The true story of Party Bear Teepants

See this beautiful white fluffy bear? He's called Party Bear. He is Miles' one true love. Really. He loves this thing a ridiculous amount. Why am I posting about this bear? I'll tell you why.

Party Bear got his name 3 days after Miles arrived home from Korea. He was a gift from his godsister at the airport. Ryan and I put him in the crib with Miles and the two of them had loads of good things to chat about.

Miles was up all night chatting, laughing, and all around horseplaying with this bear. In the middle of the night. All night. So from then on...he was named Party Bear.

Party Bear has been part of our family from day one. He goes everywhere with us. EVERYWHERE. And he smells god awful. Like a combination of pee and maple syrup. No my son doesn't pee on it, but for some reason, he stinks like that. And I do wash him. Although as of late, Miles has recognized PB is a getting a little thin in the seams. So he won't allow it. *gag* I say keep that stinky thing out of my face.

Miles just had his adenoids out yesterday. He's doing absolutely amazing. Never would guess the kid had surgery yesterday, but he's great. Anyway...he was allowed to bring a stuffed animal or blanket with him as a comfort.

Last year he brought PB to his eye surgery. And he freaked out because, OH MY GOD!!! They dared to put Miles AND PB under the heated blankets. My poor kid last year, (4 years old mind you) while being induced into unconsciousness, stopped, yelled at the nurses through the gas mask that, "Party Bear is a polar bear! He doesn't like HOT!!!" Seriously. The nurses, and anesthesiologist busted out. That's my kid. Drama queen extraordinaire. Oh and major fact enforcer apparently.

So this year, they asked we wash said comfort item. Miles almost shit a brick. He only allowed me to wash "back up Party Bear" and said he would take that one instead. Only because he feared the REAL PB would fall apart in the wash..and he probably would at this point.

Anyway....luckily we had the same anesthesiologist and nurses as we did last year (freak coincidence for sure) and they all remembered to keep PB out of the hot blankets. No shit! They really did remember. It was hilarious. Miles smiled and laughed his way into la la land. (He imagines he is on the Millenium Falcon when he starts to drift.)

To drill the point home. Miles love his bear. I worry it will be "condemned" soon. I think it will break his little heart. Thankfully he has a spare. But it's not the same.

THIS is what Party Bear looks like after 5 1/2 years of pure unadulterated love.


*side note*
PB is not allowed out of Miles' room once he wakes up. Miles is almost 6 and he isn't allowed to carry a stuffed bear around all day. Cause that's as bad as him having a pacifier still. But he does go with us on trips and if Miles is sick.

Oh Miles-y Miles

He is a bike riding, DS playing, shiv stashing fool.

Seriously. That's a plastic knife he's stashed above his bunk bed. "Just in case"

That Little Claire....

This is my Claire.
In all her twirly whirly glory.
(Don't mind the hideous shit that is my kitchen floor. My grandmother had this linoleum.)



And with her serious curiosity in fairies. She really thought if she knocked on the door like it said, she would see one.

Sam

This is my great uncle Sam. He just celebrated his 90th birthday. He's my maternal grandfather's older brother. He is the last of his family.

I love this man. He is so cool.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

It's gorgeous outside today! The sun is shining, there's a bit of a breeze and I can wear flip flops and a sweatshirt! Ahhh....Minnesota in April.

My day began quite lovely. I slept until 7:30. Made homemade apple muffins....yum. Got an email from the Apple Store asking, "how was my visit?" and blasted them.

Then watched Parenthood from last night while helping Claire try on a million different clothes, just for fun. Sent Miles off to school. Ran some errand with Ryan and Claire. Had lunch.

Went outside and played Moon Sand with the girl. By the way. Moon sand is the worst invention known to man. It's so messy it MUST be played with outside.

Drew hopscotch on the driveway and taught Claire how to play. Saw that Ryan drew one too but forgot the number 8. Ha ha ha.
Watched Claire biff it big when she got jumping too fast downhill on the hopscotch board. I like to add challenge to the game.

Then did the Alphabet game. Drew every letter on the driveway and proceeded to tell Claire to jump to whatever letter I hollered out. See...fun AND educational. She only got about 85% of them right, but hey, she's only 3 1/2.

Ryan got the boy from school and now I'm sitting my big fat ass on a chair watching the kids. And Ryan's washing the outside of the house.

Yay Spring!!!!

I hate the Apple Store.

Today I had my first foray into the "Apple Universe".

Those big dumb hippie jerks.

Admittedly, I have an iPhone. And a, *angels singing*, MacBook. Don't ask how THAT happened. Talk to my techie husband. He's all over it. Me? Not so much. But I go with the flow and don't ask a lot of questions.

Unfortunately the day we got the, *angels singing*, MacBook, the power source didn't stay in or rarely charged. Something was wrong, but I didn't know what. So I just didn't worry about it. That's how I go with the flow. I ignore pretty much anything that will cause me stress, and or work.

But Ryan found out something was awry. And insisted we take it into the Apple store.

So today this is what happened to me.

I got to the store and was greeted by a very happy woman carrying an iPad. And she definitely wielded power. You could tell by the way she utilized the touch pad. Such force, such gusto! She asked me what I needed. I told her my sad tale. She then TOLD me I would need an appointment with the "Apple Genius". What.The.Fuck?

Appointment I asked? She said, yes...you'll have one at 1:40pm. It was only 12:15 and I was feeling a bit disgruntled at this point as I looked around to see about 10 Apple employees hanging out futzing with iPads. AND I had two 3 1/2 year olds with me. But whatever. I'm here. So I asked if they wouldn't mind hanging onto my laptop because it's kinda heavy and I didn't want to lug it around whilst chasing two little girls through Rosedale mall. They were fine with holding it.

So we checked out dresses. Of course. We went to Justice to see what I'll have to be buying in a few years. And we got ice cream to kill some time. Finally we head on back to the Apple Store.

I'm promptly greeted by another employee with an iPad. She informs me after looking things up that my appointment was in fact at 1:20. AGAIN....What.The.Fuck?

Here's how this shit goes down.

ME: The woman told me 1:40 before I left here. I've been trying to kill time.

HER: We sent you a confirmation email with your appointment time.

ME: She never told me that was going to happen. I didn't know to check. (I checked, and sure as shit there it is. 1:20. Damnit!)

ME: If I knew in the first place I was going to get an email I would have checked it and then known my appointment was at 1:20 and NOT 1:40 like I was told.

HER: Settle down. We can still see you.

*tire screech* Settle down? Really? You hippie who spends all your time role playing and sitting infront of your Mac. Don't tell me to settle down! I wasn't even upset. Maybe a little annoyed, but at this point.....color me pissed.

Then. The "Genius" told me once he saw me that it looked like "someone" dropped the computer. I assured him that it hadn't been dropped. He told me yes it probably was. I almost asked him if he was "Fucking serious?" I told him it was like this the moment we got it home. He told me that Apple would NEVER sell something in this shape. Dick. I said..well unless they actually inspected it before Ryan came home with it then, yes in fact it could have been a defect. Ugh.

All the while I have these 2 perfect little girls sitting in a chair together eating their ice cream. Thank god for THAT.

Screw you Apple Store.

A top 5 list that will make you feel bad for me.

To commemorate Ryan's travels, here are my top reasons to hate it.

Reason number 1: When it gets to be about 5:30pm I become slightly depressed that Ryan ISN'T coming home. And the realization sets in that I have to do the whole night routine, alone, again.

Reason number 2: The kids sleep in my room on the floor every night Ryan's gone. Not sure how this started, or why, but the constant and mind numbing snoring makes me want to rip my ears out and slap them on the wall until morning, when I can put them back into place to hear Claire whine to me about how it's too early and she's "still tired!!!!"

Reason number 3: I have to keep the house clean the entire time. Like when I go out of town, the house has to be clean. Cause let's face it...who the hell wants to come home to a messy house? Now understand. I am not a clean freak. I have "quirks" yes...but I mean the counters have to be empty, the closets shut, the toys picked up, the laundry done, and the house spotless. Until Ryan comes home, that's how it stays. When he walks in the door, all bets are off. (Maybe THIS is one of my "quirks" hmmmm food for thought)

Reason number 4: I end up spending way way WAY too much time with my parents. It's kind of a sickness. And then it just becomes cumbersome. And I can't see them for like a week once Ryan gets home. If I do, I find them terribly annoying and my mother is like a harpie nagging at me about one thing or another. God love her.

Reason number 5: I miss him. A lot. So do the kids, but I'm talking about me.

A few annoyances are as follows and in no particular order:

~Web cam visits with the kids suck. The connections are bad and the kids get bored after about 2 minutes. Then I'm stuck looking at myself looking at Ryan on a computer screen. Not attractive.

~I spend more money. Out of boredom I'm sure. But it's not good. Sorry sweetie.

~I usually don't go to bed until way past my bedtime. Makes for a crabby me, and the cycle continues.

~No one else is here to experience our children's less than stellar behaviors. Which in turn leads me to win parent of the century with my yelling, door slamming, and all around banishing the kids to their rooms.

~He misses out on all the really cool things the kids do when he's gone. And they are pretty damn cool.

All in all travel sucks. But really Reason number 5 is the worst.

Positive thinking better frickin' work

I met with my doctor today. He's the head of the Hepatology Department at Mayo. I have to go for more tests.

I most likely will have to have some major surgery. They call it a liver resection. It's a fancy way of saying...we're cutting up your liver and we will serve it with bacon and fried onions.

The cyst is bigger than originally thought, and it looks like Mickey Mouse. How damn adorable. *sigh* Ryan said we could keep the cyst and the kids would love to have it. Mickey Mouse shaped and all.

Either way...I'm not a super religious person....clearly. But I will pray, beg, pray, and beg some more to NOT have to have this surgery. It requires "several months" of recovery. Whoever decided it would take that long, doesn't have little kids.

I think I can put it off for a year or so. If I'm lucky maybe I won't have to have it at all. At least that's what "I" think.

Claire is the meanest 3 1/2 year old of all time!

This evening after Miles brushed his teeth, he was walking down the hall with the lights out. Then we saw Miles run down the hall like a lunatic.

In the dark of the bathroom, his sister was waiting in the doorway. She waited for him to walk by and whispered, "I will get you."

What the What? Mean. If it were me, I would have screamed like a fool, and ran into the driveway with my arms flailing about. Cause...everyone is safer outside. Duh.

Claire + Dark Bathroom + Creepy whispering = Meanest kid ever.

I don't like repetition.

I'm here at the Mayo Clinic AGAIN. For the second week in a row. Only this time, I'm driving back and forth every day. It's like that movie Groundhog Day. Only worse. Cause there's medical procedures going on.

Not horrible. But I only spend a total of 1 hour with my doctor a day this week.

I drive 3 hours total here and back. I meet with my physician for two 30 minute sessions. And then I sit and wait in between
sessions for 4 hours. I don't like this schedule.

It seems like a monumental waste of my time. You'd think I would take this opportunity to revel in the silence, and the "alone time", but it's not like that.

I'm in a hospital. One of the most popular in the US, and there are sick folks everywhere. People coughing, people sneezing, people barfing....etc...you get it. People staring at me...cause I couldn't look anymore bored.

Upside, if you ever need to be here, I know where the best and cleanest restrooms are. And tip of the day? Wear tennis shoes. The only people not wearing tennis shoes here are employees who have to "dress up", or women who want to attract doctors. And yes...there are plenty of "those" here.

I don't know where I'm going with this...

Oh yeah...I'm here. AGAIN.