And more excellent news, bonny. I never seem to use any of my own store of Zen, so I'm sending you as much as you need for dealing with Gordon. When you start to run low, you can just remind yourself you've got an emergency tank of back-up Zen ready to go.

Bless you.

This is exactly the visualization I will use. I, unlike Jonathan, did get the jetpack...and I'm gonna use it!

I am a complete failure as a mother who is torturing her child with brutal abusive applications of fabric.

In our neighborhood, the houses are all very close together and the windows are always open. The other night, I brushed Ellie's teeth when she didn't want me to and she ran screaming into the bathroom, "Mommy - I don't want to" only in Spanish and kept screaming and crying for a good 10 minutes.

I just pray the neighbors are understanding and don't think I"m a terrible, abusive mother. (Because, of course, if she said "don't brush my teeth" no one would listen, probably but just "I don't want to" could mean anything is happening to her.)

I think my most mortifying mother moment was surveying all of a 5 year old K-Bug's bruises at a doctor's appointment. Who knew an active kid could get herself so banged up on the playground...

I just pray the neighbors are understanding and don't think I"m a terrible, abusive mother. (Because, of course, if she said "don't brush my teeth" no one would listen, probably but just "I don't want to" could mean anything is happening to her.)

Oh you poor thing!

Do you have enough Spanish for a nice loud "Ellie! I'm going to brush your teeth if it takes all night!"?

I think my most mortifying mother moment was surveying all of a 5 year old K-Bug's bruises at a doctor's appointment. Who knew an active kid could get herself so banged up on the playground...

Famous family story.

My Father was a little boy, four or five, and his Mom was making pancakes. He kept running into the kitchen and bugging her with sillly things. Finally, she turned and yelled at him, shaking the spatula as she told him to cut it out.

It was an old-school spatula, big and heavy. As she shook it, head flew off the handle and clocked my Father above the eye. Naturally, this bled like hell.

They took him to the hospital, my Grandmother was MORTIFIED. And then it got worse...

Doctor: Billy, what happened to your head?

Dad: I was running in the house and I'm not supposed to. I tripped and hit my head on the radiator.

My Father was trying to COVER FOR HIS MOM! And they always told him if he ran in the house he's split his head open on the radiator so he went with that!

My poor Grandmother fell apart and started telling the doctor that not only had she hurt her own son, she hadn't coached him to lie about it. Since none of their eight children was ever abused he believed her. Can you imagine if that happened now?

Since I'm not a mother I have no moments myself, but my mother had a routine pediatrician appointment for my sister, K (age: weeks), the day after my sister G (age 2.5 yrs) cut off all of K's hair, eyebrows and eyelashes included. With my mother's super-sharp sewing scissors.

My DH and I have been busy arranging handymen, painters, floor-people, etc., for the new house. This morning he called me to say, "I think I need to give you more credit for planning the wedding because that was probably a lot more work, huh?"

JZ, Owen will run shrieking "HELP ME!" if I try to make him do anything he doesn't want--from putting on a fresh pull up, to sitting on the potty to brushing his teeth or even putting on the wrong color pajamas.

Liv does some shrieking when I have to get her dressed after the bath, too. Or if don't let her suck all the toothpaste out of the tube.

AT&T just saved themselves a customer. They have no coverage by our new house so they are waiving the hefty contract cancellation fees so I can switch to a different carrier. I will keep AT&T for my home service for now.

Oh dear! God, kids, eh?

...meanwhile, I randomly purchased a Manga series on DVD. It's called GokuSen. I've only been watching it for five minutes, but at the moment I'm feeling an overwhelming urge to share it with Emily. Because so far, it seems to be a Manga starring Emily. Thus far, it's awesome.

I'm so full of respect for the moms and dads around here and the work they do to raise their kids. You guys deserve way more than one mothers' or fathers' day a year.

I'm so full of respect for the moms and dads around here and the work they do to raise their kids. You guys deserve way more than one mothers' or fathers' day a year.

For reals.

(though I do admit snerking to the thought of Liv trying to eat all the toothpaste in the tube- totally sounds like a maneuver my niece would do too.)