Stating the Obvious

So, I knew it was coming sooner or later, but I had to have the "fat" conversation with Brody. We were at Target and there was a very obese lady and so, of course, Brody comments on how fat she is. Well, I proceed to tell him that it is not nice to call someone fat. He then says - like any 3 year old would - "But, she is fat, mom." I tell him that I realize this but it is still not nice to comment on how big other people may be. He goes on the tell me, "Just look at her tummy, it is so big...." Ok, so I realize I am fighting a losing battle and decide to continue this "lesson" another time....Hopefully, in the privacy of our own home and not when he shouts out that someone has a huge tummy or even worse, a huge booty (cause we all know that is a favorite word of most normal 3 year olds)!!!

So, I was trying to get ready in my bathroom this morning and I kept getting really frustrated....all because of a really cute (but really curious) one year old. That's right, Kassidy was getting into everything!! First, it was the toliet bowl cleaner brush thingie....she kept grabbing it, then I would yell, "No, that is yucky!" I would proceed to do what all the experts tell me to do - remove her from the situation & distract her BUT she would go right back to the toliet brush and we would start back at square one. I always knew those so called experts did not have a clue :) :)

Then, she moved on to the trash can. She dumped the whole thing out on the floor before I could get to her. Once again, I informed her how disgusting that was and politely asked her to please leave everything that she is not supposed to mess with alone! Well, that approach did not work either. Because she simply moved onto the cabinets. She pulled out all my hand soaps and then starting throwing random stuff on the floor. By this point I found myself raising my voice and getting really flustered. Finally, when she grabbed my hot flat iron and threw it on the floor, I decided I was done getting ready (no matter what I looked like) and we got out of there.

What is funny about this whole scenario is that it was only like 5 minutes from start to finish. She came into that bathroom like a raging tornado and left the same kind of destruction that a tornado would leave. But she is so cute and so much fun right now. I love my Curious Little Kassidy!!

Food for thought

I was watching a little promo for the upcoming season of Dr. Phil and there was a segment that totally caught my attention. They are going to do a show about a typical "soccer mom" who left her kids in the car for a couple minutes while she ran into a store. She says she could see the vehicle the whole time and she was constantly checking to make sure the kids were fine. But, when she came out of the store, there was a cop car behind her vehicle and the police officer proceeded to arrest her for child endangerment. I was stunned by the fact that they arrested her...but let me give you a little background as to why I am stunned.

A couple years ago, I was parking my car at Walmart and I looked at the vehicle beside me, and there was a toddler sound asleep in his car seat - no parents anywhere in sight. So, of course I was shocked and scared for the little boy so I proceeded to yell at some lady walking in the parking lot and I asked her if she would go get a manager or call the police or something (I did not own a cell phone at this point) while I waited with the little boy. Well, the manager came out and said they were paging the mom over the intercom system - meanwhile, a fire truck had pulled up and they were using some device to check the temp inside the car (it was locked and thankfully she left the air running). Anyway, she eventually came outside and they did absolutely nothing to her - not even a slap on the wrist. She got in her car and left - end of story. I was shocked and angry that nothing was done to her....I mean, she was shopping in Walmart while her kid was left alone in a vehicle in that huge Walmart parking lot. What in the world could she have possibly been thinking??

So, I am now very curious as to what the actual law is about leaving your child in the car...I doubt there is one of us that can say we have never ever left our kids in the car - even for a few seconds while we drop something off at the Post Office or the Dry Cleaners and yes, most of us would only do it if the vehicle is in our sight and we can keep an eye on the kids....But, this lady was arrested and they considered taking her kids away from her - can you imagine?? It is definitely food for thought....believe me, I will think twice before I ever even consider leaving my kids in the car, even if it is just for a minute or two!!

You will get fat, boy!!!

Micah is my oldest child...he is such an awesome boy - so obedient, smart, and caring. We have been dealing with some "health" issues with the last few weeks. He has pretty bad asthma and we also just realized that he is way too skinny and not gaining much at all. So, when we went to his asthma doc a few weeks ago, he saw where Micah had not gained at all in the past 8 months and he had actually lost 1/2 pound. This seemed to concern the doc and he told me to come back in 2 weeks for some tests and we would talk about sending him to a specialist about his weight.

Well, taking him to a specialist for some random, invasive testing was my LAST resort so I decided to fatten that boy up myself! (First, as you can tell from the above pic, I had to tell him to quit working out so much - no more of that intense weight training boy!!) We decided to make him eat as much as possible for the 2 weeks while we waited to return to the doc for a recheck. His Grammy bought him a blender so that we could make him eat a milkshake every night....he thought that was awesome. I decided to start taking him a hot lunch and drop it off so that he would get more calories during the day. And we basically let him eat whatever, whenever for 2 weeks straight.

Well, I am proud to announce that it worked. He gained 3 pounds in that 2 week period. That is an awesome accomplishment for him...that is more than he had gained in the last year. At least now, I think he registers on the growth chart (probably 5% percentile, but he's on it now!!) We go back in 6 weeks for another check and so we are still going to stuff his face and hopefully we will at least maintain the weight, if not gain an additional pound or two. Micah thinks all these snacks and drinks are cool - I mean, can you imagine if you were actually obsessed with gaining more weight instead of trying so hard to lose it?? Just imagine - all the shakes, brownies, chips, sodas....without an ounce of guilt....ah, to live in that perfect world :) :) :) :)

We're In!!

Yay!! Calling everyday (sometimes twice a day) paid off...we get to go to Chef Mickeys. I found out last night so I went in the kids room to tell them the good news. They were super excited. Micah started singing in his "opera" voice and Kenzie jumped up to hug me. She said I was the best mom ever and then she made the funniest statement....she said, "Mom, I have never been prouder of you!" And Brody just jumped up and down on the bed. Being able to share that good news with them put a huge smile on my face....there is nothing better than knowing that you just brought some serious joy to your kids. I love being a mom!!!!

What, no Chef Mickeys???

Ok, so I am so frustrated right now. No, it is not because one of my kids is being naughty and No, it is not because Matt is being a bad husband.....it is because I cannot get reservations at Chef Mickeys!! I know this may sound trivial to you non-Disney Loving people, but to a true Disney addict, this is very heart wrenching news. This is the most awesome character meal they offer at WDW...you get to meet all the A-listers (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Pluto, Goofy...)

I have just been wasting my time and not really been too worried about calling...simply because for our last Disney trip, I called like 2 weeks before we left and they had 3 or 4 openings. Not the case this trip - and I learned my lesson the hard way. I have 4 kids (well, really only 3 that care) the are REALLY excited about going back to Chef Mickey's this year (just look how excited they are in the above pics) and I have to tell them that their mommy is a total loser and did not call soon enough so now we can't go. Although there is a tiny, weenie, itty-bitty light at the end of the tunnel....the lady said to call back every day until we leave for Orlando and ask about any cancellations. So, I will be calling every morning and every evening between now and October 4th. I went ahead and made reservations for a character breakfast at Cape May Cafe (any ever been there?) but sadly there will be no Mickey and no Donald (my kiddos favorites)....You better believe I will be cancelling that reservation if I can get my foot in the door at Chef Mickeys!! You Disney Lovers send some Positive Mickey vibes my way!!!

Gotta love Brody-man!!!

Well, Brody has been in rare form this week. He has not been "bad" just a little crazy....he is definitely starting to test boundaries and he is totally into trying to make me laugh by saying totally random things and doing totally strange things!! Let me just list a few of his "memorable" moments from the past few days:

1. He called me a "heartless woman" and a "ranting" mom....these two phrases are from The Suite Life of Zach and Cody - may be time to cut back on that show (at least for the B-man)

2. He put a whole roll of toilet paper in the toilet and then dug it out and set the gross, disgusting, soggy, mess back on the bathroom counter.....EWWWWW!!

3. He decided that he had to go pee-pee and he could not wait so he peed all over the floor in The Gamestop store at the mall....what is funny about this situation, is that he was with Matt and let's just say Matt was TOTALLY embarrassed. He said he kept saying "Stop peeing Brody...stop it, now"...of course, Brody just let it keep flowing and flowing and flowing. Matt said he REALLY had to pee-pee and he must not have gone all day!!

4. He is into drawing all over his body - The other day I was putting him in his seat and he was hiding a pen and so I took it from him and sat it down (apparently not far enough away from him) because when I got to the store, he was covered in black pen (arms, legs, maybe even a little facial art). I am thinking that kid will definitely have a tatoo at some point in his life.

5. He is now into helping us with our discipline - Like if you point at him when you are angry, he will tell you that you should not point or if you spank him, he will say it is not nice to hit people. My favorite was when he and Matt were arguing over something and Matt said "You do not argue with your dad!" and Brody responded, "Well, you are arguing with me!" And you know Matt just loved that response....let's just say Matt and Brody have been "bonding" a lot this week!!