Death By Turtle

Play Ball

Last night, while sitting at E2's ballgame*, we heard the other team's coach negotiating with our coach the number of at-bats left for each team. This isn't the first game where this has happened, and I commented to Rob that I couldn't believe it was such a big deal-who cares if one team had more at-bats than the other?

He noted that it probably wasn't the coaches, or even the parents, who cared; it was most likely the kids.

R: "At that age I would have been mad if I'd only had two at bats when everyone else had three."

Me: "I would have just been glad that I didn't have to bat again."

R: "That doesn't surprise me."

* It's one of THOSE leagues that it's P.C. to bash these days. They don't keep score, nobody gets out, half the team bats each inning, each kid can slide into home plate if they so choose, etc. The teams aren't always equal in size, thus the batting negotiations. As one of the parents on our team put it, "It's like an hour of batting and fielding practice with uniforms." And it is. BUT, I think it's a great way for these 4-6 year old's to learn what is supposed to happen during the game before any of them get too skilled to snark on those less athletically inclined. During the first game there were kids batting and then running after the ball, while still holding the bat, as seven or so kids from the other team converged to try and field the ball. It's highly entertaining to me. Rob's counting down the games until she's done.

Warming Up The Boot

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a fatal neuromuscular disease that can strike anyone without warning. Every 90 minutes someone in this country will be diagnosed with ALS and every 90 minutes someone will lose their battle against this devastating disease.

The Walk to D'Feet ALS® is The ALS Association's national signature event. Each year, nearly 100,000 patients, men, women, children and corporations join together to raise funds in support of internationally driven cutting-edge ALS research and community-based patient services programs. Now in its eighth year, approximately 150 Walks will be held around the country in 2007.

Click here to visit my personal page for Amy's Army: A Boot In The ALS.

Coming Back To Bite Me

Remember my bee sting from last Thursday? For some reason today my toe is swollen, a bit numb, and very itchy. I wonder if I didn't get all of the stinger removed? It's got me a little spooked because it just doesn't look good.

Earlier today I called to get E3 an appointment with the dr this afternoon because she's sounding congested like she did just before our Urgent Care visit on Memorial Day. I called back just before lunch time to ask them to add me to the appointment so he can look at my toe.

I've already touched up the polish on my toes and I'm trying to stay chill about it.

Keep your toes crossed for me.

[eta] Just a delayed reaction in my toe says the doc. E3's is just a head cold. All good.

Into The Vortex

We've all been sucked in, I tell ya. And it's all my mother-in-law's fault.

The Beauty Of Living Near Family

Rob called today around lunch time; he has four tickets to tonight's Cardinal's game. We tossed around ideas of another couple to invite, and he agreed to call his parents to see if Grandma would come over to get the girls to bed.

Not long after that, it hit me that although E1 has art class and E2 has a dinosaur class tomorrow neither one has to be up too terribly early. THEY could be our other couple! I got a message back to Rob with my idea and he agreed. I told him I was fine with E3 spending the night with his parents, or we could pick her up on our way home because she would go right back to sleep. Once again, he said he'd get in touch with his parents. By 1:15 p.m. it had been settled.

Rob: two old girls now going to baseball game with us, can
E3 spend the night?

Grandma: Would love to have her. She brings great joy to us.

Stung

I'm taking one for the Internet here, posting even though I was maimed this afternoon. Bee sting to the next-to-big toe. My kids have been extremely cooperative and helpful out of concern for my injury and I'm wondering if it's worth getting stung by a bee more often.

Just yesterday, someone told me that some experts think that the bee population is dwindling and they suspect the cause is cell phone usage. Now, really. Why can't it be mosquitoes who are harmed by cell signals and the like? I'd SO be making calls all day and night if that were the case.

At any rate, Dana told a gross story today and in the comments I said I would post a story of my own that I thought was as equally gross. So here goes - read at your own grossed-out risk.

It happened back when E1 was just over the potty-learning hump and getting to the potty on a pretty regular basis. She would still have the occasional accident, usually in the bathroom because she just didn't give herself quite enough time to get there. Couldn't. Tear. Herself. Away. From. Playing. When this would happen, we would talk her through the necessary steps of cleaning up after herself; a nice natural consequence, if you will.

So, on this particular day E1 called out that she'd had an accident and I walked into the bathroom to see...no evidence of an accident.

"Are you sure you had an accident?", I asked.

She assured me that yes, she'd had a poop accident.

* Now, I have to interject here and note that unless you knew E1 at that age - her personality and the way she talked - a good portion of the humor is lost. She's a first-born, and was not yet educated in the ways of being wily with the parents. So her tone was very sober, practical, and matter-of-fact, and her words spoken in child high-squeak.

"Really?", I asked. I turned and looked out into the hallway, wondering how I'd managed to get to the bathroom without stepping on a hidden poop land-mine. But there was nothing in the hallway. Nothing in the bathroom. Nothing in her panties. Nothing in the toilet. Not even toilet paper, as she hadn't yet wiped herself.

"If you had a poop accident, then where is the poop?"

"Well, Winston came in and he went (insert chewing/lip-smacking noise here)."

The dog.

He was sitting there in the bathroom, looking part guilty and part interested - a look similar to one he usually employed around the kitchen table waiting to see if anything else would be hitting the floor.

I smelled his breath. To be honest though, it always smelled a bit foul so there was no true way of knowing if he'd truly (insert chewing/lip-smacking noise here) the poop accident.

To this day, just thinking of the noise she made to imitate the dog reduces me to hysterical tears.

Authentic Pretending

Today my backyard was a "campground". E2, E3, and nephew F had little lawn chairs set up on the back porch (their camp site) "for relaxing", and were collecting sticks for the "campfire", and leaves and flower petals for their "food"

Then I heard E3 call out, "I PEED!" , and turned to see her standing next to a tree yanking up her drawers.

Burrito

Six Degrees of Linkage

We've all heard about the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon by now, right? Behold, a St. Louis version:

I've known Lisa since we were little tykes. Our Moms would trade babysitting so they could get out of the house and away from us munchkins. They also played cards together. Lisa was in the same high school class as my sister Amy, and the two of them were part of a larger group of girlfriends that has kept in touch since high school. Lisa lives in Missouri, near St Louis (henceforth known as STL).

When I had E2 and E3, we hired a doula (FABULOUS! Everyone should do this!) named Barb (henceforth known as Doula Barb) and also attended the Bradley Childbirth classes she taught. During E3's 'labor' (after my water had broken, but before contractions), Rob was relaying to Barb how he liked to read Suburban Fringe by Bob Rybarczyk and often felt our lives (before Bob's divorce and remarriage) were parallel. Doula Barb revealed that she knew Bob R and went to school with his sister.

When Lisa moved to her new neighborhood, she emailed me her new address. I immediately called out to Rob, "Lisa's new house is down the street from Doula Barb!" Lisa and Doula Barb are now part of a Bunco Babes group.

I began reading Dana's blog, oh, a year or so ago I'd guess. Since Dana writes for STLToday.com just like Bob R, it wasn't a huge surprise when she mentioned him one time. Dana recently wrote a column regarding Missouri hombirthin' laws (because it's Missouri, it's homebirthin'), and in the comments on her blog I chimed in about our positive experiences with Doula Barb. Lisa commented that she knows/lives near Doula Barb. Rebecca recounted her experiences as a babysitter for Doula Barb's family AND learning part of her doula training from Doula Barb.

I don't know Rebecca, but I've been enjoying her blog since. However, Lisa and Dana met a couple of weeks ago, along with a couple of other bloggers.

Last week, Rob had lunch with his boss at Roadhouse Kitchen in Webster Groves, MO. A man walked in from the patio and Rob, who admits he's not the best at recognizing faces, immediately thought this man was someone he knew. The man walked past as Rob was still trying to place him: contractor, project manager..? when his boss asked, "Do you know that guy over there?" He turned to look and said guy was looking right at him. It was Jamie Allman.

Dana has recently hit the airwaves locally with Jamie Allman.

I began reading Jenn after linking through a comment on Midwestern Mommy - and she had me listed as one of the blogs she likes to read so immediately became my internetly friend. She writes for a newspaper as well, and so, is a co-worker of our friend Rod. Rod was in our wedding.

Now I'm just waiting for Lisa or Dana to get knocked up and hire Doula Barb...or Dana's husband Chris' building remodel to unknowingly order fabricated metal from Foreman Fabricators...or for Dana to mention that she lives down the street from a single gentleman with a huge great dane named THOR (to which I'll reply, "That's my uncle!").

I'm going to do my best to make the next STL Blogger chick get-together, because it's high time we get to braiding each other's hair, don'tcha think?

Less than six degrees, people...although, I'm not sure who the Kevin Bacon would be in my STL version. It's like the circle of life, or the food chain or something.

Or maybe it's just STL.

Support The Registry

Dear ALSA Advocate:

Your advocacy efforts are making a difference! We now have won the support of more than 200 Members of the House who have cosponsored the ALS Registry Act (H.R. 2295) – just 15 short of a majority! Additional Senators also have cosponsored the Senate version of the bill (S. 1382), as we now have nearly 20 Senators as cosponsors. It is a testament to the effectiveness of your advocacy that we have achieved this level of support in such a short period of time. In fact, this is the quickest that an ALS specific bill has ever reached 200 cosponsors in the House – faster than in 2006 and faster than was achieved with the 24-month waiver legislation – legislation that ultimately became law.

A full listing of cosponsors will be available on the Advocacy Action Center of our website here . As of this writing, the list had not been updated by the Government Printing Office, which publishes cosponsor information electronically. However, we expect the full list to be updated by tomorrow.

ACTION NEEDED

We urge you to continue to reach out to your Members of Congress and request that they cosponsor the ALS Registry Act (or thank them if they already have cosponsored the bill). Your outreach will help us to win the support of a majority of the House and Senate. At the same time, it also is absolutely critical that we get the support of the Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over the bill and which can determine whether or not the ALS Registry Act moves forward through the normal legislative process. Therefore, it is especially important that people living in the districts of the following Committee Members send letters TODAY! Most of the Members of the Committee already have cosponsored the bill, but the following Members have yet to add their support:

Arizona: Rep. John Shadegg (R-3rd, Phoenix)
California: Rep. George Radanovich (R-19th, Fresno, Turlock)
California: Rep. Jane Harman (D-36th, El Segundo, Wilmington)
Colorado: Rep. Diane DeGette (D-1st, Denver)
Illinois: Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-14th, Batavia, Dixon, Geneseo)
Indiana: Rep. Steve Buyer (R-4th, Monticello, Plainfield, Bedford)
Indiana: Rep. Baron Hill (D-9th, Jeffersonville)
Louisiana: Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-3rd, Gonzales, Houma, New Iberia, Chalmette)
New Mexico: Rep. Heather Wilson (R-1st, Albuquerque)
Oklahoma: Rep. John Sullivan (R-1st, Tulsa, Bartlesville) – NOTE: cosponsored in 2006
Pennsylvania: Rep. Joe Pitts (R-16th, Lancaster, Unionville) – NOTE: cosponsored in 2006
Tennessee: Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-7th, Memphis, Clarksville, Franklin)
Texas: Rep. Ralph Hall (R-4th, Texarkana, Rockwall, Sherman, New Boston)
Texas: Rep. Michael Burgess (R-26th, Lewisville, Ft. Worth)
Virginia: Rep. Rick Boucher (D-9th, Abington, Pulaski, Big Stone Gap)

Please only contact these Members if you live in their district or serve families in their district, since Members of Congress are only responsive to their constituents. If you know someone who lives in any of these districts, please ask them to contact Congress.

Visit the Advocacy Action Center of our website here . To learn if you live in one of these districts and to send a letter directly to your elected officials. Together we can obtain a majority of the Congress as cosponsors and we can pass the ALS Registry Act during the 110th Congress.

If you have any questions or would like additional information, please contact the Advocacy Department at advocacy@alsa-national.org or toll-free at 1-877-444-ALSA.
Thank You!

(The family of Beloved Aunt Amy thanks you as well!)

Weekend Update

Friday

Baby Mahlia

Saturday

E2's first t-ball game

Sunday

4-wheelin'

Moo

View from my lawn chair in my In-law's back yard.