AMomTwoBoys

The day came and went, without incident.  WHOO HOO.

I thought I’d share the adventure with you.

With  pictures I took on my iPhone.

~~~~~~~~~~

In the waiting room.  He didn’t sit still:

Until they gave him the “I Don’t Care Medicine”

And within about five minutes, he REALLY didn’t care:

Then we got back to Grandma’s house and he watched cartoons for a bit:

And he drank LOTS of juice:

Then he started to get sleepy:

So I put Food Network on and he fell asleep:

And he slept HARD:

Then he woke up, and since he’d been feeling so well, I broke the rules and gave him food:

He liked it:

Then he played for a bit.  Until he was done for the night:

And that’s the story of Zach’s Strabismus surgery.

The End.

We leave for Zach’s surgery in an hour.  I’m oddly calm.  FOR NOW.

No doubt as we get there and things start to happen I’ll start getting more and more nervous.

And when they take that child away from me?  No doubt…it won’t be pretty.

Thank you for all your love and support.  It means a lot to me.

And to Zach.

Dear Heather,

Today is your birthday.  Which I know you’re aware of.  I know you’ve been dreading this day for 11 1/2 weeks now.  Dreading it not because you’re turning the big 3-0, which is what most people fear, but because your beautiful daughter isn’t here to celebrate it with you.

I wish I could be there with you as you try to celebrate your birthday tonight.  Not because I don’t want to miss out on the “party”.  But because I want you to be surrounded by as many people who love you as possible.  I know that all those people with you won’t make up for the fact that Maddie isn’t there, but it might help hold you up a little bit higher.

Like I said last night, I hope today doesn’t totally suck.  And I know it won’t.  You’ll have moments where you smile, genuinely.  You’ll have moments where you laugh, genuinely.  But in those other moments, know that beyond the people who are with you in person, there are thousands of us who are there in spirit.  We’re all sending you love and wishing you a Happy Birthday.  And missing Maddie with you.

I love you to bits.  Happy Birthday.

xoxo,

Meg

Hi everyone!  I hope you remembered to get your permission slips signed.  We’re taking a field trip to a far away (from me) land called Atlanta to visit the blog of the  funny, talented, loving and wicked cool Anissa.  Sadly for you, I’m guest posting over there.  But click around her site…you’re sure to find love her just as much as I do.

But read my guest post first.  There are high school pictures of ME!  AND, you’ll get a sneak peek of the dress I’m going to wear (with enough liquid courage) to the MamaPop Party at BlogHer!

So, go here.  NOW.  Quickly!  Don’t let go of your travel buddies hand!  Stay in a line!  But go!  GO!  GOOOOOOOOO!

I was never a girly-girl.  In the princess dress, all-things-pink loving kind of way.  I played softball.  I tromped through bogs trying to find tadpoles.

I did play with dolls.  And I, uh, sometimes wore skirts.  But that’s about as far as my girlie ways took me.

I was more often covered in mud than glitter.

And then I had boys.  And when you think of what a textbook boy is, that’s what I got.  They’re obsessed with all things car, truck, train, plane and any form of automobile.  They constantly filthy.  They’re constantly picking their noses (and eating it – EW).  They’re constantly talking, and laughing, about bodily functions.  They pee all over the bathroom.  They LOVE GARBAGE.

So, I never had a chance, or a reason, to embrace girl stuff.  I mean, I owned a few pieces of clothing that were pink or purple, but only because they were cute and that was the only color they had in my size.  Heh.

But lately, things have changed.  I have to STOP myself from buying things in purple.  I scan store windows, racks of clothes and ads for purple tones.  I even bought purple shoes!  PURPLE SHOES!

Okay, so they’re flip flops.  But they’re purple.  And I love them.

Notice the purple toes?  Yeah.

I wear purple tops on a regular basis.

I see purple in random places.

I order online (sorry honey!) purple dresses.

This baby is coming to BlogHer with me!

Long story short, purple has taken on a whole new meaning.

And, even if it’s not purple.

I see this little girl everywhere.

And I will always be purple.  For Maddie.

A simple, heartfelt Happy Father’s Day wish to my husband, my dad, my stepdad, my father-in-law and all you other dads out there.

And of course, an extra big hug to Mike today.  You are an amazing father.  Proof Positive.  xoxo

The Room 704 girls put together a little something special for Mike today.  Head over there to show him you care.

Actually, just the weekend past. But I wanted to sound all existential and shit. Or, you know, whatever.  I really  have no idea what existential really means.  But isn’t that kind of the point?

Anyway, I thought I’d share some pearls of wisdom.

• Being super anal about having your 22 month old in a life vest while on a boat is a good idea.  Taking said life vest OFF of 22 month old while playing on the beach will inevitably lead to him walking off an unseen sand shelf and going under water.  While you’re 15 feet away.



• 22 month olds who walk off a sand shelf are NOT happy about it when you finally pull them out of the water.
• 22 month olds who walk off a sand shelf burp A LOT after swallowing a bunch of lake water.
• 30 year olds whose 22 month old walks off a sand shelf require copious amounts of wine later in the evening to calm their nerves.
• If you get “moisture” damage to your iPhone and have to have it replaced for $199 and you also buy a $50 case that will plug all the holes so that you can prevent any further possible “moisture” damage (breath),  as SOON as you have to take that case off the phone to plug in your extra battery, you will spill beer on the bar table, which will run in a STRAIGHT path directly into your purse, which is on the floor.  You know your purse? The one which holds your new (refurbished?) $199 iPhone.  The new (refurbished?) $199 iPhone WITHOUT the $49.95 OtterBox Defender Series case for iPhone 3G.  The one that would keep all the beer OFF of your phone.
• A purse with beer spilled in it smells just as good two days later as you think it does.
• If you go out drinking with these three girls (see photo below), you will drink A LOT.  And do a shot for the first time in years.



Yours Truly, EmmieJ, Julie and Andrea

• If you plan on going out drinking with those three girls, having your mommy drop you off and pick you up is a GREAT idea.
• When the waitress at Hacienda’s in Old Town Folsom recommends their Carnitas because they’re “really good”, ask her what her other experience with Carnitas is.  Chances are she doesn’t really KNOW what Carnitas should be.  Because, honey, those were NOT good.  At all.
• Also?  Ask her what her definition of “really good” is.

  

  This is me trying to bite through my Carnitas (which I couldn’t do, btw).  EmmieJ has a KNACK for timing.

• The Powerhouse Pub in Old Town Folsom is a cool spot.  But, dudes, charging a $12 cover?  Not cool.  Especially when we just ended up staying next door where we were accosted by a fake Australian guy who claimed to be an ex-cop.  I’m not entirely sure what the lesson is there.  Except that the Powerhouse Pub shouldn’t charge a $12 cover.  Because, EH, whatever.
• Scarlet’s in Old Town Folsom has the largest man that I’ve ever seen employed as a bouncer .  And I’ve stood next to Shaq, so that’s saying a lot.

  AGAIN, EmmieJ with the AWESOME camera skills

• • 

  Julie managed a little better shot.

And finally, the winner of my OtterBox giveaway IS…

The Mommy Tsunami!



And that’s all she wrote.  For now.

***The new (refurbished?) $199 iPhone is fine, thank goodness***

***The Giveaway isn’t necessarily iPhone related, so be sure to look at it before you decide you can’t enter! OtterBox makes cases for many brands of phones.***

I know you’ve all been DYING to know what happened with my iPhone debacle!

I’d love to be able to tell you that I stood firm, told Apple to shove it and switched back to a Blackberry.

But I didn’t.

I paid $199 for a new (refurbished?)  iPhone.  Technically, the business paid $199 for a new (refurbished?) iPhone.  That sounds much better, and my cell phone is a business necessity (because YES, texting my sister, mom and Heather is totally business related, DUH).

I got my new (refurbished?) $199  iPhone and got busy reinstalling ALL OF MY APPS.  Because when your iPhone syncs to iTunes, apparently it doesn’t HOLD your apps for you.  So I spent two hours trying to remember what I’d previously downloaded.  Luckily, it somehow remembers what you’ve previously paid for, so I didn’t have to pay for it all again.  Because that?!  Would NOT have gone over well.  At ALL.

I also ordered a new case for my new (refurbished?) $199 iPhone.  I somehow ran across something about OtterBox, so I went to check it out.  And, DUDE, it looked like it was EXACTLY what I needed.  It came in three parts, and the outer layer has little plugs that cover all the openings.  Therefore, THEORETICALLY, it would be difficult for any “moisture” to reach any senstive areas of my new (refurbished?) $199 iPhone.  So,  I ordered one.

And while I waited patiently for it to arrive, I made CERTAIN that my children didn’t get their grubby hands on my new (refurbished?) $199 iPhone.

And then my Otterbox Defender Series Case for iPhone 3G came.  It took me a little while (10 minutes, probably) to figure out exactly how to get the damn thing apart and then onto my phone.  The drawings weren’t very helpful, but I eventually put my years of schooling to good use  (See mom and dad!  College finally amounted to something!) and figured it out.

And I LOVE IT.

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it.

The case is STURDY.  Not that I go around dropping my phone constantly, but when if I do, I’m confident that my case has will adequately protect it.  And the clip on portion is handy for my purse, since I’m constantly digging through it to find my phone.  Now, I just snap it into the clip and I know just where it is when someone calls me.

And it’s soft.  Like, really soft, which you wouldn’t necessarily expect.  It does add a bit of bulk to the my new (refurbished?)$199 iPhone, but I acutally LIKE that aspect of it.  A little extra junk in the trunk gives me more to hold on to.  And, really, it’s only about 3/4 of an inch thick with the case, which I suppose is significanly thicker than the actual phone, but it’s really not thick in the grand scheme of things.

The only *so far* annoying thing about it is that there’s a strange oil slick type phenomenon that occurs between the screen protector on the case and the screen of my new (refurbished?) $199 iPhone.  I’ve seen a bunch of people on the interwebz suggest ways to get rid of it, but none of them have worked for me yet.  I will keep trying though, and I will prevail.

And honestly, I really only notice it when my new (refurbished?) $199 iPhone screen is completely black.  And who cares then, anyway?

The positives of the OtterBox Defender Case for iPhone 3G far outweigh the one negative, so I’m going to let it slide.

I got the black one, but they have them in a bunch of colors.

Giveaway!!!

The best part?!  I wrote to OtterBox and asked if they’d be willing to offer one of my readers a case, and they agreed!

So, here are the details:

Head over to OtterBox and look at all they have to offer.  They’ve got cases for iPod, iPhone, Samsung, Blackberry, Motorola and Palm, just to name a few. Pick what ONE item would be best for you, up to a $49.95 value, and come back here.  Leave a comment telling me what item you’re choosing, with color choice, if that’s an option.

You can gain one extra entry per day by tweeting about this contest.

You can use this as the tweet:

I just entered the giveaway @AMomTwoBoy’s place.  Win a case to protect your cell phone or PDA!  http://tinyurl.com/mffs66

Leave a comment here with a link to your tweet for it to count as a contest entry.

The rules:

Open to US Resident’s only.  Comments will close at 4pm on Monday, June 15th, 2009, at which point a winner will be chosen by random drawing (using random.org) from all eligible entries.  I will notify the winner by email and will need a shipping address (No PO Boxes) by Wednesday, June 17th.  If I don’t hear from the winner by June 17th, I will choose another winner.

***

OtterBox has also offered a 10% discount code to my readers that will expire on June 22, 2009.  The code is AMomTwoBoysOtter and is case sensitive.  In the interest of truthyness (heh) I should tell you that I purchased* my OtterBox case for my new (refurbished?) $199 iPhone from Amazon for a good price.  However, looking at what they’re offering today, I don’t see any exceptional deals, so the 10% discount is looking like a good bet.  But do your research!  :0)

***

*I paid for my OtterBox Defender Case for iPhone 3G with my very own personal money.  I like it so much, I contacted OtterBox on my own and asked them if they would be willing to offer a case to my readers.  I am in NO WAY being compensated by OtterBox or any PR company for this post.  Capeesh?!

For Maddie

Nonsense.  That’s pretty much what this post is going to end up being.  So there.  You’ve been warned.

• My kids?  WILL NOT SHUT THE EFF UP.  Both of them.  Dylan talks and talks and talks and talks and talks and talks and TALKS.  And talks.  Zach has decided he’s ready to talk.  But he hasn’t figured out the most important part.  WORDS. So he says “Maaaaammmmaaaamamamammmamammamamamaaaa”.  Over and over and over again.
• Like this:

• And as annoying as it can be, and IS, it’s so freaking cute that I can’t help but smile.  Most of the time.
• The new website is AWESOME.  It’s even awesomer than I thought it was going to be.  And let me tell you, I had high hopes.
• Awesomer is totally a word.
• The word that comes to mind when I look out my window today: Lovely
• Said window is open, btw.
• The little boys and I are leaving Thursday to go to Grandmaother’s for the weekend.
• I’m ridiculously excited.
• To see her and Grandpa Dick, of course
• But also?!
• Because I get to hang out with three amazing ladies!
• But before I go to Sactown, I’m going to head down south to spend some time with Heather.
• And then on Sunday, we’re driving straight from Sacramento to Dylan’s cousin’s 5th Birthday Party.
• It’s going to be an incredibly LONG week.
• But it should be fun.
• DJ gets to stay home to work on the bathroom.
• Lucky guy, huh?
• Dylan?  Still talking.
• Don’t forget to vote for Maddie & The Spohrs are Multiplying for Most Inspiring Blog in the Blog Luxe Awards.
• You can vote once per day, so don’t forget to go back.
• There are MANY worthy blogs nominated.
• Check it out.
• I think I may have somehow burnt some of my hair off.
• I don’t remember it happening.
• And NO, I haven’t been so drunk lately as to have been able to burn my hair and not realize it.
• APPARENTLY, I don’t even NEED to be drunk to burn my hair off.
• Remember when I burnt my hair at BlogHer last year?
• Yeah.
• That would be TWO times in one year.
• And I wasn’t drunk either time.
• WTF, MEGHAN?!
• I’ll see if I can get a photo of it.
• Then maybe we’ll have a contest where you can guess what happened to  me.
• I have a theory, but it’s really lame, and kind of boring.
• So whoever comes up with the best story wins.
• I have NO idea what you’d win, though.
• Speaking of contests and stuff.
• I have an iPhone FAIL Update coming up on Monday, which will have an AWESOME giveaway attached to it.
• Mark your calendars!
• And Dylan?  Still Talking.
• Zach says: “Bah bah” and waves.