The Day I Forgot My Childs Name

During a "slow" moment in the ER yesterday, I was chatting with one of the docs about all things baby.  He and his wife are expecting their first child really soon.  The subject of baby names came up and he said that they have a few in mind but are not disclosing them.  My response was, "Well, that can be a good thing and a bad thing."

Let me explain...

When I was pregnant with our first child, we knew we were going to find out the gender of the baby during our ultrasound, but we also knew that we were not going to disclose any potential baby names prior to the arrival.  People are full of opinions regarding names, and I really just did not want to hear them.  Also, I really felt like we couldn't assign a name until we saw the face.  We had a short list of three or four names, but were 98% sure on one particular name. Turns out it was a REALLY good thing that we did not choose a name prior to baby's arrival and did not disclose the name to others.

From the start of the pregnancy I was convinced we were having a girl, hands down, no questions asked. Our 20 week ultrasound confirmed that baby was a girl.  I knew it, I was right!  Flash forward to June 14, 2011... my doctor delivered a very healthy baby BOY.  Surprise!  Good thing we didn't pick and name before!  My doctor was shocked as well.  I remember him looking at me just dumbfounded because the ultrasound tech in his practice had only been wrong once before in her 20 years of practice.  Apparently, he still heckles her about it from time to time and I won't lie, it makes me smile.

Braden - our surprise baby boy!

Now you know why it's a good thing that we did not choose the name early.

And here is why it can be a bad thing...

Our kids are only 13.5 months apart, so I was pregnant relatively soon after our first was born.  We decided that we would "find out" the gender of this baby as well, but if the ultrasound tech told us it was a girl, we were not holding our breath.  We walked in the ultrasound room and she said, "Oh.  It's you.  I really hope I don't get this one wrong!"  We then found out we were having another boy.  We were really confident with this prediction - it's a bit easier to get correct.  Even though we were confident, we were hesitant on choosing a name.  So again, we had the short list of names.  After he was born, and after my doctor confirmed that it was in fact a boy, we named him Logan.

Logan

I had c-sections with both my kiddos, so four days later we made it back home.  I was still taking some pain medications, my hormones were totally out of whack, and I was sleep deprived.  Remember, we had a newborn and a 13.5 month old.  However, we timed it perfectly to have had Logan on day 2 of the summer Olympics, so I did nothing but lay down, nurse, and watch Olympics... and direct my husband to chasing Braden around.

The first afternoon we were home, I was sitting on the couch while Logan was sleeping in the bouncy seat.  I was just staring at him thinking about how perfect he was and then it happened.  I couldn't remember his name.  What is his name?  What is his name????  Holy crap, I forgot his name.  Who does that?  Heather, calm down.  Think about it.  It was a great name, so surely you have to remember.  My phone!  Where is my phone?  I know I sent a text out with his picture and name information.  Shoot, the phone isn't here.  Several minutes passed (maybe it was only like 30 seconds, but it felt like eternity) and I still couldn't come up with his name.  I couldn't think of anything else to do but cry.  So there I am, staring at my nameless son, with tears streaming down my face, when my husband walks in the room.

He starts panicking.  "Babe, what's wrong???"

I just look at him, point at our son and cry, "What is this ones name????"

His response was to tell me that his name is Logan, and then laugh.  Which made me cry harder.

I guess that when you don't name the child early, you aren't referring to them by their name for 5 months prior to arrival and run the risk of forgetting it.  Sheesh.  I laugh about it now, but trust me... you feel like the worst mother in the world when you forget what you named your child.  At least it hasn't happened since.

All Is Calm-ish And Bright

Merry Christmas From the Halls!

Calm-ish and Bright.  It describes life in this house EXACTLY.

Trying to get the boys to behave at this time of year should be a piece of cake, right?  Bribery works wonders, right?  Wrong, wrong, wrong.  "Boys!  If you aren't good Santa won't bring you any presents."  Nope, that doesn't work.  Darn... maybe next year.

We are a Christian family and have been teaching the boys about the first Christmas and baby Jesus.  They love reading the Christmas story books that we have, and I really wanted to get them their very own nativity scene since the one that is on our entry way table is a "no touch" one.

I headed out to a local Christian bookstore and found the Little People Nativity Scene!  It's a bit difficult to track down.  AND, it was on sale!  Score.

The boys were really excited to get it.  I was afraid that the "newness" would wear off, but a week later they still love playing with it.  There is only one problem... they both want to play with it at exactly the same time.  And they don't always get the concept of playing together.  So, instead of a calm play session learning about baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the wise men, we have a chaotic scene that looks like this...

Boys, seriously.  What would Jesus do?  Ugh.

At least these days we have gotten over the tug of war with the manger.  Now it's a debate over what goes on top of the manager.  Braden insists the angel goes up there while Logan prefers the camel to be up there.  We have a lot of melt downs over a camel being on top of the manger.  Gee, there is something I never thought I'd say.

Last week, my closest friend had a baby.  I showed the boys her picture and they now refer to her as baby Jesus.  I guess they were paying attention during all of our talks about Christmas.  There is no convincing them that it's baby Lily and not baby Jesus.  To make things more confusing, we shipped them a box of Christmas gifts yesterday, so now Braden thinks that we sent Baby Jesus presents because it is His birthday.  How do you argue with that?

Darn You Target...

Anyone that knows me knows that I love Target.  LOVE.  I shop there so I can use their Cartwheel App on my iPhone, I think it is so fun.  I shop there so I can save 5% by using my Target debit card.  That's right, debit not credit.  How they make money on that I'll never know because there are no fees.  And you know that you need to save the 5% because you always purchase things you don't really need but just have to have.

I do not work on Monday, so this past Monday I was at home with the boys, but we needed to go to Target for several reasons:

1. Thanksgiving was a mere three days away and I was responsible for Green Bean Casserole and had none of the necessary ingredients at home except the milk.
2. I needed diapers for Logan because he came down with a nasty case of hand, foot and mouth disease.  This caused a horrific welt-like rash on his bottom (the disease really should be called hand, foot, mouth, and butt...) which we were putting cream on with every diaper change.  However, we use cloth diapers and creams are generally a no-no when it comes to cloth diapers, so I had to pick up some disposables.
3. Well, I just like Target way more than Walmart and will drive the extra 6.5 minutes to get to Target.  

When we pull up to Target I discover that Logan has fallen asleep even though he has only been up for an hour for which credit can be given to the virus he had.  I had to wake him up which of course causes him to be extremely crabby.  We enter the store and to my great dismay, they have none of the fabulous child friendly carts.  You know, the ones that are so big they are impossible to steer but keep the kids AWAY from the items to be purchased?  They look like this:

It's OK, we can survive Target without the super annoying HUGE cart.  Those were my fatal last words... Logan goes up top and gets strapped in, and Braden, well, he has to sit in the basket.  What could possibly go wrong?

The first thing we see are those dollar bins that are super awesome to look through when you are shopping alone, and your nightmare when your kids are with you because all of the items are just so much fun to the little ones.  Braden see something he just has to have and is literally trying to jump out of the cart which is increasing in speed as I'm trying to fly past this display.  We hit the baby aisle for diapers and some pull-ups because yes, we are diving into potty training after Thanksgiving.  I see that sippy cups are on sale, and I have a 10% off coupon on the Cartwheel App, and anyone that says they have too many sippy cups is lying.  You always need more.  They get lost, the littles eat through the spouts, or you discover a sippy cup of milk in the minivan after an unknown period of time and instead of cleaning it you just pitch it.  That's just plain disgusting and totally not worth the horrible sight and smell.  Barf.

Head on over toward the grocery section when I realize that Braden is not talking anymore.  He's ALWAYS talking.  Not good.  He has opened up the sippy cup package and is now licking them.  Ewwww.... Oh well, he probably won't get any  more crazy germs than the hand, foot, and mouth already in our house.  Take item away, insert toddler meltdown over removed item, ignore the stares, etc, etc.

Proceed to the grocery section.  Green beans, check.  Cream of mushroom soup, check. Milk, check.  French's Fried Onions.... nowhere to be found.  Up and down the aisles we go.  Multiple times. Cue boys throwing items out of the cart in protest of the length of time this shopping trip is taking. "Boys!  If you calm down Mommy will buy you a special treat at the checkout." Up and down the aisles we go again.   Where in God's name are the freaking fried onions???? Oh, at the end of the candy aisle on a super tiny shelf?  Logical place to put them.  Silly me for not checking there first.

"Good news boys, we are ready to go!"  Wait. Wait is that smell?  It smells vaguely familiar.  No, it's not poop - I know that smell too well.  What is that??? It's driving me crazy, but at least the boys have chilled out, so I proceed to the checkout.  Begin to put stuff on the belt and I realize what that smell is.  Cream of Mushroom soup.  Oh no.  The cans of soup have been opened by my toddler.  Stupid pop top lids.  Seriously????  There is soup everywhere.  Get mad.  Breathe.  Apologize to the cashier.  Hand him open packages of sippy cups and open cans of soup.  Can't imagine what he was thinking.  Now the kids are crying because their "stuff" is on the conveyor belt.  It was news to them we actually had to purchase the items - clearly they thought we already owned them.  By now I am just ready to get out of the store, get home, and pretend this trip never happened.  But of course, that would be too good to be true.  The cashier was really very nice, but wanted to talk to me forever about why I should have a Target Red Card in addition to the debit card.  Seriously dude?  Do you not notice WWIII that is erupting in my cart?  Please, just let me pay so I can go.  Swipe my card, don't even pay attention to the total, grab my receipt and book it to the car.

Crap!  I forgot to have him scan my Cartwheel!  I could have saved money!  No matter how much money I could have saved, one thing was for sure.  I was not about to go back in that store to have someone at Customer Service refund it to me.  Not worth it.  Get kids in the car, bags in the car, sanitize the cart (because I wouldn't wish hand foot and mouth on anyone else), and leave.

Then I hear from the back seat "Mommy?  Where's our special treat?"  No.  Just no.

Luckily, the rest of the day went much better.  I was somewhat convinced it was only going to get worse.

Introductions

I am a mom.  My husband and I have two boys: Braden who is 2.5 years old and Logan who is 16 months old.  Yes, you are doing the math correctly - they are only 13.5 months apart.  And yes, we planned to have them really close together.  Maybe that makes us crazy, but we have loved every minute of it.  Wait, clarification... we have loved MOST every minute of it.  It has been hectic and crazy, but it has also been joyful and funny.

Here are the boys - aren't they adorable?!?!

I am a also social worker in a busy Emergency Department.  If only I could write a blog about the things that happen there... I have said it since the beginning - I am not cut out to be a full-time stay at home mom.  Kudos to those of you that are.  You have the hardest job in the entire world.  Hands down, no arguments.  I really don't know how you do it.  I am a much better Mom because I work.  I know that isn't the case for everyone, but it is 100% fact for me.  I work 32 hours a week, so I feel like it's a nice balance.

I realize I am not starting this "at the beginning", but from time to time I will reflect back to previous ridiculous happenings!  Promise!