Filthy

I always knew that Dulsi got some crumbs here and there. I knew she LOVED planting herself at the bottom of the high-chair whenever a little person was occupying it. I knew that she also could be found at every meal lounging between the chair legs of the kids seats.

But my LORD I never knew the bounty of food that she scored.

Last night, you could have fed a small nation on the rations that were on the floor after dinner. Big pieces, little pieces, dry pieces and moist pieces. Have you ever tried to sweep up little pieces of shaved turkey. Or how about a glop of mashed pototoes? This is the get-down-on-your-hands-and-knees-with-a-wet-rag kind of mess.

I'm supposed to do that 3 times a day??

I had been thinking "A puppy is WAY to much work..." But seriously, I think I would spend less time house training a dog than I am currently spending cleaning the floor. Of course, that also means I consider a floor covered with a thin veneer of dog slobber "clean." Oh well...

Honesty

Max and I were looking through some old pictures yesterday for fun. It is somewhat spooky how much Leo looks like a Max at the same age. I was having fun making Max guess whether a photo was him or Leo.

Of course, there are other things in these photos.... Jackson, Dulsi, Omar, myself, grandparents.

Max looks at a photo from 6 years ago and says "Mom you look SO MUCH younger in that one!"

Feelin' a little grizzled all of a sudden...

Reclaiming 2010!

Ok! This was a bit of a rough start to the year, but NOW it's time to turn this ship around. We will start with a bit of Ansari levity.... ride it all the way to the end...

We will miss you, girl

Part of owning a pet is the knowledge that some day you will have to say goodbye. That doesn't make it any easier. We knew Dulsi had arthritis for quite some time. But recently she went blind suddenly, and it became clear that despite eye medicine she was having quite a bit of pain.

This morning we have said goodbye to one of the sweetest, most tolerant and loving dogs. I have had Dulsi longer than Omar, kids, MD, house, career or really anything else that currently defines my life. She has been there for it all.

As I sit at home now, it is so very quiet. Bye sweet girl. We loved you so much.

Baby Max

Baby Leo

Bucket List

Shortly after Omar and I had made it official that we were going to spend the rest of our lives together, we made "The List." We called the the "100 list," but it has now become more popularly known as the "Bucket List" - i.e. the things you want to do before you kick the bucket.

We have a myriad of things on there... have kids, go to an Olympic event, go to New Zealand. You get the point. Then there is the one I always thought was ridiculous.

"Watch the Vikings win the Super Bowl."

I balked when Omar added that. I told him this was something that was silly to have on the list, as we have absolutely NOTHING to do with that.

And then I drank the kool-aid. We bought the season's tickets. We watched every game along the way. We would skip cabin weekends to make sure we saw key games. We bought purple for all the kids at all the ages. We held watch parties. We cheered and screamed till we couldn't speak.

And now, as I type this, I am actively nauseous. I am so very, bitterly, profoundly disappointed. I had said "All I want is a good game," but I think 41-0 a few years back was easier on the soul. Last night was one of the most emotionally up and down nights of my life. That might sound melodramatic, but it really is true. It was a crazy, crazy game that we both SHOULD have won and gave away.

So. Time to move on.

It's just a game.

Common Favre.... let's roll the dice again.... I have a list to check off!

Here we go...

Yesterday, we met with an architect that we have told to go forward with drawings...

What fresh can of H-E-double-hockey-sticks have we just opened?

Ah, boys..

Max's Highlight the other night:

MY HIGHLIGHT IS TODAY I LEARNED HOW TO DO ARM FARTS!!

This, of course, was accompanied with a demonstration, and a smile that only is seen when a child is both thrilled and completely tickled by himself.

Ah, dinner and arm farts. This is my life....

Can't make it up

After receiving the ever-lovely summons from Spencer to assist him with wiping (can't wait for this stage of motherhood to come to a close), I practically fell over laughing when I walked into the bathroom and saw this:

No lie.

And he wasn't even trying to be funny. He truly was just browsing the SPORTS PAGE as a way to pass the quality time he had to himself.

I guess some things are more hard-wired than I ever knew...

Brilliant!

Calvin: Mom. I know what a criminal is.
Me: Really? What's a criminal.
Calvin: It's green and a little mushy. It makes your hands green too.
Me: .... uhm... I don't think that's what a criminal is....
Calvin: And criminal takes away Superman's powers.
Me: Son, that's Kryptonite.
Calvin: Oh.

It's a deep thoughts kind of day

Yesterday was another one of those hug-everyone-when-you-get-home-from-work kind of shifts. It's part of the job, but it never gets easier to be the doctor for a young man who ultimately died from the injuries of his car accident. Nicest family. Wrenching grief.

His dad was wearing a Viking's T-shirt... and it just made me reflect on how quickly the things that seem SO important 4 hours ago can seem so completely trivial in the blink of an eye. For reasons that will never be known, this 21-year-old veered over the center line in broad daylight. Cell phone? Text? 2 hours later one of our surgeons was seen for the EXACT SAME kind of accident - he had veered into an oncoming car because he looked down at his pager as he was driving to the hospital. He also had a head-on collision, and he broke his sternum. But he walked out of the ER. My patient is gone.

And my dear friend MS is likely in a hospital room right now, rubbing her dad's hands again since it's the one pain she can do something about. His cancer is continuing its relentless, horrific, hijacking of this wonderful, funny, and loving father and grandpa. It has been brutal to watch from where I am sitting, and I am nowhere near the epicenter.

I am sitting here trying to come up with some sort of "what this all means" kind of wrap-up. But I don't have one. These are the situations that bring up the ultimate "Why??" I guess the pursuit for the answer to that question is the driving source behind many a faith and philosophy. Little 'ol me ain't goin to come up with it today... but I liked this quote:

“I wanted a perfect ending. Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next.” -Gilda Radner

Fashion plate

I turn around this morning and this is the Calvin I see in front of me....


Pretty stylish, no?

What just happened???

Disclaimer: my apologies to anyone who is checking my blog out for the first time since I mentioned it in the Christmas card. If you look through the archives, I don't usually spend this much time on the discussion of bodily functions....

Ok, I don't think of my house as a filthy house. We aren't a dirty, dirty people. But the degree of pestilence that we have endured this winter has been really remarkable. This is how my evening went the night before last:

11:00pm - Calvin presents himself to my mother in the guest room, covered in vomit.
11:05 - Change Cal's bed and shower him.
11:10-12:00 - Run to his room for repeat episodes
1:30 - Omar falls to the same plague
1:40 - Spencer falls to the same plague. Start 2nd load of laundry
2:30 - Max reports he can't sleep, then proceeds to hurl on our bedroom carpet and bathroom floor.
2:40 - Using carpet cleaner. at 2:40??? Seriously??
3:00 - My mother succumbs to shaking chills.

Did I note that this was the last night of "vacation," and all the kids were to return to their respective corners of the world the next day? Instead, I had Omar, Cal, Spence, Max and my mother all unable to maintain a vertical position for most of the day. We sent Leo to daycare for the pure value of quarantine. I then went to work from 7pm to 3am.

I am happy to report that 4 of 5 have rebounded today. I have to think this was some sort of food poisoning, but from what? I think I am going to institute a new Purell body soak at the beginning and end of each day for my family. That would work great in the hot tub, right?