End of the year teachers gift

Two careers, in my opinion, do not get paid enough: Teachers and Military.

Everyday, I go to have lunch with Noah and I get to see first-hand, teachers working with and for the benefit of their students whom they form bonds with and truly care for, from the bottom of their hearts.

As I sit in the cafeteria, I like to pay attention to the absolute love the majority of these teachers have for their students, especially the special-needs students. I've always had a soft spot in my heart for special-needs kids. Whether Autistic or Down's Syndrome or any other "syndrome"... To see these teachers hold and protect these kids as they try to run away or hurt themselves is amazing. They chase after them, talk calmly and never lose their cool.

Teacher's aren't paid nearly enough to do this job. They do it because they love it and are passionate about it.

Without knowing what to do as a THANK YOU for Noah's teacher, I was left to wonder and think... I saw something SIMILAR to what I did and now I can't remember where I saw it but I've kind of taken and made my own version of what I would like to get if I was a teacher.

I've had a lot of people ask for tutorials and how I came up with the final product, so I decided to blog about it. I wish there was something more I could do to show my true and absolute appreciation for Noah's teacher for loving my child and teaching him... and most importantly, keeping him safe while he's out of my watchful eye when it comes to his peanut allergy. I can't ever begin to tell you how much she means to me.

SO... for my photo tutorial with some written instructions:

First, I had to make some basic purchases. I did shop around first before buying anything to get the best prices. (For example, I could have bought the acrylic paint at Hobby Lobby and saved a trip to Walmart, but it was 2x more expensive at Hobby Lobby as Walmart.)

HOBBY LOBBY:

1. Figure out how many kids are in the class and buy unfinished wood tulips with attached dowel. $1.29 each.

2. If you don't already have a "punch" you can pick one up also at Hobby Lobby for $11.00 for a 3" flower cut out. (You will be so glad you invested in this rather than trying to do every photo by hand and plus it will give a look of uniformity.)

FRONT OF PUNCH:



BACK OF PUNCH: (Make sure you get one with a clear back so you can see the area of the picture you're punching and not going in blindly and hoping you get it right.)



3. Mod Podge - Original ~ $6.99 for a large jar.




WALMART:

1. Acrylic paint if you don't already have some at home. Price ranges from .99 to $3.00 per bottle, depending on size; you don't need much. (be sure to get green for the stems of the tulips and whatever color(s) you want for your tulips.)

2. Large ceramic pot found in the garden department (indoors) large enough to fit an 8" plant. (or larger if your class is bigger than 20 students). $10.00



3. Large bag of fake grass/moss found inside by the glass vases and silk flowers. $2.50.

4. Mod Podge brand Acrylic Spray Sealer (which is necessary to "seal" the tulips after painting with Mod Podge Original paste, otherwise tulips will still be "tacky" and will stick to each other if placed together and pull off Mod Podge paste, even after completely dry.) $4.00 (estimate, I can't remember exactly but it was around this price).



I went to school to have lunch with Noah and after lunch, got all of the kids' pictures taken with the cooperation of the teacher. All individually but against the same background so there was a similarity to all of the pictures. Also, I was sure to set my zoom the same for each child. I zoomed slightly so there was a little background to the top, left and right of their heads and went down about mid-chest. I sent the pictures to be developed at Walgreens who had a coupon (always do a google search for coupons!) - - 50 prints for $5. (SCORE!)

Upon coming back home from picking up the prints, I got out the acrylic paint and painted each tulip. The stems were painted green and each tulip took on a different color.



As the tulips were drying, I took out my punch and carefully centered each child's face into a flower-shape.



Then I punched out the photo, taking great care not to move the punch or photo so it didn't get knocked out of being centered. (You do have to set it on the ground or hard surface and really lean into it to punch it. You will feel it punch when it goes through; practice on a piece of regular blank paper first if you need to).



Once all of the pictures have been punched, take a paint brush and dip it into the Mod Podge Original and paint it liberally on the back of each picture.



Once there is Mod Podge on the entire back of the photo, carefully place it in the lower center portion of the tulip (as long as the acrylic paint has dried!). Take your finger and press each section of the flower to press OUT any additional Mod Podge and seal it really well to the wood tulip. The excess that comes out, just take your finger and spread it outward on the wood tulip.

After a few seconds, re-dip your paint brush in the Mod Podge Original and liberally apply it all over the wood tulip (not the stem) and over the face of the picture. Don't worry, it dries clear and does not ruin the photo!



Also, take care to keep your strokes uniform because in the reflective light, you WILL be able to see brush strokes like this:



The brush strokes are unavoidable, but it's better to have them all going in one direction rather than some up and down and some left to right and others diagonal.

As the Mod Podge dries, it becomes clear and seals the photo to the wood tulip in addition to the Mod Podge holding the photo directly to the tulip.



Once Mod Podge Original is completely dry, get your Mod Podge Acrylic Spray Sealer and shake WELL and apply evenly to the top, bottom and all sides of your tulip.



Since you are spraying all sides, it's important to find a way to set these upright so the acrylic sealer does not stick to other things. I set up the grass/moss in my pot and stuck each one down into it to dry. (I only sprayed 1-2 at a time and let at least an hour pass in between each one so they didn't accidently touch each other as they dried.)

Once they were all done, I organized them into the grass/moss in the pot and the final product looks like this:



I decided also to buy a larger flower than the ones the students are on (also from Hobby Lobby) and will print out a larger picture of the teacher (either by ordering a 5x7 or simply zooming in on her face more and printing the same 4x6. Her picture on the bigger flower will go in the middle of the pot and either ON the pot or on her wooden flower, I will write: Bloom Where You're Planted. (You can write on the backs of each wood flower, even after it's sealed, with a silver Sharpie the year and/or child's name. (Reason for silver is to give it consistency for not only light colored tulips but the dark ones too.)

Anyway, I was also planning to put in the pot some cookie flowers my friend makes:



However, there is not enough room in the pot, so I will still order these cookies from her but have them wrapped in floral wrap so they look like a regular bouquet. SO, her final gift will be the pot with the tulip pictures of her students and then a bouquet of cookie flowers as well. I hope she likes it!

You've Been Warned...

Well, I went to the doctor yesterday. It was quite a show. First of all, I got there and wasn't expecting to have any pelvic checking performed. Nonetheless, after my shower earlier that morning, I gave a quick spray of FDS, just in case, and thank goodness, they weren't "out" of the the "gynecological wipes" provided in the restroom as I left my "sample." Lucky for him.

The doctor came in and I told him of my daily contractions (numbering upward toward 20-30 per 24-hours) and he said he wanted to run a test called: Fetal fibronectin. Apparently this can detect a certain protein released by the cervix which would indicate if I'll go into labor within the next 2 weeks. They called today and said the results were negative, so looks like she's safe for at least 2 weeks.

Anyway, he came in and told me he wants to do this test. He gave me a drape and told me to drop my drawers (rofl I love this guy). He left the room for about 10 minutes and returned with his nurse. By this time, I was sweating and my bare butt was stuck to the paper on the table. I made the mistake of not moving around so it wasn't airing out in those 10 minutes.

So he tells me to put my feet in the stirrups and come down to the end of the table. As I'm doing what I was told, the dang paper I was sitting on TORE right in half!! Here I am with a paper wedgie scooting my big ol' belly down closer to the edge of falling off the table. I apologize for being large and sweaty and he laughed and told me it was ok and not to get a complex that I was too big.

Suddenly, it dawned on me that I had some major gas and need to jump off and sprint to the bathroom; paper wedgie and all. (I made some awesome minestrone soup the previous night and with all those beans and vegetables, well, let's say I'm no longer constipated)...

Knowing I couldn't very well just jump out of stirrups and run down the hall to the toilet, I did my best to practice my kegels to keep the contents of my lower bowel contained IN MY LOWER BOWEL.

As I was trying to control my breathing and keep things in my belly, I was suddenly reminded that I had shaved only a few days prior and was halfway BALD down there!!! (That's right, HALFWAY. I got frustrated at trying to lift my belly and gave up mid-way through the beautifying project) I wanted to snap my legs shut and never make eye contact again, but I just stared at the ceiling and blushed.

He finished, and with the help of Thong, the doctor and his nurse, I managed to get my now completely glued, paper-laden butt from the edge of the vinyl table back to the center where I was no longer in danger of falling off. As I sat there, all I could think of was that my bare butt was now sitting straight on the vinyl table without anything separating me from Lord knows who else's butt dew that had ripped the paper and stuck there before mine.

The end result: He said I'm not dialated, still measuring big and everything else looks good. Except my homemade haircut.

Pretty Flowers!!!!

My little Lourdes is definitely cut from the same cloth as her MeMa. My mom has always loved to garden, taking pride in her numerous flower pots scattered around every entry door to her house. She feeds the birds religiously everyday and makes sure she has her bird bath filled with fresh water for the feathered friends.

NOTE: Don't mistake her for the Bird Lady though that walks through Central Park with pigeons perched on her shoulders while using her overcoat as a toilet. She is liable to spray you with her hose.

Lourdes has obviously grown up away from the daily influence of her MeMa but she shares a lot of loves with her that have no other option but to be encoded in her DNA. I sure didn't teach her to love flowers and chirpy birds. My thumb is brown; nowhere close to green and birds are cute and sound nice when they sing, but I don't go out of my way to buy seed to feed them and give them fresh water everyday. (Although I did buy seed once and none of them bothered coming over so I was left with a driveway full of seed that everyone just slipped on.)

ANYWAY, every day when Lourdes and I go to lunch with Noah at his school, she is bound and determined to find a weed that has some kind of flower attached to the end of it. Mind you, we're not talking about beautiful roses, but yellow flowers that are either weeds or wild flowers that pop up sporadically throughout a field of grass. She runs as fast as she can the split second she catches sight of a yellow flower and picks it without hesitation and clings to it like it's the last thing she'll ever gasp in her tiny hand. She'll hold it and love it until the petals fall off or it hardens to a crisp. I've found countless dried weed/flowers in the sides of her car seat where she likes to store her little treasuries every day that she picks one.

In fact, she loves flowers so much that she decided to pull up a "fancy flower" roots and all from the garden downtown at the Co-Cathedral 2 Sunday's ago when we went to church. It was freshly planted and still adjusting to life in its new soil when she bent down and gave it a good yank! The entire plant came out of the black potting soil in the garden area and we laughed and quickly told her to put it back down in its home. She was surprised but said "OOOOH okay!" and we moved on to pick her a miniature rose from another more mature plant. That seemed to appease her.

I'm so in love with this little darling of mine and am lucky she is made so happy by the little things like flowering weeds growing in random fields of grass. If only we could all take a lesson from her about loving the simple things in life.

Mushy, dirty boobies

You read that right. "Mushy, dirty boobies." That's how my once-perky bosom was described so honestly this morning by my favorite 3 year old brown haired little girl. Changing clothes in the morning or getting dressed when I've stepped out of the shower without modesty is now a thing of the past thanks to my "compliment" I received this morning. I was so taken off guard, I smiled and said "why THANK you!" A huge smile crossed her face like she was the proud new owner of something shiny and new as she said "you're WELLLLcome Mommmmma!!!"

A short time later, I was laying on the bed watching cartoons with my little smartie pants and she said "Momma, are you cold?" I said "No" so naturally, she asks "Are you hot?" Actually, I was quite hot... it's warm making another human being cell by cell! So I said "Yes, mommy is hot." She so lovingly puts her hand on my forehead and says "my goodness, momma, you are burning up with a fever. You are so sick, poor thing!" LOL... now granted, I am fighting a bug and I might have had a low-grade fever, but I certainly wasn't burning up according to my standards.

Well, I'm now 31 weeks pregnant by date and 32 weeks pregnant by measurement. I am getting SO excited to see my newest little creation and am SO anxious about giving birth. I know I've said it before, and you'd think I'd be a pro by the 4th time, but I get butterflies just thinking about it. Each delivery was so smooth, yet so different from the others. I keep wondering how this one will be. I hope labor goes quickly and she inherited MY cranial circumference, but we'll see. Only time will tell. I'm looking forward to seeing my parents too. They are planning to come out before the baby is born so that will be fun. :) Landen is tentatively planning to fly out to AZ after school lets out and then drive back with them, but he's on a stand-by ticket, so fingers crossed, nothing will come up so he can't get a flight... or that Madeleine decides to come THAT much early.

Well I'm tired now, so I'll take my mushy, dirty boobies and go lay down for a little bit while my "burning up with a fever, poor, sick body" can feel better. :)

The Weekend Went too Fast :(

This weekend managed to fly by in the blink of an eye. I look back and can't remember much; life has been a blur since Friday. As I was in the bathroom with Lourdes at Chipotles after getting our lunch in a nice brown bag with handles, my phone rang. Conveniently, I had just sat on the toilet and when you've got a 46" protruding belly, you can't exactly jump up and run for the phone sitting on the metal shelf they provide to set your personal belongings on while using their facilities. I thought it must be my mom, who is pretty much the only person who calls me (no joke), and in typical fashion, would expect a call back or understanding when I called her right back. Something told me to get myself up though and grab the phone. Just as it was about to go to voicemail, I picked it up off the shelf and saw it was a school number. Unsure if it was Landen's or Noah's school (both have the same prefix), I opened it quickly, which answers automatically. It was the school nurse from Landen's school. Needless to say, she fumbled around her words and it seemed like an eternity before I had gotten the jest of what she was trying to tell me. My son had been beaten up along with a friend of his by a group of 4 bigger kids. Landen had been hit in the head and "had a change in neuro-status" of being excessively sleepy all of a sudden.

She put Landen on the phone and I ran through some questions with him that came to mind as I quickly got Lourdes strapped in the car seat and hurriedly drove across the street to our office. I hung up with Landen just in time to call Thong and tell him to get outside and go with me to Landen's school. I was crying so hard I'm actually surprised he understood me, but after 7 years, he's learned to decipher what I'm saying through all kinds of emotions.

Thong came out and by this time I had my mom on the phone trying to get her to understand my words-through-tears diatribe. He motioned for me to get in the passenger seat because clearly I wasn't in a condition to drive safely.

We drove quickly (but safely) to the school and my mind was going in 100 different directions as I continued to shake and cry. All that kept flashing through my mind were scenes from youtube videos that people post about after-school fights; planned or unplanned. I've seen plenty to know that they are usually no-holds-barred and end up with someone being hurt very badly. From what I knew at that very moment, my son was the one who was hurt very badly.

We arrived at the school and the check-in desk was taking their time getting us checked in. They asked for our ID and we gave it to her as she scanned it into the computer... then her phone rang. She stopped what she was doing for us to tend to the phone call and after a minute or so, I said (and there were 2 other women up there watching who worked there too) "My son just got beat up by 4 guys, I NEED TO GET BACK TO THE NURSES OFFICE! Can I just go back there?!" They realized then that we were Landen's parents and hit the "print" button for our ID stickers and we rushed back to the nurses office.

Not knowing fully what to expect, I entered the room and saw my sweet Landen sitting on a hard plastic chair holding an ice pack to his head behind his ear. He was relieved to see us but in pain. I looked at the bump and immediately went from scared and concerned to infuriated with the kids who took my child and roughed him up like he was a rag doll.

Thong and I sat down and started in on the questions, as one could imagine any parent would. The police were already on-campus and dealing with the situation; questioning witnesses, etc., so we waited to take our turn to speak with them.

In summary of what happened to the best of my understanding:

Landen and his friend Jordan were playing catch with this little Nerf football the size of a Dixie cup. (No joke it was tiny). These 4 bigger kids came up and told Jordan and Landen they wanted them to play tackle football with them. Knowing that would get them in trouble, Landen and Jordan told these kids no. They walked away and turned to see these four kids lined up and came charging at them like a bull to a matador holding a red flag. Jordan got hit first and was put in a choke hold/headlock and the three others took turns hitting and kneeing him in the ribs, stomach and side. Landen saw this and tried pulling one of the kids off of Jordan so he could breathe. (Jordan at this time was on his knees and unable to breathe they had him in such a tight headlock). With Landen trying to help save his friend, this made the group of 4 mad and they turned on Landen. One of the kids (whose name I have yet to obtain but believe me, I will!), was holding a wood brush and Landen got hit very hard behind his ear. He is 99% sure the kid hit him with the brush itself, but since he was hit from the side-rear, he didn't visually see that it was the brush, versus his fist. Either way, it was a very hard hit and made quite the mark on my child's head in a spot that could easily have fractured his skull. (And had it been 3" up and to the front, he would have hit him in the temple, causing him to die immediately.)

Thong and I filed police charges, but since Landen could not attest with 100% certainty that it was the wood brush he was hit with, the kid didn't get charged with felony assault with a weapon, but instead, slapped on the wrist with the least possible offense which is a misdemeanor of bodily contact assault. Nonetheless, his parents will have to pay a fine (TBD on the amount) and the kid will serve time in In-School-Suspension for who knows how long. My hope is that it's the rest of the year.

We were quickly shooed out of the school before the offender's parents showed up and about a mile down the road I regretted leaving at all. I had so much to ask those parents and tell them, whether they wanted to hear it or not. I intend on going back to Landen's school tomorrow to talk with the principal (rather than the ASSISTANT principal, who we talked to exclusively (as far as school officials go) on Friday.). He is a very nice man and I have no hesitation about communicating my concerns to him first thing in the morning, assuming they will let me on his schedule.

As much as we were against our kids having cell phones before this incident, our minds were changed 100% after Friday's events. We went out Saturday, bought both boys a $20.00 cell phone (the same one I have) and by today, it's been activated. They are only allowed to use them for emergencies; we have only 200 minutes per month on them (for $10.00 on each line) and T-Mobile has a parental control feature which allows us to control who they call, who calls them, texting, times during the day/night that the phone is physically "on" and all kinds of other features. It's VERY convenient. I'm THANKFUL that they offer this service at such a reasonable price. $20.00 for both boys to have a phone for emergencies only is a minuscule price to pay for peace of mind.

I will also be going tonight to Walmart to buy Landen a coach's whistle so in the event these boys (or some of their cohorts) approach Landen again in any kind of threatening manner, he can blow his whistle, which obviously will cause everyone within ear-shot to turn and look and those kids will more than likely scatter like cockroaches when a light is turned on.

Pray for me to have clarity and guidance with what to say tomorrow to the principal and pray that he will accept me into his schedule to have this important conversation with him about the safety of my child on his campus. My hope is that he will be open to hearing what I have to say and take my suggestions to heart and implement some changes that absolutely should have been in place long ago so hopefully this type of situation never happens again.

OH MY EYES!!!!!!!!!

As I stepped out of the shower this morning, I accidentally caught sight of myself in the massive mirror that spans from one end of my bathroom to the other. I typically try not to look but today it was inevitable. I was taken back by the sight in my field of vision as a flash of National Geographic came into my mind!

It simply amazes me that people grow inside of other people. I am honored to be carrying another child that God is carefully knitting together in my womb but let me tell you, it's wreaking havoc on me. I suppose every pregnancy is this way and I simply get mommy-amnesia after giving birth and healing up to be shiney and new, however, I'm in the thick of it now.

I truly think it's a miracle that God can expand my body to accomodate a growing little person but holy areola's!! It's not without a little caracture in the interrim.

Thankfully, Thong doesn't look at me and see "pretty or ugly" and is far beyond that, as I am with him. When you've gone through 7 years of good and bad together, you stop seeing the person on the outside and truly know them on a level that's deeply indescribable to any who have yet to experience it. In fact, trying to explain it is as easy as explaining the flavor of water. I'm glad he doesn't look at me and think "Wow she is really freaky looking all big, saggy and stretch-marked." I'm thankful that when he passes me after I've freshly stepped out of the shower, he doesn't seem to notice my massively protruding belly, boobs that have grown to unevenly rest on said belly and a butt that sticks way out thanks to my curved spine to negotiate the big belly with the hope I don't simply tip over one of these days.

On another note, I'm excited to be accused of "nesting" recently since I've decided to tackle decorating Noah's room. We went today and bought 3 gallons of paint and I came home and enthusiastically began painting the walls a beautiful shade of sapphire. I ordered the space-theme stencils early this morning and they should arrive the middle of next week. Although I'm so sore I can barely move tonight, I'm glad to feel somewhat accomplished in making sure my second-born feels as important as his brother and sister whose rooms are already decorated and painted with a cute theme to match their personalities.

Noah wanted Star Wars originally, but I knew that would be much more than I could handle, not to mention it might be more of a "phase" that he's more likely to outgrow than the cutsey outer space theme we ended up going with. I will order a specialty glow paint from the internet and paint a really neat nighttime scene of the galaxy on the ceiling so anyone in the room can see our solar system even at nighttime as they drift off to sleep. I'm hoping to get it all done before the baby is born, but if it doesn't happen to completion, it should mostly be done. I might put off the ceiling painting until I no longer am off-balance thanks to the big belly and swayed butt, although stranger things have happened and it's not uncommon to see me on the top of a ladder at 9 months pregnant.

I'm looking forward to going back to my doctor on Tuesday, in spite of the fact that I now have to get a shot for having Rh negative blood. It's routine in pregnancy to get the Rhogam shot at 28 weeks and then again after delivery if the baby is Rh positive (that's the + or - after your letter of blood type for example A- or A+). The shot itself does not hurt; in fact, I can't remember even feeling it the last few times I've had it. When I was pregnant with Lourdes, I remember not even thinking the nurse had given it to me. I literally DID NOT feel it. The anxiety of a big ol' shot going into my badonkadonk isn't overly appealing though so it makes me nervous.

I am also looking forward to being measured and having the doctor tell me if I'm back on schedule for how many weeks I am or if I'm still measuring 2 weeks big (or bigger?????). I will be 28 weeks on Tuesday. Where has time gone!? It seems to be flying by and I'm thankful to know if the baby was born right now, her survival odds are 80% with medical intervention. Although I pray to keep her in me for much longer, it's comforting to know she could and probably would survive if she came out sooner than later.

I have to do my glucose tolerance test tomorrow at our office and am SO not looking forward to it. I've had issues with low blood sugar and really gets worse when I consume a lot of sugar because then it crashes, so I'm expecting a day of turbulant blood sugar. It also means two blood draws tomorrow. Joy!!!!! I'm SURE I don't have gestational diabetes, so I'm not sure why I'm even doing this test, but the doctor wants it, so I will comply. I'm a good patient. :)

SO... some of my friends are giving me a baby shower!! Isn't that super sweet?! Seriously, I don't need anything for this loved baby and frankly, anyone who has had 4 or more kids know what I'm talking about when I say we don't go all out like we did the first or even second child. There is no "room theme" (heck, this baby won't even have a room; she'll be our roommate for as many years as we continue to live in this house), no fluffy butterfly bedding that will get folded and put away in a bottom drawer someday to be handed down to her children, etc. I have more than enough hand-me-downs from the other kids and learned through trial and error what I really need and what is more for show.

I know from experience that I don't need a Diaper Genie because I tried that with the first baby and got entirely grossed out that you can collect a month's worth of poopy diapers and pop them out of this white trashcan to look like massive white sausage links. Who cares if you can't smell it because each diaper is individually twisted off from the rest... you know what's in there!!!

I came to know that I don't need "burp cloths" because a hand towel works just fine to clean up any spit-up that makes its way to my shoulder or lap. By the 4th baby, I don't even plan on bothering to put up a towel on my shoulder to play offense. I'll just go on the defense if I get nailed. I don't plan on having a lot of clean clothes or clothes without some kind of stain. But that's what makes being a new momma kind of fun and adventurous.

Bottle sterilizers? No thanks. I have a pot and water that boils when I turn on the stove... not to mention, I hopefully won't have to use bottles, since I like to rely on the resources God gave me to nourish my babies. I guess I'm a little granola like that. Don't worry, I'll still shave my pits, wear deodorant and a little bit of makeup when I go out in public. I'm definitely pro-breastfeeding and I pity the foo' who tries to tell me not to do it. :)

Anyway, all these fun little inventions that first-time moms collect will someday be looked upon and the realization will be made that most of the neat little ideas really aren't necessary and functionality is much better than commercialization and marketing of these money-making products.

I'm thankful, though, that my awesome friends thought about me and want to celebrate the existance of my sweet little baby girl that they already love and haven't even met yet. It means so much to me to know that there are people who still value the birth of each child, whether it's the first or the fourth. I'm so blessed.

Come to the rescue!

How many times as a mother have you truly wanted to save your child? Whether it's emotionally or physically? I am the type of mom who usually tries to find the lesson and blessing in every situation and the silver lining in every cloud. Today was the exception.

I didn't sleep much last night. I don't sleep much any night for that matter, so it wasn't too far out of the norm. Between having to pee every hour to a sweet baby in my belly that wants to kick or get the hiccups, my sleep is interrupted frequently. I don't mind at all; I usually get up and find something to do since I can't go right back to sleep. Well, Thong has gotten sick and I kept waking up to check on him, make sure he didn't have a fever and walk around the house to make sure the kids were all ok and not catching what he had.

Thankfully, I browned and seasoned some meat last night and got it in the crock pot for today's meal. (YUM for beef stew!!!). Everytime I'd get up in the night, I would go to check on it and it was looking better each time. :)

Given the lack of sleep, I was tired this morning. I got up and did my routine with the kids; got Noah ready for school, fixed his breakfast, combed his hair while he ate his Cheerios and cut-up banana, brushed his teeth and off we went to school after making sure he had his bottle of water and Nutri-Grain bar for his snack.

All seemed to be going well and I decided to lay down when I got back home because Lourdes was still sleeping. I set my alarm for 10, unless she woke up before that, which would give me 35 minutes to prepare lunch for both kids and be up to the school to eat lunch with Noah by 10:45.

Just as I start to drift off to sleep, my phone rings. It's the school nurse. Noah had a runny nose this morning so I figured it was a call to let me know I should come get him or maybe he had gotten worse. Not the case.

"Mrs. Do? This is Stephanie, the school nurse. I have Noah in the office. He wet his pants. I don't have any spare underwear that are big enough to fit him, so I was wondering if you could bring him a change of clothes." Okay, first of all, YUCK on the spare undies!!! Thank goodness my child's hind-end is too big to fit in the normal kindergarten spare drawers. Second of all, what happened? I was so heartbroken for him. She told me he was in the bathroom in her office with the door locked waiting for me.

Realizing that I had not yet put Lourdes' car seat back in my car after washing the padding and cover over the weekend, I hurried to get it securely placed in the car, in spite of a massive belly that tried to get in the way, every which way I turned. Finally, I got it so it wouldn't budge and off we went with a change of clothes.

When I arrived, I found a very large child who felt very small. I wanted so badly to take away his pain. Noah is a really strong and well-spoken child, but is also very tender hearted in spite of his absolute love for Star Wars and light sabers which make him come off as being real rough and tough. I asked him what happened and he said he just didn't know. He smiled when he saw that I brought a very similar pair of shorts to him. I told him I didn't want the other kids to notice he had on something different.

I asked him if any of the other kids saw it and he said he wasn't sure. As much as I don't advocate lying, I told him just to tell anyone who might ask that he had a bottle of water in his pocket and the lid came off and got all over him. A small smile crossed his face as I presume he felt less trapped as he walked back to class.

Lourdes and I came back home and put together lunch for her and Noah and I got some tupperware out and gathered some food for Thong. As we sat in the cafeteria, Noah's teacher (who I LOVE) came up to talk to me and let me know that Noah is such a rule-follower, she thinks he just didn't want to ask for permission to go to the bathroom while they were all sitting on the round carpet listening to a story. That made me proud of him to be known as a strict rule follower, but sad to know that he would rather be humiliated than to ask to go in an emergency. (Which she allows the kids to go to the bathroom if it's an emergency, just not a regular occurrance if it's carpet time.)

After lunching with Noah and giving some extra hugs, love and words of reassurance that it would all be ok, Lourdes and I came up to the office to check on Thong and give him his food.

All in all, I think our day is turning out ok, but it was absolutely one of those times as a mom where I would have given anything to take the place of my humiliated child. The look of complete shame on his face was almost too much for this momma to take without crying.