One Of Those Emails
Mood:  crushed out
Topic: Cool

Subject: The Price of Children

The government recently calculated the cost of
raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with
$160,140.00 for a middle income family. Talk about
price shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition.

But $160,140.00 isn't so bad if you break it down.
It translates into:

* $8,896.66 a year,
* $741.38 a month, or
* $171.08 a week.
* That's a mere $24.24 a day!
* Just over a dollar an hour.

Still, you might think the best financial advice
is don't have children if you want to be "rich."
Actually, it is just the opposite.

What do you get for your $160,140.00?

* Naming rights. First, middle, and last!
* Glimpses of God every day.
* Giggles under the covers every night.
* More love than your heart can hold.
* Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
* Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and
warm cookies.
* A hand to hold usually covered with jelly or
chocolate.
* A partner for blowing bubbles and flying
kites.
* Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no
matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed
that day.

For $160,140.00, you never have to grow up. You
get to:

* finger-paint,
* carve pumpkins,
* play hide-and-seek,
* catch lightning bugs, and
* never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to:

* keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and
Pooh,
* watch Saturday morning cartoons,
* go to Disney movies, and
* wish on stars.
* You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and
flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray
painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set
in clay for Mother's Day, and cards with backward
letters for Father's Day.

For a mere $24.24 a day, there is no greater bang
for your buck. You get to be a hero just  for:

* retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof,
* taking the  training wheels off a bike,
* removing a splinter,
* filling a wading  pool,
* coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and
coaching a baseball team  that never wins but always
gets treated to ice cream  regardless.

You get a front row seat in history to witness
the:

* first step,
* first word,
* first bra,
* first date, and
* first time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal. You get another branch
added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long
list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren
and great grandchildren. You get an education in
psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications,
and human sexuality that no college can  match.

In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there
under God. You have all the power to heal boo-boos,
scare away the monsters  under the bed, patch a broken
heart, police a slumber party, ground them  forever,
and love them without limits, so one day they will,
like you,  love without counting the cost. That is
quite a deal for the price!!!!!!!

Love & enjoy your children & grandchildren!!!!!!!

It's the best investment you'll make!

The Incident On The Bus
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Lauren

Normally Lauren takes a few days to process events and then blurt the story to me in the middle of an everyday conversation. This time however, she told me the day it happened. In fact, she told me after only an hour or so had passed. On the bus ride home, the neighbor girl told Lauren that she had an eye problem. Lauren, who does not know about bleph and that she has it, replied that she did not have an eye problem. The neighbor girl pretty much replied that, yes, she did, and went on to explain that another girl from class didn't want to be near Lauren because of her "eye problem and that thing on her face”. 

It seems the kids spent another day talking about Lauren’s strawberry kiss on her cheek, was it a rash? A scab? Was it contagious? All of this in front of Lauren. Now, Lauren knows it’s a birthmark. She also knows that it’s often called an angel’s kiss and we like to say its three kisses from her grandmother, her grandfather, and her great grandmother, all of whom passed away while I was pregnant with Lauren.  I’m sure Lauren was feeling very self-conscious and when that happens the last thing one wants to do is the one thing that would stop the talking - call more attention to oneself while explaining what it is. So Lauren didn’t say anything at the time. 

The eye issue is different though. We’ve never mentioned the bleph to Lauren because we don’t want her to thinking there’s something “wrong” with her. I often thought Tony should say something to her, but he always wanted to wait until that bridge appeared. I think he was hoping it wouldn’t ever appear since her eyelids don’t seem to be affected as much his were, but here we are, standing in front of said bridge. I felt my way through it the best I could by telling Lauren that it wasn’t a nice thing for the other girl to say and asking how she had felt about it. Lauren seemed more bewildered by it than anything else. She just couldn’t figure out why someone would say she had an eye problem when she “doesn’t”. Then I told Tony is was time something was said because this wasn’t just teasing, this was shunning. Toyn proceeded to have an age appropriate talk with Lauren about their eyes being a little different from other people’s eyes – more almond shaped. He went on to explain how kids talk about or tease those who have something a little different about them. His example was of how a boy might be teased because his ears stick out. He asked her if she had ever teased anyone and explained that it makes people feel sad and it’s not a nice thing to do. He said she should just ignore people who say anything because they’re just being mean.  I think it will be enough to get her started.

I have to give kudos to Tony here. I’m sure all of this has brought back some awfully painful feelings for him as well as brought up news ones when thinking about what may lie ahead for Lauren. He did say that he told her way more than he had intended but he did it. He did it for me because I thought it was important. So thank you Tony J Thank you for facing those feelings and taking a step in preparing Lauren for dealing with what may come. I love you!

If Only
Mood:  happy
Topic: Family and Friends

Lauren asked me today when we could go to Heaven to visit my parents. When I told her we couldn't visit Heaven she wondered why we couldn't simply get on a plane and fly up into the sky to see them. Oh how I wish it could be done!

It's All In The Name
Mood:  silly
I do a little selling on Ebay, mostly girly type stuff, you know, figurines, knick-knacks, that kind of thing. I had to laugh the other day when I received a question regarding shipping on one of my auction items. It was for a Precious Moments figurine that the potential buyer wanted to purchase for his or her daughter. The funny part was the bidder's handle was Deadly Embrace.

Another "Gets Me Every Time" Moment
Mood:  special
Topic: Lauren

If you've followed my blog since near the beginning or read previous posts, you'll know that I swear my daughter is really my mother come back. I say this because Lauren does things that my mom used to do or says things that would really come from my mother's mouth. Well, you know, it's been a long time since the last time it happened.  Over a year in fact, so this was a nice surprise.

Lauren was watching a little TV when she noticed the name of one of the characters. She looked over at me and said "Bill - I really like that name."

Bill was my dad's name :-)

Kindergarten
Mood:  happy
Topic: Lauren

Now that one full month has passed since the beginning of kindergarten, I am pleased to say Lauren is absolutely loving it!

Sure, she had her moments the first week when she said she didn't want to go, but then I heard all the new kindergarteners were saying the same thing, so I wasn't too worried. And sure, there were a few bumps in the road like the day when the kids at her table told her she didn't belong in the class and the day one of the kids on the bus said she didn't like Lauren because of the red mark on her face (a birthmark - strawberry hemangioma - which has actually faded quite a bit), but we dealt with those. Other than that it has gone well. 

I get the typical "I don't know" when I ask what she did in school or what her favorite thing that happened was, but every once in a while she'll relate a cute story. They've had gym class and music class. They've gone to the library and checked out books. They've even had their first birthday party already! Lauren has enjoyed it all.

I have to say though that the first day is still the best when even before she got off the bus she was smiling and excitedly said "Mom, I made a new friend today!"

Tuesdays With Lauren
Mood:  crushed out
Topic: Lauren

Lauren: You know what Mom?

Me: What?

Lauren: Tuesdays are my favorite day because you get to walk me to the bus stop instead of Dad.

Me: Me too!

Finally!
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Yours Truly

I finally have a diagnosis. It started with a gyro, then I had to endure this and this and this, which was followed by wondering what was next. It has finally ended with...the gallbladder. It seems my gallbladder is having a tough time emptying. Thanks to a nifty little test called the HIDA scan which measures the rate at which a gallbladder empties, I now know that my gallbladder is rating a low 7.8% instead of the normal 35% or above. That little baby is coming out!

El Primer Dia De La Clase De Espa?ol
Mood:  on fire
Topic: Lauren
Lauren had her first day of Spanish class today. Lauren's elementary school has Spanish class for anyone interested. It meets an hour before school starts and they even subsidize it. Tony was not happy with having to get up an hour earlier and neither was Lauren for that matter (Tony said she just couldn't understand why she had to get up so early), but they made it over there. I was expecting Lauren to say she couldn't understand anything the teacher said, but this kid never ceases to prove me wrong. When I asked her how it went, Lauren said "I already knew everything."

The First Day Of School
Mood:  celebratory
Topic: Lauren

Well, today was the day. The first day of Kindergarten. The bus stop was full of energy - excitement among the "old hats" and nervousness among the newbies.  Myself, I managed to keep the emotions in check, even when I hugged her and choked out "Have a great first day!".

Earlier in the week, I had joked with Tony about following the bus to school to watch Lauren get off, but completely forgot the idea this morning. However, the last of my errands during school hours brought me past the school right when it was getting out, so I just couldn't help but swing in to watch the little kids walking to the bus ;-) It was so cute...those little kids with their too big backpacks on their backs, banging the backs of their knees as they walked. Awwww! What was NOT cute though, was the fact that Lauren was not in the line. I watched until the bus left and I never saw Lauren get on. I figured maybe I had missed her somehow when I had turned the car around so I headed home to meet the bus. When I arrived home, I confessed to Tony what I had done and how I hadn't seen Lauren get on the bus. He laughed at me a bit - until the call came. It was Lauren's teacher calling to say the bus was going to be a bit late because the driver had left before all the kids could get on. I immediately imagined a forever scarred little girl who would never want to go to school on the bus again.