While I know someday I will miss the intensity with which my son loves me and wants to be with me, last week I was frustrated by it. I was going on an overnight trip to Chicago so I would see him Wednesday morning and pick him up from school Thursday afternoon. He started crying and was worried he wouldn't get to say good-bye. He didn't trust me. We had been going over this scenario for about ten minutes.
There we sit the two of us in the dark - he tucked in his bed after prayers crying and me sitting beside him tickling his back trying to find the words to assure him he would see me in the morning, we would talk Wed night from my hotel, and I would pick him up from school Thursday.
He tried to say something in his crying voice when I was distracted by an odd noise. Rylee sleeps with a humidifier on and I thought it was doing something. I made Zachary be quiet so I could figure out what exactly was the noise.
From Rylee's room we hear PPPBBBPPPPTTTT and PZZZZBSSSST -- Rylee is making raspberry noises or a Z declares "Tooting Noises." She is doing it to entertain herself -- she doesn't know we are listening -- and she is almost making a song out of it.
I try to keep a straight face and turn back to Z to address his concerns and he is trying his darnest not to break out into a full on laugh. He is covering his mouth and giggling. His trying to cover and her harmonic noises makes me giggle and soon Z and I are quietly laughing at the zerbert tune from the other room. All concern has left both of us -- soothed away by my daughter's melody.
I kiss Z on the forehead, tell him I will see him in the morning, and he blows me a kiss and while still chuckling at his little sister, says goodnight.
I smile as I go down the stairs -- I am lucky to have children with so much love and so much musical ability.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eater vol 3
Entry 3 of the blogs that I am cheating to create. I am going to take a complete shortcut to blogging and use my Facebook status’ as prompts for the happenings in the Martin house over the past several months where I was too busy/tired/uncreative to update our journal.
June 18th - Wicked - amazingly cool fantastic!!! Date with my husband - even better!!!
I had an actual date with Chad. Sadly they are few and far between these days. It has also been a long time since I have seen a musical that I did not already know the story so I was giddy watching the plot unfold.
Chad then gave me the book for my birthday -- must say I am glad I saw the play first. I can not say too much since Chad is getting ready to read the book.
June 23rd - Instead of "The End" when we finish a story, Rylee says AMEN. Not sure if this is a comment on my storytelling or on my praying!! :)
July 3rd - 2 minutes into fireworks and Rylee throws the blanket over her head - she did finally remove it to eat ice cream. It was great family fun!!! :)
July 8th - Walking out of daycare this evening Rylee says "Oh no Mommy it's raining! My hair my hair! Mommy my hair!" I may have a princess on my hands.
FINALLY a little blogging on Rylee. She is a sweet girl that is ALL PINK GIRL. She does funny hysterical stuff every day and I miss capturing it here. She and Z are going to look at this and wonder why she is rarely mentioned -- It is because I am lazy honey! Sorry!!
She loves to accessorize with hats, gloves, and necklaces. She would change her shoes every few hours if she could. She knows what she wants to wear. And is quite able to express her like or dislike for an outfit.
One day I had what I consider a super cute outfit all picked out for her (jean capris and a fancy top) and she used this devil voice at me "NO PANTS! NO PANTS!!" I figured she wasn't in the mood for denim so I got my second choice of bottoms out -- khaki capris and she busts out with that same scary guttural devil voice "NO PANTS! NO PANTS!!!" I look at her and ask her not to use that voice and what does she want to wear. She turns her head so her chin is over her shoulder, keeps her head low but looks up, smiles (and I swear she was batting her eyelashes) and says "A dress please."
She uses the word "cute" to describe outfits and must have a bow.
I am proud though -- she does have her "pincess" pull ups but really likes her YeeHaw (Toy Story) pull ups better. Tidbits like this give me confidence that perhaps we will find some common ground through the years!
June 18th - Wicked - amazingly cool fantastic!!! Date with my husband - even better!!!
I had an actual date with Chad. Sadly they are few and far between these days. It has also been a long time since I have seen a musical that I did not already know the story so I was giddy watching the plot unfold.
Chad then gave me the book for my birthday -- must say I am glad I saw the play first. I can not say too much since Chad is getting ready to read the book.
June 23rd - Instead of "The End" when we finish a story, Rylee says AMEN. Not sure if this is a comment on my storytelling or on my praying!! :)
July 3rd - 2 minutes into fireworks and Rylee throws the blanket over her head - she did finally remove it to eat ice cream. It was great family fun!!! :)
July 8th - Walking out of daycare this evening Rylee says "Oh no Mommy it's raining! My hair my hair! Mommy my hair!" I may have a princess on my hands.
FINALLY a little blogging on Rylee. She is a sweet girl that is ALL PINK GIRL. She does funny hysterical stuff every day and I miss capturing it here. She and Z are going to look at this and wonder why she is rarely mentioned -- It is because I am lazy honey! Sorry!!
She loves to accessorize with hats, gloves, and necklaces. She would change her shoes every few hours if she could. She knows what she wants to wear. And is quite able to express her like or dislike for an outfit.
One day I had what I consider a super cute outfit all picked out for her (jean capris and a fancy top) and she used this devil voice at me "NO PANTS! NO PANTS!!" I figured she wasn't in the mood for denim so I got my second choice of bottoms out -- khaki capris and she busts out with that same scary guttural devil voice "NO PANTS! NO PANTS!!!" I look at her and ask her not to use that voice and what does she want to wear. She turns her head so her chin is over her shoulder, keeps her head low but looks up, smiles (and I swear she was batting her eyelashes) and says "A dress please."
She uses the word "cute" to describe outfits and must have a bow.
I am proud though -- she does have her "pincess" pull ups but really likes her YeeHaw (Toy Story) pull ups better. Tidbits like this give me confidence that perhaps we will find some common ground through the years!
Friday, November 12, 2010
I Love You Dad and Thank You
I am very proud of my Father – Lieutenant Colonel James Barry Leonard. He served two tours in Vietnam – 1964/65 and 1967 – and saw things that people should not see. I do not know the true extent of horrors that he saw and he will never tell me. I know a few stories – that the jungle was so thick the leaves of the trees actually intertwined allowing my dad and his soldiers to walk on top of the trees and have hand grenades thrown at them from underneath. Or some times Vietnamese kids would wander into their camp with a bomb attached to them. I have heard nasty stories of rats and leeches and yet I have not even scraped into the really bad stuff. I remember watching Platoon when I was about 14 and bawling to think my dad had seen any of that in real life.
I often wonder what my dad would have been like had he not gone to war. The impact of war on him had to have been profound. In his sleep one time home on leave, my dad threw my uncle’s cat into the Christmas tree when it crawled on him and really hurt the cat. He said in his dream it was a rat. Mom said he still was having nightmares when they were married. But I guess I should not spend too much time thinking about how it changed him. My dad is my dad – in all of his flaws and in all of his goodness and his service in the military made him who he is.
I also recognize how lucky I am. I am very aware of the soldiers that do not come home or come home with wounds that can not be fixed – physical, mental, and emotional.
I recently learned that my dad did not leave the military by choice. It makes a lot of sense for me to hear this now – I could never figure out why he left and my mom said that it was a RIF (reduction in force) and he was essentially laid off. Mom said that dad thrived in the military – the structure, the discipline – was all up his alley. He was successful and respected. He had chosen a career as a military officer and that was taken away from him. In 1973, he went into the reserves and never went back into active duty. I remember his retirement in 1993. He had “served” for 30 years and now knowing it was not his choice to leave I wonder if that retirement moment was bittersweet.
I did spend a little time thinking that had he continued in active duty that I would be full-fledged Army brat. My life would be totally different. I am quite happy with how my life turned out so the selfish part of me says “thanks Dad for taking one for the team – because your dreams did not turn out – mine did!” I suck sometimes.
Every Veteran’s Day I send a note to my dad to say thank you. I thank him often for being a dad but once a year I think him for choosing to be a soldier. It is not a role I could ever take or a job I would ever want. But he volunteered and was good at it. He and the millions in the military service across the years deserve all of my appreciation. I am grateful to all of our military. So this year instead of delving deep into my appreciation I had a little story to include in my note to my dad:
From: Martin, Mary Kate
Sent: Thursday, November 11, 2010 10:28 PM
To: Dad
Subject: Happy Veteran's Day!
Hey Dad -- thank you so much for all you did for me, and the rest of our country. I apologize for the late well wishes -- was in Chicago yesterday and today and just now getting to my email.
I do have to tell a story on your grandson.
After I picked up the kids from school, it started raining. On the days that it is raining, I usually drive to the front of the house to pick up the mail and then drive around to the back to park. Lazy I know but the kids get a kick out of it.
Anyway, I drove around today and of course no mail. I said out loud -- "Oh yeah it is Veteran's day - no mail" and Z asks what is Veteran's day.
I tell him we take time to thank all of the soldiers that protect us and fight for us so we can live the great life we have. He said oh ok. Not sure he understood. So I ask him if he knew Gramps was a soldier and on Veteran's day we thank Gramps too for all he did. Z said wow -- Gramps was a soldier. I said that I had pictures of Gramps in his uniform. And Z made me promise to show him.
So we get inside and so begins the hustle and bustle of being home -- dinner, clean up, homework, etc. In the middle of all of it, Z asks to see pictures of Gramps as a soldier and I only have time to show him two with promises that I will show him more later. He asks lots of questions that I tell him he will have to ask Gramps directly because I can't answer.
We finish our night time routine and it was time for us to head up to bed. As we climb up the stairs, Zachary says to me "Mom, there are some very bad men out there. But I don't want you to worry because Gramps and his Army friends will take care of them."
I could have cried. I loved it -- thought you would want to know.
I really was quite taken with Zachary's words. And in true JBL short - sweet - to the point - no emotion fashion my dad's response was:
From: Dad
Sent: Friday, November 12, 2010 12:58 PM
To: Martin, Mary Kate
Subject: Re: Happy Veteran's Day!
Thanks for telling me of Z's confidence in me and my Army buddies. It is heart warming. See you all soon.
I love my dad - I got his short temper and lack of patience, ability to talk for five hours straight barely needing a breath, and a bit of a self righteous attitude. I also got his work ethic, fantastic memory, and prioritizing my life with God as number one. While my dad is not afraid to say I love you or I am proud -- that is the extend of the detail he will go into. So despite the lack of gushy response to my email, I imagine he was as touched as I was thinking that Zachary feels safer knowing Gramps and his friends take care of all the bad guys.
Thank you Dad and thank you to ALL our military, past and present, for keeping us safe from the bad guys.
I often wonder what my dad would have been like had he not gone to war. The impact of war on him had to have been profound. In his sleep one time home on leave, my dad threw my uncle’s cat into the Christmas tree when it crawled on him and really hurt the cat. He said in his dream it was a rat. Mom said he still was having nightmares when they were married. But I guess I should not spend too much time thinking about how it changed him. My dad is my dad – in all of his flaws and in all of his goodness and his service in the military made him who he is.
I also recognize how lucky I am. I am very aware of the soldiers that do not come home or come home with wounds that can not be fixed – physical, mental, and emotional.
I recently learned that my dad did not leave the military by choice. It makes a lot of sense for me to hear this now – I could never figure out why he left and my mom said that it was a RIF (reduction in force) and he was essentially laid off. Mom said that dad thrived in the military – the structure, the discipline – was all up his alley. He was successful and respected. He had chosen a career as a military officer and that was taken away from him. In 1973, he went into the reserves and never went back into active duty. I remember his retirement in 1993. He had “served” for 30 years and now knowing it was not his choice to leave I wonder if that retirement moment was bittersweet.
I did spend a little time thinking that had he continued in active duty that I would be full-fledged Army brat. My life would be totally different. I am quite happy with how my life turned out so the selfish part of me says “thanks Dad for taking one for the team – because your dreams did not turn out – mine did!” I suck sometimes.
Every Veteran’s Day I send a note to my dad to say thank you. I thank him often for being a dad but once a year I think him for choosing to be a soldier. It is not a role I could ever take or a job I would ever want. But he volunteered and was good at it. He and the millions in the military service across the years deserve all of my appreciation. I am grateful to all of our military. So this year instead of delving deep into my appreciation I had a little story to include in my note to my dad:
From: Martin, Mary Kate
Sent: Thursday, November 11, 2010 10:28 PM
To: Dad
Subject: Happy Veteran's Day!
Hey Dad -- thank you so much for all you did for me, and the rest of our country. I apologize for the late well wishes -- was in Chicago yesterday and today and just now getting to my email.
I do have to tell a story on your grandson.
After I picked up the kids from school, it started raining. On the days that it is raining, I usually drive to the front of the house to pick up the mail and then drive around to the back to park. Lazy I know but the kids get a kick out of it.
Anyway, I drove around today and of course no mail. I said out loud -- "Oh yeah it is Veteran's day - no mail" and Z asks what is Veteran's day.
I tell him we take time to thank all of the soldiers that protect us and fight for us so we can live the great life we have. He said oh ok. Not sure he understood. So I ask him if he knew Gramps was a soldier and on Veteran's day we thank Gramps too for all he did. Z said wow -- Gramps was a soldier. I said that I had pictures of Gramps in his uniform. And Z made me promise to show him.
So we get inside and so begins the hustle and bustle of being home -- dinner, clean up, homework, etc. In the middle of all of it, Z asks to see pictures of Gramps as a soldier and I only have time to show him two with promises that I will show him more later. He asks lots of questions that I tell him he will have to ask Gramps directly because I can't answer.
We finish our night time routine and it was time for us to head up to bed. As we climb up the stairs, Zachary says to me "Mom, there are some very bad men out there. But I don't want you to worry because Gramps and his Army friends will take care of them."
I could have cried. I loved it -- thought you would want to know.
I really was quite taken with Zachary's words. And in true JBL short - sweet - to the point - no emotion fashion my dad's response was:
From: Dad
Sent: Friday, November 12, 2010 12:58 PM
To: Martin, Mary Kate
Subject: Re: Happy Veteran's Day!
Thanks for telling me of Z's confidence in me and my Army buddies. It is heart warming. See you all soon.
I love my dad - I got his short temper and lack of patience, ability to talk for five hours straight barely needing a breath, and a bit of a self righteous attitude. I also got his work ethic, fantastic memory, and prioritizing my life with God as number one. While my dad is not afraid to say I love you or I am proud -- that is the extend of the detail he will go into. So despite the lack of gushy response to my email, I imagine he was as touched as I was thinking that Zachary feels safer knowing Gramps and his friends take care of all the bad guys.
Thank you Dad and thank you to ALL our military, past and present, for keeping us safe from the bad guys.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eater Vol. 2
Entry 2 of the blogs that I am cheating to create. I am going to take a complete shortcut to blogging and use my Facebook status’ as prompts for the happenings in the Martin house over the past several months where I was too busy/tired/uncreative to update our journal.
May 22nd - On Vacation! On Vacation! See you work folks in JUNE!!!
May 28th - my chi flat iron is the most useless waste of packing space when visiting a humid location
We took our first just us family vacation in May. Chad’s company owns a condo in South Padre on the beach so we headed south for the Martin Family Vacation. I have to tell you I was dreading it – not the vacation but the drive down and the drive back. Someone I work with is from Brownsville and she makes the drive all the time – she said it usually takes her about 10 hours going fast with bathroom stops. Add two children with multiple bathroom stops and food stops and get out and let the feeling back in your butt cheeks stops – I thought for sure it would be a 14 hr trip.
Chad in his brilliance said – let’s stop in San Antonio and go to Sea World. After a rocky start, the kids ended up enjoying Sea World. Rylee fell in love with puffins – squealing, shrieking, in love and Z fed dolphins and sea lions and walked away with a stuffed Shamu he named Sparkles.
The kids loved the beach and the pool and we had a great time. The last day Rylee had a fever that kept her down that day – poor girl and Chad and Z went to see the turtles.
We did attempt one “nice” dinner where we all dressed up and went early to avoid the crowd and it was not as smooth as we wanted. The restaurant didn’t have a booster seat so Rylee would constantly stand up and try to jump from chair to chair. Neither kid would eat the fancy fish sticks because they were real fish sticks as opposed to Van de Kamps. Just a gentle reminder of why we don’t do formal dinners as a family.
The drive home we thought we would try to make it to Austin and when we hit Austin we decided to just go home. And we made it in about 10 ½ hours so my friend here at work must be a pokey driver.
As always – vacation is fun but when it is over you are ready for it to be over:
June 1 - Happy Birthday to my wonderful brother Jamey -- I love you! Hopefully this declaration of love and birthday wishes in a very public location will make up for the fact that not only didn't I send you a gift --- you aren't even getting a card. Course you probably find this more embarrassing -- public display of affection and all. Oh well what are big sisters for???!!
Don’t see enough of my brother…love that I am related to someone so cool. There were times growing up I questioned whether both of us would make it to adulthood alive. I was bossy (SHOCKING!) and self righteous and he was ornery and possessed every stereo-typical trait a little brother could have.
Some wicked battles growing up but it all seemed to turn out ok with some good memories to boot. I hope Z and Rylee get to know their uncle and the amazing man that he is.
June 13th - Food for thought from Zachary over dinner -- "I think they should call Earth Texas"
Chad is very proud of his Texas born son. He seems to have a grip on the mentality already.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Cheater Cheater Pumpkin Eater Vol. 1
So begins a series of entries that I am cheating to create. I am going to take a complete shortcut to blogging and use my Facebook status’ as prompts for the happenings in the Martin house over the past several months where I was too busy/tired/uncreative to update our journal.
May 1 - Drama this AM with Z getting four stitches but washed away by the fun lunch with friends!!!
Z mysteriously fell down on the tile entryway and cut his chin open – actually he busted it open. Chad and I had this deal long before children that I would deal with vomit and he will deal with blood. Sadly for Chad, he has had more vomit in his life than he could have expected and fortunately for all of us we have not had any real blood situations up to this point.
I heard the fall (I was upstairs) and Chad was in the kitchen so by the time I got down there Chad already had Z in our bathroom. There was blood and I peeked. It actually looked to me as if the edge of something (I am convinced our staircase) actually punctured his chin.
Kudos to Z for being so very calm despite the nervous parents. No question that he needed to go to the ER and get stitches and he just held that bundle of gauze under his chin.
I stayed at home with Rylee and finished getting ready for our company (we had a play date for lunch that day) and Chad took Z to the hospital. This trip was their second time to go to Centennial so they were old pros at this scenario.
I should let Chad jump in here and give a description but Reader’s Digest version is they had to strap him down and burrito him/mummify him and stitch up his chin. He didn’t cry – brave boy – and he came home with four stitches or whiskers as we called them.
May 1 - Drama this AM with Z getting four stitches but washed away by the fun lunch with friends!!!
Z mysteriously fell down on the tile entryway and cut his chin open – actually he busted it open. Chad and I had this deal long before children that I would deal with vomit and he will deal with blood. Sadly for Chad, he has had more vomit in his life than he could have expected and fortunately for all of us we have not had any real blood situations up to this point.
I heard the fall (I was upstairs) and Chad was in the kitchen so by the time I got down there Chad already had Z in our bathroom. There was blood and I peeked. It actually looked to me as if the edge of something (I am convinced our staircase) actually punctured his chin.
Kudos to Z for being so very calm despite the nervous parents. No question that he needed to go to the ER and get stitches and he just held that bundle of gauze under his chin.
I stayed at home with Rylee and finished getting ready for our company (we had a play date for lunch that day) and Chad took Z to the hospital. This trip was their second time to go to Centennial so they were old pros at this scenario.
I should let Chad jump in here and give a description but Reader’s Digest version is they had to strap him down and burrito him/mummify him and stitch up his chin. He didn’t cry – brave boy – and he came home with four stitches or whiskers as we called them.
By the time our friends showed up a lunch he was over it. Wish I could have recovered from it that fast!
May 9th - After each Cootie piece he wins, Z says quite seriously "Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner." Love that kid!! It is a happy Mother's Day!
I first heard “Winner Winner Chicken Dinner” from a colleague of mine who was in sales – I have never heard it before Chris said it. The statement cracked me up so much I guess I used it with Z. When he said it during our friendly game of Cootie, I posted the above to Facebook specifically for Chris. I was amazed at how many people commented and knew of this goofy saying. You have to admit it is kind of catchy and I bet you’ll say it a few times in your head!
May 16th - I am disturbed by the utter gooey sticky-ness a milk soaked Kix ball has.
How I would LOVE a maid! I am too much of a messy person to have a house with kids – they just compound the issue. I am convinced that Kix Cereal was meant as torture to us non-neat housekeepers!
Rylee is allergic-ish to wheat – she tests on the low reaction scale - so I was buying her corn and oat based cereals and then enters our life Kix and Kix with Berries (meaning Kix with pink colored balls).
When Kix balls get wet they are just like a dollop of glue. They stick to tables, chairs, hands, PJs, floors, etc. Rylee would get up from eating breakfast and her bottom would be covered in these Kix balls like dingleberries.
God forbid you miss one when you are cleaning up (like those folks that are not great housekeepers are inclined to do) and it dries. Depending on the surface the Kix ball has dried to, you may have to get out some serious weaponry to remove it.
Needless to say Chad has asked that I discontinue bringing Kix into our home.
Monday, November 1, 2010
I Stand Corrected
Zachary asks me "Mom do you know who had the very first Thanksgiving?"
I am fully expecting this to have some sort of tie back to Star Wars but I go with Pilgrims.
He said "Yes Mom! That is great -- and who else?"
In my very politically correct way I answer with "Native Americans."
Z shakes his head and sighs. "No Mom -- it was the Wampanoags - they are Indians."
Just schooled by my kindergartner.
PS - I did google it to make sure it wasn't a name from Star Wars!
I am fully expecting this to have some sort of tie back to Star Wars but I go with Pilgrims.
He said "Yes Mom! That is great -- and who else?"
In my very politically correct way I answer with "Native Americans."
Z shakes his head and sighs. "No Mom -- it was the Wampanoags - they are Indians."
Just schooled by my kindergartner.
PS - I did google it to make sure it wasn't a name from Star Wars!
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