I am Michelle D. Carter

It has been a long week. Andy was just getting over his cold only to pass it along to his sister and brother and with much more intensity.

Alyssa spent two days home from school, Alex one. Tim took the morning shift home. I came home in the afternoon. Tim had written down who had which drugs and the time, making it easy for me to know when it was time to administer more. They also knew when it was time to get more as they started to feel bad again. If it was too soon, Alyssa would watch the clock until it was time for her to have more.

You could tell just by looking at them that they didn’t feel good, but they were troopers through it all.

By weeks end, they were starting to feel better. Not 100 percent, but better.

While lounging and trying to recuperate from lack of sleep, Alex yells at us, “Where’s my Benadryl?”

Tim: “Do you need some?”

Alex: “Umm, yeah! Haven’t you seen me get up a bunch of times to blow my nose?”

Where does he come up with this stuff?

The Nerf guns have been a big hit at our house. We’ve been having a blast turning out the lights and having battles. The “bullets” are little suction cup ends with Nerf ends. I realized with a little spit and pressure, the bullets will stick to the skin.

Eat your heart out Clive Barker. This is my own little Hellraiser. Much cuter too!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!

Today the boys went to a birthday party. Alex kept asking, “Will I get a present?” He was really asking about a goodie bag.

It made me think: Why do we give goodie bags in the first place?

First let’s look at the financial aspect of it. If you are having a party at a facility, you are probably paying around $10 (if not more) for each child to attend, then it is expected that you give goodie bags on top of that. Typically goodie bags are filled with inexpensive trinkets that either break after playing with them for five minutes and/or candy. So really, junk. After you’ve paid for someone else’s kid to come swim, bowl, do gymnastics or whatever the party entails, you still have to give them stuff on top of that. Why?!

I don’t know how we got in the habit of giving goodie bags. I know that when I was a kid, I never got one when I left a party. If I were to guess, I’d have to say that it stems from making all kids feel special. Like how everyone gets a trophy for just participating in a sport. You don’t even get to be special on your own birthday anymore. You have to give your friends junk so their feelings aren’t hurt.

Have you heard about Bill Gates’ High School speech about the Eleven Rules of Life? No? You can view them here. However, they aren’t from Bill Gates. It’s really from Charles Sykes. He talks about how this feel-good, politically correct teaching has created a full generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept sets them up for failure in the real world.

This is so true. It’s just like the plot from The Incredibles. Once everyone is special, then no one is special.

Let’s get back to the basics of letting someone be special when they deserve it. Mothers of the Internet unite, NO MORE GOODIE BAGS! Who’s with me??

Each week at school, a student is picked to be “Star Stallion,” in essence, Star of the Week. Alex and Andy have been picked to be the Star for their classroom this week. Over the weekend we had to fill out a poster about them. Questions included: favorite color, favorite sport, where I live and what I want to be when I grow up.

When I asked Alex what he wanted to be when he grew up. He said, “An elf.”

I thought for a second about telling him that really isn’t a job. But I didn’t want to squash his dream. He enjoys sharing his money to help others. And who says that when he grows up, he’ll continue to be free with his earnings and help those in need. That’s basically and elf so I let him go with it.

Monday, after they got off the bus and I asked how their day went. Alex says to me, “Mom, I’m upset with my friends.”

Me: “Why?”

Alex: “Because when I said I wanted to be an elf, all my friends laughed at me.”

The rage welled up inside me. Kids can be so mean. Refraining from going on a tirade, “Well, that wasn’t very nice, was it?”

Alex: “No.”

Me: “You know what buddy, you can be whatever you want to be. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t. I’m going to support you in whatever you choose to do.”

Today I’m going to school to read; maybe I’ll give those mean kids a few dirty looks. OK, maybe not! I know kids are learning. I also have heard my kids make some mean comments. I immediately correct them. But when someone hurts your baby, you just want to protect them.

Do you remember as a youth how you got in trouble for using curse words? OK, well I did. Then, as you got older when you could say them without getting in trouble? You thought you were so cool.

Then you had kids and knew your days of cursing were over? Well, at least they should be. However, sometimes the frustration and heat of the moment get the best of you and they just slip out.

In my case, I know they flow much more freely than they should. I’ve told my kids that there is only one of me and three of them that they need to learn a little patience. However, they tend to forget that at times.

The other day we are getting in the van, Tim tells Alex to get buckled. He’s struggling and trying to get it but for some reason the belt just wasn’t cooperating.

He screeches with all the venom and anger of a 5-year-old, “Just give me a damn minute.”

Awe, yes, I’ve heard those words wail from my own mouth. I couldn’t help but laugh. It was a silent laugh, but I’m sure Alex was full aware that what he did made his Mommy laugh. Tim looks at me with the that’s your fault look.

If you’ve ever wondered what all your bad habits are, have kids. They’ll let you know.

Andy lost his second tooth just before Christmas. I am so proud! He pulled it out all by himself. If you ask him, he’d tell you, “I just yanked it out.” We began to talk about how the tooth fairy would certainly visit our house that night.

Alex wanted to play with his digital arts and crafts program on the computer. I got him set up and started doing a little cleaning around the house. It wasn’t long and he said, “Mom, can I borrow your hole puncher?”

It’s not uncommon for the kids to make masks. We went to the basement and punched holes for the eyes and tied some string on it so he could tie his mask on.

He ran back upstairs and was now at the table with tape and scissors. He giggled. He laughed. He taunted his brother, “Andy, it’s the tooth fairy.”

Me: “Alex, what are you doing?”

Alex: “I’m the tooth fairy.”

Everyone started to laugh. Alex laughed harder. What possessed this kid to make a tooth fairy costume, I don’t know. Maybe he was hoping he could convince Andy to give him his tooth so he’d get the money from the tooth fairy. But the costume was complete with mask, crown and wand. Quite the imagination!

January 4, 2000 – The day my wonderful little girl was born. Today she turned nine. NINE! OMG, how time flies!

This year’s celebration included a sleep-over with a few of her friends. It’s always hard to schedule something on her actual birthday since it’s so close to Christmas. We did the sleep-over Saturday night so when they woke up today, it would be her birthday.

The sleep-over was a big hit!! Alyssa was so happy!! They had so much fun. And they all got along so great. I heard comments like:

Oh, I’m sorry, you were there first.

It’s OK.

Are you sure?

Yeah.

Thanks.

Are you guys having fun?

YEAH!! This is the best birthday ever.

Wow! What a great group of girls! As we get closer to the teen years and the stories of all the drama, I hope that this group can remain the wonderful girls they are today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALYSSA!! I LOVE YOU!!!

The count down begins:

December 30^th – I had fallen asleep early thanks to the help of night-time cold medicine. However, Tim kept watching TV. I tossed and turned, obviously, he wasn’t getting the hint that he was keeping me awake. Finally around midnight I ask, “How much more TV do you plan to watch?”

Tim: “I don’t know, why?”

Me: “I think maybe you should go downstairs and watch it then.”

I’m sure it was my sweet charming personality that finally convinced him to shut the TV off. Moments later the room was dark and I was able to drift back off in my medicated fog.

Three hours later, the bug in Tim’s lower intestine was ready to emerge – and NOT quietly. I could hear Tim’s cries of agony. Feeling nothing but sympathy for the poor guy, I think to myself: COME ON! All I want is to get some decent sleep. After all, I am trying to fight off a cold!

December 31^st – I awake completely wiped out and barely able to function. Somehow I managed to make myself somewhat presentable and headed to work. Luckily, the boss man let us go home early. I arrived home, ate some lunch and disappeared to my bedroom. I can’t believe it but after only a couple interruptions, I’m able to get in a little nap.

Feeling a little better, we run a couple of errands. We grab a quick bite to eat and headed home.

Tim and I knew we wouldn’t stay up until midnight. Both of us hadn’t been feeling well. The days of staying up late and seeing how much you can drink are gone. There isn’t enough time for us to recover when you have young kids to deal with the next morning. But I thought maybe we could watch a movie or something.

Tim watched a little TV with the boys. I snuggled in with Alyssa. While watching TV with her, I fell asleep. So much for the movie plan! I was asleep before 10:00 pm. Actually, I’m sure it was before 9:00 pm but…

December 31^st, 11:50 pm – Alex came into our room crying that his tummy hurt. We headed downstairs to get him some tummy medicine. I pass by Alyssa’s room. The TV is still on! I very politely (NOT) tell her, “Alyssa, it’s time to turn the TV off!”

Alyssa: “Mom, can I watch until end of this show?”

Me: “Alyssa! Turn the TV off NOW!!!”

Downstairs I find the children’s Pepto. The dog is doing circles at the back door – that’s code for her that she needs to go out and out now! After dispensing the medicine, I stumble to the back door.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. That freakin’ alarm, I’m gonna kill Tim for setting that damn thing. I run to the key pad and enter our code. Alex is freakin’ out and yelling Mommy. Tim awakes from his coma and runs downstairs.

I look at him and yell, “OK, I’m done with that damn system being set at night. This is the second time in three days I’ve set it off.”

December 31^st, 11:59 pm – Back in bed, I kick Tim. He mumbles, “Huh, what?”

Me: “Happy New Year.”

Tim: “Oh, yeah. Zzzzzz.”

Though my New Year’s Eve wasn’t the most exciting, it was spent with those I love. No matter how you celebrated (or didn’t), the New Year is here, make it the best you can!