Living in Munchkinland

We spent four fabulous days in New Orleans this weekend. I drove the kids up to Sugar Land on Wednesday and spent the night with them helping them get settled with their Grandma and Grandpa. The next morning, I said goodbye to the kids and Michael's Uncle Roy drove me to the Houston airport. I met my parents and Michael at the gate and was feeling footloose and fancy free. When we arrived in New Orleans, Michael surprised Mom and Dad with a limo to take us to their condo. We all enjoyed the luxury of the limo and were in great moods when we arrived. We opened a bottle of white wine, toasted and quickly unpacked. Mom and I cracked each other up when we realized that the reason the closet door wouldn't open was because neither one of us was willing to set down our wine glasses to use both hands! We ate a very late lunch at Cannons with more wine and then walked through the heat and humidity to Whole Foods so we could buy more wine and some snacky type of food. Later that ...

Michael is up for a new position in his company. The position is called a Pre-Sales Engineer. He's perfect for it really. It's a combination of Sales (of which he has ten years experience) and Engineering (of which he's spent the last three years practicing). It also requires huge amounts of organization and documentation and healthy dose of charm, all of which Michael has in abundance. The position is within his company which he loves. He's so loyal. He's been with this company for almost his entire career. And this position would pay much better too. He is already doing this job temporarily for his company right now. And he's rocking it. And pre-sales would require less travel, though I think he might still be working late hours. This new position would be life changing for us and we really, really want it to happen. And Michael has his final interview today at six. So around 6PM will you think some really good thoughts in his direction? Pray, meditat...

I am part of a book group that I love. I started it with some friends two years ago when we still lived in Austin. Since then it has been through several permutations, but it has still retained it's basic form- wine, food, good books and great friends. It has been a way for me to see my friends at least once a month. A way to connect and talk about something other than our children. A mama really needs that, especially this mama. I love all the women who have been a part of it in the past and who are a part of it now. I am so lucky to have them in my lives. Katie, Cheris, Rebecca, Annie, Rhonda, Marchelle, Becky, Stacey, Elizabeth, Alicia, Marja, Jennifer, Betsey Gail, thank you for rocking book group with me.

Sam is officially potty trained. He made it through a whole day without any accidents. I am so pleased. A picture is worth a thousand words.

I'm so happy. Too often I get stuck in the stress, the frustration, the impatience. But just now I had some feelings of gratitude and I thought I'd put them here and along with the flip side so I could give the good stuff the recognition it deserves. I had some disappointment with my husband's job. I have a husband that really loves me and I really, really love him. I got pooped on more times than I can count in the last week. My youngest son is finally potty trained!!!! We have an illness in our family. I have the best family ever. EVER. My sweet new dog had an awful start in life. We found each other and she is perfect for us and we adore her. I'm so lucky and don't you let me forget it.

We're potty training Sam. I started on Tuesday and it's Sunday night. Here is what I posted Friday afternoon to a mama group I am part of, "Davis started school last week and Sam really wanted to go with him. We told him he couldn’t go until he learned to pee and poop in the potty. He immediately decided he would learn. He insists on underwear all day every day. But it has been failure. He pees in his underwear constantly. I’ll put him on the potty and he happily pees, but he only does it when I take him there and if I don’t happen to take him when he needs to go, he just goes in his underwear. And he can’t/won’t poop in the potty at all. Today alone I’ve cleaned up four disgusting pairs of underwear. I’ve been to the library and read up on the topic. We’ve rented videos. I made a sticker chart for rewards. I bought him fabulous potty prizes. I offered chocolate. I offered to go back to diapers. I’ve offered pull ups as a compromise. I get nothing. He insi...

We have a new dog. She is a Maltese . She is almost four and is a retired show champion and a breeding dog. We rescued her from a situation that I don't think was very good. She's had three c-sections and has been de-barked. She's loving and smart and eager to please. She is not potty trained, but she is crate trained and leash trained and we're making great progress. I am already in love with her and she is the perfect lap dog. I know you may be asking yourself what happened to our plan to adopt a havanese puppy. I'll tell you. I decided that a puppy would be way too much work when I'm already to often overwhelmed with my own puppies (Davis and Sam). This way we skip the all night pottying and year of chewing and manner learning. AND I got to rescue a dog that really needed us when I know that Django will find a great home easily. PLUS I finally got my little girl. I've already dressed her in pink. You'll find her in my lap.

Michael had a birthday last week while in El Paso. We celebrated around it. The weekend before we took him out clothes shopping. He never ever, ever buys clothes for himself so this was a big deal. His parents and my parents and my grandparents all gave him money and he went to the outlet mall on tax free weekend and bought clothes. It was a great birthday present and he loved it! While in El Paso he went out and saw a movie that he really wanted to see. He didn't tell anyone he worked with that it was his birthday, but he opened some cards we had sent with him and I think it was okay. Last weekend, we had a little get-together for him on my parent's porch. I gathered up several different European beers and we had a beer tasting. Michael had a great time and I was so pleased. And then this week while in El Paso (for the second week in a row), he got an unexpected surprise. His boss called and told Michael that he was changing his position again. While he will still be ...