My Main Goal

Today I had one of Oprah's "A-ha Moments".

As a parent, I have said before that my goal is to raise a kid that other people, adults and kids alike, enjoy being around. I now have a goal for my life. My whole life, not just the parenting part. And I'll even go so far as to say that it should be a life goal for everyone. Ready?

My goal is to live my life so that people will want to rally around me if my world falls apart, and help me put the pieces back together.

Holly is my friend whose son just had the 5 lb. tumor removed along with his kidney and adrenal gland. Hunter is doing as well as can be expected and is supposed to get his chemo port put in tomorrow and come home either Tuesday or Wednesday. So far, some friends have organized a fundraising pig pickin' for March 21, so many have gone up to VA to visit them in the hospital, people have made and frozen meals to stock their freezer with, some of us have bought groceries and filled their fridge and cabinets and a few of us girls went to their house and spring cleaned it today. We are trying to make it as easy a transition as possible when they finally get home after being gone for over a week.

Holly and her husband are 2 of the most kind, generous and sweet people you could ever meet. They work hard to provide for their family. They have good insurance that will cover a good portion of the doctor bills but that won't really help with the 21+ weeks that Hunter will be having chemo treatments and Holly and/or Ben will be out of work taking care of him.

So here is the ultimate questions: Do you live you life in such a way that people would be willing to go above and beyond to help you in your time of need? Or do you live it in such a way that people would feel sorry for you but not actually do anything to help you? Think about it. That's what I have been doing this evening while looking at how disgusting my house is compared to how clean Holly's house is now! I want to be the person who is so blessed by their friends that even the worst possible scenario can be dealt with in the easiest possible way.

Deep thoughts by Kingston's Mom. Whew!

Pray for the Presgraves-UPDATED

UPDATE: I heard 3rd or 4th hand that Hunter had surgery today and they removed the cancer with a kidney and adrenal gland. His mom, ever the optimist, said the surgery went great. The next step is probably chemo. Poor sweet boy. Keep those prayers coming. It's not over yet.

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I just got a message on Facebook and an email from my friend Brandy saying that one of my friend's little boy was just diagnosed with kidney cancer. I'm not sure of the details but I do know he has been sent to the Childrens' Hospital in Virginia for further evaluation, and I assume treatment. Holly is the sweetest girl with the most positive, upbeat attitude and her little boy is is only in Kindergarten. Please pray hard for their family. Holly's husband is just recovering from some surgery and is still healing through all of this.

I cannot imagine what they are going through right now. Word is that whatever kind of cancer it is is treatable so I will keep you posted on their plan of action. Please keep them in your thoughts. I sure will.

Cancer is so lame.

I Heart NY!

As I mentioned before, I had such a great time with girlfriends in NYC. Wanna see pictures? Of course you do.

We stayed at the Marriot Marquis in Times Square. It was a great location. We were on the 27th floor. There were 47 floors in all. The top level was a revolving dining room. We went up there for $16.00 drinks one night!

After we got there on Thursday we walked around Times Square and found a place to get some pizza for lunch. Chicken, sundried tomatoes and mushrooms. Fresh mozzarella and awesome dough. I'm hungry just remembering it!



When we were walking back to the hotel we saw this line of teeny-boppers waiting for something. We asked one of the girls what they were waiting for and she said "The Jesse McCartney show." I totally expected her to add a "duh" at the end of her response.




My friend Kerry, who lives in Manhattan and unfortunately headed out of town the day we arrived, suggested Cube 63 as a good sushi place. She and her husband had their first date there! No wonder they hit it off-that place was super cute and really yummy. They have a BYOB policy so we were able to save some money and bring in our own bottles of wine. Awesome! Thanks for the suggestion, Kers. We loved it!





Spicy Tuna roll and Shrimp Tempura Roll

Me, Brandy and Carla-roommates

After dinner we went to Carolines to see a comedy show. We saw Paul Mooney. He was really funny. When I heard 2 drink minimum, I for some reason thought it was a 2 drink maximum and I was not interested in drinking, nor did I really want to pay a bunch for a drink. I just ordered tap water. I ended up paying $10.00 for 2 glasses of tap water. Oh, well.

Someone in the crowd bought Paul Mooney a bottle of Veuve champagne. He apparently doesn't drink or just didn't want it because he looked at our table, pointed to Brandy and said, "Here you go. Hey skinny white bitch, come get this champagne!" Of course it was funny. It was a comedy show!

Friday morning, Brandy, Carla and I headed off for some shopping and walking. We headed towards Soho. It was a long walk! Our first stop was at the American Girl store where Brandy looked for some treasures for her 2 girls. Carla and I almost had a heart attack when we heard someone say that you could find a particular item on the 4th floor. Did you know there was such a thing as a doll store that is 4 stories high, has a doll hair salon and a dolly hospital? Yeah, I didn't either. I left that store very glad that I have a boy!!! Check out the extra accessory in the bathroom. . . They thought of everything! I mean, a place to hang your doll while you pee. Brilliant!

The weather was cloudy occasionally, but overall it was perfect. It was in the upper 40's, lower 50's every day until Sunday.

I spent all day Saturday with my friend Lee in Brooklyn. She and Chris came and got me on the subway and took me back with them so I wouldn't get totally lost! We had a delicious brunch at Enid's when we got there. So good. Apparently they have a DJ spinning on Sundays for brunch! Very interesting clientele.

Lee and I shopped around for a few hours. We saw some really neat stores and cute clothes. Check it out! A store called Kill Devil Hill!

Lee and Chris live in the downstairs apartment of the green row house. Their place was really neat. I am so intrigued by city life!

Chris and Lee in their first home together as a married couple! They are so cute!

Lee and me in her home in Brooklyn. I'm not sure what my hair is doing, so just focus on something else. And by something else I mean Lee and not me at all!

The morning we left it was really cold and snowing. Check out our view from our hotel window. Amazing. I'm so glad it waited to get cold until we were leaving! What an awesome trip!

I really enjoyed my time away but I was really glad to get home, too. I came home to a sick, sick baby who was really glad to see me. I took him to the doctor this morning and he has a double ear infection. Poor little man. He's got some new medicine and is hopefully on the mend. More on that later.

Nigel did such a great job of taking care of Kingston while I was away. I think they bonded in a special way. I was so impressed with his fathering skills, especially with a sick baby who woke up soaked in sweat all night Saturday night. Way to go, Dad! You are the real deal!

I'm Home!

And I'm exhausted! A shower and off to bed. I'll fill you all in tomorrow when I can actually think straight. I think I have jet lag. Oh, wait. I didn't actually change time zones. It felt like I did! New York City is a totally different world.

Leavin on a Jet Plane

Tomorrow morning at approximately 7:50 a.m. my girlfriends will be picking me up in my driveway and taking me away! I cannot wait to spend 4 freezing days in New York City!!!

I'm sad to leave my boys. But boy, oh boy, I think I deserve a weekend away! I'll be back in touch on Sunday. Or Monday.

Plea Answered!

Just as I suspected, the belt came from a friend who is equally as obsessed-no, maybe more obsessed-with MamaBargains as I am. Perhaps she is more obsessed because I never even saw the belts come up. Thanks, Ashley! We really appreciate you thinking of Kingston. He is, as we speak, as I type, walking around and around the living room with one end in his mouth with the rest dangling in front of him. Good times.

On another note, Kingston had his best day yet at Ms. Cindy's today! He screamed when I left this morning but he apparently settled down and had a big day playing, eating and napping. She even had to wake him up from his nap! She heard him say "uh-oh", "Able" and "book" throughout the day as he jabbered away without his pacifier in his mouth. (We are trying to limit his paci-time) Hooray! I'm so proud of him.

Makes me not worry so much about leaving him for the other 2 days this week while I'm in the Big City. Did I mention I'm going to NYC this week? Oh. OK.

Pictures and a Plea

I realized after taking some pictures this afternoon that I have taken a few pics over the past week and haven't posted them. The time is now.

Kingston's table is still in the living room. He likes to put stuff on it but he never really sits on the benches, he more likes to sit on top of it. Real safe. So far, only one header off of the top while jamming out to some music too close to the edge!

Can't remember why he was so tired but he obviously was. He still ate his peanut butter and jelly sandwich, just mostly with his eyes closed. Quite funny!

A really good sandwich I made for dinner Sunday night. Grilled chicken, applewood smoked bacon, avacado, tomato, lettuce, mayo on a Kaiser-like roll. SO good but hard to eat. It all tried to come squishing out the sides.

It was pretty chilly today but Kingston and I needed to get out of Dad's hair (he didn't say it out loud but we felt the vibes!) so we took the wagon into the backyard and did a few spins. It was fun. We played Try Not to Run Over the Dog Turds.

And now comes our plea. Kingston got a package in the mail today. We LOVE getting packages. This one came from MamaBargains.com so we were really interested since it is one of my favorite web sites and I swear I haven't bought anything in a long time. I swear I haven't! (Have you been there? http://www.mamabargains.com/ Get addicted. I sure did) I opened the box to reveal a really cute belt for Kingston with skateboards on it! We love it! We don't, however, have any clue who sent it to us. Well, I have a guess but I'm not really sure. Kingston obviously loves it and it will be really cute on him once he sits still long enough for me to actually put it on him! So far he has just walked around the house carrying it in his hand and trying to wrap it around Able's neck. If you sent Kingston this really cute belt, please show yourself! Please? I'd love to thank you personally.

Tomorrow is my first and last day of work this week! Please tell everyone you know to come to High Cotton for lunch tomorrow and tip the waitress lots and lots of money! It will be my last chance to make some extra cash for my NYC trip. Have I mentioned that I'm excited about my trip? Well, I am.