Mama Drama

So I know in the grand scheme of things this is a very small matter but it is causing me quite a bit of trauma.

The boys will be celebrating their 4th birthday in a little over a month and I thought this would be a good year to have our first birthday party with folks outside of our family, like the kids in their preschool. They attended the birthday party of a classmate in May and both Dylan and Sam have been talking about their birthday party.

Anyway, a colleague at work had a party for her son at a fire station and I thought that sounded like a great idea. In VA the Falls Church Volunteer Fire Department (FCVFD) has a great set up. In their party room they provide each child with a fire helmet and sticker badge, give a tour on the fire station and a fire engine and do a safety demonstration – dream come true huh! All I had to do was send out invitations, get plates, the cakes and party favors and ta da!!

Anyway, I filled out all the paperwork and sent a check to the FCVFD and have left several messages and sent several e-mails, but I hadn’t heard back from anyone. Last night I went back to the site and found out that someone else was confirmed for the day that we had requested. I quickly sent an e-mail to see if the firehouse might be available the day before. So if anyone has an inside track at the Falls Church Volunteer Fire Department (FCVFD) I will personally deliver several slices of birthday cake to you.

If the fire station doesn’t work out I’m taking suggestions.

Hey Mom, No Cavities!

So today was another big day, the first visit to the dentist. Last year during our open enrollment Mark and I decided it was time to sign the boys up for dental coverage. So now with the end of 2006 is fast approaching I thought I’d better find a dentist and set up an appointment.

Our pediatrician gave me the names of several pediatric dentists at the boys’ 3yr check up and although I searched high and low I couldn’t find the list. So I set out on an old fashion search, I sent an e-mail to the moms from the kids’ school and scanned the archives of one of my listservs, DC Urban Moms (and Dads) and found Dr. Leaf (http://www.leafkids.com/offices.php). The office was great, with a PacMac and mini carousel, the kids loved it. When it was time to go in for the check up it wasn’t quite so cheerful. We walked back to the exam area and when Sam saw the chairs he ran from the room and threw himself down on the floor.

Sam was pretty upset so Dylan went first. He sat in my lap and opened his mouth. He was very brave. He even had to have an x-ray of his chipped front tooth. Sam went next and things did not go as smoothly. Although he did open his mouth he cried and struggled throughout the exam. At one point Dylan came up to the chair and said, “Sammy, it’s OK, it doesn’t hurt.” It was very sweet and the dental techs both chuckled.

All in all it was a very good experience. No cavities and we go back in March.

If I thought like Mark I’d have remembered to bring the camera. Oh well, you’ll just have to use your imaginations.

Back again

As you know, I took a fairly lengthy hiatus from blogging. Life just got busy and I’ve discovered I’m not really good at writing the short pithy musings that make many blogs so much fun to read. I just have a tough time figuring out what to say. , I feel like I need to be careful because you never know who reads these things, for example, it’s probably not a good idea to complain a lot about work - not that I have anything to complain about :}. And then once I do get started I find myself editing and rewriting because I don’t want to sound like an idiot.

Oh well, I guess I’ll try not to worry about it too much (kind of like a new year’s resolution). I should be able to post once a week. That doesn’t seem too ambitious.

Here goes…

We had another fun weekend with the boys. Last night I pulled out some glow-in-the-dark skeleton PJ’s that I bought for Halloween and they boys went wild. Dylan and Sam have a hard time saying skeleton and we don’t really correct them because we think they way they say it is pretty cute. Mark stood them under a bright light and then they all ran upstairs to look at themselves in the mirror in our dark bedroon. You've probably seen a photo on Mark's blog.

Blanca asked for the day off tomorrow and I couldn’t have been happier to say yes. Now I get to take the boys to school, pick them up and get a bit of face time with the teachers and the other Moms. I often feel very out of it because I'm so rarely at the school. My plan this year is to to put in more time at the school when ever possible. After I drop the boys off I have to head into the office for a meeting and then gp back out to VA to pick the boys up after school. I haven’t decided what we’ll do in the afternoon but I'm really looking forward to having the afternoon with them.

OK, signing off now. I have to hop in the shower and then Dylan, Sam and I are going to the Mall to try on some Fall/Winter shoes.