Misfit Monday

Happy Birthday to my husband, Buttin - the misfit leader (the super cool guy in the black wig).

Good. Bad. Very Ugly.

Race report - fast version (as in, the opposite of my run).

Good - I finished not in last place.

Bad - It was hot AND humid AND raining.

Very Ugly - Got sick for the first time ever after a race. Apparently Gatorade burns coming back up, but taste much the same as it did going down.

More tomorrow (or Tuesday).

Filanthropy Friday

Last week's post was kind of sad, so I wanted to make my focus this week kind of fun (or funny).

I was on a mission to find the most random, silly or funny charity I could find, but there aren't a ton of FUN charities (at least none that I could find in my 5 minutes of research). I'm sure many have fun activities, but most of them focus on sick kids, sick adults, abandoned animals, abandoned adults and every other depressing state a human, animal or our environment could possibly face.

I found a charity that sounded AWESOME, the name alone made me want to donate - Doobys Clown Brotherhood for the Uplift of Gods People Inc. Pretty good, right? Sadly, it doesn't appear that they are still operating, so I couldn't find a way to donate money.

I decided to focus my attention on this weekend's main event (besides eating cookie dough) - The Chevron Houston Marathon. I went to their website and they had a whole list of charities associated with the event. Whoopee!

OK, most of these charities focus on sad stuff too, BUT I found one charity that seemed to have a positive non-illness related goal - fitness, nutrition (I'm sure they're pro-cookie dough) & kids. Marathon Kids!

They say:

For every $10 you give, another child can participate in our free six month program and feel the satisfaction and pride of completing a marathon.

So, I donated $10 to Marathon Kids in my mother's name.

Yeah mom! Let's have a great run on Sunday!

Me <--- Grumpy or Rightfully Pissed?

I don't know if aunt flow is about to visit or if it's just the fact that Buttin has been gone for the last few days, but I am a RAGING grump. I, me, who is mostly a sweet gal - just ask me - walked out of Dr. Sharpie's office today.

Cub was going for a follow-up appointment for his ear infection. He managed to take an early nap today at school (but yesterday decided against taking a morning nap at all), so he was already at the edge of fussy by our 1:30 appointment time (we arrived at 1:15). The nurse took us back around 1:40 and I asked her (very politely) - Is the Dr. running behind? If so, I'll gladly reschedule. The nurse assured me that we would be seen within the next couple of minutes.

We wait and wait and wait and wait . . .

Cub is doing pretty well, but I can tell he's thinking - hey mom, this place smells like a wet bus toilet and illness, I wanna go home, have boob juice and take a nap.

Finally, it's 2:10 (30 minutes AFTER being told it would only be a couple of minutes and 40 minutes AFTER our schedule appointment time) and I walk out the door. Dr. Sharpie is sitting at her desk as we walk out and I tell her calmly that we'll reschedule because Cash is ready to go home and we just can't wait any longer.

She (somewhat) curtly replies, that she's sorry, but she had a "complicated" patient.

Look, I get it, I'm in the service industry - sometimes things don't go according to schedule. However, we would have gladly rescheduled if we had been told the doctor was so far behind. We weren't given that option and I find that discourteous.

It would be one thing if this was the first time something like this has happened, but it's not. It would be another thing if I felt like when we did see Dr. Sharpie we received EXCELLENT care, but I think it's more like average. I'm sick of accepting mediocre as satisfactory. There must be something better available.

I know he is MY baby, but Cash deserves better than average.

I think I take health care more seriously now that I have a child and because I'm also the one paying for it (as a small business owner, I/the business technically pay for the entire premium).

So, I'm on the hunt for a new pediatrician. Unless Buttin tells me I'm being unreasonable, which he won't, because I'm not. Hurumph!

Now, totally switching gears - here are a couple pictures of Cub from today.

Being tossed in the air by Buttin/Daddy. Yeah! Daddy's home!

Modeling (in quite a nice ensemble) the new onesie Buttin/Daddy bought for Cub in Vegas.

My Brain by Liz

This guest post is brought to you today, by the letter "L" as in Liz, Cub's grievance documentation specialist & the most fascinating person I know and I know at least 5 people (tm).

Wordless Wednesday - My Friends Think I'm Weird

Scaredy Cub

Cub is an extremely happy, playful (his new favorite game is chase) and social little man. However, he's starting to fear a few things:

• Strangers or people he sees infrequently - I feel so badly for Tub. He's been to our house twice in the last week and both times Cub got a huge pouty lip, his face got all red and there were real tears. This fear only seams to extend to men - other children and most women are still OK.
• The vacuum (I always have to look up how to spell that word) - Today I turned on the dust buster to pick up some dog food off the floor. Cash made the pouty face, darted (speedily crawled) for my legs and started to cry. I can only assume one of two things (a) Cub doesn't want me to clean or (b) he hears the vacuum so infrequently that the new noise scared him. I'm voting for A.
• The diaper sprayer - Tonight while he was playing in his bath, I decided to use the diaper sprayer to clean off a diaper so that I could do laundry tonight (fun!). You would have thought I pinched him five times and then took away his favorite toy - oh the dramatics! It's very difficult to comfort a baby in the tub without getting soaking wet. Maybe he thought he might get sprayed with poop juice. I know I cry when I get poop juice all over myself.
  

Although I never like to see him upset, I know all of these new fears are just a part of learning and growing.

Now, here's a funny picture of Cub from today. I caught an action shot right as he was starting a sneeze.