Let's Talk Tact!

Ever since Little Man was born people around here seem to have forgotten when to shut shut their trap.

I know my mother always told me if you don't have anything nice to say, DON'T say anything at all.

See, when Little Man was born, he was born with a birthmark...not your normal birthmark...this one takes up the right side of his face. It is known as a port-wine stain.

As he gets older it will likely darken and raise off his skin slightly. We have been through the debate on whether we get it removed or teach him to love and adore it as much as we do.

As of now we have decided we will teach him to love it and love himself as much as we do. Unless it starts to cause medical issues of course. He is a happy, relatively healthy baby boy.

But some things I have heard out of people's mouths have blown my mind! So let me clear some things up...

*No, I did not burn my kid with a flat iron, it is a birthmark.

*No, I am not going to burn my child's face with a cigar to 'see if it clears up' just because you claim it worked for your son.

*No, mommy and daddy did not let him fall down and go boom.

Those are just a few things I have heard. Now, I know a lot of people have no experience with this type of birthmark, but you just don't say those things in front of a child.

What if he was old enough to GET it? Those words hurt.

I thank God every day for Little Miss too because when someone says something about her "Bubbie" she jumps in and says "It is his love mark. My bubbie is perfect, just like me and you."

I am going to work on making a page about port-wine stains simply because there is so much that goes along with it. We have had more MRI's, CT's, Ophthalmology appointments, Dermatology appointments, EEG's.

Little Man's first year was a big question...if he was healthy, if we would spend the next 10 years in and out of surgery's and therapy. But we have a clean bill of health. They have to run a few more tests at age 2 but for now, he is perfect.

Adult Assembly Required

Christmas and birthdays make my skin crawl because of those three little words.

This past Christmas Santa spent 7 hours doing adult assembly. Then The Man and myself spent ANOTHER 5 hours finishing what was under the tree.

Little Man's Birthday was 2 hours of adult assembly. And so far for Little Misses birthday we have spent 3 hours.

When we see those words in this house we don't only see "Adult Assembly Required." We see...."this will contain a million small pieces that are labeled wrong, You will be short a few screws (literally and figuratively). You will combine curse words you never thought would go together. You will likely thow a screw driver, maybe even the product being assebled. You need to go get a box of hair dye to cover the gray's you will get from trying to figure out what the instructions REALLY mean. And most of all we see....grab a beer, this is going to suck."

But we do it all in love, for those two little bundes of joy. So they can laugh, play, climb, spill food, and ultimeltly destroy it!!

So, if you see those three little words on a box and are thinking the kids would just love that. Think again, because mom and dad are done with them. For a long, long time.

Happy Belated Mother's Day

Since this house was sheer chaos yesterday I didn't get the chance to say Happy Mother's Day! So here I am a day late saying I hope everyone had a WONDERFUL day.

I for one spent the day with my 2 kids who were so well behaved I questioned if they were mine....and The Man, who HAND WASHED dishes, dried them, and put them up. It was all a little surreal.

But since The Man only had a one day weekend thanks to the Air Force we still had stuff that had to get done.

I learned just how full of hot air I was when I blew up the kids "pool" which we turned into a sandbox/ball pit. And The Man had to do some serious Adult Assembly Required (there will be another post of this VERY soon). But after 5 hours, 300 pounds of sands, 350 plastic balls, 28 decal stickers, and more curse words you could EVER imagine the kids birthday stuff has been assembled...at least the stuff we have gotten so far...

And to see them THIS happy...was worth every second.

Pre Deployment Woes.

There is nothing fun about preparing for a deployment. I am learning this very quickly as we get closer and closer to enduring our first.

The tensions are high, we are both very quick to anger, and the worst part...Little Miss realizes something isn't right.

As The Man starts organizing his stuff Little Miss starts putting it back were it goes.

She has endured 2 TDYs in the last 90 days...one of them lasting 40 days...so she knows she hates when The Man has to leave.

My heart breaks right now. She is such a daddy's girl. And for 6 months she will have to only hear his recorded voice, maybe a phone call if she's awake, and talk to her daddy doll.

Little Man seems to get something is up too. He may only be 1 but for the past 3 days he hasn't left The Man's side.

I know kids are resilient, I do...but it doesn't make it any easier for me to watch my babies hearts shatter as daddy has to leave.

And of course The Man and I both have our own troubles. I still haven't processed the deployment...and don't want to. He and I are both list people. The typical conversation is "Ok, what appointments do you have today and what is still left?" "I need to make sure this, this, this, and that are done before I leave."

I think we are just trying to keep things normal.

Normal is easier.

But for 6 months I will miss seeing this.

But with technology today, and the wonders of Skype, hopefully this deployment will be easier than I am planning for.

You can kiss your family and friends good-bye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you.  ~Frederick Buechner

Dear So and So....The FIRST Edition

Dear Air Force,
You do an amazing job at screwing up every plan I seem to make. It's a good thing I have my big girl panties on.

Yours truly, The Dirty Mistress

~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Little Miss,
I hate to tell you, but Little Man out smarted you. He has figured that when you run in circles yelling "nananabooboo you can't get me" that he can sit in the middle of the floor and trip you each time around. And I hate to tell ya....but it is kinda funny!

Yours forever, The giggling mommy.

~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Little Man,
When mommy says "No" that's what I mean. Not "Hey Little Man, look at me like I'm crazy, laugh, and go right back to it..." We gotta work on your listening skills....your turning into your dad a little early.

Love, Mrs. Repeat

~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Readers,

Go visit 3 Bedroom Bungalow. She always has something funny and witty to say!

Always, Amanda