My mom was here for two months while I recovered from my mishap with SpiderMan.  It was so wonderful to have her here. She allowed me to sleep in, keep my leg up and she would get me slurpees!  She is the best mom.  Unfortunately, she had to go back home.  My ankle is pretty much healed.  I still walk with a limp, but I walk in shoes.  But since she left, I have been in a funk.  I had to go back to being a mom.  I couldn’t just direct from the couch.  Don’t get me wrong I love being a mom.  I love my sweet boys and wouldn’t know what to do without their hugs and kisses, but it sure was nice to have Bebe here.  Now I am back to mom duty every day and it hasn’t been easy.  Since my mom left I have been sick twice which does not make for a very good mom.  Bill got orders to move to New Mexico and we have to get our house ready to sell.  How do I entertain the kids or have my four year old entertain his brother while trying to help on the renovation/dejunking process?  Not an easy thing to do.  And I think that I am becoming a whiner.  (I have a good role model — Billy).  The other day Billy told me he wanted milk.  Just like that — I want milk. I said well I don’t get milk for little boys that don’t ask nicely.  He said I just want Bebe.  I know how he feels.

 I have been told by a very good friend that babies born now a days come hardwired. They already know how to use the vast amounts of technology before them.  I think she is right.  Billy has always been a computer geek.  When he was not quite two he amazed fellow diners at a Thanksgiving Day dinner with his expertise on the computer and how well he can use a mouse.  Now at the age of four, he is, I am afraid, addicted to Wii.  I am totally at fault here.  I always say I am going to set a timer and sometimes I do, but a lot of times I let him play and I get a lot of stuff done.  It also entertains Baden which is a bonus.  But now I think that I am going to have to cut Billy off. He is going to have to go cold turkey.  Lately his favorite game has been Super Mario Galaxy. This is a fun game, but Billy is in overload.  Every morning he wakes up and talks about how he needs to get to a galaxy and defeat the bad guys.  When he is tucked in at night and we are about to leave the room, he says wait I have to tell you something.  His something is about the galaxy that he needs to get to and how he might need our help.  His choice for a book at night is the Super Mario Galaxy instruction manual.  Now that is some compelling reading.  I will be doing my own reading in the Yellow Pages under Addiction Recovery Centers — Wii Addiction, that is.

So I will have to write a note for Billy tomorrow to let his teacher know why he wasn’t in school today. I guess I can just say I was sick and not go into detail about how I really felt.  I thought that Billy would be okay with the decision not to go to school today, but he told me that his teacher would miss him and he needed to do his worksheets.  I felt horrible.  It makes me smile that he likes school so much.  He will definitely be there tomorrow. I will drag myself there.  I am feeling better so hopefully that won’t happen.  It really stinks to be a mom and get sick.  Yesterday was the worst and Bill took Billy to school which was great. Then I had to go pick him up, but I was the last mom there because I had fallen asleep on the couch and woke up at 10:30am and Baden was still in his pajamas. I had to get him dressed so poor Billy was the last one to be picked up. Today I woke up achy everywhere and not ready to face anything.  Billy really took everything in stride. Baden even helped me out by hanging out with me in the family room and only escaped once through the gate up the stairs. Then my sweet husband came home early from work because I was sick and brought lunch.  What a great guy.  Tomorrow is a new day and a healthier me will emerge, I hope. Nyquil might help with that.

Every day we have several tornadoes tear through our house.  It usually hits around 7:30 am and then another touches down in the afternoon.  This tornado is small, but packs a powerful punch.  We call our tornado, Baden.  He loves to open cabinets and drawers and throw everything out.  I think it is his favorite past time.  When he’s really quiet is when the big one has hit.  It’s just like the real thing — the calm before the storm.  I never knew a sweet, cherubic faced 14 month old could destroy almost everything in his wake.  He is such a sweetie and I thought he is a good balance to Billy who can be difficult at times.  Well he is a good balance, but he is a walking diaster.  Nothing is safe.  I thought I had things pretty well child proofed, but I must have gotten lax because if it’s not Baden will find it.  Bill’s scriptures have paid the price of our little tornado along with several other items throughout the house. Speaking from experience tornadoes are no fun, but this one sure is cute.    

We had a fun Halloween. We went to our church for a carnival and trunk or treating.  Billy was in hog heaven jumping in the bouncy house.  I didn’t think he would ever come out.  He did emerge for water and finally when it was time for trunk or treating he was ready to go.  Bill dressed up like Charlie Brown. It was just a shirt, but he really looks the part.  Maybe it’s the head.  Billy was Optimus Prime with a really cool helmet that morphs your voice to sound just like Optimus Prime.  Neato Burrito! Baden was a little bat.  He loved just being with all the kids and knocking over the bowling pins they had for one of the games and he almost made off with a full cup of candy corn, but I stopped him.  Baden really loved trunk or treating.  Billy likes it too, but he had more fun handing the candy out and even got mad when we left because we still had a couple of pieces of candy left that we didn’t hand out.  When we got home Billy immediately opened his bag and got some candy. Baden  saw this and got really mad so we had to get him something from his bag.  We have learned he is pretty territorial when it comes to his candy bag. If he is looking at his candy and someone touches a piece of candy, he will immediately grab it from you.  It was a fun night for all.

So Mom left on Saturday headed back to Oklahoma.  Saturday was a rainy day — perfect to match our mood. We did get the garage cleaned out and arranged so Bill can start working in there. Then Sunday came and we were fine.  Then during Relief Society my throat was feeling kind of sore.  Maybe I was conducting with too much gusto.  Monday, sore throat.  Tuesday, sore throat and now Bill is sick.  I mean sick, sick.  He is down for the count sick.  He says it’s my fault, but all I had was a sore throat that is now gone.  My major concern making sure that Halloween isn’t ruined.  I am really looking forward to taking the boys to our ward’s Halloween Trunk or Treat which this year will include dinner and games.  It reminds me of when I was little and our ward in California had a Halloween party complete with a spook alley, bobbing for apples and other fun games.  I remember the bishop dressed up as Raggedy Andy and his wife was Raggedy Ann.  Okay so I am off topic. Shouldn’t I be concerned that my husband will be okay.  I have told him so many times he needs to go to the doctor, but so far he hasn’t listened.  I even told him to go to the ER which I wouldn’t do unless it’s major say like a broken ankle.  I think he is doing a little bit better today. I hope so anyway.  But if you see me, Optimus Prime and a little bat tomorrow night, you’ll know where Bill is.

I debated and debated about to blog about moving to New Mexico.  It is after all not happening tomorrow and we will be around for  six months so I thought maybe I would just wait, but I didn’t.  So I posted last night that we were moving and we have already received a record for this blog, six comments.  We got to church and a lot of people that are not in the circle of blogging sisters that I know knew.  I was surprised.  News does travel fast.  Bill was asked to meet with the second counselor today before church so we knew he was probably being released.  He was and one of the reasons was the bishopric heard some news that we might not be in the area for too much longer. Does the bishopric read our blog???

Bill got home on Thursday and told me he had something important to tell me that would be life changing.  I couldn’t imagine what it could be.  I thought maybe it had to do something with his family since he had been in Utah for the past week.  I never would have guessed that he has received orders to go to Kirtland, AFB, New Mexico.  I have been wanting to go to New Mexico for a long time.  New Mexico is less than a day’s drive to Monticello, Utah and Altus, Oklahoma.  How awesome it will be to be able to hop in the car on a long weekend and go see our family.  We have never had that pleasure.  We got married and moved to New Jersey and then moved five years ago three hours south to Maryland.  We have always been on the east coast and I have been longing to be west of the Mississippi River.  Now it is happening and it doesn’t seem real.  We have so much to do and it’s the worst possible time to try to sell a house.  Bill’s report date as of right now is the end of April, but we are hoping they may allow us to extend out to June so that Billy can finish school.  Unfortunately, we have been procrastinators and are now going to be living out This Old House episodes every day.  I think painting may become a specialty of mine. 

*For those Jeopardy fans out there, O Fair, New Mexico is the state song of New Mexico.

Well Bebe left today.  For those of you who don’t know, Bebe is my mom. When Billy was two, he started calling her Bebe and it stuck.  Well she has been here for two months and today she left to go back to Oklahoma.  She has been a HUGE help.  I don’t know what I would have done without her.  She truly helped in everyway including allowing me to keep my foot up so that my ankle could heal properly.  I can now walk up the stairs, but I still go down on my bottom.  Just think how I would have managed with Baden and Billy when I went up and down the stairs on my rear and had to use crutches to get around.  She cooked, cleaned, changed diapers, did laundry, made Mickey Mouse pancakes, and gave hugs and kisses out generously.  She put up with a whining four year old who at times told her that he wasn’t going to be her grandma anymore ( I think we need to explain better how family relationships work), but she is a trooper and just smiled and kept on going.  It is strange not having her around and it will be for the next week, I am sure.  Billy cried which made me get teary-eyed, too.  He’s already told me today that he wants to get on an airplane to go see Bebe and Grandpa.  My mom deserves a break and I know one of the first things she will do is call the massage therapist for a massage ASAP then she will head to Happy Hour at Sonic for a Cherry Limeade.  She deserves it! Thank you, Bebe.  You’re wonderful.

Lately Billy has started watching Tom and Jerry on the Cartoon Network or Boomerang.  He thinks they are hiliarious.  Baden does, too. They both laugh and laugh.  Of course, some might think how horrible for children to be watching a cat and a mouse chase after each other and try to harm one another.  Then I look at some of the stuff that is on TV now and I know they will not be scarred because I let them watch Tom and Jerry. I watched Tom and Jerry and I am okay.  The only problem seems to be getting Billy to stop calling the cat, Jerry and the mouse, Tom.  When I explain it to him, he says no, no. The cat’s name is Jerry.  Then he laughs and laughs. Maybe he is just being silly.  He is four after all.