Entries from November 25, 2007 - December 1, 2007
In case you’re not watching CNN…
Rochester, NH is the top news. Some crazy person has reportedly taken hostages with a gun and a bomb in the Hillary Clinton campaign office right here in Rochester, NH.
Yes, I live in THAT Rochester, NH. We live about 3 miles from downtown.
Princess goes to kindergarten less than 100 yards from the crime scene. Thank God I made the decision to drop her to ½ days recently on Fridays. She was already with me when her school went into lock down. The rest of her school and class must have been so scared.
BamBam was still at school. They were locked down for a while this afternoon. I couldn’t get to him.
I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO FUCKING SCARED IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!!!!
We are all home safely now, although I am not finished shaking.
Thank you to everyone who called and emailed to check on us.
This internet thing is pretty crazy. I came home to an IM from my cousin in France. She was listening to our local news online while IMing our cousin stationed in Iraq. We got to have a conversation. Unbelievable.
This is still going on right now. Our neighbor is part of the SWAT team. Please say a prayer…or think good thoughts if you don’t pray. Just send some good energy this way.
I’ll post an update when we hear more.
THE Mommy
Looks like the guy finally released everyone and surrendered. Thank God no one got hurt.
Hoping for a less exciting weekend!
Leave a Comment
Today is the 3 year anniversary of the death of my uncle. For me, his was the first death of a close family member. Sure, I’ve lost great grandparents and great aunts when I was a child, but I was so young I barely even have memories of them. I didn’t experience grief over them.
I think I lost a bit of innocence and naivety when we lost my uncle. It was the first time I truly experienced the physical feeling that grief leaves behind. I had always assumed that grief was a state of mind. I didn’t realize that you could actually feel weighted down by it. I also figured out that you can never really let go of grief. No matter how far you have gone to get through it, it can pull you back in an instant.
I’ve also learned that you can’t ignore grief and hope for it to go away…or else it will hit you like a ton of bricks when it is least convenient for you…like when Amazing Grace was playing at the chiropractor’s office months after his death and I spontaneously broke down and couldn’t breathe. You see, a family friend with the voice of an angel sang that at his funeral. To this day, I can NOT listen to that song. I even had to walk out of a church once when I heard it playing. I wonder if I ever will be able to listen to it again.
If my uncle hadn’t passed away when he did, I’m not sure that we would have conceived BamBam. We had to travel to his funeral in Missouri. It was the only reason THE Daddy and I were even *ahem* sleeping in the same state. He was supposed to be traveling for work.
I remember a conversation with my cousin after the funeral. She was regretting not naming her youngest, a boy, after her father. I promised her that when we had another, we would use his name. It didn’t take long for me to fulfill that promise. We announced at Christmas that I was pregnant. It wasn’t a huge shocker weeks later when we found out we were having a boy.
I had a difficult pregnancy with BamBam. I experienced bleeding and contractions at about week 24. I ended up on bed rest for 9 weeks and gave birth to BamBam 5 weeks before his due date. I had 12 visits to the hospital prior to his birth. During one of these visits, I had an unusual experience. My Grammy had just passed away. She was my father and uncle’s mother. The doctors couldn’t stop the contractions. They decided to give me morphine and put me to sleep for the night. I remember seeing both my Grammy and my uncle standing on either side of me while I slipped off to sleep. They were standing by my head and each had a hand on my shoulder. I could feel their hands. I felt safe and knew that everything was going to turn out fine.
Everything did turn out fine. Despite BamBam’s early delivery, he was a healthy and happy little baby. He has a look that reminds me of my uncle at times. I have failed to capture it on camera. It’s fitting that he is a feisty little boy and loves to be the center of attention. He lives up to his name well.
We have a picture of my uncle hanging at our bar. It is a copy of an oil painting that he did of himself about 25 years ago. He looks young and is smiling. It’s fitting to hang it by the bar. He was a huge Jack Daniels fan, a Tennessee Squire even. He always had a glass with Jack on the rocks when he got home from working long hours at his catering company, As You Like It. He loved to entertain. He bought his inner circle Polar Bear Cocktail Shakers. He named them all “Fang”. Fang has bit all of us who knew and loved him at some point in time.
It’s hard to believe that it’s already been 3 years. Sometimes if feels like it was just yesterday. But then I look at 2 year old BamBam and can see how this whole “circle of life” thing works. Pretty amazing.
We are planning to end our evening shaking up a few drinks with Fang and toasting to my uncle. Feel free to join us by pouring yourself a Jack on the rocks for a night cap.
I mentioned recently that Princess and BamBam are so addicted to blueberries that they will eat them until they literally poop them whole.
They were sharing a bath last night. I was sitting with them in the bathroom reading a magazine while they played. Truly the only times I get to read a magazine these days is when they are in the tub or when BamBam decides to attempt a rare poop on the potty.
I get pulled out of Martha Stewart’s world of things I’d love to have time to do for Christmas, but don’t…to Princess screaming:
MOMMY, BamBam pooped!!!
OH, YES…HE DID.
I look into the tub expecting to see a lone floaty…instead I see that he had diarrhea…and the kicker…a random floating blueberry in the water.
*gag* Bleach is my new best friend.
I almost don’t want to ask if this has happened to you. I’m still feeling like I want to throw up and your stories might send me over the edge.
I said almost. Go ahead. I’d love to hear your gross bathtub stories. Leave a comment. Please? My kid can’t be the only one pooping in the tub? Can he?
We had friends over last night. We opened “Juwana Tavern”, aka our basement bar. Yep, we finally named it. It’s definitely cool enough to require a name. In case you are wondering, the name is inspired by the “juwana” snack shack by our house in Aruba. The j is silent. Get it? You wanna?
So, back to last night. We had a lot of fun. I think.
Wine. Wine. Margarita. Margarita. Chocolate shot cup with butterscotch schnapps ?WTF?, wine, wine. Ouch.
I lost at poker. I never lose at poker. I went through $20 worth of quarter chips without even winning one hand. I even had a full house once...and lost. So, I snuggled on the couch with the dog. No, not Chester. He's still farting from the pizza he ate. The other dog, Jasper. He never gets to go on the couch and we never get to snuggle anymore. He's the dog we got before having kids. Didn't kill the dog, guess we thought we would survive as parents. Anyhow, I remember saying, NO, Jasper...I will not make out with you. We were both in a happy place.
Went to bed at 1am. Not such a good idea when you have kids. They were up coughing. All night. Both have colds. BamBam was up at 6am. Thank all things good, true and false gods, anyone who will listen...for PBS Kids at 6am.
THE Daddy isn’t going to be here today. He is helping install a wood floor at his sister’s house. Crap! Can’t be mad at him. I knew he was leaving in the morning, yet I still drank a few too many. He already got me a venti pumpkin spice latte. He even made back some of my losses last night. Good man.
The kids got to stay up way too late. Unruly and cranky this morning. Got this link in an email. It’s Princess and BamBam as elfs. TFF! The kids are laughing hysterically. Gotta find a way to hit the replay button from the couch. Planning to do a Christmas movie marathon to babysit the kids. Elf. Elmo Saves Christmas. Elmo's 1st Christmas. Frosty. It’s going to be a looooooong day.
Any advice on how to survive a hangover while still watching the kids enough that they don't hurt themselves, each other, or the dogs?
