Month: December 2020

OMGOOODNESS!!! I tell ya, when I take a moment to myself and entrust that little one to do something I know she can do, it always backfires.

Today, I was settling into my heating pad and bed for a day of do nothing. The kids…sorry…my teenagers, woke up about noon. Thing 2 went downstairs to fix herself some breakfast and I didn’t budge. Why? She knows how to fend for herself. She has done it hundreds of times. After a while, I get a text from the hubby advising me that Thing 2 spilled syrup allllllll…over…the floor! Syrup? For real? #SugarHoneyIceTea

I make my way downstairs slowly. At this point, I am not anxious to see what lies ahead. My child, the syrup delinquent, was sitting at the kitchen table GRUBBING! Like, she made the mess, but she will get to helping clean it up once her stomach has been fed. #HowDareShe #WhoseKidIsThis

Her daddy was wiping up the counters and cabinets. I start cleaning off the kitchen floor mats and then I bust out the mop. At some point, I realized I was the only one cleaning. Where did her daddy go? Wait, where did Thing 2 go? The child went upstairs to get some colored pencils (she had moved on since her belly was full). Her daddy had to fix his lunch so he could get back to work. #IGuessHeGetsAPass

Mopping felt like an eternity. Every time I would mop, Thing 1 would walk over it and say, “Nope, it’s still sticky!” #Really? After a change of the mop pad and Thing 2 pitching in to clean up her mess, the floor was finally clean…but then, I noticed more syrup was drizzled down the front of the cabinets. #SugarHoneyIceTea

I get a new towel and get to work wiping down the cabinets. I asked the syrup delinquent several times…HOWWWWWWW??? Did you drop the entire plate? She has amnesia…great! The OCD in me noticed the cabinets were dirty too…not just syrup, but all of the layers of home cooked meal splatters that came before today. #GREAT #OCD #TimeToDeepClean

I ended up cleaning my island cabinets and most of the lowers around syrup central. I had to take a break, but in the back of my OCD mind I knew I would be back to cleaning the remaining cabinets tomorrow. #SugarHoney…

Next time I will capture a picture…maybe! I really don’t know if I want to document the shenanigans that require manual labor!

One thing I know for sure, there will be a next time! Until then…

Merry Christmas! What a beautiful day to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ with family!

Like Thanksgiving, Christmas didn’t look the way it had in years past, but boy am I still grateful for being able to be here to see another one. Thing 1 woke up first and must’ve pinched my big toe something fierce because I jumped up! #MadButNotMad #ChristmasPass We proceeded to try and wake Thing 2 and she wasn’t having it. She put them covers back over her face as if to say, Santa can wait! Eventually, of course, she came around and we carried on the tradition of the girls coming down together while we video taped their journey. Another tradition stayed the same too, FaceTiming my mom and MIL while the girls opened their gifts.

Thing 1 was on a mission. She was curious what was behind every piece of wrapping paper that had her name on it. Thing 2, however, opened up her gift from her sister and it was like nothing else under the tree was for her. This kid got the animal she needed to complete her animal kingdom…a lion. Not just any lion, I am pretty sure this lion needs to pay rent for the amount of real estate he takes up. But none of that mattered, because the joy Thing 2 had over the latest addition to her zoo was worth it!

After all of the gift opening came a little calm…

After we got ourselves together, we headed over to Nana’s and Papa’s for some socially distanced Christmas love (sort-of). The grandkids blurred the lines a little bit, but we kept things in order. The girls got to watch Nana open her gifts from them and Thing 1 gave her one rule, don’t cry! Yeah…we all know how that turned out! But Nana was so happy for her special gifts from the heart…THE BEST gifts you can give! The bro, SIL, and niecey-pooh came and the kids all opened their gifts from their TTs and Uncles. Even though this gathering wasn’t around a table or family room, there was just as much love, if not more, outside…in the cold…trunk to trunk. #BlessedBeyondBelief

And let me not forget to mention the pie mishap. Sooooooo, I typically bake my brother a sweet potato pie or two each year. This used to be my grandmother’s task, but since she has retired her apron, I stepped up. Thing is, I miiiiight have left said pies in the freezer at home. So, my mom graciously gave up the pies I dropped off to her the night before. Now, I owe my mom 2 pies. #IBetterGetOnThat

Before leaving the Socially Distanced Driveway Christmas Party 2020, I had to document the affair with some quick photos. After this year, I have a better understanding of just how precious life is and how it is not promised minute to minute. Let me document as many moments as I can so I can look back on all of those fond memories we made and cherished.

As we get closer to wrapping up the year, I realize I have a lot of life left to live. I have values to instill, lessons to teach, love to give, love to receive, a stronger foundation to build and quality time to spend. #LordWilling

Thank you Lord for another Christmas…and really…just for another day!

Now that I am finally getting around the house ok (LONG STORY), I happened to check in on the Google Classroom progress for Thing 1. Would you know, this child has SEVERAL missing assignments in Math??? As I look further, CORRECTION, several missing assignments in Math AND ELA! #SayWhatNow When I asked this child how this happened, she said “I don’t know!”

Now I know I can be special, but “I don’t know” isn’t something you want to say to me. I mean, you have a choice…do it…or don’t do it! And I get it, this e-learning business is no joke. Kids are having to rapidly learn stuff just so that curriculums can be met. I get it. I don’t agree with it, but I get it. I have empowered both of my girls to come to me or their teachers (or both) if they are feeling overwhelmed. At least I thought I did. After seeing the amount of work to be done, I had to revisit this.

Thing 1 and I had a good talk about the real reason this work wasn’t done. She recognized that she has so much work to do and it gets overwhelming so quickly she doesn’t have time to send a smoke signal. This is where I come in because the last thing my child will do is battle anything alone! #TheDevilIsALie

My big kid will start using her task notebook I gave her to write down all assignments for the day and their due dates. Then, as the day progresses, she will check off what she has completed. All of this will be done based on assignment priority. If it’s due in 2 days, work on the ones due today first. In addition, she and I will carve out 30 minutes a day to recap what is in the notebook and what is still outstanding. This should help keep both of us on track. I realized I dropped the ball here too…

Backstory…my big one is an overachiever like me. She will spend soooo much time on an assignment because she wants to make sure it is right and the way she wants it. #Perfectionist She has been spending more time online than I’d like, but she gets super upset if I stop her. So, I entertained it. #NoMore She is too young to deal with the stresses that life will more than likely bring her in her career. It is my job now to keep my baby a baby for as long as possible. She will have so much time to be an adult, but not much to be a kid. #Changes

Thing 1 and I will pull a late night tonight and will get up early tomorrow to hammer at it again. All of this as a lesson to her of the importance of giving her smoke signals when necessary. And it’s a lesson to me that my child hasn’t quite mastered the smoke signal and I need to be by her a lot more until she does. I pray these changes work, but if they don’t, we will flex and adapt until they do. #FailFast #TrialAndError

Oh…she’s still grounded for a week! She has told us she was done with her homework far too many days and played Roblox as a result. #AllActionsYieldConsequences

For starters, Happy Friday!

Sooooooooo, people think I exaggerate when I talk about Thing 2. They think, “cut the baby some slack” or “she’s not that bad” or the best one, “leave the baby alone.” Let’s remember she is NOT a baby!

Well, this is what happens when I leave the baby alone in my office…

When I asked the child why she did it her response was, “just to be a prankster!”

Someone come get this child before she learns who the mother of all pranksters is! I have every right mind to tape her into her bottom bunk if it wasn’t for me not wanting to mess up her bed! But…

#ChallengeAcceptedLittleOne

Welp, today we had the follow-up appointment with the Neuro-Oncologist. It went as expected. She explained in detail how tumors are graded and what the pathologists look at to determine the grade. She discussed the reason there is a discrepancy between pathologists on grading 2 vs 3. She also went over the results of the latest MRI. There is no sign of new growth. #PraiseGod No treatment plan was discussed, but she did touch on what treatment could look like in the future. For now, we get on the books with the Neuro-Oncologist from Northwestern. He will provide the second opinion and together, a solid treatment plan will be laid out.

I could still be in my feelings today…rightfully so. But I made a conscience choice to be humbled and grateful for the small wins. The fact that there is no new growth and the brain appears to be healing well tells me God is not finished. #Grateful

For today’s appointment, the entire gang showed up. My dad left work early, my brother darted over right after work, and…y’all know I ain’t got no job…so I headed over a little before the appointment after giving the minions their marching orders since school had ended. #WeShowUp #NoMatterWhat At the end of the appointment, I had to get on my dad for his little comments during the session. See, he was fussing when I asked the doctor if my mom could have a glass of wine. Like, for real, dude? I had to let him know that he can’t be the pot calling the kettle black. His diabetic tail has more sugar in his pantry than the law should allow and yet he wants to get on me and my mom for a glass of wine?!? Sooooooo…needless to say, my bro and I went grocery shopping in their pantry and garage for those sugary foods and beverages that he should not have. Serves him right! Jokes on me, though…I am sure he went right back to Jewel or Instacart to replenish his supply. #ITriedThough #HeBetterGoOnSomewhere

That little incident at the end was just what was needed after such a stressful day. We laughed…we loved. Before we left, we said I love you! There’s been a lot more of that here lately. I guess a life-changing diagnosis will do that to a family. If that wasn’t God who showed up today, though, I don’t know what is. The fact that we were all together in one room with the same agenda, being there for my mom, was EVERYTHING! Together…WE GOT THIS! #FindingPurposeInMyStorm #HeHasUsThereforeWeGotThis

Today my mom got a call from the Neuro-Nurse Practitioner. Results finally came in from the more invasive pathologist. Apparently, both pathology reports conflict with one another. The one thing we know for sure, the tumor is an astrocytoma. What is unknown, if the tumor is a grade 2 or grade 3. The NP recommended we get a second opinion since there are conflicting reports on the grade. Wait…wait…WHAT???

I know this feeling. This is the feeling I felt when I first learned my mom had a mass on her brain. This is the pull a rug from under me feeling. My mom is doing her best at keeping it together, but I…I may need a minute. Just when I felt like closure was getting closer, then this.

I now have a new focus and game plan. I must find a second opinion so that my mom can get the care and support she needs and so deserves. I know there are some lessons in all of this…but I can’t see beyond my nose right now, so Lord, please be patient with me.

A repeat MRI is scheduled for Friday and then a Neuro-Oncologist appointment on Monday. So, there will be some answers soon. I just wish I could fix all of this!

Time to pray! #HeGotMe #CuzIAintGotIt

To say that today was challenging would be an understatement….

I just completed another training course, Certified Scrum Master. It was only a 2 day course this time, which for me, seemed to be much easier than those 3-4 day courses. Boy was I wrong! The same challenges I face with the longer courses didn’t magically go away because it was 2 days. I still had to maneuver through training, 2 kids in e-learning with 1 who seeks out squirrels at every opportunity. Did I mention dinner and family time had to fit into the agenda too? #AuPairPlease

The last 2 nights were spent getting “the squirrel catcher” caught up on her day’s assignments. I would check in with her as much as I could during the day, but she was adamant about being done with what she was supposed to be doing. With no time to trust AND verify, I trusted. Well, jokes on me! She miiiiiiiight have gotten a quarter of her work done by the end of the day.

I tried to do better today. I looked at her Google Classroom on every break and worked to refocus her so that she didn’t have so much to do. #Sigh

Well, lesson learned and grace given!

#ICannotWinThemAll #Squirrel