll give you a moment to stop laughing.

Yes, I know he is the baldest 18 month old ever, but his curls in the back had grown into a mullet and there is one thing my child will never have besides Kool-Aid, and that is a mullet.

So we headed to a little place called Tiki Cuts for Kids and "got his do done." I was shocked at his cooperation. Grant it, he is the most even-keeled toddler known to man, but lately he has been testing the waters. But he was perfect and they even shaved his little neck. Apparently you should start getting him used to it now so that someday his neck doesn't look like a chia pet when he develops a fear of vibrating knives approaching his head. I actually don't see that being a problem though since his dad can't grow a small moustache and I only have to shave my legs once a month.

All bragging aside, here is the final result.

And trust me, he knows he is stylin'. He is sassy and not afraid to show it. Next thing you know he will be wanting Kool Aid.

I Need to Find a Teeny Tiny AA

I have learned so much lately. Don't worry about jumping up to grab a pen and paper. It really is just a bunch of crazy stuff that will probably not enhance your life at all. Well, maybe if you ever find yourself in a plague of locust or a knife fight.

The other night I learned toothpaste and saliva will take blood stains out of clothing. I know what you are thinking - did I actually cut myself while brushing my teeth? Well, no. I was getting ready to put clean sheets on our bed when J. Hogan ran in and thought the sheets were pillows and did a triple lindy into them only to split his upper lip open and lose enough blood that caused me to worry vampires would be knocking on my door.

I will give you a moment to pull yourself together.

Our tragedy ended rather quickly. He is a tough little guy. And when the smoke cleared, or rather when the screaming ended, he was left with a fat upper lip and blood stained clothes. I then began screaming since I realized that my brand new J. Crew tank that I just cut the tags off of, was covered in blood. So I composed myself and did what any red-blooded girl would do and went straight to the Internet. And that is how I learned that saliva and toothpaste would remove blood stains. And yes sports fans, it works... really it works. Technique is not important and therefore I will spare you the gory details.

While on Google I remembered that I also needed to find out how to get rid of a couple of elusive gnats that had setup residency in my home. I am a clean fanatic and I cannot tolerate any unidentified flying objects in my home. To save you time, there many ways to get rid of them that does not involve harmful chemicals - from sucking them into the vacuum cleaner (what!?!?) to trapping them with rotten fruit (gag). I chose a method that seemed to be fairly humane and strangely similar to how Chris and I met - trap them with wine.

The instructions were as follows -
1. Poor approximately 1/2 cup of wine (preferably red) into a bowl.
2. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap.
3. Using a fork, poke holes in plastic wrap.
4. Leave on counter overnight.
5. Dispose of wine and gnats that have lost their life to consumption.

Unlike the spit-toothpaste blood removal of 2009, this did not work and I am fairly upset over the loss of wine. I actually watched a gnat enter the bowl, land and fly out.

Apparently instead of building a trap, I just built them an all-inclusive relaxing vacation spot. I am thinking of setting up a little mariachi band for them tonight. If you can't kill them, at least be a good hostess.

Who Knew

Yesterday was a BIG day in our home. It was J. Hogan's first day of school, or rather Mom's Day Out. Yes, I know that about a year ago, I posted an entry about J. Hogan's first day of school, but this REALLY was his first day of school. And here is how I know - I woke up really early and packed his lunch, I packed his backpack, I put him in the car, I drove him to our church, I walked him inside, I put his things in his cubby hole (adorned with the cutest name tag), I kissed him goodbye, and I left... for 4 1/2 hours... him there... with his teacher... alone. Sure there were other kids, but he's my baby. (sob, sob, sob)

The fact of the matter is, he did great. He hardly knew I was gone. He played on the playground, he made friends, he ate his lunch and he took a nap. I could not believe it when I walked in to pick him up and HE WAS THE ONLY ONE ASLEEP! I'm not bitter, I mean I love the 20 minute naps he will take for me at home.

I don't know if I should be jealous or suspicious.